‘Lincoln and the Jews’ Explores Bonds With a Nation’s Growing Minority
JENNIFER SCHUESSLER
FW: March 25, 2015
(SCROLL DOWN)
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Photo
Alonzo Chappel’s 1867 painting of Abraham Lincoln on his deathbed is part of the exhibition "Lincoln and the Jews" at the New-York Historical Society. The work prominently features Dr. Charles Liebermann, a Russian-born Jewish ophthalmologist and a leading Washington physician, gazing intently at the president. Credit Chicago History Museum
ON Sept. 20, 1862, Abraham Lincoln had a lot on his mind. The Civil War was raging, and just days later he would issue the preliminary draft of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Still, the weary president found time to sit down to write a testimonial to his podiatrist.
“Dr. Zacharie has, with great dexterity, taken some troublesome corns from my toes,” Lincoln wrote. “He is now treating me, and I believe with success, for what plain people call back-ache. We shall see how it will end.”
The story may seem like the beginning of an ill-advised borscht belt meets Corn Belt joke. But in fact it’s one of the more unexpected vignettes presented in a serious new exhibition, “Lincoln and the Jews,” which opens on Friday at the New-York Historical Society.
The show includes about 100 letters, photographs and other artifacts, many never previously exhibited, drawn largely from the Shapell Manuscript Collection, assembled by the collector and philanthropist Benjamin Shapell.
Arranged chronologically, the exhibition presents the broader story of Lincoln’s political career and the Civil War through what organizers say is a fresh prism: Lincoln’s complex and sometimes surprising interactions with a religious minority that was beginning to claim an equal place in American life.
CONTINUE READING......................