Congregation B’nei Jeshurun
d. 3 Tammuz, 1868
Rav Moshe Yaakov (Morris Jacob) Raphall was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1798. At the age of nine his father, a banker, took him to visit the King of Sweden and then to Copenhagen , where he was educated at the Hebrew grammar-school. He later received a Ph.D. degree from the University of Erlangen (Germany). Soon after, he began publishing the Hebrew Review and Magazine of Rabbinical Literature.
In 1840, when the blood accusation was made at Damascus, he published a refutation of it in four languages (Hebrew, English, French, and German) and wrote a defense of Judaism against an anonymous writer in the London Times. The Rav also published a translation of eighteen treatises of the Mishnah; he also began a translation of the Pentateuch, of which only one volume appeared; and a text-book of the post-Biblical history of the Jews (to the year 70 C.E.).
In 1841 he was appointed Moreh Dasrah (minister) of the Birmingham Synagogue (West Midlands), United Kingdom, and the Rosh Yeshiva (head master) of the school. He continued in these capacities for eight years, and then sailed for New York where he was appointed rabbi and preacher of Congregation B’nei Jeshurun. He passed away in New York on June 23, 1868.
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Directions to kever:
Beth Olam Cemetery
2 Cypress Hills Street
Ridgewood (Queens), New York 11208
(Section: 11, Lot: 8, Grave: G)
(Second entrance, after cul-de-sac, enter path between section 21 and 22 (Dessau and Russak), proceed until Sommers tombstone and go left down path (same path as the Mitchell mausoleum) third grave in.)
Rabbi Morris Jacob Raphall
December 30th, 2008 · 8 Comments
Tags: Beth Olam · Needs Repair · New York · Pre 1900 · Rosh Yeshiva
8 responses so far ↓
1 Baruch A // Feb 6, 2009 at 6:54 pm
I am grateful to Harold Goldman, the Executive Director and Ron Seitenbach, the Director of Finance of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun for helping me find the Rav?s kever.
Thank you,
2 Pushateh Yid // Feb 6, 2009 at 6:58 pm
From the picture it looks like his name was Moshe b. Yaakov?
3 Rabbi E Friedman // Feb 6, 2009 at 6:57 pm
B”H that you found the Rav kever, Rav Raphall was among the fierce protectors of true torah values in his day.
4 HaRav // Feb 9, 2009 at 8:17 pm
The Rav came to the United States in 1849 and was the first Rabbi to open a session of the US House of Representatives with a prayer (1860).
Kudos on locating his kever.
5 Dovid Stern // Feb 20, 2009 at 5:48 pm
I was there this morning, the path is also marked off in yellow.
6 Dr. Yitzchok Levine // Feb 26, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Rabbi Raphall caused a stir when he gave a speech titled The Bible View of Slavery in New York on January 15, 1861, because he defended the institution of slavery. See
http://www.jewish-history.com/civilwar/raphall.html
Shortly after this speech others attempted to refute his position. See
http://www.jewish-history.com/civilwar/heilprin.html
7 Chief Rabbi // Dec 7, 2009 at 5:47 pm
I just came across this posting on another website (nah there are other websites!!!!!) apparently there was an Ashkenazi custom back in the day that a person would use his fathers name as a second name in addition to the family name. Some examples are Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsh was really Shamshon b. Raphael Hirsh, Rav Nosson Markus Adler (Chief Rabbi of England) was Nosson b. Markus. This would explain why Rabbi Moshe b. Yaakov Raphall was comenly known as Rabbi Morris Jacob Raphall.
Does anyone have any idea as to the origins of this custom or if it is still practiced?
8 asher // Aug 10, 2011 at 12:29 pm
A clearer shot:
http://s949.photobucket.com/albums/ad339/aman51/Beth%20Olam%20Cemetery/?action=view¤t=Raphall.jpg
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