This Day, April 24, In Jewish History by Mitchell A and Deb Levin Z"L
April 24
70:
During the Jewish rebellion against Rome, Roman legions break through
Jerusalem’s middle wall, but are driven back by the Jewish defenders.
396:
As conditions for the Jews in the Roman Empire worsen, the Roman Emperors adopt
a law that appears to be an anomaly. They issue a decree punishing anyone who
insults Jewish leaders. "If any one dare publicly insult the Illustrious
Patriarchs, he shall be subject to a sentence of punishment." (Editor’s Note – I can find no explanation
for this)
858:
Start of the papacy of Nicholas I. During his papacy he issued “a very obscure
order which is contained in a letter Bishop Arsenius of Orta, to whom he
prohibits the use of Jewish garments.”
1288: A Christian body was placed in the house
of the richest Jew of Troyes, France. The resulting tribunal condemned fourteen
of the city's wealthiest men and women to be burned at the stake. This was part
of a blood libel which the Dominicans and Franciscans used to “provoke a
massacre of the local Jews.
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2979/PFT.2009.29.1.1?uid=2&uid=4&sid=21106566490833
1288:
“Hebrew-French poet Jacob Ben Judah” was an eyewitness today to an auto-de-fe
in Troyes.
https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/jacob-ben-judah\
1342:
Pope Benedict XII passed away. In 1337 Benedict’s effort to protect the Jews when
Christian mobs in Germany Bavaria, Bohemia, Moravia and Austria attacked them
because of false accusations of “host desecration,” proved futile. Benedict’s
intervention on behalf of the Jews marks him as unusual. His failure is a testament to the strong
power of these false allocations.
1439(30th of Nisan, 5199): Rabbi,
Kabbalist and poet Avigdor Ben Isaac Kara passed away today.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0011_0_10738.html
1547:
Elector of Saxony John Frederick, the
patron and protector of Martin Luther, who in 1536, “issued a mandate that
prohibited Jews from inhabiting, engaging in business in, or passing through
his realm” completed his reign as Elector of Saxony and Landgrave of Thuringia
today
1547:
Maurice, the Duke of Saxony, who expelled the Jews from Zwickau, became the Elector of
Saxony today.
1575:
Thomas Wakefield, “the first Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge was buried
today at Chesterton.
1731:
Daniel Defoe passed away. Apparently,
the author of “Robinson Crusoe had a rather low opinion of the Jews since he
“depicted Jews as vicious and corrupt” according to “Britain in the Hanoverian
Age.” For reasons yet not understood, Defoe’s “An Essay Upon Literature” was
published in the same pamphlet with Toland’s “The
Agreement of the Customs of the East Indians With Those of the Jews.”
1744:
The Revenge, a British privateer commanded by Captain James Allen, intercepted
the sloop Fortune, one of whose passengers was an English Jewish
merchant named Isaac Mendez. When
Captain Allen brought the Fortune to Newport, he filed papers claiming the
cargo of the Fortune as his pirze.
Mendez took exception with the claim, and this would lead to tortuous
litigation. [Editor’s note: There will be more to the story in THDIJH in May.]
1758(16th
of Nisan, 5518): Second Day of Pesach; first day of the Omer
1761(20th
of Nisan, 5521): Sixth Day of Pesach observed on the birthdate of Ira Allen,
the younger brother of American patriot Ethan Allen, leader of the Green
Mountain Boys and the captor of Fort Ticonderoga.
1764(22nd
of Nisan, 5524): Eighth Day of Pesach; Yizkor recited two weeks after
Massachusetts had observed “a Day of Feasting and Prayer” during a smallpox
outbreak still plague the colony.
1768(7th
of Iyar, 5528): Rabbo Ezra be Raphael Malki, the Safed born son of Rafel
Mordechai and Chief Rabbi of Rhodes who was the brother of Moses Malki “who was
probably an itinerant money living in Newport, RI and New York City in 1759
passe away today after which he was buried on the Greek Island of Rhodes.
1772(21st
of Nisan, 5532): Seventh Day of Pesach
1772:
Empress Marie Theresa issued an order allowing Jews to “engage in jeweler’s
work but not to employ apprentices in the business.
1776:
During the American Revolution The Pennsylvania Journal published a letter from
Thomas Paine in which the famous pamphleteer uses quotes from the Bible
including the books of Samuel and Hosea to show that a monarchy is a sinful
form of government condemned by God. (As reported by Abraham Bloch) While most
of the American revolutionaries had never met a Jew, they identified with the
ancient Israelites through the lens of the Old Testament. They saw King George as a modern Pharaoh and
compared their fight for independence with the Exodus from Egypt. Benjamin Franklin wanted a depiction of the
Jews crossing the Red Sea to appear on the Great Seal of the United States.
1783(22nd
of Nisan, 5543): Eight Day of Pesach; Yizkor
1783:
Emperor Joseph II granted the request of his Jewish subjects that they be able
to continue to wear beards. At the same time he reaffirmed all of the other
parts of the “Systematica gentis Judaicae regulation”
1788:
In Frankfurt am Main, Guttle and Mayer Amschel Rothschild gave birth to “"Carl
Mayer von Rothschild the founder of the Rothschild banking family of
Naples."
1790(10th
of Iyar, 5550): Talmudic scholar, Rabbi Meir Margalioth passed away in Ostrog
1791(20th
of Nisan, 5551): Sixth Day of Pesach
1793:
Isaac de Lyon and his wife gave birth to Abraham de Lon, the husband of Hannah
Sheftall whom he married on March 21, 1827.
1800:
The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams
signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 USD to purchase "such books as may
be necessary for the use of Congress". “The Hebraic Section … Israel, the
Hebrew language, biblical studies, and the ancient Near East. began operation
in 1914 as part of the Division of Semitic and Oriental Literature, and it
concentrates on Jewish culture, Israel, the Hebrew language, biblical studies,
and the ancient Near East.” http://www.loc.gov/rr/amed/guide/hsillguide.html
1805: The
Syrian Society which had been formed in March held its first meeting today
where it was deiced that the Society would be call “The Palestine Association”
whose members sought “to promote the study of the geography, natural history,
antiquities and anthropology of Palestine and the surrounding areas, "with
a view to the illustration of the Holy Writings”
1807:
Rachel Emanuel De Piza and Joseph Gabriel Israel Brandon gave birth to Isaac
Joseph Brandon.
1809:
Birthdate of Joseph Addision Alexander, a Protestant biblical scholar and
student of the Hebrew language whose works included two volumes on the
prophecies of Isaiah.
1811(30th
of Nisan, 5571): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1811:
Today thirty-year-old London native Jacob da Silva Solis who arrived in the
United States in 1803 married Charity Hayes with whom he had seven children and
still found time to found “Congregation Shanarai Chasset in New Orleans” and
later be active in Congregation Shearith Israel in Mt. Pleasant, NY.
1813(24th
5573): Parashat Achrei Mot
1813:
The American squadron left Sackets Harbor, NY bound for the Canadian city of
York which would be partially destroyed three days later – a burning which
would later be used to excuse British troops burning Washington, DC in 1814
1818:
“The Jew of Malta” by Christopher Marlow which was billed as “The Famous
Tragedy of The Rich Jew of Malta” “was revived by Edmund Kean at Drury Lane.”
1821(22nd
of Nisan, 5581): Eighth Day of Pesach and Yizkor
1824:
Birthdate of Sabato Morais, the native of Leghorn, Italy who rise to become one
of the earliest and most prominent Rabbis to serve the American Jewish
Community. [This is based on an article published at the time of his death. Other sources show April 13, 1824.]
1827:
In Rotterdam, Sara Lit and Harry de Groot gave birth to Cato de Groot, the wife
of Rotterdam native Herman Heijermans
1830:
Ellen Alice Jacobs and Prussian Gabriel Simmons gave birth to Solomon Simmons.
1834(15th
of Nisan, 5594): Pesach
1836:
Birthdate of Rabbi Moses Samuel Zuckermandl, the native of Breslau who studied
under Samson Raphael Hirsch
1838:
Birthdate of Jules Levy, the native of London who was perhaps “the most
celebrated” person to play the coronet during the 19th century
1839:
Mr. Eugene Esdra of Bordeaux married Miss Esther Rodrigues Monsanto in her
native city of Charleston, SC.
1840(21st
of Nisan, 5600): Seventh Day of Pesach
1842:
In Neisse, Germany, Julius Schindler and Bertha Algasi gave birth to Solomon
Schindler, the husband of Henrietta Schutz, who came to the United States in
1870 where he served as rabbi at Adath Emuno in Hoboken, NJ and Adath Israel in
Boston before becoming Superintendent of the Leopold Morse Home for Infirm
Hebrews and Orphans at Mattapan, MA and a published author whose works included
Dissolving Views in the History of Judaism.
1842(14th
of Iyar, 5602): Pesach Sheni
1842:
In Cincinnati, a group of Jewish women met and established a Sunday School
under the direction of Mrs. Louisa Symonds who would later resign her post due
to the heavy workload. She would be
replaced by Mr. Joseph Jonas.
1843(24th
of Nisan, 5603): Marianne Abraham Hamming / Hammo, the Amsterdam born daughter of
Abraham Hamming / Hammo and Heintje Cohen, the wife of Simon Jacob Jacobs and
the mother of Ravel Beer Jacobs and Abraham Jacobs passed away today in the
Netherlands.
1845(17th
of Nisan, 5605): Third Day of Pesach
1846:
The Voice of Jacob contained a short
article describing that described the two public Jewish schools at Kingston,
Jamaica as “languid and unsatisfactory,” due the paucity of trained and qualified
teachers.
1848(21st
of Nisan, 5608: Seventh Day of Pesach
1848:
Birthdate of Saxony native and husband of actress Grace Filkns Adolph Marix the
first Jewish graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who was serving on the USS
Maine when it exploded, served on the Board of Inquiry that examined the cause
of the explosion and fought in two major naval examinations during the Spanish
American War after which he was promoted to the rank of commodore and acting
Vice Admiral
1849:
Birthdate of Dusseldorf native and University of Bonn educated mathematician
Felix Klein who “became an assistant in the institution of physics in 1866 at
his alma mater.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9373-klein-felix
1851(22nd
of Nisan, 5611): Eighth Day of Pesach
1851:
Charles Sumner began his twenty three year career as a U.S. Senator from
Massachusetts. In 1864, he introduced an
amendment to the United States Constitution that would define the United States
as a “Christian government.” Congress
rejected the proposal. (For more see A New Promised Land by Hasia R
Diner, et al.)
1852:
In Gorizia, Italy, Stefan and Lucia Schmdit gave to “August Schmidt, the
husband of Adele Ammalie Schdmidt.”
1853(16th
of Nisan, 5613): Second Day of Pesach
1853:
In Paris, Louis-Adolphe Bertillon and his wife gave birth to Alphonse Bertillon
who was not a handwriting expert but who testified against Alfred Dreyfus
claiming that the Jewish French officer was the author of “the incriminating
document” known as the “bordereau” – the treasonous document that supposedly
proved he was selling French military secrets to the Germans.
1854:
In New York, Ahawath Chesed began worshiping at their synagogue at Number 27
Columbia Street which would be there home for the next ten year when the
growing congregation moved to a facility on the corner of 4th Street
and Avenue C.
1856: Birthdate of Henri-Phillipe Petain. In
World War I, General Petain was a hero - the leader in the victory at
Verdun. In World War II, he was head of the Vichy Government. The
Vichy Government was allied with the Nazis and was an active participant in the
deportation and death of thousands of Jews. Some of these were part of
the very old French Jewish community. Others were relative new-comers who
had sought refuge in France during the 1930's as the Nazi scourge began to
sweep across Europe. Petain was not prosecuted for collaborating because
of his previous military contribution and advanced age. Pierre Laval, the
Prime Minister of the Vichy government did not escape punishment. Petain
passed away at in 1951at the age of 95.
1859:
The First Hebrew Benevolent Association was founded today in Portland, Oregon.
1861(14th
of Iyar 5621) Pesach Sheni
1861:
"When the Richmond Blues left...for war" today, fifteen of its
ninety-nine members were Jewish including Ezekiel J. ("Zeke") Levy,
it fourth sergeant.
1863(5th
of Iyar 5623: On the 20th day of the Omer, during the Civil War that
“The Confederate Congress passed a tax set at 8% on all agricultural produce
grown in 1862 and a 10% tax on profits made from the sale of iron, clothing and
cotton.”
1864(18th
of Nisan, 5624): Fourth Day of Pesach
1864:
Isaac Levy, a Virginian serving the Confederate Army wrote his mother from his
post in South Carolina describing the Seder that he and his fellow soldiers had
celebrated a few days earlier.
1865:
Today the Washington National Intelligencer published the resolution of the
Washington Literar and Dramatic Association drawn by a committee that included
Simon Wolf and Julius Lowenthal which began “By the death of Abraham Lincoln
the nation has sustained an irreparable loss, freedom her brightest and purest
champion, humanity her greatest benefactor…”
1866:
Seventy-year-old Protestant Biblical commentator Hermann Upfield who
specialized in studies on the “Old Testament” and whose works included a “treatise
on the early history of Hebrew grammar among the Jews” published in 1846 passed
away today.
1867:
Michael Rudelsheim married Rebecca Hirsch today in Amsterdam.
1869:
Mlle. Janauschek is scheduled to appear in a benefit performance of
"Deborah," the proceeds of which will go to the Hebrew Free School in
New York City.
1871:
“Synagogue Consecration” published todaydescribed the ceremony led by Rabbi
S.M. Issacs as Derech Emunoh took over its new home in what had been the chapel
of New York University.
1872(16th
of Nisan, 5632): Second day of Pesach; first day of the Omer.
1873:
Today, oet and translator Alice Julia Lucas - the sister of C.G. Montefiore,
and the sister-in-law of Sir Arthur Lewis – who was the founder and President
of the Jewish Study Society whose works included Translations from the German
Poets of the 18th and 19th Centuries, published in 1876
and Talmudic Legends, Hymns and Paraphrases published in 1908 “married
barrister Henry Lucas, who later served as treasurer and vice-president of the
United Synagogue.”
1873:
Birthdate of Corpus Christi, TX native and “insurance agent” Joseph Hirsch the
President of the ZOA and “chairman of the American Bankers Agricultural
Commission.”
1875(19th
of Nisan, 5635): Fifth Day Pesach and Shabbat
1876(30th
of Nisan, 5636): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1876(30th
of Nisan, 5636): Eighty-five year old Therese Aron, the Lorraine born daughter of
Baruch Gougenheim and Rosel Rosette Rosele Gougenheim , the wife of Isaac Aron and
mother of Simon Aron, (Baby); Rosine Haguenau; Jacob Aron; Simon Aron and
Gertrude Oppenheimer passed away today in Strasbourg.
1876:
Birthdate of Holocaust survivor Erich Raeder.
1878:
In Buffalo, TX, Lena Catosk Pearlstone, the New Orleans born daughter of Mina
Louis Hart and her husband Barney Pearlstone gave birth to Hyman Pearlstone,
who was a businessman in Waco, Palestine and Dallas, TX where he was a member
of the Chamber of Commerce.
1879(1st
of Iyar, 5639): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1880:
Birthdate of Elizabethgrad native Phineas Israeli, the JTS trained Rabbi who in
1923 was hired by Etz Chaim Congregtion in Portland where he worked with
Orthodox Rabbi Moses Shohet and “initiated modern innovations such as late
Friday evening services with English which was a departure from” having sermons
delivered in Yiddish” but failed in his attempts to have the congregation join
the Conservative movements United Synagogues of America and left the
congregation for years later “due to illness.”
1880(13th
of Iyar, 5640): Parashat Achrei Mot-Kedoshim
1880(13th
of Iyar, 5640): Isaac Amberg, the son of Moses and Sophia Neumann Amberg passed
away today after which he was buried at the Jewish Cemetery of Greater
Lafayette in Lafayette, Indiana.
1880: Because of his “reputation of a
public-spirited man…and because of his many gifts to charitable and scientific
institution which won Raphael Louis Bischoffsheim the exceptional honor of
"grande naturalization," by which, today he became a citizen of the
French republic.”
1881:
The Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio, the only Jewish “institution for
advanced study in America” is dedicating a new building today. As a testament to the school’s strength, the
administration was able to spend $25,000 to purchase one of the city’s old
mansions and then spend additional funds to remodel it. The school began as a dream of community
leaders in 1872 and opened its doors in 1875 to 17 pupils who used rooms at the
Plum Street Temple for their classes.
1881: It was erroneously reported today that
King Charles I, the new King of Romania “has removed the disabilities of the
Jews who comprise the largest foreign element of his population.”
1881:
“Disraeli, Novelist and Orator” published today examines the career of the
author turned politician. It concedes
that nobody could have imagined the political heights he was to scale when his
first novel came out. At the same time,
throughout his 40 year career, he was victimized by the press as can be seen by
the issues of Punch in which he was
“assailed…with ridicule, sneer and caricature.”
1882:
Lena Catosk Pearlstone, the New Orleans born daughter of Mina and Louis Hart,
her husband gave part to Julius Heart Pearlstone.
1883(17th
of Nisan, 5643): Third Day of Pesach
1883:
Birthdate of German actress Lotte Spira who was forced by the Nazis to divorce
her Jewish husband Fritz Spira because he was Jewish and then forced to sign a
statement that her daughter Camila was his daughter.
1885(9th
of Iyar, 5645): Sixty-four-year-old Dresden born actor and director who “made
his début in 1838 at Hainichen, Saxony” and who ‘was director of the Carl
Theater in Vienna” from 1866 to 1872 and who should not be confused with the
American actor of the same name who appeared on Broadway in the early twentieth
century passed away today.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1893-ascher-anton
1885:
Birthdate of Romana Manczyk, the Warsaw native who became famous as Zionist
activist Romana Goodman.
http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/goodman-romana
1885:
According to today’s Boston Post,
there is a colony of Jews living in China who came to that country two hundred
years before the Christian era.
1887(30th
of Nisan, 5647): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1887(30th
of Nisan, 5647): Grand Rabbi Joseph Emmanuel Levi of Italy who had previously
served as rabbi of Mondovi and Cuneo before taking the pulpit at Corfu passed
away today.
1887:
When the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society held its 64th
annual meeting this morning, Jesse Seligman was chosen to serve as President
and Henry Rice was chosen to serve as Vice President. Currently, there are 482 orphans in the
asylum, 277 of whom are boys. According to Myer Stern, the society’s secretary,
16 of the boys have recently “been provided with good positions.”
1888:
Birthdate of Julius Hart Pearlstone, a native of Buffalo, TX who became a
merchant in Palestine, TX and a leader of the Jewish Federation for Social
Service in Dallas, TX.
1888:
London born Kate Moses and Cairo, Egypt native Myer Balu gave birth to Leon
Blau who did not live to see his fifth birthday.
1888:
Eleven of Jeanne Franko’s pupils gave a concert in Steinway Hall, and similar
events occurred during the next thirty years.”
1888:
Eduard Glaser completed his third journey from Sanaa to Ma’rib
1889(23rd
of Nisan, 5649): Salomon or Solomon Formstecher, a German rabbi and student of
Jewish theology passed away. Born at Offenbach am Main in 1808 he earned a Ph.D from the
Giessen University, he settled in his native city as preacher, succeeding Rabbi
Metz in 1842 a position he held until his death. “During his long ministry he
strove to harmonize the religious and social life of the Jews with the
requirements of modern civilization. His aims were expressed at the Rabbinical
Conference of Brunswick, Frankfurt, Breslau, and Kassel in the conferences of
the German rabbis. The most important of his works is Religion des Geistes
("Religion of the Spirit," Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1841). It contains
a systematic analysis of the principles of Judaism. The author endeavors to
demonstrate that Judaism was a necessary manifestation, and that its evolution
tends in the direction of a universal religion for civilized mankind. Judaism,
in contrast with paganism, considers the Divinity to be a Being separate from
nature, and allows no doubt of God's existence. Consequently, any theogony, any
emanation, any dualism must be rejected. Formstecher concludes his work with a
history of Judaism which is a valuable contribution to Jewish religious
philosophy.”
1889:
Birthdate of Yakov Naumovich Reizen the “Ukrainian-born Bolshevik” who gained
famed Jacob Golos, a member of the Communist Party in the United States and a
Soviet espionage agent during WW II.
http://documentstalk.com/wp/golos-jacob/
1889:
In Galicia, Aaron and Frima (Silberman) Kligler gave birth to CCNY, Columbia
and Northwestern trained Bacteriologist Israel Jacob Kligler, the professor of
bacteriology at Hebrew University who lived in Jerusalem with his wife Helen
Friedman.
1889:
It was reported today that some brokers at the NYSE who are not Jewish are
accusing Isidore Wormser of leading a cabal of Jewish financiers in stock
manipulation especially where the Reading Railroad is concerned. The charge is not anchored in reality since
some of his cohorts are said to include the notorious Jay Gould and the very
gentile James R. Keene.
1890:
Sylvester Pennoyer was nominated for Governor today at the Democratic State
Convention in Portland, Oregon, with the expectation that he could be able to
carry the Jewish vote in the upcoming general elections.
1890(4th
of Iyar, 5650): Frances Cohen, the daughter of Rachel and Moses Cohen and the
wife of Philadelphian Jonas Altamont Phillips with whom she had nine children,
passed away today in Philadelphia.
1890:
Judge Max Mayeyhardt of Rome, GA, the son of David J. and Esther (Marks)
Mayerhardt today married Nettie Watson, a native of Tuskegee, Alabama.
1890:
“A Mighty Power” by Frank Rothschild, Jr. had a pre-Broadway matinee
performance at the Fifth Avenue Theatre. The play is a melodrama set in
Czarist Russia that portrays the suffering of a Jewish brother and sister at
the ends of “a fierce, malignant, autocrat, General Mickrakoff. The play was
poorly received particularly by the Jews in the audience who do not care for
this sort of “buncombe.”
1891:
Henry Blumenthal took his father David Blumenthal out of an insane asylum in
Amityville, Long Island, today. He then took his father who had been a wealthy
Jewish dry goods businessman before his confinement to all of the banks where
he had deposits, withdrew the funds that totaled over $30, 000 and then boarded
a ship bound for Bremen, Germany.
1892:
Birthdate of violinist Frederic Fradkin, who was concertmaster for the Boston
Symphony from 1918 to 1920.
https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/78384/all
https://mahlerfoundation.org/mahler/contemporaries/frederic-fradkin/
1893:
“On The Watch For Converts” published today described the aggressive attempts
by various Christian churches to convert Jews in response to which “a
considerable number” of the Jews in New York “have formulated a plan for
checkmating the vigorous efforts…to proselytize them from their ancient faith.”
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FB0E1EF6345B1A738DDDAD0A94DC405B8385F0D3
1894(8th
of Nisan, 5654): Fourth Day of Pesach
1894:
In Tyler, TX, Rose and Samuel S. Mallinson gave birth to Herbert Mallinson, the
wife of Beatrice Mallinson and a “member of the board of directors and chairman
of the Southwest region of the American Joint Distribution Committee.
1894:
Four days after he had passed away, 53-year-old Woolf Emden, “the eldest son of
the Joseph and Rachel Emden” was buried today at the “West Ham Jewish
Cemetery.”
1894:
In New York, “Russian Jewish immigrants Frederick and Yetta Pitler gave birth
to Jacob Albert “Jake” Pitler the husband of Henrietta L. Pitler whose two year
career with Pittsburgh Pirates was followed by lengthy career as a coach with
the Brooklyn Dodgers that included being on the 1955 team that won Brooklyn’s
only World Championship.
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/4b700caf
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pitleja01.shtml
1894:
“Mr. Seligman’s Career” published today glowingly described the career of the
recently deceased Jewish businessman and philanthropist Jesse Seligman who
“came to New York in steerage” and was worth over $20,000,000 when he passed
away.
1895:
“Mr. Hutton’s Book On Jerusalem” published today provides a detailed review of Literary
Landmarks of Jerusalem by Laurence Hutton.
1895:
“Saved From Starvation” published today described the work of the Monte Relief
Society led by Mrs. Sofia Monte Loebinger whose five hundred members provide
immediate relief in the form of money and clothing to the needy immigrants of
the Lower East Side and who also help them find jobs which will provide long
term improvement in their condition.
1896:
A new synagogue is scheduled to be dedicated this evening in Lancaster, PA.
1896:
“Does Not Favor Intermarriage” published today described the meeting of the New
York Section of the National Council of Jewish Women at Temple Beth-El presided
over by Mrs. Alexander Kohut at which included the reading of papers on
“Intermarriage” and “A Practical View of Philanthropy.”
1897(22nd
of Nisan, 5657): Eight Day of Pesach and Shabbat; Yizkor
1897:
It was reported today that during March the United Hebrew Charities dealt with
3,326 applications for relief that affected 11,086 peoples. One thousand people received clothes, shoes
and furniture while 319 people were taken to the doctor. Of the 950 people who registered for work,
589 were found jobs.
1897:
In Kovno, Lithuania, Morris and Hinda (Markson) Stern gave birth to University
of Cincinnati graduate and HUC ordained rabbi Harry Joshua Stern who began
serving Temple Israel in Uniontown, PA in 1922 while serving as chairman of the
United Palestine Appeal for Fayette County.
1898:
On its 76th anniversary, the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum
Society met at the asylum’s building on 136th Street and Amsterdam
Avenue.
1898:
It was reported today that among those who attended the 5th annual
reunion banquet of the Hebrew Technical Institute were Meyer Cushner,
Maximilian Zipkes, James Hoffman, Joseph L. Gensler, Dr. Henry M. Leipziger, A.
Lincoln Saruya and Edgar S. Barnay
1898: Congress today declared that a state of war
between the U.S. and Spain had existed since April 21, the day the blockade of
Cuba had begun. Fifteen Jews serving on the battleship were killed. Five
thousand Jews served in the American Army, a ratio of 20% more than the general
population. The first person of Colonel Roosevelt's Rough Riders to reach the
top of San Juan Hill was reportedly a Jew named Irving Peixotto.
1898:
The Adath Israel Fair which is a fundraiser for their new building in West
Harlem is scheduled to come to an end.
1899(14th
of Iyar, 5659): Pesach Sheini
1899:
In Kobrin, Russia, Bazel Zaritsky and Hanna Tennenbaum gave birth to Oscher
Zaritsky who gained fame as award winning American mathematician Oscar Zariski.
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Zariski.html
1900:
The Twenty-Seventh Convention of District No 7 of the B’nai B’rith continued
for a third day in New Orleans.
1901:
“United Work for Oppressed Hebrews” published today described a
standing-room-only meeting at Temple Emanuel where the topics of the evening
were “The Condition of the Jews” and “The Alliance Israelite and American
Judaism” and the speakers include A. S. Solomons, Jacob H. Schiff, Rabbi H.
Pereira Mendes, Louis Marshall and Nissam Benard
1902:
The first step toward the creation of a
permanent endowment fund for the United Hebrew Charities was taken today by
William Guggenheim, a member of the Board of Directors, when he sent” Henry
Rice, “the President of the organization…a check for $50,000 for that purpose
and a promise of $50,000 more…”
1902:
Birthdate of Moshe Ziffer the native of Przemyśl, the Austro-Hungarian city that was
the scene of great Jewish suffering during WWI, who made Aliyah in 191 and
became a leading Israeli artist and sculptor whose works included busts of
Einstein, Ben-Gurion and Weizman.
1903:
“Massacre of Jews in Russia” published today reported that “twenty-five Jews
were killed and 275 were wounded, many of the mortally, in ant-Semitic riots at
Kishineff…on April 20 when a number of workmen organized an attack on the
Jewish inhabitants.”
1904:
In Chicago, Rabbi Hirsch delivered a lecture at St. James Methodist Church
during which he said, “If Jesus Christ should return to the earth tomorrow, he
would be welcome in every synagogue in the land …” which led to the audience
responding with “a storm of applause when he sat down.
1905(19th
of Nisan, Fifth Day of Pesach
1905(19th
of Nisan): Anti-Semitic riots began in Zhitomir, Russia
1905:
In New York, Gladys Seligman the daughter of David and Adelaide Seligman became
Gladys Wertheim when she married Henri Hendrik Pieter Wertheim van Heukelom
today,
1906:
In Barley, Hertfordshire, England, Redcliffe Nathan Salaman, the son of Myer
and Sarah Salaman, and Nina Ruth Salaman gave birth to Raphael Arthur Salaman.
1907”
Birthdate of Chicago native and St. Johns trained attorney Harold Horton Boxer
who while living in New York was active in New York Democratic politics
and served as an officer of the Union of
Orthodox Congregation
1907:
Today marks the start of two ten-day sales at Bloomingdales; one for Women’s
Tailored suits and the other for Men’s Spring suits, overcoats, Prince Albert
Coats and Vests.
1907:
Today, The Right Reverend Plato, who had defended himself during a session of
the Duma by declaring that “I got do in the mud at Kieff in order to save the
Jews from those who would attack them was elected today to serve as Archbishop
of the Orthodox Russian Church in the United States.
1908:
It was reported today that while speaking between performance at the Children’s
Theatre of the Educational Alliance, Mark Twain announced that “after July 1,
the Educational Theatre for children will enter upon an independent existence
under a different board of directors.
1909:
A meeting is scheduled to take place this evening sponsored by the Free Songs
of Israel where attendees will express their opposition to the Wagner-Stein
Bill which allow for part of the land now occupied by Crotona Park to be used
for in a new armory building
1910(15th
of Nisan, 5670): Pesach
1910:
It was reported today that “the government order for the wholesale expulsion of
Jews residing illegally in Kieff and elsewhere outside the pale, which was to
have taken effect on April 28” and which would have negatively affected at
least 2,700 Jews living in Kieff, “has been suspended by the Premier to permit
a further examination of the matter.”
1911: Birthdate of comedian Jack E Leonard.
Born Leonard Lebitsky in Chicago, Illinois, Leonard was a
heavy-set, cigar-smoking practitioner of an aggressive form of
humor. His movie credits included the “Disorderly Orderly,” “The Fat
Spy,” and “Target: Harry.” He passed away on May 9, 1973.
1912:
It was reported today that the memorial services which were to be held last
night in memory of Isidor Straus had to be abandoned because of the great crowd
which assembled and which, because of its congestion, threatened for a time to
create serious injury to many people.
1913(17th
of Nisan, 5673): Third Day of Pesach
1913:
In Chicago, Rabbi Schanfarber officiated at the funeral of 44-year-old Oscar
Grant Lehman, the son of Louis and Barbara Lehman.
1913:
In Chicago, Rabbi Schanfarbert officiated at the funeral of Rena Levi, the wife
of Julius Levi and the “mother of Sigbit and Fannie L. Rothschild.”
1914:
Birthdate of Jan Karski, a liaison officer of the Polish underground who
infiltrated both the Warsaw Ghetto and a German concentration camp and then
carried the first eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust to a mostly disbelieving
audience of Western leaders.
http://web.archive.org/web/20110727171727/http://www.poloniatoday.com/karski0311.htm
http://www.raoulwallenberg.net/saviors/diplomats/list/jan-karski-820/
1914:
Birthdate of actress and political activist Roberta "Robbie" Seidman
Garfield Cohn, the wife of actor John Garfield.
1915(10th
of Iyar, 5675): Parashat Acrhei Mot-Kedoshim
1915(10th
of Iyar, 5675): Seventy-five-year-old Belarus born Rabbi Yshaaya Epstein the
son of Rabbi Abraham Epstein and the “husband of “Esther (Judith) Epstein”
passed away today in Jerusalem.
1915:
“Betty” a musical comedy with lyrics and music by Paul Rubens opened at Daly’s
Theatre in London where it ran for 391 performances.
1915:
Nearly 1,000 people “representing every synagogue and Jewish society in” New
York City met tonight “at the Concert Hall for the opening session of the
annual convention of the Kehillah or Jewish Community” which is led by “Dr. J.
L. Magnes, the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Kehillah” who said
“the fate of the Jewish people is hanging in the balance” and wondered if “the
great war will bring political, religious and national freedom to the Jews?”
1915:
The Armenian Genocide began when the Young Turks undertook the systematic
annihilation of Armenian intellectuals and entrepreneurs within the city of
Constantinople and later the entire Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire. The Jewish population of Palestine was aware
of this slaughter. The leaders of its
nascent military force, Hashomer, were especially cognizant of what had
happened. They were determined that the
Jews would not suffer a similar fate.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/gallery/the-armenian-genocide-1915-16-in-depth-photographs
1916:
Birthdate of movie critic Stanley Kauffmann the husband of Laura
Kauffman.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115089/stanley-kauffmann-has-died
1916(21st
of Nisan, 5676): 7th day of Pesach
1916:
Birthdate of movie critic Stanley Kauffmann the husband of Laura
Kauffman.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115089/stanley-kauffmann-has-died
1916:
In Ireland foundation stone of the Greenville Hall Synagogue was laid
coincidentally on the same day as the Easter Rising.
1916(21st
of Nisan, 5676): During WW I, Captain
Wilfrid Langdon, a graduate of Rugby, was killed today.
1916:
In New Orleans, Ted “Kid” Lewis lost a bout which cost him his title as World
Welterweight Champion.
1916:
The Easter Rising began in Dublin. Many
Jews were attracted to the cause of Irish Republicanism including Estella
Solomons and Michael Noyk an Irish solicitor who joined Sinn Fein shortly after
the Rising and defended several of the I.R.A. prisoners.
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/198888/solomons-irish-rising/?print=1
1917(2nd
of Iyar, 5677): Sixty-five-year-old Berlin born Oscar Blumenthal playwright and
critic passed away today in his hometown.
1917:
The final session of the “assembly of the Eastern Council of Reform Rabbis”
which had split over the issues of voicing support for women’s suffrage and
Zionism was held today.
1917:
Jacob de Hass, Secretary of the Provisional Executive Committee for General
Zionist Affairs said” today “that the consideration by the envoys in Washington
of the problem of a Jewish nation in Palestine was the result of a carefully
planned movement by the Zionist organizations in the United States, England,
France and Russia.”
1918:
It was reported today that “The Jewish Administration Commission for Palestine
has established bureaus in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and is engaged in the actual
work of laying the foundation for the Jewish state. Of immediate concern was the need for “large
sums of money designed to save orange growers from ruin owing to their
inability to market their crops due to the World War. Long term loans to the orange growers are
imperative necessity.”
1918:
Author Thomas Mann and his wife Katia, who would later convert to Christianity
gave birth to their fifth child Elisabeth today.
1918:
Birthdate of Chicago native, U. of Chicago grad and Rush Medical College
trained physician Henry Kaplan, the cancer specialist who raised two children –
Ann and Paul – with his wife Leah.
1918:
“Violent pogroms” took place in Cracow today.
1919:
Hungarian Jewish immigrant Mary Teitelbaum and her husband gave birth to Sara
Teitelbaum who gained fame as Clinton confidant Sarah Ehrman.
1919(24th
Nisan, 5679): A month before his 56th birthday Parisian born opera
composer Camille Erlanger passed away.
1919:
“The Chicago Mendelssohn Club” is scheduled to give the final concert of this
season this evening.
1920:
Birthdate of New York City native and Columbia University trained historian Dr.
Herman Ausubel who taught at Columbia, Yeshiva University, Brooklyn College and
the University of Manchester in England and whose works included Historians
and Their Crafts.
1921(16th
of Nisan, 5681): Second Day of Pesach
1921: Vladimir Jabotinsky was sentenced by the
British mandatory government of Palestine to 15 years of imprisonment for his
participation in the Jewish self-defense corps. During Passover in 1920,
Jabotinsky stood at the head of the Haganah in Jerusalem against Arab riots and
was condemned by the British Mandatory Government to 15 years hard labor.
Following the public outcry against the verdict, he received amnesty and was
released from Acre prison.
1921:
Secretary of Labor James J. Davis continued his inspection tour of Ellis
Island, the gateway to America for tens of thousands of Jews.
1921:
Birthdate of Layos Lenovitz, the native of Hungary who as Lou Lenhart served as
pilot with the U.S. Marines during WW II before volunteering for “Sherut Avir,
the precursor of the IAF,” taking part in IAF’s first attack on Egyptian forces
driving on Tel Aviv and helping to airlift immigrants to the nascent Jewish
State.
http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-lou-lenart-20150722-story.html
1922:
“The committee directing the Palestine Foundation Fund campaign announced”
today “that $300,000 had been raised in New York City with the larges sing
subscription being $100,000 from the Society for the Advancement of Judaism.”
1923:
The Jewish Daily News published “The Development of Jewish National Art”
written by Marie Trommer.
1923:
Solomon Lamport who is en route to Palestine to study condition among the
Jewish settlers, Harry Fischel who has donated a home for the Chief Rabbi of
Palestine and Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein are among the passengers who will be
sailing this morning aboard the Berengaria, a Cunard Line vessel.
1924:
Birthdate of Detroit native Isadore Manuel Singer, a Professor of Mathematics
at MIT who “is noted for his work with Michael Atiyah proving the Atiyah–Singer
index theorem in 1962, which paved the way for new interactions between pure
mathematics and theoretical physics.” (This breakthrough was accomplished by an
American Jew and a native of the Sudan, raised in Egypt who now lives in Great
Britain. Yes, peaceful collaboration is
possible.)
1924:
Birthdate of Ruth Maxine Kahn, the native of Des Moines, IA, who gained fame
opera and Broadway musical star Ruth Kobart.
1924: Birthdate of composer and pianist Yehoshua
Lakner. Born in Bratislava, Lakner moved to what is now Israel in 1941.
During his early years in Palestine, Lakner studied and played in small jazz
band. Yehoshua Lakner's work has received numerous awards, including the Engel
Prize of Tel-Aviv for his "Toccata for Orchestra" (1958). He was
honored by the Zurich City Council for his theatre music (1969) and was awarded
the Salomon David Steinberg Foundation's Music Prize, as well as a
composer-in-residency from the City of Zurich (1987/88). Lakner
taught at the Rubin Academy for Music in Tel Aviv and later used the computer
to create multi-sensory musical experiences.
1925:
Arthur “Murray married his famous dance partner, Kathryn Kohnfelder” today.
1925:
At Carnegie Hall, “Variations for Piano on a Theme by Dvorak,” and “Suite for
Two Pianos,” which had been composed by Leopold Damrosch Mannes was performed
for the first time
1926(10th
of Iyar, 5686): Parashat Achrei Mot-Kedoshim
1926:
“The strong probability of a Jewish financial expert holding a portfolio -and
very likely that of Finance -- in the new Polish Cabinet, as announced in a
dispatch from Warsaw printed today, is in line with the policy of Count
Alexander Skrzynski, who was instrumental a year ago in arranging a protocol
between the Jewish Club and the Government
1927(22nd
of Nisan, 5687): Eighth Day of Pesach
1927:
Birthdate of Springfield, MA native, WW II Navy veteran and Yale trained
attorney David S. Davidson, the Chief Judge of the NLRB and Reform Judaism
leader who married Dorothy Davidson after the death of his first wife Judge
Rita Davidson.
https://washingtonjewishweek.com/51976/david-s-davidson-former-nlrb-chief-judge-dies-at-91/obits/
1927:
“A testimonial performance” is scheduled to “be given at the Mansfield Theatre”
tonight in honor of Ossip Dymow who is “celebrating” his 25th
anniversary as an author.
1928:
“A subscription of $1,000,000 by Felix M. Warburg to the $10,000,000 fund
sought by the American Jewish Joint Agricultural Corporation for the
establishment of Jewish Agricultural colonies in Russia was announced today by
James N. Rosenberg, Chairman of the corporation.”
1929(14th
of Nisan, 5689): Fast of the First Born; erev Pesach
1929:
The Ezra Society for Nervous Diseases arranged the Passover celebration “held
tonight for several hundred Jewish patients at the Manhattan State Hospital on
Ward’s Island.
1929:
Thanks to the efforts of the Jewish Social Service Association “said to be the
oldest Jewish relief and family welfare society in America” “flour, food and
funds” have been distributed to those in need so they can “observe the
traditions of the holiday” this evening.
1929:
Louis Singer led the Seder at the Home of Old Israel on Jefferson Street which
was attended by 112 residents.
1930:
In the Bronx, Hattie Schwartzberg and her husband Fred, the owner of “a small
furniture manufacturing business” gave birth to Richard Donald Schwartzberg who
gained fame as the award winning director and producer Richard Donner whose
greatest claim to fame may have been directing Christopher Reeve in the 1978
epic “Superman” which brought the man of steel to the wide, modern movie
screen.
1931:
In a match whose outcome he disputed English boxer “Jack Kid Berg” (Judah Berg)
lost his World Light Welterweight Championship.
1932:
Detroit Tigers Pitcher Izzy Goldstein, a native or Odessa, Russia, appeared in
his first major league baseball game.
1932(18th
of Nisan, 5692): Fourth Day of Pesach
1932:
Benny Rothman, the Jewish political activist, led the Mass trespass of Kinder
Scout, leading to substantial legal reforms in the United Kingdom.
1932:
Tonight’s “symposium on the theatre to be conducted by the Group Theater and
the Junior Jewish Federations of New York and Brooklyn will take place at the
Morosco Theatre instead of the Bijou as first announced.”
1933:
Soviet Union Foreign Commissar Maxim Litvinov appears on the cover of Time
and is the subject of the magazine’s feature article. Litvinov was the son of a
wealthy Jewish banking family who became an ardent Bolshevik. Stalin will
remove Litvinov, the Jew, when he decides to negotiate the non-aggression pact
with Germany in 1939. Americans would come to know Litvinov during World War II
when he served as the Soviet ambassador to the United States where he played a
key role in lend-lease negotiations.
Litvinov was unique among the original Jews Bolshevik leaders because he
was one of the few to escape Stalin’s wrath and die of natural causes.
1933(28th
of Nisan, 5693): Eighty-one-year-old Felix Adler passed away.
http://www.nysec.org/felixadler
1933:
After meeting with President Roosevelt, Secretary of State Cordell Hull wrote
to Norman Davis, the American representative to the Geneva Disarmament
Conference that FDR would regard adjournment of the conference as a failure
that might give Hitler an excuse to start a war. (In the first months of his Presidency, FDR
saw that Hitler posed an undetermined threat to peace. He wanted to keep him at bay because he was
dealing with the worst crisis in American history. What most people fail to understand with
their twenty-twenty hindsight was that the United States was tottering on the
brink of disaster and there was no guarantee that she could not followed the
fascist model of Germany and Italy or the Communist model of the Soviet Union.)
1933:
“A conference of executive directors of Y.M.H.A.’s, Y.W H. A’s and Jewish
Community Centers” is which is considering “an evaluation of present membership
policies, news systems of membership and other measures that will build up
memberships in Jewish centers scheduled to meet for its third and final session
today at the 92nd Street Y.
1934:
In the Bronx, Harry Rosen and the former Ruth Jacobson gave birth to Walter
Rosen who made Junior’s Restaurant and its cheesecake into a New York cultural
icon.
1934:
It was reported today that Abraham Stavsky, Zvi Rosenblatt and Abba Achimeyer
have gone trial for the murder last month of Dr. Chaim Arlosoroff. “Achicmeyer is charged with inciting the
alleged murderers by speeches and newspaper articles.” The other two defendants are charged with the
actual murder with Rosenblatt having been named as the “trigger man.”
1935:
Birthdate of Pottsville, PA native Allan Jaffe, “the entrepreneur who developed
Preservation Hall into a New Orleans jazz tradition” and father of Ben Jaffe
who followed in his father’s footsteps.
1935:
The New Republic published “The Funeral of R.A.A.P.” by Jewish author Robert
Gessner.
1935:
“Today, the Angriff, the official afternoon” Nazi newspaper “in Berlin appeared
with black banner headlines above a story asserting that half the apartment
house in” Berlin “were still owned by Jews.”
1936:
“Reports that eight Arabs had been killed yesterday during disorders were
described as ‘false and baseless’ by the Jewish Agency in Palestine.”
1936:
In Detroit, Temple Beth-El began celebrating its 85th anniversary.
1936:
Today David Ben Gurion was reported to have “urged that exaggeration of the
disturbances” in Palestine “be avoided” no doubt because the Arabs were using
their attacks to pressure the British to end Jewish immigration and land
purchases.
1936:
“Assurance has been given to Jews in America by the High Commissioner of
Palestine that he would not ‘put a premium upon violence’ by yielding to any
unjust demands of the Arabs, Dr. Stephen S. Wise said today and that
furthermore “continued admittance of immigrants to Palestine was guaranteed.”
1936:
At a luncheon held in the Hotel Astor, “Luis Posner, Mortgage Commissioner of
the State of New York said the Jewish settlers” in Palestine “had always pursed
a policy of peaceful cooperation and mutual understanding with the Arabs.
1936:
In Zagreb, Yugoslavia, Dr. Vladimir Matchek denied today that anti-Semitic
pamphlets recently published under the name of the Croat Peasant party had been
approved or circulated by the party.”
1936:
While contrary to expectations there was no violence in Jerusalem today “rifle
shots were fired at Hakoresh, a Jewish settlement in northern Palestine” and
“fires in crops, houses, shops and timber yards” owned by Jews continue to
break out in different parts of the countries.
1937: Pastor Martin
Niemöller, one of the foremost leaders of the German opposition forces to
Hitler, preached that it is unfortunate that God permitted Jesus to be born a
Jew.
1938:
In Vienna, Marrianne and Hubert Joachim Adler gave birth to San Diego, CA
“civil rights and criminal defense attorney” Tom Adler.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sandiegouniontribune/obituary.aspx?n=tom-adler&pid=144988528
1938:
In one of those uniquely American cross-cultural events, the orchestra led by
African-American Duke Ellington recorded “a live performance” “On the Sunny
Side of the Street” with lyrics by Dorothy Fields at Harlem’s iconic Cotton
Club.
1938:
All sessions of the religious school resumed at Temple Emanu-El following the
Passover recess.
1938:
At the Free Synagogue meeting in Carnegie Hall, Dr. Ludwig Lewisohn is
scheduled to deliver a lecture on “My Unwritten Books: A Preview.”
1938:
At Temple Rodeph Sholom, Dudley Digges and Rabbi Louis I. Newman are scheduled
to deliver an address on “The Ethical Message of Paul Osborn’s play ‘On
Borrowed Time.’”
1939:
Birthdate of Ernst Zündel, the German-born Canadian Holocaust denier who also
published neo-Nazi pamphlets such as “The Hitler We Loved and Why.”
1939:
It was reported today that donations totaling $40,000 have been made to cover
last year’s deficit of $80,000 at the Beth El Hospital in Brooklyn.
1939:
In apparent response to pressure from the British government the Greek
government announced that a law prohibiting Greek vessels from carrying any
more Jewish refugees unless their papers are strictly in order would be
enforced. The move will strike a blow
against the Greek economy since Greek ship owners and “brokers” had been able
to make “exorbitant profits” from trafficking in Jewish misery.
1940(16th
of Nisan, 5700): Second Day of Pesach
1940(16th
of Nisan, 5700): Forty-three-year-old Joe “Yussel the Muscle” Jacobs fight
manager passed away today.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jacobs-joe
1941:
Birthdate of Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke “a top-ranking American diplomat,
magazine editor, author, professor, Peace Corps official, and investment
banker. He was the only person to have held the position of Assistant Secretary
of State position for two different regions of the world (Asia from 1977 to
1981 and Europe from 1994 to 1996). Later, was the Special Representative for
Afghanistan and Pakistan under the Obama administration. Holbrooke was born in
New York City, to Dan Holbrooke and Trudi Moos (née Kearl). Holbrooke’s mother,
whose Jewish family fled Hamburg in 1933 for Buenos Aires before coming to New
York, took him to Quaker meetings on Sundays. “I was an atheist, his father was
an atheist,” says his mother, a potter now married to a sculptor. “We never
thought of giving Richard a Jewish upbringing. The Quaker meetings seemed
interesting.” Holbrooke’s father, a doctor born of Russian Jewish parents in
Warsaw, died of cancer. His father changed his name to Holbrooke when he
arrived in the United States in the 1930s. Such, however, is the family’s loss
of contact with its roots that his original name is unknown. After Scarsdale
High School Holbrooke received his A.B. from Brown University in 1962 and
completed a post-graduate fellowship at Princeton University in 1970. He
married Kati Marton in 1995. His marriage to Marton has led him to look more
closely at his past. She was born into a family of Hungarian Jews but raised a
Roman Catholic. In researching a book about Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish
diplomat in Budapest who saved Jews during World War II, Marton traveled to her
native Hungary whence she and her parents had fled the Communists in the 1950s.
It was there that an old friend of her mother’s told her that Wallenberg had
come too late for Marton’s grandparents. It was the first she had heard about
her Jewish roots. Like Madeleine Albright’s parents, Marton’s family hid their
Jewish identity when they came to the United States. She learned that one of
her maternal grandparents had died in the Auschwitz concentration camp. He
passed away in 2010.
1941: The Nazis “closed” the Lublin Ghetto.
The Lublin (Poland) Ghetto was established in March,
1941 and contained about 34,000 Jews. As of this date Jews
could only leave if they had a special permit or were part of a labor group.
The Lublin Ghetto was the first ghetto in the General Government to be
liquidated, and the Nazis gained much experience, for future deportation
actions. Jews from Lublin were the first victims of the newly constructed death
camp at Belzec. Only 200-300 of formerly 40,000 Lublin Jews survived in hiding
or were finally liberated in several concentration camps. About 1000 Jews
survived the war in Soviet areas.
1942:
Funeral services are scheduled to be held today for fifty-nine-year-old
Romanian born Isadore Wexler, the thirty-year resident of Toledo, HO where he
owned the Wexler Ice company and the husband of Yetta Leffner Wexler with whom
he had eight children -- Louis, Joseph, Ralph, David, Morris, Oscar, Max and
William A. Wexler – followed by burial at Shari Zedick Cemetery in Lima, OH.
1942:
The liquidation of the WloclawekGhetto began today.
1942: Jews throughout Greater
Germany were prohibited from taking public transport.
1942:
Eight days after turning nine, Ruth Bachrachova was transported from Prague to
Terezin, the first leg of a trip that would lead to the death camps.
1942: Birthdate of singer and film star Barbra
Streisand.
1943(19th
of Nisan, 5703) Shabbat Shel Pesach
1943:
Oliver Harvey, Anthony Eden’s Private Secretary described the British Foreign
Minister’s attitude toward the Jews with an entry in his diary stating
“Unfortunately AE is immovable on the subject of Palestine. He loves Arabs and hates Jews.” This entry explains why the British Foreign
office did nothing to save the Jews of Europe from the Holocaust and gives some
examples of the type of society in which Churchill was forced to make his
decisions.
1943:
A twelve-day joint Anglo-American conference designed to deal with the issue of
refugees (and in reality, Jewish refugees) comes to an end without taking any
action to save the Jews of Europe including the opening of Palestine to
settlement by Jewish refugees.
1943(19th
of Nissan 5703): Rabbi
Menachem Ziemba a distinguished pre-World War II Rabbi who had been born in
1883, known as a Talmudic genius and prodigy was gunned down by the Nazis during
the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. “Rabbi Menachem Zemba was born in a suburb of
Warsaw, Poland in 1883. A follower of the Gerrer Chassidic dynasty, he was a
great genius and Torah scholar. He joined the Warsaw rabbinate in 1935 and was
recognized as a leading rabbinic figure in pre-war Eastern Europe.
Rabbi
Zemba was a moral force in the Warsaw Ghetto, always striving to infuse the
community with optimism and hope. He arranged clandestine locations in cellars
and bomb shelters where girls and boys would study Torah. Although afforded
opportunities to escape the ghetto, he refused to do so, insisting that his
presence was needed by the Jews in the ghetto. Rabbi Zemba was a strong
supporter of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, donating personal funds for ammunition
and giving his whole-hearted blessing for the endeavor (see Jewish History for
the 27th of Nissan). Five days after the fighting begun, on Shabbat the 19th of
Nissan, the house were Rabbi Zemba was hiding was set afire by the SS. When
attempting to escape, Rabbi Zemba was shot dead by the Nazis. May G-d avenge
his blood. The rabbi was buried in the Ghetto, and in 1958 his body was flown
to Israel where he was buried in Jerusalem amid a great funeral procession. Rabbi
Zemba was a prolific writer. Unfortunately, most of his scholarly manuscripts
were burnt in the Warsaw Ghetto. His few works which were authored before the
war are still studied by Torah scholars world-wide. (As reported by Chabad)
1944(1st
of Iyar, 5704): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1944(1st
of Iyar, 5704): Seventy-five-year-old “German physical chemist” George Bredig,
the Silesia bon son of Ernestine Troplowitz and Max Bredig who discovered that
his identifying as a Protestant did not save him from fleeing the Nazis because
of his “Jewish descent” passed away in the United States where he had found
refuge thanks to the intervention by Ernest Cohen who “ironically” died at
Auschwitz.
https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/tyeplmz
1944: Two escapees from Auschwitz, Rudolf Vrba
and Alfred Wetzler reached Zilina, in northern Slovakia, where they worked with
Jewish leaders on their report. The two men provided separate but consistent
accounts. Factual assertions were checked against records whenever possible. The
32-page report was sent to the British and United States governments, the Vatican
and the International Red Cross. Most important, it went to the leadership of
Hungary's Jews, next on Hitler's list.
1945:
When Soviet troops entered the German capital, they found 800 Jews alive at
Berlin’s Jewish Hospital.
1945:
“Today, the satellite labor camps around Dachau were being cleared out by the
Nazis ahead of the advancing Allied troops, and some 15,000 prisoners were
first marched to the Dachau camp, only to be sent southwards on a death march
towards the Austrian border,the path for which generally headed southwards,
partly along the eastern shore of the Starnberger See, taking a left turn to
the east in the town of Eurasburg and heading towards the Tegernsee.”
1945:
Forty-three-year-old Karl Ludwig von Guttenberg who had been arrested after the
failure of the plot to assassinate Hitler in July, 1944 and who refused to name
names despite being tortured by was murdered in the early hours of this morning
by order of “Gestapo chief Heinrich Muller.”
1945:
Holocaust survivor Dr. Hadassah Bimko Rosensaft, gave one of the first
eyewitness accounts of the horrors of the Holocaust on a Movietone News
newsreel that was filmed at the recently liberated Nazi concentration camp of
Bergen-Belsen. "It
is difficult for me to describe," she said, "all that we inmates
experienced here in the camps. As a small, very small example I can relate that
we inmates were thrown onto the earth of a filthy, lice-filled camp, without
blankets, without bags of hay, without beds. We were given a 12th of a piece of
bread daily and one liter of turnip soup so that almost 75 percent of the
inmates were swollen from hunger. A severe typhus epidemic broke out, and the
hunger and the typhus devoured us." Through the camera she told the world
how the Germans had refused to give starving inmates food shipments sent by the
Red Cross until shortly before the arrival of British troops, and how the
camp's SS commandant had stolen large quantities of chocolate intended for
Jewish children to enrich himself on the black market.
1946(23rd
of Nisan, 5706): San Francisco native and Stanford
trained surgeon Lawrence Harold Hoffman the World War I veteran and brother of
William J. and Melville G. Hoffman passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1946/04/25/88354485.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1946: Five thousand Jews
attending a funeral for five Jews murdered by Poles at Nowy Targ, Poland, three
days earlier were abused from rooftops and windows by anti-Semitic taunts.
1947:
Birthdate of Roger David Kornberg an American biochemist and professor of
structural biology at Stanford University School of Medicine who “was awarded
the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2006 for his studies of the process by which
genetic information from DNA is copied to RNA, "the molecular basis of
eukaryotic transcription."
1947: The trial of Hans Biebow “the chief of
German Nazi administration of the Łódź Ghetto in occupied Poland” continued for
a second day.
1948(15th
of Nisan, 5708): Pesach
1948(15th
of Nisan, 5708): Fifty-six-year-old New York native Edward C. Hartman, the
treasurer and director of the Stahl-Meyer, Inc meat packers who “began his
career there in 1922 with the Louis Meyer Company passed away today at his home
on Long Island.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1948/04/26/84536738.html?pageNumber=23
1948:
During the siege of Jerusalem, on the first day of Pesach, Zipporah Porath “feasted
on an omelet made from our special Pesach ration, which included Matzah and one
egg each.”
1949:
Birthdate of Peter Friedman, the New York native who “played the role of Jewish
immigrant ‘Tateh’ in Ragtime” for which he “was nominated for the 1998 Tony
Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical and the Drama Desk
Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical.”
1950:
King Abdullah of Jordan annexed all of the land west of the Jordan River and
the Dead Sea seized by his troop. The
state of Jordan was formed by the union of Jordanian-occupied Palestine and the
Kingdom of Transjordan. In the view of some, the creation of the original state
of Trans-Jordan by the British after World War I was an illegal act since
amounted to a partition of the Palestine Mandate. That is why there are
those that contend that if the Arabs want a state in Palestine, they already
have it. It is called Jordan. The creation of Jordan in 1950 was
another act of illegality. The land west of the Jordan River including
the eastern part of Jerusalem had been seized by the Jordanian Army during the
Israeli War for Independence. Since the Arabs held what is now called the
West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza in 1950, you would have expected that the
Arab State of Palestine would have been created. The demand for an Arab
state of Palestine in these areas only began after June, 1967.
1950:
The government of Israel announced that it would not accept the annexation of
eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank by Jordan.
Israel said that it had accepted the occupation as part of the truce
agreement subject to final peace negotiations.
Israel expressed its displeasure at the possibility of British military
installations being installed on her frontiers.
1951(18th
of 5711): Fourth Day of Pesa
1953(9th
of Iya, 5713): Fifty-two-year-old London born and NYU School of Engineering
graduate Herman M. Braloff, the president of the Cauldwell-Wingate Company,
construction engineers which built “projects for the armed forces at the
Sampson (NY) Naval Training Session and Camp Shanks (NJ) as well as the
Carnegie Foundation Building, Temple Emanu-El, Mt. Sinai Hospital and “the
addition to the Metropolitan Museum of Art” while serving on “the board of
directors of the Jewish Hospital in Brooklyn and being a member of Temple B’nai
Sholom in Rockville Cetntre.
1953:
Drummer Buddy Rich, the son of Jewish-American vaudevillians, married “dance
and showgirl” Marie Allison today with whom he had one child – Cathy – and to
whom he remained married “until his death in 1987.”
1955:
The Bandung Conference came to an end. At the height of the Cold War,
twenty-nine self-described non-aligned nations of Asia and Africa finish a
meeting that condemned colonialism, racism, and the Cold War. One of the prime
movers behind the conference was Prime Minister Nehru of India. The Israelis had wanted to attend. They saw themselves as a socialist country
who had thrown the British out and was not officially aligned with either the
Eastern or Western Blocs. However, Nehru
did not want the Israelis there because it would upset the Arabs and the
Moslems.
1955(24th
of Iyar, 5715): Eighty-three-year-old Rudland, VT native and Fairfield CT
resident the long-time President of Armstrong Manufacturing Company passed away
today at Bridgeport, CT Hospital.
1958(4th
of Iyar, 5718): Yom HaAtzma'ut
1958:
Thirteen months after being released in the United Kingdom, “Ill Met by Moonlight”
on which Emeric Pressburger served as co-writer, co-director and co-producer
was released today in New York City.
1958:
Chaim Laskov, the recently appointed Chief of General Staff, “presided over a
huge military parade in Jerusalem to mark the tenth anniversary of Israel's
independence. This took place despite warnings by Jordan that such a parade
would be considered an act of aggression. During the parade, Laskov displayed
Israel's latest military hardware, including weapons captured from Egypt in the
Sinai and from Syria during clashes in the Hula Valley.”
1958:
Brooks Atkinson reviewed the first production of JB, a play based on the Book
of Job for the New York Times.
1959(16th
of Nisan, 5719): Second Day of Pesach
1959(16th
of Nisan, 5719): Ninety-three-year-old violinist and conductor David Mannes,
the husband of Clara Mannes and son-in-law of Leopold Damrosch, who helped to
“found the Colored Music Settlement School” and the Mannes Music School
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1959/04/25/83683650.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1960(27th
of Nisan, 5720): Sixty-five-year-old Ukraine native, Sophie Udin, the
feminist and Zionist who married Pinhas Ginguld with whom she had two children
– Yehuda and Marcia passed away today.
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/udin-sophie-ada
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/udin-sophie-a
1961,
Professor Salo Baron testified at the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem.
Baron explained the historical context of the Nazi genocide against the Jews.
He further explained that in his birthplace, Tarnow, there had been 20,000 Jews
before the war but, after Hitler, there were no more than 20. His parents and a
sister were killed there1961, Professor Baron testified at the trial of Adolf
Eichmann in Jerusalem. Baron explained the historical context of the Nazi
genocide against the Jews. He further explained that in his birthplace, Tarnow,
there had been 20,000 Jews before the war but, after Hitler, there were no more
than 20. His parents and a sister were killed there.
1962: Dodger Legend Sandy Koufax pitched his
second 18-strikeout game.
1963:
The will of Samuel Paley, the father of William S. Paley, the Chairman of the
Board of the Columbia Broadcasting System, was filed for probate today showing
that that his estate “was valued at $27,000,000.
1963:
Oskar Schindler wrote a letter from Frankfurt am Main today “to his close
friend confidante Itzhak Stern” in which he “discusses his financial hardship,”
speaks of the “optimism towards the future” he felt a year ago” and expresses
his despair by asking himself “if it’s even worth living.
1965(22nd
of Nisan, 5725): 8th day of Pesach
1966(4th
of Iyar,5726): Seventy-one-year-old New Yorker, Zionist leader and American
Hebrew educator Samuel J. Borowsky the general secretary of the National
Association for Jewish Education who attended the Rabbi Jacob Joseph Yeshiva
and was an NYU graduate who was the husband of the former Selma Juliette
Sonnenberg with whom he had two daughters passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/04/25/80004569.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/04/25/80004569.html?pageNumber=31
https://www.jta.org/archive/samuel-borowsky-noted-american-jewish-educator-dies-in-israel
1967(14th
of Nisan, 5727): Fast of the First Born; erev Pesach
1968:
The original West End London production of Man of La Mancha with music by Mitch
Leigh opened at the Piccadilly Theatre.
1968:
Mauritius becomes a member state of the United Nations. During World War II,
the British used Mauritius as detention camp for Jews fleeing Hitler’s Europe
who were trying to enter Palestine despite the White Paper. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Mauritius.html
1969(6th
of Iyar, 5729): Seventy-seven-year-old Yonkers NY,
native and Dickinson College trained attorney,
Joseph Altman a powerful figure in New Jersey
politics which led to his serving six terms as the Mayor of Atlantic City while
raising his son Michael with his wife Lillian passed away today
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/04/25/90095532.pdf
1969:
“If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium” a comedy directed by Mel Stuart,
produced by Stan Margulies and David Wolper, with music by Walter Scharf and
featuring Sandy Baron, Normal Fell and Marty Ingels was released today in the
United States.
1969(6th
of Iyar, 5729): Sixty-three-year-old Cincinnati native Henry Tavel, the HUC
trained rabbi who served as chaplain during WW II winning the Bronze Star and
entered civilian life in 1960 as congregational rabbi in Houston while raising
a daughter Barbara with his wife Charlotte passed away today.
http://collections.americanjewisharchives.org/ms/ms0209/ms0209.html
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/04/28/90099871.pdf
1969(6th
of Iyar, 5729): Fifty-four-year-old CCNY and NYU alum, Robert F. Greenberg, the
New York math teacher and principal at the Walter J. Damrosch Jr. H.S. who
raised two daughters – Mary and Amy – with his wife “the former Lucy Wachtell”
passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/04/25/90095537.pdf
1970(18th
of Nisan, 5730): Fourth Day of Pesach
1970:
Myrna Lamb’s musical “Mod Donna” opened the Joseph Papp Public Theatre in New
York today.
1971(29th
of Nisan, 5731): Parashat Shmini
1971:
In “Making the Rock Pop Scene” published today, Richard Locke reviews FREAKSHOW:
The Rochsoulbluesjazzsichjew blachhumoraexpoppsych Gig and Other Scenes from
the Counter‐Culture by Albert Goldman
https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/24/archives/making-the-rock-pop-scene.html?searchResultPosition=3
1974(2nd
of Iyar, 5734): Yom HaZikaron
1974:
“Refusenik and war hero Yefim Davidovich suffered a heart attack”
1976:
Birthdate of Nathan Rabin, an American film and music critic
1976:
At The Town Hall in New York City, world premiere of Steve Reich’s “Music for
18 Musicians.
1977:
A terrorist bus bombing injured 28 people at Hebron today.
1977:
NBC broadcast the fourth and final episode “Lanigan’s Rabbi” which was based on
a series of novels by Harry Kemelman co-starring Bruce Solomon in the role of
“Rabbi David Small.”
1979(27th
of Nisan, 5739) Yom HaShoah
1979(27th
of Nisan, 5739): Seventy-six-year-old British Labour Party leader Maurice
Orbach, the father of author Susie Orbach and Laurence Obach, the former
history teacher and CEO of the Quarto Publishing Group passed away today.
http://www.jta.org/1979/04/27/archive/maurice-orbach-dead-at-76
1980:
A seminar on Soviet Jewry sponsored by The European Union of Jewish Students
opened today in Amsterdam.
1980:
The world premiere of “Lakeboat.a semi-autobiographical play by David Mamet was
staged today by the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre.
1980:
Barbara Tuchman delivers the Jefferson
Lecture in the Humanities. The announcement contains the following:
Barbara Tuchman, who was born in 1912,
never earned a graduate degree in history, but her best-selling books made
history come alive for millions of readers and earned two Pulitzer Prizes for
their author. Raised in a privileged New York family, Tuchman traveled
extensively with her parents before attending Radcliffe College, where she
studied history and literature. After her graduation, she wrote about the
Spanish Civil War for The Nation, and then worked at the Office of War
Information during World War II, traveling in Asia. These reporting stints
sparked Tuchman's interest in the history of war. Tuchman’s first book, Bible and Sword:
England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour
(1956), expressed strong sympathy for Zionism. She is best known, however, for
two books that won Pulitzer Prizes: The Guns of August
(1962), about the First World War, and Stilwell and the American Experience in
China, 1911-1945 (1972). The Guns of August
was later made into a movie of the same name. Although her relationships with
professional historians were sometimes strained, Tuchman did garner
recognition, serving as the president of the Society of American Historians
(1970-1973), and as president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
(1979).Tuchman was the first woman invited to deliver the Jefferson Lecture in
the Humanities under the auspices of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
An invitation to give the Jefferson Lecture is the highest honor the federal
government confers for distinguished intellectual achievement in the
humanities. In her lecture, presented on April 24, 1980, Tuchman took
"Mankind's Better Moments" as her title and theme, reflecting her
general optimism about the human condition. Tuchman repeated the lecture in
London a week later, the first time that a Jefferson Lecture had been repeated
abroad, marking her international renown as a writer. Tuchman published her
last book, The
First Salute, just a year before her death in 1989.
1981(20th
of Nisan, 5741): Sixth Day of Pesach
1982: “A
5,000-word article in the newspaper Sovetskaya Moldaviya condemned the practice
of sending parcels to Soviet Jews by people living in London, Copenhagen, Basel
as part of the “Zionist conspiracy.”
1983:
In “Discovering Herod’s Israel,” published today, Nitza Rosovsky describes the
various building projects of the cruel king including those at Caesarea, Masada
and Jerusalem remnants of which can be seen today as well as the opportunities
for students to take part in archaeological digs during the summer.
1984(22nd
of Nisan, 5744): Eighth Day of Pesach
1984:
David Shipler, the New York Times
correspondent in Israel “was summoned to the office of the director of the
Government press office, Mordechai Dolinsky, and was ‘severely reprimanded’”
for his reporting on the so called “Bus 300 Affair.”
1985:
According to Israeli businessman Yaacov Nimrodi, today he canceled the sailing
of the merchant ship, the Westline which had been scheduled to leave Eilat
filled with weaponry for Iran as part of a deal that Americans would come to
know as Iran-Contra.
1986(15th
of Nisan, 5746): Pesach
1986(15th
of Nisan, 5746): Eighty-seven-year-old Morris Israel Fishbein the Chelsea, MA
born son of Sarah Miller and Louis Fishbein, the construction contractor and
real investor who was a member of Congregation Beth Sholom and Congregation
Mishkon Tifiloh and who four children with his wife Helen Fishbein passed away
today in Providence, RI.
1987: Howard Stern held a free speech rally at Dag
Hammarskjold Plaza New York City.
1990: In an example of meaningless political
posturing, the House of Representatives adopted H.R. 290 “expressing support
for Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/HouseRes290.html
1990:
Securities law violator Michael Milken pled guilty to 6 felonies.
1991(10th of Iyar, 5751): Eighty-five-year-old
English and Yiddish Poet Menke Katz who “won two Stephen Vincent Benet
Narrative Poetry Awards, in 1970 and 1974” whose English version of his
two-volume Yiddish epic poem, "Burning Village," had been nominated
for a Pulitzer Prize” passed away today.
1992: Catcher Jesse Levis appeared in his first
major league baseball game wearing the uniform of the Cleveland Indians.
1992: George Steinbrenner dropped his lawsuits
against major league baseball.
1992:
U.S. premiere of “White Sands” produced by Scott Rudin
1992:
“Passed Away” a comedy produced by Larry Brezner and co-starring Peter Riegert
was released today in the United States.
1992:
U.S. premiere of “A Midnight Clear” a WW II movie starring Peter Berg.
1993: ABC news analyst Jeff Greenfield married
Karen Gannett.
1994:
After having made it world premiere at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven,
Arthur Miller’s Broken Glass opened at the Booth Theater.
1994:
“Acting Against Type: The Self-Hating Jew” published today provides an
interview with actor Ron Rifkin who plays the role of Phillip Glellburg in
Arthur Miller’s “Broken Glass.”
1995(24th of Nisan, 5755):
Ninety-five year old Warsaw born “actress, scenarist, film director, and film preservationist”
Marie Epstein who had been arrested by the Gestapo in 1944 but avoided deportation
and who was the sister of French
filmmaker and novelist Jean Epstein passed away today.
1996(5th
of Iyar, 5756): Yom HaAtzma’ut – Israel Independence Day
1996(5th
of Iyar, 5756): Seventy five year old Los Angeles native Melvin Wallace “Mel”
Bleeker the USC quarterback who played for four years in the NFL – first with
the Eagles and then with the Giants.
http://www.profootballarchives.com/playerb/blee00400.html
1997(17th
of Nisan 5757): Third Day of Pesach
1997:
A special Seder
was held in Washington D.C. today and attended by the Dalai Lama, as well as by
numerous U.S. dignitaries and celebrities, including Supreme Court Justice
Stephen Breyer and Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys
1998:
“Sliding Doors” a comedy starring Gwnyeth Paltrow and produced by Sydney
Pollack was released today in the United States.
1998:
“In God’s Hands” a surfing film directed by Zalman King who co-authored the
screenplay was released in the United States today.
1999(8th
of Iyar, 5759): Parashat Achrei Mot-Kedoshim
1999(8th
of Iyar, 5759): Sixty-three-year-old Alexandria born French psychiatrist
Jacques Hassoun who became an amateur expert on the history of the Egyptian
Jewish community.
http://www.bassatine.net/hassoun.php
1999:
“Woman Wins 600G From Face-Lift Doc” published today described the outcome of a
suit brought against Dr. Pamela Lipkin.
2000(19th
of Nisan, 5760): Pearl Padamsee, the Indian stage actress, director and
producer whose mother was Jewish passed away today.
http://www.hindu.com/2000/04/30/stories/1330128a.htm
2001:
The Criterion Collection released a DVD version of Jules Dassin’s “Rififi.”
2002:
The National Science Board has named Erich Bloch as the recipient of the
Vannevar Bush Award, “its highest award for scientific achievement and
statesmanship.”
https://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/02/pr0230.htm
2003(22nd
of Nisan, 5763): 8th Day of Pesach
2003(22nd
of Nisan, 5763): Outside the train station in Kfar Saba which had only been
open for eleven days, Security guard Alexander Kostyuk was murdered and 13 were
wounded in a suicide bombing for which groups related to the Fatah Al Aksa
Martyrs Brigades and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed
responsibility.
http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/Terrorism/Victims/Pages/Alexander%20Kostyuk.aspx
2004(3rd
of Iyar, 5764): Estée Lauder, founder of a cosmetics
company bearing her name passed away.
Lauder was born Josephine Esther Mentzer in Queens, New York in
1906. She was the daughter of Hungarian
Jewish immigrants. She married Joseph Lauter in 1930, divorced him in 1939, and
re-married him in 1942. The Lauter family changed their surname to
"Lauder" in the late 1930s.They remained married until his death in
1982. Lauder died in her Manhattan home of cardiopulmonary failure at the age
of 97. She was the only woman on Time
magazine's 1998 list of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the 20th
century. She was also the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
2004(3rd
of Iyar, 5764): Twenty-four-year-old Nathan Bruckenthal was killed today in a suicide attack in
the Northern Persian Gulf. “Nathan Bruckenthal was a fun-loving child. “He was
all good things, everything every father would love,” recalled his father, Eric
Bruckenthal. His parents separated when Bruckenthal was 6 years old and then
respectively remarried, but the two families remained close. Bruckenthal grew
up in Stony Brook, N.Y., in a home where a sense of purpose was drilled into
him. His father has been on the police force for 35 years, and his stepfather
was in the Army. So when Bruckenthal approached his father about enlisting in
the Coast Guard, Eric Bruckenthal was not surprised. Later, after joining the
specialized Tactical Law Enforcement Team, Bruckenthal was deployed to Iraq. He had just found out that his wife was three
months pregnant with their first child when he was killed. That child, a
daughter, recently turned 6 years old. As the only Coast Guard officer to be
killed in action since the Vietnam War, Bruckenthal left a legacy that has been
embraced by the Coast Guard, which has invited his father to speak at its
events. “Though I lost a son, I gained 40,000 surrogate sons and daughters in
the Coast Guard,” his father said. Though Bruckenthal did not have a bar
mitzvah, he began identifying with Judaism toward the end of his life and
decided that when he returned home, he would become a bar mitzvah. “He was laid
in his coffin, draped in a tallis and the Star of David. For our family, he
received his last rites as a Jewish man,” his father said. ‘
2005(15th
of Nisan, 5765): First day of
Pesach. In the evening, count the omer
for the first time.
2005(15th
of Nisan, 5765): Ezer Weizman passed
away. If you did not know that such a person had really lived, you would have
thought his life was the creation of Walter Scott style novelist.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/25/obituaries/25weizman.html?pagewanted=all&position=
2005: The New York Times reviewed The End
of Poverty by Jeffrey D. Sachs, in which the author argues that if the wealthy countries of the
world were to increase their combined foreign aid budgets to between $135
billion and $195 billion for the next decade, and properly allocate that money,
extreme global poverty -- defined by the World Bank as an income of less than a
dollar a day -- could be eliminated by 2025.
2006(26th
of Nisan, 5766): Ninety-one-year-old “Rabbi Moshe (Moses) Teitelbaum, the
leader of the Satmar sect passed away today.
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/25/nyregion/rabbi-moses-teitelbaum-is-dead-at-91.html
2006: This
evening, the State of Israel will take time out to remember the six million
Jews who perished in the Holocaust, marking the start of Holocaust Remembrance
Day. The annual state ceremony will begin at 8 p.m. at Yad Vashem, Israel's
Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority. The hour-long event,
which will be broadcast live on television and radio, will be attended by
President Moshe Katsav, Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and scores of
dignitaries and ambassadors from around the world. The theme of this year's
ceremony - coming at a time when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has
called the Holocaust a myth - is "The Human Spirit in the Shadow of
Death." Six torches will be lit by Holocaust survivors in memory of the six
million Jewish victims. The chief rabbis will recite a selection from Psalms
and Kaddish, the Jewish mourning prayer. All places of entertainment will be
closed on Monday night. At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, a two-minute siren will sound to
mark the start of a day of ceremonies throughout Israel. A wreath-laying
ceremony will take place just after the siren is sounded Tuesday at the Warsaw
Ghetto uprising memorial at Yad Vashem, in the presence of Olmert and other
dignitaries. Victims' names will be read out loud during "Unto Every
Person There is a Name" ceremonies, at both the Hall of Remembrance at Yad
Vashem and at the Knesset. An estimated 250,000 Holocaust survivors live in
Israel. About one-third live in poverty, according to recent social welfare
reports. "Israeli society has a moral duty to honor the Holocaust
survivors, and to take care of them in the twilight of their days," Yad
Vashem chairman Avner Shalev said.
2007:
The New York Times reported that “David
Halberstam, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and tireless author of books on
topics as varied as America’s military failings in Vietnam, the deaths of
firefighters at the World Trade Center and the high-pressure world of
professional basketball, was killed yesterday in a car crash south of San
Francisco. He was 73.” Strangely enough the prolific author who wrote on from
Apartheid to the Red Sox-Yankee rivalry never wrote about Israel, the Middle
East, or any topic related to Jews or Judaism.
2007: The military wing of
Hamas fired a barrage of rockets and mortar shells from the Gaza Strip into
Israel for the first time since Hamas committed to a cease-fire in November. A
spokesman for the Hamas military wing in Gaza declared the truce there over.”
The rockets fired by Hamas are not to be confused with rockets fired by other
terrorists during this period.
2007:
The long awaited second novel by Nathan Englander, The Ministry of Special Cases, was released.
2007: Brooklyn Borough
President Marty Markowitz and the Brooklyn Jewish Heritage Committee co-hosted
Jewish Heritage Night. The annual event, which is open to the public,
recognizes the myriad achievements of Jewish Brooklynites and celebrates
Israeli independence.
2007
(6th of Iyar, 5767): Yom
HaAtzma'ut
2007:
Irwin Hansen, the creator of the comic strip Dondi suffered a stroke today.
2008:
The Jerusalem Cinematheque features a screening of Adma \ אדמה. The film looks at the legendary Moshav Nahalal, an
agricultural settlement, and focuses on the veteran farmers who are now forced
to deal with the generation gap conflict: the continuation of the traditional
family based farms, and difficult personal questions.
2008: The Washington Post reported that author Cynthia Ozick has won 2 Lifetime Achievement Awards
this week - the $5,000 PEN/Malamud prize for short fiction, and the $20,000
PEN/Nabokov award for "enduring originality and consummate
craftsmanship."
2008(19th of Nisan, 5768): Two Israeli security guards were shot dead in a night time attack at the
Nitzanei Shalom industrial zone, near the West Bank city of Tul Karm. A third
guard managed to flee after the gunman opened fire. The victims were named as
Shimon Mizrahi, 53, of Beit Hefer, and Eli Wasserman, 50, of Alfei Menashe.
2009(30th of Nisan, 5769): Irving D. Chais, who in his 45 years as the owner and chief surgeon of
the New York Doll Hospital in Manhattan reattached thousands of heads, arms and
legs; reimplanted fake hair shorn by scissor-wielding toddlers; and soothed the
feelings of countless doll lovers, young and old, passed away today at the age
of 83.
2009: At Agudas Achim in Iowa City, annual
Sisterhood Shabbat.
2009: Harvard Law School professor Cass Suunstein
and Samantha Power gave birth to their first child Declain Power Sunstein
2009: In Columbus, Ohio, last day for nominations JCC's Jewish Sports Hall
of Fame
2009:
At the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., Amy Bloom, author
of the novels “Come to Me” (a National Book Award finalist) and “Away,” joins
novelist Susan Choi, author of “The Foreign Student and American Woman,” for a
joint reading presented by PEN/Faulkner.
2009:
Rosh Chodesh Iyar, 5769 (first day of two day Rosh Chodesh)
2010:
“A Tiny Piece of Land” is scheduled to have its final performance at the Pico
Playhouse in Los Angeles California.
2010:
“Father’s
Footsteps,” a movie about a Tunisian-Israeli family that settles in Paris and “For My Father,” a movie about a Palestinian
terrorist who comes to know Israelis first-hand when forced to spend a weekend
in Tel Aviv are scheduled to be shown at the 2010 NoVA International Jewish
Film Festival.
2011:
The 92nd Street Y is scheduled to present “Russian Piano School: A
Conversation with Vladimir Feltsman” the Russian born Jewish classical pianist.
2011:
The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish president and/or
of special interest to Jewish readers including “Scribble, Scribble, Scribble: Writing
on Politics, Ice Cream, Churchill, and My Mother” by Simon Schama, “Come On All
You Ghosts” by Matthew Zapruder and “Silver Roses” by Rachel Wetzsteon.
2011:
The Los Angeles Times features reviews of books by Jewish president
and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Trillin on Texas” by Calvin
Trillin.
2011(20th
of Nisan, 5771): A group of 15 Jewish worshipers were hit by gunfire from
Palestinian security forces as they gathered at Joseph’s Tomb. A 30-year-old
male was pronounced dead at the scene. A 20-year-old man was injured in serious
condition, suffering of an abdominal wound. He was airlifted to Bellinson
Hospital in Petah Tikva where he underwent surgery. A 17-year-old youth was
evacuated by a Magen David Adom Yarkon crew in moderate condition, suffering a
wound to his shoulder. Another youth was injured and evacuated for medical
treatment after he was questioned by authorities. Another two were in light
condition and were treated on scene.
2011(20th
of Nisan, 5771): Ben
Yosef Livnat, 25, was killed this morning after praying at Joseph's Tomb where
his father, Noam once sat and learned more than a decade ago.
2011(20th
of Nisan, 5771): One
hundred-year-old Hudesa Gora, a Holocaust survivor who ran a fur business in
the Cleveland area for many years passed away today. According to published
reports, “She belonged to Kol Israel Foundation, a Cleveland-area group of Holocaust
survivors, and to ORT. Gora was born in Krasnik, Poland, a town of 5,000 at the
time, half of which was Jewish. After the Nazi occupation at the beginning of
World War II, Gora obtained false gentile identity papers so she could work
outside the ghetto. According to a story in the Cleveland Jewish News, Gora
raised the suspicions of the Catholic family for whom she worked when she
“baked a loaf of bread and did not put a cross on the bottom of it per their
custom. She left that job quickly.” The Gestapo once rounded up a group that
included Gora, her sister and her sister’s two children, almost all of whom had
false identity papers. She was not able to get them for her nephew. “When an
officer discovered this and asked who the boy belonged to, Mrs. Gora prevented
her sister from claiming him because she realized the Nazis would know she was
Jewish and kill her. The boy was taken away and killed,” the Cleveland paper
reported. Gora lost the majority of her family in the Holocaust. She met her
husband, Charles, and married him in Germany, came to the United States in 1949
and settled in Cleveland the next year.”
2011:
Tamir Cohen, of
the Bolton Wanderers, and the son Avi Cohen paid a tribute to his late father
after scoring the winner against Arsenal and celebrating with a printed T-shirt
with his father's face on it.
2012:
“Looking for Lenny,” a film about the late Lenny Bruce, is scheduled to be
shown at the Westchester Film Festival.
2012:
The Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, a project initiated by
pianist Elena Bashkirova, is scheduled to begin today in the Glass Courtyard.
2013:
“Kinderblock 66” and “Hitler’s Children” are scheduled to be shown at the
Northern Virginia Jewish Film Festival.
2013:
Wa'al al-Arjeh “was convicted of intentional murder and sentenced to two life
terms and an additional 58 years” for his role in the deaths of Asher and
Yonatan Palmer.”
2013:
Representatives from the Virginia Jewish Community are scheduled to participate
in “Mission to Washington” which include briefings from State Department
Officials about the Arab Spring and meetings with Senators Warner and Kaine.
2013:
“Pictures of Resistance: The Wartime Photographs of Jewish Partisan Faye
Schulman” is scheduled to close at the Oregon Jewish Museum in Portland.
2013:
Deputy Finance
Minister Mickey Levy (Yesh Atid) denounced the haredim as "parasites"
during an interview on haredi radio this morning. He almost immediately
retracted the comment, explaining that it was said "in a moment of
anger."
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Deputy-FinMin-calls-haredim-parasites-apologizes-310912
2013:
Histadrut Labor Federation Chairman Ofer Eini threatened Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yair Lapid with a general strike over
expected budget cuts that could cut workers’ pay.
http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Israels-union-boss-threatens-general-strike-over-budget-310911
2014:
Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is scheduled to host “Rwanda
in the Aftermath of Genocide: A Twenty Year Perspective.”
2014:
In Washington, D.C., Georgetown University is hosting “a full-day centenary
tribute” in honor of Jan Karski.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/holocaust-whistleblower-jan-karski-honored-by-georgetown/
2014(24th
of Nisan, 5774): Supercentenarian Arturo Licata passed away today leaving
Alexander Imich “who escaped Nazi persecution and the Soviet gulag” “as the
world’s oldest living man.” (As reported by Yifa Yaakov)
2014:
“The Jewish Cardinal” is scheduled to be shown at the JCC Rockland
International Jewish Film Festival
2014:
In New York, Temple Shaaray Tefila is scheduled to host a “Klezmer Jam” where
attendees are encouraged to bring their own instruments and join in the
dancing.
2015:
In Cedar Rapids, IA, Temple Judah is scheduled to host “Retro Reform” Shabbat
services using Gates of Prayer.
2015:
Lewis Black is scheduled to appear at the DeVos Performance Hall in Grand
Rapids, Michigan.
2015:
“The Go-Go Boys” and “While We’re Young” are scheduled to be shown at the
Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2015:
Thanks to the efforts of Ben Jaffe, the son of Allan Jaffe of blessed memory
and Alan Samson “the Preservation Hall Jazz Band headlined this year’s 24th
annual Touro Synagogue Jazz Fest Shabbat held as part of the Friday night
service. (The event took place on the 80th anniversary of Allan
Jaffe’s birth)
2015:
Shoah survivor Louise Lawrence Israels is scheduled to speak the US Holocaust
Memorial Museum today.
2015:
The main, Midtown Manhattan branch of Carnegie Deli was closed temporarily due
to the discovery of an illegal gas line in the restaurant.
2015:
Ninety-three-year-old Auschwitz survivor Wladyslaw Bartoszewski passed away
today.
2015:
The meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition is scheduled to open today in
Las Vegas.
2016(16th
of Nisan, 6776): Second Day of Pesach
2016:
“Two Indian-born Jewish brothers” David and Simon Reuben” were named today as
the
richest people in Britain according to the UK Sunday Times.
2016: The New York Times featured
books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Old
Age: A Beginner’s Guide by Michael Kinsley, Disraeli: The Novel
Politician by David Cesarani and The Houseguest by Kim Brooks.
2017:
Seventy-seven-year-old Benjamin Reynolds Barber, the New York born son of
Philip Barber and the daughter of Doris Frankel best known for his writings
about Jihad passed away today.
2017(28th
of Nisan, 5777): Yom Ha’Shoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day
2017:
Holocaust Survivor Jacob Eisenbach is scheduled to speak this afternoon at the
Sinclair Auditorium at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA thanks to the efforts of
the David and Joan Thaler Holocaust Remembrance Committee chaired by Dr. Robert
Silber.
2017:
The Leo Baeck Institute is scheduled to present “When We Remembered Zion”
during which “the Grammy-nominated New Budapest Orpheum Society, under the
direction of Philip V. Bohlman and Ilya Levinson, bears witness to those
murdered, those who resisted, and those who must not be forgotten. 2017: The
Yeshiva University Museum is scheduled to present Liel Leibovitz lecturing on
“Inbound Exile: Jerusalem As Viewed From Tel Aviv.”
2017:
The Center for Jewish History and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is
scheduled to host a poetry reading and discussion led by Lee Sharkey who “will
read from her new poetry collection Walking Backwards.”
2017:
With “Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day” coming just a week after the end of
Passover, “Yad Vashem created an online photo exhibit commemorating the
celebration of the significant spring holiday before, during and after the
Holocaust.”
2017:
The Seder Plates belonging to the late Joan Rivers, “made in the 1980s by Spode
Judaica in the United Kingdom” is scheduled to be auctioned today J. Greenstein
and Co. in Cedarhurst, NY.
2018:
Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, an event discussed in Ambassador
Morgenthau’s Story by Henry Morgenthau, Sr. and was an event that helped Polish
Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin to “coin the concept of Genocide as a crime
against humanity.”
2018:
Today, “it was announced that the Canadian division would be sold to Fairfax
Financial for approximately $234 million, and would continue to operate the
locations under the Toys "R" Us name, a name made famous by the
chain’s founder Charles Lazarus.
2018:”
The head of Germany’s Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, warned against
wearing religious symbols on city streets for fear of attacks” and urging “Jews
to wear baseball caps instead of kipot.”
2018:
The Streicker Center is scheduled to hold a reception prior to tomorrow’s
opening to the general public of the exhibit “Home: Lens on Israel” which is “a
photographic tour celebrating Israel’s 70th birthday, explore the multitude of
communities—and worlds—that dwell side by side within Israel’s meager 8,000
square miles, just the size of New Jersey.”
2018:
The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host a new version of
“Dine and Discuss” where attendees will watch and discuss an episode of
“Shitsel.”
https://forward.com/culture/334808/why-i-cant-stop-watching-shtisel/
2019:
The Yeshiva University Museum is scheduled to host an art workshop where
attendees can “create a Mizrach, a family name plate or a decorative plaque”
which will be “a personally meaningful work of art for the Passover holiday.”
2019:
At the same time that Jews stop praying for the winds to blow and the rain to
fall, Israelis are spending Pesach enjoying a “rare Spring-time snow” that has
fallen on Mount Hermon.
2019(19th
of Nissan, 5779): Fifth Day of Pesach; Fourth Day of the Omer.
2020:
In Boston, the Combined Jewish Philanthropies is scheduled to host “Friday
Night Lights: Welcoming Shabbat Together online.
2020:
Through Zoom or Facebook Life, the Riverway Project is scheduled to host
“Shabbat Recharge” during which “we will light candles, offer a blessing over
the wine and challah, sing blessings for healing and hear a kavannah
(intention) from a member of our community.”
2020:
The Streicker Center is scheduled to host online Spices 101 with LIor Lev
Sercarz talking about “How to Build the Perfect Spice Pantry at Home.”
2020:
Observance of Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, marking the 105th
anniversary of Ottoman assault on its Armenian citizens which was an event that
Hitler reputedly cited when he would take about the need not to fear any
worldwide backlash during the Holocaust.
2020(30th
of Nisan): Rosh Chodesh Iyar.
2021(12th
of Iyar, 5781): Acharary
Mot and Kedoshim; Pirkei Avot Chapter Three
2021:
The Jewish Federation of Des Moines, IA is scheduled to present “"The
Spirituality of Laughter: A Jewish Look at the Holiness of Humor" with
Rabbi and Comedian Bob Alper.”
2021:
In Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Temple Judea is scheduled to present Torah Study
with Rabbi Feivel Strauss.
2021:
This afternoon “streaming live from the Vancouver Symphony with Maestro Ken
Selden, pianist Orli Shaham is scheduled to perform Beethoven's bright and
lyrical Piano Concerto No.2 in honor of the composer’s 250th anniversary.
2021:
The JCC of Boston is scheduled to present online “Rock Steady Boxing Class”
during which participants “learn how to fight Parkinson’s disease in these
non-contact boxing style fitness class.
2021:
Rabbi Mychal Copeland, author of “I Am the Tree of Life: My Jewish Yoga Book,” is
scheduled to lead Earth Day yoga with tree and mountain poses.
2021:
Tamar Eden Music Center is scheduled to present “The Glorious Sound of the
Piano,” a piano recital dedicated to the memory of pianist Dmitry Bashkirov.
2022:
UK Jewish Film is scheduled to host a screening of “Hester Street” at Curzon
Mayfair.
2022:
Theatremacher Community Conversation on Jewish Representation & Casting in
Theater, Film,and Television led by Theatremachers Casey Adler, Lauren
Schaffel, and Elyssa Nicole Trust is scheduled to take place this afternoon.
2022:
The exhibition “Debra Olin: Every Protection” is scheduled to come to an at the
Museum at Eldridge Street.
2022:
The Teen Leadership Board & Young Professional Committee are scheduled to
hos an Open House at Illinois Holocaust Museum
2022:
YIVO is scheduled to host a meeting of the YIVO Yiddish Club featuring Zalmen
Mlotek, conductor, composer, pianist, and the artistic director of the National
Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF), the longest continuously running Yiddish
theatre in the world as he discussed Yiddish Theatre Today.
2022:
The Virtual Passover Film Festival, presented by the Marlene Meyerson JCC
Manhattan is scheduled to come to an end today.
2022:
In New Orleans, the Jewish Federation is scheduled to host “Partnership2Gether
Kosher Wine Tasting” during which attendees will learn “about what exactly
makes wine kosher.”
2022:
“Israel’s security forces are preparing for the possibility of a flare-up with
the Gaza Strip following repeated incidents of rocket fire from the Palestinian
enclave over the past week.”
2022:
Barbra Streisand turns eighty.
2023:
The Director of the Sir Martin Gilbert Learning Centre, Professor Shirli
Gilbert, is scheduled to deliver the keynote panel at the Schwartz-Reisman
Graduate Student Conference in Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto.
2023:
Yom HaZikaron is scheduled to begin this evening.
2023:
The Yom HaZikaron Ceremony is scheduled to take place in Ammunition Hill.
2023:
In a program that represents some of the fruits of ongoing collaboration with
leading Israeli composers, the Meitar Ensemble is scheduled to conclude its
U.S. tour with a concert in Merkin Hall.
2023:
The Consulate General of Israel to New England and the Israeli House in Boston
invite you to the annual memorial ceremony for fallen Israeli soldiers and
victims of terror, Yom HaZikaron.
2023:
“Belmont World Film’s 21st International Film Series, “Complicated Identities,”
is scheduled to observe Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, with the
French film “Farewell Mr. Haffmann.”
2023:
“The long-delayed Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial” is scheduled to begin today.
2024:
In Jerusalem, “Passover at Agnon” is scheduled to take place today featuring “dramatized
tours and creative workshop for the whole family.”
2024: This evening, s
part of the Genocidal Captivity exhibition events series, The Wiener Holocaust
Library is scheduled to host “Saving the Survivors: Danish relief workers and
Armenian women genocide survivors in the 1920s.”
2024:
As April 24 begins in Israel, the Hamas held
hostages begin day 201 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.)
2024(16th of Nisan, 5784): Second Day
of Pesach; for more see https://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/
