Symposium: Celebrating The 100th Birthday of Henry Roth 1906 – 1995
Tuesday, February 7, 2006, 5:30 – 9:00 p.m.
The New York City Public Library,
42nd Street and Fifth Avenue

5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Reception for students, panelists, guests, and attendees.
6:45 – 7:00 p.m.
Introduction and welcome to guests and participants; remarks by members of the Centennial Committee and from Henry Roth's son, Hugh Roth.
7:00 – 7:15 p.m.
Professor Steven Kellman will speak about his new biography of Henry Roth entitled Redemption: The Life of Henry Roth with some special references to Mr. Roth's connection to CCNY.
7:15 – 7:30 p.m.
Readings of selected passages from the works of Henry Roth.
7:30 – 9:00 p.m.
Two successive Roundtable discussions

The Centenary Celebration is co-sponsored by City College of New York, the American Jewish Historical Society, the Dorot Jewish Division of the New York Public Library, and Lawrence I. Fox, Trustee, the Henry Roth Literary Property Trust.

This is a free event but pre-registration at freidus@nypl.org or (212) 930-0601 is requested.

Further information at ajhs.org/publications/symposium.cfm

back to top

		“Roosevelt Labor’s Choice.” New York Forvertz, November 1, 1936.

To visit this retrospective view of 350 years of the American Jewish experience, please visit the Society in the Gann Library of Hebrew College at 160 Herrick Road, Newton Centre, MA 02459 between March 6 and August 31, 2006. Hours are Monday – Thursday, 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., and Friday, 9:30 a.m. – noon.

back to top

“Get up, say your prayers, get your breakfast, go to school, come back, study your lessons, study Hebrew, get your supper and go to bed. Very little play, very little play!” So goes the routine at the first Jewish orphanage in America, at One Lamartine Place on what is now 29th Street in Manhattan, which was opened in 1860. The first Jewish group to care for vulnerable Jewish youth in New York City was the Hebrew Benevolent Society, which raised $300 to “ameliorate the condition of the unfortunate of the [Jewish] faith.”

Hebrew Orphan Asylum Harmonica Band Hamilton Fish Park, c. 1926 American Jewish Historical Society		Hebrew Orphan Asylum hiker, c. 1925 American Jewish Historical Society

On January 17, 2006, the Society will opened its newest exhibition: “Cradled in Judea”: Jewish Orphanages in New York, 1860-1960. When the first Jewish orphanages were established, government agencies provided few social services other than the most basic distribution of food, wood or coal to the poor. Jewish philanthropies had to meet the needs of their most vulnerable members or risk losing them to the streets or to Christian missions funded specifically to convert Jews in need of assistance. The arrival of 80,000 or more Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants into New York City every year during the 1890s greatly increased the number of homeless and runaway Jewish youth. Rather than write them off, the city’s mostly German-Jewish leadership elite tried through residential institutions to provide “ideal homes” for the orphaned, abandoned or voluntarily-surrendered children of their less fortunate coreligionists –to “cradle them in Judea” by teaching vocational and academic skills, religion and decorum that would make them useful and independent adults

Hebrew Orphan Asylum Basketball team, c. 1922 American Jewish Historical Society		Bugler, Hebrew Orphan Asylum, ca. 1920 American Jewish Historical Society

“Cradled in Judea” is based on the Society’s own holdings, which include the records of the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum, Home for Hebrew Infants, Hebrew Orphan Asylum, Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society of New York, Hebrew Infant Asylum of New York City, Hebrew National Orphan Home, Hartman-Homecrest Records, the Pride of Judea, the records of the Seligman Solomon Society and the papers of Hyman Bogen. The exhibition features photographs, original documents, artifacts from the orphanages and from the personal collections of many of their graduates, as well as oral history interviews with the orphans themselves.

There are 13 cards in the set recognizing the Jewish Major Leaguers who took the field in 2005, believed to be the most to ever appear in one season in history. These players include Shawn Green, Brad Ausmus, Mike Lieberthal, Al Levine, Scott Schoeneweis, Jason Marquis, Gabe Kapler, John Grabow, Kevin Youkilis, Adam Stern, Craig Breslow, Adam Greenberg, and Scott Feldman. The set also includes “newly discovered” Jewish players of the past, including Hall of Fame player-manager Lou Boudreau (whose mother was Jewish), Jose Bautista, Lefty Weinert, Jacob Atz, Bob Davis, and Jacob Livingston. One card features a team photo of the Israeli National Baseball Team.

Jewish women who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) have cards in this new set – Thelma “Tiby” Eisen, Anita Foss, and Blanche Schachter. (The tale of this league was told in Penny Marshall’s film, “A League of their Own”). The new set, handsomely packaged in a clear plastic box, is available ONLY THROUGH AJHS. You can order online at www.ajhs.org or call toll free at (866) 740-8013. The set sells for $36 plus shipping and handling.

back to top