Jewish History Soundbites With Yehuda Geberer Great American Jewish Cities #10: Philadelphia
Perhaps no other city in the United States can boast of such a long, rich and consistent Jewish history narrative as the City of Brotherly Love. Historic synagogues like Mikveh Israel - which at one point received funding from Benjamin Franklin, and Rodeph Shalom which was the first Ashkenazi shul in the Western Hemisphere are symbols of the colonial era Jewish community.
The 19th century saw Isaac Leeser, Sabato Morias, Marcus Jastrow and others make their mark on the development of Philadelphia Jewish life and their influence on the wider American Jewish community. The interwar period brought Chassidic Rebbes, great philanthropists and even the Lubavitcher Rebbe - who visited the Liberty Bell - to Philadelphia.
Led by a succession of great rabbinical leaders like Rabbis Bernard Levinthal, Ephraim Eliezer Yolles, Baruch Leizerowski, Sholom Shneiderman, Moshe Lifshitz and many others including the contemporary Rabbi Avraham Shemtov. The Philadelphia Yeshiva was founded by Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky and together with Rav Elya Svei, Rav Mendel Kaplan and other greats have made it one of the premier Torah institutions in the United States.
Philadelphia personalities as diverse as Benjamin Guggenheim, Uriah Phillips Levy and Binyamin Netanyahu make their appearance as well in this city rich with Jewish history.
Benjamin Franklin is considered somewhat of an anti-Semite, but he did respect religion though he was somewhat a Unitarian, thus had no objection to religion per se. But it wasn't mikve Israel that he donated to, it was another synagogue in what is today downtown, an Ashkenaz shul, still in existence, maybe only somewhat existing.
ReplyDeleteMarcus Jastrow was one of the Mikitzei Nirdamim, an international organization publishing obscure sefarim.
It seems you are referring to the RaYatz, not the MaMaSh.
The founding RY of Philadelphia Yeshiva is more complex than you cite. Will leave it there.
Reb Dov Schwartzman
ReplyDeleteListen to the podcast he says that Rav Dov Schwartzman started Philly with Reb Shmuel
ReplyDeleteMaybe Yishmael should read what he wrote. The poster didn’t deny that He only ponted out that it wasn’t so simple which it wasn’t and if you listen to the podcast it sounds like it was a straightforward thing.
ReplyDeleteRav Sholom Schneiderman was a talmid if the Rashab a selfless man who gave everything he had for Yiddishkeit
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