chicago jewish historychicagojewishhistory.org/pdf/2002/CJH.2.2002.pdf · 2014. 7. 12. · Jewish Firefighter and Fire Dept. Chaplain Address CJHS Meeting Firefighter Carl Fox. Atlas

chicago jewish history

Vol. 26, No. 2, Spring 2002

chicago jewish historical society

Look to the rock from which you were hewn

IN THIS ISSUEFrom Berlin toChicago: “Lucky”Molecular BiologistGunther Stent

Family Memoir:“The Street” by Harriet Karm Berman

From the Archives:Chicago Jewish Music–The Empire Room

Fragments ofChicago’s JewishArchitectural History

The Selfhelp HomeOral History Project:Sophie Manes

Report on CJHS Program: Ida CrownJewish Academy

Carl Fox and Rabbi Moshe Wolf: Jewish Firefighter and Fire Dept. Chaplain Address CJHS Meeting

Firefighter Carl Fox. Atlas Arms fire,Niles, Illinois, February 19, 1973.

Collection of Carl Fox.

On Sunday, May 5, the Societyheld an open meeting at theChicago Fire Academy, 558 WestDe Koven Street––built on the site(legend has it), where the Great Fireof 1871 began. We met there tohear Carl H. Fox lecture on“Chicago Jewish Firefighters.”

In view of the horrific events ofSeptember 11, and the focus ofattention on our nation’s fire-fighters, Mr. Fox’s subject had aspecial relevance and poignancy.

What compelled a “nice Jewishboy” to want to become a fireman?Carl Fox attended Shepard Schoolat Francisco and Fillmore, across thestreet from a fire station, and that’swhere he became a fire buff.

Mr. Fox was one of thefounding members of the volunteerChicago Civil Defense Fire andRescue Service in 1957. He worked

as a copy boy for the Sun-Times, a police beat reporter for the City NewsBureau, and an insurance salesman for Met Life, until he fulfilled his dreamof becoming a professional firefighter. In 1963 he joined the Niles, Illinoisdepartment, eventually reaching the rank of lieutenant. He retired in 1985,and currently volunteers in the ER of Lutheran General Hospital.

His colleague in the Chicago Press Veterans Association, CJHS boardmember Harold Berc, encouraged him to research the subject of Jews in theChicago Fire Department. He discovered such names as Bernstein, Gilbert,Katz, Kirchner, Kravitz, Levy, Marcus, Marks, Peretz, Rappaport, Weiner,Weisserman, and Palermo (whose mother is Jewish). Bobbie Sacks is amember of the Air-Sea rescue team. Most of the 40-50 Jewish people in the

CJHS

25CJHS Silver

Anniversary ExhibitOpens November 7, 2002

at Spertus Museumcontinued on page 15

Officers 2001-2002Walter Roth PresidentBurt Robin Vice PresidentDr. Carolyn Eastwood SecretaryHerman Draznin Treasurer

DirectorsLeah AxelrodHarold T. BercCharles B. BernsteinDr. Irving CutlerSheldon GardnerClare GreenbergDr. Adele Hast*Rachel Heimovics*Dr. David H. HellerJanet IltisBea KrausSeymour PerskyMuriel Robin Rogers*Norman D. Schwartz*Ethel ShulmanDr. Milton ShulmanDr. N. Sue Weiler

*Indicates Past President

Chicago Jewish HistoryChicago Jewish History is publishedquarterly by the Chicago JewishHistorical Society at 618 SouthMichigan Avenue, Chicago,Illinois 60605. (312)663-5634.Single copies $2.00 postpaid.Successor to Society News.

Please send submissions to theeditor, Bev Chubat, at 415 WestFullerton Parkway, #1102, Chicago, Illinois 60614-2842. E-mail: [email protected]

Editor/DesignerBeverly Chubat

Immediate Past EditorJoe Kraus

Editor EmeritusIrwin J. Suloway

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


2 Chicago Jewish History Spring 2002

President’s Column

ABOUT THIRTY YEARS AGO, I HAD THEOPPORTUNITY TO MEET ELI WIESEL. He was spending a weekend in Chicago for aprogram sponsored by the Midwest Region of theAmerican Jewish Congress. It was before hegained renown as undoubtedly the most eloquentfigure to emerge from the Holocaust, and longbefore he received the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize.

A group of us spent the Sabbath with him, atthe home of an AJC member. We engaged in discussions during theafternoon and sang Hebrew and Yiddish songs in the evening. Thenext day he addressed a large audience at a downtown hotel. Therefollowed a panel discussion with several young people on subjects ofinterest to them. The “hot” topic was Israeli policy with respect tothe territories recently won and occupied after the Six-Day War. It ishard to believe that thirty years later the topic is still with us.

Elie Wiesel’s most recent visit here was on Wednesday, April 17,as a guest of the City of Chicago, to speak at the Harold WashingtonLibrary Center in celebration of “One Book, One Chicago.”

The city’s first “One Book” project was organized last fall, whenMayor Daley selected the novel To Kill a Mockingbird as ameaningful book that all Chicagoans could read and discuss. Theproject was so successful that the Mayor decided to choose anotherbook this spring––Elie Wiesel’s Holocaust autobiography, Night.

Night was written in serial form, in Yiddish, ten years after theend of World War II when Wiesel was living in France. It is a 109-page book that relates in simple, powerful language the horrors heexperienced as a 15-year-old boy deported with his family from atown in Hungary, first to a ghetto, and then to one death camp afteranother. Thousands of copies of Night were purchased at bookstoresand borrowed from libraries. This “One Book” was a success, widelydiscussed in reading clubs, high school classrooms and the media.

Elie Wiesel began his talk at the library by noting that he hadjust returned from a visit to Israel. “I have never seen Israel so sad,”he said, and went on to denounce the suicide bombers.

He spoke about his continuing struggle to comprehend theNazis’ attempt to exterminate the entire Jewish people. The atrocitiesin our time, as in Serbia and Africa, cannot compare with it, he said.

His usual calm manner changed to anger when he was askedabout American policy during the Holocaust. He chastised FDR fordenying a safe haven to the Jewish refugees aboard the ship St. Louis,and for refusing to order the bombing of railroad tracks leading tothe death camps once Hitler’s extermination policy became known.

Elie Wiesel concluded his remarks with this message for theaudience: “Write your stories.” This call to “bear witness” is notmeant only for Holocaust survivors. It should inspire all of us in theSociety to write our life stories and those of our families, andpreserve them for future generations. ❖

Walter Roth

3Chicago Jewish History Spring 2002

CJHS Summer Tours 2002The Chicago Jewish Historical Society––in cooperation with theDawn Schuman Institute––has planned three exciting Sunday toursof Chicago area sites rich in Jewish history. All tours are conductedin the comfort of an air-conditioned bus with restroom facilities.

SUNDAY, JUNE 23 Milwaukee: New Museum, Old NeighborhoodsGUIDE: LEAH AXELROD. The Milwaukee Art Museum has receivedinternational acclaim for its recent expansion and renovation. Amuseum docent will lead us on a tour of works by Jewish artists and anexploration of the dramatic new architecture. After lunch at thelakefront Pieces of Eight Restaurant we will take a drive-by and stoptour of the Jewish neighborhoods and the Lubavitch Chabad House.PICKUPS AT TWO LOCATIONS:

Marriott Hotel, 540 North Michigan (Rush Street Entrance) 8:00 am––Return 6:30 pm Bernard Horwich JCC, 3003 West Touhy 8:30 am––Return 6:00 pm

$59/Member of CJHS or DSI $65/Nonmember

SUNDAY, JULY 14 Indiana Safari GUIDE: LEAH AXELROD. The communities of northwest Indiana––Hammond, Gary, Michigan City, East Chicago and Whiting––were oncehome to thousands of Jewish people. Our bus “safari” will explore theirhistoric houses of worship and neighborhoods. Lunch will be at theMichigan City Yacht Club overlooking Lake Michigan. PICKUPS AT TWO LOCATIONS:

Bernard Horwich JCC, 3003 West Touhy8:00 am––Return 6:30 pmMarriott Hotel, 540 North Michigan (Rush Street Entrance) 8:30 am––Return 6:00 pm

$50/Member of CJHS or DSI $56/Nonmember

SUNDAY, AUGUST 18Chicago Jewish RootsGUIDE: DR. IRVING CUTLER. The author of The Jews of Chicago: FromShtetl to Suburb leads a sentimental journey to the Maxwell Streetarea, Lawndale, Logan Square and Humboldt Park. We stop at thehistoric Garfield Park Conservatory to view Dale Chihuly’s exquisiteglass sculptures, which are dramatically displayed among the plants.PICKUP: Bernard Horwich JCC, 3003 West Touhy

12:00 noon––Return 5:30 pm$30/Member of CJHS or DSI $36/Nonmember

For information phone Leah Axelrod (847)432-7003.

Advance payment required. Make check payable to: Chicago Jewish Historical Society.Mail to: Leah Axelrod, 2100 Linden, Highland Park, IL 60035-2516

SUNDAY, MAY 19Spertus to Show“Maxwell Street: A Living Memory”

Shuli Eshel’s acclaimeddocumentary will be shown at2:00 p.m. at Spertus Instituteof Jewish Studies, 618 SouthMichigan Avenue. HistoriansDr. Irving Cutler and SteveReiss will make short presen-tations before the screening.Admission is free, but reser-vations are requested. Phone(312) 322-1769.

MAY 24–JULY 7Victory Gardens toDebut “The OldMan’s Friend” byJames Sherman

A funny, touching newdramatic comedy by Chicagoplaywright James Sherman,author of Door to Door, TheGod of Isaac, and Beau Jest,will debut at Victory GardensMainstage, 2257 N. LincolnAve. Boxoffice (773) 871-3000. (Jim was the dramaturgfor the CJHS public programon The Romance of A People.)

NOW THRU JUNE 16“A Force of Nature:The Life and Workof Jens Jensen” atCultural Center

Learn about the legendarylandscape architect of theGarfield Park Conservatory.Chicago Rooms, 2nd floor ofthe Chicago Cultural Center,77 E. Randolph St. Admissionis free. Call (312) 744-6630.


From Berlin to Chicago:“Lucky” Molecular Biologist Gunther Stent

BY WALTER ROTH

The Chicago Jewish Historical Society is engagedin an oral history project at the Selfhelp Homeon West Argyle Street, interviewing elderlyresidents who were refugees from Nazi Germany.

In connection with this project, my attention wasdrawn to a book by the noted historian Walter Laqueur,Generation Exodus: The Fate of Young Jewish Refugeesfrom Nazi Germany (Brandeis University Press, 1998).Laqueur himself was a young refugee from Germanywho managed to reach Palestine. The book profiles anumber of those young people and describes theiradventures as they escaped andgained entry to lands where theycould start life anew.

Generation Exodus includes onlyone refugee, Gunther Stent, whocame to Chicago. I decided to tryand find him.

By coincidence, my friendManfred Steinfeld called me (Mannyand I were both refugees from NaziGermany who came to Chicago) toask if I knew of the Laqueur book. Ianswered in the affirmative, and inturn queried him about Stent. Muchto my surprise, he answered, “Ofcourse I know him. I went to HydePark High School with him. Weboth worked as soda jerks in adrugstore at 53rd and Ellis.”

Manny had lost contact withhim and suggested we search the Internet. We locatedhim easily. There is a page about him on the Web siteof the University of California-Berkeley: Gunther S.Stent, Professor Emeritus of Neurobiology. Included isa long list of his scientific publications.

That same evening, I phoned him, and he returnedmy call the next day. Yes, he was the Gunther Stentmentioned in the book by Walter Laqueur, his goodfriend. And yes, he had attended Hyde Park High from1940 until graduation in 1942.

Prof. Stent now teaches Philosophy and Ethics atUC-Berkeley. A most charming man, he told me thathe had recently written a book about his early life.

Within a few days, I received a copy of Nazis, Womenand Molecular Biology: Memoirs of a Lucky Self-Hater(Briones Books, 1998). The book made fascinatingreading, and I recommend it highly.

Professor Stent writes that he was born in Berlin,into a genre of Jews who were very wealthy andcompletely attuned to German high culture. His earlyeducation was in rigorous, conservative, Prussian-styleboys’ schools. He fully absorbed the atmosphere.

He writes: “Soon after the Nazis came to power inJanuary 1933, I began to hate myself for being a Jew.”

He was envious of the smartlyuniformed Hitlerjugend youthgroup that was, of course, closed tohim. Gunther did get to dress up ina uniform the following springwhen, at eight years of age, hebecame the youngest member of theJewish youth group, SchwarzeFähnlein. Its leaders “asserted theGerman Jews’ integral membershipin the German nation, werevirulently anti-Zionist, and glorifiedPrussian military virtues.”

Toward the end of 1934 theGestapo dissolved the SchwarzeFähnlein. These Jews who thoughtof themselves as super-Germanpresented “not only an ideologicalchallenge to the Nazi racist doctrinebut also an impediment to the

speedy cleansing of Germany of Jews.” Stent wasexpelled from the Bismarck Academy and reluctantlyfaced attendance at the all-Jewish PRIWAKI school.

Much to his surprise, he instantly fell in love withPRIWAKI. The Jewish teachers were young andfriendly, the setting was elegant, the students wereupper class and (most important) co-ed. English,French, and Hebrew language studies were emphasized,and Zionism was taken seriously. The students werebeing well-prepared for their inevitable emigration.

His wealthy businessman father fled the country in1938 while Gunther remained in Berlin with hisstepmother. His older brother went to London; his

Gunther S. Stent


SUNDAY, JUNE 16CJHS Seeks Volunteersfor “Greater ChicagoJewish Folk Arts Festival”

Every two years individuals from across-section of the entire Jewishcommunity produces a festival thatattracts thousands of participants.

This year’s all-day festival will takeplace at Caldwell Woods/Bunker Hill,Cook County Forest Preserves, Devonand Milwaukee Avenues.

The Society is seeking volunteers tohost our information table, tellingfestival visitors about our work. If youcan contribute some time, please phonethe CJHS office: (312) 663-5634.

JUNE 30–JULY 2 Chicago to Host FirstEver Reunion of “OneThousand Children”

One Thousand Children, Inc.(OTC) is presenting a special eventcelebrating the lives of a unique group ofHolocaust survivors and their rescuers.

The first ever OTC Reunion willbring together the approximately 1,000unaccompanied children who wererescued between 1934 and 1945 bybringing them to the U.S. and placingthem with foster families across America.

The Reunion will include presen-tations by scholars, OTC children,rescuers, and members of the secondgeneration. OTC children will be helpedto locate each other.

This three-day event is part of“Chicago 2002: Living the Legacy–AGathering of Descendants of the Shoahand Their Families,” to be held at thePalmer House Hilton, 17 E. Monroe St.

For more information about the“Chicago 2002: Living the Legacy”conference, visit the organizers’ Web siteat www.chicago2002.descendants.org or e-mail: [email protected].

sister and her husband left for America. After Kristallnacht inNovember 1938, Gunther escaped to Belgium, living inAntwerp until early 1940, when an American visa finallyarrived. He managed to get to England and board one of the fewships still taking passengers to the United States after theoutbreak of World War II. He landed in New York and came toChicago to live with his sister and brother-in-law who hadsettled in the Hyde Park neighborhood, as did many otherGerman-Jewish refugees.

He comments on his high school days, noting the life-long influence of his demanding English teacher, MissRubovits, on his writing style. And yes, he refers to hisjob as a soda jerk: “My partner was a fellow German-Jewish kidat Hyde Park High. In later life, he became a multi-millionairefurniture manufacturer.” (This was my friend Manny.) Stentwent on to the “big time,” as a short-order man at one of thebusiest fountains in the city, Liggett’s Drug Store in the Chicago& Northwestern Railroad Terminal.

In the fall of 1942 he entered the “cornball” University ofIllinois at Urbana-Champaign where, despite his lack of means,he was invited to join TEP, a Jewish fraternity. (They neededsomeone to raise their grade point average.) He was surprised tolearn that despite the religious segregation in campus housingand social life, American Jewish students were not self-haters.

(As he integrated himself into American life, he coped withhis self-hatred as a Jew. When he visited Israel in 1968, after theSix-Day War, to lecture, he was pleased to see a strong warriornation in a sunny, developed land not unlike California.)

He “discovered science” at the U. of I., and it was as ascientist in a U.S. Army uniform that he returned to post-warGermany. By 1948 he was embarked on a career in the new fieldof molecular biology. His mentor was Max Delbrück. Onecolleague was James Watson. In 1952 Stent was invited to UC-Berkeley, where, during his long tenure, he has madefundamental contributions in three distinct areas: molecularbiology, neurobiology, and the history and philosophy ofscience. His books include Molecular Biology of Bacterial Viruses,Molecular Genetics, The Coming of the Golden Age and Paradoxesof Progress. He edited the Critical Edition of The Double Helix,James Watson’s fascinating book about the discovery of DNA.

Nazis, Women and Molecular Biology often reads like a novel.Stent describes his youthful relationships with women––hisliaisons and love affairs––and includes excerpts of letters to andfrom his partners (discreetly changing their names). He writes ofhis interactions with some of the world’s greatest scientists, andmakes a wry, modest assessment of his own accomplishments.

While Stent’s stay in Chicago was short, it was here that hebegan a new life as a proud citizen of his adopted land. ❖

WALTER ROTH is president of CJHS. In 1938 he came to the HydePark neighborhood of Chicago as a refugee from Nazi Germany.


On a mild midsummer day in 2000, as preludeto our son Joel’s birthday lunch, we decided tocombine and pursue two of his favoriteinterests: family history and architecture. We took theChicago Architecture Foundation’s tour of MaxwellStreet. This was not a random choice; there is amagnetic pull to this area. The story of my father,Martin Karm, or Mischa, as he was lovingly called,resonates in this neighborhood.

In my memory, it was always referred to as “theStreet.” Maxwell Street was the place where my father,and at one time or another, his older brothers, Hymanand Max, earned their livings after they immigrated tothe United States.

Hyman was the adventurous one who left Kievseveral years before the Russian Revolution, andundertook the arduous journey to America alone.(Although the family spoke of coming from “Kiev,”they most likely had lived in a Jewish shtetl in theUkraine near Kiev.) Hyman came to Chicago upon theurging of cousins who had already made a successfultransition to the New World. They encouraged him todo the same and be the mentor and helping hand to hisfamily. Brother Max came the following year.

Hyman and Max worked at various jobs onMaxwell Street, saved their hard-earned money, andeventually were able to bring most of the Korczemskifamily (the name was later shortened to Karm) toChicago in the early 1920s––mother, father, Hyman’swife and two sons, Max’s wife and two sons, threesisters, a brother-in-law, and brother Mischa.

Handsome and outgoing, Mischa made friendseasily and was adored by his family. His journey toChicago began in a circuitous way. He had beenconscripted into the Russian army. The term of servicein those days was twelve years, and discharge was noteasy to come by. He had to be creative in finding a wayout. I remember him pointing to the ugly purple massabove his left ankle and, eyes aglow, telling myastounded brothers and me how he secretly shothimself in the leg so that he would be sent home torecuperate and could then desert the army.

Mischa embellished the story: “When I returned to

Kiev, people fainted in the street when they saw me!The neighbors thought they were seeing a ghost!” Itseems that the family had received word that Mischahad died in the army. Sorrowfully, they had packed,bribed their way out of Kiev, and headed for the UnitedStates. Somehow Mischa caught up with them inPoland, where they had stopped to bury his sister’s babyson who had died en route.

Mischa met my mother, Rose Levin, in an Englishclass at the Jewish People’s Institute (JPI) on DouglasBoulevard. They married when both were twenty.Mischa was working with his brothers on the Street.

Rose had an aunt and uncle, Goldie and DaveSeltzer, who lived in Bloomington, Illinois, where theyoperated an automobile agency and repair shop. Theyencouraged the young couple to move to the town.Shortly after their first child, my brother Jerry, wasborn, Mischa and Rose relocated to Bloomington andoptimistically opened a Jewish deli. Alas, this was anidea before its time. In the late 1920s, Bloomington,Illinois, site of the state teachers’ college, was not yetready for lox, bagels, and hot corned beef sandwiches.

They returned to Chicago and Mischa beganworking on Maxwell Street again, as a salesmanfor Taxman & Dlugatch Clothiers. He built upquite a following of regular customers who always askedfor “Martin.” He worked ten long hours a day, six daysa week. Wednesday was his day off, and my brothersJerry and Paul and I eagerly anticipated it, even thoughwe had to spend much of the day in school.

After some years, Mischa and a fellow salesman,Morris “Buby” Zolt, opened a small menswear store,Martin’s Clothes, at 713 Maxwell Street. There were novisible prices on the garments they sold. Prices weredetermined by a complicated secret code written oneach tag, and successful sales were the result of hardbargaining. Mischa was not the world’s best business-man; he liked people too much and was a soft touch.

There was genial cameraderie among the merchantson the Street. They were good friends despite beingcompetitors. On Sundays the Street was mobbed withbargain hunting shoppers. Street musicians abounded.

The StreetBY HARRIET KARM BERMAN

An earlier version of this memoir was written for the class “Writing for Your Family” at the Institute for Learning in Retirement (ILR) at Northwestern University.


Mahalia Jackson, the great gospel singer, frequentlyperformed on the corner of Maxwell and Halsted.

My brothers helped out at the store on weekends,but I wasn’t allowed to come along, probably because Iwas a girl. The exclusion didn’t bother me muchbecause I was terrified of the gypsies, who from theirstreet level windows beckoned with forefinger topassing youngsters.

Eventually Mischa was able to leave the Street, ifnot the neighborhood. He and two partners, brothersnamed Cooperman, opened Clinton Clothiers onRoosevelt Road and Clinton Street. The building had acenter entranceway. On one side was the men’s clothingstore that Mischa and the brothers operated. On theother side was a store where the Coopermans soldtrousers. (They may have manufactured the pants, orperhaps they were wholesalers.)

Several years later Mischa was forced to retirebecause of heart problems. He sorely missed the hustle-

bustle of the Street and the social connection that itafforded. Early each morning he would be at thekitchen table in his fresh white shirt, tie carefullyknotted, sipping his coffee listlessly, with nowhere to goin the long day ahead.

Joel’s birthday tour of Maxwell Street turned out tobe sentimental but disappointing. Mischa’s storeno longer existed. The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) had gained control of the area and

was demolishing buildings on Maxwell and Halsted tomake way for the 21st century. Modern universityhousing was being erected, surrounded by fenced-inparking lots. Even a pre-Civil War house on anadjoining street had been torn down. The preserva-tionists had lost the battle. Nevertheless, on that day,the street musicians greeted us and happily played on.

Interior, Taxman & Dlugatch Clothiers (?). Collection of Harriet Berman. Salesman Martin Karm is at the right. Can the savvy historians of CJHS identify

any of the other people in the photograph and verify the name of the store?

continued on page 10


In the spring of 1933, despitethe economic Depression andominous news from Germany,Chicagoans were preparing to setaside their worries and celebrate theachievements of the modern age at“A Century of Progress”–the World’sFair marking the city’s centennial.

Even before its official openingon May 27, the fair attractedthousands of visitors, who strolledthrough the grounds to gawk at theuncompleted exhibits. Anticipatinga surge of visitors, the hotels ofChicago spruced up their nightclubsand ballrooms and booked newshows featuring top entertainers.

The Congress Hotel opened theHawaiian Room; the Bismarck

dedicated its Walnut Room; theBlackstone presented a renovatedCrystal Ballroom; and the PalmerHouse opened the Empire Room.

“If this sort of thing holds to itspresent pace,” wrote Charles Collinsof the Tribune, “Chicago will have anight life better than that of thegood old days in Vienna.”

The nightclubs offered manyopportunities for Jewish performersand musicians, but none had sostrong a Jewish presence as theEmpire Room of the Palmer House.

Built on State Street bymillionaire Potter Palmer in 1870,the hotel was soon destroyed by theGreat Fire of 1871. The blueprintshad been buried in the basement to

save them from the fire, so Palmer,after receiving a $2 million loan,could begin rebuilding at once. Thenew Palmer House became a symbolof a rejuvenated Chicago.

The opening of the EmpireRoom on May 4, 1933, wasattended by an overflow crowd whopaid $2.00 apiece for dinner andparked their cars for 75 cents. Theshow featured the tango dance teamof Veloz and Yolanda, blues singerJudith Barron, Richard Cole’sorchestra, and Merriel Abbott’sInternational Dancers.

“The assemblage saw a floorrevue that radiates class–and inabundant measure,” wrote CharlieDawn in the Chicago American.

Merriel Abbott, daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants,was born in 1893 and grew up on the South Side ofChicago. She established a dance school and was aninstructor and choreographer, choosing her “Abbott girls” fromamong the students. Known for her high standards and strictness,she watched over all aspects of her girls’ education, going so far asto fine a girl if she gained too much weight.

“She taught the girls how to be ladies,” recalls Min Bobbin,who trained with Abbott as a young girl and performed under thename Sherry Wynn. “Success was very important to her. She had adrive that was terrific, but a soft and generous heart. Everybodyfelt her energy, and we all did our best for her.”

Four years after the opening of the Empire Room, MerrielAbbott became its booking agent, auditioning and hiringperformers. When the Palmer House was bought by ConradHilton in 1945, she became his first female executive, and was incharge of booking entertainment for all of the Hilton hotels. Herdancers continued to perform until 1957. She continued to workfor Hilton until her death in 1977.

Lew Diamond & Merriel Abbott, c. 1945. Collection of Alan Klein.

Visit the exhibit “Variations on a Theme:

Chicago Jewish Music in the Twentieth

Century andBeyond” in the

6th floor gallery atSpertus Institute,

now through August 31.

The Empire RoomBy Joy Kingsolver

FROM THE CHICAGO JEWISH

archives


R alph Ginsburg (who spelledhis name “Ginsburgh” forprofessional purposes) was amember of the first violin section ofthe Chicago Symphony Orchestrafrom 1916 to 1923. He formed hisown string ensemble, and, begin-ning in 1925, played in the maindining room of the Palmer House.

From 1932 to 1946 radiostation WGN broadcast his musiclive from the hotel. The ensembleplayed background music duringlunch in the Empire Room,and during dinner in theVictorian Room. The sweetstring music (along with themurmur of conversation andclink of silverware) wasenjoyed by a radio audienceall over the Midwest. RalphGinsburg was a member ofTemple Sholom. He died inDecember, 1965.

Lew Diamond, saxophon-ist and conductor, was one ofthe many musicians hired byMerriel Abbott. As a youngboy, he had taken musiclessons at Hull House, wherea neighbor’s son, BennyGoodman, was also enrolled.At the age of 16 Lew formedhis own band, and beganplaying in Chicago clubs inthe mid-1930s. Diamond’sorchestra became the regularrelief band at the EmpireRoom, playing there everyMonday night and at otherspots on other nights.

Alan Klein, Lew’s son-in-lawreports that Glenn Miller and GeneKrupa were early members of theband. Lew’s relief band was morepopular than some of the regularensembles, he says. Lew Diamond’sband appeared with Sophie Tuckerand other great headliners, and wasthe first professional band hired toplay at Wrigley Field.

Norman Krone was a youngtrumpeter and violinist when he washired by Lew Diamond. Kronebegan playing at the Empire Roomin 1938 and looked up to Diamondas his mentor. In 1953, LewDiamond collapsed on thebandstand and died of a heartattack. Norman Krone took overthe band, playing for several yearsunder Lew Diamond’s name beforegiving the band his own. Krone wasa prolific composer and arranger,

working with stars such as RedSkelton, Jimmy Durante, BobHope, Jack Benny, and many more.Norman Krone continued to play atthe Empire Room and book othermusicians there until his retirement.He died in 1992.

When the Empire Room closedin 1976, it was not a surprise. Themusic scene was changing, and as

Will Leonard wrote in the ChicagoTribune, “the show folk seem to belooking backward instead of towarda bright future.” The dwindlingaudience for show tunes and semi-classical music signalled a genera-tional shift. Today the EmpireRoom is maintained in all itssplendor, but is open only forprivate parties. ❖JOY KINGSOLVER is Director, Chicago Jewish Archives, Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies.

Norman Krone conducting his band in the Empire Room, 1960.Chicago Jewish Archives.

� Sources for this article includeinterviews with Alan Klein andSherry Wynn (Min Bobbin), theNorman Krone Papers at theChicago Jewish Archives, and“Merriel Abbott” by NormaLibman, in Women BuildingChicago, edited by Rima LuninSchultz and Adele Hast (IndianaUniversity Press, 2001), page 9.


There is a postscript to the story. Back inthe early 1950s, when Mischa and Bubywere operating Martin’s Clothes, I was astudent at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. One day I was infuriated to read asensational editorial in the student newspaper, theDaily IIlini. There it was––yellow journalism atits worst––an editorial criticizing the MaxwellStreet merchants, claiming that they were bilkingtheir customers and living in the lap of luxury. Iblasted off a letter to the editor, refuting hiswords. When my letter appeared in the paperseveral days later, I felt satisfied that my fatherand the other hardworking Maxwell Streetvendors had been vindicated.

Upon my next visit home, my father, eyestwinkling, placed both issues of the Daily Illini infront of me! “Where did you get those?” Isputtered in amazement. He smiled a slow, all-knowing smile and said, “Oh, the Street has itssources. Nothing escapes us. The editor’s owngrandfather has a store on the Street.” ❖

HARRIET BERMAN lives in Deerfield, Illinois with her husband, Dr. Myron Berman, a retiredinternist. She, too, is retired after a career ofteaching in north suburban public schools and theSolomon Schechter Day School in Skokie.

The Street continued from page 7

THE HENRY CROWN GALLERY:

Fragments of Chicago’s (Jewish) Past

V isitors to The Art Institute of Chicago usuallyhead for the galleries displaying the museum’sfamous collection of French Impressionistpaintings. They climb the great staircase (or ride anelevator) to the second floor and pass through a largehall displaying chunks of architectural materials. Theymay not look at the lettering high on the wall: “TheHenry Crown Gallery: Fragments of Chicago’s Past.”

They open the big glass doors to the PritzkerGallery and encounter Caillebotte’s painting of a rainyParis street scene, and they go on to visit many galleriesof great art. But a stop in the Crown Gallery would beenriching, too. Its fragments reveal the importance ofChicago’s Jews in the architectural history of our city.

A painted cast iron frieze panel from the facade ofthe five-story Rothschild Store (1880-81, demolished1972), at 210 West Madison Street, was designed byLouis Sullivan for the Jewish architect Dankmar Adler.

Dankmar Adler was the architect of the RosenfeldBuilding (1881-82, demolished 1938), on the southeastcorner of Washington and Halsted Streets. Thisbuilding was constructed for Levi Rosenfeld, aprominent Chicago businessman. The fragment is aterra cotta spandrel designed by Sullivan for Adler.

The firm of Adler & Sullivan designed theBenjamin Lindauer house (1885, demolished 1959), at3312 South Wabash Avenue. On display is a terra cottacorner piece from the chimney decoration. Adler &Sullivan were the architects of the Victor Falkenauhouse (1888-89), at 3420-24 South Wabash Avenue. Itsdisplayed fragment is a terra cotta angel.

Adler & Sullivan’s Chicago Stock Exchange (1893-94, demolished 1972), at 30 North LaSalle Street, isrepresented by a bank of elevator doors. (The superbreproduction of the Stock Exchange Trading Room islocated inside the museum’s Columbus Drive entrance.)

Architect Alfred S. Alschuler is represented by asection of a decorative terra cotta frieze for the lobby ofthe Thompson Commissary (1912, remodeled andconverted to multi-purpose office space in 1982), 350North Clark Street. The huge Thompson restaurantchain was the precursor of today’s fast food restaurants,and the decoration depicts images of food and grain.

O ther Jewish-related Chicago structures maysoon yield fragments. Alschuler’s MercantileExchange Building (1927), on the corner ofFranklin and Washington, is slated for demolition. Willits bronze elevator doors, decorated with agriculturalscenes, be preserved in the Henry Crown Gallery?

The Rosenwald Garden Apartments (1929), in the4600 block of South Michigan Avenue, is a five-storycomplex designed by Ernest Grunsfeld (the architect ofthe Adler Planetarium), and later reconfigured byphilanthropist Julius Rosenwald to provide low-costhousing for African-Americans. The future is dim forthis uninhabited, city-owned building. A fragment anda photoraph in the Crown Gallery may have to suffice.

The Art Institute of Chicago is located onMichigan Avenue at Adams. Visit their Web site atwww.artic.edu or phone (312) 443-3600. Bev Chubat


THE SELFHELP HOME ORAL HISTORY PROJECT:

Sophie Manes

EDITOR IRWIN J. SULOWAY wrote in the December1984 issue of Chicago Jewish History: “The largenumber of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany whobegan arriving in Chicago…in the middle 1930s werean energetic and gifted group. They almost immediatelybecame self-supporting and developed religious andcommunal institutions of their own. Among these noneis more vital or typical of this achievement than theSelf-Help* Home for the Aged at 908-20 Argyle Street.

Its genesis and its fine record of service in the provisionof a then highly unusual facility for senior citizens forman important chapter in Chicago Jewish history.

“What is today an impressive home…had its originsin a different sort of organization first founded inanother part of the country. Self-Help for Emigres fromCentral Europe was founded in New York in 1936 by adistinguished group of German refugees as a mutualaid society concerned with employment possibilities,housing assistance, help for the sick, child-care andeven the exchange of clothing among the recent Jewishrefugees. Two years later a Self-Help of Chicago wasestablished under the leadership of Dr. WalterFriedlaender, then of the University of Chicago.

“In the years after the war, the leadership passed toDr. William F. Becker, and as the refugees became

Sophie Manes was born on March18, 1905 in Husen, Germany, asmall community near the city ofDortmund. Her parents were FelixRuhr and Amalia Wolf Ruhr. Thefamily moved to nearby Derne andthen to another small community inthe area, Hostedde, and that iswhere Sophie Ruhr grew up. Shetells Sheila that the people of thearea worked as farmers or miners.

CJHS What kind of work did yourfather do?

SM My father was what they call a“fee handler.” He bought cattle andsold [them] to the farmers. Not onlycattle, but pigs, too. And he soldpigs to the miners. They would raisethem and then slaughter them andhave their meat for the winter.

CJHS Did your mother work?

SM When father was in the war,World War I, she kept the storeopen, yes, a little butcher shop…He was already forty-two years oldwhen he was drafted. He was inRussia. He came back in, I think,1918. They had to walk back. The

Germans were defeated, so theydidn’t come back in troops. Eachone had to find his way home.

CJHS Do you have any memoriesof that period?

SM The times were hard. Wealways had a little meat because mymother kept the store open. TheFrench soldiers…we were occupied.And I was going to high school inDortmund by that time. They tookthe trains over and we wouldn’t takethe trains. We took the bicycle orwalked, whatever we could do,because we wanted to show themthat we wouldn’t use the trains aslong as they were in charge of them.

CJHS Can you describe the kind ofhouse you grew up in?

SM It had two stories. Downstairswas a living room and a kitchen,and then my folks’ bedroom, and aWöhnzimmer, the better room thatyou don’t use much. Upstairs werebedrooms. I was one of five girls.We always slept like sardines, oneup and one down, one up and onedown, three or four in a bed. And

my father’s unmarried sister livedwith us, too. Tante Johanna. Wecalled her Tantchen (little aunt). She was rather small.

The five Ruhr sisters (from oldest toyoungest) were Hedewige, Lotte,Sophie, Helen, and Ilse. Four ofthem immigrated to the U.S.A.Hedewige went to Israel, and diedthere at age ninety-four. (Sophievisited Israel to celebrate hersister’s ninetieth birthday.) Ilse livesin Skokie. She and Sophie are theonly two that are still living.

CJHS What kind of education didyou have before you emigrated? Andthen did you work?

SM High school…I had learnedhow to sew, and [worked] in one ofthe nicest stores in Dortmund, as aseamstress. But I was still learning.

CJHS So, like an apprentice?

SM Yes, although I found somekind of letter where it says I was a“directrice.” The directrice is theone in charge of a sewing room…



*Note that the spelling of ”Self-Help” was changed to “Selfhelp” since the time Dr. Suloway wrote his article. The CJHS Oral History Project was proposed and developed by Society President Walter Roth.

The following (excerpted) interview was conducted by Sheila Rodin-Novak on October 17, 2001 at the Home.


CJHS Were you raised religiously?

SM We belonged to a temple inDortmund. We would go there, butmostly for the High Holidays. I canremember that––people in all theirfinery, walking in front of thetemple. Otherwise, my father alwayssaid he carried his religion in hisheart. He didn’t believe in going toa temple. And there were only aboutthree Jewish families in Hostedde…

CJHS And what about yourgrandparents? Did you know them?

SM Only my [maternal]grandmother. She was a very goodperson, but I was afraid of her.She was very sarcastic. If my dresswas a little too short, she said,“Aren’t you afraid that you wouldstep on your hem?” And I crochetedonce a sweater that had a rather bigneckline. She said, “Aren’t you afraidyou’ll fall out of that neckline?”…But she was loved in the town, thelittle town of Husen, because ifanybody gave birth to a child, shewould send soup there for the firstseven days. They really, really lovedher. She was a very good person.Only, like I said, very sarcastic. Iwasn’t there anymore when shedied. Even after Hitler [came topower], when they buried her, theysaid the people from the little townwent along. They didn’t care. Theywent to the funeral. And it’s quite adistance, in a different area, wherethe Jewish cemetery was.

CJHS Did you go to a Hebrewschool or anything like that?

SM No, I didn’t. But in highschool, every Wednesday morning,[they] had a Jewish teacher for us.

CJHS What prompted your family,and you, particularly, to come over

to the United States in the 1920s?

SM Well, times were very bad…inflation in Germany. My husband’sbrother was here already. He camein 1912, I think. Really, there wasno future for anybody there. And somy husband came over in 1925. Wewere already engaged. And then hesent me a visa, and I came over.

CJHS So tell me, how did you meetyour future husband?

SM I think it was a demonstration…against something. And we weremarching. He worked for amillinery firm. His home was nearCologne, but he was working [inDortmund]. That’s how we met.And some friends had, like, apensione where young men wouldeat. And he was eating there. And Iknew the daughter of the family…But there was another young man,and he said to my husband, “Fingersoff that one. I know the family.There is no money.” But [myhusband] didn’t listen to him”

CJHS When you left Germany, didyou come by yourself?

SM Yes. When a fellow asked myfather, “How can you let one ofyour daughters go so far away?,” hisanswer was, “I cannot offer heranything here.” I had never beenaway from home and was apt to gethomesick. But when my father said,“If you don’t like it, you let meknow, and if I have to, I’ll take outanother mortgage on the house andsend you the money. You can comehome.” So that way, I felt, youknow, I never was homesick.

Sophie came by ship from Hamburgto New York, where she was met bycousins of her mother.

CJHS What was your firstimpression of the United States?

SM When I got on the [subway]train in New York, everybody was

chewing. And I thought, “Why inthe world can’t they finish theirbreakfast at home?” I had never seenanybody, you know, chew gum allthe time. Everybody just sat therechewing. I though, “I can’tunderstand this.” And the dimestore, stuff like that…

Sophie traveled by train to Detroit,to relatives of her mother. There she married Henry Manes. After thewedding, the couple establishedtheir home in Chicago, where Henrywas already living and working.Sophie and Henry (called “Heinz”)were married for forty-one years,from 1926 until his death fromheart disease in 1967.

CJHS So your English was prettygood when you came over? [Sophiesays that she studied English in highschool and with a Berlitz teacher.]

SM Oh yeah. And we decided justto talk English all the time. Wewent to Englewood night school…An eighth grade certificate I got.

CJHS What work did yourhusband do? Did you work here?

SM In Germany he was asalesman. Here he worked forMarshall Field’s, first for the DavisCompany, that was part of Field’s,and then for Field’s wholesale.

I went to work right away, forBlum’s Vogue, you wouldn’tremember, one of the finest storeson Michigan Avenue. And then Iworked for Carson Pirie for a littlewhile. Dressmaking. Then I workedfor Laschin (sic). That was anothervery nice store on Michigan Avenue,until I became pregnant and mydaughter was born. Then I quit andstarted sewing at home.

The Manes’s daughter Rosemariewas born in 1930. She is married toDonald Farrington. “A really Englishname…He is gentile,” says Sophie.The Farringtons have three children

Oral History Excerptcontinued from page 11


and three granddaughters. Theyoungest, a two-year-old, is namedSophie Rose, after her great-grandmother and grandmother.

SM She doesn’t know that wedon’t…[Jews don’t name childrenafter the living]. But she asked meand I said I would be honored ifyou named her after me. So shenamed her Sophie, little Sophie.

CJHS Did you ever go back toGermany?

SM Yes. I went back in 1931…because I had told my father Iwould come back in five years andvisit––and I did…

Sophie’s parents immigrated toChicago in 1937. Her father workedwith one of his sons-in-law “who hada little milk store in South Shore.”

SM We [lived at] 53rd andBlackstone.…My daughter wasborn when we lived there. Then myhusband lost his job and we had tomove to a cheaper apartment.

CJHS When did he lose his job?

SM In 1932. He would comehome at night and say, “So-and-sogot his pink slip.” So-and-so, everyweek. When he came home and saidhe got his pink slip, I said, “Thankgoodness. We don’t have to worryabout that anymore.” So we movedto Cornell. My brother-in-law whowas in the wholesale meat businesswould bring me some meat Fridaynights. My sister-in-law would giveme some dresses. So we managed,but it wasn’t easy to get through.

And I sewed. I even employedone girl. My husband would do oddjobs and get a dollar or so. He andthe manager from where we lived onBlackstone, they were good friends,so he gave him sometimes a job, youknow, a dollar a day.

In 1935 we opened a small storeon Lake Park Avenue and 50th,

right across from the KenwoodSchool, and called it the KenwoodSchool Store. We were in the samebusiness for thirty-two years, untilmy husband died. Not in the samelocation, because they relocatedLake Park Avenue, so we had tomove to Hyde Park Boulevard. Andwhen they…I don’t think they torethat down…we moved to 53rdStreet. We had a small store there.We called it the Card Nook, calledit our retirement store. That wasabout ’62 or ’63. My husband diedin ’67. So then I sold the store.

CJHS How did you come to openup a store? How did that happen?

SM Well, we had to do something.So my husband’s brother gave us, Ithink, or signed for, about $400with the wholesale house so that wecould buy merchandise there. So westarted. And in 1933, there was theWorld’s Fair. Swift introduced icecream there for the first time…[Swift] put a fountain in our store.We had a little store, and the nextyear enlarged it…We had a verynice fountain and a back bar…Andbesides that, we had a postalsubstation. When we first got it, wegot three hundred dollars [a year].The last year, three thousand dollarsthat paid. But it was a…job.

CJHS Did you both work in thestore?

SM At first I would go over, like atnoon, when school was out, andhelp out. I don’t know just when Igave up sewing and worked in thestore full time. We had to leave[Rosemarie] alone, but she knew shecould call us. It was only rightacross the street. That post office,when the war broke out, they weresending mail to the soldiers. [Theline of customers would stretch]almost a block long…I reallylearned how to make packages.

CJHS Did you [belong to] asynagogue in Hyde Park?

SM We joined K.A.M. Mydaughter was confirmed fromK.A.M.

CJHS Did you go to there often?

SM Not really. We had the storeopen on Sunday, and then late…and then, of course, K.A.M. joinedwith [Isaiah Israel]. After myhusband died, I joined Sinai. Andwhen I moved here, they gave me alife membership.

CJHS What was it like for youwhen you first became a parent?

SM Well, I was working. I wished Icould, like other people, push ababy buggy. I never had a chance to.When [Rosemarie] was a little older,I had a girl take her out and takecare of her…I’ll have to ask mydaughter how she feels about it. Oh,I know that I often wished I couldgo and do like other women, pushthe baby buggy. That I know.

Rosemarie helped out in the store,but “was always busy with school.”She graduated from Hyde Park HighSchool and Grinnell College, andearned an advanced degree fromNorthwestern University.

CJHS How would you describeyourself today? Would you describeyourself as an American, a German,an American Jew, Jewish?

SM I feel more Jewish than I didbefore, that’s for sure. My friend isquite religious, and she said, “I don’tknit on Shabbat.” So I don’t knit onShabbat. I feel good. And I enjoy it.I really enjoy being here.

CJHS If you were talking to yourgrandchildren, what out of your lifewould you hope they could learnfrom your experiences?

SM Do the right thing. That’s all Ican say. ❖


CJHS Open Meeting Reviews 60 Year History of Ida Crown Jewish Academy

The Society’s open meeting on Sunday, March 10was held at Ida Crown Jewish Academy, 2828West Pratt Avenue. ICJA is a high school thatprovides both a secular and a Jewish education. It wasfounded sixty years ago as the Chicago Jewish Academy,on the West Side, and has been a vital presence in theChicago Jewish community ever since. Program ChairCharles B. Bernstein introduced three distinguishedAcademy alumni who reviewed the school’s history:Rabbi Bernard Neuman, Rabbi Harvey A. Well, andRabbi Leonard A. Matanky.

Bernard Neuman was born in France. His familywas able to escape in 1941, and settled in Chicago. Hewas graduated from the Academy in 1951, and earneduniversity degrees while concurrently studying at theHebrew Theological College, where he received smicha(rabbinical ordination). He became a financial advisorand is now a senior vice-president of Morgan Stanley.

He spoke about the early years of the Academy,naming Menachem B. Sacks as the prime mover in itsestablishment in 1942 as Chicago’s first Jewish dayschool. Its first home was in the Hebrew TheologicalCollege on Douglas Boulevard. There were 42 studentsat the start and tuition was $60 a year. Secular teachers,usually non-Jewish, were hired to teach secular subjects

at an annual salary of $3,000. In order to gain accredi-tation from the North Central Association, whichrequires that a school have a separate building/library,the Academy moved to its own home on Wilcox Street.

Harvey Well was born in Memphis. He came toChicago on his own to attend the Academy, and hisfamily followed. He was graduated in 1960, and wenton to HTC where he received smicha, while at the sametime earning university degrees. Since 1978 he has beensuperintendant of schools of the Associated TalmudTorahs of Chicago. He has served as rabbi ofCongregation Or Torah in Skokie since 1989.

Rabbi Well spoke about his era, which he called the“golden age” of the Academy, 1961-75. During thisperiod the Academy moved to Torah Center onMelrose Street (now the Florence Heller JCC).The boysand girls came from all segments of the Jewishcommunity. The religious classes were taught by a staffof rabbinical “giants,” including Rabbis Nahum Sacks,Fefferman, Sender, Eugen, and David Silver. Theschool, the youth group B’nai Akiva, and CampMoshava offered strong peer reinforcement. But thespirit of “community and unity” ebbed, he said, whenHTC opened a boys’ high school in 1961, and aseparate girls’ high school (ultimately named Hannah

Sacks Bais Yaakov), opened in 1963. Ida Crown Jewish Academy opened in

1968, and Chicago-born LeonardMatanky was graduated in 1976. He hassmicha from HTC, and holds numerousuniversity degrees. He has served as rabbiat Congregation K.I.N.S. of West RogersPark since 1994, and is president of theChicago Rabbinical Council. He has beendean of ICJA since 2000.

He spoke of the school today.Enrollment is 330, about 50/50 boys andgirls. Secular classes are coeducational,religious classes are single sex. Annualtuition is $12,000, but about half thestudents are on scholarship. ICJA isconstantly evolving, reflecting the “bestopportunities and also the difficulties oftoday’s society.” He called the Academy“an extraordinary modern Orthodoxinstitution, based on community, Torah,and the Land of Israel.” ❖

Ida Crown Academy, March 10, 2002. From left: CJHS President Walter Roth, Rabbis Harvey A. Well, Leonard A. Matanky and Bernard

Neuman, and Society Program Chair Charles B. Bernstein. Photograph by Norman D. Schwartz.


more secure financially, the mainfocus of the organization [became]care for its elderly persons.

“In 1949 the Chicago Home forAged Immigrants was founded. In1951 it was renamed the Self-HelpHome for the Aged and moved intoa converted mansion at 4949 SouthDrexel Boulevard. Increaseddemand and changing neighbor-hoods caused the move to a newly-constructed building at 908 ArgyleStreet in 1963.

“There, residents were housedin a modern, purpose-builtstructure. That same year, Dr.Becker’s widow Dorothy assumedthe executive directorship of thehome….[The late Dorothy Beckerassisted Dr. Suloway in thepreparation of this 1984 article].

“What made the Home unusualfrom its earliest days was the self-help concept which enabledresidents to lead independent livesin a caring group environment…

“[In 1974] during the presidencyof Frederick Aufrecht, funds wereraised for an adjoining building…The top two floors of this nine-storybuilding provide nursing facilities forthose residents who need them.

“Throughout the years the homehas continued to emphasize theself-help principle…The not-for-profitorganization which runs it isindependent of the various umbrellaorganizations the Chicago Jewishcommunity has created.”

Today the Selfhelp Home servesa much broader Jewish population,with residents from a variety ofbackgrounds. Other changes haveoccurred: paid professionals now domuch of the work that was oncecompletely done by volunteers. Living facilities have been enlargedand upgraded, from efficiencies toapartments. The Home continues to

THE SELFHELP HOMEcontinued from page 11

provide a full schedule of culturalactivities and educational events,and serves excellent kosher meals.

Linda Liss Fine, Director ofSelfhelp since 1989 is a registerednurse. Herbert L. Roth has held theoffice of president for about tenyears. Selfhelp Home’s immediatepast president is Rolf A. Weil.

CJHS is grateful to the officers,board, and staff of the Selfhelp

Home for approving our oral historyproject. So far we have recordedover a dozen interviews with itsresidents. The tapes andtranscriptions are on file at theChicago Jewish Archives, and areavailable for use by appointment.Call (312) 322-1741.

We hope our readers enjoy thestory of the humorous, courageous,self-reliant Sophie Manes. ❖

Firefighters continued from page 1

Egon Weiner, Pillar of Fire, 1961.Sculpture in front of the Chicago FireAcademy commemorates the Great Fire of 1871. View is from thecorner of De Koven and JeffersonStreets, looking from the south. Photograph by Norman D. Schwartz.

department are paramedics,not firefighters. JodyWarrick, a Jewish woman, isthe chief paramedic.

The first woman fire-fighter in Chicago wasJewish. Lauren Howardjoined the department in1980. Since 1995 she hasbeen Captain of EngineCompany 97. Two of hernieces (also Jewish) areChicago firefighters: ReliefLieutenant Lisa Barber ofthe 5th District, and Lieu-tenant Linda Parsons, whoserves in the Division ofTraining at the Academy.

Mr. Fox named Jewishofficers in Chicagolanddistricts: his son Mike, JeffGoldfarb, and Stu Gootnickin North Maine, Barry Lissin Skokie, Alan Berkowskyin Evanston, and more.

He then introducedMoshe Wolf, an Orthodoxrabbi for 23 years, who hasbeen the unpaid Jewishchaplain of the Chicago FireDepartment for the past 11years, and of our PoliceDepartment for 19 years.(He earns his living as amanagement consultant.)

His father was a New York City policechaplain. Rabbi Wolf is tall andbroad-shouldered. He understands thetough police and firefighter culture,and deflects anti-Semitism withhumor. He is present at all two-alarm(or bigger) fires, and ministers to allwho request his services. ❖

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� PROGRAM COMMITTEEDo you have a great idea for a meetingtopic? If you are organized and creative,friendly and outgoing, the ProgramCommittee would welcome your helpin planning and implementing our bi-monthly and annual meetings. CallCharles Bernstein (773)324-6362.

� MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEEThe Society’s membership continues togrow, and you could help us introduceChicago Jewish history to even morepeople. Share your ideas and energy!Contact Janet Iltis (773)761-1224 orClare Greenberg (773)725-7330.

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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.

What We DoThe Society seeks out, collects andpreserves appropriate written,spoken and photographic records;publishes historical information,holds public meetings at whichvarious aspects of Chicago Jewishhistory are treated; mountsappropriate exhibits; and offerstours of Jewish historical sites.

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chicago jewish historychicagojewishhistory.org/pdf/2002/CJH.2.2002.pdf · 2014. 7. 12. · Jewish Firefighter and Fire Dept. Chaplain Address CJHS Meeting Firefighter Carl Fox. Atlas