Raisin, Max
RAISIN, MAX
RAISIN, MAX (1881–1957), rabbi and author, the younger brother of Jacob *Raisin. Born in Poland, he arrived in the United States as a boy of 12. He was ordained as rabbi at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati in 1903. He served as rabbi of Congregation B'nai Jeshurun of Paterson, New Jersey (1921–53).
A prolific writer in Hebrew, English, and Yiddish, Raisin dealt with contemporary problems, with the history of the Reform movement, and with Hebrew literature, on both a popular and a scholarly level. His books included: Mordecai Manuel Noah: Zionist, Author and Statesman (1905); John Milton (1924); Israel in America (1947); and A History of the Jews in Modern Times (1919) which was published as a supplement to *Graetz's History of the Jews. An ardent Zionist when Zionism was unpopular in the Reform movement, his views were influenced by *Aḥad Ha-Am. A number of his works were autobiographical: Dappim mi-Pinkaso shel Rabbi (1941); Out of My Life (1956); and Great Jews I have Known (1959).
bibliography:
Morgenstern, in: Central Conference of American Rabbis, Yearbook, 67 (1957), 154f.; Kressel, Leksikon, 2 (1967), 861f.
[Eisig Silberschlag]