R' Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) received shailos from as far away as the United States, including from Isaac Leeser (1806-1868) of Philadelphia and R' Yissachar Dov Illowy (1812-1871) in New Orleans. In 1860, R' Hirsch replied to a question from New Orleans asking him about the construction of a monument (not a statue) in memory of Judah Touro (1774-1854), the first American Jew to leave large bequests in his will for Jewish causes.
R' Hirsch replied that such monuments had no precedent in Jewish practice and were contrary to authentic Jewish custom. Although monuments had been erected to memorialize events or important places, none were built in memory of a person except for Avshalom who built one for himself in Yerushalayim. Despite the numerous great Jewish individuals in Jewish history, R' Hirsch noted that nowhere do we find monuments being built in their honor or memory. He cited the Yerushalmi which recounts R' Chama’s remark upon passing a magnificent shul in Lod: “See how much money my forebears sunk into the shuls here.” R' Hoshiya replied “See, how many lives have your forefathers put in the shuls here! Were there no people toiling in Torah that they could have supported with that money they spent on those expensive buildings?!” In the same spirit, R' Hirsch concluded that the greatest memorial would be the establishment of a fund to support the spiritual growth of promising people.
He was born in Germany and moved to the United States in 1824. From 1829 to 1850, he served as chazzan and performed rabbinical duties in Congregation Mikveh Yisrael in Philadelphia.
From 1857 until his passing in 1868, he was the rav of Congregation Beth El-Emeth. Leeser founded The Occident (1843-1869), the first Anglo-Jewish monthly in the United States, and the only Jewish newspaper in America of the 1800s to remain orthodox. He was active in many areas of American Orthodoxy and fought vigorously against the rising reform movement. He printed the first Torah-true English translation of Tanach in America in addition to Ashkenaz and Sefard siddurim with English translation (Isaac Leeser, Guardians of the Spirit, pp. 247-262).
He was a student of the Chassam Sofer. R' Illowy was one of the few orthodox rabbis of his time in the United States. He was an ardent opponent of the reform and a prolific writer in the Anglo-Jewish press on behalf of orthodoxy. In 1914, his son published Milchamos Elokim, a collection of his letters and halachic responsa.
Shekalim 5:4.
Shemesh Marpeh, pp. 57-58.
