Friday, January 2,0, 1956
Stanford Professor
Franklin's Birthday Celebration
Ends Property Survey -
Recalls His Activities with the Jews Of Israel 'Templars'
•
As the world celebrated the
250th anniversary of the birth
of Benjamin Franklin on Jan.
17, the American Jewish Ar-
chives disclose important facts
about his relations with 18th-
century Jews.
In 1788 Franklin best ex-
pressed his friendly attitude by
contributing five pounds to
Philadelphia's historic s y n a-
gokue of the Revolution, Mik-
veh Israel. The congregation
was at that time in financial
straits, and the name of Benja-
min Franklin headed a list of
many distinguished non-Jewish
contributors who expressed the
spirit of the new democracy by
helping their fellow men. This
document is preserved a n d
treasured by Mikveh Israel.
Franklin's interest in Jews is
first reflected in • the following
observation taken from an ar-
ticle which he wrote in 1730 for
his newspaper, The Pennsyl-
vania Gazette:
."The Jews were acquainted
with several arts and sciences
long before the Romans be-
came a people or the Greeks
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were known among the na-
tions."
Throughout the years, as
editor, publisher, scientist and
merchant, Franklin constantly
maintained his Jewish associa-
tions. His sympathetic account
of the death of Nathan Levy in
1753, with whom he did business
for 15 years, is the first Jewish
obituary published in his press.
It was Levy's ship, the "Myr-
tilla," which brought the Lib-
erty Bell to Philadelphia.
In England, Franklin visited
the Jewish scientist, Emanuel
Mendes da Costa, a member of
the Royal Society in order to
discuss , mutual scientific in-
terests
While in France, from his
press. at Passy, he issued special
bills of exchange and promis-
sory notes for the Continental
Loan Office in Pennsylvania.
One of these notes,' for $400,
dated Dec. 14, 1780,• made pay-
able to Haym Salomon, and
.
signed
by Francis HOpkinson,
a signer of the Declaration of
Independence, indicates the be-
ginnings of Haym Salomon's
activities in behalf of the Ameri-
can Government.
In 1786, Franklin was associ-
ated in a land transaction with
Benjamin Nones of Philadel-
phia. Nones had fought with
valor in the siege of Charles-
ton and Savannah and later be-
came president of Cong. Mikveh
Israel.
A' year later, Franklin signed
a peddler's license for Solomon
Raphael, thus helping a poor
Jewish immigrant to obtain a
foothold in a free . world. In
that year the Pennsylvania Abo-
litionist Society, one of the
many - institutions founded by
Franklin, was organized. Among
the members were Benjamin
Nones, Jonas Phillips, and Solo-
m
.
Detroit ewish News-25
Miami Beach's New
100% Air Conditioned
(JTA)—On behalf of
the West German governaient, a
S
German-born agricultural eco-
nomist from Stanford Univer-
CLUB
sity has completed a survey of
?c ol • CABANA
property in Israel formerly
pp [EL •
per person
owned by the "Templars," a
froeS , double occ.
) • Private Beach • Coffee Shop
German Protestant sect whose
• Planned Entertainment
members were deported by the
Free Parking
From Jon. 20th
British Mandatory authorities
(, Write for Color Brochure to March 20th
during the war, because of their
.DIRECTLY ON THE OCEAN • 16th ST: s COLLINS
Nazi sympathies.
4494.
.10$4!,-g0:4'41s.ci-vict:0**4.Y$0 1,
Prof. Karl Brandt, a member
•
of the Episcopalian Church who
has taught agricultural eco-
OUR INAUGURAL SEASON
nomics at Stanford since 1938,
was commissioned by the Ger-
man Foreign Office to conduct
the survey. He was chief ap-
praiser of the German Farm
Tenants' Bank in the mid-
twenties and director of the
German Institute for Agricul-
tural Marketing Research from
1929 to 1933.
More than 2,000 `Templars"
"NOTHING QUITE LIKE ITI—ANYWHEREI"
lived in Palestine before the
200 luxurious guest rooms ... beautiful Alpine
war. They are a Swabian sect
_ dining room, glamorous Club Chalet
whose members settled in the
featuring Broadway stars.
Holy Land in the 19th century
No charge for beach and pool facilities.
and prospered. as farmers. Most
Private parking.
embraced Nazism with such fer-
Penthouse apartments—
vor that, at the time of Rom-
private suites
mel's advance in Africa, the
British were compelled to de-
BE HERE FOR OUR
port them to Australia. Many
GALA PREMIERE
became citizens there, but sev-
eral hundred later migrated to
Germany.
Write or see your
travel agent
At the reparations conference
between Israel and Germany at
The Hague in 1952, Israel un-
DIRECTLY ON THE OCEAN AT 41 . st STREET, MIAMI BEACH ;
dertook to pay compensation for
the property the "Templars"
left behind. It consists chiefly
of valuable real estate in Jeru-
Hollywood-by-the Sea
Salem, Haifa and Jaffa, of fer-
In Florida
tile agricultural lands at Beth
THE
HOTEL aLANOlingiftegr,..„,..„
Lahon in Galilee and of the
former Wilhelmina Colony near
Complete relaxation and informal
Lydda.
seaside living. Each luxurious
room has a magnificent ocean view.
Negotiations between a Ger-
man and an Israel :delegation Z•k, ,2110 ifitt,of ptiyete.beach. , - :
Fresh water pool and Cabana Club.
began at Copenhaen in 1953
and were recessed in Rome just
Double room with
two years ago,, mainly because
private bath from $12 up
of wide differences of opinion
Some management as the Hollywood Beach Hotel and Country Club. Guests have
about the value of the land in-
full hotel and country club privileges ... use of private 18-hole golf course.
volved.
The Bonn Foreign Office ex-
pects to resume negotiations
this year, basing its stand on
Prof. Brandt's opinion. If no
accord can be reached, the
questions at issue will be sub-
on the Circle, Hollywood, Florida
mitted to a mediator. Should
Privacy...spacious shaded grounds... right in the •
they fail to agree on a mediator,
one of the Scandinavian mon-
heart of town. The Country Club and golf course
are less than a block from the hotel. fresh
archs will be asked to designate
wafer pool and Cabana Club.
a suitable person.
BONN
.
•
Because - he • was a skillful
lobbyist, Franklin was employed
to represent the Indiana Com-
pany in London. That organiza-
tion, created to develop the land
west of the Alleghenies, num-
bered seven Jews among its 21
directors. When the interested
parties met at the Crown and
Anchor -Tavern in London in
1769, Franklin • was joined by
Barnard Gratz, a fellow Phila-
_delphian, in pleading the cause
of western land development
before English authorities. Bar-
nard Gratz was an outstanding
stockholder, and later secretary
of the Indiana Company. .
Franklin manifested a close
No task is-more difficult than
personal interest in the work of systematic hypocrisy.
Major David Salisbury Franks,
—Bulwer-Lytton
a Philadelphia-born Jew, who
fought in many of the major
campaigns of the American
Revolution. That interest is ex-
pressed in the only letter to
Major Franks which has sur-
vived in Franklin's correspon-
dence.
New York Swears In
First Woman Judge.
NEW YORK, (JTA) — Miss
Birdie Amsterdam, the first wo-
man ever elected to a judicial
post in this city, was sworn in
as a City Court justice last
week. Long active in Jewish
welfare and educational circles,
Miss Amsterdam was elected to
a 10-year term last November.
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