קהילת יהודי וושינגטון

ליאונרד רוז (1918- 1984), צ'לן, נולד בוושינגטון הבירה, ארה"ב. למד במכון קרטיס למוסיקה בפילדלפיה אצל פליקס סלמונד (Salmond). היה חבר בתזמורת הסימפונית של NBC בניצוחו של טוסקניני (1939-1938), בתזמורת קליוולנד (1943-1939) ובתזמורת הפילהרמונית של ניו-יורק (1951-1943). מאז 1951 קידם את הקריירה שלו כסולן. מ-1947 לימד בבית הספר למוסיקה ג'וליארד ובשנים 1961-1951 במכון קרטיס למוסיקה בפילדלפיה. בשנות השישים ניגן בשלישייה עם הכנר אייזק שטרן והפסנתרן יוג'ין איסטומין.

Joseph Moskowitz (1879-1954), cimbalom player, composer, and restaurant owner, born in Galati, Romania, the son of Moses Moskowitz, known as Moshe Tsimbler, a klezmer and cimbalom player. During his youth, Moskowitz toured Hungary, Romania, Galicia, and Istanbul, and entertained audiences on riverboats along the Danube. He also seems to have joined Broder singer troupes for performances. He immigrated to the United States in 1907. After initially making appearances in cafes in New York, he spent the next five years on a tour across the United States, often collaborating with the Matus Gypsy Ensemble and performing in hotel orchestras. 

Sometime between 1909 and 1913 he established the Moskowitz Wine Cellar, a restaurant located on Rivington Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side, with his wife Rebecca as the cook. He later relocated the restaurant to Houston Street and renamed it Little Rumania. This dining establishment gained significant popularity, particularly among Romanian. At this venue, Moskowitz showcased his musical talents, frequently sharing the stage with accomplished violinists and pianists. Subsequently, he opened a new upscale restaurant, Moskowitz & Lupowitz, situated on Second Avenue at Second Street. This establishment began to attract celebrities, bohemians, and writers. 

In the 1920s, Joseph Moskowitz was a regular presence on the radio in the New York area. He also continued to perform on stage during this era, including notable appearances at Carnegie Hall and New York's Town Hall. In addition, he recorded tens of songs from his Jewish, Romanian, and American repertoire. In the 1930s, he both managed his restaurant and continued his musical career. Around 1940, Moskowitz left New York and relocated to Akron, Ohio, where he played concerts at the Jewish Center and the Romany Restaurant. By 1943, he departed Akron and settled in Washington, D.C., where he regularly entertained patrons at Michel's French Restaurant near Dupont Circle from 1943 until his passing. Moskowitz is believed to have composed over 100 pieces throughout his lifetime, though it is unclear how many of these were adaptations of existing folk melodies. 

Laszlo Detre (1874-1939), micro bacteriologist, born in Nagysurany, Hungary (then part of Austria-Hungary, now Surany, in Slovakia). After completing his medical studies at the University of Budapest, he went to Vienna, Austria, and then to Paris, France, to conduct research at the Pasteur Institute. He made a major contribution to developing the understanding of typhus. His findings are known as the Antigen theory. Detre made important discoveries in the isolation of tuberculin, extracts of Mycobacterium tuberculosis which is used in skin testing in animals and humans to identify a tuberculosis infection and he was among the very first to employ the Wasserman test in human pathology. In 1901 he founded the first serum clinic in Hungary, the Jenner-Pasteur Institute.

Amongst his discoveries are a number of veterinary serums, used to cure animal leprosy, erysipelas among pigs, and other diseases. From 1906 to 1919 he was head of the tuberculosis division of the Charite Polyclinic at Paris. In the army medical corps in World War I, he was a member of the team which successfully combatted a number of contagious diseases such as eruptive typhus, dysentery and cholera.

His writings appeared in English, German, French, Italian, and Romanian, in addition to Hungarian. Among his works are Parasitologia (1900); Impfstoffe und Sera (1903); Az immunitastan tankonyve (Textbook of The Science of Immunology). In 1918, Detre founded the Hungarian Serum Co. in Budapest. Detre converted to Christianity.

Art Buchwald (1925-2007), journalist, one of the leading humorists and newspaper columnists of the 20th century, born in New York, USA. He had a difficult childhood after his mother had been institutionalized shortly after his birth and his father was unable to care for him and his sisters during the Great Depression. As a result he spent some of his early days in a facility for orphans and in foster homes. Instead of finishing high school, Buchwald decided to join the United States Marine Corps in 1942. He served in the Pacific. After the war, he attended the University of Southern California where he worked on the newspaper as a columnist and on a campus magazine as editor. He later moved to Paris, France, where started his first professional newspaper column for "The Herald Tribune". In his column he offered readers his own light-hearted take on Parisian life.

He returned to the USA in the early 1960s and continued writing his column - often with political figures as the target of his famous wit. The humor and observations he shared with his readers helped him earn the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Outstanding Commentary. At its peak, his syndicated column appeared in more than 550 newspapers.

Besides his column and other works of nonfiction, Buchwald wrote two novels. “A Gift From the Boys”, in which he tackled the criminal element, was published in 1958. He took a different approach with “The Bolo Caper” (1974), trying his hand at writing a fairy tale. The story was about a leopard which was being hunted. Buchwald also wrote the play “Sheep on the Runaway”, which had a Broadway run in 1970. In 1996 he explored his own experiences in “I’ll Always Have Paris”.

Buchwald’s last book, "Too Soon to Say Goodbye" (2006), chronicles his time at a hospice after being told he only had a short time to live because of kidney problems. He defied doctor’s expectations and lived long enough to reflect on his own passing in this work.

Buchwald continued writing up to until nearly the end and never seemed to lose his sense of humor with one of his last columns ruminating on the number trillion and the absurdity of the national debt. His newspaper career lasted more than 50 years.

Joseph Goldberger (1874-1929), physician, pathologist, epidemiologist, and public health specialist, born in Giralt (Giraltovce, in Slovak), Hungary (then part of Austria-Hungary, now in Slovakia). He emigrated to the USA at an early age and studied at the College of the City of New York, with the intention of developing a career as a mining engineer. A lecture on a medical subject which he heard by chance convinced him to turn to medicine. He graduated from Bellevue Medical College - now the New York University School of Medicine - in 1895. For two years he was resident physician at Bellevue Hospital . During the next couple of years he practiced medicine in Wilkes-Barre, PA. From 1899 until his death he served in the U.S. Public Health Service in Washington, DC.

His early work was focused on tropical and other contagious and infectious diseases. He proved that it was possible to contract malaria more than once. He investigated typhus and almost died of it himself. Goldberger's greatest contribution was his discovery of the etiology and therapy of pellagra and his introduction of nicotine acid as a means of preventing the disease. He also made significant contributions in the study of infectious diseases and public health, particularly in the field of welfare of the poor.

הפגנת הזדהות עם יהודי בריה"מ בגבעת הקפיטול, וושינגטון הבירה, ארה"ב, 1973
צילום: יוסף ד. לוין, ארה"ב
(המרכז לתיעוד חזותי ע"ש אוסטר, בית התפוצות, באדיבות יוסף ד. לוין, ארה"ב)

בנין מרכז יהדות רפורמית בוושינגטון, ארה"ב, 1991

צילום אוקטב מוסקונה
המרכז לתיעוד חזותי ע"ש אוסטר, אנו - מוזיאון העם היהודי, אוסף מוסקונה

Max Martin Fisher (1908-2005), businessman, community leader and philanthropist, born in Pittsburgh, PA, to Russian immigrant parents and grew up in Salem, Ohio, where his father owned a clothing store. He attended The Ohio State University graduated with a degree in business administration in 1930. In 1933, Fisher joined his father's oil reclamation business in Detroit as a $15-a-week salesman before forming his own company. Under his leadership the business developed into one of the largest gas station chains in the Midwest of the USA. In 1959 the business was sold. He then devoted much of his life raising money for philanthropic and political endeavors and was a supporter of charitable and civic organizations. His skill at diplomacy kept him connected to every administration since President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s on Middle East and Jewish issues.

Fisher served as national chairman of UJC's predecessor organizations, the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) from 1965–1967; president of the Council of Jewish Federations from 1969–1972; and chairman of the United Israel Appeal, Inc. (UIA) from 1968–1971; and president of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit from 1959-1964. In addition to being honorary chair of UJC, he was founding chairman of the board of governors of UJC's overseas partner, the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI). He was also active in the American Jewish Committee, B'nai B'rith International, and Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.

Fisher supported general causes in many places. In Detroit, Fisher backed the $60 million Max. M. Fisher Music Center, which serves as the home for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and includes a public high school for the performing arts center. He financed The Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business and aided them in the construction of a new six-building business campus which opened in 1998. An additional pledge of $5 million was given to the Fisher College of Business in February 2005 to support Master of Business Administration programs.

A supporter of the Republican Party he was chosen to be chairman of New Detroit Inc, a commission drawn from the city's business and Industrial leadership to cope with the problems exposed by the 1967 riots. President Richard Nixon appointed him to be his special adviser on urban and community affairs