Leon Harrison (August 13, 1866 – September 1, 1928) was an English-born American rabbi who ministered in St. Louis for 37 years.
Harrison was born on August 13, 1866, in Liverpool, England, the son of Gustave Harrison and Louisa Nelson.[1]
Harrison attended the St. James School in Liverpool.[2] He immigrated to America when he was young. In 1880, he was admitted to New York City College at the head of 920 candidates, ranking above every other student. In 1882, he transferred to Columbia University, where he graduated with a B.A. and first honors of his class in 1886. He then spent three years doing postgraduate study in philosophy at Columbia. In 1886, he graduated from the Emanuel Theological Seminary in New York City and was ordained a rabbi by Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler and Rabbi Gustav Gottheil.[3]
Harrison then began serving as rabbi of 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 get a new temple building built. In 1890, he was invited to deliver a sermon at Temple Israel in St. Louis, Missouri. This led the Temple, which at the time was trying to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Rabbi Solomon H. Sonneschein, to unanimously name him their new rabbi over 27 other candidates. He then moved to St. Louis and officially began working as Temple Israel's rabbi in the start of 1891.[4]
Harrison introduced Sunday services at Temple Israel, although he later abandoned them in favor of late Friday evening services. He was vice-president of the 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.[5] He gave a eulogy at Henry Ward Beecher's funeral service in Brooklyn when he was twenty-one, delivered a memorial address for William McKinley in St. Louis, and delivered the Thanksgiving oration as a representative of the Jewish community in the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition. He served as rabbi of Temple Israel until his death. In 1931, his sermons were posthumously published in a volume called The Religion of a Modern Liberal.[6]
On September 1, 1928, Harrison fell in front of a subway car at the 116th Street–Columbia University station in New York City. He had returned from a European trip a week earlier and was staying with his sister. The death was initially considered a suicide but was later ruled an accident.[7] A funeral service was held at Temple Israel in New York City, where Rabbi Samuel Thurman of the United Hebrew Congregation in St. Louis, Rabbi Maximilian Heller of Temple Sinai in New Orleans, and Rabbi Simon Cohen of Union Temple of Brooklyn officiated the service and delivered eulogies. The funeral was attended by prominent members of the New York City Jewish community and representatives of his St. Louis congregation, including Rabbi Samuel Schulman of Congregation Emanu-El, Rabbi Nathan Stern of the West End Synagogue, Rabbi Aaron Eiseman of Mt. Neboh Congregation, Rabbi A. B. Tintner Unity Congregation, Rabbi Clifton Levy of the Jewish Science Congregation, and Rabbi Irving Reichert of Tremont Temple. After the funeral service, the body was brought to Pennsylvania Station, where a special train brought it back to St. Louis.[8] Another funeral was held there, and he was buried in New Mount Sinai Cemetery.[9]