Isaac Leeser
| Isaac Leeser | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
December 12, 1806 Neuenkirchen/Rheine, Westphalia (present-day Germany) |
| Died | February 1, 1868 (aged 61) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Isaac Leeser (December 12, 1806 – February 1, 1868) was an American, Ashkenazi Jewish lay minister of religion, author, translator, editor, and publisher; pioneer of the Jewish pulpit in the United States, and founder of the Jewish press of America. He produced the first Jewish translation of the Bible into English, as well as editions of the liturgy. He is considered one of the most important American Jewish personalities of the nineteenth century America.
Born as Isaak Leeser in Neuenkirchen/Rheine, Westphalia, Isaac Leeser received his education at the primary school of nearby Dülmen and thereupon at a gymnasium in Münster. He was well-grounded in Latin, German, and Hebrew. He also studied the Talmud tractates Moed, Bava Metzia, and portions of Kodashim and Bava Batra under Hebrew masters. At the age of seventeen he emigrated to America, arriving at Richmond, Virginia, in May, 1824. His uncle, Zalma Rehiné, a respected merchant in that city, sent Leeser to a private school but after ten weeks the school closed, and for the next five years Leeser was employed in his uncle's . Although his circumstances were inhospitable for the growth of his Jewish knowledge, Leeser showed his bent by voluntarily assisting the hazzan to teach religion on Saturdays and Sundays and also by defending Judaism in the public press from time to time when it was assailed.
In 1828, an article in the London Quarterly reflecting on the Jews was answered by Leeser in the columns of the Richmond Whig, and the reply attracted the attention of the Jewish communities of Richmond and Philadelphia. About that time Abraham Israel Keys, hazzan of Congregation Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia, died. Leeser was induced to accept the congregation's invitation to serve as his successor. His own view of the situation is given in a letter written by him six years later to Rabbi Solomon Hirschell of London: "Knowing my own want of proper qualification, I would never have consented to serve, if others more fitting in point of standing, information, or other qualities had been here; but this not being the case (as is proved by there being yet two congregations at least in this country without a regular hazzan), I consented to serve."
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