Tuning device used to set a musical pitch used by Isaac Ossowski, who, as a hazan [cantor], would lead the congregation in musical prayers. Rabbi Ossowski was a prominent member of the Jewish community in Berlin, Germany. He was head shochet [ritual slaughterer], mohel [practitioner of ritual circumcision], sofer [scribe], as well as hazan, at the Alte Shul [Old Synagogue]. After Hitler was appointed Chancellor in 1933, increasingly severe sanctions were enacted against Jews. Isaac was repeatedly questioned by the SS (Schutzstaffel; Protection Squadrons) who gathered intelligence on opponents of the Nazi state and policed racial purity. In 1934, he sent his youngest son, 14 year old Sally (Sol), to Lithuania to study at a yeshiva. In 1936, his sons, Joseph and Leo, left for the United States. In 1938, Isaac and his wife, Frida, and their daughter, Nettie, escaped Nazi Germany and joined Joseph in the US. Sol joined them there in 1939.
Tuning device used to set a musical pitch used by Isaac Ossowski, who, as a hazan [cantor], would lead the congregation in musical prayers. Rabbi Ossowski was a prominent member of the Jewish community in Berlin, Germany. He was head shochet [ritual slaughterer], mohel [practitioner of ritual circumcision], sofer [scribe], as well as hazan, at the Alte Shul [Old Synagogue]. After Hitler was appointed Chancellor in 1933, increasingly severe sanctions were enacted against Jews. Isaac was repeatedly questioned by the SS (Schutzstaffel; Protection Squadrons) who gathered intelligence on opponents of the Nazi state and policed racial purity. In 1934, he sent his youngest son, 14 year old Sally (Sol), to Lithuania to study at a yeshiva. In 1936, his sons, Joseph and Leo, left for the United States. In 1938, Isaac and his wife, Frida, and their daughter, Nettie, escaped Nazi Germany and joined Joseph in the US. Sol joined them there in 1939.