This Day, May 28, In Jewish History by Mitchell A and Deb Levin Z"L

May 28

408: Emperor Theodosius issued a decree restricting Jewish activities related to Purim.  Specifically he banned the burning of Haman’s effigy because early Christians felt the Jews were mocking the Crucifixion of Jesus

1247: “Pope Innocent IV wrote to the archbishop of the French province of Vienne to protest Christian excesses in dealing with Jews accused of the blood libel.”  Innocent share the anti-Semitic views of his contemporaries but had reservations about the severity of the physical assaults on the Jews. (As reported by Abraham Bloch)

1291: Crusader control over the Holy Land appeared to come to an end when Henry II “the last ruling King of Jerusalem” fled to Cyprus after Acre fell to Al-Ashraf Khalil “the 8th Mamluk sultan of Egypt.”

1349: Sixty Jews were murdered in Breslau, Silesia in riots which followed a disastrous fire which had destroyed part of the city.

1357: King Alfonso IV whose subjects included more than 200,000 Jews and whose reign was part of “Portugal’s Golden Age of Discovery” in which Jews paid a major role passed away today.

1501: In Pilsen, the councilors together with the aldermen decided on matters concerning those Jews living in the city. These matters included: interest rates, the loan of clothes, not loaning money on yarn and bed linen, not selling certain types of clothing, overdue pledges, stolen items, not to wash themselves in gentiles' baths, not to buy clerical items, not to house foreign Jews without the permission of the city mayor, that foreign Jews can stay in the city for a maximum of three days, and not to melt coins. The following interest rates were agreed: two deniers per schock per week, one denier per half schock, and 20 coppers or less for one heller (As reported by Rabbi Professor Dr. Max HOch

1524: Birthdate of Selim II, the Ottoman Sultan who named Joseph Nassi as Duke of Naxos. Nassi negotiated the treaty signed by Selim and Charles IX of France.  Selim settled several hundred of Jewish families on the Cyprus after the Ottomans took control of the island.  He saw the Jews as being loyal subjects who had the necessary business skills to develop this newly acquired possession.

1588: The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel. The Armada has a two-fold purpose – the defeat of the Dutch and the conquest of England.  A Spanish victory would doom the Jews who had taken refuge in Holland.  The critical question for the English was when the Armada was leaving and when it was to reach the Channel.  Marranos or Conversos reportedly supplied this desperately needed information which helped secure the ultimate English victory.

1731: All Hebrew books in the Papal States were confiscated.

1754(7th of Sivan, 5514): Second Day of Shavuot observed on the same day as George Washington led British forces against French Canadians at the Battle of Jumonville Glen which marked the opening of the French and Indian War.

1760: Solomon Barnet Gompertz and Martha Hyman were married today in the United Kingdom

1764: Jews of Frankfort on the Main, Germany, were permitted for the first time to appear in public at the coronation of Joseph II.

1765: Benjamin D’Israeli, married his second wife Sarah Siprut de Gabay Villareal, making them the parents of Issac Di’Israeli and the grandparents of the British Prime Minister Benjamin D’Israeli, the future Earl of Beaconsfield.

1769: Today’s consecration of Pope Clement XIV was viewed as positive moment by Jewish people since prior to his elevation to the Papacy he had decried the notion of the blood libel.

1773(6th of Sivan, 5633): Shavuot

1773: The first Jewish sermon preached and published in America was delivered by Rabbi Hayyim Isaac Carigal in the Newport Synagogue.

1777: In Montreal, Ezekiel Solomon and Marie Elizabeth Louise Dubois gave birth to William Solomon.

1781(4th of Sivan, 5541): Moses Mordecai, the German born American merchant who was one the signatories of the Non-Importation Resolutions of 1765 (one of the steps to the American Revolution) whose wife Esther, in a move unusual for its time, had converted to Judaism from Christianity, passed away today in Philadelphia, PA.

1783: Birthdate of Harriet Salomons, the native of Clapton, London who moved to Sydney where she passed away I 1862.

1788: Sarah Mendes da Costa married Jacob da Fonseca Brandon

1792(7th of Sivan, 5552): Second Day of Shavuot and Yizkor

1797: Michael Oppenheim married Kitty Joseph at the Great Synagogue in London.

1815: William Levin married Franny Joseph at the Great Synagogue in London.

1818: Former president Thomas Jefferson set forth in a letter to a Jewish journalist his opinion of religious intolerance: 'Your sect by its sufferings has furnished a remarkable proof of the universal point of religious insolence, inherent in every sect, disclaimed by all while feeble and practiced by all when in power. Our laws have applied the only antidote to this vice, protecting our religions, as they do our civil rights, by putting all on equal footing. But more remains to be done.'

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/loc/madison.html

1820: Sixty-eight year old Christian Wilhelm von Dohn, the Christian friend of Moses Mendelssohn, who was a supporter of Jewish emancipation and author of On the Civil Improvement of the Jews passed away today.

1823: John and Esther Nathan were married today at the New Synagogue in London.

1827: Birthdate of Gustav Gottheil, the Prussian born Rabbi, who come to New York City where he become one of the leaders of the Reform Movement.  Gottheil was a bit of a maverick since he attended the First Zionist Congress and supported Herzl. 

1831: Jesuit Priest and social reformer Henri Grégoire “who was considered a friend of the Jews” passed away today. “He argued that in his anti-Semitic society the supposed degeneracy of Jews was not inherent, but rather a result of their circumstances. He blamed the way the Jews had been treated, persecution by Christians, and the "ridiculous" teachings of their rabbis, for their condition, and believed they could be brought into mainstream society and made citizens.”

1833: In Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Caroline and David Israel Davis gave birth to Louis Davis the husband of Julia Berman with whom he had six children.

1844: Adam Bernard Mickiewicz, the Polish nationalist who would later try and form a Jewish military unit called the Hussars of Israel to fight against the Czar, gave his last lecture as a professor of Slavic languages and literature at the Collège de France.

1848: Birthdate of London native Morris, the graduate of Jews’ College who served as the rabbi at the North London Synagogue, the Old Hebrew Congregation of Liverpool and finally the West London Synagogue.

https://rabbisylviarothschild.com/tag/rabbi-morris-joseph/

https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/european-judaism/48/1/ej480104.xml

1849(7th of Sivan, 5609): Second Day of  Shavuot

1850: Maurice Moses Beddington, the “son of Esther and Henry Moses” and his wife Hannah gave birth to Esther Hannah Beddington who became Esther Hannah Samuel after she married Henry Sylvester Samuel with whom she had four children – Marguerite, Edith, Hilda and Evelyn.

1855: Selig Cassel who was the brother of Rabbi David Cassel, was baptized as a member of Evangelical Church in Prussia today in the St. Peter's Church receiving the name "Paulus Stephanus" became known as Paulus Stephanus Cassel.

1855: In New York, Sarah Ottolengu and Jacob I. Moses who were married in Charleston, SC in 1848 gave birth Jacob Isaiah Moses.

1855: Twenty-three year old Marseilles born Aristide Felix Cohen, the brother of composer Jules Cohen, “was made auditor of the Conseil d’Etat today.”

1857(5th of Sivan, 5617): Erev Shavuot observed “as mutiny of sepoys of British East India Company’s army continued for an 18th day.

1858: In Wisconsin Jewish immigrants “John and Mary (Perles) Black gave birth to Lizzie Black Kander, author of “The Settlement Cookbook.” “Like many middle-class Jewish women of her time, she was deeply involved in Progressive Era reform movements that sought to aid and Americanize immigrants. Kander first became involved in local reform efforts in 1878, when she joined Milwaukee's Ladies Relief Sewing Society. Under Kander's leadership, the Society evolved into the Milwaukee Jewish Mission. It was as president of "the Settlement," Milwaukee's first settlement house, a multi-purpose reform organization modeled on Jane Adams’s Hull House, that Kander made her most lasting contribution. Among the Settlement's programs was a series of cooking classes for immigrants. In 1901, Kander asked the Settlement's board for $18 to print a small booklet of recipes for her students. When the board refused, she raised money from the local business community and produced the first edition of The Settlement Cookbook, which combined her recipes with instructions on cleanliness and food storage and general housekeeping tips. The first edition of the Cookbook was published on April 30, 1901. By 2004, “The Settlement Cookbook,” still in print, had gone through 40 editions and sold over 1.5 million copies, making it the most successful American Jewish charity cookbook of all time. The royalties from the cookbook, which reached $50,000 by 1925, were used to support the activities of the Settlement, including hygiene classes, free baths, and sewing and English instruction. These activities reflected the dual aims of many progressive-era reform projects: to help immigrants integrate into American culture both through practical instruction in English and by introducing them to American norms of cleanliness and nutrition that were considered superior to immigrant culture. While sometimes patronizing and ethnocentric, these efforts helped many immigrant families to survive their first years in a new country when jobs and money were often in short supply. Cookbook sales paid for the construction of the Abraham Lincoln Settlement House in 1910 and the Jewish Community Center of Milwaukee in 1931. Kander's community involvement stretched beyond the Settlement. During World War I, she headed Milwaukee's Food Conservation Council, teaching immigrants how to conserve food. During the Great Depression, she established one of the first food exchanges in the country, employing women to cook large quantities of food that were then sold at a low price. She also wrote a regular cooking column for the Milwaukee Journal. From 1909 to 1919, she served on the Milwaukee school board, helping to establish the Girls Technical High School to provide vocational training to young women. In 1939, Wisconsin honored her as one of the state's outstanding women. Kander died on July 24, 1940

1859: Abraham Berliner, the Berlin born son of Franziska and Baruch Benjamin Berliner and his wife Henriette Berliner gave birth to Flora Berliner who became Flora Joelnberg when she married Siegfried Jolenberg.

1860(7th of Sivan, 5620): Second Day of Shavuot is observed 10 days after the Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln for President who unlike later iterations of his party supported binding up the nation’s wounds while opposing armed insurrection.

1861: The 11th Regiment of the New York State Militia commanded by Colonel Joachim Maidhof left New York on its way to be mustered into the Union Army.

1861: Today, Iowan Joseph Meyers, who died during the battle of Fort Donaldson, enlisted in Company C of the Second Infantry Regiment.

1861: Philadelphian Henry Jacques began serving as a Second Lieutenant with Company G of the 26th Regiment.

1862: The Will of Commodore Uriah P. Levy was presented to the Surrogate today for probate. It includes the following provisions:

Mrs. Levy receives only her right of dower and all the household furniture, plate, &c., so long as she shall remain unmarried, excepting what is otherwise bequeathed to revert upon her death or marriage. Capt. Levy's nephew, Ashel S. Levy, receives the Washington farm, in Albemarle, Va., with all the negro slaves, &c., and $5,000 in cash; also, his gold box with the freedom of the City of New-York. He leaves to his brother, Joseph M. Levy, $1,000 in cash, and mortgage on his house in Baltimore; to his brother, Isaac Levy, $1,000, and all debts due him on notes; to Mitchell M. Levy, son of his brother, Joseph P. Levy, $1,000 in cash; to Eliza Hendricks, of Cincinnati, Ohio, the income of $1,000; to his nephew, Morton Phillips, of New-Orleans, his gold hunting-watch and $500; to Col. T. Moses, of South Carolina, a large silver urn, formerly belonging to Dr. Phillips, on which is to be engraved, "From Capt. Uriah P. Levy, United States Navy, to his kinsman, Col. Franklin Moses, State Senator of the State of South Carolina, as a testimony of my affection." There are also legacies of $100 each to Capt. John B. Montgomery, Capt. Lawrence Kearney and Capt. Francis Gregory, United States Navy, and Benjamin F. Butler, to purchase mourning rings. To Lieuts. Peter Turner and John Moffatt United States Navy, and Dr. J. Cohen and Jacob J. Cohen, Jr., Col. M. Cohen. United States Navy: Lieut. Lanier, Capt. William Mervine and Commodore Thomas Ap C. Jones, each $25, to purchase mourning rings. The will directs the executors to erect a monument at Cypress Hills, to consist of a full length statue of Capt. Levy, in iron or bronze, in the full uniform of a Captain of the United States Navy, and holding in his hand a scroll on which shall be inscribed: "Under this Monument," or, "In Memory of Uriah P. Levy, Captain in the United States Navy, Father of the Law for the Abolition of the Barbarous Practice of Corporeal Punishment in the Navy of the United States." The monument is to cost $6,000, and the body is to be buried under it. To the Historical Society are bequeathed three paintings -- "The Wreck of the Medusa Frigate," by Gericault; "The Descent of the Infant Jesus," and "Virgin Confessing the Bishop of Rouen," and a Rural Scene, by Carl Bonner. He then bequeaths his farm and estate at Monticello, Virginia, formerly belonging to President Thomas Jefferson, with all the residue of his estate, "to the people of the United States," or such persons as Congress shall appoint to receive it; and especially all his real estate in the City of New-York, in trust, for the sole and only purpose of establishing and maintaining at the farm in Monticello, Virginia, an agricultural school for the purpose of educating as practical farmers children of the Warrant-office of the United States navy whose fathers are dead. "The children to be supported by this fund from the ages of 12 to 16." For fuel and fencing said farm-school the will bequeaths two hundred acres of woodland of his Washington farm, Virginia. The will especially requires that no professorships be established in said school, and no professors employed, the school being intended for charity, and not for pomp. In case Congress refuses to carry out the intention of this bequest, the property is bequeathed to the people of Virginia for the same purpose; and in case the Legislature of Virginia declines to receive the trust, the property is to go to the Portuguese Hebrew congregation in this City, and the old Portuguese Hebrew congregation in Cherry-street, Philadelphia, and the Portuguese Hebrew congregation of Richmond, Va., for the establishment of the said school at Monticello, for the children of all denominations, Hebrew and Christian. Should this fund be more than sufficient for the support of children of warrant officers of the navy, the children of sergeant-majors of the United States army are to be included in the benefit -- the balance to be for the benefit of children of seamen. He further bequeaths $1,000 to the Portuguese Hebrew Hospital of this City.

1863: Birthdate of Leo Paul Oppenheim, the native of Berlin who became a leading German naturalist.

1864: Sir Saul Samuel and his wife Henrietta gave birth to their third child “Henri Saul, a major in the army pay department and the husband of the former Eva Fulton with whom they raised one child “Gerald Glen.

1866: In New York, Raphael Peixotto and his wife gave birth to Sidney Peixotto who has spent almost his entire life in San Francisco, where he has served as a major in the California National Guard and the founder and leader of The Columbia Park Boys' Club.

1866: In San Francisco, Lewis and Hannah Gerstle gave birth to Harvard trained lawyer and WW I veteran “Marcus ‘Mark’ Lewis Gerstle, the father of Mark Lewis Gertsle Jr.

https://oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb4j49n9wb&brand=oac4&doc.view=entire_text

1868(7th of Sivan, 5628) Second Day of Shavuot

1870: Birthdate of New York City businessman Samuel Isaac Hyman the husband of the former Tillie M. Eudel with whom he had two children – George and Norma – who was leader of both Congregation Kehilath Jeshrun and Congregation Derech Emunoh and President of the Central Jewish Institute.

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/07/13/96255425.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/07/13/96255424.html?pageNumber=9

1871: In New York, Yetta Hackes and Louis Stix who had been married in 1852 in Cincinnati, OH gave birth Sylvan Louis Stix.

1876(5th of Sivan, 5636): Erev Shavuot observed for the last time during the Presidency of U.S. Grant

1877:  In New York City. Caroline Reiss and Adolph S. Jager gave birth to Washington University trained physician Alfred Sydenham Jaeger, the husband of Blanche Dorothy Keifer who settled in Indianapolis, IN where he practiced obstetrics, served on the Indiana State Board of Health and was a member of B’nai B’rith.

1877: According to the Gossip From London Column published today "All London flocked to sit spellbound at the feet of the Russian Jew Rubenstein while he played his own works on the piano at the Crystal Palace."

1877: “The Gossip from London” column published today reported on the success of a twenty year old English Jewish composer named Solomon. Earlier in the month, he was greeted with a round of applause when he entered the Orchestra at the Folly Theatre based in part on his work "The Contempt of Court".  According to the critic, "if Solomon had been a German Jew instead of an English child of Israel the critics would have gushed over the promise exhibited by so young a man.” [Editor’s note – “Solomon” probably refers to Edward “Teddy” Solomon whose first work was “A Will With a Vengeance,” a musical comedy that appeared in 1876.  His highly successful career came to a sudden end when he died at the age of 39.]

1877: The Board of Delegates of the American Israelites met in New York City today. One of the topics was the upcoming meeting of the International Conference of Israelites which is going to be held in December at Paris where they will be seeking ways to improve the conditions the Jews living in the European provinces of the Ottoman Empire..

1877: A critique published today of the June edition of The Catholic World  reported that the magazine continues to demonstrate Catholicism’s fascination with Judaism, or more properly the passionate desire to convert Jews to the Church of Rome as can be seen from a feature article entitled “The Present State of Judaism in America.”  According to the article “The number of conversions from Protestantism to the holy Roman Catholic Church, here and in Great Britain is continually on the increase.  But nothing is more rare than the conversion of a Jew. They are rapidly parting with their own faith, but very seldom do they embrace any form of Christianity in its stead. In a few years the great majority of Jews in the United States will probably have ceased to be Jews save in name only.  But all how many of them will become Catholic?  All roads lead to Rome but very few Jews have made the journey.”  The article concludes that eventually all of the Jews will “come into the fold.”  In order to help those who want to convert Jews, the magazine provides an estimate of the number of Jews in the United States, their wealth and “relative distribution throughout” the country.

1878: The annual meeting of the United Hebrew Charities of the City of New-York was held this evening at their head-quarters, in St. Mark's-place. The various charitable institutions were fully represented by male and female delegates. During his report, Henry Rice, the President, laid special stress on the evils of slum life. 

1879:  A jury in the Union County Court at Elizabeth, NJ, had failed to reach a verdict in the case brought against Henry M. Levy.  Levy had been charged with selling cigars on Sunday.  Levy admitted that he sold the cigars on Sunday but said that since he was Jewish he did not feel bound to observe Sunday as the Sabbath.  Furthermore, as a Jew, he did not sell goods on Saturday and kept his store closed.  The Prosecution contended that Levy had to obey the Sunday closing law because he had sworn to obey all laws when he took the oath of citizenship.

1879(6th of Sivan, 5639): Shavuot

1879: In Posen which at the time was part of Germany, Pauline and Isidor Sommerfeld gave birth to their “youngest son” Felix A. Sommerfeld,  an engineer, “soldier of fortune” and agent of the Kaiser working for different sides during the turbulent times in Mexico prior to and during WW I.  (Editor’s note: If you did not know that Sommerfeld was a real purpose, you would be sure that he had been invented by some very creative fiction author.

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol-57-no-3/hiding-in-plain-sight-felix-a-sommerfeld-spymaster-in-mexico-1908-to-1914.html

1879: Philadelphia native Florence Liveright, the daughter of Abraham and Rebeccah Kan and Simon Liveright gave birth to Ben K. Liveright

1880: The Jewish Messenger reported that Congregation Orach Chaim "...is quietly extending its influence and securing the objective for which it was organized - not the formation of a large congregation and the building of a handsome synagogue, but the daily study and practice of the Law."  Officials of the Congregation include Lazarus Herzberg, first spiritual leader; Seligman Dannenberg, chazzan; Abraham Nussbaum, first president.

1880(18th of Sivan, 5640): Seventy-two year old Mortiz Rappaport who earned his medical degree in 1832 and wrote “Moses” an epic poem that appeared in 1842 passed away today.

1881: In Amsterdam, Isaac Jacob Gans, “the son of Jacob and Rececca Mozes Gans” and his wife Gogeltje Dooseman gave birth to Bethe “Isaac” Gans

1884: In New York, “American investment banker Samuel Sachs” and Louisa Goldman gave birth to Walter Edward Sachs, a partner at Goldman-Sachs and the husband of Mary Williamson from 1939 to 1960.

http://www.worldcat.org/title/reminiscences-of-walter-edward-sachs-oral-history-1956/oclc/309726536

1885: Birthdate of Baltimore native and Johns Hopkins trained physician Charles Robert Austrian, who maintained a life-long connection with his alma mater while also serving as “physician-in-chief of Baltimore’s Sinai Hospital for twenty years during which time “his chief interest was in the field of infectious diseases, particularly tuberculosis.”

https://portraitcollection.jhmi.edu/portraits/austrian-charles-robert

https://www.google.com/search?q=Charles+robert+austrian&sxsrf=ALiCzsY6K75PAC-qNWPqtOi5GYkZtll0mQ%3A1653547110507&source=hp&ei=ZiCPYvqwHK-aptQPyueXyAw&iflsig=AJiK0e8AAAAAYo8udtFxX4nPcbyxMR-P_1JwVmDse78u&ved=0ahUKEwj6-42Bx_z3AhUvjYkEHcrzBckQ4dUDCAk&uact=5&oq=Charles+robert+austrian&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyBQghEKABMgUIIRCgAToECCMQJzoKCC4QxwEQrwEQJzoECC4QQzoRCC4QgAQQsQMQgwEQxwEQ0QM6CAguELEDEIMBOgQILhAnOgcILhDUAhBDOgsILhCABBCxAxCDAToRCC4QgAQQsQMQgwEQxwEQowI6DgguEIAEELEDEMcBENEDOgQIABBDOgsIABCABBCxAxCDAToICAAQsQMQgwE6BQgAEIAEOgUILhCABDoICC4QgAQQsQM6BwguELEDEEM6CgguEIAEEIcCEBQ6EQguEIAEELEDEMcBEKMCENQCOg4ILhCABBCxAxCDARDUAjoOCC4QgAQQxwEQrwEQ1AI6CAgAEIAEELEDOgsILhCABBCxAxDUAjoICC4QgAQQ1AI6CwguEIAEEMcBEK8BOggIABCABBDJAzoGCAAQHhAWUABY5jRg6DtoAHAAeACAAcQBiAGPFJIBBDcuMTaYAQCgAQE&sclient=gws-wiz

1886: In Kieff, Gregory and Marie Sokoloff gave birth to Yale University School of Music trained violinist and conductor Nikolai Sokoloff and husband of Lyda Marix who began his career with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and starting in 1918, serving as the conductor the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra while leading the New York Philharmonic in “Stadium Concerts” in 1925 and 1926.

1886: One of two possible birthdates for Solomon Zeitlin, the Russian born American history who taught at Dropsie College and who works included The Rise and Fall of the Judean State.

1888: In Galicia, Saide and Jacob Ellias Weisstein gave birth to future California resident Clara Weisstein Kaminker the mother of Ronal Reagan supporter and Ambassador to Austria Theodore E. Kaminker Cummings.

1890: A representative of the Jewish congregation of Rondout is at Wurtsborough, NY is waiting to take possession of the body of Samuel Hutch the Jewish peddler whose cause of death is being determined at inquest being conducted by Coroner Joseph Rosesh.

1890: Birthdate of Isaac Pacht, the native of Millie, Austria who graduated from Brooklyn Law School and moved to California where he became a jurist and advocate for prison reform.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/pacht-isaac

https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/24/obituaries/isaac-pacht-prison-reformer-and-former-california-judge.html

1891: Birthdate of Ostoge Ukraine native “Hebrew educator, poet and scholar Israel Isaac Efros who in 1905 came to the Unites States where “he founded the Baltimore Hebrew College and Teachers Training School  and served as rabbi of Temple Beth El in Buffalo before settling in Israel in 1955 where he served  as rector of Tel Aviv University while co-authoring a “definitive Hebrew-English dictionary.”

https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/efros-israel-isaac

https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/13/obituaries/dr-israel-l-efros-teacher-poet-and-scholar-in-jewish-philosophy.html

1892: In Cincinnati, Lena Bardenstein  Levand gave birth to Max Levand, the husband of Lillian Eppstein Leavand with whom he had three sons – Elliot, Jack and Marvin – who went from being a newspaper boy in Denver to being president and general manager of The Beacon Newspaper Corporation which produced the Wichita (KS) Beacon.

1892: It was reported today that the prohibition against the entry of Russian Jews into Germany has been withdrawn.

1892: Birthdate of Lutzk, Poland native and WW I veteran Morris Brooks, the Long Island College Hospital trained physician who in 1896 came to Brooklyn where practiced medicine and worked with Metropolitan Life.

1893: Professor Felix Adler delivered a speech to the Russian American Hebrew Association in front of a packed house at the Hebrew Institute on East Broadway and Jefferson.

1893: “New Parties In German” published today described the rise of new political formations as the Centerists fracture. Among them is the German Reform Party, led Herr Simmerman the anti-Semite who used to sit in the Reichtsag. Zimmerman has been “wildly cheered”  “at mass meetings held in Dresden” and other population centers.

1895(5th of Sivan, 5655): Erev Shavuot

1895: Birthdate of Brooklynite Robert Kates, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants who served in Palestine during WW I with the Jewish Legion or the 38th Royal Fusiliers who lived in Montreal after the war.

1897: Birthdate of Romania native Edith Jacobs who became Edith Mandel when she married Abraham Mandel.

1897: In Auckland, NZ, “Henry and Ethelred Frances Bolitho” gave birth to Hector Bolitho, the author of Beside Galilee: A First-hand Survey of Zionism and Modern Palestine published in 1933.

1898(7th of Sivan, 5658): Second day of Shavuot

1898: Volume one of A Dictionary of the Bible edited by James Hastings with the assistance of Professors of Hebrew at Oxford and Cambridge has just been issued by Scribners and Sons.

1898: Approximately 500 people attended the confirmation services at the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum this afternoon.

1898: Birthdate of Saul Lieberman the native of Motal, the Israeli Talmudist “known as Rabbi Shaul Lieberman or, among some of his students, The Gra"sh (Gaon Rabbeinu Shaul.”

http://www.joshyuter.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Saul-Lieberman-and-the-Orthodox-31.pdf

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/slieberman.html

1899: Anti-Semitic riots began in Jassy, Romania

1899(19th of Sivan, 5659): Hungarian tailor and immigrant to America Herman Lichtner became despondent today while returning to Europe on the SS Cymric and jumped overboard leaving behind his little daughter to fend for herself.

1899: The exercises marking the closing of the religious school at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun took on a patriotic air when they were combined with a reception for the Hebrew Union Veteran’s Association which was part of the upcoming observance of Decoration Day.

1899: As American’s prepare to celebrate Decoration Day, Assistant District Attorney Maurice B. Blumenthal was the main speakers at the memorial services held tonight by the Independent Order of the Free Sons of Israel at Congregation Rodoph Sholom.

1899: “Harsh Treatment of Jews” published today described the renewed complaints made by Germany concerning the unreasonable treatment of German Jews who need to go to Russia for business or cultural reasons. For example, “the well-known Berlin impresario Wolff, who is a German-Jew” organized the current tour of the Berlin Philharmonic in Russia.  Wolff found the impediments place in his path by the Russian government to be so onerous that he did not accompany the orchestra, but sent one of his Christian assistants in his place.

1900: It was reported today that almost 3,000 people most of whom were Jews were recently witnessed “the impressive ceremonies attending the laying of the cornerstone of the new Beth Israel Hospital at Jefferson and Cherry Streets.”

1901: A provisional Executive Committee was named at meeting this evening chaired by Dr. Isadore Singer which will help to work for the established of “a Jewish University” in New York City which “which will be on a higher plane than either the Hebrew Union college or the Jewish Theological Seminary.

1902: In Detroit, “Cyrus Sulzberger of New York painted such a vivid word picture of the ghetto in New York before the National Conference of Jewish Charities today that when he finished his appeal for aid in removing the poor Jews from the Ghettos to the country districts there was scarcely a dry eye among those present in Temple Beth-El.”

1903: Birthdate of Bisbee, AZ native and booking agent turned movie producer Leonard Goldstein whose memorable movies included sever of the “Ma and Pa Kettle” series and the “Francis the Talking Mule” comedies.

1903: Birthdate of Berlin native Walter Goehr “the composer and conductor” who “studied with Arnold Schoenberg” and found refuge in Great Britain after the Nazis came to power.

https://www.discogs.com/artist/454981-Walter-Goehr

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Goehr-Walter.htm

1904(14th of Sivan, 5664): Parashat Nasso

1904: Funeral arrangements have not been made for 44 year old Henry Hendricks who dropped dead yesterday.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FA0614FC345E12738DDDA10A94DD405B848CF1D3

1904: This morning, at the conclusion of services at the Great Synagogue in Sydney, “a number of ladies and gentlemen assembled in the schoolroom to witness a presentation to Mr. Shefton Louis Cohen of an engraved “silver backed brush as measure of appreciation for his work with the Sydney Jewish Sabbath School’ prior to his sailing for England.

1905: Soldiers fired on a crowd in the neighborhood of a synagogue killing two Jews at Lodz.

1906: “Louisville Keeps Sabbath” published today described how rigidly the Sabbath had been informed on Sunday with the only exception being a Jew who had observed Saturday as the Sabbath who had been arrested for operating his saloon but who was, strangely enough “allowed to continue selling throughout the day.”

1906: It was reported today that “Sylvia Neuman, the daughter of Emanuel Newman” had played a “key” role in the dedication of Temple Adath Israel’s dedication of its new house of worship which had been constructed under the leadership of Joseph L. Schneider, president of the congregation and Henry Love, Chairman of the Building Committee.

1907: Birthdate of New York City native and NYU trained attorney Lilia H. Axinn.

1908: Birthdate James Bond creator Ian Fleming “who, like many Englishmen of his generation, wore his anti-Semitism on his sleeve” and whose books “unlike the much more popular films they spawned, occasionally trade in vulgar and hateful Jewish stereotypes, and whenever a character does seem Jewish, he is always a villain.”

https://forward.com/culture/film-tv/453228/on-her-majesty-s-semitic-service/

1909: Hahambashi Haim Nahoum of Turkey met with Prime Minister and Interior Minister of Turkey to discuss the practice of limiting the residence of foreign Jews to three months.

1909: It was reported today that “Ahmed Riza, President of the Chamber of Deputies visited Hahm Pasha, the ritual head of the Jews in Turkey and on behalf of the Turkish Government extended an invitation to the Jews of Russia and Rumania to migrate to Turkey” and promised that the government “will confer full citizenship on the Jewish immigrants immediately on their arrival in Turkey.

1910: In Chicago Rose Alice Alschuler, the daughter of Charles and Mary Haas and Alfred Samuel Alschuler, Sr. gave birth to Francis Gudeman

1911: It was reported today that “in a peace sermon” given at Temple Emanu-El, Dr. Joseph Silverman “praised President Taft for his successful efforts in inducing Russia to admit Jews with American passports, and accord them the same treaty rights as other American citizens.”

1911 “A New Life of Rachel” published today provides a review of Rachel: Her Stage Life and Her Real Life, Francis Gribble’s “exhaustive biography of the famous French actress of the nineteenth century.”

1912: Agudath Israel was formed as the world organization of Orthodox Jewry at Katowitz. Jacob Rosenheim was its first president.

1913: The Georgian reported that E.F. Holloway, the plant day watchman, believed Jim Conley had strangled Mary Phagan when he was drunk. This should have gone a long way towards exonerating Leo Frank.

1913: The Independent Order of B’rith Abraham which had been organized in 1887 ended its 26th Annual Convention today in New York City

1913: “Rabbi Hyamson, the Dayan of the United Synagogue in London” is scheduled to “deliver a lecture on ‘A Comparison of Hebrew Law’” today at the Dropsie College in Philadelphia.

1913: In Pennsylvania, dedication ceremonies begin for the Philmont Country Club.

1914: Samuel S. Koenig, the President of the Republican Committee is one of those attending today’s Republican conference at the Waldorf Hotel.

1915: Joseph “Joe, the Greaser” Rosenzweig, the first of the east side gang leaders known as “starkers’ “to furnish hired thugs to the unions” “appeared before Justice Shearn in the Criminal Term of the Supreme Court and pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree.

1915: A “telegram directed to the State Prison Commission was received in the Governor’s office late this afternoon from United States Senator John W. Kearn of Indiana, which began “I have followed proceedings in the Leo Frank case step by step with great and increasing interest and as a lawyer with forty years of experience I beg you to spare this man’s life.”

1915: Joseph S. Schwab, the Chairman of a New York committee supporting the commutation of the sentence of Leo M. Franks sent a telegram to President Wilson today which read “Will you add another laurel wreath to your fame as a broad-mined man by requesting the authorities of Georgia in your individual capacity to commute the sentence of Leo Frank, who it universally conceded, has not had a fair trial.”

1915:  Birthdate of linguist Joseph Harold Greenberg.

1916: The ninth annual convention of the Federation of Rumanian Jews of America continued for a second day in New York where attendees have heard an array of speakers including Dr. Julius Weiss, Dr. Henry Moskowitz, Congressman William s. Bennet, Judge Jacob S. Strahl, Albert Lucas, D.J. Hermalin and Samuel Goldstien.

1916: “Bernard Turkel, President of the Har Moriah Hospital…announced” today “at the meeting of the 13th annual convention of the Federation of Galician and Bukowinean Jews of America that the hospital directors have decided to build a new hospital costing about $400,000” which will be located “south of Fourteenth Street and east of the Bowery.”

1916: The list of contributions to the Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering Through the War published today included $350 from the Jewish Alliance of Ontario, Canada, $80 from the Sisters of Peace and $23 from the Relief Association of Sioux City, Iowa.

1916: “Solomon Schechter Home Appeals” published today described the solicitation for contributions by the managers of the Solomon Schechter Memorial Jewish Home for Convalescents located “at Grand View on the Hudson which was established by the Federation of Rumanian Jews in America.

1917(7th of Sivan, 5677): Second Day of Shavuot

1917: Rabbi Rosenstein conducted the “Memorial Service” this morning at B’nai Yehoshua Temple.

1917: Rabbi Julius Newman conducted services this morning at Congregation Moses Montefiore.

1917: At the Manhattan Casino in New York City Benny Leonard won the World Lightweight Title with a TKO in the 9th round.

1917: In Brooklyn, Goldie Yarmolinsky and Isidore Commoner, Jewish immigrants from Russia, gave birth to Barry Commoner, one of the founders of the ecology movement. (As reported by Daniel Lewis)

1917: In Manhattan Mark and Mariam Villchur gave birth to “Edgar M. Villchur, whose invention of a small loudspeaker that could produce deep, rich bass tones opened the high-fidelity music market in the 1950s to millions of everyday listeners…”  (As reported to Dennis Hevesi)

1917: In London, The Times published the responses of Lord Rothschild, Rabbi Joseph Hertz and Chaim Weizmann to a letter that had appeared in the Times on May 24 signed by Claude Montefiore and David Lindo Alexander in which they express their opposition to Zionism and the concepts that will be embodied in the Balfour Declaration. 

1917: Dr. Chaim Zhitlowsky addressed “a mass meeting of Jewish workingman” at Clinton Hall who are in the process of choosing delegates to the Jewish Congress which is scheduled to meet this September in Washington, DC.

1917: “Great Britain, France Italy and the Catholic Church are in full sympathy with the Zionist plan for the establishment in Palestine of a publicly recognized, legally assured homeland for the Jewish people and are prepared to give this project their support and co-operation according to a statement issued” today “by the Provisional Committee for General Zionist Affairs” which had been approved by “Dr. Chaim Weitzman, President of the English Zionist Federation and Nahum Sokolow, a member of the Zionist Actions Committee.”

1917: In London, the Palestine Wine and Trading Co. received from its representative in Switzerland a “telegram from the Rishon-le-Zion colony that that reports of persecution of Jews are completely false” and that the government “gives every protection to our vine growers and has not molested any of the laborers engaged in the industry.” (Editor’s note: During WW I there was great concern about the well-being of the Jewish community in Palestine but this telegram seems to run counter the general picture painted of ill treatment at the hands of the Ottoman)

1918: During the Battle of Cantigny, one of the first major offensives involving the U.S. Army, Abraham Kauffman “refused to leave his gun after he had lost a finger” and continued to perform his duty until so severely wounded as to be unable to assist in serving” his weapon.

1918: Birthdate of Toronto native Louis Weingarten, who gained fame as Johnny Wayne, the “Wayne” in the comedy duo of “Wayne and Shuster.

1918: In Cincinnati, OH, the mayor married Rabbi Henry Joseph Berkowitz to his first wife Claire Henle.

1918: More than 2,000 attended “the final session of the three-day convention of the United States Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of B’rtih Abraham” where they heard New York Governor Whitman say that “the Jews deserved great praise for standing behind President Wilson” and “that the loyalty of American Jewry could never be questioned.”

1918: A meeting of “prominent Jews” at the Metropolis Club heard “Ittamar Ben Aizi, a native Palestine and the editor of the first daily paper ever published in Jerusalem” pay “a glowing tribute to the British Army for the conquest of Palestine” before declaring that “We are living again in Palestine just as Joshua lived.”

1919: In Vienna, Austria, Israel and Leah Heller gave birth Max Moses Heller the refugee from Hitler’s Europe and husband for sixty-nine years of the former Trude Schonthal who founded the Maxon Shirt Company and Mayor of Greenville, SC from 1971 to 1979 during which he courageously “desegregated all municipal departments and commissions.”

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/greenvilleonline/obituary.aspx?n=max-heller&pid=151892699&fhid=5447

1919: “Jewish workers laid down their tools at 2 o’clock” this “afternoon and Jewish storekeepers closed theirs shops as a protest against the pogroms in Poland, Romania and other countries” while 25,000 people including Jewish students from the University of Chicago marched to the Auditorium Theatre
“where a mass meeting was held.”

1920: The Jewish community in Constantinople published a letter to the former Hahambashi, Haim Nahoum Effendi who had stepped down from his post a few weeks prior. They declared his departure a calamity. They expressed regret at his departure and their gratitude for his past services, attributing to him the prestige which the community has acquired in the eyes of the Turkish government.

1920: “A special Memorial Service” was held this evening Sinai Temple of the Bronx where Civil War veteran Edward Boyer spoke on “Sacrifice and Service,” Spanish War veteran Maurice Simmons spoke on “The Jewish Soldier” and Rabbi Max Reichler spoke on “After-War Optimism” after which a special Kadidish was recited for four members of the congregation who had made the ultimate sacrifice – Jerome Heine, Erwin Lowenstern, Joseph Shops and Melvin Spitz.

1921(20th of Iyar, 5681): Parashat Behar

1921(20th of Iyar, 5681): One Hundred and one year old New Orleanean Elizabeth D.A. Cohen, the New York born daughter of David and Phoebe Cohen and the mother of Dr. Aaron Cohen, who became the first woman to practice medicine in Louisiana passed away today after which she was buried in the Gates of Prayer Cemetery.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/cohen-elizabeth-da

1922(1st of Sivan, 5682): Rosh Chodesh Sivan

1922: “At the biennial meeting of the Directors of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society, which operates the cottage plan institution” J”udge Samuel D. Levy of the Children's Court and Vice President of the organization, was presented today with a silver tea service by Adolph Lewisohn” as a sign of appreciation for his 25 years of service as a director of the orphanage.

1922: “In Hilaire Belloc Writes About the Jews” published today noted scholar Dr. H.G. Enelow who played a key role in the establishment of chairs of Jewish History at Harvard and Columbia provides a lengthy review of The Jews by Hilaire Belloc who is “sore afraid of the Jews,” who “would like to see the Jews segregated” and who blames them for the Russian Revolution.

1922: The Bnei Akiva youth movement was founded. The youth branch of the Mizrachi was originally established to train its members in agriculture and crafts. Its goal was the synthesis of Torah and Avodah (Torah and labor). Soon, the movement formed its own kibbutzim within the structure of "Kibbutz Hadati," the religious kibbutz movement.

1923: In Brooklyn, whole produce worker Meyer Schneiderman and his wife Bess gave birth to Irwin Schneiderman, “a self-described ‘kid from the Jewish Ghetto’” who became a highly successful attorney and philanthropist whose passions included the New York City Opera. (As reported by Douglas Martin)

1924: The cornerstone laying ceremonies for the new building to house the Chachmel Lublin Yeshiva came to an end.

1924: Funeral services are scheduled to be held this afternoon at the B’nai B’rith Headquarters on Broadway for Samuel Fleishman

1925(5th of Sivan, 5685): In Camden, NJ, Beth El Congregation is scheduled to hold a Shavuot “Service at Sunset.”

1925: Birthdate of Lydia Csato Gasman, the native of Foccsani Romania who gained fame as a painter and scholar.

1926: The Burnside Bridge, a bridge that “spans the Willamette River in Portland, OR,” which incorporated a bascule lift mechanism designed by Joseph Strauss opened today.

1927(26th of Iyar, 5687): Parashat Bamidbar

1927: It was reported today that the Minorities Committee of the League of Nations has heard reports from “anti-Semitic forces in Rumania charging Jews with lack of patriotism, trading with the enemy and shirking military duties” which justifies the restrictions under which Jews live and their inability to “enjoy the liberties of other peoples.”

1928: U.S. premiere of the German Film “Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis” with a script by Carl Mayer and Karl Freund.

1928: Birthdate of Alfred Gilbert Aronowitz, an American rock journalist best known for introducing Bob Dylan and The Beatles in 1964.

1929(18th of Iyar, 5689): Lag B’Omer

1929: In Hartford, Connecticut, Thomas Birmingham and Editha Gardner Birmingham gave birth to Stephen Birmingham author of  Our Crowd’: The Great Jewish Families of New York, The Grandees: America’s Sephardic Elite and The Rest of Us: The Rise of America’s Eastern European Jews.

1930: Premiere of “À propos de Nice” a silent documentary depicting daily in the French city of Nice filmed by cinematographer Boris Kaufman.

1931: In Cracow, Poland, Ignac and Felicia Karp gave birth to their “only child” Celina Karp,“the youngest of the roughly 1,200 Jews” rescued by Oscar Schindler who became Celina Biniaz after marrying  dentist Amir Biniaz in 1953.

1931: Birthdate of actress Carroll Baker who converted to Judaism when she married Holocaust survivor Jack Garfein with whom she had two children – Blanche Baker and Herschel Garfein

1932: Birthdate of Brooklyn native and College of William and Mary graduate “Timesman” and author Arnold Lubasch. (As reported by Daniel Slotnik)

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/10/business/media/arnold-lubasch-who-covered-crime-for-the-times-dies-at-83.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

1932: The Licensed Trade News, the Birmingham based publication that “gives news from all over England about the brewing trade” reported today that former British Olympic weightlifter Edward Lawrence Levy who later went to work the brewer’s trade association had passed away.

http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/EdwardLawrenceLevy.htm

1933: “Dr. Friedrich von Winterfeld, leader of the Nationalist party as Dr. Alfred Hugenberg's deputy, declared in a speech here today that the boycott of the Jews had harmed Germany more than its intended victims.”

1934: “I. Edwin Goldwasseer, Nathan Straus, Jr. and Ira M. Younker, co-chairman of the United Jewish

Appeal which is seeking to raise $1,200,000 in New York City which will go “for the relief and rehabilitation of German Jews and their settlements in Palestine announced today that so far they have raised $302,000.

1935: The Italian newspaper Popolo di Roma published a report describing the funeral held aboard Italian ship Domenico for a Jewish cadet who had drowned while training at the Betar Naval Academy. The academy had been established at Civitavecchia, Italy in 1934 in an agreement worked out between Benito Mussolini and Ze’ev Jabotinsky, the leader of the Revisionist Zionist Movement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betar_Naval_Academy#cite_ref-kaplan156_1-0

 

1935(25th of Iyar, 5695): Sixty-eight year old Bella Mehrbach passed away in White Plains, NY.

1936(7th of Sivan, 5696): Second Day of Shavuot

1936(7th of Sivan, 5696): Bertha Pappenheim “an Austrian-Jewish feminist, a social pioneer, and the founder of the Jüdischer Frauenbund (League of Jewish Women) passed away.  http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freuds-patients-serial/201201/bertha-pappenheim-1859-1936

1936: Striking Arabs said they would send “a protest to the British Administration demanding its withdrawal from the Levant Fair” now being held in Tel Aviv.  The Palcor (news) Agency) reported that at least 48 people had died to date since the Arab uprising began in April.

1936: As of today, it was reported that 24 Jews have been killed since the outbreak of the Arab Riots and another 110 have been wounded.

1936: Twenty-three year old British Constable Robert Bird, who “shot from ambush by an Arab” in the Old City of Jerusalem was among the five people murdered today.

1936: “The mandates commission of the League of Nations received” a letter from the Jewish Agency for Palestine appealing to the British Government “to make the Jewish national home immune from further attack” at the opening of its 29th session today in Geneva.

1937(18th of Sivan, 5697): Mrs. Louise G. Pollak, the Baltimore born wife of Dr. Berthold S. Pollak, medical director of the Hudson County Tuberculosis Hospital, and mother of mother of Theresa Pollak and Mrs. Rosa Birnbaum passed away ‘this afternoon of a heart ailment at her home on the hospital grounds at Secaucus, N. J.’

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/05/29/118973198.html?pageNumber=17

1937(18th of Sivan, 5697): Alfred Adler an Austrian medical doctor, psychologist and founder of the school of individual psychology passed away (As reported by Kendra Cherry)

http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesal/p/alfred-adler.htm

1937:  Neville Chamberlain becomes British Prime Minister. Chamberlain is remembered for Munich Agreement which immediately imperiled those Czech Jews who now came under Hitler’s sway and helped lead to World War II and the Shoah.  In the best tradition of “realistic British leaders” he was pro-Arab as can be seen when told a meeting of the Cabinet’s Palestine Committee that it was “of immense importance to have the Muslim world with us. If we must offend one side, let us offend the Jews rather than the Arabs.  This led to the adoption of policy designed to “ensure a permanent Arab majority and a permanent Jewish minority in Palestine.”

1938: In Frankfurt, caricatures of Jews drawn with insulting inscriptions on Jewish shop windows. Gangs threatened Jews to move out of Frankfurt.

1938: Foundation for Tel Aviv harbor was `laid

1938: Jewish businesses in Frankfurt, Germany, are boycotted.

1939: In reaction to the White Paper the Jewish Agency declares: "The need of the Jewish People for a Home was never more acute and its denial at this time is particularly sharp." The White Paper is denounced as illegal as it contradicts the terms of the Mandate, which can only be changed with the agreement of the Council of the League of Nations.

1939(10th of Sivan, 5699): Russian native David Hayyim Bachrach whom came to the United States in 1889 and served as a rabbi in Trenton, NJ and Providence, RI, passed away today.

1939: The "Atrato", a ship under the command of the Haganah, is captured by the British navy, after having completed seven voyages during six months and bringing more than 2,400 illegal immigrants to Palestine.

1940: Birthdate of Steven Riskin, who as Shlomo Riskin founded the Lincoln Square Synagogue in 1964 and became the first chief rabbi of Erfat. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan had her bat mitzvah at the Lincoln Square Synagogue.

1940: Irving Berlin's musical "Louisiana Purchase" premiered in New York City.

1940: Mr. and Mrs. P. Irving Grinberg of White Plains, NY announced the engagement of their daughter Carol Grinberg,  “a great-granddaughter of Mors. Esther Herrman, one of the founders of Barnard College and Richard M. Lederer, Jr, the controller of the Woodside National Bank in Queens.

1940: After three days of debate, Churchill’s War Cabinet decides to continue the war against Germany.  Churchill prevailed over formidable forces led by Foreign Minister Lord Halifax that sought to reach an accommodation with the Nazi regime.  Eventually Halifax would see the logic of   Churchill’s position and become a strong advocate of the war against Hitler.  If the debate had gone otherwise, for the Jews, there would have been even more finality to the Final Solution than was suffered with the loss of the Six Million.

1940: Realizing that the Lord Lloyd will not end his opposition to arming the Jews of Palestine so they can defend themselves, Churchill writes his Colonial Secretary urging him to meet with Weizmann to see what can be done to end the impasse. Churchill wanted to bring most of the British troops in Palestine back to England to face the expected cross-Channel invasion by the Nazis.  He realized that these British troops were often all that stood between the Jews and the forces of the Grand Mufti and Arab marauders who had a history of attacking the Jewish settlers. Churchill ends the letter by reminding Lord Lloyd of his continued opposition to the White Paper.

1941(2nd of Sivan, 5701): Thirty-seven year old Dudley Joel, a member of a prominent and wealthy Anglo-Jewish family and Member of Parliament who “joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve” at the start of WW II was killed today off the Cape Cornwall today when his ship was bombed by Nazi aircraft after which he was buried at the Wilesden Jewish Cemetery.

1941: In a prelude to the Fahrud, the Iraqi name for this year’s pogrom, Yunus al-Sabawi, “the governor of Baghdad and head of the Nazi groups in Baghdad (indeed, al-Sabawi translated Mein Kampf into Arabic), summoned Hakham Sassoon Khedouri, leader of the Jews in Baghdad, informing him that Jews were to stay home on May 31, June 1 and 2 (Shabbat and Shavuot)” and also telling him  to inform the Jews to pack one suitcase, and to be prepared to attend detention centers.”

1942(12th of Sivan, 5702): Sixty-five year old New York born glass maker Charles H. Harris “who opened his home” in Norwalk, CT “as a vacation farm for undernourished girls sent by social service departments of hospitals and welfare associations in New York” passed away today.

1942: Birthdate of Dr. Stanley B. Prusiner, native of Des Moines, Iowa, who won the Nobel Prize Physiology and Medicine in 1997.

1943: Today, “Aaron Copland's ballet Rodeo was performed for the first time, with symphonic accompaniment by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops.”

1943: Today, for the first time in modern history the city of Tluste is “Jew Free” following yesterday’s murder of the 3,000 Jews lving in the town.

1944(6th of Sivan, 5704): Last Shavuot of WW II

1944: At Birkenau, some Jews tried to revolt as they were marched to the gas chambers. They were machine-gunned to death.

1945(16th of Sivan, 5705): Fifty-eight year old Alexander Warshawsky, the Cleveland born son of Jewish immigrants Ida and Ezekiel Warshawsky, who along with his brother Abel “attended the Cleveland School of Art and New York’s National Academy of Design” and moved to Europe before WW II when he returned to the United States where he settled in Los Angeles and raised his son Ivan with his wife Berthe.

http://www.askart.com/artist/Alexander_Warshawsky/26765/Alexander_Warshawsky.aspx

1945: In Quebec, Harry Cohen, “an immigrant from Lithuania who owned an auto parts business” and his wife gave birth to Stephen Philip Cohen, the “professor who secretly brokered peace talks between Arab and Israeli officials.” (As reported by Sam Roberts)

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/world/middleeast/stephen-cohen-dead-mideast-negotiator.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0

1945: In a letter made public today “by Charles Schwager, a member of the administrative committee of the National Council of Organizations for Palestine” Governor Tom Dewey, the 1944 Republican candidate for President who was planning another run in 1948 declared that “the problems of the unfortunate, homeless and persecuted Jews of eastern Europe should be on the agenda of our international deliberation and their representatives should be invited to plead their cause.”

1946(27th of Iyar, 5706): Sixty-eight year old Benjamin Joseph Altheimer, Sr. who enjoyed successful legal career in his native Pine Bluff, AR and Chicago , Illinois and established “the Ben J. Altheimer Foundation, which has provided funding for civic, legal, and agricultural endeavors” in Arkansas passed away today.

1946: “At the royal estate at Inchass, about 25 miles from Cairo, 26-year old King Farouk” hosted a first ever meeting of the rulers of seven Arab states where the agenda included: Reconciliation of the Hashimites and Saudis, an Anglo-Egyptian treat, the attitude of the big powers toward the Arabs, adequate representation of Arabs in the peace conference and the inevitable Palestine question, which meant putting to any attempt to settle one hundred thousand Jews in the country immediately.

1946(27th of Iyar, 5706): Eighty-one year old NYU and Columbia trained industrial chemist Dr. Maximilian Toch, the New York born son of Moses and Caroline Levy Toch, the “president and chief chemist of Toch Brothers, Inc. and chairman of Standard Varnish Works “called America’s first camofleur” for his work in camouflaging the Panama Canal and developing the gray paint used to “hide” U.S. Navy ships who raised four daughters – Elain, Constance, Alma and Maxine – with his wife “the former Hermine E. Levy” passed away today.

1947: At the Hotel Sheraton in Manhattan, “Dr. Mordecai Soltes, executive director of Yeshiva University presented Rabbi S. Felix Mendlesohn” the rabbi at Temple Beth Israel in Chicago, with “a scroll and recalled how he had started National Jewish Book Week in 1927” which led Rabbi Mendelsohn to decry “the apathy of the Jewish people toward Jewish Liberation

1948: Israeli forces captured the Arab village of Zar'in on Mt. Gilboa.

1948: (19th of Iyar, 5708) The commander of the Jewish defense of Jerusalem, “Yitzhak Rabin went up to Mount Zion in Jerusalem, where he later wrote, ‘I witnessed a shattering scene.  A delegation was emerging from the Jewish Quarter bearing white flags.  I was horrified to learn that consisted of rabbis and other residents on their way to hear the Legion’s terms for their capitulation.  That same night, the Jewish Quarter surrendered to the Arab Legion.’”  The loss of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City meant that the spiritual heart of Jerusalem with the Western Walls and its many synagogues was now under Jordanian control.  This was the Arab Legion’s first victory in Jerusalem.  It would prove to be its last as the Jewish forces were able to strengthen their defenses around the rest of the city.  Esther Cailingold, a 22 year old English woman was one of the defenders who lost her life in the fight for the Old City. In a letter to her parents she wrote, “’We had a difficult fight.  I have tasted hell, but it has been worthwhile because I am convinced that in the end we will have a Jewish state…I have lived my life fully, and very sweet it has been to be in our land.’”. Under the U.N. Partition Resolution, Jerusalem was supposed to be under international control.  Instead the Jordanians invaded the city and held the eastern section for 19 years.  During that time they defaced the Jewish quarter and denied the Jews access to the area under their control.  The world community did nothing to remedy the situation.  Only with the Six Day War in 1967 were Jews able to have access to the entire City of David.

1948: With Jewish Quarter completely cut off, Mordechai Weingarten led a delegation that met with Abdulla el Tell, the commander of the Arab Legion that had illegally attacked Jerusalem to discuss surrender terms.  Under the terms of the surrender which Weingarten had no choice but accept “all men capable of bearing arms were made prisoners of war. When El-Tell saw how few Jewish fighters he had been confronting he told Moshe Russnak, the Haganah commander that “If I had kown you were so few would have come after with sticks, not guns.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Weingarten_and_el_Tell.JPG

1948: The Jewish Quarter suffered a scourge of looting after the departure of its Jewish residence.

1948: After the surrender of the Jewish Quarter today, “Esther Calingold and the other wounded were moved to the nearby Armenian School, just outside of the Jewish Quarter.”

1948: Israeli forces captured Zar’in on Mt. Gilboa

1948: Iraqi troops captured Ge’ulim

1948: At the U.N. Security Council, following the third or fourth Arab rejection of a cease fire, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Arthur Austin rejected the Arab position in most undiplomatic language.  He accused the Arabs of having only one goal – overwhelming the government of Israel by armed power.  “An existing government cannot be blotted out this way…We know this is a violation of the Charter…This is equivalent in its absurdity to a legend that these five armies are there to maintain peace and at the same time are conducting a bloody war.”

1949: Birthdate of television performer Sandy Helberg, the father of actor Simon Helberg

1950: In an attempt to promote peace in the region, the government of Israel proposes that certain religious sites in Jerusalem be placed under international control.  Everybody from the Arabs to the Catholic Church rejects the proposal.

1950: The plan of the three major western powers to tie shipment of arms to Israel and surrounding Arab states to pledges of non-aggression has met with mixed, mostly negative reactions from various Arab nations.  While the Egyptians have gone along with this tripartite declaration, the Iraqis, Lebanese and Syrians have all condemned the western-backed policy.

1951: The BBC Home Service broadcast the first episode of “Crazy People” a radio comedy program starring Peter Sellers.

1953: The West End premiere of “Guys and Dolls” “a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows” opened today at the London Coliseum….”

1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that one Israeli soldier was killed and another wounded when Israeli units clashed with, and inflicted considerable losses on an armed Jordanian unit near Hebron. The Jordanians had previously crossed the armistice lines, but were forced to flee in the ensuing exchange of fire.

1954: Ninety-eight year old Poultney Bigelow, the American journalist who in the 1890’a described the persecution of non-Orthodox Russians but who portrayed “the Czar as a kindly man overruled by fierce and venal bureaucrats.”

1955(7th of Sivan, 5715): Second Day of Shavuot

1955: “Egyptian and Israeli forces exchanged heavy mortar fire for twenty minutes today across the demarcation in the Egyptian-held strip of Palestine.”

1957(27th of Iyar, 5717): Fifty-nine year old Minsk native and Yale trained attorney Samuel H. Markle, the Connecticut regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, the husband of Bertha Markle and father of Lois Markle “collapsed and died of heart attack while at tending a session of the 105th annual convention of District 1 of B’nai B’rith at the Concord Hotel.

1958: “The Proud Rebel” a movie set in post- Civil War America directed by Michael Curtiz, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, Jr. with music by Jerome Moross and featuring Eli Mintz as “Mr. Gorman” was released in the United States today.

1959(28th of Iyar, 5719): Sixty year old Des Moines, IA, native and Yale University graduate Elliot E. Cohen, the founding editor of Commentary magazine passed away today.

https://www.jta.org/1959/06/01/archive/elliot-e-cohen-editor-of-commentary-dead-funeral-services-held

1959: In Brooklyn, the former Hilma Liebman, who gained fame as the novelist Hilma Wolitzer and psychologist Morton Wolitzer gave birth to Brown University graduate and novelist Meg Wolitzer whose works include the novel Sleepwalking and The Wife.

1959: Birthdate of Meg Wolitzer, author of The Wife. She followed in the footsteps of her mother Hilma Wolitzer “whose novels include Ending, In the Flesh, The Doctor's Daughter and Hearts

1962: Israel Bar-Yehuda replaced Yitzhak Ben-Aharon as Minister of Ransportation

1962: Enter Conversing, “a collection thirty-two essays by Clifton Fadiman” is scheduled to “be issued by World” today,

1962: Arthur Julian Andrew began serving as the Canadian Ambassador to Israel.

1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that in Washington, the U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. John Foster Dulles, claimed that the Egyptian Prime Minister, Naguib, was ready to "make a deal with Israel." (Ed note: Not for the first time and certainly not for the last time, Secretary Dulles "got it wrong, big time.")

1955: Herut and Maki factions presented no-confidence motions, in which the General Zionists, a coalition member, abstained — leading to Prime Minister Sharett’s resignation.

1958: “The Proud Rebel” an off-beat Western film directed by Michael Curtiz, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, Jr and with music by Jerome Moross was released today in the United States.

1959: In Brooklyn novelist Hilma (Liebman) Wolitzer and psychologist Morton Wolitzer gave birth to author and college writing instructor Meg Wolitzer.

1960: Birthdate of Gail Sheryl Asper, OC, OM “a director and corporate secretary of CanWest Global Communications Corp, president of the CanWest Global Foundation, and managing director and secretary of The Asper Foundation, the private charitable foundation spearheading the establishment of the $310 million Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the daughter of entrepreneur and philanthropist Izzy Asper, she attended Kelvin High School before receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1981 and a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1984 from the University of Manitoba. She was called to the Nova Scotia bar in 1985 and is a member of the Law Society of Manitoba. She articled with Halifax, Nova Scotia law firm of Cox Downie & Goodfellow in 1984 and was an Associate Lawyer in Halifax with Goldberg McDonald from 1985 to 1989. In 1989, she joined her father's firm, CanWest, as a corporate secretary and director. She has long been associated with arts and culture as a volunteer, performer, and fund-raiser. She is associated with the Liberal Party of Canada and endorsed Scott Brison's bid to become leader in 2006. Ms. Asper has received numerous community service and humanitarian awards and was the 2005 recipient of the Governor-General Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts. In 2007, she was awarded the Order of Manitoba. In 2008, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.”

1962: Arthur Julian Andrew began serving as Canada’s ambassador to Israel.

1963(5th of Sivan, 5723): Erev Shavuot

1963(5th of Sivan, 5723): Sixty-four year old HUC trained Rabbi Ernest R. Trattner, the Denver born “son of Louis and Rosa (Levy) Trattner” who began his career leading Temple Beth Israel in San Diego and who had been leading West Temple in Los Angeles since 1948 while raising three children – Elinor, Louise and Rosa Jean – with his wife the former Johanna Gronsky passed away today after which he was buried at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, CA

1963: U.S. premiere of “Hud” co-starring Paul Newman and Melvyn Douglas, co-produced by Irving Ravetch who also wrote the screenplay with music by Elmer Bernstein.

1964: Birthdate of Israeli born “Action painter” Rotem Reshef who in 1987 “was awarded a promising young artist scholarship from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.

1964: Palestine National Congress formed the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) in the eastern section Jerusalem.  The PLO charter called for the destruction of the state of Israel.  At the time of its founding, Arab countries controlled the West Bank and Gaza.  Yet no attempt was made to create a Palestinian state in these two areas.

1965: “Funeral services” are scheduled to “be held” in Brussels today for “former Belgian Chief Rabbi and former Chief Jewish Chaplain of the Belgian army Dr. Solomon Ullman.” (As reported by JTA)

1965: Birthdate of actor Alon Moni Aboutboul, the native of Kiryat Ata who “in 2000 won the ‘Film actor of the decade’ award at the Haifa International Film Festival.”

1966(9th of Sivan, 5626): Parashat Nasso

1966: In New South Wales, Australia, Gwen Ford and “Desmond Ford, a noted Seventh-day Adventist theologian gave birth to author Luke Ford, who converted to Judaism while living in Los Angeles.

1966: “Rivals in Democratic Race for Surrogate” published today describe Arthur George Klein and Samuel Joshua Silverman the candidates for  the Democratic nominated for Manhattan Surrogate both of whom happen to be Jewish.

1967(18th of Iyar, 5727): Lag B’Omer observed as the  crisis builds that will lead to war in June, a war in which Israel’s enemies again failed to destroy the country.

1968(1st of Sivan, 5728): Rosh Chodesh Sivan

1969: Katyusha rockets fired from Jordan bombard Jericho twice.

1969: “April’s Fools,” a romantic comedy directed by Stuart Rosenberg with a score by Marvin Hamlisch and featuring Harvey Korman as “Matt Benson” was released today in the United States.

1972: An apparent terrorist attack was foiled today when a Lebanese women in possession of weapons was apprehended in Rome.

1973: At the Broadway Theatre, final performance of “Henry IV” with David Hurst in the role of  ”Dr. Dionysius Genoni”

1974(7th of Sivan, 5734): Second Day of Shavuot

1974: More than 30 Moscow Jews launched a one day hunger strike in solidarity with Alexander Feldman.

1974: Yitzhak Rabin announced the formation of a three party coalition government that will replace the government led by fellow Laborite, Golda Meir.  The new government represents a bit of a generational change in the Israeli power structure.  The new leaders are all younger than those they are replacing.  Rabin is 52.  Yigal  Allon, the new Foreign Minister is 55 and the new Defense Minister, Shimon Peres is 52.  Among the marquee names missing from the new collation are Moshe Dayan and Abbe Eban.

1976(28th of Iyar, 5736): Yom Yersushalayim

1976(28th of Iyar, 5736): Two police officers were killed today while attempting to defuse a terrorist bomb.

1976: On Friday night, an historic event happened in Madrid, Spain. Her Majesty, Queen Sofia, attended Friday Night Services at Madrid's only synagogue. It was a highly emotional event for many of the congregation that night since it was another Spanish monarch who expelled their ancestors some 500 years ago.

1977: Five people were injured when a bomb went off while they were riding on a bus in Jerusalem.

1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that the Cabinet embarked on a major political debate on the future of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. There were indications that unless Israel addresses itself to the question of the sovereignty of these territories, the U.S. will step in with its own ideas to get the negotiations for a Middle Eastern settlement moving again. In New York, the HIAS (Hebrew Immigrants Aid Society) rejected the Israeli request to stop helping the Soviet drop-outs in Vienna from going to other countries, instead of going, as they stated in the Soviet Union, that they intended to leave for Israel.

1979: Sixty year old Herbert S. Landsman, the New York born son of Nathan and Sara Landsman the  WW II U.S. Navy Commander and Ivy League educated executive vice president of Federated Department Stores who married Madeline Rollman Stricker after his first wife Claire Zimmerman passed away and raised four children – John, Herbert, Jr, Margaret and Julie –  passed away today.

https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/29/archives/herbert-landsman-stores-official-dies-held-a-key-position-in.html

1979(2nd of Sivan, 5739): Seventy-five year old German born Berthold “Bert” Adler, “the son of Salomon and Julie Adler” and the husband of Ruth Adler passed away today in New York City.

1980: Menachem Begin replaced Ezer Weizman as Minister of Defense

1982(6th of Sivan, 5742): Shavuot

1983: In “La Mort de Louise Weiss: Européenne et féministe” published today the French newspaper Le Monde reported the death of “French journalist and lifelong champion of European union and women’s rights, Louise Weiss” who had passed away two days ago.

1984: “One Day at a Time,” a unique sit-com starring Bonnie Franklin aired for the last time in prime t.v.

1984: George “Soros signed a contract between the Soros Foundation (New York) and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the founding document of the Soros Foundation Budapest.”

1985(8th of Sivan, 5745): Seventy-six year old “Georges Devereux, a Hungarian-French ethnologist and psychoanalyst, often considered the founder of ethnopsychiatry” who converted to Catholicism in 1933 passed away today.

1986: Today, the U.S Court of Appeals upheld “the conviction of writer R. Foster Winans  for securities fraud which had consisted of him giving advance information about his influential Wall Street Journal column to two brokers, one of whom was Peter Brant, the Buffalo, NY native who was born Peter Bornstein, the second son “of Martin Bornstein, “a middle-class Jewish insurance salesman.”

1987: Daniel Barenboim is scheduled to conduct the IPO during one of several concerts celebrating the orchestra’s 50th anniversary.

1988: For the first time HBO broadcast “Blood Money” co-starring Ellen Barkin as “Nadine Powers.”

1991: ABC broadcast the final episode of the hit sitcom “Thirtysomething” created by Edward Zwick and Marshal Herskovitz

1995(28th of Iyar, 5755): Yom Yershualayim

1997(21st of Iyar, 5757): Ninety-two year old Dr. Kurt Adler, the son of Alfred Adler, passed away today. (As reported by Ford Burkhart)

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/31/nyregion/dr-kurt-alfred-adler-92-directed-therapeutic-institute.html

1998: According to “Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship,” which won the George Polk Award, prepared by Amy Goodman, “that documented Chevron Corporation's role in a confrontation between the Nigerian Army and villagers who had seized oil rigs and other equipment belonging to oil corporations” “the company provided helicopter transport to the Nigerian Navy and Mobile Police (MOPOL) to their Parabe oil platform, which had been occupied by villagers who accused the company of contaminating their land.”

1999: Today the REMORA II, a remote operated vehicle, took the first picture of the INS Dakar after the wreck was found four days ago. The submarine “rests on her keel, bow to the northwest. Her conning tower was snapped off and fallen over the side. The stern of the submarine, with the propellers and dive planes, broke off aft of the engine room and rests beside the main hull. Some small artifacts were recovered, including the boat's gyrocompass.”  But the pictures did not reveal the cause of the sinking.

 2000: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including the recently released paperback editions of “Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris” by Ian Kershaw and Village of a “Million Spirits: A Novel of the Treblinka Uprising” by Ian MacMillan harrowing account of the daily operations of the infamous Treblinka concentration camp in Poland, and the 1943 revolt by hundreds of Jewish prisoners.

2001(6th of Sivan, 5761): First Day Shavuot, 5761

2001(6th of Sivan, 5761): Ninety-one year old Hyman Lazarus passed away after which he was buried at the New Tifereth Israel Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio.

2002: Mariane Pearl gave birth to Adam Daniel Pearl almost four months after his father and her husband Daniel Pearl was murdered by terrorist in Pakistan.

2003: The 19th Israel Film Festival opens at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills. 

2003: “Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz”  “a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz” was performed for the first time at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco “as the start of SHN pre-Broadway tryouts.”

2004: Jewish businessman and community leader, Earle I. Mack was sworn-in as Ambassador to Finland

2005(19th of Iyar, 5765): Seventy-nine year old Avner-Hair Shaki, a native of Safed who became a governmental leader in Israel passed away today.

2005: HBO broadcast the first episode of “Empire Falls” a movie adaptation of the novel of the same name co-starring Paul Newman.

2006(1st of Sivan, 5766): Rosh Chodesh Sivan                                                                    

2006: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including the recently released paperback editions of What We Owe Iraq: War and the Ethics of Nation Building by Noah Feldman and 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era by Gary M. Pomeranz

2006: Pope Benedict XVI visited Auschwitz-Birkenau where he delivered a speech in Italian to Holocaust survivors and members of the Jewish community in Poland.

2006: Haaretz reports haredim rioted outside the Ashdod cemetery and stole the body of a baby girl from the cemetery’s tahara room to prevent DNA testing that would most likely implicate the baby’s parents in the baby’s death

2007: The last Monday in May is celebrated as Memorial Day. The federal holiday began in 1868 as a way to honor the Union Soldiers who had died in the Civil War. According to at least one source, over 7,000 soldiers served on both sides during the Civil War, with the bulk of them fighting on the side of the United States. (Rabbi Fred Davidow, who has a great deal more expertise on the subject than I do, can vividly describe the role of Jews in the Confederacy.)

2007: At New Haven, Benjamin Levin, son of David Levin, graduates from Yale!

2008: The Walter Reade Theatre in New York features a screening of “Late Marriage,” “ribald, dark and subversive comedy that pits tradition against modernity ribald, dark and subversive comedy that pits tradition against modernity ribald, dark and subversive comedy that pits tradition against modernity ribald, dark and subversive comedy that pits tradition against modernity ribald, dark and subversive comedy that pits tradition against modernity a ribald dark and subversive comedy that pits tradition against modernity” in a film featuring Zasa, a Tel Aviv bachelor and his Georgian born mother  and “Three Sisters,” a film that tells the tale of three Sephardic sisters born into an affluent Egyptian family in the 1940’s and who end their lives sharing a cramped apartment in Israel half a century later.

2008: Shachiv Shnaan, an Israeli-Druse political leader entered the Knesset today “following the resignation of Efraim Sneth.

2008: Laura Ellen Ziskin was among those who joined in today’s announcement of the creation of “Stand Up To Cancer.”

2008: Following further revelations about cash payments by a U.S. businessman to Ehud Olmert, coalition partner Ehud Barak called on the Prime Minister to resign or face the collapse of his government.

2008: In “Pressure Seen Mounting Against Kosher Meat Giant” published today, Debra Nussbaum Cohen described the hostile reaction of some observant Jews to the illegal activities of AgriProcessors.

2008: During a goodwill visit to Israel that included a visit to the Western Wall, Dr J, Julius Erving, met with Shimon Peres at the presidential mansion.

2008: Associate Press writer Reem Khalifa reports Bahrain has named a Jewish woman as ambassador to US

Bahrain's king has appointed a woman believed to be the Arab world's first Jewish ambassador as the country's envoy to Washington. Lawmaker Houda Nonoo said she was proud to serve her country "first of all as a Bahraini," adding she was not chosen for the post because of her religion."It is a great honor to have been appointed as the first female ambassador to the United States of America and I am looking forward to meeting this new challenge," Nonoo told The Associated Press by telephone. The Wednesday decree issued by King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa and reported by the official Bahrain News Agency had not specified where Nonoo, a 43-year-old mother of two boys, would be posted. But her appointment to the U.S. ambassadorship was rumored for months. Bahrain — a pro-Western island nation with Sunni rulers and a Shiite majority — is a close U.S. ally and hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. It has about 50 Jewish citizens among a population of roughly half a million people. Nonoo has served as legislator in Bahrain's all-appointed 40-member Shura Council for three years. Nonoo replaced her cousin, who held the Shura Council seat for four years. A businesswoman who lives both in Bahrain and London, Nonoo also is the first Jewish woman to head a local rights organization, the Bahrain Human Rights Watch. Jews migrated to Bahrain in the 19th century, mostly from Iran and Iraq. Their numbers increased early in the 20th century but decreased after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, when many left for Israel, the U.S. and Europe. Jews keep a low profile in Bahrain, working mostly in banks, commercial and trade companies and retail. There is also a synagogue and a private Jewish cemetery here. At the height of the Arab-Israeli war, the synagogue was attacked and torched by angry Muslims. The structure was later refurbished. Bahrain has no diplomatic relations with Israel. In 1969, an official Israeli delegation visited Bahrain but protesters burned the Israeli flag in a large street demonstration at the time. In 2006, after Bahrain signed the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S., Manama closed down a government office that endorsed a boycott of Israeli goods.

2009(5th of Sivan, 5769): Erev Shavuot

 

2009: As part of the Tel Aviv Centennial Celebrations many of the “Tikun” (learning sessions) that are held as part of the observance of Shavuot will explore the Jewish facets of Tel Aviv, and the spiritual heritage of the First Hebrew City.

 

2009: IDF gunfire wounded four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip  today, medics said, in an incident that ruptured the calm of a shaky truce achieve after a spasm of cross-border violence earlier this month.

2010: In Cedar Rapids, IA, on Friday night, Dr. Bob Silber, a mensch in the truest sense of the word is scheduled to lead services as Temple Judah hosts its last Musical Shabbat for 5770. 

2010: Joshua Joel Siegel, son of Kris and Kenny Siegel and a fourth generation Temple Judah member, will be giving the Valedictorian speech at the Commencement Cermonies at Kennedy High School today. He is the brother of David Siegel; the grandson of the late Oscar and Lillian Siegel and the grandson of Jerolyn Selkirk. Josh will be attending Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA.

2010: The Israeli Air Force bombed weapons manufacturing site and a terror tunnel tonight following further Hamas rocket attacks on the Western Negev, despite announcements by the terrorist organization and its allies they would cease the rocket attacks

2011: The Amerigo Trio- Inbal Segev, cellist; Glenn Dicterow, violinist; Karen Dreyfus, violist -with Pianist Alon Goldstein    is schuedled to perform in New Lebanon, NY.

2011: For the first time in the Israel Festival, Yasmin Levy is scheduled to “offer a special performance including a selection of Ladino songs, well-loved classics, and original compositions, together with songs from the repertoire of Yiannis Kotsiras, one of the leading Greek singers. Yiannis, who is considered one of his country’s most outstanding performers, will join the special performance at the festival, and the two artists will offer joint renditions of each other’s songs. The two singers will be accompanied by Levy’s band, which includes some of the best ethnic instrumentalists in Israel, together with guest musicians. 

2011: Egypt opens the border with Gaza to Palestinians after four years of closure.

2011: In “The Secret Life of Cairo’s Jews,” Anthony Julius reviewed the marvelous new work by Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole entitled Sacred Trash.

2011(24th of Iyar, 5771): Parashat Bechukotai

2011(24th of Iyar, 5771): Ninety-seven year old, Leo Rangell, a dominant force in the field of psychiatry during the second half of the 20th century passed away today. (As reported by Paul Vitello)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/us/05rangell.html

2011(24th of Iyar, 5771): Sixty four year old Milt Avruskin, “the voice of Superstars of Wrestling in the 1970s and International Wrestling in the 1980s, as well as the key player behind Pro Wrestling Canada, died suddenly” today. (As reported by Greg Olive

2011(24th of Iyar, 5771): Seventy-year old award winning, controversial painter Uri Lifschitz, passed away.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-artist-uri-lifschitz-dies-at-age-75-1.364598?localLinksEnabled=fals

2012(7th of Sivan, 5772): Second Day of Shavuot

2012: As part of the Israel Festival, Les Deux Mondes is scheduled to perform “Living Memory” at the Rebecca Crown Auditorium.

2012: Sports Illustrated reported that the International Olympic Committee has rejected requests for a moment of silence at the London Olympics “in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the 1972 terrorist attacks that killed 11 Israeli coaches and athletes because the IOC is “reluctant to alienate other members of the Olympic community with any specific references to the attacks.”

 2012: The HBO biopic “Hemingway & Gellhorn” directed by Philip Kaufman with a script co-authored by Jerry Stahl aired for the first time tonight.

2012: “An uncertain and uncomfortable calm descended on Tel Aviv today, as Israel's paramilitary police unit Magav ("Border Guard") deployed throughout the city's southern neighbourhoods and tensions between residents and a large population of African migrants simmered just below boiling point.

2012: The Virginia Holocaust Museum in Richmond, VA, celebrated Jewish American Heritage Month by unveiling a Jewish-American Hall of Fame plaque honouring Nobel Prize Winner in Medicine Dr. Gertrude Elion.

http://jwa.org/thisweek/may/28/2012/gertrude-elion

2013: The 4th International Conference of the Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism is scheduled to open in Jerusalem.

http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/abouttheministry/conferences-seminars/pages/gfca_4th_international_conference_may_2013.aspx

2013: Today a top Israeli minister condemned Russia’s declared intention to deliver advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, and another senior minister said Israel would “know what to do” if the weapons were delivered. Minister of Intelligence, International Relations and Strategic Affairs Yuval Steinitz told reporters the Russian decision to press on with the deal was an “odd” and unjustifiable move, which he said was “totally wrong” on moral and strategic grounds. (As reported by Raphael Ahren)

2013(19th of Sivan, 5773): Seventy-year old photographer Abigail Heyman passed away today. (As reported by Paul Vitello)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/arts/design/abigail-heyman-feminist-photojournalist-dies-at-70.html?hpw&_r=0

2013(19th of Sivan, 5773): Ninety year old Holocaust survivor and physician Henry Morgentaler passed away today. (As reported by Robert D. McFadden)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/world/americas/henry-morgentaler-abortion-doctor-in-canada-dies-at-90.html

2013: Archaeologists expressed deep concern over construction and renovation works at the Western Wall enclosure in Jerusalem’s Old City, Maariv reported today. The work, they said, would greatly damage artefacts under the plaza floor, which would be lost forever. The Israel Antiquities Authority said in response that extensive preservation work was being conducted at the site. (As reported by Aaron Kalman)

2014: Professor Marat Grinberg is scheduled to discuss his biography of Wood Allen, Woody on Rye at the Oregon Jewish Museum.

2014: “Zemer Chai, DC’s Premier Jewish Choir” is scheduled to perform “In Every Age!” at Ohr Kodesh in Chevy Chase Maryland.

2014: The Kaufman Music Centre is scheduled to present The Israeli Chamber Project.

2014(28th of Iyar, 5774): One hundred one year old published Oscar Dystel passed away today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/business/media/oscar-dystel-who-saved-bantam-books-dies-at-101.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&_r=1

2014(28th of Iyar, 5774): Yom Yerushalayim

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Modern_Holidays/Yom_Yerushalayim.shtml

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/yomyerushalayim.html

 

2014: In honor of Jerusalem Day, University of Iowa Professor Robert Cargill speaks on “The Water System of Ancient Jerusalem” this evening.

2014: In “Posin’s: Legen-dairy in DC” published today Zachary Paul Levine provided a brief history of this legendary Jewish institution which provided the offer of this blog with immeasurable amounts of corned beef, bakery fresh bagels, and mouth-watering smoked white fish.

http://jewishfoodexperience.com/posins-legen-dairy-dc/

2014: “The Foreign Ministry blamed the Jewish Agency today for endangering eastern Ukraine’s Jewish community and provoking accusations of dual loyalty. “

2014: “Over a thousand people on Wednesday attended a state ceremony honoring Ethiopian Jews who died en route to Israel during two major waves of immigration in 1984 and 1991.”

2014(28th of Iyar, 5774): Eighty –five year old Malcolm Glazer the president and chief executive officer of First Allied Corporation, a holding company for his varied business interests, and owner of both Manchester United of the Premier League and Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL passed away today.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/manchester-united-owner-malcolm-glazer-dies-at-85/

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/29/malcolm-glazer

2015: “An Evening of Exploration” featuring a performance by Itamar Borochov, a member of Yemen Blues and the New Jerusalem Orchestra and a discussion by Rabbi Marc Angel and Rabbi Yamin Levy about The David Berg Rare Books Room's latest exhibit, “Sephardic Journeys” is scheduled to take place at the Center for Jewish History.

2015(10th of Sivan, 5775): Ninety-year old Esther Ghan Firestone, “Canada’s first female cantor” passed away today.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/esther-ghan-firestone-canadas-first-female-cantor-delighted-audiences-with-her-voice/article24867420/

2015: “In a lengthy interview with Egypt's Mehwar TV today - segments of which were translated by MEMRI - historian Maged Farag insisted it was time for Egyptians to leave "the old ideology and cultural heritage on which we were raised" - namely, rabid anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism - in favor of a more rational focus on Egypt's own national interests.”

2015: “The right-wing American philanthropist Irving Moskowitz purchased an abandoned church near Hebron for future use as a Jewish West Bank settlement, employing a variety of shell corporations and charitable organizations to cover up the acquisition of the property, the Haaretz daily reported” today.

2015: “The Israel Festival” which “is subsidized by the government and Jerusalem municipality” is scheduled to open today.

2016(20th of Iyar, 5776): Parasha Behar

2016: Ninety-four year old banker and pillar of the Jewish community Harold M. Becker passed away today.

http://www.cedarmemorial.com/Obituary/2016/May/Harold-Becker/

2016: “Meeting You” a work choreographed by and featuring Israeli Ori Flomin is scheduled to open at The Club in New York City this evening.

2017: “To Be or Not To Be” and “Fanny’s Journey” are scheduled to be shown on the last night of the Washington Jewish Film Festival.

2017: The New York Times Book Section features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation, The Six-Day War: The Breaking of the Middle East by Guy Laron, A Land Without Borders: My Journey Around East Jerusalem and the West Bank by Nir Baram, The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine by Nathan Thrall, Salt Houses by Hala Alyan, Where the Line is Drawn: A Tale of Crossings, Friendships and Fifty Years of Occupation in Israel-Palestine by Raja Shehadeh, and A Stricken Field by Martha Gellhorn as well as an interview with Senator Al Franken

2018: Memorial Day observed as Americans remember those who made the supreme sacrifice for the United States and her citizens.

https://kaplancenter.org/memorial-day-and-united-jewish-people

http://forward.com/news/135331/profiles-of-our-fallen/#ixzz1DeAMPaIh

http://www.algemeiner.com/2011/07/18/jews-in-the-military/

2018: The Oxford University Jewish Society is not scheduled to provide a weekday meal today because students will be attending the Iftar dinner sponsored by the Islamic Society that will include Kosher meals for the Jewish attendees.

2018: JW3 is scheduled to host a screening of “Entebbe” in London this evening.

2018: In Atlanta, GA, the Breman Museum is scheduled to be open on Memorial Day where visitors can the permanent exhibition “Absence of Humanity: The Holocaust Years 1933-1945” and “Eighteen Artifacts: A Story of Jewish Atlanta.”

2019: In London, JW3 is scheduled to host a screening starring Noa Koler who has been nominated by the Israeli Film Academy for the Best Actress Award.

2019: The Comedy For Koby tour is scheduled to reach Tel Aviv this evening.

2019: In Canada, the Edmonton Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to host a screening of “The Waldheim Waltz,” Ruth Beckermann’s documentary about “the process of uncovering former UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim’s wartime past.”

2019: “Rabbi Dr. Raphael Zarum, the Dean of the London School of Jewish Studies” is scheduled to deliver a lecture on “The Invasion of Tilgath-Pileser III and Shalmaneser V” as part of a series on “The Ten Lost Tribes.

2019: The Veterans Games are scheduled to continue for a second day in “Tel Aviv and Jerusalem at rehabilitation centers run by Beit Halochem.”

2019: If all has gone well with the airlines Jacob Levin returning to his family after spending a gap-year in Israel on an intensive work/study program. – Go Bobcats!

2019: As a glimmer of hope appears in Arab-Israeli relations with the Egyptians providing assistance in putting the raging wildfire, a shadow also appears as Israelis look to the skies to see if the firing of an anti-aircraft missile by Syria was a “fluke” or a muscle-flexing move by the Assad regime.

2020: The Jewish Arts Collaborative and the Vilna Shul are scheduled to host “Simona Di Nepi, the Museum of Fine Arts Charles and Lynn Schusterman Curator of Judaica, as he virtually talks about the stories behind Jewish American objects in the collection as part of Jewish American Heritage Month.

2020: S.F. JFCS Holocaust Center scheduled to host a virtual talk by author Glenn Kurtz, who wrote the book Three Minutes in Poland after discovering a home movie of his grandparents’ 1938 trip to Poland. 

2020: Addison-Penzak JCC is scheduled to host a Shavuot panel featuring three local Jewish leaders discussing women in leadership roles, from the Bible to Silicon Valley, followed by cheesecake-baking class.

2020: The Switzerland Independent Film Festival is scheduled to host a screening of “The Spy Behind Home Plate.”

2020: The Guy Mintus Show featuring the young Israeli piano virtuoso is scheduled to begin this afternoon.

2020: The inaugural Great Big Jewish Food Fest featuring Jewish culinary talents like Michael Solomonov, Joan Nathan and Michael Twitty is scheduled to come to an end today.

2020: Live on Zoom, the Leo Baeck Institute is scheduled to host “Refuge in the Heights” Migration Memory and Authoritarianism in the 20th Century.”

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/refuge-in-the-heights-migration-memory-and-authoritarianism-tickets-105831490838

2020(5th of Sivan, 5780): Erev Shavuot.

2021: Tonight, His Eminence, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, is scheduled to attend a special Shabbat service at Temple Emanu-El “in solidarity against anti-Semitism…”

https://emanuelnyc.ticketleap.com/may-28---in-person-shabbat-services/details

2021: Kan Kol Hamusika is scheduled to broadcast “Young Artists in Concerts” featuring Alon Petrillin – Piano; Tom Shamarkov – Violin; Etai Kimmel – Cello; Malachi Rozenbaum – Piano.

2021: Bestselling author Anita Diamant is scheduled to appear on JLive to speak about her new book, Period. End of Sentence., which will be available this month.

2021: “A week after a ceasefire brought an end to 11 days of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces is reportedly preparing for the next round of fighting, with senior army officials said concerned an escalation from the Gaza-based terror group could come at any time.”

2022: In Jerusalem, The Eden Tamir Center is scheduled to host “The Best of Chamber Music” performed by violinist David Radynski, cellist Simca Hele and pianist Michael Zartsekel.

2022 (27th of Iyar, 5782): Parasha Bechukotai and Chapter 5 Pirke Avot

2022: In the evening, start of Yom Yerushalayim, “the Israeli national holiday commemorating the reunification of Jerusalem which had been divided for nineteen years as a result of an illegal occupation by Jordan.

2023: The Museum at Eldridge Street is scheduled to host an All-of-a-Kind Family Walking Tour in which participants “follow in the footsteps of Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte, and Gertie, the beloved sisters depicted in Sydney Taylor’s children’s classic.”

2023: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including  Happily: A Personal History, With Fairy Tales by Sabrina Orah Mark, who grew up “in Brooklyn in an orthodox Jewish community” where she went to a Hebrew day school and King: A Life by Jonathan Eig, the new definitive biography of Martin Luther King Jr.

2023: In Israel, the fire and rescue services are scheduled to deal with more blazes and the possibility of flash flooding in the south as the “the country swelters under a heat wave/

2023: The final performance of “Hidden,” written and directed by Marc Weiner is scheduled to take place at Theatre in Manhattan.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hidden-tickets-549457511207