Looking Back: September 23
100 Years Ago in the Forward
A large group of Jews wearing tallitot and holding prayer books and synagogue tickets showed up at a small Manhattan theater on Clinton Street for the High Holy Days. The problem was, the place was locked. Very upset, the crowd started banging on the doors. Eventually the boss showed up, but he didn’t know why these people were there. The theater hadn’t been rented, and there were no plans for services. It turns out it was a Rosh Hashanah swindle — perpetrated by Velvl Dronoff, who duped a large number of people into buying tickets for services.
75 Years Ago in the Forward
B. Charney Vladek, general manager of the Forverts, returned to New York after a four-month trip to Europe and the Soviet Union, and he has much to report. The situation of Poland’s 3 million Jews is especially dire, and while that entire country’s economy is in shambles, the Jews are singled out and harshly persecuted there. In the Soviet Union, Vladek notes, there is no overt anti-Semitism, mainly because Jews are one of dozens of different nationalities there. He did say, however, that the recent trial of old Bolsheviks, who were accused of attempting to overthrow Stalin, was a type of show trial. Vladek also spent much time in Palestine, which has been especially restive of late. As a result, he is not convinced that Zionism will be a success.
50 Years Ago in the Forward
Major players in the Moroccan-Jewish community have asked the government-run newspaper, Al Alam, to cease its attacks on the Jewish community in the wake of two of their members having attended a meeting of the World Jewish Congress in Geneva recently. Al Alam argues that the meeting was of a Zionist nature, the purpose of which was to help the State of Israel and to further drain North Africa of its Jews. The paper further comments that this is proof of the disloyalty of Moroccan Jews.
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