WALTHAM, Mass. (JTA) – When Jonathan Sarna was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 1999 at the age of 44, it changed his life. Already a highly regarded historian at Brandeis University, Sarna was in the midst of writing his seminal study of American Jewish history when he realized with alarm that he might never finish…
Abraham Jonas, the attorney, and Issachar Zacharie, the foot doctor, weren’t Lincoln’s only Jewish friends. Jonathan D. Sarna and Benjamin Shapell also illuminate the nature of the president’s close relationship with three other Jewish men. Julius Hammerslough, another clothing merchant, was probably Lincoln’s first Jewish friend. He attended the president’s 1861 inauguration and was a…
● Lincoln and the Jews: A History By Jonathan D. Sarna and Benjamin Shapell Thomas Dunne Books, 288 pages, $40 As far as we know, Abraham Lincoln never said, “Some of my best friends are Jewish.” But he certainly could have. Lincoln did chide his anti-Semitic Civil War generals and others who expressed the prejudices…
It was an elbow-to-elbow noshing crush at the March 19 preview reception of the New-York Historical Society’s exhibition: “With Firmness in the Right: Lincoln and the Jews” which was inspired by the publication of “Lincoln and Jews: A History” (Thomas Dunne Books) by Jonathan D. Sarna (dubbed by the Forward in 2004 as one of…
Jonathan Sarna, a leading scholar of American Jewish history, has returned home from the hospital two months after collapsing at his daughter’s college graduation. Sarna announced his homecoming in a post on his Facebook page. “A long recovery still awaits, but I do not want to settle into rehabilitation and work before first thanking everyone…
Jonathan Sarna, the American-Jewish historian, is making a steady recovery after collapsing a few weeks ago. Sarna is reading email and gradually regaining the use of his voice, according to recent postings on the website CarePages. “While Jonathan’s elation at being able to speak has calmed down a bit, he is still lecturing and threatening…
Historian Jonathan Sarna’s condition has been upgraded from critical to serious, a spokeswoman from Yale New Haven Hospital said. Sarna was hospitalized on May 17 after collapsing while in New Haven for his daughter’s graduation from Yale. A May 23 posting on the website CarePages said that Sarna is moving “slowly in the right direction.”…
Historian Jonathan Sarna, who was hospitalized after collapsing May 17, was said to be improving on Wednesday morning, though his condition is still critical. According to a posting on the website CarePages, Sarna’s heart and lung functions are “improving” but that he remains sedated. A spokesperson for Yale New Haven Hospital said that he was…
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