chicago jewish historical society chicago jewish …chicagojewishhistory.org/pdf/2007/CJH.1.2007.pdfLynn is a teacher and author who lives with her husband John and their five children

chicago jewish history

Vol. 31, No. 1, Winter 2007

chicago jewish historical society

Look to the rock from which you were hewn

Sunday, February 11—Save the Date! CJHS Presents “The Pied Piper of Chicago:

‘Uncle Ben’ Aronin and His Family”

IN THIS ISSUEPaul Rothenberg’sMexican Adventure

Program Report: JewishMovie Theater Owners

1977: Our First Year

Memorial Tribute toAmmiel Prochovnick

From the Archives:The WWII Tablecloth

Remembering U. of C.Prof. Bernard Meltzer

Members of the Aronin family will speak at the next open meeting of the ChicagoJewish Historical Society on Sunday, February 11. The program will take place at AnsheEmet Synagogue, 3751 North Broadway, Chicago.

The program will begin at 1:00 p.m. after light refreshments at 12:30 p.m.Please note: this is slightly earlier than the customary starting time of CJHS programs.

Anshe Emet is located at the corner of Grace and Broadway Streets. There is limitedfree parking in the synagogue lot—first come, first served. You may enter the lot fromBroadway. There are also a number of pay parking lots in the area around Anshe Emet.For further information call the CJHS office at (312) 663-5634.

B en Aronin (1904-1980) was the Chicago Jewish community’s quintessentialRenaissance Man. He was a lawyer, scholar, teacher, writer, summer campcounselor, and for many years director of extension activities at Anshe Emet. He

wrote Jewish-themed songs and plays which are still performed today. His many booksfor children, in both English and Hebrew, earned him the title “Uncle Ben.”

In addition to Ben, the Aronin family has produced many other accomplishedpersons. Sanford Aronin (Ben’s cousin) will discuss the early rabbinical ancestry of the family in Lithuania andAmerica, including the progenitor of the family in the U.S.A., Rabbi Aryeh Leib Aronin of Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

Michael Lippitz will review the life of his grandmother, Blanche AroninLippitz (Ben’s sister). He will also review the extended family’s major Jewish-related activities before launching into a discussion of Ben’s life.

Shari Rosen (Blanche’s daughter and Ben’s niece) will discuss Ben aspatriarch and family leader. Norton Wasserman (Ben’s son-in-law) willdiscuss Ben’s career as counselor and religious leader of Camp Maccabee,where he influenced generations of Chicago’s Jewish youth. Simon Aronin(Ben’s nephew) will discuss Ben’s role as an educator.

A special feature of the program: Lori Lippitz, founder and leader of theMaxwell Street Klezmer Band, and her sister, Cantor Riki Lippitz, will singsome of the songs written by their great-uncle Ben.

Rabbi Michael Siegel, Anshe Emet’s Senior Rabbi since 1990, who hasserved the congregation for his entire twenty-four year career, will open theprogram with a brief history of the congregation and of Ben Aronin’s role asdirector of extension activities. After the program, there will be time allottedfor attendees to share their memories, so all are urged to bring alongmemorabilia and reminiscences of “Uncle Ben.”

Ben Aronin.Courtesy of Michael Lippitz.

—Program Chair Charles B. Bernstein

2 Chicago Jewish History Winter 2007

President’s Column

CHICAGOANS IN ISRAEL.Last November, my wife Chayaand I spent two weeks in Israel,and I would like to share withyou our experiences in severalplaces where we visited friendswho are former Chicagoans.

The first place was KibbutzSasa, situated in northern Israelnear the border with Lebanon.

This kibbutz was founded in 1949 on the site of anabandoned Arab village by a group of youngChicagoans. Over the years Sasa has prospered andgrown to several hundred families. It has a lovelyguest house and offers panoramic views of themountainous region. We have a special relationshipto this kibbutz because one of its members, LynnSaperstein, lived with us in Chicago when she was ayoung student, and she helped to raise our children.Lynn is a teacher and author who lives with herhusband John and their five children.

A few miles away from Sasa in the UpperGalilee is another kibbutz, Kfar Blum, which wasoriginally settled by Chicagoans. Mount Hermon isnearby and in full view from the kibbutz. KfarBlum also has prospered, but is now in the processof privatizing, selling part of its land to real estatedevelopers and persons who will build their ownhomes there. Kfar Blum is party to a Foundationthat has built a large music hall where summerfestivals are held. The Foundation has also built amusic school which we had the pleasure of visiting.

Walter Roth

Left: Eddie Stone, Spring 1947.University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.Pictured in front of INDECO, 1106 ThirdStreet, Champaign —a former fraternityhouse that was purchased by a group ofJewish parents as an independent co-opresidence for their student daughters.Eddie worked there as a waiter andspoke of his plans to make aliya to thenewly established State of Israel. Photo courtesy of Jean Rosenbaum.

Right: Yehuda Avni, November, 2006.At his Vered Hagalil Guest Farm. His sweater is appropriately decoratedwith pictures of horseback riders. Photo courtesy of Walter Roth.

From Kfar Blum we drove a few miles south to a beautiful site overlooking Lake Kinneret, thelocation of the only dude ranch in Israel—Vered Hagalil (Rose of Galilee) Guest Farm.

The resort was established by a nativeChicagoan, born on the West Side. After U.S.Army service in World War II and study at theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, hemade aliya to Israel in 1949. He joined KibbutzHatzerim in the Negev where many otherChicagoans had settled, but later decided to becomean independent entrepreneur. He had a passion forhorses, so he bought some land and worked withmembers of his family to clear the area, plantflowers and trees, construct guest accomodations,and create horseback-riding trails.

The name of this industrious Chicagoan isYehuda Avni, formerly Eddie Stone.

Chaya and I visited with Yehuda and his wifeYona when we had dinner at the restaurant that ispart of their resort. Our dinner was a traditionalAmerican meal —hamburgers, apple pie, and thelike. At this fun place you can feel the beauty ofIsrael and the closeness of the fellow Chicagoanswho live there. Yehuda showed us a huge guest bookwhere visitors from Chicago have written theirnames over the years. We found our signaturesdating back to 1978 when we first met Yehuda. Hehas copies of our Society quarterly displayed in therestaurant, and I left him a copy of my book,Looking Backward: True Stories from Chicago’s JewishPast. (Read his appreciative letter on page 3.). v

3Chicago Jewish History Winter 2007



Officers 2007Walter Roth

PresidentBurt Robin

Vice PresidentDr. Carolyn Eastwood

Recording SecretaryDr. Edward H. Mazur

Treasurer

DirectorsLeah AxelrodHarold T. BercCharles B. BernsteinRachel Heimovics Braun*Dr. Irving CutlerHerman DrazninDr. Rachelle GoldClare GreenbergDr. Adele Hast*Janet IltisRoslyn LettvinMelynda LopinSeymour H. PerskyMuriel Robin Rogers*Norman D. Schwartz*Dr. Milton ShulmanDr. N. Sue Weiler*Indicates Past President

Chicago Jewish Historyis published quarterly by the Chicago Jewish Historical Society at 618 S. Michigan Ave.,Chicago, Illinois 60605-1901. Phone (312) 663-5634. [email protected] copies $4.00 postpaid. Successor to Society News.

Editor-DesignerBev Chubat

Editorial BoardBurt Robin, Walter Roth, NormanSchwartz, and Milton Shulman

Send all submissions to:Editor, Chicago Jewish HistoricalSociety. 618 S. Michigan Ave.,Chicago, IL 60605-1901 or e-mail:[email protected]

Letters to CJHS

Two EulogiesTo Chicago Jewish History:

In September 2006 when my mother, aleha hasholem, passedaway, I wrote a eulogy for her. Now, three months later, I writeanother eulogy—for the Mikdosh El Hagro Hebrew Center, asynagogue beautifully described by Joy Kingsolver in the Fall 2006issue of CJH. The focus of my memoir is on the former HagroHebrew Center on Hamlin Avenue, across from Garfield Park.

Ms. Kingsolver correctly notes the address of the shul as 206-210South Hamlin. The synagogue building was at 206, and 210 was theaddress of the apartment building next door that had been bought touse as the Hebrew school and possibly for other purposes. We livedless than two blocks from the shul, at 3904 West Wilcox, acrossfrom our elementary school, Delano. After school, several times aweek, my sister and I went to the Hagro Hebrew School.

On the second floor of 210 South Hamlin were three class-

Morning Star M.B. Church (formerly Hagro Hebrew Center). 206 South Hamlin Avenue. Photograph made in 2004 by Robb Packer, author of Doors of Redemption, the Forgotten Synagogues of Chicago.

What Came BeforeTo Walter Roth:

Just finished reading your book, Looking Backward: True Storiesfrom Chicago’s Jewish Past. I read nonstop. The people and incidentsyou wrote about enriched my knowledge of “what came before”—enhancing my knowledge of why I am where I am and from where I came. Thank you for the book.

Yehuda Avni, Vered Hagalil Guest Farm, Israel

continued on page 14


C an you imagine a colony being established inMexico in the early 1900s for at least 25,000East European Jews, particularly from Ukraine,

fleeing from pogroms? Such a colony was the dream ofChicagoan Paul W. Rothenberg.

He was born in Berlad, Romania, on August 30,1884, the son of Ascher and Beila Saphier Rothenberg.When he was four years of age the family immigrated toAmerica, and a year later settled in Chicago.

He attended grammar school and high school here.A bright student with many interests, he entered theIllinois School of Medicine and graduated from theDepartment of Chemistry. He also obtained a lawdegree from the WebsterLaw School and wasadmitted to the bar.However, instead ofentering the scientific orlegal profession, he chosea career in politics, andachieved some success asa leader in the Repub-lican Party. He wasemployed as an analystby the State of Illinois1909-1913, and in 1920became secretary to thepresident of the ChicagoSanitary District.

Rothenberg became aprominent figure in Chicago’s Lawndale area, acommunity with a rapidly growing Jewish population.A great many Jews voted for candidates of theRepublican Party, which won the Presidential electionof 1920, electing Warren G. Harding. That year alsomarked the election of General Álvaro Obregón asPresident of Mexico after a tumultuous, decade-longrevolutionary period in that country.

A short recounting of early twentieth centuryMexican history may be helpful at this point.

In 1911, Francisco Madero was elected President ofMexico, after leading a revolt against the administrationof Porfirio Díaz, the longtime President, who was forcedinto exile. By 1913, many groups had becomedisenchanted with Madero’s handling of Mexico’sproblems, and he was overthrown and killed. VictorianoHuerta, a military leader, was elected President in 1914,

but he, too, was soon overthrown by four dishar-monious revolutionary generals: Emiliano Zapata,Pancho Villa, Venusiano Carranza, and ÁlvaroObregón. Zapata was the famous peasant leader; Villa isbest-known to Americans for his raid into Texas whichcaused a retaliatory invasion of Mexico by the U.S.Army; Carranza, a more moderate figure, was electedPresident in 1917 to succeed Huerta; and Obregónbecame a minister in the Carranza regime.

(The excellent movie “Viva Zapata” portrays all ofthese revolutionary personalities; it ends with the histor-ically accurate ambush murder of Zapata by Carranza’sforces in 1919. Another great film, “Juarez,” covers anearlier tumultuous period in Mexican history and has aJewish connection: Paul Muni plays the title role ofBenito Juarez and John Garfield plays the youngPorfirio Díaz. The screenplay for this 1939 movie waswritten by Franz Werfel, based on his stage play.)

Under Carranza, the Mexican government framed anew constitution granting broad rights to the peasantryand containing a provision limiting the President to asingle four-year term. Carranza sought to stay in controlby backing a puppet candidate, but the popularObregón ran against him and won the Presidency.

Obregón began seeking recognition from theUnited States for the new Mexican regime.Years of internal strife, anti-Church attacks,

and leftist tendencies of the revolutionary forces did nothelp the popularity of his cause. Obregón sent acommission to various U.S. state legislatures askingthem to adopt resolutions urging recognition of the newMexican government. Illinois was one of the selectedstates, and somehow the Mexican representative soughtout Paul Rothenberg. He agreed to help, and he wassuccessful. Other state legislatures followed Illinois, andU.S. diplomatic recognition was extended to Mexico.

According to attorney and author Philip P.Bregstone in Chicago and Its Jews, a Cultural History(privately published in 1933), emissaries of the Mexicangovernment then came to Rothenberg and “tactfully”offered him a considerable sum of money for his efforts,which he refused. Shortly thereafter, Rothenbergreceived an official invitation from President Obregónto visit Mexico to meet with him and his Cabinet.

There was a snafu at the border when Rothenbergmissed an official representative who had been sent tomeet him there, but he took a train to Mexico City

The Mexican Adventure of Paul RothenbergBY WALTER ROTH

Paul V. Rothenberg (1884-1974)


where he was soon located by the President’s agents.Rothenberg was escorted from his hotel to thePresidential Palace with full military honors. He soonmet Obregón, who again offered him monetarycompensation. Rothenberg again refused.

To the President’s insistence on somehow recom-pensing him, Rothenberg answered with a descriptionof the desperate plight of the Jewish people in EasternEurope, particularly the pogrom victims in Ukraine.They were looking for refuge in a new home after thebrutality to which they had been subjected. Rothenbergasked Obregón to consider allocating a tract of land tothese Jews for settlement. The Mexican Presidentpromised to take up the matter with his cabinet. A planwas soon agreed upon and details worked out.

Bregstone writes: “The President offered a largetract of land in the northern part of Baja California andpromised that in due time ‘he would send him acharter.’”

One can imagine the excitement that Rothenbergmust have felt as he came back to Chicago. Heorganized the Mexican Jewish Colonization Associationand took a small group of its members to view thespecified area. They came back elated, feeling it wouldbe appropriate for settlement.

It is interesting to note that in 1922, the UnitedStates Senate, at the behest of Zionist organizations,over the opposition of certain Reform rabbis, hadpassed a resolution supporting “the establishment inPalestine of the National Home of the Jewish people.”Rothenberg himself was a member of Zionist organi-zations, but did not foresee a conflict between his effortson behalf of a Mexican colony as a place of Jewishrefuge and the Zionist ideal. Rothenberg then receivedthe following letter (translated from Spanish):

“President of the Republic of Mexico; NationalPalace, May 10, 1922. Mr. Paul Rothenberg, 1630 S. Sawyer Av., Chicago, Ills.

“Dear Brother:

“Pursuant to our conversation, in regard to theimmigration of Russian Jews to the Republic ofMexico, I am pleased to inform you that thegovernment of which I have the honor of beingPresident, will be happy to witness theimmigration; but I deem it advisable to make itclear that if the immigrants are desirous ofacquiring real estate in the Republic of Mexico,they must become Mexican citizens. Our lawsprovide that no foreigner may acquire real estatewithin a zone eighty miles parallel to thefrontier and forty miles to the sea shore.

“We have in our country several million sectorsof land that we would yield for colonizationpurposes. A large portion of this land isexceptionally suitable for agriculture andirrigation. You can be assured that theimmigrants we have in mind, on complyingwith our laws governing the acquisition ofproperty, will receive the guarantee of safety andsecurity that is allotted to all citizens of theMexican Republic…”

“With personal regards I am your devotedObregón.”

H.L. Meites, in his 1924 History of The Jews ofChicago. writes: “This offer excited interest throughoutthe Jewish world. The conditions imposed by theMexican President were favorable, as were also thereports of a committee formed in Chicago byRothenberg that went to investigate the preferred tract.”

R othenberg’s plan and Obregón’s letter, esti-mating an original settlement of 25,000 Jews,were sent to the American Jewish Congress of

which Rabbi Stephen S. Wise was president. They werealso sent to Israel Zangwill in London.

Zangwill, a popular author and playwright, was thefounder, in 1903, of the Jewish Territorialist Organ-ization (ITO), which attempted to locate territory

suitable for Jewish settle-ment wherever land wasavailable. (This followedthe rejection of the“British Uganda Pro-gram, ”—an offer of landfor Jewish people put toTheodore Herzl by theBritish government at thesixth Zionist Congressthat year—and rejected.)

Months of discussionand argument ensued. ToRothenberg’s dismay, hisplan ran into difficultywith the Jewish leader-ship: with some because

their interest lay in Palestine,; others because of theirinterest in a proposed Jewish autonomous region in theUkraine; and still others because of jealousy. There weresome who wanted the honor of dealing directly with theMexican government. Obregón refused. He apparentlyfelt under obligation to Rothenberg and would not deal

Álvaro Obregón (1880-1928)

continued on page 6


with anyone else. The American Jewish Congressdismissed the proposal as not feasible, while IsraelZangwill censured the Congress leaders andcommended Rothenberg.

The American Jewish Congress did, in fact, sendrepresentatives to Mexico to examine the land proposedfor settlement as did a number of other Jewish organi-zations and wealthy private individuals such as Baron deHirsch. They rejected a Mexican Jewish colony formany reasons, among them the unsuitability of the area,the poor wages paid to workers, the lack of water, andthe superiority of alternative areas under consideration,such as Argentina.

After the failure of his settlement plan, Rothenbergno longer played a prominent role on the nationalscene. In Chicago, his 24th Ward became DemocraticParty territory in the New Deal era of the 1930s underthe leadership of Jacob Arvey.

Obregón was reelected President of Mexico in 1928.He had left office after his four-year term, as required bythe Constitution, but ran again after his ally, PlutarcoCalles, had served a term. But before he could takeoffice, Álvaro Obregón was assassinated in a MexicoCity restaurant by a religious fanatic.

Rothenberg continued to be active in Chicagopolitics. He was an Illinois delegate to the RepublicanNational Conventions in 1936 and 1940. Paul V.Rothenberg died on January 20, 1974, in Florida.

Rothenberg continued from page 5 B regstone calls his chapter on Rothenberg’sMexican venture “The Second Ararat thatFailed.” The “First Ararat” refers to the name

given by Mordecai Manuel Noah (1785-1851), a writerand statesman, to a tract of land on Grand Island in theNiagara River near Buffalo, New York, where heenvisioned a haven for persecuted Jews from Europe.He named his proposed settlement “Ararat” after themountain where the biblical Noah’s Ark alit after theFlood. Mordecai Manuel Noah’s plan failed as didRothenberg’s a century later.

California-Mexico-Jewish relations have a longhistory. A splendid account of the various Jewishimmigrations to California-Mexico over the years,including a reference to Rothenberg’s Plan, is set forthin the article “Jewish Colony in California: HalfCentury of Hope and Frustration,” (Western StatesJewish History, Volume XX, Number 4, July 1988).

An earlier article focusing exclusively on a review ofJewish immigration to Mexico is “Mexico—AnotherPromised Land? A Review of Projects for JewishColonization in Mexico: 1881-1925.” (American JewishHistorical Quarterly, American Jewish Historical Society,Number 4, June 1971). A discussion of Rothenberg’sMexican venture and a copy of the 1922 letter fromPresident Obregón are included. v

WALTER ROTH, president of the CJHS since 1988, is apracticing attorney with Seyfarth Shaw LLP. A graduate ofHyde Park High School and the University of Illinois, he received his J.D. from the University of Chicago.

The author of two books and many articles on ChicagoJewish history, President Roth was a CJHS board memberbefore his election to the presidency. He also served asmoderator for the Society’s 1980 panel on the 1930sGerman-Jewish immigration to Chicago, he himself havingarrived here from Germany as a boy in 1938.

A list of Walter Roth’s books can be found in the Fall 2006 issue of Chicago Jewish History. Back issues of CJH dating to 1999, featuring articles by him, can beread on our website: www.chicagojewishhistory.org.

Corrections and Clarifications• In our Fall 2006 issue, the first name of new CJHSmember Cindee Mudrow was misspelled.

• Also in Fall 2006, the phone number for orderingArnold and Sima Miller’s Yiddish music CDs and tapesshould have been (847) 673-6409.

• The long-promised CJHS Chicago Jewish History Time Line is still in preparation. Sincere apologies.

Welcome, New Members of the Society!Francine AnunciacionBenjamin Bielawski

Jack BurgemanRuth Hadesman-Gordon

Ned JacobsonDr & Mrs. Herbert Weinfield

THE CJHS TOTE BAGIn celebration of the Society’s 30thAnniversary, members who renew

and persons who join for the year 2007 at the $50 level or higher

will receive a handsome premium—The CJHS Tote Bag.


Richard Stern at Temple Sholom,December 10, 2006.

Photograph by Norman D. Schwartz.

Just about every seat was taken inthe chapel of Temple Sholom, 3480 North Lake Shore Drive, for

The Chicago Jewish HistoricalSociety’s open meeting on Sundayafternoon, December 10. Guestspeaker Richard Stern’s populartopic, “From Balaban & Katz to theLast Independent: Chicago’s JewishMovie Theater Owners,” drew acrowd of more than 100 persons.

Program Chair Chuck Bernsteinintroduced Mr. Stern with somebiographical notes. An uncle ofRichard’s married a sister of SamKatz, one of the founders of theBalaban & Katz movie theaters.Through this and other familyconnections, Richard’s father andanother uncle became the owners ofsix local movie theaters, four on theSouth Side (including the Marquetteand the Colony), and two on theWest Side (the Austin and the Park).

Richard Stern’s family moved tothe Austin neighborhood to be neartheir theaters, and Richard workedas an usher, then as manager of theAustin, located at Central Avenueand Madison Street.

Young Richard was subjected tomany pranks by people trying to getfree entry into the movie house. Hetold of one: Just before the last show,a man would phone, saying he hadleft his gloves in the theater. Richardwould leave his post to go andsearch through the big Lost andFound box. This kind of phone callwould happen night after night,each time a different caller.Eventually, Richard realized that agroup of men were sneaking in tosee the movie while he was awaylooking for the “lost” item.

In 1931, Stern’s father and unclefounded the Cinema Theater, theirflagship, at Chicago and Michigan

Avenues. It was our city’s firstEnglish-language fine art movietheater. (In 1933, Abe Teitel openedthe World Playhouse in the FineArts Building, where foreignlanguage fine art films were shown.)Richard became manager of theCinema at age 17, and kept the jobfor twenty years. The Sterns lost thetheater when Neiman-Marcusbought the property.

An anecdote: The Cinema wasshowing a movie about a storm atsea. Outside the theater, a realrainstorm was raging. The sumppumps in the alley were doing theirbest, but water was seeping inthrough the exit doors. (Chicagotheaters had more exit doors thanany other city, because of thedisastrous Iroquois Theater fire.)After the show, Stern was expectingcomplaints from the audience.Instead, people commented approv-ingly on the realism of the “effects”.

Richard Stern also was a sub-distributor of films for Illinois,Wisconsin, and Indiana, and battled

the major distributors for hispercentages and rights, to the extentthat he became known as “SuingStern.” (He won 19 of 20 cases.) Heand other Chicago theater ownersbattled and defeated the powerfulprojectionists’ union over wages.

Who were Chicago’s Jewishmovie theater exhibitors?

First and foremost, B&K: Barney,John, and Abe (A.J.) Balaban andSam Katz, with their movie palaces,starting with the Central Park onRoosevelt Road. There was H&EBalaban, formed by the two youngerBalaban brothers, Harry and Elmer,and known for the Esquire Theater.

Stern also recalled ArthurSchoenstadt, who owned twentySouth Side movie houses, includingthe Piccadilly; Kirsch & Cooper (theCooper brothers, Charlie and Moe,and Jack Kirsch, who married theirsister; their theaters included theGold); Lubliner & Trinz (BruceTrinz and Bobby and HowardLubliner; their downtown ClarkTheater showed a different movieevery day); Benny Stein, owner ofthe Rockne, and later the Golf-Mill.

“Were there any non-Jewishmovie exhibitors in Chicago?” anattendee asked. In their heyday,“about 75% were Jewish and 25%were Greek,” Stern answered.

Richard Stern owned threeindependent theaters: the Devon,the Three Penny, and the Wilmette—his last one—where he presentedmany Yiddish, Israeli, and Englishlanguage films on Jewish themes,well-attended, and for long runs. Hesold the Wilmette in May 2006.

Two Jewish independent ownersremain: Fred Allen at the HighlandPark, and Bobby Fink at the Davis,Arlington, and Buffalo Grove. v

CJHS Open Meeting on December 10: An Insider’s Talk onChicago’s Jewish Movie Theater Owners—History and Anecdotes


The History of the Chicago Jewish Historical SocietyThe First Year: January 1977–January 1978

BY CHARLES B. BERNSTEIN (originally published in 1978)

T he Chicago Jewish Historical Society was organized as an outgrowth of the tremendousinterest in local Jewish history generated by the Chicago Bicentennial Jewish Exhibit at theMuseum of Science and Industry in November and December, 1976. The exhibit was co-

sponsored by the American Jewish Congress and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.

About 200 persons volunteered to serve as guides at theexhibit, under the chairmanship of Muriel Robin. On the lastday of the exhibit, January 2, 1977, Moshe Samber, a consultantfor the Board of Jewish Education, saw the exhibit and remarkedto Muriel how wonderful it was. They agreed it was a pity that

the exhibit was closing. Samber suggestedthat the exhibit

materials might be stored at the Board ofJewish Education building until it could bedecided how to continue the project on apermanent basis.

On January 9, 1977, Muriel and BurtRobin hosted a brunch at their Hyde Parkhome for some of the more active guides at theexhibit, ostensibly to thank them for their hardwork. Muriel and Burt then informed theirguests of the new development with the Boardof Jewish Education and asked for ideas onwhat could be done to perpetuate the exhibitand the interest in Chicago Jewish historywhich it had created. Out of this conversation,those present decided to organize the ChicagoJewish Historical Society.

With all successful undertakings, luck playsa vital role, and here it was no exception.Charles B. Bernstein recalled that he had justreceived a copy of the publication of theSpertus College of Judaica Library, in whichthere was a long article about the ChicagoJewish Archives. (The Archives had beenestablished a number of years ago at Spertus tocollect and preserve materials relating toChicago Jewish history.) The article urged theJewish community to deposit materials there.

Bernstein suggested that someone in ourgroup contact the people at Spertus aboutsomehow working with them on the Archives,since they had the expertise and facilities, andwe had the people who were interested ingoing out and collecting such material.

Then, Eenie Frost casually said, “I’m thepresident of the Spertus Library Guild. I’ll callRichard Marcus, head librarian and adminis-trator of the Archives, tomorrow and talk to

“My Brothers’ Keeper, A Bicentennial Jewish Exhibit.”Collage of photographs and printed matter about the exhibit that inspired the

founding of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society. By Doris Minsky. Photo by David Rigg, 2002 .


him about it.” Eenie set up an appointment withMarcus, who said he was delighted to have theopportunity to work with the new group. He joined theSociety and became one of its most active members.This is an example of the type of people who havegravitated to the Society and how effectively they getthings done.

Another meeting was held, on January 23, this timehosted by Joe and Doris Minsky at their Northbrookhome. Joe was president of the Chicago Chapter of theAmerican Jewish Congress and Doris was the Congress’sco-chair of the Bicentennial Jewish Exhibit. Thefollowing persons came from all over the Chicago areato attend the meeting at the Minskys’: Norman D.Schwartz, Muriel and Burt Robin, Allene (Eenie) andJack Frost, Marcia Weiland, Ammiel and PayahProchovnick, Ruth and Sol Brandzel, Charles B.Bernstein, Mark Mandle, Carol and Larry Krucoff,Rachel Heimovics, Marlene Fleischman, Marcia andKarl Josephy, Moshe Samber, and Rose Ann Chasman.

At this meeting, the Society elected the followingofficers: Muriel Robin, president; Norman D. Schwartzand Ruth Brandzel, vice-presidents; Allene Frost,recording secretary; and Charles B. Bernstein, treasurer.The group decided to have a founding meeting onMarch 13, 1977, which would be open to the public. Atthe suggestion of Rachel Heimovics, Muriel phonedBernard Wax, the executive director of the AmericanJewish Historical Society in Waltham, Massachusetts,and invited him to speak at the meeting.

Founding MeetingA membership solicitation mailing was sent to

about 400 people, mainly guides and others involvedwith the Bicentennial Jewish Exhibit. By the time of themeeting, about 75 people had become members. Themeeting was held in the hospitality room at 330 WestDiversey Parkway, the building in which Ruth and SolBrandzel reside, and they hosted the meeting. NormanSchwartz delivered a stirring invocation, Bernard Waxspoke words of praise and encouragement, and another24 persons joined the Society then and there.

The gathering at the founding meeting approvedthe purposes of the Society, which had been drafted byBernstein. They read as follows:

To collect, preserve and exhibit memorabiliaand materials of every kind pertaining to thesettlement, history and life of Jews and theJewish community of Metropolitan Chicago,Illinois; and to conduct education programs,encourage study and research, and disseminate

information pertaining to the settlement,history and life of Jews and the Jewishcommunity of Metropolitan Chicago, Illinois.

The next project was that of formalizing the organi-zation: drafting articles of incorporation, by-laws and anapplication for tax exempt status. All were quicklyaccomplished.

The Society also worked on developing a co-operative relationship with Spertus College. In earlyJune, these arrangements were culminated with theunderstanding that Spertus would provide the Societywith an office in its building, and the Society woulddonate any archival materials it received to the ChicagoJewish Archives, and would encourage its members tovolunteer their services to the Archives. The Society isindebted to the foresight and magnanimity of Dr.David Weinstein, President of Spertus College ofJudaica; Phillip Spertus, Chairman of the Board ofTrustees; Dr. Nathaniel Stampfer, Dean of Students;and Norman Asher, Trustee, who spent much time andeffort in working with the Society’s representatives toachieve this arrangement.

First ProgramThe next major activity was an open meeting on

June 5 at Spertus College featuring a lecture by RichardMarcus on “Treasure Hunting for Chicago JewishArchives.” This meeting was a joint function with theSpertus Library Guild. The program was co-chaired byEenie Frost, wearing her other hat as president of theLibrary Guild, and Muriel Robin, president of theCJHS. About 150 persons attended the meeting, andabout 40 signed up for Marcus’s series of four seminarson how to collect archives, that were held over thesummer. These seminars will, hopefully, be given on acontinuous basis. In this way, the Society will develop alarge cadre of trained persons who will be able to go outinto the community to individuals and organizations,bring in memorabilia to the Chicago Jewish Archives,and help its staff process the material. The ArchivesCommittee of the CJHS, comprised of the “graduates”of Marcus’s seminars, and chaired by Marcus, hascontinued to meet to plan strategy and work.

The Society operates on a broad, flexible, open-minded basis in an effort to appeal to as many interestsas possible. For example, when it was learned that RabbiMalcolm Stern, the dean of American Jewish genea-logists, was to be in Chicago in late June, the CJHScontacted him and arranged a program with him asguest speaker on June 30 at Temple Beth El on Touhy

continued on page 10


Avenue. The program opened withthe Rabbi of Beth El, Victor Weiss-berg, giving a brief but informativeand entertaining talk on the historyof the congregation. (It is 106 yearsold, and those present learned thatin the last century its building wasonce blown over by a cyclone.) Themeeting initiated the Society’spractice of holding its meetings invarious synagogues in the area so itcan learn more about them andstimulate interest among rabbis andmembers about the histories of theirown congregations.

After Rabbi Weissberg, RabbiStern spoke to the audience of 150persons. He was very well-received.There was even a non-Jewishamateur genealogist who wasanxious to meet Rabbi Stern andobtain his autograph.

First Bus ToursThe next activity, another huge

success, was the first in an ongoingseries of bus tours of historic Jewishsites in Chicago. This tour, on July17, was of South Side JewishChicago and was conducted byCJHS board member Rachel Heim-ovics, who is also a board member ofthe American Jewish HistoricalSociety as well as a professional tourguide. The tour included mainly oldsynagogues, from Dankmar Adler’sfamous KAM at 33rd and Indiana toCongregation Anshe Cheltenham, ashtibl at 78th and Muskegon. Thetour, at $8.00 per seat, was sold tocapacity.

A second, equally successful tourfollowed on August 7. This tourtraced the Jewish community in

Chicago as it migrated westward andthen northward. It was led bySociety board member Dr. IrvingCutler, Professor of Geography atChicago State University, who alsoleads tours professionally. A high-light of this tour was a stop at themagnificent Anshe Sholom Syna-gogue, now a Greek OrthodoxChurch, but with the name plaquesof the synagogue members still onthe pews. Because of the enthusiasticresponse to both tours, they wererepeated during October.

First Oral HistoryDuring the summer period, the

Oral History Committee wasformed under the co-chairmanshipof Moselle Mintz and Mark Mandle,and it began holding meetings. Thecommittee received a professionalassist from Society members Dr.Edward Mazur, who establishedtraining sessions for persons whodesired to learn how to take oralhistories, and from Dr. Adele Hast,who led the first oral historyinterview, that of Hadassah trail-blazer Mrs. Bertha Read Rissman.The committee received a grant ofone thousand dollars from the WestValley Section of the NationalCouncil of Jewish Women topurchase equipment. This grant wasaccompanied by a commitmentfrom the West Valley women tobecome active participants in theOral History program of the Society.Special thanks to CJHS boardmembers Nancy Cohen and MarciaRoss, who encouraged the women tomake this generous contribution.

Plans for First Exhibit The Exhibit Committee was

organized under the chairmanship ofKenneth H. Cohen, and began tohold meetings in order to plan theSociety’s first exhibit. It relied on theartistic expertise of board member

Rose Ann Chasman, exhibitiondesigner; and the expertise ofMarylou Seidenfeld, recorder; aswell as the dedicated hard work ofNorman Schwartz, Nancy Cohen,Sylvia Klein, Doris Minsky, ElsieOrlinsky, Burt Robin and MarciaRoss. The Exhibit Committee plansto open its first exhibit on thesecond floor of the Spertus Collegebuilding for the AnniversaryMeeting on February 12, 1978.

Fall ProgramsThe Society opened its fall

programming with an open meet-ing at Spertus College on October16. About 120 persons were presentto hear Charles B. Bernstein speakon “The Genesis of Chicago Jewry”,a review of early Chicago Jewishhistory until the Civil War.

The Society concluded its firstyear of programming on December11 at Temple Sholom. After RalphHalperin gave the 120 people inattendance a resume of the congre-gation’s 110-year history, Prof.William J. Adelman, a programassociate of the Chicago LaborEducation Program at CircleCampus of the University of Illinois,spoke on “Jewish Workers inChicago—1841 to Today.”

Speakers’ Referral Serviceand Society BulletinA Speakers’ Referral Service,

operated by Vice-President RuthBrandzel, provides speakers to areaorganizations interested in ChicagoJewish history. The bulletin of theCJHS, Society News, edited byRoberta Bernstein, informs membersof Society activities as well asinteresting facts about ChicagoJewish history. Other boardmembers plan the bi-monthly openmeetings, the publicity, and themyriad of tasks that are necessary toa growing organization.

CJHS: The First Yearcontinued from page 9


A s of February 8, 1978, theSociety has 265 members. Ithas achieved the goal of

becoming a “people” organizationand a “doing” organization, concen-trating its efforts on substantiveactivities. The membership roll ofCJHS includes practically everyaspect of the Jewish community,from well-known philanthropistsand Sentinel “cover people” toworking people and graduatestudents, all Jewish religiousdenominations (and some non-Jewish), and all parts of themetropolitan area. They have allbeen able to work together, contrib-uting fruitful ideas from their ownbackgrounds and experiences, to thebetterment of the Society’s goal, therecording and popularizing ofChicago Jewish history.

For the future, the Society hasmany ideas for exhibits, programsand activities on the drawing board.It welcomes the suggestions, requestsand participation of all its members.As Sally Goldsmith, CJHS boardmember and former president of theSpertus Library Guild, is fond ofsaying, “Perhaps you would like tobe part of this.” v

CHARLES B. BERNSTEIN is a practicinglawyer as well as a genealogist. He is afounder of the CJHS, a board member andcurrent program chair. He has authored or co-authored six books on Jewish genealogy, somecommissioned by prominent families. He haschaired the CJHS’s Minsky publication com-mittee and led bus tours to Ligonier, Indiana.

Memorial Tribute to Ammiel Prochovnick, A Founding Member of the Society

BY BURT ROBIN

Ammiel M. Prochovnick, who enjoyed a long and satisfying career as Reference Librarian at the John Crerar Library, died

on November 30, 2006, at the age of 78. He and his wife Payah werefounding members of the CJHS, and continued their steadfastsupport of the work of the Society for all these years.

He attended public schools in the Humboldt Park and AlbanyPark neighborhoods, Hebrew High School at the Jewish People’sInstitute (JPI), and received a Masters degree in Physics from theUniversity of Chicago, having studied with Enrico Fermi, the world-famous physicist. At that time he enrolled in the College of JewishStudies, where he met his future wife, Payah Solove.

Ammiel was with the Crerar Library through its move from thenorthwest corner of Randolph Street and Michigan Avenue to theIIT campus, and finally to the University of Chicago campus. (The Crerar is home to more than a million volumes in the biologi-cal, medical and physical sciences as well as collections in generalscience and the philosophy and history of science, medicine, andtechnology.) A debilitating illness forced him to retire in 1996.

The Prochovnicks were deeply devoted to Judaism and to Israel,where Ammiel’s sister lived. Before he became ill, Ammiel and Payahboth were involved in many religious, educational and socialactivities at Congregation Rodfei Zedek in Hyde Park. After beingconfined to a wheelchair, he became highly proficient in the use ofcomputer technology, and for many years was the webmaster of thesynagogue website. He also developed a new hobby, collecting Jewishritual objects. He acquired, through the Internet, an extensivecollection of beautiful Pesach haggadahs and Chanukah menorahs,which represent many lands and approaches to Judaism.

Ammiel and I were dear friends for more than thirty years. He claimed that our friendship was special because when he wasintroduced to me at the home of a mutual friend, I pronounced hislast name perfectly—a feat not achieved by many. For this herewarded me with a big hug, something he said he never gave to anyman, other than his father. Those of us who were privileged to knowthis wonderful man of great warmth, keen intelligence, and a terrificsense of humor (displayed at its best by naming his cat “ChairmanMeow”), will sorely miss him.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Payah; son Jon Prochovnick;daughters Naomi Prochovnick (Zwazzi Sowo), Ora Prochovnick(Rina Franz) and Rachel (Craig) Mather; and four grandchildren.

May his memory be for a blessing.

BURT ROBIN is Vice-President of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society and afounding member. He is a retired Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and PhysicalScience at Kennedy-King City College. He is the moderator of the JCC men’s currentevents discussion group at Temple Sholom and a producer of Opera Society programsfor seniors at the Chicago Cultural Center Renaissance Court.

Doris Minsky: Bicentennial JewishExhibit Collage (detail).


The Albany Park Auxiliary of HTC World War II Tablecloth

by Joy Kingsolver

FROM THE CHICAGO JEWISH

archives

W artime in the 1940s wasa time of hectic activityfor American Jewish

women. Along with their synagogue,school, home and charity activities,they were active supporters of thewar effort, helping with blooddrives, bond drives, and sponsoringprojects to support the men andwomen in service.

In 1943, the women of theAlbany Park Auxiliary of HebrewTheological College stitched thenames of 54 Jewish servicemen ontoa banquet-sized tablecloth, whichwas also adorned with the Americanflag and the Zionist flag. Thispainstakingly-created tribute wasused at least once, to judge from thefew stains on its surface. Today itsthreads are fragile and have workedloose here and there, but it remains apoignant reminder not only of thewartime service of Chicago’s Jews,but also of the dedication of thosewaiting anxiously at home.

Not much is known about theAlbany Park Auxiliary. HebrewTheological College, founded in1922 and located at 3448 WestDouglas Boulevard until 1958, wassupported by several auxiliaries. In1943 these included the EnglewoodAuxiliary, the Esther and PhilipBernick Memorial Auxiliary, theLawndale Ladies Auxiliary, the GanShmual Auxiliary, the MollieGoldblatt Manfield West SuburbanAuxiliary, and others. It is unclearexactly when the group in AlbanyPark was founded, but their meetingnotices first appear in the Sentinel in1939. The group met weekly atAlbany Park Hebrew Congregation,located at Lawndale and Wilson.

The driving force behind the auxiliary was DoraChazen, one of its founders and its longtimepresident. Mrs. Chazen was born in Russia in 1892and arrived in the United States in 1910, where shemarried Samuel Chazen. Dora and Sam had fourchildren. Sam Chazen worked as a peddler, ran ahorse grain store for a while, and then worked in thecurtain cleaning business. He sometimes served as adriver for HTC rabbis as they collected donationsand conducted other college business. Dora took akeen interest in Jewish charitable and educationalorganizations, playing a leading role in severalauxiliaries. In 1944, she was elected lifetime

president of the Albany Park Auxiliary of HTC.Although the family moved to Los Angeles in 1948, she maintained her

ties to Chicago. In 1952, HTC established a branch in Los Angeles, and shefounded its Los Angeles auxiliary. She died in 1983 at the age of 92, havingworked tirelessly for many Jewish organizations for fifty years. Thetablecloth so lovingly created by the auxiliary was donated to the ChicagoJewish Archives by Dora’s granddaughter, Bobbie Chazen Hamilton.

Mrs. Dora Chazen

Albany Park Auxiliary of Hebrew Theological College Tablecloth. Red, blue, and gold embroidery: “Our Boys In Service/For Victory/1943/APA/HTC.”

All photographs courtesy of Chicago Jewish Archives, Spertus Institute.


JOY KINGSOLVER is Director, Chicago Jewish Archives. The Chicago JewishArchives is a component of the Asher Library, Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies.

In the 1940s, Albany Park had athriving Jewish community. Inaddition to the Albany Park HebrewCongregation, the area was home toBeth Israel (Reform, 1917), BethItzchok, also known as the DrakeAvenue Shul (Orthodox, 1917),Kehilat Jeshurun (Orthodox, 1932),and several other synagogues. Thearea’s Jewish population beganmoving out in the mid-1960s, butthe Albany Park Auxiliary of HTCseems to have ceased much earlier, atleast by 1958. Today, YeshivaWomen, founded in the 1930s, fillsthe place formerly occupied by theseneighborhood groups.

The names embroidered on thetablecloth were not necessarilyconnected to Hebrew TheologicalCollege. In January 1943, the HTCstudent newsletter published a list ofstudents who were serving in thearmed forces; none of these namesappears on the tablecloth. It seemsmore likely that the names on thetablecloth were those of relatives andfriends of the Auxiliary members.There was strong support for thework of the College in Albany Park’sOrthodox shuls, and members of theAuxiliary did not necessarily have adirect connection to the College.

O f the fifty-four names, onlya few can be identified sofar. Charles S. Chazen was

Dora’s son, a lieutenant in theUnited States Army Air Force,serving with distinction as a navi-gator. After the war, he became anaccountant, and today lives in L.A.

Morris R. Shafran was alsorelated to Dora Chazen; he was herson-in-law, married to her daughterFlorence. He served in an artillerydivision of the army; afterward, heworked polishing industrial dia-monds. He died in 1989.

The name S. R. Weissbuch ranga bell with one of our archivesvolunteers. He was identified asSamuel Ronald Weissbuch, whoworked in the insurance businessafter the war and was known locallyfor his beautiful singing in a syna-gogue choir.

Finally, Harold Friedman wasmentioned in the Sentinel column,“Chicagoans in Service” on Nov-ember 16, 1944. A private in anarmy infantry division, he wasawarded the Silver Star for gallantryin action in France. v

The Archives is continuing to lookfor information on the Auxiliary andand its place in the neighborhood, or

identification of any of thenames. As always, you, ourreaders, are importantpartners in the collection ofChicago Jewish history andin the preservation of itsmemory. If you can help us,please contact the archivistat (312) 322-1741 or e-mail [email protected].

LT. STEWART ALLEN ARKIN

PVT. TEDDY ARKIN

PVT. HYMIE M. BRANDHANDLE(R)

ROBERT BROWN

LT. CHARLES S. CHAZEN

PVT. OSCAR CHERNY

BERNARD COHEN

PVT. JEROME COHEN

PVT. HYMAN DUNN

LT. BEN EBERT

O 2/C OSCAR R. FIELDS

CADET HAROLD FRIEDMAN

CPL. LEONARD N. FRIEND

PVT. GILBERT GELLER

CPL. PHILLIP GOLDE

PVT. JAY GORAN

MAZON JOE GORAN

S. SGT. SEYMOUR GUTHMAN

LT. FRED KAGAN

PVT. HERMAN W. LEWIS

BERNARD LINSON

MAX D. LINSON

LT. HAROLD LISSMAN

S/SGT. RAYMOND LOFCHIE

R. TECH. E.S. MANDLER

BORIS C. MILLER

PVT. CHARLIE MINSKY

CDT. MARSHALL LEE MOSES

PVT. BERNARD NUDELMAN

PFC MELVIN NUDELMAN

LT. PERKINS

CPL. LOUIS JOE PORTNOY

SGT. BENNIE RICHELL

SGT. ABE ROSENBERG

SGT. EDDIE ROSENBERG

S/SGT. HARRY ROSENBERG

ALBERT ROSS

LAWRENCE ROSS

PVT. ARNOLD SANGERMAN

PFC SHEPARD R. SCHIMEL

CPL. DAVE SEGAL

MORRIS R. SHAFRAN

[STF.] SGT. JULIUS M. SIMON

LT. JOSEPH G. SMITH

SGT. LEONARD STEIN

PVT. HAROLD STEIN

S. SGT. SAM STEIN

JEAN TUCKER

SGT. SAM L. WALLEN

LT. HAROLD WEINER

PVT. BURTON L. WEISSBUCH

CAPT. M.R. WEISSBUCH

SGT. S.R. WEISSBUCH

PAUL ZHITNIK

APA HTC Tablecloth (detail).List of names of servicemenembroidered in alternatingrows of red and blue thread.


rooms. In one, classes were taughtby Rabbi Meir, a very good-natured,heavyset man in his late thirties orearly forties. He was my first teacher.We learned to read and writeHebrew, and as I look back at theexperience, I realize that his peda-gogical methods were top-notch. We enjoyed coming to Hebrewschool very much, and, as I recall,the absentee rate was minimal.

My next teacher was RabbiLipschultz, a short, thin man in hisfifties or sixties. Besides continuingour Hebrew studies, he fascinatedour class of seven-year-olds by tellingus about his recent trip to Israel andhow beautiful the tree-lined streetsand parks of Tel Aviv were. He wasthe person who first planted theseeds of Zionism in my brain.

The third teacher at Hagro wasRabbi Zalman, a tall, thin man,possibly in his 30s. I never had himas my teacher, but he had a goodreputation among the students.

Who can forget marchingaround shul on Simchas Torahcarrying a flag and apple, or stamp-ing our feet in shul on Purim whenthe megillah reader mentionedHaman’s name?

In 1958, we left Garfield Parkfor the North Side, and our affilia-tion with the Hagro Hebrew Centerended. But fond memories remainwith me. Our family left Chicagofor Los Angeles in 1961, and I’velived here ever since. A number ofyears ago, when I was in Chicago, Ivisited my old Garfield Park neigh-borhood. The building where welived was gone—an empty lot.

I walked the two blocks to theHagro Hebrew Center. Although itwas now a church, the front of thebuilding still displayed the indentedshape of a large Magen David.

Paul Malevitz, Los Angeles, CA

Letters continued from page 3 Remembering Bernard D. Meltzer, the Last of a Distinguished Group of Scholars

at the University of Chicago Law SchoolUniversity of Michigan Law

Professor Theodore St. Antoine oncedescribed Meltzer as “the finestcraftsman” among labor law scho-lars, stating that there was “no

person in the entirefield of labor rela-tions who was soadept at asking allthe right questions,recognizing all thecompeting interests,and exposing all theancient shibbo-leths.”

Prof. Meltzerrarely talked abouthis experiences atNuremberg in hisclasses, and it wasn’t

until many years later that I had theopportunity to read some of hisbriefs and listen to his stories aboutthe Nazi criminals in whose prosecu-tion he had participated.

Phil C. Neal, a former dean ofthe University of Chicago LawSchool, was quoted in the ChicagoTribune on January 5: “BernardMeltzer’s death marks the end of amajor part of the Law School’shistory. He was the last of a smallbut very distinguished group whojoined the faculty in the late 1940sand under Edward Levi’s leadershipin the 1950s made the School one ofthe recognized greatest law schoolsin the country.”

Dean Neal was undoubtedlyreferring to the deaths of ProfessorsHarry L. Calven, Jr., Walter Blum,Edward H. Levi, and Aaron Directorin recent years—and now, Meltzer.The fact that these men were allJewish is a great tribute to thescholarly heritage of our people.

—Walter Roth

With the death of Bernard D.Meltzer at age 92, on January

4, 2007, the University of ChicagoLaw School and the City of Chicagolost an outstanding human beingand a fine scholar.

Born in Philadel-phia in 1914 toRussian immigrantparents, Meltzer spentfour semesters atTemple Universitybefore transferring in1934 to the Univer-sity of Chicago, wherehe completed hisundergraduate studiesand obtained his lawdegree. After attendingHarvard Law Schoolon a graduate fellowship, andreceiving a master of laws degreethere, he began his legal career witha number of Federal regulatoryagencies in Washington, DC. Withthe entry of the United States intoWorld War II, Meltzer joined theNavy as an officer, where he dealtwith legal security matters.

In 1946, Meltzer joined theUnited States Prosecution Staff atthe Nuremberg International WarTrials under Supreme Court JusticeRobert Jackson. After the trials,Meltzer returned to the University ofChicago as Professor of Law.

He was one of my teachers at theLaw School in the early 1950s. Hewas teaching labor law, which at thattime was an area full of contro-versies, as McCarthyism wasrampant in the country. WhileProfessor Meltzer was often conser-vative in his views on labor matters,he and his colleagues acted withcourage, in my opinion, whenevercivil rights were attacked.

Bernard D. Meltzer


M y source for these selectionsfrom local Jewish periodicals of

the past is the Chicago ForeignLanguage Press Survey MicrofilmCollection at the Chicago PublicLibrary, Harold Washington LibraryCenter, 400 South State Street.

In the autumn of 1936 theChicago Foreign Language PressSurvey was organized under the WorksProgress Administration (WPA) ofIllinois. The purpose of the Survey wasto translate and classify selected newsarticles appearing in Chicago’s foreignlanguage press from 1861 to 1938.

Financial curtailments in the WPAprogram ended the Survey in October1941. The Chicago Public Librarypublished the work in 1942. Theproject consists of a file of 120,000typewritten pages from newspapers of22 different foreign languagecommunities in Chicago.

Yiddish is the foreign language of the Jewish press in the Survey.English language periodicals are alsoincluded, as well as the publicationsof charitable institutions, communalorganizations, and synagogues. In all,16,298 pages of the Survey illuminatethe Jewish experience in Chicago inthose years.

“FIRST HIGH SCHOOL TEACHEROF HEBREW HIRED. Mr. E. Zeligman, 2789 AugustaStreet, is the first Jew in Chicagoto pass the examination given bythe Board of Education as highschool teacher of Hebrew.

“This step was the result ofthe work of Mr. H. Lipsky, whofour years ago started a campaignfor Hebrew as one of the subjectsin the examination of high schoolteachers. Mr. Zeligman is a Ph.B.of the University of Chicago anda teacher in the Hebrew School atthe Home for the Aged. It isexpected that for the nextsemester he will be selected aHebrew teacher for one of theChicago high schools.”—DailyJewish Courier, July 30, 1917

“ROSA RAISA—THE SUCCESS OFTHE OPERA SEASON IN CHICAGO.The greatest “hit” of the Chicagoopera season is our renowneddaughter of Bialystok, Rosa Raisa.She has especially done splendidlyin her part as Tosca last Monday.She was stormily applaudedafter each aria. Madame Raisawas the only artist that receivedsuch a reception.”—Forward, December 4, 1920

“A SHEKEL FOR THE NATIONALFUND. Today, Purim, is NationalFund Day. Every synagogue willtake up a collection of shekels(one dollar in American money)for the National Fund, and everyJew who goes to the synagogue tolisten to the story of Esthershould not and must not forgetto give his shekel to the NationalFund.… It is only logical thatwhen you listen to the story ofHaman, you should realize thatthe sensible way to break loosefrom the clutches of Haman is by

ED MAZUR’S

PAGES FROM THE PAST

rebuilding Palestine—andPalestine can only be built bypurchasing as much land aspossible and settling Jews on thatland. The chief task of theNational Fund is to purchaseland in Palestine. This is thesimplest but most practical planof transforming Palestine intoEretz Israel.… Today is Purim;prepare yourselves for Passover—the Liberation.”—Daily JewishCourier, March 2, 1923

“THE WORKMEN’S CIRCLE OFCHICAGO bought a piece of landfor a summer home for childrenof its members. The colonyconsists of forty acres. This willbe one of the finest children’scolonies in the country.…

“The forty acres of land is inSouth Haven on the shore ofLake Michigan. Twenty acres ofthis land were set aside for achildren’s colony. On this landare a large house and two smallerhouses, having twenty-eightrooms in all, with all conven-iences and equipment for asummer home for children.

“The other twenty acres willbe divided into lots and sold tomembers only, for buildingsummer homes. The delegates ofthe central committee….determined that the deal beclosed, the contract signed, andthe sale of lots begin.

“The members will have tohurry to buy these lots becausethe number is limited.”—Forward, November 20, 1924

DR. EDWARD H. MAZUR, a memberof the CJHS Board of Directors, is an urban historian, professoremeritus at City Colleges of Chicago,and consultant to the InternationalVisitors Center of Chicago.

“CHICAGO’S COOK POT.Tomorrow evening, the secondopening dance will be given bythe Hebrew Institute. Thesedances will take place everySaturday evening. The dance oflast week met with great success.We are hoping that these danceswill bring the desired effect anddraw our Jewish youth away fromthe cheap dance halls, which area disgrace to the West Side.”—Daily Jewish Courier,November 10, 1911

618 South Michigan Avenue • Chicago, IL 60605-1901



MembershipMembership in the Society is opento all interested persons and organizations and includes asubscription to Chicago JewishHistory, discounts on Society toursand at the Spertus Museum store,and the opportunity to learn andinform others about Chicago Jewishhistory and its preservation.

Dues StructureMembership runs on a calendaryear, from January throughDecember. New members joiningafter July 1 are given an initialmembership through December ofthe following year.

Life Membership ..................$1000Annual Dues:Historian ..................................500Scholar......................................250Sponsor.....................................100Patron.........................................50Basic Membership ......................35

Make checks payable to the Chicago Jewish Historical Society,and mail to our office at 618 SouthMichigan Avenue, Chicago, IL60605. Dues are tax-deductible tothe extent permitted by law.


About the SocietyWhat We AreThe Chicago Jewish HistoricalSociety was founded in 1977, and isin part an outgrowth of local Jewishparticipation in the AmericanBicentennial Celebration of 1976.Muriel Robin was the foundingpresident. The Society has as itspurpose the discovery, preservationand dissemination of informationconcerning the Jewish experience inthe Chicago area.

Presort First ClassU.S. Postage

PAIDChicago, IL 60611Permit No. 6835

www.chicagojewishhistory.orgThe Society is now online! Browse our web site for information aboutour upcoming programs. Read past issues of Chicago Jewish History.

Discover links to many interesting Jewish sites. Use the printablemembership application. We welcome your inquiries and comments.

e-mail: [email protected]

What We DoThe Society seeks out, collects andpreserves written, spoken andphotographic records, in closecooperation with the Chicago JewishArchives, Spertus Institute of JewishStudies. The Society publisheshistorical information, holds publicmeetings at which various aspects ofChicago Jewish history are treated;mounts appropriate exhibits; andoffers tours of Jewish historical sites.

Tribute Cards for Celebrations/MemorialsThe card design features the Society’s logo, our mission statement, and spacefor a personal message. Purchase from the Society office at (312) 663-5634.

Remember the Society Name the Chicago Jewish Historical Society as a beneficiary under your Last Will, Living Trust, IRA or other retirement account. Any gift to CJHSavoids all estate taxes and can be used to support any activity of our Societythat you choose—publication, exhibition, public program, or research. For information please call the Society office at (312) 663-5634.

FIRST CLASS MAIL

Documents

chicago jewish historical society chicago jewish …chicagojewishhistory.org/pdf/2007/CJH.1.2007.pdfLynn is a teacher and author who lives with her husband John and their five children