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chicago jewish history

Vol. 25, No. 1, Spring 2001

chicago jewish historical society

Look to the rock from which you were hewn

IN THIS ISSUE1893: Jews at theWorld’s ColumbianExposition

Leopold Segedin Paints His Own ChicagoJewish History

1954: An Aida Trio–Loren, Tebaldi, Raisa

From the Archives:Preserving The JerzyKosinski Papers

CJHS Visit to ChicagoSinai Congregation

Save the Date! Sunday, April 22: Society’s Open Meeting at

Congregation Rodfei Zedek Spring, the season of rebirth, is the appropriate time for the Society’s

Open Meeting at Congregation Rodfei Zedek. The venerable synagogue,now in its 127th year, occupies a new building which it shares in part withthe Hyde Park Jewish Community Center. Akiba-Schechter Jewish DaySchool is also located on the synagogue’s campus. There is a renewed andstrengthened Jewish institutional presence on Chicago’s South Side.

The meeting will consist of two parts: Rabbi Elliot B. Gertel will present a program in narrative and

soundbites (audio recordings) from the archives of the congregation, “Voicesof Rodfei Zedek: Cherished Recordings of Outstanding Personalities andEvents.” The recorded voices include Rabbis Ralph Simon and BenjaminDaskal, Cantor Maurice Goldberg, and notable past presidents and leaders.

Congregation President Edward Hamburg will then conduct a tour of

Moorish Palace, Midway Plaisance, World’s Columbian Exposition.ICHi-23581, Photo, W.C.E., 1893. Chicago Historical Society.

Jews on theMidwayBY WALTER ROTH

T he World’s ColumbianExposition of 1893 was anaudacious undertaking. In

the words of Mayor CarterHarrison, “Chicago has chosen astar and looking upward to it,knows nothing it cannotaccomplish.” The great Fair broughtthe accomplishments of Chicago tothe attention of the world––just twodecades after The Great Fire hadnearly destroyed the city.

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Officers 2000-2001Walter Roth PresidentBurt Robin Vice PresidentDr. Carolyn Eastwood SecretaryHerman Draznin Treasurer

DirectorsLeah AxelrodHarold T. BercCharles B. BernsteinDr. Irving CutlerSheldon GardnerClare GreenbergDaniel GreenbergDr. Adele Hast*Rachel Heimovics*Janet IltisBea KrausDr. Joe 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.Please send submissions to theeditor, Bev Chubat, at 415 WestFullerton Parkway, #1102, Chicago, Illinois 60614-2859.Single copies $2.00 postpaid.Successor to Society News.

Editor/DesignerBeverly ChubatImmediate Past EditorJoe KrausEditor EmeritusIrwin J. Suloway

Editorial BoardJoe Kraus, Burt Robin, Walter Roth, Norman Schwartz,and Milton Shulman


2 Chicago Jewish History Spring 2001

President’s Column

BEING AN ATTORNEY AND ALWAYS ONTHE HUNT FOR LEGAL CASES THATHISTORY HAS FORGOTTEN, I WASPLEASANTLY SURPRISED RECENTLYwhen a book arrived in the mail, “The Girl withthe Hat––Esther Mercy vs. Marion Talbot.” Thebook was self-published last year by Harriet A.Reynolds Tuve. An enclosed letter stated that Mrs.Tuve was the daughter of Esther Mercy and that

the book was based on hundreds of clippings about the case, fromChicago newspapers, that Esther had kept for many years. I calledMrs. Tuve, who lives in San Diego, and is 84 years of age. She toldme that she had written her mother’s story because she felt that aninjustice had been done to her many years ago in Chicago, and shewanted the world to know about it. Mrs. Tuve has sent copies of thebook to universities, Hillel houses, religious and other institutions, aswell as to the Chicago Jewish Historical Society.

Here is a condensed account of Esther Mercy’s case:Esther Mercy’s parents immigrated from Germany and settled in

the South. Esther graduated from the Peabody Institute for Teachersin Nashville, Tennessee, where as a woman and a Jew, she facedprejudice and bias. She made her way to San Francisco, where sheendured the great earthquake of 1906. Esther then came to live inChicago with her uncle, Sigmund Kumholz. A neurologist who hadstudied with Sigmund Freud in Vienna, Krumholz had not beenaccepted to the faculty of the University of Chicago, allegedlybecause he was Jewish. He did become a Professor of Neurology atNorthwestern University (a strange twist, because historicallyNorthwestern has hardly been free of anti-Semitism).

Esther applied to the University of Chicago and was accepted in1910. (A spirited woman of many talents, she had briefly been anactress in the Yiddish theater, and was also a writer and poet.)

She rented a room at a University boarding house. One day, asshe entered her room with her fiancé, she discovered that valuableaigret (egret) plumes were missing from the elegant hat that she keptin her closet. She reported the apparent theft to her landlady, whotook offense and reported the incident to Marion Talbot, theUniversity’s Dean of Women. Esther's persistent claim of theft andother verbal encounters, including an alleged slander by DeanTalbot, resulted in her expulsion from the University. Thereafter, shecould not obtain admission to any other college in Chicago and alsohad difficulty finding employment.

Esther was angry enough to file suit against the Dean, thelandlady, and others whom she felt were involved in her expulsion. Alast ditch meeting with University President Judson failed to enlisthis help. Esther was left to her sole recourse––a lawsuit against theUniversity, which she filed on March 18, 1912.

Walter Roth

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3Chicago Jewish History Spring 2001

The people, events,neighborhoods, andinstitutions that shapedand transformed ourcommunity are broughtto life in the pages ofDr. Cutler’s latest book,“Jewish Chicago: APictorial History.”

About five years ago,when his book “TheJews of Chicago: FromShtetl to Suburb” waspublished, the authornoted that a significantpart of its appeal was itsphotographs.

From the hundreds ofpictures he was unableto use in his previousbook, he has selected230 interesting andmeaningful black andwhite images.

Irving Cutler is afounding member ofCJHS and a boardmember. He guides a

popular summer tour for the Society. “Jewish Chicago: A Pictorial History,”softcover, 128 pp., is widely available in Chicagoland bookstores for $18.99.

Corrections and Clarifications� In our last issue, in identifyingthe illustrations in the Society’slogo, we called the ConcordiaGuards a regiment. It was actually acompany. Civil War authority andCJHS member Marshall Krolickfaxed us this historical note:

“The most unique thing aboutthe soldiers who fought in the CivilWar was that almost all of themwere volunteers. Many of theseenlistments resulted from publicmeetings which were held in everycity and town. At these assembliespoliticians and prominent citizensgave speeches which fanned theflames of patriotism, and the mensigned up. One such meeting washeld on the night of August 13,1862, at the Concordia Club onDearborn Street in Chicago.However, this meeting was unlikeany of the others because it wassponsored by Ramah Lodge of theB’nai B’rith. In attendance was theJewish community of Chicago. Bythe end of the evening, 96 men hadvolunteered and $10,000.00 hadbeen pledged to provide a reward,or bounty as it was then called, tothe enlistees.

“Nicknamed the ConcordiaGuards because of the meetingplace, those 96 men who hadenlisted that night became the onlyall-Jewish unit to fight in the CivilWar. Officially designated asCompany C of the 82nd IllinoisInfantry Regiment, they would seeaction at the Battles ofFredericksburg, Chancellorsville,Gettysburg, and Chattanooga, andin the campaign for Atlanta,Sherman’s March to the Sea, and thecampaign through the Carolinas.”

Marshall Krolick is a Chicagoattorney. He is a respected writer andspeaker on Civil War topics. OnFebruary 10, 1985, Mr. Krolickaddressed an Open Meeting of CJHS.

� Also in our last issue, Gov. SamShapiro was said to have attendedSt. Victor’s College. The correctname was St. Viator’s. (TheViatorians closed their schoolaround 1938 and sold the propertyto the Nazarene denomination. It isnow Olivet Nazarene University.)

� In the article “Living Waters,”the name of Sidney Stiefel ofOttawa, Illinois was misspelled.

CJH regrets the errors.

Society Receives Foundation Grant

The Benjamin J. RosenthalFoundation has provided a grant of$5,000 to CJHS. This generouscontribution will help the Society topursue its future projects. TheRosenthal Foundation was also afinancial contributor to the Society’srecent reprint of the program bookfor The Romance of A People.

New Book by Irving Cutler:Vivid View of Jewish Chicago

Society Video to be Shown on WTTW Channel 11:Monday, April 2, at 7:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.

The Romance of A People will be presented as part of the“Chicago Stories” series hosted by John Callaway.

(See TV listings for repeat showings later in the week.)


An Act of Congress in 1890 specified that theExposition was to provide an exhibit of arts, industries,manufactures, and the product of the soil, mine, andsea, in the city of Chicago. The nations of the worldwere invited to take part. A large tract of swampy landon Chicago's South Side, known as Jackson Park, wasdesignated as the location of the Fair. Within a littlemore than two years, a dreamcity––the “White City”––hadbeen erected on the site.

The map on these pagesgives an indication of the sizeand scope of the Fair, but notof the ornate grandeur of theWhite City. Noted architects(including Dankmar Adler)and sculptors, under thedirection of Daniel Burnham,had designed huge exhibitionhalls in a variety of elaborate European architecturalstyles. The white buildings shone brilliantly at nightwhen they were illuminated by electric lights.

Chicago's mercantile elite, the department storemagnates of State Street, were among the promoters ofthe White City. Most fair-goers were encountering, forthe first time, a variety of merchandise from around theworld, under one roof, beautifully displayed (withvisible price tags), that they could buy from courteoussales clerks. This prepared the fair-goers to expect thesame splendid shopping experience at Marshall Field’s;Carson’s; the Fair Store; Mandel Brothers; Rothschild& Co.; and Siegel, Cooper & Company.

But there were civic leaders who felt that beyondthe display of the material achievements of man,however magnificent, “something higher and

nobler is demanded by the enlightened and progressivespirit of the present age,” and they established theWorld’s Congress Auxiliary of the World’s ColumbianExposition. The Congress consisted of meetingsattended by people who represented virtually the wholespectrum of human thought and endeavor. TheseCongresses were convened from May 15 to October 15in the newly built Art Institute of Chicago.

The Congress on Women, chaired by BerthaHonoré Palmer, was the opening Congress. Its successwas surpassed only by the last congress, the World’sParliament of Religions, where Judaism was representedin the person of Emil G. Hirsch, Chicago’s leading

Reform rabbi. Hannah Greenebaum Solomon belongedto Rabbi Hirsch’s Chicago Sinai Congregation andmoved in the same social circles as the Gentile womenorganizing the Women’s Congress, and she was invitedto serve on the governing committee of the Parliamentof Religions. Mrs. Solomon organized a JewishWomen’s Congress as part of the Parliament, one resultof which was the formation of what eventually wouldbecome the National Council of Jewish Women. Mrs.Solomon’s colleague (and eventual rival) in thisorganizing effort was Sadie American.

T here was another, very different, part of theExposition that has become increasinglyimportant for historians to study a century

later––the Midway Plaisance. This poem was publishedin the Chicago Daily News at the time of the Fair:

“Let’s away to the Midway Plaisance: There are wisps of loveliness to behold. Oh, the lithe Moorish maidens with bangles of gold and eyes that will set you afire at a glance. They discount the marvelous yarns of romance ingeniously spun by the authors of gold; Why the half of the charms of that place can’t be told, and hush, we will see the Algerian dance––Come boys, let’s away to the Midway Plaisance.”

The Midway Plaisance was a mile-long stretch ofland connecting Washington Park with Jackson Park,where the White City was located. The Midwayheld a wealth of colorful commercial amusements.Its main attractions were the gigantic Ferris Wheeland a collection of villages containing the “nativepopulations, products, food, and games of theworld’s population.”

Professor Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, inher study “A Place in the World: Jews and theHoly Land of World Fairs,” writes in depth ofthe background of the villages along theMidway. Earlier Fairs, most recently the Paris

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Jews on the Midwaycontinued from Page 1

WA

SHIN

GT

ON

PA

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Rand McNally & Co.’s Miniature Guide Map of the

World’s Columbian Expositionat Chicago, 1893 (detail).

Chicago Historical Society.

The Palace of Fine Artswas one of the fewbuildings left standingafter the Fair. After timeand reconstruction, itbecame the home of theMuseum of Science andIndustry. (The story ofJulius Rosenwald andthe Museum was told inWalter Roth’s article(CJH Spring 1992).

The Manufactures andLiberal Arts Building (787’ x 1,687’) was thelargest structure in theworld at the time, butnot for long. Like theother Fair buildings, itwas of flimsy wood andstucco construction.


International Exposition of 1889,had included foreign and, especially,exotic French colonial entertainers,but the Chicago Exposition Midwayof 1893 was meant to have a moreserious ethnological and anthropo-logical purpose.

A Harvard University professorof ethnology, Frederic C. Putnam,was appointed to organize exhibitsof historical and cultural interest onthe Midway, and he retained CyrusAdler, a Jewish scholar at Harvardand the Smithsonian Institution, asa consultant.

P rofessor Putnam’s plan forthe Midway was to constructethnic villages showing the

evolution of mankind––beginningin Africa and culminating inEurope, with the Near and Far Eastarranged between them. (A Jewishvillage had never been contem-plated. Adler and others believedJews to be members of anacculturated religion with noparticular homeland.)

To Putnam, Jews were a race,while Adler strove to presentJudaism as a religion, as one of thegroups that lived in Biblical lands.He believed that “everything whichmakes for the higher life in modernman derived directly from a fewgroups of people that lived aboutthe Mediterranean, and thatknowledge of this civilization isessential to an understanding of thehigher history of human thought.”Adler clashed with those scholarswho believed that Westerncivilization was derived largely fromAryan sources.

Under Professor Putnam, theplanning and construction of theMidway exhibits was poorlyorganized and fell behind schedule.Sol Bloom, a 22-year-old Jew bornin Pekin, Illinois, (and later a

publisher of popular music and along-time New York Congressman),replaced the professor as manager ofMidway concessions.

Despite his youth, Sol Bloomhad had years of experience intheatrical management in SanFrancisco. He had visited the 1889Paris International Exposition andhad negotiated a contract to exhibitthe Algerian Village, the most exoticand spectacular of the Frenchcolonial attractions, in America. Hebrought this troupe of performers toChicago. Bloom writes in hisautobiography of the unruliness ofsome of the Algerians as they waitedfor the Fair to open. He claims tohave employed members of BuffaloBill’s Wild West Show (encampednear the I.C. railroad tracks) toround up the wandering artists.

In our Year-End 2000 issue wereprinted an article sent to us byHarvey M. Karlen, “Yom Kippur onthe Midway” by Isidor Lewi,published in 1901. The articlepoints out that about four-fifths ofthe population of the Midway’sTurkish Village were Jews. Lewimovingly depicts the scene of theirquiet High Holy Day observance.(Strangely, Sol Bloom makes nomention of any Jews on theMidway––other than himself.)

The Exposition hired Jewishtranslators and guides toexplain the Oriental Villages

to visitors. Robert Levi, the managerof the Turkish Village, who hadbrought many Jews from thatcountry to work at the Fair, alsoemployed some Jewish Chicagoans,passing them off as Turks. Therewas a report in the Chicago Tribuneof a controversy that arose whenthese midwesterners refused to wearoriental costumes, “includinggorgeous bloomers.”

AN ALGERIAN DANCER.Halftone, from “Part Two,Chicago Times Portfolio of

Midway Types, 1893.” Chicago Historical Society.

Text under picture:“The dancing girls of thetheaters on the Midway alwaysattracted large crowds. One ofthe finest displays of theterpsichorian art was in theAlgerian theater, where theabove artist was an eminenttype of her race. While mostof the Algerians were darkcolored, the men especially,this woman was white. Herdancing was of the kindperformed by most of theOrientals, and included thedanse du ventre.”

Jews on the Midway continued from Page 4


Some of the Jews may have owed their jobs toCyrus Adler, who had been appointed Commissioner ofthe Chicago Exposition to Turkey, Palestine, andMorocco. Since Palestine was under the rule of theOttoman Empire in 1893, and since many Jews lived inJerusalem and surrounding areas, it is fair to assumethat performers and workers from Palestine werepresent. Their costumes and looks made it easy forthem to pass as “Mohammedans.”

The danse du ventre––the “belly dance”––was thesensation of the Midway. It was danced in theEgyptian Theater, located on the Cairo Street,

and a popular song at the Fair was She Never Saw theStreets of Cairo, that incorporated the “hoochy-koochy”melody. Some of the most famous belly dancers on theMidway were Jewish––among them Nazha Kassik, anative of Beyrouth [sic], Syria and Rahlo Jammele, “anative of Jerusalem.” They performed in the theater inthe Moorish Palace. Rossiter Johnson’s 1897 history ofthe Exposition notes that the chief Algerian dancinggirl was beautiful, mysterious, and popular, “but shewas less fascinating to young men visitors than Fatima,of the Persian theater, who was more lithesome, andexecuted the danse du ventre with a wild abandon thatcalled for repression by the authorities.”

Of course, there is much more about the Midwaythan can be covered here. Professor Putnam did succeedin creating a large photographic exhibit on his favoritesubject, “The Development of Man,” in which Jewswere depicted as a racial type.

A decade later, at the St. Louis Fair of 1904, theJews of Jerusalem were recognized in their own right,not as “Mohammedans.” But it was not until the 1933Chicago World’s Fair that there was a Jewish Day whena great pageant, The Romance of A People, was staged inSoldier Field, telling the history of the Jewish peopleand their dream of a national homeland in Palestine. Asfor the Jewish “villagers” of the World’s ColumbianExposition of 1893––we can only speculate as to theirfate. Some must have returned home to Europe, NorthAfrica, and the Middle East. Some may have gone on toparticipate in the St. Louis Fair. Perhaps some remainedin Chicago and have descendants living here. As yet wehave found no record of this. ❖

WALTER ROTH is president of the Society. His article“Sol Bloom, the Music Man” appeared in the Summer2000 issue of CJH. Julia Kramer addressed the April 18,1993, meeting of the Society on the subject of HannahSolomon and the origins of the National Council of JewishWomen. Geoff Heller’s report on Julia Kramer’s talk waspublished in the Summer 1993 issue of CJH.

REBECCA MEISE ALITHENSII. (Jewess.)ICHi-31063, W.C.E. Portraits, 1893.

Chicago Historical Society. Text under picture:

“Though the Jews are no longer a nation andproperly claim citizenship in all countries, there isno racial type that has been so persistent through somany centuries and amid such varied environment.Whether in Palestine or America, in the Tenthcentury before or the Nineteenth century afterChrist, the Jew shows the same physical character-istics, slightly modified by his surroundings, andthe same intellectual acumen and business capacitythat have made him the most successful financier inthe world. This handsome oriental lady was born ofJewish parents in Constantinople twenty-sevenyears ago; and while retaining evidences of herJewish blood, she is in general appearance a fairtype of Turkish beauty, and her dress gives an exactidea of the picturesque and gorgeous costume ofthat nation. Her husband, a merchant of her nativecity, was induced to come to the Fair by Mr.Levi…She assisted her husband in disposing oftheir beautiful stuffs, bric-a-brac, and many quaintcurios; and the public was attracted by thisbeautiful woman as much as by the rare wares theysold. She speaks English quite well with a veryfascinating accent, and is exceedingly polite.”


LeopoldSegedinPAINTS HIS OWN

Chicago JEWISH HISTORY

Leopold Segedin: Then and Then and Then, 1997; mixed media on panel, 9 3/4” x 8”; courtesy the artist and Byron Roche Gallery.

HEY KID. Written by Michael Smith. From Hello Dali: From the Sublime to the Surreal. Created and performed byJamie O’Reilly and Michael Smith with Beau O’Reilly and Jenny Magnus. Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago 2000.

L ast winter at Victory GardensTheater on Lincoln Avenuethe world of painting was

explored in a delightful multimediacabaret, “Hello Dali: From theSublime to the Surreal.”

Art masterpieces were projectedon screens behind the onstagesingers and musicians––images offamous works by over 40 paintersand photographers. But this was notjust an academic slide show. Theprojection screens were geomet-rically divided to display the imagesin ever-changing juxtaposition,cleverly manipulated with the use ofcomputer graphic techniques.

Leonardo da Vinci, ArtemisiaGentileschi, Vincent van Gogh,Pablo Picasso, René Magritte,Jackson Pollock, and other greats ofthe past––and one very alive andactive Chicago artist, LeopoldSegedin, were included. Segedincommented on the experience:

“In all the years I’ve beenpainting, I never expected to beincluded in such eminent company––at least not for another 50 or 100years. Next stop, the Louvre––hanging next to the Mona Lisa, ofcourse. What an ego trip!”

H ow did Segedin come to be included? Serendipity played a part.Two gifted Chicagoans, singer-composer-guitarist Michael Smithand his creative collaborator, singer Jamie O’Reilly, were in the

process of devising a cabaret of “songs about paintings.” They eachhappened to stop in––separately––at the Byron Roche Gallery on FranklinStreet in River North, and saw Leopold Segedin’s work on exhibit. Smithand O’Reilly were each impressed by the luminous, nostalgic, paintings.The title of one of the paintings, Hey Kid, became the title of a song.Michael Smith’s lyrics express the artist’s universal themes of loss, loneliness,and confrontation with mortality. Segedin’s paintings of a rememberedChicago became the surprise hit of “Hello Dali.”

Leo didn’t start out to be an artist. Though he always liked to draw, hewas a practical kid. He wanted to be a pilot (now age 74, he flew a planehimself for the first time when he was 70). By the time he was in high


school at Crane Tech he wanted tobecome an engineer, and then(because the engineering field wasinhospitable to Jews at that time)he turned to commercial art.

T hen, on a cold, snowy,December day in 1942, afamily friend, the artist

Arthur Polansky, appeared at theSegedin apartment on SouthSpringfield Avenue carryingbrushes, paints, easels, and canvases.He announced to Leo that theywere going out to paint. Polanskytook him to a second floor backporch overlooking the Garfield Park“L” tracks near Independence Blvd.and got permission from the tenantsto set up their easels. They paintedfor hours, with Leo’s hands freezing,although he was wearing mittens.That was the first time he painted“L” tracks, brick walls, and backporches, and––off and on––he’sbeen painting them ever since.

He studied painting at theUniversity of Illinois, Urbana, wherehe gained an MFA in 1950, and wasa teaching assistant. He taughtengineering drawing when he was inthe Army during the Korean War.

Upon discharge Segedinreturned to Chicago, and true to hispractical nature, embarked on ateaching career, ultimately as an artprofessor at Northeastern IllinoisUniversity. But he always foundtime for painting, on a wide varietyof themes. Over the years he hasbeen involved in the activities of theAmerican Jewish Artists’ Club.

In 1987, with the encour-agement of Jan, his wife of 41 years,Leo retired from teaching to devotehimself to painting full-time. ❖

Leopold Segedin: Chicago Windows II, 1999; mixed media on panel, 16” x 24; courtesy private collection and Byron Roche Gallery.

“The paintings Michael Smith is referring to in [the song] Hey Kid! areof the neighborhood in which I grew up––the West Side of Chicago…They are not scenes of particular places [although the painting Recessdoes portray Gregory Elementary School in 1937, and that is MarvinGoldblatt looking out at us]…Rather they are about the feel of thespaces we lived in––the streets and rooms, the back yards, the porches,and alleys––transformed by my memory.” ––Leopold Segedin

Leopold Segedin: Recess, 1999; mixed media on panel, 12” x 16; courtesy the artist and Byron Roche Gallery.

Leopold Segedin is represented bythe Byron Roche Gallery, 750 NorthFranklin Street, Chicago. (312)654-0144. See Segedin’s artin full color on the gallery website:www.byronroche.com


Remember when the World Playhouse in the FineArts Building was the only downtown Chicagovenue for foreign films? Had you been in that

movie house one evening in 1954, you would havewitnessed an amazing performance featuring a trio ofdivas––two in the film and one in the audience.

The movie was Aida, an adaptation of the Verdiopera, in color, and starring the gorgeous young SophiaLoren in the title role. Her voice was dubbed by one ofthe greatest operatic sopranos of that time, RenataTebaldi. And in the audience, singing along, wasChicago’s legendary Jewish diva, Rosa Raisa.

Rosa and Aida are linked in our city’s musicalhistory. When the Chicago Civic Opera House openedin 1929, Aida was the inaugural production, and thestar was Raisa. Aida had also been the company’s lastproduction at the Auditorium the season before––alsostarring Raisa. When Queen Marie of Roumania paidher famous visit to Chicago in 1926, her encounterwith Jewish people was not just on the West Side at theRoumanian shul; she also spent an evening at theAuditorium, at a performance of Aida, starring Raisa.

My friend Irwin Gold was at the World Playhousefor the Aida “trio,” and couldn’t wait to tell me about it.Although I was a teen-age opera fan, I knew somethingof Raisa. I had first listened to operatic voices at homeon our wind-up Victrola when I was a toddler. Myparents’ record collection, dating from the 1920s,included singers who had appeared in Chicago in thosedays––Amelita Galli-Curci, Tito Schipa, and JohnCharles Thomas. Rosa Raisa was represented by an off-brand (that is, not Victor) recording of the aria CastaDiva from Norma. The poorly produced record waswarped and scratched by the time I heard it.

What else did I know of Madame Raisa? Only thevague disapproval voiced by my mother about someconnection that Raisa and her husband, GiacomoRimini, had had with fascist Italy. Why was this famoussoprano of the past singing in a Michigan Avenuemovie house? I enjoyed Irwin’s amazing anecdote, butdidn’t investigate it any further at that time.

Only when I was researching an article aboutMadame Raisa for the Spring 1999 issue of CJH did Ilearn that she had maintained a studio in the Fine Arts

Building, where she taught voiceafter her husband’s death in 1952.How could the diva have resistedgoing downstairs to the movietheater and performing her mostpopular role once again? Perhapsshe “sang along” many times.

Philip P. Bregstone includedRaisa in his book “Chicagoand Its Jews: A Cultural

History” (1933), and he offeredthis biographical information:

“In 1914 she came to Americawith Maestro Campanini, whobecame the Director of theChicago Grand Opera Company.As soon as the law permitted shebecame a naturalized citizen andestablished her residence inChicago, which city she regards asher home. She married the well-known baritone opera singerGiacomo Rimini, a native ofVerona, Italy. His father, aprominent physician, was the

Rosa Raisa as Aida.Image courtesy Marston Records.

1954: An Aida Trio––Loren, Tebaldi, and RaisaBY BEV CHUBAT


Rosa Raisa as Norma.Image courtesy Marston Records.

The suit was tried in frontof a jury in Chicago’s CircuitCourt, Judge Henry SterlingPomeroy presiding. The casedragged on for several weeks, tothe great embarrassment of theUniversity. Many of its facultymembers were called aswitnesses, notably Rabbi EmilG. Hirsch, professor at theUniversity and rabbi of ChicagoSinai Congregation. In order tocounter allegations by somewitnesses for Esther, RabbiHirsch testified that he had notencountered any anti-Semitismat the University.

To Chicago newspapers, thecase was headline news. Thecourtroom was crowded withonlookers. At the end of trialthe jury deliberated for a dayand reported back a verdict infavor of Esther, with an awardof $2,500 in damages, althoughshe had sought $100,000.

The victory brought greatjoy to Esther, her family, andfriends. The University sought arehearing, which was denied. Itappealed the judgment, and in1914, the Illinois AppellateCourt reversed the verdict ondubious technical grounds.

The court held that sincethe plaintiff (Esther Mercy) hadnot proven the net worth of thedefendant (Marion Talbot),there could be no award ofdamages until this was done.For Esther, now married, thebattle was over, and she did notmove to retry the case. TheAppellate Court decision isreported in Esther Mercy,Appellee vs. Marion Talbot,Appellant, 330 Ill. App. 1(1914).

Esther continued to live inChicago for some time after thetrial and then moved to Indiana.Mrs. Tuve has sent copies of herbook to the University ofChicago, but as yet has receivedno acknowledgement. ❖

President’s Column continued from page 2

president of the Commune Israeliticaof Verona for more than 20 years.”

Rimini’s Italian-Jewish heritagemay explain the presumed fascistconnection. As Alexander Stillewrote in “Benevolence and Betrayal:Five Italian Jewish Families UnderFascism” (Summit, 1991):

“Italian fascism was in power forsixteen years before it turned anti-Semitic in 1938. Until then, Jewswere as likely to be members of theFascist Party as were other conser-vative-minded Italians. This singularfact altered the entire moral andexistential equation for Italy’s Jews.”

The young Raisa Burchsteinhad been rescued from the pogromsin her native Bialystok and givencomfort, operatic training, and anew name in Italy. Well into the

1930s, Raisa, Rimini, and theirdaughter spent summers at theirvilla near Verona. (Chicago Tribunecritic Claudia Cassidy wouldreminisce years later about beingtheir guest at the villa after the war.)

Yes, Raisa and Rimini did singin Berlin with a group of eliteItalian opera stars in October, 1933.Her biographer Charles Mintzercalls this “impolitic,” and adds thatit was “even more ironic” thatHitler, Goebbels, and Hess werepresent at the performance of Toscain which she was the protagonist,though “probably the Nazi leaderswere unaware of Raisa’s biography,and were in attendance to hear theBerlin favorite [Beniamino] Gigli.”

At home in Chicago, she wasbeloved for her generosity as well asher vocal artistry. The Rosa RaisaScholarship Fund for Higher MusicEducation, administered by theJewish People’s Institute from 1928into the ’30s, aided talented youngpeople in the Depression years. Shegave concerts at the Auditorium andOrchestra Hall to benefit the Fund.

Raisa’s last public concert is saidto have been in Grant Park in 1938,but we know that unzer Rayzele (ourRosie) sang at least once more. ❖

BEV CHUBAT is editor of CJH. Rosa Raisa: the Complete Recordings,a set of 3 CDs (Marston 53001-2), canbe ordered by phone (610)690-1703 or online at www.marstonrecords.com.


FROM THE

CHICAGO JEWISH

archives

E very book is the distillationof countless hours ofreflection and writing; the

author may travel a complex pathfrom inspiration to publication.From an archivist’s point of view,behind every book is a box ofpapers—letters, notes, drafts, andclippings. Studying these papersoffers an intriguing look into thecreative process.

Jerzy Kosinski was born inPoland in 1933 and spent the waryears in hiding with his family. Hecame to America in 1957 andwrote “The Painted Bird,” thebook for which he is best known.This was followed by “Steps,”which won the National BookAward in 1969, “Being There,” (both novel andscreenplay), “Cockpit,” “Blind Date,” and other works.

He also had a long association with SpertusInstitute of Jewish Studies. His work was praised by Dr.Byron Sherwin in a 1981 book, “Jerzy Kosinski:Literary Alarmclock.” In 1982, during the time he wasunder attack by the Village Voice and other critics,Kosinski was awarded an honorary degree from SpertusCollege, and he was invited back in October of thatyear to receive the International Award. In 1987 hereturned to participate in a forum on Abraham JoshuaHeschel. In recognition of his long friendship with Dr.Sherwin and with Spertus, he bequeathed his entireliterary estate to the Institute. The Jerzy Kosinski Papersarrived at the Chicago Jewish Archives in March1996––30 banker boxes of papers and books––a wealthof historical material.

L ike most authors, Jerzy Kosinski carried on acontinuous correspondence with friends andcolleagues in the literary field, with publishers

and reviewers, and acquaintances and even with readersof his work. He kept these letters in thick files, and alsomade photocopies of some of his responses, so that weoften have both sides of a correspondence. Many

authors receive mail from readers;Kosinski saved mail both from fansand from people who objected tohis work. Those who studypublishing history try to track thereception of texts among readers,but rarely do we find such anextensive record of reactions to oneauthor’s books. Students sent theirliterary criticism for him to read;Holocaust survivors wrote tocompare their experiences with his.It was all carefully filed away.

Correspondence with publishersis important not only forunderstanding the author’s career,but also the history of publishingand texts in a broader sense. Issuesof controversy and censorship came

up early in Kosinski’s career. Publishers recoiled from“The Painted Bird” because of the graphic scenes of sexand violence; in 1965 Houghton Mifflin finally agreedto publish it on the condition that it be toned down. Inthe Kosinski collection are letters outlining the editingchanges that were required, and Kosinski’s reluctantagreement; immediately regretting the decision, heasked them to release him from his contract so that thebook could be published in full elsewhere. This wasdone, and the excised text was restored a year later inthe new Pocket Books edition. The struggles Kosinskihad with his editors reflect not just the difficult subjectshe tackled but also the times in which he wrote, and hispapers present us with the opportunity of studying hiswork in its historical context.

In addition to correspondence, authors generallycollect newspaper clippings, magazine articles, reviews,notes, and other items that provide backgroundmaterial as they write. These “working files,” as they areoften called, can provide clues to the author’s ideas andthemes as they appear in his work. Kosinski employed aclipping service to send him articles that referred to himor his work, and the collection contains many files ofthese, including clippings from Polish and other

Jerzy Kosinski c. 1982

Preserving Literary Archives: The Jerzy Kosinski Papers

By Joy Kingsolver


European newspapers. These articles would be difficult,even impossible, to gather together again in one place.They are valuable for tracking the ups and downs ofpublic opinion. Kosinski, for example, was anathema inhis native Poland when he first began publishing. Bythe 1980s, however, interest in his work was growing,due in part to broader changes in Polish-Jewishrelations, and “The Painted Bird” was finally publishedin Polish in 1989. Clippings from Polish newspapersshow these swings in his reputation vividly.

P re-publication drafts and corrections areessential for reconstructing the evolution of atext. Generally, drafts are called manuscripts if

they are written by hand and typescripts if they aretyped, although the term “manuscript” is also used torefer to the original copy, typed by the author. Theterms “autograph” or “holograph” are often used tospecify that the draft is in the author’s handwriting. Inthese days of word processing, manuscripts are perhapsless likely, and the Kosinski collection contains almostnone. It does, however, contain many galleys or galleyproofs, which are the first version printed by thepublisher. These can be as long as 27 inches, makingthem difficult to store, but they often containcorrections made by the author. Proofs are the nextstage, the nearly-final version. Jerzy Kosinski correctedboth galleys and proofs, revising over and over, to thedismay of his publishers. Tracking these changes ispossible because Kosinski preserved these intermediateversions of his works.

Finally, because no two editions of a work areexactly alike, the Kosinski Papers contain an extensivecollection of various editions of his works, both inEnglish and in languages ranging from Chinese toSwedish to Hebrew. This is unusual for an archivalcollection; ordinarily the archives retains few publishedbooks. But the Kosinski Papers are no ordinarycollection, and we have made an exception in order tokeep the entire collection together and to preserve theunique evidence they offer.

The Kosinski Papers are open to members of thepublic for research. To use them, contact the archivist at(312)322-1741, or [email protected]. The Paperswill be featured in an upcoming exhibition titled JerzyKosinski, 1933-1991: A Literary Life, beginning April22, 2001, through the end of October, in the sixthfloor gallery at Spertus. ❖

JOY KINGSOLVER is Director, Chicago Jewish Archivesat the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies.

New York ArchivistSeeks Chicago Messiah

Charlotte Snyder Sholod of New York City,(actually, she’s a Chicago-born former Hyde Parkerand a member of CJHS), would like our readers’help in locating the sculpture Messiah by EnricoGlicenstein. The work was purchased by Chicago’sCovenant Club in 1930 for its collection.

She is working on a biography and catalograisonné of the sculptures of Enrico Glicenstein(1870-1942), and she is archivist of his estate.Glicenstein was a Polish-born Jewish artist wholived in Italy, and from 1928, in the United States.

He resided in Chicago from the middle of1929 through early 1934, and was interviewed byMeyer Zolotareff several times. Mrs. Sholod wasinspired to write to us after reading the pieceabout Sonia Rockler’s encounter with Zolly in thelast issue of CJH, and she enclosed copies of hisGlicenstein articles from the Chicago Americanwith her inquiry about the Messiah sculpture.

The earliest article, dating from 1929, isheadlined “Polish Artist Here to Mold City’sBeauty,” and illustrated with photos of thesculptor and his bronze bust of the “famousantarctic adventurer” Commander Richard Byrd.

While in Chicago, Glicenstein acquiredanother notable model. He was commissioned bythe Covenant Club to create a bronze bust ofPresident Franklin D. Roosevelt. In a June, 1934,article headlined “Gave Orders to Roosevelt,”Zolly writes in his usual audacious style:

“A Chicago ‘chiseler’ has been an honoredguest of President Roosevelt at the White House.Not only that, but when he got into the WhiteHouse he was privileged to order around thePresident…This chiseler is Professor EnricoGlicenstein, noted Jewish sculptor…Last Mondayand Tuesday [the President] posed for four hoursand the professor did his chiseling.”

The Roosevelt bust was exhibited in theIllinois Host House at the 1934 Century ofProgress, after which it was placed on display atthe Covenant Club. Today the sculpture resides inthe lobby of Roosevelt University.

Messiah sculpture sleuths: please contact CJHwith any information you may have, and we willsend it on to Mrs. Sholod.


CJHS Visits the New Home of HistoricChicago Sinai Congregation

The Society was honored to meet and share aprogram at one of our city’s most venerable institutions,Chicago Sinai Congregation, now in its 140th year ofexistence. We met on Sunday afternoon, January 14, inthe congregation’s beautiful new building on Chicago’sNear North Side, at 15 West Delaware Place, in thecheerful, light-filled, octagon-domed, sanctuary.

James Deutelbaum, a long-time congregant whohas held many important positions at Sinai, was ourfirst speaker. His remarks were about the temple’shistory from 1951 to 1995.

D r. Louis Mann was Sinai’s senior rabbi for 39years, from 1923 to 1962. He defined the roleof rabbi as that of a social and moral advocate.

He condemned slums as a mockery of our claim tocivilization. He challenged McCarthyism. He saw therole of the rabbi asthe perpetuator ofJudaism, and as anambassador to othersynagogues and tothe gentile world.He criticizedpolitical corruption.Perhaps his mostdramatic eulogy wasdelivered at thefuneral of GovernorHenry Horner, theJewish governor ofIllinois, who hadfought the Chicago Machine. Dr. Mann accused themachine politicians (who sat sat assembled in the frontrow at the service in the Chicago Avenue Armory), ofhastening Horner’s death by their intrigues against him.

Rabbi Mann was an exponent of important socialchange. He was one of the founders of PlannedParenthood. In his Sunday morning sermons at Sinai,he inspired his congregants to take an active part in thetemple, the Jewish community, and the community atlarge. Social justice, he said, was as old as the Bible.

In 1950, Sinai moved from its Grand Boulevardtemple to 5350 South Shore Drive, after havingpurchased the lakefront site in 1945. The continuity ofSinai’s broad universalism was expressed in the phraseincised across the facade of the new temple, “My HouseShall be Called a House of Prayer for All People.”

W hen Samuel Karff succeeded to the Sinaipulpit in 1962, the world was very differentfrom that of the temple’s former rabbis. The

Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israelhad profoundly changed the congregation. There was anew interest in Jewish tradition and history. RabbiKarff responded to this by reinstating Sabbath morningservices, starting many new Torah study programs, andintroducing the Union Prayerbook to bring Sinai inline liturgically with the Reform Movement. In 1968,Sinai had its first bar mitzvah celebrant. He continuedSinai’s historic mission with his interreligious work. Hetaught at the University of Chicago Divinity School aswell as at Notre Dame University.

Mr. Deutelbaum calls Rabbi Karff a rav, a greatteacher and ameliorator, whose tenure occured during

tumultous times.He left Sinai in1980 to becomesenior rabbi at BethSholem in Houston,Texas, where he isnow rabbi emeritus.

Philip Kranz,Sinai’s next seniorrabbi, had asensitiveunderstanding ofthe needs of themembers. Like hispredecessors, he was

active in Jewish circles and the greater community.In 1982, Sinai was fortunate in securing Howard

Berman as its senior rabbi. He initiated interfaith sedersin Hyde Park and gained prominence in communityaffairs, education, and scholarly editing.

Rabbi Berman established interfaith marriages atSinai. Mr. Deutelbaum notes that this is a verycontentious subject, and that Sinai does not try

to influence any other Temple in this practice. (Only20% of Reform rabbis perform these ceremonies.) Thereasoning at Sinai is that so many young people havebeen made to feel like pariahs by rabbis, priests, andministers, that they have been lost to all religions. 40%of the children in Sinai’s religious school are frominterfaith marriages, and, interestingly, more than a fewof the non-Jewish spouses have converted to Judaism.

Chicago Sinai Congregation. (Copy of architect’s rendering of the newtemple.) Outdoor steps evoke the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, whereworshippers would enter the serene space from the courtyard below,and Levites would sing shir hama’alot as they ascended the steps.


Program Committee Chairman Burt Robin Retires after 18 Great

Years of Words and MusicAt our January 14 Open Meeting at Chicago Sinai Congregation,

Charles B. Bernstein, incoming Chairman of the Program Committee,paid tribute to his predecessor and offered the Society’s thanks:

“Burt Robin, our vice president, served with distinction as programchairman for about 18 years. Five programs a year for 18 years is 90programs. He is the ‘Harry Zelzer,’ the impressario par excellence, ofChicago Jewish history! Burt asked to retire, but he is still helping withsome of the behind the scenes arrangements for our meetings…Actually, I was program chairman for several years before Burt, and Iwas dragged out of mothballs to take the job again, so if Burt is the‘Harry Zelzer’ of the CJHS, I am [its] ‘Donald Rumsfeld’…”

At a meeting of the Society’s Board of Directors earlier in 2000,Burt’s years of dedication had been lauded, and he had been presentedwith a commemorative microphone.

the new building. Congregation Rodfei Zedek is

located at 5200 South Hyde ParkBoulevard, Chicago. Parking isavailable in the synagogue lots.Public transportation is convenient,via the #6 Jeffrey Express CTA bus.

The program will begin at 2:00p.m., in the sanctuary, following areception and refreshments at 1:00p.m. in the atrium. Admission isfree and the public is welcome.

Free bus transportation to the April 22 meeting will be

BY RESERVATION ONLY. To make bus reservations,

please phone Leah Axelrod at(847)432-7003.

Bus pickups will be at theBernard Horwich JCC, 3003 WestTouhy Avenue, at 12:15 p.m., andat the Marriott Hotel, 540 NorthMichigan Avenue (Rush Streetentrance) at 12:45 p.m.

April 22 Open Meetingat Cong. Rodfei Zedek continued from page 1

CJHS Asks for NewApplicants to Board

The Society will be electing newmembers to its Board of Directorsat its June meeting, and theNominating Committee is currentlyconsidering candidates. CJHSmembers who wish to be active inplanning the Society’s work areencouraged to submit their namesfor consideration.

The Board meets on the firstWednesday of every month, at 6:30p.m., in the Jewish Federationbuilding, 1 South Franklin Street,Chicago. A kosher buffet dinner isset out in the meeting room.

Applicants are asked to phoneWalter Roth at (312)602-2020 orAdele Hast at (847)256-5768.

It became clear by the mid-1980s that another move for Sinai wasinevitable. The congregation’s leadership determined that Sinai wouldcontinue as an urban-centered synagogue and focused its planning onfinding a central location from which it could serve an increasingly far-flungcity and suburban membership. After ten years, the new site was acquired.In a national competition, Lohan Associates was selected as architects.Rabbi Berman, now emeritus, was much involved in the planning anddesign of the new building, which would become Sinai’s sixth venue.

M ichael P. Sternfield, Sinai’s present senior rabbi, was our secondspeaker. He is a Hyde Park resident, married to Cantor DeborahBard of Congregation K.A.M. Isaiah Israel. His presentation

included a discussion of the congregation’s life since his arrival at Sinai in1995, a description of the features of the new building, and a guided tour.

Rabbi Sternfield is only the ninth senior rabbi in the history of Sinai,and he commented on his most significant predecessor, Emil Hirsch, inwhose time Sinai was the largest Jewish congregation in the country. Hirschfelt that the essence of Judaism was to be found, not in the Torah, but in theProphetic Writings. Today, a group of five Torahs in exquisite coordinatedmantles is visible in the Ark. A tall stained glass window, entitled b’reshit, hasan abstract Creation theme. The sanctuary, which includes a balcony, seatsover 600 people. To one side, a glass “window” facing the adjacent FamilyRoom allows young children to observe the service, but not come in.

Sinai’s small chapel features an octagonal stained glass window in anabstract menorah design, which the German-born architect Dirk Lohandesigned and donated as a personal gift. It is made of broken and smoothglass, symbolizing a tragic past and hopeful future. Sinai’s library containssome 3,500 shelved books and display cases exhibiting artifacts from thecongregation’s archives. It is noteworthy that services are held at Sinai onSunday mornings as well as Friday nights and Saturday mornings. ❖

Thanks to Charles B. Bernstein and James Deutelbaum for allowing the useof their notes in this report. Thanks to Norman B. Schwartz for his assistance.

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MembershipMembership in the Society is opento all interested persons and organi-zations and includes a subscriptionto Chicago Jewish History, discountson Society tours and at the SpertusMuseum store, and the opportunityto learn and inform others aboutChicago Jewish history and itspreservation.

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...................$1000Historian...................................500Scholar ......................................250Sponsor .....................................100Patron or Family .........................50Senior Family or Individual.........35Synagogue or Organization .........25Senior Individual or Student .......20

Make checks payable to the ChicagoJewish Historical Society, and mailto our office at 618 South MichiganAvenue, Chicago IL 60605. Dues are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

� 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.

� TOUR COMMITTEEBring your creativity and organizationto planning and promoting ourpopular roster of tours on Jewishhistory. Contact Leah Axelrod(847)432-7003.

� EDITORIAL COMMITTEEDo you like to write? Are you a greatproofreader? You can contribute to ourquarterly publication, Chicago JewishHistory. Contact our editor, Bev Chubat (773)525-4888.


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.

Volunteer OpportunitiesWould you like to become moreinvolved in the activities of theChicago Jewish Historical Society?We’d love to have you! Following arethe various committees on whichyou can serve. Contact the Societyat (312)663-5634 or any of theChairpersons listed here.

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