This Day, January 26, In Jewish History by Mitchell
January
26
1482: “The first edition of the Pentateuch with
vowel signs and accents appeared today at Bologna.
1531: Three tremors shake Portugal and numerous
houses are destroyed in Lisbon by an earthquake which the Pope and others
believe confirm the prediction of suffering made by Solomon Molcho who was
seeking relief for Jews and Marranos.
1654:
MAJOR DATE IN THE HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMUNITY. With the capture of Pernambuco (
1664(28th
of Tevet): Rabbi Berechiah Berakh ben Isaac Shapiro of Cracow author of Zera
Beirakh passed away
1689: Jean Racine's "Esther" premieres in Saint-Cyr.
1707(4th of Adar I, 5476):
Twenty-nine-year-old Isaac Rodriguez, the Barbados born of of Rachelle Laborde
and Rodriguez Marques passed away today in New York City.
1724: Abraham and Sarah Pinto gave birth to Jacob
Pinto who fathered seven children with his two wives Thankful and Abigail
Pinto.
1715: In Haverford, PA, Abraham Lewis, Sr., the son
of Mary and John Lewish, Sr and his wife Mary Lewis gave birth to Lieutenant
Abraham Lewis II
1736: As the Kingdom of Poland continues to unravel,
Stanislaus I abdicated his throne during a period of increasing
anti-Semitism. Twenty-eight years after
the abdication, the Austrians, Prussians and Russians would begin to partition
Poland much to the detriment of the Jewish people who had originally been
“invited” to settle in Poland.
1755 (14th of Shevat, 5515): Rabbi Yaakov Yehoshua
Falk Katz passed away. Born in 1680, he was the author of the Talmudic work
"P'nei Yehoshua." He served as rabbi of Lemberg (
1756: Sixty-three-year-old Groningen native and
University of Leiden trained Dutch Orientalist and theologian Albert Shulten
“who has been called the father of modern Hebrew grammar” whose chief works of
interest to Hebrew students were editions of Job and Proverbs passed away
today.
1761(21st of Shevat): Rabbi Judah Navon, author of KIryat Melekh Rav passed away.
1788: The British First Fleet arrived at Port
Jackson, Australia with the goal of establishing the first permanent English
settlement in “the land down under.” According to at least one source there 15
Jews on board including Esther Abrahams.
1799(20th of Shevat, 5559): Parashat
Yitro
1799: Birthdate of Samuel Gobat, the native of
Crémines, Canton of Bern, Switzerland who became the second “Protestant bishop
of Jerusalem who supported many noteworthy projects in Palestine including an
“orphanage on Mount Zion” and reversed the policy of his predecessor and
devoted his efforts to “proselytizing among Christians” instead of trying to
convert Jews.
1804: Birthdate of Eugane "Marie Joseph"
Sue France, novelist and author of The Wandering Jew. It
is a tale of good and evil. This time the villain was a Jesuit clerk, Rodin,
who is after the Wandering Jew's treasure, which has been gathering interest
over the centuries. The descendants of a man, who once aided the cursed
wanderer, are summoned to
1808:
In Australia, the Rum Rebellion began today when troops under the command of
Lieutenant-Colonel George Johnston deposed Governor William Bligh. Esther
Abrahams, who had come to the land down under as part of the First Fleet was
Johnston’s common-law wife. (Bligh was the captain of the infamous HMS Bounty)
1809(9th
of Shevat, 5569): Sixty-nine-year-old “butcher Levi Sheftall, the Savannah, GA
born sone of Hannah Solomons and Benjamin Sheftall and husband of Sara De LA
Mottta with whom he had fourteen children who was, along with his brother
Mordecai and ardent supporter of the Revolution and who while served as
President of Mikveh Israel “wrote a congratulatory letter to President George
Washington” passed away today.
1814:
Edmund Kean opened in the role of Shylock at Drury Lane Theatre rousing “the
audience to almost uncontrollable enthusiasm.”
1821:
Birthdate of Moravian native Adolf Schmiedl, the rabbi and author who began his
career by serving the Jews of the town of Gweitsch and then served several
other communities before reaching Leopoldstadt, the second of district of
Vienna at the turn of the century.
1828:
In Germany, Dorothy and Abraham Kohn gave birth to Joseph Kohn, the husband of
Julia Levi and the father of Cora, Jennie, Nellie, Florence, Maude, Emanuel and
Albert Kohn
1828:
Dr. Daniel Moses Levy Maduro Peixotto, the Amsterdam born son of Cantor Moses
Levy Maduro Peixotto and Judith van Samuel Peixotto and his wife Rachel Lopes
Mendes Peixotto who was one of the founders of the College of Physicians and
Surgeons of Columbia University gave birth to Sarah Naar Peixotto who became
Sarah Naar Cardozo when she married Abraham Hart Cardozo.
1835:
In Middlesex, Elizabeth and Jacob Lyons gave birth to Edward Lyons.
1837: Michigan is admitted as the 26th state in the
Union. By the time Michigan joined the
union, Jews had been living there for at least three quarters of a century. The first known Jewish settler, Ezekiel
Solomon arrived in what is now Mackinaw city in 1761. Chapman Abraham arrived
in Detroit a year later. Abraham was a
Loyalist who fought on the side of the British during the Revolutionary
War. Other early Jewish residents of
what would become the Wolverine state were Louis Benjamin who suffered a loss
during Detroit’s great fire in 1805 and Frederick E. Cohen, the portrait
painter, who had arrived in Michigan by 1837. In reality there were only a
handful of Jews living in Michigan at the time of statehood. . The real growth of the Michigan Jewish
community began in the 1840’s with the arrival of German Jews the most
prominent group of which was the forty-eighters. The first synagogue would be
formed in 1850, as Congregation Beth El.
For more about the Michigan Jewish community you might consider reading Jews
In Michigan by Judith Levin Cantor.
1838:
Birthdate of Grodno native Rabbi Yisrael Meir ha-Kohen Kagan, known as the
“Chofetz Chaim” whose seminal work was the Sefer Chafetz Chaim
1840:
Sixty-eight-year-old English clergyman Lewis Way, “the
founder, in 1808, of the London Society for Promoting Christianity Among the
Jews” who was “convinced that the Jewish nation would again arise, return to
its ancestral home, embrace Christianity, and convert the Gentiles” passed away
today.
1841:
British forces occupy Hong Kong. Hong
Kong would not formally become a possession of the crown for another year at
which time Jewish merchants including members of the Sassoon and Kadoorie
families, opened offices and established a community that would build a Jewish
Club and the Ohel Leah Synagogue.
1848:
Birthdate of Italian pathologist Pio Foa
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6209-foa-pio
1851:
Birthdate of Rachel Baron, the wife of Russian born Bernhard Baron and the
mother of Louis Baron.
1851(23rd
of Shevat, 5611): Trieste native Leon Vita Saraval a bibliophile and author
born in 1771 whose “entire library” was purchased for the Breslau seminary in
1853 passed away today.
1855(NS):
Birthdate of Vladimir Jochelson, the native of Vilnius, the scion of a wealthy
Jewish family and student of the Vilna Rabbinical Seminary who became a
socialist and a member of Narodnaya Volya before pursuing a career as an
ethnographer.
http://archives.nypl.org/mss/1565
1856:
“Charitable Bequest of the Late Baron Rothschild” an article published today
described the fortune of the Rothschild family, paying special attention to the
spending habits and will of the late Amschel Mayer Rothschild, the second child
and oldest son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, the founding father of the banking
dynasty. While Rothschild’s personal
habits “were extremely simple” he shared his wealth with Jews and
Gentiles. During his life time he
distributed at least 50,000 florins per year to 2,600 Christian families. While his mother was alive, he visited her
daily in the original family home on “The Street of the Jews’; a home he was
never able to convince her to leave so she could take up residence in a dwelling
more fitting with her economic status .
The Baron’s will, which was written in 1849, was intended to dispose of
a fortune calculated at sixty million florins when he passed away in 1855. Among other bequests, he left 1,200,000
florins for the establishment of a foundation for the poor of Frankfort
intended “to keep up the weekly distribution of alms at the ‘Old Rothschild ‘
house in the Street of the Jews,” 25,000
florins for Jewish hospitals, 5,000 florins for Jewish schools and 20,000
florins “for various Christian charitable institutions.” Two of his bequests have special meaning for
those aware of Jewish laws and customs.
In an apparent attempt to follow the rules of Maimonides on charity he
gave 10,000 florins “to the society for encouraging Jewish traders and workmen. And in an echo of the morning prayer which
says that “participating in making a wedding”
is one of the things to be done while waiting for the
World-to-Come, he bequeathed the
interest on 50,000 florins to be used as perpetual fund “to furnish dowers to
Jewish maidens.” Baron Rothschild was
not the only member of his family to know financial success. According to the article, Baron Charles left
an estate of 17 million florins and Baron Solomon left an estate of 48 million
florins.
1859:
The U.S.S. Brooklyn on which Adolph Marix, the first Jewish graduate of the
U.S. Naval Academy, would serve on starting in 1882, was commissioned today.
1861(15th
of Shevat, 5621): Parashat Beshalach; Tu B’Shevat
1861:
In New York, David Solis Hays and Judith Salzedo Hays gave birth to Rachel
Peixotto Sulzberger, the wife of Cyrus Leopold Sulzberger and the mother of
Leopold Sulzberger; Cyrus L. Sulzberger; Anna Sulzberger; Arthur Hays
Sulzberger; David Hays Sulzberger; and Heopola Sulzberger.
1861:
As Jews on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line celebrate the New Year of the
Trees, Louisiana’s Secessionist Convention voted to leave the Union which lead
to Judah P. Benjamin serving Jefferson Davis’ cabinet for the next four years.
1862:
An Imperial ukase was published in St. Petersburg, Russia, “permitting Jews to
enter every branch of the State service; permitting Jewish merchants to reside
anywhere, and granting other concessions to the Jews.”
1863:
In Chicago, Joseph and Mary (Hoffman) Foreman gave birth to Lt. Gen. Milton J.
Foreman.
http://knowlescollection.blogspot.com/2011/11/lt-gen-milton-j-foreman-military-hero.html
1863(6th
of Shevat, 5623): A. Robinson, a soldier serving with the 15th
Georgia passed away today. His passing was later commemorated by the Hebrew
Ladies Memorial Association of Richmond, VA.
1863:
London natives Rebecca and Israel Marks gave birth to Moses Marks.
1865:
During the Civil War, Philadelphian Isaac W. Phillips began his service with
Company K of the 29th Regiment.
1866(10th
of Shevat, 5626): Twenty-two-year-old Sophie “Rosalie” Waldstein, the daughter
of Ephraim and Lea Koppel Waldstein and the sister of Zadok Waldstein passed
away today in Bavaria.
1868(2nd
of Shevat, 5628): Fifty-nine-year-old Jacob Raphael De Cordova the Jamaica born
son of Judith and Raphael de Cordova the founder of the Jamaica Gleaner who
moved from Galveston to Houston from which he was elected to serve in the Texas
House of Representatives passed away today.
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fde03
1869:
Birthdate of Berkach, Germany native Hulda Levi, who became Hulda Schickler
when she married Adolf Aron Schickler with whom she had four children – Kaethe,
Harry, Alfred and Arthur – and who died at Theresienstadt during the Holocaust.
1871:
Julia Gottheimer, the daughter of Levy and Leah Zachariah, the wife of Berton
Gottheimer and mother of Lavinia and Maurice Gottheimer was buried today at the
Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.
1872:
Josef Kahn, the Czech born son of Franziska and Jacob Kahn and his wife Julie
gave birth to Ernestine Kahn, who became Ernestine Heller when she married
Joseph Heller and who died at Treblinka.
1873: In Albany, NY, founding of the Adelphi Club
that meets on the “second Wednesday in January, April, July and October” and
whose members included Myer Mandelbaum, Norman Mendleson, Milton Stark and
Charles M. Friend.
1873:
Three days after he had passed away, 52 year old Samuel Henry Gluckstein, the
son of Lehman Meyer Gluckstein and Helena Horn and the husband of the former
Hannah Joseph with whom he had had eleven children was buried today at the
“West Ham Jewish Cemetery.”
1876:
Birthdate of Ottawa, Il native and Northwestern, and Johns Hopkins trained
physician Julius Hays Hess “who is often considered to be the father of
American neonatology.
1879:
Birthdate of conductor and violinist Hugo Riesenfeld, the native of Vienna who
from 1917 to 1925 was the director of music for the Rivoli, Rialto and
Criterion Theares and in 1937 “earned an Academy Award nomination for “Make A
Wish.”
https://musopen.org/composer/hugo-riesenfeld/
1879:
Birthdate of Sir Alfred Eckhard Zimmern, the Christian Oxford trained professor
of “Jewish Descent” and Laborite who became a supporter of Zionism.
https://web.archive.org/web/20041029213157/http://www.aber.ac.uk/interpol/history/history_2.html
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/38730
1881:
In Leadville, CO, Morris and Rosa Altman were married.
1881:
In Lodz, Poland, “Zelman Salmonowicz and the former Hinda Silberberg gave birth
University of Zurich trained physician Arthur A. Salvin, who in 1923 came to
the United States where he later became an attending surgeon at Sydenham
Hospital in New York.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1947/11/20/104377097.pdf
1884:
Birthdate of Edward Sapir, German-born anthropologist and linguist. He was on the faculty of the
1884”
In Cincinnati, OH, Solomon and Caroline Fox gave birth to Edgar Fox
1885:
Rachel and David Haskell gave birth to Edward Haskell, who like his mother,
passed away while living in China.
1885:
In Minsk, Rabbi Moses Leo and Martha Perelman (Disraeli) Alpert gave birth to
University of Moscow trained physician Nathan Alpert the husband of Fannie
Coleman and internal medicine specialist who settled in Baltimore, MD. (Some sources show his d.o.b. as July 25,
1882.)
1886(20th
of Shevat, 5646): Eighty-three-year-old Julia Levy, the New York City born
daughter of Rebecca Eve Hendrick and Solomon Levy and wife Joseph Lyons Moss
with whom she had eight children – William Rebecca, Florian, Frank, Estelle,
Laura, Charles and Helen – passed away today in Philadelphia, PA, her husband’s
hometown.
1887:
Birthdate of Newark, NJ native and JTS ordained Rabbi, Eugene Kohn a disciple
of Mordecai Kalan and leader of the Reconstructionist movement.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/kohn-eugene
https://opensiddur.org/profile/eugene-kohn
1887:
In Jassi, Romania, Abram and Ida (Berkowitz) Abelman gave birth American
trained banker Max Abelman, the husband of Bessie Schwartz who was the
Executive Director of the Brooklyn Federation of Jewish Charities
1887:
Rachel and Waldemar Benscher gave birth to Claude Alfred Benshcer who passed
away four days after his first birthday.
1890
Today in Manhattan, Israel Oberndorfer married Jessie Seixas the mother of
Isabella and Benjamin Seixas.
1890:
The annual convention of the Grand Lodge of District No. 1, of the Independent
Order of B’nai B’rith will open this morning at New York in Vienna Hall (more
for 2014)
1891:
It was reported today that a story persists that the Jews’ desire to buy the
Vatican’s copy of the Hebrew Bible goes back to the 16th
century. In 1512, the Jews offered to
buy the book from Pope Julius for a sum equivalent to $100,000 and may have
recently made an offer of $200,000 for the holy book.
1891:
Birthdate of Ilya G Ehrenburg prolific
Russian writer and journalist. Born into
a middle-class Jewish family living in
1891: It was reported today that Rabbi Gustav
Gottheil had delivered an address in which he noted “the absence of any united
effort on the part of Christendom…to prevent…the persecution of the Jews of
Russia.”
1892: A charity ball sponsored by the Jews of
Philadelphia, PA is scheduled to take place tonight. The ball is the third and
final of the city’s annual charity balls and “has for years been marked by the
lavish display of feminine finery and jewelry of the most gorgeous
description.”
1892: Four thousand people attended the ball
sponsored by the Hebrew Orphan Asylum which was held at the Brooklyn Academy of
Music.
1892: “To Aid Russian Refugees” published today
described efforts by the Jews of Pittsburg to form a branch of the New York
Relief Association which is connected to the Baron Hirsch Fund. The Jews in
Pittsburgh plan on collecting sums ranging from $10 to $20 which will help to
create a fund to help settle Jewish immigrants in “Western cities” away from
New York.
1893: The members and patrons of the Hebrew
Technical Institute held their annual meeting tonight at Temple Emanu-El.
1894: “The committee appointed by the Trades and
Labor Conference to make arrangements for the upcoming mass meeting at Madison
Square Garden’ which will be addressed by Samuel Gompers on the subject of find
work for the unemployed during the current economic depression” is scheduled to
meet today.
1894: In Germany, Arnold and Lena (Samuels) Levison
gave birth to Columbia (Tenn.) Military Academy educated author Eric Levison,
who worked on the editorial staff of the Atlanta Journal and served with
the AEF in France during WWI after he which he lived in Birmingham, AL while
writing Hidden Eyes, The Eye Witness and Ashes of Evidence.
1894: Isaac Bergmann, an unemployed tailor, is being
held today after tried to slit his own throat
1895: During his speech at the monthly meeting of
the Democratic Club of the City of New York, Senator David B. Hill acknowledged
the growing importance of Jewish voters when in his call for party unity he
included “Hebrew Democrats” among the other ethnic groups making up the party’s
coalition including the Irish, the Italians, the Germans and those living in
Harlem.
1896: The members of the Hebrew Infantile Asylum
Association met today at the synagogue on east 86th Street.
1896: It was reported this week that Sarah Bernhardt
who is returning to the New York stage is “still the same great actress.”
1896: It was reported today that Sarah Bernhardt
will play the role of Marguerite in an upcoming theatrical production in New
York.
1896: Rabbi Gustav Gottheil delivered an address
this morning at Temple Emanu-El entitled “The Safe Monroe Doctrine.”
1896: New York University Law School professor Isaac
Franklin Russell delivered a lecture to members of the Russian-American Hebrew
Association at the Hebrew Institute.
1896: Today twenty-three-year-old
Ketlz native Max Benstock, the owner of a wholesale iron and metal business in
Buffalo, NY married Sophie Kalllinsky who “is a member of the Daughters of
Judea and Temple Beth-El.
1896: “Another Heine Chapter” published today
described the History of the Heine Memorial Fountain which has been rejected by
“the cities of Mayence and Dusseldorf…for political reasons” and may now be
denied a “home” in New York’s Central Park. At least one opponent, Paul Dana
denied that “Heine’s works or religion ever figured” in the opposition.
1897: Aaron H. Appel was promoted from Captain and
Assistant Surgeon to the rank of Major and Surgeon in the U.S. Army today.
1897(23rd of Shevat, 5657): Solomon
Deutsch, the rabbi at Har Sinai Congregation from 1861 to 1873 passed away
today.
1897(23rd of Shevat, 5657): Fifty-eight-year-old
Pauline Hirschfeld, the daughter of Simon Ausch and Rachel Ausch and wife of
Dr. Jacob Jacques Heinrich Hirschfeld with whom she had four children passed
away today.
1898: It was reported today that in Algiers a mob
attacked Jews who were riding on an omnibus.
1898: It was reported today that Mrs. Saul Jacobs
fainted outside of a New York court room following her husband’s conviction for
having been part of scheme to swindle Max Bernstein out of $13,192.75 by
passing off a load of painted brass as gold from Siberia.
1899(15th of Shevat, 5659): Final
celebration of Tu B’Shevat in the 19th century.
1899: Birthdate of catcher Robert “Bob” Leon Berman
whose major league career consisted of appearing in two games for the
Washington Senators.
1900(26th of Shevat): Erev Shabbat and
Observance on the Jewish calendar of the yarhrtzeit of Rabbi David b. Samuel
Halevi who passed away in 5427.
1901(6th of Shevat, 5661): Parashat Bo
1901:
Prinzessin Victoria Luise “the first purposed built cruise ship” which
part of the fleet of Albert Ballin’s Hamburg-American Line left New York for
the West Indies on what was “her first cruise.”
1902: Rabbi Emit G. Hirsch of Mount Sinai Temple in
Chicago, spoke to a packed house today at Temple Beth-El in New York on “Is
Judaism A Memory or a Message?”
1903: The Eighth Annual Convection of the
Progressive Order of the West continued for a second day in St. Louis.
1903(27th of Tevet, 5663): Fifty-six-year-old
Abram Bernstein, the New York City born son of Isaac Bernstein who had gone to
California at the age of 30 and returned to Kingston after six years where he
lived with his wife Addle Wiener and their children Jess, Bertraim, Anna,
Lillian, Florence and Helen while working on Wall Street died suddenly today.
https://news.hrvh.org/veridian/?a=d&d=kingstondaily19030126.2.3&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------
1904(9th of Shevat, 5664): Fifty-five-year-old
Austrian born novelist Karl Emil Franzos passed away.
http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Franzos_Karl_Emil
1904: Theodor Herzl had an audience with Pope Pius X
in the Vatican to seek his support for the Zionist effort to establish a Jewish
state in Palestine
1904: Twenty-year old Gertrude Cohen, the Boston
born daughter of Meyer Joseph and Ida (Freedman) Cohen and Boston University
Law School student became Gertrude Cohen Mann today when she married William
Mann with whom she raised five children while living in Roxbury and being a
leader in the Jewish community as can be seen by her serving as President of
the New England Regional conference of Hadassah and vice president of the
Boston chapter of Hadassah.
1905: Birthdate of San Francisco native Charles Gerstle
Levison, “the son of an executive at the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, who
gave up a career as an insurance salesman to gain fame as character Charles
Lane, the husband of Ruth Covell with whom he had two children – Tom and Alice.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/sep/27/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries1
1905: The New
York Times publishes a letter from Henry S. Morias reminding readers of
Benjamin Disraeli’s support for the
1906: It was reported today that Shapiro, Levy and
Starr have purchased the five-story tenement at 81 Allen Streets to which they
plan on making extensive alterations.
1907: A law establishing national quotas in the 515
seat Austrian Parliament would lead to five Jewish deputies (4 Zionist and 1
Jewish Democrat) being chosen in the next national elections.
1908: In Chicago, Aaron Halperin, a Jewish immigrant
from Kiev and Julia Halperin gave birth to Robert Sherman “Buck” Halperin who
went from playing football for Notre Dame, the University of Wisconsin and the
professional Brooklyn Dodger to becoming a medal winning yachtsman after having
served gallantly in the U.S. Navy during WW II.
1908: The funeral for Leopold Wallach, who studied
law at Harvard, was a “senior member of the law firm of Wallach & Cook and
the husband of Theresa Lichtenstadter is scheduled to take place at his
resident at 9:30 this morning.
1908: Birthdate of Johannesburg native and Bronze Medal winning
bantamweight boxer Harry Isaacs.
https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/is/harry-isaacs-1.html
1908: President Isaac Stern presided over the annual
meeting of the board of directors and members of the Mount Sinai Hospital where
he “submitted his yearly repot which told in detail the work accomplished in
1907.
1910(16th of Shevat, 5670): Mrs. Freide
Katz and Hirsch Storch passed away today after which both were buried in the
cemetery at Liepāja.
1911(26th of Shevat, 5671): Eighty-two
year old Simon Illich, the husband of Celia Illich and the father of Hannah,
Amson and Julius Illich passed away today after which he was buried in the Beth
Emeth Cemetery in Loudonville, NY.
1912: Aaron
Hahn, a delegate from
1913(18th of Shevat, 5673): Seventy-year
old Civil War and New Orleans, LA merchant passed away today.
1913: Dr. Emil G. Hirsch is scheduled to deliver a
sermon this afternoon at services held by the People’s Synagogue Association at
the Ziegfeld Theatre.
1913: In Chicago, Dr. Gerson B. Levi officiated at
the wedding of “Louis Levy of Gooding, Idahlo” and Rose Alice Nathan.
1913: In Boston, Anshe Slavita dedicated a new
facility.
1913: “Yiddish star Boris Thomashefsky and his
all-star company” are scheduled to give a matinee and evening performance of
the new play “Breach of Promise” at the Haymarket Theatre.
1913: The New
York Times reviews The Romance of the Rothschilds by Ignatius Balla
a book which the great bankers whose name adorns its title-page allegedly are
endeavoring to suppress in
1914: According to a list published today the
members of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Camden, NJ, included J.F.
Kantor, Dr. William M. Lashman, Benjamin Natal, Max Goldich, Mark Obus Jacob L.
Furor, Arnold Weis and Bertrand Schneeburg each of whom was playing a key role
in raising funds for a communal building that would include space for a place
of prayer a Talmud Torah and “a Sabbath School.
1914: In New York, Louis and Kate (née Lautkin)
Wolkind gave birth to Phoebe Wolkind who married Henry Ephron in 1934 and
gained game as writer Phoebe Ephron the mother of Nora, Delia, Hallie and Amy
Ephron.
1915: The Raid on the Suez Canal, an attempt by a
German led Ottoman military force to cross the waterway that was Britain’s
lifeline to the East began today.
1916: In Leeds (UK) Lithuanian immigrants Tilly
Cohen Newman and Joseph Newman gave birth to Isidore “Izzy” Newman who served
with SOE in WW II.
http://nigelperrin.com/isidorenewman.htm#.UuMbM2fnapo
1916: In New York, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Finkelstein
gave birth to “Jerry Finkelstein, who made a fortune in business, real estate
and newspapers, including The New York Law Journal and The Hill, and for many
years was a self-styled Democratic power broker” (As reported by Robert D.
McFadden)
1916: Jewish Socialist political leader Morris
Hillquit was part of a three person delegation to President Wilson to advocate
part of the Socialist Party's peace program, which proposed that "the
President of the United States convoke a congress of neutral nations, which
shall offer mediation to the belligerents and remain in permanent session until
the termination of the war." [Editor’s note: For those of you not
acquainted with U.S. history, at this point the United States was not a
participant in the Great War and most of her citizens wanted it to stay that
way. In the fall, Wilson would be
re-elected on a platform of He Kept Us Out of War. It was only after America entered the war and
during the Red Scare of 1919 that what Hillquit and others like him expounded
would come to be consider ‘un-American’ or treasonous.)
1916:
The Governor of Massachusetts has reportedly requested “that all contributions”
being collected for Jewish Relief Day “be addressed to the American Red Cross
in Washington.”
1916:
The Women’s Proclamation Day Committee of the Central Committee is scheduled to
announce “the list of the 100 women who will work to make Jewish Relief Day a
success”
1916:
The Business Men’s League of the American Jewish Relief Committee announced
that Salt’s Textile Company and the firm of Victor and Achelis have each
contributed $1,000 to the funds being raised as part of the upcoming Jewish
Relief Day.
1916:
The Central Relief Committee of the American Jewish Relief Committee announced
today that “Charles L. Huston of Coatesville, PA, Vice President of the Lukens
Iron and Steel Company has contributed $1,000” to aid the suffering Jews of
war-torn Europe and Palestine.
1916:
“San Francisco opened tonight a campaign to raise $250,000 with twenty four
hours for destitute Jews in the European war zone with a mass meeting at the
new Civic Exposition Auditorium.”
1917:
As World War I drags on for a third year it is reported that not one home in
the Jewish quarter of Belgrade remains standing undamaged. Large numbers of
Jews have immigrated to Greece from various areas in the Balkans. The Americans
sent $55,000 to help with relief in Serbia and Greece, after receiving a
cablegram for help from the Chief Rabbi of Salonica, Jacob Meir.
1917: Seventy-five years after the opening of the
Burton Street Synagogue, The Jewish Chronicle said today that “virtually all
the bitterness of the Reform controversy has – Heaven be praised! – passed”,
but added a sting in the tail that “Reform has made no important constructive
contribution to the religious life of the community”.
1917:
The Italian government sent twelve thousand Lire ($2,400) to the Governor of
Tripoli for the Jewish poor.
1918:
Birthdate of right-hand batsman Louis Collins Jacobson, the native of Dublin
who “played twelve times for the Ireland cricket team between 1947 and 1959”
and who represented “a British and Irish side at the Maccabean Games.”
1918:
President Bernstein of the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society of New
York which “has received the names of person in this country who are sought by
friends and relatives in Russia” from the Jewish Relief Committee of Petrograd,
said today. That it was important that those sought be found as in many cases
the inquirers were in want.”
1918:
Birthdate of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Regardless of his other
"shortcomings" from a Jewish point of Ceausescu is memorable for his
refusal to break diplomatic relations with
1919:
In Poland, Jewish parties receive about 10% of the votes during the election
for the constituent assembly. But the
under the electoral system in use, they get only 11 out of 394 seats.
1920: Amadeo Modigliani's mistress jumps out of a window.
1920: Birthdate of Albert Abraham Davidoff, the
native of the Brownsville section of Brooklyn who gained fame welterweight
boxer Al “Bummy” Davis.
1920: It was reported today that Cooper Union
trained engineer and successful Socialist Party candidate for the State
Assembly who had been suspended from his position did not address a meeting of
Socialists at the Astoria Casino “on advice of counsel.”
1921: Austrian born violinist Erika Morini made her
American debut in New York City.
1922: It was reported today that “Magistrate
Alexander H. Geismar” had “attacked the immigration restriction law saying that
he believed that it was passed as a
direct slap at the Jews.
1923: “Yankele Itwack,” a three act play be Israel
Rosenberg, with music by Herman Wohl and Lyrics by Louis Gildrod” opened at the
Thomashefsky’s National Theatre.
1923:
Final session of The Golden Jubilee Convention of the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations was held at the Hotel Astor in New York City.
1924:
In Houston, TX, Edith and J.B. Greenfield gave birth to Annette Greenfield, the
Phi Beta Kapp graduate of the University of Texas and holder of an MA from
Columbia who became Annette Greenfield Strauss when she married Theodore
Strauss with whom she moved to Dallas where she became the first Jewish female
mayor, the second woman elected to be elected to the position and the second
Jew to serve in that capacity.
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/strauss-annette-greenfield
https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/21/us/annette-strauss-74-former-mayor-of-dallas.html
1925: In Shaker Heights, Ohio, Theresa and Arthur
Sigmund Newman, the son of Simon Newman and Hannah Cohn who were Jewish
immigrants from Hungary and Poland gave birth to actor Paul Newman who
“described himself as a Jew, saying ‘it’s more of a challenge.’”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/movies/28newman.html
1926:
The Jewish Theatrical Guild is scheduled to hold an an opening meeting at the
Bijou Theatre this evening during which “John O’Malley, the Irish tenor will
sing ‘Eli,Eli’.”
1926:
Birthdate of Stuart Etz Hample, a humorist who entertained children (and
adults) as an author, playwright, adman, performer and cartoonist.
1927:
“The newly-elected officers of the Federation of Jewish Women’s Organizations
of Greater New York” are scheduled to be installed today “at the seventh annual
convention of the” meeting at the Hotel Astor.
1928(4th
of Shevat, 5688): Sixty-eight-year-old Lithuanian born
Cincinnati realtor Alex Vigransky, the husband of Agnes Salaway Vigransky and
the father of Moses, Isidor, Harry, Benjamin, Nathan, Gertrude, Solomon, Samuel
and Jessie Vigransky passed away today after which at the Kneseth Israel Cemetery
in Cincinnati, OH.
1928:
In Trieste, Italy, an insurance executive named Ottocaro Weiss and the former
Ortensia Schmitz, a violinist and a niece of the novelist Italo Svevo, gave
birth to Piero Weiss. Weiss fled fascist Italy and came to America in 1940
where he gained fame as a concert pianist and recording artist before turning
to musicology where he became an author and co-author of books in the field,
including a widely used textbook, and founded the music history department at
the Peabody Conservatory. (As reported by James R. Oestreich
1929(15th
of Shevat, 5689): Parashat Beshalach; Sabbath of the Song; Final Tu B’Shevat
celebration of the “roaring 20’s.” (For the next 15 years the holiday would be
observed in a period of Depression and World War)
1929:
In the Bronx, David Feiffer and Rhoda (née Davis) Feiffer gave birth to
cartoonist and writer Jules Feiffer whose cartoons ran in Playboy and The
Village Voice for decades. Feiffer's work appeared often in The New
Yorker, Esquire, and The Nation, and was nationally
syndicated. In 1986, Feiffer won a Pulitzer Prize for political cartoons, and
from 1997-2000 he drew monthly op-ed comics in The New York Times.
http://forward.com/articles/126786/jules-feiffer-a-permanently-enraged-jewish-cartoo/
https://www.motherjones.com/media/2014/08/interview-cartoonist-jules-feiffer-kill-my-mother/
1930:
Samuel Untermeyer, counsel for the Fox Film Corporation said that that
arrangements had been made by friend of Mr. Fox to pay and take over the
$342,158 default judgement that had been granted in favor of the Public
National Bank and Trust Company.
1930:
Birthdate of A. N. Solomons chairman of
Singer & Friedlander.
1930: It was reported today that “Al Jeamia al
Arabia, the Arab daily which is the mouthpiece of the Moslem Supreme Council,
of which the Grand Mufti is president” is scheduled to publish an editorial
urging all Moslems in Palestine to boycott the international Wailing Wall
Commission which the League of Nations decided should determine the rights of
Jews and Moslems at the wall…”
1931: “Cimarron,” the movie of version of Edna
Ferber’s 1929 novel that had music by Max Steiner premiered in New York City.
1931: “Green Grow the Lilacs” directed by Herbert
Joseph Biberman which would become the musical “Oklahoma” opened on Broadway
today.
1932: “Three specific recommendations designed to
protect the production and sale of kosher food were placed before the Mayor of
New today by the committee of rabbis appointed by him to study the problem.”
1932: “East of Broadway” directed by Lew Levinson premiered
on Broadway at the Belmont Theatre.
1933: The
Jack Benny Program is broadcast for the last time on CBS Radio.
1934:
1934
Josef Pilsudski signed a ten-year peace pact with Hitler. That same year the
Warsaw authorities, observing the impotence of the League of Nations in dealing
with the German problem, decided to repudiate the Minorities Treaty signed
under duress at Versailles.
1935:
In a speech before 3,800 people at the
1936:
“The intermarriage of Jews and persons of other religions is ‘completely
indefensible’ and, from the viewpoint of the Jewish people, ‘a dangerous
thing,’ Rabbi Milton Steinberg said this morning at the Park Avenue Synagogue”
adding that since Judaism is a minority the sanctioning of intermarriage would
result in the “complete extinction of Jewish values.”
1936:
Dr. Israel Goldstein, Morris Rothenberg and Simon W. Goldsmith were among the
speakers who addressed “an all-day meeting at the Astor Hotel” attended by
“representatives of 600 Jewish groups” working to increase “reconstruction
activity in Palestine to facilitate the absorption of refugees from Germany and
other European countries.”
1936:
In Minneapolis, MN celebration of the 25th anniversary of the
founding of the Minneapolis Talmud Torah.
1936:
Five hundred leaders “representing sixty-seven local communal agencies from
more than fifty cities” meeting at the Chase Hotel in St. Louis “as the
National Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds” voted unanimously to
adopt “the proposal outline by Sir Herbert Samuel and Felix M. Warburg to
finance the emigration of the younger generation of Jews from Germany together
with as many of the older generation as might be able to exist elsewhere.”
1936:
“The American Jewish Joint Distribution” with headquarters at 7 Hanover Street
in New York City, announced today :that religious schools in 130 cities”
through the United States had made contributions in 1934 and 1935 “toward the
rehabilitation work” designed to aid Jews in Germany, Poland and other part of
Eastern Europe.
1937(14th
of Shevat, 5697): Eighty-six-year-old sculptor
Ephraim Keyser, the of Moses Keyser and Betty Preiss whose works included
“busts of Sidney Lanier, Cardinal Gibbons, Dr. Daniel Gilman, and Henry
Harland” and a “statute of Major-General Baron De Kalb” for the United States
Government which was “erected at Annapolis, MD” passed away today.
http://famousamericans.net/ephraimkeyser/
1937:
“Dr. Jonah B. Wise, the rabbi of the Central Synagogue and co-chairman of the
Jewish Joint Distribution Committee campaign issued a special plea today to
‘all men and women who are interested in human rights and saving human life’ to
contribute to the immediate assistance of the Jews in Poland in response to
their ‘frantic requests for aid.’”
1938:
The Palestine Post reported that
Mordecai Uhana, the sole Jewish resident of Ramallah, a cobbler who lived had
there for 34 years, was shot while at work and badly wounded. The driver and a
passenger of a Givat Shaul bus were shot and hit on their way to
1938:
It was reported today that British photographer and artist had apologized to
publisher Conde Nast for sneaking a sketch that contained “comments that were
critical of the Jewish race in the February 1st issue of Vogue” saying that it was an
“ill-mannered expression of my irritation and annoyance caused by some bad
films I had just seen” and he knows that none of his “many Jewish friends will
think that” his “silly little joke had any bearing on the standing of their great
community.”
1938:
A majority of the 2,500 delegates attending the convention of the Federation of
Jewish Women’s Organization at the Hotel Astor voted in a favor of adopting the
Ludlow Amendment, a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States
which called for a national referendum on any declaration of war by Congress,
except in cases when the United States had been attacked first.” (For those who
have made a fetish out criticizing FDR’s response to the Jewish condition in
Europe might want to consider the support of a major Jewish organization for
this Isolationist Amendment.)
1938:
In Rumania, “the Bucharest and Jassy bar associations decided to suspend the
activities of all Jews admitted after 1918” which means “that at least 800
Jewish lawyers will be unable to practice during the coming months.”
1938:
Today, Alain de Rothschild married Mary Chauvin du Treueil with whom head three
children – Beatrice, Eric and Robert
1939:
In light of the news that German scientists in
1940: Five
days before his 70th birthday German author Dr. Eduard Fuchs whose
works included JFews in Caricature and who was “violently attacked by
the Nazi regime” and forced to flee Germany “because his second wife, the
former Grete Alsberg was a Jewess” passed away today in Paris where he had
found refuge at Hitler’s rise to power.
1940(16th
of Shevat, 5700): Fifty-four-year-old merchant Sam Abraham passed away in
Memphis, TN.
1940:
At a prison camp in Siberia, Isaac Babel is found guilty of belonging to an
anti-Soviet Trotskyite organization and with spying for France and Austria
after a twenty-minute trial. He is condemned to death and will be shot
tomorrow.
1940:
Following today’s raid by British police of the Ben Shemen Youth Village where
weapons belong to the Haganah were found, the principal, Dr. Siegfried Lehman
“and others were arrested and sentenced to terms from 3 to 7 years.” (As
reported by The History of the Jewish People)
1940: Nazis denied Polish Jews the right to travel
on trains. One cannot help but see a note of irony in this decree.
1941: Today, Warsaw diarist Chaim Kaplan wrote “He
who does not believe in the eternity of the Jewish people could say that the
end of Polish Jewry is at hand. But even
the Gentiles are awed by our giving strength…But the guardian of Israel neither
sleeps nor slumbers and good news comes from the dunes of Africa.” (Editor’s note – this indicates that those
inside the Ghetto did have some sources of news from the outside world since
this entry would seem to indicate a knowledge of Axis setbacks in North Africa
at the hands of the British.)
1942: Seventy-six-year-old Leopold Bloch was
transported today from Pilsen to Terezin where he was murdered.
1942 (8th of Shevat, 5702): At
1943: During one the Battle of Stalingrad, a major
turning point in WW II, “German forces inside the city “were split into two
pockets
1943: 230
women of the French Resistance began “began their internment at Birkenau, the
main women’s camp at Auschwitz” (For more see A Train In Winter by
Caroline Weber)
1944(1st of Shevat, 5704) Rosh Chodesh
Shevat
1944(1st of Shevat, 5704): Seventy-eight-year-old
CCNY grad and Columbia trained diagnostician Dr. Morris Magnes who was a
Professor of Clinical Medicine at NYU and consulting physician at the Hebrew
Orphan Asylum and the husband of Julia Hirschhorn Magnes passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/01/28/87443068.pdf
1944: Birthdate of Denise Eisenberg who gained fame
as Denise Rich who played a key role in obtaining the “mid-night” pardon for
her ex-husband Marc Rich by donating millions to charities controlled by
William Jefferson Clinton.
1944: As the Germans continue to pursue the Final
Solution despite reversals on the battlefield “a handwritten from Heinrich
Himmler’s speech today in Posen to Generals of fighting troops reads: ‘Largest
stabilization in the G.G. since the solution to the Jewish question. Total
solution. Not allowing avengers to rise against our children. (G.G. refers to
the Poland and Ukraine, areas which had the largest pre-war Jewish
population. “Avenger” is a euphemism for
Jews, who if left alive would pose a threat the Aryans.”
1945: In England, Derek and Iris du Pré gave birth
to classical cellist Jacqueline Mary du Pré who married Daniel Barenboim at the
Western Wall.
1945: In Newark, NJ, “a chemical technician for
Shell Oil” and “a legal secretary” gave birth to Syracuse and Parsons School of
Design trained artist and “collagist” Barbara Kruger.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2000/07/barbara-kruger-ad-industry-heroine.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Kruger#/media/File:Barbara_Kruger_at_ACCA,_Melbourne.jpg
1945(12th of Shevat, 5705): Abba Berditchev was murdered by the Nazis. A
native of Romania, he was detained by the British when he entered Palestine
illegally. He volunteered for service in
the British army and he “parachuted into Yugoslavia with Chana Senesh, Reuven
Dafni and Yonah Rosen. Berditchev’s mission was to assist the Jews, gather
intelligence and help rescue members of the air forces who were captured or had
parachuted into Romania. . After two months of fighting in the mountains, Berditchev
was captured by the Germans and transferred in December 1944 to Mauthausen
along with other captives, where he was brutally tortured before he was
murdered by the Nazis.” (As reported by Yad Vashem)
1945: The Virgin Island Daily News reported that
Peter de Hemmer Gudme, journalist, Oriental scholar and author of two
philo-semtic tomes “From
Nebuchadnezzar to Hitler” and “A Sketch of the History of Zionism” died while
in the hands of the Gestapo in Copenhagen.
Born in 1897, he was the brother of Sten Gudme who has been working in
London on behalf of the Free Danish government.
[Ed note: The Gudmes were not Jewish; they were just decent human
beings.]
1945: One thousand Jewish women interned at the
Neusalz, Poland, slave-labor camp are set on a month-and-a-half-long forced
march to the concentration camp at Flossenbürg, Germany, about 200 miles to the
southwest. Along the way, 800 are beaten and shot.
1946: Birthdate of noted Anglo-Jewish historian
Jonathan Irvine Israel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Israel
https://www.ias.edu/scholars/israel
1946: In Chicago, Russian Jewish immigrants Ida (née
Kalis) and Nathan William Siskel gave birth to movie critic, Gene Siskel who
was part of the television duo of Siskel and Ebert.
1947: Joseph B. Levin was assigned to the Office of
Opinion Writing at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Levin had joined the SEC in 1942 while it
was still located in Washington, DC. At
the time of his appointment, the Commission had not returned to Washington from
its wartime headquarters in Philadelphia, PA.
1948(15th of Shevat, 5708): Tu B’Shevat
1948 (15th of Shevat, 5708): Composer, Ignaz
Friedman passed away at the age of 65. Born in 1882, Ignaz Friedman (also spelled Ignace or Ignacy) was a
Polish pianist and composer famous for his Chopin interpretations.
http://forward.com/articles/117873/ignaz-friedman-great-jewish-pianist/
1949:
1950:
“The Blue Lamp” produced by Michael Balcon was released today in the United
Kingdom.
1951: Temple Beth Israel of
1952: In New York City, “Etyl, a classical pianist,
and Paul Leder, a director, producer, actor, writer, and editor of such films
as My Friends Need Killing, Attack of the Giant Horny Gorilla, and Dismember
Mama” gave birth to “the first female graduate of the AFI Conservatory,” Miriam
Leder whose directorial stint at DreamWorks included “Deep Impact” and “Pay It
Forward” and who is the wife of “actor Gary Werntz” with whom she has had one
daughter – Hannah.
1952: In Cairo, the main Cicurel Department Store
was destroyed by a fire set either by the Muslim Brotherhood or militant
nationalists. The store was part of chain started in 1909 by Moreno Cicurel an
Egyptian Jew who was both active in Jewish and Egyptian community affairs.
1953:
The Jerusalem Post reported that the
unexpected delay in the ratification of the Reparations Agreement with
1954: Prime Minister
Churchill urges the members of his cabinet to support a policy of open
navigation through the
1954: David Ben-Gurion
steps down as Minister of Defense, a position he had held since the creation of
the state of Israel in 1948.
1954: Pinchas Lavon
becomes the second person to hold the position of Minister of Defense
1955(3rd of
Shevat, 5715): Six after being in an automobile accident that claimed the life
of wife Tola and a friend, Fanny Levey, William Fernhoff, the Vienna trained
doctor and son of Isaac and Sarah Fernhoff who came to the United States in
1924 died of the injuries sustained in the same traffic wreck.
1955: Violinist Mischa
Elman “was in excellent form for his recital this evening at Carnegie Hall.”
1955: Sid Gilman was
named coach of the Los Angeles Rams.
1957(24th of
Shevat, 5717): Parashat Misphatim
1957:” Former General
Sessions Judge Jonah J, Goldstein, completing his twenty-second successive year
as President of the Grand Street Boys Association, was honored tonight at the
thirty-seventh annual dinner of the organization.”
1958: ABC broadcast the
first episode of “Sid Caesar Invites You” starring Sid Caesar.
1959: “An Evening with
Fred Astaire” with music by David Rose and his Orchestra and produced by Bud
Yorkin was re-broadcast this evening.
1959(17th of
Shevat, 5719): Seventy-one-year-old Russian Israel B. Ury, “a leader of the
Jewish Labor Committee” who in 1910 came to the United States where he
eventually served as a member of the board of directors of the Jewish Daily
Forward and the Yiddish Scientific Institute suffered a fatal heart attack
today.
1959: Rabbi Marc
Schneier and Elisabeth Nordman Schneir gave birth to Yeshiva University
graduate Marc Schneir the multiply married rabbi and founder of The Foundation
of Ethnic Understanding whose rating as one “one of the top most influential
American rabbis by Newsweek” and “one of the 50 most prominent Jews in the
United States by Forward” might lead one to assume that 21st century
Judaism has drifted a long from such rabbis as Telushkin and Heschel.
1960: Birthdate of New
York native and University of Minnesota trained attorney Paul George Feinman,
“the first openly gay judge to on the appeals court” in New York.
1965(23rd of
Shevat, 5725): Eighty-nine-year-old “Mrs. Estelle Elukus Gaston, the widow of
Clarence G. Galston, a former Federal judge of the Eastern District of New York
passed away today in her home at 853 Keene Lane, Woodmere, L.I.
1966: It was reported
today the Physicians Wives League of Greater under the presidency of Mrs. Louis
Wexler will be holding it 40th anniversary dinner, which is a fund
raiser, at the Waldorf Astoria.
1968: The film version
of Up the Junction starring Maureen Lipman was released today in the United
Kingdom.
1968 (25th of Tevet, 5728): The British Admiralty reported the Dakar, an
Israeli submarine, was missing and gave the last known position as 100 miles
(160 km) west of Cyprus
1969: American businessman and music publisher Allen Klein met with John
Lennon today who retained “Klein as his financial representative” in attempt to
avoid going broke.
1970: “Can You Top This?” “was briefly revived in syndication by Four
Star Television” today featuring “Morey Amsterdam as Executive Producer and
regular panelist” along with Paul Winchell and Jack Carter.
1971: Today, Seymour “Halpern was one of seventy-four representatives in
the House to support the House version of Ted Kennedy's Health Security Act, a
bill that supported universal health coverage in America through a
government-administered program.”
1972: “The Hot Rock” the movie version of the novel with same name with a
screenplay by William Goldman and co-starring George Segal, Ron Leibman and
Zero Mostel was released in the United States today.
1973 (23rd of Shevat, 5733): Famed actor
Edward G. Robinson, born Emanuel Goldenberg, passed away.
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/163201%7C45179/Edward-G-Robinson/
1975: “Day School Funds for Jews Urged” published
today described plans laid out by Rabbi Milton H. Polin, a leader of the
Rabbinical Council of America to meeting to meet the “absolutely urgent need
“for a “massive infusion of funds” to sustain the network of 473 Hebrew day
schools maintained by Orthodox Jews in the United States and Canada” in which
approximately “82,000 youths are enrolled.”
1976:
1976: David Mamet's "American Buffalo"
premiered in
1976: Birthdate of William “Willie” Adler, guitarist
who played with the Lamb of God.
1977: Birthdate of Livingston, NJ, native Justin
Jeremy Gimelstob, the Davis Cup tennis player.
http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/players/justin-gimelstob/g354/overview
1978: In
1980:
1981: Finance
Minister Yigal Hurvitz and two other Likud members of the Knesset broke away
from the Likud to form Rafi - National List.
1982: Today U.S. Secretary of State Alexander Haig
raises the issue of Soviet Jewish emigration in talks with Soviet Foreign
Minister Andrei Gromyko in Geneva
1982: Today, the Presidium of the World (Brussels)
Conference on Soviet Jewry met in Washington
1986(16th of Shevat, 5746): Nineteen year
old Judah Benjamin Pushkin passed aw ay today after which he was buried in the
B’nai Jacob Eternal Home Cemetery in Ruth, W.Va
1986: Nine days after Spain and Israel established
full diplomatic relations, Jerusalem designated Shmuel Hadas, “its unofficial
envoy in Madrid to become its first ambassador to Spain.” The Madrid government had already designed
Pedro Lopez Aguirrebengoa, its former ambassador to Greece “to head the new
Spanish Embassy in Tel Aviv.”
1986: ''Between
the Wars: The Bronx Express, a Portrait of the Jewish Bronx'' comes to a close
at the Bronx Museum of the Arts
1988: In “The Day He Caught Walter Johnson” Ira
Berkow describes the highlight of 19 year Bob Berman who formed a battery with
The Big Train.
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/26/sports/sports-of-the-times-the-day-he-caught-walter-johnson.html
1989: This Boy’s Life, a memoir by Tobias
Wolff who did not find out that his father was Jewish until he was an adult,
was published today.
1991: Flaws are becoming apparent in the Patriot air
defense system deployed against Iraqi Scud missiles, with some warheads
exploding and wreaking damage even though the missiles themselves are shot
down. Those flaws were evident today, after Iraq fired four more Scud missiles
at Tel Aviv and Haifa. The Israeli military said that Patriot defense missiles
destroyed the four Scuds, but that at least one Scud warhead survived the
midair collisions and exploded on the ground, causing some damage and slightly
wounding two Israelis.
1992: Final performance of Rina Yerushalmi's
adaptation of "Hamlet" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
1995: ABC broadcast the last episode of “My
So-Called Life” a television series created by Winnie Holzman and produced by
Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz
1996: In Fort Lauderdale, FL, “attorneys Ellen and
Roy Oppenheim” gave birth to documentary filmmaker Lance Oppenheim, the holder of a degree in
visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard who made his cinematic debut with
“Some Kind of Heaven,” “a documentary exploring life inside The Villages” which
is an “age restricted community in Florida.
1996: “Rent” with Idina Menzel in the role of
Maureen Johnson, moved from the New York Theatre Workshop (off-Broadway) to
Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre “due to its popularity.”
1996(5th of Shevat, 5756): Thirty-six-year
Gold Medal winning wrestler David L. Schultz passed away today.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/olympics/longterm/wrestlng/tribute.htm
1997: The New
York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special
interest to Jewish readers including The Moses Mystery: The African Origins
of the Jewish People by Gary Greenberg and The Creation of Dr. B: A
Biography of Bruno Bettelheim by Richard Pollak and Girls Only
by Alex Witchel.
1997: The New York Times published “The Antagonist
as Liberator” by Amos Elon
http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/06/28/specials/goldhagen-elon.html?_r=2
1997: In “The Man He Always Wanted to Be” Susan
Boxer provides a detailed review of The Creation of Dr. B: A Biograph of
Bruno Bettelheim by Richard Pollak.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/01/26/reviews/970126.boxer.html
1997: The Unlikely Spy, the first novel by
Daniel Silva who had converted to Judaism when he married Jamie Gangel, which
he had begun writing three years ago, “debuted on the New York Times best-seller” today where “it remained for five
weeks, rising to number 13.
1998: During what will become known as the Monica
Lewinsky Scandal U.S. President Bill Clinton appeared on national and denied
having had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica
Lewinsky.
2000: “Prime Minister Ehud Barak showered praise on
the Syrian president's character today, issuing a statement seemingly aimed at
luring the Syrians back to the negotiating table.”
2001: ''Voyages'',
Emmanuel Finkiel's film that deals with the Holocaust opens today at the Walter
Reade Theater at Lincoln Center.
2001(2nd of Shevat, 5761): Eighty-one-year-old
American political scientist Murray J. Edelman passed away. (As reported by
Paul Lewis)
2002:
“A Palestinian suicide bomber wounded more than two dozen people when he blew
himself up today in a pedestrian mall in a neighborhood of immigrant workers
here” after which Israel began retaliating with airstrikes in the West Bank and
the Gaza Strip,
2003:
The New York Times featured reviews
of books by Jewish author and/or of special interest to Jewish readers
including The Right Man: The
Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush by David Frum, AMERIKA (The Man Who Disappeared) by Franz Kafka;
translated by Michael Hofmann. An Amazing Adventure: Joe and Hadassah's
Personal Notes on the 2000 Campaign by Joe Lieberman and Hadassah Lieberman with Sarah Crichton and newly
released in paperback Einstein’s’
Unfinished Symphony: Listening to the Sounds of Space-Time, by Marcia
Bartusiak. The author, a freelance
science writer with a breezy yet careful style, tells of the efforts by
scientists to detect and measure gravitational waves, which Einstein predicted
would ripple through the fabric of space-time. Her account is ''informative and
easy to read,'' David Goodstein
wrote here in 2000. ''When a gravity wave is first detected, the reader of this
book will feel like a participant in the great event.''
2003: “After 45 performances and 28 previews, the
curtain came down on a Broadway revival of “Dinner at Eight,” “a 1932 American
play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber.”
2004: “In the Garden of Verses, Revenge Grows Like a
Weed” published today, provides a complete review of Apprentice to the Flower
Poet Z. by Debra Weinsterin.
2005: On the day before the 60th
anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, “at a Berlin gathering that
included survivors of the Auschwitz death camp, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder
called for vigilance to counter anti-Semitism and pledged to use the full force
of the state to combat neo-Nazis.
2006: As part of events leading up to Holocaust
Memorial Day observances in
2006: The Fifteenth Annual Jewish Film Festival
comes to an end in
2006: Hamas, an organization committed to the
creation of a Palestinian state in all of the territory stretching from the
2006: The board of
directors of
2007: In a sign of growing acceptance of an expanded role for
Israelis in international organization, The
Jerusalem Post reported that Dr. Margaret Chan, the new director-general of
the World Health Organization, has invited Israeli health professionals to
contribute their experience and skills to the UN organization. The Chinese
born, Canadian educated Chan told the
Post that she welcomes from any member country including
2007: “A reading” of “Bar Mitzvah Boy” was held at the Chelsea
Studios in New York City.
2008: Shabbat Yitro – The Giving of the Ten Commandments
2008: In
2009: The American Jewish Historical Society
and the Center for Jewish History present:
“Stella in the Bois de Boulogne”
a dramatic reading of a new play by Jane Wood and Tara Prem that brings
alive the historic conflict between Stella Adler of the influential
Jewish-American Adler acting dynasty and the controversial artistic director
Lee Strasberg, and her subsequent meetings in Paris with Russian director
Constantine Stanislavsky in 1934.
2009: Rosh Chodesh Shevat, 5769.
2009: Sports Illustrated
reports that Maverick’s owner Mark Cuban was fined $25,000 for what the NBA
called “improper interactions with Denver Nuggets players” during and a game on
January 13. Cuban has been fined 14
times by the league for fines totaling almost $1.5 million.
2009: Brad “Ausmus agreed to a 1-year, $1 million deal (plus
incentives) to be a back-up catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers
2009:
Faced with a decline in their operating budget and a
shrinking endowment, the trustees of Brandeis University voted unanimously
today to close the Rose Art Museum and sell its collection to help shore up the
university’s finances.
2009:
Brazilian Jack Terpins was unanimously re-elected
president of the Latin American Jewish Congress. A longtime activist in
2009: In an Agriprocessor Doubleheader Leah Rubashkin, 36, wife of
former Agriprocessors
2010: “Bad Biology” a horror film that includes an appearance in
front of the camera by James Glickenaus
who as a director is usually on the other side of the camera was
released in the United States today.
2010: The 92nd Street Y in New York is scheduled to
present a program entitled “The Future of Islam” featuring John L. Esposito and
Mahmoud Mamdani.
2011: The U.S. Premiere of “Inventory,” a film that tells the
story three explorers, who painstakingly deciphered inscriptions on gravestones
in the lushly overgrown Jewish cemetery in Warsaw, is scheduled to take place
at The New York Jewish Film Festival.
2011: Yona Avrushmi, who was convicted of murder after throwing a
grenade into a Peace Now rally killing Emil Grunzweig “was granted parole and
released from Rimonim Prison” today.
2011:
In Columbus, Ohio the Cultural Arts Committee Meeting
of Tifereth Israel is scheduled to meet at the home of Cantor Chomsky.
2011: Historian Lisa Jardin appeared in a BBC documentary
investigating her the life of her father Jacob Bronowski the history of science
in the 20th century.
2011:
Today, the Jerusalem District Police released details
regarding its investigation into a cell of Palestinian militants suspected in
two murders and 19 other security incidents since 1997. The cell is alleged to
be behind the recent stabbing of an American tourist and her friend in the
Jerusalem hills five weeks ago; the tourist, Kristine Luken, was killed, while
her friend, Kaye Wilson, managed to flee the attackers with serious wounds.
2012:
“Welcome to Kutsher's: The Last Catskills Resort” is scheduled to have its
world premiere on the closing night of the New York Jewish Film Festival.
2012:
Comedian Jeff Applebaum and Ari Hoptman are scheduled to appear at the
Minneapolis Jewish Humor Festival.
2017:
“For A Good Time, Call…” a comedy starring Ari Graynor premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival.
2012:
Israeli hackers brought down Iran's Press TV website and two websites belonging
to the Ministry of Health and Medical Education today.
2013:
“My Australia” is scheduled to be shown at the 9th annual Brooklyn
Israel Film Festival
2013:
Rabbi Sim Glaser is scheduled to entertain audiences at the Minneapolis Jewish
Humor Festival with “Material I Can’t Use In Sermons.”
2013(15th
of Shevat, 5773): Tu B’Shevat
2013:
Six incoming members of the 19th Knesset will have to give up their foreign
citizenship before they are sworn in as new MKs on February 5.
2013(15th
of Shevat, 5773): Two Ashdod refinery workers were killed this morning after
they were exposed to a lethal dose of highly toxic gas.
2014:
Meretz chairman and former Education Minister Shulamit Aloni who passed away on
January 24 will be laid to rest this morning at the cemetery in Kfar Shamaryahu
(As reported by Tova Dvorin)
2014:
The New York Times featured reviews
of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers
including Why I Read by Wendy Lesser, My Age of Anxiety by Scott
Stossel and Leaving the Sea by Ben Marcus
2014:
“The Light Ahead,” a 1939 cinematic version of Fishke der krumer by Mendele
Moyker Sforim is scheduled to be shown at the Westside Neighborhood School in
Los Angeles.
2014:
In New York Temple Israel is scheduled to host “The Complete Guide to the Arab
Israeli Conflict” presented by Jonathan Cummings.
2014:
If her health permits, Clair Moncreif will appear in “Golda’s Balcony” at Le
Petit Theatre du Vieux Carré which will be a benefit for the Jewish Foundation
of Louisiana. (As reported by the Crescent City Jewish News)
2014:
The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present “America’s Enduring
Cantorate” featuring Cantors Jack Mendelsohn and Barbara Ostfeld-Hortowitz.
2014
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not intend to uproot Jewish settlements
anywhere in the West Bank, and will not force any settlers to leave, even under
a permanent peace deal with the Palestinians, a well-placed official in the
Prime Minister’s Office told The Times of Israel today” (As reported by Raphael
Ahren)
2014:
An Israeli documentary, “The Green Prince” (directed and written by Nadav
Schirman), won the Sundance Film Festival award in the category of Audience
Award for World Cinema: Documentary in Park City, Utah today. (As reported by Marissa Newman)
2015:
In “Lone Soldiers’ from Kansas City Serve in Israel’s Army” published today
Eric Adler described the life of Jake Fichman who is serving with the IDF.
http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article8206623.html
2016: Matan Porat is scheduled to open 92Y’s Seeing
Music festival by providing a live, improvised accompaniment to
Buster Keaton’s cinematic masterpiece, The
General.
2016(16th
of Shevat, 5766): Ninety-four-year-old character actor Abe Vigoda passed away.
2016: The Hadassah Mission to Jerusalem and the Blooming Desert
led by Marlene post is scheduled to begin today.
2017:
According to IDF data published today, in the 15
months between October 2015 and the end of 2016, 281 terrorist attacks
originating in the West Bank were reported throughout the country. Those
attacks include 143 stabbing attacks, 89 shooting attacks, 39 vehicular attacks
and 9 attacks utilizing explosive devices.
2017: The Jerusalem Artichoke Festival which “is being celebrated
by more than 50” the capital city’s restaurants is scheduled to come to an end
today.
2017: Funeral services are scheduled to be held this morning at
Beth Tzedec Synagogue for Hyman Belzberg, one of Canada’s wealthiest citizens
who along with his brothers, Samuel and William, had controlled First City
Financial Corp. Ltd.,First City Trust Corp. and numerous real estate and
development companies across North America.
2017(28th of Tevet, 5777): On the Jewish calendar
“Yahrtzeit of David Nieto the Venetian born physician and rabbi, who led the
London Sephardic community from the pulpit of Bevis Marks Synagogue.
2017: The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to observe
Holocaust Memorial Day today with a screening of “Son of Saul” followed by a
short discussion.
2017: The Intown Jewish Academy in partnership with the William
Breman Jewish Heritage Museum, Eternal Life-Hemshech and Mt. Scopus, Hadassah
Greater Atlanta are scheduled to host “Behind Enemy Lines” during which
ninety-six year old Holocaust survivor Marthe Cohn who became a member of the
intelligence service of the French First Army and was able to retrieve inside
information about Nazi troop movements by slipping behind enemy lines will tell
her incredible story of courage, faith and espionage.
2018: OPERATION UNDERSTANDING DC is scheduled to host a virtual
luncheon with Aviva Kempner, Director of "Rosenwald."
2018: In Wyoming, The Jackson Hole Jewish Community Center is
scheduled to host a “‘Tuba’ Shevat Holiday Dinner.”
2019: The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host
the second a final day of “Parent’s Shabbat.”
2019: “Aviva Kempner” is scheduled to screen “the work-in-progress
of The Spy Behind Home Plate this afternoon as “part of the SABR-Bob David's
Chapter 48th Annual meeting in Rosslyn, VA
2019: In Memphis, TN, “artist in-residence” Rich Recht is
scheduled to lead a special “Tot Havdalah service” this evening followed by a
congregational pizza dinner.
2019: In Rockville, MD, Tikvat Israel Congregation is scheduled to
host a screening of “Redemption,” “the story of Menachem, a former front man
for a rock band, who has become religious and is the father to a 6-year-old
girl” whose daughter is diagnosed with cancer.
2019: “Rabbi Aaron Rozovsky, a Chaplain/Captain in the U.S. Army
Reserves is scheduled to describe the opportunities and challenges facing
Jewish chaplains based on his own experiences in Israel, Afghanistan,
Guantanamo Bay Cuba and other domestic and foreign posts during “the annual
Men’ Club-sponsored Military Shabbat at Congregation Olam Tikvah in Fairfax,
VA.
2019(20th of Shevat, 5779): Parashat Yitro;
2020: “The Windermere Children,” a “2020 biographical drama film
written by Simon Block and directed by Michael Samuels based on the experience
of child survivors of the Holocaust which follows the children and staff of a
camp set up on the Calgarth Estate in Troutbeck Bridge, near Lake Windermere,
England” was released today on BBC Two.
2020: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors
and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including American Oligarchs:
The Kushners, the Trumps and the Marriage of Money and Power by Andrea
Bernstein
2020: The New Century Chamber Orchestra is scheduled to play “The
Violins of Hope” at the Osher Marin JCC.
2020: The Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County, NJ is
scheduled to present a screening of “Rosenwald.”
2020: “Some Kind of Heaven, “a documentary about The Villages, a
Florida retirement community was released today on the 24th birthday
of the director, Lance Oppenheim.
2020: “Ma’abarot: The Israeli Transit Camps” and “The Garden of
the Finzi-Continis” are scheduled to be shown at the New York Jewish Film
Festival.
2020: In Palo Alto, CA, the Oshman Family JCC is scheduled to host
“Is Art the Future of Jewish Practice?” during which Aaron Henne of L.A.-based
Theatre Dybbuk discusses the ways art is connected with and excluded from
Jewish practice.
2020(29th of Tevet, 5780): Ninety-four-year Hamilton,
Ontario born mathematician Louis Nirenberg, the winner of the 2015 Abel Prize
passed away today.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/31/science/louis-nirenberg-dead.html
2020: The Jewish Genealogical Society is scheduled to “The
Sugihara Refugee Story: Survivors and Those Without Whom This Story Would Not
Be Told.”
2020: The East Bay International Film Festival is scheduled to
host a screening of “Europa Europa.”
2021: The Cleveland Jewish Book Festival is scheduled to host Mimi
Lemany, the author of What We Will Become: A Mother, A Son and Journey of
Transformation which is “a mother’s memoir of her transgender child’s
odyssey.”
2021: The Striecker Center is scheduled to host Natalie Portman as
part of the “Who Inspires the Women Who Inspire Us” series.
2021: The Jewish Review of Books is scheduled to host a
“conversation with poet and literary critic Adam Kirsh whose latest book is The
Blessing and the Curse: The Jewish People and Their Books in the Twentieth
Century.
2021: In Chicago, Anshe Emet Synagogue is scheduled to host a
screening of “Rosenwald” which tells “the remarkable story of a Jewish
Partnership with African American communities followed by a panel discussion
that includes Rabbi Michael Siegel and movie director Aviva Kempner.
2021: Moment Magazine is scheduled to present “North Africa’s
Forgotten Holocaust with Sarah Abrevaya Stein and Aomar Boum
2021: The New York Jewish
Film Festival is scheduled to host a screening of “Irmi,” a documentary that
tells the story of Irmi Silver as its closing film.
2021: The London School of Jewish Studies is scheduled to begin a
series that examines the books of the Tanach, starting with an analysis of the
later prophets in “Prophets of Despair and Hope.”
2021: MALA: Muslim American Leadership Alliance, the American
Sephardi Federation, and the Center for Interreligious Understanding are
scheduled to present a screening of “Nobody Wants Us.”
2021: Anthony Blinken became the 71st United States
Secretary of State.
2022: The Jewish Arts
Collaborative is scheduled to present online “The Sephardic Roots of Israeli
Cuisine,” during which Hélène Jawhara
Piñer cooks from her critically acclaimed 2021 cookbook, “Sephardi: Cooking the
History and joins in conversation with Forward national and food editor Rob
Eshman.
2022: The Miami Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to host the East
Coast premier of “Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen.”
2022: The Breman Museum is scheduled to present via Zoom, a book
talk with Howard Reich author of The Art of Inventing Hope: Intimate
Conversations with Elie Wiesel which
“offers an unprecedented, in-depth conversation between the world’s most
revered Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel, and a son of survivors, Howard Reich.”
https://howardreich.com/books/the-art-of-inventing-hope/
2022: The Illinois Holocaust Museum is scheduled to facilitate
Facebook Live session during which Second Generation Speaker Julie Meetal
Berman will share her family’s story, including how her mother and grandmother
survived Auschwitz.
2022: LBI is scheduled to present Ben Ratskoff and Amelia Glaser
as they lecture on “Black Studies and Jewish Studies: Dubois Before Warsaw,
Fascism Before Racism.
2022: Fran Lebowitz is scheduled to perform for the last time at
Berkeley Rep’s Theatre,
2022:
Kerem Shalom is scheduled to present online “Antisemitism: Then and Now” during
which Boston College historian Charles Gallagher discusses his new book Nazis
of Copely Square: The Forgotten Story of the Christian Front with the “former
editor of the Pittsburgh Gazette, David Shribman, whose paper won a
Pulitzer Prize in 2019 for its coverage of the tragic shootings at the Tree of
Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill.
2023:
The Lappin Foundation is scheduled to present online an “International
Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration featuring testimony by Lusia Milch,
Holocaust survivor, “Lessons of the Holocaust as a Cautionary Tale for Today.”
Welcome remarks by Miriam Asnes, senior advisor to the U.S. State Department
Special Envoy on Holocaust Issues.
2023:
The Center for Jewish History, the Leo Baeck Institute, the American Jewish
Historical Society, the American Sephardi Federation, and the YIVO Institute
for Jewish Research are scheduled to present: “Unmasking Antisemitism - A Panel
Discussion in Conjunction with the Exhibition #FakeImages at the United Nations.”
2023:
In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Illinois Holocaust
Memorial Museum tis scheduled to host a live opera performance of the first act
of Two Remain: Out of Darkness in partnership with Chicago College of
Performance Arts, Roosevelt University.
2023
JWA is scheduled to host a screening of “Yentl” with a discussion led by Dr.
Sasha T. Goldberg.
2023:
In Columbus, Congregation Tifereth Israel is scheduled to host Rabbi Berman in
a studying of the classic commentary of Rashi that will include “lively
discussion.”
2023:
YIVO is scheduled to present a lecture by Vivi Lachs, live and on Zoom on “Good
Goy, Bad Goy: The Portrayal of Gentiles in Sketches from the London Yiddish
Press.”
2023:
The Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College is scheduled to
present online and in person Rabbi Sergio Bergman an Argentinian-born
politician, social activist, community leader, and President of the World Union
for Progressive Judaism lecturing on “Jews, Christians and Civil Society:
Bergoglio in Argentina.”
2023:
Among those scheduled to participate in the Book of Names opening ceremony today
will be U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, Israel’s permanent
representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Gilad Erdan, and Yad Vashem’s
chairman, Dani Dayan, a former consul general of Israel in New York. (As
reported by Renee Ghert-Zand)
2023:
The University of Northern Iowa’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education
is scheduled to host a webinar with Holocaust Survivor and educator Sol Nayman.
2024:
Today, one day “head of international Holocaust Remembrance” admissions are
scheduled to be free at the Illinois Holocaust Memorial Day Museum.
2024:
In Wayland, MA, Congregation
B’nai Torah Metrowest is scheduled to present “Shabbat Shirah and Tu BiShvat
“Seder” Oneg.
2024:
Rainbow Zebra Productions is scheduled to present “Miriam and Esther Go to The
Diamond District” a “musical about two long-estranged sisters who reunite to
sort through their deceased parents’ belongings, discovering secrets about
their opera singer mother and pianist father.”
2024:
In Concord, MA, Kerem Shalom is scheduled to host a “mostly musical Shabbat.”
2024:
The Illinois Holocaust Museum is scheduled to host a presentation by Holocaust
Survivor Marion Deichmann, who will be signing copies of her book, Her Name
Shall Remain Unforgotten.
https://www.ilholocaustmuseum.org/profiles/marion-deichmann/
2024:
Kan Kol Hamusika is scheduled to host a live broadcast of the “Winners of the
"Kan Voice of Music" Young Artists Competition 2023.”
2024:
As January 26th begins in Israel, the Hamas held
hostages begin day 112 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.)
