Socwxa Ne(L)S VOLI'me XI NWBER I SEPTEMBER1987 SEPTEI4BER20 MEETINGFEATURES TALK on STRAW HAT SHUL Dr
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L()(rk to the aock tRon'r.rthich J(tu arrene hearrn .ltJ-bp o''fJrt 19t1; trt cl)rcclc,o JecL)rsl) brstoretcol socleXy socwxa ne(L)s VOLI'ME XI NWBER I SEPTEMBER1987 SEPTEI4BER20 MEETINGFEATURES TALK ON STRAW HAT SHUL Dr. VishnyTo DiscussAnshe Sholom TOURS At B'nai ZionCongregation IN SOCIETY'STENTH SEASON PROVEPOPULAR AND SUCCESSFUL The colorful story of one of Chica- go '" oldest East-European congregations Localand 0ut-of-Town TriDs will be the subject of the September Are Informative,Enjoyable 20 neeting of the Chicago Jewish Histori- ca1 Society. Dr. Michele Vishny has tit- The end of the sumner saw the close led her speech Sholom, Chieago: A "Anshe of another successful season of sunner bus Congregation Founded on a Straw Ilat.rl tours sponsored by the Society. According to longEioe tour chairman Leah Joy Axel- The meeting, which will be held at rod, the last tour, that of the old Jewish Congregation Brnai Zion, 6759 North Green- West Side held on August 9, was a sellout view Avenue, will begin with a social hour as usual. The other tours hrere siurilarly tour and of the B'nai Zion building at weI1- at t ended. 1:00 p.m. The prograu beginning at 2:00 They included two entirely new tours, p.ur. will also include a short presenta- one to small Jewish conununities in the tion by Edward Bernstein, 16, whose exhib- southwest and far south sides of the city it on his grandfather Sam Lesner won a and one to Ligonier, Indiana, site of an grand prize at this yearrs Chicago Metro important rural Jewish cournunity in the History Fair. last century. An account of one new tour Free Bus Service Available appears elsewhere in this issue; the other will be discussed in the next issue. rrour Free bus service, available at the thanks are due to Charles Bern- Marriott Hotel at Rush and ohio Streets, stein, Dr. Irving Cutler and Mark Mandle, r.'i11 take members to and from the meeting. who served as tour leaders this year," Departure will be at l2:30 p.m.; return said Mrs. Axelrod. Presiden! Nornan will be at 4:30 p,m. and no stops will be Schwartz coumented that there would have made along the route. been no tours at all without the careful The subject of the prograx0 is today planning and arrangements nade by Mrs. known as Anshe Sholom Brnai Israel Congre- Axelrod. gation and is located at 540 West Melrose. Suggestions for 1988 tours will be Dr. Vishny will trace its development from welcomed by Mrs. Axelrod, who can be its unusual beginnings on the Near reached at 432-7OO3. West Side of Chicago over a century ago. B'nai Zion Plays Interesting Role which is playing an unusual role in its conrmunity, " said President Nornan Schwartz "This neeting will provide mernbers who advised people to come early enough to and guests with an opportunity to learn tour the B'nai Zion buildiag. not only about Anshe Sholom but also about Speakers will- be introduced by pro- our host congregation, Brnai Zion, [continuedon nexr page] L SOCIETYBUS TRIP VISITS VANISHED JE}IISHCOMMUNITY IN LIGONIER All-DayTour Views Remains 0f UnusualRural Settlement by Mark Mandle For lhe second in this year's series of summer tours the Society nade a pil- grimage outside Chicago to rural Indiana to visit the remnants of a once thriving Jewish comnunity. I was unfamiliar with Ligonier, Indiana, and curious about what the tour would be 1ike. I should have realized thaE if Chuck Bernstein, noted genealogist, and Joseph Levine, ex- ecutive secretary of the Indiana Jewish Historical Society, were in charge' it had to be good. Our packed but very comfortable Lour 120-year-o1d ex-synagoguevisited on Ligonier Tour bus quickly traveled the 140 miles from --Photo by Les Axel"rod Chicago to Ligonier. 0n the way we went Isaac and Jacob. through Amish country and saw several by Jews named Abraharn, of the Amish families and wagons. We also saw the Jewish Part Ligonier Cemetery with t\to imposing maus- Two Families Began Jewish Settlement oleums and scores of well-kept graves. Ligonier is a snral l but PreEty town The Jews Di s appear whose population has never exceeded 2,500. As the Jews prospered, their children We first stopped in the Jewish Room of the coLlege and did not return. Ligonier Public Library, ful1 of relics of went away to Members of the straus farnily rnoved to the townrs Jewish cornmunity' Mr. Levine prominenE as briefly told us the Ligonier Jer,rish saga. Chicago where lhey became Today only It is a fascinating story of the Straus and bankers and financiers. in Lig- Mier families who transformed an Indiana che relics rernain. The Iast Jew years town into the second wealthiest smalI town onier died several ago. bY in America in the 1890's. The families The lour was ski11fu1lY Planned a fascinat- established banks, bought farmland and Leah Joy Axelrod. It offered sma11- manufactured buggies. ing glirnpse of a once-flourishing Jewish communitY. The first Straus, Frederick Wi11ian, town (known as F.h1. Straus) came to Ligonier in 1854 because the railroad \tas coming SeptemberMeetins (cont'd) through Ligonier. The Ligonier Jewish Icontinued from Pageone 1 conmrunity numbered about 55 families at gram Chairman Burt Robin. Refreshments its height. Ligonier Jews started a syn- will be supervised by Hospitality Chairman agogue in 1865 which lasted until the Shirley Sorkin. 1940's. Like many German-Jer,rish conmuni- Dr. Vishny Specially Qualified To Speak ties in the U.S., the synagogue was found- ed as Orthodox and became Reform in a gen- Dr. vishny is a specialist in art his- eration. tory and has published widely in that field. She has served as a professor, Town Full of Jewish Relics prirnarily at Northwestern University, but The tour visited the charming former also at other area c olleges and universi- synagogue, whieh is today a church. We ties during the past twenty Years. saw the section of town cal1ed "Jew Town" It is par!icularly aPProPriate that because many Jews lived there. she speak about Anshe Sholom because of her One inEersection with four gracious familyts record of involvement and promin- corner houses was called Piety Corner be- ence in local Orthodox Jewish insritu!ions cause three houses were formerly occupied and affairs. FIRSTZIONIST LIADER IN CITYVJAS IIETHODIST I'lINISTER INITIATEDI89O CONFERENCE, SOUGHT A JEWISHSTATE IN PALESTINE In 1890, before political Zionism becarne a gleam in the eye even of I'heodore ELerzL, a by Walter Roth local Christian minister made a concerted effort to have PalestiDe re-created as a Nearly every person dwelt upon by H. Jewish state. Through conferences, peti- L. Meites in his monumental work, HisLory tions and other tireless efforts he sought of the Jews in Ch icago, was a Jew. Christian.and Jewish support for his Zion- Yet he included a story on the Reverend isE ideas. In this article, Valter Roth, William E. Blackstone, a Methodist minister attorney and CJES board member, looka into who lived in Chicago in the late nineteenth the motivation, technique and results of and early twentieth centuries. This inclu- the efforts of Reverend llillian E. Black- sion aroused my interest, and after re- stone. search on the Reverend Blackstone, I learn- ed that he was indeed an unusual man who played an interesting role in local Jewish left the business arena to live a life de- history. voted to their religious missions. I learaed that he had written a booi< Pre-dated Theodore Herzl cal1ed Jesus Is Coming using the literary pseudonym "W.E.B.,' The book had sold uril_ Blackstone, however, added a factor to lions of copies since its first publication his activities whieh brought hin in close in Chicago in 1878. It is still on Lhe and welcomed contact with the Jews of Chi- evangelical best selIer 1ist, and copies cago and America. l{e became a Zionist be- are avaiLable at the Moody Bible Institute fore the rise of Jewish political Zionism Bookshop in Chicago and at other Protestant and before the call by Theodore llerzl for bookstores. It has been translated into the First Zionist Conference. His trip many languages, including both Hebrew and to Palestine in 1888 was ten years before Yiddish. In Hebrew the book is called, Ilerz 1 arrived there . rrHofaat I'a Ha Mashiash lla-Shnia,'r The Second Like Herzl, he saw Palestine as Appearance of the Messiah. Blackstone had land L'ithout a people and a people h'ithout many copies of the book stored in Petra, a land.rr He was impressed by the new Jew- Jordan, for use by Jews who he believed ish settlements there and saw them as proof r would go there at the "time of Jacob s that great events were at hand. Like the trouble,rr read the book, convert to Chris- Reverend Jerry Falwe11 today, he saw the tianity, and save themselves from destruc- return of the Jews to their land as t ion. a fulfillment of biblical propheeies and affirmation that the second cominq was at Played Seminal Role as Zionist hand , But Meites obviously did not include Chica€o Christians in Old Palestine Blackstone in his book on Chicago Jews be- cause of the Reverendrs conversion activi- While in Jerusalem, Blackstone visited I ties ; he did so because of Blackstone s an old friend, Anna Spafford, who was a role as an early Christian Zionist. Christian evangelist from Chicago. Anna In 1888, Blackstone, then a resident Spafford and her husband Horatio had suf- of Oak Park, visited Palestine lrith his fered a great tragedy when four of their daughter Flora.