This Day, April 12, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin and Deb Levin Z’L
April 12
70(15th
of Nissan, 3830): According to some, the date on the civil calendar when Pesach
is observed for the last time before the destruction of the Second Temple.
240:
Shapur I whom the Talmud “referred to as King Shabur, who “had good relations
with the Jewish community and was a friend of Shmuel, one of the most famous of
the Babylonian Amoraim” began his reign as “the second shahanshah (king of
kings) of the Sasanian (Persian) Empire.”1204: During the Fourth Crusade,
Venetian and French crusaders seize Constantinople. The Crusades were a
disaster for much of the Jewish population of Europe. But the Jewish suffering
was really an offshoot of Christian enmity towards Muslims or, in the case,
hostility between two wings of Christianity and good old fashion commercial
greed.
685:
“The reign of the
Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik” during which Abi Isa “a self-proclaimed Jewish
prophet” preached his message in Persia, began today.
1451:
A Flemish scholar recorded his observation of the Jews of Fez (Morocco):
"Fez is divided in two parts. The Old City quite populous with about
50,000 families…The Jewish quarter is surrounded by its own walls.
Approximately 4,000 Jews dwell there...The more the sultan needs money, the
more they have to pay."
1454:
In the on-going struggle between Islam and Christianity John of Capistrano
called for a crusade against the Turks. Such a crusade was started in Cracow,
but never left the city. Over thirty Jews were killed and their homes
plundered. The crusade later expanded to include Posen and the surrounding
area.
1464(4th
of Iyar, 5224): Thirty Jews were killed in Cracow
1479:
The King of Portugal awarded Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who
relied on the services of Polish born Jew Yusuf Adil (Gaspar da Gama) when he
“discovered” Brazil, “an annual allowance worth 30,000 reais” today.
1577:
At Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark, King Frederick II of Denmark–Norway and
Sofie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin gave birth to King Christian IV of Denmark who
reversed a prohibition against Jews living in Denmark that dated back to
1536. He gave permission to a Jewish
merchant named Albert Dionis to settle in the newly founded city of Glückstadt.
More Jews followed and in 1628 their rights were formally recognized. By the time Christian passed away in 1648,
Jews could have their own cemeteries, hold religious services and enjoy the
protection of the civil law.
1585:
“Christian diplomat and classical scholar, Jacques Bongars,” a contemporary of Rabbi
Judah Loew ben Bezalel, better known as the Maharal of Prague “set out from
Vienna to Constantinople” today.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/maharal-of-prague-joanna-weinberg
1660(1st
of Iyar, 5420): Shabtai Horowitz, the son of Isaiah Horowitz and the cousin of
Shabtai Sheftel Horowitz whose works included Emek Berakah passed away today at
Vienna.
1687:
By the charter of James II, Dr. Fernando Moses Moses was created a fellow of
the College of Physicians to which he was admitted today, “but at the accession
of William and Mary his name was removed from the roll.”
1712(4th
of Nisan, 5472): Today as attempts to replace Tzvi Hirsch ben Yaakov Ashkenazi as
the “chief rabbi of the Ashkenazi congregation of Amsterdam” “the parnasim sent
a secretary and two attendants of the congregation to Ashkenazi to inform him
that upon the return of the letter of appointment eh would be paid the money to
which he was still entitled.”
1740(15th
of Nisan): Rabbi Simhon ben Joshua Moses Morforso author of Shemesh Zedakah
passed away.
1753:
In Laupheim, Germany, Bertha Bunle Levi and Abraham Weil gave birth to Elias
Weil, the husband of Wilhelmine Loevinger and the father of Abraham Elias Weil.
1754(20th
of Nisan, 5514) Sixth Day of Pesach
1754:
As the Jews munch on their matzoth, today the Pennsylvania Assembly informed
the Governor that they would not be voting any money “for the Kings use”
against the French (in what would later be called the French and Indian War)
and that the Assembly was adjourning until the 13th of May.
1755(1st
of Iyar, 5515): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1762(19th
of Nisan, 5522): Fifth Day of Pesach
1769:
“The Public Advertiser” attributed the origin of April Fool’s Day to the Jews
based on the story of Noah sending out the dove looking for dry land after the
flood.
1777:
Birthdate of Henry Clay who as a United States Senator, would lead the fight
against ratifying a treaty with the Swiss Confederation that discriminated
against Jewish Americans.
1778(15th
of Nisan, 5538): Pesach
1789(16th
of Nisan, 5549): Second Day of Pesach; first day of the Omer
1790:
In Bavaria, Sara Asscher and Gabriel Hirsch Benda gave birth to Seligmann
Benda.
1792(20th
of Nisan, 5552): Sixth Day of Pesach
1792:
Birthdate of Heimann (Chaim) Michael, the Hamburg native who gained fame as “a
Hebrew bibliographer.”
1793:
Today, “J. Throsby, a Leicester antiquarian” wrote an explanation of the origin
of the name of Jewry Wall in which he said, “As to its retaining the name Jewry
Wall, that might happen from the circumstances of the Jews, some centuries ago,
being compelled to live together in certain districts of every city in England:
in Leicester they might be compelled to live together in habitations, near this
wall, and Jew or Jewry might of course afterwards be added to Wall.”
1797(16th
of Nisan, 5557): Second Day of Pesach
1797:
On the same day that the Jews are celebrating a holiday commemorating their
freedom from bondage, today a discourse was delivered “at the request of and
before the New York Society for Promoting the Manumission of slaves and
protecting such of them as have been or may be liberated.”
1798:
Five weeks after French troops “overran Switzerland” leading to the collapse of
the Swiss Confederation, “121 cantonal deputies proclaimed the Helvetic
Republic which would resist French attempts to emancipate the Jews, "One
and Indivisible" today.
1800(17th
of Nisan, 5560): Third Day of Pesach; Shabbat Chol Hamoed Pesach
1800:
In Philadelphia, Rebecca Lyons and John Moss gave birth to Miriam Moss, the
wife of Henry Lazarus.
1803(20th
of Nisan, 5563): Sixth Day of Pesach
1804:
Birthdate of Abbe Lieberman.
1804:
In England, founding of the Shechita Board.
1806:
Birthdate of Amsterdam born French “numismatist and bibliographer” Henry Cohen.
http://www.virtualcohen.com/henry-cohen-s-work
1808(15th
of Nisan, 5568): Pesach is observed for the last time during the Presidency of
Thomas Jefferson,
1811(18th
of Nisan 5571): Fourth Day of Pesach
1819:
Birthdate of Alstrelitz, German native Daniel Sanders, who earned a doctorate
in 1843 after studying at the universities of Berlin and Halle and who served
as a school principle for ten years before pursuing a career as a German
grammarian and lexicographer
1824(14th
of Nisan, 5584): Ta’anit Bechorot; erev Pesach observed on the same day that
the New York State Legislature passe an act calling for a survey of Grand
Island which would be the site for Mordecai Manuel Noah proposed place of
refuge for Jews called “Ararat.”
1826:
Michael Abraham Gordon married Esther Benjamin today at the Great Synagogue.
1826:
Philip Minis, the son of Dinah Coen and Isaac Minis and the gradson of Judith
Pollock and Philip Minis “was
commissioned as an assistant surgeon in the United States Army” today eleven
years before he resigned from the service.
1827(15th
of Nisan, 5586): Pesach
1830(19th
of Nisan, 5590): Fifth Day of Pesach
1830:
Birthdate of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin native and Harvard trained Charles Chapman
who became the Episcopal Bishop of Fond du Lac who in 1903, as Russia was
rocked by waves of anti-Semitism, that at bottom the cause “of all Jewish
suffering in Russia” is the “crafty, wealth-getting spirit of Jacob.”
1831:
Twenty-three-year-old Julia Reuben, the “eldest daughter” of Jacob Reuben and
Leah Lyons was buried today at the “Canterbury Jewish Cemetery.”
1833,
In Copenhagen, a new synagogue built under the leadership of Rabbi Abraham
Alexander Wolff was dedicated today.
1836(9th
of Nisan, 5714: German poet Susskind Rascchkow whose works included an epic
poem on “The Life of Samson,” passed away today in Breslau.
1838(17th
of Nisan, 5598): Third Day of Pesach
1838:
In Wiesenbronn, Bavaria, Kela and Seligmann Baer (Dov) Bamberger gave birth to Rabbi
Moses Löb Bamberger
1838:
Today, in Georgia, "Benjamin Davis advertised in the Columbus Enquirer
that he had for sale 'Sixty Likely Virginia Negroes- House Servants, Field
Hands, Blow boys, Cooks, Washers, Ironers, and three first-rate
Seamstresses." The Davis family, who lived at Petersburg and Richmond,
Virginia, owned "the largest Jewish slave-trading firm in the South."
[This ad ran six days after the end of Pesach.]
1841(21st
of Nisan, 5601): Seventh Day of Pesach
1841:
Cecilia Samuels and London native Philip Joseph Salomons gave birth to Bertha
Salomons, the wife of Lionel Benjamin Cohen and mother of Florence Justina
Cohen
1843:
Jeanetta Mallan and Kent native Joseph Davis gave birth to Brenda Davis.
1845(5th
of Nisan, 5605): Parsahat Tazria read on the same day that negotiations between
the United States and the Republic resulted in a Treaty of Annexation with the
Republic of Texas, one of the milestones on the road to Texas being admitted to
the United States on December 29.
1845(5th
of Nisan, 5605): Sixty-six-year-old Simon Seev Hirsch, the Baden-Wurttemberg
born son of Chaja and Samuel Hirsch the husband of Leah Hirsch passed away
today.
1846(16h
of Nisan, 5606): Second Day of Pesach celebrated 13 days before the United
States and Mexico go to war over the boundary between Texas, which had just
joined the United States and Mexico, which used to own Texas.
1846:
In Charleston, SC, Fannie and Bendix Abraham Weinberg gave birth to Abram
Weinberg the husband of Lizetta M. Weinberg and Rosa Weinberg and father of
Mollie Rosenberg; Bertha Weinberg; Celia Hyman; Dr. Myer Aharon Weinberg; Jacob
Libbert Weinberg; Harry Washington Weinberg; Fannie May Want; Dr. David
Albertus Weinberg; Amelia Weinberg and Edith Rose Jacob
1847:
In Newburgh, NY, Prussian born American merchant and president of Congregation
Beth Jacob and English born Frances Frank gave birth to attorney Michael Henry
Hirschberg the Republican politician and New York State Supreme Justice who was
the husband Elizabeth McAlles with whom he had four children – Henry, Stuart,
Mary and David.
1849(20th
of Nisan, 5609) Sixth Day of Pesach
1849:
In New South Wales, Australia, Julia and Julia and Lewis Wolfe Levy gave birth
to Rebecca Cohen.
1850(30th
of Nisan, 5610): Rosh Chodesh Iyar observed for the last time during the
Presidency of Zachary Taylor, the second person to die in the White House and
the second former general to die in office.
1851:
Birthdate of Silesia native and Berlin trained pianist and composer Emil Liebling who settled in Chicago in the 1870’s and who
spent the rest of his career performing and composing the United States
https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2016/38/141356474_1454995451.jpg
1852:
Hannah Van Gelder and Philip Marcus Leuw, both natives of Holland, gave birth
to Levie Leuw.
1853:
During the Small Swords Society’s Uprising, formation of The Shanghai Volunteer
Corps, a part time military unit that would survive until 1942 and whose Jewish
members included Noel S. Jacobs and Mendel Brown. During the 1930’s Captain Brown commanded an
all Jewish Company in the Corps and Rabbi Brown, who has head of the Sephardic
community in Shanghai served as Chaplain.
1853:
In Amsterdam, Leah Nabarro and David Zacharias Baruch gave birth to Abraham
David Baruch.
1854(14th
of Nisan, 5614): Fast of the First Born; erev Pesach
1854(14th
of Nisan, 5614): David Pacifico, the merchant made famous in the Don Pacifico
Affair passed away today.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/pacifico-david
1856:
In Szathmar, Hungary, “Frank and Juliane (Fogel) Guth” gave birth to Hungarian
trained American Rabbi Benjamin Baruch Guth, “the founder of the Jewish Center
of East Side and member of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States
and Canada who was the husband of the former Jennette Roth.
1857(18th
of Nisan, 5617): Fourth Day of Pesach
1857:
Birthdate of Hannah Weil, the wife of whiskey dealer Isaac Weil and the mother
of Jonas, Benjamin, Charles, Caroline, Herman and one
unnamed infant girl who died at birth.
1859:
Sir Moses Montefiore was informed today that the Pope has refused to enter into
any discussion concerning Edgar Mortara and he considered what has become known
as the Mortara Affair to be “a closed question.”
1860:
Birthdate of Russian born German gynecologist Julius Schottlander who was
appointed assistant professor at Heidelberg University in 1897.
1860:
In Crefeld, Germany, Albert and Henrietta (Davis) Cohnfeldt gave birth to
Adeline Cohnfeldt who moved to England before settling in the United States
where she became Adeline Cohnfeld Lust when she married Phillip G. Lust with
whom she moved to Chicago and had two children while becoming “part of the
increasing number of female journalists in the United States in the early
twentieth century who defied gender norms by pursuing careers in publishing and
developing new newspaper genres.”
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/lust-adeline-cohnfeldt
1861:
Confederate batteries fired on Fort Sumter marking the start of the Civil War.
Confederate forces would include the five Moses brothers from South Carolina,
the six Cohen brothers from North Carolina, the three Levy brothers from
Virginia and the three Levy brothers from Louisiana as well as a Mississippian
named Max Ullman who later became a rabbi in Birmingham, Alabama, David Camden
de Leon who was the C.S.A.’s surgeon-general and Levi Meyers Harby the naval
officer who commanded the defenses of Galveston Harbor and served as skipper of
the CSS Neptune.
1861:
As Confederate batteries open fire on Fort Sumter, Major Alfred Mordecai,
"a senior officer in the Ordnance Department of the United States was
testing artillery carriages at Fort Monroe, Virginia." Mordecai was the most prominent Jew serving
in the United States Army. He was
well-regarded for his professional skill and integrity. But Mordecai was a native Southerner and the
Confederates would attempt to get him to join their cause. After much soul searching, Mordecai would
resign from the U.S. Army but would refuse to join the Confederates. His son had no such qualms and served
gallantly with the Union Army.
1861:
Future Medal of Honor winner Private Benjamin B. Levy enlisted in the 1st
New York Infantry at New York City.
1862(12th of Nisan, 5622): Shabbat HaGadol
1862: In a published speech delivered in Berlin
Ferdinand “Lassalle assigned primacy in society to the press over the state
itself in the aftermath of the 1848 revolution – an assertion regarded as
dangerous by the Prussian censorship. The entire print run of 3000 copies of
the pamphlet of Lassalle's speech was seized by the authorities, who issued a
legal charge against Lassalle for allegedly endangering the public peace.”
1863(23rd of Nisan): Hebrew poet
Suskind Raschkow passed away today.
1863(23rd of Nisan): Dr. Julius
Barrasch who in 1840 collaborated on a translation and comment on the “Eumunot”
passed away in Bucharest
1864: “Max Glass, an Austrian immigrant and
volunteer in the Union Army appealed to Major General Benjamin Butler to clear
him of charges of desertion.” Glass had
been the victim of anti-Semitic abuse and had only left his unit so that he go
to the army’s headquarters to get redress for his grievances. There must have been some merit to his claim
since Butler, who was no friend of the Jews, cleared him of the charges that
could have meant his death but ordered him back to the regiment. (As reported
by Abraham Bloch)
1865(16th of Nisan, 5625): Second
Day of Pesach
1865: Private Louis Leon, who was a Rebel
soldier being held at Elmira, NY following his capture 11 months ago “heard
that Lee had surrendered” at Appomattox.
He joined 400 of his fellow prisoners in taking the oath of allegiance
thus gaining his release today, which included transportation back to North
Carolina.
1866: Joshua Poland, the husband of Esther
Isaacs with whom he had had ten children was buried today at the “West Ham
Jewish Cemetery.”
1867: “La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein” a
Jacques Offenbach operetta with a libretto co-authored by Ludovic Halévy was performed for the first
time at the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris
1867: Seventy-five-year-old Ann Joseph, the “youngest daughter of the
late Nathan and Esther Joseph” was buried today at the West Ham Jewish
Cemetery.
1868(20th of Nisan, 5628): Sixth Day of Pesach
1868(In London, Sarah Kraijsman and David Colski, both natives of Kolo,
Poland gave birth to Meyer Colski.
1869(1st of Iyar, 5629): Rosh Chodesh Iyar observed for the
first time during the Presidency of U.S. Grant.
1870: The deed conveying one acre of land for a Jewish burial ground
belonging to Asche Chesed, a Reform congregation in La Crosse, WI was recorded
today.
1871: In Brooklyn, Barnett Phillips, the Philadelphia born son of “Isaac
and Sarah Phillips” and his wife Josephine gave birth to Annabella Phillips who
became Annabella Winnemore when she married Augustine Edward Winnemore.
1872: It was reported today that Rowland
Davies, the only surviving founder of the Hebrew Benevolent Orphan Asylum
Society, attended last night’s 50th anniversary celebration held at
the Academy of Music.
1873(15th
of Nisan, 5633): Pesach
1875:
Birthdate of Giorgio Polacco, the native of Venice who became “the conductor of
the Metropolitan Opera from 1915 to 1917 and the Chicago Civic Opera from 1921
to 1930.”
https://www.operamusica.com/artist/giorgio-polacco/#biography
1879:
The St. Louis Republican described the case brought by Edward Burgess
again “Joseph Seligman & Co., eminent bankers of New York City.”
1879(19th
of Nisan, 5639): Shabbat shel Pesach (5th day of Passover)
1879(19th
of Nisan, 5639): Less than a month before his 68th birthday
Hungarian born poet Karl Isidore Beck, the Austrian poet and playwright whose
works included the “tragic play ‘Saul’” and who was active in the Revolutions
of 1848 passed away today in “a suburb Vienna.”
1879(19th
of Nisan, 5639): Eighty-two year old Philadelphia born Ophthalmologist Isaac
Hays, a founder of the American Medical Association whose marriage to Sarah
“Sally” Minis joined a prominent Jewish Savanah family with a prominent Gratz family of Pennsylvania.
1880(1st
of Iyar, 5640): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/isaac-siegel
1880:
Acting on behalf of the “Union of American Hebrew Congregations,” A.C Solomon
and Simon Wolf requested the Secretary of State investigate the reports of the
suffering that Russian Jews are enduring and to intervene on their behalf with
the Czar’s government.
1881:
It was reported today that the ball sponsored by the Purim Association raised
$18,817.24 which is earmarked for the building fund of the Hebrew Orphan
Asylum.
1882:
Several Jews were “severely wounded” and one was killed during a riot in
Dubosarif, Russia.
1884(17th of Nisan, 5644): Shabbat Shel
Pesach
1884: Birthdate of German born psychologist and
biochemist Otto Meyerhof who won the Nobel Prize in 1922.
1885:
In Louisville, KY, Rosa and Jacob A. Flexner gave birth to Bryn Mawr graduate
and University of Michigan trained writer the husband of Wyncie King who was a
member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Poetry Society of America.
1887(18th
of Nisan, 5647): Fourth Day of Pesach
1887:
In New York, Charles and Julia Minzheimer Davis gave birth of Aline Julia Davis
who gained fame as Aline Julia Davis, was an American clothing designer,
textile manufacturer, and arts promoter, president of the League of Women
Shoppers, a pro-labor consumers' rights organization.
1888:
Birthdate of restaurant owner Samuel Feld, the husband of the former Edna
Rosenfeld and the father of actor Normal Fell.
1889:
In Chicago, Rosa Flora Eisendrath, the German born daughter of Moses Samson
Eisendrath and Bertha Braunchen Eisendrath and her husband Emanuel Raphael Weil
gave birth to Mildred Rachel Weil, the wife of Alfred Stern and the mother of
Robert, Richard and Alfred LW Stern
1890(22nd
of Nisan, 5650): 8th day of Pesach
1890:
It was reported today that during the month of March, the United Hebrew
Charities had provided aid in the amount of $3,677.50 835 families with a total
population of 3,589 people. This was in addition to the items such as shoes,
coal, clothing, medicine and food that it had given to its existing case load
which had grown by another 1,306 people during the last month.
1890:
It was reported today of the most recent 2,186 Jewish immigrants to register at
Castle Garden, 1,507 had stayed in New York.
1891:
In McKeesport, PA, “Morris David and Josephine (Solosky) Weis gave birth HUC
trained rabbi Max J. Weis who led Temple Israel in Gary and the Free Synagogue
in Washington Heights and served as the “Secretary of the American Committee of
the Palestine Exploration Society while writing Great Men Israel and raising
his daughter Minnetta with his wife Estelle M. Sternberger Weis.
1891:
In McKeesport, Pa, Morris David and Josephine (Solosy) Weis gave birth
University of Cincinnati graduate and HUC trained rabbi, J. Max Weis who began
his career at Temple Israel in Gary, IN and became the secretary of the
American Pro-Falasha Committee and secretary of he American Jewish Palestine
Exploration Society while writing Great Men in Israel.
1891:
“The World’s Approaching End” published provides the calculations ‘of Lt.
Charles A. L. Totten the military instructor at Yale who already discovered
“the exact day of the long day” described in the book of Joshua proving “that
the end of the world will come in March, 1899.”
1892(15th
Nisan, 5652): Jews observe the last Pesach before what will become the Great
Depression of the 1890’s
1892:
In Stettin Germany, Clara and Simon Schein Karger gave birth to Gerda Karger
who became Gerda Lissner when she married Herman Lissner
1892:
The New York Court of Appeals ruled that the North American Relief Society is
not entitled to $50,000 under the terms of the will of the late Sampson
Simpson.
1894:
Among the 5,000 children attending today’s performance of Barnum and Bailey’s
Great Show at Madison Square Garden were those in the care of the Hebrew
Sheltering Guardian Society and the Hebrew Instituted
1894:
Birthdate of Max Neuman one of the Jewish soldiers from Kleinsteinach who was
killed in WW I while fighting for the Kaiser.
1895:
The celebration of 50th anniversary of Temple Emanu-El began this
evening at 5 pm with the regular Friday Night Services featuring a special
sermon Rabbi Gustav Gottheil entitled “Stretching Out of his Wings Through the
Breadth of the Land.”
1895: Tragedy struck the family of Mrs. Eva
Abrahams today during Chol HaMoed Pesach.
While preparing breakfast this morning, she accidently poured oil on her
dress which then caught fire. As the
flames filled the tenement, Mrs. Abrahams picked up her sleeping two-week-old
baby and rushed out into the hall where she gave the baby to a neighbor. Then she went back into the burning room and
carried out her sleeping two-year-old son.
Mrs. Abrahams was badly burned.
She is now lying in a bed at Gouverneur Hospital “at the point of
death.”
1895:
It was reported today that the residue of a trust fund the late Michael
Stachelberg created for his sister Felicia Davidson will, after she dies, be
equally divided among the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society, the Home
for Aged and Infirm Hebrews, the Mount Sinai Hospital, the Montefiore Home for
Chronic Invalids and the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society
1896:
The Hebrew Charity Hospital was among those organizations that will benefit
from tonight’s competition between various musical and athletic clubs being
held at the Grand Central Palace on Lexington Avenue.
1896:
The Hebrew Infant Asylum received over one thousand dollars from that the Young
Folks’ League had raised at its first benefit performance in New York.
1898:
One had after she had passed away, 27 year old Rosie Topper was buried at the
“Plashet Jewish Cemetery” in London.
1898:
Three days after she had passed away, 35-year-old Rose Myers, the wife of
Solomon Myers was buried at the “Plashet Jewish Cemetery” in London.
1899:
Dr. Lee Frankel of Philadelphia has accepted the position of manager of the
United Hebrew Charities. The position
has been vacant since February when N.S. Rosenau was forced to resign because
of his health.
1899:
Birthdate of Riverside, CA native and University of California, Berkley trained
entomologist Abe Ezra Michelbacher the husband of bacteriologist Martha Meyer,
who became a full professor of Entomology in 1956, a position he held until his
retirement in 1960.
https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/auth_per_fbr_eacp219
1899(2nd
of Iyar, 5669): Eighty-eight-year-old Hebrew poet Abraham Baer Gottlober passed
away
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6830-gottlober-abraham-baer
1900:
Eli Winkler the Cincinnati born son of Bertha Hess and Isaac Winkler, the
co-founder and chairman of the board of the United States Alkali Export
Association in New York married Selma Einstein today.
1900:
“Readers Send $200 to Hasten Cataloguing in Semitic Department” published today
reported that “ever since the influx of Jews from Russia some years ago there
have been many rabbis who frequented” the New York Public Library “a great
deal” making the Semitic department one of the most used departments in the
library especially since Jacob Schiff gave ten thousand dollars for the
purchase of more books for the department which has led some readers to
contribute two hundred dollars as a sign of appreciation for the effort of the
library authorities.
1901:
It was reported today that Assemblyman Julius Harburger has “introduced a bill
in the New York Assembly incorporating the Federation of American Zionists with
its principal office in New York City whose “objects…are to foster the national
idea of Israel, to cooperate with other Zionist Societies in their endeavor to
obtain for the Jewish nation a legally assured home in Palestine; to united all
Zionist societies of the United States; to act as the medium of communication
between the Zionist congress through its central committee and the Zionist
societies of the United States; to foster the knowledge of Hebrew as a living
language; to publish periodical publications for the furtherance of the cause
of Zionism” and whose “incorporators are I. H. Gottheil, Gustav Gottheil, H.
Pereira Mendes, Aaron Friedwald, Morris Jastrow, Benjamin Levnthal, Isidor
Myers, Kasryel H. Sarasohn and Isidor D. Morisson
1902(5th
of Nisan, 5662): Parashat Taria
1902(5th
of Nisan, 5662): Sigmond Stern passed away today in New York.
1903(15th
of Nisan, 5663): Pesach
1903: In Portland, Oregon, Rabbi Stephen Wise and
Louise Waterman Wise gave birth to distinguished Family Court judge and children's
advocate Justine Wise Polier.
1903
(15th of Nisan, 5663): The New York Times reported that “at sundown last
evening in the homes of all orthodox Jews the beginning of the Passover was
celebrated. In the southern section of
the city, east of the Bowery, all signs of commercial activit ceased and the
Jewish families gather in their homes to eat the paschal lamb and hear the
elders read the story of the deliverance from bondage.”
1903:
Birthdate of Horace R. Clayton, Jr the American sociologist on whom Lore Segal
based her character “Carter Bayoux” in the award winning novel Her First
American.
1904:
This evening Rabbi B.A. Elzas officiated at the wedding Philadelphian Albert
Luria Moise and South Carolinian Eva May Nathans.
1905:
It was reported today that Solomon Rosenblatt, through attorney Isadore M. Levy
has bought “the lot 25 by 100 with bricking building at 41 Lorillard Place.
1906(17th
of Nisan, 5666): Third Day of Pesach
1906:
“Defends Jews In Congress” published today described a pre-Easter speech by
Representative Allan L. McDermott of New Jersey on the Crucifixion of Christ
which “was a defense of the Jews against the charge of having killed the
Messiah” in which he said that “the statement that Jesus Christ was crucified
by the Jewish National is the wickedest falsehood that ever fell from human
lips” and that “with the approach of Easter come the stories of the threatened
massacres in Russia” by “savage bigots.”
1906:
Boruch (Boris) Perel and Tsilya Perel gave birth to Naum Perel, the husband of
Evgeniya Perel with whom he had two children.
1907:
In Rumania, the Prefect responded to a request by the Jews in the Jassy
district for protection from anti-Semitic attacks by declaring that he was
powerless to “protect the Jews” and he advised to emigrate before they were
expelled by force by the peasants.”
1908:
Fifty-seven-year-old Charles Adelle Lewis Totten a West Point graduate and
Professor at Yale, who among other things, supported Jewish settlement in
Palestine in the 1890’s before Herzl and Zionism passed away today
1908:
In Philadelphia, 1936: University of Pennsylvania trained attorney and future
Justice of the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court, Horace Stern, the Philadelphia
born son of Morris and Matilde Stern and his wife Henrietta Stern gave birth to
Sophie Stern, who became Sophie Friendly when she married Henry Friendly.
1908:
Friends and members of the Free Synagogue celebrated the first anniversary of
its founding at its place of worship on 81st Street between Columbus
and Amsterdam Avenues.
1909:
Today, the Bar-Giora leadership decided at a meeting in Kfar Tavor to disband
their organization and create a larger one, Hashomer
1909:
Theodore de Lemos the architect who designed the Kuhn, Loeb & Co. Bank
Building at 27 Pine Street and Macy’s Herald Square department store passed
away today.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E03E7D81731E733A25751C1A9629C946897D6CF
1909:
“The young Jewish composers of St.Petersburg heard for the first time Joel
Engels's artistic arrangements of Jewish folksongs [...] and were greatly
surprised that such cultural and national value could result from such an
enterprise. This concert stimulated the young Petersburg composers in the
following period to the creation and performance of a whole series of Jewish
song settings.
1910:
It was reported today that “the attitude of” the United States government “on
the Jewish passport question has aroused a good deal of indignation am the
…Jews” since Herman Bernstein has in his possession correspondence from several
prominent Russians saying that Secretary of State Knox was “mistaken” what he
wrote to President Taft about the “amelioration of the conditions Jews” and
“that the position of the Jews in Russia has never been worse that it is
today.”
1911(14th
of Nisan, 5671): This evening, the Young Men’s Hebrew Association will host a
public seder in New York and “special services” will be held for the Jewish
immigrants currently detained at Ellis Island.
1912:
Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Straus arrived in London after visiting Palestine. However, they arrived too late to join his
brother and sister-in-law – Isidor and Ida Straus – for the return voyage to
the United States. The ship carrying
Isidor and his wife had sailed from Southampton on April 10. Their ship was the SS Titanic. Nathan had
been delayed because he had spent extra time helping to provide for the Jewish
community in Eretz Israel.
1912:
In Paris, Republicans and Socialists began “a campaign against Jewish
immigrants.”
1912:
Birthdate of David Ginsburg, “a liberal lawyer and longtime Washington insider
who helped found the Americans for Democratic Action and led the presidential
commission on race relations whose report, in 1968, warned that the United
States was 'moving toward two societies — one black, one white, separate and
unequal’.
1912:
“Jewish reservists and Jewish veterans of the Russo-Turkish and Russo-Japanese
wars asked the permission of the Minister the Interior to hold a conference to
protest against attacks on Jewish conscripts and to obtain the right of
residence for all Jewish who have served in the army.”
1912:
Management of the “Jewish Burial Society of Odessa was restored to the Jewish
community.”
1912:
In the Duma, deputies demanded “the exclusion of Jews from the press and
printing trades.”
1912:
“The Council of the Jewish Community of Rome elected Dr. Angelo Sacerdoti to
the position of Chief Rabbi
1912:
At the University of Berlin, Max Liebermann was “elected Senator of the
Academy.”
1912:
King George V appointed Lord Michelham (Sir Herbert Stern) Knight Commander of
the Royal Victorian Order.
1912(25th
of Nisan, 5672): Seventy-three-year-old New York City merchant Julius Wile
passed away today.
1912(25th
of Nisan, 5672): Fifty-one-year-old Omaha, Nebraska engineer Samuel Katz passed
away today.
1912:
The King of Italy appointed “Elio Melli, the President of the Provincial
Council of Ferrara” to serve as “Commander of the Order of the Italian Crown.”
1912(25th
of Nisan, 5672): Fifty-year old New York City attorney Moses Weinman passed
away today.
1912:
“Thirty-five Jewish merchants in Paterson, NJ, petitioned the Board of Alderman
to amend the Sunday Closing Law so as to exempt merchants who observe the
Jewish Sabbath.”
1912:
Birthdate of Elinor Sophia Coleman, who as Elinor Guggenheimer, the wife of
Ralph Guggenheimer became an advocate for women, children and the elderly. (As
reported by Douglas Martin)
1912(25th
of Nisan, 5672): Eighty-seven-year-old Rabbi Tobias Lipschuta passed away at
Brzesko, Galicia.
1913(5th
of Nisan, 5673): Parashat Metzora
1913(5th
of Nisan, 5673): Seventy-one-year-old Rose Lowenberg, the New York born daughter
of Moses S. Cohen and Elizabeth Cohen, the wife of Solomon Henry Lowenberg and
mother of Henry Eger Lowenberg; Bessie E. Falk; Lily Jacobson and Alfred
Lowenberg passed away today.
1913:
It was reported today that immigration officials are saying “that this year so
far the number of aliens arriving” at the port of New York “is greatly in
excess of the figurers for the corresponding period of last year.”
1913:
In Philadelphia, Frank and Elsie Pfaelzer gave birth to Morris Pfaelzer the
University of Pennsylvania law school graduate, husband of Marjorie Lesser and
WW II Navy veteran who practiced law in California after the war, lectured at
the University of Southern Californian Law School
1914:
In Laupheim, Germany, Paula (Stern) Bergmann and Max Bergmann gave birth to
Gretel Bergmann who gained fame as high jumper Margaret Bergmann-Lambert
1914“Art
Notes,” published today described an illustrated article by Ella Mielziner in
the American Hebrew that describes the treatment of Passover by a
variety of artists ranging from the Renaissance masters of the Florentine and
Venetian schools to modern painters including Alma Tadema and Sir Frederick
Leighton
1915:
“The next meeting of the Chicago Rabbinical Association” is scheduled to be
held this morning at the Stratford Hotel.
1915:
“The Clemenceau Case,” a silent film starring Theda Bara (Theodosia Burr
Goodman, the daughter of “Bernard Goodman, a prosperous Jewish tailor from
Poland) was released today in the United States.
1915:
President Woodrow Wilson wrote to Simon Wolf reassuring him that when the
United States “negotiated a new treaty with Russia we shall not be forgetful of
the very important matter” (securing full rights for the Jews of Russia) “to
which you call my attention.
1915:
Birthdate of Milwaukee native Isadore Perlman the award-winning nuclear chemist
who, among other accomplishments, worked on the Manhattan Project and served on
the faculty of Hebrew University
1916:
It was said today at the offices of the Industrial Department of the United
Hebrew Charities “that with the aid movements such as Bundle Day” which was
begun by Ben Altheimer of St. Louis in 1914 and is now under the direction of
William Hirsch “it would be possible to provide adequate relief for many poor
families, as a system had been developed under which material of all kinds
could be converted into money.
1916:
Birthdate of Netherland native Abraham Dubious the decorated member of the
Dutch resistance in WWII
http://www.screamingeagles.nl/duboisextra.htm
1917(20th
of Nisan, 5677): Sixth day of Pesach
1917(20th
of Nisan, 5677): Lt. Louis Hemeret, an aviator, was killed today.
1917(20th
of Nisan, 5677): Second Lieutenant Gerard von Brock was killed during in WW I.
1917:
“Jewish deputies call the government’s attention to the growth of “anti-Semitic
agitation and anti-Semitic riots in Galicia.”
1917:
American Jews are being asked to contribute to a fund started today of which
Jacob H. Schiff is the temporary treasurer, “to present a copy of the Statue of
Liberty to the free people of Russia” as first proposed by Herman Bernstein,
the editor of The American Hebrew.
1917:
“The Polish press” accused “the German Government of disseminating antagonism
between Poles and Jews to secure support of the Jews for the” plan to separate
the Ukraine from Russia.
1918:
In Budapest, Leo Luntshi celebrated his 50th birthday by donating a
million and a quarter crowns for the establishment of a sanitarium for
Hungarian war orphans.
1918(30th
of Nisan, 5678): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1918:
It was reported today that the United Hebrew Trades “which represents more than
200,000 Jewish workers” in the New York metropolitan area and the Retail
Clothing Salesman under the leadership of President Louis Schradnik are two of
the Jewish organizations, along with a number of Jewish actors, taking the lead
in raising funds for the latest Liberty Loan Drive.
1919(12th
of Nisan, 5679): Parashat Metzora; Shabbat HaGadol
1919:
Rabbi Silverman is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “How Can One Become
Religious” at Sabbath services at Temple Eamanu-El.
1919:
Rabbi Samuel Schulman is scheduled to deliver the sermon at Sabbath services
this morning at Beth El Temple.
1919:
“The Great Sabbath” is scheduled to be observed this morning at Temple Israel
of Harlem.
1919:
Playwright and WW I veteran Ernst Toller ended his six day presidency of the
Bavarian Soviet Republic.
1920(24th
of Nisan, 5680): “Moncia Bauer” passed away today in Cincinnati, Ohio.
1920:
The National Conference of Jewish Social Service opened today at the Hotel
Grunewald in New Orleans, LA.
1920(24th
of Nisan, 5680): Moncis Bauer passed away today in Cincinnati
1920:
The Twelfth Conference of the Bund, the Jewish labor organization opened today
in Gomel.
1920:
Two days after he had passed away, Joseph Myers, the son of Myer Myers and the
husband of Clara Myers was buried today at the “Belfast Jewish Cemetery” in
Northern Ireland.
1921:
Birthdate of Hans Steinbrück one of the Ehrenfeld anti-Nazi resistance Group
who was hanged in November of 1944.
1921:
In Philadelphia, PA, the former Ruth Miriam Steinbach and Lester Gans
Steppacher gave birth to Ruth Steinbach Steppacher who became Ruther Steinbach Affelder when she
married Cleveland, OH native Lewis Jacob Affelder.
1922:
In Camden, NJ, the first issue of the “Beth-Elite,” the newsletter of
Congregation Beth El appeared just before Pesach.
1922(14th
of Nisan, 5682): Passover services begin at 7 p.m. at Congregation Beth-El in
Camden, New Jersey.
1923:
“A protest against the Soviet attack on religion has been signed by the
Archbishops of the Church of England, Cardinal Bourne and the leaders of all
religious bodies England, including the Chief Rabbi and the head of the
Salvation Army.”
1923:
“Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, this afternoon
attacked the American Fund for Public Service, Inc., an institution controlling
$800,000 of the fortune bequeathed to Charles Garland of Boston, by his father,
as serving to bring together through its trustees an "interlocking
network" of fifty or more "pacifist and revolutionary organizations
of a more or less extreme character."
1923:
“According to Government figures just make public, 1,100 Jewish immigrants
arrived in Palestine in March” and that while most of “the immigrants came as
families,” about one fourth of them came alone.
1924(8th
of Nisan, 5684): Parashat Metzora; Shabbat HaGadol
1924:
Dr. Herbert S. Goldstein, the rabbi of the Institutional Synagogue and
president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations announced today that “
a storeroom will be rented in lower Broadway by the Union where religious
services will held daily” and that “these services will begin each after at
12:30 and will be repeated every hour thereafter until the evening service.”
1924:
“Mankind's struggle to establish the freedom of labor has been accomplished,
but we have still to establish its dignity, Secretary of Labor James J. Davis
said tonight in a telegram addressed to the Alumni of the Hebrew Technical
Institute and read at its fortieth anniversary dinner at the Hotel Astor.”
1925)18th
of Nisan, 5685): Fourth Day of Pesach
1925:
U.S. premiere of “Dangerous Innocence,” a silent film produced by Carl Laemmle,
with a script co-authored by Lewis Milestone and filmed by cinematographer
Richard Fryer.
1925:
“The Wife of Forty Years” directed, produced and written by Richard Oswald and
co-starring Sig Arno was released in Germany today.
1926:
Will Rogers sent a check in the amount of $2,500, which represented the
proceeds from his last concert at Carnegie Hall “as his contribution to the
United Jewish Campaign of New York, chaired by William Fox.
1927:
Birthdate of London native, Barbara Mankowitz, the daughter of Russian Jewish
immigrants and the sister of actor Wolf Mankowitz with whom she opened a shop
that led to her being a driving force in the trade of China, including Spode
and Wedgewood.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1407713/Barbara-Mankowitz.html
1927:
Ernest Katz, Vice President of R.H. Macy & CO presided over a dinner at the
Centre where a group of “old timers” pledged $40,000 toward the $1,500,000 fund
being raised for the new Y.M.H.A. building on 92nd Street.
1928(22nd
of Nisan, 5688): Observance of the 8th day of Pesach for the last
time during the Presidency of Calvin Coolidge.
1929:
Yehudi Menuhin
was soloist with
Bruno Walter and the Berlin Philharmonic in a daunting program of concertos by
Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms.’
1930(14th
of Nisan, 5690): Parashat Tzav; Shabbat HaGadol; erev Pesach observed for the
first time during “The Great Depression.”
1931(24th
of Nisan, 5691): Parashat Shmini
1931:
It was reported today that while addressing a dinner given in his honor at the
Savoy Hotel in London, former P.M. David Lloyd George said “that his faith in
the Jewish national home was even stronger than eleven years ago when his
Government took over the British mandate for Palestine” and “emphasize the
historic right of the Jewish people to re-erect Jewish life as a separate
people should not be neglected now because later it may be too late.”
1931:
In Budapest, “police investigations revealed that the fatal shooting on April 4
in the chief synagogue” in Budapest “was not the unpremeditated act of a maniac
but was the result of a deliberate anti-Semitic plot.”
1931:
“Mr. Salten’s Tale of Samson and Delilah” published today provides a review
Samson and Delilah by Felix Salten, the grandson of an orthodox who is best
known as the author of Bambi and translated by Whittaker Chambers, who would
gain during the Red Scare of the 1950”
in which the reviewer says that “Mr. Salten has taken a charming liberty
with his Bible” by portraying Deliah as a “sympathetic” character “who is no
more than an innocent agent of his betrayal.”
1932:
In Chicago, Jewish immigrants “Molly(Singer) and Harold Gelber” gave birth to
playwright Jack Gelber.
https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/10/theater/jack-gelber-71-connection-playwright.html
1932:
“Grand Hotel” based on a play by Vicki Baum and produced by Irving Thalberg was
released in the United States today.
1933(16th of Nisan, 5693): Second Day of
Pesach
1933(16th of Nisan, 5693): Max Hassel and
Max Greenberg, “two associates of Irving ‘Waxey’ Gordon in the beer business”
were murdered today in Union County, NJ.
https://www.berkshistory.org/multimedia/articles/beer-baron-max-hassel/
1934(27th of Nisan, 5694):
Seventy-six-year-old Lena Sternberger Eckhouse, the wife of Sigmund Eckhouse
whom she married in 1876 and mother of Jane, Elmer, Daisy and Solomon Eckhouse
passed away today in Newark, NJ after which she was buried at the Congregation
B’Nai Jeshurun Cemetery in Elizabeth, NJ.
1934(27th of Nisan, 5694):
Sixty-six-year-old real estate mogul J. Clarence Davis, the New York born son
of David Davies, “the owner of the Washington Rubber Company” and the former
Maria Phillips who was “vice president of the West End Synagogue, director of
the Bronx YMHA and patron of the arts who donated his collection the Museum of
the City of New York passed away today.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/23135026?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
https://collections.mcny.org/Gallery/24UAKVNRBJ
1935: Germany prohibited publishing
"not-Arian" writers.
1935:
The office of the High Commissioner of Palestine announced “a new law
empowering the municipalities to fix a weekly day of rest. The law as fixed by each municipality will
govern all the inhabitants of that town. The basis of the new ordinance is a
by-law drafted by the municipality of Tel Aviv which defines Saturday as the
city’s day of rest.”
1936:
Reverend Philip J. Furlong, vice president of St Patrick’s Cathedral College,
Reverend Dr. W. Russell Bowie, rector of Grace Episcopal Church and R. Abraham
L. Feinberg, rabbi of Mouth Neboh Temple “spoke over WOR in a program sponsored
by the National Committee for Religion and Welfare Recovery” where they issued
“a joint plea for the ‘religious co-operation’ of the principle faiths of the
world in a united front against persecution intolerance and hatred” as part of
the “observance of Easter and Passover.”
1936: Róża (The Rose) a historical film with
a script co-authored by Anatol Stern was released in Poland today.
1936(20th
of Nisan, 5696): Sixth Day of Pesach
1936:
“The Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada made public a
message” today “to American Jews” which should be offered at tomorrow’s
Passover service praying for “the three and half million Jews in Poland who are
waging a desperate struggle with the danger of extinction.
1936:
It was announced today that “Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, Dr. Israel Goldstein,
Maurice Levin, Louis Lipsky and Morris Rothen will speak at Passover services
throughout New York tomorrow on behalf of the United Palestine Appeal which is
seeking to raise $1,500,000 to go towards reaching the national goal of $3,
500,000.
1937:
Dr. Pereira Mendes, the rabbi Emeritus of the old Spanish and Portuguese
Synagogue celebrated his 85th birthday.
1937:
As the Nazi power continues to rise, it was reported today the Rabbi Joachim
Prinz of Berlin has said “Whatever the bitter portion, Jews everywhere must
lift up the cup of experience and in accordance with the ancient sanctification
ceremony add the words, ‘New Life, New Strength, New Hope’” and that “in the
land of Palestine the Jewish people can gain a fresh grasp on the values of the
Jewish spirit.”
1938:
The Polish steamer Polonia lands 250 passengers at Tel Aviv, making it the
second ship to use the world’s first “Jewish port.”
1939:
Birthdate of Ilan Chet, the native of Haifa who became a noted microbiologist
and professor at Hebrew University.
1939:
In New York City, “Johanna (Papiermeister), a jeweler, and Morton Hoffman, a
caterer” gave birth to playwright William M. Hoffman.
1940(4th
of Nisan, 5700): Seventy-two-year-old Cincinnati, OH native and Medical College
of Ohio trained surgeon Simon P. Kramer who served in both the Spanish American
War and WW II and was a Professor of the Principles of Surgery at the
University of Cincinnati passed away today after which he buried in Arlington
Cemetery.
1940:
After having premiered in February, “The House of the Seven Gables” the movie
version of the novel of the same name directed by Joe May, with a screenplay by
Lester Cole was released in the United States today.
1941(15th
of Nisan, 5701): First Day of the last Pesach before the United States enters
World War II.
1941(15th
of Nisan, 5701): On Shabbat the first Bar Mitzvah took place in Iceland.
1941(15th of Nisan, 5701): As German troops
entered Belgrade, Yugoslavia, a Jewish tailor who spit on the arriving troops
was shot dead. Jewish shops and homes in Belgrade were ransacked by both German
soldiers and resident Germans
1941: The
Germans announced publicly that anyone caught leaving the Lodz Ghetto would be
shot.
1941:
“Hungarian forces entered Novi-Sad and immediately began terrorizing the Jewish
and Serbian residents. Men between the ages of 16-65 were enlisted in labor
battalions, some of which were sent to the front, primarily in the Ukraine,
where they were forced to clear land mines, most of them dying in the process.”
(As reported by Yad VaShem)
1941:
Today, as part of the second Aufbaukommndo, Fritz Weiss was among a thousand
people transported from Prague to Theresienstadt where he stayed alive thanks
to his ability to put on musicals and “collaborate with orchestras outside the
camp.”
1942:
To maintain the deception that all was well and to better control the
population, 115,000 of the Jews remaining in Lodz ghetto were told that
the 100,000 Jews already deported (and in actuality gassed in
Chelmno), were safe and staying in a camp near Warthburcken. Kolo was
actually the town near Chelmno.
1942(25th
of Nisan, 5702): Ninety year old Austrian author and jurist Marco Brociner, the
brother of Joseph, Maurice and Adnrei Brociner died today while being held in a
ghetto at Vienna by the Nazis
1942:
Final performance of Banjo Eyes, a two-act comedy starring Eddie Cantor that
had opened on Christmas Day, 1941
1943:
In New York real estate investor Seymour Durst and his wife Bernice Herstein
gave birth to Robert Durst, the brother of Douglas, Thomas and Wendy Durst, who
gained notoriety for his alleged involvement in the death of his wife and a
close friend.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/10/obituaries/robert-durst-dead.html
1943:
An Anglo-American Conference opens in Bermuda.
The conference was supposed to come up with ways of saving European
refugees (in reality the Jews of Europe).
During the 12 days of meetings it became obvious that the Foreign Office
and the State Department would do nothing including relaxing immigration quotas
or opening Palestine to Jewish immigrants.
1944:
‘Who has made us Jews different to all other people? Who has allowed us to
suffer so terribly up till now? It is God that has made us as we are, but it
will be God, too, who will raise us up again. . ." From the daily entry of
the Diary of Anne Frank
1944: Lillian Hellman's
"Searching Wind", premiered in New York City.
1944:
Arnold Newman photographed award winning author William Steig.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:William_Steig.jpg
1944:
In Oxford, UK, Jacob Bronowski and Rita Coblentz gave birth to Lisa Anne
Bronowski who gained fame as British historian Lisa Anne Jardin
1945:
General Dwight D.
Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, to visit Ohrdruf
Concentration camp with Generals George S. Patton and Omar Bradley. After his
visit, Eisenhower cabled General George C. Marshall, the head of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff in Washington, describing his trip to Ohrdruf:
.
. .the most interesting--although horrible--sight that I encountered during the
trip was a visit to a German internment camp near Gotha. The things I saw
beggar description. While I was touring the camp I encountered three men who
had been inmates and by one ruse or another had made their escape. I
interviewed them through an interpreter. The visual evidence and the verbal
testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering as to
leave me a bit sick. In one room, where they were piled up twenty or thirty
naked men, killed by starvation, George Patton would not even enter. He said
that he would get sick if he did so. I made the visit deliberately, in order to
be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the
future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to
'propaganda.'
Ohrdruf
made a powerful impression on General George S. Patton as well. He described it
as "one of the most appalling sights that I have ever seen." He
recounted in his diary that
In
a shed . . . was a pile of about 40 completely naked human bodies in the last
stages of emaciation. These bodies were lightly sprinkled with lime, not for
the purposes of destroying them, but for the purpose of removing the stench.
When the shed was full--I presume its capacity to be about 200, the bodies were
taken to a pit a mile from the camp where they were buried. The inmates claimed
that 3,000 men, who had been either shot in the head or who had died of
starvation, had been so buried since the 1st of January. When we began to
approach with our troops, the Germans thought it expedient to remove the
evidence of their crime. Therefore, they had some of the slaves exhume the
bodies and place them on a mammoth griddle composed of 60-centimeter railway tracks
laid on brick foundations. They poured pitch on the bodies and then built a
fire of pinewood and coal under them. They were not very successful in their
operations because there was a pile of human bones, skulls, charred torsos on
or under the griddle which must have accounted for many hundreds
1945:
Birthdate of
Irving D. Rubin who served as chairman of the Jewish Defense League (JDL) from
1985 to 2002.
1945:
Franklin D. Roosevelt died at Warm Springs, Georgia. Roosevelt had been
quite popular with Jewish voters and Jews certainly benefited from his
Presidency. Many years after the war, historians began to raise issues of
the American role concerning the plight of European Jewry and the lack of
active intervention to save at least some of the Six Million.
1945:
Vice President Harry Truman was sworn in as President of the
United following the death of Franklin Roosevelt. No matter what, Truman
will always be a hero among Jews for supporting the U.N. resolution that in
effect created the state of Israel and for recognizing the state of Israel at
the moment of its birth. He did this in spite of strong opposition from
advisors in the Defense and State departments.
1945: Canadian troops liberated the Nazi
concentration camp Westerbork, Netherlands
1945:
Two American divisions reach the Elbe and Mulde Rivers and wait for the arrival
of British and Russian troops to link up with them.
1946(11th
of Nisan, 5706): Henry Benisch, the American representative of Meyer and
Studlei, the Swiss-based watchmaker, and brother of Dr. Max Benisch of Tel Aviv
passed away at the age of 60.
1947(22nd
of Nisan, 5707): Eighth Day of Pesach
1947:
In London, the Foreign Office said that “the Italian Government has replied
‘favorably on the whole’ to Britain’s request for cooperation in prevent
unauthorized Jewish immigration to Palestine.”
1948:
The Haganah attacked the Arab Liberation Army commanded by Fawzi al-Kaukji at
Mishmar Ha-Emek. Kaukji had captured the
Jewish settlement by using heavy artillery given him by the Syrian Army. Unfortunately for Kaukji, Mishmar Ha-Emek had
been used as a secret training base by the Haganah. The smaller, poorly armed Jewish force took
advantage of their unique knowledge to defeat the superior Arab force.
1948:
While trying to help relieve Jerusalem, which was illegally under attack by
Arab forces, settlers from Kfar Etzion attacked units of the Arab Legion.
1948:
As the Jewish settlers in Palestine continued plans to form a government that
would be place when the British leave in May, the 37 member Moetzet HaAm which
was the forerunner of the Provisional State Council was formed today.
1949:
Birthdate of American attorney turned author, Scott Turow.
1950:
Tonight, Yehudi Menuhin began a concert tour of Israel with a performance in
the Tel Aviv auditorium.
1950:
In New York, Elizabeth (née Grumbach) and Henry Werner gave birth to American
businessman Thomas Charles “Tom” Werner, the chairman of the Boston Red Sox.
1951:
The Knesset (Israel's Parliament) passed a resolution setting 27 Nissan as
Yom Hashoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day. Yom is the Hebrew word for 'day'
and Shoah is the Hebrew word for 'whirlwind.' Shoah is the Hebrew term
for the War Against the Jews that claimed over six million lives between 1938
and 1945. In Israel, a morning siren sounds, stopping all activity; people
stand in honor of those who died. Jews around the world hold memorials and
vigils, often lighting six candles in honor of the six million Holocaust
victims. Many hold name-reading ceremonies to memorialize those who perished.
There are many websites to consult for this observance including those
supported by Yad Vashem and the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Here is
another that you might want to look at as well. www.jewishpost.com/holocaust/
1952(17th
of Nisan, 5712): Third Day of Pesach and Shabbat
1953(27th
of Nisan, 5713): Yom HaShoah
1954:
A board of inquiry led by Gordon Gay, known as the Gray Board, began hearings
as part of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s appeal of the suspension of his security
clearance. By a vote of 4 to 1, the
board would oppose the appeal thus ending Oppenheimer’s chance to regain his
security clearance. This was the
ignominious way in which the “Father of the Atomic Bomb” was treated by his
government.
1954(9th
of Nisan, 5714): Seventy-four year of old Prague native and University of
Vienna trained Professor of the History of Art Dr. Hans Tietze who in 1938 came
to the United States where he and his Erica collaborated on “several books
related to art” and with whom had two sons and one daughter passed away today
in New York City.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1954/04/13/83871871.pdf
1955,
April 12(12th of Nisan 5755): Sixth Day of Pesach
1955:
After almost two years of testing and opposition Jonas Salk in the presence of
700 scientists was recognized for discovering a vaccine for the prevention of
poliomyelitis. His work together with Albert Sabin, who later developed an oral
vaccine, drove this paralyzing disease from much of the world. In recognition
he received Presidential Citation and the Congressional Medal for Distinguished
Achievement.
1955:
Public announcement was made that Dr Jonas Salk had successfully tested his
Polio vaccine. For the first time, there
was a way for people to avoid this scourge which attacked tens of thousands
each year, leaving thousands of its victims paralyzed for life. Salk was
actually one of three Jewish doctors who played a prominent part in the race to
find a polio vaccine. His success was preceded by the work of a Polish born
American Jew named Hilary Koprowski. Albert Sabin, a Russian born American Jew,
developed an oral vaccine that supplanted Salk’s early product.
1956:
In Portugal, premiere of “The Rose Tattoo” Hal Kanter’s cinematic adaption of
the Broadway play.
1958(22nd
of Nisan, 5718): 8th day of Pesach
1958:
This evening, WTAR-TV, broadcasting from Virginia’s Tidewater region, is
scheduled to host “UJFUND On TV” featuring interviews with Mr. and Mrs. Israel
Schapiro of Norfolk, supporters of the UFDUND’s Resettlement Bureau.
1959:
Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Norm Sherry plays in his first major league
baseball game. Norm joined his brother
Larry as the only Jewish battery in baseball.
Together, they led the 1959 Dodgers to a World Series Championship.
1959:
Youth Aliyah celebrated Child’s Day at a ceremony in the Israeli Consulate in
New York City. Alan Parter, the 14 year
old president of student council at Larchmont Temple Religious School presented
Simcah Pratt, the Counsel General, with a sack containing 600 silver dollars
which had been collected by Alan and his fellow students.
1960(15th
of Nisan, 5720): As a crowd of Democratic candidates including JFK, LBJ, Adlai
and HHH are fighting for their party’s Presidential nomination, Jews observe
Pesach
1962:
In the UK, premiere of “A King of Loving” directed by John Schlesinger and
produced by Joseph Janni.
1962:
“Cape Fear” a thriller co-starring Polly Bergen and Martin Balsam, with music
by Bernard Herrmann was released in the United States today.
1964(30th
of Nisan, 5724): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1964(30th
of Nisan, 5724): Seventy-four-year-old Columbia professor and Far East Expert
Nathaniel Peffer passed away today.
1966(22nd
of Nisan, 5726): Eighth day of Pesach
1966:
James A. Farley, chairman of the Coca-Cola Export Corporation, said today that
the charge that his concern had yielded to threats of an Arab boycott in
denying a franchise to an Israeli bottler was "completely unfair and
unfounded."
1967:
“Another skirmish broke out on the troubled Syrian-Israeli border today and a
farmer of the Gonen communal farm in the Galilee area was reported seriously
injured.”
1968(14th
of Nisan, 5728): In the evening, Pesach begins with the first Seder held in a
re-united Jerusalem.
1968(14th
of Nisan, 5728): Eighty-year-old CCNY graduate and NYU trained attorney, Hyman
Cohen, a specialist in in real estate law and the brother of Isadore and
Lawrence Cohen passed away today in Manhattan.
1969(24th
of Nisan,5729): Parashat Shimini
1969(24th
of Nisan, 5729): Seventy-seven-year-old New York native and attorney Mortimer
Kraus, the unsuccessful Republican candidate of the House of Representatives
and president of Temple Beth Elhoim who was a trustee of the Jewish Community
Center of White Plains and the husband of “the former Gertrude Rosenberger with
whom he had one daughter passed at today in New York.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/04/14/90091715.html?pageNumber=45
1969: Simon & Garfunkel released "The
Boxer"
1971(17th
of Nisan, 5731): Third Day of Pesach
1971:
Birthdate of Eyal Golan, (אייל גולן;) “a popular Israeli
singer who sings in the Mizrahi style. Golan is one of the most successful
singers of the Mizrahi genre in Israel. Except for his debut album, all of his
studio albums became platinum albums, and most were sold in hundreds of
thousands of copies, Eyal Golan's channel on Youtube has garnered over 17 million
views as of July 2010 with five of his videos having garnered over a million
views, and two have garnered over 2 million views making him one of Israel's
most clicked artists.”
1972(29th
of Nisan, 5732): Seventy-five-year-old Boston born Harvard graduate and WW I
Army veteran Victor Kramer, a leading consultant in the field of laundry
management and a fundraiser for the United Palestine appeal who raised two
daughter, Elaine and Nancy, with is wife “the former Mildred Newman” passed
away today in Manhattan.
https://www.nytimes.com/1972/04/15/archives/adviser-on-laundry.html?searchResultPosition=1
1972:
“The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine” starring Marty Feldman with scripts
co-authored by Feldman, Barry Levinson and Larry Gilbert was broadcast in the
United States for the first time on ABC.
1973:
Birthdate of Paris native “David Marcus, the co-creator of Diem, a
cryptocurrency project initiated by Facebook and the former president of PayPal
and Vice President of Messaging Products at Facebook where he ran the Facebook
Messenger unit from 2014 until 2018.”
1973(10th
of Nisan, 5733): Seventy-eight-year-old South Carolina born song-plugger turned
movie producer Arthur Freed passed away today.
http://www.hollywoodsgoldenage.com/moguls/arthur_freed.html
1974(20th
of Nisan, 5734): Sixth Day of Pesach
1974:
In Moscow, “39 Moscow activists appealed to the Central Committee of the CPSU
in behalf of astrophysicist Evgeny Levich, who was punitively drafted to the
army and despite ill health, sent to serve in Yakutia.”
1974:
In Moscow, “activists demanded cessation of all repressions of Jews wishing to
emigrate to Israel.”
1974(20th
of Nisan, 5734): Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Arthur Krock who for many
set the standard for Washington journalists passed away today.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9A05E1D9143AEF34BC4B52DFB266838F669EDE
1975(1st
of Iyar, 5735): Parashat Tazria-Metzora; Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1975(1st
of Iyar, 5735): Eight-one year old CCNY and Columbia educated Dr. Benjamin
Malzberg, the New York City born son of “Nathan and Anna (Elson) Malzberg,
husband of Rose Hershberg and father of Judith, Ruth and Amy Malzberg who had
serve as “director of research and statistics in the New York State Department
of Mental Hygiene for over a decade passed away today.
https://www.nytimes.com/1975/04/14/archives/dr-benjamin-malzberg-expert-on-mental-health.html
1975:
John Gunther Dean who came to the United States as a refugee from Hitler’s
Germany experienced “one of the most tragic days of his life” when as U.S.
Ambassador to Cambodia he saw his country depart from Phnom Penh leaving the
citizens to the butcher of the Khmer Rouge.
1979(15th
of Nisan, 5739): Pesach
1979:
After having been released three months earlier in France, Nosferatu the Vampyre a horror film produced by Michael Gruskoff
was released in Wiesbaden, Germany.
1980:
During the International Conference on Collective Phehomena that began today
was attended by 40 Soviet Jewish scientists.
1981: Israel today
conditionally approved the reported French initiative to deploy a new United
Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon. At the weekly Cabinet meeting in
Jerusalem, Government ministers welcomed the proposal but said that the
envisaged force should replace the Syrian troops in Lebanon rather than serve
as a buffer between the Syrians and the Christian Phalangists.
1981: Deborah Benjamin, professionally known as Deborah Hart, and
Gerald Strober were married this afternoon at Congregation Bnai Jeshurun, by
Rabbi William Berkowitz, president of the Jewish National Fund, and spiritual
leader of the congregation. The bride is a music columnist and feature writer
for The Jewish Week, a weekly newspaper, Mr. Strober, who is national director
of The American Friends of Tel Aviv University in New York, is author of five
books, including ''American Jews: Community in Crisis,'' and ''Aflame for God:
The Jerry Falwell Story.''
1983: Gregory Allen winner of the 1980 Arthur Rubinstein Piano
Competition in Tel Aviv and a member of the piano faculty of the University of
Texas in Austin gave a recital tonight at the 92nd Street Y in New
York City.
1984:
“Four armed Arab guerillas from the Gaza Strip reached Ashdod where they
boarded, as paying passengers, an Egged Bus No. 300 en route from Tel Aviv to
Ashkelon with 41 passengers.” Shortly after the bus left the station at 7:30
pm, the terrorists hijacked the bus.
1985(21st
of Nisan, 5745): Seventh Day of Pesach
1985(21st
of Nisan, 5745): Eighty-eight-year-old Rabbi B. Parzen a native of Ozorkow,
Poland who came to the United States in 1907 where attended Columbia University
and was ordained at Jewish Theological Seminary passed away today.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/parzen-herbert
1986:
Fred Friendly finished his services as a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth
College.
1987: Israeli military helicopters rocketed roads near Shiite
Moslem villages in southern Lebanon today, killing two people and wounding four
others, according to the state-controlled radio.
The
reported action came after a group calling itself the ''Islamic Resistance
Movement'' said Moslem guerrillas had killed nine Israeli soldiers in an
overnight rocket and machine-gun attack inside the belt of Lebanese territory
just north of the Israeli border that the Israelis call their security zone. The
radio said a number of helicopters from the Israeli Air Force strafed and fired
rockets at roads in the district of Merj 'Uyun close to the zone. The radio
added that the Israelis had moved reinforcements into the six-mile-deep enclave
they control.
1987:
In St. James, NY, “Sandi (née Wexler) and Larry Glazer” gave birth to award
nominated actress Ilana Rose Glaza, the NYU grad who created “Broad City.”
1987: Randi Joy Rosenberg and Matthew David Steele were married
today at Temple Beth-El in Great Neck, L.I. Mrs. Steele is a petroleum engineer
who until recently was a consultant to the East Mediterranean Oil and Gas
Company in Tel Aviv.
1987:
The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including Out of Step: An Unquiet Life in
the 20th Century by Sidney Hook.
1989(7th
of Nisan, 5749): Abbie Hoffmann,
American radical, passed away.
1988:
CBS broadcast the last episode of “My Sister Sam,” a sitcom starring Rebecca
Schaeffer.
1989:
Paul Goldberger delivered a lecture “Teaching About Architecture” at the National
Art Education Association in Washington, D.C.
1990(17th
of Nisan, 5750): Third Day of Pesach
1990:
At the first meeting of the German Democratic Republic’s first democratically
elected Parliament, the East German legislators acknowledged responsibility for
the Nazi holocaust and asked for forgiveness. The German Democratic
Republic, known in the West as East Germany had been a Communist
dictatorship. The de-Nazification
process in Germany had really taken place in West Germany. In the
Communist Zone, the contention was that by adopting Communism, atonement had
been made. Or so their Soviet masters told the tale.
1991:
U.S. Premiere of “Out for Justice” featuring Gina Gershon and Juliana
Margulies.
1995(12th
of Nisan, 5755): Seventy-six year old Irving Abitz, the son of Michael and Rose
Abitz and the husband of Marion Ruth Abitz who enlisted in the Army in January,
1941 following which “he was assigned to the Medical Department of the 455th
AAA Bn., which served with XX Corps as part of Patton’s Third Army and fought
its way across Europe from July, 1944 to May, 1945 passed away today.
1996:
Israel launched the INS Dolphin, the first of its Dolphin class submarines.
1996:
Charlene Barshefsky began serving as acting United States Trade Representative
during the Clinton Administration.
1996:
An exhibition, Synagogue for the Arts, featuring the works of Fritz Ascher,
came to a close today.
1997(5th
of Nisan, 5757): Latvian born Israeli bible scholar Nechama Leibowitz passed away. Her
accomplishments are amazing in their own right.
They are even more so when you consider the male-dominated world in
which worked, study and taught. For a collection of her commentaries on each of
the weekly portions which are called “Gilyonot” see
http://www.jafi.org.il/education/torani/NEHAMA/indexgil.html
1998: The New
York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of interest
to Jewish readers including Tough Jews by Rich Cohen.
1998(16th of Nisan, 5758): Second Day of
Pesach; 1st day of the Omer
1998(16th of Nisan, 5758):
Ninety-one-year-old Philadelphia born and Haverford and Hebrew Union College
trained rabbi, Samuel Cook, the U.S. Army chaplain who began his work with
Jewish youth while serving as the “director of the New B’nai B’rith Hillel
Foundation at the University of Alabama and who the husband of Ray M. Cook with
whom he had two sons, Michael and Joel, passed away today.
https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/19/us/rabbi-samuel-cook-91-head-of-reform-jewish-youth-group.html
1999: As part of the Millennium Lecture Series hosted by President Bill Clinton
and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in the East Room of the White House,
Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel delivered a very moving
speech. His topic for the lecture was "The Perils of Indifference."
He framed the following question: "We are on the threshold of a new
century, a new millennium. What will the legacy of this vanishing century be?
How will it be remembered in the new millennium? Surely it will be judged, and
judged severely, in both moral and metaphysical terms." Wiesel went on to
enumerate the great tragedies of the last century, and then concluded this litany
with "So much violence, so much indifference." Wiesel then spent the
rest of his speech on the significance of indifference. To him, indifference is
more dangerous than anger and hatred. "Anger," he stated, "at
times can be creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. But indifference
is not a response. It is not a beginning, it is an end and it is always a
friend of the enemy. It is not only a sin, it is a punishment and this is one
of the most important lessons of this outgoing century's wide-ranging
experiment in good and evil."
1999: In “Paying for Auschwitz” published today,
Roger Rosenblatt draws on the experiences of his great uncle who survived the
Nazi death camp, as he questions the attempts to put a dollar sign on the
Holocaust.
http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/printout/0,8816,990703,00.html
2000: “Critic of a Holocaust Denier Is Cleared in
British Libel Suit” published today described the defeat of David Irving in
courtroom where the Judge declared that he was in fact an ‘active Holocaust
Denier.’”
2001(19th of Nisan, 5761): Fifth Day of
Pesach
2001: Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community, a
project dedicated to shattering the glass ceiling, was launched today.
2001: Two days
after he had passed away, funeral services are scheduled to be held in
Manhattan at Temple Emanu-El for Belgium born American billionaire Michel P.
Fribourg, the “chairman and CEO of Continental Grain” who was the fifth
generation to lead the family business that stretched back to the early decades
of the 19th century and who raised five children – Robert, Paul,
Charles, Nadine and Caroline – with his wife Mary Ann passed away today.
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/classified/paid-notice-deaths-fribourg-michel-p.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/business/michel-fribourg-87-trader-who-opened-soviet-market.html
2001:
A Broadway revival of “Bells Are Ringing” a musical with a book and lyrics by
Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne” opened at the Plymouth
Theatre.
2002(30th
of Nisan, 5762): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
2002:
As Operation Defensive Shield came to an end “Ha'aretz reported that, "The
IDF intends to bury today Palestinians killed in the West Bank camp ... The
sources said two infantry companies, along with members of the military
rabbinate, will enter the camp today to collect bodies. Those who can be
identified as civilians will be moved to a hospital in Jenin, and then on to
burial, while those identified as terrorists will be buried at a special cemetery
in the Jordan Valley."
2002(30th
of Nisan, 5762): Six people were murdered when a 17 year old female terrorist
detonated a bomb at the Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem. The victims were Nissan Cohen, 57, of Ramot,
Yelena
Konrav, 43, from Pisgat Ze'ev, Rivka Fink, 75, of Jerusalem, Zuhila Hushi, 47,
Chinese citizen, of Gilo, Lin Chin Mai, 34, Chinese citizen and Chai Zin Chang,
32, Chinese citizen
2002(30th of Nisan, 5762): “Lt.
Dotan Nahtomi, 22, of Kibbutz Tzuba, died of wounds sustained earlier in the
week during IDF operations in Dura (Operation Defensive Shield).”
2002(30th
of Nisan, 5762): “Border policeman St.-Sgt. David Smirnoff, 22, of Ashdod was
killed when a Palestinian gunman opened fire near the Erez crossing, in the
Gaza Strip, killing one and injuring another four Israelis. The terrorist
killed one and injured three Palestinian workers in the same shooting spree.
The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.”
2003(10th
of Nisan, 5763): Parashat Metzora; Shabbat HaGadol
2003(10th
of Nisan, 5763): Eighty-year-old Chicago born, U.S. Navy veteran and DePaul
University trained character actor Sydney Lassick whose most memorable came in
the Oscar winning “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” passed away today in Los
Angeles.
https://variety.com/2003/scene/people-news/sydney-lassick-1117884807/
2004(21st
of Nisan, 5764): Seventh Day of Pesach and final day of the holiday for Reform
Jews
2004:
Today, two days before he is to meet with Prime Minster Sharon, with Egyptian
President Mubarak standing next to him, President Bush “said that stability and
democracy in Iraq are vital to peace in the Middle East
2005:
“What Sort of Jew Was Jesus?” published today described the views of “Orthodox
Rabbi Harvey Falk of Brooklyn who believes that much interreligious tension
need never have existed at all.”
http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1048374,00.html
2005(3rd
of Nisan, 5765): Ehud
Manor (אהוד מנור) passed away. Born in 1941, he “was an Israeli songwriter,
translator, and radio and TV personality. He composed many well-known songs,
including "Ein Li Eretz Acheret" (I Have No Other Country),
"Brit Olam" (World Covenant), "BaShanah HaBa'ah" (In The
Next Year), "Zo Yalduti HaShniya" (This Is My Second Childhood), and
"Achi HaTza'ir Yehuda" (My Younger Brother Yehuda). He wrote over
1,250 Hebrew compositions, and translated more than 600 works into Hebrew,
including such Broadway hits as Cabaret and Les Misérables. He wrote the lyrics
to many Israeli Eurovision entries, including the 1978 winner
"Abanibi", the 1983 entry "Khay" (Alive), the 1992 song
"Ze Rak Sport" (It's Just Sports), the 2004 entry,
"Leha'amin" ("To Believe"; which he co-wrote with David
D'Or)), and the 2005 entry, "Zman". In addition, he translated Barney
songs into Hebrew for the Israeli coproduction "HaChaverim Shel
Barney".
2006(14th
of Nisan, 5766): Fast of the First Born; erev Pesach
2006:
Thanks to a calendar coincidence, when Jews sit down to their Seder tonight
they will not have to worry about Pesach parking because they know that “alternate-side
street-cleaning regulations in New York City will be suspended tomorrow,
because of Passover and Holy Thursday, and on the day after tomorrow, for the
second day of Passover and Good Friday.”
2007: An exhibit styled “The Art of Aging” that
explores “faith, culture and the search for meaning in the universal aspects of
life’s journey” opens at the Jewish Museum of Florida.
2007:
Formal ceremony was held marking the creation of AZIS, an organization of olim
from Azerbaijan. “AZIS is short for
Azerbaijan-Israel but is also an Azeri word meaning ‘dear’ or ‘precious.’
2007: Holocaust survivor
Manya Friedman speaks about her World War II era experiences at Coe College in
Kessler Lecture Hall of Hickok Hall.
2008(7th
of Nisan, 5768):
Nearly 90
minutes after a fire had started,the bodies of the Rabbi Jacob S. Rubenstein,
and his wife, Deborah, were found in the burning house. Rabbi Rubenstein led Young Israel of
Scarsdale, an Orthodox synagogue.
2008:
In Iowa City, Defunct Books presented a
grand night of poetry featuring famous Yiddish poet and playwright Murray Wolfe
and Dan Troxell.
2008: In the following article entitled “Holocaust
Speaker Urges Audiences to Action” The Cedar Rapids Gazette reported on upcoming Holocaust remembrance activities.
As those who lived through the horrors of the Holocaust
continue to age, the importance of getting their stories out becomes
increasingly more significant, said Hedy Epstein of St. Louis, Mo., whose
parents were taken from one concentration camp to another before being sent to
Auschwitz when she was 14. "It
is perhaps even more important now because there aren't that many of us who are
still alive, and in a few years there won't be any of us left," Epstein,
83, said by phone from her St. Louis home. Epstein
will speak to six audiences in Cedar Rapids and Mount Vernon this week, making
stops at four area colleges and two high schools. Her visit is funded through
the Thaler Holocaust Memorial Fund. Epstein
was 8 years old and living with her parents in Kippenheim, Germany, when Adolf
Hitler took power in 1933. She watched as the dry-goods business her father and
uncle owned was boycotted because it was a Jewish business, and as her father
was taken to a concentration camp in November 1938, to be returned a changed
man just a few weeks later. A short time later, her parents were both taken to
camps and young Hedy Wachenheimer was sent to England on a children's
transport. She received a few letters from her parents in the beginning but
never heard from them again once they were sent to Auschwitz. When the war was over, Epstein returned to Germany to work
for the American government, then came to the United States in 1948."It is important for me that whoever is
in the audience hear about the Holocaust," Epstein said. "It is one
of so many tragedies that have happened then, before then and today. I want to
wake them up to this horrendous event but also to things that are still
happening. I want to urge them to take some responsibility to right a wrong,
become personally involved in whatever they choose and do something to right a
wrong somewhere." Epstein started
speaking publicly about her experiences in 1970, when her son was in junior
high. A teacher approached her about speaking to the class when her son
explained that his grandparents were sent to the concentration camps. The
teacher asked her again the following year, and word of her speeches began to
spread. Sharing her experiences is one way
Epstein can honor her parents, she said."Before
she was deported to Auschwitz (my mother) asked me that I never forget my
parents," she said. "Of course I never forget, but it's like a
mandate to me. By speaking about it, my mother's wish will not be forgotten but
carried through."
2009: In Northbrook, Illinois, the Bernard Weinger
JCC hosts the opening of Start Smart Baseball with programs for children ages 3
– 5 and adult participants.
2009: Final
performance of Arthur Miller’s “Incident At Vichy” at The Beckett Theatre in
New York City.
2009: The New York
Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special
interest to Jewish readers including the recently released paperback edition of
“The End of the Jews” by Adam Mansbach and Joanna Smith Rakoff’s new novel “A
Fortunate Age” which traces the post-collegiate struggle of seven Jews from
prosperous enclaves “slumming” in a variety of non-affluent parts of New York.
2009: The Washington
Post featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest
to Jewish readers including “The Soul of Medicine: Tales from the Bedside” by Dr.
Sherwin B. Nuland
2009: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas telephoned Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu this morning and wished him a happy Passover
2009: In “Research uncovers Israelites' 'foothold'
in Jordan Valley” published today the Jerusalem Post reports that “The
discovery of gigantic foot-shaped enclosures in the Jordan Valley may shed
light on ancient Jewish holiday practices, according to University of Haifa
researchers.
2010(28 Nisan, 5770): Yom Hashoah
2010: The
International March of the Living honors six Holocaust survivors during its annual gathering at Auschwitz.
2010: MacNeil/Lehrer Productions is scheduled to introduce “Among the
Righteous,” the story of Arabs who protected Jews during the Holocaust on PBS tonight.
The special is based on the book of the same name by Robert Satloff and is one
of four newly created programs appearing this week on PBS as part its Memorial
to the Holocaust.
2010: Due to the
dissolution of Parliament today, John Simon Bercow, who was elected to office
in June, 2009, will have to stand for re-election. Eventually he will be the
first Jew to serve as Speaker of the House of Commons.
2011: The Hunter
College Hillel is scheduled to present “Daring to Hope” “the North American
debut exhibition of Israeli artist and photojournalist, Ilan Mizrahi.”
2011: YIVO and The Jewish Daily Forward are scheduled to present: “A Celebration of Yiddish Literature in Honor
of Boris Sandler,” featuring Evgeny Kissin
2011: On the 150th
anniversary of the start of the Civil War, the Jewish Historical Society of
Greater Washington is scheduled to present a screening of “Jewish Historical
Society of Greater Washington” documentary reveals the
little-known struggles and sacrifices some 10,000 American Jewish soldiers who
fought on both sides of the war
2011: Professor Faye
Mosokowitz is scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled “What's Portnoy
Complaining About Lately?” at Washington Hebrew Congregation.
2011: Tulane
University is scheduled to present “If you Didn't Hate Me, Would I Still be
Jewish? - Anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, and Jewish Identity in Post-War America”
featuring Douglas Greenberg, Executive Dean, School of Arts and Sciences at
Rutgers University.
2011: Followers of
the Bahai faith unveiled their newly renovated holy site on the coast of Israel
today drawing attention to one of the Holy Land's lesser-known religions.
2011(8 Nisan, 5711):
Ninety-two year
old Sidney Harman, an audio pioneer who
built the first high-fidelity stereo receiver, dabbled in education and
government, and made a late-in-life splash by acquiring an antiquated Newsweek
magazine and wedding it with a sassy young Web site, The Daily Beast, died tonight
in Washington http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/business/media/14harman.html?_r=0 (As reported by Robert D.
McFadden)
2012: Daniel Altman, chief economist of Big Think and best-selling author is
scheduled to speak at the Global Emerging Leadership Forum hosted by the 92nd
Street Y.
2012: Remembrance, a film that depicts “a love story
between a German Jew and a Polish Catholic that blossomed amid the terror of
Auschwitz in 1944” is scheduled to be shown at the Westchester Jewish Film
Festival.
2012: Publication of
“Screenwriting From Iowa- Writer Samson Raphaelson (Part 3)
https://screenwritingfromiowa.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/writer-samson-raphaelson-part-3/
2013: Dr. Martin Dean
of the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies is scheduled to “discuss the new
findings of the USHMM's Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos Project, including
the impact of the International Tracing Service--a copy of which is now housed
at The Wiener Library--and other digital archives” in London, UK.
2013: “Yossi” and “All
In” are scheduled to be shown at the Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2013: “No Place on
Earth” is scheduled to open in San Francisco, Berkley and San Jose.
2013: PBS is scheduled
to show "Among the Righteous," which “documents the dogged search by
historian and writer Robert Satloff to track down and verify any instances in
which Arabs aided their Jewish neighbors while Hitler's Afrika Corps swept
across North Africa.”
2013: As he begins the
weekend of his Bar Mitzvah, the friends and family of Jacob Daniel Levin join
him in a Shabbat Dinner in Columbus, Ohio.
2013: Police barred a
group of mourners from entering Jerusalem’s Mt. Herzl military cemetery today
in order to pay respect to lone soldiers killed in action whose families do not
reside in Israel
2013: After 66 years of
marriage, 86-year-old Antoine Veil the husband of Simon Veil passed away today.
2013(25th of
Nisan, 5773): Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, the eldest son of the spiritual leader of the
Shas party, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, died this afternoon after suffering multisystem
failure at Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem
2013: The IDF unearthed
and defused an unexploded bomb, believed to date to World War II, near northern
Tel Aviv’s Sde Dov Airport
2013: The Defense Ministry
released its annual figures of fallen soldiers this morning ahead of
Remembrance Day, stating that 92 soldiers had fallen this year and a total of
23,085 have fallen in Israel's wars since 1860.
2014:
In Portland, Oregon, “A Pigeon and a Boy” by Meir Shalev is scheduled to be
performed for the last time.
2014(12th
of Nisan, 5774): Shabbat HaGadol
2014:
SculptureCenter is scheduled to present the New York City book launch of
Neomaterialism by Joshua Simon who is the director and chief curator of the
Museums of Bat Yam.
2015:
“Echoes of the Borscht Belt: Contemporary Photographs by Marisa Scheinfeld” is
scheduled to close at the Yeshiva University Museum.
2015: The New York Times features books by
Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The
Brothers: The Road to an American Tragedy by Masha Gessen, Better Than
Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin and Ravensbrück:
Life and Death in Hitler’s Concentration Camp for Women by Sarah Helm
2015:
Due “an unseasonal recurrence of wintry weather” in Israel, “events planned
for” today marking the celebration of Moroccan Miouna “have been canceled.
2015:
“Watcher of the Sky” and “Secrets of War” are scheduled to be shown at the
Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2015:
Lewis Black is scheduled to perform at Providence, Rhodes Island.
2015:
“Lest We Forget,” a service of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust
featuring Holocaust survivor Renata Laxova organized by the Inter-Religious
Council of Linn County and the Thaler Holocuast Memorial Fund chaired by Dr.
Robert Silber is scheduled to take place this evening at Mount Mercy University
in Cedar Rapids, IA.
2015:
Police announced that due Rabbi Chaim Greinman’s funeral today several streets
in Tel Aviv will be closed today.
2016:
French art expert Eric Turquin told a news conference today about the discovery
of a four-year-old picture called “Judith Beheading Holofernes” that “depicts
the biblical heroine beheading an Assyrian Generals” which is thought to have
been painted in the first decade of the 17th century by Caravaggio.
http://cdn.timesofisrael.com/uploads/2016/04/France-Art-Carravaggi_Horo-e1460510147883.jpg
2016(4th
of Nisan, 5776): Eighty-three-year-old British playwright Arnold Wesker passed
away today. (As reported by Sewall Chan)
2016:
In Cedar Rapids, IA with a Jewish community numbering just over 100 families, a
variety of Kosher for Passover Cheese is on sale for the first time at one
High-Vee Grocery Store thanks to the efforts of cheese manager Chris Luken and
Deb Levin.
2016:
“Rabin In His Own Words” is scheduled to be shown at the Westchester Jewish
Film Festival.
2016:
The Center for Jewish History, American Jewish Historical Society and Leo Baeck
Institute are scheduled to present "We cannot ignore this opportunity for
service": Phi Epsilon Pi‘s Student Refugee Program, 1936-1940” which
described the Jewish collegiate fraternity’s expansive national effort to bring
over dozens of Central European Jewish refugees who were previously expelled
from universities due to the rise of Nazism. This aid work invites new
frameworks for understanding American Jewish communal efforts on behalf of
European Jewry in the years leading up to World War...
2016:
“Sabena Hijacking” is scheduled to be shown at the Northern Virginia Jewish
Film Festival.
2017:
“The Israeli Opera’s mornings of kid-friendly opera is scheduled to begin
today.
2017:
“The Ma’alot Tarshiha Sculpture Festival” is scheduled to being today.
2018:
The Leo Baeck Institute is scheduled to host a presentation by “historian
Michael Brenner who will discuss contemporary Jewish life in Germany on the
occasion of the publication of A History of Jews in Germany since 1945
2018:
Visiting
Assistant Professor Kirsten Kumpf-Baele from the Division of World Languages,
Literatures and Cultures, at the German Department is scheduled to deliver a
talk in honor of Yom haShoah (Jewish Holocaust Day) at 7:30 p.m. at Agudas
Achim in Coralville, Iowa.
2018:
The Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University is scheduled
to host a book launch and author talk with Gil Troy, whose latest work is The
Zionist Ideas
https://www.brandeis.edu/israelcenter/newsEvents/index.html
2018:
A video recorded by “American astronaut Andrew Fuestel aboard the International
Space Station commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day” was released today.
2018(27th
of Nisan, 5778): Yom Hashoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day; (The internationally
recognized date for Holocaust Remembrance Day corresponds to the 27th day of
Nisan on the Hebrew calendar so for those who follow the Gregorian Calendar the
holiday appears to “float.”)
2019:
This afternoon, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is scheduled to
host a book signing by Gary Reiner, son of Holocaust survivors Kurt and Hennie
and the author of Counting on America: A Holocaust Memoir of Terror,
Chutzpah, Romance and Escape
2019:
In Brooklyn an exhibition of the works of Israeli artist Shay Arick is
scheduled to open at the Compère Collective.
2019:
In San Francisco, in his role as Scholar-in-Residence at Congregation Emanuel,
Rabbi David Ellenson is scheduled to deliver a lecture on “Faith, Doubt,
Meaning and Belief in the 21st Century.”
2019:
As Jews prepare for Shabbat today, they can contemplate the last minute failure
of Israel’s first moon lander and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s victory in this
week’s election.
2020:
Uprooted, “a Jewish response to fertility journeys” is scheduled to present
“Miscarriage Online Group”
2020(18th
of Nisan, 5780): On the Jewish calendar Yahrzeits of Rabbi Meir Abulafya
Ha-Levi known as the “Ramah” and Rabbi Gustav Gottheil, “one of the founder of
JPS.” (As reported by Abraham Bloch)
2020:
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb and the Urban Shtetl Family are schedule to host on-line “a
thirty-minute virtual Seder” complete “with storytelling and music
2020:
The New York Times featured books by
Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Thinking
Inside the Box Adventures With Crosswords and the Puzzling People Who Can’t
Live Without Them by Adrienne Raphel, the recently released paperback
editions of Notes From A Young Black Chef: A Memoir by Kwame Onwuachi
with Joshua David Stein and Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner and an interview with Nobel Prize winning
economist Joseph E. Stiglitz “Who Wants You to Read More Fiction” but who
probably also wants you to buy his book People, Power and Profits which
“will be out in paperback soon.
2021:
The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled to present a deeper dive into the
literary and linguistic tradition of Bukharian Jews.
https://programs.cjh.org/event/rich-cultural-heritage-2021-04-12
2021:
The Gershman Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to host a screening
of “Here We Are” with Shai Avivi and Noam Imber
2021:
JWA, The Vilna Shul, Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, Boston's Center for Jewish
Culture, The Holocaust Center LA, and the Illinois Holocaust Center and Museum
are scheduled to host A Special Book Talk with Hadassah Lieberman as she
discusses Hadassah: An American Story, which chronicles her journey from
Eastern Europe to the national political stage.
2021:
The 70th National Jewish Book Awards Celebration is scheduled to take place
this evening in a virtual mode.
2021:
US Defense
Secretary Lloyd Austin, the first Secretary of Defense to visit Israel since
2017 is scheduled to continue a two-day visit to Israel with that has already
included meeting with his Israeli counterpart, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, at
military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
2021:
NCJW Women’s
Issues Virtual Webinar Program in partnership with Hadassah and Jewish
Endowment Foundation of Louisiana is scheduled to take place this evening.
https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/events/70th-national-jewish-book-awards-celebration
2022:
At Temple Emanuel in Newton Centre, MA, Yisod is scheduled to present a night
of spilling the T(orah) with writer, visual artist, podcast host and TikTok
creator Miriam Anzovin who will look at some Passover-related Torah and discuss
it with a modern twist.
2022:
The Leo Baeck Institute is scheduled to present the opening of its newest
exhibition, “Last Stop Before the Last Stop” which included a Zoom discussion
with Zuzana Justman, “a child survivor of Terezin.”
2022:
In San Francisco, the JCCSF is scheduled to host “Musically Mostly Pesach”
during which “string musicians from the S.F.-based Philharmonia Baroque
Orchestra will perform music representing events and circumstances of the
Exodus, with additional pieces broadly based around Passover themes such as
redemption and renewal.”
2022:
In Beachwood, OH, the Mandel JCC is scheduled to host “Sports Talk Live,” an
early morning event moderated by David Gilbert that will include a kosher
breakfast.
2022:
The Vilna Shul, Boston’s Center for Jewish Culture is scheduled to present
author Elyssa Friedland as she discusses her book, Last Summer at the Golden
Hotel.’
2023:
The Museum at Eldridge is scheduled to be closed today for Passover.
2023:
Lockdown University is scheduled to host a webinar during which Patrick Bade
lectures on “Movies in the Weimar Republic.”
2023:
In collaboration with the Rubinstein Competition and the Aldwell Institute, the
Eden-Tamir Center is scheduled to host an exclusive recital in Jerusalem
featuring the winners of the Rubenstein Competition.
2023(21st
of Nisan, 5783): Seventh Day of Pesach; in the evening light candles
2023:
In Coralville, IA, Agudas Achim is scheduled to hold services this morning.
2024;
The Gateway Film Center, in Columbus, OH, (home to Jacob and Quinn Levin) is
scheduled to host a screening of “Farewell Mister Haffmann” the tale of
Parisian Jewish jeweler Joseph Haffmann and how he dealt with the Nazi
occupation of France.
2024:
The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present a lecture by CJH NEH
Scholar in Residence Helmut Walser Smith (Vanderbilt University) which follows
the postwar story of a group of Holocaust survivors from the small Swabian town
of Haigerloch and argues that their restitution claims, while hedged in by
legal categories, constituted an early form of truth telling. Focusing
especially on the Buttenhausen Memorial erected in 1961, the presentation then
shifts to public claims for truth about the Holocaust in the form of early
commemoration.
2024:
“Bianna Golodryga, a CNN anchor and senior global affairs analyst, is scheduled
to join Temple Emanu-El during Shabbat services to take congregants behind the
scenes discussing her time in Israel and coverage of the conflict in an
interview with Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson.”
2024: The librarians of the Center for Jewish History’s
Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute are scheduled to present this
10-week intermediate-level online course, designed for those who are familiar
with the major online databases like Ancestry and JewishGen, as well as basic
search strategies for Jewish names and ancestral towns, and at least a few
relevant offline resources, such as reference books or archival records.
2024:
Temple Judea Musical Shabbat Worship with Rabbi
Yaron and Cantor Abbie
2024:
As April 12th begins in Israel, the Hamas held
hostages begin day 189 in captivity.
(Editor’s note: this situation is too fluid for this blog to cover so we
are just providing a snapshot as of the posting at midnight Israeli time.)
