The Jews of Bohemia, Later Called Czechoslovakia

 Nadene Goldfoot                                        

Bohemia doesn't exist today.  Once it was a country.    Today, Bohemians are people with an unconventional lifestyle, originally practiced by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. 

Bohemia was a duchy of Great Moravia, later an independent principality, a kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire, and subsequently a part of the Habsburg monarchy and the Austrian Empire. After World War I and the establishment of an independent Czechoslovak state, the whole of Bohemia became a part of Czechoslovakia, defying claims of the German-speaking inhabitants that regions with German-speaking majority should be included in the Republic of German-Austria. Between 1938 and 1945, these border regions were joined to Nazi Germany as the Sudetenland.

                Prague's Old Town Square:  Prague is a political, cultural, and economic hub of central Europe, with a rich history  and Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architectures. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia and residence of several Holy Roman Emperors, most notably Charles IV (r. 1346–1378).

Jews are known to have lived in Bohemia since the 10th century.  Prague was probably the oldest settlement.  They engaged in trade. They were forced to live in ghettos.  Ghettos had started in 1517 in Venice, but the idea of the segregation of the Jews was implicit in earlier church legislation and goes back to the Lateran Councils of 1179 and 1215.  

                   King Ottokar II of Bohemia Ottokar was the second son of King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia (reigned 1230–1253). Through his mother, Kunigunde, daughter of Philip of Swabia, he was related to the Holy Roman Emperors of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, which became extinct in the male line upon the execution of King Conradin of Sicily in 1268.

During the period of Crusaders, from 1096 onward, the Jews suffered severe persecutions and many were forcibly baptized. Those who reverted to Judaism and attempted to leave were robbed on their departure (1098). Their position improved by the 13th century under Ottokar II, but deteriorated by the 14th century under Charles IV.  A number of decrees directed against the Jews and their  economic position were issued during the 15th and 16th centuries.

There are probably descendants of those persecuted and baptized Jews living in Bohemian centers elsewhere, like in North Dakota in pioneer days.  With DNA testing today, it wouldn't even show up as we don't know the haplogroups of the Bohemian Jews, but a common grouping might take place. 

In 1512, Gershon ben Solomon Cohen established a Hebrew printing shop in Prague, however, from 1562, all Hebrew books were subject to censorship. 

 There was a large and self-contained Jewish quarter (Judenstadt).  its ancient synagogues many of which still stand, its world-renowed scholars, and its Hebrew printing-press, its highly-developed autonomous institution, its craft-guilds, etc. all in Prague.   

Entrance of Bohdan Khmelnytsky to Kyiv, Mykola Ivasyuk

Khmelnytsky was a Ukrainian military commander and Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host, which was then under the suzerainty of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He led an uprising against the Commonwealth and its magnates (1648–1654) that resulted in the creation of an independent Ukrainian Cossack state.

 During the uprising the Cossacks led a massacre of thousands of Jewish people during 1648–1649 as one of the more traumatic events in the history of the Jews in Ukraine and Ukrainian nationalism. 

  Jews were expelled  on several occasions, even from Prague, by now one of the greatest European Jewish centers.  many Jews fled to Czechoslovakia from Eastern Europe at the time of the the Chmielnicki pogroms of 1648.  Ghetto regulations continued to be enforced and even the number of marriages was restricted by law. 

The Jews, exiled from 1745 to 1748, were only allowed to return after promising to pay exorbitant taxes.  By 1848, the Jewes of Prague were granted full equality, and 4 years later, the ghetto was abolished.  

Maria Theresa, German Maria Theresia, (born May 13, 1717, Vienna—died November 29, 1780, Vienna), archduchess of Austria and queen of Hungary and Bohemia (1740–80), wife and empress of the Holy Roman emperor Francis I (reigned 1745–65), and mother of the Holy Roman emperor Joseph II (reigned 1765–90). 

Jews taking snuff in Prague, painting by Mírohorský, 1885

Maria Theresa decreed in 1744 a general expulsion of he Jews which was enforced to some extent the next year.  from 1781 to 1919, the history of the Jews merged with that of Austria.  

After WWI, Jews had full rights of citizens.  Czechoslovak republic was the 1st country to recognize Jewish nationality and numbered 357,000 in 1935.  

Repeating again, the 1989 revolution led to full freedom for the Jewish community of 12,000 in 1990.  As of 2021, there were approximately 2,300 Jews living in the Czech Republic.

Resource:

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/bohemia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemia

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_the_Czech_lands

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maria-Theresa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohdan_Khmelnytsky

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmelnytsky_Uprising

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottokar_II_of_Bohemia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague

https://theconversation.com/ancient-dna-from-the-teeth-of-14th-century-ashkenazi-jews-in-germany-already-included-genetic-variations-common-in-modern-jews-194780

Jews and Bohemians Settling in North Dakota

 Nadene Goldfoot                                          

       Michael Medved, Author, political commentator, radio show host, film critic

Michael Medved was born on October 3, 1948, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to parents Renate (née Hirsch) and David Bernard Medved. His father was a Navy veteran and scientist. Raised in a Jewish home, his family's origin is German and Ukrainian. The surname Medved means a "bear" in many Slavic languages. Medved was raised in San Diego, California, where his father worked as a defense contractor for Convair and NASA.  On census information, places like Ukraine are referred to as Russian, as they had taken over so many parts of the Pale of Settlement.  Somewhere in his past history, he may have had ancestors homesteading for about 5 years in North Dakota.  

Homesteading promoted the Midwest as a place to make a home. It brought newcomers to the Badlands in great numbers.NPS Photo

At least 800 Jewish individuals filed for land between 1880 and 1916 in North Dakota. They generally settled in clusters. Many were aided by the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society. In addition several of the earliest settlements, Painted Woods and Devils Lake, were aided by synagogues located in Minnesota's Twin Cities. Homesteaders endured great hardships such as plagues of grasshoppers, prairie fires, blizzards and drought. Most left after acquiring full land title (generally five years). A number settled in market towns along the two railroads that crossed the state and where they operated general stores.

          B'nai Israel Synagogue in Grand Forks, North Dakota 

By 1889 the country's growing railroad industry lured people to the eastern community of Grand Forks. A permanent congregation was established in 1892. It was from the pulpit of B'nai Israel Synagogue that President William McKinley urged the Jews to participate in the war with Spain. The city of Fargo also grew near the turn of the century and by 1896 a synagogue was chartered there. The Jews of North Dakota are engaged mainly in retailing. A few, such as Fargo Mayor Herschel Lashkowitz, and Federal Judge Myron Bright, distinguished themselves in politics.

                                    North Dakota 

 George C. Medved who in 1920  lived in Homer, Stutsman, North Dakota. Homer is a township located in the county of Stutsman in the U.S. state of North Dakota. Its population at the 2010 census was 289. After 10 years in 2020 city had an estimated population of 268 inhabitants.

 He was born in Vienna, Austria. He might have been Jewish.   Was he one who was helping to establish something like a kibbutz?  That was their homesteading.   He had married Anna H. Stluka.  Medved is a Jewish surname.  In 1900 at age 50 he was living in Wahpeton, Richland, North Dakota. 

 The surname, Medved  comes from: Slovenian Croatian Ukrainian Belorussian and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic); Slovak (Medved'); Czech (Medvěd): is also a nickname from Slavic medved 'bear' applied to a large strong or clumsy person.               

The first settlement of Bohemians, or Czechs, in northern Dakota was in Richland County in 1871.

Bohemian (bo-Hee-me-an) immigrants of North Dakota were also called Czechs (cheks). Bohemia is a region in the present-day Czech Republic, formerly called Czechoslovakia (chek-o-slo-Vahk-ya). This European country is located near Poland and Germany.     

The first settlement of Bohemians, or Czechs, in northern Dakota was in Richland County in 1871. Wahpeton and Lidgerwood became important Bohemian communities. Some of the other counties with large Bohemian settlements included Walsh, Dunn, Stark, Morton, and Ward.  The first settler in Wahpeton was Morgan T. Rich in 1864. His plow turned the first furrow of rich, black soil. The city of Richville was officially founded in 1869 after other settlers arrived and formed a small community.

      Chuck Suchy ripping it up with accordion on the north elevation of Bohemian Hall.

A major part of the Bohemian culture, which has survived through the years, was their love of music. Every Bohemian community had school bands, community bands, and dance bands. Weekend dances were held, and these were neighborhood affairs for people of all ages.

Many of the Bohemian immigrants settled in towns and cities rather than on farms. A great number of them had worked in various trades in the “old country” and brought their skills with them. They set up shops and worked as blacksmiths, tailors, leather workers, butchers, and in other trades.

 Those who did farm were often the first to try out new developments. Czech farmers were among the first to establish telephone systems and to use electricity on their farms.                               

Rebecca Bender's grandfather, Joseph Bender, operates a single-blade plow and horse in 1909 on his homestead land near Ashley, N.D. It's the only known photo that remains of a Jewish homesteader in McIntosh County, Bender said. (Submitted Photo)

Between 1900 to 1920, about 1200 Russian-Jewish immigrants were homesteading in North Dakota.  They didn't do well farming, but did in reselling the land later to other farmers to be.  

Jews also settled in larger towns such as Fargo, Grand Forks, Bismarck, and Minot where they established synagogues and other elements of Jewish communal life. They have also been included in civic life.                                         

One rabbi in particular deserves mention: Benjamin Papermaster was sent to North Dakota by the Chief Rabbi of the Kovno Yeshiva, serving in Grand Forks from 1891 to 1934. He was also the circuit-riding rabbi for the state, circumcising babies, officiating at weddings and funerals, and even slaughtering cattle. Today, Fargo and Grand Forks rely on student rabbis. In the 1960s the Jewish population of Fargo was some 500 people; it has declined as young people leave and do not return.

In 1883 a group of Russian Jews, formerly of North Dakota, established what is now the Conservative congregation Talmud Torah in Portland, Oregon.  

Rebecca Bender became an author, telling of life on the prairie and how they kept their faith.    

As of 2017, North Dakota's Jewish population was approximately 400 people.

Resource:

Update:  3/15/23

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/north-dakota-jewish-history

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/188059776.pdf

Israel's Settlement, Har Bracha, in Samaria Bringing Terrorists and Christians

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                 

                         An Arab village in Samaria, like Hurawa

Israel AM reported that On Sunday, which was yesterday, February 26, 2023, 2 brothers from the settlement of Har Bracha were murdered by a terrorist who shot them as they were sitting in traffic while driving through the village of Hurawa on highway 60. Hillel (22) and Yagel (20) Yaniv were laid to rest earlier today, escorted by thousands of mourners. 

Both of the men were yeshiva students. Hillel had completed his IDF service in the navy and Yagel was training to join  an elite IDF combat unit.  

After the terror attack, hundreds of settlers converged on the village of Hurawa and burned down 35 houses and close to 100 cars. Palestinian sources say that around 75 homes in total were damaged. One Palestinian man was killed and close to 100 injured, most from smoke inhalation. 

Hundreds of IDF troops entered Hurawa to stop the violence and help rescue residents from their burning homes. Internal Security Minister Ben Gvir visited the scene and said that while he understands the settler's anger, citizens must not take the law into their own hands. Only the government can deal with terrorism. Finance Minister Smotrich echoed Ben Gvir's words. The IDF added several additional combat battalions to existing forces in Judea and Samaria.

In the past, there have been horrible murders of whole families and no village ever reacted in like return.  After all these years, this new generation has had it.  They rebelled but irrationally.  

                       Hills of Samaria

Founded in 1983, Har Brakha, where the 2 murdered men were from,  is an Israeli village located on the southern ridge of Mount Gerizim at an elevation of 870 metres above sea level, in the West Bank's Samarian mountains, near the Palestinian city of Nablus.  

American Christian Evangelicals are involved in Har Brakha.

Hayovel, the U.S. organization that brings them to Har Bracha, is among a growing list of evangelical groups that operate exclusively in the so-called “biblical heartland.” Over the past decade, it has brought more than 1,700 volunteers to the settlements – and only the settlements because, as a matter of principle, its volunteers do not assist farmers within Israel proper.

Explaining the organization’s special attachment to this disputed piece of land – that most of the international community does not recognize as part of Israel – Hayovel states on its website: “Every country in the world has turned its back on Judea and Samaria, the heartland of Israel, where 80 percent of the Bible was either written or occurred.” 

Evangelicals are different from most other Christians in that they read "religiously" the Old Testament as well as their New.  They are right about that; and most Jews thought that Christians didn't realize this, that their ancient home was Judah and by consequence, Samaria as well.  Jews, from past experiences, do not trust Christians who always seem to have had their goal, wanting to convert Jews to Christianity, so this is a surprise to most of us, that Har Brakha Jews are allowing so many Christians to help them in their endeavors.   

Har Bracha is a religious community which is located on Mount Gerizim in the Shomron. Har Bracha is mentioned in the Book of Deuteronomy: “When God your Lord brings you to the land which you are about to occupy, you must declare the blessing on Mount Gerizim…” (Deuteronomy 11:29). There are approximately 350 families currently living in the community.

Har Bracha is essentially composed of young families in their twenties and early thirties, however, there are also older families with married children who are raising the third generation on Har Bracha. The atmosphere amongst the residents is one of warmth and caring, including assistance to women who have given birth and families in distress. Social activities, such as presentations for the children and women’s evenings are constant features.

"Har Bracha, thank G-d, is constantly growing, and each year approximately 25 new families join our community, a fact which requires the continual planning and building of new houses. We are in the process of building the ‘Tzurim’ project which will add a 145 new apartments. We are doing our best to keep up with the growing demand!

A family in a religious Israeli community could count 10 people, so 350 X 10 could be 3,500 people in the village.  

"There is a large library, Kupat Cholim Leumit which gives services to all the different branches, and Tipat Chalav. We have a large grocery store, a pizza shop, clothing, cutlery and more."

A Little History… The community started as an army outpost, and in the year 5743 (1982), it was decided to turn it into a civilian community. 

Background:  The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) established Nahal villages.  Nahal is a corps which combines military training with farm work.  Its members become farmers when their service ends.  The villages are in substances, military points, like those held by any other unit of the IDF.  

Unlike other communities, there was no previous establishment of a group of families ready to move to there, and therefore, a number of families from surrounding settlements were called upon to help populate the new community. Approximately four years later, the majority of families had left – leaving three families alone!   

              Machon Meir in Jerusalem

After a few months, a group of families from Machon Meir arrived to help get the settlement off the ground. Five years later, in the Jewish year 5753 (1992), the Hesder Yeshiva of Har Bracha was established. Since its establishment, the community has grown consistently.  Machon Meir is a religious Zionist outreach organization and yeshiva situated in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat Moshe, close to Givat Shaul. Machon Meir is one of the larger outreach organization in Israel, and is strongly associated with nationalist politics and the settler movement.

Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, who is also the chief rabbi of Har Brakha. While the vast majority of students (about 150 annually) are not originally from settlements, many graduates of the yeshiva return to live on the settlement. The rabbi is all for female IDF guarding them. " Female soldiers who contribute to Israel's defense are performing a mitzvah."  Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, one of the most important figures in religious Zionism, has very unorthodox views. He sees no reason to boycott Judaism's progressive movements or prevent couples' rights to seek alternative wedding ceremonies. "I oppose religious coercion," he states.

Evangelical Christians from the United States have joined the community, with the support of Rabbi Melamed, and their presence has aroused some controversy among residents.

                  American "Settlement" in 1800s.  

It bothers many of us by using the term, settlement.  Americans have a problem with it as in America, a settlement was a temporary or very new group of people protecting their lives from the Native Americans they called Indians.  Usually there was a wooden fencing put up around the yard containing buildings with a fort as a main center.  For instance, "In 1834 the Methodists, headed by Jason Lee, established the first permanent settlement in the Willamette River valley.  Contenders included Corvallis, Oregon City (where the legislature was located for a brief period), and Salem. (Those writers had to use  the adjective, permanent,  in order to change the idea of not being permanent.)

Above, the journalists used settlement first for the Jewish village.  Then they used village for the Arabs.  Someone here had made such a distinction.  Settlement is used as a political word for new Jewish communities, and here it is in Samaria, the less populated section of "Judea and Samaria" which was relabeled by Jordan as The West Bank.  .  

"Using the title of a settlement can be misleading in the absence of any widely accepted definition. For example, city status in the United Kingdom historically arose from its place in the ecclesiastic hierarchy. (In modern times, city status is awarded for secular reasons but without reference to size.) 

Thus, some cathedral cities in England (e.g., Ely, Cambridgeshire) have a much smaller populations than some towns (e.g., Luton).

 In the United States, the distinction between town and city is a matter of a decision by local government to incorporate. In addition, there is no agreement as to the number of levels in the hierarchy or what they should be called. Many terms used to describe settlements (e.g., village) have no legal definition, or may have contradictory legal definitions in different jurisdictions."

Arab villages are emptying. They are immigrating to the USA.   According to reporter Assaf Gibor, Route 60, which runs from Afula, on Israel’s side of the “green line” through Jenin, near Shechem, through Ofra and outside Ramallah to Jerusalem, features ghost villages on either side of the highway. The Jewish settlers of Ofra and Amona have been wondering what has happened to neighboring Arab villages such as Silwad, three miles from the main road and about 8 miles north-east of Ramallah. A visitor happening inside the village can see numerous, luxurious villas, that are deserted.

Arab immigration from Judea and Samaria has been going on for decades. Official Palestinian Authority figures suggest there are three million Arabs living there. In reality, the figures are lighter by at least one million, according to many experts. Since 1997, Israel is no longer operating the census there, and the PA count does not abide by international norms, whereby a person who has been absent for a year or more from his country is no longer counted. Demographers Yaakov Feitelson and Yoram Ettinger suggest the figure of 1.8 million Arabs in Judea and Samaria, as opposed to the PA claim of 2.9 million.

Update: 3/7/2023: By and from Barry Shaw, INN  1. Palestinian Arab terrorists in the northern Samaria terror hub of Huwara murdered two brothers, Hillel and Yagel Yaniv. The Yaniv brothers were executed in a rain of bullets after the terrorists had rammed their vehicle into them before gunning them down as they sat trapped in their car.

2. The attack was predictable. In the month leading up to their murder, Palestinian Arabs carried out an average of two-three deadly rock and Molotov cocktail attacks a day against Israeli cars in Huwara and on the Gilad route leading through the Arab settlement.

3. Following the murder of the Jewish brothers, Huwara Arabs celebrated by handing out sweets. They also held an official firework celebration,

4. Among the main celebrants was the owner of a car and spare parts lot named Ayed Maharab. He is a paroled terrorist who spent five years in Israeli prison. His Facebook page is filled with celebrations of terrorist attacks and of himself holding an AK-47. Maharab published a post following the Yaniv brothers’ murders celebrating the attack.

5. Following the murder of their friends and neighbors, and after seeing the Arab celebration of their atrocitty, a number of young Israelis from surrounding villages entered Huwara and committed acts of vigilante violence. Among other things, they burned Maharab’s car lot. The scenes you saw of burning vehicles was Maharab’s spare parts lot. No building and no individual Arabs were attacked or hurt by the aggrieved and angry friends of Hillel and Yagel. The claims of a death were lies.

6. Days following the killing of the two Jewish boys and the arson protest of their close friends, Hadi Amr, the US Ambassador to the Palestinian Authority, visited Huwara.

He didn’t visit the site of the terror attack against the Yaniv brothers.

He didn’t pay his respects to the Yaniv family.

He didn’t even condemn their murder.

Instead, the U.S. Embassy’s Palestinian Affairs Department’s Twitter page reported that Amr “visited with the [Palestinian] ‘victims’ of Sunday’s Huwara attack. He expressed his deepest condolences and condemned what he falsely called the “unacceptable widescale, indiscriminate violence by setters.”

Amr had his picture taken at Maharab’s burned-down car lot.

Resource:

Israel AM 

https://www.israel365news.com/312474/whole-arab-villages-judea-samaria-stand-empty-residents-flee-us/

https://forward.com/news/415630/inside-the-evangelical-money-flowing-into-the-west-bank/

https://en.yhb.org.il/har-bracha/

Arthur Goldberg, Permanent Representative to the UN in 1967

 Nadene Goldfoot                                       

Arthur Joseph Goldberg (August 8, 1908 – January 19, 1990) was an American statesman and jurist who served as the 9th U.S. Secretary of Labor, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the 6th United States Ambassador to the United Nations.  He started off as an attorney which he was at age 31, married with a daughter 

with his mother in law living with them, Esther Curgens.

Goldberg was born and raised on West Side, Chicago,Illinois,  the youngest of eight children of Rebecca Perlstein and Joseph Goldberg, Orthodox Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. His paternal line derived from a shtetl called Zenkhov, in Ukraine. Goldberg's father, a produce peddler, died in 1916, forcing Goldberg's siblings to quit school and go to work to support the family. As the youngest child, Goldberg was allowed to continue school, but worked jobs on the side, including as a vendor at Wrigley Field and as a library clerk, to help support his family. 

                       Arthur with family

He was childhood friends with future professional boxer Jackie Fields. Goldberg attended classes and lectures at the Hull House, which aimed to educate recent European immigrants. He graduated from Harrison Technical High School at the age of 16. 

Goldberg's interest in the law was sparked by the noted murder trial in 1924 of Leopold and Loeb, two wealthy young Chicagoans who were spared the death penalty with the help of their high-powered defense attorney, Clarence Darrow. Goldberg attended the trial while he was a high school senior. Goldberg later pointed to the case as inspiration for his opposition to the death penalty on the bench, since he had seen how inequality of social status could lead to unfair application of the death penalty. 

Jewish Supreme Court Justices Louis Brandeis and Benjamin Cardozo also served as inspiration to Goldberg from a young age.

"Many people know about Arthur Joseph Goldberg’s incredible Horatio Alger story: The son of poor Orthodox Jewish refugees, who escaped to America fleeing Ukrainian antisemitic pogroms, rises from poverty to become a nationally renowned labor lawyer, Labor Secretary, a Supreme Court Justice, and a United Nations Ambassador.

 However, generally unknown is the degree of his shtadlanut (role as an intercessor on behalf of Jewish communities around the world) and his intervening on behalf of Jews everywhere, including Jews in the Soviet Union and Iraq,  Goldberg (1908-1990) was a dedicated lifelong Zionist committed to the establishment and advancement of a Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael.

Portrait originally signed by Goldberg.

Goldberg’s career was shaped by liberal Jewish social ethics and by his experience as the son of poor Jewish immigrants, and he always proclaimed his pride in his Jewish heritage: “My concern for justice, for peace, for enlightenment, stems for my heritage.”

The link between his Judaism and his liberalism was notably reflected in his family Passover Seders, where he would retell the story of the Jewish Exodus as analogous to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. He remained active in Jewish and Zionist affairs, serving as president of the American Jewish Committee (1968-69); as chairman of the Board of Overseers of the Jewish Theological Seminary (1963-69); as the honorary chairman of the National Advisory Council of the Synagogue Council of America (1964); and, as discussed below, as Chair for the American Jewish Commission on the Holocaust (1980)."