Look to the rock from which you were hewn Vol. 39, No. 4, Fall 2015 chicago jewish historical societ y chicago jewish history THE BOOK ISSUE Boxer Barney Ross returns from World War II service; Chicago, April 23, 1943. Photograph by Bill Sturm for the Chicago Times. Chicago History Museum ICHi-64723. Illustration in the Chicago History Museum “Shalom Chicago” Exhibition Catalog. 2 Chicago Jewish History Fall 2015 President’s Column Look to the rock from which you were hewn WINTER IS RAPIDLY APPROACHING. chicago jewish historical societ y So far, the three seasons of 2015 have held a 2015 lot of activities for our Society. There were Officers & Board of Directors four well-attended open meetings, including a Dr. Edward H. Mazur joint meeting with the Jewish Genealogical President Society of Illinois. Three expertly guided tours Jerold Levin were arranged by Chairman Leah Axelrod. Vice President We added new members to the CJHS Board Dr. Rachelle Gold of Directors, who are bringing fresh creativity, Secretary wisdom, and energy, and we have re-elected Marvin Dickman Z”L Edward H. Mazur. current Board members who continue to Treasurer contribute their special skills and perspective Leah Axelrod gained from their experience. The CJHS Board is a working Board. Rachel Heimovics Braun* Dr. Irving Cutler HANUKKAH Dr. Carolyn Eastwood Z”L I grew up in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of mixed ethnicities, Herbert Eiseman and we lived in an apartment building. On a walk through the Rabbi Dr. Zev Eleff streets few if any Hanukkah lights were to be seen in the windows. Elise Ginsparg The holiday was usually celebrated with a venerable candle-lit brass Clare Greenberg menorah, mom’s delicious potato latkes, and gelt for the kids. Dr. Adele Hast* When my family moved to West Rogers Park in the mid-1950s, Janet Iltis the visible display of Hanukkah pride was gaining strength. It was a Jacob. M. Kaplan neighborhood of single-family homes, and it seemed that every Joy Kingsolver picture window framed a decorative menorah with electric bulbs or a Mark Mandle string of “Happy Hanukkah” blue and white crepe paper draydels. Dr. Stanton Polin Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Joan Pomaranc Jerusalem in 165 BCE, after a band of Jews led by the Maccabees Patti Ray retook it from the Syrians who had conquered Judea. (Today, a Burton Robin “Maccabee” is usually is a member of a Jewish athletic team!) Muriel Rogers* Since at least 1842, American Jews have been singing Hanukkah Walter Roth* songs that expressed the complicated experiences of being Jewish in Norman D. Schwartz Z”L* the USA. In 1842, a new hymnal for Congregation Beth Elohim in Dr. Milton Shulman Charleston, South Carolina included a special hymn for Hanukkah Carey Wintergreen that reassured congregants that G-d to whom they prayed forgave Alissa Tanzar Zeffren their sins and continued to stand by them. The hymn countered the *Past Presiden t conversion efforts by local Christian evangelists. Our Jewish Chicago Jewish History forebearers were living in a largely Protestant America, and the song is published quarterly by the appeared in hymnals used by both the Reform and Conservative CJHS at 610 S. Michigan Ave., movements as late as 1959. Room 803, Chicago, IL 60605- In the 1890s, two American Reform rabbis, in New York City 1901. Phone (312 ) 663-5634. and Philadelphia, wrote a new English version of “Maoz Tsur,” a [email protected]. song that Jews have sung at Hanukkah since the 13th century, which Successor to Society News. thanked G-d for saving Jews in the past. The new song, titled “Rock Single copies $4.00 postpaid. of Ages,” kept the original melody, but substituted a homey image of bright with lights and joy and promised a future that would see Editor/Designer Beverly Chubat Edward Mazur, “tyrants disappearing.” As 2.3 million Jewish immigrants from Editorial Board Burton Robin, Milton Shulman. Eastern Europe came to America between 1890-1920, the song grew popular. It became a fixture at American Hanukkah celebrations. Send submissions to Editor, electronically (preferred) or via Continued on Page 23 standard mail. Enclose SASE. Chicago Jewish History Fall 2015 3 Beth Torah and the Bedding Felt Corporation E-Mails to the Editor As the daughter of Flora Lee Lisse (nee Hyman), I was very excited about the wonderful article in the Fall 2014 Jewish Architects Prior to World War II issue of CJH . [“Beth Torah: The Congregation that Does anyone have relatives or friends who were Chicago Held Services in a Castle” by Errol Magidson]. architects prior to World War II? I am writing a book I am writing because I feel there was one omission about Jewish architects, and I would be grateful for that requires mentioning. Flora’s father (my grand- memories and stories, drawings, photographs, business father), Charles Hyman, was a major, if not the largest, records—anything about them. financial contributor to the building of the temple. I have collected information about some of them, He was the founder and president of the Bedding Felt but there isn’t much available about others. Several years Corporation, located at 18th and Bishop in Chicago. ago, I interviewed architect Milton Schwartz for the Art They manufactured the felt that was used in making Institute of Chicago oral history project. Milton was in mattresses for most of the major bedding companies in practice from around 1950 into the mid-1980s. Now I the USA. Charles Hyman was a member of Beth Torah, would love to get information about an earlier but because he lived in Hyde Park, he was also a generation of Chicago Jewish architects. member of Rodfei Zedek. He and my grandmother Harvey Choldin, Evanston IL were both active in both temples. Professor Emeritus, Sociology, UIUC Roberta Bachenheimer (nee Lisse) [email protected] Sarasota FL An E-Mail Inquiry to CJH Leads to an Inspiring Video Interview Published in CJH Spring 2014 Coincidentally, Society member Lilli Greenebaum had just returned Seeking Holocaust Survivors from a visit to Hamburg when she read James Arkin’s inquiry in our journal, from Hamburg and she replied. We learned of the successful completion of the Memory I’m a graduate student of journalism Archives project and her participation in it when we met Lilli and her at Northwestern University, I’m part husband Jim at the joint meeting of the JGSI and our Society at Temple of a project a group of journalism Beth-El in Northbrook students are doing called the (see report on page 21). Memory Archives. We’re creating a She advised us that we set of oral histories of Holocaust could view it online. survivors and their family members, The Memory Archives children and grandchildren, who are is a compilation of the living in the Chicago area. We’re recollections of survivors specifically looking for survivors of the Holocaust and who were from Hamburg, Germany, the descendants of those as we’re partnering with a group of survivors as told German journalism students in that through stories written, Lilli Greenebaum in her video interview “Going Back.” city. I’m reaching out to you in recorded, and video- hopes that you may be able to help taped by twenty students from the International Media Center (IMC) at us get in touch with any survivors HAW Hamburg and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journal- from Hamburg in the Chicago area ism. Over a period of half a year, these twenty students formed ten inter- who would be willing to speak with national teams, which researched and contacted people in the Chicago area us for our project. with roots in Hamburg. Using digital storytelling techniques, they created James Arkin an archive remembering Jews from Nazi Germany as they rebuilt their lives Medill School of Journalism in the United States, connecting the sister cities of Chicago and Hamburg. [e-mail address] The body of work—five written stories, four short videos, and two audio collections—was premiered on the evening of November 20, 2014 at Northwestern’s McCormick Foundation Center Forum. All 10 projects are uploaded at thememoryarchives.org. 4 Chicago Jewish History Fall 2015 Our president reveals a fascinating connection Explorer Columbus and Sculptor Ezekiel and Chicago BY EDWARD H. MAZUR olumbus Day, October 12, has always been of great interest to me because it is erev Ed Mazur Day. I was born C on October 13, 1942, to Rena Kleinbort Mazur and David Mazur at Lutheran Deaconess Hospital, 1138 North Leavitt Street (an ancestor of Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, now part of the Advocate HealthCare system). Maybe the proximity of Columbus’s birthday to mine led me to my career as a historian. Do children born on February 13 or February 23 feel the same special connection to Honest Abe or The Father of Our Country? In recent years, our special days have become less prominent. Columbus Day is now officially celebrated on a Monday in October, and Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays are merged into a single Presidents’ Day, a Monday in February. Government offices are closed, Chicago public schools are closed. There is no mail service. Some lucky people are able to enjoy a three day weekend, and everyone can take advantage of the holiday mattress sales. From time to time during my decades as a professor of urban and Chicago history, I was asked by my students if Columbus was Jewish. Actually, there is a great amount of interest (and controversy) about this. On March 31, 1492, the Edict of Expulsion forced every Jew in Spain to choose between conversion to Christianity or departure from the country forever, leaving their possessions behind.