Leon Harrison

Leon Harrison (August 13, 1866 – September 1, 1928) was an English-born American rabbi who served at Temple Israel in St. Louis for 37 years.

Early Life

Harrison was born on August 13, 1866, in Liverpool, England, the son of Gustave Harrison and Louisa Nelson. Harrison attended the St. James School in Liverpool.

He immigrated to America when he was young. In 1880, he was admitted to New York City College before transferring to Columbia University in 1882. He graduated from Columbia with a B.A. and first honors of his class in 1886. Harrison then graduated from the Emanuel Theological Seminary in New York City and was ordained by Rabbis Kaufmann Kohler and Gustav Gottheil.

Harrison's first pulpit was at Temple Israel in Brooklyn when he was twenty, making him one of the youngest rabbis in America at the time. As Temple Israel's rabbi for the next five years, he helped grow the small synagogue into one of the leading congregations in Brooklyn and helped get a new temple building built.

Serving at Temple Israel

In 1890, Harrison was invited to deliver a sermon at Temple Israel in St. Louis, Missouri. At the time, the congregation was trying to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of their previous rabbi, Solomon Solomon H. Sonneschein. Harrison impressed the congregation to such a degree that the search committee immediately made him a job offer over 27 other candidates. The temple board unanimously voted to confirm him, and he began serving as rabbi in January 1891.

While rabbi in St. Louis, Harrison briefly introduced Sunday services at Temple Israel, an assimilationist practice that was common among many Reform temples in the 19th century. This change proved unpopular and Temple Israel quickly resumed Friday evening services.

Civic Life in St. Louis

Apart from being the rabbi at Temple Israel, Harrison was also very active in civic life and Progressive causes around St. Louis and eastern Missouri. He served as vice president of the Missouri chapter of Anti-Tuberculosis Society, director of the Tenement House Improvement Association, co-editor of the Semitics section of the Editor's Encyclopedia, and a founder of the Social Settlement League and the Fresh Air Society in St. Louis. His sermons regularly featured Progressive themes and were posthumously published in 1931 as The Religion of a Modern Liberal.

Harrison was also a well-respected public figure in St. Louis. He delivered a memorial address for in 1901 as well as the Thanksgiving oration at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition.

Death

Leon Harrison tragically died in 1928 at the age of 62. Following a trip to Europe over the summer, Harrison stayed in New York for a week to visit his sister. While in New York City, he fell in front of a subway car at the 116th Street-Columbia University station. Though his death was initially ruled a suicide, it later was determined to be an accident.

Harrison's funeral brought together Jews from across the country. Samuel Thurman, of St. Louis's United Hebrew Congregation and Maximilian Heller of New Orleans' Temple Sinai officiated the service and delivered eulogies. Prominent members of both the New York and St. Louis Jewish communities came in for the funeral. After the service, Harrison's body was brought to Pennsylvania Station, where a special train brought it back to St. Louis. In St. Louis, a second, local, funeral was held, and he was interred in New Mount Sinai Cemetery.