Saying Kaddish
Today is Tuesday, 19 June 2007.
On this day in 1953, the United States government assassinated Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison, New York.
They had been convicted of passing atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet Union. There is some evidence to suggest Julius might have done so, but scholarly opinion believes that Ethel was charged only to put pressure on her husband to confess.
If either were so involved, it was because the Soviet Union was the main USA ally during WW2, and they felt an ally should not be denied essential knowledge.
And, to be blunt, the Rosenbergs were what was usually called at the time, “Jew”.
Once must recall, that, during the New Deal, many Americans believed that the real name of the American president was Franklin D. “Rosenfelt”, not Roosevelt, since they believed the myth that he was part of a Jewish Dutch conspiracy to rule the world. (How his relative, Teddy Roosevelt, was not part of the conspiracy, they never explained.)
One must also recall, that, well into the 1960s, it was entirely acceptable, in polite society, to refer to “Communism” as “Jewish”.
And the Rosenberg extermination was advanced by an hour or so, when the authorities realized they needed to get the killings in before the deadline of the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath.
To borrow the title of Katherine Anne Porter’s book on the assassination of Sacco and Vanzetti: The Never Ending Wrong.
On this day in 1953, the United States government assassinated Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison, New York.
They had been convicted of passing atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet Union. There is some evidence to suggest Julius might have done so, but scholarly opinion believes that Ethel was charged only to put pressure on her husband to confess.
If either were so involved, it was because the Soviet Union was the main USA ally during WW2, and they felt an ally should not be denied essential knowledge.
And, to be blunt, the Rosenbergs were what was usually called at the time, “Jew”.
Once must recall, that, during the New Deal, many Americans believed that the real name of the American president was Franklin D. “Rosenfelt”, not Roosevelt, since they believed the myth that he was part of a Jewish Dutch conspiracy to rule the world. (How his relative, Teddy Roosevelt, was not part of the conspiracy, they never explained.)
One must also recall, that, well into the 1960s, it was entirely acceptable, in polite society, to refer to “Communism” as “Jewish”.
And the Rosenberg extermination was advanced by an hour or so, when the authorities realized they needed to get the killings in before the deadline of the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath.
To borrow the title of Katherine Anne Porter’s book on the assassination of Sacco and Vanzetti: The Never Ending Wrong.
posted by HH at 6:12 AM
2 Comments:
You title your June 19, 2007 entry as "Saying Kaddish". Unless you are Jewish, titling your entry this way is inappropriate.
With all due respect, I have, while not technically Jewish, been welcomed to join in saying Kaddish a number of times in honor of persons whom I respected.
Granted, these were Reform congregations.
It seems to me what matters is what is in the heart and in the actions.
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