RASHI, RAMBAM and RAMALAMADINGDONG
A Quizbook of Jewish Trivia Facts & Fun
A Quizbook of Jewish Trivia Facts & Fun
Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano, began erupting on the island of Hawaii on November 27, sending molten rock and lava down its sides and huge gas emissions into the air. The first Jews to come to Hawaii were probably English and German traders who arrived in the mid-1800’s. Organized Jewish life began with the establishment of the Hebrew Benevolent Society in 1901, and a Jewish cemetery was dedicated in the same year. The current Jewish population is around 7,000, though with a large number of unaffiliated Jews it is hard to know the exact number. There are nine synagogues in Hawaii, with most of the Jewish population living in Oahu and Maui. The most famous Jew from Hawaii is singer and actress Bette Midler, who was voted “Most Talkative” in her sophomore class in high school and “Most Dramatic” in her senior year. What Jewish person played a significant role in Hawaii’s history?
Aerial overview of an erupting fissure of the 2022 Mauna Loa eruption by Civil Air Patrol is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
A. Isaac Bensimon was a Jew who moved to Oahu from Australia in the late 1800’s. Bensimon had worked on a macadamia farm in New South Wales, and he brought seeds with him which he planted in Oahu, establishing the first macadamia crop in Hawaii. Bensimon eventually founded the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Company, which is now owned by Hershey.
B. Leon Godchaux, a French Jew who emigrated to New Orleans in 1837, established plantations and sugar refineries in southern Louisiana, eventually becoming known as the Sugar King of Louisiana. Godchaux’s business expanded to Central and South America, where he became familiar with the pineapple, a plant that was originally cultivated in Brazil and Paraguay. Godchaux brought the pineapple to Hawaii, recognizing that the climate there would be particularly favorable to this plant, and he established what became Hawaii’s largest agricultural crop.
C. Elias Abraham Rosenberg, who moved to Hawaii from San Francisco in 1886, became a friend of Hawaiian King David Kalākaua. Rosenberg shared Bible stories with the King and encouraged him to revive traditional Hawaiian religion, leading the King to bestow upon Rosenberg the title of kahuna-kilokilo, or royal soothsayer.
D. Morris Lapidus, a Ukrainian Jewish immigrant, was the architect who is most famous for his Beaux Arts design of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. Lapidus eventually moved to Hawaii, where he designed a number of resort hotels, including the Four Seasons Maui and the Ko’a Kea Hotel & Resort at Po’ipu Beach.
E. The first European to arrive in Hawaii was British explorer Captain James Cook in 1778. A Jewish crew member, Josiah Levy, became friendly with King Kamehameha I. They each shared information about their religion and culture. The king was particularly impressed to learn that Jews used the same word as a greeting upon arrival and departure–Shalom. Given that the Hawaiian alphabet only consists of 13 letters, thus greatly limiting the number of words which could be created, the King decided to follow suit, creating the word Aloha to mean both hello and goodbye.
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