This Day, March 2, In Jewish History
March 2
117(12th
of Adar, 3877): As the rebellion by
Disapora Jews against the Roman Empire of Trajan came to an unsuccessful close,
two Jewish brothers who had been leaders in the revolt, Pappus and Julianus
were executed at Laodicea in Syria.
Trajan did not get to savor his victory since he died in 117. Unfortunately for the Jews he was followed by
Hadrian who was even crueler than his predecessor.
986:
Louis V becomes King of the Franks. Louis was the last of the Carolingian, a
dynasty under whom the Jews had done rather well, all things considered. Charlemagne was the most famous of the
Carolingian rulers and he supported his Jewish subjects despite opposition from
church leaders. Louis le Débonnaire who reigned from 814 to 833 was another of
the Carolingians who gave special protection to his Jewish subjects. During the
reign of Carolingians the Jews were active in commerce, medicine and agriculture,
especially in the field of viticulture a fact of which we are reminded when we
study about Rashi. The change in
dynasties would not have an immediate effect on the Jews living in France. Life for them would not really change until
the first crusade in 1096.
1127:
Charles, the Good, Count of Flanders was murdered while praying in the church
of St. Donat at Bruges. This came two years after Charles had expelled the Jews
from Ghent because he blamed them for the famine that consumed his realm in
1125.
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6652-ghent
1291:
As Moslems and Christians continue their war for control of “the Holy Land”
“Al-Ashraf Khalil resumed the offensive” begun by his later father Al-Mansur
Qalawun which including laying siege to Acre, the capital of the Crusader’s
Kingdom of Jerusalem.
1336(10th
of Adar I, 5096): Physician and astronomer Joseph Sason, a member of a
prominent Iberian Jewish family passed away today in Toledo
1349:
In Erfurt, the capital of the German state of Thuringia, 1,000 Jews were killed
in a single day of violence in a pogrom brought on by hysteria surrounding The
Black Death which struck Europe in 1340.
During this outbreak of what was probably bubonic plagues millions died
in Europe removing approximately one third of the continent’s population.
“Modern research has revealed that the plague was probably carried by boat from
an Asian source, but at the time the affected communities had no idea why and how
such a terrible affliction had come upon them so suddenly. In seeking an
explanation, they needed a scapegoat and lighted upon the Jews living in their
midst. In many villages, towns and cities, Jews were accused of causing the
sickness by poisoning drinking water in wells and fountains.” [Editor’s note: for those tracking sweeping
patterns of history, note that blaming Jews is not different or rational today
than it was in what was supposedly the unenlightened Dark Ages.
1382: The Mailotin
Riots began in Paris. These riots were similar to the tax riots held two years
previously. Both times the Jews were considered accomplices in over-oppressive
taxes. Sixteen Jews fell victim to this outbreak violence.
1515: Today, in a grida
(proclamation) Marquis Fancesco Gonzaga stated “that the recent popular
uprising against Jews in Mantua greatly displeased him.
Page 1 introduction
Italian art
1578: In Bishopsthorpe,
Edwin Sandys, the Archbishop of York and his wife gave birth to Oxford educated
travel writer George Sandys who claimed to have found the Ten Lost “1610 in the
neighborhood of the Caspian Sea” and whose third book in “The Relation of a
Journey” series provided “a description of Palestine, the Holy Land and the
Jewish and Christians living there during the middle of the seventeenth
century,
1640(20th of
Adar): Rabbi Joel Sirkes, author of Bayit Hadash passed away today.
1641(Julian; 1st
of Nisan, 5401): Rabbi Meir Jacob Schiff-KaZ, the son of Jacob Schiff-KaZ and
Gutlin Schiff-KaZ and the husband of Sprinz Schiff-KaZ passed away today at
Frankfurt am Main.
1727: Abraham Pinto and
his wife gave birth to Samuel Pinto.
(Editor’s note – There are several men who bear the name of Samuel
Pinto)
1743: In
Wolfenbütteler, “court factor Samson Gumpel” and his wife gave birth to “court
banker” Philipp Samson.
1753(26th of Adar I,
5513): Issachar Berush Eskeles the native of Poland who was the son of Gabriel
Eskeles and son-in-law of Samson Wertheimer, who was named rabbi of Kremsir in
1710, when he was only eighteen years old and eventually served as "Landesrabbiner"
of Moravia passed away today in Vienna.
1775: Birthdate of
Steinhart, Bavaria native Israel Mayer, the husband of Marianne Miriam Dreifus
with whom he had seven children.
1779(14th of
Adar, 5539): Purim
1781:
Ninety-five-year-old Elias Mordecai was buried today at the “Alderney Road
(Globe Rd) Jewish Cemetery.”
1785: In Philadelphia,
PA, Miriam Marks and Bordeaux born Benjamin Abraham Nones gave birth to Rachel
Nones.
1789:
Alexander Hamilton, the native of Nevis who according to some was the son a
Jewess Rachel Levine and who attended the island’s Jewish school before leaving
for North America, completed his five months of service as Delegate to the
Congress of the Confederation from New York .
1791: An act
approved today declared that " from and after the third day of March next,
all the laws of the United States, which are not locally inapplicable, ought to
have, and shall have, the same force and effect within the State of Vermont as
elsewhere within the United States.
1793: Sarah Cohen and
New York native David Nunez Cardozo gave birth to Isaac N. Cardozo.
1794: Benjamin Farmer
who had changed his last name from Solomons married Phoebe Moses at the Great
Synagogue today
1796: Rabbi Mordecai of
Niesvizh, issued a proclamation, which was approved by other rabbis in Poland,
addressed to all Jews of Poland, imploring every male and female, adult and
minor, whether living in cities or villages, to subscribe a fixed sum every
week for the support of their countrymen, who had settled in the Holy Land with
the amount to be paid quarterly, in addition to special donations at weddings,
circumcisions, and other religious rejoicings all of which resulted in a
substantial increase in the halukkah (the fund to support Jews living in the
Holy Land.
1798(14th of
Adar, 5558): Purim
1798: Esther Cohen and
Michael Hart gave birth to Samuel Hart, the husband of Emily Hart and the
father of Charles, Isabel and Hetty Hart.
1799(25th of
Adar I, 5559): Parashat Vayakhel; Shabbat Shekalim
1799: As these Jews
observed Shabbat, a day on which they are often reminded that God will judge us
based on how we treat the widow, the orphan and the stranger in our midst – the
weakest member of society – President Adams approved an act of Congress providing
“for the relief of sick and disabled seaman.”
1801: Today, Maryland
native Simon M. Levy began his career as Cadet at the newly created U.S.
Military Academy at West Point having earned the appointment “for his good
conduct at the Battle of Maumee Rapids.
1803: Isaac Joseph
married Judith Myers today at the Great Synagogue.
1809(14th of
Adar, 5569): Purim is observed two days before the end of the Presidency of
Thomas Jefferson.
1821: Today,
forty-three-year-old Aaron Lazarus the Charleston, SC born son of Mark Lazarus
married his second wife Rachel Lazarus in Richmond after his first wife Esther
Cohen had passed away.
1822: In Charleston,
SC, Hertz Wolf (Fritz) Oppenheim and Catharine Oppenheim gave birth to Wolf
Oppenheim who would die seventeen days later.
1822: In Bavaria,
Solomon Blumauer and Helen Binswanger gave birth to Simon Blumauer the Portland
businessman, the builder of the second brick building in Portland, Oregon, and
charter member of Congregation Beth Israel who was the husband of Malie Rodelsheimer.
1822: In London, Keila
bat Joseph and Michael Myers gave birth printer Benjamin Myers who settled in
Edmonton, Canada.
1824: Founding of The Boston Courier which had become a
weekly newspaper by the time Benjamin Cohen began serving as its Business
Manager.
1828(16th of
Adar, 5588): Purim Meshulash celebrated for the last time during the Presidency
of John Quincy Adams who “during the first year of his presidency stated in a letter
to Mordecai Noah that he like his father supported the rebuilding of Judea as
an independent state.?
1831: Frederick Samuel
married Sarah Mocatta today at the Great Synagogue.
1831: Birthdate of
Dutch native Levi Sasieni.
1835: Francis, who as
Francis II was the last Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and who as Francis I
was the first Emperor of the Austrian Empire passed away.
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2152-austria#anchor23
1835: Ferdinand I of
Austria, who was reported to be “a member of the Chevra Kadisha of Prague began
his reign today.
1835: In Christchurch,
Rachel and Edward Nathan gave birth to Joseph Edward Nathan, the husband of
Dinah Nathan who died while she was sailing on the SS Kaikoura.
1836: Texans signed the Texas Declaration of
Independence at Washington-on-the-Brazos, effectively creating the Republic of
Texas. Adolphus Sterne was one of the many Jews who supported the cause of
Texas Independence both on and off of the battlefield. Sterne was “an East Texas merchant who became
a principal source of financial backing for the Texas Revolution. Born in the
Rhineland in 1801, he arrived in Texas in time to fight in the ill-fated
1826-27 Fredonia Rebellion at Nacogdoches. He was sentenced to be shot but was
released on the promise never to bear arms against the government again. He
kept to the vow in the 1836 struggle for independence but supplied funds,
coordinated with his old friend Sam Houston, who he had known in Tennessee
before coming to Texas.”
http://www.texasalmanac.com/topics/culture/jewish/jewish-texans
1839:
French political leader Benoit Fould was re-elected for a third time.
1841
German born Caroline (Waterman) Myers, the Virginia resident and wife of Joseph
Myers gave birth to Isadore Myers.
1844(11th
of Adar, 5604): Parashat Tetzaveh; Shabbat Zachor
1847(14th
of Adar, 5607): Purim
1847(14th
of Adar, 5607): Forty-seven-year-old Immanuel Wohlwill taught at the Israelite
Free School in Hamburg and then became the Director of the Jacobson School in
Seesen.
1848:
Ibrahim Pasha who issued a decree “forbidding the Jews to pave the passage in
front of the Wall. It also cautioned them against “raising their voices and
displaying their books there.” They were however allowed “to pay visits to it
as of old” began his reign over Egypt without the approval of the Porte.
1854:
Temple Israel which was established as the Orthodox Congregation B'nai Israel
in 1853 by 36 heads of families, was granted a charter by the Tennessee state
legislature today.
1855:
Czar Nicholas I, a narrow-minded, reactionary, whose anti-Semitism included but
was not limited to expulsion from a variety of cities including Kiev; the
drafting of under-age Jewish boys for twenty-five years of military service;
the banning of beards and a sidelocks for men and banning of women shaving
their heads at the time of marriage; the banning of Yiddish; censorship and
destruction of Jewish books passed away today.
1855:
Alexander II becomes Czar of Russia. Alexander gets high marks from many
historians for two reasons. First, he is
the Czar who freed the serfs. Second, he
was a lot better than his two successors, Alexander III and Nicholas II. Alexander earned the goodwill of the Jewish
people because “he called a half to the cantonist system that separated Jewish
youths from their families, a staple of the previous Czars anti-Semitic
program.” From then on, “only Jews of
draft age would serve, and under the same rules as well as other
Russians.” Under his reign, universities
liberalized their admission policies for Jews and Jews were allowed to enter
the legal profession. Jewish businessman
and craftsmen were allowed to work outside of the Pale and enter into the
commercial life of many major urban areas.
The Czar was no liberal. His
changes in policies were caused, in part, by a desire to attract investment
from Jewish European financiers. The
Czar’s reforms were proving to be too little too late. When the Czar saw Jewish names among
opponents, his anti-Semitism rose to the surface as can be seen by the closing
of Yeshivot and his opposition to legal equality for Jews when the issue came
up at the 1878 Congress of Berlin.
1857:
In New York Solomon and Jael Belais gave birth to Henry Belais Belais
1858:
Caroline Davis and Levy Jacobs gave birth to Alice Ann Jacobs.
1859(N.S): In Russia, Menachem-Nukhem Rabinovich, a “rich
merchant” who lost it all and his wife Chaye-Esther gave birth to Solomon
Rabinowitz who became famous under the penname of Sholem Aleichem. Born
in Russia, Sholem Aleichem first wrote in Hebrew and only later turned to
writing in Yiddish. He moved from Russia to Denmark, to
Switzerland and ultimately moved to the United States at the outbreak of World
War I. Unfortunately, he only lived in America for two years and he
passed away in 1916. Known as the Yiddish Mark Twain, Sholem Aleichem is
most famous for creating Tevya and all of the wonderful characters who lived
with him in the shtetels of the Pale. He used humor to portray both the
joy and the suffering of his co-religionists. He became famous among
generations of Jews who had thought they had escaped from all of that
"Yiddish stuff" and gentiles as well with the production of Fiddler
on the Roof. Some of his famous lines include: "In the mud, but not
of the mud." "When a Jew eats a chicken one of them was
sick." "A bachelor is a man who comes to work each morning from a
different direction." "Gossip is nature's telephone." "Life
is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy
for the poor." "No matter how bad things get you got to go on living,
even if it kills you." "The rich swell up with pride, the poor from
hunger." Some of his works that have been translated into English include
Tevye's Daughters, The Adventures of Menahem-Mendel, The Best of Sholom Aleichem
and The Great Fair which is his autobiography. (Editor’s note: As with many Russians of his periods, Sholom Aleichim has two birthdates
on the secular calendar – one on the Julian calendar and one on the Gregorian
calendar.)
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/shalom-aleichem
1861(20th of Adar, 5621): Parashat Ki
Tisa; Shabbat Parah
1861: In Warsaw, despite the fact that is was
Shabbat, three Rabbis including Morris Jastrow joined the funeral procession
for five Polish nationalists who had been shot by the military.
1861: Morris Jastrow preached his first sermon in
Polish at the Shabbat service during which the five victims of the Polish
military were memorialized.
1862: Today, W. Davidson the only Jew to serve in
the 17th regiment enlisted in the unit after which he was taken
prisoner at Tilton, GA.
1864(O.S.) Birthdate of Sergei Zubatov. “the head of
the Czarist Secret Police in Moscow” who “convinced” the imprisoned Manya
Shochat to form “tame” workers “organizations that would work for reform rather
than the overthrow of the government” which would supposedly “help achieve
rights for Jews” – a supposition which the policeman knew was false and which
the Jewish leader came to see as a “pipe dream.”
1864: In Savannah, GA, Roseta Moses, the daughter of
Martha and Joseph Jonas and her husband Dr. Montefiore Jonas gave birth to
Belle Moses
1864: Marian Moss and Alphonse Hartog gave birth to
Philip Hartog.
1868: In Elgin, Il, Leopold Adler, the German born
of Auguste Schlesinger and Loeb Adler and his wife Rose Adler gave birth to
Abraham H. Adler.
1868: “The Alleged Illegal Action of the American
Consul at Jerusalem” published today described a dispute that took place
recently in Jerusalem involving a Prussian Rabbi, named Markus, a Prussian
Jewess named Steinberg, her sister who had converted to Christianity and Victor
Beaubouchier, the American Counsel in Jerusalem
1870(29th
of Adar I, 5630): Abraham Jacob Jones, the native of Whitechapel and husband of
Sophia Goldsmid passed away today
1870:
In New York, Judge Brady began hearing a suit brought by Benjamin Abrahams, the
executor for the estate of his late brother Dr. Simeon Abrahams. The total value of the bequest exceeds the
value of the estate and the executor is seeking to obtain a decree that will
establish “which if any legacies have preference” or, if there be no such
preference, what pro rata share each of the legacies should receive. The late
Dr. Abrahams was a prominent member of the Jewish community and he left several
large bequests to Jewish charities including the Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mt.
Sinai Hospital as well as numerous bequests to secular charities most of which
provide aid to orphans, juveniles and those in need of medical aide.
1871:
The Purim Association hosted its second reception of this social season at
Delmonico’s under the management of Emanuel B. Hart, Samuel A. Lewis and
Gustave D. Cardozo.
1871:
Adolph Marx Oppenheimer, the son of Marx and Sarah Oppenheimer, and Julie
Oppenheimer gave birth to Alfred Oppenheimer
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9800EFD7173BEF34BC4F51DFB466838F669FDE
1873:
Three days after she had passed away. Phoebe Aarons, the wife of Barnet Aarons
with whom she had had eight children was buried today at the “West Ham Jewish
Cemetery.”
1874(13th
of Adar): Fast of Esther
1874:
In Vicksburg, Mississippi, Nicholas Scharff and the former Carrie Bernheimer
gave birth to their second child Sidney N. Scharff.
1874:
Today marked the second and final day of the Purim reception at the Home for
Aged and Infirm Hebrews in Manhattan.
1876:
In Chicago, Henrietta Kahn and Jacob Friedman, gave birth Harvard trained
attorney Herbert J. Friedman, the husband of Elsie Seidenberg who was an
organizer of the first national Conference for the Reformation of Criminal Law
and Criminal Procedure and the first president of Young Men’s Associated Jewish
Charities.
1876:
In Rome, Filippo Pacelli and Virginia (née Graziosi) Pacelli gave birth to Eugenio
Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli who gained fame as Pope Pius XII, the Holocaust
Pope.
1877:
The Hayes-Tilden election is finally settled by the specially created electoral
commission that resolved the disputed election returns of four states in favor
Hayes making him the 19th President of the United States. Hayes
appointed the first Jew to effectively serve as a U.S. Ambassador - Benjamin
Peixotto – and assured a government employee that she would not lose her job if
she did not work on Saturday.
1877: Rutherford B.
Hayes declared winner of the 1876 Presidential Election. Samuel Tilden won the popular vote, but Hayes
won a majority of the disputed in the Electoral College giving him and the
Republicans the White House by one vote.
As President, Hayes worked to protect the well-being of Jewish
communities in Europe. In 1879, his
Secretary of State, William Evarts said that “this government has ever felt a
deep interest in the welfare of the Hebrew race in foreign countries.” Hayes backed up these noble sentiments in
negotiations with the government of Romania where he worked to try and improve
the condition of Jews living under that anti-Semitic regime.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1946/03/
1879:
At the Clinton Street Synagogue in New York City, Rabbi H.P. Mendes of the
Nineteenth Street Synagogue delivered a lecture on “A Dark Chapter of
Spanish-Jewish History” one the opening of the tenth season of lectures
sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Union.
1880: It was reported
today that Mrs. W. T. Brothington of Newark, NJ has finally received the
$10,000 from the estate of deceased English family.
1880(19th of
Adar, 5640): “Daniel (Gedalia) Mandelbaum” the oldest child German native Jacob
Mandelbaum and Bella Epstein passed away today.
1881: Birthdate of New
York native and CCNY grad and Columbia trained physician Dr. Kaufman Schilvek
the clinical professor of ophthalmology who was the husband of Elsie Schilvek and
the father of Isabelle Kinzler and Louis Schilvek.
1881: Birthdate of
Bialystok native and HUC student Samuel Banett, the son-in-law of Rabbi Margolis
and brother-in-law of Rabbi Elias Margolis who gave a up the rabbinate for a
business career which led to his joining Harris Brothers and Barnett and become
“president o the association of those engaged in the muslin underwear industry.”
1882(11th of
Adar, 5642): Fast of Esther observed since the 13th of Adar falls on
Shabbat.
1882:
The twentieth annual Hebrew charity dress ball sponsored by the Purim
Association will begin at the in the Academy of Music at nine o’clock with the
grand march starting at ten.
1884: Birthdate of
Albert Samuel, the native of Vesoul who was the father of Raymond Samuel, better
known as French Resistance leader Raymond Aubrac,
1884:
Seventy-four-year-old anti-Semitic author Theodor Griesinger passed away.
1885(15th of
Adar, 5645): Shushan Purim
1886: This afternoon
Rabbi Gustav Gottheil of Temple Emanu-El officiated at the wedding of Julia
Wormser, “the only daughter of Isidor Wormser” and Jefferson Seligman, the
“youngest son of James Seligman, the head of the well-known bank house.”
1888: The Convention of
Constantinople is signed, guaranteeing free maritime passage through the Suez
Canal during war and peace. The one
major exception to this would be the state of Israel. For years, the government of Egypt denied
ships flying the flag of Israel from using the canal. The Egyptians also denied access to ships
that had visited Israeli ports from using the canal.
1888: Birthdate of Romania
native Yetta “Yettie” Leffner Wexler the wife of Isadore Wexler and the father
Louis, Joe, Ralph, David, Morris and Dr. William Abe Wexler, “an optometrist in the
Savannah, GA, area for more than 30 years who was named "Outstanding Man
of the Year" by the Savannah Jewish War Veterans.”
1891: At today’s
meeting of the Louisville (KY) Ministerial Association a debate was held over
the question of admitting priests, rabbis and Unitarian Ministers.
1891: Frances Lucy
Henriques and Raoul Foa gave birth to Aubrey Henriques Foa.
1891: At a meeting of
the New York Siberian Exile Petition Association was held at the Church of
Ascension in New York City, “Isaac Aronavitch Hourvitch, a Russian Jew who had
suffered exile in Russia related his terrible experiences as a political prisoner.” Following discussion of this and other
matter, “copies of the petition which is to be forwarded to the Czar in April
protesting against the present treatment of the Jews were circulated” and
signed by many attendees.
1892: A theatrical
review published today described Carl Weiser’s portrayal of Shylock, “the
vengeful Jew” as being “picturesque, if not strikingly dignified.” “The Merchant of Venice” reportedly first
performed in America in the 16th century making it possibly the
first Shakespearean drama performed in what would become the United States.
1892:
Fifty-eight-year-old Konigsberg born ant-Semitic journalist Otto Glagau who
blamed the Jews for financial problems in Germany passed away today
http://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1814
1892: It was reported
today that the sixty Russian Jewish immigrants who are in quarantine on North
Brother Island due to the outbreak of typhus are housed in their own heated
pavilion where they have their own cooks who prepare their food according to
Orthodox Jewish law.
1892: Fifty-year old
Otto Glagau the anti-Semitic author whose hatred of Jews may be traced to
losses he suffered while speculating in stocks passed away today.
1892: Forty-two Russian
Jewish immigrants who may be infected with typhus and are under the care of the
United Hebrew Charities will be taken to North Brother Island today if the
storm sweeping the area abates.
1892: Birthdate of
Felix Bressart, a native of what was then East Prussia the German-American
character actor whose best known for his appearance in the Jimmy Stewart comedy
“The Shop Around the Corner.”
1893(14th of
Adar, 5653): Purim
1893: A fire broke out
in a building in Fall River, MA, that was used as meeting place by the Hebrew
Literary Club. (Who would have thought that Fall River would have been home to
such an organization in the 19th century?)
1893: Birthdate of
Eliyahu Golomb the native of Russia who made Aliyah in 1909 and organized the
Haganah during the Mandate.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/golomb.html
1894: Birthdate of NYU
trained civil engineer Jay Frank Krakauer, an associate member of the American
Society of Civil Engineers and a “Special Lecturer” at NYU.
1894: Birthdate of
Hélène Falk, the native of Crest who was the mother of of Raymond Samuel better
known as French Resistance leader Raymond Aubrac.
1895(6th of
Adar I, 5655): Thirty-eight-year-old Charlotte Myers, the wife of Godfrey
Harris passed away today after which she was buried at the Edmonton, Western
Jewish Cemetery.
1895: The National
Council of Women, an organization that was unique for its time because it
included Jewish, Catholic and Protestant members, held the final session of its
triennial meeting in Washington, DC.
1896(17th of
Adar, 5656): Fifty-five-year-old Edward Johnson Etting II, the son of Horatio
and Frances Etting and the husband of Maria Etting with whom he had two
children Thomas and Frances passed away today.
1896: “Mathias Bells
for Bicycles” published today described the debate in Parliament where
lawmakers are trying to force cyclists to use “the continuous bell of the kind
brought into vogue by Sir Henry Irving’s “Polish Jew.”
1897: Three days after
she had passed away, 23-year-old Dora Fisher, the wife of Phillip Fisher, was
buried today at the “Plashet Jewish Cemetery” in London.
1897: Birthdate of
Budapest native Jacob Weiss who gained fame as producer, director and writer
Jack White.
1897: In Albuquerque,
NM, wholesale merchant Ivan Grunsfeld and Hannah Nusbaum Grunsfeld gave birth
to Florence Grunsfeld, the of Julius Rosenwald, “the founder of Sears Roebuck
and Company who when she married
financier Walter Heller became Florence Grunsfeld Heller, the name under which
she gained a social benefactor and philanthropist.
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/heller-florence
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/01/06/105232290.html?pageNumber=23
https://www.nytimes.com/search?query=Florence+Heller
1898(8th of
Adar I, 5658): Forty-two-year-old Marylebone native Isaac Botibol, the son of
Moses Botibol and Jessie Myers, passed away to today.
1898: In Albany, the
Senate Cities Committee will report out a bill sponsored by Senator Cantor
“exempting the real estate of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association from taxation,
assessment and water rates.”
1899: The annual Purim
reception at the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews will be held today starting
at 11 a.m. and lasting until 5 p.m.
1899: Birthdate of
Russian native and Odessa Imperial Art School student, Jacob B. Abramowitz, a
WW I veteran of the Russian Amry who in 1919 came to New York City where he
pursued a career as a journalist.
1899: While serving
with the Twentieth Kansas Regiment in the Philippines, Sergeant Morris J.
Cohen, a resident of New Jersey, captured a Filipino flag.
1900: In Dessau Emma
Weill (née Ackermann) and Albert Weil gave birth to German-American composer
Kurt Weill whose “best-known work is The Threepenny Opera.”
http://orelfoundation.org/index.php/composers/article/kurt_weill/
1901: Birthdate of
Breman native, mathematician Grete Hermann.
http://www.academia.edu/7818454/Grete_Hermann_Mathematician_Philosopher_and_Physicist
1901(11th of
Adar, 5661): Parashat Tetzaveh; Shabbat Zachor
1901(11th of
Adar, 5661): Sixty-six-year-old Joseph Blumenthal passed away in New York
City. Born in Munich in 1834, he came to
the United States in 1839, settled in California with his family before moving
to New York. He was part of the
Committee of Seventy that helped to overthrow the infamous Tweed Ring and spend
the last 15 years of his life working to create and build the Jewish
Theological Seminary.
1902: In Harlem,
Bernard Berg, a pharmacist, and Rose Tashker, a homemaker” gave birth to their
third and last child baseball catcher Morris “Moe” Berg. In a day when most baseball players were
barely literate Berg stood out as a Princeton graduate who was multi-lingual.
His major league career lasted from 1923 to 1939. He was a journey-man catcher,
described as “good field, no hit.” The stories about his eccentricities are too
numerous for this brief entry. Suffice
it to say, he makes the television character “Monk” look normal. His real claim to fame was his espionage
work. During barnstorming trips to Japan
in the 1930’s, the Japanese speaking Berg would leave the group to do his own
“explorations.” Among other things, he
took a series of pictures in Tokyo which later were used to help plan the
famous Doolittle Raid during World War II.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/MBerg.html
1903: Herzl receives Leopold Greenberg's report.
Greenberg was the owner of a successful advertising agency, publisher of the Jewish Yearbook and an ardent Zionist.
1904(15th of
Adar, 5664): Fifty-seven-year-old professor of statistics Gottlieb
Schnapper-Arndt passed away today in Halberstadt, Germany.
1904(15th of
Adar, 5664): Sixty-six-year-old Moritz Framing, the German rabbi who edited two
Jewish magazines and whose writings included On the Introduction to
Maimonides and Jerome’s Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets, passed
away today in Magdeburg.
1905: Birthdate of
Pincus “Pinky” Sober the half-miler who became an executive with the Amateur
Athletic Union.
1905: Birthdate of Philadelphia native and noted composer Marcus Samuel
Blitzstein.
http://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/marc-blitzstein/
1906: “The Rabbinical Conference of Bohemia decided that a Rabbi may
officiate at the funeral of a cremated body” which led “Chief Rabbi Ehrenfield
of Prague” to resign his membership.
1907: Ein Walzertraum (A Waltz Dream), “an operetta by Oscar Straus
premiered today at the Carltheater in Vienna.
1908: “Know The Talmud And Bible” published today described how fifteen
hundred Jewish boys ranging in age from 7 to 14 had been “put through a searing
examination on the Bible and the Talmud” at the Norfolk Street Synagogue, after
President Phillips, head of the congregation located at 66 Norfolk Street,
“congratulated the boys on the progress they had made in their studies.”
1909(9th of Adar, 5669): Seventy-six year old Baron Horace
Günzburg, the son Joseph Günzburg, wealthy merchant and army contractor, and
the father of David Günzburg who was a major philanthropist and leader of the
Jewish community passed away.
http://www.jewhistory.ort.spb.ru/eng/main/s.php?id=840
1909: Birthdate of Konigsberg, native Hanoch Jacoby, one of the many
German musicians whose career was ended by the Nuremberg laws and who
immigrated to Palestine as part of the Fifth Aliyah where he pursed a musical
career that included playing viola with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and
the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra while raising four children - Hava Nir (deceased), Ilana Yaari, Rafi Jacoby, Michal
Preminger – with his wife, the former Alice Kennel.
https://www.jewish-music.huji.ac.il/content/hanoch-jacoby
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jacobi-hanoch
1910: Birthdate of
Natie W. Brown, the Washington, D.C. native, brother of Morris Brown and wife
of Ann McKinley Brown, who “fought Joe Louis two times in the heavyweight
division.”
1911: Louis-Lucien
Klotz, the son of Alsatian Jewish parents completed his service as Minister of
Finance in the second government of Aristde Briand.
1911: Sophie Tucker
recorded “Some of these Days” on a four-inch cylinder. “Some of these Days” was written by African
American composer Shelton Brooks in 1910.
“Some of these Days” was Tucker’s signature song and the title of her
autobiography.
https://jwa.org/thisweek/mar/02/1911/sophie-tucker
1912(13th of
Adar, 5672): Parashat Tetzaveh; Shabbat Zachor; Erev Purim
1912: In Chicago, the
ceremonies marking the dedication of Sinai Temple and Social Center continued
for a second day.
1913: The New York
Times reported that Dr. Joseph H. Hertz, Rabbi of the Congregation Orach
Chayim of New York was recently appointed replace the late Dr. Hermann Adler,
who was serving as Chief Rabbi of the British Empire when he passed away in
July of 1911.
1913: This evening,
Temple Emanuel is scheduled to host “a Congregational Sociable” that will
include “a ventriloquist act by Mr. I.D. Levy and Frederick M. Gotlieb.
1913: “Mr. Aaron
Aronsohn, chief of the Experimental Station at Haifa is scheduled to deliver a
lecture at Sinai Temple in Chicago.
1912: Fighting as a
welterweight, today in a ten-round newspaper decision, Al McCoy(Alexader
Rudolph) defeated the more accomplished boxer Terry McGraw whom he outweighed.
(McCoy was Jewish; McGraw was not)
1913: Today, “The
Hebrew Sunday School Society which maintains fifteen schools in various parts
of Philadelphia with an enrollment of more than 4,000 pupils celebrated its 75th
anniversary at the Horticultural Hall in Philadelphia.
1913: I.D. Levy and
Frederick M. Gottlieb are scheduled to perform a ventriloquist act as part of a
congregational social at Temple Emanuel.
1914: Two days after he
had passed away, Morris Rose, the 38 year old husband of Sarah Rose, was buried
today at the “Plashet Jewish Cemetery” in London.
1914: Birthdate of New York native and
small-college football player Martin Ritt, the veteran of the WPA arts program
and WW II best known as the director of The Long Hot Summer and one of
the many victims of the “black list.”
1915: Vladmir Jabotinsky
formed a Jewish military force to fight in Palestine against the Turks in World
War I.
1915: The Red Cross
Fund of which Jacob H. Schiff is the treasurer received an additional $1,670.07
in contributions bringing the total collected so far to $464,796.11.
1915: An “official
communication” concerning the condition of the Jews was sent from
Constantinople stating that “All the recent publications to the contrary are
unfounded. The natural inconveniences
they may have experienced during the mobilization have been shared by the rest
of the population.”
1916: Maurice Avner,
the Manchester, England born son of Rose and Abraham A Avner joined the British
Army Corps Reserves today.
1916: The funeral of
Bertha Hirsch, the wife of Adolphe Hirsch and the sister of Mrs. William Hirsch
is scheduled to take place at her residence today in Chicago.
1916: After funeral
services are held at the home of George Levitt, his father Jacob Levi is
scheduled to be buried at Waldheim Cemetery where mourners will include his
other son Henry Levi.
1917(8th of
Adar, 5677): Forty-four-year-old Austrain native Kieve Kriendler, the husband
of Salomean Brenner Kriendler with whom he had four children – Augusta, Anna,
Jack and Eunice – passed away today in Manhattan after which he was buried in
the Mount Lebanon Cemetery in Glendale, NY
1917: In Philadelphia,
PA, Russian Jewish refugees William Goodies, the owner of William Goodis
Company, a textile company, and the former Mollie Halpern gave birth to Temple
University graduate and author David Loeb Goodies who may be best known for his
novel Dark Passage which he claimed was the basis for the popular
television series “The Fugitive.”
http://www.beatbookcovers.com/goodis-books/
1918: Today, “the House Immigration Committee
recommended the adoption of a resolution by Representative Slayden of Texas”
which be beneficial to Jewish immigrants “authorizing readmission to the United
States of aliens who were conscripted or have volunteered for service with the
United States or the Allies.”
1918: An announcement was made today at the
headquarters of the Palestine Restoration Fund, “that contributions for the
fund were close to the $950,000 mark nearly $150,000 having been raised in the
last ten days.
1919(29th of Adar I, 5679): For the
first time since the end of The World War, observance of Parashat Vayakhel and
Shabbat Shekalim.
1919: “Approval of the plans of Zionist leaders
for the creation of a national Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine was given
tonight by President to a delegation of representatives who spent an hour at
the White House in conference with the President over the international stats
of Jews around the world.”
1920: An appeal signed by several prominent
Polish academics supporting historian Szymon Askenazy joining the faculty of
Warsaw University was published today in Robotnik,
“a newspaper published by the Polish Socialist Party.” (He did not get the
position, probably because he was Jewish)
1920: The U.S. Supreme Court hear arguments in
Missouri v. Holland in which Louis Marshall, submitted an amicus curae brief on
behalf of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks
1921: In Vienna, “Ernst Haas and Frederike
Haas-Zipser gave birth photographer and refugee from Hitler’s Europe Ernst Haas
whose work included the iconic “Marlboro Man.”
https://www.thejc.com/culture/features/ernst-haas-the-mad-men-s-favourite-photographer-1.26391
2021: Birthdate WWII Code Breaker Julia
Parsons.
1921: In Harrisburg, PA, Jules Solomon, “a
scrap-metal dealer” and homemaker Lena Solomon gave birth to Birdie Solomon who
gained fame as “operatic soprano” Brenda Lewis.
1922: On the Lower East
Side, Barnet and Tessie Greenglass gave birth to “Atomic Spy” David Greenglass,
the brother of Ethel Rosenberg and the brother-in-law of Julius Rosenberg.
1923(14th of
Adar, 5683): Purim
1923(14th of
Adar, 5683): Sixty-seven-year-old Max Meyerhard a native of Krojanka, Germany
who practiced law in Rome, Georgia for nearly forty years passed away today.
http://www.cherokeelodge66.org/max_meyerhardt.htm
1923: In the Bronx,
social worker Louis Keepnews and his wife, the former Naomi Perlman gave birth
to “Orrin Keepnews, who as a record company executive and producer helped
create some of the most celebrated recordings in jazz over a half-century.” (As
reported by Nate Chinen)
1924: Birthdate of
Calvin “Cal” Abrams, the native of Philadelphia the left-handed hitting
outfield who played for several major league teams from 1949 to 1956.
1925(6th of
Adar, 5685): Zionist leader Shneur Abel passed away today in NYC
1925(6th of
Adar, 5685): Lithuania born “Zionist, Hebrew writer and editor” S. Abel who in
1892 came to Baltimore and then moved to New York passed away today.
https://congressforjewishculture.org/people/7096/Abel,%20S.%20(1871%E2%80%93March%202,%201925)
1926: It was reported
that Jean Barondes, the daughter of Joseph Barondess, had joined with the
Herzliah Hebrew Academy Choir and Cantor Adolphe J. Weisgal had provided the
music at the gala dinner honoring her father’s “forty years of work in behalf
of American Jewry.
1926: In the Bronx,
chemist David Rothbard and his wife Rae gave birth to American economist Murray
Rothbard.
1927: Today
“representatives of eleven organizations meeting at Temple Emanu-el” formed “a
national organization to carry on religious and welfare work among Jewish
university students.”
1927(28th of
Adar I, 5687): German born Meta Schroeder Braunfeld, the widow of Julius Braunfeld
the Hungarian bon of Ignacz who had passed in 1921 in New Orleans where he
served as Cantor at Temple Sinia, the city’s leading Reform congregation, passe
away today in San Diego, CA.
1928(10th of
Adar, 5688): Sixty-two-year-old Max Pine the native of Smolensk who came to the
United States in 1889 who became the Secretary of the United Hebrew Trades
passed away today.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=990DE0D7113DE73ABC4B53DFB5668383639EDE
http://www.jta.org/1928/03/05/archive/max-pine-noted-jewish-labor-leader-dies-at-62
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Life_and_Times_of_Max_Pine.html?id=6EEYAAAAIAAJ
1928: In Antwerp,
Belgium, Morris Golinski, a tailor and his wife Caroline gave birth to Marie
Golinski who gained fame as Mary Adelman, whose Osner Business Machines was the
most famous of that dying breed – a typewriter repair shop.
1929: Following a
positive vote in the House of Representatives, “the Senate unanimously passed
the resolution” favoring “the erection” in Washington, DC “of a memorial or
monument” honoring the late Oscar Straus which has been sent to President
Hoover for his signature.
1930:
Twenty-two-year-old Solomon “Happy” Furth, who would compete in the 1932
Olympics, won “the 70-yard hurdles at the IC4A indoor meet” today.
1931(13th of
Adar, 5691): Fast of Esther; erev Purim
1931: Birthdate of
Lionel I. Pincus “an American finance executive, venture capitalist, and
entrepreneur” who “ran the private equity firm Warburg Pincus from 1966 to
2002.”
1931: “While attempts
are being made by the Zionists and Palestine Government to bring about a
friendly understand between Arabs and Jews, the Chief Executive will head a
plenary meeting of all forty-eight members of the Executive” which is scheduled
to be held today.
1932: Birthdate of
Jacob “Jack” Austin, the native of Calgary who went from being an attorney to a
political leader whose career included serving the Canadian Senate.
1932: Reports published
today explained that the delay between the Senate confirmation of Judge Cardozo
and its transmittal to the President was due to “a Senate rule that all
confirmations must be held through three executive sessions in the event that the
Senate should wish to reconsider its action.
1932: The New York Times reported on speech by
Senator Dill of Washington praising the appointment of Benjamin Cardozo to the
U.S. Supreme Court.
1933: “King Kong” with
music by Max Steiner premiered in New York City.
1933: In Patterson, NJ,
homemaker Tillie Kraut and Samuel Finke, the owner of “a wholesale plumbing,
heating and air-conditioning” business gave birth to Helene Fnike, the wife of
Alan Fortunoff who as Helene Fortunof “built a multimillion-dollar jewelry empire.”
(As reported Katharine Q. Seelye who followed what seems to be a policy not to
identify successful deceased people to be Jewish)
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/12/business/helene-fortunoff-dead.html
https://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/remembering-helene-fortunoff/
https://fortunoff.library.yale.edu/2021/12/10/in-memoriam-helene-fortunoff-1933-2021/
1933: Despite the fact
that he was gay, on his 28th birthday composer Marc Blitzstein
married novelist Eva Goldbeck whose mother was soprano Lina Abarbanell, whose
“father was the descendant of prominent Sephardic family.
1934(15th of
Adar, 5694): Shushan Purim
1934: “The Zwie
Family,” a drama of Jewish life “translated from the original Yiddish by Isaac
Goldberg” which was performed for the first-time last night at the Sutton
Theatres is scheduled to be performed again tonight.
1935: In Toronto, Aaron Waxman and his wife, who together owned and
operated Melinda Lunch gave birth to actor and director Albert Samuel “Al”
Waxman the husband of Sara Waxman.
1935 (27th of Adar I, 5695): Eighty-three-year-old Samuel Sachs, an American investment banker passed away. He was born in
Maryland in 1851 to Jewish immigrants from Bavaria, Germany. Sachs along with
his longtime friend Philip Lehman of Lehman Brothers pioneered the issuing of
stock as a way for new companies to raise funds. He married Louisa Goldman, the
youngest daughter of close friends and fellow Bavarian immigrants, who had
already seen their older child wed as well. Sachs then joined his father-in-law
Marcus Goldman's firm which prompted the name change to Goldman Sachs in 1904.
Together they underwrote securities offerings for such large firms as Sears,
Roebuck and Company. During this time Goldman Sachs also diversified to become
involved in other major securities markets, like the over-the-counter, bond,
and convertibles markets which are still a big part of the company's revenue
today. Sachs retired in 1928 and died in 1935.
1936(8th of Adar I, 5695): Seventy-six-year-old, Shalom
Binder, the retired cantor and father of composer Abraham W. Binder, who had
come to the United States from Poland forty-five years ago and was the “founder
of the Federation of Galician and Bukowinian Jews” as well “as the first
president of the Home of the Sons and Daughters of Israel” passed away at Bronx
Hospital today.
1936(8th of Adar I, 5696): Sixty-one-year-old Isaac Brill, the
leader and rabbi of Congregation Agudath Achim, native of Mainz and son the
Jewish scholar Jechiel Bril, who came to the United States from London in 1904
where spent 25 years as the editor of the English department of The Jewish
Daily News and was the first editor “of The Hebrew Standard which later merged
with the Jewish Tribune” passed away today.
http://www.jta.org/1936/03/04/archive/rabbi-i-l-bril-dies-at-age-of-81
1936: When the “first crown session of Parliament” opened today in
Athens, deputies swore their oath to their respective deities which meant “the
Spanish Jews from Salonika swore by Jehova.”
1936: It was reported today that the Nazi Governor of the Saar has
already warned that now that Germany has assumed full sovereignty over the
region it “will become the most Jewless part of Germany.”
1936: “The official organ German Justice announced 763 notaries had been
ousted through the recent Nuremberg anti-Jewish laws.”
1936: The newly formed Physician Committee of the United Palestine Appeal
is scheduled to hold its first meeting this evening at the Harmonie Club under
the leadership of co-chairmen Dr. Emanuel Libman and Dr. Bernard Sachs.
1937: “According to a statement issued” today “by the American Delegation
to Palestine, Great Britain has not discharged her duties or fulfilled her
pledges with respect to Palestine but instead has place artificial barriers to
immigration there and obstructed the purchase of land by Jws and failed to give
adequate assistance in reconstruction work.
1937: In Pittsburgh, the Convention of the Women’s League of the United
Synagogue adopted resolutions “urging prompt ratification of the child labor
amendment, passage of neutrality legislation to prohibit the use of American
armed forces outside continental and territorial United States and endorsing
President Roosevelt’s ‘good neighbor’ policy in Pan-American relations” at its
final sessions. (Editor’s Note – For those critical of
FDR’s response to the plight of the Jews of Germany, please note that this leading
Jewish women’s organization favored the very kind of isolationist legislation
that helped to tie the President’s hands.)
1937: “Lost Horizon,” the cinema version of the novel with the same name
with a screenplay by Robert Riskin, co- starring Sam Jaffe and with music by
Dimitri Tiomkin was released today in the United States.
1937: Rabbi Goodman “George” Lipkind wrote “Here’s Hoping” a three act
farce.
1938(1st of Adar I, 5698): Rosh Chodesh Adar I
1938(1st of Adar I, 5698): After a prolonged illness, 57 year
old to NYU
Law School graduate Joseph J. Baker, “a senior member of the law firm of Baker,
Obermeir Rosenson and Rosner,” “President of the Jewish Hospital of Brooklyn,
the son of Adolph and Carrie Baker and the husband of the former “May Lautman”
with whom he had two children – Ruth and Edward” passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1938/03/03/98105620.pdf
1938: The Palestine Post (the progenitor of
today’s Jerusalem Post) published the
farewell message of the retiring High Commissioner, Sir Arthur Wauchope,
addressed to the people of Palestine. In a separate letter to the Post, Sir
Arthur wrote that “though rather busy during most of my leave in England, I
always found time to read The Palestine
Post... I hope to read your paper in future years.”
1938: The Palestine Post reported that Sir John
Woodhead, Sir Allison Russel and Mr. A.P. Waterfield were appointed by the
British Government to serve as members of the Technical Commission which will
proceed to Palestine to investigate conditions for the country’s eventual partition.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that An Emek
settler, Abraham Goldschlager, 38, was murdered by Arab terrorists near Mishmar
Ha¹emek. Tirat Zvi came under heavy Arab fire.
1938: According to a
report published today, The Jewish Agricultural Society, Inc. led by General
Manager Dr. Gabriel Davidson, which aids Jews in settling on farms and then
helps them with an educational and extension program, has granted 12,313 farm
loans totaling $7,513,857 since its founding in 1900.
1939: Cardinal Eugenio
Pacelli is elected Pope and takes the name Pius XII. As Secretary of State for
the Vatican he had negotiated a concordat with Hitler. As Pope, he would remain silent about the
Nazis and the Holocaust even when a Roman Catholic nun who converted to Judaism
years ago was taken to the death camp because, under Hitler’s Race Laws, she
was really a Jew. Based on this alone,
one wonders what this Pope thought about the meaning of baptism.
1940: “The police-imposed
curfew regulations at Tel Aviv tonight after breaking up widespread
demonstrations protesting against British restrictions on the sale of Arab
lands to Jews.
1941: “One day after
Bulgaria's King Boris III is coerced into accepting Adolf Hitler's terms and
joins the Axis, the German army marched into Bulgaria” which would be the first
step in bringing Bulgarian Jews into the orbit of “the Final Solution.”
1942: Birthdate of
Brooklyn born American musician Lewis Allan “Lou” Reed
1942(13th of Adar): As Purim began, Jews from Minsk refused to
cooperate in latest deportation. Germans and Ukrainians retaliated by searching
houses, dragging children to sand pits and throwing them in alive, throwing
candies in after them as they died. By the end of Purim 5,000 Jews were
murdered in Minsk. Jews all over Europe were tortured, murdered or deported
that day included those from Krosniewice, Baranowicze, Lvov and Zdunska Wola
1942:
At Janowska, eight laborers were ordered to stand in a barrel of water by
Gestapo chief Dibauer, because "they didn't look too clean." They all
froze to death by the next day as the ice hardened around their feet.
1943(25th of
Adar I, 5703): Seventy-year-old Washington University Law School graduate,
Judge Moses Hartman, the St. Louis born “son of Ignatz and Anna (Kohn) Hartman”
and husband of Carrie A. Scooler with whom he had three children who was
President of Congregation B’nai El passed away today after which he was buried
at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, CA.
1943: Over 2,500 Jews
in Salonica are crammed into 593 rooms in the Baron de Hirsh Ghetto. The ghetto
was surrounded with high wooden fences, topped with barbed wire. Signs in
German, Greek and Ladino warned Jews not to leave, under penalty of death.
1943: “Zorah Sculpture
on Display Today” published today described two New York showings of works by William
Zorach, “a Lithuanian-American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and writer” who
won the Logan Medal of the arts.
1943: The daily
transports to Treblinka continued. Included are New York Born Yetta Flater and
London born Helene Rosenberg. Three hundred of the deportees that day were over
70 years old.
1943: In explaining the
Nazi commitment to the Final Solution, Goebbels writes in his diary, “We are so
entangled in the Jewish question that henceforth it is impossible to retreat.”
1944:
Eighty-five-year-old Lucius Nathan Littauer, the first Harvard football coach,
businessman and Congressman passed away today.
1944:
Denise Bloch and a fellow SOE agent “were dropped back into central France” on
what would, tragically prove to be her last mission since she would be captured
in June and executed at Ravensbruck.
http://nigelperrin.com/denisebloch.htm#.VPJpOWfwt9A
1945: Haaretz
published the following description of kidnapping Yaakov Tavin during the
“Hunting Season.” “Passersby in Dizengoff and Yirmiyahu
streets were greatly struck…by the kidnapping of a young man in the street. The
kidnapping occurred at 11 a.m, and was witnessed by a large number of people. A
large taxi halted at the corner of Dizengoff and Yirmiyahu streets, and several
men emerged, one of them dressed in police uniform. They approached the young
man, who was standing on the pavement holding a package. Shouting 'Thief!',
they attacked him and began to hit him. The crowd thought that he was in fact a
thief, and several of them joined the attackers and helped them to push the
young man into the taxi. He struggled with them and shouted in Yiddish and in
Hebrew: 'Jews, help me! Why do you let them hit a Jew?' He was thrown into the
car, which swiftly drove away.
1945:
In Afula, Yemima and Adam Rubin gave birth to Michal Breslavy who gained fame
Michal Bat-Adam who among other things was “the first Israeli woman to direct a
feature film.”
1946(29th
of Adar I, 5706): Parashat Vayahkel; Shabbat Shekalim
1946:
“Concluding a week of active discussion of the problems facing the world's
Jewish communities, the London conference of Jewish organizations adopted today
a final report stressing the heavy responsibility of Jewish communities in the
United States and Britain for assisting European Jews on the road back and he
need for immediately opening up of avenues for emigration for thousands of
displaces Jews still in Europe.”
1947: In Tel Aviv, a
radio announcement by the Irgun was heard in which the Jewish organization took
responsibility for yesterday’s attack on a British officers’ club in Jerusalem
yesterday. The Irgun said the attack was
in retaliation for British attacks in Haifa on Friday, February 28.
1947: In response to
the latest wave of violence, the British imposed martial law throughout
Palestine. At 4 A.M. British troops
occupied Petah Tikav Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv as well as other coastal communities
while the government in Jerusalem imposed additional restrictions on Mea
Sharim.
1947(10th of Adar,
5707): Four-year-old Ketti Shalom died tonight after having been shot by
British forces as she stood on the balcony of her home in Jerusalem, which is
under martial law. Her mother was
wounded but survived the shooting.
1947: Composer Morton
Gould and his second wife Shirley Blank gave birth to their second child David.
1948: “Backing the
United States proposal that the Security Council accept partition as the
solution of the Palestine question, the Soviet Union today urged "direct
negotiations" between the Big Five as the best approach to the whole
problem.”
1948: During a speech
at the headquarters of the UJA in New York, “David Hacohen, engineer and
managing direct of Soleh Bonen, the construction cooperative said that “all
Jewish settlements in Palestine are being fortified” and “that women are being
rained to handled firearms” so they can fight on an equal basis with men.
1949(1st of
Adar, 5709): Rosh Chodesh Adar
1949(1st of
Adar, 5709): Fifty-four-year-old Henry J. Berkowitz, the Rabbi at Temple Israel
“the largest Jewish Congregation in the Pacific Northwest passed away
today. Born in Philadelphia, a veteran
of WW I, and a graduate of HUC, he wrote several books including Book Camp
which “described his experiences as a Navy chaplain.” (As reported by JTA)
1949: “Two Blind Mice,”
a comedy by Samuel and Bella Spewack opened on Broadway at the Cort Theatre.
1949(1st of
Adar, 5709): Seventy-six-year-old Quad Cities newspaper man Emanuel Philp
Adler, the Chicago born son of Bertha (Blade) Adler and Philip Emanuel Adler,
husband of the former Lena Rothschild and father of Iowa journalist Philip
David who was President of Temple Emanuel in Davenport and head of the Tri-City
Jewish Charities passed away today after which he was buried in the Mount Nebo
Hebrew Cemetery in Davenport, IA.
http://uipress.lib.uiowa.edu/bdi/DetailsPage.aspx?id=4
1950(13th of Adar,
5710): Ta'anit Esther
1950: Israel Railways
began regular passenger service today from Tel Aviv North Railway Station, via
the Eastern Railway and Rosh HaAyin, to Jerusalem.
1950: “Salih Jabr, the
Iraqi interior minister in a draft bill to parliament – Supplement to Decree 62
of 1933 -- that became law a week later which said the Jews were “free to go”
as long as they give up their citizenship, agree never to return and basically
left them impoverished at the time of their departure
1950: A bill was
introduced in the Iraqi parliament allowing the Jews of Iraq to immigrate to
Israel. Introduction of the bill
required a large cash payment by the Israeli representatives. The “Jews could leave provided they left
behind all gold, jewelry and valuables and provided that they also gave up
their Iraqi citizenship.”
1950: In Iraq,
Parliament passed the Revocation of Citizenship which had been introduced
earlier on that same day by Saleh Jabr, the Minister of the Interior.
1950: A horse named Tel
Aviv is entered in the second race at Hialeah Park in Miami.
1950: “Plans for the
tenth store unit of Oppenheim Collins Co. were announced today with the
completion of leasing negotiations for a large site at the northeast corner of
Main and Berry Streets, extending back to River Street in Hackensack, N.J.”
1951(24th of
Adar I, 5711): Yakov Gilyarievich Etinger, “one of the physicians accused in
the ‘Doctor’s Plot’” died today in prisons as result of the brutal
interrogations he was forced to endure.
1952: Birthdate of
comedian and early star of SNL Laraine Newman and the sister of Emmy winning
television writer Tracy Newman.
1952: It was reported
today that 74-year-old Dr. Alexander Marx, director of libraries and Jacob H.
Schiff Professor of History at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America will
be taking his first trip to Israel this month.
1953(15th of
Adar, 5713): Shushan Purim
1953: In Janesville,
WI, attorney Leon Feingold and the former Sylvia Binstock gave birth to Phi
Beta Kappa graduate and Harvard trained attorney Russell Dana Feingold who
served as U.S. Senator from Wisconsin from 1993 through 2011.
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported from
Washington that the Eisenhower administration decided to pay more attention to
Arab countries and less to Israel. The first concrete step in this direction
was granting Egypt an $11m. credit so it could purchase American arms.
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that twenty
Jewish families from Poland arrived in Austria on their way to Israel. They
reported that the Polish Jews were in a state of panic and more families were
expected to follow.
1956:
Seventy-four-year-old Israel Zolli, the former chief rabbi of Rome who
converted to Catholicism in 1945 passed away today.
1956: Morocco gains its
independence from France; date celebrated as Independence Day in Morocco. Jews
are known to have settled in what is no Morocco during Roman times. In 1948, the ancient Jewish community had over
a quarter of a million members.
Following violent attacks, large numbers of Jews began leaving for
Israel. At the time of independence,
Jews served in the parliament and held at least one ministerial post. The new government banned immigration to
Israel. The ban was lifted in 1963 and
Jews began moving en masse to Israel.
The ancient community has now dwindled to a couple of thousand members.
1957(29th of
Adar I, 5717): Parashat Pekudei; Shabbat Shekalim
1967(29th of
Adar I, 5717): Eight-four-year-old Hunter College graduate and educational
activist Mrs. Miriam Sutro Price, the New York born daughter of Bernard and
Pauline Josephthal Sutro, and sister of Richard and Lionel Sutro, the founders
of Sutro Brothers and Company who was the widow of Joseph M. Price, “the
chairman of the Fusion Executive Committee” and president of the Improved
Mailing Case Company, passed away today in New York.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1957/03/04/102275058.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1958: In “Israel’s
Anniversary Year” Mary Qualley King described plans being made by Israelis to
celebrate the country’s tenth anniversary.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F70C13F9385D1A7B93C0A91788D85F4C8585F9
1959: “Sleep Warm,” an
album including songs by Alan Bergman and Harold Arlen was released today.
1961(14th of
Adar, 5721): Purim is observed for the first time during the Presidency of John
Kennedy.
1962: Harvey Pollack,
the New Jersey born statistician and journalist kept score tonight during Wilt
the Stilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game.
(Pollack was Jewish; Chamberlain was not)
1964: “David Lawrence.
newspaper columnist and editor of the Magazine U. S. News + World Report,
received today the American Legion 1964 Journalistic Achievement Award for
“continuous dedication to the finest traditions of American journalism in the
national capital.”
https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/03/archives/david-lawrence-honored.html?searchResultPosition=9
1964: Pre-Broadway
tryouts for “Anyone Can Whistle” “with a book by Arthur Laurents and music and
lyrics by Stephen Sondheim” opened in Philadelphia.
1964: One of the old 66-year-old
men's clothing industry, Jerome I. Udell, the 66-year-old chairman of
Max Udell Sons & Co., Inc.—manufacturer of Gramercy Park suits and Blacker
Bros. sport jackets — “sold his interest in the company and announced his
retirement today.
1965: U.S. premiere
“The Sound of Music” the movie version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway
musical with a score by Irwin Kostal and a screenplay by Ernest Lehman.
1966: In Moscow, Mikhail
Sheferovsky and Rachel Sheferovskaya gave birth to Felix Mikhailovich
Sheferovsky who gained fame as real estate developer and business associate of
Donald Trump Felix Henry Sater.
1969: “Law and Order” a
documentary that “shows the daily routine of the Kansas City Police
Department,” directed, produced and edited by Frederick Wiseman was release
today.
1970(24th of
Adar I, 5730): Seventy-one-year-old Russian born Joseph L. Dubow who in 1902
came to the United States where “he was admitted to the bar…after graduating
from the University of Chattanooga Law School” and eventually became the
“executive director of the New York Coat and Suit Association” while raising
two sons – Peter and Robert – with his wife Estelle passed away today.
1970: “The white
minority Rhodesian Front government, led by Ian Smith, severed ties with the
British crown; Smith declared Rhodesia an independent republic.” The majority
black population resisted the Smith government. A civil war broke between the
Smith government and the black population which was represented by ZANU
(Zimbabwe African National Union) and ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People’s
Union). Because of the civil war, most
of the Jewish population (approximately 7,000 in number as of 1961) left the
country. Eventually the minority white
government was defeated, and the Republic of Zimbabwe was formed.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/zimbabwe.html
1970(24th of
Adar, 5730): Eighty-three-year-old Solomon A. Wald the President of S.A. and
Wald, Co, the marine cargo salvage company he founded in 1916 which ironically
got the “contract to dismantle the German dirigible Hindenbrug” the pride of
the Nazi lighter than air fleet” when it crashed in Lakehurst passed away
today.
1971: Daniel Ellsberg,
the son of “Ashkenazi Jews who had converted to Christian Scientist went to the home of Neil Sheehan, who had
offered him a place to stay and talked to him about the possibility of the NYT
publishing what came to be known as The Pentagon Papers.
1972(17t of Shevat,
5732): Seventy-eight-year-old Harvard educated, WW II veteran, Pulitzer Prize winning
historian Herbert Feis, the son New York City born son “Louis Feis and Louise
Waterman Feis, were Jewish immigrants from Alsace, France,” the husband of the former Ruth Stanley‐Brown,
a granddaughter of President Arthur Garfield” who was a high ranking economic
advisor “during the administrations of Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt” and is
the namesake o the American Historical Association’s “Herbert Feiss Award” passed
away today in Winte Park, FL after which he was buried at the First Parish
Cemetery in York Village, Maine.
https://lccn.loc.gov/n50003382
1972: “Journey Through
Rosebud” co-starring Kristoffer Tabori was released in the United States today.
1975(19th of
Adar, 5735): Eighty-two-year-old Lester Gans Steppacher, the Philadelphia born
son of Leah G. Gans and Walter Meyer Steppacher and the husband of Ruth Miriam
Elizabeth Steinbach Steppacher who were married at Rodeph Shalom by Rabbi Henry
Berkowitz passed away today after which he was buried at Mt. Sinai Cemetery.
1975: Birthdate of Rishon LeZion native Danny Niv, the “Israeli singer
and rapper” known as “Muki.”
1976: The International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee continued to
meet for a second day in Jerusalem.
1976: In New York, “Madelin Itzkoff” and “cocaine addict Gerald Itzkoff”
gave birth to Princeton educated journalist and author David Itzkoff, a
reporter with the New York Times
whose memoir is entitled Cocaine’s Son for obvious reasons.
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that Egypt
was counting on US President Jimmy Carter to put forward an American peace
package to put pressure on Israel and to break the apparent deadlock over the
Israeli-Egyptian “declaration of principles.” In Israel government sources
declared that the positions of the two sides remained far apart on major
issues, especially on the problem of the future of the “administered areas.”
1978: “Fingers,” an
aptly named drama about a pianist directed and written by James Tobac and
starring Harvey Keitel was released in the United States today.
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that
Venezuela had announced that there were no obstacles in selling oil to Israel
and welcomed cooperation on other aspects of energy.
1979: “Real Life,” a
comedy with a script by Harry Shearer and Albert Brooks who also served as director
and costarring Albert Brooks and Charles Grodin was released today in the
United States.
1979: U.S. premiere of
“Norma Rae” directed by Martin Ritt, with music by David Shire, a screenplay by
Irving Ravetch and his wife Harriet Frank Jr. co-starring Ron Liebman.
1980(14th of
Adar, 5740): Purim
1980: Yigal Allon’s
funeral took place today at Kibbutz Ginosar on the shore of Lake Kinneret which
had been his home for almost fifty years.
1981: Rockets from
Lebanese territory struck several homes in the Galilee town of Qiryat Shemona
today, wounding three people.
1981: Discovery of 5020
Asimov, an asteroid named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov.
1982: Rabbi Haim Meir
Drukman lost his post as Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs.
1982(7th of
Adar, 5742): Seventy-one-year-old Yoel Zussman the fourth President of the
Supreme Court of Israel, passed away today.
1982: The U.S. House of
Representatives unanimously adopted a resolution calling on the Soviet Union to
end the persecution, arrests and trials of Jewish activists; to remove
obstacles to emigration; and to respect the rights of its citizens to practice their
religion
1982: The Dearborn
Station, “a Romanesque Revival structure designed by Cyrus W. Eidlitz” was
designated as an official Chicago Landmark.
1983: Shulamit Ran's Verticals
“was premiered by pianist Alan Feinberg at New York's Merkin Concert Hall. The
New York Times described the work by the Tel Aviv native as “rhapsodic and
intriguing.”
1984: U.S. premiere of
“This Is Spinal Tap” “an American 1984 rock music mockumentary written and
scored by Rob Reiner who also co-starred along with Harry Shearer.
1984: U.S. premiere of
“Harry and Son” directed, produced and written by Paul Newman, who co-starred
in the feature along with Ellen Barkin.
1984: “Against All
Odds” a romantic thriller featuring Saul Rubinek was released today in the
United States.
1986(21st of Adar I, 5746): Marcel Liebman, Belgian historian and
Holocaust survivor, passed away at the age of 56.
1986: A
revival of “Jubilee” a musical with a book by Moss Hart opened today at The
Town Hall.
1987: Law-enforcement officials said today that federal
prosecutors are on the verge of seeking the indictment of Aviem Sella, a
prominent Israeli Air Force officer who the Justice Department alleges played a
key role in directing the espionage activities of Jonathan Jay Pollard.
1988(13th
of Adar, 5748): Ta’anit Esther; Erev Purim
1988: Dr. Inamullah Khan, secretary general of the Pakistan-based
World Moslem Congress has been named as the winner of the $369,000 Templeton
Prize for Progress in Religion even though there are reports that the prize
winner has been associated with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel causes.
1989: The
Broadway production “Lend Me A Tenor” directed by Tony Award winner Jerry Sake
opened at the Royale Theatre.
1991(16th of Adar,
5751): French musician Serge Gainsbourg
passed away at the age of 62. Born Lucien
Ginzburg, Gainsbourg survived the Nazi occupation of France to become a leading
poet, songwriter, singer and director.
1992(27th of Adar I, 5752): The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel
Schneerson, suffered a disabling stroke while praying at the gravesite of the
previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of Lubavitch.
1993(9th of Adar, 5753): Yehoshua Weissbrod was stoned and then shot dead
by Palestinian terrorists in the town of Rafa.
1993: ABC broadcast the episode of “Civil Wars” created by Steven Bocho
who served with Executive Produces along with William M. Finkelstein and
co-starring Debi Mazar and Alan Rosenberg.
1996(11th of Adar, 5756): Parsashat Tetzaveh; Shabbat Zachor
1996(11th of Adar, 5756): Eighty-year-old Tufts and Columbia
trained social worker and WW II veteran Mitchell Irving Ginsberg, the Revere,
Massachusetts born son “Harry J Ginsberg, a maintenance worker and Rose Harris
and the husband of Ida Robbins, who held leadership roles in the Peace Corps
and VISTA while also teaching at Columbia, passed away today.
1997: The New York Times
featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to
Jewish readers including Rubber Bullets: Power
and Conscience in Modern Israel
by Yaron Ezrahi, the children’s book, When Chickens Grow Teeth: A Story
From the French of Guy de Maupassant retold and illustrated by Wendy
Anderson Halperin and Too Much Is Never Enough by Russian born architect
Morris Lapidus, the man who “created Miami Beach in the 1950’s
1998: After almost three months of negotiations, Ronald Perelman and Al
Dunlap reach an agreement involving the sale of Sunbeam and Coleman.
1999(14th of Adar, 5759): Purim
2000: Thomas Buergenthal began serving as a Judge of the International
Court of Justice.
2001(7th of Adar I, 5761): Forty-seven-year-old British
journalist and broadcaster John Diamond lost his battle with throat cancer and
passed away today.
http://web.archive.org/web/20091216113301/http://www.lastingtribute.co.uk/tribute/diamond/260391
http://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/mar/03/guardianobituaries.lifeandhealth
2001: “Inherit the Wind,” the controversial play co-authored Jerome
Lawrence “that used Darwin vs. Genesis as a way to speak out against
McCarthyism” opened at the Sheffel Theatre of the Topeka Civic Theatre &
Academy
2001:
“Eleanor Antin: Real Time Streaming”
opened at the Cornerhouse in Manchester, UK.
2001: The Times of
London reviewed The Jewish State: The struggle for Israel's Soul by
Yoram Hazony
2002(18th of
Adar, 5762): Eleven Israelis were killed in a Palestinian suicide bombing in
Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox neighborhood.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeshivat_Beit_Yisrael_massacre
2003: The New York Times featured reviews of
books by Jewish authors and/or of interest to Jewish readers including 'The
Pieces From Berlin': Swindling Holocaust Victims by John Sutherland and Irving
Howe: A Life of Passionate Dissent by Gerald Sorin.
2004: “The creeping chaos in Palestinian areas has
been evident throughout the last three years of intifada…but the killing early”
today “of Khalil al-Zebin, a longtime associate of Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian
leader, seemed to crystallize the growing lawlessness” which for once has not
blamed on the Israelis.
2005: Start of the 12th Daf
Yomi Cycle. Daf Yomi is translated as "Daily Page." Daf
refers to the double-sided page of the Talmud. Daf is also the word for
Plank. Tjere are those who say that the double meaning of the term Daf
comes from a story about Rabbi Akiva who was saved by from drowning when he
grabbed hold of a plank of a daf. By holding on a daf - a page of the
Talmud, the Jew stays a float in the worldly sea. The program called Daf
Yomi is "a systematic approach to the daily study of the Talmud formulated
by Reb Meir Shapira of Lublin in 1923. The program enables Jews
throughout the world to study the same daf or double-sided page of the Talmud
simultaneously. Using this method, one can study the Talmud in a little
over seven years. This system has become popular and there is plethora of
sites that provide both text and audio explanations. There are also
weekly summaries. The success of Daf Yomi has led to the creation of
other cyclical study programs. These programs can be found on the
web. Also, many congregations - Orthodox, Conservative and Reform - now
have spontaneously formed lay study groups that cover this material. It
is one more example of the burgeoning interest in Adult Jewish Education.
2005: Final performance
of television series “Boston Public” co-starring Fyvush Frinkel, the veteran of
the Yiddish theatre who portrayed “history teach Harvey Lipshultz.”
2006: The
Jerusalem Post reported on deteriorating condition for Jewish communities
in parts of the former Soviet Union. In
Uzbekistan authorities are probing the murder of one of Tashkent's rabbis. And despite pleas from the Jewish community
and international organizations, the Tajikistan government has started to
destroy the country's only synagogue.
2006(2nd of Adar,
5766): Marty Stein, who helped start Stein drugstores and Stein Optical, has
died of cancer. He was 68. Mr. Stein was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic
leukemia in 1994. He passed away in Milwaukee. A former pharmacist, Mr. Stein
co-founded the first Stein drugstore in Menomonee Falls in 1961. He later
expanded the chain into 19 stores, which he sold to the Walgreen Co. in
1979. He then started Stein Health
Services Inc., which ran three companies in home health care, eye care and
related fields. The Eye Care One division ran Wisconsin stores as Stein Optical
and Chicago stores as EyeQ. Those were sold in the late 1990s.Mr. Stein also
was involved in efforts to help Israel and Jewish immigrants, including serving
as national chairman of a worldwide effort to airlift thousands of Ethiopian
Jews to Israel. By 1988, he had met President Ronald Reagan, the pope and
Israeli leaders. Despite his international focus, Mr. Stein remained committed
to helping those in his local communities.” There are two Americas in
America," he once said. "There's the one where I live and there's the
other one in places such as the inner city. I want to help other people who
live in the other America to know the America I know. "Mr. Stein was active
in groups such as the Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee. Former Wisconsin Gov.
Tommy Thompson called the news of Mr. Stein's death "devastating."
2006: This evening poet
Rachel Tzvia Back gave a lecture entitled "Placing the Voice: The Personal
and Political, Israel 2006" at Williams College. Though born in Buffalo,
NY, she "is the seventh generation of her family in Palestine,"
according to this bio at The Drunken Boat. Her grandfather left there in
the 1920s, seeking his fortune in America; in the 1980s she returned to Israel,
completing the cycle, and lives there still.
http://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/blog/2006/03/placing_the_voi.html
2007: Ethiopian born
singer Aiiala Ingdsht released her first album in Tel Aviv.
2007: The Secretary of
State appointed Eliot Asher Cohen, the Harvard Ph.D. and graduate of the Army
ROTC program at MIT “serve as Counselor of the State Department.
2007(12th of Adar,
5767): Former American Jewish Congress leader William Maslow died in his
Manhattan home at the age of 99. Born in Kiev in 1907, Maslow moved to the
United States with his family in 1911. He served as general counsel to the
American Jewish Congress from 1945 to 1960, and as executive director from 1960
to 1972, guiding the organization’s fight against discrimination to the court
system. Under Maslow’s direction, the American Jewish Congress fought housing
restrictions on Jews in many communities, as well as discriminatory hiring and
admissions policies at U.S. companies and universities. He filed the group’s
amicus brief in Brown v. Board of Education and helping organize the 1963 March
on Washington that featured the “I Have a Dream Speech.” He also founded the
Commission on Law and Social Action, modeled after the ACLU and NAACP. A nephew
of Paula Ben-Gurion, wife of Israel’s first Prime Minister, Maslow was a
dedicated Zionist and helped lead Israel’s fight against the Arab economic boycott
in the 1970s.
2007: 153 years to the
day after the congregation now known as Temple Israel received its charter from
the State of Tennessee, a historical marker was erected by the Shelby County
Historical Commission, the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation,
and Temple Israel, on the corner where the synagogue had once stood describing
the building as the "First Permanent Jewish House of Worship in
Tennessee".
2007: After almost
thirty two years, Jacob “Jack” Austin completed his service as a Senator from
British Columbia.
2008: The Washington Post featured a review of
Richard M. Cohen's Strong at the
Broken Places.
2008: The Sunday New York Times
features a review of Dreams and Shadows: The
Future of the Middle East by Robin Wright and The Bush Tragedy by
Jacob Wiesberg.
2008: In New York City, the 92nd Street Y presents what might
be called“Jewish night the press” in a program styled “In the News With Jeff
Greenfield—On the Election with Jonathan Alter, Joe Klein and Rich
Lowry.”
2008: During
Operation Hot Winter the “IDF decided to change its strategy today and sent a
whole regiment (about 2000 men) into the Northern Strip to occupy Jabalya and
Sajiyah but met stiff resistance from the Palestinians. In the bloodiest day
for Gaza since 2002, close to 70 civilians were killed. Military deaths totaled
4 Palestinian fighters and 2 Israeli soldiers.”
2009: Jonathan David Leibowitz assuming the Chairmanship of the Federal
Trade Commission.
2009: Sports Illustrated
reports that Andy Roddic will “not be showing up at the Dubai Open” this
week. “He’s ticked that Israel’s Shahar
Peer was denied entry to the United Arab Emirates to ply in the women’s
tournament.
2009: At the 92nd Street Y, playwright, author and actress
Anna Deavere delivers the Annual State of Anti-Semitism lecture entitled
“Hatred Knows No Boundaries, a unique address on the issues of hatred,
racial conflict and genocide
2009: In
“Lesbian Nation” published today author Ariel Levy, who described herself as
“female and gay” and who had been named one of the "Forty Under 40"
most influential out individuals in the June/July 2009 issue of The Advocate examines a “golden age” of
sexual expression.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/03/02/lesbian-nation
2009: In
Washington, D.C. Jewish author Adam Gopnik discusses and signs
his new book, Angels and Ages: A
Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life,
2009:
Israel's UN envoy filed a letter of complaint about the continued rocket
attacks from Gaza to the Secretary-General and the president of the Security
Council, whose rotating chair is currently held by Libya. Ambassador Gabriela
Shalev warned that the Hamas attacks would hinder efforts to reach a
"stable and durable cease-fire" - a deliberate echo of language
adopted by the Security Council in its January resolution calling for an end to
Israel's Operation Cast Lead offensive in Gaza.
2009: In
“The Good, the Bad, the Bible,” published today Lisa Miller examines The
Good Book by David Plotz, “a naïf wandering in a strange land full of
eccentric people and incomprehensible rules.”
2010: Today
is the day the New Israeli Foundation for Cinema & TV has set as the
deadline for submitting scripts based on the stories of Sholom Aleichem that
could be used for television productions.
The selected scripts will be eligible for special funding supplied by
the foundation.
2010: A
direct-to-DVD sequel to the animated film Curious George titled Curious George
2: Follow That Monkey!” based on the character created by Hans Augusto Rey and
Margret Rey was released today.
2010: At noon today a demonstration that will include members of
the Union of Israel Journalists who are demanding the safeguarding of public broadcasting
in Israel is scheduled to take place at Beit Sokolov in Tel Aviv. The demonstration is being initiated by a group of
organizations concerned that the sharp deterioration in employer/employee
relations at the Israel Broadcasting Authority, coupled with the souring of
relations between the IBA and the Finance Ministry and other government bodies,
may result in a decision that the IBA is no longer necessary.
2010: The
Tulane University Jewish Studies Program under the direction of Dr. Brian
Horowitz is scheduled to present to present a program entitled “Obama and
Israel,” featuring Mitchell Bard of the American Israeli Cooperative Enterprise
2010: Late today reports started to emerge that, contrary to
initial reports, the Masorti synagogue in Concepcion was destroyed in the
earthquake that had rocked Chile this past weekend. The head of the international Masorti organization, Rabbi
Tzvi Graetz had been to Concepcion which was close to the epicenter of the
earthquake. He said that ‘it was like
the 'hurban habayit' [destruction of the Temple], the walls were all cracked
and the roof had fallen down. I couldn't stay there, so I got the sifrei Torah
and left,’”
2010: Amos
Oz said today that the Khoury family of East Jerusalem had funded the
translation of A Tale of Love and Darkness, his best-selling
autobiography to promote coexistence. The translation which was done by Israeli
Arab Jamal Gnaim, was done in memory of Khoury’s son George who was a promising
Hebrew University law student when he was killed in a 2004 shooting attack while
jogging on the university's Mt. Scopus campus.
2011: The
Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to present a
program entitled “Jewish Confederates” at Adas Israel Congregation. JHSGW Board Member Les Bergen’s presentation will include
information about “a female spy living just doors from the White House and her
sister, who ran a military hospital in Richmond and became known as the
‘Confederate Clara Barton.’”
2011: Pope Benedict XVI reiterated that the Jewish people are not
responsible for Jesus' death in a new book released today. The Pope also denies
the Gospel writers' claim that Jews working in the Temple collaborated with the
Roman authorities, leading to Jesus' execution. "Many
readers will find this section of the book particularly interesting as the Pope
reviews the historical positions taken about this," said Father Joseph
Fessio, founder and publisher of Ignatius Press, the primary publisher of the
Pope's books in the US. "He discusses some very controversial claims that
have been made, and draws on some contemporary scholarly resources to reach a
conclusion that I am certain will generate a lot of discussion." The
book, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week - From the Entrance Into Jerusalem to the
Resurrection, a sequel to a previous book on Jesus' life, the Pope
describes "the final week of Jesus' earthly life."
2011: There were signs today of a new effort to restart the
Israeli-Palestinian peace process after months of stagnation, but chances of a
resumption of talks looked slim and Israel appeared to be stepping back from
the stated goal of reaching a framework agreement resolving the core issues of
the conflict by September
2011(26th
of Adar I, 5771): Eighty-seven-year-old Walter Zacharius, a publisher and
iconoclast who released an unauthorized version of the erotic classic
"Candy" and had the savvy and sales talk to help romance novels make
the transition from drugstores to superstores to the Internet passed away today
(As reported by Hillel Italie)
2012: Final
day to make reservations for the 2012 Humanitarian Awards Dinner sponsored by
the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.
2012: Joseph Cedar’s “Footnote,” a tragicomic tale of rival
father-and-son Jewish scholars in the Talmud department of Hebrew University in
Jerusalem is scheduled to open in New York today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/movies/footnote-israeli-film-by-joseph-cedar.html?pagewanted=all
2012:
Emanuel Berman, author of “City within a City” is scheduled to participate in a
lecture and book signing sponsored by
the YIVO Institute of Research.
2012: In his first public comments on a North American visit that
will include talks with U.S. President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said today Israel reserved the right to defend itself against Iran.
2012: A
memorial service is scheduled to be held this afternoon at Congregation B’nai
Israel In Baton Rouge for 81-year-old attorney Victor Alphonse Sachse III, the
Korean War Combat Veteran and husband of Mary-Lynn Cross Sachse.
2012: Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said today that Israel
is ready to help treat Syrians wounded in the uprising against President Bashar
Assad.
2013(20th of Adar, 5773): In Cedar Rapids, the traditional
minyan at Temple Judah gathers for Shabbat Parah which, the weekly portion
includes the story of the Golden Calf, might be called “The Tale of Two
Bovines.
2013: The Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival is scheduled the Minnesota
Premiere of “Life In Stills.”
2013: The Israel String Quartet – Yigal Tuneh
and Avital Steiner (violins), Robert Moses (viola), and Tzvi Moskovsky (cello)
– is sechduedl to perform to pieces by Beethoven at the Eden-Tamir Music Center
2013: “After failing to assemble a coalition
within the legally allotted month, Prime Minister Netanyahu went back to
President Shimon Peres tonight to ask for an extension. (As reported by Jewish
Press News Briefs)
2013: Three Syrian mortars landed near moshav
Ramat Magshimim in the southern Golan Heights this afternoon, causing no
injuries or damage (As reported by Yoel Goldman and Gavriel Fiske)
2014(30th of Adar I,
5774): Rosh Chodesh Adar I
2014(30th of Adar I,
5774): Eighty-eight-year-old Justin Kaplan who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1967
for Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain passed away today. (As reported by Margalit Fox)
2014: The Center for Jewish History
and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research are scheduled to present a symposium,
“Tevye’s Daughters: How Jewish Women Confronted Modernity.”
2014: Yuval Adler’s “Bethlehem” a
move that “explores the relationship between a Shin Bet agent and a Palestinian
teenager is among the films competing tonight for the Academy Award for Best
Foreign Language Film. (As reported by Debra Kamin)
2014: Niv Adiri who was “part of the
team” nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound for “Gravity” is the only
Israeli nominated for one of tonight’s Oscars.
2014: Opening session of the AIPAC Policy
Conference is scheduled to take place today in Washington
2014: “The Sturgeon Queens,” a
documentary featuring Russ & Daughters is scheduled to be shown at the
Washington, DC Jewish Film Festival.
2014: Eight people have been arrested
as suspects in a stabbing that took place in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, this
evening. The background for the attack is suspected to be nationalistic.
2014: A Jewish man is beaten on the
Paris Metro by assailants who reportedly told him “Jew, we are going to lay
into you, you have no country.”
2014: Jerusalem is the site of the
so-called million man march where haredim protest having to serve in the IDF.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/178008#.UxPOT5uYapo
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/178002#.UxPTyZuYapo
2014: Michael Kapustin, the rabbi at
Ner Tamid, the reform congregation in Simferpolo, the capital of Ukraine’s
republic “said there is an atmosphere of fear in the city, with few cars and
fewer pedestrians on the streets” and that his congregants should “stay
indoors.” Ner Tamid has already been
vandalized with “anti-Semitic graffiti including swastikas” (As reported by
Amanda Borschel-Dan)
2014: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors
and/or Jewish readers including Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence
Program That Brought Nazi Scientists to America by Annie Jacobsen and Not I:
Memoir of a German Childhood by Joachim Fest.
2015: Dr. Hana Barouk is scheduled to
deliver a lecture on”Chassidic Feminism? Rabbi Menachem Schneersohn's Approach
to the Role of Women in Chabad Chassidism” at the Jewish Museum of Florida.
2015: Rabbi Robert Loewy is scheduled
to officiate at the graveside services at Hebrew Rest Cemetery in New Orleans
for Elma Bloch Rosenfeld, the mother of Becky Ripps.
2015:
Evan Rapport is scheduled to deliver a lecture “Greeted with Smiles:
Bukharin Jewish Music and Musicians in New York” at the Center for Jewish
History.
2015: In an interview to be broadcast
on Channel 2 today, “Israel’s recently retired Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Benny
Gantz hinted that he helped prevent a possible Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear
program.
2015: Three thousand reservists will
have to report for duty today as part of an exercise to prepare of “possible
destabilization of the security situation in the West Bank.” (As reported by
Justin Jalil)
2015: US Secretary of State John
Kerry today delivered a vigorous defense of Israel before the UN Human Rights
Council, urging its members to end what the United States says is its unfair
and biased focus on the Jewish State that could undermine its credibility.
2015: Prime Minister Netanyahu
addressed AIPAC today.
2016: “Black Jews: The Roots of the
Olive Tree” and “Chaos Within” are scheduled to be shown today at the 26th
annual Washington Jewish Film Festival.
2016: As part of the Books on
Broadway series
Author Barbara Isenberg is scheduled to chronicle the rich
tale of how Sholem Aleichem's 19th-century Yiddish stories of Tevye the milkman
and his family were re-imagined, set to music and popularized onstage and
onscreen and scholar Diane Cole is scheduled to set the context with a
background discussion on Yiddish author Sholom Aleichem, whose stories were the
basis for Fiddler on the Roof.
2016: Dario Disegni, the president of
the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Italy, told a meeting
of the foundation board in Rome today that Carbon 14 dating carried out by the
Geochronology Laboratory of the University of Illinois has established that “a
Torah scroll from the synagogue in the northern Italian town of Biella has been
identified as probably the oldest in the
world still owned and used by a Jewish community.” (As reported by JTA)
2016: In Tel Aviv, the Estonian
Israeli Music Festival is scheduled to come to an end today.
2016: “Mr. Kaplan” a movie made in
Uruguay about a Jewish refugee is scheduled to be shown at the Charlotte Jewish
Film Festival.
2016: “A bipartisan slate of House
lawmakers introduced a bill that would ensure that claims of Jews from Iran and
Arab lands are addressed in any Arab-Israeli peace talks in which the United
States is involved and also requires that any administration report to Congress
each year what it has done to address the issue of those Jews.”
2017: The family of photojournalist
David Rubinger made public the news today that he had passed away yesterday at
the age of 92.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/david-rubinger-photographer-of-the-nation-dies-at-92/
2017: The Illinois Holocaust Museum
and Education Center is scheduled to host “Growing Up Bielski” during which
Michael “Mickey” Bielski, the son of Tuvia Bielski describes the his families
fight for survival which was depicted in the film “Defiance.”
2017: The Jewish Historical Society
of Greater Washington is scheduled to host the final focus group to provide
input for a new Jewish Museum
2018: The 92nd Street Y is
scheduled to host a concert by the Woman to Woman All-Start Band featuring
clarinetist Anat Cohen.
2018: In Des Moines, I, Temple B’nai
Jershurun is scheduled to host a special “Megillah reading for kids” this
evening.
2018: The Jackson Hold Jewish Community Center
is scheduled to host “Megillah Madness: Purim Shabbat and Improv Comedy Night.”
2019: ShabbatUK is scheduled to come to an end
today.
2019: The East Bay International Jewish Film
Festival is scheduled to host a screening of “Monsieur and Madame Adelman” this
evening.
2019: The Carmel Jewish Film Festival is
scheduled to open tonight with a screening of “Laemmle,” a documentary about
“Carl Laemmle, the founder of Universal Pictures” and a pioneer of the world of
movies as we have come to know them.
2019: Jewish Book Week Festival 2019 is
scheduled to open today in London.
2019(25th of Adar I, 5779): Shabbat
Shekalim; Parashat Vayakhel;
2020: A screening of “Leona” is scheduled to
take place on the final night of The New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival
2020: The legislative elections for the 23rd
Knesset are scheduled to held today in Israel which are unique in that they
take place when the sitting Prime Minister is under indictment and facing trial
on charges of corruption.
2020: In London, JW3 is scheduled to host a
screening of “Waiting for Anya.”
2020: As part of Jewish Book Week, Elliot is
scheduled to discuss Yeshiva Days: Learning on the Lower East Side with its
author Johnathan Boyarin, a professor of Modern Jewish Studies at Cornell
University.
2021: The Tulane University Hillel Board
Meeting is scheduled to take place this evening in New Orleans.
2021: An agreement between Prime Minister
Netanyahu and Education Minister Yoav Galant that students in grades 7-10 would
return to school today, has reportedly been supplanted by an agreed between the
Prime Minister and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein delaying the opening until
Sunday, March 7th.
2021: The Jewish Volunteering Network (JVN) is
scheduled to host its “Celebration of Volunteering Awards,” an online event
this evening.
2021: As part of the “Who Inspires the Women
Who Inspire Us” series the Streicker Center is scheduled to host an evening
with Debbie Wasserman Schultz, “the first Jewish female to be elected to the US
Congress from Florida.
2021: The YIVO Institute is scheduled to
present discussion celebrating the exhibition “Beba Epstein: The Extraordinary
Life of an Ordinary Girl” featuring Beba Epstein's son, Michael Leventhal,
scholar Antony Polonsky, museum chief curator Karolina Ziulkoski, and YIVO's
Executive Director and CEO Jonathan Brent.
2022: An adaptation of “The Merchant of Venice”
directed by Arin Arbus which is a “Theatre for New Audience production” is
being performed at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center in Brooklyn.
2022: “Israel’s high court said that four
Palestinian families could stay in their homes in East Jerusalem for now.”
2023: The 23rd annual Cleveland
Jewish Book Festival is scheduled to begin today
2023: This evening, the Sir Martin Gilbert
Learning Centre hosted a lecture by Mr. Lee Pollock on “The Art of Winston
Churchill.”
2023: Lea
Kalisch is scheduled to present SHTETL CABARET, a night of Jewish entertainment
and Yiddishkayt, delivered with young, zestful, sexy energy.
2023: The Hebrew College and Jewish Arts
Collaborative ar scheduled to dedicate the Musician Cohen Center for the
Performs Arts at Ordis Hall in Newton, MA
2023: In Palo Alto, CA, the Oshman Family JCC
is scheduled to host Attorney Orly Erez Likhovski (CEO of Israel Religious
Action Center) and scholar Mashua Shagiv (Koret visiting prof at Berkeley Law) as
they discuss how the recent elections are affecting relationships between
Israel and world Jewry.
2024: At Temple Judea, with Rabbi Fievel on a
mission to Israel, Rabbi Yaron is scheduled to lead the Torah Study.
2024: Jewish Children’s Regional Service (JCRS),
an organization that really does deliver for the benefit of the community, is
scheduled to present Jewish Roots’ B’nai Mitzvah, a celebration of 13 years of
the Jewish Roots fundraising gala which will be held at The Higgins Hotel at
6:30 PM (CST).
2024 (22nd of Adar I, 5784): Parashat Tetzaveh
For more see https://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/
2024: As March
2nd begins in Israel, the Hamas held
hostages begin day 148 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.)
