Look to the rock from which you were hewn Vol. 28, No. 3, Summer 2004

chicago jewish historical society chicago jewish history

IN THIS ISSUE Ed Mazur to Speak on “Politics, 1654-2004: Celebrate , and Elections, 1850-2004” 350 Years of Jewish Save the Date: Sunday, Oct. 31 Life in America! What’s Doing at Edward H. Mazur, Ph.D., nationally recognized authority on Other Jewish Historical politics and the Jewish voter, will be Societies in the USA the featured speaker at the next Isaac Van Grove— open meeting of the Chicago Jewish Chanukah, Romance, Historical Society on Sunday, and The Eternal October 31, at Temple Sholom, 3480 North Lake Shore Drive. [Rail] Road The program will begin at 2:30 From the Archives: p.m., following a social hour with (Left) Jacob Arvey and Abraham Skokie’s Cong. Bnai refreshments at 1:30, a brief review Lincoln Marovitz, important Jewish Emunah, 1953-2004 of the year’s activities by CJHS figures in Chicago politics. President Walter Roth, and the Undated. Chicago Jewish Archives. Report on June 27 election of Board members. Meeting: “History of Author of Minyans for a Prairie Chicagoan, born and raised in Cong. BJBE/Jewish City: The Politics of Chicago Jewry, Humboldt Park, who has resided in Issues and Chicago 1850-1940, and contributor to Rogers Park, Hyde Park, New Town Ethnic Chicago and The Dictionary and the Gold Coast. He is a tour Jews in the Civil War” of American Mayors, Edward Mazur guide for the Mayor’s Office of Author! Author! CJHS has written more than fifty articles Cultural Affairs. Writers: See Page 15 on urban affairs, politics, ethnicity, Admission to the meeting is, as and transportation. He is a native always, free and open to the public.

Six Chicago Jewish painters are Terra Museum to Close; Last Show represented: Emil Armin, Aaron Includes Six Chicago Jewish Painters Bohrod, Raymond Breinin, Fritzi Brod, Samuel Himmelfarb, and “Chicago Modern, 1893-1945: Among the paintings are mild William Schwartz. Their depictions Pursuit of the New” is the final Midwestern attempts at Impression- of our city and of themselves are exhibition at the Terra Museum of ism in landscapes and portraits, but highlights of the exhibition, and American Art, 664 North Michigan the real treasures are the cityscapes. echo “Engaging with the Present,” Avenue. The show will continue The earliest of these spirited the 75th anniversary retrospective of until the Terra closes its doors on paintings are scenes of the Chicago the American Jewish Artists Club October 31. Admission is free. River by James Bolivar Needham. recently at the Spertus Museum. 2 Chicago Jewish History Summer 2004 President’s Column Look to the rock from which you were hewn

chicago jewish historical society MY FIRST TRIP TO ISRAEL WAS IN 1952 after I graduated from law school. I participated Officers 2004 in a year-long work and study program at Ma’ale Walter Roth President Hachamisha, a kibbutz in the Judean Hills near Burt Robin Vice President Jerusalem. I have been to Israel many times since Dr. Carolyn Eastwood Secretary then, often with my family. Herman Draznin Treasurer Earlier this summer, my wife Chaya and I Directors Leah Axelrod Walter Roth spent three weeks in Israel. We were accom- panying one of our daughters, Miriam, her Harold T. Berc husband Mark Raider, and their three young children. Miriam and Charles B. Bernstein Mark are professors at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Dr. Irving Cutler Dr. Rachelle Gold Albany. They and the children would be spending the rest of the Clare Greenberg summer on sabbatical at Ben Gurion University in Beersheba. Dr. Adele Hast* Returning to Israel this time was somewhat different for Chaya Rachel Heimovics* and me. For the first time we were traveling with three of our grand- Dr. David H. Heller children, so we were apprehensive about the grave political and Janet Iltis security situation. We were surprised by what we encountered. Marshall D. Krolick Our stay did not include visits to Gaza or the West Bank, so I Roslyn Lettvin do not have first hand observations about the situation there. We Michael Lorge drove over 1400 kilometers, from north to south and all around, Mark Mandle and except for the presence of the security fence (or “the wall” as Dr. Edward H. Mazur some call it) in some areas, little military personnel or equipment Seymour H. Persky was visible to us. The country looked superb, with an enormous Muriel Robin Rogers* amount of ongoing construction. Throughout Israel, the roads have Norman D. Schwartz* Dr. Milton Shulman been rebuilt, and are in extraordinarily good condition. Dr. N. Sue Weiler WE STAYED IN A GUEST HOUSE AT KIBBUTZ SASSA, *Indicates Past President located north of Safed, near the Lebanese border. Sassa was Chicago Jewish History established by a group of young chalutzim (pioneers) from America Chicago Jewish History is published after the 1948 War of Independence. We found that, by sheer quarterly by the Chicago Jewish coincidence, there was a reunion of vatikim (original settlers) in Historical Society at 618 South progress. Among the old-timers were a number of Chicagoans, some Michigan Avenue, Chicago, still living on the kibbutz, and others who had come from Chicago Illinois 60605. (312)663-5634. and elsewhere for the reunion. Single copies $4.00 postpaid. Among the Sassa kibbutzniks was our friend, Lynn, a woman Successor to Society News. who, when she was a student almost 40 years ago, lived with us in Editor/Designer Chicago, helping to care for our children. Lynn had taken our belief Bev Chubat in seriously and had immigrated to Israel. She now has five Immediate Past Editor grown children, some already married, and is a teacher and writer. Joe Kraus We had a reunion on a grand scale, and toured together in the north Editor Emeritus of Israel—to the Banyas Waterfall, the Hula Valley, and of course, Irwin J. Suloway Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee), where, if you go to the right Editorial Board place, you can walk on water. David Heller, Burt Robin, Sassa now faces a problem pervasive in the kibbutz community. Walter Roth, Norman Schwartz, The old communal way of life is undergoing privatization of both and Milton Shulman its social and economic life. Children live at home with their Send all submissions to: parents; the communal dining hall is available, but most families eat Bev Chubat in their own houses. Sassa is economically prosperous today. Its 415 Fullerton Parkway, #1102 Chicago, IL 60614-2842 continued on page 12 E-mail: [email protected] Chicago Jewish History Summer 2004 3

(Left) Chicago Tribute Marker of Distinction: Ben Hecht, 5210 South Kenwood Avenue. Photo by Norman D. Schwartz. (Right) Honorary Ben Hecht Way street sign, corner of West Walton and North Clark Streets, dedicated June 29, 2004. Photo by Michael Zimmerman. New Signs of Ben Hecht in Chicago On Tuesday morning, June 29, Natarus initiated the required city about a hundred people gathered council resolution, but the impetus under the trees of Washington came from Dr. Rafael Medoff of the (Bughouse) Square Park to dedicate David S, Wyman Institute for Honorary Ben Hecht Way, the Holocaust Studies. block of West Walton Street, Ben Hecht established his between Clark and Dearborn, in literary reputation in Chicago as a front of the Newberry Library. young newspaper reporter. His Local politics determine the papers are housed at the Newberry names that appear on the city’s Library, donated by his widow to ubiquitous brown “honorary way” this respected research institution in signs. In this case, Alderman Burton continued on page 13

HYMIE WEISS—WHAT’S IN A NAME? Dan Sharon, Senior Reference Librarian of the Asher Library at Spertus Institute of , asked CJHS President Walter Roth this question: Why did a Polish American gangster in Chicago, who supposedly 3760 served as an altar boy in a Catholic church, change his name to the The address of Anshe stereotypically Jewish one, “Hymie Weiss”? I’ve looked in book after Q Emet Synagogue is book that mentions Weiss, and no one answers this question. Indeed, 3760 North Pine no one even raises it. Grove Avenue, Walter Roth’s answer is based in part on research by Norman D. Schwartz. Chicago, Illinois. Hymie Weiss was machine-gunned to death on October 11, 1926. What is the relationship of He was a notorious Chicago mobster, successor as gang leader to Dion the number 3760 to the O’Banion. He was shot down on almost the same spot where O’Banion secular and Jewish calendars? had been killed—Schofield’s Flower Shop, at 738 North State Street. When you add the Although his nickname suggests a Jewish connection, there is no number 3760 to any evidence of it. His death certificate states his name as “Earl J. Weiss”. A secular year, the total He is listed as “single” and “white.” Date of birth is “unknown.” equals the Jewish year. Records indicate that his family members had changed their surname 2004 + 3760 = 5764. from Wojcieckowski to Weiss. His tombstone in (Roman Catholic) (Remember, in the period Mount Carmel Cemetery bears the inscription: “In Loving Memory of between Rosh Hashanah and Earl J. Weiss.” Underworld nicknames are never subtle, clever, or kind. January 1, add 3761.) Since Weiss is usually a Jewish name, Earl was probably called “Hymie” only because that epithet matched his chosen surname. — N.D.S 4 Chicago Jewish History Summer 2004 Isaac Van Grove—Chanukah, Romance, and The Eternal [Rail]Road BY CURTIS L. KATZ “…if music alone could stir the soul, It was in that year in connection with the Civic what would it not do allied with drama and Opera that Isaac Van Grove became associated with spectacle?…what could not one do with a Meyer Weisgal, the indefatigable Zionist activist who would later become secretary to . heroic theme like that of Chanukah?” Shortly after Weisgal returned to his boyhood home of —Meyer Weisgal, Zionist activist and Chicago in November 1931, a Civic Opera production pageant producer (from So Far) of Aida inspired him to harness the power of opera-size music theater to promote the cause of Zionism. He “Here was it. Dramatic. Why should not the obtained the use of the Civic Opera House, including theater and its resources be brought to the the scenery and costumes from Aida, with which to rendition of the highly dramatic history of the produce a cast-of-hundreds Chanukah pageant relating American railroad?”—Edward Hungerford, the story of the Maccabees. Isaac Van Grove directed railroad publicist and pageant producer the production, and wrote and conducted the music for (from Setting History To Music) it. The success of this 1931 Chanukah Festival lead to subsequent collaborations between Weisgal and Van hat do Jewish historical pageants have in Grove, including a Purim farce staged in March 1933 at common with American railroad and the Aragon Ballroom featuring a cast of 180 and a historical pageants? They both employ the villain billed as “Hittlarhaman (Nutzi),” an ominous W sign of the times. “drama and spectacle” of large-scale theater to promote causes in a memorable way. And they both at times The culmination of the Weisgal/Van Grove employed the versatile talents of the conductor, theatrical collaboration in Chicago was The Romance of composer, arranger, and vocal coach—Isaac Van Grove. A People, the featured event of “Jewish Day,” July 3, Described by Meyer Weisgal as “an energetic 1933, at A Century of Progress, the Chicago world’s Dutchman of Jewish descent,” Isaac Van Grove was fair. Soldier Field could barely contain this stupendous born in Philadelphia on September 5, 1892. He spectacle of the history of the Jewish people and their graduated from the Chicago Musical College (now part quest for a homeland, with its cast of 35,000 of Roosevelt University) at age 17 in 1909, and the performers and audience of 125,000. Isaac Van Grove, following year began his professional music career as who scored the production, conducted the choral forces accompanist, assistant, and/or vocal coach to a host of from the stage, while an orchestra conductor, soloists, operatic luminaries, including Enrico Caruso and Mary and a narrator followed his baton from a room beneath Garden. It was during Ms. Garden’s brief, tumultuous the grandstand. The stadium was elaborately wired for tenure as general director of the Chicago Grand Opera sound. Such exotic conducting arrangements would Association (which soon became the Chicago Civic become a recurring motif in Van Grove’s career. Opera) that Van Grove was hired by that company in Meanwhile, on the Century of Progress fairground 1921 as an assistant conductor, a position he held into itself, one had three opportunities a day to see “The 1925. He returned to the Civic as a conductor for the Romance of Transportation”—Wings of A Century. 1931-32 and 1933-34 seasons. Additionally, during this This outdoor theatrical extravaganza was the brainchild period Van Grove conducted summer opera at the of Edward Hungerford, an irrepressible railroad Cincinnati Zoo (1926-1933), conducted the American historian, author, and publicist who, like Meyer Opera Company on their 1929-1930 tour, taught Weisgal, dared to think big while never counting the various disciplines at his alma mater (1924-1938), and cost. Hungerford added pageantry to his public conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra several relations panoply in 1927 when, as centenary director summers at Ravinia – all this from “a musician who has for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, he produced the never even been abroad,” as the New York Times highly successful Fair of The Iron Horse at Halethorpe, remarked with astonishment in 1931. Maryland, near Baltimore. Highlight of this celebration Chicago Jewish History Summer 2004 5

The Romance of A People went on the road as well, appearing for a six- week extended run under the baton of Isaac Van Grove at an armory in New York during the fall of 1933 before moving on to Philadelphia, Detroit, and Cleveland. mboldened by success to seek an even bigger theatrical palette for Zionism, Meyer Weisgal sought the services of the Viennese master E of theatrical giganticism, Max Reinhardt. Learning that Reinhardt had fled Hitler’s Germany, Weisgal fired off his famous telegram, “To Max Reinhardt, Europe. If Hitler doesn’t want you I’ll take you.” Ultimately Weisgal caught up with Reinhardt in Paris. Rather than expanding upon Weisgal’s Romance, the impresario proposed a massive new biblical epoch about the hope for a Jewish homeland, for which he commissioned a libretto from and music from Kurt Weill. Written in German and titled Der Weg der Verheissung (“The Road of Promise”), it was intended for production in Europe. But in September 1935, Max Reinhardt and Kurt Weill came to New York to supervise its production there. Meyer Weisgal secured Isaac Van Grove as music director, Ludwig Lewisohn translated the libretto into English, and the show was retitled , a name that proved inauspicious. The eternity it took to bring Meyer Weisgal’s Reinhardtian spectacle to the stage is part of Broadway legend. The show endured ten postponed Isaac Van Grove. openings due to technical and financial difficulties and fits of artistic Newspaper rotogravure temperament among its creators. (During one long hiatus, several insert about the February 1934 production staffers went to moonlight on Ed Hungerford’s Cleveland show.) touring production of One of The Eternal Road production difficulties involved the music. The The Romance of A People in the orchestral music was recorded via a new sound-on-film system from RCA— Philadelphia Convention Hall. literally, a soundtrack. Composer Kurt Weill was delighted (“Think of it! No worries with those musicians who play wrong notes.”), but the was the daily Parade of The Iron American Federation of Musicians was less pleased; contractually all Horse, a two-hour procession Broadway shows were to have only live music. The compromise was to have through 250 years of land Isaac Van Grove conduct a 16-piece orchestra accompanying the transportation featuring 30 historic soundtrack. They were crammed into an improvised sound booth above the and modern locomotives and trains, stage; industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes’s ponderous set left no room 15 floats, numerous other for an orchestra pit in the creaky old Manhattan Opera House. conveyances, 63 horses, oxen, and It was chiefly by the considerable force of Meyer Weisgal’s determi- mules, 500 costumed actors, nation that the curtain at last rose on The Eternal Road on January 7, 1937. rousing American music, and florid With a cast of 200 and elaborate stage and lighting effects, it was the biggest narration. In Wings of A Century, show in Broadway history. Critics were effusive in their praise and audiences Hungerford adapted the pageant flocked to see it. But it would have required more than a Moses to part the sensibilities of his Iron Horse parade sea of debt in which this spectacle was immersed, and on May 15, The to the confines of the stage—albeit Eternal Road folded after 150 performances. one 250 feet wide—with a cast of It stands to reason that production talent from the biggest show on New “merely” 150 actors, a dozen trains, York’s Broadway would be tapped for the biggest show at New York’s 1939- plus numerous other vehicles, 1940 world’s fair, that show being Edward Hungerford’s magnum opus, including aircraft. After returning Railroads On Parade, presented at the fair’s largest pavilion, that of the for the 1934 season of A Century of Eastern Railroads Presidents Conference. Boasting 250 performers, 20 Progress, Wings of A Century was trains, and complex mechanical stage effects, Hungerford’s “Iron Horse revised and, as Parade of The Years, Opera,” as the New York press quickly dubbed it, was presented (according taken to Cleveland for the 1936 to its advertising), “To do full honor to The American Railroad in more season of the Great Lakes than one hundred years of its triumphant success.” In other words, the Exposition. continued on page 6 6 Chicago Jewish History Summer 2004 Isaac Van Grove the so-called Bergson group, which utilized the popular arts continued from page 5 on behalf of Jewish causes, and both were written by Ben Hecht. railroad industry was seeking to We Will Never Die (1943) was shine up its public image after a a monumental production with decade of being ravaged by an all-star cast intended to raise financial depression, bad press, public awareness of the Nazi government regulatory practices slaughter of European Jews. In that favored competing modes of the aftermath of the Holocaust, transport, and the threat of A Flag Is Born (1946) delivered a nationalization. searing indictment of all those It is uncertain if Ed Hunger- who stood by while six million ford deliberately sought out Jews perished in Europe, and veterans from The Eternal Road, offered a ringing call for the but several key artists who came establishment of a Jewish state in from that show to the railroad Palestine as a refuge for Holo- pageant had worked on previous caust survivors. Weill’s scores for Hungerford productions. Kurt both these shows were comprised Weill and Isaac Van Grove came largely of traditional Jewish with them. melodies, borrowings from The As the European political “Isaac Van Grove, production director, Eternal Road, and patriotic situation deteriorated, Kurt Weill instructs electricians stationed American songs, hooked together decided to remain in the United throughout vast auditorium by means of in a manner similar to the score States, and he began to study a system of telephones operated from for Railroads On Parade. Isaac main switchboard.” American folklore with an eye Van Grove conducted the music Newspaper rotogravure insert about toward “Americanizing” his for both pageants; additionally he the February 1934 touring production was entrusted by Weill to arrange music. Early efforts in this line, of The Romance of A People The Common Glory and The in the Philadelphia Convention Hall. the orchestrations for A Flag Is Ballad of Davy Crockett, went Born, as the composer was then unfinished. His music for admission. But word of mouth immersed in the development of Railroads On Parade was his first eventually made the pageant the hit his “American opera,” Street Scene. completed piece of Americana. show of the fair, requiring a fifth Both We Will Never Die and A Flag Described by Weill as a “circus performance to be added to the Is Born opened in New York, then opera,” the score consisted of an advertised four-a-day. It was a went on tour to Chicago and other arrangement of American folk measure of the production’s success cities. Both shows proved contro- tunes, spirituals, and patriotic airs, when one day Isaac Van Grove versial—and influential. plus some original material. found a stranger among the But for the most part during the Isaac Van Grove conducted the musicians in his sound room; the 1940s, Isaac Van Grove devoted his eclectic score, this time from a room stranger had been paid $8.00 for the talents to lighter, uncontroversial beneath the grandstand in which he day by one of the regular musicians fare, including shows on Broadway, was ensconced with an orchestra of who was out in the audience recordings of operetta excerpts with 25, an 18-voice chorus, an organist, watching the show! Wilbur Evans and Kitty Carlisle, several audio engineers, and five and coaching operatic hopefuls and “sound actors” who spoke the an Grove kept in touch with professionals, most notably dialogue that was lip-synced by Kurt Weill for the remain- America’s sweetheart of opera and actors on stage. V der of that composer’s all cinema, Grace Moore. Tragically, Initially Railroads On Parade too brief life (Weill died in 1950 at Moore died in a plane crash at was lightly attended, perhaps age 50), and during the 1940s was Copenhagen in 1947. The following because it was one of the few involved with him on two more year Isaac Van Grove returned to attractions at the fair that charged projects. Both were sponsored by Chicago, and to pageantry. Chicago Jewish History Summer 2004 7

n the summers of 1948 and The success of Wheels a-Rolling, and the congenial working relation- ’49, Chicago, the Railroad ship that developed between Helen Tieken Geraghty and Isaac Van Grove, I Capital of The World, played led to their collaboration on three more historical pageants in Chicago, for host to the Chicago Railroad Fair, which Van Grove wrote and conducted the music: Frontiers of Freedom at held on part of the Century of Chicago Fair (1950), Song of Mid-America for the Illinois Central Railroad’s Progress site, and occasioned by the centennial (1951), and From Adam To Atom for the centennial of the centennial of the city’s first American Society of Civil Engineers (1952). These three shows were railroads. The fête was nominally scripted by Ben Aronin, the noted author and multi-talented stalwart of the educational entertainment, but the Chicago Jewish community. During this sojourn in Chicago, Van Grove railroad industry hoped it would returned to his pageantry roots, teaming with Aronin to create Chanukah help lure the public aboard its shiny pageants staged variously at the Civic Opera House and at the Chicago new postwar streamliners, and gain Stadium. Whereas Van Grove’s earlier Jewish pageants expressed hope for a public sympathy for its continuing future homeland, these pageants rejoiced in the realization of that hope in campaign for balanced government the newly independent State of Israel. regulation of the transportation American historical pageants would inform the rest of Isaac Van Grove’s business. The fair’s principle career. In 1953 he wrote the music for The Seventeenth Star, commemo- attraction was Edward Hungerford’s rating the sesquicentennial of Ohio’s statehood. (He conducted that music pageant, Wheels a-Rolling, featuring in a tent located a half-mile from the action.) The Seventeenth Star was the the usual colossal compliment of creation of dramatist Paul Green, the success of whose 1937 pageant play trains, people, animals, and vehicles. The Lost Colony (still presented every summer at Manteo, North Carolina) turned his career to the production of large-scale outdoor historical drama, (This would be Hungerford’s opus chiefly in the South. Ultimately Van Grove composed scores for a half- ultimum. One week after the fair dozen Paul Green dramas. During this period Van Grove moved to opened in July 1948, he died in Hollywood to work in the movie colony, and Paul Green enjoyed telling New York at age 72.) friends, “I have this arranger from Hollywood…” Van Grove’s last Paul Van Grove applied for the job of Green score was for Louisiana Cavalier, completed early in 1976, three and a pageant production director, but half years before he died in Los Angeles in the autumn of 1979, at age 87. settled for the post of music director. The top job had already onumental pageants celebrating the achievements of our gone to Helen Tieken Geraghty, a American homeland and the hope of a Jewish homeland may Goodman Theater School alumna M have been the most publicly prominent of Isaac Van Grove’s who subsequently studied with Max accomplishments, but they are hardly the sum total of his long and wide- Reinhardt and had directed ranging artistic career. He conducted opera and operetta not only in Hungerford’s Wings of A Century in Chicago and Cincinnati, but also in St. Louis, Boston, Cleveland, and other 1933. Van Grove spent his first two cities. He prepared nearly a dozen ballet scores for Chicago choreographer weeks back in Chicago substantially Ruth Page. He wrote several original operas and cantatas. He arranged film revising the musical score that had music. And at the latter end of his life he devoted 25 summers to training been hastily prepared for Hunger- future generations of opera singers and to directing student opera ford by folk musicologist Tom productions as artistic director of the opera program at Inspiration Point (now Opera In The Ozarks) in Arkansas. Scott. As delivered, that score One wonders why a musician of such great accomplishment is not consisted of a hand-written manu- better known. Working in the shadow of more famous personalities, he was script to which had been attached apparently too absorbed in his art to seek celebrity, willing to let his work commercial copies of Fred Waring speak for itself. As Paul Green’s assistant Rhoda Wynn recalled of Van choral settings of traditional Grove, “His talent was his light.” ❖ American tunes, and photostats of excerpts from Kurt Weill’s Railroads CURTIS L. KATZ is the author of several articles on railroads in popular On Parade music. Van Grove’s culture, including "The Last Great Railroad Show," about the Chicago rewrite dropped Waring but Railroad Fair (Trains Magazine, August 1998), and "Hail! The Baltimore retained some of Scott’s material, & Ohio," about the B&O Fair of The Iron Horse (Railfan & Railroad including some of his borrowings Magazine, November 2003). Railroader, railroad historian, and lifelong from Weill. railroad buff, Mr. Katz serves as “volunteer curator” of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad collection at Chicago’s Newberry Library. 8 Chicago Jewish History Summer 2004 Adele Hast Addresses 2004 Biennial Scholars’ Conference on American Jewish History he Scholars’ Conference was session titled “Jewish Women Theld on June 6-8 at American Building Community.” Her talk, To University and the Library of Serve the Community Where Needed: Congress in Washington, D.C. Chicago Woman’s Aid, 1925-1950, The event was organized by the drew on material gathered for her Commission for Commemorating research fellowship from the Jewish 350 Years of American Jewish Women’s Archive in Brookline, MA. History, comprised of scholars from Other speakers included Aleisa the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of Fishman, American University: the American Jewish Archives, the Consuming is Believing: Jewish American Jewish Historical Society, Women Making Community in the National Archives and Records Adele Hast. Suburbia, 1946-1960, and Hollace Administration, and the Library of Photograph by David Rigg. Ava Weiner, University of Texas at Congress. Gary Zola of the Marcus Arlington: The National Council of Center heads the commission. chaired the conference. Jewish Women: Vanguard or Rear- Professor Pamela S. Nadell, CJHS Past President Dr. Adele guard? A Texas Section in the 1960s Director of the Jewish Studies Hast, scholar-in-residence at the and 1970s. Joyce Antler of Brandeis Program at American University, Newberry Library, spoke at the University chaired the session. ❖ 1654-2004 Celebrate 350 Years See calendar of events at the official Web site: Arizona Jewish New Mexico Jewish www.celebrate350.org Historical Society Historical Society 4710 North 16th Street Albuquerque Jewish Jewish Historical Society Phoenix, AZ 85016 Community Center of Greater Washington (520) 621-6423 5520 Wyoming Boulevard NE MINYAN: 10 GREAT Albuquerque, NM 87109 701 Third Street NW (505) 348-4471 Washington, DC 20001 AMERICAN JEWISH THINKERS (202) 789-0900 AND PERSONALITIES “The New Mexico Jewish Historical Fridays, 12:15 pm–1:30 pm Society was organized in 1985 to OPENS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17: Sept 10, 24; Oct 15, 29; Nov 5, 19; pursue the fascinating and often Jewish Washington: Scrapbook and Dec 3, 17 at the Bureau of amazing story of the Jews of New of An American Community Jewish Education in the Ina Levine Mexico.… Our efforts are focused City Museum, 801 K Street NW Jewish Community Campus. on following the path from the An exhibit in celebration of 350 In celebration of America 350, 1600s when Sephardic Jews lived in years of Jewish life in America: this class will explore the lives and secret to European Jews who moved historic photographs, oral histories, contributions of at least 10 Jews to America and transformed the Judaica, community scrapbooks, who impacted American Jewish life. landscape of social and economic and archival material tell the story For further information and life in the Territory of New of Jewish life from 1795 to today. registration, see Web site. Mexico.…” —www.jhsgw.org —www.azjhs.org —www.nmjewishhistory.org Chicago Jewish History Spring 2004 9 Jewish Historical Western Jewish History American Jewish Society of New York Center/Judah L. Mannes Historical Society 8 West 70th Street Museum Center for Jewish History New York, NY 10023 2911 Russell Street 15 West 16th Street (212) 415-5544 Berkeley, CA 94705 New York, NY 10011 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12: (510) 549-6932 (212) 294-6160 Inaugural events in the 350th OPENS SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER TIME-LINE POSTER: 350 Years anniversary celebration of the 12: Sephardic Horizons of Jewish People in America arrival of Jews in New Amsterdam: The year-long exhibition will tell Published by the American Jewish the story of Sephardic Jews as reflec- Historical Society in 2004, a full The Jewish Community Relations ted in paintings, graphics, and color poster with 45 images from Council and its Jewish Heritage- artifacts from the Magnes collec- the AJHS Collection. This 24" x New York 2004 Committee are tions. After their expulsion from 36" poster is available in two coordinating major programs to be Spain in 1492 and from Portugal in versions: museum quality, limited held in Battery Park and lower 1496-97, Iberian Jews fled south edition of 3,000, suitable for Manhattan. Save these dates for and east to the lands of the framing, shipped in a tube, $20.00, JHSNY programs: Ottoman Empire, then north to or an open edition on lighter paper, OCTOBER 10, NOVEMBER 14, Italy and Amsterdam, and by the shipped folded, $14.00. AND DECEMBER 12 17th century to the New World. —Web site: www.ajhs.org. —JHSNY Newsletter, May 2004 —Web site: www.magnes.org. To order: www.ajhs-store.com. of Jewish Life in America!

Jewish Historical Society Jewish Historical Society Washington State of the Upper Midwest of South Carolina Jewish Historical Society 4330 South Cedar Lake Road Jewish Studies Program 2031 Third Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55416 College of Charleston Seattle, WA 98121 (952) 381-3360 96 Wentworth Street (206) 774 2277 ESSAY CONTEST: Charleston, SC 29424 MAY 24–DECEMBER 12: Jews and American Freedom: (843) 953-39187 Family of Strangers: the First “How has freedom shaped the lives of “South Carolina’s most famous Century of Jewish Life in Jewish families and/or Jewish Jewish son, Bernard Mannes Washington, 1840-1940 communities in the Upper Midwest?” Baruch, was born in Camden in Washington State History Museum (Upper Midwest includes Minnesota, 1870. His father, Simon Baruch, 1911 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma. the Dakotas, Northern Wisconsin, had fled conscription in Prussia and NOVEMBER 18, 19, 20: and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.) arrived in Camden in 1855; he Paul Taylor Dance Company Cash prizes up to $500. Middle served as a surgeon in the UW, Meany Hall, Seattle. school, high school, and adult Confederate Army….” The company has been commmi- categories. Winning essays will be —“Bernard Mannes Baruch: sioned to create a new work published. Entry deadline 12/1/04. Financier, philanthropist, and celebrating the 350th anniversary — See contest rules on Web site. presidential advisor,” JHSSC of Jewish life in America. quarterly journal, Winter 2004. —www.jhsum.org. —www.wsjhs.org. —www.cofc.edu. 10 Chicago Jewish History Summer 2004

Keeping Faith in Skokie: Congregation Bnai Emunah, 1953-2004 By Joy Kingsolver

(Left) Bnai Emunah Board, 1962-63; (right) undated photomontage, 1970s. Chicago Jewish Archives.

he history of Jewish Chicago is a story of Faith) in order to “retain the traditions of Conservative movement, of demographic change, and Judaism,” as president Louis Weingart put it, and to T shifting populations. Congregation Bnai signal a new phase in development. Emunah was founded during the post-WWII During this period, services were being held in movement out of the city, and benefited from the nearby schools and synagogues, and the religious school surging Jewish population in the northern suburbs. A was formed before there was a building to house its major presence in Skokie for a half-century, it closed classes. In December, 1954, Joanne Steiner became the this summer, a victim of declining Jewish population in first bat mitzvah; January brought the first bar mitzvah, the neighborhood. The archival records of the congre- Michael Bell. gation have been brought to the Chicago Jewish In 1955 the building was completed, and in that Archives, Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies. year Cantor Allan Stearns began his long tenure with In August, 1953, 19 families from Niles Township Bnai Emunah, and the sisterhood began its activities. Jewish Congregation, itself founded just a year earlier, In spite of the outward signs of growth, these were left to form the Skokie Valley Conservative Congre- years of some turmoil, recalls Rabbi Harold I. Stern in gation. Over the next two years, the new congregation the 2004 Book of Memories. When he assumed the kept up a hectic pace of development. By spring, 1954, pulpit in 1959, he made a number of changes in property at 9131 Niles Center Road had been acquired; structure and policy. One major change was the groundbreaking was held on August 22. Rabbi Melvin increased integration of the religious school and the Goldstine, formerly assistant rabbi at Anshe Emet, was synagogue; previously, the school had operated more or chosen to lead the new congregation in May 1954. At less independently. He instituted a daily minyan, which, the same time, the congregation applied for he remembers, encountered some opposition at first. membership in the United Synagogues of America He also inaugurated an annual congregational trip to (now called the United Synagogues of Conservative Israel; this was continued for 17 years and is now Judaism); in June this was granted. This affiliation was remembered fondly by many congregants. Six chavurot felt to be essential to the congregation’s identity and were founded, of which two remained in 2004. prompted a name change to Bnai Emunah (Children of Throughout these years, the congregation Chicago Jewish History Summer 2004 11 continued to flourish. The building merger did not take place; after a was expanded twice to accom- controversial plan to put condo- modate the growing membership. miniums on part of the property FROM THE In 1956 the land to the south was failed, the congregation reluctantly CHICAGO JEWISH acquired for the religious school; in decided to sell the building and 1960 the land to the north was close. The property will become the archives purchased and a permanent Assyrian National Community sanctuary constructed. The process Center, and the congregation has of improving the synagogue merged with Beth Hillel, 3220 Big Opening October 10, 2004: building continued: the well-known Tree Lane, Wilmette, to become “My Kind of Town: Jewish mural on the front of the building, Beth Hillel Congregation Bnai Immigration to Chicago designed by Irene and Azriel Awret Emunah. Rabbi Stern and Cantor in the Twentieth Century.” of Safed, Israel, was installed in Stearns are emeritus staff in the new 6th Floor Gallery, Spertus Institute, 1975. In 1983, faceted stained glass congregation. 618 South Michigan Avenue. windows, designed by John Bera and featuring brilliant colors, were ifty years of activity are Two large waves of immigration installed in the sanctuary and in the treasured in many fond in the nineteenth and early Rabinowitz Memorial Chapel. memories, and they are also twentieth centuries brought F thousands of German Jews, Rabbi Stern became emeritus in preserved in the documents and 1991, and two years later Rabbi photographs now being cataloged at followed by Russian and Eastern Michael H. Laxmeter was hired as the Chicago Jewish Archives. When European Jews, to Chicago. In the his replacement. Already the organized and inventoried, this years that followed, Jewish pressures of declining membership collection will be an invaluble immigrants continued to come to and finances were beginning to record of a vital piece of Chicago Chicago for many reasons. In the show; there was talk of merger with Jewish history. The collection 1930s, Jews fleeing Nazi-occupied various congregations who were contains administrative records, Europe sought refuge here, and in facing the same problems, including membership and yahrzeit lists, the 1970s, many Soviet Jews Ezra Habonim–Niles Township bulletins, clippings, Sisterhood settled in Chicago after activists Jewish Congregation (in what scrapbooks, and other documents. pressed their government to allow would have been a historic full There are gaps in the historical them to leave. This exhibition circle). At that point Bnai Emunah record, so any additional material will show the variety in had about 300 families, down from such as bulletins and minutes that immigrants’ stories, illustrated 700-800. (According to the Jewish may be held by members would be with artifacts, photographs and Federation, the Jewish population of welcome. Bnai Emunah’s story is documents. Anyone with items to Skokie declined 15-20% after 1975, important to remember and to tell loan for this exhibit please contact when it numbered 40,000.) But this to future historians. ❖ Joy Kingsolver at 312-322-1741.

(Left) Bnai Emunah bimah; (right) entrance, 2004. Photographs by Joy Kingsolver, Chicago Jewish Archives. 12 Chicago Jewish History Summer 2004

President’s Column continued from page 2 owned by a legal entity, a kind of co-op arrangement in which the members will share. factories manufacture and assemble military Our grandchildren were excited by many things matériel for the Coalition Forces fighting in Iraq. they saw at the kibbutz, but their biggest thrill was This is rather ironic, since the kibbutz was built by witnessing hundreds of cows coming in from the peace-loving idealists. Sassa has an excellent fields to be milked by machines, while standing and elementary school that draws its students from the feeding on a huge, rotating carousel contraption. surrounding area. It has a vibrant cultural life— The next day, after dinner at a restaurant in the and tennis courts, too. nearby friendly village of Abu Gosh, we continued We left Lynn and drove south to Ma’ale our trip south to the guest house at Kibbutz Ein Hachamisha. I had come to live at this kibbutz over Gedi, located in a lush oasis near the Dead Sea. fifty years ago at the urging of David Ron and his If you like salt water and mud baths,there is a wife Batya, shlichim (emissaries) from Israel, whom spa at the Dead Sea that will make you very happy. I had met at an Intercollegiate Zionist Federation of I myself was happier with our tram ride up Masada, America (IZFA) summer camp in Averill Park, in the great fortress of Roman times, where we told upstate New York where they were counselors and our grandchildren of its significance. teachers. Good-looking, intelligent, and persuasive WE THEN DROVE ON TO BEERSHEBA. young shlichim like David and Batya were, and still Miriam and Mark had rented a house for their are, sent abroad by the Jewish Agency to encourage family in suburban Omer. Quite miraculously, we and enable aliyah—immigration to Israel. found that their neighbors were an elderly couple My stay at Ma’ale Hachamisha in 1952 had from Antwerp, Belgium—Shimshon and Aviva been a most gratifying experience; the kibbutz was a Limon—whom we had last seen in 1969. They second home for me, and I had left with sadness. showed us their picture album that included a My friend David, a teacher at the kibbutz, died in photograph of Chaya when she was a student 1977, and I kept in touch with Batya only teacher with Shimshon in Antwerp over 50 years infrequently over the years. But when I wrote to her ago. But that is another story. of our planned visit this summer, she replied Toward the end of our trip, a friend of Mark’s immediately. I was delighted to learn that she was asked us to accompany him on a visit to Lakia, a still active and in good health. A former director of Bedouin settlement in the Negev, about twenty the guesthouse at the kibbutz, she was now working kilometers from Beersheba. The Bedouins are part-time at the new hotel that had been traditionally a nomadic people living in clans, of constructed at the edge of the kibbutz. Islamic faith, but considered friendly to Israel. Over WE ARRIVED AT MA’ALE HACHAMISHA, the centuries, the Negev has been their private and were given penthouse rooms at the hotel. Later campground. But now, with more and more Israelis that evening, we walked the short distance down to moving there, the nomads are under pressure to the kibbutz proper where Batya was waiting for us establish permanent settlements of their own, and near her house. Now over 80 years of age, she stood to claim ownership of the land on which they settle. as erect as ever, still lovely in all ways. As we entered the settlement, we met several The next day we returned to Batya’s house for young women representing an organization called coffee and Viennese pastry. As conscientious the Association for Improvement of Women’s Status historians, Chaya and I took the opportunity to in Lakia. Two leaders of the group, young Bedouin record Batya’s oral history. We met her son, women dressed in long, colorful dresses, explained Shlomo, the mazkir (secretary) of the kibbutz. to us that a woman’s traditional role in their Ma’ale Hachamisha, like Sassa, is undergoing nomadic society is caring for her husband, children, privatization. The communal dining hall is closed, and animals. She is not permitted to have a basic replaced by a commissary where provisions can be education of reading and writing. purchased for home use. Shlomo told us that soon The transition from nomadic to urban life each kibbutz member will own his own home and means that a Bedouin woman can no longer some land. The hotel and other enterprises will be contribute to the economic well-being of her family Chicago Jewish History Summer 2004 13

served Turkish coffee as they presented some of their wares to us. We made some purchases and left enchanted by these inspired, lovely, and hard- working young women, beset by problems— internal and external—that will take great effort and patience to overcome. Our visit concluded with several days in Beersheba, now a bustling city with Ben Gurion University as its hub. On a Saturday night we were asked by some friends to join them and scores of Two leaders of the Association for Israelis in a demonstration (held weekly) calling for Improvement of Women’s Status in Lakia. (Left) Mary, head of the embroidery project; the withdrawal of Israeli settlements from Gaza and (right) Hadra, head of the weaving project. the West Bank. It was a peaceful demonstration, Photographs courtesy of the Roth family. and some Israelis passing by in vehicles or on foot seemed to agree with the demonstrators; others appeared indifferent to our presence. in the traditional way. So the Association was This report is not meant as a commentary on formed to promote education and other benefits for country’s geography or economy. It is just a glimpse themselves and their children. To do this and to of Israel as we saw it—inspiring as ever—but with provide employment for women, they established a continuing, challenging problems that will weaving and embroidery workshop in Lakia, where necessitate difficult solutions. Nevertheless I do say Bedouin women create decorative dresses as well as to you our members, your families, and friends: carpets and other furnishings. make a visit to Israel; it is a marvelous vehicle with Over 160 women are said to be employed by which to identify with the Jewish State and kol am the Association. Although at this point there is yisrael (the Jewish People). opposition to their efforts by the Bedouin male In conclusion, I want to send you my very hierarchy, the women appear to have the approval hearty greetings on the Rosh Hashana holiday, and of the Israeli government, and they receive some wish you all good health and happiness throughout financial support from European sources. We were the coming year. Shana tova. ❖

Signs of Ben Hecht survivors to the nascent State of The Ben Hecht of Hollywood Israel. (Walter Roth, in his book was portrayed on the Goodman continued from page 3 Looking Backward, and Curtis Katz, Theatre stage this spring in in his article in this issue of CJH, the city Hecht loved most. The Moonlight and Magnolias, a new treat this time in Hecht’s life.) Newberry Library co-sponsored the play by Ron Hutchinson, based on dedication ceremony, and its Chicago has commemorated events recorded in Hecht’s memoir, president, Charles T. Cullen, Hecht’s early career here with a A Child of the Century. The play is commented on the growing interest marker at the South Kenwood set in the office of producer David in the Hecht papers and expressed Avenue address where he resided O. Selznick in February 1939. He his pleasure in the street naming. and published his short-lived has hired screenwriter Ben Hecht The ceremony honored Ben newspaper, the Chicago Literary and director Victor Fleming to save Hecht’s public activism in the years Times. The marker states that Hecht his troubled production of Gone before, during, and immediately had been dismissed from his job as a With the Wind. In a marathon work after World War II, when he put his columnist for the Chicago Daily session, they succeed in reshaping writing genius into the effort to save News on an obscenity charge after the script. Hecht’s strong Jewish Europe’s Jews, to form an army of the publication of his 1922 novel consciousness is introduced, but the Palestinian and stateless Jews for this Fantazius Mallare, and that he soon play is weak. If only Ben Hecht purpose, and to bring Holocaust left for New York and Hollywood. were here to punch up the script. ❖ 14 Chicago Jewish History Summer 2004 June 27 Meeting: Marshall Krolick Speaks on the History of Congregation BJBE and on American Jewry in the Civil War rogram Chair Charles B. On February 3, 1963, six Bernstein introduced our families met to discuss the Pfeatured speaker, Marshall D. possibility of forming a Reform Krolick, saying he would “pitch a congregation in the Des Plaines- double-header,” despite recently Morton Grove-Glenview area. Each undergoing shoulder surgery. succeeding meeting drew more His “innings” were “pitched” on young Jewish families. Beth Elohim Sunday afternoon, June 27, at the was created, and the new organi- social hall podium of Congre- zation expanded rapidly. The first gation B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim, High Holy Days services were held 901 Milwaukee Avenue, Glenview, at the Sahara Motel, and subse- the co-sponsor of the open meeting. quently in churches. Religious Mr. Krolick is an attorney, a school and Hebrew school classes past president of BJBE and the were held in public schools. temple’s historian, a member of the Marshall D. Krolick. In the winter of 1964-65 two Civil War Round Table, and a Photo by Norman D. Schwartz. Reform congregations—one that Board member of our Society. The had been in existence for over first part of his presentation was a corner of 20th Street and Ashland seventy years, and the other just two brief history of BJBE. Avenue. English replaced German as years old—decided to merge. Rabbi In the late summer of 1893 a the language of the growing congre- Mark Shapiro would assume the small group of Bohemian Jews gation, and in 1907 the corporate pulpit of the new Congregation living on the southwest side of charter was amended to change the B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim. Chicago gave their fledgling organi- purpose of the organization from The temple property at 20th zation a name in their native “social and pleasure” to “religious and Ashland was sold to the German tongue: Erster Israelitischer and charitable.” The congregational Dominican Fathers and Brothers of Forbildungs Und Unterstirtzungs name, debated over the years, was St. Pius Parish for $75,000.00. This Verein (First Hebrew Educational officially changed to Congregation money would provide the down and Charitable Association). In the B’nai Jehoshua in 1917. payment when BJBE purchased the incorporation application filed with In 1927 it was decided to land at 901 Milwaukee Avenue in the State of Illinois two years later, demolish the existing sanctuary. Glenview for its new home. the organization stated that its Construction began on a new Precious artifacts from the 20th and purpose was “social and pleasure.” temple building, which was Ashland temple were incorporated No mention was made of any dedicated in 1928. But by the in the new building. religious activities. 1940s, B’nai Jehoshua faced the Today congregation member- By 1896 the organization had same dilemma as the rest of ship numbers 850 families. Rabbi moved from its original meeting Chicago’s Jewish institutions: the Shapiro, who offered leadership and place, a hall located at Brown (now Jewish population was shifting to inspiration to all generations, is Sangamon) and 20th (now Culler- the suburbs. Plans for mergers or retired, but remains as emeritus. ton) Streets, to a new location, in moves were debated, but the Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar and Assist- the Methodist church at Halsted majority of the membership wanted ant Rabbi John A. Linder have and 20th, where services were to remain at 20th and Ashland. served BJBE since 2003. conducted by a cantor. That same By 1964 the lay leadership and year the Ladies’ Society was Rabbi Mark Shapiro realized that hat was the Jewish organized. By 1902 the congre- their inner city location was no attitude toward slavery gation had acquired its first rabbi, longer viable. As they explored the W on the eve of the Civil Moritz Weil, and moved to the site alternatives, the existence of a new War? Mr. Krolick read us the that would be its home for the next congregation in the northern opposing views of two learned sixty-three years, the northwest suburbs came to their attention. Judaic scholars, written in 1861. Chicago Jewish History Summer 2004 15

The issue of slavery was not the and Hesse. More importantly, the reason why the common man, Jew meeting was sponsored by Ramah or gentile, went to war, he told us. Lodge #33 of B’nai B’rith, and in CJHS Welcomes Most Southerners wanted to protect attendance were members of the New Members the doctrine of State’s Rights. Most city’s Jewish community. By the end Northerners joined the army to of the evening, ninety-six men had Barbara Cooper preserve the Union. Almost all of volunteered, $10,000.00 had been Lionel Dredze & them were volunteers. In 1861 and pledged to provide a reward (or Diane Kagan 1862, in every city and town, North bounty, as it was called) to the Erwin & Barbara Epstein and South, public meetings were enlistees, and a uniquely Jewish Curtis L. Katz held where speeches were given to resolution had been passed. Dorothy Leviton fan the flames of patriotism—and You will shortly find the Harriett Lipson men signed up. wording of the Chicago resolution Eudice Lorge Mr. Krolick told us of one such and more of Mr. Krolick’s remarks Barbara Miller meeting held on the night of August posted on our Web site—on 13, 1862 at the Concordia Club on Abraham Lincoln and Jewish Frank & Clara Pirsch Dearborn Street in Chicago. The chaplaincy in the Federal Army, Ina Rosenblatt speeches were in German because Ulysses S. Grant and General Order Barak Rosenshine the audience was made up of No. 11, and an anecdote about a Susan Zagorin immigrants from Bavaria, Prussia, Jewish soldier’s Passover seder. ❖ Albert Zimbler

Calling All CJHS Writers, Artists, and Performers! November is Jewish Book Month. Every year the fall issue of Chicago Jewish History features a complete list of the Society’s own publications as well as other published works by our members. Each year the list grows longer, as our historians produce new works. If you have published a book, or illustrated one, or have published a music or spoken word recording, send us the details on the form below. If your work has been listed in a previous CJH fall issue, rest assured that it will appear again this year. But if you wish to inform us of any updates—in price, format, description, or ordering—please do so on this form. Please mail the original form or a photocopy directly to our editor. Mailing it to the CJHS office will only delay it.

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What We Are Volunteer Opportunities Membership The Chicago Jewish Historical Would you like to become more Membership in the Society is open Society was founded in 1977 and is involved in the activities of the to all interested persons and in part an outgrowth of local Jewish Chicago Jewish Historical Society? organizations and includes a participation in the American We invite you to take part. Please subscription to Chicago Jewish Bicentennial Celebration of 1976. contact any of the committee History, discounts on Society tours Muriel Robin was the founding chairpersons listed here. and at the Spertus Museum store, president. The Society has as its I Membership Committee and the opportunity to learn and purpose the discovery, preservation Dr. Rachelle Gold inform others about Chicago Jewish and dissemination of information (773)338-6975 and history and its preservation. concerning the Jewish experience in Mark Mandle Dues Structure the Chicago area. (773)929-2853, Co-Chairs Membership runs on a calendar What We Do I Oral History Committee year, from January through The Society seeks out, collects and Dr. N. Sue Weiler, Chair December. New members joining preserves written, spoken and (312)922-2294 after July 1 are given an initial photographic records; publishes I Program Committee membership through December of the following year. historical information, holds public Charles Bernstein, Chair meetings at which various aspects of (773)324-6362 Life Membership ...... $1000 Chicago Jewish history are treated; I Tour Committee Historian ...... 500 mounts appropriate exhibits; and Leah Axelrod, Chair Scholar...... 250 offers tours of Jewish historical sites. (847)432-7003 Sponsor...... 100 Patron/Family...... 50 Individual/Senior Family ...... 35 Synagogue/Organization...... 25 www.chicagojewishhistory.org Senior Individual/Student...... 20 The Society is now online! Browse our Web site for information about Make checks payable to the our upcoming programs. Read past issues of our quarterly journal. Chicago Jewish Historical Society, Discover links to many interesting Jewish sites. Use the printable and mail to our office at 618 South membership application. We welcome your inquiries and comments. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL e-mail: [email protected] 60605. Dues are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

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