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[Isaiah Leo Sharfman, President; Jacob H. Schiff, Honorary Vice-President; Jacob Chasnoff, Executive Council] : HARVARD MENORAH SOCIETY. PROSPECTUS 1907-1908

Cambridge, Mass, Harvard Menorah Society, 1907, 1907

1st edition. Original illustrated paper wrappers, Large Octavo. 15 (1) pages. Founding publication document of Menorah movement, which grew to over 80 chapters nationwide by the 1920s. This is the Society (at Harvard, the first “chapter”) , prospectus layout out their proposal for the study and promotion of Hebraic culture and ideals outlining the efforts made to increase the popularity of Hebraic Studies. Includes four appendixes: A) Constitution, B) List of Officers (including Isaiah Leo Sharfman, president, Jacob H. Schiff, Honorary Vice-President, Jacob Chasnoff, Executive Council, and Dr. Shmaryohu Lewin as an honorary member) , 54 Members of classes from 1908-11 as well as 7 Associates, C) Program of Dedication Exercises in the Phillips Brooks House Parlor with Professor George Foot Moore among the speakers, and D) lays out the academic course of studies for the society. Cover illustration by Hyman Askowith. The Menorah Association and Menorah Journal “Both grew out of the Harvard Menorah Society, a Jewish campus group formed in 1906 by Henry Hurwitz, at the time an undergraduate at the university. Influenced by the ‘new humanism’ then being propounded in Cambridge by such figures as William James and George Santayana, the society sought to pursue the study of humanistic values in Judaism and to develop a positive intellectual relationship to Jewish tradition and belief. Similar groups soon formed on other American campuses, and in 1913 an intercollegiate Menorah Association was established which eventually numbered some 80 chapters. The association…[was] the first attempt to establish an intercollegiate Jewish body of its kind it helped pave the way for such later organizations as the B'nai B'rith Hillel societies” (Halkin in EJ, 2007, p. 55) A 1914 work about the Menorah movement noted about these begnings at Harvard: “The work of the Society is designed to give its members primarily, and the students at the university in general, a just appreciation of Hebraism, which is conceived as included all the manifestations of the Jewis spirit in the past and in the present, and an intimate knowledge of contemporary Jewish problems ...through the kindness of Mr. Jacob H. Schiff, the Harvard Menorah Society has been able to offer to Harvard University annually since 1908 a prize of $100 for the best essay by an undergraduate on a subject concerning the history and achievements of the Jewish people....Faithful to the intellectual and idealistic purposes of its founders, the Harvard Menorah Society...has brought together Russian Jews and German Jews as they have never been brought together before at Harvard…. And now, with a loyal and increasing band of alumni all over the country with a large and ever growing student membership, with a high and assured status in the life of Harvard University, the Harvard Menorah Society looks forward with confidence to its future in the service of Hebraic Culture and Ideals” (The Menorah Movement for the Study and Advancement of Jewish Culture and Ideals, Ann Arbor, 1914) . OCLC lists only 1 copy anywhere (HUC) . Wrappers sunned with edgewear, institutional blindstamp on cover. Good condition. Very rare and important.

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