We Called Him Rabbi Abraham: Lincoln and American Jewry, a Documentary History

Contents

Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction: Abraham Lincoln and American Jewry 1 1. Immigrants and the Old Northwest: Lincoln’s First Encounters with American Jewry 9 2. “The Most Favored Family Visitor at the White House”: The Enigmatic Relationship between Lincoln and Isachar Zacharie, M.D. 44 3. Lincoln and the Chaplaincy Controversy 72 4. Lincoln and the Revocation of General Orders No. 11 91 5. Lincoln and the Movement to Christianize the U.S. Constitution 117 6. “A Great Man in Israel Has Fallen”: American Jewry Mourns Lincoln 138 7. Conflicting Obligations: Shavuot and the National Day of Humiliation and Mourning 178 8. Criticisms and Commendations: Conflicting Views on the Lincoln Presidency 191 9. Memorializing and Judaizing Lincoln 227 10. “His Name Will Ever Be Green in Your Hearts”: Jews and the Cultural Preservation of Lincoln’s Legacy 267 11. “Lincoln! Thou Shouldst Be Living at This Hour!” Lincoln as a Moral Compass for American Jews 309 12. Lincoln Miscellany 354 Epilogue 392 Notes 397 Index 443 ...