Forgotten Anniversaries
A blog post by JMM Executive Director Marvin Pinkert. To read more posts from Marvin click HERE.
OK, lucky for me this topic is not about MY anniversary, but rather the anniversaries of historic events that link to the Jewish community. As we approach the end of 2015, I made myself a list of anniversaries that we had not covered in a blog post or newsletter.
For example, May 7 was the centennial of the sinking of the Lusitania. I found a site that claimed that 30 Jewish passengers on the ship lost their lives in this attack – one of those who died in the sinking was an entertainer by the name of Dave Samuels (born in Romania as David Samoilescu). Samuels worked in Yiddish theater and was successful not only in the US but in England and Australia as well! He was on his way to a booking in London when he had the misfortune to sail on the Lusitania.
We also missed the bicentennial of the Battle of Waterloo on June 18. The big picture story for the Jewish community is that the defeat of Napoleon ushered in a reactionary rollback of Jewish liberties throughout Central Europe that had been secured during the period of his reign. On a smaller scale, I also found this story with the misspelled headline in the British Jewish News: http://www.jewishnews.co.uk/the-mild-agressor-the-unsung-jewish-hero-of-waterloo/.
It appears that a Jewish surgeon named Georg Gerson was awarded the Waterloo Medal for his service to the “King’s German Legion”, a British unit made up largely of expatriate Germans His graveside was in the Jewish cemetery the Grindelfriedhof. In the time of the Third Reich the cemetery was dissolved and the dead were reburied with their gravestones in the Jewish Cemetery Ohlsdorf. There his memorial can still be seen today. The inscription on one side reads: Mitissimus Aggressor — Acerrimus Defensor (a mild aggressor — a sharp defender).
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But the really important date we missed was on September 26th – the 170th anniversary of the consecration of the Lloyd Street Synagogue in 1845. Well we actually didn’t miss it completely. Those who read our newsletters are aware that this fall we launched the “Sounds of Synagogue” specialty tour of the LSS. In researching the script for this tour, Ilene found articles describing the sights and sounds of the synagogue on that opening day. Through these sources I gained a new appreciation for the historic marvel that we serve as custodians.
Friday, September 26th, 1845 was the beginning of Shabbat Nitzavim, the parsha that precedes the Days of Awe. Just before 4pm, as evening settled on Baltimore, an extraordinary gathering took place (as described by Isaac Leeser): “we found ourselves surrounded by many believing Israelites, to whom were joined many Christians, among whom were ministers of many denominations, come to testify by their presence their friendship and good-will to the remnant of Jacob’s sons…” He later adds “we record it to their credit that mixed as was the assembly of Jews and Christians, natives and foreigners, a general spirit of decorum marked them all…”
In addition to their Christian neighbors the congregation’s rabbi, Abraham Rice, and cantor, A. Ansell, were joined by two visiting rabbis who came to make remarks: Rabbi Samuel M. Isaacs of B’nai Jeshurun in New York and Rabbi Isaac Leeser of Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia. Rabbi Isaacs had a reputation as the first American rabbi to offer his sermons in English, and Rabbi Leeser had just earned the distinction of being the first rabbi to offer sermons every week, fundamentally altering the role of rabbi.
That evening the first to enter the synagogue was not one of the distinguished rabbis, but rather the cantor carrying a new copy of the Torah to be placed in the ark. The procession followed. The first sound in the synagogue was the shechiyanu prayer pronounced on the steps of the ark. This was quickly followed by the shema – “and he was answered by the united voices of the congregation, in which were heard mingling voices of early youth and mature manhood, falling with overpowering harmony on the ear, testifying that all there, who came to worship, felt that they were indeed members of the ancient people of G-d, adherents to the holy covenant.” And thus begins more than a century of sounds of worship for the Lloyd Street Synagogue and the first permanent home for Maryland’s Jews.
If you would like to hear more “sounds of the synagogue” join us for special tours on Sundays at 3pm. And if there is a special 2016 anniversary you want me to remember, write to me at mpinkert@jewishmuseummd.org.
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