Kaufmann Kohler

Kaufmann Kohler (May 10, 1843 – January 28, 1926) was a German-born Jewish-American biblical scholar and critic, theologian, Reform rabbi, and contributing editor to numerous articles in The Jewish Encyclopedia (1906).

Life and work

Kaufmann Kohler was born into a family of German Jewish rabbis in Fürth, Kingdom of Bavaria. He received his rabbinical training at Hassfurt, Höchberg near Würzburg, Mainz, Altona, and at Frankfurt am Main under Samson Raphael Hirsch, and his university training at Munich, Berlin, Leipzig, and Erlangen (Ph.D. 1868). His Ph.D. thesis, Der Segen Jacob's ("Jacob's Blessing"), was one of the earliest Jewish essays in the field of higher criticism, and its radical character had the effect of closing off to him the German synagogal pulpit. Abraham Geiger, to whose Zeitschrift Kohler became a contributor at an early age, strongly influenced his career and directed his steps to the United States. In 1869, he accepted a call to the pulpit of the Temple Beth-El in Detroit, Michigan; in 1871, he became rabbi of Chicago Sinai Congregation. In 1879, he succeeded his father-in-law, David Einhorn, as rabbi of Temple Beth-El in New York City; his brother-in-law, Emil G. Hirsch, became his successor in Chicago. On February 26, 1903, he was elected to the presidency of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio.

His son was attorney Max J. Kohler.

Reform movement

From the time of his arrival in the United States, Kohler actively espoused the Reform Judaism movement. He was one of the youngest members of the Philadelphia Jewish Rabbinical Conference of 1869, and in 1885, he convened the Pittsburgh Rabbinical Conference, which adopted the so-called "Pittsburgh Platform" on which Reform Judaism in America still stands. While in Chicago, he introduced Sunday lectures as a supplement to the regular Shabbat service.