Forward Looking Back

Irish Jew: Robert Briscoe, the first Jewish Lord Mayor of Dublin, chatted with Israeli swimmer Shoshana Riebner who won her event in the international swimming contest between Israel and Ireland. Image by Forward Association

1916 100 Years Ago

I’m writing these lines at the bazaar. Around me is a sea of loud voices. Music is playing, and conversation rings out on all sides. Light is streaming into the giant hall. It’s not just a hall — it’s more like a big field. And in this field, human hands have done incredible work. With much love and labor, New York City’s Grand Central Palace has been transformed into a shining mansion. You can get anything here, from a piano to a bouquet of flowers; from a sewing machine to a photograph; from a dress to a piece of candy. There is such beauty and liveliness here, so many charming Jewish girls. From where did they get the fire in their eyes? Among the amazing things to see here are the art exhibit and the Palestine display, both of which are the most popular in this temporary bazaar created entirely for Jewish charities.

1941 75 Years Ago

The recent wave of anti-Semitism that has overtaken Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia has been exceptionally strong. Greece, however, appears to be the only country in the Balkan region that is free of this virulent anti-Semitism. In Salonika, where the 50,000 Jews comprise 25% of the city’s population, there is nothing but praise for the heroism of the Jews fighting in the current war. According to the Greek military, there are 7,000 Greek Jews fighting on the front lines. These Jews know that Greece is the last democracy in the Balkans, and they want to protect it, so they are fighting hard both as Greeks and as Jews. Even the Archbishop of Athens visited Salonika to personally thank the Jewish community for contributions to the war effort.

1966 50 Years Ago

Tel Aviv restaurateur Abie Nathan, who flew a private plane to Egypt in an attempt to promote peace between Arabs and Israelis, arrived in New York this week. Mohammad T. Mehdi, director of a New York-based Arab organization, invited Nathan to participate in a press conference. Nathan, however, declined the invitation after he was informed that Mehdi had recently proposed a plan for America to remove one million European Jews from Israel in order to bring peace to the Middle East. Nathan plans to meet President Johnson and Senator Robert Kennedy, Cardinal Francis Joseph Spellman and U.N. Secretary-General U Thant.

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