In the Beginning: 1855
Each week The American Israelite will print an item from the first years.
Here and There. — It took in New York the united efforts of twelve congregations, meetings, union schemes, officers, committees, and a heap of labor to buy five thousand pounds of matzot for the poor at a price of $450. The mountain labored and mouse was born. In Cincinnati no great men met, no committees were appointed, no officers elected, no newspaper articles were written, still the two congregations, Benai Isarel and Benai Yeshurun gave away about two thousand pounds of matzot to the poor. We have not heard yet of other congregations.
— April 6, 1855
150 Years ago
Items
– The death is announced of Madame Rachel Meyer, of Berlin, a lady well known in Germany as the authoress of several notable literary works. The deceased was much beloved, her amiability and geniality gaining her a greater number of friends than even her beautiful poems, which commanded universal admiration.
– A story is told of a woman who freely used her tongue to the scandal of others, and made a confession to the priest of what she had done. He gave her a ripe thistle-top, and told her to go out in various directions and scatter the seeds one by one. Wondering at the penance, she obeyed, and then returned and told her confessor. To her amazement, he bade her go back and gather the scattered seeds; and when she objected that it would be impossible, he replied that it would be still more difficult to gather up and destroy all the evil reports which she had circulated about others. Any thoughtless, careless child can scatter a handful of thistle-seed before the wind in a moment, but the strongest and wisest men can not gather them again.
Local and Domestic
– Mr. Arthus Anker has been appointed special agent of the Israelite and Deborah, and is now down South. Please recognize and treat him as such.
– The Rev. Isaac Moses, a long candidate, now living in St. Louis, was elected minister of the B’nai Sholom congregation, of Quincy, Ill., to enter forthwith upon his office. Rev. Mr. Moses bears an excellent reputation among those who know him as a gentleman and a scholar.
— April 3, 1874
125 Years ago
I really cannot undertake to give my readers medical advice through these columns; however, I will say for the benefit of an enquirer that, as yet, a large majority of the medical profession advocate vaccination as a protection against smallpox — although, there is a considerable minority of the opposite way of thinking. You pays your money and you takes your choice. As most people have a family physician, he is the proper person to ask for advice.
Jottings
– The living G_d of Israel is the absolute, perfect and eternal; hence one and immutable. The earth is full of his glory, or rather his glory fills the world except the little narrow minds of frivolous punsters that can not be penetrated by any kind of glory.
– Jewish Voice, please notice! There is no Rabbi Philo on the official register of the Hebrew Union College. Furthermore, the novel science of abolishing the old G_d and making a new one is not taught in this college; it must be the intention of that frivolous gentleman who goes by the name Mr. Aeus Panim. This is probably his nom de plume.
– The publishers of the Israelite have just completed the delivery to the New York Public Library of a complete file of the Israelite, ordered by the Board of Trustees about a year ago. The file is a complete and minutely detailed record of the history of Judaism and the Jews since July 1, 1854. The action of the trustees in ordering the Israelite is only one of many occurring, which go to show that the Israelite is the National Jewish Journal, and it alone.
– There are ten Jews in the Ohio Penitentiary.
— April 6, 1899
100 Years ago
Jottings
– The Rash bill, providing for the daily reading of the Bible in common schools of Kentucky, was singed on March 21 by Governor Fields. The Bible must be read in every class room every day, “in the presence of the pupils.” Under the act, recitation of teachers’ certificate is provided for failure to comply with the law.
– Over in Kentucky pliable politicians with an eye on their re-election to the Legislature and at the behest of fanatical religionists, have given a weapon into the hands of the enemies of public schools by making reading from the Bible compulsory there. The act does not direct what portions of the Bible shall be used, or whether the selection shall be from the Protestant, Catholic or Jewish Version: presumably from the Protestant. Perhaps the citizens of Kentucky wanted their public schools to become Protestant sectarian. IF so, they have their wish.
– Cardinal O’Connell of Boston, who recently returned from a visit to Palestine, while praising the British Government for its excellent rule there, states he would prefer another mandate in which other nations, particularly the United States, would take part. Of course, this is such a remote possibility that it need not be considered. Cardinal O’Connell recently complained to the Pope that the British administration in Palestine discriminates against the Catholics. If there were no other reason for believing that the administration for the British Government in the Holy Land is fair and just, the fact that each class of the residents, Arabs, Jews, and Catholics, are accusing the Administration of favoring the others, would be sufficient.
— April 3, 1924
75 Years ago
“Caravan of Hope” Dramatizes the UJA Appeal in Visit Here
Cincinnati was treated to a close-up of the “birth of a nation,” so to speak, when the “Caravan of Hope,” a railroad car — one of seven being sent about the country — was in the city Wednesday, April 6, bearing exhibits dealing with the struggle to create the state of Israel, its present needs and problems.
Highlighting the display were two young persons who had played an important part in winning Israel.
One was Hertzela Chalfon, a soldier in the most desperate fighting and still a part of the Israeli military establishment; and Walter Bazer, “the John Paul Jones of Israel,” the “spark plug” in organizing the Israeli Navy.
These two young heroes of the new state were speakers at a public meeting at Wise Center Wednesday night, April 6, under auspices of the Jewish Welfare Fund.
Cincinnati Social and Personal
– Dr. David Philipson has returned after a winter vacation in St. Petersburg, Fla.
– Mrs. Theres A. Strauss observed her 70th birthday during the past week.
– Mr. and Mrs. Nate Kaufman, of Shelbyville, Ind., left Saturday, April 2nd, aboard the Queen Mary for several weeks in England, France and Switzerland.
— April 7, 1949
50 years ago
“Modern Israel,” New UC Course, To Start This Fall
“Modern Israel,” a new course in Judaic Studies, will be offered at UC this fall.
The presentation of this course is a result of rising student interest in social, economic, political and other cultural components in the state of Israel today, it was announced.
Lecturers from UC and HUC-JIR as well as community representatives will discuss political, educational, scientific and religious institutions, trade unionism, military campaigns, and other cultural aspects that reflect life in Israel.
— April 4, 1974
25 Years ago
Young Israeli ambassadors visit peers in Cincinnati
By Ellen Finkelman
Editorial Assistant
Princeton High School student, Chris Smith, stood in the front of his geography class with his left hand on his head and his right leg raised and bent out to the side. Addressing the class, Israeli Young Ambassador, Asaf Bord, explained: “Ok, now Chris here, other than looking like a ballerina, also looks like the State of Israel.”
Bord and fellow young ambassador Ayelet Israeli, pointed to their body map of Israel. Here is the Mediterranean Sea, Jerusalem, Haifa “at the shoulder,” Bethlehem, Nazareth, Mount Hermon, Eilat and the Negev, “from about the belt down,” and Beer Sheba, and here are the bordering countries.
Bord and Israeli were visiting Barb Higgins’ sixth period honors geography class. The pair of 16 year old Israelis, selected as two of this year’s 74 representatives in the Israeli Young Ambassadors Program, spent three weeks in America living with host families and speaking to classes about Israel at schools in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Michael Rapp, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation and the man who made the arrangements in Cincinnati for the young ambassadors, said acceptance to the program is highly competitive: “You’re dealing with the best and the brightest of Israel’s future.”
— April 8, 1999
10 Years ago
Dr. Michael Meyer inspires others to live Jewish legacy at HUC-JIR Founders’ Day ceremonies
On Wednesday, March 26, at its annual Founders’ Day Ceremony in the S.H. and Helen R. Scheuer Chapel on its Cincinnati campus, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion recognized Dr. Michael A. Meyer, as he prepares to retire, for his fifty years of service as a member of its faculty. During his address to the over 100 faculty members, students and distinguished guests present for the event, Dr. Meyer explained how during his tenure he has come to see that his field of study, Jewish history, serves by bringing “…us all to a profounder sense of our as yet unrealized humanity.”
“History contains life in all its varieties and contradictions, its actors’ multiple sins and their occasional virtues. The immediate goal of the historical enterprise may be to learn of the past, but its ultimate aim is to know ourselves and our potential. For we will not know who we are until we know who we were and therefore also who we can be,” said Dr. Meyer.
“The history of the Jews is a current within the stream of world history, at times rippling within one eddy at times within another. But we can also envision it from within, as a force thrusting through time with energies that may sometimes flag, but … manage to renew themselves again and again.”
— April 3, 2014
