Rev. Dr. E.G. Hirsch. The Crossing of the Jordan: Inaugural Sermon Before the Sinai Congregation.

Emil Gustav Hirsch (1851-1923) served for 42 years as the rabbi of Chicago Sinai Congregation, one of the oldest synagogues in the midwest. At this post, he became well known for an emphasis on social justice and delivered rousing sermons on the social ills of the day. In this, his inaugural sermon, Hirsch addressed the future of the Reform movement and more broadly, the great changes affecting American society. The Chicago Sinai Congregation was established in 1861. Under Dr. Emil Hirsch, it became a proponent of “Radical Reform,” whereby Sabbath services took place on Sunday, Hebrew was eliminated from the service and the Ark was removed and the Torah Scroll donated to the University of Chicago library. See Spertus Museum, Uncovered & Rediscovered: Chicago’s Jewish Pioneers, no. 1; T. Brinkmann, Sundays at Sinai: A Jewish Congregation in Chicago (2012) p. 125.