This Day, January 14, In Jewish History by Mitchell A and Deb Levin Z"L
January 14
83 BCE:
Birthdate of Marcus Antonius, who is better known as Mark Antony (often
pronounced Anthony). Mark Antony is credited by some with recognizing
Herod as a Jewish leader and elevating him accordingly. Later, he would
side with Cleopatra in her attempts to claim some of Eretz Israel for her own.
1129:
Formal approval of the Order of the Templar at the Council of Troyes. Troyes
was the home town of the great Jewish commentator Rashi who died there a
quarter of a century before the council was held. At the time of the
meeting, Rabbinu Tam, the most famous of Rashi’s grandson was 29 years old and
living at the village of Ramerupt, which was just outside of Troyes. The
term “Templar” refers to the Temple of Solomon. In its early days, the
Order saw itself as a protector of Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple. When
it broadened its activity the members of the order learned about banking from
the Jews. Unlike others related to crusading activities, the Templars did
not engage in the wholesale slaughter of Jews.
1163: King
Ladislaus II brief reign, during which nothing appeared to have been done to
diminish the rights of Jews established by King Coleman a half century earlier,
came to an end.
1301:
Andrew III of Hungary dies, ending the Arpad dynasty in Hungary. While
his predecessor on the Hungarian throne had approved a variety of ant-Jewish
rules and regulations, Andrew took a different tact “when, in the privilegium
granted by him to the community of Posonium (Bratislava), that the Jews in that
city should enjoy all the liberties of citizens.” Things went downhill for the
Jews of Hungary after Andrew’s death and they were expelled from the kingdom in
1349 under the belief that the Jews were responsible for the Black Death.
1484: The
first printed edition of Ibn Gabirol’s Mivhar ha-Peninm was published today.
1514: Pope Leo
X issued a papal bull against slavery. This is the same Pope Leo who
clashed with Martin Luther and who offered protection to the Jews at various
times including when he reconfirmed the privileges of French Jews despite
opposite from the local bishops and banned the wearing of the Jew badge in France.
1589: Anglican
clergyman “Francis Kett was burned alive by the Church for inferring that the
Jews would one day return to the Promised Land, an opinion derived from reading
the Bible” and for his heretical belief that Jesus was not divine.
1601:
The Church burned Hebrew books and manuscripts in Rome. These book
burnings destroyed priceless parts of the Jewish heritage. One of the
puzzling questions is why do Christians have this almost pathological fear of
Jewish books.
1639:
The "Fundamental Orders", the first written constitution that created
a government, is adopted in Connecticut. “No Jew, however, was recorded in
colonial Connecticut until 1659 when ‘David, the Jew’, was mentioned in the
Hartford legislative records.” Hartford was one of the four cities that were
covered by The Fundamental orders.
1664:
Birthdate of Frankfurt am Main native Johann Jakob Schudt a gentile who wrote
‘a preface to Grünhut's edition of David Ḳimḥi's Commentary on the Psalms in
1712 and published the Purim play of the Frankfurt and Prague Jews with a High
German translation 1716” but who also published Judæus Christicida, in which he attempted “to prove that Jews
deserved corporal as well as spiritual punishment for the crucifixion” and Jüdische Merkwürdigkeiten which “is full of prejudice, and repeats many
of the fables and ridiculous items published by Johann Andreas Eisenmenger;
but also contains details of
contemporary Jewish life, a source for the history of the Jews, particularly
those of Frankfurt.”
1690: The
clarinet is invented in Germany. No, the Jews did not invent the
clarinet. But from Benny Goodman, to Artie Shaw to the Kings of Klezmer,
can you imagine the clarinet without Jews or Jews without the “licorice stick.”
1711:
One of the largest fires that ever occurred in Frankfurt broke out in the
Judengasse (Jews Alley). The fire started at about 8 p.m. in the House
Eichel (German: Acorn) owned by the senior Rabbi Naphtali Cohen.
1745:
Birthdate of Gershom Mendez Seixas, the son of Isaac Mendez Seixas) and Rachel
Levy, daughter of Moses Levy, an early New York merchant who gained fame as an
American rabbi and fervent supporter of the American Revolution.
1740: The will
of Uriah Hyman was “proved” today named Mordecai Gomez as executor.
1745: Rachel
Levy, the daughter of Moses Levy and her Lisbon born husband and New York City
merchant Isaac Mendez Seixas gave birth to their son Gersom today, making him
the fourth of their children.
1750: Elias
Levy, who had been born in 1702 and was the son of Benjamin Levy passed away
today in the United Kingdom
1758:
Birthdate of Jacob de Castro, the son of a London rabbi whose career as a
comedian included performances at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden and the
Haymarket Theatre where he led a group of players known as “Astley’s Jews.”
1761: In New
York Judah Barred and his wife gave birth to a baby daughter.
1765:
Birthdate of Seckel Isaac Fränkel, the German rabbi who led the new Reform
Temple in Hamburg when it opened in 1818.
1768: Aaron
Hart, who is considered to be the father of Canadian Jewry, wed his cousin
Dorothea Catherine Judah in Portsmouth, England. After the marriage, Uriah and
Samuel Judah who were both his cousins and brothers-in-law emigrated to
Trois-Rivières, Canada. The large family included four sons: Moses, Ezekiel,
Benjamin, and Alexander (Asher), and five daughters, the latter educated by the
Ursuline Catholic sisters in Trois-Rivières. One daughter, Chavah, married a
Judah and two others, Sarah and Charlotte, married Samuel and Moses David
respectively, sons of Montreal's Lazarus David. Seventeen sixty-eight was also
the same year in which Hart joined with others for found Shearith Israel in
Montreal.
1781: A day
after she passed away yesterday, Mrs Treinela bat Moses wife of Lipman ben
Joseph was buried today at the Alderney Road Jewish Cemetery.
1788:
Birthdate of Bavaria born Leb Hamburger, the son of Seligman Hamburg and the
husband of Vogel Mannaseh with whom he had ten children.
1792(19th
of Tevet, 5552): Parashat Shemot
1792(19th
of Tevet, 5552): Six-month old Benjamin Samson, the infant son of Michael and
Judith Samson passed way today in the United Kingdom.
1792: In
Holland, Hendrina Hartog Abrahams and Joseph Frankfort gave birth to Kaatje
Joseph Frankfort.
1794(13th
of Shevat, 5554): Judah Leib ben Isaac passed away today after which he was
married at the Alderney Road Jewish Cemetery.
1799: In
Bavaria, Rosa Thurnauer and Meyer Fechheimer gave birth to Koppel Fechheimer,
the husband of Eleanore Freund with whom he had nine children.
1799: One day
after he had passed away, “Shlomin Moshe Jacob” was buried at the “Brady Street
Jewish Cemetery.”
1803:
Birthdate of Eduard Munk, who taught at the Royal Wilhelmsschule at Breslau and
at the gymnasium of Glogau but whose academic career was stifled because he was
Jewish.
1804: Bella
Hart, the London born daughter of Mary and Mordecai Levy, and her husband
Daniel Hart gave birth to Henrietta Hart who lived to the age of 97.
1808: In
London, Hannah Samuel and Solomon Cohen gave birth to Abraham Cohen.
https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Gottlober_Avraham_Ber
1814: Under the Treaty of Kiel which was concluded
today, Denmark gave up all its rights to Norway to the king of Sweden which
helped to lead to the convening of “a constituent assembly in Eidsvoll” which
turned back the clock on the acceptance of Jews that had recently taken place
in Denmark and continued the exclusion of Jews from Norway “as part of the
clause that made Lutheranism the official state religion, though with free
exercise of religion as the general rule.”
1820:
Birthdate of Wilna native and Talmudist Bezalel B. Moses Ha-Kohen who “was in
reality – at least from 1860 to 1878 – the spiritual head of the large
community in Wilna.”
1821:
Birthdate of Salomon Hermann Mosenthal, the native of Kassel, whose operatic
works included “Die Maccaber” or “The Maccabees” which he created with Anton
Rubinstein.
1825(24th
of Tevet, 5585): Sixty-three-year-old Catherine Bush, the Philadelphia born
daughter of Tabitha Mears and Mathias Bush, the wife of Meyer S. Solomon and
the mother of Joseph, Samuel Arabella, Matthias, Alexander, Sarah and Henry
Solomon passed away today in her hometown
1828: In
Newington, Louis Levy, the son of Woolf and Martha Levy was circumcised today.
1830: In
Bavaria, Hannah Bachman Butzel and Moses Leo Butzel gave birth to Detroit
resident Magnus Butzel, the husband of Henrietta Hess Butzel with whom he had
six children and whom in 1852 came to the United States where he was in the
clothing business, active in the Republican party and was a member of B’nai
B’rith.
1831: The
Scottish poet and lawyer Henry MacKenzie who “speculated that the high
incidence of biblical place names around the village of Morningside near
Edinburgh might have originated from Jews settling in the area during the
Middle Ages” passed away today.
1842: In
Vienna, Leopold Bruer and his wife gave birth to Dr. Josef Bruer the mentor of
Sigmund Freud.
1842:
According to the Jewish Chronicle, at this time Woolwich “had barely a minyan
of Jews, consisting of five or six families” who employed their own
Shochet. They had held services for this time on Rosh Hashanah,
5601(1840).
1845: In New
Orleans, Cecilia and Joseph Hart Marks gave birth to Katherine Mordecai, the
wife of Allen Louis Mordecai with whom she had four children – Benjamin,
Cecilia, Robert and Clara.
1850: Rebecca
Cohen Hart, the New York born daughter of Catherine and Sampson Mears Isaacks
and her husband Abraham Hart, the publisher, gave birth to Clarence Hart.
1851: In
Cayuga County, NY, the prosecution rested its case during the trial of John
Baham who is charged with having murdered Nathan Adler, an industrious and
well-liked Jewish peddler from Syracuse.
1853: In a
letter published today, Dr. George Bethune described the conditions of
the seven or eight thousand Jews living in Rome under “shockingly oppressed”
conditions. At that time, as he pointed out, the government of Rome was under
the control of the Vatican.
1854: At
Albany, NY, Theresa Bloch Wise and Dr. Isaac M. Wise gave birth Ohio Female
College graduate Ida Wise Bernheim, the wife of Henry Bernhim and mother of
five children.
1857: Henry
Eliezer Symons married Emma Myers at the Great Synagogue today.
1858: In
Chicago, Sarah (Spiegel) and Michael Greenebaum, a successful merchant gave
birth to Hannah Greenbaum Solomon, the founder and first president of the
National Council of Jewish Women.
http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/solomon-hannah-greenebaum
1859(7th
of Shevat, 5619): Fifty-nine-year-old Zerline “Lina” Beyfus, the wife of Meyer
Levin Beyfus passed away at Frankfurt am Main
1859: Three
days after she had passed away, Emily S. Raphael, the daughter of Lewis Raphael
and Rachel Mocatta, was buried at the “West Ham Jewish Cemetery” today.
1859:
Birthdate of Santo Domingo native Francisco Hilario Henriquez y Carvajal, the
descendant of “Sephardic Jews who had immigrated in the 19th century
from Curaco,” and the husband of Salome
Urena with whom he had four children – Pedro, Francisco, Max and Camila – “who
served as president just prior to the US occupation of his country.
1859: In New
York, Catharine and Isaak Benjamin Kleinart gave birth to Deborah Janowitz, the
wife Julius Janowitz and the mother of Ethel Gruen.
1860(19th
of Tevet, 5620): Parashat Shemot
1860: It
was reported today that two Jewish businessmen named Magnus and Guedalla
challenged one another to single combat during a heated dispute over who should
control a company called the Great Eastern
1861:
Birthdate of Mehmed VI the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He came to
the throne in the closing days of World War I. His representatives signed
the Treaty of Sèvres, the peace treaty marking the end of the war for the
Ottoman Empire. In signing the treaty, the Turkish sultan recognized the
mandates that ended the empire including the British mandate over Palestine
that was a key step on the path to creation of the state of Israel. The
sultan lost his throne to Turkish revolutionaries who were angered by the
signing of the treaty.
1862:
Amsterdam native Michael Waas, the son of Henry and Miriam Waas, was buried
today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1863: In
Romania, R' Moshe Paneth, Daszer Rebbe, the son of R' Menahem Mendel Paneth
(פנט), (Maglei Tzedek) and Raisel Paneth and his wife Malka Paneth gave birth
to R' Yitzchak Yechiel Paneth, of Daish, the husband of Matil Lea Paneth.
1866: In
Switzerland, Jewish rights were ratified. Switzerland had been the scene of
some of the worst massacres during the Black Plague and a hotbed of anti-Jewish
edicts. This legislation was only passed after the United States, Britain and
France refused to sign treaties until their anti-Jewish cantons were repealed.
1867:
Birthdate of Philadelphia pitcher William “Bill” Kling who was mistakenly
identified as being Jewish because his brother Johnny had married a Jew and had
never denied claims that he was also Jewish.
1868: In
Cincinnati, OH, Bernhard and Matilda (Wald) Bettman gave birth to University of
Cincinnati Graduate and Medical College of Ohio trained physician Henry Wald
Bettman, the chief of medical service at the Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati and
the husband of Rose Grace Kauffman.
1871: In
Hamburg, Germany Charlotte Esther Oppenheim Warburg and Moritz Moses Warburg to
Felix Warburg who came to the United States in 1894 where he became a partner
at Kuhn, Loeb and Co. as well as a leading member of the American Jewish
community.
http://collections.americanjewisharchives.org/ms/ms0457/ms0457.html
1873: In
Cincinnati, OH, Elizabeth Seinsheimer and Harris Kempner gave birth to
Washington and Lee University alum Isaac Herbert Kempner, the husband of
Henrietta Blum whom he married in 1902 and the father of Harris Leon Kempner,
Isaac Herbert Kempner Jr., Cecile, Lyda, and Leonora who was the Treasurer of
Galveston, TX and its mayor from 1917 to 1919. (Some sources show his birthdate
as 1874)
1876: In
California, Joseph Naphthaly, the Prussian born son of Samuel and Julia
Naphthaly and the former Sarah Schmitt, the daughter of Blaize and Pauline
Schmitt gave birth to Gertrude Naphthaly the younger sister of Samuel Leon
Naphthaly.
1878: Among
the payments made from the New York City Treasury today was on of $7,976.66 to
the Hebrew Benevolent Orphan Society.
http://collections.americanjewisharchives.org/ms/ms0457/ms0457.html
1878: In
Austria, Faega Liberman and Naftali Thumin gave birth to Rabbi Joseph Thumin,
the husband of Sabena Rottenberg and son-in-law “of the famous banker,
Talmudist and scientist Solomon Rottenberg, who in 1914 came to the United
States where he severed as the leader of Congregation Anshe Austria in Boston
and Congregation Adath Israel in New York before taking the pulpit at Beth
Abraham Congregation at Detroit in 1916.
1880:
Birthdate of Cardinal Pierre-Marie Gerlier who was posthumously awarded the
title Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 1981 for his efforts to save
Jews from the Vichy Government of Petain and Laval as well as their Nazi
allies.
1881: In Lodz,
“Zelman Salomonowicz and Hinda Salomonowicz Zylberberg” gave birth to Abram
Bejnysz Artur Salvin Salomonowicz, the husband “of Helena Salvin Salomonowicz”
1881: As of
today, the price of l'Union Générale had fallen to 2,800 francs marking a loss
of 140 francs a share in a week which helped to cause the Bourse to crash – an
event that many claim was the cause of a sharp rise in French anti-Semitism
that would find its fullest expression at Drancy in WW II.
1882:
Birthdate of Austrian native Charles M. Landsman, the graduate of CCNY and NYU
trained attorney who taught “public school math” before becoming a principal.
1882: In
Baltimore, MD, 52-year-old Louis Ottenheim and 41-year-old Rachel Feldenheimer
gave birth to Jacob “Jack” Louis Ottenheimer the husband of Clara Bussy who
moved to New York in 1928.
1884(14th
of Tevet, 5644): Seventy-six-year-old Philip Phillips a native of Charleston,
SC, who practiced law in Mobile and served in the state legislature and the
U.S. House Representatives passed away today. The husband of Eugenia
Levy, he was a Union sympathizer who lived in several Southern cities including
Washington, D.C.
1886: In
Baltimore, MD, Benjamin and Fannie (Kahn) Strouse gave birth to Goucher College
grad Clara Strouse who used the pen name Clara Beranger to become a leading
silent screen film writer.
https://wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/clara-beranger/
https://ourcommunitynow.com/local-culture/our-marylanders-then-screenwriter-clara-beranger
1886: In
Williamsport, PA, Ella Lewis and Hiram H. Ulman gave birth Lehigh University
trained chemical engineer Malcom Ulman, the “assistant to the chief engineer of
tests of the Pennsylvania State High Department who married Rose Vale Heims
after the death of his first wife Helen Lyon.
1887: In
Poland, Adolph and Natalia Lieberman gave birth to Sigismund Lieberman, the
“husband of Mary S. Lieberman” with whom he had two children – George and
Norma.”
1888(1st
of Shevat, 5648): Rosh Chodesh Shevat.
1888: In New
York City, Jacob and Fredericka (Block) Weisl, gave birth to the CCNY educated
investment banker and member of the New York Stock Exchange Edwin Weisl, the
husband of Edna Kraus and member of Central Synagogue.
1889: Webster
Hall, which is owned by Charles Goldstein, is scheduled to host the third
annual reception of the Hoffman House Barkeepers.
1890:
Ninety-year-old Father Ignaz von Döllinger author of "The Jews in
Europe" passed away today.
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_21/June_1882/The_Jews_in_Europe_I
1891:
“Russian Jews For America” published today described the arrival of about 500
hundred Russian Jewish men, women and children who plan to go on to the United
States.
1892: In
Lippstadt, Heinrich Niemöller and his wife Pauline (née Müller), gave birth to
Martin Niemöller, the Lutheran minister whose anti-Nazi views slowly evolved
and whose view about Jews was “a mixed bag” at best.
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007392
1892: The
annual convention of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association of America opened this
morning at the Lindell Hotel in St. Louis, MO.
1892: Mrs.
J.B. Eiseman, Mrs. Edward Pels and Mrs. G. Eiseman, of Baltimore, MD, met with
Caroline Harrison, the wife of President Benjamin Harrison in Washington, DC at
which time they invited her to attend upcoming Hebrew Orphan Asylum
Bazar. Mrs. Harrison said that if possible she would attend. In any
event, she would “send a donation of flowers from the White House
Conservatories.” (President Harrison was engaged in a re-election
campaign which might have been the reason she met with the Jewish ladies.
In fairness, her refusal to commit to coming may have reflected her weakened
condition that came from her battle with Tuberculosis which would take her life
in October)
1892:
The three days of ceremonies marking the opening of the Jewish Maternity’s
facility in Philadelphia, PA, came to a close today.
1892: It was
reported today that Adolph L. Sanger’s failure to gain election as the
President of the Board of Education had nothing to do with the fact that he was
Jewish. Rather it was a case that the Tammany “machine” had decided it
wanted to the incumbent to retain the position.
1893:
Birthdate of Tiengen, Germany native Dr. Hugo Hahn, who fled to the United
States with his family after Kristallnacht, founded and was the first rabbi for
Congregation Habonim whose wife “died in 1955 when the Israeli airline on which
she was a passenger was shot down over Bulgaria.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1967/11/08/87371861.html?pageNumber=40
1894: It was
reported today that Dr. Joseph Krauskopf, one of the leading rabbis in
Philadelphia, is coming to New York City to deliver an address sponsored
by the Young Men’s Association of Ahawath Chesed
1894:
President James H. Hoffman presided over the tenth annual meeting of the Hebrew
Technical Institute which was held this morning in New York City.
1895: In Port
Royal, SC, Minna Goetz and Morris Epstein gave birth to Harvard Law School
trained attorney and officer in the Naval Reserve during WW I Henry Epstein,
who married Ethel Maxwell Steuer, the mother of Alan and Eric Steurer and who was a member of Temple Israel in
Rockaway, NY and a member of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association
1895: Benjamin
Oppenheimer, one of the Republican delegates from the 22nd Assembly
District was so upset when he heard that reports circulated by those opposing
William Brookfield’s continued service as Republican County Chairman because
Jews were against him due to his membership in the Union League Club that he
has started to campaign among his co-religionist to gain support for
Brookfield (The Union League Club had blackballed Joseph Seligman’s son because
he was Jewish and the fact that it no longer had any Jewish members was bone of
contention among “uptown Jews..”)
1896:
Birthdate of Hans J. Salter, Viennese trained composer who came to the United
Sates in 1937 where he began a thirty-year career of creating music for the
movies.
1896: Four
days after he had passed away, “Frank Mozley, the only son of Rosetta and Lewin
Barnet Mozely” was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemtery.”
1896: The
inaugural event of this social season hosted by the Young Folks’ League of the
Hebrew Asylum is scheduled to take place this evening at the Lexington Assembly
Rooms in NYC.
1897(11th
of Shevat, 5657): Seventy-eight-year-old Leon Sternberger, the “cantor emeritus
of Temple Beth-El” passed away today. Born in Bavaria in 1810, he “was a pupil
of Solomon Sulzer, the father of modern Jewish religious music.” After serving
as a cantor in Warsaw, he came to the United States in 1849, where he first
served Anshe Chesed,
1897: It was
reported today that in Austria, Christian and Jewish witnesses swear the same
oath before testifying. However, Christian witnesses take the oath
“before a crucifix between two lighted candles” while Jews take the oath with
their right hands on a Bible open to the Ten Commandments.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FB0D10F6385D11738DDDAD0994D9405B8785F0D3
1898(20th
of Tevet, 5658): Eighty-nine-year-old Lazarus Straus, “the senior member of L.
Straus & Sons” passed away today. Born in Bavaria in 1809 to a
prominent Jewish family, he came to the United States after the failure of the
Revolutions of 1848 in which he supported the liberals He arrived in Talbotton,
GA in 1853 and, after a series of business ventures in the South moved to New
York City 1865. The crowning point of his business career came when his firm
acquired controlling interest in R.H. Macy & Co. A generous
philanthropist, he was a leader of the Jewish community who actually lit the
Eternal Light at Temple Beth-El during the sanctuary’s dedication. His
proudest accomplishment may be his family which include his sons Isidor, Nathan
who is the President of the Board of Health and Oscar who served as U.S.
Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
1898: As the
Dreyfus Affair continues to inflame France, a group of law students
demonstrated in front of the offices of the Aurore protesting the
writings of Emile Zola.
1899: It was
reported today that Magistrate Sims has resolved the trespass charge brought by
Mrs. Esther Wallenstein, President of the Hebrew Infant Asylum. The
Magistrate agreed that the watchmen employed by the builders who had been hired
to remodel the asylum’s building “had no legal right to be on the
premises” he only fined the one dollar because they had every reason to believe
they had such a right. In other words, they were innocent pawns in a
struggle between Mrs. Wallenstein and the builders, John Webber & Sons.
1899: Temple
Isaiah, a Reform congregation in Chicago, Illinois, dedicated a school
building. The structure was attached to the synagogue which had been
designed by Dankmar Adler.
1900: Today’s Manila Tribune published “the official
report” describing the “famous expedition from San Nicolas to Appani, through
the heart of Northern Luzon” included mention of Assistant Surgeon Joseph M.
Heller who was complimented “for his qualities of perseverance, patience and
fidelity to duty” while showing “great courage in ministering to the wounded
under fire.”
1900: In
Germany, Dr. of Jurisprudence Ernst Oppenheimer, the Hanover born son of Ana
and Louis Oppenheimer and his wife Clara Amalie Oppenheimer gave birth to New
York resident Helene Edith Eisner, the wife of George F. Eisner.
1900(14th
of Shevat, 5660): Fifty-seven-year-old Abraham Baer Dobsewitch, the Pinsk
native known for his commentaries and Hebrew writing passed away today in New
York.
http://research.omicsgroup.org/index.php/Abraham_Baer_Dobsewitch
1901(23rd
of Tevet, 5561): Smallpox victim Benjamin Trauaofski, a Russian Jew, fifty-four
years old, who lived at 31 Boerum Street with his wife and two children died
today in Brooklyn in what may a an epidemic of the disease.
1902: As part
of attempts to curb Jewish immigration to the United Kingdom, “A great public
demonstration under the auspices of the British Brothers’ League which is in
favor of restricting further immigration of destitute foreigners into this
country” is scheduled to be held today at “The People’s Palace” under the
chairmanship of Major Evans Gordon, MP.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Brothers%27_League
1902: Oscar
Straus “was named a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague
to fill the place left vacant by the death of ex-President Benjamin Harrison.”
1902: Daniel
Joseph Jaffé “became associate member of the Institute of Civil Engineers
(A.M.I.C.E.)” following which me moved to Hong Kong where among other things,
he would build what was, at its time, the largest dam in the Far East.
1902: Three
days after he had passed away, 79-year-old Moss Myers was buried today at the
“Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1903: In San
Francisco, prominent socialites Mr. and Mrs. Walter Stettheimer gave birth to
Barbara Stettheimer who gained fame as Barbara Ochs Adler, the wife of Julius
Ochs Adler.
1904: In South
Carolina, Rabbi J.J. Simenhoff officiated at the marriage of Abram Pearlstine
and Sadie B. Livingston.
1904:
Birthdate of Dallas, TX native Evelyn Asinof, who moved to New York where she
served on the women’s auxiliary board of Mt. Sinai Hospital and Campaign
Chairman for the Volunteer Placement Service of the New York Federation of
Jewish Philanthropies.
1904: In
Hampstead, London, “Ernest Walter Hard Beady, a prosperous timber merchant and
Etty Sisson to the multi-talented award-winning Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton who,
in 1938, publisher Conde Nast had the courage to fire because of “a drawing
contributed by Mr. Beaton to the February 1 issue of Vogue” in which “there
appeared comments that were critical of the Jewish race.” (Editor – while the
rest of the world turned a blind eye to Hitler and many Englishmen flirted with
fascism, Nast gets high marks for doing his bit to “change the world.”)
1905(8th
of Shevat, 5665): Parashat Bo
1905:
“Fantana,” Sam Shubert’s first original production” “premiered at the Lyric
Theatre” today.
1905: In St.
Louis, “Isaac Newton Hahn, a dry goods salesman, and Hannah Hahn, a
free-spirited suffragette” gave birth to journalist and novelist Emily Hahn who
most memorable work came while she was writing from China from 1935 to 1941.
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/19/arts/emily-hahn-chronicler-of-her-own-exploits-dies-at-92.html
1906: The
plans for a bazaar and ball in the Grand Central Palace featuring “professional
vaudeville performers” and “the brand from the Hebrew Orphan Asylum” that will
raise fund “for the assistance of the Jews of Russia” sponsored by the Women
Workers for the Self Protection of Jews in Russia” were announced today.
1906: The
Board of the Berlin Congregation discussed “the admission of proselytes.”
1907: Abraham
Sincioff, the Russian born son of Mordecai and Ida Hudel Sincoff, and his wife
Frances Shaprior gave birth to Laurene Nathanial Sincoff.
1907: The
Earthquake that struck Jamaica today destroyed the synagogue there which was
part of “one of the earliest Jewish settlements in the Western Hemisphere.
1908:
Professor Paul Milyukoff, the leader of the Constitutional Democrats in the
Duma who “believes I equal rights for all, including Jews” gave a speech
tonight at Carnegie Hall.
1908: “The
Extraordinary Sales” today Abraham and Straus included “15 Fine, Irish Linen
Parasols” for $9.98 and “Boys’ $6 Long Overcoats” for $3.95.
1909: In
Goldfield, Nevada, Abe Attel retained his world featherweight title when he
knocked out his opponent in the tenth round. (As reported by Bob Wechsler)
1911: “Forty
Jewish families are scheduled tol be expelled today from Moscow because “they do not come with the
provisions of the new law recently passed by the Czar permitting Jewish
merchants of the first guild and their families
to reside in the city and province of Moscow.”
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/12/18/104957280.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1910: Elias
Zepnich, who had deserted his family an according to a Jewish Society in St.
Louis had become a tailor worth at least $5,000 and had refused several appeals
made through the Educational Alliance to support his wife and eight children,
was fined one thousand dollars and sentence to not less than one year and not
more than one year and nine months in Sing Sing today by a New York Judge.
1911: “A
concert was given in Carnegie Hall this evening by the New York Symphony
Orchestra under Mr. Walter Damrosch for the benefit of the philanthropies of
the New York section of the Council of Jewish Women.”
1911: Forty
Jewish families are scheduled to “be expelled from Moscow” today because “they
do no coe within the provisions of the law recently approved by the Czar,
permitting Jewish merchants of the first guild and their families to reside in
the city and Province of Moscow.”
1912(24th of
Tevet, 5672): Eighty-year-old German philologist Salomon Lefmann passed away
today at Heidelberg.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/12/18/104957280.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1912: In
Chicago, at the Auditorium Hotel, Isaac M. Bernstein married Pearl Graff, the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Barnett Graff today.
1912: The
funeral of “Bessie Richmond, nee Abrahams, the wife of Albert Richmond and the
mother of Leroy and Wilford Richmond took place today at the Free Sons’
Cemetery, Waldheim.
1912: In
Chicago, at the Metropole Hotel, Rabbi Stolz officiated at the marriage of
Casril H. Barnard and Bessie Schumacher.
1913: It was
announced at the meeting of the Council of the United Synagogue that the
selection committee had decided to submit to the Electoral College the names of
two candidates only, Joseph H. Hertz of New York and Dr. Hyamson of London, for
the office of chief rabbi, coupling with this resolution a strong
recommendation in favor of Dr. Hertz.
1914: In
Camden, NJ, the Hebrew Ladies’ Aid Society is scheduled to host its tenth
annual reception and ball at Turner Hall tonight.
1915: The
Industrial Removal Office which was organized in 1900 held it fourteenth annual
meeting today in New York City under the leadership of Chairman Reuben Arkush.
1915: In
Sacramento, CA, Russian-Jewish immigrants Abraham Ellis and Fannie Goodson gave
birth to U.C. graduate turned game show producer Mark Goodson.
http://www.biography.com/people/mark-goodson-9542303
1915(28th of
Tevet, 5675): Seventy-eight-year-old Henrietta Francisca Sichel, the daughter
of Fanny and Salomon Bernard Sichel and the wife of Joseph Mayer Montefiore
passed away today in Sussex.
1915(28th
of Tevet, 5675): Fifty-four-year Abraham Dantzig passed away today after which
he was buried at the Sheffield Cemetery in Kansas City, MO.
1915: (28th
of Tevet, 5675): Seventy-one-year-old Simon Yondorf, the husband of Minnie
Yondorf with whom he had three children passed away today in Chicago.
1915: The Red
Cross Fund of which Jacob H. Schiff is treasurer increased by $395.75 which
included a donation from the Ladies’ Aid Hebrew Temple of Fort Gibson,
Mississippi and brought the total to $438, 791.33.
1915: The list
published today of contributors to the American Jewish Relief Committee for
Suffers from the War included Chesed Shel Emes, Springfield, Ohio, Temple
Beth-El, South Bend, Michigan, Ahavas Chesed Ladies, Mobile, Alabama,
Congregation Agudas Achim, Shreveport, Louisiana and Mrs. S. Stern of Des
Moines, Iowa.
1916: The text
of the telegram sent by the Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering
Through the War seeking to gain the interest of Rabbis in supporting the day
designated by President Wilson to collect funds for the cause was published
today including a request that the sermons on the Shabbat before the event
include a plea for support.
1916: In San
Francisco, Samuel Veprin and his wife gave birth to William “Billy” Veprin, the
husband of “Tootsie” Veprin with whom he had three children – Harvey, Helene
and Susie – and the entrepreneur whose ventures included “starting the first
dry-cleaners on Guam” and “own the landmark restaurant Tommy’s Joynt in San
Francisco who supported a variety of worthwhile causes including “the
Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Foundation, the Jewish Home for the Aging
and Cedars-Sinai.”
1916: It was
announced today that the Clothing Jobbers’ League under the leadership of
Chairman Emanuel Neuman and Secretary Samuel J. Klein has pledged $1,200 to be
sent to the committee collecting funds to aid the suffering Jews of war-torn
Europe and Palestine.
1917(20th of
Tevet, 5677): Eighty-six-year-old “Solomon Ullmann, President of the Western
Synagogue and one time treasurer of the Plymouth Hebrew congregation passed
away today.
1917: “At a
meeting of the Board of Trustees of the National Jewish Home for Consumptives,
Dr. Adolf Meyer of New York said that unless necessary precautions were taken
there was a great danger of tuberculosis being increased in this country by
immigration after the war.”
1917: “The
women’s Proclamation Committee, a national organization for war relief, of
which Mrs. Samuel Elkeles is Chairman will send today to the Joint Distribution
Committee its check for $5,000 which was pledged toward the 1917 $10,000,000
fund for the relief of Jewish war suffers at the recent meeting in Carnegie
Hall.”
1917: “Leon
Trotsky, a Russian journalist and Socialist, his wife and his two sons, Leon,
11 and Serge, arrived” today in New York “on the Spanish liner Montserrat after
having been expelled from Europe for preaching peace.” (Yes, the number two man in the Russian
Revolution found refuge in the United States months before the Communists came
to power.)
1917: “At a
meeting of the Board of Trustees of the National Jewish Home for Consumptives
held this afternoon, Dr. Adolf Meyer of New York said that unless necessary
precautions were taken there was great danger of tuberculosis being increased
in the United States by immigration after the war.”
1917: It was
announced today that “preparations for a ‘Week of Mercy’ to be held through the
United States” later this month “are being made by the Central Committee for
the Relief of the Jews Suffering through the War.”
1917: Among
the appeals the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society received form
persons in the wars zones asking that relatives or friends in the United States
be located was one for “J. Pomerantz, 124 Street, Des Moines, Iowa.
1918: The
Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies started its
campaign today to raise $4,000,000 or more for the year’s maintenance of Jewish
welfare, relief and sociological activities.”
1919: “The
largest single item on” the budget of the ZOA which was made public today was
“one million dollars that will be used through the Jewish Colonial Trust and
the Anglo-Palestine Company for construction and reconstruction work.”
1920:
Birthdate of Brooklyn native Danny Bartfield who fought as a featherweight
during the 1940’s before fighting a couple of bouts in 1945 and 1947 as a
lightweight.
1920: Fifty-seven-year-old
Rabbi Reuben Marks, the Polish born son of Abraham Jacob and Rebecca (Levine)
Marks, who in 1884 came to the United States where he organized the first
Hebrew School in Des Moines in 1892 married Rachel M. Barnett today.
1921: The
“Jewish Flying Squad, the transcontinental tour made by the squadron to raise a
$3,500,000 fund for religious and educational purposes among the Jewish people”
is scheduled to come to an end today in Cincinnati, OH with a three-day holiday
that will include special service held in commemoration of the late Jacob
Schiff.
1922: In
Brooklyn, Louis Rothberg “a garment who had emigrated from Russia” and Lottie
Rothberg, an Austrian born clerical worker gave birth to author Abraham
Rothberg, the holder of a masters in literature from the University of Iowa
whose works included The Sword of Golem and the autobiographical novel The
Song of David Freed and the husband of Esther Conwell passed away today.
(As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
1922: In New
York Sarah Rachel Korobchinsky and Litman Eliezer gave birth to Rabbi Emmanuel
Applebaum the husband of Jaqueline Applebaum with whom he had three children –
Geela, David and Avrom who held degrees from Brooklyn College, NYU and Yeshiva
University and who taught in Manitoba and Detroit before becoming a professor
in Jerusalem.
1923: It
was reported today that “George Barsky, proprietor of the Hotel
Allenby located just outside of the Jaffe Gate in Jerusalem” has arrived in New
York for a month long stay during which he plans to raise funds to build a
new, modern hotel in Jerusalem that will have 500 rooms with 200 baths, a hot
water heating system and all of the other amenities that Westerners connect
with a first-class hostelry including a restaurant, billiard room and ballroom
for dancing. Barsky sees Jerusalem and Palestine as prime travel
destinations and has high hopes for the development of the tourist industry in
“the holy land.”
1924: Today
the Conference of the Home Mission Council and Council Women for Home Missions
meeting in Atlantic City issued a statement recommending the “enactment of new
legislation on immigration along humane lines that stated, “the prevailing
anti-Semitism in many European countries and the evidence of the spirit here
and there in America makes it incumbent on the churches to oppose all
propaganda directed against the Jews as un-American and alien to the spirit of
Christ.”
1925: It was
reported today that Chaim Weizmann had said that “the Jewish immigration into
Palestine is the largest in Jewish history to any country” and that “behind the
2,000 Jews immigrating monthly stand 10,000 desiring to immigrate.”
1926: After
losing his last three fights in 1925, featherweight Wilburn Cohen won his first
bout of 1926 by a knockout.
1927:
Birthdate of Zuzana Ruzickova who “endured three concentration camps in World
War Two, including Auschwitz, was persecuted by the Communists in
Czechoslovakia in the years that followed and who persevered “to become one of
the world's leading harpsichordists.” (As reported by Rebecca Jones)
1928: In the
Bronx, Jewish immigrants Bertha and Abraham Winogrand gave birth to U.S. Army
Air Force veteran and CCNY, Columbia University and The New School of Social research
trained “Street Photographer” Garry Winogrand who was the husband of Eileen
Hale, Judy Teller and Adreinne Lubeau.
https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/garry-winogrand?all/all/all/all/0
https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/garry-winogran
1928: U.S.
premiere of “Love and Learn” a six-reel silent film produced by Adolph Zukor
and Jesse Lasky with a script co-authored by Herman J. Mankiewicz.
1929: “Morris
Eisenman, the treasurer of the downtown United Palestine Appeal and a member of
the administrative committee of the ZOA was the guest of honor at a testimonial
dinner” tonight “at the Hotel Astor given by 150 leaders in Jewish communal
affairs in recognition of his twenty-five years of service to Zionism and
charitable causes.”
1930:
Fifty-seven-year-old German Egyptologist Émile Brugsch who in 1881 “discovered
the tomb at Deir el Bahir” which included the mummy of Ramses II, the Pharaoh
of the Exodus passed away today.
1930: Rutgers
defeated Drexel today thanks to a 26 point performance by Jack Grossman. (As
reported by Wechsler)
1930(14th
of Tevet, 5690): Forty-seven-year-old Harvard graduate and member of the
Seventh regiment of the NY National Guard Herbert Spencer Martin, the New York
born son of Max and Matilda Martin and
the husband of the former Madeline Straus with whom he had three sons –
Herbert, Jr, Stuart and John- who worked in his father business before becoming
Vice President of S.W. Straus and Company, investment bankers while serving as
honorary secretary of the Montefiore Hospital passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/01/15/92060815.html?pageNumber=27
1931: Jewish
papers in Germany have given up “the greater part of its space today to the
publication of biographical material” about Felix M. Warburg who is celebrating
his sixtieth birthday today.
1932: A
special correspondent who was sent to Soroca on the border with Russia to
investigate the shooting of six young Jews by a Rumanian frontier patrol
reported that the victims described in the communique as “six young men” really
were three boys and three girls.
1933(16th
of Tevet, 5693): Parahsat Vayechi
1933: A
conflict between the senate of the University of Breslau and Professor Cohn
which was the result of protests by anti-Semitic Nazi students against the
professor was settled today and he will resume his lectures on January 16th.
1933: In New
York, Zelda Karabok and Leibish Gluck, an unemployed jeweler gave birth to Rena
Joan Gluck “a dancer, choreographer and educator who helped bring modern dance
to Israel, and who was instrumental in creating the Batsheva Dance Company, the
country’s pre-eminent dance troupe…” (As reported by Brian Schaefer)
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/17/arts/dance/rena-gluck-dead.html
1933: In New
York, Zelda Karabok and Leibish Gluck, an unemployed jeweler gave birth to math
teacher Milton Gluck, the twin brother of famed dancer and choreographer Rena
Joan Gluck.
1934:
Birthdate of Tunisian native Pierre Darmon, the French tennis player who “was a
member of France’s Davis Cup Team from 1956–67, winning 44 of the 68 matches in
which he participated.”
http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/11880
1935: Julius
L. Meir completed his term as the 20th Governor of Oregon today.
1936: Reports
published today describing the decision of Conductor Wilhelm Furtwaegler, who
relies on the Third Reich for much of his work to drop a performance of works
by Mendelssohn, who is considered “Jewish” from a performance of the Vienna
Philharmonic Orchestra in Budapest.
1936: In
Bucharest, police arrested 71 anti-Semites after the “anti-Semitic supports of
Professor A.C. Cuza kidnapped and beat several leaders of the National Peasant
party” as they drove to a meeting in Bukovina Province. (Editor’s Note: There has been tendency in the last fifty
years to concentrate on the Holocaust and the Nazis which has resulted in a
failure to appreciate the wave of anti-Semitism that was sweeping Europe during
the 1930’s in a wide variety of counties that included the majority of European
Jews.)
1937: Despite
“a pouring rain” Jews from Haifa to Jerusalem “gave an enthusiastic welcome to
the new Chief Rabbi, Dr. J.A. Herzog”, the replacement for the late Rabbi
Kook, who arrived today from Ireland
where he had served as chief rabbi
1937:
Birthdate of Leo Philip Kadanoff, the native of New York who became an award
winning physicist known for his contribution to “the fields of statistical
physics, chaos theory, and theoretical condensed matter physics.”
1938: In
Berlin, Harold and Lily Wolkowitz Kartiganer gave birth to Esther Kartiganer
who came to United States at the age of one where she eventually became the
senior producer for “60 Minutes” who “became entangled in a controversy over a
program that raised questions about President George W. Bush’s military service
during the Vietnam War” (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
1938: The
Palestine Post reported that one Arab constable was shot and another
wounded by Arab bandits during a search at Tulkarm and Kalkilya. Arms and
ammunition were found and a number of Arabs were brought before the newly
established Military Court in Jerusalem and sentenced. According to the
Jerusalem correspondent of the Egyptian press, a special committee was
appointed by the British government to study the question of the Jewish
settlement in Transjordan. Mr. H. St. John ("Hai Abdullah") Philby,
the noted British Muslim who resided at Jedda, told the Arab press that he
laments the recent growth of hostility between the Jewish and Muslim peoples,
despite their common Semitic origin and their friendly relations in the past.
He recommended the abolition of the Mandate and the creation of a National
Government in Palestine which should permit Jewish immigration, in accordance
with the economic and public needs of the country. St. John Philby was the
father of the notorious spy, Kim Philby.
1939(23rd
of Tevet, 5699): Parashat Shemot
1939: At
Temple Emanu-El Rabbi Samuel H. Goldenson is scheduled to deliver a sermon on
“What Does Believing in God Mean?”
1939: At
Rodeph Sholom, Rabbi Louis I. Newman is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “Shall
Jews ‘Play Safe’ or Follow Their Conscience?”
1939: At the
West End Synagogue Rabbi Nathan Stern is scheduled to deliver a sermon on
“What’s in a Name?”
1939: At the
Temple of the Covenant, Rabbi Harold H. Mashioff is scheduled to deliver a
sermon on “The Sacred Fire That Does Not Consume.”
1939: In
Philadelphia, Edward Fishman, an account and Gerturde Fisher-Fishman, an
artists gave birth to Louise Edith Fishman, “a widely exhibited artist who
imbued her Abstract Expressionist paintings and other works with elements of
feminism and gay and Jewish identity” and the niece of artist Razel Kapustin
passed away today. (As reported by Neil Genzinger)
1939: “Joseph
Baratz of Palestine” is scheduled to be one of the speakers at conference on
Palestine beginning today in Washington under the leadership of Rabbi Hillel
Silver of Cleveland.
1939: Master
teacher and pianist Rosina Lhévinne performed in a two-piano recital
with her husband to mark the 40th anniversary of both their marriage and their
professional collaboration.
https://jwa.org/thisweek/jan/14/1939/rosina-lhevinne
1940: In
“Season In Palestine” published today Dr. Peter Gradenwitz, described recent
musical events in the Holy Land including a series of concerts at the Jerusalem
“Bezalel National Museum,” the presentation of a full program by the Palestine
Symphony Orchestra without a conductor in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and a
performance of Smetana’s “Tabor” by the Radio Orchestra which was introduced by
Dr. Kadlec, the Jerusalem consul General of Czechoslovakia. The latter
took on special significance because of the fate of the Czechs at the hand of
the Nazis and Smetana’s relationship to “Hatikvah.”
1940: Of 880
Jewish Polish taken prisoner, 100 were shot on the march to prison. The next
day approximately 400 more killed while 40 escaped. The day after, almost 150
more were murdered.
1941: In
Manhattan, attorney Jacob Goldsmith and fourth grade school teacher Dorothy
Markowitz gave birth to Susan Jane Goldsmith who gained fame as “Susan J.
Tolchin, a political scientist who explored the workings of political
patronage, women in politics and, most presciently, the electoral power of
voter anger in several popular books, most of them written with her husband,
Martin Tolchin” (As reported by William Grimes)
1941(13th
of Tevet, 5701): Sixty-year-old Austrian entertainer and art collector Fritz
Grunbaum died during his second imprisonment at Dachau after having spent time
in Buchenwald.
http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/camps/music-early-camps/dachau/grnbaumfritz/
http://artstolenfromfritzgrunbaum.wordpress.com/
http://artstolenfromfritzgrunbaum.wordpress.com/the-collection/
1942(25th
of Tevet, 5702): Sixty-six-year-old German born American songwriter whose hits
included “Peg O’ My Heart” and “Come Josephine in My Flying Machine” passed
away today
1942: The
Nazis ordered 1,600 Jews from Ixbica Kujawska, in western Poland to report to a
public place of assembly. The Jewish council warned the citizens about what was
happening. The Germans shot the entire council. The rest were taken to Chelmno
and gassed by the SS, local gendarmes, and Gestapo. Ten transports of about 80
people each were gassed and buried at Chelmno
1943: British
Prime Minister Winston Churchill and United States President Franklin Roosevelt
met at Casablanca, Morocco, to discuss the future Allied invasion of Western
Europe. News of the meeting buoys the spirits of Jews, who hope the war may
soon be over. Roosevelt, though, proposes to French North African official
General Noguès and later to a leader of the Free French Forces, General Giraud
that the French government in North Africa should discriminate against local
Jews just as Hitler did in the 1930s. Roosevelt specifically states,
twice--once to Noguès and separately to Giraud--that "the number of Jews
engaged in the practice of the professions...should be definitely limited to
the percentage that the Jewish population in North Africa bears to the whole of
the North African population." President Roosevelt adds that limiting the
number of Jews in the professions "would further eliminate the specific
and understandable complaints which the Germans bore toward the Jews in
Germany...."
1943: Rabbi
Menachem Zemba, “called on the Jews of Warsaw to revolt” saying that "we
must resist the enemy on all fronts". He also warned that "we are
prohibited by Jewish law from betraying others...” Zemba was killed (19 Nissan)
a few days after the revolt began. He had refused the offer of Catholic priests
to help him and flee with another two rabbis, believing that he must remain
until the end with his fellow Jews. Zemba had published over 20 manuscripts.
Many others were destroyed in the ghetto.”
1943: The
Jewish Council members in Lomza, refused to take part in the selection process.
The Germans were forced to select for themselves those Jews who should be taken
away.
1943:
When the Jewish Council and Jewish police in Lomza, Poland, refuse to provide
the Gestapo with 40 Jews, Gestapo agents make the selections, and include two
Council members. A further 8000 Lomza Jews are deported to Auschwitz.
1943:
Birthdate of Dr. Ralph Marvin Steinman, the native of Montreal, who became a
noted American cell biologist and Noble Prize winner for his work on the human
immune response. (As reported by William Grimes.)
1944: In
New York, violinist Roman Totenberg and real estate broker Melanie Shroder
Totenberg gave birth to NPR correspondent Nina Totenberg.
1945:
Ninety-one-year-old Gerald Balfour, the brother of Arthur Balfour of “Balfour
Declaration” fame who in 1906 “failed to get a vote of confidence from his
constituents” because he strongly supported the passage of a bill that
effectively excluded Russian Jews from immigrating to England, passed away
today.
1945: The
SS evacuates the remaining prisoners from the concentration camp at Plaszów,
Poland.
1946:
According to an announcement by Arthur M. Lowe, the president of Loew’s
International Corporation, Morton A. Spring has been promoted from vice
president to first vice president.
1946(12th of
Shevat): Rabbi Joseph Herman Hertz who had served as Chief Rabbi of the United
Kingdom since 1913 passed away. A native of Hungary he earned a BA from
Columbia and earned his Rabbinic designation at JTS, the American flagship
training entity of the Conservative movement.
http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/Tradition-Today-Remembering-Chief-Rabbi-Hertz
1947: It was
reported today that Henry Morgenthau, Jr. the general chairman of the UJA
campaign whose goal is to raise $170,000,000 has “announced that the drive
would begin officially on a nationwide scale at conference in Washington in
February.
1947:
University of South Carolina trained attorney, Solomon Blatt, the Blackville,
SC born son or Russian Jewish immigrants Molly and Nathan Blatt completed ten
years of service as the Speaker of the Sourth Carolina House of
Representatives.
1948: Anna
"Ans" van Dike a Dutch Jewish Nazi-collaborator was executed at the
age of 42.(I cannot find any details about this. If any of you know about
this person, please forward the information to me. Thanks.)
1948: “A
report came in this evening “Arabs were massing in the hills around Kfar
Etzion.”
1948: A postal
delivery truck filled with explosives manned by pro-Arab volunteers was driven
into the center of Haifa where it exploded. These volunteers included recently
released German POW’s and deserters from the British Army.
1948: Department store pioneer Beatrice
Auerbach, longtime proprietor at G. Fox and Co. in Hartford, CT, received the
Tobe Award for outstanding contributions to public service in the retail field
1949: In
Miami, FL, Sylvia Sarah and Clarence Norman Kasdan gave birth to Lawrence
Edward Kasdan the writer, director and producer who has given us some marvelous
films including “The Big Chill” and some not so marvelous including several
episodes of “Star Wars.”
1949: Dr.
Edwin J. Cohn of the Harvard Medical School is scheduled to deliver the Julius
Stieglitz Memorial Lecture today at the University of Chicago.
1950: The
Andrews Sisters version of “I Can Dream, Can’t I?,” “a popular song written by
Sammy Fain with lyrics by Irving Kahal became the U.S. Billboard Best Sellers
in Stores number-one single.”
1950(25th
of Tevet, 5710): Parashat Shemot
1950(25th
of Tevet, 5710): Seventy-one-year-old David Alexander, the Brooklyn “son of
Harris Baruch Alexander and the former Betsy Harris” and the husband of the
former Irene Schwab with whom he had had two children who was a graduate of HUC
and the University of Cincinnati who had been the “rabbi of the Akron, Ohio
Hebrew Congregation since 1919” passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1950/01/15/121627134.pdf
1950 “A
memorial service for Dr. Stephen S. Wise, the founder and international
president of the American World Jewish Congress was held tonight at the opening
of the 25th convention of the New England division of the American
Jewish Congress.
1951(7th
of Shevat, 5711): Three people were killed and twenty more were injured when
“someone tossed an army hand grenade in the crowded Mas’uda Shemtov synagogue
in Baghdad” forcing the Israeli government to implement Operation Ezra and
Nehemiah which brought 120,000 Iraqi Jew to Israel in the space of a year.
1951(7th
of Shevat, 5711): Seventy-four-year-old Joseph W. Pincus the Russian born
American agricultural expert who directed the Jewish Agricultural Society and
editor of the Jewish Farmer passed away today.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9D0DE1DB1339E13BBC4D52DFB766838A649EDE
1953: The
Jerusalem Post reported that the Soviet Union told the world that nine
leading doctors five of them Jewish had "confessed" to the murder
of Andrei Zhdanov, the secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist
Party, and Alexander Shcherbakov, the secretary of the Moscow Committee, and
possibly other Soviet leaders. One of the accused was the chief medical officer
at the Kremlin. This announcement was understood as the so-called
"Doctors' Plot," a crude attack on Soviet Jewry by Stalin. Fears were
expressed that such "revelations" would lead to an anti-Jewish purge
and hysteria, and a possible forced "resettlement" of Soviet Jews in
outlying areas. While Izvestia had already demanded "a special status for
Jews," the free world and Jewish press described the charges as false,
"fantastic" and completely unsubstantiated.
1954:
Marilyn Monroe married Joe DiMaggio. Ms. Monroe would later convert to
Judaism and marry playwright Arthur Miller.
1955: “Stockholders
of D. Emil Klein Company, cigar makers, at a special meeting here today, voted
to sell a substantial part of the company's assets to Waitt Bond, Inc., which
also makes cigars
1956(1st
of Shevat, 5716): Parashat Vaera; Rosh Chodesh Shevat
1956: While
Rabbi Joseph El Rackovsky was conducting services this morning at Beth Tfilah
Congregation in Miam Beach, he was being “picketed by wives and children of
kosher butchers in the latest incident in Greater Miami’s chaotic kashrut
situation.”
1958(15th
of Tevet, 5718): Eighty-year-old Chasidic Rabbi Shulem Moskovitz, the Shotzer Rebbe
and Romanian born son of Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Moshe of Sulitza who “emigrated
to London before World War, settling in Stamford London” where “he established
a Beis Medrash affiliated to the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations.”
1959(5th
of Shevat, 5719): Seventy-one-year-old attorney Hyman Busch, the husband of
Margaret Busch, who “served as counsel or the New Jersey Esso Employees
Association for twenty years” passed away today in Newark, NJ.
1960:
Birthdate of Eric Alterman, the creator of the political weblog “Altercation”
1961: Ella
Fitzgerald completed the recording of the “Harold Arlen Songbook” today which
included sounds Broadway classics as “That Old Black Magic,” “It’s Only a Paper
Moon” and “Over the Rainbow” which is popularly known as “Somewhere Over the
Rainbow.”
1962(9th
of Shevat, 5722): Eighty-four-year-old Washingtonian and Georgetown University
trained attorney, Milton Dammann “a partner in the law firm of Dammann, Roche
and Goldberg” and the husband of “the former Reta Weil” with whom he had two
children and the lawyer “who helped arrange the merger of the American Safety
Razor Corporation” of which he became President, passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1962/01/16/81779689.pdf
1962(9th
of Shevat, 5722): Seventy-three-year-old Mir, Russia native Leon Cooper, the
1910 graduate of CCNY, “president of the Cooper Safety Razor Corporation in
Brooklyn and husband of Lucy Price Cooper with whom he had two children –
George W. Cooper and Mrs. Arthur Kimelfield – passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1962/01/15/80379386.pdf
1964(29th of
Tevet, 5724): Seventy-two-year-old Barney Sedran, the “Mighty Mite” who played
for CCNY from 1909 to 1911 and then played for a series of pro teams into the
1920’s passed away today.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Sedran.html
1965(11th
of Shevat, 5725): Eighty-four-year-old Moscow born NYU trained physician Albert
Arthur Epstein who had been affiliated with Beth Israel Hospital since 1931
passed away today.
1967: At the
Alvin Theatre, after 127 performances, the curtain came on the Broadway revival
of “Dinner at Eight” written by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber.
1969(24th
of Tevet, 5729): Eighty-three-year-old Soviet spy Arthur Adams, the son of
Swedish mother and a Russian Jewish father passed away today.
1969: Israel’s
Musicians’ Festival, which was “proclaimed by New York Mayor John V. Lindsay is
scheduled to begin today.
1971(17th
of Tevet, 5731): Seventy-three-year-old Russian born Abraham Gribetz, the
husband of Ida Heller, the father of attorney Judah Gribetz, the grandfather of
Bruce and Arthur Gribetz and the “executive vice president of the Hebrew Loan
Society an institution “founded in 1892 to help need immigrants” to which he
had devoted 53 years of his life passed away today.
1971:
Operation Bardas 20 took place today, to neutralize a guerrilla base in
Lebanon, near Sidon, where about two dozen terrorists were training as frogmen.
During the course of the raid, the commandos discovered a house with several
women in it, and decided not to blow it up
1971: This
evening 325 guests attended a dinner honoring Judge Esther Untermann, the widow
of William Untermann for her “75th
birthday and 50th year of service to B’nai B’rith.”
1972: Funeral
services are scheduled to be held today in Hackensack, NJ for seventy-five year
old Russian born WW I veteran and Yale graduate Benjamin Labov the “founder and
president of the Ink Company and treasurer of Standard Coating Corporation:”
who was “a mbmeber of the national and Jew Jersey Cabinets of the United Jewish Appeal” and who was the
husband of the former Rhea White with whom he had two sons, William and
Richard.
1973: “Mossad
found out today about the plan to assassinate Golda Meir, when a sayan, or
local volunteer, informed Mossad that he had handled two telephone calls from a
payphone in an apartment block where PLO members sometimes stayed.”
1973: After 14
performances at the Felt Forum, the curtain came down on “The Grand Music Hall
of Israel” a revue in two acts starring Shoshana Damari.
1975: The
Soviet Union repudiates 1972 trade agreement with the U.S. in response to
passage of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment.
1975(2nd
of Shevat, 5735): Seventy-nine-year-old Blanche Dworsky Ratner, the daughter
Bertha Dworsky, the founder of the Daughters of Jacob who was the president of
the Daughters of Jacob Geriatric Center, passed away today.
https://www.nytimes.com/1975/01/16/archives/blanche-dworsky-ratner-aided-jewish-aged-here.html
1978(6th of
Shevat, 5738): British athlete Harold Abrahams passed away. Born in 1899,
Abrahams gained prominence as an Olympic runner during the 1920 and 1924
games. He gained a wide measure of fame when his youthful accomplishments
were featured in the film “Chariots of Fire.”
1979: In
Brooklyn, NPR broadcaster Robert Siegel and Jane Siegel gave birth to
songwriter who commercial for the Topsy Foundation was a Clio Award.
1981:
“Scanners,” is a science-fiction horror film written and directed by David
Cronenberg was released today in the United States.
1982(19th
of Tevet, 5742): Fifty-three-year-old Czech born and HUC trained rabbi, Martin
Bernard, the holder of doctorate from the University of Illinois who in 1934
came to the United States where he served as a Chaplain in the U.S. Army and
held successive pulpits Sinai Temple in Champaign, Temple Sinai in Chicago and
Mount Zion Temple in St. Paul passed away today.
https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/martin-bernard
1982: Today,
“an old Jew” who was serving as a night watchman was “beaten up” by those who
broke into the Leningrad Synagogue and stole “silver ornaments and breastplates
for Torah scrolls, a Kiddush cup and money from a collection box.
1984(10th of
Shevat, 5744): Paul Ben Haim, prominent Israeli composer, passed away at
the age of 86. http://www.milkenarchive.org/people/view/all/591/Ben-Haim,+Paul
1985(21st
of Tevet, 5745): Ninety-three-year-old Dutch born American silent era film
actress Jetta Goudal passed away today.
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-01-16/news/mn-8507_1_jetta-goudal
1986: S. Simcha Goldman v. Weinberger, Secretary of Defense, et
al in which a Jewish Air Force officer sought to have the right to wear a
yarmulke when in uniform was argued before the U.S. Supreme Courtn
1987:
Ida G. Ruben who had been serving as a member of the Maryland House of
Delegates began her twenty years of service as a Member of the Maryland State
Senate from the 20th District.
1987:
Israeli warplanes attacked Palestinian targets near the Syrian border today in
the fourth raid on Lebanon in 10 days. The raid came hours after an attack by
Lebanese guerrillas on a position manned by the Israeli-backed South Lebanon
Army militia east of Sidon in which three people were reported killed and 10
wounded. ''Air force planes attacked buildings used as command posts for a
Palestinian terrorist group and tents,'' a spokesman for the Tel Aviv command
said. ''All planes returned safely to base.'' The raid today was only the
second in eastern Lebanon since October 1985. A month after that attack Israeli
planes shot down two Syrian warplanes and Syria retaliated by deploying
surface-to-air missiles along its border with Lebanon.
1988:
Today an Israeli builder who is directly affected by the loss of his Arab
workers sat in a trailer on a nearly abandoned construction site, grumbling
about the workers from Gaza who did not show up for work for the 10th day in a
row. ''I guess they couldn't get out of the Gaza Strip,'' he said.
1990:
At the Lincoln Center theatre, the curtain is scheduled to come down on the
Broadway revival of Paddy Chayefsky’s “The Tenth Man.”
1990:
Ninety-two-year-old Douglas Geoffrey, the chief assistant to, and official
successor of Theodore Hardeen, the younger brother of Harry Houdini, who
performed as Hardeen, Jr. after his patron’s death, passed away today.
1992: John Herbert Adler began serving as a member of the New
Jersey Senate from the 6th district.
1992:
In “Scuds Are Gone, but the Israelis' Fears Linger” Clyde Haberman describes
the condition of the Israeli psyche a year after what became known as Gulf War
I.
1994(2nd
of Shevat, 5754):
Grigory Ivanov was stabbed to death by a terrorist in
the industrial zone at the Erez junction, near the Gaza Strip. HAMAS claimed
responsibility for the attack.
1995(13th
of Shevat, 5755): Seventy-eight-year-old attorney Albert Hessberg II the Yale
football player who was the first member of Skull and Bones passed away toda.
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/26/obituaries/albert-hessberg-2d-albany-lawyer-78.html
1998:
In “A Jew Stalin Killed Now Symbolizes Rebirth” Alessandra Stanley described
the festival being held in Moscow in memory of “the great Yiddish actor and
theater director Solomon Mikhoels was slain by Stalin's secret police, spelling
the death of the Jewish theater in the Soviet Union.” Stanley provides a
full description of the role of Mikhoels in Russian life, the attack by Stalin
and the conditions of Jewry in today’s post-Communist Russia.
1999:
Today, Jerry Falwell said "the Anti-Christ is probably alive today and is
a male Jew." In his speech, he continued: "Is he alive and here
today? Probably, because when he appears during the Tribulation period, he will
be a full-grown counterfeit of Christ. Of course, he'll be Jewish. Of course,
he'll pretend to be Christ. And if in fact the Lord is coming soon, and he'll
be an adult at the presentation of himself, he must be alive somewhere
today."
2000:
Guitarist Marty Friedman performed for the last time with “Megadeth.”
2001: The
New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including Constantine’s Sword: The Church
and the Jews: A History by
James Carroll.
2002(1st of
Shevat, 5762): Rosh Chodesh Shevat
2002: A
terrorist, named Raed al-Karmi, the 27-year-old leader of a local Palestinian
militia, was killed by a bomb hidden beside a cemetery wall near his house.
2002: Herb
Gray completed his term as Deputy Prime Minister of Canada and retired from
Parliament.
2003:
Thirty-one-year-old Mark Cukierwar, a Jew who dressed “as an Orthodox Jews and
who had burglarized nine synagogues since December 28 has been arrested
authorities said today.
2004:
Former Enron finance chief, Andrew Fastow, pled guilty to conspiracy as he
accepted a 10-year prison sentence.
2004(20th
of Tevet, 5764): A young Palestinian mother, feigning a limp and requesting
medical help, blew herself up today at the entrance to a security inspection
center for Palestinian workers, killing four Israeli security personnel and
wounding seven people, the Israeli military said. The bomber, Reem al-Reyashi,
22, said in video released after her attack that ''it was always my wish to
turn my body into deadly shrapnel against the Zionists and to knock on the
doors of heaven with the skulls of Zionists.''
2005:
“Ayelet S. Cohen, the junior rabbi at Congregation Beth Simchat Torah” “who has
officiated at the marriage of gay and lesbian couples has been threatened with
expulsion from the Conservative movement's rabbinical association, though
movement officials say it is not her activism that is at issue but her repeated
defiance of the movement's rules.”
2006(14th
of Tevet, 5766): Academy Award winning actress Shelly Winters passed away.
http://www.biography.com/people/shelley-winters-9534774
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/14/AR2006011400648_pf.html
2006:
Skater Sasha Cohen won her first national gold medal at the U.S. Championships
Saturday night in St. Louis.
2007:
The Sunday New York Times book section featured a review of About
Alice by Calvin Trillin, a memoir about his wife Alice Trillin who died at
the age of 63 after twenty-five year battle with lung cancer. The Times
also featured a review of Heist: Superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, His Republican
Allies, and the Buying of Washington by Peter Stone.
2007:
The front page of the Sunday Chicago Tribune featured an article by Ron
Grossman entitled “Echoes of history: Holocaust voices resurface at IIT” that
recounted the story of Professor David Boder who went to Europe in 1946 and
electronically recorded the experiences of Holocaust survivors.
2008: In
Washington, D.C. Journalist Charles Enderlin, the Jerusalem bureau chief for
channel France 2, discusses and signs The Lost Years: Radical Islam,
Intifada, and Wars in the Middle East.
2008: Sports
Illustrated reported that “Will Bynum ex-Georgia Tech basketball player is
in hot water in Israel where he plays for Maccabi Tel Aviv. He was
arrested after allegedly driving into some outside a bar. The victim
survived. Bynum says he’s innocent.” In a departure from the
tolerance Americans show for such behavior an official of Maccabi Tel Aviv told
the media that “Bynum will no longer wear a Maccabi shirt.” The same magazine
also published a column entitled “A Changeup for Bud’s Boys” advocating the
purchase of the Chicago Cubs by Mark Cuban, the multi-millionaire grandson of
Jewish immigrants from Russia.
2008:
“Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie” co-produced by Ruth Reichl was broadcast for the
first time on PBS.
2009: The Leo Baeck Institute
and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research present a screening of “What If? The
Helena Mayer Story” followed by a discussion led by filmmaker Semyon Pinkhasov
and James Traub, a journalist specializing in the responsibility of nations
toward their citizens.
2009:
The Jewish film festival season kicks off with the opening of the 9th
Atlanta Jewish Film Festival and 18th annual New York Jewish Film Festival
2009: Israel Radio reported that the IDF was turning up
the heat on Hamas this morning, with ground forces progressing slowly to
prevent civilian casualties. The IAF had attacked some sixty targets in the
Gaza Strip overnight, Israel Radio reported. The targets included 30 terrorists
smuggling tunnels, weapons storage facilities and rocket launch squads.
2009: Palestinian terrorists continued to attack Israeli
civilian areas today, firing 18 projectiles by late afternoon, including a
phosphorous mortar shell that hit the Eshkol region.
2009: The
New York Times featured a review of Never Tell A Lie by Hallie
Ephron.
2009:
Gottschalks, which founded by German Jewish immigrant Emil Gottschalk in 1904
as a dry goods store in downtown Fresno, California, filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy.
2009: The
Museum of Memory and Welcome was inaugurated today near Nardo, in southern
Italy. Israel's ambassador to Italy and Rome's chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni,
joined local officials for the ceremony. The museum, commemorating Jewish
Holocaust refugees, opened near the Italian town that gave them shelter on
their way to Palestine. Between 1943 and 1947, as many as 150,000 Jews fleeing
Europe for Palestine, then still under British control, found shelter in and
around Nardo, in the heel Italy's boot.
2009: The
first stage adaptation of My Name Is Asher Lev “debuts on professional stage in
Philadelphia, PA.”
2009: Three
rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon
2009: In
“Gentlemen and Scholars” published today Dan Laor describes the relationship
between Shelomo Dov Goitein and Shmuel Yosef Agnon.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/gentlemen-and-scholars-1.268136
2010: At the
New York Jewish Film Festival, the U.S. premiere of a “Ahead of Time,” a
documentary that tells the story of Ruth Gerber. “Born in Brooklyn in 1911,
Ruth Gruber had an extraordinary career as a foreign correspondent and
photojournalist spanning seven decades. The first journalist to enter the
Soviet Arctic (in 1935), she escorted Holocaust refugees to America in ’44,
covered the Nuremberg trials in ’46, and reported on the plight of the ship
Exodus in ’47.”
2010: The 10th
annual Atlanta Jewish Festival features a screening of “Breaking Upwards,” an
anti-romantic indie comedy described as an Annie Hall for Generation Y that
examines a stifled twenty-something New York Jewish couple who, battling
codependency, decide to engineer the dismantling of their relationship.
2010: Today,
Silvyo Ovadya, the president of the Musevi Cemaati, or Jewish community, said
the 23,000-member community has no immediate fear, but further tensions could
"turn into anti-Semitism."
2010: A bomb
exploded near a small convoy of vehicles belonging to Israel's embassy in
Jordan this afternoon. No one was hurt in the incident, which occurred some 20
kilometers from the border crossing at Allenby Bridge,
2010 Members
of the IDF medical teams preparing to spend two weeks in Haiti following a
devastating earthquake received vaccinations today to prepare them for the stay
in the country which is known for its poor medical infrastructure, Ash said.
2010: The ZAKA
delegation arrived in Haiti today after taking part in rescue operations,
collection of bodies and identification at another disaster scene – the site of
the helicopter crash in Mexico in which Jewish financier and philanthropist
Moshe Saba was killed.
2010: Goel
Ratzon, an Israeli polygamist was arrested today on suspicion of enslavement,
sexual abuse and rape. Reportedly he lives with 17 women and has fathered
as many as 89 children.
2010: The man
who shot up the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle building in July 2006 was
sentenced to life in prison. One woman died and five were wounded when Naveed
Haq attacked the Jewish agency. In an address to the court during his
sentencing, Haq apologized for the shooting rampage "from the depth of my
being," according to the Seattle Times.
2011: Shabbat
Tzedek celebrating 50 years in pursuit of justice with the Religious Action
Center (RAC) is scheduled to begin.
2011: Limmud
NY 2011 is scheduled to begin at The Hudson Valley Resort in Kerhonkson, NY.
2011: The head
of the Labor Party’s internal court, attorney Amnon Zihroni, decided today to
give Labor chairman Ehud Barak and two ministers who seek to replace him until
Wednesday to reach a compromise on an agreed date for a key Labor convention
that will decide whether to leave Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition
and advance the next Labor leadership race.
2011: “The
Dilemma” a comedy produced by Brian Grazer, with a script by Allan Loeb,
co-starring Winona Ryder and music by Hans Zimmer was released today in the
United States.
2011: As
the dispute over conversion bills and the definition of who is a Jew escalates,
Pashkevilim were pasted in Jerusalem today that slam “those who promote
fraudulent conversions without accepting the yoke of Torah and Mitzvot.” They
were signed by most of the senior haredi Ashkenazi rabbis.
2012: In
an interview with the German newspaper Der Tagesspiel Hungarian born pianist
and conductor András Schiff accused the Viktor Orbán government of racism,
anti-Semitism and neo-fascism, and declared that he would never set foot in
Hungary again
2012:
“Dear Mr. Waldman” is scheduled to be shown at Congregation Beth Sholom in
Teaneck, MA.
2012:
“Bachelor Days Are Over” – featuring Sarah Adler - and “Mary Lou” - directed by
Eytan Fox – are scheduled to have their New York Premiers at the New York
Jewish Film Festival.
2012: Today
the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. has stepped up
contingency planning in case Israel launches a military strike on Iran's
nuclear facilities. According to the report, U.S. defense officials are
becoming increasingly concerned that Israel is preparing to carry out such a
strike.
2012: The 3rd
round of the Jordanian-sponsored talks between Israelis and Palestinians
resumed tonight in Amman.
2013: Jason
Kander completed his service as a member of the Missouri House of
Representatives and began serving as the 39th Secretary of State of
Missouri.
2013: “SENSO”
is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
2013:
“Numbered,” a “film that examines the…relationships of three Auschwitz
survivors” is scheduled to be shown at the New York Jewish Film Festival
2013: The
National Council of Jewish Women is a co-sponsor of today’s screening of “The
Invisible War” which is scheduled to take place at Temple Judea in Tarzana.
2013: The
Florida Department of Corrections agreed to serve kosher food to Jewish
inmates, ending a five-year struggle that saw the US Justice Department file a
lawsuit against the state
2013: During
2011, Israel’s population grew by 1.8 percent, increasing the population by
some 141,500 people to a total of 7,836,600 by the end of the year, according
to the Central Bureau of Statistics report released today.
2013: “Israeli
soldiers discovered the opening of a large tunnel in Israeli territory dug from
the Gaza strip which officials believe is intended for use in terror activity.”
(JTA)
2014: “For A
Woman” is scheduled to be shown at the New York Jewish Film Festival.
2014: The
state of Israel is scheduled today to name “an Arrow anti-missile facility for
the late Daniel Inouye the longtime Hawaii senator who championed Israel in the
US Senate.” (As reported by JTA and the Times of Israel)
2014(13th
of Shevat): Yahrzeit for Kaufmann Kohler, one of the leading Reform Rabbis of
the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
2014(13th
of Shevat, 5774): Eighty-six-year-old producer Richard “Dick” Shepherd who
changed his name to avoid the stigma of being Jewish passed away today.
http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-richard-shepherd-20140116-story.html#axzz2qhGPobF0
2014:
JTA informed is readers and supporters that “the board of directors has voted
to move forward with final steps of a merger with MyJewishLearning.
2014: “A
right-wing Israeli civil rights organization today petitioned the High Court of
Justice demanding that Justice Minister Tzipi Livni be made to respond to a New
York court’s request for information in a landmark case filed by families of
victims of Palestinian suicide bombings.” (As reported by Lazar Berman)
2015: “Mayor
de Blasio and Rabbis Near Accord on New Circumcision Rule” published today
described attempts by New York City to regulate “metzitzah b’peh.”
2015:
Addressing a vocal crowd of activists and supporters, Isaac Herzog, the leader
of the Labor-Hatnua party, this evening touted the newly elected lineup of his
party as “the future leaders of Israel.”
2015: The
Argentinean prosecutor investigating the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish
center today accused Argentina’s president and foreign minister of covering up
Iran’s involvement in the attack.
2015: Marisa
Scheinfeld is scheduled to explain the process she used to create “Echoes of
the Borscht Belt” a photographic record of the “degradation of some of the most
famous Borscht Belt Hotels
2015: “Like
Brothers” and “The Muses of Isaac Bashevis Singer” are scheduled to be shown at
the New York Jewish Film Festival.
2015: The
London Jewish Museum is scheduled to host “Teachers’ Evening: Teaching the
Holocaust.”
2015: “Life
Sucks (Or the Present Ridiculous) written and directed by Aaron Posner is
scheduled to open at Theatre J in Washington, DC.
2015: “Man
Seeking Woman, a television comedy series from Simon Rich, based on his The
Last Girlfriend on Earth, premiered on FXX.”
2015: An
exhibition “Anne Frank: A History for Today” is scheduled to open at the Oregon
Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education.
2015(23rd of
Tevet, 5775): Seventy-one-year-old Mordechai Shumel Ashkenazi, Chief Rabbi of
Kfar Chabad passed away today in Israel.
2016: “Art of
the Heart: The World of Isaiah Sheffer” is scheduled to be shown at the New
York Jewish Film Festival.
https://www.filmlinc.org/films/art-and-heart-the-world-of-isaiah-sheffer/
2016(4th
of Shevat, 5776): Yahrzeit of Rabbi Yisrael Abuchatzeira, the great Sephardic
sage and kabbalist known as the Baba Sali
http://www.aish.com/dijh/Shevat_4.html
https://www.facebook.com/RabbiYosefMizrachi/posts/10152172152619248
2007(16th
of Tevet, 5777): Parashat Vayechi; Completion of the reading of the final
portion of Bereshit (Genesis). For more
see http://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/
2017:
The chaplains of The Oxford University Jewish Society are scheduled to host the
Seudah this evening with a shiur given by Barcuh Zev Galinsky.
2017:
“The Women’s Balcony” and “Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?” are scheduled to be shown
at the New York Jewish Film Festival.
2017:
The Conference of JOFA (Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance) is scheduled to
begin this evening at the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life.
2017:
The Paz Band is scheduled to perform on the final night of the Fourth Annual
Winter Edition of the Tel Aviv Blues Festival.
2018:
“Speaking in Arabic to US-based satellite TV station Alhurra, Maj. Gen. Yoav
Mordechai said” that “the Israeli military, helped by the “Jewish brain,” had
devised a solution that would see all of Hamas’s cross-border tunnels into
Israel destroyed.” (As reported by Tamar Pileggi)
2018:
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touched down in New Delhi this afternoon,
warmly embracing his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, in a surprise ceremony
at the airport, and celebrating a close personal bond that the two are hoping
to parlay into further cooperation between their two countries.” (As reported
by Joshua Davidovich)
2018:
In Atlanta, GA, the Bremen is scheduled to host a presentation by Hershel
Greenblat, a Ukrainian who “survived because of the resourcefulness and
determination of his parents in evading the Nazis.
2018:
The New York Times featured reviews
of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers
including The Ruined House by Ruby Namdar and Vivian Maier: A
Photographer’s Life and Afterlife by Pamela Bannos
2018:
The 3rd Annual Jewish Review of Books Conference featuring Jeffrey
Rosen, Daniel Gordis, Ruth R. Wisse, Peter Berkowitz, Deborah E. Lipstadt, Amos
Yadlin and Elliot Abrams is scheduled to take place today at the Museum of
Jewish Heritage.
2018:
In Wyoming, the Jackson Hole Jewish Community is scheduled to host two
screenings of “Rosenwald.”
2018:
In Jaffrey, NH, The Park Theatre is scheduled to host two screenings of Aviv
Kempner’s “Rosenwald.”
2019:
Curator Ilona Moradof is scheduled to lead a tour of the exhibition
“Kindertransport – Rescuing Children on the Brink of War” which illuminates the
organized rescue efforts that brought thousands of children from Nazi Europe to
Great Britain in the late 1930s.
2019:
“Seder Masochism” is scheduled to be shown at the New York Jewish Film
Festival.
2019:
Today, J.B. Pritzker is scheduled to begin serving as the Governor of Illinois
making him the third Jew to serve in the position.
2020:
Four days after she had passed away funeral services are scheduled today in
Iowa City for Susan Strauss, the husband of Stephen Strauss, followed burial at
the Agudas Achim Cemetery.
2020:
The Vilna Shul, Boston’s Center for Jewish Culture, is scheduled to host “Hyman
Bloom: The Beauty of All Things” which is an exploration of “the history and
life of former West Ender and Vilna Shul congregant and painter Hyman Bloom…”
2020”
In Newton Centre, the Hebrew College is scheduled to host “Spiraling Through
Time: Radically Rethinking Our Relationship to Land.”
2020:
In Boston, Congregation Kehillath Israel is scheduled to present “Conversation
About Covering” that explores the world of Kippot, Yarmulkes, Wigs, Lace
Doilies and a whole lot more.
2020:
American Oligarchs: The Kushners, The Trumps and the Marriage of Money and
Power by Andrea Bernstein is scheduled to go on sale today.
2021:
HaMaqom | The Place is scheduled to “present an introduction to Bay Area
Community Talmud Circles, with educator Rabbi Peretz Wolf-Prusan leading a
session that will skim the surface of revealing, explaining and demystifying
the Jewish literary tradition.”
2021:
The Contemporary Jewish Museum is scheduled to present an online screening of
“American Jerusalem” a “2013 documentary about how immigrant Jews of the 1800s
and early 1900s helped transform San Francisco into a vibrant city.”
2021:
In Cedar Rapids, IA, the Hadassah Book Club is scheduled to host a ZOOM
discussion of The History of Love by Nicole Krauss.
2021:
The JCC Film Festival and the Illinois Holocaust Museum are scheduled to host a
screening of “A Call To Spy” followed by a discussion
2021:
The ADL, the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust,
and the New York Board of Rabbis are scheduled to host an important discussion
via Zoom about both the challenge of extremism today and the opportunities to
push back via civil society, government regulation, and reforms by social media
companies.
2021:
Brandeis University’s Hebrew Program, The Schusterman Center for Israel
Studies, The Jewish Studies Program at Colby College, Middlebury College School
of Hebrew, Hebrew College and Northeastern University Hillel are scheduled to
co-host Gilv Hovav, lecturing on “My Great-Grandfather, the Prophet, the second
in a four-part series “How to Revive a Dead Language in 100 Years” presented
online by the Consulate General of Israel to New England.
2021:
The Leo Baeck Institute is scheduled to present Michael A. Meyer discussing
Rabbi Leo Baeck: Living A Religious Imperative in Troubled Time, his new
biography which “affirms Baeck's place in history as a courageous community
leader and as one of the most significant Jewish religious thinkers of the
twentieth century, comparable to such better-known figures as Martin Buber,
Franz Rosenzweig, and Abraham Joshua Heschel.”
2021:
Jewish News, SERET and JW3 are scheduled to present the exclusive UK premiere
of Shtiisel 3.
2021:
National Pastrami Day
https://forward.com/culture/329884/how-pastrami-helped-to-create-american-jewish-culture/
https://www.seriouseats.com/2018/07/guide-to-jewish-deli-food.html
https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-03-31/pastrami-rye-full-length-history-new-york-jewish-deli
2021(1st
of Shevat, 5781): Rosh Chodesh Shevat,
2022:
Temple Israel of Boston is scheduled to present online “Shabbat Tzedek
(Justice) with Rachel Rollins, U.S. Attorney for the District of
Massachusetts.”
2022:
Kan Kol Hamusika is scheduled to broad a live Young Arts Concert featuring Alon
Kariv, Itamar Feinberg and Tomer Rubinstein, “the winders of the 2021-2022 ‘Kan
Voice of Music’ Young Artists Competion.”
2022:
“According to the Meterological Service’s forecast, a winter storm that began
yesterday will continue to batter Israel today and on into the weekend.
2022:
The “Opening reception for JCCSF exhibit on the dangers California’s natural
habitats face from climate change” is scheduled to take place at the Katz
Snyder Gallery in San Francisco.
2023:
Under the artistic direction of Noa Wertheim, the internationally acclaimed
Israeli modern dance company Vertigo is scheduled to perform “Pardes” for the
last time at the Baryshnikov Arts Center.
2023:
The Eden Tamir Music Center is scheduled to host a performance of The Ben Haim
Trio with violist Yuval Gotlibovich.
2023:
Rallies are scheduled to be held this evening in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv’s
Habima Square to protest Prime Minister Netanyahu’s “plans to overhaul Israel’s
judicial system.”
2023(21st
of Tevet, 5783): Shemot (“Names”)
2024: After a winter break, Religious School is
scheduled to begin again at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids.
2024:
“Stand With Israel,” “a solidarity event in support of Israel” is scheduled to
take place today in London marking 100 days since the 7th October Hamas terror
massacre.”
2024:
YIVO is scheduled to present “A Medium For The Masses: The Yiddish Press and
the Shaping of American Jewish Culture,” a symposium that looks “on more than 150 years of the Yiddish press in the
United States, examining its role as a vehicle of acculturation, a forum for
political and ideological debates, and a seedbed for the growth of a mass
culture among Jews worldwide.”
2024:
The “Annual Winter Jewish Film Festival at JHMOMC is scheduled to host a
screening of “Last Transport,” a Dutch film about the fate of hundreds of
Jewish being transported on a trained that “gets stranded near a small German
village occupied by the Red Army.”
2024:
The New York Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to host the New York premiere of
“The Goldman Case.”
https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-goldman-case/
2024:
The Miami Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to host the world premiere of “The
Catskills.”
https://miamijewishfilmfestival.org/events/the-catskills-2
2024:
Lockdown University is scheduled to host a lecture by Judge Dennis Davis on “Aaron
Copland: The American Composer Whom Leonard Bernstein Said is the Best We Have.”
2024:
The Breman and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Georgia are scheduled to
present a “Genealogy Mentoring Meeting” today.
2024:
The New York Times reviews books by Jewish authors and/or of special
interest to Jewish readers including Maria Hummel’s novel Goldenseal
featuring “Lacey Weber Crane” who has kept her Jewish identity from her childhood
best friend.
2024:
As January 14th begins in Israel, the Hamas held hostages begin day 100 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.)
