Isaac Harby

Isaac Harby, from a Sephardic family, was an early leader of the Reform movement in the United States. In the 1820s he helped to found the Reform Society of Israelites in Charleston, working with congregants at Congregation Beth Elohim to petition for changes in the format of the service, introducing English-language prayers and commentary. Harby was also a playwright, critic, and journalist who edited several newspapers in the American South. President James Monroe was in the audience when Harby’s dramatic work Alberti was performed.