American Jewish Historical Society Fall 2006 $2.50 A Mission to Repair the World by Esther Schor Preserving the Soviet Jewry Movement by Michael Feldberg Jewish Sportswriter Goes to War by Ira Berkow Exhibition: Lower East Side, 1934 AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY TABLE OF CONTENTS A Mission to Repair the World 6 Preserving the Soviet Jewry Movement 10 OFFICERS KENNETH J. BIALKIN Jewish Sportswriter Goes to War 15 Chairman, Board of Trustees SIDNEY LAPIDUS President/CEO DAVID SOLOMON Exhibition: Lower East Side, 1934 16 Senior Vice President/COO ARNOLD H. KAPLAN IRA A. LIPMAN NANCY T. POLEVOY LOUISE P. ROSENFELD Max Fisher, American Armaments 20 Vice Presidents GEORGE M. GARFUNKEL and the Yom Kippur War Secretary NORBERT WEISSBERG Treasurer PROF. DEBORAH DASH MOORE Ray Frank Litman: 23 Chair, Academic Council MICHAEL FELDBERG, Ph.D. America’s “Latter Day Deborah” Director of Research CATHY KRUGMAN Director of Development LYN SLOME Planned Giving 26 Director of Library and Archives HERBERT KLEIN Director of Marketing JUDITH HERSHON Chair, Volunteer Services BERNARD WAX Director Emeritus BOARD OF TRUSTEES M. BERNARD AIDINOFF KENNETH J. BIALKIN GEORGE BLUMENTHAL NICK BUNZL RONALD C. CURHAN RUTH B. FEIN GEORGE M. GARFUNKEL DAVID M. GORDIS ROBERT D. GRIES DAVID HERSHBERG MICHAEL JESSELSON ARNOLD H. KAPLAN DANIEL KAPLAN SAMUEL R. KARETSKY HARVEY M. KRUEGER SIDNEY LAPIDUS PHILIP LAX JONATHAN E. LEWIS IRA A. LIPMAN NORMAN LISS KENNETH D. MALAMED DEBORAH DASH MOORE EDGAR J. NATHAN, III ARTHUR S. OBERMAYER JEFFREY S. OPPENHEIM, MD STEVEN OPPENHEIM NANCY T. POLEVOY LESLIE M. POLLACK ARNOLD J. RABINOR HAROLD S. ROSENBLUTH LOUISE P. ROSENFELD BRUCE SLOVIN DAVID SOLOMON JACOB STEIN JOSEPH S. STEINBERG MORTON STEINBERG RONALD S. TAUBER SUE R. WARBURG NORBERT WEISSBERG JUSTIN L. WYNER LAURENCE ZUCKERMAN 2 AJHS: Responsible for the Future of the Jewish Past AJHS: RESPONSIBLE A LETTER FOR THE FUTURE FROM OF THE SID LAPIDUS, JEWISH PAST PRESIDENT, AJHS Heritage was established as a May is Jewish American Heritage Month major publication of The American Jewish Historical Society Dear Friends: with a generous gift from the Last Spring, the President of the United States proclaimed May as Jewish American family of Maxwell W. (Mac) and Heritage Month. Mr. Bush stated, “The Jewish people have enriched our culture and Miriam Passerman. Maxwell contributed to a more compassionate and hopeful America.” He called upon all William Passerman was born in Americans – Jews and non-Jews alike – to observe this month with appropriate Philadelphia in 1898, and programs and activities that honor the significant contributions Jewish Americans have made to our nation. according to his daughter, Louise P. Rosenfeld, had a passion for The announcement capped the efforts by U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D- history and served as treasurer FL) and U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) to persuade Congress and the President to and vice president of AJHS in the proclaim a month recognizing the 352 year history of Jewish participation in 1960s and 1970s. Today you can American society. Resolutions establishing the month passed Congress unanimously, first in the House of Representatives last December, and in the Senate in February of honor the commitment of a loved 2005. We are grateful to Rep. Wasserman Schultz and Sen. Specter for their efforts. one to the American Jewish experience by sponsoring an issue Our mission at AJHS is to be Responsible for the Future of the Jewish Past. of Heritage Magazine which has Accordingly, we will work collaboratively with a broad coalition of institutions and a broad, circulation of 250,000 organizations, including the Library of Congress, National Archives, the Smithsonian diverse Jewish households, Institution and the American Jewish Archives to assure that the proud stories of our past, such as the ones told in this issue of Heritage, on our website, in our scholarly nationwide. journal and exhibitions, are shared with a truly national audience. It is likely that a new organization will be established to coordinate Jewish American Heritage Month, To find out how your family can but AJHS will stay actively involved to help guide the national effort. become part of this legacy with this important naming We Jews have contributed to American civilization since 1654, helping make the United States the world’s most diverse and successful democracy. From the very first, opportunity, please contact we have insisted on religious freedom and equal rights under the law for everyone, Cathy Krugman, Director of not just ourselves. Jewish Americans have made significant breakthroughs in science, Development, at 212-294-6164. medicine, commerce, the military and the arts that have changed the world. Jews have helped make America strong, free and tolerant. We are pleased that Congress and the President have acknowledged these contributions through a month-long celebration of America’s Jewish heritage. We will keep you informed of Jewish American Heritage Month initiatives as they develop. I sincerely ask for your support of AJHS so that it can help make the month A Publication of the truly substantive, filled with quality events and intellectually strong programs and American Jewish Historical Society publications generated by AJHS. 15 West 16th Street New York NY 10011 The trustees and staff of AJHS join me in good wishes for the coming Chanukah season. www.ajhs.org 212-294-6160 Sincerely, Herbert Klein, Publisher Michael Feldberg, Editor Kay MultiMedia, Design Sidney Lapidus HERITAGE Fall 2006 3 AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY It’s your heritage… Join the American Jewish Historical Society. he American Jewish Historical Society is the world’s leading institution for communicating the history of the Jewish Tpeople in the United States. This is so important because the Society’s critical mission is not duplicated by any other organization. For more than a century, this institution has served educators, students, rabbis, researchers, genealogists, filmmakers, curators and audiences – Jewish and non-Jewish alike, bringing forth the richness of the remarkable Jewish experience in this great nation. Now more than ever, as we celebrate more than 350 years of Jewish life in America, support from friends and members like you can make a difference. POSTER FROM AJHS JEWS IN BASEBALL EXHIBITION Without your commitment, the stories we tell and the documents we preserve will be lost to future >AJHS sponsors the AJHS Academic Council, the only generations. professional organization in the field. Its scholarly What does your personal gift make possible? conferences are critical to developing new scholarships and ideas in American Jewish history. Research and Scholarship >AJHS provides fellowships to young scholars aspiring >AJHS makes available millions of unique documents to academic careers. from which researchers write the history of the >AJHS publishes American Jewish History, the most American Jewish experience. respected scholarly journal in the field. Public Knowledge and Understanding >AJHS produces museum exhibitions, lectures, concerts, film series and popular cultural events that actively reinforce Jewish identity and pride, while conveying the record of American Jewish accomplishment to people of all backgrounds. >Recent exhibits include our partnership with the Library of Congress on “From Haven to Home: 350 CONFEDERATE $2 BILL WITH IMAGE OF JUDAH P. BENJAMIN Years of Jewish History in America,” the largest exhibition on this subject ever assembled. We are proud to be your link to the >AJHS has created the Archive of American Jews in past, for the sake of the future. Sports, the first full-scale archival effort of its type in the United States. AJHS published a wildly popular We simply can’t do it without you. 4 AJHS: Responsible for the Future of the Jewish Past >Acquiring and preserving the records of the American Soviet Jewry movement, including the … National Conference on Soviet Jewry and the Union of Councils for Soviet Jewry. >Saving the records of the Ethiopian Jewry movement and those of the American Jewish Congress, the Council of Jewish Federations, the National Jewish Welfare Board, and hundreds of organizations, synagogues, movements and initiatives that have shaped American Jewish life. Your support directly enables us to continue our important work. Whether in business and finance, politics, education, science, arts, human rights, sports, entertainment to the everyday activities of family life –AJHS has ensured that the record from 1654 to the present is kept, that the stories are told, and our shared history is not forgotten. Please join us now or give the gift of membership with a tax-deductible donation and receive the benefits JEWISH CHAPLAINS IN THE MARIANA ISLANDS, WORLD WAR II of membership, or use the enclosed membership form to make sure you continue to be a part of the legacy. set of cards of every Jew who played major league To explore other instruments of giving including baseball from 1872 to the present. naming AJHS as a beneficiary in your will and joining our Haym Salomon Society please call, in confidence, >AJHS produces two popular websites enjoyed by teachers, students, rabbis, newspaper editors and Cathy Krugman in our Development Department at the general public: www.ajhs.org and (212) 294-6164. www.jewsinsports.org. >AJHS’s Project ADAJE has begun digitization of all American Jewish periodicals from the 1840s to the present, offering free access to a wealth of historical resources. The AJHS journal, American Jewish History, and its predecessor titles from 1893 through 1979 are currently available on-line at www.ajhs.org. Your support keeps our history alive Tomorrow’s history lessons will be written and understood because, today, you helped advance the mission of the American Jewish Historical Society. Current initiatives that are enhanced though your generosity include: >Collecting the personal papers of leading figures in the Jewish counterculture movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which contributed so much to renewing American Judaism. AJHS is a 501(c)3 organization – all gifts are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.