In Russian-Poland, as in Germany or Austria, members of the Jewish community pay a direct tax for the support of the rabbinate and the communal institutions, and while the Jewish taxpayers elect the officers who assess them, the tax or “etat” is collectible by force, i. e., with the aid of the police authorities, if it is not paid voluntarily. Only those members of the community who pay comparatively larger sums are entitled to vote for communal officers, so that the poorer classes are taxed without being represented in the governing body of the community, and the very poor are not taxed at all. In Russia proper, including Lithuania and the balance of the “pale of settlement,” where the masses of the Jews dwell, the “Korobka” or tax on Kosher meat (more correctly a tax on the slaughtering of animals for Kosher food) takes the place of the “etat” of Poland and the “Kultussteuer” of some western countries. This indirect tax, which rests more heavily on the poor, is less felt and therefore considered less burdensome, though it is and always has been hated by the Jewish masses in Russia. The absolute separation of Church and State in this country made any form of enforced taxation out of the question. And when the want of a recognized religious authority for the large mass of Orthodox Jews of New York began to be seriously felt, and the question of providing for his salary and for other communal needs of a general nature, for which the individual synagogues did not feel themselves bound to provide, became a subject for discussion among the public spirited Jews in the community, the plan of a control over the business of Kosher meat, over which the new rabbi should have complete religious supervision, suggested itself as the only practicable solution of the problem.
Chief Rabbi Jacob Joseph.
A Federation of Congregations, comprising about fifteen of the more important Orthodox synagogues, was consequently formed in 1888, and one of the greatest rabbinical authorities of Russia, Rabbi Jacob Joseph (b. in Krozh, government of Kovno, Russia, 1840; a. 1888; d. in New York, July 28, 1902), who was at that time the preacher of the old Jewish community of Wilna, was brought over as Chief Rabbi of the Federation. He was received with great honor by the Orthodox masses, and was recognized by them as the greatest rabbi that ever came to this country. But the federation of synagogues soon fell to pieces; the scheme of controlling the supervision of the Kosher meat supply failed almost from the beginning. There was too much prejudice against a form of “Korobka” even among the Orthodox masses, despite the fact that they continued to pay, as they still do, a higher price for Kosher meat, and a systematization of the business could produce a large revenue for communal purposes without a further increase in the price. Many independent Orthodox rabbis did not submit to the authority of the great rabbi; his influence was weakened, and several years afterward he fell the victim of a severe illness, which incapacitated him for hard work or for leadership. But the failure of the system was due to the impossibility of conducting Jewish affairs in America after patterns designed in and for Russia. The chief rabbi personally was revered by the multitudes of religious Jews, and when he died after a lingering illness, his funeral (July 30, 1902), though it was marred by a disturbance in which a number of persons were injured, was one of the most imposing ever seen in New York.
Several other attempts to choose chief rabbis, with the hope of uniting or solidifying under them the Orthodox congregations of a large city, were not more successful. The most notable of them was the selection, by a union of congregations which was formed for that purpose in Chicago, of another great Talmudical scholar, Rabbi Jacob David Wilowski (Ridbaz, b. in Kobrin, government of Kovno, 1845), as its chief rabbi in 1903. Rabbi Wilowski, who was Rabbi Joseph’s predecessor in Wilna, first came to the United States in 1900 in the interest of his great work on the Talmud Yerushalmi. It was during his second visit to this country that the effort to detain him as the spiritual head of a united Orthodox community in the second largest city of the New World was made. But a strong opposition, which centered around Rabbi Zebi Simon Album, made his position untenable, and he resigned after holding it for ten months. After travelling for more than a year over the United States, he left (1905) for the Holy Land and settled in Safed, where he still resides. It was again seen in his case, and confirmed because it occurred fifteen years after the importation of the first and greatest chief rabbi in the greatest Jewish community, that both the rabbis and the religious laymen are too independent here to submit to a chief rabbi, regardless of his importance as a Talmudical authority. The last to assume the title was Rabbi Gabriel Zeeh Margolioth (b. in Wilna, 1848; a. 1906), who is considered the greatest rabbinical scholar among the Orthodox rabbis of the United States. Rabbi Margolioth held the office of Chief Rabbi in Boston about four years, until his removal (1911) to New York to become rabbi of the “Adat Israel.”
In most of the other large cities there are prominent Orthodox rabbis who are held in high esteem and recognized as spiritual leaders of the religious masses, although their actual jurisdiction extends only over the one or several congregations of which they are the appointed rabbis. The best known of that class in New York was the “Moscower Rab” Chayyim Jacob Vidrevitz (b. in Dobromysl, government of Mohilev, 1836; a. 1891; d. in New York, 1911). Among the living, Rabbi Moses Zebullon Margolioth (b. in Krozh, 1851; a. 1889), formerly of Boston; Rabbi Abraham Eliezer Alperstein (b. in Kobrin about 1854; a. 1881), formerly of Chicago; and Rabbi Shalom Elhanan Jaffe (b. in Wobolnik; government of Wilna, 1858; a. 1889), formerly of St. Louis, are among the better known of the numerous Orthodox rabbis of New York.
Outside of New York Rabbi Abraham Jacob Gerson Lesser (b. in Mir, government of Minsk, 1835; a. about 1880), formerly of Chicago, and for about the last ten years in Cincinnati, is considered the dean of the Orthodox rabbis in this country. He is the author of several rabbinical works, one of which was translated into English by Mr. H. Eliassof. Of about the same age is the nestor of the Chicago rabbinate, Rabbi Eliezer Anixter, who occupied the rabbinical position there for about forty years. In Philadelphia Rabbi Bernhard Louis Levinthal (b. in Kovno, 1864; a. 1891) occupies a leading position and is perhaps the most Americanized of the strictly Orthodox rabbis in the country. Rabbi Moses Simon Sivitz (b. in Zittawan, government of Kovno, 1853; a. 1886), formerly of Baltimore (1886–89), and Rabbi Aaron Mordecai Ashinsky (b. in Reygrod, Russian-Poland, 1866), formerly of Detroit, Mich., and Montreal, Canada, are the foremost representatives of the Orthodox element in Pittsburg, Pa. Rabbi Asher Lipman Zarehy (b. in Kovno, 1862; a. 1892), formerly of Brooklyn, N. Y. (1892), and of Des Moines, Ia. (1893–1903), is at the head of the United Orthodox Hebrew Congregations of Louisville, Ky.
The number of prominent Orthodox rabbis among the immigrants who came from other countries than Russia is comparatively very small. The Hungarians, who belong to an earlier period, slowly draw nearer to the German and American element in religious matters. The Austrians or Galicians, who began to arrive in larger numbers somewhat later than the Russians, took a longer time to settle down to local conditions, and being at liberty to return to their old home whenever they liked, the large number who went back, only to return again in a few years, retarded the gradual development of their communal life. They are, on the other hand, much more successful, relatively, in their social organizations, such as lodges and “landsleut” societies, on account of the larger liberty of organization which they enjoyed at home. Their leading rabbi in New York was Rabbi Naftali Reiter (born in Hungary, 1844; a. 1887; d. in New York, 1911), who officiated as rabbi of the Congregation Magen Abraham Dukler (Attorney street), the leading Galician synagogue of New York from 1893 until his death. The leading Hungarian rabbi of New York is Dr. Hillel ha-Kohen or Philip Klein (b. in Baraeska, Hungary, 1849; a. 1891), who occupies a unique position in the Jewry of New York and of the country, being recognized as a Talmudical authority, and at the same time possessing the secular learning obtained by studying at the University of Berlin. Dr. Klein was rabbi of Libau, Russia, for ten years before he came to this country to officiate as rabbi of the Hungarian Congregation Oheb Zedek of New York, which position he still holds.
At the beginning of the period of development among the Jewish immigrants from Slavic countries it was, however, not the rabbi, but the hazzan or cantor who was considered the most important functionary of the Orthodox congregation, especially of the larger ones. The number of wealthy members was insignificant, and while the smaller congregations holding services in rented rooms could subsist on the modest contributions and donations from regular attendants and from those who came occasionally for the high holidays or on account of marriages, the naming of newborn children, “jahrzeiten,” etc., the large synagogue with a building of its own, which was usually heavily mortgaged, often had a hard struggle for existence. The rabbi, unless he was a popular preacher, was considered as a somewhat superfluous burden; he received only a small salary, or none at all, having to rely for a living on the emoluments of the rabbinical office. But a popular cantor attracted new members and also large audiences on the special occasions when a charge for admission was made. His salary was therefore considered a profitable investment, and some of the best known cantors of Russia were induced to come to America, especially to New York.