Theodore Roosevelt – Please Say Kaddish For Me by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

“Kishinev?” His smile faded. “Then you are…Jewish?”

“What if I am? This is a free country.”

“It was a travesty, a dastardly travesty.” He shook his head.

His blue eyes, moist and caring behind his spectacles, put her at ease. She showed him the scar on her hand. Trying to recount her history in her new language proved a challenge, but he seemed to understand for his gaze never wavered except to wipe away a stray tear.

When she finished he pressed his handkerchief into her hand.

~~Taken from Please Say Kaddish for Me by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Although pogroms against the Jews in Eastern Europe’s Pale of Settlement were nothing new, the one that took place in Kishinev April 19-20, 1903 was the first to receive international recognition. President Theodore Roosevelt called it a “dreadful outrage upon the Jews.”

Jews in the United States put together a massive petition protesting the slaughter. Jewish leaders convinced the President to present it to Czar Nicholas II.

In an attempt to pressure the Czar for reform, the petition was sent to the American chargé in St. Petersburg. He refused to accept.

In Please Say Kaddish for Me and From Silt and Ashes Havah experiences the President’s compassion first hand.

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