Proper credentials were also required for less significant posts within the
Jewish community. In 1908 the trustees of Temple Emanu-El, under
Marshall’s prodding, called for the resignation of a board member whose
daughter had been married in a Catholic ceremony in her father’s house.^10
Schiff devoted countless hours to communal service. He faithfully at-
tended meetings of all sorts, of both the established Jews and the post-1880
immigrants—his rabbi once met him on the crowded “el” on the way to
three downtown meetings.^11 Since his philanthropy or endorsement
touched numerous groups, sometimes diametrically opposed, he gained
access to all religious wings—Orthodox, Reform, Conservative—and to
most secular movements. His fingers on the community’s pulse, he care-
fully read the daily press and major journals; pertinent articles in Yiddish
were translated for his attention. Concomitantly, by speeches, interviews,
and articles of his own, he labored to mold Jewish public opinion. His let-
ters and articles and especially his speeches were colorful and dramatic. On
sticky issues he knew how to finesse his remarks to fit the point of view of
his audience.
Despite his claim that duty, not a craving for leadership, drove him, the
banker enjoyed power. Nonetheless, his objectives outweighed any
thought of exclusive control over the community. Unlike many of his con-
temporaries he understood that progress demanded stable and uninter-
rupted leadership. When he reached the age of fifty, he purposely sought
out younger men to be trained in the needs and direction of American
Jewry. He acknowledged early on that the masses of the new eastern Euro-
pean immigrants would inevitably change the face of American Jewry. It
was therefore incumbent on the Jewish establishment to school the new-
comers in proper communal values and to instruct them in the ways of
group responsibility. “We should prepare them for the position they will
occupy,” he said in 1895, “for in years to come they will be the ones to sup-
port our institutions.”^12 Schiff envisioned a process of aristocratic assimila-
tion whereby the established German Jews would admit the eastern Euro-
peans gradually into the policy-making councils. How readily he
relinquished power in specific instances was another matter, but his intui-
tive grasp of the responsibilities of leadership in a democratic society added
an unusual dimension to his public record.
Schiff’s devotion to individual Jews and to Jewish causes won him the
loyalty and admiration of the masses of Jews. On receiving a very small
favor from Schiff, one young friend wrote: “You are, in a sense, the Head of
the Jewish community, and all of us feel safer to know that you are dwelling
in our midst.” Accolades came from the Jewish press, too. The influential
American Israelitewrote that Schiff’s qualities were unimpeachable. He
“stands for... warm loyalty to all Israel. If ever American Israel should or-
ganize, Jacob Schiff should be our leader.” Among his fellow Jews, both the
Leadership and Philanthropy 45