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Feb. 4, 1927

Editorial Comment: The World’s Attitude Toward the Jew and Toward America

There is a strange parallelism, which we have not seen noticed, between the present European attitude toward the United States, which may be said to be the attitude of the world, or at least the Old World, and the world’s attitude toward the Jew.

If we may accept the testimony of the Christian Scriptures themselves, the Jew gave to the Christian world the chief figure of its faith and its leading representative, and that figure declared that he came to fulfill the prophecies in the ancient Hebrew Scriptures. The Psalms and other portions of those Scriptures form the basis of much of Christian ritual and observance. Yet all through the centuries the Jew, who, according to the Christian Scriptures, had to carry out such prophecies, has been treated as an outcast, and subjected to every form of persecution and ignominy.

So the United States came to the rescue of the Allies in the World War, when they cried in Shakespearean phrase, “Help me, Cassius, or I sink,” and poured forth millions of dollars and sacrificed thousands of lives in support of a cause which did not directly concern us. And now, because these powers are asked to pay in the slowest installments the whole or a portion of the indebtedness, they call Uncle Sam “Uncle Shylock,” and appear to hate and revile the American people who came so nobly and generously to their aid.

Jan. 2. 1987

Bride and groom hit a home run at Candlestick Park

As the fans warmed themselves in the autumn chill, Mike Zimmerman strode purposefully to home plate. He shuffled the dirt around a bit and cast a quick eye at the man behind the umpire’s mask before settling into his stance.

Zimmerman reared back and … smack … in one smooth motion, he slammed the wine glass under his foot, the final element of the traditional Jewish wedding service.

The scene took place Sunday at Candlestick Park, when Zimmerman and Barbara Ellison were married before a small group of fans and family, fulfilling a lifelong dream.

“He always wanted to be married at home plate,” explains Beverly Zimmerman, the groom’s mother, who says her son’s been crazy about America’s pastime since he was two years old.

And how about Ellison — is she a fan as well? “She just better be,” advises her new mother-in-law.