Maurice Nathan Eisendrath

(1902-1973). Rabbi and leader of American Reform Judaism. Born in Chicago, Eisendrath was educated at the University of Cincinnati and Hebrew Union College. From 1929 to 1943 he was rabbi of Holy Blossom Congregation, Toronto. In 1943, Eisendrath returned to Cincinnati as director (later president) of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, at a time when many of its supporters felt it to be unresponsive to recent developments in American Jewish life. Eisendrath quickly transformed the organization and transferred its headquarters from Cincinnati to New York. At the same time, the Union began to articulate the viewpoint of Reform Judaism in a number of matters outside the conventional range of synagogue activities. Eisendrath took a prominent part in the controversies surrounding the formation of an American Jewish Conference, support for the State of Israel, and later social action. The misgivings of the more conservative laity, who had previously dominated the Union, became vocal when he established a Social Action Center in Washington, which they feared would turn into a political lobbying organization.

In effect, Eisendrath was attuned to the outlook of a new generation of Reform Jews. East European Jews who did not share the anti-traditional bias of an earlier generation had begun to take part in the movement in the inter-war years. The Columbus Platform of 1937 had given recognition to their religious outlook; the Zionist movement and events in Europe had deepened their sense of peoplehood; and the post-war mood encouraged the interest of institutional religion in social betterment. Eisendrath guided the movement in these directions and in shaping this phase of Reform Judaism He was able both to take advantage of the strain in the outlook of Isaac Mayer Wise and to leave his own stamp on the movement.

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