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| Rabbi Bernard Drachman |
“Despite the nature of his vocation, Houdini had a profound reverence for
the Jewish faith and deep-seated filial affection for his parents and reverence
for their memory.”
Those are the words of Rabbi Bernard Drachman, rabbi to both Harry Houdini and Houdini's father, Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weiss.
Rabbi Drachman knew Harry well, from childhood. The young magician was a pupil in the very first class of the religious school at Drachman's synagogue, Congregation Zichron Ephraim. Located at East 67 Street and Park Avenue, it was right around the corner from the Weiss household in the Yorkville district of Manhattan. It still stands today, an architectural landmark and the oldest synagogue in New York City still operated by its original congregation.
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| Zichron Ephraim, now called Park East Synagogue |
We've written extensively about the hard times that befell Houdini’s father, a Hungarian born rabbi. When he was in difficulty, Weiss went for help to his rabbi - Dr. Drachman. Though Drachman was American born - he was the first American-born rabbi to lead a New York City congregation - he had trained in Germany and spoke fluent German,Weiss's native language.
Dr. Drachman relates that in 1890 the Weiss family was in
dire financial straits. Rabbi Weiss came to him for aid. Drachman
volunteered either to give or lend them money. Instead, Rabbi Weiss
suggested that Dr. Drachman buy some of his books.
“He had a large and excellent Hebrew library, and I selected a fine set of the
Codes of Maimonides, for which I paid the price he asked,” Drachman recalled in his memoirs.
Years later, after
Houdini’s father had passed away and Houdini was a world-renowned and wealthy
man, Rabbi Drachman approached him to ask for a donation to help pay off his
synagogue’s mortgage. Houdini agreed to donate the then substantial sum of $500
on one condition. He wanted the set of Maimonides back to keep in memory of his
father!
Dr. Drachman agreed and within 24 hours of the return of the books he
received Houdini’s check for $500.
Rabbi Drachman
officiated at Houdini's funeral in 1926. In his eulogy he noted that Houdini was laid to rest with his mother's letters as a pillow. He added: "Houdini possessed a wondrous power that he never understood and which he never revealed to anyone in life." And he closed by saying "Houdini was one of the truly great men of the age."
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Wow! Wonderful stuff David! Rabbi Drachman is a reminder that Harry and his father had friends in N.Y.
ReplyDeleteYes, and this little vignette reveals so many things:
ReplyDelete1. Even though impoverished, Harry still had time & desire for a Jewish education. He got bar mitzvahed at age 16, it appears.
2. The Weiss family was well-off in Budapest. That's where the excellent library was acquired. And it meant enough to have it shipped across the ocean.
3. Rabbi Weiss was too proud to take charity (although Cecilia had taken aid from a Jewish charity just a year or so earlier, in Milwaukee).
For the record we should note that Drachman and Weiss were not of the same stripe of Judaism. Drachman was an American pioneer in what's now called "modern Orthodox," and Weiss was, as we've reported, "Neologue," a special Hungarian style of Reform. But they connected anyway, and Harry got an Orthodox religious schooling, at least for a year or two.