Reform Judaism

Collection consists of bulletins, invitations, programs, and an audiocassette pertaining to the 150th anniversary celebration of the first Reform congregation in Philadelphia. An exhibit guide within the collection provides extensive historical information. The collection also includes a biographical sketch of the late Rabbi Bertram W. Korn, and a service of installation for Rabbi Bradley N. Bleefeld. The audiocassette consists of a compendium of services used by the Congregation over the last 150 years.

Robert Raphael Geis (1906-1972) was a rabbi, educator, and Jewish theologian. He identified strongly with German liberal Judaism, but his keen interest in Jewish studies brought him close to leaders of conservative Judaism as well. Before the Second World War Robert Raphael Geis worked as a rabbi for the youth and Religion teacher in Munich and Mannheim, and as a rabbi in Kassel, Germany. After the war he served as a rabbi in Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Germany. In the early 1960s, Raphael Robert Geis became engaged in the dialog of Protestant and Jewish theologians. The Robert Raphael Geis collection consists mainly of correspondence and writings. There are only a few personal documents. The writings consist of newspaper articles, reviews of books on Jewish topics and sermons for major Jewish holidays. The correspondence has two main foci: the periods before and after the Second World War. The first period is characterized by letters written by various leading figures of Jewish communities in Germany and is concerned with employment opportunities for young rabbis, as well as insights into inner workings of congregations. A large amount of letters from this period also come from Robert Raphael Geis' students. The correspondence written after the war centers on theological matters and the workings of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der "Juden und Christen" (Working Group of "Jews and Christians").

The first folder contains a two part typescript by Salomon Samuel, a reflection on the period of Jewish emancipation (5600-5700, i.e. circa 1840 to 1938) titled "5600-5700. Rueckblick auf ein Jahrhundert juedischer Weltenaera". In the first part (27 pp.) Samuel describes the historical events from the so called "Damascus affair" (1840) to the Évian Conference (1938), in the second part titled "Religioese und geistesgeschichtliche Entwicklung" (179 pp.) the Jewish religious and intellectual developments in the Era of emancipation.

The second folder contains a photocopied typescript titled "Einfuehrung", the introduction to Samuel's "Ein Lehrbuch juedischer Religion" (published in 1930) and a biographical article by Samuel's son Jochanan Samuel (1901-1976) titled "Rabbiner Dr. Salomon Samuel" published in: Muenster am Hellweg. 6/9 (June, 1978). pp. 81-88.

This collection is primarily comprised of administrative materials, journal issues, editorial content, and interviews. Interviews are transcribed for inclusion in editorial content. The collection was pre-arranged by the organization prior to donation.

The complete run of Sh'ma is available via our shared digital asset management and preservation system. Links to the digitized serial can be found in two parts. For 1970-2002, please see https://digipres.cjh.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE10853379. For 2002-2019, please see https://digipres.cjh.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE10940070.

While our collection is arranged archivally in its original order, Stanford's Berman Jewish Policy Archive offers the ability to search the Sh’ma Journal database by article title, author, or keywords. Cross referencing these two collections increases discoverability and makes the Sh’ma collection more accessible to all users.

Each entry in Stanford’s database contains a selection of keywords, or “topics”. A keyword search will typically yield a range of files within the scope of your chosen topic. For example: entering “kosher” into the search bar will retrieve any files containing “kosher” as a topic, as well as files containing shared keywords such as “food,” “Jewish law,” and “tradition”. The ability to cast a wider net allows for the discovery of more resources and can be particularly helpful when conducting preliminary research.

The Sh’ma Journal collection at AJHS allows the user to browse the journal’s complete run in chronological order. Each volume has been digitized as a single entity and can be accessed by issue number, rather than individual articles. Once the user has identified a relevant article through a keyword search in the Stanford database, they can then locate the complete publication in the AJHS collection and continue their research from there. Likewise, the user might identify an article or topic of interest within the AJHS collection and then utilize the Stanford database to locate related articles through a keyword search.

Click here to browse the Sh'ma Collection hosted by the Berman Jewish Policy Archive

This Collection documents the lifespan (1926-1982, 1990-1992, 1994) and activities of the joint Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Jewish communities' efforts in coordinating Jewish life and activities in America. The collection contains correspondence, photographs, and ephemera including photographs of Martin Luther King, Jr., Edward Kennedy, and Presidents Eisenhower, Truman, and Johnson, along with Eleanor Roosevelt. Of particular interest is correspondence and photographs documenting the removal, reconsecration, or burial of ritual Synagogue items for repatriation from Europe to the U.S. and South America after WWII; also contains information on damaged synagogues in France.

Most of this collection consists of photocopies of draft versions of Leo Trepp's historical accounts of German Jewish communities.

Vital documents, letters of protection and municipal citizenship, autograph albums, wills and testaments, marriage contracts, memoirs, obituaries, and clippings concerning members of the Valentin family, the family business, the freight-movers Jacob & Valentin, and related families, including the Abraham, Behrend, Loewen, and Mannheimer families; noteworthy documents include memoirs of the banker Samuel Liepmann Loewen, 1824, and records of the Prussian minter and medalist Jacob Abraham, 1753, as well as photocopies of records of his son, the minter Abraham Abramson.

The bulk of this collection consists of manuscripts, correspondence and clippings that were written and collected by Walter Breslauer in London, touching on his personal and professional memories as an administrative director of the Berlin Jewish community. Also included are items related to Walter Breslauer’s father, Bernhard Breslauer. The papers had been sent to the Leo Baeck Institute New York in 1970.

Rabbi William F. Rosenblum was head rabbi of the reform congregation at Temple Israel in New York City, 1930-1963. He was also an active leader in a number of Jewish social welfare and religious organizations. In addition to broadly documenting his rabbinical career and organizational activities, the William F. Rosenblum Papers reflect Rosenblum's interests in military chaplaincy, relations between Catholicism and Judaism, the media, race relations, post-WWII Europe, and the Vietnam War. Materials include correspondence, scrapbooks, sermons, speeches, notes, radio transcripts, clippings, photographs, audiotapes, and film.

The collection contains photocopies and microfilm reels with items from the Leopold Zunz Archives at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel.