In the Beginning: 1854
Each week The American Israelite will print an item from the first years.
The Oldest Bible in America
Dr. John R. Whiterspoon, of Greensboro, Ala., has a manuscript Bible, which he believes, on evidence of tradition and a title page to have been written about 840 or 850 A.D., making it one thousand years old. It is about eight inches long, six broad and give inches thick. The substance on which it is written is parchment, as soft and nearly as thin as satin. The covers are of old English oak, and pegs of oak are used to wedge in the thong of deer skin that fasten in the leaves. The page is splendidly illuminated with black, blue and red ink letters — very large at the beginning of each book.
— September 5, 1854
150 Years ago
Items
– In Great Britain, the Israelites have fifty-one synagogues, viz., in London, ten; thirty-eight in the country; two in Scotland and one in Ireland.
– The King of Persia, in the report of his European tour, makes honorable mention of Dr. Pollak, formerly his body physician, and medical professor at the University of Theran. Dr. Pollak resides now in Vienna, and visited the Shah when in that city.
– Baron Anselm Solomon Rothschild, of Vienna, is dead. He lived seventy-one years. He left to his heirs four hundred million, and some say six hundred million, of florins, one million of which is willed to charitable purposes not yet specified. This is about one fourth or one sixth percent of his death — hardly worth while to talk about. The old baron was a simple and unpretending man, of a very liberal education, and a distinguished patron of art. For the Jews as such, he never did anything great, except, probably, living them a few dollars.
– If half as much earnest attention were bestowed upon the cultivation of the mind as there is upon the adornment of the body, mankind would be far wiser and nobler, there would then be more of real manhood and womanhood and less of the base metal of apes and drones.
— September 4, 1874
125 Years ago
A Card
For the kind remembrances to my family and myself I return thanks hereby to the many dear friends who sent us congratulations and good wishes on Rosh Hashanah. They are so numerous that I cannot reply to them as I would wish, but I treasure each letter and card as a precious souvenir. May God bless you all.
Isaac M. Wise
– All students in the upper classes of the Hebrew Union College are engaged to officiate during the holy days in congregations all over the country, and yet we were unable to satisfy all demands for students of the college. We have not enough of them to go round.
Jottings
The contributions box of the synagogue at Portland, Me., was torn from its fastenings and carried away. The thieves were not detected.
– At Colorado Springs, Colo., in the absence of a Rabbi, Mrs. S Davison acted as reader during the holiday services and a choir of young ladies furnished the music.
– The eight Jewish convicts in the Ohio Penitentiary were excluded form work on September 5th and will also be excused for the 24th, having an opportunity to attend services. Special food has been provided for those days.
– The tourist in Jerusalem has one reason to be grateful for Emperor William’s visit. It was preceded by the cleansing of the streets. It now seems that it is to be followed by an equally desirable action. A special committee has been formed in Jerusalem in order to provide for the cleansing of the Jewish quarter, not only inside but outside the city. The European authorities of Judaism are applauding the movement, and the Alliance Israelite of Paris has offered a considerable sum toward defraying the expense
— September 7, 1899
100 Years ago
Einstein Great Writer
Thirty-seven hundred and seventy-five books have been written or compiled on Professor Albert Einstein and his theory on relativity, according to a biographical list published recently by Morris Lecot, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Louvain. Out of this number of books but 435 have been published in Germany, 1,150 in England, 690 in France, 215 in Italy, 126 in Holland. Eleven hundred and seventy-five scholars have written on the relativity theory. Out of this number were 350 in Germany, 185 in France, 128 in the United States of America, 63 in Italy, 50 in Holland, 49 in Austria, 38 in Switzerland.
Jottings
– The fight against the Ku Klux Klan by the authorities of the various State and Municipal governments is progressing with great vigor. Evidently the lesser authorities have taken heart from what the greater authority have said and done to make it plain to the Klans themselves that they are undesirable quantities and must get out.
– The world eventually may have to come to birth control to prevent wars caused by overpopulation and attempts to seize territory for the accommodation of surplus populations, according to Professor Henry Prall Fairchild, of New York University, at his round table conference on “population and related problems” at the Institute of Politics. Professor Fairchild pointed out that the world, as a whole, and the United States in particular, was multiplying at a rate faster than cold be kept up indefinitely and still supply its inhabitants with food, clothing and shelter. In the past century, he said, the population of the world had increased from 700,000,000 to 1,700,000,000.
— September 4, 1924
75 Years ago
Game Rooms Open; Dances Start
The junior fall program at the Center got underway for boys and girls of 5 through 13 years with the opening of the Junior Game Room and Lounge on Sept. 6.
The Center will have open house, “Teen Timers Twirl,” for the older juniors, 11 through 13, on Saturday, Sept. 10, from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Dancing and refreshments will be featured. Boys and girls will have a change to sign up for the kind of program they want for the coming season.
On Sunday, Sept. 11, a “Junior Jamboree” will be held for all boys and girls of 5 to 11 years. The “Jamboree” will take place in the auditorium from 2 to 4 p.m. Included in this affair are singing, movies and refreshments.
The Crafts program will open Tuesday, Sept. 13 and the Woodwork Shop on Monday, Sept. 12. Club groups should register as soon as possible with Rosalyn Chudnof so that leadership and room space may be attained.
Social and Personal Notes
– Dr. I. Albert Barnett of the University of Cincinnati was in Denver recently, where he read a paper before the American Mathematical Society.
– Miss Ethel Samuels has been named a lecturer in journalism in the University of Cincinnati Evening College and will teach a new course on “Principles of Journalism.”
Miss Samuels, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Julius R. Samuels, 822 East Mitchell Avenue, is assistant director of Public Relations at UC.
— September 8, 1949
50 years ago
Center offers 10 Week Yoga Course
The Jewish Community Center will offer a 10-week course in yoga this year under the guidance of Lillian Johnson, who has eight years of teaching experience in Ohio and southern Indiana.
Mrs. Johnson also will be the yoga instructor at the Center’s Health Farm Experience is fall, a three-day weekend from Sept. 20-22 for women at Camp Livingston.
Mrs. Johnson has studied under Phyllis Steinberger at the Yoga Studio of Cincinnati, under Swami Vishudevananda at the Vadanta Centers in Canada, Nassau and New York, and has participated in teaching seminars with Rishi Benard at Lake Geneva near Chicago and the Iyengar Teaching Seminar at Ann Arbor, Mich.
Bar Mitzvah
Marshall Maury Faust will be called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah on Sept. 7 at Gold Manor Synagogue. Kiddish will be served in his honor.
He is the son of Mrs. Marvin Faust and the late Mr. Faust. He is the grandson of Mr. Nathan Faust.
— September 5, 1974
25 Years ago
Cedar Village creates chess club
Resident Rafael Landau suggested Cedar Village begin a chess club patterned after one he belonged to in Maryland. He and fellow resident, Sidney Steinman, enjoy their Friday afternoon chess matches with Environmental Services staff member Charles Brown. Brown gives up part of his lunch hour to participate in the chess matches.
The Cedar Village Activities Departments new Village Chess Club meets every Friday from 1:30 – 3 p.m.
Recreation director Louis Kramer said “The chess club is a wonderful, stimulating activity for our residents. We hope to be able to expand the club to include chess players from the community.”
Levine celebrates 100th birthday
On Sunday, August 22, Cedar Village resident Albert Levine Celebrated his 100th birthday at a reception hosted by his children, Dolly and Bert Levine, and Mezzie and David Cohen, his grandchildren and his great grandchildren.
— September 9, 1999
10 Years ago
Hadassah opening meeting/installation dinner: Imagine! Ignite! Inspire!
On Sunday, September 21st, Cincinnati Chapter President Bonnie Juran Ullner will pass the gavel to Ghita Sarembock at a festive Installation Dinner at Trio Bistro in Kenwood starting at 5:00 pm. New and retiring Board members will be honored, and three members of Cincinnati Chapter (Pilar Samuel, LeeAnne Galioto, and Beth Kotzin) will speak about their experiences at the Annual Hadassah Convention, “Imagine, Inspire, Ignite!”, in Las Vegas in July.
Incoming president Ghita Sarembock was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and trained as an esthetician. She moved to the United States with her husband and two children in July of 1986, beginning a new life in Connecticut. She first joined Hadassah there in order to befriend others in the Jewish community.
— September 5, 2014
