Auction 73 - Jewish and Israeli History, Culture and Art
Letter Handwritten and Signed by Oscar Solomon Straus, First Jewish Member of the US Cabinet – February 25, 1915 – Urging American Jews to Help the Jews of Europe and Palestine During World War I
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A letter handwritten and signed by Oscar Solomon Straus, the first Jewish member of the US cabinet, to the Jewish philanthropist Marco Newmark. Coronado (California), February 25, 1915. English.
In the letter, Straus expresses his regret at not being able to attend a mass conference held in Los Angeles for the benefit of the Jews of Palestine and emphasizes the measures this desperate time calls for in his opinion – to enlist the aid and fortune of the Jewish community in the USA for the Jews of the world who are suffering due to the war.
Straus writes: "No time in the tragic history of Israel since the destruction Jerusalem has so large a number of our brethren been subjected to such intense and widespread suffering as at the present-time in War zones […] By every dictate of humanity, by the ties of a common religion, race and a glorious heritage and history it is the sacred duty of American Israel to go to the rescue of their persecuted… bretheren […] The American Jewish Relief Committee has been organized… to collect funds for the relief of the appalling misery of our most-unfortunate coreligionists, may your great mass meeting serve to bring home to the […] Jews of Los Angeles a lively sense of their duty to subscribe generously to the American Relief Fund".
World War I marked a change in the attitude of American Jewry to the Jews of the world, and during the war, several of the most important Jewish aid organizations in the 20th century were established. The American Jewish Relief Committee, mentioned in this letter, was one of the first American aid organizations and one of the organizations that made up the JOINT.
Oscar Solomon Straus (1850-1926) was a Jewish American diplomat and politician. He served three times as head of the USA legation to the Ottoman Empire. In 1906, he was appointed by Theodore Roosevelt as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, becoming the first Jewish cabinet member in the history of the USA.
The addressee, Marco Newmark (1878-1959), was a businessman and philanthropist of Jewish origin, president of the Federation of Jewish Welfare Organizations of Los Angeles and head of the Los Angeles branch of the Zionist Organization of America.
[1] folded leaf (four written pages), approx. 17.5 cm. Good condition. Fold lines. Separation along fold lines.
In the letter, Straus expresses his regret at not being able to attend a mass conference held in Los Angeles for the benefit of the Jews of Palestine and emphasizes the measures this desperate time calls for in his opinion – to enlist the aid and fortune of the Jewish community in the USA for the Jews of the world who are suffering due to the war.
Straus writes: "No time in the tragic history of Israel since the destruction Jerusalem has so large a number of our brethren been subjected to such intense and widespread suffering as at the present-time in War zones […] By every dictate of humanity, by the ties of a common religion, race and a glorious heritage and history it is the sacred duty of American Israel to go to the rescue of their persecuted… bretheren […] The American Jewish Relief Committee has been organized… to collect funds for the relief of the appalling misery of our most-unfortunate coreligionists, may your great mass meeting serve to bring home to the […] Jews of Los Angeles a lively sense of their duty to subscribe generously to the American Relief Fund".
World War I marked a change in the attitude of American Jewry to the Jews of the world, and during the war, several of the most important Jewish aid organizations in the 20th century were established. The American Jewish Relief Committee, mentioned in this letter, was one of the first American aid organizations and one of the organizations that made up the JOINT.
Oscar Solomon Straus (1850-1926) was a Jewish American diplomat and politician. He served three times as head of the USA legation to the Ottoman Empire. In 1906, he was appointed by Theodore Roosevelt as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, becoming the first Jewish cabinet member in the history of the USA.
The addressee, Marco Newmark (1878-1959), was a businessman and philanthropist of Jewish origin, president of the Federation of Jewish Welfare Organizations of Los Angeles and head of the Los Angeles branch of the Zionist Organization of America.
[1] folded leaf (four written pages), approx. 17.5 cm. Good condition. Fold lines. Separation along fold lines.
Americana
Americana