Dr. Jacob Rader Marcus, the eminent Jewish historian of the Hebrew
Union College’s American Jewish archives, was once asked what contribution Jews
have made to American culture. He answered
with a twinkle in his eye that if it were not for a Jew, Emile Berliner, we
would have no radio or television because Berliner perfected the microphone.
Rabbi Marcus mentioned another Jew, Akiba Horowitz, who
loved America so much that he gave up his Jewish name and took a good American
name. He called himself Conrad Hubert. Then he proceeded to discover the
flashlight. It netted him ten million
dollars. On his death, it was found that
his estate was divided equally between Jews, Protestants, and Catholics.
Then Marcus aid, “but more important is the fact that
Gregory Pincus is the man who perfected the pill.” And he continued, “what a remarkable
contribution these three Jews made to civilization. Before they perfected their discoveries, we
wasted our time playing poker, and when we got up at night, without the courtesy
of a flashlight, we stumbled over a dozen children in our house.”
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