This Day, April 30, In Jewish History by Mitchell A and Deb Levin Z"L
April 30
313: Licinius
defeated Maximinus at the Battle of Tzirallum, thus making him the Emperor of
the Eastern Roman Empire. The Emperor of the Western Roman Empire was his
brother-in-law, Constantine. The two in laws would clash repeatedly until Constantine
defeated Licinius and eventually killed him despite the pleas of his sister to
spare her husband’s life. We know that Constantine made Christianity the state
religion of the Roman Empire with all that that would mean for the Jews of
Europe. Would it have been any different if Licinius had triumphed?
Who knows? Lucinius did subscribe to the policy of tolerance towards
Christians but those who were writing history in the fourth and fifth century
tended to create an idyllic vision of Constantine which meant painting a less
than flattering portrait of Licinius. Gibbon follows the same path in his
history of the Roman Empire.
711: Moorish
troops led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the
Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus). For the Jews living under the Visigoth
rulers of Spain, this is good news. The victory of the Moors will mark
the start of what is called the Golden Age. Ironically, the Golden Age
will begin to tarnish not because of Christians, but because of an invasion by
another, more religiously conservative group of Moslems. (Some
sources say this actually happened on April 29)
1002: Margrave
Eckard I whose brother was deposed by “Emperor Henry II because he was accused
of having sold Christian serfs to the Jews” passed away today.
1245:
Birthdate King Philip III of France, the son Louis IX (St. Louis). During
Phillip’s reign, the Pope turned the attention of the Inquisition from
suppressing the heresy of the Albigenses to the Jews of southern France who had
converted to Christianity. The popes complained that not only were baptized
Jews returning to their former faith, but that Christians also were being
converted to Judaism. Pope Gregory X ruled that Jewish converts who had
returned to Judaism, as well as Christians who converted to Judaism were to be
treated by the Inquisitors as heretics. The instigators of such apostasies, as
those who received or defended the guilty ones, were to be punished in the same
way as the delinquents. When the Jews of Toulouse buried a Christian convert in
their cemetery, they were brought before the Inquisition in for trial, with
their rabbi, Isaac Males and having been found guilty were burned at the stake.
Needless to say, Phillip did nothing to protect his subjects.
1310:
Birthdate of King Casimir III of Poland who came to
the throne in 1333. From the Jewish point of Casimir III was seen as a
cut above the average ruler. He was favorably disposed toward Jews. On October
9, 1344 he confirmed the privileges granted to Jewish Poles in 1264 by
Boleslaus V. Under penalty of death he prohibited the kidnapping of Jewish
children for the purpose of forcible Christian baptism. He inflicted heavy
punishment for the desecration of Jewish cemeteries. Although Jews were living
in Poland earlier, Casimir allowed them to settle in Poland in great numbers
and protected them as king's people.
1349: The
Jewish community at Radolszell, Germany, was exterminated. This appears
to have been part of a wave of attacks on Jewish communities that took place
during 1348 and 1349. They were in response to fears about the Black
Death and a convenient way for non-Jewish nobles and others to avoid having to
re-pay their Jewish creditors.
1425:
Birthdate of William III of Luxembourg who” minted a silver groschen known as
the Judenkopf Groschen. Its obverse portrait shows a man with a pointed beard
wearing a Jewish hat, which the populace took as depicting a typical Jew.”
1492: The
Edict of Expulsion for all the Jews of Spain was passed. Since professing
that Jews were not under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition, the Church
decided to level a ritual murder accusation against them in Granada and was
thus able to call for the expulsion of both Jews and Marranos from Spain. The
Marranos themselves were accused of complicity in the case, and both were
ordered to leave within four months. Torquemada, the director of the
Inquisition (and incidentally of Jewish descent), defended this against Don
Isaac Abarbanel. The edict was passed, and over fifteen thousand Jews had to
flee, some to the Province of Aragon and others, like Abarbanel, to Naples.
Still others found temporary sanctuary in Portugal.
1556: A
community of Marranos at Ancona (Italy) was devastated when Pope Paul IV
retracted letters of protection issued by previous Popes' for protection of the
Jews, and ordered immediate proceedings to be taken by the Holy Office. The
result of the findings came in the spring and early summer, when 24 men and 1
woman were burned alive in successive proceedings. Their deaths are
memorialized in that city every Tisha B'av.
1563: The Jews
were expelled from France by order of Charles VI
1637(6th
of Iyar, 5397): Abraham Joseph Jacob Katzenellenbogen a Polish rabbi born in
1549 who “was the grandfather of Ezekiel Katzenellenbogen, author of Keneset
Yehezkel” passed away today in Lemberg.
1659: In New
Amsterdam, Cornelius Plavier mortgaged his house on Heere Street (later
Broadway) at the city wall (Wall Street) the day after judgment was rendered
against him in a case brought by Abraham Cohen. It is assumed that the money
obtained from the mortgage was intended to satisfy the judgment. But no
documents actually exist to prove that Cohen got either the money or the beaver
pelts which were owed to him.
1693(24th of
Nisan): Rabbi David Ha-Kohen of Jerusalem, author of “Da’at Kadoshim” passed
away.
1722: “The
officers of Harvard Corporation vote that Judah Monis be approved as an
instructor of the Hebrew language at the College, under the condition that he
convert to Christianity. One month before assuming his post at Harvard, Monis
converts before a large assembly in College Hall.”
1768: Based on
several assumptions made possible by data in A Biographical Dictionary of Early
American Jews: Colonial Times through 1800, Natan Barnett of Philadelphia and
his wife Elizabeth gave birth to a son toda.
1758(22nd
of Nisan, 5518): Eighth Day of Pesach; Yizkor
1779(14th
of Iyar, 5539): Pesach Sheni
1788: In
Philadelphia, the members of Congregation Mikveh Israel appealed to the
non-Jews of the City of Brotherly Love. Founded in the 1740’s the
congregation was dealing with unforeseen debt brought on by the economic
downturn that followed the American Revolution. Such prominent citizens
as Benjamin Franklin, State Attorney General William Bradford and Thomas McKean
one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence helped to provide the
congregation with financial assistance.
1789: George
Washington took the oath of office making him the first elected President of
the United States. As can be seen from his correspondence with various
Jewish congregations Washington had a positive view of Jews. More to the
point, his welcoming attitude expressed in that correspondence set the tone for
the American Jewish experience and his election helped solidify the creation of
the new republic which has been a haven for Jews for the last two centuries.
1789: Colonel
David S. Franks was “one of the marshals in charge of the procession” at George
Washington inaugural.
1789: G. M.
Seixas was one of the fourteen ministers who participated in the inaugural
exercises of Washington’s administration in New York” today.
1793 (18th of
Iyar, 5553): Lag B’Omer
1796(22nd
of Nisan, 5556): Eight Day of Pesach and Yizkor observed for the last time
during the Presidency of George Washington
1796:
Birthdate of Adolphe Crémieux “a French-Jewish lawyer and statesman, and a
staunch defender of the human rights of the Jews of France.”
1800 The
government of Czar Paul I enacted a decree forbidding Jews from importing books
in any language. This was part of series of schemes to help the Russian
government control their newly acquired mass of Jews. This large
population had become part of the anti-Semitic Russian Empire as a result of
the three-way partition of Poland.
1803: The
United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from the French in what is
known as the Louisiana Territory. French law had banned Jews from
settling in these lands which means the purchase opened a swath of land
stretching from the banks of the Mississippi west to the Rocky Mountains to
Jewish settlement including such cities as St. Louis and New Orleans.
1805: Nathan
Davis married Sarah Jacobs at the Great Synagogue today.
1806: The
question of the treatment of the Alsace Jews and their debtors raised in the
Imperial Council today.
1812(18th
of Iyar): Lag B’Omer
1812: Fifty-six-year-old
“English author and bookseller” Henry Lemoine who was a supporter of David
Levi, the author refuted Joseph Priestly’s written demand that the Jews convert
to Christianity and published his obituary in which he described Levi “as a
great explainer and defender of Judaism against both Christians and sceptics”
passed away today.
1812: The
Territory of Orleans became the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana. The
first Jews, who were Sephardim, came to Louisiana at the start of the 18th
century. “In New Orleans community life began in the 1820’s with the
purchase of a burial plot by a society that called itself Gates of Loving
Kindness. A house of prayer, now known as the Touro Synagogue soon
followed and by 1850 still another congregation existed in the city.” For
more about the history of the Jews of Louisiana see “Gefilte Fish in the
Land of the Kingfish: Jewish Life in Louisiana” at http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/jewsinla.html
1812: Asher
Isaacs married Judith Cohen at the Great Synagogue today.
1817(14th of
Iyar, 5577): Pesach Sheni observed for the first time during the Presidency of
James Monroe.
1819: While
visiting Charleston, SC, President James Monroe attended a performance of Isaac
Harby’s “third and last play, ‘Alberti’” “three years after Harby had written
Secretary of State James Monore his ‘portion of the people’ protest.”
1820: In the
Hague, Mozes Abraham Verveer, the Amsterdam born “son of Abraham Salomon /
Shabtay Cohen Kloot and Marretje / Mata Mozes Tokiegave” and his wife Saartje
Isaac van der Velden birth to Heijman Moses Verveer, the husband of Mathilda
Emanuel Verveer and father of Mozes Verveer; Emanuel Verveer and Mijntje
Verveer.
1825:
Birthdate of Iganz “Ignatz” Grossman, the husband of Anna “Nettie” Rosenbaum
and Hungarian Rabbi who came to Brooklyn in 1873 to lead Congregation Beth
Elohim and whose three sons – Louis, Rudolph and Julius – all became Rabbis.
1830: In
Klweinsteinach, Bavaria, Abraham Schloss and Miriam Strauss gave birth to
Seligman Schlosss, who served as “vice president and director of Fort Wayne and
Belle Island Railroad Company for over twenty years” and director of the
Cleveland Jewish Orphan Asylum for eight years.
1833: Prussian
educator and philanthropist Baruch Auerbach took four orphans into his own
house which was the start of the Baruch Auerbach Orphan Asylum that cared for
300 children during his lifetime, and which was home to seventy orphans when he
passed away.
1834(21st
of Nisan, 5594): Seventh Day of Pesach
1836: Samuel
and Theresia Bloch gave birth to Leopold Bloch, the husband of Rosa Bloch.
1837:
Birthdate of Dr. Alfred R. Gaul, the English composer and conductor who created
the cantata “Israel in the Wilderness.”
1847(14th
of Iyar, 5607): Pesach Sheni
1849: Today the
Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums (AZJ), “the most widely read weekly newspaper
among German Jews, published a five and a half-page article from Hamburg
written by physician Dr. Hirsch Marcus Coh(e)n.
1852(11th
of Iyar, 5612): Moses Mendes Siexas, the eleven-year-old son of Hortensia and
Jacob Levy Seixas passed away today in New York City.
1852(11th
of Iyar, 5612): Eighty-six-year-old German born and Prussian Army contractor
Israel Baer Kursheedt the husband of Sara Sexias who in 1796 came to the United
States where he was “a reader in Congregation Beth Shalom in Richmond and
merchant in New York City where he “was president of the Hebrew Mutual Benefit
Society of New York” and a member of Congregation Shearith Israel passed away
today twenty-four days after his birthday.
1859: Tuscany
was incorporated in the kingdom of Sardinia (later the kingdom of Italy) and to
the position of the Jewish people improved because “the principle of equal
rights without discrimination on religious grounds was introduced there also.”
(As described by Virtual Jewish Library)
1862:
Philadelphian Major Joseph L. Moss resigned from the Union Army today only to
resume his service in October of 1862.
1862: Bennett
Cassell married Dinah Nathan today at the Great Synagogue today.
1863: During
the Civil War, today was a day that President Lincoln had designated “as a day
of national humiliation, fasting and prayer.” He requested “all the
people to abstain…from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their
several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day
holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties
proper to that solemn occasion.” The Jews joined their fellow Americans in
honoring the proclamation with most synagogues being described as “opened” with
the Psalms normally read on religious penitential days being invoked on this
national day of penitence. According to published reports, very eloquent
address was delivered by Rabbi Raphall, at the Greene-street Synagogue. “He
remarked that it was a curious coincidence that on this, a fast day appointed
by their own religious observances, they met in compliance with the
Proclamation of the President of the United States, to fast and pray. He had
been in this country fourteen years. During the first ten years no public
proclamation had ever directed their thoughts and feelings to humiliation and
fasting. Once in every year the highest functionary in every State proclaimed a
day of general thanksgiving, and with that the debt of national gratitude was
supposed to be paid. But now the rulers of the nation come year after year and
call upon the people to weary Heaven with fruitless professions of a penitence
they did not feel, and of a humility they did not practice. These proclamations
fast days, on which no one fasts, are but the repetition of those so strongly
reproved by the prophet Isaiah; and, though the people dare not put his
questions, "Wherefore do we fast and Thou seest it not? Afflict our souls
and Thou will not notice it!" -- since in reality the people do neither --
still the answer would stand good. "Because while you profess humiliation,
you persist in your arrogance and your extortions do not cease." If ever a
people needed to humble itself before God -- if ever fasting and prayer, sack
cloth and ashes were to be worn -- it was by the people of these United States.
Like our fathers, the Israelites of old, for whom pious Nekeiniah made such
fervent supplication, the people of this country are justly amenable to his
confession made for Israel: "In their dominions, in all the great
prosperity Thou didst bestow upon them, and throughout the large and rich land
which Thou gavest unto them, they did not serve Thee, neither turned they from
their evil deeds." The preacher then drew a parallel between the sins of
the Israelites, which called forth the reproof of the preacher, and the past
conduct of this nation, which was equally amenable to the words of the inspired
prophet. What were they to say for the citizens of the United States who
already and so long possess the two greatest earthly blessings, Education and
Freedom, and yet make so bad a use of both? Education should be the guardian of
freedom and of virtue, it was the birthright of every American, bestowed on all
and withheld from none. But what principles did it actually inculcate -what
virtues did it really teach? Did it inculcate respect for free institutions?
Answer, ye place-hunters, ye ballot-box stuffers, ye shoulder-hitters, who
reduce self-government to a disgusting farce. Did it teach patriotism? Answer,
ye spoils-men, ye office-seekers and holders, who cement party lines with the
cohesive force of public plunder. Did it teach common honesty? Answer, ye
peculators and speculators, who fatten on the blood of the hard-worked masses,
and who dignify roguery by the name of smartness. His heart ached as he spoke
to them of the effects of perverted education; it would ache still more were he
to direct attention to the bitter fruits of abused freedom. He need not remind
them that while the best men North and South had long been driven aloof from
the affairs of the country, demagogues, fanatics and a party Press had so
managed matters that they found themselves in the third year of a destructive
but needless sectional war, which has armed brother against brother, consigned
hundreds of thousands to an untimely grave, and to ruin and devastation tens of
thousands of square miles of flourishing and happy land; and what was worse
than all this, while humanity weeps we must suppress our sympathy. However, our
hearts may yearn for peace and brotherly love, our reason convinces us that the
present is not the time to expect, or even to hope for the cessation of blood.
On the contrary, though we may detest the cause and course of events, it is our
duty loyally to stand by our section of the country, to maintain her quarrel
and defend her rights, while we have the consolation to know that our side did
not begin the fray, and that the cause of Union was the worthiest in the field.”
1863: In “The
Rothschilds and the Union” published today, W.W. Murphy takes issue with
Harper’s Weekly depiction of the famous banking family and ask that corrections
be made.
“In your
paper (Harper's Weekly) of Feb. 28, you do a great injustice to the eminent
firm of ROTHSCHILDS here, when you hint that they are like a certain Rabbi who
held opinions that some men were born to be slaves. I know not what the other
firms -- and there are many of the ROTHSCHILDS, all related -- in Europe think
of Slavery, but here the firm of M.A. VON ROTHSCHILD& amp; SON are opposed
to Slavery and in favor of Union. A converted Jew, ERLANGER, has taken the
rebel loan of £3,000,000, and lives in this city; and Baron ROTHSCHILD informed
me that all Germany condemned this act of lending money to establish a
slaveholding Government, and that so great was public opinion against it that
ERLANGER & CO. dare not offer it on the Frankfort Bourse. I further
know that the Jews rejoice to think that none of their sect would be guilty of
lending money for the purpose above named; but it was left, they say, for
apostate Jews to do it”.
1863: The Army
of the Potomac (Union) which included Jacob Ezekiel Hyneman and Captain Joseph
Greenhut made the openings in a clash with the Army of Northern Virginia
(Rebel) under the command of Robert E. Lee which would be known as the Battle
of Chancellorsville.
1864: Abraham
Aba and Dina Feiga Wilensky gave birth to Max (Arron Mordecai) Wilensky who in
1880 came to the United States in 1880 where he was a member of the Rosenthal
Colony in South Dakota and manufacturer of shoes in New York before coming to
Savannah, GA where founded the successful business M. Wilensky and Son, served
as “President of the Savannah Kehilla, a director of Congregation B.B. Jacob
and Treasurer of the Order of B’nai Zion while raising six children with his
wife Rachel Kourshan.
1864: During
the Red River Campaign, Union forces including Frederick C. Salomon, scored a
tactical victory in the bloody Battle of Jenkin’s Ferry.
1865: Birthdate
Russian and Manchester educated Samuel H. Borofsky, who in 1884 settled in
Boston where sold insurance, real estate and stationary supplies after which he
passed the bar, served in both the Boston City Council and the Massachusetts State
Legislature where he introduced the “Five Cent Ice Bill” and the “Seventh Day
Sabbath Bill” and was commissioned a Captain in the State Militia during the
Spanish American while raising a daughter, Sarah Rebecca with his wife, the
former Ettie Wilensky.
1866:
Birthdate of Leon Levi Bandes, the native of Vilna who as Louis Miller played a
pioneering role inthe development of a Yiddish language press in the United
States capped by the founding of The Forward
http://www.yiddishkayt.org/miller-bandes/
1869:
Birthdate of Hungarian painter Philip de Laszlo.
1870: Leopold
Karpeles who served as a Sergeant with Company E, Massachusetts Infantry was
issued his Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery displayed during the
Wilderness Campaign in 1864.
1870: The
New York Times published a review of a unique book entitled "The Bible
In India: Hindoo Origin of Hebrew and Christian Revelation" in which the
author, Louis Jacolliot, attempts to prove that "the Hebrew and Christian
revelations have a common origin in India among the Hindoo mythologies."
1871: The
New York Times reported that a magistrate in London found a group of Jews
guilty of gambling in a “public house” when they were caught playing chicken
hazard and fined them accordingly. In their defense the Jews had claimed
that although they had been caught playing chicken hazard, they really had
gathered together to observe Passover. According to the Jewish
defendants, the police must have missed seeing the blood on the doorposts or
else they would have passed by and left them undisturbed. Apparently, the
Judge and the rest of Christian London are not aware of the custom of playing
chicken hazard as part of the Passover celebration. [Editors note: If you
have ever played chicken hazard or can shed some light on this please let me
know. Who knows, maybe a great miscarriage of justice needs to be
undone.]
1872(22nd
of Nisan, 5632): 8th Day of Pesach
1872: The
New York Times reported that over 3,000 barrels of Matzoths...were
consumed:” in New York “during the past week and 1,000 barrels were sent
throughout the country some going to Canada and” to South America.
1874(13th
of Iyar, 5634): Twenty-three-year-old Dora Spielman the London born daughter of
Marian and Adam Spielman passed away today in Menton, Freance
1876: In
Denver, CO, “German-Jewish parents” gave birth to Galveston, TX raised Milton
Mincha Schayer who in 1900 returned to his hometown, where he “founded the
Bankers Building and Loan Association,” served as president of the Central
Jewish Aid Society and married Jane S. Bear after the death of his first wife
Elsie Reinach while raising “two children Helen Elsie and Charles Milton.”
https://duarchives.coalliance.org/repositories/2/resources/655
https://amp.en.info-about.ru/45269979/1/milton-schayer.html
1877:
Birthdate of Alice B. Tolkas. Born into a middle-class Jewish family in San
Francisco, Tolkas was a writer whose claim to fame was her relationship with
another Jewish literary light, Gertrude Stein.
1880: It was
reported from Vienna that after a fried broke out in Grusbach, Moravia, “some
malicious persons incited the mob to attack the Jews. At least one Jew has died
of his wounds and another had a hand cut off.
1881: It was
reported today that a mob led by a schoolteacher has been responsible for some
of the violence aimed at the Jews living in Argenua, West Prussia.
1881: It was
reported today that mobs of peasants have attacked the Jews of Elizabethgrad
(Russia). The mob, which destroyed the local synagogue, was driven by its
superstitious beliefs about Jewish Passover practices.
1881(1st of
Iyar, 5641): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1881:
“Anti-Jewish Riots In Europe” published today describes attacks on Jews in
Germany and Russia. A wave of violence aimed at the Jews in Argenau, West
Prussia included a mob led by a schoolteacher wrecking the home of the
Jews. In Russia, the violence has been fueled by Christian superstitions
surrounding the observance of Passover and was highlighted by the destruction
of synagogue in Elizabethgrad.
1882: It was
reported today that Rabbi Hirsch of Sinai Congregation in Chicago had offered
prayers on behalf of Kaiser Frederick William of Germany, “asking that his
life…be spared.” The only problem with this entry is that the Kaiser had
died in March.
1882:
President Jesse Seligman presided over today’s annual meeting of the Hebrew
Benevolent and Orphan Asylum. Currently the organization is providing service
to 327 orphans, 245 of whom were born in New York City.
1882: Based on
information supplied by the Times of London, it was reported today that
when the American Legation at St. Petersburg intervenes on behalf of the Jews,
it will be speaking for several European governments as well as the
administration in Washington.
1882: It was
reported today that according to The Free Press the Jews of Podolsk and
Walkwoich have been subjected to renewed attacks. Additionally, some of
the most notorious leaders have been released from custody despite orders from
St. Petersburg calling for their prompt punishment.
1883: It was
reported today that the will of the late Dr. Edward Bouverie Pusey prohibited
the publication of his English translations of the “Hebrew scriptures” since he
no longer felt that the corrections may not have been valid.
1883: Mark
Gradginsky and his wife Adelaide were among those being held at police
headquarters on charges of receiving and selling stolen goods – specifically
$23,000 of lace goods taken from Muser Brothers by one of their employees. The
Gradginskys who are well-known members of the Jewish community, denied knowing
that the goods were stolen.
1883: It was
reported today that “The Jews in Philadelphia Prior to 1800” by H. Polock
Rosenbach will be published by Edward Sterne & Co. It is thought
to be the first book published on the subject, but the publisher is planning on
printing only 250 copies.
1885: The will
of Isaac Vogel, a Jewish clothier, was filed in the Surrogate’s Court today.
1877:
Birthdate of Bohemia native and NYU trained attorney working for the Soviet
Government Charles Recht who in 1901 came to the United States where he also became
“a novelist, poet and translator” whose novels included Rue With a Difference
and Babylon on Hudson and poetry included Manhattan Made and who raised a
son Dr. John Munn Recht with his wife the former Lillian Hofstetter.
1887: This
afternoon in Chicago, Leopold Bloom socked William B. Andrews in the cheek
causing the latter to fall to the sidewalk in front building housing the Board
of Trade where the two were traders. Bystanders were not sure what caused
the altercation except they heard somebody use the word “liar” and somebody use
the word “Jew” before the blow was struck.
1888: “A
Prayer for the Emperor” published today described the prayers offered by Rabbis
in the United States including Rabbi Hirsh of Sinai Congregation of Chicago for
the well-being of Emperor Frederick William of German “because of the interest
he has shown in the Jews.” (The only problem with this entry is that the Kaiser
had died on March 9, 1888)
1889: Rabbi
Gustave Gottheil of Temple Emanu-El and Rabbi Henry S. Jacobs were among the
clergyman who helped plan today’s service that was part of the centennial
commemoration of the inauguration of George Washington.
1889: In
Giessen, Germany, shop owners “Ignatz Pfeffer and Jeannette
Hirsch-Pfeffer” gave birth to WW I German Army veteran and dentist Fritz
Feifer, who was in hiding with Anne Frank.
https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/
1889: Churches and synagogues in New York held services observing
the centennial of George Washington’s first inaugural on April 30, 1789.
1890: It was
reported today that a four member commission acting on behalf of the Imperial
Council is “framing a bill to regulate the position of the Jews in Russia”
which will be detrimental to their interest.
1890: The
Board of Estimate and Apportionment authorized the School Board to lease the
old Hebrew Orphan Asylum building on 77th Street.
1891(22nd
of Nisan, 5651): Eighth Day of Pesach
1891: Pianist
and composer Leopold Godowsky married Frieda Sax.
1891: The wife
and daughter of Abraham L. Grabfelder, a director of the Sanitarium for Hebrew
Children arrived in New York having cut short their trip to Europe when they
told that Grabfelder had become seriously ill.
1891:
Birthdate of NYC native and Cornell University trained neuropsychiatrist
Dr. Louis Hausman, the husband of “the former of Esther May” who spent much of
his career teaching at his alma mater.
https://www.nytimes.com/1972/12/10/archives/dr-louis-hausman-taught-at-come-i-medical-college.html
1892(3rd
of Iyar, 5652): Parashat Tazria-Metzora
1892(3rd
of Iyar, 5652): Solomon Sebag, the son of Rabbi Isaac Sebag and the “mast of
the Sha’are Tikwah School” who served “temporarily as reader in the Bevis Marks
synagogue” and the author of “a Hebrew primer” which was a standard text for
Anglo-Jewish children passed away today in London.
1892: The
Young Men’s Hebrew Association hosted the first annual gymnastic program
featuring members of the organization.
1892: Colonel
Carl Weber testified before the joint committee of the Senate and House of
Representatives on Immigration and Naturalization on the condition of those
arriving at Ellis Island. Included in this was a description of those who
arrived aboard the SS Masillia and were later found to be contaminated
with typhus. Contrary to earlier reports the immigrants were Turkish Jews and
not Russian Jews. He said that their religion had nothing to do with the
illness which was cause by their extended sea voyage which took them to
numerous ports before arriving in New York.
1893(14th of
Iyar, 5653): Pesach Sheni
1894: Mrs.
Jesse Seligman and Misses Alice and Madeline Seligman were aboard the train
which arrived at Grand Central Station from California carrying the body of
Jesse Seligman who had died suddenly on April 23 at San Diego, CA.
1894: The
widow of Jesse Seligman and his two daughters were driven to their home at 2
East 46th Street while the body of the late banker was taken to the
undertaker and then to Temple Emanu-El where “a plaster cast of the dead
banker’s head was taken by a sculptor who will make a statue for the grounds of
the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Society.
1895: Gustav
Freytag, author of the immensely popular Soll und Haben (Debit
and Credit) “a novel in which a Jewish merchant is presented as a villain
and threat to Germany” while proclaiming the virtues of the German people,
especially the middle class, passed away today. (Editor’s note – for those who
wonder how Hitler could have happened, a look into the history of German
anti-Semitism might provide some of the answers.)
1897: In New
York City, Russian born actor Maurice Moscovitch and “his wife Ruth” gave birth
Noel Nathaniel Moscovitch who gained fame as actor Noel Madison “the husband of
the former Joyce with whom he had one son – Toby.”
https://www.nytimes.com/1975/01/07/archives/noel-madison.html
1898: It was
reported today that “Tract Pesachim (Passover) the fifth volume of Dr.
M.L. Rodkinson’s new English edition of the Babylonian Talmud has just been
published…This tract has, so far as is known, never been translated into any
modern language, although it is one of the volumes most frequently perused by
students of the Talmud. There are still fifteen more volumes of the Talmu
to follow; the next of which is promised with the next three months.
1898:
Following the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Dr. A.P. Madison said that
the Russian Jews of Chicago who number about 25,000 people “will organize a
regiment of infantry and offer their services to the President to fight Spain
and to free Cuba.”
1898: As
patriotic fervor sweeps the United States, in New York “special services were
held today at Temple Rodolph Sholom at which national hymns were sung and
prayers were offered for the President and the army and navy.
1898: The
attorney representing Horace J. Young, who is accused of deserting his wife
Clara, the daughter of Jewish businessman Julius Praeger will be allowed to
examine the witnesses who claim that the couple was never legally married, but
that Young left her when he found out she was pregnant.
1899: Birthdate
of Kharkov, Russia native Dr. Harold Gegory Grayzel, the holder of a B.S. from
CCNY and NYU trained pediatrician who was the “attending pediatrician at the
Jewish Hospital in Brooklyn” and a member of the New York Pediatric Society.
1899: In
London, the Times published a letter from Joseph H. Hertz, the Chief
Rabbi expressing his opposition the Slaughtering of Animals Bill presented to
the House by Sir A. Shirley-Benn, MP which would effectively band Shechita
which “would therefore inflict cruel hardship on hundreds of thousands of
law-abiding citizens and would in effect constitute a grievous religious
persecution.”
1899:
Birthdate of actress Lucie Mannheim, the native of Berlin who returned to her
native land in 1948 after having been forced to leave during the Nazi era.
https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/The_Times_(19/Jul/1976)_-_Obituary:_Lucie_Mannheim
1899: Today,
President Emanuel Lehman presided over the Seventy-Sixth Annual Meeting of the
Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum of the City of New York.
1899: A
committee made up of a cross-section of representatives of Jewish charitable
organizations in New York City met today to make arrangement for memorial
services to be held in honor of the late Baroness Hirsch.
1899: At
Nicoleaieff, Russia a town of 100,000 that includes 30,000 Jews, approximately
5,000 rioters “wrecked hundreds of Jewish houses and shops, desecrated Jewish
graves and killed and injured a large number” of Jews in connection the Easter
Festivities of the Greek Church which came to an end today on Greek Orthodox
Easter.
1900(1st
of Iyar, 5660): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1900: German
educated American engineer Eugene Friedlander, the Bromberg born son of Cecily W.
Hirschberg and Samuel Friedlander who eventually settled in Pittsburgh, PA he
accepted a “position with Kaufman’s Department Stores as an engineer, architect
and superintendent of maintenance” married Emily Wolf today in San Antonio.
1900: Herzl
has a “coincidental meeting” with Bernard Lazare in Paris. Lazare intends to go
to Constantinople. Herzl asked him if he would try to win Ambassador Constans
over to the Zionist cause.
1901:
University of Indiana trained attorney Ralph Bamberger, the Indianapolis, IN
born son of Caroline Daniels and Herman Bamberger and partner in the firm of
Bamberger and Freibleman which specializes in corporate and commercial married
May Freiberg today.
1901: In
Manhattan, twenty-three-year-old Mortimer L. Schiff married Adele Schiff.
1901:
By the end of April, Herzl had read Moses Hess’ Rome and Jerusalem.
1902:
Herzl completes his Palestine Novel Altneuland (Old New Land)
which portrays his vision for life in the new Jewish Homeland.
1903:
“The Directors of the Hebrew Loan Association reported that during January,
February and March to association had loans of $77,915 to 3,238 borrowers and
that the returns from its named creditors amounted to $74,758.”
1903:
The will of silk merchant Adolphe Openhyn “was filed” today “with the Surrogate
for probate by Morris J. Hirsch” which included “three bequests of $5,000 each
to the Mount Sinai Hospital, the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society
and the Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids.”
1904(15th
of Iyar, 5664): Parahsat Emor
1904:
At Bender, Bessarabia, on Shabbat, "while the greater part of the Jewish
community was assembled in the synagogue a mob of ruffians attacked the Jewish
quarter killing three men and two women and wounding several other persons. A
number of Jewish shops were plundered and the windows of Jewish houses were
broken. The mob which was incited to violence by the cry that the Jews
and England and America brought on the the Russo-Japanese war in revenge for
the Kishinev massacre, was too numerous to be dispersed by the police force and
it was not until a company of Cossacks had been called out and ordered to used firearms
that the riot was quelled.
1904:
By the end of April Herzl made preparations to proceed to Paris and London in
early May in order to arrange the financing of the Uganda expedition. He made
contact with the New York financier, Jacob Schiff. Schiff declared himself
ready to negotiate a loan for Russia if it proved ready to do something for the
Jews.
1904:
Herzl had an interview with Austrian Foreign Minister Agenor Goluchowsky, who
gave evidence of an earnest interest in Zionism and advised Herzl to work in
England for a Parliamentary expression of opinion in favor of Palestine.
Immediately after this audience, a consultation of his doctors establishes an
alarming change in the condition of his heart muscles. Herzl is ordered to
Franzensbad for six weeks.
1904:
The St. Louis World’s Fair where nine of the works of Moshe Maimon “were shown
at the Russian exhibition” opened today.
1904:
Birthdate of Newark, NJ violinist and composer Max Pollikoff, the creator of
the 92nd St Y’s “Music in Our Time” series.
http://archives.nypl.org/mus/20059
1905:
Over the last 12 months, the Young Men’s Hebrew Association provided services
to 166,289 through its various programs including lectures, religious services,
and physical education activities. The association had an income of
$39,423.21and spent $38,673.32 under the Presidency of Percival S. Menken.
1906:
As of today, “subscription to the Building Fund for the Sanitarium for Hebrew
Children now amount to $30,795” but according to Dr. Samuel Kohn, another
$5,000 needs to be raised “to complete the building.”
1907:
Fifty-six-year-old historian and philosopher Julius Langbehn who attacked Jews
“as corrupters of German culture” and advocated beliefs later adopted by Adolf
Hitler which have led him to be labeled as a “proto-Nazi.”
1908:
H.H. Asquith, the British MP who got caught up in a love triangle with Edwin
Montague and Venetia Stanley, became leader of the Liberal Party.
1908:
The first issue of Der Spiegel “a culture magazine” founded Lion Feuchtwanger,
the future husband of Marta Loeffler, “appeared today.”
1909:
“The newly organized Young Men's Hebrew Association of the Bronx concluded
negotiations for a lease of the former Union Republican Club property, at the
southeast corner of Boston Road and 165th Street.”
1909:
As of today, the Bronx Branch of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association “has a
membership of about 400” led by John D. Tobias, President and Bernhard D. Saxe,
Secretary.
1910:
Birthdate of actor Al Lewis who played Grandpa on “The Munsters.”
1910:
Dr. Emil Schürer, the German professor of theology who wrote A History of
the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ passed away today.
1911:
Today the Great Fire of 1911 destroyed much of downtown Bangor, and Beth
Israel's Center Street building along with it.
1911:
Approximately 300 people attended the annual meeting of the society supporting
the Hebrew Asylum on Amsterdam Avenue where they re-elected Louis Stern to
serve as President.
1911:
In New York City, Louis Ginzberg, the Professor of Talmud at JTS and his wife
social activist Adele Ginzberg gave birth to Columbia University trained
economist Dr. Eli Ginzberg who became a professor at his alma mater in 1935 and
was the director of the Conservation of Human Resources Project thanks to the
support of Dwight D. Eisenhower with whom he formed a friendship when the later
became President of Columbia following WWII.
1912:
Dr. Falk Vidaver who had succeeded his brother Dr. Henry Vidaver as Rabbi of
Congregation Sherith Israel when the latter passed away, resigned today and was
replaced by Dr. Jacob Nieto.
1912:
Carl Laemmle of IMP (Independent Moving Pictures Company) joined with several
others to form the Universal Motion Picture Manufacturing Company whose Ft.
Lee, NJ studios produced many of the early films that helped build the American
cinema industry.
1913:
Charles Edward Sebag-Montefiore married Muriel Alice Ruth de Pass, daughter of
Charles de Pass and Mabel Kate Benjamin, today at Spanish and Portuguese
Synagogue, Lauderdale Road, London, England.
1913:
Birthdate of New York City native and Fordham trained attorney Leonard Kaufman
the WW II veteran who was appointed as general counsel of the Paramount
Pictures Corporation by Barnay Balaban in 1964.
1913:
Rabbi Tobias Schanfarber of the Chicago Hebrew Institute is scheduled to
“deliver the Twentieth Anniversary address for the Home for Aged Jews.”
1914:
Otto Henne am Rhyn, the author of Mysteria, a work on the doctrines and mystic
rites of ancient religions in which Part Four “Son of Man, Son God” deals with
Judaism and the impact of Hellenism, passed away today.
1915:
“In the Tuscan port city of Livorno” Alfred Sabato, the chief rabbi and his was
gave birth to Elio Toaff who served as a rabbi Venice from 1947 to 1951 when he
became Chief Rabbi of Rome. (As reported by Bruce Weber)
1915:
Turkish authorities prevented the Jews of Smyrna from leaving the country.
1916:
At a meeting tonight of the Public Interest League Professor William M. Sloane
of Columbia said, “As much as I love and respect the Jews, I am forced to admit
that they constitute the largest” of Socialists and that since “the Jew has no
country…he has been accustomed to cry out against Governments because he has
been treated with injustice.”
1916:
In Philadelphia, PA, the People’s Relief Committee held a concert which raised
money for the Fund for Jewish War Sufferers and “served as a memorial for poet
for Jewish poet I.L. Peretz.”
1916:
Among those listed today as contributors to The American Jewish Relief
Committee were the Jewish Conference of Minneapolis ($350) and the Mendelsohn
Benevolent Society ($50).
1916:
Dr. Stephen S Wise delivered an address on “The Liberation of Reform Judaism”
and Nathan Straus spoke on “The Jew in Philanthropy” at the opening session of
the Ninth Semi-Annual Assembly of the Eastern Council of Reform Rabbis being
held at Temple Emanu-El.
1917(8th
of Iyar, 5677): Second Lieutenant Nathan Andre died today at Dieppe.
1917:
It was reported today that Felix Fuld, a vice president of “the department
store of L. Bamberger” which he co-founded has pledged to give ten per cent of
whatever is raised in Newark, NJ Jewish Community by the American Jewish Relief
Committee
1917:
In the Bronx, near Crotona Park, the former Sara Levin and Morris Wain, “a
men’s custom tailor” gave birth to Beatrice Ruth Wain who gained fame as big
band singer Bea Wain who later joined her husband Andre Baruch to become a
“disc jockey team in New York.” (As reported by Sam Roberts)
1917:
As the American Jewish community begins to take play its role in support the
country’s war effort and Allied leaders seek to support what will be the
mutually exclusive goals of keeping Russia in the war and protecting that
country’s fragile democracy, “a committee consisting of Chairman Boris Kamenka,
Baron Alexander Gunzburg and Henry Sliesberg representing the Jews of Russia
sent a telegram to Jacob H. Schiff, Justice Louis D. Brandies, Professor
Richard James Horatio Gottheil, Oscar S. Straus, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, Louis
Marshall and Henry Morgenthau saying “that the Jews of Russia are confidently
supporting the Russian Government.”
1918(18th
of Iyar, 5678): Lag B'Omer
1918:
“Rabbi J.L. Magnes…announced” today “the formation of a committee to advise the
Federal Food Board on the dietary problems of Orthodox Jews, as they may be
affected by the regulation of the of the Food Administration.”
1918:
Birthdate of New York City native and CCNY and University of Chicago educated investment
broker, the husband of Beverly Kouser Brager and father of Bruck and Laruie
Brager who was a governor of Tel Aviv University, a national commission of the
B’nai B’rith Youth organization and the manager of “a twenty million dollar
sale of securities for the Industrial Bank of Israel.”
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/08/06/82504599.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1919(30th
of Nisan, 5679): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1919:
Bryn Mawr graduate and University of Michigan trained writer Hortense Flexner, the
Louisville, KY, born daughter of Rosa and Jacob A. Flexner a member of Phi Beta
Kappa and the Poetry Society of America married Wyncie King today.
1919:
It was reported today that at its meeting in Arnhem, The International
Socialist Conference “passed a resolution that Palestine should be an independent
State and be admitted to the League of Nations.
1919:
It was reported today that Rabbi Mendes presided at a meeting of the Rabbis’
Victory Loan Committee which “represents the Jewish ministry” of the entire
city of New York where an appeal was issued to the Jewish community of New York
to purchase Victory notes as a way of showing “their appreciate of the serviced
rendered by our soldiers abroad and by their willingness to finish the work and
pay off the war debts.”
1920:
In Vienna, Ilona Neumann and Robert Kronstein gave birth to Gerda Hedwig
Kronstein who gained fame as Gerda Lerna, the historian who “spearheaded the
creation of the first graduate program in women’s history in the United
States…” (As reported by William Grimes)
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/lerner-gerda
1921(22nd
of Nisan, 5681): Eighth Day of Pesach for the first time during the Presidency
of Warren Harding
1921:
As Pesach comes to a close, “the Federation for the Support of Philanthropic
Societies will have hosted thousands of homeless and aged men and women and
orphans,
1922:
“Stirring Story of East Side Success” descried how Abraham Cahn had built up
the circulation of The Jewish Daily Forward from 6,000 to over 200,000.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/04/30/103589549.html?pageNumber=103
1922:
“In view of the rumors that Isaac Landman, the rabbi of Temple Israel of Far
Rockaway had been requested to resign because of his opposition to the
political aspects of Zionism, Samuel Kubie, the President of the synagogue
announced” today “that the reports were unfounded and the Rabbi Landman’s
attitude on the Zionist question had been fully endorsed by the congregation in
resolutions adopted by the Board of Trustees.
1923(14th
of Iyar, 5683): Pesach Sheni
1923:
Birthdate of Brooklyn native Albert Meister, who gained fame as actor Al Lewis,
best known for his role as “Grandpa” in the television sitcom “The Munsters.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/nyregion/al-lewis-95-dies-portrayed-grandpa-on-the-munsters.html
https://www.biography.com/people/al-lewis-162967
1924(26th
of Nisan): Rabbi Joseph Lowenstein, author of “Dor, Dor ve-Dorshav” passed away
1924:
In Brooklyn, “Oscar Lifschutz, who ran a grocery in the Williamsburg
neighborhood, and the former Miriam Schor” gave birth to Joseph Emanuel
Lifschutz, the psychiatrist who went to jail to protect patient
confidentiality. (As reported by Sam Roberts)
1924:
Birthdate of Sheldon Harnick “an American lyricist best known for his
collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on hit musicals such as Fiddler on the
Roof. Harnick began his career writing words and music to comic songs in
musical revues. One of these, "The Merry Minuet", was popularized by
the Kingston Trio. It is in the caustic style usually associated with Tom
Lehrer and is sometimes incorrectly attributed to him.”
1924:
On the Lower East Side, Max Printz and Tillie Leiter gave birth to Ruth Leah
Printz who gained fame as Ruth Greenglass the wife of David Greenglass, her
fellow “atomic spy.”
1925(6th
of Iyar, 5685): Kurenitz native Morris L. Kramer, the husband of the former
Rachel Elka Stikan Rivkin and father of Beckie and Hyman Kramer passed away
today in Brooklyn
1925:
The Revisionist party (Brith HaTzionim HaRevisionistim) was founded by Zev
(Vladimir) Jabotinsky.in Paris, France. Jabotinsky was an ardent Zionist.
He had already made Aliyah. In 1921 he took up arms to help defend the
Jewish community from attacks by armed, Arab mobs. The British
arrested Jabotinsky and imprisoned him. This experience was one of the
factors that led him to demand a more aggressive policy toward the British
believing that only worldwide pressure would force the British to abide by the
mandate. The revisionist believed that the highest priority of the Zionist
movement should be in bringing greatest number of Jews to Eretz –Israel in the
shortest possible time. Jabotinsky would die of a heart attack in
1940. Menachem Begin would inherit his political and spiritual
mantle. As head of the Irgun, Begin waged war against the British after
1945 when it became obvious that the British were going to continue their
pro-Arab, anti-Jewish policies.
1926:
Birthdate of Cloris Leachman. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, Leachman has
enjoyed a long and distinguished film and television career. Two of her
most famous films were "The Last Picture Show" and "Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
1927(28th
of Nisan, 5687): Parashat Kedoshim
1927:
“Nathan Straus, who recently returned from Palestine after founding the Nathan
and Lena Straus Health Center in Jerusalem for creeds announced” today “his
endorsement of an education course on Palestine to be given this Summer by Dr.
Nima E. Adlerblum, the National Cultural Chairman of Hadassah.”
1928:
In Montreal, Sarah Weiner and Sam Rabinovich gave birth to Norman
Louis Rabinovitch, who gained fame as Nachum Eliezer Rabinovitch “a
Canadian-Israeli Religious Zionist rabbi and posek who headed the London School
of Jewish Studies from 1971 to 1982, and the hesder yeshiva Birkat Moshe in
Ma'ale Adumim from 1982 until his death.”
1928:
In Camden, NJ, after two years, Harry Greenberg resigned this evening as the
Executive Director of the YMHA and YWHA.
1929(20th
of Nisan 5689): Sixth Day of Pesach
1929:
In Tel Aviv, the fourth Palestine and Near East Exhibition comes to a close.
1929:
Nathan Straus presided over the opening of the Nathan and Lena Straus Health
Care Center in Tel Aviv. Straus presented this modern health
facility to Hadassah which will administer for the benefit of all the
inhabitants – Jew, Christian and Moslem – with the only goal being to improve
the quality and length of life of all citizenry.
1929:
“The Little Show,” a musical revue with lyrics by Howard Dietz and music by
Arthur Schwartz which” was the first of 11 musicals that featured the songs of
Dietz and Schwartz” opened at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway today.
1930:
“The Divorcee,” starring Norma Shearer, the wife of Irving Thalberg, in a role
for which won an Academy Award for Best Actress and with music by Jack Yellen
and Milton Ager was released today in the United States.
1931:
Today, “General Ludendorff, who attributed his defeat in the war to the
intervention of Jewry” and who wants “to have a Germany racially purely
Germanic, free from Jewish-Marxist-Catholic domination” has now declared war on
his old colleague” Adolph Hitler with whom he stood trial for the 1923 Munich
Putsch at which time he declared “himself a violent anti-Semite.”
1932(24th
of Nisan, 5692): Parashat Achrei Mot
1932(24th
of Nisan, 5692): Seventy-three-year-old Philadelphia born New York businessman
Cyrus L. Sulzberger passed away today.
https://www.jta.org/1932/05/02/archive/death-of-cyrus-sulzberger
1932:
In Vienna, thousands of police were on duty to keep watch over a march by
70,000 followers of Hitler who were celebrating his recent victories in German
elections. (JTA)
1933:
Gian Clemente Bayard, the son Iris Origo who stayed in Italy during WW II where
she saved the lives of children and Allied airmen, passed away tragically today
at the age of 8.
1934:
In Milwaukee, WI, Jewish-Russian immigrants Ben and Anna Goodman Raskin, the
owners of a plumbing store gave birth to old musical prodigy turned law school
graduate Marcus Raskin, anti-Vietnam Kennedyite who founded the Institute for
Policy Studies. (As reported by Richard Sandomir)
1935:
Jews were no longer allowed to display the German flag. This was quite
disturbing to the thousands of Jews who had fought for the Kaiser in World War
I
1935:
“The Scoundrel” co-directed by Ben Hecht who also co-authored the script and
co-starring Lionel Stander was released today in the United States.
1936:
The Flying Camel spreads its wings on the shores of the Mediterranean as the
emblem of the Levant Fair opening today in Tel Aviv.
1936:
“The University of Michigan confirmed a previous announcement that two
university delegates would attend the celebration of the 550th
anniversary of Heidelberg University in June…despite the fact that the Nazi
political machine would assume an important role in the celebration.”
1936:
“Pre-Honeymoon” which was co-authored by Anne Nichols, the creator of the 1922
hit “Abie’s Irish Rose” opened tonight on Broadway.
1936:
Despite Arab violence in Palestine, the High Commissioner opened the Levant
Fair at Tel Aviv today where “more than 5,000” people heard “Mayor Dizengoff
stress the importance of this biennial exhibition in the development of trade
in the Near and Middle East with Western manufacturers.”
1936:
At Beersheba, the Bedouin chieftains “met the chief secretary of the government
and submitted a memorandum demanding a ban on Jewish immigration and the sale
of land to Jews.”
1936(7th
of Iyar, 5696): August Lederer, an Austrian industrialist and patron of the
arts who was best known for his connection with Gustav Klimt passed away.
1937:
It was reported today that Alfred J. Suares of Alexandria, Egypt, the son of
Joseph I.Suares and Luna Aelion who passed away on April 6 bequeathed £,6.670
to Jewish and non-Jewish charities in Alexandria.
1937:
It was reported today that 85 year old Henry van den Bergh, the Dutch born son
of Elisabeth and Simon van den Berg and the husband of Henriette Charlotte van
den Bergh who had passed away on March 12 had bequeathed £,4.950 to twelve
Jewish and none Jewish charities in England and the Netherlands.
1937:
“That I May Live” produced by Sol M. Wurtzel was released today in the United
States today.
1938:
Today, Yakov “Smushkevich was badly injured while conducting a practice flight
on a R-10 in preparation for a parade before it crashed due to mechanical
failure.’
1938:
“Porky’s Hare Hunt” a cartoon produced by Leon Schlesinger and featuring an
unnamed rabbit that would become Bugs Bunny with the voice of Mel Blanc was
released in the United States today.
1939:
In Germany, the remaining Jews “lost their rights as tenants and were relocated
into Jewish Houses.”
1939:
Birthdate of broadly educated Saul J. Berman, the rabbi ordained at Yeshiva
University, the holder of J.D. from NYU and an M.A. in Political Science from
U.C., Berkley.
https://www.yu.edu/faculty/pages/berman-saul
1939:
In the Bronx, Julian Kleban and his wife gave birth to Edward “Ed” Kleban the
composer and lyricist best known for his on “A Chorus” for which he shared the
1976 Tony Award for the Best Original Score with Marvin Hamlisch.
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/30/obituaries/edward-kleban-48-chorus-line-lyricist.html
1940(22nd
of Nisan, 5700): Eighth Day of Pesach
1940:
The Lodz Ghetto was officially sealed. The Jews were resettled in the Lodz
Ghetto in an action replete with brutality, looting, abuse, and murder. As they
were led to the ghetto, snipers on rooftops opened fire on them to frighten
them and expedite their departure. They fled to the ghetto in panic. When The
Lodz Ghetto approximately 164,000 Jews from Lodz were packed into its four
square kilometers, of which only two and a half square kilometers were built.
The congestion in the area that comprised the ghetto was seven times greater
than it had been before the war. The ghetto area was carved into three sectors
by two main streets that linked neighborhoods outside the ghetto. Wretched
conditions including congestion, hunger, cold, and poor sanitation led
immediately to mass mortality.
1941:
Having installed the Ustasha movement as the government of occupied Croatia,
the Nazis watched as on this date their willing puppet enacted a new definition
of the term "Jew." This enabled the Croat government to enact
the Nazi inspired plan for the treatment of the Jews. At the same, this
definition caused some dissension in the ranks of the anti-Semites since it
created a loophole designed to protect the Jewish wives of some of the
non-Jewish Ustasha leaders.
1941:
“While about thirty of the scores of playing and yelling children in East
Thirty-second Street near First Avenue -- as many as could possibly crowd onto
the narrow window ledge -- put soiled, interested faces to the panes, a group
of public, civic and church representatives formally dedicated this afternoon
the Nathan Straus Branch Library for children and young people.”
1942:
Today the Germans ordered the Jews of Pinsk to move into the ghetto by 4:00
p.m. on May 1. More than 20,000 persons were packed into the ghetto, a cramped
area in a slum quarter.
1942(13th
of Iyar, 5702): Twelve hundred Jews were killed in Diatlovo, Belorussia.
The Jews offered armed resistance, but it was futile.
1943:
During a trip to Palestine, Archbishop Spellman visits Haifa and Tel Aviv where
he has lunch with Brig. Gen. R.W. Crawford, head of the United States Service
Command.
1943:
By the end of the month of April Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto
began to falter as bunkers were broached by German troops. Artillery
bombardment of the ghetto had foiled Jewish strategy of engaging Germans in
costly hand-to-hand combat.
1943:
The German government established Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp for
Jews. The camp was located in northwest Germany. Approximately
40,000 perished there from a variety of forms of inhumane treatment. Anne
Frank died there in March, 1945, a month before the camp was liberated by
the allies.
1943:
At Dj. Arada, Tunisia, Lance-Corporal John Patrick Kenneally accompanied by a
sergeant, charged the enemy forming up for assault, inflicting many casualties.
Even when wounded he refused to give up, but hopped from one fire position to
another, carrying his gun in one hand and supporting himself on a comrade with
the other. He was awarded the VC for bravery for this action. This was a repeat
performance for Kenneally who showed similar bravery on April 28.
1943:
Today, the British submarine HMS Seraph surfaced from the darkness, slipped
towards the southwest coast of Spain, and dropped the body of a homeless
vagrant who had died of rat poisoning gently into the sea close to the fishing
village of Punta Umbria in what was part of Operation Mincemeat, a successful
plan to deceive the Germans about where the Allies would land next in the Mediterranean
which was the brainchild of “Ewen Montagu, a British intelligence officer and
scion of a prominent Jewish family.” (Editor’s note: The Man Who Never Was made
in 1956 is superior to the 21st film fantasy)
1943:
Birthdate of Ze'ev Boim, a native of Jerusalem who moved from teaching to a
career in politics that including servings as the Mayor of Kiryat Gat for 13
years and a member of the Knesset. (As reported by Jonathan Lis)
1943(25th
of Nisan, 5703): According to reports, 2,000 Jews being deported to
Sobibor attacked their guards. All of the deportees fell victim to
hand grenades and machine gun fire.
1943:
“Tonight We Raid Calais” a WW II movie featuring Lee J. Cobb and Howard Da
Silva and with music by Emil Newman was released in the United States today.
1943:
"Hopeful Hint Ends Bermuda Sessions" published today stated that
recommendations which were not capable of being accomplished under war
conditions and which would most likely delay the war effort of the United
Nations were rejected. [Editor’s Note: The title is a strange one since the
conference offered no hope whatsoever to the Jews of Europe.]
1943:
“Air Wardens,” a comedy with music by Nathaniel Shilkret was released today in
the United States today.
1944:
SOE agent Violette Szabo, codenamed Louise, returned to England from France
aboard a Lysander, after completing her first mission.
1944:
Two thousand Jews were deported from Topolya, Hungry to Birkenaus. This
is the second deportation from Hungry to Birkenau. Once again the Nazis
have the Jews write postcards to their family back home telling them not to
worry.
1944:
Sixty-five-year-old Esther Raphiel passed away today after which she was buried
at the Natchitoches, LA, Jewish Cemetery.
1944:
Birthdate of Lydia Shtimerman, the Russian born English violinist who gained
fame as Lydia Mordkovitch
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11290327/Lydia-Mordkovitch-obituary.html
1944:
In New York, Albert Henry “Bill” Clayburgh, a Jewish manufacturing executive
and his Protestant wife, the former Julia Louis Dorr gave birth to Academy
award nominated actress Jill Clayburgh.
1945:
In Berlin, Hitler murdered Eva Braun and then committed suicide in his bunker.
The bodies are then carried outside and cremated. Years later, the Soviet
government released a report stating that their troops had recovered the
charred remains and brought them back for verification. What finally
happened to the bodies is still in dispute although they no longer exist.
1945:
Günther Schwägermann, a Goebbels aide, told the staff, including Brunhilde
Pomsel, Goebbels’s Secretary, that Hitler and Eva Braun, after a marriage
ceremony, had committed suicide.
1945: The Red Army liberated 23,000 Jews and non-Jews from Ravensbruck. One of
the oldest of the camps, it was opened in 1939 just north of Berlin. It
was primarily a camp for women. In the last two years of its existence
90,000 were killed there. The camp was noted for its medical experiments
in which the inmates were used for experimental purposes. As the
retreating Nazis were forced to shut down the gas chambers in Poland, they
built one at Ravenbruck that opened in early 1945. This puts the lie to
the idea that the Final Solution was not an integral part of the Nazi program
from start to finish.
1945:
Concentration camp München-Allag was liberated.
1945:
Today “fashion model turned war correspondent Lee Miller.”
was photographed using the bath tub in
Hitler’s abandoned Munich apartment.
1945:
Soldiers of the 63rd Division (U.S. Army) which was recognized as a
liberating unit by the U.S. Army’s Center of Military History and the United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2000 completed the liberation of seven the
eleven Kaufering subcamps.
1946(29th
of Nisan, 5706): Seven Jews were murdered by anti-Semitic Poles at Nowy Targ,
Poland, very near to where five Jews were killed on April 21
1947:
“Itzhak Zuckerman, deputy commander of Warsaw’s ghetto arrived in Palestine”
today to settle permanently at the village of Yagour “where his wife Zivia
Lubotkin, another leader of the Polish ghetto rising is a member.”
1948(21st
of Nisan, 5708): Seventh Day of Pesach
1948:
“The battle for Jerusalem began today as the Haganah swooped into the Christian
Arab Katamon quarter and infiltrated deep into the Moslem Mamilla cemetery, and
Jewish postal employes seized the general post office.”
1948:
It was reported today that “Regen Abdul Illah of Iraq has said that Iraqi
troops “had started to move from Baghdad toward Palestine.”
1949(1st
of Iyar, 5709): Parashat Tazria-Metzora; Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1949:
“Eliahu Elath, the Israeli Ambassador to the United States” is scheduled to “be
the principal speaker tonight at the New School for Social Research at the
opening of the first American conference for Hebrew language and culture.”
1949:
“Dr. Chaim Weizmann, Israel's first president, in a message that opened the
first American Conference for Hebrew Language and Culture, asserted tonight
that the "day is not far when the spiritual life of American Jewry will be
strongly inter-related with the cultural values of Israel."
1950:
A compromise was reached today among competing factions of the trade union
movement in Israel that will allow tomorrow’s May Day celebrations to go on as
planned. Histadrut had threatened to cancel the festivities unless the
“pro-Soviet minority” agreed to march without banners carrying proclamations
that would be offensive to “the western democracies.”
1950:
Rabbi Alexander Burnstein who “evidently believed that the Decalogue was an
important ecumenical guideline for people of all faiths and non-faiths to
follow” told a multi-faith gathering that “Nations are called upon to obey the
ten commandments as well as individuals” and that "The message of Mount
Sinai was directed at nations and groups as well as individuals."
1952(5th
of Iyar, 5712): Yom HaAtzma'ut
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that in its First of May
Day proclamation, the Histadrut Executive will announce that all Palestine Arab
workers wishing to do so, will henceforth be admitted to the Histadrut's Trade
Unions, as of May 1, 1953.
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that a gang of Bedouin
terrorists mined a bridge on the Nitzana-Beersheba Road and opened fire when an
army truck was passing by. Nobody was hurt, but the bridge was damaged.
1955(8th of Iyar, 5715): Parashat Achrei Mot-Kedoshim
1955(8th of Iyar, 5715): Eighty-seven-year-old Naphtali
Taylor Phillips, the son of Isaac Phillips and his second wife Miriam Trimble
Phillips who “was considered the Phillips family’s unofficial historian and
published many articles about the history of the Jews of New York during the
17th and 18th centuries” passed away today. “As a lawyer he held various political
offices, e.g.: he was member of the New York state legislature, served on the
judiciary and other committees and as a member of the Joint Statutory Revision
Commission of that body (1900); and deputy comptroller of the city of New York
(from 1902). He also was a trustee of the American Scenic and Historic
Preservation Society, and a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and
of the New York Historical Society. He served as treasurer of the Jewish
Historical Society and has contributed several papers to its publications. For
fifteen years he was clerk of Congregation Shearith Israel. In 1892 Phillips
married Rosalie Solomons, daughter of Adolphus S. Solomons. Mrs. Phillips was
an active member of the Daughters of the American Revolution
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1955/05/01/92632113.pdf
1955: Birthdate of Menachem Mazuz who served as Israeli Attorney
General from 2004 to 2010.
1955: In Washington, D.C. Howard Hiatt, a medical researcher and Doris
Bieringer, a librarian who co-founded a reference publication for high school
libraries gave birth to Harvard educated journalist and author Frederick “Fred”
Samuel Hiat thrice Pulitzer Prize
nominated Editorial page editor for the Washington Post and grandson of
Walter Bieringer who served as president of the United Service for New
Americans which helped to resettle European Jews in the United States after
World War II who raised three children – Alexandra, Joseph and Nathaniel – with
his wife Margaret “Pooh” Shapiro.
1956: “The Last Hunt” the movie version of a novel by the same
name directed and written by Richard Brooks and produced by Dore Schary was
released today in the United States.
1956: Israeli Chief of State Moshe Dayan delivered the eulogy at
Nahal Oz for Roi Toberg, the kibbutz security officer who had been murdered in
an ambush yesterday after which his body was mutilated by the terrorists.
1958: Today Mrs. Randolph Guggenheimer was elected to a two-year term as chairman of the women's
division of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York.
1959(22nd of Nisan, 5719): Eighth Day of Pesach
1959: “Imitation of Life” the cinema version of the novel by
Fannie Hurst produced by Ross Hunter, co-starring Susan Kohner and with music
by Sammy Fain was released in the United States today.
1960(3rd of Iyar, 5720): Parashat Tazria-Metzora
1960(3rd of Iyar, 5720): Eighty-five-year-old Italian
born Giorgio Polacco, the conductor at the Met from 1915 to 1917, the Chicago
Civic Opera from 1921 to 1930 and the husband of Edith Mason passed away today
in Manhattan.
https://www.operamusica.com/artist/giorgio-polacco/#biography
1961(14th of Iyar, 5721): Pesach Sheni
1961(14th of Iyar, 5721): Seventy-three-year-old
Israeli political leader Peretz Naftali passed away today.
1962(26th of Nisan, 5722): Seventy-seven-year-old
physician turned political leader Lester David Volk, the WW I Army veteran who
raised his son Alan with his wife Florence S. Volk passed away today after
which he was buried at Bayside Cemetery in Queens.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/lester-david-volk
1963: Founding of Haifa University
1964(18th of Iyar, 5724): Lag B’Omer
1965(28th of Nisan, 5725): Seventy-three-year-old
Columbia Law School trained attorney and Manhattan Borough President Edgar
Joshua Nathan, Jr, a cousin of Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardoza and poet
Emma Lazarus who was a descendant of the first Jews to arrive in America passed
away today after which “he was buried in Congregation Shearith Israel's Beth
Olam Cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens.”
http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/ms438_edgar_nathan/
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1941/11/05/99258689.pdf
1966(10th of Iyar, 5726): Parashat Achrei Mot-Kedoshim
1966(10th of Iyar, 5726): Eighty year old Rabbi Moses Etter,the
Lithuanian born son of Mere and Shmuel Yuter and the husband of Sophie Etter
who came to the United States in 1924 where he began serving the community in
Harrisburg, PA which included a Jewish community center passed away today.
1967(20th of Nisan, 5727): Sixth Day of Pesach
1968(2nd of Iyar, 5728): Seventy-six-year-old Dubno
native and Massachusetts bookstore owner Samuel Joseph Bernstein, the son of
Yehuda and Dina Bernstein and the father of famed musical showman Leonard
Bernstein passed away today.
1968(2nd of Iyar, 5728): Sixty-one-year-old Washington
University and University of Chicago trained research chemist Myer Agruss, the
son of Rose and Benjamin Agruss and the husband of Frances Agruss passed away
today in Chicago.
1969: In Chicago Adele and Marshal Levine gave birth to Haverford
trained physicist and Harvard trained expert in Public Policy Mark D. Levine,
the bi-lineal member of the New York City Council and husband of Ivelisse
Suarez with whom he has had two children.
https://council.nyc.gov/district-7/
1970(24th of Nisan, 5730): Jacques (Jacob)
Presser passed away. Born in 1899, he was a Dutch historian, writer and poet
best known for his book Ashes in the wind: The destruction of the Dutch Jews
a seminal work on the history of the persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands
during World War II. Yet he also made a significant contribution to Dutch
historical scholarship, as well as to European historical scholarship.
1971:
“Belorussian Station” a Soviet film with music by
Alfred Schnittke” was released today.
1971: On day after he had passed away, funeral services were
scheduled to be held for eighty-five-year-old
Polish born American textile manufacturer and philanthropist Israel Rogosin,
the husband of Evelyn Rogosin and father of movie producer Lionel Rogosin.
1973(28th of Nisan, 5733): Ninety-one-year-old Jacob A.
Rubenstein the husband of the former Anna Krieger with whom he raised one son
and two daughters and who in 1919 “founded with two brothers Security Mills, a manufacturer
of knitted jersey” passed away today in New York City.
Jacob Rubenstein, 91, Dies; Retired Textile Executive - The New
York Times (nytimes.com)
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that despite Israeli
protests and the U.S. Congress pressure, the U.S. President Jimmy Carter
reiterated that the joint sale of U.S. jets to Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia
was in Israel's best interests. He refused, however, to say what his Administration
will do if the Congress will veto any part of this three-country package.
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli Prime
Minister, Menachem Begin, left for Washington on his second successive visit to
U.S. and President Carter, in an apparent attempt to resolve the problem of the
stalled Israeli-Egyptian peace negotiations.
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that there were mixed
feelings in Israel about the prospects of the third pullback in South Lebanon,
moving to the line west, from about six to ten kilometers, from the Israeli
border. There was a growing uncertainty whether the UNIFIL, which was filling
the gap, would protect Israel from further terrorist activities.
1979: Paul Massing, author of Rehearsal for Destruction: A
Study Of Political Anti-Semitism in Imperial Germany passed away today
1980(14th of Iyar, 5740): Pesach Sheni
1980(14th of Iyar, 5740): Seventy-five-year-old editor
and drama critic Louis Kronenberger, the husband of Emily L. Plaut passed away
today.
1981(26th of Nisan, 5741): Yom HaShoah
1981(26th of Nisan, 5741) Eighty-year-old Jeanne Levy,
the daughter of Alfred Dreyfus, the most famous Jewish officer to serve in the
French Army and Lucie Hadamard and the wife of Pierre-Paul Louis Lévy with whom
she had had five children – Madeleine, Simone, Jean-Louis, Etiene and
Pierre-Paul – passed away today in Paris today.
1982:
An Israeli Cabinet official who received a suspended prison sentence last week
for larceny and breach of trust resigned from the Cabinet today. The official,
Aharon Abuhazira, Minister of Labor, Welfare and Immigrants Absorption,
submitted his letter of resignation to the Prime Minister's office after the
Central Committee of his party, Tami, authorized it
1982:
“The Chosen” a movie version of the Chaim Potok novel directed by Jeremy Kagan
starring Robby Benson and featuring Barry L. Miller, Ron Rifkin, Evan Handler
with music by Elmer Bernstein was released today.
1983:
“King Hussein of Jordan said today that the United States was partly
responsible for the collapse of his talks with the Palestine Liberation
Organization on President Reagan's peace plan.”
1984(28th
of Nisan, 5744): Yom HaShoah
1984(28th
of Nisan, 5744): Eighty-one-year-old “businessman and philanthropist” Harry J.
Denberg, “founder and president of Spotless Stores” and “the sponsor of a
Hebrew free loan society and a school for orphaned girls, both in Jerusalem”
who was the husband of Riva Denberg with whom he raised two daughters, Marilyn
and Edythe, passed away today.
1984:
During a high-profile divorce case involving billionaire realtor Sol Goldman
and his wife Lillian, Mrs. Goldman discovered a letter that appeared to confirm
that his proposal of a reconciliation was merely a way to protect his assets
leading her to resume litigation to dissolve the marriage.
1985(9th
of Iyar, 5745): Seventy-five-year-old Mickey Katz passed away today. Born
in 1909, Katz was a comedian and musician who specialized in Yiddish humor. In
his day he was known as what they called "a novelty band leader" i.e.
a Jewish Spike Jones. Katz is also known for being the father of
Joel Grey and the grandfather of Jennifer Gray.
1985(9th
of Iyar, 5745): Eighty-four-year-old director Hungarian born American director
and producer Julius White “who was best known for his films of The Three
Stooges” passed away today in California.
1985(9th
of Iyar, 5745): Seventy-five year old Meyer Myron Katz, the Cleveland, OH, born
son of “Menachem and Johanna (Herzberg)
Katz and the husband of Goldie “Grace Epstein, who gained fame as “novelty band
leader” Mickey Katz, a comedian and musician specializing in Yiddish humor also
known for being the father of Joel Grey and the grandfather of Jennifer Grey,
famous for her role in “Dirty Dancing” passed away today.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-05-01-mn-11563-story.html
https://case.edu/ech/articles/k/katz-meyer-myron
1985:
Birthdate of Israeli actress and model Gal Gadot who represented Israel in the
2004 Miss Universe Pageant.
1985:
In Petah Tikva, Israel, “Irit (née Weiss), a teacher, and Michael Gadot, an engineer” who
is “a sixth generation Israeli” gave birth to actress Gal Gadot, the IDF
veteran best known for her portrayal of “Wonder Woman.”
1985:
One person was injured today during a grenade attack on a bus in Israel.
1985:
One person was injured today during a “grenade attack on Israeli intelligence
center in Bat Pam, south of Tel Aviv.”
1985:
A London production of “Follies,” a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen
Sondheim and a book by James Goldman opened at the Forum theatre
1986:
The city of Houston declared today Albert Moses Levy Memorial Day, in honor of
Jews who participated in the fight for Texas
1986:
In Savannah, Georgia, Mary and Ronald S. Agron gave birth to actress Dianna
Elise Agron who went to Hebrew School and celebrated her Bat Mitzvah before
pursuing her show biz career.
1987:
Thomas Friedman reports that an Islamic revival is quickly gaining ground in
the most unlikely of places – Israel. “From Israeli Arab villages in the
northern Galilee, to the turbulent Palestinian universities in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank, to the teeming refugee districts of the
Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip, an Islamic revival is taking place among Moslems
living under Israeli control. The revival was inspired in part by the Iranian
revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. But it is also a home-grown
movement of Palestinian Moslems seeking strength to confront Israel by
returning to their classic Islamic identities that once brought them grandeur…
What this means for the already intractable Arab-Israeli conflict, said Eli
Rekhess, a Tel Aviv University expert on Israeli Arabs, is that future
'coexistence will be that much more difficult and the lines of differences
between the two communities that much sharper.’''
1989:
Several thousand people, many of them Holocaust survivors and their families,
gathered in midtown Manhattan to honor the victims of the Holocaust and to
commemorate the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising in which Polish Jews
fought the Nazis in 1943.
1990(5th
of Iyar, 5750): Yom HaAtzma’ut
1992:
NBC broadcast the final episode of season 8 of the “Cosby Show” a sitcom
co-created by Ed Weinberger.
1992(27th
of Nisan, 5752): Yom HaShoah
1992(27th
of Nisan, 5752): Sixty-seven-year-old American economist Harvey Joshua Levin
passed away today.
http://www.hofstra.edu/Library/libspc/libspc_levin.html
1993:
U.S. premiere of “Three Hearts” with a script by Adam Greenman.
1993(9th
of Iyar, 5753): Eighty-five-year-old Frija Zoaretz, the native of Libya who
made Aliyah in 1949 and served as MK for the National Religious Party passed
away today.
1994(19th
of Iyar, 5756): Parshat Emor
1994:
Philanthropist Esther Ziskind Weltman, graduate of Smith College and Harvard Graduate
School o Education, the wife of Sol Weltman who “was a founder of the National
Council of Jewish Women’s Springfield Scholarship Clearing House” and “a
trustee of the Jacob Ziskind Trust for Charitable Purposes” passed away today.
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/weltman-esther-ziskind
1994(19th
of Iyar, 5756): Ninety-four-year-old Audra Gertrude “Audrey” Canatsey Brown, the
Windsor, MO born daughter of John and Stella Cantsey whose first husband was
Salomon Tarlow with whom she had four children before he died passed aw today
in Roswell, NM.
1995:
Following the merger of Abraham and Straus with the Macys, Bloomingdales and
Sterns chains earlier in the year, “the name of Abraham & Straus passed
into mercantile history” today marking “the end of a journey” that began in
1865>
1996(11th
of Iyar, 5756): David Opatoshu passed away. Born in 1918, David Opatoshu began
his stage career in New York's Yiddish theatre in the late 1930s. Though he
worked extensively in English-language plays, films and TV programs, the
scholarly looking Opatoshu never completely severed his ties with his roots.
His first film was the all-Yiddish "The Light Ahead” (1939) from 1941
through 1945, he delivered the news in Yiddish on New York radio station WEVD;
in the 1970s, he was directing and starring in ethnic stage productions; and in
1985, he narrated a documentary film on the Yiddish theatre in America,
"Almonds and Raisins". Opatoshu appeared in numerous films and
television productions frequently playing the part of the Communist or some
other vaguely eastern European intellectual villain. Two of his more
memorable performances were in the film Exodus in 1960 and Masada in
1981.
1996(11th
of Iyar, 5756): President Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres
signed an accord in Washington extending U.S. help to Israel in countering
terrorism
1998(4th
of Iyar, 5758): Yom HaAtzma'ut – Fiftieth Anniversary of Israeli Independence.
The fifth of Iyyar fell on a Friday in 5758 which precluded celebrating the
holiday on the technically correct date.
2000:
The New York Times included reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including The Collaborator: The Trial and Execution of Robert Brasillach by Alice Kaplan and the recently released paperback
edition of The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon
by Richard Zimler a novel in which a young follower of the mystical Jewish
tradition tries to track down his uncle's killer in 16th-century Lisbon.
2001:
Cookbook author Joan Nathan received the Who's Who of Food and Beverage in
America award for lifetime achievement from the James Beard Foundation.
https://jwa.org/thisweek/apr/30/2001/joan-nathan
2002:
Beginning today, the Batsheva Dance Company from
Israel is scheduled to perform the American premiere of ''Naharin's Virus,'' an
adaptation of a 1996 play by the German writer Peter Handke. The music for the
dance, which had its premiere in Tel Aviv last year, is adapted from
traditional Arabic folk music by Habib Alla Jamal, Shama Khader and Karni
Postel
2003(28th
of Nisan, 5763): Ran Baron, 24; Dominque Caroline Hass, 29 and Yanai Weiss, 46
were murdered and dozens more wounded including Keith Trowbridge, 37 and Avi
Tabib, the security guard, when a terrorist working for Fatah Tanzim and Hamas
blew himself up at Mike’s Place a popular Tel Aviv Restaurant. The murderer was
part of a group of three British Muslims who came to Israel to kill Jews.
2003(28th
of Nisan, 5763): Seventy-two-year-old Arnold Horween, the successful Chicago
businessman “company supplies the leather used to manufacture the National
Football League's Wilson footballs” passed away today. (As reported by Ana
Beatriz Cholo)
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-05-04/news/0305040211_1_harvard-friends-arnold
2003:
The Israeli president, Moshe Katzav and his Polish counterpart, Aleksander
Kwasniewski, led 3,000 people from around the world in a ''March of the
Living'' through the gate to Auschwitz -- the words ''Arbeit macht frei'' mean
''Work makes you free'' -- and to the nearby twin camp at Birkenau. The march
was to mourn Jews killed at the death camp in World War II and commemorate the
60th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Among the marchers was Norman
Frejman, 72, of Florida, who as a child survived the Warsaw Ghetto, deportation
to the Majdanek death camp and slave labor in Germany. ''I am getting old,'' he
said, ''so I had to come here to see it once again. This is hallowed ground.'
2004(9th
of Iyar, 5764): Ninety-two-year-old tobacco executive Joseph Frederick Cullman
III, the husband of women from two prominent Jewish families, Susan Lehman and
Joan Paley Straus, passed away today. (As reported by Michael T. Kaufman)
2004:
“Godsend” a horror movie filmed by cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau was released
today in the United States and Canada.
2004:
“Envy” a comedy directed by Barry Levinson who produced the film with Paula
Weinstein and starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Rachel Weisz was released in
the United States today.
2005(21st
of Nisan, 5765): Seventh Day of Pesach and Shabbat
2006:
Herbert “Herb” Brown, the former coach of the Detroit Pistons and the “head
coach of the U.S. basketball team that won the gold medal at the 2001 Maccabiah
Games,” today, joined his younger brother Larry Brown as a member of the United
States Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
2006:
The New York Times featured books by Jewish authors and/or of special
interest to Jewish readers including High Lonesome: New & Selected
Stories 1966-2006 by Joyce Carol Oates, Politics Lost: How American
Democracy Was Trivialized by People Who Think You're Stupid by Joe Klein
and Family and Other Accidents by Shari Goldhagen.
2006(2nd of Iyar, 5766): Paul Spiegel leader of the Central
Council of Jews, Germany’s main Jewish organization, passed away.
2007: In today’s “unpublished opinion, the California Court
of Appeal held that Robert Shapiro's law firm, Christensen, Miller, Fink,
Jacobs, Glaser, Weil & Shapiro, LLP, could be held liable for his
alleged misconduct, even though Shapiro holds no equity interest in the firm
and is not a true partner
2007: Aubrey Drake Graham, known as “Drake” became the first
unsigned Canadian rapper to have his music video featured on BET when his first
single, "Replacement Girl" was featured as the "New Joint of the
Day"
2007: At the Jewish Museum of Florida an exhibit styled “Bonim:
Jewish Developers Building Florida and; Building Community” comes to
end. “From swampland to cities, this exhibit highlights the enormous impact of
Florida’s Jews on one of the state’s leading industries.” The exhibit
demonstrates that starting in 1820 when Moses Levy began purchasing 100,000
acres in north central Florida, Jews have played a major role in transforming
Florida from the region’s least populated state into one of the nation’s largest
states.
2007: The Jewish Heritage Center of Western Canada presents a
lecture by Dr. Deborah Lipstadt which is based on her experiences during the
David Irving Libel Trial. Her book History on Tiral: My Day In Court
with David Irving is the story of her libel trial in London against David
Irving who sued her for calling him a Holocaust denier and right wing
extremist.
2008: Famed Yiddish actress Esta Saltzman who lived in Manhattan
for over 40 years before passing away, will be buried today in a family plot at
the Knollwood Park Cemetery.
2008: An exhibition style “Zap, Pow, Bam – Super Heroes of the
Golden Age of Comics at the Jewish Museum of Florida comes to a close.
2008: Today, Steve “Tisch along with the rest of the Giants team
and administration were invited by President Bush to the White House to honor
the Giants Super Bowl victory.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Tisch#/media/File:Giants_admin_at_the_white_house.JPG
2008: The Jerusalem Cinematheque presents a screening of “The
House on August Street” which depicts the untold story of Beate Berger who
founded the “Beith Ahawah Kinderheim” in Berlin in 1922 for needy Jewish
children and then saved “her” children from Nazi Germany through a unique
rescue operation that ended with her bringing the children to the new “Ahawah”
home she built in the Haifa Bay.
2008:
As
part of the annual Yom Hashoah observance in Iowa City, the University of Iowa
Hillel Chapter presents Professor Ronald Berger who will speak about
"Surviving the Holocaust: One Family's Story"..
2008:
“Reparations Ethics: The War Continues,” aired on Israeli. The film criticized
the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany for misspending funds
and for being unresponsive and insensitive to the suffering of aging Holocaust
survivors.
2009:
Goldwin Smith’s Anti-Semitism Fuels Anger by Danielle Davis, exposing the
professor’s views on Jews was published today.
2009(6th
of Iyar, 5769): Mark I. Levy, a fifty-nine-year-old lawyer with an
Atlanta-based firm who was about to lose his job because of the economy was found
dead in his Washington office. Police speculated that the cause was a
self-inflicted gunshot wound. The fate of the Yale law school graduate
should serve as warning to all of us in these perils of these uncertain
economic times.
2009:
The 92nd Street Y presents “The Borowitz Report: Obama’s First 100
Days” in which Award-winning comedian and satirist Andy Borowitz, and a panel
including Hendrick Hertzberg, Jonathan Alter
and Judy Gold take an irreverent look at President Obama's first 100 days in
office
2009: Brooklyn College Hillel sponsors an Israel Street Fair celebrating
Israel Independence Day.
2009:
In Washington, D.C., Pulitzer Prize-winning illustrator Jules Feiffer
reads and discusses Which Puppy a children’s picture book he recently
co-authored with his daughter Kate.
2009:
In Texas, Heroes and Legacies sponsors “The Kinky Friedman Cigar Event”
featuring five Kinky Friedman Cigars including The Governor, Kinkycristo, The
Willie, Texas Jewboy and the Utopian
2010
President Barack Obama proclaimed the month of May as Jewish American Heritage
Month. Below is the full text of his proclamation.
In
1883, the Jewish American poet Emma Lazarus composed a sonnet, entitled “The
New Colossus,” to help raise funds for erecting the Statue of Liberty.
Twenty years later, a plaque was affixed to the completed statue, inscribed
with her words: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free….” These poignant words still speak to us today,
reminding us of our Nation’s promise as a beacon to all who are denied freedom
and opportunity in their native lands. Our Nation has always been both a haven
and a home for Jewish Americans. Countless Jewish immigrants have come to
our shores seeking better lives and opportunities, from those who arrived in
New Amsterdam long before America’s birth, to those of the past century who sought
refuge from the horrors of pogroms and the Holocaust. As they have
immeasurably enriched our national culture, Jewish Americans have also
maintained their own unique identity. During Jewish American Heritage
Month we celebrate this proud history and honor the invaluable contributions
Jewish Americans have made to our Nation.
The
Jewish American story is an essential chapter of the American narrative.
It is one of refuge from persecution; of commitment to service, faith,
democracy, and peace; and of tireless work to achieve success. As leaders
in every facet of American life—from athletics, entertainment, and the arts to
academia, business, government, and our Armed Forces—Jewish Americans have
shaped our Nation and helped steer the course of our history. We are a
stronger and more hopeful country because so many Jews from around the world
have made America their home.
Today,
Jewish Americans carry on their culture’s tradition of “tikkun olam”—or “to
repair the world”—through good deeds and service. As they honor and
maintain their ancient heritage, they set a positive example for all Americans
and continue to strengthen our Nation.
NOW,
THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by
virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim May 2010 as Jewish American Heritage
Month. I call upon all Americans to observe this month with appropriate
programs, activities, and ceremonies to celebrate the heritage and
contributions of Jewish Americans.
IN
WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of April, in
the year two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of
America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.
The Twist
…
President Obama has made a subtle, symbolic gesture that some would say
demonstrates uncommon sensitivity to the Jewish community. Thanks to the New
Jersey Jewish News for this story, which reports that President Obama removed
the standard phrase “in the year of our Lord” from a proclamation welcoming May
as Jewish Heritage Month. As the newspaper reports, previous similar
proclamations — by Obama, George Bush, and Bill Clinton — all included the
standard line affixed at the end, pegging the missive’s date to the birth of
Jesus Christ … Obama, in praising Jews for their unique contributions to
American culture, took the extra step of taking it out this time. This may not
sit well with “the our-country-is-a-Christian-nation crowd” and it may seem
like a small thing, but it shows a certain level of sensitivity if not outright
political courage. There are those who think that Jewish community should be
more outspoken in acknowledging this, and in voicing appreciation.”
2010:
The Los Angeles Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or
of special interest to Jewish readers including “If You Knew Suzy: ‘A Mother, A
Daughter, A Reporter’s Notebook’” by Katherine Rosman.
2010:
An exhibit sponsored by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research styled “One Foot
in America: The Jewish Emigrants of the Red Star Line and Eugeen Van Mieghem,”
is scheduled to come to a close today. The exhibit tells the story of the
Red Star shipping line, focusing on the lives of emigrants--the reasons they
fled, their arrival in Antwerp and their experience with the city's Jewish
community, their living conditions onboard the ships, and their hopes and
dreams, is scheduled to close at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
2011:
Today is reported to be the deadline for the Lincoln Square Synagogue to raise
an additional $3 million in pledges so that can receive $20 million from an
anonymous donor who has offered to give the money to this leading New York
Orthodox synagogue so that it can continue construction of its new building
which had been halted to due financial problems.
2011:
Beth Chaverim Reform Congregation is scheduled to present a Yom Ha'Shoah Music
Program featuring Brian Nedvin, tenor and Assistant Professor at Old Dominion
University who “will present a combination of lecture, images, and songs to
educate and remind us of our obligation to never forget those lost during the
Holocaust.”
2011:
Naomi Shilyansky is scheduled to be called to the Torah as a Bat Mitzvah at
Agudas Achim in Iowa City, IA.
2011(26th
of Nisan, 5771): Ben Masel, who campaigned for decades for the legalization of
marijuana, among other causes, died today in his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin
(As reported by the Eulogizer)
2012:
Deidre Berger is scheduled to take part in a Q&A following a screening
of “Jealous of the Birds,” a documentary about the 15,000 Holocaust survivors
who stayed in Germany, at the Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2012:
It was announced that Raviv Ullman had joined the cast of Alena Smith's new
Off-Broadway play “The Bad Guys.”
2012:
International Workshop on Holocaust Testimonies: Truth and Witness is scheduled
to begin at the Wiener Library in UK.
2012:
In Hawaii, "From Zion A Voice to the Nations” is scheduled to host a
coffee hour with former Governor Linda Lingle who is running for the U.S.
Senate.
2012(8th
of Iyar, 5772): Historian Benzion Netanyahu passed away today at the age of
102.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/world/middleeast/benzion-netanyahu-dies-at-102.html?hpw
2013:
“Steal a Pencil for Me” an opera that chronicles Jack and Ina Polak’s romance
as well as life in Westerbork and Begen-Belsen is scheduled to be performed at
the Jewish Theological Seminary.
2013:
The Historic Sixth & I Synagogue is scheduled to host its noon-time
“Food for Thought” with Rabbi Yosef Edelstein helping attendees “to digest”
Jewish ethics, Jewish mysticism and Jewish philosophy
2013(20th
of Iyar, 5773): Friends and family remembered Evyatar Borowsky as a joker, a
hardy settler, and a devoted husband and father Tuesday evening as they
gathered to bury the 31-year-old victim of a terror attack at a West Bank
junction earlier in the day.
2013:
An IAF aircraft on Gaza this morning assassinated a senior Salafist terror
activist who was reportedly behind an April 17 rocket attack on Eilat from the
Sinai
2013(20th
of Iyar, 5773): Eighty-seven year old French author Viviane Forrester passed
away today.
2013:
Three fires broke out in the Lachish region today, destroying an estimated
20,000 dunams.
2013:
Newly installed Pope Francis accepted an invitation from President Shimon Peres
to visit Israel, as the two leaders held their first meeting today.
2014(30th
of Nisan, 5774): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
2014:
The auction of “Spring in the Valley” by Joel J. Levitt came to an end today.
2014:
“Cardinal O’Connor’s Mother Was Convert From Judaism, Family Research Reveals”
published today.
2014:
The Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations voted today to deny
membership to “J Street.”
2014:
The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to a panel discussion entitled “New
Perspectives on Jewish Refuges and Migrants after World War II.”
2014:
Shaaray Tefila and J Street are scheduled to host an evening with IDF veterans
Oded Na’aman and Yoav Litvin.
2014:
“Disobedience: The Sousa” is scheduled to be shown at the JCC Rockland
International Jewish Film Festival.
2015(11th
of Iyar, 5775): Eighty-nine-year-old Anglo-Jewish composer Ronald Senator and
his 81 year old wife Miriam Brickman “died tonight from injuries sustained in a
three alarm house fire” in Yonkers, NY.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-composer-and-his-musician-wife-die-in-ny-house-fire/
2015:
“An Israeli-led rescue team pulled a Nepalese woman out of the rubble in the
capital Kathmandu today, five days after a massive earthquake leveled much of
the city, killing some 6,000 people.”
2015:
Seventy-three year old Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is scheduled to announce
that he will seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for President of the United
States.
2015:
“Dora,” a film about a young lady named Dora with Down syndrome is scheduled to
be shown at the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia.
2015:
Mike Hale described “Revolution of the Eye, a new exhibition opening at the
Jewish Museum.
2015:
The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is scheduled to host a
production of “The Last Cyclist” Karel Svenk’s play “written and rehearsed in
the Terezin Concentration Camp.”
2015:
In Atlanta, GA, the Breman Museum is scheduled to host “The Wildest Party of
the Year.”
2015:
The National Football League held its 2015 NFL Draft in the Auditorium Theatre
which had been designed by architect Dankmar Adler.
2015:
Yeshiva University Museum and the Center for Jewish History in cooperation with
the American Sephardi Federation are scheduled to sponsor “A Musical Journey
through Space” “hosted cellist Elad Kabilio and accompanied by clarinetist,
Avigail Malachi-Baev and vocalist, Inbal Sharret-Singer.
2016:
Israeli saxophonist and composer Eli Degibri is scheduled to perform at the
White House as a part of International Jazz Day, which will take place today.
2016:
“Israel’s opposition leader Isaac Herzog responded furiously today to the
ongoing row over anti-Semitism in Britain’s Labour Party, inviting its senior
officials to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem for a reminder
of the results of anti-Semitism.”
2016(22nd
of Nisan, 5776): Eighth Day of Pesach and Shabbat
2016(22nd
of Nisan, 5776): One hundred- and three-year-old historian Danial Aaron passed
a way today.
http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/162723
2016:
In Iowa City, Lubavitcher Rabbi Avrohom Blesofsky is scheduled to host Sedudat
Moshiach this evening.
2017:
The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays,
One Wondering Jew by Abigail Pogrebin and “The Man to Blame for Our Culture
of Fame” a retrospective on the role of Walter Winchell, the son of Russian
Jewish immigrants in creating the social and intellectual world in which we
live.
2017:
Samuel Kassow, Miriam Udel, Naomi Seidman and Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett are
scheduled to discuss “Growing Up Jewish.”
2017:
The Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines is scheduled to host a celebration
of Israel’s birthday “at Caspe Terrace with Israeli musical performers, the
Dayans.”
2017:
In Atlanta, the Breman Museum is scheduled to host the “retirement in honor of
Dr. Liliane Kshensky Baxter, the Director of the Weinberg Center for Holocaust
Education.”
2017:
The YIVO Institute is scheduled to host “Children’s Day.”
https://yivo.org/Childrens-Day=
2018: Two hundred twenty-ninth
anniversary of the inauguration of George Washington who in a letter to
the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island. proclaimed, "May the
children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and
enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants – while everyone shall sit in
safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him
afraid” making the Jewish
experience in America different from that in other western realms from the
outset.
2018(15th of Iyar, 5778): Eighty-one-year-old
Dr. Joel Kovel, the psychiatrist turned social activist passed away. (As reported by Sam Roberts)
2018: The Yeshiva University Museum and
American Sephardi Federation are scheduled to present “Hey, Wow! The Art of
Oded Halahmy” whose “work reflects the rich, complex history of the Jewish
heritage in Babylonia” featuring a “musical performance by Victoria Hanna.”
2018: The Streicker Center is scheduled
to host “Sisterhood of Pain, Sisterhood of Hope” featuring “four bereaved
Israeli and Palestinian mothers” each of whom has lost a child
2019: German photographer Luigi Toscano,
creator of “Lest We Forget” is scheduled to attend a screening of a documentary
about his project at the Goeth-Instituit in San Francisco this evening.
2019: “Golda’s Balcony, The Film” and
“Promise At Dawn” are scheduled to be shown on the last evening of the 16th
Annual International Jewish Film Festival in Rockland, NY
2019: The Knesset is scheduled to open a
new session today “with 49 new members.”
2019(25th of Nisan, 5779): Ninety-one-year-old
Sociliast Arthur “Art” Glik Kunkin, the Bronx born son of Irving and Bea Kunkin
and founder of the counterculture publication The Los Angeles Free Press passed away today. (As reported by Neil
Genzlinger)
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/08/obituaries/art-kunkin-dead.html
2019: As Jews bury their dead after the
second synagogue shooting in six months, all Americans mark the two hundred
thirtieth anniversary of the inauguration of George Washington who in a letter to the
Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island. proclaimed, "May the
children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and
enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants – while everyone shall sit in
safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him
afraid” making the Jewish
experience in America different from that in other western realms from the
outset.
2020: “Famed
scholars Deborah Lipstadt, the best-selling author of “Antisemitism: Then and
Now” whose success in taking Holocaust deniers to court was depicted in the
major motion picture “Denial” and Jonathan Sarna, award-winning author of the
seminal book “American Judaism,” are scheduled to take part in an important ADL
webinar on “Viruses and Violence: Addressing Antisemitism in the Shadow of
COVID-19.”
2020: The Combined Jewish Philanthropies
is scheduled to host a virtual pickling event from the comfort of your kitchen
during which “Jeff Yoskowitz, co-owner of Brooklyn-based The Gefilteria, will
lead us through a fun and interactive demonstration” where “we’ll learn how to make
sauerkraut and pickle a variety of vegetables using basic ingredients and
supplies” and hear Jeff discuss the art of pickling and its importance in
Jewish cuisine, history, and culture.”
2020: The Streicker Center is scheduled
to host Rabbi Artson and his virtual presentation on “Bad Stuff Happens – A
Talmudic Exploration.”
2020: Via Zoom, the Oxford University
Jewish Society is scheduled to “mark the start of virtual Trinity,” giving
everybody a chance to “catch up with their JSoc Friends.
2020: Live on Zoom, Donald Albrecht is
scheduled to host “Designing Home: Jews and Midcentury Modernism,” an
illustrated talk about Jewish contributions to America’s 20th-century domestic
landscape
2020: As of yesterday evening, Israel’s
death toll from COVID-19 had reached at least 215.
2021(18th of Iyar, 5781): Lag
B’Omer
2021: In Columbus, OH, Congregation
Tifereth Israel is scheduled to host Lag B’Omer picnic in its Parking Lot
followed by Mincha and Kabbalat Shabbat
2021:
Artist Julie Weitz is scheduled to discuss her avatar “My Golem,” a social
justice/environmental activist drawn from Jewish folklore, and her three-part
digital exhibit that intersects Jewish mythology, social justice and ecology
which is an in-person exhibit that runs through Dec. 5.
2021:
The Jewish Arts Collaborative is scheduled to present online “a special
celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut with Nir Caspi of Cafe Landwer!”
2021:
“A spring semester version of the L.E.V. Campus Fellowship for Jewish
college-age students living in the greater Cleveland area while studying
remotely or affiliated with Cleveland Hillel or Hillel at Kent State campuses”
is scheduled to begin today.
2021:
Fisherman in Gaza should be able to begin plying their trade again today
following yesterday’s announcement of the re-opening of the Gaza Strip’s
fishing zone which had been closed ‘”in response to rockets being fired from
Gaza earlier in the week.
2021:
Kan Kol Hamusika is scheduled to broadcast “Excellence,” Young Artists in
Concerts, featuring Maayan Gabel, on viola and Tail Haim Samnon and Noam Babany
on piano.
2022
(29th of Nisan, 5782): Parsashat Acharay Mot and Pirke Avot Chapter 1
2022:
At Temple Judea, in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Elysha Lippman is scheduled to be
called the Torah as a Bat Mitzvah
2022: At Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, IA, Leah Smith is scheduled to be
called to the Torah as a Bat Mitzvah
2022: As Israelis observe Shabbat, they brace for
another round of violence like the one yesterday where “hundreds of people
began waving Hamas flags, and hurling rocks and fireworks, including in the
direction of the Western Wall, where Jewish worshippers gather.”
2022: In New York, the Angelika Film Center is
scheduled to host a screening of
“Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen narrated by Jeff Goldblum following
by “Q&As with Director Daniel Raim
& actresses Neva Small and Rosalind Harris, moderated by Jan Lisa Huttner,
author of Diamond Fiddler: New Traditions for a New Millennium.”
2023: The Museum at Eldridge Street is scheduled
to present a virtual program “Jewish Life in Poland-Lithuania” during which “Zachary
Mazur, Senior Historian at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, will
discuss the key question of why Jews settled in Eastern Europe and what their
lives looked like there.”
2023: The New York Times features reviews
of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers
including All The Knowledge In The World: The Extraordinary History of the
Encyclopedia by Simon Garfield
2023: Zionism and American Jews is scheduled to
mark the State of Israel’s 75th birthday by gathering twenty internationally
recognized scholars at the Center for Jewish History to discuss the long
relationship between the American Jewish community and the Zionist movement.
2023: In Columbus, OH, the Tifereth Israel
Sisterhood is scheduled to host “an afternoon of shopping.”
2023: Dr. Ofri Ilany, a historian and journalist,
and editor-in-chief of Van Leer Jerusalem Institute's Hazman Hazeh magazine, is
scheduled to lecture on “Political Passions: Aesthetics and Eroticism in
Mandate Palestine and Jerusalem.”
2023: The Breman Museum is scheduled to host a
screening of the documentary “Wagner’s Jew” followed by panel discussion.
2023: The Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth
County announces the installation of its new exhibit for the spring of 2023,
The Eisner Family: From Stitching Military Uniforms to Stitching Together the
Red Bank Jewish Community which is scheduled to open today.
https://www.jhmomc.org/product-page/TheEisnerFamily
2024:
Lockdown University is scheduled to host a lecture by Trudy Gold on Death of a
Tyrant: The World of Adolf Hitler.
2024:
The Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum is scheduled to host
lectures by Mathew Berger, Arie M. Dubnov and Arno Rosenfeld on “Antisemitism in the
Aftermath of October 7.”
2024:
Lockdown University is scheduled to host a lecture by Dana Stroul on “U.S.
Policy in the Middle East.”
2024: “As part of the Genocidal Captivity
exhibition events series” The Wiener Holocaust Memorial Library is scheduled to
host “Exhibition Film Event, Part 2: Suzanne Khardalian, Grandma’s Tattoos.”
2024:
In Berkley, CA, Books, Inc is scheduled to present Michael J. Cooper discusses
his historical fiction book Wages of Empire set in 1914 that follows a
teen through the killing fields of the Western Front to Ottoman Palestine.
2024(22nd
of Nisan, 5784): The annual pilgrimages of weekly pilgrimages to the Tomb of
Joseph Saragossi are scheduled to begin today and last until the 18th
of Iyar.
2024:
As April 30th begins in Israel, an unprecedented wave of anti-Semitism sweeps
the United States and the Hamas held hostages begin
day 207 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(22nd of Nisan, 5784): Eighth Day of Pesach;
for more see https://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/
