In the Beginning: 1855
Each week The American Israelite will print an item from the first years.
The Conference
Again we must come before our readers with this topic, being to us an all absorbing one, and we cannot rest satisfied of having done our duty, which we owe to the house and cause of Israel, until we have said all we have to say on the subject. Do not hastily condemn our words as a tedious repetition. Read first, then judge.
Our friends styling themselves orthodox, must admit, that only in this western continent, but even in western Europe, i.e., as far as civilization reaches, there is no strictly rabbinical Jew, with the exception probably of a few men who live excluded from the world and subsist on public charity. We declare frankly, it is a matter of utmost impossibility for a man living in a civilized community to comply with all the particulars of the rabbinical law. We allege no proof to our position, because we believe this to be admitted on all hands; but if our friends think differently on this point, we are ready at any moment’s notice to produce the evidence.
— March 2, 1855
150 Years ago
A Personal Immortality
A bad cough has prevented Dr. Wise two successive Friday evenings from delivering his lectures. As he does not wish to have the readers of THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE wait any longer than one week for continuation, he must publish an abstract of this lecture without having delivered it. Copies thereof will be delivered gratuitously to this usual Friday evening attendances who are no subscribers to this paper, and the subject continued this Friday evening at the usual time and place.
No Rest
If there are any deserving pity, it is those who have no Sabbath, therefore no rest. To have no Sabbath and no rest; what a cruelty and what a terrible punishment; to be obliged to toil from day to day, continually in business, like a poor, worn-out old blind horse, that has, from day to day, to tread the wheel of some mill, and even that blind horse is permitted to have a day of rest to recuperate its worn-out strength. But this is not the case with many merchants, who call themselves Israelites, they have no rest, because they do not observe the Sabbath; they work on that day as they do on any other day, and thus fritter away their health and their opportunity of refining their nature by communing with G-d and His great works, that everywhere surround us, and which, if we observe and study, so vastly add to our happiness, and secure to us substantial benefits.
— March 3, 1876
125 Years ago
Jottings
– Miss Jessica Peixotto of San Fransisco, who was one of those who read a paper at the recent Council of Jewish Women’s meeting at New Orleans, is one of the few American Women who is entitled to write PhD after her name. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy was conferred on her by the University of California.
– An impressive Memorial Service for the late Queen Victoria was held in the Great Synagogue of the Ashkenazim Community. Mr. Dickson, the British Consul, was present at the time service, tougher with the entire Consular Staff. The teachers and a selected number of pupils of the Evelina de Rothschild School likewise attended, the Headmistress, Miss Landau, being an Englishwoman, and the school being under English control. Chief Rabbi Salant delivered an introductory address, in which he praised the works of Victoria the Good, and a sermon in English and Hebrew was preached by Mr. Ephraim Cohn, Headmaster of the Lamel School. Many were moved to tears.
The Union, The College And The Graduates
At the recent meeting of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations held in this city, the question of the propriety of graduates of the College officiating in congregations that refuse to affiliate themselves with the Union called forth prolonged and heated discussion. The almost unanimous sentiment, at least as far as could be gathered from the expressions of the speakers who were heard on the subject, was that the least that a congregation can do which derives such signal benefit from the child of the Union as to have its spiritual guide a graduate of the College is to give moral and financial support to the organization that called the college into being and supplies the funds for its maintenance.
— March 7, 1901
100 Years ago
Nation’s Educators Disagree On Religious Instruction in Public Schools
Washington, D.C. (JTA)—The question of religious instruction in the public schools was considered by the Department of Superintendents of the National Education Association, which is holding its connection here. Mr. Noble Sherwood, Indiana, state superintendent of public instruction, favored religious influence without advocating the formal introduction of religious instruction into the curriculum. “We must have an intelligence established on faith, built in prayer and nourished by good will,” he declared. “The church and state should cooperate in this matter of religious education. The teacher should be identified with the church. “This makes possible the most effective teaching by example. Religion is taught as well as caught. American children will receive their inheritance. The outlook for this joyful consumption is reassuring. We are training spiritual minutemen for the cause of religious education. Single fires for a mighty effort are burning — a spiritual renaissance is imminent,” he declared.
– There are quite a number of Jewish newspaper men who have taken hold of old dailies which have become bankrupt and recreated them so as to make them regain their prestige and prosperity. One of these was Harry Lowengard, of Harrisburg, PA. He, together with a brother, bought the old, bankrupt daily Courier property and in the face of many difficulties gave it a new birth, by their hard work, business ability and foresight, which amounted practically to genius. Harry Lowengard has now passed to the Great Beyond, but he has built himself a monument more impressive than any that could have been fashioned out of stone or metal.
Jottings
The Gutenberg Bible, bought recently for the record price of $106,000, is for sale again. This was made known by the book’s owner, Dr. A.S. Rosenbach, of New York. Dr. Rosenbach has been in Pasadena, California for several days inspecting the library of Henry F. Huntington, noted book collector, but denies that the rare Bible is to be purchased by Mr. Huntington.
— March 4, 1926
75 Years ago
Bar Mitzvah
– Mr. and Mrs. Ben Youkilis, of 3978 Ardmore Avenue, announce the forthcoming bar mitzvah of their son, Marvyn Herschel, Saturday, March 17, at the Louis Feinberg Synagogue.
Friends and relatives are invited to kiddush after the service.
– Mr. and Mrs. Victor D. Goldman, of 712 Avon Fields Lane, announce the forthcoming bar mitzvah of their son, Michael Robert, Saturday, March 10, at Louis Feinberg Synagogue.
A reception will be held in his honor Saturday, March 10, at the Hotel Metropole, from 7 to 11 p.m. Relatives and friends are cordially invited. No cards.
— March 8, 1951
50 years ago
Attorney-General To Speak at HUC on March 27th
U.S. Attorney-General Edward Levi will speak Saturday evening, March 27th, in the March 26-28 program of the National Festive Convocation in the HUC-JIR Bicentennial celebration.
Sen. Robert Taft Jr. will introduce him.
Bas Mitzvah
Mr. and Mrs. Morris Passer are pleased to invite family and friends to the Bas Mitzvah of their daughter, Alice, on Saturday, Mach 6th at the Plum Street Temple at 10:45 a.m. The service will be followed by a kiddush luncheon.
Alice is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Passer of Elimira, N.Y. and Mr. and Mrs. George Hancock of Hamilton, Ohio.
Dr. Sidney Peerless is Installed As President of Hospital Staff
Dr. Sidney Peerless was installed as chairman of the Executive Board and president of the Jewish Hospital Medical and Dental Staff for a 2-year term at the annual staff meeting Feb. 24.
He has been on the board 2 years and on the Hospital’s staff 26 years.
Dr. Murray S. Jaffe was elected president-elect for a two-year term of office. Dr. Jaffe has been on the staff for 18 years.
— March 4, 1976
10 Years ago
In memory of Werner Coppel
Werner Coppel was born into a middle class family in Moers, Germany in 1925, the same year Hitler reorganized the Nazi party. Moers was a small town with a small Jewish community. “I was eight years old in 1933 when the Nazi party took over the German government. Right away, my life as a Jewish child drastically changed,” Coppel said. The Nuremberg Laws, passed in 1935 with more anti-Semitic laws to follow, each designed to make life for Jews more and more difficult.
— March 3, 2016
5 Years ago
‘To Bigotry No Sanction:’ Jewish Community Relations Council introduces new series
The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) is hosting a new speaker series, “To Bigotry No Sanction: Jewish Perspectives at the Crossroads of American Democracy and Pathways Forward,” which begins on Friday, March 12.
“Our safety and security as a Jewish community is inextricably tied not only to the security of our neighbors, but also to the strength of our democratic traditions and institutions,” said Ronna Greff Schneider, president of the JCRC.
— March 4, 2021
