This Day, December 13, In Jewish History by Mitchell A and Deb Levin Z"L
December 13
522 BCE: Darius I, the Persian monarch who allowed the Jewish people to
re-build the Temple at Jerusalem strengthened his hold on his kingdom when he
defeated Nebuchadnezzar III in a battle at the Tigris and that at the
Euphrates.
519 BCE: According
to some sources this is the day that, the foundations for the Second Temple were laid during the
second year of the reign the Persian ruler, Darius with the support of Haggai
and Zachariah. It would take four years to complete the project.
1124: End of the papacy
of Callixtus II who issued an updated version of Sicut Judaeis, the papal bull
that reiterated the need for protecting the Jews of Europe “in the wake of the
persecutions of the First Crusade”
1250: Frederick II
passed away. During his reign as Holy
Roman Emperor Frederick created a secular government in Palermo, feat without
parallel in the Middle Ages, with a written constitution that guaranteed the
rights of his subjects, be they Christian, Arab, or Jew, and the religious
freedom that went along with it.” When he founded the University of Naples in
1224, “he took care that its faculty included Christians, Muslims and Jews, and
that all of these languages were taught, together with the laws and literature
of these cultures. Equally remarkable considering the times was Frederick's
edict ordering religious toleration for Christians, Muslims and Jews throughout
his realm.” During the Sixth Crusade, he dealt with the issues through
negotiations and not military action.
His rule of Jerusalem was marked by a period of “religious toleration
for Muslims, Christians and Jews.”
1360: “Emperor Karl IV
confirmed the right of the Austrian dukes to keep Jews in all places in their
dominion, and made a treaty with the dukes of Austria, in his capacity as king
of Bohemia, that neither party would allow Jews who had left their country to
settle in that of the other.”
1495: The reign of
Manuel I the Portuguese monarch who released all the Jews imprisoned by his
predecessor John II came to an end today.
1521:
Fifty-two-year-old Manuel I the Portuguese monarch who released all the Jews
imprisoned by his predecessor John II and during whose reign Levi ibn Habib,
also known as HaRaLBaCh, was “compelled to submit to Baptism” passed away
today.
1521: King John III
succeeded his father as King of Portugal.
Like his predecessors, John III maintained the ban on Jews living in his
kingdom and persecuted conversos and Marranos alike. The only time he wavered in this policy came
in 1525 when he was negotiating with David Reubeni, the Jewish adventurer who
was seeking a fleet and an army from the monarch so he could fight Selim I.
1521: Manuel I, the
Portuguese monarch who “decreed that all Jews had to convert to Christianity or
leave the country without their children passed away. In 1496, he “exiled
thousands of Jews to São Tomé, Príncipe, and Cape Verde.”
1521: Birthdate of
Sixtus VI, who from the point of the Jews, was one of the better Popes. He issued a bull that lifted the restrictions
his predecessors had placed on the Jews.
He gave them permission to live in all of the cities in the Papal
States. He ordered the Knights of Malta to stop enslaving Jews traveling by sea
to and from the Middle East. He allowed
Jews physicians to treat Christian patents and made provision for new printing
of the Talmud.
1532(Tevet, 5293): Solomon Molcho, ("Solomon His
Angel"), originally Diogo Pires,
passed away. He was a "New
Christian" who converted back to Judaism, declared himself the Messiah,
and was burned at the stake for apostasy. Molcho was born a Christian to
Marrano parents in Portugal about 1500. His baptismal name probably was Diogo
Pires. He held the post of secretary in one of the higher courts of his native
country. When the Jewish adventurer David Reubeni came ostensibly on a
political mission from Khaibar (Peshawar) to Portugal, Molcho wished to join
him, but was rejected. He then circumcised himself, though without thereby
gaining Reubeni's favor, and emigrated to Turkey. Intellectually talented, a
visionary and believer in dreams, he studied the Kabbalah with Joseph Taytazak
and became acquainted with Joseph Caro. He then wandered, as a preacher,
through the Land of Israel (then a province of the Ottoman Empire), where he
achieved a great reputation and announced that the Messianic kingdom would come
in 1540. In 1529 Molcho published a portion of his sermons under the title Derashot, or Sefer ha-Mefo'ar. Going to Italy,
he was opposed by prominent Jews including Jacob Mantino ben Samuel who feared
that he might mislead their co-religionists, but he succeeded in gaining the
favor of Pope Clement
1545: The Council of
Trent which produced The Tirdentine Mass begins. The Tridentine Mass, a Latin
ritual the rubrics of which were set by the Council of Trent in the 16th
century. The mass reflected the traditional Christian goal of converting Jews
to Jesus including “praying on Good Friday that God "lift the veil"
from "Jewish blindness.” This
changed at the time of Vatican II, with the declaration "Nostra
Aetate," which condemned the idea that Jews could be blamed for the murder
of Jesus, and affirmed the permanence of God's Covenant with Israel. The
"replacement" theology by which the church was understood as
"superseding" Judaism was no more. Corollary to this was a rejection
of the traditional this version of the Mass would be discontinued as the
Catholic Church affirmed a more positive view of Judaism and the Jewish people.
The Vatican would reintroduce the Tridentine Mass in 2008 with Catholics
praying that God "enlighten" the hearts of Jews "so that they
recognize Jesus Christ, Savior of all mankind."
1585(Kislev, 5346):
Eliezer (Lazer) ben Elijah Ashkenazi who first became a rabbi in Egypt before
making his way to Europe via Cyprus where he led congregations in Cremona and
Posen before moving to Cracow where he passed away today.
1619: “Under the rule
of Prince Maurice of Orange, it was decided that each city could decide for
itself whether or not to admit Jews. In consequence, the position of Jews
differed greatly between cities In those towns where they were admitted, they
would not be required to wear a badge of any sort identifying them as Jews.”
(As reported by The History of the Jewish People)
1642: A Dutch explored
named Abel Janszoon Tasman reached New Zealand. Jews would not reach New
Zealand until the 1830’s when it was under British control.
1748(22nd
of Kislev 5509): Mozes Marcus Mordechai Drukker passed away in Amsterdam and
was buried in the Muiderberg Cemetery.
1750:
“Robin Hood,” a work by Anglo-Jewish dramatist Moses Mendes was produced today
at Drury Lane in London.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10672-mendes-mendez-moses
1754;
Mahmud I, Ottoman Sultan passed away. During his reign, two Jewish doctors,
Isaac Tchelebi and Hekim Joseph were appointed to serve at his palace. In 1739,
Mahmud signed the Treaty of Belgrade that gave citizenship rights to the
Ottoman Jews. Austrian Jews were so impressed with the grant of rights that
many of them applied for citizenship in Mahmud’s empire.
1756:
Birthdate of Muehlbach native Loeb Jacob Fleischer, the husband of Hindel
Seligmann and the father of David Loeb Fleischer.
1762(27th
of Kislev, 5523): Third Day of Chanukah
1762:
In German Juettle and Jakob Weil gave birth to Frommet Weil, the wife of David
Hirsch Lindauer and the mother of Jakob, Bessie and Mayer Lindauer.
1765(1st
of Tevet, 5526): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of Chanukah
1769: Dartmouth College
founded by the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock.
Today Dartmouth has approximately 450 Jewish students out of an
undergrad population of over four thousand students. There are approximately 100 Jewish students
among its 1,300 grad students. Dartmouth
offers ten courses in Jewish studies. Dartmouth also has a special Hebrew
Studies semester transfer credit arrangement with the Hebrew University and
with Oxford University.
1770(26th of
Kislev, 5531): Second Day of Chanukah
1770: As Jews prepared
to kindle the third light of Chanukah, in Boston, the four civilians accused of
killing Americans during the Boston Massacre were tried today and later found
not guilty.
1773(28th of
Kislev, 5534): Fourth Day of Chanukah
1773: As Jews prepare
to kindle the fifth Chanukah candle, Americans are making plans for the “Boston
Tea Party” which will take place in three days.
1774(10th of
Tevet, 5535): Asar B’Tevet
1774: As Jews fasted on
the 10th of Tevet, Paul Revere rode to Portsmouth, NH to warn the
patriots that the British were coming which led to the Colonials seizing Fort
William and Mary the next day and distributing its military supplies among
various units of what would become the Minute Men who faced the British the
following year to start the American Revolution.
1775: In Buchau, Helena
Neuburger and Heinrich Maendle gave birth to Rosalie Maendle.
1776(3rd of
Tevet, 5537): In London on a day of national fasting proclaimed by King George
III the Portuguese and Spanish Congregation offered a special prayer in they
“implored forgiveness for our sins” and asked for “divine assistance” to help
our forces on sea and land to “restore peace and prosperity to these kingdoms”
followed by a sermon given by Moshe Cohen d’Azevdeo.
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2213-azevedo-moses-cohen-d
1778(24th of
Kislev, 5539): In the evening, kindle the first Chanukah candle.
1778: On the same day
that Jews prepared to celebrate Chanukah, with the Revolution entering into its
fourth year Abigail Adams wrote her husband John, a future President of the
United States, that “this year has not been a very glorious one to America” but
that “our Enemies however have nothing to boast of since they have not gained
one inch of territory more than they possessed a year ago.”
1781: In Bohemia,
Gabriel Porges and his wife gave birth to Austrian manufacturer Moses Porges
the brother of Leopold Porges upon whom the emperor Ferdinand conferred the
patent of hereditary nobility with the title "von Portheim," in
recognition of the fact that they were the first cotton-manufacturers to employ
steam in their works .
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12287-porges-von-portheim
1779(4th of
Tevet, 5540): Zipporah bat. Menahem, wife of Issachar ben Abraham 'from the
Holy Congregation of Edinburgh' passed away today.
1789(25th of
Kislev, 5550): Channukah celebrated for the firs time during the presidency of
George Washington, author of the famous welcoming letter to the Jews of
Newport.
1791: Esther Lucka and
Benjamin Wolf Bondi gave birth to Elias Bondi, the husband of Caroline
Lichtenstadt.
1795(1st of
Tevet, 5556): Seventh Day of Channukah; Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1797: In Dusseldorf,
Peira (known as "Betty"), née van Geldern and Samson Heine, a textile
merchant gave birth to the first child author and poet Heinrich Heine. The
German author converted in 1825. Heine said,
“The baptismal certificate is an admission ticket to European culture.” Unfortunately for Heine, things did not
work. Christians saw him as an
opportunist. Jews saw him as a turncoat
and in the end, he supposedly regretted his decision. “It is extremely difficult for a Jew to be
converted, for how can he bring himself to believe in the divinity of another
Jew?” “Experience is a good school, but
the fees are high.” “The Jews trudged
around with the Bible all through the Middle Ages, as with a portable
fatherland.” And in words that almost
seem to foretell the coming of the Nazis he wrote, “Where men burn books, they
will also burn people.”
1797: In the first
attempt to remove the qualification that office holder’s in Maryland had to be
Christians, a petition signed by Solomon Etting, Bernard Gratz, and others was
presented to the General Assembly at Annapolis; the petitioners averred "that
they are a sect of people called Jews, and thereby deprived of many of the
valuable rights of citizenship, and pray to be placed upon the same footing
with other good citizens." The petition was read and referred to a
committee of three persons, who upon the same day reported that they "have
taken the same into consideration and conceive the prayer of the petition is
reasonable, but as it involves a constitutional question of considerable
importance they submit to the House the propriety of taking the same into
consideration at this advanced stage of the session." This summary
disposition of the petition put a quietus upon further agitation for the next
five years. (As reported by Cyrus Adler and J. H. Hollander)
1800(26th of
Kislev, 5561): 2nd day of Chanukah; Shabbat; kindle three candles in
the evening
1800(26th of
Kislev, 5561): Saul ben Meir Margolith who was a rabbi at Zbaraz, Galicia,
Komorn, and Lublin and was the father of Zebi Hirsch, passed away at Lublin
today.
1802: Robert Ward
Plummer the London born son John Ward and his wife Rebecca Raphael, a member of
“a Sephardic Jewish family from Genoa and political ally of Prime Minister
William Pitt spoke in the House of Commons, in favor Henry Addington, the Tory
serving as Prime Minister.
1803(28th of
Kislev, 5564): Fourth day of Chanukah observed as Lewis and Clark staring
building their winter camp at Wood River, Il, “opposite the mouth of the
Missouri River.
1807: Birthdate of Levi
Bodenheimer, the native of Karlsruhe who served as a rabbi at Krefeld and
Hildesheim.
1807: Birthdate of
Charleston, SC, native Philip Philipps who opposed nullification while
practicing law in his home town, moved to Alabama where practiced law and
served as a member of the U.S. House Representatives before finally settling in
Washington, D.C. where he resumed his practice of law.
1807:
Thirty-four-year-old Joseph Philipson, opened his general merchandising store
and permanently settled in St. Louis. Joseph was reportedly the first Jew to
settle in St. Louis, He was the first Jewish merchant to settle in St. Louis
and the first American merchant to establish a permanent store in St. Louis. In
1808, Joseph's brother Jacob arrived in St. Louis and established his own
store. Their remaining brother Simon remained in Philadelphia, traveling
occasionally to St. Louis. Until 1816 the Philipsons were the only Jews known
to live in St. Louis. Jacob died about 1858, buried in the City Cemetery.
1808(24th of
Kislev, 5569): Kindle the first Chanukah Candle on the same day Michael Leib was elected by the Pennsylvania
General Assembly to the United States Senate.
1813:
Birthdate of David Spangler Kaufman.
Kaufman was the first Jewish Congressman from Texas. He died in
1851. Kaufman County, Texas and the city
of Kaufman, Texas are named for him.
1815:
In New York City, Sarah Seixas and Isaac Mendes Seixas Nathan gave birth to
Rachel Seixas Nathan who married Montague M. Hendrick in NYC in 1836 and with
whom she had nine children.
1815:
Birthdate of Arthur Stanley, the Dean of Westminster who wrote “Lectures On The
History of the Jewish Church”.
https://archive.org/stream/lecturesonhistor02stan#page/n7/mode/2up
http://archive.org/details/lecturesonhistor02stan
1816:
In Gehaus, Germany, Jacob Mandelbaum and Bella Epstein gave birth to their
third child, David Mandelbaum.
1819(25th
of Kislev, 5580): As the Unites States endures its first peacetime major
economic and financial crisis, known as the Panic of 1819, Chanukah is
observed.
1820:
Michael Moses married Julia Davis today at the Great Synagogue.
1821:
In Tomaszów Lubelski, Kingdom of Poland, Simchah Pinsker, a Hebrew language
writer, scholar and teacher and his wife gave to Leon Pinsker, a physician by
training and a “lover of Zion” best known for writing “Auto-Emancipation.”
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Zionism/pinsker.html
http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Pinsker_Simhah_and_Lev
https://streetsofisrael.wordpress.com/2014/10/01/8-things-you-need-to-know-about-leon-pinsker/
1822(29th
of Kislev,5583): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1827(24th
of Kislev, 5588) Kindle the first Chanukah candle.
1831:
In Jamaica, Aaron Gomes DaCosta was named to be an Ensign.
1845:
In Sulzburg, Samuel and Hina Henritte Kahn gave birth to Rosa Kahn who after
her marriage became Rosa Hirschel.
1847:
The Portuguese congregation of New Orleans held its first annual meeting.
1850:
In German, Leopold Solomon and Fanny Weil Bernheim gave birth to Bernard
Bernheim, the husband of Rosalie Bernheim and Louisville Kentucky distiller who
at the time of his death “was reputed to be one of the wealthiest men below the
Mason-Dixie Line and who was a relative, by marriage of Barney Dreyfus, the
owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
1852:
Birthdate of Moravian native Emanuel Schriber, the Hungarian and German
educated Rabbi who filled several pulpits in the United States including one in
Little Rock Arkansas from 1889 to 1891 before finally settling in at
Congregation Emanu-El in Chicago
1855:
During the thirty-fourth session of the United States Congress, a special act
was passed, which provided that “all
the rights, privileges, and immunities heretofore granted by the law to the
Christian churches in the city of Washington be and the same hereby are
extended to the Hebrew Congregation of said city.”
1856: In Albany, NY, Simon Hessberg and Hannah
Westheimer gave birth to Albert Hessberg, the husband of Frederika Cohen who
became a partner in the law firm of Peckham, Rosendale and Hessberg and who
served as president of the Albany Jewish Society as well as Recorder of Albany
for two terms and President of the Gideon Lodge of the Independent Order of
B’nai B’rith.
1856: In New South Wales Edward Salamon and
Henritta Levien gave birth to John Benson, their youngest child who died before
his third birthday.
1856: Birthdate of Abbott Lawrence Lowell, who
served as President of Harvard from 1909 to 1933. Thanks to reforms Lowell made
in the admission policies where merit was the driving factor, Jewish enrollment
rose from 6% in 1908 to 22% in 1922.
Lowell had not intended for his reforms to bring this many Jews to his
university and he worked vigorously and successfully to institutionalize other
criteria that drove down the Jews representation to the point that when he left
in 1933 Jews made up less than 10% of the undergraduate student body. Lowell also was an outspoken critic of
Wilson’s decision to nominate Louis Brandeis to the Supreme Court. Like so many of his ilk, Lowell did not limit
his bigotry to Jews – he had no use for African-Americans or homosexuals
either.
1857(26th of Kislev, 5618): Second Day
of Chanukah
1857: In Berlin, Paul Alexander Franz* von
Mendelssohn and Marie Antoinette Enole Mendelssohn gave birth to Robert Georg
Alexander von Mendelssohn,
1860(29th Kislev, 5621): Fifth Day of
Chanukah
1860: The
New York Times reported that “A private letter
from Jerusalem states that an American Jew at New Orleans has bequeathed
£10,000 for the building and endowment of almshouses for infirm and destitute
Israelites in the Holy City. An agent had already arrived to carry out the
bequest, and the houses intended to be used for the purpose mentioned are
expected to be ready for occupation before the expiration of the coming
winter.”
1861(10th of Tevet) Asara B’Tevet
1862: During the Civil War, the Army of the Potomac
suffered one of its worst defeats at the Battle of Fredericksburg where they
were commanded Ambrose Burnside. Company C of the 82nd Illinois
Volunteer Infantry Regiment which had been formed by a group of Jewish
volunteer soldiers under the name of the Concordia Guards was one of the units
engaged in the battle. The regiment would be commanded by Colonel Edward S.
Salomon, a Jewish immigrant from Germany, who may have been Chicago’s first
Jewish lawyer and was the alderman for the Sixth Ward when the war broke out.
Among other Jews serving during the battle was Jacob Ezekiel Hyneman, a native
of Richmond, who was a solider with the Union Army and was wounded at
Fredericksburg.
1862: Nineteen-year-old Richmond born
Jacob Ezekiel Hyneman, the resident of Philadelphia who had been serving with
Company G of the 119th Regiment was wounded today during the Battle
of Fredericksburg.
1862(21st
of Kislev, 5623): Parashat Vayeshev
1862(21st
of Kislev, 5623): Philadelphia Joseph A. Davidson of Company I, the 134th
Regiment was among those killed today during the Battle of Fredericksburg while
fighting to preserve the Union.
1863(3rd
of Tevet, 5624): Eighth Day of Chanukah
1865(25th
of Kislev, 5626): Chanukah is celebrated for the first time in four years
without the sound of cannons and the hollering of the wounded and dying.
1866: Birthdate of Philadelphia native Olga Simon,
the wife of Solomon Grinsfelder with whom she had two children – Joseph and
Flora Grinsfelder.
1866: Mesoda and Abraham Aloof gave birth to Simony
“Simha” Aloof , the “sister of Judah and Grace Aloof.”
1869: In Lida, Russia, Bernard and Aida Pollock
gave birth to David B. Pollock the “editor and manager of Zion Messenger, the
official organ of the Knights of Zion” in Chicago, Illinois, who organized the
Junior Knights of Zion Military Band of Jewish Boys to provide “a musical
education for Jewish children without means.
1871(1st of Tevet, 5632): Sixth Day of
Chanukah; Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1872: In Kalamazoo, MI, Bertha Schuster and
Bernhard L. Desenberg gave birth to University of Michigan graduate Alma D.
Cowen, the wife of Israel Cowen and resident of Chicago who was active in
numerous Jewish organizations including the National Council of Jewish Women,
the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods and the Chicago Council of Jewish
Women.
1873: It was reported today that most of the Jews
of Paris attended the funeral of French banker and philanthropist Louis Raphael
Bischoffsheim which was held last month.
The large filled the synagogue and then followed the coffin to the
cemetery. A native of Germany, this highly successful financier founded schools
for Jewish children, established hospitals and asylums for the general
population and supported soup kitchens every winter.
1874: Birthdate of Joseph Arkadievich Levin, the
Russian pianist who gained fame as Josef Lhévinne, a name given to him by his
manager.
1876(27th of Kislev, 5637): Third Day of
Chanukah celebrated for the last time during the Presidency of U.S. Grant, a
close friend of Jesse Seligman.
1877: In Louisiana, Ferdinand and Lizzie Sicher
Fishell gave birth to Mami Fishell.
1877: In “Chernihiv, Ukraine, Chana and Naphthalia
Hertz Shiplacoff gave birth to Abraham I. Shiplacoff, the husband of “Yetta
Ettle Itta ‘Henrietta’ Shiplacoff who moved to the United States where he
became a labor leader and the first Socialist to be elected to the New York
State Assembly.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F40814FF3C5812738DDDA10894DA405B848FF1D3
1880:
A charter was granted today marking formally incorporation of Hebrew Union
Congregation in Greenville, MS.
Twenty-five to thirty families had been acting as a congregation since
1870 going so far as to hire a Charles Rawitzer of Memphis as their Rabbi. HUC built their first temple in 1881 and
hired Joseph Bogen as their Rabbi. In 1962 H.U.C. was the largest Jewish
congregation in the state of Mississippi with almost 200 families. At last
report, the Temple is home to about 50 Jewish families in the area.
1881:
A Pogrom begins in Warsaw that leaves approximately 1,500 Jewish homes, shops
and synagogues in ruins.
1882(3rd
of Tevet, 5643): Eighth Day of Chanukah
1882:
Jacques Damala left for North Africa today after his wife, Sarah Bernhardt told
him she would no longer support his dissolute life-style. He left her to pay
off his debts that arose from, among other things, gambling and drugs.
1885(5th
of Tevet, 5646): Sixty-eight-year-old “Russian Talmudist” and author Mathias
Strashun who “spent a great part of his considerable fortune in collecting a
magnificent library” and whose “house became a rendezvous for scholars and
students from all parts of Europe” passed away today.
https://yivo.org/Strashun-Conference
1885:
Birthdate of Romanian born University of Michigan Professor of Economics Max
Handman who had earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Oregon and
Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1917 after which served as a professor of
sociology and economics at several universities including Texas and Minnesota
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1939/12/27/113375993.pdf
1885:
It was reported today that the funeral of Wolfgang Strassmann, a member of a
prominent Jewish family who was the President of the Municipal Council in
Berlin “was made the occasion of a demonstration against Jew-baiters.” Thirty
thousand people attended the funeral and the Emperor sent two wreaths. (The
Emperor would seem to be somewhat conflicted since one of his court chaplains
was a leader of the anti-Semitic forces)
1885:
The New York Times published a review
of The Rabbi’s Spell: A Russo-Jewish Romance by Stuart C. Cumberland
http://tomruffles.blogspot.com/2011/11/rabbis-spell-russo-jewish-romance.html
1886:
As police are arresting merchants selling goods on Sunday in violation of the
Sunday Closing Laws, the question is asked how can a Jewish peddler “arrested
on the Sabbath” who pleads that he has kept the previous day holy, be punished
under a law that allows a businessman “to select the one day out seven on which
to abstain from business.”
1887(27th
of Kislev, 5648): Third Day of Chanukah celebrated on the same that in
Tennessee, Mary and William York gave birth to Alvin York, who gained fame as
WW I Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Alvin York
1888: Telemachus
(Telemaque) Thomas Timayenis, the author of The Original Mr. Jacobs: A
Startling Exposé, was charged with grand larceny by Mrs. Emma Dickson his
partner in the Minerva Publishing Company. (Timayenis denied reports that he
was Jewish and his books were decidedly anti-Semitic in nature.
1889:
It was reported today that the B’nai B’rith has taken a leading role in the
education fair currently taking place at the American Institute Building in New
York City.
1889:
In Lithuania, Zelda Levine and Samuel Rosengarten gave birth to CCNY graduate
and Columbia University alum Isaac Rosengarten, the English teacher, co-founder
of the Young Judea Movement and for 44 years, “the editor of the Jewish Forum.”
https://www.jta.org/archive/isaac-rosengarten-editor-of-jewish-forum-dies-in-new-york
1889:
Moritz Ellinger, editor of the Hebrew
Standard delivered a lecture entitled “A New Departure” in New York City
1890:
The “juvenile orchestra” of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum is scheduled to perform at
the Teachers’ Fair today.
1890:
Rabbi Jacob Joseph delivered a sermon at the Beth Hamedrasch Hagol, an Orthodox
synagogue on Norfolk, in which he
addressed “the persecution of the Russian Jews and said that necessary steps
should be taken to urge the United States Government to use its influence with
the Czar for the cessation of the persecution.
1890:
Rabbi Kaufman Kohler, a leading Reform rabbi, delivered a sermon at Temple Beth
EL, in which he said “that Jews had proved that they were the equals of the
highest races of the age in all countries except Russia where they had been
subjected to the greatest hardships.”
1891:
Jacob Rubino, a New York Life Insurance policy holder, filed suit again a
trustee of New York Life who is also a member of the Finance Committee seeking
the return of “exorbitant commissions.”
1891:
Birthdate of Siwalki Poland native and violin prodigy Samuel Dushkin, who
toured Russia at the age of nine, came to the U.S. at the age of ten, enlisted
in the British Army at the start of WWI before transferring to the AEF “with a
special assignment from General Pershing” before finally making his U.S. “debut
as a soloist with the New York Symphony Orchestra under Walter Damrosch.”
1892(24th
of Kislev, 5653): Kindle the first Chanukah Candle
1892:
In Duluth, MN, founding of Congregation Tifereth Israel whose members included
Jacob Levine, Joseph Oreckovsky, Henry Caploiv, William Goldstein and Isidra
Lieberman.
1892:
Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Straus and Mr. and Mrs. Edward Lauterbach and their daughter
were among those who attended a meeting of the Nineteenth Century Club where
they listened to a lecture on “The Significance of the New-England
Transformation.
1893:
In Vienna, Jacob and Hannah Greenberg gave birth to their sixth child “poet and
artist” Samuel Bernard Greenberg, a student of P.S. 160 on the Lower East Side
who “died of tuberculosis in the Manhattan State Hospital and whose “fullest
collection of poems is Poems by Samuel Greenberg published in 1947.
https://logopoeia.com/greenberg/index.html
1893(4th
of Tevet, 5654): Raphael Dreyfus, the father of Alfred Dreyfus passed away
today.
1893:
Justice Ryan of the Essex Market Police court committed “three destitute little
children” ranging in age from 7 to 2 to the Hebrew Children’s Guardian Society
because their mother Sarah Polskie could not care for them.
1894:
The Hebrew Orphan Asylum of Brooklyn won a competition among all the orphanages
in Brooklyn and New York sponsored by the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany of
Brooklyn by 700 votes which means it will receive “100 dressed dolls and other
toys.”
1894:
This evening members of the University Settlement Society heard the report of
Helen Moore, the librarian at Guild House in which she noted that the young
Jewish readers show “discrimination” “always wanted the best literature. They always have the library’s 83 histories
of the United States checked out but they “show a passion for stories
about…patriotism and fairy tales. (The purpose of the society is “to being men
and women of education into closer relation with the laboring classes so that
they might meet on a common ground for education purpose.”)
1895:
In Chicago, “three drunken poles” attacked Abraham Mar, a Jewish vegetable
peddler, and hung him three times with a clothes line, threatening him each
time with death unless “he prayed according to the Christian fashion.”
1895(26th
of Kislev, 5656): Second Day of Chanukah; in the evening kindle three candles.
1895:
In Lithuania, Zelotta Schmuelson and Levid Landesman gave birth to Western
Reserve University and Columbia University graduate Alter F. Landesman, the JTS
ordained Rabbi who began his professional career as Superintendent of the
Hebrew Educational Society in Brooklyn, NY.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/landesman-alter
1895:
Two days after she had passed away, Sarah Davis, the wife of David Marcus Davis
and the father of Alice and Ernest Davis was buried today at the “Balls Pond
Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1895:
Today’s session of the Educational Fair sponsored by the Jewish community
opened at 2:30 this afternoon and closed at 5 p.m. because this evening is the
start of the Sabbath. Although it was
only open for 2 and one-half hours, the fair was so well attended that the
total receipts for the fair has now risen to over one hundred thousand dollars.
1895:
It was reported that during this past month the average attendance in the
industrial school supported by the United Hebrew Charities was 238 girls who
produced 175 garments while learning sewing and dressmaking.
1896: Four days after he had passed away, Elias
Mocatta, who was married twice, first to Augusta Goldsmid and then to Rachel
Goldsmid was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1898: Privates James W. Rosenberger and Taylor H.
Rosenberger of Winchester were among the members of Company who were mustered
out of U.S. Service after having served with the 2nd Virginia
Volunteer since May of 1898.
1899: Birthdate of publisher Harold Guinzburg
founder of Literary Guild and head of Viking Press.
1899(11th
of Tevet, 5660): “Commerzienrath Julius Isaac” passed away today at Berlin.
1899:
Thirteen-year-old Michalina Araten was kidnapped and taken to convent in Cracow
where she was raised as a Catholic
https://www.amazon.com/Michalina-Daughter-Rachel-Sarna-Araten/dp/0873064127
https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/oral-histories/excerpts/woh-ex-0003556/woh-ex-0003556
1900:
In Ograda, Romania, Victor Perlea and Margarethe Haberlin gave birth to
conductor Jonel Perlea who spent part of WW II at the Mariapfarr Concentration
Camp.
http://www.soundfountain.org/rem/remperlea.html
1900:
Birthdate of New York native and composer Arthur Herzog, Jr. who collaborated
with the legendary Billie Holiday on several songs including “God Bless the
Child and was the father of author Arthur Herzog III and grandfather of
playwright Amy Herzog.
1900:
Birthdate of Budapest native László Radványi whose escape from Nazi Europe led
to his becoming a labor activist and university professor in Mexico.
1900:
The French General Assembly passed an amnesty law from which Alfred Dreyfus was
exempted.
1901(3rd
of Tevet, 5661): Eighth Day of Chanukah
1901:
An “appeal by the defendant Joseph Sonberg from a judgment of the Supreme Court
in favor of the plaintiff was entered in the office of the clerk of the county
of New York” today.
1902(13th
of Kislev, 5663): Parashat Vayishlach
1902:
“A Mission Wanting Power” published today which provides a review of A Century
of Jewish Missions by A.F. Thompson, contains the insight that there “are so
many way in which the money spent on conversion of the Jews could be more
advantageously spent since only 204,540 Jews have been converted to
Christianity in the last one hundred years.
1903(24th
of Kislev, 5664): In the evening, kindle the first light of Chanukah
1903:
At today’s meeting of the United Zionists of Greater New York a resolution was
adopted that expressed opposition to trying to establish a Zionist colony in
Uganda. The 250 delegates expressed
their dissatisfaction with Israel Zangwill and expressed their support that the
Zionist dream could only be fulfilled in Palestine
1903: Isidor Strauss read the eleventh annual
report at tonight’s meeting of the Educational Alliance. Andrew Carnegie attended the meeting and
engaged in light-hearted banter with Strauss, who is the President of Alliance.
1903:
In New York, the B’nai Zion is holding its “annual ball in Tammany Hall.
1903:
Four hundred guests attended the Carmel Chanukah dinner tonight which sponsored
by the Carmel Wine Company. The sponsors
of the dinner were trying to develop support for the Jews who are working to
establish agricultural settlements in Palestine. Professor Richard Gottheil and Cyrus L
Sulzberger were among the speakers at the event.
1904: “Oscar S.
Straus, President of Trade and Transportation, received telegram today from
Secretary Metcalf of the Department of Commerce and Labor announcing that he
would grant a hearing to a committee of the board on the new steamboat
inspection regulations.
1905: “Russian City
Burning: Jews Being Massacred” published today described the attacks on the
Jews of Odessa and Elzabethgrad.
1905: In London,
“The Times, this morning published a long letter signed by Israel Zangwill, the
President of the Jewish Territorial Organization and other officials of the
organization in which they reply to the recent letter of Lord Rothschild and
others relating to Jewish colonization.”
1905: It was
reported from St. Petersburg that “the League of Leagues has passed a
resolution demand equal rights for the Jews.”
1905: It was
reported today that William Ellis Corey, President of the United States Steel
Corporation “has already given
$20,000 to the persecuted Jews of Russia” but plans on donating an additional
$100,000 to the Jewish Relief Fund.
1905: It was
reported today that the Pope has described as “excesses, unworthy of a
civilized people” the “massacres of Jews which are condemned and detested by
evangelical law.”
1906(26th
of Kislev, 5667): Second Day of Chanukah
1906: “To Send More
Jews” published today, described a meeting in Chicago between Judge Julian W.
Mack and Jacob Schiff during which Schiff discussed his plan to organize a
association financed by him and others that would provide all “all poor Jews wo
arrive at New York and other Atlantic ports to go to cities and town in the
South and West” where they might avoid the congestion conditions in the Jewish
quarters of those cities.
1907: The Council of
Jewish Institutions which was formed last night at meeting of the delegates
from the Hebrew charitable and education institutions in New York City is
scheduled to meet this afternoon for the first time where officers will be
elected for the first year of its existence.
1908:
In Austria, Gershom Bader, the son of Izaak Moyzesz Bader and Helene Bader and
Etta (Joanna) Bader) gave birth to Milton Bader
1908:
Birthdate of Berlin native Wolfgang Reinhardt who was “nominated for an Academy
Award for Original Screenplay in 1962 for the film Freud.”
1909(1st
of Tevet, 5670): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of Chanukah
1909(1st
of Tevet, 5670): Thirty-nine-year-old Ezra Hurwitz, the Lithuanian born son of
Nachum and Freida Leah Hurwitz and the husband of Bertha Hurwitz passed away
today in New York City.
1910:
Four days after she had passed away, “Rachel Mocatta” the daughter of Alexander
Goldsmid and Eliza Israel and the wife of Elia Mocatta with whom she had one
child – Percy Mocatta – was buried to at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1910:
Birthdate of Sol Saks, who is most famous for writing the first episode of the
highly popular sitcom “Bewitched.” (As reported by Margalit Fox)
1910:
According to a cable from St. Petersburg printed in today’s NYT, the Czar has
granted permission “to Jewish merchants of the First Guild to reside in
Moscow.”
1910:
In Boston, Katie Silverman and Arthur Rutstein gave birth to Lillian Rutstein
who gained fame as the actress and singer Lillian Roth, who would convert to
Catholicism in 1948 although “she later said she could really forget her Jewish
heritage.
1911:
A mass meeting held tonight in the Assembly Chambers under the Chairmanship of
Gov. Dix, recorded its protest against the Russian Government's refusal to
honor passports held by American Jews.”
1912(3rd
of Tevet, 5673): “Mrs. Minna Glaser, the wife of the late Julius Glaser of New
York City” with whom she had three children was interred today Washington
Cemetery following her funeral.
1913(14th
of Kislev, 5674): Abraham J. Laredo a prominent Gibraltar merchant passed away.
1914(25th
of Kislev, 5675): Chanukah
1914:
Birthdate of Larry Park, the native of Joliet, Illinois who starred in the film
biography of Al Jolson before falling victim to the Hollywood Blacklist.
1915:
Birthdate of Vilnius native Yitzhak Zuckerman, a deputy commander of the
ZOB who survived the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, helped smuggle refugees in
Palestine founded two kibbutzim with his wife Ziva and other survivors,
testified at the trial of Adolf Eichmann and was the grandfather of
Roni Zuckerman, “the Israeli Air Force's first female fighter pilot.”(Please
read the items below. There is no way for me to do justice to this man)
https://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206398.pdf
https://spartacus-educational.com/2WWzuckerman.htm
http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Zuckerman_Yitshak
1916:
In Philadelphia, Jacob da Silva Solis-Cohen, Jr married Marion Gimbel Labe with
whom he had two daughters, Mary and Ann Solis-Cohen Rosentahl the wife of
Charles Rosenthal.
1917:
In Crown Heights, Brooklyn, textile company owner Abraham Shapior and his wife,
“the former Jrena Fromberg, a founder of the Mizrachi Women’s Organization of
America,” gave birth to Rhoda Shapiro who gained famed as children’s author
Rhoda Blumberg. (As reported by Sam Roberts)
1917:
The Bazaar sponsored by Temple Emanu-El which was being held to raise money for
the fund providing relief for “the Jewish war sufferers and for welfare work
among American soldiers and sailors” continued for a second day at the Manhattan
mansion of Adolph Lewisohn.
1917:
“Jacob Schiff, Louis Marshal, Jacob Wertheim, Cyrus Sulzberger” and the other
leaders of the campaign to raise five million dollars for Jewish war relief
gave “three cheers for the labor unions of the east side” today following the
announcement that the Jewish labor unions have agreed to contribute one day’s
pay to the fund which will mean a total contribution of $1,250,000.
1917:
After meeting with officials of the State Department yesterday, “Henry
Morgenthau, the former Ambassador to Turkey announced” today “that American
consular officers were to be sent at one to Jerusalem to supervise the
distribution of relief funds collected by American Jews for their
coreligionists in Palestine.”
1918(10th
of Tevet, 5679): Asara B’Tevet
1918:
Jacob H. Schiff received a cable today from Rabbi Sternberg in Vienna
describing “attacks made on Jews in Western and Central Galicia” in which “the
Jewish population has been murdered, robbed and the women ravished.”
1918:
Twenty-three-year-old composer and pianist Leo Ornstein, the Russian born son
of Abram and Clara Ornstein, who in 1907 came to the United States and gave his
“first public concert at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York in 1911 married
Pauline Mallet-Prevost today.
1918:
Dr. I Edwin Goldwasser, the director of the Jewish Relief campaign said tonight
he especially appreciated the services of the volunteer workers – “both Jews
and non-Jews” --- who have been untiring in the efforts and asking, “nothing
but a chance to help.”
1919:
Per the instructions of the British government, as described Andrew Bonar Law,
the British Military Mission in Russia is doing call it can do “in its power to
prevent” further attacks on the Jews like the ones the Pogrom carried out by
the Cossacks outside of Kiev.
1920(2nd
of Tevet, 5681): Eighth Day of Chanukah
1920:
Rabbi Naftali Riff “submitted his intentions papers in the Common Pleas Court
of Camden County, NJ to become a U.S. citizen” today which “stated that he was
5’ 8” tall, weighed 115 pounds, had black hair and brown eyes and lived at 507
Mt. Vernon Street in Camden.
1920:
Today, the House of Representatives ignored the objections of Congressman Isaac
Siegel and his allies and passed the Johnson Immigration Bill by a vote of 293
to 41. (Editor’s note - Those engaged in
the immigration debate of the 21st century, especially Jews, might
find it instructive to study the history of this legislation. The more things change, the more they stay
the same.)
1921:
An order was issued by King George V for Sir Edgar Speyer to be struck off the
list of the Privy Council.
1921:
“One of the largest charity social affairs of the season” is scheduled to take
place this evening at the Astor Hotel, when the New York Section Council of
Jewish Woman host a concert and dance with the proceeds going to the
organization’s Americanization work.
1922:
Professor Frederick Starr of the University of Chicago is scheduled to deliver
a lecture on Japan at the Washington Boulevard Temple.
1922:
For a third night in a row the Jewish People’s Institute offered assistance to
those filing papers seeking to help relatives gain admission to the United
States.
1922:
In Des Moines, Harry Levine, a butcher and his wife gave birth to Bernard
Levine, the WW II veteran and husband of Ruth Nagorner who owned and ran two
Ben Franklin variety stores.
1922:
“A Jewish Manifesto to the Arabs” published today contains the second statement
by the Jewish National Council of Palestine in which it pleads for a peaceful
co-existence between Jews and Arabs.
http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/ZIONIST_Manifesto_British-Palestine_growth_pdf
1923:
This evening, an anti-Jewish open air meeting was held by Royalist students in
the Latin Quarter of Paris. Copies of "L' Action Francaise", the
Royalist Organ, were on sale. The speakers denounced the Jews as the chief
obstacle to the restoration of the Monarchy in France. The Jews, they declared,
were Communists; the Jews were the counselors of President Wilson and were
responsible for his Fourteen Points, which had brought about the isolation of
France. The first step towards the destruction of the Republic must be the
annihilation of the Jews. (As reported by JTA)
1923:
Birthdate of William Bernard Kannel a
cardiovascular epidemiologist whose work helped to identify and sought to rout
the culprits behind heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases.
(As reported by Margalit Fox)
1923:
“Two Jews Innocently Imprisoned in France Seven Years” published today
described the fate of two Jews who were falsely imprisoned during World War I.
http://www.jta.org/1923/12/13/archive/two-jews-innocently-imprisoned-in-france-seven-years
1924(16th
of Kislev, 5685): Seventy-four-year-old Samuel
Gompers, the famed American labor leader, passed away.
http://www.aflcio.org/About/Our-History/Key-People-in-Labor-History/Samuel-Gompers-1850-1924
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1747.html
1925(26th
of Kislev, 5686): Eighty-year-old Caroline von Gomperz-Bettelheim, the sister
of Anton Bettelheim and the wife of Julius Ritter von Gomperz who was an
“Austrian court singer and member of the Royal Opera in Vienna, passed away
today.
1925:
Birthdate of painter Itshak Holtz, the son of a Polish “hat maker and furrirer
who made Aliyah in 1935 and who “has stated that his artwork, which primarily
but not exclusively depicts scenes of Jewish spirituality and tradition, is
driven by his Orthodox Jewish beliefs.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itshak_Holtz#/media/File:Itshak_Holtz_Yerusalem_Wedding_2010.jpg
1926:
“Shave Cost Homes” published today described how “the management committee of
Sharrei Hesed, a Jewish suburb of Jerusalem has instructed its tenants to eject
from their premises ‘all occupants having shaven chins or shorn sidelocks or
committing similar offences against strict orthodoxy.”
1927:
In Philadelphia, Joseph Needleman, a furniture salesman and “former Sonia
Shupak…who family owned a pickle business” gave birth to Herbert Leroy Needleman,
the doctor who sounded the alarm when it came to children’s exposure to lead.
(As reported by Benedict Carey)
1928:
“Catholics, Jews and Protestants joined in a good-will meeting” tonight “at
Temple Emnau-El under the auspices of the Congregation’s Men’s Club which was
the “final meeting in the old Temple at 5th Avenue and 66th
Street.
1928:
George Gershwin's musical work ''An American in Paris'' had its premiere, at
Carnegie Hall in New York.
1929:
Ted “Kid” Lewis won his bout tonight on a TKO.
1929:
Funeral services are scheduled to held today in the Appleton Chapel for Beirut
born William Rosenzweig Arnold, the Hancock Professor of Hebrew and other
Oriental Languages at Harvard, who passed away unexpectedly yesterday.
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1929/12/12/w-r-arnold-dies-of-heart/
1929:
“Katharina Knie” a silent film featuring Vladimir Sokoloff was released today
in Germany.
1930(23rd
of Kislev, 5691): Parashat Vayeshev
1930:
In Berlin Norbert Seitelbech, “a well-off German Jew who managed a family
business” and Clementine Seitelbach, “an Italian Catholic” gave birth to Henry
Seitelbach who gained fame as “Natan Zach, a cherished Israeli poet who helped
revolutionize Hebrew poetry by spurning the formality of his more established
contemporaries in favor of plain-spoken, loose-limbed verse.” (As reported by
Joseph Berger)
1930:
At City Hall this afternoon, Mayor Jimmie Walker welcomed Professor Albert
Einstein and gave him the keys to the city.
1931:
Author and journalist Emil Ludwig (born Emil Cohn) interviewed Joseph Stalin.
1931:
After a week of celebration, festivities marking the 10th
anniversary of Congregation Beth El in Camden, NJ came to a close with a
banquet this evening.
1932:
“Dr. Arthur Kraus, an instructor in philosophy at City College’ was scheduled
to continue his hunger strike begun two days ago “in protest against the apathy
of intellectuals toward anti-Semitic excess in Polish universities.”
1932:
Funeral services were held today for sixty-five-year-old German born Montanan
political leader Louis Newman, a mayor of Havre, MT and state legislature who
was the husband of Jennie Newman with whom he had three children, E.S., Arthur
and Bernice.
1932:
In Paris Rabbi Weil, Rabbi Eisenstadt and Zionist leader Isaa Naiditch
delivered the eulogies at the funeral sugar manufacturer, Zionist and author
Hillel Zlatopolsky, which was attended by thousands of Jews.
https://congressforjewishculture.org/lexicon/t/4289
1933:
In a foretaste of what was to come in Hungaryd, Zoltan Mesko and Count
Alexander Festetis, leaders of rival Hungarian Nazi sections, attacked Premier
Goemboes in Parliament today for an anti-Nazi statement in a speech yesterday
at a meeting of the Governmental party.
1934:
“Music in the Air” a movie “based on Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's
Broadway musical of the same name” directed by Joe May was released in the
United States today
1935:
“Para Vigo me voy” (Say Si Si) with English lyrics by Al Stillman was record
today.
1935:
Birthdate of St. Louis native and University of Wisconsin educated “real estate
developer” Lewis N. Wolff, the holder of an MBA from Washington University who
used his wealth to buy the Oakland Athletics and who was the husband of Jean
Wolff with whom he had “three children.”
1935:
Jews were excluded from the medical profession in Germany.
1935:
“Your Uncle Dudley” with a screenplay by Dore Schary was released today in the
United States.
1936:
Andy Devine appeared on the Jack Benny Show (Benjamin Kubelsky) where he scored
the longest laughter pause in the history of the program.
1936:
It was reported today that Rabbi Harry Halpern of the East Midwood Jewish
Center will deliver a talk entitled “The Significance of Chanukah” at the
upcoming meeting of the Women’s League of the United Synagogue of America.
1936(29th
of Kislev, 5697): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1936(29th
of Kislev, 5697): Eighty-nine-year-old Maximilian Morgenthau, the German born
son of Lazarus and Seline Babette Morgenthau and he husband of Fanny Morgenthau
passed away today in New York City.
1936:
“More than 1,000 members or guests of the Jewish Education Association attended
the fifteenth annual Chanukah dinner held” tonight “at the Hotel Astor” where
they “heard Supreme Court Justice Samuel I. Rosenman urge a ‘rebirth of
interest’ in Jewish religious education” and “Mark Eisner, chairman of the
Board of Education called for the mobilization of all ‘Jewish forces in
America, to give Jewish education its proper status in relation to the life of
the whole American community.’”
1936:
After leaders in the effort to provide financial relief for European Jewry
meeting at the Hotel Astor “heard speakers describe the plight of Jews in
foreign lands” the “five hundred delegates from 25 states voted” today “to
increase the 1937 quota of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to
a figure ‘much higher’ than the $3,500,000 set as the goal of the campaign
ending this month.”
1936:
At Temple Emanu-El, Rabbi Samuel H. Goldenson is scheduled to deliver a sermon
on “How a Big City Tests Characters.”
1936:
At Temple Rodeph Sholom, Rabbi Louis I. Newman is scheduled to deliver a sermon
on “Divorce, Remarriage, the Church and the State: Are New Morals Possible
Today?”
1936:
At Temple B’nai Jeshurun, Rabbi Israel Goldstein is scheduled to deliver a
sermon on “The Courage to Be Yourself.”
1936:
This morning at the Free Synagogue in Carnegies Hall, Dr. Abram Leon Sachar is
scheduled to deliver a sermon on “Five Patterns of Jewish Life.”
1936:
At the Jewish Science Society, Rabbi Morris Lichtenstein is scheduled to
deliver a sermon on “The Source of Jewish Energy.”
1936:
The Women’s League for Palestine is scheduled to hear an address this evening
by Henry Schorr at their meeting in Carnegie Hall.
1936:
“The Metropolitan Conference of Temple Brotherhoods” is scheduled to “hold its
tenth annual Hanukkah dinner” this “evening in the Hotel Pennsylvania.”
1937: The Palestine Post reported that Solomon
Baum, 23, a student at the Hebrew Teachers' Seminary, was seriously wounded by
an Arab assailant in the Beit Hakerem quarter of Jerusalem. British troops and
police fought a gang of 50 Arab terrorists in Galilee. The same gang was reported
to have murdered and robbed an Arab villager living in Kafr Kara who refused to hand over the
requested sum of money.
1937:
The Palestine Post reported that in
Paris the Council of German Jews, headed by Viscount Samuel, announced that
during the first half of 1937, 3,641 Jews left Germany, including 1,363 for
Palestine. Four hundred of them made their aliya on the strength of the
"capitalist" category immigration certificates, obtained by the
committee.
1938:
One hundred deportees from Sachsenhausen build the Neuengamme concentration
camp near Hamburg.
1938(20th
of Kislev, 5699): Just 13 days before his 84th birthday, Leopold
(Lehmann) Schloss, the husband of Karoline Schloss was murdered today in
Wurzburg, Germany
1939(1st
of Tevet, 5700): Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1939(1st
of Tevet, 5700): In the evening, kindle the 8th Chanukah light
1939(1st
of Tevet, 5700): In New York, Joseph Josephs passed away.
1939: Hans Frank issued order of the establishment
of Jewish councils in Polish Jewish communities over 10,000. Jews referred to
these councils as the “Judenrat.”
1940: U.S. premiere of “Comrade X” a American
spy-spoof co-starring Hedy Lamar, filmed by cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg
with a script co-authored by Ben Hecht and Herman J. Mankiewicz.
1941: For two days 14,300 Jews were
killed in the Crimean city of Simferopol by the Einsatzkommando. The killing started on December 13 and ended
on the 15th.
1941: The last six Jews living in Warendorf,
Germany, are deported to Riga, Latvia, and killed.
1941:
HMS Legion a destroyer under the command Cdr. Richard Frederick Jessel was one
four allied vessels that took part in the Battle of Cape Bon during which two
Italian light cruisers were sunk.
1941:
Jews living in Muenster, Germany were deported to the Riga Ghetto in Latvia
today. [A photo of this is part of the
Yad Vashem archives]
http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/december/05.asp
1942:
Borough President Edgar J Nathan Jr., Jacob O. Zabronsky, J. David Delman, and
Rabbi Leo Jung spoke at the annual Chanukah celebration of the National Council
of Young Israel at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F30B10FC3D59147B93C6A81789D95F468485F9
1942: German Propaganda
Minister Joseph Goebbels complains in his diary about Italy's halfhearted
persecution of Jews.
1942: “My Sister
Eileen,” a comedy written by Joseph A. Field and Jerome Chodorov and produced
by George S. Kaufman which had opened on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre,
transferred to the Broadway Theatre where it opened tonight.
1943: As
the SS began its extermination of the local population of Vladimir-Volynski, Poland, they were
attacked by 30 armed Jews. A number of the SS officers were killed as well as
half of the attacking force. The remainder fled to the forests to join the
partisans.
1943: In Greece, Nazis murder
all males over age 14 in the village of Kalávrita.
1943:
Birthdate of Victor G. Kac, a Soviet and American mathematician at MIT, known
for his work in representation theory. Kac received a Sloan Fellowship in 1981
and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1986.
1944(27th
of Kislev, 5705): Third Day of Chanukah
1944(27th
of Kislev, 5705): Sixty-six-year-old Gustav Cohn, the German born son of Sophie
and Seligman Lazarus Cohn and husband of Henriette Cohn passed away today in
Buenos Aires.
1944: “The best‐known production staged by the Bernard Hart‐Joseph Hyman team was “Dear Ruth,” which opened at Henry Miller's Theater
today” and “played more than 700 performances during the next two years.
1945: Thirty-six of the 40 defendants in “the Dachau
Camp Trials” were sentenced to death today “including the former commandant
Martin Gottfried Weiss and the camp doctor Claus Schilling.”
1946: Jewish political leader Léon
Blum was chosen French premier.
1946:
Future Nobel Prize winner Joshua Lederberg married Esther Miriam Zimmer today.
1946:
Cessation of hostilities between the United States and Germany was announced by
US President Truman
1946:
Moshe Sneh, the reputed head of Haganah, repudiates activities of Irgun and
Stern Group. He calls for a responsible resistance. He urges Zionists to stay
away from London conference.
1947(30th
of Kislev, 5708): Parashat Miketz; Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of Chanukah
1947(30th
of Kislev, 5708): Seventy-year-old Austrian born David Alter the “publisher of
Jewish weekly magazines in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Youngstown and Toledo” passed
away today in Pittsburgh, PA.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1947/12/14/87565672.pdf
1947:
The Jewish Agency, representing a majority of Palestinian Jewry denounced the
rising tide of Irgun reprisals, calling them spectacular acts to gratify
popular feeling.
1947:
Several Irgun members driving in two cars near the Damascus Gate bus station
hurled two bombs into the crowd and opened fire with automatic weapons killing
five Arabs including a fourteen year old boy.
1947:
The Arab League tells U.S. and Britain that partition would be considered a
hostile act toward Moslems.
1947:
The Zionist Organization of America urges that the U.S. provide ships for Jews
going to Palestine and help arm Jewish Agency defense forces.
1948:
The Transjordan Parliament authorizes King Abdullah to accept sovereignty over
Arab Palestine and Transjordan defying a warning by council of Ulemas (a group
of scholars and highest spiritual authority in Moslem
1949: Knesset votes to transfer
Israel's capitol to Jerusalem.
1950:
James Grover McDonald, the first U.S. Ambassador to Israel, left his post
today.
1951:
Foreign Service Officer John S. Service, who was not Jewish fell victim to the
right wing anti-Communist witch hunt that destroyed the careers of so many Jews
in several fields of endeavors, when he was dismissed today “from the
Department of State following a determination by the Civil Service Commission’s
Loyalty Board that there was “reasonable doubt” concerning his loyalty to the
United States.”
1951:
Movie producer Walter Wanger shot his wife’s agent and lover today.
http://www.cobbles.com/simpp_archive/walter-wanger_shooting.htm
1952(25th
of Kislev, 5713): First Day of Chanukah; Shabbat Shel Channukah; Parashat
Vayeshev
1952:
The Jerusalem Post reported that the
government announced an ambitious settlement program the establishment of
some 100 new villages within one year.
1952:
In Ramat Gan, “a Romanian-born diplomate and a mother who came from Russia”
gave birth American educated and Sayeret Matkal veteran Avi Nesher the Israeli
producer, director, screenwriter and actor whose works “Rage and Glory” which
tells the story of Lehi and the husband of Iris Nesher.
1952:
The Jerusalem Post reported that ten
infiltrators from Jordan crossed the border, wounded the guard of a defense
post and stole arms and ammunition. Elsewhere, on the same border, two
marauders were killed and 26 arrested within one week. Israel demanded an
emergency meeting of the Israeli-Jordanian Mixed Armistice Commission.
1953:
Birthdate of economist Ben Shalom
Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.
1954: Eighteen-year-old Michael Rabin made his first
London today when he played the Tchaikovsky Concerto in D at the Royal Albert
Hall with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/michael-rabin-mn0001203069/biography
1955(28th of Kislev, 5716): Third Day of
Chanukah
1955(28th of Kislev, 5716): French author
Leon Werth, the son draper Albert Werth and Sophia Rauh, who had a son name
Claude with his wife Suzanne and was the inspiration for The Little Prince
passed away today.
http://littleprince.8m.com/werth.html
1955: A cinematic version “Richard III” produced by
Alexander Korda, co-starring Clair Bloom and filmed by cinematographer Otto
Heller was released today in the United Kingdom.
1956: “The Rainmaker,” the movie version of the
Broadway play by N. Richard Nash (Nathan Richard Nusbaum), produced by Hal
Wallis and with an Oscar nominated score by Alex North (Isadore Soifer) was
released today in the United States.
1957: “Peyton Place” the movie version of the novel
of the same name directed by Mark Robson, produced by Jerry Wald, with music by
Franz Waxman was released today in the United States.
1959(12th of Kislev, 5720):
Sixty-five-year-old University of Cincinnati graduate James Samuel Auer, the
Cincinnati born son of Carrie and Samuel Auer a member of the Board of National
Federation of Temples and the husband of Goldie E. Auer passed away today after
which he was buried at the Walnut Hills Jewish Cemetery.
1960(24th of Kislev,5721): First Chanukah
kindled for the last time during the Presidency of Dwight David Eisenhower.
1961: Beatles sign a formal
agreement to be managed by Brian Epstein.
Yes, there is a Jewish connection to Ringo, Paul, John, et al.
1961:
In London, world premiere of “The Young Ones” a musical choreographed by Hebert
Ross whose suggestion to have Barbra Streisand star in the film was rejected by
1961: In Jerusalem, prosecuting
attorney Gideon Hausner demands death penalty for Adolf Eichmann
1962: “In Washington, D.C. “progressive activist
Marcus Raskin—a former staff aide to President John F. Kennedy on the National
Security Council and co-founder of the Institute for Policy Studies—and Barbara
(née Bellman) Raskin, a journalist and novelist” gave birth to Harvard Law
School graduate and “constitutional law professor, James Ben Raskin, a “Member
of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 8th district” and the
husband Harvard Law School graduate Sarah Bloom Raskin.
1965: “A Thousand Clowns” the movie version of the
Broadway play featuring Martin Balsam as “Arnold Burns,” Barry Gordon as “Nick
Burns” and Gene Saks as “Leo ‘Chuckles the Chipmun’ Herman and filmed by
cinematographer Arthur Ornitz was released today in the United States.
1967: In Canada, premiere of “The Fox” directed by
Mark Rydell with music by Lalo Schifrin.
1967: Funeral services are scheduled to be held
today at the Riverside for 49 year old CCNY and Columbia educated award winning
radio and television producer Irving Gitlin, the New York born son of Celia and
Jacob Gitlin the husband of the former Louise Ziskind with whom he raised three
children – Betty Ann, Barbara Jane and Peter.
1968: “Urban Picaresque” published today provides a
review of Murray Schisgal's Jimmy Shine
http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,839680,00.html
1970: Neil Simon's "Gingerbread
Lady" premieres in New York NY
1970(15th
of Kislev, 5731): Eighty-three year old Baruch Zuckerman, a long time Zionist
leader who was one of the founders of Yad Vashem passed away today in
Jerusalem.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9E00E2DE1431EE34BC4D52DFB467838B669EDE
1971(25th
of Kislev, 5732): Chanukah
1971:
“Nicholas and Alexandra” a film version of the novel produced by Sam Spiegel
with a screenplay by James Goldman and co-starring Janet Suzman was released
today in the United Kingdom.
1971: Milton
Glick, 15th president of the University of Nevada, Reno, became a father for
the second time when his wife Peggy gave birth to his son Sandy.
1971:
Two months after opening in the United Kingdom, “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” a
musical fantasy with a score by Robert and Richard Sherman was released today
in the United States.
1972(8th
of Tevet, 5733): Seventy-two-year-old cellist Maurice Eisenberg suffered a
mortal heart attack at the Juilliard School.
http://www.cello.org/heaven/bios/eisenap.htm
1973(18th
of Kislev, 5734): Fifty-one-year-old American microbiologist Wolf Vladimir
Vishniac, the Berlin born son of photographer Roman Vishniac and husband of
Helen Vishniac passed away today.
1975:
As the Russians continue their offensive against the refuseniks, “the French
Communist Party challenged the Soviet authorities to deny the existence of
forced labor camps for political prisoners in the USSR.”
1976:
Release date for “Victory at Entebbe” a made for television movie based on the
raid that had taken place in July of 1976.
1976: NBC
broadcast the first episode of “C.P.O. Sharkey,” a sitcom starring Don Rickles,
with music by Peter Matz that was created by Aaron Ruben.
1977(3rd
of Tevet, 5738): Seventy-year-old Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons
graduate Dr. Alvan Leroy Barach, the so-called “father of oxygen therapy” and
the husband of “the former Fredrick Pisek” with whom he had two children –
Jeffrey and John Paul – passed away today.
https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/14/archives/dr-alvan-barach-breathing-expert.html
1977:
In Miami, FL, attorney Ronald Freed and Lori Freed gave birth to University of
Florida trained attorney Nicole “Nkki” Heather Fried, the 12th
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture” and 2022 candidate for Governor of
Florida.
1977:
The Jerusalem Post reported that a
top-level Israeli team, leaving for Cairo, was told by Foreign Minister Moshe
Dayan that President Anwar Sadat of Egypt expected, and had to gain, an early
success in the forthcoming negotiations. An 82-man Arab delegation left the
Gaza Strip for Cairo while their mayor, Rashid Shawwa, said that Sadat ought to
be praised for strengthening moderate Arabs. However, US Secretary of State
Cyrus Vance failed to persuade King Hussein of Jordan to join the planned
Israeli-Egyptian conference in Cairo.
1978(13th
of Kislev, 5739): Louis H. Grinthal, the husband of the former Elaine Rubin,
President of Grinthal Press, Inc and an Associate Trustee of Congregation Beth
Elohim passed away today.
1979:
Roger and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!"
opens at the Palace Theater in New York City for the first of 301 performances.
1979”
The Scooby-Doo which co-created by Joe Ruby characters first appeared outside
of their regular Saturday morning format in Scooby Goes Hollywood, an hour-long
ABC television special aired in prime time
1980:
In
a statement to foreign correspondents, Andrei Sakharov calls for the release of
Victor Brailovsky, the Jewish activist arrested on November 13th
1893:
The Broadway revival of “You Can’t Take It With You” written by Moss Hart was
transferred to the Royale Theatre today.
1984:
In a seemingly never-ending fight to nibble away at the doctrine of the
separation of church and state which is critical to the Jewish community in the
United States, Ronald Reagan’s Justice Department filed a friend of the court
brief in support the state of Alabama in Wallace v Jaffree, a case that would
decide the mandated moment of silence at the start of each school day. The Supreme Court would declare the Alabama
statute unconstitutional because it violated the “first prong of the Lemon Test
i.e., that the statute was invalid as being entirely motivated by a purpose of
advancing religion.
1985(1st
of Tevet, 5746): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of Chanukah
1985(1st
of Tevet, 5746): Eighty-four-year-old Washingtonian and featherweight Wilburn
Cohen who fought a seemingly amazing 130 bouts passed away today.
1987(22nd
of Kislev, 5748): Eighty-one-year-old Yonah Ephraim Caplan, the Montreal born
son of “Shlomo Chaim Caplan and Chaya Bluma Routtenberg” and the husband of
Lena Herman passed away today in New York.
1988:
Yasir Arafat, the P.L.O. chairman, is to be the main speaker today when the
U.N. General Assembly holds its first meeting in Geneva.
1990(26th
of Kislev, 5751): Second Day of Chanukah
1990(26th
of Kislev, 5751): Gertrude Appelbaum, daughter of Rabbi Meyer and Rose
Appelbaum and the sister of Martin Appelbaum passed away today in Ohio.
1990:
Eighty-one year old Konigsberg, native Hanoch Jacoby, one of the many German
musicians whose career was ended by the Nuremberg laws and who immigrated to
Palestine as part of the Fifth Aliyah where he pursed a musical career that
included playing viola with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra while raising four children - Hava Nir (deceased), Ilana
Yaari, Rafi Jacoby, Michal Preminger – with his wife, the former Alice Kennel
passed away today.
https://www.jewish-music.huji.ac.il/content/hanoch-jacoby
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jacobi-hanoch
1991:
“Bugsy” a movie based on the life of Jewish gangster Bugsy Siegel directed and
co-produced by Barry Levinson and featuring Elliot Gould, Harvey Keitel and
Bebe Neuwirth was released in the United States today.
1991:
Birthdate of Jay "Bluejay" Greenberg composer of “Overture to 9-11.”
1992:
In a daring challenge to Israel's authority in the occupied territories,
Islamic militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier today and threatened to kill him
unless the army quickly released the imprisoned founder of a dominant Muslim
group in the Gaza Strip. The abductors' deadline passed tonight with their
demand unmet, but there was no sign that they had carried out their threatened
slaying.
1992:
The New York Times published the
following letter from Rabbi Harold M. Kamsler of Phoenixville, Pa. entitled “It
May Help to Be Jewish to Love Turkey” which claimed that the word “Turkey,” the
fowl of Thanksgiving fame was rooted in Hebrew.
“May I add
another linguistic note to the colorful "One Strange Bird" by
Margaret Visser (Op-Ed, Nov. 26)? The concurrence of the voyages of Columbus
and the expulsion from Spain of its Jewish population after centuries of
mutually advantageous co-existence has been widely aired in this 500th year of
commemoration of both events. One of the key personnel making the first voyage
was Luis de Torres, employed by Columbus as an interpreter since he had wide
knowledge of Chaldean and Arabic, the languages of the areas they expected to
reach. A "Converso," one of the Jews who had converted to Catholicism
under the pressure of the Inquisition but remained a secret adherent of his own
faith, de Torres also knew Hebrew well. It was natural that de Torres was in
the first boats sent to shore on Oct. 12, 1492. In a letter written to a friend
in Spain, he described the strange bird seen in this new land. As Ms. Visser
notes, during the courting season the bird gobbles, struts and puffs, and his
tail feathers display in the manner of a peacock. De Torres gave it the name
that appears in the biblical book of I Kings, 10:22, the Hebrew word for
peacock: tuki. Surely there is a much more direct line to "turkey"
than the various other speculations at hand.”
1992:
Islamic militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier today
and threatened to kill him unless the army quickly released the imprisoned
founder of a dominant Muslim group in the Gaza Strip. Today’s pre-dawn kidnapping of Sgt. Maj. Nissim Toledano in
Lod, southeast of Tel Aviv, was likely to increase the sense among Israelis
that they are under siege. His abduction as a means to obtain a prisoner
release is an echo of hijackings and hostage-takings that for the most part
have been unknown here since the 1970's.
Sergeant Toledano -- 29 years old, married and the father of two
children -- belongs to the border police, who patrol the territories and Arab
quarters of East Jerusalem. He was on his way to work when he was seized, a
disappearance that was confirmed as a kidnapping when a West Bank office of the
International Committee of the Red Cross received a copy of his identity card
along with the abductors' terms. Their chief demand was that Israel free Sheik
Ahmed Yassin, a Gazan who founded the Islamic Resistance Movement, known as
Hamas, five years ago today. Sheik Yassin, who is 57 and has long used a
wheelchair, has been in prison since 1989, and was sentenced last year to life
for ordering the killings of Palestinians accused of working with the Israeli
authorities. His group is militantly opposed to the peace talks. The
kidnappers, who identified themselves as members of an armed wing of Hamas,
said they would kill the Israeli tonight unless their demands were met,
including an insistence that Sheik's release be televised in the presence of
several foreign ambassadors. The same group has claimed responsibility for
killing the four Israeli soldiers slain in the last week. Israeli officials
said they would not even consider negotiating with the kidnappers until they
had evidence Sergeant Toledano was alive. But the deadline came and went with
no word on his fate.
1994(10th of Tevet, 5755): Asara B'Tevet
1994(10th of Tevet, 5755): The day before his 84th
birthday labor historian and professor Philip Sheldon Foner passed away today.
(As reported by Lawrence Van Gelder)
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/15/obituaries/philip-s-foner-labor-historian-and-professor-84.html
1994(10th of Tevet, 5755): Eighty-five-year-old Chicago
native Phillip Morris Hauser, the 58th President of the American
Sociological Association passed away today. https://www.asanet.org/philip-m-hauser/
1995(20th
of Kislev, 5756): Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn, a scholar on religious and
governmental issues who was a Marine Corps chaplain during the battle of Iwo
Jima, died at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. He was 85. He was the first
Jewish chaplain the Marine Corps ever appointed. Rabbi Gittelsohn was rabbi
emeritus at Temple Israel in Boston, where he served from 1953 to 1977. From
1936 to 1953, he served the Central Synagogue of Nassau County in Rockville
Centre, L.I. He was awarded three combat ribbons for his service with the Fifth
Marine Division on Iwo Jima. His sermon at the dedication of the division's
cemetery, titled "The Purest Democracy," attracted wide attention and
was read by many radio and television announcers during and after the war. In
February, Rabbi Gittelsohn gave the benediction at the Iwo Jima Memorial in
Arlington, Va., at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the landing.
Rabbi Gittelsohn was appointed by President Harry S. Truman to a committee
studying civil rights issues. Later, he studied and lectured on United States
involvement in Vietnam, and on euthanasia, Israeli politics and family
relationships. He wrote numerous articles and books on civic and religious
issues. He was president of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis from 1958 to
1960; president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis from 1969 to 1971,
and president of the Association of Reform Zionists of America from 1977 to
1984. A native of Cleveland, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Western Reserve
University in Cleveland in 1931. He studied at Columbia University and Hebrew
Union College in Cincinnati and was ordained in 1936.
1996(3rd
of Tevet, 5757): Eighth Day of Chanukah
1996(3rd
of Tevet, 5757): Eighty-seven-year-old Columbia trained attorney Benedict I.
Lubell, the New York born son of Samuel Lubell, and husband of the former Norma
Rubenstein with whom he raised two children, Ann and John, while working for
three decades as an executive with Bell and Oil Gas Company in Tulsa, passed
away today. https://tulsaworld.com/archives/funeral-services-set-for-tulsa-arts-patron-benedict-i-lubell/article_4fafa1e2-d1ee-5ea8-8d41-d1a07c9a628e.html
1996:
The president of Reform Judaism's synagogue organization has called for
expanding the movement's small presence in Israel, to develop a liberal
religious alternative within a nation overwhelmingly dominated by secular and
Orthodox Jews. In a prepared speech he gave in Los Angeles today to trustees of
the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, its
president, said, ''We intend nothing less than to bring into being a new
Israeli Judaism, which will draw Israelis with irresistible force to a renewal
of practice and belief.
1996:
“The Preacher’s Wife” a movie version of Robert Nathan’s novel and with music
by Hans Zimmer was released today in the United States.
1997:
A revival of “Chips with Everything” a play by Arnold Wesker came to a close at
the Royal Nation Theatre.
1998(24th
of Kislev, 5759): In the evening, kindle the first light of Chanukah.
1998(24th
of Kislev, 5759): Ninety-one-year-old Lew Grade who went from being Lithuanian
immigrant Louis Winogladsky to being media mogul and impresario The Right
Honorable Lord Grade passed away just days short of his 92nd
birthday.
http://www.economist.com/node/180361
1998: An historic and emotion-filled event took place in Jerusalem on the eve of the first day of Hanukkah. The restored synagogue of Shimon Hatzadik (Simon the Righteous) in the Jewish neighborhood of Shimon Hatzadik in eastern Jerusalem was rededicated in the presence of former residents of this and surrounding neighborhoods. According to tradition, the high priest, who was among the last members of the Great Assembly, was buried in a cave built into these sloping Sheikh Jarrah hills, where dozens of Hassidim can be found praying and learning throughout the day. The land surrounding the burial caves had lain barren of inhabitants for almost two millennia. The graves, however, were continuously visited by Jewish pilgrims. In modern times, Jews started this neighborhood in 1895 and lived there until they were evicted by the British army during the Arab riots in 1947, says a source in Lomdei Shalem, an organization responsible for the renewed Jewish presence in the area. In the interim, the Jordanian government took over the land and permitted Arab families to move into the Jewish homes, where many still remain. After acquiring power of attorney from the Sephardic Community Council, the original owner of the property, MK Benny Elon shepherded a group of young yeshiva students to the old synagogue. They cleaned it up and began to study there regularly. The rededicated synagogue has also become a kollel, where men study Torah on a daily basis.
1998:
The New York Times book section
included a review of Surpassing Wonder: The Invention of the Bible and the Talmuds by Donald
Harman Akenson.
2000:
Al Gore who received 79% of the Jewish vote conceded defeat to George W. Bush
in the most contested Presidential election in U.S. history.
2000: In a seemingly never-ending fight to nibble away at the doctrine of the separation of church and state which is critical to the Jewish community in the United States, the city of Elkhart, Indiana in Elkhart v Brooks was told today by the U.S. Court of Appeals said that the city had acted unconstitutionally when it accepted a Ten Commandments Monument from the Elks.2001(28th of Kislev, 5762): Charles Michael "Chuck" Schuldiner singer, songwriter, rhythm and lead guitarist of the band Death passed away as a result of a rare form of cancer. 2001: Hollywood premiere of “A Beautiful Mind” the academy award winning film co-produced by Brian Grazer, with a screenplay by Akiva Goldsman and featuring Judd Hirsch.2002: Three months are premiering at the TIFF, “Evelyn” co-starring Julianna Margulies was released in the United States today.2002: “Drumline” produced by Wendy Finerman and Jody Gerson who fourteen years later would be “honored as one of Universal Music Group’s female executives named to Variety’s Power of Women L.A.”2004(1st of Tevet, 5765): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of Chanukah2003: In Germany, Parliament agreed to pay $600,000 to build a memorial in central Berlin which will be the site of the Holocaust memorial under construction for thousands of gay men killed or persecuted by the Nazis. 2004(1st of Tevet, 5765): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of Channukah2004: “The obituary and photograph” of Harry Danning who “played his entire Major League career as a catcher for the New York Giants” appeared in today’s Sports Illustrated.https://www.si.com/vault/2004/12/13/8215557/for-the-record
2005:
Israel's consul-general in Los Angeles criticized Steven Spielberg's
"Munich," saying that the new film drew an incorrect picture of the
Mossad's hunt for the PLO terrorists who carried out the 1972 Olympic massacre
and taking the legendary director to task for morally equating the Israeli
agents and their Palestinian terrorist targets.
2005:
Publication of Alexander the Great: Journey to the End of the Earth by Norman
F. Cantor
2006:
Sotheby’s annual sale of Judaica in New York includes a collection of the 18th
century ritual silver objects from the Jewish community of Amsterdam and an 18th
century decorated manuscript honoring physician and poet Dr. Isaac Luzzato.
2006:
The Sci Fi Channel broadcast the final episode of “The Lost Room,” a min-series
co-starring Julianna Margulies and Peter Jacobson.
2006:
Prime Minister Ehud Omert met with Pope Benedict XVI during the Israeli Prime
Minister’s visit to Europe.
2007: In Jerusalem, a screening of The Jews in the
Warsaw Uprising. This 57 minute long documentary explores the subject of the
Jewish involvement in the struggle and includes Interviews with witnesses that
are enriched by the archive materials and the historian reports.
2007:
In New York City, the 92nd Street Y hosts cellist Steven Isserlis
and pianist Kirill Gerstein as part of the Distinguished Artist Series.
2007:
Greek historian Costas Plevris was sentenced to 14 months in prison for
inciting racial hatred with the publication of The Jews: The Whole Truth,
a book that denies the Holocaust took place.
2008:
Jeff Marx “premiered a new song he wrote, ‘White Kwanzaa,’ on the CNN show D.L.
Hughley Breaks the News”
2008: Itzhak Perlman plays chamber music at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
2008:
The 10th Annual Jerusalem Film Festival opens. Highlights of this
year's festival include:
Daniel Burman's new film, “The Empty Nest,” a premiere screening of the
acclaimed PBS series, “The Jewish Americans,” and a tribute to Meyer Levin, the
American-Jewish journalist and filmmaker who made “The Illegals” and “My
Father's House.”.
2008: In
Washington, D.C. the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue (formerly the home of
Adas Israel), hosts Shalshelet's 3rd International Festival of New Jewish
Liturgy.
2008 (16
Kislev 5769) Ann Gilbert (Chana Zylberstajn), 84, of Cedar Rapids and Los
Angeles passed away in Cedar Rapids at the age of 84. Ann is survived by her
husband of 62 years, Fred; a son, Jack Gilbert of Albany, Calif.; and two
daughters, Doris (Gary) Gilbert-Stieger of San Francisco and Lena Gilbert of
Springville. She was preceded in death by her parents; and brothers and
sisters, who all perished during World War II. Ann was born in Szydlowiec,
Poland, to Josek and Laja Zylberstajn. Ann was a Holocaust survivor. She spent
over four years in concentration camps and was liberated in April 1945. She
married Fred Gilbert (Felek Gebotszrajber) on Jan. 2, 1946, in Scwabisch Hall,
Germany. Ann was a consummate homemaker, an accomplished seamstress, and devoted
to her family. She and Fred lived in Cedar Rapids from 1949 to 1986, where she
was an active member of Temple Judah and in the community. She was a lifetime
member of Hadassah. From 1986 to 2003, Ann and Fred lived in Los Angeles, where
she was a much sought after seamstress to film and motion picture stars. Ann
and Fred were also very active in the survivor community. They were regular
speakers at the Simon Wiesenthal Center-Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. She
and Fred lectured frequently about their experiences. In 2003, she and Fred
returned to Cedar Rapids to be near to Lena. Ann remained a constant source of
inspiration and will be greatly missed.
2009: In
Iowa City, the Agudas Achim Players present” Zayda Was A Cowboy” which, along
with a catered Latkes dinner adds to the enjoyment of the third night of
Chanukah.
2009: Adele Steiner read from her work as part of the Iota Poetry
Series held at the Iota Club & Café in Arlington, Virginia.
2009:
Closing night of the 20th Annual Washington Jewish Film Festival
includes a showing of “The Gift of Stalin” and a Chanukah Party.
2009: The
24th Annual New York Israeli Film Festival comes to a close with the screening
of several cinematic offers including “Jaffa,” the featured closing night film.
2009: The
New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including Why The Dreyfus Affair Matters
by Louis Begley and Emancipation: How Liberating
Europe’s Jews From the Ghetto Led to Revolution and Renaissance by Michael
Goldfarb.
2009:
Wonderland Express Hanukkah Dinner and Concert featuring the local Jewish band
Spirit Orchestra takes place at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, Illinois
2009: In
Philadelphia Chana Rothman, Naomi Less and Sarah Aroeste are the featured
musicians in Lights Ignite Change at the World Café.
2009: At
the Sephardic Musical Festival it is Ladino Night featuring Rivka Amado &
Elie Massias at the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue.
2010: Damon Linker is scheduled to present a program entitled
“The Religious Test: Why We Must Question the Beliefs of Our Leaders” at the
Historic 6th & I Synagogue in Washington, DC.
2010:
Mollie Berch is scheduled to deliver a talk entitled “American Jews and the
Great Depression” in Silver Spring, MD.
2010: Lord
Sacks’ retirement as Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom was announced today
2010: In a
story entitled “Faith in The Game,” Sports Illustrated reviews Jews and
Baseball: An American Love Story, “a new film that illuminates the Jewish
to the national pastime.” Written by Ira
Berkow, narrated by Dustin Hoffman, the film includes a rare interview with
Dodger great Sandy Koufax and Al Rosen, the Cleveland all-star third basemen
who spoke frankly about dealing with anti-Semitism.
2011:
“Grace Paley: Collect Shorts” is scheduled to be shown at the National Museum
of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, PA.
2011: “Tea
and Talmud” sponsored by the Touro Synagogue Sisterhood is scheduled to take
place in New Orleans, LA.
2011: Anat
Hoffman, Director of the Union for Reform Judaism’s Religious Action Center in
Jerusalem for the past ten years, is scheduled to deliver a talk on the
struggle for equality and women’s rights in Israel at the Northern Virginia
Hebrew Congregation in Reston, VA.
2011: Jerry
Abramson “took office as the 55th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky.”
2011: Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called an emergency discussion with Israeli defense
officials today, following an attack by right-wing activists on an IDF base in
the West Bank.
2012:
“Susan Sontag – The Glamour of Seriousness” is scheduled to be shown at the
Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival today.
2012: Under
the leadership of Lena Gilbert, a Chanukah Menorah Lighting Ceremony is
scheduled to take place in Springville, Iowa.
2012: In
what is the third and final public menorah lighting in North Dakota, this
ceremony is scheduled to take place tonight at Bismarck, the state capital.
2012: Violinist Pinchas Zukerman, cellist Amanda Forsyth and
pianist Angela Cheng are scheduled to perform in Palm Beach, FL at a benefit
sponsored by the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
2012(29th
of Kislev, 5773): Fifth Day of Chanukah
2012: “UCLA
announced that David Geffen had donated another $100 million in addition to his
2002 donation of $200 million, making him the largest individual benefactor for
the UC system.”
2012(29th
of Kislev, 5773): Ninety-three-year-old French mountain climber Maurice Herzog
passed away today. (As reported by Bruce Weber)
2012:
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman denied that he was guilty of charges brought
by Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein that he was guilty of fraud and breach of
the public trust.
2012: The
border policewoman who fatally shot a Palestinian teen in Hebron today is
content with how she performed her duty, even as it emerged that Muhammad al-
Salaymeh was armed only with a toy pistol. Nobody has explained why he was
carrying a toy pistol; let alone why he would point it at the Border Police.
2012:
President Obama is scheduled to host a Chanukah party in the White House. Per
the request of the President, “a 90-year-old menorah from a temple on Long
Island that was ravaged by Hurricane Sandy will be displayed at a Hanukkah
party…as a symbol of perseverance and hope for the holidays.” (As reported by
Michael Schwirtz)
2013:
In Iowa City, Penfield Books is schedule to host a reception for several local
authors including three members of Agudas Achim : Arthur Canter for his
World War II memoir, Flap Dog: A World War II
Odyssey of a Communications Interceptor, Miriam Canter for her newly
revised cookbook Dazzling Desserts and ,and Vida Brenner author of the
book for children The Magic Music Shop.
2013
The Maxwell Street Klezmer Band is scheduled to perform at the UIHC.
2013:
In keeping with its annual tradition, Keren Kayemet LeIsrael-Jewish National
Fund
(KKL-JNF) is scheduled to start distributing Christmas trees at Ras El E'ain
next to Kfar Rama (Wadi Salama)
2013:
“Copying Beethoven” and “Bethlehem” are scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem
Jewish Film Festival.
2013(10th
of Tevet): Asarah B'Tevet,
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/102698/jewish/10-Tevet.htm
http://www.ou.org/chagim/roshchodesh/tevet/fast.htm
2013(10th
of Tevet, 5774): Yarhrzeit Judith “Judy” Rosenstein (nee Levin) a woman of
valor – gone too soon but always remembered
2013(10th
of Tevet, 5774): Eighty-year-old Hugh Nissenson whose “books were immersive
journeys that often explored religion, particularly Judaism” passed away today.
(As reported by William Yardley)
2013:
US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Prime Minister Benjamin this morning
in Jerusalem amid a severe winter storm which has left thousands without power
and stranded hundreds of travelers on roads leading to and from the capital.
2014:
Shabbat Va-yayshev
2014(21st
of Kislev, 5775): Ninety-five-year-old photographer Phil Stern passed away
today.
http://variety.com/2014/film/news/phil-stern-dead-photographer-1201379157/
http://www.philsternarchives.com/
2014:
The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio is scheduled to perform at the 92nd
Street Y.
2014:
At NYU’s Kimmel Center The Workmen’s Circle is scheduled to host its Annual
Winter Reception where it will honor Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett,
“distinguished professor, scholar, author, and Program Director of the
brand-new Core Exhibition at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.”
2014:
“The Israeli bridge delegation won the gold medal at the Sportaccord World Mind
Games in Beijing today. This is the first time in the history of the games that
Israel has won first place, and the delegation beat out some of the best card
players in the competition.” (As reported by Roi Yanovksy
2014:
“A Palestinian driver slammed his car into a concrete barrier at a hitchhiking
post popular with IDF soldiers near a military post in the southern West Bank.”
2015(1st
of Tevet, 5776): Rosh Chodesh Tevet
2015(1st
of Tevet, 5776): Eighty-nine-year-old “Donald Weinstein, one of the pioneering
postwar American historians who made the Italian Renaissance a premier area of
study” passed away today in Tucson, Arizona
http://www.rsa.org/blogpost/856879/235182/Donald-Weinstein-Historian-of-Civic-Religion
2015:
In North Bethesda, MD, B’nai Israel Congregation is scheduled to host a meeting
of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington which will include a
presentation by Barry Nove on “The Ellis Island Immigrant Experience.”
2015:
US, Canadian, and Israeli envoys in Budapest joined a crowd of Jewish
organizations today protesting the erection of a statute of Balint Homan “an
interwar period historian and politician, known for his eight volume history of
Hungary, the drafting of the anti-Jewish laws adopted in Hungary, and his
support of the German invasion of the USSR in 1941.
2015:
Stage 48 is scheduled to host Dor Chadash and Hadag Nahash - one of Israel's
most popular hip-hop bands - for an unforgettable Chanukah party!
2015:
The 47th Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies is
scheduled to open at the Sheraton Hotel in Boston, MA.
2015:
Donald Burris is scheduled to deliver an address on “Unresolved Issues of the
Twentieth Century - The Quest for the Repatriation of Nazi-Looted Art” at the
55th annual meeting of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater
Washington.
2015:
“In a lecture-concert, Orin Grossman (Fairfield University) and the artists of
the Sidney Krum Concert Series are scheduled to explore three giants of
American music and the Jewish influences on their work: Aaron Copland
(1900-1990), George Gershwin (1898-1937), and Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990).”
2015:
Curator Shiri B. Sandler, U.S. director of the Auschwitz Jewish Center at the
Museum of Jewish Heritage, is scheduled to present a gallery talk in
conjunction with the visiting exhibit A Town Known as Auschwitz at the Yiddish
Book Center.
2016:
The YIVO Institute is scheduled to present “The Yiddish Theatre in America and
Poland Between the Two World Wars” during which “Scholar-in-Residence, Alyssa
Quint, will share her impressions of YIVO’s vast Esther Rachel Kaminska Theater
Museum Archive and will offer insights about the colossal achievement of the
trans-Atlantic interwar Yiddish stage, focusing on the most important theater
centers in New York, Warsaw, Lodz, and Vilna.”
2016:
The Foundation for Jewish Studies and the Jewish Historical Society are
scheduled to present a screening of “Bulgarian Rhapsody,” that tells “a story of teenage love and friendship told against the
backdrop of the Holocaust, which was Bulgaria's submission for the Oscar for
the Best Foreign Language Film” as part of the Washington Jewish Film Festival.
2017: Janet Yellin ,“the first woman to serve as the head of the
Federal Reserve Board” is scheduled to preside over the Board’s “last meeting
of the year.”
2017(25th of Kislev, 5778): As rockets are fired from
Gaza into Israel, observance of the first day of Chanukah
2017(25th of Kislev, 5778): Eighty-year-old Bette
Howland, a “recently re-discovered author” who was a protégé of Saul Bellow
passed away today. (As reported by Neil Genzlinger)
2017(25th of Kislev, 5778) Eighty-four-year-old
historian and author Gerald Tulchinsky passed away today in Kingston, Ontario.
https://www.cjnews.com/news/canada/gerald-tulchinsky-historian-canadian-jewry-dies-84
2017: Ninety-year-old New Orleans born producer Martin Ranshoff
who was responsible for one of the best movies ever – “The Americanization of
Emily” – as well as some of the corniest sit-coms passed away today.
2017: Six13 and The Maccabeats are among the groups scheduled to
perform at Temple Emanu-El Chanukah Party
2018: Thanks to support of the Stravinsky Institute Foundation and
the Blavatnik Family Foundation, the Center for Jewish History is scheduled to
host “Unique Voices: Songs and Piano Trios”
featuring the Phoenix Chamber Ensemble.
2018: The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center is
scheduled to host “The Holocaust and North Africa, during which “Dr. Boum,
Associate Professor of Anthropology at UCLA, and a native of Morocco, will
discuss this little known, yet pivotal episode of the Holocaust, as it unfolded
off the European continent across North Africa.”
2018: Prof. Anita Norich (2018-19 NEH Senior Scholar at CJH,
University of Michigan) is scheduled to deliver keynote lecture, “If Not Now,
When? Turning to Gender in Jewish Studies” as a part of the colloquium “The
Gender Turn in Jewish Studies” at the New School.
2008: The world premiere of Academy Award winner Aaron Sorkin’s
new play, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, is scheduled to take place this
evening at the Sam S. Shubert Theatre in New York this evening.
2018(5th of Tevet, 5779): Ninety-two-year-old “Noah
Klieger, a journalist for the Yedioth Ahronoth daily and an Auschwitz survivor
who wrote for decades about the Holocaust” passed away today.
https://www.jpost.com/Jerusalem-Report/Holocaust-hero-Noah-Klieger-as-I-remember-him-575934
2018:
As Jews arise this morning, they can contemplate the dizzy events of the last
twenty-four hours that included burial of “an infant boy” who had been
delivered prematurely after his mother had been wounded in terrorist attack
last weekend, the sentencing of Michael Cohen and the declaration by the
rioters in France that Jews are the cause of all their woes (except in Salzburg
where a Islamist gunman attacked the city’s famed Christmas market).
2019:
In Boston, “the Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center in partnership with the
Jewish Arts Collaborative is scheduled to host “Growing up Jewish Indian: A
Shabbat Experience with Siona Benjamin.”
2019:
In Chicago, this evening, the URJ Biennal is scheduled to include Kabbalat
Shabbat, followed by Shabbat Dinner and Song Session.
2019:
In Boston, “Shabbat at TimeOut Market” is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
2019:
It was reported today, that yesterday, Gurbir Grewal, the New Jersey Attorney
General has said the attack on the kosher market in Jersey City “is being
investigated as an act of domestic terrorism.”
2020(27th
of Kislev, 7801): Third day of Chanukah
2020:
STANDWITHUS is scheduled to present on the “International Live Gala: Standing
Together Against Anti-Semitism.”
2020:
YIDDISHKAYT Los Angeles is scheduled to be live streaming a memorial event
along with the Yiddish Book Center, featuring David Schneer’s many musical and
scholarly collaborators, including Jewlia Eisenberg, Anna Shternshis and Psoy
Korolenko, as well as some of David’s teachers, friends, and students.
2020:
“This year’s Festival des Andalousies-Atlantiques which will be virtual with
the festival’s original dynamic and world-class artists” is scheduled to begin
this afternoon.
2020:
In London, as part of its 8 Digital Nights of Hanukah, the Jewish Museum is
scheduled to present Rabbi Mendy Korer of Chabad Islington.
2020:
In Little Rock, Chabad is scheduled to host its Chanukah Menorah Car Ride.
2020:
The New York Times features reviews
of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish authors
including the recently released paperback edition of Life Isn’t Everything
Mike Nichols, as Remembered by 150 of His Closest Friends, edited by Ash
Carter and Sam Kashner.
2020:
The Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines is scheduled to host a virtual
Chanukah Celebration with a Beit Seer Shalom Chanukah Event.”
2020:
The Book Festival of the Marcus JCC of Atlanta and the National JCC Literary
Consortium are scheduled to present Peter Frampton, author of the memoir “Do
You Feel Like I Do?”
2020:
In Sydney, Australia, Shalom is scheduled to host “Adamama Turns 1, “an event
marking the first anniversary of this farming project.
2021:
The London School of Jewish Studies is scheduled to present Dr Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz
who will lecture on 'Chalk, Cabbages & Cheese' “an exploration into the
Alter, the Steinzaltz and the Sacks Torah, the three most recently published
English translations of the Tanach.”
2021:
The Baryshnikov Arts Center is scheduled the first online screening Israeli
choreographer Ella Rothschild’s “filmed dance theatre work, Pigulim.”
2021:
The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute at the Center for Jewish
History is scheduled to sponsor “Family History Today: Mid-1800’s American
Jewish Genealogy Research-Resources and Considerations.”
2022:
In Cedar Rapids, IA, Temple Judah is scheduled to host an session the “People
Love Dead Jews study group.”
2022:
The Jewish Book Council is scheduled to host a Launch Party, celebrating the
2023 issue of Paper Brigade.”
2022:
In Columbus, OH, Congregation Tifereth Israel is scheduled to host via Zoom and
in person an “in-depth learning and conversation about 613 commandments in the
Torah.
2022(19th
of Kislev, 5783): The "New Year" of Chassidism
19
Kislev: The "New Year" of Chassidism - Chabad.org
2022:
The Gibney Company is scheduled to present the first performance of Yag 2022, an adaptation of Israeli Ohad Naharin’s 2016
masterwork.
2022:
The Museum at Eldridge Street is scheduled to present via Zoom “a learning
session with Rabbi Aviad Bodner, in preparation for Chanukah, as we explore
what this holiday is REALLY all about!”
2022:
YIVO is scheduled to present a panel chaired by Alex Weiser that will share
information about four festivals and workshops that featured Yiddish music and
klezmer.
2022:
Based on previously published reports, today Israelis are contemplating how
they will live in a country where electricity is only generated six out of
every seven days.
2023(1st of Tevet, 5784): Rosh Chodesh Tevet, Sixth Day of Chanukah
2023:
In Metairie, LA, Shir Chadash is scheduled to host an “Ugly Sweater Hanukah
Trivia Party.”
2023:
Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids is scheduled to hold its monthly board meeting
under the leadership of Brian Cohen.
2023:
“The all-Iowa community Hannukah Zoom event” is scheduled to take place this
evening.
2023:
The Museum at Eldridge Street is scheduled to host online “Aging Well: Legal
and Ethical Issues at the End of Life.”
2023:
As December 13 begins in Israel, the Iranian backed Houthis continue to pose a
threat as can be seen from their missile attack on a Norwegian-flagged tanker
yesterday, decent people are reminded of what started all of this thanks to the
retrieval of the bodies of two hostages that the IDF found in the tunnels of
Gaza and the Hamas held hostages begin day 68 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)
