The First Rabbi: Origins of Conflict Between Orthodox and Reform : Jewish Polemic Warfare in Pre-Civil War America : A Biographical History

Rating:
Summary: The War Between the Jews
Review: It's always assumed that there were no observant Jews in America prior to the great Eastern European migration that began in the 1880's. Rabbi I. Harold Sharfman, the author of "Jews on the Frontier" and the founder of the "Half-Moon K" Kashrut Organization, has gathered a sampler of sermons, journals and synagogue records to show the rise of Reform and the resistance of Orthodox Judaism from 1840 to 1860. The only flaw I could find in this book is the lack of footnotes, although if citations had been included the book would be much longer than 750 pages! Nevertheless I highly recommend this to anyone who is studying the history of Judaism in America.

Rating:
Summary: The War Between the Jews
Review: It's always assumed that there were no observant Jews in America prior to the great Eastern European migration that began in the 1880's. Rabbi I. Harold Sharfman, the author of "Jews on the Frontier" and the founder of the "Half-Moon K" Kashrut Organization, has gathered a sampler of sermons, journals and synagogue records to show the rise of Reform and the resistance of Orthodox Judaism from 1840 to 1860. The only flaw I could find in this book is the lack of footnotes, although if citations had been included the book would be much longer than 750 pages! Nevertheless I highly recommend this to anyone who is studying the history of Judaism in America.