Inside…

Fall/Winter 2004/2005 | Volume 1, Issue 2

From the Executive Director 2

Chairman’s Report 3

I.B. Singer: An American-Jewish Journey 4

The Center and the Scholars 6

Lawyers Without Rights 7

Center Newswire 8–11

Brazil: The Hidden “Jewish” State 13

The Early Days of the HadassahMedical Organization 14

Development News 16

CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY

T H E M A G A Z I N E O F T H E C E N T E R F O R J E W I S H H I S T O R Y

I.B. SINGER

An American-Jewish JourneyI.B. SINGER

An American-Jewish JourneyI.B. SINGER

An American-Jewish JourneyI.B. SINGER

An American-Jewish JourneyI.B. SINGER

An American-Jewish Journey

see page 4

lished in 1817. I wondered, didmy grandfather read this book?

The Center for JewishHistory is rooted in the ques-tion. Our resources providescholars, students and the gen-eral public the opportunity tolook for answers, explore newunderstandings and finallyshare with the public theirobservations and conclusions.Our partner organizations pro-vide daily programming thattransports audiences to the farreaches of the Jewish world,both in time and in space. Inone week in October, I wentfrom Emilia-Romanga in Italy,to Teheran and Shiras in Iran,to Warsaw and Cracow inPoland! And now, in a new ini-tiative begun last month, theCenter is broadcasting itsunparalleled programming tocommunities across the coun-try through state-of-the-artvideo conferencing, enablingaudiences on college campuses,in Jewish community centers,and in synagogues and church-es to participate (at low cost)in programs that would other-wise be beyond their reach.

Enjoy this issue of TheJewish Experience and help usto maintain this jewel of theJewish people. Visit us whenyou visit New York and visit usonline at www.cjh.org.

treasure that is housed here atthe Center. The partner collec-tions are unparalleled, and arebeing preserved and protectedfor today’s scholars and forthose of the decades and cen-turies to come.

The Center’s commemo-ration of the 350th anniver-sary of American Jewry willnot be an exercise in self-con-gratulation. Rather, it will pro-vide a provocative encounterwith our past. Visitors willlikely find themselves askingas many questions as the exhi-bition committee sought toanswer as it planned the com-memoration. What is reallyimportant to examine and por-tray in this centuries-longstory? Who are the heroes ofthis story, and what makestheir lives heroic?

Last June I had the privi-lege of standing in my grandfa-ther’s footsteps in Kovno,Lithuania. As I walked the

ver the past year, therehas rarely been a day

when I have not met or spokenwith someone who has an excit-ing new idea for the Center for Jewish History. One wishesto collect autobiographies ofNorth American Jews,another their photo-graphs, yet anothertheir home movies; weshould hold a confer-ence on the Jewishrole in the Americantheatre; we shouldexhibit the contribu-tions of the SovietJewish soldiers to theRed Army during theSecond World War; weshould have programshighlighting American Jewishwriters, artists and musicians;or the Jewish role in medicine,law and business…and theideas never stop.

This coming May, 2005,the American Jewish HistoricalSociety will lead the Center’sefforts in celebrating the chal-lenges and achievements of350 years of the AmericanJewish experience. All of theCenter’s partner organizationsare committed to plumbingtheir collections for their mostinteresting and exciting hold-ings and sharing them withthe public. We hope that youwill plan to visit us betweenMay 15 and August 15, 2005 tosee for yourself the wealth and

streets of his childhood, I wondered what it took for ayoung rabbi to decide to leavehis family and birthplace in1903, and make his way withhis wife and two small childrento America. What could he haveknown that lent sufficientsecurity to his decision?

In Vilna the next day,the questions continued. Wasthe relationship with Americaa one-way street? Did Jewsleave Vilna and Kovno never toreturn physically or spiritually?If so, why was I so drawn?Why did I feel so attached?What was it about my grandfa-ther’s own education andupbringing that made his tran-sition to America so success-ful? Was there something inthe relationship between Jewsand Christians that preparedhim to willingly participate in the tolerant and mutuallyrespectful atmosphere ofAtlanta, Georgia, where hemade his home for 60 years? Ihad been taught that Americawas a completely new begin-ning for Eastern EuropeanJewry in the early years of the20th century… but was it?

When I returned to theCenter for Jewish History, Dr.Brad Sabin Hill, Dean of theYIVO library, took me into therare book room and showed mea one-of-a-kind volume, in Yiddish, describing America tothe Eastern European Jew, pub-

From the Executive Director

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Peter A. Geffen

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Left to right: Struggle for Soviet Jewry poster, 1964; Sabato Morais, 1823-1897; Letter to Benjamin Peixotto, 1839-1890, U.S. Council to Romania; Molly Picon

in “Circus Girl,” 1928. All images from the Timeline, courtesy of American Jewish Historical Society.

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B OA R D O F D I R E C TO R SBruce Slovin, Chair

Joseph D. Becker, Vice ChairKenneth J. Bialkin, Vice ChairErica Jesselson, Vice Chair

Joseph Greenberger, SecretaryMichael A. Bamberger

Norman BelmonteGeorge Blumenthal

Eva B. CohnDavid Dangoor

Henry L. FeingoldMax Gitter

Michael JesselsonSidney Lapidus

Leon LevyTheodore N. MirvisNancy T. PolevoyRobert RifkindDavid Solomon

B OA R D O F OV E R S E E R SWilliam A. AckmanStanley I. BatkinJoseph D. Becker

Kenneth J. BialkinLeonard BlavatnikGeorge BlumenthalArturo Constantiner

Mark GoldmanJoan L. Jacobson

Ira H. JollesHarvey M. Krueger

Sidney LapidusLeon Levy

Ira A. LipmanTheodore N. MirvisJoseph H. ReichRobert S. Rifkind

Stephen RosenbergBernard SelzBruce SlovinMary Smart

Edward L. SteinbergJoseph S. SteinbergMichele Cohn Tocci

Roy Zuckerberg

Peter A. Geffen, Executive Director

STA F FIra Berkowitz,

Chief Financial Officer

Robert Friedman, Director, Geneology Institute

Tamara Moscowitz, Director of Public Relations

Diane Spielmann, Ph.D.Director, the Lillian Goldman

Reading Room

Bob Sink, Chief Archivist and Project Director

Lynne Winters, Director of Program Production

Natalia Indrimi, Program Curator

Stuart Chizzik, Associate Director of Development

PA R T N E R I N ST I T U T I O N SAmerican Jewish Historical Society

David Solomon, Interim Executive Director

American Sephardi FederationEsme Berg, Executive Director

Leo Baeck InstituteCarol Kahn Strauss, Executive Director

Yeshiva University MuseumSylvia A. Herskowitz, Director

YIVO Institute for Jewish ResearchCarl J. Rheins, Executive Director

AC A D E M I C A DV I S O RY CO U N C I L

Elisheva Carlebach, Co-ChairQueens College

Michael A. Meyer, Co-ChairHebrew Union College

Robert ChazanNew York University

Todd EndelmanUniversity of Michigan

Henry L. FeingoldBaruch College

David FishmanJewish Theological Seminary

Ernest FrerichsBrown University

Jane GerberGraduate Center of the City

University of New York

Deborah Dash MooreVassar College

Lawrence H. SchiffmanNew York University

Jeffrey ShandlerRutgers University

Paul ShapiroUnited States Holocaust

Memorial Museum

Chava WeisslerLehigh University

Beth S. WengerUniversity of Pennsylvania

Steven J. ZippersteinStanford University

Editor: Jay Michaelson

Managing Editor: Tamara Moscowitz

The Jewish Experience is madepossible, in part, with the generous support of the

Liman Foundation.

Design: Flyleaf

From theChairman

Published by Center for Jewish History

15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011212-294-8301 fax: 212-294-8302

website: www.cjh.org

he Center for Jewish Historyis growing at an astonishing

pace. Last year alone, we hostednearly 4,500 scholars, writers,artists, and academics, while ourevents and exhibitions attractedover 45,000 visitors. More tangibly,we are proud to announce the com-pletion of six additional floors to properly house and preserve ourpriceless archival collections, thus achieving the aims of ourfounders: to become the central address for all those interested inJewish history and culture. And the best is yet to come.

Thanks to the enthusiasm of the Center’s committed staff,and the generosity of our donors, we have undertaken an array ofnew initiatives, including the high quality digitization of the Cen-ter’s collections of images on our website, www.cjh.org, andvideoconference-based attendance at the Center’s superb publicprograms, allowing audiences in every region of the United Statesto participate in these events. The generous assistance of city,state, and federal officials, as well as the many individuals andfoundations, has strengthened our resolve and has enabled us toestablish the Center for Jewish History as an essential part of NewYork’s wonderfully diverse cultural life. (See page 16 “Develop-ment News” for details.)

This issue of “The Jewish Experience” has a feature essayrelated to each of our five partners’ upcoming exhibits, which rep-resent a wonderful breadth of subject matters and time periods. Inaddition to two exhibits celebrating the Isaac Bashevis Singer cen-tenary, the coming months will see the openings of “LawyersWithout Rights,” (Leo Baeck Institute), “For the Health of Israel,”(Hadassah and AJHS) and, now on view, “Pernambuco, Brazil: Gateway to New York” (American Sephardi Federation and YeshivaUniversity Museum).

We were honored to be selected by Governor George E. Pata-ki to host, last September 9, the official state reception markingthe 350th Anniversary of Jewish settlers in America. There will bemany more celebrations of the 350th anniversary taking placeacross the land this coming year. But it is only fitting that theCenter for Jewish History, which brings together sources andmaterials from every Jewish ethnic community in recent history— Lodz to Los Angeles, Montevideo to Marrakech — will bemounting the grandest exhibition of them all: “From Haven toHome,” sponsored by the Congressionally appointed Commissionon the 350th Anniversary. The exhibit will integrate documents,photographs, and objects from the vast archival holdings of all thepartners, as well as items from the American Jewish HistoricalSociety on loan to the Library of Congress.

At such an exciting time, your support for the Center for Jewish History is vital. I hope that we will continue to be able tocount on you as we enrich the future of the Jewish community byperpetuating the knowledge of its proud past.

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Near right: I.B. and Alma

Singer in Manhattan, 1978

(Jack Smith). Far right:

Yiddish P.E.N. Club ID

card, 1935. Accredited in

1926, the Yiddish P.E.N.

Club, was the first branch of the organization dedicated to a

minority literature. Photos courtesy of The Harry Ransom

Humanities Research Center.

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his fall, the Center for Jewish History celebratesthe centennial of one of the most famous Jewish

writers of all time, as it hosts multiple exhibits on the life andwork of Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Singer’s many colorful novels and stories eventually wonhim the Nobel Prize for literature. Yet had it not been for aunique relationship with the Jewish Daily Forward, Singer mightnever have become an American, let alone an American writerwho created many works now in our country’s literary canon.Singer’s curious relationship to the Forward (or, in its Yiddishpronunciation, the Forverts) is a fascinating tale, and it is onethat illustrates that even as Singer became world-famous, heremained a thoroughly Jewish writer to the end.

Singer landed on these shores in 1935, arriving with thehelp of his brother, Israel Joshua Singer, who was then on thestaff of the Forward. Six months after he arrived, the buddingwriter applied for an extension of his visa. He was denied. It wasonly when the paper’s editorial staff, led by Abraham Cahan,wrote to the Commissioner of Immigration on Singer’s behalfthat he was permitted to stay in the country where he wouldultimately flourish.

The letter which won Singer his visa — and, by extension,won America one of its most engaging writers — is on display aspart of “Becoming an American Writer: The Life and Work of Isaac Bashevis Singer,” an exhibit sponsored by the Yeshiva University Museum, which incorporates a cornucopia of Singerparaphernalia, ranging from family photographs and passportsto Singer’s Yiddish typewriter, with which he allegedly main-tained a kind of supernatural relationship. (“If this typewriterdoesn’t like a story, it refuses to work,” he once said.)

“The visitor to this exhibition will be pulled into Singer’s lifethrough photographs of scenes from his childhood, portraits ofhim posing with other Yiddish writers, and family pictures,” saidKatharina Feil, curator at the Yeshiva University Museum.

Singer’s journey into the pantheon of American writers

likely began in 1953, when the literary critic Irving Howe wasgiven a copy of his story “Gimpel the Fool,” which Howe per-suaded the novelist Saul Bellow to translate. Within a short time,editors from the country’s most prestigious publications, includ-ing The New Yorker and Harper’s, were knocking on Singer’s door.Eventually, in 1977, he won the Nobel Prize for literature.

Even then, as he stood on the podium in Norway, and untilhis death in 1991, Singer continued to contribute to the paperthat gave him his first audience.

In its heyday, the Forward, with a circulation of well over200,000, was the voice of the Jewish immigrant in America. Thepaper, which was then a daily, saw as its mission to help thesenewcomers adapt into American society while maintaining theirconnection to Jewish life and culture. As a member of its staff,Singer was purveyor of this process, yet he became a beneficiaryof it as well.

At the start of his career at the Forward, Singer, like manyaspiring writers, contributed an assortment of journalisticpieces, as the artifacts in this exhibition show — from humaninterest stories (“What Studies Have Uncovered About TalentedChildren”) and news pieces (“English Jews Fought As Heroes,Died as Martyrs In York Pogrom”) to social commentary andadvice columns (“Why Men and Women Divorce — No Rules Butthe Cases Are Interesting”). And he employed a coterie of pseu-donyms, including “Yitskhok Varshavski” and “D. Segal.”

These pieces assured Singer a regular readership, one thatwould mature with him throughout his career. Nearly his entireoeuvre was serialized in the Forward, including articles and storiesthat later made it into the pages of The New Yorker, Harper’s andPlayboy. The exhibit offers a fascinating window into Singer’s rela-tionship with the paper, including his scrapbook with clippings ofthe serialization of “Di Familye Mushkat,” which appearedbetween 1945 to 1948 in the Forward and was translated into Eng-

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I.B. SINGERAn American-Jewish Journeyby Alana Newhouse

35

lish as “The Family Moskat” in1950, as well as a 1963 awardfrom the Jewish Book Councilfor “The Slave,” which ran inthe paper in 1961.

After the work appearedin the Forward, Singer worked

with a bevy of translators toshape his prose into English,and he termed these versions“second originals” because, ashe admitted, the revisions nec-essary to capture the subtletiesevoked in Yiddish could beextensive. To some in the Yid-dish cultural community, thenotion of evoking the world ofEastern European Jewry in alanguage other than Yiddish

was a betrayal, but many others,fearful that Yiddish was indeedexperiencing its twilight, con-cluded that translation was theonly way to ensure a future forthese stories.

To be sure, even in translation, Singer’s writingremained soaked in yiddishkeit.In the words of Sylvia Her-skowitz, Executive Director ofthe Yeshiva University Museum,“Like the demons in MauriceSendak’s Night Kitchen, themysticism and folklore that I.B.Singer inhaled in the fervid airof the shtetl permeated the sto-ries and characters he inventedin postwar America.”

Singer himself seems tohave had rather nuanced viewson the matter of language and culture. Though he activelyparticipated in the translationof his work, he maintainedthat Yiddish “contains vita-mins that other languagesdon’t have.” Crucially, through-out his long, successful career,Singer never abandoned theYiddish language or Jewishculture. The Forward was notonly Singer’s entry pass toAmerican culture; as theexhibit at the Center shows, itwas a continuous source ofnourishment for him — and hisreaders as well.

Alana Newhouse is Arts &Letters editor of the Forward.

Dust jacket of the first edition of

I.J. Singer’s The Brothers Ashkenazi,

translated by Maurice Samuel and

published by Knopf in 1936. Photo

courtesy of The Harry Ransom

Humanities Research Center.

YESHIVA UNIVERSITY MUSEUMBecoming An American Writer: The Life and Work of Isaac Bashevis Singer is a traveling exhibition, partof the Isaac Bashevis Singer Centen-nial directed by The Library ofAmerica. On view at the Center forJewish History from November 16,2004 to January 16, 2005, theexhibit explores the immigrant literary experience, and showcasesSinger’s life through early photo-graphs and book covers of some ofhis most celebrated works. Orga-

nized in conjunction with the Library ofAmerica’s publication of a three-volume edition ofSinger’s collected stories and a fully illustrated compan-ion An Album, the exhibit is made possible by a generousgrant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Singer in Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village, 1966.

Stefan Congrat-Butlar. Photo courtesy of The Harry Ransom Humani-

ties Research Center.

YIVO GALLERYOpening November 15, 2004, The Family Singer will explore the livesand talent of the Singer family,including the patriarch, PinhasMenahem Singer, a noted rabbinicauthor; the brothers I.J. and I.B.Singer; as well as Singer’s sister,Esther. Photographs and personaldocuments will be on display.

Book jacket of Deborah by Esther Kreitman,

Photo courtesy YIVO Archives.

ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER IN FILMPresented by Yeshiva University Museum and YIVO

• November 22, 7pm Isaac In America, 1986, dir. Amram NowakIntroduced by Allan L. Nadler, Drew University

• December 13, 7 pmThe Cafeteria, 1984, dir. Amram NowakIntroduced by Allan L. Nadler, Drew University

• January 10, 7 pmEnemies: A Love Story, 1989, dir. Paul MazurskyIntroduced by Jeremy Dauber, Columbia UniversityPresented by YIVO

Celebrating the I.B. Singer Centennial

Singer (rear center) with other Yiddish writers in Warsaw during the 1930s.

Left to right: K. Molodovsky, Y Kirman, Y. Opatoshu, A. Zeitlin, M. Ravitch.

Photo courtesy of The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.

6

lthough the Center for Jewish History hosts numerous pop-ular programs for Jewish and general audiences in New

York, its fundamental purpose is to serve the national and inter-national community of Jewish scholars, especially modern Jewishhistorians. We historians had long felt the need for a single insti-tution that brings together under one roof so many of the archivaland literary resources we require for our work. We also welcomedthe establishment of the Center because of its possibilities for conducting our research in anenvironment conducive to thescope of our scholarship. Here,veteran and, especially, youngerscholars are able to interact withtheir counterparts studying Amer-ican, German, East European orSephardic Jewish history. Theresults are a mutual fructificationand a synergy that inspire betterscholarship and a deepening ofAmerican Jewish culture.

To explore these possibili-ties, and to establish a frameworkfor furthering them, the AcademicAdvisory Council of the Center wasestablished. Today it consists offifteen members who serve on thefaculty and staffs of leading aca-demic and research institutions,among them Stanford University,the University of Pennsylvania,the University of Michigan, NewYork University, the Jewish Theo-logical Seminary, and the UnitedStates Holocaust Memorial Muse-um. We are a diverse group —seasoned scholars and younger his-torians, men and women from various sections of the country whowork in one or another of the fields represented by the Center.

The Council’s principal function is to provide an academicperspective: to advise, propose, and evaluate. Because we knowthe needs of Jewish scholars, we are in a position to suggest tothe Center how to create the best environment for its ReadingRoom, make the most effective use of its resources, and createprograms that will win the approval and support of the scholar-ly community. Together with the Association for Jewish Studies,whose national office has recently been established at the Cen-ter, we provide an essential link to the large and growingcommunity of Jewish scholars.

Toward that end, we have initiated programs that raise theCenter’s profile among our colleagues and in the Jewish world.For example, shortly after the Center opened, the Council organ-ized a major academic conference entitled “Centers of Modern

Jewish Studies,” which drew both university professors and ageneral audience. It highlighted the vistas for integrated studyof various aspects of the modern Jewish experience that the Cen-ter laid open before us.

The most remarkable success of the Council lies in its fel-lowship and seminar program. Each year a few outstandinggraduate students are selected to receive fellowships that enablethem to pursue their doctoral research at the Center. They utilizeits rich resources, often in more than one of the Center partners’collections. Fellows’ responsibilities include the delivery of aresearch paper at seminars open to all members of the Centercommunity and conducted by a senior scholar. By attending theseminars and by presenting their own research to the critical eyesof others, the fellows develop a capacity for creative criticism andlearn to make effective oral presentations. As they encountereach other informally during their stay at the Center, the

fellows are able to discuss research techniques and gain a broaderunderstanding of fields adjacent totheir own. Thus the Center serves asan important venue for the trainingof future Jewish historians who will preserve and transmit a livingheritage.

At the regularly held meet-ings of the Council, and throughour committees, the Councilexplores new opportunities forenhancing the work of the Center.We are currently engaged in plan-ning the Center’s commemorationof the 350th anniversary of Jew-ish settlement in America. We arediscussing a scholar-in-residenceprogram, which would enablejunior and senior historians tospend a semester or a year at theCenter in order to consult withstaff and advise the graduatefellows while pursuing their ownresearch. We are exploring theuse of video conferences, and aneffective use of prizes toencourage research and publi-

cation. We are also seeking to learn from other, longerestablished institutions, such as Washington’s Holocaust Muse-um, about how we can become a bridge connecting archivaltreasures, scholars, and the public.

The Center, with its rich and diverse collections ofresources, is an unparalleled venture in the history of Jewishscholarship. The Academic Council is devoted to transformingthese resources from historical documents and museum artifactsinto writings and presentations that will combine scholarship onthe highest level with relevance to the creative development ofAmerican Jewish culture.

Michael A. Meyer (Hebrew Union College) and Elisheva Carlebach (Queens College) are co-chairs of the Center’s AcademicAdvisory Council

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The Lillian Goldman Reading Room

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The Center and the Scholarsby Michael A. Meyer and Elisheva Carlebach

continued on page 12

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Lawyers Without RightsJews and the Rule of Law Under the Third Reichby Carol Kahn Strauss

On April 7, 1933, shortly after assuming power, Adolf Hitlerordered all non-Aryan attorneys to be relieved of their civil serv-ice positions, including university professorships and adminis-trative positions throughout the legal system. The effect wasdevastating: at the time of the proclamation, there were almost20,000 lawyers in Germany, and about half of them were Jewish.

The numbers, and the accomplishments, are staggering. InBerlin alone, there were 3,400 lawyers, of whom approxi-mately 2,000 were Jewish. Jews who had been trainedas jurists worked as teachers, judges, notaries,administrators, and trial advocates. They wereexperts in commercial law, contracts law, laborlaw, penal law, family law and civil procedure.They developed theories of sociology and thelaw, pioneered modern concepts of women’srights, and expanded the definitions of free speech. All of these were subsequentlydenounced as “Jewish perversions” by the Nazis.

How had Jews become so numerous in theGerman legal profession?

One possible reason is ideological: throughout Jewish history, the rule of law was of central importance. TraditionalJudaism is a religion of law, whose important precepts, codes andguidelines are found in the Bible, the Talmud, and rabbinic deci-sions. In the traditional Jewish view, law is holy and a necessarypart of religious life.

A second reason was practical. Secular law — the legal sys-tems of the nations in which Jews lived — also mattered to Jews,especially during the 19th century when, with the onset ofemancipation, the state regulated almost all of their activities.Jews were enmeshed in legal systems whether they were reli-gious or not.

Finally, there is an economic reason, stemming from eman-cipation itself. By the 1850s, Jews throughout most of CentralEurope were able to participate in the judicial professions, even asthey were still barred from most academic pursuits. It was virtual-ly impossible for a Jew at that time to become a professor ofliterature — but he could be a doctor of laws. The result of allthese causes was a legal profession that was disproportionatelyinhabited and maintained by Jews — a fact not lost on the Nazis.

The effects of the 1933 ruling were seismic. German judges,like their British and American counterparts, receive the sameeducation whether headed for private practice or governmentwork. After graduation, however, German judges work their wayup through the judicial system, much like any other civil servant, rather than being chosen after experience in the privatesector. Consequently, one year after the law was passed, there

were 10,000 immediate vacancies in the judicial system,and twice that number of openings throughout

the legal profession, all waiting to be filled bynon-Jews.

Perhaps surprisingly, most of the disbarred Jewish lawyers did not immediate-ly leave Germany. They thought the shockwas temporary, and feared the difficulty ofrelearning the law in another country —

particularly America, whose legal system isderived from English common law, in contrast

to Germany’s foundations in Roman law. Lan-guage also presented a problem; Greek and Latin

were more familiar to many German jurists than English.As a result, most Jewish lawyers stayed and worked in

whatever capacity they could. As one Dr. Ludwig Bendix wroteto his clients, “I had to give up my activities as lawyer andnotary, however, having practiced and studied German law mywhole life, I feel so closely linked with German law that even ifit were only for this innermost idealistic reason, I have to con-tinue my activities within the new framework that remainsunder current legislation.”

Dr. Bendix became a “legal advisor” or rechtsberater, oftenthe last resort of many Jewish lawyers. Such activities led to aspecial statute to curtail even this attempt to survive: the “Law

Lawyers

Without

Rights

Exhibition

December 5, 2004 –

February 28, 2005

Convention of Lawyers in Duesseldorf, 1949, (Bild Berichte; Berben-Binder,

Dusseldorf). Photo courtesy of Leo Baeck Institute.

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Celebrating 350Years of Jewish Life

in America

Nineteen teens from the New York

metropolitan area worked side by

side with scholars, curators, and

professional genealogists to

research their family’s history using

the Center’s vast archival collection

and library. (E) Participants view a

cloth wimpel, used as a ritual object

in German Jewish communities, in a

workshop with Yeshiva University

Museum curator Gabriel Goldstein;

(F) Samberg students on their way

to Ellis Island, July 15, 2004;

(G) Dylan Suher wearing a

traditional robe at the Bukharian

Jewish Community Center,

July 28, 2004.

The Jews & Justice series is an

exploration of contemporary and

legal traditions of the Jewish people

and their relevance to current thinking and practice. Preceding each

panel discussion, The David Berg Foundation hosted a reception for

speakers and friends. Clockwise from above: (H) Suzanne Last Stone,

Professor of Law at Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University

(left), co-curator of the Jews & Justice series, with Michele Tocci, a

member of the Center’s Board of Overseers and President of The David

Berg Foundation, underwriters of the program; (I) Left to right:

Professors Elaine Pagels (Princeton University), Abdulaziz Sachedina

(University of Virginia) and David Berger (Brooklyn College and the

Graduate Center at the City University of New York), panelists for

“Tolerance: The Perspectives of Religious Traditions,” June 22, 2004;

(J) Russell G. Pearce (left), Professor of Law, Fordham University Law

School and co-curator of the Jews & Justice series with Peter A. Geffen,

Executive Director of the Center and Edward Rothstein, New York Times

reporter and moderator of the "The Passion" panel February 26, 2004

Governor George E. Pataki

hosts a reception to

celebrate the start of the

350 Anniversary of Jewish

Settlers in North America

with 200 friends and

colleagues at the Center

on September 9, 2004.

(A) Sidney Lapidus,

President of the American

Jewish Historical Society;

State Assemblyman Ryan Scott Karben; Governor

George E. Pataki; and Center Chairman Bruce Slovin;

(B) Sidney Lapidus accepts the State’s Proclamation from Governor George E. Pataki; (C) Peter

A. Geffen, Executive Director of the Center with Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, Executive Vice President

of the New York Board of Rabbis.

Jews & Justice

Samberg Family History Program

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“This program reallygot me interested in Judaism andgenealogy. It was agreat way to spendthree weeks.”

Senator Arlen SpecterVisitsDignitaries and political officials often visit the Center to view the

magnificent collections of the partner organizations. Chairman Bruce

Slovin escorted Senator Specter and his wife, Joan on October 4, 2004.

(D) Left to right: Bruce Slovin, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (PA), Joan

Specter, and Yeshiva University Museum Director Sylvia Herskowitz.

October 4, 2004.

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A reception for over 200 guests was

held on April 1 for the opening of

Luminous Manuscript, a large-scale

work by Diane Samuels installed in

the Paul S. and Sylvia Steinberg

Great Hall at the Center. The

reception also honored Michele Oka Doner, who created the Center's first

public art commission, Biblical Species. Clockwise from far left: (K) Guests

explore Luminous Manuscript, a mosaic tablet twenty-two feet high and

twenty feet in width, made of engraved crystal clear Starphire glass, individually hand-mounted over

Jerusalem stone tiles. (L) Please touch the art: Elizabeth Kingsley explores Luminous Manuscript.

(M) A meditative moment shared by Board of Overseers Chairman Bruce Slovin (right) with colleague and

benefactor, Joseph S. Steinberg; (N) Biblical Species, terrazzo floor by artist Michele Oka Doner;

(O) Detail from Luminous Manuscript;

(P) Sculptor

Michele Oka

Doner;

(Q) Michele Oka

Doner (left),

Bruce Slovin,

Diane Samuels,

Joseph S.

and Diane H.

Steinberg.

See Development News for further information on page 16.

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On June 21, the Center for Jewish History and the Department of Information

at the United Nations hosted a reception for an exhibition of selected works

of French photographer Frédéric Brenner. The photographs were on view

in conjunction with the United Nations' historic seminar, “Confronting Anti-

Semitism: Education for Tolerance and Understanding.” Below left: (R) Frédéric

Brenner (left) and admirer. Clockwise from near right: (S) Chaikhana, Teahouse

(Frédéric Brenner), 1990. Courtesy of Howard Greenberg Gallery, NYC;

(T) Raymond Sommeryns (left), Director

of Outreach Division of the Department of

Information at the United Nations; and

Frédéric Brenner; (U) Dr. Ruth Westheimer

and Bruce Slovin; (V) Peter Geffen

introducing Frédéric Brenner; (W) Guests

browse through the catalogue Diaspora:

Homelands in Exile, a collection of

Brenner’s photographs of Jewish lives in

different parts of the world, taken over a

25-year period. R

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Exhibitions

Center Newswire Recent Programs

Performance

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Clockwise from far left:

(A) Intriguing Women •

Martha Kaestner on a

bicycle. The pioneering

achievements of

Jewish women in

modern times covered

a wide field from social

welfare, to the arts, to

medicine and physics. A tribute to their creativity, brilliance, and

ingenuity was shown through personal correspondence, books,

unpublished manuscripts, and rare documents. (Leo Baeck Institute);

(B) Pioneers, Superstars and Journeymen in Major League Baseball,

1871-2004 • Through December 30, 2004. (American Jewish

Historical Society) (C) Archie Rand: Iconoclast • Day One, “Seven

Days of Creation” (1966) was one of the

works on display by Archie Rand, an artist

whose body of work draws on sources

ranging from pop art to Biblical subjects.

(Yeshiva University Museum) (D) Covers &

Sheets: Early 20th Century Yiddish Sheet

Music • These rare materials from the

YIVO Collection represented popular

Yiddish songs from the turn of the

century, when Jewish migration to

America reached its peak. (YIVO)

(E) Jewish Costumes in the Ottman

Empire – The Sephardim & The Turks;

Living Together for 500 years •

March 31 – May 15, 2004. (American

Sephardi Federation) (F) The Other

Modigliani – A Life of Peace and

Democracy • An exhibition on loan from

the Archivio Centrale dello Stato in Rome,

The Other Modigliani examined the life

and work of Guiseppe Emanuele (Mené)

Modigliani, one of Italy's earliest socialists

and union leaders, who was elected to Parliament. Shown here:

Mené leaving the United States after a triumphant lecture tour,

as he listens to members of Local 89, Ladies Garment Workers

Union singing “Bread & Roses” from the pier. (Centro Culturale

Primo Levi) (G) Mené and his wife Vera.

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Clockwise from top: (H) Between Two Worlds: The

Dybbuk, one of the most popular plays in Jewish

theater, was performed in an award-winning adaptation

for adult puppet theater, produced by Tears of Joy

Theater and Mark Levenson, February 19-21, 2004

(Yeshiva University Museum) (I & J) A staged reading

of The Last Days of Mankind, written between 1915 and

1922 by the great satirist Karl Kraus, the work explores

various aspects to the nature of war and the media’s

response. A work considered by many to be a

precursor to contemporary thinking on global conflict.

Left to right: Actors Robert Zuckerman and Emanuele

Secci, April 28 (co-presented by the Leo Baeck

Institute, the Centro Cultrale Primo Levi, KIT-Kairos

Italy Theater, and the Jewish Heritage Project.)

(K) The Jews of Iran, an evening of viewing the

pictorial history, “Esther’s Children,” with a slide

presentation by Houman Sashar and a concert

performance by Tania Eshaghoff (pictured here).

(American Sephardi Federation)

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Symposium: Jerusalem ofthe North: Yiddish Montreal(N) Yiddish Montreal, Children from Yiddish-language

Peretz schools, Montreal, Canada (1930s). (YIVO)

Great Nights inthe Great Hall Summer film andconcert series attractsnearly 1,000 visitorsClockwise from top left: (O) Legendary

drummer Chico Hamilton; (P) Humorist Flash

Rosenberg; (Q) Special premiere of Rosenstrasse, film image courtesy of Samuel

Goldwyn Films; (R) Bill Crow, bassist and jazz historian; (S) The Loft on 28th Street,

a look at W. Eugene Smith’s archival photography, accompanied by a performance

with jazz historian Bill Crow

(T) Clarinetist Ken Peplowski

performed with John

“Bucky” Pizzarelli.

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FilmsExpression and Exploration:

Paths of Jewish ArtistsMonday Night Film Series

(L) Pearl Lang in The Possessed, 1978;

(M) Berlin’s Jewish Museum: A Personal Tour with

Daniel Libeskind, 2000;

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Lectures

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12

Against the Abuse of LegalAdvice,” passed in late 1935.By Kristallnacht, November 9,1938, 173 so-called Jewish“legal consultants” remained.By 1945, only four of themwere still alive.

Ironically, just as thepurge of Jewish lawyersstripped the German legal profession of half of its practi-tioners, the legal complexitiesof Hitler’s reign were many. Forexample, Nazi racial policieswere extraordinarily complex,as arbitrary and ridiculous asthey were fierce. The Nurem-berg Laws of 1935 officiallydesignated a Jew as anyonewho was “more than 50 per-cent” Jewish — a seeminglysimple definition, but actuallyextremely complex. Medically,of course, Jews are not a race(a cultural concept which isnot scientific in any case). Andwith converts into and out ofJudaism, these “stiff-necked”people were exceedingly diffi-cult to identify. Converts toChristianity remained Jewsunder the Nazis, while the so-called mischlinge who had oneor more Jewish parents orgrandparents, were subsequent-ly categorized as half-Jews orquarter-Jews. The vague con-cept of “Jewish identity”included religion, heredity,nationality, and intent. Confu-sion ensued.

The German courtsupheld and interpreted theNuremberg Laws in ways thatwere inevitably detrimental toJews. For example, one case inMarch 1933 regarded a film pro-duction company, UFA, whichhad signed a contract with aJewish director (Eric Charell)for film rights to his novel. Fivedays after paying Charell thefirst installment, UFA withdrewthe contract, citing a clausethat declared the agreement

null and void in the case of thedirector’s “death, illness or asimilar reason.” The SupremeCourt agreed that, indeed, a“similar reason” had been pro-vided, since the new racialpolicies altered Charell’s legalstatus to the extent that theyprevented him from carryingout his duties.

The Charell case was aclear articulation of the civildeath of Jews, which tookplace long before their physi-cal annihilation, and served asa precedent for a variety ofdecisions by lower courts. Illegal termination of leases,employment contracts, pensionbenefits and many other formsof discrimination against Jewsin civil suits all became ration-alized under Nazi jurisprudence.No effort was spared to construeevery law as restrictively as pos-sible, to the detriment of Jews.

In reality, the Germanlegal system had been under-going a perversion of justiceeven before Hitler becameChancellor. There was a famousdecision by Germany’s SupremeCourt in 1925 that essentiallyruled that the interests of thestate stood above the law. Byimplication, this meant thateven the most heinous crimeswere not punishable if theywere committed in the interestof the state, while, conversely,legal actions were punishableif they ran counter to thoseinterests. Thomas Mann com-mented that such legaldoctrines “ought to be left tofascist dictators,” and indeedthey were.

What is shocking is howlong Hitler’s special judgesremained in power, long afterthe Third Reich was finished. In1959, the so-called Committeefor German Unity presented areport to Chancellor Adenauerfilled with documentary evi-dence showing that more than800 of Hitler’s special courtjudges and military judges stilloccupied positions of responsi-

bility in the West German judi-cial system, even though it hadbeen proven that they committed terrible crimesunder the Nazis. In 1958, theWest German Federal Prosecutoradmitted that the “mass oftoday’s judges and public prose-cutors were already active …between 1933 and 1945 … Therule of law perished but theysurvived.”

The German Jewishlawyers were not so lucky, ofcourse. Of those who survivedthe Holocaust, fewer than 10percent actually resumed thepractice of law. A high per-centage took their own lives.

Not too long ago, the BarAssociation of the FederalRepublic of Germany recog-nized the terrible injusticedone to their Jewish col-leagues and mounted anexhibit entitled Lawyers with-out Rights that opened in theGerman Bundestag. The exhib-it, which will open at the LeoBaeck Institute on December5, 2004, very simply states thenames and accomplishments ofmany Jewish lawyers, togetherwith their fates after 1933.The biographical portraits giveviewers deep insight into thehistorical, social, and politicalconsequences of the expulsion

of this vital and vibrant pro-fessional class. As the materialfrom the exhibit and the LeoBaeck Institute archives clear-ly shows, all of them lost theirprofession, most of them losttheir country, and a largenumber lost their lives. Thatwe remember them today isdue in large part to the far-sighted founders of theInstitute — including Rabbi LeoBaeck, Martin Buber, RobertWeltsch, and Hannah Arendt— who understood the impor-tance of a cultural repositoryto catalogue authentic materi-al that would become part ofthe permanent record. Many of the papers, unpublishedbooks, memoirs, legal corre-spondence of these oncehonorable jurists are preservedat the Leo Baeck Institute.

Viewed in the light ofwhat we now know, a phraseengraved in the HolocaustMemorial of the AppellateCourt in New York City is par-ticularly apt: “Indifference toJustice,” it says, “is the Gate to Hell.”

Carol Kahn Strauss is the Executive Director of the Leo Baeck Institute.

Lawyers WithoutRightscontinued from page 7

Convention of Lawyers in Duesseldorf, 1949, (Bild Berichte; Berben-Binder,

Dusseldorf). Photo courtesy of Leo Baeck Institute.

13Brazil: The Hidden “Jewish” Stateby Monique Balbuena

The coupling of the terms “Jew” and “Latino”often elicits surprise, especially in the US,where Jews are often identified as Ashkenazi,Yiddish-speaking, and Eastern European. How-ever, Jewish communities in Latin Americaformed an essential part of their countries’ cul-tural fabric, and, as evidenced by the Center forJewish History’s current exhibition on Recife,Brazil and early settlement in New York (seesidebar), have had an enormous influence onAmerican Jewry as well.

As we rediscover the stories of JewishLatin American communities, we often mirrorthe process of contemporary Jewish Latinoauthors and writers themselves. In the words ofProfessor Edward H. Friedman, “a commonmotif of Latin American narrative is the rewrit-ing of history, that is, the emendatory encodingof the Jewish subject into history.”

Brazil, colonized by the Portugese, is aunique case in point. In the 16th century, thePortuguese were heavily identified as “gente da

nação” (“people of the nation”), a euphemismfor Jews. Erasmo, for example, wrote in 1530that the Portuguese were “a race of Jews.” In1674, Gaspar de Freitas Abreu complained that,“Only us, the Portuguese, among all thenations, are stigmatized as Jews or Marranos,and it’s a shame.” Portuguese diplomat DomLuís da Cunha wrote in 1736 that “‘Portuguese’was synonymous with ‘Jew’ in foreign coun-tries.” Indeed, although in 1496 Jews wereforcefully baptized with holy water at the docksin Lisbon, the number of mixed marriagesbetween Old Christians and New Christians —the baptized Jews — was so high by the 16thcentury that, scholar C.R. Boxer estimates,between one third and one half of the popula-tion in Portugal had some Jewish blood.

The Portuguese were leaders of 16th cen-tury maritime expeditions, and in their pre-cap-italist, expansionist and mercantilist endeavors.The colonial beginnings of Brazil are marked bythe presence of New Christians and Crypto-Jews,who had a constant presence in the new territo-ry as merchants, sugar plantation owners, slave-owners and traders, educators, writers and evenpriests. In his essay on the Sephardic experiencein colonial Latin America, titled “These of theHebrew Nation” (included in Martin A. Cohenand Abraham J. Peck’s anthology, Sephardim inthe Americas), Allan Metz writes that “the Jew-ish history of colonial Latin America … is essen-tially that of … New Christians who werejudaizers. ... Well represented in commercial,professional, and political activities, the NewChristian presence greatly enhanced LatinAmerica’s development.” Brazilian AmbassadorRubens Ricupero assesses the interweaving ofJewish and Brazilian histories: “The origin ofthe country and the fate of the Sephardic Jewsin the 15th and 16th centuries are inseparablethreads of the same fabric.”

This intimate association betweenSephardic Jews and the beginnings of whatwould become the country of Brazil has hadimportant effects on Brazilian customs, sayingsand folk traditions. Not only were Crypto-Jewsamong the first writers of the colony, therebyleaving their mark in national literature, butthe Brazilian Jewish environment also bore itsimprint on Jewish literature. Recife, the capitalof Pernambuco, where openly Jewish life flour-ished again under Dutch rule, has the oldestsynagogue and mikveh of the Americas. Thefirst Hebrew poem in the Americas was writtenthere by Isaac Aboab da Fonseca, and there toowere printed the first American Jewish books,in 1636. Recife also saw the initial Latin Amer-ican contribution to Responsa literature, andfrom there departed the twenty three Jews who

Photo: Still from the film “The Rock and the Star”

(Katia Mesel, 2004), showing a group of Brazilian

Jewish women embroidering designs based on paint-

ings by Franz Post, Echout, Rembrandt and others. Part

of the exhibit Pernambuco, Brazil; Gateway to New York.

continued on page 18

Pernambuco,Brazil: The Gate-way to New York

350 years ago, twenty-

three Sephardic Jews

from Recife, Brazil were

forced to flee their

adopted homeland and

found themselves on the

shores of New York, then

named New Amsterdam.

Despite opposition

from Governor Peter

Stuyvesant, this small

Jewish community was

finally allowed entry into

the city and took root in

an American society far

away from the reach of

the Inquisition.

Two partner institutions

of the Center for Jewish

History, the Yeshiva

University Museum and

the American Sephardi

Federation, are co-

sponsoring a special

exhibition, Pernambuco,

Brazil: Gateway to New

York, on view through

December 31, 2004. The

exhibition depicts the

historical and cultural life

of Portuguese Jews from

their first settlement in

the early 1500s in Recife,

Brazil until the historic

exodus in 1654 of

twenty-three members of

the community who land-

ed at New Amsterdam.

Organized by Dr. Tania

Kaufman, Director of the

Jewish Historical Archive

of Pernambuco in Recife,

the exhibition illustrates

the day-to-day lives of

Sephardic Jews in Recife.

For more information,

visit the Center for

Jewish History online

at www.cjh.org.

For the Health of Israel — Hadassah’s Medical Work 1912–1967, opens January 18, 2005. Presented by Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America Inc. in conjunction with theAmerican Jewish Historical Society. The exhibition has been underwritten with a generous grantfrom the Smart Family Foundation.

Left: The camp at which Florence Nathanson worked as a Hadas-

sah nurse in 1950. Right: Nurses and patients in front of the

government hospital for adults constructed by the Jewish

Agency. Photos by Florence Kaplan Nathanson, courtesy of

Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America.

The Early Days of theHadassah Medical

Organizationby Susan Woodland

opened a medical cen-ter on Mount Scopus,adjacent to the cam-pus of the HebrewUniversity. As quicklyas Hadassah set upmedical institutions,these institutions wereas quickly transferred tothe municipalities inwhich they stood.

Upon Israeli state-hood in 1948, tremendousnew medical needsstrained the resources ofthe new government. Some

leaders proposed that Hadassahconcentrate on the care of thisflood of immigrants — poor, ill,and uneducated. But Hadas-sah, focused on raising moneyand planning for a new med-ical center at Ein Karem,declined to take on the majorresponsibility for this over-whelming task, preferring alimited role in supplying med-ical care in a few key transitcamps.

One of these was at RoshHa‘Ayin, where the JewishAgency built a transit camp forYemenite immigrants. There,Hadassah set up a children’shospital and staffed it for twoyears, until the governmenthealth service was prepared totake over. The children suf-fered from malnutrition, acute

intestinal infection and malar-ia, among other illnesses.Desperate for additional nurs-ing staff beyond that whichwas being trained in Hadas-sah’s nursing school inJerusalem, Hadassah placedads in Jewish newspapers inthe United States, looking forAmerican nurses willing tospend at least six monthsworking in the immigrantcamp at Rosh Ha‘Ayin.

Florence Kaplan (laterNathanson) saw one of theseads when a friend pointed itout on a hospital bulletinboard. A Brooklyn native whohad attended nursing school atthe Jewish Hospital of Brook-lyn (now known as theInterfaith Medical Center),Nathanson became one of thesix American nurses hired andsent by Hadassah in 1950 towork for nine months at thecamp. (Mrs. Nathanson has gen-erously lent her photographalbum, which documents herexperiences in Israel in 1950,as part of the Hadassah Med-ical Organization exhibit.) “Ididn’t know about Hadassah atall,” she recounts. “But I likedthe idea of doing work in thenew Jewish homeland. I wasnot from a Zionist family, butthe work sounded appealing,and real.”

14

he history of the Hadassah Med-

ical Organization is the subject of anupcoming exhibit developed under the auspices of the AmericanJewish Historical Society. The exhibit tells the stories of some ofthe men and women who built the Hadassah Medical Organiza-tion and how, in turn, the infrastructure of the medical systemof the modern State of Israel was formed. Public health clinics,well baby care, school lunches, playgrounds, immigrant medicalservices, hospitals — all were developed by Hadassah, and whenthe local or state government was able to finance and adminis-ter them, they were gradually transferred and Hadassah movedon to its next challenge.

Hadassah first became involved with healthcare in Pales-tine in 1913, when founder Henrietta Szold secured a donationfrom Nathan and Lina Straus to cover the cost of sending twopublic health nurses to Jerusalem for a year. The nurses visitedfamilies and schools and set up a basic public health clinic witha focus on mothers and children. By the end of World War I,Hadassah was ready to lead a complete medical unit of about 44health professionals in Palestine. The doctors, nurses, dentistsand sanitarians spread throughout the Jewish settlements there,setting up hospitals, clinics, and public health stations.

In the 1920s and 1930s Hadassah was financing a nursingschool, clinics and health stations, playgrounds, school lunchesand well baby care, and hospitals. By 1939 it had financed and

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The Lillian Goldman Reading Roomver 4,000 visits are made to the exquisite and accommodating Reading Roomannually — scholars, academics, writers, as well as the general public make

use of the extraordinary resources available, representing nearly fifty countries inparts of the world as far reaching as South Africa, Singapore, Estonia, Argentina andIsrael. Hours: Monday–Thursday, 9:30 am–5:15 pm. Friday, by appointment only. For information on the Center’s Graduate Seminars for academic audiences, you cancontact Diane Spielmann, Director at dspielmann@cjh.org.

15

One Woman’s StoryWe traveled by boat, on the S.S. LaGuardia,an old decrepit ship left over from WorldWar II, for a long time. I think it was twoweeks, but it seemed much, much longer…

We arrived during a snowstorm inJerusalem. We had to stay there for a week because of the flood-ing. Water was pumped in from Tel Aviv and use was restricted.When the roads were navigable, we traveled to Rosh Ha‘Ayin,which was a flooded, muddy mess. Our white nurses’ shoes wereuseless in this mud. The Israeli nurses who we were replacing atRosh Ha‘Ayin laughed at our uniforms which were so impracticalin the mud and dirt and mess of the camp; they were wearingboots and slacks.

A government hospital was caring for the Yemenite adults,but it had been determined that special care was needed for thechildren. We were given the responsibility to care for the chil-dren. The parents lodged in tents which were very small andnarrow, with uncertain hygiene; the children were removed fromtheir parents’ tents to lodge with the nurses in Quonset huts.

Communication was difficult. The parents spoke Arabic,the Israeli nurses spoke Hebrew, and we spoke English. . . . Westudied Hebrew conversation and technical Hebrew. One of theAmerican nurses, Bea Perlmutter, learned Hebrew very quickly,and became our head nurse. She was responsible for writing upthe nurses’ notes.

The children were in bad shape. Some were blinded by tra-choma; some suffered from tuberculosis; almost all haddysentery. One little girl, Bracha, had tubercular meningitis.

There was often shooting around the periphery of thecamp, which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. In 1950

Rosh Ha‘Ayin was just temporary housing on very barrenland. There were snakes and rats. Once winter was over, theflooding stopped and it became very dry and hot. The Ham-sin – the dry winds – would blow the top layer of sand, whichgot into everything including the babies’ noses and mouths.We used wet sheets and cheesecloth to cover the beds. Wewere warned not to drink too much water which could causewater intoxication.

Soap and water were rationed. It was difficult even forthe nurses to maintain acceptable hygiene standards. The foodwas plain but nutritious. We had sour cream, cheese and eggsfor breakfast. There was one cook. The only meat we had allweek was the Friday night chicken.

The Israeli nurses returned to the cities where they wereneeded once we were settled. Doctors came on rounds but did notlive at Rosh Ha‘Ayin. We divided up the shifts among the 6 nurs-es, to cover the responsibilities 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Weworked day shifts one week, and night shifts the next.

On infrequent days off we went to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv andBeersheva where we saw the new hospital Hadassah was sup-porting there. I came down with malaria and went to HadassahHospital in Jerusalem. I was there during the IndependenceDay parade.

Eddie Cantor had helped raise money to finance sendingthese Yemenite refugees to Israel by plane. They were skepticalabout leaving by plane, as they were coming from a very prim-itive lifestyle. But there is a line in the Talmud that says, “Theywould be delivered on the wings of eagles”, and taking the Tal-mud at face value, these true believers flew from the middleages into the 20th century.

Mrs. Nathanson stayed on for nine months (her account of herexperiences is excerpted above), but ultimately returned toIsrael years later, and found it greatly changed. Whatimpressed her the most? “Rosh Ha‘Ayin had become a realtown with paved streets.”

Susan Woodland is the Hadassah archivist. The HadassahArchives, on deposit with AJHS since the opening of the Centerfor Jewish History in 2000, document the history of the med-ical work sponsored by the American women who have ledHadassah since its inception in New York in 1912.

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Photo at left: Florence Kaplan Nathanson,

courtesy of Ms. Nathanson

16

Luminous Manuscript

Development News

A detail of Luminous Manuscript, by Diane

Samuels (above left); Joseph S. Steinberg,

Benefactor and Arnold Lehman, Director of

The Brooklyn Museum (above right)

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The Center for Jewish History thanks the many individuals, foundations, and government agencies whose generosi-ty is essential to the growth of its dynamic programs. (A list of donors of $10,000 or more appears on pages 18–19.)Here are some of the new programs, grants, and developments at the Center and its five partners that are takingplace due to the generosity of institutional and individual supporters.

On April 1, the Center dedicated Luminous Manuscript, an out-standing work of large-scale art, commissioned and generouslyunderwritten by Joseph S. Steinberg, a member of the Center’sBoard of Overseers, and his wife, Diane. On permanent display inthe Center for Jewish History’s Paul S. and Sylvia Steinberg GreatHall, Luminous Manuscript is the creation of conceptual artistDiane Samuels and serves as an artistic gateway to the breadthand depth of the partners’ extensive archival collections and itsunique cultural programs. Containing 80,500 pieces of glass,112,640 alphabetical characters from 57 writing systems, and170 documents taken from the partners’ archives, Luminous Manuscript serves as a magnificent representation of the multi-faceted aspects of the Center and will stimulate thought andreflection for years to come. Visitors to the Center are encour-aged to touch the sculpture, take advantage of the informative,interactive kiosks, and pick up a copy of the catalogue, whichwas underwritten by John W. Jordan in honor of Mr. Steinberg.

The Center ExpandsIn June 2004, the New York City Council approved an additional $1 million grant (support from the New York City Council now totals$3.5 million), to be applied to the expansion of six new archival floors for the Center. This is the latest milestone in the buildingcampaign, with a goal of $6 million, begun in the fall of 2003 under the leadership of Center Chairman Bruce Slovin. Additionally,through the determined efforts of the Center’s long-time friend and supporter, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, theCenter was also awarded a grant of $600,000 (support from the Borough President totals $1 million). Bruce Slovin and the Center’sBoard of Overseers deeply appreciate the efforts of Borough President Fields, as well as the continued support and enthusiasm ofNew York City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and New York City Council Members Eva Moskowitz, Christine Quinn, and David Weprin.

Far left: Manhattan Borough President C. Virgina

Fields; Left to right: Center Chairman Bruce Slovin

with Council Speaker Gifford Miller and Council

Members Eva Moskowitz, David Weprin, and Christine

Quinn. The Center held a breakfast for members of the

City Council on October 20, 2004;

New Members Join Board of OverseersThe Board of Overseers, established in December 2002, is chargedwith advising and assisting the Board of Directors in the devel-opment and fulfillment of the Center’s mission. It now comprisestwenty-seven distinguished individuals with expertise in busi-ness, finance, law, medicine, philanthropy and scholarship.

The Center is proud to welcome three new members to itsBoard of Overseers each of whom brings unique qualities andexperience that will further the mission of the institution.

William A. Ackman who is a Managing Member of the Gen-eral Partner of Pershing Square, L.P., received his undergraduatedegree from Harvard College, and an MBA from the Harvard Busi-ness School. He was previously Chairman of The JerusalemFoundation, and is involved with the Human Rights Watch andthe Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, among many otherphilanthropic endeavors.

A trustee of the 92nd Street Y since 1968, Joan Jacobsonserved as Chairman and President of the Board at which time sheplayed a key role in restoring the Y’s classical music programs, inaddition to developing new initiatives. A writer of fiction, Mrs.Jacobson is on the Board of Governors of the Poetry Society ofAmerica and the Board of the Hudson Review, a literary journal.She is a graduate of Smith College.

Ira Jolles serves as Senior Counsel in the Energy, Utilityand Infrastructure Group at Thelen Reid & Priest, LLP. He is adirector of the Regional Plan Association, LRB, Ltd. (publisher ofthe London Review of Books), The Rashi Association, and theCahnman Foundation. Mr. Jolles received his J.D. from HarvardLaw School and A.B. from Columbia College.

We look forward to the lasting and significant contribu-tions from our three newest members.

Posters restored by the Cahnman

Preservation Laboratory, YIVO

archives. Left: The opening of Rabbi

Dr. Silber, a drama in three acts by

Shalom Asch, presented on

August 4, 1931 in the Dramatic

Theater. City unknown. Below:

Appeal to Jewish Women: With the

upcoming local elections in Pinsk,

we urge the women to vote on the

list of Jewish women. Date unknown.

(The appeal is repeated on the

poster many times.)

17

Above: Stage Design by Hugo Steiner-Prag (1880 -1945) for Leppin’s The

Grandson of the Golem. (Leo Baeck Institute)

Cahnman Preservation LaboratoryThe Center recently received a generous grant of $250,000 from The Cahnman Foundation to support the Preservation Laboratory, whichhas been renamed to reflect the generous gift of this magnanimous donor. Serving as the central hub for safeguarding the irreplace-able documents and artifacts of Jewish history, the Werner J. and Gisella Levi Cahnman Preservation Lab assures the longevity ofmemoirs, communal documents, photographs, objects, and films which would otherwise be in peril from the damaging effects of time.

Clockwise from above:

Rare excerpts from El Lyssitsky’s

illustrated Chad Gadiah.

Warsaw 1923. (YIVO Archives)

18

FOUNDERSS. DANIEL ABRAHAM, DR. EDWARD L.

STEINBERG—HEALTHY FOODS OF

AMERICA, LLCANONYMOUS

ANTIQUA FOUNDATION

EMILY AND LEN BLAVATNIK

ESTATE OF SOPHIE BOOKHALTER, M.D.BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN—

C. VIRGINIA FIELDS, MANHATTAN BOROUGH PRESIDENT

LEO AND JULIA FORCHHEIMER FOUNDATION

LILLIAN GOLDMAN CHARITABLE TRUST

KATHERINE AND CLIFFORD H. GOLDSMITH

THE JESSELSON FAMILY

THE KRESGE FOUNDATION

RONALD S. LAUDER

BARBARA AND IRA A. LIPMAN AND SONS

NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL—GIFFORD MILLER, SPEAKER

NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF

CULTURAL AFFAIRS

NEW YORK STATE—GOVERNOR GEORGE E. PATAKI

NEW YORK STATE—ASSEMBLY SPEAKER SHELDON SILVER

NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT,LIBRARY AID PROGRAM

RONALD O. PERELMAN

BETTY AND WALTER L. POPPER

RELIANCE GROUP HOLDINGS, INC.INGEBORG AND IRA LEON RENNERT—

THE KEREN RUTH FOUNDATION

ANN AND MARCUS ROSENBERG

THE SLOVIN FAMILY

THE SMART FAMILY FOUNDATION

JOSEPH S. AND DIANE H. STEINBERG

THE WINNICK FAMILY FOUNDATION

SPONSORSSTANLEY I. BATKIN

JOAN AND JOSEPH F. CULLMAN 3RD

DIANE AND MARK GOLDMAN

HORACE W. GOLDSMITH FOUNDATION

THE GOTTESMAN FUND

GRUSS-LIPPER FOUNDATION

THE SAMBERG FAMILY FOUNDATION

THE SKIRBALL FOUNDATION

TISCH FOUNDATION

THEODORE AND RENEE WEILER FOUNDATION

PATRONSWILLIAM AND KAREN ACKMAN

ANONYMOUS

JUDY AND RONALD BARON

JAYNE AND HARVEY BEKER

ROBERT M. BEREN FOUNDATION

THE DAVID BERG FOUNDATION

BIALKIN FAMILY FOUNDATION—ANN AND KENNETH J. BIALKIN

GEORGE AND MARION BLUMENTHAL

ABRAHAM AND RACHEL BORNSTEIN

LILI AND JON BOSSE

LOTTE AND LUDWIG BRAVMANN

THE ELI AND EDYTHE L. BROAD FOUNDATION

THE CAHNMAN FOUNDATION

CONFERENCE ON JEWISH MATERIAL CLAIMS

AGAINST GERMANY—RABBI ISRAEL

MILLER FUND FOR SHOAH RESEARCH,DOCUMENTATION AND EDUCATION

THE CONSTANTINER FAMILY

MR. AND MRS. J. MORTON DAVIS

DONALDSON, LUFKIN & JENRETTE

MICHAEL AND KIRK DOUGLAS

THE DAVID GEFFEN FOUNDATION

GEORGICA ADVISORS LLCWILLIAM B. GINSBERG

NATHAN AND LOUISE GOLDSMITH FOUNDATION

JACK B. GRUBMAN

FANYA GOTTESFELD HELLER

SUSAN AND ROGER HERTOG

INSTITUTE OF MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES

JOAN L. JACOBSON

MR. AND MRS. PAUL KAGAN

LEAH AND MICHAEL KARFUNKEL

SIMA AND NATHAN KATZ AND FAMILY

BARCLAY KNAPP

MR. AND MRS. HENRY R. KRAVIS

CONSTANCE AND HARVEY KRUEGER

SIDNEY AND RUTH LAPIDUS

MR. AND MRS. THOMAS H. LEE

LEON LEVY

GEORGE L. LINDEMANN

THE MARCUS FOUNDATION

MARK FAMILY FOUNDATION

CRAIG AND SUSAN MCCAW FOUNDATION

LEO AND BETTY MELAMED

EDWARD AND SANDRA MEYER FOUNDATION

DEL AND BEATRICE P. MINTZ FAMILY

CHARITABLE FOUNDATION

RUTH AND THEODORE N. MIRVIS

NEW YORK STATE—SENATOR ROY M. GOODMAN

NUSACH VILNE, INC.SUSAN AND ALAN PATRICOF

ANNE AND MARTY PERETZ

CAROL F. AND JOSEPH H. REICH

JUDITH AND BURTON P. RESNICK

THE MARC RICH FOUNDATION

RIGHTEOUS PERSONS FOUNDATION—STEVEN SPIELBERG

STEPHEN ROSENBERG—GREYSTONE & CO.LOUISE AND GABRIEL ROSENFELD,

HARRIET AND STEVEN PASSERMAN

DR. AND MRS. LINDSAY A. ROSENWALD

THE MORRIS AND ALMA SCHAPIRO FUND

S. H. AND HELEN R. SCHEUER FAMILY

FOUNDATION

FREDERIC M. SEEGAL

THE SELZ FOUNDATION

THE SHELDON H. SOLOW FOUNDATION

DAVID AND CINDY STONE—FREEDMAN & STONE LAW FIRM

ROBYNN N. AND ROBERT M. SUSSMAN

HELENE AND MORRIS TALANSKY

WACHTELL, LIPTON, ROSEN & KATZ

DR. SAMUEL D. WAKSAL

FRANCES AND LAURENCE A. WEINSTEIN

GENEVIEVE AND JUSTIN WYNER

BARBARA AND ROY J. ZUCKERBERG

BUILDERSJOSEPH ALEXANDER FOUNDATION

DWAYNE O. ANDREAS—ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND FOUNDATION

ANONYMOUS

BEATE AND JOSEPH D. BECKER

ANTHONY S. BELINKOFF

HALINA AND SAMSON BITENSKY

ANA AND IVAN BOESKY

CITIBANK

ROSALIND DEVON

VALERIE AND CHARLES DIKER

ERNST & YOUNG LLPMR. AND MRS. BARRY FEIRSTEIN

RICHARD AND RHODA GOLDMAN FUND

ARNOLD AND ARLENE GOLDSTEIN

JOHN W. JORDAN

THE SIDNEY KIMMEL FOUNDATION

GERALD AND MONA LEVINE

THE LIMAN FOUNDATION

MERRILL LYNCH & CO., INC.LOIS AND RICHARD MILLER

ARLEEN AND ROBERT S. RIFKIND

MRS. FREDERICK P. ROSE

MAY AND SAMUEL RUDIN FAMILY

FOUNDATION, INC.SAVE AMERICA’S TREASURES

I. B. SPITZ

SHARON AND FRED STEIN

JUDY AND MICHAEL STEINHARDT

JANE AND STUART WEITZMAN

DAPHNA AND RICHARD ZIMAN

GUARDIANSMR. AND MRS. SAMUEL AARONS

MR. AND MRS. MERV ADELSON

ARTHUR S. AINSBERG

MARJORIE AND NORMAN E. ALEXANDER

ANONYMOUS

MARCIA AND EUGENE APPLEBAUM

BANK OF AMERICA

SANFORD L. BATKIN

BEAR, STEARNS & CO., INC.VIVIAN AND NORMAN BELMONTE

JACK AND MARILYN BELZ

would found the first Jewishcommunity in the Americancolonies, in New Amsterdam.

The imbricated historiesand identities of Jews, Por-tugese, and Brazilians still res-onate today in the work ofcontemporary writers andartists. Moacyr Scliar, forexample, is a Brazilian Ashke-nazi writer who in 2003 waselected to the Brazilian Acade-my of Letters. His novel, TheStrange Nation of RafaelMendes, recounts Brazilian his-tory through the lives of suc-cessive generations of Jewsand Crypto-Jews, leading up toa contemporary Brazilian man,ignorant of his Jewish ances-try. The Mendes’ genealogicalline traces the itinerary of aJewish family and, ultimately,its role in the colonization ofBrazil, its political independ-ence from Portugal, and itstransformation into a nation-state. Scliar’s fictional, mythol-ogized narrative of origins isnot dissimilar from the projectof those historians and scholarsof history involved with thecultural archeology of LatinAmerican Jewry: an inscrip-tion of the Jewish subject intothe tale of the national tribe.

Monique Balbuena is theAssistant Professor of Litera-ture at the Clark Honors College at the University ofOregon and was a 2003–04Starr Fellow at Harvard University.

Brazil…continued from page 13

Sharing Our CommitmentThe Center for Jewish History announces with gratitude anddeep appreciation the following donors of $10,000 or morewhose gifts will help further its mission to preserve the Jewishpast, protect the present, and secure the future. This roster rep-resents individuals, foundations, corporations, and governmentagencies that have generously contribution to our efforts.

19

REBECCA AND LAURENCE GRAFSTEIN

EUGENE AND EMILY GRANT

FAMILY FOUNDATION

CLIFF GREENBERG

LORELEI AND BENJAMIN HAMMERMAN

JAMES HARMON

ELLEN AND DAVID S. HIRSCH

ADA AND JIM HORWICH

HSBC BANK USAPAUL T. JONES IIGERSHON KEKST

KLEINHANDLER CORPORATION

KNIGHT TRADING GROUP, INC.JANET AND JOHN KORNREICH

KPMG LLPHILARY BALLON AND ORIN KRAMER

LAQUILA CONSTRUCTION

THE FAMILY OF LOLLY AND JULIAN LAVITT

LEHMAN BROTHERS

EILEEN AND PETER M. LEHRER

DENNIS LEIBOWITZ

ABBY AND MITCH LEIGH FOUNDATION

LIBERTY MARBLE, INC.KENNETH AND EVELYN LIPPER FOUNDATION

CAROL AND EARLE I. MACK

MACKENZIE PARTNERS, INC.BERNARD L. AND RUTH MADOFF FOUNDATION

SALLY AND ABE MAGID

JOSEPH MALEH

LAUREL AND JOEL MARCUS

MR. AND MRS. PETER W. MAY

THE MAYROCK FOUNDATION

DRS. ERNEST AND ERIKA MICHAEL

ABBY AND HOWARD MILSTEIN

MORGAN STANLEY & CO.AGAHAJAN NASSIMI AND FAMILY

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES

THE FAMILY OF EUGENE AND MURIEL

AND MAYER D. NELSON

THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY

BERNARD AND TOBY NUSSBAUM

PAUL, WEISS, RIFKIND, WHARTON & GARRISON

DORIS L. AND MARTIN D. PAYSON

ARTHUR AND MARILYN PENN

CHARITABLE TRUST

MR. AND MRS. NORMAN H. PESSIN

PHILIP MORRIS COMPANIES INC.DAVID AND CINDY PINTER

ROSA AND DAVID POLEN

NANCY AND MARTIN POLEVOY

YVONNE AND LESLIE POLLACK

FAMILY FOUNDATION

GERI AND LESTER POLLACK

FANNY PORTNOY

PUMPKIN TRUST—CAROL F. REICH

BESSY L. PUPKO

R & J CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION

ANNA AND MARTIN J. RABINOWITZ

JAMES AND SUSAN RATNER

PHILANTHROPIC FUND

ANITA AND YALE ROE

THE FAMILY OF EDWARD AND

DORIS ROSENTHAL

JACK AND ELIZABETH ROSENTHAL

SHAREN NANCY ROZEN

THE HARVEY AND PHYLLIS SANDLER

FOUNDATION

CAROL AND LAWRENCE SAPER

ALLYNE AND FRED SCHWARTZ

IRENE AND BERNARD SCHWARTZ

JOSEPH E. SEAGRAM & SONS, INC.ALFRED AND HANINA SHASHA

ELLEN AND ROBERT SHASHA

SIMPSON THACHER & BARTLETT

SKADDEN, ARPS, SLATE, MEAGHER

& FLOM LLCALAN B. SLIFKA FOUNDATION

SONY CORPORATION OF AMERICA

JERRY I. SPEYER/KATHERINE G. FARLEY

THE SAM SPIEGEL FOUNDATION

MEI AND RONALD STANTON

ANITA AND STUART SUBOTNICK

LYNN AND SY SYMS

LYNNE AND MICKEY TARNOPOL

THOMAS WEISEL PARTNERS

ALICE M. AND THOMAS J. TISCH

TRIARC COMPANIES—NELSON PELTZ

AND PETER MAY

SIMA AND RUBIN WAGNER

WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES

PETER A. WEINBERG

ERNST AND PUTTI WIMPFHEIMER—ERNA STIEBEL MEMORIAL FUND

DALE AND RAFAEL ZAKLAD

HOPE AND SIMON ZIFF

THE ZISES FAMILY

LIST COMPLETE AS OF AUGUST 24, 2004

THE BENDHEIM FOUNDATION

TRACEY AND BRUCE BERKOWITZ

MEYER BERMAN FOUNDATION

BEYER BLINDER BELLE

THE BLOOMFIELD FAMILY

BOGATIN FAMILY FOUNDATION

RALPH H. BOOTH IIBOVIS LEND LEASE LMB, INC.CARNEGIE CORPORATION OF NEW YORK

DASSA AND BRILL—MARLENE BRILL

ETHEL BRODSKY

CALIFORNIA FEDERAL BANK

PATRICIA AND JAMES CAYNE

CENTER SHEET METAL, INC.—VICTOR GANY

CHASE MANHATTAN CORPORATION

CAREN AND ARTURO CONSTANTINER

CREDIT SUISSE FIRST BOSTON

THE NATHAN CUMMINGS FOUNDATION

ELLA CWIK-LIDSKY

IDE AND DAVID DANGOOR

ESTHER AND ROBERT DAVIDOFF

ANTHONY DEFELICE—WILLIS

THE PHILIP DEVON FAMILY FOUNDATION

BERNICE AND DONALD DRAPKIN

E. M. WARBURG, PINCUS & CO., LLCHENRY, KAMRAN AND FREDERICK ELGHANAYAN

MARTIN I. ELIAS

GAIL AND ALFRED ENGELBERG

CLAIRE AND JOSEPH H. FLOM

FOREST ELECTRIC CORPORATION

DAVID GERBER AND CAROLYN KORSMEYER

ROBERT T. AND LINDA W. GOAD

GOLDMAN, SACHS & CO.

COVER: Top to bottom: I.B. Singer. On back of photograph: “Isaac in 1935;” Cover of Oyfn Hayrev-Front Keyn Nayes (1930), Singer’s Yiddish translation of

Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front (1929); Nobel Lecture (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1978); Dust jacket of the 1950 Knopf edition of The

Family Moskat; I.B. Singer with book. Bernard Gottgryd. Photos courtesy of The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin.

Center for Jewish History

CENTER HOURS*

Monday–Thursday 9am–5:30pm

Friday 9am–2pm

Sunday 11am–5pm

*For evening programs contact: 917-606-8200

PARTNERS

American Jewish Historical Society(AJHS)www.ajhs.org 212-294-6160

American Sephardi Federation (ASF)www.asfonline.org 212-294-8350

Leo Baeck Institute (LBI)www.lbi.org 212-744-6400

Yeshiva University Museum (YUM)www.yumuseum.org 212-294-8330

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research(YIVO)www.yivoinstitute.org 212-246-6080

LILLIAN GOLDMAN READING ROOM

Monday–Thursday 9:30am–5:15pm

Friday By appointment only

CONSTANTINER DATE PALM CAFÉ

Monday–Thursday 9am–4:30pm

Sunday 11am–4:30pm

FANYA GOTTESFELD HELLER BOOKSTORE

Monday–Thursday 11am–6pm

Sunday 11am–5pm

(Also open on select evenings; call in advance.)

GENERAL TELEPHONE NUMBERS

Box Office 917-606-8200

Reading Room 917-606-8217

Genealogy Institute 212-294-8324

General Information 212-294-8301

Group Tours 917-606-8226

AFFILIATES

American Society for Jewish Music212-294-8328

Association for Jewish Studies917-606-8249

Austrian Heritage 212-294-8409

Centro Culturale Primo Levi917-606-8202

Gomez Mill House 212-294-8329

Jewish Genealogical Society of New York212-294-8326

Yemenite Jewish Federation of America 212-294-8327

(all facilities closed Saturdays)

Nonprofit Org.US Postage

PAIDNew York, NY

Permit #04568

Center for Jewish History15 West 16th StreetNew York, NY 10011

Upcoming HighlightsVisit www.cjh.org for complete schedule. Events begin at 7pm unlessotherwise noted.

FILM/EXPRESSION & EXPLORATION

The Paradoxes of Survival November 29Three Films of Judy Chicago: The Dinner Party, The Holocaust Project, Resolutions: A Switch in TimeDiscussion with Judy Chicago and Gail Levin December 6Man Ray, Prophet of the Avant-Garde, dir. Mel Stuart December 20

LECTURES & DISCUSSIONS

From Vietnam to Washington: An Orthodox Surgeon’s Odyssey(AJHS and YUM) 6pm, November 301654: A Pivotal Year for American Jewry(YUM and ASF) December 7Journey Through the Minefields: From Vietnam to Washington, an Orthodox Surgeon’s Odyssey(AJHS and YUM) 6pm, November 30The International Court of Justice and Israel’s Fence: Just Politics or Justice? Part of the Jews & Justice series (AJHS) December 9The Face of Eastern European Jewry 4pm, December 14(YIVO and LBI)

CONCERTSJewish Humor from Oy to Vey: A Chanukah Concert(The American Society for Jewish Music) 3pm, December 12Chanukah Gelt: Storytelling and Concert 2pm, December 26

Videoconferencing of events available at low-cost.Contact rchodorov@cjh.org for information.

The Constantiner Date Palm CaféLight fare, offered at moderate prices

in an intimate, quiet setting

All products and food are glatt kosher and produced under the supervision of Foremost

Caterers. For group reservations and to inquire about catering servic-es, kindly call 917-606-8210. Hours: Monday–Thursday, 9am–4:30pmand Sunday, 11am–4:30pm

GRAND RE-OPENING!

Fanya Gottesfeld Heller BookstoreNew items for sale

Visit the Center’s newly renovated bookstore with rich offerings of scholarly and contemporary books, jewelry and objects on Jewish history, culture, and language. Telephone: 917-606-8220. Hours: Monday–Thursday, 11am–6pm; Sunday, 11am–5 pm. Openselect evenings, please call in advance.

Become a Friend of the CenterSupport the Center for Jewish History with a gift of $36 or more,and you will become a Friend of the Center and be eligible for thefollowing benefits:

• Take advantage of a 10% discount at the Fanya Gottesfeld Heller bookstore.

• Enjoy a 10% discount in the Constantiner Date Palm Café.

• Receive a 15% discount on the price of your ticket for Center sponsored events, films, concerts, and lectures.

For further information call the Development Office, 917-606-8281, or e-mail schizzik@cjh.org. Please show your support and become aFriend of the Center.

CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY

www.cjh.org