In early 1861, as the United States moved toward civil war, a respected rabbi in New York shocked many Americans when he opened the Bible and argued that slavery was allowed by God. In a sermon that quickly spread across the country, Morris Jacob Raphall used scripture, including the story known as the Curse of Ham, to defend the enslavement of Africans and claim that slavery had biblical approval.
Morris Jacob Raphall was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 3, 1798. He spent his early years in Europe during a time when Jewish education focused heavily on scripture, language, and religious law. From a young age he studied Hebrew texts and the interpretation of the Bible, an education that would shape the ideas he later preached in the United States.
While he was still a child, his family moved from Sweden to Copenhagen. There he attended a Hebrew grammar school and began the formal religious training that prepared him for the rabbinate. His studies later continued in England, and he eventually attended the University of Giessen in Germany.
During these years Raphall devoted much of his time to the study of languages and Jewish religious literature. He translated works by well known Jewish thinkers, published studies on Hebrew poetry, and launched one of the earliest Jewish scholarly periodicals in England.
His life was not without controversy. In 1827 he was convicted in England for his involvement in an insurance fraud case connected to a fire at a fur shop owned by his brother in law. He served eighteen months in prison. After his release he returned to academic and religious work, traveling across Europe and continuing to write and lecture.
In 1849 Raphall moved to the United States and became rabbi of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York City. There he earned respect as an intellectual preacher and teacher of Jewish history and scripture. For more than a decade he served the congregation without major controversy.
Everything changed on January 4, 1861.
The United States was approaching collapse. Several Southern states had already begun seceding from the Union after the election of Abraham Lincoln. Hoping to prevent the nation from falling apart, President James Buchanan declared January 4 a national day of fasting and prayer.
Across the country ministers and rabbis gathered their congregations to pray for peace. At the B’nai Jeshurun synagogue in New York, Rabbi Raphall delivered a sermon titled “The Bible View of Slavery.”
His message shocked many listeners.
Raphall argued that slavery was permitted by the Bible and therefore could not automatically be called sinful. In his view, if slavery were truly immoral, scripture would have clearly condemned it. Instead, he said, the Bible regulated slavery while allowing it to exist.
He reminded his audience that some of the most revered figures in the Old Testament owned slaves. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Job all possessed slaves while still being described as righteous men. Because of this, Raphall argued that slaveholding itself could not be considered a sin.
He also pointed to the Ten Commandments. The commandment warning people not to covet their neighbor’s property lists a neighbor’s house, wife, animals, and servants. Raphall interpreted this as proof that the Bible recognized servants as legitimate property protected under divine law.
One of the most disturbing parts of his sermon involved the story of Noah and the curse placed on his son Ham. According to the biblical account in Genesis, Noah cursed Ham’s descendants to servitude.
Raphall repeated a long standing pro slavery interpretation of that story. He told his audience that the descendants of Ham were Africans and that this biblical curse explained why Africans had become enslaved throughout history. According to Raphall, the “unfortunate negro” had become the “meanest of slaves” in many parts of the world as a result of that ancient curse.
At the same time, Raphall insisted he was not personally celebrating slavery. He described himself as a supporter of the Union and told the congregation:
“I am no friend to slavery in the abstract, and still less friendly to the practical working of slavery. But I stand here as a teacher in Israel; not to place before you my own feelings and opinions, but to propound to you the word of God, the Bible view of slavery.”
He even admitted openly that his sermon sounded like a defense of slavery.
“My friends,” he said, “I find, and I am sorry to find, that I am delivering a pro slavery discourse.”
Despite those qualifications, the message was unmistakable. Raphall argued that slavery had biblical precedent and that scripture did not condemn the institution itself.
The sermon immediately caused controversy. Newspapers such as the New York Herald, the New York Evening Express, and the New York Times reported on it. Within weeks the sermon was printed as a twenty page pamphlet titled The Bible View of Slavery, allowing readers across the country to examine his arguments.
Other Jewish leaders strongly rejected Raphall’s interpretation. His critics argued that the slavery practiced in the American South could not be justified using Jewish law and that Raphall’s interpretation ignored the broader moral teachings of Judaism.
The dispute became one of the most heated religious debates about slavery in the United States. At a moment when the nation was already splitting apart, religious leaders themselves were deeply divided over how scripture should be interpreted.
Raphall continued serving his New York congregation for several more years before declining health forced him to step back from his duties. He died in New York on June 23, 1868.
To this day, his reputation remains tied to that sermon delivered in January 1861, placing him among the most controversial religious defenders of slavery in American history.
Sources:
https://www.thetorah.com/article/noahs-curse-on-the-eve-of-the-civil-war-a-rabbi-declares-black-slavery-biblical
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001126508&view=1up&seq=229
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/new-yorks-pro-slavery-rabbi
