Barnett Abraham Elzas

• England & Wales, Marriage Index, 1837-2005
• Marriage date: Apr-May-June 1890
• Marriage place: Paddington, London, England
• Spouse (implied): Annie Samuel

R. Barnett Abraham Elzas was a prominent American Reform Rabbi and historian. He was born 1867 and died in 1936.

He was the author of one of the best historical studies of a Jewish Community, Jews of Carolina (1905) where he had a pulpit in Charleston. He qualified in Medical School in Charleston, however did not practice the profession.

He later occupied pulpits in New York City and Long Branch, NJ and served as president of the New York Board of Rabbis.

Source

'Who's Who In American Jewry', 1926, p 141; E.J.., vol 6., p 693.
His father, Abraham Elzas married Hinde (daughter of Judah) Levinthal, a first cousin of R. Bernard Louis (son of Abraham) Levinthal (1865-1952), head of the first United Orthodox Hebrew Congregations of Philadelphia.

Abraham Elzas died in Hull, England in 1880 (London Jewish Chronicle, July 16, 1880, p. 10). He was a well known author of several biblical works, including translations from several portions of the Bible.

The research was done by Charles Bernstein, Esq. of Chicago.

See also Malcolm Stern's Americans of Jewish Descent - De Sola

The Unbroken Chain - Neil Rosenstein (1990) Vol. 1, Chapter 11, Samuel Family, page 41, G 16.8

https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=57353584

The Jewish Chronicle - Nov 13 1936

RABBI BARNETT ABRAHAM ELZAS (New York)

A Correspondent writes :

The death is announced from New York of Rabbi Burnett Abraham Elzas, a well-known figure in communal, religious and literary life. The deceased, who was born at Eydtkhunen, Germany, in 1867, came to England at an early age. From 1880 to 1890, he studied at Jews' College and at University College, London, of which he was Hollier Scholar in 1886. He took up his residence, in 1890, at Toronto, where he obtained further University distinctions, while acting as Minister to the Holy Blossom Congregation. Subsequently he was Rabbi at Sacramento and then at the historical Community of Charleston, South Carolina. Here his insatiable thirst for knowledge led him to graduate in medicine and pharmacy. While ministering here, he made a detailed study of the Jews in Charleston and in South Carolina generally, which goes back to.the Colonial period, and is second, perhaps, only to Newport and New York in general interest. He published on this subject large numbers of pamphlets and one important volume, which ranks among the best American productions m the field of Jewish history. He removed subsequently to New York, being Minister to the Jewish deaf after 1910, President of the New York Board of Jewish Ministers, 1927-29, and Director of the Jewish Academy of Arts and Sciences after 1930. At the time of his death, he was Rabbi of the Congregation Beth Miriam, of Long Branch, New Jersey. In addition to the vast amount of material of Anglo-Jewish interest contained in his work on Charleston, he published an important monograph on "Conversions to Judaism in England During the Regency Period," based on a manuscript in the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. In him, Jews' College loses one of its oldest surviving students, and American Jewry one of its most erudite historical scholars.