Jewish History

Few cities in America have as many survivors of the Holocaust as ours does. For many years large numbers have volunteered to speak in our schools and houses of worship, often despite the pain of recall, about their experiences in concentration camps, ghettos, forest hideaways, underground cells and the like. Youngsters have learned that people can commit almost unspeakable crimes, and that we must prevent and/or end genocidal crimes anywhere, anytime, by any people. Philadelphia's survivors could help show the way by pioneering a new emphasis in telling about their Holocaust lives.

Painter Joan Myerson Shrager doesn't consider herself the family historian or even the "go-to" person when it comes to answering questions about the past. Yet her latest works are filled with images of family - contemporary scenes of relatives dancing at family celebrations or gathering at holidays such as Rosh Hashanah. There are vintage images too, culled from what Shrager describes as a "closetful of memorabilia. " The images are part of the exhibit "YIDDISHKEIT: Growing up Jewish in America," now on view at the Temple Judea Museum at Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park.

For most of his life, whenever Peter H. Schweitzer browsed flea markets and antique shops, he would pause lovingly over stuff others ignored. They were tchotchkes - Yiddish for bric-a-brac - nothing more. But to Schweitzer they were tiny milestones of Jewish American history, symbols of transformation from immigrants to citizens, players in U.S. society. And irresistible. Last night, Schweitzer, a 52-year-old New York social worker and rabbi, formally handed over his collection - 10,000 items accumulated over a quarter-century - to its new home: the National Museum of American Jewish History on Independence Mall.

Mel Gibson has conquered the box office with The Passion of the Christ, his foreign-language epic biopic about the last hours in the life of Jesus. And Gibson conquered those heights even though a number of Jewish groups have complained that the film sends an anti-Semitic message. Now, Gibson has told WABC Radio's Sean Hannity that he plans to make a flick about a Jewish rebellion in Roman-controlled Jerusalem 200 years before the birth of Christ. That would be the event celebrated each year at Hanukkah.

With a $5 million gift from Comcast-Spectacor chairman Edward M. Snider, the National Museum of American Jewish History announced yesterday that it had reached the halfway point of its $100 million campaign to construct a new museum building on Independence Mall. Snider's gift, combined with a $25 million campaign-opening donation from philanthropist Sidney Kimmel and two dozen smaller pledges from museum trustees and others, has enabled the fund drive to achieve half its goal in a little more than a year.

Chaim Potok, the onetime rabbi who wrote "The Chosen" and other critically acclaimed novels about Jewish life, died yesterday in his home in Merion, Montgomery County. He was 73. Potok, who suffered from brain cancer, had recently been dictating a new novel to his wife, Adena, the family said. His novels often illustrate the conflict between spiritual and secular worlds. "The Chosen," published in 1967 and Potok's first and best-known novel, follows the friendship between two Jewish boys from different religious backgrounds.

Gratz College has the teachers. But it is the Jewish community in Minnesota's Twin Cities - Minneapolis and St. Paul - that needs their expertise. Gratz educators and Minneapolis Jewish Federation leaders hope to bridge the gap with a pioneer program called Teaching Diligently. Using videoconferencing and the Internet to unite academics with students 1,200 miles away, Gratz and the federation hope to develop a cadre of top-quality Jewish educators in Minnesota and, ultimately, across the nation.

Harvey Sheldon can tell stories for hours about Harvey Sheldon, composer George Gershwin, Lincoln High School, former mob boss Angelo Bruno, the Bunny Hop, and the University of Pennsylvania. What stories, you ask? Well, that he and Lincoln High classmate Erma "Dimples" Eininger created the Bunny Hop dance in 1952 at the request of Bob Horn, host of the original Bandstand show in Philadelphia. And that as a young man, he became a friend of Bruno's, and was counseled by him on topics from job opportunities to choosing the right wine.

Selected items from the comic-book collection of Steven Bergson, as well as the work of contemporary Jewish cartoon artists, are on display now through July 31 at Temple Judea Museum of Keneseth Israel, 8339 Old York Rd., Elkins Park. The exhibition looks at how cartooning has been used to explore Jewish history, tradition and fantasy, museum curator Rita Poley said. Some of the works are controversial, "as comic art is usually over the top and lacking in subtlety," she said. The items from the Bergson collection include comics about intermarriage, golems, biblical and literary characters, the Holocaust and Israel.

He was the consummate diplomat, a man of grace and intelligence who rose to be Pope as Europe slipped toward World War II. His homilies for peace crackled on the radio from St. Peter's Square. He implored the Allies to spare Rome and its religious splendors the bombing that was thundering across the continent. But Pope Pius XII was also the pontiff accused of remaining silent against the specter of the Holocaust. Jewish groups and many religious scholars blame Pius - who was well-informed about the plight of the Jews - for not forcefully condemning the persecution that was often unfolding just outside Vatican walls.