David Einhorn (rabbi) - Views On Slavery

Views On Slavery

In 1861, Einhorn delivered a sermon as a response to a sermon by Morris Jacob Raphall that supported the existence of slavery, which Einhorn called a "deplorable farce" and argued that the institution of slavery in the South was inconsistent with Jewish values, noting the Jewish experience as slaves in Egypt as a reason that Jews should be more sensitive to the plight of slaves. He staunchly advocated this position, despite the fact that many of his congregants and colleagues were sympathetic to slavery in what was then a slave state. In his sermon titled War on Amalek, based on Exodus 17, Einhorn stated that "We are told that this crime rests upon a historical right! ... Slavery is an institution sanctioned by the Bible, hence war against it is war against, and not for, God! It has ever been a strategy of the advocate of a bad cause to take refuge from the spirit of the Bible to its letter." A riot broke out in response to his sermon on April 19, 1861, in which the mob sought to tar and feather the rabbi. Einhorn fled to Philadelphia where he became spiritual leader of Congregation Keneseth Israel.