. ,_ r .
Abe Lincohi Signature Is in Rare Album Found `Tribute to the Don r ':.iqfpris
College Scholarshi*,.iilm'....
,by the American Jewish Historical Society
"It was th aid of World .4 War
JERUSALEM — Denmark's res-
Solomons, also a leading founder
WALTHAM, Mass.—A rare auto- ployes of the U.S. Treasury De-
U when I realized :bow. complac-
graph album containing the signa-
tures of Abraham Lincoln, mem-
bers of his cabinet and members
of Congress, auctioned in 1864 at a
fair for the benefit of the U.S.
Sanitary Commission, a forerunner
of the American Red Cross, has
been discovered by the American
Jewish Historical Society.
Rabbi Abram Vossen Goodman
of Lawrence. N.Y., the Historical
Society's president, said that the
volume was obtained through a
private collector. Rabbi Goodman
noted that, "The album dramatizes
the humanitarian traits of Mr. Lin-
Vein and other members of his
government at a time when ten-
sions were rising during the Civil
War."
The autograph album, bound in
red morocco leather, belonged
to Adolphus S. Solomons, a part-
ner in Philip and Solomons, dis-
tinguished Washington booksel-
lers and stationery company.
The firm, a gathering place for
Washington intellectuals and writ-
ers, constituted the leading sup-
plier for the White House and
Congress.
The 270 signatures in the album
were collected by the women em-
-
partment The autographs, in addi-
tion to Mr. Lincoln's, include those
of his vice president, Hannibal
Hamlin, his private secretaries,
John G. Nicolay and John Hay, as
well as that of a former law part-
ner in Springfield, Ill., John T.
Stuart
Solomons, then a Jewish leader
in Washington, also supervised the
last photographic portrait taken of
Mr. Lincoln four days prior to his
assassination.
The picture was posed in the
studios of Philip and Solomons by
the famous photographer, Alexan-
der Gardner. This final portrait
was reproduced in great quantity
because it portrayed a smiling
Lincoln.
Many copies were sold with a
reproduced inscription in Mr. Lin-
coln's handwriting, "Your obedient
servant, A. Lincoln."
Solomons achieved national ac-
claim as one of the founders of
the American Red Cross, organized
in 1881 and ratified by President
Chester A. Arthur in 1882. He
worked closely with Clara Barton
and served as vice president and
treasurer of the Red Cross for a
number of years.
Name of Catholic Woman Added
to List of Righteous Gentiles in Israel
JERUSALEM — Yad Vashem,
atop Jerusalem's Hill of Remem-
brance, is the most universal mem-
orial in a land of memorials. This
looming stone and concrete shrine
to the six million is living testa-
ment to the ashes from which Is-
rael rose 23 years ago.
Massive iron doors carrying an
abstractly sculptured barbed wire
grill open onto a stark chamber
. . . an iron clad eternal flame at
the center of the room casts flick-
ering light over a mosaic tiled
floor. As eyes adjust, the inscrip-
tions spelled by those tiles become
legible as the names of every Nazi
death camp — in Hebrew and in
English.
Archives house thousands of vol-
umes of information in detail on
the years of horror — and record
the names of 1,500,000 of those
graveless martyrs: It was from
these files that much of the evi-
dence presented at the Eichmann
trial was drawn and compiled.
Leading to the Yad Vashem
Memorial is a winding, shaded
path lined with straight young
trees. At the base of each tree,
a gracefully lettered mosaic
melaque honors the name of a
heroic non-Jew who saved Jew-
ish lives from brutal extinction
— at the risk of certain death.
A former Belgian school teach-
er, Jeanne Daman Scaglione,
planted her young sapling here,
on Jan. 31, and joined the row
of honor.
Now the wife of an internation-
ally known professor of literature,
Aldo Scaglione of the University
of North Carolina, this Catholic
woman is in her 25th year of ser-
vice to the United Jewish Appeal
as a widely-traveled speaker in be-
half of the people of Israel and
the cause of Jewish survival.
In the words of her own report
To the Yad Vashem committee, "I
was first introduced to Jewish life
In 1942, at the age of 23 . . . until
then, I had never had contact with
the Jewish world." When prevailed
upon by her close friend, Mrs.
Chaim Perelman, to assist in dir-
ecting a Jewish kindergarten in
Brussels, Mrs. Scaglione recalls
that "having been brought up in
an anti-fiscist atmosphere. it was
essentially a question of adopting
political position, of solidarity
with the victims of Nazism and of
-r compassionate interest in the
As parents were arrested, aban-
doned children began to present
the kind of problem that demand-
ed immediate attention. Jeanne
Daman became the architect of a
vast plan to hide these children,
for the duration of the war, with
Gentile farniliei and religious
schools outside the city.
At war's end,'she enlisted her-
self in the service of concentra-
tion camo survivors. After arriv-
ing in the United States, she
joined forces with several Jew-
ish organizations and, in her
own words, "as a non-Jewish
witness of both the tragedy and
the survivors' just claims, I took
an active part in the struggle led
by former resistors for the cre-
ation of the state of Israel."
Mrs. Scaglione was in Israel as a
member of a mission from the
women's division of the United Jew-
ish Appeal.
Prior to their arrival in Israel
the women had visited the site of
the Nazi camp at Mauthausen, Aus-
tria. It was at this camp that Al-
fred Daman, uncle of Jeanne, was
killed in reprisal for the Jewish
resistance work of his daughter
Leonid.
In a letter home to her aunt,
written the night of her return to
Mauthausen, Jeanne Daman Sca-
glione — the newest heroine of Yad
Vashem — wrote that she found
no grave beside which to kneel,
and pray.
The autograph album will be-
come part of the society's com-
prehensive Adolphus S. Solomon
collection and may be displayed
to historical societies, univer-
sities and museums throughout
the country.
The American Jewish Historical
Society has been the leading con-
server of archival information cov-
ering all dimensions of almost four
centuries of Jewish life in the
Western Hemisphere. Founded in
1892, the society's headquarters on
the campus of Brandeis Univer-
sity contain more than 43,000 vol-
umes and 3,000,000 manuscripts on
the multiple activities of American
Jews and their institutions.
BANIAS — Since completing a
road along the western slope of
Mt. Hermon, the Jewish National
Fund has embarked upon further
development projects in the region.
JNF workers have begun the
construction of a panorama watch-
tower near the lower section of
the road and a monument has been
erected in memory of the soldiers
who lost their lives combating
the terrorists while the road was
being built. The site is earmarked
to become a tourist center in the
future.
Another JNF enterprise In the
area to facilitate access to tourist
attractions is the recently com-
menced construction of a motor
road, leading to the ruins of the
Crusader Fortress Qala'at Ninirud
THE DETROIT JEWISH HEWS
cue of its Jewish population from
annihilation by the Nazis in 1943
is the cause for the American-
sponsored academic scholarships
for Danes to study in Israel.
During the 1970-71 academic
year, the U.S. organization "trib-
ute to the Danes," founded and
headed by Dr. Elias L. Gechman,
of Ne* York, for the first time has
allocated scholarships to Danish
students . in order that they can
pursue their studies at the Hebrew
University.
At a recent visit to the Hebrew
University, Dr. Gechman explained
the background of this project
which he initiated some years ago
but only implemented recently.
Born in Russia he himself had been
avictim of the Holocaust.
He survived a Nazi concentration
camp in Poland, and after the war.
became chief medical officer of
UNRWA ih Vienna, specializing
in internal medicine. He immigrat-
ed to the United States where he
has been a practicing physician in
New York since 1948, connected
with the Mt. Sinai Hospital.
!rit'se lro dr:sd . "
w
enats in
and the ilialekleta
ramwri4th
5 '
traction of atria peopte,",.
hailing that
Dr. GeelunitiO.
-
'this overiAsillobteld1 fete initial
joy of mY liliceil ara
,
Y-tiiat his faith
He went on
in humanity 'aria irestdred when he
learned abotn iglio Mailish - rescue
of 1943 whed the entire
Danish-Jewish5 1fclobbintnitY, ' some
7,000 persons;:' h1,1itilped by the
Danish restifaii ruthed away
on boats to 'Ssiedilitil
"Tribute to the Danes" sponsors
include David Ben-Gurion, Arthur
Goldberg, Leonard Bernstein, Dr.
Jonas Salk, Ogden R. Reid, Harry
Golden, Max Lerner, Emanuel Cel-
ler and Hebrew Uniiiersity Presi-
dent Avraham :Harman;
.
This year's'sdlic9irship recipients
are Ulla Grid:lain: , 25, a Copen-
hagen-born studdzit- Of Judaic* and
French at the Hebrew University
and Mogen Reinie.r Jensen, 21, a --
Copenhagen student 'at the univer-
sity's preparatory-year course.
Rosten's Newest Work Deals With Eminent
Personalities, Including False Messiahs
Leo Rosten, famed for "The Edu-
cation of H*Y*51*A*N K*A*P*-
L*A*N" and "The Joys of Yid-
dish," gives an account of notables
to his liking and some famous per-
sonalities in his newest work,
"People I Have Loved, Known or
Admired," published by McGraw-
The reader will take to this col-
lection of essays at once, primarily
because of the very warm account
he gives of his father in the second
chapter which concludes with:
"How very much of him lives
on in my mind—so vividly; and
portions of him rush into tm-
-Tected recollection at the odd-
s moments. And then I hear
ro •1 crying, 'Oh Papa, Papa,
you .-.ere a prince.' "
Rosten offers an explanation of
his approach to his thesis: "Most
of the characters, drawn from
what is mushily called 'real life,'
have greatly enriched the unreal
life of my imagination."
Retaining his love for the legen-
dary, Rosten quotes from "Der
Goldener Mozzik," author unknown;
Vaysichvaus Press, Chicago, 1911:
". . - and all he did was tell
tales, and multitudes came to
hear him; and some left honey
and myrrh for the pleasure he
had given them. But whether
the things he recounted had truly
transpired, or were spun from
the golden strands of his fancy,
or were the sorcerer's own sweet
blend of both, no man could say
save the sagaman himself. And
once when asked where truth did
end, and table begin, he looked
puzzled, then sighed, 'But much
is true that doth not happen, and
much that happens gaineth not
in verity because of blind occur-
rence.' "
His heroes are numerous. Some
Mt. Hermon Memorial
are dealt with at length; others
Among Regional Projects very briefly. In all instances, there
children."
She recalls the first "roundups." I which overlooks the Hula Valley.
4R—irlday, Sobriety 19, 1971
of Conservative Judaism in this
country, helped to establish the
Jewish Theological Seminary As-
sociation (known today as the Jew-
ish Theological Seminary of Amer-
ica.)
He was offered the post of gov-
ernor of the District of Columbia
by President Ulysses S. Grant,
but declined on the grounds that
his official duties would interfere
with his observance of the Sabbath.
is the warmth of Rosten's evalua-
tions that makes the collective
work enjoyable reading.
There is an extensive essay on
Sigmund Freud and it is a tribute
to a great man which concludes:
"He was the Columbus of psy-
chology, which still awaits its
Euclid."
And there are the briefer ones.
For instance, there is the tribute
in the essay "A Handful of He-
roes,". about Harry S Truman.
Rosten commends the courage of
the former President, giving these
reasons:
"Harry S Truman, not only
because of his spunk and dedica-
tion, as President, to doing what
he believed to be the right
thing;' not only because of the
clarity and vigor of his foreign
policy but because, at the age of
111, looking back ea bin bong.
stanza and tragically eroded.
efforts to establish a lasting
peace, Mr. Truman concluded:
'Memories are short; appetites
for power and glory are insatia-
ble. Old tyrants depart. New ones
take their place. It is all very
baffling and "
with a 9th Ce:ntury traveler, but
he introduces him, at least, to a
ancient history for his chapter
"Front Men for God" in which be
deals with the False Messiahs. He
commences with a Jewish traveler
who was born in 880 and died in
940 and disposes of him, thus:
"In the 9th Century, a religious
rabble-rouser named Eldad Ha-
Dani proclaimed that the Ten Lost
Tribes having been located, he
was authorized to inaugurate the
Messianic Age. Since the Lost
Tribes remain unfound to this very
day, and signs of the Messianic
Age were as missing in Eldad Ha-
Dani's time as they are today, I
can only conclude that Eldad Ha-
Dani, who sounds like a magician
of the Old Palace, was a dip."
Perhaps Rotten takes liberties
voice from Heaven"- commanding
him to convert noneother than
generally uninformed reading pub-
lic that may seek more informa-
tion about Ha-Dant and his time
after reading the .above.
Then Rosten turns to a Spanish
Rosten draws upon episodes in Jew named Abulana who "heard a
CJFWF Awards
$17,000 in Grants
to Cam Projects
NEW YORK — Grants totaling
$17,000, including a $10,000 grant
to the Jewish Student Press Service
for the development of a national
campus press service, were award-
ed by the Council of Jewish Feder-
ations and Welfare Funds' (CJFWF)
committee on funding national cam-
pus projects, it was announced by
Louis J. Fox of Baltimore, com-
mittee chairman.
Grants of $3,000 each were
awarded to the Student Struggle
for Soviet Jewry, a nationwide stu-
dent organization which functions
as a constituent agency of the
American Conference on Soviet
Jewry, and to Response magazine,
an independent quarterly journal
of the student community circu-
lated in 36 states, and in six
foreign countries. The Hebrew
House Program at Oberlin
be
College
in Ohio was awarded a $1,000 grant
for use toward a month's study in
Israel for 40 students.
The 17 members of the CJFWF
committee include Prof. Martin
Herman of Wayne State University:
Earlier, budgets of six national
Jewish organizations totalling $5,-
276,000 were reviewed and vali-
dated by the-Large City Budgeting
Conference (LCBC) at its recent
meeting in New York City, an but
completing the cycle of. budgetary
reviews of major national Jewish
agencies begun at the CJFWF's
39th - general assembly in -Kansas
CA, last November.
Pope Nicholas III. :So, to quote
Rosten:
"By sheer sincerity, persis-'
fence, courage and hutzpa, gen-
tle Abulafla succeeded in gain-
ing an audience with the Pope;
but when His Holiness sensed
the general drift of what Abu-
lafia was up to, he (Nicholas)
condemned him (Abel:411a) to the
stake. Abulatia escaped ustula-
tion because soon after ordering
Abulafla to burn, the Pope
dropped dead."
At this point Rosten turns to
another false Messiah, to David
Reuveni or Reubeni, who, in 1524,
made his way to Pope Clement VII
and proposed that a joint crusade
be conducted by Reubeni and the
Pope's forces to trap the Islamic
infidels and to free the Holy Land
from the Turks. Clement VII was
excited by the plan, be deputized
the dwarf Reubeni to -enlist other
nations, Reubeni succeeded in get-
ting a good response from Portugal.
It was a messianic excitement
which gained followers for Reubeni
as a messenger to regain the Holy
Land for the Jew, and some Mar-
ranos followed,. May;' including a
Marrano Diego PIrsia etito assumed
' Molchio or
the name • (Sinlith
Molko, undervient eirtnincision and
soon announced? *inaelf• as the
Messiah ... 14 5 1, 40, Unied at the
stake and thaCenolled *slither mes-
sianic elfort: 1 I 11
Then they: °5011•Ylli119 of the
even more-. 14 Messiah;
kw.` elided Ms
Sabbatai Zvi t4r
crusade by saving' his life throng's
conversion to Islam.
- Rosten narrates this story at
great length and concludes:-
"Sabbatai Zvi died quite Ai;
scnrely, in 1676, but pockets of
stout believers in his mission ,
still grace Greece; Turkey, Mit-
tel Europe and Brooklyn to thie-
very day."
This is a bit of an exaggeration,
yet the story emerges with great
aplomb in the Rosten book.
Curiously, dealing with heaven-
stormers, Rosten states that his
favorite "always will be the ineffa-
ble Father Divine."
Thus, the stories in the "People
I Have Loved . . ." et cetera are
replete with variety of much at-
traction, adding another notable
achievement to ILItighly successful
list of popular books. —P. S.