In Memory of Rabbi Ovadia Yosefby David P. Rosenberg, M.P.A., Reference Services Research Coordinator, Center for Jewish History Above image: President Reagan with Ovadia Yosef, Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel. Early 1980s. AMIT records, I-521, from the collections of the American Jewish Historical Society. The partner organizations of the Center for Jewish History have many works penned by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, including: Sefer Ḥazon ʻOvadyah : Yom ṭov. Yerushalayim : Mekhon “Maʼor…
Reflecting on the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom—50 years ago todayby David P. Rosenberg, M.P.A., Reference Services Research Coordinator, Center for Jewish History Rabbi Uri Miller, president of the Synagogue Council of America, recited a prayer during the March on Washington in 1963. It included: Thou [G-d] hast endowed all men equally with the rights to live, to liberty and to the…
New from Research and Reference Services: Book a Librariansubmitted by David P. Rosenberg, M.P.A., Reference Services Research Coordinator, Center for Jewish History The Center for Jewish History is happy to assist you in discovering resources! You can arrange one-on-one research appointments with library professionals who will help further your research. Thirty-minute sessions are limited to one research topic appropriate to the collections housed at…
In Memory of Frank Lautenbergby David P. Rosenberg, M.P.A., Reference Services Research Coordinator, Center for Jewish History Frank Lautenberg, the last World War II veteran in the United States Senate (he served from 1982-2001 and 2003-his death, today June 3, 2013), played an important role in allowing many Soviet Jews to come to America. His “Lautenberg Amendment” in 1990 relaxed certain standards for “refugee…
“Knaidel” is the Winning Wordby David P. Rosenberg, M.P.A., Reference Services Research Coordinator, Center for Jewish History Perhaps you heard that a Yiddish word won the National Spelling Bee for Arvind Mahankali. Yes, knaidel is spelled K-n-a-i-d-e-l according to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary–the official dictionary of the National Spelling Bee. As you may know, Yiddish is a fusion language of principally German, Hebrew…
Remembering the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (April 19, 1943)On its Seventieth Anniversaryby David P. Rosenberg, M.P.A., Reference Services Research Coordinator, Center for Jewish History In April of 1943, news of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising reached the Vilna Ghetto, and Hirsh Glick wrote the song “Zog Nit Keyn Mol”(“Never Say”). It soon spread not only throughout the Vilna Ghetto, but also to other ghettos and concentration…
Women in HistoryNobel Prize Winnersby David P. Rosenberg, M.P.A., Reference Services Research Coordinator, Center for Jewish History I recently researched women with Jewish roots who have won the Nobel Prize. Seven people hold the distinction in a range of topics from medicine to chemistry to literature: Gerty Cori was the third woman, and the first American woman, to win the prize when she won for…
American Culture in Haggadahs from the Collectionsby David P. Rosenberg, M.P.A., Reference Services Research Coordinator, Center for Jewish History Last year I reflected on the vast variety and volume of Haggadahs in my blog post “Dayenu: A few Passover Haggadot would have been enough…really?” This year I took a closer look at a handful of Haggadahs in the library of the American Jewish Historical…
On the 68th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitzby David P. Rosenberg, M.P.A., Reference Services Research Coordinator, Center for Jewish History On January 27th, 1945, Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army. The desolate, disease-ridden and mosquito-infested complex comprised the largest of the Nazi concentration camps. Over a million people were murdered there. When the Nazis learned of the Red Army’s approach, they attempted…
by David P. Rosenberg, Senior Reference Librarian – Collections, Center for Jewish History Above image: Hanukkah services for soldiers, circa 1917. National Jewish Welfare Board Records. c/o American Jewish Historical Society. Quizzes Prakim, a 1953 monthly program manual for synagogue activity, was published by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. Before Hanukkah questions, it has a passage on “The observance and Meaning…