UKi. 
 
 144 
 
 807 
 
 -Fifth Anni 
 First Graduation 
 the Hebrew Ur 
 College 
 
 Cincinnati, Oi i-: 
 
 Twent Seventh a: c , 
 Nineteen Hundre
 
 ISAAC M. WISE 
 
 FOUNDER OF THE HEBREW UNION COLLEGE
 
 HEBREW UNION COLLEGE 
 
 724 WEST SIXTH STREET 
 CINCINNATI
 
 Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of 
 
 the First Graduation from 
 
 the Hebrew Union 
 
 College 
 
 Cincinnati, Ohio 
 
 June Twenty Seventh and Twenty Eighth 
 Nineteen Hundred and Eight
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 The Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the First Graduation of 
 the Hebrew Union College was celebrated appropriately on June 
 28th, 1908. On the preceding day, June 27th, the Graduation 
 Kxrrcises of the last dlass were held and three young rabbis 
 v.cre ordained. 
 
 The College opened on October 3rd, 1875, and the first 
 Graduation took plaice July 14th, 1883. The four young men who 
 were ordained as rabbis on that memorable occasion were all 
 present, in good health, at the Anniversary celebration and ap- 
 peared in the exeercises. Besides the four members of the first 
 class, a large number of the Alumni of the College came from 
 all parts of the country to be present on this historical occasion. 
 
 The Alumni present were: 
 
 Israel Aaron Buffalo, N. Y. 
 
 David Alexander Toledo, Ohio. 
 
 Abraham Anspacher Scranton, Pa. 
 
 Henry Berkowitz Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Seymour G. Bottigheimer Natchez, Miss. 
 
 Joel Blau Cincinnati, O. 
 
 Max C. Currick Erie, Pa. 
 
 Hyman G. Enelow Louisville, Ky. 
 
 Henry Englander Providence, R. I. 
 
 Harry W. Ettelson Ft. Wayne, Ind. 
 
 Leo M. Franklin Detroit, Mich. 
 
 G. George Fox Chicago, 111. 
 
 E. Frisch, Pine Bluff, Ark. 
 
 Solomon Foster, Newark, N. J. 
 
 Charles J. Freund Salt Lake City, Utah. 
 
 Moses J. Gries Cleveland, Ohio. 
 
 2107704
 
 S. H. Goldenson Albany, N. Y. 
 
 Max Heller New Orleans, La. 
 
 Pizer Jacobs Jacksonville, Fla. 
 
 Joseph Jasin, Fort Worth, Tex. 
 
 Sol. L. Kory Vicksburg, Miss. 
 
 Joseph Krauskopf Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Nathan Krass Lafayette, Ind. 
 
 Israel Klein Chicago, 111. 
 
 Charles S. Levi Peoria, HI. 
 
 Gustav Lowenstein Augusta, Ga. 
 
 David Lefkowitz Dayton, Ohio. 
 
 Meyer Lovitch Paducah, Ky. 
 
 Martin A. Meyer Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 David Marx Atlanta, Ga. 
 
 J. E. Marcuson Sandusky, Ohio. 
 
 Eugene Mannheimer Des Moines, la, 
 
 Max J. Merritt Evansville, Ind. 
 
 Alfred G. Moses Mobile, Ala. 
 
 Jacob Mielziner Cincinnati, O. 
 
 Leo Mannheimer Cincinnati, O. 
 
 Morris Newfield Baltimore, Md. 
 
 Max Raisin Meridian, Miss. 
 
 William Rosenau Baltimore, Md. 
 
 Isaac L. Eypins St. Paul, Minn. 
 
 Herman Rosenwasser Cincinnati, O. 
 
 Nathan Stern Trenton, N. J. 
 
 Joseph Silverman New York City. 
 
 Jacob D. Schwarz Pensacola, Fla. 
 
 Joseph H. Stolz Altoona, Pa. 
 
 George Solomon Savannah, Ga. 
 
 Joseph Stolz Chicago, 111. 
 
 Leon Volmer Charleston, W. Va. 
 
 Louis; Wolsey Cleveland, 0. 
 
 Jonah B. Wise Portland, Ore. 
 
 George Zepin Chicago, 111.
 
 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES 
 
 HEBREW UNION COLLEGE 
 
 CLASS OF 1908 
 
 JOEL BLAU, B. A. G. GEORGE Fox. PH. B. 
 HERMAN ROSENWASSER. A. M. 
 
 PLUM STREET TEMPLE (K. K. B. Y.) 
 
 SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 19O8, 9 A. M. 
 
 March S'u Sheorim Gounod 
 
 Choir 
 
 Salutatory Mr. Bernhard Bettmann 
 
 PRESIDENT BOARD OF GOVERNORS 
 
 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: 
 
 Twenty-five years ago, in this very pla>ce, still surrounded 
 by nearly all of those, whom he had called to his assistance, 
 the man, whose gigantic figure will continue to grow as it 
 recedes into the passing centuries, gathered in supreme happi- 
 ness the first rich fruits of his unselfish labors. What Isaac 
 M. Wise dreamt and realized, hoped for and accomplished 
 what tremendous influence, not even now generally understood 
 and sufficiently appreciated, he exerted upon the Jews and Juda- 
 ism of his own time and coming ages will be told to you today
 
 and to-morrow in glowing words of eloquence by some of his 
 grateful pupils, assembled with us in honor of the event of a 
 quarter of a century ago. In peace beneath the sod sleeps the 
 great Master, sleep nearly all of those, who thirty-three years 
 ago gathered around him whilst laying the corner-stone of our 
 beloved institution, but the few survivors do not stand here to- 
 day with bowed down heads, mourning that the flight of Time 
 admonishes them, that they too will soon be called to join the 
 silent majority no, with forms erect and highbeating hearts, 
 full of happiness and deepfelt gratitude we rejoice with you in 
 the conviction, that that corner-stone was laid on the imperish- 
 able living rock of Truth rejoice in the glorious realization of 
 our fond hope, that an enthusiastic, fervent Young American 
 Israel would rally around the never again to be furled standard 
 of a free and enlightened American Judaism, a faith built upon 
 the indestructible verities and appealing to the noblest feelings 
 of the human soul and which enables the American Jew to 
 unite with a deep reverence for the past and warm affection 
 for the land of his ancestors the most glowing patriotism and 
 all surpassing supreme love for the land and flag of the Stars 
 and Stripes. As Joshua followed Moses and brought his un- 
 finished work to a glorious completion, so do we hope, that 
 under the guidance of a wise and learned successor to our never 
 to be forgotten leader the Hebrew Union College will develop 
 all possibilities and be forever a potent factor in the Reform 
 Judaism of the United States. 
 
 In behalf of the Board of Governors I extend to you all 
 hearty thanks and welcome! Let us now in joint supplica- 
 tion approach the throne of Him, who through all these and some 
 of them dark and stormy years has guided us with a Father's 
 Icve and mercy! 
 
 Invocation - Rabbi Alfred G. Mosea 
 
 Seek Ye The Lord - Roberts 
 
 Choir 
 
 10
 
 Bacalaareate Oration Rabbi William Rosenan, D. D. 
 
 OHEB SHALOM CONGREGATION, BALTIMORE. Mo. 
 
 THE RABBI'S OFFICE 
 
 Text: "Speak unto the Priests." (Lev. 21:1.) 
 
 Hallelujah ! Praise ye the Lord ! Sing unto the Lord a new 
 song! Proclaim His praise in the congregation of the pious! 
 (Ps. 149:1.) 
 
 Another link has been forged in the chain of Jewish tradi- 
 tion. We are sending forth into the religious world another 
 class trained to preach the faith of our fathers. A company of 
 recruits is enlisting to fight the wars of the Eternal. 
 
 Israel certainly stands in great need of earnest teachers 
 and ardent champions. On the one hand, its sons and daughters 
 are far from being thoroughly conscious of their precious spirit- 
 ual patrimony, and, hence, do not as yet appreciate the dignity 
 of their divinely appointed mission; while, on the other hand, 
 the rest of the world is still so lamentably ignorant of the Jew's 
 and Judaism's place in the economy of mankind, that it is often 
 guilty of giving, without compunction, the most unjust and 
 preposterous presentation of the same. 
 
 In the light of these facts, an occasion, like the present one, 
 calls for a detailed exposition of the duties, which these young 
 men shall be called upon to share, together with their future 
 colleagues, in the modern American rabbinate. However often 
 such exposition may have been undertaken on former gradua- 
 tions, its repetition here and now is not useless. The same 
 charge can be profitably given to every forthgoing class. Amid 
 the many distractions, for which the complex rabbinical life is 
 responsible, the specific duties of the rabbi may be easily for- 
 gotten. 
 
 In alluding to the duties of the rabbi, I have spoken of our 
 rabbinate as "modern" and "American." I did so not with the 
 desire to draw epochal and geographical lines, but, because of 
 
 11
 
 , deep-felt conviction that the rabbinate, like the cause it serves, 
 is affected by the spirit of our age and the idealism of our 
 country. And yet, I should not wish to give the impression, that 
 the rabbi we require for onr religious needs has nothing in com- 
 mon with him, who was distinguished by that title in other days, 
 or with him who ministers to the spritual wants of our brethren 
 in other lands. There are well defined Jewish requirements, 
 which are indispensable in the leaders in Israel, irrespective of 
 the varying conditions of time and place. 
 
 Such was most undoubtedly the belief of Isaac M. Wise, 
 the founder of the Hebrew Union College. He realized, if any- 
 one, ever did, that Israel in America needs a ministry, which is 
 both American and Jewish a ministry not any the less American 
 because Jewish and not any the less Jewish because American. 
 Encouraged in his efforts by the sainted Max Lilienthal, Louis 
 Aufrecht, Solomon Eppinger, Henry Zirndorf, Moses Mielziner 
 and others, he happily saw his efforts crowned with success. 
 The memory of this righteous sage has proved a blessing. In 
 the spirit of the great departed, his worthy successor in office 
 and the members of the present faculty are faithfully continu- 
 ing the work, than which there is none more important or more 
 glorious. 
 
 As I, to whom the invitation has gone forth to treat the 
 all absorbing theme of the hour, betake myself to the task thus 
 imposed upon me, carefully formed views with regard to the 
 functions of our rabbinate begin to master me and bid me give 
 them speech. It seems as though I hear a voice addressing it- 
 self to me with command, like unto that enjoined upon our 
 immortal lawgiver, when he was told, "Speak unto the priests" 
 to the priests, who occupy the most honorable position within 
 the gift of Israel, who guide and direct the destinies of our 
 people, and who are consecrated to the service of the most high 
 God. 
 
 However, because I believe myself bidden to speak to the 
 priests I would not have you think that I consider our modern 
 
 M
 
 rabbinate the exact counterpart of the priesthood known to our 
 early forefathers. The ancient priesthood, with its impressive 
 pomp and pageantry, was to a great extent made necessary 
 only by the elaborate sacrificial cult constituting the religion 
 which Moses called into life. With the fall of common 
 sanctuary, the destruction of altar and the consequent discon- 
 tinuance of sacrifice, the priesthood in its classic form too 
 ceased to exist. Far be it from me, furthermore, to ascribe 
 unto the rabbi a special holiness of which he becomes posses- 
 sed by virtue of ordination. 
 
 "Position does not shed glory upon him who fills it, unless 
 the person himself honors the position" is a good old Jewish 
 adage. In Israel, whose social legislation was ever democratic, 
 no such distinction is countenanced as is drawn in other camps 
 between ministry and laity. If the rabbi deserves and claims 
 to be recognized <as the superior of others, recognition should be 
 accorded him only on the ground of his greater achievements 
 and higher ideals. Nor must it be forgotten that the rabbinate, 
 by means of the dignity with wnich it should seek to invest 
 itself, is, like the priesthood of old, only to serve as a reminder 
 to the whole house of Israel, to become "A kingdom of priests 
 and a holy nation." 
 
 Granted, t!hat the close relationship between modern rab- 
 binate and ancient priesthood, at least in point of purpose, is 
 established, to what extent and in what manner is the message 
 which Moses carried to Aaron and his sons applicable to the 
 occupants of the American Jewish pulpit? In order to answer 
 this question, let us study the chapters in Leviticus, which 
 have rescued that message from oblivion. 
 
 That which we find justly accentuated first for the priest is 
 personal fitness, consisting not merely of physical soundness 
 but including also, by way of symbolic implication, spiritual 
 perfection. He had to be free of all blemishes and devoid of 
 all defilement. Defects, shortcomings and mistakes, which 
 were pardoned in others, led to exclusion from office in the case 
 
 18
 
 of the priest. In a word, 'his many-sided holiness had to be above 
 reproach. Who, that contemplates this priestly requirement, 
 does not feel, that the primary equipment of the rabbi is a 
 sound, strong 'and sacred personality? Unless he possesses such, 
 what positive moral influence can he be expected to exert? When 
 the Psalmist put the query: "Who shall ascend the mountain 
 of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place?" the reply 
 given was: "He that is clean of hands and pure of heart; he 
 that hath not lifted up his soul to falsehood or sworn deceit- 
 fully." Such a one alone can carry away a blessing from the 
 Lord and favor from the God of hig salvation. Such a one 
 a'one can make his generation devout worshipers of the Lord 
 in Jacob. 
 
 Whatever else the rabbi may lack, he should not lack 
 character. His whole life should be irreproachable. It should 
 admit of the most careful and searching inspection. It should 
 be illumined by an idealism, which sanctifies every motive and 
 hallows every undertaking. He should never be guilty of serv- 
 ing because of the glory which may fall to his lot. He should 
 work in his chosen vocation solely for the glorification of God 
 and His holy name. 
 
 But personality with its most eloquent manifestation in 
 character, although essential in the rabbi, is in him, as it was 
 in the priest of yore, only one element of his professional fit- 
 ness. In the rabbi, character must be supplemented by specific 
 qualifications, by means of which he may render Israel the best 
 possible service. What these qualifications are may be gathered 
 from an examination of the duties laid down for Aaron and his 
 house by the lawgiver, after the latter had finished dwelling 
 upon the need of personal purity. 
 
 The priest was exhorted "to cause the lamp to burn con- 
 tinually" (Lev. 24:1) within the sanctuary. How very force- 
 fully this injunction must needs recall to the rabbi of today 
 the lamp, demanding his constant attention. I refer to "the lamp 
 of the Lord, the soul of man" (Prov. 20:27), which should be 
 
 14
 
 ever brilliant with the flame of religious enthusiasm. But in 
 order to succeed in this respect the rabbi needs to remember 
 the quality of the oil to be used and to study the nature of the 
 lamp given into his care. Not any kind of oil will produce the 
 religious enthusiasm expressing itself in never-waning cheer, 
 hope and trust in God. The oil to be employed should be 
 especially prepared and suited for spiritual illumination. It 
 should consist of the precious ingredients obtained through the 
 preaching of our finiteness, the cultivation of reverence and the 
 encouragement of worship. And what of the lamp's pecul- 
 iarity, with which the rabbi needs to be conversant ! How easily 
 its holy flame may be extinguished! Amid the darkness of de- 
 spair following closely in many instances upon the shadows of 
 disappointment, failure and grief, which overtake every man, 
 does not the lamp frequently burn low? Not all people can 
 view misfortune with complacency and resignation. At such a 
 time especially the rabbi is called upon to act. As the priest 
 was commanded to set tflie lamp in the sanctuary in order "from 
 evening until morning" (Lev. 24:3), so should the rabbi look to 
 the lamp in his keeping for the purpose of preventing its ex- 
 tinction during the dreary night preceeding the dawning of 
 the brighter day. 
 
 The priest of yore brought to the sanctuary also the hallowed 
 bread, which, consisting of twelve cakes, he had to arrange "in 
 two rows, six to a row, upon the pure table before the Lord." 
 (Lev. 24:6). What these cakes may be made to symbolize is 
 not difficult to guess. Are they not indicative of the spirit- 
 nourishing bread the rabbi is to supply in the synagog? That 
 bread too admits of distribution into two equally important 
 distinct divisions. The one is the philosophy of life, the other is 
 the presentation of Judaism. The one is to make for the better 
 man, the other for the better Jew. 
 
 ' ' The lips of the priest are ever to guard knowledge and the 
 law are the people to seek from his mouth" (Mai. 2:7). There 
 must be in God's temple no dodging of issues, no connivance 
 
 15
 
 of wrong doing, and no respecting of persons. Crime of every 
 description must be unmasked and its real face held up to 
 public scorn. By means of the higher ethics the worshiper hears 
 expounded in the synagog, the baseness of narrow selfishness 
 should be recognized and the nobility of a broader altruism 
 acknowledged; his indignation at injustice should grow and his 
 love for righteousness increase; the grossness of his own short- 
 comings should be laid bare and the beauty of divine holiness 
 revealed. 
 
 And as the philosophy of life will tend toward nobler con- 
 duct, so the presentation of Judaism will result in deep-seated 
 Jewishness that Jewishness which manifests itself in an ever- 
 wakeful Jewish consciousness, in a dignified Jewish pride, in 
 a praiseworthy Jewish self respect, in a profound Jewish sympa- 
 thy, in a keen interest in Jewish problems, in a lofty regard for 
 Jewish tradition, in a staunch observance of holy days and festive 
 seasons, and in a commendable loyalty to the congregation. To 
 insure such result, the Judaism preached by the rabbi should 
 possess Jewish individuality. It should not be a de-Judaized faith, 
 a cold rationalism, a personal interpretation of our religion, a sys- 
 tem of sociology, an ethical culturism or a vague mysticism. It 
 should not be all negation but be positive. Like the devotion in 
 the synagog, the preaching should create a Jewish atmosphere. It 
 should bring out clearly our concepts with regard to God, our 
 teachings concerning man's place in the universe, our doctrine 
 relative to Israel's mission and our belief as to humanity's 
 destiny. In order to give hig teaching Jewish authenticity, 
 the rabbi should draw on Jewish history, Jewish literature and 
 Jewish life. He needs to be on his guard not to allow other than 
 ethical and religious knowledge to be introduced into the synagog. 
 Appropriate as it is elsewhere, it is out of place in the house of 
 God. The bread made out of the fine flour of Israel's divine truth 
 alone should be found on the table of the Lord. 
 
 The priest was moreover told to put " the pure frankin- 
 cense" (Lev. 24:7), upon the show bread in order to render it,
 
 which would have been otherwise tasteless, palatable. Does not 
 this practice suggest to the rabbi the need of making his preach- 
 ing inviting by the use of the flavor of modernity? The expo- 
 sition of life's philosophy, and Judaism's thought is of no avail, 
 unless it is demonstrated how the one applies to the every day 
 life and how the other is adapted to our present environment. 
 "Why has many a person been weaned of the synagog? Is it 
 always because the person is religiously unresponsive? While 
 this may explain the lack of spirituality in some people, there 
 are those whose religious indifference is surely traceable to the 
 character of the instruction furnished them. When the rabbi 
 treats of life's philosophy, he should avoid the dry-as-dust and 
 repulsive abstractions, despite the fact that they testify to his 
 profundity, but deal with the problems by which man is beset 
 in the manifold relations of our modern social life. Every man 
 wants to know what practical message religion has for him as 
 a social being. He wishes to have those duties presented which 
 lie nearest to him. He seeks help in becoming a better member 
 of his family, of the business world and of society at large. And 
 when the rabbi discusses Judaism, let it be a Judaism which 
 is not out of touch with the spirit of the age, but one which 
 reveals the saving genius of adjustment to the growing truth. 
 Judaism has never been an anachronism. Its champions were 
 opposed to religious fixity in Israel. They heeded the old 
 counsel, "Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward." 
 They recognized Judaism's necessity of being in a state of con- 
 stant development. In fact, Judaism is a power today only be- 
 cause it has never held that the last word has been spoken on 
 any question by any one generation. And again, while every- 
 thing which in its peculiar expression appealed to the Jews of 
 previous centuries in European ghettos can not be expected to 
 appeal to the Jews of our day living in free America, many 
 an institution, hallowed by time, can be preserved and can con- 
 tinue to inspire, if the institution is transformed or reinforced 
 to suit modern religious needs. The rabbi can not afford to 
 
 17
 
 omit the frankincense of modernity on the show-bread of his 
 presentation. 
 
 The priest was furthermore cautioned to have the show-bread 
 before the Lord " on every Sabbath." (Lev. 24:8). What else 
 can this caution bring home to the rabbi, but the necessity of 
 the continuous and persistent emphasis of life's philosophy and 
 Judaism's thought? The message of Israel calls for constant 
 exposition, if its influence is to make itself felt. The rabbi should 
 never lose sight of this fact. He should realize that religion as 
 such does not receive sufficient separate attention at the hands 
 of people in the struggle for existence, and, that Judaism as 
 a distinct movement must hold its own and forge ahead amid 
 a host of opposing non- Jewish not to say anti- Jewish influ- 
 ences. Hence, let the rabbi embrace every opportunity to make 
 propaganda for his faith. Let nothing whatsoever be permit- 
 ted to take the place of the cause which legitimately belongs 
 into the house of God. The table of the Lord is for the show- 
 bread and the show-bread alone. 
 
 And finally, the priests were directed with reference to the 
 show-bread "that they themselves were to eat it" (Lev. 24:9). 
 "Who does not detect in this concluding injunction the duty of 
 the rabbi to live spiritually on the bread of life which he brings 
 before the Lord? His philosophy and his Judaism should be 
 a part of his being. They should be bone of his bone and flesh 
 of his flesh. In him profession and practice should never be at 
 variance with one another. He should be guilty neither of 
 moral nor of religious inconsistency. His conduct should al- 
 ways measure up to his ethical standard. His Jewishness should 
 ever square with his conception of Judaism. If he heralds 
 righteousness as the "Leitmotif" of human life, then let him 
 not be unjust, unforbearing and unkind. If he clamors for 
 reverence of the holy, then let him not ignore traditions and 
 violate Sabbaths and holidays. Only as his message appears to 
 mirror his conviction can the rabbi exercise the proper influ- 
 ence in the unfolding of better men and women and of better 
 
 18
 
 Jews and Jewesses. As the children of Israel lay terror-stricken 
 at the Red Sea, because they were being pursued by Pharaoh 
 and his mighty army, the Scriptures describe them in the words : 
 "The people feared the Lord and believed in God, because 
 they believed in Moses, His servant." (Ex. 14:31). Moses had 
 spoken to them in no uncertain accents. His assurance that 
 God would espouse their cause had the true ring. Hence, the 
 people's confidence in God. Let the rabbi have convictions and 
 he will be sure to inoculate his constituents. Convictions are 
 not only not any less but actually more contagious than either 
 smallpox or leprosy. Let it ever be remembered that the show- 
 bread brought into God's house must be made the food of the 
 rabbi, if he wishes to fill properly the sacred sphere of his priest- 
 ly office. 
 
 As you, members of the class of 1908, contemplate the 
 modern American rabbinate from this point of view, you must 
 needs recognize the glorious character of your chosen calling. 
 You have lying before you "a land flowing with milk and 
 honey," the milk of precious opportunity and the honey of 
 enviable dignity. However, do not imagine that your efforts, 
 although ever so honest, will not meet with opposition. Diffi- 
 culties of all kinds will confront you from time to time. You 
 will have to wage war against overweening intellectualism, 
 self-sufficient materialism, obstinate indifference, congregational 
 commercialism, official conceit, religious prejudice, and persis- 
 tent disregard of Jewish rights. When these are met by you 
 in trying encounter, do not become disheartened. Do not re- 
 gard them invincible giants. The land of rich promise will still 
 be awaiting you, provided you will say to yourselves: 
 
 "Let us go up and we shall possess that land with all its 
 blessings, for we are well able to overcome the enemies." (Numb. 
 13:30.) 
 
 What you need in order to attain your longed-for goal 
 is the right temperament. Display tact, fairness, judgment, 
 forbearance, sympathy, hopefulness, dignity and perseverance in 
 all situations and you may be sure of gratifying success. 
 
 19
 
 Nor become discouraged by those who say, in justification 
 of their own withdrawal from the rabbin'ate, that, although the 
 ministry is a land flowing with milk and honey, it is also "a 
 land that eonsumeth its inhabitants" (Numb. 13:32), by virtue 
 of the strenuous life the rabbi is compelled to lead. It is indeed 
 true that the ministry is not a sinecure at any stage of the 
 rabbi's career. It taxes his resources to the utmost. Its mani- 
 fold responsibilities leave him but little time which he can call 
 his own. You shall observe this for yourselves. You will have 
 to prepare and deliver sermons, supervise your religious school, 
 instruct all sorts of classes, officiate at the marriage altar, recite 
 the burial service, call on your people in joy and sorrow, par- 
 ticipate in Jewish institutional work, represent the Jew at inter- 
 denominational assemblies, and co-operate in all movements look- 
 ing to the development of the civic conscience. And, in addi- 
 tion to all this, you will want to improve yourselves intellectu- 
 ally in order that you may continue to teach. And who knows 
 but what you will have to perform these many and various 
 tasks without full and deserving recognition ! Unless you are 
 willing to make sacrifices, it is still time for you to turn back. 
 Unless you are prepared to struggle against obstacles, it is not 
 yet too late for you to take up another calling. 
 
 Bear in mind whatever the hardships endured by the 
 modern American rabbi, they are not comparable to those en- 
 dured by the leaders in Israel, who lived in this country fifty 
 or even twenty-five years ago. Eeview the careers of the pioneers 
 and constructionists, Leeser and Isaacs, Jastrow and Szold, 
 Einhorn and Samuel Hirsch, Lilienthal and Wise, and your ob- 
 stacles will fade away. 
 
 I have with pleasure obeyed the request: "Speak unto the 
 priests." I bid you Godspeed in your glorious work. "Prosper 
 and succeed." "Do not become dismayed." Priests of whom 
 it is said "they shall be holy unto their God, should never lose 
 
 hope." 
 
 On this day of your consecration to your priestly calling, 
 
 I would have you value your priestly office your priestly dignity 
 
 20
 
 and your priestly duties. And as you fill your office becomingly, 
 maintain your dignity properly and perform your duties faith*- 
 fully in the course of your ministrations, your every effort will 
 bring happiness to you personally and you will be like the priest 
 of old, of whom it was said: 
 
 ''They shall put the spirit of the Lord on Israel, so that 
 Israel may enjoy God's priceless blessings unto all eternity." 
 (Numb. 6:27.) Amen 
 
 On Sinai's Heights - Rossini 
 
 Choir 
 
 Conferring Degree of Rabbi President Dr. Kanfmann Kohler 
 
 Blessed be ye who come in the name of the Lord! Happy 
 ye who with the valued possession of knowledge are to be crowned 
 with the threefold diadem, the diadem of the Law, the diadem 
 of the priesthood, and the diadem of leadership in Israel, to 
 which you will, I trust, by a whole life's effort, add the diadem 
 of a good name and an honored standing in the community. In 
 the name, then, of the Most High, and in the presence of this 
 holy assembly, on behalf of the faculty of the Hebrew Union 
 College and its Board of Governors, I herewith hand to you the 
 diploma which confers upon you the title of rabbi with all its 
 rights and privileges, with all its powers and prerogatives, and 
 declare you to be regularly ordained masters of the Law, teach- 
 ers and spiritual leaders of the Jewish community. Henceforth 
 your names shall be called in Israel: Rabbi Joel Blau, Rabbi 
 George Fox and Rabbi Herman Rosenwasser. 
 
 You, my dear Rabbi Blau, have come from abroad but a few 
 years ago as a learned devotee of the Torah, may you speedily 
 become an acknowledged master of knowledge and amplifier of 
 the store of Jewis'h learning in American Israel ! 
 
 You, my dear Rabbi Fox, have, as a native Chicagoan, im- 
 bibed from childhood up the American spirit of progress; may 
 
 21
 
 you ever harmoniously blend true piety with progress, loyalty 
 with liberalism in voicing the principles of reform Judaism ! 
 
 And you, my dear Rabbi Rosenwasser, you have ever been a 
 dutiful and faithful disciple; may you, as a veritable disciple 
 of Aaron, achieve triumphs by the continuous pursuit of peace 
 and righteohsness, and thus bring men nigh to God and His law ! 
 
 Differently as you are constituted, my young friends, may 
 you be one in zealously working for the elevation and glorifica- 
 tion of Judaism, and thus reflect new lustre upon your Alma 
 Mater and upon the Torah, Israel's sacred heritage! 
 
 Remember, however, that not the parchment scroll in your 
 hands bestowing upon you the Hattarath Horaah, nor the mere 
 equipment for scholarly pursuit constitute the fitness and the 
 worthiness for your high calling. Behind the learning there 
 must be the man of worth and dignity. Behind the scholarship 
 there must be the principle to vitalize and hallow it ; behind the 
 schooling there must be the spirit to lend it authority and valor. 
 Ordination, substitute of the original Semikah, the laying on of 
 hands to symbolize the imparting of the spirit of God as it has 
 come down from generation to generation, means consecration 
 and self -consecration of Israel's chosen ones to the lofty task of 
 successor to prophet and priest, sage ?nd scribe and expounder 
 of the law throughout the ages. It means coming in touch with 
 the spirit which, in creating a Moses and a Samuel, an Amos and 
 Isaiah, a Hillel and Akiba, a Maimonides and Nachmanides, a 
 Mendelssohn, a Zunz and Geiger, shaped and ever reshaped the 
 faith of Israel through the centuries. And the realization of 
 these spiritual forces and divine ideals should in response to 
 the heavenly voice saying, "Whom shall I send? and who will 
 go for us!" draw forth from consecrated hearts and consecrated 
 lips the words: "Here am I, send me, Lord!" 
 
 Each year on graduation day the voice from on high comes 
 to us, as it were, saying, "Send forth unto the congregations of 
 American Israel men endowed with the spirit of true leadership 
 and championship of truth and of righteousness. American Ju- 
 
 22
 
 daism wants men imbued with fear of God, but also with faith 
 in man and humanity ; men of clear vision and profound insight, 
 who understand the needs of the time and possess the wisdom 
 to follow the footsteps of God in history and see the working of 
 divine revelation in the various epochs of human progress; men 
 of fearless courage to break the idols of the multitude and lead 
 them to lofty ideals; men of foresight and hope, who do not in 
 their pessimism raise the icry 'backward,' nor crave for the 
 aureole of the medieval saint woven of mist and mystic stuff. 
 Men we need who, like Joshua and Caleb, have faith in the 
 future of our land of promise and in liberty as engraved upon 
 Israel's covenant tablets 1 , not slaves yoked to the dead letter 
 and shackled by fossilized tradition. Even our rabbis in the Tal- 
 mud declare that 'Greater than the revered scroll of Law is the 
 genius who so interprets the letter as to render it a living and lib- 
 erating force.' ' 
 
 No, the ever-progressive Jewish truth demands for each age 
 new methods and new masters. You might as well expect an 
 Admiral Dewey to carry on modern warfare with the ships and 
 armaments of the fifteenth century as attempt to satisfy the re- 
 ligious craving of the Occidental twentieth century Jew with 
 rites and practices suitable only to the life of the medieval Jew 
 of the Ghetto. This age of ours, with its problems so complex 
 and all-absorbing, with its researches so profound and its in- 
 ventions and discoveries so far-reaching and revolutionizing as 
 to make all the wisdom of the past pale into insignificance before 
 the achievements, the aims and prospects which loom up in ever 
 larger proportions before us; this land of ours with its oppor- 
 tunities, its resources and anticipations so boundless as to exert 
 an intoxicating power on the greatest and best among us; this 
 generation of men and women with a horizon, an outlook and a 
 scope so large as to dazzle the mind and bewilder the imagina- 
 tion, cannot be fed on the crumbs from the prepared table of 
 Joseph Caro, nor on the husks from the Sefer Hasidim of Je- 
 huda, the Saint of Regensburg. Reform Judaism is only in its
 
 first stage ; it will grow and expand and deepen in its construct- 
 ive power to become what its great pioneers, the prophets of our 
 own era, saw in their own vision a religion of humanity in the 
 guardianship of Israel, the Messiah of the nations. And this 
 work will not be undone by any man or any School. No Joshua 
 ben Nun will stay the sun of progress, the orb of light for 
 the world in its march along the heavens, nor will all the forces 
 of retrogression combined make the dial of the time in the West- 
 ern Hemisphere go backward. All we need is the men of the 
 spirit to promote the work of up-building and regenerating Ju- 
 daism in the sense of our heroic dead leaders. 
 
 And it is this jubilee day that lends new inspiration, new in- 
 centives, new 'Courage and hope to 'all of us. The twenty-fifth 
 anniversary of graduation from the Hebrew Union College pro- 
 claims in clarion notes the triumphant progress of our cause. 
 As at each month's renewal, the Jewish sages met with the sym- 
 bolic watchword: "David the King of Israel lives and abides in 
 our hope for Israel's rejuvenation," so do we today realize in 
 proud satisfaction that in the Hebrew Union College Isaac M. 
 Wise, the master-builder, will live forever, and with him all the 
 great geniuses who have announced, established and framed the 
 principles of Reform Judaism for centuries to come. Blessed 
 be the memory of these prophetic spirits who, with the Moses 
 staff in their 'hands, have drawn living waters anew from the 
 rock of Sinai to quench the thirst of the men and women of our 
 own generation and rejuvenated Judaism to make it a living 
 power for myriads of Jews yet unborn. And this staff of leader- 
 ship handed to the men sent forth from the halls of the Hebrew 
 Union College has performed wonders indeed. The one hundred 
 and twenty disciples have become a mighty power in the land. 
 Occupying leading positions throughout the length and breadth 
 of the country, they have cast new lustre upon Judaism and en- 
 riched its blessings a hundred-fold by digging new channels of 
 spiritual life and establishing new and permanent institutions 
 for the dissemination of light and the practice of love and right- 
 
 24
 
 eousness everywhere. Well may we exclaim, "When all thy 
 children have become disciples of the Lord, then will be great the 
 peace of thy children," of those that reared and maintained thee, 
 oh, blessed institution of learning. 
 
 Accept, then, on behalf of the faculty and myself, our heart- 
 tiest congratulations on this auspicious day, you, the venerable 
 and venerated president of the Board of Governors, and you 
 co-workers, helpers and co-laborers of the immortal founder and 
 the president and officers of the Union of American Hebrew Con- 
 gregations, also you, the Alumni of the College, and in particular, 
 the honor-crowned first year's graduates! 
 
 May the twenty-five years of splendid service in the cause 
 of religion and education signify to you all a life of lasting joy 
 and everlasting glory ! May the college with its Alumni grow 
 from strength to strength and rise from glory to glory until the 
 God of truth and righteousness is enthroned in every human 
 heart! And may the splendid achievements and the high ideal- 
 ism displayed by the first graduates serve as an incentive and 
 inspiring example to this year's graduates and all the succeeding 
 generations of the Alumni who go forth from this institution. 
 
 Go forth, then, with these manifold blessings of this day, 
 you, the graduates of this year, who are privileged to rejoice 
 with your Alma Mater in that God has clothed her with the 
 priestly robes of righteousness, and bring good tidings to the 
 meek and healings to broken hearts. Be a light to the blind, an 
 arm to the helpless and a fountain of blessing and salvation to 
 all mankind. Dare be true and consistent in the pulpit, loyal to 
 our heritage and bear no yoke except God's while serving Israel 
 and humanity. May God bless you. Amen. 
 
 Yevorechecho Snlzer 
 
 Choir 
 Valedictory - Rabbi G. George Fox 
 
 Declaration - Mr. Bernhnrd Bettmann 
 
 PRESIDENT BOARD or GOVERNORS AND ACTING PRESIDENT 
 UNION or AMERICAN HEBREW CONGREGATIONS 
 
 Benediction - Rabbi Nathan Stern, Ph. D. 
 
 25
 
 THE TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION 
 
 The day was begun by the assembling of the alumni, the 
 officers and faculty of the College and the officers of the Union, 
 in the beautiful United Jewish Cemetery, situated on Wood- 
 burn avenue, East Walnut Hills, to pay a tribute to the remains 
 of the dead teachers. Those present gathered about the grave 
 of Isaac M. Wise, the founder of the College. Rabbi George 
 J. Solomon of Savannah offered prayer. Dr. Julian Morgen- 
 stern of the College faculty delivered an address, followed by 
 a few words by Rabbi Louis Grossmann, Dr. Wise's successor in 
 Bene Yeshurun Congregation and also one of the faculty. As he 
 closed he deposited a wreath upon the grave. The graves of 
 the other departed teachers were then visited and a prayer offered 
 at each; at that of Max Lilienthal by Rabbi David Philipson 
 of Cincinnati; at that of Moses Mielziner by Rabbi Morris New- 
 field of Birmingham, Ala. ; at that of Solomon Eppinger by Rabbi 
 Ephraim Frisch of Pine Bluff, Ark.; at that of Louis Aufrecht 
 by Rabbi Joseph Stolz of Chicago. The exercises closed with 
 the Kaddish recited by Rabbis Solomon Foster of Newark, N. J., 
 and Seymour G. Bottigheimer of Natchez, Miss.
 
 CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 OF THE GRADUATION OF THE CLASS OF '83 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 HEBREW UNION COLLEGE 
 
 TEMPLE OF CONGREGATION BENE ISRAEL 
 
 ROCKDALE AVENUE. AVONDALK 
 
 SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 19O8, 2:3O P. M. 
 
 Psalm xxiv - Goldstein 
 
 Choir 
 
 Salutatory - Rabbi J^eo M. Franklin, Cga) 
 
 PRESIDENT ALUMNI ASSOCIATION 
 
 Mr. Chairman, My Fellow Alumni, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 To every graduate of the Hebrew Union College, this city of 
 Cineinnati is sacred soil and deep-rooted desire is sanctified by 
 the sense of duty that bids us gather here on this significant occa- 
 sion. Not one of the men among us but feels the thrill of sacred 
 memory to-day the memory of youthful struggles and ambitions, 
 insignificant enough as we look back on them, yet hallowed now 
 in the light of life's later and larger problems with which con- 
 tact with the living world has brought us face to face. 
 
 It was no empty sentiment, but the impulse of the deepest 
 reverence that bade us pilgrim early this morning to the silent 
 
 27
 
 and beautiful city where sleep so many of those to whose inspira- 
 tion and guidance we owe all that we have and all that we are. 
 At the graves of Isaac M. Wise and of Max Lilienthal, of Louis 
 Aufrecht and Solomon Eppinger, of Henry Zirndorf and Moses 
 Mielziner, we remembered as we shall ever remember in grati- 
 tude that the fruitage which we are enjoying to-day was planted 
 amid mighty hardships and tremendous difficulties, by men whose 
 faith in the holy cause to which they had given themselves, was 
 so staunch and so strong, that nothing could discourage or daunt 
 them. With what prophetic vision had they scanned the future 
 for even greater than their dream has been the realization, and 
 higher than they dared to hope, the fulfillment. 
 
 It is now three and thirty years since our beloved Alma 
 Mater in its modest way opened its doors to receive as students 
 the four men who come back to you to-day after a quarter of a 
 century's work as teachers and preachers of that faith whose God 
 is Jehovah and whose goal is the brotherhood of man and the 
 triumph of righteousness. They shall tell you once again of those 
 beginning days when our college had to struggle not only for 
 support but even for recognition, for it is well at a time like this 
 "to remember the days of old" the days when American men 
 and women scoffed at the suggestion that from the native sons 
 of this soil it would ever be possible to rear a generation of 
 earnest and devoted teachers of Israel's gloried and storied faith. 
 And yet it is not enough to point to that past to-day. Too much 
 some of us are prone to live on our life's yesterdays and to 
 shine in the reflected lustre of our ancestral greatness. To be 
 sure, we Jews especially, must not forget the past nor ignore it. 
 The Jew is what he is because he knows what he has been. The 
 philosophy, "Fur das Gewesene gibt der Jude nichts, " is a puerile 
 and foolish philosophy. But we must not live in the past but 
 only upon it. Upon the past we must build a future. A tri- 
 umphant yesterday, a glorious to-day, must be prophetic of an 
 even grander to-morrow. The past of our College recalled to-day 
 the memory of the men who stood by it in the days of its early
 
 struggles and with their love and their lives nursed it into strength, 
 must be the inspiration not only to their successors in office but 
 also to us the graduates of the College to work and to watch 
 as they did, for opportunities to herald to an ever-widening circle 
 the message of that progressive Judaism for which Isaac M. Wise 
 and his co-workers stood so conscientiously and so consistently. 
 To-day our graduates are carrying the message of Reform Juda- 
 ism to communities large and small, from the Atlantic to the 
 Pacific and from the gulf cities to the metropolis of Canada. 
 What shall not the next quarter century accomplish if, with equal 
 heroism and equal devotion, we of this day give ourselves to the 
 great and holy cause ? 
 
 Fellow graduates, this is a rare day when the opportunity 
 comes to us to express to the College and its supporters the deep 
 gratitude that is in our hearts, that they have made our careers 
 possible ; yea, that through them we have been privileged to con- 
 secrate ourselves to the holiest service that life offers. In the 
 name of all of you and of those members of our alumni who can- 
 not be here, I assure the men and women of Cincinnati that they 
 and the College will never cease to have the warmest corner in 
 our hearts. With our words and with our works, with our loves 
 and with our lives, we shall be true to the institution that has 
 sent us forth and to the men whose love and loyalty have created 
 and sustained it. 
 
 With this assurance to the friends of the Hebrew Union Col- 
 lege here asembled, I am glad to say to you, my colleagues, as I 
 am bidden to say, that you are welcome to your old home city 
 to the city wherein your youth was spent and whose traditions 
 shall be forever bound up for you and for me with the dearest 
 sentiments of our manhood.
 
 Invocation Rabbi Louis Groasmann, D. D. ('84) 
 
 Whenever men have achieved a work of which their con- 
 science approves, their hearts are uplifted. They thank God, 
 who assigns tasks 'and helps in the performance of them. Thus, 
 in this hour of our joy, we address ourselves to God, feeling that 
 we have put into our effort faith in Him, who is with Israel in 
 its stern experiences and in its ideals. We thank Thee, God, 
 that Thou hast granted to the work of our hands Thy gracious 
 recognition. We are content and proud on this day, as becomes 
 those who are 'Conscious of their responsibilities and feel a manly 
 loyalty to duty, which Thou dost forever approve. There is, to 
 be sure, a strain of grief in our joy, for some of those are not 
 here, who have labored pre-eminently beyond us all, and who 
 have earned the recognition of fellowmen and Thine approval, 
 O God. Thou gavest to these the joy of labor, the comfort of a 
 great hope, and the delight of achievement. We thank Thee for 
 the gifts with which Thou didst invest them, and for the zeal 
 with which their souls were filled for causes that have been so 
 abundantly proven true in our days. We thank Thee for the 
 fine influences, which have been maintained amongst us for loy- 
 alty to the faith of our fathers and for the sacred sense of those 
 verities, by which Israel has been uplifted among the nations 
 of the earth. For these our ancestors have suffered and in be- 
 half of these, we children of another day but of like martyrdom 
 as of like hopes, are ready to do our duty to the last necessity. 
 We thank Thee for the dignity which is ours by the merit of our 
 fathers and for the respect which we have earned by the work 
 of our hands. Sustain us, that we may make permanent the 
 reign of Truth and of Justice. Help us, who bear obligation before 
 Thee, that we may transmit that, which has been entrusted to 
 us, undiminished in usefulness and enhanced in power for good. 
 Consecrate us under the sacrament of our reminiscence of 
 great and noble men, that we may be adequate in devotion and 
 zeal, to work which awaits us from day to day. May we further 
 union in Israel and re-enforce 'and deepen our faith. May this
 
 day of joy, evoking gratitude as well as satisfaction, enkindle 
 in us the chastened spirit, by which alone the holy things of life 
 thrive. May Israel, Thy people, O God, the people that has 
 known many sorrows and few joys, be near to Thee in joys, as 
 it was in the days of its sorrows; may the Israel of today which 
 mingles its sorrows with the sorrows of the world, but must still 
 bear its own grief alone without the sympathy of the world ; may 
 the Israel 'of these cultured days which feels keener and holier 
 joys, that transcend the delight and the pride of an hour; may 
 the Israel of the larger hope, the united Israel, be stirred to 
 resolute seizure of duty, and, understanding and feeling it, make 
 manifest to man and God the priestliness by which it serves. 
 Amen. 
 
 Psalm xxix Snlzer 
 
 Choir 
 
 "The Founding of the Hebrew Union College" 
 
 Rabbi Israel Aaron, D. D. ('83) 
 
 On a day of national rejoicing, an inspired writer sang: 
 "When the Eternal brought back the captivity of Zion we were 
 like those who dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter 
 and our tongues with jubilation: then said they among the 
 people, the Eternal hath done great things for these, the Eternal 
 hath done great things for us. We are glad." (Ps. cxxvi.) 
 
 In this time of our joy we are inclined to modify the mean- 
 ing of the Psalmist's first line. Our memory on joyous pinions 
 glides back to the sweet "captivity" of our college days, and 
 "we are like dreamers." For us the varied activities, great and 
 small, of this quarter-century seem to be like dreams today, 
 when we come back to our Alma Mater town like sons who, 
 travel-wearied and far-wandered, have returned to the father's 
 house. The years of our rabbinical careers have been ingrained 
 with the influences and the lovely recollections of boyhood 
 
 31
 
 and young manhood spent in the daily contact with noble souls. 
 Never did lads have better, kinder, saner foster-parents than did 
 the pioneer students of the Hebrew Union College, to whom Cin- 
 cinnati 's hearts and Cincinnati's homes were opened with such 
 engaging cheerfulness. 
 
 For none among the living has this anniversary a deeper 
 concern than for those who, twenty-five years ago, in the words 
 of the orator of the day, went "from the life at school into the 
 school of life." Today we feel again the revered touch of our 
 great teacher consecrating us to the hallowed tasks of the rab- 
 binate. Overbrimming, indeed, would be our cup of joy if on 
 this silver celebration, we could grasp his fatherly hand or look 
 upon his loved and loving face. Like a dream the years vanish ! 
 We are again humble participants in those exercises of ordina- 
 tion, so significant to four young men, but of importance vaster 
 far to American Judaism. Our very souls imbibe again the wise 
 monitions and the fraternal welcome of splendid and distin- 
 guished teachers in Israel, all of whom, save one and he is 
 now president of the College have passed on to the Academy 
 on High. 
 
 To me has been accorded the pleasant task of recalling the 
 events of a still earlier day the days of the founding of our 
 Alma Mater. 
 
 On the third day of October, 1875, Jeshurun's beautiful 
 Temple now the downtown sanctuary of Cincinnati gleamed 
 gloriously in the soft autumn evening. Israel of this city, and 
 its immortal leader, cheered on by progressive Israel of America, 
 were announcing to the world, with elated hearts and stately 
 utterance, the establishment of a Jewish house of learning an 
 institution based upon the conviction that Judaism depended on 
 the knowledge of its great literature and its wonderful history, 
 and that American Judaism was not a mere repetition of any 
 of its previous forms, but a development rising logically and 
 loyally from the past. With joyous acclaim, with fervid oratory 
 and hearts beating high that magnificent assemblage welcomed 
 
 82
 
 the new-born Hebrew Union College. Yet, splendid as the 
 chorus of mind and heart and tongue on that jubilating even- 
 ing in the grand old Alhambric edifice was, it did not equal in 
 significance, in heart-thrill, and in simple majesty the memo- 
 rable event of the following day. It occurred in a little room in 
 the basement of the former home of Bene Israel on Mound street. 
 On one side was an aggregation of sewing machines, on the other 
 a long table, about which sat eleven boys, and at its head the 
 sainted master. The official and hearty addresses, inaugurating 
 the initial season of the first college class, had been made. Then 
 up rose the majestic Lilienthal, silver-crowned and face aglow. 
 Addressing the lads, he said: "Do you know the story of 
 Joseph and his dreams? Well, there"- pointing to Dr. Wise 
 "there sits Joseph! He has dreamed this dream for twenty- 
 five years, and now it has come to pass the eleven stars are 
 bowing to him!" Words more dramatic, more touching and 
 more fitting could have been uttered. 
 
 And now let us see under what circumstances and in what 
 manner this dream was realized. 
 
 When the idea first came to Dr. Wise conditions more ad- 
 verse could not have confronted the proposition of a rabbinical 
 seminary. The Jews who came to these shores in the earlier 
 part of the last century were for the most part moneyless, and, 
 like all pioneers, were absorbed in the endeavor to establish 
 themselves in life, in the pursuit of fortune, or the accumulation 
 of ! a competence. The possibility of a lad devoting himself to 
 the ideals of the Jewish ministry was never even remotely as- 
 sociated with the rosy visions of a young man's future. "Amer- 
 ican boys will never become rabbis!" was a prevailing plati- 
 tude. It was a time of stress and struggle. Idealistic tenden- 
 cies were submerged, and the thirst for higher Jewish education 
 was waiting till the Jew's appetite for material success was 
 satisfied. 
 
 Another stupendous obstruction lay in the hopeless con- 
 trariety in membership, usages and rituals of the various con- 
 
 33
 
 gregations. Sometimes these differences fomented violent an- 
 tagonism, and the prevailing religious Babel was surcharged 
 with bitterness. But the battle raged with increased acrimony 
 and fury when the robust figure of young reform joined 
 issue with the combatants. Congregations were rent asunder, 
 and even families divided. The din of theological turmoil re- 
 sounded wherever and whenever the legions of light and the 
 cohorts of darkness encountered each other. Harmony, union, 
 the concentration of all energies upon a single undertaking 
 seemed beyond the purview of the most sanguine visionary. 
 
 Brave, indeed, was he, and endowed with foresight 
 prophetic and boundless optimism, who, confronted by such tow- 
 ering obstacles, could aspire to unite all opposing elements in 
 the establishment of a rabbinical school and to aspire to do it 
 so far from the center of Jewish population. Yet, with but four 
 Jewish reform congregations in the land, as his soul kindred, 
 with a large Jewish element aspersing him as the arch enemy of 
 his people, assailed by a constantly increasing rabbinical hos- 
 tility, as well as by the misgivings of those in sympathy with 
 him, Isaac Meyer Wise, driven by the sanest (conclusions from 
 existing unfavorable conditions, in the middle of the last cen- 
 tury, sent forth, full-voiced, certain-sounding and mandatory, 
 the cry of the wilderness-prophet. " Prepare ye the way!" A 
 prophet, he, who felt that the spirit of the Lord could turn the 
 wilderness into a blooming garden. A good man, he, who lived 
 his conviction, ready at all times to give his time, his money, 
 his health, and every selfish ambition for the truth of God and 
 for the elevation of Israel. Success or failure, triumph or de- 
 feat, public applause or secret tears no matter which were to 
 be his lot he could not have done other than he did. His was 
 the passion to give. 
 
 And so, in a very real sense, the Hebrew Union College was 
 founded in Bohemia, just as, according to the Iron Duke, the 
 battle of Waterloo was won at Eton. Isaac M. Wise came to 
 America with the germ-idea of this institution unfolding silently 
 
 84
 
 and unconsciously in some choice garden spot of his mind. Con- 
 ditions in America stimulated it into flower. To him it was 
 clear that Judaism had more than once been saved by the school, 
 and he foresaw that American environment would modify tradi- 
 tions and conceptions; and he believed that the resultant new 
 phase of the old faith would be conserved and fostered best by 
 teachers who matured in the land of its development. 
 
 But how was this to be accomplished? The analytic mind of 
 the master lit unerringly upon the only method practicable in that 
 era of formation and violent antipathies. A rabbinical college could 
 only be built upon some plan leading to harmonization. Two 
 years after he landed in America there radiated over the country, 
 from his luminous pen, a fervent appeal for a convention of con- 
 gregational representatives. The time for this, however, had not 
 yet come. But the indomitable Wise wavered not. With printed 
 page and spoken word he hewed out an ever-increasing circle 
 of sympathy for the cause. And when he came to his own peo- 
 ple in this city the hope for the success of his favorite project 
 was mightily invigorated. Under this new heaven, and in this 
 new earth, the loved tree of his life would take root and flourish. 
 
 Nor was he doomed to disappointment. For, in 1855, the 
 Zion Collegiate Association was formed, each member pledging 
 $10 annually, and, in the autumn of that year, the Zion College, 
 with fourteen students and five professors, was opened. But, 
 in the language of the founder, "the time was not yet ripe for 
 it." After a year's earnest work the doors were closed a 
 transient triumph, but prophetic of the glorious and decisive 
 victory still to come. Dr. Wise and his sturdy friends continued 
 the propaganda. The college-idea was steadily conquering new 
 friends for itself. It assumed a prominent place on the program 
 of several rabbinical conferences especially on that of the one 
 held in this city, in June 1870. Humble Henry Adler came for- 
 ward to inspirit the lovers of light and progress with his con- 
 tribution of $10.000 to the cause of the college, depositing $2,000 
 with the Bene Yeshurum Congregation as an earnest of his sin- 
 cerity. 
 
 35
 
 The final advance toward the triumphant conclusion of the 
 long struggle oecured in the winter of 1873 influenced, perhaps, 
 by the call of Dr. Wise to New York. The people of Cincinnati 
 rabbis and congregations, obliterating all demarcations, with 
 an inspiring and beautiful consensus, invited the congregational 
 societies of the South and the West to join them in a meeting, 
 to consider questions of common Jewish interest, and the ad- 
 vancement of Jewish education. This convention was held July 
 8, 1873, by the representatives of 34 congregations. At the con- 
 clusion of the three day's session, congregational union in Amer- 
 ican Israel became an established fact, and the college was as- 
 sured. At last, at last, after the weary years of work and wait- 
 ing, the day dawned the first rosy fingers of the aurora of 
 the college reddened the horizon! 
 
 In the following year the delegates to the first council in 
 the city of Cleveland, with inspiring unanimity, resolved to 
 establish the Hebrew Union College, and on July 14, 1875, the 
 second council, convening in Buffalo, to open the doors of our 
 beloved Alma Mater, on the third day of the following October. 
 And in this anniversary season we may well repeat: 
 
 DT3 w^n *r by 'Krv^n uyb w^n jtrnw am worn 7-0 
 
 :(ns raw) 
 
 "Blessed be the Merciful One who gave the threefold law 
 to the threefold people through the agency of our Moses, in the 
 third day." (Sabbath 88.) 
 
 The College was the child of persistent devotion to an idea. 
 But even the master, tireless, indefatigable as he was, would have 
 failed had it not been for the character of the men who stood 
 with him and by him. Rarely was leader blessed with wiser, 
 braver friends or supporters. Rarely has cause been upheld by 
 more amiable and firmer protagonists. Here he found men with 
 hearts, men with minds, men with the divine quality of enthu- 
 siasm for ideals. Many of them sleep with their two great 
 leaders in the beautiful God's acre of this people. We cherish 
 
 36
 
 their memory. Some of them are still with us, still aglow with 
 the old spirit, still inspiring and inspired. 
 
 The visions that clustered about the founding of the He- 
 brew Union College have been followed by thirty-three years of 
 radiant realization. The rosy dawn has broadened into the 
 perfect day. The divine spirit which rose 'above the chaos of 
 pioneer Israel expressed in the motto of Dr. Wise, 'Let there 
 be light!" has spread the light, and our hearts are full of 
 gratitude inexpressible. 
 
 "The Work Accomplished by the Hebrew Union College " 
 
 Rabbi Henry Borkowitas, D. D. ('83) 
 
 Competent critics of the American people declare that our 
 greatest National sin is haste. We are impatient of processes. 
 We demand results. The man "who does things" is our hero. 
 Our God is success. On an occasion of this kind we are in danger 
 of yielding to the enticements of this besetting sin of the Amer- 
 ican. Twenty-five years but two and a half decades is alto- 
 gether too brief a period to give us an accurate perspective for 
 measuring the work accomplished by the Hebrew Union College. 
 Let us be on our guard, on this happy festival, lest we magnify 
 our theme and indulge in inflated exaggerations and pompous 
 boastings. On the other hand, let us look eye to eye into the 
 realities we see and put no bar on the full and joyous celebra- 
 tion of what twenty-five years have wrought in the continued 
 life and development of our beloved Alma Mater. 
 
 Earnest work has been done and effectively done. In con- 
 templating the contrasts between this day and a quarter of a 
 century ago we may with whole hearted enthusiasm declare, 
 ''This is the day the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be 
 glad thereon." 
 
 The Union of American Hebrew Congregations gathered in 
 this city twenty-five years ago to witness the first ordination of 
 rabbis in America. The delegates gathered from all quarters 
 
 87
 
 of the land, culled out a holiday and marked the solemn act as 
 an historic event in the progress of American Israel. How joy- 
 ous was that day when after the long and arduous labors of the 
 pioneer years, our revered 'and beloved master, Dr. Wise, led 
 us forth in the presence of his people, and bestowed on us, his 
 "College Boys" the consecrating "Semicha." The touch of 
 his vanished hand is still on my brow, and its benediction has 
 remained and will ever remain an inspiration unto blessing. 
 The glowing emotions of that hour suffused our heavens with 
 a radiant light. For us it was the light of dawn, the awak- 
 ening of hope, alert with expectancy. 
 
 That was a grave experiment we then undertook. "The 
 first graduates," we were told, "will make or ruin the college." 
 The alumni now numbers 137 men. Following in the wake of 
 our little pioneer band of four, all these rallied to the service of 
 American Israel. This fact and all it connotes, speaks of work 
 accomplished by the Hebrew Union College, and justifies our 
 jubilation now. 
 
 How the work was done within the sacred precincts of 
 the college walls is a matter of record. The testimony of 
 many of the leading American Jewish scholars, who came 
 from year to year to conduct the public examinations is 
 a continuous record of the advance made in the creation, 
 gradual development and improvement of the curriculum and 
 of the methods and standards of instruction. A home was 
 thus built for the Thorah in this land of the great west. That 
 very deed in itself was perhaps the most far-reaching piece of 
 work accomplished, because it gave a new stability to Judaism 
 in the new world. Twenty-five years have shown that the Anshe 
 Maarab, the men of the west, are no less zealous than the Anshe 
 Mizrach, the men of the east. When we are admonished that 
 the Orient gave religion to the world, we respond by declaring 
 that the Occident has not merely accepted but also vitalized it. 
 Contrast the torpor that still casts so heavy a spell over Asia with 
 the vigorous power of initiative in behalf of every movement for 
 
 38
 
 moral, educational and religious advance which distinguishes 
 America, and especially the men and women west of the Alleghany 
 Mountains. It was this courageous spirit of initiative that 
 brought together a faculty of scholarly men, whose very organiza- 
 tion accomplished the effect of giving authoritativeness to in- 
 struction in the great literature of Israel. Here, for the first time 
 in America, the science of Judaism was cultivated. Here, for the 
 first time on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, Jewish learning was 
 adorned with academic honors and dignities. 
 
 Whatever movements have been inaugurated during this 
 quarter century to foster Jewish knowledge have owed a large 
 measure of support to the college and its faculty and their dis- 
 ciples. Apart from the books written by individuals and the 
 articles contributed to periodicals, the work accomplished in this 
 field is prominent in the volumes of the Jewish Encyclopedia, in 
 the Year Books of the Central Conference of American Rabbis 
 and Jewish Historical Society, in the works of the Jewish Publica- 
 tion Society and other publications. These are the first fruits of a 
 scholarship which is as ripe as, although it may not have the mel- 
 lowness of old world products. Our distinguished President Dr. 
 Kohler and his learned faculty are the peers of those now engaged 
 in the labor of enriching modern Jewish scholarship. They will 
 in their turn rear a worthy band of young scholars to take up 
 such research work in which we older men were largely denied 
 the privilege of indulging. 
 
 The haste and hurry of the conditions which surrounded us 
 called for and still insistently demand intellectual endeavor of a 
 different kind. It has been our task to go forth in the spirit of 
 the High Priest, Joshua Ben Gamala, to prevent the utter neglect 
 of Talmud Thorah among the people at large. As he established 
 schools for the youth of every community in the Holy Land, so 
 has the Hebrew Union College through its graduates accomplished 
 a positive work in the organization of religious schools and con- 
 gregations in hundreds of cities and towns in America, saving 
 thousands of Jewish children and thousands of Jewish homes from 
 
 89
 
 wanton religious neglect. Moreover the contrast between the 
 best of our religious schools of twenty-five years ago and of today* 
 reveals one of the most striking achievements brought about in 
 largest measure through the work of the men of the college. It 
 it apparent, even in the architecture of our synagogs. Formerly 
 the schools were relegated to dark and dingy basement rooms, de- 
 void of all attractiveness, and of proper sanitary and educational 
 equipment. Today emphasis is placed primarily on these require- 
 ments, and money is spent lavishly to secure them. These external 
 changes are, however, but an index of the inner changes that 
 have transformed the rude, disorderly unsystematic 'Heder, or 
 Jewish Day School, into the modern Religious School, wherein the 
 extraordinary advance made in recent years in child-study and 
 the science of pedagogy find ardent application. Parents are 
 everywhere enthusiastic to-day when they 'contrast the old 
 obnoxious system which male religious instruction distasteful 
 with the spirit of our schools filled with eager youths, in 
 whom a warm hearted devotion to Judaism is enkindled by ra- 
 tional and attractive methods. We may rightfully claim that 
 earnest and effective work has been done to translate into the 
 living truth the motto inscribed on the seal of the Union and 
 stamped on the diploma of the college, which gave us the Hattarat 
 Hora'ah, license to teach: "Education exceeds all else," for 
 "The fruitage thereof is enjoyed now, while the stalk remains 
 imperishable." 
 
 Next in importance to the work done for the schools has 
 been that undertaken for the pulpit. No one can gain-say that 
 the past quarter century has witnessed a noteworthy advancement 
 in the standard of the American Jewish pulpits. Before that time 
 the few large congregations of the great cities, who possessed 
 the means, imported their rabbis from abroad. Thus came the 
 Adlers, Einhorn and Hirsh, Merzbacher and Gottheil, Wise and 
 Lillienthal, Leeser and Raphael, Jastrow and Szold, Morais and 
 Mendez, Huebsch and Mielziner, Kohler and Kohut, and a few 
 other men of solid attainments and sterling character. 
 
 40
 
 Many of the other pulpits, especially in the smaller places, 
 were victimized by misfits and undesirables of every class, whose 
 learning was an ignorant jumble and whose laxity of character 
 often led to woeful tragedies. Men from the college are de- 
 manded now everywhere, because their records are known and 
 approved. "We have had a few unfortunates among our students 
 and graduates. While we bewail their failure, we rejoice in the 
 establishment of those rigorous standards of rectitude for the 
 ministry, to which the congregations have risen through the very 
 existence and work of the college itself. 
 
 The rabbis of the generation, which has passed to its eternal 
 reward, were men of heroic mould. They had a gigantic task to 
 perform. It fell to them to solve the difficult problems attendant 
 on the vast migration which swept to these shores in the middle 
 of the last century from northern Europe. Theirs was a life and 
 death struggle in behalf of Judaism. Its survival in America, 
 some contended, depended on Reform ; equally zealous were those 
 who insisted on the rigid maintenance of Orthodoxy. The ser- 
 mons of the rabbis reflected these contentions. Profound, enthusi- 
 astic, eloquent, as were their discourses, too often, alas, these were 
 marred by a spirit of bitterness, which halted not at invective, 
 scorn and personal abuse. It is a happy fact that our pulpits 
 have been almost entirely cleansed in this respect. "We owe this 
 to the Hebrew Union College. Rabbis reared and trained by the 
 same Alma Mater, learned to respect each other's differences. We 
 fight not men, but measures. All along the line, Orthodox and 
 Reformers have learned to treat each other with greater fairness 
 in obedience to the dictum of the sages: "Every rightful con- 
 tention in the name of Heaven will ultimately triumph." 
 
 Our preaching these twenty-five years has been necessarily 
 direct and practical. We have tried to expound the idealism of 
 our religion in such way as to make it effective as an inspiration 
 to the people in their daily conduct. We have not dealt in specu- 
 lations, but with the stern realities of life that have forced their 
 issues upon our generation. We have had little time for dogmatic 
 
 41
 
 sermons. Great religious, moral and social problems, of which our 
 fathers knew nothing, have agitated the heart of Israel among 
 the nations. No man has allowed himself to be "muzzled" in the 
 discussion of the great problems of our age. Imbibing the Amer- 
 ican spirit of Dr. Wise, each one has freely proclaimed the truth 
 that was in his heart. And thus, the standards of fearlessness and 
 freedom of thought -and speech which characterized the pulpits of 
 Wise, Einhorn, Hirsch and the others, have been manfully upheld 
 by the graduates of the college. 
 
 We have indicated what the college has done for the school 
 and for the pulpit ; let us observe in conclusion what the college 
 has done for the people. The past quarter century has inscribed 
 a new chapter of stupendous significance in the annals of Jewish 
 history. Kishineff is synonymous with the transfer of the center 
 of Jewish interests and activities from Europe to America. 
 
 In this interval we have grown from a quarter million to 
 more than a million and a quarter people. This vast influx from 
 eastern and southern Europe has brought in its wake vast changes 
 in American Jewish life, affecting every section of the land and 
 every element of the people. Old problems under new forms now 
 recur incident to the readjustment of these masses of our brethren 
 to the social, economic and political conditions of their new and 
 strange environment. Inevitable changes have also taken place 
 during these twenty-five years in the religion of the immigrant. 
 The organization of the Jewish Theological Seminary of New 
 York was one of the results. Another result was the defection 
 from the seminary because it required of its graduates a uni- 
 versity training. This led to the establishment of the Elkanan 
 Spektor Jeshiba. The latter is devoted rigidly to upholding the 
 medieval system of rabbinical education in America, and both 
 are committed to the principle of Orthodoxy, which sets itself 
 blindly and stubornly against every innovation. Another result 
 of the new immigration has been the restoration of the old 'Heder. 
 In some places it has become a sin for a teacher to instruct Hebrew 
 in anything but the jargon. Yiddish is falsely extolled as a sacred 
 tongue. 
 
 43
 
 The so-called Orthodox synagogs do not, as a rule, support 
 schools for their children, nor do they take any account of the 
 changes in the religious life of their young men and women. 
 These, flocking into the High Schools and Universities and fol- 
 lowing the crowd into all sorts of socialistic, anarchistic and 
 atheistic meetings, too often become infidels and active opponents 
 of religion. 
 
 The college has stood forth in the midst of these distressing 
 conditions the sole organized exponent of higher education in 
 Judaism dedicated to the principle of progress. It has stood 
 firmly on the conviction that Judaism is not merely a code, nor 
 a creed, but a life. Life is movement. Our history is character- 
 ized by a conscious purpose, inspiring and guiding its onward 
 movement through the ages. Our intellectual life did not lose 
 itself in a mere pilpulistic jumble but has an articulate succes- 
 sion of schools of thought, a science of Judaism. Therefore, the 
 college set its men to work out for the present day and hour the 
 problem of making Judaism a force in the intellectual life of the 
 growing generation to conserve the moral supports, strengthen 
 and guide conduct and to deepen the spiritual elements of char- 
 acter. 
 
 President Schurman of Cornell made a notable utterance a 
 few days ago when addressing the graduating class at Cornell 
 University. Said he: "Vast changes are taking place in the 
 religious life of our time as a result of the critical and destructive 
 movement. Among these changes I discern two dangers, both 
 of which should be strenuously combated. One is an increase of 
 superstition among minds which cannot stand the light of free 
 inquiry and criticism. The other is an advance toward infidelity 
 by minds which have only felt the negative results of physical 
 science and historical research." 
 
 This warning has peculiar and most direct reference to con- 
 ditions amongst us. We have our obscurantists, who, even as the 
 ostrich hides its head in the sand, would hide their heads from 
 the light of free inquiry and research in the dark mysticisms of 
 
 48
 
 an obsolete medievalism. We have a host of Nihilists in religion, 
 those whose minds have felt only the negative results of physical 
 science and historical research, but have not advanced to the 
 positive and constructive standpoint. The only agency which 
 openly recognizes these dangers and fearlessly combats them is 
 the college, through the spread of its progressive principles. De- 
 spite its defects and limitations the work accomplished by the 
 Hebrew Union College among the people has been of incalculable 
 value. 
 
 Witness the manly attitude toward their religion, character- 
 izing the hosts of men and women in the Union of American 
 Hebrew Congregations and compare it with the paltering, cow- 
 ardly, and often treasonable doings among the Jews abroad. 
 Witness the spirit in which these men and women of our con- 
 stituency have faced and met their share of the responsibility in 
 the gravest crisis which has perhaps ever confronted any genera- 
 tion of Israelites in our long and checkered career. Mark the 
 extraordinary agencies created by them in every city and town 
 of the land to help their brethren in their every need, at the 
 expense of millions of money and untold offerings of time, energy 
 and devoted service. However weak they may be in matters of 
 observance, the hearts of our people beat true in matters of prin- 
 ciple. With all proper acknowledgment of the splendid efforts 
 of the rabbis, not children of our Alma Mater, fancy, if you can, 
 American Jewry during the past twenty-five years devoid of the 
 Hebrew Union College and the influences which have radiated 
 from it is a center. Then by way of contrast mark the actual 
 work accomplished by the college for school, pulpit and people, 
 and you will unite with me in the fervent, grateful outburst of 
 praise to God: 
 
 "This is the day the Lord hath made, 
 Let us rejoice and be glad thereon." 
 
 Etz Chayim Meyerbeer 
 
 Mrs. John C. Herah and Choir 
 
 44
 
 "The Fntnre of the Hebrew Union College " 
 
 Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf, D. D. ('83) 
 
 It was shortly after the opening of the Hebrew Union College, 
 in the year 1875. In the vestry of the Temple of Congregation 
 B'nai Israel, of this city, surrounded by a few students, sat Dr. 
 Wise, engaged in conversation with a visiting rabbi. "Do you 
 really believe that the Hebrew Union College will succeed?" 
 asked of Dr. Wise his visitor. "Do you really believe that Amer- 
 ican Israel will support it, will have faith in the ability of its 
 students to preach and teach in its prominent pulpits?" With 
 considerable fire in his voice, Dr. Wise replied : "In twenty-five 
 years from now there will be few of even the most prominent 
 pulpits in the land that will not be filled by graduates of this 
 college." The visitor shook his head dubiously and said: "It 
 will not be as easy as your enthusiasm leads you to believe." 
 "True," answered Dr. Wise, "it will not be easy. These boys 
 will have many a rough road to travel, and many a hard battle 
 to fight. But they will get to the front, for American Israel needs 
 them far more than they need American Israel." 
 
 I have heard many predictions of Dr. Wise, but none that 
 so impressed me as the one just quoted. It was uttered at a 
 time when we students ourselves had our misgivings as to our 
 future, when everything about the college seemed to predict fail- 
 ure. The Jewish press teemed with attacks. Occupants of leading 
 Jewish pulpits sneered and ridiculed. Even supporters of the 
 undertaking openly expressed their doubt. There were yet other 
 reasons for discouragement. Never was a college started under 
 more unfavorable auspices. Our one class room was a dingy 
 synagog-vestry room. Our library consisted of a dozen donated 
 Hebrew prayer-books, which likewise served as our text-books. 
 Our faculty consisted of two voluntary instructors and one Sab- 
 bath-school teacher. Our student body consisted of a few local 
 boys, who had no intention to fit themselves for the ministry, a 
 few other boys, who had no desire for that calling, and four 
 others, the only four who completed the course. 
 
 45
 
 Twenty-five years 'have since passed by and Dr. Wise's pre- 
 diction has been fulfilled. To have dared such a statement at 
 that time proves him to have been more than a master-leader and 
 master-scholar, proves him to have been a prophet as well, for 
 only one of a prophet's vision could have foreseen success when 
 all things pointed to failure, could have prophesied Hebrew 
 Union College graduates occupying the prominent pulpits of the 
 land, at a time when nearly every occupant of those pulpits had 
 nothing but derision for the faculty and students and general 
 equipment of that college. 
 
 And a prophet Dr. Wise proved himself also in his prediction 
 that the road to success would not be an easy one, that many a 
 hard battle would have to be fought before the success of the 
 reform movement would be assured. 
 
 It is difficult for the present generation adequately to realize 
 how reform was regarded a quarter of a century ago. To thou- 
 sands, especially in the east, it stood for a synonym of everything 
 destructive of Judaism, for innovations that aimed at nothing 
 short of a conversion of Jew into Christian. To pave the way 
 for such conversion, the Orthodox claimed, reform had substituted 
 the vernacular for the Hebrew, new-fangled notions for time- 
 honored customs, had introduced worship with uncovered head, 
 family pews, organ, mixed choir, Sunday service, and a number 
 of other so-called Christian practices. 
 
 We had no sooner entered upon our labor than we en- 
 countered the opposition in all its hostility. There was no term 
 of opprobrium too bitter to express Orthodoxy's abhorrence of 
 the college and its graduates. In pulpit and press, wrathful ful- 
 minations were preached and published against our heresies ; and, 
 almost in the spirit of the old-time ban, young and old were 
 entreated not to atend our service. From general attack not a 
 few resorted to personalities. We had no right to speak on mat- 
 ters Jewish, they claimed, because we were no Hebrew scholars, 
 because we had not drunk from the fount of Hebrew lore at 
 European seats of learning, because we were too incompetent to 
 speak in the name of Judaism and to labor in its behalf. 
 
 46
 
 Not even they, who professed to know so much of us, knew 
 how incompetent we felt ourselves for the large work their in- 
 activity had piled up for us. To a very large extent the Judaism 
 of that day represented a piece of Orientalism strangely out .of 
 place in an Occidental world. The beliefs and practices of the 
 cramped and stifling ghettos of intolerant Europe had been trans- 
 planted into our broad and liberal country. The world had 
 progressed and the Jew had progressed with it as man and citi- 
 zen, but not in religious life. Slavish adherence to dead form 
 clashed with the spirit of modern thought. By far the largest 
 number of the new generation, reared under new conditions, re- 
 fused to bear the shackles of musty medievalism. They under- 
 stood not its language, and were repelled by its bizarre ritualism. 
 They were confronted by modern problems for whose solution 
 they looked to religion, only to find that it regarded these outside 
 its sphere of activity. To ceremonial Judaism of that day, as it 
 does to Orthodoxy of our day, religion meant Law ; to us it meant 
 Life. 
 
 According to Orthodox belief of that day, the minister had 
 no part in the solution of modern problems. His duty was to 
 see that old forms and customs were kept from dying rather 
 than that new principles were brought into life. His study 
 lay in knowing what the rabbi had said in countries far away, 
 and in an age and language long since dead, and not in knowing 
 what the scholars and reformers spoke in modern times, and 
 what the needs were in modern days. Their ideal of a rabbi 
 was the one who, after reading one or two services on the Sab- 
 bath day, sank out of sight all week long, to bury himself in 
 the musty volumes of ancient lore, and to spend his days in un- 
 riddling imaginary Bible riddles, or spinning theological cob- 
 webs. "What has a rabbi to do," they asked, "with questions 
 of capital and labor, with social and political reform, with 
 housing the poor and cleaning the slums? What concern is 
 it to him as to what is taught in the public schools, and how? 
 What need for a rabbi to trouble himself as to what the Chris- 
 
 47
 
 tian knows and thinks of Jew and Judaism, or as to what the 
 Jew knows and thinks of Christianity and its founders? What 
 need of his troubling himself about what Darwin and Spencer 
 and Haeckel think of the origin of the universe and the crea- 
 tion of man, when he has his Bible and Talmud and Jewish 
 medieval writers to teach him all he requires to know?" 
 
 Far different was our conception of the duties of a rabbi. 
 We prized knowledge of Hebrew lore as much as did our op- 
 ponents, and we had given to an acquisition of it many a year 
 of devoted study. But we did not regard entire devotion to it 
 compatible with the requirements of a modern minister. To 
 our mind the place for him who would devote himself exclu- 
 sively to Hebrew studies, was not the pulpit, but an institution 
 especially devoted to the teachings of such studies. The pulpit 
 needs physicians of the soul, correctors of the morals of so- 
 ciety, and not linguists, book-worms or archeologists. It must 
 have live men, for it has live work to do. Home and school, 
 factory and shop, capital and labor, civic and national govern- 
 ment, appeal in our day to the pulpit for aid in solving some of 
 their vexing problems. It must do the work which is in its 
 province to do, and speak the language that all can under- 
 stand. Instead of being a closet-student, the minister must be 
 out in the world, must mingle with the people, must know their 
 virtues and vices, their weakness and strength, must know the 
 cares that beset them, the temptations that lure them, the doubts 
 that perplex them. He must thoroughly diagnose the insani- 
 ties of society before he can administer the medicine that shall 
 make and keep it sane. He must be a patriot in the hour of his 
 country's needs, a guardian of childhood, a protector of woman- 
 hood, a savior of manhood, a spiritualizing influence everywhere, 
 in school and in church, in the secluded home and the open arena. 
 
 With such conception of the duties of the modern ministry, 
 we entered upon our work, and with it we faithfully labored on. 
 And, notwithstanding howl and attack, our labors prospered, 
 our congregations grew. Many that had fallen away from Israel 
 
 48
 
 returned to our flag. Many that had grown cold and indifferent 
 became enthusiastic in their support. The new spirit introduced 
 into congregational life, notably among the young, created a 
 larger demand for graduates than the Hebrew Union College 
 could supply, and today, Dr. Wise's prophecy of twenty-five 
 years ago, is fulfilled to the letter. Scarcely a prominent pulpit 
 in the land but it is filled by a graduate of the Hebrew Union 
 College. 
 
 What of the future of the Hebrew Union College? There 
 are those who have not much faith in its future. They point 
 to the fewness of its students, to the unpopularity of the Jew- 
 ish ministry among our gifted young men, to the absence of 
 sons of representative families from its student body, to the lack 
 of support of it by our monied people, to the lack of interest in 
 it on the part of the public in general, so much so that, to have 
 a satisfactory audience at all, the graduation exercises have to 
 be tacked on to the Saturday service. 
 
 Would that Dr. Wise were alive today, and these fears were 
 expressed in his hearing! Would that his lips could speak 
 once more words such as he used to speak when aroused 
 by righteous indignation ! How his speech of fire would wither 
 into nothingness such fears as these! How his eagle-eye would 
 light up with visions of the future, and his tongue of prophecy 
 speak forth future happenings that would dispel every mis- 
 giving and kindle enthusiasm in the souls of those of little faith ! 
 
 "Who dare speak of failure, today," he would say, "in the 
 face of a record such as the Hebrew Union College has made 
 during the past twenty-five years? What are the dishearten- 
 ments of today compared with those of twenty-five years ago? 
 If practically out of nothing, and with almost all against it, the 
 college could accomplish so much in twenty-five years, what 
 will it not accomplish in the next twenty-five years, with its 
 graduates, today, in more than a hundred pulpits, with more 
 than a hundred congregations contributing today towards its 
 support, with more than $350,000 today in its sinking fund, with 
 
 49
 
 a learned faculty presiding over its studies, with splendid 
 library, and with beautiful grounds for the erection of a magnifi- 
 cent series of buildings? 
 
 "The day is coming," he would continue, "when society, 
 weary of the domestic infidelities and social corruptions and 
 political knaveries, into which present-day irreligion and its 
 consequent materialism and money-craze and libertinism have 
 driven it, will cry a loud halt, and return to religion for its 
 anchorage. 
 
 "The day is not far distant when religious leaders will re- 
 cognize in such present-day delusions as Christian Science, a soul- 
 hunger for a sustaining and comforting religion, and will sat- 
 isfy that hunger with wholesome spiritual food. 
 
 "The day is coming when ministers will cease to be mere 
 creed-repeating parrots, or automata wound up weekly to grind 
 out sermons on doctrines and dogmas in which few believe, and 
 which still less care to hear. 
 
 "The day is coming when the burning moral questions of 
 the hour will find in the minister their ablest public champion, 
 when from the pulpit the bitterest wars will be waged against 
 corruption and outrage, when ministers will be recognized 
 leaders in every movement that makes for the suppression of 
 evil and for the furtherance of righteousness, when young men 
 of courage and daring, young men endowed with the spirit that 
 characterized the militant prophets of old, will be drawn towards 
 the pulpit and find there unlimited opportunities for the exercise 
 of even the most brilliant gifts and powers. 
 
 "The day is coming when the splendid battles fought and 
 won from the pulpit, when the vast influences for good emana- 
 ting from the House of God, will procure for the college the 
 liberal support of the wealthy classes, and the enthusiastic de- 
 votion of the public in general. 
 
 ' ' The day is not far distant when the faculty of the Hebrew 
 Union College will recognize that reform thus far has not reached 
 below the surface of things, has concerned itself largely with the 
 
 50
 
 externalities of religion, with form and ceremonial, with language 
 diet and the like. It has scarcely penetrated as yet into the 
 realm of religion itself. Such teachings as 'love thy neighbor 
 as thyself are still more honored in the breach than in the 
 practice. A universal brotherhood of man is still an irridescent 
 dream. In the conflict between the spirit and the flesh, the spirit 
 is still the weaker. Wars still rage; prejudice and hatred still 
 separate man and man. Might is still stronger than right, and 
 gold more popular than God. And recognizing this, the faculty 
 will make of the college not merely a depository of ancient lore, 
 but also an arsenal in which to train and epuip its students 
 for present-day combat; will, in arranging its curriculum of 
 studies, take cognizance of the needs of the hour, of the work 
 its graduates will be obliged to do in these days, if they are 
 to succeed, of the knowledge they must possess, if they are to 
 face and fight and conquer the evils of their day." 
 
 Thus would Dr. Wise, of sainted memory, speak to us of 
 the future of the Hebrew Union College were he alive today. 
 Yet, though not with us in body, his presence permeates our 
 gathering. From today's celebration we shall go forth richer 
 for his presence, the more hopeful for his message. In our silent 
 musings over the days that have been, we hear his whisperings 
 of things that shall be. The past of his moulding was bright. 
 May we show our truest appreciation of our lamented master's 
 services by making the future brighter still. 
 
 51
 
 "The Influence of the Hebrew Union College on Judaism in 
 
 America Rabbi David Philipson, D. D. ('83) 
 
 This is a day of memories. We have lived the past thirty- 
 three years over again, we who were present at the opening of 
 our beloved Alma Mater, we who were participants in the strug- 
 gles and trials of the first eight years, we who were central fig- 
 ures in the triumphant celebration of twenty-five years ago, 
 when, his labors crowned with victory, our revered spiritual 
 father laid his hands upon our heads and pressed his lips upon 
 our brows, and overcome with emotion, bade us, the first fruits 
 of his many years' work in the vineyard of the Lord, go forth 
 to become, as he hoped and prayed, a blessing and an uplifting 
 force in the life of Israel in America. He never wavered. His 
 faith never weakened. From the very first he prophesied that 
 the Hebrew Union College, through its work and the work of 
 its graduates, would exert a telling influence on Judaism in this 
 country. Today the questions are pertinent, has this faith of 
 Isaac M. Wise been justified? Have his dreams of the high 
 possibilities of the Hebrew Union College been realized? Have 
 his prophecies so often uttered been fulfilled? Have the achieve- 
 ments and accomplishments of the past quarter century, as 
 represented in the activities of the graduates of the College, re- 
 dounded to the weal or the woe of American Judaism? Fateful 
 questions these, and likely to be answered favorably or unfavor- 
 ably according to the viewpoint of him who makes reply. 
 
 But whether the answer be favorable or unfavorable, 
 whether it be the enthusiastic yea of the ardent friend of the 
 College, or the decided nay of its opponent, none I believe will 
 cavil at the claim that the College has exerted a most decided 
 influence on the religious development of the Jews in this land. 
 What some of the features of this influence are it is my task to 
 place before you as briefly as I can. 
 
 I can not concern myself with the individual achievements 
 of the graduates of the College ; the new temples they have urged 
 
 62
 
 congregations to erect, here, there and everywhere; the insti- 
 tutions and organizations they have called into being; the books 
 they have written ; the personal influence they have brought to 
 bear upon communal religions, moral and civic activities in their 
 various fields of labor; the many occasions at which they are 
 Assisting constantly in their representative capacity as Jewish 
 leaders. This would lead me too far afield ; besides, these things 
 are so generally recognized and so clearly upon the surface that 
 he who runs may read. Further, the personal equation enters 
 so largely into this aspect of the subject as far as the present 
 speaker or any graduate of the institution is concerned, that 
 mindful of the wise admonition of the ancient sage, "let another 
 man praise thee, and not thine own mouth," I dismiss it with- 
 out further expatiation, being sure that all the achievements of 
 my fellow alumni of the College will receive the proper meed of 
 pntise or blame somewhere and sometime from Him who weigheth 
 Ihe actions of men and considereth all their doings. 
 
 Let me then consider our subject rather in some of its 
 general aspects. In the first place, the College through its 
 founder and the great majority of its graduates has stood and 
 stands for the liberal movement in Judaism. It has made it- 
 self felt as an influence for the promulgation among American 
 Jews of that interpretation of the faith which teaches the 
 doctrine of constant development and distinguishes between the 
 permanent and Iransitory elements in religion. Although the 
 instruction in the class rooms is concerned altogether with the 
 achievements of the Jewish soul as preserved in our great spir- 
 itual and literary monuments, the Bible, the Talmud, the Mid- 
 rashim, the philosophers, yet does the spirit prevading the 
 instruction make for that view which is connoted by the term, 
 Reform Judaism. It is frequently claimed that a Jewish insti- 
 tution of higher learning such as the College is, should be non- 
 committal as far as the vexed questions of Jewish opinion are 
 concerned. It is held by the champions of this view that Jewish 
 learning is neither Reformed nor Orthodox, neither liberal nor 
 
 53
 
 conservative; that in interpreting passages of the Bible or the 
 Talmud the personal views of the professor on vexed questions 
 of Jewish theology must be suppressed, and that only the his- 
 torical exegetical and literary significance of the passages in 
 question should be expounded. Such an attitude may be possible 
 in a strictly linguistic or literary academy; it was possible, too, 
 in a Jewish theological institution in an earlier day when there 
 was but one rule for Jews, the norm of the Shulehan Aruk, and 
 when there were no conflicting opinions on important points of 
 belief and practice. During the past century, however, Jews 
 have divided into parties that differ vitally in their views on the 
 whole intent and meaning of Judaism. There are many shades 
 of opinion, but the commonly accepted alignment marks us as 
 Reformers or Orthodox. These current terms are not the best 
 that might have been coined, but they serve our purpose, since 
 it is generally known what they designate. Now Judaism hav- 
 ing taken this course, and there being these varying tendencies 
 of thought in its theology, it is simply out of the question for 
 an institution that prepares candidates for an active ministry 
 not to represent one or the other of these tendencies of thought. 
 The Hebrew Union College is premeated with the liberal tend- 
 ency. That here and there some of its graduates preach in a 
 manner that is seemingly at variance with this tendency simply 
 indicates that each man develops his individual bent after he 
 leaves the institution. But on the whole, I believe it can not be 
 gainsaid that the influence of the College through its graduates 
 who are interpreting the doctrines of Judaism from over a 
 hundred pulpits, has been to spread among American Jews that 
 view of the faith which, while building upon the essentials of 
 Judaism, applies the touchstone of development to doctrines, 
 forms and ceremonies, and claims that in religion as little as 
 in any other human experience, the motto, "touch me not," 
 can apply. 
 
 In the second place, the training of American youths for 
 the Jewish ministry and the occupancy of the Jewish pulpit by 
 
 54
 
 such as received their education in an American institution em- 
 phasized more than anything had ever done the American 
 phase in the development of Judaism, if I may so term it. Be- 
 fore the graduates of the Hebrew Union College became the 
 spiritual leaders of our congregations, the pulpits were manned 
 for the most part by men of foreign birth. I know I am tread- 
 ing on delicate ground here, and am likely to be misunder- 
 stood. Needless to say that no one is less in sympathy with the 
 so-called Know Nothing spirit than I. There is none who 
 has a greater respect and love for the splendid leaders 
 who occupied the Jewish pulpits in the pre-Hebrew Union 
 College days, Wise and Lilienthal, Einhorn and Hirsch, Leeser 
 and Morais, Samuel Adler and Huebsch, Felsenthal and Lieb- 
 man Adler, Gutheim and Moses, Szold and Jastrow, Gott- 
 heil and Voorsanger, and the many others, dead and living, 
 who might be mentioned, men who though of foreign birth were 
 surcharged with the American spirit and entered fully into the 
 life and activity of American civilization ; but what I mean is 
 this, that when the Hebrew Union College, the first American 
 yeshibah, sent forth its first graduates, then what we call Amer- 
 ican Judaism received an official seal and became self-expres- 
 sive. The great pioneers had all been working towards this end 
 consciously or unconsciously. When they came to these shores 
 they recognized that Judaism in this land would carve out a 
 career all its own. This was the note of all their preaching 
 and their public activity. When Wise, the very embodiment of 
 the democratic spirit, in Albany, and later in Cincinnati, 
 preached in season and out of season of the opportunities of 
 the Jew and Judaism in this land ; when Eirihorn, in Baltimore, 
 fearlessly delivered his ringing messages of freedom for all men, 
 black as well as white, in a pro-slavery city in the exciting 
 period immediately preceding the Civil War; when Lilienthal 
 on every public occasion in this city rang the changes on the 
 glories of the American Republic; when Gutheim in the southern 
 metropolis so carried himself in all he said and did that he was 
 
 55
 
 recognized as an American of the Americans; when all our 
 other Jewish leaders of aforetime in tfieir various spheres of 
 activity gave evidence of similar traits, they were preparing the 
 way for the founding of an institution that should be the visible 
 symbol of the spirit they embodied, and should stand before the 
 American people as that Academy of higher learning which was 
 to be the meeting place of the old and the new, permeating the 
 Jewish tradition with the free American spirt and readjusting the 
 Jewish heritage to the modern American conditions. Not then 
 because the leaders of that former generation were less loyally 
 American than we of this latter day, but because coming from 
 lands where restrictions prevented them from living their lives 
 fully as men, they were even more sensible of the blessings and 
 opportunities of American institutions, and, therefore, felt the 
 necessity of an American training school for rabbis does it ap- 
 pear that the College may indeed be characterized in the manner 
 I have done and the claim be urged that this has been indeed 
 one of the chief marks of its influence as emphasizing the Amer- 
 icanism of Jews and Jewish congregations in this land. 
 
 This makes it plain why the intensely American founder 
 of the 'college, recognizing this feature of the institution's work 
 set his faee like steel against the neo-nationalistic movement 
 that sprang up in a certain section of Jewry toward the close of 
 his life. This makes it clear also why in its course, official and 
 unofficial, the College has declared against political Zionism. 
 An institution, American to the core, as is the College, can have 
 no sympathy with a movement whose inspiration lies in the 
 fostering of political hopes which are the counterpart of the 
 narrow nationalism that produced anti-Semitism and other back- 
 ward movements and are at variance with the universalism bred 
 of the union of prophetic Judaism with the American spirit. 
 
 There are many other directions in which the College li;i* 
 exerted influence on Judaism in America. I should like to dwell 
 on these, but my time is limited and I must forego the tempta- 
 tion. However, there is one point that I must touch upon, and 
 
 56
 
 I am sure that I will be pardoned for giving this preference 
 over the others, as soon as it shall be mentioned. I refer to the 
 part played by the Hebrew Union College in the formation of 
 the Central Conference of American Rabbis. True, there had 
 been occasional conferences of rabbis in this country before the 
 organization of the Central Conference, but these were only 
 single gatherings and not permanent institutions. When Isaac 
 M. Wise felt that there were enough of his disciples occupying 
 the pulpits throughout the country who in conjunction with his 
 personal friends not graduates of the College would make pos- 
 sible the realization of one of his long cherished dreams, he took 
 steps towards organizing a rabbinical conference. Great as has 
 been the assistance of the members of the Conference who are 
 not graduates of the institution, and faithful as has been and 
 is their service, yet I believe it may be said without fear of 
 contradiction that had there been no Hebrew Union College 
 there would be no Central Conference of American Rabbis. 
 Indirectly then, through the Conference, the College has been a 
 tremondous unifying force in the religious life of Jewry. All 
 that the conference has achieved, its Union Prayer Book its 
 Union Hymnal, its Union Hagadah, and most of all its bring- 
 ing into bonds of fellowship over two hundred rabbis, leaders of 
 reform and conservative congregations, may be traced to the 
 influence of the College. Surely these three great achievements 
 of Isaac M. Wise hang together, the Union of American Hebrew 
 Congregations, the Hebrew Union College, the Central Con- 
 ference of American Rabbis. Without the Union, no Col- 
 lege; without the College, no Conference. Is this not a triple 
 cord which shall not soon be broken? Who will ever measure 
 the mighty influence of these three institutions on the life of 
 Judaism in America? The stream of this influence has permeated 
 all sections of the country, reviving the drooping spirit of Juda- 
 ism here and strengthening weak hands there. Blessed, blessed 
 indeed is the memory of the great man who lives forever in these 
 his works! 
 
 67
 
 And now a word more and I will have done. The influence 
 of the College has made itself felt also in pointing out the 
 Jewish ministry as a field of activity for our young men. Be- 
 fore the College was organized I believe there were only four 
 American youths who had chosen the ministry as their vocation. 
 The difficulties in the way of preparation were too great. The 
 College changed all that, and its Alumni, numbering at present 
 one hundred and twenty-seven, offer eloquent testimony that the 
 pulpit is recognized as offering an honorable career for Jewish 
 youth, no less than the clinic and the bar. Surely this is not 
 a small service that the College has accomplished. And here may 
 I not enter >a plea for the wider extension of this influence? 
 There is surely no more honorable service than that of the rabbi. 
 Why then is it that where there are hundreds of young Jews 
 studying to become physicians, lawyers engineers and what not, 
 the number devoting themselves to the work of the ministry 
 is so small? I do not like to strike a minor note in the jubila- 
 tion of this celebration. I do so only because it is exigent. 
 The fly in our ointment is the dearth of our native born youth 
 among the students for the ministry. When the class, whose 
 silver anniversary occurs today, entered the college, it numbered 
 eighteen. Today those entering each year are scarcely as many 
 as were graduated from that first class. If the influence of the 
 Hebrew Union College is to attain the highest pinnacle its work 
 as attested by its graduates must inspire the elect of our youth 
 with the desire to give themselves to service in the cause of 
 Judaism. There is a tremendous field for work, the call for 
 capable, earnest, devoted young leaders is urgent. The future 
 usefulness and influence of the College is contingent upon an 
 increasing number in the student body. If in celebration of this 
 silver anniversary, our Alumni would resolve that each and every 
 one of us should put forth more earnest efforts to send occasion- 
 ally a youth of good parts to the college so that there should be 
 eight or ten candidates entering each year we will have per- 
 formed the greatest service to the cause. Needed as are funds, 
 
 68
 
 students are more needed. Through them the influence of the 
 College will spread and ever spread. If we will supply this 
 student material to the College, the time is bound to come when 
 to a much greater degree than is the ease even at present, the 
 influence of the college will be potent throughout the length and 
 breadth of of this land. North and South, East and West, in 
 every city and town, the Hebrew Union College will make it- 
 self felt through the words and acts of the rabbis who have 
 gone forth from its halls. That influence will be on the whole 
 for the promulgation of that interpretation of Judaism which 
 while building upon the immovable foundations of a great past, 
 yet avers that every age has its contribution to make to the 
 ever flowing stream of religions development. The beliefs and 
 practices which have crytallized into traditions were at one time 
 as new as is the latest utterance of this latest age. The twen- 
 tieth century is weaving its figure into the pattern of Judaism 
 just as certainly as did the century of Moses or Isaiah, the cen- 
 tury of Ezra or Johanan ben Zakkai, the century of Maimonides 
 or Mendelssohn. Our great men of the nineteenth century were 
 inspired of God as truly as the prophets of old; if difference 
 there was, it was a difference of degree, not of kind. In that 
 galaxy of American Jewish leaders of the nineteenth century, 
 Isaac M. Wise stands pre-eminent; his influence on Judaism in 
 America was greater than that of any other one man; but greater 
 still than his individual influence, and so he would have had it, 
 is the influence of the institution he created, the institution 
 whose beginnings were very small, but whose future is very 
 bright, the institution which has reared scores of men who are 
 carrying the living message of Judaism to thousands and tens 
 of thousands, expressing the eternal truths of our faith in 
 modern form and manner. The future of Judaism in America 
 is big with possibilities ; we are standing only at the beginnings. 
 Unless all signs fall, one of the chief factors in the unfolding 
 of Jewish life and thought in the future that looms before us 
 will be the Hebrew Union College through the leaders whom it 
 
 V 
 
 69
 
 will continue to send forth. Great as are the possibilities, so 
 great are the responsibilities. Of these responsibilities to our 
 cause, may we never cease to be conscious, we, the children of 
 the college; for all the past we are grateful; in all the future 
 may we be steadfast. So may our God help us and keep us true 
 that the influence of the spiritual mother who has nourished us 
 may go from strength to strength, and redound to the blessing 
 of Judaism in this dear land of ours, and all other lands, and 
 through this to the weal of all humanity throughout all the 
 world in all the time that shall be, striving with all other good 
 influences towards the golden age whereof prophets have 
 dreamed and poets have sung, of the Brotherhood of Man and 
 the Fatherhood of God. 
 
 Psalm cl Lewandowski 
 
 Choir 
 
 Benediction - - - Rabbi Max J. Merritt, ('03) 
 
 00
 
 1883 19O8 
 
 DINNER 
 
 TENDERED BY THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS TO THE 
 ALUMNI OF THE 
 
 HEBREW UNION COLLEGE 
 
 IN HONOR OF THE 
 
 TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 OF THE FIRST GRADUATION 
 CINCINNATI CLUB 
 
 SUNDAY EVENING, JUNE 28, 19O8 
 
 AT HALF-PAST SIX O'CLOCK 
 
 ... TOASTS ... 
 
 TOAST-MASTER, - LEO M. FRANKLIN, '92 
 
 "The Alumual Spirit" Jonah B. Wise, '03 
 
 " Isaac M. Wise " - Joseph Stolz, '84 
 
 " Our Alma Mater " Joseph Silverman, '84 
 
 "Memories of our College Days" David Marx, '94 
 
 " The American Rabbi " Moees J. Gries, '89 
 
 " Our Country and Our Faith " Charles S. Levi, '89 
 
 61
 
 MESSAGES 
 
 Congratulatory messages were reoeived from: 
 
 Simon Wolf, 
 Henry M. Goldfogle, 
 Mrs. Bertha Rayner Frank, 
 Charles Hess, 
 Samuel Hassenbusch, - 
 Samuel Woolner, 
 Adolf Kraus, 
 A. G. Solomons, 
 Wm. B. Hackenburg, 
 David E. Heineman, 
 Maurice Fluegel, 
 Charles Wm. Dabney, 
 Rabbi Barnett A. Elzas, 
 Rabbi Rudolf Grossmann, - 
 Rabbi Louis Bernstein, 
 Rabbi Harry Weiss, 
 Rabbi Martin Zielonka, 
 Rabbi Tobias Schanfarber, - 
 Rabbi Morris M. Feuerlicht, 
 Rabbi M. G. Solomon, 
 
 And many others. 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 New York City 
 Baltimore, Md. 
 Mobile, Ala. 
 St. Joseph, Mo. 
 Peoria, 111. 
 Chicago, 111. 
 West End, N. J. 
 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 Detroit, Mich. 
 Baltimore, Md. 
 Cincinnati, O. 
 Charleston, S. C. 
 New York City 
 St. Joseph, Mo. 
 Macon, Ga. 
 El Paso, Texas 
 Chicago, 111. 
 Indianapolis, Ind. 
 Los Angeles, Cal. 
 
 62
 
 PRESS OF MAY 8c KREIDLER 
 CINCINNATI, O.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 o*.ft jW*tfT 
 
 JAN 17 1969 
 
 Form L9-8eries 444