The United States
In the fall of 1937, with the sponsorship of Stephen S. Wise, the noted American rabbi and confidant of Pres
ident Franklin Roosevelt, Joachim Prinz began his life in the United States by lecturing across the country for the United Palestine Appeal about what was happening in Germany. His audiences were impressed with his oratory, but many, in a still isolationist land, rejected his message. Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver of Cleveland, a political conservative and leader of the American Zionist Organization, was outraged by his “pessimism” which he considered Un-American, and complained bitterly to Wise questioning whether the refugee rabbi shouldn’t find another country in which to live. Wise reminded his colleague that free speech was a touch stone of our democracy. Tragically, Prinz' warnings proved correct. In fact, they were an understatement of what was to come.
After two years of financial struggle and with a wife and three children to support, Joachim Prinz returned to the rabbinate accepting an invitation to become the spiritual leader of Temple B’nai Abraham in Newark New Jersey, one of the country’s oldest synagogues. He assum
ed its pulpit in July of 1939. B’nai Abraham was housed in an enormous building complete with school, social center, gymnasium, swimming pool and a majestic 2,000 seat oval shaped sanctuary with a soaring hung ceiling with unobstructed views throughout. It was an ideal setting for a gifted preacher. His friend and mentor, Rabbi Wise spoke at the installation.
Temple B’nai Abraham had a magnificent home, but it was nearly bankrupt. Built only a few years before the Depression, many of its donors had defaulted on their pledges and only 300 families remained. The debts were staggering and Prinz’ predecessor, forced into retirement, had long since failed to provide his congregation with any reason to be active or to attend services on a regular basis. Joachim Prinz changed all that. Fortunately, the year before he arrived, the Temple had engaged Abraham Shapiro, one of the gre
at cantors of the twentieth century, whose voice was often compared with that of Enrico Caruso. Composer Max Helfman was brought on as music director. Shapiro's powerful tenor giving voice to Helfman’s original music coupled with Prinz' memorable sermons, dramatically altered the tone of the Sabbath services. It wasn’t unusual for 1000 people to attend on an ordinary Friday night. Prinz invigorated the educational program for both children and adults and forged strong personal relationships with congregants. All of this transformed the synagogue's dynamic and, in a relatively short time, membership soared along with a restoration of financial health. The outstanding current debt was erased followed some years later by the burning of the mortgage.
Once again Dr. Prinz was a force in a Jewish community. In 1945, as the war was coming to an end, he was asked to become chairman of the Essex County annual United Jewish Appeal Drive. Until then, they had raised no more that $200,000 in any year. With a clear need to help displaced Jews in Europe, the goal was for $1 Million. Prinz was the first and only rabbi ever to take on this task. He devoted enormous energy to the task and, to the astonishment of community leaders, came within a few dollars of the campaign goal. During the campaign, he become intimately engaged with the larger Jewish community and from then on was never again seen as simply the rabbi of an individual congregation.
In the years that followed, Joachim Prinz continued and expanded his involvement with the greater Jewish community, nationally and internationally. He held top leadership positions in the World Jewish Congress, first as
its Vice President and ultimately Chairman of its Governing Council. Having reached maturity in Europe, he had a unique understanding of post-War problems there and devoted all of his summers from 1946 until his retirement years, traveling abroad. His first post-War trip included a moving visit to his destroyed Berlin synagogue. He was a director of the Conference of Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. His early involvement in the Zionist movement had brought him into contact with the future founding leaders of the State of Israel, most of whom he counted among his good friends. He also served as Chairman of the World Conference of Jewish Organizations.
Perhaps closest to his heart, because he had been a victim of discrimination, was the struggle for Civil Rights in the United States. The American Jewish Congress, was at the forefront of that effort. He served as its President from 1958-1966. He participated in countless demonstrations and other actions developing close relationships with his counterparts in the African American community. In 1963, he was among leaders of the March on Washington. His speech, alerting Americans to the disgrace of silence in the face of injustice, preceded that of his friend Martin Luther King, Jr. It was, he always felt, a highlight of his life, the culmination of all the things he had stood for throughout his career both in America and earlier in Germany.
Prinz helped his long time friend and world Jewish leader Nahum Goldmann create the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organizations and served as one of its early Chairmen (1965-7). He wrote three more books and edited several Prayer Books. In his last years as its senior rabbi, he helped his synagogue build and move to a new home in Livingston New Jersey. At its center was a sanctuary without stained glass windows, another of his lifelong radical departures from convention.
Worshipers look out into the natural surroundings becoming one with, rather than separated from, the outside. This expressed, he felt, a more open approach to religion consistent with a new time and the needs of the next generation.
Having served Temple B’nai Abraham for 38 years, he retired from an active role in 1977, but continued to preach on the High Holidays for several more years. Together
with Hilde, he spent the final years of life in their little cottage in Brookside, New Jersey -- in a sense returning to where he began, a small country village. Joachim Prinz died September 30, 1988.