"The air is becoming full of war": Jewish San Francisco and World War I

Pacific Historical Review

Volumn 74, Issue 3, 2005, Pages 331-365

  Irwin, Mary Ann ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

^b SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DOCUMENTARY SOURCE; ETHNIC MINORITY; HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY; PUBLIC ATTITUDE; WAR;

CALIFORNIA; NORTH AMERICA; SAN FRANCISCO; UNITED STATES;

EID: 27744485143     PISSN: 00308684     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1525/phr.2005.74.3.331     Document Type: Review

References (270)

1. In general histories of California, for example, discussion of World War I often begins and ends with the bombing of San Francisco's Preparedness Day Parade. See, for example, James J. Rawls, California: An Interpretive History (Boston, 1998), 279-280.
2. Richard B. Rice, The Elusive Eden: A New History of California (Boston, 1996), makes scattered reference to the war but offers no detailed discussion of its social, economic, or political impact.
3. For an overview of the war in San Francisco, see William Issel and Robert W. Cherny, San Francisco, 1865-1932: Politics, Power, and Urban Development (Berkeley, 1986), 177.
4. One example of western-focused research is Diane M. T. North, "Civil Libertics and the Law: California during the First World War," in Louis A. Knafla and Susan W. S. Binnie, eds., Law, Society, and the State: Essays in Modern Legal History (Toronto, 1995), 243-262.
5. See also Heather A. Clemmer, "'Doing Our Bit': San Francisco Women during the Great War," paper presented at the annual meeting of the Western Association of Women Historians, Berkeley, June 2003, in author's possession.
6. Joseph Rappaport, "Jewish Immigrants and World War I: A Study of American Yiddish Press Reactions" (Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1951);
7. Christopher M. Sterba, Good Americans: Italian and Jewish Immigrants During the First World War (New York, 2003).
8. See Moses Rischin, The Promised City: New York's Jews, 1870-1914 (Cambridge, Mass., 1962), 258, 266,
9. and David Kaufman, Shul with a Pook: The "Synagogue-Center" in American Jewish History (Hanover, N.H., 1999), 224 -225.
10. Gerald Sorin devotes considerable attention to the war in Gerald Sorin, A Time for Building: The Third Migration, 1880-1920 (Baltimore, 1992) but focuses on New York City.
11. There is a growing scholarship on Jews in the western United States, due primarily to William Toll: See William Toll, The Making of an Ethnic Middle Class: Portland Jewry Over Four Generations (Albany, N.Y., 1982);
12. Toll, "Gender, Ethnicity, and Jewish Settlement Work in the Urban West," in Jeffrey S. Gurock and Marc Lee Raphael, eds., An Inventory of Promises: Essays on American Jewish History in Honor of Moses Rischin (Brooklyn, N.Y., 1995);
13. Toll, "The Domestic Basis of Community: Trinidad, Colorado's Jewish Women, 1889-1910," in Toll, Women, Men and Ethnicity: Essays on the Structure and Thought of American Jewry (New York, 1991), 59-70;
14. Toll, "Maternal Surveillance and the Jewish Settlement Idea in the American West," in Toll, Women, Men and Ethnicity, 71- 84;
15. and Toll, "From Domestic Judaism to Public Ritual: Women and Religious Identity in the American West," in Pamela S. Nadell and Jonathan D. Sarna, eds., Women and American Judaism: Historical Perspectives (Hanover, N.H., 2001), 128-147.
16. See also Ava F. Kahn and Marc Dollinger, California Jews (Lebanon, N.H., 2003);
17. Peter R. Decker, "Jewish Merchants in San Francisco: Social Mobility on the Urban Frontier," in Moses Rischin, ed., The Jews of the West: The Metropolitan Years (Waltham, Mass., 1979), 12-23;
18. Harriet and Fred Rochlin, Pioneer Jews: A New Life in the Far West (Boston, 1984);
19. Ava F. Kahn, Jewish Voices of the California Gold Rush: A Documentary History, 1849-1880 (Detroit, 2002);
20. Fred Rosenbaum, Visions of Reform: Congregation Emanu-El and the Jews of San Francisco, 1849-1999 (Berkeley, 2000), 112, 114, 120, 122, 134-135;
21. Irena Narell, Our City: The Jews of San Francisco (San Diego, 1981), 302-308;
22. and Max Vorspan and Lloyd Gartner, History of the Jews of Los Angeles (San Marino, Calif., 1970), 189-192.
23. A study of Jewish war work in the West is badly needed. San Francisco would be an excellent site for such a study, for the local community was fully involved in the war effort. Since such discussion would require hundreds of pages, it is beyond the scope of this article. The war responses of Jewish immigrants in the American West is also beyond the scope of this essay, due in part to a lack of sources. San Francisco boasted one Yiddish-language weekly, the Kalifornyer Idishe Shtime (California Jewish Voice), which was published from October 1912 to at least November 1914. See http://cbsr06.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/starfinder/28044/ newsbib.txt.
24. I have not been able to locate any issues. According to Andrea Vanek of the California Newspaper Project (http://www.cbsr.ucr.edu/cnp/), the New York Public Library has the only surviving negatives, with copies dating from October 1912 to November 13, 1914.
25. This weekly may not have survived the war era: A 1919 congressional report on "German and Bolshevik Propaganda" found no Yiddish-language newspapers in California. Rappaport, "Jewish Immigrants," 65. In contrast, New York City had a vigorous Yiddish-language press.
26. Ibid., 62-65; This weekly may not have survived the war era: A 1919 congressional report on "German and Bolshevik Propaganda" found no Yiddish-language newspapers in California. Rappaport, "Jewish Immigrants," 65. In contrast, New York City had a vigorous Yiddish-language press.
27. Rischin, The Promised City, 127. Jacob Voorsanger, rabbi of Congregation Emanu-El, began publishing Emanu-El in 1889. Narell, Our City, 389.
28. Narell, Our City, 389.
29. It is known today as J. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California. See http://www.jewishsf.com/. In format, Emanu-El was modeled on Rabbi Isaac M. Wise's Israelite (Cincinnati), later known as American Israelite, which was "the major nineteenth-century American Jewish newspaper."
30. The Israelite, in turn, drew upon the model of the Anglo-Jewish press. See http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/awas12/ newspapers_periodicals.html.
31. Through the war years, Emanu-El's editorial board was composed of publisher/proprietor Andrew W. Voorsanger (brother of Rev. Dr. Jacob Voorsanger) and several American Reform rabbis: In San Francisco, Jacob Voorsanger's successor, Rabbi Martin A. Meyer and Rabbi Herman Wasserman of Ohabai Shalom (also known as the Bush Street Temple);
32. Rabbi Montague N. A. Cohen of San Diego's Temple Beth Israel (see Henry Schwartz, "Temple Beth Israel," Journal of San Diego History, 27 [1981]);
33. Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin of Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles (see Melvin H. Nahin, "Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin: A Man For The Ages," The Scottish Rite Journal, Dec. 1984, at http://srjarchives.tripod.com/ 1997-03/nahin.htm);
34. and Rabbi Elkan C. Voorsanger (Jacob Voorsanger's son) of Temple Shaare Emeth in St. Louis, Missouri.
35. This study is limited by its reliance on Emanu-El, which offers little insight into San Francisco's immigrant community. For example, the paper refused to discuss the certain involvement of Eastern European Jews in local trade unions (a key element in Rappaport's and Sterba's studies), most likely because Emanu-El subscribers and supporters - local business owners, managers, and financiers - would have objected.
36. In 1914 the total Jewish population in the United States was estimated at 2,900,000, with 1,330,000 Jews in New York City alone. Rappaport, "Jewish Immigrants," 37-43. By contrast, the Jewish population of San Francisco during this era was probably fewer than 25,000.
37. Moses Rischin, "The Jewish Experience in America: A View from the West," in Moses Rischin and John Livingston, eds., Jews of the American West (Detroit, 1991), 41;
38. Louis H. Blumenthal, Report on the Recreational-Cultural Problem of the Jewish Community of San Francisco (New York, 1923), 15.
39. Although there were relatively few Jews in San Francisco in 1850, language and doctrinal differences divided the community into separate temples: Congregation Emanu-El used the Minhag Ashkenaz, or traditional German ritual, while Sherith Israel used the Polish prayerbook, the Minhag Polen. Rosenbaum, Visions of Reform, 10.
40. Robert W. Cherny, "Patterns of Toleration and Discrimination in San Francisco: The Civil War to World War I," California Historical Society Quarterly, 73 (1994), 131-141.
41. Toll W. The Making of an Ethnic Middle Class, 9, 94.
42. On social, economic, and political connections between prominent San Francisco Jewish and non-Jewish businessmen, see Issel and Cherny, San Francisco, 1865-1932, chapter 2 and appendix. Rischin, "The Jewish Experience," 35.
43. Rischin, "The Jewish Experience," 35
44. Rischin, "The Jewish Experience," 33.
45. Adolph Sutro, the country's first Jewish mayor, was elected by San Franciscans in 1894.
46. Cherny, "Patterns of Toleration," 137.
47. Marcus Cauffman "Max" Sloss was the third Jew to sit on California's Supreme Court, following Henry A. Lyons and Solomon Heydenfeldt. Narell, Our City, 65.
48. Narell, Our City, 65.
49. Banker Philip N. Lilienthal came to San Francisco in 1869 to run the local branch of New York's J. W. Seligman & Bros.;
50. Martin A. Meyer, Western Jewry: An Account of the Achievements of the Jews and Judaism in California (San Francisco, 1916), 123-125.
51. Partners/brothers-in-law Louis Sloss (father of Judge M. C. Sloss) and Lewis Gerstle began as mining camp grocers; their Alaska Commercial Company made both multi-millionaires by the 1870s.
52. Rosenbaum, Visions of Reform, 58;
53. Narell, Our City, 26-29.
54. Levi Strauss's denim pants, of course, are internationally known. Narell, Our City, 39- 42.
55. Rischin, "The Jewish Experience," 36-37;
56. see also Sorin, A Time for Building, 165;
57. Issel and Cherny, San Francisco, 1865-1932, 23;
58. and Cherny, "Patterns of Toleration," 136, 140.
59. First Hebrew Benevolent Society, "The Constitution and Bylaws of the First Hebrew Benevolent Society of San Francisco, California, 1862 and 1900, List of Officers 1853-1900" (San Francisco, 1891), folder 2, box 1, Collection No. 78/1, Judah Magnes Museum/Western Jewish History Center (hereafter cited as WJHC), Berkeley;
60. Eureka Benevolent Society, "Constitution and Bylaws of the Eureka Benevolent Society of San Francisco, California," folder 1, box 1, in ibid. Israelitischer Frauen Verein (Hebrew Ladies' Benevolent Association) of San Francisco, "Constitution & Bylaws of ... Organized August 12, 1855," n.d., folder 2, box 1, in ibid.
61. Israelitischer Frauen Verein (Hebrew Ladies' Benevolent Association) of San Francisco, "Constitution & Bylaws of ... Organized August 12, 1855," n.d., folder 2, box 1, in ibid.
62. For Der Israelitisher Frauen Verein (Ladies' Society of Israelites), see Henry G. W. Langley, San Francisco City Directory, 1861-1862, 477.
63. On the emergence of female benevolence and associational work among American Jewish women, see Karla Goldman, Beyond the Synagogue Gallery: Finding a Place for Women in American Judaism (Cambridge, Mass., 2000).
64. Pacific Hebrew Orphan Asylum and Home Society, "Synopsis of First Annual Report, 1871-1872," folder 5, box 1, Collection No. 78/1, WJHC;
65. Rosenbaum, Visions of Reform, 67;
66. Barbara S. Rogers and Stephen M. Dobbs, San Francisco Mt. Zion Hospital, 1887-1987: The First Century (San Francisco, 1987);
67. Ruth Kelson Rafael, Continuum: A Selective History of San Francisco Eastern European Jewish Life, 1880-1940 (Berkeley, 1977), 2-3;
68. Rosenbaum, Visions of Reform, 57, 67-68.
69. See Emanu-El Sisterhood for Personal Service, Collection No. 70/11, WJHC;
70. Rosenbaum, Visions of Reform, 32.
71. On the later shift to exclusionary membership policies among local social organizations such as the Bohemian, see Cherny, "Patterns of Toleration," 138,
72. and Narell, Our City, 391, n. 5, and 404-405, n. 3.
73. William F. Humphrey, quoted in Issel and Cherny, San Francisco, 1865-1932, 39.
74. Russell Sage Foundation, San Francisco Relief Survey (New York, 1913), 141.
75. Rosenbaum, Visions of Reform, 98. Jewish San Franciscans assumed prominent roles in the city's rehabilitation.
76. Sherith Israel's Rabbi Jacob Nieto assumed responsibility for sanitation. See Jacob Nieto, Collection No. 69/23, WJHC. Rev. Dr. Jacob Voorsanger headed the first Rehabilitation Committee and the mayor's Food Committee. Rosenbaum, Visions of Reform, 97.
77. Rosenbaum, Visions of Reform, 97.
78. Jacob Voorsanger was later replaced by Abraham Haas, cousin of grocer Kalman Haas. I. W. Hellman, Jr., president of Union Trust Bank and director of several other banks, headed the city's Rehabilitation Finance Committee. Russell Sage, San Francisco Relief Survey, 377-378, 141.
79. See also San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Excerpts From the San Francisco Municipal Reports, for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1906 and for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1907 (San Francisco, 1908), 757-758, 767.
80. Issel and Cherny, San Francisco, 1865-1932, 93, 168.
81. The Pacific Panama International Exposition opened February 20, 1915, and attracted nearly 18 million visitors over its nine-month duration. See Maybeck Foundation, "History of an Icon," at http:// www.maybeck.org/scholars_essays/histicon.html.
82. In one of the most significant fund-raising efforts in San Francisco history, scores of individuals subscribed at $25,000 each, and an additional $4 million was raised in a two-hour meeting at the Merchants' Exchange Building. The state of California and city of San Francisco responded with $5 million each. Altogether, $20.5 million in public and private funds were raised to finance the PPIE, approximately $381 million in 2005 dollars. Ibid.
83. The six PPIE vice-presidents were William H. Crocker, Reuben Hale, James Rolph, Jr., Isaias W. Hellman, Jr., M. H. de Young, and Leon Sloss (the last three were Jewish). Issel and Cherny, San Francisco, 1865-1932, 93, 168.
84. Local Jewish clubwomen Bettie (Mrs. I.) Lowenberg, Frances (Mrs. Isaias W.) Hellman, Jr., Lillie (Mrs. Jesse W.) Lilienthal, and Hattie Hecht (Mrs. M. C.) Sloss were vice-presidents of the separate PPIE woman's board. See also National Council of Jewish Women, San Francisco Section, "Board of Directors, Board Meeting Minutes 1912-1915," folder 6, box 1, Collection No. 80/005, WJHC, and Mary S. Gibson, A Record of 25 Years of the California Federation of Women's Clubs, 1900-1925 (Los Angeles, 1927), 151-153.
85. and Mary S. Gibson, A Record of 25 Years of the California Federation of Women's Clubs, 1900-1925 (Los Angeles, 1927), 151-153.
86. See, for example, "Will the War Affect the San Francisco Exposition?" The [San Francisco] Emanu-El (hereafter Emanu-El), Aug. 21, 1914, p. 2;
87. J. B. Levison, Memories for My Family (San Francisco, 1933), 187;
88. and Issel and Cherny, San Francisco, 1865-1932, 177.
89. Jacob Lestschinsky, "Economic and Social Development of American Jewry," The Jewish People: Past and Present (4 vols., New York, 1955), 4:55-59;
90. Rischin, "The Jewish Experience," 39-40; Emanu-El, Dec. 28, 1906, p. 14.
91. Emanu-El, Dec. 28, 1906, p. 14.
92. Rischin, "The Jewish Experience," 41;
93. Louis Brenner, "Labor Conditions," in Brenner, "Report of Survey Made in San Francisco for Purposes of a Local Branch of the Young Men's Hebrew Association, March 18, 1916-April 11, 1916," unpaginated type-script, folder 10, box 22, Emanu-El Sisterhood for Personal Service Collection No. 70/11, WJHC;
94. Hebrew Immigrant Aid & Sheltering Society (HIAS), Fourth Annual Report [1912] (New York, n.d.), 540c:sf H4 pam, p. 6, WJHC.
95. Brenner, "Labor Conditions"; HIAS, Eighth Annual Report [1916] (New York, n.d.), 540c:sf H4 pam, pp. 6, 10, WJHC;
96. HIAS, Eighth Annual Report [1916] (New York, n.d.), 540c:sf H4 pam, pp. 6, 10, WJHC;
97. Rischin, "The Jewish Experience," 40-41.
98. For example, from February to November 1915, Jewish and non-Jewish businessmen alike complained that war was keeping European visitors away. Issel and Cherny, San Francisco, 1865-1932, 177.
99. David Nasaw, The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst (Boston, 2000), 241-242;
100. "Peace and War: The General Disappointment," Emanu-El, Aug. 14, 1914, p. 2;
101. [Rabbi] Herman Wasserman, "The Conflict of Nations," in ibid., Aug. 14, 1914, p. 4. Wasserman replaced Bernard M. Kaplan as rabbi of Ohabai Shalome in January 1914;
102. in ibid., Sept. 11, 1914, p. 3;
103. "God and War," in ibid., Aug. 7, 1914, p. 2 (this was the second edition of the paper issued after July 28, 1914, when Austria-Hungary responded to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand by declaring war on Serbia).
104. The European alliance systems kicked in shortly thereafter: Germany (allied with Austria-Hungary) declared war on France and Russia (allied with Serbia). England (allied with Japan and France) declared war on Germany, as did Japan. Turkey joined the Central Powers in October 1914. Rumania entered on the side of the Allies in August 1916, followed by the United States in April 1917.
105. "Peace and War: The General Disappointment," 2;
106. Wasserman, "The Conflict of Nations," 4.
107. At the time of this sermon, Rev. Dr. Jacob Voorsanger's son Elkan was rabbi of Temple Shaare Emeth in St. Louis, Missouri. Anon., "Elkan C. Voorsanger, Biographical," typescript, n.d., folder 1, box 1, and Elkan Voorsanger, "Israel's Mission - Service," corrected typescript, p. 8, folder 11, box 1, both in Elkan and Henrietta Moskowitz Voorsanger Collection No. 77/1, WJHC.
108. "Impressive Services at Temple Emanu-El; Elkan C. Voorsanger Occupies Father's Pulpit," Emanu-El, Aug. 21, 1914, p. 2.
109. Page Smith, America Enters the World: A People's History of the Progressive Era and World War I (New York, 1985), 441-445, 520;
110. Rappaport, "Jewish Immigrants," 142-144;
111. Simon Lubin to Dr. S. V. Cole, Jan. 20, 1915, Simon Julius Lubin, Correspondence and Papers, box 5, BANC MSS C-B 1059, Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley (hereafter Lubin Papers).
112. [Rabbi] Bernard M. Kaplan, "The Function of Religion: Is Preaching Against War Neglect of Religion?" Emanu-El, Oct. 16, 1914, p. 2.
113. Theodore Roosevelt was a strong advocate of American militarism; see, for example, Theodore Roosevelt, "Military Preparedness and Unpreparedness," The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses (Philadelphia, 1903).
114. "What Ought Not To Be," Emanu-El, Oct. 9, 1914, p. 16.
115. Rappaport, "Jewish Immigrants," 175, 178.
116. "The Peace Bug," Emanu-El, Nov. 26, 1915, p. 3.
117. Alan Boxerman, "Kahn of California," California History, 55 (1976), 346. The article credits Julius Kahn with both writing the National Defense Act (1916) and steering it through Congress.
118. The U.S. Navy had a de facto Pacific Fleet in place prior to World War I but began using that designation at least by November 1917. See Mark J. Denger, "California Naval History: The City of Los Angeles, An Inland City with the First Submarine Base on the Pacific Coast," at http://www.militarymuseum.org/LA%20Sub%20Base.html.
119. The Navy officially based the Pacific Fleet at San Diego in 1919. City of San Diego, "Facts and History," at http://www.sandiego.gov/ citizensassistance/facts/history.shtml#l900s.
120. Roger W. Lotchin has estimated that, during the late 1910s and early 1920s, the Navy pumped $60 to $100 million dollars into the California economy. Roger W. Lotchin, Fortress California, 1910 -1961: From Warfare to Welfare (New York, 1992), 3, 6-7.
121. Issel and Cherny, San Francisco, 1865-1932, 177-178.
122. Mooney was no friend of local Jewish businessmen; in 1907 he organized a union among municipal streetcar workers and led their strike against Jesse Lilienthal's United Railway. Ibid., 91, 173.
123. "Rabbi Nieto Receives Signal Honor," Emanu-El, May 19, 1916, p. 8.
124. Issel and Cherny, San Francisco, 1865-1932, 178.
125. "Great Throng Protests Preparedness Parade: Enthusiastic Thousands Voice American Ideals of Democracy and Peace," The [San Francisco] Bulletin, July 21, 1916, clipping, Jacob Nieto Collection No. 69/23 Oversize, WJHC (emphasis in original).
126. Intriguingly, Emanu-El made no reference to either the anti-preparedness rally or the Preparedness Day Parade. Rudolph Spreckels (who was German but not Jewish) was the son of California sugar refiner Claus Spreckels. The name is frequently misspelled "Spreckles" (when he registered to vote, Claus spelled it "Spreckels"). See Jim W. Faulkinbury and John Movius, "Foreign-Born Voters of California, 1872," Continental European Family History Association, at http:// cefha.org/usa/ca/fbvca/fbv-151.html.
127. Smith, America Enters the World, 558;
128. Bernard M. Kaplan, "European Natives as Distributed in This Country," Emanu-El, Aug. 14, 1914, p. 2.
129. In some communities, such as Cincinnati, Ohio, German Americans represented over one-third of the population. Successful, influential, and respected, Cincinnati's German community supported many ethnic-based institutions and several German-language newspapers. See "Hatred on the Homefront: Cincinnati, Anti-German Hysteria, and the Media" at http://www.transy.edu/homepages/alerity/hatred.html.
130. Issel and Cherny, San Francisco, 1865-1932, Table 5, p. 56.
131. In September 1914 Emanu-El observed that sixth-grader Mathew Tobriner and his parents had just returned from Europe "where [Mathew] acquired a splendid speaking and reading knowledge of German." Emanu-El, Sept. 25, 1914, p. 13.
132. See also Emanu-El, Dec. 8, 1916, p. 6.
133. Emanu-El documented residents' close business ties to Germany, noting, for example, that Ignatz Steinhart of the Anglo-California Bank was on business in Frankfurt when the war broke out. Emanu-El, Oct. 30, 1914, p. 6.
134. In another instance, the paper identified San Franciscan Jacques Meyer as "a local manufacturer with large interests in Germany." Emanu-El, Dec. 8, 1916, p. 6.
135. See also J. Corkery, "The Winds of March," San Francisco Examiner, March 12, 2003, and http://www.frankben.org for German-identified architecture in San Francisco.
136. Lubin to Cole, Jan. 20, 1915, "Outgoing Letters, 1915, Jan.-April," box 5, Lubin Papers. In 1913 Governor Hiram Johnson appointed Lubin head of the California Commission on Immigration and Housing, formed in response to the "Wheatland Riot." Thereafter Lubin worked closely on Jewish immigration matters with national, state, and local leaders. For example, Lubin corresponded with Stanley Bero of the local HIAS (Bero to Lubin, Feb. 13, 1913, "Miscellany (A-H)," box 1);
137. Florence Kelley of the National Consumers' League (Kelley to Robert Newton Lynch, Feb. 4, 1913, "Miscellany (I-P)," box 1);
138. and Lillian D. Wald of New York's Henry Street Settlement (Lubin to Wald, Jan. 30, 1913, "Miscellany (R-Z)," box 1).
139. During and after the war years, Lubin participated in efforts to crack down on the Industrial Workers of the World and other suspected radicals; see, for example, Lubin to Rev. Edward J. Hanna, July 31, 1915, Lubin to Gov. William D. Stephens, July 6, 1917, Stephens to Lubin, July 9, 1917, and Lubin to Pres. Woodrow Wilson, April 18, 1918, "Letters, 1914-1915" and "Letters, 1916-1923," all in box 2, Lubin Papers.
140. Emanu-El, May 12, 1916, p. 8;
141. "Great Relief Bazaar Planned by Germans and Austro-Hungarians," Emanu-El, Feb. 18, 1916, pp. 6, 11.
142. German nationals living in the United States were technically "reservists" in the German army or navy. Concerned that reservists would organize plots against the United States, the Wilson administration ordered surveillance of reservists by the Secret Service and the Justice Department in 1915, after the sinking of the Lusitania. Surveillance was limited to a few hundred individuals and focused on Central Powers recruiters and supporters, but it often extended to influential members of the German American community. By touting their close relations with Central Powers nations, Emanu-El may have unwittingly put prominent community members at risk of government scrutiny. See Ray Cunningham, "German and Austro-Hungarian Internment during World War One in the United States" at http:// www.staff.uiuc.edu/~rcunning/01151901.htm.
143. See also North, "Civil Liberties and the Law."
144. "Distinguished German Professor Addresses Temple Emanu-El," Emanu-El, Feb. 9, 1917, p. 5.
145. "A Calm Review of Germany's Relations With the U.S.," in ibid., 2.
146. "Jews Mistaken for Germans," in Emanu-El., Sept. 4, 1914, p. 3.
147. Yiddish is derived from medieval High German. Ken Blady to author, Sept. 13, 2003.
148. "Changing German Names in England," Emanu-El, Oct. 9, 1914, p. 3.
149. After America's entry in the war, several San Francisco Jewish families anglicized their names. See, for example, Edgar [Sinsheimer] Sinton, Jewish and Community Service in San Francisco, a Family Tradition (Berkeley, 1978), 34-35;
150. and Frances [Brandenstein] Bransten Rothman, My Father, Edward Bransten: His Life and Letters (Berkeley, 1982), 81-82.
151. In 1915 Wilson urged Congress to pass legislation targeting "hyphenated" Americans, theoretically to thwart anti-U.S. conspirators and plotters. Carl Wittke, German-Americans and the World War with Special Emphasis on Ohio's German-Language Press (Columbus, Ohio, 1936), 42.
152. In December 1914 a group of private citizens formed the National Security League (NSL); the NSL established a series of loyalty crusades against immigrants for the sake of "national security." George T. Blakey, Historians on the Homefront, American Propagandists for the Great War (Lexington, Ky., 1970), 26-28, both in "Hatred on the Homefront: Cincinnati, Anti-German Hysteria, and the Media" at http://www.transy.edu/homepages/alerity/hatred.html.
153. Sadly, the San Francisco Bay Area had its share of anti-German hysteria. Bands of white-robed men, for example, reportedly rode through the streets of Richmond for the purpose of "enforcing loyalty." On May 1, 1918, Guido Poenisch was taken from his home in Richmond by fifty white-robed men; he was "tried" for disloyalty, tarred and feathered, and forced to buy $100 in Liberty Bonds.
154. On May 2, 1918, George Koetzer was taken from his bed, tarred and feathered, and chained to a gun in front of San Jose's McKinley Monument (when they arrived, the police arrested Koetzer). Municipal authorities also succumbed to war hysteria: In March 8, 1918, the San Francisco police formed a "Neutrality Squad" to find out what "every enemy alien is doing to help the U.S. win the war." At http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~rcunning/westchr.htm;
155. see also "'Get the Rope!'Anti-German Violence in World War I-era Wisconsin," at http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/1/
156. and "'Nobody Would Eat Kraut': Lola Gamble Clyde on Anti-German Sentiment in Idaho During World War I," at http:// historymatters.gmu.edu/d/2/.
157. Rappaport, "Jewish Immigrants," 72, 116.
158. On the German-language press in the United States, see Smith, America Enters the World, 444;
159. Kaplan, "The Function of Religion," 2.
160. In varying degrees, these nations granted civil and political liberties to Jewish citizens in the nineteenth century. Emanu-El, May 26, 1916, p. 3;
161. in ibid., June 9, 1916, pp. 2-3;
162. "The Story of Jewish Emancipation in Austria," in ibid., June 30, 1916, p. 2;
163. Albert Rosenthal, "The Status of the Jews in Germany," in ibid., April 14, 1916, p. 1.
164. On the prewar status of Jews in Central Powers and Allied nations, see Rappaport, "Jewish Immigrants," chapter 1.
165. "Jewish Sympathies and Rumanian Warfare," Emanu-El, Sept. 1, 1916, p. 2.
166. California Yiddishe Shtimme (Kalifornyer Idishe Shtime), Oct. 2, 1914, p. 2, quoted in Rappaport, "Jewish Immigrants," 81-82.
167. Rappaport, "Jewish Immigrants," 81-82.
168. Rappaport, "Jewish Immigrants," 90;
169. Smith, America Enters the World, 561-562.
170. Emanu-El, June 2, 1916, p. 3;
171. "How Russian Jews Suffered in War: Confidential Report Tells of Their Persecution by Military and Civilians," in ibid., Nov. 17, 1916, p. 1;
172. "A Report for German Poland," in ibid., Aug. 4, 1916, p. 11.
173. American leaders were another story: Due largely to the efforts of prominent German Jews, the United States lodged frequent protests against Russia's persecution of Jews. See Rappaport, "Jewish Immigrants," 56, 115, 123.
174. The fighting in Europe was located amidst the heaviest concentrations of Jews in the world: Galicia (Austria-Hungary), Germany's Polish-speaking province of Posen, and the Russian "Pale of Settlement." Once the fighting began, Russian Jews got the worst of it. At least 600,000 Jews were displaced, sent eastward, and packed into refugee communities where they faced starvation and epidemics of cholera and typhoid. "Jews and the Theater of War," Emanu-El, Sept. 18, 1914, p. 25;
175. Sterba, Good Americans, 64. In September 1916 the [New York] American Jewish Chronicle charged the New York Times with accepting these deplorable conditions for the sake of England and its allies; editors of the Emanu-El quickly repeated the accusation.
176. Maurice Brodzky "Macchiavelli's Advice to the "Prince,'" Emanu-El, Sept. 8, 1916, p. 2.
177. The Czar abdicated the Russian throne on March 15, 1917. "The Russian Revolution's Promise of Jewish Freedom," in ibid., March 23, 1917, p. 2;
178. [Rabbi] Stephen S. Wise, "The Russian Revolution," in ibid., April 13, 1917, pp. 1, 12. Russia later withdrew from the Alliance with its separate treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in December 1917.
179. In San Francisco, California Republican party leader Milton H. Esberg and nutritionist Dr. Adele Solomons Jaffa served on Herbert Hoover's Commission for Relief in Belgium. Milton Herman Esberg, MS 682A, folder 2, "Correspondence," California Historical Society, San Francisco;
180. [Anon.], "Dr. Adele Solomons Jaffa, Biography," folder 1, Dr. Adele Solomons Jaffa Collection No. 69/10, WJHC. The commission was credited with raising millions of dollars and feeding an estimated 10,000,000 people in the period 1915-1919.
181. Herbert Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover, 1874-1920, Years of Adventure (New York, 1931), 152-153. The first San Francisco war-relief work conducted by a Jewish organization focused on Belgian relief. In November 1914 members of the Young Women's Hebrew Association voted to donate half of the funds raised at their monthly dance to the Belgian Relief Fund. On further discussion, the girls agreed to divide the funds equally between the Belgians and Jewish war victims. Young Men's/Young Women's Hebrew Association (YM/YWHA), "YM/YWHA Board of Directors Minutes, YWHA, 1914-1917," Nov. 9, 1914, p. 42, folder 21, box 2, YM/YWHA Collection No. 79A, WJHC.
182. Ethnic factionalism emerged in New York's Jewish community in the 1880s (slightly later in San Francisco), when the United States experienced a surge in Eastern European Jewish immigration. For recent Orthodox immigrants, German Jews represented an entrenched establishment that resisted their demands for an equal voice in American Jewish affairs. Elite Germans dominated New York's American Jewish Committee (AJC), formed in 1906 by Jacob Schiff, Oscar Straus, Cyrus Adler, Louis Marshall, and others to aid the newcomers. [Rabbi] Horace J. Wolf [Philadelphia], "The Passing of Benevolent Feudalism," Emanu-El, March 31, 1916, p. 1;
183. Sorin, A Time for Building, 200,206-207. In New York in October 1914, Eastern European Jews (many of whom had recently fled the affected areas) organized a war relief fund-raising committee. The committee's full name was "the Central Committee for the Relief of the Jews Suffering through the War." The elite, German-led AJC undertook a separate fund-raising campaign, but in November 1914 the two groups joined forces as the Joint Distribution Committee of American Funds for the Relief of Jewish War Sufferers, led by the AJC's Felix Warburg.
184. Ibid.,207-208.
185. Emanu-El, Aug. 28, 1914, p. 15;
186. "Report of American Jewish Committee," in ibid., Feb. 11, 1916, p. 2.
187. Tom Meryo, "Why San Francisco Has No Ghetto," San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 27, 1903, p. 10.
188. In 1894 San Francisco's Russian Jewish Alliance still boasted its independence of New York agencies; see Charles K. Jenness, The Charities of San Francisco: A Directory of the Benevolent and Correctional Agencies, Together with a Digest of Those Laws Most Directly Affecting Their Work (San Francisco, 1894), 24.
189. Rosenbaum, Visions of Reform, 100-101;
190. Hebrew Board of Relief, Sixth Annual Report [1907] (San Francisco, 1908), folder 2, box 1, Collection No. 78/1, WJHC;
191. HIAS to Lubin, Aug. 20, 1912, "Letters to Lubin, Br-L," box 2, Lubin Papers.
192. "Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society," Emanu-El, Aug. 27, 1915, p. 8;
193. "Jewish National Relief Committee Active," in ibid., Jan. 28, 1916, p. 8;
194. Federation of Jewish Charities, "Minutes, Executive Committee, 1910-1920," vol. 1, July 28, 1915, p. 142, Collection No. 79/B, WJHC;
195. HIAS, Third Annual Report [1911] (New York, n.d.), p. 49, 540c:sf H4 pam, WJHC. Otto Irving Wise served many local Jewish benevolent and service agencies, including the Federation of Jewish Charities, B'nai B'rith, Young Men's Hebrew Association, Emanu-EI Sisterhood for Personal Service, Eureka Benevolent Society, and First Hebrew Benevolent Society. As a member of the local German Jewish elite, he stood almost alone in his support of Zionism and relief to the Jewish colonies in Palestine.
196. See "National Committee of Zionists Establishes Bureau in San Francisco," Emanu-El, Oct. 27, 1916, p. 8;
197. Otto Irving Wise to Stephen S. Wise, March 24, 1916, and Stephen S. Wise to Otto Irving Wise, March 24, 1916, both in box 92 (Series H. 14), Personal Affairs, Papers of Stephen S. Wise, and reel 73-4, box 4 (Series 1.4), Special Collections, Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass. "San Francisco Contributors to the Relief Fund for Jewish War Sufferers," Emanu-El, Nov. 19, 1915, p. 13-14;
198. "Rev. Dr. Stephen S. Wise Given Reception," in ibid.;
199. "The World War and the Duty of American Israel," in ibid., Nov. 26, 1915, p. 13;
200. "Great Mass Meeting at Dreamland Rink - San Francisco Jewry Gives $26,280 to Brethren in Palestine," in ibid. The war relief collections of Los Angeles Jewry were also "truly modest." Vorspan and Gartner, History of the Jews of Los Angeles, 189. In contrast, Julius Rosenwald of Chicago pledged $1,000,000 at just one rally.
201. The war relief collections of Los Angeles Jewry were also "truly modest." Vorspan and Gartner, History of the Jews of Los Angeles, 189. In contrast, Julius Rosenwald of Chicago pledged $1,000,000 at just one rally.
202. Sorin, A Time for Building, 208.
203. "Jacob Schiff Wires Judge Sloss to Hold Mass Meeting," Emanu-El, Jan. 21, 1916, p. 8;
204. "Starving Jews of Poland to be Aided - Christian Clergy and Workers in Philanthropy to Assist in Relief Work," in ibid., 1;
205. "San Franciscans Respond Generously to the Call of the Distressed Jews in Poland," in ibid., Jan. 28, 1916, p. 1.
206. Brenner, "Report of Survey";
207. Meryo, "Why San Francisco Has No Ghetto," 10.
208. See, for example, YM/YWHA, "Board of Directors Minutes, YWHA, 1914-1917," Dec. 20, 1915, p. 95;
209. "The American Jewish Relief Committee for Sufferers From the War," Emanu-El, Dec. 10, 1915, pp. 3, 5;
210. Meyer Waxman, "The Jews in the War Zones - A Statement of the Legal Status and Economic Conditions of the Jews in Eastern Europe," in ibid., Dec. 17, 1915, pp. 1, 5, 12;
211. "Benefit for Jewish War Sufferers," in ibid., 9;
212. "Next Year's Campaign of American Jewish Relief Committee," in ibid., Dec. 24, 1915, p. 1;
213. "$700,000 for Suffering Jews Raised at New York Meeting," in ibid., 9;
214. "Jewish National Relief Committee Active," in ibid.,Jan. 28, 1916, p. 8;
215. "Ladies Auxiliary of the Jewish National Relief Committee Meeting," in ibid., April 21, 1916, p. 8;
216. "A Strong Appeal to Jewish Hearts," in ibid., Nov. 24, 1916, p. 2;
217. "A 'Life for a Life' Slogan of Jewish Women," in ibid., Dec. 29, 1916, p. 2;
218. and "Great Mass Meeting Brings $2,500,000 for Relief of Jewish War Sufferers," in ibid., 3.
219. On timing war relief drives after local charity fund-raisers, see, for example, "Help the Federation of Jewish Charities: President Simon Anspacher of the Eureka Benevolent Society Makes Strong Pleas for Greater Support of Local Jewish Philanthropies," in ibid., March 16, 1917, pp. 1, 16.
220. See Rappaport, "Jewish Immigrants," 123, 131-136;
221. Sorin, A Time for Building, 31, 173.
222. Between 1898 and 1914, 125 different Zionist societies were founded in New York City. Ibid., 218.
223. Brenner, "Report of Survey." On San Francisco's coolness toward Zionism, see "Zionism, S.F.," in "Kahn, Julius, Correspondence, Clippings, 1919," folder 1, Collection No. 67/7, WJHC;
224. On San Francisco's coolness toward Zionism, see "Zionism, S.F.," in "Kahn, Julius, Correspondence, Clippings, 1919," folder 1, Collection No. 67/7, WJHC;
225. Hadassah, San Francisco chapter, "San Francisco," folder 1, Collection No. 73/9,'WJHC;
226. Rose Rinder, "Music, Prayer and Religious Leadership, Temple Emanu-El, 1913-1969; an interview conducted by Malca Chall," University of California, Regional Oral History Office, 1971, 159-163;
227. "Julius Kahn is Opposed Politically to Zionist Movement," Emanu-El, Feb. 14, 1919, p. 10;
228. "The Present European Crisis and the Jewish People," in ibid., Aug. 14, 1914, p. 8;
229. Rischin, " The Jewish Experience," 41.
230. Ibid.
231. Jacob Voorsanger's brother Andrew shared his opposition to Zionism and continued to present arguments against it after Jacob's death in 1908. See, for example, "Economic Situation in the Holy Land," Emanu-El, March 3, 1916, p. 3.
232. See also Jacob Voorsanger, The Chronicles of Emanu-El: Being an Account of the Rise and Progress of the Congregation Emanu-El Which Was Founded in July 1850 and Will Celebrate its Fiftieth Anniverary December 23, 1900 (San Francisco, 1900), 63,
233. and "Zionism: Open Letters Written by Rev. Dr. Jacob Voorsanger of San Francisco, California, to the Hon. Simon Wolf of Washington, D.C., 1903-1904" (San Francisco, n.d.), folder 2, "Zionism, S.F.," Collection No. 67/7, WJHC;
234. Wolf, "The Passing of Benevolent Feudalism," Emanu-El, March 31, 1916, p. 1;
235. see also "Zionism," in ibid., May 19, 1899, p. 8, which contained a "Catechism for Anti-Zionists" (Question: "Who are Zionists?" Answer: "Cranks.").
236. "Zionism as a Bone of Contention," Emanu-El, May 5, 1916, p. 2;
237. Rev. Dr. William Rosenau [Baltimore], "The Need of a United American Nation," in ibid., Dec. 3, 1915, pp. 4-5;
238. Senator James A. Reed, "The Jew in America," in ibid., March 17, 1916, pp. 1, 4;
239. "Felix Warburg Honored," in ibid., Nov. 12, 1915, p. 3.
240. "Economic Situation in the Holy Land," in ibid., March 3, 1916; "Should the Jewish People Try a Quack Remedy?" in ibid., April 21, 1916, p. 2;
241. "Should the Jewish People Try a Quack Remedy?" in ibid., April 21, 1916, p. 2;
242. "Dr. Ben Zion Mossinsohn in San Francisco," in ibid., Dec. 22, 1916, p. 16. The Provisional Executive Committee for General Zionist Affairs was established August 30, 1914, in New York City to temporarily take over the work of the World Zionist Organization.
243. Rappaport, "Jewish Immigrants," 227.
244. "The Jewish Congress," Emanu-El, April 7, 1916, pp. 1, 16;
245. "Louis Brandeis at First Jewish Gathering," in ibid., Sept. 25, 1914, p. 3.
246. American-born and Harvard educated, Louis B. Brandeis brought to the Zionist movement both a "cloak of respectability" and a way to deal with the charge of dual loyalty raised by Jacob Voorsanger and others. Calling on the formulation Horace Kallen called "cultural pluralism," Brandeis developed the classic pro-Zionist syllogism: "To be better Americans, we must be better Jews, and to be better Jews, we must be Zionists." By emphasizing Zionism's benefits to America, nationalists were able to defend the congruity of Jewish ethics and American ideals. Sorin, A Time for Building, 227-229.
247. On growing local sympathy for the Jewish colonies in Palestine, see "What Will Become of Palestine?" Emanu-El, Jan. 26, 1917, p. 2.
248. "Out of Zion," Emanu-El, Nov. 17, 1916, p. 16 (the column was later renamed "Zionist News");
249. "San Francisco Jewish Community in Conference Next Monday Evening," in ibid.,Jan. 7, 1916, pp. 12-13;
250. "Rev. Dr. Martin A Meyer Joins Zionist Council," in ibid., Jan. 7, 1916, p. 4;
251. Rosenbaum, Visions of Reform, 122-124.
252. Maurice Brodzky, "Echoes From New York," Emanu-El, June 30, 1916, p. 4.
253. [Rabbi] Martin A. Meyer, "Community Spirit," in ibid., Jan. 21, 1916, p. 2.
254. Otto Irving Wise to Stephen S. Wise, March 20, 1916;
255. Stephen S. Wise to Otto Irving Wise, March 30, 1916;
256. Stephen S. Wise to Otto Irving Wise, Oct. 26, 1916;
257. see also Sorin, A Time for Building, 212,
258. and "Great Jewish Congress Meeting at B'nai B'rith Hall, Civil and Political Disabilities of Eastern European Jewry Subject of Discussion," Emanu-El, Jan. 14, 1916, p.9.
259. Rappaport, "Jewish Immigrants," 214-216.
260. "Jewish Congress," Emanu-El, March 31, 1916, p. 3;
261. "The Advocates of the Jewish Congress Carry the Day," in ibid., July 21, 1916, p. 2;
262. Brodzky, "Echoes From New York"; "Why Should Jacob Schiff be Vilified?" Emanu-El, June 30, 1916, p. 3;
263. "Why Should Jacob Schiff be Vilified?" Emanu-El, June 30, 1916, p. 3;
264. Sorin, A Time for Building, 212-218;
265. Rappaport, "Jewish Immigrants," 220.
266. Maurice M. Lewinsohn, "The Jewish Aspect of Preparedness," Emanu-El, Jan. 14, 1916, p. 1;
267. Martin A. Meyer, "Pope Benedict and the Jews," in ibid., May 5, 1916, p. 2.
268. [Andrew W. Voorsanger], "So Mote it Be," in ibid., April 6, 1917, p. 22.
269. "The Duty of Americans of Jewish Faith," in ibid., April 13, 1917, p. 2;
270. see also ibid., May 11, 1917, p. 10.