HOFFMAN (HOPFERMAN), ISAAC (10 June 1815-26 Feb. 1890), grocer, butcher, and fur dealer, was chosen by the Israelitische Society (1839) as the city's first Jewish spiritual leader (see JEWS AND JUDAISM). A professional mohel (circumsiser), he traveled throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania. Born Isaac Hopferman in Unsleben, Bavaria to Sara and SIMSON HOPFERMAN, he came to the United States with his family in 1839 and arrived in Cleveland late that summer. That fall his parents hosted the city's Jewish first religious services and the formation of the Israelitische Society. Hoffman, who apparently Americanized his name sometime after arriving in the U.S., managed the I. Hoffman & Son hide business (1861-90). He also ran a slaughterhouse with SIMSON THORMAN and others at Croton and Case Ave. Hopferman married Hannah Rosenbaum on 16 Sept. 1842.
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