This Day, February 15, In Jewish History by Mitchell A and Deb Levin Z"L
February 15
399 BCE: The
philosopher Socrates was sentenced to death today. No, Socrates was not Jewish,
and he did not know about what were the “Israelites” of his day. However,
Socrates would be one of those Greek philosophers whose teachings would
challenge and influence Jewish thinkers and philosophers. For example,
Aristobulus, a second century Jewish teacher asserted that the Greek
philosophers, including Socrates were influenced by the teachings of
Moses. In 1045, Ibn-Gebriol wrote a work on moral philosophy that
included sayings from traditional sources such as the TaNaCh and the Talmud,
but also contained his quotations from what he described as “the divine
Socrates” and Socrates most famous disciple, Plato.
1113: Pope
Paschal II recognizes the Knights of Hospitaller as a separate and independent
monastic order to provide safety to the Crusaders and pilgrims. After the
Moslems drove the Crusaders out of the Holy Land, the knights relocated to
Rhodes and finally to Malta where they carried on their battle with the forces
of Islam. During the 16th century, under the guise of fighting for
Christ, the Knights of Malta turned to what many called piracy, capturing
vessels in the Mediterranean Sea and then holding the captives for
ransom. This trafficking in humans took an inordinate toll on Jews who
were extremely vulnerable as they sailed for commercial reasons or to flee the
effects of the Inquisition. The Jews that were not sold were kept as slaves and
provided the nucleus of the Jewish population of Malta.
1493: While
still at sea on the voyage returning to Spain, Columbus wrote a letter
describing the accomplishment of his first trip to what he thought were islands
at the edge of Asia but which were really Hispaniola and Cuba. The letter
was addressed to Luis de Santángel a convserso (a Jew who had been baptized)
who was the finance minister to the Spanish monarch. He was one of those
who championed Columbus’ voyage and actually contributed his funds to help pay
for the voyage.
1500:
Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral who would be accompanied by Gaspar da
Gama, a Polish born Jew whose slave name had been Yusuf ‘Adil before being
forcibly converted to Christianity, was appointed Capitão-mor (literally
Major-Captain, or commander-in-chief) of a fleet sailing for India
1559: Paul IV
issued “Cum ex apostolatus officio” a Papal Bull that confirmed that only
Catholics can be elected to the position of Pope. According to some, the Bull
was aimed at keeping Cardinal Morone who was rumored to be a secret Protestant
from being named Pope. But it may also have been aimed at preventing Marranos
from serving as Pope. Pope Alexander VI, (the first Borgia Pope) was
reputed to be the descendant of Marranos.
1611: A
hostile army that had entered Prague was defeated; a fact celebrated by three
liturgical poems authored by Ephraim Solomon ben Aaron of Lencziza.
1641(5th of
Adar, 5401): Sara Copia Sullam, the daughter of a prominent Venetian family
passed away. She was a truly unique figure for her time since she was not only
a prolific poetess but a religious philosopher who wrote “The Manifesto of Sara
Copia Sulam” in which she refuted accusations that she had denied the
immortality of the soul
1655:
The twenty-three Sephardic Jews who arrived in the fall seeking sanctuary from
the Inquisition are officially admitted into New Amsterdam over Governor Peter
Stuyvesant's objections.
1694:
Today, in
Lubeck, Nathan Goldschmidt was accused of having received stolen goods. The
trial dragged on for at least five years, and its result is not known.
Goldschmidt was the son-in-law of a "Schutzjude” named Nathan
Siemssens. The charges against Goldschmidt may have stemmed from gentiles
who were opposes to him being granted the same protected status enjoyed by his
father-in-law.
1748:
Birthdate of English philosopher Jeremy Bentham. According to Bhikhu C. Parekh,
“what is surprisingly modern in the…philosopher’s attitude toward the Jews is
that he did not consider them only as the mythical people of the Bible, as most
thinkers of his age did, but dealt with this problem as the problem of a
religious minority; as such, the Jews had to be tolerated in their religious
practices…” (For more see Jeremy Bentham: Critical Assessments by
Parekh starting on page 323)
1758:
Mustard makes its first appearance in what is now the United States, when
German immigrants manufacture it in Philadelphia, PA. [This was critical
to Jews coming to America. Can you imagine living in a country where you
had to a corned beef on rye without mustard?]
1760:
Birthdate of German native Rosine Wambacher, the wife of Abraham Hutzler and
mother of Moses, David, Isaac and Eve Hutzler.
1764:
Founding of the city of St. Louis in what would later be the state of
Missouri. The first Jews settled in St. Louis until 1807. Jews worshipped
together as a community for Rosh Hashanah, 1836.
1765(24th
of Shevat): Rabbi Mordecai Brisk, author of Mayim Ammukim passed away.
1775:
Pius VI was elected Pope. He was the author of “Editto sopra gli ebrei,” or
"Edict over the Hebrew”
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/Edict1775.html
1779: In
Scotland, Jean Paton and Thomas Dobson, who in 1814 would publish the first
Hebrew Bible printed in the United States at Philadelphia, gave birth to their
first daughter Margaret.
1780: In
Amsterdam, Moses Salomon Asser and his wife gave birth to “Dutch jurist Carel
Asser.”
1781: Today
General Washington reprimanded Alexander Hamilton “after a minor understanding”
which caused Hamilton to leave Washington’s staff but did not diminish his
ardor for the Revolutionary cause as he continued to plead with Washington to
give him a field command.
1781(20th of
Shevat, 5541): Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German author and philosopher, passed
away. Lessing was a friend of Moses Mendelssohn. According to these two
friends, the test of religion is its effect on conduct. This is the moral of
Lessing's Nathan the Wise (''Nathan der Weise''), the hero of which is
undoubtedly Mendelssohn. One direct result of this pragmatism was unexpected.
Having been taught that there is absolutely no true religion, Mendelssohn's own
descendants, along with a large number of other German Jews, had a
philosophically acceptable rational for converting to Christianity.
1787(27th
of Shevat, 5547): Twice married English born Myer Moses, the father of eight
children, passed away today in Charleston, SC.
1796(6th
of Adar I, 5556): New York merchant and veteran of the Revolutionary Army
Samuel Myers Cohen, the son of Abraham Myers Cohen and husband of Belle Simon
who served as President of Congregation Shearith Israel in 1773 passed away
today in New York City.
1797: London
native John Moss married Lancaster, PA native Rebecca Lyons today in
Philadelphia, PA.
1797: In
Philadelphia, Miriam Marks and Benjamin Abraham Nones gave birth to Joseph
Nones, the husband of Eveline de Leon with whom he had six children.
1798: After
the occupation of Rome by General Berthier the local republicans dethroned the
Pope. The Jews removed their yellow badges. Two days later a tree of freedom
was planted in front of the synagogue.
1800(20th
of Shevat, 5660): Parashat Yitro
1803: In
Amsterdam, Mozes Koopman Jacob-Hamburger and Sara Magnus (Nachman)
Hannover-Jochem-Mozes gave birth to their third child “Jochem (Jochanan) Mozes.
1811: Isaac
Drefyus, the Alsace born son of Jacob Dreyfus and his wife Gertrude “Julie” Dreyfus gave birth
to Charlotte Dreyfus
1815:
Birthdate of Georgetown, SC native Lizar Solomons, the husband of Perla
Sheftall Solomons, the father of Cecilia Solomons Abrahams and father-in-law of
Edmund H. Abrahams
1815:
Birthdate of Moses Löb Bloch, native of Bohemia who became a rabbi in Hungary
serving as the Rabbinical Seminary of in Budapest. He passed away in
1909.
1818: Joshua
Jacobs married Dinah Cohen at the Great Synagogue today.
1825: Rutger
Jan Schimmelpenninck, the Batavian (Dutch) Ambassador to France delivered a
note to the French foreign minister on behalf of the Jews of Germany passed
away today.
1827:
Birthdate of Bavarian native Emanuel Lehman, who came to the United States with
his brothers Henry and Mayer. The three of them settled in Montgomery,
Alabama where they prospered as cotton brokers and general commission
merchants. Mr. Lehman moved to New York in 1856 where he established a
branch of Lehman Brothers which became one of the leading financial firms in
the United States. In 1859, he married Pauline Sondheim with whom he had
four children before she passed away in 1871.
1830: Birthdate of Netherlands native Jacob Joseph Peres,
the husband of Eve (Chuts) Peres who was the father of Memphis resident Hardwig
Peres, a member of the firm of Jacob J. Peres and Company who served as
President of the Memphis Board of Education and was a member of congregations,
Childdren of Israel, Baron Hirsh, Beth El Emeth and Anshe Sphard
1830: Beila
and John Hart gave birth to Miriam Hart.
1839:
Birthdate of Catholic theologian August Rohling whose Der Talmudjude
“became a standard work for anti-Semitic authors and journalists” which really
became a political force in 1883 with The Tiszaeszlár Affair, a blood libel
centered in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
1846: In
London, Samuel (Isaac) Henry Gluckstein and Hannah Coenradd Gluckstein gave
birth to Julie Gluckestein who after marrying Abraham Abrahams became known as
Julia Abrahams.
1846: In
London, Samuel and Hannah Gluckstein gave birth to Helena Gluckstein, the twin
sister of Julie Gluckstein.
1847:
Birthdate of Austrian composer, Robert Fuchs. Fuchs was not Jewish.
But one of his most famous pupils was. From 1892 until 1900, Fuchs was a mentor
and teacher for Franz Schreker one of the leading opera composers of his
generation with works such as Der Ferne Klang, Die Gezeichneten, Der
Schatzgräber, and Irrelohe. Schreker was born 1874 and died in 1934. His life
and works were part of an exhibition mounted at the Jewish Museum in Vienna in
2005.
1848: In New
York, Montague M. Hendricks, the New York-born son of Frances and Harmon
Hendricks and his wife Rachel Siexas Nathan gave birth to Albert Hendricks.
1848: In
Jerusalem, Eliezer and Cadun (Abulafia) Behar gave birth to Sephardi educator
Nissim Abraham Behar who married Martha Cahen in 1888 and his first wife,
Melanie Rosenstraus has passed away in 1870 while he was founding Alliance
Israélite Universelle schools in Aleppo, Syria; Samakoff, Bulgaria;
Constantinople, Turkey; and Jerusalem after which he settled in New York and
served as the director of the National Liberal Immigration League.
https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/behar-nissim
1850: In
Hamburg, Emma Simon and Louis Bernheim gave birth to historian Ernst Bernheim.
1852(25th
of Shevat, 5612): Joseph Saphir, the father of Elisabeth, Rosalia, Marie and
Markus Saphir, passed away in the Central Bohemian Region.
1853:
Birthdate of “Hamburg native Alfred Beit who made his fortune in the gold and
diamond fields of South Africa and whose philanthropies included the creation
of what is now the “Beit Professor of History of the British Commonwealth” at
Oxford passed away today.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5088230
1853:
Birthdate of Abraham Marcus Pjurko, the native of Lomaza “who devoted himself
to modern Hebrew Literature” and with his Chaim, published eleven stories just
for children in 1893.
1856: In New
Orleans, David and Theresa Kaufman Simon gave birth to Bertha Simon, who became
Bertha Simon Dreyfus when she married Isaac Dreyfus with whom she raised five
children in Pine Bluff, AR.
1856: In
Suvalki, Poland, Morris Myers and his wife gave birth to Melbourne University
graduate Isidore Myers who began his rabbinic career at Bendigo, Australia,
supported aid to Russian Jews and visited Palestine before settling in San
Francisco where he began serving “Congregation Ohabai Shalom” in 1897.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/23600123?seq=45#metadata_info_tab_contents
https://jewishmiscellanies.com/2020/10/19/gems-from-the-talmud-rev-isidore-myers-london-1894/
1856: In
Baltimore, MD Jacob Hecht and Amelia Rosewald gave birth to Rosa Hecht who
married Moses Goldenberg and as Rosa Goldenberg served as Director of the
Hebrew Ladies’ Sewing Society, the Vice President of the Hebrew Orphans’ Aid
Society and principal of the Free Sabbath School.
1857: In
Buffalo, NY, Rachel Lobenthal and Leopold Erlanger gave birth to Columbia Law
School graduate, Louis Mitchell Erlanger who practiced law for more than twenty
years while lecture on real estate law and equity” at his alma mater and who
was surprise a nominee in 1903 for the position of Sheriff per the instruction
of Tammany Hall leader Charles F. Murphy.
1857: In New
York a Jewish jewelry store owner named Ronsenbaum made bail today after
being charged in a plot to defraud Samuel Goldbery. He had previously
been arrested on charges of "shyterism" for his part in defrauding an
an unnamed woman out of an unspecified amount of money.
1858(1st
of Adar, 5618): Rosh Chodesh Adar
1858(1st
of Adar, 5618): Seventy-two-year-old Hyam Solomon the Philadelphia born
businessman who spent much of his life trying to have the United States
government reimburse his father for the money owned to his father, Chaim
Solomon for helping to finance the cause of the American Revolution passed away
today in New York City.
1860: In
Kalvarija,Lithuania, Chaim and Golda Chaya Bluestone gave birth to NYU trained
physician Dr. Joseph Isaac Bluestone affiliated with Beth Israel Hospital and
an American delegate to the 1903 Zionist Congress in Basel who wrote poetry
while raising nine children with his wife Sara Rachel Bluestone.
https://digifindingaids.cjh.org/?pID=364804
1862(15th
of Adar I, 5622): Parashat Ki Tisa; Shushan Purim Katan observed as Union soldiers
under the command of General Grant continue their fight to defeat the Rebels at
Fort Donaldson during the Civil War.
1865: Isaac Myers,
who rose to the rank of Corporal began his service in company G of the 74th
Regiment today.
1866: One day
after she had passed away, Sarah Simeon, the daughter of Woolf and Hannah Rees,
the wife Peter Simeon and the mother of James, Michael and David Simeon was
buried today at the “Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.
1867: In
Weberon, Russia, “boat manufacturer and scholar” Aaron Michael Barnett and his
wife gave bith to Pontiac, Michigan businessman Joseph Barnett, the husband of
Rachel Rogopsky with whom he ad four sons and nine daughters who is support of several
Jewish charities including the Denve Hospital and the Cleveland Orphans Home.
1869: Two days
after he had passed away, 56-year-old John Jacobs, the son of Aaron Jacobs and
Leah Solomon, the husband of Rose Jacobs and the father of Julia Jacobs was
buried today at the “West Ham Jewish Cemetery.”
1870: Founding
of Mikveh Yisrael home of the first Jewish agricultural school in
Palestine. The Hebrew name Mikveh Yisrael means Hope of Israel. It
was one of the earliest attempts to connect a return to Promised Land
with the literal re-building of the land through the agrarian
life. As we will see, this became a dominant theme personified by
the Kibbutz Movement. Mikveh Yisrael was established by a French
educator named Charles Netter. The settlement was inland near
the Mediterranean town of Jaffa. It would provide employment for
many settlers in the days of the First Alyiah, which started during the
1880's. The famous meeting between Theodore Herzl and Kaiser
William II took place at the gates of Mikveh Yisrael in 1898.
In 1939, some of the graduates of Mikveh Yisrael founded a Moshav form of
collective farming community) north of Tel Aviv, which they called Kfar Netter
in honor Charles Netter.
1872: “Rabbi
Aarons, from Jerusalem, an octogenarian” who is “said to be the oldest Rabbi in
the United States met with Assistant District Sullivan for a second time to
discuss his “request to carry his case before the Grand Jury for their
investigation” that might lead to silencing or punishing those who have libeled
him – a request which Mr. Sullivan finally granted.
1874: It was
reported today that Prime Minister William Gladstone claimed that the Jews of
London had met a couple of days ago and had decided to support his government
in the upcoming election. This stands in sharp contrast to claims by
others that the Jews have not done this because they have a tendency to avoid
participation in party politics.
1875:
Birthdate of Romania native Samuel Chilick
1875(10th of
Adar I, 5635): Eliakim Carmoly passed away at Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany.
Born in 1802, at Soultz-Haut-Rhin, France, Carmoly’s “real name was Goschel
David Behr (or Baer); the name Carmoly, borne by his family in the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, was adopted by him when quite young. He studied Hebrew
and Talmud at Colmar; and, because both French and German were spoken in his
native town, he became proficient in those languages. Carmoly went to Paris,
and there assiduously studied the old Hebrew manuscripts in the Bibliothèque
Nationale, where he was employed. Several articles published by him on various
subjects in scientific papers made him known; and on the establishment of a
Jewish consistory in Belgium, he was appointed rabbi at Brussels in 1832. In
this position Carmoly rendered many services to the newly founded congregation,
chiefly in providing schools for the poor. Seven years later, having provoked
great opposition by his new scheme of reforms, Carmoly resigned the rabbinate and
retired to Frankfort, where he devoted himself wholly to Jewish literature and
to the collection of Hebrew books and manuscripts, in which he was passionately
interested.”
1875: It was
reported today that there are 250 Jews on the Managing Committee responsible
for the upcoming Purim Association ball.
1876:
Birthdate of Traenheim native Isaïe Schwartz who served as rabbi at Marseilles,
Bayonne and Bordeaux and as “a chaplain at the American Army based at Bordeaux”
during WW I before being elected Grand Rabbi of France in 1939.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1939/03/09/91554646.pdf
1876: In
Russia, a law enacted today, special regulations were formulated concerning the
service of Jews in the Czar’s army.
1876(20th
of Shevat, 5636): Seventy-six-year-old Henry Etting, the Baltimore born son of
Reuben and Frances Gratz Etting who began his career with U.S. Navy in 1818,
served “at New York in the office of purser and fiscal agent for the U.S. Navy
Department” during the Civil War and was placed on the retired list with the
rank of Commodore passed away today.
(The Jewish Encyclopedia as July 10 but the picture of his tombstone
shows February 15.)
1877: In
Berlin, David and Bertha (Sanger) Zielonka gave birth to Martin Zielonka who
came to the United States in 1880 after which he graduated from the University
of Cincinnati, ordained as a Reform Rabbi at Hebrew Union College and
eventually served as the rabbi at Waco’s Temple Rodef Sholom and El Paso’s
Temple Mt. Sinai.
http://www.jmaw.org/rabbi-zielonka-el-paso-texas/
1877: In New
York, the Ladies’ Bikur Cholim Society is scheduled to host a fundraiser today
at Ferrero’s Assembly Rooms to provide support for the School of Industry
1878: In
Americus, GA, Henriette Cohen and Meyer Benjamin Foster gave birth to Solomon
Fost,r the graduate of the University of Cincinnati and Hebrew Union College
who became the Associate Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Newark, NJ.
1878: In Zbąszyń,
Nowy Tomyśl County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland, Jacobi Bornstein, the
son of Aron and Sara Bornstein and his wife Thelka Bornstein gave birth to
Alfred Bornstein
1879: It was
reported today that the Young Men’s Hebrew Union has recently acquired a
gymnasium and bowling alley. The organization is in its 3rd
year and now has 300 members.
1879(22nd of
Shevat, 5639): Joseph A. Engelhart, passed away today in Raleigh, NC. A native
of Mississippi, he was elected to serve as North Carolina’s Secretary of State
in 1876 when he ran on the ticket with Governor Zebulon Baird Vance. Engelhart
actually ran ahead of the ticket. He leaves behind a large family that will
benefit from $50,000 in life insurance.
1880: In
Paducah, KY, Isaac Wolfe and Amanda (Uri) Bernheim gave birth to Johns Hopkins
Medical School trained surgeon, Dr. Bertram M. Bernheim, the husband of Hilda
Hess Marcus with whom he had three children – Minda, Isaac Wolfe II and
Bertram, Jr. – who was promoted decorated and promoted to the rank of Major for
his “work done with combat troops during the fighting around Chateau Theirry”
and the Argonne during WW I and “who did pioneering work in blood transfusion
and vascular surgery” while serving as “an early advocate of patients’ rights
and of group medical practices” and helping the Baltimore City Fire Department
to establish a public ambulance service.
https://medicalarchives.jhmi.edu:8443/papers/bernheim.html
1881: In
Lithuania, David Shubert and Gittel Helvich Shubert gave birth to Dora Shubert
Wolf.
1881:
Birthdate of Russian born Englishman Abraham Joseph Hyman, the Titanic survivor
and husband of Esther Levy with whom he had five children – Julius, Ann,
Lilian, Morris and Ena.
1881: In an
attempt to provide information about Jewish practices regarding sacramental
wine P.J. Joachimsen wrote from his home on East 69th Street that
“the great majority of conforming Jews in this city use wine made from raisins
at the Passover Feast. Of course, the raisins are fresh. Such
raisin-wine is used in all conforming synagogues for the sanctification of
Shabbat and holy days; i.e. for Kiddush and also for services at circumcisions
and weddings. Some, but not many, people use imported wine --- Italian,
Hungarian or German --- which is certified as ‘Perach’ or ‘Kosher Wine.’”
1882: In
Philadelphia, Mayor Samuel George King presided over a public meeting in his
office this afternoon that was attended by Christians and Jews who were making
plans on how to provide for the impending influx of Jews from Russia. According
to Moses Dropsie, at least 100,000 Russian Jews have lost all of their
possessions and were candidates for immigration to the United States. So
far, 2000 have arrived in New York and a total of 10,000 are expected.
Philadelphia has agreed to provide support for 10% of the group. Those
attending the meeting plan on petitioning the federal government to exert
pressure on the Russians to put an end to the persecution of its Jewish
citizens.
1882: While
defending his government’s foreign policy in the House of Commons this
afternoon Sir Charles Dilke, the Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs said that
Great Britain would not be intervening with the Russian government on behalf of
its Jewish subjects. “All the precedents showed that English interference
in the internal affairs of a foreign country would meet with a rebuff and do
more harm than good.”
1882: In
Obeliai, Lithuania, Rabbi Bunim Tzemach and Malka Silver gave birth to Rabbi
Eliezer Silver, the President of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis who worked to
provide aid for European Jews suffering during World War I and who worked to
save thousands of Jews during the Holocaust.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/eliezer-silver
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1968/02/09/79933172.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
https://web.archive.org/web/20051203005136/http:/www.cincypost.com/living/1999/silver051199.html
1883: Founding
of Congregation Oheb Sholom in Goldsboro, NC which holds services on Friday
evening and Saturday morning, operates a religious school, owns a cemetery and
whose members included Henry Weil, S.S. Spier, Joseph Isaac, Joseph Schwab,
Edward Lehman and Samuel Cohn.
1884: Birthdate of Kovno native and Pottstown,
PA carpenter turned iron and metal businessman Charles Pollock, the husband of
Minnie Robinson with whom he had one son and three daughters and who is a member
of B’rith Abraham and Congregation Mercy of Truth.
1885(30th
of Shevat, 5645): Rosh Chodesh Adar
1885: In
Vilna, Golda and Simon Berkman, “a horse trader” gave birth to Hyman Berkman,
the husband of Sarah Gelman and son-in-law of Abram Gelman who in 1906 came to
New York “where he worked in a butcher shop” before eventually settling in
Canton, OH where he was a horse trader, “fruit huckster” and a partner in “the
firm of Rudner Iron and Steel” while belonging to “Congregation Sherah Torah
and B’rith Sholom.”
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Damrosch-Leopold.htm
1886: Three
days after she had passed away Julia Hart, the daughter of Joseph and Hannah
Levy, the wife of Lewis Hart and the mother of Sarah, Elizabeth and Fanny Hart
was buried today at the “Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.”
1887: Annie
Nathan became Annie Nathan Meyer when she married her second cousin Dr. Alfred
Meyer.
1889(14th
of Adar I, 5649): Purim Katan celebrated on the same that a group of Filipino
living in exile published the first of edition of La Solidaridad
1890: In
Amsterdam, Sientje and Mozes Gans gave birth to Isaac Gans, the husband of
Rachel Roet and the father of Louis and Mozes H. Gans. (Not to be confused with
the American civic leader and philanthropist who had been living in Washington
since 1882)
1890(25th
of Shevat, 5650): Parashat Mishpatim
1891: The
New York Times reported on a gift worth $3,400,000 given by Baron Maurice
de Hirsch “to ameliorate” the conditions of recent immigrants from Russia and
Romania.
1891:
Representatives of Jewish organizations from throughout the United States met
in Philadelphia, PA today where they formed the Jewish Alliance of
America. The goal of the Alliance is to alleviate the suffering among
Russian Jews by helping them to establish and maintain “farm colonies” in the
American West.
1891: Rabbis
Gottheil, Silverman and Kohut officiated at the service held this afternoon at
Temple Emanu-El in memory of the late Lazarus Rosenfeld.
1892:
Birthdate of Russian born, University of Manitoba trained surgeon Dr.Aaron
Dubnove, “the prominent Detroit physician, scholar and Zionist.
1892: Nine new
cases of typhus were found by New York City Health department doctors today all
which involved recently arrived Jewish immigrants from Russia. Among the
victims was 12 year old Abraham Mermer who was sent from his home on Essex
Street to North Brother Island where joined his parents and other family
members who were already under quarantine.
1893: It was
reported today the Mrs. Falk is the Chairman of the Committee on Arrangements
for the upcoming concert that will raise funds for the Hebrew Sheltering
Guardian and Orphan Asylum.
1894:
Birthdate of Bialystok native Samuel Francis Cohn who in 1898 came to the
United States where he earned an LLB at Columbia, served in the U.S. Army
during WW I and was a member of the faculty of Washington State University in
Pullman, Washington.
1894:
Birthdate of Brazilian statesman Osvaldo Aranha the “President of the United
Nations General Assembly in 1947 during the UNGA 181 vote on the United Nations
Partition Plan for Palestine, in which he postponed the vote for three days to
ensure its passage” and for which he was nominated for a Noble Prize.
1895: In
Jerusalem, Solomon and Sarah (Saphir) Steinberg gave birth Art Institute of
Chicago trained painter and illustrator Nathaniel P. Steinberg who “painted a
portrait of Theodor Herzl for the Chicago Public Schools” and “made all of the
illustrations for the first Jewish historical book of Illinois which was
published in 1924.”
https://americanart.si.edu/artist/nathaniel-p-steinberg-4619
1895: Rose
Dintenfass, the wife of Alexander Dintenfass and the mother of Joseph and Jenny
Dintenfass was buried today at the “West Ham Jewish Cemetery.”
1896(1st
of Adar, 5656): Parashat Terumah; Rosh Chodesh Adar; Shabbat Shekalim
1896:
Birthdate of Russia native Harry Cooper, the career army officer and WW II
veteran.
1896: Twenty-nine-year-old
“music publisher and composer” Charles Kissel Harris, the Poughkeepsie, NY born
son of Jacob and Rachel Harris, whose early hits included “Since Maggie Learned
to Skate” and “After the Ball” married Cora Lehrberg today in Chicago,
Illinois.
1896: Police
had to be called to 112 Clinton to restore order after fights broke among
members of a Jewish society that used the building “as a synagogue on Saturday
nights.”
1897: It was
reported today that Mayor William Lafayette Strong, the last Mayor of New York
elected prior to its consolidation told a meeting of the Free Sons of Israel
that “During my term of office I had had many applications for aid, but I don’t
think one single application came from a Hebrew. The Jews take care of
their own. They are taught to be self-supporting. Speaking as a
gentile, I will say that you manage your charities better than we do.”
1897: It was
reported today that an unnamed teacher on New York’s Lower East Side told her
students that “If you grow up to be good Jews you will be good American
citizens. If you are not good American citizens, you will not be good
Jews.” (This is an example of the binding of the Jews with the American
Dream that has helped to differentiate the Jewish experience in the United
States from other Diaspora Communities)
1897:
The new officers of District Grand Lodge No. 1, Independent Order Free Sons of
Israel are: Grand Master – Ralph Rosenberg; First Deputy – M. Samuel Stern;
Second Deputy – Julius Hass; Grand Secretary – J. H. Goldman. Two of the
committee chairmen were appointed – Isaac Engel and Isaac Niner.
1897:
Birthdate of Gerrit Kleerekoper, the coach of the Dutch Ladies’ Gymnastics Team
who would be killed by the Nazis at Sobibor.
1897: Emanuel
Lehman, one of the original Lehman brothers, celebrated his 70th
birthday today. During his birthday celebration this evening, he was presented
with loving cup honoring him for all of his support of the Hebrew and
Benevolent and Orphan Asylum.
1897: “Every
charitable association” in New York City “in which Emanuel Lehman is interested
received a handsome check from him” today “with an explanatory note that it was
a …present” marking his birthday.
1898:
Northwestern Medical School trained urology surgeon Daniel N. Eisendrath, the
Chicago born son of Nathan and Helen (Fellheimer) Eisendrath, and member of
Sinai Temple married Maude Rosenbuam today in Chicago.
1898: Baron
Ludwig Von Erlanger, head of the Frankfurt branch of the banking house of
Erlanger and Sons passed away. Erlanger's father, Raphael Erlanger was
Jewish, but he converted to Christianity at his wife's behest prior to the
birth of his sons Ludwig and Baron Emil B. Von Erlanger. The surviving son will
now head the banking house which also has major offices in London and Paris.
While neither of the Erlanger sons were raised as Jews, critics would describe
them as such when it fit their needs. 1898(23rd of Shevat, 5658: The USS Maine
explodes and sinks in Havana harbor in Cuba, killing more than 260 including 15
Jewish serving on board the battleship. This event leads the United States to
declare war on Spain.
1898: In
Albany, New York state senator Cantor introduced a bill that would exempt “the
real estate of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association from taxation, assessment and
water rates.”
1898: The
Purim Ball is scheduled to be held tonight at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
This year’s tickets cost more than in the past because a banquet has been added
to the event. M.H. Moses, Simon Schafer, Henry Rick, Sol B. Solomon,
Jules S. Bache, J.S. Isaacs and Narry are the members of the Purim Association
responsible for the event. (Purim actually will not be celebrated until March
8)
1898: The New
York state senate is expected to pass a bill introduced by Senator Cantor
allowing for the incorporation of “The Hebrew Charities Building” in New York
City.
1899: In
Brooklyn, “Jewish immigrants Julius and Sarah (née Kasindorf) Josephson” gave
birth to journalist and author Matthew Josephson whose works included a
biography about Emile Zola, the Frenchman who defended Dreyfus.
1899: In Litchfield,
MN, Danish-Americans Hands and Christin (Holm) Sondergaard gave birth to
actress Edith Holm Sondergaard whose career suffered irreparable harm when her
husband, the American-Jewish screenwriter and film director was blacklisted as
“one of the Hollywood Ten,” but who did not turn her back on him or sacrifice
their marriage to satisfy the Right Wing Red Hunters.
1899: In Fort
Smith, Ark, Founding of the Progress Club whose members include Samuel Herman,
Morris Levy, Herman Apple, Ben Wolf, Solomon Kohn and L.M. Holberg.
1899: Benjamin
Arguss, the Russian born son of Mordecai "Max" Agruss and Faega
"Fannie" Agruss and his wife Rose Agruss gave birth to Nathan (Nat)
Agruss the brother of Washington University and
University of Chicago trained research chemist Myer Agruss.
1899: In New
York City “Samuel Sachar, a Jewish immigrant from Lithuania, and Sarah
Abramowitz, a native of Jerusalem” gave birth historian Abram Leon Sachar, the
founding President of Brandeis University who was a descendant of Gedaliah ibn
Yahya ben Joseph, the 16th century Italian Talmudist.
1900: Herzl is
received by Austrian Prime Minister Ernest von Koerber. Herzl writes a
memorandum about the Jewish Colonial Bank. The subscriptions to the Bank are
prohibited in Austria and Herzl wants to prevent that little people will lose
their money.
1901: The
Purim Association, which had “distributed over $135,000 in money, food, and
clothing during the past year” held its charity ball tonight at the
Metropolitan Opera House and raised an additional $15,000 for its relief fund.
1902: At a
meeting of the Rabbinical Association at Sinai Temple today a committee” “composed
of Prof. Gabriel Bamberger, Mrs. Marion Craig Wentworth, and E. P. Rosenthal” “from
the Industrial Art League endeavored to interest the members in a proposition
to establish a guild in connection with the Jewish Training School on the west
side.
1903: Herzl
sends a new proposal to the Sultan: Colonization in the Sanjak of Acre in
return for a guaranteed annual payment of 100.000 Turkish pounds. In a move
that would place him at odds with the “Territorialists” Herzl is already
thinking about Jewish colonization in Africa but is willing to make this one
last attempt to deal with the rulers of the Ottoman Empire.
1904:
Elizabeth Bonnell, a prominent South Carolina society matron who generously
helped a poor Jewish family during the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1858 passed
away.
1904: It was
reported today that Simon Wolf, the author The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier
and Citizen, The Biography of M.M. Noah and The Biography of Commodore
U.P.Levy, has been chosen to as the head of B’nai B’rith, replacing the late
Leo N. Levi whose funeral took place yesterday.
1904:
Birthdate of Dunmore, CT native David Weisberger, the Harvard trained Dentist
and Yale trainded physician who served on the faculty of the Harvard Dental
School
1905: René
Worms was “created a chevalier of the Legion of Honor.”
1905: Birthdate
of Buffalo, NY native Hyman Arluck who gained fame as composer Harold Arlen who
won an Oscar in 1940 for writing the score for “The Wizard of Oz.”
http://www.haroldarlen.com/bio-3.html
1906(20th of
Shevat): Rabbi David Solomon Slouschz passed away
1906: In
“Giving the Czar A Chance” published today Israel
Ziony, the Political Editor of the Jewish American criticized Louis
Nixon, the Tammany Hall leader, for trusting the promises of the Russians and
Czar Nicholas II citing the orders that “were given to massacre Jews all over
South Russia and the failure to honor the commitments to open up Manchuria
which led to traders from the United States being driven out of the area.
1906:
The British Labour Party organized. The Labour Party’s membership was an
eclectic amalgam. As one would expect, it included a large bloc of trade
unionists. But it is also attracted a cross section of intellectuals and
professionals who saw the party as a vehicle that would help reform English
society and its political system. Jewish involvement reflected this
membership spectrum. For example, one of its early leaders was Manny
Shinwell, a member of the trade union councils in Glasgow. On the other
hand, Leslie Haden Haden-Guest, 1st Baron Haden-Guest, veteran of the Boer War,
author and solicitor was the first Jew to stand for Commons as a Labour Party
Candidate.
1907(1st
of Adar, 5667): Rosh Chodesh Adar
1907: Builder
Julius Weinstein reportedly has sold a building on the Northwest corner of
Lexington Avenue and 123rd Street.
1908(13th
of Adar I, 5668): Parashat Tetzaveh
1908: In
Odessa, the governor announced, “that in the future the wives of Hebrews who
have emigrated to America may obtain foreign passports upon presentations of an
authentic letter from their husbands inviting them join them” which is a “most
welcome decision to Jewish women who up” until now “have not been permitted to
emigrate without” their husbands giving authorization “in person.”
1909(24th of
Shevat, 5669): Boston native Benjamin Cohen, the business manager for the Boston Courier, a newspaper founded in
1842 passed away today in his hometown.
1910: “The
loft building boom was given new stimulus” today by the announcement that
Samuel K. Jacobs…has sold a plot on West Twenty-second Street” which adjoins a
plot recently purchased by Mayer S. Auberach.
1911:
President Taft “to-day had an extended conference with a number of prominent
Jews on the subject of Russia's refusal to recognize passports issued to Jewish
travelers wishing to visit Russia” after which “The President entertained the
delegation at luncheon.”
1912: A
benefit that had already been planned to be held this evening in honor of the
thirty year career of New York for “impresario” Theodore David “Ted” Marks, the
grandson of New Orleans merchant and philanthropist Isadore Newman is still
scheduled to be held tonight at Cohan’s Theatre despite the fact that he had
passed away earlier this week.
1912(27th
of Shevat, 5672): Isaac Ciener, who had applied for at least two patents with
U.S. Patent Office passed away today in Indianapolis, Indiana.
1913(8th
of Adar I, 5673): Parashat Tetzaveh
1913: In
Chicago, at the Haymarket Yiddish thespians Bernard Young and Clara Young
appeared in the matinee and evening performance of “My Wife’s Husband.”
1913: It was
reported today that “the Russian cabinet has resolved that unlike all of
Russian and Finns, Jews” will not be allowed to vote in Finland
1913: It was
reported today that a cable has been received from London stating that
“Professor Boris Shatz, the head of the Bezalel Textile School of Jerusalem has
postponed the exhibition of the produce of his school” which had been scheduled
to take place in October in the United States.
1913: In
Prague, Mr. and Mrs. Hugo Bergman gave birth to “psychoanalyst, author and
educator” Martin Shlomo Bergman (As reported by Margalit Fox)
1913:
Twenty-year-old Abiel Kiviat who had won a Silver Medal at the 1912 Olympic
Games in Stockholm “set a 10 lap-track indoor mile record in New York.” (As
reported by Bob Wechsler)
1914: This
afternoon, Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson told those attending “the 25th
annual meeting of H.I.A.S. that the standards of living in this country were
higher today than ever before” and therefore immigration from countries where
living conditions were not so good” should be limited which led Jacob H. Schiff
to express his opposition to the suggestion saying that “every immigrant who
came to the United States with strong hands and an honest purposed was bound to
succeed and become an asset to the nation.”
1914: “Forced
Subscriptions” published today described the Jews of Kovno have been forced to
subscribe to an other wise failed daily paper, the Litovskai Russ, “whose
object is the calumniation and vilification of their race.”
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/02/15/100082506.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1914: One day
after he passed away, the funeral of 53-year-old Gerson Rosenzweig, the native
of Bialystok who 1888 came to the United States where he “published and edited
the Hebrew weekly Halbii,” translated the “Star-Spangled Banner into
Hebrew” and developed a reputation as a humorist that earned him the sobriquet
the “Hebrew Mark Twain” is scheduled to be held today at his own on Madison at
noon today.
1915(1st
of Adar, 5675): Rosh Chodesh Adar
1915: In
“Danger to Jewish Religion” published today, Dr. Samuel Schulman was quoted as
having told congregants at Temple Beth-el that in nationality he was an
American, in religion he was a Jew and that “it was the duty of the Jews to
teach not nationalism but internationalism.
1915: “Germans
My Sell Jewish Institute” published today described the negativereaction of
Jewish leaders in the United States to reports that “the German Hilfsverein of
Berlin (a Jewish aide society)intends to force the sale of the property of the
Jewish Institute of Technology at Haifa and to exclude from the division of the
receipts contributors and creditors of the institute” such as those in the
Russia, Great Britain and France “who are prevented by the war from being
represented in the liquidation.”
1915: The
House of Representatives voted in favor of a bill introduced by Congressman A.
Mitchell Palmer and supported by the National Child Labor Committee whose first
chairman was Felix Adler and whose leading members included Lillian Wald that
“would end child labor in most American mines and factories. (Editor’s Note –
The bill died in the Senate, but it was one of the many examples of where Jews
were driven by the “social justice message” of the Prophets to improve the
lives of the weakest in the society.
There is a certain irony to Palmer’s championing this measure. He is the same A. Mitchell Palmer who as
Attorney General led the “red hunt” after World War One which had a negative
impact on so many Jews some of whom were Communists and/or Socialists.)
1916: A U.S.
Navy collier is scheduled to set sail from Philadelphia today filled with
supplies collected by the American Jewish Relief Committee for those suffering
in Palestine.
1917: While
serving on the Western Front with the German Army, in response to the
Judensahlung (the Jewish census) which was an attempt to prov that Jews were
avoiding military service in the German Army, Arnold Zweig, who was “shaken by
the experience” wrote to Martin Buber "The Judenzählung was a reflection
of unheard sadness for Germany's sin and our agony. ... If there was no
antisemitism in the army, the unbearable call to duty would be almost
easy."
1917(23rd
of Shevat, 5677): Eighty-year-old Abraham Abelson, the Polish born husband of
Rachel Abelson who served as the rabbi of “the Merthyr Tydfil Congregation for
over 30 years” passed away today.
http://www.cemeteryscribes.com/getperson.php?personID=I4607&tree=Cemeteries
https://www.geni.com/people/Rabbi-Abraham-Abelson/6000000041032435945
1917:
Birthdate of George Forman, “a longtime comptroller of the American Civil
Liberties Union who brought fiscal discipline to a ramshackle organization near
bankruptcy in the late 1970's and later helped it develop into a powerful civil
liberties conglomerate.” (As reported by Lily Koppel)
1918: In an
interview given today at Berlin today, “Talat Pasha, the grand vizier of Turkey
expressed the home that the Ottoman Government” would “maintain its sovereignty
in Palestine” despite the current “British occupation” of the area.
1918: Today,
Major Lionel de Rothschild lent Gunnersbury Lodge, the resident of the late
Leopold de Rothschild, to the government so that it can “be used as a hospital
for wounded soldiers.”
1918: In New
York City, Rose (née Goldberg) and stockbroker Harry Arbus gave birth to Allan
Franklin Arbus, the photographer turned actor best known for his role as the
psychiatrist on M*A*S*H.
1919(15th
of Adar I, 5679): Parashat Tetzaveh
1919: It was
reported today that “word has been received hat Michael Aronson, a student at
Hebrew Union College who enlisted immediately after the war began and “who was
blinded while serving in the army while serving overseas” “has been cited for
the D.S.C.” (Distinguished Service Cross)
1919: “Special
services” are scheduled to be held in Orthodox synagogues for the delegates
attending the Zionist Convention in Chicago which began yesterday.
1919: Two
months after it first appeared in New York, as of today the rest of the country
could see “The Heart of Humanity” a silent war propaganda film produced by Carl
Laemmle, co-starring Eric Von Stroheim.
1919: Attorney
Maurice Leon, the Recording Secretary of the Lafayette Day National Committee,
which of the Layfette Day Celebration, who was the Beirut born son of B.A. and
Emma R. Leon and the stepson of Professor Richard Gottheil “was the guest
tonight of fellow committeeman at a dinner in the University Club.”
1919: Joseph
Josephson, a Lithuanian born Jew who served with the Anzacs on the Western
Front was discharged today.
1920: Eva and
Abraham Sabesewitz gave birth to Renee Barinbaum, the wife of Joseph Barinbaum,
who lived to be ninety years old.
1920:
Birthdate of New York native Harold Michelson “the illustrator and storyboard
artist” who with his wife Lillian formed a formidable behind the camera
Hollywood power couple immortalized in the biopic “Harold and Lillian.”
1921(7th
of Adar I, 5681): Sixty-nine-year-old Bohemian born Adolph Greenhut who “became
a naturalize citizen in 1874” and whose marriage to Eva Greenhut produced one
son – Herman – passed away today in Pensacola, FL where he served as Mayor from
1913 to 1915.
1921: In
Vienna, Nathan Piernikatz who “operated a clothing business” and his wife gave
birth to Arthur Piernkatz who made Aliyah after the Anschluss and gained fame
as Asher Ben-Natan “the Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Defense”
and Israel’s first Ambassador to Germany.
1921: Elka
Lerner, a cousin of Joseph Barondess, gave birth to a baby aboard the SS
Chicago two days before it arrived in New York Harbor.
1922: As sign
of erosion for support of the Balfour Declaration, “Sir William Joynson-Hicks,
a
Conservative Member of Parliament, asked the Prime Minister David Lloyd George,
to explain the reason why the Government has promised the Jewish people a
national home ‘in a country which is already the national home of the Arabs.’”
1922:
Birthdate of Herman Kahn “one of the preeminent futurists” who “predicted the
rise of Japan as a major world power.”
1922: In Merv,
Turkmenistan, Gevork Alikhanov who was an Armenian and Ruth Bonner who was
Jewish gave birth to Elena Georgievna Bonner, the Soviet dissident and
human-rights campaigner who endured banishment and exile along with her
husband, the dissident nuclear physicist Andrei D. Sakharov. As reported by Alessandra Stanley and Michael
Schwiritz)
1923: Ted
“Kid” Lewis (born Gershon Mendeloff) was defeated in a bout at the Royal Albert
Hall which cost him British Middleweight title and European Middleweight title.
1923: In
Manhattan, Helen Sachs Straus and Nathan Straus Jr. who became director of the
United States Housing Authority under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and a New
York State senator, gave birth to Ronald Peter Straus “who took over WMCA in
New York in the late 1950s and turned it into one of the nation’s most
innovative radio stations, broadcasting what are regarded as the first radio
editorials and political endorsements and helping to popularize rock ’n’ roll.”
(As reported by Robert D. McFadden)
1924(10th
of Adar I, 5684): Isaac “Ike” Lowenberg the German born son of Friederike and
Levi Lowenberg and husband of Carolina Lina Lowenberg passed away today in St.
Joseph, MO. (He is not to confused with wholesale grocer, and Natchez mayor who
had the same name)
1924:
“Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber Hails Hitler as Intelligent and Sympathetic
Leader”
1924:
Birthdate of Newark, NJ, native Jerome “Jerry” Yellin, the P-51 fighter pilot
who flew the last combat mission of WW II.
http://captainjerryyellin.com/
1925: “The
Salvation Hunters,” a silent film directed, produced and written by Josef von
Sternberg.
1925: In
Cologne, Germany, Marcus and Eleanora (Cohn) Prawer gave birth to Siegbert
Salomon Prawer whose family fled from Nazi Germany to England where he
eventually became Taylor Professor of the German Language and Literature at the
University of Oxford.
http://www.mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/files/prawer_obit.pdf
1926: Carlos
Israels, Alvin Grauer and Fred Behrens were reported to be members of the
Temple Emanu-El League debating team of Temple Emanuel and Edward Levine, David
Stein and Milton Levine were reported to be members of the Junior League
debating team of Temple Beth-El.
1926:
Birthdate of Richard Adolf Bloch who started “the H and R Block tax preparation
and personal finance company with his older brother Henry in 1955.”
1926:
“Partners Again,” an “ethnic Jewish humor film based on the 1922 Broadway play”
produced by Samuel Goldwyn was released today in the United States.
1927: In case
of Jew versus Jew bantamweight Herman “Kid” Silvers defeated Milton Cohen at
the 102nd Engineers Armory in New York.
1927: In
Chicago, Illinois, “Ellen (née Blecher) and Cyril Raymond Korman, a salesman”
gave birth to Harvey Herschel Korman the comic actor who gained fame as the second
banana on “The Carol Burnett Show.”
1928:
Birthdate of Harold Arnold Ackerman, the New Jersey native who served as a
federal judge for three decades.
1929: The 31st
biennial council of the Union of American Congregations is scheduled to
hold its final session today at Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco.
1929: In New
York City, Jewish immigrants Julius and Rhea Schlesinger gave birth to James
Schlesinger “who became a Lutheran as an adult” according to some to advance
his academic career at a time when being Jewish was a limiting factor and
served as Secretary of Defense and the first Secretary of Energy. (As reported
by Robert D. McFadden)
1930: Herbert
H. Lehman, the Jewish Lieutenant Governor of New York “praised the work of the
Child Welfare Committee of America at the annual dinner of the committee”
tonight.
1931:
Birthdate of Maxine Frank Singer, a leading biochemistry researcher and
advocate of science education.
1931(28th
of Shevat, 5691): Sixty-five-year-old New York actor and playwright Louis Mann,
the son of Daniel and Carolina Mann, the husband of “actress and playwright
Clara Lipman” who had begun his career “on the stage began at the age of three”
passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1931/02/16/102215589.pdf
1931: In
London Elizabeth (née Grew) and Edward Max Blume gave birth to Patricia Claire
Blume who gained fame as actress Claire Bloom.
1931: “Two
orthodox synagogues, The Hebrew Orthodox Benevolent Association and The Young
Men’s Hebrew Association, merged to become Congregation Beth Jacob. Under the
leadership of Rabbi Louis Feigonz'l, the members raised funds to build a new
synagogue on the site of the old Hebrew Orthodox Benevolent Association. In the
1970s the congregation joined the Conservative Movement in an attempt to
attract more members. Today the congregation is small, but still active in the
Galveston Community.”
1932: Benjamin
Nathan Cardozo, Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals, was
nominated by President Hoover today to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States to fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
1932: George
Burns and Gracie Allen debuted as regulars on "Guy Lombardo Show”, a hit
radio show. He was Jewish. She was not.
1932: At Lake
Placid, the ceremonies marking the end of the Winter Olympics in which speed
skater Irving Jaffee had won two gold medals took place today.
1933(19th
of Shevat, 5693): In Brooklyn, retired builder, real estate operator and one of
the last two surviving American members of the Chovevei Zion” Pincus Rongy, the
Russian born “son of the late Abraham Rongy who designed and supervised in 1865
the building of the first bridge over the Volga River” and active member of
the Jewish community as could be seen in
his membership in the ZOA, the leading role in the erection of the Beth-El
Hospital and the organizing the Jewish Maternity Hospital while being the
husband of Bessie Rongy whom he married after the death of his first wife Leah
ad the father of two daughters and one son, Dr. Abraham J. Rongy, passed away
today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1933/02/16/99210237.html?pageNumber=19
1934: The
Conte Di Savoia was scheduled to set sail from New York bound for Palestine on
what was billed as the “Purim Cruise.
1935: In
Brooklyn Mae and Samuel Warhaftig gave birth to Susan Warhaftig who gained fame
as journalist and author Susan Brownmiller.
http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch00352
1935: “A
committee created by the U.S. Congress to investigate the distribution of Nazi
propaganda in America found that Nazis are targeting millions of Americans of
German heritage with pro-Nazi teachings.”
1936(22nd
of Shevat, 5695): Parashat Yitro
1936(22nd
of Shevat, 5695): Forty-four-year-old multi-talented musical impresario Charles
David Isaacson, the son of violinist Mark N. Isaacson and nephew of Barney
Isaacson, the court violinist to Queen Victoria passed away today at Bellevue
Hospital.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9E00E4D7103BE23AA15755C1A9649C946794D6CF
1936: “Rabbi Israel Mattuck of the Liberal
Jewish Synagogue in London” is scheduled to “preach today at Temple Emanu-El…on
the topic of ‘The Present Crisis in Civilization’”.
1936: Dr.
Stephen S. Wise made public a report today showing that $47,888,125 “has been
spent in Palestine” from funds collected by the United Palestine Appeal of
which he is chairman.
1936: In
Poznan, Poland, the “members of the Jewish community protested to the Ministry
of Cults and Education that the prohibition against slaughtering animals “which
have not been first stunned” “would deprive Jews of meat because it would ban
kosher slaughtering which allow stunning before killing.”
1937: It was
reported today Emil Ludwig has soured on writing biographies since the Nazis
came to power because they “have burned his books, murdered his friends” and
“used their power against the Jews not in the manner of “attacking moving
fishes” but rather “letting the water
out of the basin until the fishes slowly die in the sand.”
1938: The
Austrian government declared a general amnesty for Nazis.
1938: It was
reported today that among the foreigners who have decided to stay in China
despite the invasion by Japan is “a Canadian Episcopal mission established in a
synagogue” established “2,000 years ago by a tribe of Jews who settled” in
Kaifeng. (Editor’s note – this item is included as a testament to the antiquity
of the Jewish settlement in East Asia.)
1939: Lillian
Hellman's "Little Foxes" premiered in New York City.
1939: “Bela
Imredy, the father of the anti-Jewish bill intended to exclude Jews and those
Christians with Jewish parentage from the Hungarian civil service and liberal
professional while radically curtailing their position in trade and industry
resigned as Premier today” because “he was compelled to admit.. that he was of
Jewish descent” since “his mother’s grandfather was born a Jew.”
1940(6th
of Adar I, 5700): Fifty-eight-year-old German mathematician Otto Toeplitz who
was dismissed from the faculty of Bonn University in 1935 and who emigrated to
Palestine in 1939 where he worked at Hebrew University succumbed to
tuberculosis today.
1941(18th
of Shevat, 5701): Parashat Yitro
1941(18th
of Shevat, 5701): Eighty-five Moravian born Austrian musicologist Guido Adler
the son of Franciska and Dr. Joachim Adler passed away today in Vienna.
http://hmfa.libs.uga.edu/hmfa/view?docId=ead/ms769-ead.xml
1941: In
France, the Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (Children’s Aid Society) installed a
medical post and obtained permission to take numerous children away from Gurs
concentration camp, who would be housed in private homes throughout France.
1942: In the
most crushing blow to date suffered by the British in the Far East Singapore,
which had a Jewish population of approximately 1,500 people, fell to the
Japanese today.
1943(10th of
Adar I, 5703): Four hundred fifty of the Jews remaining in the ghetto at
Drohobych were taken out of the ghetto to Bronica Forest where they were
murdered.
1943(10th
of Adar I, 5703): Seventy-three year “composer, conductor and music educator”
Victor Harris, the New York born of Jacob Harris, “who was one of the first
members at the Metropolitan Opera and the founder of the Saint Cecilia Chorus
and Orchestra passed away today.
https://snaccooperative.org/ark:/99166/w61v68h2
1943: Rutka
Laskier, a fourteen-year-old living in Bedzin, Poland writes in her diary:
“Monday I haven’t written in while and there was nothing to write about. Maybe
just the fact that the Germans have retreated from the Eastern front, which may
signal the nearing of the end of the war… I'm only afraid that we, the Jews,
will be finished before ...But how shrewd am I, I have written already so much
about the war and nothing about myself. Janek hasn't been seen since Wednesday.
I must admit that I miss him, I mean, not him but his forehead. He has a
wonderful white forehead ... I'm curious if Jumek is still in love with Tusia.
Actually, he's a good guy. I like him, but not in the same way I like Mietek.
With Mulek you can talk and forget about the sex difference, and I like that
very much. When you talk to Janek, he is always very polite, reserved, just
waiting for the moment he can help me with something and in that way, show me
his superiority. Oh, him and his superiority! I can't stand it, that's why I
liked Lolek. Actually, I still like him, but I haven't seen him in a while. I
plan to go to Lolek in order to get the book "P.P." I heard it's
great. It would be a great opportunity also to talk with Tuska about Rozka. I
hate those two; I hate Rozka even more than Tuska. I had an argument with Tuska
but it was for her own good. I saw how jealous she was (though at that time I
didn't understand that). She was afraid to leave me alone in the room with
Janek. I made a scene and we fell out. She was basically very pleased with it.
And one more thing: I have decided to let Janek kiss me. Eventually, someone will
kiss me for the first time, so let it be Janek. I do like him.” In August, the
Laskiers were sent to Auschwitz, where Rutka and her mother, grandmother and
brother were all killed.
1943: Today Time
magazine reported that “The late, great prestidigitator Harry Houdini, famed
foe of phony mediums, and his wife Beatrice agreed before his death to try to
get in touch with each other afterwards. Gravely ill last week in Hollywood,
his widow announced that she had not only given up trying but had her doubts
about the existence of a hereafter. She had held séances every year for ten
years, unsuccessfully. "Ten years," observed patient Mrs. Houdini
last week, "is long enough to wait for any man."
1944(21st
of Shevat, 5704): Fifty-nine-year-old Russian born Nathan Feinerman, who in
1906 came to the United States where he became President of the Workmen’s
Circle in 1926 and married Ida Joffe Feinerman passed away today while serving
as the “executive secretary of the Yiddish Scientific Insitute.”
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/02/16/96569395.pdf
1944:
Churchill invites Chaim Weismann to dine with him. After the dinner
Weizmann reassured his Zionist colleagues that the Prime Minister still had a
positive view of the formation of a Jewish commonwealth in Palestine after the
war ended.
1945: Launch
of the HMS Sanguine, the British submarine which was sold to the Israeli Navy
in 1958 and later renamed “Rahav.”
1946(14th
of Adar I, 5706): Purim Katan
1946: Six
months after opening in the United Kingdom, “The
Seventh Veil” a “melodrama” with music by Benjamin Frankel was released in the
United States today.
1946: Thirteen
months after being liberated at Auschwitz followed by an unsuccessful effort to
find surviving family members in Poland, Tzipora Shapiro wrote her cousin Rhuze
living in Poland, “At long last, I’m hurry to send you a living word from a dead
world.” (As reported by Yardena Schwartz)
1946:
Birthdate of American actress Marisa Berenson.
1947(25th
of Shevat, 5707): Parashat Mishpatim
1947: “D. Emil
Klein Company, makers of Haddon Hall, Nothingham and Emanelo cigars celebrated
its 25th anniversary tonight at a banquet at the Harmonie Club”
where Chairman of the Board D. Emil Klein and his wife were among the speakers.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1947/02/16/104317410.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1947: Dr.
Alfred Meyer and his wife, Annie Nathan Meyer, will celebrate their sixtieth
wedding anniversary this afternoon at a reception in the Women's Faculty Club
of Columbia University.
1948: Today,
Moshe “Kelman led a force of 60 men which attacked the remote village Sa'sa',
in the Upper Galilee.”
1948:
Birthdate of Art Spiegelman. The Swedish born cartoonist is best known
for Maus: A Survivor's Tale and Maus: from Mauschwitz to the
Catskills. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992.
1949: Louis B.
Heller, the New York born son of Romanian immigrants Max and Doris Heller and
graduate of Fordham Law School. began his career as member of the U.S House of
Representatives that lasted until his resignation in 1954.
1949:
Birthdate of Cincinnati, Ohio and Haverford College educated film critic Harlan
Marshall Jacobson.
https://talkcinema.com/harlan-jacobson
https://www.wbgo.org/post/film-critic-harlan-jacobson-tiff-2018#stream/0
1950: Prime
Minister Tawfiq told Ezekiel Shemtob that he would allow the Jews to leave
Iraq. He agreed to issue them "laissez-passers" and "full
Iraqi passports."
1951: The
government led by Prime Minister Ben Gurion resigned “after the Knesset had
rejected David Remez’s proposals on the registration of school children”
triggering elections that would be held in July.
1951: In
Middlesex, England John Benjamin Frankenberg, an obstetrician who father had
emigrated to the East End to escape from the Russian Pogrom and Mieke van
Tricht, a Dutch Protestant who had been a POW in WW II gave birth to Joyce
Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg who gained fame as actress Jane Seymour.
1952(19th
of Shevat, 5712): Fifty-three-year-old Rabbi Solomon Barsel, the Jerusalem born
son of Goldie and Pincus Barsel and the husband of Rae Shapiro Shelow who
resigned “from the pulpit of Congregation B’Nai Jershurum in Philadelphia in
1949, passed away today, after which he was buried in Roosevelt Memorial Park
in Trevose, PA.
1952: “Le
Plaisir” a comedy directed by Max Ophüls was released today in Paris.
1956(3rd
of Adar, 5715): Tsivye
(Sime Tsivie) Zabludofskaya (Hillman) passed away today in Leningrad.
1957(14th
of Adar I, 5715): Purim Katan
1958:
Birthdate of Sir Michael Lawrence Davis, the native of South Africa and alum of
Theodor Herzl School in Port Elizabeth who went from a successful business career
to serving as CEO of the British Conservative Party while raising three
children – Sarah, Ronit and Eitan – with his wife Barbara.
http://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/former-jlc-chair-sir-mick-davis-made-conservative-party-ceo/
1959:
Birthdate of Washingtonian Jed Rubenfeld, the Princeton grad and Harvard
trained lawyer who was suspended from his post as the Robert R. Slaughter
Professor of Law and is married to fellow author and Yale Law School professor
Amy Chua.
1959: In “Policy
For Germany: Problems of Security, Interzonal Trade and Unification Explored”
published today, Fritz E. Oppenheimer, the former “Special Assistant to General
Clay, the Military Governor of Germany” expressed his concern for the Soviet
proposal for the future governance of Germany.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1959/02/16/83672016.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1960: David
Susskind produced Shaw’s “Don Juan in Hell” as the Play of the Week.
1960: In “Top
Hand With A Rhyme,” published today Joe Hyams describes the talents of Sylvia
Fine, the wife of Danny Kaye.
1961(29th
of Shevat, 5271): Thirty-four-year-old Yeishiva University trained rabbi,
Mandel H. Fisch who began his career at the Chevra Kadisha Temple in Montreal
before becoming the leader of the Jewish Center Nachlath in Brooklyn while
raising two children, Nathaniel and Rene, with his wife passed away today.
1961(29th
of Shevat, 5271): Seventy-two-year-old Russian born American Yiddish author and
journalist Reuben Fink who in 1903 came to the United States where he earned
degrees from City College and Washington University, became an editor for The
Washington Life and a correspondent for the Yiddish paper The Day while several
books including Jews in Civil Service and The American while raising his
daughter Mrs. Muriel Lasser passed away today at his home at 300 Central Park
West.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1961/02/16/97588467.html?pageNumber=31
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Fink%2C%20Reuben%2C%201889%2D1961
1962(11th
of Adar I, 5722): Seventy-two-year-old Russian-born American character actor
Vladimir Sokoloff two whose most memorable roles were in “For Whom the Bell
Tolls” and “The Magnificent Seven” passed away today.
1964(2nd
of Adar, 5724): Parashat Terumah
1964(2nd
of Adar, 5724): Seventy-three-year-old Rabbi Abraham I. Kalmanowitz, president
and dean of the Mirrer Yeshiva Central Institute,” and husband of Minna
Kalmanowitz with whom he had six children – Moses, Israel, Bezale, Rachel,
Dvora and Meta – passed away today.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/kalmanowitz-abraham
1965: In
London, world premiere “Lord Jim” directed, produced and written by Richards
Brooks and co-starring Eli Wallach.
1966: Gertrude
Luckner a Christian social worker who ended up in Rabensbruck for aiding Jewish
families “was recognised as Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem.”
http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/stories/luckner.asp
1967: ITV
broadcast the first episode of “At Last the 1948 Show” co-created by Marty
Feldman who also starred in the political satire.
1967: President Lyndon B.
Johnson met briefly with his friend Jim Novy, a member of the Agudas Achim
Congregation of Austin, Texas, and an important leader in the local
Jewish community whose relationship with the President dates back at
least as far as LBJ’s time as head of the National Youth Administration in
Texas.
1968: A group
of 26 Jewish lawyers, doctors and scientists in Vilnius (Vilna) addressed a
letter to the Central Committee of Lithuania’s Communist Party describing the
widespread discrimination against the Jewish people and demanding the right to
immigrate to Israel.
1969: Columbia trained physicist Harold Brown completed his
service as 8th United States Secretary of the Air Force.
1971:
Birthdate of comic Alex Borstein. Born Alexandra Borstein, this
descendant of Sephardic Jews is best known for her work on “MADtv.”
1972(30th
of Shevat, 5732): Rosh Chodesh Adar
1974: “Ulysses
in Nighttown” which had opened Off-Broadway in 1958 with Zero Mostel in the
lead role opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden starring Obe Award winner
Mostel.
1975(3rd
of Adar I, 5735): Salvator Cicurel an Egyptian Olympic fencer who competed in
the individual and team épée and team foil events at the 1928 Summer Olympics
passed away. Born in 1893, he was part of a prominent Egyptian Jewish family
that owned The Cicurel stores which were Egypt's largest and most fashionable
department store chain.
1976(14th
of Adar I, 5736): Purim Katan
1976:
Seventy-seven Maria Corda, the former wife of Alexander Korda with whom she
enjoyed a professional and personal relationship and whom she saved from
Hungarian fascists passed away today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIgGKCCPZFI
1977(27th of Shevat, 5737): Seventy-three-year-old Hungarian born
American abstract painter Victor Candell passed away today.
https://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/c/candell_v.htm
http://www.blueheronfa.com/wordpress/?p=452
https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-victor-candell-12351
1978: “Coming
Home” critically acclaimed and financially successful Viet Nam themed film
produced by Jerome Hellman and filmed by cinematographer Haskell Wexler was
released in the United States today.
1980: Saturn
3” a sci-fi film directed and produced by Stanley Donen, starring Kirk Douglas
and Harvey Keitel and with music by Elmer Bernstein was released in the United
States today.
1981(11th of
Adar I, 5741): American journalist and writer Isaac Don Levine passed away.
Born in Mozyr, Russia, in 1892, “Levine came to the United States in 1911. He
finished high school in Missouri and found work with The Kansas City Star
and later The New York Herald Tribune, for which he covered the
Revolution of 1917. He would return to Russia to cover the Civil War for The
Chicago Daily News in the early 1920s.” Levine was a columnist for the
Hearst papers during the late 1920s and 1930s. “He edited the anti-communist
magazine Plain Talk from 1946 till 1950, but did not join The Freeman, opting
for a stint with Radio Free Europe in West Germany instead. In the spring of
1939, Levine collaborated with the Soviet intelligence agency defector, Walter
Krivitsky, for a series of articles in the Saturday Evening Post,
exposing the horrors of Joseph Stalin's "workers' paradise." In
November of that same year, the series was collected into a book entitled In
Stalin's Secret Service. Levine's role in the writing was not revealed at the
time. In the meantime, Levine arranged a meeting in September 1939 between
American Communist Party defector Whittaker Chambers and President Franklin
Roosevelt's security chief, Adolf Berle, at which Chambers revealed, with Levine
present, a massive spying operation reaching even into the White House that
involved, among others, Alger Hiss in the State Department and, according to
Levine, Harry Dexter White in the Treasury Department. Levine also provided
testimony to the House Un-American Activities Committee in the case against
Hiss. Levine wrote the screenplay for the biographical movie “Jack London”
(1943) and also appeared as himself as one of the witnesses to the John Reed
era in ‘Reds’ (1981). He makes a brief appearance in Walter Isaacson’s
Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007) as a friend of Einstein, but they
fell out over their political differences.
1981(11th of
Adar I, 5741): Mike Bloomfield, guitarist with Paul Butterfield Blues Band
passed away at the age of 37.
http://www.mikebloomfieldamericanmusic.com/nbio3.htm
https://bolesblogs.com/2010/08/30/the-madding-end-of-mad-mike-bloomfield/
1981(11th
of Adar I, 5741): Eighty-two-year-old Dezső Ernster the son of a cantor and a
leading Hungarian opera singer who survived Bergen Belsen to continue a career
that took him to the leading opera houses of Europe and the United States
including the Met where he “sang leading bass roles from 1946 to 1963” passed away
today.
1981: After
having divorced his first wife Devora Halaban in January, today Hillel
Silverman, the rabbi at Temple Sholom in Greenwich, CT married Roberta Dee
Sigoloff todayl
1983 (2nd of
Adar, 5743): Dr. Eugene Hevesi, who had served as
foreign affairs secretary for the American Jewish Committee, died of lung
cancer to at Long Island Jewish Hospital at the age of 87. He was born in
Budapest, the son of Simon Hevesi, Chief Rabbi of Budapest, and came to the
United States in 1937 as an economic attaché in the Hungarian Embassy. He
resigned in protest over the passage of an anti-Semitic law in Hungary and
served with the American Jewish Committee for 23 years. For 20 years, Dr. Hevesi
was also the United Nations representative for six Jewish nongovernmental
organizations, including the Joint Distribution Committee and the Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society. He received a Doctor of Laws degree in Hungary and an
advanced degree in economics from the Consular Academy of Vienna. In the
1960's, he served as a liaison official between several American Jewish
organizations and the Vatican. He is the father of Assemblyman Alan G. Hevesi.
1984:
“Beyond the Walls” a Hebrew language film “directed by Uri Barbash and written
by his brother Benny Barbash and Eran Preis which was nominated for the Academy
Award for Best Foreign Language Film” was released in Israel today.
1985(24th
of Shevat, 5745): Seventy-six-year-old award winning scriptwriter and
playwright Leonard Spigelgass, the brother-in-law of photographer Sanford Roth
and the brother Beulah Roth, a “speechwriter for FDR and Adlai Stevenson”
passed away today.
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/16/arts/leonard-spigelgass-a-writer-for-broadway-and-hollywood.html
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1985-02-17-8501060212-story.html
1985:
U.S. premiere of “Beyond the Walls,” a 1948 Israeli film that “was nominated
for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
1987:
In “Israel’s Pioneers Return On Film,” published todayThomas Friedman describes
the filming of “Dreamers,” a film about the Dreamers Commune set in the 1920’s
that captures “the moment when the idealism of the first Jewish settlers who
came to this land from Eastern Europe to build a utopian society met the
realities of the harsh Palestinian landscape and the Arab people who were
already inhabiting it.”
1988(27th of
Shevat, 5748): Richard Feynman, Nobel-Prize winning nuclear physicist who
worked on the Manhattan project passed away at the age of 69. Being
Jewish presented a problem for Feynman when he was pursuing his academic
career. He was probably rejected by Columbia because of the New York’s
school’s Jewish quota. He was admitted to MIT where he had a stellar
undergraduate career. After graduating from MIT, Feynman applied to the
doctorate program at Princeton. Harry Smythe, who oversaw the program at
Princeton, was concerned about Feynman’s religious background. “Is Feynman
Jewish? We have no definite rule against Jews but have to keep their proportion
in our department reasonably small because of the difficulty of placing
them.” Despite the prejudice, Feynman was admitted and performed
brilliantly.
1989:
The Soviet Union announced that its last troops had left Afghanistan, ending
the ten year Soviet military operations in that mountainous Moslem
nation. From the Jewish perspective, the Soviet invasion and subsequent
defeat influenced Jewish history in terms of the law of unexpected
consequences. The Soviet debacle in Afghanistan hastened the downfall of
the Soviet Union and the Communist Party. This opened the door to a
massive movement of Jews from the Soviet republics to Israel. It also
provided an opportunity for the rebirth of Jewish culture and the observance of
the Jewish religion in the Soviet republics. The foreign fighters who
came to the aid of the Moslems in Afghanistan would become a cadre for groups
of anti-Western and anti-Semitic terrorist groups that would ultimately pose an
even graver, at one level, threat to the West, to the Jewish People and to
Israel, than had been seen even in the darkest days of the Cold War.
1990: In
Germany, premiere of “The Handmaid’s Tale” with a screenplay by Harold Pinter
and featuring Blanche Baker as “Ofglen.”
1991(1st
of Adar 5751): Rosh Chodesh Adar observed on the same day that leaders of
Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia met to establish the cultural and political
alliance known as the Visegrad Group.
1992(11th of
Adar I, 5752): William Schuman, a composer whose distinctly American style won
two Pulitzer Prizes and guided him as the founding president of Lincoln Center
and the president of the Juilliard School, passed away today in Manhattan at
the age of 81. (As reported by Bruce Lambert)
1995(15th
of Adar I, 5755): Ninety-year-old dBaron Jules de Koenigwarter, the former
husband Kathleen Annie Pannonica Rothschild, who served as a Colonel with the
Free French and held several diplomatic posts after the war, passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/arts/music/19sing.html?pagewanted=all
1998: The
New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including The Founding Myth of Israel: Nationalism, Socialism, and the Making of the
Jewish State by Zeev Sternhell and Stalking Elijah: Adventures
With Today's Jewish Mystical Masters by Rodger Kamenetz
1998: Eighty-nine-year-old
author, journalist and war correspondent, Martha Ellis Gellhorn, the St. Louis born
daughter of the former Edna Fischel and Jewish gynecologist George Gellhorn,
who through a ruse was the only woman to land at Normandy on D-Day and who is
best known by many as one of the wives of Ernest Hemingway, passed away today.
https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/hemingway/martha-gellhorn
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martha-Gellhorn
2000: “Seeking
to secure the rights of the Roman Catholic Church in a future Palestinian
state, the Vatican signed an agreement today with the Palestine Liberation
Organization that would protect freedom of religion and the legal status of
Christian churches”
2000: Michiko
Kakutani provided an in-depth review of City of God by E.L. Doctorow.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/2000/02/15/821683.html?pageNumber=78
2001:
“Ambassador Leaves Israel for Homeland Posting” published today provides a
background on the life and care of Emanuel Zisman
http://sofiaecho.com/2001/02/15/628153_ambassador-leaves-israel-for-homeland-posting
2002(3rd
of Adar, 5762): “The leader of an elite commando unit was killed today by a
falling wall as his troops demolished” the home of Palestinian terrorist living
on the West Bank.
2002: Tonight,
Israeli warplanes struck at the offices of the so-called Palestinian security
forces in retaliation for the destruction of an Israeli tank that took the
lives of three members of the I.D.F.
2003(13th
of Adar I, 5763): Parashat Tetzaveh
2003: “The
Vatican will open secret archives today in an effort to allay accusations that
Pope Pius XII, whom the Vatican wants to make a saint, did not do enough to
save Jews from the Holocaust.”
2004: Various
editions of the secular press featured reviews of books by Jewish
authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including, An Almost
Perfect Moment by Binnie Kirshenbaum, Ten Thousand Lovers by Edeet
Ravel, My Life in Comedy, With Love and Laughter by Sid Caesar with Eddy
Friedfeld, The Eve of Destruction: The Untold Story of the Yom Kippur War
By Howard Blum, War Paint: Madame Helena Rubinstein and Miss Elizabeth
Arden, Their Lives, Their Times, Their Rivalry by Lindy Woodhead and Language
Visible: Unraveling the Alphabet From A to Z by David Sacks,
a history of the alphabet from ancient times. Writing as we know it dates
from approximately 2000 BCE, the same time when the Jews first appear on the
world scene. Is it a coincidence that the "People of the Book"
appear at the same time as the alphabet does? As we have said, studying
Jewish History means studying the history of the world.
2005: In “True
to Her Orthodox Beliefs, if Not to Her Roots” published today, Sarah Bronson
examines the life and career of Rachel Factor.
2005: Last
time that Stan Lee’s Sunday Comics, that included “Stan’s Soapbox” was updated.
2006:
“Foundation for Jewish Youth Gets Founder’s $500 Million” published today
described how “the Jim Joseph Foundation is poised to become one of the biggest
Jewish philanthropies in the country with the addition of more than $500
million in assets, all directed toward Jewish education and youth programs.
2007: In “Anne
Frank’s doomed American dream” published today, The Times of London
reported on newly discovered letters that reveal the increasingly desperate
efforts by Anne Frank’s father to get his family out of Nazi-occupied Amsterdam
before they were forced into hiding in the attic where the teenage girl wrote
her famous diary.
2007(27th of
Shevat, 5767): Robert Adler, 93, who helped invent the device that created a
nation of sedentary television viewers forever flummoxed by the question,
"Where's the remote?" died, of heart failure in Boise, Idaho,
according to Zenith, his longtime employer. Dr. Adler, a Viennese-born
physicist with more than 180 U.S. patents in his name, the most famous of which
was for the wireless remote control for televisions.
2007: In
Mannheim, Germany, Ernst Zündel was convicted of “incitement for Holocaust
Denial” and “sentenced to the maximum term of five years in prison.
2008: Eli
Alexander Sherman the newborn son of Rabbis Aaron Sherman and Stephanie
Alexander attends his first Shabbat service at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids,
Iowa. At 7 pounds, 14 ounces and 21- and one-half inches in length he is the
smallest as well as the newest member of the Jewish community. Calendars
are circled for the Bar Mitzvah in 2021.
2008: The
Jerusalem Post online reported that more than 50 Hezbollah terror cells
believed to be spread across the globe could be activated and used to strike at
Israeli or Jewish targets in retaliation for the assassination of Hezbollah
arch-terrorist and operations officer Imad Mughniyeh in Syria, a senior defense
official said; this despite disclaimers from the Israelis that did not commit
the act
2008: “The
Other Boleyn Girl” starring Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn is screened for the
first time at the Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival)
2009: Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain (JGSGB) Manchester meets at the Manchester
Jewish Museum
2009: The
New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including With Wings Like Eagles: A
History of the Battle of Britain by Michael Korda, We Can Have
Peace in the Holy Land: A Plan That Will Work
by Jimmy Carter and recently released paperback editions of The Spare
Wife by Alex Witchel and The Much Too Promised Land: America’s Elusive
Search for Arab-Israeli Peace by Aaron David Miller.
2009: The
Washington Post featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including Levittown by David Kushner
and How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer.
2009: A one-of-a-kind, award-winning exhibit of
hundreds of pieces of World War II era mail and documents related to the Nazis'
attempted extermination of Jews and others will be publicly displayed at Temple
Judah. The collection is owned by the Deerfield, Illinois-based Florence and
Laurence Spungen Family Foundation, which acquired the extraordinary items to
preserve and offer them for public use at Holocaust and genocide educational
venues around the world. It includes counterfeit Bank of England paper money
created by slave laborers during "Operation Bernhard," the Nazis'
failed plot to undermine England's economy and the subject of the recent motion
picture, "The Counterfeiters." Steve Feller, who with his daughter
Rachel co-authored the book Silent Witness: Civilian Camp Money of World War
II, will present an educational program about Holocaust-related money in
conjunction with the exhibit. Steve will be speaking at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm.
The Florence and Laurence Spungen Family Foundation was established in 2006 to
support charitable and educational causes. Many of the historic artifacts now
can be viewed online at the foundation's Web site, http://www.SpungenFoundation.org.
2009: Opening
day of “The Expanse of Russia in Israel,” an international conference sponsored
by Tulane University’s Jewish Studies Program under the Chairmanship of Dr.
Brian Horowitz, “The conference is devoted to a long-awaited investigation of
Zionism and the influence of secular Russian culture on Israeli life.” Given
the rise of Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman, the
topic of this conference becomes all the more urgent and timely.
.http://www.tulane.edu/~jwst/WebsiteFiles/downloads/conference_schedule_02152009.pdf
2010 (1 Adar,
5770): Rosh Chodesh Adar.
2010: In
Israel, observance of Family Day.
2010: Israeli
archaeologists said today that they've discovered an unusually shaped
1,400-year-old wine press that was exceptionally large and advanced for its
time. The octagonal press measures 21 feet by 54 feet (6.5 by 16.5 meters) and
was discovered in southern Israel, about 40 kilometers south of both Jerusalem
and Tel Aviv
2010: The bomb
attack on a restaurant in Pune, India, not far from a Chabad Jewish center, was
not directed at the Chabad house, an Israeli security official said today.
2010: The
first issue of The Jewish Review of Books is scheduled to begin arriving
in mailboxes across the United States marking the launch of “a quarterly
magazine devoted Jewish literary and political affairs.
2010: The
Josephine F. and H. Max Ammerman Study Retreat at the Pearlstone Conference and
Retreat Center in Reisterstown, Maryland featuring a program entitled “The Rise
and Fall of Ancient Israel: From the Exodus through the Babylonian Exile in
Light of New Archaeological Discoveries” is scheduled to come to an end.
2010: Israeli
pianist Roman Rabinovich and the Jupiter musicians are scheduled to perform
Dvorak’s “Dumky” Trio and a Haydn Piano Trio in New York City.
2010:
According to reports published today, “a painting by Adolf Hitler, which may
have hung in Sigmund Freud's office, will be put up for auction in Britain next
month.
2011(11th
of Adar I, 5771): Dr. Charles Epstein, a UC San Francisco medical geneticist
who studied Down syndrome and pioneered genetic counseling for families with
affected children, but whose career was temporarily interrupted by a vicious
1993 attack by the notorious Unabomber, passed away today at his home in
Tiburon, CA at the age of 77. (As reported by Thomas H. Maugh II, in the LA
Times)
2011: The 92nd
Street Y is scheduled to offer a program entitled “Purim Class” that is a
“journey behind the mask of joyous fun and games of Purim” that explores “the
complex story and meaning behind this perplexing Jewish holiday.”
2011: Jeffrey
Tambor began playing the role of “Georges” in the Broadway revival of “La Cage
aux Folles.”
2011: Harvey
Fierstein began playing “Albin/Zara” in the Broadway revival of “La Cage aux
Folles today.
2011: An
American Synagogue, a documentary that tells “the remarkable story of the
building of Frank Lloyd Wright's Temple Beth Sholom in Elkins Park,
Pennsylvania and “100 Voices: A Journey Home” a documentary that “chronicles a
musical voyage to the birthplace of songful prayer known as chazzanut” are
scheduled to be shown at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.
2011: Israeli
embassies throughout the world have received several suspected terror threats,
the Israel Foreign Ministry said in a statement today. The threats against the
embassies are allegedly from Hezbollah to avenge the murder of Imad Mughniyah
on the third anniversary of his death
2011: Gerda
Weissmann Klein was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the
highest civilian award in the United States
2012(22nd
of Shevat, 5772): Ninety-five-year-old Zelda Kaplan passed away (As reported by
Ruth La Ferla)
2012: “Making
Trouble: Three Generations of Funny Jewish Women” is scheduled to be shown at
the Leventhal-Sidman JCC in Newton MA.
2012: “Jewish
Soldiers in Blue and Gray” is scheduled to be shown at Anshei Emuna
Congregation in Delray Beach, FL.
2012: “For My
Father” is scheduled to be shown at The Yeshiva University Ring Family Israel
Film Festival
2012: The
Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to celebrate
“President’s Day with a noontime program about Isachar Zacharie, a chiropodist
whom President Abraham Lincoln trusted not only with his feet but with a peace
mission to the Confederacy.
2012: Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that Iran is destabilizing the world and
urged the international community to condemn its terror acts against Israeli targets.
(As reported by Barak Ravid)
2012: Southern
farming regions bordering Gaza were targeted by Palestinian rocket fire
tonight. Two rockets exploded in the Sdot Negev Regional Council, two more fell
in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council, and a fifth fell in the Eshkol Regional
Council.
2013: Shaare
Tefila in Olney, MD is scheduled to host Shabbat Alive!, an “instrumental
Friday night service.”
2013: The
Eden-Tamir Music Center is scheduled to be the site for a special concert “The
Big Members of the Violin Family” featuring Inbal Megiddo on cello and Paul
Altromari on double bass.
2013: At the
Weiner Library in London, Dr. Susan Cohen of the University of Southampton is
scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled “Rescue the Perishing: Eleanor Rathbone
and the Refugees” which traces the British MP’s effort to rescues Jews from
Eastern Europe.
2013: Clarinet
and tenor saxophonist Anat Cohen, along with her brothers - trumpeter Avishai
and soprano saxophonist Yuval are scheduled to perform tonight at Carnegie
Hall.
2013: A
synagogue in Siberia was among the buildings damaged when “a meteor streaked
across the sky and exploded over central Russia” today. (As reported by Anne
Cohen)
2013: Jonathan
David Leibowitz resigned as Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission effective
as of today.
2013: A highly
unusual maiden Knesset speech delivered by Yesh Atid legislator Dr. Ruth
Calderon has become something of a YouTube sensation, garnering over 80,000
views as of this afternoon — compared, for instance, to fewer than 4,000 views
for the maiden speech delivered by her party leader, political sensation Yair
Lapid, the day before.
2013:
Bulgarian security forces today raided the temporary residences of a visiting
Hamas delegation in Sofia, and then expelled the officials from the country,
Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported.
2014: “Closing
Night” and “Bethlehem,” winner of Israel’s best-picture award are scheduled to
be shown at the Jewish Film Festival in San Diego, CA
2014: Today
“The World Jewish Congress accused Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s
government of trying to “falsify” history, adding its voice to concerns about
Holocaust commemorations this year.”
2014: In Tel
Aviv, three Israelis were arrested in connection with the stabbing of asylum
seekers this evening.
2014(15th
of Adar I, 5774): Eight-nine year old former hospital administrator Rosalyn
“Dolly” Saget, the widow of supermarket executive Benjamin Saget and the mother
of comedian Bob Saget passed away today
2015: The
New York Times features reviews by Jewish authors and/or of special
interest to Jewish readers including The B Side: The Death of Tin Pan Alley and
the Rebirth of the Great American Song by Ben Yagoda and Believer: My Forty
Years in Politics by David Axelrod.
2015: “The Max
Steinberg Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund which was established by
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in partnership with the fallen soldier’s
parents, Stuart and Evelyn, and his siblings, Paige and Jake…is set to be
launched today in New York by American Associates of the Ben-Gurion
University.”
2015: The
Times of Israel hosted its inaugural Gala in New York tonight “mixed tributes
to some of Israel’s fallen wit accolades for some of Israel’s pioneers.”
2015: Deb
Mrowka is scheduled to address those attending the Anne Frank: A History for
Today exhibit at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education.
2015: In
Olney, MD, the Shaare Telia Men’s Club and Sisterhood are scheduled to square
off in the “It’s Academic” Trivia Game Competitio.
2015(26th
of Shevat, 5775): “Copenhagen Jewish community guard Dan Uzan was murdered
early this morning following an attack on synagogue where a bat mitzvah
celebration was taking place.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/i-wish-i-didnt-have-a-bat-mitzvah-and-dan-was-alive/
http://www.timesofisrael.com/copenhagens-jews-shaken-but-not-surprised/
2015: Final
performance of “Life Sucks” written and directed Aaron Posner is scheduled to
take place at Theatre J in Washington, DC
2015: The
Pears Institute for the Study of Anti-Semitism is scheduled to host a screening
of “Shoah” followed by a panel discussion.
2015: The
first annual Times of Israel Gala is scheduled to take place at the Waldorf
Astoria.
2015: “Lt.
Gen. Benny Gantz – the man the prime minister didn’t want at the army’s helm –
is scheduled to complete a four-year term of service as the IDF’s top commander
today, having shepherded the army through the Arab uprisings, the rise and fall
of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the cyclonic civil war in Syria, and the ever-deteriorating
security situation along Israel’s border lands.” (As reported by Mitch
Ginsburg)
2015: “German
Jews at the Eastern Front in WW I: Modernism Meets Tradition” a “must see”
exhibition at the Center for Jewish History is scheduled to come to a close
today
2015: Danish
police confirmed early this morning that one man was killed after a gunman shot
him in the head outside a Copenhagen synagogue and that the shooter also
injured two policemen in the arm and leg.
2016: The
National Park Service announced today that Philanthropist “David Rubenstein,
who has already donated tens of millions of dollars to refurbish the Washington
Monument and other icons, is giving $18 million to fix up the Lincoln
Memorial.”
2016: Former
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is scheduled to begin serving a 19 month sentence at
Lod’s Ma’asiyahu Prison today after having been convicted of accepting bribes
while serving as May of Jerusalem.
2016:
Depending upon a meeting with its staff, The Nazareth Mediterranean Cuisine, a
Columbus, Ohio restaurant owned by Israeli Hany Baransi which was the scene of
a terrorist attack on Thursday, is scheduled to re-open today.
2016: While
speaking in Tel Aviv tonight, Samantha Powers, the U.S. Ambassador to the
United Nations “accused the world body of harboring a bias against Israel.”
2016: President’s Day,
officially the third Monday of February, celebrates all U.S. presidents. For
more about Jews and American Presidents see http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/presquote.html and http://www.jewishpost.com/archives/news/united-states-presidents-and-the-jews-from-george-washington-to-george-bush-1.html
2017: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to
have his first summit meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington, DC.
2017: Curator Bonni-Dara Michaels is scheduled to conduct a
tour of Yeshiva University Museum’s newest exhibition “Uncommon Threads” which
features garments, textiles and jewelry spanning three centuries. including “a
gold bracelet that belonged to the wife of the Hatam Sofer, a 19th-century
Ottoman velvet bridal dress and the groom’s tallit katan, an embroidered
Italian Torah binder from 1602, and an early Ashkenazic wimpel dated 1643.”
2017: “Kapo in Jerusalem” and “Rabin In His Own Words” are
scheduled to be shown at the San Diego Jewish Film Festival.
2017: In Cedar Rapids, the Hadassah Book Club is scheduled
to discuss Esther: Royal Beauty by Angela Hunt.
2017: “US President Donald Trump bucked America’s
longstanding commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict today, standing alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a press
conference in the White House.” (As reported by Raphael Ahren and Eric
Cortellessa)
2018: “The Central Conference of American Rabbis” announced
today the appointment of “Rabbi Hara Person as its first female chief
executive” succeeding Rabbi Steven Fox “who is retiring in June” of this year.
2018: Dr. Avivah Zornberg is scheduled to lecture on “Moses
Veiled and Unveiled” at the Streicker Center.
2018: “Frtiz Lang” is scheduled to be shown for the first
time in San Diego at the San Diego Jewish Film Festival.
2018: “Hours after being pink-slipped from ‘Transparent’
Jeffrey Tambor today expressed his disappointment of how Amazon had handled the
false accusations” of sexual harassment.
2018: The American Jewish Historical Society and the Leo
Baeck Institute are scheduled to present Marion Kreith speaking on “Cuba’s
Forgotten Jewels: A Haven in Havana.”
2018: In Facebook posting today, “Abbie Youkilis, the aunt
of Jamie Guttenberg” who was murdered yesterday at Parkland High School said
she “doesn’t want prayer,” called guns “a national disease and demanded
change.” (As reported by Ben Sales)
2018: “Ben-Gurion: Epilogue” a documentary created by Yael
Perlov and Yariv Mozer” is scheduled to be shown at Baruch College.
2018(30th of Shevat, 5778): Rosh Chodesh Adar
2019: Rachel Feinstein, “a comedian whose material draws
from her Jewish upbringing” is scheduled to appear at the Punch Line Comedy
Club in San Francisco.”
2019: “American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the
Negev, in cooperation with The Maryland/Israel Development Center and The
Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington” are scheduled to host“From
the Desert for the World: Israel’s Water Innovations”with Prof. Noam Weisbrod,
Director, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research.
2019: The Red Sea jazz festival is scheduled to continue
for a second day at Eilat.
2019: Today,Marc Stein, “an American sports reporter for
The New York Times, covering the National Basketball Association (NBA)
nationally” who had “previously worked for ESPN” “was named the 2019 winner of
the Curt Gowdy Media Award for print media by the Naismith Memorial Basketball
Hall of Fame.”
2019: Starting at 9:00 A.M, visitors in Jerusalem can vist
“Flashes of Memory – Photography During the Holocaust” at Yad Vashem.
https://www.itraveljerusalem.com/evt/flashes-of-memory-exhibition-at-yad-vashem/
2020: Temple Israel of Boston is scheduled to host a “Tu
Bishvat Seder and Havdalah” this evening.
2020: The San Mateo, CA, Public Library is scheduled to
host a “Violins of Hope concert with four violinists playing restored string
instruments that were played during the Holocaust” with styles that “include klezmer by Cookie
Segelstein, Turkish, South Indian and Americana.”
2020: In Walnut Creek, CA, Congregation B’nai Tikvah is
scheduled to host “Exploring Jewish South America,” an evening that includes
tasting South American wines while listening to the personal stories of Rabbi
Roberto Graetz and Ariel Goldstein.
2020(20th of Shevat, 5780): Parashat Yitro.
2021: The Standwithus New England Anti-Semitism Training
Series is scheduled to present online “From France to the Holy Land: The Story
of a Hidden Child of the Holocaust” during which Michal Engel who “was born in
Paris in 1940” and after having been hidden during the Holocaust won a
competition at the age of 13 won a competition whose prize was a trip to Israel
which led to her making Aliyah.
2021: Cleveland chef Douglas Katz is scheduled to lead
“Appreciative Cooking,” a Jewish Federation of Cleveland virtual event this
evening.
2021: As part of the “This Is What Jewish Looks
Like” series, the Streciker Center is scheduled to host a presentation by Senior
Jewish educator in the Chaplain’s office at Yale University, Rabbi
Goldstein-Stoll.
2021: “A spring semester version of the L.E.V.
Campus Fellowship for Jewish college-age students living in the greater
Cleveland area while studying remotely or affiliated with Cleveland Hillel or
Hillel at Kent State campuses” is scheduled to begin today.
2021: The Consulate General of Israel to the
Pacific Northwest in San Francisco, the Office of Cultural Affairs, Consulate
General of Israel in New York and Ellen Lippman & Steve Rosenberg are
scheduled to support today’s White Bird presentation of “Homework.”
2021: Hundreds more athletes from Istanbul and
Paris are expected to arrive in Israel today “in order to participate in the
Grand Slam Judo competition taking place in Tel Aviv” at the same that that
“Israelis are unable to return home due to coronavirus restrictions on air
travel…” (As reported by Itay Blumenthal and Itamar Eichner)
2022: As part of the Women on the Move Series,
the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center is scheduled to present Laura Lippman, the
author Seasonal Work.
2022: The Weitzman National Museum of American
Jewish History is scheduled to present “Suiting the Sound – Jewish Rodeo
Tailors of Country Music.”
https://nmajh.org/events/suiting-the-sound-22/
2022: LSJS is scheduled to present “Was Esau
Incorrigible? A New Reading of Jacob and Esau,” the second in the Rashi's
Rebellious Grandson – Rashbam series.
2022: The YIVO Institute is scheduled to
present a lecture by Dr. David R. Forman and Miriam Udel on “The Clever Little
Tailor” which will examine the life and time of author Solomon Simon who this
Yiddish novel.
2022: “Prime Minister Naftali Bennett became
the first Israeli leader to make an official visit to the small Persian Gulf
state of Bahrain…is expected to meet Tuesday with the Bahraini king, Hamad bin
Isa al-Khalifa, as well as his son, Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, who is the
kingdom’s prime minister and crown prince.” (As reported by Patrick Kingsley)
2023: In Cedar Rapids, the Hadassah Book Club is scheduled
to discuss Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai by Matti Friedman.
https://variety.com/2022/music/global/leonard-cohen-who-by-fire-sinai-israel-tv-drama-1235443012/
2023: The Jewish Book Council is scheduled to host a
Virtual Unpacking the Book event with Jonathan Freedland, author of Warn the
World: The Escape Artist and Weina Dai Randel, author of the novel Night Angels.
2023: The Sir Martin Gilbert Learning Centre is scheduled
to host an introductory workshop on Ladino.
2023: Summit Day is scheduled to take place in Jerusalem as
part of the “OurCrowd Global Investor Summit.”
2023: Temple Judea is scheduled to host a Lunch and Learn
with Rabbi Feivel leading a discussion on Henrietta Szold.
2023: The final two readings are scheduled to take place
today on the floor of the Knesset for “a cross-aisle bill revoking citizenship
from convicted terrorist who receive Palestinian Authority funds for their
crimes.” (As reported by Carrie Keller-Lynn)
2023: YIVO is scheduled to present lecture by Irena
Grudzinska Gross and Konrad Matyjaszek, on “Breaking the Frame: New School of
Polish Studies” which they edited.
https://programs.cjh.org/event/siege-2023-02-15
2024: Lockdown
University is scheduled to host a lecture by David Herman on “Jewish American
Writers.”
2024: The Sir
Martin Gilbert Center is scheduled to host the first lecture by Allen Packwood
on “Churchill’s D-Day.”
2024: The
Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present Phoenix Chamber Ensemble
pianists Vassa Shevel and Inessa Zaretsky and guest pianist Ellen Braslavsky in
program that will include pieces by Bach, Guastavino, Shostakovich, Arensky,
Franck, Poulenc, and Rossin.
2024: Lockdown
University is scheduled to host a lecture by Marc Dollinger on “The Jews of
California.”\
2024: YIVO is
scheduled to present a “lecture, in which Ilana Webster-Kogen will consider ethnographic
material from across North African ritual, particularly the ways that
congregations in France adjust the customs of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia as
they navigate their communal voice” during which “Webster-Kogen proposes a
reading of exile that centers mystical and postcolonial thought, Jewish-Muslim
intimacies, and the power of giving voice to text.”
2024: The JWA
Film is scheduled to conclude this evening with a discussion of “Funny Girl”
led by Barrie Gelles.
2024: The Streicker
Center is scheduled to host a lecture by Mustafa Suleyman, author of The Coming
Wave: Technology Powe and 21st Century’s Greatest Dilema.
2024: In New
Orleans, The Hadassah Readers’ Circle is scheduled host a free event with
author Saul Golubcow on his book, The Cost of Living and Other Mysteries,
which features a former philosophy professor who escaped the Holocaust and
became a private detective in the U.S.
2024: As
February 15th, begins in Israel, based on yesterday’s rocket attacks on Safed which
claimed the life of Staff Sgt. Omer Sarah Benjo, conditions on the northern border
continue to worsen while the world remains silents about these attacks which
driven thousands of Israeli citizens from their homes and the Hamas held hostages begin day 132 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.)
