Greetings, Last week I received a call from my friend Rabbi Ron Stern regarding the Shabbat service preceding Presidents Day weekend. He suggested we record a conversation for Stephen Wise Temple’s streamed Shabbat service, centered around American presidents and their relationship to the Jewish people. One of the president we discussed was Ulysses Grant, particularly his ignominious issuance of General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from the Tennessee District during the hard-fought western campaign of the Civil War. The argument for the Order was that merchants were trading with the South and that many merchants were Jewish. And while many merchants may well have been Jewish, few Jews were actually merchants! President Lincoln quickly rescinded this order after learning about it. There are two things we tend to overlook regarding Grant and his years after the war:
#347 Musings from the Bunker 2/23/21
#347 Musings from the Bunker 2/23/21
#347 Musings from the Bunker 2/23/21
Greetings, Last week I received a call from my friend Rabbi Ron Stern regarding the Shabbat service preceding Presidents Day weekend. He suggested we record a conversation for Stephen Wise Temple’s streamed Shabbat service, centered around American presidents and their relationship to the Jewish people. One of the president we discussed was Ulysses Grant, particularly his ignominious issuance of General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from the Tennessee District during the hard-fought western campaign of the Civil War. The argument for the Order was that merchants were trading with the South and that many merchants were Jewish. And while many merchants may well have been Jewish, few Jews were actually merchants! President Lincoln quickly rescinded this order after learning about it. There are two things we tend to overlook regarding Grant and his years after the war: