This Day, December 28, In Jewish History by Mitchell A and Deb Levin Z"L
1235: A ritual murder massacre at
Fulda resulted in the death of 32 Jews. The Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
established an investigation at Hagenau (located in modern Alsac) to confirm or
disprove the charges. After hearing various experts, he declared that since
Jews are prohibited from eating animal blood, they would surely be banned from
using human blood. He forbade anyone from accusing Jews of this charge. Who
would have expected such logical conclusion from this particular source?
Of course, logic does not trump anti-Semitism and the blood libel continues to
this day.
1703: Mustafa II, Ottoman
Sultan passed away. During his reign,
the Turks conquered Belgrade and the Jews returned to the city. Mustafa continue the practice of his
predecessors and employed Jews a court physicians including Doctor Tobias Cohen
and Doctor Israel Koenigland
1712: In Livorno, Tuscany, Judah Moses Raphael Montefiore and Sarah Montefiore gave birth to Moses
Vita-Haim Montefiore who settled in England and was the husband of Esther
Hannah Magood Montefiore
1753(3rd of Tevet,
5514): Eighth Day of Chanukah observed as Major George Washington and French
Army Captain Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre are exchanging letters asserting
the claims of their respective government to the lands along the Ohio River
which will lead to the French and Indian War which will lead to the American
Revolution which will lead to the French Revolution.
1757(17th of Tevet,
5518): Moses Ben Aaron also known as Moses Lwow who was embroiled in
controversy between Frederick William I and the elders of the Berlin Jewish
community and who later successfully served as chief rabbi of
Frankfort-on-the-Oder passed away today while serving as “Landesrabbiner"
of Moravia
1769(29th of
Kislev, 5530): Fifth Day of Chanukah observed for the first time after the
adoption of Oxford edition of the Kings
James Bible edited by Benjamin Blayney, which became the standard for this text
that provided so many people, Jew and Gentile alike, with the sounds of the
TaNaCh.
1772(2nd of Tevet.
5533): Twenty years after Aaron Aaron Lopez , a ship owner, was naturalized in
Massachusetts (at Taunton, 1752), making him the first Jew to be so selected,
the Eighth Day of Chanukah was observed
on the same day that the citizens of Pembroke, MA held a town meeting which adopted the “Boston Pamphlet” and
established a Committee of Correspondence which was one of the early steps on
the path to the American Revolution.
1776(18th Tevet,
5537): On the same day that Parashat Vayechi was read in the synagogue General
Washington held a council of war at
which his generals decided to defend Trenton from the British troops under Lord
Cornwallis on the third of what some consider to be the most ten crucial day of
the American Revolution which was supported by most American Jews.
1777(28th of
Kislev, 5538): Fourth Day of Chanukah
1777: Dorcas Harrison and
Thomas Williams gave birth to William Williams, the husband of Phebe Harrison
and father of William Williams, Jr.
1779: Jacob de Beer “was
employed today by the Dutch East India Company
1782: In Newport, RI, Jochabed
Levy and Moses Mendes Seixas gave birth to Abigail Seixas.
1788(29th of
Kislev, 5549): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1788:
In Prague, Israel Landau and Serel Duschenes gave birth to printer, publisher,
and lexicographer Moses Israel Landau, the husband of Rivka Landau and the
grandson of Ezekiel Landau.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9608-landau
1791(2nd of Tevet,
5552): 8th day of Chanukah observed five days after the creation of
the Pale of Settlement, one of the major acts of anti-Semitism of the 18th
and 19th century.
1794: Birthdate of Charleston,
SC native Rachel Salomon, the wife of David Lewis and the mother of Judith and
Rachel Lewis.
1795: In Charleston, SC, Sarah
and Abraham Moise gave birth to Rachel Moise, the mother Jacqueline Ellen Levy.
1796(28th of
Kislev, 5557): Fourth Day of Chanukah observed for the last time during the
presidency of George Washington.
1798: Eliza Judah and New York
native Moses Myers gave birth to Augusta Myers, the wife of Philip I. Cohen
with whom she had eight children.
1799(30th of
Kislev, 5560): Parashat Miketz; Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of Chanukah
1799: In Germany, Schiene and
Moses Froehlich gave birth to Levy Froehlich, the husband of Getta Katz and the
father of Joseph, Regina, Gerson and Moses Froehlich.
1800(12th of Tevet, 5561):
Aaron Philip Hart, considered to be “the father of Canadian Jewry” passed away.
1802: In Strasbourg, Alsace,
France Adelaide Cerfbeer and Auguste Ratisbonne gave birth to Théodor
Ratisbonne a member of a prominent
Jewish banking family who was baptize in 1826, ordained in 1830 and who founded
the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion.
1803: Today’s London
Chronicle contained “an order from Mr. Secretary Yorke to the effect that all
aliens desiring certificates were to be referred to the Aliens Office in Crown
Court, with the exception of Jews, who were to apply at their synagogues.”
1807(27th of
Kislev, 5568): Third Day of Chanukah
1810(1st of Tevet,
5561): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; 7th day of Chanukah
1811:
Civil rights were extended to Jews in Frankfurt, one of the most venerable
Jewish communities in Europe. The change was initiated by a number of
distinguished Jews including Meyer Anschel Rothschild; the result was that the
New Duchy of Frankfort passed a law granting Jews "Civic rights and
privileges equally with other citizens." The signing only took place after
Rothschild and his co-religionist agreed to pay 400,000fl to the French
official making the decision.
1814:
Birthdate of journalist and convert to Christianity Samuel Phillips, a literary
critic with the Times of London and author of the novel Caleb Sukely,
1815(26th
of Kislev, 5576): Second Day of Chanukah
1815:
Mordecai ben Samuel Nathan married Zischa bat Moshe Israel at the Western
Synagogue.
1822:
Birthdate of Isaac Trenel, the Metz born rabbi who studied at Marmoutier under
his uncle Jacob Haguenauer, a famous Talmudist and who was appointed assistant to the chief rabbi of
Paris, and in 1856 director of the Ecole Centrale Rabbinique, which was
transferred to Paris in 1859 where he remained until his death in 1890.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14496-trenel-isaac
1825:
Birthdate of Jindřich Opper, the native of Boheima who gained fame as Henri
Blowitz, the naturalized Frenchman who became a journalist and diplomat who
covered the Franco-Prussian War and the Congress of Berlin.
1827(10th
of Tevet, 5588): Asara B’Tevet
1827:
Birthdate of German native Morritz Nelki, the father of Julius Nelki.
1828:
Birthdate of Joseph (Josef) Ritter von Weilin the native of Tetin who became a
note Viennese dramatist and historian.
1828:
Having passed away on Shabbat, Myer Hayman was buried today at the Brompton
(Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.
1828(22nd
of Tevet, 5589): Forty-five-year-old Judith Jacobs, the German first wife and
Samuel Ottenheimer and the mother of Jette Ottenheimer passed away today.
1828: In
Kent Road, London, Amelia Jacbos and Daniel Levy gave birth to Catherine Levy.
1830:
Birthdate of German native Augusta Lasker, the wife of Samuel Lasker, who
settled in Little Rock where she was the mother to Esther, Bettie, Harry Sallie
and Henry Lasker.
1831: In
Württemberg, Germany, Bernard Frankfurter, the son of Moses Levi Frankfurter
and Mirjam Landauer and his wife, Esther Frank, gave birth to Nannett
Frankfurter
1832(6th of Tevet,
5586): “Gitlel bar Abraham” was buried in the “Hope Street old burial ground”
after she had passed away today.
1832: John C. Calhoun, who
as Secretary of State appointed philo-Semite Warder Cresson (and future convert
to Judaism) to serve as U.S. Consul to Jerusalem completed his term as Vice
President of the United States today.
1833:
Joseph Moses Levy, the chief proprietor of
the Sunday Times and his
wife Esther (née Cohen) gave birth to Edward Levy-Lawson
Burnham who was put in charge of the Daily
Telegraph which was deliberately priced at one penny, making it the
cheapest and the largest circulated paper in Britain, surpassing the Times.
1836:
South Australia and Adelaide are founded.
Jews were among the earliest settlers.
Among them may have been Solomon Emanuel who would become a successful
merchant was convicted of house-breaking in 1817 and sentenced to “seven years
of transportation” and his brother Vaiben who had been convicted of larceny at
the same time.
1837(30th
of Kislev, 5598): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; 6th Day of Chanukah
1839:
Phoebe Simmons and Abraham Marks gave birth to Sarah Marks.
1842:
Samuel Solomon married Rosetta Hart today at Canterbury, Kent.
1843: In
Vienne, Moritz Moses Jacob von Goldschmidt and Anna Netti von Goldschmidt gave birth
to Salomon Goldschmidt.
1843(5th
of 5604): Sixty-three-year-old David Cromelien, the Amsterdam native passed
away today in Philadelphia, PA.
1844(18th
of Tevet, 5605): Parashat Vayehci
1845(29th
of Kislev, 5606): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1845:
Three days after he had passed away, David Hart was buried today at the Balls
Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.
1846: Iowa
enters the Union as the 29th state. “Iowa was reported to have
suffered an ‘invasion’ of Jewish peddlers; about a hundred of them arrived in
the first decade after statehood. The
peddlers who hailed from Eastern Europe had one center, those from German
another. The first congregation arose in
1855 in Keokuk which the ‘Eastern European’ center.” Iowa’s two most famous
Jews were born in Sioux City and are known to the world as Dear Abbey and Ann
Landers. Until 2008, Iowa was home to the largest kosher slaughtering operation
in the United States.
1848(3rd
of Tevet, 5609): Joseph Emanuel passed away today in Whitechapel, London, after
which he was buried the next day at the Brady Street Jewish Cemetery.
1849:
Birthdate of Saul Abdoolah Joseph, the husband of Sophia Joseph, who as buried
in the Happy Valley Jewish Cemetery in Hong Kong when he passed away in 1906.
1851: In
New York August Belmont, who was Jewish and Caroline Sllidell gave birth to
U.S. diplomat and politician Perry Belmont. Belmont led the life a privileged,
well-connected gentile.
1852:
Henry FitzRoy, the son-in-law of Nathan Mayer Rothschild, became
Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department.
1852:
Lord Palmerston, who as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs had come
to the defense of David Pacifico which led him to make a celebrated speech
which concluded that all British subjects ought to be able to say, as did
citizens of ancient Rome, "Civis Romanus sum" ("I am a citizen
of Rome"), and thereby receive protection from the British government”
began serving as Home Secretary today.
1853(27th
of Kislev, 5614) Third Day of Chanuka celebrated on the same day that Teacher,
minister, author and civil rights leader Thomas McCants Stewart was born in
Charleston, South Carolina
https://www.bet.com/article/jsapx6/this-day-in-black-history-dec-28-1853
1856:
Birthdate of Thomas Woodrow Wilson. To
the world, Wilson is famous for the New Freedom, his leadership of America
during World War I and the Fourteen Points.
For Jews, his greatest claim to fame was naming Louis Brandeis as a
Supreme Court Justice. Wilson was also the
first President to publicly endorse a national Jewish philanthropic campaign.
In a letter to Jacob Schiff, on November 22, 1917, Wilson called for wide
support of the United Jewish Relief Campaign which was raising funds for
European War relief.
1859(2nd
of Tevet, 5620): Eighth Day of Chanukah
1859:
Angelina Levy and Edward Ludwig Goetz gave birth to Lucy Esther Goetz.
1859:
Fifty-nine-year-old British historian, MP and Cabinet Minister Thomas Babington
Macaulay who in 1830 “spoke in favor of Robert Grant’s bill for the Removal of
Jewish Disabilities” passed away today.
http://www.historyhome.co.uk/people/macaulay.htm
1859: In
the United Kingdom Edward Ludwig Goetz and the former Angelina Levy gave birth
to their first child, Lucy Esther Goetz who would not live to see her second
birthday.
1859:
Today, Congregation Beth El which had been “organized as an orthodox synagogue
in 1854” which makes “the oldest Jewish house of worship” in the Lone Star
State, “obtained a charter for the Hebrew Congregation” which had 22 members
from the City of Houston.
1860: The Jewish Messenger publishes an editorial by Samuel Mayer
Isaacs supporting the Union. “The
Union...has been the source of happiness for our ancestors and ourselves. Under
the protection of the freedom guaranteed us by the Constitution, we have lived
in the enjoyment of full and perfect equality with our fellow citizens. We are
enabled to worship the Supreme Being according to the dictates of conscience;
we can maintain the position to which our abilities entitle us, without our religious
opinions being an impediment to advancement. This Republic was the first to
recognize our claims to absolute equality, with men of whatever religious
denomination. Here we can sit 'each under his vine and fig tree, with none to
make him afraid.'”
1862: Cesar J. Kaskel received an order from Captain and Provost Marshall
L.J. Waddell informing him that “in pursuance of General Order No. 11…you are
hereby ordered to leave the city of Paducah, Kentucky, within twenty-four hours
after receiving this order.” (As
described by Jonathan Sarna)
1862: In Bokshsa, Poland, “Ephraim Rosenfeld and Rachel Wilchinsky” gave
birth to “Moshe Jacob Alter” later known as Morris Rosenfeld, the sweat shop
tailor and diamond cutter turned journalist who became editor of the Jewish
World and a delegate to several Zionist Congresses and raised a family with his
wife Bella Guttenberg.
https://www.poemhunter.com/morris-rosenfeld/biography/
1863: In Germany, Benjamin Jaffa and Lea Jaffe gave birth to Nathan Jaffa,
the husband of Esther Jaffa with whom he had three children – Julia, Elanor and
Arthur -- who in 1878 came to the United
States where he eventually settled in what is now the state of New Mexico
where, among other things he served as a regent of the University of New Mexico
and Mayor of Santa Fe.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jaffa-2
1864(29th of Kislev, 5625): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1864: In Taurogen, Russia, Isaac Epstein and his wife gave birth to Jacob
Epstein the husband of Lena Weinberg who was the “founder and proprietor of the
Baltimore Bargain House” as well as the Director of the Hebrew Benevolent
Society and the Hebrew Friendly Inn and Aged Home.
1864: In San Francisco, Hannah Marks and Gershom Siexas Solomons gave
birth to Lucius L. Solomons the California lawyer who married Helen Frank,
served as President of the San Francisco World’s Fair Association and held
several positions of Jewish communal leadership including grand president,
District No. 4, Independent Order of B’nai B’rith.
1865(10th of Tevet, 5628): Asara B’Tevet observed for the
first time during the President of Andrew Johnson.
1866: In Cologne, Germany, textile merchant Joseph Wallach and the former
Marianne Levy gave birth to Dr. Moshe Wallach, brought modern techniques to
Jerusalem where he founded and directed Shaare Zedek Hospital for almost half a
century.
1870: Birthdate of Abraham Ber Goldenson, the native of Lithuania who
“served the Nusach Hari shul, St. Louis, Missouri as their head rabbi for over
13 years from 1918 to 1931.”
1871: In Cincinnati, OH, Delia Fechheimer and Arnold Iglauer gave birth
to University of Cincinnati graduate of and Medical College of Ohio trained
physician Samuel Iglauer, the husband of Helen Ransohoff Iglauer, whom he
married in 1906 and with whom he had two children – Charles and Helen -
who in 1916 became Professor and
Director of Laryngology at the College of Medicine at the University of
Cincinnati.
1872(28th of Kislev, 5633): Parashat Miketz; Fourth Day of
Chanukah
1872: In Poland, Bertha Zippora Rosen and Baruch Emanuel Cassen gave
birth to Henry Meyer Cassen who in 1885 came to the United States where “he
worked in sweatshops and as a telegraph messenger” before becoming “a clothing
cutter” who became the Secretary of the Utopia Land Company and the husband of
Bessie Freed.
1873: It was reported today that Anshe Chesed, one of New York’s oldest
and most traditional congregations is merging with Temple Adath Jeshrurn, one
of the city’s leading Reform congregations. Anshe Chesed is commonly known as
the Norfolk Street Congregation.
1873: In
Latvia, Minna Gelhaar and Phillip Jaches gave birth to NYU Law School graduate
and Columbia University trained radiologist Leopold Jaches who served as an officer in the U.S. Army
medical corps during WW I.
1874(28th of Tevet, 5635): Thirty-six-year-old “German-American
pianist,” Pauline Weiler, the Stuttgart born daughter Leonore Seligsberg and
Cantor Moritz Eichberg, the sister of harpist Bertha Eichberg and soprano Julie
Rosenwald and the wife of Alexander Weiller who studied under Anton Rubenstein
and Giacomo Meyerber and who came to the United States in 1859 passed away
today in Baltimore after having given birth to their fourth child.
1875(30th of Kislev, 5636): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of Chanukah
1875: In Teddington, Middlesex, Bessie Ellis and Isidore Levaux gave birth
to Montague Vivian Ellis Levaux.
1877: Frdericka and Michel Schwabacher gave birth Lt. Herman Shaw who
died of his wounds in France while serving with the Royal Engineers.
1878(2nd of Tevet, 5639): 8th & final day of Chanukah
1879: In Camden, London, Frderika
Sternberg and Michel Schwabacher gave birth to University of London student
Herman Shaw who enlisted in the Royal Marin out the outbreak of WWI and died of
his wounds in 1917.
1879: William Waddington, who had provided Laurence Oliphant with a
letter addressed to the Sultan expressing support for Oliphant’s plan for
large-scale settlement of Jews in Palestine which would improve the economy of
the Ottoman Empire, completed his term as the 42nd Prime Minister of
France.
1881: In Rochester, NY, founding of the Eureka Club whose members
included Joseph Michaels, Charles L. Blum, Herman C. Cohn and Charles L. Blum.
1882: Eighty-two-year-old German orientalist and student of Semitic
languages Justus Olshausan who in 1861 authored a textbook of the Hebrew
language ("Lehrbuch der hebräischen Sprache") passed away today.
https://www.biblicalcyclopedia.com/O/olshausen-justus.html
1883(29th of Kislev, 5644): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1883: Birthdate of Lithuanian Israel Isidor Mattuck who was ordained at
Hebrew Union College before moving to Great Britain where he served as the
rabbi of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in London for 35 years.
1883: In Sharon, PA, Ezekiel and Ida (Rabinowitz) Warshawsky gave birth
to Cleveland and Paris trained artist Abel George Warshawasky, the husband of
Valentine Francoise Landelle.
http://www.artnet.com/artists/abel-george-warshawsky/
https://case.edu/ech/articles/w/warshawsky-abel-and-alexander
1884: “Louis Kossuth Living” published today dispelled the recent rumors
of his death while describing the accomplishments of his life.
1884: Three days after he had passed away, 65-year-old Michael Nathan,
the husband of Sarah Green and the father of Simon Nathan, was buried today at
the “West Ham Jewish Cemetery.”
1885: Fifty-four-year-old Jules Glaser, a leading Austrian jurist and
statesman passed away today. Glaser had converted from Judaism to Christianity
because the attitude of his countrymen made it very difficult to advance
professionally and because the government would not hire him because he was
Jewish.
1885: It was reported today that there were 80,000 Jews living in New
York City; another 20,000 living in Brooklyn; and no more than 15,000 living in
Philadelphia. At the same time, there
are approximately two million Jews living in Russia
1885: “The Proposed Jewish College” published today described the
decision of Philadelphia’s Rabbi Sabato Morais “to visit the rabbis and
influential Jews in New York and Brooklyn” to discuss the need to establish a
college “to offset the liberal tendencies of the Hebrew Union College in
Cincinnati.”
1885: Based on information that first appeared in The Argonaut, it was
reported today that Benjamin Disraeli and his wife attended a dinner where Mrs.
Disraeli sat next to Bernal Osborne.
When the men were alone after dinner, Osborn said to Disraeli, “Good
God! What possessed you to marry that
woman?” After a lengthy pause Disraeli
replied, “Partly, Osborne, for reason which you are incapable of understanding
– gratitude!” (Like Disraeli, Osborne was a Sephardic Jew and English
politician who had converted to Christianity.)
1885: “The Source of Republican Ideas” published today provided a lengthy
review of The Origin of Republican Form of Government in the United States
of America by Oscar Straus, leading Jewish businessman who was active in the
Republican Party.
1886(1st of Tevet, 5647): Seventh Day of Chanukah; Rosh
Chodesh Tevet
1886: Birthdate of Chicago “furniture merchant” Aaron D. Bernstein
1887: In Buffalo, NY, Sarah Davis and Joseph B. Levyn gave birth to
University of Maryland trained physician and X-ray specialist Lester Levyn, the
Vice President of the Jewish Federation of Social Service and a roentgenologic
at Buffalo City Hospital.
1887: The Brooklyn Board of Estimates met today and awarded funds to a
variety of public charities including $111.68 to the Hebrew Benevolent Asylum
and $78.80 to the Hebrew Benevolent
Association
1888: Pianist Moriz Rosenthal is scheduled to perform this afternoon at
the Academy of Music.
1888: “To His Hebrew Brethren” published today provided Elliott F.
Shepard’s description of Palestine which he had visited in 1885. The climax of the trip came when his party
visited Jerusalem a city of 210 ten acres surrounded by walls that were 32 feet
high. It seemed odd that a city that was now “the size of a New Hampshire farm”
had once been allegedly home to 2,300,000 souls. (Where Shepard found that
figure is not disclosed in his discourse.)
1888: It was reported today that the Industrial School at 177 East
Broadway is an institution supported by the Jews of New York City that
currently provides different kinds of manual training to anywhere from 130 to
150 girls so that they may “support themselves.”
1889(5th of Tevet, 5650): Seventy-year-old
Jacob Lagowitz passed away today in New York City. Born at Frankfort in 1819, he came to the
United in 1849 and started a company that manufactured trunks and luggage. He
was a Director of the First National Bank of Newark and leaves behind a widow
and seven daughters.
1890: Birthdate of
Safed native and University of Minnesota trained attorney Haim Margalith who married Rose Finkelstein after meeting
her on cruise in the 1960’s and who eventually returned to Israel where he is
buried on the Mt. of Olives.
1890: In New York City, “Abraham
S. and Fannie (Charness) gave birth to John Marshall Law School trained
attorney who practiced law in Chicago and was so active in the city’s Jewish
affairs that he received the Julius Rosenwald Memorial Award in 1970.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-09-27-8603120347-story.html
1890: “Coroner
Ferdinand Levy” is scheduled to “deliver a lecture this evening before the
Russian-American Hebrew Association at Harris’s Assembly Rooms on East
Broadway” entitled “The Jew as a Citizen.”
1891(27th
of Kislev, 5652): Third Day of Chanukah
1891: Birthdate of
Cracow native Samuel B. Amsterdam who lived in Philadelphia and Newark, NJ.
1891: Among the
charities that received a portion of the “$75,000 in excise moneys” allocated
by the Brooklyn Board of Estimates today were Hebrew Benevolent Society of
Brooklyn, $97.22: Hebrew Benevolent Association, $65.20; Hebrew Orphan Asylum
Society, $390.
1892: At 3 p.m. Rabbi
Leopold Winter began the ceremonies dedicating the Brooklyn Orphan Asylum’s new
facility with a prayer followed by a song performed by the orphans. Among the
speakers will Dr. Edward McGlynn.
1892: In Plotsk, Wolf
Krotoshinsky and his wife gave birth to Abraham Krotoshinsky who earned a
Distinguished Service Cross for his service in World War I where he was a
member of the 77th division and part of the so-called Lost
Battalion.
1892: Birthdate of
New York native and NYU trained CPA Louis Weinstein who was active with the
YMHA.
1893: In Hessen,
Germany, Isaak Rothschild, the son of Jettchen and Perez Rothschild and his
wife Malchen Amalie Rothschild gave Berthold Rothschild.
1893(19th
of Tevet, 5654): Seventy-two-year-old Adolf Jellinik, the husband of Rosalie
Bettelheim who had died the year before and who had served as the rabbi in
Leipzig before assuming a similar position at the Leopoldstädter Tempel in
Vienna passed away today.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0011_0_10067.html
1893: The second annual meeting
American Jewish Historical Society comes to a close. The two day event was held at the Columbia
College Library Building in New York City. Among the papers presented today was
“The Family History of the Rev. David Machado” in which Taylor Phillips “traced
the family back to the time of the Inquisition, when of the members of the
family who was the physician at the Court of Portugal was imprisoned by the
Inquisitors for professing the Jewish faith” for which he was ultimately burned
at the stake.
1894: In Vienna, Rosa Volk, the
daughter of Leopold and Sofie Sara Pick and her husband Alexander Volk gave
birth to Margarite Volk.
1894: Three days after she had
passed away, 71-year-old Maria (Jacobs) Freedman, the wife of Abraham Freedman
and the mother of Emanuel and Israel Freedman was buried today at the “West Ham
Jewish Cemetery.”
1894: Sixty-three-year-old James
Graham Fair on of the Comstock Lode “silver kings” and United States Senator
from Nevada passed away today in San Francisco leaving behind numerous bequests
including “$25,000 to the Hebrew asylums in that city.”
1894: Two days after she had
passed away, 60-year-old Hannah Abrahams, “the widow of Yitzhak Meir Abrahams,”
was buried today at the “West Ham Jewish Cemetery.”
1895: As of today 14 of the 23
Jews who died in Baltimore at the fire the Front Street Theatre where Schongold
and Tansman production of the Jewish opera “Alexander” was being performed
including 50 year old Louis Amolsky, ten year old Louis Cohen, 14 year old Ida
Friedman, seven year old Theresa Goldstein and her 4 year old brother, forty
year old Mr. Levenstein, 20 year old Lena Lewis, 15 year old Sarah Rosen, 25
year old Jacob Rosenthal (a tailor), 12
year old boy only identified as Salzberg, 16 year old Sarah Siegel, 14 year old
Ida Silberman, a tailor simply identified as Wolf and 21 year old Jennie Hinkle
who was trampled death.
1896(23rd of Tevet,
5657): Eighty-six-year-old Rotterdam native and Milwaukee clothing store owner
Isaac Jonker Litt, the husband of Hendrina Speelman Lit whom he married in 1844
and with whom he had three children – Mary. Bessie and Jacob – and who was a
member of the Fraternal Sons of Israel passed away today in Milwaukee, WI.
1897: The Relief Committee of the
Board of Guardians is scheduled to meet today at 3 3:30 p.m. in London.
1898:
Birthdate of Joseph Ginsburg, the native of Kharkov who was the father of
French multi-talented artist Serge Gainsbourg.
1898:
Birthdate of Bialystok native Mischa Spoliansky, the son of an opera singer,
whose career eventually led him to Great Britain where he pursued a career as a
composer for several major motion pictures.
http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/long-bio/Mischa-Spoliansky
1899:
Herzl meets with Oscar Straus, the American ambassador to Constantinople
1898:
Mrs. Katherin J. Adams, whose murder figured prominently in David Belasco’s
play “The Man Inside” died today.
1899:
Birthdate of Jack I Poses, the native of Russia who came to the United States
in 1911 where he graduated from NYU and founded the Parfums D’Orsay Company.
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/04/obituaries/jack-i-poses-founded-parfums-d-orsay-co.html
1900(6th of Tevet, 5661): Sixty-three-year-old Samuel Salomon
Luchs, the Bavarian born son of “Seligmann Pinchas Luchs and Judith Marx Luchs,
the husband of Mary Luchs and father of Morris S Luchs; Louis M Luchs; Isaac
Luchs; Ida Blum; Albert Luchs; and Moses S Luchs passed away today in Bellaire,
OH after which he was buried in Pultney Ohio.
1901: At
the Fifth Zionist Congress in Basil, Max Nordau delivers a speech in which he
called upon the Jewish people to “build a social structure of their own and to
learn to know themselves sufficiently to think out their own future.” He lamented the fact that wealthy Jews too
often turned their back on their less fortunate co-religionists and called upon
these “millionaires” to support the causes of the Jewish people.
1902: In New York City, Ignatz Adler, “a jewelry
salesman” and his wife Clarissa, “a former schoolteacher gave birth
philosopher, author and teacher Mortimer J Adler whose accomplishments included
helping in the creation of “The Great Books of the Western World” program who
converted to Catholicism before his death.
1902: In
Bucharest, Ecaterina Gaster Revici and Tulius Revici gave birth Melania Iancu
1903: The
Times of London Moscow correspondence said that “information from a trustworthy
source at Kishineff confirms “the reports of a plot to wipe more of the
Kishineff Jews during the Russian Christmas holidays” which will be celebrated
on January 7.
1903: It
was reported today that a correspondent of The American Hebrew has warned “the
charitable against wasting “their money be responding to the heartrending
appeals for aid, usually accompanied by little olive wood boxes…sent out in
great numbers to all parts of the world by some very businesslike beggars who
have their headquarters in Jerusalem and are living well by the description of
woes which they neither share nor remedy.”
1903(9th
of Tevet, 5664): “Austro-English rabbinical preacher Joseph Kohen Zedek passed away
today.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/15208-zedek-joseph-kohen
1904:
Birthdate of Manorville, PA native and Harvard graduate Alan Daniel Grushkin,
the father of Mary Gruskin and father of Richard and Robert Grushkin who was
the “founder and director since 1932 of Midtown Galleries, 11 East 57th
Street.”
1904: It
was reported today that the newly enacted protection of “the Jews and other
unorthodox sects” is a victory for the reformers in Russia.
1904:
Birthdate of Galveston, TX native and University of Texas graduate, Dr. Hauser,
the husband of Miriam Hauser and the father of David and Daniel Hauser who rose
to be the Clinical Professor Emeritus of Radiology at Western Reserve
University’s School of Medicine.
https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/abs/10.1148/101.2.455?journalCode=radiology
1904: It
is reported from Berlin today “that proclamations have been distributed in
Ekaternioslaff calling on the Christians to destroy the Jews, who it is
declared, caused the war with Japan.”
1905(30th
of Kislev, 5666): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of Chanukah
1905:
Baron Michelham (verbally Lord) /mɪtʃ.ləm/, of Hellingly in the County of
Sussex, a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom created today for the
banker, businessman and philanthropist Sir Herbert Stern, 1st Baronet who was
head of the firm Herbert Stern & Co
1905: “At
a meeting of the National Committee for the Relief of Sufferers by Russian
Massacre held” today” at Temple Emanu-El - the first such meeting since it was
decided to collect a fund of $2,000,000 – Treasurer Jacob H. Schiff read a
communication from the Foreign Relief Committee made up of delegates from
London and Berlin” saying that it was impossible for them so visit “all the
disturbed centers in Russia” on account of the conditions in that strife-torn
country.
1905:
Henry B. Greenthal, a manufacturer of clothing at 7 Lafayette Place in New York
hosted a dinner tonight at Pacific Hall tonight, the anniversary of his birth,
for 375 employees and friends including his colleague Isaac Rubenstein who has
worked with him for 25 years.
1906:
Birthdate of Ann Rosenblatt, the native of Omaha, Nebraska who gained fame
composer and lyricist Ann Ronell “best known for the jazz standard ‘Willow Weep
for Me.’”
1906:
Seventy-nine-year-old Solomon Buber who combined life of mercantile pursuits
with a devotion to Jewish scholarship that included “fifty years of bringing to
life the hidden treasures of Israel’s literature” with a special emphasis on
“the careful editing of Midrashic literature” passed away today in his native
Lemberg.
http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Buber_Salomon
1906: The
Independent Workmen’s Circle of America, Inc. with offices in Boston, MA, was
organized today.
1906: The
first interment took place today at Mount Carmel Cemetery which has been
serving the Jewish community now for more than a century.
1906:
Seventy-three-year-old Amsterdam native “Isaac Mozes Pereira Mendoza”, the
husband of Sara Isaac Monis with whom he had had eight children was buried
today,
1907:
Birthdate of Ze’ev Woolf Goldman the native of Galicia who gained fame as
Israeli linguist and president of The Academy of the Hebrew Language Ze’ev
Ben’Haim
1907(23rd
of Tevet, 5668): Parashat Shemot
1907:
Isaac Aron Levin, the Lithuanian born son of Aba Ascher Levin and Golda Reizel
and his wife Rachel Levin to Jeanette Levin who lived to the age of 91.
1908: It
was reported today that the Grand Duchy of Finland is taking part in of it
“periodic expulsions of Hebrews.” Under Finnish law, Jews are denied the rights
of citizenship including the right buy and own land and are only “permitted to
reside in Finland under close restrictions.” The Finnish legislature has
refused to consider a measure that would abolish “Jewish disabilities.”
1908: It
was reported today that a bill has been introduced in the Finnish Legislature
that contains a clause forbidding the method used by Jews for slaughtering
kosher meat.
1909(16th
of Tevet, 5670): Jankel Kaplan passed away today.
1909: In
South Omaha, NB, two “Lithuanian immigrants” gave birth to John George
Goodman who was “the last amateur golfer
to win the U.S. Open, 90 years ago in 1933” and who “also won the U.S. Amateur
in 1937.”
1909:
Twenty-one-year-old violist and Cincinnati College of Music and Berlin Royal
Academy trained music professor, Abe Pepinsky, the Cincinnati born son of
Robert and Jennie Pepinsky married Dr. Rae Brenner today after which he served
on the faculty of St. Paul College of Music and the University of Minnesota.
1910(27th
of Kislev, 5671): Third Day of Chanukah
1910: It
was learned today that the name of William Loeb, Jr, the Collector of the Port
of New York has been acted on unfavorably the Committee on Admissions of the
Union League which has no Jewish members which is odd twist of fate since Loeb
has repeatedly denied that he is Jewish.
1911: Birthdate of Sam Levenson who parlayed his
experiences as a teacher in New York into a career as a humorist and television
star during the 1950’s.
1911:
Birthdate of Felicja Blumental. Born in Warsaw, this Polish-born Brazilian
pianist would be known for her performances of 19th-century rarities and music
by contemporary composers
1912: The
National Council of Young Israel convened for the first time. The Council was originally created to combat
the wave of assimilation by providing a palatable synagogue experience that was
user friendly to newly arrived immigrants and their subsequent
generations.
1912:
Twenty-four-year-old University of Minnesota trained attorney turned business
executive Sol Fligelman, the son of John and Antoinette (Friedman) Fligelmain
married Mayme Harris today after which “he beame active in all efforts for the
development of a Jewish Homeland in Palestine”
1912:
Birthdate of William “Willie” Rubenstein “a guard from the Bronx, who was a
three-year star for New York University (NYU) in the mid-1930s when the Violets
were one of the best teams in the country.”
1913(29th
of Kislev, 5674): Fifth Day of Chanukah.
1913: In
Toronto, Joseph and Fay Jacobivitch gave birth to Louis Harold Jacobovitch the
Canadian actor who gained fame as Lou Jacobi.
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/nyregion/25jacobi.html?_r=1
1914:
Birthdate of Dover, Kent native Thomas William Gould who as a 27-year-old petty
officer in the Royal Navy saved his ship, the HM Submarine Thrasher from
sinking in 1942 for which he was awrded the Victoria Cross, the highest award
for gallantry which was given to only three Jews during WW II.
1914: Dr.
Simon Baruch, the father of Bernard Baruch spoke at tonight’s meeting of the
Association of American Women of German Descent at the Hotel McAlpin “where he
predicted ultimate friendly relations among those engaged in the present war.”
1914:
“Lesson From Frank Case” published today provides a summary of Dr. William
Rosenau’s speech “America” The Land of Milk and Honey” where he said that
“America has meant the emancipation of the Jew” but that “occasionally there is
an outbreak showing there is still feeling against the Hebrew” of which “the
Leo M. Frank trial in Atlanta is an example.”
1914: It
was reported today that Lillian Goldman and Ephraim Simon are engaged to be
married.
1914: “A
Study in Scarlet” a silent movie version of the novel of the same name produced
by G.B. Samuelson was released in the United Kingdom today.
1914:
“Justice Lamar of the Supreme Court of the United States granted Leo M. Frank,
under the sentence of death in Atlanta, an appeal for a writ of habeas corpus
to the Supreme Court the immediate effect of” which “will be to stay Frank’s
execution which had been set for January 22.”
1914: “The
Young Men’s Hebrew Association’s campaign to raise $85,000 for a building in
the Bronx is scheduled to end today with a luncheon at noon today at the Union
Square Hotel.”
1915(21st
of Tevet, 5676): Rabbi Mordecai Feinberg passed away today in Philadelphia.
1915:
According to announcement made today at a campaign luncheon at the Union Square
Hotel, the Young Men’s Hebrew Association raised $35,000 in the last two weeks
during its campaign to raise funds for a “new clubhouse in the Bronx.”
1915: The
list of newly elected officers of the National Association of Young Judea
published today included: President, Isaac Rosengarten; Vice President, Rabbi
Louis J. Hass of Woodbine, NJ; Treasurer, Isadore Blum and Secretary, Leon
Spitz.
1915:
Washington University graduate and University of Missouri Medical College
trained ophthalmologist Meyer Wiener, the St. Lous born son of Julie Meyer and
Isidor Marcus Wiener married Marguerite E. Lesser today after which served as a
Major In WW I as the director of the School of Ophthalmology at Fort
Oglethorpe, GA.
1915 Isaac
Levy, the lawyer for Theresa Samuels who has been writing “poison pen” letter
to young married women was informed by the psychiatrist who said she “was
suffering from a form of insanity” that her “complaint will probably yield to
treatment.
1915: As
of today, it was reported that the American Jewish Relief Committee for Jews
suffering from the war has received more than $600,000 since the rally at
Carnegie Hall including $50 from the Right Rev. David H. Greer, Protestant
Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of New York.
1915: “The
Women of the Hour Committee” whose members “have volunteered to give at least
an hour a week” of raising funds to aid the suffering Jews of war-torn Europe
“launched its ‘heavy work’” today “with each woman being furnished a list of
ten possible contributors from whom she was to solicit money.”
1915: A
New York butcher Ignatz Weiss was charged with violating a law that went into
effect last September that required that meat sold as kosher must bear the
imprint of the supervising rabbi officiating at the slaughterhouse that
provided the meat. Bail was set at $100.00.
1916: A
meeting is scheduled to take place as part of the attempt to settle the dispute
between Kosher Packing Houses and the Retail Kosher Butchers Federation during
which an additional attempt will be made to reassure that charging them 15
cents a pound for kosher beef is justified. The 15 cents is 3 cents less than
the price charged when the federation announced their refusal to make any
purchases at that price, but some may feel that even that is too much.
1916(3rd
of Tevet, 5677): Sixty-nine-year-old University of Virginia graduate Moses R.
Walter, a “prominent Maryland lawyer, former President of the Baltimore Bar
Association and “an active member of the American Jewish Relief Committee for
Baltimore which raised funds for the relief of the Jews of Europe who suffered
as a result of the war” passed away today.
1916: The
order disbanding the Zion Mule Corps was issued today.
1916(3rd
of Tevet, 5677): Sixty-one-year-old Russian born Isaac Shwayder, the husband of
“Rachel Leah Kobey Shwayder” with whom he had nine children including Jesse
Shwayder, the founder of Samosonite, passed away today after which he was
buried at Mount Nebo Memorial Park in Aurora, CO.
1916: At a
luncheon held at New York’s Union Square Hotel, it was announced that the Young
Men’s Hebrew Association had raised $35,000 in the last two weeks. The funds
are part of the $85,000 that are needed to build a new clubhouse in the Bronx.
The money came from 2,500 contributors, most of whom gave $10 or less. Only
twelve contributions were larger than $100.
1917:
Rabbi Samuel Colombo sent a cablegram to Dr. Hertz, the chief rabbi of the
British Empire expressing “on behalf of the Federation of Italian Rabbis, joy
and felicitations on the capture of Jerusalem and thanking the British
Government for” the Balfour Declaration.
1917: “Having beaten back
the Turkish attempt to recapture Jerusalem, Allenby ordered his men to advance
to make the perimeters of the city secure.”
1917:
According to a cablegram which had been sent to the Jewish Daily Forward by its
correspondent in Petrograd which was published today, the Bolshevik “Government
has appropriated 2,000,000 rubles for the purpose of propagating a world-wide
revolution” and “250 military detachments have been formed to combat the
anti-Jewish outbreak throughout the country.”
1917: “In
an interview with a representative of the Jewish press” the Polish Prime
Minister “states that he is not an anti-Semite” and “that by mutual
understanding Jews in Poland will receive equal rights’ as can be seen by the
fact that the Home Secretary “would accord the same rights and privileges to
the Jewish press as are accorded to the Polish Press.
1917: At
today’s “meeting of the quinquennial convention of the Intercollegiate Menorah
Association which” is being held at Columbia University, “Chancellor Henry
Hurwitz read a letter from Israel Zangwill in which the writer criticized the
failures of those who believed that Judaism is a world mission to be presented
through their religion as to their failure to universalize their religious
teachings and observed that the Jewish religion in England ‘is kept alive only
by Christian prejudice and a Jewish superstition.’”
1918: “After
the defeat of Germany, Prime Minister Ionel Bratianu realized that the
naturalization of the Jews would be brought up again at the peace conference,
so he tried to resolve the problem by issuing a decree of naturalization today,
proclaiming individual naturalization on the lines adopted after the Congress
of Berlin.
1918:
Based on dispatches from Paris today American delegates to the Peace Conference
have given a great deal of consideration to the question of intervening in
Russia where Jews are the victims of both sides of the fighting, but they have
not reached any decision.
1918:
Bavarian born Texas merchant Alexander Sanger assumed the Presidency of Sanger
Brothers in Dallas where he had already helped to form the first Jewish
congregation in Dallas.
1918: In
an interview with a representative of the Jewish press, Polish Prime Minister Jan
Kucharzewski said, “he is not an anti-Semite” and “that by mutual understanding
Jews in Poland will receive equal rights” which includes the Home Secretary
according the same rights and privileges to the Jewish as to the Polish press.
1918:
“Medley,” “Dance,” Ragtime Echoes” and “Mouse Dance” all of which featured Des
Moines, IA native Samuel Siegel “the King of the Mandolin” were all recorded by
Victory today.
1919:
“Wanted: A Husband,” a comedy. Written by Clara Beranger, the Baltimore born
daughter of Fannie Kahn and Benjamin Strouse and produced by Adolph Zukor and Jesse Laskey was
released today in the United States.
1919:” A
meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Conference of Jewish Social Service”
is scheduled to meet at 10 A.M. at the Hotel Astor in New York Astor.
1919:
Today, Abraham Nathan, the son of Sarah Costa and Henry Nathan and the husband
of Katherine Lyons was buried at the “East Ham Jewish Cemetery.”
1920:
Birthdate of Fatima Kuinova a Bukharan Jewish Shashmakom singer who was named
"Merited Artist of the Soviet Union" who settled in Rego Park in 1980
“where she founded and was the lead vocalist for the Shashmaqom Music of the
Bukharan Jews Ensemble.”
1921(27th
of Kislev, 5682): Third Day of Chanukah
1921: Painter
Louis Gerstenheim, the Austria born son of Rosa Salie and Joseph Gerstenheim who came to the United States in 1907 and
shifted from writing Yiddish to painting in 1912 today married Katherine
Sullivan.
1921: “Orphans of the
Storm,” a silent film sent in the French Revolution, starring Joseph
Schildkraut as “Chevalier de Vaudrey” was released in the United States today.
1922: In a
New York City apartment, Celia (née Solomon) and Jack Lieber gave birth to
Stanley Martin Leiber who gained fame as Stan Lee creator of The Hulk and
Spiderman.
http://www.stanleefoundation.org/
1922: In
New York City, Romanian-born Jewish immigrant parents, Celia (née Solomon) and
Jack Lieber, gave birth to Stanley Martin Lieber, known as Stan Lee, the
creator of the cartoon figures “The Hulk” and “Spiderman.”
1922:
“David A. Brown, a director of the American Jewish Relief Committee’s national
appeal for war sufferers” is scheduled to “discuss his proposal that Congress
vote a loan of $100,000,000 to the Russian people to save them from starvation
with Secretary Hoover in Washington.”
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/12/27/102909034.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1923:
Broadway premiere of Shaw’s “St. Joan” in which Michael Stuhlberg would play
the “the Dauphin, Charles VII” in the 1993 revival at the Lyceum Theatre.
1923: In
Suwalki, Poland, Owseij Chasyd and his wife gave birth to Józef Chasyd) who
gained fame as violinist Josef Hassid.
http://www.avakesh.com/2009/08/josef-hassid---achron---hebrew-melody-op33.html
1924(1st
of Tevet, 5685): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Seventh Day of Chanukah
1924: U.S.
premiere of “So Big” the “silent film based on Edna Ferber’s novel of the same
name.”
1924(1st
of Tevet, 5685): Léon
Bakst, Russian costume designer and painter, passed away. To see examples of
his work go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on_Bakst https://web.archive.org/web/20090411070131/http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/theatre_performance/features/Costume/1739_Designers_Speak/1739_Leon_Bakst/index.html
1925
George and Ira Gershwin's musical "Tip-Toes" premieres in New York,
NY
1926(23rd
of Tevet, 5687): Seventy-four-year-old attorney Samuel B. Hamburger, the
President of the Central Synagogue for the last seventeen years passed away
unexpectedly today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1926/12/29/101435092.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1927: The
New York Times describes the importance and significance of the gift of $2,000,000
recently made by John D. Rockefeller Jr. for the building of a museum in
Jerusalem.
1927: In
New York, at the Selwyn Theatre premiere of George Kaufman’s “Royal Family”
1927: In
Boston, world premiere of Alexander Tansman’s Second Concerto for piano and
orchestra
1928:
Birthdate of Canadian jazz musician and composer Moe Koffman.
1928:
Featherweight Harry Blitman fought is 69th bout today which he won
by a TKO.
1929(26th
of Kislev, 5690): Shabbat Shel Chanukah; Parashat Vayeshev
1929:
Birthdate of Albert Edmund Wolf.
1929: In
St. Louis, MO, Abraham and Jennie Coplon Sher gave birth to the owner of the Sher Care Corp., which operated nursing
homes and assisted living facilities and longtime supporter of the Jewish
Community Center Harold F. Sher, a member of Congregation Shaare Emeth, and the
husband of Ruth Miller Sher with whom he had three children – Barrie, Ronnie
and Susan.
https://stljewishlight.org/obituaries/harold-f-sher-longtime-j-supporter-dies-at-87/
1929:
According to Joseph M. Levy a reporter for the New York Times, Americans have
replaced Englishmen as the greatest travelers visiting Palestine, particularly
Jerusalem. In a change from pre-World
War I days, “it is estimated that seven out of every ten visitors to Palestine
are from the United States.”
1930: The
delegates at the first national convention of the Zionist Revisionists
Convention of American which opened last nights are scheduled to attend a
dinner tonight in honor of Vladimir Jabotinsky,
1931(18th of Tevet, 5692): Seventy-six-year-old CCNY
graduate, and Columbia trained attorney Samson Lachman, the New York born son
of Babette and Samuel Lachman “who was a member of the municipal bench before
the organization of Greater New York and a legal associate of Henry Morgenthau,
one-time United States Ambassador to Turkey” passed away today.
1931: The
ninth annual convention of Junior Hadassah which opened last night continued
today “with more than 750 delegates and guests in attendance.
1932: In
Hamburg, Helene and Hildebrand Gurlitt gave birth to art collection Cornelius
Gurlitt.
1932: “The
Animal Kingdom” a film version of the stage play of the same name, produced by
David Selznick, starring Leslie Howard and with music by Max Steiner was
released in the United States by RKO.
1932:
Hildebrand Gurlitt and his wife gave birth to German art collector Conrelius
Gurlitt whose family was labeled “a quarter-Jew under the Nazi race law”
because his great-grandmother was Jewish.
1933(10th
of Tevet, 5694): Asara B’Tevet
1933: In a
case of Jew replaces Jew today “Lazarus Joseph was elected to the New York
State Senate (21st D.) to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Henry
G. Schackno
1934: “The
Little Minister” a movie version of the novel and play of the same name,
produced by Pandro S. Berman and with music by Max Steiner was released in the
United States today.
1934:
Birthdate of Brooklyn native Herbert George “Herb” Garnder, the creator of the
comic “The Nebbishes” and scriptwriter whose most famous work may have been “A
Thousand Clowns.”
http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/resources/longbox/150/
1934: “Kid
Millions” a comedy produced by Samuel Goldwyn and starring Eddie Cantor was
released today in the United States today.
1935: U.S.
premiere of “Captain Blood” a swashbuckler directed by Michael Curtiz with
music by Erich Wolfgange Korngold.
1936: “At
a time when highway robberies, brigandage and murder have again become the
chief topic of news in the Palestine press and anarchy one more threatens the
peace of the Holy Land,” the Vaad Leumi (the governing body for the Jewish
community in Palestine) submitted evidence at today’s meeting of the Royal or
Peel Commission that “the recent disturbances proved how unstable the state of
public security is even in normal times and particularly how unprepared the
country in in emergencies.”
1936: In
Washington, DC, the delegates to final session of the annual convention Junior
Hadassah adopted resolutions “urging the British Royal Commission to make
recommendation that will facilitate constructive building for all sections of
the population” and creating a $1,000 scholarship in honor of Miss Alice
Seligsberg, of New York, one of the first members of Hadassah who for several
years served as an advisor to Junior Hadassah.
1937: It
was reported today that following fighting between “British forces and Arab
gangs in the hills of Galilee” it has now been “verified that more than 90 per
cent of the Arab terroirst gangs at present operating in Palestinians are
Syrians all of whom are equipped with rifles and ammunition and received
monthly salaries from a mysterious source.:
1938:
Birthdate of Yehoram Gaon “an Israeli singer and actor” a Sephardic Jew from
Jerusalem
1938: As
Leon Trotsky prepared to depart for Norway, one of the countries that had
offered him refuge from the murderous wrath of Stalin, Trotsky writes in his
diary, “Stalin wishes to strike not at the ideas of his opponent, but at his
skull, at his very life force” Ironically, when Stalin’s assassin killed
Trotsky he accomplished the deed by driving an ax into Trotsky’s brain.
1939: In
the Beit Hakerem section of Jerusalem, Moshe-David Gaon a well-known historian
born at Sarajevo in 139 and Sara Hakim gave birth to Yehoram “Yoram” Gaon, an
Israeli singer, actor, director, producer, television and radio personality who
has also written and edited books on Israeli culture.
1940(28th
of Kislev, 5701): Shabbat Shel Chanukah; Parashat Miketz
1940: The
Children’s Symphony Orchestra directed by Leopold Prince is scheduled to play
at Carnegie Hall this afternoon “as part of an American Children’s Party
sponsored by the American Friends of Britain.
1940: In
Chile, Erick Kreutzberger and Anna Blumenfeld Neufeld, gave birth to Mario Luis
Kreutzberger Blumenfeld, the Chilean television personality known as Don
Francisco.
1941: Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, the two men designated to carry out
Operation Anthropoid (the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich) were airlifted by
a Royal Air Force Halifax of No. 138 Squadron into Czechoslovakia at 22:00
1941: The
Nazis sanctioned performances known as Kameradschaftsabende (evenings of
fellowship) in Terezín, reasoning that the prisoners would cause less trouble.
1942: In
Augusta, GA, Leonard Scheinman a doctor from Brooklyn serving in the U.S. Army
and the former Sera Mani, a Hebrew School teacher gave birth to Victor David
Scheinman “who overcame his boyhood nightmares about a science-fiction movie
humanoid to build the first successful electrically powered,
computer-controlled industrial robot.” (As reported by Sam Roberts)
1942: In
the Warsaw Ghetto, as part of the work of the Oyneg Shabes group, Rokhl
Auerbach began interviewing “Abraham Krzepicki, an escapee from the Treblinka
extermination camp.” (Editor’s Note: For more on this see Who Will Write Our
History)
1942(20th
of Tevet, 5703): Two Jews are shot for mutiny at the Stalowa Wola,
(Poland) slave-labor camp.
1942(20th
of Tevet, 5703): Danzig native Alfred Flatow, the gymnast who helped Germany
win Gold Medals at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens died today at
Theresienstadt.
1942: Dr.
Carl Clauberg begins his sterilization experiments on women prisoners at
Auschwitz.
1943:
“What A Woman” a romantic comedy that marked the film debut of Shelly winters
was released in the United States today.
1943:
Reports out of Ankara, Turkey say the Germans are rushing material and
reinforcement troops onto the Island of Rhodes by air, due to sea difficulties.
At the time there were 10,000 Germans on the island.
1944: Members
of Hungary's Arrow Cross abduct 28 Jews in a Budapest hospital. They will
murder them two days later.
1944: On
the Town opened on Broadway. It was lyricist Betty Comden's first hit. It
was also the first big success for her three collaborators: Composer Adolph
Green, Leonard Bernstein, and Jerome Robbins. Comden and Green also acted in
the show, which featured the hit song "New York, New York." The
musical, which followed a day in the lives of three sailors on leave in New
York, ran for 462 performances on Broadway before going on tour. This success
marked the beginning of Comden and Green's long career working together on
Broadway and in Hollywood. When MGM turned On the Town into a movie with
Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in 1949, it was the first feature-length musical
to be filmed on location. In 1953, Comden and Green worked again with
Bernstein, creating the show Wonderful Town, which won a Tony Award for
Outstanding Musical. Collaborating with Green in a decades-long partnership,
Comden wrote lyrics and librettos for numerous additional Broadway musicals and
movies, including Singin' in the Rain (1952), Peter Pan (1953), Auntie
Mame (1958), Say Darling (1958), and The Will Rogers Follies
(1991). Their work garnered five more Tony Awards and two Academy Award
nominations. In 1991, Comden and Green were awarded Kennedy Center Honors.
(JWA)
1945:
Arnold Hans Weiss, who left Nazi German at the age of 13 and returned as an
officer in the United States Army’s Counter-Intelligence Corps completed a
mission for which he received a Commendation Ribbon for assuming “the
responsibility of apprehending a personality high in the annals of the Nazi
system..” The Nazi was “Wilhelm Zander, chief aide to Martin Bormann, the Nazi
Party official who had controlled access to Hitler.”
1945: “Spellbound,” a murder
mystery with a strange twist produced by David O. Selznick, written by Ben
Hecht and with music by Miklós Rózsa which had premiered in New York City on
Halloween was released to the rest of the United States today.
1945:
Moshe Shertock, head of the Jewish Agency political department was released
today at 9 am after having been arrested last night along with 1,500 other Jews
following the bombing of British installations in Palestine. Shertock could have been released as early as
4 in the morning but he “refused to leave until most the prisoners were freed;
something that did not happen until 9 o’clock.
1946(5th
of Tevet, 5707): Elie Nadelman, the Polish-born American sculptor and founder
with his wife of the Museum of Folks Arts passed away today in NC at the age of
64.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9E00E3DF153AE333A05753C3A9649D946793D6CF
1946(5th
of Tevet, 5707): Odessa born American jurist and Zionist Alexander Haim Pekelis
passed away today.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/pekelis-alexander-haim
1946(5th
of Tevet, 5707): Fifty-five-year-old Pierre Leon Dreyfus the Paris born son of
Alfred Dreyfus and Lucie Eugénie Hadamar and the husband of Marie Apollonie
Dreyfus passed away today in Ireland.
1946:
Joseph Clark Baldwin a Congressman from New York and a member of the Political
Action Committee for Palestine appealed to Menachem Begin to end “terrorist’s
activities.”
1947: As
the Arabs continue their violent reaction to the UN partition vote, a convoy of
Jewish trucks was ambushed near Dier Balah. The Jews fought their way through
the ambush in which two Arabs were killed and another nine were wounded.
1947:
Five Arabs were killed in Jerusalem by members of the Stern Gang who forced
their way into an Arab house and shot those inside.
1947(15th
of Tevet, 5708): Five Jews are killed in random terror attacks in Jerusalem.
One was stabbed to death while on his way to a funeral. Another, Miriam Meir, the mother of six, was
hanging her washing on a line when she was shot by an Arab sniper. Dr. Hugo Lehrs, a British government medical
officer was walking with an Arab doctor and an Arab nurse when they were
confronted by three armed Arabs. “Which is the Jew?” They asked.
The two Arabs stood aside and Dr. Lehrs was gunned down.
1947:
Moshe Sneh resigned as Jewish Agency executive. He criticized the Agency for
emphasis on a friendship with the West and says they should pay more attention
to the Soviet Union
1948(26th
of Kislev, 5709): Erving Max “Goldy” Goldstein, “a three-time All-Southern
selection” who played Guard for the University of Florida Gators followed by
one season with the professional Newark Bears passed away today.
1948: As
the fortunes of war turned against the invading Arab armies, the IDF crosses
the Egyptian border moving into the Sinai Peninsula.1948: During Operation
Horev, the Negev brigade followed the tanks of the 8th brigade across the
Egyptian border tonight and moved towards El-Arish
1948:
Kitty Carlisle performed as Lucretia when the two act opera The Rape of
Lucretia opened on Broadway at the Ziegfeld Theatre.
1948: The
Alexandroni brigade is sent to break through an Egyptian stronghold in
Iraq-El-Manshia, as part of the big campaign aimed to capture Kis Fallujah
which is held by the Egyptian Army. The brigade did not succeed in this mission
either.
1948: Syd
Cohen dined on breakfast of boiled eggs and black coffee before he took off in
his Spitfire Merlin on his first mission for the Israeli Air Force.
1948:
“Dressed casually, without any badge of rank Gordon Levett the WW II, RAF
veteran who flew covert missions bringing dis-mantled planes to Israel and who
was the first English Gentile to fly with Israel’s first squadron took off
today on his first mission with the IAF.
1949:
Birthdate of Rachel Elior an Israeli professor of Jewish philosophy and
mysticism at Hebrew University.
1949: The
first Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel took place following a decision of
the Chief Rabbinate of Israel that an annual memorial should take place on the
Tenth of Tevet, a traditional day of mourning and fasting in the Hebrew
calendar” and “the day was marked by the
burial in a Jerusalem cemetery of ashes and bones of thousands of Jews brought
from the Flossenbürg concentration camp and religious ceremonies held in honor
of the victims.” (Editor’s Note: The Tenth of Tevet actually fell on Shabbat,
so the assumption is that it was held earlier so as to avoid the conflict.)
1951(29th
of Kislev, 5712): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1951(29th
of Kislev, 5712): Forty-six-year-old Harry Strauss, who had married Cecile G.
Pofcher in 1931, passed away today in West Roxbury, MA.
1951(29th
of Kislev, 5712): Eighty-year-old Vicksburg, Mississippi, native Edward E.
Scharff passed away today
1952(10th
of Tevet, 5713): Asara B’Tevet
1952:
Columbia trained attorney Judah Gribetz, the son of “Abraham and Ida (Heller)
Gribetz and author of a series of books on “The Timetables of Jewish History”
married Jessica Shapiro with whom he had three children – Sidney, Marion and
Sarah.
1953:
Governor Dewey announced today that William
B. Herlands, the future president of the
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America who has been special
prosecutor in the Staten Island inquiry into gambling and political corruption
for the last two years, will be the state's first Commissioner of
Investigation.
1954:
“The Flower Peach” by Clifford Odets which tells “the story of Noah and his
struggle to carry out his mission” and which New York Times critic Brooks
Atkinson “praised” for “its human warmth and wisdom’ opened at the Belasco
Theatre for the first of 135 performances.
1955: The
funeral for 72-year-old “Samuel Niger (Charney), the famous Yiddish author,
literary critic and editor” is scheduled to be held today in New York.
1956: CBS broadcast the final episode of “The Crusader” a
detective series whose leading character was the son of a mother who died in a
Nazi Concentration Camp and included appearances by such stars as Jack
Albertson, Leon Askin, Michael Landon and Werner Klemperer.
1956: J.
Sinclair Armstrong, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission today
announced the appointment of Joseph B. Levin as an Assistant General Counsel of
the Commission.
1958: Bob
Wolf was the radio voice of today’s “sudden-death overtime NFL championship
game between the Giants and Caroll Rosnebloom’s Baltimore Colts where he
excitedly proclaimed, “The Colts are the world champions — Ameche scores!” as
“Colts fullback Alan Ameche won the game on a 1-yard touchdown plunge.”
1959(27th
of Kislev, 5720): Third Day of Chanukah
https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/leo-loeb-1869-1959
1959:
First graduation ceremony at Bar-Ilan University
1959:
“The Cherry Orchard” produced by David Susskind co-starring Susan Strasberg as
Anya was broadcast today as the “Play of the Week,
1959:
Shlomo Yisrael Ben-Meir began serving as Deputy Internal Affairs Minister.
1963: German-born composer Paul Hindemith passed
away. The very successful Hindemith was
not Jewish but his wife and many of his friends were. Hindemith fled Germany when the Nazis came to
power. He started a new career in the
United States.
1963:
“Love With a Proper Stranger,” an off-beat comedy featuring Herschel Bernardi
and Tom Bosley and with music by Elmer Bernstein was released today in the
United States.
1963:
After 82 performances and four previews” at the Majestic Theatre, the curtain
came down on the original Broadway production of “Jennie,” “a musical with a
book by Arnold Schulman, music by Arthur Schwartz and lyrics by Howard Dietz.
1963:
President Lyndon B. Johnson attended the dedication of the new home for Agudas
Achim on Bull Shoals Boulevard in Austin, TX.
The dedication was originally scheduled for November 23 at which then
Vice President Lyndon Johnson was going to be the honored guest. The assassination on November 23 changed all
of that and it came as a great surprise to the congregants when President
Johnson contacted the synagogue after the official mourning period was ended to
make arrangements to come to Austin. (Editor’s Note- This is but one of the
many little-known stories about Lyndon Johnson and the Jewish community. I taught at Agudas Achim five years after
this event and people spoke of it with an understated pride that one usually
did not find in Texans)
1964: A
funeral service is scheduled to be held today at the Brooklyn Jewish Center for
68-year-old Brooklyn Law School trained attorney, “author, lecturer and leader
in Jewish activities” Louis J. Gribetz, the husband of “the former Bessie
Lexin with whom he had one child – Mrs. Grace Glalsser- and author and/or
co-author of ““The Case for the Jews, a legal analysis of Jewish rights
in Palestine, and Jimmie Walker; The Story of a Personality, a
biography of the former Mayor, who was a founder of the Brooklyn Jewish Common
Council, “a delegate to the first World Jewish Congress in 1936 at Geneva” and
a member of “the boards of directors of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath in Brooklyn, the
Rabbi Jacob Joseph School on Henry Street and Rogosin Industries, a textile‐industry group in Israel.”
1966(15th
of Tevet, 5727): Seventy-nine-year-old Frank Chodorov (born Fishel Chodorowsky)
whose economic and philosophic views can be seen in his Founding of the
Intercollegiate Society of Individualist with patrician conservative William F.
Buckley as President.
https://mises.org/library/frank-chodorov-nonvoter
1967: Muriel 'Mickie'
Siebert became the first woman member of the New York Stock Exchange, one of
many firsts that have earned the feisty Siebert the moniker "The First
Woman of Finance."
1968(7th
of Tevet, 5729) Parashat Vayigash
1968(7th
of Tevet, 5729): Dr. Aryeh Dorfler the rabbi and Talmud lecturer at Leo Baeck
College in England and who “worked on Prayers for the Pilgrim Festivals,
published in 1965” passed away today.
1968:
Israeli forces conducted a commando raid aimed at Beirut Airport as part of its
war against Palestinian terrorists.
1969:
Neil Simon's "Last of the Red Hot Lovers" premieres in New York City.
1970(30th
of Kislev, 5731) Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of Chanukah
1971(10th
of Tevet, 5732): Asara B'Tevet
1971(10th
of Tevet, 5732): Eighty-three-year-old Viennese native Maximilian
Raoul Walter “Max” Steiner the composer
nominated for 26 Oscars and winner of six for scores for “Gone With the Wind”
and “Casablanca” passed away today.
http://www.americancomposers.org/raksin_steiner.htm
https://www.hollywoodsgoldenage.com/moguls/max-steiner.html
1972: Four
Black September members took over the Israeli embassy in Bangkok, holding 12
hostages. They raised the PLO flag over the building and threatened to kill the
hostages unless 36 PLO prisoners were released. The building was surrounded by
Thai troops and police. The option of a rescue operation was considered in
Israel but ruled out. A rescue operation was considered a logistical
impossibility, and it was also thought that as the embassy was in busy central
Bangkok, the Thai government would never allow the possibility of a shootout to
occur. Though their demands were not met, negotiations secured the release of
all the hostages and the Black September militants were given safe passage to
Cairo.
1972:
Martin Bormann's skeleton was found in Berlin.
Bormann was one of Hitler’s closest associates in the waning days of
World War II. He was last seen alive
leaving Hitler’s Berlin Bunker as the Soviet forces were closing in for the
kill. For almost a quarter of century,
Nazi hunters looked for Bormann because they assumed that he might be hiding in
South America or some place in the Middle East.
1973:
Birthdate of actor Seth Meyers, an SNL regular.
1974:
Final broadcast of the National Lampoon Radio Hour whose writers and performers
included Gilda Radner, Harold Ramis and Richard Belzer.
1975: A
revival of David Merrick’s “Hello Dolly” which was an all-African-American
production came to a close in New York City.
1976
"Fiddler on the Roof" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 167
performances.
1976(7th
of Tevet, 5737): Eighty-four-year-old Solomon Zeitlin, the native of
Byelorussia who became professor of rabbinical studies at Dropsie College in
Philadelphia where he taught in the same classroom for over five decades and
who is known both as the author of the three volume The Rise and Fall of the
Judean as well as challenger of the authenticity of the Dead Sea Scroll
passed away today.
http://www.jta.org/1976/12/30/archive/solomon-zeitlin-dead-at-84
1976:
Edward Zorinsky began serving as U.S. Senator from Nebraska.
1977(18th
of Tevet, 5738): In Tel Aviv, a terrorist bombing killed two and injured two.
1980(21st
of Tevet, 5641): Sixty-five-year-old Charles Tannen, who followed in the
thespian footsteps of his father Julius passed away today.
1980: “Yona Kolchinsky was
forewarned that he will be called up for military service beginning from
December 29th of this year.”
1980(21st
of Tevet, 5641): Seventy-five-year-old Sam Levene whose fifty-year stage and
film acting career began with five lines in a 1927 play passed away today.
1981(28th
of Tevet, 5742): 8th and final day of Chanukah
1981(28th
of Tevet, 5742): David Abraham Cheulkar, a Jewish-Indian film star passed away.
Born in 1909, his career began in 1941 when he made the first of over 110
films.
1982: The
New York Times featured a review of The Belarus Secret by John Loftus which
explains “how some Nazi war criminals and collaborators were able to make their
way to the United States after World War II, attain citizenship and live
undetected or unmolested” by the authorities.
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/28/books/books-of-the-times-125969.html
1984(4th
of Tevet, 5745): Seventy-six-year-old Soviet physicist Isaak Kikoin passed
away.
1984(4th
of Tevet, 5745): Rabbi Benjamin Goldberg, the Ritual Director at Beth Israel
Congregation passed away today.
1985: Sulayman Khatir who
had machine-gunned to death seven Israelis at Ras Burqa, “a beach resort area
in the Sinai Peninsula” was tried by a closed Egyptian military tribunal today
after which he was “sentenced to life in prison at hard labor.”
1985(16th
of Tevet, 5746): Parashat Veyehci
https://www.biblio.com/david-ewen/author/13497
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/31/arts/david-ewen.html
1986: It
is reported that a gift of eight colorful and high-spirited children's books
for each day of Hanukkah is available from the Ktav Publishing House. The books
are ''Chanukah Fun and Story Book: Stories, Poems, Games & Things to Do
for Chanukah,'' edited by Bernard Scharfstein ($6.50), and the following books
written by his brother, Sol, a resident of Livingston: ''Chanukah Game and
Story Book'' ($7.95), ''What Do You Do on a Jewish Holiday,'' a flip-flap book
($8.95), ''Let's Do a Mitzvah'' ($10.95), ''See, Smell and Touch Hanukah''
($8.95), ''The Dreidel'' ($6.95) and ''Hanukah Popup'' ($6.95).
1986: It
was reported today that the following are now available just in time for
Chanukah:
''The
Hallah Book: Recipes, History and Traditions,'' by Freda Reider which tells
about the ''ceremonial loaves that grace the Jewish Sabbath and the holiday
tables.'
''Jewish
Holiday Treasure Box: How to Be Jewish,” an attractively boxed package of 16
items for year-long fun and learning that includes 8 picture books, 6
play-and-learn magazines, a cassette tape of songs and stories and a parent
handbook to be used with children from 4 through
''A
History of America's Jews: This Land of Liberty,'' by Helene Schwartz which is
packed with illustrations that include many historic photographs.
''The
Guide to Everything Jewish in New York,'' by Nancy Davis and Joy Levitt, a
thoroughly resourceful guide and fun to read reference book that helps even the
most assimilated yuppie to find ''Jewish-style food'' and almost anything else
you could think of that might be needed or wanted by the Jewish community.
1987:
Israeli officials said today that Israeli soldiers had resorted to using live
ammunition against Palestinian demonstrators when their own lives were
endangered. The comments by Shimon Peres, Israel's Foreign Minister, and
Yitzhak Rabin, the Defense Minister, were made after two weeks of rioting in
the occupied territories Mr. Rabin, interviewed from Tel Aviv on the NBC News
program ''Meet the Press,'' said the Israeli Army had sought to use minimum
force against the rioters, but he defended the use of live ammunition in
situations when the lives of soldiers were in jeopardy. ''I believe we have
tried and will continue to try in coping with violent public disorder with
minimum measures -rubber bullets, tear gas,'' Mr. Rabin said. ''But whenever
our soldiers are in danger, their life is in danger, they are allowed to open
fire with live ammunition.''
1987(7th
of Tevet, 5748): Forty-eight-year-old lyricist Edward “Ed” Kleban best known
his Tony Award winning work on “A Chorus Line” passed away today.
http://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/edward-kleban/
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/30/obituaries/edward-kleban-48-chorus-line-lyricist.html
1988:
Career Foreign Service Officer Thomas R. Pickering completed his service as U.S.
Ambassador to Israel.
1989(30th
of Cheshvan, 5750): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of Chanukah
1989(30th
of Cheshvan, 5750): Ninety-eight-year-old Solomon Birnbaum, the oldest son of
Rosa Korngut and Nathan Birnbaum, who was a noted “Yiddish linguist and Hebrew
paleographer” passed away today.
https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/03/obituaries/solomon-birnbaum-scholar-98.html
1989: An
Israeli, 62-year-old , Mike Harari, who formerly was an Israeli intelligence
official, played an important advisory role in developing Panama's armed forces,
has been seized by United States troops in Panama, a senior American Embassy
official said today. (As reported by David E. Pitt)
1989: An
Israeli Government official said today that Mike Harari was ''absolutely not
connected in any way to the Government, and his activities in Panama have no
connection to any official Israeli organization or body.''
1992:
Shmuel Zailer, a director of Raz-Lee Ltd., an Israeli software company tells the
New York Times, "It's easier exporting to the moon than to
America." This complaint is often heard at Israel's software companies,
even though the industry expects to export about $130 million in programs this
year, up from $75 million in 1990. About 40 percent goes to the United States.
Israel has one of the largest concentrations of software engineers, with about
12,000 people employed in the field. Of these, about 5,000 are actively
involved in research and development. The recent boom of Russian immigration
added considerably to the talent pool, although many immigrants, while highly
educated in mathematics and computer science, need at least a year's training,
said David Assia of Magic. Experts in high technology say the best training
ground for computer engineers here is the Israeli military. Computer giants
including Microsoft, I.B.M., Motorola, Intel and Digital Equipment have opened
subsidiaries in Israel. Rosh Intelligence Systems Ltd., a Jerusalem company
that develops programs for maintenance technicians, now has its management in
Boston and conducts research and development in Jerusalem. Its chief executive,
Ira Palti, says that with 75 percent of its sales in the United States, the
company, like others in the field, had to provide clients easier access by
going American.
1992: The
Southwestern Bell Corporation and Clal Industries of Israel will jointly bid
for control of Israel's national telephone company, Clal said today
1993:
William L Shirer passed away at the age of 89.
Shirer was born in Chicago and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where he
graduated from Coe College. Shirer is
not Jewish. However, as radio
correspondent for CBS in the 1930’s, Shirer was one of the first to warn of the
threat posed by Hitler and Nazi Germany.
His massive tome, Rise and Fall of the Third Reich continues to be one
of the best books ever written on that period. His incisive writing on the collapse of the
French Third Republic is an underappreciated classic.
1993: The ultranationalist Russian politician Vladimir V.
Zhirinovsky, who has recently made anti-Semitic remarks, and who has vehemently
denied that his father was Jewish “sought an application to immigrate to Israel
10 years ago, Israeli officials said today.”
1997(29th
of Kislev, 5758): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1999(19th
of Tevet, 5760): Seventy-seven-year-old Milton Abrams passed away today after
which he was buried at the Beth Shalom Cemetery.
2000(2nd
of Tevet, 5761): Seventh Day of Chanukah
2000: At
3:30 a.m., the government of Israel, led by Prime Minister Barak, “issued a
statement confirming that Israel would accept Mr. Clinton's proposals ''as a
basis for discussion'' so long as the Palestinians did too.’
2001:
“Prime Minister Ehud Barak ordered the army to cordon off the entire West Bank
and Gaza Strip tonight after bombings that killed two Israelis, even as the
Palestinian and Israeli leaders plotted out their continued responses to a
peace initiative.”
2001(13th
of Tevet, 5762): Seventy-three Samuel A. Goldblith, an American food scientist
who had been captured at Corregidor and survived being a Japanese POW passed
away.
http://news.mit.edu/2002/goldblith-0109
2002(23rd
of Tevet, 5763): Parashat Shemot
2002(23rd
of Tevet, 5673): Ninety-eight-year-old Harold Baumbach the painter and friend
of fellow Mark Rothko, who was the husband of Ida Baumbach and the father of
Jonathan, James and Daniel Baumbach passed away today.
2003(3rd
of Tevet, 5764): Seventy-three-year-old “Manny
Dworman, a nightclub owner, musician and long a colorful fixture on the
Greenwich Village scene” passed away today at New York Hospital in Manhattan.
(As reported by Stephen Holden)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/02/arts/manny-dworman-73-musician-who-owned-the-comedy-cellar.html
2003: The New York Times featured books by
Jewish authors and/or about subjects of Jewish interest including In Black
and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr. by Wil Haygood and Gonna Do
Great Things: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr. by Gary Fishgall.
2004(16th
of Tevet, 5765) Jerry Orbach, the American actor who may be best remember for
his role as a detective on the long-running series, “Law & Order,” passed
away.
2004(16th
of Tevet, 5765): Susan Sontag, feminist,
author and social critic passed away (As reported by Margalit Fox)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/29/world/americas/29iht-sontag.html
2004: The
New York String Orchestra, “founded in 1969 by violinist Alexander Schneider
and his manager Frank Salomon is scheduled to perform “all-Mozart program with
pianist Leon Fleisher” at Carnegie” this evening.
2004(16th
of Tevet, 5765): Tzvi Tzur, the 6th Chief of Staff of the IDF passed away.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/141509
2005:
Today an immigration judge ordered John Demjanjuk, who had not disclosed his
role as guard at Sobibor, be deported to Germany, Poland or Ukrainea\.
2006: The
annual Limmud Conference held at Nottingham, England, featuring presentations
by 52 Israeli speakers, comes to a close. Based in the UK,
Limmud is a global leader in innovative, inclusive Jewish education.
2007(19th
of Tevet, 5768): Two Israelis were killed and a third was wounded in a drive-by
shooting in the south Hebron Hills. The victims, David Rubin and Ahikam Amihai,
were in elite units of the IDF, with Rubin serving as a sergeant in the Israeli
Naval commandos and Amihai as a corporal in the Israel Air Force commandos
unit. The two soldiers were on leave. Before being fatally wounded, the two
managed to return fire and wounded one or more of the four Palestinian gunmen.
The Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade took responsibility for that
attack.
2008: In
Clayton, MO, The New Jewish Theatre presents “The Last Seder
2008: The New York Times featured reviews of
books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including
Michael Lewis’ Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity.
2008: The Israeli Air Force
today blew up 40 tunnels that have been used to smuggle arms and terrorists
into Gaza. In addition, these tunnels have been important for shoring up
Hamas economically. In return for being allowed to open and operate tunnels,
Palestinians were forced to pay exorbitant sums to Hamas, which aided the
terrorist organization's military capabilities.
2008: Gaza terrorists
continued firing rockets at the western Negev this afternoon, although the pace
of the attacks had slowed by 4:00 p.m. Three people, including a 12-year-old
boy, suffered shrapnel wounds and several others suffered traumatic shock this
afternoon when the missiles bombarded the coastal city of Ashkelon at
mid-day. The terrorists are using 122-mm Grad-type Katyusha missiles, of
the type that can reach a range of up to 40 kilometers. Several cars were also
damaged after one of the missiles struck the southern end of the port
city. The second missile landed in an unidentified location. Less than an hour
later, two rockets exploded in the Eshkol region. No one was injured and no
damage was reported. At least 16 missiles had exploded in southern Israel
by 4:00 p.m. A Kassam rocket struck a kibbutz in the Eshkol region just before
4:00 p.m. No one was injured but there were reports of damage in the community.
2009:
Famed dancer and choreographer Kobi Rozenfeld, a native of Rehovot, Israel, conducts a hip hop workshop
at the Peridance Center in New York.
Kobi Rozenfeld is coming from LA to teach three guest Street-Jazz
classes:
2009: Rabbi Naftali Tzvi
Weisz, the Brooklyn-based Grand Rebbe of the Spinka sect, was sentenced to two
years in federal prison today for a decade-long fraud and money-laundering
scheme. Weisz, 61, had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy before U.S.
District Judge John F. Walter in Los Angeles last August. ,Weisz and six
associates in Los Angeles, Brooklyn and Israel admitted to participating in a
fraudulent kickback scheme in which donors to Spinka charities were refunded up
to 95 percent of their donations, while claiming the full amounts as deductions
on their income tax. In 2006, Spinka charities received nearly $8.5 million in
donations and made $744,596 in "profits," after deducting amounts
paid back to contributors.
2009: Significant progress
was made today in the case concerning the rights to the literary estates of
Franz Kafka and Max Brod. Tel Aviv Family Court gave the heirs of Max Brod's
estate - the sisters Eva Hoffe and Ruth Wisler - 15 days to come to an
arrangement with the representatives of the state and the National Library with
regard to the material in their possession.
2009: It
was announced today that for the first time in 10 years the number of
immigrants to Israel has risen this year, according to Jewish Agency chairman
Natan Sharansky and Immigration and Absorption Minister Sofa Landver. In 2009,
16,244 people immigrated - a 17 percent jump over last year's 13,859. The
number of immigrants from English-speaking countries has also increased by 17
percent this year, from 4,511 to 5,294, said Eli Cohen, the director-general of
the agency's aliyah department."After 10 years during which we saw less
and less immigrants, now we see an increase," said Sharansky yesterday at
a press conference at the Jewish Agency's Jerusalem headquarters. "This
year there were more immigrants from the former Soviet Union, more immigrants
from the United States, from Britain and from South Africa - there's an
increase from almost everywhere." The largest number of new immigrants
still comes from the former Soviet Union, where the numbers increased by 21
percent from 5,867 to 7,120. Sharansky and Landver attributed the climb to what
the Jewish Agency calls its "Red Carpet" program, which includes
so-called aliyah fairs for new arrivals during which they are assisted with
their initial absorption, such as opening bank accounts, choosing health care
providers, etc. The numbers presented at today's press conference include four
planeloads of immigrants who are scheduled to arrive in Israel this week, but
exclude Ethiopians who moved to Israel this year, as they did not immigrate
according to the Law of Return but based on a special law, called the Law of
Entrance.
2009:
Israel announced today it would build nearly 700 housing units in Jewish areas
of Jerusalem on territory conquered in the 1967 war that the Palestinians claim
for their future state. The move was harshly condemned by Palestinian leaders
as evidence that the Israelis are undermining efforts to restart peace talks.
2010: Just Say
"Know" to Judaism! “a weekly series explores the relevant texts in
Judaism that provide guidance for becoming a better person in an entertaining,
informative and meaningful manner is scheduled to meet today at The Jewish
Community Center in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
2010:
“Reform Reading and Liberal Leyning – The Torah Service in Progressive Jewish
Services” with Paul Freedman and “Ben Shahn: Political Artist, Personal
Imagery” with Irene Wise are two of the programs scheduled to take place at
today’s session of the Limmud Conference.
2010: Today Iran hanged an
Iranian convicted of spying for the country's archenemy Israel, the official
IRNA news agency reported. The report
identified the man as Ali Akbar Siadati and said he was hanged in Tehran's Evin
prison. Earlier in the week, Iran's judiciary announced that a spy for Israel
would be executed soon after an appeals court confirmed the man's death
sentence
2010: A
natural gas field discovered in Israel's territorial waters contains an
estimated 16 trillion cubic feet of the natural resource
2010(21st
of Tevet, 5771): Avraham “Avi” Cohen an Israeli footballer who served as
chairman of the Israel Professional Footballers Association was declared brain
dead after being seriously injured in a motorcycle accident on December 20.
2011:
Adrienne Khana Cooper, “a Yiddish singer…who played an integral role in the
revival of klezmer music” was buried at Oakmont Cemetery in Lafayette, CA
following a memorial service at Congregation B’nai Shalom in Walnut Creek.
2011(2nd
of Tevet, 5772): 8th & final day of Chanukah
2011(2nd
of Tevet, 5772): Ninety-four year old Irving Raphael Isaacs, the University of
Michigan trained photographer, advertising executive and WW II Army Air Corps
bombardier who was the son of Bernard Isaacs, the Superintendent of Hebrew
Schools in Detroit and the husband of the former Martha Lillian Horelick passed
away today.
https://jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com/irving-raphael-isaacs/
2011:
Matisyahu is scheduled to perform at the “9:30 Club” in northwest Washington,
DC.
2012:
“The Gatekeepers” is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film
Festival
2012: The
Eden-Tamir Music is scheduled to be the site of a noon-time concert featuring
Piano Chamber Music and a Young Artist Competition.
2012(15th
of Tevet, 5773): Ninety-two-year-old Benjamin Franklin expert Claude-Anne Lopez
passed away today. (As reported William Yardley)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/us/claude-anne-lopez-expert-on-franklin-dies-at-92.html?hpw
2012: A senior Muslim
Brotherhood official called on Jews who immigrated to Israel from Egypt to
return to Egypt and leave Israel to the Palestinians, Egyptian daily Al-Masry
Al-Youm reported today. Senior Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood offcial Essam
el-Erian said in an interview to television station Dream TV that every
Egyptian has the right to live in Egypt, and Egyptian Jews living in Israel
were contributing to the occupation of Arab lands, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm.
2012:
Some 200 settlers clashed with security forces attempting to evacuate the
illegal West Bank outpost of Oz Zion near the Beit El settlement today. The
settlers threw stones at security forces, who eventually abandoned the
evacuation attempt prior to the start of the Sabbath. Channel 2 quoted IDF
officials as saying the evacuation would be resumed after the Sabbath tomorrow
evening.
2013:
Roman Rabinovich, winner of the Arthur Rubenstein Competition for Young Artist
of the Year 2012 is scheduled to be featured at a piano recital in at the
Eden-Tamar Musical Center.
2013:
After Shabbat, world renowned artists Miriam Fried-violin, Paul Biss-viola Zvi
Plesser-cello and Ron Regev-piano are scheduled to perform in several pieces
including Brahms Trio No. 3 in Jerusalem
2013:
“Frozen” and “The Escape” are scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish
Film Festival.
2013: An earthquake
measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale shook Cyprus tonight, with the effects felt
as far east as Northern Israel. The two areas primarily affected were Haifa and
the Krayot. (As reported by Tova Dvorin)
2013:
Dozens gathered today in front of the Jerusalem residence of Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu to protest against the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Protesters included family members of the prisoners' victims and carried signs
reading "only Israel releases murderers." (As reported by Noam Dabul
Dvir)
2014:
“The Rover” is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
2014: The New York Times features reviews of
books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Suspended
Sentences: Three Novellas by Patrick Modian
2014:
“Hamas prevented 37 Palestinian war orphans living in the Gaza from entering
Israel” to participate in an “educational and recreational visit organized by
Yoel Marshak of the Kibbutz Movement in collaboration with the Arab Israeli
towns of Kfar Kassem and Rahat which was meant to bring the teenage children of
Hamas operatives killed during Operation Protective Edge to the Ramat Gan
Safari and to Israeli towns along the Gaza border.” (As reported by Elhanan Miller)
2014: Today, Judge Salim Joubran,
speaking at a High Court hearing for a petition against the Knesset law that
raises the threshold to 3.25 percent of total votes struck out against the new
rules raising the minimum vote threshold for entrance into the Knesset, saying
it could result in a total lack of Arab representation in the Knesset.
2015: In
Tel Aviv Poetry “Slam Israel’s Slamstival” is scheduled to come to an end.
2015: In
New Orleans, which most people connect with jazz another 2-hour round of
Israeli folk dancing is scheduled to begin this evening.
2016(28th
of Kislev, 5777): Fourth Day of Chanukah
2016: “In
his address” today, Secretary of State John Kerry “defended America’s decision
not to veto UN Security Council Resolution 2334 which condemned settlements as
illegal and called for a halt in all settlement activity.”
2016: In
Little Rock, AR, Lubavitch of Arkansas is scheduled to host the Chabad Young
Professional Chanukah Party at Dave and Busters.
2016: At
La Mama, Yiddish New York & New Yiddish Rep are scheduled to present: “God
of Vengeance” (Got fun nekome) by Sholem Ash followed by “Ahava Oylem – An
Evening of Sacred Music” at the Town and Village Synagouge and a “Late Night
Klezmer Jam Session” at Mona’s.
2017(10th of Tevet, 5778): Fast of Tevet
2017(10th of Tevet, 5778): Yahrzeit of Judith Sharon
Rosenstein – nee Levin. “Judy” to one
and all: a true woman of valor – loving wife, devoted mother, a grand
grandmother and a great sister.
Unfortunate proof of the statement that “the good die young!”
2017: Tonight Haylyards Bar is scheduled to host the post-Chanukah
Chanukah Party that includes a screening of “The Hebrew Hammer!”
2017: YNY is scheduled to host its annual Student Concert
2018: In Winchester, MA, Temple Shir Tikvah is scheduled to host “Hot
Chocolate Shabbat.”
2018: In Memphis, TN, the Sisterhood is scheduled to host a “Preneg”
prior to Friday evening services.
2018: In Rochester, NY, Temple Emanu-El is scheduled to host its last
“Challah Baking” of 2018.
2018: “The DC Improv” is scheduled to host an evening with Dov Davidoff,
who is currently appearing on “HBO’s Crashing.”
2018: As Israelis prepare for Shabbat they consider the impact of this
week’s surprise announcement of election in April of 2019, the discovery of new
terror tunnels on the border with Lebanon and the issuance of the official
order paving the way for the immediate of U.S. troops from Syria despite
previous pleas from Prime Minister Netanyahu not to do this.
2019: Following a week in which there have been at least eight additional
anti-Semitic attacks, Jews in New York will be contemplating if the additional
police presence will protect them as they make their way to Shabbat services.
2019: In a year in which anti-Semitic episodes are up by 105%, Jews
across the United States will be contemplating how dangerous it is to do
something as going to Shabbat morning services.
2019: In Walnut Creek, CA, Chabad of Contra Costa is scheduled to host
“Spin Till You Win Dreidel Tournament.”
2019(30th of Kislev, 5780): Parashat Miketz; Rosh Chodesh
Tevet; Sixth Day of Chanukah.
2020: The Asiyah Jewish Community is scheduled to present online a
“Contemplative Remix: Weekday Maariv
2020: YNY is scheduled to continue with the premiere screening of “Song
Searcher” and “The Ukraine in NYC concert featuring Zhenya Lopatnik, a
celebrated vocalist/composer of Yiddish and Ukrainian songs, Nariman Asanov
(violin), Rustem Faizov (trumpet) and Dinara Faizova (dancer) of the
spectacular NY Crimean Tatar Ensemble, Carpathian woodwind virtuoso Andriy
Milavsky (clarinet/flutes), GRAMMY-winning trumpeter Frank London, and a
sure-handed rhythm section of Ilya Shneyveys (accordion), Brano Brinarsky (bass)
and Pete Rushefsky (tsimbl).”
2020: The Jewish Family and Children’s Service is scheduled to host
online an “Inclusive Coffee Corner with Jewish life coordinator Alex Maslow.
2020: NFTY Northeast is scheduled to present the second day of the
December Institute that will include a program on “Who is a Jews?
2020: Israelis are dealing with the second day of its third lockdown which began
yesterday, “as coronavirus cases across the country continue to surge and
health officials worked to race to vaccinate as many as people as possible as
quickly as possible.”
2021: Following the announcement by the Health Ministry that over 2,000
new coronavirus cases were diagnosed yesterday, “hospitals braced for a new
wave of patients” and Israelis prepared themselves for the possibility of
“nationwide lockdown.”
2021: Based on an announcement made yesterday, as of today “Prime
Minister Naftali Bennett is set to stay in self-isolation after genetic
sequencing indicated that his daughter may have contracted the Omicron
coronavirus variant…”
2021: LIMMUD Festival 2021 is scheduled to come an end today.
2002: Starting today, “kids and
students” can visit the Illinois Holocaust Museum for free until January 8,
2023.
2022:
Yiddish New York is scheduled to continue with offerings that include The 11th
Annual Adrienne Cooper Memorial Dreaming in Yiddish Concert” and late night Yiddish
Karaoke.
2022: The National Museum of
Israel is scheduled to host a lecture by Françoise Mirguet an Associate Professor of Ancient Hebrew and
the History of Emotions at Arizona State University on “Compassion as Emotional
Resistance in Jewish Hellenistic Writings.”
2022: The Museum on Eldridge
Street is scheduled to host via Zoom the final “Cinema Chats” with Lee Grant
who will discuss the behind-the-scenes of her award-winning performance in the
groundbreaking film “In the Heat of the Night.”
2022: In Hamilton,
MA, the Hamilton-Wenham Public Library is scheduled to host Ms. Rachael from PJ Library who help
attendees to learn about the fun and festive holiday of Hanukkah!
2023: At
Temple Judea in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Rabbi Yaron Kapitulnik is scheduled to
lead the weekly morning minyan.
2023:
Lockdown University is scheduled to host a lecture by David Herman on “The
Great Jewish-American Writers of the 1930s: Mike Gold, Henry Roth, Delmore
Schwartz and Nathanael West.”
2023: The Final
Round of the Gala Concert and Award Ceremony with the Jerusalem Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Maestro Yi - An Xu is scheduled to take place at the Henry
Crown Auditorium, Jerusalem Theater.
2023: As
December 28 begins in Israel, the Hamas held
hostages begin day 83 in captivity.
(Editor’s note: this situation is too fluid for this blog to cover so we
are just providing a snapshot as of the posting at midnight Israeli time
2024: The
Eden Tamir Center is scheduled to host a chamber music concert with the Kless
Trio.
2024(27th
of Kislev,5785): Parashat Miketz and Shabbat shel Channukah
For more
see https://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/
2024: In Metairie, LA,
Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation is scheduled to host an “Ugly Sweater
Hannukah-raoke & Games Party.”
2024: Jake Retzlaff “the
star quarterback at Brigham Young University who has nabbed a sponsorship deal
with Manischewitz, the Jewish food company’s first-ever sports deal” is
scheduled to BYU as it play Colorado in the Alamo Bowl.
2024: In Des Moines,
IA, Maccabee’s Deli is scheduled to host a “Grand Menorah Lighting.’
2024: As December 28th
begins in Israel, an unprecedented wave of anti-Semitism that has
included Hamas supporters calling for Zionist passengers on a New York subway
to raise their hands, demonstrations at a high school production of “The Diary
of Anne Frank” and the beating of a college student in Chicago sweeps the
United States and the Hamas held hostages begin day 449 in captivity while
Israelis brace for more rocket attacks by Hezbollah, Iran and terrorists based
in Iraq (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)
