"Accept the Truth from Whomsoever [ sic ] Gives It": Jewish-Protestant Dialogue, Interfaith Alliances, and Pluralism, 1880-1910

Abstract

On evening of 7 November 1901, Henry Potter, Episcopal bishop of New York, entered city's oldest synagogue, Shearith Israel, to address its Sisterhood. After an introduction from congregation leader H. Pereira Mendes, Potter took pulpit and remarked Jewish world seemed to be changing. I have observed, he began, that Jews are in a great measure discarding their ancient ceremonials. Take care how you let go of usages come down to you from past. These ancient ceremonials are sacred things. That a leading churchman from Protestant mainstream would tell a group of Jews to carefully conserve their Jewish traditions did not go unnoticed by contemporaries. But almost as noteworthy as Potter's remarks was their setting: Shearith Israel was best-known orthodox synagogue in America, and Mendes headed Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, formed just three years earlier to defend tradi tional Judaism against rapid inroads and modernizing innovations of Reform Judaism. And yet between Potter and Mendes, two staunch defenders of religious conservatism, there was perfect understanding. As Mendes declared in his introductory remarks, the world had now advanced to point where men who differ in mere matters of creed, could stand same and serve God and humanity.1 That Potter and Mendes could unite on same platform in defense of their respective forms of traditionalism was result of years of interfaith dialogue between Jewish and Protestant leaders. Through pulpit exchanges, interfaith conferences, and editorials in weekly religious press, clergymen and laymen from both groups became increas ingly familiar with questions of ritual, belief, and observance faced by their counterparts. Reasoning church and synagogue faced similar difficulties with organizing and motivating their congregations, leading rabbis and ministers examined one another's practices and