REPORT OF THE TWENTY-SEVENTH YEAR OF THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA 1914-1913 JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY 397 THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA OFFICERS PRESIDENT SIMON MILLER, Philadelphia FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT DR. HENRY M. LEIPZIGER, New York SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT HORACE STERN, Philadelphia TREASURER HENRY FERNBERGER, Philadelphia SECRETARY BENJAMIN ALEXANDER, Philadelphia ASSISTANT SECRETARY I. GEORGE DOBSEVAGE, Philadelphia SECRETARY TO THE PUBLICATION COMMITTEE HENRIETTA SZOLD, New York TRUSTEES DR. CYRUS ADLER 2 Philadelphia HART BLUMENTHAL J Philadelphia CHARLES EISENMAN 1 Cleveland HENRY FERNBERGER 3 Philadelphia DANIEL GUGGENHEIM * New York 3 JOSEPH HAGEDORN Philadelphia S. CHARLES LAMPORT ' New York EPHRAIM LEDERER * Philadelphia 2 DR. HENRY M. LEIPZIGER New York SIMON MILLER * Philadelphia MORRIS NEWBURGER ' New York JULIUS ROSENWALD * Chicago SIGMUND B. SONNEBORN 1 Baltimore HORACE STERN S Philadelphia SAMUEL STRAUSS * New York a HON. SELIGMAN J. STRAUSS Wilkes-Barre, Pa. 3 CYRUS L. SULZBERGER New York HON. MAYER SULZBERGER 2 Philadelphia 1 Term expires in 1916. > Term expires in 1917. 3 Term expires in 1918. 3 398 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK A. LEO WEIL2 Pittsburgh 1 HARRIS WEINSTOCK Sacramento EDWIN WOLF ' Philadelphia HONORARY VICE-PRESIDENTS 3 ISAAC W. BEHNIIEIM Louisville REV. DR. HENRY COHEN 2 Galveston Louis K. GTJTMAN * Baltimore REV. DR. MAX HELLER * New Orleans Miss ELLA JACOBS * Philadelphia S. W. JACOBS 3 Montreal 3 Louis E. KIKSTEIN Boston HON. JULIAN W. MACK 3 Chicago REV. DR. MARTIN A. MEYER 1 San Francisco 1 HON. SIMON W. ROSENDALE Albany, N. Y. 2 MURRAY SEASONGOOD Cincinnati HON. M. C. SLOSS 2 San Francisco REV. DR. JOSEPH STOLZ * Chicago HON. SIMON WOLF 3 Washington, D. C. PUBLICATION COMMITTEE HON. MAYER SULZIIERGER, Chairman Philadelphia DR. CYRUS ADLER Philadelphia REV. DE. HENRY BERKOWITZ Philadelphia DR. S. SOLIS COHEN Philadelphia REV. DR. HTMAN G. ENELOW New York DR. HERBERT FRIEDENWALD New York DR. ISRAEL FRIEDLAENDER New York FELIX N. GERSON Philadelphia REV. DR. MAX HELLER New Orleans DR. JACOB H. HOLLANDER Baltimore DR. JOSEPH JACOBS New York RABBI JACOB KOHN New York REV. DB. J. L. MAGNES New York LEON S. MOISSEIFF New York REV. DR. DAVID PHILIPSON Cincinnati DR. SOLOMON SCHECHTEK New York REV. DR. SAMUEL SCHULMAN New York HON. OSCAR S. STRAUS New York SAMUEL STRAUSS New York The Eoard of Trustees meets in January, March, May, and October. The Publication Committee meets in the afternoon of the first Sunday in January, February, March, April, May, June, October, November, and December. 1 Term expires In 1916. 2 Term expires In 1917. " Term expires in 1918. 4 JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY 399 MEETING OF THE TWENTY-SEVENTH YEAE The annual meeting of The Jewish Publication Society of America was held Sunday evening, May 16, 1915, at The Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning, Broad and York Streets, Philadelphia, Pa. The meeting was opened with a prayer by Rabbi Max D. Klein, of Philadelphia. The President of the Society, Mr. Simon Miller, acted as Chairman, and Mr. I. George Dobsevage, of Philadelphia, as Secretary of the meeting. The President read his annual address. PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS Ladies and Gentlemen: You are assembled at the Twenty-Seventh Annual Meeting to receive from us, your Board of Trustees, an accounting of the stewardship of the vital interests which you have intrusted to us. These interests are vital, because the position of the new Jewry of America will he dependent not alone upon the acknowledgment of Judaism as a social tie, but as a spiritual one as well. This spiritual tie can be cemented only by the knowledge of our common past, and by the common hopes for the future. The dissemina- tion of this knowledge is the aim of our society. How far the society has attained toward this goal you may judge from what it has done, what it is doing and what it proposes to do. To fully appreciate the position let us see what has been accomplished in the last fiscal year and what has been mapped out for future achievement. We have in spite of troublous times continued our growth in the number of our members, in the sale and distribution of our books and in the further- ance of the numerous projects on which we are engaged. The financial statement which is before you is, all things considered, fairly gratifying. Were this a commercial undertaking our meeting might end here, but since we are engaged in propaganda work, a detailed survey is desirable. Our membership, about 12,000, shows some increase ; our losses from various causes being more than offset by the enrolment of new members. The distribution of books, other than through membership, amounted to $25,000, a substantial increase over previous years. We distributed about 60,000 volumes. In Jewish homes, heretofore devoid of Jewish literature, the " five-foot book shelf," filled with Jewish volumes, is a reality. In many smaller communities we have succeeded in placing our books, particu- larly Graetz's " History of the Jews," in more than one-half of the Jewish households. The presence of these books will produce Jews who will be conversant with their faith and their history, and through this knowledge a pride in themselves as Jews will be awakened that will make them better Jews. We have supplied libraries to the various collegiate Menorah Societies and have encouraged the establishment of libraries by Young Men's Hebrew Associations. During the year we have subventioned a work of great and native scholar- ship—a " Hebrew Dictionary of Technical and Philosophical Terms," by 400 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK Caspar Levias, and are pleased to announce the publication at an early date of an original production by an American scholar, Professor Henry Malter's masterful study of the life and work of the great Gaon of Sora, Saadia ben Joseph. This volume will be issued as the first publication in accordance with the terms of the Morris Loeb Bequest. In 1914-1915 we published four new books and we reprinted ten of our older publications in order to meet the demand for them. The new publica- tions were favorably received. The articles in the YEAK BOOK on the Beilis Case and on Jewish Education drew attention to two matters of great interest to Jews. The Beilis article in particular preserved in permanent form an accurate account of one of the darkest tragedies of the Jew in recent years. " Josephus," by Norman Bentwich, proved a valuable contri- bution to the, books dealing with the ancient historian of the Jewish people and added another volume to our growing Biographical Series, which will be supplemented with the lives of Hillel, Joseph of Naxos, Isaac Abarbanel, Judah Halevi, Ibn Ezra, Manasseh ben Israel, Elijah Vilna, Baron de Hlrsch, Moses Monteflore and others. Covering another phase of Jewish biography will be the volume on Jewish artists, the European part of which Is being prepared by Hermann Struck, of Berlin, while Leo Mielziner will prepare the American section. The fourth publication, " In Those Days," a translation of Jehuda Steinberg's " Ba-Yamin Ha-hem," describes the life of Russian Jews in the time of Nicholas I, when Jewish children were snatched away from their homes in order that they might grow up as Christian soldiers. Steinberg has succeeded in narrating a serious story without continually lamenting and weeping, and throughout he preserves artistic good taste and sanity. During the coming year, we shall send to our members a collection of plays by Irma Kraft, which will prove suitable for presentation by Sabbath School children on various Jewish occasions. The " YEAR BOOK for 5676," under the editorship of Dr. Joseph Jacobs, will contain articles on various phases of Jewish interest, as well as Miss Henrietta Szold's resume1 of " Jewish Progress in Palestine." With, the shifting changes in modern political states, it is important that we be informed as to the social and political status of our brethren in all parts of the world. The third book will be a volume by the accomplished classical scholar, Dr. Max Radin, deal- ing with the " Jews among the Greeks and Romans." All that can be gathered from historical and archeological sources will be. included in this study of the Jews who inhabited the Classical World. The Bible will be the fourth publication. Since the last annual report, further progress has been made in carrying on the important project of bringing before the members of the Society and the public generally the new English translation of the Holy Scriptures. After careful consideration a contract was entered into for the composition, manufacture of plates and the production of an initial edition of 20,000 copies of the new translation. The details connected with the contract occupied several months and it was not until August that the typesetting was actually entered upon. The composition occupied from September until February, at which time the entire manuscript had been set up and placed in the hands of the editors. The proof-reading, which involves great labor by the Board of Editors, is being diligently prosecuted by them. Many points have arisen in connection with the reading of the proof which require further conferences between the Editors. These are now being discussed by correspondence. As many of them as possible will be 6 JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY 401 settled In that way and such as need further discussion will be reserved for a final meeting of the Editors, probably in the early autumn. The care required In the reading of the proof in the production of this important work renders haste impossible and undesirable. Some additional particulars about Bible Translations in general, and about our Bible Translation in particular, we shall hear from the mouth of Professor Max Margolis, upon whom devolved much of the preparation of our Version.