100 Years Ago in the Forward

A young man by the name of Samuel Chapin committed suicide in New York’s Turkish Baths on 1st Street and Third Avenue. After taking a shvitz for about an hour, Chapin, who also lived on 1st Street, gave one of the employees a 50 cent tip, then got into one of the beds and asked to be awakened at midnight. After he was awakened, he got dressed and disappeared. The employees thought he had left, but his fully-clothed body was discovered the next morning, floating in the “plunge,” or cold pool. The reason for the suicide is unknown.

75 Years Ago in the Forward

The theater was packed, although not with the usual Yiddish theater crowd waiting to see a regular show. Most of the audience members were middle-aged and older, and there were about three times as many women as men. The women were dressed to the nines, and many of them had fancy furs hanging from their shoulders. Waiting for something special, the attendees got what they wanted when the curtain rose: For the first time in 25 years, Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky shared the stage. Performing in Leon Kobrin’s, “Di Farloyrene Gan-eden,” the couple drew their old fans into the theater for a nostalgic look at how Yiddish theater used to be. The fans were not disappointed.

50 Years Ago in the Forward

A storm of protest has blown up around Long Island University linguistics professor Eduard Sitler. After the professor recently made some antisemitic comments that he said he regretted, the university looked into his background and discovered that Sitler had given up his American citizenship to fight for the Nazis during the war. Although Sitler has already resigned from his post at the university, his application for repatriation to the United States is now under protest from veterans groups and others.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount