Louis Grossmann

Louis Grossmann was born in Vienna on February 24, 1863 to Rabbi Ignatz and Nettie (Rosenbaum) Grossmann. He immigrated to the United States and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. There he attended Hughes High School and, later, the University of Cincinnati and the Hebrew Union College. Grossmann completed his studies at UC and HUC in the same year, receiving a B.A. degree from UC and being ordained a rabbi by HUC in 1884. In later years Grossmann received two more degrees from HUC, a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1889 and Doctor of Humane Letters degree in 1922. In 1911, Grossmann studied for a year at the University of Jena. Following his ordination, Grossmann went to Detroit to become rabbi at Temple Beth El. He remained in Detroit until 1898 when he returned to Cincinnati to become both Isaac Mayer Wise's successor as rabbi at Congregation Bene Yeshurun and a professor of ethics, pedagogy, and theology at Hebrew Union College. Grossmann remained in both positions until 1922 when he retired and was elected rabbi emeritus by his congregation and professor emeritus at HUC. Grossman was active in many organizations. He was a founder of the Teachers Institute of HUC and served as the Institute's principal from 1909-1918. He was an editorial writer for the American Israelite from 1900-1905 and was a member of the organizing committee for the First Universal Congress of Races in London, England in 1911. He was president of the Jewish Religious Education Association of Ohio, the Rabbinical Association of Ohio, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis. In addition, Grossmann was a founder and honorary president of the Western Association of Jewish Ministers. Grossmann was also prolific as a lecturer and writer. Before joining the faculty at HUC, he lectured there on comparative religion in 1897. He also lectured on Jewish ethics at the Lewissohn Foundation in New York in 1909. Some of his more important and well-known writings were: "Judaism and the Science of Religion (1889); "Maimonides" (1890); "Aims of Teaching in Jewish Schools" (1918); and, with David Philipson, the biography, Isaac M. Wise (1900). Louis Grossmann died in Detroit in 1926.