Henry Vidaver (1833, Warsaw, Poland - 14 September 1882, San Francisco, California

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

) was a prominent rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

, publisher, Hebraist

Hebraist

A Hebraist is a specialist in Hebrew and Hebraic studies. Specifically, British and German scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries who were involved in the study of Hebrew language and literature were commonly known by this designation, at a time when Hebrew was little understood outside practicing...

, and orator in America.

In 1859, Vidaver immigrated to the United States, and became the rabbi of Congregation Rodeph Shalom

Congregation Rodeph Shalom (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Congregation Rodeph Shalom of Philadelphia, founded in 1795, is the oldest Ashkenazic synagogue in the Western Hemisphere. It is noted historically for its leadership of the Reform movement among American Hebrew congregations, for its spiritual influence upon international Jewry, and for its unique...

 in Philadelphia. In 1861 he resigned his position and moved to Germany then returned to the U.S. in 1865 to become rabbi of United Hebrew Congregation

United Hebrew Congregation

The United Hebrew Congregation at 13788 Conway Road in St. Louis, Missouri is a Reform Jewish synagogue. It is the first Jewish Congregation established west of the Mississippi River.- History :...

 in St. Louis, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 where he withdrew his support for the Confederacy

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

 and wrote in praise of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

. In 1867, he assumed the pulpit of the B'nai Jeshurun in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 and from 1874 until his death in 1882 served as rabbi of Congregation Sherith Israel

Congregation Sherith Israel (San Francisco, California)

Congregation Sherith Israel is one of the oldest synagogues in the United States. It was established during California’s Gold Rush period and reflects the ambitions of early Jewish settlers to San Francisco. Today it is a congregation widely known for its innovative approach to worship and...

 in San Francisco.

Vidaver and Jacob Levinski co-authored the first abridged Hebrew Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

, which was published in 1869. He also commonly published poems in Hebrew about Jerusalem and other Jewish issues in Hebrew newspapers, such as Havatzelet.