Access
and Provenance
A Finding Aid to the
Kaufmann Kohler Papers
Manuscript
Collection No. 29
1851-1959. 5.4 Linear
ft.
| Access
and Provenance
|
A Finding Aid to theKaufmann Kohler PapersManuscript
Collection No. 29
|
The KAUFMANN KOHLER PAPERS were donated to the American Jewish
Archives from 1947 through 1969. The primary donor was Lilli Kohler,
Kaufmann Kohler's daughter. Other individuals including Max J. Kohler
were responsible for the donation of materials.
Lilli Kohler, Kohler family members, and other individuals, by the
act of donating the KAUFMANN KOHLER PAPERS to the American Jewish
Archives, assigned the property rights to the American Jewish Archives.
All literary rights to material authored by Kaufmann Kohler are held
by the Kohler heirs. Literary rights to materials authored by others
are held by the individual author or his/her heirs. Questions
concerning copyrights should be addressed to the Director of the
American Jewish Archives.
The KAUFMANN KOHLER PAPERS are open to all users and available in the
reading room of the American Jewish Archives.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
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Kaufmann Kohler, the eldest child of Moritz and Babette
(Lowenmayer) Kohler, was born in Furth, Bavaria, into a family
and community of staunchly Orthodox Jewish persuasion. In
Talmudical academies in Mayence and Altona, he attained a mastery
of Talmudic knowledge.
At twenty he became a disciple of the
dynamic Orthodox leader, Samson Raphael Hirsch, to whom he
attributed much of his Jewish idealism. But at the universities
Exactly a year later he married Johanna Einhorn, daughter of
Rabbi David Einhorn. After two years in Detroit, during which
time he led his congregation farther away from its Orthodox
background, he was called to Temple Sinai, Chicago, where he
introduced many elements of radical reform. At the beginning of
1874, he instituted Sunday services besides the regular Saturday
observance, an innovation which evoked violent criticism and
denunciation. In September 1879 on the retirement of his
father-in-law, Kohler succeeded him as rabbi of Temple Beth-El, New
York, where again he introduced supplementary Sunday services,
and continued to do battle with his conservative critics and
Orthodox denouncers, maintaining his right to decide what was
permanent and vital in Judaism, and what was ephemeral. In 1885,
in a series of lectures published as Backwards or Forwards, he
attacked Alexander Kohut's definition of traditional Judaism.
This polemic led both men, the leading Jewish scholars in
America, to action. On Kohut's side, it was one of the factors
which resulted in the foundation of the Jewish Theological
Seminary of America (January 2, 1887) to defend and strengthen
traditional Judaism. On Kohler's side, it led him to call the
Pittsburgh Conference, with the adoption of the radical
Pittsburgh Platform (November 1885), at first repudiated even by
some Reform Jews, but later accepted as a statement of principles
by American Reform Judaism. Kohler was one of the founders, and
for many years president, of the New York board of Jewish
Ministers. Succeeding Isaac M. Wise as president of the Hebrew
Union College at Cincinnati on February 19, 1903, he raised its
academic standard notably. Kohler himself taught homiletics,
theology, and Hellenistic literature. His seventieth, seventy-fifth,
and eightieth birthdays were widely celebrated by American
Reform Jewry. Retiring in 1921 at the age of seventy-eight, he
returned to New York, where he died in his eighty-third year, on
January 28, 1926.
The bibliography of Kohler's writings in Studies in Jewish
Literature, issued in celebration of his seventieth birthday,
contained at that time 801 items. He took a prominent part in
the preparation of the Union Prayer Book, and of the Jewish
Publication Society's English translation of the Bible. He wrote
textbooks of Reform Judaism, edited the Sabbath Visitor(1881-1882),
and the Jewish Reformer (1886), and was editor of the
department of theology and philosophy of the Jewish Encyclopedia.
His principal single work was his well-ordered and fully
documented Grundriss einer systematischen Theologie des Judentums
auf geschichtlicher Grundlage(1910), published in English in 1918
as Jewish Theology Systematically and Historically Considered, a
work which mingles a Reform treatment of Judaism with conservative
Jewish apologetics. Highly valuable are Kohler's numerous studies
on the Jewish origins of Christianity, on Hellenistic, apocryphal,
and pseudepigraphic literature, on the origin of the Jewish liturgy,
and on comparative religious folklore.
At eighty he published Heaven and Hell in Comparative Religion (1923),
tracing the remote folklore origin of Dante's eschatology, and at the
time of his death, he was working on The Origins of the Synagogue
and the Church, published posthumously in 1929. A collection of
his papers, with a supplemental bibliography, was published in
1931 as Studies, Addresses, and Personal Papers and included his
"Personal Reminiscences of my Early Life."
________________________
FURTHER NOTES ON THE KOHLER FAMILY
Alice Block Kohler was the wife of Edgar J. Kohler. She
died in 1931.
Edgar J. Kohler, the son of Kaufmann and Johanna (Einhorn)
Kohler, was born in 1875. Edgar was a lawyer. He was married in
1924 to Alice Austrian Block. He died in 1941.
Johanna (Einhorn) Kohler, the daughter of David Einhorn, was
the wife of Kaufmann. She married Kaufmann in 1870. She died in
1932.
Max James Kohler, the son of Kaufmann and Johanna (Einhorn)
Kohler, was born in 1871. Max held a B.S. (1890) and an M.S.
(1893) from the College of the City of New York. He also received
an M.A. (1891) and an L.L.B. (1892) from Columbia University. He
was well known as an historian and a lawyer. He practiced law in
New York City and was primarily involved with immigration and the
problems of the immigrant. Max was married in 1906 to Winifred
Lichtenauer. They had no children. Max Kohler died in 1934.
Rose Kohler was born in 1873. She was the daughter of
Kaufmann and Johanna (Einhorn) Kohler. A noted painter and
sculptor, her most noted work was the medallion, The Spirit of
the Synagogue, a graphic answer to Sargent's painting of The
Synagogue. She died in 1947.
Winifred Lichtenauer Kohler, a daughter of the late Joseph
M. Lichtenauer and Mrs. R. D. Lichtenauer, was born in 1880. She
was the wife of Max James Kohler, whom she married on November 6,
1906. She died in 1922.
Lilli Kohler was the daughter of Kaufmann and Johanna (Einhorn) Kohler. 
of Munich (1864-1865), Berlin 1865-1867), and Erlagen (Ph.D.,
Nov. 13, 1867), he broke with Orthodox Judaism. The critical
methods of his university study told him that Judaism was an
historic growth, not every part of which was of equally divine
character and value, and in his doctoral dissertation, Der Segen
Jackob's, he made a strong plea for modernizing religion. This
thesis limited his prospects of obtaining a rabbinical position
in Germany, and after two years of post-doctoral study at the
University of Leipzig, he was called to the Beth-El Congregation
in Detroit, arriving in the United States on August 28, 1869.
Biographical sketch Based on
Pool, David de Sola. "Kaufmann Kohler." Dictionary of American Biography.
Vol. IX. Ed. Dumas Malone. New York, New York: Chas. Scribner's Sons, 1946.
SCOPE AND CONTENT
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The KAUFMANN KOHLER PAPERS (1851-1959) document a number of
the activities in the career of Kaufmann Kohler and members of
the Kohler Family. The collection includes correspondence,
telegrams, sermons and addresses, condolences, notes, memorials,
photographs, newsclippings, and miscellaneous materials. The
bulk of the Papers consists of Kaufmann Kohler's writings and
letters of condolence concerning the deaths of Kaufmann Kohler
and other family members. The Papers are divided into seven
series:
The GENERAL series, Sub-Series 1. Kaufmann Kohler (1869-1943) consists
of two boxes of correspondence either between Kaufmann Kohler and others
or dealing with him. The first four folders of general correspondence
deal with his writings and family matters. The correspondence with is
arranged alphabetically spans the period 1869 to 1933 with the bulk
concentrated in the period 1903 to 1923. The remainder of the
correspondence is arranged around a specific topic and is listed
chronologically (1903-1943). This material consists of letters and
telegrams of condolence and congratulations and some commentaries of
these events.
The GENERAL series, Sub-Series 2. Kohler Family 1908-1959)
consists of two boxes of correspondence between or concerning
members of the Kohler Family. The bulk of the material consists
of condolences in the form of letters or telegrams. The material
is arranged alphabetically by the name of the family members as
addressed.
The SERMONS AND ADDRESSES series, Sub-Series 1. English
language consists of three boxes of English language sermons and
addresses. These have been placed in an alphabetical file. The
list of sermons and addresses appearing in the first folder in
Box 5 dates many of these sermons and addresses. The sermons
span Kohler's entire career.
The SERMONS AND ADDRESSES series, Sub-Series 1. English
language consists of three boxes of English language sermons and
addresses. These have been placed in an alphabetical file. The
list of sermons and addresses appearing in the first folder in
Box 5 dates many of these sermons and addresses. The sermons
span Kohler's entire career.
The SERMONS AND ADDRESSES series, Sub-Series 2. German
language consists of three boxes of untranslated sermons and
addresses. These have not been arranged.
The MANUSCRIPTS AND NOTES series consists of one-half box of
manuscript and note material. These are in German, Hebrew and
English.
The PHOTOGRAPHS series consists of one-half box of hotographs
which depict activities of Kaufmann Kohler and the Kohler Family.
A few are labeled and most appear to be of the late 19th and 20th century.
The MEMORIAL BOOKLET series consists of about one-half box
of memorial booklets and testimonials given to Kaufmann Kohler or
to other family members in order to commemorate birthdays,
deaths, and anniversaries.
The PRINTED MATERIAL series consists of approximately one
box of original and photocopies of newsclippings and articles.
Included are published copies or descriptions of sermons by
Kaufmann Kohler and some publications by Max J. Kohler. The
material has not been arranged.
The MISCELLANEOUS series consists of one folder of programs,
menus, certificates, wills, biographical material, and college
records. The material concerns various Kohler family members and
spans the period from 1857 through 1941.
The GENERAL series has been divided into two sub-series:
Sub-Series 1. Kaufmann Kohler, and Sub-Series 2. Kohler Family.
The SERMONS AND ADDRESSES series has been divided into two
sub-series: Sub-Series 1. English language, and Sub-Series 2. German language.
BOX AND FOLDER LIST
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Box Folder Contents
SERIES A. GENERAL
Note: This series consists primarily of correspondence and telegrams as well as
some non correspondence material.
Sub-Series 1. Kaufmann Kohler
1 1 A-F, General 1869-1925; 1933 [scattered]
2 Adler, Cyrus 1903; 1913-1918; 192-1924 [deals
primarily with the Hebrew Classical series]
3 G-M, General 1876-1923 [scattered]
4 N-Z, General 1873-1925 [scattered]
5-6 1903 Assuming the Presidency of Hebrew Union College
7 1913 Seventieth Birthday Congratulations
8 1918 Seventy-Fifth Birthday Congratulations
2 1 1920 Golden Wedding Anniversary
2 1923 Eightieth Birthday Congratulations
3 1925 Eighty-Second Birthday Congratulations
4-6 1926 Condolences on the death of Kaufmann Kohler
7 1929 Origins of the Synagogue and Church
8 1943 One Hundredth Anniversary of Kaufmann Kohler's birth
Sub-Series 2. Kohler Family
3 1 Kohler, Edgar 1917-1920; 1928-1941 [scattered]
[many letters are between other people and
deal with Edgar Kohler as a subject]
2 Kohler, Johanna [Mrs. Kaufmann Kohler] (A-L) 1908;
1926-1932 [primarily condolences]
3 Kohler, Johanna [Mrs. Kaufmann Kohler] (M-Z) 1929-
1932 [primarily condolences]
4 Kohler, Lilli and Rose (A-E) 1929-1956
5 Kohler, Lilli and Rose (F-L) 1919-1950 [scattered]
6 Kohler, Lilli and Rose (M-P) 1929-1959
7 Kohler, Lilli and Rose (R) 1923-1938
4 1 Kohler, Lilli and Rose (S-Z) 1928-1954
2 Kohler, Lilli and Rose (unidentified) 1926-1948
3 Kohler, Max J. (A-Z) 1899-1934
4 Kohler, Max J.--Condolences (A-K) 1934
5 Kohler, Max J.--Condolences (L-Z) 1934
6 Kohler, Max J.--Immigrants and Aliens in the U.S.
1936-1938
7 Kohler, Rose--Condolences 1947
5 1 Biographical Material
SERIES B. SERMONS AND ADDRESSES
Subseries 1. English
5 2 A
3 B
4 C
5 D
6 E
7 F
8 G
9 H
6 1 I
2 J
3 K
4 L
5 M
6 N
7 O
8 P
9 R
10 S
11 T
7 1 U
2 V
3 W
4 Z
5 Untitled
6 Fragments
Sub-Series 2. German Language
7-10 Unidentified
8 1-9 Unidentified
9 1-4 Unidentified
5-8 Fragments
10 1-2 Fragments
SERIES C. MANUSCRIPTS AND NOTES
3-6 Manuscripts (English)
11 1 Manuscripts (German)
2-3 Notes (Hebrew and English)
SERIES D. PHOTOGRAPHS
4-5 Photographs
SERIES E. MEMORIAL BOOKS
6 Memorial Books
12 1-3 Memorial Books
SERIES F. PRINTED MATERIAL
4 Kohler, Max--Publications
5-7 Newsclippings
13 1-5 Newsclippings
SERIES G. MISCELLANEOUS
6 Miscellaneous materials
See American Jewish Archives card catalogue for additional
Kaufmann Kohler materials contained in the flat file, special files,
and in other American Jewish Archives collections.
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