Moses Hutzler (November 28, 1800 – January 13, 1889) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

-born American businessman and co-founder of the first

Reform Jewish 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 sear ...

congregation in the United States, Har Sinai.

Biography

Moses Hutzler was born in

Hagenbach Hagenbach () is a town in the district of Germersheim, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated near the border with France, on the left bank of the Rhine, approx. 10 km west of Karlsruhe. Hagenbach is the seat of the ''Verbandsgem ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

, the son of and Beuleh (née Baer) and Gabriel Hutzler. After attending school in

, he learned the tailoring and dry-goods business. In 1838, he emigrated to the United States and opened a tailoring shop for women in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

which was unsuccessful. He then moved to

Frederick, Maryland Frederick is a city in and the county seat of Frederick County, Maryland. It is part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area, Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area. Frederick has long been an important crossroads, located at the inter ...

where he opened a

haberdashery In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a retailer who sells men's clothin ...

business. In 1840, he returned to Baltimore. In 1858, his son Abram G. (1836-1927) opened the company ''M. Hutzler & Son'' as Moses signed the note backing the company. After two of his other sons, Charles G. (1840-1907) and David (1843-1915), joined the business, it was redenominated ''Hutzler Brothers''. ''

Hutzler's Hutzler's, or Hutzler Brothers Company, was a department store founded in Baltimore by Abram G. Hutzler (1836–1927) in 1858. From its beginning as a small dry goods store at the corner of Howard and Clay Streets in downtown Baltimore, Hutzler's ...

'' became the premier department store in Baltimore. In May 1842, Hutzler founded the Har Sinai Association, an association of reform-minded Jews in Baltimore that formed a community modeled on the

Hamburg Temple The Hamburg Temple (german: link=no, Israelitischer Tempel) was the first permanent Reform synagogue and the first ever to have a Reform prayer rite. It operated in Hamburg (Germany) from 1818 to 1938. On 18 October 1818 the Temple was inaugurated ...

. The meetings were initially held in Hutzler's house and it was not until 1855 that David Einhorn became the first permanent

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

Personal life

Hutzler married twice. His first wife was Sophie Hutzler; they had two children that lived to adulthood:
In 1829, he married Caroline Neuberger (born 1804), the daughter of Eli B. Neuberger, a merchant. They had five children that lived to adulthood:
He died in

on January 13, 1889.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutzler, Moses 1800 births 1889 deaths Bavarian emigrants to the United States People from Baltimore Hutzler family 19th-century American businesspeople