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American Jewish Historical Society

May 2005 $2.50

RUTH BADER GINSBURG JONATHAN D. SARNA MILKEN ARCHIVE OF AMERICAN JEWISH MUSIC JEWISH HISTORY SUMMER 2005 heritage 5.6 5/20/05 10:38 AM Page ii

OFFICERS SIDNEY LAPIDUS CONTENTS President KENNETH J. BIALKIN Chairman IRA A. LIPMAN LESLIE POLLACK 2 Jews and the Rule of Law JUSTIN L. WYNER Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg Vice Presidents SHELDON S. COHEN Secretary and Counsel 5 Calendar LOUISE P. ROSENFELD Assistant Treasurer PROF. DEBORAH DASH MOORE 6 Greetings from Home Chair, Academic Council MARSHA LOTSTEIN Chair, Council of Jewish Historical Organizations 14 It’s your Heritage… GEORGE BLUMENTHAL LESLIE POLLACK Co-Chairs, Sports Archive DAVID P. SOLOMON 20 Evolving American Judaism Treasurer and Executive Director Jonathan D. Sarna BERNARD WAX Director Emeritus MICHAEL FELDBERG, Ph.D. 29 To Our Donors Director of Research/Editor of Heritage LYN SLOME Director of Library and Archives CATHY KRUGMAN Director of Development HERBERT KLEIN 25 Director of Marketing/Publisher of Heritage

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

M. BERNARD AIDINOFF KENNETH J. BIALKIN GEORGE BLUMENTHAL SHELDON S. COHEN RONALD CURHAN ALAN M. EDELSTEIN RUTH FEIN DAVID M. GORDIS DAVID S. GOTTESMAN ROBERT D. GRIES DAVID HERSHBERG MICHAEL JESSELSON DANIEL KAPLAN HARVEY M. KRUEGER SAMUEL KARETSKY SIDNEY LAPIDUS PHILIP LAX IRA A. LIPMAN NORMAN LISS MARSHA LOTSTEIN KENNETH D. MALAMED DEBORAH DASH MOORE EDGAR J. NATHAN, III ARTHUR S. OBERMAYER STEVEN OPPENHEIM JEFFREY S. OPPENHEIM, MD NANCY T. POLEVOY LESLIE M. POLLACK ARNOLD J. RABINOR HAROLD S. ROSENBLUTH LOUISE P. ROSENFELD ZITA ROSENTHAL FAYE G. SCHAYER BRUCE SLOVIN DAVID P. SOLOMON JOSEPH S. STEINBERG MORTON M. STEINBERG LOUISE B. STERN RONALD S. TAUBER SAUL VIENER SUE R. WARBURG EFREM WEINREB 24 JUSTIN L. WYNER ROBERTA YAGERMAN heritage 5.6 5/20/05 10:38 AM Page 1

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

The American Jewish Historical Jewish time is usually measured in millennia. By contrast, American Jewish history is only three hundred and fifty years old. However, our history on this Society collects, preserves and continent is virtually as old as that of the Pilgrims, and a century older than the American Revolution. disseminates materials that As this issue of HERITAGE goes to press, the American Jewish Historical document the Jewish experience Society is installing a wonderful exhibition, ‘Greetings from Home’: 350 Years of American Jewish Life, at the Center for Jewish History in New York. The exhibi- in America. It tells the marvelous tion will run until September 15, 2005 and then open at the Museum of National Heritage in Lexington, MA in November 2006. ‘Greetings from Home’ contains story of American Jewish life: of many unique, never-before-exhibited treasures in the Society’s vast holdings, immigration and adjustment, along with items from the American Sephardi Federation, YIVO, the Yeshiva University Museum, the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish poverty and prosperity, discrimi- Archives, the Library of Congress and the National Archives, all of whom are partners with the Society in celebrating this milestone in our national history. nation faced and overcome, The essays in this issue of HERITAGE focus on the anniversary and this exciting exhibition. achievements and contributions In 1905 and 1955, the American Jewish community celebrated the 250th and in every walk of American life. 300th anniversaries of Jewish settlement in North America with mixed emotions. The 1905 celebration took place in the shadow of increasing anti-Semitism and These themes reverberate anti-immigrant sentiment among non-Jewish Americans, as a veritable flood of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe passed through Ellis Island. In 1955, through our most recent exhibi- American Jewry was still recovering from the scourge of Nazi genocide in tion, ‘Greetings from Home’: 350 Europe, and McCarthyism at home was still in its heyday. Fortunately, we celebrate the 350th anniversary in better times for us, both Years of American Jewish Life. as Americans and Jews. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg notes in these pages, Jews have benefited from constitutional protections and entered the American This issue of HERITAGE intro- mainstream, no longer occupying token places reserved for members of disad- duces you to the exhibition. vantaged minority groups. Jonathan Sarna’s essay traces both the increasing “at homeness” of Jews in America and the constantly expanding diversity of Jewish religious observance over the course of 350 years. As Americans and Jews, we have much to be thankful for, even as we remain alert to threats to Come visit our fellow Jews at home and abroad. I hope you enjoy this issue of HERITAGE, attend the exhibition with your ‘Greetings from Home’ family and friends, and continue to support the American Jewish Historical IT’S YOUR HERITAGE Society through your membership. aJH s

Sincerely,

Sidney Lapidus

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AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY Jews and the Rule of Law Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Associate Justice Supreme Court of the United States

PHOTOGRAPH BY STEVEN PETTEWAY, COLLECTION OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES.

In 1790, President George Washington promised the Jews of Seven American Jews served on the Supreme Court of the United States, and Newport, Rhode Island that the newly formed government have thus been given the greatest oppor- would protect the religious freedom of all its citizens. tunity to seek justice on behalf of others. Washington pledged in his famous letter that the United The first Jew seated on the Court was Louis D. Brandeis, but he was not the States would give “to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no first Jew offered the post. The man who assistance.” Washington’s pledge to Newport’s Jews still pro- might have preceded Brandeis by some tects the religious liberty and freedom of conscience of every 63 years, Judah P. Benjamin, rejected the offer. In 1853, President Millard Fillmore law-abiding American. offered to nominate Benjamin, but In August of 2004, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg presented Benjamin had just been elected U.S. remarks at Touro Synagogue in Newport to accompany that Senator from Louisiana and preferred to retain his Senate seat. (His decision sug- congregation’s annual reading of Washington’s letter. The fol- gests that the Supreme Court was not lowing is an abridged version of her remarks. then a co-equal branch of government, as I it is today.) Benjamin later served the Confederacy as Jefferson Davis’s Secretary of State. As the Confederacy In preparing my remarks for the reading of Washington’s letter, I was drawn faltered, Benjamin became the target of again to consider the significance that the rule of law has played in allowing anti-Semitism; political enemies called American Jews, and all religious minorities, to help shape our nation’s history. him “Judas Iscariot Benjamin.” There is an age-old connection between Judaism and law. For centuries, rabbis When the Confederacy was defeated, and scholars ceaselessly studied and interpreted the Talmud, producing a vast Benjamin feared being singled out for corpus of juridical writings. Jews have prized the scholarship of judges and retribution and fled to England. To prac- lawyers in their own tradition, and wherever anti-Semitic restrictions lessened tice law in England, he enrolled as a stu- Jews entered the learned professions, and especially the law. dent at Lincoln’s Inn and became an Law became and remains an avenue of social mobility in our society, one in acclaimed barrister. In his obituary, the which intellectual achievement is rewarded. In the United States, law also Times of London, alluding to Benjamin’s became a bulwark against the kind of oppression Jews encountered, and sur- Jewish ancestry, described him as having vived, throughout history. Jews in large numbers became lawyers in the United “that elastic resistance to evil fortune States, and some eventually became judges. The best of those lawyers and judges which preserved [his] ancestors through used the law not simply to earn a living, but to secure justice for others. a succession of exiles and plunderings.”

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Thus it fell to Louis D. Brandeis to Brandeis faced opposition, not least Brandeis served with Benjamin become the first sitting Supreme Court because he was Jewish. Once on the Cardozo, whom Hoover appointed to the Justice of Jewish birth. Brandeis was bench, Brandeis won over many of his Court in 1932. Tutored in his youth by sometimes called “the people’s attor- critics. Admirers, including Franklin D. Horatio Alger, Cardozo thrived on hard ney” in recognition of his activity in the Roosevelt, called Brandeis “Isaiah,” work; it was rightly said that he progressive social and economic turning to Scripture to find words to approached his legal responsibilities with reform movements before joining the describe his contributions to constitu- “ecstatic consecration.” Cardozo’s fine Court. Raised in Louisville, Kentucky, tional thought. At the Court itself, unfor- hand adapted the common law traditions Brandeis showed early signs of great- tunately, Brandeis encountered one to a rapidly changing industrial society. ness when he graduated from Harvard openly anti-Semitic colleague. James Before joining the U.S. Supreme Court, Law School in 1876 at age 20 with the Clark McReynolds left the room when Cardozo served with distinction on New highest scholastic average in that law Brandeis spoke in conference. There is York’s highest court – the last five as school’s history. In Boston, he became no official photograph of the Court in Chief Judge. It has been said that “genius a champion of the Progressive agenda: defending trade unions, advocating for A question, frequently stated in various ways, indicates the women’s suffrage and promoting busi- large advances our people have made: “What is the difference ness ethics. between a New York City garment district bookkeeper and a Brandeis helped found the American pro bono legal tradition. Supreme Court Justice?” The answer: “Just one generation.” Spending half of his working hours on My life bears witness… public causes, Brandeis reimbursed his firm when he devoted time to non-pay- 1924 because McReynolds refused to sit consists in the ability to make clear the ing clients. He donated large portions next to Brandeis, where McReynolds obvious which has never been under- of his income to good causes, while liv- belonged based on seniority. stood before.” In this sense, Cardozo’s ing frugally at home. A friend recount- Brandeis was not religious but legal opinions are indeed works of genius. ed that, whenever he went to became an ardent Zionist, and encour- Descended from a distinguished Brandeis’s home for dinner, he ate aged the next two Jewish justices – Sephardic family that included his before and afterward. Benjamin Cardozo and Felix cousin Emma Lazarus and colonial haz- In 1916, after Brandeis helped Frankfurter – to join the Zionist zan Gershom Mendes Seixas, Cardozo President Woodrow Wilson formulate Organization of America. Biographer remained a lifelong member of his “new freedom” economic doctrine, Melvin Urofsky commented that Congregation Shearith Israel, New Wilson nominated him to the Court. Justice Brandeis brought three gifts to York’s Spanish and Portuguese American Zionism: organizational tal- Synagogue. Like Brandeis, Cardozo was ent; an ability to lead men and women not observant. Yet, as a young lawyer to achieve goals; and an idealism that and concerned member of the congrega- recast Zionist thought to captivate tion, he publicly urged the congregants Jews comfortably situated in the to preserve tradition and reject a pro- United States. posal to end the separation of women For Justice Brandeis, Jews abroad from men at services. There is still sepa- needing to escape anti-Semitism would rate seating at that synagogue, even find a home in the land of Israel, an though one of its congregants today is open society that he hoped would Judith Kaye, a successor to Cardozo as reject prejudices and economic dispari- Chief Judge of New York’s highest court. ties. He foresaw Israel as embracing Cardozo died in 1938, after only six the prophetic teachings of justice, years on the Supreme Court. The chief charity and loving kindness. Jews in Justice at that time, Charles Evans the United States, he counseled, would Hughes, said of him, “With us who had have an obligation to help their kins- the privilege of daily association there men and women to build that new land. will ever abide the precious memory Brandeis’s stature attracted legions of not only of the work of a great jurist others to the cause. Jews here would but of companionship with a beautiful say, if Brandeis could be a Zionist, then spirit, an extraordinary combination of

LOUIS D. BRANDEIS it was OK to be one as well. grace and power.”

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Felix Frankfurter, appointed by social differences between himself and Roosevelt after Cardozo’s death, had the previous Jewish Justices. Goldberg been a Harvard Law School professor was visiting his mother, who was active for 25 years. No cloistered academic, in several Jewish organizations. One he ardently advocated for the rights of morning the telephone rang for him. His labor, helped found the American Civil mother answered the phone and asked, Liberties Union, joined the National “Who is this?” The caller replied, “This Association for the Advancement of is the President.” Goldberg, barely Colored People (NAACP) advisory awake, heard his mother inquire, “Nu, lawyers committee and defended the president from which shul?” anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti. Lyndon Johnson then appointed Abe As a Justice, the onetime liberal Fortas to what had become the “Jewish crusader became a strong proponent seat” on the Court. Fortas was yet anoth- of judicial restraint. Some criticized er champion of individual rights who him as excessively restrained. Yet steadfastly defended individuals smeared STEPHEN G. BREYER Frankfurter was the first Justice to by Senator Joseph McCarthy at the employ an African-American law clerk, height of the Cold War, and others with contrast to Frankfurter, Goldberg and William T. Coleman, in 1948. no place else to turn. Fortas’s successful Fortas, however, no one regarded Frankfurter was also the Justice who pro bono argument in Gideon v. Ginsburg or Breyer as filling a “Jewish” wrote, “Basic rights do not become Wainwright secured his legacy as a seat. Both of us take pride in, and draw petrified as of any one time … It is of shaper of individual rights. In Gideon, the strength from, our heritage, but our the very nature of a free society to Court agreed with Fortas that indigent religion simply was not relevant to advance in its standards of what is defendants in criminal cases had the President Clinton’s appointment. deemed reasonable and right.” Like right to counsel paid from the public The security I feel as a Jew at the Cardozo, Frankfurter believed in purse. In 1968, after Johnson nominated Court is reflected by the commandment adapting traditional legal values to him to succeed Earl Warren as Chief from Deuteronomy displayed in art- contemporary circumstances. Justice, conservative Republicans and works in Hebrew letters on three walls After Frankfurter retired in 1962, southern Democrats filibustered Fortas’s and a table in my chambers. They pro- Arthur Goldberg joined the Court. A nomination. A year later, apparent ethical claim, Zedek, zedek, tirdof; “Justice, jus- Kennedy appointee, Goldberg had been lapses forced Fortas to resign. tice shalt thou pursue” ever present counsel to labor unions at a time when Law as the protector of the reminders of what judges must do “that strikers were prey to armed thugs. A oppressed, the poor, the minority, is the they may thrive.” A large silver mezuzah longtime advisor to the steel workers unifying thread in the work of Justices is mounted on my doorpost, a gift from union, Goldberg helped architect the Brandeis, Cardozo, Frankfurter, the super bright teenage students at the union merger that created the AFL-CIO. Goldberg and Fortas. Frankfurter, once Shulamith School for Girls in Brooklyn, Goldberg was the only Jewish distressed when the Court rejected his New York, which one of my dearest law Justice born into childhood poverty. view in a case, reminded his brethren clerks attended. His father, who died when Arthur that he “belong[ed] to the most vilified Jews in the United States today Goldberg was eight, sold produce in and persecuted minority in history.” I face few closed doors and do not fear Chicago from a wagon pulled by a blind prefer Arthur Goldberg’s affirmative speaking out. A question, frequently horse. Goldberg was the sole member description of the link between his stated in various ways, indicates the of his large family to continue his edu- Jewish background and his social val- large advances our people have made: cation beyond grade school. Unlike his ues. “My concern for justice, for peace, “What is the difference between a New predecessors Brandeis, Cardozo and for enlightenment,” Goldberg said, York City garment district bookkeeper Frankfurter, Goldberg held Passover “stem[s] from my heritage.” and a Supreme Court Justice?” The Seders in his home, where he would Consider in that light President answer: “Just one generation.” My life relate the story of the Israelites in Clinton’s appointments in 1993 of Ruth bears witness to the difference Egypt to the oppressed and outcasts of Ginsburg and in 1994 of Stephen between the opportunities open to my the contemporary world. Goldberg Breyer as the 107th and 108th Justices. mother, a bookkeeper, and those open resigned in 1965 to become U. S. Our backgrounds have certain resem- to me. As vice presidential candidate Ambassador to the United Nations. blances: we taught law and then served Joe Lieberman famously asked, Some years ago, I came upon a on federal courts of appeals for some “Where else but in America could such story Goldberg told that illustrated the thirteen years. We are both Jews. In a thing be possible.” aJH s

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JEWISH HISTORY SUMMER 2005

CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY Batkin Mezzanine MOAKLEY UNITED STATES COURT HOUSE 15 West 16th St, New York, NY Constantiner Gallery Northern Avenue, Boston, MA Monday 11 AM – 7 PM; Tuesday – Thursday, 11 AM – 5 PM Monday – Friday, 8 am – 6 pm Friday 11 AM – 3 PM; Sunday 11 AM – 5 PM free YIVO AT 80: plus occasional evenings and Sundays BRIEF ENCOUNTER WITH ARCHIVES FROM HAVEN TO HOME: Great Hall and YUM galleries April 6 – August 31 YIVO at 80, Triumphs and Treasures, show- 350 YEARS OF JEWISH LIFE GREETINGS FROM HOME: 350 YEARS cases the Institute’s collections of more than September 15, 2005 – January 30, 2006 OF AMERICAN JEWISH LIFE 23 million archival pieces and 360,000 books Based on the highly successful exhibition May 17 – September 15 related to Eastern European Jewry. On display created by the Library of Congress for the ‘Greetings from Home’ celebrates the 350th are rare rabbinical texts, posters, sheet music, Commission for Commemorating 350 Years Anniversary of the first permanent Jewish DP camp photos and unique Judaica. of American Jewish History, From Haven to settlement in North America in 1654. The Presented by Home features more than 180 treasures from American Jewish Historical Society has cre- YIVO Institute for Jewish Research the collections of the Library and its ated a landmark exhibition featuring over 917 606-8200 www.YIVO.org Commission partners: the American Jewish two hundred objects from the collections of Historical Society, the Jacob Rader Marcus the Society and its partners, many never Rosenberg/Winnick Galleries Center of the American Jewish Archives, and before seen in public. The exhibit explores the National Archives and Records the continually evolving forms of American PRINTING THE TALMUD Administration. Highlights the changing role Judaism and Jewish culture and their impact FROM BOMBERG TO SCHOTTENSTEIN of the United States from a haven for Jews on American society. April 12 – August 29 seeking freedom to the largest and most Presented by the American Jewish Historical A fascinating exploration into the world of secure Jewish community in the Diaspora. Society in cooperation with Yeshiva University Talmud study, this exhibit illustrates how tech- Presented by the Museum and the American Sephardi Federation nological advances – the invention of the American Jewish Historical Society with Sephardic House printing press more than 500 years ago and 617-559-8880 [email protected] 212 294 6160 www.ajhs.org the impact of computers in recent decades - have transformed the ancient discipline of THE MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE Mezzanine Level Talmud study into an accessible pursuit avail- 36 Battery Place, New York, NY able to all. The exhibition features outstanding STARTING OVER: examples of early Talmud manuscripts and OURS TO FIGHT FOR: AMERICAN JEWS THE EXPERIENCE OF GERMAN JEWS rare examples of early printed volumes. DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR Presented by IN AMERICA, 1830 – 1945 through December May 17 – November 15 Yeshiva University Museum Photos, letters, documents, sketches, paint- 212-294-8330 x8803 [email protected] NEW YORK – CITY OF REFUGE, ings, maps, medals and other rare artifacts of STORIES FROM THE LAST 60 YEARS through November 27 German-Jews who settled across the United MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK States. Many German Jewish immigrants 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St, New York, NY Presented by the played a significant role in shaping a wide Tuesday – Sunday, 10 AM – 5 PM array of contemporary issues, assuming an Museum of Jewish Heritage American identity that was enhanced by its TOLERANCE AND IDENTITY: JEWS 646.437.4202 www.mjhnyc.org German Jewish influence, much as the IN EARLY NEW YORK, 1654 – 1825 American culture was enhanced by the sensi- May 10 – October 2 THE JEWISH MUSEUM bilities of the newcomers. They became Tolerance and Identity investigates a quintes- 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street, New York, NY active in Hollywood, Broadway, in the arts, sentially New York topic: the story of an publishing and religion, especially in the immigrant community navigating their iden- THE POWER OF CONVERSATION: Reform and Conservative movements. tity within the context of a pluralistic society. JEWISH WOMEN AND THEIR SALONS German Jews also established Hadassah, Emboldened by Dutch ideals of religious tol- through July 10 B’nai B’rith, the National Council of Jewish erance, New York’s Jews struggled for the The Power of Conversation: Jewish Women and Women, and the National Jewish Welfare right to participate fully in the city’s political, their Salons examines the significant role Board that continue to flourish. economic, and social life while maintaining Presented by the played by the salons of Jewish women in the their own communal identity. Original docu- Leo Baeck Institute development of art, literature, music, theater, ments, artifacts and portraits are used to 212 744 6400 www.LBI.org philosophy, and politics in Europe and America bring into focus the power of New York’s tra- from the late 18th century through the 1940’s. dition of tolerance to create opportunity. Presented by the Presented by the Jewish Museum Summer events and movies at AJHS visit: Museum of the City of New York 212.423.3200 [email protected] www.ajhs.org/about/calendar 212 534-1672 www.mcny.org

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AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY

“Greetings from Home”

For 350 years, Jews have made a home in America, growing from a tiny community of twen- ty-three refugees to a population that numbers some six million individuals. The long encounter of Jews with America, shaped by successive waves of immigrants and changing American conditions, nurtured a community that retained its traditions while adapting to new opportunities. “Home” has come to mean belonging to American society on an equal basis with other citi- zens, a status Jews have rarely attained in other societies. It also means creating homegrown ver- sions of Judaism and Jewish culture. Yet, while creating “New World” homes, Jews also retained ties to their places of origin. In every era, American Jewry stretched the bonds of family, friendship, religion, commerce, philanthropy, communal association and political activism to include Jewish communities abroad. A reciprocal flow of information, ideas, cultural forms, goods and individuals Fbetween the United States and foreign countries animated American Jewish life. 1654 1730 1742 Twenty-three Jewish refugees New York’s Phila Franks (1722 – 1811), flee Brazil and the long arm Shearith Israel daughter of Abigail and of the Inquisition, dedicates its first Jacob Franks of New York, and land in New synagogue building disappoints her parents by Amsterdam. on Mill Street. eloping with Oliver DeLancey, a Christian, and eventually moving to London. Hers was one of the earliest recorded “intermarriages” in American Jewish history.

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American Jews both encouraged family and friends to immigrate to America and provided material sup- port to Jews who chose to remain abroad. This exhibition explores this continual process of innovation, dia- logue and migration that enabled Jews JACOB DE LEON (1764 – 1828) to make their homes in America and John Ramage (ca. 1748 – 1802) remain connected to their fellow Jews Miniature Oil on ivory, 1789 overseas. American Jewish Historical Society

WEDDING OF ADINA AND CHARLES ANFLICK Brooklyn, New York, 2002 Courtesy of Adina Anflick

BILHAH ABIGAIL FRANKS (1696 – 1756) Attr. Gerardus Duyckinck (1695 – 1746) c. 1735 Oil on canvas (Reproduction) American Jewish Historical Society

JOSEPH SIMON Torah Ark Lintel Lancaster, Pennsylvania mid-eighteenth century Wood THE American Jewish Historical Society m Home” KALMANOWITCH, HARRY. AY QUE MUCHACHA! EXHIBITION (What a Girl! – Oy iz dos a meydl!) August 9, 1932, Teatro Excelsior Buenos Aires, Argentina Stone lithographic poster AT HOME IN AMERICA: Yiddish Theater Poster Collection AMERICAN JEWISH LIVES, American Jewish Historical Society 1654 TO THE PRESENT How to be both Jewish and American? For 350 years, American Jews have been answering this question in ADOLPHUS S. SOLOMONS (1826 – 1910) Miniature; watercolor over photograph diverse, resourceful and highly individ- c. 1828 ual ways. Each answer has reflected American Jewish Historical Society both the circumstances of American Jewish life at a specific moment and the preferences and choices of American Jewish individuals. The pro- files in this exhibition offer a glimpse at ways to define the balance between American and Jewish devised by nine

1761 1763 1768 First High Holiday prayer book The Jews of Newport, Rhode Island Circumcision register of printed in America is published in dedicate a Sephardic ritual syna- Abraham I. Abrahams (1720 – New York. gogue designed by 1796), mohel (ritual circumciser) leading architect of Congregation Shearith Israel, Peter Harrison. including the names of 81 adults, children and babies Abrahams circumcised in the late 1760s.

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AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY

1784 1808 1813 Prayer for the Government com- Polonies Talmud Torah, the first Mordecai Manuel Noah (1785 – posed and delivered by Gershom Jewish school on record in the 1851), politician, editor and play- Mendez Seixas (1745 – United States, established in wright, appointed United States 1816), hazzan of Shearith New York City. Consul at Tunis, Israel, calling on God to the first major protect General George diplomatic post Washington and New awarded an York Governor George American Jew. Clinton during the Revolutionary War.

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American Jews from the colonial era Opposite page: from top left to bottom right through the late twentieth century. AARON LOPEZ (1731 – 1782) emigrated from Portugal to Newport, Rhode Island, where he became a mer- For these women and men, an chant in trade with Jews and Gentiles throughout awareness of the freedoms and opportu- the Atlantic world, one of the wealthiest men in the colony, a prominent supporter of the Touro nities that America afforded them coin- Synagogue and a revolutionary patriot. cided with a sense of connection to their MORDECAI MANUEL NOAH (1785 – 1851) was the fellow Jews at home and elsewhere in best-known American Jew of his day. He enjoyed a multifaceted career as a politician, diplomat, journal- the world. Some endeavored to extend ist and playwright. His visionary plan for Ararat, a the rights and securities they enjoyed to Jewish colony in upstate New York, anticipated the rise of American Zionism by several decades. Jews in other countries. Others labored to help immigrants adjust to realities in REBECCA GRATZ (1781 – 1869), a devout and ener- getic member of Philadelphia’s Congregation Mikveh their new American homes. Mordecai Israel, pioneered Jewish education in America. She Manuel Noah (1785-1851) spoke for many became one of the first women in Jewish history to set curriculum and to teach both males and females generations when he insisted that, for in public. Jews, America was their “chosen coun- Businessman and philanthropist ADOLPHUS SIMEON try,” yet reminded his coreligionists the SOLOMONS (1826 – 1910) sought to defend the rights of Jews in Civil War America and Czarist world over that “we are one people.” JEWISH LIBERATION HAGADA, Jewish Liberation Project, Russia. He also co-founded the American Red Cross 1971, American Jewish Historical Society with Clara Barton in 1881. CELEBRATING FREEDOM: Haggadot (plural for Haggadah) from A proud descendant of early Spanish and Europe. The first American Haggadah Portuguese Jewish settlers, social worker ALICE PASSOVER IN AMERICA DAVIS MENKEN (1870 – 1936) helped Sephardic The Passover holiday has resonated was published in 1837 by Samuel Jackson newcomers on New York’s Lower East Side and in New York City. In the decades to follow, became a renowned expert on the problems of throughout the course of American immigrant women and teenagers. Jewish history. American Haggadot expressed a wide Ukrainian emigrant ROSE PESOTTA (1896 – 1965) was As a celebration of freedom from range of Jewish ethnic traditions, immi- a firebrand of the American labor movement. As an slavery and an affirmation of Jewish grant experiences, languages and liturgi- organizer for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) throughout North America, she refused peoplehood, the holiday has been both a cal variations or revisions, all the while to compromise her anarchist radicalism or her working- happy and solemn one for American adhering to a fundamental text. class identity, returning to her sewing machine as a factory operative after her long union career. Jews, free from the anti-Semitic oppres- With its call for the remembrance of A star of the stage and screen, New York-born sion experienced in other lands. The bondage and the need to cherish free- MOLLY PICON (1898 – 1992) charmed Yiddish-speak- Passover Seder dinner has also become dom, the Haggadah has also become a ing audiences around the world and raised money for Jewish causes before also finding success in English- a kind of “Jewish Thanksgiving,” where manifesto adapted to support a variety language theater and television productions. far-flung family members gather for a of political and social causes, ranging Massachusetts-based RABBI JOSEPH S. SHUBOW yearly reunion. from anti-Nazism to the American civil (1899 – 1969), a U.S. Army chaplain during World rights struggle, feminism, vegetarianism War II, served the needs of G.I.s as they liberated The Haggadah (the written account France, Holland, and Germany. He also aided of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt used and gay rights, among others. The selec- Holocaust survivors. during the Seder ceremony) embodies tion of American Haggadot displayed in New York social worker GRAENUM BERGER another aspect of the American Passover: this exhibition range from the mid-nine- (1908 – 1999) made it his life’s mission to resettle the jeopardized Ethiopian Jewish community in the diversity of the American Jewish teenth century to the present day and Israel. His efforts, and those of other activists, bore community in the past and present. Early evoke the diversity and shifting patterns fruit when the Beta Israel (Ethiopian) Jews were air- lifted to Israel between 1984 and 1991. Jewish settlers brought or imported of American Jewish life.

1819 1854 1856 fi In Philadelphia, Rebecca Gratz Judah Touro Sabato Morais (1823 – 1897), (1781 – 1869) establishes the (1775 – 1854) rabbi of Congregation Mikvah first independent Jewish bequeaths Israel in Philadelphia, denounces women’s charitable society and, several hun- the evils of American slavery fi in 1838, the dred thousand from his pulpit. Hebrew Sunday dollars to School, creating Jewish and non-Jewish charita- new avenues ble institutions and civic causes, for Jewish making him one of America’s first women’s major philanthropists. activism.

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AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY

THE ATLANTIC WORLD: 1654 – 1775 In September 1654, twenty-three Jews, fleeing the Portuguese conquest of A significant proportion of American Jewish men made a living as Dutch Brazil, arrived in New Amsterdam (now New York City) and merchants and their employees, partic- ipating in maritime trade networks established the first Jewish community in North America. Over the next that connected the Americas to Europe and Africa. Trade routes served as century, other Jews migrated to New York, Newport, Savannah, vital links between the small American Jewish communities and their coreli- Charleston, and Philadelphia. By 1775, perhaps 2,500 Jewish men, gionists around the world. Jews in women, and children called the American colonies their home. America, the Caribbean and Europe were in constant contact, relying on each other for information, advice, rit- ual objects, advice and funds. Such mutual dependence helped American GOMEZ FAMILY ETROG HOLDER ca. eighteenth century Jews share a sense of identity with Silver their kin across the seas. I American Jewish Historical Society

American Jews sought to fulfill the age- old require- ments of Judaism: To keep the Sabbath, eat only kosher food, have their infant sons circumcised and provide Jewish burial. They founded a synagogue congregation in each of the five cities. Unlike Europe, where state- sanctioned rabbis prescribed and enforced religious observance, identify- ing with Judaism in America was volun- tary. Individuals defined the meanings CONGREGATION SHEARITH ISRAEL MISHEBERACH BOOK of being Jewish for themselves to a New York, NY, 1759 degree unknown elsewhere. Congregation Shearith Israel Records American Jewish Historical Society

1861 – 65 1862 1863 1874 – 75 Civil War. Jewish military Former United States surgeon Israel Moses (d.1870) Senator Judah P. Benjamin re-enlists in U. S. Army and is (1811 – 1884) is appointed placed in charge Secretary of State for the of camp hospitals Confederate States of for the Army of the America. On the Union side, Potomac. after a successful Jewish effort to amend the nation’s chaplaincy law, the U.S. Army appoints its first Jewish chaplain. The confederacy had no Jewish chaplains.

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PRESENT AT THE FOUNDING: only briefly after nights spent sleeping 1776 – 1820 in inns, barns, or along the roadside. Yet Like other Americans, Jews took those who succeeded planted roots in sides—and took up arms—during the towns and cities, creating businesses Revolutionary War (1775-1783). While and establishing synagogue congrega- some became Tories, many joined the tions and Jewish communities. patriot cause. Jews evacuated New Remaining members of the world York, Newport, Savannah and Jewish community remained important Charleston when the British seized to the new immigrants. In many cases those cities. About one hundred Jews they sustained links with their home served in the Continental Army and towns in Central Europe, returning state militias. American Jews remained there to bring back brides and rela- proud of having “bravely fought and tives. Along with members of “old” bled for liberty,” in the words of Jewish American Jewish families, they increas- Philadelphian Jonas Phillips. MICHAEL GRATZ (1740 – 1811) ingly saw it as their duty to defend the By fostering religious freedom, the Attributed to Thomas Sully (1783 – 1872) rights of Jews around the world, and to Philadelphia, c. 1805 – 8 Revolution confirmed Jews in their Pastel on paper (Reproduction) promote American freedom as the best belief that they were truly at home in American Jewish Historical Society guarantor of communal defense for America. The Bill of Rights and several their coreligionists abroad. state constitutions affirmed their liber- in the cities of the Atlantic seaboard. ty to worship as they chose. In 1790, By 1870, over 200,000 Jews could be TEEMING SHORES: 1870 – 1924 when the nation’s Jewish congregations found spread throughout the nation, in More Jews emigrated to the United sent letters of greeting to President small Southern and Midwestern towns, States between 1870 and 1924 than in George Washington, he assured them in Far Western mining camps, in New any period before or since. While their that the United States government Orleans, Cincinnati and San Francisco. “gives to bigotry no sanction, to perse- A prolonged wave of immigration from cution no assistance.” the German states, Austria, Bohemia, American conditions justified the Hungary, Poland and Lithuania had patriotic enthusiasm of Charleston’s brought tens of thousands of mostly Myer Moses, who proclaimed that July young Jewish men and women to 4th, 1776 marked the date when “the America. Almighty gave to the Jews what had Attracted by the booming commer- long been promised them, namely, a cial economy of the United States and second Jerusalem!” its religious freedom, most of these new- comers settled in large cities, especially AMERICA FEVER: 1820 – 1870 the great immigrant port of New York In 1820, American Jews numbered City. But thousands of others became MR. AND MRS. CHARLES TOBIAS AND DOG about 3,000, most of them descendants peddlers on the back roads of rural August Edouart fecit Saratoga, 26 August 1844 of immigrants who arrived in the colo- America. For such itinerants, “home” Silhouette nial period. They remained concentrated was often a place to which they returned American Jewish Historical Society

1863 1874 – 75 Board of Delegates of American Young Men’s Hebrew Associations in New Israelites, the nation’s first York and Philadelphia become prototypes Jewish lobbying organization, for the more than 120 YMHA’s established successfully protests Ulysses throughout the U.S. S. Grant’s “vile order” expelling in the next 15 years. Jews from Union-held areas of In the 20th century, Tennessee, Mississippi and many of these Kentucky. President Lincoln evolve into Jewish orders General Halleck to Community Centers. rescind Grant’s fiat.

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AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY

numbers included 20,000 Sephardic and friends in der Haym (the Home, the of immigrants entered the mainstream Jews from the Ottoman Empire and Old Country). Many devout immigrants of American life, succeeding in com- the Balkans and a steady stream from looked back to Eastern Europe to recruit merce and industry, higher education, Central and Western Europe, the vast rabbis, cantors and teachers. The Jewish the professions, sports and popular majority— some 2.5 million—fled labor movement drew much of its fervor entertainment. Increasingly they poverty and anti-Semitism in the from revolutionary activity in Czarist moved out of immigrant neighbor- Russian Empire, Rumania and Austria- Russia and Poland. A vast flow of letters, hoods such as New York’s Lower East Hungary to come to America. remittances, tickets and postcards Side or Brownsville and Chicago’s These Eastern Europeans trans- crossed the Atlantic, making America a West Side to more prestigious and formed American Jewish life. They cre- very real presence throughout Eastern “American” districts and suburbs. ated dense Yiddish-speaking districts Europe while enabling Americans to in New York and other major cities, keep their fingers on the pulse of events reinvigorated traditional religious in their home village or city. observance and, by fostering the rise of a Jewish working class in the garment HOME GROWN: 1924 – 1960 trades and other industries, reshaped After Congress ended mass emigra- the labor movement and left-wing poli- tion from Eastern and Southern tics in America. By 1930, these immi- Europe in 1924, for the first time in its grants and their children had raised history the American Jewish popula- the Jewish community’s numbers to tion became predominantly native- over 4 million, or about 3.5% of the born. The children and grandchildren American population. Like others before them, the immi- grants made new homes for themselves by crafting identities that were both Jewish and American. They also remained in contact with their family

“WHO ME? YES, YOU, HADASSAH!” BASKETBALL SHIRT WITH STAR OF DAVID MATRONSHKA Stacking Doll “Olga” Membershp brochure, 1949 Athletic uniform, c. 1930 Russia, 1870’s Courtesy of Hadassah Wool knit Wood The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc. Hebrew National Orphan Home Collection, American Jewish Historical Society New York, NY American Jewish Historical Society

1870 1886 Benjamin Peixotto Statue of Liberty unveiled in New York harbor. In (1834 – 1890) appointed U.S. 1903, Emma Lazarus’s sonnet “The New Colossus” ambassador to the newly (1883) is added to its formed nation of Romania pedestal. It welcomes all with the hope that, as a Jew, immigrants with these he could persuade Romanian words: “Give me your king to suppress local anti- tired, your poor,/Your Semitic outbreaks. Peixotto huddled masses yearning resigns in 1876 after his to breathe free.” efforts bore no fruit.

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The rise of Nazi Germany in 1933 their own movements in support of rabbis, while dividing Jews over the reinforced their consciousness of belong- Israel, and for the liberation of Soviet, proper role of women in Judaism. ing to world Jewry as well as to America. Syrian, and Ethiopian Jews. As had Revised federal immigration laws in Jewish organizations in America tried, been true for American Jews for three 1965 enabled ex-Soviet, Middle Eastern often in vain, to arouse indignation about centuries, their efforts were grounded and Central Asian newcomers to arrive the plight of Europe’s Jews and to get in the Talmudic injunction that “all of and practice (or rediscover) their dis- the United States government to liberal- Israel are responsible for each other.” tinctive Judaic traditions. ize its restrictive immigration laws. The Sixties counterculture also Today, despite concerns about While some six million Jews ultimately fostered an increased diversity in reli- intermarriage and declining obser- died in Nazi-occupied Europe, only about gious observance. Rejecting the tradi- vance, about four million out of six mil- 250,000 Jewish refugees and survivors tional synagogue, some young Jews lion American Jews have synagogue were allowed to enter this country dur- created the Havurah and Jewish affiliations. For most of the officially ing the 1930s and 1940s. Renewal movements, which sought non-observant, their sense of being part The disaster of the Holocaust personal spiritual fervor in informal of American and world Jewry remain confirmed the Zionism of many settings. Others, seeking a return to defining traits of their identities. The American Jews and converted others to roots, embraced traditional Orthodoxy freedom to choose or create one’s own the cause. Most Jewish Americans or Hasidism. Feminism prompted the way of being Jewish and American greeted with enthusiasm the establish- ordination of the first female American remains vital after 350 years. ment of the state of Israel in 1948. They also found themselves in an unprece- dented position: By 1950, American Jewry, with five million individuals, was now the largest and most influential Jewish community in the world.

TURBULENT TIMES: 1960 – 2004 The late twentieth century found Jews more ensconced in the American main- stream than ever before. Their position AMERICA STANDS WITH ISRAEL: WASHINGTON, D.C., APRIL 15, 2002, in the professions, business, politics, A DAY OF HISTORY AND UNITY. and cultural and intellectual life was New York: American Jewish Historical Society & Conference of Presidents of increasingly secure. The turbulence of Major American Jewish Organizations, 2002 the 1960s and 1970s, however, saw American Jewish Historical Society Library young Jews bring an American tradi- tion of questioning authority and a Jewish concern for pursuing social jus- tice to the civil rights movement, anti- war protests, feminism and gay rights. Jews brought the era’s student, civil rights and anti-war militancy to bear on

1897 1900 1900s

Poale Zion meeting, Boston. E. S. Hart’s dry goods store After the first Zionist Congress in Cotopaxi, Colorado. in Basle, Starting in the 1880s, The Jewish Switzerland, eastern European Jews Daily Forward American began settling the [Forverts], a Zionism gets American West with Yiddish daily a boost. assistance from Jewish newspaper, is founded in organizations. New York by Abraham Cahan (1860 – 1951).

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AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY It’s your heritage… Join the American Jewish Historical Society.

he American Jewish Historical Society is the world’s leading institution for communicat- ing the history of the Jewish people in the TUnited States. This is so important because the Society’s critical mission is not duplicated by any other organization. For more than a century, this institution has served educators, students, rabbis, researchers, genealogists, filmmakers, curators and audiences – Jewish and non- Jewish alike, bringing forth the richness of the remark- able Jewish experience in this great nation. Now more than ever, as we celebrate 350 years of Jewish life in America, support from friends and mem- bers like you can make a difference. Without your commitment, the stories we tell and the documents we preserve will be lost to future gen- Congregation B’nai Jeshurun NY – 1827 erations. What does your personal gift make possible? >AJHS sponsors the AJHS Academic Council, the only professional organization in the field. Its scholarly Research and Scholarship conferences are critical to developing new scholar- >AJHS makes available millions of unique documents ship and ideas in American Jewish history. from which researchers write the history of the >AJHS provides fellowships to young scholars aspiring American Jewish experience. to academic careers. >AJHS publishes American Jewish History, the most respected scholarly journal in the field.

Public Knowledge and Understanding >AJHS produces museum exhibitions, lectures, con- certs, film series and popular cultural events that actively reinforce Jewish identity and pride, while conveying the record of American Jewish accomplish- ment to people of all backgrounds. >Recent exhibits include our partnership with the Library of Congress on “From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish History in America,” the largest exhi-

Announcement for the 1881 Purim ball, NY bition on this subject ever assembled. >AJHS has created the Archive of American Jews in We are proud to be your link to the Sports, the first full-scale archival effort of its type in the United States. AJHS published a wildly popular past, for the sake of the future. set of cards of every Jew who played major league We simply can’t do it without you. baseball from 1872 to the present.

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>Saving the records of the Ethiopian Jewry movement and those of the American Jewish Congress, the Council of Jewish Federations, the National Jewish Welfare Board, and hundreds of organizations, syna- gogues, movements and initiatives that have shaped American Jewish life.

Your support directly enables us to continue our important work. Whether in business and finance, poli- tics, education, science, arts, human rights, sports, entertainment to the everyday activities of family life –AJHS has ensured that the record from 1654 to the present is kept, that the stories are told, and our shared history is not forgotten. Please join us now or give the gift of membership with a tax-deductible donation and receive the benefits of membership. Call 1-866-740-8013, visit our website www.ajhs.org or use the enclosed membership form to make sure you continue to be a part of the legacy. To explore other instruments of giving including naming AJHS as a beneficiary in your will and joining Isaac Meyer Wise our Haym Salomon Society please call, in confidence, Cathy Krugman in our Development Department at >AJHS produces two heavily visited websites enjoyed (212) 294-6164. aJH s by teachers, students, rabbis, newspaper editors and the general public: www.ajhs.org and www.jewsin- AJHS is a 501(c)3 organization – all gifts sports.org. are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law. >AJHS’s Project ADAJE has begun digitization of all American Jewish periodicals from the 1840s to the present, offering free access to a wealth of historical resources. The AJHS journal, American Jewish History, and its predecessor titles from 1893 through 1979 are currently available on-line at www.ajhs.org.

Your support keeps our history alive Tomorrow’s history lessons will be written and under- stood because, today, you helped advance the mission of the American Jewish Historical Society. Current initiatives that are enhanced though your generosity include: >Collecting the personal papers of leading figures in the Jewish counterculture movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which contributed so much to renewing American Judaism. >Acquiring and preserving the records of the American Soviet Jewry movement, including the National Conference on Soviet Jewry and the Union of Councils for Soviet Jewry.

Bilhah Agibal Franks 1696 – 1756

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AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY

HOME COOKING origin. Especially in cities with large For American Jews, food has been a Jewish populations, vendors of food and marker of religious devotion and ethnic beverages became important fixtures in identity. The obligation to keep a the local Jewish economy. By the late kosher home was a core of religious nineteenth century, what we now think duty for observant Jewish women from of as “Jewish” cuisine — Central the earliest years of American settle- European delicatessen meats merged ment. The difficulty of obtaining with Eastern European borscht, kosher meat in frontier areas, and blintzes, and smoked fish as well as angry disputes with butchers and Sephardic treats like halvah and dried shochet (ritual slaughterers) over the fruit —evolved from the urban mingling purity and price of meat and poultry of Jewish immigrant groups. became a recurring problem for obser- In the twentieth century, home- vant Jewish housewives. Many makers sought innovations that per- American Jews chose to observe the mitted them to keep a kitchen that was kosher dietary laws only selectively, both Jewish and American. National while others abandoned them entirely. distributors obliged them with kosher

In the nineteenth century, many KNISH MAN or parve (neutral) processed foods, American Reform Jews rejected Lower East Side, New York along with cookbooks that explained Photograph by J. B. Lightman, 1934 kashrut as unnecessary and irrational, Graduate School for Jewish Social Work Records how to prepare ritually “safe” versions earning them the disdain of the American Jewish Historical Society of popular Yankee dishes. Meanwhile, Orthodox, for whom the laws of bagels, kosher hot dogs, and chicken Whether or not they kept kosher, kashrut remained at the center of soup for body and soul “crossed over” American Jews valued the foods they Jewishness. to become as American as apple pie, associated with their communities of pizza, and egg rolls.

AMERICAN JUDAISM During the nineteenth and early twen- tieth centuries, American Judaism divided into three major branches— Reform, Orthodox, and Conservative. Each responded to American condi- tions and ideas borrowed from European Jewry. The American Reform movement started during the 1820s and gained SHOCHET’S KNIVES momentum in the 1840s and 1850s, Rabbi Joseph Lifland Russia, c. 1890 when immigrant rabbis such as Isaac American Jewish Historical Society Mayer Wise and David Einhorn Denominations arrived from Germany. Reform Jews

1902 1909 Fed up with intolerable working conditions, 20,000 shirtwaist makers, mostly immigrant Jewish girls Solomon Schechter (1847 – and women, go on strike. 1915) comes from England to As they walk the picket America to head the Jewish lines and are beaten and Theological Seminary of jailed, they inspire others America, Conservative in the International Judaism’s rabbinical seminary Ladies Garment Workers’ in New York City. Union to continue the struggle to improve workers’ lives.

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experimented with shorter Sabbath services that included English ser- mons, organ and choir music, permit- ted men and women to sit together, and allowed men to uncover their heads during prayer. Traditionalists maintained the immutability of halachah (Jewish law). By the 1840s, Philadelphia’s Isaac Leeser used the term Orthodox to dis- tinguish himself from the reformers. Orthodox congregations initially con- formed to Sephardic and German ritu- als, but the arrival of Eastern European immigrants expanded Orthodoxy. By the early twentieth cen- tury, it ranged from ultra-Orthodox Hasidic sects such as Lubavitch to the Modern Orthodoxy developed at Yeshiva University. The Conservative movement emerged in the early twentieth century, “MERRY HANNUCAH” PROGRAM CARD, 1907 guided largely by Solomon Schechter K. K. Mikve Israel (Philadelphia) Collection and the faculty of the Jewish American Jewish Historical Society Theological Seminary. Conservative Judaism attracted the Americanized offspring of Eastern European immi- NEW BEGINNINGS grants seeking a middle ground Since 1654, the wedding—emblematic between Orthodoxy and Reform. By the of the creation of new households and mid-twentieth century Conservatism families—has symbolized American was Judaism’s most populous branch. Jewish continuity and renewal. This Reconstructionism, pioneered by meaning continues today in an Mordecai Kaplan in the 1930s, stressed American Jewish population more Judaism as a coherent cultural and spir- diverse than at any previous moment itual civilization for the Jewish people. in its history. The Jewish wedding cer-

The Reconstructionist movement, with emony, repeatedly adapted to changing ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENT its own congregations and rabbis, gained American conditions over the course of BETH HAMIDRASH HAGADOL Brockton, Massachusetts momentum in the 1970s and 1980s, but 350 years, will no doubt be the source Early 20th Century remains comparatively small. of new Jewish beginnings for future Wood with gilt American Jewish Historical Society generations. aJH s

1909 1912 1915

Henrietta Szold (1860 – 1945) Hebrew Orphan Asylum founds Hadassah, the of New York basketball Women’s Zionist Organization team. Most residents of Russian Jewish of America. the H.O.A. were not immigrant orphans, but children Irving Berlin whose families could not (1888 – 1989) afford to have them live composes and writes lyrics to at home. H.O.A. provides “Yiddle on Your Fiddle Play discipline, education and Some Ragtime,” symbolizing community for tens of thousands of the Americanization of Jewish boys and girls. Yiddish music and its blending into the American song book.

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AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY SUPPORT AJHS & Receive an Award-Winning

The Milken Archive of American Jewish Music is an unparalleled collection – 50 superbly recorded CDs of Jewish music created in America over the past 350 years. This abundant and remarkably diverse repertoire reflects the history, evolution and variety of the Jewish experience in America. Honored at the 2005 Grammy Awards and winner of the 2004 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for liner notes excellence, the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music is making Jewish and musical history! Features about the Milken Archive have appeared on PBS and National Public Radio, in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Jerusalem Post and hundreds CANTOR BENZION MILLER of other national and international publications. See reviews and awards at www.milkenarchive.org

“It illuminates the Jewish experience” – The Forward Contribute to the American Jewish Historical Society, and you will discover the joy of American Jewish music in this unique 50-CD collection, including: world-premiere recordings of rare Jewish works by Leonard Bernstein and Kurt Weill’s stupendous Jewish epic The Eternal Road; cantorial and choral music for prayer and meditation; favorite American Yiddish stage songs like “Bay Mir Bistu Sheyn” in all-new recordings; festive music for Hanukkah, Passover, and the High Holy Days; klezmer concertos; and Jewish sym- phonies by world-famous composers.

1917 1919

National Jewish Welfare Board founded to care for the religious needs of American Jewish military personnel in Jewish educational summer World War I. camping is launched in the United States with the founding of what came to be known as the Cejwin Camps.

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Jewish Music Collection on 50 CDs

“Performances are top notch” – Fanfare SUPPORT AJHS All recordings are new and Become an AJHS member and performed by internationally famous receive a music gift from the artists including cantors Alberto Mizrahi and Benzion Miller; conductors Milken Archive. , , and Gerard Schwarz Yoel Levi 3 membership levels: Sir Neville Marriner; the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the Royal Liverpool Sustaining Member. With a Philharmonic, and the Seattle Symphony $100 contribution receive 1 orchestras; Yiddish star Bruce Adler, American Jewish Music sampler CD klezmer-clarinetist David Krakauer, the with our thanks. Broadway stars Tovah Feldshuh and 350th Anniversary Member. With a Theodore Bikel, the Vienna Choir Boys, the Juilliard Quartet, jazz legend $350 contribution receive Dave Brubeck, and many others. More 25 American Jewish Music CDs than 250 artists and ensembles are fea- with our thanks. LEONARD BERNSTEIN tured in over 500 new recordings of with his manuscript score of Hashkiveinu Sponsor Member. With a American Jewish music, including hun- $500 contribution receive dreds of world premieres. The 50 CDs liner notes and essays by award-winning all 50 American Jewish Music CDs are accompanied by comprehensive author Neil W. Levin. with our thanks. This 50-CD treasury of American Jewish Music is an exclusive premium Become a member. Here’s how: for contributors of $500 to the - Call toll-free, at 1 866 740-8013 American Jewish Historical Society. Monday – Friday, 8:30 AM – 5 PM, See page 14 for details. Your support of - Visit www.ajhs.org, or Jewish culture in America is deeply - Fill out and mail the enclosed appreciated. aJH s membership envelope.

CLARINETIST DAVID KRAKAUER during a recording session for the Milken Archive

1920 1924 1930 Congress places national origins Molly Picon (1898 – 1992), restrictions on immigration, international star of drastically lowering the number Yiddish theater, film, radio Henry Ford’s of Central and Eastern European and television performs as newspaper, Jews entering the U.S. “La Muchacha del Circo.” The Dearborn Independent, begins publishing anti-Semitic propaganda, including the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”

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AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Evolving American Judaism JONATHAN D. SARNA

IN SEPTEMBER 1654, the Ste. Catherine renamed it New York. Small numbers of law “respecting an establishment of reli- (St. Catrina) sailed into New Amsterdam Jews migrated to the colonies from gion, or prohibiting the free exercise with “twenty-three souls, big and little.” Europe, the West Indies and even the thereof.” Still, Jews had to fight for their Expelled from Recife, Brazil when the Iberian Peninsula, where individual Jews rights on the state level and overcome Portuguese recaptured the colony from had lived as crypto-Jews for centuries. social prejudice. Having shed blood for the Dutch, the bedraggled Jewish Colonial Jews never exceeded 1/10 of one their country, Jews felt more secure than refugees were now seeking a new home. percent of the American population, yet in colonial days and asserted their rights The refugees differed from the few they established patterns of future vigorously. Justice Ginsberg’s essay in identifying Jews known previously to Jewish communal life. First, most Jews this issue describes President George have visited North America because they lived in port cities where opportunities Washington’s famous letter to the Jews of sought to settle down permanently, to abounded, and people of diverse faiths Newport in 1790, which reassured Jews “navigate and trade near and in New lived together. Second, Sephardic Jews of their place in the new nation. Netherland, and to live and reside there.” and the institutions they founded main- The great question that Jews faced Helped by fellow Jews in Amsterdam, tained cultural hegemony in Jewish life in the wake of the Revolution was they overcame opposition from the into the early 19th century, even though whether Judaism as they had known it colony’s anti-Jewish governor, Peter Ashkenazic Jews were by then more could be reconciled with America’s new Stuyvesant, and won the right to “travel” numerous. Third, Jews organized them- spirit of freedom and democracy. Could “trade” “live” and “remain” provided that selves into synagogue-communities. Jews maintain the traditional structure “the poor among them shall not become a Savannah, Charleston, Philadelphia, New that bound them together and promoted burden to the company or to the community, York and Newport each had only one syn- group survival and yet at the same time but be supported by their own nation.” agogue that assumed responsibility for all also accommodate new political and cul- New Amsterdam’s Jews extended Jewish religious and communal needs.. tural and religious realities? In the Ethe boundaries of American religious plu- The American Revolution marked a 1820s, detecting a spirit of “apathy and ralism. Stuyvesant promoted Dutch turning point in American Jewish history. neglect” pervading Jewish life, young Calvinist orthodoxy and discouraged As many as one hundred Jews fought in Jews in Charleston and New York competing faiths. He worried that “giving the Revolution; three attained high office moved to revitalize Judaism, just as they them [the Jews] liberty, we cannot refuse in the Continental Army; and other Jews saw Protestantism revived by the the Lutherans and Papists [Catholics].” served as “suppliers, bill brokers, money- Second Great Awakening. Charleston’s In 1663, the Dutch West India Company lenders, shopkeepers, blockade-runners young Jews sought to introduce English- advised Stuyvesant, who had been perse- and even ‘manufacturers’ on a small language prayers, regular sermons and cuting Quakers, to “Shut your eyes, at scale.” Haym Salomon, Broker to the an abbreviated service. The young Jews least [do] not force people’s consciences Office of Finance, was personally gener- in New York sought less formal worship but allow every one to have his own ous to Jew and Gentile alike. with time for explanations and instruc- belief, as long as he behaves quietly and The Federal Constitution (1787) and tion. They wanted no permanent leader legally, gives no offense to his neighbor the Bill of Rights (1791) outlawed religious and no “distinctions” among members. and does not oppose the government.” tests “as a qualification to any office or When the established leadership A year later, the British took New public trust under the United States,” rebuffed their initiatives, the young Amsterdam from the Dutch and and forbade Congress from making any Jews of Charleston seceded and founded

1931 1933 1933 The first musical to win a The American Jewish Congress Stephen S. Wise (1874 – 1949) Pulitzer Prize, Of Thee I Sing, declares a boycott on organizes a rally at Madison composed by George German goods to protest the Square Garden to protest the Gershwin (1898 – 1937) Nazi persecution of Jews. appointment of and written by Adolf Hitler as George S. Kaufman, chancellor of Ira Gershwin and Germany. Morris Ryskind.

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“The Reformed Society of Israelites for 1820 to as many as 10,000 by the Civil that bound Jews one to another – could A Promoting True Principles of Judaism War. By then, 160 organized Jewish com- bring about “union and harmony,” while According to its Purity and Spirit” – a munities in thirty-one states and the synagogues divided Jews and alienated forerunner of Reform Judaism. In New District of Columbia had at least one some of them altogether. York, they opened the city’s first established Jewish institution. The history of American Judaism is Ashkenazic congregation, B’nai Between 1820 and 1860, America replete with oscillations among these dif- Jeshurun. With these two actions, which developed a nationwide, market-driven ferent strategies. Proponents of each were emulated elsewhere, the young economy. Peddlers, many of them immi- checked the other’s excesses, and togeth- Jews overthrew the monolithic “syna- grant Jews in their teens or twenties, er they accomplished what none might gogue-community” that had dominated helped to create this transformation by have accomplished separately: they kept Jewish life and created a new American selling notions, dry goods, second-hand American Judaism going. Yet this benefit Judaism that was much more democrat- clothing and similar products while came at a steep price. Often, American ic, free, diverse, and competitive. learning English and accumulating capi- Jewish religious life has seethed with American Judaism, as later generations tal. As they crossed the country, they acrimonious contention, the unseemly knew it, was shaped by this revolution. carried Judaism to frontier settings specter of Jews battling Jews. Between 1820 and 1840, America’s where Jews were unknown before. Central European Jewish immi- Jewish population increased approxi- In these new settings, the peddlers grants were the chief builders of several mately five-fold to 15,000. Between 1840 attempted to replicate the Judaism of philanthropies and of the Board of and 1860, it increased another ten-fold, their European homelands. However, Delegates of American Israelites (1859- to 150,000. By 1877, the American American freedom soon led to significant 1878), which fought for Jewish equality; Jewish community had ballooned to changes. Some, like the great Orthodox separation of church and state; protec- 250,000. America’s Jewish population Jewish leader, Isaac Leeser, advocated tion of overseas Jewry; and supported had increased at a rate almost fifteen tradition in an American key, calling for Palestine relief. Jewish leaders estab- times greater than the nation as a greater emphasis on Jewish education, lished a thriving periodical and book whole. Most immigrants came from decorum at services, synagogue aesthet- press in German and English and the Bavaria, Western Prussia and Posen, ics and English-language sermons, but first significant American rabbinical sem- part of a larger stream that deposited nothing deviating from Jewish law. inary, the Hebrew Union College, in 1875. millions of Protestant and Catholic The great Reform Jewish leader Over the next fifty years,, a much immigrants on America’s shores. Jews, Isaac Mayer Wise presumed that larger immigration from Eastern significantly, emigrated at a rate almost Judaism itself needed to change in order Europe brought some 2 million Jews four times that of non-Jews, largely to survive, urging Jews to adopt innova- from Russia, Romania, and Austria- because, in addition to the general caus- tions to make Judaism seem more Hungary to America’s shores. Bloody es of emigration, Jews also faced severe appealing and spiritually uplifting: pogroms from 1881 onward sparked residency, work and even, in the case of shorter services, vernacular prayers, many a decision to leave the Old World Bavaria, marriage restrictions. organ music and mixed gender seating. behind, but the root causes of mass Jewish immigrants spread out Still a third preservation strategy migration lay in overpopulation, oppres- across the country, wherever rivers, rejected the synagogue altogether and sive legislation, economic dislocation, roads or railroad tracks took them. focused on peoplehood as the unifying forced conscription, poverty and Cincinnati became the first Jewish element in Jewish life. For example, despair, coupled with tales of wondrous “boom town” west of the Alleghenies. Its B’nai B’rith, established in 1843, argued opportunity and cut-rate steamship tick- Jewish population zoomed from 16 in that fraternal ties – the covenant (b’rith) ets. Jewish immigration virtually

1933 1934 fi Students at American Jews cheer Detroit Tigers’ Hank Graduate Greenberg (1911 – 1986) when he refuses School for to play ball on Yom Kippur. In 1938, with Jewish Social five games left to the season, Greenberg’s work conduct a 58 home runs are two shy of Babe Ruth’s photography record. When several pitchers walk him project to capture images of the rather than giving him a shot at the record, Lower East Side in transition from many believe major league baseball did not purely Yiddish-speaking area to one want a Jew to claim that place in America’s in which Jews became bilingual in national sport. Greenberg himself denies Yiddish and English. the assumption.

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AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY

stopped during World War I and then and Hebrew literature and newspapers, who served in the war, felt equally “at resumed, but quota legislation then publishing houses and cultural organiza- home” as Americans and Jews. drastically restricted it in 1924. tions, Yiddish theatres, Talmud Torahs, Yet, American Jews had cause for With the opportunities available to day schools, Yiddish schools, and acade- apprehension. In response to the postwar Jewish immigrants, especially in the mies of higher learning. “Red scare,” many Americans lashed out clothing trade, and the comforting pres- The devastation that World War I at immigrants, “Bolsheviks,” and apparent ence of other Yiddish-speaking Jews wrought upon Jewish communities drew nonconformists. Some thought the Jew nearby, large numbers of East European the different segments of American embodied capitalistic materialism, while Jews saw no need to travel further than Jewry together to relieve the suffering for others he carried anarchistic ideas. New York City. They mushroomed the of Jews in Europe and Palestine espe- Even Jews whose American families went city’s Jewish population from about cially through the American Jewish back generations felt the sting of preju- eighty thousand in the 1870s to almost Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), dice. In 1915, an Atlanta crowd lynched 1,400,000 in 1915, nearly twenty-eight founded in 1914. Leo Frank amidst a frenzy of anti- percent of the city’s total population. Zionism became a significant force Semitism after he was falsely accused of East European Jews also settled in in American Jewish life on the eve of murdering a thirteen-year-old employee in other communities from Maine to World War I. The conversion of the the factory he managed. Beginning in California, sometimes thanks to ambi- nationally famous “people’s lawyer” and 1920, the Dearborn Independent, Henry tious organized efforts. One notable future Supreme Court justice Louis D. Ford’s widely-distributed newspaper, pur- project drew ten thousand immigrants Brandeis to Zionism in 1914 catalyzed ported to describe an international Jewish to the port of Galveston, Texas, in the American Zionism’s growth. Thanks to conspiracy. In 1927, under intense pres- hope of alleviating overcrowded condi- his charm, prestige, and passion sure, Ford publicly apologized, but the tions on the east coast. Zionism’s ranks and treasury swelled. In damage was done. The 1930s added eco- East European Jewish immigrants 1917, Zionists and non-Zionists, religion- nomic depression to this scalding brew. had to make a leap from the religious ists and secularists, joined in the first With Hitler in Germany and domestic and cultural self-sufficiency of their American Jewish Congress to press for anti-Semites like Father Charles Coughlin European background to an industrial- rights for the Jews of Europe and a ranting on the airwaves, Jews had good ized America that emphasized individu- “Jewish National Home” in Palestine. reason to be nervous. alism and devalued Old World tradi- In decades following World War I, According to a 1938 survey, even tions. For the culturally bewildered and Jews numbered among the many immi- with reports of Nazi atrocities, fewer economically exploited Jewish slum grants and their children who benefited than 5 percent of Americans expressed dweller, the Americanization process from new opportunities in higher educa- willingness to raise immigrant quotas to was rapid and difficult, ultimately suc- tion, wartime prosperity and post-war accommodate refugees, while two-thirds cessful, but not devoid of tragedies, fam- investment. They bounded into “white- insisted, “We should try to keep them ily breakdown, unemployment, illness, collar” positions as professionals and out.” A bill to admit twenty thousand conflict between parents and children, clerks, and moved to better neighbor- refugee children outside the quota failed and escapism from Jewish life. hoods. A few East European Jews became in Congress. Eventually, America Predominantly factory workers when millionaires; only a minority remained accepted over 200,000 Jewish refugees they arrived, East European Jews pio- wage laborers. American-born children of between 1933 and 1945, more than any neered in trade unionism and industrial immigrants came to outnumber their par- other country, but only a small fraction relations. They developed community ents during the 1930s. Finally, those born of those needing rescue. centers, lodges, landsmanshaftn, Yiddish or raised in the country, especially those Could American Jewry have done

1939 1943 1945

“Tevya El Lechero” [Tevya the Raphael Lemkin (1901 – 1959), World War II. More Milkman], based on Sholom an international lawyer who than a half-million Aleichem story, produced escaped from Poland to the U.S. American Jews served to serve the increasing in 1941, coins the term “genocide” in the United States numbers of Jews who find to describe military. Jewish safety from European the Nazi chaplains struggle to anti-Semitism in South attempt to serve Jewish personnel in far-flung and Central America. In exterminate combat areas throughout Europe later years, story becomes European and the Pacific, while also tending basis for Broadway mega hit Jewry. to needs of Jewish survivors of “Fiddler on the Roof.” Holocaust.

22 350 Years of American Jewish Life heritage 5.6 5/20/05 10:40 AM Page 23

more to rescue the Jews who fell under rapidly gained ground in the postwar era. experiencing a “renaissance.” Nazi rule during the 1930s and early With the terrible destruction of Feminism and spirituality also 1940s? Some blame Jewish leaders for European Judaism, America became the transformed Jewish life. The ordination doing too little too late, condemn Jewish most important Jewish community in of women by the Reform (1972), organizations for their inability to unite in the world. Fueled by postwar prosperity, Reconstructionist (1974) and time of crisis, argue that American Jews American Judaism strengthened institu- Conservative (1985) movements symbol- should have applied greater pressure on tionally, building synagogues, religious ized feminism’s impact on late twenti- the government to help save Jews, and schools and community centers, particu- eth-century American Judaism. Women point accusingly at missed opportunities— larly in suburbia and the sunbelt. also assumed new roles in Orthodoxy as actions that if taken might have made a Holocaust refugees, among them illustri- high-level Jewish education, including difference. Others conclude sadly that lit- ous rabbis and scholars, contributed to Talmud study, became available to tle more could have been accomplished strengthening and revitalizing American Orthodox women. Meanwhile, spiritual given the realities of the day. Anti-immi- Jewish religious life. This, they came to and emotive religious experiences incor- grant sentiment within the United States, believe, was the transcendent purpose porating music, dance, mystical teach- persistent isolationism, burgeoning anti- for which they had survived. ings and healing brought a renewal of semitism, and the politics of expediency, During the 1960s universal causes spirituality across the spectrum of coupled later with the President’s firm like world peace, civil rights, interfaith Jewish religious life. insistence that the best way to save Jews relations and the war in Vietnam domi- Questions still confront American was to win the war, would have rendered nated the American Jewish agenda. Jews Jews as they mark their 350th anniver- even the most zealous Jewish rescue cam- played an active role in the civil rights sary. Should they focus inwardly to paigns largely futile. By all accounts, Adolf movement, lobbied for a revised Catholic enhance Judaism, or focus outwardly to Hitler’s maniacal determination to annihi- position on relations with the Jewish peo- increase the number of Jews? Embrace late the Jews greatly exceeded the ple, and many participated in anti-war intermarriage as an opportunity for out- American Jewish community’s power to demonstrations. The late 1960s, however, reach, or condemn it as a disaster for stop him. Yet nagging doubts remain, for witnessed a shift from Jewish universal- offspring? Build religious bridges, or for- Jews know that had they been even a little ism to particularism. The Six Day War in tify religious boundaries? Strengthen more successful in opening up America’s June 1967 changed the way many Jews religious authority, or promote religious gates, bringing government pressure to thought about Israel and themselves autonomy? Harmonize Judaism with bear on Great Britain to admit more Jews leading to a new focus on strengthening contemporary culture, or uphold tradi- into Palestine, or in shaming the world to Israel and helping 1.5 million persecuted tion against contemporary culture? find some other haven for the Jews of Jews of the Soviet Union move to Israel, Compromise for Jewish unity, or stand Europe, many more of their brothers and the United States and Western Europe. firm for cherished Jewish principles? sisters might have been saved. Young American Jews also focused Today, Jews witness two contradic- Some 550,000 Jewish men and on revitalizing Judaism in harmony with tory trends operating in their communi- women served in America’s armed forces the 1960s counterculture. The havurah ties: assimilation and revitalization. during World War II. While many faced movement, the Jewish Catalog and a Which will predominate? That will be anti-Semitism, the central command substantial “back to tradition” move- determined day by day, community by worked to promote religious harmony ment affected all streams of Judaism. community, Jew by Jew. aJH s through an interfaith message, using Jewish education and Jewish culture phrases like “Judeo-Christian” and strengthened markedly, leading some to Published by permission of Celebrate350. For the full text of this essay, go to www.celebrate350.org. “Protestants, Catholics, and Jews” that suggest that American Judaism was

1948 1948 1950

United States Army in As American Jews move to the Occupied Germany suburbs, they build hundreds of publishes a 19-volume new synagogues even as they Survivors’ Talmud for become increasingly indistin- use by Jewish Displaced guishable from other middle class Persons and Holocaust survivors, Americans. Joining a synagogue the first time in world history that becomes the chief expression of a national government published United Palestine Appeal publishes Jewish identity. In 1930, a mere 20 percent of these sacred texts. its Yearbook to commemorate its American Jewish families belong to a syna- “Night of Stars” gala celebrating gogue; by 1960, nearly 60 percent do in a the birth of the State of Israel. search for community as well as spirituality.

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AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY EMMA LAZARUS SONNET “THE NEW COLOSSUS”

The stirring words of “The New Colossus” are almost as familiar to most Americans as the national anthem. These words were penned in November 1883 by American Jewish poet Emma Lazarus, in her ode to the Statue of Liberty. Today her sonnet is considered one of the classic documents of American history. In 1976, the original handwritten version of the sonnet trav- eled across the nation as part of our Bicentennial celebration. Now, you can own your own copy of Lazarus’s stirring poem in her own hand. After Emma Lazarus died tragi- cally at age 38, her family donated her Tpersonal notebook of handwritten poems to the American Jewish Historical Society. The Society has now produced a limited edition of framed facsimiles of Lazarus’s masterpiece. You can purchase one from the Society for your home or office or for a school or library in your community.

16" x 20" matted To order call 1 866 740-8013 and framed $125 or visit our online gift shop plus $5 shipping at www.ajhs.org

1950s 1960s 1964

The movement of Jews to The Jewish “Counterculture” Sandy Koufax, the suburbs leads to the emerges with an emphasis on Los Angeles emergence of the American gender equality, small self-directed Dodger pitcher, Jewish community center, congregations (havurot) rather sets a baseball the hybrid “shul with a pool” than large, rabbi- record when he that balances religious and dominated syna- pitches his recreational elements. The gogues, renewal of fourth no-hitter National Jewish Welfare spirituality by in four years. Board provides programming, attaching religious design and management proto- meaning to social types to its member JCC’s. action.

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350TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE POSTER

ith unique images drawn from the extensive archives Wof the American Jewish Historical Society, this beautiful time- line poster (with text by Professor Pamela Nadell) will entertain and edu- cate. From the first settlement in 1654 to the nomination of Joe Lieberman for Vice President of the United States, you will find fascinating incidents and developments that made the American Jewish experience. A must for every home, school and library. 24" x 36". Available as a museum quality poster, rolled and shipped in a tube at $20 + $5 shipping. Also available for classrooms folded and shipped flat at $14 + $5 shipping.

Join us as a member and get this poster as our gift. See membership form for details.

24" x 36" rolled in a tube $20 or folded flat $14 shipping $5

To order call 1 866 740-8013 or visit our online gift shop at www.ajhs.org

1964 1967 1964

Israel’s Six-Day War: American Sally Priesand Jews’ joy at Israel’s triumph spurs (b.1946) 1964 Student Struggle increasing numbers, and especially ordained, the for Soviet Jewry founded youth, to make pilgrimages to first female following march to Israel. By the rabbi in America. protest Soviet anti- mid-1980s, Jewish policies. roughly a third of all American Jews have visited Israel.

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AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY THE FIRST COMPLETE SET OF CARDS EVER FOR JEWISH MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYERS

The first set of cards for EVERY only card. Complete with photos and KNOWN Jewish Major League statistic cards, including Hall of Fame Complete basic Baseball player, from the 1870s to 2003! players Sandy Koufax and Hank collectible set In conjunction with Jewish Major Greenberg, future Hall of Famer Shawn Leaguers, Inc., the American Jewish Green, All-Stars Al Rosen and Ken $100 Historical Society created this limited Holtzman and old-timers like Andy Limited silver edition edition card set for all 142 players. For Cohen, Moe Berg and Harry “The more than forty Horse” Danning, this set is truly one of (1,500 numbered) of these men, a kind. Jewish Major Leaguers is a with silver foil details. this is there limited edition, boxed set. $200 first and Developed with the encourage- ment and cooperation of Major Limited gold edition League Baseball, the Players (500 numbered) Association and the Alumni Players with gold foil details. Association, the Society, in coopera- Very Limited quantities tion with Fleer produced only a small, one-time printing in 2003 for $500 our members. Our final limited supply Two proof quality uncut is available while they last. Our Limited gold edition is illustrated to sheets. Ready to frame. the left. You can choose to buy them or $300 receive selected items as membership gifts. Details are on our membership Original proof sheets page. They make perfect life cycle gifts from the silver edition. for your friends and family. Only one set ever made. $5,000 Join us as a member and get cards as our gift. See Original proof sheets membership form for details. from the gold edition. The only one and magnificent. To order call 1 866 740-8013 $10,000 or visit our online gift shop Delivery $5 per set at www.ajhs.org

1984 – 1991 2000

Ethiopian Jewry Movement, 2000 Connecticut Senator Joseph led by Graenum Berger Lieberman (b.1942) named first (1908 – 1999), orchestrates Jewish vice presidential candidate airplane flights that bring of a major political party. the remaining Jews of Ethiopia to Israel.

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AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY EXCLUSIVE POSTER REPRODUCTIONS FROM THE ORIGINALS IN OUR ARCHIVES

MOLLY PICON –AY QUE MUCHACHA!, 1932 Author: Harry Kalmanowich Music: Joseph Rumshinsky Place: Teatro Excelsior, Buenos Aires, Argentina Cast: Jacob Kalich, Molly Picon Printed by: Sisto y Lemme, Buenos Aires stone lithography in blue, red, yellow, and black.

THE RABBI’S FAMILY, September 15, 1921 Author: Joseph Lateiner Music: Joseph Brody Place: The People’s Theatre, Bowery and Spring Street, NY, NY N.Y. Cast: Bertha Gersten, Samuel Goldenberg, Ludwig Satz, Nettie Tobias and an “all star cast.” Director: Max Rosenthal. Printed by Berkshire Poster Co., NY, NY stone lithography in yellow, red, blue, green and black.

Join us as a member and U.S. WAR BONDS POSTER get a poster as our gift. See AJHS Collection membership form for details. donated by Sid Lapidus

Beautiful and historic posters in Yiddish and English have been faithfully reproduced from the originals in our archives. Two sizes available to fit standard frames. Printed on acid-free paper

THE LUNATIC January 18th, 1922 Author: Harry Kalmanowitch using ultraviolet resistant inks. For a larger selec- Place: People’s Theatre, Bowery and Spring Street, NY, NY tion visit our online gift shop at www.ajhs.org Cast: Bertha Gersten, Sidney Hart, Ludwig Satz, Jacob Wexler Producer: Max Rosenthal 16" x 20" at $20 To order call 1 866 740-8013 Printed by Berkshire Poster Co., NY, NY stone lithography in green, red, blue, 24" x 36" at $30 or visit our online gift shop yellow and black. plus $5 shipping at www.ajhs.org

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AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY ORIGINAL TITLES FROM OUR BOOKSTORE

JEWISH WOMEN IN AMERICA: An Historical Encyclopedia 2 volumes. Edited by Paula E. Hyman and Deborah Dash Moore. Sponsored by the American Jewish Historical Society. Winner of the American Library Association’s prestigious Dartmouth Medal Award “for the creation of reference works of out- standing quality and significance.” Winner of the Jewish Book Council’s National Jewish Book Award for Women’s Studies and the Barbara Dobkin Honorary Award. Join us as a member and get this book as our gift. See membership form for details. Hardcover $200

BLESSINGS OF FREEDOM Blessings of Freedom is a collection of vignettes and episodes that, taken together, outline the overriding directions and tendencies of the much larger tapestry that comprises the American Jewish experience. Starting in 1997, the American Jewish Historical Society pub- lished a weekly feature entitled “Chapters in American Jewish History” in the English-language Forward and other newspapers. This volume comprises 120 of the best columns, organized according to subject and period. Each chapter is a window through which the reader gets an interesting and illuminating glimpse at an important and often colorful aspect of the American Jewish story. Bibliographical information is given for those interested in learning more about the field. Paperback $35

THE JEWISH JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT REVISITED: BRANDEIS TO FORTAS Of the thirty-nine Justices who sat on the United FACING THE NEW WORLD: States Supreme Court between 1916 and 1969, JEWISH PORTRAITS IN COLONIAL five were Jewish: Louis D. Brandeis, Benjamin N. AND FEDERAL AMERICA Cardozo, Felix Frankfurter, Arthur J. Goldberg, This beautifully printed art book was and Abe Fortas. With a Preface by Justice originally published in conjunction Stephen G. Breyer and Introduction by Justice with the exhibition, “Facing the New Ruth Bader Ginsburg, The Jewish Justices of the World:Jewish Portraits in Colonial and Supreme Court devotes a chapter to each of Federal America” presented at the these Jewish Justices. Jennifer M. Lowe, ed. Jewish Museum in New York in 1997 Published by the Supreme Court Historical and the Maryland Jewish Historical Society and the American Jewish Historical Society in Baltimore in 1998. Edited Society, 1994. by Richard Brilliant, with an essay by Ellen Smith, this book contains numer- Paperback $20 ous color images in color and black and white. Paperback $20

‘GREETINGS FROM HOME’: For a larger selection visit our 350 YEARS OF AMERICAN JEWISH LIFE. This beautiful catalog accompanies the Society’s current exhibition. Edited by online gift shop at www.ajhs.org Michael Feldberg, this heavily illustrated volume contains essays by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Hasia Diner and Stephen H. To order call 1 866 740-8013 Jaffe. A wonderful “short course” in American Jewish history. or visit our online gift shop Paperback $24 at www.ajhs.org $5 shipping per order 28 350 Years of American Jewish Life heritage 5.6 5/20/05 10:41 AM Page 29

TO OUR DONORS $100,000+ STEPHEN GARDNER The American Jewish Historical Society gratefully acknowledges the RUTH & SIDNEY LAPIDUS JEROME GOLDFISCHER SANDRA C. & KENNETH D. MALAMED HILLEL GRAY generosity of our members and donors. Our mission to collect, preserve JOSEPH S. & DIANE H. STEINBERG ALAYNE T. GREENBERG and disseminate the record of the American Jewish experience would CHARITABLE TRUST ANNE & BURTON G. GREENBLATT $50,000+ BILL HANDELMAN be impossible without your commitment and support. JOAN & TED CUTLER JEFFREY HARRIS THE TRUSTEES JEWISH GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY JOHN C. COLMAN GLADYS MARYLES UNDER THE WILL OF HERMAN DANA JUDY & STUART HERSHON COMPREHENSIVE DENTAL CARE ROBERT MATTHEWS RIGHTEOUS PERSONS FOUNDATION IRWIN P. JACOBS CONGREGATION NAR TAMID SAMUEL MAZER HERBERT & JOAN B. SCHILDER DAVID E. JALLER ERROL COOK EVELYN MENASHA UJA FEDERATION OF NEW YORK JEWISH MAJOR LEAGUERS, INC. EEDIS COOPERBAND HERALD MERMELSTEIN GENEVIEVE & JUSTIN WYNER LEON A. JICK JAY M. DONNER DAVID MESSER $25,000+ MYRON KALLER MICHAEL DRAKE MD JAMES MILCH ANNE E. & KENNETH J. BIALKIN SUSAN & DAVID KAY JAMES DRUCKMAN NORTON MILECOFSKY GEORGE S. BLUMENTHAL HARVEY KAYLIE JACK A. DURRA HELEN MORRIS COMBINED JEWISH BETH & SETH KLARMAN JOANN EISENBERG GARY MOTOIKE PHILANTHROPIES OF GREATER BOSTON NORMAN KLINE MARTIN ELIAS MYRA MUSICANT THE GOTTESMAN FUND SAL KLUGER ALLAN EPSTEIN LISA OLEINICK HARRIET & STEVEN PASSERMAN HONORABLE FRANK LAUTENBERG JACK EPSTEIN JACK OLSHANSKY LOUISE P. & GABRIEL ROSENFELD PHILIP LAX RAYMOND EPSTEIN JOAN & STEVE ORNSTEIN NANCY F. & DAVID P. SOLOMON LORNA & MICHAEL LEMBECK RABBI HELENE FERRIS REYNOLD PARIS $10,000+ RICHARD H. LEVY NEOMI W. FIELD MITCHELL PEARL ROBERT & BRUCE BEAL SAMUEL M. LEVY FOUNDATION CAROL FIELDS MICHAEL PERETZ THE ANDREA & THE MARTIN R. LEWIS SANFORD I. FINKEL HAROLD PERLMUTTER CHARLES BRONFMAN FUND CHARITABLE FOUNDATION HERSCHEL FISCHER PHILLIP ZINMAN FOUNDATION STEPHEN N. BUNZL HADASSAH LINFIELD PETER M. FISHBEIN EVY PICKER AUSTIN CABLE EDWARD LOWENTHAL THE HEBREW HOME FOR THE AGED BETSY & KEN PLEVAN DOROT FOUNDATION PETER MALKIN MICHAEL FRANK JACK PREISS RICHARD N. GOLDMAN LINDEN MARTINEAU HENRY FRIESS ELLIOTT PRESS DAVID S. HERSHBERG GERALD NAFTALIN KARL FRISCH JAMES N. PRITZKER SUSAN HERTOG NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN ROBERTA FRISSELL ARTHUR RADACK ANITA HIRSH (NEW YORK SECTION) PHILLIP FYMAN NANCY GALE RAPHAEL MICHAEL G. JESSELSON MARTIN OPPENHEIMER DR. MICHAEL GILLMAN LAUREN RAPPORT RENEE & DANIEL KAPLAN STEVEN PLOTNICK MILTON GLICKSMAN JULIE RATNER THE LEVENTHAL-SIDMAN FAMILY ARNOLD J. RABINOR GARY GLUCKOW ALAN REDNER MR. & MRS. IRA A. LIPMAN TOBY & JEROME RAPPOPORT MARC GOLD STEPHEN ROBERTS AMBASSADOR JOHN L. LOEB, JR. JEFF ROBINS JEROME D. GOLDFISHER MATTHEW ROSEN MILKEN FAMILY FOUNDATION ROBERT N. ROSEN ANDREA GOLDKLANG CHARLES ROSENBOUM EDGAR J. NATHAN LIEF ROSENBLATT JOHN GOLDKRAND DANIEL E. ROTHENBERG JEFFREY S. OPPENHEIM DORIS ROSENTHAL HOWARD K. GOLDSTEIN KENNETH S. SACHS STEVEN D. OPPENHEIM WALTER ROTH DAVID GORDIS MICHAEL SALZHAUER NANCY & MARTIN POLEVOY ELLEN R. SARNOFF GOTTESTEIN FAMILY FOUNDATION DAVID SANDERS YVONNE & LESLIE M. POLLACK THE SCHWARTZ FAMILY FOUNDATION JERRY GREENWALD MR BERNARD SAPIRO HAROLD S. ROSENBLUTH EVAN SEGAL DR. EDWIN H KOLODNY IVAN SCHAFFER DONALD SAUNDERS & LIV ULLMAN BENJAMIN & SUSAN SHAPELL LORELEI & BENJAMIN HAMMERMAN ISAAC SCHAVER BRUCE SLOVIN DOUGLAS SHIFFMAN PETER HARRIS MARK SCHEPPS JEANNIE UNGERLEIDER LEONARD SIMON WILLIAM HECHTER LES SCHMEIDER EFREM WEINREB & KELLY SCHEIN HENRY SMITH NORMAN HEYMAN LYNN SCHNEIDER DANIEL WYNER & LORNA STOKES TAWANI FOUNDATION HILLEL FOUNDATION LINDA SCHOENHEIMER $5,000+ MEL TEITELBAUM JOSEPH HOLLANDER LOUIS SCHONFELD ANONYMOUS (2) MARC A. UTAY MORRIS HORVITZ BETH ANN SEGAL M. BERNARD AIDINOFF MEL WACKS GARY ITZKOWITZ THEODORE SEGAL RONALD C. CURHAN THE WARBER FUND NEIL JACOBSON CLIFF SELTZER JONATHON DAVIS & MARGOT TROTTER LINDA F. LABBIE WEIN NATALIE JAFFE BERNARD & IRENE SIEGEL VIDA & ARTHUR GOLDSTEIN LEONARD A. WILF MR. & MRS. MICHAEL JONAS ANDREW SILVER JOYCE & MARK GOLDWEITZ FRED WILPON STEVEN J. JUBELIRER MATTHEW SILVER MYRNA & STEVE GREENBERG TONI & STEWART B. YOUNG MR. D. JUROW BARRY SILVERBERG LEO GROSSMAN ROY ZUCKERBERG MITCHELL KAGEN HARVEY SIMPSON REUBEN A. & LIZZY GROSSMAN $500+ SYBIL K. KAHN MELVIN SIRNER FOUNDATION JASON ABLIN MR. & MRS. LEON KALVARIA GAY SKOBAC ALAN KAWADLER JUDY E. ACKERMAN D. KARP HAROLD M. SMITH FARLA & HARVEY CHET KRENTZMAN ARNOLD ADICOFF HY KASHENBERG MRYON SOKAL LAPIDUS FAMILY FUND RAPHAEL ADLER ALLEN A. KAUFMAN PAUL SOLOMON NORMAN LISS WALTER ANGOFF PETER KAYE JACKIE STEINBERG ARTHUR OBERMAYER LEON ARTHUR IRA KLEINBERG JAY STEINBERG ZITA ROSENTHAL SIGMUND BALKA JERRY KLINGER FRANK STERN ARTHUR SEGEL SUE ANNE BANGEL HAROLD & SHIRLEY KOBLINER WALTER STERN ROSALIE & JIM SHANE JACOB BAR-DAVID MR. C. J. 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