THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS—Fr iday, March 27, 1959-32

•

Hawaiian Jewry Described by JTA Correspondents

On Dec. 7, 1941, the Jewish been the lost ten tribes: the Bri- saying that the Hawaiian king
and some Jewish families re-
(Continued from Page 1)
community
and JWB officials in tish, the Japanese, the American had a Jewish cook. In his ar-
Such an investigation might turned to the mainland.
Honolulu
came
alive. American Indians. I don't know why we ticles, Postal, in an evident de-
In 1901, the first Hebrew
have been more fruitful before
Jews
remember
that shocking continue to call them the "lost" sire to be fair, also quotes the
congregation
of
Honolulu
was
1778, when Captain James Cook
day
when
Ensign
Ira Jeffrey, of tribes. They have been found conclusions of a Jewish re-
founded,
under
the
presidency
discovered the island group.
searcher, casting doubt on this
Minneapolis,
the
war's
first cas- everywhere and anywhere.
of
S.
Ehrlich.
It
numbered
about
subsequently, the natives' orig-
story. This researcher thought
You
can't
prove
anything
by
ualty
from
that
city,
died
carry-
inal civilization was decimated 40 active members out of a total
that the New England sailor
circumcision.
That
rite
has
ing
ammunition
aboard
the
USS
by wars, disease, and waves of Jewish population of over 100.
- been widely practiced by jumped to the conclusion that
California
in
Pearl
Harbor
.
.
Rabbi
M.
S.
Levy,
of
San
Fran-
immigration.
many peoples the world over. the cook was Jewish because he
In 1887, Israel Rosenberg, cisco's Beth-El, toured Hawaii Private Louis Schleifer, of New-
But it seems to me that a was darkskinned and maybe
ark;
died
under
fire
on
Hickam
in
1901,
and
performed
a
Jew-
known affectionately to the na-
language relationship is some- looked like a Jew. But the re-
Field,
trying
to
save
a
grounded
tives as "Rosey," was on such ish wedding in Honolulu, a rare
thing else. If I heard anyone searcher does not believe that
plane
.
.
.
Private
Joseph
H.
good terms with Hawaiian King and memorable occasion for the
saying "you-all" to me, I an Hawaiian king would have
Guttman, of Union City, N.J.,
Kalakaua that they frequently islanders.
would be sure he did not employed Joseph 'way back yon-
died
in
action
at
his
Pearl
Har-
A
Jewish
cemetery
was
con-
discussed the Jewish religion.
come from Cochin or China. der? We think it very likely
bor guard post. Stars of David
secrated in a beautiful loca-
When Rosenberg presented the
The article in the Encyclo- that the Hawaiian king should
may
be
seen
today
among
the
tion, about 12 miles from
king with a Torah, the Kalakaua
crosses in the Hawaiian mili- pedia cites the log of a New have hired a Jewish cook. After
was especially pleased. That am Honolulu, in 1902. Native Ka-
England sailor, who visited Ha- a steady diet of pineapples, he
tary cemetery.
naka men, dignified and co-
cient scroll of law today rests
waii after the first explorations would have enjoyed a little ge-
Hawaii
is
also
where
Com-
operative,
assisted
the
Hebrew
with other treasured relics of
mander Solomon Isquith, of of the island by the English, filte fish.
Benevolent Asssociation in
early Hawaii's royalty. It was
Brooklyn, received the Navy
conducting
funerals
and
car-
loaned to the Jewish community
Cross for saving scores from the
for use until 1935, when an- ing for the cemetery. Arrange-
USS Utah . . . Ensign Stanley
other was obtained through the ments were made for circum-
Caplan, of Elmira, N.Y., took
cisions and, in 1903, Philip
Jewish Welfare Board.
an embattled destroyer to sea
Ehrlich became the first
There is no historical record
to shoot down four marauding
youth to celebrate a formal
of anti-Semitism on the lush
Maj. S. Robert Abrahami, rict president, and Harry J.
planes and sink a submarine ...
and strategic -islands located at Hawaiian Bar Mitzvah.
commanding officer of the mili- Binder, regional vice-president,
Lt.
Stephen
Salzman,
of
Wil-
By the 1930s, about 300 Jews
the juncture of principal Pa-
tary hospital in Jerusalem dur- is in charge of the Program.
cific trade routes. Today, how- lived in Honolulu. A - Bnai Brith mington, - Del., won the silver ing Israel's War of Liberation,
On April 3, Maj. Abrahami
star
for
bringing
down
a
zero
lode
was
organized
in
1930.
ever, some prejudice has been
will address a number of public will be in Muskegon to occupy
at
Schofield
Barracks
with
a
The
first
complete
High
Holy
imported from the United
meetings throughout the state the pulpit of Cong. Bnai Israel,
States. But it is negligible. Out. Day services were conducted in single rifle shot. -
The Jews of Hawaii know on behalf of the Zionist Organi- of which Rabbi Stanley Kaplan
of 14 Hawaiian hotels recently - 1935 by Rabbi Kenneth Carlton
zation of America.
is spiritual leader. His visit
surveyed, only one barred Jew- Zwerin. In 1939, the Jewish they need make no apology for
will
end April 4, when he
Announcement
of
the
tour
the
equality
accorded
them
as
community
converted
a
church
ish guests. The many ethnic
and racial groups that comprise structure into Hawaii's first citizens of -the newest state. The was made by Leon Kay, presi- speaks at a public meeting at
the predominantly non-Cauca- synagogue, -and obtained a site Jewish Community is growing. dent of the ZOA Michigan Re- Temple Beth Jacob, Pontiac. On
sian Hawaiian people indicate for later construction of a new Many veterans who served in gion, gave the following sched the committee are Rabbis Nath-
an Hershfield and Israel Good-
no general tendency to racism. synagogue building. The islands' the islands during the war have ule:
On Wednesday, Maj. Abra- man, Thomas A. Horwitz and
The first known Jewish first fund-raising drive for over- returned to make it their home.
seas relief among Jews took Others, too, have succumbed to ham will address an open meet- Joe Jacobson.
settler, A. S. Grinbaum, of
A native of London and a
Germany, arrived in Honolulu place under Bnai Brith auspices the charming magic of "aloha." ing at Saginaw's Temple Bnai
* * *
in 1937. The sum of $2,500 was
in 1856. His nephew, M. S.
Lsrael, under the chairmanship graduate of Oxford University,.
Grinbaum, founded one of turned over to the JDC to aid
of Dr. - Manuel Goldberger, Abrahami was formerly chair-
victims of European anti-Semi-
the island's wholesale houses.
president of the Tri-City Area man of the English-speaking
tism.
Inter-island trade was devel-
section of the General Zionist
Zionist District.
BY DAVID SCHWARTZ
It was in 1903 that Rabbi Ru
oped by the Grinbaums and by
(Copyright, 1959, JTA, Inc.)
The Israeli, formerly associ- Party in Israel.
dolph I. C of f e e reported to
other Jewish merchants who
The New York Times, on the ated with the Yuval-Gad Irri-
His tour is one of a series of
President Cyrus Adler, of the occasion the other day of the
established mercantile firms
gation Pipe Factory in Ashke- educational projects being plan-
that evaporated to nearby is- American Jewish Historical As- admission of Hawaii as the 50th lon, will speak Thursday under ned in Michigan communities.
sociation, after a visit to Hawaii, state, in an interesting dispatch
lands.
the auspices of the Flint Zionist according to Ezekiel Leikin, re-
In the 1870s. a number of ad- that "Honolulu is truly a 'gold- from Honolulu, said that the District at Beth Israel Syna- gional director, who is coordin-
venturous young Jewish bache- ene medinah.' " Rabbi Coffee president of the last territorial gogue. Dr. Sam Gotlib is dist- ating the program.
lors found themselves in Hawaii. was especially impressed by the legislature of Hawaii had draft-
Since there were no eligible stately royal palms which tower ed a resolution to call Hawaii
Jewish girls, some married love- above the luxuriant vegetation. the Aloha State.
ly and friendly native maidens. On top of the royal palm, a
Aloha means welcome in the
But all refrained from working straight stalk points skyward. Hawaiian language.
on Jewish holidays, and order- Rabbi Coffee- noted that the
The meaning of "Aloha" in
ed matzos from the mainland. stalk is the lulab which figures
the original Polynesian or Ha-
In 1881. Rabbi A. J. Messing, in the celebration of Sukkot,Tthe
waiian language is God of Love.
of San Francisco, gave a special festival of the tal, ernacle. He
When you think of the He-
dispensation to perform relig- saw it as an omen for the flow
brew word Elohim, so kindred
ious functions to Elias Peck, a ering of Jewish life on th e is
to Aloha, meaning also God,
lands-.
learned Hawaiian Jew. -
Rabbi Coffee found the what conclusion must be drawn?
A progressive movement for
bulk of early Hawaiian Jewry Were the Polynesians kindred
constitutional reform led to the
proud of their. faith. But he to the Hebrews?
overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani
The Universal Jewish Ency-
pitied them in that they were
in 1893. This facilitated eco-
clopedia, in the new upgraded
nomic -progress and a rise in isolated from co-religionists
and had no opportunity, to 11-volume edition which is now
immigration of Jews and others.
mitigate
the suffering of fel- aavilable, refers to a legend
After annexation to the United
that the Hawaiians were the lost
States in 1898, mercantile busi- low Jews. He observed that
"our holy faith is not dead ten tribes. The theory that they
ness boomed. More immigrants
in the islands; it is dormant." were the lost tribes, it points
arrived. But a crash followed,
out, rests on the fact that they
practiced circumcision, and also
ABRAHAM REDELHEIM, president of the Zionist Organ-
that some of their ceremonial
ization of America, receives a $2,000 check for the American
rites have a resemblance to
Zionist Fund from ABRAHAM BORMAN, president of the
some of the Hebraic. Bernard
Zionist Organization of Detroit, at a dinner last week at the
Postal is the author of the en-
cyclopedia article on Hawaii, Sheraton-Cadillac Hotel, which was followed by a general
meeting at Beth Aaron Synagogue. Shown, left to right, are
and I gather from his article
that he is not to be taken as HARRY COHEN, LEON KAY, president, Michigan Region
ZOA; Redeiheim, Borman and SHERMAN SHAPIRO, chair-
subscribing to the theory. The
man of the Balfour Concert, annual AZF fund-raising event.
-fact is that most everybody has

ZOA President Given $2,000 Check
by Detroit for U. S. Zionist Fund

.

Is Aloha Hebraic

Ten Years at Hillel for Dr. Kapustin

Synagogue Girds for New Court .Fight on Seating

Dr. MAX KAPUSTIN is honored with gifts and a plaque
by members of the local Bnai Brith Men's and Women's
Councils in honor of his ten years as director of the Bnai
Brith Hillel Foundation at Wayne State University. Pictured,
left to right, are MELVIN WEISZ, LOUIS WEBER, Men's
Council - president; Rabbi Kapustin, Mrs. DAVID GROSBERG,
Women's Council president; HY CRYSTAL, executive director
of the council; and HARRY NATHAN, Council Hillel chairman.

NEW ORLEANS (JTA)—The
possibility of a new court fight
looms in the embattled Con-
gregation of the Chevra Thilim
Synagogue which is presently.
operating under a court in-
junction forbidding mixed seat-
ing in the synagogue.
The injunction was issued
by the late Judge Frank J.
Stich after a lengthy hearing
which attracted national at-
tention and in which national
orthodox of ficials testified.
The trial was the result of a
suit brought by a group of
members of the congregation
to ban institution of a family
seating plan approved by the
rest of the congregants.
Judge Stich had ruled that
the matter was not subject to
majority vote because mixed

seating would violate the con-
ditions of the original dona-
tion given to build the old
Chevra Thilim Synagogue. The
donation required the congre-
gation to follow "the Jewish
Orthodox Polish ritual," a
requirement extending to any
new synagogue in which pro-
ceeds from the sale of the
original synagogue was used.
A set of proposed amend-
ments to the congregation's
charter has been mailed to
congregation families with
notice that a meeitng would
be held April 12 to discuss and
vote on the amendments. One
of the amendments would de-
lete the phrase "Orthodox
Polish Jewish Ritual" from
the charter. Another amend-
ment, re-stating the objects

and purposes of the congrega-
tion, has no reference to mixed
seating. A third amendment
provides for changes in the
by-laws by a majority vote of
the Board of Directors.
Foes of the proposed amend-
ments contended that the
changes were designed to pave
the way for an attempt to
change the congregation to a
Conservative or eventually a
Reform congregation.
Sponsors of the original suit
warned that if the proposed
amendments were approved,
they would start new court
proceedings. They warned also
that approval might expose the
backers to charges of contempt
of court as long as the Stich
injunction was in effect.