<p><span style="color:#9C0000"><strong>(MORTARA AFFAIR).</strong></span> </p> <p><br /></p> <p>Two Autograph Letters: </p> <p><br /></p> <p> <span style="color:#9C0000"><strong> * I:</strong></span>&nbsp;Autograph Letter Signed written by <b>RABBI ISAAC MAYER WISE</b>&nbsp;to Herman M. Moos. <br />Wise introduces Adah Isaacs Menken to Moos and asks him to have her in ‘public print.’ Moos was the literary editor of the Israelite at the time. One page. 2nd December, 1858. </p> <p><br /></p> <p> <span style="color:#9C0000"><strong>* II:</strong></span> Autograph Letter Signed written by <span style="color:#9C0000"><strong>ADAH ISAACS MENKEN</strong></span> to Herman M. Moos. Requesting a meeting to discuss “business related to religious affairs.” One page. Louisville, Kentucky, 15th December, 1858. <br /> <br /><br /><span style="color:#9C0000"><strong>THIS CORRESPONDENCE IS CLOSELY TIED TO THE MORTARA AFFAIR.</strong></span> </p> <p><br /></p> <p>The abduction from his home in Bologna, Italy, of Jewish six-year old <span style="color:#9C0000"><strong>EDGARDO MORTARA</strong></span> and his subsequent forced conversion to Catholicism (with the connivance of Papal authority), appalled the Jewish world. The American Jewish community joined the outrage, demanding the return of the child to his parents. </p> <p><br /></p> <p>It was precisely December of 1858, that America's Jewish community united and went into &quot;high gear&quot; (in the words of Jacob Rader Marcus) to agitate for the return of Edgardo to his parents. They sought to convince President James Buchanan and the US Congress to proactively insist upon the child's return home. </p> <p><br /></p> <p>As the publisher of the English language weekly Jewish newspaper “The Israelite, ” <span style="color:#9C0000"><strong>RABBI ISAAC MAYER WISE</strong></span> was among the first to act in the matter, both by petitioning the Pope and urging Washington to appeal. Many articles on the Mortara Affair appeared in Wise’s Israelite from October 1858 through most of 1859. </p> <p><br /></p> <p>In addition to being the literary editor of the Israelite, <span style="color:#9C0000"><strong>HERMAN M. MOOS</strong></span> (1836-94) was a playwright. Produced in 1860, his “Mortara, Or The Pope and His Inquisitors” was a virulently anti-Catholic play. </p> <p><br /></p> <p><span style="color:#9C0000"><strong>ADAH ISAACS MENKEN</strong></span> moved to Cincinnati with her Jewish husband from the Far West and wrote sensitive Jewish poetry for publication in the Israelite. As a lady of the theater, she strode across many stages around the country. Appearing in Louisville (Moos’s home town), she penned this letter seeking a meeting. A few weeks thereafter, her lengthy poem on the Mortara Affair (“To The Sons of Israel”) appeared in the Israelite (January 28, 1859).</p> <p><br /></p> <p> The abduction was front page news in Wise's Israelite from its outbreak, through much of 1859. Moos served as the Israelite's literary editor. Menken was a contributing poetess to the newspaper. It therefore stands to reason that both shared Wise's passion on the issue. </p> <p><br /></p> <p><span style="color:#9C0000"><strong>THE ASSOCIATION OF WISE, MENKEN AND MOOS IS A DIRECT RESULT OF THE MORTARA AFFAIR. ALL THREE WORKED TOGETHER ON EFFORTS TO HAVE EDGARDO MORTARA RETURNED TO HIS FAMILY HOME.</strong></span></p> <p><br /></p> <p><span style="color:#9C0000"><strong>ISAAC MAYER WISE</strong></span> (1819-1900) was the dominant force behind the creation of American Reform Judaism. From his arrival to the United States in 1846, Wise was devoted to modernizing and Americanizing Judaism. His most enduring contributions lie in the institutions he established, which included those that fostered Reform Judaism: Hebrew Union College and The Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Through their creation, Wise advanced his aim of drawing American Jews together around a modern brand of their religion better suited, as he saw it, for the New World. </p> <p><br /></p> <p><span style="color:#9C0000"><strong>ADAH ISAACS MENKEN&nbsp;</strong></span> (1835-68) become the world’s highest paid actress. She had a notorious love life, and died in Paris at the age of just thirty-three. She is buried in the Jewish section of Montparnasse Cemetery. </p> <p><br /></p> <p>See Bertram W. Korn, The American Reaction to the Mortara Case, 1858-1859 (Cincinnati, 1957); and David Kertzer, The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara (New York, 1997).<br /></p>