Ash had only served as Beth Hamedrash Hagodol's rabbi intermittently during this time; during the American Civil War he had briefly been a successful manufacturer of hoopskirts, before losing his money, and returning to the rabbinate. Congregants had a number of issues with him, including his outside business ventures and an alleged inclination towards Hasidism. The more learned members of the congregation contested his scholarship. Ash resigned as rabbi in 1877, and in 1879, directors of Beth Hamedrash Hagodol proposed that a Chief Rabbi be hired for New York. A number of New York City synagogues formed the "United Hebrew Orthodox Congregations", and agreed to select the "Malbim" (Meïr Leibush ben Jehiel Michel Weiser) for the role. The appointment was announced in Philadelphia's "Jewish Record", but the "Malbim" never filled the position. Beth Hamedrash Hagodol re-hired Ash to fill the vacant role of congregational rabbi at a salary of $25 per month (or $300—today $—per year). The following year the congregation hired a new cantor, Simhe Samuelson, for $1,000 (today $) a year, over three times Ash's salary.