Virtual Archives
Keneseth Israel's Senior Rabbis

Rabbi David Einhorn 
(1809-1879)

  Born in Germany, David Einhorn came to the United States in 1855 to occupy the pulpit of congregation Har Sinai in Baltimore.  He was an ardent and outspoken abolitionist in a border state with marked Southern sympathies.  After an angry mob surrounded his house following a particularly fiery sermon in 1861, his congregation encouraged him and his family to seek refuge north of the Mason-Dixon Line.  He came to Philadelphia and was promptly hired as K.I.’s Senior Rabbi.  He was given freedom of the pulpit and continued his anti-slavery sermons.  They received wide publication and established K.I.’s preeminence in the Reform movement nationally.  The Central Conference of American Rabbis adopted Einhorn’s prayerbook, in English translation, as the standard for Reform congregations in this country.  In 1866, he moved to New York.  

Rabbi Samuel Hirsch 
(1815 – 1889)

 Rabbi Hirsch was born in Thalfang, Prussia in 1815.  He served as Rabbi in Dessau, Germany from 1838 to 1841.  He was Grand Rabbi of Luxembourg from 1843 to 1866.  K. I. became his congregation from 1866 until 1887.

 Rabbi Hirsch served as President of the American Rabbinic Conference in 1869.  He was founder of the Orphans' Guardians.  The Foster Home and the Association for Jewish Children were an outgrowth of this organization.  Also, he was founder of the Philadelphia branch of the Alliance Israelite Universalle.  This group was the first international Jewish organization for philanthropy.  During his rabbinate he became President of The Philadelphia Conference in 1869 [first meeting of Reform Rabbis in America].

Rabbi Hirsch's philosophy was "The need of the time is the highest reward of Judaism."

Click the following link to Delaware Valley College (formerly the National Farm School) for an in-depth history of Rabbi Krauskopf..

http://campus.devalcol.edu/library/archives/archivehome.htm

Click here for a biography of Rabbi Krauskopf from The Jewish Encyclopedia.com 

Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf 
(1858-1923)

Born in Ostrowo, Posen, Germany, Joseph Krauskopf came to the United States as a teenager.  He studied under Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise at the Hebrew Union College and was a member of the first graduating class of HUC in 1882.  A leader of the Pittsburgh Conference on Reform Judaism in 1885, he came to the pulpit of Keneseth Israel in 1887.  Among his innovations was his de-emphasizing of Friday Sabbath services in favor of Sunday morning “discourses” which were published and sold throughout the country.

 He was passionate in seeking innovative philanthropic projects for his established congregation in light of the huge influx of poor Jewish immigrants in the late 1890’s and early part of the twentieth century.  He founded the National Farm School in Doylestown, as both a place where young men from disadvantaged neighborhoods could learn agricultural skills and as a living example of how Jewish agrarian roots could be reawakened in America.  Rabbi Krauskopf served as a president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.  He was K.I.’s rabbi until his death in 1923

Rabbi William H. Fineshriber
(1878-1968)

A graduate of Hebrew Union College, Dr. Fineshriber became K.I.’s first American-born Rabbi and served from 1924-1949.  Among the many innovative influences he had on the congregation were the restoration of the position of cantor, the adoption of the use of the Union Prayer Book,  the expansion of the religious school, the establishment of an emergency fund to help the needy during the Great Depression, and the re-establishment of the Bar Mitzvah ceremony. 

On a national level, Dr. Fineshriber’s services were in great demand as an arbitrator in labor strikes. He also was called upon to handle a crisis in the movie industry; he met with industry leaders and convinced them to adopt a code of morals, which would meet with the approval of the religious leaders of the country.

Rabbi Bertram Wallace Korn
(1918 – 1979)

 A son of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, our illustrious Rabbi Korn had quite a versatile career although the rabbinate was most important to him.  He was an American Jewish Historian and an author of several books and articles on the subject.  A staunch supporter of Israel, he was a patriotic American.  He was ordained a rabbi at Hebrew Union College in 1943 and after serving as a Chaplain returned to HUC, obtaining his Doctor of Hebrew Letters degree in 1949.  Dr. Korn became K.I.’s fifth Senior Rabbi in 1949.  He continued in the Naval Reserve moving steadily through the ranks and in 1975 became the first Jewish Chaplain to attain Flag (general/admiral) rank in any military service.  Admiral Korn retired from the Naval Reserve in the fall of 1978 due to his declining health.

Dr. Korn was known as rabbi, teacher, counselor and friend to many and now almost twenty-two years after his death is still well remembered and admired not only by K.I. congregants, but  within the rabbinate and in many places throughout the world.  He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

  Rabbi Simeon J. Maslin

 “Mah nora ha-makom ha-zeh  -  How full of awe is this place!” 

With these words, on June 13, 1980, Rabbi Simeon J. Maslin began to address Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel following his installation as its sixth Senior Rabbi.

Prior to K.I. Rabbi Maslin served Mikve Israel-Emanuel of Curacao and K.A.M. of Chicago.  Holding degrees from Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion and Chicago Theological Seminary, he is author, lecturer, teacher, and humanitarian.

  He served as President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis from 1995-1997.  He became K.I.’s Rabbi Emeritus in 1997.

Rabbi Bradley N. Bleefeld 

Born in New York, Bradley N. Bleefeld became K.I.’s Senior Rabbi in 1997 after serving congregations in Baltimore, Erie, and Columbus, cities in which he also held university faculty appointments.  A passionate advocate of Liberal Judaism, he served on the Cabinet of Israel Bonds and the boards of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA) and the World Union for Progressive Judaism.  He was Senior Rabbi until June, 2000.