Moses Hutzler


Moses Hutzler was a German-born American businessman and co-founder of the first Reform Jewish congregation in the United States, Har Sinai.

Biography

Moses Hutzler was born in Hagenbach, Bavaria, the son of and Beuleh and Gabriel Hutzler. After attending school in Hagenbach, he learned the tailoring and dry-goods business. In 1838, he emigrated to the United States and opened a tailoring shop for women in Baltimore, Maryland which was unsuccessful. He then moved to Frederick, Maryland where he opened a haberdashery business. In 1840, he returned to Baltimore. In 1858, his son Abram G. opened the company M. Hutzler & Son as Moses signed the note backing the company. After two of his other sons, Charles G. and David, joined the business, it was redenominated Hutzler Brothers. Hutzler's became the premier department store in Baltimore.
In May 1842, Hutzler founded the Har Sinai Association, an association of reform-minded Jews in Baltimore that formed a community modeled on the Hamburg Temple. The meetings were initially held in Hutzler's house and it was not until 1855 that David Einhorn became the first permanent rabbi.

Personal life

Hutzler married twice. His first wife was Sophie Hutzler; they had two children that lived to adulthood:
In 1829, he married to Caroline Neuberger, the daughter of Eli B. Neuberger, a merchant. They had five children that lived to adulthood:
He died in Baltimore, Maryland on January 13, 1889.