Bertha Aronson collection

The collection consists of a letter sent by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Cyrus Adler, president of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, sending him a holiday greeting, December 23, 1939, and Cyrus’s reply by telegram on December 24. Roosevelt’s salutation incorrectly addresses Adler as a rabbi. Also included are several clippings of articles authored or edited by Rabbi David Aronson for American Jewish World: “Nazis Carry out Anti-Jewish War Program: Shocked World Voices Protest to Hitler,” March 31, 1933; "Light and Holiness," 1934; "Ancient Psalmist Casts a Shadow Over the President's Reverie," April 6, 1960. Rabbi David Aronson (1892-1988) was born on 1 August 1892 in Russia. He immigrated to the United States and studied at New York University, Columbia University, and the Jewish Theological Seminary. David was a veteran of World War I, serving as a chaplain. He was the rabbi at Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, and later the president of the Rabbinical Assembly of America. He was also the author of the book “The Jewish Way of LIfe” and regularly contributed to the publication American Jewish World. Cyrus Adler (1863-1940), Professor of Semitics and Jewish communal leader. He took part in the founding of the Jewish Publication Society (1888), the American Jewish Historical Society (1892), the United Synagogue of America (1913). He also served as President of Dropsie College (1908- ) and the Jewish Theolgical Seminary of America (1915- ). He was also a founder of the American Jewish Committee 1906 and later served as its executive director. Adler frequently found himself in opposition to the leaders of American Zionism in the 1930s, but he took part in the Jewish Agency for Palestine.