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Look to the rock from which you were hewn Vol. 31, No. 2, Spring 2007 chicago jewish historical society chicago jewish history IN THIS ISSUE Sholom Schwartzbard: The Avenger Found! The Missing BY WALTER ROTH Chapters of the n October 18, 1927, there began a trial in a courtroom of the Palace of Dora Feldman Story Justice in Paris. Sholom Schwartzbard, 39 years of age, a French citizen of O Russian birth, stood accused of the murder of Simon Petlura, the “Uncle Ben” Aronin Ukrainian nationalist who had been the political and military leader of the short- and His Family: lived independent Ukrainian republic in 1918-20. Report on the CJHS What aroused my interest in this trial was the first chapter of a recent book, Feb. 11 Program Dreamland—Europeans and Jews in the Aftermath of the Great War, by historian Ed Mazur’s Pages Howard M. Sachar (Knopf, 2002). The chapter is entitled “Murder Trial in Paris.” from the Past Sachar writes that after the trial Schwartzbard did not remain in France, but settled in Chicago, where he eked out a precarious livelihood contributing articles Sign Up Today! to the Yiddish press and addressing Jewish audiences. July 29 Bus Tour: Sholom Schwartzbard was born in 1886, in Bessarabia, part of the Russian “North and North- Empire, raised in the Ukraine, and trained to be a watchmaker. He was active, west Side Chicago apparently, with anarchist organizations, during the failed Revolt of 1905. He Jewish Roots”— moved to France in 1910 and joined the Foreign Legion in 1914. With the outbreak of World War I, he fought in the French army, was wounded and See Enclosed Flyer continued on page 4 “Nell Ziff Pekarsky: Witness to History” Report on Our June 10 Meeting at Temple Sholom ell Ziff Pekarsky (1910-1998) played a pivotal role in many of N the major events unfolding in Jewish life in America and Israel during the twentieth century. The open meeting of the CJHS on Sunday, June 10, at Temple Sholom, 3480 North Lake Shore Drive, presented guest speaker Linda Lewison, an historian of outstanding Jewish women of the Midwest, who showed excerpts of the DVD made from her video- recorded oral history interviews of Nell in 1994. Program Chair- man Charles B. Bernstein presided and introduced our speaker. Nell Ziff was born to immigrant Jewish parents in Hurley, Wisconsin. She attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where she joined the local chapter of Junior Hadassah, and after college, the Minneapolis chapter. In 1937, after election to regional offices and a vice-presidency, she was invited to be Junior Junior Hadassah National President Nell Ziff and Hadassah’s national president. continued on page 10 Eleanor Roosevelt. Jewish Women’s Archive. 2 Chicago Jewish History Spring 2007 President’s Column Look to the rock from which you were hewn chicago jewish historical society FORMER CHICAGOANS IN SANTA FE. My wife Chaya and I recently made a long- Officers 2007 anticipated trip to the Southwest to visit its Walter Roth picturesque and historic sites. Of particular President interest were chances to meet with friends from Burt Robin Chicago now living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Vice President Stanley Rosebud Rosen, retired Professor of Dr. Carolyn Eastwood Labor and Industrial Relations at the University Recording Secretary Walter Roth of Illinois, and a former director of our Society, Dr. Edward H. Mazur is still active both in Chicago and New Mexico Treasurer in preserving the Jewish past. His oral history interviews are part of Directors the video history project, “Chicago Radical Jewish Elders,” which Leah Axelrod seeks to explore the relationship between Jewish and social Harold T. Berc consciousness. The videotaped interviews are housed at the Chicago Charles B. Bernstein Jewish Archives, Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies. Rachel Heimovics Braun* We also met with Gunther Aaron, a noted sculptor who came to Dr. Irving Cutler Chicago as a young German refugee escaping from Hitler’s grasp. Herman Draznin After a successful career in Chicago, he continues to work on Dr. Rachelle Gold creative projects in Santa Fe. Clare Greenberg Last, but not least, we finally had the pleasure of meeting the Dr. Adele Hast* painter Eli Levin, after communicating with him by phone and Janet Iltis email. He was born in Glencoe, Illinois, the oldest son of Chicago Melynda Lopin novelist Meyer Levin. Eli has lived in New Mexico since 1964 and is Seymour H. Persky well-known for his egg tempera and oil Muriel Robin Rogers* paintings of Santa Fe night life. He has Norman D. Schwartz* run art galleries, written art reviews, and Dr. Milton Shulman taught art history. He hosts artists’ Dr. N. Sue Weiler gatherings, a drawing group, and the Santa *Indicates Past President Fe Etching Club at his studio. Chicago Jewish History Now he has written a memoir, SANTA is published quarterly by the FE BOHEMIA: The Art Colony,1964- Chicago Jewish Historical 1980 (Sunstone Press, 2006), in which he Society at 618 S. Michigan Ave., chronicles Santa Fe in its turbulent years Chicago, Illinois 60605-1901. of transition from a Bohemian enclave to a Phone (312) 663-5634. cultural boomtown. As a narrative painter [email protected]. and vivid reporter, Eli Levin is succesfully Single copies $4.00 postpaid. carrying on the artistic tradition of the Meyer Levin family. Successor to Society News. Editor-Designer OUR MOVE TO THE NEW SPERTUS BUILDING. Bev Chubat We are pleased to inform you that when the Spertus Institute moves Editorial Board into its new building at 610 South Michigan Avenue, next door to Burt Robin, Walter Roth, its current location, the Chicago Jewish Historical Society will be Norman D. Schwartz, and included in the move. Our office will be on the seventh floor of the Milton Shulman new building, in close proximity to our colleagues at the Chicago Send all submissions to: Jewish Archives, with whom we will continue to work closely. Editor, Chicago Jewish We look forward to the move and the possibilities it offers. Historical Society. 618 S. I am certain the beautiful new environment will serve to inspire our Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL Society in its programming—publications, meetings, and tours— 60605-1901 or e-mail: O and in our efforts to engage and increase our membership. [email protected] Chicago Jewish History Spring 2007 3 Karsen presented the results of his “Sex, Politics, Murder and Genealogy” research at the May 20 meeting of the A Jewish woman, Dora Feldman Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois McDonald, made headlines in 1907 when (JGSI), of which he is co-president, after she shot and killed her young lover, Roth outlined the story as he knew it. Webster Guerin. At the time she was Karsen’s discovery of primary sources married to Chicago’s elderly political boss corrected some of the story, filled in some and gambling kingpin, Mike McDonald. of the blanks, and left some ambiguities. Her subsequent trial and acquittal turned Dora was born in Memphis, not Chicago. Dora into a notorious public figure. Mike She and Mike were married in a Presby- died of a heart attack before the trial. terian ceremony, although newspapers CJHS President and practicing lawyer reported that he had converted to Judaism. Walter Roth wrote about the trial for our Dora did go “somewhere bright and quarterly in an article which he included in sunny”—to California—where she married his book, Looking Backward: True Stories Dora Feldman McDonald C.A. Newcomb, and later separated from from Chicago’s Jewish Past (Academy him. Doris Newcomb died in 1931. Karsen Chicago Publishers, 2002.) But Roth could not find any information visited and photographed her headstone in about Dora’s later life—until he called on genealogist Mike Karsen. Hollywood Forever Cemetery. O Letter to CJHS The Young Ladies’ Club of Congregation B’nai Israel he last time my wife Zelde and I were in they, themselves, were becoming middle-aged. By T Chicago, we stopped in at the Bariff Shop for the time Congregation B’nai Israel sold its building Judaica at Spertus Institute and bought the in Lawndale and bought the former Weinstein monumental work by Bea Kraus and Norman D. funeral chapel at 3140 West Lawrence Avenue in Schwartz, A Walk to Shul: Chicago Synagogues of Albany Park as its new home, the Sisterhood had Lawndale and Stops on the Way, published by the dwindled to a handful of elderly women. If a Society. I stopped at page 82, where the authors woman were interested in becoming active in the discuss Congregation B’nai Israel, formerly at 1134 shul, she would be more apt to join the more South Francisco Avenue, a shul that was, and still is, dynamic and vibrant Young Ladies’ Club. very close to my heart. With the exodus of Albany Park’s Jews in the In the 1930s, the Sisterhood of Congregation 1970s-1980s, B’nai Israel was unable to avoid the Bnai Israel, most of whose members were over the fate of the neighborhood’s other shuls and had to age of 50, held a special meeting where they close. By that time, all the Sisterhood members had discussed how to encourage their young daughters passed away, and the average age of the Young and granddaughters to become more involved with Ladies was around 60. Rabbi Israel Karno, who had the shul. The Sisterhood arrived at the decision to served the shul for so many years, made aliya. create the “Young Ladies’ Club of Congregation Even though their shul no longer existed, the B’nai Israel,” where there would be interesting “young ladies” remained good friends, often seeing activities for young women in their late teens and each other.