Look to the rock from which you were hewn Vol. 35, No. 4, Fall 2011

chicago jewish historical societ y chicago the fall book issue listings begin on page 7

he feature article in this issue of CJH rating the pageant. Members of the CJHS, Tprofiles Nathan Vizonsky, the gifted who, as young children, had participated choreographer of The Romance of a People, in or viewed the Jewish Day festivities, the Jewish Day pageant at Chicago’s 1933 shared their reminiscences. Actress/vocalist World’s Fair. In 2002, our Society published Renee Matthews sang a “duet” with a a facsimile of the elegant pageant program vintage recording of her father, Avrum book, with an added introduction by Matthews, the star of The Romance . historian Stephen J. Whitfield and an essay continued on page 3 by our president, Walter Roth. That year we Cover, Chicago Jewish Historical Society 2002 also presented a public program commemo - reprint of the 1933 Romance pageant program. Nathan Vizonsky: Dancing Master of Jewish Chicago BY KAREN GOODMAN n his 1954 article titled I “Evolution of the Jewish Folk- Dance,” for The Chicago Jewish Forum , Nathan Vizonsky quoted an old adage: “ A yid vet zikh nisht aveklosen tanzn glat azoi – a will not let himself go a-dancing without reason.” Vizonsky, as one of the earliest dance professionals in the United States to write about Yiddish dance, wanted his audience to understand not only the pleasure of dance, but its importance. Nathan Vizonsky was born in 1898 in Lodz, Poland. Early on, he was exposed to idealized visions, and as his daughter, Phyllis Funari, wrote to me in 2002, he remained a utopian idealist throughout his life. From Lilith , 1934. Choreography by Nathan Vizonsky. Photo courtesy of Phyllis Funari. continued on page 4 2 Chicago Jewish History Fall 2011

President’s Column Look to the rock from which you were hewn

chicago jewish historical societ y PATRIOTIC COMMEMORATIONS. Officers 2011-12 The Statue of Liberty celebrated her 125th birthday on October 28. Mazel tov! Dr. Edward H. Mazur The words of an American Jewish poet, President Emma Lazarus (1849-1887), are engraved Jerold Levin within the pedestal on which the statue Vice President stands. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your Muriel Rogers* huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” Secretary The Sephardic Emma Lazarus wrote her poem Directors “The New Colossus” in 1883, just as the huge Leah Axelrod Edward H. Mazur immigration of Eastern European Ashkenazi Rachel Heimovics Braun* to the United States was beginning. Dr. Irving Cutler We Chicagoans Dr. Carolyn Eastwood have our own engraving Herbert Eiseman of the poem. It can be Elise Ginsparg found on the base of Dr. Rachelle Gold the Triumvirate of Clare Greenberg Patriots Monument at Dr. Adele Hast* the corner of Wacker Janet Iltis Drive and Wabash Joy Kingsolver Avenue, where George Seymour H. Persky Washington is flanked Dr. Stanton Polin by the Revolutionary Burt Robin War financiers Robert Walter Roth* Morris and Haym Norman D. Schwartz* Salomon. The Dan Sharon monument project was Dr. Milton Shulman promoted by the Carey Wintergreen Chicago Jewish attorney *Indicates Past Presiden t and politician Barnet Chicago Jewish History Hodes in the late 1930s, and it was Published quarterly by the dedicated on December Chicago Jewish Historical 19, 1941, soon after the Society at 610 S. Michigan Ave., attack on Pearl Harbor. Room 803, Chicago, IL 60605. (Read an article about Phone (312 ) 663-5634. E-mail: the monument in the [email protected]. Spring 2004 issue of Successor to Society News. CJH on our website.) Single copies $4.00 postpaid. IN OCTOBER I was Editor/Designer Bev Chubat in York, Pennsylvania, Editorial Board Burt Robin, at the Fall Meeting of Walter Roth, Milton Shulman the Eastern Division of Send all submissions to: the Train Collectors Editor, Chicago Jewish Association. My hobby Historical Society, via e-mail or is collecting, repairing, and trading in tinplate toy Lionel and street address shown above. American Flyer trains. While there I learned of a service If manuscript is sent via continued on page 16 standard mail, enclose SASE. Chicago Jewish History Fall 2011 3

Romance continued from page 1 An Eventful Summer and Fall for the CJHS

A few years earlier, we had ur bus tour on Sunday, August 14 was devoted to Jewish Builders of discovered a live-in-performance O Downtown Chicago. As we rode down Michigan Avenue, CJHS film clip of pageant dancers, and we guide Marshall Rosenthal told us that the trademarked name “Magnificent included it in our award-winning Mile” was coined by realtor Arthur Rubloff; engineer Joseph Sensibar documentary Romance of a People: stabilized the landfill that became Grant Park; and one third of the funding The First 100 Years of Jewish Life in for Millennium Park came from Jewish philanthropists. Chicago, 1833-1933. (See ordering We stopped in at the Auditorium where a guide told us of the troubled information for the program book history of the magnificent building. About the same time that the structure and the DVD on page 8.) was completed, with a hotel as a profit-making part of it, Chicago’s “L” Read about our Romance system was begun, bringing the noise of the trains into the hotel rooms commemoration in the Year-End (which had European-style shared bathrooms—another drawback). When 2002 issue of CJH posted on our Congress Street was widened, the shops along the front of Auditorium were website. Click on “Publication eliminated and the entrance diminished. But the building’s many financial Archive” and scroll down to it. setbacks and structural alterations did not affect Dankmar Adler’s superb fresh insights on the pageant acoustics in the theater or Louis and its significance in an upcoming Sullivan’s exquisite decorations. presentation. Mark your calendars! We next visited the handsome Welcome, New Pritzker Military Library, located on Members of the Society Lecture at Spertus the southwest corner of Michigan A Center for Jewish Learning & Culture Mark Altschul Avenue and Monroe Street. Founded 610 South Michigan Avenue by James Pritzker, a US Army Chicago, IL Dr. Lauren Love veteran and reserve officer, the Arthur & Pearl Cohen Library’s mission is to preserve the Skokie, IL The Romance of a history of our nation’s Armed Forces. Susan Dressler People at Chicago’s In addition to rooms of shelved San Luis Obispo, CA books and displayed artifacts, there is David Gaynon 1933 World’s Fair: a theater for lectures and screenings. Celebrating Jewry on the Our last stop was at the city’s Huntington Beach, CA International Stage newest architectural icon, the Aqua, Susan Jacobson Saturday, January 21 at 225 North Columbus Drive. Chicago, IL The 81-story tower, with its curving Philip & Ellen Leavitt 7:30 p.m. “wave” balconies, was designed by Paradise Valley, AZ Jeanne Gang. The Jewish component Reception follows program Fred Loewinsohn is the building’s developer, the Dr. Lauren Love is Assistant Chicago, IL Professor of Communications and Magellan Group. Thanks to CJHS Dr. Susan V. Meschel Theatre Arts at the University of Tour Chair Leah Axelrod for Chicago, IL Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County. planning such an interesting day. Her research focuses on the rchitecture was the topic of the Betty Lou Saltzman connections between activism and A presentation at our open Chicago, IL theater. Her essay on The Romance meeting on September 18. Herbert & Susan Schwartz of a People was recently published in Guest speaker Ward Miller Nashville, TN The Drama Review ’s special issue on discussed the new book The Ellen F. Steinberg Jewish American performance. Complete Architecture of Adler & River Forest, IL Admission $18 Sullivan. Appropriately, we met in a Eugene Stopeck Spertus members $10 lecture room in the Auditorium Chicago, IL Students $8 campus of Roosevelt University. Buy tickets online at spertus.edu (The University owns the building.) Carey Wintergreen or phone (312) 322-1773 continued on page 17 Chicago, IL 4 Chicago Jewish History Fall 2011

Dance continued from page 1 e continued these endeavors in However, he began writing H 1926 Chicago, becoming about Yiddish dance even earlier. indispensible to the Jewish The 1930 article “ Vegn Yiddishn There was the Chasidism he was community there for all things Folks-Tanz , (About Jewish Folk- born into, burgeoning Socialism, dance. He taught, toured the Dance)” is in the first edition of and dance classes he attended with Midwest and formed a dance Shikage , (Chicago), a Yiddish- his sister. Jewish labor unions company. He was the choreographer language journal of poetry, criticism, established art societies. There were of the great pageant The Romance of and cultural news. In it we see him strikes, arrests, pogroms and a People on Jewish Day at the 1933 connect Yiddish folk dance to the performances. Chicago World’s Fair. modern dance of the time. Chaim Nachman Bialik, Y.L. Vizonsky is best known today Vizonsky was a Socialist, a Peretz, and Sholem Aleichem came for his 1942 book Jewish Folk Yiddishist, and a Jewish Nationalist, to speak in Lodz, and their works Dances, A Manual for Teachers and who, on his immigration papers, were read at home along with Leaders , published in Chicago. Now when asked for his race, put Yiddish translations of Mark Twain rare, this small, beautifully presented “Hebrew.” His article is equally and others. gem is always listed in Yiddish dance partisan in terms of both identity In Berlin on a ballet scholarship, bibliographies. Vizonsky and his and the character of Yiddish dance. Vizonsky studied and then collaborators, composer Max That was exactly the point in those performed, saw Isadora Duncan and Janowski and artist Todros Geller, days of ethnology expeditions and Ruth St. Denis, and studied acting were among the ranking contrib- nationalisms. Today, as an 80-year- and stagecraft with Max Reinhardt. utors to the city’s Jewish cultural life. old artifact itself, it still provides From his roots and travel in Poland insights as we continue the work of he collected Yiddish folk dance. Nathan Vizonsky dancing Dudele. preserving the essence of these “tiny These became his influences in how Photo courtesy of Phyllis Funari. and picturesque dances.” to join the Old World with the New I’m indebted to Mr. Vizonsky’s when he reached America. daughter, Phyllis Funari, for details Imprisoned in World War I of his early years and the loan of his Germany as a Polish alien, and small archives, where I found the without papers, he managed to take article and most of what I know of a ship to Canada, walking into the him. My thanks go to United States over the Ambassador Michael Roth and to Miriam Koral, Bridge to Detroit. After a brief stay Lecturer in Yiddish at UCLA and in New Jersey with a sister, he director of the California Institute returned to Detroit, spending five for Yiddish Language and Culture, years there, teaching folk dance at for proofing my intermediate the Arbeter Ring (Workmens Circle) Yiddish. I also want to note that Shule, and everything from ball- although “Yiddish” translates into room to ballet at private studios, as English as “Jewish,” it is very clear well as performing. that he is talking only about the Having left the Old World, as Eastern European Jewish folk dances had his audience, he became a we now call Yiddish Dance. respected exponent of Yiddishkayt as Here are some paragraphs from a teacher, writer, performer and the article (in italics) interlaced with choreographer. How could a culture my own bits of commentary. built on otherness and introspection In analyzing Jewish dance one survive the ideals and/or realities of finds that Jewish folk dance America or the Socialism his milieu should take an important admired? He and his colleagues were place among the folk dance of dedicated to its transmission all other nations. Both with through folk-based art. its emotionalism and with its rich color and also with its Chicago Jewish History Fall 2011 5

splendid plastic form. The Jewish dance is also In all the dances the sense of passion is very interesting, therefore, because it is altogether marked. In Jewish folk dances, in contrast, the different from the dances of all other peoples. sense of conscious passion is not present. Jewish As the 1908 Chernovitz Conference had sought to dance is modest. define Yiddish not merely as zhargon , but a distinct It can seem, therefore, that because in Jewish dance European language, so Vizonsky is making the same two important elements [earthiness and passion] case for Yiddish dance. As to his use of the words are missing, that the dances have become poor and “plastic form,” he called his own modern style Jewish bloodless. But Jewish dance is rich in other Plastic Expression. Plastique was part of early twentieth emotional elements: gentle humor, biting satire, century modern dance seen in the works of Duncan, St. and deep tragedy. Denis, the Ballets Russe, and the theater of Stanislavski Even a superficial acquaintance with a few Jewish and Reinhardt. The images or tableaux were to express dances will give us an understanding of the rich feeling, character, or place, and could be abstractions or emotional-expression that Jewish dance possesses. realistic scenes, capturing their essence in slow Let us look at one like the ‘Broyges (unreconciled) movements sculpted with an eye for emotional and Tanz.’ A dance that expresses the upset and gestural detail. reconciliation of a man and a woman. The naïve, The feeling of life’s joy that is the most important popular character, the gentle modesty of two people element in the dance of all other folk is scarce in who love each other and want to conceal it… Jewish dance. The non-Jew dances his happiness; and so the play of love and modesty makes the the Jew dances his grief. dance exceptionally interesting. This is a surprising statement given that joy is strongly This is a danced guide to a happy marriage, as the connected to Yiddish and Chasidic dance, and the dancers act out someone being angry and the other freylekhs —from freyd (joy)—are not misnamed. But this doing what’s necessary to make up. It’s an excellent suggests there might be a difference. Yes, Yiddish dance performance opportunity in terms of improvising on can express joy, but it is unleavened, more internal. those themes. Peacemaking might include mimed Dancing was partly from a basis that included not only entreaties or the offering of trinkets. It is a pursuit dance the day-to-day grief of living in goles (exile), but the with the offended party keeping her distance, while codified grief that was part of the weddings where most being followed and petitioned by the supplicant. dancing occurred. With the traditional fasting and However, in one of those humorous moments, once the repentance of the bride and groom, the groom’s wearing apology or gift is about to be accepted, the giver may of his future burial garment, the breaking of the glass to not be so quick to part with it, forcing the offended one commemorate the destruction of the Temples, there was to pursue the offender to get her prize. In so doing, she still joy—but with perspective. This suggests to me that becomes the supplicant herself. Now, as psychological dancing was to savor joy, to feel it in one’s bones, and equals, they can make peace and dance with each other. less about display. Let us consider another dance: the dance of the two Non-Jewish dance is earthy. It consists mainly of mothers-in-law (Mekhatunim Tanz). Each of foot combinations; Jewish dance is spiritual. them believes that she was deceived during the It consists mainly of gestures and hand movements. matchmaking. But after the wedding of their If we want to understand the older style, we should not children, where all are filled with joy, in the ecstasy forget our inheritance of nuanced everyday gestures— of joy that they have lived to marry off their the hands, the shrugs, the tilt of the head—as meaning- children, the two mothers-in-law launch into a ful communication. dance. The wrongs disappear—the concern with pedigree and the haughtiness one displayed toward An even more important difference is present the other, and they are united in communal praise between Jewish and non-Jewish dance: in dance to God. This particular dance is also rich in from all the other peoples the dominant emotion is emotional expression.… conscious passion. It is in great part the foundation of all dance of various peoples. For example, the Traditionally, marriage was a binding of families not just Italian tarantella,…; the Hungarian czardas…; the couple. In-laws, too, needed to be psychological the German waltz; the Polish mazurka;…. continued on page 6 6 Chicago Jewish History Fall 2011

Dance continued from page 5

equals and how better to deal with possible “issues,” than to act them out? If one should also include in these dances the Chasidic— the crown of Jewish folk- creation—there is no comparison to them in any folkdance. Jewish dance is quite rich and multicolored. Chasidic dances are ecclesiastic, wherein each particular person forgets his daily sufferings, where borders are wiped away between man From The Golem , b ased on the dramatic poem by H. Leivick. and man; the individual is Choreography by Nathan Vizonsky. Photo courtesy of Phyllis Funari. redeemed and man is joined to man in one great collective, dance is extremely modern- is not just about the steps. It was in one great joy in the Maker istic, but without modern also the opportunity to express the —the Creator of all. coldness. It is the most gracious other kind of authenticity that was From this it first becomes material for the revelation of and is still prized—that of the self. clear, what sorts of treasures the artistic personality. Authenticity of expression was the motivation behind the emergence of we possess in Jewish folk he following quote from a modern dance, which Vizonsky had dance… only superficially March 8, 1933 review in the T experienced in its earliest years in touch[ed] upon. Here it is Chicago Daily News by Eugene Berlin. This is the connection, I only interesting to note that Stinson underscores what Vizonsky believe, that Nathan Vizonsky and the plastic style of Jewish writes: dance is exceptionally rich in Eugene Stinson, are making between expressive opportunity, very “I understand that Mr. Vizonsky is a Chasidic and modern dance. unique in its compositional specialist in Chasidic lore; certainly, As Vizonsky, his peers, and his structure.In its style, Jewish had the Chasidic dances he included intellectual forefathers such as in his performance not been Chaim Zhitlovsky and Y.L. Peretz, authentic, at least they would have had argued, Yiddish culture has been works of art, so expressive, so taken its place as a world culture and simple and so imaginative is this Yiddish dance as world dance. very gifted artist. …some of his own Eighty years later, we are still dances, descriptive of passages from concerned with preservation, but the Book of Job, resembled the also with the articulation of its flavor Chasidic dances in the formalization for our time and for a greater of their gestures; but this quality, diversity of audience. O strikingly enough, is something that KAREN GOODMAN, choreographer, is now echoed everywhere in the teacher, and writer on Yiddish folk work of the most modernist of dance, is based in Los Angeles. dance experimenters.” She produced, directed, and wrote the By articulating some of the documentary on Yiddish dance, Nathan Vizonsky (1898-1968).. emotional values that shaped these Come Let Us Dance , which includes Photo courtesy of Phyllis Funari. dances Vizonsky reminds us that it reconstructions from Vizonsky’s book. Chicago Jewish History Fall 2011 7

the book section

THE COMPLETE ARCHITECTURE OF ADLER & SULLIVAN. By Richard Nickel and Aaron Siskind with John Vinci and Ward Miller. The Richard Books by Our Nickel Committee, 2010. 472 pages. 815 photographs and a 108-page catalogue raisonne listing each of the 256 building commissions and Guest Speakers projects, along with the project name, location, building size, cost and current status. Historic photographs and plans are also included where available and an essay on the building, with historic resource references and citations on each of the structures. Cover price $95.00 See amazon.com for availability. Loan and reference copies at various branches of the Chicago Public Library. See chipublib.org Guest speaker Ellen F. Steinberg and FROM THE JEWISH HEART- co-author Jack H. Prost at the CJHS LAND: Two Centuries of open meeting, November 6, 2011. Guest speaker Ward Miller at the CJHS Midwest Foodways. By Ellen F. Photograph by Bev Chubat. open meeting, September 18, 2011. Steinberg and Jack H. Prost. Photograph by Jerold Levin. University of Illinois, 2011. Authors Steinberg and Prost fressed their way through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Missouri—all in the name of THE MAYORS: The Chicago research! This is not a cookbook, rather it is a fascinating exploration of how Political Tradition. Third Edition. immigrant Jews adapted their Old World recipes to the ingredients they Edited by Paul M. Green and found in the Midwest. Illustrated. 224 pages. $32.95 Melvin G. Holli. Southern Illinois IRMA: A Chicago Woman’s Story, 1871-1966. By Ellen F. Steinberg. University, 1995. A number of University of Iowa, 2004. Based on the diaries and later memoirs of Irma distinguished scholars contributed Rosenthal Frankenstein, profiles of our city’s first a Chicago-born member fifteen modern mayors— of the German Jewish from Joseph Medill to community. The story of the Daley Era—Richard Steinberg’s discovery of J. and Richard M. the diaries is told in the 310 pages. $27.50 Spring 2004 issue of From amazon. CJH by archivist Joy We look forward to Kingsolver. $21.00 Professor Green’s lecture From amazon Mayor Emanuel, LEARNING TO COOK the City, and the IN 1898: A Chicago Jewish Community Culinary Memoir . Sunday, March 25, 2012, By Ellen F. Steinberg. at 2:00 p.m. Based on Frankenstein’s Emanuel Congregation, manuscript cookbook. 5959 N. Sheridan Road. Irma Frankenstein’s Diaries, 2004. University of Iowa, Free to CJHS members. Chicago Jewish Archives [now Spertus Special Collections]. 2007. $19.95 Non-members $10. Photograph by Joy Kingsolver. From amazon 8 Chicago Jewish History Fall 2011

our publications

HISTORY OF THE JEWS OF CHICAGO. Edited by Hyman L. Meites. The Chicago Jewish Historical Society’s 1990 facsimile of the original 1924 edition and supplementary excerpts from the 1927 edition. New introduction by James R. Grossman. Foreword by Thomas R. Meites and Jerome B. Meites. Hundreds of biographical entries; synagogue and organization histories; index. Illustrated with black and white photographs and drawings. 856 pages. Limited edition. Sold out. Reference copies available at the Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, 400 South State Street, and the Asher Library, Spertus Institute of , 610 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago. OF CHICAGO. DVD: ROMANCE OF A PEOPLE: The First 100 Years of Jewish Edited by Irving Cutler, Norman D. Life in Chicago: 1833-1933. Beverly Siegel, Executive Producer- Schwartz, and Sidney Sorkin. Director, 1997. Rare film footage, vintage photos, sound recordings, Project supervised by Clare and informative interviews combine to tell the story of the building of Greenberg, 1991. A compilation of Chicago’s Jewish community and its impact on the City of the Big synagogue listings in Chicago city Shoulders. Highlighted is the role of the early German-Jewish settlers in directories since 1851. Includes the development of some of the city’s major cultural institutions, the street address; name of rabbi; and arrival of Jews from Eastern Europe, and the founding in Chicago of names of officers if available. several national Jewish organizations. One of the most moving segments Reference copies at HWLC and Asher is actual film footage of the Jewish community’s spectacular pageant, Library (see addresses above). The Romance of a People , presented on Jewish Day at the 1933 Century THE GERMAN-JEWISH of Progress. Color and B&W. Running time 30 minutes. DVD $29.95 EMIGRATION OF THE 1930s ROMANCE OF A PEOPLE: DVD and PROGRAM BOOK. In the year AND ITS IMPACT ON CHICAGO. 2000, the Society published a facsimile of the 72-page souvenir program By Walter Roth, 1980. Text of the for the Jewish Day pageant The Romance of a People. Includes program CJHS symposium at Congregation notes, names of the participants and sponsors, and lots of ads. Walter Ezra-Habonim in 1979. Illustrated. Roth’s eight-page essay adds a historical perspective. 80 pages. Paper. 24 pages. Paper $4.00* Special Offer! DVD and Program Book $39.95 From Ergo Home Video. www.jewishvideo.com THE CHICAGO JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY: A Ten ROMANCE OF A PEOPLE: PROGRAM BOOK. 80 pages. Paper $18. Year History. Edited by Irwin J. Includes postage. Prepay by check to the Chicago Jewish Historical Society, Suloway, 1988. Illustrated. 610 South Michigan Avenue, Room 803, Chicago IL 60605-1901. Also available at the Spertus Shop, 610 South Michigan Avenue 24 pages . Paper $4.00* CHICAGO JEWISH HISTORY: INDEX 1977-2002. Compiled and A WALK TO SHUL : Chicago Synagogues of Edited by Adele Hast, 2002. Lawndale and Stops on the Way. By Bea Covers the first twenty-five years of Kraus and Norman D. Schwartz. Chicago our quarterly publication. 23 pages. Jewish Historical Society, 2003. A nostalgic Paper $4.00* street-by-street stroll past the impressive CHICAGO JEWISH HISTORY: synagogues , the modest , the schools, shtibelekh 1977—Present. businesses, and community buildings of the Single copies West Side. Illustrated with black and white of our quarterly dating from the photographs. 159 pages. Neighborhood grid first issue. Each $4.00* map enclosed. Paper $22.95 *Price includes postage. Prepay by Price includes postage. Prepay by check check to the Chicago Jewish Historical to the Chicago Jewish Historical Society, Society, 610 South Michigan Avenue, 610 South Michigan Avenue, Room 803, Room 803, Chicago, IL 60605-1901. Chicago, IL 60605-1901. Chicago Jewish History Fall 2011 9

our authors CJHS Minsky Fund Prize Winners Doris Minsky was a founder, director, Walter Roth’s Jewish Chicagoans and officer of the Society. The Fund LOOKING BACKWARD: True Stories from was established in her memory for Chicago’s Jewish Past. By Walter Roth. the purpose of publishing monographs Academy Chicago Publishers, 2002. The on the history of the Jews of Chicago. unknown story of Jewish participation in Submissions were judged and Chicago’s great fair of 1893 is only one of the cash prizes awarded by the CJHS fascinating nuggets of history unearthed and Publications Committee. polished by Walter Roth in the pages of Chicago Volume One: 1991 Jewish History. The material chronicles events and CHICAGO JEWISH STREET PEDDLERS. people from the late 1800s to the end of World By Carolyn Eastwood. A valuable study by War II. Illustrated. 305 pages. Paper $16.95. an eminent urban historian and CJHS board member. Illustrated with drawings, AVENGERS AND DEFENDERS: Glimpses of MEMORIES OF LAWNDALE. And Chicago’s Jewish Past. By Walter Roth. By Beatrice Michaels Shapiro. Illustrated Academy Chicago Publishers, 2008. The second with photos. Total 103 pages. Paper. $5.00* collection of articles from CJH by President Roth, Volume Two: 1993 who conveys his justifiable pride in the productive THE CHAYDER, THE immigrants, refugees, and native-born Jews who AND I. By Morris Springer. Recollections of Hebrew school and the Hebrew Theological enriched the life of our city. The “avenger” in the College. And MEMORIES OF THE title is Sholom Schwartzbard, who assassinated MANOR. By Eva Gross. Reminiscences Simon Petlura, whose followers perpetrated the of growing up Jewish in Chicago’s Jeffery post-WWI pogroms in Ukraine. Illustrated. Manor neighborhood. Illustrated. 235 pages. Paper $16.95. Total 95 pages. Paper. $5.00* These two books are sold at the Spertus Shop, Volume Three: 1996 610 South Michigan Avenue. All proceeds go to THE CANTORS: Gifted Voices the Chicago Jewish Historical Society. Remembered. By Bea Kraus. Chicago was well-known for her fine congregational cantors and the world-famous vocal artists engaged for the High Holy Days. AN ACCIDENTAL ANARCHIST: How the Killing of a Humble Jewish Illustrated. 85 pages. Paper. $5.00* Immigrant by Chicago’s Chief of Police Exposed the Conflict Between Law & Order and Civil Rights in Early Volume Four: 1997 MY FATHER, MYSELF . By Rabbi Alex J. 20th Century America. By Walter Roth & Joe Goldman. A son’s memoir of his father, Kraus. Academy Chicago Publishers, 1998. The Yehudah D. Goldman, America’s oldest episode took place on a cold Chicago morning in practicing rabbi. Illustrated. 120 pages. March, 1908. Lazarus Averbuch, a 19-year-old Jewish Paper. $5.00* immigrant, knocked on the door of Police Chief Volume Five: 2001 George Shippy. Minutes later, the boy lay dead, shot THROUGH THE EYES OF THEIR by Shippy himself. Why Averbuch went to the police CHILDREN. By Myron H. Fox. chief’s house and exactly what happened afterward is A riveting account of Chicago’s bloody Taxi still not known. The book does not solve the mystery, Wars of the 1920s and the author’s research rather the authors examine the many different into the victimization of his taxi driver father. Illustrated. 160 pages. Paper. $5.00* perspectives and concerns that surrounded the investigation of Averbuch’s killing. Illustrated. 212 pages. Paper $16.95 *Postage included. Prepay by check to the Chicago Jewish Historical Society, For sale at amazon.com. To see the WTTW-Channel 11 television feature 610 South Michigan Avenue, Room 803, on the Averbuch story on your computer, go to www.wttw.com and search Chicago, IL 60605-1901 for “Chicago Tonight” Past Program 8/25/10. 10 Chicago Jewish History Fall 2011

our authors

NEAR WEST SIDE STORIES: Irving Cutler’s Neighborhoods Struggles for Community in CHICAGO’S JEWISH WEST SIDE. By Irving Cutler. Chicago’s Maxwell Street Arcadia Publishing Images of America , 2009. A new Neighborhood. By Carolyn gathering of nostalgic photos from private collections Eastwood. Lake Claremont Press, and Dr. Cutler’s own treasure trove of images. 2002. Four extraordinary “ordinary” Former West Siders will kvell and maybe also shed a people try to save their neighbor- tear. 126 pages. Paper $21.99 hood and the market at its core. THE JEWS OF CHICAGO: From Shtetl to Suburb. One of them is the flamboyant Jewish clothier and jazz musician, By Irving Cutler. University of Illinois Press, 1996. Harold Fox, designer of the first The authoritative, vividly told history of Chicago’s zoot suit. The other highly Jewish community, by a founding Board member of motivated, sympathetic subjects are the Chicago Jewish Historical Society. 336 pages. Florence Scala, Nate Duncan, and Illustrated with 162 black and white photographs. Hilda Portillo, who represent the Cloth $36.95, Paper $24.95 Italian, African-American, and JEWISH CHICAGO: A Pictorial History. By Irving Mexican communities. Illustrated. Cutler. Arcadia Publishing Images of America, 2000. 355 pages. Paper $17.95 A sentimental snapshot of the city’s Jewish THE OXFORD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FOOD community. Includes 230 photos and neighborhood AND DRINK. Edited by Andrew F. Smith. maps. 126 pages. Paper $21.99 Oxford University Press, 2004. The entry CHICAGO: Metropolis of the Mid-Continent. on “Street Vending” was written by Carolyn Fourth Edition. By Irving Cutler. Southern Illinois Eastwood. Two volumes. Cloth $250.00 University Press, 2006. Dr. Cutler skillfully weaves CHICAGO’S FORGOTTEN together the history, economy, and culture of the city SYNAGOGUES. By Robert A. and its suburbs, with a special emphasis on the role Packer. Arcadia Publishing Images of the many ethnic and racial groups that comprise of America , 2007. Photos of former the “real Chicago” neighborhoods. 447 pages. Jewish houses of worship and Illustrated. Cloth $52.00, Paper $22.95 communal URBAN GEOGRAPHY. By Irving Cutler. Charles E. buildings, Merrill Publishing, 1978. A general study of cities in plus portraits the USA and some of their major characteristics. 120 of , pages. Illustrated. Paper $18.50 Hebrew school class THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHICAGO. Edited by James R. Grossman, Ann Durkin Keating, and Janice L. Reiff. pictures, University of Chicago Press, 2004. The “Jewish Community” entry is by Dr. Irving Cutler. flyers, and 1,152 pages. Illustrations and maps. Cloth $65.00 invitations. 126 pages. ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORY. Edited by Stephen Norwood and Eunice Pollack. ABC-CLIO, 2007. The encyclopedia’s six-page entry on “Chicago” is by Paper $19.99 Dr. Irving Cutler. Two volumes, total 775 pages. Illustrated. Cloth $195.00 . DOORS OF REDEMPTION: The Forgotten Synagogues of Chicago and Other Communal N THE ART OF THE YIDDISH FOLK SONG. Sima Miller, soprano; Buildings. Arnold Miller, piano. A vintage collection of performances by Chicago’s Photographed and internationally renowned concert artists. Four CDs, each $15.00; five edited by Robert A. Packer. audiotapes, each $10.00 Order from Sima Miller, 8610 Avers Avenue, Booksurge, 2006. 282 pages. Skokie, IL 60076; (847) 673-6409 Spiral-bound paper $23.99 Chicago Jewish History Fall 2011 11

our authors

JULIUS ROSENWALD: The Man Who Built Sears, WOMEN BUILDING CHICAGO, 1790-1990: Roebuck and Advanced the Cause of Black A Biographical Dictionary. Edited by Adele Hast and Education in the American South. By Peter Ascoli. Rima Lunin Schultz. Indiana University Press. 2001. Of Indiana University Press, 2006. Chicago’s Julius the over 400 individual entries, forty are Jewish women. Rosenwald was one of the richest men in America in the 1,088 pages. Illustrated. Cloth $75.00 1920s, but few people today, other than the older BREAKING GROUND: Careers of 20 Chicago members of the Jewish and African American commu- Jewish Women. By Beatrice Michaels Shapiro. Edited nities, know the story of his far-reaching philanthropy. by Dr. Khane-Faygl Turtletaub. Author House, 2004. Historian Peter Ascoli is Rosenwald’s grandson. He tells Interviews bring out the Jewish values that have played his grandfather’s story with professional skill as well as a part in the lives of these high achievers. Judge Ilana insights that only an insider with access to family Rovner, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Ruth Rothstein, records and memories could have. Illustrated with black Melissa Isaacson, Beverly Siegel, and Klara Tulsky are and white photographs. 472 pages. Cloth $35.00 included. 137 pages. Paper $15.50 At some Chicago CREATING CHICAGO’S NORTH SHORE: and suburban bookstores and www.authorhouse.com A Suburban History. By Michael H. Ebner. University A JEWISH COLONEL IN THE of Chicago Press, 1988. Evanston, Wilmette, Kenil- CIVIL WAR: Marcus M. worth, Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Spiegel of the Ohio and Lake Bluff— eight communities that serve as a Volunteers. genteel enclave of affluence, culture, and high society. Edited by Jean Prof. Ebner explains the origins and evolution of the Powers Soman & Frank L. North Shore as a distinctive region. 368 pages. Byrne. University of Nebraska Photographs and maps. Cloth $55.00 Press, 1995. Marcus M. Spiegel, a German Jewish AFRICAN AMERICANS IN GLENCOE: The Little immigrant, served with the Migration. By Robert A. Sideman. The History Press, 67th and 120th Ohio 2009. While little has been written about Glencoe’s Volunteer regiments. He saw African American heritage, the author discovered ample action in Virginia, historical resources to tell the story from the very first Mississippi, Arkansas, and days. 126 pages. Illustrated. Paper $19.99 Louisiana, where he was fatally wounded in May 1864. FOR A PRAIRIE CITY: The Politics of These letters to Caroline, his wife, reveal the trauma - Chicago Jewry 1850-1914. By Edward H. Mazur. tizing experience of a soldier and the constant concern Garland, 1990. 428 pages. Out of print of a husband and father. (Caroline Hamlin Spiegel was THE ETHNIC FRONTIER. the first convert to in Chicago.) Illustrated. Holli and d’A Jones, editors. 353 pages. Paper $17.95 Eerdmans, 1984. Essays on the history of group survival in Chicago and the Midwest. The “Jewish Chicago” SOUTHERN JEWISH HISTORY. The peer-reviewed entry is by Edward H. Mazur. 422 pages. Out of print annual journal of the Southern Jewish Historical BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN Society. Dr. Mark K. Bauman, editor. Rachel MAYORS, 1820-1980. Heimovics, managing editor. Now in its 13th year and Holli and d’A Jones, editors; published each year in October, the journal has grown Edward H. Mazur, contributing editor. Greenwood since 1998 from a slim 140 pages to around 300 pages Press, 1981. 441 pages. Out of print of articles, primary documents, and reviews related to BRIDGES TO AN AMERICAN CITY: A Guide to the southern Jewish experience. Current volumes are Chicago’s Landsmanshaften 1870 to 1990. By $20, back volumes are $15 for individuals, and all Sidney Sorkin. Peter Lang Publishing, 1993. A study of volumes are $40 for institutions. The journal is also a the hundreds of service organizations, named after their benefit of membership in the Southern Jewish Old World origins, that were a significant part of the Historical Society. For further information visit immigrant experience. 480 pages. $35.00 Out of print www.jewishsouth.org or email [email protected] 12 Chicago Jewish History Fall 2011

our authors A TIME TO REMEMBER: A History of New! THE MIDWESTERN NATIVE GARDEN: Native Alternatives to Nonnative Flowers and Plants, an Illustrated Guide. the Jewish By Charlotte Community in Adelman and Bernard L. Schwartz. Ohio University Press/Swallow Press, South Haven. 2011. “…Native plants will bring the birds, butterflies and other pollinators as only a balanced ecosystem will do. Color and motion!”— Chicago Sun- By Bea Kraus. Times . Paper, 272 pages. $26.95. Some electronic editions available. Priscilla Press, 1999. Covers PRAIRIE DIRECTORY OF NORTH AMERICA: U.S. & Canada. By the 1920s Charlotte Adelman and Bernard L. Schwartz. Lawndale Enterprises, 2002. through the 1950s—before air The first-ever guide for visits to the prairie, an ecosystem unique to North conditioning—when this town on America. Fifty pages are devoted to Illinois. Winner of the 2003 National the Lake Michigan shore was home Garden Club Illinois Tommy Donnan Certificates Publications award and to a thriving Jewish summer resort the 2003 Garden Clubs of Illinois’ Award. 352 pages. Paper $19.95 community. Illustrated. 287 pages. P.O. Box 561, Wilmette, IL 60091-0561 and www.Lawndaleenterprises.com Paper $24.95 www.KrausBooks.com A PLACE TO REMEMBER: South Haven—A Success from A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE NEW ART IN THE 60s AND 70s: the Beginning. By Bea Kraus. CHICAGO REGION By Joel Redefining Reality. By Anne . Priscilla Press, 2003. An anecdotal Greenberg. University of Chicago Rorimer. Thames & Hudson, 2001. history of the people from the town’s Press, 2002. The author places the The first detailed account of early days. Illustrated. 316 pages. natural history of the region in a developments centered around the Paper $24.95 www.KrausBooks.com human context, showing how it conceptual art movement. The book affects our everyday existence in highlights the main issues under- A PLACE AND A TIME even the most urbanized landscape lying visually disparate works dating REVISITED. South Haven’s of Chicago. 592 pages. Photographs, from the second half of the 1960s to Latest Generation of Resorters. maps, and drawings. Cloth $40.00, the end of the 1970s, through close By Bea Kraus. Priscilla Press, 2008. Paper $25.00 examination of individual works and With those beaches and peaches, the OF PRAIRIE, WOODS, & WATER: artists. Illustrated with 303 halftone gentrified renaissance was inevitable! Two Centuries of Chicago images. 304 pages. Cloth $50.00, Illustrated. 214 pages. Paper $24.95 www.KrausBooks.com Nature Writing. Edited by Joel Paper $29.95 Greenberg. University of Chicago TO LOVE MERCY: A Novel. A SONG OF INNOCENCE. By Press, 2008. Drawn from archives he By Frank S. Joseph. Atlantic Harold H. Kraus. Fidlar-Doubleday, uncovered while writing his Highlands, 2006. Winner of five 2004. Two meek U.S. Army recruits, acclaimed book, A Natural History awards. A tale of Chicago blacks and a Jew and a , feel the wrath of the Chicago Region , Greenberg whites, Christians and Jews, conflict of an anti-Semitic redneck in a selected these fascinating first-person and forgiveness. Set in 1948, it WWII training camp. 135 pages. narratives. 424 pages. Cloth $45.00, throws together two boys from Paper $12.00 www.KrausBooks.com Paper $25.00 different worlds— affluent Jewish SHORT SEA SAGAS. By Harold T. THE FLORIDA JEWISH HERITAGE Hyde Park and the hard-scrabble Berc. Athena Press, 2002. Unusual Bronzeville black ghetto—on a quest TRAIL. By Rachel Heimovics and tales of over two hundred ships— for a missing silver talisman Marcia Zerivitz. Florida Department mutinies, unusual sinkings, piracy, inscribed with a biblical verse. of State, 2000. 44 pages. Illustrated. mystery ships sailing for years Concludes with excerpts from oral Paper. $10.50 each for one or two without crews! The book concludes history transcripts. Illustrated with copies. Prepay by check to The Jewish with a chapter on the author’s own black and white photographs. Museum of Florida, 301 Washington experiences as a U.S. Navy combat 291 pages. Paper $14.95 Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33139-6965. officer in World War II. 190 pages. Available from amazon (305) 672-5044. Paper $17.95 Chicago Jewish History Fall 2011 13

THE ALEXANDRIA LETTER: our authors THE BIBLICAL PATH TO A Novel. By George R. Honig. PSYCHOLOGICAL MATURITY: Synergy Books, 2010. Cambridge THE FATE OF HOLOCAUST Psychological Insights into the scholar Nathan Tobin discovers an MEMORIES: Transmission and Weekly Torah Readings. ancient Aramaic letter which Family Dialogues. By Chaya H. By Vivian B. Skolnick, Ph.D. contains surprising revelations about Roth, Ph.D. Palgrave MacMillan, Trafford, 2010. Sigmund Freud the lives of Jesus, John the Baptist, 2008. An innovative mix of personal would be amazed that his discipline and Paul of Tarsus. If true, the history and psychological research, could contribute to a deeper contents threaten to overturn long- this book tells the story of an understanding of the Torah. Vivian held tenets of Christianity. As Tobin extended family of Holocaust Skolnick, through her training in races to verify the letter’s authen - survivors and reveals how each psychoanalysis, succeeds in doing so ticity, he faces rejection by his fellow generation has passed on memories in this work. She applies some of scholars and sinister opposition from of World War II and the Shoah to Freud’s findings to delve into the within the Church. 329 pages. the next. Dr. Roth is a clinical psyches of the Patriarchs and $22.95 Available from amazon professor of psychiatry at the Matriarchs and explore the unique CORPORATE WAR: Poison Pills University of Illinois at Chicago. personality of Moses. Dr. Skolnick and Golden Parachutes. By Illustrated with black and white links her observations to the Werner L. Frank. Amazon Kindle, photographs. 228 pages. $74.95 synagogue’s weekly Sabbath cycle of Torah readings. 305 pages. Paper 2010. A business thriller portraying CANDLES BURNED IN CHICAGO: $39.95 Available from amazon the cutthroat behavior of two A History of 53 Memorial computer companies engaged in a Commemorations of the JEWISH LAW IN TRANSITION: hostile takeover. $7.95 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. How Economic Forces Overcame the Prohibition LEGACY: The Saga of a German- The Midwest Jewish Council. Against Lending Interest. Jewish Family Across Time and Kenan Heise, editor; N. Sue Weiler, By Hillel Gamoran. Hebrew Union Circumstance. By Werner L. contributing editor. AuthorHouse, College Press, 2008. The intention Frank. Avoteynu Foundation, Inc., 2004. A record of the annual of the biblical prohibition was to 2003. A portion of the book deals gatherings mounted by a group of prevent the wealthy from exploiting with the author’s immigration to Jewish Chicagoans and their friends the unfortunate. However, in the Chicago and growing up in Hyde from 1944 to 1996. 132 pages. course of time it was seen to have Park. 926 pages plus CD. $49.00 Paper $18.00 Available online from consequences that militated against Order from www.avoteynu.com a number of vendors the economic welfare of Jewish society as a whole. 196 pages. THE STAINED GLASS WINDOWS AT TEMPLE SHOLOM. By Norman D. Hardcover $35.00. From amazon Schwartz and Rolf Achilles. Photographs by Rich Master. Design by Dianne Burgis. THE SIDDUR COMPANION. Temple Sholom, 2001. Twelve sets of brilliant stained glass windows enhance the By Paul H. Vishny. Jerusalem: stately beauty of Temple Sholom of Chicago. The earliest windows were moved to Devorah Publishing, 2005. this building in 1928-29 from the congregation’s previous home, and the most This work is intended to form the recent set was dedicated in 1998, so a wide range of art glass techniques and styles background for a meaningful are represented. The co-authors are art historian Rolf Achilles, curator of the Smith Museum of Stained Glass, and Norman Schwartz, Temple Sholom member and devotion to prayers. 112 pages. past president of the CJHS. 20 pages. Paper $5.00 Hardcover $18.95, Paper $12.95 Available from amazon New! THE INTERIOR AND ARTIFACTS OF TEMPLE SHOLOM OF CHICAGO. A STUDENT LOOKS AT THE By Norman D. Schwartz. With Josie A.G. Shapiro, Jennifer Adams, Lauren SIDDUR. Mielziner, Roger Rudich, Jerry Mayerhoff, Sidney Friedland Z”L , and Lorraine By Sanford Aronin. Frank Gideon. Temple Sholom, 2011. This second volume of a projected three- Targum Press, 1997. Chidushei volume set describes the ritual and decorative objects inside the Temple. The cost of Torah on Tractate Berachos . 78 pages. the project was underwritten by the Moselle Schwartz Memorial Fund. Paper $5.00 Paper. Order directly from the author. Both books may be purchased at the Temple Sholom Gift Shop, Inquire at 6308 North Monticello 3480 North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60657 (773) 525-4707. Avenue, Chicago, IL 60659. 14 Chicago Jewish History Fall 2011 American Zionist Movement (AZM) Benefit Concert Honors MACHAL, Recognizes Dr. Milton D. Shulman and Dr. A.I. “Izzie” Weinzweig

AZM Chicago Region presented a benefit concert and community. Active in the Intercollegiate Zionist reception honoring MACHAL on Sunday evening, Federation, he interrupted his studies to see the November 27, at Temple Judea Mitzpah, 8610 Niles situation in pre-State Palestine first hand and ended up Center Road, Skokie. The concert featured Ben in the midst of the 1948 MACHAL action. Solomonow, cello, and Rami Solomonow, violin, with Returning to Chicago to complete his formal Shirley Trissel, piano. Orli Gil, Consul General of education, he began a distinguished career teaching in to the Midwest, was t he Honorary Patron. the emerging field of computer science, to generations In 1948, when the newly-proclaimed State of Israel of students at DePaul University, where he is now faced a war for its survival, more than 4,000 men and Professor Emeritus. Aside from numerous visits over the women from around the world came there to fight years, Milt and his family spent a year in Israel, where alongside ZAHAL, the Israel Defense Forces. These he was a consultant in the areas of his professional volunteers from the Diaspora were collectively known as expertise. His primary outlet for Zionist expression was Mitnadvei Chutz L’aretz , “Volunteers from Outside the the Zionist Organization of Chicago, which he Land,”—MACHAL. represented at AZM. Two of those volunteers were Milton Shulman and Avrum Israel “Izzie” Weinzweig. After serving with Izzie Weinzweig’s early began in his native Israel in the 1948 War, they pursued distinguished Toronto as a member of HaShomer HaTzair , the academic careers in Chicago, while continuing their “Young Guard,” progressed with his leadership in service to the State of Israel through volunteer careers in smuggling anti-aircraft weaponry from Canada to Israel; Zionist leadership, highlighted by their successive and advanced with his joining MACHAL. presidencies of the American Zionist Movement Upon his return to North America, Izzy completed Chicago. They are also members of the Chicago Jewish his education and began teaching mathematics in the Historical Society. U.S. and Israel. Stints at Berkeley and Harvard led to a faculty appointment at the University of Illinois in ilton Shulman is a stalwart member of the CJHS Chicago. He became active in a variety of activities in M Board of Directors; his wife, artist Ethel Fratkin the Chicago Jewish community, including leadership Shulman Z”L , was also active in the Society. positions at Ner Tamid Congregation, in the Conserv- Milt was born in Chicago and is a ZFB (Zionist ative Movement and its Zionist affiliate, MERCAZ, and from Birth), proudly pointing to his father and in AZM Chicago. Izzie’s wife Lila Z”L was at his side grandfather who were Zionist leaders in the local throughout his many Zionist and Jewish endeavors. O

Edited Reprint from Chicago Jewish History Spring 1998 CJH asked Society members to contribute personal essays reflecting on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel. This is one of the six diverse memoirs that were published. A Chicagoan in the Fighting BY MILT SHULMAN I have been asked to recall where I was and what I incredible politicking, recognized the right of the was doing when the modern State of Israel came Jews to a state of our own. The anniversary of this into being. My recollections are different than most almost miraculous event is not generally because I was there at the time. However, I was remembered or observed as is Yom Ha’atzmaut , yet really too busy trying to do my part to help fend off it was the actual beginning of Israel as a state. the attacking Arab armies in the Jerusalem area to recall specifics of that day. I do recall vividly, fter more than fifty years. it is impossible for me however, the night of November 29, 1947, when A to recapture the anticipation and excitement of the United Nations, after prolonged debate and that night. But, as a good son, I wrote letters home Chicago Jewish History Fall 2011 15 to my parents, and I will quote from them to try to assembled with us had to rush to get the first convey the once-in-a-lifetime feelings I experienced edition of the paper on the street. that night and the next few days. “Those of us not so occupied went for a walk On December 1, 1947, I wrote: through town, during which we observed that the “The outcome of the vote at the United Nations streets were deserted as only Jerusalem streets can be was by no means certain. We were on pins and deserted after midnight. needles. The news kept coming in, in steady “There was certainly nothing unusual about this streams—first optimistic, then pessimistic—from since these same streets are deserted every night. But the time the Ad Hoc Committee made its report the news came from Tel Aviv that wild celebrations and the debate began. were in progress there and in Haifa. We wondered “Friday, when the vote of the General Assembly why not in Jerusalem. However, not to fear. The was scheduled to occur, everyone was at a fever reaction was just delayed, as are so many things in pitch of excitement, and the greeting of ‘ Shalom ’ Jerusalem. was replaced by ‘What’s new at the United Nations?’ “The first sign we had was when we heard that a or ‘Do you think so-and-so will change its vote?’ was proceeding up one of the main streets. Of “Discussion was rampant, and very little else occupied our Chicago newspaper minds. When the Friday night front page. session of the General Assembly Sunday, agreed to adjourn for twenty- November 30, four hours, pessimism again 1947. took over, and there were few Special who remained convinced that Collections, right would triumph. Spertus Institute “Saturday was a day of of Jewish prayer and apprehension and Studies. tense waiting for the session to open. The atmosphere was similar to that prevailing course, we ran out to join, and we weren’t alone. just before a Presidential election at home, except “Hundreds of people were in the streets in their that the results here were so much more important. pajamas, slippers and robes, and hundreds of others Currents of tension were in the air, and people lived had taken the time to dress and join the crowd. The through the day in anticipation of the fateful vote. hora proceeded to the Jewish Agency buildings, and “Groups gathered around any radio receiver a huge crowd assembled there. capable of picking up the proceedings of the “Up until this time, people were still dazed and General Assembly by short wave. Probably the most hardly realized what was happening. After two powerful receiver in Jerusalem is at the Palestine Post thousand years, realization doesn’t come quickly. [now the Jerusalem Post ] office, so, of course, I was The realization came here at the Agency buildings, there. [Two of my roommates worked for the Post .] and a spontaneous shout went up for a Jewish flag. “The office was a combination of the newspaper After much singing and dancing and more shouting, office of the movies and the smoke-filled rooms so a flag was found and unfurled, and the multitude traditional at political conventions. However, the air sang Hatikva , our national anthem, for the first time was charged with much more tension than in either. in our own state. What a moment! No one relaxed in his chair, and everyone had his “Everyone recognized the significance because own personal score card on which to tally the votes there was utter silence for a moment after the song as they came in. was finished. Then, more singing and dancing and “When the final results were tabulated and the parading around town, led by several [British] army passage of the Partition assured, the wild celebration and police armored cars upon which people had which you would expect to take place was conspic - crowded, and upon which they raised our flag. uously absent. The first thing we thought of was a quick, silent prayer of thanks. Then most of those continued on page 17 16 Chicago Jewish History Fall 2011

President’s Column continued from page 2 Saul and his son Jonathan: “They were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions.” Of the 14 Jewish chaplains, four died in World planned for the Jewish Chaplains Monument War II, three in Vietnam, and seven on active honoring York Rabbi Alexander Goode Z”L and 13 service in the United States. Chaplain Irving Tepper, others who gave their lives during active service. The one of the first soldiers to land in France on D-Day, monument was on its way to Arlington National was killed less than a year later. Chaplain Morton Cemetery to join the monuments that honor Singer, a noncombatant volunteer in Israel’s Six Day Catholic and Protestant chaplains. War in 1967, died while on a mission to conduct Rabbi Goode was one of the four “Immortal Hanukkah services for his men in Vietnam. Chaplains” who were aboard the U.S. Army Why has it taken so long to erect this transport ship Dorchester on February 3, 1943, monument? Jews have fought in every American when it was torpedoed by a German submarine off armed conflict since the Revolutionary War. During the coast of Greenland. There were not enough life the Civil War Congress revised a law that allowed vests for the 900 passengers, and the chaplains gave only Christian chaplains. Rabbi Marvin Bash, away their life vests to soldiers. The four—Rabbi Arlington Cemetery’s Jewish chaplain, says that the Goode, the Reverends George L. Fox and Clark V. omission was not the result of discrimination, but Poling, and Father John P. Washington—were last that nobody had lobbied for it. seen with their arms linked, singing hymns as the That changed a few years ago when Kenneth ship went down. They became a powerful interfaith Kraetzer, host of a New York radio show about symbol. A postage stamp was issued in their honor veterans, was researching the story of the “Immortal in 1948, and in 1960, The Chaplain’s Medal for Chaplains.” When he visited Chaplains Hill, he Heroism was established to commemorate the found the names of the Christian chaplains there, actions of the four men. but not Rabbi Goode’s. Kraetzer, who is Catholic, enlisted the support of national Jewish organizations and, in May of this year, Congress overwhelmingly passed a resolution to establish the monument. It was dedicated with a wreath-laying ceremony on October 24 that was attended by veterans, lawmakers, and family members.

OSCAR HANDLIN , professor emeritus of American History at Harvard University, a member of the first generation of to enter the discipline of American history, died on September Chaplains Hill, Arlington National Cemetery. 20 in his home in Cambridge, Mass. He wrote The Jewish Chaplains Monument is on the far right. many scholarly volumes on immigration, race, and Photo by John Shinkle, Politico. ethnic identity. He trained generations of historians, including my mentors at the University of Chicago, Arthur Mann and Richard Wade. I consider myself When I learned of the memorial service, I left a proud “grandson” of Oscar Handlin. the toy train convention and joined with about 150 people at Temple Beth Israel in York to see the In conclusion, I wish all our members and monument and honor Rabbi Goode. The service friends a wonderful Hanukkah, with bright lights was conducted by Rabbi Jeffrey Astrachan. and crisp latkes! The metal plaque affixed to the granite monument has a Star of David atop The Ten Commandments, flanked by two golden Lions of Judah. Under the list of the names of the chaplains is a quotation from King David’s eulogy for King Chicago Jewish History Fall 2011 17

Report: CJHS Fall Events subsequent meeting of the Board, fellow under the guidance of Drs. continued from page 3 Carey Wintergreen was also elected Michael DeBakey and Denton to a three-year term. The new Board Cooley, the renowned cardiovascular members are native Chicagoans. surgeons. He then set up private The book project began in 1957 Stan Polin grew up on the West practice in Chicago specializing in as Richard Nickel’s master’s thesis at Side. He was educated secularly at cardiovascular and thoracic surgery. the Illinois Institute of Technology Gregory Elementary and Marshall During the Viet Nam War he —a photographic documentation of High, and the University of Illinois was drafted and allocated to the the architecture of Dankmar Adler for college and medical school. Navy. He rose to the rank of and Louis Sullivan. The book was During the same years he Commander and served in a large scheduled to come out in 1958; by attended Anshe Sholom (Independ- Naval hospital and aboard a battle- 1959 Nickel acknowledged that the ence Blvd.) Hebrew School, then ship and an aircraft carrier. His project had grown huge and Central Hebrew High School, Naval career lasted for 23 years, after unwieldy.) Nickel continued to followed by yeshiva at Hebrew which he retired. make photographs and collect Theological College. He became a Stan is married to the former fragments from Adler & Sullivan mohel and had the of doing Leah Goldstein, a sought-after buildings as the City of Chicago brises on well over a thousand babies. educator, administrator, and lecturer. continued to tear them down. He was an intern and general continued on page 19 The tragic end to Richard surgery resident at Michael Reese Nickel’s efforts came in 1972. While Hospital. Following that, he was a documenting the razing of the Chicago Stock Exchange Building, he perished in the debris. His body was not found for 28 days. A Chicagoan in the Fighting continued from page 15 Architect John Vinci, photog - rapher Aaron Siskind, and others “What a sight! And all day today was a holiday, with parades, formed the Richard Nickel dancing, flags flying from all windows and a general spirt of Committee, and with Ward Miller celebration. No one has slept since Saturday morning…. tried to invigorate the book project. How thankful I am that I am privileged to be here at this time.” By 2006 they finished archiving Nickel’s material and started the Several days later, on December 6, 1947, I wrote another letter in book project again. The publication which I described the beginning of the Arab reaction to the is a monumental achievement. events described above, both positive and negative—opposition Ward Miller accompanied his wasn’t total yet. But in the spirit of this narrative I will quote other talk with a treasure trove of slides. portions of this letter: He concentrated on previously “The radio is now playng z’mirot , signaling the end of the first unpublished images of little-known Shabbat in what has been recognized as the Jewish State by the world Adler & Sullivan buildings. at large [at least at that time]. The end of this Shabbat also ends the Thanks to CJHS Program Chair first week of our modern statehood, even if the details remain to be Jerry Levin for planning the event worked out. And what a week it has been! and operating the slide projector. “Today was a day of thanksgiving proclaimed by the Chief (See book ordering info on page 7.) Rabbinate, and in honor of the occasion special prayers of thanksgiving were said in all the synagogues in the country. efore the program, President “When we reached the verse “zeh hayom asah hashem, nagilah B Mazur conducted the election v’nism’ha bo’ (This is the day which the Lord has made, rejoice and of members to a three-year term on be glad thereon), all our voices rose loud and clear, and just about our Board of Directors. Six current everybody had tears in his eyes.” [Ever since, when I recite this verse, members—Leah Axelrod, Dr. Irving I get goosebumps.] O Cutler, Elise Ginsparg, Dr. Rachelle DR. MILTON SHULMAN is a longtime member of the CJH Editorial Gold, Joy Kingsolver, and Dan Board. Milt, along with Burt Robin and Frieda Landau, provides us Sharon—were reelected. Dr. Stanton with all-star proofreading “catches, saves, and late-inning clean-up hits.” Polin was elected to a first term. At a 18 Chicago Jewish History Fall 2011

Letter to CJH

Ezra Habonim: North Side and South Side y wife and I are longtime members of the Mitzvah, or other religious occasion at Habonim. M Society and regularly enjoy reading all the The Jewish North Center Congregation had its newsletters as well as attending many meetings. first home (as far as I can recall) in a rented space on With that said, I have a somewhat chauvinistic Wilson Avenue between Sheridan and Broadway. “North Sider” view of President Mazur’s statement It then moved to another rented space in the 3100 that Ezra Habonim “began its life on the South block of Broadway. I had my Bar Mitzvah in that Side…” [ CJH Summer 2011, Page 2]. Let me give a space in March 1946. little personal history and a look back at the Some time thereafter, the congregation development and history from my perspective. purchased an existing religious building on West My mother and father, Julius and Betty Lorig, Aldine Avenue. From there, the congregation moved brought my sister, Sonja, (age 8) and me (age 4) to a building on the corner of Hollywood and from Kordel, a village in western Germany, to the Winthrop. In November 1958, my wife, Sondra, USA in September 1937. We settled in Chicago on and I were married in that building. the far northeast side of the city in Rogers Park. We Some time between 1946 and 1958, the name apparently settled in this area because there were of the congregation was changed to The Ezra many other German Jews who already lived there, Congregation or Temple Ezra. For the High with many more to come. Holidays, the buildings could not accommodate the In the late 1930s, these refugees formed a full membership, so the services were often held at religious congregation named “Jewish North Center Dr. Preston Bradley’s Peoples Church on Lawrence Congregation.” This might not have been the exact Avenue, just east of Sheridan Road. Ezra Congre- name, but some combination of those words. This gation then purchased their last home on West became a central place for our religious activities, Touhy Avenue in the 1970s. including Sunday and Hebrew school classes. At the I do not know the date, but at one point, it same time, the German Jews on the South Side became obvious that because of their commonality formed the Habonim Congregation. These and the changing demographics, the two congre - institutions ran parallel for many years and their gations should merge. This was the beginning of congregations commonly supported other German- Ezra Habonim, not of the South Side and not of the Jewish institutions such as the Selfhelp Home. As a North Side, but a merger of the two. family, we very often traveled to the South Side to Max H. Lorig see friends and relatives and occasionally go to a Bar Northbrook, IL

hank you very much, Mr. Lorig, for sharing The first communal efforts of the North Siders Tsignificant points in your family history and resulted in the formation of a “North Center of your recollections of the North Side German Jewish Jewish Youth” that had clubrooms at 3158 North community. Your letter reminds us that in Novem- Broadway, and later at 1026 West Wilson Avenue. ber 1979, the Society held a symposium at Congre- The first Friday evening servcie was held on gation Ezra-Habonim, then located at 2620 West November 10, 1938, the day after Kristallnacht in Touhy Avenue: “The German Jewish Emigration of Germany. Later, services were held in the sanctuaries the 1930s and Its Impact on Chicago.” of the Lincoln Park Congregation and of Anshe You are correct in noting that in addition to the Emet Synagogue. South Side community (estimated to be about 75 Until after WWII, services, especially on the percent of the city’s German Jews), there was also a High Holy Days, were held at various locations, population on the North Side of about 25 percent. including the North Center on Broadway, a hall on Following are details that flesh out your story: Clark and Belmont, and a hall on Clark and Grace Chicago Jewish History Fall 2011 19

Streets. Beginning in 1948, services were held at ongregation Habonim on the South Side had a 836 West Aldine Street. Because that building was C history very similar to Ezra on the North Side. too small, the main services were conducted at the In 1946, the Habonim Jewish Center held services Masonic Temple on Wilson and Paulina. in rented quarters at 56th Street and Ellis Avenue. In 1946, the Jewish North Center was incorpor- In 1948, Habonim dedicated its own building ated, and in 1947 a new name was adopted for the on 53rd Street and University Avenue. congregation, Temple Ezra. In 1957, it relocated to 76th and Phillips From 1955 until 1966, Ezra rented the Peoples Avenue. This served Habonim until its merger with Church. Later, Ezra purchased the Greek Orthodox Ezra Congregation in 1973. St. Andrews Church on Winthrop and Hollywood. We greatly appreciate your observations, Mr. In 1967, Ezra purchased and moved to the Lorig. Correspondence with our historically astute synagogue known as “Rabbi Levy’s shul” or New membership enriches the Society’s mission in Israel on West Touhy Avenue. serving the Chicago Jewish community. Dr. Edward Mazur, President, CJHS

Something I am puzzled about, Mr. Lorig—the two contemporary north suburban “Ezra Habonims.” How do they relate to the congregation you attended and to each other? 1) The exisiting Ezra-Habonim, the Niles Township Jewish Congregation, 4500 Dempster Street, Skokie. 2) Northbrook Congregation Ezra Habonim (no hyphen!), 2095 Landwehr Road, which in August 2011 merged with Adas Yehudah v’Shoshana of Northbrook and Maine Township Jewish Congregation to form the Northbrook Community Synagogue, 2548 Jasper Court, Northbrook. Bev Chubat, Editor/Designer, CJH

I am not the definitive authority on these two “Ezra before the Ezra Habonim on Touhy Avenue was Habonims,” but when Congregation Ezra Habonim dissolved. I believe it was an effort by the Touhy on Touhy Avenue in Chicago dissolved, most of the Avenue congregation to establish a presence in the membership and the name were absorbed or merged suburbs, but it became an independent organi - into the Niles Township Congregation on Dempster zation. Hopefully, you can find a source to confirm Street. This occurred about 1990-1995. or correct the genesis of that organization. The Northbrook Ezra Habonim was founded Max H. Lorig To contribute to this correspondence, please send your e-mail to [email protected]

Report: CJHS Fall Events preservation to modernism. His returned to Chicago after eight years continued from page 17 passion for synagogue architecture in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. and Jewish history dates to his Carey now resides in Lakeview, college architectural photography where he is a member of Anshe They have four children and class, and he has personally visited Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation 14 grandchildren. The children are every extant Chicago synagogue and Anshe Emet Synagogue. Carey successful in their own right and since then. He graduated with a is a year-round cycling commuter. their grandchildren show the same Professional B. Arch. from the llen F. Steinberg presented her potential. Carey Wintergreen is a University of Illinois at Chicago. delightful slide lecture “Matzo licensed architect in Illinois and Carey is a native of Rogers Park E Balls, Chopped Liver, and the Florida, principal at Carey Winter- (Sullivan High and Congregation Midwest” at our open meeting on green Architects since 1987, and a B’nai Zion) and is the son and November 6 at West Suburban consulting masonry contractor since grandson of Holocaust survivors Temple Har Zion in River Forest. 1990. His residential and office from Przemyl, Poland. He recently projects have ranged from historic Her books are listed on page 7. O