The Quiet Voices: Southern Rabbis and Black Civil Rights, 1880s to 1990s

Edited by
Mark K. Bauman
and Berkley Kalin

Max Heller

Born in Europe and educated in Cincinnati, Max Heller served in a pulpit
previously held by a rabbi who epitomized loyalty to the Confederacy. Bobbie
Malone's carefully nuanced study shows how and why Heller's ideas gradu-
ally diverged from those of his predecessor. Heller epitomized in many ways
the marginal man: a Classical Reform Jew and a Zionist; rabbi of an as-
similationist congregation and an advocate of cultural pluralism; an outsider
and a member of the upper strata; a proponent of the ideas of W. E. B. Du
Bois and Booker T. Washington; a man of thought and of action. His vari-
ous identities as a Jew influenced his attitude toward African Americans
and, conversely, were influenced by them to the extent that it is almost im-
possible to separate the evolution of the two. Heller's is the story of a man
struggling with definitions of race and their impact on people's lives.

Morris Newfield

Like Heller an immigrant, social activist, and rabbi with a degree from He-
brew Union College, Morris Newfield was nonetheless far more circumspect
in his actions. Birmingham was a city that limited Social Gospel advocates
who wished to remain within the community. Yet questions arise: What if
Heller and Newfield had switched locations? Might the differences in their
temperaments and personalities have resulted in divergent responses?
Morris Newfield was rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in Birmingham, Ala-
bama, from 1895-1940, and in his tenure he played a variety of roles,
including serving as chief Jewish spokesman in the larger Birmingham
and Alabama communities. His authority lay in the power bestowed
upon him by Jews as their spokesperson and by Gentiles who perceived
him similarly. These factors are important as we consider this particular
rabbi's actions and attitudes toward blacks. As was the case with many
rabbis, Newfield's relationship with blacks was a complex one because of
the anomalous position of Jews in the South of his time.

William Fineshriber

Fineshriber, unlike other rabbis presented in this anthology, mixed
the social justice message of Classical Reform with socialist inclinations. He
pressed for action with the support of key elements of the Memphis power
structure. Fineshriber's story again raises the question of the intertwining of
events and movements. Although a dramatic lynching served as a catalyst,
the rabbi's advocacy of black civil rights was linked inexorably with his con-
cern for the rights of women and others who faced discrimination.



(cont...)