Farrakhan charges Jews with 'anti-black' behavior

Let me briefly tell you about three Jewish abolitionists. One was a woman, Ernestine Rose. The daughter of a Polish rabbi, she was called “queen of the platforms” because of her speeches in favor of abolition. Already a rebel in her family from the age of 5, she ran away from an arranged marriage, recouping the money from her dowry. She supported herself selling room deodorizers, this in the 19th century, meeting personally with the Prussian King, and traveling to Belgium, Holland, France and England. When she eventually married a fellow radical of her own choosing, she and her husband came to America, and Ernestine Rose took on the anti-slavery cause. Following the Civil War, Ernestine Rose remained an activist and is often remembered for her work for women’s rights, particularly the right to vote and the right to own property.

Another interesting Jewish abolitionist was August Bondi. Bondi had been a member of the revolutionary student movement in Vienna before fleeing to America following the unsuccessful revolution of 1848. He settled in Kansas and became active in the Free State movement. As you may recall, the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854 decreed that in 1855 the settlers in Kansas would decide by vote whether Kansas would be free or slave. We may think that our upcoming election is hotly contested and polarized, but its nothing compared to that election. Pro-slavery and anti-slavery proponents poured into the state. It seemed as if the anti-slavery faction had the numbers to win the vote, but on election day, 5,000 heavily armed pro-slavery Missourians poured into the territory, overwhelmed the polling stations and took the ballot boxes, with the result that a pro-slavery legislature was elected. Disgusted by what he saw happening, August Bondi joined John Brown in his raid on the Border Ruffians in 1856. Bondi was in the company of two other Jewish men at that time and his letters recounting his experiences recall them speaking in German and Yiddish. He writes: “ Nu, sie jetzt,” his compatriot Theodore Weiner said, “ how are you doing,” and I responded “sof odom muves, the end of man is death, meaning, we’re doomed.” Actually the three of them survived the battle, and Bondi continued to support the anti-slavery cause. He enlisted in the Civil War and served in the Kansas cavalry. After the civil war he remained in Kansas serving in local government, on the school board, as a judge, and as the local postmaster. He took his daughter to neighboring Leavenworth where there was a rabbi, when she got married, and a rabbi from Kansas City came to his home town of Salina to bury him when he died.

Finally, if one wants to talk about Jewish social activism before the Civil War, one must mention the famous story of Rabbi David Einhorn. Rabbi Einhorn was an early German Reformer. His positions were too radical for the congregations in Bavaria and when he took a post in Hungary, the government closed his congregation down. Einhorn came to America in 1847 and remained uncompromising in his approach. He opposed the philosophy of Rabbi Isaac Meyer Wise, who at the time was attempting to unify the American Jewish community. Einhorn did not believe in compromise for the sake of good relations. Never one to mince words, Einhorn was very outspoken in his sermons against slavery, causing problems for his congregation Har Sinai in Baltimore, Maryland, a slave state. The story is told that in 1861 a mob threatened to tar and feather him, and so he was forced to flee north to Philadelphia. You should know, though, that there are those who feel that the lay leaders of the congregation were actually relieved that the mob provided them with an excuse to get rid of their difficult and demanding leader.

Early Jewish-American co-founders included Julius Rosenwald, Lillian Wald, Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch and Wise.