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From My Bookshelf: Biography of the Heroic Herman Stern

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

ShoptaughAs mentioned on my other blog (Practicing Writing), I recently had the opportunity to speak about Quiet Americans with a group of readers at New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage. Following our meeting, we toured the museum’s new exhibit, “Against the Odds: American Jews and the Rescue of Europe’s Refugees, 1933-1941.”

I found the exhibit fascinating and returned another day to explore it more carefully. I also took notes. I was particularly captivated by the exhibit’s introduction to Herman Stern, a German-born Jew who immigrated to the U.S. in 1903. He was 16 at the time. Subsequently, Stern became a successful businessman in North Dakota. And from North Dakota, he managed to help more than 100 Jews escape from Nazi Europe.

I wanted to know more details than the exhibit provided, so I put my research skills to work. Soon enough, I located a biography of Stern in a local college library: Terry Shoptaugh’s “You Have Been Kind Enough to Assist Me”: Herman Stern and the Jewish Refugee Crisis, published in 2008 by the Institute for Regional Studies at North Dakota State University. (more…)

From East Europe to the East Bay: 100 Years After Emigration, a Bar Mitzvah in Berkeley

by Erika Dreifus on
7

I’ve spent so much time writing about my paternal family history–particularly the refugee histories of my dad’s parents–that it sometimes seems as though my mom’s side doesn’t get very much attention. But appearances can be deceiving–just because I haven’t written quite so much about my maternal ancestors doesn’t mean that I don’t think about them. This past week, in fact, I’ve been thinking about them quite a lot. And that’s because I’ve just returned from several days in Berkeley, Calif., a trip occasioned by the Bar Mitzvah of my eldest cousin’s elder child.

My dad is an only child, and my mom is one of two siblings. My sister and I have three first cousins. Gathered together for the Bar Mitzvah, I found myself thinking again about our common past and the significance of our gathering in Berkeley for A’s Bar Mitzvah. I realized (and confirmed via the Ellis Island/Port of New York records) that it was 100 years ago–during the summer of 1913–that our grandmother’s father Jacob had left Eastern Europe to immigrate to the U.S. He left behind his wife (Yettie, after whom I am named), my then-infant grandmother, and two more children (twin daughters, then in utero).

Theirs was not an unusual story. (more…)

Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
1

Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • Ami Eden reports from the Foundation for Jewish Culture’s awards gala–and offers a link to an audio recording of author Michael Chabon’s acceptance speech.
  • “This fall the Tikvah Advanced Institutes will offer 9 courses–ranging from 1 week to 4 weeks–in the areas of Jewish Thought & History, War & Statesmanship, and Economics & Policy. Institute participants will be generously funded. Apply now.” These institutes will be held in New York; one, taught by Ruth Wisse, will focus on “The Modern Jewish Condition: A Study in Yiddish Literature.”
  • If you can, sit in on one of the Jewish Plays Project festival performances here in New York this month. On Tuesday, I had the privilege of attending a reading of “The Law of Return,” by Martin Blank, “an original spy thriller inspired by the factual events surrounding the 1984-85 Jonathan Jay Pollard espionage case.”
  • Among the articles noting the passing of Israeli author Yoram Kaniuk this week: Nicole Krauss’s tribute.
  • The 48th annual Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) conference starts on Sunday in Houston. The AJL will live-blog via Facebook and share posts on Twitter (hashtag #AJL13), too.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Words of the Week: The Jewish Week on Sen. Lautenberg

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    The death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg this week is a loss for his family, for the nation and for the Jewish community. A member of the Senate for nearly three decades, an unapologetic liberal, a gruff legislator who was nonetheless described by his colleagues as a gentleman in an era when civility among partisans is increasingly becoming an anachronism, Sen. Lautenberg — at 89 the oldest member of the Senate — represented a historical memory that is hard to replace.

    A product of a poor, immigrant household in Patterson, N.J., he was moved by his own experiences of deprivation to help improve the lot of America’s indigent citizens.

    The last member of the Senate who served in the U.S. military during World War II, his political and communal activism was fueled by the sacrifices of a generation that fought for America in the last war that enjoyed national support.

    A member of a disappearing generation that remembers a world without a State of Israel, he was inspired by the physical security that Israel offered within its borders to Jews after the Holocaust, and the emotional pride that Israel continues to offer to Jews everywhere.

    Although I haven’t commented here on the recent passing of Senator Lautenberg, I have followed the tributes and eulogies. Growing up in the 1980s in New Jersey, I was one of his constituents, and I still recall him visiting our congregation during those years.

    One of the tributes that impressed me most this week was one offered by The Jewish Week, which I’ve quoted above. You can find the full text here.

    From My Bookshelf: A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    I’ve mentioned before how grateful I am to be taking a noncredit course on “Zionist Thought & Statesmanship” this spring. Among other benefits, the seminar has provided me with an excellent reading list. Most recently, I finished reading A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel, by Allis Radosh and Ronald Radosh. (It is worth noting that May 14 will mark the 65th anniversary of the United States, under President Truman’s leadership, becoming the first nation to recognize the State of Israel.)

    TrumanPublished in 2009, the book won the Washington Institute’s Book Prize (for nonfiction books on the Middle East). It received widespread attention; rather than give you a summary/review myself, I’ll point you to some existing analyses.

  • “Zionist in the White House,” by Jonathan Tepperman (New York Times Book Review)
  • Review by Walter Russell Mead (Foreign Affairs)
  • “Success Has Many Parents,” by Daniel E. Levenson (New Vilna Review)

    • But wait–there’s more. Bonus material that I’ve located online includes an excerpt and a video (which I hope to have the opportunity to watch in the near future myself) that features the authors discussing their book at the YIVO Institute.

    Have any of you already read the book? What are your thoughts?