Isaac Leeser and Slavery: A Match Made in Richmond

Abstract

In October 1850, The Occident and American Jewish Advocate published an article titled “Judaism and its Principles.” The piece was written by Isaac Leeser (1806–68), founder and editor of the newspaper and former hazan of Philadelphia’s Congregation Mikveh Israel. The article reflected the breadth and depth of Leeser’s Jewish knowledge. Leeser was a prolific writer, translator, publisher of Jewish works, and, despite being a staunch traditionalist, innovator in his efforts to reach and teach American Jews. In the article, Leeser contrasted the certainty of revelation with the unreliability of reason. “What one man calls reasonable another may . . . style absurd; or what is perfectly consonant with the notions generally prevailing this year that is the current spirit of the age, may fall within the next twelve months beneath the axe of some sharpwitted critic.” As an example of ethical uncertainty Leeser suggested “the institution of slavery.” He noted that many Southern slave owners had once pronounced slavery “the greatest curse under which they labored,” while most Northerners approached the institution “with a great degree of indifference.” As Northern “abhorrence of slaveholding has increased,” however, Southern ideas have undergone a “corresponding mutation” such that even women “advocate the state of bondage as the happiest for the African race.” Slavery was viewed as a “patriarchal” institution, “promotive of mutual blessing to the master and servant.” Leeser pointed to the curious phrase, “the blessings of slavery,” to demonstrate the difficulty in making moral sense of the problem. He concluded with a paean to ethical relativism: “Both Southerners and Northerners are equally sincere in their views that the one loves as ardently as the other detests the presence of negro bondmen.” By equating proand anti-