KLEIN, PHILIP (1849–1926), U.S. Orthodox rabbi. Klein, who was born in Baracs, Hungary, was ordained by the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary of Berlin in 1871. Klein served as rabbi in Kiev (1874–80) and Libau, Latvia (1880–91). Russian antisemitism, exacerbated by the policies of Alexander III, caused Klein to leave Russia for the U.S. in 1891. He served as rabbi of the First Hungarian Congregation Ohab Zedek, New York City, from 1891 until 1926, was a leader of the war-relief drive (1914) in the U.S., and was serving as president of the U.S. Agudat Israel movement at the time of his death. Extremely active in New York City's Orthodox religious life, Klein was one of the very few such rabbis with middle-class acculturated congregations.
