Rabbi Witt served Congregation Shaare Emeth, St. Louis, Missouri as senior rabbi for 7 years (1920-1927) and he is listed along with other rabbis who served St. Louis congregations. You can find the full list at SAINT LOUIS RABBIS.
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Rabbi Witt was the son of Hyman and Rebecca Witt. He went to school in New York and Rochester and came west to study at the University of Cincinnati and Hebrew Union College. He married his wife Myra Joseph in New York in 1904.
Originally called the Little Rock Congregation, a group formally incorporated as B'nai Israel in 1867 and elected Morris Navra as its first president. Rabbi Samuel Peck joined the congregation as a spiritual leader the following year. Many early congregants were adherents to Reform Judaism, and in accordance with the practices of some Reform congregations at the time, they referred to their leader as Reverend Samuel Peck. B'nai Israel was one of the founding members of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, now the Union for Reform Judaism. The pulpit at B'nai Israel, Little Rock, Arkansas, continued to experience high turnover during the first quarter of the 20th century. Rabbi Louis Witt had the longest tenure, serving from 1907 to 1919.
From the B'nai Israel Centennial book:
"From 1907 until 1919, Rabbi Louis Witt served as the spiritual leader of the congregation. During his long and successful administration, certain innovations were made, notably the revision of the constitution to allow women to serve on the Board of Trustees. He held the position during the critical years of World War I. He organized the Arkansas Conference of Jewish Religious School Teachers. He was president of the Arkansas Conference of Social Work in 1917."
Rabbi Witt was also the senior rabbi at Temple Israel, Dayton, Ohio for 20 years (1927-1947). He retired from the rabbinate from that Temple Israel pulpit.
Louis Witt succeeded Mayersberg in 1927. He worked on fostering interfaith relations, and, like his predecessors, was active in community and civic life. A tall man who sometimes wore a swallow-tail coat when conducting services, he was a strong proponent of "Classical Reform" principles, and while he was rabbi, following his preference, no one wore a skullcap in the Temple.
In 1929, at the second UAHC convention, Witt had asserted that America "by its very pleasantness and friendliness lures us away from our ancient loyalties. Its secularism is so delightful, its mutuality so penetrative, its universalism so delightful, that by a sort of sheer spiritual osmosis it incorporates us into itself and makes us look and become more and more like itself". Witt argued that Jews had to resist this pull. Ten years later, however, in a 1939 article in The Christian Century, he argued that Jews should celebrate Christmas. In his view, Christians were now more liberal and celebrated "the inherent humanness and universalism" of Christmas, rather than any specifically Christian doctrine. Stating that his children had been deprived of the holiday's pleasures, Witt asserted that Judaism was already a syncratic religion, and that celebrating the holiday was an ecumenical act which did not indicate that he was "thereby drawn even by the breadth of a hair nearer to the worship of an ecclesiastical Christ". He concluded by asking "Is it neither treason of Jew nor triumph of Christian but partnership of Jew and Christian in the making of a better world in which the Christ can have part only by energizing and perpetuating and hallowing the partnership?"
During Witt's tenure, Dayton experienced an influx of Jewish immigration, and the original German-Jewish constituency of the congregation became more diverse. Family membership reached 500 by 1945.
_________________________
Scroll down this page and just below the final photo on the right, click on the access link to reveal more photos. Double-click on each photo image to reveal any captions, sources or credits.
_________________________
The rabbi featured on this Find A Grave page is one of many included in a "Virtual Cemetery" of rabbis who've passed but who served on St. Louis pulpits during their rabbinate. The complete "Virtual Cemetery" list can be found at SAINT LOUIS RABBIS. Questions about this "Virtual Cemetery" project may be directed to:
Steven Weinreich
Email: [email protected]
____________________
Rabbi Witt was the son of Hyman and Rebecca Witt. He went to school in New York and Rochester and came west to study at the University of Cincinnati and Hebrew Union College. He married his wife Myra Joseph in New York in 1904.
Originally called the Little Rock Congregation, a group formally incorporated as B'nai Israel in 1867 and elected Morris Navra as its first president. Rabbi Samuel Peck joined the congregation as a spiritual leader the following year. Many early congregants were adherents to Reform Judaism, and in accordance with the practices of some Reform congregations at the time, they referred to their leader as Reverend Samuel Peck. B'nai Israel was one of the founding members of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, now the Union for Reform Judaism. The pulpit at B'nai Israel, Little Rock, Arkansas, continued to experience high turnover during the first quarter of the 20th century. Rabbi Louis Witt had the longest tenure, serving from 1907 to 1919.
From the B'nai Israel Centennial book:
"From 1907 until 1919, Rabbi Louis Witt served as the spiritual leader of the congregation. During his long and successful administration, certain innovations were made, notably the revision of the constitution to allow women to serve on the Board of Trustees. He held the position during the critical years of World War I. He organized the Arkansas Conference of Jewish Religious School Teachers. He was president of the Arkansas Conference of Social Work in 1917."
Rabbi Witt was also the senior rabbi at Temple Israel, Dayton, Ohio for 20 years (1927-1947). He retired from the rabbinate from that Temple Israel pulpit.
Louis Witt succeeded Mayersberg in 1927. He worked on fostering interfaith relations, and, like his predecessors, was active in community and civic life. A tall man who sometimes wore a swallow-tail coat when conducting services, he was a strong proponent of "Classical Reform" principles, and while he was rabbi, following his preference, no one wore a skullcap in the Temple.
In 1929, at the second UAHC convention, Witt had asserted that America "by its very pleasantness and friendliness lures us away from our ancient loyalties. Its secularism is so delightful, its mutuality so penetrative, its universalism so delightful, that by a sort of sheer spiritual osmosis it incorporates us into itself and makes us look and become more and more like itself". Witt argued that Jews had to resist this pull. Ten years later, however, in a 1939 article in The Christian Century, he argued that Jews should celebrate Christmas. In his view, Christians were now more liberal and celebrated "the inherent humanness and universalism" of Christmas, rather than any specifically Christian doctrine. Stating that his children had been deprived of the holiday's pleasures, Witt asserted that Judaism was already a syncratic religion, and that celebrating the holiday was an ecumenical act which did not indicate that he was "thereby drawn even by the breadth of a hair nearer to the worship of an ecclesiastical Christ". He concluded by asking "Is it neither treason of Jew nor triumph of Christian but partnership of Jew and Christian in the making of a better world in which the Christ can have part only by energizing and perpetuating and hallowing the partnership?"
During Witt's tenure, Dayton experienced an influx of Jewish immigration, and the original German-Jewish constituency of the congregation became more diverse. Family membership reached 500 by 1945.
_________________________
Scroll down this page and just below the final photo on the right, click on the access link to reveal more photos. Double-click on each photo image to reveal any captions, sources or credits.
_________________________
The rabbi featured on this Find A Grave page is one of many included in a "Virtual Cemetery" of rabbis who've passed but who served on St. Louis pulpits during their rabbinate. The complete "Virtual Cemetery" list can be found at SAINT LOUIS RABBIS. Questions about this "Virtual Cemetery" project may be directed to:
Steven Weinreich
Email: [email protected]
Rabbi Witt served Congregation Shaare Emeth, St. Louis, Missouri as senior rabbi for 7 years (1920-1927) and he is listed along with other rabbis who served St. Louis congregations. You can find the full list at SAINT LOUIS RABBIS.
____________________
Rabbi Witt was the son of Hyman and Rebecca Witt. He went to school in New York and Rochester and came west to study at the University of Cincinnati and Hebrew Union College. He married his wife Myra Joseph in New York in 1904.
Originally called the Little Rock Congregation, a group formally incorporated as B'nai Israel in 1867 and elected Morris Navra as its first president. Rabbi Samuel Peck joined the congregation as a spiritual leader the following year. Many early congregants were adherents to Reform Judaism, and in accordance with the practices of some Reform congregations at the time, they referred to their leader as Reverend Samuel Peck. B'nai Israel was one of the founding members of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, now the Union for Reform Judaism. The pulpit at B'nai Israel, Little Rock, Arkansas, continued to experience high turnover during the first quarter of the 20th century. Rabbi Louis Witt had the longest tenure, serving from 1907 to 1919.
From the B'nai Israel Centennial book:
"From 1907 until 1919, Rabbi Louis Witt served as the spiritual leader of the congregation. During his long and successful administration, certain innovations were made, notably the revision of the constitution to allow women to serve on the Board of Trustees. He held the position during the critical years of World War I. He organized the Arkansas Conference of Jewish Religious School Teachers. He was president of the Arkansas Conference of Social Work in 1917."
Rabbi Witt was also the senior rabbi at Temple Israel, Dayton, Ohio for 20 years (1927-1947). He retired from the rabbinate from that Temple Israel pulpit.
Louis Witt succeeded Mayersberg in 1927. He worked on fostering interfaith relations, and, like his predecessors, was active in community and civic life. A tall man who sometimes wore a swallow-tail coat when conducting services, he was a strong proponent of "Classical Reform" principles, and while he was rabbi, following his preference, no one wore a skullcap in the Temple.
In 1929, at the second UAHC convention, Witt had asserted that America "by its very pleasantness and friendliness lures us away from our ancient loyalties. Its secularism is so delightful, its mutuality so penetrative, its universalism so delightful, that by a sort of sheer spiritual osmosis it incorporates us into itself and makes us look and become more and more like itself". Witt argued that Jews had to resist this pull. Ten years later, however, in a 1939 article in The Christian Century, he argued that Jews should celebrate Christmas. In his view, Christians were now more liberal and celebrated "the inherent humanness and universalism" of Christmas, rather than any specifically Christian doctrine. Stating that his children had been deprived of the holiday's pleasures, Witt asserted that Judaism was already a syncratic religion, and that celebrating the holiday was an ecumenical act which did not indicate that he was "thereby drawn even by the breadth of a hair nearer to the worship of an ecclesiastical Christ". He concluded by asking "Is it neither treason of Jew nor triumph of Christian but partnership of Jew and Christian in the making of a better world in which the Christ can have part only by energizing and perpetuating and hallowing the partnership?"
During Witt's tenure, Dayton experienced an influx of Jewish immigration, and the original German-Jewish constituency of the congregation became more diverse. Family membership reached 500 by 1945.
_________________________
Scroll down this page and just below the final photo on the right, click on the access link to reveal more photos. Double-click on each photo image to reveal any captions, sources or credits.
_________________________
The rabbi featured on this Find A Grave page is one of many included in a "Virtual Cemetery" of rabbis who've passed but who served on St. Louis pulpits during their rabbinate. The complete "Virtual Cemetery" list can be found at SAINT LOUIS RABBIS. Questions about this "Virtual Cemetery" project may be directed to:
Steven Weinreich
Email: [email protected]
____________________
Rabbi Witt was the son of Hyman and Rebecca Witt. He went to school in New York and Rochester and came west to study at the University of Cincinnati and Hebrew Union College. He married his wife Myra Joseph in New York in 1904.
Originally called the Little Rock Congregation, a group formally incorporated as B'nai Israel in 1867 and elected Morris Navra as its first president. Rabbi Samuel Peck joined the congregation as a spiritual leader the following year. Many early congregants were adherents to Reform Judaism, and in accordance with the practices of some Reform congregations at the time, they referred to their leader as Reverend Samuel Peck. B'nai Israel was one of the founding members of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, now the Union for Reform Judaism. The pulpit at B'nai Israel, Little Rock, Arkansas, continued to experience high turnover during the first quarter of the 20th century. Rabbi Louis Witt had the longest tenure, serving from 1907 to 1919.
From the B'nai Israel Centennial book:
"From 1907 until 1919, Rabbi Louis Witt served as the spiritual leader of the congregation. During his long and successful administration, certain innovations were made, notably the revision of the constitution to allow women to serve on the Board of Trustees. He held the position during the critical years of World War I. He organized the Arkansas Conference of Jewish Religious School Teachers. He was president of the Arkansas Conference of Social Work in 1917."
Rabbi Witt was also the senior rabbi at Temple Israel, Dayton, Ohio for 20 years (1927-1947). He retired from the rabbinate from that Temple Israel pulpit.
Louis Witt succeeded Mayersberg in 1927. He worked on fostering interfaith relations, and, like his predecessors, was active in community and civic life. A tall man who sometimes wore a swallow-tail coat when conducting services, he was a strong proponent of "Classical Reform" principles, and while he was rabbi, following his preference, no one wore a skullcap in the Temple.
In 1929, at the second UAHC convention, Witt had asserted that America "by its very pleasantness and friendliness lures us away from our ancient loyalties. Its secularism is so delightful, its mutuality so penetrative, its universalism so delightful, that by a sort of sheer spiritual osmosis it incorporates us into itself and makes us look and become more and more like itself". Witt argued that Jews had to resist this pull. Ten years later, however, in a 1939 article in The Christian Century, he argued that Jews should celebrate Christmas. In his view, Christians were now more liberal and celebrated "the inherent humanness and universalism" of Christmas, rather than any specifically Christian doctrine. Stating that his children had been deprived of the holiday's pleasures, Witt asserted that Judaism was already a syncratic religion, and that celebrating the holiday was an ecumenical act which did not indicate that he was "thereby drawn even by the breadth of a hair nearer to the worship of an ecclesiastical Christ". He concluded by asking "Is it neither treason of Jew nor triumph of Christian but partnership of Jew and Christian in the making of a better world in which the Christ can have part only by energizing and perpetuating and hallowing the partnership?"
During Witt's tenure, Dayton experienced an influx of Jewish immigration, and the original German-Jewish constituency of the congregation became more diverse. Family membership reached 500 by 1945.
_________________________
Scroll down this page and just below the final photo on the right, click on the access link to reveal more photos. Double-click on each photo image to reveal any captions, sources or credits.
_________________________
The rabbi featured on this Find A Grave page is one of many included in a "Virtual Cemetery" of rabbis who've passed but who served on St. Louis pulpits during their rabbinate. The complete "Virtual Cemetery" list can be found at SAINT LOUIS RABBIS. Questions about this "Virtual Cemetery" project may be directed to:
Steven Weinreich
Email: [email protected]
