CJH - Virtual Treasures

Virtual Treasures

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Important web content is sometimes overlooked or given low rank by search engines. I have found some of these objects by searching, going far beyond the first 20 or even 50 search results. Or, as I did today, when searching for one thing I find a treasure that I soon learn is not easily found. That's how I found the menu for the famous "Trefa Dinner" held in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1883.

An annotated link for this hard-to-find content will let you find it easily. Further, search engines that index these "gems" will, I believe, give them higher rank, helping all web users find them more easily. True, most of these links are not related to Cleveland Jewish History, but they are worth a visit.

	Trefa Dinner Menu The July 11, 1883 banquet in Cincinnati to honor the first ordination class of Hebrew Union College included non-kosher food: clams, crabs and more. News of this "trefa dinner", with food forbidden by ancient Jewish customs, spread quickly and widely. We show you the four pages of this menu of a dinner that helped to establish the Conservative stream in American Judaism as many more traditional Jewish congregations now felt that there was no place for them in the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. more ..... Link added July 28, 2008

	Special Treasures From the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary Beautiful virtual exhibits of some of the world's oldest Jewish books, from the greatest Jewish library in the Western Hemisphere. Link added August 5, 2008

	The Menorah Journal Volume 1 Number 1 January 1915 Thanks to the Gutenberg Project, treasures like the Menorah Journal can be read or downloaded free. Link added August 1, 2010

	Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld: July 10, 1964 Arthur Lelyveld (1913 - 1996), then rabbi of Cleveland's Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple, was in Hattiesburg Mississippi working on voter registration. Minutes before, while escorting blacks to register to vote, he had been beaten with tire-irons by white men. Photo by Herbert Randall. We link to the Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive at the University of Southern Mississippi.

	Treasures of Heaven Few museum websites offer views of their treasures and they tend to resemble gift-shop postcards: all graphical, with the barest of captions. Though this new website has no Jewish content, it is a breathtaking example of how religious objects and places can be shown on the web. This break-through virtual exhibit, with its balance of rich explanations and beautiful 2-D and 3-D images, zooming in and drilling down for more information, shows what can be done (if one has the support of three great museums including the Cleveland Museum of Art, plus Columbia University and the Yale University Press) Added 12/08/2010.
more to come