Einhorn, David

Einhorn, David (īn`hôrn), 1809–79, Jewish theological writer and leader of the Reform movement in Judaism in the United States. Born in Bavaria, he studied philosophy at Munich and was influenced by the ideas of Friedrich Schelling. After a stormy career as rabbi of several Reform congregations in central Europe, he accepted (1855) a position as rabbi in Baltimore. He was forced to flee (1861) when his vigorous antislavery campaign aroused the anger of Southern sympathizers. He then accepted positions in Philadelphia and in New York City (1866). Einhorn was a staunch supporter of Abraham Geiger's liberal views on the practice of Judaism. Some of his ideas found expression in the Pittsburgh Platform (adopted by a rabbinical conference in Pittsburgh, 1855), which remained the basis of American Reform Judaism for a generation, and in the original Union Prayer Book, which was modeled in part after his own prayer book, Olat Tamid (1856).

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Einhorn, David (1809–79) rabbi; born in Dispeck, Germany. He came to the U.S.A. in 1855 and was minister to congregations in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. Active in the antislavery movement, he was the leading theologian of the extreme Reform wing of Judaism of the time; but because he preached in German, his influence in this country was limited.