In the Beginning: 1854
Each week The American Israelite will print an item from the first years.
Charity.— We are pleased to announce that the various Hebrew charitable societies of Cincinnati anticipated the extraordinary serenity of the present by thorough and efficient preparations.
The various officers fearing that they might inadvertently pass over some worthy object of charity, formed an additional committee from their respective bodies to seek after and relieve all our deserving poor.
This Relief Committee has already distributed 2750 pounds of flour, 12 3/4 cords of wood, and 175 bushels of coal. In addition to this the various societies continue daily to assist every applicant with money from their treasures which are heavily drawn on.
— December 15, 1854
150 Years ago
Foreign Record
– Baron Jospeh Schey (a son of Baron Frederick Schey, the Viennese Banker), 22 years old, has been appointed professor of Roman Law at the University of Heidelberg.
– The Jews of Berlin had to deplore this week the loss of a very distinguished man, Dr. Julius Beer, a physician. He was fifty-two years old. He was highly esteemed. He founded the Historical Society of Berlin.
– Lieut. Conder has forwarded from his camp at Halhul, near Hebron, a report of the commencement of his winter’s work, in which he advances certain identifications and criticisms of considerable importance. Lieut. Conder has discovered a very ancient tower lying south of Beit Sawir, composed of huge blocks of very roughly hewn stone which the discoverer thinks may very well date back to Jewish times.
Items
Mineralogists have often been puzzled by the curious stones found at Beechworth, in Victory, and known as “water stones,” or enhydros. Each encloses a cavity which usually contains a liquid and is found to be water, holding in solution a small portion of saline water.
— December 18, 1874
125 Years ago
Jottings
– A number of French Jews have petitioned the government to sever the synagog from the State. They are willing to give up the State subsidy if they can be related from State control. They are setting a good example to their fellow citizens of other faiths.
– A report of the meeting at Chicago of the local trustees of the Cleveland Orphan Asylum and others, published elsewhere in this issue, concludes with the rather startling statement that “it is understood that within a short time Chicago will have a branch of the Cleveland institution.” The friends of the asylum hope that this is an error on the part of the reporter, as there is already a Jewish Orphan Asylum in Chicago. To attempt to establish another would be to set up a rival institution in a field where there is no need for two, and where only one can possibly obtain adequate support. We do not believe that the Board of the Cleveland Asylum has any such project in view.
– It is fact little known, or rather unknown even to the knowing, that Baruch Spinoza, first of all philosophers gave utterance to the principle that the State has no right to limit or interfere in any way with the freedom of reason or conscious of the individual citizen. Spinoza erected this strong pillar, on which the modern State with its civil and religious liberty could be erected, and he did it a century and more before the American revolution, at a time when the whole civilized world took for granted the unlimited power and right of Church and State to domineer absolutely over every man’s reason and consciousness.
– The total immigration of Jews into the United States last year was 87,000.
– A Jewish newspaper in modern Greek has made its appearance at Corfu.
— December 21, 1899
100 Years ago
Jottings
– An abandoned motor car and a gold pen knife, dropped by one of the fugitives, were the only clues the police had to aid in their search for four masked men who robbed the store of S. Rosenblatt & Son, in North Philadelphia, of diamonds and jewelry valued at $72,836 and $1,000 in cash.
– Congregation Emanu-El, of San Francisco, is erecting a new temple together with a temple house and other annexes, which will make it one of the most remarkable synagogal structures in the United States. The style of architecture of the temple is Levantine, representing a fusion of the architectural styles of Asia Minor, Palestine and the Mediterranean based on the Byzantine Roman tradition. The cost of the group will be approximately $2,000,000.
– The Hebrew Theological Seminary of Chicago has been officially recognized by the United States Government as an American school, permitting prospective students of the college to enter the country as non-quota entrants according to G.E. Talman, Action Commissioner General of the Labor Department, in a communication to Congressman Adolph Sabath. The State Department has issued instructions to notify American consuls in Europe of this recognition.
– Secret indictments against 104 persons, alleged to have participated or been responsible for the Ku Klux disorders which occurred in Niles, Ohio, November 1, and various recommendations, including the removal from office of Mayor Harvey C. Kisstler and Police Chief L.J. Rounds of Niles are contained in the report of a special Trumbull County Grand Jury which investigated the clashes between Ku Klux Klansman and anti-Klansman. The report submitted to Common Pleas Judge Charles M. Wilkins after the jury had been in session with a few recesses for ten days and during which it examined 237 witnesses, commended Governor A.V. Donahey “For the prompt and thorough manner in which he restored order.”
— December 18, 1924
75 Years ago
Rare Menorahs on Display
A group of rare Hanukkah menorahs, loaned to the Jewish Center by the Jewish Museum of the Hebrew Union College, is on display in the Lester Jaffe Case.
Included are a seventeenth century Dutch menorah, a nineteenth century oriental, seventeenth century oriental, eighteenth century Polish and eighteenth century English.
It is interesting to note that the earlier menorahs are not made for candles but are designed for oil. It is also of interest that although the various menorahs differs from country to country and century to century, throughout, they maintain their traditional form.
Come to your Center to see this unusual exhibit, made possible by the generosity of Dr. Franz Landsberger, director of the Jewish Museum of the Hebrew Union College.
Social and Personal Notes
Dr. Nelson Glueck, president of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, has been named to the executive council, Cincinnati chapter, United World Federalists.
– Rabbi Dudley Weinberg, HUC graduate and rabbi of Temple Ohabei Shalom, Brookline, Mass., has been elected national chaplain of the Amvets. He served in the South Pacific as a chaplain during World War II.
– Miss Merle Marcus, the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Jacob R. Marcus and a junior at Barnard College in New York City, is recuperating after an emergency appendectomy at St. Luke’s Hospital in that city.
Miss Marcus will arrive in Cincinnati late this month for the holidays. Dr. Marcus is president of the Central Conference for American Rabbis and the Adolph S. Ochs professor of Jewish History at HUC.
— December 22, 1949
50 years ago
Bar Mitzvah
Mr. and Mrs. Israel Landman take great pleasure in announcing the forthcoming Bar Mitzvah of their son, Brian Scott Landman, Saturday, Dec. 28, at 9 a.m., at Golf Manor Synagogue, Stover Avenue.
Friends and relatives are cordially invited to worship with the family and attend the Kiddish following the services.
Brian is the grandson of the late Mr. and Mrs. Ben Holtzman and the late Mr. and Mrs. Harry Landman.
No cards.
Bas Mitzvah
– Mr. and Mrs. Michael S. Levy, 6525 Cliffridge Avenue, announce the Bas Mitzvah of their daughter, Randi, Friday evening, Jan. 3, at 8:15 p.m, at Adath Israel Synagogue, Galbraith Road.
Randi is the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Diamond of Cincinnati and the late Mr. and Mrs. Ben Levy of Cleveland.
Mr. and Mrs. Levy wish to invite all of their friends and relatives to worship with them and attend the Kiddish afterward.
– Mr. and Mrs. Joel A. Berke take pleasure in announcing the Bas Mitzvah of their daughter, Robin Lynn, on Saturday, December 28, at 10:45 a.m., at Temple Sholom.
Relatives and friends are cordially invited to worship with the family and attend the Kiddish immediately following the service.
Robin is the granddaughter of Mrs. Mollie Max.
— December 19, 1974
25 Years ago
JCC to audition for youth musical
The Jewish Community Center will hold auditions for its upcoming CenterStage production, “Once Upon a Mattress,” Wednesday, Jan. 5 from 6:30 – 8 p.m., and Sunday, Jan 9 from 1 to 4 p.m.
CenterStage is the JCC’s youth performing arts program for children in grades 4 through 12. The show will be presented in March.
All auditions should be scheduled before the end of December. Children should bring a song with them and will be asked to read a selected section. All JCC members who are registered for the CenterStage program will receive roles.
“Once Upon a Mattress” tells the story of the Princess and the pea. The show is complete with a princess, an evil queen, a handsome prince, and lots of singers, dangers and performers.
— December 23, 1999
10 Years ago
HUC-JIR announces naming gift for School of Jewish Nonprofit Management
The School of Jewish Nonprofit Management (SJNM) at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) has been named with a transformative gift from Marcie and Howard Zelikow. The first Jewish communal service graduate program to be established in America forty-five years ago, this School continues to be the premier graduate school preparing nonprofit professionals today for leadership careers in the Jewish community. With this gift, it is now poised to broaden its impact, both geographically and across the range of Jewish professional fields. The official dedication of the Zelikow School will take place on Sunday, February 8 at 4 pm at HUC- JIR’s Jack H. Skirball Campus in Los Angeles.
— December 18, 2014
