Guide to the Howard Lenhoff (1929-2011) Papers, 1947-2007 (bulk 1974-2006)
 
P-902

Series I: Correspondence, 1966-2006.

Arrangement:

Arranged into two subseries: General Correspondence and Correspondence from Ethiopian Jews.

Scope and Content:

Correspondence in this series is split into two subseries: one for general incoming and outgoing correspondence, and one for correspondence from Ethiopian Jews, the bulk of which is incoming. All of the correspondence here relates to general activism on behalf of Ethiopian Jewry, as well as the specific activities of Howard Lenhoff on behalf of AAEJ from 1974 to the early 1990s.

Subseries 1: General Correspondence, 1973-2006.

Arrangement:

Arranged chronologically. Lenhoff and his assistant(s) originally organized much of the correspondence in this series by year. The archivist extracted correspondence from other areas of the incoming collection that had little discernable order and filed these by year as well.

Scope and Content:

This subseries consists of internal communications between Lenhoff, AAEJ Board of Directors, Executive Committee, staff, volunteers and other AAEJ branch leaders, as well as external communications with the general public, the U.S and Israeli government, press, and other U.S. and international Jewish organizations. In addition to general correspondence, there are also Lenhoff's letters to the editor, invites to events and exhibitions, promotional or informational materials from other Ethiopian Jewry organizations, and oftentimes correspondence is accompanied by enclosures, such as items (reports, agendas, minutes, miscellaneous materials on subjects to be discussed) used at or distributed for Executive Committee and Board of Directors meetings.

Among Lenhoff’s most frequent correspondents in this subseries are Graenum Berger, Nate Shapiro, Hilary Kaye, Lisa Freund, Will Recant, Murray Brilliant and Martin Warmbrand. There is extensive overlap with the people and organizations (the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council, for example) represented in Series II. In fact, Lenhoff had written file names at the top of many pages of correspondence which match folder titles in Series II. Mixed in is also a small amount of correspondence with Ethiopian Jews, but the largest bodies of correspondence with Ethiopian Jews can be found in the next subseries (Subseries 2) and Series II. One folder contains correspondence between Lenhoff and his wife Sylvia and daughter Gloria while he was traveling in Israel on AAEJ business.

The highest volume of correspondence falls between 1975 and 1987. Some email and word processed correspondence from 1985 and forward were printed up off of Lenhoff’s hard drive in the late 1990s and early 2000s; these print-outs have been arranged by the date of the letter was originally written, not by the date of printing.

Subseries 2: Correspondence from Ethiopian Jews, 1966-2001.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically and chronologically. Lenhoff and his assistant(s) originally called these files “Letters from Falashas in Ethiopia,” “Letters from Falashas in Israel,” “Letters from Ethiopian Jews” and similar variations.

Scope and Content:

The bulk of the correspondence in this subseries is outgoing from Ethiopian Jews in Ethiopia, Israel, and Sudan to AAEJ leaders or other activists in the Ethiopian Jewry movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Correspondents include Yeshayahu Chane (who also went by the name Esayas Chane and whose correspondence can also be found in “Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society” in Series II), Kassie Chole, Gedalia Uria, Abuhay Esayas, Mulugeta Melesse, Wube Akale, Solomon Aberra, Tuvia Wubu and Samuel Wubshet. There are also a few letters from individuals who have their own files in Series II: Yona Bogale, Baruch Tegegne and Elias Mati. The correspondence consists of requests for help, descriptions of conditions, and many lists of family members in need of assistance. In the cases of Yeshayahu Chane and Esayas Abuhay, the correspondence documents the last portion of their lives in Ethiopia, their immigration to Israel, and their adjustment to life in Israel.

Letter recipients include Graenum Berger, Murray Brilliant, Howard Lenhoff, Bernard Alpert, Jeffrey Halper, Eli Turgeman, Haim Halachmi and Mark Squires, and there is also a small amount of correspondence between these activists regarding the letters they had received from Ethiopian Jews, as well as some copies of responses Lenhoff and others sent to the Ethiopian Jewish correspondents.

Mixed throughout this subseries are original correspondence, photocopied correspondence, English translations of much of the Amharic and Hebrew correspondence, and letter excerpts which AAEJ used in its mailings to supporters. There is more correspondence from Ethiopian Jews filed by individual in Series II and some in Series I as well.

Series II: Subjects, 1947-2006.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically. The files abruptly stop at "Winnipeg Committee for Ethiopian Jews," and it seems likely that there were originally W-Z folders following this, but they are not present in this collection. Lenhoff kept many files related to Ethiopian Jewish individuals alphabetized by their first name; these are now alphabetized by last name, as far as could be determined by the archivist. In the early years of AAEJ, the organization often used the term “Falasha,” also when labelling files. These file names have been maintained by the archivist. See “Subject File Lists” in Series V for lists of Lenhoff’s subject files as they were kept until approximately 1982.

Scope and Content:

Howard Lenhoff created and used the subject files in this series during his involvement with AAEJ and up until 2006 while working on his book, Black Jews, Jews and Other Heroes: How Grassroots Activism Led to the Rescue of the Ethiopian Jews. The materials document Lenhoff’s communications and activities with a wide array of people and organizations in the United States, Israel, Ethiopia and Europe, and in relation to many topics, all of which connect to his activism in the American Jewish movement for Ethiopian Jews. Many items predating Lenhoff’s AAEJ activity tend to be from Graenum Berger’s files. Formats include correspondence, reports, clippings and pamphlets.

Many of the names represented in this series were fellow activists or vital to AAEJ’s agenda in other ways. Correspondence to and from Graenum Berger is throughout. There is a sizeable body of correspondence between Lenhoff and American rabbis in “Rabbis – American,” as well as between Lenhoff and Murray Narrell, Director of the Ethiopian Jewry Committee of Northern California. Ethiopian Jews with whom AAEJ had relationships or specific interest in have files here, including Rahamim Elazar, Ferede Aklum, Baruch Tegegne, Mati Elias, and Yona Bogale (Bogale correspondence is also in Series I, Subseries 2 and the "Tartakower, Aryeh" files). See Series I, Subseries 2 for more correspondence with Ethiopian Jews. Contacts in Israel with substantial correspondence in this series include Aryeh Tartakower (Tartakower files, as well as in Berger’s correspondence in Box 16, Folder 5); Murray Greenfield, who headed AAEJ’s Israeli office in the early 1980s; Yehuda Dominitz (especially in “Israeli Government Officials” and “Jewish Agency”); and Arye Dulzin (also in “Jewish Agency”). Correspondence in Hebrew is often accompanied by English translations.

Lenhoff’s research on Jacques Faitlovitch consists largely of photocopies of documents originally dated 1922-1949 from the American Pro-Falasha Committee Records. His “Falasha History” folders contain photocopies of materials dating back to 1885 about the Ethiopian Jewish communities. There are also photocopies of 1851-1852 publications by Philoxene Luzzato in “Fortner, Yonah,” and photocopies of an 1867 piece in “Halevy, Joseph.”

The vast majority of people and organizations with folders here are also present throughout the correspondence in Series I. In contrast to the large volume of Nate Shapiro correspondence in Series I and V, there is much less material generated by Shapiro in this series.

Series III: Writings, 1970-2007.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically. Much of this material had no discernible arrangement when it arrived at AJHS, and folder titles were assigned by the archivist.

Scope and Content:

This series represents a small portion of Lenhoff’s writings on Ethiopian Jewry and AAEJ’s actions. “Writings” folders include articles, letters to the editor, statements, and correspondence regarding placement or rejection of articles and editorials. In the late 1990s and early 2000s Lenhoff printed up much of the content in the “Writings” folders from older files on his hard drive; these print-outs have been arranged by the original date of the written piece, not by the date of printing. “Talks” include texts of and notes towards Lenhoff’s speeches, as well as clippings and announcements regarding these speaking engagements. Some notes, outlines and correspondence related to Black Jews, Jews and Other Heroes: How Grassroots Activism Led to the Rescue of the Ethiopian Jews (2007) are here, and more notes and correspondence related to this book can also be found in the Series I and Series IV (for example in “Israel -- Notes and Correspondence for Israeli Chapter in Black Jews”). More writings by Lenhoff can be found throughout Series II and VI and notes towards writings in Series IV.

Series IV: Notes, 1972-2005.

Arrangement:

Arranged chronologically. Scattered pieces of incoming correspondence mixed in with his notes were removed to Series I.

Scope and Content:

Lenhoff took a large volume of notes during meetings, conferences, trips and phone calls on a variety of different formats included in this series: address books, date books, notepads and scrap paper. There are also to-do lists, business cards, contact lists, missed call messages, drafts of correspondence, drafts of his writings, and AAEJ statement drafts. A range of people are referenced in his notes, such as Rahamim Elazar, Graenum Berger, Nate Shapiro, Will Recant, Murray Greenfield and Gilbert Kulick. The notes cover all aspects of Lenhoff’s activities with AAEJ, especially international relations and travel to Israel. He dated many of his notes, but not all; the archivist left many undated notes in place when they seemed potentially related to their surrounding dated materials. The majority of the notes in this series arrived to AJHS in one cluster, but there are also notes throughout all other series in this collection. For more notes on phone calls, for example, see “Telephone Notes” in Series II.

Series V: Board and Administrative, 1969-2002.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically. A large portion of the materials in this series arrived without any discernable arrangement; therefore many folder titles were created by the archivist. The portions that did arrive organized and labelled seemed to have been generated by Lenhoff’s assistant(s) and/or Lenhoff himself. A few folders were removed from Lenhoff's subject files and placed here.

Scope and Content:

The general board, executive and administrative functions of the American Association for Ethiopian Jews (AAEJ), especially during Lenhoff’s tenure as president between 1978 and 1982, are represented in this series. The “Board of Directors” folders include agendas, minutes, and materials gathered to discuss during the meetings, as well as Executive Committee and Nominating Committee material. During Lenhoff’s presidency, annual reports on AAEJ’s activities were released and can be found in “Reports on Activities.” There are annual financial statements, receipts and extensive correspondence between AAEJ Treasurer Theodore Norman and Lenhoff in the “Finances” folders. In “Posters” are four large promotional posters: two created by AAEJ and two by the World Union of Jewish Students. AAEJ sent out a variety of mailings to board and committee members, donors, volunteers, supporters and affiliates. The mailings present in this series consist of newsletters, compiled press clippings and reprints, information resource lists, action ideas lists, suggested letters to politicians, activity reports, event announcements, fundraising form letters and brochures.

The “Israel” folders primarily document AAEJ’s Israeli operations and various outreach programs aimed at assisting Ethiopian Jewish émigrés with housing, educational and health needs in Israel. Included are correspondence (especially from Ziona Kemelman and Yosef Miller), proposals, finances and scholarship applications. For more on AAEJ’s work in Israel, see Lenhoff’s notes from his trips to Israel in Series IV, the “Absorption” files in the Series II, and correspondence with Yosef Miller in the mid-1980s in Series I. For chapters of AAEJ in the U.S. see “Chapters of AAEJ” folders in the Series II.

Series VI: Clippings, 1958-2006.

Arrangement:

Arranged chronologically.

Scope and Content:

This series documents the American and Israeli response to the shifting situation of Ethiopian Jews in Ethiopia and Israel from the early 1970s to the early 2000s. Much coverage relates specifically to AAEJ and Lenhoff’s actions and/or was authored by AAEJ supporters and leaders, especially by Lenhoff himself. Selections of many clippings herein were distributed to AAEJ membership and leadership. It seems these files were likely kept for that purpose and for Lenhoff’s own research.

Newspaper clippings are from Jewish student group newspapers, U.S. regional and local Jewish newspapers, major U.S. and Israeli newspapers and a few international newspapers. Some of the most heavily represented titles include Orange County Heritage, Baltimore Jewish Times, San Francisco Jewish Bulletin, Intermountain Jewish News, Israel Today (LA edition), The Jewish Week-American Examiner, Jerusalem Post, Jewish Chronicle, The Jewish Post and Opinion, Israel Today, Present Tense, Africa Confidential, Maariv, Haaretz, and Aufbau. There are clipped portions as well as entire copies of newsletters and mailings from other Ethiopian Jewry movement groups, synagogue bulletins, press releases, magazines, journal articles and book chapters. AAEJ’s newsletters, mailings and press releases are also throughout. Lenhoff photocopied materials on Ethiopian Jews dating back to 1905; these are in the first folder of this series. For more clippings see Series II, as Lenhoff also kept clippings filed by subject.

Series VII: Audio, 1973-1987.

Arrangement:

Arranged physically according to where in the collection they were removed from (from Boxes 1-82).

Scope and Content:

According to the fragmentary labelling, these tapes (12 standard-sized audiocassettes and 1 microcassette) carry recordings of Nahum Ben-Yosef, Rahamim Elazar, an Executive Committee meeting, performances of songs and scripts, and letters read aloud. The bulk of the audiocassettes in this series were removed from Series II.

Series VIII: Photographs, 1973-1987.

Arrangement:

Arranged physically according to where in the collection they were removed from (from Boxes 1-82).

Scope and Content:

This series contains photographs from the 1970s and 1980s of Howard Lenhoff, Rahamim Elazar, Robel Yemanu, Murray Greenfield, Murray Narrell, Tamrat Emanuel (photographs of early 20th century photographs), groups of Ethiopian Jews and children especially, and Ethiopian Jewish families in Israel. There are a few strips of negatives as well.