Carte-de-visite photograph of Rabbi Abraham Sutro.

Rabbi Abraham Sutro (1784-1869) was educated in the rabbinical semenaries of Fürth and Prague. He was appointed the Landesrabbiner of Münster and the environs from 1815. Sutro was known as a polemicist against the Reform Movement, but also somewhat of a modernizer, advocating for Emancipation, and using the phrasing ‘Torah im derech eretz’ to apply to his conception of Judaism in his writings as early as 1836. He was the primary Torah teacher of Rev. Isaac Leeser, and was thus indirectly an influence on the direction of Judaism in America for much of the 19th century. The medal Rabbi Abraham Sutro is wearing in this photograph signifies his being awarded by the Prussian king, Frederick William IV, membership in the Order of the Red Eagle, fourth class. The former owner of this photograph was Rabbi Sutro's nephew, Samuel Weinberg, who emigrated to the United States from Hanover at age 16 in 1850, and settled in Frederick, MD <<(see previous lot).>>