In the Beginning: 1855
Each week The American Israelite will print an item from the first years.
We take the opportunity to inform our friends in Cleveland that we shall pay them a visit shortly. We expect to be there the day after Pesach, and stall stay till Monday following. We have a course of two lectures on the Historical Mission of Jews, which we shall be pleased to deliver in the Forest city.
From Cleveland we propose going to Baltimore.
-Isaac M. Wise
— March 30, 1855
150 Years ago
Local and Domestic
– Cincinnati. — The nomination of Julius Rice as alderman of his ward is a very happy move on the part of the Democrats of that ward. Julius Rice is a young merchant of splendid reputation and excellent qualities. We expect to see him elected by a handsome majority.
– New York. — A gentleman who sigs himself Rev. David Klein is a notary public and commissioner, etc., in the city of New York, claims to have obtained patent right on a pontoon railroad bridge, in use now by the U.S. Government. It sounds rather strange that a reverend gentleman should invent anything at all, especially in the line of architecture; but here it is before us, black on white, and we must believe it.
Items
A writer in London Society propounds the following place of silencing that worst of social bores, the anecdote-monger: “Cross examine him,” he said, “on all the salient points of anecdote. Demand the why, the how, and the when. Suggest that some other course than the one pursued ought certainly to have been taken, and sift the affair as if you were the sternest historical critic. If the relator and his friend, Fred Copper, were thrown out of a cart, inquire whether they were driving a horse or a mare; ask who made the cart and what was the height of the wheels. Request him to draw a plan of the spot at which the upset occurred, and be particular in your curiosity as to the harness and the weather. I can confidently, and from experience, recommend this as the most effectual course.”
— March 27, 1874
125 Years ago
Items
– Though the time for the Czar’s peace conference is fast approaching, we have not yet seen any announcement that the hard lot of the millions of Jewish Russians, who are being ground to dust between the church and state in that benighted land, is to be in the least ameliorated. His altruistic announcements would receive more credence abroad if they were accompanied by an approach to justice at home.
– Baron Edmund Rothschild of Paris, the generous patron of the Jewish colonies in Palestine, is a very strict religious Jew, wonderfully so for a Frenchman and so wealthy an aristocrat. The case of that piety appears to be her ladyship, his wife. She is the daughter of Baron William Rothschild of Frankfort, who was known as the most intensely religious Jew and the best learned in Jewish lore among the members of that family. Perhaps our American millionaire ladies will be the same.
– Where is the next meeting of the Constitutional Grand Lodge, I.O.B.B. going to b held? The C.G.L., at its last meeting, held in Cincinnati in 1895, selected San Francisco. But the powers that be have since come to the conclusion that it would cost too much to pay the mileage and per diem of the delegates to that point. The question will be considered and settled at the next meeting of the Executive Committee, which, under the law, has the power to change the place of the meeting. So the question which heads this paragraph cannot be answered t present.
– For the first time in the history of the United States an office of the government has established an inquisition concerning the religious beliefs of those coming under its care. This deviation from the uniform court of procedure is an innovation introduced by Mr. T. V. Powderly, the immigration commisioner, by whose orders immigrants are now classified by religion as well as by nationality, as has hitherto been the rule. It is of course difficult tot say what Mr. Powderly’s object is in this, if it is anything more than a fad. If he has any object in view that can possibly benefit the country, or the immigrants, he should make it known. Until then his course will of necessity be rewarded as un-American, unwise and at variance with all precedents.
— March 30, 1899
100 Years ago
Jottings
– Estimates recently made show the Jewish population of Cleveland, Ohio, to be approximately 86,500, that of Detroit, Mich., 42,000.
– At Rochester, N.Y., Congregation Tiphereth Israel has purchased a handsome, large private residence, which is being remodeled for a synagogue and a Hebrew school. It is hoped that funds will soon be forth coming to erect a new house of worship on the site.
– The Louisville Courier-Journal, of March 16, devotes two columns to the publication of an address delivered by Dr. Ignatius Mueller on “Civil and Religious Tolerance Seen in Klan Preachments.” Dr. Mueller believes the evils of the “invisible Empire” to be momentary.
– Close observers of political conditions in Indiana predict that the Ku Klux Klan of Indiana has grown to such proportions that is now prepared to annex the Republican organization and name the candidate for Governor. Mayor Shank of Indianapolis is campaigning for the office of Governor on the anti-Klan platform.
Editor’s Note: Mayor Shank would lose in the primary against the Klan’s candidate, Ed Jackson, on May 6th, 1924. He then allowed the Klan to host a victory parade in which over 7,000 Klan members marched through Indianapolis.
— March 27, 1924
75 Years ago
$403,000 Pledged as Aides in JWF Campaign Here Sharett
The history, hopes, plans and policies of the new state of Israel, and the peril in which she now finds herself, were described in an address by Moshe Sharett, Israel’s foreign minster, before a group of leaders of the 1949 Jewish Welfare Fund campaign at the Hotel GIbson, Tuesday night, March 22nd.
Following his address and an appeal by Harold Goldenberg, of Minneapolis, chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, a number of those present responded by annoying their pledges in the current campaign.
These totaled $403,000, an increase of 22% over the contributions from the same donors last year.
Dr. Nelson Glueck, president, Hebrew Union College, Jewish institute of Religion introduced Mr. Sharret, Sharret expressed pleasure at meeting two old friends in Cincinnati, Dr. Glueck and Dr. James G. Heller. He told of having spent more than an hour with Dean Atcheson, U.S. Secretary of State, in Washington, just before coming to Cincinnati, and said he had found him understanding and sympathetic.
Mr. Sharett expressed confidence that within the ‘next few weeks,’ Israel will be admitted to membership in the United Nations Assembly.
The government of Israel feels responsible to all Jews for its acts, Mr. Sharett said. “When we make pronouncements they must be so formulated that they commend themselves to Jewish public opinion, so that we will not be letting our brethren down.”
Editor’s Note: Israel was admitted as the 59th member of the UN on May 11, 1949.
— March 31, 1949
50 years ago
Playhouse Play is Selected for Public Television Network Series
The Cincinnati Playhouse production of “Monkey Monkey Bottle of Beer, How Many Monkeys Have We Here?” has been selected by WNET Television in New York City for broadcast on the Public Television Network’s national series, “Theater in America” on May 22.
The Playhouse was honored at a reception March 20 at Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington.
At the reception, Playhouse Artistic Director, Harold Scott, was presented an award by C. C. Garvin, president of Exxon Corporation, which lists the Cincinnati Playhouse, along with other participants in the “Theater in America” series, as “representing a selection of the most innovative plays staged by the leading regional theater groups in America.”
Bar Mitzvah
– Mr. Anatol Wygoda and Mrs. Gertrude Lestock are happy to announce the forthcoming Bar Mitzvah of their son, Alex Wygoda, Saturday, April 20, at 9 a.m., at Kneseth Israel Congregation, 1515 Section Road.
Alex is the grandson of Mrs. Esia Rubinstein of Cincinnati. It would give us great pleasure to have our friends and relatives worship with us and attend a Kiddush following services.
– Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Schwarz are happy to announce the forthcoming Bar Mitzvah of their son, Alan Jay, on March 30 at 10:45 a.m., at Temple Sholom. There will be a Kiddush following the service.
Alan is the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Lissack of Lynn, Massachusetts and Mr. and Mrs. Louis Schwartz of New York.
— March 28, 1974
25 Years ago
AJC holds seminar on religion in public schools
While public attention was focused on the lawsuit against the posting of the Ten Commandments outside of Adams County schools, the American Jewish Committee chapter held a seminar on religion in public schools. Seventeen area school superintendents attended, some bringing school board members with them to learn about what course have permitted or prohibited in recent years. The Valley Area School Administrators cosponsored the program, led by their program chairman, Wyoming superintendent Dr. Ted Knapke.
AJC public polity chairman Amy Katzman explained the purpose of the seminar: “AJC was resting to community interest in the role of religion in schools. We anted to examine America’s blessing of religious freedom by highlighting timely issues and provided needed background related to the separation of church and state.”
— April 1, 1999
10 Years ago
Rockwern Academy Holds Annual “Celebration of the Book” Festival
On the afternoon of Sunday, March 23, Rockwern Academy held its second annual “Celebration of the Book,” a day of storytelling and activities for children, parents and grandparents.
The celebration featured performances by Feriel Feldman, a professional storyteller visiting from Atlanta. The festival also offered crafts, play time and games, with displays related to the sharing of old stories. The young children were fascinated by the wonders of an antique typewriter that actually typed letters on a piece of paper, rather than a computer screen.
The JCC Fun Technicians taught children the old-fashioned games their parents and grandparents once played. The Art Spark teachers helped kids make sock puppets and paint scenery for their own storytelling performances. Other children learned how to crochet and sew, and more made Passover cards for residents of Cedar Village. Particularly popular was the lively raffle for gift baskets, a fundraiser to benefit the Barbash Family Vital Support Center.
The afternoon was a warm reminder that story telling is more than the basis of books and tales, but that family stories are meant to be shared from generation to generation.
— March 27, 2014
