In the Beginning: 1855
Each week The American Israelite will print an item from the first years.
To our Louisville Subscribers. — It is a perfect mystery to us why all the papers destined for this place were found Tuesday in the Cincinnati post office. The papers were properly directed, packed, and mailed in the right time, still they were returned without any excuse or notice.
We have mailed the papers again, and are determined to ascertain in which office the fault lies. We are fully aware of the independence and dignity of a post office clerk, still we would most respectfully request them to inform us of the causes why this bundle was either not sent off or returned from Louisville.
— July 13, 1855
150 Years ago
Foreign Record
– Mr. George Wolf, of the city of Basel, was elected into the Swiss confederate congress. That is something brand new in old Switzerland.
– A society has been organized in London to reform the synagogal ritual. The natural consequence will be the establishment of a new reform congregation, as neither the chief Rabbi nor the leaders of the congregations will assent to any such reform.
– The rabbinical seminary of Paris costs 41,550 francs per annum, to which the city gives 32,000. The widow of Michael Levy, the publisher, gave 32,272 francs to charitable purposes. The Portuguese congregation of Paris purchased a lot for a synagogue for 203,900 francs.
Items
– The Princess Windischgraetz has presented to Don Carlos a sum of 300,000 florins, assuring him at the same of her wishes for the speedy success of his cause in Spain.
– The native population of the Sandwich Islands, which belong to the Malay or Maloyo-Polynesian division of Oceania, is fast dying out, at the terrible rate of something like 1,000 per year. Cook calculated the population of the islands in 1778 to be about 400,000. Now the native population is under 50,000.
– An interesting exhibition of railway models and appliances was opened at the Crystal Palace on Saturday last. Among the contrivances exhibited is Sir David Solomon’s patented apparatus for electric signaling.
— July 9, 1875
125 Years ago
Jottings
– A free scholarship for the National Farm School near Philadelphia has been established to be known as the Israelite scholarship. We consider this as more in compliment to the large constituency which we represent than ourselves, and are desirers that our friends shall designate the youth to receive the advantage of a free education. We would like to have our friends nominate their candidates.
– The committee of Boer sympathizers in New York received about $1,200 in response to their appeal for means to aid the Boer widows and orphans. Of this sum, the daily papers report, all but $18 dollars was spent in entertaining the three gentleman from the Transvaal who have been traveling over the United States for some mysterious purpose. The money was spent mainly for hotel, wine and cigar bills and carriage hire. A fine record, this, surely.
– The Rev. Ludwig Rosenberg who committed suicide in Philadelphia last week, was a Lutheran minister, not a rabbi as was reported in the papers. He was an apostate from Judaism, a man with very little education. Like all of his class, he made an easy living for some time after his conversion by preaching in Christian churches and making collections for missionary work among the Jews. Recently people got tired of him and he saw himself confronted with the necessity of working for a living. In preference to doing this he committed suicide.
— July 12, 1900
100 Years ago
Jottings
– The increase of athletic culture among Jewish boys and young men and women has become very noticeable, especially in baseball, boxing and swimming, as well as in foot-racing. They have furnished a number of medal men and quite a few champions. As compared with the general public, the Jewish youths have furnished more than their proportionate quota, which is a very pleasant thing to be able to chronicle.
– Silver ornaments including a plate containing the Ten Commandments were stolen from a safe in the Temple Emanuel, Bayonne, N.J., according to report made to police by Rabbi Benjamin Plotkin. The door of the safe evidently was smashed open with a hatchet. The safe contained also a silver cup, a silver tray, and other ornaments used in connection with services. All these were taken. Bayonne police so far have no clue.
– A permit for the erection of what is said will be the largest department store in the world was issued by the Bureau of Building Inspection of Philadelphia to Gimbel Brothers. Tearing down operations for the building are to start immediately, although actual construction will not start until Aug. 11. The new store, which will cost $18,000,000 when completed, will be erected on the site of the firm’s present store and will be twelve stories high. The total floor space is to be approximately fifty-five acres.
– Proposals for a larger Jewish immigration to France, to consist mainly of farm laborers, and those who want to rent land for farming purposes, were submitted to and approved by the French Ministry of Agriculture. According to these plans, France is to admit Jewish agricultural workers, as well as such immigrant who will be able to buy or rent farm land from French owners. The Ministry of Agriculture undertakes the tax of informing the land owners that foreign Jewish workers intend to come to France under the same conditions as all other farm workers.
— July 9, 1925
75 Years ago
Isaac Goldberg Resigns Post at HUC-JIR Library
Isaac Goldberg, administrative secretary of the Library of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion for the past two years, has resigned, effective July 28, 1950, it was learned this week.
Mr. Goldberg, formerly of the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., resided previously in Newark, N.J.
He and Mrs. Godlberg and their two children reside at 652 Glenwood Avenue.
Pre-School Program Fills needs of Children By 3 Separate Schools
Dr. Benjamin Spock, eminent child psychologist, writes in his book, “Baby and Child Care”:
“…Every child by the age of two needs other children his own age, not just to have fun with but to learn how to get along with. This is the most important job in his life…He needs to learn how to get along with other grown-ups besides his parents.”
The Jewish Community Center, in its pre-school program, seeks to fill thee needs so that your child may begin his career as a member of the community with the best possible preparatory background.
The school, with one teacher to every eight children, is considered by authorities as one of the best in this part of the country.
— July 13, 1950
50 years ago
Cincinnati Named As a Pilot City in NCJCS Project
Jewish communal workers in 17 major American cities will participate in a pilot project to demonstrate ways of developing programs of continuing study for professional workers in the Jewish service field. Communities that has indicated a desire to participate in this demonstration project include: Boston, Cincinnati, Miami, Washington, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Metropolitan N.J. (Newark region), Cleveland, Hartford, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Rochester, Wilmington, St. Louis, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and New York.
Of these 17 communities, six to eight will be selected to become pilot demonstration communities receiving intensive service from the national office, including procedures for evaluating results.
Center Workshop Theater in Play
Tennessee Williams’ “The Case of the Crushed Petunias” was featured in a one act student workshop sponsored by the Jewish Community Center’s Summer College Theater. Pictured above, left to right, are director William Fisher, and cast members Victor Worley, Robin Comisar, Jamie Klein and Jeannie Weiland.
— July 10, 1975
25 Years ago
One-week art camp at JCC starts July 31
At the Jewish Community Center, a variety of one-week specialty camps allow children to choose their interests. One popular choice is the JCC arts and crafts camp for campers entering the second through sixth grades, which runs during the week of July 31. Camp projects are designed to appeal to a range of artistic interests. Art media will range from painting and still life drawing to a mosaic project. Campers will be exposed to art history and a variety of artistic styles and techniques, and the session includes a field trip to a local art museum. At the confusion of camp, these young JCC artists will display their work in their own “gallery” show.
Vanessa McEnery will lead the JCC art camp. She was the owner of a business that designed one-of-a-kind clothing, has taken a brand range of art classes, and has competed in photography, painting, and computer-aided design art shows. McEnery’s philosophy is to “encourage the children to discover their own creativity.”
— July 13, 2000
10 Years ago
New fund established at Adath Israel
Dr. Jeffrey and Debora Wacksman, members of Adath Israel Congregation, recently established the Bea Yosafat Wacksman Memorial fund. The fund, which was created to coincide with his late wife’s 25th yahrzeit, was created to help facilities who need extra assistance after losing a parent or significant other.
Despite that nearly a quarter century has elapsed since her passing, Mrs. Wacksman is still remembered for her giving nature and her loving spirit. She began her career as a middle-school educator in Boston, Mass., and later taught in North Carolina. She ultimately left teaching to raise her two children: “I’m teaching upstairs now,” she said, referring to her role as mother and wife in an article that ran in The Cincinnati Enquirer in 1982 that celebrated the couple’s 15th wedding anniversary.
Bea Yosafat Wacksman was the daughter of David and Lena Yosafat. She is still loved and missed by Jeff and many other family members, including her children, Allyson and Jeremy, her brothers Matt (Ann) and Jack (Sharon) Yosafat, her sister-in-law Bonnie Wachler, and many cousins, nieces and nephews.
— July 9, 2015
