Bio:H. M. Bien

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Rabbi Herman Bien was born in Germany in 1831 and emigrated to the United States in 1854, serving first in New Haven, Connecticut^[1]. In March 1856 he was called to Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco as a "Lecturer"^[3], after the congregation rejected Rabbi Julius Eckman. Eckman represented the Orthodox movement, while Bien represented the reform movement, and the two established competing Jewish newspapers in San Francisco^[4], with Bien founding the Voice of Israel and then The Pacific Messenger^[3]. Bien was a "charismatic, beguiling"^[5] individual, but was not ordained as a rabbi, and with his lack of a proper education he did not please the congregation for long^[4]. During the late 1850's, Bien published Samson and Delilah, first as a play and then as a verse drama, in San Francisco^[1]. Bien then went to Portland, Oregon where he "pretended rabbinical ordination" and served as the rabbi at Temple Beth Israel during 1860^[6]. This was followed by a varied career, including running a general merchandise store in New York and newspaper work in Nevada. He moved to Virginia City, Nevada early in 1864. When Nevada became a state later that year, Bien was elected to the first legislature^[2]. In 1881, we find Bien as the minister of Beth Shalom Congregation in Chicago, then in Dallas, Texas, and finally in Vicksburg, Mississippi^[3] in 1883^[2]. During these later years (1880-1990), he was "much devoted to literature"^[3], writing several religious-themed books and plays. When he became the spiritual leader of Congregation Anshe Chesed in Vicksburg, he was already known as the "Rabbi Poet"^[2]. In Vicksburg he turned to mechanical invention and founded the "Bien Automatic Fan Company"^[2].

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1. ^  The Image of the Jew in American Literature, Louis Harap, 2003.

2. ^  Mississippi home-places, Elmo Howell, 1988.

3. ^  The Chronicles of Emanu-El, Jacob Voorsanger, 1923.

4. ^  Jewish voices of the California gold rush, Ava Fran Khan, 2002.

5. ^  Visions of reform: Congregation Emanu-El and the Jews of San Francisco 1849-1999, Fred Rosenbaum, 2000.

6. ^  "Julius Eckman and Herman Bien: The Battling Rabbis of San Francisco", 3 parts, in Western States Jewish History, 1983, 15(2-4), pp. 107-130, 232-253, 341-359.

6. ^  Encyclopedia of American Jewish history, Volume 1, Norwood & Pollack, 2007.