Zalma Rehine
| Zalma Rehine | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1757 Westphalia |
| 18431843 | |
| 💼 Occupation | Merchant |
| 👩 Spouse(s) | Rachel Judah |
| 👪 Relatives | Isaac Leeser (nephew) |
Zalma Rehine (1757–1843), also written Zalma Rehiné, was a German-born merchant who lived in Richmond, Virginia before moving to Baltimore. He was the uncle of Isaac Leeser, who worked in Rehine's Richmond store after arriving in the United States in 1824. Rehine's place in early American Jewish history is less certain: he has been called an early rabbi and has been linked to Baltimore's first congregation, but both descriptions are disputed.[1][2][3][4]
Names
Rehine's name varies among the sources. Lynn M. Berkowitz writes that he was born Solomon Isaac Cohen and later adopted the name Rehine from his birthplace.[5] Kevarim, a memorial directory, lists him as Zalman Rehin and gives the Hebrew name זלמן ב״ר יצחק הכהן.[6]
Life
Rehine was born in Westphalia in 1757 and later settled in Richmond, where he became a storekeeper. A 1917 history of Richmond's Jewish community places him in Congregation Beth Shalome by 1791.[7]
His public activities extended beyond the congregation. He helped establish the Richmond Light Infantry Blues in 1793 and served with the company until 1800. The Richmond history says that he later joined its march to Portsmouth during the 1807 Chesapeake–Leopard affair. In 1838, the company made him an honorary member.[1][7]
Rehine also signed a December 1804 petition to the Virginia legislature. It accused northern ship captains of dealing with enslaved people, luring them away with promises of freedom, and then enslaving and selling them elsewhere.[7]
Rehine was married to Rachel Judah, whose family included the religious leader Gershom Mendes Seixas. Rachel was the daughter of Seixas's sister. In 1824, Rehine's nephew Isaac Leeser arrived from Westphalia and joined the household in Richmond. Leeser worked in his uncle's dry-goods business for five years.[2][1]
Their relationship continued after Leeser moved to Philadelphia. Letters Rehine sent him in the 1830s survive in the University of Pennsylvania's Gershwind-Bennett Isaac Leeser Digital Repository.[4]
Rehine died in 1843.[1]
Later descriptions
Modern sources do not use the title rabbi consistently. Saul Jay Singer notes that Rehine is sometimes described as the first rabbi to reach the United States, but Singer found no evidence that he received ordination. He gives a different distinction to Abraham Rice: the first ordained rabbi known to hold a rabbinical post in the country.[3]
Baltimore tradition
A familiar account of Baltimore Jewish history begins with a minyan in Rehine's home and treats it as the origin of the city's first congregation. The Encyclopaedia Judaica repeats that account and dates Rehine's move from Richmond to 1829.[1]
The evidence for the story has been challenged. Marvin Pinkert, writing for the Jewish Museum of Maryland, summarizes Ira Rosenwaike's examination of the claim. Rosenwaike traced it to a recollection relayed by Henrietta Szold, who presented Rehine's role only as a possibility. He also found Rehine still recorded in Richmond in the 1830 census, after worship had begun in Baltimore.[4]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Fein, Isaac M. "Rehine, Zalma". Encyclopaedia Judaica. Retrieved 2026-10-14 – via Encyclopedia.com.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kiron, Arthur. "Biographical Sketch of Isaac Leeser" (PDF). University of Pennsylvania Libraries. p. 1. Retrieved 2026-10-14.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Singer, Saul Jay (2022-07-20). "Who Was The First Rabbi In America?". The Jewish Press. Retrieved 2026-10-14.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Pinkert, Marvin (2014-12-03). "A False "Rosetta Stone"". Jewish Museum of Maryland. Retrieved 2026-10-14.
- ↑ Berkowitz, Lynn M. (February 1993). "A Preacher of the Word of G-d: the Rev. Isaac Leeser" (PDF). The Jewish Observer: 27.
- ↑ "Rabbi Zalman Rehin". Kevarim. 2022-06-21. Retrieved 2026-10-14.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Ezekiel, Herbert T.; Lichtenstein, Gaston (1917). The History of the Jews of Richmond from 1769 to 1917. Richmond, Virginia: Herbert T. Ezekiel. pp. 37–40. Search this book on
External links
- Gershwind-Bennett Isaac Leeser Digital Repository, including correspondence with Zalma Rehine
Category:1757 births
Category:1843 deaths
Category:American people of German-Jewish descent
Category:Prussian emigrants to the United States
Category:18th-century American merchants
Category:19th-century American merchants
Category:People from Richmond, Virginia
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