Bernard Illowy

Rabbi Dr. Bernard (Yissochar Dov) Illowy (born 1814 in Kolín, Bohemia - d. June 22, 1871 in Cincinnati, Ohio) was a rabbi and leader of Orthodox Judaism in the United States.

Illowy descended from a family of religious scholars; his great-grandfather, Jacob Illowy, was the rabbi of Kolin. Illowy studied in his native city, later at the school of Rabbi Moses Sofer in Pressburg, where he received rabbinic ordination. Subsequently, Illowy received a PhD from the University of Budapest. Illowy continued his studies at the rabbinical college in Padua, Italy, and then returned to Bohemia, where for a time he was engaged in teaching and tutoring secular subjects in Znaim, Moravia. He served as a professor in a Gymnasium in Znaim as well.

About the year 1845 he married Katherine Schiff, the daughter of Wolf Schiff, a prominent merchant in Raudnitz, Bohemia.

Known for his oratory ability, many of his English sermons and addresses were published. He was reportedly an accomplished linguist, and besides a thorough knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, spoke fluent German, English, French, and Italian.

Illowy was unable to secure a position in the rabbinate in Europe due to his opposition to the Habsburg Empire. He was suspected of sympathizing with the local revolutionary elements during the upheavals of 1848. He therefore, emigrated to the United States where he had an easier time being hired as a rabbi. He was rabbi in New York City, Syracuse, Philadelphia, Baltimore, St. Louis and New Orleans, and finally Cincinnati, where he retired. Throughout his tenure in the United States, he was an ardent opponent of the spread of the Reform movement, eloquently and to an extent, successfully challenging the movement’s religious innovations and leadership in the press in the United States and Germany.

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