Heritage Vol.1 No.2 Newsletter of the American Jewish Historical Society Fall/Winter 2003

HERITAGE VOL.1 NO.2 NEWSLETTER OF THE AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY FALL/WINTER 2003

Baseball’s First Jewish Superstar Archival Treasure Trove Yiddish Theater in America American Jewish Historical Society 2002 -2003 Gift Roster This list reflects donations through April 2003. We extend our thanks to the many hundreds of other wonderful donors whose names do not appear here. Over $200,000 Genevieve & Justin L. Wyner $100,000 + Ann E. & Kenneth J. Bialkin Marion & George Blumenthal Ruth & Sidney Lapidus Barbara & Ira A. Lipman $25,000 + Citigroup Foundation Mr. David S. Gottesman Yvonne S. & Leslie M. Pollack Dianne B. and David J. Stern The Horace W. Goldsmith Linda & Michael Jesselson Nancy F. & David P. Solomon Mr. and Mrs. Sanford I. Weill Foundation Sandra C. & Kenneth D. Malamed Diane & Joseph S. Steinberg $10,000 + Mr. S. Daniel Abraham Edith & Henry J. Everett Mr. Jean-Marie Messier Muriel K. and David R Pokross Mr. Donald L. SaundersDr. and Elsie & M. Bernard Aidinoff Stephen and Myrna Greenberg Mr. Thomas Moran Mrs. Nancy T. Polevoy Mrs. Herbert Schilder Mr. Ted Benard-Cutler Mrs. Erica Jesselson Ruth G. & Edgar J. Nathan, III Mr. Joel Press Francesca & Bruce Slovin Mr. Len Blavatnik Renee & Daniel R. Kaplan National Basketball Association Mr. and Mrs. James Ratner Mr. Stanley Snider Mr. Edgar Bronfman Mr. and Mrs. Norman B. Leventhal National Hockey League Foundation Patrick and Chris Riley aMrs. Louise B. Stern Mr. Stanley Cohen Mr. Leonard Litwin Mr. George Noble Ambassador and Mrs. Felix Rohatyn Mr. Steve Stowe Combined Jewish Philanthropies Ms. Deborah B. Marin Ann & Jeffrey S. Oppenheim Louise P. & Gabriel Rosenfeld Adele & Ronald S. Tauber Mr. Alan Elkin Mr. Gilbert Lang Mathews Mr. Lionel I. Pincus Zita & Edward Rosenthal Leo Wasserman Foundation Ms. Elizabeth Young $5,000 + Mr. G. Allen Andreas Mr. Don Garber Mr. Peter M Holt Pacers Sports & Entertainment Mei and Ronald Stanton Eleanor & Walter Angoff Mr. Rob Glaser Mr. Richard G Lesser Irene and Abe Pollin Mr. Fred Stein Mr. Roger BlumEncranz Mr. Shep Goldfein Shari B. and Harold J. Levy Irene & Arnold J. Rabinor Mr. Craig E. Weatherup Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell Burstein Mr. Richard N. Goldman Mr. Joe & Mr. Gavin Mrs. Sheila Johnson Robbins Kelly Schein & Efrem Weinreb Mr. Marshall Dana Mr. Milton M. Gottesman Maurice Maloof Mr. Jack Rudin Mr. and Mrs. James D. Wolfensohn Dinah A. & Uri Evan Sally & Robert D. Gries Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Milberg Mrs. Faye G. Schayer Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Wyner Joseph Rae Gann Hadassah Mr. Larry Miller Mr. Allan H. (Bud) Selig Judy and Arthur Zankel Charitable Trust Hemisphere Financial Services Judith and Arthur Obermayer Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Speyer $1,000 + Mr. Herbert Allen Richard and Rosalee Davison Ms. Abigail Kursheedt Hoffman Ms. Judith Notovitz Mr. John R Silber Ira and Mary Lou Alpert Dr. and Mrs. Ronald I Dozoretz Millicent and Leon A. Jick Marcy and Stanley Pantowich Mr. Sidney B Silverman Mr. Walter Anderson Mr. Jack A. Durra Amos and Matt Kaminski Mr. and Mrs. Maurice S Paprin Mr. Alan B Slifka Mrs. Eleanor W. Angoff Sybil and Alan M. Edelstein Deborah B. and Abraham J. Karp Mr. and Mrs. Steven Passerman Kenneth and Marisa Starr Mr. and Mrs. Robert Appel Mr. Victor Elmaleh Ms. Rosalie Katz Mr. Peter G Peterson Ken and Nancy Stein Mr. and Mrs. Henry Arnhold Mr. and Mrs. Richard England Mr. and Mrs. Gershon Kekst Betsy and Ken Plevan Miriam and Morton M Steinberg Mr. and Mrs. Robert Arnow Mr. Charles Evans Mr. Thomas H. Kennedy Mr. and Mrs. Lester Pollack Judith S. and Berton Steir Mr. J. Leiter Bamberger, Jr. Mr. Eli N. Evans Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Kenner Mr. and Mrs. John J Pomerantz Frank and Lisbeth Stern Mr. and Mrs. Victor Barnett Ms. Geraldine Fabrikant Mr. Roman Kent Ms. Helen Portnoy Jeffrey M. and Susan K. Stern Judy and Ronald Baron Mr. Robert Fagenson Mr. Andrew Klein Mr. Irving W Rabb Mr. Jerome L. Stern Reina Marin and Emilio Bassini Mr. David Finn Mr. Norman Klein RC Direct Mr. and Mrs. Walter Stern Mr. and Mrs. Alan Batkin Mr. Martin S. Foont Mr. & Mrs. Frederick Klingenstein Ms. Dina Recanati Mr. Joel W. Sternman Ms. Eleana Benador Dr. Charlotte K. Frank Mr. and Mrs. Arthur D. Kowaloff Mr. Richard Reiss Suzanne Last and Richard Stone Andrew R. and Froma B. Benerofe Mr. Helmut N. Friedlaender Constance & Harvey M. Krueger Mr. Robert S Rifkind Mr. and Mrs. Andrew H. Tananbaum Mr. and Mrs. Howard Berkowitz Pam and George Friedman Betsy and Donald Landis Mr. David Rockefeller Lawrence and Judith Tanenbaum Barbara and Barry Berlin Robert and Linda Friedman Mr. Roy Lapidus Mrs. Frederick Rose Harold and Nicki Tanner Mr. Philip Bleich Mr. Mark T. Gallogly The Honorable Frank Lautenberg Frances and Harold S Rosenbluth Ethel and Ronald Taub Elana and Aryeh Bourkoff Mr. Joe R. Gerson Mr. Philip Lax Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Rosenthal Mr. and Mrs. Theodore H. Teplow Mr. Michael Budman Rae and William M. Ginsburg Mr. and Mrs. Laurence Leeds Mrs. Doris Rosenthal Mr. Arnold Thaler Mr. Milton L. Cail Mr. Jay M. Goffman Mr. and Mrs. Fred Leighton Chaye H. and Walter Roth Mr. Malcolm Thomson Mr. Roger M. Cassin Mr. Eugene M. Grant Mr. Robert L Lenzner Joan and Alan P Safir Laurence and Billie Tisch Mr. Ezra Chammah Mr. and Mrs. Burton G. Greenblatt Mr. Leon Levy Mr. Arnold Saltzman Mr. Thomas I. Unterberg Ms. Debrah Lee Charatan Mr. and Mrs. Henry Grunwald The Martin R Lewis Charitable Mr. Ricky Sandler Mr. Marc A. Utay Mrs. Hilda Clayman Ms. Louise Grunwald Foundation Mr. Irving Schneider Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell M. Waife Dr. Naomi W. Cohen Mr. Emanuel Michael Gruss Ms. Nancy A Lieberman Mrs. Lynn Schusterman Sue R. and Felix Warburg Faye F. and Mr. Sheldon Cohen Gordon and Llura Gund Sandra H. and Norman Liss Charles Lynn Schusterman Family Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wechsler Mr. Arthur Cohn Mr. Samuel Halpern Mr. Earle I Mack Foundation Mr. Norbert Weissberg Dr. Peter F. Cohn Mr. Leonard Harlan Mr. Abraham E Margolin Cipora and Philip Schwartz Ms. Elizabeth Graham Weymouth The Colburn Family Foundation Susan T. and Charles E. Harris Mr. and Mrs. Morris Mark Batia and Shaul Shani Mr. Stephen M. Wynne Mr. Lester Crown Mr. and Mrs. Norman Hascoe Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Mark Mr. Benjamin Shapell Toni P. and Stuart B. Young Mr. Joseph F.Cullman, 3rd Mr. Michael Heisley Carol and Arthur Maslow Mr. and Mrs. Arie L. Shapiro Ms. Hedy Davis Kaye Zankel Joan P. and Ronald C. Curhan Mrs. Fanya Gottesman Heller Mr. Martin E Messinger Ralph and Shirley Shapiro Mr. Gary A. Zimmerman Mrs. Judith Darsky Mr. John Heyman Mr. and Mrs. Joseph S Metz Mr. Shelby Shapiro Isaac and Ivette Davah Mr. Arthur B. Himmel Mr. and Mrs. Jack Nash Mr. Isadore Sharp Robert and Betty David Misher and Allen Ereich Norman Mr. Herbert J Siegel $500 + Mr. Richard S. Abramson Mr. Charles M. Diker Professor Howard L. Greenberger Mr. Lawrence S. Levine Mr. Daniel E. Rothenberg Caroline & Stephen Adler Mr. Richard A. Eisner Mr. Robert S. Gruber Ms. Bonnie Lipton Mr. Mark Rubin Mr. Arthur S. Ainsberg James N. and Patricia L. Fingeroth Shirley and Dick Jaffee Ambassador John L Loeb, Jr. Mr. Richard Savitt Mr. Louis H. Barnett Joan and Aaron Fischer Mrs. Frances R. Kallison Mr. Richard J. Lubasch Joan and Stuart Schapiro Mr. Jack Bendheim Ms. Hilda Fischman Mr. and Mrs. Harry Kamen Ms. Nancy F. Neff Mr. Alan G. Schwartz Mr. Norman S. Benzaquen Ms. Lesley M. Friedman Samuel & Nancy Ann Stern Karetsky Mr. Augustus K. Oliver Mr. Sherwood M. Schwarz Mr. Abraham Biderman Mr. and Mrs. Howard L Ganek Mr. Jerome S. Karr The Esther & Seymour Padnos Mr. Larry S. Steingold Mr. Lawrence S. Blumberg and Family Philip Garoon Mr. Sandy Koufax Foundation Mr. Paul Tannenbaum Anne and Milton C. Borenstein Mr. Robert Gendelman Ms. Lynn Korda Kroll Ms. Kate C. Paley Mr. Bradley J. Wechsler David and Helen Gurly Brown Mr. Leonard Ginsberg Nancy and Jeffrey Lane Mr. David Pincus Mr. James L. Weinberg Mr. and Mrs. Bertram Cohn Carol and Avram Goldberg Mr. Harold S. Larkin Mr. John F. Poster Mr.& Mrs. Lawrence Jay Weinberg Mr. Dave Coskey Mr. Jay S. Goodgold Mr. Bernard Laterman Mr. Stephen B. Potter Mr. Paul J. Weinstein Mr. and Mrs. Gerald B. Cramer Mr. Leonard Goodman Ms. Marta Jo Lawrence Lt. Col. James N. Pritzker Mr. Joseph T. Yurcik 2 Mr. Denis Cronin Felice W. and David M. Gordis The Lemberg Foundation Mr. Charles J. Rose Lawrence and Carol Zicklin HERITAGE NEWSLETTER OF THE AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY VOLUME 1, NUMBER 2 • FALL/WINTER 2003 CONTENTS Letter from Sid Lapidus, American Jews in America’s Game Page 10 President Baseball’s First Jewish Superstar Page 11 Great Jewish-American Photographers Page 12 Archival Treasure I have the honor and privilege to succeed Kenneth J. Bialkin as Trove: The BWR Page 18 President of the American Jewish Historical Society. During his five years as President of the American Jewish Historical Society, Ken was NJWB & the Chaplains Page 19 largely responsible for the Society’s ascent to prominence in Little known story of American Jewish cultural life. America has been remarkably good for us Jews, as we Jews have "A Particular Responsibility" been remarkably good for America. In no other place or time in Page 20 world history have we been given such an opportunity to flourish; and we have taken advantage of the opportunities afforded us. We Library of Congress have much to be thankful for, but there is much to do. Exhibition Page 22 When most educated people consider modern Jewish history, they often think of two strains of Jewry: first, the Jews in Europe, whose Teddy Roosevelt Salutes history culminates in the horrors of the Holocaust; and secondly, the post-World War II history of the Jews in Israel, arising from the ashes American Jewry Page 24 of the Holocaust. However, there is a third strain of world Jewish history too often overlooked by many in America and around the world: Yiddish Theater in America the history of the Jews in America. This has been the purpose of the Page 26 AJHS since 1892– -To foster an awareness and appreciation of our rich American New & Noteworthy Pages 5--8 Jewish heritage. Passerman Family Gift • Note from -To serve as the national resource for scholarly research through the Editor • Writers Miller, Paley, the collection, preservation and dissemination of materials relating Ozick and Graham readings • to the long, vibrant history of Jews in America. Zuckerman, Taylor Honored • Our Society documents Jewish contributions to American society Series Hosts Celebrities • Loeb and makes them available to everyone. Next year marks the 350th Portrait Database • Archivist Award Anniversary of the first permanent Jewish settlement in America. We • Recent Donations must mark that Anniversary in a meaningful way and thank America for being a haven and home to her Jewish citizens. The Society must Calendar of Events Page 7 raise the funds to assure that the message of our people’s place in American life reaches the eyes and ears of every American citizen. AJHS Bookstore We Jews are bound by both the uplifting and painful memories of our shared past. The Society’s role is to help assure the Jewish Bat & Bar Mitzvah Gifts (page 4) • future in America by helping all of us remember our American “As Seen By...”Photo Prints (pg 16-17) Jewish past. We ask for your support to help us meet this urgent • Emma Lazarus Sonnet (pg 23) • responsibility. Theater Posters (pg 27-28) • Yiddish Note Cards (pg 29) • Books (pg 30-31) Sidney Lapidus • Collector’s Edition Baseball Cards (back cover)

AJHS Newsletter Fall/Winter 2003 • 3 Unique Bat and Bar

~ OFFICERS ~ Mitzvah

SIDNEY LAPIDUS President Gifts KENNETH J. BIALKIN JEWISH WOMEN Chairman IN AMERICA IRA A. LIPMAN LESLIE POLLACK We want your daughter, JUSTIN L. WYNER Vice Presidents granddaughter, niece, or friend to enjoy the most SHELDON S. COHEN amazing encyclopedia of Secretary and Counsel its kind ever published. DAVID P. SOLOMON This large and beautiful, Treasurer two volume compendium LOUISE ROSENFELD of the history of Jewish Assistant Treasurer women in America will be

PROF. PAMELA S. NADELL the gift that she will use Chair, Academic Council for her whole life of learning. MARSHA LOTSTEIN Chair, Council of Jewish The American Jewish Historical Organizations Historical Society spon-

GEORGE BLUMENTHAL sored this triple award- LESLIE POLLACK winning set and Paula E. Co-Chairs, Sports Archive Hyman and Deborah Moore

MICHAEL FELDBERG, Ph.D. edited. Recipient of the Executive Director American Library Association's prestigious BERNARD WAX Director Emeritus Dartmouth Medal Award, The Jewish Book Council's ~ BOARD OF TRUSTEES ~ National Jewish Book Award M. BERNARD AIDINOFF WALTER ANGOFF for Women's Studies and the NORMAN ARNOLD KENNETH J. BIALKIN Barbara Dobkin Honorary, it GEORGE BLUMENTHAL ANNE S. BORENSTEIN is fun to read, historically accu- SHELDON S. COHEN RONALD CURHAN rate, and completely appropri- ALAN M. EDELSTEIN DINAH EVAN ate for the occasion. HENRY J. EVERETT RUTH FEIN Two volume set $250 WILLIAM M. GINSBURG RICHARD N. GOLDMAN Member's Price $200 DAVID M. GORDIS DAVID S. GOTTESMAN ROBERT D. GRIES DAVID HERSHBERG SILVER ENHANCED MICHAEL JESSELSON LEON A. JICK BASEBALL CARD GIFT SET DANIEL KAPLAN ABRAHAM J. KARP ANDREW KLEIN HARVEY M. KRUEGER Fewer than 5% of our Jewish Major SEYMOUR KARETSKY AARON LANSKY Leaguers baseball cards were craft- SIDNEY LAPIDUS PHILIP LAX ed and set aside for special events. ROBERT LENZNER IRA A. LIPMAN We saved a few as Bar Mitzvah NORMAN LISS MARSHA LOTSTEIN presents. All the pictures and sta- KENNETH D. MALAMED GILBERT LANG MATHEWS tistics are the same as our regular PAMELA S. NADELL EDGAR J. NATHAN, III collectible cards you will see on ARTHUR S. OBERMAYER page 32. The difference is the rarity and JEFFREY S. OPPENHEIM, MD DAVID R. POKROSS the extra silver foil decoration. NANCY T. POLEVOY LESLIE M. POLLACK The Bar Mitzvah boy will still treasure these cards when ARNOLD J. RABINOR ROBERT D. ROSEN he is a grandfather. Our American Jewish sports heroes HAROLD S. ROSENBLUTH LOUISE P. ROSENFELD are a great source of pride and these cards and the story ZITA ROSENTHAL WALTER ROTH FAYE G. SCHAYER LAWRENCE R. SEDER they tell will increase in value through the years. They will never be sold in retail stores and BRUCE SLOVIN DAVID P. SOLOMON when this printing is gone, they become part of sports history. SHERMAN H. STARR JOSEPH S. STEINBERG Boxed Silver Stamped Baseball Cards • $250 (limit one set per household) MORTON M. STEINBERG SUZANNE L. STONE Members Price • $200 (limit two sets per household) RONALD S. TAUBER SAUL VIENER SUE R. WARBURG EFREM WEINREB JUSTIN L. WYNER MAURICE ZILBER To order call 1-800 863-8650 or go to our online bookstore @ www.ajhs-store.com.

4 • American Jewish Historical Society Passerman A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR his issue of Heritage, the magazine Family T of the American Jewish Historical Society, marks a departure from the organization’s earlier, conventional newsletter, which appeared off and on – more off Restores than on – over the past two decades. Our aspiration for Heritage is to bring rich but little-known stories of our own history, the Heritage experience of the Jewish people in this nation from the 1600s to the present, to a

Vol. 1, No. 1 of the rejuvenated “Heritage”. wide and interested audience. Publication This inaugural issue focuses on some of the Society’s current and forthcoming A generous gift from the family of Maxwell W. (Mac) and Miriam R. activities and programs. In October of 2003 we plan to deliver the first-ever set of Passerman has enabled the American Jewish Historical Society to baseball cards recognizing the 142 indi- begin republishing this newsletter, Heritage, after a hiatus of more viduals who played in the Major Leagues than two years. It was Mac Passerman’s vision, many years ago, that from 1871 to the present. In late September 2003, we will unveil an exhibi- the Society should communicate with a general audience through a tion, "As Seen By…," that highlights the newsletter. Today, his dream is a reality. The Society is planning, memorable images of some of America’s between September and December of 2003, to mail more than greatest Jewish photographers. 400,000 copies of Heritage across the United States and the world. If there is a theme to this issue of Heritage, however, it emerged from our Maxwell William Passerman served as treasurer and vice president of nation’s current preoccupation with the the American Jewish Historical Society in the 1960s and 1970s. problems of war, post-war recovery and According to his daughter, Louise P. Rosenfeld, history was his pas- nation building now on the mind of thinking Americans. This issue contains sion and he immersed his children and his grandchildren in it. stories describing our exhibition on how “[Mac] believed the United States was the greatest country in the the United States Army came to publish a world: Jews were here by constitutional right, not by the fiat or suf- set of the Talmud for Holocaust Survivors; ferance of some monarch who could rescind that right.” To demon- the role that Jewish chaplains played in World War II, and the war and post-war strate his patriotism, Mac served in the Navy during World War I and photographs featured in "As Seen By…" the Coast Guard Auxiliary in World War II. The questions raised by the stories in this issue remind us of how much the 20th Born in Philadelphia in 1898, Maxwell Passerman graduated from century’s wars, destruction and inhu- the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University Law School. manity shaped Jewish and American his- Although short, he was adept at baseball, basketball, tennis and golf. tory. As leaders of the resistance to that For most of his working life he was a major officer of the Riverside violence and inhumanity, especially that aimed at our fellow Jews in Europe and Memorial Chapel chain of funeral homes in greater New York. the former Ottoman Empire, American Mac married his wife of 63 years, Miriam Rosenthal, in 1925. Miriam Jewry has spearheaded the battle for human rights, cultural pluralism and reli- was born in New York in 1901. She attended Hunter College High gious freedom. The American Jewish School, Goucher College and was among the first female graduates of Historical Society is dedicated to preserv- Columbia University School of Journalism. In 1939, she started an ing the record of American Jewish contri- event planning and interior design firm, Arrangements Inc., which butions to advancing those universal human values. her daughter Louise still operates. Welcome to the new Heritage. Please The Passermans were active in a number of Jewish charitable organ- make sure you receive future issues by izations such as HIAS, NYANA and Hadassah. The tradition has been becoming a member of, or renewing your membership in the American Jewish passed to their children, Louise (an officer of the AJHS Board) and Historical Society. Steven, son-in-law Gabriel Rosenfeld and daughter-in-law Hariet Passerman, all of whom are active members of AJHS. Michael Feldberg, Ph.D. The Society is very grateful to the Passerman family for its multi-generational commitment to AJHS.

AJHS Newsletter Fall/Winter 2003 • 5 AJHS EVENTS Writers Miller, Paley, AJHS Honors Ozick and Graham Zuckerman. perform readings at AJHS In May 2003, the Society presented its prestigious Emma Lazarus Statue of Liberty Award to Mortimer B. Zuckerman, publisher of the New York Daily News and Atlantic Monthly magazine and chairman of the Conference of President of Major American Jewish Organizations. Zuckerman joins Felix Rohatyn, Sanford I. Weill, Henry Kissinger, Beverly Sills, Edgar Bronfman and Elie Wiesel as a recipient of the Society’s highest honor. As AJHS board chairman Kenneth J. Bialkin noted in his remarks about Mr. Zuckerman, "His untiring

Arthur Miller and Grace Paley. efforts on behalf of Israel and American Jewry make him a truly worthy recipient of the Emma In June, distinguished American Jewish Lazarus Award. He is a clear voice of principle, authors Arthur Miller, Grace Paley, Cynthia Mortimer B. Zuckerman enjoys the Emma Lazarus conscience and firmness in representing the Ozick and Jorie Graham read from their Statue of Liberty Dinner and Award. American Jewish people." works in honor of the opening of an exhibition of first-edition books by 19th and 20th century Jewish authors that appeared, cour- tesy of the Princeton University Libraries, at the AJHS at the Center for Jewish History. Leonard Milberg donated the collection to Princeton and the university made it available to the Society with his indispensable assistance. He also made several original drawings of American Jewish authors by David Levine from his personal collection available for the exhibition. Mr. Miller read publicly from his play "After the Fall" for the first time since writing it. Ms. Paley and Ms. Ozick read from their fictional writings and Ms. Graham from her poetic works. The exhibition closed in mid-September, 2003.

Mike Wallace with Rabbi William Berkowitz.

AJHS and Dialogue Forum Series Host Celebrities For the past two years, the American Jewish Historical Society has hosted the Dialogue Forum Series, in which Rabbi William Berkowitz conducts oral history interviews of notable American Jews before a live audience at the Center for Jewish History in New York. In recent months, Rabbi Berkowitz, who has been conducting these interviews since 1951, interviewed Mike Wallace of CBS’s "60 Minutes," actress Tova Feldshuh, who currently stars in the New York production of "Golda’s Balcony," and Avi Hoffman, star of his original theatrical performances "Too Jewish" and "Too Jewish Leonard Milberg Two."

6 • American Jewish Historical Society December 21 AJHS Calendar 2003-2004 Songs and Stories: A Hanukkah Concert. Events taking place at the Leo and Julia Forchheimer Auditorium at Isaiah Sheffer, delightful storyteller, will host a varied program the Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York City. including Yiddish songs and readings from the Bintel Brief with For tickets, call the Box Office at 917-606-8200, Fax to 917-606-8201 Cantor Robert Abelson, baritone. Ellen Gould will present a theatri- or e-mail [email protected]. Major credit cards accepted. cal excerpt from her one-woman musical, The Miracle of the Five Hannahs, based on the brief life of poet Hannah Senesh, who, like Visit our website for additional events and updates — the Maccabees, was a symbol of Jewish resistance. This annual www.AJHS.org/about/calendar.cfm Hanukkah Concert, presented with the American Society for Jewish Music, concludes with excerpts from George F. Handel’s oratorio, EXHIBITIONS Judas Maccabeus. September 24, 2003 – April 11, 2004 (Opening Night, October 2) MONDAY NIGHT FILM SERIES "As Seen By…Great American Jewish Photographers" Featuring the work of Margaret Bourke-White, Cornell Capa, Alfred ISRAEL: IDEAL AND REALITY, curated by Sheba Skirball, CJH Film Eisenstaedt, Nat Fein, Dmitri Kessel, Ralph Morse, Joe Rosenthal and Curator. At the Center for Jewish History, co-sponsored by AJHS, Paul Schutzer. Over 40 of the greatest photographic images from American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute, YIVO and LIFE magazine chronicle the American experience, during war and Yeshiva University Museum. peace, in the 20th century. Opening night program: Presentation by October 13 LIFE photographer Ralph Morse; speaker, Charles Whittingham, for- "A Wall in Jerusalem" mer publisher, LIFE. Director Frederic Rossif, France, 1970, 90 mins. English, narrated by Richard Burton. Speaker: Mr. Ido Aharoni, Consul for Media and LECTURES, CONCERTS, PANELS Public Affairs, Consulate General of Israel in New York. 7:00 PM. October 27 September 15 – Dialogue Forum "Geshem49" (Rain49) Rabbi William Berkowitz and Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, 8:00 PM. Director Ilan Yagoda, Israel, 1998, 50 mins. Speaker: Peter Cole, October 1 – poet, translator and editor of Ibis Editions. Jews & Justice Series: How Judaism Shaped Western Democracy Preceded by: "May," Israel, 1999, 12 mins. 7:00 PM. Keynote speaker: Dr. Fania Oz-Salzberger, Haifa University. November 10 Moderator: Edward Rothstein, New York Times Critic at Large. "St. Jean" Respondents: Rabbi David Ellenson, President, Hebrew Union Directors, Julie Shles and Amit Breuer, Israel, 1993, 75 mins. College-Jewish Institute of Religion; Michael Walzer, Prof. of Social Speaker: Amit Breuer, filmmaker. Science, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University. 6:30PM. Preceded by: "Ata’s Family," Israel, 2001, 12 mins. October 22 – A Battle for the Soul of New York December 1 Author Warren Sloat will speak on the true story of a forgotten hero "66 Was a Good Year for Tourism" whose crusade against crooked cops and political bosses at the end Director Amit Goren, Israel, 1992, 66 mins. Speaker: Henry of the 19th Century changed America. Centered on the Lower East Feingold, Professor Emeritus, Baruch College. Preceded by: "Call Me Side, it attracted the support of women and Eastern European Dudu," Israel, 2001, 13 mins. 7:00 PM. Jewish immigrants who were tormented at the hands of the police. Sloat, a former journalist, is also the author of 1929: America Before December 22 the Crash. 7:00 PM. "My Terrorist" Director Julie Cohen Gerstel, Israel, 2002, 58 Mins. Speaker: Charles October 23 – Post Birthright Book Event B. Strozier, Professor of History and Director, Center on Terrorism For alumni of the Birthright Israel Program only. Samuel G. and Public Safety, John Jay College/CUNY. 7:00 PM. Freedman and Rabbi Joseph Telushkin will lead a discussion on jour- January 5 nalism and ethics. First of a series, co-sponsored with "Zmani" (It’s About Time) Mayanot/Birthright Israel and the Jewish Book Council, that will Directors, Ayelet Menahemi and Elona Ariel, Israel, 2001, 54 mins. continue on November 17, January 22, March 11 and May 13, 2004. Speaker: Zev Chafets, columnist, the NY Daily News. 7:00 PM. 6-9:00 PM. November 16 – Rooted Cosmopolitans Readings from the Lillian Goldman Reading Room and the Center partners’ archives. Exploring, through memoirs and correspon- JOIN OUR LISTSERV – dences, the condition of being an uprooted minority and its connec- AMJHISTORY, the American Jewish History Online Discussion tions with "history", "roots" and "identity." Including Art Group, is dedicated to the dissemination of information and ongo- Spiegelman’s reflections on 20th Century displacement from ing discussion of issues of interest to the American Jewish historical Berlin, Rio and Trieste, as well as post 9/11 New York. 7:00PM. community. It encourages individuals and organizations involved in studying, teaching, preserving or exhibiting aspects of American November 13 – Dialogue Forum Jewish history to exchange information, ideas and plans. AMJHIS- Rabbi William Berkowitz and Peter Z. Malkin; Special Guest, TORY is sponsored by the American Jewish Historical Society and Attorney General Robert Morgenthau. 8:00 PM. distributed via an electronic mailing list. December 14 – The Jewish Catalog 30th Anniversary To subscribe to the list, send an email to: The difference between The Jewish Catalog and other Jewish refer- [email protected] ence books of its time was that it covered the background and theory with the following command in the body of the text: of all aspects of ritual life as well as the practical side. With Catalog writers: Richard Siegel, Exec. Director, National Foundation for SUBSCRIBE AMJHISTORY (leave the Subject line blank). Jewish Culture; Sharon Strassfeld; Rabbi Michael Strassfeld, Society Follow the directions that the software sends you. For assistance for the Advancement of Jewish Culture; Ellen Frankel, Director, with your listserv subscription or questions, please contact Julie Jewish Publication Society; and Jennifer Bleyer, former editor-in- Koven, List Administrator, at [email protected]. chief of Heeb. Presented in association with the Jewish Publication Society. 6:00 PM AJHS Newsletter Fall/Winter 2003 • 7 AJHS NEWS NEW AJHS MASSACHUSETTS HOME AT HEBREW COLLEGE In August 2002, the American papers of Boston communal leaders Jewish Historical Society departed such as Dewey D. Stone and Lewis from its home of 35 years on the Weinstein. Soon to be available are campus of Brandeis University in the records of Shawmut Mills, Waltham, MA and moved its Boston- another multigenerational Jewish based holdings to a new home in family business founded in the the Gann Library of Hebrew Boston area. College in Newton Centre, MA. The The new facilities of the Historical Society is now operational at this Society in Newton Centre, MA are site. The resources at the Society’s now a fixture on the Boston area location include archival and other academic scene with researchers, research holdings related to the his- students and the general public visit- tory of the Boston-area and New ing and examining its holdings and England Jewish communities, travel- exhibitions. Interest thus far has ing exhibitions and public programs focused on holdings dealing with such as lectures and films. AJHS genealogy, the Boston office of the continues to host the Jewish Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society Genealogical Society of Greater (HIAS) and the records of the Boston at its new home. JCRC. Two public programs, spon- Generous gifts from Genevieve Reading Room of the Wyner Center. sored jointly with Hebrew College, the local branch of the Workmen’s and Justin Wyner of Boston, MA and and tree-graced grounds of the housed at this facility are the Circle and others, attracted several Marion and George Blumenthal of Hebrew College campus provide a Combined Jewish Philanthropies of hundred participants. Future pro- New York, NY enabled the Society to beautiful backdrop to the Society’s Greater Boston, the nation’s oldest grams dealing with music, politics acquire and outfit this beautiful new New England home. The college Jewish federation; the Jewish and film are being planned for the facility, which is designated as the generously provides the Society’s Community Relations Council of coming year. Wyner Center of the American staff with high-speed Internet access Greater Boston, also the first JCRC For further information about Jewish Historical Society at Hebrew and other features of contemporary in the United States; the archives of events and services at the Wyner College. library management in the informa- he Rabinowitz and Rabb Families Center of AJHS, please call Designed by architect Moshe tion age. and the Stop and Shop Company 617-559-8880. Safdie, the stunning architecture Among the important collections that they founded; and the personal

RECENT DONATIONS MICHAEL ALEXANDER: Congregation Agudath Sholom’s 10th Annual Dinner Dance publication, The Dynasty Families of Congregation Agudath Shlom Family Trees. BRIGITTE DALINGER: Quellenedition zur Geschichte des jud- ischen Theaters in Wien. DAVID A. FOX: Isaac Leeser 1837 sid- dur John Taylor receives Distinguished Archivist Award from sponsor Stanley Cohen. MARGE GOLDWATER: Aspiring Women: A History of the Jewish Foundation for Education of Women, DISTINGUISHED by Jenna Weismann Joselit ARCHIVIST AWARD DAVID HANOVICE: Machal: Overseas Portraits of Abigail Levy (left) and Selina Seixas (right) from the AJHS Collection In April, the Society bestowed its Volunteers in Israel’ s War of viewable on the Loeb Portrait Database. inaugural Distinguished Archivist Independence Award to John Taylor of the ELLEN HERMAN, Associate Professor LOEB National Archives. The award, of History, College of Arts and made possible by a generous grant Sciences: article, The Paradoxical Rationalization of Modern Adoption. PORTRAIT DATABASE from Stanley Cohen of New York A generous grant from Ambassador John L. Loeb, Jr. has enabled AJHS City and Paris, France, recognizes JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF DELAWARE: A Guide to the Archives. to create a section of its website, http://www.ajhs.org/ research/loeb/, the unsung heroes of historical J. J. MUELLER: his translation of for a database that will, over time, contain an image and information research: the professional Guneter Boll’s Von den bitteren describing every known portrait, photo, daguerreotype and woodcut of archivists who assist researchers Erfahrunger der Muellheimer Juden in an American Jew painted before 1865. Currently, the database, which and writers to find the original den Jahren 1750-1850. contains 60 images and captions, can be viewed by visiting the AJHS documents, buried deep in ROBERT K. OTTERBOURG: family’s website and clicking on “ Research Resources,” “Loeb Portrait archives, from which historians translation of Bernard Kukatzki’s Database.” While the majority of images on this site are owned by AJHS derive their original insights. Native Landauer Marcus Otterbourg from its extensive collection of pre-1865 portraits, silhouettes, Distinguished author Robert Caro (1827-1893): American Consul in daguerreotypes and woodcuts, for this site to achieve comprehensive- delivered the keynote speech in Mexico. ness dozens of institutions and individuals had to grant permission for Mr. Taylor’s honor: "Historians MARGE PIERCY: first editions of He, She and It and Gone to Soldiers. AJHS to publish an image of works in their collections. We are grateful and the Use of Archives," in which to each of them for their cooperation, and to Ambassador Loeb for his he described the process by which LENE SCHOTT-KRISTENSEN: Ph.D. he researched his Pulitzer Prize- thesis for the English Department of steadfast support of this project. the University of Copenhagen, The winning biographies of Robert Leydn Jar: A Study of Henry Roth. Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson. 8 • American Jewish Historical Society Do your family records belong in the AJHS Archives?

When you elect to join AJHS at our Archival Membership level ($500) or higher, you will receive all the benefits of Subscription Membership PLUS you will receive two strong, acid-free archival cartons for you to fill and donate to AJHS. Your collection will be placed in our archives, alongside the papers of Emma Lazarus, Uriah P. Levy, Hank Greenberg, Oscar Straus and Henrietta Szold. If appropriate for research uses, they will be cataloged and made available to scholars, film makers, journalists and others who portray the American Jewish experience.*

Your unrestricted donations of archival material are tax deductible. Your tax advisor can explain how the IRS permits you to value your gift up to $5000 without appraisal. If you believe that your collection may be worth above $5000, you will need a professional appraisal to obtain maximum tax benefits.

When we receive your Archival Membership Dues of $500, we will send you labeled cartons and blank inventory lists so you can send your donated materials to AJHS. You will receive simple instructions for identifying objects, papers and pictures. Additional cartons of material may be donated for a processing fee of $250 per provided carton. If you want your family records to become a permanent part of American Jewish history, please fill out and mail the form on the enclosed envelope, call 212-294-6160, or submit your membership form on the Internet at www.ajhs.org/membership.

*AJHS reserves the right to return to you, dispose of, or transfer to another institution any donated material we deem unsuitable for our mission, but appropriate for others.

AJHS Newsletter Fall/Winter 2003 • 9 The Making of a Card Set: American Jews in America’s Game By Martin Abramowitz

e may remember collectible baseball cards as coming with of our total Jewish roster. Sounds laughable, but 1,438 non-Jewish bubble gum, but they appeared first toward the end of the major leaguers met the same fate,which is ALSO just under 9%! W nineteenth century as tobacco package inserts, then (and slightly higher than the Jewish rate). As for sticking around became giveaways or artwork in newspapers and sport magazines, long enough to get past "rookie" status: 81 of the 141 Jewish play- Cracker Jacks, matchbook covers, vending-machine postcards, can- ers (57%) exceeded the rookie criterion. dies, cookies, hot dogs, potato chips (where even the best pre- Performance Stats: served cards carry grease stains!), Wheaties, Kellogg’s Pep, Post • On the offensive side: The Jewish players had 22,246 hits, and a Cereals, Spic and Span, Jell-o, ice cream, and bread. They were .265 batting average, with 2032 home runs, and 10,602 RBI's. also branded and given away by minor and major league teams, gas stations, shoe stores, soda distributors – even • We've hit for the cycle (a single, double, police departments! triple and home run in the same game) once (Harry Danning did it in 1940, one Tim Wiles of the National Baseball Hall of of only 12 major league catchers--out of Fame calls baseball cards "cultural icons in about 1,600--since 1871, to do so. His America." I call them pieces of immortality. brother Ben told me Harry’s homer was Having a line or two in the record books counts inside-the-park; not bad for a catcher. but, for at least the first half of • Shawn Green of the Los Angeles the 20th Century, you were not Dodgers had the single best likely to have a card of your own nine-inning slugging perform- if you were not a starter, or if you ance in the history of baseball: happened to be having your four homers, a double and a best years in wartime. Of the single against Milwaukee in 141 Jewish Major Leaguers, 2002. forty-one never had a card – that very special piece of • The 2,032 homers hit by Jews immortality. I started a project represent nine-tenths of one to make a set of cards with percent of the 219,667 record- every Jewish major league ed homers, so once again, baseball player, in large part, Jewish Major Leaguers have because I felt someone owed held their own, getting slightly it to those forty-one players. more than their statistical "fair share" of homers. When it comes to Jews who played baseball, almost every- • Our .265 collective batting one knows legends Sandy average is three points higher Koufax and Hank than all players from 1871 to Greenberg. They may even 2002. know Moe Berg, who played • On the mound, we com- for the Brooklyn Robbins in piled a 1,134-1,114 record, the Major Leagues in 1923 with 810 complete games The only complete set of Jewish and went onto play for 15 Baseball Cards ever published (164 of them shut-outs) and seasons for five different includes 41 cards never issued before. See page 32 for information to order. 11,632 strikeouts. The fact that teams. But what about the our pitchers are 20 games over other Jewish players who played between 1871 and 2002? Why do .500, a winning percentage of .504, to be precise, that means that we know so little about them? Were they good players? Baseball is we've done slightly better than the entire non-Jewish pitching a numbers game, so let’s take a look at the numbers. corps (since by definition, the won-lost record of ALL pitchers HAS to be .500, and our guys are slightly above it.) The first set of numbers—the percentage of Jews who played baseball—is disappointing. We had 141 players, which is about • We've also thrown five of the 230 no-hitters (three for Koufax, eight-tenths of 1 percent of the roughly 16,700 major leaguers two for Holtzman), about twice as many as our "statistical fair through 2002. We’ll round up to 1% for simplicity's sake. So share"; our player Hall of Famers roster (Greenberg and Koufax) assuming we have been 3 percent of the American population over is statistically what one would predict: two out of slightly less than the last century, we "should" have had three times as many Jewish 200. players. • Our group ERA is 3.66, a bit lower (that means "better") than That said, what about those players we HAVE had? What can we the 3.77 racked up by all Major Leaguers. say statistically about whether they were "better" or "worse" than The one performance stat I've examined on which we fall short is average? Are we talking about rookies or long-term players? We’re stolen bases; we seem to have been slightly less than half as fleet or defining "rookie" as a player who pitched fewer than 60 innings, or daring as all major leaguers; we stole only 995 (less than Rickey who played in 30 or fewer games played at another position. In all, Henderson!), when our "expected fair share" would have been 12 Jewish major leaguers had one game careers, just under 9% 2,097 of the 262,144 steals in the record books. 10 • American Jewish Historical Society Hank Greenberg: Baseball’s First Jewish Superstar.

THE APPEARANCE OF THE SOCIETY’S LIMITED-EDITION COMMEMORATIVE SET of cards reminds us of the time when baseball was still America’s ‘national pastime’ and its most powerful symbol of the nation’s commitment to competition and fair play. However, for decades baseball reflected the nation’s prejudices and limits to equal treatment for all. Players who were Jewish, African-American or members of other "outside" groups were not easily welcomed into the sport. In 1949, Jackie Robinson broke the major league color barrier. A decade earlier, Hank Greenberg crossed a different line: he became baseball’s first Jewish superstar. Born into an Orthodox Bronx household in 1911, by the time Greenberg reached high school he stood six-foot three and was an on Greenberg in All-City athlete in soccer and basketball. His favorite sport, however, those last five was baseball. Somewhat awkward in the field, Greenberg chose to games, several play first base. In 1929, the New York Yankees offered Greenberg a pitchers walked contract but he turned it down because the immortal iron man Lou him rather than Gehrig was the incumbent Yankee first baseman. Instead, Greenberg give him a good signed a contract with the Detroit Tigers. pitch to hit. While Greenberg himself Greenberg spent three years in the minor leagues, working hard gave the charge no each day to improve his fielding and hitting. After being named the credence, and noted that he struck out several Most Valuable Player in the Texas League, he was promoted to the times, many observers believed that Greenberg got few good pitches Tigers in 1933, batted .301 and drove in 87 runs. to hit because major league baseball did not want a Jew breaking In 1934, led by Greenberg’s .339 batting average, the Tigers jumped Ruth’s record. from fifth place in the American League into battle for the pennant. In May of 1940, the Army interrupted Greenberg’s baseball Never before had a Jewish player assumed such a significant role for career. One of baseball’s highest paid stars, his salary dropped from a major league team and, for the first time, Greenberg – and Jewish $11,000 to $21 per month. In August, Congress decided that men baseball fans all over the country – faced a dilemma. September 10th over 28 years old need not serve and Greenberg was honorably dis- was Rosh Hashanah and the Tigers, who led the league by four games charged. He planned to return to the Tigers the next season, but on in the standings, were playing the Boston Red Sox. Fans and rabbis December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Although he debated whether Greenberg, who by his accomplishments was win- had been excused from serving, Greenberg was the first major lea- ning acceptance for Jews among non-Jewish Americans, should play guer voluntarily to enlist in the Army. While he could have accepted on the High Holy Days. Greenberg came up with his own compro- a stateside job as an athletic instructor, Greenberg chose to serve in mise: he played on Rosh Hashanah and hit two home runs that won the Army Air Corps in the China-Burma-India Theater, where he the game, 2-1. Ten days later, he spent Yom Kippur in a synagogue. compiled a distinguished record. That day, the Tigers lost. Greenberg’s observance inspired Edgar Guest to write a poem, which read in part: When the war ended in 1945, Greenberg, age 34, returned to the Tiger lineup in mid-summer and hit a home run in his first game Come Yom Kippur - holy fast day wide-world over to the Jew - back. Greenberg led the Tigers to another World Series victory that And Hank Greenberg to his teaching and the old tradition true year, personally clinching the American League pennant with a grand slam home run on the final day of the season. Greenberg Spent the day among his people and he didn’t come to play. played two more seasons and then retired. Said Murphy to Mulrooney, "We shall lose the game today! After retirement, Greenberg compiled another series of "firsts." He We shall miss him in the infield and shall miss him at the bat, became the first Jewish owner/general manager in baseball, assem- But he’s true to his religion - and I honor him for that! bling the 1954 Cleveland Indians team that won a record 111 games. In 1959, Greenberg and Bill Veeck purchased the Chicago White Greenberg came back the next day and struck a home run that Sox. That year, the White Sox won the pennant for the first time in clinched the pennant for the Tigers, but they lost the World Series to 40 years. In 1961, Greenberg sold his baseball interests and launched the Cardinals in seven games. A year later, the Tigers won the World a successful career on Wall Street. In 1954, Hank Greenberg became Series and Greenberg was the first Jew voted Most Valuable Player in the first Jewish player elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame. His pio- either major league. neering efforts as a player and owner paved the way for Jews in the The 1938 season brought more drama for Greenberg when he chal- top ranks of major league baseball, whether as a Hall of Fame player lenged Babe Ruth’s record of 60 home runs in a season. With five like Sandy Koufax, a general manager like Al Rosen, or an owner and games remaining, Greenberg had hit 58. With the eyes of the world commissioner of major league baseball like Bud Selig.

All in all, fans, I think it's safe to say that we can hold our heads Sandy Koufax bears comparison with ANY of the greatest pitchers high. who ever took the mound. The best pitcher of them ALL might There’s one more thing we should mention about the perform- have been a Jew. The symbolism of all that, in a fair-minded ance of these 141 players. That is, how their careers impacted the democracy that looks to individuals as 'champions' of those they history of the American Jewish experience. Meir Ribalow, author represent, is hard to overestimate." of Jewish Baseball Stars, told me, "It's less the cumulative and over- Martin Abramowitz is President of Jewish Major Leaguers, Inc., a not-for- all stats that matter; it's that Hank Greenberg could slug with ANY- profit organization dedicated to documenting American Jews in ONE, and was a physically huge (for the time), powerful symbol of America's game. Martin created a 141-card set of Jewish major leaguer athletic strength that made him so important to the American baseball cards for the American Jewish Historical Society. He can be Jewish community...or that Sandy Koufax bears comparison with reached at [email protected]. ANY of the greatest pitchers who ever took the mound. The best AJHS Newsletter Fall/Winter 2003 • 11 “ As Seen By…” Great Jewish-American Photographers

n September of 2003, the American Jewish Historical According to critic Max Kozloff, Jews have been represented Society will launch an exhibit of 50 of the greatest photo- in disproportionately high numbers in the field of American I graphic images ever captured, by eight distinguished pho photography. The early Jewish photographers used photogra- tographers, all of them of Jewish heritage. Collected from the phy, according to Kozloff, "as a tool for assailing prejudice archives of LIFE Magazine and iPhotoart, Inc., these stirring against immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe." photographs chronicle the tumultuous 20th Century, illumi- During and after World War II, however, American Jewish pho- nating the Jewish and American experience. With unflinching tographers broadened their concerns, taking risks to illustrate eyes and steady hands, these ground breaking forerunners American soldiers’ heroism in fighting Nazism, providing the in the field of photojournal- first photos of Israel’s ism provide a bird’s-eye view dynamic defense in the Six- of war in all its unrelenting Day War and documenting horror, of breathtaking scien- the icons of American popu- tific discoveries, of the leg- lar culture and politics. endary figures of Hollywood, In her book On sports and politics, and of Photography, cultural critic their fellow Jews around the Susan Sontag wrote: world in the grip of social “In teaching us a new visual change. code, photographs alter and The photographers include enlarge our notions of what is Margaret Bourke-White worth looking at and what we (1904-1971), Cornell Capa have a right to observe. They (b. 1918), Alfred Eisenstadt are a grammar and, even (1898-1995), Nat Fein (1914- more importantly, an ethics 2000), Dmitri Kessel (1902- of seeing. … To collect photographs is to collect the world 1995), Ralph Morse (b. … Photographs really are 1918), Joe Rosenthal (b. experience captured, and the 1911) and Paul Schutzer camera is the ideal arm of (1930-1967). Many of the consciousness in its acquisi- photos in the exhibition have tive mood.” become icons of American culture, including Eisen- "As Seen By…" will be on dis- stadt’s picture of a sailor play at the Center for Jewish kissing a nurse on V-E Day, history from September 15 to Fein’s Pulitzer Prize photo December 31, 2003. On the of Babe Ruth’s retirement evening of October 2, Ralph ceremony, "The Babe Bows Morse will speak at the Out," and Rosenthal’s photo American Jewish Historical of the Marines raising the flag Society’s headquarters at on Iwo Jima (see related the Center for Jewish History. story, page 15). Charles Whittingham, former publisher of LIFE and Philip Few people knew that VJ Day-Times Square, 1945. Alfred Eisenstaedt. A jubilant American sailor clutching a white-uniformed nurse in a Kuhnhardt, Jr., LIFE’s former Margaret Bourke-White, back-bending, passionate kiss as he vents his joy while thousands jam editor, will join Mr. Morse as Fortune Magazine’s first pho- Times Square to celebrate the long-awaited victory over Japan. Time LIFE speakers. The program will tographer, was the daughter Pictures © all rights reserved Time Inc. To purcahse a signed, limited be preceded by a reception. of a Polish Jewish father. A edition print see page 16. To receive an invitation, powerful image of the libera please contact Amelia tion of Buchenwald concen D’Orazio at 212-294-6160 or [email protected]. tration camp, at the end of World War II, will be on exhibition Collectors will have an opportunity to obtain limited edition for the first time. Ralph Morse was NASA’s official photogra- prints, some signed, of the photographs in the exhibition, pher for many years; his pictures of Saturn rockets lifting off many of which have never been available before, through the from Cape Kennedy are considered the classic photo-docu- American Jewish Historical Society. For information, see page mentation of the U. S. space program. Schutzer was killed tak- 16, go to the Society’s website at www.ajhs-store.com, or call ing photographs during Israel’s Six-Day War. Herbert Klein, AJHS Director of Marketing, at 212-294-6163.

12 • American Jewish Historical Society GREAT JEWISH-AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHERS © All rights reserved Associated Press. Associated reserved rights All © JOE ROSENTHAL (1911 - ) able to tell him where they were, he turned his attention "That," he declares with a to a group of Marines preparing the second flag to be proud chortle, "is the greatest raised. photograph of World War II." "I thought of trying to get a shot of the two flags, one In 1945, Joe Rosenthal was 33, coming down and the other going up, but although this and as an AP photographer turned out to be a picture Bob Campbell got, I couldn't assigned to the Pacific theater line it up. Then I decided to get just the one flag going of the war, Rosenthal had already distinguished himself up, and I backed off about 35 feet. photographing battles at New Guinea, Hollandia, "Here the ground sloped down toward the center of the Guam, Peleliu and Angaur. volcanic crater, and I found that the ground line was in Joe Rosenthal took one of the most famous photo- my way. I put my Speed Graphic down and quickly piled graphs of World War II, but only after both the U.S. up some stones and a Jap sandbag to raise me about two Army and the Navy had rejected him as a military pho- feet (I am only 5 feet 5 inches tall) and I picked up the NAT FEIN tographer because his eyesight was impaired. Rosenthal camera and climbed up on the pile. I decided on a lens (1914 - 2000) saw action when The Associated Press sent him to the setting between f-8 and f-11, and set the speed at 1-400th A Press Photographer for the New York Herald Tribune Pacific. of a second. for thirty-three years, Mr. Fein is well known for his abil- On Feb. 23, 1945, four days after D-Day at Iwo Jima, "At this point, 1st Lt. Harold G. Shrier ... stepped ity to capture the soul of a bygone era of New York City. Rosenthal was making his daily trek to the island on a between me and the men getting ready to raise the flag. He is the winner of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize and carries Marine landing craft when he heard that a flag was When he moved away, Genaust came across in front of the distinction of having taken the most celebrated pho- being raised atop Mount Suribachi, a volcano at the me with his movie camera and then took a position tograph in sports history (New York Times, 1992), "The southern tip of the island. Marines had been battling about three feet to my right. 'I'm not in your way, Joe?' Babe Bows Out." His remarkable collection of journal- for the high ground of Suribachi since their initial land- he called. istic photography spans from the early 1930s to the mid ing on Iwo Jima, and now, after suffering terrible losses "'No,' I shouted, 'and there it goes.' 1960s. Nat Fein began at the Tribune as a copyboy in on the beaches below it, they appeared to be taking it. "Out of the corner of my eye, as I had turned toward 1932. Three years later invested $95.00 in a Speed Upon landing, Rosenthal hurried toward Suribachi, Genaust, I had seen the men start the flag up. I swung Graphic camera. He quickly turned himself into a com- lugging along his bulky Speed Graphic camera, the my camera, and shot the scene." petent press photographer with a flair for staging shots. standard for press photographers at the time. Along the On Iwo Jima, Rosenthal shot the flag-raising photo- He made it a habit to carry props in the trunk of his car, way, he came across two Marine photographers, Pfc. graph that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1945. The image and his streak of daredevilry sent him to high, danger- Bob Campbell, shooting still pictures, and Staff Sgt. Bill generated controversy because the now-famous flag was ous places to capture unusual shots, like the ones he Genaust, shooting movies. The three men proceeded put up to replace a smaller flag. Some argued the event took atop the Verrazano Bridge while it was under con- up the mountain together. was staged for the benefit of the camera. Repeatedly, struction. About halfway up, they met four Marines coming down. Rosenthal explained that it was not. Nat Fein's beat was New York in the decades immedi- Among them was Sgt. Lou Lowery, a photographer for Rosenthal's career in photojournalism began in San ately following World War II. His art was his ability to Leatherneck magazine, who said the flag had already Francisco with the Newspaper Enterprise Association. catch the heart of an era, an era in which true American been raised on the summit. He added that it was worth He was chief photographer and manager for Times heroes captured the imagination of young and old; an the climb anyway for the view. Rosenthal and the others Wide World Photos before it was taken over by the AP. era that saw great changes taking place, especially in decided to continue. The first flag, he would later After the war and after Iwo Jima, Rosenthal became a New York. learn, was raised at 10:37 a.m. Shortly thereafter, Marine San Francisco Chronicle staff photographer, where he commanders decided, for reasons still clouded in con- remained for thirty-five years. Now, close to 90 years old, In 1948, Fein was assigned to cover Yankee Stadium troversy, to replace it with a larger flag. Rosenthal recalls that day on a tiny atoll in the Pacific when Babe Ruth stood at home plate for the last time to At the top, Rosenthal tried to find the Marines who had where his life became intertwined with a photograph of say good bye to his fans. The field was swarming with raised the first flag, figuring he could get a group pic- the raising of a flag. That 1/400th of a second has last- photographers, and Fein, snapping away, caught the ture of them beside it. When no one seemed willing or ed his entire life. rear-angled composition that so effectively captured the former hulk of an athlete with his spindle legs and wast- ed body, pent with pain. Ruth's identity was unmistak- ALFRED EISENSTAEDT DMITRI KESSEL able even without the sight of his face. Fein used natu- (1898 – 1995) (1902 – 1995) ral light on that overcast day, which was essential for "It’s more important to "Photography can be just a Fein's softer composition and his ability to capture the click with people than to matter of luck." surrounding scene with clarity. This photograph titled click the shutter." Dmitri Kessel was born in the "The Babe Bows Out" was awarded the esteemed Eisie, as he was known to Russian Ukraine on his family's Pulitzer Prize for the best news photograph. his friends, was born in sugar plantation. His most The people that Fein photographed tell one part of Dirschau, West Prussia, prized possession as a kid was New York City, a city where change is constant. The city now part of Poland. At age his Brownie camera which his itself was undergoing a metamorphosis of great profun- 29 he first picked up a father gave him when he was dity: the end of the trolley car, a vestige of a calmer camera in earnest. He 14. When his family's posses- lifestyle; the slow transformation of the Lower East Side took more than a million photographs in his lifetime. possessions were confiscated during the Bolshevik from a clamorous area of Jewish immigrants, of which Fascinated by the long shadows cast by the afternoon Revolution, Dmitri managed to keep his camera, but the pushcart was a primary symbol, to the gradual side- sun, he shot what was to be his first published picture - this too was destroyed when a Russian soldier broke it by-side Spanish influence as immigrants from Latin a woman playing tennis - for which he received 12 marks over Dmitri's head. He escaped from Russia via America began to gravitate to this historic hub. Nat Fein - about $3.00. Rumania and emigrated to America in 1923. caught this momentous time on film. Among the first to use a 35mm camera, Eisenstaedt took During his 60-year career, Kessel worked as an industri- candid photographs with available light and helped to al photographer, a war correspondent and combat pho- No other photographer has won as many awards, the define the art of photojournalism. His pictures let peo- tographer, and a photo essayist for LIFE. During World most precious of these being the Pulitzer Prize. Heroes ple and events speak for themselves. His job was to find War II, he sailed on convoy escorts in the North of the war were his subjects as well: Dwight D. and catch the storytelling moment. Atlantic, covered the landing of American troops in the Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, William Westmoreland, and Eisie, known as the "Father of Photojournalism," emi- Aleutian Islands and the British landing in Greece. He Eleanor Roosevelt. Scientists such as Albert Einstein, grated to the U.S in 1935 and became one of the four also photographed the Greek civil war. humanitarians such as Albert Schweitzer; movie megas- original photographers at LIFE, where he produced In later years, Kessel lived on the Yangtze River in China tars such as Marilyn Monroe and literary legends such over 2,500 assignments and 92 covers. He was, as the for seven months while producing a photo essay for as Carl Sandburg also posed for him. One understands title to one of his 13 books states, A Witness To Our LIFE. He photographed the Andes Mountains in South the 1940s and 1950s upon seeing the breadth of the Time. Eisie has photographed more of the world's America and mining operations in Central Africa. people and events captured in Nat Fein's photographs. famous faces and had more photographs published Kessel is world famous for the fidelity of his camera re- than any other photographer in history. creations of great art, but was also a tough and adven- turous new photographer. AJHS Newsletter Fall/Winter 2003 2003 • 13 GREAT JEWISH-AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHERS

CORNELL MARGARET Margaret Bourke-White is a woman of many firsts. She CAPA BOURKE-WHITE was a forerunner in the newly emerging field of photo- Cornell Capa was (1904 – 1971) journalism, and was the first female to be hired as such. She was the first photographer for Fortune magazine, in born Cornell "The camera is a 1929. In 1930, she was the first Western photographer Friedmann in 1918 remarkable instru- allowed into the Soviet Union. Henry Luce hired her as into a Jewish family ment. Saturate your- the first female photojournalist for LIFE Magazine, from Budapest. As self with your sub- soon after its creation in 1935, and one of her photo- a teenager, he had ject and the camera graphs adorned its first cover. She was the first female aspirations to will all but take you war correspondent and the first to be allowed to work in become a doctor, by the hand." for the sole pur- combat zones during World War II, and one of the first pose of helping photographers to enter and document the death people, but eventu- camps. She made history with the publication of her haunting Al Jolsen, 1949. Cornell Capa. The LIFE ally decided that he Aggressive and relentless in her pursuit of pictures, Picture Collection® . ©Time Inc. All rights could reach more Bourke-White had the knack of being at the right place photos of the Depression in the book You Have Seen reserved. people and have at the right time. She was the premiere female industri- Their Faces, a collaboration with then husband-to-be greater influence through photography. al photographer, getting her start around 1927 in Erskine Caldwell. She wrote six books about her international travels. At the age of 18 he moved to Paris where his brother Cleveland, Ohio, at the Otis Steel Company. Andre Friedmann (Robert Capa) was working as a photo-journalist. He worked as his brother’s printer for a year before moving on to New York in 1937 to join RALPH the new Pix photo agency. By l938 he was supporting MORSE himself by working in the Life magazine darkroom, (1918 – ) until his first photo-story on the New York Worlds Fair was published in Picture Post. After service in the US "Photography Air Force, Capa became a LIFE staff photographer in is more than 1946. He continued to work for LIFE until his brother's an art. In pho- tragic death in 1954, when he joined Magnum. In 1956, tojournalism, after David "Chim" Seymour’s death in Suez, Capa it’s knowl- took over as the president of Magnum—a post he held edge." until 1960. As a photographer, Capa has been particularly sensitive and keen when covering topics of social significance or Children Ride Horse and Cart, 1960. Paul Schutzer. The LIFE Picture Collection® . ©Time Inc. All rights reserved. politics. When he was working for LIFE he made the first of many trips to Latin America where he chronicled PAUL SCHUTZER (1930 –1937) the decimation of indigenous cultures. Through the Paul Schutzer, LIFE photographer died in the Middle 1970s he traveled back to the area on several occasions East June 5, 1967, at the age of 37, the first day of the Ralph Morse was an eyewitness to some of the most to continue the tales of snuffed cultures. His efforts Arab-Israeli war. He died in the Negev Desert when the important events during the 20th Century. He pho- were rewarded in three books, among them the subse- Israeli half-track carrying him was hit by a 57-mm tographed some of the most widely seen pictures of quently famous 1964 Farewell to Eden, a study of the Egyptian shell. He was covering an Israeli-Egyptian World War II, the space program, and sports events. Amahuaca Indians of the Amazon. armored battle, traveling in one of the leading vehicles During his thirty years at LIFE Magazine, Morse covered Capa was involved in a broad range of social issues, such advancing across the Gaza Strip. every type of assignment from science to theatre, and as old age in America and studied his own Jewish her- When Schutzer was 10 years old, he starting shooting he was the senior staff photographer at the time it itage through classic reportage, including a story on the photographs with a broken camera he found in a waste ceased publication. Encyclopedias and history books Six-Day War. His 1957 book Retarded Children Can Be basket in Brooklyn, NY. Years later, after studying to be abound with his coverage of World War II, the marines Helped was the product of his pioneering study of men- a painter, then a lawyer, he realized that what he really at Guadalcanal, the Doolittle raid in Tokyo, and Patton's tally retarded children, a project he started in 1954. He wanted to do was shoot photographs. drive across France. Morse was the only civilian photog- also covered the electoral campaigns of John and Photography of the human experience became rapher covering the surrender of the German armies to Robert Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson and Nelson Schutzer’s preoccupation. In 1956 he joined LIFE’s General Eisenhower for the entire world to see. Washington bureau and that began his short-lived but Rockefeller. In the early 1970s, Capa coined the phrase Assigned to the space program during its infancy, he fruitful career. "Concerned Photographer" to define ‘a photographer spent fifteen years using inventive photography to Although his life span was tragically short, Paul had who is passionately dedicated to doing work that will explain the astronauts and the space flights to LIFE's seen and photographed much of the world, and much contribute to the understanding or the well-being of readers. humanity’. of what he saw appeared in the pages of his magazine: the Berlin Wall, the earthquake in Iran, the Algerian Claiming to be a specialist in nothing, but a journalist In 1974 Cornell Capa founded the International Center War, Nixon in South America, Kennedy through his portraying words in pictures, his thirty awards helped of Photography. Devoted to the practitioners and prin- campaign onto his funeral, Cuba and Castro, Lebanon, inspire LIFE's ex-managing editor, Georgia Hunt to ciples that define ‘Concerned Photography’, the ICP and Vietnam. Schutzer had won several national photo- quote in a speech, "If LIFE could afford only one pho- is a fountain dedicated to the history of photojournal- journalism awards, including the University of tographer, it would have to be Ralph Morse." ism, current makers and future producers through its Missouri's News Photographer of the Year Award in Morse was an eyewitness to some of the most important archives, galleries, library and school. The ICP pays 1959 and the George Polk Award for foreign coverage events during the 20th Century. The Eighth Astronaut: homage to Cornell Capa’s brother Robert Capa, and in 1958. He often accepted dangerous assignments. A My Life with LIFE is his story. colleagues David "Chim" Seymour and Werner Bischof colleague said Schutzer had "almost too much by constantly bringing humanitarian documentary work courage." to the public realm. Since its opening on Fifth Avenue in New York, the Center has had over 450 exhibitions, exhibiting more than 2,500 photographers. Capa is now Photographers (1975), Leica Medal of Excellence Photography Award from the Friends of Photography the Founding Director Emeritus of the institution. (1986), Peace and Culture Award, Sokka Gakkai (1995), a Honorary Membership from the ASMP Cornell Capa's numerous awards include the Honor International, Japan (1990), the Order of the Arts and (1995) and a Lifetime Achievement Award in Award from the American Society of Magazine Letters, France (1991), The Distinguished Career in Photography from the Aperture Foundation (1999). 14 • American Jewish Historical Society Rabbi Gittelsohn’s Iwo Jima Sermon

hile American Jewish photographer Joe Rosenthal’s photograph of the flag raising on Mt. Suribachi may W be the most famous image to come out of the battle for Iwo Jima, it was not the only important contribution by an American Jew to emerge from that bloody confrontation between United States and Japanese military forces. By deliver- ing a memorable sermon – after almost not being allowed to give it – Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn left a mark on American history. The fight for Iwo Jima in 1945 was one of the bloodiest of World War II. A tiny island in the Pacific dominated by a volcanic mountain and pockmarked with caves, Iwo Jima was the setting for a five-week, non-stop battle between 70,000 American Marines and an unknown number of deeply entrenched Japanese defenders. The courage and gallantry of the American forces, climaxed by the dramatic raising of the American flag over Mt. Suribachi, is memorialized in the Marine Corps monument in Washington, DC. Less remem- Iwo Jima-Raising the Flag Mt. Suribachi, 1945. Joe Rosenthal. Pulitzer bered, however, is that the battle occasioned an eloquent eulogy Prize winning photograph of U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment , by a Marine Corps rabbi that has become an American classic. Fifth Division, raise the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima. Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn (1910-1995), assigned to the Fifth Strategically located only 660 miles from Tokyo, the Pacific island became the site of one of the bloodiest, most famous battles of World Marine Division, was the first Jewish chaplain the Marine Corps War II against Japan. © All rights reserved Associated Press. See page ever appointed. The American invading force at Iwo Jima 16 to purchase a limited edition print. included approximately 1,500 Jewish Marines. Rabbi Gittelsohn was in the thick of the fray, ministering to Marines of all faiths under fire. He shared the fear, horror and despair of the fighting men, each of whom knew that each day might be his last. men, there is no discrimination. No prejudices. No hatred. Theirs is the Roland Gittelsohn’s tireless efforts to comfort the wounded highest and purest democracy … and encourage the fearful won him three service ribbons. Whosoever of us lifts his hand in hate against a brother, or who thinks When the fighting ended, Division Chaplain Warren Cuthriell, himself superior to those who happen to be in the minority, makes of a Protestant minister, asked Rabbi Gittelsohn to deliver the this ceremony and the bloody sacrifice it commemorates, an empty, memorial sermon at a combined religious service dedicating the hollow mockery. To this, then, as our solemn duty, sacred duty do we Marine Cemetery on Iwo Jima. Cuthriell wanted all the fallen the living now dedicate ourselves: to the right of Protestants, Catholics, Marines – black and white, Protestant, Catholic and Jewish – and Jews, of white men and Negroes alike, to enjoy the democracy for honored in a single, nondenominational ceremony. which all of them have here paid the price … Unfortunately, racial and religious prejudice was still strong in We here solemnly swear that this shall not be in vain. Out of this and the Marine Corps, as it was then in America. According to Rabbi from the suffering and sorrow of those who mourn this will come, we Gittelsohn, the majority of Christian chaplains objected to hav- promise, the birth of a new freedom for the sons of men everywhere. ing a rabbi preach over predominantly Christian graves. The Among Gittelsohn’s listeners were three Protestant chaplains Catholic chaplains in particular, in keeping with Church doc- so incensed by the prejudice voiced by their colleagues that they trine, opposed any form of joint prayer service. boycotted their own service to attend Gittelsohn’s. One of them To his credit, Cuthriell refused to alter his plans. Gittelsohn, on borrowed the manuscript and, unknown to Gittelsohn, circulat- the other hand, wanted to save his friend Cuthriell further ed several thousand copies to his regiment. Some Marines embarrassment and so decided it was best not to deliver his ser- enclosed the copies in letters to their families. An avalanche of mon. Instead, three separate religious services were held. At the coverage resulted. Time magazine published excerpts, which Jewish service, to a congregation of 70 or so who attended, wire services spread even further. The entire sermon was insert- Rabbi Gittelsohn delivered the powerful eulogy he originally ed into The Congressional Record, the Army released the eulo- wrote for the combined service: gy for short-wave broadcast to American troops throughout the Here lie men who loved America because their ancestors generations world and radio commentator Robert St. John read it on his pro- ago helped in her founding, and other men who loved her with equal gram and on many succeeding Memorial Days. passion because they themselves or their own fathers escaped from In 1995, in his last major public appearance before his death, oppression to her blessed shores. Here lie officers and men, Negroes Gittelsohn re-read a portion of the eulogy at the fiftieth com- and whites, rich men and poor . . . together. Here are Protestants, memoration ceremony at the Iwo Jima statue in Washington, Catholics and Jews together. Here no man prefers another because of D.C. In his autobiography, Gittelsohn reflected, "I have often his faith or despises him because of his color. Here there are no quotas wondered whether anyone would ever have heard of my Iwo of how many from each group are admitted or allowed. Among these Jima sermon had it not been for the bigoted attempt to ban it."

AJHS Newsletter Fall/Winter 2003 • 15 AJHS BOOKSTORE “As Seen By...” Limited Edition Prints from ourbookstore. American Jewish photographers have docu- mented some of the Twentieth Century's most important individuals and events. Jewish photographers, shooting both Jewish and non-Jewish subjects, have left an indeli- ble mark on American culture and history. We are privledged to be able to offer a selection of images from our “As Seen By...” exhibition for sale. A portion of the purchase price is tax deductible. For a complete selection of pictures available visit our website @www.AJHS.org. PAGE 12 VJ Day-Times Square, 1945. Alfred Eisenstaedt. 16 x 20”Signed, limited edition $48,000, framed $48,300. Female Welder, 1942. Margaret Bourke-White. Apollo 11 Lifting Off, 1969. Ralph Morse. Female welder at work in a steel mill, replacing men Apollo 11 space ship lifting off on historic flight PAGE 15 called to duty during World War II. Time LIFE to moon during which astronauts Edwin Aldrin & Pictures © all rights reserved Time Inc. Neil Armstrong walked on lunar surface. Time Iwo Jima-Raising the Flag Mt. Suribachi, 1945. LIFE Pictures © all rights reserved Time Inc. Joe Rosenthal. 11x14”Signed limited edition $10,000, framed $10,300.

PAGE 16 Female Welder, 1942. Margaret Bourke-White. 11x14”Limited edition $500, framed $650. Apollo 11 Lifting Off, 1969. Ralph Morse. 16 x 20”Signed, limited edition $1200, framed $1400. Buchenwald Prisoners, 1945. Margaret Bourke- White. 16x20”Signed limited edition $1100, framed $1300. Marciano vs. Charles, 1954. Ralph Morse. 16 x 20”Signed limited edition $1200, framed $1400. Dancing Ballet, 1936. Alfred Eisenstaedt. 16 x 20”Limited edition $750, framed $950. Czech Children, Jewish Day School, 1937. Margaret Bourke-White. 11x14”Limited edition $500, framed $650. Buchenwald Prisoners, 1945. Margaret Bourke-White. Time LIFE Pictures © all rights reserved Time Inc. PAGE 17 Marciano vs. Charles, 1954. Ralph Morse. Israeli Children Dancing, 1960. Paul Schutzer. Heavyweight championship bout between 11x14 Limited Edition $500, framed $650. Rocky Marciano and Ezzard Charles at Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY. The LIFE Israeli Post, 1948. Dmitri Kessel. Picture Collection®. ©Time Inc. All rights 11x14 Limited Edition $500, framed $650. reserved. Babe Ruth Final Appearance, 1948. Ralph Morse. 16 x 20”. Signed, limited edition $1500, framed $1700. Jewish Refugees, 1948. Dmitri Kessel. 16 x 20”Limited edition $600, framed $750. Metropolitan Opera House, 1958. Ralph Morse. 16 x 20”Signed, limited edition $1200, framed $1500. The Babe Bows Out , 1948. Nat Fein. 20x24”Limited edition $2500, framed $2750. Empire State Shadow, 1940. Nat Fein. 16x20” $900, framed $1100. Irving Berlin, 1942. Nat Fein. 16x20” Limited edition $900, framed $1100. Coney Island, 1951. Margaret Bourke-White. 16x20” Limited edition $750, framed $900. Dancing Ballet, 1936. Alfred Eisenstaedt. Two ballerinas thoughtfully gazing out of studio Czech Children, Jewish Day School, 1937. Margaret Bourke-White. To order call 1-800-863-8650 or go to our window while standing on sill in rehearsal room Children learning in the Jewish grade school. Time LIFE Pictures online bookstore @ www.ajhs-store.com. at George Balanchine’s American School of © all rights reserved Time Inc. American Ballet. Time LIFE Pictures © all rights reserved Time Inc. 16 • American Jewish Historical Society AJHS BOOKSTORE

Israeli Children Dancing, 1960. Paul Schutzer. Babe Ruth Final Appearance, 1948. Ralph Morse. Jewish post facing an Arab position. The LIFE Picture Time LIFE Pictures © all rights reserved Time Inc. Collection®. ©Time Inc. All rights reserved.

Jewish Refugees, 1948. Dmitri Kessel The Babe Bows Out , June 13, 1948. Nat Fein. Jewish immigrants, arriving in Haifa aboard a refugee It was the 25th anniversary of Yankee Stadium (the house that ship, waving the future flag of the state of Israel, short- Ruth built) and the day the Babe's number was retired. The ly before its official establishment. The LIFE Picture Metropolitan Opera House, 1958. Ralph Morse. Babe Bows Out won a Pulitzer Prize for photographer Nat Collection® . ©Time Inc. All rights reserved. Time LIFEPictures © all rights reserved Time Inc. Fein. This magnificent photograph is featured in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the Smithsonian Institute. © all rights reserved Nat Fein.

Irving Berlin, 1942. Nat Fein. Coney Island, 1951. Margaret Bourke-White. Empire State Shadow, 1940. Nat Fein Time LIFE Pictures © all rights reserved Time Inc. © all rights reserved Nat Fein. © all rights reserved Nat Fein.

AJHS Newsletter Fall/Winter 2003 • 17 Archival Treasure Trove: The Bureau of War Records

NJWB Passover for Jewish soldiers, 1943.

n October of 1941, just before the United States entered United States. It determined that the most effective way to the Second World War, the leaders of twenty-one American gather data on American Jewry was to involve local communi- IJewish organizations met under the umbrella of the ties in the operation. Each local Jewish community, working National Jewish Welfare Board (JWB) to prepare to track through its various agencies, was to take responsibility for the Jewish participation in – what seemed to the organizers – accuracy and completeness of the record. inevitable military fight against fascism. The JWB was prophet- The BWR published a pamphlet, "Compiling the Record," ic: two months later, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl and distributed it to every Jewish community in the US. Harbor. Organizations with large Jewish memberships, such as B’nai The task of identifying Jewish soldiers in the US military had B’rith chapters, college fraternities and sororities, provided never before been undertaken. To accomplish this goal, the rosters of their members to their local Jewish census commit- JWB established the Bureau of War Records (BWR). Under law, tee. Local researchers combed newspapers and other public the federal government did not gather statistics on the reli- reports to identify individuals with what are called "Jewish gious affiliation of America’s citizens and no organization had sounding" names, comparing these lists to those submitted by ever before attempted to determine exactly how many Jews organizations. Working on the assumption that any overcount resided in the United States. Not even the military had a clear of non-Jews with Jewish sounding names would balance out the record of how service personnel identified themselves as Jews, failure to count Jews who had non-Jewish sounding names, the Catholics, Protestants or atheists. Statistics on Jewish military local committee established a baseline of total Jewish popula- personnel would have to begin from scratch. tion in its area. Each name was entered on a card or other stan- Dr. Louis I. Dublin, who headed up the BWR project for the dardized form, and the cards were sent to BWR headquarters JWB, reasoned that gathering statistics on Jewish service per- in New York. Individual name cards and on geographic locator sonnel would serve several important functions. It would help cards identified each Jewish serviceperson. In very large cities JWB in its planning to meet the needs of Jewish soldiers in uni- like New York and Chicago, the BWR decided to estimate the form. It would also aid morale in the American Jewish com- overall Jewish population based on a process of statistical sam- munity to know how many of its men and women were willing pling. Each soldier or sailor, however, received an individual to serve their nation in time of emergency. The survey would name and geographic locator card. provide a permanent record of the accomplishments of Jewish he work of gathering names of service personnel and personnel in combat. Finally, the survey would help JWB plan tracking their military experiences continued through- for the combatants’ reabsorption into civilian life when the out the war. In 1944, the BWR retained IBM to tabulate war ended. T monthly compilations of information to assure the accuracy of The BWR wanted to gather information on Jewish military the records. The BWR also established relationships with local personnel and, to establish the percentage of Jewish commu- chapters of the American Association for State and Local nity participation in the war, the total Jewish population of the History to review and certify the accuracy of its statistics.

Continued on page 28 18 • American Jewish Historical Society Chaplain Joseph NJWB and Shubow's helmet. the Chaplains C. 1945 ONE OF THE MANY SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE NATIONAL JEWISH Welfare Board (JWB) since World War I has been the sponsor- ship of chaplaincy services. The advent of World War II brought a large number of Jews into the armed forces. It is now known that 550,000 Jews were inducted. The need for chaplains was clearly indicated, and both the Army and Navy agreed to provide the necessary commissions. From 1940 until war’s end, a total of 311 rabbis were com- missioned. Of these, 267 served in the Army, 43 in the Navy and one in the Maritime Service. In a global war, Jewish chaplains were everywhere-on board transport and hospital ships, in the West Indies and the Canal Zone, in the Arctic Circle, New Guinea, North Africa, the Middle East, India, least 50,000 cans of kosher meat and 50,000 pounds of salami Burma, China and the Pacific Islands. They followed the were sent overseas during the war years. troops to Normandy, participated in the invasion of southern Literature and other reading matter comprised a large seg- France, traveled with the armies across western Europe, and ment of the total quantity of material supplied. This included were on hand in the spring of 1945 to conduct Passover servic- 1,130,000 copies of the Abridged Prayer Book, 450,000 copies es on the Rhine. They ministered to the troops, provided spir- of the Abridged Holiday Prayer Book, 430,000 Haggadahs and itual guidance for Jews in service and local Jewish communities 700,000 volumes of Readings from the Holy Scriptures. In addi- in a difficult time. Jewish chaplains were among the first to tion there were 250,000 copies of the Book of Jewish Thoughts, reach the concentration camps, where they ministered to the 125,000 of the Jewish Songster and 1,377,000 calendar-diaries. survivors and initiated the enormous task of rehabilitation and Millions of pamphlets including expositions of Jewish belief relocation for the displaced.The effectiveness of these chap- and practice and short stories, as well as holiday greeting cards lains and their remarkable record of service would have been were distributed. seriously handicapped without The JWB shipped a variety of religious the support of the JWB. Since accessories as well. The mezuzah the Army could not provide became very popular and 1,320,000 were kosher food, large quantities of supplied. Skull caps, talethot (prayer such food were procured in a shawls), tefillin (phylacteries), time of rationing and supplied Chanukah candelabra, candlesticks, in various ways for distribution Kiddush cups and 1000 shofarim (rams among the troops and other horns) for the High Holy Days were also JWB workers. The volume of distributed. Each chaplain was supplied supplies distributed by JWB with a Sefer Torah and a portable ark. during the war years was stag- That supplies did get through and gering. Until the end of 1946, reach their destination under the condi- 900,000 packages of matzoth, tions of war, secrecy and constant mobil- 30,000 gallons of wine and ity of the troops, is a tribute to the inde- many tons of fish, macaroons fatigable efforts of the JWB and the con- and other holiday delicacies sistent cooperation of the military were made available for the authorities. Passover feasts. In addition, at

Above — Prayer service in the battle field. World War II. Right — Over the graves of fallen Jewish soldiers in a New Guinea cemetery, Chaplain Aryeh Lev, left. C. 1942 Far Right — High holidays, Berlin, 1945. Chaplain Isadore Breslau blowing the shofar.

AJHS Newsletter Fall/Winter 2003 • 19 The little known story of “A Particular Responsibility”

Above left — Frontispiece of the Survivors Talmud. Right — General Eisenhower after a visit to a synagogue in a DP camp.

hile the Holocaust ended in 1945 with the defeat of opportunity to demonstrate this than by the manner in which Nazi Germany, the effects of the catastrophe still lin- we ourselves actually treat the survivors remaining in W gered for European Jewry’s survivors. At first, more Germany." than 100,000 Jewish Displaced Persons (DPs) were quartered Eisenhower ordered his commanding officers to relocate in DP camps in the American Zone of Occupied Germany Jewish DPs into decent housing and provide them with suffi- alongside Nazi prisoners of war and others who had been their cient food and clothing. Eisenhower also understood the sig- torturers. The Army used some of the former concentration nificance of rebuilding Jewish religious institutions as part of camps as DP camps and housed Jews in them. When the the "particular responsibility" Truman had identified. American Jewish community brought these conditions to President Harry Truman’s attention, he created a commis- Thus, when a delegation of surviving DP rabbis, with the sup- sion, led by Earl Harrison, to study the issue. The commis- port of American Jewish military chaplains, approached sion’s report concluded after visiting the camps, "As matters General Joseph McNarney, commander of the American Zone, now stand, we appear to be treating the Jews as the Nazis treat- to ask that Army publish a new edition of the Talmud so Jewish ed them, except that we do not exterminate them." learning could resume in Europe, McNarney responded favor- ably, despite the severe shortage of paper in war-ravaged Truman ordered General Dwight Eisenhower, commander of Germany. U.S. forces in Europe, to "get these people out of camps and into decent housing until they can be repatriated or evacuat- As no complete set of the Talmud could be found in ed." Truman told Eisenhower, "I know you will agree with me Germany, two sets of the Vilna Talmud were imported from the that we have a particular responsibility toward these victims of United States and photographic printing plates were created. persecution and tyranny in our zone….We have no better In 1948, the Army printed 50 sets of a thirteen-volume edition

20 • American Jewish Historical Society Above — Jewish military chaplains played a leading role in getting the Talmud printed. Right — Jewish learning resumed in the DP camps. Lower Right — Rabbi Jakob Rose, deputy chief rabbi of the DPs, examines printing plates before the presses roll. came to be called the Survivors Talmud, which were distributed to libraries in the DP camps and army bases. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee provided funding to print approximately 400 more sets. The printing was done printed on fragile newsprint at a plant in Heidelberg that, during the Hitler years, had churned out Nazi propaganda. Today, only a few of these sets remain intact. nd so it came to pass that, for the only time in history, a national government published an edition of the A Talmud. The preface contains the work’s only words of English: This edition of the Talmud is dedicated to the United States Army. The Army played a major role in the rescue of the Jewish people from total annihilation, and their defeat of Hitler bore the major burden of sustaining the DP’s of the Jewish faith. This special edition of the Talmud, published in the very land where, but a short time ago, everything Jewish and of Jewish inspiration was anathema, will remain a symbol of the inde- structibility of the Torah. The Jewish DP’s will never forget the generous impulses and the unprecedented humanitarianism of the American forces, to whom they owe so much. In 2001, the American Jewish Historical Society and the Tidewater Jewish Foundation of Norfolk, Virginia, prepared an exhibition on the making of the Survivors Talmud. Currently, a traveling version of that exhibition, "A Particular Responsibility," is displayed at the Society’s facility at Hebrew College in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. Plans are underway to make the exhibition available to Jewish communities throughout the United States and on the Internet.

AJHS Newsletter Fall/Winter 2003 • 21 “ From Haven to Home: Three Hundred Fifty Years of Jewish History in America” Library of Congress Exhibition at AJHS

American Jewish New Year’s postcard. Boxed sets of these cards are available from our bookstore. See page 29.

n September 7, 2004, the Library of Congress will open "From Haven to Home" will close at the Library of Congress a major exhibition titled "From Haven to Home: in December 2004, after which it will travel to the exhibition OThree Hundred and Fifty Years of Jewish History in space belonging to the American Jewish Historical Society at America." The exhibition will draw from the vast collections of the Center for Jewish History in New York. As many as 80 items the Library of Congress and include selected items from the from the Library's holdings will be available to AJHS, and AJHS collections of the Library's three partners - the American expects to select up to 30 of those for display. The remainder Jewish Historical Society, the National Archives and the Jacob of the exhibit at AJHS will be comprised of materials selected Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives - who from the Society's own holdings and a select number of items together form the Congressionally authorized Commission to owned by other institutions and private collectors. The Society Commemorate 350 Years of American Jewish History. This expects to open the exhibition in New York in February 2005 show will arguably represent the most significant museum and keep it on display through July 2005. exhibition on American Jewish history ever to attain a national Other venues currently committed to receiving the exhibition venue. are the AJHS in Boston, the Museum Center in Cincinnati, When at the Library of Congress, the exhibition will primari- Ohio (home city of the Marcus Center) and the Skirball Center ly feature 160 items from the Library's own holdings, primarily in Los Angeles. books, manuscripts, photographs and other archival items. These will be supplemented by a few key items from each of the Currently, the Society can provide one or more sponsors the partner holdings (the National Archives system includes the opportunity to underwrite the exhibition in its New York Presidential Libraries, most of which have agreed to participate venue, which will receive thousands of visitors. The exhibition in the exhibition). When it leaves the Library to travel to other will receive significant national media coverage as one of the venues, each institution receiving the show will supplement keystone events of the 350th Anniversary celebration. For fur- those items the Library allows to travel with an increased num- ther information on sponsoring the exhibit, please contact ber of items from its own collections. Michael Feldberg at 212-294-6162.

22 • American Jewish Historical Society AJHS BOOKSTORE

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 traveled 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, her family bequeathed to the Society the personal notebook in which Lazarus hand wrote a copy of her favorite work. The American Jewish Historical Society has produced a limited edition of framed facsimiles of Lazarus's master- piece. You can purchase one from the Society for your home or office or for a school or library in your community. 16 x 20” framed and mat- ted Emma Lazarus Sonnet • $120. Members • $100.

To order call 1-800-863-8650 or go to our online bookstore @ www.ajhs-store.com.

“ Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

AJHS Newsletter Fall/Winter 2003 • 23 FROM THE AJHS ARCHIVES

Teddy Roosevelt Salutes American Jewry

HE IMPENDING ARRIVALOF THE 350TH ANNIVERSARY OF PER- was in session. He also pointed out to Schiff, with a touch of Tmanent Jewish settlement in North America, which the nation annoyance, that he did not want to set a precedent that would will mark in 2004, inspired the AJHS staff to search our archives oblige him to attend celebrations organized by every American to find the record of how the Jewish community celebrated the ethnic or religious group, no matter how important the occa- 250th anniversary, a century ago. The AJHS was instrumental sion. (Of course, presidential public relations have changed a in organizing that celebration and, as the only collector of great deal since that time). However, TR did offer to send a American Jewish archives at that time, became the official message to the gathering; Schiff accepted. repository for the records of the committee that organized the The anniversary dinner was held in 1905. Former president event. Grover Cleveland delivered the keynote speech, but before he One of the most interesting documents they discovered is an spoke Schiff read Roosevelt’s message to the assembled throng. original letter from President Theodore Roosevelt to Jacob Its words still stir the reader today, and we thought we would Schiff, chair of the 250th anniversary celebration. Schiff had reproduce the letter and share it with our readers. The hand- invited Roosevelt to address the attendees at the celebratory written editorial changes in the letter were made by Roosevelt dinner in New York City that marked the start of the anniver- himself, who –as an excellent amateur historian – very likely sary, and Roosevelt wrote back to his friend Schiff that his per- composed it without the assistance of a speechwriter. sonal policy was to remain in Washington, DC while Congress

24 • American Jewish Historical Society Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Jacob Schiff regarding the 250th anniversary of permanent Jewish settlement in North America. ©AJHS.

AJHS Newsletter Fall/Winter 2003 • 25 Yiddish Theater in America

N 1881, 12 YEAR OLD BORIS THOMASHEFSKY ARRIVED IN NEW YORK CITY from Tarasche, a shtetl near Kiev, Ukraine. Possessed of a Ibeautiful voice, on Saturdays young Boris earned money by singing at the Henry Street Synagogue on the Lower East Side. During the week, he worked as a cigarette maker in a sweatshop, where he heard his fellow workers sing songs from the Yiddish theater they had attended in the old country. Although Boris had no prior exposure, he fell in love with the concept of Yiddish theater and wanted to bring it to America. One of Thomashefsky's coworkers, a Romanian named Golubok, knew of two theatrical brothers in Russia who desired passage to America. Thomashefsky persuaded Frank Wolf, who owned a tavern at the corner of Hester and Essex Streets, to invest the fare to bring them to New York. The brothers arrived from London with four other actors in tow. Wolf rented a hall on Fourth Street in Manhattan and announced the performance of a play, playwright Avrom Goldfadn’s Koldunye ("The Witch"). According to legend, the performance attained popular success, but only after overcoming obstacles. Some leaders of he German- Jewish establishment opposed performances in Yiddish because they thought such entertainments were culturally retrogressive. Supposedly, these "uptown" Jews bought up the unsold tickets, induced those who already held tickets not to attend by offering them free beer at a nearby saloon, and bribed the Romanian female lead into developing a sore throat at the last minute. However, Thomashefsky dressed in female costume, with appropriate buttress- ing, and the show went on. till only 13 but with success under his belt, Thomashefsky persuaded Wolf to let him serve as producer and director of the S company. It traveled throughout the United States presenting a wide repertoire of Yiddish plays. Enthusiastic audiences of working- MOLLY PICON - AY QUE MUCHACHA! 932. Author: Harry Kalmanowitch. Music: class Jewish immigrants greeted the company wherever it performed. Joseph Rumshinsky. Place: Teatro Excelsior, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Cast: Jacob Kalich, Thomashefsky favored works by Goldfadn such as The Two Kuni- Molly Picon. Printed by Sisto y Lemme, Buenos Aires; stone lithography in blue, red, yellow and black; 28 x 43 in. Lemls (Fools), which introduced a character, "Shmendrick," whose name has entered the contemporary American lexicon as a synonym for bumbler. was the preferred form of Yiddish theater, audiences respectfully In 1887, Thomashefsky’s company played in Baltimore, where 14- attended more "cultural" plays "as long as their favorite actor was star- year-old Bessie Baumfeld-Kaufman was given a ticket to a perform- ring in the title role and a few song and dance numbers were inter- ance. Young Bessie was enchanted by the female star’s perform- spersed with the more serious plot." ance. "Her hair was piled high with ringlets," Bessie recalled, "and he Thomashefskys were America’ s best-known Yiddish the- she had all this sparkling jewelry … She was the center of attention ater impresarios. They brought a wide variety of productions and flirting and all the men were watching her." Bessie made her way T to the stage: Jewish versions of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, backstage to meet this sheyne meydele, who turned out not to be a Goethe’ s Faust and even Wagner’ s Parsifal (before Wagner became meydele at all but Boris Thomashefsky. Not long after, Bessie ran Hitler’s favorite composer). Boris adapted Shakespeare’s Hamlet away from home to join the company and, in 1891, married Boris. into Der Yeshiva Bokher [The Yeshiva Student], in which a wicked Bessie took over the female roles Boris had been playing. She uncle smears a rabbinic candidate’s reputation by calling him a claimed to have learned everything she knew about coquettishness nihilist. The young man dies of a broken heart at his beloved’s from watching Boris. gravesite. Bessie Thomashefsky was wildly successful as the star of the Between 1890 and 1940, as many as a dozen Yiddish theater com- Yiddish version of Oscar Wilde’s Salome. panies performed on the Lower East Side, the Bronx and Brooklyn. Yiddish theater helped bridge the Old World shtetl to new World Another 200 or so traveled to other cities and towns in North and America. In one notable play, Chantzhe [Hannah] in Amerika, South America, from Montreal to Buenos Aires. By presenting plays Bessie Thomashefsky played the independent-minded Hannah, an on themes such as generational conflict between Old Country immi- assimilating immigrant woman who wanted nothing more than to be grants and their American-born children, or the tensions between a chauffer. Justifying this untraditional aspiration for a Jewish Chasidic and "enlightened" Jews in Europe and America, the theater woman, Hannah asked, "What is the good of being in America if one helped Yiddish speaking immigrants laugh and cry at the losses and couldn’t drive a car?" In 1922, Moshe Leib-Halpern told a fable contradictions in their own lives. By adapting works like summing up the role of American Yiddish theater: Shakespeare’ s King Lear or Chekhov’s Hedda Gabler and giving There was once a vulgarian who went to synagogue … when he wanted them haimische endings, the theater helped working class Jews par- to weep, and to a bawdyhouse … when he wanted to be gay. But once, take of "high" culture while preserving traditional Jewish values. when he wanted to weep and be gay at the same time, he put up a the- Historian Andrea Most observes that while tear-jerking melodrama ater … that combined the synagogue and the bawdyhouse into one. 26 • American Jewish Historical Society AJHS BOOKSTORE

THE LUNATIC WHERE IS MY CHILD? THE RABBI’S FAMILY January 18th, 1922. Author: Harry Kalmanowitch. Place: Circa 1937. Producer: Menorah Productions, Inc. September 15, 1921. Author: Joseph Lateiner. Music: People’s Theatre, Bowery and Spring Street, New York Directors: Abraham Le ã and Henry Lynn. Cast: Celia Joseph Brody. Place: The People’s Theatre, Bowery and City, New York. Cast: Bertha Gersten, Sidney Hart, Adler, Anna Lillian, Morris Silberkasten, Morris Spring Street, New York City, New York. Cast: Bertha Ludwig Satz, Jacob Wexler. Producer: Max Rosenthal. Strassberg, Ruben Wendorf. Printing: offset lithography Gersten, Samuel Goldenberg, Ludwig Satz, Nettie Tobias Printed by Berkshire Poster Co., NY, N.Y.; stone lithogra- in blue, orange, yellow and black; 26 x 40 in. and an “all star cast.” Director: Max Rosenthal. Printed phy in green, red, blue, yellow and black; 27 x 40 in. by Berkshire Poster Co., New York, N.Y.; stone lithography in yellow, red, blue, green and black; 27 x 42 in.

Poster Reproductions from our Bookstore. Beautiful, historic and charming Yiddish Theater Posters reproduced from the originals in our archives. None of these posters are known to be commercially available. Museum quality printing on acid-free paper using ultraviolet resistant inks. Original proportions are approximately 28 x 42 inches. Available in a choice of standard sizes, posters will have a white bor- der and are suitable for framing. Visit our online bookstore @ www.ajhs-store.com to see dozens more original theater posters. EAST SIDE SADIE THE REVEREND'S LADY (The Cantor's Wife) Author: Boris Thomashefsky. Music: Joseph 16x20 • $29.99. 24x36 • $49.99. Circa 1929. “A $100,000 production. Thrilling from beginning to end. The greatest and most interesting that you have ever seen. It Rumshinsky. Place: Lawrence Opera House, Lawrence, Original size up to 30x44 • $149.99. took a year to produce. You will weep and laugh until you cry Massachusetts. Date: April 18th, 1918. Cast: "A Typical Thomashefsky Cast." Producer: Edwin A. Relkin. To order call 1-800-863-8650 when you see ‘ East Side Sadie.’ ” Producer: Worldart Film Printed by Metro Litho. Co. New York, N.Y.; stone or go to our online bookstore Company. Director: Sidney Goldin. Printed by Universal Theatrical Corporation, New York, N.Y.; silkscreen in orange, lithography in yellow, blue, black, red; 27 x 41 in. @ www.ajhs-store.com. aqua, black and pink; 28 x 41 in.

AJHS Newsletter Fall/Winter 2003 • 27 AJHS BOOKSTORE

MILTON BERLE AND NEW FACES OF 1937 – THE HISTORY BEHIND THE LOBBY CARD New Faces of 1937 was produced as the vanguard of a series of annual musical comedies – one of a number of attempts by RKO Radio to revive its long-dormant "Radio City Revels" concept. The plot is based on an old show- business legend, later immortalized in Mel Brooks' “ The Producers” : crooked Broadway producer Robert Hunt (Jerome Cowan) deliberately produces flops so that he can pocket the backers' money himself. His next sure-fire disas- ter is a show built around talented unknowns (there actually was such a "New Faces" series on Broadway, yield- ing such stars-to-be as Imogene Coca and Henry Fonda, but it was produced on the up-and-up). When the show threatens to become a hit, Hunt desper- ately seeks to sabotage the production. The various subplots involve such vaude- ville and radio comedians as the recent- ly deceased Milton Berle (who performs a side-splitting "stockbroker" sketch with Richard Lane), Joe Penner, Bert "Mad Russian" Gordon and Parkyakarkus (aka

Archival Treasure Trove Individual Case files Continued from page 18 Information secured regarding Jewish men and women who In addition to documenting Jewish population statistics, were casualties of the war, received awards, or were involved in Jewish service figures and the records of individuals who Jewish interesting military exploits were assembled according to com- service figures and the records of individuals who received information. In this way an individual file of Jewish men and awards or became casualties, the BWR conducted special stud- women was built up. The collection included approximately ies based on their research findings. It determined such inter- 100,000 of these individual case files, which include the specif- esting data as the number of Jewish doctors and dentists who ic details confirming the background of each of these persons, served in the military (30 per cent of New York metropolitan together with all correspondence and source material, copies area Jewish dentists served, as did one third of all Jewish physi- of citations, or photographs, dealing with the specific awards or cians in the United States) and the relative proportion of casualties. Jewish refugees who had come to the United States in 1933 and These files comprise the emotional heart of the Bureau of after and were now in uniform. War Records collection. Responses to the questionnaires he BWR continued its work through 1947, providing included army related information such as branch of service, the most accurate picture to that time ever recorded of how long in service and where did casualty occur?, as well as the American Jewish community and its role in nation personal information about hobbies (photography and sports T were popular, raising pigeons was another), name of high al service. Upon completion of its work, its records became part of the JWB. In 1979, the American Jewish Historical school and information about hobbies (photography and Society became the JWB’s official archival repository. Each of sports were popular, raising pigeons was another), name of the thousands upon thousands of individual and geographic high school and points from letters home ("Anxious to get into locator cards for Jewish military personnel resided at the action and get war over with-Believes Jews should fight "). Society’s facility in New York. They are a treasure trove for the One specific example is that of Magdalene Eckmann, A 1933 genealogical researcher seeking to identify the war record of graduate of the Chicago School of Nursing and supervisor of his or her forebears. The BWR collection stretches over 336 lin- the obstetrics department at Merritt hospital in Oakland, ear feet of shelf space. Its contents are compellingly interesting California before the war, Miss Eckmann was the first Jewish and deeply poignant. woman taken prisoner by the Japanese. One of the "angels of

28 • American Jewish Historical Society AJHS BOOKSTORE

Harry Einstein, the father of present- YIDDISH NOTE CARDS day comedians Bob Einstein and Albert In the early part of the 20th century, Brooks). Among the New Faces dis- American Jewish immigrants from played herein are 14-year-old dancer Yiddish-speaking lands in Eastern and Ann Miller, The Brian Sisters, The Central Europe sent Rosh Hashanah and Three Chocolateers and the Four other holiday greeting via Yiddish post- Playboys. We can imagine the fictional cards. Quite possibly, your own grandpar- Robert Hunt being pleased to find out ents or parents received an original of that New Faces of 1937 was a box-office one of the cards shown here. The flop, precluding any follow-ups, which American Jewish Historical Society has paved the way for Mel Brooks to revise assiduously collected and preserved hun- and revive the plot device in his brilliant dreds of these cards in its archives as a film and play. way to mark the immigrant experience in When New Faces of 1937 was released, it America. The Society has now selected was promoted at theaters through the twenty-seven of these cards and made display of "lobby cards," placards insert- them available as note cards to its mem- ed in display cases. Milton Berle auto- bers and supporters. Each box contains graphed 1000 these lobby cards in 1994 18 note cards reproduced from New Year for a company called Flash Marketing, postcards converted into folded notes which provided the accompanying cer- usable for any occasion but most suit- tificate of authenticity. We are offering able as New Year's cards. Envelopes the last 107 numbered originals from are included. These are very high the edition subject to prior sale. These quality and charming reproduc- are the original 11x14 lobby cards, with tions not available in stores. an authentic Milton Berle autograph, Please specify box I or II as illus- not a reproduction. trated at right (box III sold out). Price $500 Framed Boxed set of 18 cards • $17.99. Member’s Price $450 Framed 3 boxes $34.99.

To order call 1-800 863-8650 or go to our online bookstore @ www.ajhs-store.com.

Bataan and Corregidor", so called for having tended the sick • As many as 26,000 Jewish men and women in uniform ing tended the sick prisoners, she was freed in the liberation of received citations for valor and merit, many of the posthu- a prison camp in Manila. She had three brothers in the armed mously. These men and women hold an aggregate of 49,315 forces. awards comprising 1 Congressional Medal of Honor; 66 There is also the Peshkin family of Des Moines, Iowa, which Distinguished Service Crosses; 28 Navy Crosses; 41 sent three sons to war. Alvin, a twin, died at Iwo Jima. He was Distinguished Service Medals. In addition Jewish men and 19 years old and had returned voluntarily after being wounded women received 244 Legions of Merit, 1,434 Silver Stars, 2047 in hand to hand combat. Philip, his twin was wounded at the Distinguished Flying Crosses, 191 Soldier’s Medals, 28 Navy battle of Normandy. Both had been students at the University and Marine Corps Medals, 4,651 Bronze Star Medals, 13,212 of Iowa. Both received the Purple Heart. Air Medals and 14,550 Purple Hearts. • Jewish men and women served in every type of military activ- Results of the Bureau of War Records Survey ity -on the ground, in the air, on and under the sea.

• Studies by the Bureau of War Records reflected in this col- January 1946 was designated as War Records Month. The fol- lection indicate that 550,000 men and women of Jewish faith lowing appeared in that issue of "Compiling the Record". have served in the armed forces of the U. S. in the course of World War II: the equivalent of 37 divisions, in military terms. Although World War II is not officially over, there is a The percentages of Jews in uniform was equal to and in some natural tendency to try to forget the blood shed and all cases higher than the ratio of Jews to the general population. the other horrors involved in waging the war to establish • Twenty-two men of Jewish faith attained senior rank in the democracy and freedom throughout the world. For that armed forces in World War II. Eighteen were Generals: 6 reason it is of utmost importance that the magnificent Major Generals and 12 Brigadier Generals; four were Admirals, contribution made by the Jews of the United States or Commodores: 1 Vice Admiral, 2 Rear Admirals, and 1 toward the winning of the war be recorded for all time. Commodore. We owe it to ourselves, to our children and to future generations to record this glorious chapter in American and • By 1946 nearly 11,000 Jews were already known to have died Jewish History. in service-7,000 in combat. The total number of all casualties, authenticated, was 38,338.

AJHS Newsletter Fall/Winter 2003 • 29 AJHS BOOKSTORE

Original titles from our bookstore. To order call

BEYOND WORDS 1-800-863-8650 A Holocaust History in sixteen woodcuts done in 1945 by Miklos Adler, a Hungarian survivor. Edited, or go to our with an introduction and commentary, by Saul Touster. Contains facsimiles of the woodcuts and a separately bound volume with Professor Touster's online bookstore @ commentary, bound in a folio box. Non members $250. Members • $200. www.ajhs-store.com. SURVIVOR’S HAGGADAH In the winter of 1945, Holocaust survivors in Become a member and take advantage Displaced Persons camps around Munich created an of discounts at our bookstore. See the BLESSINGS OF FREEDOM extraordinary, illustrated Haggadah in preparation membership form in the centerfold or Blessings of Freedom is a collection of vignettes and for the first Passover after liberation. This very rare call 1-800-863-8650. episodes that, taken together, outline the overriding document is now available in facsimile, with transla- directions and tendencies of the much larger tapes- tion and commentary, from the American Jewish try that comprises the American Jewish experience. Historical Society. The edition is limited to 500 num- Starting in 1997, the American Jewish Historical bered copies. Society published a weekly feature entitled Blessings In 1996, Saul Touster, professor emeritus at Brandeis of Freedom: Chapters in American Jewish History in University, found this 1946 Haggadah among the the English-language Forward and other newspa- papers of his father, a former president of HIAS. pers. This volume comprises 120 of the best Deeply moved by the text and powerful graphics, columns, organized according to subject and period. Touster began an extensive journey of research into Each chapter is a window through which the reader the book's origins and creators. The author of this gets an interesting and illuminating glimpse at an self-styled "Supplement to the Passover Haggadah," important and often colorful aspect of the American Yosef Dov Sheinson, was a Kovno survivor of four Jewish story. Bibliographical information is given for years of camps. In it, he parallels the Biblical narra- those interested in learning more about the topic. tive of deliverance from Pharaoh's Egypt with sur- Hardcover • $30. Members • $20. vival in Hitler's Europe, and weaves through it a pas- Paperback • $20. Members • $15. sionate Zionist yearning for the Promised Land. Enhancing the whole, he incorporates seven har- rowing wood cuts by the Hungarian artist and survivor Miklos Adler. Strangely enough, unknown to one another, Sheinson and Adler both spent the first weeks after liberation in Theresienstadt. In this edition, Touster draws upon the literature of the Holocaust--poems, memoirs, and visions of survivors--to help illuminate this extraordinary testa- For ment. AMERICA STANDS WITH ISRAEL A Survivor's Haggadah comprises a complete facsim- This limited edition volume captures the excitement Readers ile of the original that was published by the U.S. of the historic National Rally in Solidarity with Israel of all Third Army--the Army of Occupation - through one in Washington, DC, April 15, 2002. On short notice, of its chaplains, Rabbi Abraham J. Klausner, famous the American Jewish Community, supported by Ages! for his work among the survivors of Dachau. With a numerous non-Jewish friends of Israel, converged at translation, it includes an introduction, commen- the Capitol in an unprecedented outpouring of soli- tary, and notes by Professor Touster. Only 500 num- darity with Israel and support for the war on global bered copies of this edition have been printed. terrorism. The rally's resounding message reverber- The book is 128 pages and measures 8"x10 3/8". It ated in Washington, Jerusalem and around the was designed and produced by Scott-Martin Kosofsky world. America Stands with Israel contains more at The Philidor Company in Cambridge, MA and than 200 color photos, transcripts of the speeches printed in high-resolution duotone by Mercantile and participant comments recording this historic JEWISH HEROES OF THE WILD WEST Designed for young readers and adapted from Jews Printing in Worcester, MA on Mohawk Superfine event. Edited by Michael Feldberg, Executive paper. The dramatic binding was made at Acme Director of AJHS, and others, the book contains an Among the Indians by M.L. Marks, Jewish Heroes of the Wild West contains the true stories of four immi- Bookbinding in Charlestown, MA. Each book is introduction by Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice numbered and enclosed in a handsome slipcase President of the Conference of Presidents of Major grant men who played exciting roles in various aspects of Western development during the nine- which bears the red, white, and blue "A" insignia of American Jewish Organizations. the Third Army. • $250. Members • $200. Hardcover • $29.95. Members • $19.95. teenth century. Paperback • $19.95. Members • $14.95. Non-members • $19.95. Members • $14.95. 30 • American Jewish Historical Society AJHS BOOKSTORE

JEWISH WOMEN IN AMERICA: An Historical Encyclopedia THE LEHMANS 2 volumes. Edited by Paula E. Hyman and Deborah The Lehmans are one of America's most prominent Dash Moore Sponsored by the American Jewish German-Jewish dynasties. Their ancestor, Abraham Historical Society. Winner of the American Library Lehmann (1785-1865), lived in the Bavarian village Association's prestigious Dartmouth Medal Award of Rimpar. After their emigration to Montgomery, "for the creation of reference works of outstanding Alabama, in the middle of the nineteenth century, quality and significance." Winner of the Jewish Book his sons founded the banking firm of Lehman Council's National Jewish Book Award for Women's Brothers, today one of the most prestigious on Wall THE JEWISH PEOPLE IN AMERICA Studies and the Barbara Dobkin Honorary Award. Street. Feingold, Henry, ed. The Jewish People in America. Non-members • $250. Members • $200. Abraham Lehmann's descendants including 5 volumes. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Herbert H. Lehman, governor and senator form Press, for the American Jewish Historical Society, HOOPSKIRTS AND HUPPAHS New York, Irving Lehman, chief justice of the New 1992. • $24.99 each. Members • $19.99 each. A Chronicle of the Early Years of the Garfunkel- York State Court of Appeals, Robert Lehman, who Trager Family in America, 1856-1920. Volume I - A Time for Planting gave his world-renowned art collection to the Written by Milton M. Gottesman. Published by In the Autumn of 1654, twenty-three Jews aboard the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Edgar M. Bronfman, American Jewish Historical Society, New York. 96 bark Sainte Catherine landed at the town of New Jr., CEO of Seagrams Corporation, Robert M. pages, 6" x 9", cloth bound, with 37 period photo- Amsterdam to establish the first permanent Jewish Morgenthau, New York County district attorney, graphs, 91 endnotes, appendix, glossary, and an settlement in North America. In A Time for John L. Loeb, Jr., former U.S. ambassador to introduction by Professor Jeffrey S. Gurock. Subjects Planting, Eli Faber recounts these earliest days of Denmark, Sir Philip Goodhart, former Conservative include: Jewish life in America, as Jews from Lisbon to member of the British Parliament, Lord William - Two mid-19th century rabbis who make their liv- Amsterdam to London extended the wanderings of Goodhart, co-founder of the Liberal Democratic ings as hoopskirt manufacturers and minister to their centuries-old diaspora. Party of Great Britain, and Eva Lehmann their congregations in South Carolina and New York Thalheimer, a first cousin of Governor Lehman. Eva Volume II - A Time for Gathering on a pro bono basis. Thalheimer was killed in Treblinka. Between 1820 and 1880, European Jews arrived in - A hoopskirt salesman who briefs Union Army offi- In June 1996, members of the Lehman family from the United States in ever greater numbers. While cers on Confederate military preparations and the United States and England congregated in later Jewish immigrants would criticize their "rush" becomes a freelance intelligence operative with a Rimpar to pay tribute to their forebears and the vil- to assimilation, the Jews of this period created the personal introduction from General Grant to the lage's Holocaust victims. In a personal message, U.S. institutions that continue to shape Jewish life in commanding general of the Union Army in president Bill Clinton wrote: "Germans and America. In A Time for Gathering, Hasia Diner Washington. Americans alike are proud to claim this family as describes this "second wave" of Jewish migration. - A home in Columbia, South Carolina, that is spe- their own, and their ongoing success is a testament Volume III - A Time for Building cially protected by Union army officers from the to the spirit and values of both our nations." The years between 1880 and 1920 marked the third conflagration that consumes the rest of the city dur- This second edition of The Lehmans includes an great migration of Jews to the U.S.-including more ing Sherman's March to the Sea. additional chapter that tells the story behind the than two million from the Russian empire, Austria- - Vignettes of the 19th century Jewish communities highly emotional gathering in Rimpar • $25. Hungary, and Rumania. A Time for Building in Charleston, Columbia, Savannah, Cincinnati, and describes the experiences of Jews who stayed in the New York City. • $29.99. Members • $19.99. THE LEVY FAMILY AND MONTICELLO large cities of the Northeast and Midwest as well as Each year more than a half-million people from those who moved to smaller towns in the deep South THE JEWISH JUSTICES around the world visit Monticello, but few people and the West. OF THE SUPREME realize that Jefferson's house was also home to the Volume IV - A Time for Searching COURT REVISITED: family of Uriah P. Levy and his nephew Jefferson Henry Feingold chronicles the turbulent period BRANDEIS TO FORTAS Monroe Levy. Even fewer realize that without the between 1920 and 1945-when Jews were poised to Of the thirty-nine Justices Levy family's stewardship, there might not be a enter the mainstream of American life-and explores who sat on the United Monticello to visit. issues that would preoccupy America's Jewish com- States Supreme Court In a story filled with drama, irony, political wrangling munity for the rest of the century. Despite the between 1916 and 1969, and legal battles, Professor Melvin I. Urofsky cor- specter of anti-semitism, signs of success and accept- five were Jewish: Louis D. rects the misconception that a "century of ruin and ance were everywhere. Brandeis, Benjamin N. neglect" marked Monticello between Jefferson's Volume V - A Time for Healing Cardozo, Felix death and the creation of the Thomas Jefferson A Time for Healing chronicles a time of rapid eco- Frankfurter, Arthur J. Foundation, the private, nonprofit organization that nomic and social progress. Yet this phenomenal suc- Goldberg, and Abe Fortas. With a Preface by Justice today owns and operates Monticello. cess, explains Edward S. Shapiro, came at a cost. Stephen G. Breyer and Introduction by Justice Ruth The story of the Levys and Monticello is a story of Shapiro takes seriously the potential threat to Jewish Bader Ginsburg, The Jewish Justices of the Supreme the blending of cultures and personalities, of culture posed by assimilation and intermarriage-ask- Court devotes a chapter to each of these Jewish Yankees and Virginians, of Jews and Christians, of ing if the Jewish people, having already endured so Justices. Lowe, Jennifer M., ed. The Jewish Justices of city folk and rural people. It is the story of the power much, will survive America's freedom and affluence the Supreme Court Revisited: Brandeis to Fortas. of a symbol, and how in America such symbols cut as well. Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Court Historical across lines of religion and class and ethnicity. And Society and the American Jewish Historical Society, behind all of this is the presence of Thomas 1994. Paperback • $29.99. Members • $19.99. Jefferson • $24.99. AJHS Newsletter Fall/Winter 2003 • 31 Introducing theFirstCompleteSetofCards below levels: below printing. one-time small only the at join to choose you when commercially.gifts sold you be thank will our produceNone as only available are sets card The will Society the Association, Players Alumni the and Association Players the Baseball, League Major of cooperation and encouragement the with development in Now set. boxed edition, limited kind. a of one truly is set this Danning, Horse' 'The Harry and Berg Moe Cohen, Andy like old-timers and Holtzman Ken and Rosen Al All-Stars Green, Shawn Famer of Hall future Greenberg, Hank and this will be their first and only card. Complete with photos and statistics, including Hall of Fame players Sandy Koufax men, these of forty than more For players. 142 all for set card limited-edition this creating is Society Historical Jewish A for JewishMajorLeagueBaseballPlayers $300 Sky Box Member • Benefits shown in the centerfold and 5 sets of cards. of sets 5 and centerfold the in shown Benefits • Member Box Sky $300 cards. embossed foil silver special of set 1000 of 1 and centerfold the in shown Benefits • Member Sports Silver $200 cards. of sets 2 and centerfold the in shown Benefits • Friend Sports $150 cards. of set 1 and centerfold the in shown Benefits • Member Sports $100 from Lipman Pike (1884) to Jason Marquis! In conjunction with Jewish Major Leaguers, Inc., the American the Inc., Leaguers, Major Jewish with conjunction In Marquis! Jason to (1884) Pike Lipman from player,Baseball League Major Jewish EVERY for cards of set complete first The - October of end the by vailable T

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