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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Friday, Feb. 28, 1969
Lee Max Friedman
Collection of American Jewish
Colonial Correspondence
LETTERS OF THE
FRANKS FAMILY
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
A Seven Arts Feature
American Jewish history has
b*en enriched with a remarkable
volume of letters written in the
Colonial period. To the American
Jfwish Historical Society goes
the highly deserved credit of
having made available an excep
tionally interesting set of letters,
at the same tirpe supplementing
them with data that throws light
on an important era in history
and on the personalities of note
in that era.
The new volume of the Society
does more than that; it pays hon
or to an eminent historian whose
Interest in the gathering of these
letters, which became the posses
sion of the American Jewish His
torical Society, made available
the treasured collection.
“The Lee Max Friedman Col
lection of American Jewish Co
lonial Correspondence—Letters to
the Franks Family, 1733-1748,”
the Impressive, fully illustrated
and fully annotated volume, owes
its excellence to two able editors,
Prof. Leo Hershkowitz of the
City University of New York and
Dr. Isidore S. Meyer, editor of
the American Jewish Historical
Society. Both in their foreword
and their scholarly introduction,
they throw light on the Franks
Family and the events in which
they were involved; as well as
on the eminent historian, the
late Lee Max Friedman, whose
generosity enriched the Histor
ical Society and helped preserve
the documents he had gathered.
Mr. Friedman’s collection was
accompanied by copious notes,
and these annotations provide
historical data in relation to the
families delineated in these doc
umentations.
There is, for example, the mat
ter of intermarriage. The Franks
children all intermarried. By
contrast there was the Gomez
family. One of the Gomezes
would have married the Franks’
daughter Richa, according to the
account given, but Abigail -
Franks, her mother, “had the
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strongest contempt” for him.
But the Gomez family became
deeply involved in Jewish affairs
“and their Judaism rested on
firmer foundations 1 ' than those of
the Franks. The Gomez descen
dants “are still associated with
the historical Congregation Shea-
rith Israel.”
Another factor of significance,
as revealed in the annotations, is
the element of anti-semitism that
was felt at that time in some
quarters. The struggle for “the
enlargement of Jewish liberties”
is recorded as part of the experi
ence of the Jewish community of
that time.
An interesting note in the ex
planatory introduction asserts:
“The letters should be viewed
from the internal and external
position of the Jews from the
enactment and revocation of the
English Jew Bill of 1753. What
happened to Jews in the British
Colonies and in Great Britain had
a mutual impact on the Jewish
community here and abroad. In
the pre-emancipation period in
the age of mercantilism, budding
Deism and early 18th Century
toleration, . the problems of the
religio-cultural development of
the Jewish community would be
Brandeis U. AD
Chosen for Israel
WALTHAM, Mass. (JTA) —
The United States Committee,
Sports for Israel, Inc., has selec
ted the athletic director of Bran-
deis University for three key
posts in connection with the 1969
Maccabian games in Israel.
Irving Olin, adjunct associate
professor of physical education at
the Jewish-sponsored non-sec
tarian college, was appointed to
the committee’s board of direc
tors, named chairman of the New
England Committee, Sports for
Israel and was appointed to the
committee which will select a
U.S. basketball squad to compete
in the Maccabiah.
Ben Gurion to Walk
Twickenham Street
LONDON (JTA) — Twicken
ham Street, a South London
thoroughfare, will be disguised
as the main street of a 19th Cen
tury Russian “shetl” for the film
ing of a biographical documen
tary of the life of former Prime
Minister David Ben Gurion of
Israel.
Co venant Communications
Corp., which is making the film,
intended to shoot the sequences
in the Polish town of Plonsk,
where Mr. Ben Gurion was born
and spent his childhood, but the
Warsaw authorities refused to
grant permission.
How Free Tickets
To Art Theatre
Are Selected
Lucky, lucky, lucky!
These paidup subscribers to
The Southern Israelite can get
free tickets to the Peachtree Art
Theatre—provided they come by
TSI office in person and pick
them up within the next two
weeks.
How are they selected? Of
course every paid up subscriber
does not get the free tickets,
whose number is limited. But
we draw them from a hat, so to
speak, so that all who have paid
up since the last time have
chances to win.
Here are the newest lucky-
ones:
Mrs. Phillip Schwartz, A. L.
Schoenberg, Chas. W. Bergman,
Harriet Frankel, Moise Kaplan,
Mike Gettinger, Edward Shetzen,
Sadie Katz, Louis Aronoff, Fred
Schwartz, EdtWe Silverboard,
Sidney Hertzenberg.
David N. Meyer, Berry Ritten-
baum, Phillip Kaplan, Morris
Elkan, Alvin Siegel, Mrs. Sam
Becker, Abbey Loff, Si Rosen-
blum, Henry Theise, Charles
Weltner, Abe Levetan, David
Friedland, Jack Hirsch.
reflected not only in its econom
ic position in the British colonies
and in the mother country but
also in the linguistic abilities tof
its respective members, providing
them with certain trading advan
tages.”
The numerous notes, referring
to the events that transpired,
make the contents understand
able and provide the history-re
lated aspects in a volume that
adds significance to the Histor
ical Society’s purposes.
Of the 37 published letters, 34
were addressed to Naphtali
Franks by his mother, Mrs. Ja
cob Franks. One was written to
Naphtali by his father and two
by his brother, David.
Complaint:
Jewish Cops Get
Too Many Holidays
TRENTON (JTA) — A Newark
police sergeant complained in
New Jersey Supreme Court this
week that the policy of giving
Jewish policemen extra time off
for religious holidays without
loss of pay was discriminatory
against non-Jewish members of
the force. Sgt. Joseph'A. Ebler,
a policeman for 22 years, said
that Newark police get 12 paid
holidays a year and any addit
ional time off is charged against
their accrued overtime pay. But
the city’s 50 Jewish policemen
receive an additional six relig
ious holidays off without having
to give up any overtime pay. As
a result they earn $200 more per
year than non-Jewish police, he
said.
Sgt. Ebler said the City of
Newark, Essex County and the
State of New Jersey “have no
business getting involved in re
ligion.” Justice John J. Francis
said the policy was “discrimina
tory on its face.” Assistant
Newark Corporation Counsel
Sanford Schneider said certain
“benefits accrue to Jewish per
sonnel” but he rejected the argu
ment that government should
remain “absolutely neutral” in
religious matters. He said this
would result in “absolute chaos.”
The court has taken the case un
der advisement.
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‘Sentinel’ Readers
Help Ethiopian
Jews Run Tractor
CHICAGO (JTA)—Funds con
tributed by the readers of the
Chicago Jewish Sentinel to assist
the Falasha Jews in Ethiopia
have been used to purchase a
tractor and other equipment for
the Armachoho settlement. The
settlement is on land given to
’ the Falashas by the Ethiopian
Government on condition that
they begin its cultivation. The
tractor, water tank and other
equipment were purchased from
an Israeli firm. Plans are being
made to hire an agricultural in
structor to live with the settlers.
An article on the Falashas by
the Sentinel’s E&P Jack Fishbein
appears in the next issue of The
Southern Israelite.
Two Presidents
Swap Warm Notes
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Presi
dent Nixon has sent a warm re
ply to President Zalman Shazar’s
note congratulating him on his
inauguration.
Mr. Nixon pledged all of the
“energy and strength” of his Ad
ministration “to build a true and
lasting peace for all mankind.”
He thanked Mr. Shazar for his
“thoughtful and heartening mes
sage on my inauguration as Pres
ident of the United States.”
He said, “I hope and trust that
our lines of communication will
remain open as we seek a world
in which no people will live in
anger or unwanted isolation.”
Sen. Symington
Confers with Eban
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Sen.
Stuart Symington (D.Mo.), chair
man of the Senate Armed Ser
vices Committee, stopped over in
Israel briefly last week on a fact
finding mission to the area and
conferred with Foreign Minister
Abba Eban.
Sen. Symington was accom
panied by Maj. Gen. John Mur
phy, director of the legislative
liaison between the U.S. Air
Force and the U.S. Senate, and
Arthur Kuhl, chief clerk of the
Senate Foreign Relations Com
mittee.
Trade Increases 50%
JERUSALEM. (JTA) — Trade
between Rumania and Israel is
expected to increase by 50 per
cent this year, it was announced
when Finance Minister Zeev
Sharef and Rumanian Agricul
ture Minister Nicolae Giousau
signed a document renewing a
trade agreement. Trade between
the countries doubled in 1967
and redoubled in 1968.
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