Prophet in a Time of Priests. Janice Rothschild Blumberg

disagreed with Browne’s theory as to the reason for the libel. He was convinced that the culprit was “no disappointed candidate, [but] a Hungarian peddler whom we have met somewhere... and who is as malicious and unscrupulous a friend as we have met one in human shape.” He not only published that opinion in his newspaper, but reaffirmed his confidence in Browne by inviting him to preach from the master’s own pulpit in Cincinnati’s magnificent B’nai Jeshurun, Plum Street Temple.29

      Preaching a regular weekly sermon was a Protestant innovation adopted into Judaism by Reform that became an increasingly popular addition to Jewish services in America. This was especially true when delivered in English rather than German, the language then used in most American synagogues. Not only did it attract the younger members who spoke English and wanted to improve their fluency, but it also drew non-Jews to the synagogue since lectures were a popular form of entertainment and synagogues did not charge admission fees. Thus did the sermon grow in importance and become significant both as a factor in the process of Americanization as well as in the all-important function of combating antisemitism. As a result the role of the rabbi, which in Europe had been that of scholar and teacher with rarely any synagogue-related responsibility, changed in late nineteenth century American congregations to that of pastor, teacher, leader of the worship service, and public advocate for the Jewish community. In the words of historian Jacob Rader Marcus, the modern rabbi was expected to be “a lodestar for the youth and an ambassador to the admiring Gentiles,” an image which Wise and his immediate followers as president of the Hebrew Union College assiduously cultivated.30

      Browne, well qualified in respect to pleasing non-Jews, had no trouble finding another pulpit after failing in his first two. He received a call from Charleston’s historic Congregation Beth Elohim to be its English reader alongside the Dutch-born, German-speaking Rabbi Joseph H. M. Chumaceiro. While traveling to that Deep South post, however, he made what he thought would be a temporary stop to speak for the Evansville, Indiana, lodge of B’nai B’rith, the international Jewish service organization founded in 1843. There he encountered a combination of circumstances that changed his life.31

      Evansville, 1871

      Jewish communities up and down the Ohio River from Cincinnati knew Isaac Mayer Wise and frequently sent him news to be published in the American Israelite. In September, 1871, he received a report from Samuel Meyer, a furniture manufacturer in Evansville, who wrote:

      It is with feelings of greatest pleasure that I write to inform you that we have selected the Rev. Dr. Browne as Rabbi of our congregation, and I congratulate myself on the fact that our society is indebted to me for that piece of good fortune. While on a visit to Cincinnati, I had the pleasure of making Dr. Browne’s acquaintance, and I requested him to visit Evansville, feeling that he was just the man of whom we stood in need.... Dr. Browne declined my proposal... being about to start for Charleston, S.C., where he had been called to a position as rabbi, of which any minister might be proud. I thereupon entreated him to take the route to Charleston via Evansville & Nashville, the distance being about the same as via Louisville. Dr. Browne agreed... and on the evening of his arrival, the B’nai B’rith invited him to address them.... The Doctor spoke extempore for over an hour, and the congregation were quite charmed... Many present declared that no foreigner could acquire greater proficiency in the English tongue.... We offered Doctor Browne every inducement in our power to accept the position... but he replied that he felt himself called to Charleston. We found, however that he was favorably impressed with our temple and congregation, and we contrived to detain him among us a little longer. He subsequently delivered his lecture on the Talmud before the largest and most intelligent audience in Evansville, and our Gentile brethren were loud in his praises, while the city press spoke in very high terms of his discourse. But just when it seemed that we were about to lose Dr. Browne, news suddenly reached him that the yellow fever had broken out in Charleston, and this intelligence caused him to accept our invitation....

      It may have been more than the news of yellow fever that persuaded Browne to remain in Evansville. In addition to mentioning that the congregation had previously considered five other candidates, each old enough to have been Browne’s father, Meyer also wrote that Wise might be called upon shortly to perform a marriage ceremony for the young man, it being “not unlikely that some of the most beautiful young ladies in our city are setting their caps for him.”33

      Wise had dedicated Evansville’s first synagogue in 1865, and was well acquainted with its Jewish community. The congregation of B’nai Israel, then known as the Sixth Street Temple, was largely composed of 1840s immigrants from Bavaria and Wüerttemberg. It leaned toward Reform from the beginning, was among the first to join the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1873, and proudly claimed to be the very first to pay dues. Well situated for river traffic, its citizens prospered during the war and subsequently enjoyed the fruits of their good fortune.

      Soon after Browne accepted the position in Evansville, the local B’nai B’rith lodge sponsored a ball to benefit its Hebrew Orphan’s Home in Cleveland. Since its inception B’nai B’rith had established orphanages, hospitals and other public facilities, nurturing them until they could exist on their own or were no longer needed. Balls such as these—ubiquitous as a means of supporting communal institutions and supported by Christians as well as by Jews—were scheduled to celebrate almost any occasion, especially festive Jewish holidays such as Purim and Simchat Torah at the end of Succoth, which was the case with this one. When asked to speak at the event, the rabbi noted that, although the congregation did not utilize the lulav, ethrog and succah, traditional objects for the holiday celebration, the joyous tone and charitable purpose of the event brought it closer than any other to the spirit of the festival as specified in Scripture.

      Evidence of the importance that Jews placed on the approval of Christians may be seen in the report of this ball that appeared in the American Israelite. It noted that “the first American families” (i.e., native born Christian) participated, and that the local newspapers, “especially the leading and most aristocratic Journal, accorded all praise to our ladies...due homage to the beautiful ‘oriental type of our Jewesses....’” This avowal of admiration, combined with the lingering perception that Jews were somewhat foreign and exotic, reflected a well meant though mixed message on the part of Christians.34

      Another note in the Evansville Journal declared, “In ball dresses amiable Miss S. W. was pronounced the most exquisite in her modest buff....” The initials identified Sophie Weil, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Moses and Clara Loewenthal Weil, well established leaders in the community.

      Moses Weil had come to the region from Bavaria in1839 as a boy of twelve, settling there even before Evansville became chartered as a city. He studied law independently while working as a grocery clerk. Although admitted to the bar in later years, he never practiced law, but chose instead to remain in business. His record is similar to that of other immigrants of the time. In 1872 he was listed as a pawn broker, living on Vine Street between 7th and 8th. He later opened the first Midwest branch of the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company. Active both in civic affairs and in the Jewish community, he was also instrumental in establishing Evansville’s first synagogue.35

      The men of Clara’s family, the Loewenthals, were likewise active in the community and founders of B’nai Israel. Her parents had immigrated when she was a child, bringing her, her sister Sara and their two brothers from Wüerttemburg, Germany, not far from Moses Weil’s birthplace. Sister Sara married Emil Brentano, son of another German Jewish family in Evansville and brother of the bachelor August Brentano, founder of the New York bookstore that bears his name. They became the parents of the three men credited with expanding the company onto the world stage. Clara wed Moses Weil in 1853 and produced a family of four boys and three girls. Sophie, born December 12, 1854, was their first child.36

      A childhood memory that Sophie often repeated suggests that the Weils may have offered their home as a station on the Underground Railroad. She recalled her parents having instructed her and her siblings that whenever they saw a dark-skinned person hurrying across the Ohio River from Kentucky, Indiana’s slave-holding southern neighbor, they should close their eyes, point to the basement of their house, and keep their eyes closed until the fugitive had time to get inside. The reason given to the children was that a white man