ROBBERY

Rivkin was also the author of a study on the main tendencies of Yiddish literature in America, published in the Samelbicher edited by Leivick and Opatoshu (1937 and 1938), and for the Works Progress Administration volume on Landsmannschaften he wrote a history of Landsmannschaften.

Rivkin is an impressionist who believes that Yiddish literature has a Messianic mission, destined to reveal the most hidden forces of the Jewish people, the very essence of Jewish personality. This Messianism is associated with a sort of art ritual, a poetization of religious traditions through dramatic mysticism.

Lit.: Segal, J. I., in Keneder Odler, Dec. 12, 1941. RIVKIND, ISAAC, librarian and writer, b. Lodz, Poland, 1895. He studied at the Yeshivas of Volozhin and Ponoviescz, and came to the United States in 1920. In 1923 he was made cataloguer at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, a post which he held in 1942. Rivkind wrote widely on the history of Jewish culture and literature, and on bibliographical subjects. Among his published works were Dapim Bodedim (1928 and 1933); Die Historishe Alegorie fun Reb Meir Shatz (1929); Early American Hebrew Documents (1937); and Leoth Ulzikkaron, Bar Mitzvah, a study in Jewish cultural history (1942).

Rivkind wrote for various Hebrew, Yiddish and English periodicals in many countries. In 1919 to 1920 he was a member of the Provisional Jewish National Council in Poland. He was also an executive member and treasurer of the Hebrew P.E.N. Club in the United States (1939-42), national chairman of the League for Religious Labor in Palestine and a co-founder of the American branch of the Yiddish Scientific Institute, of which he was an executive member from 1926 to 1929.

Lit.: Reisen, Z., Lexikon fun der Yiddisher Literatur, Press un Filologie, vol. 4 (1930), cols. 320-24.

RIZPAH, concubine of Saul, to whom she bore two sons. After the death of Saul she became, in accordance with the custom of the time, the concubine of his son and successor Ish-bosheth. Subsequently Ish-bosheth accused his chief general, Abner, of taking Rizpah to himself; it is not certain whether the charge was true or not, but it led to a breach between king and general (II Sam. 3:7-11). Later, on the occasion of a famine, David took seven descendants of Saul, including the two sons of Rizpah, and handed them over to the Gideonites, who had a blood feud with Saul. When the Gideonites killed the seven and exposed their bodies, Rizpah watched over the corpses of her two sons, driving away the birds of prey and the beasts; when David heard this, he was so moved that he provided for the interment of the seven, and of the bones of Saul and Jonathan as well (II Sam. 21:1-14). Tennyson's poem "Rizpah" takes its title from the similarity of its story to that of Rizpah.

ROBACK, A. A., author and psychologist, b. Russia, 1890. He was brought to the United States during his adolescence, and studied at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada, where he received his M.A. degree in 1913. In 1917 he received his Ph.D. degree from Harvard. After a period of teaching at various colleges throughout the United States, including three years as an instructor at Harvard (1920-23), Roback became associated with the extension division of the Massachusetts State Department of Education in 1926. Roback was the inventor of aptitude and mental measurement tests, a popular lecturer and the author of several larger studies on psychology. Among these were: Psychology of Character (1927); Popular Psychology (1928); Business Psychology (1930). In 1942 he pub

lished William James-His Marginalia, Personality and Contribution.

The general history of and specialized studies in Jewish literature interested him as much as his professional field of psychology, and to these subjects Roback contributed Jewish Influence in Modern Thought (1929); Curiosities in Jewish Literature (1933); I. L. Perotz; The Story of Yiddish Literature (1940); and Psychorama (1942). Roback organized the Yiddish collection at the Harvard University Library. Before coming to the United States he was associated with the Keneder Adler and the Canadian Jewish Chronicle. He was on the board of governors of the Jewish Academy of Arts and Sciences.

ROBBERY (gezelah). Robbery is defined in Jewish law as the open and forcible seizure of the property of another. It is denounced in the Bible in connection with other oppressions and with deceit (Lev. 19:13), and he who obtains the property of others through oppression or refusal to surrender it to its rightful owners is stigmatized as a robber (gazlan). Robbery is not specifically mentioned in the Ten Commandments; the rabbis refer the commandment, "Thou shalt not steal" (Ex. 20:13; Deut. 5:17), to kidnapping for slavery, which was punished by death.

There is no special punishment for robbery as such in Jewish law. It is solely concerned with seeing that the robber returns the stolen property to its rightful owner; if he has not done this and has not repented of his action, he is deprived of all honors as a citizen. If the object stolen is no longer in his possession or has been destroyed, he must repay its value to the owner. If he at first falsely denies that he has forcibly stolen some chattel or real estate, he must pay the penalty for the false oath by paying an additional fifth of its value and bringing a sin-offering (Lev. 5:2-7). In the Talmud special emphasis is laid on the fact that the robber must not only return the stolen property, but win the forgiveness of the rightful owner. Thus Akiba once decided in the case of a robber who did not know which of five people he had robbed of a certain object, that he had to make restitution to all five, in order to be certain of the forgiveness of the one whom he had actually robbed (B.K. 103b).

It is striking that robbery is not punished as severely as theft, for which restitution has to be double, fourfold or fivefold. This is explained by the opinion that the robber, who does wrong openly, is less dangerous

to society than the thief, who acts in secret and betrays those with whom he is apparently living in peace. One who takes something in self-defence or who borrows an object without the knowledge of the owner is also called a robber; Maimonides even gives this title to dice-players.

A number of ordinances in the Mishnah and Talmud were designed to render it easier for the robber to make restitution. Thus it was decreed that the robbed person should relinquish the payment of the value of an object if it could no longer be returned (B.K. 94b). According to the strict letter of the Torah, the object stolen had to be returned in natura; but in order to make it easier for repentance, the Talmudic rabbis ordained that the robber might keep an object which he had improved and repay its value at the time it was stolen (B.K. 9:1). However, there was no change as to real estate; the owner could always demand that the robber return it, even though it had passed through several hands in the meantime (B.K. 117b). It was further decreed that the article stolen might be delivered to the court, instead of directly to the owner, since the latter might have gone a considerable distance away (B.K. 95). MARCUS COHN.

Lit.: Maimonides, Hilchoth Gezelah 1 to 10; Shulhan Aruch, Hoshen Mishpat 359-77; Tschernowitz, Chaim, in Zeitschrift für vergleichende Rechtskunde, vol. 27; Dembitz, L. N., in Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 10, pp. 434-37.

ROBERT, EMANUEL (real name, Magyar), actor, b. Budapest, 1847; d. Würzburg, Germany, 1899. He was taken to Vienna at the age of nine, when his artistic talents first became obvious.

Against his parents' wishes he became a student of Joseph Lewinsky. Robert made his debut, in 1865, at the Actientheater in Zurich as Ferdinand in Goethe's Egmont; in 1866 he played the role of Franz in Goethe's Goetz von Berlichingen at the Hoftheater in Stuttgart. A. E. Brachvogel and Heinrich Marr then engaged him for the Royal Theatre in Berlin, where in 1868 he had his first brilliant success as Romeo.

In 1872 Robert returned for guest performances to Laube in Vienna, playing Schiller's Demetrius. In quick succession he embodied various roles in Vienna, on guest tours throughout Germany, and as member of the famous Meiningen Group. His talents embraced many characters, ranging from plays by Sophocles to Ibsen and from Shakespeare to Schnitzler. In 1878 Robert achieved his goal when the Burgtheater in Vienna engaged him as a regular member.

In 1882 he married Natalie Kübeck of Kübau; in 1880 he wrote his memoirs under the title of Dekameron des Burgtheaters. He also embraced Christianity. His last role was that of Paracelsus in Arthur Schnitzler's play of the same name. Paul Schlenther and Adolf von Sonnenthal eulogized Robert at his grave.

ROBERT, LUDWIG, author, b. Berlin, 1778; d. Baden-Baden, Germany, 1832. His father was Levin Marcus, who assumed the name of Robert-Tornow. His sister was Rahel Levin, who married Varnhagen von Ense. Robert became a businessman at Breslau and Hamburg, then studied at several universities. In 1804 he published his first poems.

Robert went to Paris, but returned to Berlin when Napoleon defeated Prussia in 1806. In Berlin he made the acquaintance of the philosopher Fichte, who influenced him deeply. It was due to Fichte that Robert was baptized. During the war of 1813 to 1814 he was assistant clerk of Golowkin, Russian minister to Stuttgart. At the same time he wrote philosophical poems, Kämpfe der Zeit, whose rhythmical form later inspired Heine to use similar rhythms in his Nordsee. Robert wrote also the tragedy Die Tochter Jephthas, which was performed at Prague in 1813 and printed in 1820.

ROBINSON, EDWARD G.

In 1819 Robert completed his drama Die Macht der Verhältnisse, vindicating the honor in which the nobility was held by the middle classes. This play, although not successful and did not even satisfy artistic demands, was the precursor of the modern social drama in Germany. Robert married Friderike Braun, a poetess who was famous for her beauty and character. Heine, who became a friend of the Roberts while staying at Berlin, dedicated several poems to them. In the 1820's Robert wrote several satirical comedies which met with Heine's applause but had no lasting success.

ROBERT-TORNOW, WALTER, philologist and historian, b. Ruhnow, Germany, 1852; d. Berlin, 1897. He was the son of Moritz Robert-Tornow, general agent of the nobility of the land of Posen, who was a brother of Rahel Varnhagen and Ludwig Robert. Robert-Tornow was deeply versed in history and philology, and was the outstanding authority on the derivation of German family names.

In 1876 he published his German translation of Michelangelo's poems, and in 1877 a collection of his own poems. In 1883 he wrote Goethe in Heines Werken, and in the following years he edited his departed friend Georg Buchmann's Geflügelte Worte, the most important German dictionary of quotations, highly esteemed by specialists. It was due to Robert-Tornow's learned studies that the name of Buchmann became famous. The reviser's work was far more substantial than that of the original author who had left it to his friend to provide quotations collected from the literature of the world and the history of all times.

In 1888 Emperor Frederick III, who was a friend of the Robert-Tornow family, appointed him imperial private librarian, and Emperor William II retained him in the same function. Residing in the imperial palace, Robert-Tornow had to provide the emperor with books and literary information often needed instantly. Many of William II's famous quotations came from his private librarian.

ROBINSON, CHARLES PHINEAS, South African Member of Parliament, b. Liverpool, England, 1867; d. Durban, Union of South Africa, 1938. He was educated in Liverpool, and came to South Africa in 1897. In 1906 Robinson was elected to his first public office in the council of Durban; in 1910 he was chosen from Durban for the first Parliament of the Union of South Africa. He was reelected to Parliament in 1915. Subsequently, after failing of reelection in 1920, he was appointed senator for Natal. But in 1921 Robinson was returned to Parliament for the Durban Central Division, and reelected in 1924 and 1933. In 1937 he was appointed to represent South Africa at the 150th anniversary celebration of the founding of Australia.

ROBINSON, EDWARD G., actor, b. Bucharest, Roumania, 1893. He was brought to the United States in 1903 and educated in New York city, attending City College, Columbia University and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

After making his debut in the theatre in 1913 at Binghamton, N. Y., Robinson appeared for the first time in New York city in 1915 in Under Fire. From then until 1929 he played regularly on the legitimate stage; among his vehicles during this period were Night Lodging (1919); Samson and Delilah (1920); The Idle Inn (1922); Peer Gynt; The Adding Machine (1923); The Firebrand (1924); The Goat Song (1926); and Kibitzer, a play of which he was the co-author and in which he starred (1929).

In 1929 Robinson went over to the motion pictures, and here he became internationally prominent as the

ROBINSON, VICTOR

creator of gangster parts or of cognate hard-boiled roles. Although his departures from this type, as in the leading role of The Life of Dr. Ehrlich, won encomiums for his restrained emotional portrayal, Robinson had to return again and again to the "mug" characterizations. To these he contributed a mordant grasp of human frailty; his success was based not so much on mime as on mind. In 1941 he was awarded the American Humane Association's gold medal for his "humanitarian interest in children and animals."

Some of Robinson's best pictures were Outside the Law; Little Caesar; Five-Star Final; Brother Orchid; and The Sea-Wolf (1941). During the first World War Robinson served in the United States Navy. In 1941 he contributed $100,000 to the United Service Organizations' campaign for $10,765,000 "as a small down payment on the privilege of being an American." In 1942 he made a notable sequence in Tales of Manhattan; he acted as narrator for the Russian film Moscow Strikes Back and for the elaborate mass meeting staged at New York city in March, 1943, at the initiative of non-Jewish groups, to protest against the slaughter of the Jews in Europe.

ROBINSON, JACOB, communal leader, b. Seirijai, Lithuania, 1889. He received his LL.D. degree from the Suwalki Law School, University of Warsaw (1914), served in the Russian army from 1914 to 1918, and was awarded the St. George Cross. He was a member of the Jewish fraction in the Seimas (parliament) of Lithuania from 1922 to its dissolution in 1926, legal adviser to the Lithuanian Foreign Office (1931-33), and a member of the Council for the Lithuanian Government in the Lithuanian-German Committee of Conciliation (September, 1931) and of the Permanent Court of International Justice (June-August, 1922).

He served also on the Jewish National Council of Lithuania (1919-22), and was chairman of the Jewish Political Committee (1938-40) and of the Committee to Help Polish Refugees from Poland (1939-40). Robinson arrived in the United States in 1940, and became director of the Institute of Jewish Affairs, New York city, in 1941.

Robinson's writings include: Achsanya shel Torah (1921); Yediath Ammenu (1922); Das Minoritäten problem und seine Literatur (1928); Commentaries on the Memel Convention (1934); The Baltic Legal Union (Russian; 1938).

Lit.: Jewish Times, April 24, 1941; Day, March 24, 1941; Morning Journal, March 20, 1941.

ROBINSON, LEONARD GEORGE, lawyer and welfare official, b. Russia, 1875. He came to the United States in 1890, and after receiving his A.B. degree from Harvard in 1902 graduated from the New York Law School in 1906. In the following year he became general manager of the Jewish Agricultural Society. During the period he retained this post (until 1917) Robinson was responsible for the establishment of agricultural credit unions in America and for sponsoring the farm credits movement. He was a consultant for the Joint Congressional Committee on Rural Credits; out of the work of this committee grew the Federal Farm Loan Act (1916). Subsequently Robinson was president (1917-19) of the Federal Land Bank of the 1st District (Springfield, Mass.) and still later he was president of the Cosmopolitan Bank in New York.

From 1922 to 1924 Robinson was general director of reconstruction work in Europe for the Joint Distribution Committee, and again, in addition to the rebuilding of homes destroyed in the first World War, he supervised the establishment of cooperative banks and other self-aid enterprises. In 1943 he was affiliated with the Farm Credit Administration in Washington. He wrote for various specialized periodicals, and was the author of Agricultural Activities of the

Edward G. Robinson

Jews in America. He was co-author of the Credit Union Primer and a consulting financial editor of the New York Times and Philadelphia Public Ledger.

ROBINSON, VICTOR, physician and medical historian, b. Ukraine, Russia, 1886. He was brought to the United States at the age of three, and later studied law, then pharmacy and finally medicine, graduating from the Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery (Loyola University) in 1917. In 1912, however, the first edition of Pathfinders in Medicine had appeared; a second edition was published in 1929. Robinson was well on his way to recognition as a pioneer in the field of medical history. When a department of the history of medicine was established at the Temple University School of Medicine, in Philadelphia (1929), Robinson was given the professorship, a post he retained in 1943. He was also (1937) made a lecturer on the history of nursing at the Temple University School of Nursing. Robinson's work as editor and historian was voluminous and significant in the development of American medical history.

He was the editor of Historia Medicinae (22 vols.); of the Modern Home Physician, an encyclopedia of medical knowledge (1934-39); of The New People's Physician (8 vols., 1941); and of the American editions of Paolo Mantegazza as well as of Richard von Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis (1939) and of Encyclopedia Sexualis (1936). His original work included Essay on Hasheesh (1912 and 1925); Pioneers of Birth Control (1919); Don Quixote of Psychiatry (1919); Life of Jacob Henle (1921); Story of Medicine, first published in 1931 and frequently reprinted; Syllabus of Medical History (1933); and The Way of Life of a Physician (1941). He wrote for many scientific periodicals, and was president of the New York Society for Medical History (1940-41).

Lit.: Kagan, Solomon R., Jewish Contributions to Medicine in America (1939) 421-22.

ROCAMORA, ISAAC DE, Marrano, b. Valencia, Spain, 1601; d. Amsterdam, Holland, 1684. Under the name of Fray Vincente de Rocamora he lived for many years in Valencia as a Marrano and an eminent Dominican monk. He became the confessor of the Spanish princess the infanta Maria, who later became Austrian empress. In 1643 he fled from Spain to Amsterdam, where he reverted publicly to Judaism; he performed circumcision upon himself with his own hands. In his forties he studied medicine and became a leader of the Amsterdam Jewish community and president of several Jewish welfare institutions, such as Maskil El Dal and Abi Yethomim. He was a contemporary and friend of Orobio de Castro. Rocamora wrote admirable Spanish and Latin verses.

ROCCA, ENRICO, publicist and literary critic, b. Gorizia, Italy, 1895. He began his career by contributing articles to Italian literary magazines, advocating Italy's intervention in the first World War on the side of the Allied powers. He founded (1919) the literary review Roma Futurista, which became one of the chief organs of the Futurist movement, created and promoted by the Italian poet F. T. Marinetti. Rocca was correspondent of the Popolo d'Italia in Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia. In 1927 he returned to Italy and became theatrical and literary critic of Lavoro Fascista, organ of the Fascist workers' organizations. He gained a reputation also as a fine translator, mainly of works of German literature into Italian; he translated, among others, the principal works of Stephan Zweig. In 1927 he traveled in South America, and published a book of impressions called Avventure Sud-Americane. Although an early collaborator of Mussolini's chief organ Popolo d'Italia, he lost his position as literary theatrical critic with the introduction into Italy of racial discriminatory laws.

ROCHESTER, county seat of Monroe County, New York state; it had a population (1943) of approximately 325,000, of whom it was estimated that 20,000 were Jews. Although it is believed that Jews lived in Rochester in 1840, the earliest record of their presence is the City Directory of 1844, in which appear the names of Mire Greentree (clothier), Sigmund Rosenberg (lace

merchant), Joseph Altman (dry goods merchant), Henry Cone (tailor), Mary A. Noah (actress).

The first religious services were held on Rosh Hashanah, 1848, in the home of Henry Levi at the corner of North Clinton and Bowery (now Cumberland) Streets. On October 7, 1848, the congregation was formally organized by the following members, all of them natives of Germany: A. Adler, Jacob Altman, Joseph Altman, Jacob Ganz, Joseph Katz, Henry Levi, Samuel Marks, Meyer Rothschild, Abram Weinburg, Gabriel Wile, Joseph Wile, Elias Wolf. Joseph Stieffel officiated as Hazan. Shortly thereafter the name B'rith Kodesh (Holy Covenant) was chosen. In 1849 quarters for the congregation were procured at 2 Front Street, and a rabbi, Marcus Tuska, was engaged. In 1856 the former Baptist church on St. Paul Street was purchased as the permanent home of the congregation. The spacious building at the corner of Gibbs and Grove Streets was erected in 1893.

Tuska was succeeded by Isaac Mayer, who officiated from 1856 to 1859. Aaron Ginsburg served from 1863 to 1868. Max Landsberg was called to the congregation in 1870, and ministered actively until 1915. He organized and successfully carried out a policy of radical Reform, and was honored by the general community for his rational interpretation of Judaism. Horace J. Wolf, who was rabbi from 1915 to 1927, helped to unify the various elements in the community, and was a courageous champion of social justice. Philip S. Bernstein, a native of Rochester, Wolf's successor, was the incumbent in 1943. He was president of the Rochester City Club, the Citizens' Planning and Housing Council, and the Jewish Community Council of Rochester. In November, 1942, he was granted leave of absence to serve as executive director of the Committee on Army and Navy Religious Activities of the Jewish Welfare Board.

The heavy influx of Jews from Russia and other East European countries began in 1880, and continued until the restriction of immigration. Within a short time the following synagogues were organized: Beth Israel, Beth Hakneseth Hochodesh, Ben David, Wa'ad Hakolel, and the Congregation of Tailors. In 1943 there were sixteen Orthodox synagogues in Rochester, and

five accredited Orthodox rabbis, of whom the outstanding one in length of service and recognized leadership was Solomon Sadowsky. Two modern, Orthodox synagogues were established-Beth Joseph Center and Beth Sholom Congregation. In 1916 Temple Beth El, a Conservative congregation, was organized. Its rabbis were Joel Blau, Jacob Minkin, Jeremiah Berman, and Henry Fisher (the incumbent in 1943).

In order to meet the needs of the new immigrants the Men's Benevolent Society (organized in 1850) and the Jewish Women's Aid Society (organized in 1865) of Temple B'rith Kodesh were merged into the United Jewish Charities in 1882. The Jewish Orphan Asylum Association of Western New York was founded in 1879, and established in Rochester a home for orphans, which was continued until 1929, when it was abandoned in favor of foster homes, an activity conducted by the Jewish Children's Bureau.

Owing to differences concerning methods, the Orthodox members of the community established in 1908 the Associated Hebrew Charities, and in 1912 the Jewish Children's Home. The Jewish Young Men's Association was organized in 1906. Tobias Roth was its executive secretary from 1920 on. Inspired by a $300,000 contribution by Simon N. Stein, construction of a million-dollar building was started in January, 1931. Sol Heumann was president, and was succeeded by Joseph Goldstein.

Among the other institutions established for the benefit of the Jewish community were the Baden Street Settlement, the Jewish Home for the Aged, the Vacation Home, the Rochester Hebrew School, and the Jewish Ledger. In 1924 the United Jewish Charities and the Associated Hebrew Charities combined into the Jewish Welfare Council. In 1942 the Jewish Welfare Council and the Jewish Children's Bureau effected a merger of their activities. In 1938 a Jewish Community Council, representing all elements in the city, was formed. The Bureau of Jewish Education, embracing the educational program of the entire community, was established in December, 1939. In 1937 all fund-raising activities were federated in the United Jewish Welfare Fund. The influx of large numbers of German émigrés led to the establishment of the Rochester Refugee Service in 1937. The Rochester Jewish community enjoyed excellent relations with other faiths. On January 20, 1859, a

great interfaith mass meeting was conducted to express public indignation over the abduction of Edgar Mortara. Immediately following the first Nazi pogroms, the Inter-Faith Good Will Committee of Rochester was organized in 1933, under the leadership of the Catholic bishop, John Francis O'Hern; it carried on a program both of protest against anti-Semitism and of constructive interfaith education. Exceptional was the fund-raising campaign of 1935 to complete the Jewish Young Men's and Women's Association building, in which the chairman was a Protestant, the treas urer a Catholic, and half the campaign workers were non-Jews.

A small community of 150 Sephardic families from Turkey settled in Rochester in the 1930's, and established a synagogue, a Hebrew school, and a young men's association.

Among the Jews who served the general community prominently were Common Council President Simon Hays, Acting Mayor Isaac Adler, Congressman Meyer Jacobstein, Federal Judge Simon Adler, City Court Judge Harry Rosenberg, City Court Judge Jacob Gitelman, Assistant District Attorney Jacob Ark, who subsequently became New York State Commander of the American Legion, School Commissioners Marcus Michaels and Isaac Wile, City Treasurer Haskell H. Marks, Assemblymen Abraham Schulman, Myer Braiman and Louis Lazarus, United States Federal Attorney Goodman A. Sarachan, Vice-Mayor Joseph E. Silverstein, Mayor Samuel B. Dicker.

Among the noted Jews who sprang from the Rochester community were: Samuel H. Goldenson, rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, New York; Emma Goldman, anarchist leader; Louis Lipsky, outstanding Zionist. PHILIP S. BERNSTEIN.

Lit.: Wile and Brickner, The Jews of Rochester, an Historical Summary of their Progress and Status as Citizens of Rochester from Early Days to the Year 1912 (1912) I138.

ROCK (tzur), a frequent Biblical designation for God, either by itself (as in II Sam. 22:32) or in connection with Israel (Isa. 30:29) or various adjectives. The most famous passage is Deut. 32:4, hatzur tamim po'alo ("The Rock, His work is perfect"), which is used in the Jewish funeral service.

There are two possible explanations for the fre