RAPHALL, MORRIS J. New York Evening Express [Daily Newspaper]. Front-page containing entire text of Discourse by Rabbi Morris J. Raphall “The Bible View of Slavery” preached at the Synagogue Bnai Jeshurun, Greene Street, New York.

“The most highly publicized rabbinical pronouncement on the merits of slavery.” “Raphall was one of the most celebrated orators in the American rabbinate of his time…(This) sermon aroused more comment and attention than any other sermon ever delivered by an American Rabbi.” See B.W. Korn, American Jewry and the Civil War (1951) pp.16-20. It was preached on 4th January, 1861, a National Fast Day proclaimed by President Buchanan in his effort to mobilize national sentiment against the impending break-up of the Union. Raphall’s controversial views placed Judaism squarely in opposition to the philosophy of Abolitionism. Consequently, it was used frequently in the South as proof of Jewish support for the seceding States.