Readers in the United States probably think of July 4th as Independence Day. However, it is also the date that Chaim Nachman Bialik died, in Vienna in 1934, as evidenced by my bound volume of HaOlam, the magazine of the World Zionist Organization.
(I apologise for the lower quality of some of the photographs – the pages were too big for my scanner).
Bialik’s death was actually announced in a hastily added typewritten note at the end of the July 5th issue:
Here are a selection of interesting events and advertisements from this newspaper, printed in London in 1934.
First of all, is the appeal for donations from the newly founded the Central British Fund for German Jews. The charity rescued over 100,000 Jews from Germany before WWII and was also largely responsible for organising the Kindertransport, bringing over 10,000 unaccompanied, mainly Jewish children, from Nazi-occupied Europe. The appeal is signed by Lord Reading, Lionel de Rothschild, Chaim Weizman, Nahum Sokolow and the Chief Rabbi, J. H. Hertz.:
Here is HaShavua HaIvri in London, with events headed by speeches and sermons in all the synagogues, and a gathering of Hebrew teachers at Woburn House with speakers including Dayan A. Feldman, and a meeting at Shoredicth Town Hall chaired by Dr. Hertz, the Chief Rabbi.
In 1934 the Jewish community in Poland was still thriving – here is an advertisement from a bookseller in Warsaw, priced in shillings for the British buyer:
You could buy your books from Shapiro Valentine in Wentworth Street, or Mazins in Whitechapel Road:
Or from Cailingold in Old Montague Street…
Jewish Miscellanies 