In the Beginning: 1854
Each week The American Israelite will print an item from the first years.
Arrested for Swindling
Louisville, December 11
Rosenthal, a Jew, residing here, has been charged with obtaining goods, from parties in Philadelphia, to the amount of $60,000 under false pretenses, and was arrested here today under a requisition from the Governor of Pennsylvania. He left here this morning for Philadelphia, in the charge of the Sheriff from that city.
— December 22, 1854
150 Years ago
Items
The synagogue of the new community established a short time ago at Buenos Ayres was consecrated on the 11th of September last.
Local and Domestic
– The lectures appearing under the head of Soph Dabar will be continued regularly from and after this week until the whole course of fundamental philosophy shall be completed.
– This Friday evening, in the Temple on Plum Street, the lectures on philosophy will be continued. The subject of this lecture is “Biology: What is Life?” It is the opening lecture to a review of Darwinism, and the establishment of teleology.
– “The Prodigal Son,” a spectacular play in which all the characters are Scriptural, has been produced at the Boston Theatre.
– Tons of postal cards without addresses are destroyed in the Dead Letter Office, because people write their message first and forget to address the card.
— December 25, 1874
125 Years ago
Jottings
– In the death of Dwight L. Moody emotional Christianity loses its foremost exponent. However much doubt there may be as to the lasting good effected by his methods, there can be none as to his great ability, zeal and sincerity. He was easily the greatest evangelist of the day and remarkably tolerant for a man of his convictions. Still, he was of a school that is dying out and we shall probably not look upon his like again.
– Standing at the tomb of George Washington, President McKinley said:
“We summon his precepts that we may keep his pledges to maintain justice and law, education and morality, and civilian religious liberty in every part of our country — the new as well as the old.”
Here is reason enough for the United States to keep under her direct control every foot of territory acquired from Spain, even if there were no others.
– The Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Atlanta, Ga., will go out of existence after January 1, 1900.
– There were 1800 converts to Mormonism in the South last year, and the number this year will reach this figure, according to the declaration of Mormon Elder Ben E. Rich, who presided over the South Alabama Conference that had just been held in Montgomery. Elder Rich has charge of the headquarters for the southern work, which are located at Chattanooga. He said that in the southern mission, embracing eleven states, there were twenty churches and a membership of 11,000. Nineteen elders attended the conference at Montgomery, and it is asserted that there is another conference in the state with as many elders. The strength of these two conferences is a surprise even to Alabamians.
— December 28, 1899
100 Years ago
Cross-Word Puzzle May Be World’s First
Cretan Disk of 2000 B.C. at Johns Hopkins Museum Is Believed The Oldest Brain Teaser.
In the Archaeological Museum of Johns Hopkins University is a copy of what looks like the world’s oldest cross-word puzzle. For years it has been a puzzle, whether cross-word or other variety, to archaeologists and the solution is now thought to be as remote as ever. According to many students this ancient brain teaser dates from 2000 B.C.
It is called the Phaetus Disk and was found on the Island of Crete. It is made of terra cotta and contains on both sides a continuous spiral line of picture writing. Since the writing never has been deciphered no one can say whether it begins at the centre and runs outward or follows the reverse course.
The disk seems to have been intended originally as a die, and it is this interpretation which makes the ancient “puzzle” appear comparable to the cross-word matrices.
According to students of Cretan antiquity, the disk contains a religious hymn and was not really a product of the island but was imported from Lycia, in Asia Minor.
In the history of Greece the “cross-word puzzle” disappears after Cretan times. Specimens of ancient Greek poems have survived to the present day which show a knowledge of the acrostic. Euripides has a passage in one of his plays which is construed so as to have the first letters of the lines spell the name “Theseus.” In some of the old manuscripts containing collections of ancient Greek poems there have been found compositions so made as to be in the form of various objects, such as the pipes of Pan.
Editor’s Note: This news item is referring to the Phaistos Disc. It is now housed in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum in Crete, Greece. The disk had symbols stamped on to it, and may be an example of early type setting. The text is meant to be read from the outside in. As of this publication in 2024, the disk has not yet been deciphered. Most scholars believe the disk cannot be translated until more examples of the particular text used on it appear in other contexts.
— December 25, 1924
75 Years ago
Good Times Club Hanukkah Party
The annual Hanukkah party of the Good Times Club was held Tuesday, Dec. 20, at the Jewish Center.
The traditional candle lighting service and welcome were held. Mrs. Field read an original Hanukkah poem and Mr. W. Cheskin read one of Sholem Aleichem’s short Yiddish stories. All the club members and guests joined in Hanukkah songs and other favorites, led by Mr. S.L. Glober and Mr. Norman Kahanowitch, a student at H.U.C. Games, a movie, refreshments and the distribution of gifts, rounded out the program.
The program committee consisted of Mr. Sol Blank, Mr. S.L Glober, Mr. Morris Lutchen, Mrs. William Cheskin and Mrs. Anna Rappaport. Ed Davidson is the Center advisor to the Good Times Club.
Social and Personal Notes
– Dr. Henry Felson has been appointed assistant clinical professor of internal medicine in the College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati.
– Dr. Joseph Stubbins, psychologist and vocational counselor at the Jewish Vocational Service, has been nominated for membership in the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
– Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Benson, of Barbara Place, Bond Hill, have returned from North Hollywood, Calif., where they visited their son, Leon, and his family.
— December 29, 1949
50 years ago
Bar Mitzvah
– Mr. and Mrs. Stan Brod are pleased to announce the Bar Mitzvah of their son, Michael, on Saturday, Dec. 28, at Northern Hills Synagogue.
Friends and relatives are cordially invited to worship with the family and attend the Kiddish immediately following the services.
Michael is the grandson of Dr. and Mrs. J. D. Weintraub and Mr. Morris Brod.
– Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Kabakoff take great pleasure in announcing the forthcoming Bar Mitzvah of their son, Alan Richard, on Jan. 4th 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 immediately following services.
Plans for Yavneh Dinner Underway
Mrs. Jospeh Werthaiser, president of Yavneh Day School PTA, announces plans have begun for the Yavneh Association annual dance under direction of Mrs. Irvin Dunsky and Co-Chairman, Mrs. Alan Ashare.
The dinner will take place Sunday, Feb. 2nd, at 6:30 p.m., at Adath Israel Synagogue.
— December 26, 1974
25 Years ago
Beth Israel Buries Old Books
On Sunday, December 13, the Religious school and members of Beth Israel Synagogue assembled in the congregation’s cemetery to bury its worn out siddurim and mahzorim (prayerbooks), chumashimi (5 Books of Moses), Torah mantels, ark curtains, mezzuzot, and tefillin. Jewish tradition allows sacred items no longer repairable either to be storied away in a special place called a genizah or to be buried in a cemetery.
Beth Israel Synagogue’s genizah, a small storage area outside next to the Bet Tefillah (sanctuary) was nearly full. Some of the books were 150 years old and falling apart, others were siddurim that had fallen apart from constant use.
Peter Tomaino built four wooden boxes, approximately 5 feet by 24 inches by 24 inches; only three ended up being used. A double grave had been excavated in the cemetery. A ladder was lowered into the hole and Jayne Suddleson, Matt Larson and Jeffrey Isaacson descended into the muddy hole. The boxes were placed in the hole and then the books were lowered into the grave.
After the books were placed in the box, Rabbi Eric Slaton led a brief ceremony. The hole was filled in and eventually a marker will be set.
— December 30, 1999
10 Years ago
Local men participate in ‘Movember’ shaving event
On December 1, 2014, Derek Zipkin, Dr. David Miller, Dr. Gary Kirsh and Dr. Mike Rousseau participated in “Movember,” an annual campaign that raises awareness of men’s health issues including prostate and testicular cancer. Men are asked to grow a mustache during the month of November and then have it shaved off on the first of December.
The event was held at R.P. McMurphy’s and hosted by The Urology Group. Over 20 men shaved off the facial hair they grew for “Movember.” Two women from a local grooming center shaved the men.
Andrew R. Berger honored at Cincinnati Associates Tribute Dinner at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Civic and Jewish communal leaders of the Cincinnati community gathered to honor Andrew R. Berger, the new Chair of the Board of Governors of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), at the 31st Annual Cincinnati Associates Tribute Dinner, held on October 26, 2014. This special event, “Celebrating Harmony and Rhythm,” raised money in support of HUC- JIR’s rabbinical and graduate students. Berger is the first Cincinnatian to head HUC-JIR’s Board in thirty years.
Rabbi Aaron D. Panken, HUC-JIR President, greeted the guests, stating “HUC-JIR in Cincinnati is a part of an exciting, four campus, seminary system, a thriving institution that started here, and now reaches every corner of North America, Israel, Europe, South America, Australia and Asia, providing inspired leadership to build strong communities everywhere our alumni go.”
— December 25, 2014
