Bloch Publishing Company is a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

publishing company Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

in the United States. Founded by Edward H. Bloch in 1854, it is the oldest Jewish publishing companyRobert Singerman
“Bloch & Company: Pioneer Jewish Publishing House in the West”
, Jewish Book Annual, Vol. 52, pp. 110-30. and one of the oldest

family business A family business is a commercial organization in which decision-making is influenced by multiple generations of a family, related by Consanguinity , blood, marriage or adoption, who has both the ability to influence the vision of the business a ...

es, in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

History

Edward H. Bloch (born 1829, Grafenried,

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

; died 1906,

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

) founded the company in Cincinnati in 1854Bloch Publishing Compan
official website.
/ref> (another source says 1855). Edward's sister, Theresa Bloch, had married

Rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

Isaac Mayer Wise Isaac Mayer Wise (29 March 1819 – 26 March 1900) was an American Reform rabbi, editor, and author. Early life Wise was born on 29 March 1819 in Steingrub in Bohemia (today Lomnička, a part of Plesná in the Czech Republic). He was the son ...

in 1844, and Edward's early activities were closely associated with those of his famous brother-in-law, who was laying the foundations of the

Reform Jewish Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous rev ...

movement in the United States. When Rabbi Wise moved to Cincinnati, Bloch followed him; Rabbi Wise founded ''The Israelite'' newspaper, and after a short time Edward Bloch took over as publisher. Renamed ''

The American Israelite ''The American Israelite'' is an English-language Jewish newspaper published weekly in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1854 as ''The Israelite'' and assuming its present name in 1874, it is the longest-running English-language Jewish newspaper st ...

'' in 1874, and published by Rabbi Wise’s son

Leo Wise Leo Wise (October 28, 1849 – January 27, 1933) was a Jewish-American newspaper editor and publisher. Life Wise was born on October 28, 1849, in Albany, New York, the son of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise and Theresa Bloch. He moved to Cincinnati, Ohi ...

after 1888, this newspaper is said to be the longest-running

Jewish newspaper A Jewish newspaper is a newspaper which focuses on topics of special interest to Jews, although Jewish newspapers also include articles on topics of a more general interest as well. Political orientations and religious orientations cover a wide ra ...

in the United States. Bloch also published the German-language ''Die Deborah'' in Cincinnati, and he initiated Jewish newspapers in St. Louis and Chicago, including the Chicago ''Reform Advocate'', founded in 1891 and edited by the influential Reform Rabbi

Emil G. Hirsch Emil Gustav Hirsch (May 22, 1851 – January 7, 1923) was a Luxembourgish-born Jewish American biblical scholar, Reform rabbi, contributing editor to numerous articles of ''The Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1906), anfounding member of the NAACP Biog ...

. Bloch began by publishing Rabbi Wise's liturgies, hymnals, and other books for the Reform movement, and expanded to publish books and religious goods on a wide range of Jewish subjects as well as the occasional non-Jewish ones. He was also a successful manufacturer of flags; in fact, his obituary claimed that he was the inventor and first manufacturer of printed flags in the United States, although apparently this claim is not subject to independent verification. Edward's son,

Charles E. Bloch Charles Edward Bloch (December 22, 1861 – September 2, 1940) was a Jewish-American publisher from New York. Life Bloch was born on December 22, 1861, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Edward Bloch and Henrietta Miller. His father founded the pr ...

(1861–1940), succeeded his father in control of the company. He opened a branch in Chicago and then moved the company to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1901 (although Edward Bloch remained in Cincinnati, and held the title of president, until his death in 1906). The company called itself "The Jewish Book Concern" and its New York building became the largest Judaic bookstore in the country. The company was then run in turn by Charles's son, Edward H. Bloch (1898–1982), and then by the second Edward's son, the second Charles E. Bloch (1927–2006). During this time, the small-book market declined and the company's operations contracted but continued. After the second Charles' death in 2006, his son, Mitchell E. Bloch, took over as the fifth generation of the Bloch family to run the company, and the company relocated from its historic offices in New York to

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

. As of 2021, the company no longer seems to be active.

Notable Books

Bloch Publishing published a wide variety of books of Jewish interest, both scholarly and popular, Jonathan D. Sarna, "Two Ambitious Goals: American Jewish Publishing in the United States", in including such classics as ''A Book of Jewish Thoughts'' by Rabbi

Joseph Hertz Joseph Herman Hertz (25 September 1872 – 14 January 1946) was a British Rabbi and biblical scholar. He held the position of Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom from 1913 until his death in 1946, in a period encompassing both world wars and t ...

; ''

Peony The peony or paeony () is any flowering plant in the genus ''Paeonia'', the only genus in the family Paeoniaceae. Peonies are native to Asia, Europe, and Western North America. Scientists differ on the number of species that can be distinguish ...

'' by Pearl S. Buck;

Joseph Klausner Joseph Gedaliah Klausner (; 20 August 1874 – 27 October 1958), was a Lithuanian-born Israeli historian and professor of Hebrew literature. He was the chief redactor of the '' Encyclopedia Hebraica''. He was a candidate for president in the ...

's ''Jesus of Nazareth''; and

Hugo Bettauer Maximilian Hugo Bettauer (18 August 1872 – 26 March 1925) was a prolific Austrian writer and journalist, who was murdered by a Nazi Party follower on account of his opposition to antisemitism. He was well known in his lifetime; many of his book ...

's '' The City Without Jews''. Bloch Publishing produced a series of long-running Jewish cookbooks that were influential in the development of

American Jewish cuisine American Jewish cuisine comprises the food, cooking, and dining customs associated with American Jews. It was heavily influenced by the cuisine of Jewish immigrants who came to the United States from Eastern Europe around the turn of the 20th cent ...

. ''“Aunt Babette’s” Cook Book'' was first published in 1889 and was the first truly successful American Jewish cookbook. Along with traditional Jewish recipes, it also contained an extensive selection of recipes for ''

treif (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, ), from the Ashken ...

'' (non-

Kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, ), from the Ashke ...

) ingredients such as pork, oysters, and shellfish, and in this and other ways reflected its roots in the

assimilationist Cultural assimilation is the process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a society's majority group or fully adopts the values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group. The melting pot model is based on this concept. A relat ...

tendencies of the 19th-century

movement. After many years of success, in 1918, Bloch replaced ''"Aunt Babette's" Cook Book'' with a more Kosher-observant successor, Florence Kreisler Greenbaum's ''The International Jewish Cook Book'', authored by a

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

graduate; Bloch billed it (not quite accurately) as "the first strictly kosher cook book ever published in English in this country." In 1941, Mrs. Greenbaum's book was replaced by a more modern, expanded volume, ''The Jewish Cook Book'', written by

Mildred Grosberg Bellin Mildred Grosberg Bellin (September 7, 1908 – February 15, 2008) was an American cookbook author. She is most noted for her influential cookbooks ''Modern Jewish Meals'' and ''The Jewish Cookbook'', which brought modern nutritional ideas into Je ...

, a

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

graduate who had already written a successful, smaller menu planner/cookbook for Bloch called ''Modern Jewish Meals''. Bellin's encyclopedic, 3,000-recipe cookbook was most recently revised and reissued in 1983 as ''The Original Jewish Cookbook''.

, ''The Original Jewish Cook Book'' (New York, Bloch Publishing, 1983), .

Footnotes

External links

* {{Authority control Book publishing companies based in Florida Jewish printing and publishing Companies based in Jacksonville, Florida Jews and Judaism in Cincinnati Publishing companies established in 1854 American companies established in 1854 1854 establishments in Ohio