30 Facts About Isaac Leeser

Isaac Leeser was an American Orthodox Jewish religious leader, teacher, scholar and publisher.

Isaac Leeser helped found the Jewish press of America, produced the first Jewish translation of the Bible into English, and helped organize various social and educational organizations.

Isaac Leeser is considered one of the most important nineteenth century American Jewish personalities.

Isaac Leeser was "fiercely opposed" to Reform Judaism and was regarded as one of the most important "orthodox" rabbis of his era.

Isaac Leeser's grandmother encouraged his religious studies under the guidance of the chief rabbi of Munster.

Young Isaac Leeser was educated at the primary school in nearby Dulmen and then at a gymnasium in Munster.

Isaac Leeser studied the Talmud tractates Moed, Bava Metzia, and portions of Kodashim and Bava Batra.

Young Isaac Leeser emigrated to America and arrived at Richmond, Virginia in May, 1824.

Isaac Leeser assisted the hazzan by teaching religion on Saturdays and Sundays, as well as by defending Judaism in the public press when it was assailed.

In 1828, Isaac Leeser published a letter in the Richmond Whig which used Jewish history to respond to an anti-Semitic article in the London Quarterly.

Isaac Leeser accepted the congregation's invitation to serve as his successor, although several previous hazzans had been Sephardic Jews.

Isaac Leeser was aware however that Rev Gershom Mendes Seixas, the synagogue's first rabbi and congregation founder had delivered sermons in English on occasion, as had Rev Solomon Nunes Carvalho.

Isaac Leeser knew that in Hamburg, Rabbi Gotthold Salomon had broken new ground by delivering a sermon in German.

On June 2,1830, Isaac Leeser delivered his first English sermon.

In 1845, Isaac Leeser published his own Hebrew-English edition of the Torah in five volumes.

Three years later, Isaac Leeser published a Masoretic Hebrew edition of the Tanakh, Biblia Hebraica, in cooperation with Joseph Jaquett, a local Episcopalian minister.

In 1853, Isaac Leeser completed his English translation of the entire Tanakh, commonly called The Isaac Leeser Bible.

Many Jews emigrated from Germany in the 1830s and 1840s, and Isaac Leeser founded a free Jewish school in his home, as well as traveled to address other synagogues.

Isaac Leeser helped found the Hebrew Education Society of Philadelphia in 1848, although he could not garner sufficient support to establish a network of Jewish schools to rival the local public schools.

Isaac Leeser never married, and many congregations of the time required a hazzan to have a wife.

When Isaac Leeser commenced his public career, the United States had approximately 12,000 to 15,000 scattered Jewish individuals and members of congregations in the United States; that community grew to about 200,000 by his death.

Isaac Leeser helped to mold them into a community in part by his pulpit activities, and in part by his press.

Isaac Leeser continued to advocate for the rights of religious minorities within American democracy.

Isaac Leeser allied with other religious minorities, notably Seventh Day Baptists, to advocate against Sunday blue laws that banned work and other activities on the "Christian Sabbath".

Shortly before his death, Rev Isaac Leeser helped found Maimonides College and became its provost.

Isaac Leeser died in Philadelphia on February 1,1868, aged 61 and shortly after publishing ten volumes of his sermons.

Isaac Leeser was buried in his congregation's cemetery in West Philadelphia, which later became a joint cemetery with his former congregation Mikveh Israel.

Isaac Leeser has been described as "a modern Orthodox Jew" because he hoped to create a "dynamic symbiosis of contemporary culture and Jewish tradition".

Isaac Leeser was portrayed as "one [of] the most articulate spokesmen" among a small group of American Orthodox rabbis in the United States before the Civil War.

Isaac Leeser published the following works, including his own books, his translations, and books by other authors.