In the Beginning: 1855
Each week The American Israelite will print an item from the first years.
The Rev. Dr. Lilienthal, elected rabbi of K.K. Benai Israel, has arrived in the city, and will preach tomorrow morning at the Broadway Synagogue in German, and in the afternoon in the English language.
— June 1, 1855
150 Years ago
Foreign Record
– Prof Ewald of Gottingen, the eminent author of the History of Israel, is dead. He was a learned Hebraist.
– The new municipal council of Posen counts 22 Jews and 16 Christians among its members.
– The Austrian Parliament has petitioned the Government to grant subsidies to the Rabbis of the Empire.
– Among 16 students at the University of Rome who obtained degrees at the annual examination, 4 were Jews. These latter are to receive government aid varying from 1,000 to 4,000 lire towards continuing special studies in certain foreign universities.
Items
– An edition of the Bible is to be printed in London with all the proper names accounted to show their pronunciation.
– There is a lawyer in Akron (Ohio) who, when he wishes to quote from the Mosaic law, says, “Now, your honor, I will read from the Egyptian reports”
– Dr. Wise will be back at his post tomorrow and preach on the women of the Bible, subject: Ruth.
– Ex-Governor Vance, of North Carolina, was a few days ago presented, by the young Jewish people of Wilmington, with a gold headed cane, as a token of their appreciation of his recent lecture on “The Scattered Nation.”
— May 28, 1875
125 Years ago
Jottings
– The latest B’nai B’rith lodge to be established, at Helena, Montana, has been named Isaac M. Wise Lodge, for the late editor of this paper. On behalf of his family we thank the brethren for the great honor thus conferred.
– No Extra Charge. — Subscribers who are going to Europe for the summer, or leaving home to visit watering places or for other purposes, can have their papers sent to them, without any additional charge, during their absence. Addresses may be changed as desired.
– Mr. Alex Rice of Montgomery, Ala., senior partner of Alex Rice & Sons, has gone to Louisville, Ky., to visit his children for a month.
– Rabbi William Rosenau has declined the call of Ahavath Chesed Temple, New York, and will remain with his present congregation, Oheb Shalom, of Baltimore.
– The Misses Moses, the well known mistresses of the New York school for girls, have made arrangements to take a limited number of boarding pupils to the country this summer. They will provide a good home, outdoor exercise, and one or two hours’ instruction a day.
— May 31, 1900
100 Years ago
Jottings
– Congregation Adath Jeshurun, of Ottowa, has joined the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations. The is the first Canadian congregation to become affiliated with the Union.
– The New York Yeshiva reports that it has raised over $2,000,000 of its $5,000,000 College Building Fund. The new institution is to be not only a school of Hebraica and Jewish Rabbinics, but will also have ordinary, secular college branches.
– A comparatively new industry In Palestine is the growth of tobacco and the manufacture of cigarettes. The introduction of this industry is credited to one Lubliner, who has stabbed a cigarette factory in Tel Aviv, which is turning out millions of cigarets yearly, most of which are shipped abroad.
– A satirical article, “Nordic or Not?” was a feature in a recent number of “The New Statesman,” a London publication of high standing. It is a keen and cutting demolition of the absurdity of Nordic pretension in the guise of a statement of the superior virtues of that “Race.” The strange thing about the article is that it was written by Hilaire Belloc, who on one side — is it left or right? — is not within the blessed fold of blond and chilly supermen.
– The Ku Klux klan has removed its headquarters from Atlanta, Ga., to Washington, D.C., and has opened offices that harbor a force of nearly 200 persons — almost as large as a government bureau. The theory is advanced that the move was made so that the main actors can be near the place where the national political pot is boiling. In view of the retrograde condition of Atlanta, its citizens should welcome the departure of this lawless crew. That it is a lawless crew the Attorney General of Wisconsin has decided in advising the Secretary of State that the Klan cannot be granted a charter by the State.
— May 28, 1925
75 Years ago
Cincinnati Social and Personal
– President Nelson Glueck of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion will give the benediction at commencement exercises at the University of Cincinnati, Friday evening, June 9.
– Mr. Benjamin Dombar was elected president of the Cincinnati Architectural Society for 1950-51 at the recent meeting at Union Terminal. Mr. Dombar was for several years associated with Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright, who is considered the outstanding leader in modern architecture.
– The Hebrew Institute and Beth Am plans a public reception Sunday, June 11, from 8 to 10 p.m., in honor of Dr. Meyer S. Cohen, its new director, and Jerry Reno, member of the faculty and director of Camp Shor, and their families.
Dr. Cohen and his family have arrived form their former home in Winnipeg, Canada. He assumed his duties today (Thursday, June 1).
– For the second consecutive year, John Rauh, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Carl J. Rauh, of Amberley Village, won the Ohio High School tennis singles championship Saturday, May 27, and Columbus. He also has won the southeastern Ohio district high school singles title two consecutive years.
Quakers Select HUC-JIR Student For Work Abroad
Theodore S. Levy, of Pittsburgh, a junior at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, is one of 60 young Americans who have been selected by the American Friends Service Committee for inclusion in its overseas Work Camp Program.
Mr. Levy will leave on the S.S. Washington June 21 for eight weeks of reconstruction work together with youth from several countries in Europe. He will spend the summer in Holland, France and Belgium before returning to this country Sept. 1.
He has taught at the Religious School of Rockdale Avenue Temple, Cincinnati, and has supersede the recreation program at Taft School in this city.
— June 1, 1950
50 years ago
Bas Mitzvah
Dr. and Mrs. James S. Levy are pleased to announce the Bas Mitzvah of their daughter, Karen, on Friday evening, May 30th, at 8:15 p.m., at the Isaac M. Wise Temple, Eighth and Plum Streets.
Karen is the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Levy of Cincinnati and Mr. and Mrs. Leo Rosenthal of Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
Friends and relatives are cordially invited to worship with the family and join them for the Kiddish following the services.
Bar Mitzvah
You are cordially invited when our son, Marc Alan will be called to the Torah and chant the Haftorah on the occasion of his Bar Mitzvah, on Saturday, the 14th of June, nineteen hundred and seventy-five, at nine o’clock in the morning, at Congregation Ohav Shalom, 1834 Section Road, Cincinnati, Ohio.
To celebrate this Simcha we would like you to join us for lunch immediately following the ceremony.
Marc is the grandson of Mrs. Jean Tessel and the late Mr. Max Tessel and the late Mary and June Silverman.
-Joy and Edwin Tessel
Federation Grant Buys Jewish History Books For School Libraries
Left to right: Max Frankel, executive director of the Bureau of Jewish Education, is pictured with Mrs. Lucy Wood, Walnut Hills High School Librarian; Mrs. I Mark Zeligs, president, Jewish Federation of Cincinnati; Dr. I. C. Sharon, president of the Bureau; and Raymond Broskamp., Principal of Walnut Hills High School.
Libraries in Wyoming, Woodward, and Walnut Hills high schools now have broader sections of Jewish history, culture and heritage.
Max Frankel, executive director, Bureau of Jewish Education, obtained the works through a grant by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati.
The grant was in response to increasing interest in Judaica in high schools and colleges across the country, a Bureau spokesman said. Hebrew credit courses have been offered at Walnut Hills and Woodward many years.
25 Years ago
Kim Heiman installed as new Federation president
By Andrea Angela Herzig
Contributing Writer
Kim Heiman was elected the forty-fourth president of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati on Tuesday, May 23, at the Federation’s Annual Meeting held at Cedar Village. Heiman is the second female president of JFC. Ruth Zeligs, whose term of office began in 1974, was the first.
“The combination of being the second woman president and being just 43 years old signals the influx of new leadership that will lead the Federation into this new century,” explained Heiman. “I am looking forward to working with the outstanding seasoned Federation leaders and watching younger members of our community take on leadership roles as heads of agencies, synagogues and organizations.
— June 1, 2000
10 Years ago
Valley Temple’s Getting a Facelift
The Valley Temple, the only synagogue west of I–75 in the area, has renewed its commitment to Wyoming by investing in a small addition and remodeling project. “We are so glad that Wyoming has been such a wonderful home for the congregation, and are glad to be investing in our future here,” said Rabbi Sandford Kopnick, spiritual leader of the Valley Temple.
Valley was founded in the late 1950s as a Jewish supplemental education program. A few years later, the group incorporated Valley as a synagogue. Rabbi Kopnick arrived at the Temple in 2001, and is only the fourth full time rabbi since the congregation’s founding.
The congregation first met in Wyoming families’ homes. Space was rented in a local church and the Masonic building (now the Fine Arts Center). In the late 1960s, a home was purchased on Springfield Pike as the Temple’s first permanent space, and later the Temple built its current synagogue across the street from that residence in the early 1970s. The Temple has enclosed courtyards and built modest expansions a few times over the years. This is the first major renovation in 25 years.
Plans include the addition of four permanent classrooms, updated flexible space in the existing building, and significant improvements in infrastructure, including better accessibility and safety. The congregation began construction with the full price of the project pledged, including a grant from the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati.
“We have one of the best Jewish religious schools in the area,” Rabbi Kopnick said. “We are proud of our commitment to maintaining an intimate size, while offering a diverse program filled with a variety of worship and educational opportunities,” he added.
— May 28, 2015
