In the Beginning: 1854
Each week The American Israelite will print an item from the first years.
Cleveland, O. — The congregation of the Rev. Isidor Kalish has bought a lot for $4,2000 in the centre of the city. A synagogue will be built thereon next spring.
The Israelites of this city presented Rev. Isidor Kalish with $200 in consideration of his merits as a rabbi and scholar. We are also informed that the Rev. Kalish is actively engaged in preparing a new worked for publication. We do not know, however, on what subject.
— January 12, 1855
150 Years ago
Local and Domestic
– Our young friend Mr. Samuel Waldman, of the Daily Republic, Springfield, O., informs us that Ohav Zeduka Congregation of that city at their last meeting unanimously elected Rev. David Greenbaum, late of Hamilton, O., Hazan for the ensuing year.
– The new synagogue in Kalamazoo, Mich., will be dedicated on the 19th of this month. Dr. Wise will deliver the oration. Evening next he will lecture for the benefit of the congregation.
– Rev. Charles Voysoy, in a communication to the Jewish Chronicle, states that the total number of Bishops and clergy in the Church of England is twenty-four thousand. London and its suburbs alone contain over two thousand.
– This is a very good time of year for subscribers who are in arrears to pay up and commence the New Year with a clean conscience. Any one mean enough to defraud the publisher of his due is mean enough o commit a great rascality.
— January 8, 1875
125 Years ago
Jottings
– The Jewish congregation at Seattle has paid $4,000 for two adjoining lot and will erect a magnificent temple thereon in the spring.
– In Beaumont, Texas, steps are being taken toward building a Jewish house of worship, on a lot already owned by the congregation.
– A most unusual case is that of sister Augusta, a Catholic nun, a Sister of St. Mary, who committed suicide at Kenosha, Wis. It is supposed she found convent life too oppressive and took refuge in death.
– The New York Jewish Messenger, which next to the American Israelite and Die Deborah is the oldest paper of its kind in the United States, appeared last week in a new form, very much improved both as to manner and matter.
– At the annual meeting of the Akron, Ohio congregation, a vote of thanks was extended to its rabbi, Rev. I. Philo, for the valuable services he has rendered the congregation during the last three years. By a unanimous vote, Rev. Isador Philo was re-elected for a further term of three years.
— January 11, 1900
100 Years ago
Jottings
– Reports from Chicago say that the attorneys for the defense in the Loeb-Leopold trial will receive $150,000. Benjamin and Walter Bachrach, brothers, will share the fee with Clarence Darrow, the senior counsel for the defense. The proportion of division, however, has not been made public. It is also reported that the defense’s other expenses at the trial will exceed $200,000.
Editor’s Note: Leopold and Loeb were responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Bobby Franks in Chicago. The crime was highly sensationalized as the defendants claimed they murdered Franks to show that they could commit the perfect murder. They were apprehended and confessed within ten days of the crime. Both were convicted and sentenced to prison. Loeb died in prison 11 years after he began incarceration. Leopold was released on parole in 1958.
– Sinai Temple (Dr. Julius J. Price, Rabbi), the largest and most influential temple in the Bronx, New York, has made such rapid progress under the leadership of Rabbi Price that a dedication of the new temple is planned for the near future. It was the plan of Rabbi Price to lift the burden of debt from the temple before he would consent to its dedication.
– A reign of terror is promised Chicago if the Ku Klux Klan should carry out its clandestinely fostered crime clear-up campaign, which has been announced for the near future. Klan headquarters reiterated the determination of the hooded order to strike at the powerful lawless element of the city in exactly in the same manner and with exactly the same methods that it struck a year ago, at Herrin. “Heaven help Chicago if any such move is made by the Klan,” said W.O. Poetter, United States district attorney for Southern Illinois, in whose district the Williamson county feud was carried out. And his view reflects that of all responsible officials of the city.
— January 8, 1925
75 Years ago
Polio Fund Goal Set at $140,000
An estimated $10,000,000 will be required to care for the thousands of victims of the 1949 pool epidemic alone, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis has informed Raymond Huwe, general chairman of the 1950 Polio Fund campaign for Cincinnati and Hamilton County.
The drive, with headquarters at the Hotel Sinton, will be conducted Jan. 14-31.
Basil O’Connor, president of the national foundation and a recent visitor to Cincinnati, disclosed that in addition to the $20,00,000, millions more are to be needed to give aid to the victims during 1950 and to carry on the important research program sponsored by the foundation.
Cincinnati Social and Personal
– Judge Alfred Mack observed his 88th birthday, Tuesday, Jan. 10.
– Former Mayor Murray Seasongood has been named chairman of the Civil Service Committee of the American Bar Association.
– Junior and Senior high school students are invited to celebrate the opening of the Young People’s Room at Avondale Public Library Wednesday, Jan. 18, at 8 p.m.. There will be movies and dancing.
Accent on Youth will be the theme of the new room’s decor. An outside bulletin board and a glass cased will be featured. Alls chills and organizations are invited to display pictures, trophies, etc., of interest to teenagers.
Avondale Library hopes for a large turnout Wednesday night of young people,
— January 12, 1950
50 years ago
Batiks by Penina Frankel Will Be Exhibited at Center Art Gallery
The batiks and scratchboard drawings of Peninia Frankel will be shown at the Jewish Community Center Art Gallery, Sunday, Jan. 12 at 2 p.m. through Jan. 26.
The art of batik is an ancient Indonesian process which literally means “wax writing.” Batiks are made by drawing the design on cloth with hot wax.
Mrs. Frankel studied at the Cincinnati Art Museum and Art Academy. She has won many Shillito sponsored Scholastic Art Awards. In her senior year at Walnut Hills High School she won a full art scholarship for her portfolio.
She attended the Tyler School of Fine Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, and received her B.S. in Art Education from New York University.
Mrs. Frankel has taught art for ten years at Yavneh Day School.
She has participated in many art shows, and her batiks are also benign exhibited at the Miller Gallery in Hyde Park, Miriam Medow Boutique in Brentwood, and the Green Apple in Pleasant Ridge.
This exhibit is sponsored by the Department of Continuing Education of the Jewish Community Center.
Bar Mitzvah
Our son, David Robert, will be Bar Mitzvah on Saturday morning, Jan. 18th, at 10:45 a.m., at Isaac M. Wise Temple at Eighth and Plum Streets.
It would give us great pleasure to have all our relatives and friends join with us for services and Kiddish afterwards.
David is the grandson of Mrs. Isadore A. Berg of Cincinnati and the late Mr. Isadore Berg and Mrs. Henry Blatt of St. Louis and the late Mr. Henry Blatt.
-Dabby and Bob Blatt
— January 9, 1975
25 Years ago
Yavneh alum receives highest award
Michael Rabkin, Program Director for Hillel at the University of California San Diego in La Jolla, received the “1999 Exemplar of Excellence Award” at the Schusterman Hillel International Staff Conference Gala Banquet held Dec. 23 in Princeton, NJ.
Mr. Rabikin is a 1989 graduate of Yavhen Day School, where he was enrolled from preschool through eighth grade.
The Exemplar of Excellent Award was presented to five Hillel professionals “who have made an outstanding contribution to strenghting the Jewish campus community locally and globally while serving as role models for the entire Hille. The honorees were nominated by their colleagues from Hillels and campuses around the world,” according to Nurite Notarius-Rosin, Director of Publications of Hillel International.
Mr. Rabkin, son of Barbara and Morton Rabkin, graduate from Cincinnati Country Day School and the University of Colorado where he was president of the Boulder Hillel. He spent a year in Israel as an OTZMA volunteer, working with new immigrants, children and seniors. Mr. Rabkin was the Jewish Campus Service Corps Fellow at UCSD Hill prior to his appointment as Hillel’s Program Director.
— January 13, 2000
10 Years ago
Judge S. Arthur Spiegel, well-known and respected in Cincinnati, passes away at 94
Judge S. Arthur Spiegel, perhaps best known for presiding over Pete Rose’s tax evasion trial, passed away on New Year’s Eve at the age of 94. Judge Spiegel was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on October 24, 1920. Both sides of his family had impressive pedigrees.
His grandfather, Frederick Spiegel, had been a one term mayor of Cincinnati. When it became clear that he was a reformer, the boss of Cincinnati’s political machine, George G. “Boss” Cox, asked that he not run for a second term. His father, Arthur Spiegel, was a municipal judge. His mother Hazel was the great- niece of Rabbi Isaac Wise, a founder of Reform Judaism and a prominent Jewish family that had been in Cincinnati since the early 1800s.
Book of Job to be featured in print exhibition at Skirball Museum
The work of Linda Nesvisky, who has been inspired by the story of Job since her teen-age years, will be on display from January 15 to March 29. The exhibition is entitled The Book of Job in Our Time.
Nesvisky’s 40 prints, created over 30 years, reflect her attraction to this timeless theme. Her prints use a combination of illustrations and corresponding quotes from the Book of Job in Hebrew and English.
— January 8, 2015
