Fiacre

1st edition. Poster, 9x12 inches on 13 x 16 inch linen backing. Text in Hebrew, English, and Yiddish. “Prof Dr. Gottlard Deutsch, Prof. Dr. David Neumark, and Mr. Joshua Bloch will speak. Miss Jennie Mannheimer will recite some of H.N Bialik’s poems. HERR NAHUM SOKOLOV will deliver an address on ‘The Development and Future of Hebrew Literature.’....Rev. Dr. Louis Grossman will preside.” Deutsch, Neumark, and Grossman were leaders of the Reform movement at the time; Bloch went on to edid the Journal of Jewish Bibliography and to head the Jewish devision at NYPL. Jennie Mannheimer (1872-1943), aka Jane Manner, “was an American elocutionist, acting coach, and teacher of speech and drama.” Her father, Sigmund Mannheimer, “was a professor and librarian at Hebrew Union College….Jennie Mannheimer was one of the first two women to earn a bachelor's degree in Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College, in 1888….[She] was director of the drama department at the Cincinnati College of Music from 1900 until 1907. She also ran her own school, the Cincinnati School of Expression (1894-1912).” In New York, “She was founder of the Drama Recital Club, and a member of the New York Drama League, the New York League of American Pen Women, the Council of Jewish Women, and the Temple Emmanu-El Women's Auxiliary” (Wikipedia). Ibriah, a Cincinnati organization committed to Hebrew conversation and literature, was, not surprisingly, also a center of Zionist support, despite the Reform’s dominance in local Jewish thought and culture. Here the host a gathering to meet leading modern Hebrew writer Nahum Sokolov. Joan Friedman notes in a 2006 article on Solomon Freedhof at HUC during the period that, “The hot issue of the day during Freehof’s student and early faculty years at the College was Zionism. It was discussed in the Literary Society and everywhere else on campus. During the 1911–1912 academic year, Silver and Professor Neumark had founded a Hebrew-speaking club, Ibriah, of which Marcus was a member, though he does not mention whether Freehof was also. The CCAR had taken a firm stance against Zionism as early as 1897, although individual rabbis were outspoken Zionists.104 Kohler was a committed anti-Zionist. Nevertheless, despite his best efforts, between 1910 and 1920 the student body gradually shifted to an overwhelmingly pro-Zionist perspective as its demographics changed, world events furthered the Zionist cause, and Louis Brandeis popularized a nonideological Zionism acceptable to American Jews, including many Reform Jews” (AJAJ, LVIII, Nr ½, p. 21). Toning, light crease, Very Good Condition. Presume quite rare. (ZION-10-12B)