A tribute to the memory of the late Dr. Maximilian Heller, who died Saturday morning at New Orleans, was paid here by Dr. Julian Morgenstern, president of the Hebrew Union College, from which Dr. Heller was one of the earliest graduates.
“Rabbi Maximilian Heller was a graduate of the Hebrew Union College of the class of 1884, its second class, and one of the most honored and influential alumni,” Dr. Morgenstern stated.
“A man of scholarly aspiration and achievement, he upheld with dignity and zeal the old tradition of rabbinical scholarship and authority. For forty years he ministered as rabbi in Temple Sinai of New Orleans and through his utterances in that pulpit and his writing in the Jewish press of this country he helped to shape the development of American Reform Judaism. He served as president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis from 1909 to 1911 with distinction.
“He was probably the first, as he was certainly the foremost alumnus of the Hebrew Union College to champion the cause of Zionism. He defended it fearlessly in the face of strong opposition from the majority of his colleagues of the Reform wing of Judaism and was undoubtedly instrumental in bringing about a better mutual understanding between Reform Judaism and Zionist as it exists today,” Dr. Morgenstern concluded.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
