Edition 9 • Summer 2006

L Dor V Dor from generation to generation the newsletter of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society

Goldsteins To Receive NJHS Highest Honor At Annual Meeting

The Board of Directors of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society has named Shirley and Leonard

Goldstein as recipients of the Mary Fellman Award to

be presented at this year's annual meeting scheduled

for Sunday, August 611 at 3:00 PM. The Goldsteins

will be receiving the Society's most prestigious award, named after the NJHS founder and long time

executive director, because of their support and commitment to the Oral History Program.

The generosity of the Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Supporting Foundation has made it possible for the NJHS to purchase a TV quality camera, supplies, equipment and software that Dr. Ben Nachman uses to conduct the oral history interviews. Ben described that Goldsteins and their commitment to the program by saying, "I often think about Buddy and Shirley and want to shout out to everyone that what I do is because of their generosity, without them we would not be able to keep doing the number of oral histories we do".

The NJHS created the Mary Fellman Award to honor a person or group in the community who reflects the qualities that have been an integral part of Mary Fellman 's life. These includes multi-faceted and leadership, compassion and/or service impacting the history of the Jewish people of Nebraska and Western Iowa. "Shirley and Buddy have more that demonstrated these qualities in supporting our oral history project, making it possible for the NJHS to collect these important interviews for families and future generation of our Jewish community", said Helen Epstein, Board President.

Shirley and Leonard Goldstein, recipients of the Mary

Fellman Award.

In addition, Nan Katz will receive the Shirley Berman Outstanding Volunteer Award this year. Nan has helped the NJHS with several major projects including the Jewish Press Exhibit and the renovation of the auditorium panels. The Historical Society is very fortunate to have her has a regular volunteer.

New officers and board members will also be presented at the meeting. Please plan to attend this very special day.

This publication was produced through the generosity of the David and Rose Katzman Endowment Fund.

Message from NJHS President -

Helen Epstein It's hard to believe that the year is almost over.

I recently attended the Fnedel Jewish Academy's 40th anniversary celebration and saw first hand the NJHS in action. Not only do the children use the Reikes Museum regularly for services, but also they see pictures and hear the stories of Omaha's Jewish history. We know that memories and stories are the backbone of Omaha Jewish History, and teaching these to our children is the essence

Since our last newsletter, the Historical Society has been involved in many projects. We co-sponsored the very successful Jewish Press exhibit, Jewish Press Front Page: 85 Years of Jewish Press History, with an opening day reception.

We also co-sponsored a Live from NY 92nd Street Y featuring with Rabbi David Wolpe.

Ben Nachman and Renee Corcoran presented our most recent oral history documentary at the Beth El Hazaak luncheon in April. Their presentation was very well re-ceived and hopefully, more people became aware of our history project.

The women of Beth El attended a very successful Rosh Hodesh program presented by Dottie Rosenblum and myself. We took fliéñfôi aToür of the ãiliivesTed by Renee Corcoran. A tour of the Reikes Museum, our ex-hibits and the office completed the program. As a result of this program, the Historical Society gained some new members and many of the women gained knowledge of the workings of the Historical Society. The comment of, "I didn't know this existed" was heard many times.

Our May board meeting featured Michael Smith the new CEO/Director of the Nebraska State Historical So-ciety. He toured our facilities and was most impressed. He stressed the importance of stories and having a "place" in history.

We have five new board members who will be installed at our annual meeting, Sunday, August 61 We are very excited to have the following new members: Ozzie Nogg, Stuart Giller, Susan Rothholz, Debbie Josephson and Joanie Kaiman.

We are always in need of volunteers to help with our various mailings, newsletters and exhibits.

Don't forget to mark your calendars and join us for the annual meeting, Sunday, August 6th

A best wishes for a safe and restful summer

Urgent Message from Louise Abrahamson, Past President & Steering Committee Member

For over twenty-four years, the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society has been collecting and preserving your photos, documents and family histories. We can't stress enough the importance of preserving these treasures so that future generations can, will know and realize their importance. Thanks to our wonderful volunteers who work tirelessly, as well as our staff and board of directors, we will fulfill the dreams of Mary Feliman and Oliver Pollak, our founders by keeping the NJHS a viable and important instrument of our heritage alive for decades to come.

We assure you, our membership, life members and benefactors, that we will long endure only when we can achieve our goal of a $2 million permanent lund. Please let us know that we can count on each and everyone for help.

Early Childrenhood Reunion Project And Exhibit from Helen Epstein

Are you a parent of a former preschooler or day care at-tendee? Do your children have a child or two attending the CDC?

The CDC program was started in 1974. Hopefully, in 2007 an exhibit, tracing the history of the program can be funded by past participants and/or other organizations and a display can be made for the entire community to enjoy.

We are in need of funding and photographs. If you have any identified pictures from the years 1974 to the present, please bring them into the Historical Society office. They car be sent to the Historical Society and marked Early Childhood Exhibit. Please send copies, as we won't be able to return the pictures. Donations will also be welcomed.

Committee members working on this project are: Diane Malashock, Carol Parsow, Vicki Perimeter, Marlen Frost, Phyllis Wasserman, Helen Epstein and Janie Kulakofsky

If you are interested in working in this project please call me, Helen Epstein, at 391-9187 or the NJHS office at 334-6441.

[Moving? Please notify us of your address change!

Front Pages:

2005-06 NJHS 85 Years Of Jewish Press History

Officers

Esther Wax and Sandra Belgrade at the opening reception.

Sunday, April 91b marked the opening of the exhibit celebrating the 85 years of Omaha's weekly Jewish newspaper. The unique exhibit displayed in the JCC gallery until mid-May, featured 120 front pages of the Jewish Press and 72 front pages from Passover and New Year editions published since 1968. The exhibit was co-chaired by NJHS Vice-president Midge Bowers and former Jewish Press President Silvia Roffman, and their hus-bands, Bill Bowers and Larry Roffman.

Jewish Press exhibit opening reception.

Help Our Archival Center The NJHS would once again like to remind you that the Carl Frolnn Archi-

val Center exists because of donated memorabilia such as photographs, certifi-cates and objects, etc. that tell the history of Jewish families, synagogues, organizations and businesses.

We need your help to make our collection grow! Before you throw things away that you think no one wants, please call the NJHS office or stop by so we can determine if your memorabilia would be appropriate for our archives.

Our collection of Jewish owned businesses is very limited. In a community of this size we need more information for our records. We are looking for photographs, letterhead of your business, awards, or any kind of records that we can have concerning your past or present business. This information helps us record and tell the history of our community.

President: Helen Epstein Vice President: Midge Bowers Secretary: Rocky Stern Treasurer: Bob Belgrade Past President: Helen Rifkin

Chorney

Board Members Harold Abrahamson Hugh Abrahamson Louise Abrahamson Joanie Bernstein Ron Brodky Tuffy (Arnold) Epstein Robert Evnen Lois Friedman Caryl Greenberg Gary Javitch Nan Katz Kevee Kirshenbaum Janie Kulakofsky Sheldon Kushner Ed Malashock Ira Nathan Max Neiden Vicki Perimeter Oliver Pollak Caryn Rifkin Larry Roffman Jan Wayne

Board Advisory on Oral Historie Ben Nachman

Board Advisory on Archives & Exhibits: Doug Hartman

Office Staff Executive Director:

Renee Ratner Corcoran

Staff: Dottie Rosenblum Kathy Weiner

Newsletter Co-Editors: Louise Abrahamson Dottie Rosenblum Helen Epstein Kathy Weiner Kevee Kirshenbaum Renee Ratner Corcoran Oliver Pollak

"Emanuel Haldeman-Julius (1889-1951): Little Blue Books on and about Jews" by Oliver B. Pollak

Nebraska History asked me to review John Brown to Bob Dole, Movers and Shakers in Kansas History edited by Virgil W. Dean (2005); an unusual request since Kansas is not part of my exper-tise. Having paid for my son's college education at the University of Kansas I thought it would be "a fun read." On a recent trip to California, instead of a quick-paced mystery at 36,000 feet, Jim-mersed myself in the 26 mini-biographies. Several were interest-ing, but one struck me like a thunderbolt without detracting from the smoothness of the flight.

Who was Emanuel Haldeman-Julius of Girard, Kansas? What were the Little Blue Books? How could he have published over 2,121 pocketbooks, between 1919 and 1950, selling between 200,000,000 and 500,000,000 copies to an underserved laboring audience? How could I, who studies the history of reading, not know anything about this phenomenon?

Emanuel Julius, the son of a Russian Jewish immigrant book-binder, a self educated autodidact socialist journalist went Girard in 1915 to edit a large circulation Socialist weekly. He married the local rich girl, Anna Marcet Haldeman, a niece of Jane Addams of the settlement house movement.

The pocketbooks were not the prettiest work of the printer's craft, but they were inexpensive dropping from twenty-five, to twenty, then ten cents each, and finally five cents a copy as pro-duction costs declined. John Tebbel stated that the 3 1/2 x5 inch cheap newsprint pamphlets had "indifferent typography (if not worse), saddle-wired binding, and careless production."

Although Julius had abandoned Judaism, and actively support-ed iconoclastic and anti-religious free thinking rationalist authors, he overflowed with Socialist conscience. Several of his writers, compressors, and condensers were Jewish.

Titles of particular Jewish interest, not including the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible, include: Theodore M. von Keler (1877-1927) wrote The Essence of the Talmud: Book of the Jews (1922)(He also wrote The Essence of the Koran, and several opera booklets). H-J pioneered mail order marketing and changed book titles if he thought it would increase sales. Thus Arthur Schnitzler, (1862-1931), The Anti-Semites: Professor Bernhardi, a Play also advertised as The Jew-Haters (How a Jew Was "Ku-Kluxed").

H-J had an affection for the Yiddish language which he learned from a Hungarian immigrant. He then proceeded to read the For-ward. In three short essays, "Al Jolson," Charles Laughton," and "When Kubelik Dined," H-J used an endearing Yiddish word for belly button that does not appear often in print, "pippick."

In 1923 H-J published Isaac Goldberg's translation of Sholom Asch's The God of Vengeance in English with an Preface by Forward editor, Abraham Cahan. Goldberg, one of H-J's prolific authors prepared Great Yiddish Poetry (1923) and Yiddish Short Stories. Goldberg whose 25 titles sold 1,396,800 copies never met Haldeman-Julius. Realistic Short Stories of Jewish Life, issued in December 1923, sold 63,000 copies and The Spirit of Jewish Literature, issued in March 20, 1925, sold 20,000, while his How

to Enjoy Good Reading, appearing in August 1925, sold a fan-tastic 250,000 copies. Like von Keler, Goldberg also wrote about opera, including Richard Wagner, An Introduction.

Haldeman-Julius published several of Will Durant's studies of philosophers, including A Guide to Spinoza. Haldeman-Ju-lius recommended that Simon and Schuster consider combin-ing Durant's Little Blue Books into one hardbound volume on philosophy. The rest is publishing history, as Durant published his ever popular multi-volume History of Civilization.

In 1924 Clement Wood (1888-1950) wrote, A Short History of the Jews and Leo Jung (1892-1987), Essence of Judaism (a guide to facts of Jewish law and life). In 1926 George Milburn wrote Best Jewish Jokes and James Oppenheim, A Psycho-Analysis of the Jews.

Chicago journalist-playwright, Ben Hecht, contributed seven titles. The German writer Heinrich Heine contributed eight titles including The Rabbi and Beautiful Sara. Nineteenth century English Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, a Jewish convert to Christianity, did not ignore his Jewish heritage. L.E. Smith wrote England's Novelist Premiere and The Wit and Wisdom of Disraeli. Disraeli's father, Isaac Disraeli (1766-1848), wrote about printing in the 19th century, a version of which, History of Printing, appeared in the H-J list. Other likely Jewish Little Blue Book contributors include Chapman Cohen, Morris Fishbein, Benjamin Glassberg, Harry Hibschman, Morris Hi1lqii1EIorace Meyer Kallen, Ruben Levin, and Israel Zangwill.

Jewish content emerged from unsuspecting volumes. I have eight pamphlets on Proverbs. Proverbs of Russia published in 1920 contained many unflattering proverbs referring to Jews. In 1923, William Franklyn Hudgings, Introduction to Einstein appeared, followed by two further explications of Einstein's theories.

Haldeman-Julius, an inveterate scribbler, provided copy for his monthly publications, little blue books, and autobiographi-cal reminiscences. Some vivid memories of anti-Semitism in Philadelphia and the role of Jewish cooking appear in The First Twenty Five Years, A Footnote (1948). Harry Golden provided the foreword to Albert Mordell's 1960 biography, The World of Haldeman-Julius.

The 1920s heyday of the Little Blue Books saw the publicatio of over 1500 titles. The Depression took its toll, pubic reading taste changed, and Little Blue Book production declined; about 330 new titles emerged between 1930 and 1947. The rise of Naziism prompted Haldeman-Julius to write Is Adolph Hitler a Maniac? in 1940 and to publish Roy Tozier, America's Little Hiders in 1942.

Haldeman-Julius and his left-of-center crusade probably clashed with J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. Prosecuted for tax evasion he received 6 months. He did not serve his time as he had a heart attack and drowned in his swimming pool in Girard, Kansas in 1951.

Short Notes from the NJHS Preserve your family history! If you are interested in learning how to research your family history and make a family tree please call the NJHS office at 334-6441/6442 to schedule an appointment with a volunteer in our Genealogy Division. This could be a challenging experience that can give you the opportunity to learn more about yourself and family.

• Upcoming project... The NJHS is looking for people that have lived outside of Omaha and Lincoln for the Small Jewish Communities of Nebraska Project. If you can help, please contact Ira Nathan, committee chairperson at Inathan654@cox.net. or call the NJHS office at 334-6442.

Ira was born in Scottsbluff, Nebraska and grew up with several Jewish families in the Gering, Mitchell and Scottsbluff area. Although, there was not a synagogue in that part of the state, he received Jewish training by meeting every Sunday in various homes. His parents continued his Jewish studies by traveling to Cheyenne, Wyoming for his Bar Mitzvah. The NJHS is looking for more stories like Ira's and needs your help in identifying families to contact.

• Doug Hartman of Hartman Historical Services installing new display panels on the wall of JCC auditorium. The Special Donor-Advised Fund of the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation made the panel renovation possible.

Doug Hartman putting up new panels in the Auditorium

"Emanuel Haldeman-Julius" continued from pg 4

Interest in Emauel Haldeman-Julius and the Little Blue Books is on the rise. E-bay contains hundreds of the pocket books and the Haldeman-Ju-lius Collectors Club formed in 2004.

So to approach an answer to the underlying question, where do ideas come from, perhaps Socrates said it best, "The unreflected life is not worth living;" ideas come from a variety of sources including heritage, nurturing, intuition, experience, circumstance, quest for answers, epiph-any, inspiration, and rumination. Historians in particular study subjects that may be almost forgotten and need to be remembered, preserved, or rethought for our own age.

*These observations could not have been written without the assistance of Tim Davenport's "Little Blue Book Handlist" in the Big Blue Newslet- ter (2004). -

Message from Kevee Kirshenbaum, NJHS Membership Chairperson

The Nebraska Jewish Historical Society is appealing to all of the members of the Historical Society to remember to renew your membership. The Historical Society can't do all their good work in the Jewish Community without your memberships and your support to preserve Jewish History in Omaha and surrounding areas. Please talk with your friends and family about joining the NJHS so they also can become a part of our worthwhile endeavors

Our Journal that you will receive this year features South Omaha and should bring back wonderful memories.

Please keep us in mind when you are cleaning out your closets.

Benefactor ........................$1,000

Life Member .......................$500

Patron: 1 Year......................$100

Sponsor: 1 Year...................... $50

Basic: 1 Year...........................$25

An Oral History Update Ben Nachman conducted oral history interviews

in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas as well as Phoenix and Scottsdale areas.

The NJHS is deeply grateful to the Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Supporting Foundation for making these out-of-town trips possible. We are very proud to add to our collection the following interviews of former and current residents: Lorrie and Sheldon Bernstein, Bob Chapman, Al and El-lie Feldman, Bev and Joe Frank, Phyllis Fnedel, Gary and Cherna Gitnick, Diana Hahn, Norman Harris, Ida Herzoff, Mike Kully, Fran Milder, Lou Rich, Steve Rosenblatt, Rufoll Selo, Wayne Siegel, Marion and Margie Somberg, Marvin Steinberg and Bernard "Bon" Theodore.

If you are interested in having your history recorded for you, your family and our archives, please contact us.

Donations to the NJHS: Birthdays:

Marcia Gailner from Betty & Bus Rubin; Ben Nachman from Louise Abrahamson; Dorothy Kaplan from Helen & Dave Chomey; Lloyd Friedman from George Shafer, Gail & Steve Machov, Shirley & Buddy Goldstein Carl Riekes from Lance & Terry Goldberg; Mary Feilman from Harriet Kutler, Karen & Oliver Pollak; Margo Riekes from Karen & Oliver Pollak; Phyllis Sherman from George Shafer; Buddy Goldstein from Al & Doris Abramson, Myrna & Kevee Kirshenbaum, Louise Abrahamson, Helen & Tuffy Epstein; Joame Kaiman from Betty & Bus Rubin; Jerry Zeifren from Karen & Oliver Pollak; Sol Yaffe & Leo Meyerson from Myrna & Kevee Kirshenbaum; Esther Stoler from Renee', Dan & Ashley Corcoran; Ramona Pepper from Dottie Rosenblum.

Anniversaries: Lois & Lloyd Friedman from Fran & Jerry Milder; Karen & Oliver Pollak from Judy & Bill & Kids, Dorothy, Julie & Howard Kaplan, Dottie Rosenblum, Aveva & Marty Shukert.

Recovery: Harold Abrahamson & Betty Alloy from Dorothy Kaplan; Stanley Slosburg from George Shafer; Harriet Singer from Betty & Bus Rubin; Ann Goldstein from Helen & Tuffy Epstein; Larry Gilinsky from Toni Rosen & Tony Roth.

In Memory of: Maury Udes from Louise Abrahamson; Miriam Jubelirer from Myrna & Kevee Kirshenbaum; Sandy Ostrow from Karen & Oliver Pollak; Frances Batt from Bernice Miller, Hannah Baum Oman; Macy Baum from Hannah Baum Oman; Izzy Milstein, Rose Davis' brother, from Helen & Dave Chorney, Ronnie & Art Jacobson; Sheldon Waxenberg from George Shafer; Jeanne Dvorkin from Karen & Oliver Pollak; Michael Rosinsky from Betty & Bus Rubin, Helen & Dave Chorney, Louise Abrahamson, Betsey & Allan Tully, Barbara & Jerry Cohen; Betty Falk from Charlotte Slutzky Koom, Mildred Walenz, Randolph, IA State Bank, Edith Timmermier, Bernice Vohoska, The Dick Cosaerts, Rudy & Rita Stoysich, Phil & Arlis Morrison, Catol & Kevin Margolis, Don & Helen Smith, Leonard Van Liew, David Felzenberg, Susan Baker, Lenora & Jerry Levin, Cubby's, INC., Marks, Clare & Richards, M.L. Penning, Four M Corp., Julie Andrea Ramsey. Maury Katzman from Doris & Nate Shukert, Bernie & Sally Jonisch, Louise Abrahamson, Karen & Oliver Pollak, Anne & Bruce Shackman; Harlan Noddle from Louise Abrahamson, Helen & Tuffy Epstein, Myrna & Kevee Kirshenbaum, Rose Katzman, Michael & Ellen Hornstein, Karen & Oliver Pollak, Toni

Rosen, Barbara & Jerry Cohen, Betsey & Allan Tully; Stuart Fried from Renee' Ratner Corcoran, Dorothy Kaplan, Sheila Rosen, Helen & Tuffy Epstein; Adele Hornstein & Phil Handleman from Michael & Ellen Hornstein; Louis Kohil from Betsey & Allan Tully, Helen & Tuffy Epstein, Tom Rosen; Rose Kriegler from Myrna & Kevee Kirshenbaum; Lazar Kaplan from Phyllis McAdam; Steve Simon from Tom Rosen, Miriam Simon; Jeanne Dvorkin from Karen & Oliver Pollak; Dr Abe Faier from Helen & Tuffy Epstein; Ellen Canar Joseph & Esther Canar from George Shafer; Edith Jacobson Cohen from Helen & Tuffy Epstein; Jack Wolpa from Lois & Mel Epstein;

Other Occasions: Mazel Toy to Rini & Alan Gonsher on the marriage of son, Zachary & Lara from Freda Bucheister; Thank you to Ben Nachman from Phyllis & Normand Roffman; Congratulations to Iris & Marty Ricks on the addition of 2 grandchildren to their family from George Shafer; Congratulations to Esther Wax for the award from Hadassah, and Jim Wax for the award from United Way from George Shafer; Thank you to Effie Batt & Nancy Wolf for volunteering for my ESL class from Helen Epstein; Bert Cohen's Wedding from George Shafer.

From NJHS Board of Directors: Birthdays: Ben Nachman, Mary Fellman, Buddy Goldstein, Sol Yaffe, Leo Meyerson. Ramona Pepper. Recovery: Harold Abrahamson In Memory of: Maury Udes, Miriam Jubelirer, Sandy Ostrow, Betty Falk, Lois Bernstien, Harlan Noddle, Sheldon Waxenberg, Maury Katzman, Michael Rosinsky, Stuart Fried, Louis Kohil, Ruth Raskin, Jeanne Dvorkin, Rose Kriegler, Charlotte Brookstein Kitner, Dr. Abe Faier, Ellen Canar Joseph, Esther Canar, Steve Simon, Jean Weil, Shirley Fogel Greenberg, Jack Wolpa, Gertrude Komey, Norman D. Rips.

New NJHS Members 2006 We gratefully acknowledge and welcome our new

members and life members. Thank you for your generous support.

New Members Michael and Patty Sherman

Bunny Rothenberg

New Life Members Michael and Tiffany Hoberman

Arthur and Deborah Greene

George and Florence Eisenberg

Jill and Mike Erman

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