Morris Jacob Raphall

Morris Jacob Raphall (October 3, 1798–June 23, 1868) was a rabbi and author born at Stockholm, Sweden. At the age of nine he was taken by his father, who was banker to the King of Sweden, to Copenhagen, where he was educated at the Hebrew grammar-school. Later he went to England, where he devoted himself to the study of languages, for the better acquisition of which he subsequently traveled in France, Germany, and Belgium. He received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Erlangen (Germany). After lecturing on Hebrew poetry he began to publish the Hebrew Review, and Magazine of Rabbinical Literature, which he was forced to discontinue in 1836 owing to ill health.

For some time he acted as honorary secretary to Solomon Herschell, chief rabbi of Great Britain. He made translations from Maimonides, Albo, and Herz Wessely; conjointly with the Rev. D. A. de Sola he published a translation of eighteen treatises of the Mishnah; he also began a translation of the Pentateuch, of which only one volume appeared. In 1840, when the blood accusation was made at Damascus, he published a refutation of it in four languages (Hebrew, English, French, and German) and wrote a defense of Judaism against an anonymous writer in the London "Times." Raphall was also the author of a text-book of the post-Biblical history of the Jews (to the year 70 C.E.).

In 1841 he was appointed minister of the Birmingham Synagogue and master of the school. He continued in these capacities for eight years, and then sailed for New York (1849). In that city he was appointed rabbi and preacher of the B'nei Jeshurun congregation, where he continued as pastor till 1866, his duties then being relaxed owing to his infirm health. He died at New York on June 23, 1868.

Views on Slavery

In the civil-war era, prominent Jewish religious leaders in the United States engaged in public debates about slavery.^[1] Generally, rabbis from the Southern states supported slavery, and those from the North opposed slavery.^[2] The most notable debate^[3] was between rabbi Raphall, who endorsed slavery, and rabbi David Einhorn who opposed it.^[4]

In 1861, Raphall published his views that slavery in a treatise called "The Bible View of Slavery", which argued that slavery is allowed by the bible. ^[5] He wrote, "I am no friend to slavery in the abstract, and still less friendly to the practical working of slavery, But I stand here as a teacher in Israel; not to place before you my own feelings and opinions, but to propound to you the word of G-d, the Bible view of slavery."^[6] Rabbi Einhorn and rabbi Michael Heilprin, concerned that Raphall's position would be seen as the official policy of American Judaism, vigorously refuted his arguments, and argued that slavery - as practiced in the South - was immoral and not endorsed by Judaism.^[7]

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

• Jew. Chron. July 17, 1868;
• Morais, Eminent Israelites.

References

• This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.

1. ^
   • Kenvin, Helene Schwartz (1986). This Land of Liberty: A History of America's Jews. Behrman House, Inc. pp. 90–92. ISBN 0874414210. 
   • Benjamin, Judah P. "Slavery and the Civil War: Part II" in United States Jewry, 1776-1985: The Germanic Period, Jacob Rader Marcus (Ed.), Wayne State University Press, 1993, pp. 13-34.
2. ^ Hertzberg, Arthur (1998). The Jews in America: four centuries of an uneasy encounter : a history. Columbia University Press. pp. 111–113. ISBN 0231108419. 
3. ^
   • Benjamin, Judah P. "Slavery and the Civil War: Part II" in United States Jewry, 1776-1985: The Germanic Period, Jacob Rader Marcus (Ed.), Wayne State University Press, 1993, pp. 17-19.
   • Adams, Maurianne (1999). Strangers & neighbors: relations between Blacks & Jews in the United States. Univ of Massachusetts Press. pp. 190–194. ISBN 1558492364. 
4. ^ Friedman, Murray (2007). What went wrong?: the creation and collapse of the Black-Jewish Alliance. Simon and Schuster. pp. 25–26. 
5. ^ Sherman, Moshe D. (1996). Orthodox Judaism in America: a biographical dictionary and sourcebook. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 170. ISBN 0313243166. 
6. ^ The Bible View of Slavery, By: Rabbi Dr. M.J. Raphall Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, New York City 1861
7. ^ Adams, Maurianne (1999). Strangers & neighbors: relations between Blacks & Jews in the United States. Univ of Massachusetts Press. pp. 190–194. ISBN 1558492364. .

External links

•  "Raphall, Morris Jacob". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900. 

Persondata
Name	Raphall, Morris Jacob
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1798
Place of birth
Date of death	1868
Place of death