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The Ridge and the holidays, part I: The historical connection to the Jewish community

Today, December 21, is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. Since prehistory, the day has been important in many cultures, observed with festivals and rituals. The day marks the symbolic death and rebirth of the sun.

As we celebrate this holiday season, we recognize that many religious and cultural groups, from Buddhists to pagans, have events between November and January.

Attached is a brief list of some of the observances that go on during these months.

Although since settlement and development started in the 1800s, the Ridge has always been predominantly Christian in population, marked today by many Protestant and Catholic churches, Beverly was also the home of Beth Torah congregation and synagogue.

In 1953, Jews living on the Southwest side of Chicago and suburbs established a Reform congregation they named Beth Torah, or Temple of Instruction. All but one of the officers lived in Beverly/Morgan Park. Although a small group, they were active with classes, a youth group and social events.

In the early years, they held Friday night services in the Beverly Unitarian Church in the Givins Castle, and special events at Trinity United Methodist Church and Bethany Union Church. Beth Torah Sunday School took place at first at 10546 S. Western Ave. (current office of the Beverly Review) and later at Sutherland School. Hebrew classes were held at Bethany Union. In the summers, they held programs in members’ homes

Their goal was to have their own synagogue. Funds were raised, they purchased land at 9200 S. Vanderpoel Ave., and constructed a building. Beth Torah Synagogue opened in October of 1961.

Beth Torah congregation was active in interfaith groups and supported civic organizations like the Beverly Area Planning Association.

By 1974, the congregation was declining and those remaining opted to combine with another group in Olympia Fields. The building at 9200 S. Vanderpoel Ave. was purchased by the Chicago Board of Education and used for classrooms for a few years. Eventually, after years of being vacant, the building was demolished in 1999, but the foundation still remains.

The Jewish festival of Hanukkah begins at sundown on Sunday, December 22, and is observed for eight days and nights. Also known as the Festival of Lights, the event commemorates the Jews reclaiming Jerusalem and rededicating the Temple in 160 B.C. The lighting of the menorah, the lamp stand that has been a symbol of Judaism since ancient times, commemorates the miracle of the oil. Only enough pure oil was found at the Temple to burn for one day, yet the oil burned for eight days until a fresh supply could be prepared.

Happy Hanukkah!

Reference: “Beth Torah: The Congregation That Held Services in a Castle,” by Errol Magidson, published in Chicago Jewish History, Vol. 38, No. 4, Fall 2014, a publication of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society.

We just added four events to the RHS calendar. The exhibit "Threads of Imagination" will run through Friday, January 17. This exhibit explores the intersection of fashion, art and business through the creative work and careers of five woman artists of the Ridge – the historic Madame Alla Ripley, a famous fashion designer and businesswoman who lived in Beverly in the early 1900s, and four contemporary artists – Maggie O’Reilly, Judie Anderson, Sandra Leonard ad Nicole Burns.

Two events have been added for this exhibit – please see the attached flier.

On Sunday, December 29, 2019, at 2 p.m., at RHS, 10621 S. Seeley Ave., will be "Fair Trade Threads." Beverly artist and entrepreneur Maggie O’Reilly will discuss her business The MAYTA Collection which produces fine handcrafted fashion and home decorating accessories through fair trade arrangements with artisans in Peru and Morocco. MAYTA is a member of Chicago Fair Trade, the largest fair trade coalition in the U.S. advocating environmental sustainability, ethical production methods, fair wages and safe working conditions. A special guest from Peru will be visiting Chicago for the holidays and will join the event. Suggested donation of $10, refreshments will be served.

On Friday, January 17, 2020, at 7 p.m. will be "Final Threads with Sandra Leonard." The closing reception for Threads of Imagination will feature the work of artist Sandra Leonard who turns the human form into sculpture through her “sculptural costumes.” Sandra will create a special performance art event just for this reception. Sandra’s work appears internationally in performance art productions, improvised theater, alternative fashion shows and installation projects. Admission is free and refreshments will be served. This will be the final day of the exhibit.

Saturday, January 4, 2020, at 7 p.m. will be the annual RHS holiday party and fundraiser, “Champagne, Sweets and Savories.” Celebrate the New Year with friends, delicious refreshments and good conversation. Cost is $25 per person.

This will also be an opportunity to view the Threads of Imagination exhibit, which closes in mid-January.

Later in January, on Sunday, January 26, at 2 p.m. will be the program “Speaking of Unmentionables: The Rise and Fall of Ladies’ Underwear. ”

Hooray! It looks like Richard Tito is the 1000th follower of the Ridge Historical Society! Thank you so much. I wish I had a prize for you – maybe we can help you research something! Come forward if you want to and introduce yourself.

The RHS Facebook page is up to 998 followers. Two more and we have met our goal for this first year of really focusing on communicating with the public via this site. I hate to beg ….

This picture has been kept on the refrigerator in the kitchen of the Graver-Driscoll House, the headquarters of the Ridge Historical Society, for almost 15 years now. It's the 2005 RHS Board posing for an impromptu picture. It was scanned recently to use for this week's Beverly Review article on the late Bill Sandstrom.

What is most poignant about this photo is the people who were on the Board in 2005 who are no longer with us. Some of the most dedicated public servants in the Beverly/Morgan Park community in contemporary times were on this Board. They were, of course, leaders at various times in other organizations as well, notably the Beverly Area Planning Association, and very importantly, the churches to which they belonged.

These people – Sue Delves, Mary Quinn Olsson, Bill Sandstrom, Joan Wynne Murphy, and Carl Spencer – all shared certain traits. They believed in their community, they believed in service, they believed in trying to make things better for other people.

What a legacy they left for this community! We can never thank them enough. They not only preserved our fine history, they ARE our fine history.

The Ridge’s historical Ukrainian connection ….

The country of Ukraine is getting a lot of media attention right now. This Eastern European country is about the size of France, with a population of around 42 million people. Its neighbors include Russia, Poland, and the Black Sea. The Eastern Orthodox Church (Orthodox Catholic Church) predominates and the country is known for its beautiful Byzantine churches.

In 1991, Ukraine gained its independence from the Soviet Union and is now a constitutional republic. It is one of the world’s largest grain exporters. Ukraine has a rich culture in textile arts, literature and music. The tradition of decorating eggs, now associated with Easter, originated there and the practice goes back thousands of years, predating the arrival of Christianity.

The first Ukrainian immigrant on record came to Jamestown in 1607. Large scale immigration to the U.S. began in the 1880s, and was very heavy in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union. Today there are over 1 million Ukrainian Americans. Some famous ones are/were the Pritzker family, Milton Friedman, Mike Royko, Mike Ditka, Leonard Nimoy, Natalie Wood, and Steven Spielberg.

Dr. Miroslaw and Bonnie Siemens (Sieminowycz, Sieminowich) owned and lived in the Givins Beverly Castle at 103rd St. and Longwood Drive from 1921 until the Beverly Unitarian Church bought the building in 1942. Dr. Siemens was born in 1885 in Ukraine and came to the USA in 1906. He graduated in 1913 from Bennett Medical College, affiliated with Loyola University. He practiced at Roseland Community Hospital and kept an office in the Castle.

Dr. Siemens’ parents, Nicholas and Maria Magdalena Seiminowich, also lived in the Castle. Nicholas was a Ukrainian Catholic priest who rose to monsignor. In this rite, married men can be ordained priests.

Bonnie Siemens was Irish Catholic. They had four children, Miroslaw, Jr., Roman, James and Patricia. Bonnie's mother Margaret Branan also lived with the family. Bonnie had tuberculosis and the grandparents did much of the childcare.

Dr. Siemens was very active and important in the Ukrainian American community. One notable achievement was to serve as the planner, fundraiser and chair of the Ukrainian exhibit at the Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago in 1933-34.

He also helped to establish St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Ukrainian Village on Chicago’s north side. And in the early 1950s he was instrumental in establishing the Ukrainian National Museum.

Dr. Siemens has been called the “first ambassador for Ukraine in the U.S.” because of his efforts to preserve Ukrainian history and to help refugees from the country. Many dignitaries including the Crown Prince of the Ukraine visited the family in the Castle.

From Chicago’s Only Castle – The History of Givins’ Irish Castle and Its Keepers by Errol Magidson.

Christmas will be here in 2 1/2 weeks – not much time left to buy and ship presents. Still wondering what to get for that friend or relative who moved away from Beverly/Morgan Park? That's easy – Color Me Beverly II and Color Me Morgan Park. These limited edition collectors' item coloring books for all ages have proven to be very special and easy-to-mail nostalgia gifts for former Ridge residents who like to reminisce about the "good old days" – a cone from Rainbow Cone, a bike ride by the Castle, a train trip downtown from 111th Street, watching the St. Patrick's Day Parade on Western Ave. Each illustration includes s brief page of history on the site.

One woman in Texas bought 2 of each book – her husband and his sister are from Beverly and love to talk about the old sites. She can hardly wait to surprise them with these "stocking stuffers."

Saturday, Dec. 7, is the last craft show Judie Anderson and Carol Flynn will be at in person selling the books – Olivia's Garden from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. – 10730 S. Western Ave. The books are also available through a number of local outlets, or by contacting Carol Flynn who will mail them to you. See the green flier attached for more information.

The First Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving Day is a uniquely American holiday, and more so than any other holiday, is associated with a “traditional” menu – turkey, bread stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry jelly and pumpkin pie are the normal fare. But some of these items were certainly NOT on the menu for the first celebration of the settlers who gave us the original reason to be thankful.

The first “Thanksgiving” celebration recorded in American history occurred in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, as a harvest feast. Note that there was already a colony of settlers in Virginia, those who came to Jamestown in 1607 and after. They certainly also had harvest celebrations, but they were not well recorded.

The celebrants of the 1621 feast were the English Protestants, called Puritans, and forever after known affectionately in American history as the Pilgrims, who had split from the Church of England and come to the New World on the Mayflower the year before; other Englishmen who also came on the boat; and the Wampanoag people, the Native American tribe that had lived in the area for over 12,000 years.

The Pilgrims got off to a bad start in the New World. Delayed in leaving England, they arrived just in time for winter and spent the first year on the ship in Plymouth harbor. About half of the original 150+ settlers and crew died that first winter.

But the second year, in March, they finally left the ship and built some huts. Early relations between Native Americans and the European settlers were very cordial. The Wampanoag showed the Pilgrims how to fish and hunt in the area, and how to cultivate the native food plants and gather fruit.

Some items we take for granted now were not around 400 years ago. For starters, there were no sweet or white potatoes. Potatoes did not come up to North America from South America for another 100 years. Also, the Pilgrims had not yet planted wheat fields so there were no pies and no bread. The sugar rations and almost all the food they brought with them had quickly been depleted on the journey over, so there were no jellies or sweet desserts to be made. The Pilgrims had brought no large livestock with them on the Mayflower, only chickens, and a few pigs and goats, so there were no dairy products except maybe goats’ milk. Dairy cows would come later. Plus, no ovens had been constructed yet for baking, so all cooking was done over open fires.

An early journal has the colonists going fowl hunting for this harvest feast. Duck, geese, swans and turkeys were all plentiful. The Wampanoag guests brought an offering of five deer to the celebration, so venison, probably some roasted and some served in a hearty stew, was without doubt on the menu. Historians also believe that seafood was a major component of the feast, this being New England by the coast. Mussels, lobster, bass, clams and oysters were readily available. The first Thanksgiving was very heavy on animal protein. And actually, completely gluten-free.

The vegetables cultivated at the time included corn, pumpkins, squash, turnips, garlic, onions, beans, carrots, lettuce, spinach and cabbage. The pumpkins would have been roasted. Fruits available for gathering included blueberries, plums, grapes and gooseberries. Cranberries were there but it was another 50 years before there were reports of boiling them with sugar to make a jelly.

Flint corn, the multi-colored Indian corn, was plentiful at the first harvest. Most likely, the corn was turned into cornmeal, which was boiled and pounded into a thick corn mush or porridge that was occasionally sweetened with molasses, which was made from sugar cane, which came from the Caribbean. This was called Indian pudding, a take on the English fondness for “hasty pudding.”

Herbs, and nuts like chestnuts, walnuts and beechnuts, were plentiful from the forests. Along with onion, these would have been used for stuffing the fowl and flavoring dishes.

The celebration itself was a three-day event, with feasting, ball games, singing and dancing. Assumedly, grace was said before meals, but it was several years later that an official prayer service was added to the annual harvest celebration to give thanks for rain after a two-month drought.

Within years, other settlers came, with cows and then there was milk. They planted wheat and other crops, and eventually their diet expanded.

Fast forward to 1827, and Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of the popular Godey’s Lady’s Book, began advocating for a national Thanksgiving Day. She petitioned 13 presidents until finally Abraham Lincoln made the declaration in 1863 as a way to help unite the country in the midst of the Civil War.

For decades, Hale published Thanksgiving recipes and menus in her magazine. She also published a number of cookbooks. She championed mashed potato dishes, which were still considered exotic in the mid-1800s.

A typical cookbook of 1870 recommends the following for Thanksgiving dinner: Oyster soup; cod with egg sauce; lobster salad; roast turkey with cranberry sauce; mixed pickles; mangoes; pickled peaches; cold slaw and celery; boiled ham; chicken pie ornamented; jelly; mashed potatoes browned; tomatoes; boiled onions; canned corn; sweet potatoes; roasted broccoli. Mince and pumpkin pie; apple tarts; Indian pudding. Apples, nuts, and raisins.

Some vintage Thanksgiving postcards ….

The Ridge Historical Society will be wrapping up the Threads of Imagination exhibit with two more great programs featuring our guest artists. Please see the accompanying flier for preliminary details – save the dates – mark your calendars now! And watch our Facebook page for more information.

On Sunday, Dec. 29, Maggie O'Reilly will discuss her amazing MAYTA Collection and fair trade agreements. We know there are scheduling conflicts over the holidays, but there will be a special guest from Peru in town that week that we want to be sure to meet at RHS.

On Friday, Jan. 17, we will have the closing reception for the exhibit. Artist Sandra Leonard and her "sculptural costumes" will be featured. This is sure to be a very "artsy" event to enjoy! This will be the official end of the exhibit.

We're keeping our fingers crossed that the weather holds out for both days.

How to do a successful program ….