CINCINNATI AND THE MAKING OF MODERN AMERICAN JUDAISM
- Rabbi Jeffrey L. Falick
- Apr 29
- 5 min read
This weekend some thirty members of our congregation will be joining me on a visit to Cincinnati.
Why Cincinnati?
It's because of the special place the city and its Jewish institutions occupy in the history of American Judaism. It’s where Reform Judaism rose to prominence, where Conservative Judaism first asserted its independence, and where Rabbi Wine studied for the rabbinate.
More than all of this, Cincinnati is emblematic of the way Jewish life spread and evolved across the growing American frontier.
When most of us think about American Jewish history, our minds are drawn to the massive immigration of mostly Eastern European Jews that began in the 1880s. In just over forty years, some two million newcomers transformed American Jewish life. But they were not the first Jews to arrive here. That honor goes to 23 refugees of Spanish and Portuguese descent that landed in New Amsterdam in 1654. Over the next 150 years or so, other small groups of Jews followed, hardly any of them from Eastern Europe. Even after the Revolution and throughout the majority of the 1800s, when Germany sent the vast majority of new immigrants to America—including Jews—the American Jewish community remained rather small. Despite its size, those Jews got to work establishing the foundations of American Jewish life that awaited the massive influx of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Much of their community building took place on the Atlantic seaboard. But many Jews also headed west (and south and southwest) drawn by the promise of opportunity in a growing nation. Many started out as peddlers, quickly amassing the funds to start businesses, some of them growing to great prominence. As they did, they established new Jewish communities.
Pittsburgh was one significant gateway for these Jewish pioneers of the interior. By the mid-19th century, Detroit, too, was home to a thriving Jewish population. These and other frontier Jewish communities helped define a uniquely American Jewish identity—one shaped by openness, adaptation, and a pioneering spirit.
None, however, was more important than Cincinnati. As a center of Jewish life during this westward expansion, by the mid-1800s it was becoming a thriving hub for Jewish merchants, professionals, and leaders. Soon it would also claim the title of the birthplace of organized Reform Judaism in America. This was thanks, in large part, to Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, a visionary who believed Judaism should evolve to meet the realities of American life.
Wise's original vision was not of a single "movement." He wanted to establish Jewish institutions that would serve the entirety of American Jews. He even tried to bring in the traditionalists. To that end, in 1873 he founded the Union of American Hebrew Congregations ("Hebrew" was at that time completely synonymous with "Jewish"). This Hebrew Union subsequently gave birth to a seminary, the Hebrew Union College (HUC).* It was the first Jewish seminary established in the Western Hemisphere.
Wise’s efforts to unite all American Jews around these and other institutions ultimately failed, as divisions soon emerged. Tensions came to a boil at HUC’s very first ordination dinner where, under the influence of much more radical reformers, the menu featured some very un-kosher fare. This “Trayfe Banquet,” as it came to be known, chased away the more traditional Jews for good.** They would ultimately form the core of a more "conservative" type of modern Jewish movement back east.
Once firmly rooted in the Reform movement, Hebrew Union College nevertheless helped shape the very model of American Jewish leadership, setting a standard that would ripple across denominations. It nurtured generations of rabbis, educators, and thinkers who carried forward Wise’s bold vision of a Judaism guided by reason, progress, and modern ideals. For decades, the Cincinnati campus stood as a beacon of Jewish learning and historical continuity, even as the College’s reach grew—with the founding of a branch in Jerusalem and new campuses in New York and Los Angeles.
Today, however, there is reason to believe that those two American campuses are the future of the school. Like American Jewry itself, HUC has grappled with major demographic shifts as many once-influential communities have declined. And so it was that in 2022, the school announced that it was discontinuing its Cincinnati rabbinical program in favor of its other two campuses.
This shift quickly led to speculation that the Cincinnati campus may eventually close altogether. While it also houses a world-class Jewish library, a museum and, importantly, the American Jewish Archives, a school without students doesn't seem to be a recipe for success. Then, this past winter, HUC announced the sale of its New York property in Greenwich Village and its purchase of the historic First Battery Armory on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The fully renovated Armory is a much, much larger facility that includes massive modern facilities added in recent years. It is a high tech building with room for—you guessed it—a world-class library and the American Jewish Archives.
While there's been no announcement of transferring either of those to New York, it's hard to imagine that there are plans to keep them in Cincinnati. I may be wrong, but it seems that HUC will soon disappear from its Midwest home of over a century and a half. It's impossible to fight geographic and demographic changes forever. Especially when holding on too tightly would come at the expense of meeting new needs.
Changes in Cincinnati’s Jewish community—like those in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, and other once-thriving centers—reflect broader shifts in American Jewish life over the past several decades. As the Jewish populations of these cities have declined, others have continued to grow. New York, Boston, and Chicago (the last stronghold of a major Midwestern Jewish presence) remain vibrant, while places like South Florida and Los Angeles have taken on greater prominence. Even if the Midwest continues to experience a revival, few expect significant Jewish population shifts to follow.
Our trip is about reconnecting with the roots of American Jewish life. While we’re there, we’ll visit the institutions that played such a vital role in the story of Jewish America. But it's also about the present. Along the way, we’ll also meet those who continue to sustain Jewish life in the city—including a visit to Humanistic Congregation Beth Adam.
Cincinnati may be less influential today, but its legacy remains central to our collective story. Even as Hebrew Union College faces the possibility of complete closure, no one would dare tear down Plum Street Temple—the most magnificent heirloom of the American Jewish interior!
The story of the school—and the city that gave it life—is one we all share. It is a testament to the creativity, resilience, and adaptability of Jewish life in America. And it reminds us that while institutions may evolve—and even move on—the values they represent endure.
And that's why we're going to Cincinnati.
* The school's official name is Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. The Jewish Institute of Religion was a New York breakaway school established in 1922 by Rabbi Stephen Wise. The two merged in 1950.
** "Trayfe" means non-kosher.
