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Henry A. Henry
Henry A. Henry
	Portrait of Henry, formerly held at the Western Jewish History Center
Personal life
Born	1800 or 1801; London, England, United Kingdom
Died	August 28, 1879 (aged 80); San Francisco, California, United States
Religious life
Religion	Judaism
Denomination	Orthodox Judaism

Henry Abraham Henry (Hebrew: צבי בן אברהם הענרי; 1800 or 1801 – August 28, 1879)^[2]^[3] was a British-American rabbi, educator, and Hebraist. He was the first Orthodox rabbi to serve the American West.^[4]

Biography

Early life and career

Henry A. Henry was born in London around 1800 into a Jewish family likely of Prussian Polish origin.^[5] He was educated at the Jews' Free School, and received rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Solomon Hirschell.^[6]

Henry served as tutor for the Rothschild family,^[6] and led the Jews' Free School as headmaster until early 1842.^[7] While headmaster, he frequently officiated in London synagogues, and in 1844 became rabbi of the St. Alban's Congregation, where he remained until 1849.^[8] During his tenure, he introduced regular English-language sermons, then a novel practice.

Henry became prominent figure in London's Jewish community, particularly noted for his resistance to the efforts of the Society for the Conversion of the Jews. He was also one of the founders of the Jews' Hospital and Orphan Asylum. In 1836 he compiled a volume of daily prayers according to the German and Polish rites, and around 1840 published Biblical Class Book for Jewish Youth and a Synopsis of Jewish History.

Life in the United States

In 1849 Henry emigrated to the United States, bringing with him an extensive library of Jewish books.^[6] While he intended to serve the Jewish community of Louisville, Kentucky, he was delayed in Cincinnati and accepted instead a position at the B'nai Jeshurun Synagogue that September. He resigned from the position in July 1951,^[9] moving to Syracuse, New York, where he served as rabbi for three years. Though himself Orthodox, Henry delivered a sermon at the Reform Temple Emanu-El in New York City in September 1851, leading to him being banned from the then-Orthodox Congregation Shaaray Tefila.^[10] In 1854, Henry moved to New York City, where he resided until 1857. There he served the Henry Street Congregation and later the Clinton Street Synagogue. During this period, he also superintended a religious school and established a boarding school for Jewish children.

In 1857, he relovated to San Francisco, California, where he served as rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel until 1871. While in California he edited The Pacific Messenger. Writing under a pseudonym, Henry was highly critical of Julius Eckman, another early rabbi of San Francisco, for his numerous violations of Jewish laws on marriage.^[4]

Death and legacy

Henry died in San Francisco on August 28, 1879, and is buried at the Hills of Eternity Memorial Park.^[11] His library, containing some 2,000 volumes, was acquired by the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati.^[12]^[13]

Publications

Daily Prayers, According to the Custom of the German and Polish Jews. London: John Wertheimer. 1835.
"Prayer for the Government". The Asmonean. June 21, 1850. p. 6 – via Open Siddur Project.
A Class Book for Jewish Youth of Both Sexes. London: H. A. Henry. 1839. 2nd edition, 1866.
A Series of Six Discourses on the Principles of Belief of Israel. London: H. A. Henry. 1845.
Antiquity of Freemasonry in General. Cincinnati: German Republican Office. 1850.
A Synopsis of Jewish History from the Return of the Jews from the Babylonish Captivity, to the Days of Herod the Great. San Francisco: Towne & Bacon. 1859.
Discourses on the Book of Genesis. San Francisco: H. H. Bancroft & Co. 1864.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Jacobs, Joseph; Lipkind, Goodman (1904). "Henry, Henry A.". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 349.

^ Kahn, Ava, ed. (2002). Jewish Voices of the California Gold Rush: A Documentary History, 1849–1880. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. p. 91. ISBN 0-8143-2859-8.
^ Jacobs, Joseph; Lipkind, Goodman (1904). "Henry, Henry A.". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 349.
^ Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John, eds. (1887). "Henry, Henry A.". Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. Vol. 3. New York: D. Appleton.
^ ^a ^b Sharfman, I. Harold (1988). The First Rabbi : Origins of Conflict Between Orthodox & Reform. Malibu, California: Pangloss Press. p. 323–324, 648. ISBN 0-934710-15-5.
^ Rosenbaum, Fred (2009). Cosmopolitans: A Social and Cultural History of the Jews of the San Francisco Bay Area. University of California Press. pp. 22–26, 32–33. doi:10.1525/9780520945029. ISBN 978-0-520-94502-9.
^ ^a ^b ^c Rochlin, Harriet; Rochlin, Fred (2000). Pioneer Jews: A New Life in the Far West. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 199. ISBN 978-0-618-00196-5.
^ Levy, Matthias (1897). The Western Synagogue: Some Materials for Its History. London: G. Barber. p. 51.
^ "Death of the Rev. H. A. Henry". The Jewish Chronicle. No. 549. London. October 3, 1879. p. 10.
^ The History of the K. K. Bene Yeshurun, of Cincinnati, Ohio, from the Date of its Organization. Cincinnati: Bloch Printing Co. 1892.
^ Eleff, Zev (2016). Modern Orthodox Judaism: A Documentary History. JPS Anthologies of Jewish Thought. University of Nebraska Press & Jewish Publication Society. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-8276-1291-4. JSTOR j.ctt1d4v0sk.
^ "Rabbi Tzvi Abroham Henry". Kevarim.com. January 18, 2012. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
^ Oko, Adolph S. (May 26, 1917). "Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, Ohio". The Reform Advocate. Vol. 53, no. 16. Chicago. p. 501.
^ Oko, Adolph S. (1943–1944). "Jewish Book Collections in the United States: In Commemoration of the Centenary of Mayer Sulzberger". The American Jewish Year Book. 45. American Jewish Committee: 74. JSTOR 23602858.

Henry A. Henry