James Koppel Gutheim

Gutheim, James Koppel. (1817-1886). Several of his sermons have been published. Training in his native Westphalia as a teacher, came to the U.S. around 1843. In 1846, became rabbi of what is now the Isaac M. Wise Temple in Cincinnati. In 1850, moved to New Orleans as leader of the Shaare Chesed Congregation and in 1853 became hazzan of the New Orleans Spanish-Portuguese Congregation. Refusing to take the oath of allegiance when Northern troops captured New Orleans, he saved the Jews of Alabama and Georgia until the end of the War. From 1868 to 1872 he preached in English at Temple Emanu-el in New York City. Returning to New Orleans, he served the new Temple Sinai until his death. The acknowledged leader of the Jewish community, he also held several important civic posts in the city. A close friend and supporter of Isaac Mayer Wise, he collaborated in the development of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and Hebrew Union College. There is a portrait in the Encyclopedia Judaiaca VII, 986 (1971).

--Leonard Ellinwood, DNAH Archives