tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10395763899580483472024-03-14T01:18:35.874-04:00D.C. Jewish HistoryFollow the adventures of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater WashingtonJewish Historical Society of Greater Washingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12888349070701775519noreply@blogger.comBlogger150125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-35201062741269644172017-01-20T08:00:00.000-05:002017-01-25T12:54:18.453-05:00Pop Quiz: U.S. Presidents & American Jews<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Here are the answers to the quiz we published earlier this week. Over 100 people participated in the quiz, with only a handful answering all eight questions correctly! Thank you so much for your responses, and enjoy learning about the relationships and experiences between U.S. presidents and Washington's Jewish community. </span><br />
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #993300; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">1. This U.S. president promised religious freedom and intolerance in a now famous letter to the Jews of Newport.</span></span><br />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #993300; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: 10.6667px; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #993300; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: #333333;"><b>President George Washington</b></span><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal;"> issued a short but immensely important <a href="http://www.tourosynagogue.org/history-learning/gw-letter" target="_blank">letter</a> to the Hebrew Congregations of Newport, Rhode Island promising that this new government will give "to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance."</span></span></span><br />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #993300; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: 10.6667px; font-weight: normal;">(Other answer options: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #993300; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: 10.6667px; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #993300; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">2. Why was President Ulysses S. Grant's attendance at the dedication service for our historic synagogue (Original Adas Israel) in 1876 so significant?</span></span><br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">President Ulysses S. Grant attended the </span><a href="http://jhsgw.org/grant.php" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted; box-sizing: border-box; color: #337ab7; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">dedication of the Adas Israel synagogue</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> (now the </span><a href="http://jhsgw.org/programs/sanctuary_tour.php" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted; box-sizing: border-box; color: #337ab7; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">Lillian & Albert Small Jewish Museum</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">) on June 9, 1876. Grant remained for the entire three-hour service and gave a $10 donation to the synagogue building fund. During the Civil War, then General Grant had issued General Order 11, which expelled Jews "as a class" from the Department of Tennessee. Grant's attendance at Adas Israel may have served as an act of contrition. </span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: 10.6667px;">(All of the above)</span></span><br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #304d6a; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">3. Which president spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Jewish Community Center on 16th Street, NW?</span></span><br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">President Calvin Coolidge addressed the crowd in 1925 and closed his remarks by saying, "As those who come and go shall gaze upon </span><a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/exhibition/the-center-of-it-all" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted; box-sizing: border-box; color: #337ab7; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">this civic landmark</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">, may it be a constant reminder of the inspiring service that has been rendered to civilization by men and women of the Jewish faith."</span><br />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">(Other answer options: Woodrow Wilson and Warren G. Harding)</span><br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #993300; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">4. Who was the first Jewish candidate on a major-party presidential ticket?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Senator Joseph Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew who did not campaign on the Sabbath, was Senator Al Gore’s running mate in 2000.</span><br />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">(Other answer options: Jacob K. Javits and Abraham Ribicoff)</span><br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #304d6a; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">5. What enterprising Washington businessman provided lumber to build the inaugural stands for Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Sidney Hechinger first donated lumber to build the inaugural platform in front of the Capitol in 1933. After the ceremonies, he dismantled the stand and sold pieces cut from the wood as inaugural souvenirs.</span><br />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">(Other answer options: <a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/exhibit-images/hecht-s-photo" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted; box-sizing: border-box; color: #337ab7; text-decoration: none;">Alexander Hecht</a> and <a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/exhibit-images/lansburgh-s-building" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted; box-sizing: border-box; color: #337ab7; text-decoration: none;">Max Lansburgh</a>)</span><br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #993300; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">6. Which congregation is named in an Act signed into law by President Franklin Pierce that entitles Jewish congregations in Washington, D.C. to the same rights and privileges as churches?</span></span><br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">President Franklin Pierce signed “An Act for the Benefit of the Hebrew Congregation in the city of Washington” on June 2, 1856. </span><a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/goldberg/photographs/washington-hebrew-congregation" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted; box-sizing: border-box; color: #337ab7; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">Washington Hebrew</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> had petitioned Congress for legislation to ensure its right to own property in the city.</span><br />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">(Other answer options: <a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/exhibition/a-second-congregation" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted; box-sizing: border-box; color: #337ab7; text-decoration: none;">Adas Israel Congregation</a> and <a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/goldberg/photographs/kesher-israel-congregation" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted; box-sizing: border-box; color: #337ab7; text-decoration: none;">Kesher Israel</a>)</span><br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #304d6a; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">7. Which President sent his Jewish chiropodist (foot doctor) on a secret wartime peace mission?</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/lincolns-city/exhibits/show/mr-lincolns-city/president-ear/isachar-zacharie" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted; box-sizing: border-box; color: #337ab7; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">Isachar Zacharie</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> tended the feet of President Abraham Lincoln and several other Cabinet officials during the Civil War. In 1863 Lincoln sent him to Richmond to meet with Confederate Secretary of State </span><a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/lincolns-city/exhibits/show/mr-lincolns-city/blue-gray/judah-benjamin" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted; box-sizing: border-box; color: #337ab7; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">Judah P. Benjamin</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> to propose peace negotiations. The errand was unsuccessful.</span><br />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">(Other answer options: Theodore Roosevelt and James Monroe)</span><br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #993300; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">7. This prominent Jewish Washingtonian formed close relationships with every U.S. president from Abraham Lincoln to Woodrow Wilson, and was appointed Consul General to Egypt. </span></span><br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><a href="https://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/exhibition/friend-of-presidents-simon-wolf-1836-1923" target="_blank">Simon Wolf</a>'s 1918 autobiography was aptly named Presidents I Have Known. For Wolf's 70th birthday, his daughter, Florence Gotthold, compiled three books filled with over 400 personal messages from leaders of the day -- including several presidents, politicians, authors, and supreme court justices!</span><br />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">(Other answer options: Alfred Mordechai and Bendiza Behrend)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11626353804146691802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-24980756225709177062015-01-07T14:24:00.003-05:002015-01-07T14:24:46.743-05:00New blog location<b><span style="font-size: large;">We are now blogging at <a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/blog">www.jhsgw.org/blog</a></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Hope to see you there!</span></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-84421335445194605742014-12-29T10:22:00.000-05:002014-12-29T10:22:37.334-05:00A New Acquisition and the Vigil for Alan Gross <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dgxfDk2ldZM/VJsxeGUwU-I/AAAAAAAAEOM/xtswzXq7WQ8/s1600/IMG_2878.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dgxfDk2ldZM/VJsxeGUwU-I/AAAAAAAAEOM/xtswzXq7WQ8/s1600/IMG_2878.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rabbi Arnold Saltzman gives "Free Alan Gross"<br />
sign to Executive Director Laura Cohen Apelbaum.<br />
The sign shows Gross and his wife, Judy,<br />
at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Alan Gross's recent release from captivity in Cuba marks a moment of celebration and reflection for the Washington-area Jewish community. Among the many activists celebrating is Rabbi Arnold Saltzman, a leader of a weekly vigil for three years in front of the Cuban embassy.<br />
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In the days following Alan Gross's release, Rabbi Saltzman donated a "Free Alan Gross" sign to the Society's archival collections. We took this special opportunity to record his first-hand experience of the weekly vigil as well as his perspective on the Jewish community's responsibility to defend those who cannot defend themselves.<br />
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<b>JHSGW (Q):</b> What was your reaction when you first heard about Alan Gross's arrest and imprisonment, and at what point did you decide to act?<br />
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<b>Rabbi Saltzman (A): </b>I heard about Alan Gross's imprisonment over four years ago. My friend and neighbor, Gwen Zuares, is Judy Gross's sister. Early on, she asked if I knew about Alan, and then she kept me informed. She was distraught and greatly concerned for his well-being and for his family's well-being. Gwen let me know when the demonstrations were beginning, and I got involved as I thought this type of demonstration could have positive results.<br />
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<b>Q:</b> With so many worthy advocacy causes swirling around us, how were you able to attract people to this issue and get them involved in the vigil?
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<b>A:</b> The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), its executive director Ron Halber, and staff (especially Adina Remz) deserve credit as does the Interfaith Council of Metropolitan Washington for helping get people to the vigil in the beginning.
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We do not know why some people chose to participate nor could we make it their priority. I shared some of my previous activism experience in order to interest people. From the beginning, I wrote statements to be read at the vigil. These gave focus, reminding people over and over what we were there for, what we were trying to accomplish, and how it fulfilled both a religious and civic responsibility.
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<b>Q:</b> What is the story behind the sign that you recently donated to the Society?
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<b>A:</b> These signs were carried every week at the vigil and were in synagogue lobbies around the Washington area. We brought one to the State Department so they would see Alan's photo – a reminder.
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Originally, The Jewish Federation provided a grant to print the posters. We began to run short, though, so I spoke to one of my congregants, Ed Apple, who owns Prince Frederick Graphics. I asked him for a price for reprinting, but he said he knew Alan Gross and gave us a gift. In addition, Gwen said she would find the money to print it, but I don't think it was needed.
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I donated this "Free Alan Gross" sign to the archives of the Jewish Historical Society to remind our community, now and in the future, of what we can accomplish together. Engagement with the government as well as asserting our rights to demonstrate as citizens are essential to finding a responsible resolution to a difficulty which otherwise might have been ignored or lost on someone's desk.<br />
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<b>Q:</b> Your leadership in this kind of advocacy work began long before the vigil in front of the Cuban embassy. How did your involvement with the vigils on behalf of Soviet Jewry, both in New York and in Washington, shape your tactics in Alan Gross's case?
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<b>A:</b> We learned from earlier demonstrations, including those for desegregating the New York City School system, and demonstrating for Soviet Jewry both in NYC and in Washington, D.C., that there were many good results.
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As a high school student, I marched in Harlem, and people applauded at the doors of their brownstone buildings. They were looking for a positive change. That was accomplished. When we demonstrated in Washington, D.C. opposite the Soviet Embassy, we demonstrated in silence. It was just the presence of demonstrators of every age group, from all walks of life, sent a message to those at the embassy. People who cared could be found at these vigils. Those who returned more than once, and those from our congregations and from the interfaith community.
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Once, <a href="http://jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/voices/media/music-for-the-high-holidays-1985" target="_blank">in front of the Soviet Embassy, we sang the "Hush of Midnight,"</a> a contemporary S'lichot service prior to Rosh Hashanah, including the prayer Ashre -- "Happy are they who dwell in Thy house, they will ever praise Thy name." We sang Sh'ma Koleinu -- "Hear our Voice, accept our prayer in mercy, have mercy upon us." We sang Mi She'anah Avraham Avinu, Hu Ya'aneinu -- "May the One who answered Abraham, May that One answer us." After that day, we were asked not to sing anymore. Perhaps they were listening at the Embassy?
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We learned that there would always be individuals who said what we were doing was a waste of time and energy. We read such opinions in the press. Yet, I never believed that, as I saw us a community strengthened by these demonstrations. Everyone sought a way to express their concern. I made sure that <a href="http://jhsgw.pastperfect-online.com/31288cgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=ADE35FF4-B13D-4648-8333-801430524449;type=102" target="_blank">my children, Josh and Michael, participated in the Soviet Jewry vigil</a>, so that they could have that experience, continuing my experience and their grandparents' experience.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/voices/community-memories/oral-histories-and-memoirs/arnold-saltzman" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Read Rabbi Saltzman's memories</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> of his involvement with the local Soviet Jewry movement.</span></span><br />
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In this recent situation, it was more difficult in that there was misinformation coming from some media originating from the Cuban government. That created some reluctance and doubt among some in the community who did not show up or discontinued their participation. From previous experience, I knew this could be a long process requiring persistence and belief that Alan Gross and his family had a spotless record of work and commitment to the Jewish community and humanitarian work.
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<b>Q:</b> The vigil that you lead was a critical part of a much larger effort. Where did it fit within the broader context of organizations and government institutions fighting for Alan Gross's release?
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<b>A:</b> Most importantly, this vigil gave Alan Gross himself the hope that people cared and were not going to let up. How does one keep sane for five years in a high security prison, while you're ill, losing weight, knowing of the emotional and physical deterioration of many loved ones at home, and unable to do anything about it?
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Our vigil let the Cubans know we were serious in our concern, and you know they recorded and taped us every time we were there, and their employees and diplomats exited the building as the sound of voices magnified by the bullhorn penetrated the walls of the building. Our vigil was seen by Cubans and people going to Cuba as they applied for visas across the street. This vigil let our government know that this was urgent – a priority that needed attention. We are citizens who spoke up for a fellow citizen who was not politically connected.
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The JCRC and Jewish Federation used their advocacy and connections to make this a priority in the halls of Congress. We coordinated with the JCRC and the Gross family's wishes and the requests of their legal representatives, and we tried to do what was helpful and supportive while their legal team worked other channels. A group of us from the vigil went to meet with a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South America and Cuba, Deputy Secretary of State Alex Lee, to express our concern, and inquire what else they were doing for Alan Gross and what else they thought we might do.
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At that meeting, I communicated that the message Alan Gross had done nothing wrong was getting lost in media coverage and that they had to find a way to correct that. Without that assurance that he was innocent, people were reluctant to act on his behalf. Shortly afterwards, there were news stories and statements steering the conversation back to where it needed to be - Alan Gross is in prison and needed to be freed. He had been sentenced unjustly.
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<b>Q:</b> Alan Gross's release came alongside a monumental breakthrough in U.S.-Cuban relations. How do you perceive your role and the role of the Washington-area Jewish community in contributing to this change?
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<b>A:</b> Our vigil to free Alan Gross was part of a much broader strategy to gain his release. For some it may be insignificant, but for those who participated, it has left an indelible impression. We used our right to demonstrate and assemble to good effect. We spoke out. We continued a time-honored American and Jewish tradition of not accepting the stern outcome as final, and we were determined to overcome this cruel and unjust imprisonment.
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Along the way, we discovered something we already knew from previous vigils like the one for Soviet Jewry: there is a community in more than name and it does not care which denomination you belong to. We had Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Renewal, and Humanistic Jews, Catholics and all participate in these vigils.<br />
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We found a caring community for Alan Gross and his family. We found people with Cuban roots, such as Carlos Lumpuy who translated my words into Spanish at the demonstrations. Students from the Hebrew Academy, BBYO, and public high schools joined us and brought our concerns back to their fellow classmates. Educational Directors brought the issue to their students.
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We established that even though it was difficult to park near the Cuban embassy, we could find parking, we could show up, and we could learn from each other. Some brought prayers recited by rabbis, some brought songs, sung by their cantors, some brought presence. Our message was Hineni! -- "I am here!" -- and willing to do whatever is necessary to resolve this matter, and to give thanks when it happens. We learned that it can be a lonely occupation to do this when you return every week.
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<b>Q:</b> Now that Alan has returned to the U.S., how do you suggest we preserve this story for future generations? What are the core lessons we need to ensure future generations learn from this story?
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<b>A:</b> The first lesson is one of religious and philosophical responsibility. As Pirkei Avot (Sayings of the Fathers) teaches, while we are not required to finish our efforts, we are not free from trying. Phyllis Margolius, Dr. Richard Morgenstein, and Daniel Mann joined us and believed in this, yet they did not live to see this wonderful day of Alan Gross's freedom.
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We learn that <i>Pidyon Shvuyim</i>, rescuing the hostage or captive, is the responsibility of the community and a great mitzvah. We learn that "to Save a Life, is to Save a World." We know that Alan Gross will not be the only person to be treated in this manner. Alan Gross can enjoy his life in freedom and rescuing one American gives us confidence that our government values its citizens and will do whatever is necessary to protect and defend them.
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Our government listened and responded to our concern and the concerns of the family of Alan Gross as articulated so eloquently by Judy Gross. Ultimately, President Barack Obama had to make the decision to do this, removing a stumbling block for a new day in Cuban-American relations. Alan Gross originally went to Cuba to help Cubans, and ironically, his unjust imprisonment and his being freed will result in helping Cubans by changing American policy.<br />
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Saving a good man who strongly identifies as both American and Jewish, whose first words to the public were "<i>Chag Sam'e'ach</i>" should give us something to ponder. The lesson of history is that we cannot be silent. Saving one man and participating in that cause gives us a reason to rejoice. There are times when good people need to know what is right and how to act on those beliefs. There are those who will minimize the relationship of our presence, and I do not want to exaggerate its importance either.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-46282315652214513632014-12-17T13:02:00.000-05:002014-12-29T13:05:54.400-05:00Object of the Month: December 2014<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2014/friendship-grocery-1950s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2014/friendship-grocery-1950s.jpg" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interior of Friendship grocery, ca. 1950s.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Accession No.</b> 2014.33<br />
<b>Donor: </b>Ronald S. Levine<br />
<b>Description:</b> Collection of photographs documenting Friendship Deli, 4932 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, mid-1940s-1950s.<br />
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This December, will you join the collective shopping frenzy around Friendship Heights? As you meander past bustling shopping malls and boutiques, remember the neighborhood's quieter past as a home to small, mom-and-pop businesses. One of those businesses was a grocery and later a luncheonette called ‘Friendship.'<br />
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Herman Levine opened Friendship grocery shortly after the Second World War, in a small, two-story building at 4932 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, between Fessenden and Ellicott Streets. Like many mom-and-pop groceries, the store was on the first floor, and the family lived in an apartment on the second floor. "It was a typical mom-and-pop store," remembers Herman Levine's son Ron who, with his older sister Maxine, spent part of his childhood living ‘above the store.' "It was open 7 days a week, from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. And my mother worked in the store, but would run upstairs to fix lunch and meals, and then go back to the store." Levine remembers being called home from school to help. "They would call the principal who would come into my classroom, and I knew that someone didn't show up for work that day." Herman usually took off Monday afternoons, and he and Ron would fish near the current site of the Kennedy Center.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2014/friendship-exterior-1940s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2014/friendship-exterior-1940s.jpg" height="320" width="172" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Herman, Lillian, and Maxine Levine<br />
in front of Friendship grocery, ca. 1940s</td></tr>
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From its beginnings, Friendship was a family affair. Levine, who was born in Brooklyn, NY, served as an airplane mechanic in Hawaii during the war and spent some time training in D.C. He met his wife, Lillian Furash, while staying at a boarding house for government workers on Nebraska Avenue, which Lillain's family owned. Lillian was born in Washington to immigrant parents originally from Pinsk, Russia. Shortly after the war, Herman and Lillian married. Lillian's father Jacob urged Herman to go into business, and helped him establish the grocery.<br />
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Friendship grocery was nestled within a strip of shops owned by Jewish, Greek, and Italian families. "The Kahn family ran a shoe store down the street," recalls Ron Levine. "Next to my father's store was a barber shop, and that was an Italian family. The toy store was next door, and next to them were Henry and Rose Greenbaum, and they had three kids. They lived above the shop, and were in business with Henry's brother. Both were survivors of Auschwitz. Next to them was a Greek florist. All of their children would run into each other's stores, and all of our parents watched us. On summer evenings we'd all be sitting out on Wisconsin Avenue and get together and talk. Our fathers were, of course, still in the businesses, still working."<br /><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NGg3it77WQg/VKGW6cI6ZkI/AAAAAAAAEPc/Km_AMDfsBKI/s1600/friendship-children.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NGg3it77WQg/VKGW6cI6ZkI/AAAAAAAAEPc/Km_AMDfsBKI/s1600/friendship-children.jpg" height="196" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Children whose parents owned stores adjacent to Friendship grocery<br />on the 4900 block of Wisconsin Ave, NW, ca. 1950s</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2014/friendship-herman-levine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2014/friendship-herman-levine.jpg" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Herman Levine and patron at Friendship<br />when it was a grocery, ca. 1950s</td></tr>
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In the early 1950s, a Safeway supermarket opened on the next block (it's still there). Unable to compete, Levine converted the grocery into the Friendship Delicatessen, a luncheonette that served breakfast and ‘kosher-inspired' sandwiches. Friendship Delicatessen offered signature items, including a version of a familiar D.C. favorite of the time. "Hot Shoppes came out with the Mighty Mo," recalls Ron, "and my dad came out with the Mighty Hy – because his nickname was Hy," short for his Yiddish name, Hyman. "It was a triple burger," similar to the Mighty Mo.<br />
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The Friendship Delicatessen flourished. Most of its regulars worked nearby at the WTTG (Channel 5) and WRC (Channel 4) studios, as well as at other offices and stores along Wisconsin Avenue. Within a few years, the family could afford to move to a house. They purchased and remodeled Lillian's childhood home on Nebraska Avenue – the same house where Herman and Lillian met.<br />
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"Once my dad changed the business to a deli, he worked Monday through Friday, and then closed up on the weekends," remembers Ron Levine. "After about 15 years, he had his weekends off." No longer needing to man the store on Saturdays and Sundays, Herman followed his passion for fishing. He purchased several progressively larger boats, which the family would take for deep-sea fishing excursions.<br />
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Herman retired in 1977 and sold his business. Similar to other Jewish Washingtonians, the Levines' mom-and-pop business helped the family to settle and prosper. The Levines and the Furashes live in the D.C. area.<br />
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Today, 4932 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, is home to the National Diving Center, which outfits SCUBA diving enthusiasts. The block continues to reflect the city's ethnic diversity, with Chinese, Thai, Mexican, French, and pizza restaurants, in addition to a bank, yoga studio, and pet groomer.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-70774998419522923662014-11-24T16:27:00.000-05:002014-11-24T16:27:45.509-05:00In Memory of Marion Barry Early yesterday morning, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/marion-barry-dies-4-term-dc-mayor-the-most-powerful-local-politician-of-his-generation/2014/11/23/331ad222-c5da-11df-94e1-c5afa35a9e59_story.html">Marion Barry</a>, D.C. City Councilmember and former mayor, passed away at the age of 78.<br />
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We remember him with these archival highlights:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n_7OzejAMrM/VHNyPSb1e7I/AAAAAAAAAJs/5V8K8SgqKP4/s1600/NNCF73.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n_7OzejAMrM/VHNyPSb1e7I/AAAAAAAAAJs/5V8K8SgqKP4/s1600/NNCF73.JPG" height="200" width="142" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Giant Food Chairman Izzy Cohen and <br />
Mayor Marion Barry, opening of Giant Food,<br />
Eighth and O Streets, NW, 1979<br />
<i>JHSGW Collection/<br />Naomi and Nehemiah Cohen Foundation</i> </td></tr>
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When JHSGW interviewed Barry in 2006 as part of an oral history project documenting the history of Giant Food, he spoke about the 1979 opening of the Giant store at Eighth & O Streets, NW, and its significance in rebuilding the city:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“As you can imagine, the city had been devastated with the disorders of ‘68. Things were burned down, it was a shell of a city, people were depressed, and jobs had been lost from these establishments. So we were anxious to get some consumer goods . . . and my recollection, I don’t even know where the closest Safeway was, but it certainly wasn’t around that area of D.C. And we were very ecstatic about that store [Giant at Eighth & O] being opened.”</blockquote>
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These two items are from the collection of <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/25/AR2009072502030.html">Janice Eichhorn</a>, an activist for Washington, D.C.'s political rights. Eichhorn worked on Barry's staff starting with his 1978 mayorial campaign until 1992, when she retired from her position as a senior policy analyst.<br />
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Her papers were contributed to our archives by her sister in 2011.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kIBNyI1J8iw/VHNvKoeR9RI/AAAAAAAAAJc/9-s0WAdR6A4/s1600/20111912f.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kIBNyI1J8iw/VHNvKoeR9RI/AAAAAAAAAJc/9-s0WAdR6A4/s1600/20111912f.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bumper sticker from first mayorial campaign, 1978<br />
<i>JHSGW Collections. Gift of Diane Liebert.</i></td></tr>
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</td><td width="50%"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k5B-m0-WFJ0/VHNvRawFdkI/AAAAAAAAAJk/BJegVBBQPeY/s1600/201119234.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k5B-m0-WFJ0/VHNvRawFdkI/AAAAAAAAAJk/BJegVBBQPeY/s1600/201119234.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Best wishes to a very dear friend Jan Eichhorn<br />
Marion Barry 7-7-81"<br />
<i>JHSGW Collections. Gift of Diane Liebert.</i></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2011/capitalcitymarket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2011/capitalcitymarket.jpg" height="189" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/collections/objectofthemonth/2011-nov.php">Fred Kolker</a> (wearing hat) and Mayor Marion Barry (right),<br />
renaming Florida Avenue Market to Capital City Market<br />
as part of planned market restoration, 1984<br />
<i>JHSGW Collections. Gift of Brenda Pascal.</i></td></tr>
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In a 2010 oral history recorded by Glenn Richter, <a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/voices/activists-and-supporters/ruth-newman">Ruth Newman</a>, longtime leader of D.C.'s Soviet Jewry movement, recalled seeing Barry at the 1987 Freedom Sunday March for Soviet Jewry on the National Mall:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
When we were...marching down Constitution Avenue, out of nowhere came the then Mayor of the City of Washington, Marion Barry. He said, "Washington," [upon seeing] our banner -- 'Washington Committee for Soviet Jewry.' He said, "That's where I belong,” and all of a sudden he puts himself between those of us who were carrying the banner. He walked a couple of blocks with us and then he saw somebody else he knew and off he went.</blockquote>
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Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12888349070701775519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-80136024299545457842014-11-18T12:55:00.000-05:002014-11-18T12:55:30.671-05:00Object of the Month: November 2014<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<b>Accession No.</b> 2004.13<br />
<b>Donor</b>: Constance Tobriner Povich<br />
<b>Description:</b> Walter Tobriner and Fair Housing in Washington, D.C.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2014/tobriner-oath.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="2" class="styled_image" src="http://www.jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2014/tobriner-oath.jpg" height="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tobriner taking oath to become president of the D.C. Board of Commissioners, 1961</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2014/tobriner-key.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="2" class="styled_image" src="http://www.jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2014/tobriner-key.jpg" height="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tobriner with President John F. Kennedy (far left) presenting the kes to the city to the president of Brazil, João Golart (center), 1962</td></tr>
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<b>Fighting Persistent Housing Discrimination</b><br />
Walter N. Tobriner was a native Washingtonian and lawyer whose career was distinguished by his service to his hometown. While serving on the Board of Education from 1952-1961, he was responsible for carrying out desegregation of D.C.'s public schools. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Tobriner to the city's Board of Commissioners. At that time, the Commissioners were D.C.'s governing body whose three members were Presidential appointees. Tobriner served as its president for six years.<br />
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During that same period, Tobriner was Chairman of the National Capital Housing Authority. Ending housing discrimination in Washington, D.C. was among his priorities. In the early 1960s, real estate agents, developers, banks, and landlords had a "gentlemen's agreement" not to sell houses to non-whites.<br />
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In addition to fighting this informal discrimination, Tobriner sought to end discrimination in housing contracts. Some house deeds and neighborhood-association agreements included restrictive covenants that prevented residents from renting or selling to certain minorities. Even after the Supreme Court declared restrictive covenants unconstitutional in 1948 (<i>Shelly v. Kraemer</i>), a handful of prominent developers and neighborhood associations continued to include these covenants in contracts with homebuyers.<br />
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Consequently, many African-American, Jewish, and other District residents, as well as several foreign visitors, were unable to rent or purchase housing in some buildings and neighborhoods. It was an issue that had both a local and global resonance. Tobriner argued this point in his testimony before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in 1962:<br /><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"In certain sections of our city, persons are still denied equal access to housing for no reason other than that of their religion or the color of their skin. With the emergence of a score of African nations, the problem of African diplomats in finding housing has added a new dimension to what is already a matter of concern."</blockquote>
Many African states had won independence from their European colonizers over the previous decade. In Washington, their new diplomats were unable to rent or purchase homes in the same neighborhoods as their counterparts from other countries.<br />
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Tobriner brought about fair housing ordinances aimed at ending this discrimination. But it was only in 1968, the year after he left the Board of Commissioners, that federal law followed suit. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.<br />
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<b>A Regional Dimension: Restrictive Covenants</b><br />
Housing discrimination was not confined to Washington, D.C. As thousands of Jews migrated to suburban Maryland and Virginia in the 1940s−1960s, many encountered restrictive covenants in deeds and contracts. Although legally unenforceable after 1948, even deeds for some new homes included such clauses.<br />
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This 1949 covenant in a deed for a house in Bethesda, MD stipulates that the property could not be sold or even leased to African Americans, "Armenians, Jews, Hebrews, Persians, and Syrians." However, this restriction did not apply to servants living in the house.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2014/restrictive-covenant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2014/restrictive-covenant.jpg" width="100%" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1949 Restrictive Covenant for Marywood Subdivision, Bethesda, MD<br />
<i>Courtesy of Myra Sklarew</i></td></tr>
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Many homeowners have since had restrictive-covenant clauses legally removed from their deeds. Still, the deeds for some houses throughout the Washington area continue to include similar clauses – although they are legally unenforceable. The current owner of this house in Bethesda decided to keep the clause in her deed as a testament to the history of housing discrimination in the D.C. area.<br />
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Have a story about <b>facing housing discrimination</b> in the D.C. area? We want to hear it: <a href="mailto:info@jhsgw.org">info@jhsgw.org</a> or (202) 789-0900Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-41092650214125926702014-09-12T11:38:00.000-04:002014-09-12T11:38:33.210-04:00Object of the Month: September 2014<a href="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2014/brandeis-notebook.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2014/brandeis-notebook.JPG" width="175" /></a><b>Object No.</b> 2014.06.01 <br />
<b>Donor:</b> Frank Gilbert <br />
<b>Description:</b> Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941) used this notebook during his final semester as a law student. Nearly four decades later, he became the first Jew appointed to the Supreme Court.<br />
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<a href="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2014/brandeis-notebook-label.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2014/brandeis-notebook-label.JPG" height="150" width="225" /></a><br />
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Born in Louisville, Brandeis cultivated a love of law and legal debate under the strong influence of his uncle <a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0005_0_05078.html">Lewis Dembitz</a>, a scholarly lawyer. He attended Harvard Law School (1875-1877) where he achieved the highest grade point average in the school's history – a record that stood for over 80 years – and graduated before his 21st birthday. At Harvard, Brandeis had reveled in the “almost ridiculous pleasure which the discovery or invention of a legal theory gives me.”<br />
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In 1907, Brandeis put that creativity to use in a case involving the constitutionality of limiting the hours that female laundry employees could be asked to work. His sister-in-law, <a href="http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/goldmark-josephine-clara">Josephine Goldmark</a>, worked for the National Consumers League in New York City, and provided Brandeis with data on the workers. He combined this information with data from medical and sociological journals that showed that working too many hours was detrimental to the women's health. Brandeis used this information to supplement his legal reasoning and argument. Brandeis won the case (<a href="http://www.oyez.org/cases/1901-1939/1907/1907_107">Muller v. Oregon</a>).His unprecedented use of extra-legal information before the Supreme Court quickly became routine and such arguments became known as a “Brandeis brief.”<br />
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Brandeis was attracted to “the ethic, or prophetic standards of Judaism,” as biographer Melvin Urofsky explains.<sup><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1039576389958048347#_ftn1">1</a></sup> Brandeis contributed to Jewish philanthropies, and his advocacy for workers led him to support causes of great importance for millions of Jewish immigrants. As a mediator for a garment workers strike in 1911, Brandeis felt a kinship with the mostly Jewish immigrants on both sides. This sentiment stoked a sense within Brandeis that Jews and Judaism could only survive and grow with the establishment of a Jewish homeland. In 1914, he became President of the <a href="http://www.zoa.org/">Zionist Organization of America</a>, and, for years after, one of American Zionism’s leading intellectual forces. His close relationship with President Woodrow Wilson, who trusted Brandeis’s counsel and intellect, was instrumental in winning U.S. support for the <a href="http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/the%20balfour%20declaration.aspx">Balfour Declaration</a>, the British government’s expression of support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/images/176t.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/images/176t.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></td></tr>
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Louis D. Brandeis, 1930s.</div>
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JHSGW Collections.</div>
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PRESIDENT WILSON NOMINATES BRANDEIS TO THE SUPREME COURT<br />
That Brandeis had argued on behalf of the workers against corporate interests was expected. He was such a defender of the rights of labor and consumers that he became known as the “People's Attorney.” According to Melvin Urofsky's acclaimed biography, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002PXFYME/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002PXFYME&linkCode=as2&tag=jewihistsocio-20&linkId=IUBEKPYVGIKOTVAE"><i>Louis D. Brandeis: A Life</i></a>, Woodrow Wilson had considered asking Brandeis to be his Attorney General shortly after his election in 1912. Ultimately, the new president was dissuaded by his advisors because of concerns about the reaction of the business community.<br />
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So when President Woodrow Wilson nominated Brandeis to the Supreme Court on January 28, 1916, the opposition was heated because of both the nominee's progressive politics and his religion. The confirmation battle raged for four months. Brandeis' nomination was the first that included a public hearing. Former President – and future Chief Justice -- William Howard Taft opposed Brandeis as did former Secretary of State Elihu Root, and seven of the 16 former presidents of the American Bar Association. Taft referred to Brandeis as "a muckraker … a man who has certain high ideals in his imagination, but who is utterly unscrupulous."<br />
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Various business leaders veiled their antisemitism with such phrases as “a self-advertiser” and “a disturbing element in any gentleman's club.” Harvard President A. Lawrence Lowell signed a petition which said Brandeis lacked “judicial temperament.” Still, some opposition referenced Brandeis's Jewish background, but did not necessarily emerge from antisemitic perspective.<i> The New York Times</i>, owned by a Jewish family, argued against Brandeis on the basis of his Zionism.<br />
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Early during the fight over his nomination, Brandeis wrote to his friend, Harvard Law School Dean Roscoe Pound, “I doubted very much whether I ought to accept, but the opposition has removed my doubts.”<br />
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After months of unprecedented debate that included veiled antisemitic accusations, public letters from President Wilson and former Harvard President Charles W. Eliot, who had known Brandeis for more than 40 years, carried the day. It was an election year and conservative Southern Democrats ultimately supported their President. On June 1, the nomination was approved by a 47-22 margin. Only one Democrat, Nevada's Francis Newlands, voted against Brandeis.<br />
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BRANDEIS ON THE COURT<br />
If Taft and Brandeis were uncomfortable serving together on the Court from 1921 to 1930, imagine how the latter felt during his 23 years on the bench alongside Justice James McReynolds, who expressed his antisemitic feelings boldly: he would leave the conference room when Brandeis began speaking and would not return until the more junior justice was finished.<br />
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However, by the time Brandeis retired from the Court in 1939, his wise service had changed the minds of many of his detractors. The <i>Times</i>, which, in 1916, accused Brandeis of seeking “to supplant conservatism by radicalism,” termed him “one of the great judges of our time.” The paper praised him for treating the Constitution, “as no iron straightjacket, but a garment that must fit each generation.”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2014/brandeis-notebook-page.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2014/brandeis-notebook-page.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
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Page of Brandeis's law school</div>
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notes, May 1977</div>
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THE NOTEBOOK'S SIGNIFICANCE<br />
In 1915, the year before his appointment to the Court, Brandeis gave this notebook to his daughter <a href="http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/gilbert-susan-brandeis">Susan Gilbert</a> (née Brandeis) when she entered University of Chicago Law School. Like her father, Gilbert faced discrimination, but hers was not just because of her religion, but also her gender. Nevertheless, she went on to a distinguished legal career, first as a special assistant to the United States attorney in New York City, and later in private practice. When she argued a case before the Court in 1925, her father recused himself.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1039576389958048347#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""></a>It was Susan's son, Frank, a past JHSGW President, who recently donated this notebook to the Society's collection. In 2003, Gilbert wrote a reminiscence about his grandfather for the Society's journal, <i>The Record</i>. Gilbert described the warmth and intellectual stimulation that he felt visiting his grandfather's apartment on California Street, NW, as well as his grandparents' home in Chatham, Massachusetts. Gilbert wrote, “Although we were very young, Grandfather treated us as persons who had minds.”<br />
<br />
The Society recently completed an oral history interview with Gilbert, who is among the leading figures in the field of historic preservation. Among his many achievements, Gilbert is known for his leadership in the effort to rescue New York's Grand Central Station from demolition.<br />
<br />
1. Melvin Urofsky, Louis D. Brandeis: A Life (New York: Schocken Books, 2012) pp. 18-19, 401.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-46976528574954975292014-06-27T10:10:00.001-04:002014-06-27T10:13:35.989-04:00A Day in the Life: Reflection on My InternshipDirector of Collections Wendy Turman quips that she never knows what to expect when she answers the phone at Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington. The Society has many functions: answers about life-cycle events of Jewish Washingtonian ancestors, organizes programming events and walking tours, or recently the State Department called to confirm details about a Jewish veteran of Normandy for the anniversary of D-Day. Similarly, a day in the life of a JHSGW intern is full of adventures and surprises.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VA9s54eQkhA/U617FsiHE4I/AAAAAAAAAJI/-37g1hikHTQ/s1600/IMG_0797smaller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VA9s54eQkhA/U617FsiHE4I/AAAAAAAAAJI/-37g1hikHTQ/s1600/IMG_0797smaller.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a>I love being an intern because I feel like Mystique, the shape-shifter in X-Men who can mimic any role. Beyond mimicking though, the intern has the opportunity to become each role. During my time at JHSGW, I have been an archivist, editor, and a writer, deliverer of challah, paper-folder, paper-cutter (cutting paper <i>and</i> getting cut by paper), historian, researcher, tour guide, and deliverer of brochures. I have spent most of my time learning archival arrangement, description, and organization, but like any life experience, small details become highlights: caramel coffee, quickly mastering the postage machine, slowly mastering the photocopier, delivering challah for Jewish American Heritage Month in May, and select pieces that caught my attention in the archives. <br />
<br />
I assisted with the papers of Rabbi Tzvi Porath, Rabbi Marvin Bash, Martin Miller, and the National Jewish Democratic Council. I appreciated the opportunity to learn archival techniques by engaging with these charismatic figures. I blogged about a few of my findings, including a <a href="http://dcjewishhistory.blogspot.com/2014/05/an-initial-encounter-with-archives-of.html">Hebrew note from Golda Meir</a> to Rabbi Porath, as well as the <a href="http://dcjewishhistory.blogspot.com/2014/06/harry-koenick-bar-mitzvah-at-70_13.html">story of the bar mitzvah of 70-year-old Harry Koenick</a> in 1976. Yesterday in the archival material of Rabbi Porath, I read <i>Jewish Digest</i>, a digest of general Jewish publications, from 1959, which included a piece about Otto Frank, as well as a series of essays on what qualifies a Jew.<br />
<br />
Do you notice brochures in hotels? Do you know how brochures arrive at hotels? Interns. Last Monday, I thoroughly enjoyed delivering "Downtown Jewish Washington" walking tour brochures to most of the hotels in downtown D.C. It was truly my privilege to discover each beautiful hotel and share a bundle of our walking tour brochures with them. <br />
<br />
Although I have learned archival description, I can barely describe the fantastic work environment at JHSGW. In the white office building across from Adas Israel historic synagogue, Claire, Laura, Mary Ann, Wendy, Sam, and Zachary are a terrific team. They each contribute their background and expertise, and it is amazing how much six people do. I have been beyond fortunate to work with them. Before this summer, I had professional experience in Philosophy and Politics but only academic experience in History. As an undergraduate History and Philosophy double major hoping to enter a History PhD program directly after college, my objective for this summer has been to gain professional experience in History, specifically archival work. I applied to JHSGW because I am passionately interested in Judaism, History, and Washington, D.C. This experience has exceeded my high expectations.<br />
<br />
<i>Rebecca Brenner is a senior at Mount Holyoke College, working on a B.A. in History and Philosophy.</i>Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12888349070701775519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-89581981058082916462014-06-19T10:54:00.000-04:002014-06-27T10:11:13.853-04:00An Afternoon of Artistic, Cultural, and Historical Exploration<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5GsMXk07Gtc/U6L6ahPx-EI/AAAAAAAAAI4/7QDMIXylvhg/s1600/169smaller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5GsMXk07Gtc/U6L6ahPx-EI/AAAAAAAAAI4/7QDMIXylvhg/s1600/169smaller.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">EE/JCA students engage in discussion. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On Tuesday, we had the pleasure of hosting the inaugural class of the <a href="http://gsehd.gwu.edu/experiential-education-and-jewish-cultural-arts-masters">Experiential Education and Jewish Cultural Arts</a> (EE/JCA) program from The George Washington University for an afternoon of artistic, cultural, and historical exploration. Professors <a href="http://history.columbian.gwu.edu/jenna-weissman-joselit">Jenna Weissman Joselit</a> and <a href="http://gsehd.gwu.edu/faculty/carol-stapp">Carol B. Stapp</a> led their students and colleagues into JHSGW’s <a href="http://jhsgw.org/programs/sanctuary.php">historic 1876 synagogue</a> (the Lillian & Albert Small Jewish Museum) for the program on the Society today and in the future as it develops into a regional museum. Director of Collections Wendy Turman started by providing the students with basic information about JHSGW, including the history behind the synagogue and the current activities of the Society. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ib8dD7jYrfo/U6L3mmU8cFI/AAAAAAAAAIs/iFCLCyKdHCo/s1600/185smaller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ib8dD7jYrfo/U6L3mmU8cFI/AAAAAAAAAIs/iFCLCyKdHCo/s1600/185smaller.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">President Grant seems to want<br />
to join the discussion.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The students appreciated the period-specific layout of the synagogue, from the structure to the life-size Ulysses S. Grant cut-out in the corner to commemorate the president’s visit to the opening in 1876. While life-size Grant never ceases to capture my attention, the EE/JCA students offered valuable insight about the architecture and fine details of the synagogue. Then, everyone had the opportunity to explore the outside grounds and the interior of the building, including the balcony on the second floor where Orthodox Jewish women once prayed, which is usually off-limits to visitors.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ny87ST2k6sk/U6L0yQ7cquI/AAAAAAAAAIc/OhOVidWfFEw/s1600/180fix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ny87ST2k6sk/U6L0yQ7cquI/AAAAAAAAAIc/OhOVidWfFEw/s1600/180fix.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Professor Joselit waves down from the balcony,<br />
joined by Professor Stapp and<br />
EE/JCA Project Director Allison Farber.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uMpR2hv0gyM/U6L3ig6411I/AAAAAAAAAIk/o_WutyrHTUQ/s1600/174smaller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uMpR2hv0gyM/U6L3ig6411I/AAAAAAAAAIk/o_WutyrHTUQ/s1600/174smaller.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Wendy Turman shows where the synagogue<br />
will move – across the street from the FBI's<br />
DC Field Office in the background.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Despite the oven-like weather, we all ventured to the future location of the synagogue, which will move down the road in a few years (the second time since 1969). Upon our return, Curator Zachary Paul Levine led a discussion about how the space appears to visitors and how it might appear as part of the Society’s future museum. Students engaged with issues regarding how to arrange information in a museum: chronologically or thematically. Finally, Wendy expanded on current activities of the Society, such as arranging the archives of Rabbi Tzvi Porath and analyzing artifacts, including a <a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/collections/objectofthemonth/2010-aug.php">bracelet from Camp Louise</a>. For me, the major highlight was Zachary’s presentation of a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/jewish-historical-society-gains-scrapbooks-with-a-beatles-connection/2014/02/10/42700d04-9030-11e3-b46a-5a3d0d2130da_story.html">signed Beatles photograph
</a> from the Washingtonian Jew who hosted the first Beatles concert in the United States. This photograph caught my eye online when I was applying to summer internships, so it was amazing to see it up close in person (and I got to carry it back to the office).<br />
<br />
I am thoroughly enjoying my internship at JHSGW, and I loved learning more about the Society through the eyes of the EE/JCA students. We were only one stop on their busy schedule, but it was a fantastic afternoon.<br />
<br />
<i>Rebecca Brenner is a senior at Mount Holyoke College, working on a B.A. in History and Philosophy.</i>
Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12888349070701775519noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-33668064312479168432014-06-13T09:51:00.002-04:002014-06-13T09:51:47.444-04:00Harry Koenick: Bar Mitzvah at 70Last week, I was sorting the bar and bat mitzvah records of Rabbi Tavi Porath from Congregation Ohr Kodesh. Even after an informative, inspiring experience at the <a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/">Soviet Jewry exhibit</a> by the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington at the D.C. Public Library, I could not imagine this particular story.<br />
<br />
Harry Koenick was born in Russia in 1906. He escaped the Bolshevik Revolution by fleeing with his family to the United States in 1920. Although Koenick longed to perform his bar mitzvah at age 13 in 1919, famine, epidemics, and preparation for immigration kept him from this milestone. According to an article from <i>The Washington Star</i>, Koenick survived the typhoid epidemic that killed his mother in 1919, but it left him in poor health for a while. What is more, he was always hungry because of the famine. <br />
<br />
Koenick settled into the United States and deeply appreciated his life with his wife and children. Throughout his life, he was very involved at Ohr Kodesh with Rabbi Porath. According to <i>The Washington Star</i>, “He has blown the shofar – a ram’s horn used in major Jewish holidays – at Ohr Kodesh for 27 years. He has recited the Bar Mitzvah service – but not as a formal Bar Mitzvah – at least two dozen times. But never, never was Harry Koenick the traditional Bar Mitzvah boy.”<br />
<br />
In 1970, Koenick visited his hometown in Russia. He discovered the fate of all the Jews who grew up with him, according to the article mentioned above, “The German army had rounded up what was left of Shatsk’s Jewish population in the 1940s, stood them atop a hill three miles outside of town, and shot them, their bodies falling into a pit filled with lime.” During his visit, Koenick decided that he wanted to have a formal bar mitzvah at Ohr Kodesh when he turned 70. Specifically, he wanted a tune that he remembered from his childhood to ring from his new home congregation in the D.C. area.<br />
<br />
On December 11, 1976, Harry Koenick was the traditional bar mitzvah boy at Congregation Ohr Kodesh with Rabbi Porath. He heard the tune from his childhood in his new home congregation. This event exemplified the warm American reception of Soviet Jewry, especially under the leadership of Rabbi Porath. The archives of Rabbi Porath contain extensive material from this event, including articles, correspondence, invitations, photographs, programs.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eeWOCYiApsQ/U5sAxjBJPFI/AAAAAAAADvQ/NokeDEHJnow/s1600/Harry+Koenick+Bar+Mitzvah+-+autocorrect.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eeWOCYiApsQ/U5sAxjBJPFI/AAAAAAAADvQ/NokeDEHJnow/s1600/Harry+Koenick+Bar+Mitzvah+-+autocorrect.jpg" height="221" width="320" /></a></div>
<i>Rebecca Brenner is a senior at Mount Holyoke College, working on a B.A. in History and Philosophy.</i>Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12888349070701775519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-91087616074799547302014-05-29T11:27:00.000-04:002014-05-29T11:31:38.925-04:00An Initial Encounter with the Archives of Rabbi Tzvi PorathOn the first two days of my internship at the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington, I was very pleasantly surprised to dive into the archival materials of Rabbi Tzvi Porath. I had the opportunity to learn archival organizational skills by sorting a special selection of his materials. Rabbi Porath was a prominent Jewish figure in Greater Washington in the second half of the twentieth century. His letters and other archival material reveal a man who reached out to community members at times of celebration, such as anniversaries and holidays, as well as times of sorrow, such as death and the Iranian Hostage Crisis. As the spiritual leader of the Ohr Kodesh Congregation from 1952 through 1984, Rabbi Porath displayed boundless charisma. He brought together community members and corresponded with American Presidents, Israeli Prime Ministers, and other important leaders.<br />
<br />
I have sorted Rabbi Porath’s archival material into categories, including the presidential administrations of Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Clinton; the presidential inaugurations of Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon; correspondence with Israeli Prime Ministers Meir, Begin, and Rabin; correspondence with United States Supreme Court Justices O’Connor and Arthur Goldberg; a category for family or personal correspondence; and then I sorted the significant pile of remaining material, according to decade.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Although Rabbi Porath seems to have written most of his correspondence during the 1970s, the material from the 1957 Inauguration of President Eisenhower stands out to me. There is so much material from this historic moment that after I finished sorting, I actually felt as if I had attended the Presidential Inauguration of 1957. I learned that both the rabbi and his wife had tickets to the ball, ceremony, and parade, but only one ticket permitted entrance into the Capitol rotunda. Furthermore, I found that the guidebook, invitation, press release, program, and tickets from the weekend are each unique pieces of history. Rabbi Porath had all these items because he proudly served as Co-Chairman of the Religious Participation Committee. Below is a card from the Inaugural Committee of 1957 thanking Rabbi Porath for his valuable contributions in that role.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/images/collections/porath-1957inauguration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.jhsgw.org/images/collections/porath-1957inauguration.jpg" height="202" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In the fall of 1975, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir addressed Rabbi Porath in Hebrew, “I was impressed with the artistic work of Ms. Marker and naturally am pleased… I send you and your congregation greetings for a good year, a year of peace for our people.” She referred to a photograph of a bust of Meir that the rabbi had sent to her. I visited the final resting place of Meir at Mount Herzl in Israel last January, and I admire her as a strong female leader, so I appreciated the opportunity to engage in her correspondence with charismatic American spiritual leader Rabbi Porath.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nXrwKZWcDTE/U4dQPaqrH6I/AAAAAAAAAIE/B7B_PAWEpq0/s1600/Golda+Meir+Hebrew+letter+1975+-+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nXrwKZWcDTE/U4dQPaqrH6I/AAAAAAAAAIE/B7B_PAWEpq0/s1600/Golda+Meir+Hebrew+letter+1975+-+small.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Note to Rabbi Porath from Golda Meir</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Overall, Rabbi Porath emerges from this material as a lively figure who consistently reached out to community members in need. The archives contain various cards and letters that he wrote to community members who lost a loved one or needed his help. Strikingly, there was little to no change in his attitude or tone, whether he was addressing community members or world leaders. Rabbi Porath engaged members of his congregation and the surrounding community with the same level of earnestness that he used to address Americans Presidents and Israeli Prime Ministers. With invaluable hand-written notes and various content, the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is fortunate to possess the archival material of this extraordinary Washingtonian Jew. <br />
<br />
<i>Rebecca Brenner is a senior at Mount Holyoke College, working on a B.A. in History and Philosophy.</i><br />
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Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12888349070701775519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-269536757219647512014-02-10T11:57:00.001-05:002014-02-10T12:39:34.145-05:00Note from Beatles' First U.S. Concert Unearthed on Eve of Show's 50th Anniversary<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d1Cuf2MXHJg/UvkCBdLB2_I/AAAAAAAADmo/8nqZ1zSRIho/s1600/lynn+beatles+1964.pdf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d1Cuf2MXHJg/UvkCBdLB2_I/AAAAAAAADmo/8nqZ1zSRIho/s1600/lynn+beatles+1964.pdf.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Beatles!<br />
Gift of John Lynn.<br />
JHSGW Collections.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Braving a freezing snowstorm the
night of February 11, 1964, thousands of fans streamed to the Washington
Coliseum to see the Beatles perform their first concert in the United States.
The venue's owner, Harry Lynn (1916-2006), kept a promotional photo of the
"Fab Four," which he included in voluminous scrapbooks,<strong> added just this week to the Society's
collection</strong>.<br />
<strong><br /></strong>
<strong>On the eve of the 50th
anniversary of the concert, JHSGW archivists have discovered a personal note on
the back of this photo, written to Lynn and signed by the band.</strong><br />
<br />
Sometime along the way, however,
this photo, along with dozens of other photos and notes given to Lynn over the
years, was glued on to rigid board. The note and signatures are visible as
mirrored indentations made by the pen.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kzFoHIHBV94/UvkCdVaieeI/AAAAAAAADmw/HK8QgMVj8q8/s1600/lynn+portrait.pdf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kzFoHIHBV94/UvkCdVaieeI/AAAAAAAADmw/HK8QgMVj8q8/s1600/lynn+portrait.pdf.jpg" height="200" width="139" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harry Lynn.<br />
Gift of John Lynn.<br />
JHSGW Collections.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Removing the board and the glue
adhering it poses a difficult preservation and conservation problem.
However, picking out the note will be possible with specialized imaging
equipment, which the Smithsonian's <a href="http://www.si.edu/MCIImagingStudio" linktype="1" shape="rect" target="_blank" track="on">Museum Conservation Institute</a>
will provide to assist JHSGW next week.<br />
<br />
As the city and country gear up
to celebrate 50 years of Beatlemania in the U.S., JHSGW is adding to that
story. The recent donation of Harry Lynn's Washington Coliseum scrapbooks,
contributed by his son John and facilitated by JHSGW president Sam Brylawski,
will be our <strong>February Object of the Month</strong>. They will reveal even more of our city's
fascinating part in one of the last century's most important cultural
movements.<br />
<br />
<table align="left" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: transparent; border-collapse: collapse; border: 3px solid rgb(128, 0, 0); height: 77px; width: 415px;"><tbody>
<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><strong>LEARN MORE!</strong><br />
<br />
<b> </b> --<b> </b>WUSA-9 <a href="http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/local/dc/2014/02/07/beatles-50th-anniversary-dc/5297335/" target="_blank">video</a><br />
-- Tomorrow, 1:00 p.m., <a href="http://thekojonnamdishow.org/" linktype="1" shape="rect" style="background-color: transparent; color: blue;" target="_blank" track="on">Kojo Nnamdi Show</a>, WAMU<br />
-- Tomorrow, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/pb/john-kelly" linktype="1" shape="rect" style="color: blue;" target="_blank" track="on">John Kelly's</a> Washington Post column
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-2016868363003192602013-12-27T10:12:00.000-05:002014-01-02T10:15:05.483-05:00Object of the Month: December 2013<div>
<strong>Object No.:</strong> 2006.3.1<br />
<strong>Donor:</strong> Stephanie Silverstein<br />
<strong>Description:</strong> Menu from Comet Liquor and Deli, 1815 Columbia Road, NW, 1990s.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<strong><a href="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/comet-liquor-menu.jpg" style="color: blue;"><img align="center" alt="Comet Liquor menu, 2000s" border="0" class="styled_image" height="306" src="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/comet-liquor-menu.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 2px;" width="400" /></a></strong><br />
<br /></div>
<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="5"><tbody>
<tr><td><div align="right">
<a href="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/comet-liquor-exterior.jpg"><img alt="Photography of Comet Liquor store front, 2005" border="0" class="styled_image" height="198" src="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/comet-liquor-exterior.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 2px;" width="173" /></a><br />
<span class="photoCredit" color:="" font-style:="" italic="" style="font-size: x-small;">Fisher Photography</span></div>
</td></tr>
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</tbody></table>
<div>
Do you remember Comet Liquors in Adams Morgan on <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=1815+Columbia+Road,+NW&ll=38.906864,-77.028236&spn=0.045151,0.083685&hnear=1815+Columbia+Rd+NW,+Washington,+District+of+Columbia+20009&gl=us&t=m&z=14" style="color: blue;">Columbia Road between 18th and 19th Streets</a>? It had a distinctive neon sign. Most who remember the business don't realize it was opened by a Jewish immigrant in 1940 and continued to be Jewish-owned throughout its existence.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When Oscar Gildenhorn opened Comet Liquor in 1940, the neighborhood was <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/06/AR2009060602112.html" style="color: blue;">not yet called Adams Morgan</a>. The name had caught on by the time Gildenhorn's son-in-law Howard Speisman took over management 25 years later. Sidney Drazin bought Comet in 1980. Drazin, a native Washingtonian, had served in World War II and then run a few different businesses before buying Comet.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In 1989, as neighborhood demographics changed, Drazin added a deli counter. Earlier in the 20th century, it was common for Jewish grocers in Washington to move into the liquor business, but now, a few decades later, a liquor man was adding food to his business.</div>
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<a href="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/sidney-drazin.JPG"><img align="left" alt="Sidney Drazin at the Comet Liquor counter" border="0" class="styled_image" height="105" src="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/sidney-drazin.JPG" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 5px; padding: 2px;" width="150" /></a>Shortly after this change, Drazin (seen left) brought in a chair so he could sit while at work. He quickly found that customers wanted to sit and chat, so he set up a table and a few chairs by the entrance. These extra pieces of furniture changed the atmosphere of the store. <em>The Washington Post</em> wrote that Comet became a "kind of plastic-chaired neighborhood salon." Regulars came from all walks of life – from blue-collar workers to investment bankers – and they sat around the table to socialize and debate. Drazin was a popular neighborhood personality. One regular told the <em>Post</em> that "Sid was the surrogate parent to all the lost souls of Adams Morgan, all the single people who needed a confidence boost."</div>
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When <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41932-2005Mar16.html" style="color: blue;">Drazin died</a> in 2005, in a show of community affection, Rabbi Ethan Seidel's eulogy ran in <em><a href="http://thesitehub.com/InTowner_archive/2005May.pdf" style="color: blue;">The InTowner</a></em><a href="http://thesitehub.com/InTowner_archive/2005May.pdf" style="color: blue;"> newspaper</a>. Drazin's widow Bernice shut Comet while the family sat <em>shiva</em>, and a shrine of flowers and cards grew outside the door. After running the store for a few months, Bernice decided to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/26/AR2005122600755.html" style="color: blue;">close Comet permanently</a>. The above menu highlights the deli offerings at the time – with whitefish salad and lox served on a bagel hinting at the Jewish ownership.</div>
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Drazin's niece, Stephanie Silverstein, who worked for the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington at the time, alerted the Society's archivists to the impending loss of Comet's historic materials. JHSGW staff embarked on a rescue mission to document the business – Jewish-owned for 60 years. We arranged for a professional photographer to take exterior and interior photographs before the store closed. The iconic neon sign was purchased by a local restaurateur and now hangs at his restaurant, Comet Ping Pong on Connecticut Avenue, NW.</div>
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<em>This year, in conjunction with the Jewish Food Experience, our Objects of the Month feature DC's rich Jewish food history. For stories about this history and the latest on the local Jewish food scene – recipes, restaurants, chefs, events, and volunteer opportunities – visit <a href="http://www.jewishfoodexperience.com/" style="color: blue;">jewishfoodexperience.com</a>.</em></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-27923700237119267532013-10-30T09:59:00.000-04:002014-01-02T10:02:09.291-05:00Object of the Month: October 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<strong>Accession No</strong>: 2013.38<br />
<strong>Donor:</strong> Lenore & Sol Gnatt<br />
<strong>Description</strong>: Two community cookbooks, 1950s.<br />
- <em>A Pinch of This and a Dash of That</em> (Montgomery County Jewish Community Center Sisterhood, c. 1955)<br />
- <em>Eating Pleasure by Sisterhood Measure</em> (Shaare Tefila, Washington D.C., 1958)
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These cookbooks illustrate food trends of the 1950s when America's table experienced many changes in the wake of World War II. As the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. was not only uniquely impacted by the wartime influx of government and military personnel, but was also influenced by soldiers returning home.</div>
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<strong>Palates of the Pacific Theatre </strong><br />
During the war, American GIs overseas were exposed to new ingredients and dishes. They came back to America craving these flavors. Suddenly, chow mein noodles and sweet and sour variations of popular dishes appeared in restaurants and on the dining room table. A recipe for an Asian-inspired Sweet and Sour Tomato Soup (with or without meatballs) is in the 1958 cookbook entitled <em><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/215539532139743058/" style="color: blue;">Eating Pleasure by Sisterhood Measure</a></em>. Exotic ingredients such as pineapple gave traditional Ashkenazi dishes a Pacific flair.</div>
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<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/215539532139743062/" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sweet and Sour<br />Tomato Soup</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">with or without meatballs</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">by Selma Swartz</span><br />
<span class="photoCredit" style="color: #999999; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;">Eating Pleasure by Sisterhood Measure</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/215539532139743048/" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Beef Oriental</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">calls for canned pineapple</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">by Bertha Liebersohn</span><br />
<span class="photoCredit" style="color: #999999; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;">A Pinch of This and a Dash of That</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/215539532139743055/" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sweet and Sour Tongue</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">by Lenny Gnatt</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(donor of the cookbooks)<span class="photoCredit" style="color: #999999; font-style: italic;"><br />A Pinch of This and a Dash of That</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/jello-illustration.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Photo of receipt books, early 1930s" border="0" class="styled_image" height="121" src="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/jello-illustration.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 5px; padding: 2px;" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: -webkit-left;">Illustration in<br /><i>Eating Pleasure by Sisterhood Measure</i></span></td></tr>
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<strong>Fresh from the box</strong><br />
Another culinary impact of World War II was the demand for quick and easily prepared meals using mixes. During the war, many American women found themselves working away from the home in support of the war effort.</div>
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Simultaneously, factories had perfected the production of these goods, and they became more widely available. Quick meals from mixes meant that working women could still prepare dinner for their families. One popular mix was Jello, which inspired a <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/215539532139743037/" style="color: blue;">full chapter on molds and salads</a> in <em>A Pinch of This and a Dash of That</em>—a far cry from the side dishes served today.</div>
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While many American women ended their wartime employments after the 1945, their culinary habits had been forever changed. Resourceful home cooks looking for ways to save time used mixes in their traditionally made-from-scratch dishes. Even the knish, a popular Ashkenazi dumpling, did not escape the trend. A <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/215539532139743054/" style="color: blue;">recipe for knishes</a> in <em>A Pinch of This and a Dash of That</em> uses store-bought pie crust mix to make the dough.</div>
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Above all else, these cookbooks demonstrate Washington's ever-evolving Jewish foodways. What will the recipes we share today say about our community decades from now?</div>
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<em>The Jewish Historical Society recently acquired these two 1950s cookbooks as part of a larger Washington-area cookbook collection. Stay tuned for future recipes and stories from this cookbook collection!</em></div>
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<em>This year, in conjunction with the Jewish Food Experience, our Objects of the Month feature DC's rich Jewish food history. For stories about this history and the latest on the local Jewish food scene – recipes, restaurants, chefs, events, and volunteer opportunities – visit <a href="http://www.jewishfoodexperience.com/" style="background-color: transparent; color: blue;">jewishfoodexperience.com</a>.</em></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-31472870831946111022013-09-24T13:10:00.000-04:002013-10-16T13:11:14.621-04:00Object of the Month: September 2013<b>Accession No.:</b> 1995.16<br />
<b>Donor:</b> Ruth and Vivian Weinstein<br />
<b>Description:</b> Two grabbers, made of wood and metal, each stand 50" tall.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-42196348315029465272013-09-09T13:12:00.001-04:002013-10-16T13:09:33.146-04:00JHSGW receives Ohev Sholom archives!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We are delighted to announce that Ohev Sholom – The National Synagogue has donated the synagogue’s extensive historical records to the JHSGW archives.</div>
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Board minutes, membership files, financial books, cemetery records, photographs, and other memorabilia reveal the synagogue's long and rich history. </div>
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In the coming months, our archivists will work to catalog and re-house the records in archival, acid-free boxes and folders to ensure their long-term preservation. In the meantime, join us on a sneak peek into the history of the third oldest congregation in Washington, D.C. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B2eqgZtcd_g/Ui3fqNtOikI/AAAAAAAAAG0/IDDNz8JCPEM/s1600/Ohev+sholom+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B2eqgZtcd_g/Ui3fqNtOikI/AAAAAAAAAG0/IDDNz8JCPEM/s200/Ohev+sholom+2.jpg" width="200" /> </a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kiB4Ap-0Nnc/Ui3edHqsA2I/AAAAAAAAAGk/GqQKNb79dww/s1600/tt+467+e+st+sw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kiB4Ap-0Nnc/Ui3edHqsA2I/AAAAAAAAAGk/GqQKNb79dww/s200/tt+467+e+st+sw.jpg" width="135" /></a></div>
Newly arrived Russian immigrants founded Ohev Sholom in 1886 and rented temporary quarters on 7th Street, NW. In 1906, the congregation moved into a former church at 5th and I Streets, NW (left). <br />
Across town, residents of Southwest founded Talmud Torah Congregation in 1887 and built a new synagogue on E Street, SW (right).<br />
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Minute books handwritten in Yiddish detail Talmud Torah's daily life in 1905, while a meeting notice for Ohev Sholom documents the congregation's efforts to hire a new cantor in 1927.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-68o3NmFkXiY/Ui3eDzsekYI/AAAAAAAAAF8/BC_-cGxqEf4/s1600/201340.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-68o3NmFkXiY/Ui3eDzsekYI/AAAAAAAAAF8/BC_-cGxqEf4/s320/201340.JPG" width="175" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kF_9QBJIoVY/Ui3pTxLRYvI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/d_y5vJ_9PG8/s1600/img.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kF_9QBJIoVY/Ui3pTxLRYvI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/d_y5vJ_9PG8/s320/img.jpg" /></a></div>
During World War II, Ohev Sholom supported Russian War Relief with a donation of $105 in 1942. A few years later, in 1948, Talmud Torah Congregation gathered in the sanctuary to accept a new American flag. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YKsLoUJcO2M/Ui3BGRMFzNI/AAAAAAAAAFc/KXqSWKhXF8o/s1600/2013403.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YKsLoUJcO2M/Ui3BGRMFzNI/AAAAAAAAAFc/KXqSWKhXF8o/s200/2013403.JPG" width="200" /></a>The city's two oldest orthodox congregations merged in 1958 to become Ohev Sholom Talmud Torah Congregation, and in 1960 the newly combined congregation moved into a new white limestone synagogue at 16th and Jonquil Streets, N.W. </div>
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An extensive series of newsletters and anniversary booklets traces the synagogue's history and growth from the 1960s through the 1990s.</div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">In 1994, the synagogue established a branch in Olney, Maryland. By 2006, the branch had become fully independent and the original congregation had officially changed its name to become Ohev Sholom - The National Synagogue.</span></div>
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We are grateful to the congregation for this opportunity to help preserve the community's history.Wendy Turmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689144148011816590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-81932983652318623012013-08-22T13:12:00.000-04:002013-08-22T13:41:18.013-04:00Object of the Month: August 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Object No.:</b> 2005.5.5<br />
<b>Donor:</b> Seymour Rich<br />
<b>Description: </b>Rich’s Famous Cherry Blintzes box, c.1950s. Includes color illustration of blintzes, instructions for use, and list of ingredients.<br />
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<b>Background: </b>In a city not known as a delicatessen kingdom, <a href="http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-03-01/local/35448403_1_golden-table-washington-restaurateur-rockville">Seymour Rich</a> reigned as the “Blintz King” for decades. His mouthwatering blintzes fed hungry State Department officials, ambassadors, as well as everyday Washington workers looking for authentic deli fare.<br />
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Twenty-one-year-old Rich opened his first deli, Seymour's, at <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=6th+and+H+Streets,+NW&ll=38.894807,-77.02476&spn=0.022178,0.038452&hnear=6th+St+NW+%26+H+St+NW,+Washington,+District+of+Columbia+20001&t=m&z=15">6th and H Streets, NW</a>, in 1939. By 1945, he had moved to <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=19th+and+E+Streets,+NW&ll=38.894373,-77.037377&spn=0.022178,0.038452&hnear=19th+St+NW+%26+E+St+NW,+Washington,+District+of+Columbia&t=m&z=15">19th and E Streets, NW</a>, to run Rich’s Restaurant. For more than 28 years, Rich’s menu included blintzes, chopped liver, and overstuffed corned beef sandwiches. The restaurant served a mix of federal government employees from nearby federal agencies as well as employees of the neighboring American Red Cross headquarters. Rich’s son, Ronald, recalls, “…you may not believe me when I tell you, but people were waiting in line to the curb to get in at lunch. [Dad] would not seat two people at a table of four. They’d have to share with another group of one or two in order to fit everyone in at lunch.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">According to Ronald Rich, "the secret<br />
to the blintzes was hard work. I don’t know what<br />
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We could not make them fast enough."</td></tr>
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Soon the popular blintzes appeared in the frozen food aisle at Giant Food. Rich’s famous blintzes now appeared on plates across the greater Washington area.<br />
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In the 1970s, Rich opened an upscale restaurant, The Golden Table, in the <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Columbia+Plaza+complex&ll=38.894907,-77.03845&spn=0.022178,0.038452&fb=1&gl=us&hq=Columbia+Plaza+complex&cid=0,0,3553322002657888279&t=m&z=15&iwloc=A">Columbia Plaza complex</a> near the State Department and the Kennedy Center. For 16 years, the restaurant was popular with State Department officials and ambassadors.<br />
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Rich’s restaurants were truly a family affair. Son Ronald who started by making sandwiches later became his father’s business partner; his wife, Florence, served as a hostess; and daughter, Jacqueline, a painter and sculptor, created restaurant decor. After selling The Golden Table, the Richs opened carryout delis throughout the city, including Rich’s Pickle Barrel, Rich’s Alley, Rich’s More Than A Deli, and Rich’s Table in Chevy Chase.<br />
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Do you have material documenting a <b>local Jewish-owned business </b>that you’d like to donate to the Jewish Historical Society’s collection? Please contact us at info@jhsgw.org or (202) 789-0900.<br />
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<em>This year, in conjunction with the Jewish Food Experience, our Objects of the Month feature DC's rich Jewish food history. For stories about this history and the latest on the local Jewish food scene – recipes, restaurants, chefs, events, and volunteer opportunities – visit <a href="http://www.jewishfoodexperience.com/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #4967a5;">jewishfoodexperience.com</a>.</em><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-58070959355527910832013-07-22T16:52:00.001-04:002013-07-23T09:34:41.417-04:00Object of the Month: July 2013<b><br /></b>
<b>Accession No.: </b>2012.36<br />
<b>Donor: </b>Sheldon S. Cohen<br />
<b>Description: </b>Videotaped oral history of the Honorable Sheldon S. Cohen featuring stories of growing up in Jewish Washington, his career in the federal government, and his leadership in the local Jewish community. Recorded in 2011.<br />
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<strong>Background:</strong> For many Jewish immigrants, the "mom and pop" business was vehicle for upward economic and social mobility. The dream of Jewish immigrants was to see their children become doctors, lawyers, teachers, and businessmen.</div>
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Sheldon S. Cohen certainly fulfilled this dream. His father, Herman, a Lithuanian immigrant, bought a business the year Cohen was born. Cohen grew up helping his father in the family business, Potomac Butter and Egg Co., which sold dairy products and eggs to grocery stores and small restaurants. Here are his recollections of working with his father:<br />
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<em>[Dad's] warehouse was directly behind our house on <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=1209+Morse+Street,+NE&ll=38.898247,-77.014074&spn=0.043486,0.083084&hnear=1209+Morse+St+NE,+Washington,+District+of+Columbia+20002&gl=us&t=m&z=14" style="background-color: transparent; color: #4967a5;">Morse Street</a>. It was an old stable. My mother kept the books. She had a little office in the basement of our house. I used to help her. My dad's business was just across the alley from our backyard, in this old hay warehouse. There were two or three other warehouses. And, in fact, the Sunshine Bakery was down the street in another old warehouse building behind another homes on that street.
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<em>
[Dad] would have the eggs delivered from the farms or from wholesalers down in Shenandoah Valley, who would gather and deliver them to him. He would process them, clean them up…I used to grade them for size. I could pick up an egg and tell you whether it was a small, medium, or large and, if you weighed it, you'd find out I was right 99% of time. Cracked eggs went to the bakers.
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<em>To tell if an egg was good, you would candle the egg… If you hold the egg up to a light close by, you can see the yolk. You can see whether the yolk is formed properly, or broken, or if there's blood or albumin in the egg. [You need to do this to every egg.] I got so that as a teenager I could do almost as fast as the professionals would do it.</em></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<em>
I was the cleanup man or I was an egg candler, when I had to be… [This was] a regular part of my existence... I would help with the cheese or I would help with the smaller things that didn't take up a lot of time and weren't too big to carry around.</em></blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/images/301.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="130" src="http://jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/images/301t.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
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Cohen (left) with President Johnson<br />
in the Oval Office, 1968.<br />
<em>Courtesy of Sheldon S. Cohen.</em></div>
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Eleven years after graduating first in his class at <a href="http://www.law.gwu.edu/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #4967a5;">GW Law School</a>, Cohen became chief counsel for the <a href="http://www.irs.gov/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #4967a5;">Internal Revenue Service</a>. A year later, at age 37, he was nominated by President Johnson for the position of IRS Commissioner – making him the youngest to hold this post.</div>
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In the week after the nomination, Cohen's childhood work with his father at Potomac Butter and Egg appeared twice in <em>Washington Post </em>stories<em>, </em>showing everyone's love of a good "American Dream" story.</div>
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<em>This year, in conjunction with the Jewish Food Experience, our Objects of the Month feature DC's rich Jewish food history. For stories about this history and the latest on the local Jewish food scene – recipes, restaurants, chefs, events, and volunteer opportunities – visit <a href="http://www.jewishfoodexperience.com/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #4967a5;">jewishfoodexperience.com</a>.</em></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-38172108119395318702013-07-01T10:59:00.000-04:002013-07-01T11:03:50.913-04:00Object of the Month: June 2013<b><br /></b>
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<a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/ration-card.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://www.jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/ration-card.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>Object No: </b>2012.30.1<br />
<b>Donor: </b>Froma Sandler<br />
<b>Description:</b> World War II ration book for Jacob Sandler, age 35, 5221 Chevy Chase Parkway, Washington, D.C., early 1940s.<br />
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During World War II, Washington’s Jewish community supported American troops both at home and abroad. Wartime food shortages required Washingtonians to save and reuse everything. To limit consumption of products like butter, coffee, liquor, and sugar, the U.S. Office of Price Administration distributed ration books to individuals and families. Households exchanged specific ration stamps for limited amounts of a given food item at grocery stores. Rationing at home enabled more food to be diverted to the war effort. Hardships at home were a low price to pay if they led to victory in Europe and the well-being of American soldiers.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/ration-stamps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left;"><img border="0" height="159" src="http://www.jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/ration-stamps.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/images/74.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="206" src="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/images/74.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: start;">Pages of ration stamps in Lena Chidakel’s ration book.<br /><i>JHSGW Collections. Gift of Edith and Charles Pascal.</i></span></td></tr>
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As American factories shifted their attention to manufacturing goods to support the war effort, production of liquor, like other luxuries, slowed. "There were always shortages," recalled Washington liquorman Milton Kronheim in an oral history, "[It] became difficult to get the popular brands we were selling."<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/images/169.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="157" src="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/images/169t.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Fred Kolker (center) ran a poultry business<br />at 1263 4th Street, NE. Shown here with cantor<br />and <i>shochet </i>(ritual butcher) Moshe Yoelson.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Courtesy of Brenda and Paul Pascal.</span></i></div>
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Local businesses also supported troops overseas with food from home. Fred Kolker's wholesale poultry business at Union Terminal Market sold to the U.S. Army during the war. In his oral history, Kolker remembered fondly, “My chicken went to our soldiers who were located all over the world…Boys from Washington, D.C. wrote me letters thanking me for the good poultry they received.”<br />
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Washington's Jewish community also welcomed soldiers and war workers who flocked to the city to work in the war effort. When severe housing shortages forced workers to share scarce rooms in boarding houses and private homes, the Jewish Community Center provided housing references to thousands of newly arrived "government girls" through a Room Registry. Roselyn Dresbold Silverman came to Washington in 1941 to work for the Navy Department. She lived at Dissin's Guest House, a boarding house in Dupont Circle that catered to young Jewish women. Each month, Roselyn paid $35 for her room, two kosher-style meals a day, and maid service.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/images/345.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/images/345t.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ninth Annual Passover Seder by the<br />Army and Navy Committee of the Jewish<br />Welfare Board and the Jewish War<br />Veterans of the United States.<br />Willard Hotel, April 19, 1943. <br /><i>JHSGW Collections.</i></span></span></td></tr>
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The Jewish War Veterans' Washington Post No. 58 and the Jewish Welfare Board sponsored High Holiday services and Passover seders for military personnel stationed far from their families. The Jewish Community Center at 16th & Q Streets, NW offered a full program of activities including daytime jitterbug contests for nighttime shift workers. Its policy was: "Your uniform is your admission to all activities and facilities."<br />
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Washington's Jewish community was very much a part of the war effort. As Henry Gichner said when he accepted an award for exceptional efficiency and production on behalf of Gichner Iron Works, "Let's keep right on going until we get the V-Flag for Victory."<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-87603404397149963872013-06-11T13:56:00.000-04:002013-06-11T13:56:22.569-04:00Celebrating Israel@65
<a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/images/programs/current/israel-at-65-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://www.jhsgw.org/images/programs/current/israel-at-65-logo.jpg" /></a>
On Sunday, June 9th, we participated in The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington's <a href="http://www.shalomdc.org/israelat65">Israel@65 Festival</a> at Union Market. More than 10,000 people, young and old, celebrated Israel's 65th<br />
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At our booth:<br />
- Children created Israel birthday cards.<br />
- An exhibition, <a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/israel60/slideshow">Ties That Bind</a>, told the story of Washington's role in the establishing the Jewish State.<br />
- We handed out 600 fans as well as <a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/education/jahm_resources08.php">posters</a> about Washington's celebration of Israel's independence.<br />
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View our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151668182545708.1073741828.232986560707">photo album</a> of the event!<br />
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Longtime JHSGW member Paul Pascal led a tour of the history of Union Terminal Market and former sites of Jewish merchants. Check out the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151668448775708.1073741829.232986560707">pictures</a>! We plan to offer this tour again soon, so keep an eye out.<br />
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<i>If you attended the tour, please comment here or <a href="mailto:rsvp@jhsgw.org">email</a> to tell what you thought! If a friend was on the tour, please share this request</i>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-78087124985678447182013-06-04T17:39:00.001-04:002013-06-04T17:39:32.587-04:00Another Successful Jewish American Heritage MonthWe've wrapped up another successful Jewish American Heritage Month, again showing our role as the source for community history!<br />
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You may have seen <a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/arthurwelsh/index.html">Arthur Welsh</a>, the first American Jewish aviator, featured in the "Flashbacks" comic in the Sunday <i>Washington Post</i>. Our efforts led to this feature and the Society was mentioned in the final strip! You can now <a href="http://www.redrosestudio.com/Jewish%20Amer%20Pilot.html">view the entire six-part series</a>.<br />
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Executive Director Laura Apelbaum and board member Diane Wattenberg were featured in The Federation's <i>Jewish Food Experience</i> blog -- <a href="http://jewishfoodexperience.com/delicious-knaidel-worth-of-a-trophy/">read the post</a> about the winning National Spelling Bee word: knaidel. <br />
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We partnered again this year with the National Archives on a very special program featuring Holocaust survivor <a href="http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/klein-gerda-weissmann">Gerda Weissman Klein</a>.<br />
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We were also featured in <i>Moment Magazine </i><a href="http://jhsgw.org/downloads/Moment-Magazine-05-2013.pdf">(download article)</a> and we were out in the community a great deal:<br />
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- Exhibition, <a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/lincolns-city/exhibits/show/mr-lincolns-city/">Jewish Life in Mr. Lincoln's City</a>, was on display at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library<br />
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- Led 8 <a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/programs/walking.php">walking tours</a>:<br />
- Washington Hebrew Congregation’s 6th grade, EntryPointDC’s young professionals group, and a public tour of Downtown DC<br />
- Arlington National Cemetery for the public, Women of Temple Rodef Shalom, and a Jewish school from North Carolina<br />
- Old Town Alexandria for the Adas Israel Congregation Sisterhood and Jewish Federations of North America staff<br />
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- Presented 5 talks on topics about local Jewish heritage for:<br />
- OASIS at Montgomery Mall<br />
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection<br />
- EntryPointDC’s Shavuot Study Night<br />
- Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library<br />
- Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington's annual meeting (<a href="http://dcjewishhistory.blogspot.com/2013/05/100-years-of-jewish-community-life.html">related blog post</a>)<br />
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Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12888349070701775519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-14714440248069723972013-05-30T16:24:00.000-04:002013-05-30T16:49:56.896-04:00100 Years of Jewish Community Life <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3J-tbnx3yqE/UaewtqdyfTI/AAAAAAAADSE/k7bEtencGVI/s1600/laura+-+JCCGW+annual+mtg+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3J-tbnx3yqE/UaewtqdyfTI/AAAAAAAADSE/k7bEtencGVI/s200/laura+-+JCCGW+annual+mtg+2013.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Last week, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington held its annual meeting and celebrated its 100th anniversary. JHSGW Executive Director Laura Apelbaum spoke at the meeting and recounted a few highlights from the last 100 years of JCC history. Here are some excerpts from her talk:<br />
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Among the most treasured objects in our archival collections are 34 scrapbooks documenting the JCC from the 1920s into the 1980s. Each scrapbook is filled with invitations, programs, flyers, and newsclippings, creating a wonderfully colorful and rich compendium of the Center’s activities and our community's history.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MmLj7_r0ddM/UadIuH35jaI/AAAAAAAAAD0/L7lgdgzEO9I/s1600/ymha+bldg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="127" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MmLj7_r0ddM/UadIuH35jaI/AAAAAAAAAD0/L7lgdgzEO9I/s200/ymha+bldg.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Opening the first scrapbook page, we find a photograph of a 3-story brick townhouse at <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=415+m+st+nw&ll=38.901654,-77.024288&spn=0.043217,0.071497&hnear=415+M+St+NW,+Washington,+District+of+Columbia+20001&gl=us&t=m&z=14">415 M Street, NW</a>. One hundred years ago, young Jewish men and women wanted to create a place for social interaction, cultural activities, and athletics. They formed the Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Associations - predecessors to today's JCC. In 1913, the YMHA purchased this home as their headquarters. They fielded baseball, tennis, and bowling teams, went on picnics and beach trips, held debates and dances, and raised funds for Jewish overseas relief during World War I. In 1914, they sold the building to the newly formed <a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/goldberg/photographs/hebrew-home-of-greater-washington-jssa">Hebrew Home</a> and moved into other rented facilities.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LMwcaLrFV-Q/UadI1311DSI/AAAAAAAAAD8/wdgFAi-Dwf4/s1600/cornerstone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LMwcaLrFV-Q/UadI1311DSI/AAAAAAAAAD8/wdgFAi-Dwf4/s400/cornerstone.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
The next scrapbook opens to a panoramic photograph of President Calvin Coolidge speaking to a crowd assembled at the corner of 16th and Q for the cornerstone laying ceremony of the JCC's <a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/exhibit-images/dcjcc-design">new building</a>. The national Jewish Welfare Board provided an initial $50,000, while developer Morris Cafritz and Jewish leader Joseph Wilner led the $500,000 building campaign. In his speech, Coolidge remarked "Hebraic mortar cemented the foundations of American democracy."<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dC7mnt5psZM/UadNy9hZubI/AAAAAAAAAEU/hTXyFVbmhDo/s1600/dance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dC7mnt5psZM/UadNy9hZubI/AAAAAAAAAEU/hTXyFVbmhDo/s200/dance.jpg" width="200" /></a>Another scrapbook reveals a photograph of young men in uniform dancing cheek to cheek with young women in the JCC's gym during World War II. The Center’s policy "Your uniform is your admission" made the JCC the central place to meet and socialize for Jewish servicemen and women stationed in Washington. Young women called <a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/exhibit-images/dissins-guest-house-roselyn-silverman">"government girls"</a> were flocking to DC to work in war agencies, and a JCC room registry helped them find housing in Jewish homes that provided kosher meals.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nwY5AgdHSg4/UadQVPjZPoI/AAAAAAAAAEs/ejOd1-rROQw/s1600/JCC+grnd+breaking1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nwY5AgdHSg4/UadQVPjZPoI/AAAAAAAAAEs/ejOd1-rROQw/s200/JCC+grnd+breaking1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
As the Jewish community grew in postwar years and <a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/exhibit-images/jewish-dc-population-distribution">began moving</a> north and west into the suburbs, many Jewish communal organizations and synagogues followed. Turning the page, we find a smiling Charles E. Smith holding a ceremonial shovel alongside the youngest student at the JCC's nursery school and the oldest resident of the Hebrew Home at the 1967 groundbreaking for the new Rockville facility on Montrose Road.<br />
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The JCC's history showcases our community's unique relationship as the nation’s capital where presidents attend holiday events and groundbreakings. At the same time, the JCC holds many personal connections and has played a central part in the lives of many families for the past century.<br />
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What are your memories from the JCC?Wendy Turmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689144148011816590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-25956379083825047142013-05-23T13:03:00.001-04:002013-05-23T13:04:19.814-04:00Celebrating a Centennial Birthday!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X2WVCY1CTDs/UZ5LaF_MgvI/AAAAAAAAAHM/j3sTJJ39OSk/s1600/dedication-service.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X2WVCY1CTDs/UZ5LaF_MgvI/AAAAAAAAAHM/j3sTJJ39OSk/s320/dedication-service.jpg" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Henry Brylawski speaking at the<br />
re-dedication of the historic synagogue, 1975</td></tr>
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Please join us in celebrating the centennial birthday this June 8th of our past president Henry Brylawski. <br />
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Henry served as president of the Society in 1969-1970 and was instrumental in the move and preservation of our historic synagogue to its current location at 3rd and G Streets. <br />
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Since then, he has continued to share with us his deep knowledge and love of Washington history and is one of our favorite resources for historical information about our community and his hometown.<br />
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Henry is a great historian, a strong advocate for our historic synagogue, a fabulous cook, and a steadfast supporter of our work.Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12888349070701775519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-37019908168200413832013-05-22T11:12:00.003-04:002013-05-23T09:32:02.223-04:00Object of the Month: May 2013<br />
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<a href="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/upsilon-lambda-phi-1950s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/upsilon-lambda-phi-1950s.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b>Object No:</b> 2010.27.1<br />
<b>Donor:</b> Elaine Salen-Stouck<br />
<b>Description:</b> Teens around a table at Upsilon Lambda Phi fraternity party, Hotel Hamilton's Rainbow Room, c. 1950s.<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Left to right: Elaine Klawans & Morton Funger; Margie Blanken & Robert Funger; Phyllis Lidoff & Sonny Feldman; Lillian Witt and unknown</em>.</span></div>
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<strong>Background:</strong> Today's Jewish youth may find it difficult to believe that their grandparents were not welcome in clubs and social activities a half century ago. Excluded from the sororities, fraternities, and clubs of their non-Jewish classmates, Jewish teenagers created their own social sphere blending their Jewish identity with secular activities. </div>
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The social lives of Washington's Jewish teenagers revolved around more than 60 fraternities, sororities, clubs, and Zionist youth groups from the 1920s through the 1960s. These organizations provided settings where teens could mingle and forge an American identity. Jewish teens canoed on the Potomac, danced in <a href="http://www.glenechopark.org/history-glen-echo-park" style="background-color: transparent; color: #4967a5;">Glen Echo</a>'s pavilion, and organized Purim Balls at the <a href="http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/exhibition/the-center-of-it-all" style="background-color: transparent; color: #4967a5;">Jewish Community Center</a>. </div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/pi-tau-pi-conclave-1926.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="115" src="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/pi-tau-pi-conclave-1926.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Opening ball of four-day conclave of<br />
Pi Tau Pi fraternity, Mayflower Hotel,<br />
December 27, 1926. <em>JHSGW Collections,<br />gift of Albert H. Small</em></td></tr>
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High school fraternity and sorority life was filled with meetings, activities, and lavish dances, often held at the city's most elegant hotels. National conventions and conclaves gave local Jewish teens a chance to travel to cities like Albany, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. Here in Washington, more than 150 local delegates of Pi Tau Pi attended their fraternity's 1926 annual convention at the Mayflower Hotel (seen here).</div>
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The involvement of the teens in these social groups often served as the recipe for future community leadership. The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington's exhibition, <em>Members of the Club: Washington Jewish Teen Life, 1920s-1960s </em><b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXStXoErjHM">(watch accompanying video!)</a></b>, captured memories collected from community members about their teenage experiences. "There was something that touched us that was more than just the fun and dances… somehow we were intellectually and emotionally stirred, and for some of us it has been an intoxication throughout our lives," reflected <a href="http://washingtondcjcc.org/donate/special-events/gala/rubenstein-award.html">Tamara Bernstein Handelsman</a>, a member of Phi Delta. She has since been a member of the boards of many local Jewish organizations.</div>
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When the war came in December 1941, teen activities changed rapidly. Jewish youth pitched in, shifting their focus from dances and picnics to war bond drives and Red Cross work. In the post-war era, young baby boomers used their social events to promote and raise money for special causes. Mu Sigma cosponsored the Teddy Bear Hop, where all in attendance brought toys for Children's Hospital and Junior Village.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2011/aza_dance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2011/aza_dance.jpg" width="131" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flyer for AZA's annual<br />
Yom Kippur dance, 1939.<br />
<em>JHSGW Collections,<br />gift of Sol Lynn</em></td></tr>
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Signature events included Sigma Alpha Rho's Cherry Blossom Ball at the Shoreham Hotel and Sigma Kappa Sigma's Festival of Roses at the Hebrew Academy. Starting in 1933, Alpha Zadik Alpha (AZA) sponsored an annual post-Yom Kippur Dance that was the highlight of the social season for many Jewish teens. "Take it from me: you had to have a date, and the right date, at least two months ahead of time," recalled <a href="http://washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?ArticleID=12585&SectionID=4&SubSectionID=17">Gershon Fishbein</a> <em>(z'l)</em> about his AZA days.</div>
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These shared experiences often led to lasting relationships. Sandy Levy Kouzel played bridge weekly for over 20 years with sorority sisters and Milton and Lois Kessler met at a dance and married six years later.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/phi-delta-sorority-1948.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="158" src="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/phi-delta-sorority-1948.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alumni Luncheon, Kappa Sigma chapter of<br />
Phi Delta Sorority, Mayflower Hotel's<br />
Chinese Room, April 3, 1948.<br />
<em>JHSGW Collections, gift of Margot Heckman.</em></td></tr>
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A <a href="http://jhsgw.org/images/objectofthemonth/2013/pi-tau-pi-menu-1954.jpg" style="color: #4967a5;" target="_blank">menu</a> from a Pi Tau Pi fraternity dinner dance in 1954 details a meal of cold turkey, stuffed celery, pickles, and melon fantasy for dessert. This selection is distinctly different from the salad, pasta, grilled chicken, and chocolate cake served at today's formal banquets and dances.</div>
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Many parents supported membership in teen groups as a way to build strong communal relationships in an increasingly assimilated Jewish Washington. These connections provided an enduring legacy: a sense of belonging, lifelong friendships, and preparation for community leadership.</div>
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<em>This year, in conjunction with the Jewish Food Experience, our Objects of the Month feature DC's rich Jewish food history. For stories about this history and the latest on the local Jewish food scene – recipes, restaurants, chefs, events, and volunteer opportunities – visit <a href="http://www.jewishfoodexperience.com/">jewishfoodexperience.com</a>.</em></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1039576389958048347.post-67606666019991121242013-05-20T14:39:00.000-04:002013-05-20T14:39:43.625-04:00Featured in Moment Magazine!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WEKBg2WdUIE/UZpsn0NeaiI/AAAAAAAAAG0/kgS6_SPAOcQ/s1600/page1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WEKBg2WdUIE/UZpsn0NeaiI/AAAAAAAAAG0/kgS6_SPAOcQ/s320/page1.jpg" width="247" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First page of the article - a sneak peak!</td></tr>
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We want to share a terrific feature on the Washington Jewish Community that appears in this month’s issue of <i><a href="http://www.momentmag.org/">Moment Magazine</a></i> in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month.<br />
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The article, “Jewish Routes,” highlights Washington’s Jewish community and features images from our collection and content from interviews with me and others on our staff. In addition to the <a href="http://www.momentmag.com/jewish-routes-washington-d/">main article</a>, there is a list of <a href="http://www.momentmag.com/jewish-routes-washington-d/2/">local Jewish American Heritage sites</a> and profiles of community members, who share memories of growing up and their lives in Washington. Included are Society members Josephine Ammerman, Lois England, Irene Kaplan, Robert Kogod, Albert Small, and David Bruce Smith. You can download all of it <a href="http://jhsgw.org/downloads/Moment%20Magazine%2005-2013.pdf">here</a>. Bonus content, a Jewish D.C. <a href="http://www.momentmag.com/books-about-jews-in-washington-dc/">reading list</a>, was posted on <i>Moment</i>'s blog.<br />
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As we continue to plan for the future move of the synagogue and the building of a new Jewish museum in Washington, we are honored to have our role featured in <i>Moment Magazine</i>—a national publication of Jewish thought and culture.Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12888349070701775519noreply@blogger.com0