This Day, March 18, In Jewish History by Mitchell A and Deb Levin Z"L
37: The Roman Senate
annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Caligula emperor. Caligula ruled from 37
until his death in 41. From the Jewish perspective he was not so much an
anti-Semite as a lunatic whose crazy behavior affected the Jews. The biggest
problems rose from his belief that he was a god and his insistence that the
Jews, along with the rest of the Empire worship him. The Jews did not which led
to a major confrontation. Additionally, Caligula wanted to place a huge statue
of himself in Jerusalem. Fortunately, he died before this travesty could take
place.
1123: Opening of the
First Lateran Council. Unlike later
councils, this meeting did not deal directly with issues related to the Jews.
However, Canon Eleven did give renewed impetus for the Crusades. “For
effectively crushing the tyranny of the infidels, we grant to those who go to
Jerusalem and also to those who give aid toward the defense of the Christians,
the remission of their sins and we take under the protection of St. Peter and
the Roman Church their homes, their families, and all their belongings, as was
already ordained by Pope Urban II.”
Canon Eleven also equates going to fight in Spain with going to
Jerusalem because Spain was under control of the Moors and the Church sought
bring an end to this.
1160: Hamza ibn Asad
abu Ya'la ibn al-Qalanisi an Arab politician and chronicler passed away in
Damascus. His writings provide one of the few contemporary accounts of the
First Crusade from the Moslem point of view including a description of the
sacking of Jerusalem. The Jews had fought alongside the Muslims to defend the
city against the attackers. At the end,
according Ibn al-Qalnisi, "The Jews assembled in their synagogue, and the
Franks burned it over their heads.’ (The Franks was the terms easterners used
to describe the Crusaders)
1190: Crusaders killed
750 Jews in Bury St Edmonds England. The logic of the Crusaders was why wait to
kill infidels in the Holy Land when you can kill them right here at home. Just
because these infidels were Jews and the infidels holding the Holy Land were
Moslems did not seem to bother these noble Christian knights and their
supporters.
1229: Frederick II,
Holy Roman Emperor declared himself King of Jerusalem during the Sixth Crusade.
In what would be a lesson for modern times, Frederick’s use of diplomacy
succeeded where the use of force by others had failed. His sixth crusade was
not a military venture; a fact which drew the ire of the Roman Catholic Church.
Instead, after landing in Palestine, he negotiated with the Moslems and gained
control of Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem for a period of ten years.
1389: A priest living
in Prague, Czechoslovakia was hit with a few grains of sand by small Jewish
boys playing in the street. He became insulted and insisted that the Jewish
community purposely plotted against him. Thousands were slaughtered, the
synagogue and the cemetery were destroyed, and homes were pillaged. King
Wenceslaus insisted that the responsibility rested with the Jews for venturing
outside during Holy Week.
1478: In Spain, a group
of Jews and conversos gathered for a Seder on the first night of Passover. “A
young cavalier” discovered the group and reported the matter to the
authorities. Since it was holy week, the Spanish decided that the Jews had
gathered to “to blaspheme the Chrisitian religion.” When Alonso de Hojeda, the
prior of the Convent of San Pablo in Seville and enemy of the Jews and New
Christians heard of the event he took the news to Ferdinand and Isabella.
Supposedly this was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” and the two
monarchs petitioned the Holy See to issue a Bull authorizing an Inquisition.
The Bull would be granted and the road to the expulsion of 1492 opened up like
a superhighway.
1540: Today “R. Isaac
Porto ha-Kohen obtained from the Duke of Mantua permission to build an
Ashkenazic synagogue.”
1580 (2nd of Nisan):
Rabbi Benjamin ben Moses of Lemberg, author Tavnit
ha-Bayt passed away
1584: Ivan IV, also
known as Ivan the Terrible passed away. Ivan was terrible for the Jews as well
as for everybody else. He did all that he could to bar them from Russia,
spreading the calumnies of the day, and, when he had the chance, giving them
the choice between conversion or a cruel death.
1607: As the
Inquisition prepared to take action against “Jorge de Almedia, a Portuguese
residing in Mexico, the husband of Dona Lenor de Andrada who was convicted by
the Holy Office having kept observed the dead Law of Moses, document were
posted on the door of the Cathedral in the next step to bringing him to
“justice.”
1609: At Haderslev in
Denmark, Christian IV and Anne Catherine of Brandenburg gave birth to Frederick
III, who said of the Jews, they “have stolen into Denmark contrary to
long-standing custom, [since the days of the Reformation, the Lutheran creed
had, according to the laws of Denmark, been compulsory throughout the kingdom],
and have dared to traffic with jewels and the like” which led him “to order
that no Jew should enter Denmark without a special passport
("Geleitsbrief"), and that those who were already in the country
should be heavily fined if they did not leave within fourteen days” passed away
today. [Editors’ note: A few years later, however, the tables were turned.
Frederick III., being in need of funds for his wars, borrowed money from the
Jew Abraham (or Diego) Teixeira de Mattos of Hamburg (known through his
relations with the Swedish queen Christina), and gave as security crownlands in
Jutland. Teixeira thereupon made such good use of his influence with the Danish
king that, as early as Jan. 19, 1657, "the Portuguese professing the
Hebrew religion" were permitted to travel everywhere within the kingdom,
and to trade and traffic within the limit of the law. Teixeira himself gained
little by his transaction with the Danish monarch. As his loan was not
returned, he took instead the estates he held as security, selling them later
at a great loss. The king acted similarly in his dealings with the De Lima
family, who were in possession of the Hald estate from 1660 to 1703.”
1655: Dutch Minister
Johannes Megapolensis wrote a letter to the Amsterdam Classis, a ruling body in
the Reform Church attacking the Jews who had recently arrived in New Amsterdam.
1669: In Halberstadt
which had been annexed Brandenburg as part of the Peace of Westphalia, a mob
aided by the military demolished a synagogue in the Joeddenstrasse. The people
claimed that the Jews had built the synagogue without permission from the government.
For some time after, the hammer that was used to break the door of the
synagogue was “preserved in the parish house.”
1723: Birthdate of
Daniel Itzig, the native of Berlin, who became the “Court Jew” of Kings
Frederick II the Great and Frederick William II of Prussia.
https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium-1723-first-jewish-citizen-of-prussia-is-born-1.5338300
http://digifindingaids.cjh.org/?pID=475550
1733: Today, the
Prattenbeg, on which Jacob de Beer had been serving as ship gunner left the Cap
bound for Batavia.
1746: “The Double
Disappointment,” Moses Mendes’ ballad opera was produced “with considerable”
today “at the Drury Lane Theatre.”
1762(23rd of Adar):
Rabbi Judah ben Eliezer passed away
1764(14th of
Adar II, 5524): Purim observed on the birthdate of notorious slave trader James
De Wolf.
1767: Myer Myers
married Joyce Mears, a cousin of his first wife, Elkalah Myers Cohen of blessed
memory. Myers first wife bore him five children and his second wife bore him
eight children.
1769: Birthdate of
Amsterdam native Abraham Levy, the son of Ben Dan Levy and husband of Rachel
Cornelia Bernard whom he married in 1799 before they moved to Richmond, VA.
1772(13th of
Adar II, 5532): Ta’anit Esther; Erev Purim
1772: In New York City
Abigail and Michael Solomon Hays gave birth to Gitlah Hays.
1772: Birthdate of
German native Isaiah Moses, the husband of Savannah, GA native Rebecca Phillips
whom he married in Charleston and with whom he had twelve children all of whom
were born in South Carolina.
1783(14th of
Adar II, 5543): Purim observed as George Washington is putting down the
infamous Newburgh Conspiracy.
1785: In Port au
Prince, Haiti, Sarah and Moise Arbrahm who were married in 1779 gave birth to
Hyam Moise who lived in Charleston, SC with his parents.
1788: In Bavaria, Eve
Edelmuth and Abraham Wolf gave birth to their daughter Philippine Wolf.
1792: One day after he
had passed away, Gabriel Samuel was buried today at the “Alderney Road (Globe
Rd) Jewish Cemetery.”
1795: Pennsylvanians
Maria and Moses Nathans gave birth to Isaiah Nathans.
1796: In Frankfurt,
Germany, “R' Jonas Moshe (Mozes Jonah) Bondi, A.B.D. Mayence (Mainz) and Bella
Bondi” gave birth to R’ David Tebele Bondi, the husband of Matele Bondi.
1797: In Nancy
(France), Gerson-Jacob Goudchaux and his wife gave birth to Michel Goudchaux,
“a French banker and politician who was twice Minister of Finance during the
French Second Republic and who as a “firm Republican refused to accept the
government of Napoleon III.”
1799: Haifa was
captured by Napoleon. This marked “high-water mark” in Napoleon’s conquest of
Palestine. The next day French forces reached Acre. It was defended both by
British warships and local townspeople including the Jewish inhabitants. By
June, Napoleon would give up and return to Egypt.
1802(14th of
Adar II,5562): Purim observed as the English and the French are negotiating
what will be the Treaty of Amiens which marks the end of conflict known as the
French Revolutionary Wars bringing peace to Europe for the first time to since
1789.
1806: Birthdate of
Cornwall native Henry Joseph, the pawnbroker who was the husband of Amelia
Jacob with whom he had ten children.
1809(1st of
Nisan, 5569): Parashat Vayikra, Rosh Chodesh Nisan, Shabbat HaChodesh
1809(1st of Nisan,
5569): Karoline Kaulla, the daughter of the banker Yitzchak (Isaak) Raphael who
was Court Jew for the house of Hohenzollern and Rifka Wasserman and the husband
of Akiva Auerbach who was “the treasurer
at the Royal Württemberg Court, leader of the Trading House Kaulla in Stuttgart,
a co-founder of the Royal Württemberg
Court Bank, which after many fusions resulted in the Deutsche Bank in the 1920s
and “a beautiful, impressive woman, praised for the welfare, her care for the
poor regardless of religion, and her works for the Jewish community in
Hechingen” passed away today.
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/kaulla-chaile-raphael
1811: In Cornwall,
Sarah Kate Simons and John Jacob gave birth to Amelia Jacob on what was the
third birthday of her husband Henry Joseph with whom she had ten children.
1812: Three days after
he had passed away, Jacob Phillips was buried today at the “Brady Street Jewish
Cemetery.”
1817(1st of
Nisan, 5577): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
1819: Daniel Joel and
Elizabeth Cohen were married today at the New Synagogue.
1822(25th of
Adar, 5582): Jacob Lopez, the son of Moses Lopez, who should not be confused
with Jacob Lopez, the son of Aaron Lopez who died in infancy and Jacob Lopez
the son of Moses Lopez who passed away in 1764, passed away today in Newport,
RI.
1824: Two days after he
had passed away, 68-year-old Joseph Benjamin was buried today at the “Brompton
(Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.”
1826: London natives
Matilda Israel and Aaron De Symons gave birth to Matilda Maria De Symons the
husband of Eleazar M. Merton.
1828
1831: Birthdate of
Joshua Glaser, the Postelburg native who trained as a lawyer before converting
to Christianity to advance his career.
At that time, he changed his name to Jules Glaser, the name by which he
gained renowned as a jurist and statesman.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F00B1FF9395B10738DDDA00A94DA415B8584F0D3
1835: Sir Henry Johnson, 1st Baronet, the British general who had
served with His Majesty’s forces during the American Revolution, the husband of
American Jewess Rebecca Franks and the son-in-law of Philadelphian Davids
Franks passed away today at Bath.
1836:
Forty-one-year-old Mary (Harris) Jessel, the wife of Zadok Jessel and the
mother of Henry, Edward, George and Amelia Jesse was buried today at the “Brady
Street Jewish Cemetery.”
1837: Birthdate of
Grover Cleveland, the only man to be elected President of the United States,
defeated in his bid for re-election and then to be victorious over the man who
had beaten him. In 1887, during his first term, Cleveland appointed Oscar Solomon
Straus, “the ranking Jew in America,” envoy extraordinary and minister
plenipotentiary to Turkey. In 1897, during his second term, Cleveland vetoed a
bill that contained a literacy test for immigrants. The bill was an attempt to
halt immigration from southern and Eastern Europe. If it had passed it would
have a detrimental impact on the Jews of Russia, Romania and the
Austro-Hungarian Empire seeking to come to America. Cleveland spoke out against
the treatment of the Jews at Kishinev and work to raise money for them after
the Pogrom in 1903.
1843(16th of
Adar II, 5603): Parashat Tzav chanted as the Great Comet began moving away from
the planet earth.
1844: One day after she
had passed away, Phoebe Isaacs, the wife of Isaac Isaacs and the mother of
Abraham and Henry Isaacs was buried today at the “Lauriston Road Jewish
Cemtery.”
1847: Arnold Blum, Jr.,
the New York City born son of Jeanette and Abraham Levi Blum and his wife
Rosina Blum gave birth to Ludwig Blum.
1848: Bavaria native
Nathan Kahn and Isabella Jeri Levy Kahn gave birth to New Yorker Rebecca Kahn
Affelder, the wife of Leopold Affelder and the mother of Minnie, William, Harry
and Jeanette Afflelder.
1852: In Paris,
Augustus Glossop Harris and his wife gave birth to Sir August Harris British
theatrical impresario whom “all of London” called “Gus” and who “was of Hebrew
family and properly proud of his race.”
1856: Attorney Leopold
von Kaulla “reorganized some of the institutions founded by his family,
transferring them to Stuttgart, where they were incorporated under the name of
"Kaulla'sche Familien-Stiftung" by King William I. of Württemberg”
today.
1857: In Pittsburgh,
PA, Louis and Henrietta Berkowitz gave birth to Rabbi Henry Berkowitz the
graduate of the
University of Cincinnati, and Hebrew Union College who served a number of
congregations including Temple Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia where he helped to
found the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies and the Philadelphia Rabbinical
Association but who may be best known for his role in founding the Jewish
Chautauqua Society, Emily Nepon, his great-great-great-granddaughter described
him in the following words. “Born in 1857, Rabbi Henry Berkowitz was the “Beloved Rabbi” of Mobile, Kansas City,
Missouri and Philadelphia. He is best known for being the founder of the Jewish
Chautauqua Society in 1893 and was one of four members of the first graduating
class of Reform rabbis in the United States. Rabbi Henry Berkowitz was an
activist, philanthropist, counselor, community leader, voracious learner,
teacher, prolific writer and speaker. And, in keeping with mainstream Reform
Judaism of his day, Berkowitz was also anti-Zionist.”
1858: In Schenectady,
NY, David and Leontine Marks gave birth to CCNY graduate Marcus Marks, the head
of the family-owned clothing manufacturing firm David Marks and Son, advocate
for Daylight Savings Time and President of the Borough of Manhattan who was the
husband of the “former Esther Friedman,” father of Bernice, Doris, Warren and
Eric Marks and the brother of illumination engineer Louis B. Marks and the
uncle of Johnny Marks “who wrote ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.’”
http://www.jta.org/1934/08/28/archive/m-m-marks-once-borough-president-dies
1858: Two days after he
has passed away, 86-year-old Isaiah Jones, the husband of Esther Jones and the
mother of Edward A. Jones was buried today at the “Brompton (Fulham Road)
Jewish Cemetery.
1859: In Philadelphia,
Henry Cohen and Matilda Samuel Cohen gave birth to sculptor Katherine M. Cohen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_M._Cohen#/media/File:Smith_arch_Beaver.jpg
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/Cohen-Katherine-M
1859: In Cincinnati,
OH, Julia Moses and Frederick A. Johnson
gave birth to Cincinnati Law School educated attorney and Democratic party
leader Simeon Moses Johnson the husband of Gertrude Cohen and vice mayor of
Cincinnati who was a member of K.K.B.I. Congregation and a member of the executive
board of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
1861: The New York
Times reported today that the “story floating around the Northern papers” about
a rich Jew named Mordecai “declaring himself insolvent, after paying a small
per centum to his New-York, Boston and Philadelphia creditors, is a falsehood,
cut out of the whole cloth.”
1862: In Vysocina,
Marie and Bernhard Baruch Mahler gave birth to Ernst Mahler, the younger
brother of Gustav Mahler, whose premature death was one of the tragedies in the
great composer’s personal life.
1862: Judah P. Benjamin
began serving as Secretary of State for the Confederacy; a position he would
hold until the end of the war.
1863: In Opava, Czech
Republic, Charlotte and Samuel David Klauber gave birth to Mathilde Bock
1864: Birthdate of
Aberdeen, Scotland native “Major Frank Lang Collie, M.D. the second husband of
The “Poem A Day Lady,” Ruth Jacob, the “granddaughter of the Rabbi of the Great
Synagogue in London.”
1866(2nd of Nisan,
5626): Fifty-four-year-old Frederick Goldsmid, the husband of Caroline Samuel,
the MP for Honiton and father of Julie, Walter-Henry, Albert-Abraham, Helen,
Mary-Ada and Isabel Goldsmid passed away today.
1869: Birthdate of
Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister who signed the infamous Munich
Agreement with Hitler. He returned to England with the words, “I bring you
peace in our times.” Instead there was war within the year. At the same time
Chamberlain’s government followed a pro-Arab policy in Eretz Israel which
resulted in the infamous White Paper that effectively ended Jewish immigration
at the time when the Jews needed a homeland more than ever in their entire
history.
1870(15th of
Adar II, 5630): Shushan Purim
1873: In Manhattan, Henry
Rosenheim and Clara Schlesinger gave birth to Casper Schlesinger Rosenheim, the
husband of Eva Rosenheim
1874: The Germania
Theatre Company will perform tonight at New York’s Terrace Garden Theatre for
the benefit of the Ladies’ Hebrew Benevolent Society.
1875(11th of
Adar II, 5635): Fast of Esther observed since the 13th of Adar falls
on Shabbat.
1877: Birthdate of
Hungary native Otto Abraham Hirsch, the University of Berlin trained lawyer who
came to the United States in 1920.
1877: It was reported
today that during 1876, the strength of the British Army averaged 184,669
officers and enlisted men of whom 131 were Moslems, Hindus or Jews.
1878(13th of
Adar, II, 5638): Fast of Esther
1879: “The New Exodus”
published today described how the Biblical motif was used in events was used in
events leading up to the emancipation of the slaves and how there is the need
for “a New Moses” to liberate the former slaves now living under the oppression
of what came to be known as Jim Crow.
1879: The defense was
scheduled to present its case in attempt to prove that Cohen Davis, an elderly
Hebrew glazier, had not committed perjury in the recent trial of Abraham
Freeman and Charles Bernstein, two convicted arsonists.
1880: In New York, Dr.
J. P. Newman will deliver a lecture at Chickering Hall sponsored by the Young
Men’s Hebrew Association.
1881: In St.
Francisville, Illinois, Samuel and Hannah Ochs Morgenstern gave birth to University
of Cincinnati graduate and HUC trained rabbi, Julian Morgenstern the husband of
Helen Thorner and biblical scholar who
was the President of Hebrew Union College.
http://americanjewisharchives.org/collections/ms0030/
1881: German born
French Orientalist Jules Oppert “was made a member of the Académie des
Inscriptions et des Belles-Lettres, succeeding the Egyptologist Mariette.”
1882: Birthdate of Elisabeth
Duetsch who married Austrian photographer, lawyer, inventor, and businessperson
Dr. Emil Mayer in 1903 and committed suicide with him in 1938 when the Nazis
took over Austria.
1882: Birthdate of
Russian native Rabbi Eliezer Poupko, the chief rabbi of Veliz who was sentenced
to Siberia for “defying the religious policy of the Soviet Union,” and who in
1931 came to the United States where “he was the spiritual lead of Aitz Chaim
Congregation” in Philadelphia while two daughters and five sons all of whom are
rabbis with his wife “Pesha Chaya.”
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1961/09/24/97247374.pdf
1883: Birthdate of
Odessa native and American songwriter music publisher Maurice Abrahams, the
husband of “vaudeville performer Belle Baer” and creator of such ragtime hits
as “Ragtime Cowboy Joe,” “"He'd Have to Get Under — Get Out and Get Under
(to Fix Up His Automobile)" and “Hitchy-Koo,” written with fellow Jews L.
Wolfe Gilbert and Lewis F. Muir.
1884: Birthdate of
Odessa native Dr. Nahum Enoch Katz, the “consulting chemist of Meridian,
Mississippi.
1884(21st of Adar,
5644): Basha Ruchama Twersky, the wife of Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach and the
mother of Aharon Rokeach, the fourth Rebbe of the Belz Hasidic dynasty passed
away today.
1886(11th of
Adar II, 5646): Ta’anit Esther
1886(11th of Adar II,
5646): Leopold Zunz, also known as Yom Tov Lippman, a German-born Jewish
intellectual passed away at the age of 91. Born in 1794, Zunz came of age in
post-Napoleonic Germany when Reform Judaism was gaining power and many Jews
were converting to Christianity to gain acceptance in the New Europe. Zunz was
a scholar with a strong Jewish education. He became "the principal of a
teacher's seminary established by the Jews of Berlin.” As can be seen from his
teaching and writings including The Religious Discourses of the Jews Zunz
emphasized the importance of prayer and instruction while contending that
Judaism was a religion that had constantly been reforming itself. Zunz also
believed that for the most part, Judaism and Jewish culture had been at a
higher level than the societies that surrounded it.
1886: In Radin,
Lithuania, Chaim Yehoshua Heshel Poupko and Bluma Abramowitz gave birth to
Eliezer Poupko, the Rabbi sentenced to two years in Siberia for “defying the
religious policies of the Soviet Union and husband of Pesha Chaya who, thanks
to the intervention of American rabbis came to the United States in 1931 where
he led to congregations and raised a family that played a prominent role in the
world of American Orthodox Judaism.
1886: Birthdate of
German-born Gestalt psychologist Kurt Koffka who moved to the United States
in the 1920’s where he
taught at several colleges and universities including Wisconsin and Smith.
1887: Birthdate of
Abraham Abelson who was buried at the Jewish People’s Cemetery in East Haven,
CT, when he passed away in 1965
1887: Two days after he
had passed away, John Coleman Isaac, the husband of Sarah Isaac, was buried
today at the “Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.”
1890: Louis Levene
represented the Shirtmakers’ Union at the arbitration hearing being held today
in an attempt to end the strike. Most of
the workers are Jewish as are many of the contractors on the other side.
1890: In Rochester, NY,
Louis and Rose (Neuberger) Wasserman gave birth to Cornell University Medical
College trained urologist Dr. Julius Waterman, the WWI veteran of the U.S. Navy
Medical Corps and “battalion surgeon of the 3rd Battalion of the
Naval Militia of the State of New York who began serving as the “consulting
urologist for the Jewish Home for the Aged in 1924.
1891: A five-story
tenement building at the corners of Hester and Allen Streets which is located
in a neighborhood crowded with Polish Jewish immigrants burned today. At the time of the fire eleven Jewish
families composed of forty-nine persons were asleep in the building.
1891: The Trustees
managing the funds sent to the United States by Baron Hirsch for the aid of
Jewish immigrants from Russia and Romania are scheduled to meet today in New
York.
1892: Rabbi Stephen S.
Wise will deliver a lecture entitled “The Jew, Past, Present and Future” this
evening at Temple Israel of Harlem.
1892: Jose S.K.
Mitrachee, the Syrian Jewish beggar who shot Rabbi Mendes on March 5th,
returned to New York from Philadelphia today in the custody of Detective
Sergeants Jacobs and Heidelberg. The
prisoner was immediately taken to the rabbi’s home where Dr. and Mrs. Mendes
and their 3 servants positively identified as the attacker.
1893(1st of
Nisan. 5653: Rosh Chodesh Nisan and Shabbat HaChodesh
1893(1st of
Nisan, 5653): Two Russian Jewish immigrant peddlers – Isaac Rosnewig and Harris
Blank murdered 18-year-old Jacobs marks on Dutch Mountain in Wyoming County,
PA. (At the time of their execution for the crime the two were described as
“the only people of the Jewish faith ever executed for murder in this
country.”)
1894: In Berline,
Sidonie and Salomon Salinger gave birth to Los Angeles doctor Harry David
Salinger, the husband of Irene Salinger.
1894: In San Francisco,
founding of the Temple Emanu El Sisterhod whose members included Mrs. P.N.
Lilienthal, Mrs. Lewis Gerstle, Mrs.J.M. Rothchild and Miss Victoria
Lilienthal.
1895: New York Mayor
Strong appointed Jacob W. Mack, the secretary and treasurer of Nathan
Manufacturing Company, to serve as a School Commissioner.
1897(14th of
Adar, 5657): Purim
1897: Two days after he
had passed away, 38 year old Charles Mark Simmons, the son Mark George Simmons
and Caroline Lazarus was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1897(14th of
Adar, 5657): Seventy-one-year-old Ignatz Grossman, the native of Trencsen,
Hungary who arrived at Brooklyn in 1873 where he officiated at Temple Beth
Elohim and Congregation B’nai Abraham passed away today.
1897: A.S. Solomons,
the manager of the Baron de Hirsch Fund oversaw today’s Purim Celebration for
the students which was held in the auditorium of the Educational Alliance
Building.
1897: The feast of
Purim was celebrated today with “the formal opening of the new wing of the Home
for Aged and Infirm Hebrews” which was attended by 200 visitors.
1898: In Queens, Joseph
Meltsner and Sarah Bach gave birth to Adele Meltsner, the wife of Charles
Pores.
1898: In Albuquerque,
NM, Dr. William H. Greenburg of London who had responded to an advertisement
“for a rabbi in The American Israelite,” held the first service for fifty
members of Congregation Albert today.
1899: In a letter to
the editor published today “A.C.” takes issue with the statement that Henry
Irving plays the part of the Polish Jew in “The Bells.” Irving actually plays the part of Mathias,
the murder of the Polish Jew which “is not quite the same thing.”
1899: It was reported
today that “some of the French journals intimate that anti-Semitism is at the
bottom of the new movement, which is that no Jew is to be permitted either to
adopt a career in art, or, having painted a picture, to exhibit it.”
1899: Birthdate of Max
Alpert, the decorated Soviet WW II photographer, the brother of Mihail Alperin
with whom he had studied photography at Odessa.
1899: “The Colored Race
and Illiteracy” published today provides a summary of an article by Wallace C.
Hamm in The North American Review that includes the notation that “The Russian
and Polish Jews are never illiterates.” (This stands in stark contrast of the
portrait painted of the Jews of eastern Europe being semi-literate disease
laden parasites)
1899: In Minsk, Samuel
and Bessy (Miller) Berman gave birth to painter Saul Berman who attended the
Cooper Union School of Fine Arts, the National Academy of Design and the Beaux
Arts Institute of Sculpture.
1899: Edward Breck, who
was not Jewish, expressed his displeasure with the way that United States was
complying with Russian laws that discriminated against American Jews and
praised Julius Goldschdmidt, the U.S Counsel General in Berlin for his protest over
the American government’s behavior in this matter.
1900: It was reported
today that “the Waldeck-Rousseau Ministry has submitted to the French Senate an
amendment to the Dreyfus Amnesty bill which is said to be most satisfactory to
a large body of the more rational Dreyfusards, for its enactment would neither
prohibit the rehabilitation of Captain Dreyfus in the regular legal way, nor
would it make impossible the prosecution of ex-Minister of War Mercier before a
Senatorial High Court of Justice.”
1901(27th of
Adar): On the Jewish calendar, yahrzeit of “Rabbi Leone Modena (Aryeh Leib):
the author of Ari Nohem who had passed away in 5444
1902: In New York City,
Julius L. Lubell and the former Kayla Ginsberg” gave birth to Dorothy Lubell
who after she married Dr. Solomon S. Feign was known Dorothy D. Feigin, “the
painter, etcher and lithographer” whose “works are in collection of the Metropolitan
Muses of Art, the Library of Congress, the Tel Aviv Museum of Israel and the
Boston Library” and who was the mother of the psychiatrist, Dr. Simeon Feigin.
1902: Birthdate of
Helene Bernfeld who was deported to Ungarn/Auschwitz in 1944.
1902: In Nordhausen,
Germany, Oskar Michael Blumenthal, the son of Selig and Juliane Bluementhal
gave birth to Margot Blumenthal, the who became Margot Kasper when she married
David Kasper and whose parents died at Theresienstadt during the Holocaust.
1903: Herzl begins a
trip to Egypt that lasts until April 9.
1903: Birthdate of
Louis Gross, the Chicago native who was an outstanding scholar/athlete when he
played tackle for the University of Minnesota “Golden Gophers” from 1922 to
1924.
1904: In Edinburgh,
Samuel and Rachel Blackman gave birth to Dora Blackman who became Dora Caplan
when she married Ephraim Caplan.
1905: Birthdate of
Mollie Parnis. Although she never had any formal education in design, Mollie
Parnis became an influential women's fashion designer whose prestigious Seventh
Avenue firm provided dresses for first ladies Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower, Lady
Bird Johnson, and Patricia Nixon. Parnis was raised on New York's Lower East
Side. She started working in fashion at age eighteen, when she was hired as an
assistant saleswoman for a wholesale blouse manufacturer. Her ability to tailor
and add distinctive finishing touches to blouses for retail customers earned
Parnis her first recognition. She moved from the blouse business to a dress
house, but in 1933, she opened an independent designer dress firm with her
husband, Leon Livingston. Although she could not cut and sew fabric or draw,
Parnis's acute eye for detail and perceptive knowledge of what women wanted
allowed her to provide the creative vision for the company. Even in the midst
of the Great Depression, the Parnis Livingston label was successful. Parnis's
designs were said to combine elegance and beauty with form and function, and
they were frequently featured in the style pages of magazines such as Harper's
Bazaar, Vanity Fair, and Life. After Livingston's death in 1962, Parnis
reshaped her company to cater to a new demand for more informal clothes. New
labels targeted working-class women and young professionals. She closed the
doors of her business in 1984.Throughout her life, Parnis was as dedicated to
humanitarian work as she was to fashion. In 1971, she funded a program to clean
up New York neighborhoods and establish small parks throughout the city. A
similar program for Jerusalem followed two years later. She also contributed
scholarships to fashion schools, and created the Livingston Awards, which honor
young journalists in memory of Parnis's son. Mollie Parnis died in 1992.
1904: Two days after
she had passed away, Frances (Salomons) Bergel, the wife of Samuel Bergel and
the mother of Charles, William and Herbert Bergel was buried today at the
“Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1905: Birthdate of
Benny Friedman the native of Cleveland, Ohio known as “the Jewish Johnny
Unitas” who played quarterback for the University of Michigan before going to a
career as a head coach.
1906: As conditions
worsened in Bialystok, two policeman named Rubansky and Syrolevich were killed,
probably by anarchists. This was part of the unraveling situation that would
lead to a pogrom in June of that year.
1906: Birthdate of
Isadore Polier, the native of Aiken, SC who gained fame as civil rights lawyer
Shad Polier, the husband of Justine Wise Polier, the daughter of Rabbi Stephen
Wise.
1906: A dark day in
history since it marked the birth of Adolf Eichmann, the Gestapo officer who
contributed so much to the Final Solution. Eichmann is the only person to ever
be executed by the state of Israel.
1907: As the peasants
of Romania rose up against the landed gentry, the government declared a state
of emergency and began a general mobilization of the army. The revolt was tainted by anti-Semitism
because in some parts of the country the Jews collected the rents from the
Christian peasants for the Christian landlords.
The Jews, of course, could not own the land.
1907: As the
investigation into the graft and corruption surrounding the rebuilding of San
Francisco following the earthquake, “all of the Supervisors confessed before a
grand jury to "receiving money from Abe Ruef in connection with the Home
Telephone, overhead trolley, prize fight monopoly, and gas rates deals. In exchange, "they were promised
complete immunity and would not be forced to resign their offices. The grand
jury then returned 65 indictments against Abraham “Abe” Ruef for bribery of the
supervisors.
1908: Dr. Paul S.
Kaplan, a representative of the Russian Jewish Radicals received word today in
New York that Gregory Gershunin, the “organizer and leader of the ‘Fighting
Group’ of the Russian Socialist Revolutionary Party” had passed away.
1908: According to a
report published in the Times, Miss Julia Richman was one of the “outspoken
advocates of uniting the City and Normal Colleges under one head.”
1909: “The home coming
of ex-Secretary of Commerce and Labor Oscar S. Straus, whose official duties in
Washington ended coincidently with those of ex-President Roosevelt, was the
occasion of a large banquet tendered to the former Secretary last evening by
his friends of the Freundschaft Society of New York, in their clubhouse,
Seventy-second Street and Park Avenue.”
1910(7th of Adar II,
5670): Adolphus Simeon Solomons passed away in Washington, D.C. Born in 1826
John Solomons, a native of London who emigrated to the United States in 1810,
Julia, daughter of Simeon Levy, “Solomons was educated in the University of the
City of New York, and entered the employ of a firm of wholesale importers of
stationery and fancy goods, becoming within two years its head book-keeper and
confidential man. At the age of fourteen he had enlisted as a color-guide in
the Third Regiment Washington Greys (New York State National Guard); he was
promoted sergeant five years later” “In 1851 Daniel Webster, then secretary of
state, appointed him "Special Bearer of Despatches to Berlin." On his
journey he visited for the first time a Jewish ward in a hospital, at
Frankfort-on-the-Main, and determined to establish a similar institution in New
York. Upon his return home he became a member of a committee of young men who
arranged a ball for charity in Niblo's Garden. The sum of $1,034 realized
therefrom was, upon Solomons' motion, placed in the hands of Simpson Simson of
Yonkers, who, with others, had recently taken out a charter for a Jewish
hospital in New York, the present Mt. Sinai Hospital. In 1859 Solomons
established the publishing-house of Philp & Solomons in Washington, D. C.,
which held for a number of years the government contracts for printing.
Solomons was in 1871 elected a member of the House of Representatives for the
District of Columbia, serving as chairman of the committee on ways and means.
As a representative of the central committee of the Alliance Israélite
Universelle, Solomons at a public meeting held in New York advocated the
establishment of the Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids to mark the
one-hundredth anniversary of Sir Moses Montefiore's birth. As trustee and,
subsequently, as acting president of the Jewish Theological Seminary
Association of New York, he was influential in bringing about a successful
reorganization of the society's finances. In 1891 he became general agent of
the Baron de Hirsch Fund and director of its many activities in America; and in
1903, when relieved of active work, he was made honorary general agent.
Solomons was an incorporator and for seventeen years an active member of the
National Association of the Red Cross and was also one of its two
vice-presidents. President Arthur appointed him and Clara Barton as
representatives of the United States government in the International Congress
of the Red Cross, held at Geneva, Switzerland, in 1881; and Solomons was
elected vice-president of that congress. He was one of the five original
members of the New York executive board of the Red Cross Relief Committee,
which board was in session during the Spanish-American war and consisted of
twenty-five members presided over by Bishop Potter. Solomons has been a member
of the central committee of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, and its
treasurer for the United States. He has been for twenty years a director, and
for some time treasurer, of the Columbia Hospital and Lying-in Asylum in
Washington, D. C.; he is also a charter member of the Garfield Memorial
Hospital, acting president of the Provident Aid Society and Associated
Charities, founder and president of the Night Lodging-House Association, and
trustee of the first training-school for nurses in the District of Columbia; he
has been identified also with nearly all the prominent charities in the United
States capital. Solomons has taken active part in all inauguration ceremonies”
starting with Abraham Lincoln.
1910: In Chicago
theatrical producer and director George W. Lederer, the older brother of screenwriter Charlie Lederer
and Reine Davis gave birth to Josephine Rose Leder who gained fame and notoriety
as actress Pepi Lederer.
1911: Irving Berlin’s
“Alexander’s Ragtime Band” “the multimillion-selling smash hit that helped turn
American popular music into a major international phenomenon, both culturally
and economically” was copyrighted today.
1912: “Appeals to Young
Jews” published described a meeting at the Kalverier Synagogue at 15 Pike
Street organized by the Sons and Daughters of Israel where plans were discussed
to design a movement that would “bring together the younger generation of Jews
and stimulate them with a stronger religious feeling.
1913(9th of
Adar II, 5673): Eighty-nine-year-old merchant Aaron Goodman passed away today
in Baltimore, MD.
1913(9th of
Adar II, 5673): Bahr Sheideman, a merchant who had resided in Santa Rosa with
his wife Sophie and was the Treasurer of the Jewish Alliance of California
passed away today in San Francisco.
1913: The King of
Greece was assassinated at Salonica. False charges ran in the Greek newspapers
that the killer was Jewish. The killer would turn out to be a Greek who was not
Jewish but who was reported to be mentally ill.
1913(9th of Adar II,
5673): Seventy-eight-year-old merchant Bahr Scheideman, the husband of Sophie
Scheidman who replaced George Aronson as superintendent of the religious school
at Congregation Sherith Israel, passed away today in San Francisco.
1915: Among these
listed today as contributors to the American Jewish Relief Committee were Zadok
Lodge, I.O.B.B., Selma, Alabama; Ohev Sholem Sisterhood, Harrisburg, PA;
Agudath Jacob Ladies Aide Society, Waco, TX; Akron (Ohio) Hebrew Relief
Association and the Women’s Aid Society, Fargo, ND. (Editor’s Note – These
contributors give an idea of how many different places that Jews were living
and that these places all had active Jewish communities.)
1914: Mrs. Cyrus S.
Sulzberger, Mrs. Albert Seligman, Mrs. Solomon Schechter and Mrs. Israel
Friedland were among the patrons of the Jewish Women’s Relief Association’s
benefit perform of “1,000 Years Ago” at the Shubert Theatre.
1915: The text of ‘what
purports to be the text of a Russian military order on the strength of which
wholesale massacres of the Jews in Poland were carried out ‘under Government
auspices’ which was sent by the Foreign Committee of the General Union of Jewish
Workers of Lithuania, Poland and Russia, commonly as the ‘Bund’” was received
in New York today.
1915: As the Allies
attempted to use their navies to force their way through Dardanelles, three
ships were sunk and three more were disabled meaning that troops, including the
fabled Zion Mule Corps, would have to be used to accomplish the strategic goals
first framed by Winston Churchill.
1915: According to
reports published today “the Commander-in-Chief” of the Russian Army has given
“orders for the taking of hostages” which provides for their hanging – which
will be used as pretext for hanging Jews on the eastern front.
1916(13th of
Adar II, 5676): Shabbat and Erev Purim
1916: School of
Industrial Art and Academy of Fine arts trained award winning painter Maurice
Molarsky, the Kiev born son of Kiev, Fannie Sacherenko and Isaac Molarsky, known
for his “portraits, still lifes, landscapes and mural decoration, married Tina
Margolis today.
https://woodmereartmuseum.org/explore-online/collection/linda
https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Maurice-Molarsky/AB6D7F3839AC6294
1916(13th of
Adar, II, 5676): Fifty-eight-year-old Adolph Goldberg, the husband of the
former Theresa Pollack passed away today at his home on Iowa Street in Chicago.
1916: A dance is
scheduled” to be held at Burland Casino which is a fundraiser for Sinai
Congregation of the Bronx which has just dedicated a new Temple.
1917: “Hailing the
Russian upheaval as the greatest world event since the French Revolution, Louis
Marshall said in an interview tonight that the revolt again autocracy might be
expected to Germany and asserted that the emancipation of the Russian Jews would
be as great a boon to their country as to themselves.”
1917: A meeting of Jews
held today at the Manhattan Opera House “under the auspices of the People’s
Relief Committee” adopted resolution calling for a “self-imposed income tax” to
raise funds that will be distributed “among the Jews in the war-stricken
countries.
1917: Today, in
churches and synagogue throughout New York City leaders hailed the Russian
revolution “as great blow for the freedom of a race” including Rabbi Stephen S.
Wise who said “he regretted that the American people had not done more to help
the cause of liberty in Russia.”
1918: Isaac Nachman
Steinberg completed his term as People’s Commissar for Justice.
1918: It was reported
today that Jacob H. Schiff was one of those who supported the drive to raise
$2,500,000 for the war activities fund of the Knights of Columbus, along with
Rabbi Joseph Silverman of Temple Emanu-El who publicly pledged the support of
the Jews in help the Catholics reach their goal.
1918: In London, the
Jewish community celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Chevra
Kadisha.
1919: It was reported
today that the provision in the League of Nations covenant dealing with
religious discrimination that “was intended to benefit the Jews” may be a
casualty of the Japanese proposal for “an amendment guaranteeing racial
equality.”
1919: Birthdate of
Hempstead, NY, native Milton “Mickey” Rutner the third baseman who played in 12
games for the 1947 Philadelphia Athletics
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rutnemi01.shtml
1920(28th of
Adar, 5680): Forty-eight-year-old San Antonio, TX native Texas A&M alum
Hans Rudolph Reinhart Hertzberg, the U of Texas trained attorney and
newspaperman who wrote Lyrics of Love passed away today.
1920(28th of Adar,
5680): Seventy-year-old Moriz Benedikt, the “long time editor of Neue Freie Presse” passed away today.
1921: It was reported
today that “a total of three million dollars is need by the ninety institutions affiliated with the
Federation for Support of Jewish Philanthropies” in New York.
1921: Dr. Enlow is
scheduled to lead services at Temple Emanu-El in New York.
1921: Dr. Krass is
schedule to lead services at the Central Synagogue in Manhattan
1922: Birthdate of
Brooklyn native Aaron Shikler, the renowned portrait artist whose works
included the official portrait of JFK, Senator Mike Mansfield and Lady Bird
Johnson in what looks a hymn to the Hill Country, (As reported by William
Grimes)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Shikler#/media/File:John_F_Kennedy_Official_Portrait.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Shikler#/media/File:Mike_mansfield.jpg
1922: In Cairo, the
first meeting was held between a Zionist Delegation and representatives of the
“Executive Committee of the Congress of Parties of the Confederation of Arab
Countries.”
http://www.passia.org/publications/Doc_on_palestine/1/2.pdf
1922: Judith Kaplan,
age 12, became the first American to celebrate a bat mitzvah. Judith was the
oldest daughter of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist
Judaism. Believing that girls should have the same religious opportunities as
their brothers, Rabbi Kaplan arranged for his daughter to read Torah on a
Shabbat morning at his synagogue, the Society for the Advancement of Judaism.
The Kaplan bat mitzvah marked a turning point for Conservative Judaism in
America. Always torn between tradition and modernity, the movement struggled
for many decades with women's roles in the synagogue. Judith Kaplan herself was
not allowed to read from the Torah scroll, as modern bat mitzvah celebrants do;
instead, she read a passage in Hebrew and English from a printed Chumash (first
five books of the Bible) after the regular Torah service. Still, Rabbi Kaplan's
innovation gained followers, and about a third of Conservative congregations
held bat mitzvah ceremonies by 1948. By the 1960s, bat mitzvah was a regular
feature of Conservative congregational life; today it is a mainstay in
synagogues from Reform to Modern Orthodox. After her ground-breaking bat
mitzvah, Kaplan Eisenstein (she married Ira Eisenstein who became Kaplan's
successor in leading the Reconstructionist movement) went on to a successful
career in Jewish music. After studying at the Institute of Musical Art (now the
Julliard School) in New York, she attended the Jewish Theological Seminary
(JTS) Teachers Institute and Columbia University's Teachers College, where she
earned an M.A. in music education in 1932. She later earned a Ph.D. in the
School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
(HUC-JIR). Kaplan Eisenstein taught music pedagogy and the history of Jewish
music at JTS, HUC-JIR, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College for many
years. She also created the first Jewish songbook for children, Gateway to
Jewish Song (1937). Her other published works include Festival Songs (1943) and
Heritage of Music: The Music of the Jewish People (1972). In 1987, she created
and broadcast a thirteen-hour radio series on the history of Jewish music. In
1992, at age 82, Kaplan Eisenstein celebrated a second bat mitzvah, surrounded
by leaders of the modern Jewish feminist movement. This time, she read from a
Torah scroll. Kaplan Eisenstein died on February 14, 1996.
1922: Birthdate of
sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset, the co-author of Jews and the New
American Scene in 1995.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/obituaries/04lipset.html
1923: A call upon
American Jewry to answer its enemies through the religious education of its
youth was made tonight by Louis Marshall, who spoke at the forum of the
Institutional Synagogue at 37 West 116th Street.”
1923: “Samuel Untermyer
told delegates from thirty cities at the Palestine Foundation Fund meeting in
the Hotel Pennsylvania today that he believed that the movement was "the
most potent force to stem the tide of anti-Semitism” and “he also praised Dr.
Chaim Weizmann, President of the World Zionist Organization, who addressed the
conference after Mr. Untermyer.”
1924: Birthdate of
Irmgard Neumann, the native of Kleinsteinach, who was among the last nine
members of the town be shipped to the death camps in 1942.
1924: “The Thief of Bagdad,”
starring Douglas Fairbanks, the son of Charles Ullman whose parents Lazarus
Ullman and Lydia Abrahams were German-Jewish immigrants and Austro-Hungarian
born Jew Snitz Edwards was released in the United States today.
1925: “Athletes” a
silent film with a script by Hans Behrendt was released today in Germany.
1926: Chairman William
Fox announced today that cotton goods merchant Samuel C. Lamport and clothing
manufacture Joseph Frankel have each contributed $25,00 the United Jewish
Campaign of New York.
1927(14th of
Adar II, 5686): Purim
1927: Thanks to the
effort of New York Section of the National Council of Jewish Women, Purim was
celebrated by “Jewish patients in all the city hospitals on Welfare Island.”
1927: In Leipzig,
German, Herman Menasche, a lingerie merchant and the former Erna Feiner gave
birth to Lilli Menasch who gained fame as Lillian Vernon. Vernon fled with her
family first to Amsterdam and then to New York to escape Hitler. In the U.S.,
her father manufactured leather goods, which would become the base of Vernon's
first foray into mail-order commerce. Married and pregnant, Vernon began the
business that would become Lillian Vernon, Inc., in 1951. She took $495 out of
her wedding gifts to place an advertisement for personalized belts and handbags
in Seventeen magazine. Her father's company manufactured the belts and bags,
and Vernon embossed, packaged, and shipped them. The ad brought in over $32,000
worth of sales, and Vernon's company was born. She mailed her first catalogue
two years later. Taking monogramming as its trademark, and catering mainly to
women, Lillian Vernon mail-order grew rapidly, generating $200,000 in sales in
1956, the year Vernon opened her first manufacturing plant. By 1990, sales had
risen to $238 million, and the mailing list had grown to 17 million names.
After pioneering her successful mail-order business, Vernon continued to keep
the company at the forefront of commercial changes. She began opening retail
outlets in 1985, and went online a decade later. Hers was also the first
woman-owned business to be listed on the American Stock Exchange. The company
continues to introduce new catalogs regularly, and now produces special lines
of items for children, teens, and gardening, as well as its traditional
products for the home. Vernon has used her wealth to support over 500
charities, and has been recognized by, among others, Big Brothers/Big Sisters,
which awarded her its National Hero Award. She has also received the NAACP
Medal of Honor, and has been inducted into the Direct Marketing Association
Hall of Fame. In 1997, she was named one of 50 leading women entrepreneurs by
the National Foundation for Women Business Owners. Though she no longer
embosses items herself, Vernon is still active as the CEO of her company and as
its main spokesperson.
1927: “Praises
Palestine Idea” published today described a plea made today “to the Christian
world” by Colonel Sir Wyndham Deedes, the former Chief Secretary of the
Palestine Government “to banish all prejudices against the Jew, to wipe the
slates clean and start with clean slates, as Jewish history is being re-written
in Palestine.”
1927: In Kansas City,
MO, Harold S. Kander and his wife gave birth to Broadway composer and dance
arranger John Kander whose credits include “Chicago” and “Cabaret.”
https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/john-kander/
1927: The Synagogue on
Welfare Island which was built under the auspices of the New York Section of
the National Council of Jewish Women hosted a Megillah reading on Purim after
which committee representatives “distributed gifts and delicacies to 305 Jewish
patients on the wards of the hospitals.”
1928: Senator James E.
Watson of Indiana is scheduled to be “the principal speaker” at the 19th
annual meeting of the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Society of American which
will be held at today Cooper Union 1928: The New York Times described the
controversy surrounding the decision of a court in Jaffa to fine a storekeeper
for violating local ordinances concerning the observance of the Jewish Sabbath.
1928: Birthdate of Iraq
native Naiem Khalasch who gained fame as Naeim Giladi “author of an
autobiographical article and historical analysis titled "The Jews of
Iraq" which “later formed the basis for his originally self-published book
Ben-Gurion's Scandals: How the Haganah and the Mossad Eliminated Jews.
1929: In Białystok,
Poland, to David and Helaina (née Suchowolski) Pisar gave birth Samuel Pisar
American lawyer who survived seven different concentration camps.
1930: In New Orleans,
Rabbi Louis Binkstock officiated at the wedding this evening “Miss Lenore
Lebach, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stewart J. Lebach of New York” and Tulane alum
Edmond Nathanial Cahn, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Cahn
1930: Eight one year
old Arthur James Balfour, a prominent British politician who served as Prime
Minister from 1902 to 1905 passed away today. During World War I, Balfour
served as Foreign Minister. It was while serving in this position that he
gained his place in Jewish History by giving his name to the Balfour
Declaration, which read in part, "His Majesty's Government view with the
favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,
and will their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this
object..." The Balfour Declaration came to be one of the basic documents
in the Jewish diplomatic efforts to establish what would become the modern
state of Israel.
1931: “Is Charlie
Chaplin Jew?” published today reported that that both of Charlie Chaplain’s
parents were Jewish.
https://www.jta.org/1931/03/18/archive/is-charlie-chaplin-jew
1932(10th of
Adar II, 5692): Fifty-nine-year-old widower Henry A. Morans, the father of Leslie
and Herbert Morans who was “a prominent figure in Jewish circles” and active “in
the jewelry and music business” passed away today in New Britain, CT.
1932: Birthdate of Alan
Rosenthal, the native of Manhattan and Harvard graduate who was director of the
Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University from 1974 to 1993. (As
reported by Kate Zenike)
1933(20th 0f
Adar, 5693): Shabbat Parah
1933: “The annual dance
of the Junior Federation of the Federation for the Support of Jewish
Philanthropic Societies is scheduled to be held tonight in the main ballroom of
the Plaza with the proceeds going to the support of the organization and its
affiliated institutions.
1934: “More than 1,100
persons attended a dinner at the Hotel Astor” tonight at “celebrating the
thirtieth anniversary of the Jewish Consumptions Relief Society” which
“maintains a sanatorium at Spivak, CO, eight miles from Denver.”
1935(13th of
Adar II, 5695): Ta’anit Esther; Erev Purim
1935: “Josef Grohe, the
Nazi district leader and State Councilor for the Rhineland made a speech today
attacking Jewish department stores and smaller shops at a demonstration of
retail traders in Western Germany in connection with the opening of the Cologne
Spring Fair” declaring that “it was treasonable for German consumers to by from
Jews…”
1936: “These Three” a
drama directed by William Wyler, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, with music by
Alfred Newman and “a screenplay by Lillian Hellman based on her 1934 play ‘The
Children’s Hour.’”
1936: The basic plans
for the upcoming meeting of the World Council for German Jewry “which plans to
supervise the emirgration of 100,000 Jews from Germany in the next four years”
which “will be attended by 300 delegates” including 70 from the United States
were published today.
1937: As “the Arab
attacks on the Jews in Palestine continued to increase,” “a bomb exploded early
this morning in the hands of an Arab near the Jewish quarter in Kerem seriously
injuring him and three Arab workmen.”
1937: “Pledges
Protection to Jews” published today described a visit of Benito Mussolini to
Tripoli, Libya where he “openly rejected the policy of anti-Semitism” and
assuring the Jews “of his protection.”
1937: The Palestine Post reported that 17
Jews, two policemen and one British soldier were injured by a bomb thrown at
the Egged bus terminal on Jerusalem’s Jaffa Road. Two Arabs were detained on
suspicion. Later four Arabs were injured when bombs were thrown into
Arab-frequented cafes on Mamilla Road and in Romema. Police dogs picked an Arab
farmer, Mohammed Kamel, as the murderer of Samuel Gottfried, 26, of Rosh Pina.
1938: “Notes of the
Advertising World” published today described the appointment of Julien J.
Proskauer, the president of William C. Popper and Co. to serve as chairman of
the printing and allies trades division of the Joint Distribution Committee
which is “raising funds to aid Jews in Germany, Austria and Poland.
1938: “An order issued
by Hitler’s representative in Austria “that no changes shall be carried out in
the personnel of private businesses” essentially “prohibits reduction of staffs
by Jews whose property rights curtailed and whose customers are being frightened
away by propaganda and the badge ‘Jewish shop.’”
1939: Just after the
Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, in Brno, Syme Rysavy “invited her parents and
younger brothers, Ned and Michael, over to her house for a special family
dinner” during which she told her brothers they must flee immediately – a
decision that saved their lives – and she would stay with their aged parents.
1939(27th of
Adar, 5699): Parsahat Vayakhel-Pekudi; Shabbat HaChodesh
1939(27th of
Adar, 5699): Forty-eight-year-old Bert Adler, the secretary of the Department
of Public Works who “served in the motion picture section of many Red Cross
drives and was Chairman of the Stars Committee of the Hoover Central Europe
Relief Drive passed away today at New York’s Mt. Sinai Hospital.
1939: Rabbi Harold
Mashioff is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “The Strange Death of Adolf
Hitler” at the Temple of the Covenant.
1939: Rabbi Hyman Judah
Schachtel is scheduled to deliver a sermon “The Willing Heart” at West End
Synagogue.
1939: Rabbi B. Benedict
Glazer is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “Static Versus Dynamic Religion” at
Temple Emanu-El.
1940: Adolf Hitler and
Benito Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an
alliance against France and the United Kingdom. [Editor’s Note – For some
strange reason, Italy was never held accountable for its role as Hitler’s
willing ally and all that that meant.]
1940 This morning, a
funeral service is scheduled to be held at Temple Emanu-El in New York for
sixty-eight-year-old Samuel Mundheim, the Washington D.C. born son of Lewis and
Fanny Foster Mundheim and the husband of Stella Kaufmann Mundheimr who was chairman
of the board of the American Safety Razor Corporation and former president of
Stern Brothers which he is to be buried at the Washington Hebrew Congregation
Cemetery in the District of Columbia.
1941: This week, 200
Jews would die from hunger in Warsaw ghetto. The prior week, 400 died of
hunger.
1941: In a move that
would to a notorious show trial and the execution of the defendant, Leo
Katzenberger was arrested today under the so-called Rassenschutzgesetz, or
Racial Protection Law, one of the Nuremberg Laws, which made it a criminal
offence as Rassenschande ("racial defilement") which prohibited
Aryans from having sexual relations with Jews
1942:
Forty-five-year-old Charles A. Levine who was “the first trans-Atlantic plane
passenger” was in front of a federal judge in Los Angeles over a $500 fine that
had been levied against him over a violation of immigration law.
1943(11th of Adar II,
5703): Fast of Esther observed since the 13th of Adar is on Shabbat.
1943(11th of Adar II,
5703): The hiding place of Dr. Julian Charin, age 30, of Lapy, Ukraine, was
betrayed to the Nazis, and Charin was shot.
1943(11th of Adar II,
5703): At Auschwitz, 26-year-old underground fighter Lonka Kozibrodska died of
typhus.
1943: “After Midnight
with Boston Blackie,” part of the series of crime movies produced by Sam White
was released in the United States today.
1943: “Keeper of the
Flame” a movie version of the novel with the same named directed by George
Cukor was released today in the United States.
1944(23rd of
Adar, 5704): Parashat Vayakhel-Pekudei and Shabbat Parah
1944(23rd of
Adar, 5704): H.J. Freedman passed away in the service of his country after
which he was buried in the Willesden Jewish Cemetery.
1944: Birthdate of
Amnon Lipkin-Shahak the 15th Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces,
Member of the Knesset and Minister of Transportation and Tourism.
1944: “The need for a
coordinated program for combatting anti-Semitism in the United States will be a
leading subject or discussion at the Conference of the Central States Region of
the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds” which is scheduled to
being today in Trenton, NJ.
1944: Horthy ends his
talks with Hitler and boards a train to return to Hungary. Horthy guaranteed
the delivery of 100,000 Jewish workers for the German war effort. Yet he was
still hesitant about a general deportation of the rest of the country's 750,000
Jews. At 9:30 that evening, German troops begin to enter Hungary.
1945(4th of
Nisan, 5705): Just seventeen days after his 54th birthday WW I
veteran and dental school dropout turned renowned sculptor Max Kalish, the Lithuanian
born son of Hannah Levinson and Joel Kalichick the husband of Alice Neuman and
father of Richard and James Kalish who was raised in Cleveland, OH and who “t
the outset of World War II, Kalish was commissioned by the Museum of American
History to sculpt forty-eight bronze figures — one-third-life-size — of those
involved in the war effort, including President Roosevelt, his cabinet and
other important people” passed away todayl
https://case.edu/ech/articles/k/kalish-max
https://americanart.si.edu/artist/max-kalish-2534
Max
Kalish | Artists | WOLFS Fine Paintings and Sculpture (wolfsgallery.com)
1945: Birthdate of Eric
Norman Woolfson, the native of Glasgow where his family owned a furniture, who
became “a Scottish songwriter, lyricist, vocalist, executive producer, pianist,
and co-creator of The Alan Parsons Project.”
1946(15th of
Adar II, 5706): Purim
1946(15th of
Adar II, 5706): Seventy-nine-year-old Maurice Falk, he Greensberg, PA born son
of Charles and Sara Falk and the founder, with his brothers of Weirton Steel
who married Selma Wertheimer after his first wife Laura Klinordlinger passed
away and who, with his brother “established the Federation of Jewish
Philanthropies at Pittsburg in 1912 passed away today.
http://www.jewishfamilieshistory.org/entry/falk-family/
1946: Birthdate of
award-winning Dutch filmmaker Wolf “Willy” Lindwer, “best known for his films
on the Holocaust, Israel and the Middle East, Judaism and Christianity…”
1946: Former Prime
Minister Winston Churchill was “the guest of honor at a dinner given by” Jewish
financier and unofficial advisor to numerous Presidents, Bernard Baruch.
1946: Birthdate of Wolf
“Willy” Lindwer the native of Amsterdam “best known for his films on the
Holocaust, Israel and the Middle East and Judaism.”
1946: In Sweden,
premiere of “Deadline at Dawn” directed by Howard Cluman with a script by
Clifford Odets.
1947: Birthdate of
Steve Schiff the Chicago native who became a Congressman from New Mexico’s
First District.
1947: Birthdate of
Deborah Esther Lipstadt , the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust
Studies at Emory University who defeated Holocaust denier David Irving in an
English court.
1947: Efforts to
overturn the death sentences of Dov Rosenbaum, Eliezer Kashani and Mordecai
Kashani suffered a setback today when the “Palestine High Court rejected an
application for an order for the commissioner of prisons, the British
commanding general, the attorney general and the chief secretary to show cause”
for why the sentence should not be set aside.
1948(7th of
Adar II, 5708): Seventy-three-year-old Gedaliah Bublick, the Grodno born son of
Aaron Bublick “the writer and Zionist who drifted from Paris to Argentina to
New York where he became editor-in-chief of the Yiddishe Tageblatt passed away
suddenly tonight.
Hempstead, NY, native Milton “Mickey” Rutner
the third baseman who played in 12 games for the 1947 Philadelphia Athletics
passed away today in Georgetown, TX.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rutnemi01.shtml
1948(7th of Adar II,
5708): Rabbi Chaim Isaac Block, author of Divrei
Hibbah passed away.
1948(7th of
Adar II, 5708): Sixty-four-year-old Hungarian native Louis J. Moss, the son of
Michael and Jennie Moss, “a lawyer specializing in real estate and trust law”
and the President of the United Synagoes of American from 1931 to 1941 who was
the husband of the former Bryna Finegold with whom he had three children passed
away today.
1948: Today in Tel
Aviv, David Ben-Gurion said “that the Jews and Arabs would make peace in the
Holy Land if the United Nations implemented the decision on partition.”
1948 President Truman
met with Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann and assured him of the United States'
support for Jewish statehood.
1949: After having been
released in Germany and the United States in 1948, “Long Is he Road” – “the
first German-made film to directly portray the Holocaust.”
1949: James Grover
McDonald was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Israel by President Harry Truman.
1949: Moshe Dayan,
Abdullah el-Tell and King Abdullah of Jordan began “a series of meetings today”
which would lead to an armistice agreement.
1950: “Dr. George
Josephthanal, director of the Absorption Department of the Jewish Agency”
announced “that a sea and air operation aimed at moving 90,000 Jews out of Iraq
into Israel would be initiated next month at a cost of sixty million dollars.”
1951: Birthdate of Ben
Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Empire.
1952: The Jerusalem
Post reported that Agriculture Minister Levi Eshkol promised self-sufficiency
in animal fodder, increased tobacco production, and intensification of cattle
raising for meat, as the immediate policy goals of his ministry. He noted a general
improvement in fruit production, although he warned that it could take a couple
of years until the full impact of last year¹s planting was felt on the market.
1954(13th of
Adar II, 5714): Ta’anit Esther; erev Purim
1956(6th of Nisan,
5716): Sixty-eight-year-old Benjamin Glazer, the Irish born director and Oscar
winning writer who “was one of the founding members of the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences passed away today.
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-10680141.html
https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt4z09n74z/
1961: The New York
Times reports that the French government awarded Rabbi Simon Langer the
Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur for his "...extraordinary contributions
to the advancement of better French-American relations before and after the
Second World War. He is credited with rescuing many French children from the
Nazis." His tireless work with Bikur Cholim continues.
1962: The Evian Accords
put an end to the Algerian War of Independence, which began in 1954. The end of
the Algerian War marked the beginning of a change in French policy towards the
Arabs, and therefore, towards Israel. While fighting the Arab nationalist in
Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, the French saw the Israelis as allies. This
accounts for French willingness to supply the IDF with military equipment
including jet fighter planes and to join in the Suez War of 1956. Once De
Gaulle decided to end French fighting with Arab nationalist, he sought to
create a French sphere of influence among its former colonies. Supporting
Israel was now a detriment to French policy aims. In 1967, De Gaulle would
oppose Israel’s right to defend itself in what would become the Six Days War
going so far as to deny delivery of naval vessels to the Israelis for which the
Jewish state had already paid.
1963(22nd of
Adar, 5723): Eighty-two-year-old Harry Schwartz, the maternal grandfather of
Rabbi Fred Davidow and native of Ukraine who settled in Mississippi where he
and his wife Fannie Stein ran a dry-goods store and meat market and raised a
family that included Fred’s mother Thelma Leah, passed away today.
1964(5th of Nisan,
5724): Sixty-nine-year-old American mathematician Norbert Wiener passed away.
Born in 1894, he was known as the founder of cybernetics. He created the term
in his book Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine
(MIT Press, 1948), widely recognized as one of the most important books of
contemporary scientific thinking.
1965(14th of
Adar II, 5725) Purim
1965: “Do I Hear a
Waltz?” a musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Richard Rodgers, and
lyrics by Stephen Sondheim opened on Broadway at the 46th Street
Theatre.
1965: Death of King
Farouk, former ruler of Egypt. While King of Egypt, Farouk led his country to
war against Israel in 1948. The defeat of Egyptian forces along with his total
corruption, led to Farouk’s overthrow in 1952 in a coup masterminded by Nasser.
1967: Thirteen-year-old
Alan Smason became a Bar Mitzvah at New Orleans Congregation Beth Israel. He
celebrated the event with a major party at the newly-opened Jewish Community
Center that night
1967: Birthdate of
Polish mathematician Jan Marek Hartman the great-great-grandson rabbi Isaak
Kramsztyk
1968(18th of Adar,
5728): Sixty-year-old Harry Kurnitz who wrote over forty movie scripts as well
as detective stories and plays passed away today.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9904EEDF1E39E134BC4152DFB5668383679EDE
1968(18th of
Adar, 5728): “Two people were killed and 28 children were in landmine attack on
a school bus in the Negev north of Eilat.”
1969(28th of
Adar, 5729): Sixty-two-year-old Zena Maisel Pollack, the administrative
director of the Jewish Guild for the Blind for the last 35 years, “known to her
associates as Sis” and wife of “retired toy manufacturer Sidney E. Pollack”
passed away today at University Hospital.
1969(28th of
Adar, 5729: Seventy-two-year Harvard alum and Navy Veteran from WW I and WW II
Kassel Lewis, the founder of Crown Fabrics and husband of “the former Syliva
Surut who is the director the YMHA/YWHA nursery” with whom he raised a daughter
and a son – Anthony Lewis of the New York Times.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/03/19/90071781.pdf
1970: The Cook-Leichter
Bill, which was co-authored by Holocaust survivor and Harvard Law School New
York State Assemblyman Franz S. Leichter and which “was the first in the nation
to legalize abortion” passed the New York State Senate today after five hours
of debate.
1972(3rd of
Nisan, 5732): Parashat Vayikra
1973(14th of
Adar II, 5733): Purim
1973: “Two People” a
dramatic film with music by David Shire was released today in the United
States.
1973: The Cy Coleman
musical “Seesaw” opened today on Broadway at the Uris Theatre.
1974: In Tucker, GA,
“Leslie (Diamond) and Charles Lowenstein gave birth to twin brothers Evan
Mitchell Lowenstein and Jaron David Lowenstein, the musical duo who perform as
“Evan and Jaron.”
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported from Cairo
that Yasser Arafat made it clear that the PLO had no intention of giving up its
aim of creating a "secular state" in Palestine ¬ its roundabout
expression for the destruction of Israel. In Washington, despite Israeli repeated
requests, the State Department declined to say what President Jimmy Carter had
in mind when he called for a Palestinian "homeland." Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin was reportedly worried by Carter¹s statement that there had to be
a homeland provided for Palestinian refugees who have suffered for many, many
years.
1978: “Straight Time,”
“a crime drama directed by Ulu Grosbard,” produced by Tim Zinnemann and
starring Dustin Hoffman was released in the United States today.
1978: “Two London
Jewish tourists, who visited Leningrad, reported that after meeting with
refuseniks, they were attacked and beaten up by a gang of hooligans.”
1979(19th of Adar,
5739): Seventy year old Sylvan N. Friedman who served in the Louisiana State
Legislature from 1944 until 1972, a
long-time member of Congregation Gemiluth Chassodim and the father of Sam
Friedman, the attorney who reopened the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans, passed
away today.
http://www.lapoliticalmuseum.com/inductees.php?viewID=23
1979: In Los Angeles,
“Fredric Levine, the founder of retail chain M. Fredric, and Patsy (née Noah)
Levine, an admissions counselor” gave birth to Adam Noah Levine an American
singer-songwriter and guitarist who is the frontman for the pop rock band Maroon
5.
1979: “Fast Company” a
racing movie directed by David Cronenberg who co-authored the script was
released today in Canada.
1980(1st of
Nisan, 5740): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
1980(1st of Nisan,
5740): Seventy-nine-year-old Eric Fromm passed away.
https://spartacus-educational.com/USAfromm.htm
1980(1st of
Nisan, 5740): Eighty-year-old German born “British neurologist” and founder of
the Paralympics in the UK Sir Ludwig Guttman passed away today
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ludwig-Guttmann
http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/LudwigPoppaGuttmann.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Guttmann
1982: In Livingston,
NJ, Caryn and Steven Pally gave birth to actor and comedian Adam Saul Pally.
1983(4th of Nisan,
5743): Eighty-nine-year-old New York Republican Party leader Samuel Greenwald,
the Hungarian born son of Judah and Marjem Greenwald and husband of Szeri
Greenwald pass way today.
1984(14th of
Adar II, 5744): Purim
1986(7th of Adar II,
5746): Seventy-one-year-old author Bernard Malmud passed away. The prolific
author may be best known for The Fixer for which he won the Pulitzer Prize and
The Natural which was made into a movie starring Robert Redford. The movie and
the book have different endings. The film version makes Hollywood happy. The
book ends in a manner consistent with Malmud’s view of life. (As reported by
Mervyn Rothstein)
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/09/28/reviews/malamud-obit.html
1987: Two days after he
had passed away funeral services were held today for eighty-seven year old
Estonia native Samuel H. Shapiro, the second Jew to serve as Governor of
Illinois.
1988: “The Milagro
Beanfield War” featuring Daniel Stern and with music by Dave Grusin who won an
Oscar for Best Original Score was released today in the United States.
1988(29th of
Adar, 5748): Eighty-four-year-old Gerald Abraham, the President of the Royal
Musical Association passed away today.
1989(11th of
Adar II, 5749): Parashat Vayikra; Shabbat Zachor
1989(11th of
Adar II, 5749): Albert Bassuk passed today after which he was buried in the
Montefiore Cemetery in Springfield Gardens, NY.
1990(21st of
Adar, 5750): Ninety-four-year-old Manhattan born, Harvard Grad and WW I U.S.
Navy Ensign Walter S. Mack who made Pepsi he nation’s number 2 cola, behind
number 1, Coke, passed away today. (As reported by Peter B. Flint)
http://articles.latimes.com/1990-03-19/news/mn-579_1_pepsi-syrup
1991: In “Resisting the
Vortex By Living a Life of Books and Anger” published today Frank Rich reviewed
a new Holocaust play – “The Substance of Fire” by Jon Robin Baitz.”
1992: Leona Helmsley
was sentenced to 4 years for tax evasion.
1993(25th of
Adar, 5753): Ninety-seven year old Sara R. Ehrman the Bowling Green KY born
“daughter of Helen Emelie
Rosenfeld and businessman Abe Rosenfeld” and wife of Herbert B Ehrman, an
attorney for Sacco and Venzetti and “founder of the Greater Boston chapter of
the American Jewish Committee who was a long-time and successful opponent of
the death penalty and the mother of H. Bruce and Robert Ehrman passed away
today after which she was buried in the Temple Israel Cemetery in Wakefield,
MA.
1993: The Sisters Rosensweig,
a play written by Wendy Wasserstein opened on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore
Theatre.
1994: In Canada, CTV
broadcast the first episode of “RoboCop” a series produced by Jay Firestone
based on the movie of the same name
1995: “Opening the
Fed’s Door From Inside” published today provides an insight to the fiscal and
monetary philosophy of Alan S. Binder, the Vice Chairman of the Federal
Reserve.
1997: Charlene
Barshefsky began his service as 12th United States Trade
Representative.
1997: It was reported
today that President, Chancellor, Boards of Governors and Overseers, faculty,
administration and students of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of
Religion record with profound sorrow the death in Jerusalem of Dr. S. Zalman
Abramov, Chairman of the Board of Overseers of our Jerusalem School.
1997: The Landmarks
Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the proposed designation as a
Landmark of the Pike Street Synagogue (Congregation Sons of IsraelKalwarie),
and the proposed designation of the related Landmark Site
1998: Rachel Schulder
Abrams and Ian Daniel Pear, “a graduate of Georgetown University, is a law
student at New York University and a rabbinical student at Yeshiva University”
were married today “at the Puck Building in Manhattan in a ceremony full of ancient
Hebrew folk songs and traditions.”
1999: Marcel Marceau
day is established in New York City.
2000(11th of
Adar II, 5760): Parsashat Vayikra; Shabbat Zachor observed for the last time
during the Presidency of Bill Clinton.
2001: The New York Times featured reviews of
books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including
IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and
America's Most Powerful Corporation by Edwin Black and The Voice of Memory:
Interviews 1961-1987 by Primo Levi; edited by Marco Belpoliti and Robert
Gordon.
2001: In what was the
first Palestinian rocket attack on Israel proper in the Second Intifada, “Palestinians
fired three mortar shells from the Gaza Strip at the Israeli farming community
of Nahal Oz, wounding a soldier.” (Jewish Virtual Library)
2002: “Israeli ground
forces began withdrawing early today from Palestinian-controlled territory in
Bethlehem and two other West Bank towns, the Israeli Army said, as Israel moved
under American pressure toward meeting Palestinian conditions for formal cease-fire
talks.”
2003(14th of
Adar II, 5763): Purim
2004: In Israel
premiere of “Walk on Water” directed by Eytan Fox.
2004(2nd of
Nisan, 5764): Seventy-two-year-old Tony Award winning Broadway producer Joan
Cullman passed away today. (As reported by Ben Sisario)
2005: “Melinda and
Melinda” produced by Letty Aronson was released today in the United States.
2005: “The military
announced that Israeli citizens are now barred from moving to Jewish
settlements in the Gaza Strip, a move aimed at preventing an influx of
activists in advance of a planned withdrawal this summer” during which Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon intends to evacuate all 8,500 settlers from Gaza, over
four weeks beginning in July.”
2006(18th of
Adar 5766): Parshat Ki TisaShabbat Parah
2006: Founding of
“Jewdas” “a Jewish diaspora group based in London” that describes itself as
"radical" and is described by The Jewish Chronicle as a "Jewish
diaspora group, known for its far-left anti-Zionism.”
2006: The family and
multitude of friends of Betty Levin gather in Chicago for a belated birthday celebration.
Wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, teacher, pillar of the Jewish community and so
much more – she is the complete package. She redefines the term Ashesh Chayil
giving the term a meaning far beyond anything that Solomon could have possibly
imagined.
2007: The Jerusalem
Circus performs at the Gerard Behar Center as part of the Jerusalem Arts
Festival.
2007: At Manhattan’s
92nd Street Y, Zvi Gotheiner and Dancers present the last performance of
“Gertrud,” a tribute to Gotheiner’s late teacher, Gertrud Kraus.
2007: The Sunday New
York Times features a review of Waiting for Daisy by Peggy Orenstein.
2008: Eric Alterman, a
professor of English and journalism at the City University of New York,
discusses and signs Why We're Liberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush
America at Borders Book Store in Washington, D.C.
2008: German Chancellor
Angela Merkel becomes the first foreign head of government to address the
Knesset. In the past, the honor has been reserved only for heads of state and
monarchs.
2008: A special meeting
of the Committee for the Advancement of Women will be convened to mark
International Agunah Day, led by the new chairperson of the committee - Knesset
member Lia Shemtov.
2008(11th of Adar II,
5768): Henry A. Fischel, a “professor emeritus of Near Eastern languages and
cultures at Indiana University,” passed away. “Fischel was an influential
figure in founding the Jewish Studies Program at Indiana University. Under his
direction, the Lilly Endowment gave the university a grant in 1972-73 to
develop a Jewish Studies Program.”
2008(11th of
Adar II, 5678): Seventy-eight-year-old the heavyweight literary editor who was
a “noted for his distinguished list of authors, tweedy attire and accomplished
renditions of Bach preludes and fugues on the piano” passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/arts/22asher.html
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/apr/02/culture.obituaries
2008: “Yael Naim, the
self-titled second studio album by Yael Naïm” that features the single
"New Soul" was released today in the United States in Canada today.
2008: A 49-year-old
Israeli rabbi identified as Rabbi Yechezkel Greenwald was stabbed and wounded
by an Arab assailant near the Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem.
2009: The Leo Baeck
Institute hosts “Regina Resnik Presents: Covert or Convert” a film that pays
“homage to composers who converted to Christianity but who wrote on Jewish
themes, and to composers who did not convert, but wrote on Jewish themes in
secret, often at the risk of their lives. Presented and narrated by the
legendary mezzo-soprano Regina Resnik, the film shares the proud and often
difficult history of such composers as Anton Rubinstein, Otto Klemperer, and
Felix Mendelssohn, whose statue outside the Gewandhaus in Leipzig was destroyed
by the Nazis.
2009: Book World
columnist Michael Dirda discusses and signs his most recent book, Classics for
Pleasure, at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington in Rockville,
Md.
2009: The Orange Prize,
given annually to a female fiction writer, announced its list of 20 contenders,
including Allegra Goodman the author of “Intuition.” The finalists for the Man
Booker International Prize, a lifetime achievement award given every other
year, have been announced including E. L. Doctorow and Joyce Carol Oates.
2009: "The North
American United Jewish Communities, in cooperation with the State
Department...set funds aside to absorb 110 Yemenite Jews in to the United -
more than a third of all the Jews remaining in Yemen."
2009(22nd of
Adar, 5769): Terry Schwarzfeld died of brain injuries today, two weeks after
being airlifted to a hospital in Ottawa from Barbados where she had been
brutally by Curtis Joel Foster while on vacation with her daughter-in-law. At the time of the attack, she had just
started her term as president of Canadian Hadassah WIZO and was executive
director of Ottawa's largest synagogue, Agudath Israel.
2010: Jacques Pépin,
author of more than a dozen cookbooks and host of a trio of celebrated cooking
shows, is scheduled to serve as a celebrity judge today during the finals of
the Man-O-Manischewitz Cook-Off, hosted in New York City by the kosher food giant.
2010: An auction of
several rare early American Jewish books is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. in
New York. Among the offerings at the sale being conducted by Swann Auction
Galleries is an early Jewish-American cookbook and the first Hebrew Bible
printed on American soil. A first edition of Esther Levy's 1871 Jewish Cookery
Book is expected bring bids ranging from $10,000 to 15,000
2010: Itzhak Perlman
joins the IPO for a performance in Concert in Jeans Series in Tel Avi.
2010: As part of The
Levin/Rosenstein Lecture Series held in Memory of Mr. & Mrs. Joseph B.
Levin, Dr. Jacob L. Levin, and Larry and Judy (Levin) Rosenstein, The Jewish
Studies Program at Tulane University is scheduled to present “From Berlin to
New York: Jewish Culture in Pre-Nazi Germany and Jewish Culture in Post-War
America.”
2010: A migrant worker
in the northern Negev was killed by a rocket fired by Palestinians from the
Gaza Strip.
2010: Israeli actor and
television host Eyal Kitzis and his wife Tali gave birth to their first son.
2011: In Buenos Aires,
Argentina Jewish leaders, “Jewish school groups, local and federal government
officials met in the square where the embassy once stood, to remember the
attack on the Israeli Embassy which took place on March 17, 1992, killing 29
people, and injuring 242. The attack was the work of Iran.
2011: The Five
finalists on the Man-O-Manischewitz Cook-Off who have won an all-expense paid
trip to Manhattan are scheduled to compete today at the Jewish Community Center
of Manhattan.
2011: Lorin Sklamberg
with Dublin-born chanteuse Susan McKeown and guitarist Aidan Brennan are
scheduled to present Saints and Tzadiks, a program of rare songs from the
Yiddish and Irish traditions in Bielefeld, Germany.
2011(12 Adar II, 5771):
Sixty-seven-year-old Knesset Member and educator Ze'ev Boim passed away today.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/mk-ze-ev-boim-dies-at-67-1.350109
2011(12 Adar II): On
the Hebrew calendar, anniversary the “Dedication of Herod’s Renovated Temple”
in 11 BCE. For those who know how Herod lived his life the Talmud’s declaration
that "He who has not seen Herod's edifice has not seen a magnificent edifice!"
is difficult to understand.
2011: Projectiles land
in open areas with no injuries, damaged reported; shots fired at IDF soldiers
near southern Gaza border.
2011: In “In Novels, an
Ex-Spy Returns to the Fold,” Jules Bosman describes the upcoming literary
efforts of Valery Palme Wilson, the CIA employee who happened to Jewish and who
was identity was scandalously exposed by those upset with her husband.
2012: The annual Jewish
Women’s Archive Luncheon is scheduled to take place at the Museum of Jewish
Heritage in New York City.
2012: The final in a
three part lecture series “Agnon’s Eretz Israel” presented by Rabbi Jeffrey
Saks is scheduled to take place today.
2012: “The Last Jews of
Libya” is scheduled to be shown at the New York Sephardic Film Festival.
2012: The NoVA
International Film Festival is scheduled to begin today in Fairfax, VA.
2012(24th of
Adar, 5772): Eighty-seven-year-old real estate developer Melvyn Kaufman passed
away today. (As reported by Margalit
Fox)
2013: At Shaaray
Tefila, Rabbi Dagan is scheduled to present a “special program where he will
share gorgeous melodies that track his personal musical journey from an Israeli
Sephardi synagogue to a Reform rabbinate in Haifa.
2013: After almost six
years of service, Ehud Barak stepped down as Minister of Defense.
2013: Leo Baeck
Institute is scheduled to present “Beer, Art and Revolution: Jewish Life in
Munich, 1806-present.”
2013: Gideon Sa’ar
replaced Eli Yishai as Minster of the Interior.
2013: Moshe Ya’alon
replaced Ehud Barak as Minister of Defense.
2013: Ayoob Kara
completed his term as Deputy Minister for the Development of the Negev and
Galilee
2013: The ministers of
Israel’s 33rd government were sworn in this evening in the Knesset in
Jerusalem.
2013: Israel and a
European human rights official criticized Hungary today for presenting an award
to a television journalist they accuse of anti-Semitism.
2013: An Israeli was
lightly injured in a drive-by attack near the West Bank settlement of Kedumim
this morning. A Palestinian shooter opened fire on the man, 71, who was on
foot, at the Kedumim Junction, slightly injuring him in the leg.
2014(16th of
Adar II, 5774): Ninety-five-year-old Doris Kanter, “the widow of comedy
writer-produceer-director Hal Kanter passed away today.
2014: The New York
Premiere of “Shadow in Baghdad” is scheduled to take place at New York
Sephardic Jewish Film Festival.
2014: “Dancing in
Jaffa” is scheduled to be shown at the Houston Jewish Film Festival.
2014: Twenty-four
Medals of Honor were awarded by President Obama to Army veterans who were
denied their honor due to prejudice including Private First Class Leonard
Kravitz and Sargent Jack Weinstein who were killed during the Korean War. (As
reported by Jim Kunhenn)
2014: The Story of
the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC-1492 AD by Simon Schama is scheduled to
go on sale today. This is the first volume of a two volume study of Jewish
history which is the source for the PBS series, “The Story of the Jews which is
scheduled to premiere on Tuesday, March 25
2014: Four IDF soldiers
wer wouned when an explosive device detonated along Israel’s border fence with
Syria this afternoon in the area south of the Druze village of Majdal Shams.
(As reported by Yoav Zitun)
2014: Hezbollah sources
said today that an explosion on the Golan Heights that injured three IDF
soldiers had been an attempt to kidnap soldiers. (As reported by Uzi Baruch)
2014: IAF planes fired
on the sites in Syria that terrorists used to attack and wound IDF soldiers
earlier in the day.
2014: “Tales From Tel
Aviv and Upper West Side” published today provided a review of The
Unamericans by Molly Antopol
2015: The Canadian Haggadah Canadienne is
scheduled to go sale in Toronto.
2015: Today, Supreme
Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg “released a feminist reading of the Passover
story” “which focuses on five women at the center of the Exodus narrative” and
was put together by…the American Jewish World Service.
2015: World premiere of
“God’s Honest Truth” is scheduled to take place this evening as part of Theatre
J sponsored by the Washington, DCJCC.
2015: In San Diego,
Jacob Goldberg is scheduled to deliver a lecture on “Israeli-Palestinian
Stalemate: Status Quo, Intifada, or Interim Agreements?”
2015: “Los Angeles
Police Department detectives say several handwriting experts link Robert Durst
to an anonymous letter tipping authorities to the slaying of writer Susan
Berman in 2000, according a search warrant made public today.”
2015: “With some 99
percent of the votes counted by early Wednesday morning, Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party appeared set to win a resounding victory in
the general election, with 30 seats, compared to the Zionist Union’s 24”.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-looks-to-form-right-religious-coalition-in-coming-weeks/
2015: “Jews &
Money” and “24 Days” are scheduled to be shown at the 18th New York
Sephardic Jewish Film Festival.
2016: Approximately
25,000 runners from 61 countries took part in today’s Jerusalem Marathon.
2016: LimmudFest is
scheduled to begin in New Orleans, LA.
2016: Seventeen-year-old
“Israeli ice skater Daniel Samohin won first placed in the World Skating
Championship held in Hungary today.
2016: “Isaac Mizrahi:
An Unruly History is scheduled to open at the Jewish Museum.
http://thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/isaac-mizrahi-an-unruly-history
2016: The Television
Project: Some of My Best Friends is scheduled to open today.
http://thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/isaac-mizrahi-an-unruly-history
2016: Masterpieces and
Curiosities: The Fictional Portrait is scheduled to open today.
http://thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/masterpieces-curiosities-the-fictional-portrait
2017(20th of
Adar, 5777): Shabbat Parah; for more see
http://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/
2017: In London, the
South Social Film Festival is scheduled to host a tribute to women and Jewish
culture as attendees “dive into Jewish culture” in “an immersive experience
showcasing indie film, with live Klezmer music with TANTZ trio, and food celebrating
Jewish culture.
2017: On the secular
calendar, 50th anniversary of the Bar Mitzvah of Renaissance man
Alan Smason, the founder of the Crescent City Jewish News. http://www.crescentcityjewishnews.com/
2018: “Jewish Blind
Date,” “Kosher Love” and “The Setup” are scheduled to be shown this afternoon
at the New Jersey Jewish Film Festival.
2018(2nd of
Nisan, 5778): Ninety-one-year-old English born, University of London trained
physician Dr. Samuel Epstein who articulated the need to deal with the
political, economic and social aspects of cancer passed away today. (As reported by Sam Roberts)
2018: “House of Z” and
“Keep the Change” are scheduled to be shown on the final day of the Houston
Jewish Film Festival.
2018: LimmudFest is
scheduled to come to an end today in New Orleans.
2018: The New York Times featured reviews of
books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Impeachment:
A Citizen’s Guide by Cass R. Sunstein,
Can It Happen Here?: Authoritarianism in America by Cass R. Sunstein and
the recently released paperback edition of Why?: Explaining the Holocaust
by Peter Hayes
2018: The Society for
the Advancement of Judaism is scheduled to sponsor “Too Good To Passover” which
includes a “cookbook talk, book signing and charoset tasting.
2018: “The Israeli
military today announced that it destroyed two attack tunnels, one that entered
Israeli territory and another inside the central Gaza Strip, the latest in a
series of underground structures have been demolished by Israel in recent months.”
2018: Congregation
Shearith Israel is scheduled to host “Passover and the American Imagination.”
2018: Twenty-year-old
Sgt. Netanel Kahalani, 20, from Elyakim in northern Israel, the victim of a
terroirst car ramming attack was buried early on today in the cemetery in his
hometown, with thousands in attendance, according to Hebrew reports.
2018: Twenty-one year old Captain Ziv Daos, a platton commander from Azor
who was killed in a terrorist car ramming attack is scheduled to be buried
today at noon today at the military cemetery at Holon.(As reported by TOI)
2019: The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center is scheduled to host a
screening “The Best of Enemies” followed by a discussion moderated by Rabbi
Joshua M. Davidson.
https://www.emanuelnyc.org/event/the-best-of-enemies-screening-discussion/
2019: Shir Gal Kochavi, the “Magnes museum curator” is scheduled to
discuss “the impact of ritual Jewish objects on Polis artist Arthur Szyk’s
work.”
2019: After having been “granted an 11th hour reprieve from
the auction block, Marc Chagall’s La Tour Eiffel which has been on display at
the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) in Ottawa” is scheduled to be returned to
storage today.
https://www.cjnews.com/culture/entertainment/the-world-according-to-chagall
2020: On the Gregorian
calendar, 53rd anniversary of the Bar Mitzvah of New Orleans
renaissance man Alan Smason.
2020(22nd of
Adar, 5780): Yahrzeits of Rabbi Elijah b. Solomon of Smyrna, Turkey; Rabbi
Jehiel Michal Epstein of Novogrudok; Rabbi Abraham Duber Shapiro, “the last
rabbi of the Jewish community of Kovno.” (As reported by Abraham P. Bloch)
2020: “Babies and
Bagels” which was scheduled to take place at Congregation B’nai Shalom in
Walnut, CA has been canceled due to the Pandemic.
2020: ViacomCBS
canceled a “Women’s History Month” scheduled to be held today reportedly
because of the involvement of “Linda Sarsour, who is known for her support of
the anti-Israel BDS movement and has been accused of spreading anti-Semitism.”
(As reported by Jackson Richman)
2020: The luncheon at
Touro College in connection with the National Jewish Book Award sponsored by
the Jewish Book Council scheduled for today has been postponed due to COVID-19
pandemic.
2020: In London,
“age-less job search workshop” sponsored by JW3 scheduled to be held today has
been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021: As part of its
series on “Jewish Women, Race and Ethnicity in America” the Jewish Women’s
Archive is scheduled to present online “Sephardic Women in America” with Devi
Mays, assistant professor of Judaic studies at the University of Michigan.
2021: The Open Circle
Jewish Learnings is scheduled to present online “Creating Each Day: An Omer
Maker Space for All Ages” with Rabbi Laura Bellows.
2021: Contra Costa JCC,
East Bay Jewish film fest and others are scheduled to present Raffi Berg talks
about Red Spies, his 2020 book about a coastal resort in Africa that was
actually an Israeli undercover operation that smuggled thousands of Ethiopian
Jews to Israel.
2021: The Boston
Women’s Film Festival, Boston Jewish Film and the Consulate General of Israel
to New England are scheduled to host an online screening of “Hope I’m in the
Frame,” a documentary about Michal Bat-Adam, the first Israeli movie director.
2021: The Jewish
Community Relations Council of Greater Boston and the Massachusetts
Association of Jewish
Federations are scheduled to host “a virtual legislative reception with
co-chairs Dale Okonow and Leah Robins to honor outstanding public officials who
have demonstrated their commitment to our community’s priorities.”
2021: UC
Berkeley Center for Jewish Studies is scheduled to present “Homeland, Exile and
Diaspora: Contemporary Jewish Reflections” a conversation among UC Berkeley
professor Daniel Boyarin, Academy for Jewish Religion’s Rabbi Jill Hammer, and
Dartmouth professor Susannah Heschel.
2022(15th of
Adar II, 5782): Shushan Purim
2022: The Sir Martin
Gilbert Center is scheduled to host the final lecture by Shirli Gilbert on
“Wandering Jews: Migration in Modern Jewish History.”
2023: the Illinois
Holocaust Museum is scheduled to offer free Spring Break Admission for “Kids
and Students” starting today.
2023: LimmuFest New
Orleans is scheduled to continue for a second day.
2023: At Temple Judea
Rabbi Feivel Strauss is scheduled to lead another of his informative torah
study sessions via zoom.
2023: In Newark, NJ,
“Phillip Roth Unbound: Illuminating a Literary History” sponsored by the New
Jersey Performing Arts Center is scheduled to continue for a second day.
2023: Israel braces for
another round of Saturday evening mass protests against the judicial reform
legislation which is “barreling its way” through the Knesset.
2023(25th of Adar, 5783): Shabbat HaChodesh;
2024: In another lecture in the online lecture series "Darkness and
Light in Literature" sponsored by Agnon House, participants are scheduled
to “read together with Dr. Lilach Netanel in chapter 45 of the novel
"A Tale of Love and Darkness" and in isolated excerpts from the
modern Israeli and Jewish writing book about darkness, nightmares and shadows.”
2024: In Washington, the final screening of
“Bella” is scheduled to take place followed by “a post-screening conversation
with film director Jeff L. Lieberman, Bella’s Administrative Assistant in
Congress Marilyn Marcosson, Bella’s Administrative Aide in Congress Peter
Rosenstein, and Bella’s Legislative Assistant in Congress Ken Birnbaum.”
2024: The Streicker Center is scheduled to host
columnist Thomas Friedman as he discusses “his oft-expressed concerns about
Israel’s invasion of Gaza, his belief that Hamas has traded the lives of
Palestinian citizens to pull off a major PR coup and Israel’s lack of a
realistic plan for “the day after.”
2024: The Sir Martin Gilbert Learning Center is
scheduled to host a lecture by Dr. Isabelle Seddon on “Intrepid Pioneers:
Jewish Women in the Public Arena.”
2024: YIVO is scheduled to host “a performance
of Joel Engel’s Five Piano Pieces (1923): a collection of Jewish folksongs,
dances, and Hasidic nigunim in virtuosic piano arrangements.”
2024: As March 18th begins in Israel, the Hamas held hostages begin day 164 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.)
