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JPS Book. by Wolf and Whiteman

Egyptian Expulsion of Karaite Jews
May Mend Ten-Century-Old - Rift .

Philadelphia Jewish History

The 'arrival of the S.S. Misr in
Under the presidency of Edwin Wolf II, the Jewish Publica- 'Athens has led to speculation as
tion Society of America has shown great progress in the past to whether a ten-century-old
few years. It has taken forward steps in the task of revising the rift in Judaism is about to be
Bible translation, it has issued a number of outstanding works healed.
and is gaining in membership.
Among the Egyptian Jewish
Now the JPS president emerges also
refugees who landed in Athens
as an author—of a! work of marked
recently. were , approximately
value, in the field' of American Jewish
100 Karaites, members of the
history.
dissident Jewish sect that split
Together with Maxwell Whiteman;
off from the main body if Jew-
the assistant to the director of American
ry in the eighth century, refus-
Jewish Archives at Cincinnati, Edwin
ing to accept the Talmudic writ-
Wolf •II has authored "The History of
ings as authoritative and insist-
the Jews of Philadelphia—from Colonial
ing oxr personal and literal in-
Times to the Age of Jackson," which is
terpretation of the Bible.
the newest JPS publication.
The research that has gone into the
What is extremely significant
making of-this book has earned for 'the
is the fact that they were helped
two authors the gratitude not only of
to leave - Egypt and. started on
the Philadelphia Jewish community but
Edwin Wolf II
their way to Israel by the rab-
of all American Jews.' The facts recorded here serve as im- binate of the official Jewish
portant addenda to the entire story of American , Jewry.
community of Cairo, thus regis-
Mr. Wolf, who is the librarian of the Library Company of tering recognition, for the first
Philadelphia, which was founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1731, time since their excommunica-
and his associate, have gone to records of all available libraries, tion by Rabbi Saadia Gaon in
of private, collections and of major colleges and public agencies. the tenth century, of their Jew-
They have uncovered facts about the first Jews who are believed ishneas by an orthodox -Zewish
to have come to Philadelphia in the middle of -the 17th century. group.
We learn that William Penn was deeply interested in Jews
Such recognition has already
"from a theological point of view" and was "certainly influenced been granted them by the- state
by the contemporary messianic -interest in the conversion of of Israel, but has been fiercely
Jews," and we are told about Penn and his reactions to Jews fought by many orthodox
who would not accept the divinity of Jesus: :As .a religious man groups. Will this acceptanCe by
and himself a -prolific writer of theological treatises, he respected Egyptian Jewry pave the way
the Jews' background, and at one time suggested a Hebraic for further recognition by or-
frame of government for his province. Yet he could not accept thodox Jewry in general?
what he interpreted as their present stubborness."
Representatives .of the Joint
The beginnings of Philadelphia Jewry-are traced to the 1730s. Distribution Committee, Which
Recorded here are., the activities of Moses, Nathan and Isaac welcomed and cared for the Ka-
Levy; of Moses and David Franks; of the establishment of Con- raites when they were landed,
gregation Shearith Israel.
learned much about the Egyp-
Equally interesting is the story of the founding of their tia.n Karaite community ddring
congregations, the building of their synagogues, the difficulties the ' few days these refugees
of readership and of providing for a life in which their customs were under the care of JDC be-
could be lived.
fore they were flown to Israel.
There is much about the old families, of their way of JDC's care is financed by funds
traditional living, of their relations with others of different provided by American Jewry
faiths. One acquires a realistic sense of the difficulties of through the _United Jewish Ap-
maintaining the ancient customs and the conflict of loyalties. peal.
The authors were skillful in making these people grow with
There were about 4,000 Kara-
the community and in showing how'their sense of responsibility ites in Egypt, of whom about
made them overcome hardshiii and take' up their share in meet- 3,000 live in Cairo. There were,
ing the needs of the growing community.
for a time, large Karaite com-
Many interesting stories are related about early Hebrew__ munities in the Crimea and
publications that have come down from that era. According to other parts of southern Russia„
the Wolf-Whiteman history, Nathan Levy was a highly cultured but nothing has been heard of or
man, a musician, and a collector of Hebraica, the inventory of about them in recent years. How
whose library showed that he owned a "Bible, in Hebrew, many survived the Nazi death
Greek and Latin," a "Hebrew and Latin Did.," "22 Hebrew camps is not known.
Books," and "8 Spa: Hebrew Books." -
The Egyptian Karaites are-in-
These are only the beginnings of a thrilling series of stories
about men and women who established the foundation for a great distinguishable in appearance
Jewish community. The authors outline the activities • of Barnard, from Egyptian Jews and follow
Solomon and Rebecca Gratz and the leadership they assumed in the same trades and professions.
their community. A • letter written •• by Barnard Gratz to his Their major language is Arabic,
cousin, Solomon Henry, in Yiddish, provides a human interest their secondary language
French. .
angle of historical value.
Particularly valuable as historical data, however, are the
They have _two temples in
chapters describing bow the early Philadelphia Jewish mer- Caird—the word "synagogue" is
chants traveled westward and helped open up the West for
trading and for national expansion. But then came the War
of Independence which "put an end to Indian trade and western
expansion," and with it commenced another glorious chapter
of the Philadelphia Jews' great share in the fight for liberty.
-Those who aided Washington are listed. The -story of David -
Franks' difficulties under Benedict Arnold is told in •
Franks was jailed for a -week; and he was one of the few whose
loyalty • to' the Americans was in question; his daughter Rebecca
later having married an Englishman and having settled in Eng-
land. But his cousin David Salisbury Franks was one of the
heroes of the Revolution, as were so many other Philadelphia
Jews whose story is told in the new history.
The religious life of the community is described in great
detail, and there is a splendid account of the fight for civil 'rights,
which were not yet fully granted to the Jews of Philadelphia, and
which were affirmed by the Bill • of Rights.
The economic life of the Jews of Philadelphia, their re-
ligious and communal leaders, their philanthropies, their patrons
of the arts, their authors and actors, ,come into full view in this
volume.
It is a story that records the early migration, up to the time
of the German Jewish migration. • A new era .began with the
latter, and 4t is to be hoped that the two authors will complete
Men, W
their history with a volume relating the events in Philadelphia
Lose
F'ounds
after 1830.
Their deep research is indicated by the fact that the actual
text of this book is incorporated in 380 pages—with a large
number of illustrations—and that there are an additional 120
pages of notes, attesting to the sources that covered in the
preparation of this volume.

unknown to them. They operated"
their own school, in which their
children were taught Arabic,
French and -Hebrew, but this
school has now been taken over
by the government.
There are no facilities for the
training and ordination of r6tb-
bis and the Egyptian community
depended on Russia for their
spiritual leadership. Their 'last
rabbi, Tobya Simcha Levi Bubo-
vitch, died in July, 1956. A dep-
uty was appointed to serve in
his place, but he was first im-
prisoned and then expelled in
November. Since then the bea-
dles of the two temples conduct
services.
The Bibles and -prayer books
they use were all printed in
Odessa, during the late 19th and
early 20th centuries. The prayer
books consist entirely of ex-
cerpts from the Bible. They use
mezilioth but no tephilin. They
remove their shoes and pros- .
trate themselves upon - entering
the temple. They observe their
own version of kashrut.

.

.

L 0 U SUL KIN, HARRY
THOMAS and LES SATOV-
SkY (Ieft to right) are shown
as they break ground for Star
Lanes, a 32-lane bowling alley
being constructed on North-
western Hwy., just past Tele-
graph, in Southfield Town-
ship: Being built at a cost of
$750,000, the alleys will be
equipped with AMF automatic
pinspotters and a single T
under lane ball return. There
will be parking space for ° 500
cars, a restaurant and the
Star-Lite Room, a night club
for teenagers, serving soft
drinks and offering dancing
on weekends.

Special Free Purim Kits
Distributed by Council

• A special free Purim kit, pre-
pared by the Jewish, Commun-
ity Councir Culture Commis-
sion, has been distributed to
hundreds of individuals and or-
ganizations, according to Edith
Heavenrich, Council program
secretary.
The kits, which contain
Purim history, games, skits;
songs and suggestions for' pro-:•
gram planning, are still avail-
able from Miss Heavenrich, 163
Madison, WO 2-6710.

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Set Deadline for Filing of • Austrian Claims

The final deadline for the fil-
ing of claims by former Jewish
citizens of Austria or permanent
residents in that country of at
least 10 years standing prior to
the Nazi occupation, is June 10,
1957. An!extension of the dead-
line date is not expected. • .
Some 13,200 claims have been
submitted to _date, and almost
one third have already gained
approval. Payments on claims,
thus far have aggregated
$807,692.

- New claim's are to 'be for-
warded to . the Austrian Assist-
ance Fund, Vienna 56, Box 87,
Austria. Additional information
may be obtained from any Aus-
trian Embassy or Consulate,
from offices of the United Re-
stitution Organization (URO),
1241 Broadway, New York, and
at 3950 6th, Los Angeles, or from
Jewish family service agencies
in major cities of the United
States.

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