“From the J. archive” is a new weekly feature that will showcase articles and editorials — even kitschy old ads — from the 120-year history of J.
May 4, 1906
Rabbi Jacob Voorsanger, editor of the Emanu-El, J.’s predecessor, wrote this letter to his readers following the devastating earthquake and fire that destroyed much of San Francisco a month earlier:
Emanu-El having shared the fate of all San Francisco likewise shares in the resurrection of the great city by the Golden Gate. Already the sound of ax and hammer is heard in all directions between the bay and the ocean. … Whatever little service Emanu-El can render is consecrated to the upbuilding of the greater San Francisco and the rehabilitation of its splendid Jewish community. We are at work; we propose to remain at work in our shack between the ruins, and there we propose to remain. We have had the good time; now with God’s help we shall breast the inconveniences and discomforts of re-construction until the mercy of God shall have aided and glorified the work in hand.
Meanwhile we must give our brethren in the East and abroad a clear statement of our condition. That we need aid need not be specially emphasized. The community is stripped, for whatever the earthquake left the fire consumed. The greater part of San Francisco is in ashes or in ruins. Whatever the earthquake did not demolish was destroyed by dynamite in order to save the residential part of the city. Whoever has visited San Francisco and is acquainted with its geographical situation will understand the serious character of our calamity when we state that from the ferry to Van Ness avenue and from North Beach to the county line, including the entire portion south of Market street, the city is a pile of melancholy ruins. Practically only the Western Addition remains intact. In this devastation, the Jewish community has probably suffered more than any other, for the reason that at least two thousand Jewish families living in the south-of-Market district and belonging to the immigrant element composed of small traders, artisans, unskilled laborers and peddlers, that is to say, a population of about ten thousand people, are houseless, helpless, totally ruined and destitute.
May 21, 1948
A rally in San Francisco celebrates the birth of the new State of Israel:
Birth of the State of Israel was celebrated in San Francisco last Monday evening in the Veterans Building with a rousing mass meeting, sponsored by all Zionist groups, unions, veterans organizations and many others.
Highlighting the program was a musical pageant in the theme of Freedom Day, with a chorus of 40 voices from the All-Palestine Males Chorus from the University of California …
All hailed the new state as the realization of years of hope and effort and told its significance.
The meeting was packed with enthusiastic men and women who cheered the speakers and warmly applauded the pageantry and music.
June 16, 1967
San Francisco Jewish leaders joined a mass lobbying effort in D.C. on behalf of Israel in the wake of the Six-Day War. Edward Bransten, chair of San Francisco’s Jewish Community Relations Council, wrote this report:
Thirty Californians including nine from Northern California joined more than 1500 other men and women from 42 states in an unprecedented visit to our nation’s capitol last week.
The occasion was the emergency meeting called by the 21 Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations at which community leaders gathered to make known to our Congressmen our concern with the fast-moving events in the Middle East. Our purpose was to urge them to provide Israel with the political support necessary so that finally Israel and the Arab states might sit down at the peace table and work out a durable and lasting peace …
The San Francisco delegation of which I had the honor to be chairman included Rabbis Morton Hoffman and Saul E. White, Jay Darwin, Joshua Torczyner and Rita R. Semel.