Education Articles - American Jewish Archives

Rabbi Julie Schwartz: The U.S.’s First Female Military Chaplain – and the Associate Dean of HUC

Posted in _All Snapshots, Armed Services – American Military, Organizations & Institutions, Women

Rabbi Julie Schwartz (middle), in uniform. Two men stand on either side of her. Four flags are behind them, including the U.S. flag.

The American Jewish Archives contains records of Jewish leaders serving as chaplains in the US military dating back to the Civil War; however, not until 1986 did the first commissioned active-duty female chaplain join such ranks. Cincinnati native Julie Schwartz was a student at HUC-JIR in Cincinnati in 1985 when she received ecclesiastical approval from…

The Bake Shop, Cincinnati

Posted in _All Snapshots, Business & Commerce, Cincinnati - The Queen City, Social Justice, Women

A pink menu from the bake shop listing items for sale alongside prices.

Founded in 1929, the Bake Shop, a Jewish bakery in Cincinnati, employed over thirty women in need of work. Funded by the United Jewish Social Agencies, the Bake Shop served the Walnut Hills and Avondale communities for upwards of forty years. Recipe cards from the Bake Shop, preserved at the American Jewish Archives, reveal Jewish…

The Pittsburgh Platform – Defining American Reform Judaism (1885)

Posted in _All Snapshots, Immigration & Community Beginnings, Organizations & Institutions, Religion, Social Justice

Declaration of Principles “The Pittsburgh Platform” – 1885 1. We recognize in every religion an attempt to grasp the Infinite, and in every mode, source or book of revelation held sacred in any religious system the consciousness of the indwelling of God in man. We hold that Judaism presents the highest conception of the God-idea as taught in our Holy Scriptures and developed and spiritualized by the Jewish teachers, in accordance with the moral and philosophical progress of their respective ages. We maintain that Judaism preserved and defended midst continual struggles and trials and under enforced isolation, this God-idea as the central religious truth for the human race. 2. We recognize in the Bible the record of the consecration of the Jewish people to its mission as the priest of the one God, and value it as the most potent instrument of religious and moral instruction. We hold that the modern discoveries of scientific researches in the domain of nature and history are not antagonistic to the doctrines of Judaism, the Bible reflecting the primitive ideas of its own age, and at times clothing its conception of divine Providence and Justice dealing with men in miraculous narratives. 3. We recognize in the Mosaic legislation a system of training the Jewish people for its mission during its national life in Palestine, and today we accept as binding only its moral laws, and maintain only such ceremonies as elevate and sanctify our lives, but reject all such as are not adapted to the views and habits of modern civilization. 4. We hold that all such Mosaic and rabbinical laws as regulate diet, priestly purity, and dress originated in ages and under the influence of ideas entirely foreign to our present mental and spiritual state. They fail to impress the modern Jew with a spirit of priestly holiness; their observance in our days is apt rather to obstruct than to further modern spiritual elevation. 5. We recognize, in the modern era of universal culture of heart and intellect, the approaching of the realization of Israel’s great Messianic hope for the establishment of the kingdom of truth, justice, and peace among all men. We consider ourselves no longer a nation, but a religious community, and therefore expect neither a return to Palestine, nor a sacrificial worship under the sons of Aaron, nor the restoration of any of the laws concerning the Jewish state. 6. We recognize in Judaism a progressive religion, ever striving to be in accord with the postulates of reason. We are convinced of the utmost necessity of preserving the historical identity with our great past. Christianity and Islam, being daughter religions of Judaism, we appreciate their providential mission, to aid in the spreading of monotheistic and moral truth. We acknowledge that the spirit of broad humanity of our age is our ally in the fulfillment of our mission, and therefore we extend the hand of fellowship to all who cooperate with us in the establishment of the reign of truth and righteousness among men. 7. We reassert the doctrine of Judaism that the soul is immortal, grounding the belief on the divine nature of human spirit, which forever finds bliss in righteousness and misery in wickedness. We reject as ideas not rooted in Judaism, the beliefs both in bodily resurrection and in Gehenna and Eden (Hell and Paradise) as abodes for everlasting punishment and reward. 8. In full accordance with the spirit of the Mosaic legislation, which strives to regulate the relations between rich and poor, we deem it our duty to participate in the great task of modern times, to solve, because of justice and righteousness, the problems presented by the contrasts and evils of the present organization of society.

On November 16-19, 1885, a meeting of the convened at the call of Kaufmann Kohler. The meeting produces the “Pittsburgh Platform” – a document which set forth American Reform positions on such topics as the idea of God, the Jewish mission, and the need for Jews to be actively involved in social justice causes for…

Mikveh Israel’s burial ground – Philadelphia, 1740

Posted in _All Snapshots, Colonial Jews, Immigration & Community Beginnings, Organizations & Institutions, Religion

Image of the inside of Mikveh Israel, including central bima, ark, and separated, gender-based seating on different levels.

Although Mikveh Israel, Philadelphia’s first synagogue, was not founded until 1782, the land for its cemetery has an earlier history. A burial plot was first bought by Nathan Levy in 1738 when he suddenly needed a burial place for one of his children, and land was made available to him by Thomas Penn, the son…

Jews arrive in the New World

Posted in _All Snapshots, Colonial Jews, Immigration & Community Beginnings

Artistic rendition of the arrival of Jews to New Amsterdam. Depicts a ship arriving at port, with wood-built buildings behind ocean waves and a cloudy sky.

The first known Jew to arrive in America was Jacob Barsimson on August 22, 1654, and he was joined by twenty-three more Jews four months later, although most of them stayed in New Amsterdam only for a short time. Peter Stuyvesant, Governor of New Amsterdam, was not happy about having a Jewish population in the…

American Religious Liberty – Virginia, 1779

Posted in _All Snapshots, Civic Engagement, Colonial Jews, Immigration & Community Beginnings, Interfaith Relations, Politics & Government, Religion, Social Justice

A Bill for the establishing Religious Freedom, printed for the confederation of the people, followed by two paragraphs of text declaring religious freedom in Virginia, under the "Almighty God."

Although America was intended as a land of liberty, religious freedom was not always guaranteed. In many colonies and later states, Jews struggled for the right to vote, the ability to serve in the government, and for recognition of their religion as equal before the law. Thomas Jefferson, a strong believer in freedom of religion,…

A Visitor from the Holy Land – Shavuot Sermon, 1733

Posted in _All Snapshots, Colonial Jews, Israel & World Judaism

Haim Isaac Karigal - A Sermon preached at the Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island called the "Salvation of Israel." (Newport, R.I.), 1773. Document reads: A Sermon preached at the Synagogue in Newport, Rhode-Island called "The Salvation of Israel:" On the day of Pentecost or feast of weeks, the 6th day of March Sivan The year of Creation, 5333: or, May 28, 1773. Being the anniversary of giving the law at Mount Sinai: by the venerable Hocham, the learned rabbi, Haym Isaac Karigal, of the City of Heron, near Jerusalem, in the Holy Land."

The first Jewish sermon preached and published in North America was delivered at Newport’s synagogue by an emissary from the Holy Land, Haim Isaac Karigal. The sermon was delivered on May 28, 1773, to celebrate Shavuot. According to Dr. Jacob Rader Marcus, in The American Jew, “He [Karigal] spoke in an Iberian patois that at…

The Highest Ranking American Jew in WWII

Posted in _All Snapshots, Armed Services – American Military

Black and white photograph of Major General Maurice Rose.

Major General Maurice Rose is said to be the “greatest forgotten commander of World War II.” He joined the military in 1916 as a private and served along the Mexican border before fighting in the 89th division in France in 1917. He rose through the ranks and during World War II he fought in the…

One Jew’s Financial Support for the Revolutionary War

Posted in _All Snapshots, Armed Services – American Military, Colonial Jews

Black and white portrait of Haym Salomon in formal attire with a landscape background.

Haym Salomon (1740-1785), a Polish immigrant and New York City financial broker, was one of the largest Patriot financiers of the Revolutionary War. During the war, he was arrested by the British as a spy and forced to work as a German translator. Salomon used his position to convince German mercenary soldiers to disband and…

Jacob Rader Marcus (1896-1995): the “Dean” of American Jewish historians

Posted in _All Snapshots, Education & Intellectual Life, Interfaith Relations, Organizations & Institutions, Religion

Jacob Rader Marcus, the founder of the American Jewish Archives (AJA), was born in Connelsville, PA on March 5, 1896. Known as the “Dean” of American Jewish historians, Dr. Marcus was the first American born, scientifically trained historian to earn an academic Ph.D. to examine the American Jewish experience. In 1947—with the great centers of…

AJA Educational Articles