In the Beginning: 1855
Each week The American Israelite will print an item from the first years.
To our Baltimore Readers. — We have sent the Israelite to several gentleman in the city on whom we could not call through want of time, having been encouraged to do so by their friends. Gentleman wishing to discontinue the paper will please call on Mr. Lewis Luer, who has volunteered kindly to inform us thereof. The secretary of the Young Men’s Literary Association has also kindly volunteered to act as agent for the Israelite.
— May 25, 1855
150 Years ago
Foreign Record
– The late M. Naphtali Covo, of Rustchuk, has bequeathed 2,000 francs to the Alliance Israelite Universelle.
– Herr Rubinstein’s oratorio, “The Tower of Babel,” is about to be produced at the Salle Ventadour (Theater Italien), Paris.
– Herr Leopold Mayer, a Jewish jeweler, who recently died at Hanover, left his entire property, 60,000 thalers, to the benevolent institutions of that town, without distinction or denomination.
– The first stone of the new synagogue at Brussels will shortly be laid. The province has given a subsidy of 50,000 francs, the city a similar amount, and the Jewish community has subscribed 200,000 francs.
– The Journal de Bucarest announces that the Roumanian loan of 20,000,000 francs has been taken up by the houses of Rothschild, Fould, and Camondo. It is somewhat remarkable that the Roumanian Government should be compelled to borrow money from men whose co-religionists they persecute.
– On the 21st of February last there died at St. Petersburg Dr. Lipmann Lipkin. The deceased, who was the son of Rabbi Israel, of Galant, one of the most famous rabbis of Poland, was an eminent student of mathematics and the Talmud, but shortly before his death was on the point of being elected Professor of Mathematics at the University of Kiev.
— May 21, 1875
125 Years ago
Jottings
– At Hamilton, O., Jonas Hirsch died on May 19, in his 84th year He had been living in Hamilton since 1849.
– At Cleveland, O., a movement has been set on foot looking toward the establishment of a Jewish hospital. The Young Ladies’ Hebrew Association has taken the initiative.
– At Newark, N.J., Miss Laura E. Donack, twenty-three and pretty, renounced her ancestral faith (Methodism) and embraced Judaism, under the tuition of Rabbi Leucht. Miss Donack is now Mrs. Louis M. Orchard of Brooklyn.
– At Columbus, Ohio, A.C. Hammerstein, son of the theatrical manager of New York of the same name, was dismissed from the regular army. He had enlisted in New York as a recruit, but failed to pass the physical examination.
– The Paris Exposition Commissioners have invited Mrs. Ruth Ward Can to speak before the Congress of Women, which meets in August and September. Her subject is to be the condition of women and their advancement in Mexico, Hawaii, Spain and the Canary Islands.
– At the I.M. Wise memorial service at Greenville, Miss., Mr. S. Romansky, in introducing Rabbi George Solomon of Vicksburg, the orator of the day, gave a brief outline of the history of Jochanan ben Zakkai, who by escaping from Jerusalem before the destruction of the second temple and establishing his school at Jamnia, did so much to preserve Judaism and spread its light. He likened the action of Rabbi Wise to that of Rabbi Jochanan, and the school at Cincinnati to that at Jamnia. The address was an able one, and replete both with learning and good feeling.
— May 24, 1900
100 Years ago
Jottings
– The Southern Baptist Convention recently held in Memphis, Tenn., by a vote of 2,013 to 930 declined to include within its doctrinal declarations a direct reference to evolution.
– A newly formed benevolent organization of Jewish members of the New York Police Department, The Protector Society, was inaugurated with a public entertainment and reception last Saturday night.
– One of the most impressive events in San Francisco Jewish life took place on Saturday, May 2d, when Congregation Sherith Israel celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary with impressive services in the Temple at California and Webster streets. The principal speaker was Rabbi Stephen S. Wise of New York.
– Morris Winchevsky, well-known Yiddish writer and poet, author of many Socialst songs, who went to Soviet Russia last year, left Moscow on May 7, on his way back to New York. Mr. Winchevsky, who was accorded a warm welcome by the Jewish Communists, had intended, when he left New York, to spend the rest of his life in Soviet Russia.
– In Cedar Grove, a suburb of Shreveport, La., five men, all deacons in the local Baptist church, pleaded guilty to assault and battery and conspiracy to commit assault for flogging one Hubert Rampley, whose offense was keeping company with a woman while she was suing her husband for a divorce, and whom Rampley had since married. The men were sentenced to seven months in the parish jail. One of these men was C.C. Oliver, choir director of the Cedar Grove Baptist Church, who recently was convicted of conspiracy in connection with the flogging of John Barker. Barker’s terrible offense for which this severe punishment was inflicted was that he allowed his daughter to wear knickers and ride a bicycle.
— May 21, 1925
75 Years ago
CCAR To Convene in Cincinnati On June 7-12
The Central Conference of American Rabbis, the organization of Reform rabbis, will hold its 61st annual convention at the Hotel Gibson in Cincinnati from Wednesday, June 7 through Monday, June 12.
More than 300 members of the CCAR are expected to attend the session in Cincinnati, which long has been regarded the fountainhead of American Reform Judaism because of the achievements of the late Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise. In addition to the CCAR, Dr. Wise founded the Hebrew Union College (which was merged recently with the Jewish Institute of Religion to form the HUC-JIR) and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Th CCAR was founded in July 1889 in Detroit.
Cincinnati Social and Personal
– Miss Evenly Levine was costume director of the recent 49’ers production of “This Day and Age” at the University of Cincinnati. Miss Levine, a senior in the College of Home Economics, is a member of the Delta Phi Epsilon sorority. She also is serving on the committee for the Home Economics Style Show. Other members of Delta Phi Epsilon participating in the show are Ruth Field and Judy Rose.
– Dr. Stanley P. Kessel, formerly of Columbus, is residing at the L.B. Harrison Club Hotel. He has established an orthodontic practice in this city.
– Mr. and Mrs. Jonas Benet, of 829 Mitchell Avenue, announce the forthcoming bar mitzvah of their son, Leslie, Saturday, May 27, at the Louis Feinberg Synagog. They will be at home in his honor Sunday, May 28, from 2 – 5 p.m.
— May 25, 1950
50 years ago
Bar Mitzvah
– Mr. and Mrs. David Reichert are pleased to announce the Bar Mitzvah of their son, James Gilbert, on Saturday Morning, May 31, at 10:45 at Rockdale Temple.
Jim is the grandson of Dr. and Mrs. Victor Reichert and Mrs. Gilbert Frankel and the late Mr. Frankel. Friends and relatives are cordially inited to worship with the family and join them for the Kiddish and a reception following the service. No cards.
– You are cordially invited to share our joy when our son, Jamie, will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah at Adath Israel Synagogue, Ridge and Galbraith Road, on Saturday, the 31st of May, nineteen hundred and seventy five, and nine o’clock in the morning.
Jamie is the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Guttman of the city, Mr. and Mrs. Sol Tandler of New York and the late Albert Polinsky.
We would be honored to have you worship with us on this happy occasion, and join us for the Kiddish following the ceremony.
Mary and Fred Guttman
– Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Werth, 1029 Thunderbird Drive, Finneytown, are pleased to announce the forthcoming Bar Mitzvah or their son, Roger, on Saturday, May 31, at Temple Sholom.
Roger is the grandson of Doctor and Mrs. Harry J. Dick of Dayton, and Mrs. Richard L. Werth of Cincinnati.
He is the great grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Max Kolker of Surfside, Fla.
— May 22, 1975
25 Years ago
JCC Early Childhood School launches unique program
“Early childhood is the optimal time to introduce children to a foreign language,” explains Susan Autran, the creator and director of KidFrench. If you listen through the door at the JCC Early Childhood School classrooms at the Ohav Shalom and Adath Israel locations, you may hear the preschoolers speaking French or Hebrew. During the 2000-2001 school year, JCC students will learn Hebrew from a child’s perspective. Autran’s teaching method has been developed specifically to teach preschoolers conversational languages and foreign cultures. Autran explains, “Preschoolers are introduced to words that are meaningful to them, while broadening their understanding of other cultures.”
— May 25, 2000
10 Years ago
B’nai B’rith and Hebrew Union College Skirball Museum partner to establish new home for distinctive art collection
B’nai B’rith International and Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC–JIR) are pleased to announce a partner- ship to acquire, preserve and dis- play the art and artifacts of the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum at HUC–JIR’s Skirball Museum, a vital cultural and educational outreach venue of its historic campus in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Significantly augmenting the Skirball’s holdings with approximately 1500 works, the Klutznick’s sacred and secular fine and decorative arts and social documents will be exhibited in designated galleries as the “B’nai B’rith Klutznick Collection.” Spanning a timeline ranging from the ancient world through the late 20th century, the collection encompasses decorative arts intended for use in home and synagogue, household items, folk art, textiles and ritual garments from countries as wide ranging as Germany, Russia, India, Algeria, Italy, Israel and the United States. Of special significance is the collection of 18th- and 19th-century ceremonial objects from Germany, Poland, Holland, Hungary, Italy and Iran, some by master silversmiths including Karl Bitzel and Franz Anton Gutwein, as well as an important group of modern works by noted 20th century artisans Ludwig Wolpert, Moshe Zabari, Judith and Ori Resheff, Michael Filmus and by members of Israel’s Bezalel School.
— May 21, 2015
