Einhorn, David b. November 10, 1809; Dispeck, Bavaria d. November 2, 1879; New York, New York
German American Reform rabbi and editor of the Sinai.
David Einhorn received his rabbinical training at a traditional yeshivah in Furth, where he earned an official rabbinical diploma.
He also received a secular education and studied philosophy at the universities of Erlangen, Wurzburg, and Munich. Introduced to the methods of critical enquiry and Wissenschaft (science) in the philosophy of religion, he moved away from Jewish orthodoxy and was rejected from the rabbinate by both religious and secular authorities in Bavaria.In 1842 he was hired as a rabbi in Birkenfeld, in the grand duchy of Olden- bourg. Five years later he succeeded Samuel Holdheim, a radical supporter of the German Reform movement, as chief rabbi in Mecklenburg-Schwerin. For a few months he served as rabbi of a radical Reform congregation in the city of Pest, Hungary, until that congregation was closed down by the government.
For Einhorn, Judaism could never be static but was constantly adapting to the challenges of the times and demonstrated the capacity for continuous development. He stressed what he called the “essence of Judaism”—the spirit of pure humanity— which he regarded to be older than Jewish nationhood. Therefore, he concluded, Judaism had from its beginning commanded its followers to overcome its national exclusiveness and serve as an ethical example for humankind.
Left without opportunities in Europe, Einhorn left for the United States with his wife and two daughters in 1855, having been invited by Har Sinai congregation of Baltimore, Maryland, the country’s first Reform congregation, to serve as their rabbi. His arrival coincided with the Cleveland Conference, a rabbinical meeting in
1855, organized by Isaac M. Wise and Isaac Leeser, who sought a religious platform for national unity in American Judaism. Having suffered from the influence of established religious authority, which prevented changes in Judaism, and having failed to secure the development of Jewish Reform thought because the all-embracing communal structures in Europe (judische Einheitsgemeinde) thwarted religious compromise on the congregational level, Einhorn instantly understood that American religious structures would provide an unique environment where a modern Judaism could flourish.
Thus, here he fiercely opposed the attempt at a national religious union and the establishment of a “synod.” He cherished the individualism of the American congregation and believed that only in this climate of religious liberty could Reform Judaism develop fully according to its principles. Critical to America’s scholarly potential, Einhorn sought to maintain a close intellectual relationship to German Jewish thinkers, such as Abraham Geiger and Samuel Holdheim, which he considered essential to the maintenance of theological and philosophical Reform principle. In 1856 he founded the monthly periodical Sinai (1856—1862) to disseminate his thoughts in the United States and published his prayer book, Olat Tamid.An uncompromising champion of abolition, Einhorn was forced to flee from Baltimore in 1861. He settled in Philadelphia and served as the rabbi of the congregation Kenesseth Israel. In 1866 he moved to New York City to lead the congregation Adath Israel, later Temple Beth El. At the Philadelphia Rabbinical Conference in 1869, Einhorn stressed the messianic nature of American Reform Judaism. By dominating the conference, Einhorn made a future union of American Jews on theological grounds, as envisioned by Wise, impossible.
His thinking gained greater influence after his death through his sons-in-law, Kaufmann Kohler and Emil Hirsch, who were married to Johanna Einhorn Kohler and Mathilde Einhorn Hirsch, respectively. These two men shaped the American Reform movement theologically from the “Pittsburgh Platform” (1885), a rabbinical conference that took place in Pittsburgh. Its results served as a basis for what used to be referred to as “Classical Reform.” Classical Reform stressed Reform principle (Judaism’s basis as spirit, not law, so that continuous religious progress could be achieved) over communal unity. In Pittsburgh, Reform Jews defined themselves as a community of belief. It gave up the idea of Jewish nationhood and instead stressed Jewish identity as American Jews.
The Pittsburgh Platform called for a “living Judaism,” which was reflected in active social service. This interpretation opened a mutual interest with American groups in the dominating social gospel movement. Finally, the conference decided to use Einhorn’s prayer book Olat Tamid as a model for the Union Prayer Book of the American Reform movement and thus secured Einhorn’s lasting influence on the American Reform movement in Judaism.Cornelia Wilhelm
See also Judaism, Reform (North America);
Kohler, Kaufmann; Wise, Isaac Mayer
References and Further Reading
Friedland, Eric L. “‘Olath Tamid’ by David Einhorn.” HUCA 45 (1974): 307-332.
Greenberg, Gershon. “The Messianic Foundations of American Jewish Thought; David Einhorn and Samuel Hirsch.” WCJS (1975): 215-226.
Kohler, Kaufmann, ed. David Einhorn, Memorial Volume: Selected Sermons and Addresses. New York: Bloch, 1911.
Meyer, Michael A. Response to Modernity: A History of the Reform Movement in Judaism. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990.