RHODE ISLAND JEWISH HISTORICAL NOTES VOLUME 13 NOVEMBER 1999 NUMBER 1 Publications Committee Stanley Abrams, Chairman Judy Aaron Sidney Goldstein Kenneth Abrams Eleanor F. Florvitz Aaron Cohen Lillian Schwartz Geraldine S. Foster Jerome B. Spunt Bonnie N. Goldowsky The Library of Congress National Serials Data Program (NSDP), Washington, D.C. 20540, which operates the U.S. Serials Data System, has assigned the following International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) to the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Notes, a publication of the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association: ISSN 0556-8609. Front Cover Walter Feldman's Temple Beth-El Mosaic, Glass Enamel, Providence, 1999 (see story on page 93). Rhode Island Jewish Historical November, 1999 Volume 13, Number 1 Copyright © 1999 by the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association 130 Sessions Street, Providence, Rhode Island 02906-3444 4 Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association 130 Sessions Street, Providence, Rhode Island 02906 E-mail: [email protected] Web Site: http://www.dowtech.com/RIJHA David Charak Adelman (1892-1967), Founder Executive Committee Eugene W einberg......................................................................................... President Robert Berkelhammer........................................................... First Vice President Mel Topf.................................................................................Second Vice President Sylvia Factor..................................................................................................Secretary Lillian Schwartz......................................................................... Assistant Secretary Jack Fradin.................................................................................................... Treasurer Herbert L. Rosen....................................................................... Assistant Treasurer Honorary Members of the Executive Committee Bonnie N. Goldowsky Lynn Stepak Melvin Zurier Past Presidents Stanley Abrams Marvin Pitterman Aaron Cohen Benton H. Rosen Geraldine S. Foster Beryl Segal (1898-1980) Seebert J. Goldowsky, M.D. (1907-1997) Jerome B. Spunt Robert A. Kotlen Erwin Strasmich Members-at-large of the Executive Committee Kenneth Abrams Julius Michaelson Herbert Brown Herbert Iventash, O.D. Anita Fine Jay Orson, M.D. Calvin Goldscheider Charlotte Penn Sidney Goldstein Alene Silver, Ph.D. George Goodwin Milton Stanzler Alfred Jaffe Leonard Moss, Editor Eleanor F. Horvitz, Librarian-Archivist Printed in the U.S.A. Published for the Association by Richard A lan Dow / Technical Communications, Laconia. NH 5 Table Of Contents Notes from the Editor................................................................................................7 A Rhode Island Historian Looks at the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Notes................................................................. 9 by Albert T. Klyberg Creating a Civil Judaism: Max L. Grant and Jewish Communal Philanthropy...........................................................................17 by Adam Harris Skolnick The Response of the Providence Jewish Community to Events in Prewar Germany, 1935 to 1939.........................................................39 by Nicole Hersclienhous Two Jewish Girls in Wartime Shanghai................................................................ 55 by Ada Winston and Josie Toochin An Altruistic Jewish Family of Providence............................................................68 by Eleanor Horvitz Excerpts from the Palestine Diary of Betty Woolf, 1938.................................... 79 by Geraldine Foster Rhode Island Jews in the Performing A rts............................................................ 85 by Zita Brier The Temple Beth-El Mosaic ....................................................................................93 by Walter Feldman Reluctant Warriors: Jews, Vietnam, and the Draft................................................ 99 by George Goodwin Emperor Julian the Apostate and the “Community of the Jews” .......................129 by Alene F. Silver Bibliographical Notes..............................................................................................135 Forty-Fifth Annual Meeting of the Association...................................................137 Necrology.................................................................................................................140 Errata........................................................................................................................ 150 Funds and Bequests.................................................................................................151 Life Members of the Association.......................................................................... 152 Rhode Island Jewish Historical Notes 7 Notes from the Editor Albert Klyberg, in his address to the RIJHA at the 1999 annual meeting, pointed out the important role of the Notes, since its founding in 1954 by David Adelman, in reviewing not only Jewish community life in Rhode Island but also the “relationship of Jews beyond the Jewish community, the broader aspects of Rhode Island society: politics, trade unionism, and military service.” Looking ahead to our move to Heritage Harbor in 2001, Mr. Klyberg sees a unique opportunity to satisfy both aspects at the same time, the “broader” as well as the more inward-looking: we shall study with equal interest those elements of common history, the intersections in business like the jewelry industry and textiles, those common experiences we have had together like world wars and hurricanes, and we shall inquire into the special areas of culture that give us distinctive identities. This issue illustrates how the two concerns come together: there are articles, for example, on Jewish contributions to the performing and visual arts, and an essay on the founding of the Miriam Hospital as a service to non­ Jewish as well as Jewish patients and doctors. There is an essay on the philanthropy of a well-established Providence family and there are also stories told by two women who came to the Providence-Boston area only after escaping from wartime distress halfway around the world. The theme of war, and its impact on the local Jewish community, has run through the essays and recollections published in the Notes from this journal’s beginning— the theme of surviving man’s inhumanity to man, and not only surviving, but coming through with style. Recently, the five-part series entitled “Jewish Veterans of World War II” offered a panorama of experiences related by Rhode Island servicemen. More wartime experiences are retold in this issue, ordeals endured by civilians and soldiers, women and men, immigrants to Rhode Island and native sons, from Europe to Shanghai, from Providence and Pawtucket to Vietnam, with a look also at troubled conditions in prewar Palestine and Nazi Germany. Our efforts to make sense of all the violence and dislocation continue to occupy our thoughts and our memories after a century of almost unceasing combat in which Jews have suffered and then borne witness to their losses. We can only pray that the new century may be less painful. As Mr. Klyberg put it, our hope at the local level is that “as understanding and true affection Rhode Island Jewish Historical Notes grows, our Heritage Harbor partnership will develop such a permanent bond that no one, no group in our community, will ever have to face evil alone again.” On a lighter note, I wish to acknowledge the efforts made by Alene Silver in scrupulously proofreading and researching matters large and small; by Aaron Cohen in diligently recruiting new authors; by Anne Sherman in tirelessly operating the new computer; and by Dick Dow in fastidiously designing the page layouts for the Notes and patiently executing many changes and revisions. You will notice the use in these pages of a larger type face, or font, together with other typographical improvements. These changes will result in less crowded pages and should make for easier reading. In addition, this issue features a full color front cover. As always, we welcome your suggestions toward making this journal interesting, useful, and relevant to Jewish life in Rhode Island. 9 A Rhode Island Historian Looks at the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Notes by Albert T. Klyberg At the annual meeting of the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association on April 18, 1999, Mr. Klyberg, director of the Rhode Island Historical Society, delivered the twenty-ninth David Charak Adel man lecture. In his talk, he commented on the forty-five-year output of the Notes, 1954-98. Historical organizations like the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Asso­ ciation and the Rhode Island Historical Society make their mark on the community in many ways. Although one of the most important is the social relationships they create in the form of meetings and gatherings, in the end it is easier to analyze and measure the permanent product they make — publications. It is still the printed word that we have the easiest time grasping and thinking of as “history.” Over the years, for my lectures at the University of Rhode Island and Providence College, I have had many occasions to use the Jewish Historical Notes to explain a development in the state’s history. I have always found them to be informative, and I have always found them to contain surprises and interesting twists. Therefore, I decided to sit down and read them from cover to cover, from 1954 to 1998. Actually, the