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British Premier Ramsay MacDonald's High Holiday In The Pages of The Forward

Jewish New Year Prayer services and celebrations were always newsworthy and still are, in the pages of The Forward.

ByThe Forward logoThe Forward
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Temple Emanu-El (1929)
Temple Emanu-El (1929) icon

Temple Emanu-El (1929)

In 1929, when The Forward's archival photo was created, the Jewish high holiday season was beginning. Seen here, congregant's at New York's fanciest, and largest, Reform Jewish Temple Emanu-El packed the house of worship for "Rosh Hashana" new year services. Also, Forward front page headlines excitedly read: British Premier Ramsay MacDonald is in town! Parade!
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Battery Park
Battery Park icon

Battery Park

MacDonald, Britain's first labor party member to become Prime Minister, was on his second round of leadership in 1929 when he visited America igniting Forward readers and leaders. Arriving by barge in NY's Battery, seen above, on the first day of the Jewish new year in 1929 MacDonald had sailed into the new world aboard the SS Berengaria. After a brief quarantine, he was escorted to shore by the tugboat Macom. Forward headlines read: Socialist premier to be greeted with huge parades here and in Washington. "For the first time ever since separating off from England," the paper excitedly noted, "a British leader will be greated with a parade." MacDonald's "new world" New York visit was brief this time, a mere two hours, after which he boarded a train to Washington.
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City Hall Park
City Hall Park icon

City Hall Park

While some Forward readers enjoyed holiday stories and special features in the paper, others were regaled with minute by minute details of the ticker tape parade to city hall, seen in the image above, that greeted MacDonald's historic coming ashore in America, at the Battery.
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City Hall Post Office and Courthouse
City Hall Post Office and Courthouse icon

City Hall Post Office and Courthouse

MacDonald's parade was greeted, according to The Forward's reporting, by hundreds of thousands of citizens lining the streets to the old City Hall post office, seen here. He was cheered, The Forward said, as an 'apostle of peace,' determined to forge a close bond between Britain and America based in part on his desire for disarmament.
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Nathan Hale Statue, City Hall Park
Nathan Hale Statue, City Hall Park icon

Nathan Hale Statue, City Hall Park

Also making her way to City Hall, the Yiddish paper let readers know, was perhaps Ramsay MacDonald's secret weapon of success, and that was none other than his young secretary Rose Rosenberg.. Daughter of a Russian Jewish immigrant to the UK, her father was as tailor. Rose herself was highly educated and independent, identifying with the suffrage movement and holding a very critically important job as secretary to the Prime Minister. Her and her father's photographs made the Sunday Forward that holiday weekend.
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15 Union Square West
15 Union Square West icon

15 Union Square West

Also in the paper that holiday weekend were ads from the historic labor friendly Amalgamated Bank located at Union Square next to this building seen above. "Don't forget to send your dollars to the folks back home" they exhorted readers. The Amalgamated Bank had been founded by laborers in the clothing worker's union and at least one Forward administrator had served on its board. In keeping with its socialist and progressive ideals, for decades, the paper has banked primarily with Amalgamated. The ad highlighted Amalgamated's fine qualities: quick, affordable and precise.
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143 Division Street
143 Division Street icon

143 Division Street

And suitable to a paper thrilling with both the new Jewish year and a historic visit by a Brit, the paper advertised good tidings for the new year, along with a Jewish calendar for consumers of Swee-touch-nee tea. The name was an Americanization of the Russian Zvetouchnee, meaning flower. The ad promised this floral tea would make your holiday pleasant. The tea, kosher and still available btw, was presented to market by the Columbia Tea Company, formerly Consolidated Tea Co., located on Divison Street near East Broadway, and The Forward's historic building at 175 East Broadway. Very Convenient for all your visiting British socialist dignitaries, those on the downtown streets, celebrating this historic visit as well as those returning from attending Jewish New Year services way uptown.
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