Isaac Harby (1788–1828), from

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, was an early 19th-century teacher, playwright, literary critic, journalist, newspaper editor, and advocate of reforms in Judaism. His ideas were some of the precedents behind the development of

Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous searc ...

. Harby's writings were anti-Northern, anti-abolitionist, and staunchly supportive of slavery. Harby came from a

Sephardic Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

Jewish family. He and some associates created a new synagogue in 1824 because they felt the existing Sephardic ritual was too hard to understand. The words were spoken in a language that few Jews at the time understood, and all associated with their pain in the Sephardi diaspora. The words were spoken too quickly to understand even if the language was known. Beth Elohim in

. "We wish to worship God, not as slaves of bigotry and priestcraft but as the enlightened descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."See Harby's discourse in:
A Selection from the Miscellaneous Writings of the Late Isaac Harby, Esq'', 1829, p. 57
See also
The Sabbath service and miscellaneous prayers, adopted by the Reformed society of Israelites, founded in Charleston, S. C., November 21, 1825
His granddaughter Lee Cohen Harby (1849–1918), a writer, was also born in Charleston.

References

External links

bio of Harby
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harby, Isaac 1788 births 1828 deaths 19th-century Sephardi Jews American proslavery activists Jewish American journalists Writers from Charleston, South Carolina American Reform Jews American Sephardic Jews Sephardi Reform Jews