We Shall Build Anew: Stephen S. Wise, the Jewish Institute of Religion, and the Reinvention of American Liberal Judaism

279 Pages·2022·7.518 MB·English

by  Shirley Idelson

WE SHALL BUILD ANEW
jews and judaism: history and culture
Series Editors
Mark K. Bauman
Adam D. Mendelsohn
Founding Editor
Leon J. Weinberger
Advisory Board
Tobias Brinkmann
Ellen Eisenberg
David Feldman
Kirsten Fermaglich
Jeffrey S. Gurock
Nahum Karlinsky
Richard Menkis
Riv- Ellen Prell
Mark A. Raider
Raanan Rein
Jonathan Schorsch
Stephen J. Whitfield
Marcin Wodzinski
WE SHALL BUILD ANEW
Stephen S. Wise,
the Jewish Institute of Religion,
and the
Reinvention of
American Liberal Judaism
Shirley Idelson
The University of Alabama Press
Tuscaloosa
The University of Alabama Press
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487- 0380
uapress.ua.edu
Copyright © 2022 by the University of Alabama Press
All rights reserved.
Inquiries about reproducing material from this work should be
addressed to the University of Alabama Press.
Typeface: Adobe Jenson Pro
Cover image: Jewish Institute of Religion faculty and students, circa 1927; courtesy of
the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio, at
americanjewisharchives.org
Cover design: Lori Lynch
Cataloging- in- Publication data is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN: 978- 0- 8173- 2131- 4
E- ISBN: 978- 0- 8173- 9410- 3
To Alexis

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part I. Call and First Steps
1. Traditions of Dissent 9
2. There Is a Need and We Shall Meet It 28
3. A Seminary without Adjectives 44
4. The First Test 55
5. In Pursuit of European Scholars 69
Part II. The Model Blossoms
6. A New Yavneh 89
7. Rabbinical Training for Our Time 108
8. The First Cadre 130
Part III. Metamorphosis
9. Early Transformation 153
10. Reform’s Volte- Face 168
11. The Legacy Crystalizes 183
Conclusion 206
Notes 213
Bibliography 241
Index 253
Photographs follow page 144.

Acknowledgments
While working on this book, I have lived in overlapping worlds
of batei midrash, houses of study, and I am indebted to the many teachers,
including my students, from whom I have been privileged to learn.
At Hebrew Union College-J ewish Institute of Religion’s New York School,
the Reform seminary where I received my ordination and decades later served as
dean, I was privileged to belong to a community devoted to scholarship, leader-
ship, and the highest ideals of Judaism. There, my colleagues and students inspired
me on a daily basis while also challenging and sharpening my thinking about the
significance of JIR’s history today. We were the direct descendants of Stephen S.
Wise and the cadre he assembled at the institute, and while our predecessors surely
could not anticipate how the school’s ethos would change over time, its flourishing
was thanks to the seeds they planted in the early 1920s.
My deep gratitude goes to David Ellenson, who was president of the college-
institute when I began my research. Though this book ends prior to his presidency,
I believe David embodied the best of the JIR vision while also making the crucial
corrective of integrating a feminist outlook into his leadership. I was the beneficiary,
enjoying the mentorship of this respected rabbi, scholar, and friend who recognized
the importance of the JIR story and pushed me to complete the book.
The American Jewish Archives (AJA), which houses the Jewish Institute of
Religion collection, is devoted to ensuring a strong future for American Jewish life
by raising consciousness of its past. Gary P. Zola, executive director, could not have
been more generous in sharing his wisdom, time, and boundless energy. Gary pro-
vided valuable insight and suggestions for the manuscript, as well as primary source
material that clarified the record further. I also received ample assistance from the
entire AJA team, including archivists Kevin Proffitt, Dana Herman, and Elisa Ho.
HUC- JIR’s New York librarians were also extremely helpful. Yoram Bitton
and Tina Weiss unearthed numerous JIR treasures, and Philip Miller recounted
extensive memories of the faculty and students who worked and studied on West
Sixty- Eighth Street before the school moved from its original quarters to Green-
wich Village in 1979.
Historian Mark Raider has continually shared his deep knowledge of Stephen
S. Wise and the American Zionist movement. He helped me create an analytical