Article Regarding the Possible Successors to Chief Rabbi Jacob Joseph after his 1902 Death

August 4 1902

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New-York Tribune.
AUGUST 4, 1902
 
TO SUCCEED RABBI JOSEPH.
 
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DR. LEVENTHAL OF PHILADELPHIA LIKELY TO BE CHOSEN.
 
The statement was made authoritatively yesterday, coming from Kasryel H. Sarasohn, of No. 185 East Broadway, who is especially close touch with the prominent orthodox Hebrews of this city, that a successor to the late Jacob Joseph as chief rabbi will be chosen in the person of Rabbi Leventhal, of Philadelphia. Dr. Maurice Fishberg, of No. 207 East Broadway, quoted Mr. Sarasohn to this effect.
 
Dr. Fishberg is chairman of the committee of investigation of the East Side Vigilance League. Asked yesterday as to the truth of the published statement that Dr. Phillip Klein, of No. 383 East Eighth-st., the rabbi of the Hungarian Synagogue, would be chosen to succeed Chief Rabbi Joseph, he said:

 The Hungarian element are working hard to get Dr. Klein the election, but I don’t think they are strong enough to do it. The Russians outnumber tem three to one, and I think a Russian rabbi will be chosen. Should Dr. Klein, however, be the selection of the forty rabbis of this city when they meet a few weeks hence, it is my opinion that he would make an excellent chief rabbi. Dr. Klein knows English well. He is thoroughly Americanized. Many of the rabbis who have come to this country comparatively late in life lack a thorough knowledge of the English language. Rabbi Joseph was one of these.
 
Dr. Fishbery expressed entire confidence in Mr. Sarasohn’s prediction that Rabbi Leventhal, of Philadelphia, would be the choice. “Mr. Sarasohn,” he said, “was one of those who originally induced Rabbi Joseph to come here, and was his stanch friend. He knows the situation.”
 
Abraham H. Sarasogn, the son of Kasryel H. Sarasohn, confirmed this statement of his father’s views on the succession. He referred, however, to the possibility that no chief rabbi would be chosen, as told in The Tribune yesterday. “You see,” he continued, “Rabbi Joseph was called to New-York by a definite organization. That organization was dissolved, and those of its members who continued to give the chief rabbi their support did so as a moral obligation.”
 
“Rabbi Leventhal is extremely popular in Philadelphia,” said one of the editors of “The Jewish Daily News.” “He speaks English fluently, is a fine orator and most genial. His people recently erected a $15,000 house for him. He has a good salary. Of course, I don’t know whether or not he will come if he is asked.”
 
Others prominently mentioned yesterday for the office of chief rabbi were Rabbi Lesser, of Chicago, and Rabbi Margolis, of Boston, both Russians, and Rabbi Morris Weinberger, of No. 100 Avenue D, and Rabbi Klein, of New-York, both Hungarians. Dr. Klein is spending the summer at his cottage at Sea Cliff, Long Island, and comes to the city three or four times a week to perform his church duties.