The William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection includes multiple issues of several long-running, widely-circulated German language serials, such as the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, Ost und West, and Simplicissimus. In addition to these titles, the collection contains a full run of the illustrated weekly Allgemeine Illustrirte Judenzeitung.

The Allgemeine Illustrirte Judenzeitung was published in Pest from August 3, 1860, to June 28, 1861. Josef Bärmann edited and published the paper from its inception until April 5, 1861. On this date, the paper merged with the publication Der Carmel: religiöse Wochenschrift für Synagoge, Schule und Haus published by Wolf Alois Meisel, Chief Rabbi of Pest, to form a new publication entitled Carmel, Allgemeine Illustrirte Judenzeitung.

First issue of the Allgemeine Illustrirte Judenzeitung, published August 3, 1860, featuring Rabbi Löw Schwab.

In June 1860, before the first issue was published, the editorial staff issued a statement describing their vision for the newly created Allgemeine Illustrirte Judenzeitung. They described a publication that would include interesting news from near and afar, literary sketches, and instructive articles from the realms of art and science. The editors aimed to fill the columns of the pages with scientific articles and historical sketches connected to Jewish life and history. To this end, they requested interesting reports from and about Jewish communities and biographies about meritorious Jews. They want to make known the achievements of Jewish artists, authors, and other specialists. The editors were also very clear about who the audience for this new publication would be. They stressed that the publication was dedicated not to subject specialists, but to all who might find it amusing and instructive. First and foremost, they would publish a paper dedicated to Jewish readers.

Last issue of the Allgemeine Illustrirte Judenzeitung, published June 28, 1861, featuring Rabbi Adolf Jellinek.

True to their stated mission, the editors of the Allgemeine Illustrirte Judenzeitung published a weekly containing dispatches from Jewish communities around the Austrian Empire, as well as more in-depth articles about Jewish communities further afield, in places such as Poland, Spain, Damascus, and Baghdad. The paper also published poems, novelettes, and literary reviews. In addition, the cover of each issue featured an illustration of either a prominent Jewish individual or important Jewish institution in the Austrian Empire, along with corresponding biographies of the individuals and histories of the institutions featured. Such individuals included Rabbi Löw Schwab, Rabbi Moses Schreiber (Moses Sofer), Isaak Noah Mannheimer, Israel Popper, Rabbi Götz Schwerin, Michael Lazar Biedermann, Samuel Oppenheimer, Rabbi Mordecai Banet (Markus Benedikt), Joel Deutsch, Rabbi Leopold Löw, József Eötvös, Adolf Fischhof, Béla Széchenyi, and Rabbi Adolf Jellinek.

Israel Popper (1800–1860), leading textile manufacturer and head of the Jewish Religious Community in Brünn (Brno)

Rabbi Götz Schwerin (1760-1852)

Michael Lazar Biedermann (1769-1843), Austrian jeweler and merchant

Samuel Oppenheimer (1630-1703), banker, imperial court factor, and diplomat

Rabbi Mordecai Banet (Markus Benedikt) (1753–1829)

Joel Deutsch (1813-1899), Director of Das Allgemeine Österreichische Israelitische Taubstummen-Institut in Wien

Rabbi Leopold Löw (1811-1875)

József Eötvös (1813-1871), Hungarian writer and statesman

Adolf Fischhof (1816-1893), Austrian writer and politician

Béla Széchenyi (1837-1908), Hungarian explorer

Featured buildings include Das Allgemeine Österreichische Israelitische Taubstummen-Institut in Wien, the Albrechtinum and synagogue funded by Philipp Schey von Koromla in Güns (Kőszeg), Die Israelitische Kinderbewahranstalt in Wien, the Main Synagogue of Odessa, Old New Synagogue in Prague, and the Israelitisches Krankenhaus in Pest.

Das Allgemeine Österreichische Israelitische Taubstummen-Institut in Wien

Albrechtinum, Güns (Kőszeg)

Synagogue, Güns (Kőszeg)

Main Synagogue, Odessa

Jewish hospital, Pest

Though the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums ceased publication of full issues on June 28, 1861, publication of plates (portrait etchings) continued into 1862.

In addition to the many paper-based materials in the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection, we have also processed a series of three-dimensional objects. This series of artifacts is comprised of medals and coins, textiles, and commemorative plates. The subjects covered in this series mirror those found throughout the collection, including Antisemitism and persecution, Jewish holidays, Jewish institutions, prominent Jewish figures, the State of Israel, and synagogues.

The collection contains three decorative plates, one featuring Benjamin Disraeli and two featuring Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim in Charleston, South Carolina. The plate featuring Benjamin Disraeli includes his seated portrait framed by a floral border of primroses, Disraeli’s favorite flower, and his earl’s coronet over the portrait, with an excerpt from Alfred Tennyson’s poem “In Memoriam A.H.H.” at the bottom. This English creamware plate was produced circa 1886 by the Wallis Gimson & Company’s Lane Delph Pottery in Staffordshire. The plate probably commemorates Disraeli’s elevation to the House of Lords in 1876, when Queen Victoria made him the Earl of Beaconsfield.

The second plate, pictured at right, commemorates Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim’s bicentennial in 1950 and features an illustration of the synagogue, with a short printed passage on the history of the Jewish community in Charleston and the synagogue on the back. An additional decorative plate held in the collection features a photographic image of Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, with a typed note providing a short history of the synagogue taped to the back.

The Rosenthall Collection also includes a small number of textiles, especially those used during the celebration of Passover, such as afikomen bags and matzo covers. This matzo cover includes the Hebrew blessing over matzo, which translates as : “Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us to eat matzo.” Both the blessing and the vibrant flowers on the matzo cover are embroidered; lace encircles the cover. The Hebrew date 5669 at the bottom corresponds to the year 1909.

 

Additional textiles in the collection include a textile featuring an image of Bnei Brak, Israel, a wall tapestry including a border of the Hebrew text of Exodus 23:25-26, and this Mizrah, which would be hung on the eastern wall in Jewish homes or synagogues to indicate the direction to face in prayer.

Processing Archivist Amy Lazarus and I recently had the opportunity to look into several reels of tape found with the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection. These reels were especially intriguing as we had no immediate way to listen to them and only the slightest hint at their content–a note slipped into one of the boxes indicating that they dated from Rabbi Rosenthall’s time at the Woodsdale Temple, home of Congregation L’Shem Shomayim in Wheeling, West Virginia. Rosenthall served as rabbi of this congregation from his appointment in August 1958 until he left in February 1962 to take the position of executive director of the World Union for Progressive Judaism.

One of the reels from the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection

For assistance, we reached out to Rick Zender, curator of the John Rivers Communication Museum located on the College of Charleston campus. The museum holds a wide range of devices used throughout communication history, including radios, telephones, phonographs, and televisions. They also hold a reel-to-reel recorder, which Rick helped us use to listen to the reels of tape from the Rosenthall Collection.

Reel-to-reel recorder at the John Rivers Communication Museum

One of the reels contains a recording of a service held on the morning of Rosh Hashanah at the Woodsdale Temple. In the following clip, you can hear Rabbi Rosenthall reading from the prayer book during the service. Documents from Rosenthall’s personal papers tell us that the congregation adopted the Union Prayer Book in 1897; it was replaced by Gates of Prayer in 1975.

A second reel contains a recording of a skit performed at the 1959 convention of the West Virginia Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, which was held in Wheeling. A write-up in the June 1959 Woodsdale Temple Bulletin describes the convention:

“In the estimation of the ladies of the Congregation the outstanding event of the spring was undoubtedly the 31st Biennial Convention of the West Virginia Federation of Temple Sisterhoods of April 14 and 15. For the first time in many years our own organization was the hostess sisterhood. Wheeling buzzed with consecrated activity, and the afterglow is one of resounding success… Not only was Wheeling brought into bright focus in Sisterhood affairs by the convention itself but also–indeed, especially–by the happy assumption of the State presidency by our tireless Janis Stein. She succeeded Helene Rotgin of Charleston. A talented crew presented a delightfully amusing skit, ‘The Case of the Mistaken Tuesday’ after the buffet supper.”

June 1959 Woodsdale Temple Bulletin

“The Case of the Mistaken Tuesday” was written and directed by Irene Rosenthall, wife of Rabbi William A. Rosenthall. In the skit, a woman happens upon the Sisterhood convention while intending to attend a lecture by the rabbi entitled “Sex and Judaism,” which is actually scheduled to take place the following Tuesday. The members of the Sisterhood take the opportunity to explain to her the group’s purpose and activities in both word and song. Lyrics of hits from several contemporary musicals, including The King and I, My Fair Lady, Damn Yankees, Oklahoma!, and South Pacific are tweaked and utilized to elucidate these activities. In the following clip, Sisterhood members discuss several initiatives, including religious school teacher training and stationary sales, then describe the work of the Sisterhood “Caravan” to the tune of “Some Enchanted Evening” from South Pacific.

The finale of the skit is a celebration of the convention set to the tune of the title song from Oklahoma!.

We are happy to announce that processing of the loose postcards in the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection is complete! The postcards have been sorted into categories and rehoused in archival-quality boxes.

These postcards cover a variety of topics, including small amounts of synagogues, cemeteries and tombs, rabbis, and Rosh Hashanah cards, but the major focus of the loose postcards is scenes of Palestine and Israel. These postcards provide photographs of cities, including: Petah Tikva, Rishon LeZion, Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, Tel Aviv, Bethlehem, Hebron, and Jericho. The postcards also provide photographs of natural landmarks, such as the Dead Sea, Judaean Desert, Jezreel Valley, Mount Tabor, and Mount Gilboa. Of particular note are postcards with photographs of the yishuv and the Jewish Legion.

Box 1 of the Loose Postcard subseries

We are also happy to share that we have finished an inventory of full-issue periodicals found in the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection. A list of these newspapers, magazines, and comic books can be found here: William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection Periodicals Series.

This series contains both national newspapers and newspapers published by Jewish communities in various parts of the world. The national newspapers found in the collection range from one to four editions and include reports on various aspects of Jewish life, such as social events, synagogue consecrations, and religious ceremonies. Content in national newspapers also includes reports of missionary efforts to ameliorate Jews, reports of Jewish criminals, and reports of anti-Semitism. Jewish community newspapers document social events, religious events, fundraising, and community news particular to a specific communities.

After completing an inventory of the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection, Processing Archivist Amy Lazarus began work on the first major series of the collection–Rabbi Rosenthall’s incredibly diverse collection of Judaica postcards.

As a meticulous collector, Rabbi Rosenthall organized the majority of his postcards into portfolios by subject group. He organized synagogue and Jewish cemetery postcards by geographical location, as well as creating portfolios of Yiddish Rosh Hashanah postcards, biblical scenes, Jewish life cycle events, rabbis, Yiddish authors, and art by Jewish artists, just to name a few!

The rehousing of these portfolio into archival-quality storage, as well as scanning and metadata creation for these portfolios, is an ongoing project on which our interns are working. Previously rehoused and digitized postcards are available here: William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection – Postcards.

However, the collection also contains a large number of loose, uncategorized postcards with no apparent organizational scheme. We found these postcards in boxes large and small, envelopes, box lids, and even lockboxes!

Original boxes in which we found postcards from the Rosenthall Judaica Collection.

Lockbox containing Rosenthall Judaica Collection postcards.

The postcards need to be organized so that researchers can easily find specific items in which they are interested–for example, a Rosh Hashanah card showing a scene of the practices of Tashlikh or Kapparot, a postcard with a photograph of a synagogue in Nashville, Tennessee, or a postcard with a portrayal of a rabbi, such as Maimonaides. Amy is currently working to organize these boxes of postcards by topic–similar to how Rabbi Rosenthall organized his postcard portfolios–so that researchers will be able to go directly to the folder they need, instead of digging through boxes of material!

Processing Archivist Amy Lazarus organizing Rosh Hashanah postcards.

Rosh Hashanah postcards.

Please enjoy the following postcards, selected by Amy, which demonstrate the breadth of topics covered by this part of the collection!

Jewish cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee.

Romantic Yiddish Rosh Hashanah card.

Jerusalem.

Jewish girls.

We anticipate completing the organization of postcards by year’s end, at which point the organizational structure of this series will be described in the finding aid for the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection. The postcards will also be rehoused in archival quality boxes to ensure their long-term preservation. Keep your eyes on this space for progress reports on the processing of the collection!