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This Day, November 15, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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November 15



1215: Pope Innocent III opened the convocation of the Fourth Lateran Council, considered the most important council of the Middle Ages. By its conclusion it issued seventy reformatory decrees. Among other things, it encouraged creating schools and holding clergy to a higher standard than the laity. It also forbade clergymen to participate in the practice of the judicial ordeal, effectively banning its use. At the Fourth Lateran Council, Innocent III and his prelates legislated against subordination of Christians to Jews. Canon 69 forbade "that Jews be given preferment in public office since this offers them the pretext to vent their wrath against the Christians."



1280: Albertus Magnus, the German Dominican Friar and Bishop also known as Albert of Cologne who while in Paris took part in the council that ordered the burning of the Talmud but who took a special interest in Jewish literature and who according to Manuel Joël drew many of his ideas from Jewish writers including Maimonides, passed away today.



1316: Birthdate of King John I of France who lived for only five days.  He was the son of Louis X who readmitted the Jews to France.  He was succeeded by his uncle Philip V, who according to some may have played a role in the death of the infant monarch.  Regardless, Philip followed the policies initiated by Louis that among other things, protected them from the enmity of the clergy.



1380: Charles VI ascends the French throne: He told a mob that he would relieve some of the taxes but not expel the Jews. Screaming "Aux Juifs" they plundered and murdered in the Jewish quarter for four days. Some Jews took refuge in the royal prison. Hughes Abriot, the Provost, obtained an order for restitution of all property and the return of all infants forcibly baptized. Because of this, he was accused of converting to Judaism and sent to jail for a year in penance.



1492: Six Spanish Jews and five Spanish Conversos were accused of using black magic



1515: Thomas Cardinal Wolsey is invested as a Cardinal.  A year before getting his “red hat” Wolsey had been named Bishop of Lincoln. This is the same town of Lincoln which had been home to one of the five most important Jewish communities in England, well established before it was officially noted in 1154. In 1190, anti-Semitic riots that started in Lynn, Norfolk, spread to Lincoln; the Jewish community took refuge with royal officials, but their habitations were plundered. The so-called "House of Aaron" has a two-storey street frontage that is essentially 12th century and a nearby "Jew's House" likewise bears witness to the Jewish population. In 1255, the affair called “The Libel of Lincoln” in which prominent Jews of Lincoln accused of the ritual murder of a Christian boy ("Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln" in medieval folklore) were sent to the Tower of London and 18 were executed. The Jews were expelled en masse in 1290.



1658: “Alexander VII., in bull "Ad ea per quæ," orders Roman Jews to pay rent even for unoccupied houses in ghetto, because Jews would not hire houses from which Jews had been evicted” (As reported by the Jewish Encyclopedia)



1660: Asser Levy was licensed as the first kosher butcher in New York City.  From such humble beginnings came such great institutions as the Second Avenue Deli of blessed memory



1688 (28th of Cheshvan): Rabbi Zev Wolf, author of Nahlat Binyamin, passed away



1727(2nd of Kislev): The General Assembly of New York passed an act permitting Jews to omit the phrase “upon the faith of a Christian” from the oath of abjuration.



1771: Orders were given to ban auto-de-fe's from taking place in public, and to ban the production of lists of persons who would be sentenced.



1780: In Mecklenburg, Germany Louis Wolf and his wife gave birth to William Leo Wolf who was the father to at least three doctors – Moritz, George and Joseph Wolf.



1782: In Scotland, printer Thomas Dobson, and his wife, the former Jean Paton gave birth to their third and youngest daughter, Catherine after which the family moved to Philadelphia where Dobson would be the first person “to publish a complete Hebrew Bible.”



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Dobson_-_Hebrew_Bible.jpg



1790: The Jews of Hungary organized a celebration marking the coronation of King Leopold II.  The celebration was held in anticipation of the expectation that the new king would approve the decision of the Diet to grant them citizens.



1791: Georgetown University, America’s first Catholic college opens its doors. Georgetown has followed the trend at a number Catholic colleges and universities in offering programs in Jewish studies.  Today Georgetown offers approximately 35 courses in its Jewish Studies Program and offers a Major in Jewish studies.  About 650 of its 6000 undergraduates are Jewish.  Approximately 1,000 of the schools 6,000 grad students are Jewish.



1796: At the age of 16, “Daniel Meijer took the lawyer's oath, becoming the first Jewish lawyer and one of the youngest lawyers in the history of the Netherlands”



1802: A delegation of German Jews came to Ratisbon where the German princes were trying to create the government that would replace the now defunct Holy Roman Empire and today presented a petition asking for "passive citizenship."  The petition, which probably originated with the Jews of Frankfort, requested freedom to live any place they desired and to pursue a wide variety of occupations and trades. At this time, Jews in many part of the empire had been classified as "serfs" regardless of the economic level.



1805: At Hamburg Abraham Mendelssohn and Lean Salomon, a granddaughter of Daniel Itzig gave birth to Fanny Mendelsohn.



1809: Edward Hime married Priscilla Elkin at the Great Synagogue today.



1812: Two days after she had passed away, 91 year old “Abigail Fano, the wife of Hyam Fano” was buried today at the “Brady Street Jewish Cemetery.”



1816: Birthdate of Isidor Kalisch, the German born Rabbi who became the spiritual lead of  the Tifireth Israel congregation in Cleveland, Ohio in 1850.



1817: Birthdate of James Koppel Gutheim, the native of Münster, Germany who came to the United States in 1843 and became a prominent American rabbi. He served in that capacity in several southern towns and cities including Temple Beth El in San Antonio Congregation Shangarai Chasset of New Orleans



1829: Birthdate of Benjamin Szold, the Hungarian born American scholar who began serving as the Rabbi for Temple Oheb Shalom in Baltimore, Maryland.  He was the father of Henrietta Szold, the founder of Hadassah.



1832(22nd of Cheshvan): Hannah Adams, early American author of a book on Jewish history, passed away



1832: Birthdate of Abraham a native of  the village of Kashua (“now a part of Slovakia”) and husband of Rosa Printz who was buried in the Tod Homestead Cemetery in Youngstown, Ohio.



1835: In Novogrodak, Yaakov Harkavy and Dvora Weisbrem gave birth to Dr. Albert (Avraham Eliyahu) Harkavy.



1835: In, Baltimore, MD, “Benjamin I and Kitty (Etting) Cohen gave birth to Edward Cohen the brother of Israel Cohen and the nephew of his business mentor Samuel Etting, who left his native city at the start of the Civil War and settled in Richmond where married Caroline Myers, “became president of the City Bank of Richmond and supported numerous civic porjects.



1840: Birthdate of Jacob Furth, an Austrian native who became a prominent banker and businessman in Seattle, Washington where he was a member of Ohaveth Sholum, the city’s first synagogue.



1842: At Borek, Prussia, Louis Gerechter and his wife gave birth to Emanuel Gerechter who came to the United States in 1866 and who began serving as Rabbi of Temple Zion, in Appleton, Wisconsin.



1848: In the Berlin national assembly, together with two other deputies, Johann Jacoby initiated the resolution calling for citizens to withhold paying taxes as an attempt to combat the coup d'état



1851: Herman Melville’s novel, Moby Dick, was published.  Relax; Melville was not Jewish.  But this large literary work is another example of the impact that Jewish Civilization has had on Western and/or World Civilization.  From “Call me Ishmael,” to Captain Ahab, to the great white whale, there could have been no Moby Dick without the Bible.  More to the point, Melville knew that his readers were so conversant in this aspect of Jewish culture that they would understand his references.  Just as an aside for those who were forced to read this novel by some English teacher, the book was deemed a flop when it first came out.



1852: Hermann Goldschmidt discovered his first asteroid today which was named 21 Lutetia.



1854: Said Pacha, the Viceroy of Egypt gave a French company headed by Ferdinand de Lesseps the concession to dig the Suez Canal, which would link the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea.  The canal would create a short, all-water route from Great Britain to its most valued possession, India.  Defense of the Canal became one of the keystones of British foreign policy for the next hundred.  This British obsession would play a key role in the development of the Jewish homeland in Eretz Israel.  Sometimes the effect was positive; more often than not, it was negative.



1855: The 34th anniversary of the Hebrew Benevolent Society was celebrated tonight at the Chinese Asssembly Rooms in New York City.  The event, which was attended by 250 to 300 people rasied $4,000.  During his address, the society’s president reported that they had provided assistance to 1,600 applicants which had depleted the organization’s treasury of its $4,500 in receipts.



1856: “Tonight, a German Jew named Isaac Morris was arrested at West Hoboken by Officer Stephen H. Manly, of Baltimore, and Deputy-Sheriff Robins of Hudson County, on the charge of obtaining goods by false pretences. He was apprehended upon the authority of a requisition from the Governor of Maryland.”


1857: Three days after he had passed away, Abraham Davidson, a London surgeon and the husband of Hannah Davidson with whom had seven children, was buried to at the Lauriston Road Jewish Cemetery with whom he had had eight children, was buried today at the “Brady Street Jewish Cemetery.”



1857: Two days after he had passed away, 70 year old Eleazer Hart, the husband of Sarah Hart q



1858: “The Mortara Casa” published today reported that Jews of New York are planning on holding a meeting to protest the “recent abduction of the child Mortara and the extraordinary pretensions of the Pope in regard to such cases. It will be remembered that the Catholic nurse of the infant had it baptized without the knowledge of its parents, who were Jews; and that the child was then taken away and committed to the care of priests.”  The Pope and local authorities refused to return the child who had “thus ‘miraculously’ snatched from the hands of unbelievers.  It is natural that Jews should the lead in demonstrations against such pretensions, inasmuch as they are thus far the principal suffers from them.  But all persons not Catholic are, or may be equally interested in” joining the protest.  “It is not possible to conceive of any greater outrage upon private rights than is embodied in these extraordinary claims, and unless the whole matter should be hushed up, and the principle on which it rests quietly abandoned, it should receive the attention of the government as well as the people of every country holding relation with the Roman states.



1859: Birthdate of Leo Lerner, the native of Bessarabia born “seventeen days after his father’s death” who came to “the United States with his wife and five daughters in 1891” after which he earned an LL.B. from NYU, practiced law starting in 1897 and served as the President of the Hebrew National Orphan Home and the President of the original federation for Bessarabian Jewry of which he was one of the founders.



1860: Birthdate of Simeon Samuel Grigoryevich Frug, the native of the Ukrainian “Jewish agricultural colony of Bobrovy-Kut, Kherson” who gained fame a multi-lingual poet and early Zionist support Simon Frug.



1861: Judah P. Benjamin completed his service as Attorney General for the Confederate States of America.



1862: During the Civil War, First Lieutenant Michael Rosenstein began his service with Company K of the 173rd Regiment.



1863(4th of Kislev, 5624): Barnett Abrahams passed away.  Born at Warsaw in 1831, he moved to England in 1839..  Following a rigorous education program that included study with Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler, he started serving as the rabbi at Bevis Marks in 1851 and was serving at the Principal of Jew’s College at the time of his death. His sons Joseph and Moses became rabbis and Israel “became an author and teacher.”



1864: Colonel Edward S. Salomon (later General), one of a small group of general officers who were both at the Battle of Gettysburg and the Battle of Atlanta, was among those who marched out of Atlanta as Union forces began their march to Savannah, one of the major Atlantic seaports still in Confederate hands.



1868(1st of Kislev, 5629): Rosh Chodesh Kislev



1868: Esther Mocatta the daughter of Rebecca and Jacob Abraham Mocatta was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”



1868(1st of Kislev, 5629): Seventy-six James de Rothschild who founded the French branch of the family banking empire with the opening of De Rothschild Frères and whose name lives on among wine drinkers when they order a bottle of Lafite-Rothschild passed away today.



1871: “Barnard Lawrence Phillips,” the son of Lawrence Phillips and Esther Spyer and the husband of Emma Phillips with whom he had two children was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”



1873: Rabbi Raphael D.C. Lewin delivered a sermon on the subject of “Judaism” in the new synagogue at 63rd& Lexington in New York City.



1874: A service was held to honor the memory of Rabbi Abraham Geiger, of blessed memory, who had passed away in October of 1874.



1878: Birthdate of Jacob Polakavetz, the native of Kamenetz-Litovsk who came to the United States where he became a successful merchant in Troy, NY.



1879: Rabbi De Sola Menes will deliver the first in a series of lectures on the history of Jewish literature at the Young Men’s Hebrew Association this evening.  The lectures which begin at 8:30 are free and open to the public.



1881: One hundred sixty Jewish refugees from Russia arrived in New York today aboard the SS Bohemia. The Alliance Israel Universelle helped pay for their passage.



1881: Chicago native Simon Cook was promoted to the rank of Ensign today in the United States Navy.



1881 In Chicago, “Moses and Clara Schlossberg Adams gave birth to Franklin Leopold Adams who gained fame as Franklin Pierce Adams or F.P.A,, the alumnus of Armour Institute and the University of Chicago, husband of Esther Sales Root and author whose works ranged from newspaper columns at various New York newspapers the most famous of which was “The Conning Tower,” a “humorous syndicated column.



1881: A report published today described plans for an upcoming lecture to be delivered by Julius Franks sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association entitled “The Jew: Has he Still a Mission?”



1881: The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada, which would become The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was founded in Pittsburgh.  Samuel Gompers, a Jewish immigrant from London, was the first President.  In fact, with the exception of one year, he served in that capacity until his death in 1924.  Unlike more militant leaders of the labor movement, Gompers believed in the capitalist system and rejected the concept of class struggle.  As a member of the working class (he was a cigar maker by trade) Gompers was no naïve fool.  He and his union fought for the concept of collective bargaining, binding written contracts and a ban on injunctions aimed against working men and women.  When asked what the American worker wanted Gompers replied, “More!” During World War I, Gompers showed that the American labor movement could be patriotic when he and the AFL supported Wilson in the “word to end all wars.”  Gompers philosophy was simple.  “Reward your friends and punish your enemies.” 



1882(4th of Kislev, 5643): Daniel Ehrmann, the Bohemian born rabbi who “edit the Jewish periodical Das Abendland was teaching at Brunn when he passed away today.



1882:  Birthdate of Felix Frankfurter.  Born in Vienna, educated at CCNY and Harvard Law School, the young, legally brilliant Frankfurter became the protégé of the very powerful Henry L.  Stimson.  He began a twenty-five year career as a professor at Harvard Law School in 1914.  But Frankfurter was no cloistered Ivy tower egghead.  He was a confidant of Woodrow Wilson and, among other things attended the Versailles Peace Conference.  As a Zionist, like Brandeis, Frankfurter worked to promote the cause of the Jewish homeland in Palestine.  In the 1920’s and 1930’s the liberal Frankfurter was an advisor to and supporter of, Al Smith and FDR.  Several of Frankfurter’s former students were part of the FDR’s Brain Trust or held important positions in several regulatory agencies created by the New Deal.  FDR appointed Frankfurter to the Supreme Court in 1939, making him the third Jew to hold such a position since 1916.  He retired from the court in 1962 after suffering a stroke.  Frankfurter’s tenure on the court was a disappointment to many of his political allies and colleagues.  They had expected him to be a liberal.  However, Frankfurter believed in judicial restraint which meant he gave great credence to federal and/or state legislative actions.  He looked to the legislative branch to correct social ills. The pre-court liberal turned into a High Court conservative.  He passed away in 1962.



http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/robes_frankfurter.html



1883: Three days after he had passed away, Lazar Schorstein, a Viennese born “financial editor” and the husband of Clara Schorstein with whom he had three children was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”



1883: It was reported today that Annie Zeiss is claiming that she was betrothed to Morris Dampsky according to Jewish custom which is the basis for her suit that she has brought against him for breach of contract (marriage). While sitting in jail, Dampsky is wondering if a secular court will accept a religious observance as binding under civil law.



1884: It was reported today that an unnamed Jewish cattle dealer had tried to sell seventeen diseased cows to several farmers between Jamaica and Foster’s Meadow.



1886: In state Supreme Court, Judge Andrews heard a case that will determine whether or not $50,000 that was originally part of the estate of the late Sampson Simpson will go the North American Relief So city for the Indignant Jews of Jerusalem or two his surviving relatives.



1886: It was reported today that Jacob H. Schiff has given $10,000 to a project designed to establish a free library which will be “called the Aguilar Free Library Society” and which will be open to “people of all religions and nationalities.”



1886(17th of Cheshvan, 5647): Seventy four year old Gustav Heine von Geldern the founder of Vienna Das Fremdenblatt, a periodical that became the official organ of the Austrian Foreign Office, the brother of Heinrich Heine and the father of Maximilian Heine, “the author of the libretto to Mirolan” passed away today.



1886: It was reported today that Judge M.S. Isaacs and Uriah Herrman addressed a reception given in honor of Mrs. Julius Hammerslough, Mrs. Simon Steinberger, Mrs. Solomon Loeb and Mrs. Louis Levy, members of the Hebrew Free School Association’s Board of Directors who have just returned from a trip to Europe.



1886: It was reported today that the Hebrew Free School Association is currently industrial education to 2,500 youngsters. The service is only available to youngsters who are enrolled in the public system.



1888: The will of Sidney Greenberg who lived at the Caulfield Club Hotel was probated today.



1889:  Emperor Pedro II is deposed and Brazil is declared a republic. At the time, Brazil had a small community of Sephardic, mostly Moroccan, Jews. One group established a synagogue in Belem in the northern part of the country while another built a synagogue on the banks of the Amazon River. A decade after becoming a republic, experimental agricultural were established that provide a haven for Jews fleeing the violence of Czarist Russia.



1890: Birthdate of American screenwriter and novelist Samuel Ornitz, one of the victims of the Hollywood blacklist which was the epitome of Right Wing America’s paranoid reach for power.



1891:”An Oriental Bazar” published today described the plans of a group of prominent New Yorkers led by J.H. Schiff and Julian Nathan among others for hosting a Palestine Bazar to raise funds for the Louis Down-Town Sabbath and Daily School



1892: In Memphis, TN, the National Farmers’ Alliance and the Industrial Union opened its convention at the hall of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association. (This agriculture alliance was considered to be “radical” and the Jewish owned facility may have been the only one that was available for its use.)



1892: “Graded Rates Established” published today described the decision of the B’nai B’rith to adopt a sliding membership fee based on age starting with those between the ages 21 and 25 paying $15 rising to a maximum of $30 for those aged 50 and above.  The sliding scale was adopted to attract younger members, all of whom will be eligible for the same $1,000 in burial insurance.



1892: The trial of Reverend Henry P. Smith, the professor of Hebrew at Lane Theological Seminary, goes into its second day.  The trial has gained national attention from members of many denominations because Smith has used modern scholarship to question the inerrancy of the Bible – a conflict that was helping to divide Reform from Orthodox among the Jewish people.



1892: Several parties of Russian Jews were reported today to have been on their way to Hamburg now that travel restrictions in Russia have been eased.



1892: The funeral for Seligman Adler, the husband of Caroline Adler, who was a supporter of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum and Mount Sinai Hospital, is scheduled to take place at 9:30 this morning at Temple Emanu-El.



1893: Birthdate of John H. Salman, the husband of Regina Salmen.



1893: Commissioner Senner said that the immigrants who arrived the SS Roland, most of whom are Russian Jews, are “all nearly impoverished, unclean and unkempt.”



1895: Birthdate of Polish poet and writer Antoni Słonimski, a Roman Catholic whose great-grand father was Abraham Sztern the Jewish inventor who “made important contributions to the construction of mechanical calculators.”



http://dictionary.sensagent.com/list+of+polish+jews/en-en/



1895: Birthdate of Yisrael Idelson, the Ukrainian native who made Aliyah in 1926 and as  Yisrael Bar-Yedhuda became an MK, Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of Transportation.



1895: According to Rabbi Joseph Silverman of Temple Emanu-El in New York, during the last 25 days ending on this date 15,000 Armenians have been massacred and “200,000 souls have been rendered homeless and robbed of their possessions.



1895: Birthdate of Bella Rosenfield Chagall, the first wife of Marc Chagall whom she met when he was a penniless painter in 1909, married in 1915 and posed for several of his pictures including “Bella with White Collar.”



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bella_Rosenfeld#/media/File:Chagall_Bella.jpg



1895: Pennsylvania native Daniel M. Appel was promoted from the rank of Captain, Assistant Surgeon to Major/Surgeon.



1895: Herzl began a two week visit to Paris and London designed to meet and gain support from the leaders of these two Jewish communities In Paris he conducted negotiations with Narcisse Leven, Chief Rabbi Zadoc Kahn among others.  None of these leaders took the assimilated Viennese journalist seriously



1896: The National Council of Jewish Women opens its first national convention at Tuxedo Hall in New York City. Founded at the conclusion of the Jewish Women’s Congress held at Chicago’s World Columbian Exposition in November 1893, the National Council of Jewish Women was the first national open-membership organization for American Jewish women. Addressed by the leaders of the nation’s leading women’s organizations and numerous prominent rabbis, it was clear that the Council was helping to establish the legitimacy of Jewish women’s presence on a public stage. The convention received extensive coverage in the New York Timesand other papers. With the NCJW's creation in 1893, local sections around the country began focusing on diverse activities ranging from Bible study to education for children to active philanthropy in the interest of immigrant women and children. Representatives at the first convention summarized these achievements, established a clear institutional structure, and sought to offer guidance to local sections. Conflict emerged during the 1896 convention in relation to the Jewish character of the Council. Hannah Solomon of Chicago presided over the meetings, but some members objected to her advocacy of Sunday as the Jewish Sabbath. Solomon memorably responded “I consecrate every day in the week.” As the New York Times reported, “Pandemonium reigned for five minutes, and then Mrs. Solomon was re-elected.” In its first few decades, NCJW transcended religious divisions by focusing especially on aid to newly arrived Jewish immigrants. In sections across the country, NCJW provided an early training ground for Jewish women leaders and a forum for Jewish women’s concerns within and outside the Jewish community.



1896: Mrs. Mary Low Dickinson, President of the National Council of Women is scheduled to deliver  the opening address at the first  convention of the National Council of Women followed by address on “Philanthropy” given by Mrs. E. M. Henrotin “who was the Vice President of the of the Ladies’ Board of Managers of the Columbian Exposition.


1896: It was reported today that in speeches delivered at Delmonico’s Jacob A. Schiff and Senator Jacob A. Cantor urged Jews to take “a deeper interest in national affairs and Adolph S. Ochs spoke about the “ideals and influence of journalism.”


1897: Birthdate of Aneurin Bevan the British Foreign Minister in the Labor Government of Clement Atlee.  Much to the dismay of Zionist leaders, the Laborite government elected in 1945 opposed the creation of the Jewish state.  Displaying that uniquely understated form of British anti-Semitism, when talking about the plight of Jewish Displaced Persons, said that the Jews were always “pushing their way to the head of the cue” instead of patiently waiting their turn. 



1897: Today, Rabbi Taubenhaus of the State Street Synagogue is scheduled to officiate at the funeral of Mrs. Marion Levy a long time member of the Hebrew Benevolent Society and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum who was the widow of A.S. Levy and the mother of Bella Levy.



1897: When Mathieu Dreyfus, the brother of imprisoned Captain Dreyfus “denounced Esterhazy” today he responded by saying that “Captain Dreyfus had forged his handwriting”



1898: One day after he had passed away, 80 year old Morris Solomons, the husband of Caroline Abrahams with whom he had four children, was buried today at the “Plashet Jewish Cemetery in London.”



1898: The demolition of the building on Clinton Street occupied by Ohab Zedek has been temporarily stopped which will give the congregants time to raise enough money to save the structure.



1898: Novelist and playwright  Israel Zangwill delivered a lecture this morning at the Waldorf Astoria “on the ghetto…not the poetic Ghetto of his books, but the real specific Ghetto, the dwelling place of the Jews…closed by real gates and the home of a peculiar to itself.”



1898: The Berlin correspondent of the Times reported on the expulsion of Polish Jews from Breslau which is part of a larger pattern of deportations instigated by the Prussian Minister of Finance “which will serve as a pretext for more severe measures against aliens.”



1898: Section two of the Constitution of the Union of Judæo-German Congregations commits the organization to providing funds for several purposes including  training for teachers and cantors, for pensions for “aged officials” and their families and for providing aid to released convicts.



1899: “The Merchant of Venice” opened tonight at the Knickerbocker Theatre with Ellen Terry playing the Jewess Portia and Henry Irving delivering his signature performance of Shylock.



1902: A political cartoon, “Draw the line in Mississippi” by Clifford K. Berryman that “spawned the Teddy Bear” appeared in the Washington Post. Russian Jewish immigrants Rose and Morris Michtom created the Teddy Bear created the creature after seeing this cartoon which showed T.R. and bear cub.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TheodoreRooseveltTeddyBear.jpg



1905: Further evidence that the drive to provide relief for the Jews being massacred in Russia is not a matter for the Jewish community will be seen this evening when Bishop Coadjutor Greer of the Episcopal Diocese of New York and the Reverend Dr. Robert S. MacArthur of Calvary Baptist are among the speakers at meeting sponsored by the Council of Jewish Women at Temple Emanu-El.



1905: Moses Plaut of L.S. Plaut & Co. is the driving force behind the meeting scheduled to be held in Newark, NJ tonight where “a large sum of money will be raised” to aid victims of the anti-Semitic violence in Russia.



1905: “The Odessa Relief Committee made up of former residents of that city” is scheduled to meet in the Apollo Hall” for the purpose of raising funds for those suffering attacks in Russia.



1905: The New York Socialists’ Organization is scheduled to meet this evening to raise funds for the victims of the anti-Semitic attacks in Russia.



1905: “The United Hebrew Community which has a membership of over 4,000” is scheduled to meet “in the Synagogue Beth Hamedrash Hagodol at 61 Norfolk Street” where the leaders expect the attendees to add a considerable amount to add to the $500 that has already been raised.



1906(27th of Cheshvan, 5667): Sixty-three year old Raphael Benjamin passed away today at the Hotel St. George where he had been living for the past three years.  A native of London, he came to the United States 25 years ago and settled in Cincinnati before moving to New York where he became the Rabbi of Temple Beth Elohim.



1907: One day after she had passed away, 29 year old Dora Yanovsky Solomon, the wife of John Solomon and the moterh of Betsy and Samuel Solomon was buried today at the “Plashet Jewish Cemetery in London.”



1909(2nd of Kislev, 5670): Mrs. Frume Rostowsky passed away today.



1912: Rabbi Gerson B. Levi is scheduled to lead Friday evening services at B’Nai Sholom – Temple Israel in Chicago.’



1912: Rabbi Abram is scheduled to lead Friday evening services at Temple Sholom at the corner of Pine Grove Avenue and Grace Street.



1914: “A special meeting of the officers of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society is scheduled to be held today Temple Emanu-El in NYC.



1915: The list of the officers of the American Jewish Committee published today included Louis Marshall, President; Judge Julian W. Mack and Professor Jacob H. Hollender, Vice Presidents; Isaac W. Bernheim, Treasurer; Jack H. Schiff and Dr. J. L. Magnes, Executive Committee.



1915: President Clarence I de Sola presided over today’s opening session of the “Fourteenth Convention of the Federation of Zionist Societies of Canada” at the Auditorium Hall.



1916: Two days after she passed away, Caroline Spiers Boas, tfehe daughter of Benjamin Spiers and Sara Wolf and the wife of Hermman Boas with whom she had seven children, was buried today at the Belfast Jewish Cemetery in Northern Ireland.



1917(30th of Cheshvan, 5678): Rosh Chodesh Kislev



1917(30th of Cheshvan, 5678): Fifty-nine year old Sociologist Emile Durkheim, the son, grandson and great-grandson of French rabbis, passed away.



http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/Biography.htmla



1917: As Allenby’s forces continued their advance, “the 75th Division and the Australian Mounted Division advanced towards Latron where the Jaffa to Jerusalem road enters the Judean Hills.



1917: Birthdate of Bernard Bellush, the Bronnx native who became a Professor of History at City College of New York.



1917: As British forces continued their successful campaign in Palestine, ANZAC forces occupied Ramleh and Lydda.



1917: It was officially announced today that British forces under General Allenby had taken the junction point of the Beersheba to Damascus Railway with the Jerusalem line after fighting that resulted in heavy Turkish losses.



1918: Four days after the Armistice, Sergeant Abraham Blaustein who received the Croix de Guerre for heroism visited Lyon where he found out that the Army Candidate School was to be closed since “no more officer commissions will be granted.”



1918: “The Jewish Press reported” from Stockholm, “that anti-Semitic riots have broken out in several towns in Western Galicia and Poland” where at least “six Jews have been killed” in a village 55 miles southeast of Warsaw.



1918: “Julian W. Mack, President of the ZOA and Louis Marshall” joined together and sent a telegram to President “acquainting him the facts concerning” the threat of Jews in Eastern Europe with a special emphasis on Poland and Romania.



1920: Mr. Louis Mann is scheduled to deliver an address at the annual meeting of the Rodeph Sholom Women’s Association this afternoon in Manhattan.



1921: Benjamin Schlesinger, the President of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union laid the cornerstone for the union’s new headquarters building on West 16th Street in NYC.



1923(7th of Kislev, 5684): Rosalie V. Moses passed away today after which she buried at the Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, CO.



1923: Birthdate of Polish born Holocaust survivor Samuel Klein, the found of “the Casas Bahia chain of department stores whose success has led him to be called “the Sam Walton of Brazil.”



1924: In Hartford Max Rich and the former Bella Shub gave birth to DNA expert Alexander Rich.



1924: Russian born American journalist Isaac Don Levine and his first wife gave birth to their only child, a son, named Robert Don Levine.


1925:  Birthdate of Russian author Yuli Daniel


1925: In Paris, Pierre Léon Dreyfus, the “son  of Alfred Dreyfus and Lucie Eugénie Hadamard” and Marie Apollonie Dreyfus gave birth to Nicole Dreyfus


1925: Birthdate of Jacek Zlatka, the native of Warsaw who as “Jack P. Eisner used the millions he made in the import-export business to tell the story of how he survived the Holocaust in a book, play, movie and many public appearances.” (As reported by Douglas Martin)



1925: “The Road to Yesterday” a silent film starring Joseph Schildkraut and Jetta Goudal was relased today in the United States.                                                        


1926: The National Broadcasting Company, part of Robert Sarnoff’s “RCA Empire” debuted with a radio network of 24 stations.



1927: A pre-Broadway tour of Showboat, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II musical based on Edna Ferber’s novel began today.



1928: The National Conference of Jews and Christians sent a telegram to President-elect Hoover “congratulating” him “on his upcoming trip to South America” which the organization hopes “will bring all peoples and creeds both at home and abroad into better relationships of mutual understanding and helpfulness.”



1929: In Kansas City, MO, Russian Jewish immigrants, Lizzie (née Seliger) and David Morris Asner gave birth to Edward “Ed” Asner the multi-talented actor who could play everything from “Lou Grant” to the menacing “Axel Jordache” in “Rich Man, Poor Man.”



1930: Northwestern, led by guard Hy Crizevsky, defeated the University Wisconsin by a score of 20-7 at Dyche Stadium in Evanston, IL.



1932: Birthdate of Haim Drukman, the native of Kuty who made Aliyah in 1944 and now serves as Rosh Yeshiva of Ohr Etzion Yeshiva.



1932: U.S. premiere of “In the Dough,” a comedy “featuring Shemp Howard of the Three Stooges and Lionel Stander.



1935: Under the Nuremberg Laws, German Jews are formally stripped of their citizenship meaning among other things that they cannot vote, hold public office or be employed by the government.



1935: The German Churches begin to collaborate with the Nazis by supplying records to the government indicating who is a Christian and who is not; that is, who is a Jew.



1935: “A Night at the Opera” the Marx Brothers comedy co-starring Kitty Carlisle, produced by Irving Thalberg with a script by George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind and Al Boasberg was released in the United States today by MGM.



1936: In Hamburg Emma (née Dietrich),  a Communist Party activist, and  Dagobert Biermann, a German Jewish dockworker a member of the German Resistance gave birth to Wolf Biermann, a Jewish communist German singer-songwriter who survived the bombing of Hamburg in 1943.



1936: Israel Rokach begins serving as Mayor of Tel Aviv.



1936: “In Abraham’s Ur of the Chaldes” published today, Louise Maunsell Field provided an in depth review of Abraham: Recent Discoveries and Hebrew Origins by Sir Leonard Woolley.



1937: The Habima Players of Tel Aviv “who have just ended a successful season at the Paris Exhibition open a season at the Savoy Theater” today in “their second appearance in Britain.  They will open with ‘The Dybbuk,’ probably their finest as well as their most popular production.  The plays all will be performed in Hebrew, but the realism of their acting surmounts to a large degree the barrier of language.”  During the course of the season Habima will also be performing “Uriel Acosta,” “The Wandering Jew,” and “The Goldem’s Dream.”



1937: Birthdate of actor Yaphet Kotto, both of whose parents are African Jews from Cameroon. In an interview he said being fully Black and Jewish gave others even more reason to pick on him growing up in New York City. However, to this day, he remains a devout, practicing Jew. Yaphet Kotto is a regular on TV's, Homicide: Life on the Streetsplaying the role of Lt. Al Giardello



1937: Haaretz and Davar, two of the leading Jewish dailies in Palestine, “publish strong editorials “condemning recent acts of violence by Jews brought on by the last two years of Arab attacks.  The two papers called on “Jews to ‘take revenge’ only through constructive activities.”



1938: “The first solo exhibition of the work of Frida Kahlo” which had been mounted by Julien Levy at his gallery at 15 East 57th Street came to a close today.



1938: Jewish students were barred from German schools



1938: In Saxony, eleven year old Zeev Raphael was expelled from the Hans-Schemm-Schule.




1938: Captain Archibald Henry Maule Ramsay, the British anti-Semitic Nazi sympathizing politician attended a luncheon at the German Embassy in London where he met with other Englishmen who sympathized with Hitler.



1938: In the wake of the bloody pogroms of Kristallnacht, United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt withdraws the United States ambassador from Germany;



1939: The Nazis began the mass murder of Warsaw Jews.  The war had started on September 1, 1939.  After only two and a half months, the War Against the Jews was in full swing.  This is one more fact that puts the lie to those revisionists who contend that genocide was not an essential part of the Nazi program from its very outset.



1939: The anti-Semitic Fideikommissariat(Estate commission) is established to "Aryanize" Jewish-owned businesses in Occupied Poland.



1939: In New York City Avraham Kotto who claimed to be related to Jews who had ruled a region in Cameroon and Gladys Marie, a nurse and Army officer who had converted before marrying her husband gave birth to actor Yaphet Kotto, whose most famous role may have been that of Lt. Al Giardello in the outstanding series “Homicide: Life on the Street.”



1940: The Nazis officially declared the Warsaw ghetto to be in existence as workers began to build walls to encircle district.



1940: Welterweight Al “Bummy” Davis (Albert Abraham Davidoff) lost a non-title bought in which he committed so many fouls that he was disqualified from boxing by the New York State Boxing Commission.



1941: Four days after his death in a plane crash, Charles Huntziger, one of the French generals who signed “the anti-Semitic Statue on Jews in 1940” and whose widow was decorated by the regime at Vichy was buried today at Vichy



1941: “Blues in the Night” a musical directed by Anatole Litvak, produced by Hal B. Wallis and with a script by Robert Rossen was released in the United States today.



1941: Hinrich Lohse, the Nazi official who had created the ghetto in Riga, Latvia, by rounding up all of the Jew’s living in the city and its surrounding areas asked his boss Alfred Rosenbeg to confirm that all the Jews were to be killed “regardless of economic considerations.”  The response would be in the affirmative since the goal was to make Latvia “judenrein” or “Jew free.”



1942: The Soviet-based Jewish Antifascist Committee releases a report, "The Liquidation of the Jews in Warsaw."



1942: In Japanese occupied Shanghai, “the idea of a restricted ghetto was approved” today.



1942: In an action led by Mayer List, two Jewish women partisans in Paris place two time bombs at a Nazi barracks window, which will kill several soldiers.



1942: In his diary, Rudolf Rederlin described the scene at Belze after a train was unloaded. The men were stripped naked and sent directly to the gas chambers, the women brought to the barracks to have their head shaven. Then they went to the chambers. The head of the Judenrat was ordered to stay behind and beaten to near death as an orchestra played on. Then the man was shot in the head and pushed into the bundle of gassed Jews. 



1942: In Buenos Aires, Aida (née Schuster) and Enrique Barenboim gave birth tod pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim.



1942: Birthdate of Devra G. Kleiman, “a conservation biologist who reintroduced into the wild the tiny endangered monkey known as the golden lion tamarin, and who learned so much about the lives of giant pandas that scientists could later help them reproduce in captivity”



1943: In describing Leonard Bernstein's first performance as conductor of the New York Philharmonic which occurred last night, The New York Times editorial remarked, "It's a good American success story. The warm, friendly triumph of it filled Carnegie Hall and spread far over the air waves."


1943: German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies are to be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps".



1943(17th of Cheshvan, 5704): Twenty-one year old Lawrence Balfour “Duke” Abelson, a Flying Officer with the Royal Canadian Air Force from Ottawa, Ontario, “was killed during a training flight” today after which he was buried in Cheshire, England.



1943(17th of Cheshvan, 5704): Salo Landau, a Galician born Dutch Chess Champion was probably murdered today at Auschwitz.



1944: Actor and director Kurt Gerron was killed today at Auschwitz.



http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/camps/western-europe/westerbork/gerronkurt/



1944: The deportations of Hungarian Jews living in Budapest continued In the meantime the authorities establish an ‘international ghetto' consisting of dozens of buildings that housed Jews technically under the protection of the Swiss Legation.  This rescue operation was engineered by Carl Lutz, a Swiss official representing Great Britain’s interests in Hungary.  Lutz’s rescue work mirrored that of the other, more famous, hero of Hungarian Jewry, Raoul Wallenberg.



1944: “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo” the film version of the Doolittle Raid directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Sam Zimbalist was released in the United States by MGM.



1945:Today is a day of prayer and fasting to protest British foreign minister Ernest Bevin's actions.



1945: A complete curfew is declared at noon in Tel Aviv, Palestine by the British government. Any one (this means Jews) carrying a weapon may be punished by execution.



1945: In Haifa, Palestine, Zionist sailors serving in the British navy protest.



1945:  Forty people who were part of the staff of the concentration at Dachau go on trial.  The trial would last until December 14, 1945 resulted in thirty seven of the accused being sentenced to death.



1947: The British foreign office denies that Britain plans to take over financial surplus in Palestine treasury to pay for costs of evacuation and fighting illegal Jewish immigration.


1947: Moses A. Leavitt, the executive vice chairman of The Joint Distribution Committee, said that the committee “would increase its food purchases to eight million pounds for the last quarter of this year” and that it would be shipped abroad immediately to aid “distressed Jews” in Europe.


1947: In Atlantic City, NJ, where 250 delegates had gathered for the opening of the 38th annual convention of the American Federation of Polish Jews, Dr. Schwartzbart, a “member of the World Zionist council and a member of the Polish Parliament in pre-war Poland, said that “the Jewish people may be far from reaching their goal of a Jewish state” because “the way is still fraught with obstacles.”


1947: “Universal relief over the fact that Britain has formally announced her intention of getting out of Palestine, surrendering her mandate and disassociating herself from the United Nations partition” plan was evident in London today.


1948:Moshe Shertok declares that Israel will fight before it gives up Negev.


1948:Israel announces its peace conditions: (1) Jewish control of modern Jerusalem corridor to remainder of Israel; (2) no Arab use of Haifa port or Lydda airport except under Israeli terms; (3) retention of Western Galilee as long as area is needed for Israel's defense; and (4) no readmission of Arab refugees to Israel until peace is established. Israel also requests UN admission.


1948: As of today, another seven Spitfires had been prepared for the long-range flight to Israel, but Czech authorities refused to let them take off.


1948:Salah el-Kuntar, leader of Druse tribesmen's National Army, says Druses want their 4,000-square-mile area shifted from Syria to Israel. Druses helped drive Syrian troops out of Upper Galilee.


1950: The Israeli Cabinet appointed a planning unit “to examine the possibility of” establishing a “settlement in the northeastern Negev desert and the Arad area.”


 


1952: FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover met with Lewis Wester Jones the president of Rutgers University to discuss pending security cases including one involving ancient and classical scholar Moses I. Finley.


1952: The Bugs Bunny Cartoon Rabbit's Kin featuring the voice of Mel Blanc is released in theaters throughout the United States.


1953: The 17thannual meeting of the United Israel Appeal which had been meeting in Chicago for the last two days came to an end. “In response to Prime Minster David Ben-Gurion’s plea for aide, the delegates pledged to carry out a program, apart from fund-raising. Of borrowing a minimum of $75,000,000 for a period of five years ‘in order to refund Israel’s short-term obligations which were incurred as a result of the unprecedented immigration policy.’”


1953: Alexander Wiley, the Republican Senator from Wisconsin and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee clashed with Guy Gillette, the Democratic Senator from Iowa and the senior member of the committee over the issue of U.S. support for Israel.  Gillette took issue with the Eisenhower administration’s policy in the Middle East which he described as appeasing the Arab states by kicking Israel in public.


1955(30th of Cheshvan, 5716): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1957(21stof Cheshvan, 5718): Seventy-seven year old Oswego, NY native and Columbia trained urologist Dr. Clarence Garfield Bandler, the son of William and Eva Fox Bandler and the husband of Miriam Zack passed away today.



1962: Birthdate of Judy Gold the Newark, NJ native known as a comedian but who has also “won two Daytime Emmy Awards for her work as a writer and producer on The Rosie O'Donnell Show.”


1962: Funeral services are scheduled to be held today for Dr. Milton Simon Fine, the husband of Frances Fine and the father of Stephen Isaac Fine in Manhattan.


1962: Funeral services are scheduled to be held today for Celia Fishman, the wife of Dr. Harry Fishman and mother of Muriel Feuerman and Dr. Stanley Fishman at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue where she is remembered for her “gracious service to the synagogue” of which her husband was President.


1963(28th of Cheshvan, 5724): Symphony conductor Fritz Reiner passed away.  Born in Hungary in 1888, Reiner trained as both a lawyer and a musician.  After a successful career in Europe, he moved to the United States in 1922 where he served as conductor for several symphony orchestras.  He was the conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the time of his death at the age of 74


1966(2nd of Kislev, 5727): William Zorach was a Jewish Lithuanian-born American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and writer who won the Logan Medal of the arts passed away.



1966: At Staatsoper, world premiere of Paul Dessau’s “Puntila.”


1967: Birthdate of actress Lisa Bonet. The daughter of a Jewish mother and a black father, Lisa Bonet first found fame in the mid-80s on The Cosby Show as Denise, one of the four daughters of Bill Cosby’s character Cliff Huxtable.


1967: “Who’s That Knocking At My Door” which marked the cinema debut of Harvey Keitel premiered today in Chicago.


1967: Two days after he had passed away, funeral services are scheduled to be held today for seventy-two year old Lemberg, Austria, native, Harry Salpeter, “an art deal and critic” and the husband of Betty Berkowitz 




1968: Birthdate of Dr. Michael Levin


1969: U.S. premiere of “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” a musical adaption of the novel by the same name directed by Herbert Ross


1973: Egypt and Israel exchange prisoners of war following the Yom Kippur War.


1974: “Earthquake” a disaster film produced and directed by Mark Robson which marked the cinema debut of Walter Matthau was released in the United States today.


1977: Birthdate of Wharton graduate Jonathan Benjamin “Jon” Hurwitz, the screenwriter/director responsible for among other things the “Harold & Kumar” movies.


1979: Rodef Shalom, “the oldest congregation in Western Pennsylvania” which traces its origins to formation of a burial society in Pittsburgh in 1847, was placed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places today.


1979: The B'er Chayim Temple (Well of Life, a metaphor in which Torah is likened to water) in Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland was added to the National Register of Historic Places Properties in Allegany County: Maryland Historical Trust; 2008-10-06. The Temple was built in 1866 for the local Jewish congregation. Originally Orthodox, it is now Reform. It is one of the oldest congregations in Maryland and its 1865 building is one of the oldest synagogue buildings in the United States.


1981: A revival of Lerner and Lowe’s Camelot" opens at Winter Garden Theater in New York City for 48 performances


1984: 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe is the fourteenth album by singer-songwriter Barry Manilow was released today.


1984: After over two decades of building a reputation as a passionate and generous member of the Jewish community through her activism and volunteer work, Baltimorean Shoshana Cardin was elected as the first woman president of the Council of Jewish Federations. Through her work with civic and Jewish groups, Cardin has become one of the most respected Jewish lay leaders of the 1980s and 1990s. As a young mother, Cardin worked as a volunteer and served on the boards of a variety of local nonprofit organizations. As president of Maryland's Federation of Jewish Women's organizations in 1960 and 1961, she used her position to call attention to issues of racial inequality. In 1967 Cardin served as a delegate to Maryland's Constitutional Convention and joined Maryland's Commission for Women in 1968. Although she turned down a nomination to the Federal Reserve Board, Cardin worked to change federal and state laws concerning women's legal access to credit. She also served on Maryland's Commission on Human Relations and as chair of Maryland's State Employment and Training Council from 1979 to 1983. In 1984, Cardin was elected as the first woman president of the Council of Jewish Federations, a national umbrella organization for local groups raising money for social and educational services and for Israel in 189 North American Jewish communities. In this role, she became the first woman to lead a major national Jewish organization. In subsequent years, Cardin has led the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the United Israel Appeal, the Center for Learning and Leadership, and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Most recently, she has been instrumental in creating the Shoshana S. Cardin Jewish Community High School, Baltimore's first transdenominational Jewish high school. (As reported by Jewish Women’s Archivdes)


1985: “The Last Romantic,” “a documentary filmed the townhouse of Vladimir Horowitz” produced by Peter Gelb was released in the United States today.


1986: The SEC fined Ivan F. Boesky $100 million for insider stock trading. Boesky was, and is, one of many Jews who have been involved in white collar crime stretching from the junk bond debacle to the collapse of Enron.  To paraphrase a character in a Faye Kellerman novel, God must have known that Jews were capable of theft.  Why else would He have commanded the Jews not to steal?


1986(13thof Cheshvan, 5747): Eighty-nine year old composer Alexandre Tansman whose career was a “casualty” of the Holocaust passed away today.



1987: After 1,761 performances over four years, “La Cage aux Folles” with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman came to a close.


1988: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council.


1988: “Goetz Collection Picasso Sold for $24.75 Million” published today described the auction of the art collection of the late William and Edith Mayer Goetz.



1988: ABC broadcast the second episode of “War and Remembrance,” “an American miniseries based on the novel of the same name written by Herman Wouk”


1989: U.S. premiere of “Steel Magnolias” a film highlighting the strength of southern women directed by Herbert Ross.


1989: Aaron Sorkin's "Few Good Men," premiered in New York City.  Born in 1961, the Scarsdale native wrote this successful court-martial melodrama without ever serving in the military or attending law school.  He showed his versatility when he wrote the hit romantic comedy, American President.


1991: CBS broadcast the final episode of “The Trials of Rosie O’neill” created and produced by Barney Rosenzweig.


1996; “The English Patient” a movie version of the novel of the same name which won an Oscar for producer Saul Zaentz as the Best Picture of the Year, was released today in the United States.


1997: William Shatner weds Norine Kidd.


1997: Eighty-eight year old John Coulson “a diplomat at the British Embassy in Paris during the Exodus crisis “suggested how to spin the Jews’ confinement in the camps to score a public relations” when he wrote “If we decide it is convenient not to keep them in camps any longer, I suggest that we should make some play that we are releasing them from all restraint of this kind in accordance with their wishes and that they were only put in such accommodation for the preliminary necessities of screening and maintenance.


1997(15th of Cheshvan, 5758): Saul Chaplin passed away.  Born Saul Kapan in 1912, this leading American composer and musical director lists of hits include the scores for American in Paris, West Side Story and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  He collaborated with Sammy Cahn on that unique musical creation "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen” a popular song, the title meaning "to me you are beautiful." According to at least one show biz legend, the original verson of the song was written for a Yiddish musical in 1932.  In 1937 Cahn and Chaplin heard two African American singers perform it at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem.  Impressed with the audience response, they bought the rights to the song, reworked it, and the rest is musical history.


1998: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including The Hidden Book In The Bible Restored, translated and introduced by Richard Elliott Friedman, Truth Comes In Blows: A Memoirby Ted Solotaroff, There Once Was A World: A Nine-Hundred-Year Chronicle of the Shtetl of Eishyshokby Yaffa Eliach, Flora’s Suitcase by Dalia Rabinovich and Seasons of Her Life: A Biography of Madeleine Korbel Albrightby Ann Blackman.


1999: Irwin Cotler began serving as a Member of the Canadian Parliament for Mount Royal.


1999: INS Leviathan, a Dolphin class submarine, was commissioned today.


1999: A new exhibit on life and work of Jewish activist Rebecca Affachiner, known affectionately as "the Betsy Ross of Israel," at Emory University's Schatten Gallery will open with a special public program and reception today in the Joseph W. Jones Room of Woodruff Library.


1999: A dinner was held in Melbourne in honor of the late Ron Castan.


2000: U.S. Senator-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton “delivered an emotional eulogy for Leah Rabin” today in Jerusalem.


2001: After being hired today as President and CEO of the Red Sox, Larry Luchino hired Theo Epstein


2001: Ilyas Malayev an Uzbekistani musician and poet who had emigrated to the United States, in part because he could not get his poetry published due to anti-Semitism became a United States citizen today.


2002: “Interview With The Assassin” produced by Brian Koppelman and David Levien was released today in the United States today.


2002(10th of Kislev, 5763):Twelve people - 9 soldiers and three civilians from the Kiryat Arba emergency response team - were killed and 15 others wounded in Hebron when Palestinian terrorists opened fire and threw grenades at a group of Jewish worshipers and their guards as they were walking home from Sabbath prayers at the Cave of the Patriarchs. The dead included civilian worshipers and soldiers, some of whom were caught in an ambush as they pursued the attackers. Three terrorists were killed in the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic Jihad. The victims: Col. Dror Weinberg, 38, of Jerusalem; Border Police officer Ch.-Supt. Samih Sweidan, 31, of Arab al-Aramsha; Sgt. Tomer Nov, 19, of Ashdod; Sgt. Gad Rahamim, 19, of Kiryat Malachi; St.-Sgt. Netanel Machluf, 19, of Hadera; St.-Sgt. Yeshayahu Davidov, 20, of Netanya; Sgt. Igor Drobitsky, 20, of Nahariya; Cpl. David Marcus, 20, of Ma'aleh Adumim; and Lt. Dan Cohen, 22, of Jerusalem. The three civilian members of the Kiryat Arba emergency response team killed were Yitzhak Buanish, 46; Alexander Zwitman, 26; and Alexander Dohan, 33.


2002: In the following letter-to-the editor published in the New York Times, Martin Peretz, Editor in Chief, “The New Republic,” comes to the defense of Daniel Jonah Goldhagen,


In a vast documentation of the culpability of the Roman Catholic Church in the Nazi genocide of the Jews, the archdiocese of Munich has caught Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, the author of ''A Moral Reckoning,'' in one tiny mistake. It has gone to court to get an injunction against the sale of the book, reviving the index of what it does not want people to read. Mr. Goldhagen misidentified a cleric marching at a Nazi rally in a photograph included in his text. Relying on the authority of a responsible scholarly archive, he indicated that the priest was Cardinal Michael Faulhaber. It wasn't. Still, several incidents involving the cardinal, cited in the book and not challenged by anyone, are devastating. They support the author's argument that the church was not a passive witness to the Holocaust but an active collaborator in it. And who was the mysterious father in the photograph? Alas, the papal nuncio, Cesare Orsenigo, the personal diplomatic representative of Pius XI.


2003(20th of Cheshvan, 5764): Laurence Tisch, former CEO of CBS passed away.



2003(20th of Cheshvan, 5764): The first day of the 2003 Istanbul Bombings, in which two car bombs, targeting two synagogues, explode, killing 25 people and wounding about 300.


2005: Two years to the day after his brother passed away, Preston Robert Tisch, owner of Lowes Hotel and the New York Giants, passed away.


2005: Today, a fellow female police detective described her first meeting with Felicia Shpritzer “who in the early 1960's broke a gender barrier in the New York Police Department when she earned a sergeant's stripes, paving the way for the advancement of women in police work across the country” saying that “she was wearing a trench coat and loafers and carrying two shopping bags.”  Speaking with “her thick Yiddish accent” Shpritzer “looked and acted like the typical Jewish mother” who “comforted her subordinates when they had problems and scolded them when they were wrong.”


2005: When an Israir charter flight takes off this morning for Tunis it will be historic not only because it is the maiden trip of an Israeli airline to the North African Arab country. More significantly, it will be carrying Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom a man who left Tunisia, his place of birth, at the age of one and is now returning for the first time as his adopted country’s foreign minister. Shalom is traveling to Tunisia to attend the UN World Summit on the Information.


2005: Judge Ulrich Meinerzhagen announced that the trial of Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel on 14 counts of inciting racial hatred “was to be rescheduled to allow new counsel time to prepare.”


2006: “The Jewish Eye-World Jewish film Festival” opened at Be’er Sheva.  The festival featured the first showing of Director Ramin Farahani’s Jews of Iran.


2006: Jack Abramoff began serving his term in the minimum security prison camp of Federal Correctional Institution, Cumberland, Maryland, as inmate number 27593-112.


2007(5thof Kislev, 5768): Ninety-two year old Tani Lispector, the middle daughter of Pinkhas Lispector and Mania Krimgold Lispector and older sister of Brazilian author Clarice Lispector passed away today.


2007: Ruth Wisse, “a pioneer in the development of Yiddish scholarship in the United States…received the…National Humanities Medal in a ceremony at the White House.”  (As reported by Jewish Women’s Archives)


2007: In Stuttgart, the first German production of Stephen Schwartz’s musical “Wicked” opened at the Palladium Theatre.


2007: A children’s book entitled Germ Stories by the late Dr. Arthur Kornberg appears in bookstores.


2007: In Jerusalem, as part of the International Oud Festival, Muhammad Abu Ajaj presents Bedouin music and songs from the Negev.


2007:The MFA in Creative Writing Program at George Washington University hosts an evening with four writers participating in the University of Iowa's International Writing Program including AlexEpstein, a fiction writer from Israel.


2008: In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Curtis David Litow, son of Kathy and Charlie Litow, is called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah.


2008:The Ninth Annual Rutgers New Jersey Jewish Film Festival presents “Jellyfish.” “Set against the background of Israel’s most cosmopolitan city, Jellyfish tells the story of three very different Tel Aviv women – a waitress, a disappointed bride, and a domestic worker from the Philippines. Subject to the whims of destiny, they struggle to find love as their intersecting lives create an unlikely portrait of modern Israeli life.”


2008: On Saturday night MK Ya'acov Litzman was attacked by a group of Slonimer Hassidim.  Reportedly the attack shows the anger with the Gur community over Nir Barkat's victory in the Jerusalem mayoral race has continued past Election Day. The embattled Litzman, a representative of the Gur Hassidim within the haredi United Torah Judaism Party, was allegedly cursed, pushed and kicked before being pelted with kugel shortly after arriving at a family celebration being held at a Slonimer-owned hall in Jerusalem's Mea She'arim neighborhood


2009: A revival of “Ragtime” a musical based on the E.L. Doctorow’s novel with lyrics by Lynn Ahrens opened at the Neil Simon Theatre.


2009: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington holds its 49thannual meeting.


2009: The groups Adas Reads and Brunch & Learn present a reading and discussion with New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman, author of "From Beirut to Jerusalem" and, most recently, "Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America," and Washington Post reporter Laura Blumenfeld, author of "Revenge: A Story of Hope," at the Adas Israel Congregation, the only Conservative Synagogue located in the Distric of Columbia. The writers will discuss the influence of revenge on international affairs


2009: The 40th Annual Book Festival sponsored by the JCC of Greater Washington and The 4th annual Jewish Book Festival sponsored by The Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia come to an end.


2009: AJHS, CJH, and YUM sponsor an International Conference entitled “Genocide and Human Experience: Raphael Lemkin's Thought and Vision.”


2009: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Humbling by Philip Roth and the recently released paperback editions of Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963 by Susan Sontag; edited by David Rieff and My Father’s Paradise: A Son’s Search for His Family’s Past by Ariel Sabar whose “father was the last bar mitzvah boy in a Kurdish town where Jews had lived for nearly 3,000 years. Soon thereafter, most of Kurdistan’s Jews left for Israel, taking with them their ancient language, Aramaic, Jesus’ tongue. The elder Sabar, reduced to manual labor in Israel, spent his time obsessively cataloging his dying language. Sabar’s book is a biography of his father but also ‘part history, linguistics primer and memoir.’”


2009: The Washington Post features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including America’s Prophet: Moses and the American Story by Bruce Feiler and SUPERFREAKONOMICS: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner


2009: In Crown Heights Chabad's the 25th annual International Conference of Shluchim comes to a close.  The “lamplighters” like the renowned Rabbi Pinchas Ciment of Little Rock, AR, return to the life-long labor of drawing their fellow Jews to warmth of Torah and the love of Ha-shem.


2010: Internationally acclaimed photographer, videographer and filmmaker Shirin Neshat and best-selling author Angella Nazarian are scheduled to present a program entitled The Jewish-Iranian Immigrant Experience: At the Threshold of Two Worlds at the 92nd Street Y.


2011: Julie Salamon, author of “Wendy & the Lost Boys,” Myla Goldberg, author of “The False Friend,” and William Cohan, author of “Money & Power” are scheduled to speak at the St. Louis Jewish Book Festiva.


2011: “The Little Traitor” a film based on a novel by Amos Oz is scheduled to be shown at the Jewish Eye World Film Festival.


2011:Recent bouts of violence along Israel's border with the Gaza Strip are leading toward significant and offensive military action in the coastal enclave, Israel Defense Forces chief Benny Gantz said today, adding that there was still a chance for a flare-up of West Bank violence over the Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations.


2011:About 100 senior doctors submitted their resignation today, in an apparent escalation of the residents' struggle against a National Labor Court decision to cancel their previous collective protest resignation.


2011(18th of Cheshvan, 5772): Eighty-nine year old Hubert C. Wine “a solicitor, District Court judge and prominent member of the Irish Jewish community who served as the chairman of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland for fourteen years” passed away today.



2012: “The Art of Spiegelman” which provides a look at the world and studio of Art Spieglman, the creator of Maus, is scheduled to be shown at the UK Jewish Film Festival.


2012: World Music from Poland is scheduled to meet Spanish Flamenco when Kroke Trio and Amir-John Haddad perform at the International Jerusalem Oud Festival.


2012: The Canadian Folk Music Awards is scheduled to open today in New Brunswick. “Songs for the Breathing Walls,” a collection of mainly Jewish liturgical pieces recorded by Lenka Lichtenberg in 12 Czech Synagogues has been nominated for two awards at the festival. (As reported by Renee Ghert-Zand)


2012: Final day for submitting entries to the Agudas Achim Poetry Contest.  The poems are each intended to memorialize the congregation’s former home on East Washington Street in Iowa City.


2012(1st of Kislev, 5773): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


2012(1st of Kislev): According to Rabbi Judah, the start of the winter season in Israel


2012:The Israeli Air Force struck some 70 targets in the Gaza Strip in one hour's time, the IDF Spokesman's Office said shortly before 10 p.m. tonight. Among the targets, the IDF statement said, were underground medium-range rocket launching pads. The most recent blitz of air strikes brought the total number to well over 300.


2012:Booms were heard following an air raid siren in Tel Aviv this evening, just an hour after a rocket from the Gaza Strip exploded in an open field outside of Rishon Lezion. There were no reports of injuries in either strike.


2012(1st of Kislev, 5773): Mirah Scharf, 25, Aharon Smadja, 49, and Itzik Amsalem, 27 were murdered by Hamas rockets at Kiryat Malachi (City of Angels).


2013: “The Fading Valley” and “Under The Same Sun” are scheduled to be shown 7th annual Other Israel Film Festival.


2013: “Boris Lurie: The 1940’s”, a ninety five piece exhibition is scheduled to come to an end today at the Studio House Space.


2013: The Alexandria Kleztet is scheduled to perform at the University of Mary Washington in Frederiksberg, VA


2013: In Encino, CA, Valley Beth Shalom a Yiddish evening of song featuring Eleanor Reissa.


2013: Today “the first baby was born at the IDF field hospital set up the day before in the Philippines to help deal with the destruction Typhoon Haiyan has left in its wake. The mayor of Bogo City where the hospital was established announced the baby will be named "Israel." As reported by Ari Yashar)


2013: “Jewish Identities” published today included reviews Jews in Gotham, The Rise of Abraham Cahan, Hanukkah in America and Jews and the Military.



2014(22ndof Cheshvan, 5775): Shabbat Chayei Sarah


2014: In New Orleans, Tulane University, home of the Tulane University Jewish Studies Department chaired by Dr. Brian Horowitz is scheduled to play its first Homecoming Football game in Yulman Stadium.


2014(22ndof Cheshvan, 5775): Sixty five year old transgendered activist and author Leslie Feinberg passed away today in Syracuse, NY.



2014(22ndof Cheshvan, 5775):  Seventy-seven year old “Mervyn Smith, president of the African Jewish Congress and a major anti-apartheid activist in the Jewish community” passed away today.



2014: The 6th Annual International Holiday Bazar sponsored by Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is scheduled to open today.


2014: The Batsheva Dance Company is scheduled to perform for the third and last time during its current visit to New York.


2014: The Eden-Tamir Music Center is scheduled to host a chamber music concert featuring works by Brahms and Tchaikovsky.


2014: In Melbourne, “Natan” and “24 Days” are scheduled to be shown at the Jewish International Film Festival.


2014: “The Sturgeon Queens” and “Bethlehem” are scheduled to be shown at the 18thUK Jewish Film Festival.


2014: “A 31-year-old Belgian rabbi was stabbed in Antwerp today while on his way to his synagogue, near a train station in the city’s Jewish district.”


2014: Arabs threw rocks and fired fireworks at police as they clashed with Israeli security forces in East Jerusalem.


2014: “University professor Hassan Diab, a Canadian of Lebanese descent, appeared before an anti-terror judge just hours after arriving from Montreal after losing a six-year legal battle against extradition” and “was charged in Paris today for his role in the deadly 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue that killed four and wound forty who were among the 300 worshipers attending Kabbalath Shabbat services.


2015(3rd of Kislev, 5776): Seventy year old songwriter P.F. Sloan (born Philip Gary Schlein) passed away today. (As reported by Bruce Weber)



2015: The 17th Annual Jewish Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators Seminar sponsored by the Jewish Book Council is scheduled to be held today in NYC.


2015: "Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem" is scheduled to be shown at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA.


2015: The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington in partnership with the University of Maryland Hillel are scheduled to host “Routes: A Day of Jewish Learning.”


2015: Eighty-six year old Stephen Birmingham who was mistakenly thought to be Jewish because he wrote 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 passed away today. (As reported by Sam Roberts)



2015: Dr. Stanton Samenow, author of Inside the Criminal Mind is scheduled to serve as moderator at Beth El Hebrew Congregation’s “Meet the Authors” program featuring Ellen Brazer, Bea Epstein and Dr. Allan J. Lichtman.


2015: Tel Aviv born composer, pianist, singer and arranger, Yoni Rechter who “has worked closely with many of Israel's top artists, including Arik Einstein, Gidi Gov, and Yehudit Ravitz” is scheduled to perform at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill tonight in New York.


2015: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Killing A King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel by Dan Ephron, My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem, Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few by Robert B. Reich, Reading Claudius: A Memoir in Two Parts by Caroline Heller and Between Gods: A Memoir by Alison Pick.


2016(14thof Cheshvan, 5777): Ninety-two year old music producer and arranger Milt Okun passed away today. (As reported by Daniel E. Slotnik)



2016: Kosherfest, “the world’s largest kosher trade show” opened today at Secaucus, NJ.


2016: According to a report by Channel 10 broadcast 10, David Shimron “a long-time personal lawyer to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu” and “the representative of a German company trying to sell Israeli military submarines that Netanyahu has been pushing for Israel to buy against the will of the IDF” “is alleged to be at the center of a multi-billion shekel controversy involving Israel’s possible purchase” of these ships.


2016: In collaboration with multiple organizations, including the Thaler Foundation and Coe College, the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library are scheduled to host Gideon Frieder, a speaker from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Survivor Speakers’ Bureau to speak of his experience as a Holocaust survivor at Coe College’s Sinclair Auditorium.


2017: Lebanon is scheduled to announce which companies have won the auction granting drilling rights “to areas in the Mediterranean Sea contested by neighboring Israel.”


2017: “Ra’anan Boustan (Princeton University)” is scheduled to “speak on the paradoxical image of Rome as a repository for “Jewish” artifacts and strategies by which Roman Jews and Roman Christians utilized these artifacts to make claims on the ancient past’ at the Center for Jewish History


2017: The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host “Jewbilation MT17.”


2017: “Land of the Little People” and “West of the Jordan River” are scheduled to shown at the 21st UK International Jewish Festival.


2017: Kosherfest 2017 is scheduled to come to an end today.



2017(26thof Cheshvan, 5778): One-hundred and six year old MIT graduate and numismatist Eric Pfeiffer Newman, the husband of Evelyn Newman with whom he had two children, passed away today, (As reported by Robert D. McFadden)



 


2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate the lives of Jewish authors such as Dr. Brian Horowitz the author of a series of books including Empire Jews which paint a realistic of the world most know only from “Fiddler on the Roof” and Jewish books for the next thirty days is scheduled to continue for a fourth day.


2018: “Jonathan Franzen is scheduled to read from his new essay collection, The End of the End of the Earth” at the 92nd Street Y today.


2018: The American Jewish Historical Society is scheduled to host “Seltzertopia” which will include the New York “premier screening of the short ‘Egg Cream’ and a celebration of the publication of Seltzertopia: The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary Drink by Barry Joseph, followed by tastings of various egg creams.”


2018: “Doubtful” and “Song of Black and Neck” are scheduled to be shown at the 38th Gershman Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival.


2018: The Maltz Museum is scheduled to host a lecture on “Talmud and Literature: How an Ancient Jewish Text Can Inspire Contemporary Art” followed by a Q and A with Ruby Namdar, the author of The Ruined House, “winner of Israel’s 2014 Sapir Prize.”


2018: Columbia University, Fordham University and YIVO Institute is scheduled to host “In Dialogue: Polish Jewish Relations During the Interwar Period” with “Samuel Kassow, the Charles H. Northam Professor of History at Trinity College, and one of the world's leading scholars on the Holocaust and the Jews of Poland” and “Paul Brykczyński, an independent historian, whose interests include nationalism, antisemitism, and radical politics, in Eastern Europe and beyond” and whose “first book, Primed for Violence: Murder, Antisemitism, and Democratic Politics in Interwar Poland, won the Kulczycki Book Prize in Polish Studies.


2018: As they awake this morning, Israelis look to see the impact of the resignation of Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman while those living along the border with Gaza contemplate the impact of Netanyahu’s ceasefire agreement.


 


 


 


This Day, November 16, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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November 16


42 BCE: Birthdate of Tiberius, 2nd Roman emperor. The stepson of Augustus reigned from 14 to 37 C.E. A competent general with a sour disposition, Tiberius came to the thrown through the efforts of his pushy mother. Tiberius treatment of the Jews did not spring from some early form of anti-Semitism. Rather, he was a bit of a clod who made poor decisions, some of which impacted the Jews. He placed power in the hands of the power-hungry Sejanus who happened not to like Jews. He appointed Pontius Pilate Procurator in Judea, a role that was a classic mismatch between the governed and the governor. And for a period, he banned the Jews from Rome, but this had to do with some domestic spat, not religion. In the end the true measure of the man was his choice of heirs. Tiberius selected Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, better known as Caligula. Caligula’s belief in his own divinity would create another set of problems for the Jews of Judea and Alexandria.


534: Publication of the second and final revision of the Codex Justinianus or Justinian’s Code. The code reflected Justinian’s hostility towards Judaism. It contained provisions that prohibited marriage between a Christian and a Jew (the fear was that the marriage would lead to the Christian converting to Judaism) and placed restrictions on the practice of circumcision. It elevated canon law to the equal of civil law thus forcing the Jews to accept the authority of Church officials. It also forced the Jews to use a Greek translation of the Bible in their services, placed restrictions on public assembly by Jews, prohibited Jews from building new synagogues and testifying against Christians in legal matters and finally banned the celebration of Passover in years when it came before Easter.


1272: King Edward III passed away. King Edward continued the predatory taxation policies towards his Jewish subjects that had been followed by his father King John. In addition to confiscatory tax policies, the King enacted royal decrees inimical to the well-being of the Jewish people including one that stated, “And that there be no synagogue of the Jews in England save in those places in which synagogues were in the time of King John, the king’s father…and that every Jew wear his badge conspicuously on his breast.”


1380: Jews were killed in riots in Paris.


1384: Jadwiga is crowned King of Poland, although she is a woman. Jadwiga would marry Jogaila, the Grand Duke of Lithuania who took the name of Władysław II when ascended the Polish throne. The purpose of the marriage was to unite Poland and Lithuania. For the Jews of Poland, the results were less than optimal since the first extensive persecutions of the Jews took place during the reign Wladislaus II and neither the king nor his successors acted to stop these events.


1491: Five Jews were accused of murdering a child in La Guardia (Spain). The investigation was conducted by Tomas De Torquemada, the cleric who would later lead the infamous Spanish Inquisition. Even though there were no witnesses nor was a body ever found all five were found guilty. Three of them were forcibly baptized, strangled, and then burned. The two others were just torn apart.


1497: Gershon Soncino published a copy of “Talmud Babli Sanhedrin” at Barco.


1500: In Pilsen, “Kaspar Bernášek is shown to owe 100 Meissen thalers or 50 Bohemian coppers to the Jew Mekl and his son Turek. In the event of non-repayment, they had the right to sell his possessions and hereby to avoid damages, although without having the right to any interest payments”


1628: Francis Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby of Parham, under whose leadership a group of Sephardic Jews migrated to Suriname in 1652 and “settled in the Jodensavanne area” married Elizabeth Cecil today.


1694(28th of Cheshvan): Rabbi David Lida, author of Be’er Mayim Hayyim, passed away


1745: In Trier Rabbi Isaac Sinzheim and his wife gave birth to Joseph David Sinzheim, the Chief Rabbi of Strasbourg.


1756 (23rd of Cheshvan): Rabbi Isaac ben Samuel Lampronti, author of Pahad Yizhak, passed away.


1779: Sixty-three year old naturalist and explorer Pehr Kalm who on his visit to the United States in 1748 described the Jews of New York as forming “a considerable portion of the population” passed away today He also said the Jews “had stores and fine houses and ships, and a flourishing synagogues and enjoyed all the privileges of other citizens.  The young Jews, especially when away from home, made no scruple about eating pork when the opportunity offered.”


1794(23rd of Cheshvan, 5555): Saul Berlin passed away in London. Born in 1740, he “was a German Talmudist and one of the most learned Jews of the Mendelssohnian period.”


1803: In Frankfurt am Main, Jacob Hirsch Kann, the “son of Miriam and Isaac Jacob Kann” and Jetta Kahnn gave birth to Philip Kann.


1803: Birthdate of Heinrich Ewald the German theologian and author whose works included Complete Court on the Hebrew Language, The Poetical Books of the Old Testament, History of the People of Israel and Antiquities of the People of Israel.


1818: Two days after she had passed away, 67 year old Lydia Cohen, the wife of Levi Barent Cohen with whom she had seven children, was buried today at the Brady Street Jewish Cemetery.


1819: Birthdate of Wilhelm Marr, the ner-do-well who married three Jewish women, became a leader in the modern German anti-Semitism movement and then recanted his beliefs towards the end of his life.



1821: Missouri trader William Becknell arrives in Santa Fe, New Mexico over a route that became known as the Santa Fe Trail which enjoyed a Golden Era of trade that lasted until the early 1850’s. Jews were reluctant to be identified as such since New Mexico was still thought to be within the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. Apparently a Prussian Jew named Albert Speyer had no such qualms and he conducted trading operations on the Santa Fe Trail and in Mexico itself in the early 1840’s


1825: Jacob Abraham Wood married Hannah Simmons at the Hambro Synagogue today.


1827 OS(9th of Kislev, 5588): Fifty-four year old Dovber Schneuri, the second Lubavitcher Rebbe also known as the Mittler Rebbe (or Middle Rebbe) who was the son of Shneur Zalman of Liabi, the found Chabad Lubavitch  and whose daughter Chaya Mushka married her cousin Menachem Mendel Schneersohn who became the third rebbe, passed today on his birthday, according to the Hebrew calendar.


1827: Birthdate of Charles Eliot Norton, the Harvard professor, whose friendship with James Loeb was so meaningful that Loeb, the Jewish banker and philanthropist created The Charles Eliot Norton Memorial Lectureship in his honor.


1831: Elias and Sophia Solomons were married at the Hambro Synagogue today.


1833: In the United Kingdom, The Dover Telegraph reported that Fanny Nathan, the daughter of local china and fruit importer had Mr. Abrahams of Canterbury.


1841: Birthdate of Abraham Mendes Chumaceiro, the Amsterdam native who moved to Curaçao in 1856, where he became a prominent member of the bar.


1843: Samuel Strauss and his wife, the former Rosalia Drucker gave birth to Sigmund Ferdinand Strauss the brother of British MP Arthur Strauss.


1845: Israel Beer Josaphat was baptized at St. George’s German Lutheran Chapel in London where he took the new name of Paul Julius Reuter.  His name lives on today in the name of the news service he established- Reuter’s.  Reuter may have shed his religion but his enemies would mock him as a Jew when it suited their needs.


1849: Hayyim Zebi Lerner, the native of Dubno who was a follower of Wolf Adesohn, a leader of the Maskilim, “was appointed government teacher of the Jewish public school of Berdychev.”


1850(11thof Kislev, 5611): Aaron Alexandre, “a Bavarian trained rabbi” who became a leading chess player after arriving in France in 1793 passed away today in London.


1852: “Germany: Political Movements” published today reported that in Berlin that newly empowered reactionaries are seeking to modify Article 12 of the Constitution, which had freed “the exercise of political rights from all dependence on the religion of the citizen…” The change is aimed at excluding the Jews from the political process so that Prussia will be “a Christian State.”  The liberals are afraid that once the Jews are excluded, other groups will be excluded including “the free communists, German Catholics and other non-conformists.


1853: The Tenth Anniversary Dinner of the German Benevolent Society was held tonight at the Assembly Rooms in New York City. Joseph Seligman, president of the society presided over the affair which was attended by two hundred gentlemen. The attendees donated $2,000 to the society.


1853: Birthdate of Victor Worms, the native of Luxembourg who was the younger brother of Emile Worms and a prominent French lawyer.


1859: Two days after she had passed away, 56 year old Isabella Myers, the wife of Benjamin Myers with whom she had four children, was buried at the Exeter Jewish Cemetery.


1860: Birthdate of Jesse Houghton Metcalf, the Senator from Rhode Island, who as early as June of 1933 “deplored” the racial and religious prejudice of the German government in a speech on the floor of the Senate.


1868: “The will of Abraham Hirsh was probated” today.


1871: “Cruelties Practiced by Poultry Dealers” published today described activities at the so-called “Jews’ Washington Market” on Essex Street which is home to a large number of butchers and their coops of chicken.


1874: It was reported today that Rabbi Artom officiated at the wedding of Mr. Isaac Abecassis of Lisbon and Miss Helena Ben Sande of the Azores at the Portugese Synagogue on Bryanstone Street.  The service included all of the Jewish traditions including the breaking of the glass.  The reception was held at the Langham Hotel where Jewish traditions continued to prevail among a wedding party that included many gentiles as could be seen by wearing of hats by the Jewish men during the entire affair.


1874: It was reported today that Carl Schurz will deliver a lecture next Wednesday members of the Hebrew Young Men’s Association in New York.


1874: It was reported today that Rabbi De Sola Mendez will deliver a lecture next week at the Lyric Hall in New York City.


1874: It was reported today that the Jews of Chicago have held a service to honor the memory of Rabbi Abraham Geiger, the leader of Reform Judaism in Berlin who passed away in October of 1874.


1874: It was reported today that those who lost seats in recent Austrian elections blame their defeat on the fact that there were two Jewish members of the government.


1879: It was reported today that “Romania positively refuses to enfranchise her dirty Israelites, except on her own conditions” which are not those that she had agreed to when negotiating with the Great Powers.


1879: Four days after he had pass away, 61 year old Isaac Lindo Mocatta, the son of Moses Mocatta and Abigail Lindo, the husband of Abigail Mocatta and the father of Grace Mocatta, was buried today at the Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.


1881: It was reported today that SS Silesia is expected to arrive soon in New York City with 250 Jews from Russia.  A total of 5,000 Jews are expected to come during the Winter months.  “Most of the Jews are farmers and will settle in Texas and Louisiana.”  The Hamburg Line, whose ships are bringing the Jews to America, has promised to provide Kosher food for the travelers “from the time they leave the Russian frontier until” they arrive in the United States.


1881: It was reported today that Julius J. Frank is planning on giving a lecture to the Young Men’s Hebrew Association.


1881: It was reported today that The Porte has told representatives of English and German philanthropists who are promoting the migration of Jews to Turkey that Jews will be allowed to settle “in separate communities in all parts of the empire, except Palestine.


1883: It was reported today that in England, Charles K. Salaman has used “words…in the original language of the Old Testament to compose “A Hebrew Love Song.” (Salaman is name many do not recognize today.  He was prolific 19th Anglo-Jewish composer whose career spanned 70 years)


1883: It was reported today the President of the Union Trust Company on Broadway in New York gave David Salzman a quarter when he turned in a check in the amount of $1,250 drawn on the company.  The Jewish boy who works as a bootblack “was somewhat surprised at the amount.”


1883: In Chicago, Eli Benjamin Felsenthal and Nettie Felsenthal gave birth Agatha Felsenthal who became Agatha Schoenbrun when she married Leo Schoenbrun with whom she had three children.


1884: The leaders of the Ladies’ Auxiliary Society hosted their annual reception at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.


1884: Rabbi Gustav Gottheil officiated at the wedding of Miss Leonitine Huebsch, the daughter of Rabbi Adolphus Huesbsch , of blessed memory and Mrs. Joshua Kantrowitz, associate editor of the Hebrew Standard.


1885: The National Rabbinical Convention, a meeting of Reform rabbis from across the United States, opened this morning in Concordia Hall in Allegheny City, PA.


1886: Sigmund and Julia Kohlman gave birth to Alabama resident Flossye Kohlman.


1886: “Curious Will Suit” published today described litigation brought by the heirs of the late Moses Issacks  to try and recover $50,000 that had been left to him as a life interest by his Uncle, the late Sampson Simson, the noted philanthropist who helped to fund Mt. Sinai Hospital.  According to the will, upon Isaacks death, the principle of the life estate was to revert to an organization that would help with educational activities in Jerusalem. The executor of the estate turned the money over to the North American Relief Society for the Indigent Jews but the heirs claim they should get the money because the money did not exist at the time of Simson’s death so it was not eligible. (The court will find for the Society.)


1886: In Glasgow, KY, Caroline Morris and Joseph Korck, gave birth to Arthur B. Krock who was raised by his maternal grandparents Emmanuel and Henrietta Morris until he was six and who gained fame as a conservative political journalist working for the New York Times. According to some published reports, during the 1930’s the Jewish publisher of the Timesdenied Krock who would win four Pulitzer prizes  a promotion because the paper did not want to have Jews in prominent editorial positions.


1887: Over two thousand men and women attended the 9th annual charity ball hosted by the Brooklyn Orphan Asylum at the Academy of Music.


1888(12thof Kislev, 5649): Forty-two year old Arsène Darmesteter linguist and author who served as “Professor of Old French Language and Literature” at the Sorbonne who used the writings of Rashi in his study of Old French passed away today.



1889: It was reported today that shots were fired into stores and homes owned by Jews living in three towns in Louisiana’s East Carroll Parish.  At the town of Alsatia “a placard was stuck on the door” that reading “‘No Jews after the 1st of January.  If you disregard this warning fire and lead will make you leave.’”


1889: Birthdate of American playwright George S. Kaufman. Born into a family of German-Jews in Pittsburgh Kaufman moved to New York where he worked as a journalist before pursuing a career in the theatre. Kaufman almost always wrote in collaboration with somebody else, but he was always the senior collaborator, no matter how distinguished the other writer might have been. In their day, Kaufman’s works were almost all theatrical successes. But most of his works are not known to today’s public. One exception would be three plays – The Cocoanuts, A Night at the Opera and Animal Crackers – all of which were made into hit movies by the Marx Brothers. Kaufman passed way in 1961.


1890: Birthdate of Roona, Russia native George Feldman, who “emigrated to Canada in 1913, joined the Jewish Legion in Saskatchewan “and served in Palestine with the 39th Battalion of the Royal Fusilers after which he returned to Canada where he married in 1922 and raised three children.


1890: In Philadelphia, PA, The Society Hachnasath Orechim, or Wayfarers' Lodge, was organized today.


1890: In “Alliance Colony, an agricultural community in rural southern New Jersey, Anna Saphro and pharmacist George Sergious Seldes gave birth to Henry George Seldes an “investigative reporter” who was part of a talented family that included his brother, writer Gilbert Seldes, his niece, actress Marian Seldes and his nephew, literary agent Timothy Seldes


1890: In “One of the Persecuted Jews” published today Herman Rosenstraus, a Russian Jew living in the United States provided a firsthand account of the travails that brought him to this county.


1891: In Philadelphia, found of Congregation “Dirshu Tove” which held daily service and used Har Nebo Cemetery.


1892: The building owned by Young Men’s Hebrew Association in Memphis hosts the second day of the National Farmers’ Alliance and Industrial Union’s national convention.  The Alliance is a southern version of the Grange, which was considered to be a “radical” agrarian organization by the railroads and the banks.


1893: The Russian Jewish immigrants who arrived last week aboard the SS Roland who are still being detained at Ellis Island will be re-examined today and if they continue not to meet the required standards will be ordered back to Europe.


1893: Today, when Emmeline Obermeyer turned 20, 29 year old photographer Alfred Stieglitz succumbed to family pressure and married her in New York.


1894: Birthdate of Jacob Samuel Potofsky, the native of Radomysl, Russia who came to the United States where he rose to become President of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers


1895: Rabbi Joseph Silverman delivered a sermon at Temple Emanu-El entitled “The Charity of the Jews.”


1896: Rabbi Kahn of Rodof Sholom officiated at the funeral of 84 year old Ephraim Wolbach who was a co-founder of the congregation.


1896: Rose Landsberg, the President of the Rochester, NY Section of the National  Council of Jewish Women which had been “organized in the summer of 1895 with a membership of 40” submitted a report which showed the section had grown to 66 members and offered 6 study circles.


1896: An address by Mrs. Nellie L. Miller of Memphis “stirred up a lively discussion” at this afternoon’s “session of the National Council of Jewish Women.  Many of the delegates took issue with her declaration “that today the people of her race are lax in their religion, careless in the faith of their fathers “ and could learn lessons from Christian women when it comes to “strength and perseverance.


1897: In Johannesburg, South Africa, Isidore Heyman and his wife gave birth to a son


1897(21stof Cheshvan, 5658): Eighteen month old Sarah Rosetta “Rosie” Rabbinowicz, the infant daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E.W. Rabbinowicz passed away today at Whitechapel. UK.


1897: “Ferdinand Forzinetti, the commandant of the Cherche-Midi military prison, and one of the first to be convinced of Dreyfus's innocence, was relieved of his position when his views about the matter became public.


1897: In London, The Relief Committee of the Board Guardians was scheduled to meet at 3:30 this afternoon.


1898: “100,000 Given for Education” published today described how Jacob H. Schiff had contributed $25,000 towards an endowment fund for the Educational Alliance that attracted the following additional contributions: Louis Stern, $25,000; B. Altman, $20,000; William Saloon, $10,000; Isidor Straus, $10,000; Felix Warburg, $5,000 and Louis Marshall, $5,000.


1898: The staff at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum and public health authorities including Dr. Dillingham, the assistant Inspector for the Health Department “discredited” reports “of a severe outbreak of scarlet fever” at the Jewish children’s facility.


1898: It was reported today that Israel Zangwill had delivered a lecture on the history of the Jewish people in which he said that “Colonel Roosevelt had said to him that the Jews in the Rough Riders were among the bravest in his regiment.”


1899: Today’s review of the most recent revival of “The Merchant of Venice” praised Henry Irving’s portrayal of Shylock as the best since that of the late Edwin Booth because of its “expression of the Jew’s craft and malice, his implacable disposition and the bitterness of his hatred.”  (Shylock was one of Irving’s signature roles.  Portrayals of Shylock have varied over the centuries and often reflect how Jews are viewed in a given place or time.)


1899: “Answer to a Correspondent” published today provided a discussion of the etomolgy of “Mizpah” which comes from the Hebrew word “Mitzpah” which “was the name of several places in Palestine” but was first used in the story of Jacob Laban where the word is used to describe “a rude heap of stones” that served as a “witness” to the agreement they had made and served a “boundary” marker.


1900: Lissa & Kann, the family owned bank managed by Zionist leader Jacobus Henricus Kann makes £ 700,000 available for Herzl’s use. Born in 1872, Kann was an aide to Theodor Herzl and was one of the founders of the Jewish Colonial Trust in 1899. He was an active participant in the Zionist Congresses and was elected to the Zionist Organization's executive in 1905. Later he worked on various projects in Palestine. He passed away in 1945.


1900(12thof Kislev, 5649): Fifty-nine year old Moritz Rosenhaupt the cantor at Nuremberg who is the author of “Shire Ohel Ya’akob” and who wrote a concerto using the 42ndPsalm passed away today.


1903: Birthdate of Polish native Casimir Oberfeld, the French composer who was arrested in Nice and shipped to Auschwitz where he died in January, 1945.


1905: “The diary of a Jewish merchant from Odessa written in the course of those first four awful days of the month when the massacres were in progress were received at the office of The Jewish Morning Journal” today “impress the reader with the horrors of Odessa…far more graphically than of the news dispatches that have reached” the United States.


1905: Police on the East Side of New York were informed tonight “that swindlers were collecting money in the name of Russian Relief Fund Association and were giving forged receipts for payments that have been made.


1905: “At the Synagogue Beth Hamedrdash Hagadol where the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregation of the United States and Canada” were meeting tonight Rabbi Pereia Mendes read cablegrams from Baron Grunsberg and Professor Mandelstam of Kiev in which it was stated that disorders in the southern provinces were still in progress.


1906: The house physician at the Hotel St. George attributed the death of Rabbi Raphael Benjamin to “acute indigestion” which was probably the result of the “bad health” he had been experiencing for an extended period of time.  At the time of his death “he was much disturbed over an incident in connection with the recent unveiling of the Washington monument at the Williamsburg Bridge plaza. He had been invited to speak on that occasion as a representative of the Hebrews, and the Rev. Father Belford pastor of the Roman Catholic Church of Sts. Peter and Paul was also to deliver an address, but before the ceremony the priest made a public denunciation of the Jews, and invitations to both speakers were cancelled.” (As reported by “Cyber Angel”)


1907: The University of Tennessee football team coached by Izzy Levene defeated Mississippi A&M today by a score of 11 to 4.


1907: Oklahoma was established as the 46th state in the Union. In 1890 the estimated Jewish population of Oklahoma Territory was one hundred and at statehood about one thousand. In Oklahoma City the time lag between the founding of the mostly German Reform congregation B'nai Israel and the mainly Eastern European Orthodox Emanuel Synagogue was only one year (1903 and 1904). By the time Oklahoma was granted statehood, the Jewish population had grown from an estimated 100 living in the territory in 1890, to around a thousand. Signs of the establishment of Jewish communities, as opposed to just individual Jewish settlers, could be seen even before statehood was granted. In Oklahoma City, Temple B’nai Israel was formed in 1903 by the Orthodox Emanuel Synagogue in 1904. In Muskogee, Temple Beth Ahabah, was formed in 1905. In the same year that statehood was granted, the 100 or so Jews who had settled in Ardmore formed a Reform congregation called Temple Emeth. Today, the small but vibrant Jewish community is centered primarily in Tulsa and Oklahoma City.


1909: Turkey bans all non-Muslims from holding political meetings in houses of worship.


1909: Alma Gluck first appeared on stage with the Metropolitan Opera in the role of Sophie in Massenet's Werther. (As reported by the Jewish Women’s Archives)


1910: Birthdate of Superior, Wisconsin native Morrie “Morris” Arnonvich, nicknamed “Snooker, the life-time observer of Kashrut who was an all-star basketball player for Superior State Teachers Colleges before going on to a major league baseball career that was interrupted by a four-year wartime stint in the U.S. Army.


1912(6thof Kislev, 5673): Parashat Vayishlach


1912: Rabbi Joseph Stolz is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “Caring for the Orphan” in honor of the dedication of the Marks Nathan Orphan’s Home during Shabbat morning services at the Isaiah Temple in Chicago.


1912: Joseph Wohl and his wife gave birth to Bertha Rachel Friedman, the sister of Sam Wohl.


1912: It was reported today that “of the 20,356 Jewish immigrants who arrived at” the port of New York “during the last three months, some seven hundred came from the Balkan peninsula.”


1912: “An Epoch-Making Book” published today provided Harold Berman’s review of “a novel treating the Jewish question written by M.A. Goldschmidt, the celebrated Jewo-Danish novelist which has recently been issued in a German translation.”


1914: The Federal Reserve Bank of the United States officially opens. In 1930, Eugene Meyer was the first Jew appointed to serve as the Chairman of the Fed.  Two more Jews have served as Chairman of the Fed.  Alan Greenspan was appointed in 1978.  When he retired, Ben Bernake was appointed in 2006


1914: In Germany, a small group of intellectuals whose leaders included Albert Einstein appeals for “the prompt achievement of a just peace without annexations and for the establishment of an international organization that would have as its aim the prevention of future wars.”


1915(9th of Kislev, 5676): Sixty-six year old Raphael Meldola, the Anglo-Jewish chemist who invented Mendola Blue Dye, passed away.


1915: Solomon Weiner and Gertrude Talesknic gave birth to Albert Weiner, the husband of Sylvia Cooper.


1915: The Fourteenth Convention of the Federation of Zionist Societies of Canada ended today with “the singing of Hatikvah and God Save the King


1916: A Reuter’s dispatch from Amsterdam received in London says: “A Warsaw telegram announces that an edict has been published recognizing Judaism as a religion in public law.”


1917(1st of Kislev, 5678): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1917: Premiere of “When Four Do the Same” a “German silent comedy drama directed by Ernst Lubitsch” who also co-authored the script and appeared in the film.


1917: New Zealand cavalrymen entered Jaffa; next stop – Jerusalem


1917: During World War I, British forces under General Allenby entered Tel Aviv. In less than a month, the British Army, including Jewish contingents would liberate Jerusalem.


1917: In Ekaterinoslav, the militia finally restores order after anti-Semitic rioters looted Jewish shops.


1917: It was reported today that The Joint Distribution Committee has collected two thirds of the $10,000,000 it plans on collecting by December including $1,000,000 that was contributed by Julius Rosenwald.


1917: In Warsaw, “Bundist delegates on the Municipal Council demand that Jewish elementary schools applying for municipal subsidy omit Jewish religious education and study of Hebrew from the curriculum.”


1918: In the chaos that followed the end of World War I, Hungary declared its independence from Austria which Theodore Von Karman to leave the country and ultimately settle in the United States where he became known as “The Father of Supersonic Flight.”




1918: Isaac C. Hirsch, of Company E of the 306th Infantry was cited today for showing “great heroism, determination and courage” when acting as a stretcher bearer on August 27 he carried the wounded to safety “in an area which was swept by shell, machine gun and rifle fire.”



1918: Private Bernard Teitelbaum who was temporarily attached to the Third and Fourth Platoons, Company D, 306th Infantry was cited today for showing “extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty” when he gave first aide “to five wounded men” while under heavy fire from shrapnel and “high explosives” “until he was himself hit by shrapnel and severely wounded.”



1918: Over seven thousand dollars was collected at the Central Synagogue for the United War Work Campaign after an appeal by Dr. Nathan Krass.



1918: Today, Major Solomon Lowenstein “who was with the Palestinian Commission headed by Dr. Finley urged the need of large reconstruction work Palestine and told how utterly helpless large sections of the Jews in the Holy Land were.”



1920: In Dresden, Germany, writer and actress Salka Viertel and the writer Berthold Viertel gave birth to” Peter Viertel who moved to the United States with his parents in 1928 where he grew up with his Hans and Thomas, graduated from Dartmouth, served with the U.S. Marines and the O.S.S. during WW II before pursuing a career as an author and screenwriter. (As reported by Douglas Martin)



 


1920: Joseph G. Shapiro of Shelton, CT was appointed judge of the City Court today.


1920: A fund raising drive sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Louisville, KY is scheduled to begin today.


1920: Dr. Judah L. Magnes and Dr. Joseph Silverman, the rabbi of Temple Emanu-El officiated at the funeral of Jacob Wertheim after which he was buried at the Mount Hope Cemetery in Westchester, NY.


 


1921: Birthdate of Ben Weisman an American composer and pianist best known for having written many of the songs associated with Elvis Presley. A native of Providence, Ben Weisman was one of Elvis Presley's chief songwriters throughout the 1960s. He co-composed for Elvis' movies and stage performances nearly sixty songs that proceeded to go gold or platinum, including "First in Line", "Got a Lot of Living to Do", "Follow That Dream" and "Wooden Heart". Weisman also wrote songs recorded by Barbra Streisand ("Love in the Afternoon"), The Beatles ("Lend Me Your Comb"), Johnny Mathis ("When I Am with You"), Terry Stafford ("I'll Touch A Star"), Bobby Vee ("The Night Has A Thousand Eyes") and many others. Since Weisman's outward appearance was atypical for a "rock 'roll guy", Elvis' pet nickname for him was "the mad professor". Just before Weisman's last meeting with Elvis in 1976, Elvis proudly announced to the crowd that he had recorded more of Weisman's songs than those of any other songwriter. Weisman's most recent musical score was for the 1995 movie Crossroads at Laredo: The Lost Film of Edward D. Wood Jr.



1922(25th of Cheshvan, 5683): Forty-seven year old German physicist Max Abraham passed away today in Munich.


1922: Birthdate of Manhattan native George Neumann Spitz who played a leading role in turning the New York City Marathon from a race to a “cultural happening” (As reported by Sam Roberts)



1924(19thof Cheshvan, 5685): Fifty-eight year German born American journalist Gustav J. Karger , the husband of Rachel Levison who was also a “member of the Republican State Central Committee in Ohio, passed away today.



1924: This afternoon, five thousand persons tried to get into the auditorium of the National Hebrew School in New York to attend the funeral services for Dr. Menachem Mendel Scheinkin, the noted Zionist leader who was killed in a street car accident while visiting Chicago, Illinois


1924: In Kansas City, Goodman Ace (born Asa Goodman) and Jane Sherwood (born Jane Epstein) were married – a union that their fans came to know as the witty Easy Aces.


1924: Birthdate of Haim Brotzlewsky in Vienna who made Aliyah to Palestine in 1939 where he gained fame as Haim Bar-Lev, the IDF’s Chief of General Staff from 1968 through 1971.


1926: Birthdate of Herbert “Herb” Krautblatt,, the only basketball player at Rider University who played for an NBA team – in this case the Baltimore Bullets for one season.


1927: In Brooklyn, “businessman Morris Gimbel and Lottie Gimbel” gave birth to lyricist Norman Gimbel who gave us such memorable music "The Girl from Ipanema" and "Killing Me Softly with His Song"


1928: A resolution adopted by the Synagogue Council of America which “profoundly deplored the interference with Jewish worship took place at…the Wailing Wall…on the Day of Atonement” was made public today.


1928(3rdof Kislev, 5689): Sixty-two year old Gustav Cohn, the “son of Levi and Eva Regina Cohn” and the husband of Paula Cohn passed away today in “Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.”


1929: In Coburg, German, Julius and Katy Wertheimer gave birth to photographer Alfred Wertheimer “who for a few fleeting days in 1956 captured strikingly intimate images of a 21-year-old Elvis Presley just as he was becoming a rock ’n’ roll sensation…”  (As reported by William Yardley)



1931: “The House of Connelly” starring Stella Adler, J. Edward Bromberg and Clifford Odets which was staged by Lee Strasberg opened at the Mansfield Theatre after having closed at the Martin Beck Theatre.


1933: The United States recognizes the government of the Soviet Union. Maxim Livtvinov, the Soviet Foreign Ministers led the effort that resulted in this major foreign policy shift, Born Max Wallach, Litvinov was one of many Jews who played a leadership role in the Bolshevik movement and the government of the Soviet Union. Litvinov saw the opening of relations with the United States as a key in the fight against fascism. Litvinov would lose his job in the late 1930’s when the Soviets negotiated a non-Aggression Pact with Nazi Germany. At that point, Stalin was prepared to do anything to ingratiate himself with Hitler.


1933: “Little Women,” a screen version of the novel by the same name, directed by George Cukor with music by Max Steiner was released today in the United States.


1934: “The White Parade” an Academy Award nominated film produced by Jesse Lasky with a script by Jesse Lasky, Jr and Sonya Levien was released in the United States today.


1934: Designer George Salter, whose father had converted but who now found himself “Jewish” according to the Nazis arrived in New York thanks in no small part to an affidavit that had been submitted on his behalf by his brother Stefan who had come to the United States in 1928.


1935: The University of California football team led by Guard Robert Gilbert defeated the University of Pacific today.


1935: “Jumbo, a musical produced by Billy Rose, with music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart and a book co-authored by Ben Hecht” opened on Broadway at the Hippodrome Theatre today.


1936: ”The Violet of Potsdamer Platz” produced by Lothar Clark a German Jew who had taken refuge from the Nazis in Denmark only to be one of those fortunate “Danish” Jews who found a final refuge in Sweden.


1936: During a discussion today “regarding enforcement of the Nuremberg decrees of 1935 against Jewish relations with non-Jewish woman, State Secretary Heydrich “stated that the number of prosecution on this charge was steadily increasing.”


1936: In Jerusalem, a rabbi and his wife gave birth Isaac “Ike” Berger the weightlifter who gold and silver medals for the United States at the 1960 and 1964 Olympics.


1937: Rabbi Jonah B Wise of the Central Synagogue officiated at the funeral of businessman John David who had passed away two days ago and was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Westchester.



1937: Birthdate of Doris Bonfield who will be interred in the Agudas Achim Cemetery in Iowa City.


1937: Pierre Crabites, a Law School Professor at L.S.U. and for 25 years the American Representative on the Mixed International Tribunal at Cairo of which he became the chief judge wrote a letter to the New York Times in which he advocated that the Haz Anim El Husseini, the Grand Mufti be allowed to return from his self-imposed exile from Palestine without having to fear arrest for the role he allegedly has played in the wave of Arab violence. In the letter, Crabites states his belief that the Grand Mufti is a key player in any attempt to bring to peace to Palestine while appearing to support limitations on the settlement of Jews in Eretz Israel.


1938: The fifth annual “Night of the Stars” which is seeking to raise $100,000 as an emergency fund for the settlement of oppressed Jews in Palestine” is scheduled to take place tonight at Madison Square Garden.


1938: Following a conference between Mayor La Guardia and Police Commissioner Valentine “a special squad was created today to protect German officials and German property” which it turned was “to be manned by Jews.”


1938: Birthdate of American philosopher Professor Robert Nozick. When he passed away in, he was described as “ the greatest American philosopher since William James; his influence extended far beyond the academic world, most famously with his powerful critique of the Left-liberal moral philosophy that underpinned the welfare state.


1938: Radio Stations WJZ and WABC broadcast the “Catholic Protest Against Nazi Persecution of Jews” featuring several Church leaders and former Governor Alfred E. Smith” from 9:00 to 9:30 p.m.


1939: At Lodz, the Nazis ordered all Jews to wear a Star of David


1939(4th of Kislev): Rabbi Baruch Ber Leibowitz, Rosh Yeshiva of the Kamenetz Yeshiva, passed away


1940: The Warsaw ghetto was permanently closed. Officially Jews no longer had access to anything, or business, outside of the ghetto.


1940: Leon Blum “was transferred to the Château de Bourrassol in the Massif Central near Riom, where he was to be tried.”


1940: “South of Suez,” a murder mystery co-starring George Tobias was released in the United States by Warner Bros.


1942: Leopold Pick was transported from Tabor to Terezin


1942: Today, during the darkest days of World War II, a proclamation was published  over the signatures of 1,521 outstanding Americans, declaring the moral right of the stateless Jews of Europe and of the Jews of Palestine "to fight -- as they ask to fight -- under the ancient banner of David the King, as the Jewish Army…They renewed the appeal that has been made ineffectively in the last eighteen months against Arab opposition for he separate arming of 200,00 Jews or more in the Middle East.”  The declaration read, in part “The first victims of Hitler’s aggression cannot conceive democracy denying to them participation…in this crusade against barbarism.”


1943: In Manhattan, Edith Hillman Boxill and Dr. Nathan Epstein gave birth to Dr. Paul Epstein, “a public health expert who was among the first to warn of a link between the spread of infectious disease and extreme weather events, adding a new dimension to research into the potential impact of global climate change” (As reported by Paul Vitello)


1943: Ill Jewish slave laborers at the Skarzysko-Kamienna, Poland, ammunition factory, who are lured from their barracks by Ukrainian guards and SS men promising soup, are gunned down or loaded onto trucks and taken to an execution site elsewhere in the camp. The Ukrainians killed all those they thought were too weak to continue working.


1943: In an example of the law of unintended consequences a planned attempt to assassinate Hitler by a group known as the “Black Band” did not take place today because of the impact of an Allied air attack,


1943: British forces carried out a search at for arms at Ramat Hakovesh. When members of the kibbutz resisted, the situation erupted in violence. The British killed one kibbutznik wounded 35 others and arrested an additional 35 Jews.


1945: Premiere of “The Lost Weekend” the film about an alcoholic directed by Billy Wilder.


1945: A delegation representing the American League for Free Palestine, a Zionist organization, took off from New York today bound for a meeting of the UN in London.


1945: Yeshiva University came into existence (as a university), making it the first American university under Jewish auspices.


1946: “The Chase,” a film noir produced by Seymour Nebenzal, with a screenplay by Phillip Yordan and music by Michel Michelet was released in the United States toay.


1946: At the Music Box Theatre, the curtain comes down on the final performance of “A Flag Is Born.”


1947: Speaking today on her “World Security Workshop Program” broadcast by ABC, “Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt said today the United States’ support of the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states ‘is fair and correct as you look back on history.’”


1947: The British seized the SS Kadima, one of several ships filled with Jews that tried to run the British blockade of Palestine.  The ship, which was equipped to carry 400 passengers, left Italy filled with 800 Jews desperate to get out of the European DP camps.  The British took control of the ship at Haifa and deported the Jews to the camps at Cyprus where they remained for a year and three months. Mira (Miriam) Shefer was one of the passengers on the ship.  She met her future husband Efriam while on Cyprus.


1948: The Arabs continue to insist on not recognizing Israel.


1948:The UN Security Council demands that Israel and Egypt negotiate Negev armistice directly or through UN mediator Ralph Bunche. This demand does not alter previous order calling for demilitarization of Negev.


1948(14th of Cheshvan, 5709): Former California Congresswomen Florence Prag Kahn passed away in San Francisco. Elected as a Republican to the Sixty-ninth Congress, by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her husband, United States Representative-elect Julius Kahn, and reelected to the five succeeding Congresses (February 17, 1925-January 3, 1937), she was unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Seventy-fifth Congress in 1936.


1950: The last of the 500 sets of the The Survivors' Talmud (also known as the U.S. Army Talmud) was an edition of the Talmud published in the U.S. Zone of Allied-occupied Germany on behalf of Holocaust survivors housed in displaced persons (DP) camps” were printed today.


1952: Eighty-four year old Charles Maurras the French leader whose anti-Semitism stretched from Dreyfus to Leon Blum to supporting Vichy passed away today.


1954: “There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays” a popular song played incessantly in the United States from Thanksgiving to Christmas with lyrics by Al Stillman was recorded today.


1954: “Désirée,” a biopic directed by Henry Kostler with a script by Daniel Taradash was released in San Francisco today. (Editor’s note:  Where else but in the United States would you find two Jews making a moving about the love affair of a French emperor?)


1955(1st of Kislev, 5716): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1958: Birthdate of actress Marg Helgenberger, the Catholic wife of the Jewish actor Alan Rosenberg who was President of the Screen Actors’ Guild. Helgenberger is credited with the following quip: “I'm Catholic, he's Jewish, and it was just easier to elope.”


1959: David Susskind produced “The Waltz of the Toreadors” on “The Play of the Week.”


1959: The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''The Sound of Music'' opened on Broadway. Two Jewish writers created a Broadway (and later cinematic) box office hit about a failed Catholic Nun who married an Austrian nobleman and then escaped the Nazis. Theodore Bikel played the lead role as Baron von Trapp. Many of you remember Bikel for his portrayal of Tevya in “Fiddler on the Roof” and for his numerous recordings of a wide variety of folk music including authentic melodies from Russia and Israel. Bikel was born in Vienna. His family moved to Palestine in the 1930’s to escape the rising tide of European anti-Semitism. So his portrayal of von Trapp struck a responsive personal chord. And all of the action in the played happened while everybody was singing a raft of very memorable tunes. Only in America!


1961: “Summer and Smoke” a film adaptation of the play by the same name produced by Hal Wallis, starring Laurence Harvey with music by Elmer Bernstein was released in the United States today.


1967: Two days after he had passed away, funeral services are scheduled to held for seventy-two year old Lemberg, Austria, native, Harry Salpeter, “an art deal and critic” and the husband of Betty Berkowitz  followed by “burial at Mount Hebron Cemetery.




1965(21stof Cheshvan, 5726): Fifty-year old chess master Albert Charles Simonson who “was part of the American team which won the gold medals at the 1933 Chess Olympiad” passed away today.



1968: “The Legend of Lylah Clare” featuring Milton Selzer as “Bart Langer” was released in the United States today by MGM.


1969: The New York Times features a review of the novel, “Phoenix Over the Galilee” by Ka-tzetnik 134633; translated from the Hebrew by Nina de-Nur. “Ka-tzetnik was the slang used to designate a prisoner in a Nazi death camp.  Ka-tzetnik 135633 was an inmate of Auschwitz.” (As reported by John Reed)



1970: At a board meeting of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim of Montreal Dr. Solomon reported on meeting with Lazarus Phillips and Jack Shacter as the congregation grappled with a financial shortfall.


1972: “Applause,” a musical with a book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and a score by Charles Strouse opened in the West End at Her Majesty's Theatre today and ran for 382 performances with Lauren Bacall in the lead role.


1972: Today “some 200 members of the Israeli Labor Party” broke up the annual general meeting of the International League for Human Right which led to the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights being suspended from the organization in 1973.


1972: “I and Albert” a musical based on the lives of Victoria and Albert by Charles Strouse “debuted in the West End at the Piccadilly Theatre” today.


1977: U.S. premiere of Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of a Third Kind” produced by Julia Phillips co-starring Richard Dreyfus.


1977: In Manhattan, “filmmakers Stephen Gyllenhaal and Naomi Achs” gave birth to “actress and producer” Margalit Ruth "Maggie" Gyllenhaal, “the older sister of actor Jake Gyllenhaal.”


1977: Menachem Begin met with his cabinet to discuss developments since the dramatic announcement in the Egyptian parliament the week before by President Anwar Sadat that he was to speak before the Knesset to achieve peace. General Ephraim Poran, and aide to Begin told Colonel Menachem Milson that he had been chosen to serve as aide-de-camp to Sadat should he actually make the trip to Israel.


1977: Arnold Wesker’s “The Merchant” with Joseph Leon playing Shylock and Marian Seldes as Shylock’s sister opened at New York’s Plymouth Theatre.  Zero Mostel had originally been casted in the role but he passed away before the Broadway production opened.


1978(16thof Cheshvan, 5739): Eighty-year old Yale and New York Medical College trained ophthalmologist Dr. Samuel L. Saltzman who fought for Israel during the 1948 War for Independence and the husband of Rose Salzman with whom he had two children – Suzanne and Jonathan – passed away today.



1978: Jacob Landau delivered the convocation address at Colby College entitled “The State of the First Amendment.”


1980(8thof Kislev, 5741): Eighty-two year old six-time Tony Award winning scenic designer Boris Aronson passed away today.



1980(8thof Kislev, 5741): Sixty-seven year old Philadelphia native and Harvard and U of Pennsylvania alum Morris Pfaelzer, a WW II veteran and California lawyer passed away today.


1982(30th of Cheshvan, 5743) Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1984(21st of Cheshvan, 5745): Seventy-nine year old Croatian Zionist Arnold Kohn, “the longtime President of the Jewish community of Osijek who was the only member of his immediate family to survive Auschwitz passed away today.


1984(21stof Cheshvan, 5745) Sixty-six year old Washington, DC born cellist Leonard Rose passed away today. (As reported by Tim Page)



1985: “My Beautiful Launderette” a comedy starring Daniel Day-Lewis with music by Hans Zimmer was released today in the United Kingdom.


1988: ABC broadcast the third episode of “War and Remembrance,” “an American miniseries based on the novel of the same name written by Herman Wouk”


1996: “Jingle All the Way” a Christmas comedy featuring Laraine Newman and Harvey Korman with music by David Newman premiered today at the Mall of America.


1997: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including The Illustrated History of the Jewish People, edited by Nicholas de Lange and A Director Calls by Wendy Lesser


1999: Martin Indyk was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Israel.


1999: Premiere of “End of Days” directed by Peter Hyams who also served as the cinematographer.


1999: The meeting of the General Assembly Of United Jewish Communities opens today in Atlanta, GA.


2000: It was reported today that during Senator-elect Hillary Clinton’s visit to the Knesset she could hear Palestinian gunman firing into the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilonow.



2001: Ronald Lauder opened the Neue Galerie in New York, an art museum a few blocks away from the Metropolitan Museum, dedicated to art from Germany and Austria from the early 20th century.


2003: The New York Times book section features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or on topics of special Jewish interest including Desire and Delusion: Three Novellas by Arthur Schnitzler, selected and translated by Margret Schaefer


2004: Publication of Robert J. Avrech’s The Hebrew Kid and The Apache Maiden, a paperback novel that tells the story of  Ariel Isaacson, who having migrated westward with his family following the Civil War, is determined to have his Bar Mitzvah, while he also forms a deep friendship with Lozen, an Apache warrior girl.


2005: The Geffen Playhouse, “which was named for donor David Geffen” re-opened today in Los Angeles.


2005: The Jerusalem Post reported that “in a move meant to pave the way for its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), Saudi Arabia cancelled its economic embargo against Israel. Israel is a member of the WTO. Under the bylaws of the WTO charter, no member nation may impose an economic embargo on another member state. As a member of the Arab League, Saudi Arabia participated in a joint embargo on Israel for many years, despite its desire to enter the organization. During 12 years of negotiations with the WTO, the Arab nation had refused to lift its embargo against Israel.” The Director General of the WTO described Saudi Arabia’s decision as being an historic event that will pave the way for Saudi entrance into the trade organization next month.


2005: In “A shy wunderkind, Stephen Feinberg” Eytan Avriel described the business workings of the CEO of Cerberus.



2006: Nathan Cooper auditions for Chair Placement at the 60th annual All-State Music Festival Nathan Cooper of Cedar Rapids Jefferson and a stalwart member of the Cedar Rapids Jewish community, is one of a thousand outstanding high school musicians who have been chosen to participate in this major cultural event at Iowa State University


2006: Ross Posnock appeared at the Columbia University Bookstore for a discussion and signing of his new book, Philip Roth's Rude Truth: The Art of Immaturity


2006: British religious and architectural charities appealed for help saving the country’s struggling synagogues as they marked the 350th anniversary of the resettlement of Jews in England after they were expelled by King Edward I.


2006(25th of Cheshvan, 5767): Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman passed away at the age of 94.(As reported by Holcomb Noble)




2006: National Jewish Book Month begins.


2007(6th of Kislev, 5768): Ninety-six year oldVictor Rabinowitz, “a leftist lawyer whose causes and clients over nearly three-quarters of a century ranged from labor unions to Black Panthers to Cuba to Dashiell Hammett to Dr. Benjamin Spock to his own daughter” passed away today.(As reported by Douglas Martin)



2007: Guest Conductor Roni Porat leads the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra an all-Mozart program, including Abduction from the Seraglio Overture, Symphony No. 35 in D Major (Haffner), Serenade no. 6 in D Major and Serenata Notturna.


2007: After premiering at the Telluride Film Festival, “Margot at the Wedding” written and directed by Noah Baumbach and co-starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jack Black was released today in the United States.


2007: Adi Shamir, a professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and one of the world’s most prominent cryptographers issued a warning about a hypothetical scenario in which a math error in a widely used computing chip places the security of the global electronic commerce system at risk.


2007(16th of Kislev, 5768): Maine native Harold Alfond, philanthropist and Dexter Shoe founder passes away at the age of 93.


2007: It is time for another round of Dueling Jewish Economists. While on a trip to London, Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist said the U.S. economy risks tumbling into recession because of the “mess” left by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Greenspan defended his record and said that Stiglitz’s criticisms are “inaccurate or incomplete.”


2007: The Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign affairs announced that Reb Nachman’s grave in Uman is a cultural site and cannot be sold. The announcement provides comfort to the followers of Breslov Chasidism that the grave site would sold to private parties for commercial exploitation.


2008: Today’s issue of Makor Rishon contains Ya'akov Bar-On's interview with former Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau who recently became Chairman of the Board of Yad Vashem.


2008: The Jewish Reconstructionist (JRF) Biennial Convention comes to a close in Boston, Mass.


2008: Final performance by the Inbal Dance Company of “Shaker.” This collaboration between Inbal Pinto and Avshalam Pollak looks and feels like an eerily beautiful winter day. It is a dance-theater piece rich in poetic imagination, interspersed with unique humor and covered with snowflakes. This magical work is intended to make you feel as though you have entered the enchanted world inside a snow globe.


2008: The 32nd annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show which featured 23 Israeli artists comes to an end.


2008: Congregation Beth Judea’s Family Education Weekend comes to a close in Long Grove, Il.


2008: In Chicago, the Spertus presents a lecture entitled “What Is Literary Archaeology?”


during which Yair Zakovitch, Professor of Bible at the Hebrew University, discusses “how biblical narratives are designed to deliver messages” and explores “how these accounts may reflect only one version of a complex and multifaceted story.” Zakovitch’s most recent book is entitled That’s Not What the Good Book Says written with Avigdor Shinan.


2008: The New York Times book section features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or on topics concerning Jews or Judaism including Friendly Fire: A Duet by A. B. Yehoshua; translated by Stuart Schoffman and Chagall: A Biography by Jackie Wullschlager.


2008(18thof Cheshvan, 5769): The emotional legal battle over whether to keep a 12-year-old New York boy on life support at Children's National Medical Center ended early today after the boy's heart stopped beating, a lawyer for the boy's family said today. Motl Brody, who had been hospitalized in Northwest Washington with brain cancer since June 1, was buried near his Brooklyn home today after a private funeral, said the family's lawyer, Jeffrey I. Zuckerman. Doctors had declared the boy legally dead Nov. 4 after his brain activity ceased. But his parents, who are Orthodox Jews, said their faith does not define death on that basis and had sought an order from D.C. Superior Court to keep him on life-sustaining equipment. Although the boy was kept on a ventilator to maintain his breathing and was given intravenous drugs to keep up his blood pressure, pending a court decision, neither measure proved enough to keep his heart beating."In the end, nature took its course before the judicial system ran its course," Zuckerman said. The Brody family's case echoed highly publicized debates over life support for Terri Schiavo and Karen Ann Quinlan, and the hospital received nearly 200 emails and phone calls within the past week, mostly from New York residents urging officials to keep him alive.


2008: Ami Ayalon announced he would be leaving the Labor Party for the left-wing religious Meimad party


2009: Columbia University's Institute for Israel & Jewish Studies and American Studies Program together with The Library of America present an evening with Meir Shalev Israeli Novelist, Essayist and Columnist who will discuss “The State of Israeli Literature.”


2009: Letters of Conscience: Raphael Lemkin and the Quest to End Genocide opens at Yeshiva University Museum. “This exhibition focuses on the activities and legacy of Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-American Jewish lawyer who coined the term genocide, working relentlessly and inventively to protect the rights and survival of specific groups targeted for destruction. Organized jointly with the American Jewish Historical Society and the Center for Jewish History, this exhibition, which presents a fascinating array of original correspondence and documents, serves as a stirring and important reminder of an individual's ability to better humanity and the future.”


2009: Noralee Frankel discusses and signs Stripping Gypsy: The Life of Gypsy Rose Lee at Busboys and Poets in Washington, D.C.


2009: Journalist Ariel Sabar discusses and signs his memoir, My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq as part of the Schapiro Lecture Series held at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Central Branch, Baltimore, Md.,


2009: After the revival of his play “Brighton Beach Memoirs” closed a week after it opened, Time magazine quotes Neil Simon as saying “After all these years, I still don’t get how Broadway Works.”


2009(29th of Cheshvan, 5770): Sixty-eight year old “Bobby Frankel, one of the most successful American thoroughbred trainers of the last 40 years, whose horses included the champions Bertrando, Ghostzapper and Empire Maker, the winner of the 2003 Belmont Stakes, died today. (As reported by William Grimes)



2009: Excerpts of the diaries kept by Claretta petacci, Benito Mussolini's mistress, were published today that showed the Italian dictator to be "a fierce anti-Semite who proudly said that his hatred for Jews preceded Adolf Hitler's and vowed to 'destroy them all.'"


2010: Dr. Laurie Ann Levin author of God, The Universe: Where I Fit and Rebecca Rosen author of Spirited are scheduled to speak at the 19th Annual Book Festival of the MJCAA in Atlanta, GA


2010: The New York Times featured a review of Cynthia Ozick sixth novel, Foreign Bodies.


2010(9thof Kislev, 5771): Ronni Chasen was murdered today.  Born in 1946 she was called "Hollywood's ultimate old-school publicist"by Los Angeles Times film critic Patrick Goldstein in an article posted about Ms. Chasen's murder.


2010: Montclair philanthropist Josh Weston was named an honorary fellow of the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yafo as part of today’s ceremony dedicating the institution’s Josh and Judy Weston School of Management and Economics Building.


2011: Martin Fletcher, author of “The List” and David Javerbaum, author of “The Last Testament” are scheduled to appear at the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival.


2011: David Amram was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame and given their Jay McShann Lifetime Achievement Award for his sixty year career as one of the first jazz French hornists, a multi-instrumentalist, a pioneer of world music, a scat singer, the creator with author Jack Kerouac of Jazz Poetry in 1957, and one of the first conductors to bring the worlds of jazz and classical music together during the past fifty years.


2011: “Max Schmeling,” a film about the German boxer that includes tales of how he worked to save Jews, is scheduled to be shown at the Jewish Eye World Jewish Film Festival.


2011: The meeting of the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Board of Governors is scheduled to come to an end in Argentina.


2011:Joshua Maroof  the rabbi at Magen David Sephardic Congregation in Rockville, Maryland is scheduled to  give the first in a series of lectures entitled “Ezekiel: Prophet of Majesty, Mystery, and Hope.”


2011:A trio featuring Liza Stepanova – piano; Michael Katz – cello; Balazs Rumy – Clarinet is scheduled to perform this evening at Agudas Achim in Iowa City, Iowa.


2011:Iran today denied press speculation that Israel was behind the explosion at a military base near Tehran which killed 17 members of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).


2011:Thousands of aging Holocaust survivors in the U.S. ¬want Congress to clear a path for them to sue European insurance companies they contend illegally confiscated Jewish life insurance policies during the Nazi era and have refused to pay an estimated $20 billion still owed.


2011: For the fourth time in the past month, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor wrote a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the UN Security Council condemning the continuing rocket fire emanating from the Gaza Strip.


2011(19th of Cheshvan, 5772): Eighty-eight year old “Irwin Schneiderman, a lawyer and a philanthropic leader who guided the New York City Opera through a decade of ups and downs” passed away today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)



2012: Dr. Jenny Carson of the University of Manchester is scheduled to a lecture entitled “Quaker Service: The Friends Relief Service in Post-War Europe” at the Weiner Library in London.  “Friends Relief Service (FRSO ‘Team 100’ was one of the first relief teams to enter the newly liberated “Camp of Bergen Belsen.”


 2012(2nd of Kislev): On the Hebrew calendar in ancient Israel today would be proclaimed as a fast day if the rains had not begun to fall


2012: As Operation Pillar of Defense continues, Israeli officials have placed limitations on those who can attend services at the mosque on the Temple Mount as a pro-active measure to avoid outbreaks of violence. 


2012: Kathe & Gary Goldstein, pillars of the Cedar Rapids Jewish Community celebrate the birth of their second grandchild, the daughter of Chava and Stephen Rosenbaum.


2012: As Jews around the world prepare to observe Shabbat, their hopes and prayers are with their co-religionists in Israel who have been subjected to rockets attacks for several weeks by Hamas which is dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state and have been forced to take military measures to defend themselves.


2012: Councilors selected Michael Mark Applebaum to serve as interim Mayor of Montreal.


2012: “An Iron Dome anti-rocket defense system” was “placed in the Dan region” today.


2012:Two rockets landed outside of Jerusalem this evening as sirens rang out, causing no injuries or damage. Police reported there was "no indication" that rockets landed in the city, stating that "most likely, the rockets landed in an open area outside of Jerusalem."


2012:Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved the IDF's request this evening to increase the maximum number of reservists it could enlist, seeking cabinet approval to mobilize up to 75,000 troops ahead of a possible Gaza ground operation.


2013: In Olney, MD, Shaare Tefila is scheduled to host is annual Chanukah Celebration and Talent Show.


2013: In Herndon, VA, Congregation Beth Emeth hosts an evening with Stacey Beyer, “one of TIME Magazine’s Top 10 Starts of New Jewish Music.


2013: “Arabani” and “Dancing In Jaffa” are scheduled to be shown at the 7thannual Other Israel Film Festival.


2013: Provincial governor Hilario David III visited the the hospital in Bogo where he thanked “Israel for sending the medical team to the Philippines which was hammered by Typhoon Heiyan last week.” (As reported by Tova Dvorin)


2013: Members of the IDF met with Phillipine officials to determine the best way to get aid to the devasted resident of Cebu in the wake Typhoon Heiyan.


2013(13thof Kislev, 5774): Ninety year old Yehiel Kadishai, a confidant and ally of Menachem Begin, passed away today.



2013(13thof Kislev, 5774: Eighty-nine year old Louis D. Rubin, Jr. “a champion of Southern Literature” passed away today.



2014: The New York Times features books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including William Wells Brown: An African American Life by Ezra Greenspan and the recently released paperback edition of The Kraus Project: Essays by Karl Kraus translated and annotated by Jonathan Franzen with Paul Reitter and Daniel Kehlmann.


2014: The Skirball is scheduled to present “The People vs. Abraham” where prosecutor Eliot Spitzer will charge the patriarch defended by Alan Dershowitz with “attempted murder and child endangerment.”


2014: In conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present “Jews and the Berlin Wall.”


2014: Global Day of Jewish Learning, a project of the Aleph Society is scheduled to take place today.



2014: The Beth El Women of Reform Judaism (BE-WRJ) and the Brandeis National Committee Northern Virginia Chapter are scheduled to host an afternoon with Rabbi Roger Herst author of Rabbi Gabrielle’s Scandal, Dr. Stanton Samenow author of Inside the Criminal Mind, Chervis Isom author of The Newspaper Boy, Leslie Maitland author of Crossing the Borders of Timeand Beyhan Cargi author of The Ottoman Turk and the Pretty Jewish Girl.


2014: A thirty-two year old member of the Breslov Hassidic sect was stabbed in the back by an Arab man wielding a screw driver as he walked along a street in Jerusalem this evening.


2014: Israel defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina 3-0 tonight in the UEFA 2016 European Championship qualifying group B soccer match.


2014(23rdof Cheshvan): Sixty-two year old Charley J. Levine, founder and CEO of Lone Star Communications who traded in the Lone Star State for living under the Star of David  passed away today.



2015(4t of Kislev, 5776): Eight-eight year old Seymour Lipkin, whose breakthrough came when at the age of 20, “he won first prize in the Rachmaninoff Fund Piano Contest” passed away today. (As reported by Margalit Fox)



2015: “Labyrinth of Lies” and “To Life!” are scheduled to be shown in Sydney during the Jewish International Film Festival.


2015: “Director Steven Spielberg, Israeli violinist Itzhak Perlman, singer Barbra Streisand, and playwright Stephen Sondheim were among the 17 recipients of the 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom announced” today.


2015: “HAGIGA – The Story of Israeli Cinema” is scheduled to be shown in Los Angeles at the 29th Israel Film Festival.


2015: “Poland’s last Yiddish feature film, Our Children” is scheduled to be shown today as part of the program “First Response: Postwar Cinema and the Holocaust”


2016: The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is scheduled to present “Out of the Ghetto: Struggle, Resistance, and the Human Spirit, The Ringelblum Archive Publication Project” during which “historian Eleonora Bergman(Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw) will discuss the monumental project to publish the entire Oyneg-Shabes Archive, secretly gathered in the Warsaw Ghetto by Emanuel Ringelblum and colleagues.”


2016: The Temple Emanu-El Skirball Center is scheduled to “what Is Israel’s Story Really About?” – a conversation with Dr. Daniel Gordis and Jonathan Greenblatt.


2016” Curator Bonni-Dara Michaels is scheduled to lead a tour Yeshiva University Museum’s newest exhibition – “Uncommon Threads: Clothing and Textiles.”


2016: Historic Congregation Or VeShalom is the scheduled destination for today’s Historic Jewish Atlanta Tours.


2016: “A delegation led by US Air Force Gen. Joseph Lengyel, chief of the National Guard Bureau, is in Israel through this evening to witness latest local developments in emergency responsiveness.


2016: “The world’s earliest-know complete stone inscription of the Ten Commandments, described as a ‘national treasure’ of Israel sold at auction today in Beverly Hills for $850,000.”


2016: Leonard Cohen’s manager, Robert B. Kory “offered more details about his client’s death today saying that he “died during this sleep following a fall in the middle of the night on November 7” and that “the death was sudden, unexpected and peaceful.”


2016: “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “Fever At Dawn” are scheduled to be shown at Melbourne as part of the Jewish International Film Festival.


2016: Neshama Carlbach is scheduled to host a concert in commemoration of the 22nd Yahrzeit of her Father, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, ZT”L featuring the singing of Abbie Strauss.


2017: “When a delegation of Reform movement leaders tried to hold a Torah-reading service” at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, “Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism was roughed up by security guard, one of whom threated to spray him with mace” and “Anat Hoffman, chairwoman of Women of the Wall, the feminist prayer group, was accosted by an ultra-Orthodox man, who tried to pull a Torah scroll out of her hands” “while “Rabbi Gilad Kariv, executive director of the Reform movement in Israel, was detained for questioning by police…” (As reported by Forwards and Haaretz)


2017: “Leeann Tweeden, a Los Angeles-based news anchor and former model, wrote today in an article that Al Franken, a Democrat who has served as a senator for Minnesota since 2009, groped her during a tour in the Middle East in 2006 when Franken was a comedian and a writer


2017: The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host an “in-depth text-based Gemara learning” session today “before the weekday meal.”


2017: Ashe Salah is scheduled to lecture on the 18th century travels of two Jews who left the Roman Ghetto – Amadio Abbina and Sabato Isacco Ambron at the Center for Jewish History.


2017: “Remember Baghdad” and “My Mother’s Lost Children” are scheduled to be shown at the 21st UK International Jewish Film Festival today.


2017: After the resounding success of last season’s concerts, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble is scheduled to come back to Temple Emanu-El in New York this evening.


2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate the lives of Jewish authors such as Chaim Potok, whose works included The Chosen and My Name is Asher Lev,  and Jewish books for the next thirty days is scheduled to continue for a fifth day.


2018: The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host a Shabbat Dinner following Kabbalat Shabbat services.


2018: In Des Moines, IA, author Dori Weinstein is scheduled to deliver “the dvar Torah about being an author at Tirfereth Israel” followed by a community dinner.


2018: The Gershman Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to host a screening of “The Waldheim Waltz.”


 


 

This Day, November 17, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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November 17



9CE:  Birthdate of Titus Flavius Vespasianus, better known as Vespasian, who as a Roman General and then Emperor put down the Judean Revolt which included the destruction of the Second Temple.



284: Diocletian is proclaimed emperor by his soldiers. “According to Jewish tradition, in his youth Diocletian had been a swineherd and when he went past the Beis Midrash the children would beat him.” After he became Emperor, Diocletian spent time in Tiberias where enemies of the Jewish people said they disrespectfully referred to him as ‘the swineherd.’ Angered by the charges, the emperor demanded that Jewish leaders come to Tiberias and answer for their slanderous remarks.  The rabbis conceded that they had acted badly towards Diocletian the swineherd but they had never been disrespectful towards Diocletian, the emperor.  The Emperor accepted their argument and apology.  Based on this experience the Jerusalem Talmud cautions Jews against treating any Roman disrespectfully, no matter how low his station in life, since one never knew how high he might rise. In an attempt to bring unity to the empire, Diocletian ordered all of his subjects to accept his divinity and to offer sacrifices to his cult. Fortunately, he exempted his Jewish subjects from this decree.  Diocletian’s reign was a comparatively favorable period for the Jewish people especially when one remembers the fate they would suffer in the next century at the hands of Constantine and his successors.



331: Birthdate of Emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus. Known by some as Julian the Apostate, Julian reigned from 361 until his death in 363.  Ironically, he was the nephew of Constantine the Great, the man who made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire. For some unknown reason, Julian repealed many of the harsh laws that had been promulgated against the Jews by his predecessors.  While Julian believed that his paganism was superior to Judaism, he felt that the Jews had suffered unnecessarily at the hands of Rome for the last four centuries and he sought to redress the imbalance.  Julian announced plans to rebuild the Temple and Jerusalem.  He ordered the local Roman officials to help with the project.  Jews returned from as far away as Persia and even built a small synagogue near the Temple Mount in anticipation of this monumental project.  Unfortunately, Julian died while on a military campaign before work could begin.  Rumor had that he had been killed by a Christian Arab in the pay of those who disliked his support of the Jews.  This brief window of hope closed and the Christian Religion joined hands with the power of the Roman state to embitter the lives of the Jews.  



473: The future Zeno I is named associate emperor by Emperor Leo I. Leo was the Byzantine Emperor from 457 until 474. Leo was determined to wed the power of the Empire to the Christian Church. In 468 Leo issued a decree banning everyone but Christians from practicing law. Jews were persecuted with combinations of imperial decrees and church canon. Leo, in his desire to outlaw Judaism and force Christianity upon Jewish people, declared in Constitution LV (55) of the Constitutions of Leo, "Therefore We, desiring to accomplish what Our Father failed to effect, do hereby annul all the old laws enacted with reference to the Hebrews, and We order that they shall not dare to live in any other manner than in accordance with the rules established by the pure and salutary Christian Faith. And if anyone of them should be proved to, have neglected to observe the ceremonies of the Christian religion, and to have returned to his former practices, he shall pay the penalty prescribed by the law for apostates." Leo's Constitution became part of the Justinian's Civil Law. Now Jews had to pretend they were Christians and observe Christian ceremonies. The penalties that could be inflicted on Jews included loss of real estate and/or personal possessions, loss of testamentary rights, exile and, in some case, loss of life.



1278:Edward I of England arrested all the Jews for alleged coin clipping and counterfeiting. 680 were arrested, jailed and put on trial. The judges were given prior instructions clearly biased against the Jews. Although many Christians were accused, many more (ten times as many) Jews were hanged than Christians (269 Jews and 29 Christians). Edward received 16,500 pounds from the property of the executed Jews and the fines of those charged. At that time Jews comprised 1% of the English population. 16,500 pounds was almost 10% of the exchequer's national income.
1278: “Among the Jews arrested today were Benedict fil’ Licoricia, a prominent Jew of Winchester, and the affluent woman financier Belaset of Lincoln whose house is still standing in Steep Hill.”
1333 Ibn Batuta, the Arab traveler, visits Jewish communities in India
1494: Thirty-one year old Pico De Mirandola, Count Giovanni Frederico, a student of the Kabbalah and one of the first Italian nobles to collect Hebrew books and who translated the Hokamt ha-Nefesh into Latin passed away today.


1494: Thirty-one year old Italian Renaissance philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola who “was convinced that the literature of Kabbalah was the true transcript of what Moses heard at Sinai , that Christianity and Judaism were one with Kabbalah as the point of connection and that the differences between Judaism and Christianity were superficial” passed away today in Florence.


1558: The Protestant monarch Elizabeth I assumed the throne of England following the death of her Catholic half-sister known to history as “Bloody Mary.” During her reign the Jewish community was limited to small groups of Marranos living in London and Bristol.  Jews did play a part in the realm foreign affairs. “Don Solomon Aben-Jaish, an adviser to the Sultan of Turkey established ties with Lord Burleigh, one of Elizabeth’s closest advisors.  The two men were and their two countries were drawn together by their common foe, Philip II, the Catholic King of Spain. In 1588 England faced the threat of the Spanish Armada. A Morrano, Dr. Hector Nunes provided the English with invaluable intelligence on the progress of the Armada as it sailed north towards England.  This information enabled Drake and the other English Sea Dogs to position their ships to best advantage.  On a more negative note, Dr. Roderigo Lopez, who served as one of Elizabeth’s physicians, was accused of plotting to poison the monarch. Lopez was caught in political contest between two of Elizabeth’s advisors – The Earl of Essex and Sir Robert Cecil.  Essex provided evidence of Lopez’s guilt;   Cecil proclaimed his innocence.  Given the tenor of the times, and the numerous plots on her life, Elizabeth had the unfortunate doctor executed.  His ordeal provided the impetus for Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Maltaand William Shakespeare’s TheMerchant of Venice featuring the famous Shylock.
1720(10th of Cheshvan): Rabbi Jehiel Michel Teimer, author of Seder Gittin passed away today
1755: Birthdate of King Louis XVIII of France. Following the defeat of Napoleon, Louis was restored as the Bourbon King of France.  As such, he is seen as a figure of reaction seeking to undo the legacy of the French Revolution, including the rights gained by the Jews of France.  The facts speak otherwise.  As Napoleon became more and more an Emperor and less and less of a Republican he chipped away at the rights of the Jews.  Under the Infamous Decrees of 1808, Napoleon placed severe restrictions on Jewish businessmen.  These decrees remained in effect until 1818, when the restored Louis refused to renew them.


1757: Bishop Dembowski's violent death that led to a reversal of fortune in conflict between the Frankist and Talmudists in Poland.  Persecution of the Talmudists immediately came to an end. The Frankist found themselves declared outlaws subject to persecution and imprisonment.  


1800: In Paris,Beer Léon Fould, a successful Jewish banker, and his wife gave birth to Achille Fould, French financier and statesmen who was a close advisor to Louis Napoleon and the grandson of wine merchant Jacob Bernard Fould.


1805: The wife of Ephraim Mosely, with whom she had three children, was buried today in the UK.


1814: One day after he had passed away, 57 year old Lyon Levy was buried today at the Brady Street Jewish Cemetery.


1819: Louis Samuel married Henrietta Israel at the Hambro Synagogue.


1822: Löbl Strakosch and Julia Schwarz gave birth to their second child and second son, Israel.


1823: Löbl Strakosch and Julia Schwarz gave birth to their third child and first daughter, Rachel


1830: Barnett Boam married Fanny Phillips today at the Great Synagogue.


1846: A welfare society, the Chevra Mevaker Cholim, was organized today in Montgomery, Alabama by 12 German Jewish immigrants including Emanuel *Lehman, uncle of Herbert H. *Lehman. The society conducted services, purchased a cemetery, and on June 3, 1849, with 30 members transformed itself into Congregation Kahl Montgomery. The mobility of immigrant Jews and the tentativeness of their settlement is indicated by the constitutional provision of Kahl Montgomery that "four members shall be sufficient to continue the Society, but should there be only three members, the Society shall be dissolved." The congregation is now called Temple Beth Or, and its first building, built in 1862 with seed money from Judah Touro, is the oldest synagogue building in the state. It now houses a church.


1852: In New York City, the members of the German Hebrew Benevolent Society celebrated the organizations 9th anniversary with a dinner in the City Assembly Rooms.  From September 1, 1851 to September 1, 1852 the society had raised $2,325.50 and spent $2,148.52 in meeting the needs of the poor and the indigent.


1853: The Five Academies comprising the Institute of France held their annual meeting today.  Among the presenters was M. Holely of the Academy of Fine Arts, composer of the "Wandering Jew" who read "an interminable discourse on Frohberger, a German organist whom no one ever heard of, and whom the writer himself acknowledged was snuffed out by Handel.


1856: Founding of the Bradford Festival Choral Society whose conductors would include Sir Frederic Hymen Cowen


1858: The New York Times reported that the Pope is back in Rome, “safer than ever…since he assumed the Triple Crown.”  The Pope “is disgusted with political reform but deeply interested in infant Jews.”  By infant Jews, the reporter was referring to the Morata Affair, which involved the kidnapping of a Jewish child who was secretly baptized by a maid and turned over to the Catholic Church for safe-keeping.


1859: Birthdate of Bruno Borchardt the native of Bromberg and physicist who turned to a career in journalism after being forced to give up his teaching position because of his political beliefs.


1862(24thof Cheshvan, 5623): Seventy-eight year old Gotthold Salomon the German Jewish rabbi who continued with the work pioneered by Moses Mendelssohn which led him to be the first Jew to translate the TaNaCh into High German.


1869: The Suez Canal opens creating a direct water route from Europe to the Orient. The canal is controlled by the French with the Egyptians as minority stockholders British imperialists wanted control of the canal since it was the gateway to India, the pride of the Empire. In 1875 Benjamin Disraeli bought the Egyptians shares using money borrowed from the Rothschilds. Protecting the Canal was the primary goal of British policy in the East from that day until the middle of the twentieth century.  The British wanted the mandate over Palestine to protect the East Bank of the Canal. Hence their willingness to betray the promises of the Balfour Declaration because they saw Arab violence as being a threat to English control of the waterway to Inida.  The British gave up the Mandate in 1947 which resulted in the creation of Israel because India was gaining its independence.  The Suez Crisis of 1956, which led to the Six Day War in 1967 which has led today’s stalemate, was triggered by British vestigial feelings for the Canal. 


1871: It was reported today that the Jewish Messenger approves of the recent defeat of the Tammany Machine in local city elections.  The Messenger gives credit to the New York Times for informing the public about the great abuses and agrees with the Times that this was not a victory of party but of principle.


1871: It was reported today that the Jewish Messenger does not think that appealing to the Russian government for a redress of the conditions of the Jews of Russia will do much to improve conditions. The primary source of misery comes from “petty sources” that no government can control in such a vast expanse as Czarist Russia. [To most of us, this view Jewish life in Russia, is unique]


1871: In Mako, Rabbi Enoch Fischer and his wife gave birth to Emil Maki the Hungarian poet who also wrote “a Biblical drama” entitled “Absalom.”



1872: Charles August Lauff, the German native and California businessman, and his wife, Maris J. Sebran, the daughter of Gregorio and Ramono Briones, gave birth to George Lauff.


1874: Birthdate of Samuel Platt, the native of Carson City, Nevada who graduated from Stanford University who became one of the state’s leading lawyers and Republican Party leaders who was also active in B’nai B’rith.



1877: Gilbert and Sullivan’s two act comic opera “The Sorcerer” for which Giulia Warwick (born Julia Ehrenberg) “created the role of Constance” opened in London today.


1878: Eighty-five year old Betsy Jonas was buried today at Exeter Jewish Cemetery.


1878: “Ancient and Modern Gymnastics” published today commented on the recently published findings of Dr. Schaible in which he traces the history of physical training among various ancient people.  According to Schaible, “the Jews ‘paid but little attention to exercises for the body.’ If this were true, it would that the nation which possesses the most inexhaustible vitality” (the Jews) “ is that which has taken the least trouble about training.” The article challenges Schaible’s view of Jewish physicality.  Not only does the Bible contain numerous accounts of a people who were physically strong enough to win and hold their lands by the swords.  But in modern times, the number of successful Jewish boxers in the UK would tend to refute his contentions.


1878:“The Jews and the Keys of Jerusalem” published today described two unusual customs practiced by the Jews living under Ottoman rule in Palestine The first concerns “small squares of brass-foil stamped with the Hebrew words meaning visiting the sick.”  Nobody is sure of the origin of this unsanctioned (by the Turkish government) coinage but it is used for commercial among the Jews in the local bazaars. The other custom has to do with acquiring the great keys to Jerusalem when each Sultan passes away.  After a mysterious religious ritual, the Jews return the keys to authorities for used by the incoming Sultan.  The local Turkish authorities see it as harmless activity that enriches them since the Jews have to pay a bribe to get the keys.


1879: “Hearts of Oak” a play co-authored by David Belasco opened at Hamlin’s Theatre today in Chicago, Illinois.


1881: Julius J. Frank delivered a lecture entitled “The Jew” Has he Still a Mission” at a meeting sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association.


1882: Birthdate of Rakel Glick, the Norwegian factory owner who was arrested in Trondheim and shipped to Auschwitz where he was murdered.


1884: “A Good Old Philanthropist” published today provides a detailed review of Sir Moses Montefiore: A Centennial Biography by Lucien Wolf


1884: Plans for an upcoming fund raiser to be held at the Thalia Theatre “for the benefit of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society” were published today.


1884: It was reported today that Mount Sinai Hospital currently has 168 patients.  The hospital has a capacity to serve 185 patients and serves them regardless of race, creed or financial condition.  The hospital has a fund of $175,000 and owes no money on its building or furnishings.


1885: “Hebrews in Convention” published today described events at a conclave of 35 Reform rabbis at which Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler presented his plans for changing the practice of Judaism in the United States.  Among them is the rejection of the traditional belief that all Jews are going back to Palestine and the elimination of reading those sections of the Scriptures “which referred to certain subjects not fit to be read in public or placed in the hands of children.”  He also “denounced the rite of circumcision as a relic of barbarism.” (As can be seen from Kohler’s proposals, the rift between Reform and Jewish traditionalists was about a lot more than just serving shell food at a banquet in Cincinnati)


1887(1stof Kislev, 5648): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1887: “Dancing for Charity’s Sake” published today provided a full description of the 9th annual charity ball held by the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum. The event opened at ten o’clock when President and Mrs. Ernst Nathan and Vice President Samuel Goldstein and his daughter Sara led the promenade. Mayor Whitney and Mayor-elect Chapin attended the event which raised $6,000.


1889: “Modern English Jews” published today traces the history the Jewish community in the British Isles from its earliest days until the end of the present time when Sir Henry Isaacs is about to be named Lord Mayor of London.


1891(16thof Cheshvan, 5652): Fifty-seven year old author and teacher Jacob Egers who “was for more than twenty years a master at the Training-School for Teachers in Berlin” passed away today.


1892: “Indignant Russian Hebrews” published today described the anger friends of the late Louis Krabitz expressed when Israel Ronginsky was released following a coroner’s inquest. Both men were Jewish immigrants from Russia who worked as peddlers.


1893: Having lost their courtroom battle with landlord Alexander Grant, 33 Russian Jewish families were reported today to have three days to move out of their tenements and find other housing.


1895: At Temple Emanu-El, Rabbi Gustav Gottheil “began a series of sermons on ‘Womanhood’ the first of which was entitled ‘The Birthday of a Great Woman.’”


1895: “The Charity of the Jews” published today described Rabbi Joseph Silverman’s view on the generosity of his co-religionist which included his view “that Israel was always noted for her charity, and, in fact was the first nation to make public charity and benevolence prevalent among its people so that a landed aristocracy could hold no footing in the nation.”


1895: It was reported today that Temple Emanu-El’s Joseph Silverman has “paid tribute to the liberal spirit of the Emperor of Austria for his firm stand against the anti-Semitic fanaticism that recently broke out in Vienna.”


1895: “Queer Marriage Customs” published today described marital rituals in ancient times and non-European societies including “Talmudic prohibitions” requiring “that the male must not be under fourteen years and a day and the female under thirteen years and a day.” During the Middle Ages the Jewish wedding banquet featured “a dressed hen and a raw egg” which “were placed before the bride as a way of urging her to be prolific when it came to children.


1896: Mrs. Sophie C. Axman of Kansas City delivered a lecture on “Child Life” at the Convention of the National Council of Jewish Women which is now in its third day.


1896: Birthdate of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky


1897: The Emigration Committee of the Board of Guardians met in London this afternoon


1898: Dr. Dillingham, the assistant Sanitary Inspector of the Health Department was reported today to have said that the two cases of measles and three cases of scarlatina have been taken care of and there is no public health problem at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.


1900: In Manhattan, “Israel Silberkleit and Julia Wink” who came to the United States in 1885 and were wed in 1888 gave birth to their youngest child Louis Horace Silberkleit, “the co-founder of Archie Comics.”




1901:  Birthdate of director Lee Strassberg. Born Israel Strassberg in Budzanow, Poland, he was the son of a provincial innkeeper. At the age of 7, he immigrated with his family to the United States, where his father worked in the garment industry. Growing up on the Lower East Side, he attended the theater whenever possible and joined the Chrystie Street Settlement's drama group as an actor. It was at that time that he changed his name to I. Lee Strasberg, subsquently dropping the initial. He worked as a wigmaker; studied improvisational acting techniques with Richard Boleslavsky, a student of Stanislavsky, and began working as an actor. He pioneered the technique of "method acting" and taught many famous actors and actresses how to behave on stage and in front of a camera.  In later life he gave a memorable performance as the Myer Lansky like character in Godfather II.


1902: Birthdate Laurette Eugen Wigner. Wigner was a Hungarian-born American physicist who was the joint winner of the 1963 Nobel Prize for Physics (with Maria Goeppert Mayer and Johannes Hans Jensen) for his insight into quantum mechanics, for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles. He made many contributions to nuclear physics and played a prominent role in the development of the atomic bomb and nuclear energy.


1904: Abraham Fisher Sergie, the husband of Fanny Mann with whom he had six children and the son-in-law of Bernard Mann and Sophia Berman was buried today at the “Belfast Jewish Cemetery in Northern, Ireland.”


1904: Birthdate of Dallas native and Missouri trained lawyer Irving Fane who was the attorney for the Sport’s Authority in Kansas City.


1905:  Today, on the same day that the government presented revolutionaries with a new constitution “a rumor was spread that orders had been given to attack the Jews, followed by an attack abated by soldiers and Cossacks during which the mob smashed windows, broke down doors, broke locks, put booty in their pockets and “grievously” beat men, women and children while shouting “Money, gave us your money.”


1905: Two weeks of massacres began in Zhitomir, Ukraine.


1905: As of today, $302, 678.39 has been collected to help the suffering Jews of Russia and has been sent to Baron Gunsberg in St. Petersburg.


1905: Jacob Schiff, the Treasurer of the Nation Relief committee to raise funds for the sufferers by the Massacres in Russia received a cablegram from Lord Rothschild in London which states in part “Russian catastrophe, according to details from Russia today, far greater than expected; outrages and whole robber and incendiarism in eighty-four town, so relief fund has huge take to grapple with.”


1905: It was decided today to form a National Self-Defense Association of Jews in Russia which will necessitate sending “delegates to the Czar’s dominions.”


1905: Meetings were held tonight at Ottawa and Montreal which were attended by several members of the Dominion Parliament to protest the attacks on the Jews of Russia and to raise money for their relief.


1906: Birthdate of Mischa Ounskowsky, the native of St. Petersburg who gained fame as American actor Mischa Auer.


1907: Lord Lionel Rothschild has tentatively agreed to send two of his motorboats to the United States to take place in a series of race scheduled to take place during 1908.


1909: Birthdate of Alter Mojze Goldmana Polish Jew who was active in the French Résistance during World War II


1909(4th of Kislev, 5670): Rabbi Nissim Moche Amon, President of the Constantinople Bet Din (religious court) passed away at the age 72.


1911: “Christian and Jewish lawyers refuse to appear in any future cases” which are to be heard by a magistrate in Sanok Galicia who is known for his anti-Jewish outbursts.


1911: In Great Britain, the King followed the recommendation of the Home Secretary and appointed Londoner Israel A. Symmons as a metropolitan Police Magistrate.


1911(26thof Cheshvan, 5672): Eighty-five year old Jacob Aaarons passed away today after which he was buried at the Plashed Jewish Cemetery in London.


1911: Celebration of the 70th anniversary of the London Jewish Chronicle.


1911: Joseph Weinberg, the father of “billionaire businessman Harry Weinberg” “came to Baltimore” from Galicia today “on the S.S. Breslau” after which he sent for his wife Sarah and their four children who “arrived in August, 1912 aboard the S.S. Koln.”



1911: The Jewish Community of Sydney, Australia, expressed their support for a “movement among the city’s largest to close all workshops and business houses on Saturdays.”


1911: In New York City, vaudeville monologist and movie character actor Julius Tannen and his wife gave birth to actor William Tannen best known for his long-running supporting role in television western “Wyatt Earp.”



1912(7thof Kislev, 5673): Henry Thalsheimer, the New Orleans merchant who in 1908 built a new dry goods store at a cost of “about $12,000” passed away today in the Crescent City.


1912: In Chicago, dedication of the Marks Nathan Jewish Orphan Home.


1912: In Pueblo, CO, “Samuel Cohen and the former Dora Inger” gave birth to Rosie Cohen who gained fame as actress and performer Connie Sawyer.  (As reported by Sam Roberts)



1913:  Amidst a controversy over using Hebrew as a language of instruction in the schools in Palestine, the German Counsel in Haifa warned Berlin that use of Hebrew would heighten Arab suspicions about Jewish intentions while exacerbating inter-communal conflicts among the Jews.


1914: American Jewish relief agencies sent “twenty cases of clothing to Belgian Jewish refugees in England” after they sent another forty cases “to the Jews of Galicia.


1915: The Turkish Embassy in Washington, DC made an announcement today, that “in an effort to draw within their border Jews no in territory ceded away by the Ottoman Empire as a result of the last Balkan war, the Turks have decided to grant the same benefits and exemptions” to the Jews which “heretofore were accorded only to Mohammedans.”


1915: Today “omitting any references to the failure and insuffiency of supplies, the military censor willingly permitted the Zemlya” to explain “the Russian reverses” by writing “If it were not for the Jews the war with Germany would not have been accompanied by the unpleasant features which contributed so strongly to the success of the enemy.


1916:Ater “rejoining his battalion in France in March 1916 and taking part in the fighting at Pozières, today Australian Leonard Keysor was transferred to the 42ndBattalion


1916: General Sir Ian Standish Hamilton, the commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force during the Gallipoli Campaign wrote to Jabotinsky today from his home at 1 Hyde Park Gardens” about the Zion Mule Corps saying  that ‘The men have done extremely well, working their mules calmly under heavy shell and rifle fire, and thus showing  a more difficult type of bravery than the men who were constantly in the trenches and had the excitement of combat to keep them going’ (Jewish Virtual Library)


1916: Birthdate of author and Civil War historian Shelby Foote.  Foote grew up in Greenville, Mississippi.  His maternal grandfather was a Viennese Jew who immigrated to the United States and settled in Mississippi.  According to an interview found in Confederates in the Attic, Foote’s mother took him to Saturday services in Greenville until he was eleven years old.  Foote did not say why she stopped taking him. However he did say that he did not experience any anti-Semitism while growing up in Greenville. He soon found out that the rest of the world was not as accepting. As a student at UNC in Chapel Hill, Foote was blackballed from a fraternity being pledged by his friends because of his religion. As Foote said in an interview, “’I knew all the trouble I’d have down the line,’ he said of his Jewish heritage.  “I was always not wanting to take on that kind of trouble.   It just added one more problem, an added awkwardness to life.’” So, while in his twenties, Foote was Baptized and confirmed as an Episcopalian. Foote passed away in 2005.


1916: “Dr. Judah L. Magnes made public in statement issued” tonight "an idea, the details of which have not yet been worked out…which contemplates a gigantic loan, the largest in the world’s history and without interest, to the Jews of Europe” that will help them to “rehabilitate themselves and their devastated lands at the end of the European War.”


1916: Until today, “the hostility of the authorities against the Jews” particularly in Poland “found expression in well-known laws and in uninterrupted persecutions and oppressions of the Jewish community as well as in the fact that a religious body to which 14 per cent of the population of Poland belongs was deprived of all uniform organizations.”


1916: The Jews of Poland received a “grant of new rights” under which “the members of the Jewish religion will be permitted to reorganize as a religious body” and a “guarantee is given that no religious tendency can be suppressed by the majority of the population.”


1916: German General von Besseler, the Governor General at Warsaw made public today an ordinance that “provides for the creation of an organization of the heretofore unorganized and unrecognized Jewish religious communities”


1917(2ndof Kislev, 5678): Parashat Tolodot


1917: Rabbi Tobias Schanfarber is scheduled to lead Saturday morning services at K.A.M. Temple in Chicago.


1917: Rabbi Julius Rappaport is scheduled to lead services at Beth El Temple in Chicago.’


1917: The Russian Civil War which pitted the Whites against the Reds – which would come to mean the Red Army led by Leon Trotsky – began today.


1917: It was reported today that New York Samuel A. Lewisohn, the son of Adolph Lewisohn is engaged to Margaret V. Seligman, the daughter of the late Isaac N. Seligman.


1917: It was reported today that that Isaac B. Bergson has replaced Herbert S. Goldstein as the director of activities for the Central Jewish Institute in New York.


1917: In Munich, Major Franz Carl Andres “in an address delivered under Zionist auspices and sanctioned by the imperial (the Kaiser) authorities intimated that Germany will support Zionist aims in Palestine. (Note – this speech comes two weeks after the issuance of the Balfour Declaration and would seem to be a bid by the Germans to hold on to Jewish support)


1917: During World War I, General Allenby’s forces entered the Hills of Jerusalem.  The German General on whom the Turks were depending left Jerusalem and headed for Nablus.  He had no intention of fighting by the side of his Ottoman compatriots as the Allies made their way towards the City of David.


1917: “The battle of Nebi Samwil which was the first attempt by the forces of the British Empire to capture Jerusalem” began today.


1917: Birthdate of Helen Gavronsky the  Germiston, South Africa native who would gain fame as activist and Nobel Prize Winner Helen Suzman


1917: In Brookline, MA, Rose and Myron Helpern gave birth to David Moses Halpern, “the business side of the husband-and-wife apparel design team known as Joan & David…” (As reported by Paul Vitello)


1918(13th of Kislev, 5679): Captain Joseph B. Greenhut passed away today in Peoria, Illinois.  Born at Bishop-Purnitz, Austria, in 1843, lived in Mobile, Alabama before moving to North prior to the Civil War.  He was the second man in Chicago to respond to President Lincoln’s call for volunteers.  As a Sargeant in the 12th Illinois Infantry he fought at Fort Donelson where he was wounded and then promoted to the rank of Captain.  His fought in most of the major battles of the war including Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain and the Battle Above the Clouds.   His valor earned him the brevet rank of Colonel.  He served on the state of Edward S. Salomon, one of the Jewish soldiers to reach the rank of General in the Union Army.  After leaving the Army, Greenhut settled in Peoria where he was a successful businessman for over thirty years. His membership in the Grand Army of the Republic and the B’nai Brith bespeak his pride in being an American and a Jew.


1918: Rabbi Hyman Gerson Enelow delivered a sermon today “at the temple of the Liberal Union of Paris” entitled “The War and the Future of Religion.”


1918: In New York City Nathan M. and Sara (Damsky) Landsman gave birth to Ivy League (Dartmouth BA, Harvard MA) educated businessman Herbert Samuel who began his career with “Wm. Filene’s Sons Company in Boston and who married Madeline Rollman Stricker after his first wife Claire Zimmerman passed away.



1919: Birthdate of composer and arranger Hershy Kay.


1920: A fund raising drive sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Louisville, KY is scheduled to continue for a second day.


1921: Winston Churchill demands that Sir Herbert Samuel, the High Commissioner, move forcefully to collect the fines from Arab rioters who had attacked Jews and destroyed their property in Jaffa.


1922: Birthdate of Stuart Schulberg, the son of producer and studio executive B.P. Schulberg and younger brother of novelist/screenwriter Budd Schulberg,


1922: Sarah (Apfel) Berlinger, the wife of Moses Berlinger with whom she had two children, was buried today at the Plashet Jewish Cemetery in London.


1924: Release date for a Rudolph Valentino melodrama “A Sainted Devil produced by Jesse Lasky and Adolph Zukor.


1927: Birthdate of Stanley Cohen, “an American biochemist who shared the 1986 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his researches on epidermal growth factor (EGF), a substance produced in the body that influences the development of skin tissues. With the nerve growth factor (NGF) studied by Levi-Montalcini, these were the first of many growth-regulating signal substances to be discovered and characterized. The discovery of NGF and EGF opened new fields of widespread importance to basic science and increased understanding of many disease states such as developmental malformations, degenerative changes in senile dementia, delayed wound healing and tumor diseases.”


1927: In Boston, the Boston Symphony Orchestra is scheduled to perform Alexander Tansman's Symphony no. 2 in A minor which will mark its first performance in the United States.


1928: Dr. Zemach Feldstein, the Director of the Hebrew Gymnasium of Kovno was among the speakers who addressed the opening meeting of the first national convention of the Federation of Lithuanian Jews in America that opened tonight at the Mecca Temple in New York City.


1930: University of Pennsylvania trained legal scholar Philip Amram, the son of David Werner Amram, and his wife gave birth to acclaimed composer David Amram III, one of the most eclectic, versatile, and unpredictable American musicians of the 20th–21st centuries, who has given equal attention throughout his life thus far to contemporary classical art music, ethnic folk music, film and theater music, and jazz. The Boston Globe has saluted him as "the Renaissance man of American music," and The New York Times noted that he was "multicultural before multiculturalism existed." Yet Amram's so-called multiculturalism has not been political—"correct" or otherwise—but rather a function of his genuine interest in a variety of musical traditions and practices. "Music is one world," he has declared. Amram was born in Philadelphia, but he spent his childhood on the family farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where the family moved shortly before his seventh birthday. His father had been a farmer before becoming a lawyer, and—like David Amram to this day—he continued to farm in addition to his professional pursuits. Since there was little Jewish population in that farming region, young David grew up without the benefit of a Jewish community, but his grandfather (David Werner Amram, for whom he was named), who had been active in early American Zionist circles and had spent considerable time on a kibbutz in Palestine, taught him basic Hebrew; and his father conducted Sabbath services in their home. His father also introduced him to recordings of cantorial music and to his own amateur piano renditions of European classical pieces. His uncle was a devotee of jazz, introducing David to recordings of such artists as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong—and then taking him to hear some of those performers in person. Those three traditions—jazz, classical, and Jewish liturgical music—were thus somehow interrelated for him from childhood, in terms of both emotional and improvisational aspects.


1930: “Sweet and Low,” a musical revue produced by Billy Rose whose stars included George Jessel and Fanny Brice opened on Broadway at Chanin’s 46thStreet Theatre.


1931: Montefiore Kahn, vice president of Oil Shares, Inc., is scheduled to make a court appearance today related to the theft of $100,000.


1931: “Kameradschaft” a German made film with social protest overtones co-starring Jewish actor Alexander Granach premiered in Germany today.


1933: “The Right to Romance” written by Sidney Buchman was released today by RKO in the United States.


1936: In Budapest, Hungary, “anti-Semitic student demonstrations at the University of Budapest which had ceased during the visit of the Italian Foreign Minister were resumed today.”


1937: As the Arab terrorist war against the Jews of Palestine continued,The Palestine Post reported that 45 Jews were arrested under the new emergency regulations. The Jewish Agency stated, in reference to the revolting murder of five Jewish pioneers at Ma’aleh Hahamisha, and an apparent dissidents’ retaliation during which six Arabs were killed in Jerusalem, that it would oppose to the utmost any attempts at revenge on innocent persons. The agency was confident that all responsible Jewish bodies would stamp out dissidents from their midst. British troops killed three Arab terrorists in Galilee.


1938: U.S. premiere of “The Cowboy and the Lady” a western comedy produced by Samuel Goldwyn with a script by S.N. Behrman and music by Alfred Newman.


1938: Birthdate of Peter Kassovitz, the native of Budapest who left Hungary during the 1956 Revolution and whose directorial credits include one of the most unique Holocaust movies – Jakob the Liar.


1938: Mussolini adopted an Italian anti-Semitic Code patterned after the German Nuremberg Laws.  Was Mussolini an anti-Semite?  This is the subject of The Contract: Mussolini, the Publisher of Hitler by Giorgio Fabrre, recently released in English translation and reviewed by the New York Times on November 7.  This book explores the murky relationship between the two fascist dictators including the fact that Mussolini paid an exorbitant sum for the rights to publish Mein Kampf in Italy.  Apparently the money was really a secret campaign contribution from Mussolini to Hitler.  Prior to the enactment of this code, Mussolini had already moved against the Jews of Italy including his former mistress who was Jewish. The most immediate impact of the code was to force many Jews out of Mussolini’s Fascist Party.  This controversial book has forced many Italians to re-examine this dark chapter in their history.


1938: Sheik Abdul Rahman el Khatib was shot and seriously wounded while walking on a street here this morning. There is little hope for his recovery. His Arab assailant escaped.


1938: As Arab violence continues for a second straight year, “A Jew was fatally shot this morning by an Arab near Sharona, a Christian German colony near Tel Aviv.”


1938: Ernst von Rath whose murder by Herschel Grynszpan was the excuse for Kristallnacht, “was given a state funeral in Düsseldorf, which was attended by Hitler and Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop who in his funeral oration described the shooting as an attack by the Jews on the German people.”


1939: Nazis destroy all of the synagogues in Lódz, Poland.


1939: Abraham Kaplan, the author of Conduct of Inquiry, married child psychologist Iona Judith Wax; a union which produced two children -- Karen Eva Kaplan Diskin and Jessica Aryia Kaplan Symonds.


1939: Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's "Very Warm for May," premieres in New York City.


1939(5th of Kislev, 5700): Boruch Ber Leibowitz passed away.  Born at Slutsk (Belarus) in 1864, he was Talmudic prodigy who studied under Rabbi Chaim Brisker before becoming head of the Kneseth Beis Yitzchak Yeshiva in Slobodka which he was forced to re-locate and reconstitute in different locales based on the vicissitudes of World War I and the ensuring violence that gripped Eastern Europe.  Tragically, death came to him in Vilna the last location of his Yeshiva.



1940: The Lodz Ghetto Archive was established today, by order of the Chairman of the Judenrat, Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski.



1940: In Tel Aviv, a conference of 300 communal representatives formed a “United National Front” dedicated to carrying out the reform program championed by Pichas Rutenberg.  “This united front has the support of many middle class Jews” who have been concerned by the breach growing between “socialists affiliated with the General Jewish Labor Federation and Zionist Revisionists.”


1940: In Berlin, Lieutenant Colonel Kazys Skirpa, former Lithuanian ambassador to Germany, established the Lietuviu Aktyvistu Frontas (Lithuanian Activist Front), a collaborationist Fascist organization dedicated to nationalism and anti-Semitism.


1941: Birthdate of Arlington, VA, native James Steven “Jim” Bregman “a member of the first American to compete in judo in the Summer Olympics.”


1941:The Hitch-Hiker a radio play written by Lucille Fletcher featuring a score written and conducted by Bernard Herrmann, Fletcher's first husband was broadcast of the Orson Welles Show on CBS Radio for the first time.


1941: Proceeds from tonight’s performance of the play “Theatre” at the Hudson Theatre featuring Cornelia Otis Skinner will go to the Women’s League for Palestine and help the league raise funds for the construction of a center for refugees in Jerusalem.


1941: Eight Jews executed for going outside the Warsaw ghetto without permission. Six were women.


1941: In France, the Vichy government expanded the Aryanization rules to exclude Jews from any employment beyond menial labor.


1942: Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Horowitz “married Rachel Unger Leifer of Cleveland, Ohio, daughter of Rabbi Naftali Unger, av beis din of Neumarkt and a descendant of Rabbi Naftali Tzvi of Ropshitz.”


1942: It was reported today that two chapters “Blood and Banquets: A Berlin Social Diary” by Bella Fromm have appeared in Harper’s Magazine.   [Bella Fromm was a German Jewish correspondent for the Ullstein newspapers and the Times. She risked her life by staying in Germany during the 1930’s so that she could report on events surrounding the Hitler régime.  She finally fled to the United States where her reportage became the inspiration for this first-hand account of events in the land of the Nazis.]


1942: The headline in today’s edition of Haaretz announced that "The Eretz-Israeli residents that have been exchanged have arrived from the Reich."  According to the Jewish daily, “There’s been much commotion at the Afula station in preparation for the arrival of 114 women and children, relatives of Eretz-Israeli and British residents, who've come from Germany. They were exchanged for German women and children from Eretz Israel, who were allowed to travel to Germany."


1943: Nine hundred ninety-five Jews from Holland were sent to Birkenau where 531 were gassed, including 166 children.


1943: Max Sievers, who was forced to return to Europe in 1939 because he could not get a visa that would have allowed him to say in the United State was sentenced to death by the Nazis.


1943: General Antonescu, the Rumanian dictator warned the cabinet against giving into Hitler's demands for the Jews. Hundreds of thousands still survived in camps and ghettos. "We will take them away from here." Four thousand, four hundred orphans were the first to be repatriated, followed by 15,000 others.


1943: The director-general of the BBC, Robert Foot, issued a policy directive . . . 'that we should not promote ourselves or accept any propaganda in the way of talks, discussion, features with the object of trying to correct the undoubted anti-Semitic feeling which is held very largely throughout the country'


1944: U.S. premiere of “The Princess and the Pirate” produced by Samuel Goldwyn, with music by Daid Rose and screenplay co-authored by Mel Shavelson.


1944: In Palestine, Florence Becker and Henry Abraham Lipowitz gave birth to Lorne Lipowitz, the Canadian raised television producer known as Lorne Michaels the driving force behind “Saturday Night Live.”


1945: A delegation from the American League for Free Palestine headed by former Senator Guy Gillette arrived in London tonight.  The delegates are supposed to hold discussions with British leaders about the situation in Palestine and payment of reparations to those living in DP camps in Germany.


1945: As the British government sought to enforce the White Paper and clamp down on Jewish resistance activities, “British paratroopers carried twenty expectant mothers to hospitals in armored cars today.  A baby born in one of the armored cars was named Shalom by his mother.


1946: As part of growing wave of terror caused by Britain failing to honor its war time promise to allow Jewish immigration to Eretz Israel and increasing repressive measure aimed at the Jews of the Yishuv, four British policemen were killed when their truck was blown up outside Tel Aviv.


1946: In New York premiere of “The Chase” with a screenplay by Philip Yordan


1946: Freedom Fighters for Israel (FFI) also known as Lehi or the Stern group operatives detonated a mine that killed four and wounded several others; over the course of the month, FFI gunmen sabotaged rail lines, shot at trains, blew up military vehicles, destroyed international telegraph lines, attacked police stations, robbed Barclays Bank in Tel Aviv, and set off an explosion at a British military base.


1946: Eighty-six year old archaeologist Max von Oppenheim whose accomplishments included the excavations at Tell-Halaf passed away today.





1947: Eighteen year old Yeruham Ben-Issar Jacob Krubelnik and sixteen year old Mordehai Zeev Sofar “went on trial today before the Jerusalem military court on suspicion of having caused an explosion under the Cairo-Haifa express” which resulted in the death of the engineer who was Jewish and the derailing of five coaches.


1947: “Unidentified robbers gagged and bound a Tel Aviv diamond merchant in his home and escaped with jewels valued at $8,000.”


1947: Members of the “Stern Gang…announced that they were ready to resume their truce pledge.”


1947: Today “a prominent Arab source said differences of between King Abdullah of Transjordan and the exiled Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin el-Husseini, had ruled out a coordinated invasion by Arabs opposed to a partition of the Holy Land.”


1947: In Palestine, the departing British administration plans to sell state-owned real estate along the Haifa waterfront and to invest in England money from bonds sold to Palestinians.


1947: A Liverpool jury needed only 13 minutes of deliberation to find newspaper editor James Caunt not guilty of charges of “seditious libel against the Jews in Britain.”  Caunt had written an editorial in The Visitor criticizing “British Jews for not doing more to prevent Zionist killing of British troops in Palestine, describing Jews as ‘a plague on Britain’ and encouraging violence against them.


1947: Today, while the National Conference of the CDE was still conducting its business, Dr. William Filderman resigned from the leadership of the UER, and after a short time, succeeded in leaving Romania clandestinely. This decision had to be made, because it was discovered that the Romanian authorities were preparing a plot in which he would be accused of being a spy for Great Britain.


1948: King Abdullah of Transjordan hopes for a "real peace" to replace "semi-peace." He suggests that "the Israelis should be more reasonable "and the Arabs "should accept the logical." (Abdullah was a complex figure who wanted to rule Jerusalem. He announced that no land under the control of the Jordanian army would be turned over to what are called today the Palestinian Arabs.)


1949: Charles "Charlie" Thompson Winters was released today after spending 18 months in prison for violating the Neutrality Act of 1939 in conspiring to smuggle three bombers via Czechoslovakia to Palestine.


1949: “The first of the military’s dead – the remains of those who fought in Latrun, in Kfar Etzion and the Convoy of 35, along with those buried in Sheikh Bader – some 300 people in all – were buried in a communal grave in the military cemetery on Mt. Herzl. (As reported by Mitch Ginsburg)


1950: Soprano Roberta Peters, the twenty year old daughter of Ruth and Sol Peterman debuted at the Metropolitan Opera when she replaced a colleague on six hours’ notice. (As reported by Jewish Women’s Archive)


1950(8thof Kislev, 5711): Eight-eight year old Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Cohen, dean of the Canadian Rabbinate and president of the Montreal Council of Orthodox Rabbis” passed away today.



1953 (17 Kislev):Isser Zalman Meltzer passed away.  Born in1870, he was a famous Lithuanian Orthodox rabbi, Rosh Yeshiva and pose. He is also known as the "Even HaEzel", after the title of his commentary on Rambam's Mishne Torah.


1953: Anna Meingest, who had been Stefan Zweig’s secretary in Salzburg for twenty years during the inter-war years passed away today.


1954(21st of Cheshvan): Hebrew poet Yizhak Lamdan passed away


1954: “Désirée” a movie version of the novel by the same name, directed by Henry Koster, produced by Julian Blaustein and written by Daniel Taradash


1958: Syrian terrorists killed the wife of the British air attaché in Israel, who was staying at the guesthouse of the Italian Convent on the Mt. of the Beatitudes.


1959: NBC broadcast “The Big Time” starring George Burns, Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor and George Jessel which the seventh episode of Startime,


1960: “Morgan the Pirate” produced by Joseph E. Levine was released today in Italy.


1960: Birthdate of Mandy Yachad a former South African cricketer and field hockey player who represented the South African national team in both sports.


1961: Birthdate of history professor and author Jonathan Zimmerman




1961: “A Proper God” published today reviews Paddy Chayefsky’s “Gideon” a play “drawn from 3 chapters of the Book of Judges” that “explores the relationship of an ordinary man to God.”



1962: “Little Me” a Broadway “musical written by Neil Simon with music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Carolyn Leigh opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.


1962: “More Language That Needs Watching” by Theodore M. Bernstein, the assistant managing editor of the New York Times is scheduled to be published today. This is Bernstein’s second book on linguistics. “Watch Your Language” provided examples “of words gone wrong – incorrect usage – and inept sentence structure” as well as selections of “bright and incisive writing.”


1962: In his sermon delivered today, Dr. Israel Margolies said that laws that prevent the abortion of deformed babies are barbarous. The New York City rabbi has been quoted as saying “that the truly civilized mind would be hard pressed to devise a greater sin than to condemn a helpless infant to a life of permanent deformity, or to the twilight world of the slum and orphanage, or to an unwelcome home.”


1962(20thof Cheshvan, 5723): John Shubert who had taken over as head of operations from his father Jacob in the 1950’s “passed away unexpectedly” today.


1964(12thof Kislev, 5725): Chaim Mordechai Katz the Rosh Yeshiva of the Telshe Yeshiva in Cleveland, suffered a massive, fatal heart attack today.


1964: Seventy-eight year old General Sir George James Giffard who served as General Officer Commanding British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan from 1940 to 1941 passed away today.


1965: “The War Lord” a medieval war movie with a score by Jerome Moross was released in the United States today.


1966: Woody Allen’s “Don’t Drink the Water” premiered on Broadway today.


1967: “Former concentration camp guard Erwin Busta, Gestapo official Ernst Sander and chief of security for the V-weapons program Helmut Bischoff went on trial before the District Court at Essen, West Germany on charges that included “summary executions of prisoners who had attempted to escape or were accused of sabotage.”


1968(26th of Cheshvan, 5729): Ninety-four year old Vicksburg native Sidney N. Scharff, the son of Nicholas Scharff and Carrie Bernheimer passed away today in St. Louis


1968: In what became known as the “Heidi Game” NBC cut away from the last minute of football game between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets so viewers could see the children’s classic, Heidi.  Given the closeness of the game, NBC’s switchboard was lit up with calls from irate fans.  The Jets were owned by two Jews, Sonny Werblin and Leon Hess and the Raiders were owned by another Jew, Al Davis. 


1969: NBC broadcast “Friend of the Earth” the 11th episode of “My World and Welcome to It” created by Melville Savelson, produced by Sheldon Leonard and Danny Arnold and co-starring Harold J. Stone today.


1969: An F-4E Phantom Jet manned by Ehud Hankin and Shaul Levi fell victim to Jordanian anti-aircraft fire.


1971(29thof Cheshvan, 5732): Seventy-six year old “Yehuda Leib Levin, the chief rabbi of Moscow’s Central Synagogue passed away today.




1972: “They Call Him The Mechanic” a “crime thriller directed by Michael Winner, produced by Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler with music by Jerry Fielding was released in the United States today.


1973: NPR broadcast the first episode of “The National Lampoon Radio” whose stars included Gilda Radner, Harold Ramis and Richard Belzer


1977:Egyptian President Sadat formally accepts invitation to visit Israel. This is the start of a historic process that will result in the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.  While Sadat may have been the leader of the sneak attack that started the Yom Kippur War, he is worth remembering as an Arab Nachson, a man who was brave enough to plunge into the unknown for the greater good.  He literally paid for peace with his own blood. 


1976(24thof Cheshvan, 5737): Eighty-one year old Meyer Loshie Casman the Russian born son of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Casman, who attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School and West Point which him to a career as “a lawyer, engineer and prosecutor during the Nuremberg Trials passed away today after which he was buried in the Mount Lebanon Cemetery.


1977: Colonel Menachem Milson, the Israeli officer named to serve as aide-de-camp to Anwar Sadat during his upcoming visit to Israel met with the committee coordinating preparation for the historic visit. 


1978(17thof Cheshvan, 5739): Eighty-two year old Chicago native Mildred Rosenkranz, “the daughter of Emil Firth and Benvenida Solis” and the wife of Elias Victor Rosenkranz passed away today in Beverly Hills today.


1978: Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal” premiered today at Lyttelton Theatre & Royal National Theatre in London


1980: Bella Abzug and Grace Paley were among the thousands of women who participated in today’s Women’s Pentagon Action.


1980: In a move that reinforced the concept of separation of church & State, the Supreme Court today decided in Stone v Graham, that “a Kentucky statute requiring the posting of a copy of the Ten Commandments purchased with private contributions on the wall of each public classroom in the State is unconstitutional”


1980: “Pope John Paul II delivered a speech to the Jews of Berlin in which he discussed his views of Catholic-Jewish relations” in which he “claimed that Catholics must embrace the Hebrew Bible as being equally valid as the New Testament” and “asserted that God's Old Covenant with the Jewish people was never revoked which meant, as Darcy O'Brien wrote, that the pope had indicated that the Catholic Church had abandoned its mission to proselytize the Jews and has embraced the Jews' salvation.”


1982(1st of Kislev, 5743): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1982(1st of Kislev, 5743): Russian violinist Leonid Borisovitch Kogan passed away.


1983: Birthdate of Milwaukee Brewers MVP Ryan Braun.


1985: “Art View; The Best and Biggest In Pittsburgh” published today described the 49thCarnegie International Exhibition which included works by Lucian Freud and Mel Bochner.’


1985(4thof Kislev, 5746): Eighty-one year old Jimmy Ritz, one of the Ritz Brothers, passed away today after he was buried with his brothers at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.”


1988: Neil Simon's "Rumors," premieres in New York City.


1988: ABC broadcast the fourth episode of “War and Remembrance,” “an American miniseries based on the novel of the same name written by Herman Wouk”


1989: “The Little Mermaid” an animated musical with a score by Alan Menken was released in the United States today.


1990(29th of Cheshvan, 5751): Robert Hofstadter passed away. Hofstadter was an “American scientist who was a joint recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1961 for his investigations in which he measured the size of the neutron and proton in the nuclei of atoms. He revealed the hitherto unknown structure of these particles and helped create an identifying order for subatomic particles. He also correctly predicted the existence of the omega-meson and rho-meson. He also studied controlled nuclear fission. Hofstadter was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Stanford Linear Accelerator. He also made substantial contributions to gamma ray spectroscopy, leading to the use of radioactive tracers to locate tumors and other disorders. (He shared the prize with Rudolf Ludwig Mössbauer of Germany.)”


1992: In the wake of last year’s riots in Crown Heights, “New York Governor Mario Cuomo gave the Director of Criminal Justice Services, Richard H.Girgenti, the authority to investigate the rioting and the trial” of Lemrick Nelson, Jr who was identified by Yankel Rosenbuam as his attacker before he succumbed to his wounds.


1993: Judith Rodin was named the president of the University of Pennsylvania making her the first woman to head an Ivy League University.


1993(3rd of Kislev, 5754): Sgt. 1st Cl. Chaim Darina, age 37, was stabbed by a Gazan terrorist while seated at the cafeteria at the Nahal Oz road block at the entrance to the Gaza Strip. The terrorist was apprehended. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the murder.


1994: Irish Labor Party member Mervyn Taylor completed his service as Minister for Equality and Law Reform.


1995: “It Takes Two” a comedy starring Steve Guttenberg was released in the United States State.


1996: In New York, the complete list of candidates for landmark status and their architects suggested by Robert A. M. Stern includes the Henry L. Moses Research Institute, Montefiore Hospital, East Gun Hill Road, Bronx


1998: Israel's parliament overwhelmingly approved the Wye River land-for-peace accord with the Palestinians.


1999: U.S. premiere of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” produced by Scott Rudin, with music by Danny Elfman and filmed by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki.


2000: Mathew Freud, the great-grandson of Sigmund Freud and Elizabeth Murdoch gave birth to their first child Charlotte Emma Freud.


2001: In New Jersey, Bat Mitzvah of Jamie Shulman, the daughter of Lori and Mark Shulman, “a disaster inspector, fire prevention and risk consultant for Marsh & McLennan in New York” who died on 9/11.



2001: Daniel Saul Goldin finishes serving as Administrator of NASA.  Goldin was the first Jew to hold the post.  He held the position longer than any of his predecessors, serving under three different Presidents.


2002 (12th of Kislev, 5763): Abba Eban passed away.  (Editor’s note:  This entry is a little on the lengthy side, but the subject is well worth the time.  There is a prejudice at work here.  As youngster growing up in Washington during the 1950’s I heard Eban speak several times. His round Churchillian tones along with his sharp, lucid comments made one swell with pride.  I was further amazed to think that Israelis sounded just like Winston Churchill [boy was I in for a surprise].  But in the early days of the state, when Israel was not a popular cause, Ambassador to the U.S. and the U.N., Abba Eban bucked the odds, conducting a one-man diplomatic and public relations offensive against the well-heeled American oil lobby and the Arab governments to provide Israel with a positive image in the United States at a time when the survival of the state hung in the balance on daily basis. He will always be remembered as one of the statesmen who helped persuade the world to approve creation of Israel and dominated Israeli diplomacy for decades.)


Abba Eban, orator, Israeli statesman and diplomat, Foreign Minister from 1966 to 1974, was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and brought up in England. He studied oriental languages and classics at Cambridge University, England, where he was a lecturer in Arabic from 1938 to 1940. He was already a public speaker of caliber and renowned for his presence at debates on the Middle East. During World War II he served in the British Army in Egypt and Mandate Palestine, becoming an intelligence officer in Jerusalem, where he coordinated and trained volunteers for resistance in the event of a German invasion. In 1946, the Jewish Agency appointed him political information officer in London, where he participated in the negotiations with the British government and the UN concerning the establishment of the State of Israel. When Israel became independent in 1948, he was appointed its first Ambassador at the UN. From 1950 until 1959 Eban was both Israel's ambassador in Washington, D.C., and chief delegate to the UN. On his return to Israel in 1959, Eban was elected to the Knesset as a member of the Mapai party, and served under David Ben-Gurion as Minister of Education and Culture from 1960 to 1963. From 1963 to 1966, he was deputy to Prime Minister Levi Eshkol. He was also president of the Weizmann Institute at Rehovot from 1959 to 1966. As Israel's Foreign Minister from February 1966 to 1974, Eban tried to strengthen relations with the United States and to associate Israel with the European Economic Community. During and after the Six-Day War of June 1967, he led Israel's diplomatic struggle in the UN. Following the Yom Kippur War of October 1973, Abba Eban helped bring about a disengagement of Egyptian and Israel forces in Sinai.  Eban continued to serve in succeeding sessions of the Knesset, but outside the ministerial sphere, as a member and later as Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, until he retired from politics in 1988. He was widely admired for his brilliant oratory outside Israel and his statesmanship at the UN on Israel's behalf, including some dramatic oratory. He wrote a scathing article on the infamous UN "Zionism=Racism" Resolution in 1975.  A figure of multiple accomplishments, Eban was fluent in ten languages, with the dual vocation of statesman and erudite academic. Throughout his career, he found time to publish meticulous and detailed historical works based on his vast knowledge and personal experience. His books include Voice of Israel (1957); My People (1969); My Country (1972), and Personal Witness (1992), as well as An Autobiography. After his retirement, he was able to dedicate more time to writing and lecturing, including essays and books The New Diplomacy and Diplomacy for the Next Century(1998), but his major landmarks were his involvement in the creation of three major historical television documentary series about the Jewish People and Israel, in which his remarkable voice rings throughout the narration with elegance and confidence. The first two were for Israel Television: Heritage: Civilization and the Jews; Personal Witness: A Nation is Born; and The Brink of Peace was produced with PBS.  In 2001, Abba Eban was awarded the Israel Prize for his lifetime achievement, but his wife received the prize on his behalf, as he was too ill to attend the ceremony. He also held twenty honorary doctorates and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.


2002: The New York Times book section features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or on topics of special Jewish interest including Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers by Daniel Ellsberg, Media and Her Children by Ludmila Ulitskaya, translated by Arch Tait and The Terrorist Next Door: The Militia Movement and the Radical Rightby Daniel Levitas.


2004: Premiere of the French comedy “The Grandsons,” directed, produced and written by Ilan Duran Cohen.


2005(15thof Cheshvan, 5766): Ninety-six year old Waterloo, IA native Maurice Zimm whose career included writing radio and television scripts as well as serving as Peace Corps administrator as whowas he brother of talent agent Mike Zimgring, the father of criminologist Franklin Zimring and he grandfather of comedian Dan Lewis and historian Carl Zimgring passed away today.



2005: Ira Glass’ “This American Life celebrated its tenth anniversary.”


2005:  Haaretzreported on the three day visit of Israel’s President Moshe Katsav to Italy.  On the second day of the trip, Italy’s prime minister said that Israel should be admitted to the European Union.  This appears to be further evidence of the end of a period in which Israel was isolated from western democracies.  Katsav also announced his plans to invite the new Pope to visit Jerusalem.


2005: Conrad M Black was indicted for his alleged role in stealing $51.8 million dollars from Hollinger International, the giant international newspaper publisher he helped create.  His publishing empire included The Jerusalem Post.  Black is Catholic but he is married to the conservative columnist Barbara Amiel, who is Jewish.  


2006: William Shattner, the actor best known for his role as Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise appears in a commercial on the History Channel proclaiming that he is a Jew while wishing Mazel Tov to the Pilgrims.  The commercial is promoting an upcoming television telling the untold story of the Pilgrims travels to America in 1620.


2006: “For Your Consideration” a comedy with a script co-authored by Eugence Levy who co-starred in the film along with Bob Balaban was released today in the United States.


2006: Pierre Lellouche, the Tunisian born French Jewish political leaders completed his term as President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.


2006: Jessica Savitch, of blessed memory, was inducted into "The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia's Hall of Fame"


2007: The International Oud Festival presents "Peace on Earth" at the Jerusalem Theater. The ensemble put together by Dinkjian for our Festival this year is comprised of some of the finest musicians from Greece, Turkey and Israel, Christians, Muslims and Jews, who will improvise together and play a selection of works by composers of the different faiths.


2007: As part of the Australia Festival of Jewish Cinema “The Vow” is shown in Melbourne, Australia and “The Cantor’s Son” is shown in Sydney, Australia.


2007: Omer Golan scored the winning goal for Israel against Russia, handing England a lifeline in their qualification group for Euro 2008,


2007: Haaretzreported that “the Jewish poverty rate in the United States is higher than that in Israel. In Israel 24 percent of the population is considered poor, but about half is not Jewish…The poverty line for a family of three is set at an annual income of $15,000 but in New York and other large cities it is adjusted to the higher cost of living and set at $22,530.”  


2008: The Jewish Community Center of Chicago holds its annual Hall of Fame Dinner, this year honoring Edward Fox followed by a benefit concert featuring Itzhak Perlman with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.


2008: As part of the Meet the Author series, the JCC in Manhattan presents an evening with Yehudit Katzir, “a leading fresh female voice from Israel whose work has been translated into many languages.”  Her latest novel, “Dearest Anne, is a coming of age story set in mid-1970s Israel. After divorce shatters her family, Rivi is raised by her neglectful mother and helps care for her two younger brothers. She documents her feelings in a diary addressed to Anne Frank.”


2008(19th of Cheshvan, 5769): Ali Ashtari was hanged today after being sentenced to death on June 30 by a revolutionary court in Teheran. It was the country's first known conviction for espionage linked to Israel in almost a decade.


2008: Moshe Ya'alon announced that he was joining Likud and that he would participate in the primaries which would determine the Likud candidates for the 2009 elections. Ya’alon had served as IDF Chief of Staff from 2002 through 2005.


2009: At Acre, the second workshop sponsored by UESCO on the subject of “Protecting Heritage Sites from Disaster” comes to an end.


2009: Opening of The Fifth International Water Technologies and Environmental Control Exhibition - WATEC Israel 2009 at the Trade Fair and Convention Center in Tel Aviv.


2009 (30th of Cheshvan, 5770): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


2009: Noralee Frankel discusses and signs Stripping Gypsy: The Life of Gypsy Rose Lee at noon as part of the Books & Beyond series at the Library of Congress.


2009: A former SS sergeant who worked unnoticed for decades as a train-station manager was charged with 58 counts of murder today after a student doing undergraduate research uncovered his alleged involvement in a massacre of Jewish forced laborers. University of Vienna student Andreas Forster was working on a project about the slaying in a forest near the Austrian village of Deutsch Schuetzen when he stumbled across Adolf Storms' name in witness testimony. Forster then obtained files from federal archives in Berlin that enabled him to link the former sergeant to the massacre, his professor, Walter Manoschek, told The Associated Press.



2010: In New York City, the Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present: Journeying to the Jews: Literary Ethnography along the Eastern Front, 1914-1918.



2010:  In New York City, Jaimy Gordon was the surprise winner of the National Book Award for fiction.



2010: It was announced today that A Holocaust survivor who teaches children the value of citizenship is among those who will be honored by President Obama with a Medal of Freedom. Gerda Weissman Klein, who survived the notorious death march at the end of the war designed by Nazis to keep Jews from being rescued, recently founded Citizenship Counts, “an organization that teaches students to cherish the value of their American citizenship,” the White House said in a statement Wednesday.



2010: Today Israel approved the withdrawal of troops from the northern half of a divided village that straddles the border with Lebanon — a step that would end its four-year presence in the volatile area. 2010: Jean-François Copé began serving his term as President of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) Group in the French National Assembly.



2011: The Shalom Hartman Institute of North America and The Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning at Temple Emanu-El are scheduled to present “Gender, Power, and Authority in Jewish Life: Challenges and Opportunities in North America and Israel” featuring Renana Pilzer, head of the Beit Midrash at the Shalom Hartman Institute Midrashiya Girls High School and Rabbi Joanna Samuels, Director of Strategic Initiatives,Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community



2011: Jeremy Cowan author of “Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah: How it took 13 years, extreme Jewish Brewing and Circus sideshow freaks to make Schmaltz Brewing Company an International Success” is scheduled to appear at the JCC in St. Louis, MO.



2011: Rabbi Jeff Portman is scheduled to begin teaching a five session course “The Simpsons and the 10 Commandments” at Kirkwood Community College.



2011: “The Young Zionist of Dror in Morocco” a film that documents Jewish life in Morocco during the 1950’s is scheduled to be shown today at the Jewish Eye World Jewish Film Festival.



2011: Israel has reached its lowest poverty levels since 2003, according to the 2010 poverty report released today, but still faces significant problems in wealth disparity and impoverished children. According to the report, 20 percent of Israeli families - some 1.7 million people - live in poverty.



2011: Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch said today that medical residents who were resigning en mass in protest over pay and conditions were “taking the law into their own hands.”



2012(3rd of Kislev, 5773): Ninety-four year old “Leah Gottlieb, who started with a single sewing machine in a refugee camp in the new nation-state of Israel and rose to become one of the world’s most renowned designers of women’s bathing suits” passed away at her home in Tel Aviv today.” (As reported by Douglas Martin)



http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/fashion/leah-gottlieb-a-designer-of-swimsuits-dies-at-94.html?hpw&_r=0



2012: “Süskind,” a cinematic treatment of the life the Jewish manager of the Jewish Council in Amsterdam in 1942, is scheduled to be shown at the UK Jewish Film Festival.



2012: The Jerusalem International Oud Festival is scheduled to come to an end.



2012: The World Union For Progressive Judaism is scheduled to host the 2012 International Humanitarian Awards Dinner in NYC.



2012: Flory Jagoda, Aaron Shneyer, Hannah Spiro, Freida Enoch, Jessi Roemer, Jill Sege and Jonathan Tucker are scheduled to perform at Congreation Tifereth Israel as part of the Jewish Folk Arts Festival.



2012: As Jews around the world observe Shabbat the words “Oseh shalom bimromav hu ya'aseh shalom aleynu v'al kol yisrael vimru amen”  (He who makes peace in his high places, he shall make peace upon us and upon all Israel, and say amen) take on a special poignancy as terrorist rockets are fired at Jerusalem and Israeli soldiers prepare to risk their lives to preserve the Jewish state.



 2012: As Israel entered the fifth day of Operation Pillar of Defense, an eerie silence washed over the south, with the familiar sound of red alerts and booms of rockets giving way to rumors of a ceasefire. As soldiers continued to stream south, Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi told reporters that there were indications that an agreement to halt hostilities was close. Israel denied the report, with officials saying there were still too many targets to hit before they could be confident the job they set out to do was done. Still, Southern Command head Tal Russo told reporters Hamas had been dealt a heavy blow.



2012: The Iron Dome intercepted two Iranian-made Fajr-5 missiles aimed at Tel Aviv today. The missiles marked the third attack on the heavily populated central city in as many days, after Palestinian terrorists from Gaza fired four missiles toward the financial capital yesterday and the day before yesterday, prompting red alert air raid sirens to sound in the city



2013: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Map and The Territory: Risk, Human Nature and the Future of Forecasting by Alan Greenspan, Jews In Gotham: New York Jews in a Changing City, 1920-2010 by Jeffrey S. Gurock, The Rise of Abraham Cahan by Seth Lipsky, Hanukkah in America: A History by Dianne Ashton, Jews and the Military: A Historyby Derek Penslar  and The Boy Detective: A New York Childhood by Roger Rosenblatt.


2013: In Australia, the annual Jewish International Film Festival is scheduled to come to an end.


2013: “The Fading Valley” and “Good Garbage” are scheduled to shown at the “Other Israel Film Festival” in New York City.


2013: France favors an interim agreement with Iran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, French President Francois Hollande said today in Israel, but such an agreement would only be signed if Tehran would abandon its ambition to acquire a nuclear weapon. (As reported by Raphael Ahren and Adiv Sterman)


2013: According to reports published in the London Sunday Times the Saudis have agreed “to let Israel use its airspace in a military strike on Iran and cooperate over the use of rescue helicopters, tankers and drones.” (As reported by the Times of Israel staff)


2013(14thof Kislev, 5774): Seventy-seven year old Syd Field author of Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, the “bible of screening passed away today. (As reported by William Yardley)




2014: In Melbourne, “The Last Mentsch” and “Regarding Susan Sontag” are scheduled to be shown at the Jewish International Film Festival.


2014: “The Last Mentsch” and “Natan” are scheduled to be shown at the 18thUK Jewish Film Festival


2014: The funeral of Charley J. Levine is scheduled to take placed this afternoon at 4 p.m. at Har Menuchot in Givat Shaul in Jerusalem.


2014: Twenty-three year old Yonatan Souid, a French Jew will be formally charged today after being arrested yesterday for scalling the Brookly Birdige, apparently in an attempt to take some photographs.


2014: “As tensions within the fractured government reached new levels” of crisis, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Lieberman met today “to discuss solutions for the crisis in the coaltion over the state budget. (As reported by Moran Azulay)


2014: “Many Palestinian bus drivers in Jerusalem did not show up for work today after an Arab bus driver was found hanged last night in what was classifified as suicide following an autoposy. (As reported by Marissa Newman)


2014(24thof Cheshvan, 5775): Ninety-five year old Victor Elmaleh the Morooccan-born American Jewish businessman who, ironically, was one of the first to import German made VW’s into the United States passed away today.



2015: “Partner with the Enemy” and “April Fool’s” are scheduled to be shown in Los Angeles at the 29th Israel Film Festival.


2015: “Deli Man” and “The Physician” are scheduled to be shown in Sydney at the Jewish International Film Festival.


2016: The ADL is scheduled to host “Never Is Now!” its “groundbreaking summit on anti-Semitism today in New York City.


2016: The American Jewish Historical Society and the American Society for Jewish Music are scheduled to host the Ted Rosenthal Quintet performing “The Great Jewish American Songbook” – “an evening of jazz interpretations of famous Jewish composers including George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Harold Arlen, and Jerome Kern, and a post-performance talk by Ted Rosenthal about the Jewish immigrants contributions to the American jazz repertoire of the 20th century”


2016(16thof Cheshvan, 5777): Photo-journalist Ruth Gruber, who shepherded a boat load of Jews to safety to the United States passed away today at the age of 105. (As reported by Robert D. McFadden)




2016: “In Search of Israeli Cuisine” and “Natasha” are scheduled to be shown at the 20th UK International Jewish Film Festival.


2016: “Twenty mayors from around the world who are part of a delegation visiting Israel expressed opposition to two recent UNESCO resolutions that omitted Jewish and Christian links to Israeli holy sites in Jerusalem.”


2016: “Cloudy Sunday” and “Alone in Berlin” are scheduled to be shown at Sydney as part of the International Jewish Film Festival.


2017: The 21st UK International Jewish Film Festival goes dark Erev Shabbat.


2017: The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host two services – Orthodox and Egalitarian followed by a Shabbat evening meal.


2017: After being viewed at several film festivals, including Festival du Nouveau Cinéma. “Holy Air” was released today in the United States.


2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such Jewish Michael Korda who is not a revisionists but whose Alone and With Wings Like Eaglesprovide highly readable, and unique views of Dunkirk and The Battle of Britain.


2018: “The Last Suit,” “Memoir of War,” “The Prince and the Dybbuk” and “Inside the Mossad” are scheduled to be shown at the UK Jewish Film Festival.


2018: “Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas” is scheduled to be shown on the final night of the Gershman Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival.”


2018: Dina Pruzhansky a Russian-Israeli pianist and composer is scheduled to perform this afternoon in New York.


2018: Award winning author Dori Weinstein is scheduled to lead children’s services at Tefereth Israel in Des Moines, IA.


2018(9thof Kislev, 5779):  Parashat Va-yaytzay; for more see http://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/


 


 


 

This Day, November 18, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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November 18



1095: Pope Urban II opened the Council of Clermont. Summoned to plan the First Crusade, it was attended by over 200 bishops. Among its official policies, the Council decreed that a pilgrimage to Jerusalem made every other penance superfluous.  And so began one of the darkest periods in Jewish history.


1297: Today during the Papacy of Boniface VIII, “the inquisition issued a bull according to which an accuser or witness could remain unrevealed to the accused when the latter was a person of influence” and since “the Jews were classed among the powerful persons, a simple denunciation sufficed to condemn them.”


1302: Pope Boniface VIII issued the Papal bull Unam sanctamthat proclaimed, "outside of the Church there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins” which was part of an on-going effort to isolate the Jews from the general community and make anti-Semitism a permanent part of European society. It’s declaration that those who resist the Roman Pontiff are resisting God's ordination was one more plank in a platform that would sour Jewish-Christian relations for centuries to come. This is the same Pope Boniface VIII who issued the bull Exhibita Nobis, ordaining that Jews could be denounced to the Inquisition without the name of the accuser being revealed, so as to protect Christians against Jewish reprisals.


1489: Joseph Günzenhäuser, Yom-Tov ben Perez and Solomon ben Perez published “Hobot ha-Lebabot” (Duties of the Heart) by Bayha ibn Pakuda in Italy. Bahya ben Joseph ibn Paquda was a Jewish philosopher and rabbi who lived at Zaragoza, Spain, in the first half of the eleventh century. The same trio had printed “Eben Bohan” by Kalonymus ben Meir ben Kalonymus in August of 1489. Kalonymus was an author and translator who lived in Provence “Eben Bohan” (The Touchstone) was a seminal work on morality for the Jews living in southern France.


1570: In Ferra, Italy, the town where Azarya ben Moses dei Rossi is living was struck by an earthquake, which “miraculously” spared the Jewish Community.   In the aftermath of the earthquake, Dei Rossi became aware of whole body of Jewish literature from the time of the Second Temple which was known to Christians but had been lost to the Jews because it was written in Greek.   In twenty days he translated "The Letter of Aristas," from Greek into Hebrew. "The Letter of Aristas,""is supposed to be the discourse a Greek king gave about the wisdom of the Jews [Some sources give 1571 as the date for the earthquake.]


1576: Birthdate of Philipp Ludwig II of Hanau-Münzenberg who in 1603 “invited many wealthy Jewish” to live in Hanuah and provided them with “a definite legal status” as well as permitting them to build a synagogue.


1648: Bogdan Chemielniki and his Cossacks began their attacks. Kamenets, in the western Ukraine is one of the first cities to be attacked, with thousands killed in the first few days. Chemielniki was leading a Ukrainian national uprising against their Roman Catholic Polish masters. The Russian Orthodox Ukrainians were bitter over the forced conversions to Catholicism led by the Jesuits and the unscrupulous taxes collected by some Jews for the nobles.  The Jews managed the Ukrainian estates of the absentee Polish landlords. This volatile mixture of nationalism, religion and economic exploitation set the stage for the Cossack uprising. During the reign of Vladislav IV, the Zaporozhin Cossacks lived in a semi-autonomous kingdom called Sitch. Led by their leader - or Hetman - Chemielniki, they decided to avenge the people's rights. Their victories over the Polish army encouraged the serfs to join them. The Jews were even more hated than the Poles and were massacred in almost every town. In the ten tumultuous years that followed, over seven hundred Jewish communities were destroyed and between one hundred and five hundred thousand Jews lost their lives.


1759: Following a mass baptism of Sabbatians at Lvov, today Jacob Frank and his wife were baptized “under the patronage of the King of Poland” in the cathedral at Warsaw following which the Catholic Church rejected “the request of the Frankists  that they be allowed to continue to live separately from other Christians and that they be permitted to wear Jewish clothing, to keep their sidelocks, avoid pork, to rest on Saturday as well as Sunday to retain use of the Zohar and other works of the Kabbalah.


1792(3rdof Kislev, 5553): Zipporah Phillips Noah, the daughter of Jonas and Rebecca Mendes “Machado” Phillips, and the wife of Manuel Noah with whom she had two children – Mordecai Manuel Noah and Judith Noah – passed away today after which she was buried Coming Street Cemetery in Charleston, SC.


1795; David Nathan married Sarah Isaacs at the Great Synagogue today.


1804(15thof Kislev, 5565): First observance Purim of Abraham Danzig which is also called Pulverpurim or Powder Purim. Memorial Day established for himself and his family by Abraham Danzig, to be annually observed by fasting on the 15th of Kislew and by feasting on the evening of the same day in commemoration of the explosion of a powder-magazine at Wilna in 1804. By this accident thirty-one lives were lost and many houses destroyed, among them the home of Abraham Danzig, whose family and Abraham himself were all severely wounded, but escaped death (see Danzig, Abraham ben Jehiel). Danzig decreed that on the evening following the 15th of Kislew a meal should be prepared by his family to which Talmudic scholars were to be invited, and alms should be given to the poor. During the feast certain psalms were to be read, and hymns were to be sung to the Almighty for the miraculous escape from death.


1823: Two day after he had passed away, “Issacher bar Yehuda” was buried today at the “Brady Street Jewish Cemetery.”


1835: Alexander Davis married Anne Solomons at the Western Synagogue today.


1838: In Mainz, Lazarus and Eleonore Hallgarten gave birth to Charles Hallgarten, the husband of Elise Mainzer who followed in his father’s footsteps as an American banker at Hallgarten & Company.


1842: In Cincinnati, Ohio, Lamle ‘Lewis’ and Judith Einstein gave birth to Edwin Einstein who was the Congressman from New York’s 7th district from 1879 until 1881.



1844: Birthdate of Sir Benjamin Louis Cohen, Baronet, British businessman and Conservative politician.


1845: Sir George Grey, who hired Samuel Joseph, an Anglo-Jew from London as his interpreter” began serving today as the third Governor of New Zealand.


1847: “After passing the exams of the U.S. Navy’s Medical Department,” 25 year old Phineas Jonathan Horowtiz, a graduate of the University of Maryland and the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, was appointed Assistant Surgeon today after which he was posted to the Gulf Squardron.


1849: Birthdate of Ukrainian native Maximilian Bern, the son of a German physician and husband of Austrian actress Olga Wolbruck who starved to death in post-war Berlin because his novels and other writings did not provide enough money to support himself.


1849: Birthdate of French banker and horse breeder Maurice Ephrussi, the native of Odessa who was part of the “Euphrussi family” and the husband of Beatrice de Rothschild, the daughter of Alphonse de Rothschild


1851: Birthdate of Austrian critic and journalist Anton Bettelheim.


1851: Reverend Henry Giles delivered a lecture before the Mercantile Library Association entitled "The Greek Man: or the Man of Culture" in which he compared the ancient Greeks to the Jews. Among other things he said that "Among men of the higher races, the Hebrew man and the Greek man stand, perhaps, the most in contrast. The spirit of the Hebrew man went upward; the faculties of the Greek man went outward.  In one was the idea of the divine: in the other, the idea of the Human.  The Hebrew man abhorred all image of God; the Greek man had no Got but in an image...The worship of the Hebrew ascended to a single and supreme object; the worship of the Greek went diffusively abroad...The mere form of the Hebrew ritual was eminently ceremonial...the appeal was with a sublime and sacramental meaning of which that of the Greek had nothing...the Hebrew life was developed through faith  and governed by authority.  The Greek life was developed through imagination and was governed by art.



1852: At the Paris Observatory, Hermann Goldschmidt confirmed his observations of November 15 that had led to the discovery of Asteroid 21 Lutetia.


1866: German born, Cincinnati, OH, businessman and civic leader Julius Frieberg and his wife Duffie Frieberg gave birth to their first child, Minnie Frieberg who became Minnie Ranshoff when she married Dr. Joseph Ransofhoff.


1856: In Lancaster, PA, Congregation Shaarai Shomayim was incorporated today with Jacob Herzog serving aas the first president.


1858: At New York’s Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, popularly known as the Greene Street Synagogue, Rabbi Morris Raphall preached a Thanksgiving Day Sermon following the afternoon service based on the words of the Psalmist, “Thank ye the Lord, for He is good; His mercy endureth forever.”  In his sermon, the Rabbi noted that the Governor’s Thanksgiving Proclamation had been written in such a manner that it did not offend the Jews making this a day that fulfilled the words of the Psalm, “How good, how beautiful it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.


1858: A Thanksgiving Day service was held today at Congregation Shearith Israel on Crosby Street.  The service began at 11 a.m. and featured a sermon by Dr. Fischel based on the words of the Psalmist, “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman walketh but in vain.”


1859: Today, the Jewish Chronicle published an advertisement “for a German Lady to teach in her own language and to give instruction in Hebrew”  from a “Ladies’ school” in Dover “where the number of pupils is small and where there are resident French and English Governesses.


1862: During the Civil War, James Goldsmith who go from Corporal to Sergeant during his three year hitch, began his service to with Company H of the 163rdRegiment which was part of the Eighteenth Cavalry


1863:  King Christian IX of Denmark decided to sign the November constitution, which declared Schleswig as part of Denmark, what was seen by the German Confederation as a violation of the London Protocol and lead to the German–Danish war of 1864. If you look at history in the long haul, The Prussian war with the Danes was the first of a series of conflicts ultimately led to the creation of Modern Germany.  In other words, there is a line from war with the Danes, to war with the Austrians, to war with France in 1870, to World War I to World War II and the Holocaust.


1864(19thof Cheshvan, 5625): Jacob Weil the German educator and author from Frankfort-on-the-Main who was the father Professor Henri Weil passed away today.


1869: In New York City, Rabbi James K. Gutheim delivered a Thanksgiving Day sermon at Temple Emanu-El based on Isaiah, XXXV, 17.


1869: A group of dissident members of “Congregations Beaith Israel and Beth Elhoim” in Brooklyn including Jacob Wechsler, S.L. Moses, Simon Sondheim and Abraham L. Bass, all of whom were “sympathetic to the Reform movement” met today and formed Temple Israel which initially held services in rooms rented from the YMCA on the corner of Gallatin Place and Fulton Street.


1871: The British Medical Journal reported today that Henry Behrend was the first Chairman of the Jews’ Deaf and Dumb Home “founded in 1863 by Baroness Mayer de Rothschild as a schoolor where resident Jewish children could learn to speak” and William Van Praggh, “the grandfather of chemist Gordon Van Praggh” was the Director


1873: “Give a Dog a Bad Name” by Anglo-English playwright Leopold Davis Lewis was published today.


1874: Rabbi De Sola Mendes delivered the first in a series of six lectures on Hebrew poetry at the Lyric Hall in Manhattan.


1875: The Cleveland (Ohio) Herald reported that an unnamed young woman living on the city’s west side has canceled her wedding.  The bride assumed that her future husband, a local doctor, was a Roman Catholic.  In fact he is a Jew who regularly attends services at his synagogue.  The young woman sent word that she would not marry him unless he renounced his Judaism; something that he does not appear to be willing to do.


1878: It was reported today that during the recent Congressional elections in Alabama Senator John Tyler Morgan delivered a speech opposing the candidacy of Colonel William Lowe in which he described Charles E. Mayer, the United States District Attorney and a Lowe supporter as being a “Jew dog.” The attack on Mayer resulted in many Jews who had opposed Lowe to support him in his bid for election.  Lowe, who was opposed by the Bourbon Machine, won the election. Morgan was a bigot who sought to pass legislation legalizing lynching an repealing the 15th Amendment. Mayer served as U.S. District Attorney from 1876 through 1870.


1879: Bernard Williams, a Jew born in Poland now living in New Orleans, was one of the witnesses who testified before the Senate Sub-Committee looking into allegations of irregularities regarding the elections held in the Crescent City’s Seventh War in 1876.  Allegations concerning voter fraud were a major issue in the South following the Civil War as the “Bourbons” sought to return to power by disenfranchising newly freed slaves and poor whites who would not support them.


1880(15th of Kislev, 5641): Arthur Lieberman, a Jew who had fled Russia to avoid arrest by the authorities took his own life today in Syracuse, NY.


1883: It was reported today that the Lord Mayor of London has received telegrams from Jews in the United States and Germany congratulating him on his decision to not let Herr Stoeckel, the anti-Semitic German religious leader speak at Mansion House.


1883: It was reported today that Herr Stoeckel, the anti-Semitic German minister, has had numerous offers to speak before sympathetic audiences in London.


1883: “Morris Ranger’s Career” published today traces the rise and fall of this native of Hesse-Cassel who joined the Liverpool Exchange and became the “Napoleon of the Cotton Speculators” before suffering financial reverses in the amount of £10,000,000.


1883: “Gossip of the Theatres” published today contained a clarification issued by Daniel Frohman, the Jewish American theatrical producer, expects “The Strangler” to run for another seven or eight weeks at the New Park Theatre.  This play is a collaborative effort of all three Frohman brothers - Daniel, Charles and Gustave.


1884(30thof Cheshvan, 5645): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1884: It was reported today that the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society for Children is providing lodging for “nearly 400 children who are homeless waifs.”


1884: The Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society for Children sponsored a fund raiser featuring theatrical and dramatic performances by the Thalia Theatre Company


1885: “A New Jewish Platform” published today lists the 8 points of what will become known as the Pittsburgh Platform of Reform Judaism – that group’s controlling document for decades to come.


1885: The Hebrew Asylum Ball was held tonight at the Academy of Music in Brooklyn, NY.


1886: Chester A. Arthur, 21st President of the United States passed away.  Elected as Vice President, Arthur became President after James Garfield was assassinated by a disappointed office seeker.  Arthur was one of the least distinguished personages to occupy the White House. In 1882, when the United States finally ratified the Red Cross treaty, President Arthur appointed Adolphus Simeon Solomons as one of three delegates to represent the country at the Geneva Congress, where he was elected vice-president. Solomons was a successful Washington businessman who played an active role in the secular and Jewish communities


1888: “Searching For Her Husband” published today tells the story of Mrs. Hirschbeck, a Jew from Warsaw who has arrived in Buffalo, NY, her latest stop on a five year quest to find her husband, who is now known as Nathan Cohen.  According to her, he was a dissipated man who deserted her and their five children.


1890: A conference of Protestant clergymen met today at the University of the City of New York where attendees spoke in favor of keeping religion out of the public schools because Roman Catholics and Jews “were partners in the public schools” and “their children were entitled to the benefit of them…without the liability of having” to change “their faith in the religion of their fathers.”  The ministers felt it was the responsibility of churches and homes to provide moral and religious training.


1891: Tonight, in New York, Carnegie Hall will be transformed into an Oriental Bazaar such as those found in Palestine where items will be sold in various “stalls” to raise funds for the Louis Down-Town Sabbath and Daily School.


1891(17th of Cheshvan, 5652): Eighty-three year old Amalia Bamberger passed away today after which she interred at the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation Cemetery.


1892 (28th of Cheshvan, 5653)): Seventy-six year old Hebrew scholar Senior Sachs passed away in Paris.  Born in Russia he was trained in Talmud by his father Rabbi Tzemach Sachs.  After studying in Berlin during the 1840’s he arrived in the French capital in 1856 where he worked as a private librarian and produced several works including Kanfe Yonah


1893: As two more Spanish regiments arrive Mellila to deal with the Rif Berbers “numbers of Jews continue to leave” the Spanish city on the coast of Morocco.


1893: In Morocco, 12 Spanish Jews were each “sentenced to six years’ penal servitude” after a court martial found them guilty of keeping rifles intended for the Riffians in their houses.  (The Riffians were a group of Berbers who were rebelling against their European masters)


1894: In New York, Rabbi Joseph Silverman delivered a talk on “What Is The Attitude of Judaism to Christianity and Other Religions” which is “the first of a series of lectures on ‘Answers to Jewish and Christian Inquirers.”


1894: The Glasgow Herald published a theory propounded by one of its readers “that the Japanese are…descendants of the ten lost tribes” basing “his arguments on linguistic considerations point out that ‘Hiroshima’ has a very strong resemble to the Hebrew word for Jerusalem and that ‘Tokyo’ may be a corruption of ‘Tekoa.’”


1895: It was announced today that “Dr. Ahlwardt, the anti-Semitic leader of Berlin, Germany, is making arrangements to sail for the United States next month to deliver lectures”  at the invitation of “a committee of German Americans in Milwaukee.”  Given his nickname “Jew-baiter” there is little doubt as to the subject matter of the talks.


1896: Fannie and Irving Dittenhoefer married today in New York City.


1896: In Cleveland, Ohio, Micahelis Machol, the Rabbi at the Reform Temple on Scoville Avenue protested “against that portion of President Cleveland’s Thanksgiving proclamation of Christ as the mediator between man and God.”


1896: Following today discussion of the Report of the Committee on Motto and Badge and a report of the Committee on the New Constitution, the delegates at the National Council of Jewish Women changed the name of their organization to the Council of Jewish Woman after Mrs. Mendola de Sola of Canada protested “the use of the word national” following which the delegates then adopted “Faith and Humanity” as their motto.


1897: Auguste Scheurer-Kestner, “who has forced the government to reopen the Dreyfus case did not attend today’s meeting of the Senate so that he could meet with President Faure who told him that “I give you my word of honor that” the documents in the Dreyfus case that have been brought to my notice “contain irrefutable proofs of guilty” and “I beg you to cease this campaign by you are comprising the republic and yourself to no purpose.”


1897: In Little Rock, AR, “Emanuel V. Benjamin and Rachel Goldsmith” gave birth to the New Orleans educated (Isidore Newman School) Harvard graduate Edward Bernard Benjamin, WWI Army officer and husband of Blanche Sternberger, who was a successful businessman and generous philanthropist.


1897: In Albany, Chief Examiner Fowler of the State Civil Commission announced that candidates for the upcoming examination of interpreter for the First Judicial District must be able to interpret several languages including “Hebrew jargon.” (This may a reference to Yiddish)


1897: The Relief Committee of the Board of Guardians is scheduled to meet this afternoon in London.


1898: William Sparger conducted the Sabbath eve service at Temple Emanu-El which was a prelude to a Thanksgiving Service and a celebration of Dr. Guastav Gottheil’s silver anniversary as the Rabbi of New York’s leading Reform congregation.


1898: It was reported today that in New Orleans, “Felix J. Dreyfous and several others were to draw up an ordinance calling for an election in the near future which would give the people an opportunity to vote on the two and one-half mill tax for sewerage and drainage” which led to the upgrade of the sewerage and water systems which was the crowning victory during his tenure as a New Orleans City Councilman.


1898: Following the meeting of Herzl and Kaiser Wilhelm II outside of Jerusalem, the London Daily Mail wrote today that: “An Eastern Surprise Important Result of the Kaiser’s Tour Sultan and Emperor Agreed in Palestine Benevolent Sanction Given to the Zionist Movement One of the most important results, if not the most important, of the Kaiser’s visit to Palestine is the immense impetus it has given to Zionism, the movement for the return of the Jews to Palestine. The gain to this cause is the greater since it is immediate, but perhaps more important still is the wide political influence which this Imperial action is like to have. It has not been generally reported that when the Kaiser visited Constantinople Dr. Herzl, the head of the Zionist movement, was there; again when the Kaiser entered Jerusalem he found Dr. Herzl there. These were no mere coincidences, but the visible signs of accomplished facts.” Reverend William Henry Hechler, an Anglican clergyman who supported the Jewish return to Palestine, was instrumental in arranging the meeting between the Zionist leader and the German monarch.


1899: Birthdate of Conductor Eugene Ormandy. Born in Budapest, Hungary, Ormandy was a child prodigy.  He began playing the violin at the age of 4 and entered the Royal Academy at the age of 5.  Ormandy’s father dreamed of his son becoming a great violinist.  So he was disappointed when Ormandy pursued a career that would lead him to become one of the world’s greatest conductors.  For most of his career, Ormandy was the conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra.  This was no small accomplishment since he was following in the footsteps of the world-renowned Arturo Toscanini.   He passed away in 1985.


1899: “Notes and News” published today described the decision of Harper & Brothers to published a second edition of The Jewish Question and the Mission of the Jews  which include “much additional material” including an article on Captain Dreyfus. Originally published anonymously, the second edition will included the name of the author, Dr. Charles Waldstein, Slade Professor of Fine Arts at Cambridge, an American born Jew who graduated from Columbia.


1901: Birthdate of leading musician Lillian Fuchs who often performed with brothers, violinist Joseph Fuchs and cellist Harry Fuchs.



1905: “A tract of eighteen acres” was purchased for new buildings at the Hebrew Union College.


1905: Cyrus L. Sulzberger, Secretary of the fund being raised by the National Relief Committee said this afternoon that “if the subscriptions now in the mail equal in volume those of the last few days we out by tomorrow night have $500,000 to apply to the relief of the sufferers from the massacres in Russia.”


1905: A letter published in Paris from a Frenchwoman in Odessa gave “a graphic description of the Jewish massacres” in which she estimated the dead at 8,000 and the wounded at 12,000.


1905: “Arnold Kohn, Vice President of the State Bank on Grand Street, near Norfolk Street announced” today” that the total amount of money received at the bank for the last six days for the aid of the sufferers from the Russian massacres was $13, 359.38.”


1905: Nineteen year old Isaac Gillman and his twenty year old sister Rebecca who came to the United States two years ago gave their bankbook which showed a balance of one hundred dollars to Arnold Kohn and “asked him to see that their mother and father who are in Odessa received the money so that they might come to America.


1905: As of today a grand total of $369, 870.04 has been raised to for the relief of the Jews suffering from the massacres in Russia.


1905: “The Russian Jews” published today provides a review of The Russian Jew In The United States edited by Dr. Charles S. Bernheimer which “is a compilation by many hand that undertakes to show what the Russian Jews have been doing and are doing in America…”


1905: “25,000 Jew Murdered” published today described “a cablegram that Clarence I. De Sola, President of the Zionist movement in Canada has received from General President Wolssohn of Odessa” stating “that 25,000 Jews have been murdered and 100,000 wounded in the recent outrages in Russia.”


1906: Birthdate of German novelist Klaus Mann.  Klaus Mann was the son of Thomas Mann and Katia Pringsheimz.  Pringshmeimz was Jewish which according to Halachah means Kalus Mann was Jewish as well. He was also part of the unit known as “Ritchie Boys.”


1906: Birthdate of biologist George Wald, American biochemist who received (with Haldan K. Hartline of the U.S. and Ragnar Granit of Sweden) the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1967 for his work on the chemistry of vision


1906: In Brooklyn, Leopold Wintner, the Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Beth Elohim and Canto Leon Kourick officiated at the funeral of Raphael Benjamin the Rabbi of Beth Elhoim who was the subject of the eulogy delivered by Rabbi Joseph Silverman of Temple Beth Emmanuel in Manhattan.


1907: Birthdate of Martin John Gilman, a relative of the Jewish pioneer who founded his native Gilman, CT who played basketball for the University of Connecticut Huskies in the mid-1920’s.


1907: A Memphis, The Tennessee Volunteers coached by Izzy Levene defeated the football team from the University of Arkansas.


1908: In Warsaw, Hebrew education and Zionist Yechiel Heilperin and his wife gave birth to Uriel Heilprin who went to Palestine in 1921 where he changed his last name to Shelah but was better known by his nom de plume Yonatan Ratosh under which name he was awarded the Prime Minister’s Prize for his literary accomplishments.


1912: In Baltimore, MD, Rabbi Charles A. Rubenstein officiated at the funeral of Felix Graetz, who had been a patient at the Jewish Home for the Consumptive and was “the son of the late Professor Heinrich Graetz,” the author of the multi-volume History of the Jews and the brother of Professor Leo Graetz.


1914: In Far Rockaway, NY Rabbi Stephen S. Wise addressed a group of orthodox and reform Jews at meeting at Temple Israel where $3,000 was raised to provide “relief for the Jews of Palestine.”


1914: The Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering Through the War announced today that as of today it had raised $19,463.


1915: “Turkey Is Offering Advantages To Jews” published today quotes the offer being extended to Jews which will give them “the advantages and exemptions” that “during the last century the Ottoman Government has accorded to Mohammedan immigrants come to Turkey from Russia, Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Bosnia including “the acquisition of Ottoman nationality” as well as “immunity for a certain period of time, from payment of taxes and military.”


1915: Forty-four year old Abraham Ber Goldenson, the Lithuanian born St. Louis Rabbi “became a naturalized United States citizen” today.


1915: In his address about the World War entitled “Democracy vs. Sovereignty” Darwin P. Kingsley note that in this war nationalism has overridden all other considerations so that “Christians are fights Christians; Jews are killing Jews; Moslems are against Moslems; whites are murdering whites; men of color are fighting their own kind.”


1916: The Battle of the Somme, an exercise in futility and stupidity that was a hallmark of the British General Staff which is brilliantly described in The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War by Sir Martin Gilbert, came to an end today.


1916: Today, Jewish leaders in New York City took a great deal of interest in “a dispatch to the New York Times from its Berlin correspondent describing the promise of freedom in religion and in civil life to the Jews of Poland and telling of the enthusiasm with which Polish Jews had received this news.”


1916: Dr. S.M. Melamed, the editor of The American Jewish Chronicle announced today plans for a national loan for the Jews of Europe that differed from that proposed by Rabbi Judah L. Magnes because among other things it would charge interest – a fact that Melamed said “would create a sense of self-interest and responsibility that would be an uplift in the work of reconstruction in Russia and Poland.”


1917: At a time when Reform Judaism is trying to observe Shabbat on Sunday, Dr. Emil G. Hirsch is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “Philanthropy and Religion” at Sinai Temple in Chicago.


1917: Rabbi Joseph Stolz is scheduled to conduct services this morning “with the co-operation of the Isaiah Junior Congregation and Religious School where he will deliver a sermon on “And the Elder Shall Serve the Younger.”


1917: In Chicago the “Zion Congregation and the Woman’s Society” are scheduled to “give a reception and entertainment in honor of their new members” this evening that will feature a performance of “The Burden” by the Sinai Center Players.


1917: In the hope of ensuring that the Ottoman army had little time to regroup or construct defenses which, given more time, might prove impregnable, while Allenby was at the British XXI Corps headquarters at El Kastine,  the decision was made to closely follow the Ottoman Seventh Army into the Judean Hills.


1917: Saul J. Cohn is scheduled to speak on “What the recent British Declaration Means to the Jews” before the Harlem Forum at Wadleigh High School this morning.


1917: “Denouncing a false reports in the European and American newspapers that Jews were leading and support the Bolshevik movement in Russia, Herman Bernstein, in an address before the Institutional Synagogue…declared” today “that the attempt to associate the Jews with the Bolsheviki was merely another expression of anti-Semitic propaganda.”


1917: Yale University Professor William Lyon Phelps is scheduled to speak on “The Drama of Today” at this morning’s service at the Free Synagogue in Carnegie Hall.


1917: This evening, Henri La Fotanine is scheduled to speak on “The Case for Belgium” at the Sunday Evening Forum of the Free Synagogue.


1917: This evening, “three orphan boys who are wards of the Hebrew National Orphan House” are scheduled to the guests of honor “at a dinner arranged by the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the House at Beethoven Hall.”


1917: The 75th Division with the Australian and Yeomanry Mounted Divisions began their entry into the Judean Hills with the objective of capturing and securing the heights on either side of the main Jaffa to Jerusalem road at Amwas, so the 75th Division could advance up the road and into the Judean Hills


1917: The American Jewish Congress” which is to work “for the attainment of full rights for the Jewish people in all lands where such rights are denied them and which is to work for the economic reconstruction of the Jewish communities in the war zones after the war is over” which was originally supposed to meet on September 2 is scheduled to open today in Washington, D.C


1917: Eleven young men in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded Sigma Alpha Rho(ΣAP)  the oldest, continuously run, independent Jewish High School Fraternity.


1919(25th of Cheshvan, 5680): Sixty year old German mathematician Adolf Hurwitz, the husband of Ida Samuel who helped develop the Routh-Hurwitz stability criterion (which I do not pretend to understand) passed away today in Zurich


1920: In Louisville, KY, The Young Men’s Hebrew three day fund raising driving which has a goal of $50,000 is scheduled to come to an end today.


1921: “President Warren Harding gave Rabbi Simon Glazer of Kansas City, Kansas, executive permission to adopt five children who are now in Romania.” Glazer already has five children of his own.  The orphans lost their mother in one of the Ukrainian massacres last year and their father died in the United States.  If it had not been for President Harding’s intervention, current immigration restrictions would have kept the rabbi from bringing the youngsters to the United States.


1921(17th of Cheshvan): Fifty-six year old journalist and author Micha Josef Berdyczewski passed away in Berlin.  Born in Russia, the son of a Rabbi, he wrote in Hebrew, Yiddish and German. Sdot Micha, the moshav founded in 1955, was named in his honor


1922:  Fifty-one year old Marcel Proust passed away. “Marcel Proust was the son of a Christian father and a Jewish mother. He himself was baptized (on August 5, 1871, at the church of Saint-Louis d'Antin) and later confirmed as a Catholic, but he never practiced that faith and as an adult could best be described as a mystical atheist, someone imbued with spirituality who nonetheless did not believe in a personal God, much less in a savior. Although Jews trace their religion through their mothers, Proust never considered himself Jewish and even became vexed when a newspaper article listed him as a Jewish author. His father once warned him not to stay in a certain hotel since there were "too many" Jewish guests there, and, to be sure, in Remembrance of Things Past there are unflattering caricatures of the members of one Jewish family, the Blochs. Jews were still considered exotic, even "oriental," in France; in 1872 there were only eighty-six thousand Jews in the whole country. In a typically offensive passage Proust writes that in a French drawing room "a Jew making his entry as though he were emerging from the desert, his body crouching like a hyena's, his neck thrust forward, offering profound `salaams,' completely satisfies a certain taste for the oriental." Proust never refers to his Jewish origins in his fiction, although in the youthful novel he abandoned, Jean Santeuil (first published only in 1952, thirty years after his death), there is a very striking, if buried, reference to Judaism. The autobiographical hero has quarreled with his parents and in his rage deliberately smashed a piece of delicate Venetian glass his mother had given him. When he and his mother are reconciled, he tells her what he has done: "He expected that she would scold him, and so revive in his mind the memory of their quarrel. But there was no cloud upon her tenderness. She gave him a kiss, and whispered in his ear: `It shall be, as in the Temple, the symbol of an indestructible union.'" This reference to the rite of smashing a glass during the Orthodox Jewish wedding ceremony, in this case sealing the marriage of mother to son, is not only spontaneous but chilling. In an essay about his mother he referred, with characteristic ambiguity, to "the beautiful lines of her Jewish face, completely marked with Christian sweetness and Jansenist resignation, turning her into Esther herself"--a reference, significantly, to the heroine of the Old Testament (and of Racine's play), who concealed her Jewish identity until she had become the wife of King Ahasuerus and was in a position to save her people. The apparently gentile Proust, who had campaigned for Dreyfus and had been baptized Catholic, was a sort of modern Esther. Despite Proust's silences and lapses on the subject of his mother's religion, it would be unfair, especially in light of the rampant anti-Semitism of turn-of-the-century France, to say that he was unique or even extreme in his prejudice against Jews. And yet his anti-Semitism is more than curious, given his love for his mother and given, after her death, something very much like a religious cult that he developed around her. His mother, out of respect for her parents, had remained faithful to their religion, and Proust revered her and her relatives; after her death he regretted that he was too ill to visit her grave and the graves of her parents and uncle in the Jewish cemetery and to mark each visit with a stone. More important, although he had many friends among the aristocracy whom he had assiduously cultivated, nevertheless when he was forced to take sides during the Dreyfus Affair, which had begun in 1894 and erupted in 1898, he chose to sign a petition prominently printed in a newspaper calling for a retrial. The Dreyfus Affair is worth a short detour, since it split French society for many years and it became a major topic in proust's life--and in Remembrance of Things Past. Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935) was a Jew and a captain in the French army. In December 1894 he was condemned by a military court for having sold military secrets to the Germans and was sent for life to Devil's Island. The accusation was based on the evidence of a memorandum stolen from the German embassy in Paris (despite the fact that the writing did not resemble Dreyfus's) and of a dossier (which was kept classified and secret) handed over to the military court by the minister of war. In 1896 another French soldier, Major Georges Picquart, proved that the memorandum had been written not by Dreyfus but by a certain Major Marie Charles Esterhazy. Yet Esterhazy was acquitted and Picquart was imprisoned. Instantly a large part of the population called for a retrial of Dreyfus. On January 13, 1898, the writer Emile Zola published an open letter, "J'accuse," directed against the army's general staff; Zola was tried and found guilty of besmirching the reputation of the army. He was forced to flee to England. Then in September 1898 it was proved that the only piece of evidence against Dreyfus in the secret military dossier had been faked by Joseph Henry, who confessed his misdeed and committed suicide. At last the government ordered a retrial of Dreyfus. Public opinion was bitterly divided between the leftist Dreyfusards, who demanded "justice and truth," and the anti-Dreyfusards, who led an anti-Semitic campaign, defended the honor of the army, and rejected the call for a retrial. The conflict led to a virtual civil war. In 1899 Dreyfus was found guilty again, although this time under extenuating circumstances--and the president pardoned him. Only in 1906 was Dreyfus fully rehabilitated, named an officer once again, and decorated with the Legion of Honor. Interestingly, Theodor Herzl, the Paris correspondent for a Viennese newspaper, was so overwhelmed by the virulent anti-Semitism of the Dreyfus Affair that he was inspired by the prophetic idea of a Jewish state. In defending Dreyfus, Proust not only angered conservative, Catholic, pro-army aristocrats, but he also alienated his own father. In writing about the 1890s in Remembrance of Things Past, Proust remarks that "the Dreyfus case was shortly to relegate the Jews to the lowest rung of the social ladder." Typically, the ultraconservative Gustave Schlumberger, a great Byzantine scholar, could give in his posthumous memoirs as offensive a description of his old friend Charles Haas (a model for Proust's character Swann) as this: "The delightful Charles Haas, the most likeable and glittering socialite, the best of friends, had nothing Jewish about him except his origins and was not afflicted, as far as I know, with any of the faults of his race, which makes him an exception virtually unique." It would be misleading to suggest that Proust took his controversial, pro-Dreyfus stand simply because he was half-Jewish. No, he was only obeying the dictates of his conscience, even though he lost many highborn Catholic friends by doing so and exposed himself to the snide anti-Semitic accusation of merely automatically siding with his co-religionists.”




1922: Die Zaubernacht (The Magic Night), a children’s pantomime by Kurt Weil premiered at the Theater am Kurfürstendamm;


1926: In Cleveland, Barnett Brickner, the Rabbi at Anshe Chesed and Rebecca Ena Aaronson gave birth to Arthur James Balfour Brickner who gained fame as Rabbi Balfour Brickner the founder of Washington, D.C. Temple Sinai, one of the city’s leading Reform congregation whose members included Dr. Jack and Ada Levine and their three children – Judy, Dale and Nancy.”



1926: In Manchester, UK, Nelly Ades and Abraham Sciama, both of whose families “traced their roots back to the ancient Jewish community of Aleppo, gave girth to physicist Dennis William Siahous Sciama



1927: Birthdate of Chicagoan Paul Silverberg, the son of teacher and writer Viola Spolin who gained fame as Paul Sills the “founding director of The Second City. (As reported by Campbell Robertson_



1927: In Breslau, Germany, Hans Hubert Pinkus, the son of Max and Hedwig Pinkus and Charlotte Pinkus gave birth to Freda Maria (Freddie) Pinkus and Johanna Hedwig (Jonnie) Pinkus


1927: Humphrey Bogart divorced his first wife, the Jewish actress Helen Menken.  (Bogart’s fourth and final wife would also be Jewish)


1928: WABC is scheduled to broadcast the thirty minute “Jewish Program” at 9:30 p.m.


1928: In his sermon this morning at the Motefiore Congregation in the Bronx, Rabbi Jacob Katz declared that “America is the first country to give the Jews an opportunity to change their religion for the better” which stood in stark contrast to past times when “persecution led the Jew to submit to death rather than to transgress his faith.”


1929: Featherweight Harry Blitman fought his 51st bout today, suffering only his third loss at the Arena in Philadelphia, PA.


1929: According to the report of the Palestine Committee presented at today’s meeting of Hadassah held in Atlantic City, NJ, “the outstanding event in Palestine heal work this year has been the completion an formal opening of the Nathan and Lina Straus health center in Jerusalem.”


1933: “Roberta,” a musical with a score by Jerome Kern opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre for the first of 295 performances.


1936: It was reported today that the police did not intervene when Jewish students were attacked by anti-Semitic and fascist mobs after they refused to leave their classes at the University of Budapest.


1936: Two weeks after meeting with Hitler, Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber, the archbishop of Munich, “met with leading members of the German hierarchy of cardinals to ask them to warn their parishioners against the errors of communism.”


1937: Establishment of military courts in Palestine to try civilians. 


1937: The Palestine Post reported that a Jewish farmer, Yehuda Shpanov, was shot in Afula and died four hours later in the local hospital, where his wife was awaiting the birth of their child. An official amendment held that "no judgment over the proceedings of the Military Court shall be called in question or challenged in any manner whatever by or before any other Court."


1937:  The Palestine Post reported that in Hamburg a baptized Jew, Dr. Theodor Wohlfahrt, was sentenced to 10 years penal servitude for having married a gentile and claiming in a German court that it was his right to do so.


1938: Hitler recalls Hans Heinrich Dieckhoff, German ambassador to the United States, after President Franklin Roosevelt recalled the U.S. ambassador to Germany as part of America’s protest against Kristallnacht.


1938: The American Virgin Islands Assembly offers the islands as a haven for Jewish refugees. The American government does not explore this possibility.


1939: Hans Frank, the governor-general of Occupied Poland, reiterates Reinhard Heydrich's order of September 21 regarding the establishment of Judenräte in Jewish ghettos.


1939: The Nazis ordered the Jews of Cracow to wear a Star of David.


1939: In Lodz, German-occupied Poland today, the German administrator issued a decree stating that “any Jew leaving his home without a special permit between 5 P.M. and 8 A.M. may be punished by death” and “also made punishable by death the failure of any Jew, irrespective of age or sex to wear a yellow armband. In case of extenuating circumstance, a money fine of unlimited sixe or imprisonment or both may be adjudged.”


1939: At Michie Stadium at West Point, NY Penn State led by their Team Captain Spike Alter defeated the team of the United States Military Academy.


1939(6thof Kislev, 5700): Sixty-seven year old Dr. Jacob Itzhak Niemirower  a supporter of Zionism and the first Chief Rabbi of Romanian Jewry passed away today in Bucharest.


1941: J.D. Salinger “wrote to a young woman in Toronto,” Marjorie Sheard, “to look for a new piece of his in a coming issue of The New Yorker” which he described as “the first Holden story.” (As reported by Dave Itzkoff


1941: Friedrich Jeckeln, the SS General who developed the 8 point Jecklin System for murdering Jews was searching for the right place to slaughter of the Jews of Riga when he saw Rumbula for the first time.


1942:  Birthdate of pianist Jeffrey Siegel.


1942(9thof Kislev, 5703): Seventy-six year old Miltron Kraus, a native of Kokomo, Indiana who organized a company of volunteers for the Spanish-American War and served in the 65th, 66th and 67th Congresses passed away today in Wabash, Indiana after which he was buried in Peru, Indiana.


1942: As part of the Holocaust German SS carry out a selection of Jewish ghetto in Lviv in the western Ukraine arresting 5.000 "unproductive Jews". All get deported to Belzec death camp.


1943: In an attempt to hide the Holocaust from the westward moving Soviet Army, 300 Jews at Borki were told  that they were to dig up the trenches of 30,000 dead humans in Borki and then burn them all. One thousand bodies were placed on each pyre. The bones were ground to dust and taken away. The graves were emptied, disinfected, filled with earth and grass was planted over them.


1943: During the Holocaust, as part of Aktion Emtefest, the Nazis liquidate Janowska concentration camp in Lviv, western Ukraine, murdering at least 6.000 surviving Jews. The German SS leader Fritz Katzman declares Lviv (Lemberg) to be Judenfrei(free from the Jews).


1944(2nd of Kislev, 5705): Thirty nine year old  Enzo Serini, Havivah Reik, Raffi Reiss and Zvi Ben Ya'acov who were all Jews from Palestine who had parachuted behind German lines were murdered today at Dachau.


1944(2nd of Kislev, 5705): Alfred B. Nietzel died valiantly today during the Battle of Hurtgen Forest providing covering fire for his comrades “during an enemy advance threatening to overrun his position” – an action that would earn him the Distinguished Service Cross and the Medal of Honor.



1945: “The premiere performance of Nathaniel Shilkret’s “Genesis Suite” took place today at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles.


1945:At Zionist Organization of America meeting, Dr. Abba Hillel Silver is elected to succeed Dr. Israel Goldstein as president. A proposal is made to allow the Jewish National Fund of America to buy 500,000 acres of land in Palestine in defiance of British land transfer regulations. A budget is approved for immigration and settlement.


1945: In the wake of the latest British statements about Palestine it was reported today that “It was apparent that some sort of compromise will have to be forthcoming from outside Palestine as there is little possibility of the Arabs and Jews getting together on anything so far proposed.” (Editor’s Note – what was written in 1945 sounds as if it could have been written in 2012)


1945: Twenty eight year old basketball player Jule Rivlin, the future coach of Marshall University, married Esther Komesar, a union that lasted until his death in 2002 and produced “5 children, 1 son, Jerry and 4 daughters, Randy, Sherryl, Susan and Felicia.”


1945: Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization, says British foreign minister Ernest Bevin cannot divide Zionists and other Jewish People.


1946: Police and Jewish citizens clash in Tel Aviv


1946: “A Flag is Born” opened at the Broadway Theatre.


1947: “Stern Gang Hints at Truce” published today examined the possibility of “a respite from violence in Palestine” should among other things Lehi make good on its announcement to the press that it was “ready to resume its truce pledge.”


1947: Birthdate of Peter Shurman, the native of Ontario who went from being a radio talk show host to a career in politics as member of the Progressive Conservative Party.


1947: Birthdate of Michel-Jean Hamburger, a very successful French singer and songwriter of Jewish origin.


1947: “Lewis Neikrug, the director general for Europe of the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society” who “was among the 400 passengers who sailed from Pier 88, North River, for Europe on the French liner De Grasse” said that “the projected partitioning of Palestine can ease considerably the problem of displaced persons of Europe.”


1947: British editor James Caunt was reported today to have expressed his belief that the accusations of seditious libel that had been filed after his assertions that anti-British propaganda “was financed by American Jews and “that if British Jews were really concerned by the shooting of British boys in Palestine they should ‘disgorge their ill-gotten wealth in try to dissuade their brothers in the United States from pour out dollars to facilitate the entrance into Palestine of European Jewish scum’” were politically motivated by those who believe that “anyone who criticizes the Jews must be a Fascist.”


1948:British state minister Hector McNeil offers the Political Committee a resolution calling for permanent settlement based on Bernadotte plan. Israel proposes compromise: it will withdraw all troops who arrived in Israel after October 14; troops who arrived before October 14 will stay to ensure that area does not fall to Egypt. Israel announces it is ready to begin armistice with Arabs.


1949:UN Economic Survey Mission for the Middle East proposes after a three-month study that the General Assembly set up program of relief and public works in various Arab countries for 652,000 Arab refugees from Palestine. No comparable fund would be suggested for providing aid to Israel when Jewish populations of Arab and Moslem countries were forced to flee from their homes.


1950: The CCNY football team played its last game today at Lewisohn Stadium name for “financier and philanthropist Adolph Lewisohn” who “donated the money for the combination athletic facility and amphitheater which opened in 1915 and fell victim to the wrecking ball in 1973.


1950: After 742 performances at the Morosco Theater, the curtain came down on the original Broadway production of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.”


1951: In Tel Aviv, second generation architect Yaakov Rechter and his first wife, Sara Safir gave birth to Israeli musical artist Yoni Rechtet, the stepson of Israeli actress Hanna Meron.


1951: Birthdate of David “Dudu” Fisher, the native of Petah Tivka who pursued a decade’s long career as a cantor before appearing as “Jean Valjean in the musical Les Miserables.”


1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that observers noted Arab protests over the German-Israeli Reparation Agreement were meant only to extort more trade and imports from their countries to Germany.


1952(30thof Cheshvan, 5713): Seventy-seven year old John Parker an English Jew who was the “editor of reference works” passed away today.


1953: As he eight years as New York City comptroller were coming to an end, Lazarus Joseph was quoted by the New York Times as warning the citizenry “"that it is easy to borrow, but the reckoning always must be met in the expense budget, and by the taxpayer” – words that seemed to be prophetic when the city went bankrupt in the 1970’s.


1954: Terence William Leighton MacDermot began serving as Canada’s Ambassador to Israel.


1954: “The Last Time I Saw Paris” a romantic company directed by Richard Brooks who wrote the screenplay along with Julius and Philip Epstein, filmed by cinematographer Joseph Rutten with a theme song by  composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II was released in the United States today by MGM,


1955(3rd of Kislev, 5716): Sixty-five year old chess master Solomon Rosenthal passed away today.


1956: After finally winning their second game of the season last Sunday, Sid Gillman’s Los Angeles Rams returned to their losing ways by dropping a game to the Chicago Bears.


1956: In case of “Jew on Jew,” Alfred Kazin reviews Saul Bellow’s most recent book, Seize the Day.


1958: The Assistant United States Attorney that the $4,790.44 that Charles A. Levine still owed the government as part of a $5,000 fine levied after he was convicted of smuggling in 1937 was not collectible.


1958: “I Want to Live!” a dark film that raises questions about capital punishment co-starring Theodore Bikel and with a theme-song by Johnny Mandel was released today in the United States.


1958: Jerusalem's new reservoir was opened ending a long history of water problems that made Jerusalem more vulnerable to siege.  Water for Jerusalem had been a challenge going all the way back to Biblical times.  Remember the story of how David took the city in the first place.  Fear of siege was not paranoia for the Israelis.  The Jews had nearly lost the city ten years earlier when the Jordanian Army (the Arab Legion) laid siege to it during the War for Independence.


1959(17thof Cheshvan, 5720): Sixty-one year old Arkady Shaiket, who like Robert Capa and Joe Rosenthal was another Jewish photojournalist who provided iconic WW II photographs



1959: “A Summer Place” a movie version of the novel with the same name contains “a memorable instrumental theme composed by Max Steiner, which spent nine weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1960” was released the United States today.


1959: William Wyler’s film Ben-Hur premieres at Loew's Theater in New York City. William Wyler was Jewish.  Judah Ben Hur was also Jewish.


1959: Opening of the Sephardic Bibliographical Exhibition in Madrid, Spain.  The Exhibition was in conjunction with the World Sephardi Federation, Arias Montano Institute, the faculty of Philosophy of the Madrid University as well as the Royal Academy of Spanish Language. The Exhibition demonstrated rare Sephardic documents, books, maps and material showing the life of Jews in Spain up to 1492.


1961: “The Gay Life,” a musical based on the plays of Arthur Schnitzler “with a book by Fay and Michael Kanin,” “music by Arthur Schwartz,” directed by Gerald Freeman and featuring Jules Munshin opened today on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre.


1962: Niels Henrik David Bohr passed away. “Bohr was a Danish physicist, born in Copenhagen, who was the first to apply the quantum theory, which restricts the energy of a system to certain discrete values, to the problem of atomic and molecular structure. For this work he received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1922. He developed the so-called Bohr Theory of the atom and liquid model of the nucleus. Bohr was of Jewish origin and when the Nazis occupied Denmark he escaped in 1943 to Sweden on a fishing boat. From there he was flown to England where he began to work on the project to make a nuclear fission bomb. After a few months he went with the British research team to Los Alamos in the USA where they continued work on the project.”


1962: “Some 1, 000 persons attended a special service at Temple Emanuel here today, marking the 30th year in the rabbinate of Dr. Nathan A. Perilman, rabbi of the temple, the largest house of Jewish worship in the world. The service observed the 30th year of Dr. Perilman’s affiliation with the Temple.”


1964: In London, UK, Neil Simon’s “Little Me” opened at the Cambridge Theatre.


1964: NBC broadcast “The Hanged Man” directed by Don Siegel, co-starring Norman Fell and featuring Stan Getz who also wrote the music for the first time.


1966: Sandy Koufax announces his retirement, due to an arthritic left elbow


1968(27thof Cheshvan, 5729): Seventy-four year old movie producer Walter Wagner who was responsible for the 1963 big screen epic “Cleopatra” based away today.




1969: “The Arrangement” the movie version of the novel with the same name starring Kirk Douglas and featuring Harold Gould with a score by David Amram was released in the United States today by Warner Bros.


1971(30th of Cheshvan, 5732): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1971: ITV broadcast the “The Best Laid Plans, the last episode of “The Lovers” a British sitcom created by Jack Rosenthal who also served as the writer and director.


1973: “David Ben-Gurion suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, and was taken to Sheba Medical Center in Tel HaShomer, Ramat Gan.”


1973: Sixty year old Sir Gerald David Nunes Nabarro, the scion of a prominent of Sephardi family who converted to Christianity passed away today.


1973: Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis delivered a speech today at Madison Square Garden that led to the formation of “Hineni,” “one of the first Ba’al Teshuva movements.


1974: An analytical report compiled by refuseniks M. Agursky, A.  Luntz, V. Davidov, V. Rubin, D. Beilin, A. Voronel, A. Sharansky, V. Slepak, A. Lerner was transferred to the West. The report was submitted to the administration of President Ford on the eve of the summit between Ford and Brezhnev in Vladivostok.


1975: “Alexander Silnitsky, a 23 year old student from Krasnodar, was sentenced to three years imprisonment on charges of draft evasion.”


1976(25thof Cheshvan, 5737): Sixty-six year old “Louis G. Cowan the former President of CBS” and his wife 63 year old Pauline Cowan were killed today when “a fire swept through their apartment in the Westbury Hotel.”



1976(25th of Cheshvan, 5737): Eighty-six year old American born artist Man Ray passed away in Paris.




1976: Refuseniks held a sit-in demonstration at the Supreme Court demanding an answer to a letter filed by them a month earlier. In the evening, participants were detained, taken into the woods and released.


1977: Seventy-nine year old Kurt Schuschnigg the Austrian chancellor who opposed Hitler’s annexation of his country and spent the war in two different concentration camps passed away today.


1977: Longtime feminist activist and U.S. Representative Bella Abzug presided over the first federally funded National Women's Conference.


1977: The Jerusalem Postreported that 60 Egyptians and 2,000 journalists arrived in order to prepare the historic visit of the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to Israel. Chaim Herzog, the Israeli Ambassador to the UN, suggested that the General Assembly suspend the "acrimonious and counterproductive" debate on Palestine in order to be able to consider this historic event. It was also reported that Sadat¹s visit was partly prompted by a question that the Post¹s US correspondent, Wolf Blitzer, had asked Sadat in Washington last April.


1978(18th of Cheshvan, 5739): Judge Leo Frederick Rayfiel passed away.  Born in 1888 to immigrant parents in Brooklyn, he was a graduate of New York University Law School.  He was a member of the New York State Assembly and served two terms as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives before being appointed to the federal bench by President Harry S. Truman in 1947. Rayfiel was a voracious reader and die-hard Dodgers fan until the team left Brooklyn.


1983(12thof Kislev, 5744): Eight-three actor Marcel Dalio passed away today.



1983(12thof Kislev, 5744): Ninety-one year old publisher, George B. Eisler passed away today.



1986: “An extended version of” Billy Joel’s “Big Man on Mulberry Street was used today on an episode of Moonlighting”


1988: In Tel Aviv, Orly Silbersatz and Yuval Banay gave birth to singer and guitarist Elisha Banai, older brother of Amalia and Sophie Banai and the grandson of another Israeli performer Yossi Banai.


1988: In New York City, Wendy Wasserstein’s “The Heidi Chronicles” premiered at the Playwrights Horizon.


1990(1st of Kislev, 5751): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1990: The third Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof opened today at the Gershwin Theater. It ran for 241 performances at the George Gershwin Theatre. Topol starred as Tevye, and Marcia Lewis was Golde. Robbins' production was reproduced by Ruth Mitchell and choreographer Sammy Dallas Bayes. The production won the Tony Award for Best Revival.


1991(11thof Kislev, 5752): Eighty-three year old French Marxist Claude Cahen who has been described as “the  doyen of Islamic social history and one of the most influential Islamic historians of [his] century” and who “neither self-identified as Jewish nor supported the State of Israel” passed away today.


1993(4thof Kislev, 5754): Ninety-three year old German born American character Fritz Feld passed away today.



1999: The 1999 Trophée Lalique, a figure skating competition held in Paris, in which Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovski represented Israel in the ice dancing competition opened today.


2000(3rd of Kislev, 5762):St.-Sgt. Baruch (Snir) Flum, 21, of Tel-Aviv was shot and killed by a senior Palestinian Preventive Security Service officer who infiltrated the Kfar Darom greenhouses in the Gaza Strip.


2001: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including The Complete Works of Isaac Babel:  Edited by Nathalie Babel, Translated by Peter Constantine. Introduction by Cynthia Ozick, Somewhere For Me:
A Biography of Richard Rodgers
by Meryle Secrest, Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions by Martha C. Nussbaum, Interrogations: The Nazi Elite in Allied Hands, 1945by Richard Overy and I’m Not Bobby by Jules Feiffer.


2002(13th of Kislev, 5763) Esther Galia, 48, of Kochav Hashahar, was killed in a shooting attack near Rimonim, on the Allon Road, some 15 kilometers northeast of Ramallah


2002: During the investigation of Jack Abramoff’s business activities in Guam a grand jury issued a subpoena demanding that the administrator of the Guam Superior Court release all records relating to the contract.


2002: “U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson of Montgomery, Alabama, orders the removal of Roy Moore's Ten Commandments monument, finding that it violated the constitution's ban on government establishment of religion.”


2003(23rd of Cheshvan, 5764: Fifty-five year old Grammy award winning musician Michael Kamen passes away. While studying the oboe, he formed a rock classical fusion band called New York Rock & Roll Ensemble, which was on the first of Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts with the New York Philharmonic.




2003(23rd of Cheshvan, 5764): Two IDF soldiers, Sgt.-Maj. Shlomi Belsky, 23, of Haifa, and St.-Sgt. Shaul Lahav, 20, of Kibbutz Shomrat, were killed by a Palestinian terrorist who opened fire with an AK-47 assault rifle, hidden in a prayer rug, at a checkpoint on the tunnel bypass road, linking Jerusalem and the Gush Etzion bloc. The Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.


2004(5th of Kislev, 5765): Cy Coleman,American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist passed away.  Born Seymour Kaufman, to Jewish immigrant parents, Coleman won or was nominated for 15 Tony Awards, 3 Emmy Awards and 2 Grammy Awards. (As reported by Robert Berkvist)



2005(15th of Cheshvan, 5766): Harold J. Stone passed away. Born Harold Hochstein to a Jewish acting family in 1913, Stone practiced his craft on Broadway, in film and finally in television where he gained respect and a form of fame as “a character actor.” 



2005: The Jerusalem Post reported that Pope Benedict XVI responded positively to an invitation extended to him by President Moshe Katsav when the two met at the Vatican. 


2006: Some eight thousand people gathered near Germany's biggest World War II soldiers’ cemetery to protest against far-right extremism.


2006(27th of Cheshvan, 5767: Jack Werber passed away at the age of 92.  He was a Holocaust survivor who helped save more than 700 children at Buchenwald slave labor camp.  He gained economic success in the mid-fifties by manufacturing coonskin caps during the Davey Crockett craze.


2007: The SundayWashington Post book section featured a review of The Conscience of a Liberal by Jewish economist Paul Krugman


2007: The Sunday New York Times book section featured reviews of three books about or by comedian Woody Allen including, Conversations with Woody Allen: His Films, the Movies, and Moviemaking by Eric Lax, Mere Anarchy by Woody Allen and The Insanity Defense: The Complete Proseby Woody Allen.


2007: The Chicago Tribune business section reported on the growth of Chicago based Levy Restaurants. Since its founding in 1978 by brothers Larry and Mark Levy, Levy Restaurants has grown from a single delicatessen in Chicago to a specialized, industry-leading food organization with a network of internationally acclaimed restaurants; the leading market share of premium foodservice operations at sports and entertainment facilities; as well as a full-service consulting and advisory services group. The keeper of the Company’s precious culture is Eadie Levy, mother of Larry and Mark, and resident Mom to almost 15,000 team members. Her story is simple, but it’s one filled with a passion for great food and a love for making people happy. When her two sons opened a delicatessen called D.B. Kaplan’s in Chicago’s Water Tower Place in 1978, they thought they had everything under control. That is, until their ambitious investment started to struggle a bit. Their rescue strategy? They called their mother, Eadie. At the time, she was living in St. Louis and her cooking skills were considered a work-in-progress, being that she didn’t even learn to cook until she was married. But as any mother would do, she came to the rescue of her two sons. Eadie moved to Chicago and immediately became involved in the deli operations, starting in the kitchen. Many of the recipes in the Levy Restaurants repertoire are Eadie’s or her grandmothers, passed down from generation to generation. Eadie herself trained the staff on the preparation of the traditional Jewish menu items. Her work with D.B. Kaplan’s eventually lead to the creation of her namesake restaurant, Mrs. Levy’s Delicatessen, located in Chicago’s Sears Tower. Since 1986, Mrs. Levy’s Deli has been one of the city’s greatest delis, treating guests to authentic, New York-style sandwiches, homemade soups and old-fashioned soda fountain creations. After a few years behind the scenes, Eadie’s desire to have more interaction with her guests grew, and she moved to the front of the house, where she remains today, meeting and greeting guests, most of whom she knows by name. This personal touch has made Eadie a celebrity in her own right. Photos of her posing with her favorite celebrities – everyone from local hero, Michael Jordan, to Hollywood stars Goldie Hawn and Steven Spielberg – adorn the walls of the deli. And in true Midwestern style, Eadie graciously obliges every request to have her picture taken and added to the growing "Wall of Fame." These days, Eadie Levy, a grandmother and great-grandmother, still believes that despite her own success, her proudest accomplishment remains her sons’ entrepreneurialism and creativity in making Levy Restaurants a successful company, full of genuinely nice people.


2008: In Israel, members of the National Religious Party “voted to disband the party in order to join the new Jewish Home Party


2008: French and Israeli police discovered 43 of timepieces that had been stolen from the L.A. Mayer Institute for Islamic art in two French bank safes.


2008: Ethan Berkowitz himself conceded defeat in the race to fill the seat of U.S. Representative for Alaska's At-large congressional district, after counting of absentee and provisional ballots had mostly been completed and his Republican opponent Don Young had a clearly insurmountable lead.


2008: At Tifereth Israel Synagogue in Des Moines, Iowa AIPAC Midwest Political Director Jonathan Greenbergspeaks on “Changes in the White House and on Capitol Hill:  How It Impacts The Pro-Israel Agenda.”  Of course, the presentation is based on the premise that AIPAC’s agenda and the “Pro-Israel Agenda” are one and the same.


2008: The Ninth Annual Rutgers New Jersey Jewish Film Festival presents: “The Counterfeiters”  “One Day You’ll Understand,” adaptation of Jerome Clement’s autobiographical novel, Plus Tard, Tu Comprendras and “Two Ladies” a hopeful drama that offers a sensitive portrayal of the unlikely friendship two French women – Esther, who is Jewish, and Halima, who is Muslim – which defies the prejudice and hostility that surround them.


2008:As part of the "Jewish Encounters" series at the D.C. Jewish Community Center,writer and poet Adam Kirsch discusses and signs Benjamin Disraeli, his new biography of the British prime minister in which takes an in-depth look at the first—and only—Jewish Prime Minister of England.


2008: Michael Rosen was presented with the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Literature) by the Government of France at the French Ambassador's residence in London


2009 (1st of Kislev, 5770): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


2009: Moshe Holtzberg, son of Barvriel and Rivka Holztberg of blessed memory who were murdered by the terrorists in Mumbain in 2008, celebrated his third birthday according to the Jewish calendar. A party was held at Kfar Chabad which was attended by 2,000 people who stayed for a memorial dinner for his parents.


2009: In Fairfax, VA, Congregation Olam Tikvah hosts “Sacred Scripture: How do you understand your own? Can I try?” as part of its interfaith program.


2009: At the UK Jewish Film Festival, a screening of an episode from the groundbreaking TV drama "Good Intentions", which centers around two female chefs, one Palestinian and one Israeli, co-hosting a cookery show despite intense opposition from their respective communities.


2009(1st of Kislev, 5770): Seventy-five year old  Ari Kiev, a psychiatrist whose early work on depression and suicide prevention led to a career helping athletes and Wall Street traders achieve peak performance, passed away today in Manhattan. (As reported by William Grimes)



2009(1st of Kislev, 5770): James F. Berg, who as the chief negotiator for most of the major landlords in New York City was given large credit for an era of labor peace in their buildings because of the trust he inspired on both sides of the bargaining table, died today in Manhattan. He was 65 (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)


2010: “Precious Life” is scheduled to be shown at the Other Israel Film Festival today at the JCC in Manhattan.


2010: In New York, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is scheduled to present The Fall Concert which is part of The Sidney Krum Young Artists Concert Series at YIVO:


2010: In response to a call by Chief Ashkenazi RabbiYona Metzger and Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo for the public to pray for rain during this draught-like period, today is scheduled to be a special day of fasting and prayer to atone for the sins that are likely preventing the direly missing rainfall.


2010:"Army of Islam," a group linked to Al Qaida, released today for the first time a statement in Hebrew threatening to avenge the killing of two senior members of the organization in the Gaza Strip yesterday


2010: Jacob Lew began serving as Director of the Office of Management and Budget.


 2011: “Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish” is scheduled to be shown this evening at Jewish Eye World Jewish Film Festival.


2011: An opening reception is scheduled to take place at the Derek Eller Gallery marking the opening of “Rona Yefman: Marath a Bouke, project #4” in which Rona Yefman will present an installation about Martha Bouke, an 80-year-old grandfather and Holocaust survivor living in Tel Aviv who assumes a feminine persona…”


2011: It was reported today that Henry Kissinger in 1972 called Jews "self-serving" because of pleas from the community for the Nixon administration to increase the pressure on the Soviet Union to allow its Jews to leave. "Is there a more self-serving group of people than the Jewish community?" Kissinger, who is Jewish, asks Leonard Garment, also Jewish, in transcripts of a 1972 exchange released this week by the State Department and reported by The Associated Press. Garment, a special counsel to President Nixon, replied: "None in the world." Kissinger, who at the time was the national security adviser, added: "What the hell do they think they are accomplishing? You can’t even tell bastards anything in confidence because they’ll leak it.”Nonetheless, Kissinger tells Garment he will raise the issue with the Soviet ambassador. Kissinger resented the Jewish community's emphasis on releasing Jews, saying it detracted from the overall White House strategy of achieving detente with the Soviet Union -- a strategy he to this day maintains would have brought greater success for Soviet Jewry, although veterans of the movement adamantly disagree. Kissinger's office said he was traveling and not immediately available for comment. A request to Garment for comment, emailed to a law firm where he is last known to have had offices, went unanswered. Revelations of Kissinger's disparagement of Jews during his Nixon years have at times led to him apologizing; most recently, last December, he said he was "sorry" for telling Nixon in 1973 that it would not be an American concern if the Soviets were to consign Jews to death camps.


2011:Israel sent housing assistance for up to 1,000 people in Turkey affected by two earthquakes that hit the country in October.


2012: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe which “begins with Marvel’s best-known employees:” – Stan Lee (Stanley Martin Lieber) and Jack Kirby (Jacob Kurtzburg) and the recently released paperback edition of A Train In Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women Friendship and Resistance in Occupied France by Caroline Moorehead which traces the fate of 230 women shipped to Auschwitz in January, 1943.
2012: The UK Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to come to an end.
2012: The American Society for Jewish Music and American Jewish Historical Society are scheduled to present The Hugo Weisgall Centennial Concert
2012(4th of Kislev, 5773): Eighty-six year old academic and diplomat Helmut Sonnenfeldt passed away today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)

2012: Adas Israel Cantor Arianne Brown and the Charm City Klezmer are among those scheduled to perform at the Jewish Folk Arts Festival hosted at B’nai Israel in Rockville, MD.
2012: Global Day of Jewish Learning

2012: As published today in the Cedar Rapids Gazette



“For weeks Arabs have been firing rockets into southern Israel.  Israeli schools have been closed for days at a time.  Citizens of several towns including Beersheba have had to stay within seconds of a “safe room” because that is all the warning that exists between the launching from Gaza and landing in Israel.  In one sense, there is nothing new about this.  The Arabs in Gaza did this in November of 2011, 2010, etc. The reason for the attacks is simple.  Hamas is committed to the destruction of the state of Israel.  When Israel left Gaza without any pre-conditions, the Arabs had a choice.  They could start working on building a state or they could enhance their war of destruction aimed at Israel.  Unfortunately, they chose the latter.  Today, the Israelis had enough. They responded to these incessant attacks by killing one of the leaders responsible for these rocket terror attacks and unleashed a series of limited attacks on launch sites and the logistics net that supported it.  Unfortunately, the American media chose not to cover the attacks of the last three weeks so all we have in the news tonight is the mean old Israelis attacking the poor Palestinians”.  http://thegazette.com/2012/11/17/weeks-of-arab-attacks-preceded-israeli-attack/


2012: After a few hours of relative quiet, a rocket fired from Gaza this evening hit a house near Kiryat Malachi. (As reported by the Jerusalem Post)


2013: The Center For Jewish History and the YIVO Institute For Jewish Research are scheduled to present a concert and lecture “Charles-Valentin Alkan: His Life and Music” as part of the Circles of Justice Program.


2013: “The Lesson” and “Mom, Dad, I’m A Muslim” are scheduled to be shown at The Other Israel Film Festival.


2013: The Embassy of the Czech Republic, Embassy of Israel and LCPA-Hebrew Language Table are scheduled to present “The Story of the Shipwrecked from the Patria.”


2013: French President Francois Hollande continued his official visit today, touring the Old City in Jerusalem, meeting with senior Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah and then visiting the Knesset, where he listened to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly call on PA President Mahmoud Abbas to break the diplomatic freeze and come address the Israeli parliament. (As reported by Moran Azulay)


2013: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-mmon walked through the “Arbeit Macht Frei” gate as he began his to Auschwitz where he paid tribute to those murdered by the Nazis and their allies.


2013: “Former chief rabbi Yona Metzger was arrested today at the culmination of a long investigation into a litany of financial crimes involving millions of shekels.” (As reported by Stuart Winer)


2014: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present “Stravinsky, Ravel, Prokofiev: Composing in War Time.”


2014: In Melbourne “Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem” and “King of the Jews” are scheduled to be shown at the Jewish International Film Festival.


2014: “Swim Little Fish” and “This Is Where I Leave You” are scheduled to be shown at the 18th annual UK Jewish Film Festival.


2014(25th of Cheshvan): Rabbi Moshe Twersky, 59; Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, 68, a British-born father of six; Rabbi Aryeh Kopinsky, 43; and Rabbi Kalman Levine, 55 were murdered by Arab terrorists this morning and “at least 8 others were injured” while praying at a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood.





The Phoenix Chamber Ensemble performing Stravinsky’s Suite de L'histoire du soldat for violin clarinet and piano, Prokofiev’s Sonata in D Major for violin and piano and Ravel’s Piano Trio.The Phoenix Chamber Ensemble performing Stravinsky’s Suite de L'histoire du soldat for violin clarinet and piano, Prokofiev’s Sonata in D Major for violin and piano and Ravel’s Piano Trio.2014: Chaim Rothman, the husband of a friend of Renee Ghert-Zand, was attacked by “Palestinian assailants” who “axed him in the head as he prayed in a Jerusalem synagogue this morning.” (As reported by Renee Ghert-Zand)


2014: Thousands attend funerals of Aryeh Kupinsky, Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, Rabbi Kalman Levine, and Rabbi Moshe Twersky, killed at prayer in Jerusalem this morning.



2014: New York City increased its police presence at synagogues and other locations in the wake of an attack on a Jerusalem synagogue that left four dead


2014: In the United Kingdom, the Community Security Trust issued the warning today in a security bulletin that contained nine instructions to Jewish institutions, including a call to “ensure visible external security patrols take place to deter and detect hostile activity” and immediate reporting to police of any suspicious behavior.


2014:Zidan Saif, a police officer who was seriously injured in the Tuesday-morning terror attack at a synagogue in Jerusalem, succumbed to his wounds.Saif, 30, was shot in the head during a gunfight with the two terrorists. According to eyewitnesses, he was hit by a bullet when attempting to protect a fellow police officer.He is the fifth victim of the attack.Druze community leaders and residents of Saif’s village of Yanuh-Jat in the Galilee describe him as a hero, NRG reports. (As reported by Lazar Berman and Adiv Sterman)


2015: “A Jewish teacher in the French city of Marseille was stabbed by a man wearing an Islamic State T-shirt who shouted anti-Semitic profanities at him with two other men.”


2015: At Oxford,  Hindy Najman, the new Oriel and Laing professor for the interpretation of holy scripture who is the first Jew and the first woman to have the role is scheduled to talk about new perspectives on how prophecy continues in ancient Judaism from her paper titled: "The Beginning of Judaism: New Perspectives”


2015: “The Physician” and “The Voice of Peace” are scheduled to be shown at Melbourne at the Jewish International Film Festival.


2015: Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature today.


2015: “The Kozalchik Affair,” a documentary about Yakov Kozalchik a Jewish Kapo in Auschwitz known as “The Warden of the Death Block” is scheduled to be shown in Los Angeles as the 29th Israel Film Festival.


2016: In “Amos Oz on His Novel ‘Judas,’ Which Challenges Views of a Traitor” published today Gal Beckerman examined the Israeli author’s latest work.



2016: “Two Nazi symbols and the words ‘Go Trump’” were discovered today “on a piece of playground equipment” at “a New York park dedicated to the memory of the late Beastie Boy member Adam Yauch” during a year in which “anti-Semitic imagery has proliferated on social media, Jewish journalist” have been targeted “and longstanding anti-Jewish conspiracy theories” have gotten “a fresh airing.”


2016: “Dark Diamond” and “Aida’s Secrets” are scheduled to be shown in Australia as part of the Jewish International Film Festival.


2016: “Women: New Portraits of Annie Leibovitz” is scheduled to open in New York.


2017(29th of Cheshvan, 5778): Parashat Toldot


2017(29th of Cheshvan, 5778): Ninety-eight year old Benjamin Scheinkopf, who survived the Holocaust along with his brother Josef, because of his hair-cutting skill and who went to a life time of barbering in Chicago passed away today.





2017: Seventy-five year old Ken Shapero, “the former child actor and creator of ‘The Groove Tube,’” passed away today. (As reported by Richard Sandomir)



2017: “The Cakemaker” and “The Heir” are scheduled to be shown in London at the 21stUK International Jewish Film Festival.


2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such as Joseph Telushkin whose wide variety of works included Jewish Literacy, Jewish Humorand A Code of Jewish Ethics continues today


2018: “Parallel Lines,” a week-long jewelry exhibition “featuring the work of Israeli artists Naama Bergman, Tamar Navama, Ruta Reifen, Dana Hakim, Noga Harel, Vered Kaminski, and Einat Leader” is scheduled to come an end today.


2018: The YIVO Institute is scheduled to present David Biale delivering a lecture on “The Afterlives of Shabbati Zvi.”


2018: The Gershman Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to come to an end today.


2018: “The Cleveland Jewish News” is scheduled to present the 4th annual “18 Difference Awards Ceremony” at Landerhaven in Mayfield Heights, OH.


2018 AJEX (The Jewish Military Association”) is scheduled to sponsors its “84th Annual Remembrance Ceremony and Parade” where attendees can show their support and honor “the Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women who have served the United Kingdom in the Armed Forces since the 1750s as well as all the victims of the Holocaust.”



2018: As part of Inter Faith Week, the Jewish Museum is scheduled to host a free open house where attendees can take part in such activities as making challah for a local homeless shelter and decorating a Tzedakah box.


2018: The American Society for Jewish Music is scheduled to present “Soundscapes of Modernity: Jews and Music in Polish Cities,” a concert presenting “choral pieces from 19th-century progressive congregations, compositions associated with Jewish music societies, and avant-garde works by Jewish composers.”


2018: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including the audiobooks The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris and read by Richard Armitage, Parker: Selected Stories by Dorothy Parker and read by Elaine Stritch, The Feral Detective, a novel by Jonathan Lethem, A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism by Jeffrey D. Sachs, The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World by Robert Kagan, the son of Donald Kagan and in “American Jews Face a Choice: Create Meaning or Fade Away,” brief looks at The Chosen Wars: How Judaism Became an American Religionby Steven R. Weisman, The New American Judaism: How Jews Practice Their Religion Today by Jack Wertheimer, The Jewish American Paradox: Embracing Choice in a Changing World by Robert Mnookin, God is in the Crowd: Twenty-First Century Judaism by Tal Keinan and Dear Zealots: Letters From a Divided Land by Amos Oz.



 


 

This Day, November 19, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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November 19



1095: The Council of Clermont, called by Pope Urban II to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land, begins. The Crusades ushered in one of the darkest periods in Jewish history.  In the name of Christianity, the Crusaders would leave a path of death and destruction for the Jewish people that stretched from the Rhineland to the streets of Jerusalem.



1190: Baldwin of Forde, the Archbishop of Canterbury who expressed his displeasure with King Richard’s decision to allow a Jew who had been forcibly converted to return to the faith of his fathers by saying “If the King is not God’s man, he had better be the devil’s” passed away today while with serving with the Crusaders in Palestine.



1557: Sixty-three year old Polish Queen Bon Sforza who modified and defined the “rights of the Jewish community in 1549” by requiring them “to pay 17 percent of the taxes the government assessed against the city,” freeing them “from some special taxes paid in kind” and required citizens to get “royal permission” before selling a house to a Jew, passed away today.



1600: Birthdate of King Charles I. The English monarch who would be defeated by the Puritan forces commanded by Cromwell and eventually be executed in 1649. The death of Charles and the rise of the Puritans helped encourage Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel to approach Cromwell about allowing the Jewish people to return to England. 



1621:  Rabbi Isaiah ben Avraham Ha-Levi Horowitz, known as the Shlah after the title of one of his major works Shnei Luchos Ha-Bris arrived in Jerusalem.  The Shlah was a renowned Halachist, kabbalist and communal leader.  He was born in Prague in 1656 and eventually became head of the Jewish community in Frankfort.  He moved to Jerusalem after the death of his wife.  The Shlah was a wealthy philanthropist who stressed man’s ability to overcome the evil inclination and turn it into the good inclination.  He passed away in 1650 and was buried in Tiberias near the tomb of the Rambam.



1765(6th of Kislev, 5526): Moses Hart, the Breslau born son of a Rabbi who came to London in 1697 where he became on of the “Twelve Jew Brokers on the Royal Exchange and who “funded the construction of the Great Synagogue which opened in 1722 with his brother Aaron serving as the Rabbi passed away today.



1815: Joseph Levy married Hannah Isaacs at the Western Synagogue today.



1816: Warsaw University is established in the part of Poland that was incorporated into the Russian Empire as part of the partitions that had taken place in the waning decades of the 18th century.  The fortunes of the university would follow the ebb and flow of political and cultural events in Poland as it sought to regain and then maintain its independence. In 1968, the government would conduct and anit-Semitic and anti-democrat campaign at the university that would touch off a wave of student unrest. During the subsequent government crackdown professors of Jewish descent were removed from their positions and many of them were forced to emigrate. 



1829: In Frankfurt am Main, Zerline(Worms) Beyfus and Meyer Levin Beyfus gave birth to Mathilda Emma Beyfus



1835(27th of Cheshvan, 5596): Fifty-nine year old Abraham Mendelssohn, the second son of Moses Mendelssohn, the co-founder of the Berlin banking firm of Mendelssohn & Co and who with his wife Leah Solomon gave birth to Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy passed away today.



1843: In New York City, a group of Jews including Levy Philip, Wolf Felsenheld, Marx Neuburg, Emanuel Stoffman, Jacob Blumenthal, Julius Meyer and Kalman Jacobs founded a society dedicated to forming a new congregation which would follow a more liberal or reform michag.



1849: As of today, in Amsterdam out of a total population of 224,949, 25,173 were Jews who divided into 22,426 Ashkenazim and 2,747 Portuguese (Sephardim).



1853(17th of Tishrei, 5614): Third day of Sukkoth



1862: During the Civil War, Jacob Cohen of the 27th Ohio Infantry wrote to the Jewish Messenger from Davis’ Mill, MS where the Union Army had gone into camp describing the victories at Iuka and Corinth.



1863: President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address at the military cemetery dedication ceremony in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. One of the more interesting stories, if it is true involves Dr. M.L. Rossvally, a Jewish surgeon who saved the life of a Christian drummer boy.  Rossvally went on to become the Surgeon General of the United States.



1868: Two days after she had passed away, Rebecca Levy, the wife of Goodman Levy with whom she had four children, was buried today at the West Ham Jewish Cemetery.



1869: It was reported today that in a manner similar houses of worship of other denominations, Congregation B’nai Jeshurun hosted a Thanksgiving Service where Rabbi Henry Vidaver delivered a sermon based on the words of Zechariah.



1870: Deborah Lenore Cohn, the daughter of Dr. Marcus Mosse and Ulrike Mosse and Emil Cohn gave birth to Bianca Israel



1871: Four days after he had passed away, Nathan Solomon was buried today at the Balls Pond Jewish Cemetery.



1872: A meeting was held tonight at the Thirty-fourth Street Synagogue in New York City to deal with impending immigration of Romanian Jews to the United States who were seeking refuge from the persecution in their native land.  A twenty-five man Executive Committee was established that will contact various European Jewish Committees involved with this issue to ensure that the emigrants come from the “industrial classes” and to arrange for their transportation. Several hundred families are expected to arrive in the Spring and the committee will set the mechanism to provide them with employment and support.



1874: Nathan Aaronson, a wealthy Jew is spending tonight in the Tombs after having been arrested and charged with numerous counts of grand larceny, obtaining goods under false pretenses and other crimes related to a series of swindles. Aaronson was arrested after having posted bail on similar charges in New Jersey as he attempted to sail to Europe.



1874: Chief Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler attended the start of the construction of the Middle Street Synagogue which designed by architect Thomas Lainson.



1876: The New York Times published a review of The Ethics of Benedict De Spinoza: From the Latin with an Introductory Sketch of his Life and his Writings published in New York by D. Van Nostrand. According to the review, this is believed to be the first translation of any of the writings that has appeared in the United States.



1876: A report published today attributed the change in the writing style of George Eliot( Mary Anne Evans) that resulted in Daniel Deronda was a product of a collaboration with her consort, George Henry Lewes.  Lewes claims that “he wrote every line of the chapter which describes the discussion at the club to which Mordecai introduced Daniel. Such a club as this really had an existence in London under the presidency of a Jew upon whom Mr. and Mrs. Lewes modeled Mordecai.”  The report concluded that many of Eliot’s admirers are not pleased with the new novel feeling that literary partnership “has destroyed the classic purity of the lady’s English.”  Despite this, the novel is selling quite briskly.



1878(23rd of Cheshvan): Poet Abraham Dov Levenson (Adam ha-Kohen) and father-in -law of Jewish author Joshua Steinberg, passed away



1879: Birthdate of Columbia trained “medical economist, Dr. Michael Marks Davis, the husband of “the former Alice Taylor” with whom he had two sons.



http://snaccooperative.org/ark:/99166/w62r3wx1



http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Davis%2C%20Michael%20Marks%2C%201879%2D1971



https://www.nytimes.com/1971/08/27/archives/michael-davis-a-health-expert-advocate-of-nationwide-insurance-plan.html



1880: The Jewish Chronicle reported that a “North German young lady who is able to teach German, French, drawing, drilling and needlework wants a situation in a family or in a school” in the Jersey, Channel Islands.



1880: Birthdate of Hugo Gutmann, the German Jewish officer who was Adolph Hitler’s commanding officer during 1918 and who saw to it that the Austrian corporal received the Iron Cross First Class.



1880: Based on information that first appeared in the Boersen Zeitung, “public quarrels and duels have taken place between Jews and Germans.”



1881: “The Hebrew Union College” published today summarized plans to upgrade HUC, the Cincinnati educational institution that is only place in the United States dedicated to providing formal education for rabbis in the United States. The plan is to create a million dollar endowment by selling 200,000 “subscription certificates at $5 each.”  (The rabbis trained here will be Reform and will not be able to address the needs of the traditional movements of Judaism)



1882: It was a reported today that the Public Prosecutor has applied to the court at Nyireghyhasa, for an order to disinter and re-examine the body of a Christian girl, who it is alleged, was by the Jews at Tiszaeszlar” in order to sift through the evidence “and put an end to a scandal which has lasted six months.” (This is a reference to The Tiszaeszlár Affair, a blood libel that began in April of 1882 and would actually resurface in the world of Hungarian politics in the 21st century.)



1882: It was reported today that a radical newspaper editor has fought a duel with a member of the parliament who defended Jews against charges in The Tiszaeszlár Affair.



1884(1st of Kislev, 5645): Rosh Chodesh Kislev



1885: Upon his return to Cincinnati from the national of Reform Rabbis in Pittsburgh, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise said, “The meeting was an official expression and confirmation of principles which have been advanced and advocated by progressive Jews for a decade past.”



1885: It was reported today that the Reform movement has adopted a resolution that would effectively allow the substitution of Sunday morning services to replace the traditional Saturday morning Shabbat services. 



1885: “The Hebrew Asylum Ball” published today provided a description of the fundraiser hosted for the Hebrew Orphan Asylum” which was attended a large segment of notables including Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Wechsler, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Wechsler and Mr. and Mrs. Ferdinand Oppenheimer.



1886: In Prague,,Jakob and Barbara Bondy gave birth to Rudolf Bondy



1886: It was reported today that based on information that first appeared in the Vossische Zeitung, Jews make up the largest contingent of the Hungarian immigrants crossing Germany on their way to the United States.



1887(3rd of Kislev, 5648): Emma Lazarus passed away.  Born in 1849, Lazarus is remembered as the poet who wrote the poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty. When Emma Lazarus died on November 19, 1887 at the age of 38, the obituary published in the New York Times referred to her as "an American Poet of Uncommon talent," but did not mention her poem, "The New Colossus," which today is indelibly associated with The Statue of Liberty. One of the first successful Jewish American authors, Lazarus was part of the late nineteenth century New York literary elite, and was celebrated in her day as an important American poet. In her later years, she wrote bold, powerful poetry and essays protesting the rise of anti-Semitism and arguing for Russian immigrants' rights. She called on Jews to unite and create a homeland in Palestine before the title Zionist had even been coined. She is best known today for her poem, "The New Colossus," which was written in 1883 as part of the effort to raise money for a pedestal to the Statue of Liberty. France was donating the statue to the United States, but Americans had to raise the funds for the pedestal. Her untimely death, probably from cancer, was mourned in both the Jewish and broader communities. It was only, however, after Lazarus's friend Georgina Schuyler installed a bronze memorial tablet inside the entrance to the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in 1903, inscribed with the lines from the "New Colossus," including "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," that Lazarus's memory became forever associated with her powerful vision of America as a symbol of hope for the down-trodden.



1888: Birthdate of Samuel “Sam” Melitzer, the native of New York’s Lower East Side and Columbia University who experienced anti-Semitism when southern crowds would should “Get the Jew” and who after coaching at NYU traveled the world as mining engineer before become a high school Phys Ed and math teacher.



1890(7th of Kislev, 5651): Thirty-nine year old Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery, the daughter of Juliana and Mayer de Rothschild, who was rumored to be the richest woman in Britain, passed away. (There is no way that we can do justice to the life of this woman. She is far more fascinating than any fictional character created by Bronte sisters and those other writers of 19thcentury romance novels)



1890: The Citizens’ Savings Bank paid out $113,000 to depositors as a run on the bank began following a story “in an east side Hebrew Newspaper.”



1891: The more than four hundred pupils attending the Louis Down-Town Sabbath and Daily School are the beneficiaries of the Palestine Bazaar which is being held for a second day at Carnegie Hall.



1892: “Prussians Jealous of Hebrews” published today, relying on information that first appeared in the London Daily News described a debated taking place among “Prussian Conservatives” on the “ways and means of decreasing the influence of Jews in public life.”  The Conservatives are especially upset because the Jews “get themselves better educated than their neighbors and so win their way to professorial chairs.”



1892(29th of Cheshvan, 5653): Fifty two year old Jacques de Reinach, the French banker who successfully invested in the Canadian Pacific Railway before becoming embroiled in the scandals surrounding the building of the Panama Canal passed away today.



1892: During an interview Otto Von Bismarck warned “the anti-Semites that ‘in trying to obtain State legislation against the Jews, they got hold of the wrong insect powder. (The term used was Wanzenpulver which has a contation that is even more insulting than the English translation and gives one the idea of the low esteem in which the Iron Chancellor held the Jewish people)



1893: According to a rumor published today, the Jews are fleeing Melilla because they fear what “the inquiry into the illicit trade firearms’ might reveal. (The implication is that the Jews are guilty of selling guns to the Berbers who are revolting against their Spanish colonial masters)



1893: Today’s review of “The Bells” praises Henry Irving’s performance of Mathias whom he plays as “a large, spectacular figure” who is a victim of remorse; a portrayal that is not consistent with that found in the translation of Leopold Lewis. The reviewer concludes his portrayal of this Jewish figure is “always worth seeing once” and then worth seeing a second time because Irving’s “Mathias is to be remembered because of its historical importance.”



1894: In Germany Elizabeth (nee Kirchner) and Wilhelm Hopf a Jew who converted gave birth to mathematician Heinz Hopf.



1894: Three days after he had passed away, 70 year old Montague Durlacher, who married Annie Durlacher after the death of his first wife, the former Deborah Benjamin, was buried today at the Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.



1894: In Newburgh, NY, Russian immigrants Lena Friedland and Simon Silverman gave birth to Morris Silverman, the long-time Rabbi at The Emanuel Synagogue, editor the classic Sabbath and Festival Prayer Book which was the standard prayer book for the Conservative movement for decades and the husband of author Althea H. Osber.



http://www.nytimes.com/1972/03/04/archives/rabbi-morris-silverman-author-and-editor-deadj.html?_r=0



1894: Birthdate of Columbia trained pediatrician and WW I Army Medical Corps veteran Dr. Harry Bakwin the husband of Dr. Ruth Morris who joined together to become major art collectors.



http://research.frick.org/directoryweb/browserecord.php?-action=browse&-recid=11848



https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1973/12/27/91064521.pdf



1894: “Not Antagonistic To Christianity” published today provided Dr. Joseph Silverman’s views on the attitude to of Judaism to non-Judaic religions.  Among other things, he said that Judaism’s view on this has always been represented; that Judaism is neither “tribal, narrow nor exclusive” but universal.  While Christianity claims that only those who believe in its doctrine can be saved, “Judaism has never claimed that universal salvation depends on universal conversion to Judaism.”



1895: While visiting Paris and London trying to gain Jewish support for a Jewish homeland, Herzl gained one “convert’ - Max Nordeau



1896: The Young Men’s Hebrew Association of New York and the Hebrew Technical Institute were reported today to be among the institutions willing to host a “series of popular lectures on the affairs of the City” which will lead to greater civic participation.



1896: The first national convention of the National Council of Jewish Women which was held at Tuxedo Hall in New York City between came to an end. Founded at the conclusion of the Jewish Women's Congress held at Chicago's World Columbian Exposition in November 1893, the National Council of Jewish Women was the first national open-membership organization for American Jewish women. Addressed by the leaders of the nation's leading women's organizations and numerous prominent rabbis, it was clear that the Council was helping to establish the legitimacy of Jewish women's presence on a public stage. The convention received extensive coverage in the New York Times and other papers. During its first three years, Council sections around the country had focused on diverse activities ranging from Bible study to education for children to active philanthropy in the interest of immigrant women and children. Representatives at the first convention summarized these achievements, established a clear institutional structure and sought to offer guidance to local sections. Conflict emerged in relation to the Jewish character of the Council. Hannah Solomon of Chicago presided over the convention, but some members objected to her advocacy of Sunday as the Jewish Sabbath. Solomon memorably responded "I consecrate every day in the week." As the New York Times reported, "Pandemonium reigned for five minutes, and then Mrs. Solomon was re-elected." In its first few decades, NCJW transcended these religious divisions by focusing especially on aid to newly arrived Jewish immigrants. In sections across the country, NCJW provided an early training ground for Jewish women leaders and a forum for Jewish women's concerns within and outside the Jewish community.



1897: It was reported today that in London, “the alterations at the Talmud Torah on Brick Lane have been completed.



1897: It was reported today that plans are being made for a larger synagogue to meet the needs of the Stepney Orthodox Congregation whose numbers “have greatly increased and whose “affairs are flourishing.



1897: Herzl publishes his article "Die jüdische Kolonialbank" -"The Jewish Colonial Bank" in Die Welt.



1897: “Dreyfus May Be A Victim” published today offers the unique theory that the French Captain was actually the victim of a blackmail plot gone awry.  Taking advantage of the “wave of Jew-baiting” that was sweeping Europe in 1893, these conspirators forged the documents that would lead to the conviction of Dreyfus.  The conspirators had used “a beautiful woman whose house” was a refuge to many French officers and foreign diplomats as a go between to try and extort money from Mrs. Dreyfus who was wealthy in her own right in exchange for the document.  When the Dreyfus family refused to be involved, members of the press who were part of the plot helped to incite the public in such a way that the conviction of Dreyfus was inevitable.



1898: “Dr. Gottheil’s 25 Years” published today included a summary of the accomplishments of the Rabbi at Temple Emanu-El who according to some stem the tide of assimilation while raising his voice for “justice and the down-trodden of his race’  “when anti-Semitism raised the black flag of intolerance in Germany, Austria and other European countries.”



1900: Birthdate of Anna (Netty) Reiling, the native of Mainz who gained fame as the author Anna Seghers.



https://web.archive.org/web/20130704063048/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/seghers.htm



1902: Twenty-one year old Aline Frankau, the daughter of Rebecca and Joseph Frankau became Aline Bernstein today when she married “Wall Street broker, Theodore Bernstein” with whom she “had two children – Theodore and Edna – while pursuing a career as stage and film set designer.



https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/aline-bernstein



1904:  Birthdate of Nathan Leopold.  Leopold and Loeb, sons of wealthy Chicago families, saw themselves as a superior intellects not bound by the rules.  Their murder of Bobby Franks and the trial that followed (where they were defended by Clarence Darrow) forever marked both of them as venal, vile killers.  Leopold died in 1971. 



1905: Tonight, in Boston, “at a special service in the Warren Avenue Baptist Church Rabbi Charles Fleischer urged President Roosevelt to warn Russia against further persecution of the Jews and declared that the Jews in Russia should be armed for self-defense.”



1905: As the Zemstvo Congress is scheduled to open today, “we are witnessing a series of massacres of Jews carried out by the rabble, thanks to the criminal tolerance of the authorities.



1905: Rabbi Harris of Temple Israel and Frank Moss, an attorney, addressed the congregation in the Methodist Episcopal Church of Our Savior tonight at a service, “the proceeds of which are for the benefit of the Jews in Russia.”



1905: In London, “the Evangelical Alliance, which is composed of representatives of several denominations of Christians decided at a meeting at Exeter Hall to open a fund for the relief of the Russian Jews” which it is hoped “will touch broader circles of Christians life than any other appeal having the same purpose.”



1905: “Several hundred men, women and children attended a mass meeting” today “at Temple Adath Israel…to protest against the massacre of Jews in Russia and to raise subscriptions for the relief fund.



1905: Miss Sadie American presided over a memorial meeting in honor of Emma Lazarus which was held tonight at Temple Beth-El under the auspices of the New York Section of the Council Jewish Women at which Adele Szold read a biography of the Jewish poetess.



1905: “Boiled Jewish Children” published today described the murder of approximately 1,500 Jews in one quarter of” Odessa” which was as large La Chapelle in Paris” by “the police and Cossacks” who “poured boiling water on the children and threw the old men out of the windows.



1906: Birthdate of Henri Temianka, a native of Scotland who was the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants.  Among his accomplishments was a performance of the Bach Double Violin Concerto with four other Jewish violinists – David Oistrakh, Yehudi Menuhin, Henryk Szeryng and Jack Benny.



http://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/10/arts/henri-temianka-is-dead-at-85-violinist-and-founder-of-quartet.html



1906: “Big Crowd Attends Funeral” published today in the Brooklyn Standard Union describes the funeral of Rabbi Raphael Benjamin at Congregation Beth Elohim which was so well attended “that hundreds of men and women were unable to gain admittance..”



1909: At the request of the Hahambashi, the Grand Vizier of Turkey directs the Minister of War to appoint Jewish chaplains to battalions where Jews serve, to grant soldiers the ability to observe the high holidays and to facilitate they be provided with kosher food. The Hahambashi also requested that all teachers in Jewish school and rabbinical students be granted an exemption from military service.



1911: In London, the “vote of censure for the President of the Board of Deputies” was defeated today.



1911: David Lindo Alexander upheld the action of the Board of Deputies “in regard to the recent” riots in South Wales.



1911: Birthdate of Zagreb native Zdenka Buchler, the “operatic soprano” who gained fame as Zdenka Rubinstein, when she married Bartold Rubinstein who had his wife and daughter Mira convert, along with him, to Catholicism in an attempt to avoid the anti-Semitism that was sweeping Europe in the 1930’s.



1911: The First Hebrew Congress opened today in Lemberg, Galicia.



1911: In Jersey City, NJ, the Young Men’s Hebrew Association “adopted a “resolution protesting against discriminated by the Russian Government against American citizens.



1911: Herman Bernstein, who has written for such publications as The Nation and The New York Evening Post delivered an address to the Mikve Israel Association in Philadelphia, PA, entitled “Anti-Semitism in Russia, Germany and Elsewhere.”  According to Bernstein, while political and social progress has been made “in every part of the world” anti-Semitism is the one age-old evil “for which no remedy has been found.” [Bernstein would go to a distinguished career as a foreign correspondent with the New York Times and as U.S. Ambassador to Albania.  His History of a Lie provides an account of the history of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.]



1912: The New York State Conference of Charities and Corrections which was attended by delegates Samuel Gompers and Lee Frankel of New York City opened in Syracuse, NY.



1913: Serbian troops enter and loot Monastir. As part of the violence, Jewish shops were burned and robbed.



1913: Birthdate of Morris Ziff, the Brooklyn native, who was an award winning expert in rheumatic diseases and  who investigated how the body sometimes turns on itself to cause such illnesses (As reported by Jeremy Pearce)



1914: “Jews Raise Relief Fund” published today described a fund raiser to provide relief for the Jews of Palestine where the attendees heard from Professor R.J.H. Gotteheil of Columbia University, Rabbi Ephraim Frisch and Rabbi Jacob Lichter of Far Rockaway, NY.



1914: “Forced Czernowitz To Raise Ransom” published today described the “how humble Hebrews sacrificed their ritual candelabra” to help meet demands made by General Arintinoff when his Russian Army entered the Austrian city that the citizens pay “a levy of 600,000 rubles in gold or silver.



1914: “For Relief of Jews” published today provides a list of those who have contributed to the Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering Through the War including Ike Scher of Richmond, VA, Congregation Shaarey Tzedek of Windsor, Ontario, Congregation Tree of Life, Oil City, PA, Rebecca Bender of Ashly, ND and Congregation B’nai Jacob of Vineland, NJ.



1915: “The Jewish News learns from Warsaw that a fund of $125,000 raised by an American committee for the relief of Jews in Poland, has just been transmitted to a joint committee representing the Jewish population of Poland.”



1915 (12th of Kislev, 5676): A wide variety of Jewish and gentile leaders including Louis Marshall, Jacob Schiff, John H. Finley, President University of the State of New York at Albany and Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia, expressed their sense of sorrow and deep admiration for Dr. Solomon Schechter who passed away today in New York. Schechter’s original fame rested on his work with the Cairo Geniza. As President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, he was the driving force behind Conservative Judaism.  He was an early Zionist who played an active role in the work of the Jewish Publication Society.  This brief entry cannot do justice to his impact on the world at large or the Jewish community in particular.



1915: In speaking today about the death of Dr. Solomon Schechter, Dr. Cyrus Adler, the President of Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning said that they “were friends for twenty-five years” and that he considered Schechter “the greatest Jewish scholar of his generation and the on towering personality among all the Jews no resident in America” – “a great thinker, a great scholar, a great leader and the most lovable of all men.”



1915: Jewish opera singer David Kronland was “appointed professor of singing at Lemberg Conservatory of Music” today.



1915: In Vienna, formation of the “Committee for the Enlightenment of Eastern Jewish Question.”



1915: Birthdate of Gyoengyoes, Hungary, native and Holocaust survivor, Stephen Jeffrey Roth, the British based Director of the Insitute of Jewish Affairs and the husband of Eva Gandos.



https://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/obituary-stephen-roth-1596303.html



https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/03/obituaries/stephen-roth-79-a-rights-official-of-jewish-congress.html



https://web.archive.org/web/20140203061955/http://www.shoahlegacy.org/org/stephen-roth-institute-study-contemporary-anti-semitism-and-racism



https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13501679508577809



1916: Samuel Goldfish (later renamed Samuel Goldwyn) and Edgar Selwyn established Goldwyn Company which would become one of the most successful independent filmmakers.



1916: Approximately 3,000 people “representing membership in thirty affiliated Zionist societies” attended “the annual reception and ball” sponsored by “the Zionist Council of New York” which “was held” tonight “at the Central Opera House on East 67th Street.”



1916: “During the laying of the cornerstone of the building for the Young Men/s and the Young Women’s Hebrew Association” today at Borough Park in London” a telegram was read from President Wood Woodrow Wilson that said, “My warmest greetings and good wishes.  I hope the building of which the cornerstone is now being laid will contribute in every way to the promotion of the admirable purpose of the Y.M.H.A. and Y.W.H.A.”



1916: “Not a single child under the age of 5 years can be found in large areas of Poland according to a report presented to the People’s Relief Committee for Jewish War Sufferers which opened its national convention” today in Boston.



1916: While speaking this afternoon at the graduation exercises of the Schools for Jewish Girls of the Kehillah at Stuyvesant High School Louis Marshall said, “America is the logical new center of the Jewish faith and the Jewish population of the world.”



1917: David A. Brown announced tonight that “Jacob H. Schiff has given $200,000 to start the $5,000,000 New York campaign for Jewish War Relief and for the Jewish Welfare Board in the United States Army and Navy.



1917: In “Jews Against Bolsheviki,” published today Herman Bernstein “who had spent three months in Petrograd after the revolution” said that from the point of view the Jews in Russia men like Trotsky “are not Jews in the real sense of the word,” “are not sympathetic to Jewish culture or Jewish ideals” and are the enemies of the Jewish people.



1917(4th of Kislev, 5678): Sixty-seven year old “communal worker” Max Tapolsky passed away today in Pittsburgh, PA.



1917(4th of Kislev, 5670): Forty-one year old Dr. Richard Weil, a major in the U.S. Army passed away today at Camp Wheeler.



1917: “Against War Time Wealth” published today included the views of Jacob Schiff who said that “No man should seek to increase his personal fortune for the period of the war” since it is “the duty of every American at this time to devote his whole thought and effort to the needs of the Government and to the needs of those who have been made to suffer through the war.”



1917: This evening, as British forces were fighting their way to Jerusalem a thunderstorm followed by a drenching downpour broke over the opposing armies leaving every wadi in the foothills and on the plain in a flood making it almost impassable for wheeled vehicles,



1918: According to a cablegram received in New York today by the ZOA, “Jewish and Zionist brigades…are being organized throughout Austria, Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia” to fight agains those responsible for “the anti-Semitic disturbances in Galicia and Poland” that have been going on since the first of the month.



1919: The U.S. Senate, under the leadership of the Republicans, fails to ratify the Versailles Treaty.  This meant that the United States would not be joining the League of Nations which meant that the League was DOA.  It also signaled America’s return to isolationism.  The rejection of the Versailles Treaty was a contributing cause to the rise of Hitler, World War II and the Holocaust.



1919: Birthdate of Pisa native Gillo Pontecorvo the Italian filmmaker and during WWII anti-fascist resistance fighter who won “the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1966” for “The Battle of Algiers.”



1919: Birthdate of Judge Wapner of People’s Court Fame.  Considering the Torah’s injunctions about Judges, what do we make of the fact that both Judge Judy and Judge Wapner are Jewish?



1920: “Free Synagogue Institute Arranges Courses” published described the establishment of a Teacher’s Institute by the Free Synagogue in New York “to meet the need for trained teachers in the field of Jewish Religious Education.”



1920: It was reported today that in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the Temple Emanuel Sisterhood “plans to erect: a building “which will serve as a center for all Jews regardless of the form of worship to which they adhere.”



1921: Today Joseph Missrahi Orpahli, an Oriental Jew, became the first Jew to receive the death penalty for murder in connection with the August riots.  “Orphali was accused of firing from a rooftop into a mob of Jaffa Arabs who had congregated supposedly for an attack on Tel Aviv.”  Three British police officers Dixon had testified that “they had heard no shots besides those of the police who fired on the mob, but relatives of Arabs killed declared the accused had killed on Arab purposely and another unintentionally.”



1921: “Thirty-seven Arabs of the Tireh village, near Haifa who had previously been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, had their sentences reduced on appeal today to three months.  They had been accused of participating in an attack on Bath Gilim, a suburb of Haifa.”



1921: Pinchas Ruthenberg, director of the Palestine Electric Corporation and chairman of the Palestine National council, told the commission of inquiry” sent from London to find the reasons for the Arab August riots and the lack of preparation on the part of the police, “how he had warned H.C. Luke, acting High Commissioner, of the gravity of the situation developing over the Wailing Wall, and was told by Mrs. Luke that he was exaggerating the danger.  Mr. Rutenberg’s suggestions for precautions were not followed.”



1923: In Charleston, SC, Louis D. Rubin, Sr. and Jeanette Weinstein Rubin gave birth Louis D. Rubin, Jr. “a teacher, novelist, essayist, editor and publisher, among other things —who was devoted to the practice and promotion of American Southern writing.” (As reported by Bruce Weber)



1925: Birthdate of Zygmunt Bauman the Polish born sociologist who was forced to take refuge in England in 1970 following an anti-Semitic purge orchestrated by the Polish Communist Party.  Bauman “has made some of the most important observations about the Holocaust and modernity.”



https://baumaninstitute.leeds.ac.uk/about/



1926: Birthdate of Newark, NJ, native Herbert “Herb” Krautblatt, the left-handed shooting guard for Rider University who was drafted by the Baltimore Bullets for whom he played in 1948.



https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/krauthe01.html



1928: “The New York State Law of 1923 aimed at the rules of secrecy adopted by the Ku Klux Klan” which hearings at a House Committee had established “was conducting a crusade against Catholics Jews and negroes and stimulating hurtful religious and race prejudices” “was upheld as constitutional today by the Supreme Court of the United States.”



1928: A concert featuring Alexander Baerwald and Thelma Yellin was held in Jerusalem as the European born Jews of Jerusalem celebrated the centenary of the death of Schubert.



1929: Birthdate of medieval scholar, Norman Cantor.  Cantor did step out of his expertise when he wrote The Sacred Chain: The History of the Jews. Based on the reviews, Cantor would have been better off if he had stuck to works on the Middle Ages.





1929: U.S. premiere of “The Love Parade,” a musical comedy directed and produced by Ernst Lubitsch co-starring Lillian Roth.



1931: “The Office Manager “ a comedy directed by Hans Behrendt, who died at Auschwitz in 1942 and starring Felix Bressart, the Jewish actor who escaped to the United States before WW II, was released today in Germany.



1932: In Brooklyn, “Alfred Pomeroy, a furniture designer who own a store on Flatbush Avenue” and “the former Florence Greenberg gave birth to architect Lee Harris Pomeroy.



https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/obituaries/lee-harris-pomeroy-85-dies-architect-revived-subway-stations.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well



1932: ‘The White Demon” a German language film that looks at the drug culture starring Peter Lorre was released today in Germany by UFA.



1932: Birthdate of Avner Friedman, who earned his doctorate from Hebrew University in 1956 and became Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Physical Sciences at Ohio State University.



1933(1st of Kislev, 5694): Rosh Chodesh Kislev



1933: Birthdate of Gerald "Jerry" Sheindlin who served as a judge on the television show The People’s Court and is married to Judith Sheindlin, known as television’s Judge Judy.



1933(1st of Kislev, 5694): “Samuel Leib Gordon, noted Hebraist, teacher and scholar who translated Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’ and Zangwill’s ‘Children of the Ghetto died’ in Tel Aviv today.” The sixty-six year old intellectual had lived in Tel Aviv since 1924.  “Mr. Gordon was born in Lida, Lithuania in 1890.  He taught Hebrew in Jaffa from 1898 to 1910 and wrote and edited many textbooks in Hebrew.  For a time he edited Olam Kata, a Hebrew magazine for Jewish youth, published in Warsaw.  Several volumes of a scientific commentary on the Bible which he began in 1903 have also been published. His son, Moses Gordon, has followed in his father footsteps by serving as general secretary of Tarbuth, the Hebrew education movement.



1933: In Brooklyn, Jennie (Gitlitz) and Edward Jonaton Zeiger gave birth to Lawrence Leibel Harvey Zeiger who gained fame as radio and television personality Larry King.



1934: Birthdate of French artist Sam Szafran.



http://forward.com/articles/179077/jewish-artist-who-once-called-chagalls-art-crappy/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Saturday-and-Sunday_Daily_Newsletter%202013-06-29&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_term=The%20Forward%20Today%20%28Monday-Friday%29



1936: “Johnny Johnson,” a Kurt Weill musical directed by Less Strasburg and a cast that included Luther Adler, Lee J. Cobb, John Garfield and Sandy Meisner had its Broadway premiere at the 44th Street Theatre.



1936: As Hitler seeks to gain support from the Catholic Church by creating an alliance based on the anti-Communism of the Nazis and the Church, “Pius XI announced that communism had moved to the head of the list of ‘errors/’”



1936: One of the reasons for the issuance today of a “decree compelling the owners of certain foreign securities to deposit them with the Reichsbank or its designated agents bank” was “revealed by the newspaper Angriff which charges that foreign securities are in Jewish hands.”



1936: “The occupants of the leading history chairs in Reich universities were forced to drop their lectures and seminars for the latter part of this week and come” to Munich “for the opening tody of the Jewish research section of the Institute for the History of New Germany” which “is in reality a propaganda institution devoted almost exclusively to anti-Semitism and other National Socialist doctrines.”                                        


1936: Dr. Samuel H. Goldenson, the rabbi at Congregation Emanu-El made “a please for strong self-respect by the Jewish people” in address he gave “at a testimonial luncheon at the Astor Hotel” in honor of “Mrs. David E. Goldfarb who has completed twenty-four years as president of the Mount Neboh Sisterhood” which was attended by more than one thousand members of the sisterhood.



1936: “Evidence that that there is not and never has been unemployment among the Arabs of Palestine since the start of the British occupation was given by E. Mills, Director of Migration and Statistic of the Palestine Government before the first public session of the Royal Inquiry Commission” meeting today in Jerusalem.



1937: Today marked the end of the first of a four week London Season for the Habima Players.  They had demonstrated what is known as the "Habima Method" in their performances of the Dybbuk.



1937: The Palestine Post reported that the country was generally quiet, but the Jerusalem curfew continued for the eighth day in succession. Telephone lines were cut between Hebron and Beersheba and Beersheba and Gaza.



1937: “Damsel in Distress,” a musical produced by Pandro S. Berman, co-starring George Burn and featuring music and lyrics by Ira and George Gershwin was released today in the United States.



1937: In an article critical of the Jewish development of Galilee ThePostpointed out that the Jewish settlement of Mahanayim had been completely deserted since the riots of 1929. Mishmar Hayarden, "The Watch Over the Jordan," was almost a dead village ­with many of the farmyards burned to the ground. The Post demanded rapid development of this area, with particular attention given to the settlement of those Jewish lands which belonged to persons who did not live in Palestine.



1938: “Nuremberg Ousts Jews” published today described how “uniformed storm troops rounded up the Jewish population of Nuremberg and marched them to the Labor Front office” where “they were ‘persuaded to accept a plan for released their property under which the Labor Front retains 90 per cent of the realizable value.” (Editor’s Note – Once again we see that anti-Semitism is a profitable business.)



1938(25th of Cheshvan, 5699): Seventy-two year old existentialist philosopher Lev Isaakovich Shestov passed away.  Born in Czarist Russia in 1886, he fled from the Bolshevicks in 1921 and settled in France where he continued to work until his death. While not well-known today, Shestov influenced many more famous philosophers and writers including Albert Camus.



http://www.shestov.arts.gla.ac.uk/html/biog.htm



1940: William King, the Senator from Utah who in 1927 “declared…that he favored the United States severing diplomatic relations with any country which failed because of anti-Semitism to protect its Jewish nationals” and “expressed the belief that eventually Palestine would be able to support a population of a million Jews” began serving as “President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate” today.



1940: A Christian is killed by German soldiers for throwing bread into the Warsaw ghetto. Close to 400,000 Jews would be contained within approximately 37,200 apartments.



1941: In the West, gassing has become the popular method of exterminating the Jews. Eichmann moved forward on his plans for the deportation of Jews.



1941: Friedrich Jeckeln decided that Rumbula was the best site to murder the Jews imprisoned in the Riga Ghetto.



1942: Birthdate of Calvin Klein, the Bronx born son of Jewish-Hungarian immigrants who went on to became a leading figure in the American fashion industry.



1942: Birthdate of Congressman Gary Ackerman who represents New York’s Fifth District.



1942(10th of Kislev, 5703):The Germans shot 100 Jews from Potrkow outside of the town.



1942: Germans in Debica, Poland, announce that as of December 1, any Pole who assists Jews "will be punished by death."



1942: The Forverts (The Forward) published "A soycher fun fel" (A fur merchant), by Galician born American Yiddish author and poet Fradle Shtok.



https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/shtok-fradel



1942(10th of Kislev, 5703): In the Drohobycz Ghetto, the Nazis gunned down, at random, 250 Jews on what was known as “Black Thursday.”



1942(10th of Kislev, 5703):Bruno Schulz, the brilliant Polish Jewish author and artist, was gunned down by a Nazi officer in the Drohobycz ghetto.



http://bostonreview.net/archives/BR29.6/paloff.php



1943: Jewish prisoners at Janowska, a labor and extermination camp, revolted against their captors. The revolt failed and the camp was liquidated.  One thousand of the survivors were taken to the town of Sandomierz



1943: One thousand Jews are shot at the Jewish cemetery outside Sandomierz, Poland.



1944: The Minnesota Starvation Experiment in which Max Kampelman was one of the 36 participants began today.



1945: Five months after World War II ended in Europe, Anti-Jewish riots erupt in Lublin, Poland. Jan T. Gross would document post Holocaust anti-Semitism in Poland in Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz published in 2006.



1945: It was announced today that the curfew imposed on Tel Aviv after rioting last week will lifted effective tomorrow.



1945: “Five thousand officers and men of a Jewish brigade in the British Army of the Rhine began a hunger strike today in protest against Foreign Minister Bevin’s declaration on Palestine.”  Some did not go to the mess hall “while others sat idly before full plates.  The Jewish brigade is deployed in a swath of territory from northwest Belgium and through southwest Netherlands



1945: In London members of the American League for a Free Palestine called on Great Britain to immediately allow 100,000 Jews to settle in Palestine.  Guy Gillette, a former U.S. Senator from Iowa and head of the league warned the British that any delay would be unpopular with the citizenry of the United States.



1945: Secretary of State James F. Byrnes and members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee met twice today to discuss the situation in Palestine. Among the attendees were Robert F. Wagner the Democratic Senator from New York and Robert A. Taft the Republican Senator from Ohio “co-authors of a proposed Senate resolution favoring immediate unlimited Jewish immigration to Palestine.” [Wagner, who was a Liberal and Taft, who was a Conservative, were polar opposite on most issues.  Dealing with the DP Jews of Europe and Palestine brought them together in common cause.]



1946: Inky Lautman and Sol Schwartz are among the members of the Philadelphia Sphas, “the runner-up to Baltimore in the American Basketball League playoffs” who, it was reported today, will take the court against the Brooklyn Gothams on November 24.


1947(12thof Kislev, 5752): Sixty-six year old Lodz born and European trained surgeon Dr. Arthur Abram Salvin who had come to New York in 1923 after working in Russian hospitals passed away today.



1947:  Chaim Weizmann “rose from his sickbed” and went to Washington to meet with President Truman to talk about the creation of a Jewish state that included the Negev.


1947: A British government “spokesman said today that by the end of November, the army already would have re-requisitioned 5,000 acres” which Zionist leaders in Palestine are worried that the British would sell thus limiting the size of any future Jewish state.


1947: “Two new colonies were established today within twenty-five miles of the Egyptian border, bring the total number of Jewish settlements in the Negev to 19 and the number of” settlers to 1,900.


 


1947: Lessing J. Rosenwald, the President of the American Council for Judaism expressed his opposition for “plans to establish the American Jewish Conference on a permanent basis to coordinate all Jewish activities” in the United States.


1948:UN mediator Ralph Bunche accepts Israel's proposal made yesterday that included the Jewish state’s stated readiness to begin an armistice with the Arabs.


1948: In an unprecedented move that would have serious consequences for the region th UN General Assembly approves $30 million fund for relief of Palestinian refugees forming the UNRPR. Assembly asks UN member countries for contributions. No money would be provided for Jewish citizens forced to flee from their homes in Arab and/or Moslem countries.  These funds would create a permanent and ever-growing refugee population on Israel’s borders and would keep the Arab and Moslem states of the region of offering a home to their Palestinian brethren.


1950: Two days after he had passed away funeral service were held in Montreal for Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Cohen, dean of the Canadian Rabbinate and president of the Montreal Council of Orthodox Rabbis”




1951: “Tillie’s Unpunctured Romance” published today describe the love affair between Tillie Louse (born Myrtle Ehrlich) with the tomato.



1952(1stof Kislev, 5713): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1952:The Jerusalem Postreported that Albert Einstein had declined to accept the offer of the Israeli Presidency. Einstein said that while he was deeply touched by the offer, he felt unsuited for such an office.


1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that the minister of social affairs, Mrs. Golda Myerson, promised that the new immigrants’ tent cities would completely disappear within the next half year.  Mrs. Myerson was a former school teacher from Milwaukee who would change her name to Meir and go to serve as Foreign Minister and Prime Minister.


1953: As tensions mounted between Israel and Jordan because Palestinian terrorists repeatedly crossed from Jordan in to Israel, Prime Minister Churchill cautioned against sending British troops to support the Jordanians lest they be caught in a cross-fire between Israeli and Arab forces.


1954: Entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr. loses his left eye in an automobile accident. 


1958: U.S. premiere “Houseboat,” a romantic comedy produced by Jack Rose who also co-authored the script.


1959: ABC broadcast the first episode of “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends” for which Hans Conried provided the voices of “Snidely Whiplash” and “Dudley Do-Right.”


1959: David Susskind produced an adaptation of “The Power and the Glory” for tonight’s broadcast of the Play of the Week.


1962: S(amuel) N(athaniel) Behrman’s "Lord Pengo," premiered in New York City


1965: In New Orleans, Benjamin and Richard Swig acquired the Roosevelt Hotel from Seymour Weiss, renaming it the Fairmont-Roosevelt before finally changing the name to the Fairmont New Orleans.


1967: “The Happy Time,” “a musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by N. Richard Nash” premiered today in Los Angeles.


1969: “The Comic” directed by Carl Reiner who co-produced and co-wrote the film with Aaron Ruben was released in the United States today.


1969(9thof Kislev, 5730): Sixty-three year old Harvard trained labor lawyer Lee Pressman, the husband of the former Sophia Platnik passed away today.




1971(1st of Kislev, 5732): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1971 (1st of Kislev): Seventy-five year old Yiddish poet and essayist Jacob Glatstein passed away




1971(1st of Kislev, 5732): Sportscaster Bill Stern passed away at the age of 64.




1971: U.S. premiere of “Werewolves on Wheels” filmed by cinematographer Isidore Mankofsky.


1975: Birthdate of New York native Lauren Grodsein, the Rutgers University professor and novelist whose works included the best-seller A Friend of the Family


1975: U.S. premiere of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: produced by Saul Zaentz with a screenplay co-authored by Bo Goldman filmed by cinematographer Haskell Wexler.


1976: “Mark Lutsker, who had recently completed a two year sentence for draft evasion” received “an exit visa” so he could go to Israel.


1976: “Dorothy Schiff, editor in chief and publisher of the New York Post announced that she had agreed to sell the afternoon daily to Rupert Murdoch, the Australian publisher.”


1977:  Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement.


1977: Birthdate of gymnast Kerri Strug, the Tucson, AZ, native who was a member of the Magnificent Seven


1978: In Israel, four people were killed and thirty were injured as a result of bus bombing that was aimed at citizens of Belgium, Canada, Sweden and the UK.


1979: Thirteen people waiting at a bus stop were injured by a bomb that had been placed on a bus.


1979: A second bomb placed on a different bus exploded but there were no reports of casualties.


1980:CBS TV bans Calvin Klein's jeans ad featuring Brooke Shields. [He is Jewish; she is not.]


1980: “Taxi” starring Judd Hirsch and created by Ed Weinberger begins its third season.


1981(22ndof Cheshvan, 5742): Seventy-one year old Michigan State and CFL star and Detroit High School football coach Abe Eliowitz who was the husband of Gertrude Lipman and Ida Sara Lachman passed away today.



1982(3rdof Kislev, 5743): Sixty year old Canadian born Erving Groffman sociologist passed away today. (As reported by William Dicke




1983(13thof Kislev, 5744):  Fifty seven year old lyricist Carolyn Leigh passed away.(As reported by G. Gerald Fraser)



1986(17thof Cheshvan, 5747): Seventy-six year old German born “Swiss musicologist” Harry Goldschmidt passed away today in Dresden.


1988: A month before his death at the age of 79, Alter Mojze Goldman was elected to the Légion d'Honneur on for his role in the French Résistance today.


1991(12thof Kislev, 5752): Two days before his 92nd birthday, “Austrian-Swiss ophthalmologist and inventor Hans Goldmann passed away today.




1991: The Dallas Symphony Orchestra performed a rare Mavin Hamlisch classical symphonic suite titled Anatomy of Peace (Symphonic Suite in one Movement For Full Orchestra/Chorus/Child Vocal Soloist)


1992: Robert Strauss completed his tour as United States Ambassador to Russia.


1993: “Addams Family Values” a sequel to “The Adams Family” directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, produced by Scott Rudin and with a script by Paul Rudnick was released in the United States today.


1994: The Shagmar Commission which had been established to conduct to investigate the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin held its first meeting today.


1998: During the Mona Lewinsky scandal, The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee begins impeachment hearings against U.S. President Bill Clinton.


1998(30th of Cheshvan, 5759): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1998(30th of Cheshvan, 5759): Seventy-seven year old American film producer, writer and director Alan J. Pakula the Yale educated son of Jewish parents from Poland passed away. Some of his more memorable efforts included “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Sophie’s Choice,” “Klute” and “The Pelican Brief.”



1999(10thof Kislev, 5760): Eighty-seven year old publisher and editor Alexander Liberman passed away today.



1999: In Atlanta, GA, the General Assembly of the United Jewish Communities comes to an end.


2000:  The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including At Memory’s Edge:  After-Images of the Holocaust in Contemporary Art and Architectureby James E. Young, Highlanders:A Journey to the Caucasus in Quest of Memory by Yoav Karny, Lying Awake by Mark Saltzman and Louisa by by Simone Zelitch


2001: During the investigation of Jack Abramoff’s business dealings in Guam, U.S. Attorney Frederick A. Black, the chief prosecutor for Guam and the instigator of the indictment, was unexpectedly demoted and removed from the office he had held since 1991. The federal grand jury investigation was quickly wound down and took no further action.


2002: Amram Mitzna “won the Labour's leadership elections today with 54% of the vote.”


2003(24THof Cheshvan, 5764): Patricia Ter´n Navarrete, 33, of Ecuador was killed and four other tourists, pilgrims from Ecuador, were wounded when a terrorist entered the Israel-Jordan border crossing terminal north of Eilat from the Jordanian side and opened fire. The terrorist was killed by Israeli security guards.


2003(24thof Cheshvan, 5764): Nineteen year old Sgt. Liron Siboni of Ramat Gan died today from the wounds suffered on September 9th when Hamas terrorist attacked the bus stop next to Tzrifin military base.


2004(6th of Kislev, 5765): Children’s book illustrator Trina Schart Hyman passes away.


2004: “National Treasure” an adventure movie directed by Jon Turteltabu who co-produced it along with Jerry Bruckheimer, with music by Trevor Rabin and co-starring Harvey Keitel was released today in the United States.


2004: “Palaces of Prayer,” sponsored by the Angel Orensanz Foundation, Eldridge Street Project and the Lower East Side Conservancy came to a close today at the Angel Orensanz Center.



2004:The Wall Street Journalpublishes “They Call It Chrismukkah: ‘The O.C.’ launches a new interfaith holiday” in which columnist Jonathan Eig describes another response to the confluence of Christmas and Chanukah in America. "The O.C.," is a television show which traces the lives of some hip teens in Orange County, Calif. One of them is Seth Cohen, the fictional son of a Protestant mother and a Jewish father.


2005: The movement that was the first to welcome intermarried families into its synagogues nearly three decades ago now will focus on actively inviting non-Jews to convert to Judaism. That was one of the initiatives announced by Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, during his Shabbat sermon at the movement’s 68th biennial in Houston.


2006: TheNew York Times book section featured reviews of Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg by Bill Morgan, Collected Poems:1947-1997by Allen Ginsberg, and I, Goldstein: My Screwed Life  by A Goldstein and Josh Alan Friedman


2007: Eighty-eight year old André Bettencourt, who like so many Frenchmen of his generation had a checkered pass, as can be seen by his service as cabinet under President Pierre Mendès France after having written during the days of Vichy France that Jews were “hypocritical Pharisees whose race has been forever sullied by the blood of the righteous” for which “they will be cursed” passed away today.


2007: In Jerusalem, as part of the International Oud Festival, Dovid Broza and Yair Dalal present an evening of love songs in Spanish, Hebrew and Arabic.


2007(9thof Kislev, 5768): Ninety-one year old Wiera Gran passed away.



2007: In “Bad and Badder” published today described F. Murray Abraham’s reaction to playing Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and Barabas in Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta



2007(9th of Kislev, 5768): Ido Zuldan, a 29 year old resident of Shavei Shomron was killed by Palestinian gunman while traveling between two villages on the West Bank while in a separate incident, five Qassam rockets and 18 mortar shells struck the western Negev including at least one rocket that struck the city of Ashkelon.


2008: Barney Rosset receives a lifetime achievement award from the National Book Foundation in honor of his many contributions to American publishing, especially his groundbreaking legal battles to print uncensored versions of Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer. He is also the subject of “Obscene,” a documentary by Neil Ortenberg and Daniel O’Connor.


2008: In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Hadassah Book Club discusses The History of Love by Nicole Krauss at the home of Amy Barnum.


2008: On its final night the Ninth Annual Rutgers New Jersey Jewish Film Festival presents “Four Seasons Lodge”, a movie about a bungalow colony in New York’s Catskill Mountains, has provided idyllic refuge to a group of Holocaust survivors and their families for nearly three decades.


2008: Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor won his race to become the new minority whip today, becoming the second-ranking Republican in the US House of Representatives. While the House Republican leadership has been set, the party's own transition has just begun. Wednesday's moves shift the House delegation further to the right, with the elevation of conservatives such as Cantor, the only Jewish Republican in the House of Representatives. The Republican Party as a whole is now debating whether it needs to consolidate its conservative base or reach out to moderates, and the outcome could determine if Jews other than Cantor feel comfortable in the Grand Old Party.


2008: Facing a tight economic crunch, the New York-based Anti-Defamation League has laid off nearly 10 percent of its staff at its national headquarters, the organization said today.


2008:Israeli archaeologists excavating what they believe is the tomb of biblical King Herod said today they have unearthed lavish Roman-style wall paintings of a kind previously unseen in the Middle East and signs of a regal two-story mausoleum, bolstering their conviction that the Jewish monarch was buried here.


2008: Brigadier-General Eyal Eisenberg replaced Moshe Tamir as commander of The Israel Defense Forces Gaza Division (Territorial) which is subordinate to the Southern Regional Command.


2008: Today, following dozens of Qassam rockets and mortar rounds which exploded on Israeli soil, the plan for operation cast lead was brought for Barak's final approval.


2008: John Key assumed office as the 38th Prime Minister of Australia.


2009: Melvin Urofsky, a professor of law and public policy, discusses and signs "Louis D. Brandeis: A Life," his new biography of the Supreme Court justice, at the National Archives


2009: At the Trade Fair and Convention Center in Tel Aviv the Fifth International Water Technologies and Environmental Control Exhibition - WATEC Israel 2009 comes to an end.


2009: Moshe Holtzberg, son of Barvriel and Rivka Holztberg of blessed memory who were murdered by the terrorists in Mumbain in 2008, receives his first haircut at a ceremony called upshiren.


2009: The Iowa Department of Economic Development Board approved state incentivizes of more than $600,000 that will help kosher meatpacker Agri Star Meat & Poultry in Postville launch a $6.7 million expansion to add a line of oven-baked beef and poultry. 


2010: Israeli/International Folk Dance for Seniors is the scheduled activity for today at The Jewish Folk Arts Festival.


2010:An exhibition featuring the work of Ayala Gazit, the Haifa born photographer, entitled “Was It A Dream,” is scheduled to open in New York City.


2010:Following multiple rockets and mortar shells being fired into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip today, the IDF confirmed that IAF jets successfully struck three terror-related targets in Gaza in response.


2010(12th of Kislev, 5771): Children’s writer Betty Jean Kirschner, the wife of psychiatrist Robert Jay Lofton, the son of Harold A. Lofton and Ciel Roth, passed away today.


2010(12th of Kislev, 5771): Seventy six year old  Marvin Levin, a real estate developer who wore a wire in his cowboy boots during a major FBI anti-corruption sting of California’s state government in the 1980s, passed away today



2011: “Now I Am Talking, Memories of a Woman Partisan” a film that tells the story of Vitka Kovner, the Jewish resistance fighter who was the wife of Abba Kovner, is scheduled to be shown at the Jewish Eye World Jewish Film Festival.


2011: Adat Reyim is scheduled to host its annual Autumn Art Auction in Springfield, VA.


2011:Cellist Inbal Segev is scheduled to perform selected string trios as part of the Amerigo trio with Glenn Dicterow and Karen Dreyfus at the music for Youth Concert in New York.


2011: David “Amram was awarded the 1st Annual Bruce Ricker Lifetime Achievement Award under the auspices of The Paso Digital Film Festival.”


2011:Israel sees cracks in Syrian power structures amid increasingly violent unrest, and there are signs President Bashar Assad may not be in power for long, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on today.


2011:Israel Police and the Communications Ministry cut off the broadcasts of Kol Hashalom radio station today, claiming that they are pirate broadcasts. Kol Hashalom’s operators claim that their offices, which are located in the Palestinian Authority, are not subject to Israeli law, but Palestinian law, and therefore the Communications Ministry does not have the authority to shut it down.


2011(22nd of Cheshvan, 5772): Eighty-one year old museum curator I. Michael Heyman passed away today.




2011(22nd of Cheshvan, 5772): Ninety-three year old “Sanford D. Garelik, a former New York City mayoral candidate and a City Council president who served the city amid the fiscal and criminal turmoil of the 1970s” passed away today. (As reported by Matt Flegenheimer)



2012: Jean-François Copé begins serving as President of the Union for a Popular Movement Group in the French National Assembly,


2012: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present “Jewish World in Action: Facing the Polish-Jewish Refugee Crisis, 1648-1683.”


2012(5th of Kislev, 5774): Eighty two year old Warren Rudman, the senator who led the fight for a balanced budget passed away today. (As reported by Adam Clymer)



2012:The Wiener Library and the University of London are scheduled to host "The Strongest Possible Terms": The Evolving Role of Parliamentary Condemnations of Atrocities Past and Present a debate marking the 70th Anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Persecution of the Jews.


2012: The Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia is scheduled to sponsor a musical evening celebrating 100 years of Woody Guthrie. 


2012: To date, since the start of the year, more than 1,700 rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza.


2012: As Sunday gives way to Monday, Israel continues to defend itself during Operation Pillar of Defense.


2012: Two Katyusha missiles aimed at Israel from Lebanon were “discovered” today in the southern region. Both were set to launch, a security source told Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star.


2012:Israel’s operation to stem Palestinian rocket fire on southern Israel continued in its sixth day today. The Israel Air Force struck over 80 terrorist targets in Gaza, while Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired 130 rockets into Israel.


2013: “It’s Better To Jump” and “The Lesson” are scheduled to be shown at the Other Israel Film Festival.


2013: Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs warned today “that chances of peaceful end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may be ‘irreparably damaged’ unless steps are taken to prevent new Israeli settlement building and ‘other negative developments.’”  The U.N. official did not define what he meant by “other negative developments” but apparently they do not include the murder of Israelis by Arab terrorists and the mortar and rocket attacks that have taken place since the talks began following Israel releasing dozens of terrorist.


2013: Terrorists in Gaza fired mortars at IDF soldiers on the Israel side of the the border between the Palestinian “entity” and the Jewish state. 


2013: IAF destroyed a weapons factory and two tunnels used by terrorists this evening in response to Arab attacks which come on the first anniversary of Pillar of Defense.


2013(16thof Kislev, 5774): Ninety-eight year old children’s book author and editor Charlotte Zolotow passed away today. (As reported by Margalit Fox)



2014: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to host “The Rosenburg Files: The German Federal Ministry of Justice and the Nazi Past.”


2014: Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life is scheduled to present Charles Asher Small speaking on “The Dimensions of Global Anti-Semitism: Will it spread to the U.S.?”


2014: “Dancing in Jaffa” is scheduled to be shown at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education.


2014: The Tulane University Jewish Studies Department under the leadership of Dr. Brian Horowitz is scheduled to present Erga Atad speaking on “How News Becomes News: The Israeli Case.”


2014: Decent people everywhere mourn the loss of Rabbi Aryeh Kupinsky, 40, Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, Rabbi Kalman Levine, 50, Rabbi Moshe Twersky, 59 and Police Officer Zidan Saif, 30 who were brutally murdered yesterday in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood by two Arab terrorists.


2014: “Members of Kehilat Bnei Torah Synagogue returned today for morning prayers (Shacharit), the first service held at the shul since the gruesome terror attack Tuesday that left five people dead.” (As reported by Marissa Newman)



2014: “Police set up checkpoints around some Arab neighborhoods and beefed up their presence across Jerusalem Wednesday as the city boosted security efforts a day after a deadly attack on a synagogue that left five people dead.”


2014(26thof Cheshvan, 5775): The multi-talented 83 year old Mike Nichols passed away today.



2015: “According to a new Weizmann Institute study by Professor Eran Segal and R. Eran Elinav” published in today’s issue of the journal “Cell,” the reason it may be “so hard for some people to lose weight” is “because different people’s bodies respond differently to the same meal, depending on their gut bacteria.”


2015: In Los Angeles, the 29th Israel Film Festival is scheduled to come to an end.


2015: “A major American Academic association, the American Anthropological Association, overwhelmingly approved a resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutions during the group's annual meeting in Denver, Colorado” today.


2015:Micah Goodman, a lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and the director of Israel’s Ein Prat Midrasha is scheduled to discuss his latest work, Maimonides and the Book That Changed Judaism at the Skirball Center.


2015: “The Zionist Idea” and “The Kind Words” are scheduled to be shown in Melbourne during the Jewish International Film Festival.


2016(18th of Cheshvan, 5777): Shabbat Vayera


2016(18th of Cheshvan, 5777): Eighty-eight year old Oscar winning production designer Paul Sylbert passed away today.



2016(18th of Cheshvan, 5777): Ninety-five year old optometrist Irving Fradkin the creator of the Dollars for Scholars program passed away today.




2016: Today, “black paint was poured on a monument for Holocaust victims on Mogilev, a city in Belarus located 150 miles east of the capital of Minsk” which was just one more sign of an increase in anti-Semitism among Ukrainians


2016; “The Pickle Recipe” and “One Week and A Day” are scheduled to be shown in Brisbane, Australia as part of the Jewish International Film Festival.


2016; “The Wedding Date” and “The 90 Minute War” are scheduled to be shown at the 20th UK International Jewish Film Festival.


2016: After six months, “Sign from Iran” an exhibition of 60 original Iranian art posters on display atJerusalem’s Museum for Islamic ‘Art is scheduled to come to an end today.


2017(1stof Kislev, 5777): Rosh Chodesh Kislev; for more see http://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/


2017: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to hold its annual meeting where attendees will discuss “Envisioning Our Future Museum.”


2017: Elisha Wiesel, son of the late Holocaust Survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, is scheduled to speak at Highland Park, Illinois High School Auditorium where he will reflect “on the indelible legacy his father left for him and the world, and how he works to advance his father's message today.”


2017: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Lioness: Golda Meir and the Nation of Israel by Francine Klagsbrun, An Odyssey: A Father, a Son and an Epic by Daniel Mendelsohn, Heather, The Totality by Matthew Weiner, The Age of Perpetual Lightby Josh Weil, Paris in the Present Tense by Mark Helprin and Dead Girls and Other Stories by Emily Geminder as well as he audiobook The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity by Esther Perel


2017: “The Algemeiner is scheduled to host a conversation with journalist and former Taliban captive Jere Van Dyk on “From Daniel Pearl to Steven Sotloff: Jews and Political Kidnapping.”


2017: “Ben-Gurion, Epilogue” and “Bye Bye Germany” are scheduled to be shown today in London at the 21st UK International Jewish Film Festival.


2017: As part of its series of Biblical trials series, the Streicker Center is scheduled to host “The People vs. Eve with Kelly Ayotte as prosecutor and Alan Dershowitz, the attorney who helped Kalus Von Bulow beat the charge of murder, serving as defense attorney.


2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such as Joan Nathan whose wide variety of cookbooks included The Jewish Holiday Baker and Jewish Cooking in America continues today.


2018: “Makeup and lifestyle persona, Ashley Waxman Bakshi” is scheduled to meet her fans at the Jerusalem Azrieli Mall.


2018: Three days after he had passed away, funeral services are scheduled to the held for 93 year old WW 2 U.S Navy Veteran and ISU electrical engineering graduate Arnold Bucksbaum, who worked on the Apollo Moon Landing Project at Collins and who was a long time member of Temple Judah following which he will be buried at Eben Israel Cemetery.



2018: The Streicker Center is scheduled to host Dr. Diane Sharon lecturing on “The Secret Life of The Psalms” and Dr. David Kraemer lecturing on “Maimonides: The Man and His Genius.”


2018: The YIVO Institute is scheduled to host Harriet Jackson lecturing on “Political and Spiritual Resistance, From Russia to France: The Extraordinary Case of Rabbi Zalman Schneerson.”



 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 



 



 



 


 

This Day, November 20, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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November 20


331 BCE (21st of Kislev, 3431): According to the Talmud, Simeon the Just destroyed the Samaritan Temple at Mount Gerizim.  The Samaritans had undermined the efforts during the post-exilic period and this move was as much about establishing political sovereignty as it was about wiping out a “high place” intended to compete with Jerusalem.  The victory was marked by a minor festival called Mt. Gerizim Day.



284: Diocletian was chosen as Roman Emperor.  Diocletian began a policy of subdividing the various provinces of the Roman Empire into increasingly smaller administrative units.  Palestine, the name the Romans gave to Eretz Israel, was divided into three territories: Palaestina Prima including Judea, Samaria, and the coastal plain, Iduemea and Peraea with Caesarea (the one on the Mediterranean that had played such a key role in the Great Revolt against Rome) as its capital; Palaestina Secunda, consisting of the Galilee and the Golan with Beth-shean (the city to which the ancient Philistines had taken King Saul’s decapitated body) as its capital; Palaestina Terita consisting primarily of the Negev with Petra as its capital.  In a further division of powers, each of these new subdivisions had a military and a civilian head. All of the new bureaucrats who came with these new subdivisions took on aura of divinity connected in keeping with their role as representatives of the Divine Emperor.  What it meant for the people of the empire was further subjugation and impoverishment.  Diocletian was also the last of the Roman Emperors took actively persecute the Christians.  His ultimate successor would adopt a policy that represented a 180 degree and would mark even worse times for the Jewish people.



542: The Nea Church which contains the Madaba Map, the oldest surviving original cartographic depiction of the Holy Land and especially Jerusalem as part of its floor mosaic was dedicated today.



1194: Palermo, Sicily, is conquered by Emperor Henry VI. By the time of Henry’s conquest, Jews had been living on the island of Sicily for over a thousand years. Jews had been living in Palermo since the sixth century because we have evidence that in 590 “Pope Gregory the Great ordered the ecclesiastical authorities to reimburse the Jews of Palermo for the damage suffered by the expropriation of their synagogue.” Furthermore, just prior to the conquest, the famous traveler Benjamin of Tudela mentioned the Jewish community of Palermo in his writings.



1272:Edward I proclaimed King of England. Edward is remembered as the English king, who, after stripping the Jews of their wealth, expelled them from his realm in 1290.



1316: King John I of France died.  His father, Louis X had issued a decree in 1315 allowing the Jews to return.  We do not know how John felt about the Jews (or anything else for that matter) since he only lived for five days.  We do know that the Jews were allowed to remain in France until the end of the 14th century when they were again expelled.



1316: King Phillip V, also called Phillip the Long or Phillip the Tall began his reign during which “300,000 men, headed by a deposed priest and a renegade monk began their desultory march to the Holy Land: which included ravaging the Jews of Navarre, slaying 6,000 Jews in Estella and laying siege to Verdun where the Jews took their own lives rather than the victims of this so-called “Shepherd’s Crusade”



1451: Pope Nicholas V issued an edict empower the bishop of Osma and the vicar of Salamana to appoint new inquisitors to examine the cases of "new-Christians suspected of Judaizing.  The inquisitors were authorized to punish the convict, imprison them, confiscate their goods and disgrace them, to degrade even priests and hand them over to the secular arm - a church euphemism for condemning them to the heretic's stake



1521: All Jewish wine was dumped by Arabs and heavy fines imposed on the Jewish community of Jerusalem. The Arabs blamed the Jewish use of wine for a severe water shortage. 



1616: Bishop Richelieu becomes French minister of Foreign affairs/War.  Richelieu was the power behind the throne during the reign of King Louis XIII. Any decree issued over the signature of Louis was probably written by Richelieu.   While Jews had long been banished from France, exceptions were made. For example, when the French captured the city of Metz, a special letter was posted allowing the Jews to remain because their presence was a necessity for the good of the Kingdom.  Furthermore, the ban against Jews was not enforced during Louis XIII’s reign in his overseas possessions. Once again, thanks to economic needs, in places such as Martinique, the Jews were allowed to settle while engaged in trade and practicing their faith.



1657: Manasseh Ben Israel passed away. Manasseh Ben Israel will always be remembered as the Jewish leader who negotiated with Oliver Cromwell to gain the right for Jews to settle in England.



http://www.jewishmuseum.org.uk/jb-Menasseh-ben-Israel



https://archive.org/details/menassehbenisra00isragoog



http://www.jewish-history.com/Occident/volume3/may1845/menasseh.html



1785: “The earliest known Yiddish letter from the United States was written by Barnard Gratz of Philadelphia to his brother Michael in London today.



1789: New Jersey became the first state to ratify the amendments to the U.S. Constitution known as the Bill of Rights with its guarantee of Freedom of Religion.  It would take another two years for the Bill of Rights to become part of the Constitution. Virginia would put it over the top in December of 1791.



1790: Governor of Georgia Edward Telfair authorized a charter for the "Parnas and Adjuntas of Mickve Israel at Savannah" under which the congregation still operates.



1796: David Levy married Hannah Solomons at the Great Synagogue today.



1808: During a debate on “Jewish emancipatory legislation Friedrich Leopold Freiherr von Schrötter, the Prussian minister of state and veteran of the Seven Years War, expressed his opinion about the demonstration of “Jewish valor on the battle field in which he said “The Jew has fiery oriental blood in his veins and vivid imagination, all indicative of virile courage, when utilized and carried into practice.  He was very brave in the ancient and middle epochs and even in very recent times” during “the American as well as French Revolutionary Wars.  The timidity of the Jews arises, according to my opinion, from the serfdom in which they are kept and from the contempt in which all nations regard them.”



1811: Moses Phillips married Esther Jacobs at the Great Synagogue today.



1816: Birthdate of Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, the native of Mir, Belarus, who was “also known as Reb Hirsch Leib Berlin, and commonly known by the acronym Netziv amd was an Orthodox rabbi, dean of the Volozhin Yeshiva and author of several works of rabbinic literature in Lithuania.



http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/naftali-tzvi-yehudah-berlin-the-netziv



1823: Birthdate of Baruch Hirsch Strousberg, the native of Neidenburg, East Prussia, who gained fame as Christian convert Bethel Henry Strousberg, the German industrialist who lost most of his railway empire following business reverses that took place after the Franco-Prussian War.



1827(1st of Kislev, 5588): Rosh Chodesh



1827: One day after she had passed away, 34 year old Sophia (Minden) Cohen the wife of Aaron Cohen, was buried today at the Brady Street Jewish Cemetery.



1829: The Jews were expelled from the Russian cities of Nikolayev and Sevastopol.



1833: Samuel Cohen married Hannah Phillips at the Great Synagogue today.



1836: Seventy year old Aaron Lazarus, who had married Ann Levy after his first wife Sophia Lehman had passed away, was buried today in the United Kingdom.



1842: Birthdate of Italian lawyer, editor and political leader Caser Porec.



1842: Morris Lee married Rebecca Duke today in the City of London



1850: Birthdate of Joseph Samuel Bloch, an Austrian rabbi, who aggressively fought August Rohling, one of the leading Austrian anti-Semites – a stand which resulted in his being elected to the Chamber of Deputies.



1850: In Columbia, SC, Rabbi P.S. Jacobs officiated at the wedding of Jacob Levin and Julia Mordecai.



1857: In Westphalia, German Solomon Spiegel and Rosalie Herzberg gave birth to Cincinnati trained lawyer Frederick S. Spiegel, the husband of Minnie Steinberg who became a Judge of Court of Common Pleas in the 1stJudicial District of Ohio.



1858: The Executive Committee of the Representatives of the United Congregations of Israelites of the City of New York addressed a letter to President James Buchanan concerning the Mortara Case. The letter included reference to the letter sent by London Committee of Deputies of British Jews “to their brethren in the United States” seeking their support in having the boy who was kidnapped in Bologna returned to his family.  The letter informed the President of the support being offered by several European nations and of plans to hold a public meeting to enlist public support in the United States. The committee reminded President Buchanan of the prompt action taken by President Van Buren in 1840 when he was asked to intervene to aid the persecuted Jews of Damascus and expressed the hope that he would do the same.



1858: At Vienna, Dr. of Jurisprudence Gustav Fruend and Rosa Fruend gave birth to Dr. of Jurisprudence Hugo Freund.



1858(13th of Kislev, 5619): Hirsch Edelman, the native of White Russia, who worked at Oxford’s Bodelian Library where he produced several works on of the most famous of which was Derekh Tovim: The Path of Good Men, “a compilation of writings by Judah ibn Tibbon and Maimonides along with Arabic and Greek proverbs in Hebrew” passed away today.



1859: In Lancaster, PA, Moses Aaron gave birth to Israel Aaron the graduate of the University of Cincinnati and Hebrew Union College who served as a rabbi at Fort Wayne, Indiana, before filling the pulpit at Temple Beth Zion in Buffalo, NY.



1863: During the Civil War, Philadelphian Albert M. Sigmund completed his service as an Assistant Surgeon with the 38th Regiment.



1864(21st of Cheshvan, 5625): Fifty-year old Jacob Ezekiel Lowy, the nation of Austrian Silesia passed at Beuthen where he had been serving as rabbi since 1854.passed away today.



1869: In Kalwaria, Poland, Nehemiah Spectorsky and Hannah Leah Hirschberg give birth to Isaac Spectorsky, the husband of Frances Hurwitz and graduate of the “New York University School of Pedagogy” who was superintendent of the Education Alliance in New York and assistant principal of the Baron de Hirsch Trade School as well as the editor of the Cleveland Jewish Free Press and the author of Yiddish Method of English for Immigrants.



1870: It was reported today that Robert C. De Large, a mulatto with a Jewish father has defeated Mr. C.C. Bowen in the race for the Second Congressional District in South Carolina. A Republican, Mr. De



1877: In “Suwalki, Poland,” Louis and Rebecca Goldstein Rosenthal, gave birth to Elizabeth “Lizzie” Rosenthal who became Elizabeth Feinberg when she married Moses Feinberg.



1880: It was reported today that the Purim Association will be hosting a ball in March at the Academy of Music “for the benefit of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.”



1880: In Germany, the members of the government are expected to face questioning from deputies about anti-Semitic “agitation” that has been taken place.



1880: According to a referee’s reported filed today described the sham by Henry Cone, Abraham Altman, Emanuel Levi and the Third National that enabled them to gain control of the Buffalo clothing firm Friedman & Co owned by Jacob and Burnet Friedman.



1881: It was reported today that “the King of Denmark has knighted four Jews in Jutland.”



1881: A resolution was adopted by a group at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum to hold a meeting on November 27 to discuss ways to deal with the unprecedented demand on resources being created by the arrival of the wave of immigrants from Russia.



1883: The Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum held its second annual charity ball tonight.



1884: Birthdate of Norman Thomas social reformer and frequent Socialist candidate for President of the United States.  Thomas was not Jewish but he was active in numerous causes that affected the Jewish People.  He was a founder of the American Civil Liberties Union.  As a member of the America First Committee he opposed America’s entry into World War II until Pearl Harbor changed his mind.  At the same time, he worked to change American policy during the 1930’s to make it possible for Jewish victims of the Nazis to enter the United States.



1885: It was reported today that while the Reform movement has approved substituting Sunday services for Saturday services, such will not be the case in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Rabbi Wise, who spoke approvingly of the change said that it was not necessary to make the change in the Queen City.



1886: Birthdate of Alexandre Stavisky, the Ukrainian born French financer whose elaborate swindle gave rise to the infamous Stavisky Affair, a scandal that rocked France in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s.



1886: It was reported today that the recent decision of the Supreme Court that “affirmed the illegality of keeping open a shop on Sunday “for the purpose of doing business’” will work an extra hardship on Jewish merchants.  The police had allowed them keep their shops open on Sunday “on the supposition” that because they observed the Sabbath on Saturday they were not covered by the law.  Rabbi Solomon Schindler has already chaired a packed meeting at the Columbus Avenue Synagogue on this subject.  The Jews will comply with the law but will work to have the legislature change it in the next session.



1886(22nd of Cheshvan, 5647): After having been struck by a Hansom cab, 54 year old artist Rebecca Solomon passed away today.



http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/solomon-rebecca



http://jwa.org/media/rebecca-solomon-wounded-dove-1866



1887: “Miss Adams, The Writer” published today traces the life and career of Hannah Adams, the first American woman to earn her living as an author.  Her works included The History of the Jewswhich was published in 1812.  The full title was The History of the Jews from the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Present Time and it may be the first book on this topic published in the United States.



1887: “Reading From Right to Left” published today relied on information that first appeared in the Hebrew Journal to speculate as to way Hebrew is read from right to left.  “The most pertinent reason lies in the fact that our vision from right to left is much clearer and stronger than it is from left to right.”



1887: “Emma Lazarus” published today provided a laudatory obituary of the Jewish poet who passed away yesterday.



1887: Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler delivered a lecture to the congregants at Temple Beth-El entitled “Prejudice.”



1888: A concert was given tonight at the Metropolitan Opera House to raise money for the Aguilar Free Library, an institution supported by the leading Jews of New York City.



1888(16th of Kislev, 5649): Forty-seven year old Mitchell J. Asch, the “son of Clarissa and Joseph M. Asch” and the husband of “Manuella Asch” passed away in New York.



1888: As the Third Republic continued to be torn apart by competing factions “Count Munster, the German Ambassador in Paris” reported to his government in Berlin that Baron Hirsch, the Jewish financier and philanthropist was willing to put “a few million” down in support of General Ernest Boulanger “the man on White Horse” who had risen to power originally with the support of one of the sons of the former Orlean kings.



1888(16th of Kislev, 5649): Simon Lederer, a prominent New York merchant passed away today.  Born in Austria in 1823, he came to the United States in 1857 where he pursued a 17 year career in the tobacco business  first with Gustav Resiman and  then as a partner in Bondy & Lederer. A life-long bachelor, he was a generous but modest supporter of Jewish charities.



1889: Gustav Mahler’s 1st Symphony premiered.  Mahler was born Jewish and was still nominally Jewish when he wrote the First Symphony.  He converted to Roman Catholicism in 1897 so that he could become Director of the State Opera.



1889: Birthdate of “German textile merchant and manufacturer Karl Amson Joel who fled the Nazis via Switzerland and Cuba and was the “grandfather of conductor Alexander Joel and musician Billy Joel.”



https://www.revolvy.com/page/Karl-Amson-Joel



1889(26th of Cheshvan, 5650): Sixty-seven year old Dutch bibliographer Meyer Roest  who “to various Jewish periodicals, such as the Dutch Spectator and the Taalkundig Magazin, and edited the (non-Jewish) Navorscher and Israelietische Nieuwsbode for several years and whose best known work is Catalog der Hebraica und Judaica aus der L. Rosenthal'schen Bibliothek passed away in his native Amsterdam today.



1890: As the “run” on Citizens’ Saving Bank, located on the Lower East Side with a large number of poor, Jewish depositors, it was suggested “that Chief Rabbi Joseph be invited to examine the thousands of dollars in the bank’s vault and then tell his people what he had seen” – a move that the Bank President hoped would reassure the depositors and end the run.



1890: In Richmond, VA, “Philip and Mary (Meyer)” gave birth dentist Harry Bear, the first graduate of the School of Dentistry at Virginia Common University to serve as its dean and the husband of Betty Gellman.



https://prabook.com/web/harry.bear/1064794



https://dentistry.vcu.edu/about/history/



1892 (1st of Kislev, 5653): Rosh Chodesh Kislev



1892(1st of Kislev, 5653): Seventy-two year old Haim Nathan Dembitzer the Galician rabbi and historian who worked with historian Heinrich Graetz and  whose publications include a biography of Tosafist Joseph Porat passed away today.



1892: The Hebrew Orphan Asylum Military Band is scheduled to play at a fundraiser at Central Turn Hall which will be addressed by Ferdinand Levy, Judge Henry M. Goldfogle and Dr. Herman Baar, the Superintendent of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum



1892: A service is scheduled to take place this morning at Temple Emanu-El to honor the memory of the recently deceased Seligman Adler.



1892: “Russia and Her Jews” published today provided a detailed review of The New Exodus” a Study of Israel in Russia by Harold Frederic a Presbyterian journalist and novelist who had just visited Russia last summer.



1893: As of today the tenants at 59, 61, 63, and 65 Moore Street, all of whom are Russian Jews are to have vacated the premises as ordered the Civil Justice in Brooklyn.



1894(21st of Cheshvan, 5655): Russian born pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein passed away.



1894: Birthdate of English film composer and music director, Louis Levy.



https://www.discogs.com/artist/942790-Louis-Levy



1894: Pauline and George Washington Milius gave birth to Dorothy Milius who was the wife of “Sidney Walter Kaufman and Sidney Salkey.”



1894: Birthdate of Austrian screenplay writer Carl Mayer who, with the rise of the Nazis, fled to Britain where he would die young, poor and almost completely forgotten. 



1896: Birthdate of Rakhel Peisoty, the native of the Ukraine who gained fame as American labor leader Rose Pesotta best known for her work with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.



1896: “Rachel Frank of California, the only woman rabbi who is famous as the ‘inspired prophet’ of the Jews on the Pacific Coat” was “conspicuous among” the delegates at the just completed first convention of the National Council of Jewish Women



1896: As the first convention of the National Council of Jewish Women during which Joseph Jacobs of London gave an address in which he said “The future of Judaism lies with Jewish woman and  Mrs. Hannah G. Solomon was elected president came to an end.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FA0812FC385515738DDDA90A94D9415B8685F0D3



1896: Professor H. L Sabsovich, the General Agent of the Baron De Hirsch Fund officiated at the service dedicating the new synagogue in Woodbine, NJ, a colony settled by Russian-Jews.  The service included a sermon in English by Rabbi Sabato Morris and a sermon in German by Dr. Morris Jastrow.



1896: Birthdate of Russian author Yevgenia Ginzburg.



1897: The Beni Zion Association is scheduled to meet at 7:30 p.m. in King’s Hall in London



1898: A summary of the United Hebrew Charities report for October revealed that the society had processed 2,243 applications that would provide assistance to 7,477 people.



1898(6th of Kislev, 5659): Fifty-five year old Emanuel Wachenheim passed away tonight at Bellevue after he had brought to the hospital from the Victor Hotel where he had registered under an assumed name and may have tried to take his own life.



1898: Birthdate of “German textile merchant and manufacturer” Karl Amson Joel, “the grandfather of conductor Alexander Joel” and pop-star Billy Joel.



https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Karl%20Amson%20Joel&item_type=topic



1898: Vice President Maruice Untermyer gave the opening address at the formal dedication of “the new home of the Hebrew Infant Asylum” which included a performance by the Hebrew Orphan Asylum Band.



1899: Birthdate of Bohemian born “Austrian-Swiss ophthalmologist and inventor” Hans Goldmann. (Some sources show November 21 as his birthdate)



http://www.ascrs.org/honorees/hans-goldmann-md



1901: At the opening meeting of the Second New York State Conference of Charities and Correction, Rabbi Adolph Radin of the People’s Synagogue and Chaplain of the House of Refuge arose from his chair and said, “I wish to register…my protest in the name of justice and humanity against the action of the Juvenile Asylum” to which “Jewish children are sent…and after a brief period are sent to Christian families.” He compared this form of proselytism to the practices of Czar Nicholas II.



1901: A devastating fire broke out a four story brick factory building in Brooklyn, the top floor of which was occupied by Isadore Gerber’s sweatshop.



1902: “The Jewish Theological Seminary held its first public gathering this evening in the hall of the Young Men's Hebrew Association at Lexington Avenue ad Ninety-Second Street. Prof. Solomon Schechter, the professor at Cambridge University, England, who is known for his archaeological work in the Genizah of Cairo, made his inaugural address as President of the Faculty of the new seminary.”  Dr. Cyrus Adler, President of the Board of Trustees, followed with a speech that outlined the development of Jewish educational institutions in the United States.



1903: Birthdate of journalist and co-editor of the Menorah, Herbert Solow who began as a Bolshevik and ended up working for Henry Luch.



1905: “Says President Can Act” published today includes a challenge by Charles Fleisher a Boston Rabbi to the notion that there is nothing President Roosevelt can do to help the Jews of Russia saying that “if both as an individual and the representative of 80,000,000 people consecrated to decency and brotherhood, Mr. Roosevelt express with character vigor the indignant protest of America, then the Czar cannot choose but take notice.



1905: Oscar S. Straus presided over The National Committee for the Relief of Sufferers by Russian Massacre held a meeting today in Temple Emanu-El during which reports were read by Treasurer Jacob H. Schiff, Secretary Cyrus L. Sulzberger “and the various trade committees that have been soliciting funds.



1905: As of today, the Jewish Relief Fund for the victims of the Russian massacres has reached the $500,000 dollar mark including $152 from the Jewish community in Hamilton, Ohio, $20 from Congregation Temple Israel in Portsmouth, N.H., $111 from the Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Ybar City, FL and $93 from the Orthodox Jews of Wichita, KS,



1905: It was reported today that in England “at a good many churches preachers have made references to the Russian atrocities” and that a number of congregations have adopted “formal resolutions expressing sorrow and shame that in the name of Christ’s religion and in a Christian county such acts of fiendish cruelty have been perpetrated.



1905: It was reported today that National Committee collecting money for the relief of the Russian Jews who are being massacred has raised $498,651 including $500 from “the Jews of Bradford, PA,” $200 from Dr. Morris Skalmer, West Colfax Settlement, Denver, Colorado,” $93 from the “Orthodox Jews of Wichita, Kansas and $112 from the Canton Hebrew Congregation, Canton, Ohio.



1908: The Grand Vizir of Morocco sent a letter to President of the Alliance Israelite Universelle approving educational work and stating that the new Sultan is resolved to protect Jews.



1909(7th of Kislev, 5670): Mrs. Schore Shapiro passed away today.

1909: The One-hundredth anniversary of the death of Moses Mendes Seixas was observed at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in New York. Gershom Mendes Seixas was the first native-born rabbi in the United States. He was one of seven children of Rachel and Isaac Seixas. He was born in New York City on January 15, 1746. He was the first rabbi in America to give his sermons in English. He gave sermons which dealt with Jewish participation in the life of the state and made appeals for support of the American Revolution and against the British-Indian raids in the Northwest Territory. When the council members of Philadelphia made eligibility for an assembly seat dependent on professing the divine origin of the New Testament, he and other Jews fought against this unconstitutional religious test.



1911: In Munich, Bruno Walter conducted the premiere of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde.



1911: The Hebrew Congress meeting in Lemberg, Galicia came to a close.



1911: As American indignation over the Russian treatment of American Jews in Russia continued to grow, members of the “Progressive Order of the West” petitioned Missouri Governor Herbert Hadley to “write to President Taft” asking him to “take action on the Passport Question.”



1911: Missouri Governor Hadley wrote to President Taft “advocating the abrogation of the Treaty of 1832” with Russia.



1911: It was reported today that in Camden, NJ, the Hebrew school will shortly open a course for girls since it now successfully is conducting three classes for male students.



1911: In Warsaw, “Regina and Benjamin Szymin, a respected publisher of Yiddish and Hebrew Books” gave birth to David Syzmin who gained fame as David Seymour famed photographer and co-founder of Magnum Photos.



http://davidseymour.com/



http://lightbox.time.com/2013/01/16/a-second-look-chims-children-of-war/#1



http://merrill.umd.edu/events/visible-scars-children-and-war-photography-david-chim-seymour



http://museum.icp.org/mexican_suitcase/bio_chim.html



1912:Lee K. Frankel of New York, Simon Rosendale of Albany, and William M. Rosendale of New York attended the second day of New York State Conference of Charities and Correction at Syracuse, NY.



1912: The Alliance Israelite Universelle New York branch which is led by its President Kaufman Mandell issued an appeal for aid on behalf “of our brethren who have been left homeless and falling victim to Cholera” as a result of the “massacres and devastations of the Balkan War” in which thousands of more Jews have lost their lives.



1913: Arnold Schoenberg completed the opera "Die glückliche Hand" ("The Hand of Fate")



1913: Birthdate of Charles Bettelheim, a French economist and historian and founder of the Center for the Study of Modes of Industrialization (CEMI).



1913: Birthdate of Leo Hanin, the native of Vilna who found refuge in China and Japan before finally making Aliyah in 1948



http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/idcard.php?ModuleId=10006693



1913: Birthdate of Professor Henry A. Fischel, the noted linguist who played a key role in the founding of the Jewish Studies Program at Indiana University



1914: “For the Relief of Jews” published today urged donors making contributions to The Central Committee for the Relief of Jews to send them to Treasurer Harry Fischel at the World Building.



1915(13th of Kislev, 5676): In Chicago, Dr. Adolf Decker a physician and chess champion passed away.



1915: The New York County Chapter of the Red Cross of which Jacob H. Schiff is Treasurer “issued a Thanksgiving appeal for further funds for work in Europe.”



1915: “Dr. Schechter Dead; Noted As A Scholar” published today



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9407E5D8133FE233A25753C2A9679D946496D6CF



1915: “A Great Thinker” published today described Dr. Cyrus Adler’s view of his friend and colleague, Dr. Solomon Schechter of blessed memory which included his statement that Schechter’s “most notable scientific discovery was the great find of the Hebrew treasures in the so-called Genizah at Cairo, Egypt which was the greatest single discovery of ancient manuscripts that has ever been made by one man” and that included “the lost original of the Hebrew text of Ecclesisasticus.”



1916: According to reports published today the new facility of the Young Men’s and the Young Women’s Hebrew Association being built in Brooklyn “is the first of its type to provide equal accommodations for men and women” and will be “equipped with two gymnasiums and swimming pools



1916: Birthdate of Lilian Halpernova, who was transported from Prague in 1942 to Ujazdow where she was murdered.



1917: “The Chicago Woman’s Aid” is schedule to “hold its next regular meeting today at 2:00 p.m. at Sinai Center.”



1917: “Approximately five thousand men and women composing the 1917 Committee For Six Thousand” are scheduled to “attend the Opening Dinner Rally at the Standard Club” this evening which will mark the “launcing of the Ten Day Campaign to raise additional funds for the Associated Charities” in Chicago.



1917(5th of Kislev, 5678): Caroline "Carrie" Goldman Bendel, the daughter of Lewis and Sarah Peterson Goldman and the wife of Edward Henry Bendel passed away today after which she was interred in the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation Cemetery.



1917: As the Empire of Russia collapses, the Ukraine declares itself an independent republic. In the ensuing civil war, as many as 100,000 Jews may have been killed in organized pogroms or by forces competing for control who had one thing in common --- anti-Semitism.



1917: “The Woman’s Society of Zion Congregation” is scheduled to act as “hostess to the Jewish women of the sixty-three organizations affiliated with the ‘Chicago Conference’’ this afternoon at the Zion Temple on Ogden Avenue and Washington Boulevard.



1917: Nathan Straus, Henry Morgenthau and Jacob Schiff were among those who attended a meeting tonight where plans were discussed for the upcoming campaign in which New Yorkers were aiming to raise five million dollars for Jewish Relief and for the Jewish Welfare Board in the United Army and Navy.



1917: In Palestine, during the Battle of Nebi Samwil, which was part of the British offensive designed to capture Jerusalem, the 75th Division advanced along water-logged muddy roads and seized the villages of Saris and Kuryet el Enab which had been held by a rearguard detachment which meant the main body of the Ottoman Army was still waiting for them.



1917: In Johannesburg, SA, those attending “a mass meeting” adopted a resolution “favoring the establishment of a national home for Jews in Palestine” and “thanking the Imperial Government for its sympathy and support” in attaining this end.



1918: In “Palestine Needs Aid” published today an appeal was made for the “contributions of clothing for men, women and children for immediate ship to Palestine” where “an epidemic of pneumonia is threatening the population of Galilee who are facing the cold weather in a practically naked condition.”



1918: Rabbi Joseph Silverman is scheduled to officiate at the funeral of Civil War veteran and successful Peoria (Illinois) businessman Captain Joseph B. Greenhut this morning at 10 o’clock at Temple Emanuel with burial at Salem Field Cemetery.



1920(9th of Kislev, 5681): Parashat Vayetzei



1920”Rabbi Max Reichler is scheduled to deliver a sermon this morning on “The Pursuit of Happiness” at Sinai of the Bronx this morning



1920: Rabbi Samuel Schulman is scheduled to deliver the sermon this morning at Temple Beth-El at 5th Avenue and 76th Street.



1921(20th of Cheshvan, 5682): Seventy-seven year old David Zvi Hoffmann passed away today in Berlin.



http://seforim.blogspot.com/2012/01/rabbi-david-hoffmann-zl-by-eliezer-m.html



1922: The Conference of Lausanne, one of the many peace conferences held to windup World War I which was covered by Albert Karasu opened today. Born in 1885 in Ottoman Salonika, he went to school in Switzerland before returning to Istanbul where he founded Le Journal d’Orient which survived until 1971, 11 years before Karasu passed away.



1923: In Springs, Transvaal, Union of South Africa, Isidore Gordimer,  a Jewish immigrant watchmaker from Žagarė and Hannah "Nan" (Myers) Gordimer gave birth to Nadine Gordimer. a South African Jewish novelist and writer, winner of the 1991 Nobel Prize in literature and 1974 Booker Prize.  Gordimer was educated at an Anglican convent school. Thereafter she studied for a year at Witwatersrand University, but did not complete her degree. During the 1960s and 1970s she taught at several universities in the United States. She drew praise for her demand that South Africa re-examine and replace its long held policy of apartheid. As such, most of her works deal with the moral and psychological tensions of her racially divided home country. Her first novel, The Lying Days, was published in 1953. A founding member of the Congress of South African Writers, Gordimer has been awarded numerous honorary degrees, as well as France's Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.



1924: Birthdate of mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot. Mandelbrot is a leading proponent of fractal geometry. He is Sterling Professor of Mathematical Sciences, Emeritus at Yale University and IBM Fellow Emeritus at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center.



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/us/17mandelbrot.html



1925: “Countess Maritza” a silent film with a script by Max Glass was released today in Germany.



1925: In Moscow, Rachel Messerer-Plisetskaya, a silent-film actress and “Mikahil ‘Misha’ Plisetski, a diplomat and engineer” gave birth to “ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and actress Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya.”



http://www.timesofisrael.com/russia-mourns-jewish-ballet-rebel-maya-plisetskaya/



http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/arts/dance/maya-plisetskaya-ballerina-who-embodied-bolshoi-dies-at-89.html



1925:  Birthdate of Robert F. Kennedy who was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan in 1968 be he was supposedly upset because Kennedy was a supporter of the state of Israel.



1928: Birthdate of “Sgt. Alec ‘Moishe’ Freedman,” the native of Stepney-Middlesex who was wounded when the 1st Battalion Leicestershires attacked Hill 317 “on the night of November 6th, 1951.”



1928: “For the first time in the history of the Zionist movement in America, 150 leaders of the Zionist and non-Zionist facts met at a dinner” tonight at the Hotel Astor” where “they discussed plans for the intensive development of Palestine as the national home of the Jews and joined in praising Dr. Chaim Weizmann…for his recent achievement in healing the split between Zionists and non-Zionists.”



1929: Birthdate of Joyce Beber (née Sacks) the yesihiva student turned advertising executive who co-founded Beber Silverstein & Partners and created numerous memorable campaigns for the Helmsley group of hotels, which successfully promoted Leona Helmsley and her hotel chain, but led to her being hired and fired four times by Helmsley.


1929: Rabbi Judah P. Magnes declares that Palestine must be a place for Christians, Moslems and Jews. He sees Palestine as an international home for people of all three faiths and calls for “the renunciation of all ideas of Jewish political domination” along with the development of “cultural Zionism.”



1929: Today, Gertrude Berg's popular radio program, The Goldbergs, about an upwardly mobile American Jewish family debuted on NBC radio. Berg developed the kernel of the show as a series of live sketches to entertain guests at her family's Catskills hotel. It was produced in recurrent runs as a daily 15-minute program on NBC and other networks for nearly two decades before shifting to television in January, 1949. On both radio and TV, Berg served as the sole writer, producer, and star of one the nation's most popular programs. Throughout its 30 years on radio and television, as well as in presentations on Broadway and on film, The Goldbergs dealt explicitly with Jewish life in the United States, joking about the cultural differences between "old world" immigrants and their American-born offspring. Berg's Molly became a cultural touchstone, a figure combining old world wisdom, new world common sense, and a mother's humanity in confronting the perplexities of American life. Over the show's three decades, the Goldberg family moved from a New York City tenement to the Bronx and later to suburban Connecticut, mirroring the upward progression of many Jews into the American mainstream. Although Berg continued to produce The Goldbergs into the 1950s, the show's popularity declined. The demise of The Goldbergs reflects the homogenizing trend in postwar American society. As millions of ethnic Americans fled their traditional urban enclaves in search of an un-hyphenated, simply "American" identity in the suburbs, programming explicitly grounded in ethnic cultures gave way to more all-American shows like Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best. The Goldbergs went off the air in 1955.



1933(2nd of Kislev): Rabbi Moses Mordecai Epstein, author of Levush Mordecai, passed away today.



1934: Lillian Hellmann’s "Children's Hour," premieres in New York City.



1934: The Hartford Symphony Orchestra, which Fritz Mahler served as music director from 1953-1962 performed for the first time tonight.



1934: After Nazi students interrupted his lectures, Felix Hausdoff stopped teaching his Calculus III course during the winter semester.



1935: In Michigan, Miriam Meckler-Horowitz, a piano teacher, and Ben Meckler, an English teacher, in Detroit, gave birth to Ruth Meckler who gained fame as pianist Ruth Laredo.



http://www.ruthlaredo.com/



1935: King Levinsky, who had recently been knocked out by a youthful Joe Louis, “fought professional wrestler Ray Steele in a bout that attracted national interest.”



1936: William Green, the President of the American Federation of Labor today “protested again the persecution of the Jews in Germany by the Hitler government voicing indignation against the attacks on a race which had committed no wrong and which, during the centuries, ‘has made its contribution toward freedom and the spiritual welfare of the world.’”



1936: At Temple Emanu-El, Rabbi Samuel H. Godenson is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “The Stone That Became the Altar.”



1936: At the Free Synagogue in Carnegie Hall, author Marvin Lowenstein is schooled to deliver an address on “The Jews of Germany.”



1936: At Temple Rodeph Shalom, Rabbi Louis I Newman is scheduled to deliver a sermon “Where is the Gates of Heaven?”



1936: In Perth Amboy, NJ, Murray Goldstein and the former Evelyn Bier gave birth to Charles Arthur Goldstein a successful attorney who worked to recover Holocaust art.



http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/06/nyregion/charles-goldstein-dies-at-78-sought-return-of-art-looted-by-nazis.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0



1936: Today, Premier Benito Mussolini sent money and an invitation to come to Italy to the Polish-Jeish student Janien Berg, who has been unable to finish his studies” in Warsaw “because of anti-Semitic riots.



1938: Father Coughlin made the first of his many anti-Semitic attacks on his radio show. Using Nazi documents, American radio commentator Father Charles Coughlin contends that Jews are responsible for Russian communism and for Germany's problems. All of Coughlin's radio programs are approved by his archdiocese as not contradicting Catholic faith or morals. Some Catholics protest Coughlin's broadcasts, including Chicago's Cardinal George Mundelein, but most of the American Church is silent.



1939: In what had been Poland, the Nazi Generalgouvernement blocked all bank accounts held by Jews. Withdrawals were limited to thirty dollars per month.



1939: In a letter bearing today’s date sent to Representative Martin Dies, Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on un-American Activities, Harry A. Jung, honorary general manager of the American Vigilant Intelligence Federation wrote that he had never corresponded with Oscar C. Pfaus, “director of a Nazi propaganda agency called Ficte Bund” or “anyone else about going on any publication board for an alleged Nazi magazine”



1940: Britain announced a more stringent policy aimed at Jews trying to enter Palestine illegally.  Jews found on ships running the British blockade will not be allowed to enter Palestine.  They will be taken to an undetermined colonial destination where they will be imprisoned until the end of the war.  At that time, there final destination, which will not be Palestine or the site of the imprisonment will be determined. 



1940: The Jewish Agency informed Prime Minister Churchill of the inhumane conditions under which Jewish detainees are being held on the island of Mauritius.



1940: In Manhattan, attorney Walter J. Loria and his wife Ruth gave birth Jerry Loria, the art dealer who bought the Miami Marlins major league baseball team.



1940: Hungary becomes a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis Powers. This is the first step on the long road which will belatedly bring the Holocaust to the Jews of Hungary including Nobel Prize Winner Elie Weisel.



1941(30th of Cheshvan, 5702): Rosh Chodesh Kislev



1941(30th of Cheshvan, 5702): Approximately 7000 Jews from Minsk, Belorussia, are killed at nearby Tuchinka.



1942 (11th of Kislev, 5703): Rechaviah Lewin-Epstein, who was in charge of the economic work of the American Emergency Committee for Zionist Affairs died in Cairo today at the age of 49 while on his way to Palestine to continue his work.  Mr. Lewin-Epstein, the son of author and Zionist leader Elias W. Lewin-Epstein, established The Bureau of American Economic Committee for Palestine an organization he headed until 1938.  He returned to New York in 1939 after he had “facilitated the settlement of thousands of refugees in agriculture, industry and trade” in Palestine.



1942: U.S. premiere of “Strictly in the Groove” featuring Shemp Howard



1942: Birthdate of folk singer Norman Greenbaum.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPPlGFh6OpQ



1943: Facing withering fire from Japanese artillery and machine guns, U.S. Marines land on Tarawa.  This bloody battle provides part of the backdrop for “Battle Cry,” the World War II novel by Leon Uris.



1943: This afternoon several hundred residents of Tel Aviv protested the search that had been carried out at Ramat Hakovesh.  The protesters also demanded the release of men who had been arrested during the search. 



1943: “Winged Victory,” a play originally created and produced by the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II as a morale booster and as a fundraiser for the Army Emergency Relief Fund” with a script by Moss Hart that “tells the story of a group of recruits struggling to make it through pilot training” opened in New York at the Forty-Fourth Street Theatre today and became a smash hit, playing to over 350,000 people in 226 performances.



1943: Madeline Dreyfus who had chosen to remain in France as part of the Resistance instead of joining most of her family in the United States was sent to Auschwitz. Her grandmother Lucie Eugénie Hadamard, Colonel Dreyfus’ widow stayed with her.  She would be hidden in a convent, survive the war and not pass away until 1945.



1943: The Nazis auction off the furniture and household possessions of the family of Isak Plesansky in an example of how the property of Norwegian Jews “mysteriously” disappeared.



1944: Forty-five year old anti-Nazi resistance leader Leo Drabent who had been arrested by the Gestapo along with his wife and eight other comrades was” guillotined at the Brandenburg-Gorden Prison” today.



1944(4th of Kislev, 5705): Havivah Reik and Rafael Reiss, together with a group of captured Jews, were murdered in the Kremnica forest by the Germans and their Slovakian fascist collaborators. They dumped the bodies into a large ditch that served as a mass, unmarked grave.



1944: “The special People’s Court sentenced “Hans Neumann, Leo Drabant, his wife along with eight other resistance members” “to death because they had ‘attempted to destroy the resistance of the German People…”


1944(4th of Kislev, 5705):Haviva Reik was captured and executed by the Nazis and members of the Ukrainian Waffen SS. Born in 1914, she was one of four volunteers from the Yishuv in Eretz Israel who parachuted into Slovakia to help the uprising against the Nazis. In September 1944 she succeeded in helping the Jews who were left in Banska Bystresis. When it fell they moved into the mountains with other Jewish partisans. Kibbutz Lahavot Haviva and the Givat Haviva center are dedicated to her memory.


1945:  Twenty-four Nazi leaders went on trial before an international war crimes tribunal at Nuremberg in which Colonel Benjamin Kaplan, “who later became a Harvard law professor and served nine years on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court” played a key role in crafting the indictment. 



1945: Birthdate of Deborah Eisenberg, an American short-story writer, actor and teacher who is the long-time companion of actor Wallace Shawn.



https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/25/books/review-your-duck-is-my-duck-deborah-eisenberg.html



1945: Joseph Newman wrote to the War Office today to ask why the Gestapo had released Denise Desvaux so quickly, how did they know that Isidore Newman was a British officer and had she betrayed him to the Nazis.



1946: As tensions rise in Palestine, a bomb explodes in Jerusalem.



1947: The New York Times includes a review of The Victim, Saul Bellow’s novel about Asa Leventhal, “a frightened and lonely, man.”



1947:"Meet the Press" makes network TV debut on NBC. The popular television news show began as a radio program in 1945, produced by Lawrence Spivak. A panel of four news people interviewed a prominent leader of the day.    When the show shifted to television, Spivak was the permanent panel member and some time served as moderator. 



1947: Lillian Hellman's "Another Part of the Forest," premieres in New York City.



1947: It was reported today that Lessing J. Rosenwald, the President of the American Council of Judaism, has expressed his strong opposition to “plans to establish the American Jewish Conference on a permanent basis to coordinate all Jewish activities in this country.”  The American Council of Judaism was a leading anti-Zionist Jewish organization in the United State.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9804EED9113AE233A25753C2A9679D946693D6CF



 1947: British diplomat Sir Alexander Cadogan delivered his country’s response to United Nations General Assembly’s Committee on the Palestine.



1948: “The Little Ballerina” a British drama featuring Anthony Newley was released in Sweden today.



1948: In New York City, “high school counselor Claire Masure” and her husband who was a pharmacist gave birth to actor Richard Masur who “served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild.”



1948: “An unarmed RAF photo-reconnaissance De Havilland Mosquito of No. 13 Squadron RAF was shot down by an Israeli Air Force P-51 Mustang flown by American volunteer Wayne Peake as it flew over the Galilee towards Hatzor Airbase. Peake opened fire with his cannons, causing a fire to break out in the port engine. The aircraft turned to sea and lowered its altitude, then exploded and crashed off Ashdod.” Both members of the crew were killed. (So much for the myth of British neutrality in the Middle East.



1948: The first preliminary armistice talks begin when William E. Riley, chief UN truce observer, meets separately with Israel Foreign Office officials and Egyptian commander Fouad Sadeh Bey.



1948: Dr. Philip C. Jessup announces U.S. policy regarding peace talks in the Palestine including a proviso that any changes in Israel’s boundaries must be agreed to by the Jewish state and a willingness to examine some parts of Count Bernadotte’s plan including the internationalization of Jerusalem.



1949: The Jewish population of Israel reached one million.



1951: Lewis L. Strauss addressed the second annual convocation of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.  Dr. James Conant, President of Harvard, Dr. A. Whitney Griswold, President of Yale and Arthur Hays Sulzberger, president and publisher of The New York Times, received honorary degrees of Doctor of Letters. (Sulzberger was the Jewish member of the trio).



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FB0B15FE355F177A93C3AB178AD95F458585F9



1951: Dr. Simon Greenberg, vice chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary conferred the degree of Doctor of Hebrew Literature on Rabbi Shraga Abramson, a visiting lecturer on the Talmud.



1951(21st of Cheshvan, 5712): Seventy-five year old Russian native Philip Davis, whose education at the University of Chicago, Harvard  and Boston University Law School led him into the fields of social work, the law and motion pictures where he served as the President of the National Motion Bureau “from 1914 to 1940” passed away today.




1952: The Slánský trials- a series of Stalinist and anti-Semitic show trials - began in Czechoslovakia. The Slansky trials take their name from Rudolf Slansky.  “A veteran of revolutionary of Jewish origin, he had served as Secretary of the Czech Communitys Party.  Slansky was accused of spying for American imperialism, for the State of Israel and for the Zionist movement; allegedly he was a link in a chain of treachery” designed to undermine the authority of the Socialist Revolution i.e. Stalin and the Soviets.  “Fifteen years later this affair was officially declared to have bee a despicable slander, the whole affair having been fabricated by Soviet security agents working in Czechoslovakia.”


1955: Dr. Cari Alpert, special assistant to Yaakov Dori, president of the Technion (Israel’s answer to MIT) “said a permanent peace between Israel and the Arab states would result in the opening of Technion’s doors to Arab students.



1957:Morton Wishengrad's "Rope Dancers," premieres in New York City. Wishengrad was raised on New York’s Lower East Side by his Orthodox Jewish father.  Wishengrad was not particularly interested in maintaining his Jewish identity which was rather ironic because, in 1944, he became the first script writer for the radio show, “The Eternal Light” produced by the Jewish Theological Seminary.


1959: WABC fires Jewish disc jockey Alan Freed over payola scandal.


1960(1stof Kislev, 5721): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1960(1st of Kislev): Seventy-nine year old author and poet Ya’Kov (Jacob Cohen) passed away


1960: When the White House announced today that James D. Zellerbach was retiring as U.S. Ambassador to Italy, it released a letter from President Eisenhower to the Ambassador in which he wrote “You have served your country with a high sense of dedication and purpose of which you should be justly proud.”


1962: Birthdate of pianist and composer Robin Speilberg, the granddaughter of flutist Rubin Spielberg.



1964: The Second Vatican Council, under Pope Paul VI, condemned anti-Semitism, declaring that the Jewish people as a whole are not to be blamed for Jesus' death.


1968: Birthdate of David Einhorn, an American hedge fund manager and the founder of Greenlight Capital.


1969(10th of Kislev, 5730): Sixty-three year old labor lawyer Lee Pressman who was accused of involvement with the Communist Party passed away today.



1971(2ndof Kislev, 5732): Parsahat Toldot


1971(2ndof Kislev 5732): Seventy-three year old Katherine Stieglitz, the daughter of photographer Alfred Stieglitz and Emmy Stieglitz passed away today.



1972(14thof Kislev, 5733): Eighty-year old Jennie Grossinger, the “queen” of Grossinger’s Resort Hotel passed away today.



1973(25th of Cheshvan, 5734): Forty-eight year old author and songwriter Allan Sherman who wrote the popular musical satire Camp Granada passed away.




1974: “In The Boom Boom Room” directed by Joseph Papp and co-starring Ellen Greene and Helen Hanft opened today at The Public Theatre.


1975: Spanish dictator Francisco Franco passed away.  A fascist who aligned himself with the Hitler and Mussolini during the Spanish Civil War which would be seen as a “dress rehearsal for WW II” Franco refused to join the Axis and remained neutral during the war.  “According to the recent discovery of a World War II document, Franco ordered his provincial governors to compile a list of Jews while he negotiated an alliance with the Axis powers.] Franco supplied Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler with a list of 6,000 Jews in Spain, for the Nazis'"Final Solution". However, Franco built no Jewish concentration camps on Spanish territory, nor did he voluntarily hand Jews over to Germany. Furthermore, Spanish diplomats extended their diplomatic protection over Jews in Hungary, Czechoslovakia and the Balkans



1975: “The arrest of Boris Zaturensky, 33, in Minsk is reported. Zaturensky was arrested  on charges of buying and selling gold coins, not long after his application to emigrate to Israel.


1975: A fortnightly scientific seminar, similar to the one in Moscow, is begun  in Kiev with the participation of 15 Jewish scientists, most of whom were refused exit visas to Israel


1976: “Dorothy Schiff Agrees to Sell Post” published today described the decision to sell the venerable afternoon New York newspaper to Australian Rupert Murdoch including information that was found Jeffrey Potter’s biography Men, Money and Magic which appeared last month.


1977: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to address the Knesset, Israel's parliament.




1978: The funeral of Judge Leo F. Rayfel is scheduled to take place today at 2 pm in Farmingdale, Long Island.


1979: About 200 Sunni Muslims revolt in Saudi Arabia at the site of the Kaaba in Mecca during the pilgrimage and take about 6000 hostages. The Saudi government receives help from French Special Forces to put down the uprising.  Anybody who was paying attention would have noted that violence in the Middle East has many causes that have nothing to do with Israel and  the conflict between Sunnis and Shiites should be a real matter of concern


1982(4thof Kislev, 5743): Parashat Toldot


1982: Andy Kaufman was forever voted off of Saturday Night Live by a live phone poll.


1982(4thof Kislev, 5743): Seventy-nine year old Abraham Louis Pomerantz the Brooklyn trained lawyer who was “deputy chief counsel at the Nuremburg Trials” and the father of Daniel Pomerantz and children’s author Charlotte Pomerantz passed away today. (As reported by Edward R. Gargan)



1983: ABC broadcast “The Day After,” a made for television film directed by Nicholas Meyer, co-starring Steve Guttenberg and with theme music by David Raskin for the first time tonight.


1988: ABC broadcast the fifth episode of “War and Remembrance,” “an American miniseries based on the novel of the same name written by Herman Wouk”


1990: Efraim Gur began serving as Deputy Minister of Transportation.


1991: Nadine Brozan described one of those strange coincidences in life where Richard Dreyfus and Michael Burns who lived near each other as children both became involved in projected related to Alrde Dreyfus.  Burns authored Dreyfus: A Family Affair, 1789-1945 while Dreyfus produced and starred in a film about the French Captain entitled “Prisoner of Honor” that focuses on one of those sought to free Dreyfus, Georges Picquart.



1992: ABC broadcast the episode of “Civil Wars” a legal drama created by Steven Bochco, the son of painter Mimi Bochco and concert violinist Rudolph Bochco.


1995:  In a front page article, The Austin American Statesman reported that a group of IBM employees who were supposed to move from Florida to Austin were balking at the move because Austin lacked a kosher butcher and a Jewish Day School.  With a month, H.E.B opened a kosher butcher shop at one of its Austin stores.


1998(1st of Kislev, 5759): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1999: In Paris, the 1999 Trophée Lalique figure skating competition which saw Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovski give Israel a sixth place finish in Ice Dancing, came to an end.


2000: In Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum was nominated to serve as “Secretary of the of the Environment of the Federal District” today.


2000(22nd of Cheshvan, 5761): Sgt. Sharon Shitoubi, 21, of Ramle, wounded 2 days ago in the Palestinian shooting attack in Kfar Darom, died of his wounds today


2000(22ndof Cheshvan, 5761): Miriam Amitai, 35, and Gavriel Biton, 34, both of Kfar Darom, were killed when a roadside bomb exploded alongside a bus carrying children from Kfar Darom to school in Gush Katif. Nine others, including 5 children, were injured.


2001: Toronto native and documentary film maker Avi Lewis, “the great grandson of Moshe Losz, an outspoken member of the Jewish Bund,” “was featured on” today’s “Life and Times” episode of “The Lewis Family.


2003: Car bombings in Istanbul continues after the initial bombings targeted two synagogues resulting in the death of 25 people and the wounding of 300 more.


2004: “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou” a comedy produced by Barry Mendel and Scott Rudin, with a script co-authored by Noah Baumbach and co-starring Jeff Goldblum premiered in Los Angeles today


2005: A symposium was held at the American Schools of Oriental Studies entitled “The Tel Zayit Stone: A New Tenth-Century Inscription from the Judean Shephelah.” A dramatic discovery punctuated this year's excavation season at Tel Zayit, Israel, where The Zeitah Excavations recovered a large stone bearing an incised, two-line inscription. The special importance of the stone derives not only from its archaic alphabetic text, which hints at formal scribal training at the site, but also from its well-defined archaeological context in a structure dating securely to the tenth century BCE. The borderland site of Tel Zayit lies in the lowlands district of Judah, and in this period it exhibits strong links with the highland culture to the east, in the direction of Jerusalem, not with the coastal culture of the Philistine plain. The early appearance of literacy at Tel Zayit will surely play a pivotal role in the current discussion of the archaeology and history of Israel and Judah in the tenth century BCE.


2005: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or on topics of special Jewish interest including the paperback edition of Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books by Aaron Lanksy which recounts the adventures of Lansky, who won a MacArthur award in 1989, as president and founder of the National Yiddish Book Center, traveling the world to salvage and catalog a literature once on the verge of oblivion.


2006: “A rally organized by Anglo students to raise Israeli awareness about the genocide in Dafur is held at Zion Square in downtown Jerusalem.  The rally is sponsored by Hatzilu et Amei Dafur (Save the Nation of Dafur) a group composed of Yeshiva and seminary students.


2006: Birthdate of Noah Pozner who would be the youngest victim at the Sandy Hook Mass Shooting


2007: In Jerusalem, as part of the International Oud Festival, Imad Dalal who heads the Arabic music department at Safed College presents a program of traditional and contemporary song.


2007: Prime Minister Olmert is reported to be going to Cairo for a surprise meeting with Egyptian leaders.


2008: At the conclusion of his three-day trip to Great Britain President Shimon Peres is scheduled to meet Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace where he will be awarded a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG), the sixth-most senior award in the British system, used to honor individuals who have rendered important services in relation to foreign nations. After an audience with the queen, the president will have a private meeting with Prince Charles, who celebrated his 60th birthday this week. A meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, at his residence at 10 Downing Street, followed by dinner in his honor hosted by the prime minister and his wife in the State Dining Room, will mark the end of Peres’ first official visit to the UK.


2008: After critical failures in the US financial system began to build up after mid-September, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level since 1997.  This is part of the long descent into what has been termed the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression that will have a devastating on all Americans, Jew and gentile alike.  Many Jewish organizations will be forced to down-size as funding sources dry up.


2008: In a secret ballot House Democrats voted 137-122 to have Congressman Henry Waxman replace John Dingell as Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.


2008: As part of the Live From Lincoln Center series, Jewish, Violinist Gil Shaham, the son of two Israelis, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and pianist Jonathan Feldman perform this intimate concert at the Stanley Kaplan Penthouse featuring the music of composer Pablo de Sarasate in a panoramic survey of the music of his music on the occasion of the 100 anniversary of his death.


2008:Poland's capital marked the completion of a massive restoration project that marks the borders of the former Jewish Ghetto that was walled in by Nazis occupiers during World War II. The mayor of Warsaw, along with the minister of culture, inaugurated the project that included 21 new information points along the boundaries of the former Jewish Ghetto. The project also placed a beige line, labeled "Ghetto Wall," along the city streets that outlined the furthest reaches of the Ghetto's borders


2008: The 45th anniversary edition of the New York Review of Books was was founded by Robert B. Silvers and Barbara Epstein was published today.


2009: The 92nd St Y in New York, hosts the Shababa Bakery where you are invited to prepare for Shabbat by squishing, rolling and braiding your very own challah which you can take home and bake.


2009: At Columbus, Ohio, at Tifereth Israel, Rabbi Unger leads The Mitzvah Initiative which features an unconventional approach to learning that is a series of open and honest workshops and discussion by participants which examine some of the most critical elements of Jewish life. Congregation Tifereth Israel is one of over forty Conservative congregations participating in the Mitzvah Initiative that explores a variety of topics including, Tikun Olam, Bikur Cholim (attending to the ill and suffering), and God, Love and Mitzvah.


2009: The U.S. State Department issued a statement noting “a growing trend of anti-Semitic hate crimes and discrimination around the world.” The statement coincided with the appointment of Hannah Rosenthal to serve as the U.S. State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism.  “The position has been vacant since Gregg   Rickman left at the end of the Bush administration.”


2010: Sarah Michelle Levin and Melissa Ellen Levin are scheduled to be called to the Torah as B’not Mitzvah at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El.  They are the twin daughters of Gigi Cohen and Michael Levin and the sisters of Dana Levin who celebrated her Bat Mitzvah in the same congregation in November of 2008.  They are the granddaughters of Zena and David Cohen of blessed memory Mrs. Betty Levin, an ayash chayil par excellence and Dr. Jacob Levin, of blessed memory.


2010:JCC of Northern Virginia is scheduled to hold its 30th Fall Fundraiser honoring Tanya and Stephen Bodzin.


2011: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest of Jewish readers including “Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945” by Max Hasting, “Eva Bruan: Life with Hitler” by Heike B Gortemaker, “The Unmaking of Israel” by Gershom Gorenberg and  Umberto Eco’s novel, “The Prague Cemetery,” that explores the history of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”


2011: “Winston Churchill: Walking With Destiny,” a film Narrated by Sir Ben Kingsley, that recounts Churchill's years in the political wilderness, his early opposition to Adolf Hitler and Nazism, his support for Jews, his return to government by the demand of the British people and his rise to the Prime Minister's office in 1940, is scheduled to be shown at The Jewish Eye World Jewish Film Festival.


2011: Rabbi Dr. Levi Cooper who the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem is scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled the first in a three part lecture series entitled Rabbi Akiva: The Mystical Prayer of a Legal Authority at Ohr Kodesh in Chevy Chase, Maryland.


2011: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is scheduled to speak at the Jefferson Jackson Dinner in Des Moines, Iowa.  Emanuel is Jewish.  Jefferson and Jackson were not!


2011:Fears of a fuel crisis this morning followed last night's discovery of a water problem in Ben Gurion International Airport's jet fuel


2011: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu today called for medical residents to return immediately to their hospitals as their representatives informed the High Court of Justice that they were willing to return to the negotiating table and to accept the court's proposal to appoint a mediator.


2012: The Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginias is scheduled to present the final part of the series “The Evolving Views on the Afterlife in Judaism.”


2012: Steven A “Cohen was implicated in an alleged insider trading scandal involving an ex-SAC manager” today.


2012: Four rockets fired by Gaza-based terrorists exploded near a community in the Eshkol Regional Council.


2012: As of midnight, Operation Pillar of Defense enters its seventh day with the Israeli government holding off on a ground offensive in the hope that talks in Cairo will lead to an end to massive Hamas assault on its citizens.


2012: Those living in southern Israel organize demonstrations against plans for a cease-fire one of which is to take place in Kiryat Malachi where three Israelis had been murdered by terrorist rockets and one at Ashdod.


2012(6th of Kislev, 5773): Eighteen year old Corporal Yosef Partuk and an Arab-Israeli civilian identified as Alayaan Salem al-Nabari were this  morning during a mortar attack


2013: Today Noah Pozner would be turning 7 if had not been gunned down last year at Sandy Hook Elementary School.


2013: Yosef Mendeolovich is scheduled to discuss his memoir, Unbroken Sprit: A Heroic Story of Faith, Courage and Survival at the Center for Jewish History


2013: Temple Judah is scheduled to host the Hadassah Book Club which will discuss Breakfast at Stephanie’s by Nancy Margolis.


2013: “Inheritance” is scheduled to be shown at the Other Jewish Film Festival.


2013: Joseph P. Franklin a white supremacist who killed at least 8 people and wounded Larry Flynt and Vernon E. Jordant, Jr. in an attempt to start a race war was put death in Missouri today by lethal injection for have having murdered Gerald Gordon outside of a St. Louis Synagogue where this innocent non-Jew was attending a Bar Mitzvah.


2013: A mid-range missile defense system, intended to close a large gap in Israel’s aerial defense readiness, successfully completed an intercept test today, the Defense Ministry announced. (As reported by Mitch Ginzburg)


2014(27th of Cheshvan): “2104 BCE (1657 from Creation), as the Flood waters finally subsided, Noah, his family and the animals left the Ark. On this day, God commanded them to repopulate and resettle the earth


2014(27th of Cheshvan, 5775): Ninety-one year old Samuel Klein whose founding of the Casas Bahai chain of Department Stores earned him the nickname “the Sam Walton of Brazil” and whose philanthropies included major contributions to the Lubavitch Yeshiva in the Born Retiro neighborhood passed away.



2014: “The Palestinian Authority has arrested some 30 suspects over the last 72 hours thought to be planning terror attacks, primarily against settlers, as well as operatives involved in incitement against Israelis, senior Palestinian sources told The Times of Israel today.”


2014: The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled to present: “Mizrahi Music, Piyyut, and the Search for Israeli Identity”


2014: “Authorities intercepted a massive shipment of tens of thousands of firecrackers, as well as knives, Tasers and other weapons today that police say was en route to rioters in East Jerusalem.” (As reported by Tamar Pileggi)


2014: Jerry Seinfeld backtracked on his recent self-diagnosis of autism today, saying he was not on the spectrum but only “related to it on some level.”


2014: “A Nazi Roundup, Chaotically Evoked In 'La Rafle'” published today provides a an informative review of movie that  “chronicles the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup of July 1942, in which roughly 13,000 Jews living in Paris (4,501 of them children) were removed from their homes by French police and sent to detention camps in the countryside, before being deported to Auschwitz.”


2014: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to host a panel discussion “Towards Life: Reviving Jewish Life in Contemporary Poland.”


2014: In the Senate, the Majority Leader “filed for cloture on Noah Mamet’s nomination to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Argentina.


2014: In Melbourne, “A Match Made in Heaven” and “Zero Motivation” are scheduled to be shown at the Jewish International Film Festival.


2014: “Unorthodox” is scheduled to be shown at the 18th UK Jewish Film Festival


2014: The 16th Street Book Club is scheduled to discuss The World to Come by Dora Horn


2015: After having premiered at Cannes, “Carol” featuring Carol Brownstein as “Genevieve Cantrell” was released today in the United States


2015: “Soviet genocide in Ukraine” by Raphael Lemkin, the Polish Jew who “coined the term genocide” was added to Russian index of "extremist publications", whose distribution in Russia is forbidden


2015: Jeremy Katz, the Director of the Cuba Family Archives for Southern Jewish History at the Breman Museum is scheduled to host a tour providing an in-depth look at the Breman’s latest Southern Jewish History Exhibition Eighteen Artifacts: A Story of Jewish Atlanta.


2015: Broadway previews of the latest production of Fiddler on the Roof are scheduled to begin this evening.


2015: The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host “Schnitzel and Shmooze” Friday night dinner.


2015: In a post on Facebook today, “said he planned to take two months of paternity leave after his daughter is born this year” because “studies show that when working parents take time to be with their newborns, outcomes are better for the children and families.”


2016: “Alone in Berlin” and is scheduled to be shown on the last evening of the 20th UK International Jewish Film Festival.


2016: “The Tenth Man” and “The Last Laugh” are scheduled to be shown at Brisbane as part of the Jewish International Film Festival


2016: “50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus” is scheduled to shown as part of the Global Day of Jewish Learning.


2016: “From Silence,” a new one-act play by Anne Marilyn Lucas that explores how the trauma of the Holocaust gets passed on from one generation to the next is scheduled to be performed for the last time at the Theatre for the New City, the Lower East Side theatre that has gained a reputation for staging radical political plays… (As reported by Cathryn J. Prince)


2016: The Skirball Center is scheduled to a mock trial “The People vs. King David” with Prosecutor Chris Cuomo and Alan Dershowitz defending the Jewish monarch.


2016: A screening of “Mir Kumen On” an “educational film from 1936 which is one of the precious few surviving movies evoking Jewish life in Poland prior to its poisoning from external, racist forces” is scheduled to be shown at MoMA today. (As reported by Jordan Hoffman)



2016: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers includingThe People and the Books: 18 Classics of Jewish Literature by Adam Kirsch, Moonglow by Michael Chabon and Eleanor Roosevelt The War Years and After Volume Three: 1939-1962 by Blanche Wiesen Cook


2017: “Holy Air” and “Monsieur Mayonnaise” are scheduled to be shown at the 21st UK International Jewish Film Festival.


2017: “The New York Times said today that it was suspending Glenn Thrush, one of its most prominent reporters, after he was accused of inappropriate sexual behavior.”


2017: Jacob Wisse, director of Yeshiva University Museum is scheduled to lead “a walking tour through Yeshiva University Museum’s exhibition The Arch of Titus – from Jerusalem to Rome, and Back, exploring the image and legacy of the Arch of Titus from Imperial Rome to modern-day Israel.”


2017: The Primo Levi Center is scheduled to host Michela Andreatta (University of Rochester), Serena Di Nepi (University of Rome La Sapienza) and Jane Tylus (New York University) in a discussion of “Ariosto’s masterpiece Orlando Furioso in the context of an early modern Jewish quest to define minority status amidst a dramatic transformation of mentality, political equilibria, and power structures.”


2017: The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host its Chanumas/Chrismukah Party completed withmince pies, doughnuts, xmas crackers and dreidels.”


2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such as Barbara Tuchman whose works included The Guns of August and The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914 continues today.


2018(12thof Kislev, 5778): On the Hebrew calendar yahrzeit of “Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Kazen, the Director of Chabad Lubavitch in Cyberspace and considered by many the pioneer of Jewish education on the internet.”


2018: “An International Jewish Festival for Contemporary Culture” which will feature “Erez Lev-Ari and The Suits doing Ari San, a tribute to Rabbi Shalom Shabazi” is scheduled to open today.


2018: The Streicker Center is scheduled to host lectures on “Zionism and Challenge to American Jewry” by Rabbi Robert Hirt and “Two Faiths, Two Scriptures, One God: The Torah and the Quran” by Rabbi Leonard Schoolman and Dr. Hussein Rashid.


 


 


 



 



 



 



 



 



 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 

This Day, November 21, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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November 21


456 BCE (20th of Kislev, 3306): On November 21, Ezra called together all the men of Judah and Benjamin and told them that they would have to give up their foreign born wives.  This was part of an attempt by the returning exiles to purify and strengthen the House of Israel even though some might say that it altered the definition of “who was a Jew” as can be seen by the Book of Ruth which was written to portray a different point of view. 



164 BCE: On the secular calendar, Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restores the Temple in Jerusalem. Events commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah.



1265: Abraham of Augsburg, who had converted to Judaism “died a martyr’s death” today which was the subject of elegies by Mordecai ben Hillel and Moses ben Jacob.



1272:  Following Henry III of England's death on November 16, his son Prince Edward becomes King of England.  As bad as Henry had been for the Jews, Edward would prove to be even worse.  After squeezing all he could out of his Jewish subjects, Edward expelled them in 1290.  England would remain officially Jew-free until for the next four centuries.



1384, Philip the Bold regulated the status of the Jews. He permitted fifty-two families to settle in the towns of his domain on payment of an entrance fee and an annual tax. He fixed the rate of interest; henceforth a Jew was to be believed on his oath, and the evidence of a single apostate was declared invalid. The chiefs of the Jews were called "masters of law"; the Jewish cemetery was separated from the others, and a noble of the court was instituted guardian of the Jews. The general expulsion of the Jews from France in 1394 put an end to their presence in Franche-Comté. Israel Lévi has proved that a certain number of well-known rabbis lived in this province in the first half of the fourteenth century—for instance, Joseph b. Jacob Tournoy and Joseph de Musidan.


1513: As Johann Reuchlin continued Johannes Pfefferkorn's drive to confiscate all books belonging to the Jews, Pope Leo ordered the Bishops of Speyer and Worms to hear the charge against Reuchlin.  Reuchlin was a Christian German Scholar whose field of study included Greek and Hebrew.  He had studied the Hebrew texts for the Emperor and found that most of them did not speak ill of Christiainity which meant that they should not be destroyed.  This thwarted the aim of Pfefferkorn and his allies. 


1616(5377):Moses Mordecai ben Samuel Margolioth, the native of Posen who served as the head of the Yeshiva at Cracow for twenty years starting in 1591 when Joseph Katz passed away, passed away today.


1619: Shah Abbasi (Sufi Dynasty, Persia) intensified persecution against the Jews. Many Jews were forced to live "Marrano-like" lives, outwardly practicing Islam. This policy was continued by his son, Abbas II.



1654(11th of Kislev, 5415): Rachel Heller (Ashkenazi), the wife of Tosfot Yom Tov and daughter of Aharon Moses Ashkenazi (Munk) and Nechama Nechele Nechly Netile Ashkenazi passed away today.



1694: Birthdate of the French philosopher Voltaire.  The great philosopher of the Enlightenment was a vicious anti-Semite.  Not only that, he was an anti-Semite with a twist.  Other Enlightenment philosophers that once Jews were no longer persecuted they would give up their religious trappings and meld into the mainstream of European culture.  Voltaire believed that Jews were innately deformed and that they were beyond reform.  However, Voltaire was humane, but he did not believe that they should be burned at the stake. In his own words he described Jews as “an ignorant, and barbarous people who have long exercised the most sordid avarice and detestable superstition, and an insurmountable hate for all peoples who have tolerated and enriched them.



1746: In Reading, PA, David Mendez Machado and Zipporah Nunez gave birth to Rebecca Menes Machado who became Rebecca Mendes Phillips when she married Jonas Phillips and later became “one of the founding members of the Female Association for Relief of Women and Children in Reduced Circumstance” and a “director of the Female Benevolent Society, the first Jewish charity in America unrelated to a synagogue."



1789: North Carolina ratifies the U.S. Constitution to become the 12thstate in the Union.  North Carolina has one of the oldest Jewish communities in the United States. The early history of the Jews in North Carolina is a mixed.  In 1776, it was one the original thirteen colonies that could boast of having an organized Jewish community.  In 1852, the Jews of Wilmington, N.C, purchased land for a burial plot.  However, the congregation was not organized for another until 1867.  This lengthy was not unusual in the South.  In other ante-bellum communities, land was purchased for a cemetery, but with war clouds gathering, Jews waited before building synagogues and temples.  Further delay was caused by the Civil War and the impoverishment that followed. In 1809, Jacob Henry was the first Jew elected to the legislature in the state.  He accomplished this feat despite the state’s religious tests for office holders.  Strangely enough, the Tar Heel state did not get around to removing religious tests until 1876. The Jewish Community of North Carolina has made great strides over the years.   According to the Glenmary Research Center, which publishes Religious Congregations and Membership in the United States Guilford County (which includes Greensboro and High Point) ranked 99thon a list of the 100 counties in 2000 with the largest Jewish communities, based by percentage of total population. The thirty thousand Jews comprise 0.3% of the state’s population but pack enough clout to have gotten then Governor Jim Hunt to support a state agency designed to stimulate economic and cultural exchanges with the state of Israel. 



1792: Birthdate of Benoit Fould, the French banker who married Helena Oppenheim whose dowry provided “part of the initial capital of the new bank Foul-Oppenheim et Cie.



1800: Birthdate of “bare-knuckle boxer” Barney Aaron the native of Aldgate who was nicknamed “The Star of the East” and who was the father “Young Barney Aaron”.



1818: A petition written by Lewis Way, an English missionary, requesting the restoration of an independent Jewish nation in Palestine was submitted by Czar Alexander to the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle



1822(7th of Kislev, 5583): Eighty year old Lazarus Solomon passed away in Jamaica today.



1823: Birthdate of Julius von Gomperzes, the Austrian industrialist who brother of historian Theodor Gomperzes, and the uncle of philosopher Heinrich Gomperzes.



1824: [Editors note: Contrary to popular misconception, the American Jewish Community has deep, historic roots outside of New York and its immediate environs.] The first Reform Congregation, Beth Elohim, was established in Charleston, South Carolina. Beth Elohim congregation is the birthplace of Reform Judaism in America and the oldest surviving Reform congregation in the world. Its members have been eminent leaders in the city, state and nation. Among them: Moses Lindo, who helped develop cultivation of indigo, and Joseph Levy, the first Jewish military officer in America. The present beautiful Greek revival temple at 90 Hasell Street (pronounced Hazel) was built in 1840. The congregation began as a Sephardic group in 1749. George Washington wrote, "May the same temporal and eternal blessings which you implore for me rest upon your Congregation..." The Beth Elohim Coming Street cemetery is the largest pre-Revolutionary Jewish cemetery in America. The congregation's first rabbi, Moses Cohen, was the first person buried here, in 1762. Bernard Baruch's great grandfather, Rabbi Hartwig Cohen, is one of several other Beth Elohim rabbis here. Other noteworthy persons at this site are nine Charleston Jews who took part in the American Revolution, six who fought in the War of 1812, eight of the 180 Charleston Jews who fought in the Civil War, and three of the Jewish Masons who founded the Scottish Rite here in 1801. The history of Charleston Jewry is beautifully documented with ceremonial objects, records, paintings and photographs at the Beth Elohim Archives Museum. A three-story house at 89-91 Church Street in Charleston was the model for Catfish Row, the centerpiece of Porgy and Bess. George Gershwin wrote the opera while living in Folly Beach. As it moves into the 21st century, the Jewish Community shows its vibrancy through the construction of the College of Charleston, Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Center. Housed in a new three million dollar, 12,000 square foot building, the center offers college credit Jewish studies courses serving the entire community. The Robert Scott Small Library houses the largest archives of South Carolina Jewish history.  Last but not least, Reuben Morris Greenberg has been Chief of Police in the city since 1982.  He is the first African-American Jewish police chief in the city’s history.



1831: Robert le diable (Robert the Devil) an opera in five acts composed by Giacomo Meyerbeer premiered tonight at the Academie Royale De Musique in Pars.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_le_diable#/media/File:Robert_le_Diable_(Meyerbeer)_1831.jpg



1837: Birthdate of “Austrian literary historian Marcus Landau” the native of Brody who “wrote over 700 essays, memoirs, and feuilleton articles in German and Italian for newspapers and literary periodicals.”



1841: Jonas Jonas married Catherine Levy the Great Synagogue today.



1842: Sir Louise Loewe created a series of hand-drawn maps for Sir Moses Montefiore showing the parts of Western and Eastern Europe through which they would be traveling on their way to the Levant.



http://www.ochjs.ac.uk/mullerlibrary/digital_library/Intranet/Loewe/stainedglassdesign/LL/Louis-10.html



1848: In New York, the "B'nai Jeshurun Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Society," for the relief of indigent females was formed thanks to the efforts of Mrs. Henry Leo, Mrs. A.H. Lissak and Mrs. David Samson.



1849: Birthdate of William A Gans, who practiced law with Samuel B Hamburger for 35 years and who besides his involvement in numerous Jewish communal organizations, served as a Captain in the Sixth Regiment of the National Guard of New York.



1851: In New York, Albert M. Gans and Julia Stransky gave birth to attorney William A. Gans the graduate of NYU, the youngest ever appointed to serve in the New York National Guard and active member of the B’nai B’rith who was president of the Maimonides Library for twenty years., president of the Menorah Publishing Company for five years and columnist for the American Hebrew who wrote the “On the Wing Column” using the nom de plume “Argus.”



https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/04/09/106126272.pdf



1852: Birthdate of Jeanette Schwerin, the native of Berlin who “was a women’s rights activist and a pioneer social worker.



1854: Birthdate of Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa who as Pope Benedict XV denounced anti-Semitism in response to a petition by American Jews and who gave Nahum Sokolov an extended audience where he presented the case for a Jewish state in Palestine to the Pontiff.



1857: In Zanesville, Ohio, Jacob Schumacher and his wife gave birth to Gottlieb Schumacher, the future U.S. Consular Agent in Haifa.



1859: Simon F. Norton the future father-in-law of Henry Klein, who had founded Norton’s Dry Goods at Los Angeles earlier this year became a naturalized U.S citizen today.



1860: Phineas Solomons married Julia Myers at the Great Synagogue today.



1861: Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed Judah P. Benjamin Secretary of War. Before the Civil War, Benjamin had been the second Jewish member of the United States.  After the war, he would refuse to surrender and would move to Great Britain where he became a barrister.  Benjamin is always connected with Louisiana and New Orleans.  However, there is also a strong connection with Charleston, South Carolina. Judah Philip Benjamin attended the Hebrew Orphan Society School in Charleston, as a boy. The building still stands at 88 Broad Street. High on the front is a Hebrew inscription. The house of Judah Benjamin's father can be seen nearby at 35 Broad Street.



1865: Abraham Shnerman and Bonetta Wiley gave birth to Rosa Shnerman who married Max Shloss and became Rosa Shnermann Shloss, the name on her tombstone in Emmanuel Cemetery in Des Moines, IA.



1866: Jacob Schiff was licensed as a broker today.



1870: In Vilna, leather merchant Osip Berkman and Yetta Berkman gave birth to Ovsei Osipovich Berkman who gained famed as Alexander Berkman the anarchist from of Emma Goldman who attempted to assassinate Henry Clay Frick during the steel strike.



1871: “Railroad Travel” published today described the interaction between a passenger traveling from Syracuse and New York City and what he described as “Hebrew matron” weighing at least “250 pounds.”



1873: It was reported today that the Charity Committee of the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society has issued an appeal to the Jewish community to provide aid to their less fortunate co-religionists who are suffering during the current economic depression which has resulted in a marked increase in unemployment.  Because of the severity of the current economic crisis there is a large number of “industrious laborers and artisans” who are suffering and are not used to seeking aid and assistance. Contributions of money and clothing can be left a Number 6 Walker Street in Manhattan.



1874(12th of Kislev, 5635): Birthdate of Rena L. Phillips.



1875: According to reports published today, Emanuel B. Hart, a member of New York’s Jewish community will be in charge of entertainment at next month’s fund raiser for Mount Sinai Hospital.



1877: Birthdate of Rudolf Löb, the native of Eberfeld, Prussia who was the first non-family member to serve as chairman of the banking house of Mendelssohn & Co.



1878: It was reported today that a copy of the “Kabbala Denudata” which was published in Frankfort in 1684 has been sold at auction for $19.00. (This probably refers to work entitled “The Kabbalah Unveiled” by Christian Knorr von Rosenroth.]



1879: “An assignment for the benefit of creditors, by Abraham Lager to Max Moses, was filed in the County Clerk’s office” in New York today.



1879: A report was published today describing the worsening situation of the Jews in Germany.  During the last month, at least 30 anti-Semitic pamphlets have been published in Berlin.  An "Antisemiten-Liga" (“League of Antisemites”) has been formed the members of which are “many of the wealthiest and most prominent citizens.”  Riots have taken place in which Jews have been not only insulted by severly maltreated.   The origin of this commotion may be traced back directly to that current of reaction, both in Church and State, which is now setting in over all of Germany.”



1879: The first edition of The American Hebrew is published in New York. Phillip Cowen was the first publisher of this weekly paper which was founded by F. de Sola Mendes.



1880: Founding of the Hebrew Union Synagogue in Greenville, MS located on Main Street with a cemetery on Poplar Street whose members included Charles Hafter, Sam Blum and Henry Schall. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Friedland



1880: The annual reception and ball sponsored by the William Rothschild Association is scheduled to take place this evening in New York City’s Irving Hall.



1880: It was reported today that the government faced stiff questioning about the recent outbreak of anti-Semitism during a session of the lower house of the Prussian Diet.  Deputies “denounced the revival of race hatred and pointed out the inconsistency” of a country that “had taken diplomatic action in favor of the removal of disabilities of the Jews in the Balkan Principalities” harboring such sentiments.



1881: “Jewish Legends” published today provides a detailed review of The Wandering Jew by Moncure Daniel Conway.



1881: Birthdate of Viennese banker Felix Somary who before the Anschluss repeatedly tried to get Baron Louis Nathaniel de Rothschild to leave Austria



1882: Jehiel Brill left Rosinoi, Russian Poland, with eleven men—ten farmers and a "melamed" (teacher)—today, and arrived at Palestine the following month. The story of his journey and of its results is given in detail in his work, Yesod ha-Ma'aleh (The Base of the Slope). Brill was Russian journalist who had been chosen for his take by Rabbi Samuel Mohilever and Baron Edmond de Rothschild.  (As reported by the Jewish Encyclopedia)



1883: It was reported today that Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Nathan led the opening march at the charity ball hosted by the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum.



1883: In Franklin Falls, NY, Nathan Lamport, the son of Esther and Tsvi Hirsch Lamport and Sarah Lamport gave birth to Arthur Lamport



1884: In Odessa, Mordecai (Max) Podeell and Minnie Podell gave birth to David Louis Podell, who came to the United States in 1893 where he became a successful lawyer in New York, helped to draft the National Industrial Recovery Act,served as a trustee for the Federation of Jewish Charities and the Educational Alliance and was the husband of Sarah (Cissie) Podell



https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1947/02/02/93786780.pdf



1885: At Parepa Hall on the corner of 86th Street and Third Avenue “A charitable fair” sponsored by the Hebrew Ladies’ Benevolent Society which is raising “funds to assist the poor without regard to creed, color or nationality” is scheduled to come to an end this evening



1885: On Shabbat, Rabbi Henry Pereira Mendes delivered a sermon at Shearith Israel Synagogue “concerning the recent meeting” of a group of rabbis at Pittsurgh “and their publication of a…declaration of the ideas of reformed Judaism, ideas which” the rabbi said, “are totally different from European reformed Judaism.



1886: Three days after she had passed away, 80 year old Rosetta (Rose) Lazarus, the widow of Joseph Lazarus, with whom she had eight children, was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”



1887: Birthdate date of Louise Pollak who married Julian Pollak in 1913



1887: “Something About Prejudice” published today highlights the views of Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler on this subject. In his view, the Jews can do a great deal “to totally annihilate” prejudice “by not exhibiting prejudice in their turn”



1888: It was reported today that Conrad Ausorge performed Schubert’s “Wander Fanstasia” at the Metropolitan Opera House as part of concert that was a fundraiser of the Aguilar Free Library which was founded in 188 and named for Sephardic Jewish author Grace Aguilar.



1890: After surviving a three day run the Finance Committee of the Citizens’ Savings Bank which had been so desperate to regain public confidence that it had enlisted the services of a local rabbi, is scheduled to meet today to see what can be done to salvage the financial institution that has large number of poor Jewish depositors. 



1890: Mark Koss, a tailor from Kiev, begged Agent Reinholz of the United Hebrew Charities Society to help him recover his missing baby who had been kidnapped by Sara Grimsburg, a former girlfriend whom he had known in Russia.



1891: A “Palestine Bazaar” a fund raiser held to provide additional funds for the Louis Down-Town Sabbath and Daily comes to an end after three days.  The Bazaar had been closed on Friday.



1891: Herzl's comedy "Prinzen aus Genieland" - "Princes from Genius Land", is produced at the Carltheater in Vienna. It achieves only a short run.



1891(20th of Cheshvan, 5652): In the U.K. 41 year old David Crawcour who lived at 10 Mulcaster Street, passed away today.



1892(2nd of Kislev, 5653): Henry Murh, a prominent member of the Philadelphia, PA Jewish community passed away.  A native of Bavaria, he established H. Murh’s Sons, a jewelry manufacturing firm.



1892: Sándor Wekerle, the Prime Minister of Hungary appeared before the Diet where he “promised that bills for State recognition of the Jewish religion” would be introduced by his government.



1893: Dr. Joseph Silverman introduced Professor Charles Briggs at a meeting of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association who lectured on “Modern Biblical Criticism.”



1893: “A Sop for Jews in Russia” published today described a possible new policy in Russia that will Jews to live in “Russo-Polish” villages owned by noblemen who will “guarantee their lawful behavior” but will continue to forbid Jewish settlement where such guarantees cannot be obtained.



1894: “The New Czar” published today held out little hope for an improvement of the condition of the Jews, since “the cruel persecution of the Jews, was the most popular part of the late Czar’s governmental program and that if a “really representative Russian Parliament” were ever assembled it adopt even more stringent regulations against the Jews.



1895: Several New York Jewish businessman expressed their “utter indifference” with the announced plans of Dr. Ahlwardt , the German anti-Semite and Jew baiter to visit the United States next month. 



1895: Herzl arrives in London and holds conversations with Israel Zangwill. Zangwill gives him the names of "several suitable men" with whom to meet including Colonel Goldsmid, Rabbi Singer and Chief Rabbi Adler.



1896: Following the issuance of President Grover Cleveland’s Thanksgiving Proclamation that asked for “a continuance of heavenly favor through the mediation of Him who us how to pray, Rabbi Isaac M. Wise said that in invoking the image of Jesus, “the President panders to the passions of those bigoted sectarians who have been endeavoring to undermine the pure secularism upon which this Government is based.”



1896: The University of Wisconsin football team led by first year head coach Philip King, a Jewish native of Washington, DC defeated the University of Minnesota today for its sixth straight victory.


1897: The Chief Rabbi is scheduled to preach the sermon at today’s service marking the celebration of the centenary of the founding of Western Synagogue which will include a musical program under the direction of Orchestra conductor Johann Davids and choir director D.M. Davis.



1897: Professor Felix Adler delivered an address “What is Religion?” at the Carnegie Music Hall today.



1897: The Board of Deputies is scheduled to hold its monthly meeting this morning at the Vestry room of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in London.



1897: Today, Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf, the founder and President of the National Farm school said, "It requires courage, moral courage, the highest kind of courage to be honest: fairly, frankly, fully honest. If you are honest, their lives not a man on earth who can humiliate you. If you have honor, though very little else besides, you have more wealth, more glory, more power, than all the hypocrites combined."



1897: Services were poorly attended today at Temple Emanu-El “owing to the fact that it was not generally known that Sunday services were being held” and that this only the second Sunday on which Sabbath services have been held. (The Reform Movement would find that moving Shabbat Services from Saturday to Sunday would not be a boon to attendance any more than the replacing Saturday services with Friday Night Family Services would be.)



1898: In London, Sir Meyer Adam Spielman and Gertrude Emily Spielman gave birth to Winifred Jessie Gertrude Speilmann who became Winifred Jessie Gertrude Raphael when she married Ralph Oliver Raphael.



1898: After having identified the body Emanuel Wachenheim, William Wolf was reported to have said he count imagine “why he killed himself” since he was “in good circumstances,” had a wife and three children and was active in several Jewish organizations including the Sons of Benjamin.



1898: According to a description published today the new Hebrew Infant Asylum “building” which can accommodate 200 children “is a four story structure of colonial design” that includes all the modern conveniences including “a hospital for contagious disease.”



1899: Herzl submits a memorandum for the Czar to explain the Zionist plans and to ask for an audience.



1899(19th of Kislev, 5660): Seventy-three year old A. L. Freidland (Moshe Aryeh Leib Friedland) the husband of Hanna Keila Friedland and the “donor of the Bibliotheca Friedlandiana to the Imperial Academy of Sciences” passed away today in St. Petersburg, Russia.



1899: In Paris, “The Senate sitting as High Court for the trial of conspiracy cases resumed the examination of” Jules Guérin “who insisted the Anti-Semitic League of France” of which he is a leader ‘had not meddled with politics but had merely ‘defended the working classes against the power of the Jews and that he “had never plotted against the Republic.”  (Anti-Semitism, including the Dreyfus case, were part of a larger conflict between those who supported the Third Republic and those who sought a rightist takeover.)



1899: Birthdate of Bohemian naïve Hans Goldman, the Prague trained award winning Swiss ophthalmologist



http://ascrs.org/honorees/hans-goldmann-md



https://bjo.bmj.com/content/bjophthalmol/76/6/384.full.pdf



https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322693931_Hans_Goldmann_1899-1991



1901: The care of children was scheduled to be the topic at the second day’s meeting of the Second New York State Conference of Charities and Corrections at which time Rabbi Adolph M. Radin will be allowed to express his concern about the treatment of Jewish children at the Juvenile Asylum including the lack of a Rabbi to serve as a children and the practice of taking Jewish children and sending to live with Christian families who will raise the youngsters in that faith.



1904: In New York City, “Charles H. Israels, an architect and Belle Linder who was a political advisor to Governor Al Smith gave birth to Carlos L Israels the graduate of Amherst and Columbia University Law School, “a specialist in securities law” and “the president of the United Hias Service” who was the husband of “the former Ruth Goldstein” with whom he had three children – Charles, Michael and Elizabeth.



https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/07/26/81552662.pdf



1904(13th of Kislev, 5665): A month before his 62ndbirthday, Joseph Bernard Bloomingdale, the Bavarian born Jewish immigrant who, along with his brother Lyman “founded Bloomingdales Department Store” or as it is known to shopping aficionado’s  “Bloomies” passed away today.



1905: Albert Einstein's paper, "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", is published in the journal "Annalen der Physik". This paper reveals the relationship between energy and mass. This leads to the famous equation e=mc².



1905: “In an interview on the ant-Jewish outrages Prince Urusoff, the new Assistant Minister of the Interior said today that the Jews were to a certain extent to blame on account of their open exultation over their new found liberties.”



1905: Having already sent $600,000 to Sir Samuel Montagu which is to be forwarded as quickly to Russia, Jacob H. Schiff, Treasurer of the National Committee for the Relief of Sufferers by Russian Massacre is scheduled to send $50,000 today to the Anglo-Jewish leader for their Russian co-religionists.



1905: In Chicago, “M.E. Greenbaum, Treasurer of the Jewish Relief Association Committee, sent a check for $20,000 to Jacob H. Schiff of New York” today bring the total sent from this city to $60,000.



1905: It was reported today that Miss Lillian D. Wald of the Nurses Settlement and her co-workers have offered “to go to Russia and nurse the sick and wounded.”



1905: Dr. Maurice Fishberg of the Jewish Daily News “received a letter from Solomon Rabinowitz” the author known as Sholom Aleichem describing conditions in Kiev in which he wrote “I, with my wife and children are cowering under a storm of leaden bullets that are being fired over our heads so that we shall remain powerless, useless, paralyzed.”



1905: In the Russian capitol, “an afternoon paper quotes a man who has just arrived in St. Petersburg as saying that 10,000 Don Cossacks are marching from Tashkent to St. Petersburg with the object of releasing the Emperor, whom they believe to be a captive in the hands of the Jews.”



1905: “Speaking of the Jewish question a member of the Russian Cabinet said today: “For the Cabinet there exists no Jewish question.  It is not what should be done, but how to do it.  We are absolutely of one mind that all the restrictions on the Jews should be abolished.  But for the government to decree equality without action on the part of the Duma would be full of danger” because anti-Semitism is so prevalent in the country.



1907: Birthdate of American artist Aaron Bohrod, the native of Chicago and “son of an emigre Bessarabian-Jewish grocer” who is “best known for his trompe-l'œil still-life paintings.”



http://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/06/arts/aaron-bohrod-84-realist-artist-whose-paintings-could-deceive.html



http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-aaron-bohrod-12310



1909: In New York City, Pauline Meltsner and Joseph Goldwater gave birth to Dora Goldwater the older sister of Sadie Goldwater.



1909(8th of Kislev, 5670): Mrs. Mariane Leibowitz passed away today.



1912: In Palestine, Nehemiah Myer Cohen and his wife gave birth to Israel Cohen, who left his father’s butcher shop business in Lancaster, PA during the 1930’s to combine forces with Samuel Lehrman to open the first of the grocery stores that became the Giant Food store chain.



1912: The New York State Conference of Charities and Corrections which was attended by delegates Samuel Untermyer, Mortimer L. Schiff, Simon Rosendale of Albany, NY, William M. Rosendale, Rabbi Max Landsberg, Mrs. Albert Hessberg, Samuel Gompers and Lee Frankel of New York City opened in Syracuse, NY was scheduled to come to an end today.



1913: Supreme court Justice Seabury ordered the sale in foreclosure of the Bijou Theatre property in a suit brought by Felix M Warburg, Isaac N Seligman, Paul M. Warburg and Mortimer L. Schiff as trustees under the will of Alfred M. Heinsheimer against the Bijou Real Estate Company. [Seabury was the only non-Jew mentioned in this item.]



1914(3rd of Kislev, 5675): Parashat Toldot



1914(3rd of Kislev, 5675): George Zierger passed away today in New York



1914: “Contributions to the Central Committee for the Relief of Jews suffering the war” as of today “amount to $1,845” with the amount deposited to date in the Guaranty Trust Company of America totaling $23, 556.



1915: Funeral services for Dr. Solomon Schechter were held this morning at the Jewish Theological Seminary.  Four hundred mourners, including a “who’s who” of the Jewish community, packed the building while more than a thousand people stood outside waiting to pay homage to the deceased sage and scholar.



1915: In response to a written, publicly published request by Ephraim Cohen, their President, members of Congregation Kehilath Israel are among those attending the funeral service Professor Solomon Schechter that start this morning at 10:30 A.M.



1915: “In an address” today “before the Independent Order Free Sons of Israel at Daniel Webster Hall, Maurice B. Blumenthal expressed the Jewish fraternal organization’s opposition to the Gary Plan because of its “religious features.”



1915: The funeral of New Yorker Isaac Aaron who passed on November 19 is scheduled to be held today



1915: The tombstone of Abraham Weckstein was unveiled this afternoon at Mount Zion Cemetery at Maspeth, L.I.



1916: Birthdate of Sid Luckman, legendary quarterback of the Chicago Bears.



1916:  Emperor Franz Josef dies at the age of 85. He is followed to the throne by his 29 year old great nephew, Archduke Charles. Beginning with the start of regime of Franz Joseph I of Austria as the Emperor of the Austria–Hungary Empire his Jewish subjects enjoyed an unprecedented period economic, artistic and social success. “Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria bestowed on the Jewish population equality of rights saying, ‘the civil rights and the country’s policy is not contingent in the people’s religion.’ The emperor was well liked by the Jewish population, which as a token of appreciation wrote prayers and songs about him which were printed in Jewish prayer books. In 1849 the emperor canceled the prohibition against the Jewish population organizing within the community. In 1852 new regulations of the Jewish community were set. In 1867 the Jewish population formally received full equal rights. In 1869 the emperor visited Jerusalem and was greeted in great admiration by the Jewish population there. The emperor established a fund aimed at financing the establishment of Jewish institutions and in addition established the Talmudic school for rabbis in Budapest. During the 1890s several Jews were elected to the Austrian parliament.” But Franz Josef’s greatest impact on the Jewish people was his role in the start of World War I.  The Emperor’s unwillingness to reach any compromise with Serbia and his determination to punish his Slavic neighbor unleashed the catastrophe that caused unprecedented suffering for the Jews of eastern Europe who were caught between the opposing imperial armies for four years, unleashed the forces that led to the Holocaust and led to the destruction of the Ottoman Empire that results of which reverberate across the Middle East as we approach the second decade of the 21st century.


 


1917: “Heavy rainfall and cold weather” thwarted the advance of His Majesty forces who were faced with 8,000 entrenched troops and their artillery which led to a decision retire to Beit Ur el Foqa and wait for support from the 1 Squadron of the Australian Flying Corps which would give them an edge as they continued to advance towards Jerusalem.”


1917: Dr. Anna White Sage is scheduled to deliver an address on “Morals on Social Hygiene in War Time” at today’s “regular meeting of the Baron Hirsch Woman’s Club” at the Sinai Social Center in Chicago.


1917: The Allied Forces (including Jewish soldiers) under General Allenby were fighting the Turks on the slopes of Nebi Samwil, the traditional site of the Tomb of the Prophet Samuel.



1917: Dr. Emil G. Hirsch led the Study Class of the Chicago Woman’s aid which met this morning at the Sinai Center in Chicago.



1917: Nora Funkenstein is scheduled provide a piano selection and Dr. Anna White Sage is scheduled to deliver a lecture on “Morals on Social Hygiene in War Time” at today’s regular meeting of the Baron Hirsch Woman’s Club at the Sinai Social Center in Chicago.



1918: After the fall of the Czar there was a strong movement in Ukraineto establish an independent political entity. The Jewish parties voted against the severance with Russia leading to direct attacks on the Jews in the form of Pogroms (lasting 2 years). One of the first attacks was in Lvov where 72 Jews were killed and 443 wounded.



1918: In Dorchester, MA, Solomon and Ray (Brooks) Prokesch gave birth to Dr. Clemens Prokesch, the graduate of Yale, MIT and New York Medical College and husband of Natilie Prokesch who practiced internal medicine after his discharge from the U.S. Air Force.



http://www.neilanfuneralhome.com/obituary/Clemens-E.-Prokesch/New-London-CT/416809



1918: During the Polish-Ukrainian War, the Lwów or Lemberg Pogrom began.



1918:Polish soldiers organize a pogrom against Jews of Galicia, Poland.



1919: After having commissioned as the first Jewish chaplain in the United States Navy in 1917 with the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade, Rabbi David Goldberg completed his services at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station today where he had been serving since June of 1918.



1919: In an interview with the Sultan, Hahambashi assures him that Jews will never forget that when they were persecuted in other countries, Turkey welcomed them and that, if they had reason for complaint in recent years, it was directed rather against the regime which had been disastrous for all elements of the population, than against the Turkish people.



1920: The annual meeting of Temple Israel of Harlem is scheduled to be held today following by a banquet at the Hotel Astor.



1921: Dr. Stephen S. Wise is scheduled to deliver a sermon this morning at “What Does the Jew Believe About the Bible” at Carnegie Hall.



1921: Birthdate of Lev Lipschitz, the Moscow native who made Aliyah in 1924 and gained fame as Israeli political leader and MK Aryeh Eliav.



1921: In Los Angeles, Mordechai and Elsie Vickman gave birth to Robert “Bob” Vickman, the WW II veteran of the USAAF who disappeared in July, 1948 while flying a mission for Squadron 101, the first fighting unit of the infant Israeli Air Force



1922: The first official meeting of the Lausanne Conference, which was intended to deal with issues arising out of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire was held today with Lord Curzon serving as its President.



1923: Birthdate Harry Zohn the native of Vienna who became a professor at Brandeis University.



1924: In Baltimore Cantor Max Kotlowitz and his wife Debra gave birth to “Robert Kotlowitz, a novelist and editor who reluctantly became a public television executive in 1971 and went on to help shape a lineup of homegrown and imported shows — including “The MacNeil/Lehrer Report,” “Live at the Met,” “Dance in America” and “Brideshead Revisited” — that represent a high-water mark in American television” (As reported by Paul Vitello)



1924: Today, the Febre Line vessel, SS Canada which is carrying the body of the late Dr. Menachem Mendel Scheinkin set sail for Jaffa which is to be the site for his burial.



1927: Leo and Bella Adler gave birth to CPA Milton Adler, the husband of Marion Adler.



1928: “Children to Aid Palestine Fund” published today described the plans of Hadassah to “enlist the services of 125,000 children in” New York City religious schools “in its campaign to raise $15,000 to provide luncheons for school children in Palestine.”



1929: Birthday of Nahum Admoni the native of Jerusalem who served as Direct of Mossad from 1982 to 1986.



http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=1091989&ticker=BLZ:LN&previousCapId=430536&previousTitle=EMBLAZE%20LTD



 



1929: Birthdate of Brooklyn born comedian Stanley Myron Handelman.  By the time he died on August 5, 2007 at the age of 77 Handeleman had enjoyed a successful career as a television and nightclub comedian.



1930: Birthdate of Melvin “Mel” Seeman “a 6'5" forward and center, who played for three seasons with NYU after which he played one season the old American Basketball Association.



1931: With Sid Gillman playing End, Ohio State defeated the University of Illinois in the last home game of the season.


1933: A delegation representing all elements of the Jewish community including members of the Vaad Leumi, representatives of Agudath Israel, leaders of the agricultural community and Israel Rokach, the Vice Mayor of Tel Aviv, met with the High Commissioner, Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope.  They were protesting British immigration policy including plans to deport Jews already living in Palestine as well as the negative impact of that immigration policy on the economic well-being of all those living in Palestine including the Arab populace.


1933: Henry G. Schackno resigned his seat in the New York State Senate preparatory to filling one of the new Justice of the City Court positions to which he had been elected on November 7.



1935: U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, NYC Mayor Fiorello La Guardia and 800 others honored Rebekah Kohut's 50 years of communal work at a special dinner. Chaired by the novelist Fannie Hurst, the dinner assembled a wide array of political, cultural, and philanthropic notables who spoke of Kohut's varied contributions and her efforts to apply scientific principles to charitable work. Kohut was a notable activist in the Jewish and secular communities in the areas of education, social welfare and women's organizational life. She came to the United States from Hungary as a child, growing up in Richmond and San Francisco where her father served as a rabbi. In her early twenties, she married the traditionalist New York rabbi Alexander Kohut, a widower with 8 children, 6 under the age of 13. Rebecca devoted herself chiefly to these children and to her husband's scholarly work until his death in 1894. In succeeding years, Kohut immersed herself in the expanding world of Jewish women's organizational life and in the financial support of her family. She was the first president of the New York Section of the National Council of Jewish Women, gave public lectures on Jewish subjects, and opened a private school in cooperation with her stepchildren. During World War I, she became involved in employment work, which led to her role as an advisor on unemployment to New York governor Franklin D. Roosevelt in the early 1930s. Her efforts to bring relief to devastated European Jewish communities after World War I led to her leading role in convening the World Congress of Jewish Women in Vienna in 1923 and being elected as the organization's first president.



1935(25th of Cheshvan, 5696): Fifty-one year old “Bernard S. Deutsch, the President of the Board of Alderman,” an NYU trained attorney and president of the American Jewish Congress” who was the husband of “the former Frances Weinstein” with whom he had “two daughters, Elinor and Dorothy Edith,” died unexpectedly this evening.



https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/11/22/101515300.pdf



https://archives.yale.edu/agents/people/56611



http://judaism_enc.enacademic.com/5064



 



1936: It was reported today that Janien Berg, a Polish-Jewish student who had once studied in Rome received money from Mussolini so that he could return to Italy and finish his studies which had been stopped due to anti-Semitic riots in Poland.



1936: “Three Men on a Horse” the movie version of the Broadway play directed and produced by Mervyn LeRoy and featuring Same Levene in a reprise of his role of “Patsy” was released today in the United States.



1936: At Temple Emanu-El Rabbi Samuel H. Goldenson is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “What Shall We Do About Our Fears?”



1936: At Temple Rodeph Sholom, Rabbi Louis I. Newman is scheduled to deliver a sermon “The Brothers Ashkenazi.”



1936: At the Jewish Science Society, Rabbi Morris Lichtenstein is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “Wake Up and Live.”



1937: Henri Caïn, who the libretto for “Le Juif Polonais” (The Polish Jew) passed away today.



1937: Birthdate of Ingrid Pitt, the daughter of a Polish Jew who survived the Stutthof Concentration Camp to become the first lady of British horror cinema, who starring in sanguinary classics of the 1970s like “The Vampire Lovers,” “Countess Dracula” and “The House That Dripped Blood.” (As reported by Margalit Fox)



1938: The British House of Commons objects to German persecution of minorities.



1938: Birthdate of Sydney, Australia, native David John Alfred Clines, the academic biblical scholar who “served as President of the Society for Old Testament Study and the President Society of Biblical Literature” and who was honored two books published in his honor Reading from Right to Left: Essay on the Hebrew Bible and Interested Readers: Essays on the Hebrew Bible with a contribution by Marc Zvi Brettler, the Brandeis trained Bernice and Morton Lerner Professor in Judaic Studies at Duke University who won the National Jewish Book Award in 2004.



1938(27th of Cheshvan, 5699): Pianist Leopold Godowsky passed away,



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F60914FF3C5F1B7A93C0AB178AD95F4C8385F9



1938: In the aftermath of Kristallnacht, Time published an article entitled “German: These Individuals!”



"The civilized world stands revolted by a bloody pogrom against a defenseless people. Every instinct in us cries out in protest against the outrages which have taken place in Germany during the last five years and which sank to new depths in the organized frenzies of the last few days. . . . If you saw a gang of cowardly ruffians set upon a helpless man in a public street and proceed to beat him, you wouldn't long remain silent. If you saw a fanatical mob pillage and burn a church or a synagogue you wouldn't long remain silent. If you saw a brutal band drive helpless families from their own homes, you would speak out, and promptly." Thus last week outspoke New York State's defeated gubernatorial candidate, Republican Thomas E. Dewey, and was joined in vehement indignation by Democratic Senator William H. King of Utah who proposed that the U. S. forthwith break off diplomatic relations with the German Government. Outspoke ex-U. S. President Herbert Clark Hoover: "The blame is squarely up to the political agencies in power [in Germany]. These individuals are taking Germany back 450 years in civilization to Torquemada's expulsion of the Jews from Spain. They are bringing to Germany not alone the condemnation of the public opinion of the world. These men are building their own condemnation by mankind for centuries to come." One, Two, Three. But no active head of State,* and no No. 1 official associates of any head of State chose to speak out last week against "these individuals" who shocked an almost shockproof world with a display of deliberate and unprovoked mass cruelty. "These individuals" are four. Adolf Hitler is the World's No. 1 anti-Semite by temperament and conviction, whose intimate friend Julius Streicher publishes Der Stunner, the grossly fanatical No. 1 anti-Semitic newsorgan of the world. No. 3 Nazi Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels is a part-time virtuoso of antiSemitism, using his Ministry for Propaganda & Public Enlightenment alternately to incite and to calm German anti-Semitic mobs. And No. 2 Nazi Hermann Wilhelm GÖring is a ruthless German activist who signs the most drastic anti-Semitic decrees and has them legally enforced by the courts, the police and the army. "I Am Not A Dog!" The Führer was beside himself last week because a Polish Jew, once a resident of Germany, had put two bullets into Ernst vom Rath, third secretary to the Germany Embassy in Paris. Herr Hitler immediately sent his personal physician, Dr. Brandt, to Paris accompanied by the eminent German specialist, Professor Georg Magnus of the university at Munich. Four blood transfusions failed to save Ernst vom Rath. He died in a coma without being able to understand a message from the Führer promoting him to First Class Embassy Counselor. The assassin, Herschel Grynszpan, meanwhile told his French jailers: "Being a Jew is not a crime. . . . I hoped President Roosevelt would take pity on us refugees. . . . I am not a dog. I didn't mean to kill. I lost my head.""Mobs" and Mobs. Nazi bigwigs have often said off the record that if a Jew should ever assassinate the Fuhrer, "next day not a single member of the Jewish race would be left alive in the Reich." Last week only a handful of Jews were reported killed in the avenging of Ernst vom Rath. But in every part of Germany mobs smashed, looted, burned Jewish property. The purpose was to wreak final ruin on a section of the German population which had already been systematically persecuted to the brink of ruin. Synagogues were everywhere fired or dynamited. Numberless Jews of both sexes were beaten by mobs from the Baltic to the Brenner and from Sudetenland to the North Sea. The complicity of the German Government was proved by the fact that in most cases police made no effort to restrain the so-called "mobs." These consisted mostly of young Germans who drove up in cars. Heavy boots of the sort worn by party members when in uniform gave a good clue to the identity of the window smashers and firebugs. The synthetic "mobs" were in some cases joined by genuine mobs but these were mostly Germans who simply grabbed what they could after Jewish shop fronts had been smashed by the "mobs." Some mobsters tossed Jewish goods out of smashed windows to passersby with guffaws and cries of: "Here are some cheap Christmas presents. Get yours early!" Not all German Aryans countenanced this depravity. Said an Aryan Berlin housewife despondently as she watched Aryan children making off with the contents of a Jewish shop: "So that is how they teach our children to steal!". A few poorly-clad men jogged the elbow of a New York Times Berlin correspondent and whispered: "The German people do not approve of such treatment of the Jews." Bad Neighbor Policy. The harsh, explosive epithets in which the German language is rich, were heaped, together with obscenities, upon Jewish men, women and children in every part of the Reich. They were spat upon, cuffed, nose-jerked, kicked and given black eyes. The atrocities stopped short of rape or firing squads. Some Jews were so affected by the Nazi terror that, notably along the German-Netherlands frontier, they pitifully got down on their knees and crawled some distance, wailing and lamenting, to supplicate Dutch frontier guards to let them in. These guards were adamant in every case, on instructions of Her Majesty's Government, for The Netherlands has good reason to fear Bad Neighbor Germany. Damage & Indemnity. In Germany, insurance companies reported damage claims of more than $5,000,000 from Jewish policy holders in Berlin, more than $4,000,000 in Vienna. The New York Times estimated that total damage to Jewish property in Germany "may possibly reach one billion marks" ($400,000,000). The Times thought that the Jewish community this week, after all depredations, still owned property in Germany worth perhaps four billion marks ($1,600,000,000) and, before Hitler, may have owned 20 billions. But the spoliation did not end with the three-day pogrom. At the Air Ministry in Berlin last week, Air Minister Goring signed, as Economic Chief of the German Four-Year Plan for Self-Sufficiency. decrees providing: 1) that Jews of German citizenship as a community pay to the State a billion marks indemnity for the assassination of Rath; 2) that the State confiscate whatever is payable to Jews by insurance companies for damage done last week; 3) that Jewish owners of damaged premises must repair them at their own cost; 4) that after Jan. 1, 1939 Jews be excluded from "operation of retail shops, mail-order houses and independent exercise of handicrafts. . . . Jewish shops operated in violation of this order will be closed by the police" [and presumably turned over to Aryans]. He planned ultimately to move into ghettos all Jews who can or must tolerate life in Germany. And Jews were also forbidden to go to theatres, concert halls, art galleries, public schools, high schools, universities. In Paris, when the assassin of Rath heard of these decrees, he vowed in anguish: "I will pray every Monday for forgiveness for what I have done to my people." In England meanwhile Lord Rothschild said that nothing short of the execution of the Jews of Germany could be worse than what has now been done. Let Jews Starve? In Frankfort, where the assassin once resided, every male Jew between the ages of 18 and 60 was taken into custody. The same was done in certain other German cities. With many Jewish breadwinners torn from their families, with many of those families hungry, Der An griff, personal organ of Dr. Goebbels, coldly noted: "Noticeably large is the number of Jewish women with many children who ask for relief. . . . Our laws give even a foreigner the right to relief. . . . [Jewish] progeny and their [obscene synonym for "females"] become a burden on German funds." By holding the Jewish community of Germany in a state of general inability to earn a living wage, Nazis obviously hope to force the international Jewish community to remit to Germany huge enough sums in "good money" to keep their Jewish relatives in the Reich from going too hungry or too cold. The dollars, pounds, francs to be secured by thus "shaking down the whole Jewish race" (as some Nazis term it) are wanted to pay for such vital imports as Germany cannot get by barter deals. The Schwarze Korps, influential Nazi newsorgan of Adolf Hitler's personal Elite Guard and the Blackshirt Storm Troops, has openly hinted at the burgeoning of this gangster-blackmail scheme for several years. "Intellectual Originators." Referring to the assassin, Der Angriff libelously insinuated: "It is no coincidence that Grynszpan took the same line followed by Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Alfred Duff Cooper and their associates!" Der Angriff went on with a long list of "the intellectual originators of the crime'' which included, strangely enough, certain French Rightists like Henri de Kerillis but not the French Jewish Socialist on whom Nazis usually vent spleen, Leon Blum. Obvious reason: Blum and his Socialists last week had not broken with French Premier Edouard Daladier, one of the Munich "Big Four." In Paris the Jewish aunt and uncle of the assassin were arrested and it was revealed that just prior to the killing of vom Rath they were held under arrest for five days on suspicion of harboring an undesirable alien. Their papers were seized and the French Surete Generale probed to discover who really were the "intellectual originators" of the crime—if any. Meanwhile, French editors were not behind those of Britain and the U. S. in denouncing German pogroms in the strongest possible language and showing they felt even that to be inadequate. It was suggested that Charles Augustus Lindbergh and other Aryans who have recently received high German decorations ought to send them back to the Führer. Funk No. 2? The Great Powers plainly funked when Germany was permitted to dismember Czechoslovakia. On the issue of Jewish persecutions in Germany, Funk No. 2 raised its head this week. Typically funking was a statement issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of All England: "Would that the rulers of the Reich could realize that such excesses of hatred and malice put upon the friendship which we are ready to offer them an almost intolerable strain!"


*Britain's Neville Chamberlain did say: "No one in this country would seek to defend the senseless crime of the murder of vom Rath, but at the same time there will be deep and widespread sympathy for those being made to suffer for it."


1939(9th of Kislev, 5700): Fifty three year old Aaron Lipper, the president of Brooklyn’s Kay Manufacturing which makes steel products for furniture and bedding and “the chairman of the budget and policy committee of the American Committee for the Settlement of Jews in Birobidjan passed away today “in Lakewood, NJ where he had gone to recuperate from pneumonia.”



1940: A cargo of 1,771 stateless Jews mostly from Austria, Slovakia, Bohemia, Hungary and Rumania are loaded aboard the Patria, a French steamer chartered by the British to ship them from Palestine to detainment camps on the British island of Mauritius.



1941: U.S. premiere of “Shadow of the Thin Man,” the fourth in a series of Thin movies in this case based on a story by Harry Kurnitz who also co-authored the screenplay.



1943:  Future Nobel Prize winner Dr. Arthur Kornberg married Sylvy Ruth Levy, also a biochemist of note. She worked closely with Kornberg and contributed significantly to the discovery of DNA polymerase.


 


1943: In a review entitled “A Revolutionist’s Testament” Saul Bellow examines the newly published Arrival and Departure by Arthur Koestler.


1944(5thof Kislev, 5705): Eighty-four year old Hungarian sportsman Ferenc Kemeny, “a founding member of the International Olympic Committee and Nobel Peace Prize nominee” lost his battle with anti-Semitism and, along with his wife, committed suicide today rather than face the deadly wrath of the Arrow Cross.



1944: In Chicago, Ruth and Nathan Ramis, who owned the Ace Food & Liquor Mart on the city's far North Side gave birth to Harold Allen Ramis who performed and wrote in several comedies including Animal House and Groundhog Day.


1945:  Laura and Edward Hawn gave birth to Goldie Hawn, the product of the Washington suburbs who first gained fame on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.


1945: “What Next, Corporal Hargrove?” a WW II comedy written by Harry Kurnitz was released in the United States by MGM.


1945: John Farrar and Roger Williams Straus, Jr. “began the firm of Farrar Straus & Co.”


1945: “Saratoga Trunk,” the film version of the Edna Ferber novel by the same name produced by Hal B. Wallis with music by Max Steiner was released in the United States by Warner Bros.


1945(16th of Kislev, 5706): Twenty-five year Al “Bummy” Davis, who named to Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time” was gunned down today when he tried to thwart a robbery at Dudy’s Bar in Brownsville..


1946: Plans for the upcoming installation of Joseph Smith to serve as the new Rabbi of Temple B’nai Israel in Burlington, NJ were published today.


1947: “Against Palestine Partition” a letter from several prominent Americans published today provides a panoply of reasons of why the United States should oppose the creation of a Jewish state including the fact that four –fifths of the proven oil reserves are in Arab hands and the fact that there are 40 million people inhabiting the Arab League States. The letter writers “all have intimate Jewish friends” but warn that any outbreak of violence in the Middle East that hampers American business interests will lead to a wave of anti-Semitism in the United States.


1947: U.S. Premiere of “The Lost Moment” directed by Martin Gabel


1948:The Sunday morning religious program "Lamp Unto My Feet" first aired over CBS television. It became one of TV's longest-running network shows, and aired through January 1979.


1948: Israeli soldiers jam the biblical city of Beersheba to hear piano concertos played by Leonard Bernstein.


1948: Israeli premier David Ben-Gurion praises King Abdullah of Transjordan and says he will meet with Abdullah and other Arab leaders anytime they wish.


1948: It was announced in Tel Aviv today that “the picking of citrus fruit will begin throughout Israel this week, with the prospect of a crop almost equaling last season's in Jewish-owned groves but altogether of a little more than one-third of the pre-war production in Palestine.”


1949: The United Nations voted to give Libya its independence within 14 months triggering a mass exodus of Jews who were so fearful of their future in the Moslem state that they left even though it meant giving up most of their property and wealth.  Over 30,000 of these Jews found refuge in the state of Israel.


1954: In Baltimore, “Elizabeth D. (née Davidson) and attorney Donald N. Rothman gave birth to


 Thomas Edgar “Tom” Rothman, the Brown University Alum and Columbia Law School grad who went from teaching English and coaching soccer” to serving as “the chairman of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group.


1955: It was reported today that a two-day conference under the auspices of the American Tenchnion Society, the financial arm Technion, which was being held at the Statler Hotel in Washington, D.C. has come to an end.


https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/23/archives/carey-drucker-wed-to-george-zuckerman.html


1958: U.S. premiere of “The Tunnel of Love” produced by Martin Melcher and Joseph Fields, with a script by Joseph Fields, the son of Lew Fields.


1959(20th of Cheshvan, 5720):  Max Baer passed away.  Baer was heavyweight boxing champion in 1934.  He was 49 at the time of his death.


1959:  Jack Benny, on the violin, played a duet with pianist Richard Nixon, then Vice President of the United States.


1961: Alexander Bittelman was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee to provide testimony about his former organization today but he refused to testify, citing his rights under the 1st and 5th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.


1961: New Square, the first Chassidic town in the U.S., elected its mayor. 


1962: U.S. premiere of “Two For The Seesaw” produced by Walter Mirsch, with music by Andre Previn which saw the movie debut of Harold Gould.


1962: Birthdate of Abraham Kwastler who gained fame as broadcaster Avri Gilad who has been listed “among the top-ten TV earners.”


1962: Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion attends the founding ceremony for the city of Arad.


1965: The port of Ashdod port opened for business when a freighter docked at the port for the first time.


1965: The Central Council of the Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America created a Golden Jubilee Committee to celebrate the Brotherhood's fiftieth anniversary. At the time there were over 2,500 members of the Brotherhood.


1965: Birthdate of Memphis, TN filmmaker Ira Sachs whose movies include the “semi-autobiographical Keep the Lights On” which premiered at Sundance in 2012.


1967: “The eponymous album of The Hassles,” a rock group that included Billy Joel “was released today.”


1969: Wayne Morse (one of only two Senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution) is scheduled to speak today at the funeral of Jewish labor lawyer Lee Pressman which will be attended by “his widow, the former Sophia Platnik, three daughters – Susan, Marcia and Dr. Ann Pressman – a his brother Irving.


1970(22ndof Cheshvan, 5731): Anzia Yezierska, “a female sweatshop worker from a Polish shtetl” who became a “renowned author” passed away today.




1970: Birthdate of Israeli actress and comedienne Alma Zack.


1972: “Black Gunn” a “blaxploitation” movie co-starring Martin Landau was released in the United States today.


1973: The Agranat Commission, a national committee charged with investigating the failures of the IDF prior to the Yom Kippur War, was established today.


1973(26thof Cheshvan, 5734): Seventy-four year old George M Feigin the all-star City College athlete and graduate of Fordham University Law School who served in WW I and founded Camp Chicopee for boys in Pennsylvania passed away today


1976: In New York, premiere of “Rocky” the boxing film produced by Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff.


1976: Three days after he had passed away, the funeral was held for sixty-six year old “Louis G. Cowan the former President of CBS was following which he was buried “in a family plot on Martha’s Vineyard.”


1977:  Off-Broadway premiere of “Uncommon Women and Others” the first play written by Wendy Wasserstein.


1980: “The Apple” a musical comedy that “makes use of Biblical allegory including the tale of Adam and Eve” directed and written by Menahem Golan who co-produced along with Yoram Golbus and was filmed by David Gurfinkel was released in the United States today.


1982: Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff delivered the closing prayer at the official dedication of “The Wall,” the Vietnam memorial in Washington, DC


1984: “Operation Moses,” a two month long “covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews from Sudan began today.


1985: Jonathan Pollard and his wife were arrested and charged with spying for Israel. Pollard, who had worked for Naval Intelligence, had passed on information to Israel regarding Arab capabilities. Pollard was caught as he was trying to enter the Israeli Embassy in Washington. The Pollard affair caused great embarrassment to Israel both from the American perspective and also due to Israel's refusal to support him once he was caught. He was given a life sentence, and despite numerous requests from Israel for clemency he is still in prison.


1988(12thof Kislev, 5749): Eighty-one year old Esther Gottlieb, “the founder and president of the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation” which provided aid for “older artists in need” passed away today.



1988: Michael Dekel completed serving his term as Deputy Minister of Defense.


1988: Weizman Shiry completed serving his term as Deputy Minister of Defense.


1989: Morton Isaac Abramowitz was appointed “Career Ambassador.”


1990: Michael Milken was sentenced to 10 years for security law violations


1991: William Caldwell Harrop was named U.S. Ambassador to Israel.


1991(14thof Kislev, 5752):Seventy-nine award winning director Daniel Mann whose works ranged from comedies like “The Teahouse of the August Moon” to weighty dramas like “ The Last Angry Man.”



1991(14th of Kislev, 5752):  David "Sonny" Werblin passed away.  For most Americans, Werblin is best remembered for his purchase of the New York Jets in 1963.  Werblin then used his fortune to draft the AFL’s first super-star, Joe Namath.  Namath would lead Werblin’s Jets to victory in Super Bowl III, an event that would change the face of professional football.



1996: Publication of the Impressionist Print in which Michel Melot describes Alphonse Hirsch as “an artist but mainly a hanger-on” to Edgar Degas” who “was one of several prominent artists who depicted Hirsch in his work.”


1997: Speaking “at a ceremony at which he recalled the push for peace made  by” the late Yitzhak Rabin President Clinton “warned the Israelis and Palestinians today that they were running short of time” to reach come to an agreement.


1997: The movie version “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” featuring Michael Ronsebaum as “George Tucker” was released in the United States today.


1998(2ndof Kislev): Eighty-eight year old Nosson Meir Wachtfogel, the Lakewood Mashgiach, passed away.


1999: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including Yosl Rakover Talks To Godby Zvi Kolitz; translated by Carol Brown, Village of a Million Spirits: A Novel of the Treblinka Uprisingby Ian MacMillan and In The Family Way: An Urban Comedyby Lynne Sharon Schwartz.


2000: Itamar Yefet, 18, of Netzer Hazani died from a gunshot wound to the head by Palestinian sniper fire at the Gush Katif junction


2000: Professor Peter Pulzer of Oxford, “the Chairman of the Leo Baeck Institute of London and a prominent international historian specializing in the history of German Jewry gave the first inaugural Simon Dubnow Lecture” today.


2002(16th of Kislev, 5763): 2002 - Eleven people were killed and some 50 wounded by a suicide bomber on a No. 20 Egged bus on Mexico Street in the Kiryat Menahem neighborhood of Jerusalem. The bus was filled with passengers, including schoolchildren, traveling toward the center of the city during rush hour. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. The victims: Hodaya Asraf, 13, of Jerusalem; Marina Bazarski, 46, of Jerusalem; Hadassah (Yelena) Ben-David, 32, of Jerusalem; Sima Novak, 56, of Jerusalem; Kira Perlman, 67, and her grandson Ilan Perlman, 8, of Jerusalem; Yafit Ravivo, 14 of Jerusalem; Ella Sharshevsky, 44, and her son Michael Sharshevsky, 16, of Jerusalem; Mircea Varga, 25, a tourist from Romania; Dikla Zino, 22, of Jerusalem.


2004: In an article entitled “At Holocaust Museum, Turning a Number Into A Name,” the New York Times reports on plans for Yad Vashem to make its lists of Jewish victims of the Holocaust, along with biographical information available on line.


2004: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or on topics of special Jewish interest including Breath: Poemsby Philip Levine


2005: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon asked President Moshe Katsav to dissolve the Knesset, just hours after he sent shockwaves across the political system with his decision to quit the Likud and form a new centrist party. Sharon formally announced that he had left the Likud and had formed a new party called National Responsibility.


2005: Shaul Mofaz rejected Sharon's invitation to join his new party, Kadima, and instead announced his candidacy for the leadership of Likud.


2006: Southern California coastal authorities have decided to allow a beachfront eruv - a boundary that makes it possible for observant Jews to carry objects on Shabbat - to be built in the state for the first time. The eruv will surround sections of Santa Monica, Los Angeles and Marina del Rey.


2007: The planned chopping down of the chestnut tree that comforted Anne Frank as she hid from the Nazis did not take place thanks to a court order issued on November 20,2007 ordering city officials to into ways to save the 150 year old tree.


2007: “Yiddish Theatre: A Love Story” opens at the Two Boots Pioneer theater in Manhattan.This new documentary film is about Zypora Spaisman the amazing woman who has kept the oldest running Yiddish Theater in America alive. Zypora Spaisman is a Holocaust survivor who conquers all hearts in her passion for art, life and Yiddish.


2008: President Shimon Peres returns to Israel after a three-day state visit to Great Britain where he met withdignitaries, visited Parliament, delivered a lecture at Balliol College, Oxford University's oldest college, and met with Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles and the Prime Minister.


2008:In Manhattan, the 92nd Street Y presents “An Exploration of the Seven Deadly,” during which Aviad Kleinberg, one of the most prominent intellectuals in Israel examines the seven deadly sins with his trademark insight and deadpan humor.


2008: Dozens of synagogues and mosques across the United States and Canada are to take part in a first-of-its-kind three-day joint public relations campaign against anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim xenophobia beginning today.


2009: In the face of far-left, Arab and Muslim opposition, the New York Mets organization has decided to honor its commitment to rent its Caesar's Club for a fundraiser benefiting the Jewish community of Hebron that is schedule to be held tonight


2009: At the 92nd St Y in Manhattan Alan Dershowitz, the self-described “top defender of Israel in the court of public opinion,” and Jeremy Ben-Ami, the founder and director of J Street, debate issues surrounding America’s policy in the Middle East with special emphasis on matters surrounding Israel and its relationship with the United States.


2009: Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, in collaboration with the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, gives two performances of the children’s opera, Brundibar, sponsored by the Joan & David Thaler Holocaust Remembrance Fund, Bradley & Riley, P.C and Dr. Ronald and Sue Reider, two pillars of the Cedar Rapids Jewish Community.


2010: Michael Makovsky is scheduled to delve into Winston Churchill's complex relationship with Zionism, his impact on the creation of the State of Israel and the modern Middle East that emerged from the two world wars of the 20th century during a program entitled Winston Churchill, Zionism & the Modern Middle East at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.


2010: Avrom Bendavid-Val, author of The Heavens are Empty: Discovering the Lost Town of Trochenbrod  is scheduled to deliver a lecture based on his writings at the Historic 6th& I Synagogue in Washington, DC.


2010: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick and Saul Bellow: Letters edited by Benjamin Taylor.


2010: The Los Angeles Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Dangerous Otto Katz: The Many Lives of a Soviet Spy by Jonathan Miles. “The son of a prosperous Czechoslovakian manufacturer, Katz, who was Jewish, was drawn to the theatrical (and cabaret) life of Berlin, where he aspired to playwriting. What politicized him was the rise of Nazism in the 1920s, in particular its vicious anti-Semitism. He gravitated toward the Soviet Union, which seemed to him — not incorrectly at the time — the only nation mounting any sort of effective opposition to Hitler. In his accurate view, all the other major European states were, albeit somewhat more politely, anti-Semitic as well.”


2010: Outgoing head of Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin issued a warning at his final cabinet meeting today, saying that Israel should not be lulled into complacency by the relative quiet that the country has recently enjoyed. Yadlin said that Israel's enemies, with Iran under the leadership of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad being chief among them, are "getting more powerful and better arming themselves."


2010: Debbie Rosenbloom, the wife of David Levin, became a savta (grandmother) today when her daughter-in-law gave birth to a daughter.


2011: “Latkes & Grits” by Murray Wolfe is scheduled to open at the Missing Piece Theatre in Burbank, California.


2011: In California, Helen Duffy and Marcie Lynn Ross starred in “a wonderful reading of Murray Wolfe’s funny future in-law comedy ‘Latkes and Grits.’”


2011: David Mitchell became the Rabbi at West London Synagogue.


2011: The 8th Jewish Eye Festival, the World Jewish Film Festival held annually at Ashkelon is scheduled to come to an end.


2011: Israel and Arab states plan to attend talks at a forum opening today sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency aimed at freeing the world from nuclear weapons.


2011:Israel has gradually boosted naval patrols around its east Mediterranean natural gas fields for fear of guerrilla attacks and as maritime rivalry with Turkey deepens, an Israeli official said today.


2011:A Jordanian delegation visiting the West Bank today called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to renew peace talks with Israel.


2012: The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust & Genocide is scheduled to sponsor a screening of 'Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today'


2012: As the eighth day of Pillars of Defense begins, Israelis mourn the loss of eighteen year old Corporal Yosef Partuk and an Arab-Israeli civilian identified as Alayaan Salem al-Nabari who had been killed yesterday morning during a mortar attack


2012: In a case of Jew follows Jew, Lionel Perez was elected borough mayor of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grace by acclamation, replacing Michael Applebaum after the latter was selected as the new Mayor of Montreal.


2012(7th of Kislev, 5773: Eighty-one year old “Mr. Food” who was in reality Art Ginsburg passed away today.



2012(7th of Kislev, 5773): Eighty-nine year old film editor Dann Cahn passed away,



2012: Ninety year old Valdka Mead, a leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in which she served as a courier and arms smuggler, passed away today.




2012:An explosion ripped through a bus in central Tel Aviv around noon on Wednesday — the first bombing attack in the city since 2006.Twenty-one people were injured in the bombing, three of them seriously. No one was killed. 


2012: The UN Security Council called on Israel and Hamas to uphold a ceasefire agreement today and commended the efforts of Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and others for brokering the deal.


2013: The Center for Jewish Culture is scheduled to sponsor a screening of “Marvin Hamlisch: One Singular Sensatio.”


2013: Whole Foods in Friendship Heights is scheduled to host “8 Days of Oil” which will include a free olive tasting…and take-home booklets for celebrating” Chanukah.


2013: The Valley Chapter of the of Los Angeles Yiddish Club is scheduled to host an evening of Yiddish Song with Cindy Paley


2013: The 7th annual Other Israel Film Festival is scheduled to come to an end.


2013: Tonight, Twentieth Century Fox renamed its historic Fox Music Building in honor of film and television composer Lionel Newman, whose career with Fox spanned nearly half a century and included more than 200 films, 11 of which earned him Academy Award nominations, including “There’s No Business Like Show Business” and “Doctor Dolittle,” and 1 of which – the score for “Hello Dolly” – won him an Oscar,


2013(18thof Kislev, 5774): Fifty-one year old Michael Weiner, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Player Association passed away today. (As reported by Richard Goldstein)



2013: The Iranian government is reminiscent of “dark regimes of the past” that tried to wipe out the Jews and then conquer the world, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today in Moscow, vowing to deny Iran nuclear weapons


2013: German authorities released more pictures and details today of the massive trove of art that was discovered in a Munich apartment last year.


2014: In Melbourne, “Anywhere Else” and “Young Perez” are scheduled to be shown at the Jewish International Film Festival.


2014(28th of Cheshvan, 5775): Eighty-two year old Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and former foreign correspondent Richard Eder passed away today.



2014: “A new production of Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Assassins’ opened today at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London.”


2014: In the UK, the Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust & Genocide is scheduled to host a seminar that “will help students acquire skills to locate archival material on subjects including: the Holocaust, twentieth-century German history and European Jewish culture.”


2014: “This Is Where I Leave You” is scheduled to be shown at the 18th UK Jewish Film Festival.


2014: Hundreds rioted throughout West Bank after Friday prayers


2014:Two Jewish seminary students were attacked and wounded in East Jerusalem this evening. The two were reportedly hit with stones, metal rods and nails near the Beit Orot seminary in Jerusalem's Mount of Olives, days after Palestinian terrorists opened fire in a Jerusalem synagogue and killed four rabbis and a Druze policeman. (As reported by Noam (Dabul) Dvir)


2014: “My Old Lady” a marvelous comedy set in Paris written and directed by Israel Horovit and co-produced by Rachel Horotvitz was released in the UK today.


2014: “French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve expressed his support for the Jewish community.” “Every time you feel the violence exercised against you, when you are afraid for your children, when you are worried about this rising violence, remind yourselves that the republic protects you and an interior minister who loves you and who is your friend,” Cazeneuve said at an event sponsored by Station J, a Jewish radio channel. (As reported by Stephanie Butnick)


2015: In Fairfax, VA, Congregation Olam Tikvah Men’s Club is scheduled to host Indian-Jewish Night with complete with a Kosher Indian Dinner.


2015: “The Law” and “To Life” are scheduled to be shown in Melbourne at the Jewish International Film Festival.


2015: “Saturday’s Profile” published today under the headline “WW II Hero Credits Luck and Chance in Foiling Hitler’s Nuclear Ambitions” described actions by Joachim Ronnenberg, who is now 96, and his team that “destroyed the Nazi’s only source of heavy water” thereby helping to thwart Hitler’s plan to build an Atomic bomb.



2015:Jonathan Pollard, who has been imprisoned for 30 years for spying for Israel is scheduled to be released today.


2015: The Eden-Tamir Music Center is scheduled to host a concert by the piano duo of Tami Kanazaw and Yuval Admoni.


2015(9th of Kislev, 5776): Parsha Vayetze


2016(20th of Cheshvan, 5777): Ninety-four year old British hairstylist and Holocaust survivor Rose Evansky passed away today. (As reported by William Grimes)



2016: “A year-long celebration” of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies in Montreal is scheduled to begin today “with the closing of the 2016 CJA campaign.


2016: “Fever at Dawn” and “One Week and A Day” are scheduled to be shown in Sydney, Australia as part of the Jewish International Film Festival.


2016: Koch Industries and others who invested in the Madoff fund from offshore accounts won a key ruling in federal bankruptcy court today, when the judge said certain funds held abroad — estimated at about $2 billion — could not be made available to victims” of Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.


2016: Following “the closing of the 2016 CJA campaign” “a year-long celebration of the founding of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies in 1916? Is scheduled to get underway today in Canada.


2017: Yitzhak Lewis is scheduled to present the first lecture in the series “Introduction to Gerhsom Schloem” at the Center for Jewish History.


2017: “Remember Baghdad” and “The Boy Downstairs” are scheduled to be shown at the 21stUK International Jewish Film Festival.


2017: Dr. Naomi Weinberger is scheduled to continue her lectures on “American Priorities in the Middle East at the Streicker Center.


2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such as the award winning Simon Schama who works included secular works on the British, Dutch and French including Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution as well as the Jewish including The Story of the Jews: Volume I and II continues today.


2018:  A rare sword, which was given as a present by SS commander Heinrich Himmler to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Muhammad Amin al-Husseini during his visit to Nazi Germany in March 1943,” is scheduled to continue to be offered for sale for a second day on a British website—The Saleroom— by the German auction house Hermann Historica, which specializes in selling historical items.” (As reported by Itamar Eichner)



2018: Beit Avi Chai is scheduled to host a performance of “Lunar Legends: Chelm and the Moon,” a play in which “the people of Chelm try to overcome darkness by chasing after the light of the moon.”


2018: As part of the UK Jewish Film Festival, “Itzhak” starring Itzhak Perlman and Bill Joel, is scheduled to be shown at the Glasgow Film Theatre in Glasgow and “The Accountant of Auschwitz” in Manchester.


2018: As part of the “Home: Lens on Israel” series, the Temple Emanuel Streicker Center the photographic exhibition “Moroccan Jews Outside Haifa” is scheduled to come an end today.


 


 

This Day, November 22, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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November 22


1220: Frederick II, who would become the protector of the Jews in Frankfurt in 1236, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor today by Honorius III.



1280: The 3 year reign of Pope Nicholas III whose bull Vineam sorce encouraged conversion through "sermons and other means" came to an end today. (Jewish Virtual Library)



1307: Pope Clement V issues the papal bull Pastoralis Praeeminentiae which instructed all Christian monarchs in Europe to arrest all Templars and seize their assets. The Templars were a group of Christian Knights who took their name from the fact that their first headquarters was located on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount in an area believed to be on the site of the ruins of Solomon’s Temple.



1348: Riots reached the Germanic lands of Bavaria and Swabia.  Eighty towns, including Augsburg, Munich, and Wurzburg were attacked



1547:Asolo, Italy was the scene of one of the few pogroms recorded in Italy. Ten Jews in a town of thirty were killed, and their houses robbed with no apparent motives.



1580: In Poland, the Council of the Four Lands adopted an ordinance that limits the extent of land leasing, known as arenda that is permitted to any individual.  The prevention of competition for arenda was one of the council’s major concerns. 



1617: Ahmed I, Ottoman Sultan, passed away.  During his reign, Ahmed contracted small pox. The treatments prescribed by his physicians proved ineffectual. The widow of Solomon Eskenazi, who had served as a court physician was called in and she saved the Sultan.



1688: Birthdate of Nāder Shāh Afshār, the founder of the Afsharid dynasty who reversed the anti-Jewish policies and practices that had been put in place by the Safawid’s dynasty which had ruled during the previous century



1793: Strasbourg prohibited circumcision and the wearing of beards Further It ordered the burning of all books in Hebrew.  Strasbourg is located on the border between Germany and France.  As such it has changed hands numerous times.



1795(10th of Kislev, 5556): Vrouwtje Frumet David Lintz-Cohen passed away. Born at Amsterdam in 1737, she was the daughter of David Levie Juda-Moshe Lints-Cohen and Bele Simon Samson Levie-Drukker and the widow of Kalman Isaac Shochet



1797: In London, Levy Salomons and Matilda de Metz gave birth to Sir David Salomons, 1st Baronet, a leading figure in the 19th century struggle for Jewish emancipation in the United Kingdom who was the first Jewish Sheriff of the City of London and Lord Mayor of London, and one of the first two Jewish people to serve in the British House of Commons.



1800 (5th of Kislev): Forty-eight year old philosopher Solomon ben Joshua Maimon passed away



http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0013_0_13043.html



1805: Birthdate of Mary Anne Keely, the English actress and manager whose portrait was painted by the Anglo-Jewish artist Walter Goodman who also wrote a book about the family entitled The Keeleys, on the stage and at home



1808: In London Hanna Barent Cohen and Nathan Mayer Rothschild who “had just established the London branch of the banking business of the Rothschilds” to Baron Lionel Nathan Rothschild.



1809: Solomon Abraham married Sarah Harris today at the Great Synaogue.



1811(6th of Kislev, 5572): Seventy-three year old Wolf Isak Arnstein, the son of Isak Aron Arnsteiner and Ella Elsa Eleonora Arnsteiner who was the husband of Veronika Fradche Fradel Arnstein and Rifke Arnstein passed away today.



1811: Birthdate of David Woolf Marks, a leading Reform Rabbi in the UK who was the first Rabbi to serve at The West London Synagogue, the country’s first (and oldest) reform congregation.



1813: Today, a codicil was attached to the original will of Benjamin D’Israeli, the grandfather of the Earl Beaconsfield, Great Britain’s first Prime Minister to have been born Jewish.



1819: Joseph Friedländer, a dealer in second-hand clothes renewed his application to be allowed to continue to live and do business in Saxony.



1819: Birthdate of Joseph Seligman, the native of Bavaria, who founded Seligman Brothers and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.



1819: Birthdate of Mary Anne Evans, who, under the pen name of George Elliot wrote Daniel Deronda is a novel by George Eliot, first published in 1876. It was the last novel she completed and the only one set in the contemporary Victorian society of her day. Its mixture of social satire and moral searching, along with a sympathetic rendering of Jewish proto-Zionist and Kaballistic ideas has made it a controversial final statement of one of the greatest of Victorian novelists.



1826: Birthdate of Italian patriot Enrico Guastalla who fought in the wars that led to the unification of Italy.



1826: Joseph Joseph married Hannah Cohen at the Great Synagogue today.



1830: Birthdate of James Picciotto, the son of Aleppo born Anglo-Jewish businessman and community leader Moses Haim Picciotto, who sat on the Council of Jews and wrote Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History published in 1875.



1833: Two day after she had passed away, 59 year old “Elizabeth (Lazarus) Jacobs, the wife of Elias Jacobs with whom she had had four children, was buried today at the Brady Street Jewish Cemetery.



1838: Children of Löbl Strakosch and Julia Schwarz gave birth to Ludwig, the 15th of their 16 children.



1843: Joseph Belasco married Rachel Tolano at the Bevis Marks Synagogue today.



1843: Samuel Phillips married Rachel Davis today at the Great Synagogue.



1845: In the UK, Charlotte von Rothschild and Lionel de Rothschild gave birth to their third son Leopold de Rothschild who was also the youngest of their five children.



1847: Two days after she had passed away, 68 year old Sarah (Levin) Russell, the wife of Moses Russell, with whom she had had nine children was buried today at the Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.



1848: Jonas Phillips Levy married Frances (Fanny) Mitchell today.  Born in 1807, he was the younger brother of Commodore Uriah Phillips Levy and the son of Michael Levy and Rachel Phillips. This native of Philadelphia, commanded the U.S.S. America during the Mexican-American War.  He continued his career as a merchant and sea captain until his death in New York in 1883.



1852: The New York Times reported the Baron James Rothschild has just named as a recipient of the Order of the Iron Crown, Second Class. It is ironic that the award which conferred the status of nobility should have been awared at a time when the Jews of Austria are worried about a possible loss of rights.



1852: An article published today entitled “The Austrian Jews” reported that Jews of Austria are worried that they will lose all of the gains they have made since the revolution and will be forced to return to the repressive status under which they lived prior to 1848.  The author contends that the Jews will continue to enjoy most of their newly won rights including that of acquiring real estate and living where they please.  They will once again be banned from holding any state position that “brings them in contact with the public in a judicial capacity.



1854: Two hundred people gathered at the Chinese Assembly Rooms tonight to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of the Hebrew Benevolent Society in New York City.



1857(5th of Kislev, 5618): Forty-three year old Austrian published Wolf Pascheles passed away today.



http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Pascheles_Wolf



1858: Denver, Colorado is founded. Jews have been active in Denver from its very beginning.  Fred Z. Salomon and his brother Hyman led the first large pack train into the settlement that would become Denver.  The two were "fifty-niners" who were later joined in Colorado by their brother Adolph. A native of Strelno, Posen, Prussia, Fred worked at various trading centers in New Mexico Territory before leading a supply train from Independence, MO to Auraria, the village across the river from the soon to be created Denver.  Fred devoted his life to business and cultural ventures in the Mile High City.  He started a brewery which the Rocky Mountain News “noted speedily decreased the local consumption of strychnine whiskey and Taos Lightning.”  In 1860, Fred and Hyman started what would become the Denver Water Company.  Fred “helped organize the Auriaria and Denver Chess Club and literary Society, later the Colorado Pioneer Society the Denver Public Library and the Denver B’Nai Brith Lodge.” In a time when rail travel was critical to commercial success, the elder Salomon helped lead the fight to bring the Denver Pacific and Kansas Pacific railroads to Denver.  Fred also found time to serve as territorial treasurer.  Such total identification with his adopted hometown stands in stark contrast with the decision of member of the Denver Club - the name of the “chess and literary society head helped found” to bar Jews starting in 1881. Other Jews connected with Denver in its early days were Otto Mears who arrived in Colorado in 1852, and Sam Flax, who after several false starts, meet success in the restaurant and hotel business. [For more information about Denver Jewry see the website of the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society and Pioneer Jews by Harriet and Fred Rochlin.]



1858: The New York Times published a copy of a letter that appeared in this week’s Jewish Messenger addressed to the President of the Hebrew Congregation in the United States and others from Sir Moses Montefiore, the President of the London Committee of Deputies for the Jews. The letter called for the American Jewish community to join its co-religionists in England, Holland France in seeking the support of their government in having the Mortara child returned to his parents and to avoid any such future seizures. It summarized the threat that the seizure Edgardo Mortara posed to Jews and “every other denomination of faith” except the Roman Catholics. Montefiore reiterated that this was not just a matter of religious freedom. The behavior of the Catholic Church placed “in peril, personal liberty, social relations and the peace of families.”



1858: It was reported today from New York that “our Jewish fellow-citizens will shortly hold a mass meeting in one of our large public halls, to denounce the unjustifiable abduction of Mortara’s child by the Roman inquisition. The Israelitish communities of France, Holland and England have already considered the subject, and a meeting of the Jews of Philadelphia has recently been held to take action in the same matter.


1860(8th of Kislev, 5621): Sixty-seven year old historian Isaak Marcus Jost passed away today.



htt1866:p://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8931-jost-isaac-marcus



1864: Philadelphian Isaac M. Abraham, who had been wounded “near Deep Bottom, VA, and who had risen to the rank of Major in the 85thRegiment completed his three year enlistment today.



1866: Ernest Abraham an English medical journalist who was the son of a London dentist was appointed as a poorlaw inspector today which provided him with the opportunity to the reform of the treatment of sick poor throughout England” and work for the successful adoption of the Infant Life Protection Act of 1872.



1870: In Reading, PA, “Raphael Austrian and Fannie Elizabeth Dreifoos” gave birth to “self-taught painter” who “began to paint at the age of nine” and whose works include “Temptations, “After the Race” and “The Intruder.”



http://www.artnet.com/artists/ben-austrian/



1870: The Ladies Bikur Cholim Society held their 9th annual ball tonight at the Apollo Hall.  Due to inclement weather, the event was not well attended.



1875: Vice President Henry Wilson passed away today making Thomas W. Ferry, the President pro tempore of the Senate, next in line if the President of the United States should pass.  Perry, along with President Grant, would attend the services consecrating Adas Israel in Washington, DC in 1876.  This meant that the two top leaders of the United States government attended the consecration of a Jewish house of worship for the first time in the nation’s history.



1875: Pavel Axelrod and his wife Nadezhda Ivanovna Kaminer, one of his former students gave birth to their first child, Vera, today.


1877:  Seligman Hirsch, a New York fur dealer was found guilty of receiving stolen goods. He was defended by Albert Jacob Cardozo.  Under the law, Hirsch could have been sentenced to five years in prison but in response to the jury’s recommendation for mercy, the judge sentenced the Jewish



1878: It was reported today that New York has 375 houses of worship, 25 of which are synagogues of Jewish Temples.



1878: In Frankfort, multi-millionaire Adolphe Benedict Hayum Goldschmidt, who permanently moved to London in 1895 and Alice Emma Moses Merton daughter of Joseph Benjamin Moses aka Moses Merton gave birth to Franck Adolphe Benedict Goldschmidt who gained famed Francis Benedict Hyam Goldsmith, a British MP and “luxury hotel tycoon.”



1879: David McAdam is scheduled to deliver a lecture tonight at the Young Men’s Hebrew Union in Clarendon Hall followed by musical and literary entertainment.



1879: The Young Ladies Charitable Union, an organization made up of 72 Jewish woman chaired by Julia Richman, are scheduled to host a fund raiser at the Opera House on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.  The entertainment will include nine tableaux representing the nine muses and a children’s pantomime followed by an evening of dancing. The money raised will go to supply New York’s poor with shoes.  Last winter the Union provided over 900 pairs of shoes for the needy.



1880: It was reported today that there are 3 and a half million people living in Holland, 100,000 of whom are Jews.  A million are Catholics and the rest are Protestants.



1882: It was reported today that Herr Meyer killed Captain Emerich in a duel fought at Wurzburg.  Meyer had challenged the gentile over a matter of honor.



1884: Sir Moses Montefiore has had another attack of the bronchial affection just after the celebration of his one hundredth birthday, and is now confined to his bed at his home near Ramsgate.



1885: The San Francisco Call reported today that the late Senator William Sharon had bequeathed $5,000 to the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of San Francisco.



1885: It was reported today that the annual Charity Ball sponsored by the Purim Association will be held in February of 1886.



1885: It was reported today that Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler will officiate at Temple Beth-El’s Thanksgiving Services in New York City.



1886(24th of Cheshvan, 5647): Samuel Isaac, the brother of Saul Isaac, the first Jew to be elected to the House of Commons as a member of the Conservative Party whose varied business activities included establishing “a large business as an army contractor” and the construction of the Mersey Railway Tunnel, passed away today.



1886: Birthdate of Los Angeles native Mendel B. Silberberg, the powerful entertainment industry attorney and fund raiser who “was a pallbearer at Louis B. Mayer’s funeral and a delegate to the Republican Presidential Conventions” from 1948 through 1960.



https://www.jta.org/1965/07/01/archive/mendel-b-silberberg-noted-jewish-leader-dies-in-los-angeles-was-78



1886: Based on information that first appeared in the London Times, it was reported today that Levy Isaacs, an old German Jewish peddler who dealt in sponges and jewelry died as a result of house fire at his home on Ashburner Street, Bolton.



1886: Following the recent Massachusetts State Supreme Court decision requiring the enforcement of the state’s Sunday closing laws, it was reported that the police have been making a list of the peddlers who were buying supplies at the Jewish businesses on Salem Street yesterday, Sunday.  Up until now, the police have not enforced the law where Jewish businessmen are concerned because the Jews closed their businesses on Saturday in observance of their Sabbath.



1888: Rabbi Alexander Kohut will officiate at the funeral services for Simon Lederer who will be interred in Cypress Hills.



1889: In Denver, Rabbi Joseph Zeisler and Irma Zeisler gave birth to Paul Zeisler.



1889(28th of Cheshvan, 5650): Seventy-two year old Levi Ali Cohen the Dutch physician and author who was also “a member of the committee on Jewish affairs in Holland” for twenty years.



1890:Mrs. Philip J. Joachimsen, presented “a report of the past year’s work done by” the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society of which she is the President.  During the past year, home run by the society has admitted 153 children, discharged 179 children and is currently caring for 566 children.



1890: Birthdate of Baltimore native Edwin Posner “who began a 61-year Wall Street career as a $5-a-week runner and rose to the chairmanship of the American Stock Exchange.”



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9D04E6DA133BE73ABC4E53DFB6678382679EDE



1891: Birthdate of German born historian Victor Ehrenberg whose illustrious family includes his sons Sir Geoffrey Elton, the British historian and physicist Lewis Elton.



1892: It was reported today that until the Hungarian parliament passes the bills for the state recognition of the Jewish religion “special regulations to enforce the registration of children of mixed marriages would be made.”



1893: Birthdate of Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich one of the original Bolshevik’s who survived all of the purges and would actually live longer than the Soviet Union existed.



1894: In Richmond, today, for the second Thanksgiving in a row, Christians and Jews prayed together at Beth Ahabah as Dr. Moses D. Hoge of the Second Presbyterian Church shared the pulpit with Rabbi Calisch and Rabbi Koplowitz “of Keneseth Israel Congregation offered a prayer.”



1894: Dr. Kerr of the First Presbyterian Church delivered the sermon and assisted in the conduct of religious services at Beth Ahabah Synagogue, in what was the first time that Jews and Christians worshipped together in the Virginia City.



1895: Samuel Greenbaum, a prominent New York lawyer was reported to have expressed the view that the Jews of New York would “take no notice” of the Dr. Hermann Ahlward the German anti-Semite who is scheduled to deliver a series of lectures in the United States. Echoing the sentiment of most other Jews, Greenbaum said  “the Jewish people do not have anything to fear from…this disciple of German anti-Semitism” because “the American people are not like to be influenced by the wild and unfounded accusations which in the stock in trade of anti-Semites.”



1896: Michaelis Machol, the Rabbi of the Sparrow Avenue Temple, plans on delivering a talk today expressing his opposition to the Thanksgiving message issued by President Cleveland that invokes the image of Jesus “as a mediator between man and God.” This would not be his last entrance into the Separation of Church and State fray. In 1901, Machol joined other rabbis and lay leaders in “protesting the decision of the board of the Cleveland Public Schools to begin each school day with the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the 23rd Psalm.”



1896: “President Cleveland Criticized” published today provided expression of rabbinic displeasure over Grover Cleveland’s Christologically laced Thanksgiving proclamation including Cincinnati Rabbi David Phillipson’s state that the Jews “feel excluded from the invitation to observe the day.”  (Full disclosure – some of his indignation might have been politically motivated since Phillipson was a Republican and Cleveland was a Democrat.)



1896: The Hebrew Institute will be the site of the Harmony Musical Society’s concert this evening.



1896:”Dr. Emil G. Hirsch, the rabbi at Temple Sinai, “predicts the downfall of the Jewish Sabbath. He declares that the seventh day tradition of the race is doomed, wiped from the Hebraic calendar swallowed up in the necessity of adapting the religion to the customs of the countries in it may be transplanted. (Just as the Jew has kept the Sabbath, so has the Sabbath kept the Jew – from the Saturday morning service.)



1897: In a speech delivered today, Reverend Samuel Frender, a convert to Christianity told a meeting of Methodist clergyman that “the average Jew believed that Christians had a prejudice against them.”



1897: Charles Schapiro…the young Russian Jew who shot and killed Louis Lieberman at a wedding at 123 Henry Street” and tried to kill his sweetheart Yetta Gordon was arraigned in the Essex Market Court” today.



1897: In London, the House Committee of the Jews’ Hospital and Orphan Asylum is scheduled to meet this afternoon.



1897: Four days after she had passed away, 41 year old Sarah Franks, the wife of Abraham Franks was buried today at the Plashet Jewish Cemetery.



1897: In London, the Board of Management of the Home and Hospital for Jewish Incurables is scheduled to meet this evening



1897: In a move that might surprise some advocates of the separation of church and state, a summary of Rabbi Gustave Gottheil published included his expression of displeasure over Tammany Hall’s victory “in the recent election” saying that “he had wished the election had gone the other way.”



1899: In Paris, the Senate sitting as a High Court for the trial of the conspiracy, which has already heard testimony from the President of the League of Anti-Semitic that the demonstrations he arranged were anti-Dreyfus protests and not a plot to overthrow the Republic, resumed its deliberations today. The Senate was investigating charges of treason that included many leaders of the anti-Semitic movement in France who were also anti-democratic rightists.



1902:  Birthdate of Emanuel Feuermann.  Born in Galicia, this world class cellist found fame playing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  He died unexpectedly in 1942 as the result of an infection contracted during a minor surgical procedure.



1903: “The Sons and Daughters of Zion of Sioux City, IA held a grand ball and mass meeting” today “in honor of the grand master of the Order of the Knights of Zion, Mr. Leon Zolotkoff of Chicago who spoke for two hours.”



1903: Sigismund Kalischer and Helen Teresa Kalischer gave birth to Iowa State University trained refrigeration engineer and Westinghouse employee Milton Kalischer whose place of birth has been given as either Denver, CO or Huntington, Massachusetts.



1905: In Russia, it was a reported today that a cabinet minister explained the attacks on the Jews by saying that “the prejudice against the Jews among the ignorant lower classes of Russia is not imaginary.  It is deplorable but true that the people under the old regime were saturated with the idea that the Jews were their oppressors.  If the Jews were to receive equal rights with Russians, the latter would accept it as confirmation of the suspicions they already harbor on account of recent developments that the Emperor has been betrayed and nothing the Central Government could do would prevent the most frightful massacres.”



1905: Three days after he had passed away, 67 year old Levi Cohen, the husband of the former “Bloom Woolf” with whom he had had four children was buried today at the Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.



1905: It was reported today that Prince Ursoff, the new Assistant Minister of the Interior said “that the Jews were to a certain extent to blame” for the anti-Semitic violence “on account of their too open exultation over their new-found liberties.”



1905: Dr. J.L. Magnes, the President of the Jewish Defense Association and Treasurer Joseph Barondess have issued another appeal for funds which agents of the Bund and the Zionists will use to purchase arms and ammunition to be used by the Jews of Russia to defend themselves from the attacks of mobs from which the government has failed to protect them.



1905: Edward A. Lauterbach presided over a mass meeting tonight at Temple Israel sponsored by “a committee of university men” seeking to provide aid for the Russian Jews.



1905: Max Stern who lives at 286 Hunterdon Street in Newark, NJ, received a letter today from Benjamin Rappaport of Nicolaiev, Russia describing the recent riots that took place in that city where the “mob broke open the doors of the stores, smashed the windows and scattered the good” while taking “babies and children” and throwing “them as high in the air as they could and letting them come down on the paving stones to be crushed to death.”



1905: Hundreds of Russian Jewish families are reported leaving or preparing to leave for Palestine.



1908: In Bessarabia, “pharmacist David Ackerman and Bertha (Greenberg) Ackerman Columbia trained psychiatrist Nathan Ward Ackerman, who served as the “chief psychiatrist at the Menninger Clinic” as well as serving in the capacity for “the Jewish Board of Guardians in New York City”



http://psychology.jrank.org/pages/7/Nathan-Ward-Ackerman.html



https://www.amazon.com/Nathan-Ward-Ackerman/e/B001K8FF8I



1909: Birthdate of Mikhail Leontyevich Mil a founder of the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, which is responsible for many of the well-known Russian helicopter models, notably the Mil Mi-24 'Hind'. He passed away in 1970.



1909(9th of Kislev, 5670): Six year old Itzig Rabinowitz passed away today.



1909: Speaking in Yiddish, twenty-three-year-old Clara Lemlich addressed a crowd of thousands of restless laborers at New York City's Cooper Union. “I am one of those who suffer from the abuses described here, and I move that we go on a general strike.”  The audience of workers had been listening for hours as numerous labor leaders decried current working conditions in New York's garment industry but who nonetheless advocated caution when considering a strike. Lemlich's words and passion stirred the crowd. The chairman of the event came to her side and called out “Will you take the old Hebrew oath?” Although not an exclusively Jewish gathering, most in the crowd raised their right arms and pledged with him in Yiddish: “if I turn traitor to the cause I now pledge, may my hand wither from the arm I now raise.” And so began the “Uprising of the 20,000,” a critical turning point in American labor activism. In the months that followed, thousands of garment workers, mainly young Jewish and Italian women walked picket lines and confronted police brutality. The Jewish women, including Lemlich, Rose Schneiderman, and Pauline Newman, who worked tirelessly to organize and sustain the strike effort, insisted that their concerns extended beyond wages and hours. They fought for dignity in working conditions and for women's right to union recognition. While the strike was only partially successful, it set off a wave of general strikes from 1909-1915 in cities across the United States. As a result, U.S. labor leaders who had long dismissed the needs of women workers and ignored the work of female activists had to accept the centrality of women's needs within the American labor movement.



1910: Birthdate of Ervin György Patai, who as Raphael Patai would gain fame as an ethnographer and anthropologist.



1912(12th of Kislev, 5673): Civil War veteran Alfred Pels passed away today in Cincinnati, Ohio.



1912(12th of Kislev, 5673): Eighty-nine year old merchant Zachary Bruenn passed away today in New Orleans, LA.



1912(12th of Kislev, 5673): Civil War veteran Morris Pfaelzer passed away today in Cincinnati, Ohio.



1913(22nd of Cheshvan, 5674): Parashat Chayei Sara



1913(22nd of Cheshvan, 5674: Eighteen year old Moshe Barsky, “a member of Degania Alef, the kibbutz founded in 1909” who had ridden off on a mule to get medication for Shmuel Dayan, the father of Moshe Dayan was killed today by “persons unknown” who left his body “lying with a stick and a pair of shoes on his head.”



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Moshe_Barsky#/media/File:Moshe_Barsky_memorial_in_Kibbutz_Degania.JPG



https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13537120500535373?journalCode=fisa20



1913: “Our Financial Oligarchy” by Louis Brandies which would become the first chapter in Other People's Money And How the Bankers Use It was published today in Harper’s Weekly.



1914: A review of Zionism by Professor Richard H. Gottheil was published today.



1914: :Stamp Tax for Jewish Relief” published today described positive response to “the one self-taxation stamp issued by the Central Committee for the Relief of Jews” that has included the formation by the Young Men’s Hebrew Associations of “Enlistment Clubs” where each members has pledged to contribute 10 cents a week.



1914: According to an announcement made tonight by the American Jewish Committee “the Turkish Government has assured the State Department…that is will not expel Russian Jews residing in the Ottoman Empire. (The important impact of this was on the Jews of Palestine, a large number of whom had come from Russia starting in the 1880’s and were viewed as potential enemies by the Turks who were fighting the Czar)



1914: For the second time in two weeks, Al McCoy the New Jersey born Jewish Middleweight World Champion successfully defended his crown.



1914: As the First Battle of Ypres sputtered to a close on the Western Front, Jews in the BEF and the Kaiser’s Army settled in for what would be the first of several long winters on the Western Front that would not end until November, 1918,



1914: “At a conference of the lodges affiliated with the Workmen’s Circle and other Rumanian organizations representing 5,000 members” held today, “it was decided to protest against the loan that a delegation from Rumania will be requesting from the United States.



1915: A memorial service will be held this morning and this evening in honor of Dr. Solomon Schechter.



1915: Maurice Blumenthal, the general counsel of the Independent Order Free Sons of Israel was reported to have said that his organization would lead a nationwide non-sectarian campaign against the Gary Plan saying that “the separation of religion from American institutions is regarded as one of the safeguards of American progress” and that “the church and the home must remain the place for religious instruction and activity” while “the public schoolroom must be the last place in which discussions on religious distinctions shall be made possible or tolerated.



1915: In Germany Dr. Israel Abraham Rabin and Dr. Ester Else Rabin gave birth to Professor Chaim Menachem Rabin



https://memim.com/chaim-menachem-rabin.html



1915: “Jews Oppose Gary Plan” published today described the Sons of Israel’s plans for a national campaign to bring an end to the education program fostered by William Wirt.



1915: “The seventh annual meeting of the Sisterhood of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue was held” this evening “in the basement of the Synagogue of Shearith Israel at 2 West Seventieth Street.



1915: “A movement to raise millions of dollars for the relief of Jewish war sufferers in Europe was inaugurated” tonight “at a meeting of Jewish business and professional men in the Hotel McAlpin attended by among others, Jacob H. Schiff, Congressman Meyer London, Herman Bernstein and Colonel Harry Cutler of Provident presided over by Dr. J.L. Manges.



1916: In New York plans were reported for memorial services to be held this Saturday in numerous synagogues on the east side to mark the passing of Emperor Franz Josef.



1917(7th of Kislev, 5678): Seventy-seven year old chief rabbi and Chevalier of the Legion of Honor Joseph Lehmann passed away today in Paris.



1917: As Allenby’s forces, including the 38th and 39thBattalions known as the Jewish battalions, made their way towards Jerusalem, Turkish forces made three fruitless counter-attacks in an attempt to dislodge the British from Nebi Samwil.



1917: Woodrow Wilson became the first president to publicly endorse a national Jewish philanthropic campaign when he sent a letter to Jacob Schiff, today calling for wide support of the United Jewish Relief Campaign, which was raising funds for European War relief.



1917: Birthdate of St. Louis native and Bronze Star WW II Army Veteran, Melvin Kranzberg, the Harvard trained founder of the “Society for the History of Technology” who was a history professor at Case Western Reserve and Georgia Tech.



http://amhistory.si.edu/archives/AC0266.pdf



http://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/09/us/melvin-kranzberg-78-historian-of-technology.html



http://www.vqronline.org/essay/technology-history-and-culture-appreciation-melvin-kranzberg



1917: Felix M. Warburg, President of the Federation of Jewish Charities, issued an appeal today for the eighty-four societies for which the federation had raised $2,300,000 during the past year to carry on with their work despite the increasing challenges being faced by the Jewish community.



1918: In Prague, “the Jewish National council for the Czecho-Slovak State” sent a “telegram to the International Zionist Organization” thanking “the British Government for its declaration on Palestine.”



1918: As Poles and Ukrainians clash in the anarchy that followed the breakup of the Russian Empire Polish forces began a two day attack on the Jewish community of Lemberg (Lvov).



1920: “The Parents’ Association of the Free Synagogue of the Bronx” is scheduled to “give a theater party for its members and friends” today.



1921:  Birthdate of comedian and comedic actor Rodney Dangerfield.  Dangerfield passed away in 2004.  His ill-fitting black suits and shirts with the too-tight collar were as much a part of his comedic signature as was the lament, “I don’t get no respect.”



1922: Grigori Sokolnikov began serving as People’s Commissar for Finance of the RSFSR.



1923: In Edmonton, Alberta, Rose (Garfin) and Harry Hiller gave birth to movie director Arthur Hiller whose best known movie was the saccharine film of the 70’s – Love Story for which he can be forgiven because he also direct Paddy Chayefsky’s “The Americanization of Emily.”



1923: Birthdate of Hanna Meierzak, the German child actress who made Aliyah in 1933 where she gained fame as actress Hanna Maron.



1923: At the Commonwealth Sporting Club, Charlie Phil Rosenberg, born Charles Green on the Lower East Side won a twelve round decision on points as he advanced toward becoming the World Bantamweight Champion.



1926: Featherweight Harry Blitman fought and won his seventh straight bout.



1926: “Pals in Paradise” a silent film starring Rudolph Schildkraut “as Abraham Lezinsky” was released in the United States today.



1927: George Gershwin's "Funny Face," premieres in New York City.



1927: “The Racket” a three-act drama co-starring Edward G. Robinson playing the first of the gangster roles which would he would make famous in numerous films, opened on Broadway the Ambassador Theatre.



1928: “A dispatch to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency from Bucharest” today “said that the Zionist groups of Transylvania and Bukovina had made a political alliance with the National Peasant Party assuring six parliamentary seats to the Zionists.”



1930: The Northwestern Wildcats with Hy Crizevksy playing guard lost their last game of the season when they were defeated by Notre Dame.



1930: Michigan State University, led by running back Abe Eliowitz, finished the season with a tie against Detroit Mercy which meant their record for the year was 5-1-2.



1931: In article entitled “Palestine Goes to the Theatre”, Jean Jaffe reports approvingly on the wide scope of theatrical productions offered by the Jewish community including productions of Shaw’s “Devil’s Desciple” which was produced under the Hebrew names “Bechor Hasatan”, Upton Sinclair’s “The Pot Boiler” and Zweig’s “Jeremiah.”



1933: In Paris, Elisabeth Pelletier de Chambure, a French Catholic aristocrat and Phillipe de Rothschild, who were not married to each other yet gave birth to Baroness Philippine Mathilde Camille de Rothschild.



http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/27/world/philippine-de-rothschild-wine-nobility-dies-at-80.html



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11056866/Baroness-Philippine-de-Rothschild-obituary.html



 



1933: Incorporation of the Anti-Nazi League



1934: "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" was first heard on Eddie Cantor's radio program.  And you thought that “White Christmas” was the only Christmas song with a Jewish connection. 



1934: In an effort to curb “excessive rentals,” Tel Aviv’s Municipal Council vote to impose “regulations for the fixing of a maximum rate of rent for all business and residential property.”



1935: “Crime and Punishment,” a film based on the novel of the same name directed by Josef von Sternberg, produced by B.P. Schulberg and starring Peter Lorre was released in the United States.



1935: Following his unexpected demise yesterday, today “Aldermanic President Bernard S. Deutsch was praised by civic leaders and officials as a public servant who had made himself a martyr to duty, a conscientious citizen and as a leader of the Jewish effort in New York.”



1936: Emir Abduallah fails in his attempt to convince Palestinian Arabs to give testimony before the Peel Commission.



1936: Birthdate of Fred Wilpon the Bensonhurst native who made his fortune in real estate before he purchased the New York Mets.



1936: Birthdate of Dr. Albert Bernard Ackerman.  A native of Elizabeth, NJ who graduated from Princeton and Columbia Medical School, Ackerman was a founding figure in the field of dermatopathology who trained a generation of doctors to recognize skin diseases under the microscope



1937: The Palestine Post reported that in Beirut four persons lost their lives and more than 60 were wounded in demonstrations protesting the closing down by French authorities of several Lebanese political organizations. Over 300 arrests were made. Palestine was not the only scene of unrest in the Middle East prior to World War II.



1937: Mathematician Fritz Noether was arrested on charges of being a German spy who not only spied on the Russian armament industry but committed acts of sabotage against it



1937:  The Palestine Post reported that in Vienna the local Jewish community conducted a winter relief appeal for funds to feed some 1,800 needy residents daily.



1937: The Palestine Post reported that 2,000 delegates attended the Palestine Conference in Warsaw. They were addressed by Yitzhak Ben-Zvi.  Ben-Zvi would gain fame as the second President of Israel.



1938: Beersheba, after having been in the hands of Arab rebels since it was abandoned by the government civil authorities six weeks ago, was occupied by British troops today. All towns in Palestine that the Arab rebels had seized are now controlled by the British military although Arab terrorists are still active.



1939: While on the witness stand in General Sessions Court today, Fritz Kuhn, the German-American Bund leader admitted “he had lied to Mrs. Florence Camp…and had lied again to the jury hearing evidence of larceny charges against him



1939: The Balfour Players are scheduled to perform “Trial,” “a play concerning the Jews, Arabs and English in Palestine by Miss Shoshanah Bat Dori at the Heckschler Theatre on Fifth Avenue.



1939(10th of Kislev, 5700): Moissaye Joseph Olgin, a Russian-born writer, journalist, and translator in the early 20th century passed away. He found the Morgen Freiheit, a New York City Yiddish Newspaper affiliated with the Communist Party, among whose stated aims was the promotion of the Jewish labor movement and the defeat of racism in the United States.



1939(10th of Kislev, 5700): Seventy-five year old Louis Pokroisky, a native of Lithuania  the president of the Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Roxbury and managing director of the Hebrew Free Loan Society of Boston who had been married to Deborah H. Brody for 54 years passed away today in Boston



1939: Supreme Court Justice Julius Miller said today that “payment to the German government of $3,700 from the $60,000 estate of Mrs. Lucy A. Peck will be authorized if proof is submitted that such a payment will result in the release of Mrs. Peck’s brother,” 71 year old Rudolf A. Strauss, a Jew currently being held in a German prison.



1939: In Newark, NJ, Alice (née Lavroff) and Philip Goorwitz gave birth to Allen Goorwitz who gained fame as actor Allen Garfield



http://www.filmreference.com/film/56/Allen-Garfield.html



1939: “Harry A. Jung, honorary general manager of the American Vigilant Intelligence Federation…made public today letters to Representative Martin Dies,” chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee denying “that he or the federation had any connection with Nazi organizations.”



1939(10th of Kislev, 5700): In Warsaw, Poland a Jew killed an officer.  As punishment for the crime, all 53 male inhabitants of his building were summarily shot.



1940: “Little Nellie Kelly” a musical comedy directed by Norman Taurog and produced by Arthur Freed was released in the United States by MGM.



1940: Prime Minister Winston Churchill writes to Lord Lloyd, the Secretary of State for the Colonies who is an opponent of Jewish immigration to Eretz Israel, cautioning him to make that Jewish internees on island of Mauritius be treated humanely.



1942: During WW II, “a Soviet counteroffensive” trapped “about a quarter of a million German soldiers” within Stalingrad marking the slow beginning of the turning point that will lead to the ultimate defeat of the Nazis and the saving of the remnant of European Jewry.



1941(2nd of Kislev, 5702): Kurt Koffka passed away. Koffka was born and educated in Germany. The famed psychologist moved to America in 1928.  With Wolfgang Köhler and Max Wertheimer, he co-founded the Gestalt school of psychology. Koffka became in time the most influential spokesman of Gestalt psychology. He applied it to child development, learning, memory and emotion. The name Gestalt, meaning form or configuration, emphasizes that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Gestalt psychology grew as reaction against the traditional atomistic approach to the human being where behavior was analyzed into constituent elements called sensations. He made an influential distinction between the behavioral and the geographical environments - the perceived world of common sense and the world studied by scientists. 



1942 (13th of Kislev, 5703): “Dr. Benzion Mossinsohn, noted Hebrew educator, Zionist leader and a member of the Jewish National Council died…today in the Hadassah Hospital at the age of 64, after a long illness.  He was the found and head of the Herzlia Gymnasium in Tel Aviv, the leading secondary school in Palestine.”  Dr. Mossinsohn visited New York for the first time in 1912 as a representative of the Gymnasium of Jaffa “the first strictly Jewish school to be established in Palestine in 2,000 years.”  During the visit, Mossinsohn addressed a gathering at Cooper Union during when he declared “Palestine is the land in which to solve the Jewish problem.  It will be the land of our salvation if we make it a center of culture and not merely a center for immigration.”  Mossinsohn visited the United States again in 1936, the same year in which his son was killed by a land mine explosion that took place during the multi-year long Arab uprising.  By now he was President of the World Confederaton of General Zionists and head of the Herzlia Gymnasium in Tel Aviv.



1943: Lebanon gains its independence from France



1943: Birthdate of former MK Naomi Blumenthal who “was one of the founders of the Beersheba theatre” and who served as Deputy Minister of National Infrastructure under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.



1943: More than 1000 Jewish patients at a Berlin mental hospital are deported to Auschwitz.



1943(24th of Cheshvan, 5704): Professor Martin Pappenheim, the Viennese psychiatrists passed away today in Tel Aviv at the age of 62. He was the father of Else Pappenheim, MD Austrian-American psychiatrist and neurologist and a colleague of Sigmund Freud.



1943(24th of Cheshvan, 5704): Lyricist Lorenz Hart passed away New York at age 48.



http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1987-08-13/features/8703010662_1_lorenz-hart-dorothy-hart-beverly-hills-hotel



1944: The U.S. Sixth Army Group notified the Alsos Mission that the capture of Strasbourg which was home to a German nuclear laboratory was imminent.



1944(6th of Kislev, 5705): Fifty-eight year old “Dr. Benjamin H. Mann, an ophthalmologist at Methodist Hospital” passed away today at Graduate Hospital “after being ill for six weeks.”



https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/11/24/86735530.pdf



1944: Birthdate of Yitzchak Mordechai, a native of Iraq who made Aliyah in 1949.  He became a decorated member of the IDF before beginning a political career that included service as Minister of Defense and Minister of Transport.



1944: Protectors of Jews in Budapest, Hungary, meet with Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg at the city's Swedish legation



1945: In Brooklyn, Morty and Sylvia Okun Bernstein gave birth to Allen J. Bernstein who greatly expanded the high-end Morton’s of Chicago steakhouse chain during his 17 years as chairman, applying what some in the industry called a Big Mac approach to filet mignon. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)



1945: “The Day Before Spring,” a Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe musical opened on Broadway at the National Theatre.



1945: The British claim that members of “Jewish underground” took arms from the RAF stationed in Ras el Ain, Syria.



1946: Five days after its premiere in New York City “The Chase” a film noir written by Philip Yordan was released in the rest of the United States today.



1946: Birthdate of Denver born political cartoonist Ed Stein.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDuNT9TgRgE



https://edsteinink.com/



https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/why-denvers-ed-stein-is-quitting-the-political-cartoon-business-the-passion-was-gone/2012/06/12/gJQAVgD4WV_blog.html?utm_term=.9cfe793b4cde



1947: “A responsible information asserted tonight” that Soviet “officials have been in direct contact with the Stern group” and that he considered it “an obvious Communist” attempt to influence the group.



1947 Michigan, led by Fullback and Linebacker Dan Dworsky concluded the regular season with a 21-0 win at home against rival Ohio State.



1948: Operation Lot (also known as operation Dabambam in memory of Gershon Dabbenbaum) did not begin today because reinforcements had not arrived which meant the attack would not take place until the following day.



1949: The Petersberg Agreement is an international treaty that extended the rights of the Federal Government of Germany vis-a-vis the occupying forces of Britain, France, and the United States, and which was viewed as the first major step of Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) towards sovereignty was signed by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer of the CDU/CSU and the Allied High Commissioners Brian Hubert Robertson (Britain), André François-Poncet (France), and John J. McCloy (United States of America) today in a step meant to return Germany to the family of nations following WW II.



1949: Birthdate of David J. Skorton, who had served as President of the University of Iowa before becoming the 12th president of Cornell University in 2006.



1954: “Aunt Clara” a British comedy with music by Benjamin Frankel was released in the United Kingdom today.



1955(7th of Kislev, 5716): Sixty year old  Shemp Howard, a member of the Three Stooges,  died of a heart attack following an evening out with friends watching boxing matches.



1955(7th of Kislev, 5716): Eighty-three year old Isadore “Izzy” Cohen, who along with Samuel Lehrman created the Giant Food grocery chain which a major Washington, DC chain that was the first story of its type to carry challah and where the men in the fish market knew what you need to make gefitle fish, passed away today.



http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-11-24/news/1995328013_1_israel-cohen-giant-supermarket



1955(7th of Kislev, 5716): Eighty-six year old Wilmington, Illinois native “Dr. Isaac A. Abt, an international authority on children’s diseases” and a pioneer in the field of pediatrics passed away today in Chicago.



https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1955/11/24/91379058.pdf



1955: Today, two year after the death of Joseph Stalin, a “Military collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union withdrew the indictments against the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAC) members due to the lack of evidence.”



1956: "A new Egyptian Nationality Code barred so called 'Zionists' from Egyptian nationality.



1956: The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, which were boycotted by Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon “in response to the Suez Crisis” that had been precipitated by the Egyptian nationalization of the Suez Canal, opened in Melbourne today.


1957: “Bombers B-52” a “Cold War” movie written by Irving Wallace and music by Leonard Rosenman was released today in the United States.”


1957: Simon & Garfunkel appear on "American Bandstand" as "Tom & Jerry" 


1961: “The George Raft” story, a biopic starring Julie London and featuring Hershel Bernardi and Jack Albertson was released today in the United States.


1963: Filming of the pilot for “Bewitched” created by Sol Saks began today.


1963: John F Kennedy 35th U.S. President was shot dead in Dallas, Texas – a national tragedy which Abraham Zapruder inadvertently filmed.  Kennedy enjoyed a great of deal of political support among Jewish voters.  He appointed two Jews to his cabinet – Abe Ribicoff to H.E.W. and Arthur Goldberg to Labor. Kennedy would appoint Goldberg to the Supreme Court as a replacement for Felix Frankfurter.


1964(17th of Kislev, 5725): Seventy-two year old Rabbi Samuel S. Mayerberg, the long-time rabbi at B’nai Jehuda Temple and opponent of corrupt political boss Tom Pendergast passed away today in Kansas City, MO.




1963: In Austin, TX, “the women of Agudas Achim…were working in their new kosher kitchen, mixing potato salad for the several hundred people including Vice President Lyndon Johnson, who were expected to attend the dedication of the new synagogue which was to take place tomorrow. (As reported by Cathy Schechter; full disclosure – I taught pre-bar mitzvah at Agudas Achim five years later)


1965:Man of La Mancha” a musical with a book by Dale Wasserman and music by Mitch Leigh opens”at the ANTA Washington Square Theatre in Greenwich Village Irving Jacobson, a veteran of the Yiddish Theatre playing “Sancho Panza” (Only in America could a Jew play a major role in play set in what would become the Land of the Inquisition)


1965: Steve Sabol “was the subject of a humorous articled his self-promotion exploits in today’s issue of Sports Illustrated.


1967: Birthdate of tennis star Boris Becker. According to an interview Becker gave in 1999, his mother was Jewess from Czechoslovakia. 


1967: English professional football player George Cohen”s “37th and final England appearance came in a 2–0 win over Northern Ireland at Wembley” today


1967: The U.N. Security Council approved Resolution 242 as a result of the Six Day War fought in June of that year.  The resolution would provide the basis for Israel’s attempts to trade land for peace.


1967: U.N. Secretary General Thant raises issue of restrictions placed on Syrian Jews at the U.N. Security Council during Resolution 242 on the Israeli-Arab conflict. Intervention on behalf of the Jews fails.


1968(1stof Kislev, 5729): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1968(1stof Kislev, 5729): Twelve people were killed and 55 more were injured when terrorists set off a car bomb at the Mahaneh Yehuda Market in Jerusalem.


1968: First interracial kiss on network television takes place between Captain Kirk played by William Shattner, and Lt. Uhura. (Shatner is Jewish.)


1969(12thof Kislev, 5730): Parashat Vayetzei


1969(12th of Kislev, 5730): Bertha Solomon passed away today at the age of 77. http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/solomon-bertha


1971: Reed v. Reed, 404 U.S. 71 (1971), an Equal Protection case in the United States for which Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the plaintiff’s brief was decided today with the Supreme Court ruling “that the administrators of estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes.”


1974: The United Nations General Assembly grants the Palestine Liberation Organization observer status. For the PLO, this was a reward for a variety of terrorist acts including the slaughter at the Munich Olympics.  What the UN members failed to understand was that others would see this as an approval of terrorism as an instrument for the advancement of their own agendas.  There is a direct line between the UN’s action and the radical Islamic terrorists that are confronting the West in the 21st century


1974: “Israeli pop start” Mike Brant suffered fractures after attempting to commit suicide by “jumping out the window of his manager's hotel room in Geneva


1976: Today Izvestia published an article entitled “Formula of betrayal: propagandist ‘of the Zionist paradise’ in the mantle of the scientist”.


1977: Lucio Flaviom a Brazilian film directed by Héctor Babenco premiered at The São Paulo International Film Festival today


1978: “Same Time, Next Year,” a comedy produced by Walter Mirish and with music by Marvin Hamlisch was released today.


1978(22nd of Cheshvan, 5739): San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk, who was Jewish, were assassinated in City Hall by a former city supervisor, Dan White. Dianne Feinstein, who was then the President of the San Francisco's Board of Supervisors, was the first to discover Harvey Milk's body. Feinstein who was the first female president of the Board of Supervisors was then sworn in as the first female mayor of San Francisco in Moscone's stead. In 1979, she was elected to the first of two full terms as mayor. In 1992, she won a special Senate election to replace Pete Wilson who had left his seat to become governor of California. She was re-elected in 1994 and 2000.


1979(2ndof Kislev, 5740): Eighty-eight year old George Froeschel, the Viennese born Jewish screenwriter who won an Oscar for the script he wrote for WWII favorite “Mrs. Miniver.”



1981: Sir Hans Adolf Krebs passed away. The son of a Jewish physician, Krebs was forced in 1933 to leave Nazi Germany for England. The German-born British biochemist who received (with Fritz Lipmann) the 1953 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery in living organisms of the series of chemical reactions known as the tricarboxylic acid cycle (also called the citric acid cycle, or Krebs cycle) - the basic system for the essential pathway of oxidation process within the cell.. These reactions involve the conversion - in the presence of oxygen--of substances that are formed by the breakdown of sugars, fats, and protein components to carbon dioxide, water, and energy-rich compounds. The Krebs cycle explains two simultaneous processes: the degradation reactions which yield energy, and the building-up processes which use up energy


1984: In New York, Karsten Johansson and Melanie Sloan whose Ahskenazi family had lived in the Bronx gave birth to actress Scarlett Johansson.


1985: “Fever Pitch” that last film directed by Richard Brooks, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants Hyman and Esther Sax was released today in the United States.


1985: “Bad Medicine,” the cinema version the novel Calling Dr. Horowitz by Steven Horowitz, MD starring Steve Guttenberg and Alan Arkin was released in the United States today.


1985: According to the Tower Report Al Schwimmer, a middleman and consultant for Israel's Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, fouled up one arms shipment today when he allowed the lease to expire on three transport planes in Tel Aviv. At the time, weapons for Iran were en route to Tel Aviv: when they arrived, there were no planes to take them to Iran. As a result, the arms delivery to Iran was days late, and no hostages were released. Mr. Schwimmer had been trying to save what amounted to a day's leasing cost. ''I have never seen anything so screwed up in my life,'' General Secord is reported to have said.


1988: William Andreas Brown was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Israel


1988: ABC broadcast the sixth episode of “War and Remembrance,” “an American miniseries based on the novel of the same name written by Herman Wouk”


1990:  Margaret Thatcher resigns as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  Thatcher was seen by many as philo-Semitic and a supporter of Israel. She had been a member of Anglo-Israel Friendship League of Finchley and Conservative Friends of Israel and during her career had five Jewish members of her cabinet.


1991: U.S. premiere of Mark Rydell’s “For the Boys” co-starring Bette Midler, James Caan and George Segal.


1991: U.S. premier of “Beauty and the Beast, an “animated musical romantic fantasy film” with music by Alan Menken.


1991: “The Addams Family” a comedy based “on the cartoon of the same name” directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, co-produced by Scott Rudin, with music by Marc Shaiman was released today in the United States.


1993: Edward P. Djerejian was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Israel.


1993: In an example of Jews telling the tale of other Jews Neil Simon’s “Laughter on the 23rd Floor” a comedy based on his experience as a writer for Sid Caesar opened on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.


1994(19th of Kislev, 5755): Eighty-eight year old Viola Spolin, leading innovator in American theatre passed away today in Los Angeles.




1995: “Two Bits” a drama produced by Arthur Cohn, the namesake of his grandfather who was the Chief Rabbi of Basel.


1995(29thof Cheshvan, 5756): Eighty-three year old Israel Cohen, a co-founder of Giant Food Stores, a grocery chain known to all of those living in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area which was the first store of its kind to sell fresh baked Challah and whose fresh fish department employees knew which aquatic creatures were necessary for Gefilte Fish passed away today.




1995: Ehud Barak finished his term as Minister of Internal Affairs.


1995: Ehud Barak replaced Shimon Peres as Minister of Foreign Affiars.


1995: Chaim Ramon began serving as Minister of Internal Affairs in a government headed by Shimon Peres.


1995: Gonen Segev began serving his second term as Minister of Energy and Infrastructure.


1996: After having premiered at the Mall of America on November 16, “Jingle All the Way” a Christmas comedy featuring Laraine Newman and Harvey Korman with music by David Newman was released in the United States


1997: It was reported today the President Bill Clinton was the first recipient …of the Man of Peace Award, established by the Rabin Foundation and the Peres Foundation, two ''peace centers'' financed in part with money from the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize the men shared with Mr. Arafat. Mr. Clinton asked the foundations to devote the $75,000 in prize money to pay for scholarships for Americans to study in Israel.”


1998: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years 1933-1941by Victor Klemperer, Freud: Conflict and Culture, edited by Michael S. Roth in association with the Library of Congress and A Likely Story: One Summer With Lillian Hellmanby Rosemary Mahoney


1999: In “Final Sabbath for a Spiritual Hub; A Synagogue That Embodied an Earlier Bronx Is Closed” published today Barbara Stewart provided the following description of the Mosholu Jewish Center.



1999: “The David Adler Estate,” “the house and property of American architect David Adler in Libertyville, Illinois, was added to the NRHP(National Register of Historic Places) today.



2000: “Quills” a film version of the Obie award winning play, directed by Philip Kaufman was released in the United States today.


2000(24thof Cheshvan, 5761): Sarah Katz, the wife of Henry Katz, the sister-in-law of Bert Katz and the aunt of Toni Neta passed away today in Cedar Rapids, IA.


2000(24thof Cheshvan, 5761):Shoshana Reis, 21, of Hadera, and Meir Bahrame, 35, of Givat Olga, were killed, and 60 wounded when a powerful car bomb was denotated alongside a passing bus on Hadera's main street, when the area was packed with shoppers and people driving home from work. 60 were wounded in the blast.


2001(7th of Kislev, 5762): Eighty-three year old Norman Granz, American jazz musician and record producer passed away.(As reported by Richard Severo)



2002(17thof Kislev, 5763): IDF tracker Sgt.-Maj. Shigdaf (Shai) Garmai, 30, of Lod, was killed when an Israel Defense Forces Givati Brigade patrol near Tel Qateifa, in the Gaza Strip, came under Palestinian gunfire. Hamas claimed responsibility.


2002: U.S. Premiere of “The Emperor’s Club” starring Kevin Kline.


2002: “Gimmel's first album Lentoon came out today and, just after it was published, it went to the number one spot in the Finnish Albums Chart, remaining there for three weeks.”


2003(27thof Cheshvan, 5764):Two Israeli security guards, Ilya Reiger, 58, of Jerusalem, and Samer Fathi Afan, 25, of the Bedouin village Uzeir near Nazareth, were shot dead at a construction site along the route of the security fence near Abu Dis in East Jerusalem. The Jenin Martyrs' Brigades, affiliated with Fatah, claimed responsibility for the attack.


2004: Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson began serving as European Commissioner for Trade.


2004: Having assembled the largest and most comprehensive listing of the names of Jewish victims of the Holocaust, along with biographical details, photographs and nutshell memoirs, Yad Vashem makes the information available online at www.yadvashem.org.


2005: Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany. In 2007, Merkel would receive an honorary doctor of philosophy degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem "in recognition of her lifelong dedication to the principles of democracy and in appreciation of her warm and constant friendship for the people and State of Israel."


2005: After 26 years, Ted Koppel calls it quits as host of ABC’s late night news show, Nightline.  Begun before the 24/7 world of cable news turned television news into tabloid entertainment, Koppel started a show that proved that some Americans wanted something a little more substantive than “Here’s Johnny” at the end of the day.


2006(1st of Kislev, 5767): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


2006: During an exclusive interview with members of the University of Wisconsin Hillel staff, Ben Karlin ('93), a Senior Writer for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” admits that Sukkot is his favorite Jewish holiday because he “likes lulavs and loves etrogs.”


2006: U.S. premiere of “The Fountain” directed by Darren Aronofsky who also wrote the screenplay and co-starring Rachel Weisz.


2007: In Jerusalem, as part of the International Oud Festival, the Yuval Ron Ensemble present an evening of pan-Middle-Eastern Diaspora music anchored by Haifa-born vocalist Najwa Gibran.


2007: (12 Kislev 5768) Yahrzeit of Solomon Schechter founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and architect of the American Conservative Jewish movement.


2008: The movie, “Old Days,” set in a retirement home with a decidedly Jewish feel opens at the Big Apple Film Festival in New York (www.bigapplefilmfestival.com). It’s a coming-of-age story of sorts about a 74-year-old woman, Lillian, who moves into a retirement community after her husband’s death. Like the new girl in school, Lillian struggles to make friends, fend off bullies and find romance, which in this case comes in the form of a middle-aged divorcé who has been singing at the retirement home for as long as anyone can remember. “Old Days” is compelling because its subject, the Jewish retirement home, has received scant attention in film.


2008: As part of the Israeli Voices series the 92nd Street Y presents Yoni Rechter who has made a great contribution to the Israeli music scene.


2008: In Arlington, Virginia, children's author and illustrator Sallie Lowenstein, author of Waiting for Eugene and The Festival of Lights, leads a discussion, "From Memory to Story: How a Childhood in Burma Became a Novel in the Future," on the origins of her new young-adult book, In the Company of Whispers.


2008: 45th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy’s pro-civil rights stance attracted and energized a significant segment of the Jewish populace. His sympathy for the state of Israel can be seen in the following speech which he delivered during his campaign for the presidency.


Prophecy is a Jewish tradition, and the World Zionist movement, in which all of you have played so important a role, has continued this tradition. It has turned the dreams of its leaders into acts of statesmanship. It has converted the hopes of the Jewish people into concrete facts of life. When the first Zionist conference met in 1897, Palestine was a neglected wasteland. A few scattered Jewish colonies had resettled there, but they had come to die in the Holy Land, rather than to make it live again in greatness. Most of the governments of the world were indifferent. But now all is changed. Israel became a triumphant and enduring reality exactly 50 years after Theodore Herzl, the prophet of Zionism, had proclaimed the ideal of nationhood. It was the classic case of an ancient dream finding a young leader, for Herzl was then only 37 years of age. Perhaps I may be allowed the observation that the Jewish people - ever since David slew Goliath - have never considered youth as a barrier to leadership, or measured experience and maturity by mere length of days. I first saw Palestine in 1939. There the neglect and ruin left by centuries of Ottoman misrule were slowly being transformed by miracles of labor and sacrifice. But Palestine was still a land of promise in 1939, rather than a land of fulfillment. I returned in 1951 to see the grandeur of Israel. In 3 years this new state had opened its doors to 600,000 immigrants and refugees. Even while fighting for its own survival, Israel had given new hope to the persecuted and new dignity to the pattern of Jewish life. I left with the conviction that the United Nations may have conferred on Israel the credentials of nationhood; but its own idealism and courage, its own sacrifice and generosity, had earned the credentials of immortality… Israel was not created in order to disappear - Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy and it honors the sword of freedom; and no area of the world has ever had an overabundance of democracy and freedom. It is worth remembering, too, that Israel is a cause that stands beyond the ordinary changes and chances of American public life. In our pluralistic society, it has not been a Jewish cause - any more than Irish independence was solely the concern of Americans of Irish descent. The ideals of Zionism have, in the last half century, been repeatedly endorsed by Presidents and Members of Congress from both parties. Friendship for Israel is not a partisan matter. It is a national commitment. Yet within this tradition of friendship there is a special obligation on the Democratic Party. It was President Woodrow Wilson who forecast with prophetic wisdom the creation of a Jewish homeland. It was President Franklin Roosevelt who kept alive the hopes of Jewish redemption during the Nazi terror. It was President Harry Truman who first recognized the new State of Israel and gave it status in world affairs. And may I add that it would be my hope and my pledge to continue this Democratic tradition - and to be worthy of it….The Middle East needs water, not war; tractors, not tanks; bread, not bombs. There is already little enough available in the way of financial and physical resources for either side to be devoting its energies to huge defense budgets. The present state of tensions serves only the worst interests of Arab and Israeli alike. But a new spirit of comity could well serve the highest ideals of both. For the original Zionist philosophy has always maintained that the people of Israel would use their national genius not for selfish purposes but for the enrichment and glory of the entire Middle East. The earliest leaders of the Zionist movement spoke of a Jewish state which would have no military power and which would be content with victories of the spirit. The compulsions of a harsh and inescapable necessity have compelled Israel to abandon this hope. But I cannot believe that Israel has any real desire to remain indefinitely a garrison state surrounded by fear and hate. And I cannot believe that the Arab world would not find a better basis for unity in a united attack on all their accumulated social problems - an attack in which they could benefit immensely from a closer cooperation with the people of Israel. The technical skills and genius of Israel have already brought their blessings to Burma and to Ethiopia. Still other nations in Asia and in Africa are eager to benefit from the special skills available in that bustling land. Why should the Middle East alone be cut off from this partnership? And why should not the people of Israel receive the blessings available to them from association with the Arab world? When we think of the possibilities of this association, an emotion of soaring hope replaces our somber anxieties about the Middle East. Ancient rivers would give their power to new industries. The desert would yield to civilization. Disease would be eradicated, especially the disease that strikes down helpless children. The blight of poverty would be replaced by the blessings of abundance…”For the entire text see


2008: An experimental Israeli music ensemble, the Givol Choir and David Moss, an innovative American singer and percussionist perform three separate shows at the historic Ha'adumim Building near the Carmel Market in Tel Aviv.


2008: Seeking to ensure that President George W. Bush's promises to Israel are transferred to the new US administration, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert left for Washington tonight for his final meeting with the outgoing American leader.


2009: The Lost Angeles Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors or/of special interest to Jewish readers including A Dream of Undying Fame: How Freud Betrayed His Mentor and Invented Psychoanalysis byLouis Breger


2009: The Washington Post featured reviews of books by Jewish authors or/of special interest to Jewish readers including Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. Foer is part of literary family.  His brother Franklin is an editor with the New Republic. His brother Joshua is a journalist.  And is if that was not enough, he married novelist Nicole Krauss in 2004:


2009: An experienced guide from the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy, a nonprofit Jewish educational organization, leads a tour in which attendees “discover 150 years of Lower East Side history on Shteibl Row, noted for its abundance of 19th-century one- and two-room synagogues.” They will also ‘visit the meticulously restored Bialystoker Synagogue and hear the story of this sacred site's role in the Underground Railroad and “see the original site of the Henry Street Settlement, and learn what critical role settlement houses played in this community.


2010:Salman Rushdie, the author living under the threat of a fatwa, is scheduled to speak at the 92nd Street Y in NYC.


2010:NoVA State Legislators' Reception 2010 which gives the Jewish community a chance to Hear our state legislators identify their top priorities and address the Jewish community's state platform, is scheduled to take place at the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia (JCCNV)


2010: The Leo Baeck Institute in cooperation with Manhattan School of Music is scheduled to present “Adventures in Listening: Kurt Masur, A Film by Amit Breuer”


2010:The IDF's new Head of Military Intelligence, Major-General Aviv Kochavi, formally assumed his new position today and was promoted from the rank of brigadier-general. In a ceremony honoring Kochavi and outgoing MI Chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin, The IDF's Chief of Staff, Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi, hailed Yadlin for being an honest person – “an essential trait for any leader and commander, and even more so for the head of Military Intelligence.”


2011: A forum hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency on the subject of ridding the world of nuclear weapons which representatives from Israel and Arab states are schedule to attend is scheduled to come to an end in Vienna.


2011: Rabbi Dr. Levi Cooper a teacher at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem and serves as the spiritual leader of Kehillat HaTzur VeHaTzohar in Tzur Hadassah is scheduled to deliver the first in a series of lectures entitled “Maharal: The Mystic as Legal Scholar” at Temple Shalom in Chevy Chase, Maryland.


2011: Sharon Steinberg, the Cantor at Beth El Hebrew Congregation in Alexandria, VA, is scheduled to give the last lecture in the series entitled “An Overview of Jewish Liturgical Music” as the JCC of Northern Virginia.


2011: Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein decided today to open a criminal investigation against Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, for alleged incitement to racism. The decision to investigate Eliyahu came after he was quoted making several anti-Arab comments in interviews with the media. Eliyahu was one of 18 rabbis who signed a petition in October 2010, urging Jews to refrain from renting or selling apartments to non-Jews – a move seen as being directed against Arab students enrolled in Safed’s college.


2011:The Military Advocate General filed indictments today against two Palestinians from the village of Halhoul near Hebron, who confessed to throwing a rock that killed Asher Hillel Palmer and his son as they drove near Kiryat Arba in September.


2012: In Melbourne, Australia,  “The One That Got Away” is scheduled to be shown at the Jewish International Film Festival.


2012:The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust & Genocide is scheduled to offer an introductory course for students and researchers wishing to use its extensive photo archive.


2012: In the U.S., Thanksgiving, the Pilgrim holiday based on Sukkoth


2012: The IDF Spokesman’s Office said today it was looking into a photograph circulating widely on Facebook in which 16 IDF soldiers arranged their uniformed bodies on the sand, to spell out the Hebrew words “Bibi loser” — in a deft physical critique of Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu’s failure to send ground troops into Gaza during the just-ended Operation Pillar of Defense.


2012:Shin Bet officers and police arrested the terrorists who bombed a bus in Tel Aviv on Wednesday several hours after the device exploded, the agency revealed this evening


2012(8th of Kislev, 5773): Twenty-eight year old Boris Yarmolnik, the IDF reserve officer who was wounded in a rocket attack yesterday, passed away today following an unsuccessful surgical process designed to save his life.



2013: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to host “Discovery and Recovery” – a behind the scene tour of the Iraqi Jewish Archive at the National Archives.


2013: “Fox Dedicates Music Building to Oscar-Winning Composer Lionel Newman” published today described the ceremony during which “Twentieth Century Fox renamed its historic Fox Music Building in honor of film and television composer Lionel Newman.”


2013: “Kol HaMusica” is scheduled to broadcast a noontime concert by Tatiana Rubina.


2013: “The archaeologists who have been exploring the Canaanite site, known as Tel Kabri, announced today that they had found one of civilization’s oldest and largest wine cellars.” (As reported by John Noble Wilford)



2013: “


 


Isaac Herzog, the son of a former president, took the helm of Israel’s Labor Party and thus Parliament’s opposition today, vowing to restore the party’s historic focus on promoting peace with the Palestinians and to mount a vigorous challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-leaning government.” (As reported by Jodi Rudoren)


2014: Lewis Black is scheduled to appear the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, DE.


2014: In Melbourne, “The Last Mentsch” and “The Go-Go Boys” are scheduled to be shown at the Jewish International Film Festival.


2014: US Secretary of State John Kerry called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this evening and updated him on the ongoing negotiations in Vienna for a deal with Iran on its contested nuclear program.


2014: Six Palestinian youths have been arrested after graffiti “in Arabic praising the Islamic State terror group was found on a memorial monument for fallen Druze IDF soldiers along the Carmel Scenic Route, located east of the predominantly Druze village of Daliyat al-Karmel.”


2014: “The Angriest Man in Brooklyn and “Hora 79” are scheduled to be shown at the 18thannual UK Jewish Film Festival


2014(29thof Cheshvan, 5775): Eighty-five year old “Israeli journalist and author Israel Zamir, the only son of Isaac Bashevis Singer” passed away today.




2014(29thof Cheshvan, 5775): Ninety-four year old Claire Barry who along with her sister Merna formed the singing group known as the “Barry Sisters” passed away today.



2015: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Lights Out: A Cyberattack, a Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermathby Ted Koppel, Charlie Mike: A True Story of Heroes Who Brought Their Mission Home by Joe Klein and  the recently released paperback edition of The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson and CHINA 1945: Mao’s Revolution and America’s Fateful Choice by Richard Bernstein


2015: the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is scheduled to host a screening of “The Life of Emile Zola” followed by a “post-screening discussion led by David Chack.”


2015: The Center for Jewish History and the American Jewish Historical Society hosted a Wikipedia edit-a-thon centered on the American Soviet Jewry movement in celebration of the recently-completed digitization of over 75,100 items and 500 hours of audio from the Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement.


2015: The Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia is scheduled to host “Cantors Cabaret: From the Bimah to Broadway,” featuring Jewish and Broadway music, ranging from the classical Hazzanut of Israel Alter to Broadway's "Annie Get Your Gun;” from the songbooks of cantorial favorite, Sol Zim, to Yiddish icon, Molly Picon performed by Hazzan Elisheva Dienstfrey, Agudas Achim Congregation; Cantor Jason Kaufman, Beth El Hebrew Congregation; Cantor Rachel Rhodes and Cantor Michael Shochet, Temple Rodef Shalom; and a special guest appearance by Hazzan Sidney G. Rabinowitz.


2016: Just a couple of weeks before his 93rd birthday Menahem Pressler is slated to play Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 2” at Symphony Hall in Boston where doctor’s saved his life by repairing an aneurysm in his aorta.


2017(4thof Kislev, 5778): Eighty-nine year old Mary Adelman, the Antwerp born daughter of tailor Morris Golinkski and Caroline Golinskisi, the owner of Osner Business Machines, one of that dying breed of typewriter repair shops, passed away today.(As reported by James Barron)



2017: “During an interview with i24 News” today, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi  Hotovely despairingly “depicted US Jews as being removed from the sacrifices other Americans make as well as the threats that govern life in Israel.”


2017: The Yiddish Book Center is scheduled to close at noon today as part of the observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.


2017: The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host Rabbi Michael Hattin leading a discussion on “From Harlot to Heroine: Rachav’s Remarkable Transformation.”


2017: “A Bag of Marbles” and “1945” are scheduled to be shown at the 21stUK International Jewish Film Festival.


2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such as Michael Oren who works included Six Days of War and Power, Faith and Fantasycontinues today.


2018: The Chaplains of the Oxford University Jewish Society are scheduled to host a Thanksgiving this evening at their house! 


2018:  “A rare sword, which was given as a present by SS commander Heinrich Himmler to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Muhammad Amin al-Husseini during his visit to Nazi Germany in March 1943,” is scheduled to continue to be offered for sale for a third day on a British website—The Saleroom— by the German auction house Hermann Historica, which specializes in selling historical items.” (As reported by Itamar Eichner)


2018(14thof Kislev, 5779): On the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the birth of Reuben, Jacob’s first-born son.


2018: Following screenings of “Humor Me,” “The Resistance” and “Shelter,” the UK Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to  come to an with a festival awards ceremony at the Curzon Mayfair in London sponsored by the Diana and Allan Morgenthau Charitable Turst.


2018: In Jerusalem, OU Israel is scheduled to host “an authentic Thanksgiving dinner complete with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin” followed by Torah Insights from Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz.


2018: Beit Hillel is scheduled to host a Thanksgiving Dinner for Hebrew University students


2018: In Jerusalem, Olive and Fish, Mike’s Place and the Inbal Hotel are scheduled to offer diners a Thanksgiving Dinner while the Beer Bazaar is scheduled to host a “Thanksgiving Happy Hour.”


2018: Fifty-fifth anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.


 


 


This Day, November 23, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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November 23



912: Birthdate of Otto the Great, founder of the Holy Roman Empire which was neither holy nor Roman. During his reign Rabbis living in the Rhineland addressed questions to the Rabbis in Palestine “concerning the reported appearance of the Messiah.” This report was based on information supplied by 12 century Rabbi Isaac ben Dorolo.



1221: Birthdate of King Alfonso X of Castile who had Yehudah ben Moshe translate several texts on magic into the national vernacular. 1248: In the long war to unite Spain, King Ferdinand III of Castile takes Seville from the Moors. Ferdinand is remembered as the king who refuses Pope’s demand that Jews be forced to wear special badge and clothing.  The reason given by the monarch is a fear that Jews would flee to Muslim Granada, which would be disastrous for the revenues of the kingdom. “The Jews have played a prominent part in Seville’s history since the 4th Century and after the Christian Reconquest, their community was concentrated in this part of the city and enjoyed a period of great prosperity until the end of the 14th Century. Jews were prominent bankers, tradesmen, doctors, writers, philosophers, and advisors to both Arab and Christian rulers. It is no coincidence that the Jewish quarter of Santa Cruz is located right next to the Royal Palace, the Alcázar. A street called “El Callejón de La Judería” (“The Little Street of the Jewish Quarter”) leads into the heart of the Santa Cruz neighborhood.”



1510: The Jews were expelled from Naples. Fifteen years earlier, the Spanish had conquered the island, and within a year had issued an order for the banishment of all Jews, which was never carried out. Now the community, which had existed since Roman times, was forced out. The only Jews remaining were the "New Christians" (who were to be expelled 5 years later) and 200 wealthy families who paid a new annual tax for such tolerance.



 1584: The Sultan ordered an investigation to the number of synagogues in Safed. In his letter to the local administration, he wrote, "in the town of Safed there are only seven sacred mosques. But the Jews who in olden times had three synagogues have now thirty-two synagogues, and they have built their buildings very high."



1593: Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Bucharest claiming the lives of many Jews.



1648: Coronation of old Frederick III, who said of the Jews, they “have stolen into Denmark contrary to long-standing custom, [since the days of the Reformation, the Lutheran creed had, according to the laws of Denmark, been compulsory throughout the kingdom], and have dared to traffic with jewels and the like” which led him “to order that no Jew should enter Denmark without a special passport ("Geleitsbrief"), and that those who were already in the country should be heavily fined if they did not leave within fourteen days” [Editors’ note: A few years later, Frederick III., being in need of funds for his wars, borrowed money from the Jew Abraham (or Diego) Teixeira de Mattos of Hamburg (known through his relations with the Swedish queen Christina), and gave as security crownlands in Jutland. Teixeira thereupon made such good use of his influence with the Danish king that, as early as Jan. 19, 1657, "the Portuguese professing the Hebrew religion" were permitted to travel everywhere within the kingdom, and to trade and traffic within the limit of the law. Teixeira himself gained little by his transaction with the Danish monarch. As his loan was not returned, he took instead the estates he held as security, selling them later at a great loss. The king acted similarly in his dealings with the De Lima family, who were in possession of the Hald estate from 1660 to 1703.”]



1700: Beginning of the Papacy of Clement XI who in 1704 issued a bull that “dealt with the education of potential converts, encouraged forced preaching to Jews, and emphasized the importance of providing financial assistance to Jews who converted” and “asserted that new converts were to be fully accepted into the Catholic community.”



 



1702(3rd of Kislev): Thirty six Jews were killed in an explosion in Lemberg, Poland



1777(23rd of Cheshvan): Rabbi Aaron Katzenellenbogen of Brisk, author of Minhat Aharon passed away



1801: In Philadelphia, Leon van Amringe, Isaiah Nathan, Isaac Marks, Aaron Levi, Jr., Abraham Gumpert, and Abraham Moses took title to a plot of ground to be used as a place of burial for members of the newly formed Congregation Mickvé Israel.



1801: In Bridgetown, Barbados, Eliezer Montefiore and Judith Montefiore gave birth to Jacob Barrow Montefiore who “entered into business with his brother Moses, and when in the early thirties the movement for the financing of Australian colonization from London was incepted Montefiore, who had been connected with the Colonial produce trade, became active in the various public schemes as a member of the South Australian Colonization Association, organized to settle South Australia on the Wakefield system. He was also appointed member of the first board of commissioners entrusted by the British government with the administration of the colony. He visited the colony in the year 1843 and again in 1854. His reception on his first visit by the governor, Sir George Grey, and the people was enthusiastic. During his visit to South Australia in 1843 he acted as an agent for the Rothschilds, at the same time holding a partnership with his brother Joseph Barrow in the firm of Montefiore Brothers of London and Sydney. The township of Montefiore, at the confluence of the Bell and MacQuarrie rivers, in Wellington Valley, was founded by the brothers, and they contributed actively to the establishment there of places of worship for all denominations. The organization of the Bank of Australasia was largely due to their efforts. In Adelaide there is a hill named after them. In 1885, at the request of the directors of the Art Union Gallery of Adelaide, Jacob sat for the artist B. S. Marks, the portrait being hung in that gallery



1804: Birthdate of Franklin Piercefourteenth President of the United States. Pierce is part of the unmemorable trio who served occupied the White House in the decade before the Civil War including Fillmore, Pierce and Buchanan.  Among his few claims to fame is that he was the first and maybe the only President whose name appears on the charter of a synagogue. Pierce signed the Act of Congress in 1857 that amended the laws of the District of Columbia to enable the incorporation of the city's first synagogue, the Washington Hebrew Congregation.



1825: Birthdate of Henriette Goldschmidt who married Rabbi Abraham Meyer Goldschmidt and was a leading educator, social worker and activists in the fight for the rights of German women.



http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/goldschmidt-henriette



1831: Jonas Engel married Sarah Louisa Barnett today.



1833: In Turek, near Kalish in Russian, Poland, Wolf Rosenthal and Esther Kolskey gave birth to “painter, engraver, etcher, lithographer and illustrator” and husband of Carolina Rosenthal who came to Philadelphia in 1849 where he pursued a career that included making illustrations of the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War for the United States Military Commission, producing a collection of five hundred historical portraits and providing illustrations for “The Legend of Ben Levi.”



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Rosenthal#/media/File:New_Masonic_Hall_Interior_1855.jpg



1836(14th of Kislev, 5597): Jacob Cohen Bakri, a wealthy French Jew who played a key role in the French acquisition of Algeria passed away today.



1838(6th of Kislev, 5599): Sixty-seven year old Bohemian native Samuel Hyman and the husband of Elizabeth Hyman passed away today in Plymouth, England.



1840: Sixty-six year old Louis Gabriel Ambroise Bonald, the anti-Semitic “French philosopher, politician and author” who believed that most Jews were “parasites” and that before they could be emancipated they must adopt Catholicism, passed away today.



1841: It was announced that Albert Goldsmid had been promoted to the rank of Lt. Col. In the British Army.



1843: One day after he had passed away, 31 year old Isaac Abrahams was buried at the “Brady Street Jewish Cemetery.”



1844(12th of Kislev, 5605): Fifty-three year old “Austrian financier and philanthropist Hermann Todesco passed away at his native Pressburg, Hungary today.



http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0020_0_19910.html



1845: Paul Julius Reuter married Ida Maria Elizabeth Clementine Magnus in Berlin completing a series of changes that had begun a month before when he arrived had arrived in London.  In that time he changed his name to Joseph Josephat, converted to Christianity and then changed his name again to Paul Julius Reuter.


1845: Forty-six year old Michael Solomon Alexander, the first Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem passed away.  An ordained Rabbi, he converted to Christianity in 1825.



1845: Forty-six year old Michael Solomon Alexander, a convert to Christianity who became the first Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem passed away today.



1847: The Ladies of the Society for the Religious Instruction in Charleston, South Carolina passed a resolution of tribute at the passing of the British author, Grace Aguilar. Aguilar had died on September 16, 1847 at the age of 32. Aguilar's work had been championed by Philadelphia editor Isaac Leeser, who published Aguilar's books in the United States and included her writings in his monthly magazine, The Occident and American Jewish Advocate. As a result, Aguilar was in many ways better known in the Jewish community of the United States than in England. In addition to historical romances (e.g. The Vale of Cedars) and reflections on Judaism (The Spirit of Judaism, 1842) Aguilar's influential book, The Women of Israel (1844), contested the claims by numerous Christian authors that Judaism denigrated women. Aguilar argued for Judaism's ancient and contemporary regard for women by detailing the strong and admirable women who appear in Judaism's essential defining text, the Bible. Aguilar returned the feeling of kinship that American Jewish women bore her. She even responded to an 1843 request from Savannah to contribute to a fair that local Jewish women were holding to raise funds to hire a rabbi. Aguilar sent along 2 purses, 6 needle cases, and 12 pincushions on which she had done the needlework, along with additional needlework pieces gathered from some of her friends. In mourning Aguilar's passing, the Charleston women truly felt they had lost one of their own. Aguilar's death at a young age evinced a strong response. Leeser observed that “there has not arisen a single Jewish female in modern times who has done so much for the illustration and adornment of her faith as Grace Aguilar.” The Charleston women expressed their appreciation for the “power and effect” of the “pen of this champion of our faith, against that giant Prejudice, whose shadow blackens the earth.” Citing her as the “moral governess of the Hebrew family,” the women of the Society resolved that her death “must be regarded as a national calamity; and that no demonstration of respect, however high, can convey an adequate sense of the exalted estimation in which we hold her character or of the profound regret with which we received the tidings of her dissolution.”



1848(27th of Cheshvan, 5609): Twenty-six year old Hermann Jellinek, the younger brother of Rabbi Adolf Jellinek was executed today for his role in the Vienna Uprising in October, 1848



1848 (27th of Cheshvan): Rabbi Meir Benjamin Danon, author of Be’er ba Sadeh, passed away



1852: An article published today entitled “Trial for Arson In the First Degree’ described the trial of Aaron Diamond on charges of arson. Mr. Morrison appeared as counsel representing Aaron Diamond, a German Jew who does not speak English in the case of the People vs. Aaron Diamond.  The case revolved around an allegation that Diamond and Joshua Feller had set fire to the dwelling of John Nally.  Morrison demanded that Diamond be tried separately. When several of the prosecution’s witnesses failed to show up, the District Attorney said that it would “unsafe” to convict the defendant and the Jury was directed by the court to render a verdict of not guilty.



1852: The discovery of Asteroid 21 Lutetia by Hermann Goldschmidt was published today.



1853: Two days after he had passed away, 99 year old Levy Alexander, the husband of Prussian born Fanny Alexander, was buried today at the “Exeter Jewish Cemetery.



1853: The Hebrew Benevolent Society celebrated its 32nd anniversary this evening with a dinner attended by 350 gentlemen at the Chinese Assembly Rooms on Broadway. 


1854(2ndof Kislev, 5615): Fifty year old Belarus native Meshulam Zalman Feiwel Friedland, of Slutsk, the “son of Shmuel Zanvil (Zavel) Friedland and Itke Friedland” passed away today in Latvia.


1855: Seventy-four year old French statesman Louis-Mathieu Molé the opponent of Jewish emancipation who was the official named by Napoleon to bring together the Sanhedrin in 1806 and 1807 passed away today.



1856: Isaac and Julie Judith Josephine Mautner gave birth to Rosa Perlhefter.



1863: Two days after she had passed away, Rachel (Isaacs) Ansell, the wife of Jacob Ansell with whom she had had eleven children, was buried today at the “West Ham Jewish Cemetery.”



1867: Birthdate of Edgar D. Peixotto, the native New Yorker and son of Raphael Peixotto who became a successful lawyer in San Francisco, CA.



1868: In Chicago, Illinois, Julius Rosentha and Jette Wolfe gave birth to attorney Lessing Rosenthal the graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Northwestern Law School and husband of Mrs. Lillie Frank Myers who combined a distinguished legal career with service to the Jewish community including serving as director of the Jewish Training School in Chicago.



1870: It was reported today that Thanksgiving Services will be held at the 44th Street Synagogue after which children from the Hebrew Orphan Asylum will enjoy a holiday dinner provided by the Trustees.



1870(29th of Cheshvan, 5631): Augusta Feuchtwanger nee Levy, the wife of Lewis Feuchtwanger, passed away today in New York.



1870: Lewis Hart married Adelaide Levy at the New Synagogue today.



1871: Birthdate of Morris Masskov, the native of Odessa who gained fame American character actor Maurice Moscovitch whose last film may have been his most famous – Charlie Chaplain’s “The Great Dictator.”



1871: Ignatz Ratzsky was released from Sing Sing Prison after having served nine years for the robbery-murder of a German Jew named Sigismund Fellner.  Ratzsky had originally been sentenced to death, but Governor Fenton commuted his sentence based his judgment that the conviction had been based on circumstantial evidence.



1873: In New York, founding  of the Société Israélite Française de Secours Mutuels de New York which met on the fourth Sunday of each month, provided money for sick, death and burial benefits and owned burial grounds at Bayside, Long Island.



1874: Carl Schurz will deliver a lecture this evening sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association on “Educational Problems” at Steinway Hall in New York.



1877: It was reported today that two men have been charged for their role in stealing furs from A.T. Stewart & Co. Rpbert Kyle was charged with stealing the first while Seligman Hirsch, who was described as a “Hebrew” fur dealer, was charged with receiving the stolen firs. Why or how the reported knew that Hirsch was Jewish is not stated nor is any reason given for not identifying any of the other characters by their religious affiliation.



1880: It was reported today the lower house of the Prussian Diet debated the proposals by the anti-Semitic party to limit the activities of Jews in Germany.  The anti-Semites reflected the views of Reverend Stecker, the Court Chaplin who wants legislation adopted that will “keep the Jews from any post of authority.”  The opponents including members of the Liberal Party defended the Jews and “contended that it was breach of the Constitution to deny that Jews were Germans.”



1882: In New York, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment distributed funds to a variety of charitable institutions including $1,680 to the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society.



1883: It was reported today that Spanish in Morocco tried and convicted twelve Jews accused supplying guns to the Berbers.



1883: Henry Irving will play Shylock, one of his signature roles in tonight’s performance of “The Merchant of Venice” at the Star Theatre.



1883: According to a report that appeared in today’s edition of the Hebrew Standard, Hugh O’Neill is quoted as telling a Jew in New York, “We don’t want any of your people in our employ.”



1884: It was reported today that the friends of Mrs. Max Rosenberg, the former Miss Jennie E. Lyman, were surprised to hear that she has filed for divorce especially since most of them did not she had gotten married several months while visiting New York.  In her petition, Mrs. Rosenberg accused her husband of “extreme cruelty.”  Rosenberg disputes his wife’s claims and says that the cause of the problem is her father’s dislike for him because he was Jewish.



1885: Birthdate of Alexander “Alex” Trachtenberg the native of Odessa who was active in the Socialist Party of America and the Communist Party USA.



1885: It was reported today that this year’s Hebrew Ladies Benevolent Fair raised over $7,800.



1886: Warrants are expected to be issued today for those who have violated Massachusetts “Sunday Closing Laws.”  Several Jews and their customers are expected to be named since up until last week, it had been considered permissible for the Jews to operate their businesses on Sunday since they were closed on Saturday for their Sabbath observances.



1886(25th of Cheshvan, 5647): Sixty-four year old author and historian Leopold Kompert, best known for his role in the “Kompert Affair” in which he and Heinrich Graetz “were brought to court in Vienna for publishing ideas that were heretical to Catholic faith, in addition to contradicting Jewish tradition.”



1888:  Birthdate of Harpo Marx, one of the famous Marx Brothers.



1889: Jacob Levy arrived in New York City from Poland today and moved in with his brother at 83 Norfolk Street in NYC.



1889: Sanitary officers “seized some unwholesome meat and vegetables in the sidewalk markets in the Hebrew quarter in the Tenth Ward.”



1889: “The Red Hussar,” a comedy opera in three acts by Edward Solomon, with a libretto by Henry Pottinger Stephens, which opened at the Lyric Theatre in London tonight.  Solomon was the prolific Ango-Jewish composer and conductor who died prematurely at the age of 29.



1890: Seventy-three year old William III of Netherlands who in 1855 appointed Aron Mendes Chumaceiro chief rabbi of the colony of Curaçao and intervened on behalf of “the persecuted Dutch Jews of Coro, Venezuela” passed away today.



1890: Today’s New Publication List includes a review of a novel entitled The Jew, translated from the Polish of Joseph Ignatius Kraszewski by Linda Da Kowalewska



1890: “Catholic Spain” published today provided a detailed review of Chapters From The Religious History Of Spain Connected With The Inquisition by Henry Charles, a subject near and dear to the hearts of Jews in general and Sephardic Jews in particular.



1891: In Savannah, GA, founding of the Daughters of Israel whose members including Miss Maria Minis, Mrs. M.G. Ehrlich and Miss Maud Hendricks.



1891: Two days after he passed away, 73 year old Aaron Levy, the husband of the former Marianne Hart and the father Alexander and John Arthur Levy, was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”



1894: At today’s meeting of the Tenement House Committed that was held in the Old Criminal Court Mr.Rice and Mr. Tuska of the United Hebrew Charity expressed their agreement with Reverend John B. Devins that tenement residents do not prefer filth, “that there should be public lavatories and that “every saloon should have an outside drinking fountain.  They also believe that tenements should be better lit, have water on each floor and house kindergartens.



1895: This evening in Richmond, VA, the Paradise Lodge of B’nai B’rith “began a movement for the Jews of the United States to give tangible evidence of the debt they owe to the memory of Thomas Jefferson as father of religious liberty” in the United States.



1896:”A Radical Chicago Rabbi” published today summarized the view of Dr. Emil G. Hirsh, the rabbi Temple Sinai on the Windy City’s south-side, including his beliefs that observing Shabbat on Saturday “and the hope of the return to the Holy Land” are “relics of an attractive tradition but entirely out of keeping with advance and progress of modern ideas.



1896: In Philadelphia, the local chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women hosted a reception for the National Board at the Mercantile Club.



1896(18th of Kislev, 5657): Forty-one year old Ella Heyman, the native of Wheeling, West Virginia, passed away today in St. Louis.



1897: The Ladies Committee of the Home and Hospital for Jewish Incurables met this afternoon in London.



1897: The Apprenticing Committee of the Jews’ Hospital and Orphan Asylum met at Hamilton House this morning.



1897: Charles Schapiro was being held in the Tombs today after having killed Louis Lieberman and wounded his girlfriend Yetta Gordon yesterday.   Gordon whose wounded eye was bandaged is being held in the House of Detention as a material.  She had rejected Schapiro because he did not earn enough money.  And he was angry because she would not return the twenty-five dollar ring he had “bought for her with money she had lent him.”



1898: Today “Marcus Aaron who worked for his father at the Louis I. Aaron Company and in 1911 would succeed his father at the Homer Laughlin China Company married Stella Hamburger with whom he had two children – “Marcus Lester and Fannie Hamburger Aaron.



1898: In Pécs, Hungary, the local cantor and his wife gave birth to opera singer Dezső Ernster who survived the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to perform at the Metropolitan Opera.



1899: Birthdate of Parisian Israel Moshe Blauschild, the son of Romanian immigrants who as Marcel Dailo the movie actor who spent WWII in Hollywood before returning to his native country to pursue his career.



http://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/23/obituaries/marcel-dalio-83-film-actor-dead.html



1902: Birthdate of New York native Aaron Bank, the U.S. Army Colonel considered by some to be father of what eventually became “the Green Berets.”



http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/06/business/col-aaron-bank-101-dies-was-father-of-special-forces.html



http://www.cedu-diver.com/aaron.htm



1905(25th of Cheshvan, 5666): Sixty-eight year old German born American actor Daniel Edward Bandmann, the son of Solomon and Rebecca Bandmann turned Montana rancher passed away today after which he was buried in Missoula.



https://www.ci.missoula.mt.us/DocumentCenter/View/739/Bandmann-Daniel?bidId=



1905: As of today it was reported that the committee which is collecting funds for the relief of Jews suffering from the Russian massacres has raised $660, 756 including $51from the Orthodox Congregation of Erie, PA, $15 from the New London (CT) Ladies’ Aid Society and $720 from the citizens of Wheeling, West Virginia.



1905: “In view of the very great demand made upon the Jews of America to relieve the sufferings of the victims of the Russian savagery, the Committee on the Celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Settlement of Jews in the United States has resolved to abandon the project of a commemorative monument and will return to the donors to the monument fund all contributions thus far received” with the hope that the money will then be donated to help the Jews of Russia.



1905: In New York, “not a seat was to be had” during the matinee showing of “The Riots of Kishneff” (Kishinev) which raised $1,506.06 for the relief fund aid the Jews of Russia.



1905: Tonight, Jacob P. Adler oversaw a production of “King Lear” which raised $1,500 for the Jews of Russia.  Adler gave a speech at the end of the third act in which he asked how they could go with the play “when our minds are upon the atrocities committed our countrymen?  Will we leave out the fourth act?” to which the audience responded with cheers and cries of “yes, yes!”



1905: A “procession arranged by Joseph Barondess, Abram Wattman and Dr. Simonoff organized “what was probably the most remarkable demonstration that has ever been known on the east side…when fully one hundred thousand Jews turned out” today “to join a procession…formed to mourn the dead slain in the Russian anti-Semitic riots.”



1905: It was reported today that as the violence against the Jews has continued Percival Menken said “There is far more in this massacre of our race in Russia than is apparent on the surface.  Not until the Jews are restored to their native land and have their own armies and battleships will these persecutions cease. (This is nine years after the First Zionist Congress met and forty years before the Shoah came to an end.)



1905: It was reported from St. Petersburg, that “dispatches from Southwestern Russia indicate that the Zionist movement has obtained a powerful impetus from the anti-Jewish disorders.”



1909: The annual meeting of the Civic Federation which features a discussion of old age pensions by a panel including Samuel Gompers came to a close in New York City.



1911(2nd of Kislev, 5672): Eighty-five year old Rabbi Jacob Hamburger, “the sole author and editor of the first explicitly Jewish Encyclopedia” passed away today.



1911(2nd of Kislev, 5672): Seventy year old Imperial Councilor and Chief Cantor Josef Singer passed away today.



1912: It was reported in today’s edition of The Reform Advocate that Congressman Jefferson M Levy has announced that will combat the efforts now being made to acquire Monticello… which he owns, for the United States government and he will not and cannot be forced to part with is property.



1912: “This evening a memorial meeting for the late David Blaustein is schedule to take placed at the Educational Alliance under the auspices of the Society of Jewish Social workers of Greater New York.



1912:  The British Consul in Jerusalem continued to complain to the British Ambassador in Constantinople about the British born Jews arriving in his city.  Of the latest batch of 20, only six had means to support themselves while twelve of them were living off of contributions supplied by local Jewish charities.



1912(2nd of Kislev, 5672): Ninety one year old General Sir Charles D’Aguilar, the son of Lieut. Gen. Sir George D’Aguilar who had “held high office at Bevis Marks” passed away today leaving  an estate valued at £200,000 to be shared by his two daughter.



1913: Supreme Court Justice Seabury has ordered the sale in foreclosure of the Bijou theatre property on Broadway in a suit brought by Felix M. Warburg, Isaac N. Seligman, Paul M. Warburg and Mortimer L. Schiff as trustees under the will of Alfred M. Heinsheimer against the Bijou Real Estate Company.


1914: During WW I “A Reuter dispatch from Constantinople by way of Sofia” says that the Porte (Turkish government) has decided to permit Russian Jews resident in Turkey to become Ottoman subjects provided that they do not revert to their former nationality at the end of the war.”  (This had special meaning for the Jews living in Palestine, since a large number of them had come from Russia and were viewed suspiciously by the Turks)


1914: In New York, The Evening Telegram reported that when German troops “reached the neighborhood of Pabiantze” they appeared to feel already at home” since it “is large people German colonists” and “the rest of the inhabitants are exclusively Jews.”


1914: The Petrograd (Russia) correspondent of the Morning Post wired London today about friction between the Germans and their Austrian Allies as could be seen by “a stormy council” presided over by the Kaiser during which after “mutual ruminations” had been exchanged the Germans “demanded that Austria should give up every man in defense of East Prussia” while the Austrians demanded “that the Germans should make a serious attempt to save Cracow.”  (Most people think about WW I as being fought in the trenches of the Western Front. Here is a reminder of the fighting on the Eastern Front – fighting which took an unbelievable toll on the Jewish populations of Russia and Austria since the combat was waged in the lands where they were living.)


1914: According to reports published today the American Jewish Committee contends that 5,000 Jews in Jaffa had applied for permission to become naturalized Turkish subjects out of a total of 25,000 Russian Jews living in the region of Palestine.


1915: In London, a French delegation led by François-Georges Picot, a professional diplomat with extensive experience in the Levant, and a British delegation led by Sir Arthur Nicolson met to discuss plans for the post-war partition of the Ottoman Empire which would eventually result in the Sykes-Picot Agreement.  (Editor’s Note – You cannot understand what is going on in the Middle East today if you do not understand the origins and nature of this agreement)


1915: “Praise Sisterhood’s Work” published today included the positive comments made by Chief Magistrate McAdoo about the work done by Sisterhood of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue under the leadership of Mrs. Mortimer Menken “to help wayward Jewish girls in the police courts” as well as to aid neighborhood settlement houses in their activities.


1915: It was reported today that based on information provided by Jacob H. Schiff and Dr. J.L. Magnes American Jews must raise at least thirty million dollars to aid the approximately five million Jews in who are suffering from the effects of the World War in Russia, Poland, Galicia and Palestine.


1915: In the manner of a Shiva Minyan, a memorial service will be held again this morning and this evening in honor of Professor Schechter of blessed memory which will be led by the students and faculty of JTS.


1915: Birthdate of Olmütz native Anton Hare, a passenger on board the St. Louis who survived because he was allowed to disembark in England.


1916: A wireless message of sympathy was sent by the executive committee of the American Federation of Galician and Bukowinian Jews and the American Federation of Hungarian Jews to the Austrian imperial family following the death this week of Emperor Franz Josef.


1916: “At a meeting this evening of the executive committee of the American Federation of Galician and Bukowinian Jews and the American Federation of Hungarian Jews it was decided to issue a proclamation calling upon all Jewish congregations and federated bodies to set aside the day of the burial of Emperor Francis Joes for the observation of appropriate services and exercise.”


1916: Birthdate of Rose Vessel, the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Poland who gained fame as Rose Mattus who along with her husband Reuben founded Häagen-Dazs ice cream business.



1917: As Imperial forces struggle with the weather and the Ottoman forces in the Judean Hills, the “60th (London) Division commanded by Major General John Shea arrived at Latrun to provide relief for the units that have been worn down by the elements and combat.


1917: In Roslavi, Russia eight Jews were killed and twenty were wounded during an anti-Semitic riot when the mob looted Jewish opened shops.


1917: Kozlov and Tiraspol, Russia were the site of “grave anti-Jewish riots.


1917: A pogrom in Tambov “leads to the total ruin of businesses established by Jewish refugees from the war zone lead the Jewish leaders to ask authorities to give official sanction to a plant to arm a Jewish self-defense corps.”


1917: Izvestia and Pravda published the full text of Sykes-Picot Agreement which exposed the plans of the French and British to carve up the Ottoman Empire after the World War ended. 


1917: It was reported today that the recipients of the funds raised by the Federation of Jewish Charites included Mount Sinai Hospital, the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, the Hebrew Technical Institute, the Jewish Big Brothers, the Motefiore Home, the Educational Alliance and many sisterhoods associated with local synagogues and temples.


1918: In New York Rose Gussin, a shopkeeper and her husband, gave birth to Zelma Gussin who gained fame as California architect Zelma Wilson



1918: After three days, the Lemberg Pogrom came to an end with 50 to 150 Jewish dead, hundreds more injured and untold loss of property thanks to looting carried out by Polish soldiers and local civilians.


1918: Felix M. Warburg, Chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee of the American Funds for Jewish War Sufferers, announced that organization's decision to hold its New York City campaign designed to raise $5,000,000 to aid Jewish war sufferers during the week starting on December 8 and ending on December 15.


1920: The New York section of the National Council Women is scheduled to meet today.


1920: Birthdate of poet and Holocaust survivor Paul Celan who used the pseudonym of Paul Antschel.


Death is a gang-boss aus Deutchland his eye is blue


he hits you with leaden bullets his aim is true


there's a man in this house your golden hair Margareta


he sets his dogs on our trail he gives us a grave in the sky


he cultivates snakes he dreams Death is a gang-boss aus Deutschland


(from 'A Death Fugue')


1920: Rabbi Stephen S. Wise is scheduled to deliver “an address on ‘Henry Ford’s Challenge and a Jew’s Reply’” today at “the regular monthly meeting of the New York Section council of Jewish Women” being held at Temple B’nai Jeshurun.


1920: “Mrs. Frederick Wakeham, the historian of the Society for Political Study” is scheduled to deliver the first of a series of lectures to the New York Section of the Council of Jewish Women that will help them understand their role in voting.


1921: Churchill offers to send a warship to help Herbert Samuel, the High Commissioner, collect the fines levied against the Arabs in Jaffa who had rioted and attacked Jews in villages surrounding the ancient port.


1922: The silent movie, Hungry Hearts  produced by the Goldwyn Company and based on a book of the same name written by Anzia Yezierska opened in New York City on Thanksgiving.


1922: At today’s session of the Conference of Lausanne which was supposed to modify the Treaty Sevres which dismembered the Ottoman Empire, Lord Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary clashed with Ismet Pasha a member of the Turkish delegation that included Chief Rabbi Nahum.


1923: Birthdate of Jerrold Lewis "Jerry" Bock, an American musical theatre composer. He received the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Sheldon Harnick for their 1959 musical Fiorello! and the Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist for the 1965 musical Fiddler on the Roof with Harnick.


1924: The Price of a Party featuring Dagmar Gadowsky the daughter of Leopold Godowsky.


1924: Herzliya was founded as a moshav. It has since become a flourishing town on the Mediterranean coast. 


1924: In Irvington, NJ, Fannie and Harry Yablonsky gave birth to sociologist Lewis Yablonsky.



1925: In New York, opera singer Hannah Mandel and garment manufacturer Albert Mandel gave birth to award winning composer and arranger Johnny Mandel whose work include the theme for M*A*S*H ---“Suicide Is Painless”


1928: In New Haven, CT, George Bock and the former Peggy Alpert gave birth to Jerrold Lewis Bock, the man who composed such Broadway hits as “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Fiorello!” and “She Loves Me.”


1929: After 407 performances the curtain came down on the original Broadway production of “Whoopee!” a musical with lyrics by Gus Kahn and starring Eddie Cantor as “Henry Williams.”


1930(3rd of Kislev, 5691): Eighty-three year old Russian born American “Hebrew Poet” Israel Fine who was “an intimate friend of President Roosevelt” and the author of “Ode to America” which was “written in Hebrew on the occasion of the centennial celebration of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ in 1914” passed away today.



1932: “The Wonderful Day” a comedy film produced by the brothers of Bernard Natan and Emile Natan was released today in France.


1935: In New York City, Milton and Abby Goldsmith gave birth to “critic and classical pianist” Harris Goldsmith.



1935: “Stars Over Broadway,” a musical produced by Samuel Bischoff, with a screenplay co-written by Jerry Wald and Julius Epstein was released in the United States by Warner Brothers.


1936(9thof Kislev, 5697): Sixty-two year old Samuel Jacob Jatzkan, the Lithuanian born rabbi turned publisher who was an early support of Herzl passed away today after suffering a heart attack in Paris.



1936: Life, the photo journalism magazine, created by Henry R. Luce, was first published. In the days before television, webcams, the internet and the myriad of other ways we have a recording and sending pictures, Life, with it large splash, creative or documentary like images was the major window on the world for millions of Americans.  It was the photographers who made Life the magazine it was and some of the most famous were Jewish including Alfred Eisenstaedt who shot “The Kiss,” Robert Capa who shot “Death of a Loyalist Soldier” as well as the first still photos of first wave at Omaha Beach, Cornell Capa who photographed Grandma Moses and Margaret Bourke-White who snapped “Working Atop the Chrysler Building.”          


1937: In the tenth day of the Arnold Bernstein’s trial before the Hamburg Emergency Court, the German-Jewish shipping magnate is charged by the the prosecution with “exchange irregularities in connection with 2,000,000 marks loaned by the Chemical National Bank of New York.  The trial was part of a ploy by the Nazi government to assume control of Arnold Bernstein & Red Star Line.


1938: In a memorandum to Winston Churchill correspondents in Europe quote Hitler as saying, “he wanted eliminate from German life the Jews, the Churches and suppress private industry.  After that, he would turn to foreign policy again.”


1938: It was reported today that, “The movement started only a week ago by Palestine Jewry to adopt children from Germany is spreading with amazing rapidity.  Following a suggestion made by Israel Rokach, Mayor of Tel Aviv…to members of the Jewish Women’s Labor Federation” have already “volunteered to adopt refugee children.”  The National council of Palestine Jewry had set a goal of adopting 5,000 children but given the quick positive response the goal will be met and exceeded.


1938: Violinist Mischa Elman played “Larghetto Lamentoso” during Leopold Godowsky’s funeral which was held in Manhattan today.  Godowsky was the composer of this piece of music. Music critic Leonard Liebling described the late composer as “a citizen of the world” and “a great and patient teacher of music…” (Godowsky, Elman and Liebling were all Jewish.)



1938: In a column published today Leopold Godowsky was described as “a unique figure among all his contemporaries: a phenomenal pianist and a musician of the most exceptional attributes.”


1939: At 2:30 pm WEVD is scheduled to present a program of “Jewish Melodies.”


1939: “Measure Meets Strong Opposition in Upper House” published today described the split in Hungary with House of Deputies approving the government’s Land Reform Bill which would first be felt by non-resident Jews whose estates would be the first to be broken up and those in the Upper House who oppose the bill that “would allot 1,500,000 acres to small tenants.”


1939: In Baltimore, at the annual convention of the Junior Hadassah, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise told his audience “that American Jews who really believed in democracy had no choice but to support the establishment of a Jewish commonwealth in Palestine.”


1939: “Jung Denies Link to Nazi Organizations” published today described testimony by Harry A. Jung, an American anti-Semite before the House Committee on un-American Activities in which he claimed never to have corresponded with Oscar C. Pfaus and Anna Bogenholm who wanted to start a paper called The National American Patriot that would play a key role “in recovering our country from control of the Jews..”


1939: “The National Catholic Welfare Council said today” that during the two years since January, 1937 the Episcopal Committee from Refugees from Germany has handled the cases of 2,756 refugees “the majority of whom “are of Jewish extraction.”


1939: In Nazi-occupied Poland, Frank ordered that “All Jews and Jewesses within the Government-General who are over ten years of age are required to wear . . . the Star of David.


1940: All Jewish professors of the Utrecht University were dismissed, among them the Dutch mathematician Julius Wolff.


1940: Newpaper visited Abu Sinan, a village north of Nazareth, where they investigated reports that Helen Yussef Nicola, an 8 year old Arab girl whose parents are devout Greek Orthodox, has been responsible for miraculous healings including cures “of a crippled Arab boy and a crippled Jewish boy from Tel Aviv.”  Over the last two weeks, “hundreds of Christians, Moslems and Jews have visited Helen and come away allegedly convince of her curative capacities.”


1941:  Cherna Berkowitz describes the arrival of refugees at Dorohoi at Transnistria. "The deportations resumed. Women, elderly people and so many children in the freezing cold. With each passing day their numbers dwindle as more of them die.” Dorohoi, people say, “We send the children to give the newcomers some warm tea. They return with horror stories. The men were all at work when they deported the women and children. We have one woman with three small children, one of whom is not yet weaned. All she has are rags and a few pennies in her pocket. The soldiers round up the arrivals and order them to march on."


1941: Thirty thousand Jews are killed at Odessa, Ukraine. "


1942(14thof Kislev, 5703): Seventy-eight year old the Netherlands native Louis Sachs, the son of Jacques Löehman Sachs and Rebekka de Jonge  and husband of Emma Sachs was murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz


1942: Hitler: Man of Strife by Ludwig Wagner the first full-length biography about the Nazi dictator to appear in the United States since the publication of “Hitler” by Konrad Heiden in 1936 was published today.


1942: “My Sister Eileen,” a comedy written by Joseph A. Field and Jerome Chodorov and produced by George S. Kaufman which had opened on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre, transferred to the Ritz Theatre where it opened tonight.


1943: One hundred and fifty Jewish partisans escape from Occupied Kovno, Lithuania, and head eastward into the Rudninkai Forest.


1943: In one of the most bizarre moments in WW II the following a British bombing raid on Berlin, the damage report of the police commissioner of the Nazi capital recorded a strike on the New Synagogue. 


1943: Birthdate of Andrew Goodman who worked as a volunteer in the voter right’s registration movement in Mississippi in the summer of 1964. He and two of his fellow volunteers would be murdered that summer in Neshoba County.  It would take years to finally bring their killers to justice.  This brutal murder was one of the many events that helped bring about the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.  That fall, Mississippi would show its displeasure with this change in events by voting for Barry Goldwater, the Republican candidate for President who opposed the Civil Rights Act.  This election would mark a turning point in American history providing the Republican Party with its political base.  


1944: “Three Is a Family” a comedy based on a play by Henry and Phoebe Ephron was released in the United States today.


1944: In New York City, “Selma Judith (née Levy), a president of The League of Women Voters and a moderator of political debates on NBC and  Irwin Lionel Toback, a stockbroker and former vice president of Dreyfus & Company” gave birth to “screenwriter, director and author” James Lee Tobck


1944:Over the next four days, Swiss consulate officials Leopold Breszlauer and Ladislaus Kluger issue about 300 protective documents to Hungarian Jews gathered at the Hungarian-Austrian border.


1944: Birthdate of Joe Eszterhas, the Hungarian-American author, who cut his father out his life entirely what at age 45 he learned “his father had concealed his collaboration in the Hungarian Nazi government and that he had "organized book burnings and had cranked out the vilest anti-Semitic propaganda imaginable."


1945: Ruth and Moshe Dayan give birth to Asaf "Assi" Dayan, an Israeli film director, actor, screenwriter and producer.



1945:  Birthdate of comedian Steve Landesberg.  Born in the Bronx, Landesberg is best known for his portrayal of Dietrich, the cerebral detective on in the television sitcom, Barney Miller.


1946: Fawi Husseini, cousin of Arab Higher Committee chairman, is killed by Arabs for selling land to Jews.


1947(1st of Cheshvan, 5770): Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan


1947: Der Tog(The Day) began publishing a serialized version of Oyf Fremde Vegn(On Foreign Roads), a novel of Jewish life in America, today


1947:U.S. Army chaplain, Rabbi Mayer Abramowitz married Holocaust survivor Rachel Abramowitz married at Berlin.  They had first met at one of the DP camps General Eisenhower had established for Jewish survivors of the Shoah following clashes in camps shared between survivors and those they recognized as murderers. To Eisenhower’s credit, he found that “The situation was unbearable” and moved to remedy it.


1947:  Eliezer Sukenik an outstanding archaeologist and text expert on the faculty of Jerusalem's Hebrew University first received word of the existence of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The documents, dating between 200 BC and AD 70, had been accidentally discovered earlier that winter by two Bedouin shepherds in the vicinity of Qumran.  Sukenik was able to purchase three of the scrolls they had found, the War Scroll, the Thanksgiving Scroll and a small Scroll of Isaiah.  The Great Scroll of Isaiah had already been purchased the Metropolitan Stephen, of St. Mark’s Church.  In one of the strange twists of fate, Yigal Yadin, Sukenik’s son, would arrange for the purchase of the Scroll of Isaiah and three other scrolls in 1954.  The purchase began with a simple newspaper ad in the Wall Street Journal, “Miscellaneous For Sale…Four Dead Sea Scrolls.” Yadin knew the importance of the items and arranged for a loan of a quarter of a million dollars (a large sum in those days, especially for the infant state of Israel) to bring them back to their ancestral home.  The secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls are still being unlocked by scholars to this day.  Considering that the acquisition of the scrolls began against the backdrop of the Partition of Palestine and the Israeli War for Independence, there is enough adventure here for an Indiana Jones style movie.


1948: In today’s session of the UN General Assembly's Political and Security Committee, Dr. Philip C. Jessup suggests that both Bernadotte and UN partition plans be considered in fixing Israeli boundaries. Israel would keep Galilee and pan: of Negev.


1948: Sharp tongued journalist H.L. Mencken whose diaries revealed a streak of anti-Semitism which did not keep him being “close friends” with Alfred Knopf and Ben Hecht, praising the work of Ayn Rand or that asserted that “books such as Caught Short! A Saga of Wailing Wall Street by Eddie Cantor (ghost-written by David Freedman) did more to pull America out of the Great Depression than all government measures combined” “suffered a stroke, which left him aware and fully conscious but nearly unable to read or write and able to speak only with difficulty.”


1948: During the War for Independence, Israeli forces launched Operation Lot in the “eastern Negev and Arava.”


1948: Aubrey S. Eban (Abba Eban) defended Jewish claims to both the Galilee and Negev.


1948: Israel forms a reserve forced made up of men aged 40 to 45.


1949: Israeli forces made their way through the Negev Desert to the isolated outpost at Sodom (the Biblical Sodom) on the Dead Sea which had been cut off from any overland contact for more than six months.  Their success in reaching Sodom extended the boundaries of the new state of Israel 20 miles further south and east.


1950: As of this date 80,000 Jews were reported to be waiting to leave Iraq.


1950: In Brooklyn, exterminator Abraham Schumer and the former Selma Rosen gave birth to Charles Ellis Schumer better known as New York Senator Chuck Schumer.


1951: In London Diana, née Schneiderman and Mark Rapport, “a taxi driver” gave birth to David Stephen Rapport.




1951: “Superman and the Mole Men” a film directed by Lee Sholem and based on characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster was released in the United States today.


1953: “Three Sailors and a Girl,” a musical film based on George S. Kaufman’s “The Butter and Egg Man” produced by Sammy Cahn who created the music along with Sammy Fain and with a script co-authored by Devery Freeman was released today in the United States.


1956 (19th of Kislev): Birthdate of Elliot R. Wolfson, author of Open Secret: Postmessianic Messianism and the Mystical Revision of Menachem Mendel Schneerson


 1956(19th of Kislev):: On Friday night, Rabbi Schneerson, "The Rebbe," delivers "a learned discourse on kabbalistic themes to mark the 19th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev...the Lubavitch 'Day of Redemption.'"


1956: "An inflammatory proclamation was read in all mosques in Egypt declaring 'All Jews are Zionists and enemies of the State.'"


1958: Birthdate of Jerusalem native Izhar Ashdot, the singer-songwriter and co-founder of the rock bank T-Slam.


1958(11th of Kislev, 5719): Fifty-four year old comedian Harry Einstein, who had begun his career writing for Eddie Cantor died from a heart attack at a Friars Club of Beverly Hills Roast of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz today in Los Angeles, California.


1958: “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness” a biopic for which Mark Robson “received an Academy Award for Best Director nomination” was released today in the United States.


1959: David Susskind produced The White Stage, this week’s selection for “The Play of the Week.”


1963: Congregants of Agudas Achim in Austin, TX who had been planning to dedicated their new building today – an event that was to include a visiting from Vice President Lyndon Johnson – “gathered to mourn the death of John F. Kennedy and pray for their old friend Lyndon Johnson;”


1964: “Bajour” a musical featuring Herschel Bernardi and Herbert Edelman opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre.


1964(12th of Kislev, 5681): Abraham Lieber, the father of Ronald and Dr. Leon Lieber passed away today in Ponca City, OK.


1967: Edward and Peter Bronfman made the opening statements at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim when the Library Museum, which was a gift in honor of their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Allan Bronfman was formally opened today.


1968: After 1, 234 performances, the curtain came down on the Broadway production of “Cactus Flower” a farce written by Abe Burrows.


1970: Birthdate of Oded Feher.  Born in Tel Aviv he lived there until he was age 18 when he joined the Israel Navy for 3 years. At the completion of his National Service duty, he went to Europe to pursue a business career but instead of business, he discovered acting. He went to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in England. Oded appeared as Don Juan in a production of Don Juan Comes Back From War at the Courtyard Theatre in London.  He has also appeared in both The Knock and Killer Net on British Television.  In his Breakout Role, Fehr played the role of Ardeth Bay in his first major screen role, The Mummy, a 1999 Universal release.


1972: Birthdate of Christopher James Adler,an American drummer, best known as a member of the metal band Lamb of God. He is the older brother to bandmate and guitarist Willie Adler.


1973(28th of Cheshvan, 5734): Mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel passed away. Leonard Bernstein paid her tribute in a eulogy at her funeral, saying, ‘when Jennie opened her mouth, God spoke.’”



1973: Following a cerebral hemorrhage that he suffered on November 18, David Ben Gurion stopped improving and his condition began to deteriorate today.


1974: During the height of the Cold War and the fight to “free Russian Jews,” “at a meeting in Vladivostok, USSR, U.S. President Ford and Soviet leader Brezhnev negotiated arms control.”


1975: Dr. Mikhail Stern was reported to be seriously ill in prison.


1976: Soviet authorities searched the apartments of “the organizers of the symposium on Jewish culture including Benjamin Fain, Vladimir Prestin, Pavel Abramovich, Vladimir Lazaris, Iosif Begun and Eliyahu Essas.


1983: Seventy-nine year old Ukrainian poet Mykola Bazhan whose 1943 poem “Babi Yar” “explicitly depicted the infamous massacre in the ravine” but does not mention the fact that the victims were Jews passed away today.



1987: About 100 Soviet Jews, united by their inability to emigrate, crowded into a two-room apartment today to discuss state secrets: the secrets that keep them from leaving the Soviet Union, the secret process by which the holders of secrets are identified, and the reason the secrets themselves are secret. 1988: “Cocoon – The Return” a sequel co-starring Jack Gilford and Steve Guttenberg was released in the United States today.


1988: “Scrooged” a comedic version “The Christmas Carol” directed and co-produced by Richard Donner with a screenplay co-authored by Mitch Glazer and music by Danny Elfman was released in the United States today.


1989(25th of Cheshvan, 5750): Ninety-three year old art dealer Sidney Janis passed away today. (As reported by Grace Glueck)



1990: “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge” a film version of the novel with the same name starring Paul Newman and featuring Melissa Newman was released in the United States today.


1991: “Israel Has Its Nuclear Demons” published today provides a review of The Samson Option by Seymour Hersh.



1994(20thof Kislev, 5755): Eighty three year old Oscar winning orchestrator and conductor Irwin Kostal passed away today.



1994: “The Pagemaster” an animated horror film co-starring Leonard Nimoy and with music by James Horner was released in the United States today.


1997: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including Tuesday’s With Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson by Mitch Albom, Banjo Eyes: Eddie Cantor and the Birth of Modern Stardom by Herbert G. Goldman and A History of the Twentieth Century Volume 1: 1900-1933 by Martin Gilbert



2000(25th of Cheshvan, 5761): A powerful car bomb killed two Israelis and wounded scores during rush hour in the coastal city of Hadera this evening.


2000(25thof Cheshvan, 5761):Sgt. Samar Hussein, 19, of Hurfeish, was killed when Palestinian snipers opened fire at soldiers patrolling the border fence near the Erez crossing.


2000(25thof Cheshvan, 5761): Lt. Edward Matchnik, 21, of Beersheba, was killed in an explosion at the District Coordination Office near Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip.


2000(25thof Cheshvan, 5761): Sixty-nine year old Clarence Yale Palitz, Jr. the Chairman of the Board  of Financial Federal Corporation and patron of the arts who is survived by his wife Anka passed away today.



2001(8thof Kislev, 5762): Sixty-four year old major league pitcher Robert “Bo” Belinsky, whose mother was Jewish passed away today.



2001: An Israeli helicopter fired two missiles at a van in the West Bank, killing Mahmoud Abu Hanoud, a leading member of Hamas, the Islamic terror organization.


2003: The Al Hirschfeld Theatre which had been renamed in honor of his talents and long career reopened on with a revival of the musical Wonderful Town. Hirschfeld was also honored with a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.


2003: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or on topics of special Jewish interest In Praise of Nepotism: A Natural Historyby Adam Bellow and The Media and The War co-edited by Marvin Kalb


2004(10th of Kislev, 5765):Rafael Eitan, a former Israeli Army chief of staff and government minister who was reprimanded after Lebanese Christian allies of Israel massacred Palestinian refugees in 1982, drowned today after being swept into stormy seas. He was 75. Mr. Eitan was a war hero whom Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called "a comrade-in-arms and a friend." But Mr. Eitan's reputation, like Mr. Sharon's, was blighted by the killing of hundreds at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps near Beirut while Israeli forces stood by. Mr. Sharon called Mr. Eitan's life "the story of this country." Mr. Eitan, known as Raful, was born in 1929 in Tel Adashim, a communal farm, and at 16 he joined the Palmach, an elite fighting force of the Haganah that later became the foundation for the new state's army. A paratrooper and pilot, he fought in all of Israel's wars and was wounded four times. He was appointed chief of staff in 1978.Mr. Eitan was known as a blunt talker and strict disciplinarian who would always meet his troops returning from night raids against the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon. He also established programs to bring poor youths into the army to integrate them better into Israeli society. In civilian life, Mr. Eitan was a carpenter and olive farmer. He was also a politician of the right who formed a hard-line party, Tzomet, when he left the army. He opposed withdrawal from Sinai and other interim peace deals with the Palestinians, whom he once called "drugged cockroaches in a bottle." He was elected to Parliament many times and served as agriculture minister, environment minister and deputy prime minister in various governments. His party later joined Likud, which Mr. Sharon currently leads. Mr. Eitan left politics to work in his olive grove and build rocking horses at his wood shop in his birthplace, and in recent years had gone back to work as an adviser and construction coordinator for the Ashtrom company, which is improving the breakwater at the port in Ashdod. This morning about 7, Mr. Eitan was examining storm damage at the breakfront and talking to the company on a cellphone when he was apparently swept off the breakwater by the sea, the police said. He was found by police and naval personnel aided by a helicopter, but paramedics were unable to revive him. (As reported by Steven Erlanger)


2005: Labor Party MK Ophir Pines-Paz completed his service as Minister of Internal Affairs.


2005: Major General (Ret) Matan Vilnai completed his term as Science, Technology and Space Minister


2005: Ariel Sharon began his second term as Minister of Internal Affairs.


2005: Shimon Peres completes his term in office as Vice Prime Minister.


2005: Dalia Itzik, who will become the first women to serve as Speaker of the Knesset, completed her term as Communications Minister of Israel.


2005: Isaac Herzog completed his term as Minister of Housing and Construction.


2005: Eli Ben-Menachem completed his term as Deputy Minister of Housing and Construction


2005: After playing in the first ten games of the season, today, offensive lineman Lennie Friedman was placed on waivers by the Washington Redskins today.


2005:A decision by a Federal appeals court opens the way for settlement payouts for Austrian Jews. Deferring to US foreign policy interests, a federal appeals court has tossed out a class-action lawsuit by Austrian Jewish victims of the Nazi regime in a ruling that may clear the way for payouts from a 2001 settlement fund.  In a 2-to-1 ruling Tuesday, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals said it was "particularly mindful" of the federal government's statement that dismissing the case would advance its relations with Austria, Israel and Western, Central and Eastern European nations. The lawsuit was the final case holding up implementation of an agreement with Austria that established a fund to compensate Austrian Jews whose property was confiscated during the Nazi era and World War II, the appeals court said. Distributions from the Austrian compensation fund were contingent on dismissal of the case. The fund included $150 million to cover certain property claims


2005: The IDF unveiled the tombstones of five soldiers including two American volunteers, who fell in a battle for Latrun in the War of Independence at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl military cemetery after positively identifying their remains which had been resting in a mass grave. The five soldiers being honored were Pvt. Menachem “Mendel’ Math, Cpl. Shlomo Berber, Pvt. Yehuda "Jerry" Kaplan, Pvt. Ya'akov Shnawiss (who changed his name to Sheleg Lavan), and Pvt. Moshe Hessman. Math and Kaplan were members of MACHAL.” During the War of Independence, some 3,500 volunteers from 37 different countries rallied to Israel's defense. These young men and women, Jews as well as non-Jews, were known as MACHAL (Mitnadvei Chutz-La'Arets)- the Hebrew acronym for overseas volunteers. Many of the volunteers had been members of Jewish underground movements in Palestine and abroad before the State was proclaimed, or had served as crew members on Aliya Bet ships running the British naval blockade to bring Holocaust survivors to the shores of the Land of Israel. Most overseas volunteers were veterans of World War II; their skills and expertise were crucial - often decisive - for the newly-formed Israel Defense Forces, on land, at sea and in the air. These men and women fought valiantly and served with distinction in every branch of the IDF, including infantry, artillery, armor, the air force, the navy, the medical corps and the signals corps, often in key positions. Overseas volunteers came with a high sense of purpose and a shared feeling of pride and privilege in knowing they were helping to create and to defend a Jewish homeland. After the war, most returned to their home countries, but about 500 settled in Israel and raised families. One hundred and nineteen overseas volunteers lost their lives in Israel's struggle for independence: four of them were women; eight were non-Jews. Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, said: "The participation of...men and women of other nations in our struggle cannot be measured only as additional manpower, but as an exhibition of the solidarity of the Jewish people...without the assistance, the help and the ties with the entire Jewish people, we would have accomplished naught...some of our most advanced services might not have been established were it not for the professionals who came to us from abroad..."


2006: Americans gather together to celebrate Thanksgiving. The holiday is based on two traditions: the English Harvest Home and the Biblical Sukkoth.  The Pilgrims were a deeply religious people who saw themselves as modern Israelites fleeing their own Pharaoh so they could worship their One true God.  The New World was synonymous with the Promised Land.  So it was only to be expected that when looking for a way of expressing thanks for a bountiful harvest, they would turn to the Bible and fashion a week long holiday in the manner of Sukkoth.


2006(2nd of Kislev, 5767): Betty Comden passed away at the age of 89.  She was a writer, who with longtime collaborator Adloph Green created the lyrics and the librettos for some of the most celebrated musicals of stage and screen


2006: “Nagasaki, an oratorio composed by Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke” the son of Frankfurt born Jewish journalist Harry Viktorovich Schnittke premiered in Cape Town, eight years after the composer had passed away.


2007: In Jerusalem, as part of the International Oud Festival, violinist and singer Sameer Makhoul performs with French double bassist Joelle Leandre.


2008: In a visit sponsored by Alive Productions, Randy Newman performs in Tel Aviv's Hamishkan Leomanuyot Habama (performing arts house).


2008:At Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, following a dinner, Rabbi Lane Steinger, Regional Director, Union for Reform Judaism, Midwest Council, facilitates adiscussion will concerning interfaith families and the challenges they may face with the upcoming winter holiday season.


2008: In Chicago, on the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, the Spertus presents a lecture entitled “Calvin and the Jews” in which Dr. Dean Bell, Chief Academic University at Spertus, explores Calvin’s and his impact on Christian/Jewish Relations.


2008: At the Shirlington Branch Public Library, journalist Michaele Weissman discusses and signs her new book, God in a Cup: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Coffee.


2008: The New York Times featured a the review of a biography of the Jewish born creator of the Follies entitled Ziegfeld: The Man Who Invented Show Businessby Ethan Mordden.


2008: The Washington Post book section included reviews of the latest addition to the Holocaust Literature genre, The Journal of Hélène Berr,translated from the French by David Bellos and two books that recount “the making of modern Hebrew”:Resurrecting Hebrew by Ilan Stavans and Yehuda Amichai” The Making of Israel's National Poet by Nili Scharf Gold.


2009 Lord Nigel Lawson became chairman of a new think tank, the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a registered education charity


2009: The Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities and the Moline Public Library sponsor an address by Israeli Ambassador Asher Naim who will speak on “The Behind the Scenes Story of Operation Solomon: The Exodus of Ethiopian Jews to Israel”.


2009 (6 Kislev, 5770): Eighty-year old Fred Silberstein, a survivor of Auschwitz who gave evidence at the Nuremberg Trials passed away today in New Zealand. Silberstein, who was 14 when he was taken to Auschwitz in 1943, spent much of his life educating people in New Zealand about the horrors of the Holocaust and the subsequent dangers of racism. The president of the New Zealand Jewish Council, Stephen Goodman, described him as a righteous person. “For 60 years he worked tirelessly bearing witness to the horrors of the Holocaust,” Goodman said. “He was a modest and humble man.” Silberstein survived operations by Nazi “doctor” Josef Mengele, called the “Angel of Death,” and avoided near-certain death by telling camp guards he was 15 and able to do manual labor. His evidence at the Nuremburg Trials in 1946 helped to convict Nazi leaders such as Hermann Göring and Rudolf Heß. He moved to New Zealand in 1948.


2009 (6 Kislev, 5770): Ninety-one year old Max Eisen, a Broadway press agent from the days when feeding tidbits of gossip to columnists like Walter Winchell and staging stunts were standard practice for stirring up a bit more box-office appeal, passed away today.  (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)



2009: Israeli author Naomi Frenkel is to be laid to rest on Kibbutz Beit Alfa at 2 p.m. today three days after dying at Sheba Medical Center on her 91st birthday. 


2010: Kathleen Straus is scheduled to be honored with the Jewish Community Lifetime Achievement Award by the Detroit American Jewish Committee.


2010: Dwight Garner’s list of the “Top 10 Books of 2010” included books written by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “ Simon Wiesentahl: The Life and Legends”  by Tom Segev, “Letters” by Saul Bellow; edited by Benjamin Taylor, “Cleopatra: A Life” by Stacy Schiff, Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance” co-authored by Nouriel Roubini, “Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart, “Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory” by Ben Macintyre, one of the most successful disinformation operations of the 20th century which was masterminded by Ewen Montagu, a leading member of the UK’s Jewish community.


2010: This afternoon at JFK airport in New York City, a Holocaust survivor was reunited with the Polish man who rescued her from the Nazis, after not having seen one another for 65 years. Wladyslaw Misiuna, 85, from Poland, and Sara Marmurek, 88, from Canada had not seen each other since the war.


2010(16th of Kislev, 5771): Seventy three year old Ingrid Pitt,long celebrated as the first lady of British horror cinema, who starred in sanguinary classics of the 1970s like “The Vampire Lovers,” “Countess Dracula” and “The House That Dripped Blood,” died today in London. (As reported by Margalit Fox)



2011: The Israeli Folk Dance Thanksgiving Marathon is scheduled to begin at 9 pm at the 92ndSt Y in Manhattan.


2011:Rabbi Nava Hefetz, Educational Director at Rabbis for Human Rights is scheduled to be the  guest speaker at the first session of the Adult Education series at the West London Synagogue.


2011:The IDF identified Bedouin smugglers on the southern border trying to infiltrate Israel from Egypt, and a firefight erupted between the two sides tonight.


2011: Recent archeological excavations in Jerusalem show that, contrary to popular understanding, King Herod was not solely responsible for constructing the Western Wall. Israel's Antiques Authority announced today that the discovery of a mikveh (ritual bath) alongside Jerusalem's ancient drainage channel challenges the conventional archaeological perception that Herod built the wall in its entirety, saying it is now evident that construction was completed at least 20 years after Herod's death (believed to be in 4 BCE).


2011:The threat of another political murder exists in Israel, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch told the Knesset today. Aharonovitch's statement came in response to a query from MK Isaac Herzog (Labor) following the repeated harassment of activist Hagit Ofran and the Peace Now organization.


2012: “Oy Vey! The Play” a comedy about a wealthy widow, her three daughters, her son, her Rabbi is scheduled to be performed at The Lion Theatre in New York City.


2012(9th of Kislev, 5773): Seventy-four year old Devorah Krinsky “ the wife of Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, secretary to the late Lubavitcher rebbe Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson” whom she married in 1957 passed away. (As reported by JTA)


2012: "Seeds of Resiliency," a new film directed and produced by Susan Polis Schutz, the granddaughter of Russian Jewish immigrants is scheduled to open tonight at the Quad Cinema in NYC.


2012: Memorial services were held for Art Ginsburg, the American television chef known as Mr. Food, “were held at B'nai Aviv Synagogue in Weston” after which he was buried at Beth David Memorial Gardens in Hollywood, Florida


2012: National Yiddish Theater Presents "The Golden Land" at the Baruch Performing Arts Center


2012: Rain fell from the North to the Negev today morning with scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms forecasted to continue throughout the day.


2012: Hamas Islamists enforced a fragile two-day-old truce on today by evacuating Palestinians from a "no-go" border zone after IDF gunfire across the Gaza border killed one Palestinian and wounded several others.


2013: The JCC of Northern Virginia is scheduled to host a performance of the Klezmer Nutcracker Holiday Concert.


2013: As part of the Murra Blackman Memoril Weekend, Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman delivers a Shabbat sermon “What is the Most Important Verse in the Torah?” followed by an afternoon talk “The Two Happiest Days in Judaism – What are they? A Taste of Talmud” (As reported by the Crescent City Jewish News)


2013: Israeli soldiers “fired rubber bullets at a group of Palestinians who were throwing stones at them during a day in which three Arabs were arrested by Israeli forces near the security barrier separating the Jewish state from the Gaza after they had snuck across the border near Kibbutz Be'eri. (As reported by Gil Roen)


2013(20thof Kislev, 5774): Seventy-seven year old philanthropist and businessman Dov Lautman lost his battle with ALS today.




2013(20thof Kislev, 5774): Eight year old Peter B. Lewis, the former Chairman of Progressive Insurance Company passed away.



2014: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including the recently released paperback editions of An Officer and a Spy, Robert Harris’ “novelization of the Dreyfus affair” and Memories of a Marriage by Louis Begley.


2014: The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education is scheduled to present “Poetry & Prose Workshop” with Willa Schneberg.


2014: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to host “No One Remembers Alone: Memory, Migration, and the Making of an American Family.”


2014: Eighteenth annual UK Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to come to an end.


2014: The Chabad Partners Conference is scheduled to be held at the Brooklyn Marriott Hotel



2014: A live broadcast from the Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries, a group that includes Rabbi Pinchas Ciment who has been a lamplighter par excellence in Arkansas for over two decades, is scheduled to take place this afternoon.



2014(1stof Kislev, 5775): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


2014(1stof Kislev, 5775): Sixty-five year old Allan Kornblum, the founder of Coffee House Press passed away today.



2014: By a vote of 14 to 6 “the cabinet approved a controversial proposal today to define Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people in a constitutional Basic Law.” (As reported by Spencer Ho)


2014: “Riots follow Sakhnin’s 1:0 victory over Beitar in soccer match.


2015: In Potomac, MD, Congregation Har Shalom is scheduled to host a lecture by Rabbi Reuven Hammer on “Akiva: Living and Dying for Love.”


2015: The New England Patriots football team observed a minute of silence before its game tonight in memory of 18 year old Sharon, MA native Ezra Schwartz who was murder by a terrorist while distributing food packages soldiers to Israeli soldiers. (As reported by Raoul Wootliff and Marissa Newman)


2015: “Thanksgiving – A Holiday of Family and Foods



2015: In London, The Jewish Museum is scheduled to host a talk by curator Joanne Rosenthal on the exhibition “Blood” which “draws together manuscripts, prints, Jewish ritual and ceremonial objects, art, film, literature and cultural ephemera to present a rich exploration of how blood can unite and divide, reflecting on over 2,000 years of history.”


2016(22nd of Cheshvan, 5777): Eighty-six year old British comedy start Andrew Sachs passed away today.



 


2016: “The Tenth Man” and “The Last Laugh” are scheduled to be shown in Melbourne, Australia as part of the Jewish International Film Festival.


 


2016: “The Settlers” and “Alone in Berlin” are scheduled to be shown inSydney, Australia as part of the Jewish International Film Festival.


2017: “The Heir” and “A Quiet Heart” are scheduled to be shown at the 21st UK International Jewish Film Festival.


2017: In the spirit of having something for everything, The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host “Chinese Night” for the hungry preceded by a continuation of a discussion of  Masechet Megilla as part of the in depth study Gemara study program


2017: In the United States – Thanksgiving






2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such as Jonathan Sarna whose works included American Judaism: A History and When General Grant Expelled The Jews continues today.


2018: Paula Vogel’s “Indecent” a play which “recounts the controversy surrounding the play God of Vengeance by Sholem Asch, which was produced on Broadway in 1923” is scheduled to open at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC.


2018: “Professor Avigdor Shinan and invited guests” are scheduled to “join Israel Museum curators to bring the weekly haftarah to light.”


2018: The Village East Cinema is scheduled to host a screening of “Family in Transition” which tells “the story of a family in Nahariya…whose lives change after their parent comes out as a transgender woman.”


2018: The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled to host the opening of the “9thAnnual Sigid Celebration” where attendees will enjoy a traditional Kosher Ethiopian Shabbat Dinner.”


2018: While Israelis may not officially celebrate Thanksgiving, they are scheduled to hit the shops for “Black Friday.”




 


 



 



 


 

This Day, November 24, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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November 24


166 BCE: According to secular calculations this date marked “The Origin of Era of the Maccabees.”



655: The Ninth Council of Toledo which was held under the auspices of King Recceuith and would adopt a resolution “that all conversos, not only converted Jews also others who had come during the Migration Period, had to pass Christian festivals in the presence of their bishop so as to prove the veracity of their faith” and that “lack of compliance with this last rule would in flogging or forced fasting, depending on the age of the offend” came to an end today.



380: Theodosius I made his” adventus,” or formal entry, into Constantinople. Eight years later, in 388, Theodosius attempted to intervene unsuccessfully on behalf of the Jews of his Empire.  “The bishop of a town on the bank of the Euphrates was among those responsible for the burning of a synagogue by a Christian crowd”  When the governor of the province refused to punish the bishop, Theodosius exercised his imperial power and ordered the offending bishop to build the Jews a new house of worship.  However, Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan and a leader of the Christian Church, overruled the emperor and Theodosius folded like a cheap suit. This episode points to the worsening conditions of the Jews.  If a powerful Emperor like Theodosius could not stand up to the Church, how could one expect a lesser ruler to challenge the growing power of the prelates?



1105: Rabbi Nathan ben Yehiel of Rome completes Talmudic dictionary.  According to Heinrich Graetz, Ben Yehiel is the only Italian who made a contribution to Jewish literature during this period which was dominated by the Jews of Spain.  He published his dictionary under the name Aruch.  What this work lacks in originality it makes up for in thoroughness.  It became a standard text for Jews studying the Talmud during the Middle Ages.



1190: Isabella of Jerusalem marries Conrad of Montferrat at Acre, making him de jure King. This took place during the period when the Crusaders controlled the City of David.  Their “kingship” should not be confused with the reign of the Davidic Dynasty.



1275:  Edward I issued the Statute of the Jewry which placed a number of restrictions on the Jews of England. See http://www.heretical.com/British/jews1275.html. for a complete copy of the text.


1328: Levi ben Gerson finished “Sefer Tekunah” his work on astronomy today.


1493: Gershon Soncino printed an edition of the Pentateuch at Brescia.


1631 (5 Kislev, 5392): Rabbi Samuel Eliezer Edels, also known by the acronym, “MaHarSha,” passed away. Born in 1555 in Krakow, he was one of the best known Talmudic commentators. His Chidushei Halachot is included in almost every publication of the Talmud. He believed that many of the Agadot (Talmudic legends) could be explained rationally and/or as parables. Edels also served as the chief rabbi in Lublin and Ostrog. As part of his commentary and explanation on the subject of guardian angel, Edels wrote, “In the way you wish to go in life, so you will be led by your Guardian Angels." According to the MaHarSha,” this passage explains that, in the way you wish to go in life, so you will be led by your guardian angels.  In other words  every action, word and thought that you do in this world creates an angel, so if you really want something good to happen in your life, create enough angelic good angels with kindness, loving thoughts and honest words . And then these angels you have attracted to you by your good thoughts, words and actions will indeed lead you to your goal.” As you can see from this commentary, all Rabbis living in Eastern Europe were not dry legalist.  Those of you who think of them in that manner will get a chance to re-consider that concept if you study this period of Jewish History.



1632: Birthdate of Baruch Spinoza (known also as Benedict De Spinoza). The life and philosophy of Spinoza are too complex for this brief daily blurb and you are urged to read more about him on your own) In brief Spinoza was born in Amsterdam to Sephardic Jews who had fled from the Inquisition in Portugal, Spinoza received a rigorous Jewish education including the study of such “modern” commentators as Maimonides and Ibn Ezra.   However his inquiring mind led to learn Latin and to study with so-called free-thinkers.  He became a disciple of Descartes and his rationalist philosophic approach to life.  Spinoza was a pantheist believing that God was within nature and not above nature with His own divine will.  To paraphrase Telushkin, Spinoza did not believe that God created nature, but that God is Nature.  In 1656, while still in his twenties, Spinoza was excommunicated (in Hebrew “kerem”) for denying the immortality of the soul and God’s authorship of the Torah.  On this latter point, Spinoza was a forerunner of modern Biblical critics.  He believed that the Torah had not been written by Moses, but by Ezra the Scribe.  The ban from the Jewish community was total.  Spinoza spent the rest of his life moving from place to place in Holland studying and developing his philosophical works.  At one point he joined a Mennonite sect and changed his name to Benedictus or Benedict. By the time of his death in 1677, Spinoza had developed a philosophy of rational pantheism in which to “know” nature is to know God.  Over the centuries, many Jews have expressed their displeasure over Spinoza’s excommunication.  In the 1950’s no less a figure than David Ben Gurion tried unsuccessfully to have the ban lifted.  From the writings of Spinoza: “As long as a man imagines a thing is impossible, so long will he be unable to do it.”  “Men who are ruled by reason desire nothing for themselves which they would not wish for all humankind.”  (Sounds like Hillel).



1752: In Stratford, CT, “Isaac Menes Seixas and Rachel Franks Seixas” gave birth to Grace Mendes Seixas who married Simon Nathan and as Grace Mendes Nathan was the mother of four children



https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/seixas-nathan-grace



https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/43058337.pdf?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents



1799: In Prague, Judah Jeitteles and his wife gave birth to physician, poet and author Aaron Ludwig Joseph Jeittles



1824: Gabriel Gabriel married Esther Reuben today at the Great Synagogue.



1835: Joseph Myers married Julia Isaacs at the Great Synagogue today.



1841: David Barnard married Kate Nathan today.



1841: Solomon Nathan, the son of Barnett Nathan and Julia Solomons and the husband of Betsy Isaacs with whom he had had five children, was buried today at the “Canterbury Jewish Cemetery.”



1841: In Charleston, Rabbi Poznanski officiated at the married Joseph H. Marks of Columbia, SC and Cecile Abrahams of Charleston, SC.



1843: Birthdate of David Zvi Hoffmann, a rabbi and Torah scholar who was active in the “Wissenschaft des Judentums” a German based movement that attempted to apply scientific methodology to all aspects of Judaism. His daughter Hannah married Alexander Marx who along with Max L. Margolis published “A History of the Jewish People” which was a classic work of the inter-war period. Rabbi Hoffiamn passed away in 1921.



http://seforim.blogspot.com/2012/01/rabbi-david-hoffmann-zl-by-eliezer-m.html



1843: Birthdate of Tammany Hall political leader Richard Croker, Jr. who recognized the importance of the Jewish vote in the municipal elections of 1898 when he threatened to get rid of all the leaders who did not do enough to deliver it to the Democratic Party machine.



1848(28th of Cheshvan, 5609): Seventy-eight year old Joseph Mendelssohn the German Jewish banker who was the oldest son of Moses Mendelssohn and the uncle of Felix Mendelssohn passed away today.



1851: "Acapulco" published today described the high cost of living in the Mexican city provided the unusual comparison that "a little crib not bigger than a Jew's clothing-shop in San Francisco, brings $50 a month."


1851: Austrian physician Jakob Eduard Polak entered Iran where he began teaching medicine at Dar al-Fonun


1853: The cornerstone for a new Jewish Hospital was laid this afternoon in a two hour long ceremony.  At 2 pm a procession including members of the Hospital Society, the Hebrew Benevolent Society and other dignitaries left the Crosby street synagogue and walked to the site of the new hospital on 28th street between 7th and 8thavenues.  At 3 pm, Henry Hendricks made a few opening remarks in Hebrew and handed the trowel to Sampson Simpson who also make a few remarks in Hebrew before actually laying the cornerstone.  Rabbis Lyon and Helsen then delivered prayers in Hebrews followed by an address given by Rabbi Isaacs in English.  During the talk Isaacs assured listeners, including NYC dignitaries that the hospital would offer its services to all – Gentiles and Jews alike.  Sampson Simpson donated the land on which the hospital is being built.  He has also promised that $30,000 bequest will made to the hospital at the time of this death.



1853: Rabbi Isaacs is scheduled to give a sermon this evening at 5 pm on the topic of Charity.


1855: An article published today entitled “The Merchants of London” described the financial activities of the various banking houses in London.  The House of Rothschild is reported to be very active in the affairs of Spain where it is represented by Mr. Weisler.  The Rothchilds hold large mortgages on the silver mines located in Spain


1858: Under the guidance of Max Maretzek, Adeline Patti made her operatic debut at age 16 in the title role of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at the Academy of Music, New York. (He was the Jewish impresario and concert master.  She was the native of Spain who went on to a brilliant career.) 


1858: A schochet named Aaron Friedman appeared before New York Mayor Daniel F. Tiemann and accused Abraham Joseph Asch, Pesach Rosenthal and Moses Levi of selling lottery tickets which is against the law.  Abraham Joseph Asch served as Rabbi at Beis Hamedrash Hagadol on Bayard Street. Founded in 1852, it was the first congregation founded by Russian Orthodox Jews.  Pesach Rosenthal was the founder of the Downtown Talmud Torah, Yiddish speaking school also founded in 1852.


1858: In New York City, Sergeant Birney and 12 officers of the law, armed with a warrant to search and seize lottery tickets arrested Rabbi Abraham Joseph Asch, Reb Pesach Rosnethal and Moses Levi.  Rabbi Asch was arrested while he was leading services at this synagogue.  All three were taken before May Tiemann to answer the charges lodged against them.


1858: Thanks to the efforts of Austrian born American-Jews impresario Max Maretzek, “Adelina Patti made her operatic debut in the title role of Donizetti’s “Luci de Lammermoor” in New York City.


1859: British naturalist Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, which explained his theory of evolution. Ironically, Hitler was greatly influence by Charles Darwin and his Theory of Evolution. Hitler believed that the German people were the most advanced race of people, and all others were inferior. For Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest to be true, all other inferior species had to die. Hitler was making sure the inferiors would die off rapidly, so his MASTER RACE would rule faster.


1862: Michel Levy publishes Gustave Flaubert’s "Salammbo." Levy (not Flaubert) was Jewish.


1862: One day after he had passed away, 42 year old Solomon Benjamin the son of Ephraim and Phoebe Benjamin and the husband of Sarah Harris was buried today at the “Wolverhampton Old Jewish Burial Ground.”


1863: During the Civil War, the 82nd Illinois Infantry under the command of Edward S. Solomon took part in the Union Army’s victory over the Rebels at the Battle of Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, TN. Joseph B. Greenhut, an Austrian born Jew, served as Captain of Company K during the Battle.


1864: Comte Alphonse de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa and Adèle Tapié de Celeyran gave birth to artist Henri de Tolouse-Lautrec whose work included “Reine de joies.”


1867: In San Francisco, Augusta and Joseph Phillip Newmark gave birth to Samuel Mark Newmark, the husband of Carolyn C. Newmark with whom he had two children and who held a patent for “Newmark’s Pure,” a “coffee, cinnamon, tea and lemon extract used for food-flavoring purposes.”


1869(20th of Kislev, 5630): Jonathan Alexandersohn, a German born Hungarian rabbi, passed away passed away in the Jewish hospital at Altofen.


1869: Louis Moreau Gottschalk collapsed from having contracted malaria. Just before his collapse, he had finished playing his romantic piece Morte! (interpreted as "she is dead"), although the actual collapse occurred just as he started to play his celebrated piece Tremolo.


1870: Rabbi S.M. Isaacs is scheduled to deliver the sermon at the Forty-Fourth Street Synagogue’s Thanksgiving Day services which will begin at 11 a.m. Children from Hebrew Orphan Asylum will attend the service after which they will be fed Thanksgiving Dinner paid for by the synagogues trustees.


1871: It was reported today that the Reorganization Committee meeting in St. Petersburg has been discussing whether or not to allow Jews to serve as officers in the Russian Army.  The majority of the committee favor postponing a decision until enough time has elapsed to evaluate the recent decision to allow Jews to hold civil service positions in the Russian government.


1873: Birthdate of Yuliy Osipovich Tsederbaum  the scion of Jewish family living in Constantinople who as Julius Martov became a leader of the Mensheviks during the Russian Revolutions.


1874: It was reported today that Jacob Cohen has donated a printing press, Hebrew type, non-Hebrew type and other printing office furniture to the Hebrew Orphan Asylum in New York.  [The printing operation would prove to be a beneficial source of training an income for the male orphans.]


1875: Birthdate of Jana Fürnbergová, the resident of Prague who was murdered at Terezin.


1877(18thof Kislev, 5638): Eighty-three year old Rabbi Samuel Bondi of Mayence the son of Rabbi Jonas Moses Bondi and Bella Bondi and thus husband of Sophie Bondi passed away today.


1878: It was reported today that the Rothschilds in London have successfully gained the right to underwrite the “new Numidian loan” for which they will receive a premium commission.


1878: In New York Samuel Sachs and Louisa Goldman Sachs gave birth to Paul Joseph Sachs, the partner in Goldman Sachs and associate director of the Fogg Art Museum who enter American pop culture as one of the Monuments Men.




1878: In Austria, Alfred Abraham Finzi and Rachéle Finzi gave birth to Isak Isidor Finizi


1878: It was reported today that Maggie de Rothschild has been receiving religious instruction from a Roman Catholic priest in Frankfort, Germany.  Conversion to Christianity is a condition set by the family of her future husband, the Duc de Guiche for their approval of the marriage.  The family has no objection to her Jewish money, just to her Jewish religion.  If the trend of intermarriage continues, the more numerous Christian will eventually absorb the Jews. “That is one way getting rid of the Jews…but one which will take time.”


1879: It was reported that a confidence man identified a Hebrew from New York has swindled several French businessmen out of 6,000,000 francs.


1879: It was reported today that Lord Beaconsfield has only been able to gain promises of “moral support from Austria and Germany” in the current conflict involving the Russian and Ottoman empires.


1879: Albert Lavergne, alias Abraham Levy, an Alsatian Jew, went to the 29thPrecinct in New York and confessed to having stolen $30,000 worth of diamonds in France in 1876.


1879: Birthdate of Yitzhak Gruenbaum the native of Warsaw who was a leader of Polish Jewry until he made Aliyah in 1933 and expanded his career to include a leadership role that caused the British to arrest him during their “leadership sweep” in 1946 and enabled him to become a signatory to the Declaration of Independence in 1948.


1880: “The German War on the Jews” published today noted that “the authorities are inclined to wink at, if not openly encourage, the movement for stemming the rising tide of Jewish power and influence and in the Empire.”  While Chancellor Bismarck has modified his view that used to include opposition of “the admission of Jews into office” the anti-Semitic movement has plenty of power as can be seen from the leadership supplied by Reverend Stoecker, one of the Kaiser’s Chaplains.” (Editor’s note: The emergency of the anti-Semitic movement paralleled the emancipation of Jews in Germany and was in full flower long before a Bavarian Corporal came to power.


1880: At today’s meeting of the New York State Senate Committee on City Affairs, Judge P.J. Joachimsen defended the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society from remarks made by Elbrdige T. Gerry


1881: J.S. Moore responded to the anti-Semitic attacks by Goldwin Smith, a Professor at Oxford that appeared in the October issue of the Nineteenth Century.”


1882 In Munich, Joseph Schülein, the son of Julius and Jeanette Schulen, and Ida Schulein gave birth to Franziska (Mimi) Heinemann, the future wife of Theobald Heinemann.


1882: In Cleveland, OH, Aaron and Theresa Hahn gave birth to Edgar Aaron Hahn, Western Reserve University trained lawyer and Cleveland civic leader who was the husband Irene Hahan with whom he had two daughters – Alice and Katherine.



1882: In New York, incorporation of the Passover Relief Association which was founded in 1877 whose officers included Morris Silbertstein, President; Mrs. Fred Sobel, Vice President; Mrs. Eli Solomon, Treasurer and Adolph Schwarzbaum, Secretary which supplied 490 families with groceries for Passover.


1884:  Birthdate of Yitzchak Ben-Zvi, the second President of Israel.  After the death of Chaim Weitzman, Ben-Zvi was elected in 1952.  He served until his death in April of 1963.


1885: Henry M. Leipziger, the principal of the Hebrew Technical Institute presented a report at a meeting of the Industrial Education Association in New York today during which he described what his school had during the past 18 months to meet the needs of boys ages 12 to 14.


1885: In Manhattan, David and Wilhemina (Minnie) Cohen gave birth to Bluma Cohen who gained famed as Blanche Cohen Nirenstein, the wife of realtor Alexander Schlang and Ellick Nirenstein whose civic work earned the title of “Mother of Year” according to the RJJ School Ladies League.




1885: In Friend, Nebraska, Sydney Dix Strong and his wife gave birth to Anna Louise Strong, the wife Joel Shubin, the Jewish agronomist and “Soviet Deputy Minister of Agriculture.”



1886: At the Star Theatre in New York, in front of a packed house, Edwin Booth played Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice” part to which he brings a unique portrayal.


1887: “La Tosca” a five-act drama by the 19th-century French playwright Victorien Sardou “was first performed today at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris, with Sarah Bernhardt in the title role.


1887: In a moment of honesty, Reverend Armitage delivered a sermon at the Fifth Avenue Baptist church in which he “compared the American Thanksgiving feast with joyous ‘Feast of Tabernacles’ of the ancient Jews. This Jewish feast continued eight days, and commemorated the gather of fruits. With the Jews, it was a joyous outpouring of religious feeling and in this quality of their religion they set an example which will be followed by Christians.”


1887: On Thanksgiving, “bountiful dinners” were provided those under the care of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society.


1887: Thanksgiving Services were held at Temple Emanu-El in New York City


1889(1STof Kislev, 5650): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1889: “Jews of Bagdad” published today described the mistreatment of the Jews of Mesopotamia during the recent cholera epidemic.


1889: It was reported today that The Conference of the Civic, Commercial, Industrial and Educational Bodies will be presenting a “silk banner” to the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society.


1890(12th of Kislev, 5651): Seventy-six year old August Belmont, a Prussian Jew who “came to the U. S. in the diplomatic service, became a representative of the Rothschilds founded the banking house, August Belmont & Co., made a vast fortune and kept a racing stable passed” away today.


1892: The SS Weimar a large number of whose 1,906 passengers are Russian Jews is still detained at the Cape Charles Quarantine facility at Baltimore in accordance with President’s order this matter.


1892: On Thanksgiving Day Mrs. J. P. Jonchimsen will deliver the opening speech at the dedication of the new Orphan Asylum of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society of New York will take place at 2 p.m.


1894: According to figures provided by Charles G. Wilson, the President of the Board Health published today “the lowest death rate…is in the tenement wards where the Hebrew population is densest.”  Wilson attributed this fact to the observance of “the Mosaic laws regard cleanliness” and avoiding abuse of alcohol as well as the fact that Jews “observe certain religious rules and regulations requiring them to keep their apartments clean.”


1894: In London, premiere of “The Shop Girl” a musical comedy featuring "The Little Chinchilla" a popular song written by Paul Alfred Rubens.


1895: In St. Louis founding of the Prospect Club located at 2737 Locust which meets on the first and last Tuesday of the month.


1895: “Flora’s Beautiful Gifts” traces the role of flowers in various civilizations and cultures including the Hebrews who used the rose and the lily and whose King Solomon “was a botanist” as can be seen from his gardens “which are among the most ancient gardens of which we know.”


1895: Herzl expounds his plans at The Maccabeans Club, the first group to hear his ideas. (In his diary he wrote, "Abends bei den 'Makkabäern'. Mageres Dinner, aber guter Empfang." - In the evening with the 'Maccabaeans', skimpy dinner, but good reception.")


1896: As of today, it was reported that Mrs. Hannah Solomon is President of the National Board of the National Council of Jewish Women and Miss Laura Mordecai is President of the Philadelphia chapter of the organization.


1896: In Limirck, another of the sporadic attacks took place on the Jews of the city.


1897: In Chicago, Illinois, Leopold Godowsky and Frederica Saxe gave birth to silent film actress Dagmar Godowsky.


1897: “Thanksgiving Exercises for Orphans” published today described upcoming holiday plans for those at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum on Amsterdam Avenue.


1898: Birthdate of Pittsburg native Louis “Lou” Mervis” the Walter Camp All-American lineman who played tackle on the undefeated 1918 University of Pittsburgh football team.


1898 Simon Guggenheim and Olga Hirsch married today at the Waldorf Astoria; an event they celebration by providing 5,000 poor children with a Thanksgiving Dinner.


(Editor’s Note: The following four entries are examples of the Americanization of the Jewish Community in the best sense of the term.  It provides an indication of why American Jews believe that their experience is different from that in Europe, North Africa or the Middle East)


1898: Rabbi Silverman will deliver a sermon on “American Progress” at Temple Emanu-El during Thanksgiving Services that start at 11 a.m.


1898: Rabbi Rudolph Grossman will deliver the sermon at Temple Rodeph Sholom during Thanksgiving Services that start at 10:30 a.m.


1898: Shaarai Tephilla and B’nai Jeshurun  will hold a joint Thanksgiving Service at 10:30 a.m led by Rabbi Stephen G. Wise that will include “the reading of the of the President’s proclamation by Morris Wise, a speech by Washingtonian Simon Wolf and a performance by the brass band of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society Orphan Asylum


1898: “The Young Men’s Hebrew Association” is scheduled to hold Thanksgiving Services at 861 Lexington this morning starting at 10:30.


1899: Jacob Furth, the Jewish President of the Puget Sound National Bank of Seattle, Washington, described economic conditions in the Northwest to a group meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria. The seven banks in the area have more than 13 million dollars in deposits most of which has been investing in Eastern commercial paper since there is so little demand for money in the Pacific Coast region. Manufacturing and farming have been so profitable that there has been little need for borrowing. Furth concluded his remarks by saying that he saw an automobile for the first time while traveling through Chicago on his way to New York.  Furth is convinced that the Pacific Northwest is too hilly “for the successful operation of the horseless carriage.”


1903: In Vienna, Carl and Emilie Popper gave birth to Hans Popper, “the founding father of Hepatology” who was fortunate enough to escape arrest by the Nazis during the Anschluss by making his way to the United States aboard the SS New Amsterdam.


1905 (26th of Cheshvan): Nahum Meyer Shaikevich (Shomer) Yiddish novelist and playwright, passed away


1908: Birthdate of Harry Kemelman, the Boston native who created the Rabbi David Small mystery novels.


1908: Birthdate of Mosze Lifszyc, the native Kiev who gained fame as movie director Aleksander Ford.



1910: On Thanksgiving Day in Atlanta, GA, Leo Frank, who would be lynched in the single worse episode of anti-Semitism in U.S. history, married Lucille Selig, the daughter of Emil Selig.


1911: The Damascus newspaper Muktebisattacked Jews, and in response readers wrote letters to the Grand Vizier to condemn the attitude of the paper.  On the same day the editor of another newspaper, the Turkish Hikmet, insulted Jews in an 'open letter to the Sultan.' As a result of the letter the editor was banished from Constantinople.


1911: Lazarus Klein was elected a member of the Divisional Council in Cape Province, SA, for the district of Tulbagh.


1911: The members of the Monmouthsire Standing Joint Committee “strongly criticized the attitude of police “during the “recent riots in Tredegar, Wales.


1912: In Rochester, NY, David Kanin and Sadie Levine gave birth to screen writer and director Garson Kanin.


1912: In Antwerp Paul (Pinchas) Gluck-Friedman and Henia Shipper gave birth to Antoinette Gluk who would marry a young Swiss-born French rabbi named David Feuerwerker and who would become famous as a decorated hero of the Resistance and as a jurist in post-war France.


1912: In the presence of an audience of 600 persons, including all of the members of the Straus family, a memorial tablet in honor of Ida Straus was unveiled this afternoon at the Home of the Daughters of Jacob, an institution for aged men and women at 301 and 303 East Broadway. Impressive services marked the official dedication of the tablet, which has been mounted upon the wall of the large auditorium to the right of the main entrance. The large bronze casting bears the raised profile of Mrs. Straus upon the center, directly under the inscription; “The Ida Straus Memorial of the Home of the Daughters of Jacob.” On one side are the words “Her life was beautiful” and the date in the Hebrew calendar of Mrs. Straus’s birth, “Shebat 14, 5609.” On the other side is the inscription “Her death was glorious,” and the date of the Titanic disaster, “Nisan 28, 5672.” Below the profile are the words: To the everlasting memory of Mrs. Ida Straus, one of the noble and heroic daughters in Israel, the hospital wards of this home are dedicated. She perished on the high seas in the Titanic disaster, together with her husband, Isidor Straus, statesman, philanthropist, and merchant, persistently [sic] refusing to be saved that she might remain to cheer the last moments of her life’s companion. Beneath is this quotation from the Book of Ruth: Where thou Diest Will I Die, and There Will I Be Buried. Dr. Nathan Abramson opened the dedication services with a hymn, in which he led a selected chorus of sixteen voices. The Rev. H. Pereira Mendes delivered the opening prayer, in which he expressed the hope that the example of the heroic and devoted wife in whose memory the tablet was erected and to whose lasting fame the wards of the hospital were dedicated might be forever an inspiration to the women of her race and ancient creed. Dr. Henry Fleischman, President of the Educational Alliance, made the principal address. He lauded the modest charity and kindliness of Mrs. Straus and the great unselfish works of her husband in the public service. Other speakers were Joseph Barondes of the Board of Education, the Rev. Dr. Schulman, pastor of the Congregation of Beth-El; the Rev. H. Masliansky of the People’s Synagogue, and Gustavus A. Rogers, who acted as Chairman.The most impressive incident of the dedication occurred when the 186 inmates of the home, led by Supt. Albert Kruger, filed slowly into the auditorium and took their seats in the front rows. The oldest of the feeble and decrepit men and women was said to be almost 108, and the youngest in the procession more than 70 years old. Just before the close of the exercises they arose and with quavering voices chanted aloud in unison a prayer for the eternal happiness of their departed benefactress. Among those seated on the platform were Mr. and Mrs. Percy Straus, Mr. and Mrs. Oscar S. Straus, Mrs. Nathan Straus, Herbert Straus, Jesse I. Straus, Mrs. Weil, Mr. and Mrs. Lazarus Kohns, and Mr. Lee Kohns. At the close of the exercises the members of the Straus family group, together with a few intimate friends, made a tour of inspection of the new hospital wards of the home


1912: A meeting in honor of the late Dr. Morris Loeb is scheduled to be held today at the Hebrew Technical Institute in New York.


1912: Services are scheduled to begin at 10:30 in Chicago at Sinai Temple where Dr. Emil G. Hirsch will deliver a sermon “The Open Window.”


1912: In Chicago, Rabbi Joseph Stoltz is scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled “It Is Good to Give Thanks” at today’s service hosted by the Isaiah Temple.


1912: Gerson Levi is scheduled to deliver the sermon at The People’s Synagogue where services begin at 3:30 p.m. at the Ziegfeld Theatre.


1912: Rabbi M.J. Gries of Cleveland delivered a sermon today marking the 20th anniversary of his years of service followed by a special musical program.


1912: “The elections for the Executive Council of the Jewish community in London” which “for the last twelve years have given rise to heated quarrels” between the Zionists “and the so-called official party much to the delight of the anti-Semites are scheduled to take place today.


1913: A mass meeting was held in New York under the auspices of the Federation of Oriental Jews that reside $58,000 for the relief of Balkan Jewry.


1914: Today’s contributions to the Central Committee for the Relief of Jews suffering through the war amounted to $944.74 bring the total collected to day to $25,010.


1914: Today, Herman Bernstein, editor of The Day, a Jewish daily newspaper published in New York “made public telegraphic correspondence” between him and Sir Cecil Arthur Spring-Rice, the British Ambassador in Washington, D.C. in which the editor asks if England will give protection to German and Galician Jews living in Jaffa now that the British reportedly occupy the city formerly controlled by the Ottomans.  Spring-Rice responded ‘Jews of all nationalities who may come under British control can of course count on the same protection and liberal treatment which England has always extended to them.  I have, however, no information that Jaffe is in the hands of England.”  (The reality is that the Turks expelled the Jewish population and the British did not take the city until 1917).


1914: “Let Jews Become Turks” published today described the decision of the Ottoman government to grant citizenship to Russian Jews living in the empire – a decision that would mean a great deal to many of the Jewish settlers in Palestine because they came from Russia.


1914: It was reported to that “two members of the Serbian Legation who remained at Constantinople to assist Henry Morgenthau,” the Jewish philanthropist serving as the American Ambassador, “were ordered to leave the city within 48 hours.”


1914: On the Western Front during WW I, Lieutenant F.A. De Pass, a Jewish officer from London “led two of his Indian soldiers into the sap of a German trench that had been pushed out to within ten yards of the Indian line” and destroyed the sap after which de Pass carried a wounded comrade to safety – an action that led him to being the first Jewish officer to receive the Victoria Cross.


1915: As of today, “the contributions to the fund for the relief of the sufferes from the Russian massacres reached a total of $734,494.


1915: Birthdate of Aleksandr Yakovlevich Novakovsky, the native of St. Petersburg who gained fame as Alexander Nov, “a Professor of Economics at the University of Glasgow and a noted authority on Russian and Soviet economic history.”


1915: Jacob Bosniak, presided over a meeting of students at the Jewish Theological Seminary where “resolutions expressing their grief were adopted.”


1915: The faculty of JTS met today for the first time since the death of Solomon Schechter.


1915: In Manhattan, an exhibit sponsored by Bezalel that included rugs, silver filigree work, copper inlaid articles, Torah Bells and Meghilloths came to a close.


1916: At Temple Israel, Dr. M.H. Harris delivered a sermon on “The Fate of the Jew After the War’ in which he talked about the fate of 1,500,000 Jews in Poland and said he did not put any trust in Germany’s recent promise to create an independent Kingdom of Poland.


1916: The Greek government considers calling on Jews to serve in military; prior to this date they were exempt from service.


1916: Writing in The Jewish Chronicle, Dr. Joseph Kruk described his first meeting with Alexander Protopopov, the Minister of the Interior, “on whom depends the course of the policy towards the Jews of Russia” who said he believes “in equal rights for the Jews” but believes that the lack of a commercial treaty will be a hindrance towards his government reaching that goal.


1917: For the first time since the United States entry into WW I,  “With the cooperation of the Dutch government” which was neutral, the Joint Distribution Committee of the American Jewish Relief Committee began distribution “relief funds in territories occupied by Germany.”


1917: In London, Harry Rowson and his wife gave birth to Sefton Wilfred David Rowson who gained fame as Israeli diplomat and Professor of International Law, Shabtai Rosenne.


1917: “A mass meeting” designed “to enroll men and women in the International Zionist Organization” is scheduled to “held at the Morris High School” at eight o’clock this evening.


1917: “The Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society of America announced today that Samuel Mason, as special representative of the organization, has started for Japan to investigate condions among the Jewish emigrants stranded in that country.”


1918: Felix Warburg outlines plans for a December campaign designed to raise funds for Jewish war suffers at a meeting of the People’s Relief Committee which represents the working class of New York Jewry.


1918: The Jewish Welfare Board met today.


1918: “The registration campaign” is scheduled to continue until today at which time the district elections for the ZOA are scheduled to be held.”


1919: In London, a poor Russian immigrant tailor, Louis Kossoff and his wife gave birth to award winning actor David Kossof  who also became “an anti-drug campaigner” when his son rock musician Paul Kossoff died as a result of drug abouse.


1922: Seventy-five year old Italian politician and Prime Minister Sidney Costantino Sonnino, the son of Isacco Saul Sonnino – a Jewish born son of a banker – who converted to Anglicanism passed away today.(Ironically, one of his big claims to fame is that he was regarded as unique because he was a Protestant in country almost completely dominated by Roman Catholic political leaders,)


1922: Birthdate of Claus Adolf Moser, the native of Berlin who was brought to England in 1936 where his contributions to the world of statistics led to his being made a Life peer with the title Baron Moser>


1922: In Akron, Ohio, Benjamin and Bertha Munitz Ovshinsky gave birth to Stanford R. Ovshinsky, the inventor of the nickel-metal hydride battery. (As reported by Barnaby J. Feder)


1924: In New York, Barbara Stettheimer and “Maj. Gen. Julius Ochs Adler, who was the president and publisher of The Chattanooga Times and the general manager of The New York Times from 1935 until his death in 1955” gave birth to Julius Ochs Adler, Jr “a business executive and public relations consultant who ran a popular independent bookstore in Manhattan for 16 years.” (As reported by Robert D. McFadden and Eric Pace)



1928(11thof Kislev, 5689): Parashat Vayetzei


1928(11thof Kislev, 5689): Semei Kakungulu who founded the Abayudaya (Luganda: Jews) community in Uganda in 1917 passed away today.



1928: According to dispatches from Bucharest received by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, “Julius Maniu, the National Peasant Premier of Rumania seems determined to maintain the promise he made…after assuming office to see to it that all minority races in the Kingdom including the Jews” will “enjoy the protection of the government in the exercise of their rights.”


1928: “Napoleon’s Barber” an early “talkie” written by Arthur Caesar and featuring Michael Mark was released in the United States today. 


1929: Georges Clemenceau, Premier of France during the final years of World War I passed away.  He provided the stamina that helped France stay the course and defeat the forces of the Kaiser.  For Jews, he will be remembered as a French politician who risked his career to support Emile Zola as he worked to gain justice for Colonel Dreyfus. 


1930: In Essen, Germany “a Jewish father who was the director of a textile company and a Lutheran mother gave birth to Inge Schönthal the photographer who was the wife of “Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli.” (As reported by Elisabetta Povoledo)




1930: One day after he had passed away, eighty-three year old Russian born American “Hebrew Poet” Israel Fine who was “an intimate friend of President Roosevelt” and the author of “Ode to America” which was “written in Hebrew on the occasion of the centennial celebration of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ in 1914” was buried this “afternoon in the Baltimore Hebrew Cemetery.”



1932: A call to orthodox Jewry to unite to finish rebuilding Palestine as a Jewish homeland was sounded today by Rabbi Wolf Gold of Brooklyn, president of the Mizrachi Organization of America, at the opening session of the annual convention of that body held in Buffalo, NY.  “Detailing the Mizrahi’s program for Palestine which calls for a rebuilding along strict orthodox line, Rabbi “Gold held that the organization was the only one in the world which could accomplish the task of taking back to the homeland the ancient principles of Judaism.”  On a more practical note, “Rabbi Gold reported that…$40,000,000 has been invested in more than 63,000 acres of orange groves in Palestine.  Raising oranges is one of the chief industries of the homeland he said.”  Despite problems in the world economy, he reported that orange exports have “increased tremendously” over the last year.


1933(6thof Kislev, 5694): Seventy-three year old Russian born Rabbi Bernhard Rabbino who served congregations in several small towns including Keokuk, IA and Brunswick, GA, before becoming a lawyer and champion of the established of the “Domestic Relations Courts in New York” and who was the husband of “the former Anna Ladewig” with whom he had had four daughters passed away today.



1933: The German Law Against Dangerous and Habitual Criminals adopted today allows for compulsory castration of “hereditary” criminals.


1934: Lillian Hellman's drama “The Children's Hour” premiered on Broadway today for the first of   691 performances


1934: In “Engels in the Volga German Republic of the Russian SFSR”, Frankfurt born journalist and translator Harry Viktorovich Schnittke and Maria Iosifovna Schnittke (née Vogel) gave birth to composer Alfred Schnittke, the grandson of philologist and translator Tea Abramovna.



1934: Birthdate of New Yorker Martin Charnin, “best-known work is as conceiver, director and lyricist of the musical Annie.”


1934: “In Engels, in the Vogla-German Republic of the Russian SFSR” Frankfurt born Jewish journalist Harry Viktorovich Schnittke and Maria Iosifovna Schnittke, gave birth to Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke, creator of the oratorio “Nagasaki.”


1935: Birthdate of Los Angeles native Mordicai Gerstein the Caldecott Medal winning illustrator whose works include The Man Who Walked Between the Towers.


1936: According to testimony given today before the royal commission of inquiry by officials of the Palestine government including B.G. Harris, irrigation adviser to the development department; B.G. Harris, irrigation adviser to the development department, F.G. Salman, Commissioner of Land and Surveys and N.C. Bennett, assistant director of land surveys, “nothing has been done by the mandatory government to fulfill Article VI of the Palestine Mandate, calling for the facilitation of the settlement of Jews on government land.


1936: “About 600 University of Warsaw students, a third of them girls, locked themselves in the college building today and announced they would refuse to leave until the university agreed to segregate the Jews.”


1936: The Jerusalem Arab daily newspaper al-Liwa demanded the Peel commission should reach only one conclusion: ‘a National Arab Government’ throughout Palestine.


1937: The Reich is about to assume permanent control of the property of the Jewish shipping operator, Arnold Bernstein, without awaiting his conviction on "economic treason" charges. His trial before the Hamburg Emergency Court has been going on for ten days


1938: Winston Churchill condemned the British stewardship of Palestine in speech in the House of Commons.


1938: In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Chicago native Sylvia Polisky, the daughter of Samuel and Sarah Braverman Polisky became Sylvia Padzensky today when she married Edward Padzensky in what became a “love affair that lasted for more than fifty years.”


1939: “Catholic Welfare Council Helped Jews and Others in Reich” published today described the organization’s efforts to refugees from “Germany and countries under the sway of the German Reich” which has included raising $285,486 to help those of Jewish extractions as well as “a large number of Catholics classified as ‘non-Aryans’”


1939: “Links Zionist Aims to Democratic Way” published today described Rabbi Stephen S. Wise’s belief that those “who really believed in democracy had no choice but to support the establishment of a Jewish commonwealth in Palestine.”


1939: It was reported today that Junior Hadassah has raised “about $100,000 for its undertakings in Palestine” and that it will be a hospital for the children’s Village at Meier Shfeyah to be named for Miss Alice Seligsberger” who “was in charge of the Zionist medical unit which went to Palestine in the World War and established a network of hospitals and similar institutions.


1939: Due in part “to the continued sales of stocks formerly owned by Jews for the Reich’s account” in Berlin, “the share index advanced slightly to 102.07. (Anti-Semitism is good for business)


1940: Slovakia becomes a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis Powers. Regardless of the impact of Slovakian troops on the fighting on the Eastern Front, this move helped lay the groundwork for the Jewish community which saw 65,000 of its 77,000 shipped to the camps and their death by 1945.


1940: The Atlantic, with 1,783 illegal Jewish refugees on board was escorted into the harbor at Haifa.  How determined were the British to keeps Jews out Palestine?  Consider the following; at this time in 1940, Britain stood alone against the Nazis.  France had surrendered the previous June. The Soviet Union was still an ally of Hitler and would not enter the fray until June of 1941.  The United States would not enter the fight for another year.  The U-boat wolf-packs were sinking British ships in the North Atlantic.  Yet at a time when British merchant vessels need all the protection they could get. British warships were cruising the Mediterranean so they could keep a few thousand Jews out Palestine.  


1941: A ghetto was set up at Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia in the old barracks and then in the walled town itself. All the 3,700 local inhabitants were moved out. Although Theresienstadt was set up as a "model settlement," its death rate reached 50% in 1942 through starvation and epidemics. During an investigation by the Red Cross in June 1943 the Germans changed the external appearance of the town and deported many so that there would be less overcrowding. All the interviews were carefully orchestrated and immediately after the visit most of the "actors" were then deported. In all 140,937 Jews were sent to Theresienstadt, of whom 33,529 died in the ghetto and 88,196 were deported to death camps. There were 17,247 persons left in the ghetto when it was liberated.


1941: After premiering last month in London, “49th Parallel,” a British war movie based on an original story by Emeric Pressburger who wrote the screenplay and starring Leslie Howard was released in the United Kingdom.


1941: "Life Certificates" were distributed to some Jews of the Vilna Ghetto. By now most of the Jews of Vilna had been slaughtered.  Only about 15,000 Jews held “yellow certificates” and these would do them little good.  By the end of the war, 96% of the Jews of Vilna would be dead.


1941: Karel Švenk “was one of the first artists to be deported to Terezín today, and was among the 342 young Jewish men sent to prepare the previously non-Jewish camp for the Jewish artist inmates to follow.”


1942: American born Zionist leader Rechaviah Lewin Epstein was buried in Rehoboth today.


1942: Dr. Stephen S. Wise presided over a memorial service for the late Rechaviah Lewin Epstein in the New York Offices of the American Emergency Committee for Zionist Affairs


1942: During the Battle of Stalingrad Field Marshall Erich von Manstein “advised Hitler not order the break out by the 6th Army” because his forces could break through the Soviet lines and relieve the embattled group at the same time that Goring boasted that the Luftwaffe could resupply the force – two pieces of advice that Hitler wanted to hear but that sealed the fate of the German forces and led to the loss that was a turning point in WW II.


1942: Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, a founder and president of the World Jewish Congress, announces at a press conference that the United States State Department has confirmed that Europe's Jews are being slaughtered by the Nazis. Wise estimates that the Germans have already murdered two million Jews, which is an understatement;


1942: Birthdate of Earl Leslie Krugel, the West Coast coordinator of the Jewish Defense League.


1942: “Blood and Banquets: A Berlin Social Diary” by Bella Fromm is scheduled to be published today.  Fromm is a German Jewish reporter who left Germany just before the outbreak of World War II.  The book is based on her first-hand observations of the Nazi leaders in Berlin.


1943: Mordechai "Modi" Alon who had enlisted in the RAF in 1940 finally began his flight training today in Rhodesia.  Alon would one of the IAF’s first pilots and hero of the War for Independence.


1943: “Easy Aces” starring Goodman Ace and his wife Jane, two Jews from Kansas City, became a one-half-hour-per-week broadcast at 7:30 PM on CBS radio.


1943: In Washington, DC, Theodore Rosenberg who worked at the Pentagon and his wife Isabelle gave birth to Leslie Rosenberg, who gained fame as Leslie R. Wolfe, “a longtime leader of the Center for Women Policy Studies.” (As reported by Amisha Padnani)



1944: Birthdate of former congressman and Agriculture Secretary, Dan Glickman.


1946(1stof Kislev, 5707): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1946: Fifty-one year old Hungarian born ”László Moholy-Nagy, “arguably one of the greatest influences on post-war art education in the United States” and convert to the Hungarian Reformed Church passed away today in Chicago.




1946: Today’s concert, during which Dame Julia Myra Hess played Beethoven’s Third Symphony with the NBC Symphony Orchestra “was preserved on transcription discs and later issued on CD by Naxos Records.”


1946: “The formal installation of Joseph Smith as the new rabbi of Temple B’nai Israel in Burlington, NJ is scheduled to take place this evening at 8 p.m. in the social hall.


1946: The Philadelphia Sphas led by Inky Lautman, Sol Schwartz and Bernie Opper are scheduled to play the Brooklyn Gothams tonight in American Basketball League game at the Broadway Brooklyn Arena.


1946: Birthdate of Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, the New York born Sephardic Jew who became the director of New York University's Alexander Hamilton Center for Political Economy


1946: “Report on the Sanitary and Medical Organization of the Monowitz Concentration Camp For Jews (Auschwitz-Upper Silesia)” by Dr. Leonardo De Benedetti, Physician and Surgeon and Dr. Primo Levi, Chemist was published in the Turin-based medical journal Minerva Medica. The material will be republished in 2007 as Auschwitz Reportby Primo Levi.


1947: The Jewish Agency (part of the de facto Jewish government in Palestine) began registering “Jewish youths to work for and defend” the as yet undeclared and unrecognized Jewish state.


1947: Birthdate of Eli Ben-Menachem, the native of Bombay who made Aliyah in 1949 and has served as an MK and as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset.


1947: A group of writers, producers and directors, known later as the Hollywood 10, was cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer a committee’s questions about alleged communist influence in the film industry. This was viewed as part of right wing America’s war against “Jewish Hollywood.”  This was actually part of the first round of what would later come to be called the Culture Wars which have always had a taint of anti-Semitism to them.


1947: The House of Representatives overwhelming vote to approve citations for contempt of Congress citations against the Hollywood Ten for the “defiance” of the mis-named House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).  “Of the Hollywood Ten, six - John Howard Lawson, Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Albert Maltz and Samuel Ornitz — were Jews.”


1948: The UN Truce Mission announces “a provisional…truce line” between Arab and Israeli forces.


1949: “Israel and Egypt signed an armistice whereby the Nitzana region, situated in Israel, was declared a demilitarized zone. The armistice agreement also stipulated that on the Egyptian side of the border "no Egyptian defensive positions shall be closer to El Auja than El Qouseima and Abou Aoueigila


1950: Guys and Dollsa musical by Frank Loesser and Abe Burrowsopened at the 46th Street Theatre and enjoyed a run of 1,200 performances.


1951(25thof Cheshvan, 5712): Parashat Chayei Sarah


1951(25thof Cheshvan, 5712): Seventy year old Dora Shubert Wolf, the daughter of David and Gittel Shubert, the wife of Milton Wolf and the sister to theatre owning Shubert brothers passed away today.


1953(17thof Kislev, 5714): Sixty-year old Abraham Krotoshinsky who earned a Distinguished Service Cross for his role in rescuing the “Lost Battalion” during WW I passed away today.


1956: After 1,063 the curtain comes down on the original Broadway production of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’ musical hit “The Pajama Game.”


1957(1stof Kislev, 5718): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1957(1stof Kislev, 5718): Seventy-eight year old Sir Alfred Eckhard Zimmern, the Christian Oxford trained professor of “Jewish Descent” and Laborite who became a supporter of Zionism passed away today in Avon, CT.




1958: Yisrael Barzilai began serving as Minister of Postal Services in Israel.


1959: CBS broadcast “Merman on Broadway” featuring songs from “Gypsy,” the musical ‘with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents” that included an appearance by Tab Hunter (born Arthur Andrew Klein)/


1963: Today, Life magazine “purchased all rights” to Abraham Zapruder’s film of the Kennedy Assassination.


1963:Jack Ruby, born Jacob Leon Rubenstein, the Chicago born son of Jewish immigrants from Poland, shot and mortally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy. 


1967: Life published selected frames Abraham Zapruder’s film of the Kennedy Assassination.


1969: NBC broadcast the 1th episode of “My World and Welcome to it” created by Melville Shavelson, produced by Sheldon Leonard and Danny Arnold.


1970: ITV broadcast “A Pipe and A Moustache” an episode of “The Lovers” a British sitcom created by Jack Rosenthal who also served as the writer and director.


1973: “Scream, Pretty Peggy” featuring Allan Arbus as “Dr. Eugene Saks” and Tovah Feldshuh as “Agnes Thornton” was broadcast for the first time on ABC’s Movie of the Week.


1974: American nuclear physicist and “ufologist” Stanton Friedman married Stella M. Kimball today in Los Angeles


1974: Birthdate of Sam Kellerman, one of the four Kellerman brothers that included sportscaster Max Kellerman, an aspiring playwright who wrote “The Man Who Hated Shakespeare.”


1975: In Paris, Jews originally from Arab and Muslim countries...to establish the Tel Aviv-based World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries (WOJAC)


1976: Ninety-two refuseniks appealed to world Jewry for help in protesting searches in the apartments of the organizers of the symposium on Jewish culture.


1976: “Yevgeny Abezgauz, a leading Leningrad refusenik, received permission to emigrate to Israel.”


1982(8th of Kislev, 5743):  Seventy-seven year old Benny Friedman passed away. The University of Michigan football star was considered the first of the great professional passing quarterbacks.  After WW II, he served as the Athletic Director and Football Coach for Brandeis University



1983: The PLO exchanged 6 Israeli prisoners for 4,500 Arabs held by the government of Israel.  This would not be the last of such numerically disproportionate trades in which the Israelis would engage.


1985(11th of Kislev, 5746): Ninety-five year old Maurice Podoloff, the native of Elzabethgrad, Russia who graduated from Yale Law School and was the first Commissioner of the NBA passed away today in West Haven, CT.



1986:The original production of “Smile” “a musical with music by Marvin Hamlisch and book and lyrics by Howard Ashman opened on Broadway today at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.


1986: Susan Sontag’s short story “The Way We Live Now” which “remains a significant text on the AIDS epidemic” was “published today in The New Yorker.


1986: In a letter written today “explore Laurens van der post, after a visit to the Gulf with Princess Diana” Prince Charles “implied that the ‘influx of foreign, European Jews’ to Israel was to blame for fueling the Israeli-Arab conflict, and lamented that US presidents were unwilling to take on the American ‘Jewish lobby.’”


1990(7th of Kislev, 5751): Parashat Vayetzei


1990(7th of Kislev, 5751): Eighty-two year old Brooklyn native, Robert “Buck” Halpern who “played guard at the City College of New York from 1926-1928” and “then played as a guard in the NFL with the Staten Island Stapletons in 1930” passed away today.


1993: “Josh and S.A.M.” a comedy produced by Martin Brest in which Noah Fleiss made his film debut was released in the United States today.


1994 Paul Grosz, president of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien, opened library at the Jewish Museum in Vienna.


1994(21st of Kislev, 5755): Fifty-one year old David Patton Garfield who “became a successful cameraman and film editor” after he decided not to follow in the acting footsteps of his father John Garfield passed away today in Los Angeles.


1995(1st of Kislev, 5756): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1995(1st of Kislev, 5756): Ninety-five year old Dr. Moses Paulson, professor emeritus of gastroenterology at the Johns Hopkins medical school and an expert on digestive diseases, passed away today.



1997: As part of the process in which Zypora Frank, a Polish Jewess, learned that her family had owned part of the land on which the Auschwitz death camp stood, and where most of her mother's family perished she went to visit Auschwitz today. And there, in the records of the village that the Poles called Oswiecim, she found her grandfather's property -- now hers and her brother's. Fifteen square miles of what became the Auschwitz death camp had been his tile factory.


1999(15th of Kislev, 5760): David Kessler, the man most responsible for making the Jewish Chronicle the most respected Jewish weekly in the world passed away. He achieved this by dint of his unwavering desire for fairness, his belief that all sections of a community must be given a fair hearing, his insistence on total independence, accuracy, economic stability and the need for accepting modern progress. As chairman and managing director for 50 years of the newspaper, in which he and his family held the majority of shares, Kessler was able to ensure, at times after a struggle, that it followed his principles.


1999: American-Jewish economist Joseph E. Stiglitz announced that he would resign as the World Bank's chief economist after using the position for nearly three years to raise pointed questions about the effectiveness of conventional approaches to helping poor countries".


1999: Eight days after it had premiered, “End of Days” directed by Peter Hyams who also served as the cinematographer was released in the United States toda.


2000(25th of Chehsvan, 5761): Maj. Sharon Arameh, 25, of Ashkelon was killed by Palestinian sniper fire in fighting near Neve Dekalim in the Gaza Strip.


2000(25th of Cheshvan, 5761): Ariel Jeraffi, 40, of Petah Tikva, a civilian employed by the IDF, was killed by Palestinian fire as he travelled near Otzarin in the West Bank


2000(25th of Cheshvan, 5761): Ariel Jeraffi, 40, of Petah Tikva, a civilian employed by the IDF, was killed by Palestinian fire as he travelled near Otzarin in the West Bank.


2001(9th of Kislev, 5762): Eighty-three year old Jacob Landau, the Philadelphia native whose works can be found in in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, the Museum of Modern Art, and the National Gallery past away today.



2002: The New York Times book section features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or on topics of special Jewish interest including A Moral Reckoning The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repairby Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, The Punch by John Feinstein, Take on the Street: What Wall Street and Corporate America Don't Want You to Know: What You Can Do to Fight Backby Arthur Levitt, Rising to the Light: A Portrait of Bruno Bettelheim by Theron Raines and The Pity of It All: A History of Jews in Germany, 1743-1933 by Amos Elon.


2002: The government adopts Resolution 2793 which provides the criteria for The Israel Antiquities Authority and the Old Acre Development Company, in cooperation with the Israel Lands Administration, to begin a rehabilitation and conservation project in Old Acre. The area where the work is to be done is called Block 10 and is located in the northwestern part of the city and represents the first of its kind effort in Acre since the creation of the modern state of Israel.


2002(19th of Kislev, 5763): Eighty-year old Richard S. Lazarus who was ranked as one of the “one hundred most eminent psychologists of the 20th century” passed away today.



2003(29th of Cheshvan, 5764):Rabbi Abraham Karp, a pulpit rabbi in Rochester, N.Y., and prominent scholar in American Jewish history, passed away today at the age of 82. Rabbi Karp, who served as spiritual leader of Temple Beth El in Rochester from 1956 to 1972, was a professor of history and religion at the University of Rochester until he retired in 1991 and was named professor emeritus of Jewish studies. He moved that year to New York, becoming adjunct professor of American Jewish history at the Jewish Theological Seminary of


2005: The Israeli bobsled team, a.k.a. the “Frozen Chosen” has chosen to defrost this year away from the slopes.


2006: The Jewish Daily Forward featured an interview with Rabbi Menachem Mendel Gershowitz.  The 26 year old Lubavitcher is the leader of the 5 Chabad Rabbis serving the needs of Kazakhstan’s 25,000 Jews. Rabbi Gershowitz stated that the treatment of the Jews of Kazakhstan bears no relationship to the images appearing in Sasha Cohen’s hit film “Borat.”  He is hoping that the movie never finds its way to Kazakhstan, as he fears it could hurt the warm relationship that the Kazakh president has with the Jewish community - and with Israel. ‘If he will think that the Jews are against him, and don’t like what he does, we will get the result,’ he said.


2007: After two months, the first major UK production of “Parade,” a “musical that dramatizes the 1913 trial of Jewish factory manager Leo Frank” came to a close today.


2007: Mark Dreyfus became a member of the Australian Parliament for the Division of Isaacs in the suburbs of Melbourne which was named after Sir Isaac Isaacs.


2007: In Jerusalem, as part of the International Oud Festival, Ladino singers Janet and Jak Esim close the musical event with a blend of Judeo-Spanish melodies and song.


2007: “David and Bat Sheba,” a new production of the COMPAS Dance Company premiers at Merkaz Habama, Ganei Tikva, Israel.


2007: A mild earthquake registering 4.1 on the Richter scale was felt in central Israel shortly after midnight between Friday and Saturday, days after a 4.2 tremor struck the northern Dead Sea earlier this week. Police said they had received no reports of injuries or damage. Reports of the quake were recorded, among other places, in Ra'anana, Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva, Rehovot and Jerusalem, Army Radio reported. Seismology experts said the epicenter of the earthquake was east of the city of Ramle, Israel Radio reported Saturday morning.


2008:As part of Works & Process at the Guggenheim in New York, a performance John Zorn’s Shir Ha-Shirim. Scored for five female voices and two narrators, Shir Ha-Shirim is John Zorn’s lush and sensitive setting of the Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s—perhaps the world’s first erotic verse. This romantic and lyrical project evokes feelings of love, eroticism, and spirituality and features a specially-commissioned dance work.


2008: Sports Illustrated magazine features a “Jewish Triple Header” with stories about Rena Glickman, the Jewish grandmother recognized as the “mother of woman’s judo,” charges of insider trading leveled by the S.E.C. against Maverick’s owner Mark Cuban and plans by Lew Wolff to move the Oakland A’s to Fremont, CA where he has promised Bob Wasserman, the town’s Jewish mayor, he will be building a $500 million baseball stadium using his own money.  


2008; Empire poultry which has already expanded its Turkey production to meet the demands of the Thanksgiving holiday reportedly is to begin “increasing its production of poultry today by 50%, thus putting about 100,000 more chickens on the market each week.”


2008:The United States Department of Agriculture is now verifying and certifying “numerous” claims by livestock and poultry sellers for nonpayment, according to a court motion filed today by a U.S. attorney in New York. In an unusual action, the United States district attorney for the Eastern District of New York is asking a New York bankruptcy judge to send Agriprocessors’ bankruptcy case to Iowa. Criminal and regulatory actions in Iowa against the Postville kosher meat processor were one of the reasons he offered for moving the case. Under the Packers and Stockyard Act, Agriprocessors must meet strict payment schedules for the purchase of livestock and poultry from local sellers.


2008: “The Jerusalem Foundation launched Jerusalem 2010, a campaign celebrating 150 years of British involvement in Jerusalem, at a special private event at London's Bevis Marks Synagogue. Sir Martin Gilbert, official biographer of Winston Churchill and author of the History of Jerusalem in the 19th Century, gave an address on 150 years of Britain and Jerusalem


2009: In “N.F.L. Head Injury Study Leaders Quit” published today “Pulitzer Prize nominated” New York Timesman Alan Schwarz continued his long-running coverage of the effect “of concussions among football players of all ages.”



2009: The British commission of inquiry chaired by Sir John Chilicot that was to examine the British role in the Iraq War which included Sir Martin Gilbert began its inquiry today,
2009: The oldest complete Spanish Torah scroll will be up for sale at Sotheby's Judaica auction today. The scroll, the only Spanish Torah to include the kabalistic traditions of curved letters, has an estimated worth of $300,000-$500,000. Yitzchok Reisman, a world-renowned sofer (scribe), discovered the 730-year-old scroll about 10 years ago, and was able to date it and identify its origin.


2009: In a program entitled “Above and Beyond attendees at the Washington DCJCC Learn over Lunch examine “The Origin of Ethics and Piety Out of the Pages of the Jewish Legal Tradition.”


2009(7 Kislev, 5770): Eighty-five year old Abe Pollin “the owner of the N.B.A.’s Washington Wizards, who built the sports arena that revitalized downtown Washington and was known for his wide-ranging philanthropy, passed away. (As reported by Richard Goldstein)



2010: The Yeshiva Beth Yehudah Annual Dinner is scheduled to take place at the Detroit Renaissance in Detroit, Michigan.


2010: Holocaust survivors of Greek extraction will soon have their Greek citizenship restored in an expedited process, the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitrios Dollis, who accompanied Prime Minister George Papandreou on his official visit to Israel in late July, told The Jerusalem Post today. 2010(17thof Kislev, 5771): Joel Daner, a West Orange, NJ man who devoted his life to Jewish communal service, died today at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, a few days after his 72nd birthday. He had been suffering from cancer for several years.


2010: Jonah Lerner and his wife Sarah Liebowitz bought the Shulman House (built of for photographer Julius Schulman) for $2, 250,000.


2011: The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress is scheduled to meet today at the King David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem where it is to elect businessman Vadim Shulman to be its new president


2011: Family and friends gather to celebrate the birthday of Bill Gasway, husband, father, grandfather, recent Bar Mitzvah and pillar of the Cedar Rapids Jewish community.


2011: Congressmen Ted Deutsch (D-FLA) and Steve Israel (D-NY) have asked US Comptroller-General Gene Dodaro to investigate the Palestinian Authority’s use of American funding, three weeks after MK Moshe Matalon (Israel Beiteinu) sent a letter informing the budget committees of the US Senate and House of Representatives of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s policy to pay murderers released from Israeli prisons $5,000 and build them new homes.


2011: A group of Palestinians and Iranians protested today against former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as he was speaking to members of the Jewish community at a synagogue in Bochum, Germany.


2012: Millinery Center Synagogue is scheduled to present “The Controversial, The Amazing, and The Mystical Ideas in Judaism"


 2012: East Midwood Jewish Center, a conservative synagogue, in Brooklyn is scheduled to host a benefit concert for the displaced victims of Hurricane Sandy this evening.


2012: Several armed groups belonging to Fatah in the Gaza Strip claimed today that they had also fired various types of rockets and missiles at Israel during Operation Pillar of Defense.


2012: Senior Hamas figure Mahmoud al-Zahar said today that Iran will increase the military and economic aid to Gazan groups because of the victory Hamas claims against Israel in Operation Pillar of Defense.


2013: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The State of Israel: ‘My Promised Land’ by Ari Shavit.


2013: The 55th Venice Biennale International art festival which includes a Vatican exhibit “Creation, Un-Creation, Re-Creation” based on the first 11 chapters of Bereshit is scheduled to come to an end today. (As reported by JTA)


2013(21stof Kislev, 5774): Eight-seven year old Mathew Bucksbaum, the native of Marshalltown, Iowa who went to become a successful realtor and mall developer passed away today,\.



2013: The Alexandria Kleztet is scheduled to perform in Camp Springs, MD.


2013: The JCC of Northern Virginia is scheduled to Maurice Sendak’s “Pincus and the Pig” – “a Jewish version of Peter and the Wolf.”


2013: At Temple Sinai in New Orleans, Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman is scheduled to deliver a lecture “Law or Love? What Are We All About?” as part of the Murray Blackman Memorial Weekend. (As reported by the Crescent City Jewish News)


2013: President Shimon Peres issued a special statement in which he addressed the deal signed last night between the P5+1 and Iran in Geneva.


2013: Prime Minister Netanyahu made the following remarks at the Cabinet Meeting in response to the agreement signed by the P5+1 and Iran. “What was achieved last night in Geneva is not an historic agreement; it is an historic mistake.”


2014: In Melbourne, “The Last Mentsch and “Gett, the Trial of Vivian Amsalem” are scheduled to be shown at the Jewish International Film Festival.


2014(2ndof Kislev): Yarhrzeit of Rabbi Aharon Kotler, the Lithuanian born American rabbi who worked to persuade Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau to work to save the Jews of Europe and founded the Yeshiva at Lakewood, NJ.


2014: “Coalition leaders decided today to delay a vote on the controversial “Jewish state” bill by one week, as ministers vowed to continue to oppose the measure even if it meant their jobs.” (As reported by Spencer Ho)


2014: An officer sustained minor injuries this evening when “an Arab man driving a stolen car ran over him in Kikar Adam near Binyamin before fleeing the scene, security forces said tonight. (As reported by Ido Ben Porat, Cynthia Blank)


2014: Ira Glass appeared on the Here's The Thing podcast.


2014; “Israeli journalist and author Israel Zamir, the only son of Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer is scheduled to be buried at Kibbutz Beit Alfa, “his home for 77 years.”


2015: Director Steven Spielberg, Israeli violinist Itzhak Perlman, singer Barbra Streisand, and playwright Stephen Sondheim are among those scheduled to be presented with the 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama at a White House ceremony today.


2015: The U.S.-led peacekeeper force in the insurgency-wracked Sinai will remain unchanged after Egypt and Israel rebuffed proposals to trim it by about a fifth, an Egyptian official said today


2015: Eighty-three year old Rita Berkowitz, a native of Romania who made Aliyah in 1951 “won the third annual Miss Holocaust Survivors Beauty Pageant in Haifa” today.


2015(12th of Kislev, 5776): Ninety-one year old attorney M. Roland Nachman, the Montgomery, Alabama born son of a prominent department store owner, “who opposed The New York Times in a libel case that resulted in a landmark Supreme Court decision establishing greater leeway for newspapers and individuals to criticize government officials and other public figures” passed away today. (As reported by Bruce Weber)



2015: A memorial evening to honor Sir Martin Gilbert, of blessed memory, is scheduled to be held this evening in Central London.


2016: Wildfires which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attributed to “natural and unnatural” causes “raged through central and northern Israel for a third day today, devouring forests, damaging homes and prompting the evacuation of thousands of people.”


2016: As we sit down to celebrate Thanksgiving we pause to remember the 8thanniversary of the Mumbai Massacre which occurred on Thanksgiving in 2008 and counted among its victims Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29; Rebbetzin Rivka Holtzberg, 28; Bentzion Kruman, 26; Rabbi Leibish Teitelbaum, 37; Yoheved Orpaz, 62 and Norma Shvarzblat Rabinovich, 50.



2017: Today, “Health Minister Yaakov Litzman informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he is stepping down after the government signed a deal for ongoing infrastructure work on rail lines to continue this Shabbat.”


2017(6thof Kislev, 5778): Eighty-four year old Rabbi Neil Gillman, the son of Ernest and Rebecca Gillman who was “one of the premiere theologians of the Conservative movement” passed away today.


 (As reported by Joseph Berger)




2017: The Oxford Jewish Society book club is scheduled to discuss Duties of the Heart this evening before services and the Shabbat dinner.


2017: Today, “The Trump administration backtracked on its decision to order the Palestinians’ office in Washington to close, instead saying it would merely impose limitations on the office that it expected would be lifted after 90 days.


2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such as Leo Rosten whose works included The Joys of Yiddish continues today.


2018(16thof Kislev, 5779): Shabbat Va-yishlach; for more see http://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/


2018: In further testament to the vitality of small community Jewish Life, in Coralville, IA, Agudas Achim is scheduled to host the baby naming during Shabbat morning services of Mila Rose O’Neill.


2018: The American Sephardi Federation and Chassida Shmella are scheduled to host the second day of an “authentic Ethiopian Jewish weekend.”


 



 



 



 



 



 


 


 


 


 

This Day, November 25, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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November 25

2348 BCE: According to Archbishop James Ussher's Old Testament chronology, the Great Deluge ("Noah's Flood") began on this date.



407 BCE: Yedanaiah petitioned Bagohi, the governor of Yehud to rebuild the Jewish Temple at Elephantine.



http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/westsem/templeauth.html



1120: The White Ship sinks in the English Channel, drowning William Adelin, son of Henry I of England.  The sinking of the ship would lead to chaos since William was Henry’s only male heir. When Henry, who treated his Jewish subjects well, passed away civil war broke out between the claimants to the throne. The crown went to King Stephen who was opposed by the Empress Matilda. Both monarchs raised cash from the Jews. Matilda had placed a levy on the Jews of Oxford and, on seizing the city, King Stephen demanded a levy three and a half times that of Matilda. The king forced payment by the simple expedient of burning the Jews’ houses one by one until the full sum was paid. On the other hand, King Stephen did protect his Jewish subjects from those who were going off to join the Second Crusade.  Things would improve for England and the Jews of England as well, when Henry I’s grandson, Henry II finally took the throne.


1177:  Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Raynald of Chatillon defeats Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard.  The Crusader victory was one of their last in the Holy Land and only delayed the inevitable return of Jerusalem to Moslem control.  For Jews, Moslem control was comparatively better than Christian control.


1277: Nicholas III began his papacy. “During his brief reign Nicholas displayed a considerable zeal for the conversion of the Jews. His bull Vineam sorce encouraged conversion through "sermons and other means." Copies of the document were sent (1278–79) to the *Franciscans and provincial priors of the *Dominicans in various provinces. Concurrently, however, he renewed the decisions of his predecessors forbidding the forcible baptism of Jews and protecting them from attacks by Christians. Nevertheless, several *Church councils and synods legislated against the free intercourse of Jews and Christians. It is not clear whether it was the supposed hostility of Nicholas or his mildness toward the Jews which prompted Abraham b. Samuel *Abulafia to announce his intention of visiting the pope to demand the release of captive Jews. (When he arrived, however, the pope was already on his deathbed.)” (As reported by Jewish Virtual Library)


1357: Charles IV issued an edict protecting the Jews of Strasbourg. Two years later, amidst rumors about well-poisonings, 1,000 Jews would be burned and the remainder forcibly baptized.  Rumor trumped Royal Protection


1420: Pope Martin Vfavorably reinstates old privileges of the Jews and orders that no child under the age of twelve can be forcibly baptized without parental consent


1489:  A work popularly referred to as “Abudarham's Siddur” was published for the first time in Lisbon.  Actually the book was untitled by its author David Abudarham, a Jewish scholar who lived in Seville (Spain) in the first part of the 14th century.  He modestly referred to his work as “Ḥibbur Perush ha-Berakot we-ha-Tefillot."  In fact it was a commentary on the various prayers tracing their origins and providing information about their liturgical significance.  This volume proved to be so popular that it went through nine editions the last of which appeared in Warsaw in the middle of the 19th century.  The printer was Eliezer Alantansi who used a lion rampant on a shield as his printer’s mark. “In his first publication, the Tur Orah Hayyim (1485), it is framed in red; in his second book, the Tur Yoreh Deah (1487), the frame is black; in his third book, the undated Pentateuch [1487-88], the lion appears without a frame. The designer and cutter is probably Alfonso Fernandez de Cordoba, who, no doubt, created the beautiful types and ornaments for Alantansi's books.”


1491:  The siege of Granada last Moorish stronghold in Spain began. When the siege is over, Spain will be united as a Catholic nation and Jews will be confronted with the choice of conversion or expulsion.


1491: Muley Abdu-Abdallah, the last Moorish ruler of Granada signed a secrety treaty with Ferdinand and Isabella, in which he agreed to surrender the city and its surrounding territory at a future date (January, 1492).  Included in the terms was a provision that Jews were to be allowed the same rights of protection that were being extended to the Moors.  However, "relapsed Marranos" were given one month to leave the city.  After that time they would be turned over to the Inquisition.  Also, the Moorish King made the incoming Christian monarchs promise that no Jew would serve as an "officer of justice, tax-gather, or commissioner" if holding that position would mean that the Jew would have authority over any Muslim.


1622:  "Christian IV, King of Denmark, addressed a letter to the Jewish Council of Amsterdam asking them to encourage some of their members to settle in his state.  He promised them freedom of worship and other favorable privileges."


1626: Sixty year old Edward Alleyn the English actor who was the first to play the title role of “Barabas” in Marlowe’s “Jew Of Malta” passed away today.


1707(1st of Kislev, 5468):Jente Opennheimer passed away today in Vienna.


1738: Birthdate of German mathematician Thomas Abbt who in 1763 entered a competition that was sponsored by the Berlin Academy for an essay on the application of mathematical proofs to metaphysics that was won by Moses Mendelssohn whom Abbt “yearned” to have as “his close friend” and to whom he “poured out…the deepest meditations of his troubled soul.”


1744: Austrian soldiers killed an untold number of Jews in Prague.


1761(1st of Kislev): The first Jewish social and civic club in North America was founded in Newport, RI


1769: Lazarus Eliezer Leiser Joseph van Geldern the son of Joseph Jacob Juspa van Geldern and Braeunle Brunella van Geldern passed away in Duesseldorf where he had been born in 1695.


1783: American forces retake New York from the British. Jews who had fled the British were able to return. Jews who were loyal to the Crown left along with other Loyalists making their homes in Canada or returning to England. Many of the Jews had taken refuge in Philadelphia, including Raabi Gershom Mendez Seixas who returned to the pulpit at Shearith Israel.


1795:  Stanislaus August Poniatowski the last king of independent Poland, is forced to abdicate and is exiled to Russia.  This marks the last act in the third and final partition of Poland.  “Polish” Jews now live in Austria, Germany and Russia.  As a result of the partition of Poland, Russia ended up with millions of Jews.  The Czars had worked long and hard to make and keep their empire “Jew free.”  Their greed for Polish land created their “Jewish problem.”  The shift from Poland to Russia dealt a mortal blow to the welfare of the Jewish people for the duration of the 19thcentury and on into the 20th century.


1799(27thof Cheshvan, 5560): In Frankfurt am Main, Benedict-Benedikt Moses Worms and Schönche Jeanette Worms gave birth to Zerline Worms who became Zerline Beyfus after her marriage.


1802: In Prague gave Michael Klapp, the son of Wolf Klapp and his wife Sara gave birth to Abraham Klapp


1806: Birthdate of French financier Isaac Pereire who was the grandson of Jacob Rodrigues Pereire. During the 19th century, the Pereires were financiers on a par with the Rothschilds.  Unlike the Rothschilds, the Piereires were Sephardim who traced their ancestry to Portugal. (As reported by Meyer Kayersling, Isidore Singer and Jacques Kahn) 


1818: Today’s “report of the Administration of the Margraviate of Saxony shows that it intended to expel Joseph Friedlander” effective November 1, 1819.


1823: Birthdate of Francis Joseph Schuster, the Frankfurt born merchant and convert to Christianity who moved to Manchester in 1866 to continue his career


1829: Henry Abrahams married Ann Barnett today at the Great Synagogue.


1829: In Zerbst, Jakob Hirsch, a merchant, and Bertha Elkisch Bendix gave birth to Jenny Hirsch wrote for the Bazarunder the pseudonym J. N. Heynrichs until 1864 when she became active in the cause of women’s rights.



1830: Birthdate of Breslau native Lina Bauer, who gained fame Lina Morgenstern, the wife of Theodore Morgenstern whom she married in 1850 and who was a noted author, feminist, pacifist and a member of the German Peace Society as well as the mother of five children – Clara, Olga, Martha, Michael and Alfred.


1838: In New York Benvenida Solis and Leon Ritterband gave birth to Joseph Ritterband, the first of their seven children.


1850: Abraham Einstein and Helene Moos gave birth to Jakob Einstein a younger brother of Hermann Einstein.


1852: A banquet celebrating the 31st anniversary of the Hebrew Benevolent Society began at 8 pm in New York City’s Chinese Assembly Rooms on Broadway.  The evening raised over $5,000 in donations which ranged in amounts from $10 to $150.


1853: The New York Times reported that yesterday, which was celebrated as day of Thanksgiving by the people of New York, "the Jews laid the cornerstone of a new hospital for people of their persuasion."


1853: “The Jews In Europe” published today focused on the treatment of the Jews by the government of Austria. Reports “that the Austrian Government has revived the system of intolerance against the Jewish subjects” were misleading because “there was no need of a revival of the system of intolerance, because the Austrian Government have at all times been cruel and malicious against the unfortunate Jewish inhabitants.”


1856 (27th of Cheshvan): Danish philanthropist Simon Aaron Eibeschuetz passed away


1856: Four days after she had passed away, Anne Cohen, the wife of Abraham Cohen was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”


1858: Birthdate of Paul Haupt, the German born American Assyriologist who “projected and edited the Polychrome Bible, a critical edition of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, and a new English translation with notes” and published critical texts of the following with notes: Canticles (1902), Koheleth (1905), Ecclesiastes (1905), Nahum (1907), Esther (1908) and Micah (1910)


1858: Today Solomon Beyfus was admitted to the Freedom of the City of London today “declaring that his father, Gotze Philip Beyfus late of Birmingham, was teacher of languages and had lived at 7 Bury Street in the City of London, a location adjacent to the Bevis Marks Synagogue.”


1859: Today, for the second time,  the Jewish Chronicle published an advertisement “for a German Lady to teach in her own language and to give instruction in Hebrew” from a “Ladies’ school” in Dover “where the number of pupils is small and where there are resident French and English Governesses


1863: Max Maretzek, the Moravian born American-Jewish maestro conducted the first performance of "Faust" in America


1863: During the Civil War, the Union broke the Confederate stranglehold at Chattanooga with the Battle of Missionary Ridge where Colonel Frederick “Knefler was in command of the combined 79th Indiana and 86th Indiana infantry regiments that led the unexpected charge up the center of the ridge and which led to his being “complimented” for the unexpected charge up the hill and for one of his fellow officers to write that Knefler ““richly merits a commission as brigadier-general for his gallantry displayed in the charging and taking of Missionary Ridge.”


1864:British statesman Benjamin Disraeli declared in a speech: 'Man is a being born to believe, and if no church comes forward with all the title deeds of truth, he will find altars and idols in his own heart and his own imagination.'  Disraeli had been baptized at his father’s insistence.  Disraeli was proud of his Jewish heritage and often vilified for it by his political enemies.


1865: In Cleveland, Ohio, founding of the Ungarischer Frauen Unterstutzungs Verein which meets on the “third Sunday of the month” and “pays a sick benefit.”


1869: New York businessman Daniel McFarland fatally shot New York Tribune reporter Albert Deane Richardson in front of Daniel Frohman, Jew from Ohio who was working as a clerk at the paper and would go to become a famous theatrical and film director.


1871: “The Bells, a play in three acts by Leopold Davis Lewis opened today at the Lyceum Theatre in London for the first of 151 performances.  “The Bells is a translation by Leopold Lewis of the 1867 play Le Juif Polonais (The Polish Jew) by Erckmann-Chatrian.”


1871: A pair of pantaloons which had been left hanging in front of a Jewish clothing store at No. 6 on Main Street in Brooklyn was stolen tonight.


1873: Birthdate of Russian born “Israeli engineer and businessman” Moshe Novomeysky who “was an early developer of the Palestine Potash Company.”


1874: Carol Schurz delivered a lecture at the Steinway Hall in New York as part of a course sponsored by the Hebrew Young Men’s Association.


1877: “Joseph II and the Jews” published today traces the history and impact of The Toleration Edict promulgated by the Austrian monarch.


1880: Rabbi de Sola Mendes delivered a talk in which he uses the “Passion Play” as an example of what he calls “Religion Out of Place.”


1880: In Offenburg, Germany David and Fanny Kahn gave birth to Adolf Kahn the husband of Bertha Kahn, both of whom were murdered during the Holocaust.


1880: In London, Marie (nee de Jongh) and Solomon “Sidney” Rees Woolf gave birth to author, publisher and civil servant Leonard Sidney Woolf, the husband of fellow author Virginia Woolf.


1880: It was reported today that Arthur Lieberman, the Jew who committed suicide in Syracuse was a Nhilist from Russia. He fled the country to avoid arrest after having written a pamphlet espousing his beliefs.  Apparently he shot himself because he was despondent over having to leave his family.


1881: Alexander and Ida Kursheedt gave birth to Jessie Millier


1881: Birthdate of Jacob Fichman the Moldavian born Hebrew writer who twice won the Biliak Prize and was awarded the Israel Prize for literature in 1957, a year before his death.


1881: Birthdate Angelo Roncalli.  Roncalli would enter history as John XXIII, the Pope of Reform who tried to improve relations between the Church and the Jewish People


1881: “A large number of” Jewish immigrants from Russia were among the 1,338 passengers who arrived at Castle Garden aboard the SS Silesia.


1883: “Peace in Galilee” published today described a visit to Bukeia, “an interesting community of Jews who maintain that they are the descendants of families who were not dispersed and that they are the only Jews in the whole of Palestine whose direct ancestors inhabited the same spot and cultivated the same land prior to the destruction of Jerusalem.”


1883: Pere Hyacinthe delivered a talk on “Catholic Reform in France” at New York’s Presbyterian Church during which he said that “Judaism is recognized in France and I am glad of it.”


1884: The Brooklyn Academy was the scene for tonight’s Grand Ball sponsored by the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.


1885: It was reported today that there are 70 boys enrolled in the Hebrew Technical Institute on Crosby Street.


1886: Mrs. Tillie Bernheimer (or Miss Lillie) provided Thanksgiving Dinner for the children at the United Hebrew Charities’ Industrial School on St. Mark’s Place.


1886: Birthdate of New Orleans native Percy Abraham Lemann, who matriculated at VMI in 1902 where he was part of the Class of 1906


1887: It was reported today that Dr. Joseph Silverman preached a Thanksgiving Day sermon at Temple Emanu-El entitled “Religious Liberty” in which he said “We meet today as Jews and Americans…as Jews in religion and as Americans in citizenship.”


1888: It was reported today that the Industrial School sponsored by the United Hebrew Charities plans to provide a Thanksgiving dinner at the school this year.


1889: Jacob Levy, a recent Jewish immigrant from Poland was beaten today when he mistakenly opened the door to the wrong apartment.


1890: Dr. H. M. Leipziger presented the claims of the Jews in Russia at today’s meeting of the New York Bureau of the Siberian Exile Petition Association a non-denominational group whose Executive Committee included Jacob H. Schiff.


1890: The funeral for Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery, the daughter of Juliana and Mayer de Rothschild was held at the Willesden Jewish Cemetery.


1890: In Bristol, England, Barnett (Dovber) and Hacha Rosenberg, native of Dvinsk gave birth to British poet Isaace Rosenberg who while serving as a Private in the 11th (Service) Battalion of The King's Own Royal Lancaster Regimentwas killed on the Western Front at the age of 27 on April 1, 1918.  He was the author of Poems from the Trenches which are considered by some to be among themost outstanding poems written during the First World War. “In The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell's landmark study of the literature of the First World War, Fussell identifies Rosenberg's Break of Day in the Trenchesas ‘the greatest poem of the war.’"


Break of Day in the Trenches



The darkness crumbles away.



It is the same old druid time has ever,



Only a live thing leaps my hand,



A queer sardonic rat,



As I pull the parapet’s poppy



To stick behind my ear.



Droll rat, they would shoot you if they knew



Your cosmopolitan sympathies.



Now you have touched this English hand



You will do the same to a German



Soon, no doubt, if it be your pleasure



To cross the sleeping green between.



It seems you inwardly grin as you pass



Strong eyes, fine limbs, haughty athletes



Less chanced than you for life,



Bonds to the whims of murder,



Sprawled in the bowels of the earth,



The torn fields of France.



What do you see in our eyes



At the shrieking iron and flame



Hurled through still heavens?



What quaver - what heart aghast?



Poppies whose roots are in man’s veins



Drop, and are ever dropping;



But mine in my ear is safe,



Just a little white with the dust.



He was killed on April 1, 1918 while fighting on the Western Front. His self-portrait hangs in the British National Portrait Gallery.



1892: Birthdate of Dresden native Max Ehrlich “one of the great comics of the pre-war Berlin whose last performance was reportedly at Auschwitz.



http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/camps/western-europe/westerbork/max-ehrlich/



1893: Herman Lottmann who has owned a saloon for years in Brooklyn “announced today that he intended to quit the liquor business because “I am a Jew” who has been harassed by a gang of Irish ruffians for the past year and the courts have been no help.  “Lottmann said his wife had threatened to leave him if he had license renewed.



1894(10th of Kislev, 5716): In Berlin, fifty year old Dr. Arnold Heinrich Bodek, “also known Aaron Chaim” the husband of Malwine Malva Bodek, passed away today.



1895:Herzl begins a two days visit Colonel Goldsmid, leader of the British Hovevei Zion (Lovers of Zion) Movement, in Cardiff, Wales.



1896: After his return to Vienna, Herzl reworks the "Rede an die Rothschilds" and a new work finally emerges: Der Judenstaat: Versuch einer modernen Lösung der Judenfrage or in English The Jewish State: An Attempt at a Modern Solution of the Jewish Question. “Theodore Herzl's pamphlet Der Judenstaat, The Jewish State, heralded the coming of age of Zionism….In The Jewish State, Herzl envisioned that diplomatic activity would be the primary method for attaining the Jewish State and he called for the organized transfer of Jewish communities to the new state. Of the location of the state, Herzl said, ‘We shall take what is given us, and what is selected by public opinion.’ Herzl's The Jewish State included social innovations such as the seven-hour working day. In general, he was interested in an economy where free enterprise and state involvement went hand-in-hand. It was to be a modern, sophisticated and technologically advanced and Europeanized society. The Jewish Stateestablished Herzl as the leader of Zionism, and the "father of the Zionist Idea." Zionist also provoked considerable opposition, in particular from the assimilationst Jews of Central and Western Europe. The book became required reading for all Zionists and was taken as the basic platform of political Zionism. In conclusion, he wrote: ‘And what glory awaits those who fight unselfishly for the cause! Therefore I believe that a wondrous generation of Jews will spring into existence. The Maccabeans will rise again. Let me repeat once more my opening words: The Jews who wish for a State will have it. We shall live at last as free men on our own soil, and die peacefully in our own homes. The world will be freed by our liberty, enriched by our wealth, magnified by our greatness. And whatever we attempt there to accomplish for our own welfare, will react powerfully and beneficially for the good of humanity.’” 



For more information about The Jewish State and complete copy of the text see http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/index.html, click on the icon “Israel” scroll down to Zionism, and then go to  Excerpts From Herzl's The Jewish State.



1897(30th of Cheshvan, 5658): Rosh Chodesh Kislev



1897: Dr. Gustav Gottheil will deliver a sermon entitled “The Most Religious Day of the Year in America” during Thanksgiving Services at Temple Emanu-El which begin at 11 a.m.



1897: At New York’s Agudath Yesharim(Jersharim), Rabbi J.P. Solomon will officiate at the Thanksgiving Services starting at 3 p.m.



1897: Two days after he had passed away, 70 year old Morris Lack was buried today at the “Plashet Jewish Cemetery in London.”



1897: The Young Men’s Hebrew Association will lead Thanksgiving Services at Temple B’Nai Jeshrun beginning at 3 p.m.



1897: “The children of the Industrial and Sabbath Schools of the United Hebrew Charities will have a Thanksgiving Dinner today at 58 St. Mark’s Place at noon.



1897: The Cadet Corps of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum provide a full dress parade as part of the today’s Thanksgiving celebration.



1897: The Hebrew Orphan Asylum on Amsterdam will hold services 3 pm.



1897: Emile Zola addressed a letter to Le Figaro that might have been called “The Injustice of French Justice” since the author “intimated that he believed Dreyfus was innocent” and that he had the proof for this belief.  The letter ended “The truth is on the way; nothing can stop it.”



1897: “To Begin Its Receptions” published today described plans for a series of upcoming functions hosted by the Young Folks’ League of the Hebrew Infant Asylum.



1898: Birthdate of Regina Gotlop, the native of Tarnow, Poland who was part of Convoy 25 that left Drancy for Auschwitz on August 28, 1942



1898: “Former Counsel General…Opposes Expansion” published today provided the view Simon Wolf, the former United States Counsel to Egypt on how this country should deal with Cuba and the Philippines, countries that were part of the Spanish Empire until the recent U.S. victory in the Spanish-American War.  Wolf is opposed to annexation.  He thinks that we should develop a special relationship with both of them, in the way that England has with Egypt.  But he believes that we must make them independent and not annex them.  (The disposition of former parts of the Spanish Empire including Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines was “a hot political topic” at the end of the 19thcentury and is interesting that a leading Jewish statesman would take the stand for individual and national liberty as opposed to imperial expansion.)



1899: The final performance of “The Children of the Ghetto” will take place tonight at the Herald Square Theatre.



1899: Mme. Nevada’s final performance this evening at the Metropolitan Opera House was a fund-raiser for the benefit of the Hebrew Infant Asylum which is need of help to pay for the “recent heavy expenditures” resulting from the modernization and enlargement of its facility on Eagle Avenue and 161stStreet.



1899(23rd of Kislev, 5660): Eighty-seven year old Jewish merchant and philanthropist Marcus Nordheim whose assets amounted to 10 million marks part of which were used to establish the Nordheim Foundation, passed away today.



1900: At Cape May, NJ. Meyer S. Isaacs presided over the ceremonies held to dedicate De Hirsch Hall, the new dormitory of the Baron de Hirsch Agricultural and Industrial School at Woodbine.  Woodbine an agricultural colony founded 12 years ago.  With a population of 1,000, it is the most successful De Hirsch funded colony in New Jersey.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9900E2DA133EE333A25755C2A9679D946197D6CF



1901: It was reported today Marks Arnheim has spent the last three days looking for the person who has printed and distributed circulars urging a boycott of his tailoring shop on the corner of Broadway and 9thStreet in New York.



1902: Birthdate of Morris Lapidus, the Russian-born American architect who was responsible for the design of resort hotels in Miami and Miami Beach in the 1950’s.



1903: In Boston, the Sons of Zion is scheduled to host a ball today.



1903: Birthdate of Henri Samuel Sack, the Swiss-born, American holder of a “doctorate in experimental physics who worked at Zurich University and was “a resident associate in applied physics at Cornell University” becoming a full professor in 1949 while working on “applied physics, supersonics, analog computers and the elastic properties of solids.



1904(17th of Kislev,5665): Seventy-four year old Henry Strauss, a native of Alsace who served in the 10th Mississippi Infantry and was buried in the Beth Israel Cemetery, passed away today.



1905: Soprano Lina Abarbanell, the Berlin born daughter of Paul Abarbanell, “a descendent of a prominent Sephardic Jewish family of Bulgarian descent, was a well-known Berlin musical director” made “her debut today at the Metropolitan Opera House as “Hansel” in “Hansel und Gretel.”



1905: Today, President Dabney of the University of Cincinnati spoke at Hebrew Union College during the celebration marking “the 250thanniversary of the settlement of Jews in America.”



1905: After 3 months, “Catch of the Season,” a two act musical produced by Charles Frohman was performed for the last time at Daly’s Theatre in New York.



1905: Mr. Arnold Kohn said today “that although the contributions at the State Bank” deposited into the fund for the Russian Jews “came mostly from the poor” $20,000 has been deposited in to the account.



1905: Jacob H. Schiff received a letter today from Jacob G. Schurman, the President of Cornell University in which he enclosed his check “for the fund in relief of the suffering Jews of Russia whose terrible condition appeals to the universal heart of mankind.”  Schurman, a native of Canada whose family came from the Netherlands wrote, “The atrocities of the Russian mob have been beyond all description or imagination.  Such an exhibition of bigotry, intolerance and racial hatred has seldom if ever, disgraced the history of the mankind.  And to crown the horrors of it, the fiendish mob invoke the name of Jesus of Nazareth, who preached good will to men…”



1907: The Neu-Isenburg orphanage for Jewish girls (Mädchenwohnheim Neu-Isenburg) founded by Bertha Pappenheim began operation today.



1908(1st of Kislev, 5669): Rosh Chodesh Kislev



1908(1st of Kislev, 5669): A.M. Edelweiss passed away in Cuba.



1909: In New York City, William and Gussie (Goldenberg) Feuer gave birth Columbia Law School trained attorney Mortimer Feuer, a “partner firm Hays, Feuer, Porter & Spanier” and the first vice president of the Amsterdam Democratic who married Louis Younker Gottschall with whom he had two sons – Thomas and Richard.



https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/12/18/78549458.pdf



https://prabook.com/web/mortimer.feuer/1067608



1909: Turks resolve to grant all requested privileges to Jewish soldiers, except kosher food



1910: Birthdate of Léon Poliakov, the Russian born French historian whose field of expertise was Holocaust and anti-Semitism. In November 1950, Poliakov wrote "The Vatican and the 'Jewish Question' - The Record of the Hitler Period-And After," in the influential Jewish journal Commentary which was the first article to consider the attitude of the papacy during World War II and the Holocaust.



1911: “Replying to inquiries from Mr. O’Grady, MP, Sir Edward Grey, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs” stated  “that the Government is aware of discrimination against English Jews practiced by the Russian Government in the matter of passports; that no agreement countenancing such discrimination exists between Great Britain and Russia; and that so long as the ‘Russian regulations respecting person of the Jewish faith are applied to all persons alike, irrespective of nationality, which His Majesty’s Government have reason to believe to the case, they have no treaty grounds for protest.”



1911: The “North Manchester Synagogue” adopted “resolutions regretting that invitations to the forthcoming conference on the Chief Rabbinate have been withheld from a number of congregations and declaring that no Chief Rabbi will be recognized as spiritual head of British Jewry who has not been chosen by votes of all Orthodox Hebrew Congregations of Great Britain and Ireland.”



1912(15th of Kislev, 5673): Sixty-two year old Isidor Raynor who represented the Fourth Congressional District of Maryland from 1887 to 1889 and 1891 to 1895 and served as U.S. Senator from Maryland from 1905 until today, passed away.



1912: ‘The next regular meeting of the Junior Auxiliary of the Mother’s Aid of the Chicago Lying-In Hospital and Dispensary is scheduled to be held at 2 o’clock this afternoon in the vestry rooms of  Temple Isaiah in Chicago, Illinois.



1912: The following article entitled “Daughters of Jacob Honor Ida Straus” described the memorial ceremony commemorating the life of this Jewess who went down with her husband on the Titanic.



 In the presence of an audience of 600 persons, including all of the members of the Straus family, a memorial tablet in honor of Ida Straus was unveiled yesterday at the Home of the Daughters of Jacob, an institution for aged men and women at 301 and 303 East Broadway. Impressive services marked the official dedication of the tablet, which has been mounted upon the wall of the large auditorium to the right of the main entrance.The large bronze casting bears the raised profile of Mrs. Straus upon the centre, directly under the inscription; “The Ida Straus Memorial of the Home of the Daughters of Jacob.” On one side are the words “Her life was beautiful” and the date in the Hebrew calendar of Mrs. Straus’s birth, “Shebat 14, 5609.” On the other side is the inscription “Her death was glorious,” and the date of the Titanic disaster, “Nisan 28, 5672.” Below the profile are the words:To the everlasting memory of Mrs. Ida Straus, one of the noble and heroic daughters in Israel, the hospital wards of this home are dedicated. She perished on the high seas in the Titanic disaster, together with her husband, Isidor Straus, statesman, philanthropist, and merchant, persistenly [sic] refusing to be saved that she might remain to cheer the last moments of her life’s companion.



Beneath is this quotation:



Where thou Diest Will I Die, and There Will I Be Buried. RUTH



The Rev. Dr. Nathan Abramson opened the dedication services with a hymn, in which he led a selected chorus of sixteen voices. The Rev. H. Pereira Mendes delivered the opening prayer, in which he expressed the hope that the example of the heroic and devoted wife in whose memory the tablet was erected and to whose lasting fame the wards of the hospital were dedicated might be forever an inspiration to the women of her race and ancient creed.  Dr. Henry Fleischman, President of the Educational Alliance, made the principal address. He lauded the modest charity and kindliness of Mrs. Straus and the great unselfish works of her husband in the public service. Other speakers were Joseph Barondes of the Board of Education, the Rev. Dr. Schulman, pastor of the Congregation of Beth-El; the Rev. H. Masliansky of the People’s Synagogue, and Gustavus A. Rogers, who acted as Chairman. The most impressive incident of the dedication occurred when the 186 inmates of the home, led by Supt. Albert Kruger, filed slowly into the auditorium and took their seats in the front rows. The oldest of the feeble and decrepit men and women was said to be almost 108, and the youngest in the procession more than 70 years old. Just before the close of the exercises they arose and with quavering voices chanted aloud in unison a prayer for the eternal happiness of their departed benefactress. Among those seated on the platform were Mr. and Mrs. Percy Straus, Mr. and Mrs. Oscar S. Straus, Mrs. Nathan Straus, Herbert Straus, Jesse I. Straus, Mrs. Weil, Mr. and Mrs. Lazarus Kohns, and Mr. Lee Kohns. At the close of the exercises the members of the Straus family group, together with a few intimate friends, made a tour of inspection of the new hospital wards of the home.



1913: Birthdate of Robert Friend, the American born “poet and translator” who made Aliyah and became “a professor of English literature at Hebrew University.”



1914(5th of Kislev, 5675): While fighting on the Western Front during WW I, twenty-seven year old  Lt. F.A. De Pass, a Jewish officer from London died while he and an Indian soldier faced German machine-gun fire for two hundred yards, to bring in a badly wounded Indian lying in No-Man’s Land.



1914: “Zangwill Lauds Schiff” published today defends Jacob Schiff saying this his proposal “for a conference to end Prussian Militarism” does not make him a “mouthpiece of Berlin” but shows him as one who draws on his Jewish background and “speaks…with the voice of Jersualem.



1914: “Britain Will Protect Jews” published today provides the response of the British Ambassador to questions about the British protecting the rights of German Jews in lands they may conquer by saying that “Jews of all nationalities who may come under British control can of course count on the same protection and liberal treatment which England has always extended to them.”



1914: “For the Relief of Jews” published today provided a list of contributors to the fund including Rabbi J.S. Levy of Waco, TX , Joe Matz of Pocahontas, VA and Mrs. Charles Fryer of Muscatine, IA.



1915: According to a dispatch from the Associated Press the Russians dynamited much of Brest-Litvosk, destroying three quarters of the houses before retreating from the Polish city and leaving a mass of refugees most of whom were Jewish and were forced to seek refuge in the swamps where many of the “died of malignant diseases.”



1915: Max Meyerson, Commissioner of Education Isadore M. Levy, Magistrate Samuel D. Levy and Abram I. Elkus were among the speakers at the Thanksgiving exercises held by the Hebrew Sheltering Immigrant Aid Society tonight during which they explained “the newcomers what reasons they had for being thankful” including the fact that they were not being exposed to the “horrors in war-ridden Europe.”



1915: Today, following “a second consecutive poor harvest” and decrease in population of “almost two-thirds” the state of Utah order the termination of title of the Jewish agricultural colony at Clarion.


1915: On Thanksgiving, Jacob H. Schiff spoke to the 450 inmates at the Montefiore Home and Hospital for Chronic Invalids many of whom who “could not leave their cots “and asked them to be thankful that America was enjoying peace.”


1915: Philip Watenberger of the Bronx, presided over a meeting at McKinley Casion where “some 3,000 persons” heard “an appeal for aid for the suffering Jews of Poland, made homeless because of the war.”



1915: Months after Leo Frank was taken from the Milledgeville prison, members of the Knights of Mary Phagan burned a gigantic cross on top of Stone Mountain, reportedly inaugurating a revival of the Ku Klux Klan. The group was led by William J. Simmons and attended by 15 charter members and a few aging survivors of the original Klan.


 


1915: It was reported today that among those being considered to replace the later Dr. Solomon Schechter as President of the Jewish Theological Seminary are “Dr. Buchler, head of the Jews’ College in London and Dr. Toznanski of the Jewish Institute in Petrograd.”

 

1915: In London, The Times publishes a letter from Israel Zangwill takes issue with an interview it had published with Jacob Schiff in which its correspondent apparently made it seem like Schiff spoke for Germany.  Zangweill contends that he is “noblest of millionaires” engaged in “philanthropic work” who is one of the most patriotic Americans I have ever known.”  “Descended from a long-line of Jewish rabbis and scholars (one of his ancestors was Chief Rabb of the Great Synagogue of London in the eighteenth century) Jacob Schiff himself might sat to Lessing for a portrait of ‘Nathan der Wise.’”


1915: Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel, the member of a prominent Anglo-Jewish family succeeded Winston Churchill as the Chancellor of the Duchy Lancaster in the government headed by Prime Minister Henry Asquith



1915(18th of Kislev, 5676): Eighty-three year old Michel Jules Alfred Bréal, the French philologist who was responsible for the marathon being part of the first modern Olympics passed away today.



http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0004_0_03483.html



1916(22nd of Cheshvan, 5677): Parashat Chayei Sara



1916: According to an article written by a member of the Reichstag that appeared in the Tageblatt today, “the Prussian Government has also been lucky in solving the Jewish religious problem in Poland” because unlike the Czar’s Government, “the German Governor of Poland has granted the Jews of Poland far-reaching self-government respecting their religious institutions and has accorded them all the religious rights recognized by State.”  (Editor’s note – this is only one example of why some Jews in the United States did not want to enter the World War on the side of the allies because that would have been supporting the anti-Semitic government of the Czar.)



1916: Synagogues on New York’s east side are scheduled hold memorial services honoring Austrian Emperor Franz Josef who passed away earlier this week.



1916: The replacement of Boris Stürmer an anti-Semite “suspected of being pro-German” as Prime Minister in Russia with Alexander Trepov “was hailed by liberals” and those who were worried about Russia continuing the war against Germany.



1916: In Berlin, “during the course of the discussion of the budget before the committee of the Reichstag” it was suggested that Germany employ Jews in Poland while also looking using “the population of occupied territories for work in Germany.”



1917:The New York Section of the Council of Jewish Women dedicated the first shelter for “homeless and friendless” Jewish women discharged or paroled from New York City and New York state jails. Speakers at the dedication included the prominent rabbi Stephen S. Wise and Deaconess Young, who directed another home for “friendless women” in the same neighborhood. Although the home was founded to serve Jewish women, the president of the New York Council section affirmed that “no unfortunate woman of any race, creed or color would be refused aid if she needed it.”



1917: The Provisional Zionist Committee, chaired by Stephen S. Wise, “sent a cable message of greetings and congratulation to the Zionist mass meeting what held in London” celebrating the adoption of the Balfour Declaration. 



1917:  A mass meeting of Zionists attended by Lord Walter Lionel Rothschild, Chaim Weitzman, President of the British Zionist Federation and Rabbi Moses Gaster was held in London this evening designed “to celebrate the promise by the British Government ot support the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine.



1917: A contribution of $200 from Witty Brothers, the New York men’s clothing store was among those listed today by the American Jewish Relief Committee.



1917: Among the contributions listed today by the Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering through the War included $1,436 from the committee in Dubuque, IA, $236 from the committee in Iowa City, IA, $135 from the committee in Keokuk, IA, $300 from the committee in Mason City, IA, $301 from the committee in Muscatine, IA and $286 from the committee in Ottumwa, IA.



1918: It was reported today that “the Administrative Committee for an American Jewish Congress will meet tomorrow to fix a new date for the” convening of the congress which is to deal with the questions of Jewish nationality in Palestine and the guaranteeing of equal rights for Jews in all  the countries of Europe.



1920: Thanksgiving observed in the United States.



1920: The 23rd annual convention of the ZOA is scheduled to begin to in Buffalo, NY.



1920: The Young Women’s Hebrew Association is scheduled to “hold services dedicated to the memory of the late Jacob H. Schiff” this evening which the entire neighborhood is invited to attend.



1922: Wake University “under head coach George Levene” lost to North Carolina State for its third straight loss at home.



1924(27th of Cheshvan, 5685): Ninety-two year old Jules Worms, the French painter and engraver who was appointed a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1876 passed away today after which he was “buried in Paris Montparnasse Cemetery , Section 5.



1925: In Moscow, silent film actress Rachel Messerer-Plisetskaya and Mikhai “Misha” Plisetski, a diplomat, engineer and mine director, gave birth to ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and actress Maya Plisetskaya.



http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/arts/dance/maya-plisetskaya-ballerina-who-embodied-bolshoi-dies-at-89.html?_r=0



 



1926: In Brooklyn “Jewish immigrants Irene (Sperling) and Abraham Schisgal, a tailor, gave birth to playwright and screenwriter Murray Schisgal whose hits include Luv and Tootsie.



1927(1st of Kislev, 5688): Rosh Chodesh Kislev



1927(1st of Kislev, 5688): Morris Ganss, who had been born in Maryland in August of 1865 and was the husband of Helen Peyer and father of Harold Ganss passed away today after which he was buried in the Hebrew Cemetery at Washington, D.C.



1927: Yehudi Menuhin was the soloist with New York Symphony Orchestra today where he played the Beethoven Violin Concerto. His performance won audience approval and critical acclaim and marked the start of tours through the United States and Europe.



1928: In Syracuse, NY, David A. Brown of Detroit, “the national chairman of the United Jewish campaign raise $25,000,000 Jewish activities” “declared tonight at the first joint gathering of Zionists and non-Zionists” that “Jews through the world will benefit from the agency recently formed in Palestine for relief work under the coordinating support of all Zionist movements.”



1928: A photograph of “Masons Hillsborough Lodge No. 25” published today included Henry Brash, Abe Maas and Isaac Mass provided evident of the level of acceptance of Jews in the Tampa community.



1931: According to figures released by the census authorities, of the 1,035,154 inhabitants of Palestine, 387,525 live in Palestine’s major cities including 90,526 in Jerusalem, 51,876 in Jaffa, 46,109 in Tel Aviv and 50,869 for Haifa.  “There is an almost equal number of men an women in nearly all the urban localities, the total being 197,307 males and 190,218 females.” Since the last census conducted in 1922, “purely Arab areas showed less than a 1 per cent increase in population…while the mixed Arab-Jewish residential localities showed a 30 per cent rise indicating a higher measure of prosperity during the past decade.”



1932: U.S. premiere of “Rockabye” a drama directed by George Cukor and produced by David O. Selznick.



1933(7th of Kislev, 5694): Seventy-three year old Sarah Hexter, a native of Brandeburg, German who was the wife of Max Hexter with who she had three children passed away today in Cincinnati, Ohio.



1933: Max Born received a letter from Werner Heisenberg in which he said he had been delayed in writing due to a “bad conscience” that he alone had received the Nobel Prize “for work done in Göttingen in collaboration — you, Jordan and I.” Heisenberg went on to say that Born and Jordan’s contribution to quantum mechanics cannot be changed by “a wrong decision from the outside.” Jordan was Pascual Jordan a physicist who joined the Nazi party and became a Brown Shirt. Heisenberg was an “Aryan” who stayed in Nazi Germany.  Born was a Lutheran who was classified as a Jew under Nazi Racial Law and would win his Nobel Prize in 1954.



1934: John Kenmuir reports that “not since the period immediately following the World War have so many new places claimed attention from mapmakers as in the last few months. Towns have seemingly appeared out of nowhere…”  Included in this category is Tel Aviv, “the second largest city in Palestine a country of age-old town.  This thriving metropolis of 70,000 did not even exist in 1909, its site being then a deserted area of rolling sand dunes north of Jaffa.



1935: Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel who lost his seat in the elections of 1935 ended his leadership of the Liberal Party today.



1935: “One Way Ticket,” a cinema version of the novel by the same name which marked “the directorial debut” of Herbert Biberman was released in the United States today.



1936: Tonight, the police “stormed Warsaw University in order to clear the buildings occupied for two day by several hundred Fascist student” who were demanding that Jewish students be segregated from the rest of the student body.



1936: Dr. Chaim Weizmann began his testimony before the Peel Commission by dwelling “first on the tragedy of at least 6,000,000 superfluous Jews in Poland, Germany, Austria and other countries who before the war found an outlet in emigration to the United States and South Africa but who now find all gates barred to them” which “lends grave importance to the question of a Jewish national home in Palestine, the only spot in the world where Jews can turn their eyes with the hope of being saved from moral, cultural and economic stagnation” not to mention death.



1936: Germany and Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, an anti-communist treaty that will be the basis of the Axis alliance.  The treaty is another step towards World War II and the Final Solution. At the time, the treaty seemed to be one more diplomatic victory for Hitler, but the Japanese actually outsmarted the Little Corporal.  The treaty did not commit the Japanese to take military action against the Soviets.  Hitler fully expected the Japanese to attack Russia when he invaded the Soviet state forcing Stalin to fight a two front war.  The Japanese never budged.  Hitler was left to fight the Soviets on his own and it was this Soviet ability to have face only the Germans that helped chew up the divisions of the Wermacht. [If the Japanese had really been such dedicated anti-communists you would have thought they would have joined the Nazis in attacking the leading communist state of the time, the Soviet Union.  Of course the Japanese did not having been bloodied by the Soviets in the late 1930’s.  Even strange bedfellows do not always sleep together]



1936:Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber, the Archbishop of Muich, informed the Bavarian bishops that he had promised Hitler that the bishops would issue a new pastoral letter in which they condemned "Bolshevism which represents the greatest danger for the peace of Europe and the Christian civilization of our country." In addition, Faulhaber stated, the pastoral letter " will once again affirm our loyalty and positive attitude, demanded by the Fourth Commandment, toward todays form of government and the Führer."



1936: Fifty-five year old Sir Leon Levison, the son of Rabbi Nahum Levison, whose conversion to Christianity and service as the first President of the International Hebrew Christian Alliance did not prevent him from raising 200,000 English pounds to relieve the suffering Jews during the World War or being “a fierce opponent of the Nazis” passed away. 



http://www.lcje.net/High%20Leigh/Sunday,%20August%207/2%20Sir%20Leon%20Levison%20at%20High%20Leigh%201931%20by%20kai-kjaer%20hansen.pdf



 



1937: The Palestine Post reported that the first death sentence was passed, under the recently promulgated Defense Regulations, by a military court on Sheikh Farhan e-Sadi, leader of a terrorist group, who was found guilty of carrying firearms and ammunition. The Arab Defense Party appealed for clemency.



1937: The Palestine Post reported that a large number of Jews had been attacked and beaten in riots in Memel, Shavli and Wilkomir in Lithuania. This outburst of anti-Semitism took place two years before the outbreak of World War II.  This is an example of the inherent European anti-Semitism that helped to make the Holocaust possible and provided the Nazis with willing accomplices in completing the Final Solution.



1938(2nd of Kislev, 5699): Fifty-five year old Jessie Sampter who made Aliyah in 1919 which led her to work with Yemenite Jews and the establishment of “a vegetarian convalescent home at Kibbutz Givat Brenner” passed away at Beilinson Hospital where she was being treated for malaria and heart disease.



1938: “Submarine Patrol” a pre-war Naval adventure film written by Jack Yellen was released today in the United States.



1938: Sixty-one year old Aaron Garber, the Lithuanian born Cleveland, OH, attorney, Zionist and “a leader in the Bureau of Jewish Education” who was “a founder and president of the Cleveland Hebrew Schools.”



http://www.clevelandjewishhistory.net/ins/garber/garber-history.htm



https://www.google.com/search?ei=l-T5W8nLKsLojwSAz4ewDA&q=Aaron+Garber%2C+Cleveland%2C+OH&oq=Aaron+Garber%2C+Cleveland%2C+OH&gs_l=psy-ab.3..33i299l2.7467757.7481323..7482002...6.0..1.367.3116.28j3j1j1......0....1..gws-wiz.......0j0i131j0i67j0i10i67j0i131i67j0i22i30j33i160j33i22i29i30.489_1WSHjNE



1938: In Owensboro, KY, a gold course owner whose father had emigrated from Lithuania and his wife gave birth Stephen Cohen, a product of the Russian Studies program at Indiana University and holder of PhD from Columbia who went to become a “Professor of Politics and Russian Studies at Princeton,” a prolific author and one of those who as of 2018, “continues to dismiss theories of Russian collusion” in the U.S. Presidential elections.



1939: There were 1,000 German Jews aboard the SS Vulcania as it left Italy tonight bound for New York City.



1939: Today is the deadline for the Jewish population of Teschen to leave the city.



1939: Today, playing on their home field Penn St. led by their Team Captain Spike Alter defeated cross-state rival Pittsburg.



1939: It was announced today that American “with relatives in the Upper Silesia and Danzig areas of Poland may send me to them through the Federation of Polish Jews in America at 225 West 34thStreet” in New York City.



1939: Birthdate of economist Martin Feldstein winner in 1977 of the John Bates Clark Medal.



1939: In New York, Dr. Samuel H. Goldensohn is scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled “The Sacrifices of Thanksgiving” on Saturday morning at Congregation Emanu-El.



1939: In New York, Rabbi William F. Rosenblum is scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled “How Would Your Rewrite the Bible” on Saturday morning at Temple Israel.



1939: In New York, Rabbi Nathan Stern is scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled “I Have Everything” on Saturday morning at West End Synagogue.



1939: In Baltimore, MD, “more than a thousand delegates to the Junior Hadassah convention passed by acclamation today a resolution condemning the British White Paper on Palestine and calling upon the British Colonial Secretary, ‘for the sake o the honor of Great Britain,’ to abandon it.”



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9F04E3DB123EE23ABC4E51DFB7678382629EDE



more 2015



1939: Mrs. David De Sola Pool of New York, national president of Senior Hadassah, Miss Nell Ziff of New York, president of Junior Hadassah and Rabbi Isadore Breslau, director of the American Zionist Bureau in Washington addressed today’s session of the Junior Hadassah Convention.



1939: In New York Rabbi Louis I. Newman is scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled “Changing Our Name and Changing Our Character” on Saturday morning Congregation Rodeph Sholom



1939: The government in Bucharest published “the result of an investigation concerning the citizenship of the Jews” living in Rumania according to which only 63.5% of the Jews living in the country were really citizens.



1939: “Mrs. Isidor Achron of 45 West Eighty-first Street” said today she had received word from her aunt in London that her cousin Moijzesz Kusewitsky, chief cantor Poland who had been reported killed by a German bomb during the Nazi capture of Warsaw “had escaped with his family to Bucharest, Romania.



1940: The Patria, a steamer carrying illegal Jewish immigrants sank in Haifa port killing 250 of the passengers. The Patria was a French steamer chartered by the British to ship illegal immigrants who had previously made it to Palestine to detainment camps on the British island of Mauritius. This removal of the Jewish immigrants was part of a British campaign to placate the Arabs.  The plan was in violation of the terms of the Mandate.  The plant was also a violation of basic human decency since the Jews were seeking a safe haven from the advancing Nazi armies.  However, nobody has ever accused the British Foreign office or the Arab leaders of that time of having an over abundance of human decency when it came to dealing with Jews.  The explosion on board the Patria was caused by the Haganah who were attempting to disable the ship and force the British to let the refugees land.  Almost two thousand of the Patria’s human cargo would end up staying in Eretz Israel while another similar number would end up in internment camps.  This was but one small event in the combined British-Arab attempt to strangle the Yishuv.



1941: Following the German conquest of Belgium, the Jews “set up their own coordinating committee” which the Nazi Security Police replaced with the Association of Jews in Belgium or AJB.



http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205777.pdf



 



1941: German Jews were shipped east to Kovno.  This gave the SS new targets for their killing raids. In one day the Einsatzkommando reported the deaths of 1,159 men, 1,600 women and175 children. Four days later they reported killing another 693 men, 1,155 women and152 children.



1942: In the evening and continuing into the next day, the SS and Norway’s State Police began rounding up all woman and children. In all, 532 Jewish women and children in Norway are arrested and deported to Auschwitz. Although more than 700 Norwegian Jews were eventually sent to Auschwitz, about 930 found refuge in Sweden.



1942: Jews hiding in Piotrkow (Poland) were offered a chance to stay in the ghetto legally if they came out of hiding. Some did, and they were killed by Ukrainians upon doing so.



1943: World War II: Statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina is re-established at the State Anti-Fascist Council for the People's Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.



1943(27th of Cheshvan, 5704): One of two dates given for the suicide of 65 year old actor Paul Otto in Berlin after his Jewish ancestry was discovered.



1944: Crematorium II at Birkenau was dismantled by the Nazis and its remains were buried in attempt to hide the evidence of the Final Solution. 



1944:  Birthdate of actor, self-styled political commentator and game show host Ben Stein



1944: According to some sources Himmler was responsible for the issuance today of a “general prohibition…concerning the further killing of the Jews” – a claim which would seem to fly in the face of the facts that an untold number of Jews continued to perish under the most brutal of conditions.



1944: Warner Brothers release “Arsenic and Old Lace” comedy that includes murder and mental illness produced by Jack Warner with a score by Max Steiner and a screenplay by Julius and Philip G. Epstein.



1945:Jewish underground attacks Palestinian coast guard; blows up two coast guard stations in retaliation for capture of Greek schooner Demetrios which brought 200 illegal immigrants to Palestine.



1946(2nd of Kislev, 5707): Ninety-year old Henry Morgenthau, Sr. the United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during WW I whose grandchildren included historian Barbara Tuchman and long-time NY DA Robert M. Morgenthau passed away today.



http://www.jta.org/1946/11/26/archive/henry-morgenthau-sr-dies-one-time-envoy-to-turkey-was-active-in-jewish-affairs



http://www.armenian-genocide.org/morgenthau.html



1947: The House of Representatives overwhelming vote to approve citations for contempt of Congress citations against the Hollywood Ten for the “defiance” of the mis-named House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).  “Of the Hollywood Ten, six - John Howard Lawson, Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Albert Maltz and Samuel Ornitz — were Jews.”



1947: The movie version of the novel “It Always Rains on Sunday” produced by Michael Balcon was released today in the United Kingdom.



1947: Following yesterday’s overwhelming vote to cite the Hollywood Ten for Contempt of Congress, the Hollywood studios blacklisted them. “Of the Hollywood Ten, six - John Howard Lawson, Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Albert Maltz and Samuel Ornitz — were Jews.”  (As reported by Jennifer Lipman)



1947: “The Gangster” based The Low Company a 1937 novel written by Daniel Fuchs who wrote the screenplay and with music by Louis Gruenberg was released today in the United States today,



1948:Arabs announce they will not negotiate with Israel except through UN.



1948: UN mediator Ralph Bunche recommends to Political Committee that UN try another strong appeal for Israel and Arabs to get together. He urges Israel's admittance to UN.



1948: Israel's Provisional Government Council announces it will hold first general elections on January 25. Persons aged 18 years or more will be eligible to vote.



1948:  Birthdate of French born, American educated, film director Jonathan Kaplan



1949:Israel turns down the UN Palestine Conciliation Committee's plan for an international Jerusalem. Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett says Jews favored UN control of Jerusalem at one time. They oppose it now, because if they lose Jerusalem they will have to rescue it from Arabs. They recommend that Jerusalem's old city be internationalized. Modern Jerusalem's holy places will be accessible to people of all faiths.



1959: Birthdate of Yaakov Edri, the native of Morocco who made Aliyah in 1959, earned two degrees from the University of Haifa and pursued a political career that including service as an MK and in several ministerial posts.



1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that fear for the safety of 2,500,000 Jews behind the Iron Curtain was voiced in the Knesset by Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett when he read the government¹s statement on the Prague trials of former leading Communists, accused of Zionism and espionage, which he called “a farce in the form of a trial.”



1952: Premiere of Hans Christian Andersen produced by Samuel Goldwyn, with a script by Moss Hart and starring Danny Kaye.



1953: “The Fake” a “British crime film” with music by Matyas Seiber was released today in the United Kingdom.



1955: “The Big Knife,” the film version of the 1949 play by Clifford Odets and co-starring Shelly Winters was released in the United States today.



1955(10th of Kislev, 5716): Fifty year old U.S. Chess Champion and International Master Herman Steiner passed away today.



1956: In Boston, Massachusetts, Senator John F. Kennedy addresses a dinner honoring Mrs. Golda Meir, Israel's Foreign Minister.



http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/JFK/JFK+Pre-Pres/1956/002PREPRES12SPEECHES_56NOV25.htm



1957: U.S. premiere of “Bernadine” directed by Henry Levin with music by Lionel Newman.


 


1957: Today, CBS broadcast “Beyond This Place,” an adaptation of the novel of the same name directed by Sidney Lumet, produced by David Susskind and co-starring Shelly Winters.


1960: Today, CBS news broadcast “Harvest of Shame” a ground-breaking documentary about migrant farm workers directed by Fred W. Friendly.


1961: Negotiations between representatives of the Israeli government and King Hassan of Morocco came to an end with an understanding that would make it easier for the Jews to leave for Israel.


1963: Following the assassination of President Kennedy, “the Jewish Community Council held a memorial service at Washington Hebrew Congregation that included “a tribute delivered by Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg.”


1964: Funeral services were held today for Brooklynite Pincus Joseph Greenberg, the husband of Sadie Greenberg with whom he had had five children.


1965(1st of Kislev, 5726): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1965(1st of Kislev, 5726): Seventy-five year old pianist “Dame Myra Hess who…became wartime a wartime hero though her morale-raising recitals at London’s National Gallery” passed away today.





1966: In a special edition on the Kennedy Assassination, Life magazine published frames of Abraham Zapruder’s homemade movie that is the photographic of this national tragedy.


1967: After 463 performance the curtain came down on the original Broadway production of “The Apple Tree,” a musical with lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, produced by Stuart Ostrow, directed by Mike Nichols and co-starring Larry Blyden.


1967: A version of “Suszanne” a song  that Canadian born Jewish musician Leon Cohen created from his platonic relationship with Suzzanne Verdal which had “entered The Billboard Hot 100 chat in October “peaked at number 56 today.


1969: Birthdate of Israeli actress and comedian Orna Banai


1970: “A Promise at Dawn” the film version of the 1960 novel by Romain Gary who co-authored the script with Jules Dassin who also directed and produced the movie and starring Assi Dayan, the son of Moshe Dayan, was released in the United States today.


1973: Three Arab terrorists hijacked a KLM jumbo jet headed for New Delhi and forced the pilot to land at Abu Dhabi.


1973(30th of Cheshvan, 5734): Forty-five year old debonair actor Laurence Harvey whose on screen persona was so different from what one would expect from Lithuanian born Jew named Hirsch Moses Skikne passed away today.



1974: Appeal in behalf of Soviet Jewish prisoners, signed by over 600 politicians, academics, musicians, writers, stage and film actors published in The Times in London.


1974: About 200 Riga Jews organize pilgrimage to Rumbuli on the anniversary of the liquidation of the Riga ghetto; several arrested.


1975: Suriname, a Dutch colony on the Northeast coast of South America gains its independence from the Netherlands. According to The Virtual Jewish Library, “the Jewish community of Suriname is one of the oldest in the Americas. Jews apparently arrived from Brazil (or Holland) and settled in Suriname as early as 1639, and there is an extant ketubbah, marriage contract, signed by a rabbi in 1643.”  For part of its history, the Jewish community was quite active and wealthy. By the end of the 20th century “200 Jews live in Suriname with the Nederlands Portugees Israelitische Gemeente overseeing the community's activities. The two 18th century synagogues in the capital, Paramaribo, have been restored. Neve Shalom is considered to be Conservative, and both synaggoues hold weekly Shabbat services. The Ashkenazi synagogue has a sandy floor, which is symbolic of the 40 years in the desert, and was also supposed to have hidden the footsteps of the Conversos. Kosher food is available in Suriname and there is a community newspaper, Sim Shalomthat is printed in Dutch.



1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that Egyptian President Anwar Sadat announced that his government had adopted the policy of promoting communications with Israel in order to establish a comprehensive Middle Eastern peace settlement. It was suggested that the proposed Israeli-Egyptian dialogue would be held in the UN Sinai buffer zone.


1978: Prime Minister Menachem Begin met German Ambassador Klaus Schuetz. This was the first time Begin had personally conferred with any German representative.  During the 1950’s Begin had been a vocal opponent of accepting reparations from the Bonn government.


1979: Robert Strauss completed his service as Special Envoy for the Middle East for President Carter


1979: Birthdate of Gerson Levi-Lazzaris,a Brazilian archaeologist, descendent of Italo-Slovenian immigrants. Most of the Lazzaris are from Forno di Zoldo, Veneto, from where most of them emigrated during the end of the XIXth century, and also after the Second World War to Argentina, Australia, Brazil and United States.


1979: As part of the Camp David Accords, Israel surrendered the Alma oilfields


1981(28th of Cheshvan, 5742): Seventy four year old actor Jack Albertson passed away.  Born to immigrant parents in 1907, this Bay State native was a multi-talented entertainer. Some of his more famous roles include a bit part as a postal worker in Miracle on 34thStreet, a starring role in the Broadway hit The Sunshine Boys and as the cantankerous elderly Anglo in Chico and the Man.



1981: The Samuel Freeman House, designed by Rudolph Schindler was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument today


1983:Syria and Saudi Arabia announced cease-fire in PLO civil war in Tripoli.  There are a number of people who blame Israel for all of the problems in the Middle East.  There is a growing chorus on the both the Left and the Right in America who blame America’s problems in that region on United States support for Israel.  The Civil War in Lebanon is a reminder that turmoil and violence exist in that region without regard to the existence of Israel.  In fact the argument can be made that Arab violence against Israel is merely another manifestation of on-going Arab versus Arab conflicts.


1987: Eighty-six year old Genevieve Brown, who had been marred to All-American football player and Coach Ralph Horween (Ralph Horwitz) for 64 years passed away today.


1987(4thof Kislev, 5748): Terrorist who “flew” into Israel aboard hang gliders from Lebanon killed 6 Israeli soldiers and wounded six others.


1987(4thof Kislev, 5748: Eighty-six year old Genevieve (Brown) Horween who had been married to Ralph Horween, the All-American Harvard and NFL football player and lawyer who founded the Horween Leather Company with his brother, passed away today.


1987: U.S. premiere of “Three Men and a Baby” directed by Leonard Nimoy, photographed by cinematographer Adam Greenberg, co-starring Steve Guttenberg with music by Marvin Hamlisch.


1989(27th of Cheshvan, 5750): Ninety-four year old Professor Salo Wittmayer Baron, who was recognized as one of the century's great historical scholars for his sweeping multivolume history of the Jews passed away today. (As reported by Peter Steinfels)



1990(8thof Kislev, 5751): Four Israelis were killed and 26 more were wounded by an “Egyptian crossing the border.”


1990(8thof Kislev, 5751): Ninety-year old clinical psychiatrist Bettina Warburg Grimson, the graduate of Bryn Mawr and Cornell Medical School who was the wife of the musician Samuel B. Grimson passed away today in Manhattan.


1991: Birthdate of Mexican actor Joseph Sasson Entebi best known for his role in the “children’s soap opera, “Amy, The Girl in the Blue Backpack.”


1992: The Czechoslovakia Federal Assembly votes to split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia from January 1, 1993. “After the peaceful division of Czechoslovakia in 1992, Slovakia gained its independence on January 1, 1993. Since Slovakia’s independence, such organizations as Maccabi and B’nai B’rith have become active in the communities… During the immediate post-Cold War period, the Czech Republic reopened diplomatic ties with Israel and Czech President Vaclav Havel became the first leader from a previously Soviet controlled Eastern European country to travel to Israel.”


1992: U.S. premiere of “Aladdin” an animated musical fantasy with Scott Weinger providing the voice of “Aladdin” and music by Alan Menken.


1992: “The Bodyguard,” a “romantic thriller written and co-produced by Lawrence Kasdan was released in the United States today.


1994: John Charles Walker, “an American agricultural scientist “and winner of the Wolf Prize an Israeli award funded by Dr. Ricardo Wolf, the former Cuban ambassador to Israel


1998(6th of Kislev, 5759): American philosopher Nelson Goodman passed away at the age of 92.


1998: “Very Bad Things” a very sick comedy directed by Peter Berg and co-starring Jeremy Piven was released in the United States today.


1998: “A Bugs Life,” starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, featuring Madeline Kahn, with music by Randy Newman and edited by Lee Unkrich was released today in the United States.


2001: Peter Temes reviewed The Brigade: An Epic, Story of Vengeance, Salvation and World by Howard Blum which described the role played this Jewish unit in the British Army.



2001: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry by Sheila Isenberg, The Rock: A Tale of Seventh-Century Jerusalemby Kanan Makiya, In The Shape of a Boar by Lawrence Norfolk and Memoirs: A Twentieth-Century Journey in Science and Politics by Edward Teller with Judith L. Shoolery


2002(20th of Kislev, 5763): Seventy six year old “Karel Reisz, a Czech refugee who became a leading director of the British New Wave before making "The French Lieutenant's Woman" and other Hollywood dramas” passed away today. (As reported by Rick Lyman) http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/28/arts/karel-reisz-director-of-films-including-the-french-lieutenant-s-woman-dies-at-76.html?pagewanted=print&src=pm



2002: Theo Epstein was appointed General Manager of the Boston Red Sox. In less than two years (2004) the Sox would beat the hated Yankees for the American League Pennant and then win the World Series thus breaking “the curse.”  The youthful Jewish executive would be hailed as part of a new generation of baseball executives.


2002: In a review of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Dvesti let Vmeste(Two Hundred Years Together) the first of two volumes devoted to the history of Jews in Russia from the third partition of Poland in 1795, when Russia, until then effectively without Jews, suddenly acquired one million Jewish subjects, Daniel Pipes discusses the Russian author’s attitude toward Jews and the role of Jews in Russian history.


2005: “The Ice Harvest” directed by Harold Ramis which premiered at the Deauville American Film festival was released in the United States today


2005: “One Six Right: The Romance of Flying” a “film about the general aviation industry” starring Sydney Pollack and Hal Fishman was released in the United States today.


2005: In a reminder that even in the hell of the Holocaust, there were righteous people who did the right thing, Ruth Greiner, a Holocaust survivor and Joanna Zalucka, her Polish protector were re-united. Sixty-one years ago, Joanna Zalucka hid a young Jewish girl in her bedroom for eight months, saving the child from the Nazi killing spree in their native Poland.


2006: The Jerusalem Quartet takes center stage marking the first time that Jerusalem Music Center musicians have abandoned the safety of their lofty haven and descended to the level of the man in the street by performing at the local YMCA auditorium. Breaking what some consider a chain of snobbery they perform their superb New Chamber Concert Series, entitled "YMCAMERI" in honor of the venue at prices the average Israeli can afford.


2006: In an article entitled “A Torah for the Next Generation” The Washington Post reported on the efforts of members of Temple Emanuel in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to write an entire Torah in time for the 150th anniversary of the congregation which was founded in 1857.


2007:The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra with conductor, Daniel Kossov, soprano, Keren Hadar, tenor, Yotam Cohen, and pianist, Yoni Fahri performs Humperdinck`s Hansel und Gretel: Vorspiel, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Mozart’s Symphony in A Major, no. 29, performs a special benefit concert.


2007: The Sunday Washington Post book section featured a review of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Canadian born Jewish commentator and social activist Naomi Klein.


2007: The Sunday New York Times book section featured a review of A Pigeon and A Boy by Israeli author Meir Shalev, Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore and Dough: A Memoir by Jewish author Mort Zacht


2008: In Manhattan, the 92nd Street Y presents a program entitled, “Rabbi David Wolpe in Conversation with Safran Foer” during which “Rabbi Wolpe, one of today’s leading voices of contemporary religion, discusses his personal journey through life-threatening illness, from the depths of darkness to the illuminating light of faith.


2008: David Korn-Brzoza’s documentary “L'affaire Finaly” which examined the effort to have two Jewish children who had been hidden by Catholics returned to the their parents by David Korn-Brzoza, was also broadcast by France 2, today.


2008:Israel closed its cargo crossings with Gaza today because of Palestinians fired at least one rocket into Israel, just a day after Israel had allowed vital humanitarian supplies to shipped into Gaza


2008: Premiere of “The Nutty Professor” produced by Jerry Lewis, Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein and starring Jerry Lewis.


2008(27th of Cheshvan, 5769): Eighty-four year old Gerald Schoenfeld the chairman of the powerful Shubert Organization, the largest and most important theater owner on Broadway and in the United States passed away. (As reported by Bruce Weber)



2009: At the Jerusalem Music Center, the final performance "The Bald Soprano": a chamber opera by Israel Sharon, based on a play by Eugène Ionesco.


2009: “The Jazz Baroness,” a documentary about Nica Rothschild by her great-niece Hannah Rothschild airs on HBO at 8 pm.


2009: In Jerusalem, Beit Avi Chai presents "One Spring for Me": The love story of Leah Goldberg.


Among the poems that will be part of the performance are “Shir ha-haflaga,” “Ve-lo haya beinenu ela zohar,” “Ani halakhti az,” “At telkhi ba-sadeh,” “He-halil,” “Laila,” “Selihot,” “Ha-har ha-yarok,” and many more.


2010: In Jerusalem, comedian David Kilimnick is scheduled to present his Thanksgiving Special, ‘My Family Made Me in America'


2010: The prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, today strongly denounced a Palestinian Authority paper that denies any Jewish connection to the Western Wall, the iconic holy site and place of Jewish worship in the Old City of Jerusalem, describing the report as “reprehensible and scandalous.”  


2011: Downtown Shabbat, a Carlebach-inspired service led by Cantor Larry Paul and musician Robyn Helzner is scheduled to be held at the Historic 6th& I Synagogue in Washington, DC.


2011:While tens of thousands of protesters are amassing in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the Sinai Peninsula is heating up. Egyptian security forces today raised the alert level to an unprecedented level in the al-Arish area in northern Sinai after they received information that Jihad members are planning on carrying out an attack on the local security headquarters, the Ma'an news agency reported today.


2012(111th of Kislev, 5773): Eighty-four year old “writer, composer, jazz fanatic and sweetheart” Sol Weinstein passed away today.



2012: The Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT) is scheduled to bestow an honorary degree on Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird (As reported by the Canadian Jewish News)


2012: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Far From the Tree Parents: Children, and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon, Iron Curtain:The Crushing of Eastern Europe,1944-1956 by Anne Applebaum and Saul Steinberg: A Biography by Deidre Bair.


2012: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present “Family Stories at the Center: Young Historians.”


2012: “Hava Nagila” is scheduled to shown tonight at the close of the Jewish International Film Festival in Australia.


2012: Syrian fire pierced Israel for the second time in a day Sunday night, as bullets fired from across the border struck next to a military vehicle near the border.


2012: Morethan 123,000 Likud members have the power today to shape the face of their party’s list for the 19th Knesset, and political analysts say they will use it to move the party further to the right.


2013 In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Temple Judah is scheduled to host the community-wide Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service.


2013: The Black Institute, in partnership with Bend the Arc, the Jewish Labor Committee, and the Russian-Speaking Community Council of Manhattan and the Bronx, Inc. (RCCMB), is scheduled to host a forum to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking in support of Jewish civil rights in the Soviet Union.


2013: “”The Silver Line, the only free confidential telephone helpline offering information, friendship and advice to older people in the United Kingdom” which “was established by Dame Esther Rantzen” was “launched nationally” today.


2013: “A remarkable archaeological find in the Judean lowlands southwest of Jerusalem includes a six-millennia-old cultic temple and a 10,000-year-old house. The ancient sites were located in routine archaeological digs conducted ahead of a planned expansion of Route 38, the main access road to Beit Shemesh. The building is the oldest ever found in the area, and constitutes remarkable “evidence of man’s transition to permanent dwellings,” researchers said today.” (As reported by Hativ Rettig Gur)


2013: “President Shimon Peres awarded his Presidential Medal of Distincition to author Elie Wiesel today in New York City.” (As reported by JPost)


2014: In Melbourne, “Life as a Rumor” and “The Dove Flyer” are scheduled to be shown at the Jewish International Film Festival.


2014: In a speech Finance Minister Yair Lapid delivered this moring to the Sderot Conference for Society, he “slammed Likud saying the ruling party was ‘so detached that they are leading to us to completely pointless elections.’”


2014: Amir Benayoun, “a popular Israeli singer was disinvited today “from an upcoming event at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem after he released a song many saw as expressing racist sentiment against Arabs.” (As reported by Lazar Berman)


2014: “Israel received a short reprieve from a wet, stormy week this morning, with more rain and wind expected throughout the rest of the week.” (As reported by Lazar Berman)


2015: The 92nd St Y is scheduled to host its annual Israeli Folk Dancing Thanksgiving Marathon this evening.


2015: The Israel Antiquities Authorities announced today that it had granted eight year old Itai Halpern a certificate of honor for “discovering the head of a statue from the First Temple period and giving this important archaeological discovery to the Antiquities Authorities’ officials.


2015: In Toronto, Jars Balan, an author, editor, and literary translator who has published numerous scholarly and journalistic works on Ukrainian and Ukrainian-Canadian themes delivered a lecture on “Rhea Clyman: A Forgotten Canadian Witness to the Great Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933.”


2015: “An IDF soldier was seriously wounded in a stabbing attack at the Fawwar junction near Hebron shortly before noon today.”


2016(24thof Cheshvan, 5777): Ninety-one year old Sulzburg, Germany, native and State University of New York at Buffalo graduate Erich Bloch who helped developed supercomputers at IBM before serving as director of the National Science Foundation passed away today.




2016: “Maya Ben Zvi was hosting a wedding party at her popular restaurant, Rama’s Kitchen, in the Jerusalem hills community of Nata” today when the decisions was made to evacuate” just a short time before “the entire” went up in smoke – the victim of wildfires that have been burning out of control since the first part of the week.


2016: Untold thousands of Israelis have been forced to flee in the face of raging wildfires.


2016: “The People vs. Fritz Bauer” and “Sand Storm” are scheduled to be shown at Melbourne as part of the Jewish International Film Festival.


2016: “The Lion” produced by Harvey Weinstein is scheduled to be released today in the United States after having premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.


2016: Sabra Éyal Hai is scheduled to perform at Pete’s Candy Store in Williamsburg.


2017(7thof Kislev, 5778): Parashat Va-yaytay;


2017: The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center is scheduled to host Agnes


Schwartz, the native of Budapest, telling her story of how the “family maid, Julia Balazas” hid her from the Nazis and protected her the effects of Allied bombing.


2017: “Let Yourself Go!” and “No Pay, Nudity” are scheduled to be shown at the 21stUK International Jewish Film Festival.


2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate Jewish books outside of our “comfort zone” including The Jews of Arab Lands, Among the Righteous and In Ishmael’s Housecontinues today.


2018: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Trinity, Louisa Hall’s based on the life of J. Robert Oppenheim, All-Of-A-Kind Family Hanukkah, a children’s book written Emily Jenks and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky, Meet The Latkes by Alan Silberberg and We Can Save Us All by Adam Nemett.


2018: The Lior Milliger Quartet, featuring Lior Milliger , “an Israeli born Saxophone player, improviser and composer and  graduate of Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance in composition and performance who has recorded and performed in Israel, Europe and New York City” is scheduled to appear this evening at “Rockwood Music Hall Stage 3.”


2018: This afternoon, “Chassida Shmella Ethopian Jewish Community,” in “collaboration with Temple Emanu-El is scheduled to host “the 9th Annual SIGD Celebration” complete with “Ethiopian culinary specialties” and dancing in the Ethiopian style.”


2018: In London, JW3 is scheduled to host a screening of “Back to Berlin.”


2018: “Beit Avi Chai” is scheduled to host a lecture by Professors Haim Be’er and Hananel Mack on “Key Figures in the Mishna and the Talmud: Abaye, Homa and Rava.”


2018: In London, the Jewish Museum is scheduled to host a walking tour of the V&A that “profiles its history and architecture before focusing on highlights with a Jewish association.


2018: AJEX, the Jewish Military Association of the UK is scheduled to feature a lecture by Paula Kitiching in which she “will explore the final year of the First World War and the role that Anglo Jewry played as the guns stopped firing and life returned to a peacetime footing.”


 


 


 


 

This Day, November 26, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Lvin

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November 26



43 BCE: The Second Triumvirate alliance of Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus ("Octavian", later "Caesar Augustus"), Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Mark Antony is formed. This power sharing arrangement would fall apart. Octavian would defeat Mark Antony and remove Lepidus leaving him as the sole ruler of the Roman Empire.  Initially, Antony’s defeat and Octavian’s victory did not change the situation for the Jews living in Judea.  Herod had made the mistake of backing Antony.  So if Antony had won, Herod would have kept his kingdom.  But Antony’s defeat did not cost Herod his kingdom.  In one of the history’s greatest acts of political audacity, Herod went to the island of Rhodes where he met with Octavian.  He admitted that he had supported Antony but convinced the young Caesar that this was a good thing because he now he would give Augustus the same level of support.  Impressed by Herod’s audacity (and in need of allies) he left Herod on his throne.  So the outcome for the Jews of Judea, in the short term, was the same no matter what.  In the long run, the Jews probably did well with the victory of Augustus since he would follow the same kind of comparatively benevolent policies followed by his uncle Julius including exempting the Jews from emperor worship and respecting Jewish laws by exempting Jews from appearing in court after dark on Friday or on Shabbat.



1346: Coronation of Charles IV whose decision in 1349 to turn over the taxes paid by the Jews of Frankfurt to the citizens of that city could not prevent the pogrom that followed his departure from the city, as King of the Germans.



1504: Queen Isabella I of Castile, the first Queen of united Spain passed away.  Born in 1451, Isabella is one of history’s more fascinating monarchs.  She was every bit as wiley, clever and effective as Queen Elizabeth of England, even though she does not get her share of credit for these traits.  Isabella did have Jewish advisors, physicians and financiers.  But in the end her devout Catholicism and need for funds to finance “crusades” against Moslems proved the undoing of her Jewish subjects.



1572: King Maximilian II expressed his intention “to expel the Jews of Pressburg (Bratislava), stating that his edict would be recalled only in case they accepted Christianity.”



1669: As events surrounding the blood libel that would lead to the death of Raphael Levi unfolded, two swineherds found the head and the neck of a child in the woods near Metz.  Despite the fact that two surgeons testified that the body parts came from a recently killed person, officials decided that this was the body of the Christian child that had been reported missing and killed more than a month ago.  These body parts would be used in the trial of Levi where he was found guilty.  He was buried alive, protesting his innocence to the end.  This blood libel was part of a series of persecutions aimed at the Jewish community of Metz and would end with their expulsion from the city.



1715(30th of Cheshvan): Rabbi Joseph ben Mordecai Ginzburg, author of Leket Yosef passed away today



1775: The American Navy began using chaplains within its regular service.  However, Rabbis were not allowed to serve as Chaplains until 1862 when President Lincoln sponsored legislation allowing ordained Protestant, Catholic or Jewish ministers to serve as Chaplains.



1789: Once the United States had been established as an independent nation, President George Washington proclaimed a day of national thanksgiving for November 26, 1789. Congregation Shearith Israel held a service on that first Thanksgiving Day (and has continued to do so each year since), at which time Rev. Gershom Mendes Seixas delivered an address. He noted that the Jewish community had reason to rejoice "as we are made equal partakers of every benefit that results from this good government; for which we cannot sufficiently adore the God of our fathers who hath manifested his care over us in this particular instance; neither can we demonstrate our sense of His benign goodness, for His favourable interposition in behalf of the inhabitants of this land."



1794: David and Elizabeth Levy were married today at the Great Synagogue.



1800: Salomon Rothschild married 18 year old Caroline Stern, the only daughter of Jacob Stern a wine merchant.  As can be seen from the Ketubah (wedding contract) this was another beneficial marriage arranged by A.M. Rothschild.



1802: As the Jews of Maryland seek full equality On Nov. 26, 1802, a petition "from the sect of people called Jews" specifically stating their grievance, namely, "that they are deprived of holding any office of profit and trust under the constitution and laws of this state," was referred to the General Assembly, which read it and referred it to a special committee of five delegates, including the two Baltimore representatives, with instructions to consider and report upon the prayer of the petitioners for relief. A month later the petition was refused by a vote of thirty-eight to seventeen. The attempt to secure the desired relief was repeated at the legislative session of 1803; again proving unsuccessful, it was renewed in the following year.



1822: Seventy-two year old Karl August von Hardenberg who as Prime Minster of Prussia pursued many liberal policies including working to guarantee equal rights for the Jews, passed away today.



1834: Birthdate of Isabella H. Polock, the wife Morris Rosenbach and mother of literary collector Abraham Simon Wolf (A.S.W.) Rosenbach.



1835: In Baja, Hungary, Baruch Asher Perles and his wife gave birth to Rabbi Joseph Perles, whose works included essays on the lives of Nachmanides, and Shlomo be Aderet, the Spanish sage known as the Rashba.



1837: Isaac Solomon married Mary Benjamin at the Great Synagogue today.



1840: In Italy Marco and Giustina Luzzati gave birth to Annetta Luzzati who became Annetta Foa when she married Giuseppe Foa, the Grand Rabbi of Turino.



1840: Sixty-five year old anti-Semite Karl von Rotteck who “wrote in 1828 that ‘the Jews had to be de-Jewified” and who “rejected Jewish emancipation with the argument that their religion was…antisocial as well as anti-national” passed away today.



1840: In Sebes, near Eperies, Hungary, Isaac Rubovits and Salie Klein gave birth to Edward Rubovits, a teacher in Hungary and husband of Mathilde Kiss who was in the “book, stationary and printing business in Chicago” while also serving as “vice president of Zion Congregation and Isaiah Temple.”



1841: The Voice of Jacob published “Alleged Progress of London Jews Towards Christianity” which reported that “the attempt of a few gentlemen, of the West End section of the town, to form a synagogue there, with certain omissions from the established liturgy, and in contravention of the regulations of one of the London congregations, of which they have been and are yet members… These gentlemen are not known as a congregation, but as an association, deeming itself qualified to abrogate the customs which Israelites have observed for centuries… While the almost universal feeling condemns this movement as the presumptuous attempt of a handful of laymen, and while therefore there need be no apprehension of the evil spreading, the only wise policy would be to treat the attempt as neither formidable by numbers, by status (at least theological), nor otherwise possessing a single element of union.” The Voice of Jacob was published fortnightly and was the first publication that provided “real-time” reports on events in the Jewish community.  The article refers to attempts to established London’s first Reform Congregation which became known as the West London Synagogue of British Jews



1842: The University of Notre Dame is founded as private Catholic University. Since 1992, Rabbi Dr. Michael Signer has filled the Abrams Chair of Jewish Thought and Culture and has served as the Director of the Notre Dame Holocaust Project. “The Notre Dame Holocaust Project promotes educational opportunities about the destruction of European Jewry during World War II for the university community.”  http://www.nd.edu/~msigner/2005_spring/nd_holocaust_project.shtml. 



For more information about opportunities offered to Jewish students attending Notre Dame see http://campusministry.nd.edu/ecumenical-interfaith/jewish-resources



1843(3rd of Kislev, 5604): Seventy-one year old Hertz Salomon Schwarzschild, the son of Salomon Jacob Schwarzschild and Ester Maas passed away today.



1844: One day after she had passed away, “Simha Harris,” the wife of Michael Harris with whom she had had six children was buried today at the “Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.



1849(11th of Kislev, 5610): Julius Eduard Hitzig a German author and civil servant passed away. Born Isaac Elias Itzig) at Berlin in 1780, he was a member of the wealthy and influential Jewish Itzig family Between  1799 and 1806 he was a a Prussian civil servant, after which he became Criminal Counsel at the Berlin Supreme Court in 1815 and its director in 1825. In 1808 he established a publishing house and later a bookstore. He was very active in Berlin’s literary circles.  Heinrich Heine, of all people, reportedly made fun of his name change.



1852: At the Greene Street Synagogue, Rabbi Morris Raphall preached a sermon based on the opening words of the 92nd Psalm, “It is good to give thanks unto the Lord –to sing praise unto Thy name, O most high!” 



1855: Adam Mickiewizc, a noted Polish poet and ardent nationalist died today in Constantinople while working with his friend Armand Levy, to organize a Jewish legion, the Hussars of Israel, comprising Russian and Palestinian Jews.  The legion was supposed to join in the fight against the Russians during the Crimean War.  Polish nationalists believed that a Russian defeat would help undermine the authority of the Czar and help lead to the liberation of Poland.  [Mickiewizc was not Jewish and I have not been able to find an explanation why he was organizing a Jews for this fight.]



1858: James (Jacob) Seligman, the son of David and Fanny Seligman and Rosa Seligman gave birth to Jefferson Seligman



1858: In London, Barnett Abrahams, the principal of Jews’ College, and his wife gave birth to Israel Abrahams, the Jewish scholar whose works included A Companion to the Authorized Prayer Book and Jewish Life in the Middle Ages.



1858: It was reported today that Rabbi Isaac Leeser, head of Beth El Emet has written a series of articles about the Mortara Affair that have appeared in the Philadelphia Ledger and that “indignation meetings in reference to the Mortara Affair" have been held. For more about the Mortara Affair see:



http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history_community/Modern/ModernIntergroup/ModernAntisemitism/DamascusBloodLibel.htm#



1858: In New York, members of the Jewish community expressed their indignation over the tactics used by the police when arresting three of their co-religionists on charges of selling lottery tickets. Among other things they were protesting the fact that the police had arrested a rabbi who was leading his congregation in prayers. The three have posted $1,000 in bail



1859: In Philadelphia, David Hays Solis and Elvira Nathan Solis gave birth to Emily Grace Solis, who became Emily Grace Solis Solis-Cohen when she married her cousin Dr. Solomon Solis-Cohen.



1861: During the Civil War, Samuel Alexander, who would later be killed in fighting at Dranesville, VA, completed a ninety day enlistment as an Assistant Surgeon with the 44th Regiment, part of the First Cavalry



1862: During the Civil War, Jonas H. Kaufman began his service as Assistant Surgeon with 151st Regiment of the Pennsylvania volunteers serving with the Union Army.



1862: Birthdate of Sir Marc Aurel Stein. Born in Budapest, Stein was a Hungarian Jewish archaeologist who became a British citizen. He was also a professor at various Indian universities. Stein was inspired by Sven Hedin's work, Through Asia.His travels and research in central Asia, particularly in Chinese Turkistan, revealed much about its strategic role in history.  In 1906, Stein uncovered a group of mummified corpses near Loulan, in Central Asia. Their well-preserved bodies were clad in woolen garments and they wore tall felt hats decorated with jaunty feathers. The men were bearded and their facial features seemed European. Stein dated them to c.100 BC. When the Dunhuang Caves, China, closed for centuries, were reopened, he discovered 15,000 manuscripts (1907), including the Diamond Sutra, reputed to be the first dated printed book (868 A.D.). He passed away on October 26, 1943.



1863:Thanksgiving was first observed as a regular American holiday. Proclaimed by President Lincoln the previous month, it was declared that the event would be observed annually, on the fourth Thursday in November.  While Thanksgiving is a secular holiday, it has it origins in the Bible.  The Pilgrims were students of what they called The Old Testament.  When they had enjoyed their first successful harvest at Plymouth, they looked to scripture for a way to express their joy.  They found the answer in the holiday of Sukkoth – a celebration of in-gathering; a celebration of thanks that took place after the harvest was completed.  There are reports that the first Thanksgiving was a week-long affair but I would avoid making any claim that this was intended to mirror the seven days of Sukkoth. 


1864: Corporal Benjamin L. Kauffman, transferred from Company D of the 90thRegiment to Company H of the 11th Regimet today.


1867: Birthdate of French political leader Abraham Schrameck who endured anti-Semitic attacks by the Action francaise starting at the turn of the century was interred by the Vichy government which did not turn him over to the Nazis thus making it possible for him to avoid the fate of most French Jews.


1868: On Thanksgiving Day, Rabbi Marcus Jastrow delivered a sermon at Congregation Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.


1869: Birthdate of Alfred Eicholz, M.A., M.D. and B.Ch. the graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge and husband of Ruth Adler, the second daughter of the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire who, among other things served as His Majesty’s Inspector of school for the Blind, Deaf and Mentally and Physically Defective in England and Wales and the Council and Education Committee of the Jews’ College while writing papers for the British Medical Journal


1871: Five days after he had passed away, 67 year old Emanuel Mocatta, the son of Jacob and Rebecca Mocatta, was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”


1874: In New York City,Arnold and Ida (Lagowitz) Tanzer gave birth to Ivy League (Harvard and Columbia) educated attorney Laurence A. Tanzer, a founding member of the Citizens Union and “the senior member of the law firm of Tanzer, Mullaney, Mitherz and Pratt and the husband the husband of the Florence Keller Tanzer with whom he had two daughters.



 


1876: Birthdate of Isadore Bernstein, the New York native who wrote scripts for 65 films from 1914 through 1938.


1876: It was reported today that the Hebrew Charities and Purim Association plan to sponsor a Hebrew Charity Ball next month at the Academy of Music.



1879: “The Man With The Evil Eye” published today described the exploits of “Albert Lavergene, alias Abraham Levy, an Alsatian Jew” who confessed to having stolen $30,000 worth of diamonds while living in France two years ago and who is known to his wife’s relatives as “the Jew” or “the man with the evil eye” because of the way he used to beat her.



1880: Luther R. Marsh will deliver a lecture entitled “On the Power of the Alphabet” at meeting of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association at Lyric Hall. (Marsh was prominent New York lawyer who developed an interest in Spiritualism.  He was not Jewish)



1880: “Disraeli’s Latest Novel” published today provided a detailed review of Endymion by the Right Honorable Earl of Beaconsfield.



1881: It was reported today that the influx of immigrants from Russia is overwhelming the resources of the United Hebrew Charities.  As many as 400 Jews have been arriving each week, most of whom are “destitute and helpless.”



1882: “Monmouth and the Wye” published today provides a brief history of medieval England that includes the reminder that “butchery of the helpless Jews at York, when the despairing wretches hurled their children from the battlements upon the howling murderers below and the slew each to the last man” “cannot drop from the memory of mankind….”



1883: The Baltimore Sun reported that the colony started for Russian Jewish immigrants in Middlesex County, Virginia has been abandoned.



1883: It was reported today that the current issue of the Nineteenth Century features Dr. Charles H.H. Wright’s Paper “The Jews and the Malicious Charge of Human Sacrifice” which “goes over the whole history of the recent outrages in Europe.”



1883: Robert Solomon, an Anglo-Jewish Cape Town diamond dealer arrived in New York this evening aboard SS Servia of the Cunard Line.



1883: It was reported today that “David Phillipson…who graduated from Hebrew Union College” last July “has accepted a call from a congregation in Baltimore, MD.



1884: It was reported today that three prizes – a diamond ring, a bracelet and a face pin – were awarded to the ladies who had sold the most tickets to this year’s grand ball, a charity event sponsored by the Hebrew Orphan Asylum Society.



1885: During Thanksgiving services a large throng listened to an address by Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler at Temple Beth-El that reviewed the principles adopted by the Reform Rabbis at their meeting in Pittsburgh, PA.



1885: Birthdate of Heinrich Brüning, German Chancellor from 1930 to 1932 who, for whatever shortcomings he may have had, worked to keep Hitler from coming to power a stance that led to his self-imposed exile  to avoid being arrested by the Nazis.



1886: In Munich,Joseph Schülein, the of Joel (Julius) Schülein and Jeanette Schülein, and his wife Ida gave birth to Elsa Haas, the wife of Dr. Alfred Haas.



1886: The New York Times featured a review of The Land the Book by William Thomson, a book that examines the material in the scriptures with the information gained by explorations in Palestine through 1880. While some of the information in the Old Testament is “not borne out by facts…many more points” in the Scripture “have been corroborated”  that the results cannot have failed to find favor with Jews.



1888: As she went to visit her sister, eighteen year old Yetta Reiner, a Jewish girl who has been in the United States for two weeks, disappeared when she walked off with a Hebrew-speaking man on the corner of Norfolk and Hester Street who had offered “to get her a situation.” 



1888: Leo Bamberger the master of ceremonies, introduced Moses May, the Chairman of the Fair Committee who introduced Brooklyn Mayor Alfred C. Chapin who officially opened the charity fair on Clermont Avenue that will raise funds of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.



1889: Police are expected to arrest Morris Kassofky who gave “a terrible beating” to Jacob Levy when the latter mistakenly tried to enter his apartment. They live in a building on Norfolk Street that is inhabited by Jewish immigrants from Poland.



1888: “The Hebrews’ Thanksgiving” published in the Washington Post notes that the Jewish Feast of Lights, this year Falls on the same date as Thanksgiving.



1888: It was reported today that the son of the “sexton who dwells in the basement of the synagogue” on 8th Street in Washington is suffering from typhoid fever.



1889: In Newark, NJ, founding of the Plaut Memorial Hebrew School which held classes daily from 4 to 7 p.m. and was led by Myer S. Hood, the Principle and Superintendent Myer S. Hood.



1890: “Friends of the Exiles” described the rejection of request made Jews to help their suffering co-religionists in Russia by the New York Bureau of the Siberian Exile Petition Association because “the work of the association…was done by petition” and “the work for the relief of the Jews required a different kind of effort.”



1890: Birthdate of Newark, NJ, native and New Jersey Law School trained attorney, Judge William Unterman, “the chairman of the Ninth Ward Democratic Club” and “President of the Third District of B’nai B’rith who was the husband of Esther Untermann, the “first woman police judge in the City of Newark,



https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/02/09/86846234.pdf



1891 (25th of Cheshvan): Rabbi Mordecai Gimpel Jaffe passed away.



1892: “In the Czar’s Family” published today described the hope that by naming the Crown Prince as President of the Russian State Council “the repression of Jews…will eventually be relaxed.”  (Things were always going to get better for Russian Jew – in the future!)



1892(7th of Kislev, 5653): Sixty year old Mortiz Wahrman the first Jew chosen to chosen a member of the Hungarian delegation and successful businessman who bequeathed 200,000 crowns to “benevolent societies and “600,000 crowns for the erection of a Jewish gymnasium (school) passed away today.



1893: “Seen in Ceylon” published today described the commercial life of this island state including “the keen-faced Jews with long, black ringlets” who “preside over stores of shining gems.”



1893: Professor Felix Adler “gave the second lecture in his series on religious leaders” entitled “Moses and the Prophets” to an overflow audience at the Music Hall in New York City.



1893: “Jews Expelled from Besieged Meililla” described the decision of the Spanish General to order all Jews to leave the Moroccan city as he battles against the Riffs -- a decision that is consistent with the behavior of "military commanders in Europe” who “rightly or wrongly” feel that the Jews are spies for their enemies.



1894: The will of Adolph Bernheimer which names his widow, his brother Lehman and William Rothschild as executors was filed for probate today.



1894: In Washington, DC, Solomon “Sol” Peyser and Eva Dux gave birth to Theodore Dux “Ted” Peyser who earned a law degree at the University of Virginia and served in WW I.



1894: Birthdate of “Ukrainian-born American trade unionist” Jacob Samuel Potofsky who served as president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America from 1946 until 1972.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9E0CE2DA153EE732A25755C0A96E9C946890D6CF



1894:  In Columbia, MO, Leo Wiener and Bertha Kahn gave birth to child prodigy and famed mathematician Norbert Wiener.  Among his many accomplishments, Weiner is known as the discoverer of cybernetics.  President Johnson awarded him with the National Medal of Science two months before his death in 1964.



1896: The University of Wisconsin football team led by first year head coach Philip King, a Jewish native of Washington, DC played to a six-six tie against Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois.



1896(21st of Kislev, 5657): Joseph C. Wolf who was elected the State Assembly from the 16th District in 1892 and the State Senate in 1893 passed away today.  Born in 1849, the native of Besancon, France and graduate of Columbia Law School enlisted in the Second New York Light Cavalry at the start of the Civil War serving with the Army of the Potomac. 



1896: Temple Israel and the West End Synagogue will hold a joint Thanksgiving Service starting at 3 p.m.



1896: Temple Emanu-El will hold a Thanksgiving Service at 11 a.m.



1896: As part of day long holiday observance, the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society will hold a Thanksgiving Service at the synagogue on 11thAvenue and 151st Street.



1896: William Matthew Flinders Petrie married Hilda Urlin in London. This was the same year that he and his archaeological team were conducting excavations at Luxor when they discovered the “Israel’ or Merneptah Stele



1897: During the Dreyfus Affair, today the French minister of war “received the following anonymous letter: ‘Monsieur le Minstre: You will find in a chamber on the sixth story interesting document concerning the Dreyfus case’ signed “A Patriot”



1897: Through her lawyer Mr. Jullemier, Madame de Boulancy, cousin and former mistress of Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy, had decided to avenge her lover and debtor and sent to Senator Auguste Scheurer-Kestner letters from this officer, including the famous "letter of Uhlan". Scheurer-Kestner showed the letter to Pellieux, military commander of Paris, in charge of the administrative inquiry on Esterházy



1898: The Emperor and Empress of German arrive at Potsdam this morning on their return from Palestine where the Kaiser met with Herzl.



1899: Rabbi Joseph Silverman delivered a lecture this morning at Temple Emanu-El on “Are We Children of the Ghetto, or Children of the World?” which was a play on words using the name of the drama now appearing at a New York theatre.



1899: In Roxbury, MA, founding of the Helping Hand Temporary Home for Destitute Jewish Children at the corner of Fort Ave and Beech Glen.



1899: “Rosebery On Cromwell” published today provided the remarks made by Lord Rosebery at the ceremony celebrating the tercentenary of Oliver Cromwell including his observation that Cromwell “was the first Prince who reigned in England who welcomed and admitted Jews” a fact of which Jews and Englishmen are equally proud of as can be attested to by the presence of Sir Samuel Montagu, Lord Rothschild and Benjamin Cohen on the platform at the banquet honoring his memory.



1899: In Roxbury, MA, founding today of Helping Hand Temporary Home for Destitute Jewish Children located at Fort Avenue and Beech Glen.



1903: On Thanksgiving Professor Richard Gottheil delivered a lecture on Zionism at a Temple in New York City which “was accorded a most cordial reception.



1903: Birthdate of Alice Herz-Sommer, also known as Alice Sommer-Hertz and Alice Sommer, “a Czech pianist, music teacher and survivor of the Theresienstadt concentration camp.”



http://www.timesofisrael.com/life-and-laughter-from-oscar-nominated-film-about-survivor-110/



http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/world/europe/alice-herz-sommer-pianist-who-survived-holocaust-dies-at-110.html?_r=0



1904:Clarence Isaac de Sola, the “son of Cantor Abraham de Sola and Esther de Sola, and his wife Belle Maud de Sola  gave birth to Jessica E. Mellor who was married to both Ronald David de Pass and Sir John Mellor.



1905: The First Jewish Colony on Manhattan Island published today described events that will be celebrated this Thanksgiving regarding “one of the most important events in Israel’s History” – the growth of New York’s Jewish population from 23 people to half a million.



1905: “The contributions to the fund for the relief of the Jewish sufferers from Russian massacres took another upward bound” today “under the impetus of additional collections from many cities, particularly Chicago, which by sending $20,000 more now leads in contributions outside of New York City, there have been forwarded from there in all $80,000.”



1905: It was reported today that the Jewish relief fund has raised $827,579 to help those suffering from the anti-Semitic violence sweeping Russia.



1905: When Blood Flowed Like Water at Odessa” published today provided an eye-witness account “of the awful scenes of carnage” when Russian gentiles attacked the Jews following the Czar’s proclamation granting the people a Constitution.



1909: Sigma Alpha Mu is founded in the City College of New York by 8 Jewish young men.



1909: Birthdate of Moe Mizler the London born boxer who was the brother of “British lightweight champion Harry Mizler.



1911: Birthdate of Samuel “Sammy” Herman Reshevsky, the Polish born Jewish-American chess grandmaster who was a strong contender in the World Chess Championship competitions for a thirty year span.



http://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/07/nyregion/samuel-reshevsky-is-dead-chess-grandmaster-was-80.html?pagewanted=all&mcubz=3



1912(16th of Kislev, 5673): Eighty-four year old Baron George De Worms passed away.



1912: In Chicago, “the first regular meeting of the K.A.M. Auxiliary is scheduled to be held this after in the vestry rooms of the Temple where attendees will hear speakers present “A Practical Symposium on the High Cost of Living.”



1912: Simon Bloom was elected Mayor of Pine Bluff, Arkansas.



1912: Birthdate of playwright Eugene Ionesco. There is dispute about Ionesco’s Jewish origins. According to a sizeable body of evidence, Ionesco’s mother was a Romanian of Sephardic Jewish origin. 



1913: Birthdate of Josefina Grunfeldova, who in 1942 was deported from Prague to Ujazdow where she was murdered by the Nazis.



1913: In a letter from the Chief Rabbi of Salonica to Prince Nicholas of Greece, the rabbi denies truth of charges of excesses committed by Greek soldiers, and declares he has not sought protection of powers for Jews of Salonica. Three months later the Greek Prime Minister, Venizelos, assured the Chief Rabbi that the rights of the Jews would be continued.



1913: Jesse Laksy forms The Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company in partnership with his brother-in-law Samuel Goldfish (later known as Sam Goldwyn) and his friend Cecil B. DeMille. The Squaw Man is the company’s first film and it is an instant hit.  It is also the first movie filmed entirely in Hollywood, California. 



1914: While fighting on the Western Front during WW I, Lt. F.A. De Pass, a Jewish officer from London “went forward to a sap-head in the front line to repair a parapet that had been damaged.   Seeing a German sniper at work, he tried to shoot him, but was himself shot through the head and killed.”  He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the British equivalent of the American Congressional Medal of Honor, for his bravery in the face of the enemy.



1914: Harry Baff charged today that his father Barnett Baff had been shot dead “at the instigation of a clique of retail poultry buyers” referred to as the “kosher killers.”



1915: It was reported today that there were 300,000 starving Jews in Poland and that “5 cents a day would provide succor for one war victim.”



1915: “Isadore Hershfield of New York” the official representatives of Jewish relief societies of America arrived in Berlin today “on a mission of relief for the Jews in the war areas of Poland and Galicia.”



1916(1st of Kislev, 5677): Rosh Chodesh Kislev



1916: The list of contributions received by The Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering Through the War published today including $22 from the Congregation Sons of Israel in Frostburg, MD, and $76 from the Congregation Sons of Israel in Dallas, TX.



1916: In “Half of War-Stricken Poland’s Population Destitute” published today, Dr. Judah L. Magnes reported that in Poland, “there is no work that a Jew can do…and thousands are starving.”



1916: This afternoon, Harry H. Schlacht of the East Side Protective Association announced “arrangements for a great peace meeting” which will be held at Public School 4 and whose attendees will include Jacob H. Schiff.



1916: According to an announcement made today the American Jewish Committee “a Russian Jew named Gershenovitz…who was sentenced in 1914 to six years of penal servitude because he was accused of have helped he Germans” was acquitted by the Chief Military Court based “on evidence gathered by O.O. Grusenberg, a lawyer.”



1916: During today’s meeting “of the Reichstag main committee it was pointed out that large numbers of Jews in Poland” who are not working “might be profitably employed in manufacturing” which help alleviate the shortage of laborers but would also prove beneficial to the Jews as well.



1917: It was reported today that Adolph Lewisohn has donated his home at 881 Fifth Avenue to house the bazaar which be hosted next month by Temple Emanu-El to reduce expenses so that the maximum amount of money can “go to the relief of Jewish war sufferers and for welfare work among American soldiers and sailors.”



1917: Jan Kucharzewski who would tell an interviewer from “the Jewish press” that he was not an anti-Semite became Prime minister of Poland today.



1917: In Great Britain, the Manchester Guardian printed the text of the Sykes-Picot Agreement – the secret document that determined how the Ottoman Empire would be divided between the UK and France after World War.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement#/media/File:Skyes_Picot,_The_Manchester_Guardian,_Monday,_November_26,_1917,_p5.jpg



1918: Dr. Solomon Oppenheimer, the Superintendent of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum who has just returned from Palestine, gives a report on the condition of the Jews in Eretz Israel.



1918: Rabbi Hyman Gerson Enelow, a member of the Overseas Commission of the Jewish Welfare Board, wrote from France today, “There are so few Jewish workers here I regard it a duty to remain here as long as possible.  It has not been possible to do much for” for those who suffered from the tribulation of the War.



1919: “Madame DuBarry” a silent film biopic directed by Ernst Lubitsch was released today in Denmark.



1920: Two days after he had passed away, Robert Hodes, the husband of Leah Hodes, with whom he had had three children, was buried today at the “Belfast Jewish Cemetery in Northern Ireland.”



1921: The peace treaty between the United States and Austria which ended World War I between these two nations was registered with the League of Nations.  The separate treaty was needed because the U.S. Senate, in a further act of the isolationism that would indirectly lead to WW II, had “refused to ratify the multilateral Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye of 1919.”



1922: In an article entitled “Palestine Industries Thriving Capital and Settlers Needed” Dr. Arthur Ruppin notes the changes that have taken place since Herzl called for the establishment of a Jewish homeland 25 years ago at the first Zionist Congress.  While “towns of thousands houses have grown up on neglected ground” the need to develop irrigation projects and travel facilities represent the biggest challenge for future development as well as creating investment opportunities for foreign financiers.



1923: “The Wanters” a drama from the silent film ear directed by John M. Stahl, produced by Louis B. Mayer and co-starring Norma Shearer was released in the United States today.



1924: Birthdate of George Segal, sculptor lifelike mixed-media figures.



1924: Ted “Kid” Lewis (born Gershon Meneloff) lost both the British and European Welterweight crowns.



1925: Birthdate of pianist Eugene Istomin. He was an American pianist born in New York City of Russian-Jewish parents. He was famous for his work in the trio, with Isaac Stern and Leonard Rose, known as the Istomin-Stern-Rose Trio, with whom he made many recordings, and particularly of music by Beethoven, Brahms and Schubert. He also played with them in orchestral music, with conductors such as Eugene Ormandy Bruno Walter and also as a soloist.  He passed away in 2003.



1926: In an article entitled “Palestine Industry Thriving,” Arthur Ruppin describes the social and economic progress that has been in Eretz Israel in the 25 years following Herzl opened the founding Zionist conference in Basel, Switzerland.



1926: Birthdate date of Albert Maysles, the native of Boston, who teamed with his younger brother David to produce award winning documentary films.



http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/07/movies/albert-maysles-pioneering-documentarian-dies-at-88.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=mini-moth&region=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below



1928: In Moscow, “Andrei Navrozov, a writer, and the former Dina Minz, a neuropathologist” gave birth to their only child “translator and Soviet dissident” Lev Navrozov who in more than one publication claimed that while serving as Israel’s Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Golda Meir “had given Stalin a list of Russian Jews who would fight for Israel” and who then “disappeared at the hands of Stalin’s organs of state security.”



https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/arts/lev-navrozov-dead-soviet-dissident-translator.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0



1928: It was reported today that “Dr. Louis Finkelstein of the Jewish Theological Seminary” said “the condition of present-day Judaism” was like “a leaky ship” and that it was becoming apparent that the ship that was built tin the ghetto must undergo reconstruction for” use in America.



1928: The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports that evidence presented during the trial of a “communist named Teichman” the Druze Rebellion against the French mandatory government in Syria received financial and moral support from Communist groups in Palestine.



1931: Dr. Chaim Weizmann, Zionist leader, in a lecture today before the Keren Hajessod for the Rhineland and Westphalia on the present states of Jewry and Zionism, said the unhappy position of the Jews in Germany was really no different from their position everywhere in the world.



1933: Funeral services were held today “at Temple Adath Israel, in the Bronx” for seventy-three year old Russian born Rabbi Bernhard Rabbino who served congregations in several small towns including Keokuk, IA and Brunswick, GA, before becoming a lawyer and champion of the established of the “Domestic Relations Courts in New York” and who was the husband of “the former Anna Ladewig” with whom he had had four daughters.”



https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1933/11/25/105822888.pdf



https://www.jta.org/1933/11/27/archive/funeral-services-held-for-rabbino-civic-worker



1933: In "Two Contrasting Views of Palestine" published today Jacob Weinstein reviewed Modern Palestine: A Symposium edited by Jessie Sampter and Beside Galilee: A First-hand Survey of Zionism and Modern Palestine by Hector Bolitho.


1934: Release date for the cinematic version of Fannie Hurst’s novel Imitation of Life directed by John M. Stahl and produced by Carl Laemmle, Jr.



1935: The Nuremberg Laws which were aimed Jews “were extended to ‘Gypsies, Negroes or their bastard offspring.’”



1936: Birthdate of Yitzhak Yitzhaky, the native of Tiberias, the founder of and director of “Idud, a village for intellectually challenged children” who was an MK.



1936: Nathan D. Perlman was “appointed as a justice of the Court of Special Sessions of the City of New York” today, a position to which he was reappointed in 1945.



1936: For a second time, “the local rabbinical council protested to the Governor, Marshall Italo Balbo over the order that all shops in Tripoli are to remain open on all days of the week expect for Sunday which will force the Jewish merchants to violate their Sabbath or leave the new part of the city.



1937(22nd of Kislev, 5698): Fifty-eight year old Yakov Ganetsky, the son of a Jewish factory owner, who joined the Bolshevik movement and became a close associate of Vladimir Lenin “was executed today” during Stalin’s Great Purge which was designed to consolidate the Dictator’s power and which had a distinctly anti-Semitic tinge.



1937: The Palestine Post reported that three Jews were wounded when Arab terrorists shot at a crowded bus, traveling from Nesher to Haifa, and escaped.



1937:  In another example of the anti-Semitism that was endemic to European society, the Palestine Post reported that a large number of Jews were again attacked and beaten in various towns in Lithuania.



1938: “Angels with Dirty Faces” a gangster film with a twist directed by Michael Curtiz, produced by Samuel Bischoff and with music by Max Steiner was released in the United States today by Warner Bros.



1938: In Pittsburgh, during the annual convention of Junior Hadassah, four speakers each agreed that “Jewish young people of American must pool their energies in a ‘fight for democracy’ and promote Zionism.”



1938: Today “the National Republican Club adopted a resolution condemning the ‘relapse into barbarianism of the present rulers in Germany.’”



1939: “Two Pioneers of Russian Music” published today provides Howard Taubman’s a review of Free Artist: The story of Anton and Nicholas Rubinstein by Catherine Drinken Bowen.



1939: Dr. Mordecai Soltes, Harry Grayer, Dr. Jacob I. Steinberg, Herman Z. Quittman and Nathan Seidelman are scheduled this afternoon’s meeting of the Order of Sons of Zion in Greater New York at the Hotel Astor.



1939: Dr. Henry G. Knight, Dr. Gabriel Davidson, Professor O.S. Morgan and Dr. Carl B. Woodward are scheduled to speak at the memorial service for Dr. Jacob Goodale at Temple Emanu-El.



1939: At Congregation Emanu-El in New York, Rabbi B. Benedict Glazer is scheduled to speak on “The Promise of American Life.



1939: At the Free Synagogue which holds services at Carnegie Hall, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise is scheduled to speak on “Happiness and Character: Do They Destroy Each Other?”



1939: At Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York, Rabbi Israel Goldstein is scheduled to speak on “Information Please: A Jewish Intelligence Test.”



1939: At Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York, Ludwig Lewisohn is scheduled to speak on “The Answer to Israel’s Enemies.”



1939: At the West End Synagogue in New York, “Rabbi Hyman Judah Schachtel will review John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath at a lecture-forum service.”



1939: In New York at the Astor Hotel “a resolution” introduced by Herman Z. Quittman, executive director of the Sons Zion, “calling on the British Government to admit 50,000 Jewish refugee families from Eastern and Central Europe into Palestine in the next twelve months was unanimously adopted” this “afternoon by 200 delegates to the annual conference of Eastern leaders of the Sons of Zion, a national Zionist group” described the desperate plight of Jews living in Nazi Germany where there has been no organized immigration for Jews since last year and where mothers and wives do not know the fate of their sons and husbands.  “Our people have been pushed back and forth over the borders.  Palestine is the only country in the world where the arrival of Jewish refugees is greeted with rejoicing and festivities.”



1939: “The third week of the 1939 merged appeal of the New York and Brooklyn Federation of Jewish Charities was ushered in” tonight “with a dinner in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel attended by 1,200 representatives of the radio, music, refrigeration and allied industries including  David Sarnoff, Arthur Murray and Benjamin Abrams.



1939: “1,000 Refugees on Vulcania” published today described the hopes of 1,000 German Jews fleeing the Nazis who have sailed from Genoa to settle in the United States.
1939: In Baltimore, MD, Miss Gisela Warburg, the niece of the late Felix Warburg, who has just returned from Europe where she helped with Youth Aliyah, told those attending the sixteenth annual convention of Junior Hadassah



1939: ‘More than a thousand members of the Jewish community of Teschen, Germany” have been given two more weeks to prepare for their deportation to Poland.
1939: In South Bend, Indiana, Gertrude and Herman Boorda, gave birth to Admiral Jeremy Michael Boorda, “the 25th Chief of Naval Operations” and “the first American sailor to have risen through the enlisted ranks to become Chief of Naval Operations,” the top position in the United States Navy.



http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/18/us/admiral-in-suicide-note-apologized-to-my-sailors.html



 



1939: “Death Decreed for Jews Who Fail to Wear Armbands or Ignore Curfew” published today described the edict issued in German occupied Poland that “any Jew leaving his home without a special permit between 5 pm and 8 am may be punished by death” and that Jews failing “to wear a broad yellow arm band” will also face the death penalty.



1939: “Cantor Kusewitsky Is Safe” published today brought word that Moijzez Kusewitsky, the chief cantor of Poland and the cousin of Mrs. Isior Achron has not been by the German bombing of Warsaw but has escaped with his family to Bucharest.



1939: “May Send Mail to Poland” published today described a cablegram from Arnold M. Kaiser, secretary of the Polish Fund of London that included the assertion that letters for those living in Upper Silesia and Danzig maybe sent through the federation which will forward them to Geneva before they reach their final destination in Poland.



1940: British Secretary of State for the Colonies Lord Lloyd calls those who are working to save Jewish lives by illegally transporting them to Palestine "foul people who had to be stamped out."



1940: The Nazis forced 500,000 Warsaw Jews to live in walled ghetto.



1940: “Nearly 600 people, including leaders from the judiciary, education and Newark’s political and social life” attended a dinner-dance at the Essex House which was a celebration of Judge William Untermann’s fiftieth birthday.



1941: A fleet of six aircraft carriers commanded by Japanese Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo left Hitokapu Bay under strict radio silence. On December 7th, the world would find out that their destination was Pearl Harbor.  The arrival of the fleet would usher in America’s entrance into World War II and all that would flow from that. 



1941: The recapture of Rostov by Russian forces marked the first major setback suffered by Germany in World War II, 1941.  The German blitz had moved unchecked across the Soviet Union since June of 1941.  By stopping the Nazis at Rostov, the Soviets forced the German Army to suffer through a Russian Winter from for which it was ill-prepared.  The Germans would resume their offensive in the Spring of 1942 but the Wehrmacht would have been depleted just enough that it would fail a year later at Stalingrad which would mark the beginning of the end for the German military.  Unfortunately, none of these military setbacks would slow down the pace of the Final Solution. 



1942: A ship called the Donausailed from Oslo’s Pier 1 carrying 532 Norwegian Jews, now classified as prisoners all of whom would end up in Concentration Camps.



1942 Norwegian police forces under the direction of the Gestapo handed 532 Jewish prisoners to the SS at Pier 1 in Oslo harbor. The ship was under the command of Untersturmführer Klaus Grossmann and Oberleutnant Manig. Men and women were put in separate holds on the ship, where they were deprived of basic sanitary conditions and mistreated by the soldiers. Only 9 of the prisoners survived the Second World War.



1942: At dawn, in Norway, the Quisling police returned to the home of Isak Plesansky, the founder and proprietor of the Tonsberg Clothing School and arrested his wife, daughter and son.   All of them would be gassed at Auschwitz within the month.



1942: ''Casablanca,'' starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, had its world premiere at the Hollywood Theater in New York. The Jewish connections with this film classic are so numerous that this should only be considered a partial list. Jewish actors included Peter Lorre, S.Z."Cuddles" Sakall, and Leonid Kinskey.  Conrad Veidt was not Jewish but his wife was.  Michael Curtiz, a Hungarian Jew, was the director. The script was a product of Jewish writers Julius and Philip Epstein. The inspiration for the movie came from a play by Murray Bennett.  Bennett got the idea after going to Vienna to help Jewish relatives after the Aunschluss in 1938.  The score was written by Max Steiner…and that will have to do for now.



1942: Jews in Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland, who are lured from hiding places by Nazi promises of no retribution, are taken to a synagogue, locked inside, and subjected to random gunfire by Ukrainians.



1943: Birthdate of producer and director Bruce Paltrow, a native of Brooklyn, a graduate of Tulane University where he is a member of Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity and  a producer who was responsible for two of television’s best dramatic series - The White Shadow and St. Elsewhere.  He also directed several episodes of Homicide as well as full length motion pictures.  He died in 2002 after battling cancer.



1944: In an interview given today on the eve of his 70thbirthday, Dr. Chaim Weizmann said that “any blueprint for the future of what is left of the Jewish people should include allowing at least 100,000 refugees settle in Palestine annually and that this “must be undertaken by the United Nations as a measure of historic justice.  He said that this is the least that is owed to the Jewish people “whose agony in Hitler’s Europe during this war needs no elaboration.”  When he used the term “agony” Weizmann could have included the loss of his son Michael who died while serving with the RAF.



1944: Government officials announced that “twelve more arrests were made today in Tel Aviv and Haifa during continued police searches for suspects connected with” what they described as underground political terrorist groups.



1944: As World War II entered its last phase, the Germans decided to hide all evidence of the mass murders. On orders from Himmler the gas chambers and crematoria at Auschwitz and Birkenau were blown up.



1945: In a personal letter bearing today’s date Nathan Shilkret wrote to his wife about why he undertook the Genesis Project including the insights that “it was never intended to be a work of musical art” but rather a creation intended “to appeal to all record buyers.”



1945: Jewish underground blows up police headquarters and several electric power stations.



1945: Mandatory government sends troops to search for arms in Jewish settlements in Sharon and Samaria.



1945: Soviet Union proposes submission of the Arab-Jewish problem to Big Five Conference.



1945: Polish Jews announce in Italy that they intend to proceed to Palestine by any means.



1946(3rd of Kislev, 5707): Stephen Theodore Norman, the only grandson of Theodor Herzl, plunged to his death off a Massachusetts Avenue Bridge in Washington D.C. at the age of 28.  During WWII, Norman had served as a Captain in the British Army.  He visited Palestine in late 1945 and 1946.  Severe depression brought on by the Holocaust and the plight of the Jews after World War II ended led to severe depression which led to his final moments.



1946: Birthdate of Roni Milo, future Mayor of Tel Aviv


 


1946: Jewish refugees in Haifa resist British attempts to ship them Cyprus.


 


1947: Louis Bromfield, co-chairman of American League for Free Palestine, charges that Arabs have obtained surplus U.S. arms.


 


1948: Bulgaria recognized Israel.


 


1948: Hans Möser: Ex SS-Obersturmführer and commander of the Protective Custody Camp at Mittelbau-Dora who had been condemned to death on 30 December 1947 for his involvement in the executions of camp inmates was executed in Landsberg prison today.


 


1948: Sixteen more Spitfires in Czechoslovakia were awaiting “an opportunity to fly to Israel.”


 


1948: Menachem Begin visited New York Mayor William O’Dwyer


 


1948: Abba Eban tells a meeting of the UN Truce Mission that Israel will not let a large force of Egyptians surrounded by the Israelis in the Negev retreat until the Arab’s accept the Armistice Resolution.


 


1949: Pasha el Mulbi says that the Jerusalem must be held by the Arabs to protect the surrounding Arab sectors.


 


1949: Jordan rejected the plan for an internationalized Jerusalem.


 


1949: Birthdate of Roni Milo, Israeli MK and cabinet minister who served as Mayor of his hometown, Tel Aviv from 1993 to 1998.


1949: Birthdate of Shlomo Artzi an Israeli folk rock singer-songwriter and composer. Born in Moshav Alonei Abba he has sold over 1.5 million albums, making him one of Israel's most successful male singers matching the success of his sister Nava Semel the author of Kova Zekhukhit (Hat of Glass) which was the first published work in Israel that addressed topics of the children of Holocaust survivors



1950: Rabbi Theodore Friedman is scheduled to speak at a Youth Aliyah Dinner-Dance at the Henry Hudson Hotel sponsored by The North Hudson New Jersey chapter of Hadassah



1951: The Tales of Hoffmann “a British Technicolor film adaptation of Jacques Offenbach's opera The Tales of Hoffmann,” co-directed by Emeric Pressburger was released today in the United Kingdom.



1952:The Jerusalem Post reported that in the Knesset Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion sharply attacked Mapam in the debate on the Prague trial, accusing it of duplicity and inability to face the truth about the Soviet regime. The Knesset, by an overwhelming majority, adopted a resolution expressing “its sense of shock at the trial now proceeding in Prague, which had struck at the Jewish people... and on the attempts to bring into disrepute the good name of the State of Israel.”



1952: In Bonn, “entrepreneur and tobacco industrialist Philipp Fürchtegott Reemtsma” and his wife gave birth to Jan Philipp Reemtsma “who hired a researcher” at the start of the 21st century to examine the art collection he inherited from his father to make sure that none of it had been looted by the Nazis from its rightful owners, many of whom would have been Jewish.



1952: “Time Out For Ginger” a comedy starring Melvyn Douglas (Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg) opened on Broadway today at the Lyceum Theatre.



1953(19th of Kislev, 5714): Seventy-nine year old Mary Grossmann Buxbaum, the daughter of Ignaz and Anna Rosenbaum Grossman and the wife of Louis Buxbaum passed away today after which she was buried in Mount Sinai Cemetery in Cuyahoga County, Ohi.



1954: Dr. Nelson Glueck, president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, said that through the use of dense settlement and exploitation of natural resources Israel's southern Negev desert could be restored to its ancient prosperity.



1954: Birthdate of Rosalind "Roz" Chast, the Flatbush native who became an award winning cartoonist for The New Yorker.



http://jwa.org/people/chast-roz



1956:Sixteen-year-old Ellery Schempp refused to listen or to participate in the mandatory Bible-reading exercise of his high school in the Abington School District outside of Philadelphia. According to one source, Schempp was disciplined for reading from the Koran during his high school’s mandatory Bible reading time. After being severely disciplined by the district administrators, Ellery and his family initiated a lawsuit that would ultimately make its way to the Supreme Court of the United States. The defendants were the authorities of the Abington School District. In the end, the Supreme Court ruled that religious recitations and prayers of any kind were in violation of the Constitution of the United States if practiced in public schools. Schempp was raised as a Unitarian. “The minor rebellion led to a landmark Supreme Court case that (much to the relief of many Jewish students) outlawed school-sponsored prayer.



1958: Birthdate of David Asper, a Canadian businessman and lawyer who has served as the  Executive Vice President of the Canadian media company CanWest Global Communications Corp and as Chairman of the National Post newspaper and a Professor at the Robson Hall Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Asper is the eldest son of the late Izzy Asper, founder of CanWest Global. He is the brother of Leonard Asper, current president of CanWest Global. In the mid-1980s, Asper represented David Milgaard, who was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1970. With Asper arguing the case before the Supreme Court of Canada, Milgaard's conviction was overturned in 1992.[1] Asper endorsed Toronto Conservative candidate and former Global news anchor Peter Kent in the 2006 Canadian federal election. Asper is a former trustee of the Fraser Institute. Asper is also one of the main proponents behind building a new stadium for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. If his stadium proposal is accepted Asper will spend $100,000,000 of his own money to finance part of the stadium and build a shopping complex on the stadium grounds. In exchange he would become owner of the team, who are currently community owned. He is currently in negotiations with the football clubs board of governors over his stadium proposal. Asper is married to Ruth Asper and has a 2 sons and a daughter: Daniel, Rebecca, and Max.



1959(25th of Cheshvan, 5720): Seventy-eight year old Austrian born Columbia University trained “physician and surgeon” Dr. Joseph F. Saphir, the former “chief of proctology at Manhattan State Hospital” and the husband of Elsa Saphir with whom he had had three daughters passed away today.



https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1959/11/27/80562443.pdf



1960: In Newark, Delaware Elaine "Leni", a social worker, and William Markell, who taught accounting at the University of Delaware gave birth to Jack Alan Markell, the 73rdGovernor of the state of Delaware.



1960: ITV network transmitted the last episode of “The Strange World of Gurney Slade” starring Anthony Newley who “devised the British comedy series.”



1961(18th of Kislev, 5722): Anglo-Jewish Zionist leader Israel Cohen who “from 1909 to the beginning of World War II Cohen directed the English department of the Zionist Central Office in Cologne and later in Berlin” and whose exciting life was chronicled in A Jewish Pilgrimage: The Autobiography of Israel Cohen passed away today.



https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Jewish_Pilgrimage.html?id=-JMaAAAAIAAJ



1963(10th of Kislev, 5724): Sixty-seven year old Dr. Otto Saphir, the Viennese born “director of the Department of Pathology at Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center” and husband of Ethel Saphir with whom he had had two children passed away today.



https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1963/11/27/121702046.pdf



1964(21st of Kislev, 5725): Sixty-nine year old “Dr. Joseph L. Fink, the Springfield, OH born son of “Rabbi Mendel and Tillie Kagen Fiinkelstein and husband of Janice Gutfruend and the rabbi emeritus of Temple Beth Zion in Buffalo, NY passed away today.



https://www.nytimes.com/1964/11/27/archives/dr-joseph-fm-rabbi-69-is-dead-spokesman-for-reform-jews-led-buffalo.html



http://collections.americanjewisharchives.org/ms/ms0105/ms0105.html



1964(21st of Kislev, 5725): Sixty-one year old Herbert Solow the editor of the Menorah Journal who went from being a follower of Trotsky to an editor of Fortune passed away today.



1965: “My Ship Is Comin’ In” a song written by Joey Brooks was released today in the United Kingdom.



1966(13th of Kislev, 5727): Parashat Vayishlach



1966(13th of Kislev, 5727): Seventy-six year old Galician Poland native Dr. Morris Teller, the son of Samuel and Annie Teller who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania after which he was ordained at JTS where he also received advanced degrees before serving as rabbi of the South Side Hebrew Congregation and who was the husband of “the former Nellie Ruby and the father of Sheldon Teller passed away today.



https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/11/28/90238888.pdf



1966: NBC broadcast “Fame Is the Name of the Game” a mystery movie directed by Stuart Rosenberg.



1973: “Rachael Lily Rosenbloom (And Don't You Ever Forget It)” with Ellen Greene in the title role has its first pre-Broadway performance tonight.



1975: An ABC show titled "Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell" was cancelled today.



1976(4th of Kislev, 5737): Eighty-four year old Vanderbilt University Medical School graduate, Julius A. Haiman, “an ear, nose and throat specialist” and adjunct professor at Polyclinic Hospital passed away today.



https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1976/11/30/80207343.pdf



1976: The Organizing Committee of the symposium on Jewish culture appealed to a number of international organizations and public figures with a call for support.



1977: “A passage featured in Nelson Algren's 1983 book The Devil's Stocking was broadcast during the Southern Television hoax which generated international publicity when students interrupted the regular broadcast through the Hannington transmitter of the Independent Broadcasting Authority in England for six minutes” today.



1980: Two months are premiering in the United States, “Without Warning” a sci-fi film co-starring Martin Landau was released in France.



1981: Boris Chernobylskii, who had previously been “detained on the street” and kept in the police station for two days “was arrested in Moscow” today after which the Moscow Municipal Court sentenced him to 12 months of imprisonment.



1982: The New York Times reported that the number of Jewish day schools was “on the rise, especially among the Orthodox as they catered to the growing number of Orthodox youths, including the children of Soviet, Israeli and Iranian immigrants.”



1982:Howard Cossell called his last fight after being disgusted by the Larry Holmes-Tex Cobb mismatch.



1986: The New Yorker Magazine published "The Way We Live Now" a short story about AIDS written by Jewish author Susan Sontag.



1986: “Solarbabies,” a sci-fi film  co-starring Jamie Gertz was released in the United States today.



1986: U.S. premiere of “The Mosquito Coast” produced by Saul Zaenta and featuring Jason Alexander who would gain fame as “George Constanza” on “Seinfeld.”



1986: The trial of John Demjanjuk opened in the Jerusalem District Court today.



1987: Five people were injured in the bombing of a military bus stop in Israel.



1988(17th of Kislev, 5749): Seventy-six year old Werner Julius Seligmann, the son of Frantz Seligmann and Erna Seligmann and husband of Irma Seligmann passed away today in Notevideo.



1989: The New York Times included a review of The Jews In America: Four Centuries of an Uneasy Encounter by Arthur Hertzberg.


1992(1stof Kislev, 5753): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1992: FOX broadcast the final episode of “The Heights” a short lived “musical drama series” created by Eric Roth.


1992(1stof Kislev, 5753): Ninety-year old Bernard M. Baruch, Jr., the son of the fame financier passed away today.



1993(12thof Kislev, 5754): Eighty-two year old Brazilian born American composer Bernardo Segall, the nephew of painter Lasar Segall passed away today.



1994: CTV broadcast the last episode of “Robo Cop” the television series produced by Jay Firestone, the son of Esther Firestone, the first female cantor in Canada.


1995: Showtime broadcast “Red Wind,” the final episode of “Fallen Angels” an anthology series developed by Steve Golin with theme music by Elmer Bernstein.


1996: Publication of The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York by Claudia Roden.



1997: “Alien: Resurrection” a sci-fi horror film co-starring Winona Ryder and Ron Perlman was released in the United States today.


2000: The New York Timesfeatured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest includingJulius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer: The Beauty Supply Districtby Ben Katchor


2001(11th of Kislev, 5762): A Palestinian suicide bomber killed himself and lightly wounded two Border Policemen at the Erez crossing point in the Gaza Strip.


2001: Eric Moonman “appeared at an ‘Executive Luncheon” hosted by the Centre for Counter Studies during which he said he thought the media had been, "highly responsible and supportive of U.S. and international efforts to root out terrorism" and that when it came to fighting terrorism “we can’t afford to abide by the Queensbury rules of war in the face of such a dangerous and unscrupulous threat."


2003(1stof Kislev, 5764): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


2003(1stof Kislev, 5764): Seventy-seven year old composer Myer Kupferman passed away today. (As reported by Allan Kozinn)




2005: Start of Jewish Book Month sponsored by the Jewish Book Council.  According to its website, “The mission of the Jewish Book Council is to promote the reading, writing and publishing of quality English language books of Jewish content in North America. To carry out its mission, the Jewish Book Council sponsors a variety of activities and programs. The most widely known are the National Jewish Book Awards, established in 1948/9, and the Jewish Book Month. Its publications include Jewish Book Annual and Jewish Book World.”


2005: Sharon Fichman defeated Pemra Özgen to win the tennis tournament at Ashkelon.


2005(3rd of Kislev, 5707): Children’s author and illustrator Stan Berenstain passed away.  He and his wife Jan are best known for creating the children’s book series, “The Berenstein Bears.”


2006: Juilliard instructor Samuel Zyman praises the talent of Jay “Bluejay” Greenberg during an interview on tonight’s broadcast of CBS News 60 Minutes.


2006: Just in time for Jewish Book Month, The Sunday Washington Post book section featured a review of Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins by Amdanda Vail.


2006: The Sunday New York Times list of “100 Notable Books of the Year” includes the following volumes by Jewish authors or about Jewish topics: Everyman by Philip Roth, Golden Country byJennifer Gilmore, Intuition by Allegra Goodman, A Woman in Jerusalem by A. B. Yehoshua,Courtier and The Heretic: Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern Worldby Matthew Stewart.Greatest Story Ever Told: The Decline and Fallof Truth From 9/11 to Katrina by Frank Rich,The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million, by Daniel Mendelsohn,Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew Across the Middle East Divide by Jeffrey Goldberg andSweet and Low: A Family Story, by Rich Cohen.


2006:  In Auckland, New Zealand, The Governor-General of New Zealand, gives a speech at event celebrating one hundred years of the Auckland Chevra Kadisha and Benevolent Society attended by Hon Judith Tizard; President of the Auckland Chevra Kadisha and Benevolent Society, Sonny Beder; President of the Auckland Hebrew Congregation, Rabbi Jack Engel and former President, Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence.


2006(5th of Kislev, 5767): Eighty-eight year old Jeanne Lesser who had been married to Louis Lesser for more than 70 years passed away today.


2007: Holocaust denier David Irving and Nick Griffin anti-Semitic leader of the British National party are scheduled to speak at the Free Speech Forum sponsored by the Oxford Union.  Britain’s defense secretary Des Browne, three British lawmakers and Labour Party leader Denis MacShane have all refused to appear before the group because of Irving and Griffin.


2007: In Jerusalem the Uganda Pub hosts an Ethiopian evening – music, films, food, lectures and even Ethiopian beer - followed by DJ and dancing.


2007: Premiere of “Boy A” starring Andrew Garfield as “Eric Wilson / Jack Burridge.


2007(16thof Kislev, 5768): Ninety-four year old comedy writer Mel Tolkin, “the man who made Sid Caser funny” passed away today.



2008: The OU Bicentennial Convention opens in Jerusalem.


2008: Premiere of “The Joy of Singing” a French film directed by Ilan Duran Cohen.


2008: The 92nd Street Y hosts an Israeli Folk Dance Thanksgiving Marathon.


2008: After months of delay, the Supreme Court is due to hear a petition regarding the 20,000 Subbotnik Jews of Russia, many of whom have found it increasingly difficult in recent years to get permission to make Aliyah


2008: Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz notified Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday that he planned to indict him on several criminal charges relating to the Rishon Tours affair.


2008(28th of Cheshvan, 5769): Bentzion Chroman, who survived an earthquake in China earlier this year, was killed when a terrorist invaded the Mumbai Chabad House where he had stopped briefly today for the afternoon minhah prayer. Rabbi Leibish Teitelbaum, who helped supervise kashrut was also killed in the attack. Other victims of the terrorist attack on the Mumbai Chabad House included Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, his pregnant wife Rivka and Norma Shvarzblat Rabinovich.


2008: “Saul Steinberg: Illuminations,” a travelling exhibition, which will displayed original Steinberg works opened in London.


2008: “Milk” a biopic about Harvey Milk, the son of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, produced by Bruce Cohen with music by Danny Elfman was released in the United States today.


2009: At the Sixth & I Lunch & Learn Rabbi Ethan Seidel leads a class studying unsettling stories containing elements of relativism, confusion, acknowledgment of chaos, and distrust of authority.


2009: Tikvat Israel Synagogue in Rockville, MD, features an evening of Israeli folk dancing.


2009: Hamshushalayim, a three-weekend-long festival, opens in Jerusalem.


2009: Minister of Culture and Sport Limor Livnat told Likud activists this evening that “I do not envy the prime minister because I know he is in distress. It isn’t easy to face an American President.” The Likud Minister was addressing a meeting of party activists in Be'er Sheva. Livnat was referring to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s press conference earlier where he announced that the government would temporarily freeze construction for Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria. The official announcement came after several months of intense American pressure on Netanyahu to halt all Jewish development in Israel’s heartland. Livnat insinuated that the freeze will do nothing to advance the State of Israel’s interests but that the prime minister is being forced into the discriminatory policy by the government of the United States.


2009: This evening, Palestinian terrorists in Gaza fired five mortar shells toward the western Negev. The shells landed in an open field in the Eshkol region, causing no casualties or damage.


2009: Britain’s Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks gave his first speech in the House of Lords during which he “apid homage to Britan an said it was a sense of indebtedness to the country that drives Jews to make the vast contribution they make to society.”


2009: Belgian attorney and politician Mischaël Modrikamen, the son of Marcel Modrikamen whose father was “a Jewish immigrant from Poland who had fled anti-Semitism” launched the People's Party (PP,) which, he claimed, was based on the values of justice, responsibility and solidarity.


2010: The New York Times Reviews Nora Ephron’s Last Book



2010: The National Museum of American Jewish History opens in Philadelphia, PA


2010: In Brussels, opening of Party Like a Jew a fun-filled weekend organized by the European Centre for Jewish Students (ECJS), the largest European organization for young adults in Europe.


2010(19thof Kislev, 5771): “Rosh Hashanah of Chassidism.”  The 19th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev is celebrated as the "the New Year of Chassidus (Hasidism)."“It was on this date, in the year 1798 that the founder of Chabad Chassidism, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745–1812), was freed from his imprisonment in czarist Russia. More than a personal liberation, this was a watershed event in the history of Chassidism, heralding a new era in the revelation of the “inner soul” of Torah. The public dissemination of the teachings of Chassidism had in fact begun two generations earlier. The founder of the chassidic movement, Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (1698–1760), revealed to his disciples gleanings from the mystical soul of Torah which had previously been the sole province of select kabbalists in each generation. This work was continued by the Baal Shem Tov’s disciple, Rabbi DovBer, the “Maggid of Mezeritch”—who is also deeply connected with the date of “19 Kislev”: on this day in 1772, 26 years before Rabbi Schneur Zalman’s release from prison, the Maggid returned his soul to his Maker. Before his passing, he said to his disciple, Rabbi Schneur Zalman: “This day is our yom tov (festival).” Rabbi Schneur Zalman went much farther than his predecessors, bringing these teachings to broader segments of the Jewish population of Eastern Europe. More significantly, Rabbi Schneur Zalman founded the “Chabad” approach—a philosophy and system of study, meditation, and character refinement that made these abstract concepts rationally comprehensible and practically applicable in daily life. In its formative years, the chassidic movement was the object of strong, and often venomous, opposition from establishment rabbis and laymen. Even within the chassidic community, a number of Rabbi Schneur Zalman’s contemporaries and colleagues felt that he had “gone too far” in tangibilizing and popularizing the hitherto hidden soul of Torah. In the fall of 1798, Rabbi Schneur Zalman was arrested on charges that his teachings and activities threatened the imperial authority of the czar, and was imprisoned in an island fortress in the Neva River in Petersburg. In his interrogations, he was compelled to present to the czar’s ministers the basic tenets of Judaism and explain various points of chassidic philosophy and practice. After 53 days, he was exonerated of all charges and released. Rabbi Schneur Zalman saw these events as a reflection of what was transpiring Above. He regarded his arrest as but the earthly echo of a Heavenly indictment against his revelation of the most intimate secrets of the Torah. And he saw his release as signifying his vindication in the Heavenly court. Following his liberation on 19 Kislev, he redoubled his efforts, disseminating his teachings on a far broader scale, and with more detailed and “down-to-earth” explanations, than before. The nineteenth of Kislev therefore marks the “birth” of Chassidism: the point at which it was allowed to emerge from the womb of “mysticism” into the light of day, to grow and develop as an integral part of Torah and Jewish life.”


2010(19thof Kislev, 5711): Yahrtzeit of the Maggid of Mezritch, the successor of the Baal Shem Tov


2010: Alice Herz-Sommer turned 107 today and is the world’s oldest known Holocaust survivor, as well as being the second oldest resident of London, England.



2011: Pianist Taiyuan Stepanov and clarinetists Alex & Daniel Gurfinkel are scheduled to perform “Clarient with a French Flavor at the Eden Tamir Music Center in Ein Kerem-Jerusalem.


2011: Penultimate performance of Arthur Miller’s “After the Fall” sponsored by Theatre J (an arm of the DC Jewish Community Center) is scheduled to take place tonight in Washington, DC.


2011: A Kassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel exploded in the Eshkol Regional Council area early today.


2011: The Israel Air Force struck two centers of terrorist activity in the southern and central Gaza Strip tonight in response to rocket fire into southern Israel, according to the IDF Spokesman's office. The IAF recorded direct hits on both targets and all aircraft involved in the actions returned safely to their respective bases. The IAF strikes caused some damage near the central Gazan city of Khan Yunis, but no casualties were reported, according to the Palestinian Ma'an news agency. The IDF reiterated that attacks directed against Israeli citizens would not be tolerated and the army would continue to act against terrorists. Hamas will be held responsible for all terror activity emanating from Gaza, an IDF statement added.


2012: David Siegel, the Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles is scheduled to speak at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills.


2012: A scheduled screening of “Killing Kasztner, The Jews that Dealt with the Nazis” at the Upper East Side Chabad will be followed by a discussion led by the film’s director and Dr. Joseph Berger, Holocaust survivor saved by Kasztner.


2012: Ehud Barak, who over a half-century career became Israel’s most decorated soldier and held the nation’s trifecta of top positions — chief of staff of the military, prime minister and, since 2007, defense minister — announced today that he would soon “leave political life,” withdrawing from elections scheduled for Jan. 22.


2012: The French Consulate in Jerusalem recently hosted as a guest of honor a Palestinian terrorist, Salah Hamouri, who was convicted of plotting to kill Ovadia Yosef, a former chief rabbi of Israel and the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, an Israeli newspaper reported today.2013: Jewish Book is scheduled to come to an end today.


2013: Robert Levinson, “if he is still alive” today “become the longest held hostage in American history.”


2013: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present “The Reconquest of Jewishness in Post-War America: Will Herberg and Irving Howe


2013: Rabbi Jonah Layman is scheduled to lead the Greater Olney Interfaith Thanksgiving Service at Shaare Tefila.


2013: Alice Herz-Sommer, the oldest living Holocaust survivor who is the subject of “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life” is scheduled to celebrate her 110thbirthday



2013: Fifth anniversary of the Mumbai Massacre a terrorist attack on  Westerner and Hindus and institutions that they used including the Naiman House, the Chabad Center where Jews, regardless of their affiliation could always find comfort and a meal. The victims included Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, his pregnant wife Rivka, Israelis Bentzion Kruman and Yoheved Orpaz, Brooklyn Rabbi Leibish Teitelbaum and Mexican Jewess Norma Rabinovich.



2013(23rdof Kislev, 5774): Sixty-six year old Guiora Esrubilsky, “a prominent Argentinian businessman bas in Florida” who “presided over last summer’s Maccabiah Games” passed away today.



2013(23rdof Kislev): Seventy-four year old legendary Israeli performer Arik Einstein passed away today. (As reported by Elad Benari)



2013(23rdof Kislev): Ninety-year old Israel Prize Winner Bracha Kapach passed away one day before the 96th anniversary of the birth of husband Rabbi Yosef Kapach.



2013(23rdof Kislev, 5774): Eight-nine year old photographer Saul Leiter passed away today. (As reported by Margalit Fox)




2014: In the UK The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust & Genocide is scheduled to host “The Crooked Mirror: A Memoir of Polish-Jewish Reconciliation?”


2014: In Melbourne, “The Israeli Code” and “Shtisel” are scheduled to be shown at the Jewish International Film Festival.


2014: “Interior Minister Gilad Erdan canceled the residency permit of the widow of one of the Har Nof synagogue killers today, effectively deporting her out of Israeli territory and stripping her of any financial or social benefits.” (As reported by Marissa Newman)


2014: “Torrential rains continued to sweep across much of Israel rasing the levels of the Sea of Galilee by 3.5 centimeters (1.37 inches) marking the highest one-day rise of the so for the the lake that is one of Israel’s key water sources. (As reported by Spence Ho)


2015: ”Lless than two weeks since the bride’s father Rabbi Yaakov Litman, and her 18-year-old brother Netanel were shot dead in a terrorist attack as they drove on Route 60 in the southern West Bank on November 13” Sarah Techiya Litman and Ariel Biegel were married this evening at the elevated plaza in front of Jerusalem’s International Convention Center. (As reported by Renee Ghert-Zand)


2015(14thKislev, 5776): Sixty-five year old “Amir D. Aczel, a science writer who took readers on a mathematical mystery tour in “Fermat’s Last Theorem,” his account of how a famous 300-year-old problem in number theory was finally solved in the 1990s, and went on to write more than a dozen popular books on intriguing scientific ideas and discoveries” passed away today. (As reported by William Grimes)



2015: The Chaplains of the Oxford University Jewish Society are scheduled to host Thanksgiving Dinner in their home with a traditional Turkey dinner, pumpkin pie “and all of the trimmings.”


2015: In London, Professor Roger Luckhurst, Birkbeck, University of London is scheduled to deliver a lecture on “Blood Fractions: The Octoroon and Other Fantasies” at the Jewish Museum.


2016(25thof Cheshvan, 5777): Parashat Chayei Sara


2016: “Two Palestinians were arrested” this “morning on suspicion of starting a fire” that devastated the settlement of Halamish” but were later released.


2016: Standing amidst the ruins of their restaurant Rama’s Kitchen which had been by raging wildfire, Rama Ben Zvi and Maya Ben Zvi said they would re-build “but that it take time” in part because they were “still coming to terms with the loss.”


2016: “Monsieur Mayonnaise” and “Dark Diamond” are scheduled to be shown in Melbourne as part of the Jewish International Film Festival.


2017: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Wine Lover’s Daughter: A Memoir by Anne Fadiman and In Deadly Cure by Lawrence Goldstone.


2017: Rhe Studio of the Jerusalem Conservatory “Hassadna” is scheduled to host “Hineh ma Tov!” the annual concert of works by Israeli composer Emanuel Vahl.


2017: “The Calcalist business daily reported” today that “US e-commerce behemoth Amazon is preparing to launch retail sales activities in Israel and is in talks to rent 25,000 sq. meters (260,000 sq. ft.) of storage space in central Israel to provide the local market with products.”


2017: The 21st UK International Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to come to an end today.


2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such as Bernard Lewis whose works included Semites and Anti-Semites and  The Muslim Discovery of Europe continues today.


2018: Tobi Kahn, Rabbi Dianne Cohler-Esses and Rabbi Esther Azar are scheduled to lecture on “Artist’s Beit Midrash: Re-Reading Torah.”


2018: Biet Avi Chai is scheduled to host Professor Daniel R. Schwartz of Hebrew University lecturing on “Two Views of the Maccabean Revolt”


2018: In Israel businesses are scheduled to take part in Cyber Monday as can be seen by “Hazorfim’s Cyber Monday Sale” https://hazorfim.com/en/sale.htmland El Al’s Cyber Monday sales https://hazorfim.com/en/sale.html


 


 


 


 



 


 

This Day, November 27, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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November 27


176: Emperor Marcus Aurelius grant his son Commodus the rank of Imperator and makes him Supreme Commander of the Roman legions. To the world at large Marcus Aurelius was “the philosopher-king” or “philosophical but impractical” ruler, but to the Jews he was just Roman emperor who held them in contempt describing them as “’Stinking and tumultuous!’” to his companions as he traveled through Judea. The dissolute nature of Commodus has become well known to all through the film “Gladiator.” Commodus showed his ineptitude in his failed attempt to defeat the Parthians, Rome’s eastern enemy whose empire reached to the borders of Palestine.  Unable to defeat an armed enemy in the field, Commodus began fresh persecutions of the Jews living there denying them, among other things, the right to use their courts of justice.




1095: First Crusade proclaimed by the Council of Clermont. By now everybody should be aware of the fact that the Crusades ushered in a period of death and destruction for the Jews of Europe and Eretz Israel.



1198(Kislev, 4959): Rabbeinu Abraham ben David known by the abbreviation RABaD (for Rabbeinu Abraham ben David) passed away.  Born in Provence, France in 1125, he was a Provençal rabbi, a great commentator on the Talmud, Sefer Halachot of Rabbi Yitzhak Alfasi and Mishne Torah of Maimonides, and is regarded as a father of Kabbalah and one of the key and important links in the chain of Jewish mystics



1308: Henry VII who “was presented with a scroll of the Law by a delegation of Jews from Rome which had gone to meet him began” began his reign as King of the Romans



1614: In Frankfurt, Vincenz Fettmilch, the ringleader of the Fettmilch Rising during which the Judengasse was attacked looted, was arrested along with 38 of his followers and “charged for their persecution of the Jews.”  (They would eventually be executed.  The authorities really were not upset about his attack on the Jews.  What got him into trouble was when he was perceived as a threat to the Emperor and the ruling order.



1688 (4th of Kislev): Rabbi Elijah Kovo of Salonika, author of Aderet Eliyahu, passed away



1710: Birthdate of Robert Lowth, the Bishop of the Church of England who 1754 was awarded a Doctorate in Divinity by Oxford University, for his treatise on Hebrew poetry entitled Praelectiones Academicae de Sacra Poesi Hebraeorum (On the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews) which derives from a series of lectures that were published by George Gregory in 1787 as "Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews".



1755: An English merchant named Joseph Salvador bought 10,000 acres near Fort Ninety-Six, in the southern part of the Carolina Colony. In 1773, Joseph Salvador would send his nephew Francis Salvador to South Carolina to develop the land as an indigo plantation.  At the outbreak of the American Revolution the wealthy young aristocrat joined the fight for independence.  He died of wounds in August of 1776 while fighting the Cherokee allies of the British.  The following words were etched on his tombstone: Born an aristocrat he became a democrat, An Englishman he cast his lot with America; True to his ancient faith, he gave his life for new hopes of liberty and human understanding.”



1757: Birthdate of William Blake, English poet, painter and printmaker.Controversy surrounds Blake’s grasp of Jewish mysticism. It seems pretty clear that Blake’s art and writing invoke Kabbalah, but scholars debate how Blake accessed the Jewish mystical concepts he quoted. Some argue that the dozen or so Hebrew inscriptions in Blake’s etchings and watercolors show that Blake was fluent in Hebrew. But close analysis of the works, some of which are on exhibit at The Morgan Library & Museum, reveals that Blake had not even mastered the letter alef. Reading Kabbalah in Hebrew without knowing the first letter of the alef-bet would be as implausible as tackling “Finnegans Wake” with barely a grasp of the English alphabet. Arguments that Blake knew Hebrew date back to Frederick Tatham, who cared for Catherine after Blake’s death in 1827. In a letter to bookseller Frances Harvey, Tatham said that Blake’s library included “well thumbed” books in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French and Italian, as well as works by Swedenborg and Christian mystic Jacob Boehme. “His knowledge was immense, his industry beyond parallel,” Tatham wrote. Modern scholars echo Tatham’s claim. Writing in the journal Modern Philology in 1951, David V. Erdman ascribed “some Hebrew” to Blake, particularly the knowledge that beth-lehem means “house of bread.” “We know that Blake knew a little Hebrew,” Anthony Blunt agreed, writing in the Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes in 1943, “for he wrote to his brother in 1803 that he was learning the Hebrew alphabet, and his etching of the Laocoön [a copy of the sculpture “Laocoön and His Sons”] bears a few words in Hebrew script.” In his book “The New Apocalypse: The Radical Christian Vision of William Blake (The Davies Group, Publishers, 2000), Thomas J. J. Altizer suggests not only that Blake knew Hebrew, but also that he was self-taught.But the work that Blunt cites as proof of Blake’s proficiency in Hebrew, “Laocoön” — a circa 1820 print depicting snakes strangling the famous Trojan priest and his two sons — is one of the best pieces of evidence that Blake did not know Hebrew. Writing “malakh Jehovah,” which he translated as “The Angel of the Divine Presence,” Blake inadvertently rotated the alef 90 degrees on its y-axis. He spelled “Lilit” (Lilith) correctly, but he miswrote “Jeshua” (Jesus) with another rotated letter, this time an ayin (the 16th letter). “Laocoön” does not appear in the Morgan show, but an etching from Blake’s Job series does. In an etching from Blake’s Job series, the artist again wrote “The Angel of the Divine Presence,” but this time he wrote the Hebrew “melekh Jehovah,” which means King Jehovah, rather than malakh (with an alef), the Angel of Jehovah. In “William Blake’s Illustrations of the Book of Job,” S. Foster Damon says that Blake intentionally removed the alef to show that Job was worshipping a false God — mistaking an angel for the king. But could Blake really have known enough Hebrew to distinguish between “melekh” and “malakh,” when he revealed in “Laocoön” that he didn’t even know how to form the letter properly?  “Job’s Evil Dreams,” features a bearded figure with hooves encircled by a snake. The figure hovers above a reclining man and points with its right index finger to the Ten Commandments. Though Blake wrote out only two of the commandments in full, the inscriptions contain more than a dozen mistakes. One line contains a properly and an improperly formed alef, a further inconsistency suggesting that Blake was copying a language he did not understand. “Blake did study Hebrew with his one-time patron, William Hayley, but scholars are not agreed about his proficiency in the language,” explained Leslie Tannenbaum, associate professor of English at Ohio State University and author of “Biblical Tradition in William Blake’s Early Prophecies: The Great Code of Art” (Princeton University Press, 1982). According to Tannenbaum, the late Gerald Bentley, a Blake scholar who taught at Princeton University, implied in a biography that Blake was “fairly fluent” in Hebrew. But Tannenbaum also notes that Sheila A. Spector, whom he describes as “an extremely meticulous scholar and expert on Blake and the Kabbalah,” writes that Blake did not know the biblical language.In Blake’s preface to the chapter “To the Jews,” from the poem “Jerusalem,” Tannenbaum sees references to the kabbalistic concept of Adam Kadmon (the primordial man). Blake learned Kabbalah from Swedenborg’s writings on Boehme, who seems to have been influenced by Balthasar Walther, Tannenbaum adds, and Blake also identified with the Avignon Society, which sought science and reason “in such unlikely places as alchemical lore, cabbalistic numerology, mesmerist séances, Swedenborgian spiritualism, and (perhaps most surprising of all) the Scriptures.” In “Wonders Divine: The Development of Blake’s Kabbalistic Myth” (Bucknell University Press, 2001) Spector, an adjunct associate professor at New York University, agrees that Blake’s kabbalistic sources were Christian rather than Jewish, and English rather than Hebrew. Further, Blake was “unfortunately” influenced by his contemporary Anglo-Israelites, who thought that English derived from Hebrew “and that the language of the Jews was a spurious version in which the rabbis obscured the ‘true Christian’ message to be found in the Bible,” Spector said.“Under the circumstances, the question of whether or not Blake was fluent in Hebrew misses the point,” she added. “He rejected normative Hebrew in favor of the linguistic gymnastics that re-interpreted words to conform with some eccentric – to be charitable – interpretations that coordinated Hebrew and English, as well as Greek, etymologies to proffer a new interpretation of Scripture.” (As reported by Menachem Wecker)



1785(25th of Kislev, 5546): Channukah



1798 (19th of Kislev, 5559):Rabbi Shneur Zalman founder of Chabad Lubavitch was released from a St Petersburg jail. He had been arrested on charges of high treason for allegedly sending money to the Czar’s enemy, the Sultan of Turkey. In reality he was sending money to Jews living in Eretz Israel which was part of Turkey at the time.  Shneur Zalman is the author of two works Tanya and Likkute Torah which describe the philosophy of the Chabad movement.  Chabad is an acronym for the Hebrew words Chokhmah (wisdom), Binah (understanding) and Da’at (Wisdom).  Lubavitch is the name of the town in which the Descendants of Dov Baer, the Maggid of Mezhirech, Shneur Zalman’s “teacher” settled.  In 1798, November 27 corresponded to the 19th day of Kislev.  Ever since then Chabad Lubavitchers mark YUD-TET KISLEV (19th of Kislev) as day of joy and celebration.



1804: Birthdate of Sir Julius Benedict, the German born highly successful English composer and conductor who was knighted in 1871.



1804: While serving in the United States Navy, today, Gershom R. Jacques was promoted from “Surgeon’s Mate” to “Surgeon.”



1814: Judah Elias Piza and Rachel Piza, the parents of David and Elias Piza were married today.



1815: Birthdate of Simon Hock, the Prague born businessman who created a history of the Jews of Bohemia.



http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Hock_Simon



1819: Leopold Zuns and Eduard Gans founded the Verein fuer Cultur und Wissenschaft der Juden, (The Society for Culture and Science of Judaism). It delved into Jewish history, culture and literature using scientific methods of criticism and assessment. The Society lasted less than five years. Gans and many others converted to Christianity.



1830: Joseph Mérilhou, the French official who successfully got the Deputies to adopt legislation treating Judaism on equal footing with Christianity when it came to public financial support for synagogues and rabbis completed his term as Minister of Public Education.



1834: Birthdate of Michael Bernays, the Hamburg born lawyer who displayed an expertise in matters pertaining to Shakespeare and Beethoven and who unlike his brother Jakob, converted to Christianity.



1837: Birthdate of Ludwig Loewe, who began as manufacturer of sewing machines and then became major arms maker whose employees included Georg Luger, the inventor of the famous “Luger” pistol.



1839: In Charleston, SC, Rabbi Poznanski officiated at the marriage of Jacob Suares and Isabella Nathans.



1844: Five days after she had passed away in Paris, 32 year old Mary (Montefiore) Mocatta, the wife of Benjamin Mocatta, was buried today “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”



1846: A wagon train owned and commanded by Albert Speyer, a Prussian born Jew, arrived  at San Juan de los Lagos, Mexico, in time for the pre-Christmas fair where he sold his merchandize, “reloaded the wagons with Mexican goods – mainly silver curios and sugar – and returned to Chihuahua” Mexico.



1853: An editorial entitled “The Arrest of Rabbi Asche” published today questioned the methods used by the authorities when they arrested Rabbi Asche and two other Jews on charges of selling lottery tickets.  The editorial supported the concept of law and order but thought the police could have used better judgment in exercising their authority.



1856: Proof of the role of Jews played in settling the American Frontier can be found in the letters Thomas Gladstone sent to the London Times excerpts of which were published today.  In describing those traveling up the Missouri River Gladstone reports that his fellow passengers included “Border Ruffians, Abolitionists…Jews” and others who “completely” represent “the various classes of the population in Kansas.”


 


1858: It was reported today that two New York Rabbis have been arrested on charges of selling lottery tickets based on the charges brought by one of their co-religionists.


1860: In Paris, there are reports of a serious rift between Achille Fould, the Jewish financier who is a close advisor to Emperor Napoleon, and the Empress.



1861: Seventy-seven year old Jeanette Wohl the confidant of Ludwig Borne, the German Jewish writer who like so many of his contemporaries became a Lutheran but was not above characterizing his rival Heine as “a yeshiva student” whom he accused of “the Jewish trait of employing witticisms for their own sake,”



1863: Jacob Miller was wounded at Mine Run, VA, while serving at the 60thRegiment of the Third Cavalry.



1863: At the Wooster-street Synagogue, Thanksgiving Day services were held at 3 o'clock, embracing the usual afternoon prayers, conducted by Rabbi S.M. Isaacs the Prayer for the Government and appropriate hymns, after which an address was delivered by Meyer S. Isaacs, the Rabbi’s son He commenced with a reference to the peculiar significance of the present day of thanksgiving, observed as it was by all Americans, wherever resident, in response to the recommendation of the Executive. It was a grand spectacle, an entire nation united in offering up incense on an altar of a religion all alike profess -- thanksgiving and praise to the Supreme Being. Divesting themselves of social, political and religious distinctions, superior to the division of sentiment engendered by sectional ideas and antagonistic theories, they assembled in their respective places of worship, to pour forth praises to Him enthroned on hish. Actuated by these considerations, his audience had gathered together in their house of God, that they too might join in the grand anthem swelling upward to celestial heights. Israelite and Christian grasped each other's hand in cordial confidence, working together, fighting together the battles of the Union, pouring their blood on the battle-field in friendly rivalry for country's sake. There was no trace of religious intolerance or sectional feeling in the proclamation of the day; we were called upon to observe it as Americans, acknowledging special obligations to Heaven for the providences so graciously displayed in the progress of our struggle for national existence, and not unmindful of His divine favor in the daily blessings unintermittingly showered upon us, whose value we often fail to diiscern until we are deprived of them. He then took his text from Psalm c., verses 4 and 5, discussing it from its various points of view, and earnestly directing attention to the necessity of sincerity in this observance of National Thanksgiving. The stake was too mighty a one to permit even the semblance of insincerity in the history we were making, in our protestations of patriotism. It is understood now, that our love of country is not purely romantic, but that we were in earnest in our expressions of determination to reestablish the national supremacy, to permit no armed assemblage, however formidable, however desperate, to maintain an eternal antagonism to the constituted authorities.  Were we equally sincere in our observance of Thanksgiving, in our expressions of dependence upon God, of our own unworthiness and His eternal goodness and truth? This was to be the lesson of the day. He then illustrated his text by a reference to the peculiar benefits the Israelites of America enjoy in this land of thorough civil and religious liberty. We should enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise, "for here there was no distinction recognized between Jew and Gentile in the guaranty by the Constitution of protection in the enjoyment of the sacred rights of man.  Returning to the broader view of the subject, as Americans, we should signalize the sincerity of this observance by an amendment in those respects where we acknowledge national faults. Although we have demonstrated a stauncher patriotism than we ourselves believed to be inherent in American character, there may be more sacrifices to make, more selfish considerations to combat, more errors of administration to deplore and divest of their apparent danger to the State by a confirmed determination to strengthen the hand of those we have chosen to preside over our national destinies. In conclusion, he spoke of the favorable prospect before us, as contrasted with the gloom, astonishment and despondency at the culmination of the preparation for the war upon our flag. The ship of state, madly tossed upon an unknown sea, exposed to the dangers of the warring elements, her pilots surrendered to the guilt of the hour or sadly inexperienced, was now sailing majestically into a safe harbor, a clear head and a steady hand at the helm; but God be thanked for this great salvation -- no human wisdom or power hath accomplished this.  He closed with a fervent prayer for the continuance of Divine favor to the land, and its speedy restoration to peace and prosperity.



1868: The Philadelphia “Press” published an abstract of the Thanksgiving Day Sermon delivered by Rabbi Jastrow at Congregation Rodef Shalom.



1871: “A Tolerant City” published today quotes the Jewish Chronicle as saying that “Ireland is the only country where Jews were never persecuted.”  As proof of Irish tolerance, the Chronicle cites the case of a young Jewess named Miss Samuel, who, when she was on her death bed was the object of prayers of recovery offered both in Jewish synagogues and Christian Chapels.  Her funeral included thirty carriages that were filled with citizens of both faiths.



1871: In Philadelphia, Simon B. Fleisher and Cecelia Hofheimer gave birth to Samuel Stuart Fleisher the Wharton graduate, manufacturer of year and amateur artist whose works were displayed at American Art Society Exhibition in 1903 who also served Director of the Jewish Foster Home and Orphan Asylum and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Chautauqua Society.



1872: Two days after he had passed away, 62 year old Hyam Levy, the husband of the former Frances Naphtali with whom he had had six children was buried today at “West Ham Jewish Cemetery” on Buckingham Road.”



1873: The Charity Committee of the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum has asked that an appeal be made during today’s Thanksgiving Day services for contributions of money, clothing and other items that can be used to aid Jews who are economically distressed due to the current depressed economy.



1874:  Birthdate of Zionist leader and Israel’s first President Chaim Weizmann. He first gained fame as the Russian-British chemist who used bacteria for the synthesis of organic chemicals. During WW I, a recent immigrant into Great Britain, he discovered a way to use a bacterium to synthesize acetone during the fermentation of grain. Acetone was important in the manufacture of cordite for explosives. Postwar, he modified the fermentation to produce butyl alcohol, suitable for uses such as lacquers. This was the forerunner of the deliberate use of microorganisms for a wide variety of syntheses. A generation later, penicillin and vitamin B12 were produced in this way.



1878: In Sumter, SC, Rabbi E.S. Levy  officiated at the wedding of A. De Leon Moses of Burke Country, GA and Eliza Cohen, the daughter daughter of Max Cohen who used to live in Charleston, SC.



1879: Dr. Henry W. Bellows, a prominent Unitarian Minister, delivered the Thanksgiving Day Sermon at Temple Emanu-El, the New York Jewish house of worship led by Rabbi Gustav Gottheil



1880(24th of Kislev, 5641): In the evening kindle the first light of Chanukah.



1880: It was reported today that “the celebration of the Jewish feast of ‘Chanuka’ will be commenced this evening by the Children of Israel throughout the world.” The Times goes on to provide an accurate description of the origins of the holiday and its modern observance including the fact that the events celebrated began “on the 25th day of the month of Kislev.” (This was written 15 years before the Ochs family acquired the paper)



1880: The Young Men’s Hebrew Association hosted its “fourth entertainment” of the season tonight at Lyric Hall.



1881> On day after she had passed away, 72 year old Sophia Ford, the wife Amsterdam native Charles Ford and more of Henry and Rose Ford was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”



1881: At Rostov-on –Don Isaiah and Feodosia Chatzman to their daughter Vera, the future wife of Chaim Wiezmann, who was a leading Zionist in her own right. (As reported by Esther Carmel-Hakim)



1881: A meeting was held this morning at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum to discuss additional measures to be taken to meet the growing influx of Jewish immigrants from Russia which is overwhelming the resources of the United Hebrew Charities.  One solution is to establish “farming colonies” which will provide a livelihood for the impoverished new arrivals and avoid population congestion in a few east coast cities.



1882: A review of Natural Religion by Sir John Robert Seeley, the author of Ecce Homo, cites the author’s contention that “the Hebrew Scriptures express in poetic form and in language suited another age the spirit of modern science.  Notably the Book of Job contrasts the conventional and, as it were, orthodox view of the universe with the view which those obtain who are prepared to face it awfulness directly.” (Editor’s note – this comes at a time when there was a clash between science and religion so it is intriguing that an English author would find a harmony between the two in the Jewish section of his Bible.)



1882(16th of Kislev, 5643): Sixty-two year old Moses Soave, Italian “Hebraist” who “supported himself as tutor for Venetian Jewish families” while writing biographies of several Italian Jews including Sara Copia Sullam, Amatus Lusitanus, Abraham de Balmes, Shabbethai Donnolo and Leon de Modena passed awat today.



1883: “Clothing merchant” Simon Mandel, a resident of Merrill, Wisconsin and Carrie Mandel gave birth to Milton Simon Mandel who settled in New York where he registered for the Draft during WW I, married his wife Helen and became wholesale fur merchant as a partner in Mandel and Weinblatt located on West 27thStreet.



1883: “Hen” Rice, who had been a Deputy Sherriff is New York is being held on charges that he won $2,700 from Robert Solomon, an Anglo-Jewish diamond dealer, by cheating at card games they played while crossing from England to the United States aboard the SS Servia.



1883: “Russian-Hebrew Colony Broken Up” published today provided a brief history of an agricultural colony that had been established for Jewish immigrants from Russia in Middlesex County, Va.  Despite the contribution of several thousands of dollars from the Jewish community in Baltimore, MD, the experiment failed.  One family has asked to be sent back to Russia while the remaining men have been provide with jobs and several of the women are being taught to use sewing machines.  The Torah used by the colonists will be returned to the Hebrew Hospital Association which had lent it the newcomers.



1883: It was reported today that Herr Haumann one of the lawyers who represented the Jews unfairly charged with the ritual murder of Christian girl in Hungary, fought a duel with Herr Vay, the Police Commissioner.  The sword fight, during which Vay was “severely wounded in the chest,” resulted from the attorney’s accusation that the Police Commissioner had tortured the Jewish prisoners.



1885: “Judaism of the Future” published today provided a summary of Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler’s view of the principles adopted by Reform rabbis at their meeting in Pittsburgh.  He described it as a “Jewish Declaration of Independence” which no longer looks to the memories of ancient Israel, rejects tradition “but recognizes in Christianity and Islamism valuable helpers and co-workers in the direction of the fruition of the kingdom of virtue and truth.”  (Editor’s note – one cannot help but wonder what Rabbi Kohler would have to say about the Reform movement in the 21st century)



1887: In Bialystok, Leah Zuro and Louis Zuro “a Russian immigrant who became a producer of opera” gave birth to Josiah Zuro the American “music director for the Pathe Motion Picture Studio” who conducted numerous symphony orchestras and “organized his own opera company known as the Zuro Opera Company.”



http://www.vipfaq.com/Josiah%20Zuro.html



1887: In Great Britain, “Isaac Asher Isaacs and Hannah Zylberlast Isaacs” gave birth to Estelle Stella Isaacs who became Estelle Stella Jacobs when she married “Alexander Susman Susman Jacobs.”



1888: Today marks the second day of the fair sponsored by the Hebrew Orphan Asylum which is an annual fundraiser for this Jewish organization.



1888: It was reported today that a new congregation “Zichron Osher” has been established on the west side of New York. Joseph Arthur Levy was the founder of the synagogue whose services will include congregational singing and the use of English for some of the prayers.  Rabbi H. Veld will lead the new congregation assisted by Rabbi J.I. De Young.



1889: It was reported today the United Hebrew Charities will be hosting a Thanksgiving Dinner this week



1890: At 3 p.m. the boys of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum held their annual parade” today, marching through the streets of Harlem.



1891: In New York, Sarah Bernhardt appeared in the opening performance of “Pauline Blanchard” at the Standard Theatre.



1892: The Maccabeans, An Aggressive Club” published today described the formation of this club by London’s Jews in the wake of the Russian persecution of their co-religionists. “The meetings of the Maccabeans afford something quite novel to English Judaism – an arena in which all the social, ethical and theological questions which are bubbling so vehemently in the Jewish mind can be thrashed out freely and without prejudice.”



1892: The members of Shaary Zedek voted not to remove the bodies from the congregation’s old cemetery on 88th Street between Park and Madison and reinter them in the new Bay Side Cemetery on Long Island



1892:  It was reported today that Herman Ahlwardt, who is in jail because he was convicted of libeling a Jewish gun-making firm and is such “a shameless rogue” that he has been publicly disowned by “the anti-Semitic Party won a seat in the Reichstag by-election running three thousand votes ahead of his nearest opponent with campaign cry of “Down with the Jews.!”



1893: Seventy-eight year old Sebastian Brunner, the Austrian Catholic writer who was part of a group 19th authors whose “anti-Jewish propaganda had no equal…either for quantity or virulence and who was part of the infamous libel charges brought against Ignaz Kuranda and Heinrich Graetz passed away today.



1894: In Paris, the Grand Rabbi preached a lengthy sermon at a well-attended service during which he “lauded Alexander III’s peace and exhorted all to pray for his soul as well as for his successor Czar Nicholas, his wife and all their relatives.”



1894: The bequests of the late Adolph Bernheimer published today included “$10,000 in 3 per cent bonds” to the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum and Mount Sinai Hospital.



1895: In St. Louis, Caroline and Joseph Lazarus Kranson gave birth to Julius Kranson



1895: In a change of policy it was reported today that “a recent Ministerial order in Russia, Jews living in the interior who have been members of a first-class guild for five years are permitted to retain a permanent domicile in the place of their present habitation and this privilege will extend to their children.”



1895 Alfred Nobel established the Nobel Prize.At least 167 Jews and persons of half-Jewish ancestry have been awarded the Nobel Prize, accounting for 22% of all individual recipients worldwide between 1901 and 2004, and constituting 37% of all US recipients during the same period.  In the scientific research fields of Chemistry, Economics, Medicine, and Physics, the corresponding world and U.S. percentages are 26% and 39%, respectively.  (Jews currently make up approximately 0.25% of the world's population and 2% of the US population.)
 



·         Chemistry (28 prize winners, 19% of world total, 28% of US total)


·         Economics (21 prize winners, 38% of world total, 53% of US total)


·         Literature (12 prize winners, 12% of world total, 27% of US total)


·         Physiology or Medicine (52 prize winners, 29% of world total, 42% of US total)


·         Peace (9 prize winners, 10% of world total, 11% of US total)


·         Physics (45 prize winners, 26% of world total, 38% of US total)


1896: Frank Rorschach who served aboard the Puritan during the Spanish American War was appointed from Kansas today.



1896(22nd of Kislev, 5657): Rav Israel Jaffe passed away today



1897: The Young Folks’ League of the Hebrew Infant Asylum will host a dance tonight at Terrace Garden.



1897: Following an anonymous tip, a Commissaire of Police “made of thorough search” at 3 Rue Yvon-Villareau in Paris where he was told to look for “interesting documents concerning the Dreyfus case. The apartments were occupied by Lt. Col. Picquart and what he found was not revealed to the public.



1897: Authorities searched for Madame de Boulancy, the cousin and former mistress of Ferdinand Esterhazy.



1898: In Charleston, SC, Rabbi B.A. Elzas officiated at the marriage of Louis Flanders and Jeannette Wetherhorn.



1898: In Chicago, $10,230 was raised during the auction of the boxes for the charity ball being held by the Young Men’s Hebrew Charity Association.



1898: Birthdate of Nathan Gregory Silvermaster, the native of Odessa who became an American economist and Soviet spy.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9A07E7DC1E3FEE32A25756C1A9669D946591D6CF



1898: “The Week At The Theatres” published today provided a detailed review “The Merchant of Venice” at Daly’s Theatre  starring  Sidney Herbert as Shylock and Ada Rehan as Portia which is described as being filled with “a few keen disappointments.”



1899(25th of Kislev, 5660): First day of Chanukah



1899: “Dr. Silverman On The Jew” published today provided the views of Rabbi Joseph Silverman on the survival of his co-religionist over the many centuries of mistreatment only to emerge triumphant in the 19th century where he “always feels himself a citizen of the in which he lives” but where “his religion is cosmopolitan.”



1900: Four days after he had passed away, “Nahum Salaman,” the husband of the former Amelia Bertram with whom he had had six children was buried today at the “Balls Pond Jewish Cemetery.”



1901: In Charleston, SC, Rabbi B.A. Elzas officiated at the marriage of William Rosenbaum and Rosalie Levy.



1905: David Kosse, the President of the Temporary Odessa Societies Organization and Joseph Sanders were the marshals for today’s parade on the Lower East Side held in honor of the victims of the Odessa massacres which led by three men carrying flags – the American flag, the flag of Zion and a black flag edged in white.



1905: Samuel Simon wrote today, “I note with profound regret the fact that one of my co-religionists advances the theory that it would be wise to petition the Pope with a view toward his intervention with Russia in” behalf of the Jews “and with the idea of bringing to a cessation the terrible atrocities that have befallen our brethren that country” because he maintains “that it has already be demonstrated that our salvation lies in our own hands.”



1905: Simon Rasch presided over a mass meeting held by the First Odessa Benevolent Association at the Great Central Palace attended by over 2,000 people who raised “several hundreds of dollars” to fund to aid those suffering in Russia.



1905: At an executive meeting of the national committee collecting funds for the Russian Jews held in Jacob Schiff’s office it was “decided to use its utmost endeavors to inspire the country with the idea that there must be no let-up in contributions” since conditions are far worse now than they were when it was decided to raise $1,000,000.



1905: “Rabbi Adolph S. H. Radin of the People’s Synagogue, Congressman Henry M. Goldfogle and actor Jacob P. Adler” are scheduled to address a mass meeting on Clinton Street.



1905: A mass meeting is scheduled to be held tonight “in the open square made by the judge of Sheriff, Grand and East Broadway, in the vicinity of the Young Men’s Benevolent Association” to protest against the treatment of the Jews of Russia.



1905: As conditions of the Jews in Russia continued to worsen, it was reported that today that the United States Government is being urged “to enact a more liberal immigration law which would allow many of the Jewish people who are barred from entering this country at the present time to come to America where they could be protected by the Jewish people.”



1905: As of today it was reported that $878,511 has been raised by the national committee collecting funds to aid the suffering Jews of Russia.



1905: “According to a private telegram from an eminently trustworthy source” the violence in Sevastopol continues forcing the inhabitants, “especially the Jews” to flee the city.



1905: “Consular advices by cable received” in Washington report that fifteen Jews were killed at Rostoff during the recent riots in Russia.



1907: Birthdate of Syracuse native Phoebe Brand, the daughter of the “chief mechanical engineer for Remington typewriters, the actress and acting teacher who was the wife of actor Morris Carnovsky and the mother of Stephen Carnovsky.



http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/12/theater/phoebe-brand-96-actress-and-group-theater-co-founder.html



1907: In Boston, Louis and Muriel Fisher gave birth to Golda Walters the wife of Charles H. Walters and Boston University lawyer who while serving as a “Massachusetts judge” lost out on a chance for a federal judgeship in 1941 when President Roosevelt decided to fill the two vacancies with two men and who was described as the “prettiest judge” in the January 31, 1939 of Look magazine.



1907: In Hesse, Germany, Isaac and Sophie Plaut gave birth to Alfred Plaut, the husband of Fanny K. Kasper.



1907: Sixty-four year old Cyril Flower, 1st Baron Battersea, the husband of Constance, the daughter of Sir Anthony de Rothschild passed away today.



1909(14th of Kislev, 5670): Parashat Vayishlach



1909(14th of Kislev, 5670): Noachm Schapiro passed away today.



1909: Birthdate of Alfred Lionel Piser, the native of Chicago and graduate of the University of Illinois who served in WW II and became a successful Ophthalmologist,



1912: In Chicago, Mrs. Hamburger is scheduled to give German readings after which Mrs. G.B. Levi will lead the singing of German songs at this afternoon’s meeting of The Willing Workers.



1912: A troupe of Yiddish language actors including Jacob P. Adler will begin performing this evening at the Haymarket Theatre.



1912: Professor Percy Homes Boynton of the University of Chicago is scheduled to deliver a lecture at the Chicago Hebrew Institute on “The Trend of American Fiction.”



1912:  In St. Louis, MO, Samuel Margulois, “a hand-to-mouth salesman and his wife Celia” gave birth to David Lee Margulois, the Washington University graduate and lawyer who gained fame as David Merrick, the theatrical producer best known for his production of “Hello Dolly.”



1912: In Pueblo, CO, Romanian Jewish immigrants Samuel Cohen and Dora Inger who had been living in Denver gave birth to Rose Cohen who gained fame as actress Connie Sawyer.




1912: Leopold Godowsky’s piano recital at Carnegie Hall today included a half dozen of Listz’s most difficult etudes.



1913: Anglo-Jewish featherweight/bantam weight Matt Wells defeated Owen Moran in Sydney, Australia



1914: The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committeewas established by combining several separate organizations. Its original name was the Joint Distribution Committee of American Funds for the Relief of Jewish War Sufferers and was chaired by Felix M. Warburg. It campaigned and distributed funds wherever Jews were in need, especially in Eastern Europe. It is popularly known as the "Joint" or "JDC." During the First World War they spent almost 15,000,000 on relief efforts.



1914(9th of Kislev, 5675): Lt Frank Alexander de Pass of 34 Poona Horse, part of the Indian Expeditionary Force which arrived in France soon after the war began” and who first Jew to be awarded the Victoria Cross (posthumously) was killed today.



1914: In Brooklyn, Rabbi Alexander Lyons preached a sermon entitled “Prejudice in American Life” at Friday night services “in which he referred to the prejudice again Leo M. Frank that existed in Atlanta during the trial of Frank which resulted in a verdict convicting him of the murder of Mary Phagan.



1914: If the Supreme Court of the United States denies the application of Leo Frank for a writ of error, Georgia Governor John M Slaton told reporters at the Waldorf today that he will review all of the evidence and if Frank “is not guilty then he ought to be saved from the (death) penalty and shall not a victim of injustice because he is a Jew.”  As to his feelings towards Jews, the governor pointed out that Mr. Philips, his law partner for nineteen years is a Jew and that Jews have been an integral part of Georgia since the days of the Crown when the Minis family settled in the colony.



1914: “Following the second reversal at the hands of a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States” Leo Franks has issued a public statement “calling attention to several phases” of his case including the fact that the members of their jury feared for their lives because of “the dangerous…crowd which surrounded the jail” and that the “Supreme Court has never reviewed the question of his guilt or innocence” but has only responded to questions of procedural technicalities related to his appeal.



1915: The American Embassy in Berlin is working with the German government to get permission for Isadore Hershfield to go to Poland where, among other things he will try to make contact with Jews whose families in America would like to send them financial assistance.



1915: On Shabbat, at Temple Israel on the corner of Lenox Avenue and 120thStreet, Rabbi M.H. Harris delivered a sermon on “Thanksgiving in Tribulation” in which he made “an appeal to the Jews of America to give aid to their starving brethren in Galicia and Poland.”



1916: It was reported today that a Russian officer had made speech to the peasants the District of Lutsk in which “he said the Jews were enemies of the State and traitors and they must be expelled” and told them that they must come forward and testify as to how the Jews had welcomed and supported the Austrians.



1916: “Plain clothes men who arrest women on the streets were defended” tonight “by Justice Henry Herbert of Special Sessions at the annual meeting of the Sisterhood of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue – an organization which spends a considerable amount of time and money working among the “Jewish girls whom into the magistrate’s courts” with the intent of leading them away from criminal activity.



1916: It was pointed out at today’s session of the Reichstag that “the Jewish population of former Russian Poland amounts to 14 percent” of the work force and that this “large number of Jews in Poland might be profitably employed by” German manufacturers “to relieve the dearth of labor.”



1917: As revolution spreads across Ukraine and nationalist forces tried to take control of what had once been part of the Russian empire, it was reported today that that Jews in Skivira have been attacked in a pogrom.



1917: Turkish forces began four days of attacks against Allenby’s troops in futile attempt to keep the British forces from Jerusalem.



1917: At Petrograd, “a delegation of Jews appeared at the British Embassy today to express its gratitude for the action of the Entente Allies with reference to Palestine.”



1917: Birthdate of Yhyah Qafih, the native of Sana’a Yemin who was the son of Rabbi David Qafiḥ and the grandson of Rabbi Yiḥyah Qafiḥ, making him the third generation of leaders of the Yemenite Jewish community, first in Yemen and then in Israel.



1918: Birthdate of New Yorker Elliott Pershing Stitzel who gained fame as actor Stephen Elliott.



1918: Felix M. Warburg, the Chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee of the American Funds for Jewish War Suffers issued a statement tonight explaining why it was necessary “to raise $5,000,000 for Jewish relief” that began “The Jewish civilian populations throughout the war zones have been deprived of the opportunity to be self-supporting” and “the end of the war has not altered their state but has actually accentuated their misery” as can be seen by the fact that “in many countries the Jews will not receive the bread distributed by the government” unless it is done by the Jews themselves.



1918: Birthdate of Victor Elmaleh, the native of Mogador, who imported the first Volkswagens to the United States and “developed $7 billion worth of real estate.” (As reported by Douglas Martin)



http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/nyregion/victor-elmaleh-builder-and-entrepreneur-dies-at-95.html?rref=obituaries&module=Ribbon&version=origin&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Obituaries&pgtype=article&_r=0



1919: Following the end of WW I, Bulgaria signed The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine which included guarantees of the rights of that country’s Jewish population.



1922: It was reported today that “a committee on local arrangements, composed of the presidents of important synagogues in New York and Brooklyn under the chairmanship of Daniel P. Hays” is already making preparations for the meeting of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations which will be held on January 20, 1923.



1922: It was reported today that last week during the dedication of a memorial tabled to the men of Harlem who died in the World War, President Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia and Congressman Isaac Siegel spoke out against the Ku Klux Klan – an organization which a large section of the population of New York led by the Catholics and Jews has declared “open warfare against.”



1922: It was reported today that President Harding has not yet appointed Congressman Isaac Siegel who did not seek re-election to the House of Representatives “to one of the vacant judgeships in the local United States District Court.”



1924: In the New York City the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was held.  Macey’s was not founded by Jews, but it was two Jews, Isidor and Nathan Straus, who took control of the store in 1896 who turned into what was then “biggest department store in the world.”



1925:  Birthdate of Ernest Wiseman, the English comedian who changed his name to Ernie further his career as an actor and singer in English music halls.  He was best known as one half of the comedy duo Morecambe and Wise, which became an institution on British television, especially for their Christmas specials.  He passed away in 1999.  Just as in American, English entertainers changed their names to get ahead and like Irving Berlin helped add luster to the Christian’s Christmas.



1925: In Paris Paulette (née Grobermann) and Armand Lanzmann gave birth to Claude Lanzemann, the French filmmaker who joined the Resistance at the age of 18 and fought the Nazis and later became “chief editor of the journal Les Temps Modernes, which was founded by Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir.” Lanzmann's most renowned work is the nine-and-a-half hour documentary film Shoah (1985), which is an oral history of the Holocaust, and is broadly considered to be the foremost film on the subject.”



https://www.timesofisrael.com/claude-lanzmann-acclaimed-director-of-documentary-shoah-dies-at-92/?utm_source=The+Times+of+Israel+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=9c99bf4dd6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_07_05_06_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_adb46cec92-9c99bf4dd6-53921877



1925(10th of Kislev, 5686): Forty three year old Horace Andrew Saks, the son of Andrew and Jennie Sakes and the husband of Dorothy Isabel Sakes passed away today, who along with Bernard Gimbel had created Saks Fifth Avenue in 1924.



https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1925/11/28/98842905.pdf



1926: “The Miraculous Mandarin” “a one act pantomime ballet…based on the story by Melchior Lengyel” premiered today in Cologne, Germany where “it caused a scandal and was subsequently banned on moral grounds,”



1928: “Blame for the recent riots at the wailing wall in Jerusalem was placed squarely on the Jewish community in a White paper issued today by the Colonial Office, containing a memorandum on the subject by L.C.M.S. Amery, Secretary of State for the Colonies” that “stated that officials intervened at the wailing wall only after the Jewish worshippers had violated the existing agreement by bringing chairs and benches or screens to the street pavement.”



1933: In Brooklyn, restaurant workers “Al Saperstein and Doris Bergman” gave birth to Burton Saperstein who gained fame as bibliophile Burt Britton. (As reported by James Barron)



https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/09/obituaries/burt-britton-a-book-lover-if-ever-there-was-one-dies-at-84.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well



1933: Birthdate of William G. Dever, the native of Louisville, KY who became “an archaeologist specializing  in the history of Israel and the Near East in Biblical times” whose works included What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?



http://www.centuries.co.uk/dever-review.pdf



1933: As Hitler moves to consolidate his control over German society Kraft durch Freude (KdF; Strength through Joy) is established to tie leisure activities of the German Volk (people) to the aims of the Nazi Party.



1933: A transfer company was established today in Tel Aviv to facilitate the immigration of German Jews along with whatever property they are able to bring with them. (Jewish Virtual Library)



1935(1st of Kislev, 5696): Rosh Chodesh Kislev



1935(1st of Kislev, 5696): Sixty-seven year old Louisville, KY native Benjamin Edward Bensinger, the husband of Rose Frank Bensinger,  father of Yale graduate Benjamin Edward Bensinger, Jr. and Benjamin Edward Bensinger III passed away today in Chicago.



1936: Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels declares that film criticism is henceforth banned, freeing the Nazi-controlled German film industry to pursue its own agenda, which includes blatantly anti-Semitic films. During the same period in the United States, Hollywood is self-censored in that it fears dealing with Jewish issues because of the high level of anti-Semitism existing at the time in the United States.



1936: “Born to Dance,” a musical with a script co-authored by Sid Silvers who also played the role of “Gunny” Sacks was released in the United States today.



1936:  In a letter-to-the editor published today, Hendrik Willem Van Loon expressed his appreciation to the New York Times for printing a previous letter in which he “suggested that we do a little cosmic pinch-hitting and erect a statue of Felix Mendelssohn and keep it here until our German friends shall be able to once more to listen to his charming music without getting Aryan jitters. (This was a reference to the Nazi ban on the music of Mendelssohn whose Jewish origins did not spare him from a posthumous form of anti-Semitism)



1937: Opening performance of "Pins & Needles" a pro-labor musical revue produced by ILGWU



1938: Speaking before the National Council of Teachers of English in St. Louis, “Professor Clyde R. Miller of New York, the director of the Institute for Propaganda Analysis said today that America may expect increasing Nazi propaganda to justify the persecution of Jews, Catholics and Protestants in Germany” and that “the object of the Nazi propaganda was to break Americans up into dissenting groups – getting Christians hating Jews, Catholics hating Protestants, natives hating foreign born.”



1938: “Erich Rix, the president of the San Francisco unit of the German American League for Culture announced today that the group had adopted a declaration condemning the Hitler government for a regular pogrom against the Jews.”



1939: In New York, at the Hotel Astor, Dr. Kurt Blumenfeld, president of the German-Jewish Settlers Association in Palestine, Dr. Georg Landauer, head of the Central Bureau for the Settlement of German Jews in Palestine, Louis Lipsky, chairman of the Palestine Foundation Fund, Charles Ress and Dr. Ludwig Lewisohn addressed tonight’s meeting of the Palestine Foundation, the fiscal arm of the Jewish Agency for Palestine.



1939: It was reported today that the rise in the price of stocks in Berlin is due “partly to the continued sales of stocks formerly owned by Jews for the Reich’s accounts” which “were taken in payment from former holders at prices considerably below their present values” and partly in anticipation of the next payment of 200,000,000 marks which the Jews must make in December.



1939: As of today, the new national officers of Junior Hadassah were President Nell Ziff, Vice Presidents Goldie Brenner of Newport News, VA; Sylvia Brody of Akron, Ohio; Claire Gottfried Jacobson of New York; Esther Brody, Brooklyn, NY; Secretary Ernestine Kirschner of New York and Treasurer Dorothy Hines of New York.



1939: George Z Medalie was reported to have “announced that during the upcoming week twenty-seven luncheons, dinners and group meetings” would be held as “part of the program to enlist support for” the 1939 Appeal of the New York and Brooklyn Federation of Jewish Charities.



1939(15th of Kislev, 5700): Seventy-six year old Alexander Harkavy, Jewish lexicographer, author and publisher of newspapers in Montreal and Baltimore passed away today at the Broadway Central Hotel in New York City.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9500E3D7143EE432A2575BC2A9679D946894D6CF



http://www.bjpa.org/publications/downloadFile.cfm?FileID=19362



1939:  It was reported today “that the German plan for the deportation of all Jews within the confines of the Greater Reich foresees the transportation of 150,000 Jews from the Protectorate, 60,000 from Austria, 30,000 from the conquered provinces of Posen and Western Prussia and approximately 200,000 from the old Reich territory to Eastern Poland.”



1941: The Jews were deported from Wuerzburg, Germany.



http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/november/09.asp



1941: Friedrich Jeckeln met with the leaders of Protective Police, “a branch of the German Order Police” who would be participating in the upcoming massacre of the Jews in Riga.



1941: The first of 19 trains leaves Germany to resettle thousands of Jews in Riga and Kovno. Yet, 1000 newly resettled German Jews were taken and killed at the same time.



1941: “The Palestine Symphony Orchestra has just announced the results of a competition open to composers in Palestine and the neighboring countries.”  Because of the volume and quality of the entries, four “winners” instead of just one were announced including, a Divertimento for Orchestra by Joseph Huttel, director of European Music at the Egyptian State Broadcasting, Cairo, Overture to a cantata by A. Daus of Tel Aviv, a Symphony of Variations for Soloists and Orchestra by Peter Gradenwitz of Tel Aviv and Fatum, a symphonic poem by J. Wohl of Haifa.



1942: From this date through August 1943 more than 110,000 Poles are expelled from their homes in the fertile Zamosc province so that the area can be resettled by ethnic Germans, SS troops, and Ukrainians. More than 300 villages are affected. Thousands of Polish children are deported from the area to Belzec and other death camps.



1942: Birthdate of poet Marilyn Hacker



1942: On Friday night, Rabbi Harold Saperstein delivered a sermon entitled “What Have We Jews to Be Thankful For?” on the day following Thanksgiving when the condition of American Jewry stood in stark contrast to the news “the papers have given the general public information about what is happening to the Jews of Nazi-occupied Europe.”



1943: U.S. premiere of “Old Acquaintance” a comedy-drama directed by Vincent Sherman with music by Franz Waxman.



1944: In the weekly internal report of the War Refugee Board, it reported that the United States embassy had received from the Spanish Foreign Office: "Official confirmation that appropriate instructions have been sent to the Spanish Legation in Bern to seek the collaboration of the Swiss government in the efforts of the Spanish Embassy in Berlin to obtain the release and transfer to Swiss territory of the group of 155 Sephardic Jews at Camp Bergen Belson."



1944: "The Trial and Punishment of European War Criminals," a report by U.S. Secretary of War Henry Stimson and Secretary of State Cordell Hull, is submitted to President Franklin Roosevelt. 



1944(11th of Kislev, 5705): Leonid Isaakovich Mandelshtam, Russian physicist, passed away.



1944(11th of Kislev, 5705): Albert Isaac Myers, “the proprietor of Myers & Co.” a bookstore specializing in “rare books, fine prints and choice early maps” who was described by Harold Laski as being “one of the most learned and helpful of booksellers” and whose activities in the Jewish community included serving on the Board of Management of the Dalston Synagogue and the committees for the Jewish Free Reading Room and the Home for Jewish Incurables.



1945: The American League for a Free Palestine, chaired by former Iowa Senator Guy Gillette, sent a telegram to President Harry Truman protesting recent beatings of Jewish displaced persons housed at the former Bergen-Belsen concentration camp by British military police.  According to the League, an unnamed German had told the British that the Jews planned to protest Ernest Bevin’s recent hostile comments about Palestine. British forces arrested the leader of the Jewish “prisoners’ and reportedly beat several of the women.



1945: In London, former U.S. Senator Guy Gillette, head of the American League for a Free Palestine, held a press conference after meeting with Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin in which he declared “that the United States was ‘thoroughly worked up’ over Palestine” and regarded the situational there as a testing ground for all the principles of Atlantic Charter.



1945: The American League for a Free Palestine submitted a memorandum to the British government calling for action by the Big Five Powers to deal with any violence that the British claim will occur if 100,000 Jews are allowed to immigrate to Palestine.



1946(4th of Kislev, 5707): Seventy –two year old Rabbi Solly Baron, who escaped to Germany in 1939 and arrived in Halifax in 1945 passed away today in St. Louis.



1947: Thanksgiving in the United States



1947: On Thanksgiving, “the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society fed turkey dinners to fifty children and to 200 newly arrived immigrants” to whom “the significance of Thanksgiving Day in the United States was carefully explained.”



1947: “The Palestine Government’s intention to sell Government land on the Haifa waterfront, which has aroused a storm of protest from the Jewish community” and which Mrs. Golda Myerson has described as “incomprehensible” “was confirmed today in the official Palestine Gazette.



1947: In Prague, Czechoslovakia Franci and Kurt Epstein gave birth to American author Helen Epstein.



http://www.helenepstein.com/



1949: Eighty-six year old William H. King, the Senator from Utah who in 1927 “declared…that he favored the United States severing diplomatic relations with any country which failed because of anti-Semitism to protect its Jewish nationals” and “expressed the belief that eventually Palestine would be able to support a population of a million Jews” passed away today.


1950: A rummage sale sponsored by the Jordan Metropolis Chapter of the B’nai B’rith is scheduled to begin today in New York City.



1950: Mrs. Jack Kesselman is scheduled to address today’s meeting of the Jersey City, NJ chapter of Hadassah at the Jersey City Jewish Community Center.



1950:  Films of Europe and Israel are scheduled to be shown at tonight’s meeting of the Kinnereth Business and Professional Group of Hadassah meeting at the Henry Hudson Hotel.



1951: Today thirty year old produer/director Jospeh Papp married Salt Lake City, Utah native, Peggy Marie Bennion who earned an MSW from the Hunter College School of Social Work.



https://www.scribd.com/document/315097496/Family-Therapy-Pioneers-Peggy-Papp



1953(20th of Kislev, 5714): Seventy-seven year old French playwright Henri-Léon-Gustave-Charles Bernstein the victim of an anti-Semitic riot in 1911 whose play “Dreaming Lips” was made into a movie in 1932 and who spent WW II living at the Waldorf-Astoria passed away today after which he was  buried in the Cimetière de Passy in Paris.



1956: Senator John F. Kennedy addresses the Annual Banquet of Histadrut Zionist Organization, Baltimore, Maryland.



1956: In Amsterdam, Queen Juliana attended the opening performance of Goodrich and Hackett's “The Diary of Anne Frank.”



1956(18th of Kislev, 5654): Seventy-seven year old muralist Hugo Ballin whose works included a mural at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple that “encircles the main Sanctuary” that tell the story of the Jewish people from Bereshit until the time of its commissioning in 1929.



1956: The Jerusalem Post reported that Jews arriving by plane in Paris 'confirmed that expulsion orders were being issued to Jews in Egypt by the thousands.'


 


1956: Golda Meir, the Israeli Foreign Minister, "wrote the first of two letters to the UN Secretary General, protesting the 'action taken by the Egyptian Government against the Jewish Community in Egypt.'"


 


1957: “The Sad Sack” a comedy produced by Hal B. Wallis, starring Jerry Lewis and featuring Peter Lorre was released today in the United States.


1958: Polish born conductor Artur Rodziński passed away. Rodzinski was not Jewish but under the law of unintended consequences, he had major impact on the career of a Jew who was one of the musical icons of the 20thcentury, Leonard Bernstein.  “Rodzinski said that God told him to hire 24 year old LeonardBernstein, to be his assistant conductor. In the fall of 1943 Rodzinski decided to take a vacation, spend a little time with his goats, and called in Bruno Walter to conduct seven concerts in ten days. Only hours before one of those concerts (in the program, works by Schumann, Rosza, Strauss and Wagner) Walter fell ill. Rodzinski was only four hours away, in his farm. But he declined to come back to Carnegie Hall: "Call Bernstein. That's why we hired him." The concert was broadcast over radio and a review appeared on page 1 of The New York Times the next day: "Young Aide Leads Philharmonic; Steps in When Bruno Walter is Ill’" And the rest, as they say, is history.



1958(15th of Kislev, 5719): Seventy-five year old “artist, critic, author” and college professor Walter Pach passed away today at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9500E6D7143DE53BBC4051DFB7678383649EDE



https://www.flickr.com/photos/26746018@N03/3234018815/in/photostream/



http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/walter-pach-papers-suppressed-old-digitized-microfilm-9852/more



1958: In Tel Aviv, “theatre actor Shmulik Atzmon” and his wife gave birth to actress and singer Anat Atzmon.



1962(30th of Cheshvan, 5723): Rosh Chodesh Kislev



1962(30th of Cheshvan 5723): Fifty-one year old photographer Florence Meyer Homolka, the daughter of Eugene Meyer and actor Oskar Homolka, passed away today.



1963: Birthdate of three-time Ophir Award winner Ronit Elkabetz.



1964: In Montreal, Dr. Gina Shochat-Rakoff and Dr. Vivian Rakooff gave birth to “prize-winning humorist” David Benjamin Rakoff (As reported by Margalit Fox)



http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/11/books/david-rakoff-award-winning-humorist-dies-at-47.html?_r=0



1964: Birthdate of Ophir award winning Israeli actress and filmmaker Ronit Elkabetz, the native of Beersheba who oldest four children born “to a religious Moroccan Jewish family originally from Esaaouira.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9805E2DD123DEF3ABC4051DFB767838D609EDE



1965: “Gamera: The Giant Monster” a horror film featuring Alan Oppenheimer as “Dr. Ctonrare” was released today in Japan.



1967: At news conference today President Charles de Gaulle called Jews “elite people, sure of itself and domineering.”



1968: In Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France, “Eddie Vartan, a Bulgarian-born musician, and Doris (née Pucher) Vartan, a painter and artist gave birth to Franco-American actor Michael Vartan, the nephew of singer Sylvie Vartan.



1969(17th of Kislev, 5730): In Athens, one Greek child was killed and 13 others were wounded when two Jordanian terrorists attacked the El Al offices with hand grenades.



1972: Release of Free to Be You and Me, the album of non-sexist stories and songs that helped shape the self-understanding and worldview of a generation of children. Letty Cottin Pogrebin was the editorial project consultant for the album as well as the book and television special associated with the project, all of which were created by feminist and actress Marlo Thomas. Free to Be You and Me, which features such songs as “Parents are People” and “It's All Right to Cry,” is still enjoyed by children today. In addition to her work on Free to Be You and Me, Pogrebin was a founding editor of Ms. Magazine. She was a co-founder of the National Women's Political Caucus, as well as the Ms. Foundation for Women and the International Center for Peace in the Middle East. She wrote the best-selling parenting guide to raising non-sexist children, Growing Up Free: Raising Your Children in the 80s (1980), as well as Deborah, Golda, and Me: Being Female and Jewish in America (1991), Family Politics: Love and Power on an Intimate Frontier (1983), and Getting Over Getting Older: An Intimate Journey (1996). Pogrebin recently published her first novel, Three Daughters (2003).


1973:Neil Simon's "Good Doctor," premieres in New York City.


1976: Release date for “Network” the Paddy Chayefsky written classic directed by Sidney Lumet. Lumet was nominated for an Oscar and Chayefsky won one for his screenplay.


1978(27th of Cheshvan, 5739):  In San Francisco, California, city mayor George Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former supervisor Dan White. Milk was Jewish.  Moscone was succeeded by Jewish the head of the Board of Supervisors, Diane Feinstein. Feinstein would go on to be elected to the U.S. Senate where she and fellow Californian Barbara Boxer would become the first Jewish female duo to represent a state in the nation’s Upper Chamber.


1980: ABC broadcast the first episode of “Bosom Buddies,” a sitcom co-starring Wendie Jo Sperber today.


1981: “Ten Out of 10,” “the eighth studio album by 10cc” which marked the first involvement with the band by American singer-songwriter Andrew Gold and was co-produced by Graham Gouldman was released today.


1981: Eighty-three year old singer and actress Lotte Lenyam, the widow of Kurt Weil who although not Jewish herself, left Germany when the Nazis came to power passed away today.



1987(6th of Kislev, 5748): In Israel, two “internal security agents” were killed today.


1991: The New York Times published a review of Benevolence and Betrayal Five Italian Jewish Families Under Fascism by Alexander Stille.



1993(13th of Kislev, 5754): Marvin H. Bernstein, a businessman and philanthropist in New York for many years passed away today at the Miami Heart Institute. He was 66 and lived in Miami. Mr. Bernstein was the founder and for 34 years the president of the Variety Knit Corporation of Manhattan, which makes women's clothing and T-shirts. He also founded the Marvin Bernstein Oil Company, a petroleum exploration company with headquarters in Miami. Mr. Bernstein was a fund-raiser for and a contributor to the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, the Simon Weisenthal Center, Israel Bonds, the Weitzman Institute of Science, Tel Aviv University and other medical and religious groups.



1994(24th of Kislev, 5755): In the evening, kindle the first Chanukah light



1995: Salah Tarif begins serving as the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs



1995: Uri Or began serving as the Deputy Minister of Defense.



1998: “The Slums of Beverly Hills” a comedy about “a teenage girl struggling to grow up in the late 1970s in a lower-middle-class nomadic Jewish family that moves every few months” starring Natasha Lyonne and Alan Arkin and featuring Carl Reiner and Eli Marienthal was released in the United Kingdom today, three months after premiering in the United States.



1999:  The left-wing Labour Party takes control of the New Zealand government with leader Helen Clark becoming the first elected female Prime Minister in New Zealand's history. In 2005, she opposed a visit by Israeli President Moshe Ktsav because of a dispute surrounding alleged Mossad agents and the issuing of fraudulent passports.


2000: Illusionist Dave Blaine began a stunt called “Frozen In Time” at New York’s Times Square


2001(12th of Kislev, 5762): Etty Fahima, 45, of Netzer Hazani was killed three others were injured when a Palestinian terrorist threw grenades and opened fire at a convoy on the road between the Kissufim crossing and Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday evening. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.


2001(12th of Kislev, 5762): Noam Gozovsky, 23, of Moshav Ramat Zvi, and Michal Mor, 25, of Afula were killed when two Palestinian terrorists from the Jenin area opened fire with Kalashnikov assault rifles on a crowd of people near the central bus station in Afula. Police officers and a reserve soldier confronted them, killing the terrorists in the ensuing firefight. Another 50 people were injured, 10 of them moderately to seriously. Fatah and the Islamic Jihad claimed joint responsibility.


2002(22nd of Kislev, 5763): Eighty-nine year old Stanley Black, the conductor and composer born Solomon Schwartz passed away today in London



 2005:  In the topsy-turvy world of Israeli politics, Shimon Peres is seriously considering leaving the Labor Party and joining Ariel Sharon’s new Kadima Party.  This would mean the old lion of labor and the old lion of Likud could end their careers under a common political banner.  In yet an even stranger twist of fate, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak injected himself into the upcoming electoral campaign by declaring that Ariel Sharon was the only Israeli leader capable of making peace with the Palestinians. 


2005: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine by Harold Bloom and The Education of a Coach by David Halberstam.


2006: The Times of London reported Alexander Litvinenko, the poisoned former KGB agent had just returned from a trip to Israel. A dossier drawn up by Alexander Litvinenko on the Kremlin’s takeover of Yukos, the world’s richest energy giant was turned over to Scotland Yard as police investigate the former KGB spy’s secret dealings with some of Russia’s richest men. It emerged yesterday that Mr. Litvinenko traveled to Israel just weeks before he died to hand over evidence to a Russian billionaire of how agents working for President Putin dealt with his enemies running the Yukos oil company. He passed this information to Leonid Nevzlin, the former second-in-command of Yukos, who fled to Tel Aviv in fear for his life after the Kremlin seized and then sold off the $40 billion (£21 billion) company. Mr. Nevzlin told The Times that it was his “duty” to pass on the file. “Alexander had information on crimes committed with the Russian Government’s direct participation,” he said. There has been more than a whiff of anti-Semitism in Putin’s drive to gain control of Russia.



2006: In New Zealand, John Key became the parliamentary leader of the National Party.



2006: Cartoonist Jules Feiffer began a stint “at the Arizona State University Barret Honors College” today.



2006: Seth Rudetsky starred in “Off-Off-Broadway production of “Torch Song Trilogy” which opened today.



2007: Batsheva Dance choreographer Ohad Naharin premiers his latest work, “Kamuyot” in Stockholm.  The premier will be followed by 100 performances before 20,000 students all over Sweden.  “Kamuyot” can be translated as “numbers of” or “characteristics.”



2007: The scheduled U.S. sponsored meeting of Israelis and Arabs at Annapolis, MD, comes to an end.



2007: YIVO Institute presents The Klezmatics: Up Close in downtown Manhattan.  The Klezmatics perform music drawn from their 2007 Grammy award-winning CD Wonder Wheel – Lyrics by Woody Guthrie, YIVO’s Max and Frieda Weinstein Sound Archives and their vast repertoire.



2007: "Operation: Last Chance” will be formally launched at a press conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Simon Wiesenthal Center's "Operation: Last Chance" is targeted to find and bring to justice at least some of the thousands of Nazis still hiding in South America 62 years after the end of World War II. It will probably be the final major effort to locate and bring to justice Nazis in hiding scattered around the world. "Operation: Last Chance" offers money in exchange for information that helps find and prosecute former Nazis. It was first launched in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in July 2002, and spread to countries throughout Europe, including Germany, Poland, Hungary and Croatia. It has brought forth some 488 suspected Nazi war criminals, of which 99 names were submitted to local law enforcement in the countries where the suspects resided. The result so far has been three arrest warrants, two extradition requests and dozens of continuing investigations. The final number may not sound like much, "but it's actually a lot [considering] the late date and bureaucratic obstacles," says the center's chief Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff. "The problem is not finding these people, but getting them into a courtroom. Political will is turning out to be more difficult than finding information and catching the [suspects]." While "the atmosphere is different now, and there is less willingness [than in the past] to give shelter to exposed Nazi war criminals" on the part of South America's center-left governments, "most have not been willing to undertake comprehensive investigations to find Nazis," Zuroff complains. Even so, "if we find the Nazis, today they will extradite them."



2007: At the end of the Annapolis Conference, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni spoke of the relevance to any future Israeli-Palestinian agreement of the plight of Jewish refugees from Arab countries after 1948.


2008: As the Thanksgiving weekend begins, Secretsdirected by Avi Nesher premiers theatrically in commercial movie theatres. In the 'Secrets', director Avi Nesher skillfully presents the quandaries facing Naomi (Ania Bukstein) the studious, devoutly religious daughter of prominent rabbi, who convinces her father to postpone her marriage for a year so that she might study at a Jewish seminary for women in the ancient Kabalistic seat of Safed. Naomi's quest for individuality takes a defiant turn when she befriends Michelle, a free spirited and equally headstrong fellow student.



2008: During the Mumbai Terrorist Attacks, Indian army reported that it had secured the Jewish outreach center at Nariman House and liberated 60 people in the building.



2008:  Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger and Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar are calling for a mass prayer rally today in the hope that heavenly intervention will stem the global financial crisis.



2008: Final showing at the Jacob Burns Film Center of “One Day You’ll Understand” a film that portrays the reaction of French businessman’s reaction to the televised trial of Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie in 1987.



2008: Israeli sculptor Gideon Gechtman, a native of Alexandria, whose family made Aliyah in 1945, passed away today.



http://www.imj.org.il/imagine/collections/results.asp?searchType=simple&words=Gechtman%2C+Gideon&ArtistE=on&Submit2=Search



http://www.imj.org.il/artcenter/default.asp?artist=272639



2008: Idina Menzel performed "I Stand" on the M&M Candies float as part of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade



2009: A man accused of murdering Dutch civilians as a member of a Waffen SS hit squad said at his trial today that he was proud about being chosen to fight for the Nazis. Heinrich Boere, 88, made his first comments to the Aachen state court since his trial opened at the end of October. As part of that SS unit, he is charged with killing a bicycle-shop owner, a pharmacist and another civilian. He faces a possible sentence of life in prison if convicted. Boere said he remembered his mother waking him up the night in 1940 that Germany invaded his hometown in the Netherlands and seeing Stuka dive-bombers overhead. Instead of fearing the German bombs, Boere, whose father was Dutch and mother German, said his family was elated as the attack unfolded. "[My mother] said 'they're coming' now things will be better," he told the court, speaking animatedly to the panel of judges. "It was better," he added later. Boere was born in Eschweiler, Germany, on the outskirts of Aachen where he lives today, but moved to the Netherlands when he was an infant. After the Germans had overrun his hometown of Maastricht and the rest of the Netherlands, he remembers as an 18-year-old seeing a recruiting poster for the Waffen SS, signed by Heinrich Himmler. It offered German citizenship after two years of service and the possibility of becoming a policeman after that. He showed up with 100 other Dutchmen at the recruitment office and was one of 15 chosen. "I was very proud," Boere told the court in a statement read by his attorney before he answered questions from the presiding judge. After fighting on the Russian front, Boere ended up back in the Netherlands as part of "Silbertanne" - a unit of largely of Dutch SS volunteers responsible for reprisal killings of their countrymen for resistance attacks on collaborators. Boere admitted the three killings to Dutch authorities when he was in captivity after the war but managed to escape from his POW camp and eventually return to Germany. He was sentenced to death in the Netherlands in 1949 - later commuted to life imprisonment - but Boere has managed to avoid jail so far. Still, Boere told the court he was aware of the possibility he would be pursued by authorities, so much so that he never married. "I always had to consider that my past might catch up with me, and I didn't want to inflict that upon a woman," he said in his statement.



2009: A Palestinian terrorist was killed this morning when the IAF struck a Gaza terror cell preparing to fire rockets into Israel.



2009: The Israeli Black Panthers host a special tour of the Musara neighbored in Jerusalem.  The Israeli Black Panthers “is a popular movement of Arab Jews “first established during the 1970’s.  The historic ‘Seam Line’ neighborhood was right on the Israeli-Jordanian border” until the war in June, 1967 resulted in the reunification of the city. The purpose of the tour is to acquaint visitors with “the place, its peoples and the relevance of its history and struggle in the Israeli-Arab conflict.



2009: Performance of “Lost in Yonkers” at the DC JCC.



2009: Paul “Godfrey was announced as the chair of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation” today,



2009: In Cedar Rapids, Iowa Noah Thalblum helps to lead Friday Night services as part of his Bar Mitzvah weekend.



2009: Abe Pollin’s funeral service is held at Washington Hebrew Congregation.



2010(20thof Kislev, 5771) Eighty-seven year old Irvin Kershner - who directed the Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back, the James Bond film Never Say Never Again and Robocop 2 – passed away today.



2010(20th of Kislev, 5752): Vilém Flusser a Czech-born Brazilian Jewish philosopher, writer and journalist passed away.



2010: In Michigan, the Young Adult Division of Jewish Federation is scheduled to sponsor the sixth annual Latke Vodka donor thank you event.



2010: A rock was thrown through the back window of the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center, which is located on the Indiana Univeristy campus, today. Earlier in the week, a rock was thrown through the back window of the Chabad Jewish student center located just outside the campus. Bloomington city police and campus police are investigating whether the attacks are related. Glass from the broken window of the Chabad house did damage to the building’s worship center, the group’s president, Alex Groysman, told the Indiana Daily Student newspaper. “We believe it was an act of anti-Semitism because the window shattered was less than a yard away from a sign that says Jewish Student Center,” Groysman told the paper. “After everything the center does to build understanding and friendly relations in the community, there are people out there that just want to destroy. By throwing that stone, that person was sending a message that they do not want us here, and that is something that is not OK.”Chabad plans to display a 12-foot menorah for Chanukah, according to the report.


2011: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Something Urgent I Have to Say to You: The Life and Works of William Carlos Williams” by Herbert Leibowitz


2011:Ministerial Committee on Legislation decided today not to back a bill that would limit public access to High Court petitions, sponsored by MKs Danny Danon and Yariv Levin from the Likud.


2011:Prominent Israeli singer Margalit Tzan'ani pleaded guilty on today to extorting her manager, and is expected to be sentenced to several months of community service. The plea bargain was presented to the Tel Aviv District Court. Known criminal Michael Hazan, who carried out the extortions, is expected to serve up to a year in prison.


2011: The New York Times list of 100 Notable Books of 2011 includes the following books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers: “The Free World” in which David Bezmozgis overturns clichéd expectations of immigrant idealism in his first novel, which follows a Soviet Jewish family awaiting visas in Rome in 1978; “The Grief of Others” by Leah Hager Cohen;  “Say Her Name” by Francisco Goldman, “Scenes From Village Life” by Amos Oz; “The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World” by Haifa-born physicist David Deutsch; “Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India” by Joseph Lelyveld; “In The Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family Hitler’s Berlin,” Erik Larson’s account of the experiences of William Dodd, F.D.R.’s first ambassador in Nazi Germany; “Jerusalem: The Biography” by Simon Sebag  Montefiore; “The Memory Chalet” by Tony Judt; “Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War” by Tony Horwitz; “Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark” by Brian Kellow; “The Quest: Energy, Security and the Remaking of the Modern World” by Jewish Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Yergin; “The Swerve: How the World Became Modern” by Stephen Greenblatt; “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Israeli born Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman; “A Train Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France” by Caroline Moorehead


2011(1st of Kislev, 5772): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


2012: In Rmallah, the tomb of Yasser Arafat is schedule to be opened as the first step in process intended to determine if he was poisoned.


2012: The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is scheduled to present a program that will examine ”the Rothschild Baba Kama, an ornate and richly decorated manuscript written in 1721-22 by Anshel Moses Rothschild, the founder of the Rothschild dynasty.”


2012: The JCC of Northern Virginia is scheduled to present a program that will “explore how the image of a typical Israeli has been depicted in Israeli films from the 1960’s until today.


2012: In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, members of the Jewish community are scheduled to meet to discuss ways to further the cause of Israel in the Hawkeye State.


2012: “The National Library of Israel signed contract with Pri-Or to preserve its archive of more than one million images.


2012(13th of Kislev, 5773): Fifty-eight year old French journalist Érik Izraelewicz “who was the director and editorial executive of Le Monde” passed away today.


2012(13th of Kislev, 5773): Ninety-five year old “Marvin Miller, an economist and labor leader who became one of the most important figures in baseball history by building the major league players union into a force that revolutionized the game, died on Tuesday at his home in Manhattan.” (As reported by Richard Goldstein)



2012: The Taub Center released its annual State of the Nation Report for 2011-2012 this morning, which according to the organization, paints “a troubling picture of the way Israeli governments have thus far dealt with Israel’s primary socioeconomic problems.”


2013: In the evening, kindle the first Chanukah candle.



2013: Chabad of Talbiya is scheduled to host its third annual Chanukah Menorah Lighting Festival at the entrance to the Mamilla Mall.


2013: The City of  Tel Aviv-Jaffa in collaboration with Heritage Fund for Israel in Tel Aviv are scheduled to host two candle lighting ceremonies – at Culture Square and Rabin Square.


2013: Former State Department official and ambassador Elliott Abrams argued in his Council for Foreign Relations blog today that the language used by the White House to discuss the Iran interim deal was largely “aspirational,” suggesting that much of the touted P5+1 deal with Iran had yet to be hammered out, a contention that appeared to be born out the statements of State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki. (As reported by Rebecca Shimoni Stoil)


2013: Five teenagers from the Arab neighborhood of Issawiya in East Jerusalem were brought before the Jerusalem District Court today and charged with throwing Molotov cocktails at an IDF base in the capital.  (As reported by Stuart Winer)


2013: The Israel Antiquities Authority and the Netivei Israel Company “invited the public to visit the excavation site Eshtaol” which “includes a six-millennia-old cultic temple and a 10,000 year old house” today.


2014: In England, the chaplains (rabbis) of the Oxford University Jewish Society are scheduled to host “a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner” at their home for which there is a minimal £3 charge.


2014: In Melbourne, “Night Will Fall” and “Above and Beyond” are scheduled to be shown at the Jewish International Festival.


2014: In an address marking the anniversary of the death of David Ben-Gurion, former President Shimon Peres bitterly criticized the “Jewish state” bill today, arguing that the legislation is designed for political gain and damages Israel’s democratic principles (As reported by Marissa Newman)


2014: An IDF fired back at Palestinian gunmen inside the Gaza Strip who had opened fire on an IDF patrol operating on the Israeli side of the border fence. (As reported by Stuart Winer)


2014: “Members of a Hamas terror ring in the West Bank, run from the organization’s headquarters in Turkey, sought to carry out an array of major attacks, including on Jerusalem’s main soccer stadium and its light rail line, the Shin Bet security service said today.”


2014(5th of Kislev, 5775): Seventy-nine year old Paramount Pictures President, Frank Yablans, “who oversaw the release of “The Godfather” and its first sequel and whose writing skills were responsible for bringing one of my favorite sports novels, North Dallas Forty, to the screen passed away today. (As reported by Michael Cieply)



2014(5th of Kislev, 5775): Ninety-four year old Newsweek editor and NBC television executive Lester Bernstein passed away today.




2015: In Atlanta, the Breman Museum offers exhibitions on The Story of Jewish Atlanta, “featuring a collection of 18 carefully selected objects, the Holocaust styled “Absence of Humanity” and for the children “Where the Wild Things Are: Maurice Sendak In His Own Words & Pictures.”


2015: According to reports published today Israeli diplomate Rami Hatan is preparing to leave for Abu Dhabi where he will open Israel’s first diplomatic mission to the Arab country which will be part of IRENA, the UN’s International Renewable Energy Agency.


2015: The Eden-Tamir Music Center is scheduled to host another concert in its “Excellence of the Future Generation Series.”


2015(15thof Kislev): On the Jewish calendar, Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi (135 - ca. 220 CE), also known as Rabbi Judah the Prince.


2016(26thof Cheshvan, 5777): Ninety-three year old MIT professor Bruce Mazlish, the author of In Search of Nixon: A Psychological Inquiry, passed away today.




2016: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Where Memory Leads: My Life by Saul Friedländer, An Iron Wind: Europe Under Hitler by Peter Fritzsche, The Hostage’s Daughter: A Story of Family, Madness and the Middle East by Sulome Anderson and the recently release paperback edition of As Close To Us As Breathing by Elizabeth Poliner as well as an interview with Amos Oz “whose most recent novel is Judas” and Calvin Trillin “on the Scariest Word” in the English language.


2016: “Alone in Berlin” is scheduled to be shown in Canberra as part of the Jewish International Film Festival.


2016: In Venice, the Biennale Architettura which has featured an Israeli pavilion since 1952 is scheduled to come to an end today.


2017: Dr. Diane M. Sharon is scheduled to present the final session of “Demagogues, Madmen and Cowards: The Failure of Leaders in the Book of Judges”’


2017: Martin Kaufman is scheduled to present the final session of “Judaism’s Ethics Committee” in which he examines “the role of ethics in Judaism through the lens of three highly influential thinkers whose work spans the 16th through 20th centuries: the Maharal of Prague, a towering theologian; Nachman of Breslov, a dynamic Chasidic master; and Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, perhaps the greatest philosopher of Halacha of the Modern Era.”


2017: In the United Kingdom, the Chief Rabbi is scheduled to visit Oxford where he will speak to a student only audience, followed by the meal sponsored by the Oxford University Jewish Society and concluding with a session that is open to the entire community.


2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such as Bernard Lewis whose works included “Semites and Anti-Semites” and “The Muslim Discovery of Europe” continues today.


2018: Barbara Feller, a pillar of the Jewish community, is scheduled to read from her new publication Road to Waubeek at the Marion Public Library.


2018: In keeping with the Jewish tradition of “lifetime learning,” Yaffe Kaye is scheduled to offer another class in “Beginning Hebrew.”


2018: After week, an International Jewish Festival for Contemporary Culture that has featured such performers “Erez Lev-Ari and The Suits doing Ari San” is scheduled to come to an end today in Jerusalem


2018: As Americans are preparing to take part in Giving Tuesday, United Synagogue Youth has set up its fundraiser, #IAmUSY.


2018: In Cedar Rapids, IA, the History Center, as part of its “Oral Histories Live!” series, is scheduled to host an evening with “almost centenarian” Herman Ginsberg whose family has been the jewelry business for almost one hundred while also being pillars of the Jewish community.


2018(19thof Kislev, 5779): On the Jewish calendar, “yahrtzeit of the Maggid of Mezrech (1710-1772), the successor of the Baal Shem Tov, who consolidated chassidic teachings into a structured, cohesive movement.” (As reported by aish.com)


2018(19thof Kislev, 5779): Chasidim and “friends of Chasidim” celebrated “Yud-Tet Kislev – Rosh Hashanah of Chassidism that commemorates the release of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the Alter Rebbe and founder of Chabad-Lubavitch  from his 53 days of imprisonment “in the Peter-Paul fortress in St. Petersburg”


 



 


 

This Day, November 28, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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November 28


1095: On the last day of the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II appointed bishop Adhemar of Le Puy and Count Raymond IV of Toulouse to lead the First Crusade to the Holy Land. The call for the Crusade is based, in part, on false reports of atrocities committed by Muslims against Christian pilgrims.  The Crusades, which will begin in the following year, mark a dark chapter in Jewish history as those marching under the Sign of the Cross sack Jewish settlements in Europe and later slaughter Jews living in Eretz Israel.



1598: “In the archives of the city of Amsterdam, probably the oldest date dealing with Portuguese Jews is today, when there was entered in the "Puyboek," v. 22b, the announcement of the intended marriage of Manuel Lopez Homé and the above-mentioned Maria Nuñez”



1660: At Gresham College, 12 men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Sir Robert Moray decide to found what is later known as the Royal Society. A British physician named Isaac de Sequeira Samuda or Isaac de Sequeyra Samuda was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1727, making him the first Jew to be so honored.



1680: Seventy-eight year old “Jesuit polymath Athanasius Kircher” who “found the best evidence of the Hebrew-first theory in the simplicity of the language’s triconsonantal roots” passed away today



1744: Frederick the Greattook Prague in the Wars of Succession and the populace ransacked the ghetto. He soon left and the Croats returned. They accused the Jews of treason and again their quarters were sacked. A few weeks later (December 18 and January 7) Empress Maria Theresa banished all the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia. Due to the protests of the Jews and the governments of England and Holland, the decree was dropped everywhere but in Prague.



1752: Lisbon native Isaac Mendes Seixas and London born Rachel Franks Levy, gave birth to Grace Mendes Seixas, the wife of Simon Nathan and the mother of “Isaac Mendes Seixas Nathan.”



1757: Birthdate of William Blake, English poet, painter and printmaker.Controversy surrounds Blake’s grasp of Jewish mysticism. It seems pretty clear that Blake’s art and writing invoke Kabbalah, but scholars debate how Blake accessed the Jewish mystical concepts he quoted. Some argue that the dozen or so Hebrew inscriptions in Blake’s etchings and watercolors show that Blake was fluent in Hebrew. But close analysis of the works, some of which are on exhibit at The Morgan Library & Museum, reveals that Blake had not even mastered the letter alef. Reading Kabbalah in Hebrew without knowing the first letter of the alef-bet would be as implausible as tackling “Finnegans Wake” with barely a grasp of the English alphabet. Arguments that Blake knew Hebrew date back to Frederick Tatham, who cared for Catherine after Blake’s death in 1827. In a letter to bookseller Frances Harvey, Tatham said that Blake’s library included “well thumbed” books in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French and Italian, as well as works by Swedenborg and Christian mystic Jacob Boehme. “His knowledge was immense, his industry beyond parallel,” Tatham wrote. Modern scholars echo Tatham’s claim. Writing in the journal Modern Philology in 1951, David V. Erdman ascribed “some Hebrew” to Blake, particularly the knowledge that beth-lehem means “house of bread.” “We know that Blake knew a little Hebrew,” Anthony Blunt agreed, writing in the Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes in 1943, “for he wrote to his brother in 1803 that he was learning the Hebrew alphabet, and his etching of the Laocoön [a copy of the sculpture “Laocoön and His Sons”] bears a few words in Hebrew script.” In his book “The New Apocalypse: The Radical Christian Vision of William Blake (The Davies Group, Publishers, 2000), Thomas J. J. Altizer suggests not only that Blake knew Hebrew, but also that he was self-taught. But the work that Blunt cites as proof of Blake’s proficiency in Hebrew, “Laocoön” — a circa 1820 print depicting snakes strangling the famous Trojan priest and his two sons — is one of the best pieces of evidence that Blake did not know Hebrew. Writing “malakh Jehovah,” which he translated as “The Angel of the Divine Presence,” Blake inadvertently rotated the alef 90 degrees on its y-axis. He spelled “Lilit” (Lilith) correctly, but he miswrote “Jeshua” (Jesus) with another rotated letter, this time an ayin (the 16th letter). “Laocoön” does not appear in the Morgan show, but an etching from Blake’s Job series does. In an etching from Blake’s Job series, the artist again wrote “The Angel of the Divine Presence,” but this time he wrote the Hebrew “melekh Jehovah,” which means King Jehovah, rather than malakh (with an alef), the Angel of Jehovah. In “William Blake’s Illustrations of the Book of Job,” S. Foster Damon says that Blake intentionally removed the alef to show that Job was worshipping a false God — mistaking an angel for the king. But could Blake really have known enough Hebrew to distinguish between “melekh” and “malakh,” when he revealed in “Laocoön” that he didn’t even know how to form the letter properly?  “Job’s Evil Dreams,” features a bearded figure with hooves encircled by a snake. The figure hovers above a reclining man and points with its right index finger to the Ten Commandments. Though Blake wrote out only two of the commandments in full, the inscriptions contain more than a dozen mistakes. One line contains a properly and an improperly formed alef, a further inconsistency suggesting that Blake was copying a language he did not understand. “Blake did study Hebrew with his one-time patron, William Hayley, but scholars are not agreed about his proficiency in the language,” explained Leslie Tannenbaum, associate professor of English at Ohio State University and author of “Biblical Tradition in William Blake’s Early Prophecies: The Great Code of Art” (Princeton University Press, 1982). According to Tannenbaum, the late Gerald Bentley, a Blake scholar who taught at Princeton University, implied in a biography that Blake was “fairly fluent” in Hebrew. But Tannenbaum also notes that Sheila A. Spector, whom he describes as “an extremely meticulous scholar and expert on Blake and the Kabbalah,” writes that Blake did not know the biblical language.In Blake’s preface to the chapter “To the Jews,” from the poem “Jerusalem,” Tannenbaum sees references to the kabbalistic concept of Adam Kadmon (the primordial man). Blake learned Kabbalah from Swedenborg’s writings on Boehme, who seems to have been influenced by Balthasar Walther, Tannenbaum adds, and Blake also identified with the Avignon Society, which sought science and reason “in such unlikely places as alchemical lore, cabbalistic numerology, mesmerist séances, Swedenborgian spiritualism, and (perhaps most surprising of all) the Scriptures.” In “Wonders Divine: The Development of Blake’s Kabbalistic Myth” (Bucknell University Press, 2001) Spector, an adjunct associate professor at New York University, agrees that Blake’s kabbalistic sources were Christian rather than Jewish, and English rather than Hebrew. Further, Blake was “unfortunately” influenced by his contemporary Anglo-Israelites, who thought that English derived from Hebrew “and that the language of the Jews was a spurious version in which the rabbis obscured the ‘true Christian’ message to be found in the Bible,” Spector said.“Under the circumstances, the question of whether or not Blake was fluent in Hebrew misses the point,” she added. “He rejected normative Hebrew in favor of the linguistic gymnastics that re-interpreted words to conform with some eccentric – to be charitable – interpretations that coordinated Hebrew and English, as well as Greek, etymologies to proffer a new interpretation of Scripture.” (As reported by Menachem Wecker)



1791: One day after he had passed away, Levi Levy, the son of Barnet Levi and Esther Elias was buried today at the “Falmouth Jewish Cemetery.



1809: Solomon Emanuel, Reuben Cantor and Anhalt Cothn became citizens of the United States today.



1810: Noah Davis married Catherine Levy at the Great Synagogue today.



1816(8th of Kislev, 5577): Eighty-six year old Benjamin D’Israeli, the Italian born Anglo-Jewish merchant who was the grandfather of the British Prime Minister of the same name passed away today.



1822: Ezekiel Moss married Elizabeth Moses at the Great Synagogue today.



1825: In Münster (Westphalia), Elias Marks and Alexander Grove Village founded The Marks Grove Village Foundation which funded programs to help train Jewish children and integrate them into German society.



1827 (9th of Kislev, 5588): On the secular calendar Dov Baer Schneersohn passed away.  Dov Ber succeeded his father Shneur Zalman of Lyady as the second Lubavitcher Rebbe.  Shneur Zalman was the found of Chabad, Dov Baer was known as the “Middle Rabbi” because he came between Shneur Zalman and the third Rebbe Menachem Mendel known as the Zemen Zedek.   Among other things, Dov Baer was responsible for starting a Chabad settlement in Hebron in 1823. In 1826, Dov Baer was imprisoned by the Czar on trumped up charges of sending money to support the Sultan of Turkey.  He was released on the tenth of Kislev which has been a day of celebration among Lubavitchers ever since.  “The only way of converting darkness into light is by giving to the poor.”  “Every act of kindness that God performs for man should make him feel not proud, but more humble and unworthy.”  



1827: Aaron Harris married Martha Benjamin at the Great Synagogue today.



1829: Birthdate of composer Anton Rubinstein. Rubinstein was quite a widely performed composer in his lifetime, but following his death, his works were largely ignored. Some have suggested that this was due to the anti-Semitism prevalent at that time in Germany, the musical hub of Europe.



1831: Birthdate of John William Mackay, the Irish born American industrialist and one of the four Silver Kings of the Comstock Lode who was greatly upset when in 1890 he was erroneously accused of “despising Jews.”



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F40F16FF3B5F10738DDDAA0A94D0405B8085F0D3



1839: According to a report issued today by the Ministry of the Interior, Joseph Friedlander was the only Jew living in Saxon outside of Dresden or Leipzig.



1839: Birthdate of Jacob Moser, the scion of the only Jewish family in Kappeln, Schlewsig who was educated in Hamburg before moving “Bradford in 1862 where he became a wealthy woolen manufacture and exporter as well as leading member of the Anglo-Jewish community and active Zionist who among other things supported the Jewish hospitals in Leeds and Manchester as well as contributing the funds to build the Herzlia Gymnasium in Jaffa.



1842(25th of Kislev, 5603): Chanukah



1856: Two days he had passed away, Moses Jacobs, the son of Henry Jacobs and Kitty Moses and the husband of Sarah Levy who with he had had five children, was buried at the “Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery” today.



1860: Two days after she had passes away “Joseph, Rebecca (nee Hyams),” the wife of Samuel Joseph with whom she had had eight children was buried at “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”



1862: During the Civil War, after volunteering for duty, Theodore Minis Etting “received the appointment of acting Midshipman” today in the United States Navy.



1863:Thanksgiving was first observed as a regular American holiday. Proclaimed by President Lincoln the previous month, it was declared that the event would be observed annually, on the fourth Thursday in November.  While Thanksgiving is a secular holiday, it has it origins in the Bible.  The Pilgrims were students of what they called The Old Testament.  When they had enjoyed their first successful harvest at Plymouth, they looked to scripture for a way to express their joy.  They found the answer in the holiday of Sukkoth – a celebration of in-gathering; a celebration of thanks that took place after the harvest was completed.  There are reports that the first Thanksgiving was a week-long affair but I would avoid making any claim that this was intended to mirror the seven days of Sukkoth. 



1865: In Troy, NY “Bennett and Pauline (Spero) Marks gave birth to music publisher and “member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Council for Coordination Industy, Edward Bennet Marks, the husband of Miriam Chuck with whom he had three children



1864: During the Civil War, Major Alfred Mordechai, Jr. was named Chief of Ordinance for the Union Army’s Department of the Cumberland.



1873: Birthdate of Louis Ginzberg, the native of Kovno, Lithuania who became a noted Talmudist, as a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary, a leader of the Conservative Movement in the United States for half a century.



1873: Birthdate of Lehmann (Leo) Katzenberger, the owner of several shoe shops in Nuremberg who guillotined by the Nazis for allegedly having an affair with an Aryan woman.



http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007908



 



1873 “The Laundry Business” published today traced the history of laundering clothes from ancient to modern times reported that “the ancient Jews had great regard for cleanliness.  They never sat down to a meal or said a prayer without first washing their hands, and it is only fair to presume that a people who would be so particular in keeping their goodies clean would not be behind in keeping their garments equally spotless and free from taint, the more particularly as among these ancients white garments were the emblems of purity and holiness.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C06E3D81339EF34BC4051DFB7678388669FDE



1874: The Young Men’s Hebrew Association hosted a musical and literary entertainment  this evening at Number 112, West 21st Street in Manhattan.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=990CE0DD173DE43BBC4151DFB767838F669FDE



 



1874: Rabbi Schneerson, an American citizen in Palestine, was attacked by a group of Jews at Tiberias. After robbing him, he was imprisoned, stoned, stripped naked and ridden through the streets, barely escaping with his life.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C0CE5D8133FE63BBC4B51DFBE66838C669FDE



1878: A theatrical review published today shows the changing view of the Jew, at least in the theatrical community.  Unlike his famous predecessors, the great tragedian Edwin Booth portrays Shylock as man “of well and keen perception.”  “A certain class of critics” now seek Shylock “as a species of hero and martyr who is more worthy of our sympathy and pit than our contempt.”



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E01E0D8153EE63BBC4051DFB7678383669FDE



1880(25th of Kislev, 5641): First Day of Chanukah



1880: It was reported today that meetings instigated by the anti-Semitic party are being held in Leipzig.



1880: It was reported today that the police have torn down placards in south-eastern Berlin “directly inciting the inhabitants to persecute the Jews.”



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B00EFDE123FEE3ABC4051DFB767838B699FDE



1880:



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A03EFDE123FEE3ABC4051DFB767838B699FDE



1881: New York Congressman Samuel S. Cox returned from his visit to Palestine today on board of the SS Republic. (Four years later Cox resigned his seat in Congress to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, replace Lew Wallace, the author of Ben Hur, the novel with the Jewish prince as its protagonist.)



1881: The articles of incorporation for the Hebrew Society for the Improvement of the Sanitary Condition of the Poor were filed in the County Clerk’s office today.



1881: “Aid For Hebrew Immigrants” published today described efforts to meet the rising and growing tide of Jewish immigrants Russia.  Leading Jewish citizens in New York have agreed to organize the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society which will be incorporated under the laws of New York State.  Jacob Schiff publicly expressed his opposition to the formation of the group, but most of his co-religionists including Charles L. Bernheim, Jacob Seligman and Frederick Nathan overcame his objections. Baron Maurice de Hirsch has pledged a million pounds to support the efforts of the society to assist in the establishment of agricultural “colonies” which will provide homes and a livelihood for the immigrants.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9504E0DF1430EE3ABC4051DFB767838A699FDE



1881:  Birthdate of Austrian Stefan Zweig.  Although barely known today, in his time he was a noted poet, essayist and dramatist.  Although he was an assimilated Jew, he could see that Austria was no place for Jews and he fled the country in 1934.  Sadly, he and his wife committed suicide in Brazil in 1942.  They had come to the conclusion that the life was no longer worth living in a world that was spinning a downward spiral.



1883(28th of Cheshvan, 5644): “Russian Hebraist and author Mordecai Plugian” who was “a descendant of Mordecai Jaffe” passed away today.



http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0016_0_15875.html



 



1883: It was reported today that “Sir Moses Montefiore is the first Jews that was ever elected to be Sherriff of London.  He was chosen a few days after the succession of Queen Victoria and received the honor of Knighthood at the hands of her Majesty when she visited the city on the following Lord Mayors’ Day.”



1884: “Hittite Inscriptions” published today provided a detailed review of The Empire of the Hittites by William Wright who contends that these ancient people were contemporaries of the ancient Israelites and were involved in the story of their enslavement in Egypt.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F02E4D81038E033A2575BC2A9679D94659FD7CF



1884: Birthdate of Olean, NY native Benjamin M. Marcus the Columbia University trained “oil company executive.”



1884: It was reported today that Reverend Charles H. Eaton has told his congregation that “the sentiment of the Hebrew song sung at the Feasts of Tabernacles” has now come “naturally to our lips upon our Thanksgiving Day.” (Editor’s note – Nice to see that a 19th century Christian source acknowledge the Jewish origins of our most popular secular holiday)



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9505E4D81038E033A2575BC2A9679D94659FD7CF



1885: It was reported today that much to the surprise of her family, Mamie Curran, a Catholic girl, has secretly married a Jewish suitor, John Cohen.  Her father, Edward Curran, is so distraught over the news that he has gone to his room which is  over a local saloon and his refused to leave it.



1886(1st of Kislev, 5647): Rosh Chodesh Kislev



1887: It was reported today that German-Jewish author and historian Jacob Auerbach has passed away.



1887: It was reported today that Daniel Greenleaf Thompson has dedicated his latest book, The Religious Sentiments of the Mind, to “my friend and partner, Oscar S. Straus…”  Straus was a leading figure in the American Jewish community who served as U.S Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.



1888(24th of Kislev, 5649): In the evening, kindle the first light of Chanukah on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  This will not happen again until 2013.



1888: Baron Hirsch has made a donation of $5,000,000 for schools for Jews in Galicia and Bukovina



1888: In New York, police began looking for Yetta Reiner, and 18 year old girl who has been in this country for two weeks and has been reported as missing.



1888: Mrs. Julia Lind challenged the will of her late mother Jettie Lissauer, a Jewess who passed away in December of 1887.



1889: Two hundred and fifty-eight children who attend the Industrial and Sunday Schools sponsored by the United Hebrew Charities will be eating Thanksgiving dinner today at St. Mark’s Place in New York City.



1889: The Conference of the Civic, Commercial, Industrial and Educational Bodies will present a silk banner to the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society as its annual Thanksgiving festival today at 3 p.m.



1889: Samuel D. Levy celebrated his birthday today by sending a box of candy to each of the children who attend the schools sponsored by the United Hebrew Charities.



1889: The Washington Centennial Committee presented a banner to the youngsters at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum in recognition of their “excellent marching in the civic parade” that had been held last Spring. Charles Freund accepted the banner on behalf of his schoolmates.  General William T. Sherman spoke to the boys complimenting them on their drilling.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C07E0DB173BE033A2575AC2A9679D94689FD7CF



1889: The cornerstone of the new Temple that will be used by Congregation Zichron Ephraim was laid this afternoon on 67th Street between Lexington and Third avenues.



1890: Herman Kertscher is under arrest following the accident at yesterday’s annual parade of the boys at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.  While driving his wagon, his horse crashed into the parade seriously injuring two boys.  Kertscher “made no effort to stop his horse either before or after the accident.



1890: A day following the national holiday, Temple Israel of Harlem will host a Thanksgiving Service where the topic of the sermon will be “The Ethics of Gratitude.”



1891: Today’s review of “Pauline Blanchard” which opened at the Standard Theatre in New York described the theme of the play as “well-worn” and “familiar” but praises the performance of Sarah Bernhardt in the title role saying that her “genius elevates this role” and that “her acting was incomparably fine and eloquent…played with all of her energy.”



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F01E1DC133AE533A2575BC2A9679D94609ED7CF



1891: Birthdate of Berlin born physician Max Pinner who in 1928 became a naturalized citizen of the United States where served on the staff of the Municipal Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Chicago and the faculty of the University of Illinois



http://www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/max-pinner-1891-1948/



 



1892: Engineer George Franjieh presented his plans for a tramway in Jaffa.  The plan, like his one for a new water supply system to Jerusalem, we rejected.



1892: Baron Hirsch was wounded in the hands and forearm by the explosion of his gun while hunting at Acheres in France.


 


1892: The French government was confronted by a demand that the coffin of Baron Reinach be exhumed amid rumors that his death was a sham and that the coffin does not contain his body.


 


1893: The Berlin Verein Zur Abwehr Des Anti-Semitismus, a Society to Combat Anti-Semitism, held its first general meeting today under the leadership of Rudolf Geniest, Heinrich Rickert and Theodor Barth at which it was reported that it had 13,33i members in 963 localities


 


1893: “New Bill At The Theatres” published a review of the “Merchant of Venice” which found Henry Irving’s portrayal of Shylock to be “fine, subtle, thoughtful” but not his greatest work since “he reached the zenith of his powers some time ago.”  (Irving was one of those who had made a career playing the Jewish banker, providing at one time, a powerful interpretation.)  As in so many earlier productions, Ellen Terry played Portia to Irving’s Shylock.


 


1894: “Russian Jews Forgive Russia” published today described a strange ceremony where 400 Jews having attended a memorial service for the late Czar in Paris swore allegiance to his successor, Nicholas II “in the presence of the Russian Consul and the secretary of the Russian Embassy.”


 


1894: General Mercier, the French Minister of War “declared in an interview with Le Figaro that Dreyfus’ guilt was ‘absolutely certain.’”


 


1895: Three hundred and fifty young ladies attended the Thanksgiving Day Dinner hosted by the Girl’s Industrial School of the United Hebrew Charities at St. Marks Place.


 


1895: Registrar Ferdinand Levy delivered a speech at the Thanksgiving Service held at the synagogue at 115 East 86th Street entitled “The Jews as a Citizen and Patriot.”


 


1895: Rabbi Silverman delivered a sermon at the Temple Emanu-El Thanksgiving Service entitled “The Ethics of American Patriotism.”


 


1895: Rabbis Mendes and Harris will speak at the West End Synagogue Thanksgiving Service to which The Young Men’s Hebrew Association and members of Temple Israel of Harlem have been invited.


 


1895: Half a dozen Jews including Rabbi Isaac Blankfort “rushed into the Madison Street (Police) State” tonight “and said that two loafers had assaulted them and pulled their beards on East Broadway.”  The police went out and arrested the two after they saw them “striking at every Jew they passed.”


 


1896: According to reports published, the Tenth Ward of New York, in spite of its being the most densely crowded area of its size in the world” has “a remarkably low rate” because “its population consisted largely of Hebrews, who were the first race in the world that learned the secret of the ‘length of days’ and have known what not to eat ever since the adoption of the Levitical codes, three or four thousand years ago.


1896: In New York City, Solomon Edman, “a shirt manufacturer” and Ricka Sklower Edman, gave birth to Irwin Edman, the Columbia University Phi Beta Kappa undergraduate who earned his PhD from Columbia where he spent his academic career rising to chair of the philosophy department in 1945.



 


 


1897: In Paris, “Le Figaro published a letter informing the public about the belief that Esterhazay was the doorway to France and its army.”  (By doorway, they meant that Esterhazy and not Drefyfus was the spy selling French military secrets to the Germans)


 


1897: Three days after she had passed away, Leah Coleman, the daughter of “Julia and Israel Coleman” was buried today at the “Plashet Jewish Cemetery in London.”


 


 


1898: In Chicago, opening of a charity fair bazaar sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Charity Association the proceeds of which will split evening between Michael Reese Hospital and United Hebrew Charities.


 


1898: “The Alleged Crime of M Picquart” published today



 


 


1898: “Jewish Agrarian Colony In Bessarabia Russia” published today descried a law that “has just been promulgated in St. Petersburg for the establishment of a Hebrew agrarian colony on the estate of Baron Horace Guenzburg…which covers about 1,350 acres.”


 


1902: In Berlin, Gertrude Sternberg, who was Jewish, and Dr. Oscar Jolles gave birth to Heinz-Frederic Jolles who gained fame as pianist and composer Henry Jolles.


 


1900: Birthdate of Erich Klibansky, the native of Frankfurt am Main, husband of Meta David with whom he had three sons: “Hans-Raphael, Alexander and Michael” and “headmaster and teacher of Jawne, the first Jewish Gymnasium of Rhineland in Cologne” who was murdered by the Nazis in the woods in Minks.


 


1903(9thof Kislev, 5664): Sixty-five year old Jules Levy, “the most celebrated cornetist of the 19th century, passed away today.



 


1903: Birthdate of Portland, OR, native Maurice Edward Dorfman, the hold of an “A.B. from Reed College” who went on to graduate school at the University of California and then worked as a “research chemist with Midway Gas Company.


1905: Sinn Fein founded today based on the vision of Arthur Griffith whose disciples included Michael Noyk the Lithuanian born Irish-Jewish lawyer who joined shortly after the “Easter Rising.”


1905: In a letter from U.S. Ambassador White of Morocco to the Algeciras Conference, he stated, "Concurrent testimony positively affirms the intolerance of the Mohammedan rule in that country toward non-Musselmans….Jews, especially, appear to suffer from painful and injurious restrictions."



1905: Four thousand Jews attended a meeting tonight in Berlin “to protest against the massacres in Russia.”



1905: It was reported today that $895, 225 has been raised by the national committee collecting funds for the relief of the Jews in Russia $103 from the “Jews of Decatur, Alabama, $50 from Congregation Emanuel, Talladega, Alabama, $395 from Congregation B’nai Israel, Monroe, Louisiana and $106 from Congregation B’nai Jacob, Charleston, West Virginia.”



1905: It was reported that “uprising against the Jews” have taken place in Bahmut, Luhgantz, Marianople Ghenitchesk and Ekaterinoslav.”



1905: Isidor Straus, the President of the Educational Alliance, presided over a meeting of fifty business and professional men at his home to discuss the future of the organization.



1905: Seventeen year old Boris Gorb, a Russian Jew “who recently arrived in New York after escaping from the Uligani in Ekaterinoslave received a letter” today “from one of his brothers…informing him that that their father, Simon Gorb had been mortally wounding in defending their 15 year old sister Dora” and after reading it fainted while in the presence of Isador Bader, the agent of the United Hebrew Charities at the Immigrants’ Home on Montgomery Street where he has been staying.



1907:  In Haverhill, Massachusetts, scrap-metal dealer Louis B. Mayer opened his first movie theater.  From these humble beginnings would come the famed studio MGM.



1907: At Birmingham, The Tennessee Volunteers coached by Izzy Levene lost the final game of the season to the University of Alabama leaving them with an over-all record of 7-2-1.



1908:  Birthdate of Claude Levi-Strauss.Born in Belgium, Claude Levi-Strauss was the son of an artist, and a member of an intellectual French Jewish family.  He was a popular French anthropologist most well-known for his development of structural anthropology.



1909(15th of Kislev, 5670): Jossel Schafir passed away today.



1910: In Brooklyn, Alter Abelson, a rabbi and poet, and of Anna Schwartz Abelson, a writer of short stories gave birth to Lionel Abel who won an Obie for his tragedy “Absalom.”



http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/25/arts/lionel-abel-90-playwright-and-essayist.html



1912: In Chicago, The Lenora Sewing Club which meets and sews every Thursday at Temple Sholem will not meet today because it is Thanksgiving.



1912: The Haymarket is scheduled to host another evening of Yiddish Theatre which may include “Every Woman,” “Madame X” or “The Jewish Crown.”



1912: “The annual ball of the B’nai Abraham Auxiliary whose officers are Charles D. Kaufman, President, Rose F. Ehrman, Financial Secretary and Clara C. Weil, Recording Secretary, is scheduled to be held “in the Louis XVI Room of the Hotel Sherman



1912: Birthdate of Morris Louis.  Born Morris Louis Bernstein, Louis became one of America’s leading abstract expressionist painters before his untimely death at the age of 49.



1914: It was reported today that Lemberg, a major city in Galicia which the Russian have captured from the Austrians has a population of 30,000 Jews, 50,000 Roman Catholics and 15,000 Greek Orthodox.



1914: “Accuses 25 of Plot For Baff’s Murder” published today



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=990DE2D81738E633A2575BC2A9679D946596D6CF



1914: “Palestine for the Jews” published today includes Israel Zangwill’s response to the following inquiry addressed to him by H.G. Wells: “And now what is to prevent the Jews having Palestine and restoring a real Judea?”



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=990DE5D81738E633A2575BC2A9679D946596D6CF



 



1914



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D03E4D81738E633A2575BC2A9679D946596D6CF



1914:



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A00E4D81738E633A2575BC2A9679D946596D6CF



1914: William Jessup Hand, an attorney, writes from Scranton, PA that “it is plan that Leo Frank was denied…the highest and most vitally essential right of every person: a fair and impartial trial.



1914: “It was learned today that when counsel for Leo M. Frank asks leave of the Supreme Court of the United States on November 30 to file a petition for a writ of error a brief will be presented at the same time” due to the rules of procedure governing appeals of this sort.



1915: It was reported today that “$30,000,000 will be needed to rehabilitate the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe and to save the families, many of whom are dying of starvation.”



1915: Rabbi Herbert Goldstein and Commissioner of Education Joseph Barondess were among the speakers at today’s dedication of the new facility belong to the Jewish Day Nursery.



1915: “Seventy-five fatherless children…romped in a sunny playground at the new nursery” operated by the Harlem branch of the Jewish Day Nursery which opened today 61 East 107thStreet.



1915: The Bronx Relief Committee of the People’s Relief Committee for the Jewish Sufferers has divided the borough into 500 districts in which 1,500 volunteers are scheduled to sell tags during today’s fund raiser.



1915: It was reported today that the Dr. Julius Weiss will be presiding over the upcoming service sponsored by the Federation of Rumanian Jews of America to honor the memory of the late Professor Solomon Schechter.



1915: “A History of the Jews of Russia and Poland” published today provides a review of The Jews of Russia and Poland by Israel Friedlander in which the reviewer says the author “sketches a sympathetic yet faithful and carefully objective history of Jews of Russia and Poland lands which not harbor in their inhospitable and storm-tossed midst half the Jews of the world and upon whose mercies, in the future even as in the long pain-racked past, the fate of the Jews in the Diaspora must ever chiefly depend.”



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F03E0DB153BE233A2575BC2A9679D946496D6CF



1916: “Word that the Turkish Government has rescinded its previous agreement to allow several hundred Americans to leave the Turkish Empire via Jaffa reached the State Department” in Washington “today from Ambassador Elkus at Constantinople.”



1916: In Memphis, TN Josef Kalusner, the Hungarian born son of Chaim and Chana Klausner and Tillie Klausner, the Polish born daughter of Arron and Miriam Bienenstock, gave birth to David Klausner



1916: “Prominent Jews from all over the country attended a dinner at the Hotel Savoy honoring philanthropist and statesman Simon Wolfe who “for more than fifty has been the representative in Washington of American Jewry” on his 80th birthday.



1916: Screenwriter Samuel Ornitz and his wife gave birth to cinematographer Arthur J. Ornitz who directed “Wanted – A Master” which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1936 for Best Short Subject (One-Reel).



1916: It was reported today that George Gothein, a Jewish member of the Reichstag, expressed the view that “it might not be advisable to grant the High Council” which is the highest Jewish authority in Poland “unlimited self-government at once” since the German government has only recently taken full control of the area from the Russians.



1917(13th of Kislev, 5678): Sixty-two year old German lexicographer Emil Levy whose son Frederich would die in a concentration camp, passed away today.



1917: Former President William H. Taft was among those who attended the production of “On the Road to Victory” which was under the direction of Mrs. Jacob H. Schiff was part of Jewish Relief Day, a fundraiser for the Joint Distribution Committee of American Funds for Jewish War Relief.



1917:Sigmund Romberg’s revue "Over the Top," premiered in New York City.



1917: Andrei Ivanovich Shingarev, a physician and leader of the Kadets (Constitutional Democrat Party) who in March of 1916 took the unusual position of defending the Jews against charges of destroying the war effort, was arrested today by the Bolsheviks and “imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress” today.


1917: In London, General F.B. Maurice, Chief Director of Military Operations at the War Office said “Our troops are now in sight of Jerusalem but the Turks have had time to get up reserves and make a stand and it is problem that Jerusalem will not fall without another definite battle.



1917: The Ottoman forces continued to re-take the village of Nebi Samwil (Tomb of Samuel) which the British had conquered after a week of hard fighting as they continued their campaign to take Jerusalem.



1918(24th of Kislev, 5679): Thanksgiving feast is followed in the evening by the kindling the first light of Chanukah.



1918: On Thanksgiving, Rabbi Hyman Gerson Enelow is scheduled “to take part in services at a large Synagogue” in Paris.



1918: With Lou Mervis playing tackle, the U. of Pittsburgh Panthers defeated Penn St. at Forbes Field.



1918: The Jewish Guardian reported that on the first anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, T.E. Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia) declared, “Speaking entirely as a non-Jew, I look on the Jews as the natural importers of western leaven so necessary for countries of the Near East.”



1918: Eighteen days after crossing the border into Holland, Kaiser Wilhelm II who blamed the Jews for his defeat and who would send telegrams of praise to Hitler following his victories “issued a belated statement of abdication from both the Prussian and imperial thrones, thus formally ending the Hohenzollerns' 400-year rule over Prussia.”



1919: Birthdate of Faye Schulman, the Lenin born photographer who was one of only 26 people spared by the Nazis when they slaughtered the Jews of town including her parents, sisters and younger brother. They did not kill her because they wanted her to develop their pictures of the massacre



http://www.jewishpartisans.org/t_switch.php?pageName=mini+bio+short+bio+2&fromSomeone=&parnum=56



 1922: “The Russian delegation arrived in Lusanne” where negotiations had already begun on settling the outstanding questions regarding the replacement of the Ottoman Empire, which had included Palestine, with what would become the modern nation of Turkey.



1922: In the Bronx, Sadie "Sonia" Birkenfeld and Harry Eidus, a Latvian born Jewish violinist gave birth to Arnold Eidus, “the first American violinist to win the Jacques Thidbaud Award



http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/11/business/arnold-eidus-90-adman-with-stradivarius-dies.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1417065744-4e8cTch/2QhzJZfmmxE+kA



1924: French premiere of “Le Miracle des Loups” (The Miracle of the Wolves) the historical melodrama directed by Raymond Bernard.



1925: Today Chaim “Zhitlowsky's 60th birthday was celebrated at the Manhattan Opera House in New York” and “a Zhitlowsky memorial volume was published in Berlin containing articles and reminiscences of his intimate friends and disciples” with the proceeds from the sale of the work going to YIVO in Vilno.



 1926:Dr. Henry S. Pritchett, a trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in a report to the Endowment on his observations in Egypt, Palestine and Greece, made public today, declares that the movement to colonize Palestine with Jews is "unfortunate and visionary," and will in the long run "bring more bitterness and more unhappiness both for the Jew and for the Arab."  According to Dr. Pritchett, “Zionist plans for a national Jewish home in Plaestine…have nothing to commend them and are bound to fail.”  He also wrote despairingly of any attempt to improve the economic conditions in Palestine; attempts which he said were doomed to failure. Nicholas Murray Butler, who is President of the Carnegie Endowment, was responsible for the report being published today.  As President of Columbia, Butler has advocated limiting the enrollment of Jews at Columbia where he has supported a strong quota system.



1926: British flyweight Moe Mizler fought and won his seventh bout today at Premierland, Whitechapel.



1926: In Jerusalem, Rabbi Yitzhak Nissim and his wife gave birth to Meir Benayahu, the researcher who devoted his life to the of Kabbalah, Sabbaticalism and the Sephardi Diaspora who was also the brother of MK Moshe Nissim.



https://muse.jhu.edu/article/404349



1928: “London Blames Jews in Wailing Wall Issue” published today “concludes by explain that while the Palestine government is ready and anxious to act as an intermediary in obtaining a Moslem-Jewish agreement over the Wailing Wall, it cannot use compulsion to ring this about especially as the disputes have now ceased to be purely religious and have become political and racial also.” (Editor’s note – the irony is that nine decades later, the issue has now become one of Jew versus Jew as the Orthodox seek to exercise a hegemony over this holy site that denies access other Jews.)



 



1928: Birthdate of Shulamit Aloni. Born in Kfar Shmaryahu, Israel, Aloni served in the Palmach in the War of Independence and gained fame as an attorney, teacher, journalist and the winner of numerous awards including Honorary PhD in Humanities from Hebrew Union College (1994), Honorary PhD of Law from Kon-Kuk University in Seoul (1994),Honorary PhD of Philosophy, Weitzman Institute of Science (1999), Decoration of Honor from the International Academy for Humanism (1996), Honorary PhD from the Free Univeristy in Brussels (1997) and Israel Prize Honoree for special lifetime contribution to Israeli society (2000).



1929: “Show of Shows” a Warner Brothers film that was unique because it was “a talkie” and in technicolor featuring Carmel Myers was released today in the United States.



1929: “The Girl with the Whip” a comedy with a script by Walter Wasserman and filmed by cinematographer Otto Heller was released in Germany today.



1929(25th of Cheshvan, 5690): Sixty-seven year old Hannah Bachman Einstein a Jewish social worker who “was one of the founders of the Federation of Jewish women’s Organizations” passed away today.



https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/einstein-hannah-bachman



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



1931: In their final game of the season, with Sid Gillman playing End, Ohio State lost to the University of Minnesota today.



1932: NBC’s Blue Network broadcast the first episode of “Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel” a situation comedy radio show starring Groucho and Chico Marx, and written primarily by Nat Perrin and Arthur Sheekman.



1932: Groucho Marx performed on radio for the first time



1933(10 of Kislev 5694): Sixty-seven year old Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein died in Jerusalem



http://matzav.com/rav-moshe-mordechai-epstein-ztl-on-his-yahrtzeit-today-4/



1935(2nd of Kislev, 5696): Frederick, Falk, MD, passed away today in Seattle, Washington



1936: “Alpha and Omega” a play written by two Jewish authors “was hooted off the stage” in Poznan, Poland by a group of anti-Semitic Students.



1936: In New York, at the Manhattan Opera House, Mayor La Guardia told the 20,000 delegates attending the convention of the National Labor Committee for the Jewish Workers in Palestine that “rulers of modern countries that seem to thrive on the persecution of minorities face the fate of the Romanoffs and the Hapsburgs.



1936: “The elimination of race prejudice and religious intolerance was advocated” today “by the Rev. Dr. Ralph W. Sockman, pastor of Christ Methodist Episcopal Church speaking as guest preacher at the Sabbath service of Central Synagogue which opened the ninetieth anniversary celebration of the congregation.”



1937(24th of Kislev, 5698): This evening Jews kindled the first Chanukah Candle.



1937: “Non-Stop New York” a sci-fi film with a script co-authored by Curt Siodmak and filmed by cinematographer Mutz Greenbaum opened in the United States today.


1938: Dr. Arthur H. Compton is scheduled to be installed as co-chairman to night during the dinner meeting of the New York Round Table of the National Conference of Jews and Christians at the Hotel Astor.


1938: The Henry Street Settlement and East Side Branch of the Progressive Women’s Council is scheduled to host a panel including Cecilia Razofsky, Reverend William B. Sperry, Louis Bart, Lena Finkelstein, Max Schenk and Helen Hall that will discuss “”What Can We Do to Help the Jews in Germany?”


1938: Dr. David de Sola Pool is scheduled to lecture on “Jewish Wanderings, Whither Today?” at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue.


1939: The Nazi governor-general of Poland established the Judenrat. The Jews were ordered to set up Jewish Councils in every Jewish community in the General Government of Germany. Heydrich ordered that the deportation of 80,000 Jews and Poles should be carried out by December 17.



1939: In what was tantamount to a death sentence, “The authorities of Kaunas, Lithuania arrested” Polish refugee “ Maurycy Orzech, a correspondent for the Jewish Daily Forward and ordered him to return to the German-occupied territory of Poland.”



1939: During today’s meeting of the Good Neighbor Committee on the Émigré and the Community “Edward M.M. Warburg, chairman of the administration committee of the Joint Distribution Committee told of the tremendous burned placed on the Jewish community in this country and abroad by the refugee problem and warned that anti-Semitism was spreading in Europe.



1939: In Bucharest, Premiere George Tatarescu delivered a speech today in which he announced a new plan that “would facilitate the emigration of Jews who are not Rumanian.” 



1939: It was reported today that “70,000 Jews from Germany have been absorbed in Palestine since 1936” and that there are plans for “the immediate settlement of 25,000 Jewish refugees in Palestine.”



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=980CE3D7143EE432A2575BC2A9679D946894D6CF



1939: As the case against Fritz Kuhn, the leader of the German American Bund who is charged with grand larceny came to a climax, Assistant District Attorney Herman J. McCarthy presented his summation to the jury challenging Kuhn’s contention that he was the victim of plot carried out by Daniel Kirchman, the young Jewish lawyer whom Kuhn says was a thief and the young Jewish accountant Irving Hest who is on the staff of District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey.



1940: The anti-Jewish film Der Ewige Jude, “The Eternal Jew,” was released.



1940: “The legal successor of the DIG, the Jewish Religious Association (Jüdischer Religionsverband in Hamburg), was forced to sell the building for the ridiculous sum of ℛℳ 120,000 to the Colonial Office (Kolonialamt; a legally dependent subunit of Hamburg).”



1941: “The Corsican Brother” a swashbuckler directed by Gregory Ratoff, produced by Edward Small with music by Dimitri Tiomkin was released in the United States today.



1941: In Riga the Jews responded in horror when the Nazis issued orders that separated the able-bodied men from the rest of the population because they knew that in Latvia a separation of population had preceded the murder of the Jewish population.



1941: “Walter Bruns, a Major General of Engineers, learned today that planned mass executions would soon take place in Riga



1941: The first transport of Laupheim (Germany) Jews left for Stuttgart, before being shipped to Riga.



1941: Hitler entertains Hajj Amin al-Husseini. The grand mufti of Jerusalem pledges to cooperate in the extermination of the Jews and offers to enlist Arabs to fight for Germany.



1942: “George Washington Slept Here” the film version of the stage play by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, produced by Jerry Wald and starring Jacky Benny was released in the United States today by Warner Bros.



1943:The U.S. Army Medical Corps established a 500 bed hospital at Tlemcen, the Algerian city whose “most important place pilgrimage of all religions was the Jewish cemetery on the outskirts of town.”



1943:  Birthdate of singer Randy Newman known for a variety of off-beat ditties including Short People, I Love LA, andRaindrops.



1943: A testimonial is scheduled to be held tonight to celebrate the 70th birthday of Dr. Louis Ginzberg, the Polish born Talmudist and Professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) who has been living in the United States for the last 44 years.  Dr. Louis Finnkelstein, President of the JTS is chairing the committee hosting the event; a committee that includes several notables such Dr. Butler, President of Columbia, Dr. Woodburn, Chancellor of New York University and Dr. Hertz, the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FB0F15FF35581B7B93CAAB178AD95F478485F9



1944: As he tried to negotiate the rescue of Hungarian Jews Rudolf Kasztner followed the instructions of the Germans and left for the Swiss border.



1944: In Budapest, Hungarian Fascist gangs attacked a hospital of Jews, killing 28.



1946:Three Jewish refugee ships were reported off Haifa tonight, trying to run the Navy-Air Force blockade in a new challenge to British immigration policy.



1947:In Haifa, the British admit 1,450 Jews from Cyprus, ahead of immigration quota.



1947: The United Nations General Assembly “postponed a vote on the Palestine questions” today when it approved a resolution to delay the vote for 24 hours “to give the Arab representatives an opportunity to present a compromise plan as a substitute for partition.”



1948 (26th of Cheshvan): Moses Kleinman editor of Ha-Olam, passed away



1948: Lt. Col. Moshe Dayan and his Arab counterpart met at Government House in Jerusalem. Under UN supervision, the two military commanders worked out the terms of cease fire for the divided holy city.  Once the cease fire was announced soldiers of the Arab Legion danced with joy and Arab refugees returned to the Old City.  All attempts by Jews to pray at the Wall were rebuffed.  As the cease fire took effect Chaim Weitzman returned to the city for the first time in a year.  The first President of Israel comforted the people over the fact that Jerusalem was divided.  “All will come to pass in peace.”



1948: Birthdate of self-promoting political lobbyist Dick Morris.



1948: Birthdate of author Bruce Vilanch.



1948: The Polaroid Land Camera first went on sale, at a Boston department store. The 40 series, model 95 roll film camera went on sale for $89.75. This first model was sold through 1953, and was the first commercially successful self-redeveloping camera system. A sepia-colored photograph took about one minute to produce. Jewish inventor Edwin H. Land had previously demonstrated his invention of instant photography at a meeting of the Optical Society of America on 2 Feb 1947. His first commercial success came in 1939 with his invention of Polaroid filters for lenses in products such as ski goggles, sunglasses and slip-on sunglasses for optical glasses.



1949: Birthdate of Canadian born Mossad agent and author Victor John Ostrosky, the grandson Esther and Haim Margolin,, the Auditor General of the Jewish National Fund and the husband of artist Bella Ostrovsky.



1949: U.S. premiere of “Port of New York” directed by László Benedek, produced by Aubrey Schenk with music by Sol Kaplan.



1949: Birthdate of bandleader and David Letterman straight man Paul Shaffer.



1950: The New York Council of the Pioneer Women is scheduled to have its Chanukah meeting at the home of Mrs. David H. Panitz.



1950: Oscar Karlweis and Mrs. Irving M. Engel are scheduled to address today’s meeting of the Brooklyn Section of the National Council of Jewish Women being held at Temple Beth Elohim.



1950: Dr. Henry shoskes is scheduled to address todays meeting of the Abraham Herman Chapter of HIAS.



1950: The Passaic, NJ Section of Hadassah is scheduled to meet this evening at the Y.M.H.A.



1951: In France, re-release of “Le Miracle des Loups” the classic film directed by Raymond Bernard first shown in 1924.



1953: Birthdate of Homeland Security “Czar” Michael Chertoff



1954: For the first time ABC aired “What’s Going On?” a game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman.



1954: Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist and Nobel Prize laureate passed away.  Fermi was not Jewish, but his wife was.  He left Europe in 1938 because he was afraid of the fate that awaited her and her family.



1961: One hundred five Moroccan Jews sailed from Casablanca for Nice on board the French steamship Lyautey.  This marked the beginning of a major exodus of Morrocco's ancient Jewish community.


 


1957(5th of Kislev): Dr. Pinchas Churgin, the first president of Bar-Ilan University passed away.


 


1962(1st of Kislev, 5723): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1962: Birthdate of Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz who gained fame as Jon Stewart host of the fake news program The Daily Show. Born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, the popularity of this late-night show has earned Stewart notoriety as “the most trusted name in fake news,” a sardonic reflection of his stature as the Walter Cronkite for a younger generation. He has also gained attention as an outspoken critic of established news media sources.



1963(12th of Kislev, 5724): Actress Karyn "Cookie" Kupcinet, daughter of columnist Irv Kupcinet is murdered.  The crime remains unsolved.



1963: Rabbi Stanley Rabinowitz delivered a sermon at the interfaith Thanksgiving Day service attended by President Lyndon Johnson who was making one of his first such appearances since the assassination of President John Kennedy.



1963: This evening, in a nationally televised address, President Johnson paraphrased the words Rabbi Rabinowitz had used early in the day, “speaking of how blessings can come from evil situations.”



1963(12th of Kislev, 5724): Seventy year old Abba Hillel Silver, who served as Rabbi of The Temple in Cleveland, Ohio and was an ardent Zionist passed away today.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9E02EEDB103AE637A2575AC2A9679D946291D6CF



1964(23rd of Kislev, 5725): Fifty-six year old Hans von Halban, the French physicist who worked on the Heavy Water project related to the development of the Atomic Bomb passed away today.



1966: Birthdate of actor, writer and media commentator Sam Seder



1967: Morris Lasker was nominated to serve as a federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Today.



1968: In today’s Village Voice, Alfred Leslie, revealed that “Pull My Daisy” directed by Robert Frank was not “an improvisational masterpiece” but “actually carefully planned, rehearsed,” before being shot “on a professionally lit studio set.’ (Frank was Jewish, Leslie was not)



1970: Birthdate of Ran Ben Shimon, the Israeli football (soccer) player who became the manager for Hapoel Tel Aviv.



1973: Donna Karen participated in today’s The Battle of Versailles Fashion today as an assistant to her mentor Anne Klein.



http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/designers/a11385/versailles-french-american-fashion-show/



1974(14th of Kislev, 5735): Seven days after his 60thbirthday, Detroit lawyer, Archie Katcher, the North Dakota born son of Louis and Rebecca Katz Katcher who was an active member of the Anti-Defamation League passed away today.



1975(24th of Kislev, 5736): Seventy-three Jack S. Popick, a native of Kishinev who came to the U.S. in 1906 where he became a “business executive and Jewish communal and Zionist leader passed away today in Miami.



1980(20th of Kislev, 5741): Eighty two year old, Russian born, Israeli painter, sculptor and author Nachum Gutman passed away today



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachum_Gutman#/media/File:HHGM_20121230_153928.jpg



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachum_Gutman#/media/File:Gutmanstudio.jpg



https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/Gutman.html



 



1981: “Venom” a horror film produced by Martin Bregman with music by Michael Kamen was released in Japan today.



1982: The film version of Norman Mailers, The Executioner’s Song, co-starring Eli Wallach was released today in the United States



1982: Today, at a  “Delegates Conference in NYC, 65 elected representatives of New Jewish Agenda (NJA) chapters and at-large members from across US, consented on a National Platform” that included a general Statement of Purpose and specific statements on 18 issue areas



1984: Seventy-eight year old Hubertus, Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg the anti-Nazi German historian who came to the United States to warn against the danger of Hitler and the evil of anti-Semitism passed away today. (As reported by Eric Pace)



http://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/01/obituaries/prince-loewenstien-hitler-foe-dies-in-bonn-at-78.html



 



1985: “Dispute Flares Over Book On Claims to Palestine” published today, described the controversy over From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine by Joan Peters.



http://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/28/books/dispute-flares-over-book-on-claims-to-palestine.html?scp=1&sq=Yehoshua+Porath&st=nyt



1989: After having been convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of his mother, actress Susan Cabot, her son Timothy Scott Roman “was sentenced to three years’ probation” today.



1990: Sir Malcolm Leslie Rifkind completed his service as Secretary of State for Scotland.



1990: Sir Malcolm Leslie Rifkind, began serving as Secretary of State for Transport



1993(14th of Kislev, 5754): Marvin H. Bernstein, a businessman and philanthropist in New York for many years, died today at the Miami Heart Institute. He was 66 and lived in Miami. Mr. Bernstein was the founder and for 34 years the president of the Variety Knit Corporation of Manhattan, which makes women's clothing and T-shirts. He also founded the Marvin Bernstein Oil Company, a petroleum exploration company with headquarters in Miami.n Mr. Bernstein was a fund-raiser for and a contributor to the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, the Simon Weisenthal Center, Israel Bonds, the Weitzman Institute of Science, Tel Aviv University and other medical and religious groups.



1993(14th of Kislev, 5754): Monroe Abbey passed away. Born in 1904, he was a Canadian lawyer specializing in mining law and a Jewish civic leader in Montreal. He was president of Canadian Jewish Congress from 1968 to 1971.He was married to Minnie Cummings. His daughter, Sheila Finestone, was a Member of Parliament and Senator. In 1978, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition for being "devoted community worker who has held office in every important Jewish organization in Montreal".



1994(25th of Kislev, 5755): First Day of Chanukah; in the evening kindle the second light



1994(25th of Kislev, 5755): Jerry Rubin, the 1960s war protester, died in Los Angeles at 56, two weeks after he was hit by a car.



1999: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including  A Life on the Stage: A Memoirby Jacob Adler, translated and edited by Lulla Rosenfeld, Carl Sagan: A Lifeby Keay Davidson and Carl Sagan: A Life in the Cosmosby William Poundstone.



2000(1st of Kislev, 5761): Rosh Chodesh Kislev)



2000: Workers cut away at the ice that has encased David Blaine since he began the Frozen in Time stunt 63 hours, 42 minutes and 15 seconds ago which was a world’s record.



2001(13th of Kislev, 5762): Kal Mann passed away.  Born Kalman Cohen, the Philadelphia native gained fame for writing lyrics to such rock and roll hits as Elvis Presley's "Teddy Bear," Bobby Rydell's "Wild One", and Chubby Checker's "Let's Twist Again."



2002(23rd of Kislev, 5763): Three suicide bombers detonated an SUV in the lobby of the Israeli-owned Paradise Hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, killing 13 people and injuring 80. Among the dead were three Israeli tourists who presumably were the targets of the attack, and 10 Kenyans, mostly members of a dance troupe. About 20 minutes earlier, two surface-to-air missiles were fired at an Arkia Boeing 757 airliner carrying 271 people, narrowly missing the aircraft, which was taking off from nearby Moi International Airport. The plane was able to land safely in Tel Aviv.



2002(23rd of Kislevn 5763):Noy and Dvir Anter, aged 12 and 14, of Ariel, and Albert (Avraham) de Havila, 60, of Ra'anana were killed along with 10 Kenyans when a car bomb exploded in the lobby of the Israeli-owned beachfront Paradise Hotel, frequented almost exclusively by Israeli tourists, near Mombasa in Kenya; 21 Israelis were among the 80 wounded. Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack, as well as for the simultaneous attempt to down an Arkia plane.



2002(23rd of Kislev, 5763): Haim Amar, 56; Ehud (Yehuda) Avitan, 54; Mordechai Avraham, 44; Ya'acov Lary, 35; and David Peretz, 48 - all of Beit She'an; and Shaul Zilberstein, 36, of Upper Nazareth, were killed and about 40 wounded when two terrorists opened fire and threw grenades at the Likud polling station in Beit She'an, near the central bus station, where party members were casting their votes in the Likud primary. The Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.



2004: Juilliard instructor Samuel Zyman praised Jay “Bluejay” Greenberg's talent during a CBS News 60 Minutes broadcast this evening.



2004: NBC broadcast “A Christmas Carol: The Musical” a television version of the stage musical co-starring  Jason Alexander as the Ghost of Jacob Marley and with a score by Alan Menkin



2004: The New York Timesfeatures reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or on topics of special interest to Jewish readers including including High Noon In the Cold War: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Cuban Missile Crisis by Max Frankel and Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire by Ann Norton.



2005: The Jerusalem Postreported from Budapest that the Israeli ambassador to Hungary, David Admon had recognized the efforts of 13 Hungarians and their families to assist Jews during the Holocaust by presenting them with the title of "the Righteous among the Nations." Ten of the 13 honored were awarded the distinction posthumously. The ceremony in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences was attended by the president of the National Assembly, Katalin Szili, and the primate of the Catholic Church in Hungary, Cardinal Peter Erdo. Yad Vashem has so far awarded the "Righteous among the Nations title to over 20,000 people worldwide, including 650 in Hungary. Nearly 600,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered during World War II.


 


2005(26thof Cheshvan, 5766): Ninety-five year old character actor Marc Lawrence (born Max Goldsmith) passed away today.



 


2006: Fred Goldsmith was hired today to coach football at Lenoir-Rhyne University.


 


2006: Groundbreaking Ceremony for the New Schechter Institute Campus in Jerusalem.


 


2006:Today, in his maiden speech as National Party leader John Key talked of an "underclass" that had been "allowed to develop" in New Zealand, a theme which received a large amount of media coverage,


2006(7th of Kislev,5767):Seventy-nine year old “Elliot Welles, a Holocaust survivor who spent the years after World War II as a tireless hunter of Nazis, starting with the man who murdered his mother passed away today at the age of 79. [Information supplied by Margalit Fox, one of the great obituary writers for the New York Times.]



http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/03/nyregion/03welles.html



2006: In a move that would earn him the appellation of “Bigot” from New York Mayor Ed Koch, Dennis Prager “wrote that Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, should not be allowed to take his Congressional oath using a Koran because ‘the act undermines American civilization.’” (Apparently Mr. Prager’s Jewish education did not include a study of the problems that Jews in England had in taking their seats in Parliament after being elected.)



2006(7th of Kislev, 5767): Ninety year old Rose Mattus who with husband Reuben created Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream passed away today.  (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)



http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/01/obituaries/01mattus.html



 



2007: “The Rothschild Egg,” a Fabergé egg Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild presented to Germaine Halphen upon her engagement to Béatrice's younger brother, Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild “was sold by Christie's auction house today for £8.9 million (including commission) which “set three auction records: it is the most expensive timepiece, Russian object, and Fabergé object ever sold at auction, surpassing the $9.6 million sale of the 1913 Winter egg in 2002.”



2007: “Yiddish Theatre: A Love Story” is shown for the last time at the Two Boots Pioneer theater in Manhattan.This new documentary film is about Zypora Spaisman the amazing woman who has kept the oldest running Yiddish Theater in America alive. Zypora Spaisman is a Holocaust survivor who conquers all hearts in her passion for art, life and Yiddish.


2007: “The Land Was Theirs” is shown at the Highstown Memorial Library in Highstown, NJ. “An absorbing documentary about Farmingdale, New Jersey, one of many Jewish farming communities in the United States established with the help of the Jewish Agricultural Society. Spanning more than fifty years, the history of Farmingdale provides a perspective on the pressures, problems, and satisfactions of rural Jewish life as experienced in one community.”


2007: Social scientist Riane Eisler, Czech born Jewish American author of the influential The Chalice and the Blade, discusses her new book, The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C



2008(1st of Kislev, 5769): Rosh Chodesh Kislev



2008: Daniel “Barenboim made his conducting debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York for the House's 450th performance of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.”



2008: Former government minister and civil rights activist Shulamit Aloni celebrates her 80th birthday.



2008: The centenary of the legendary French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss is celebrated in Paris. As a centenary celebration of a legend, however, it is rather unusual, as the birthday boy is very much alive and well at this time. (He passed away on October 30, 2009.)



http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-me-claude-levi-strauss4-2009nov04,0,890035.story



http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/nov/03/claude-levi-strauss-obituary



2008: Indian commandos were dropped by helicopter on the roof of the besieged Chabad headquarters in Mumbai as Indian snipers at the site opened fire early Friday morning. Sharpshooters in buildings opposite the headquarters of Chabad began shooting early Friday as a helicopter circled overhead. Meanwhile, there were at least three blasts in the building Friday, as militants were believed to be holed up inside - possibly with hostages - but the situation still remained murky. Approximately 5.000 Jews live in Mumbai. This does not include the large number of Jewish visitors to the city, including a large number of Israelis on their way to visit other tourist sites on the subcontinent. Where there are Jews, there is Chabad.  In this case the Chabad House is run by Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, from Brooklyn and his Israeli born wife.  In response to requests from Chabad, Jews around the world recite Psalm 20 as they wait for further word on the fate of their co-religionists facing this nightmare.



2009: In Cedar Rapids, IA, Noah Thalblum is called to the Torah as Bar Mitzvah at Shabbat Morning Services.



2010: Today Germany's main Jewish group elected its first leader born after the Holocaust, a 60-year-old businessman who promised to focus the organization more on contemporary Jewish life. Dieter Graumann was born in Israel in 1950, the son of Jewish refugees who moved to Germany two years later He said after his unanimous election by the board of the Central Council of Jews in Frankfurt that he wants to focus on the positive aspects of Jewish existence in Germany, including "the joy of life," German news agency DAPD reported. "Judaism doesn't always exclusively mean persecution, misery and catastrophes," Graumann said in early November at a Kristallnacht commemoration ceremony in Frankfurt. As vice-president of the council representing the country's estimated 200,000 Jews, Graumann has also repeatedly criticized Germany for its extensive business ties with Iran, calling them "despicable" and "a disgrace." Chancellor Angela Merkel, foreign minister Guido Westerwelle and parliament speaker Norbert Lammert welcomed Graumann's election. Lammert said it marked the beginning of a new era, adding he expected Graumann not to gloss over the past but also to show "the many aspects of contemporary Jewish life in Germany." Graumann succeeds 78-year-old Charlotte Knobloch, who witnessed the Nazi destruction of the Munich synagogue during the Kristallnacht 1938 and survived Nazi Germany by hiding with a German family. Knobloch did not seek a new term as the organization's president. Graumann, who has been the organization's vice president since 2006, studied economics and law in Germany and Britain, and worked for Germany's central bank before going into the real estate business. Graumann's election coincided with German President Christian Wulff's first official visit to Israel. Wulff, 51, is the first German president to be born after World War II. Visiting the Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem, he said the "inconceivable crimes" of the Holocaust require all Germans to act forever on behalf of Israel.



2010: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Dealings: A Political and Financial Life by Felix Rohatyn and I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron.


2010: The Los Angeles Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) With Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes by Stephen Sondheim



2010: Party Like A Jew is scheduled to come to an end in Brussels, Belgium.



2010: Terrorists in Hamas-controlled Gaza resumed rocket fire on the Western Negev this morning, striking near Sderot. As usual when no one is injured and there is no serious damage, Israel media did not report the Kassam attack. The short-range rocket exploded in mid-air as thousands of children and college students returned to schools and the local Sapir College.



2010(21st of Kislev, 5771): Eighty-nine year old “Samuel T. Cohen, the physicist who invented the small tactical nuclear weapon known as the neutron bomb, a controversial device designed to kill enemy troops with subatomic particles but leave battlefields and cities relatively intact, died today at his home in Los Angeles”  (As reported by Robert D. McFadden)



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/us/02cohen.html?pagewanted=all



2011: The 92nd St Y is scheduled to host “Finding A Lost Tribe of Israel: The Bnei Menashe of India,” a program in which “the Bnei Menashe community, along with Shavei Israel founder Michael Freund, tell the remarkable story of how this lost tribe is finally coming home.”



2011: President Shimon Peres, under the instructions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left for Amman today to meet with Jordan's King Abdullah II, to discuss stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The two leaders addressed "ways of surmounting the obstacles that impede the revival of peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis on the base of the two-state vision," a royal court statement said. Peres and King Abdullah also discussed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent decision to delay the demolition of the Mughrabi Bridge in Jerusalem, which leads from the Western Wall Plaza to the Temple Mount, after warnings from Egypt and Jordan of possible repercussions. King Abdullah told Peres that Israel should stop settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land that the Palestinians want for a future state. Peres' visit to Jordan comes a week after King Abdullah made a rare visit to the West Bank, in which he met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and called on him to renew peace talks with Israel.



2011: The IDF returned fire on the source of at least three rockets fired into northern Israel from Lebanon tonight, Three rockets fired from Lebanon landed in the Western Galilee, with police searching for a possible fourth rocket. No injuries were reported in the attacks. One rocket landed in Biranit, 700 meters from the Lebanese border. No damage or injuries were reported in the attack. Two additional rockets landed in the Western Galilee town of Netua , causing some damage to a chicken coop and a gas tank, but no injuries. Police were searching for a possible fourth rocket in a wooded area near Kfar Vradim, just south of Ma'alot, also in the Western Galilee. Residents reported hearing an explosion in the area. The IDF said in statement that it views the rocket attacks as a severe incident and it holds the Lebanese government and the Lebanese military responsible for preventing such actions. The IDF Northern Command has gone on full alert and is holding continuous evaluation in light of the events, the statement added. Army Radio reported that the projectile which landed in Biranit was a Katyusha rocket. The police clarified in a statement that it remained unclear whether the projectile was a Katyusha or a different type of rocket. Police bomb squad units and the IDF were investigating the incident. The Western Galilee was a target of Hezbollah rocket attacks during the 2006 Lebanon War, but the front has been largely quiet for the past several years



2011(2nd of Kislev, 5772): Ninety-nine year old Brooklyn born, Cornell University graduate Charles Baker Schleifer, a World War II codebreaker who was the husband of Florence Schleifer and the father of Doctors Lawrence and Leonard Schleifter, passed away today.



2012: The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington is scheduled to present its legislative agency at tonight’s “Northern Virginia Legislators’ Reception at the JCCNVa



2012(14th of Kislev, 5773): Ninety-six year old New York real estate and newspaper tycoon Jerry Finkelstein passed away today. (As reported by Robert D. McFadden)



http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/29/nyregion/jerry-finkelstein-new-york-power-broker-dies-at-96.html?hpw&pagewanted=print



 



2012: The French Institute American Alliance Française is scheduled to host a reception prior to the opening of “Haim Shelley Part One & Two” which “presents works by Brigitte NaHoN from 1999 to the present, a period when the artist lived in New York and immigrated to Tel Aviv.”



2012: The convulsions of the Arab Spring may be driving the American public’s support for Israel to new highs, according to a poll released today by the Washington-based group The Israel Project.



http://www.timesofisrael.com/americans-support-for-israel-grows-in-wake-of-arab-spring-poll-reveals/



2012: Today Germany announced its opposition to the Palestinian bid to upgrade its status at the United Nations to a nonmember state, but did not indicate whether it would vote against or merely abstain.



http://www.timesofisrael.com/germany-confirms-it-wont-support-palestinian-statehood-bid/



2013(25thof Kislev, 5774): First Day of Chanukah


 


2013(25thof Kislev, 5774): Ninety-three year old “Yiddish poet and songwriter “Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, the daughter of Lifshe Sschaecter and wife of Dr. Johan (Yoyne) Gottesman with whom she survived the Holocaust passed away today in the Bronx.



 


 


2013(25th of Kislev, 5774): Eighty-eighty year old Joseph Bihari one of three brothers who “the founders of Modern Records in Los Angeles and its subsidiaries such as Meteor Records based in Memphis” passed away in Los Angeles. (As reported by William Yardley)



 


 


2013: Thanksgiving – for the first time since 1888, the first day of Chanukah and Thanksgiving coincide.  In 1888 it happened on November 29.


 




2013: A Jordan-based scientific research center that counts as its members Iran and other Middle Eastern countries has named an Israeli physicist from Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, Eliezer Rabinovici, as vice president, AFP reported.



http://www.jpost.com/Enviro-Tech/Israeli-physicist-named-as-VP-of-Jordanian-science-institute-that-counts-Iran-as-member-333398



2013: A two-year-old baby was seriously injured today when Muslim terrorists hurled rocks at the car she was in, at the entrance to the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood in southern Jerusalem.



http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/174602#.Upe_ipuA2po



2014: In Melbourne, “Orange People” is scheduled to be shown this afternoon at the Jewish International Film Festival.



2014: “M aj. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, named tonight as the next IDF chief of the General Staff, firmly opposes Israeli military intervention to thwart Iran’s nuclear program unless Iran poses an immediate existential threat to Israel, an Israeli television report said.”



http://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-next-army-chief-would-only-strike-iran-as-last-resort/



2014: “The highly anticipated trailer for the seventh installment of the Star Wars blockbuster directed by J.J. Abrams was screened today to film audiences throughout the United States.



http://www.timesofisrael.com/star-wars-releases-new-movie-trailer/



2014: In Atlanta, GA, the Berman Museum’s store is scheduled to hold a “Black Friday Sale” offering “BIG SAVINGS.”



2015: The Eden-Tamir Music Center is scheduled to host Schumann-Brahms concert featuring Yevgenia Pikovsky, Elyakum Salzman – Violin; Dmitry Ratush, Vladislav Krasnov –Viola; Felix Nemirovsky – Cello and Marianna Sorkin – Piano.



2015: The Historic Sixth & I Synagogue is scheduled to host an evening with “Hot Tuna.”



2015: Shabbat Va-yishlach



2016(27th of Cheshvan, 5777): Yahrzeit Deborah Dorfman Levin, the wife of Joseph B. Levin



2016: “Rabin In His Own Words” and “The Pickle Recipe” are scheduled to be shown at Melbourne as part of the Jewish International Film Festival.



2016: “The Shas party said” today “it would propose a bill that would make it illegal to hold pluralistic prayer services at the Western Wall plaza” which should it pass “would effectively end the negotiated agreement by the cabinet almost a year ago that decided on an egalitarian prayer plaza alongside the Orthodox-controlled one at the holy site”



2016: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present “Israel in Three Anthems” in which Michael A. Figueroa (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) addresses three anthems that have helped shape Israeli society—“Ha-Tikva,” “L’Internationale,” and “Yerushalayim shel Zahav,” analyzing these songs as performances of collectivity representing the multifaceted nature of Zionism and the shifting political landscape in Israel.



2017: Rich Recht is scheduled to appear at tonight’s JRR Donor Appreciation Concert.



2017: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to offer the second part of Yitzhak Lewis’ “Introduction to Gershom Scholem”



2017: The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host Shabbat Candlestick Making Workshop preceded by a free dinner.



2017: The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center is scheduled to host the last session of Dr. Naomi Weinberger’s  “American Priorities in the Middle East.”



2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such as Heinrich whose works included the classic and ground-breaking, multi-volume “History of the Jews” continues today.



2018: At the University of Michigan’s Jean and Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, the “Author’s Forum” is scheduled to host “A Rich Brew: How Cafes Created Modern Jewish Culture,” a conversation with “Samer Ali, an association professor of Arabic language and literature” and Shachar Pinsker, professor of Judaic studies and Middle East Studies and author of A Rich Brew: How Cafes Created Modern Jewish Culture.



2018: Today The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled to “a screening of Duki Dror’s ‘Shadow in Baghdad’ in honor of the date date chosen by the Knesset to commemorate the Middle Eastern Jewish experience, including the exodus of Iraqi Jews after denationalization in 1950.”



2018: In London, the UK Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to host a screening of “Diobedience.”



2018: The Streicker Center is scheduled to host the “State of Moral Emergency,” in which Daniel Altschuler, Stosh Cotler, Rabbi Jill Jacobs and Melanie Nezer, along with Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson discuss “the Jewish Response to the Immigration Crisis.”



2018: Beit Ave Chai is scheduled to host a lecture by Professor Zeli Gurevich on “The Language of Love in Shir HaShirim.”



 

This Day, November 29, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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November 29



800: Charlemagne arrives at Rome to investigate the alleged crimes of Pope Leo III. Leo and Charlemagne were allies.  Charlemagne would exonerate Leo of the charges and Leo would crown Charlemagne Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.  This was “good for the Jews” since Charlemagne was protective of his Jewish subjects at a time when many were using the sword of Constantine to advance the cause of the Cross of Christ.



1226: At the Reims Cathedral, coronation of Louis IX who at the request of the Pope Gregory burned “24 cartload of Jewish books in 1242, made plans to expel the Jews after confiscating their property and ordered them to wear a “Jew’s badge” and “to listen to missionary sermons”



1268: Pope Clement IV, who in 1264 “renewed the prohibition of the Talmud promulgated by Gregory IX, who had it publicly burnt in France and in Italy” and who “ordered that the Jews of Aragon submit their books to Dominican censors for expurgation” passed away today



1314: Although he would not be officially crowned un 1315, Louis X, who overturned the decision of his father, Phillip the Fair, to ban Jews from his realm began his reign as King of France.



1378: Sixty-two year old Charles VI, “the first King of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor” whose classification of the Jews in Frankfort as “vassals of the emperor” was not enough to halt the 1349 Pogrom in that city passed away today.



1378: Wenceslaus IV who as Emperor failed to continue the Imperial protection of the Jews of Luxembourg which led to their expulsion in 1391 began his reign as King of Bohemia today.



1394: Massacre of the Jews of Augsburg Germany.



1424: According to some sources, Anti-Pope Benedict XIII passed away.  In an attempt to curry favor and consolidate his position, Benedict conducted an aggressive program of forced conversion among Jews that included the issuance of a Bull that prohibited study of the Talmud, banned Jews from holding public office, practicing medicine, engaging in crafts, trading or bathing with Christians, wear a red or yellow badge and compelled them listen to at least three sermons a year during Advent.



1655: The Brazilian/Dutch Jews of New Amsterdam make an application for a license to enter the fur trade.  It was later denied



1777: San Jose, California, is founded as el Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe. Jews began to play an active role in the affairs of San Jose at the time of the Gold Rush in 1849.



 http://www.sanjose.com/history/jews/  San Jose History - San Jose's Jewish Community



1790: The Jews of Hungary handed a petition, in which they presented their claims to equality with other citizens, to King Leopold II at Vienna.  Written in Latin, probably at the behest of the Rosenthal family, “it read, in part ‘At long last, permit us to be citizens useful taxpayers of the fatherland.  In the whole world, outside Hungary we have no fatherland, no other father than the King…no other brothers than those with whom we live and die one society.’”



http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Rosenthal_Family



 



1793(25th of Kislev, 5554): As the citizens of Philadelphia recover from a yellow fever epidemic that took the lives of 5,000 and France coped with the Reign of Terror and Jews experience life under two “Georges” (George Washington and King George III) Jews on both sides of the Atlantic celebrate Chanukah



1797: Seventy-four year old Reverend Samuel Langdon, the former President of Harvard College passed away today. As can be seen by a sermon he preached in the New Hampshire Legislature “The Republic of the Israelites an Example to the American States” who believed that the Old Testament and the ancient Hebrews provided the foundation of the democracy being championed in the newly formed United States.  He saw “Moses as a destroyer of tyranny” and the seventy men appointed chosen to assist Moses as the prototype for a “Senate.”



1803” Birthdate of Gottfried Semper who the German architect who designed a synagogue built in Dresden between 1838 and 1840 known as the “Semper Synagogue” that contained a “a silver lamp of eternal light” that caught the “fancy” of Cosima and Richard Wagner who spent a lot of money “to have a copy” of the lamp made.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Semper#mediaviewer/File:Alte_Synagoge_Dresden_1860_2.png



1806: Napoleon wrote to Minister of the Interior Champagny, “[It is necessary to] reduce, if not destroy, the tendency of Jewish people to practice a very great number of activities that are harmful to civilization and to public order in society in all the countries of the world. It is necessary to stop the harm by preventing it; to prevent it it is necessary to change the Jews. [...] Once part of their youth will take its place in our armies, they will cease to have Jewish interests and sentiments; their interests and sentiments will be French.”



1807: Birthdate of Jonas Warburg, the husband of Bernhardine Wetzlar.



1809(21st of Kislev, 5570): Sixty-five year old New York native Moses Seixas, the eldest son of Isaac Mendez Seixas  who was one of the founders (1795) of the Newport Bank of Rhode Island, of which he was cashier until his death and who addressed a letter of welcome in the name of the congregation to George Washington when the latter visited Newport, and it was to him that Washington's answer was addressed passed away today in Newport, RI.



1812: Isaac Isaacs married Elizabeth Davis at the Great Synagogue today.



1812:Napoleon's Grand Army crossed the Berezina River in its retreat from Russia which marked the beginning of the end for Napoleon and therefore also marked the beginning of the end of new found freedom that Jews had begun to experience in most of Germany, Italy and Russia when the French Armies marched across these lands bringing the message of “Liberty, Fraternity, Equality”  on the tips of their bayonets.



1820:  In New York City, first publication ofIsrael Vindicated by an anonymous author who styled him or herself as “An Israelite.”   “The work was ‘a refutation of the calumnies propagated respecting the Jewish nation; in which the objects and views of the American Society for Ameliorating the Condition of the Jews are investigated.’” The original subtitle also contained the additional words “‘and reasons assigned for rejecting the Christian religion.’” In his monograph entitled “The Freethinker, the Jews and the Missionaries,” Professor Jonathan Sarna contends that the book was the work of a freethinker named George Houston who was assisted by a Jewish printer named Abraham Collins.


1830: The November Uprising also known as the Cadet Uprising begins in Warsaw when a group of Polish non-commissioned officers began an unsuccessful attempt to throw off the yoke of Russian rule. Josef Berkowicz, whose father had commanded a Jewish legion in the 1794 Uprising and who had fought alongside his father in the Battle of Kock, was a leader in what would prove to be another failed attempt to gain Polish independence.



1832: In Camden, SC, Hayman Levy, the son of Solomon and Rebecca Eve Levy, and his wife Almeria Levy gave birth to Rebecca Hendricks Samuel



1840: Two days after he had passed away, 70 year old Woolf Solomons was buried at the “Brady Street Jewish Cemetery” today.



1841: Birthdate of Josiah Cohen, the native of Plymouth England who became a successful American lawyer and Republican Party leader who was “appointed judge of the orphans’ court in Allegheny County (PA)” in 1901.



1845(29th of Cheshvan, 5606): Parashat Tolodot



1845: After having been invited to address the congregation, Dr. M. Lilienthal, who had only recently arrived in the United States delivered a sermon in German at the Henry Street Synagogue in New York City after having been invited to address the congregation.



1846: Two days after she had passed away, 78 year old Hannah Abraham, the wife of John Abraham, was buried today at the “Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.”



1849: In “Kollin, Bohemia,” Rabbi Bernhard Illoway and Katherine Schiff gave birth to Dr. Illoway, the Miami Medical College trained physician who was the “professor of Diseases of Children at the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surger and the visiting physician at the Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati.”



1851(5th of Kislev, 5612): Parashat Toldot



1851(5th of Kislev, 5612): Jacob Lyon, the native of Poland who came to Richmond, VA, at the 18th of century where he became a successful merchant and whose third wife was Eliza White passed away today.



1853: Reverend Francis N. Vinton, D. D delivered a lecture entitled "The Merchant, or the Progress and Influence of Commerce" during which he stated that the Jews had invented the first bills of exchange in 1160.  This invention was so important that soon it would be impossible to transact business without using them.  Furthermore, the Jews created one of the first banks, at Boscoe, but it was used merely as depository for Gold. (Boscoe was probably a city in Italy.)



1854: In Charleston, SC, at the Hasell Street Synagogue, Rabbi Mayer officiated at the wedding of Israel Ottolengui to Rosalie C. Moise the youngest daughter of Mrs. R.C. Moise.



1855: Most of the Jews of New York City celebrated Thanksgiving today by “eating hearty dinners” and giving thanks “in private.”


 


1855: During his Thanksgiving Day sermon, Rabbi Morris Raphael rebuked New York’s Governor Clarke for issuing a proclamation inviting “only patriots and Christians to keep Thanksgiving.” At the same time, he commended Mayor Wood for inviting “all the people” to join in observing the holiday.


 


1855: Rabbi S.M. Isaacs delivered the sermon during Thanksgiving Day services at Shaaray Tefillah, the synagogue on Wooster Street.


1856: A pro-Zionist meeting was held in Great Britain at the Great Assembly Hall of Miles End. There was a "great rush into the building" with most seats taken quickly. The meeting was presided over by Dr. M. Gaster, Chief Rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation, and among those present were Sir Francis Montefiore.



1858: It was reported from Boston that the Jews of that city have a held a meeting to express their outrage over what has happened in Bologna. “The theft of the child is an outrage of the worst kind and shows there are men in the old Church ready to go as far as did their predecessors of the old days, when the Inquisition was a great fact, and a very disagreeable one, too.”  [This refers to the kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara which had taken place in Bologna and became known as the Mortara Affair.]



1859: Lazarus Simon, the son of English coal merchant Simon Magnus accepted a commission as a Captain in the newly formed 4th Corps of the 1st Brigade of the Kent Voluntary Artillery



1859: In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Abraham Printz and Rose Wohlgemuth Printz gave birth to Bert H. Prinz who came the United States in 1864 and opened several stores in Pennsylvania and New York before opening "Printz Company Men's Clothing and Furnishing in Youngstown, Ohio which became the headquarters of his commercial enterprises.


1860: In San Francisco, “The Episcopalians, the Roman Catholics and the Jews, all opened their churches…” for the celebration of Thanksgiving.  The Jewish Church is probably a reference to Congregation Sherith Israel and Congregation Emanu-El. Sherith Israel which was founded in 1849 had about 110 members and consecrated its first synagogue which was located on Stockton Street in September of 1852. Emanu-El which followed the Reform minchag had about 260 members and dedicated it sanctuary in 1854.


1861: In New York Leopold and Kate gave to attorney David Gerber who became a partner of Judge A.J. Dittenhoefer. 


1862: In Cincinnati, Ohio, Louis and Emma (Goodhart) Heinsheimer gave birth to Stella Heinshier.  In 1894 she married J. Walter Freiberg, a partner in Frieberg and Workum, Distillers.  As Stella Heinshier Frieberg she pursued her two passions – “helping the arts flourish in her hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, and furthering the growth of Reform Judaism—and the role of women in it—in the United States and Western Europe..” (As reported by Laura Lieber)



1862: Phoebe Yates Levy Pember wrote a letter to her sister indicating that she was “to take charge of one of the hospitals at Richmond.” In December 1862, she reported for duty at Chimborazo, a hospital for the care of Confederate soldiers in Richmond, Virginia, reputed to be the largest military hospital in the world up to that time. Pember oversaw nursing services in one of the hospital's five divisions. In this role, she was responsible for the medical and dietary needs of over 15,000 men. Pember had grown up in a prosperous and acculturated family in Charleston, South Carolina. Along with her siblings, she was strongly identified with the Confederate cause and received the invitation to serve as matron of Chimborazo Hospital from the wife of the Confederate secretary of war. In A Southern Woman's Story: Life in Confederate Richmond, published in 1879, Pember described daily life at Chimborazo, detailing the poor state of the Confederate medical facilities. Despite resistance to her authority, Pember's spirit and determination overcame many obstacles. At the end of the war in April 1865, Mrs. Pember stayed at her post so that her patients might be cared for during the transition from Confederate to federal control. (As reported by the Jewish Women’s Archives)


1867: Future Medal of Honor winner George Geiger “reenlisted with Troop M, of the 7th U.S. Cavalry, November 29, 1867 in St. Louis, Missouri.”


1872: George Gieger completed his enlistment and was discharged at Unionville, SC


1869(25th of Kislev, 5630): First Day of Chanukah; for the first time Jews celebrate the Festival of Lights under President Grant, who received a majority of the Jewish vote.


1870: It was reported today that Governor Hoffman will deliver an opening address at the upcoming Hebrew Fair designed to raise funds for Mount Sinai Hospital and Hebrew Orphan Asylum


1870: In New York, Henry Hissig, a German-born Hebrew went on trial for violating New York’s new seduction law.  He is accused of having seduced his cousin, Ida Schwab.


1873: Major Alfred Mordecai, Jr. begins serving as a member of the New Cavalry Outfit Board.


1873: It was reported today that members of Adas Jeshrun and Anshi Chesed, two Jewish Temples in Manhattan, have been meeting to discuss the possibility of consolidation. Anshi Chesed has over 100 members while Adas Jeshrun has approximately 300 members. Some of the sticking points revolve around finances with Anshi Chesed being in $110,000 in debt from the construction of a new sanctuary. The other points of contention revolve around ritual. Adas Jeshrun is not in favor of many of the reforms adopted by other Temples.  Prayer is in Hebrew and heads are covered during services.  Anshi Chesed favors reform.  Services are held in German and there is a movement to begin using English.  And heads are uncovered during services.


1874: “Influences of Judaism on Early Christianity” published today shows that acknowledging the Jewish origins of Christianity becomes a negative in the conflict between Protestants and Catholics.  “There is no question that the earliest Christian Church was a Hebrew Church. There is also no question that it was an offshoot from this Hebrew Church which planted itself with exceptional vigor at Rome; and that hence Roman Christianity from that time to this, has been strongly tinctured with Jewish elements, has blazed with Jewish intolerance, delighted in Jewish gorgeousness, and fallen a victim to Jewish realism; while Pauline or Augustinian or Protestant idealism has struggled manfully…to overcome the deep weight of these lower ingredients…and to assert for intelligence and freedom their true place in the Church.”


1874: The New York Times defended itself charges leveled in the Jewish Messengerthat the paper’s use of the term “Jew” was one of derision or insult.  The Times contended that it was merely using it as an identification of national origin or ancestry in the same way that that it uses the term to American or Englishman.  The Times identifies lawbreakers as Jewish and does not do so with Christian lawbreakers, because absent the statement of distinction, it is assumed the criminal is a Christian.


1877: Birthdate of Ira Solomon Wile, the native of Rochester, NY who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1902 and “practiced as a pediatrician at Mt. Sinai Hospital” in New York City.


1878: It was reported today that government of Romania has continued to fail to honor its pledges concerning the treatment of Jews given to the Great Powers when they met in Berlin. “Unless the some of the treat power can be induced” to take direct action “It is likely that the Romanian Jews will be no better off in the immediate future they have been in the past.


1879(14th of Kislev, 5640): Mr. S.L. Lewis passed away today in the Sandwich Islands. (This may be the first reported death of a Jew in what is now Hawaii).


1880: It was reported today that “a petition has been presented to Prince Bismarck to restrict the civil rights of the Jews and repeal the absolute equality enjoyed by them with German.” The petition sent to the Chancellor is filled with complaints that Jews “are rapidly getting rich as merchants, landed proprietors and capitalists” and that if left unchecked within a generation Jews “will be lording it over the Teutons” i.e. the true Germans. 


1881: It was reported today that I. Albert Engelhart is the President of the newly incorporated Hebrew Society for the Improvement of the Sanitary Condition of the Poor.  Uriah Hermann and Alfred Steckler are the vice presidents of the society which is dedicated to improving the living conditions of the immigrant and poor in New York.  Among other things, the society will work for the construction of “good tenements” that will be healthful home and to “prevent the adulteration” of their food.


1883: Miss Lillie Bernheimer treated 170 children attending the Industrial School of the United Hebrew Charities to turkey dinner in honor of Thanksgiving.


1884: In Cleveland, OH, newspaperman Maurice Weidenthal, the Bohemian born son “of Emanuel and Julie Weidenthal” and his wife Lida Weidenthal gave birth to Edward Weidenthal


1884(11thof Kislev, 5645): Fifty-seven year old, Levi Goldenberg  A native of Frankfort, he came to the Baltimore, MD in 1845 before eventually moving to New York where he became a leading lace merchant, as one of the principles of Goldenberg Brothers &Co.  Goldenberg was a noted philanthropist and was a founding member of Temple Beth-El


1885: It was reported today that there has been a clash between a band of Austrian Gypsies and a Jes living in village in Bessarabia.


1885: A review of The Religion of Philosophy or The Unification of Knowledgeby Raymond S Perrin published today points out that the “Hebrew Religion has a chapter to itself.”


1886: It was reported today that there are approximately 6,300,000 Jews in the world today, two and a half million of whom live in the European part of the Russian Empire.  There are 63,000 Jews living in France while there are 562,000 Jews living in France.  Ironically, 39,000 of them live in Alsac-Lorraine which means the German victory in the Franco-Prussian War reduced France’s Jewish population by about one third.


1887: It was reported today the Reverend E. D. Simons of Bloomfield, NJ, will present a paper entitled “Why the Jews Crucified Christ” next week.


1887: A national meeting of Reform Rabbis came to a close in New York City today. 


1887: Seventy-eight year old Dr. Samuel Adler, Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Emanu-El “gave a dissertation on the benedictions with which ritual is interspersed “tracing them back “Ezra and the return from the Babylonian Capitivty.”


1888(25thof Kislev, 5649): For Jews a double header – first day of Chanukah and Thanksgiving


1888: At Temple Beth-El in New York, Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler will deliver a sermon entitled “What does America owe to the Jews and what the Jew to America at today’s Thanksgiving Services


1888: It was reported today that the late Mrs. Jette Lissauer named the Home for Aged and Infirmed Hebrews and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum as two of her beneficiaries in her will provided that the patients and students say Kaddish on her Yahrzeit. 


1888: It was reported today that Yetta Reiner, an 18 year old Jewish girl who arrived in the United States two weeks ago was last seen on November 26 talking to a man on the corner of Hester and Norfolk Streets who promised to find her a job.


1888: It was reported today from Vienna, that “Baron Hirsch has made a donation of $5,000,000 for schools for Jews in Galicia and Bukovina.”


1889: It was reported today that one of “little girls” under the care of the United Hebrew Charities read a poem to Samuel D. Levy yesterday “congratulating him on having his birthday on Thanksgiving Day, so that he could celebrate with Turkey.”


1889: It was reported today that the new synagogue being built on 67thStreet between Lexington and Third avenue “will be known as the Ephraim Memorial in honor of the late Ephraim Weil,” whose sons have contributed heavily to the building fund.  In Hebrew, the congregation is called Zichron Ephraim.(The congregation lives on today as Park East Synagogue. The orthodox congregation is led by Rabbi Bernard Drachman.


1889: It was reported that the 600 children at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum “ate about six hundred pounds of turkey at their Thanksgiving dinner” and consumed “enough cake and ice cream and candy to freight a ship. (The reference to Turkey and ice cream makes wonder about the Kashrut at this esteemed institution supported by such Jewish luminaries as Jesse Seligman and Oscar Straus)


1892: In France, during the investigation of the scandal surrounding the failed attempt to build the Panama Canal the Chamber of Deputies heard testimony that Charles de Lesseps had said that among those whom he paid to influence the price of his company’s stock were the Jews who “offered to assist when new issues were announced” because they were “able to praise or decry according to the sums received.”  ( Frenchmen were always willing to blame Jews every time one of their financial bubbles burst and the public’s view of Jews as conniving manipulators was instrumental in creating the environment that gave birth to the Dreyfus affair).


1893: Plans were published today for the upcoming Thanksgiving Dinner sponsored by the United Hebrew Charities Society.


1894(1st of Kislev, 5655): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1894: Thanksgiving


1894: “Three hundred and fifty little girls and boys pupils of the Industrial School of the United Hebrew Charities were entertained today at a Thanksgiving dinner at the schoolhouse on 85 St. Mark’s Place


1894: “To Humanity,” the new Hamilton place wing of the Montefiore Home was dedicated today in New York.  The Montefiore Home had been dedicated ten years earlier as part of the Centennial Celebration honoring Sir Moses Montefiore. Among the speakers were Jacob Schiff and Charles S. Fairchild who noted “how appropriate it was to have the celebration on Thanksgiving Day.”


1895: According to evidence presented today at the Harlem Court, Solomon Riens a resident of the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews right to vote was challenged by Eugene Frayer because the institution received tax money which meant he was a public charge and this not eligible to vote. The unanswered question is why the other 12 residents of the Home were allowed to vote without any challenge.


1895: Twenty-seven year old Daniel Ryan and 36 year old Daniel Healy were charged with “Jew baiting” in Essex Market Court after the police observed them striking at every Jew they passed on East Broadway.


1895: It was reported today that attendance of the Girl’s Industrial School of the United Hebrew Charities averages 250 students a day.


1896(24thof Kislev, 5657): Kindle the first Chanukah Candle


1896: Several trustees of the Baron de Hirsch Fund visited the agricultural colony established by the fund at Woodbine, NJ for Jewish immigrants from Russia.


1896: The Jewish settlers at Woodbine, NJ dedicated their new house of worship this evening.


1896: James Loeb will deliver a lecture at the Hebrew Institute on “Civic Life in Greece.”


1896: The funeral for former State Senator Joseph C. Wolff will take this place this morning at Temple Ahawath Chesed at Lexington and 55th.


1897: Birthdate of Alfred K. Stern, the Fargo, ND, native who marred Martha Dodd Stern, the daughter of William E. Dodd FDR’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany. She became a foe of the Nazis and fascism and he joined her in her efforts which led to them being named as suspected spies for the Soviet Union.


1897: Herzl outlines his ideas for the "Jewish Colonial Bank" in a letter to Max Nordau.


1897: Birthdate of Troy, NY native Joseph Harris, who attended Rensselaer Polytechnic


1897: “Jews In United States” published today included information in the recently issued sixth publication of the American Jewish Historical Society that featured an article by Philadelphian David Sulzberger entitled “Growth of the of the Jewish Population in the United States.”


1898: The outbreak of measles among the children of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum which began on November 5 “has been checked” according to Superintendent Baar.


1898: Birthdate of C.S. Lewis



1898: Birthdate of Kovno native Louis Eliot Baker, the Massachusetts attorney who was active in the YMHA and B’nai B’rith


1898: Birthdate of Morris Dicker who would be buried in the Agudas Achim Cemetery in Iowa City.


1900: Birthdate of Evansville, IN, native and newspaperman Arthur T. Weil and holder of Bachelor’s in Journalism from University Missouri who wrote “Exploding the Myth of a Jewish Hierarchy which was published in the American Hebrew and Jewish Tribune which published in May of 1934.


1902: In St. Louis, Morris and Eva Ostrich Bearman gave birth to their youngest son Leo Berman, the Vanderbilt trained attorney who practiced in Memphis where he was a pillar of the Jewish community.




1902:  Birthdate of Italian painter and novelist Carlo Levi.


1905(1st of Kislev, 5666): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1905: On its editorial page, the New York Times published “the letter by a worthy Christian with a heart and soul full of sympathy” for the “poor suffering Jews of Russia” signed simply “W.H.S.”


1905: Jacob H. Schiff, the Treasurer of “the National Relief Committee which is collecting funds for the sufferers from Russian massacres” received a letter from Baron Horace Gunzberg which provided “the first word” of how the funds will be distributed once they get to Russia which he said will go to the Jews and those who have suffering by helping to protect the Jews.


1905: The Koinigsberf Hartugnsche Zeitung,  a German newspaper that is “usually reliable” printed “dispatch from Minsk” today  saying that a planned massacre of the Jews had been “averted through negotiations between the Jews and the priest who leads the anti-Semitic element” but that in reality, “the massacre has merely been postponed until next week.”


1905: Today, in Paris, “prices on the Bourse were feeble at the opening, but strengthened on a report that the Russian laws aimed against the Jews had been abrogated.”


1905: It was reported today that so far $920,000 has been collected by the National Committee for the Relief of the Sufferers from the Russian Massacres including $545 from Congregation Beth-El in Alexandria, VA, $114 from Temple Emanu-El in Vancouver, British Columbia and $43 from the “Jewish Community of Enid, Oklahoma.”


1905: “Russian Poles and Jews” who are seeking employment in Canada and “who were captured by the Japanese arrived” in Victoria, British Columbia aboard “the steam Iyo Maru” today.


1905: It was reported today that in Russia “all train service has been stopped so there is no means for the Jews to escape the slaughter” but “when the trains are running again the Jews will emigrate by the thousands and come to America.”


1905: It was reported today that four thousand Jews gathered at a mass meeting in Berlin where “strong resolutions were adopted” protesting against the violence in Russia.


1905: It was reported today that a committee consisting of Isidor Straus, Marcus M. Marks, Edward Lauterbach, Arthur K. Kuhn, Abraham Erlanger, Albert Stiglitz and Gustav Lindenthal will make an appeal to the public for additional funds on behalf of the Educational Alliance which is facing an “increased demand” for its services in “Americanizing the ignorant and destitute immigrants who are coming to” the United States in ever increasing numbers because of the “persecution now going on in Russia.


1907: Birthdate of Italian-born British geneticist Guido Pontecorvo.


1908: Birthdate of Harry Wagreich, the Professor of Chemistry at CCNY and brother of Dr. Samuel Wagreich and Dr. Paul Wagreich.


1910: Birthdate of Austrian born Anglo-Jewish scholar Walter Ullman who specialized in “medieval political thought and legal theory.”


1912: In Chicago Rabbi Katkoff and Cantor Millar are scheduled to lead Friday night services at the Institute.


1912: Yiddish theatre stars Jacob P. Adler, Leon Blank and Francis Adler are scheduled to perform tonight at the Haymarket in Chicago this evening.


1914(11th of Kislev, 5675): Sixty-four year old Gittel “Catherine” Helvich Schubert, the wife of the late David Schubert with whom she had six children passed away today after which she was buried in Salem Fields Cemetery.


1914(11thof Kislev, 5675): Lewis Seasongood, the Bavarian born son of “Mendel and Hannah Suessenguth, and the husband of Emma Seasongood with whom he had two children, who “settled in Cincinnati in 1851 after which he was appointed in 1873 “by President Grant Commissioner to the Vienna Exposition and “in 1882 appointed by Governor Foster Quartermaster of the State with the rank of General” passed away today in Atlantic City.


1914: Borough President Marcus M. Marks the delegates attending the sixth annual convention of the Federation of Jewish Farmers of America which is meeting in the Education Alliance building “that they ought to avail themselves of the free markets” thereby helping to reduce the cost of living among Jews living on the Lower East Side.


1914: A committee of 100 formed at a meeting of the Educational Meeting is scheduled to meet Solomon Rabinowitz who uses the pen name Sholom Aleichem when he arrives in New York today aboard the Frederik VIII from Copenhagen where he has staying “since his escape from Berlin.”


1914: The Day published an editorial entitled “Russian Promises and Polish Pogroms” by Herman Bernstein.


1914: It was reported today that “in Janow and Krasmk the Jews were accused of setting mines to destroy Russian soldiers” which was the justification for destroying the two towns and hanging Jews including children from telephone poles.


1914: “Poles Killing Jews” published today provides a summary of the attack first published in The Day “by George Brandes, the Danish critic on the anti-Jewish agitation in Poland.


1914: It was reported today that a brief will be presented to the Supreme Court that will include a challenge to the conviction of Leo Frank by on a suggestion “by Mr. Justice Homes that there was a denial of due process of law through the presence of hostile mob.”


1915: Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson, the commander of the Zion Mule Corps fell ill and had to be evacuated to Alexandria and thence to London “leaving Joseph Trumpeldor in command.”  (Jewish Virtual Library)


1915(22ndof Tevet, 5676): Meyer London a native of Wolkovishk, Russia who came to the United States 47 years where he became so successful at baking “unleavened bread” that he was known as the Matzah King passed away today at this home on East Broadway.


1915: Mrs. Etta Fine the “President of the association of 1,200 mother who support and manage” the Jewish Day Nursery facilities which serve “fatherless children” was quoted today as saying that “it will take $25,000 to run the branches on Henry Street and East 107th Street.”


1916: Fifteen hundred of the six thousand Jews in the United States who have gone in for farming sent delegates” today “to the opening session of the eighth annual convention of the Federation of Jewish Farmers of America” where “they were welcomed by Louis Marshall, the President of the American Jewish Committee, eighty year old Simon Wolf of Washington, Rabbi Judah L. Magne and Cyrus Sulzberger.


1916: Jacob H. Schiff is among those who have been asked to address the “great peace meeting” scheduled to be held at P.S. 4 this evening whose supporters included Harry Schalacht of the East Side Protective Association.


1917: Former University of Michigan halfback Joseph “Joe” Magidsohn, “the first Jewish athlete to win a varsity ‘M’” who was the “first athlete known to have refused to compete on the Jewish High Holy Days” and his wife Jennie Magidsohn gave birth to their second child Dorothy Magidsohn today.


1917(14thof Kislev, 5678): Forty-one year old Dr. Sigmund Deutsch, a member of the army medical reserve corps passed away today in New York City.


1917: The Jewish National Workers Alliance of America which had been organized in 1912 held its annual conference today in Trenton, NJ.


1917: As the British continued their offensive to take Jerusalem, a combined force of the British and Australian Nos. 1 and 111 Squadrons, attacked the Tul Keram aerodrome in the morning and again in the evening “after German planes bombed the Julis aerodrome and hit No. 113 Squadron's orderly room.”


1917: Thanksgiving


1917: President Wilson received a pledge of the support of the Jews of the United States in his prosecution of the war at a Thanksgiving service of the Institutional Synagogue where “Representative Isaac Siegel…said that the pacifist views attributed to certain elements of the Jewish people did not represent the general attitude of the Jews of this country” since “there are 62,000 loyal Hebrews in the Army,” four thousand of whom “are already with General Pershing in France.”


1917: Standing on a platform at Cooper Union draped with the Stars and Stripes and the flag of Zionism Baruch Zuckerman, the General Secretary of the Peoples Relief Committee presided over a meeting tonight “of Zionist who are Socialists” and are celebrating the declaration of the British Government expressing support for “allowing the Jews to establish their national home in Palestine


1918(25thof Kislev, 5679): First Day of Chanukah and the first Chanukah celebrated after four years of World War.


1918: “Julian W. Mack, the President of the Zionist Organization of America and Louis Marshall, the President of the American Jewish Committee, issued a joint statement” today in which they said that the organizations they represent have received from authoritative and unprejudiced sources in Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London and the Hague explicit cablegrams substantiating reports of pogroms in Galicia and various parts of Poland and Rumania.


1918: It was reported today that Dr. Stephen S. Wise will serve as chairman of the delegation that the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is sending to Europe to deal with “many questions concerning” the Zionist movement that have arisen in Europe.  The delegation includes Mrs. Joseph Fels, Louis Robinson, Dr. Shmarya Levin and the Chicago attorney Bernard Flexner. (This delegation was being sent as the world prepared for the Peace Conference at Versailles which was intended to formally end the World War and lay the groundwork for a new world order based on Wilson’s 14 Points. Among other things, the Jews wanted to make sure that the victors honored the promises of the Balfour Declaration and took measures to protect the Jews living in the former Austrian, German and Russian empires.


1919: In Montreal, Louis and Anna Weider gave birth to Josef Weider who gained fame as bodybuilder Joe Weider the creator of “an empire of muscle magazines, fitness equipment, doubtful dietary supplements and Olympic-style contests featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger.” (As reported by Robert D. McFadden)


1920: In New York City Richard Wolff, “a mechanical engineer” and the former Estelle Cohn gave birth to Robert Alfred Wolff, the sportscaster whom I first heard as the voice of one of the worst teams in baseball – the Washington Senators – and whom none of my friends at the time knew was Jewish.



1921: “In the town of Soroke in Bessarabian Romania,”Rokhl and Elkhonen Gendler gave birth Arkady Gendler who became the “icon and paragon of the Yiddish Revival Movement.:




 1921: Twenty-six year old Thea (Almerigotti) La Guardia, the first wife of  future Mayor Fiorello La Guardia whose father was a Catholic from Italy and whose mother was Jew from Trieste and who chose to follow in the faith of his father but dazzled New Yorkers with his ability to speak Yiddish on the campaign trail


1921: Eighty-five year old Augustus Hopkins Strong the author of Systematic Theology: The Doctrine of of God which “which presented an alternative explanation of all the alleged inaccuracies reflected in the Hebrew Bible” passed away today.


1923: Charlie Phil Rosenberg, a product of the Jewish Lower East Side in New York, met future Bantamweight World Champion Eddie Martin for the first of their three bouts today.


1924: Birthdate of Jane Niederhoffer the Flatbush native who gained fame as landscape artist Jane Freilicher.



1925: In Washington, DC, the Hebrew Home for the Aged dedicated a new 35 bed facility.


1925: Two days after he had passed way, funeral service were held for 43 year old Horace Andrew Saks, co-founder of Saks Fifth Avenue followed by burial in Brooklyn at Salem Fields.



1926: In responding to publication of the report of Dr. Henry S. Pritchett of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who asserted that the movement to colonize Palestine with Jews is ""unfortunate and visionary," Congressman Emanuel Celler maintained that Dr. Pritchett went to Palestine to find a flare and was surprised to find success.  He said that disparage Palestine now was ‘childish,’ that it has been sanctioned and encouraged by the League of Nations. ‘To call the Jews an egotistical nation without capacity of cooperation, with the rest of the world, is akin to insult and belies the history and tradition of the Jews.’ [Editor’s Note:  An early version of anti-Zionism meets anti-Semitism.


1926: At tonight’s meeting of the Jewish National Fund at Cooper Union, Bernard A. Rosenblatt responded to “the adverse report of Dr. Henry S. Pritchett on Zionism in Palestine…declared that the fundamentals of economic prosperity exited in Palestine and they would be fully developed.”


1928: Thanksgiving


1928: “In a Thanksgiving address at Temple Ansche Chesed,” Senator Royal S. Copeland “traced the origins of Thanksgiving Day to the Jews of Biblical times saying: ‘I have no doubt that Elder Brewster and the Pilgrim Fathers consulted the Book of Books in preparing for the first Thanksgiving Day.’”


1928: In Manhattan, Irving Kaufman, a CPA and the former Sophie Smith gave birth to Charles Kaufman, the holder of a doctoral degree in musicology who “saved” the Mannes College of Music. (As reported by Sam Roberts)



1928: Birthdate of Shulamit Aloni an Israeli politician and left-wing activist. She is a prominent member of the Israeli peace camp, founded the Ratz party and was leader of the Meretz party and served as Minister of Education from 1992 to 1993.




1929: ‘The Love Parade,” a musical comedy directed and produced by Ernst Lubitsch and co-starring Lillian Roth was released today in the United States.


1930: In Randfontein, South Africa, Eli and Olga Goldblatt whose parents had fled European persecution gave birth to photographer David Goldblatt.




1930: This evening “a prominent member of the Revisionists’ Central Committee…said that Jabotinsky’s party would not agree to negotiate with the British Government on the basis of the present white paper. The Revisionists also will not negotiate with the Arabs as long as they continue to demand the abolition of the Balfour Declaration, revocation of the Palestine mandate and the denial of right Jews to repopulate Palestine as a national homeland.


1930: In Upper Clapton, London Jacob Edward "Jack" Cohen, the founder and owner of Tesco, and Sarah "Cissie" (née Fox), the daughter of a master tailor gave birth to Shirley Cohen who gained fame as Dame Shirley Porter, a leader of the Conservative Party in the UK and who “helped established the Porter Centre for Environmental Studies at Tel Aviv University, which opened its iconic LEED Platinum-graded building in 2014.”


1931: In Philadelphia, PA the former Rose Schwartz and Harry Rosenberg gave birth to Allen Perry Rosenberg the Olympic rowing coach. (As reported by Bruce Weber)


1933: Birthdate of Dr. David Reuben author of Everything You Wanted to Know about Sex


1934: “While the rest of the team was playing in Omiya, Moe Berg “the intellectual baseball player turned spy’ went to Saint Luke's Hospital in Tsukiji, ostensibly to visit the daughter of American ambassador Joseph Grew but instead sneaked onto the roof of the hospital, one of the tallest buildings in Tokyo, and filmed the city and harbor with his movie camera. (These pictures would later be used by the Doolittle Raiders when they attacked Tokyo in 1942.)


1936: Germany's Minister of Agriculture, Walther Darré, declared that democracy and liberalism were invented by the Jews and that “communism would not fail because of its theories but solely because it was Jewish.”


1936: It was announced today that “Governor Herbert H. Lehman and leading educators from parts of the country will participate in a series of meetings designed to ‘honor and evaluation scholarship in the fields of religion and Hebraic learning’ under the auspices of the Semi-Centennial Committee of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.”


1936: “The British Royal Commission now in Jerusalem inquiring into the administration of the Palestine mandate was asked today” through a “resolution adopted by the National Council for Palestine” which is composed of Jewish” leaders in the United States, “to embody in its findings the policies of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 which pledged Great Britain to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine.”


1936: Tonight in Moscow at the All-Union Congress of Soviets Premier Molotoff attacked fascism, declared Soviet democracy was superior to bourgeois democracy” and emphasized that equality of races was guaranteed in the Soviet Union” where “active anti-Semitism was punished by death” while “Chancellor Adolf Hitler used Jews as scapegoats for everything that went wrong in Germany.”


1936: “Air Minister Herman Goering…declared that Germany was now a stronger power than she was in 1914.” (See the above and the outlines of WW II become obvious as to why there were Jews who supported the Soviet Union and the Communist Party.)


1936: The National Council for Palestine adopted a resolution which was sent today to the British Royal Commission now meeting in Jerusalem ask that it “it embody in its findings the policies of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 which pledged Great Britain to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine.”


1937(25th of Kislev, 5698): First day of Chanukah; in the evening kindle the second light.


1937: Birthdate of Zuzana Goldmannová who in 1942 was deported from Prague to Ujazdow where she was murdered by the Nazis.


1937: Today’s edition of Time magazine describes the fate of Arnold Bernstein at the hands of his Nazi jailers.


Greying Arnold Bernstein, 47, son of an old-time Saxon shipper, served with distinction as a German artillery officer during the War, was decorated with the Iron Cross, First Class. Back in Germany after the War he evolved the scheme of fitting modern freighters with automobile elevators so that U. S. cars could be exported to Europe uncrated and unscratched. So successful was this that Bernstein "floating garages'' have long carried over 60% of all U. S. automobile exports, made enough money for sole Owner Arnold Bernstein to allow him to buy out the American-Belgian-British Red Star Line and incidentally bring into Nazi Germany thousands of dollars yearly in much needed foreign exchange. Bernstein passenger agents find their boats are "very popular with intellectuals who object to the snobbishness of Cabin Class." Partly because of his personal popularity and War record, Shipper Arnold Bernstein was left in control of his business much longer than most Jewish tycoons. Finally last January, Nazi extremists forced the Government's hand. Arnold Bernstein and four of his managers (three Jewish), were clapped into jail, charged with "economic sabotage" through infringing German foreign exchange regulations. While he sat in jail Bernstein's 21-month-old Palestine Shipping Co. went into receivership "because the Jews deserted me," says Prisoner Bernstein, and Japanese bought for $150,000 its auctioned steamer Tel Aviv. Last week in Hamburg the trial of Arnold Bernstein began. Of all the eight charges in a 88-page indictment against Shipper Bernstein the gravest was that several years ago he set aside in Manhattan banks a fund from the Arnold Bernstein & Red Star Lines' profits to be held for a rainy day of the two lines (whose two chief creditors are the Erie R. R. and Chemical Bank & Trust Co.). This entire sum was returned to Germany some months ago. Hamburg lawyers scoffed at news stories that Bernstein "faces death," expected him to get anything from a five-year jail sentence to pardon. Since the arrest of Arnold Bernstein, Herman Kollmar, the director of his Red Star Line and his executor, has been in amicable contact with Minister President & Economic Director Hermann Goring, seeking a pardon, showing Ford and Studebaker company letters urging clemency. Mr. Kollmar denied rumors that the German Government has taken or plans to take over the Bernstein Line, admitted these rumors have caused many cancellations.


1937: The Habima Hebrew Players open their third week of their season at London’s Savoy Theatre with a performance of “The Wandering Jews.


1937: The Palestine Post reported that a police tender was ambushed and a British constable was killed near Nazareth. A Jewish worker was wounded when a bus was shot at near Nahalal, at the same spot where two Jewish shepherds were murdered and their flocks stolen a year earlier.


1937: The Palestine Post reported that there were very favorable, frequently enthusiastic reports on the series of performances given by the Habimah theater troupe on its visit to London. In the midst of Arab terrorism the Jewish community to develop its artistic, social and political institutions.


1938: Establishment of the 29th“tower and stockade” kibbutz, Mishmar Zevulun which would be moved to a new site in 1940 and renamed Kfar Masaryk in honor of the first President of Czechoslovakia.


1939: “Mrs. Roosevelt Charges Intolerance Drive Against Refugees and Seeks Fund Sources” published today



1939: “American numismatist,” Eric Pfeiffer Newman, the son of Samuel Elijah Newman and Rose Pfeiffer Newman married Evelyn Edison who “had two children, Linda N. Schapiro and Andrew E. Newman.”


1939: Heydrich commented on the first stages of the Final Solution declaring that "The factor determining the pace of the evacuation is the Evacuation Plan."   Nothing would slow down the ultimate march to the Death Camps.


1939: SS chief Heinrich Himmler orders the death penalty for German Jews who refuse to report for deportation.


1939: Thanks to the “intervention by the United States and British consul execution of the order by the authorities in Kaunas that Maurycy Orezch, the correspondent for the Daily Forwardreturned to the German-occupied territory of Poland has been stayed and the British consul said he was ready to grant Orzech a visa to England if Estonia, Latvia and Sweden would grant transit visas.”


1939: “Premier Wladilas Sikorski of Poland issued a statement” in Paris tonight “vigorously protesting Nazi ‘atrocities’ in the western part of Poland” which have been incorporated into the German Reich.


1940: Levie (Louis) Hillesum, the father of Esther (Etty) Hillesum was dismissed as classics teacher and deputy headmaster of the gymnasium in Deventer “by the occupation government imposed by Nazi German following the invasion of The Netherlands.”


1940: On his own initiative, Dutch Physicist Leonard Ornstein withdrew his membership in the Dutch Physical Society


1940: “The Bank Dick” a comedy featuring Shemp Howard with music by Charles Previn was released in the United States today.


1941: Fredrich Jecekeln  held a final planning session with is senior commander where he told them that “the extermination of the Jews was their patriotic duty” and that nobody would be excused from participating in the upcoming liquation of the ghetto.


1941: Karl Heise met with the Protective Police and told them of their role in tomorrows “resettlement of the Jews in the Riga Ghetto, a term they all knew meant a mass killing.


1941: The Latvian militia and police received their final instructions as to their role in the upcoming liquidation of the ghetto. (The Nazis could always count on local accomplices during the Shoah)


1941: In Riga, as of this morning “the Nazis had finished segregating the able-bodied men into the small ghetto.”


1941: In Riga, “while the columns of 1,000 were formed this morning, they were later dispersed, causing relief among the inhabitants, who believed that the entire evacuation had been cancelled


1941:“After returning from work today, Max Kaufman and his 16 year old son, did not return to the large ghetto, but were housed instead in a ruined building on Vilanu Street in the small ghetto


1941: The first transport of German Jews from Berlin arrived in Riga today.


1941: Jan Peerce (b. Yakob Perelmuth) “made his much acclaimed debut at the Met” at the same time when his brother-in-law Richard Tucker was trying to start a small business and working at Temple Adath Israel in the Bronx.


1941: Kovno Massacre of the Ghetto. Estimated 10,600 people would be killed over the next few days.


1942: The Jewish Fighting Organization of the Warsaw Ghetto assassinated the economic head of the Jewish Council who was an active German collaborator


1942: The U.S. Drum, a submarine serving in the Pacific, began its fourth war patrol with future Admiral Maurice Rindskopf serving as Torpedo and Gunnery Officer.


1942: Dr. Erich Blumenthal, a resident of Berlin who was born in 1883 was deported today and finally murdered in Auschwitz. (As reported by YNet)


1942: Helen Blumenthal, a resident of Berlin who was born in 1888 was deported today and finally murdered in Auschwitz. (As reported by YNet)


1942: Friedrich Rehmer, a member of the Red Orchestra, who was in the Brietz military hospital recovering from a severe war wound sustained on the Eastern Front was arrested today and taken from the hospital. Eventually, he would be killed for his role in the resistance.


1943: “50,000 Kiev Jews Reported Killed” published today provides a firsthand account of the slaughter at Babi Yar and the attempts to cover it up by the Nazis.  It is worth reading in its entirety because it puts the lie to the notion that people did not know about the slaughter of the Jews until after the war was over.


1944: Today, “four days after advancing into Holland,” Major Ronald Edmond Balfour, the lecturer at King’s College, Cambridge who had been serving with the British Army since 1940 and had joined the Monuments Men in 1944” “fractured his ankle in a traffic accident” after which he “outmaneuvered the medical staff at a hospital in Eindhoven” and thus avoided being ship back to the UK.


1946: British Court in Palestine rejects a petition to prevent deportation of Jews to Cyprus


1946: Today, Rabbi Ferdinand Isserman delivered a tribute in memory of Dr. Solly Baron, the rabbi who had fled Nazi Germany and who passed at the age of 72 two days earlier in St. Louis.


1946: Szapsel (Shabtai) Rotholc, the Polish-Jewish boxer, “was expelled from the Jewish community for a period of two years; his civil rights in the community were rescinded for a further three years.” (As reported by Uri Talshir)


1947: In one of the most historic moments in Jewish history, the General Assembly of the United Nations voted to accept the recommendation of the United Nations Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP).  UNSCOP recommended the partition of Palestine into two states – one Jewish and one Arab with Jerusalem to governed by an international authority.  The vote was thirty-three in favor, thirteen against and ten abstentions.  In a rare moment of Cold War solidarity, both the United States and the Soviet Union supported the UNSCOP plan which guaranteed the creation of the state of Israel in May of 1948.  One other recommendation of the UNSCOP plan was the opening of a port on February 1, 1948 to Jewish immigrants.  Almost three years after the ovens of the Holocaust had cooled, boatloads of displaced persons would finally have a final destination.  When news of the partition vote reached the public, “there were celebrations in New York, in Palestine, wherever Jews lived.  Traffic stopped in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as people danced in the streets until the early hours of the morning.”  In the words of Rabbi Isaac Herzog, “After a darkness of two thousand years, the dawn of redemption has broken.”  Arabs say they are not bound by decision and charge that U.S. and Soviet Union coerced smaller countries to vote for partition.[ Starting on the next day, the Arabs responded with violence that would continue until the end of the mandate and unfortunately has continued literally to this day in the 21st century]


1947: Edis De Philippe mounted a gala performance of selections from operas, which was soon followed by a full production of Thaïs in which she performed the title role (As reported by Jewish Women’s Archives)


1947: Despite having virtually no Jewish population or tie to the Yishuv, Iceland is among nations voting for the Partition Plan creating a Jewish state.


1947: The annual convention of Junior Hadassah, the young women's Zionist organization of America, at its concluding session today, received from Dr. Chaim Weizmaiin, former president of the World Zionist Organization, a call for young men and women, "who are nurtured in western methods and standards" to "further the building of the (Jewish) state."


1948: Israel applied for admission to the United Nations.


1948: Stanton Griffis was appointed Director of the UNRPR.


1949: In Chicago, Illinois, print shop owner Irving Shandling and his wife pet store proprietor Muriel Estelle (née Singer) Shandling gave birth to Garry Emmanuel Shandling who was raised in Arizona and gained game as comedian Gary Shandling.



1949(8thof Kislev, 5710): Forty-seven year old Dallas native and Goucher College graduate Reba Wadel, “a former chairman of the National Women’s Division of the UJA” and the husband of Ernest G. Wadel was among the 28 people who were killed in plane crash at the edge of Love Field in Dallas, TX.




1949: Israelis pause to celebrate anniversary of the United Nations partition resolution.  Zipporah Porath, a nurse working in Haifa, wrote to her parents living in the United States describing the proud parade of Israel’s newly minted soldiers.


1950: Birthdate of Hideo Levy, the son of a Polish-American mother and a Jewish father who “was honored with a Japan Foundation Special Prize in 2007 “for his contributions to the introduction of Japanese literature to foreign readers.”


1950(20th of Kislev, 5711): Sixty-five year old Czernowitz native Frederick Zelnik the prominent producer and director of silent movies in Germany who took refuge in the United States with the rise of Hitler passed away today in London.



1953(22ndof Kislev, 5714): Fifty-three year old, Joseph Burstyn, a Polish born Jew who came to the United States in 1921 where he gained fame as “the importer and distributor of foreign films” passed away today while flying over the Atlantic in a TWA aircraft.



1953: As the holiday season begins, which in America means a meshing of Christmas and Chanukah, International Records has released “Holiday Time,” a record combining music from both holidays. The record is designed “to promote better human relations through an understanding of the general cultural significance of Christmas and Chanukah” while avoiding mentioning the theological differences between the two holidays.


1953: Birthdate of Moshe Igvy, the native of Casablanca, who has become one of Israel’s leading directors and actors.


1953: It was reported today that Kinor Records has released “Chanukah Music Box” just in time for the holiday season.  Designed as a participation record for children, it features music written and sung by Shirley R. Cohen, with narration by Eli Gamliel and musical accompaniment by Helen Schraeter.


1954:Birthdate of Joel Coen. Joel and Ethan Coen, commonly called The Coen Brothers, are Jewish-American film director best known for their quirky comedies such as Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski, as well as for darker film noir dramas such as Fargo and Blood Simple. The brothers write, direct and produce their films jointly, alternating top billing for the screenplay. Until recently, Joel received sole credit for directing the films, and Ethan for producing, but the two brothers work so closely together and share such a strong vision of what their films are to be that actors report that they can approach either brother with a question and get the same answer. The brothers are known in the film business as "the two-headed director."


1954: On this cold and rainy night Esther Borenstein was on duty when a "mosquito" plane was hit by lightning and crashed while landing. Esther ran towards the burning plane, rescuing the badly injured navigator. Although ammunition on the plane began to explode, Esther did not hesitate and ran in again to rescue the pilot, Ya'akov Shalmon. When they reached a hiding spot, the entire plane blew up. Esther was awarded a Badge of Courage for this operation by Moshe Dayan, then Highest in Command of the IDF. Esther was born in Bulgaria, and during the Second World War, her family was ousted to Italy. As early as her childhood, Esther always loved the Land of Israel, and at age 11, left her home in an attempt to come to Israel. At 16, she indeed arrived, with her brother, and shortly afterwards, in spite of her early age, joined the Israel Defense Forces.  She joined the Air Force, completed a medic's course, and viewed army service as an honor and not a duty. After completing her army service, Esther continued to work as a nurse with the Israeli Red Cross, and was the first female ambulance driver in the country. Later, she looked for a job that would express her love for the country and chose to be a tour guide. At that same time, the 6-Day War broke out, and Esther joined the paratroopers, where under constant fire and shelling, she tended to injured soldiers, receiving the nickname "Angel of the Paratroopers". She volunteered during the Yom Kippur war as well, and in 1973, she received the Medal of Honor for saving the pilot. In February 2003, she passed away during a trip to Italy, and was buried there at her family's request. In February 2005, Bridges of Viewpoint was built in memory of Esther Borenstein on a quiet corner on the banks of the Jordan River, opposite the basalt arches of the 2,000 year old Roman-era bridge.



1956(25th of Kislev, 5717): Chanukah



1956: The original Broadway production “Bells Are Ringing” with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, produced by Jerome Robbins and starring Jerome Robbins opened at the Shubert Theatre.



1956:  Birthdate of actor and comedian Howie Mandel



1957(6th of Kislev, 5718): ComposerErich Wolfgang Korngold passed away.Korngold was born in an assimilated Jewish home in Brno, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic), the son of the music critic Julius Korngold, and studied music under Alexander von Zemlinsky and Robert Fuchs. Gustav Mahler, upon meeting the young Erich, called him a "musical genius." He had success in Europe with his opera Die tote Stadt (1920) among other pieces before moving to the United States in 1934, where he wrote a number of highly regarded film scores. He continued to write concert music in a rich, Romantic style, with a violin concerto among his notable later works. In 1943, Korngold became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He died in Hollywood, California.


1957(6th of Kislev, 5718): Fifty-four year old Chaim Michael Dov Weissmandl “a rabbi and shtadlan” who worked “to save the Jews of Slovakia” from extermination during the Shoah passed away at Mt. Kisco, NY.




1957:  The three-day dedication program of the nation's largest Orthodox Jewish synagogue, the Baron Hirsch Synagogue of Memphis, starts today.


1959: Birthdate of Rahm Emanuel the son of a former member of the Irgun and civil rights activist who went on to represent  the Fifth District of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives  and serve as White House Chief of Staff under  President Barak Obama before being elected Mayor of Chicago.



1959: “Fiorello!” a Pulitzer Prize winning musical about the Yiddish speaking New York Mayor with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, a book by Jerome Weidman and co-starring Tom Bosley and Howard Da Silva opened on Broadway today at the Broadhurst Theatre.



1960: Birthdate of Jaqueline Laura Hoffman, the native of Queens, NY who gained fame as multi-talented comedian and actress Jackie Hoffman.



1962: Larry Blyden served as the director of “Harold” when it began its Broadway run today.



1962: Forty three year old Lwow native Perec “Peter” Rachman who escaped from the Nazis and the Soviets to serve with 2nd Polish Corps during WW II and then became an “infamous” landlord whose last name gave rise to the word “Rachmanism” which the Oxford English Dictionary describes “as a synonym for the exploitation and intimidation of tenants” passed away today after which he was “buried in the Jewish cemetery at Bushey, Hertfordshire.”



https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/vmpeople/infamous/peterrachman.asp



https://julesbirch.com/2012/10/24/revealing-the-real-rachman/



1962(2nd of Kislev, 5723):  Rav Aaron Kotler famed Orthodox Talmudic scholar passed away.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aharon_Kotler



1963: Today’s issue of Lifemagazine “published about thirty frames of” Abraham Zapruder’s film of the Kennedy Assassination “in black and white.”



1963(13th of Kislev, 5724: Fifty-seven year Brest-Litvosk native and NYU graduate Frank Leff, the “director of special projects for the American Jewish Committee” and the husband of Johanna Leff with whom he had two children – Bernard and Naomi – passed away today “while on his way to work.”



https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1963/11/30/89979923.pdf



1963: Today’s “episode of Miss Peach” a comic strip created by Mell Lazarus which had been prepared weeks ago “was pulled from syndication because one of the characters fantasized about saving the President of the United States' life—one week after John F. Kennedy was assassinated.”



1963: “Rabbi Silver Dies; A Leading Zionist” published today provides a summary of the life Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, of blessed memory.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9E02EEDB103AE637A2575AC2A9679D946291D6CF



1969(19th of Kislev, 5730): Yakov Grigorevich Kreizer, a general in the Soviet Army passed away today at the age of 64.  His promotion to the rank of general “apparently made him the highest ranking Jewish military figure in the Soviet Union since Leon Trotsky organized the Red Army after the Bolshevik Revolution.”  Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Kreizer took command of the 1st Moscow Motorized Infantry and fought forces under Heinz Guderian to a virtual stand-still giving other Soviet forces a chance to regroup. He was designated a Hero of the Soviet Union for his efforts.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F3081FFC345F127A93C1A91789D95F4D8685F9



1969: In Massachusetts, the Marblehead School Department has banned all religious reference to Christmas and Hanukah in the town’s public school. The decision prohibits the exchange of gifts and any decorations in connection with either holiday.  The policy comes in response to complaints by the American Civil Liberties Union about the religious aspects of the Christmas activity and numerous complaints from Jewish parents protesting their children’s involvement in school holiday activities.



1972: A Hallmark Hall of Fame production of “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” the creation of Geroge S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, was broadcast by NBC today.



1973(4th of Kislev, 5734): Eighty-nine year old Hungarian producer Josef Somlo who escaped to Great Britain when the Nazis came to power passed away today in Switzerland.



1974: “Ben-Gurion House,”  “an historic house museum in Tel Aviv which served as one of the residences of David Ben-Gurion between 1931 and 1968 was opened to the public today where visitors can take guide tours and participate in symposiums about the early days of Zionism.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben-Gurion_House#/media/File:PikiWiki_Israel_4323_plate_in_bengurions_house.jpg



1975(25th of Kislev, 5736): Ze’ev Beret was killed when his F-4E Phantom II Jet spun out of control and crashed.



1975(25th of Kislev, 5736): First Day of Chanukah; light the second candle in the evening



1977:The Jerusalem Post reported that in reply to President Anwar Sadat’s appeal, Israel named Eliahu Ben-Elissar and Meir Rosenne as members of the Israeli negotiating team to the proposed Cairo Conference, which was expected to prepare ground for the reconvened Geneva Peace Conference. Israel joined the fervent Egyptian appeal to Syria, Jordan and Lebanon for their participation, but they uniformly rejected Sadat’s initiative. The US continued to study the Egyptian invitation.



1978(29th of Cheshvan, 5739): Seventy-five year old Newport News, VA, native Mark Peyser Friedlander, the son of Charles Friedlander and Blanche Peyesr passed away today after which he was buried in the Hebrew Cemetery in Washington, D.C.



1979(9th of Kislev, 5740): Zeppo Marx, one of the Marx Brothers, passed away.



1980: Twenty-five year old Simon Shnirman a refusenik from Zaporozhye, was released after completing a two and a half year prison sentence on charges of evading military conscription.



1981(3rd of Kislev, 5742): Fredric Wertham, German-born, American psychologist passed away.  During the 1950’s, in what seems like a laughable episode half a century later, many Americans became convinced that comic books were the cause of juvenile delinquency.  “This anti-comic book sentiment led in the spring of 1954 to the publication of The Seduction of the Innocent,based on Jewish psychologist Frederic Wertham's seven-year-long study of the effects of comic books on America's youth. Dr. Wertham condemned most of the genre--especially crime and horror comics--for having contributed to juvenile delinquency. As the outcry following the publication of Seduction of the Innocent grew, so did the call for government intervention. The Hearings before the Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency of the Committee on the Judiciary opened in Manhattan federal court on April 21, 1954.” (Ed. Note: I must confess that my brother and I were eager consumers of comic books during this period.)



1984: Gotthard Günther German born, American philosopher passed away.  Günther was not Jewish but he was married to the Jewish psychologist Dr. Marie Günther-Hendel.  Together they made their way out Nazi Europe before WWII and finally made their way to U.S. 



1986: In Canada, CTV network began broadcasting “Sword of Giedon” a four hour miniseries “about Mossad Agents hunting down terrorists associated with the 1972 Munich Massacre  based on the book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team by George Jonas,



1988(20th of Kislev, 5749): Seventy-eight year old Washington “hostess with mostess” Gwendolyn Cafritz, the widow of realtor and philanthropist Morris Cafritz passed away today.



https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/01/obituaries/gwendolyn-cafritz-78-washington-hostess.html



http://www.cafritzfoundation.org/about



https://www.silverspringdowntown.com/go/montgomery-college-morris-and-gwendolyn-cafritz-art-center



1989(1st of Kislev, 5750): Rosh Chodesh Kislev



1989(1st of Kislev, 5750): Robert W. Schleck, a former foreign service officer, teacher and research analyst who was second secretary at the United States Embassy in Tel Aviv during the Suez crisis in 1956 passed away today.



1993: At a press conference held today. Amos Schoken announced the closure of Hadashot, a daily newspaper that he had begun in March of 1984.



1993: A revival production of “Abe Lincoln in Illinois” which had been directed by Elmer Rice in its initial Broadway production opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre.



1993: Richard Danzig began serving as Undersecretary of the Navy.



1994: The New York Times featured a review of A Chosen Few by Mark Kurlansky.



1998: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including Isaiah Berlin: A Lifeby Michael Ignatieff, The Crisis of Global Capitalism Open Society Endangered by George Soros and Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmonyby Arnold Steinhardt



2000: At the New York Public Library,a presentation byMarion Kaplan entitled “Friendship on the Margins: Jewish Social Relations in Imperial Germany”that asks the question, “With whom did the German Jews spend their leisure time?” This lecture examines the spectrum of friendships available to Jews in Imperial Germany (1871-1918), looking at extended families, friendships among Jews, and relationships with non-Jews. Those friendships could be intense or distant, intimate, or burdened by social and political anti-Semitism. Marion Kaplan is a social and cultural historian, with an emphasis on women’s history. Dr. Kaplan’s writings include Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany, which won the National Jewish Book Award for 1998.



2001(14th of Kislev, 5762): Samuel Miloshevsky, 45, of Herzliya, Yehiav Elshad, 28, of Tel Aviv and Yehiav Elshad, 28, of Tel Aviv were murdered today and nine more people were injured this evening when a terrorist from either Fatah or Islamic Jihand (they both claimed credit) set off a bomb aboard an Egged bus traveling between Nazareth and Tel Aviv as it passed through the town of Pardes Hanna-Kaurkur.



2001: “In Jenin, about 3,000 Palestinians marched and celebrated the bombing an Egged bus.”



2002(24th of Kislev, 5763): In the evening, Kindle the first Chanukah light



2002: “Mary Christmas” a drama starring Tom Bosley was released in the United States today.



2003: Danny Elfman married Bridget Fonda. (He was Jewish, she was not)



2004*16th of Kislev, 5765): All-Star catcher Harry Danning, whose brother Ike played for the St. Louis Browns, passed away today in Indiana.



http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/05/sports/baseball/harry-danning-baseball-star-in-30s-dies-at-93.html



2004: Victor Brailovsky completed his term as Deputy Minister for Internal Affairs.



2004: Victor Brailovsky replaced Ilan Shalgi as Minister of Science and Technology.



2004: “The Émigré:  The farewell broadcast of a voice from the past by Janet Malcolm



http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/11/29/041129fa_fact3?currentPage=all



2005: “Havoc” a crime film directed by Barbara Kopple, filmed by cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau and featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Robert Shapiro was released in the United States today.



2005(27th of Cheshvan, 5766): Forty-seven year old Wendie Jo Sperber lost her battle with Breast Cancer today.



http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/02/movies/wendie-jo-sperber-actress-dies-at-46.html



http://articles.latimes.com/2005/dec/02/local/me-sperber2



2005: The Seattle Reconstructionist congregation Kadima which, according to its Web site, “welcomes members from all backgrounds, including multicultural, gay, and lesbian households,” now is welcoming Ariel Sharon's adoption of its name. "[We] wish Prime Minister Sharon the very best with his new party name," Kadima Executive Director Susan Davis told The Jerusalem Postvia email. "It is a huge responsibility to use a name as progressive as Kadima." Kadima means "forward" in Hebrew. Two other entities using the name Kadima were not nearly as accepting.  The city fathers of Kadima, a town in the Sharon section of Israel, expressed their displeasure with the name chosen for Sharon’s new party. Kadima is also the name of a left-wing political party with headquarters in Beersheba. Party leaders are petitioning the government to force Sharon to use a different name since they feel that they own it for purposes of political party nomenclature.



2006(8th of Kislev, 5767): Seventy-seven year old “Leonard Freed, a prominent photojournalist and member of the Magnum Photography Collective who was known primarily for his in-depth coverage of African-Americans in the era of the civil rights movement” passed away. (As reported by Philip Gefter)



http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/arts/design/04freed.html?_r=0



2006: A Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s musical comedy “Company” opened today at the Ethel Barrymore Theare



2006: In Jerusalem, The Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies awards the 10th Liebhaber Prize for Religious Tolerance to Deborah Goldman Golan, Director of the Bamidbar Center for Pluralistic Jewish Studies in Yeroham.



2007: A tribute was held in New York City in anticipation of poet Philip Levine's 80th birthday. Among those celebrating Levine's career by reading Levine's work were Yusef Komunyakaa, Galway Kinnell, E. L. Doctorow, Charles Wright, Jean Valentine, and Sharon Olds. Levine himself read several new and interesting poems. He thanked his students and asked them to refrain from asking for any more letters of recommendation.



2007: At the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, television star Sarah Silverman, headlines “Comedy without Borders” a fund-raiser for the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, the ecological and coexistence center located at Kibbutz Ketura, near Eilat.



2007(19th of Kislev, 5768):  Ninety three year old “Victor Erlich, a path-breaking scholar of Russian literature, passed away today (As reported by Marissa Brostoff)



http://forward.com/articles/12194/victor-erlich--scholar-of-russian-literature-/



2007: USCJ International Biennial Convention opens in Orlando, FL.



2007: The Jerusalem Post reported that “Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni failed in attempts to set up meetings in Annapolis or Washington with colleagues from the Arab world, even though the summit was designed to show international support for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations… Israeli officials interpreted this as evidence that the Arab world had not changed its fundamental policy that there would be no warming of relations with Israel until after a deal, and that normalization was one of the Arab world's major bargaining chips.”



2007: Sixty one years after he was buried at a wind hilltop cemetery in southeast Washington, Stephen Theodore Norman, the only grandchild of Theodor Herzl was exhumed as the first step of trip that will lead to his burial in Israel.



2008: On this Shabbat when we recite “Av harachameem,” there will be special poignancy to the words as we mourn the passing Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, the beloved directors of Chabad-Lubavitch of Mumbai. “The Father of mercy who dwells on high in His great mercy will remember with compassion the pious, upright and blameless the holy communities, who laid down their lives for the sanctification of His name.They were loved and pleasant in their lives and in death they were not parted.They were swifter than eagles and stronger than lions to carry out the will of their Maker, and the desire of their steadfast God.May our Lord remember them for good together with the other righteous of the world and may He redress the spilled blood of His servants as it is written in the Torah of Moses the man of God: "O nations, make His people rejoice for He will redress the blood of His servants. He will retaliate against His enemies and appease His land and His people". And through Your servants, the prophets it is written: "Though I forgive, their bloodshed I shall not forgive When God dwells in Zion" And in the Holy Writings it says: "Why should the nations say, 'Where is their God?'"Let it be known among the nations in our sight that You avenge the spilled blood of Your servants. And it says: "For He who exacts retribution for spilled blood remembers them. He does not forget the cry of the humble". And it says: "He will execute judgement among the corpse-filled nations crushing the rulers of the mighty land; from the brook by the wayside he will drink then he will hold his head high".



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwom17kFOb0



2008: This afternoon authorities announced that the family of one of Israeli victims of the attack on the Mumbai Chabad House had identified her as being Yocheved Orpaz, aged 60. Another woman was identified as a Jewish resident of Mexico, whose name has not yet been released.



2008: U.N. Israel Partition Day – 61st anniversary of this momentous moment in Jewish history. “Three minutes that changed two thousand years of wandering.”



 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEGUPlhtMWQ



2009: In Jerusalem, the opening of Whiskey Month at the Mia Bar featuring whiskey tastings and special winter dishes which go well with whiskey.



2009: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Googled: The End of the World as We Know It by Ken Auletta, Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? by Michael J. Sandel and the recently released paperback edition of Friendly Fire: A Duet by A. B. Yehoshua.



2009: The Los Angeles Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Googled: The End of the World as We Know It by Ken Auletta.



2009: Beachwood, Ohio declares today “Hudesa Gora Day” to mark the 100thbirth of this holocaust survivor who ran a successful fur business in Cleveland for many years.



2010: Roz Chast, Al Jaffee and Robert Mankoff are scheduled to participate in a program entitled “The Cartoonist Chronicles” at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.



2010: Today Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named Mossad veteran Tamir Pardo as his choice as the new head of Israel's spy agency, to succeed Meir Dagan.  Pardo served in senior positions in the Mossad for many years, as well as in various operative units. He left the agency in 2009, before which he served as deputy Mossad chief.



2010(22nd of Kislev, 5771):  Sixty seven year old  “Steven N. Posner, who with his father, Victor, was caught up in a major corporate raiding case that led to the convictions of Ivan F. Boesky and Michael R. Milken, died today in a high-speed boat collision on Biscayne Bay, Fla. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/01/business/01posner.html?_r=0



2010: At the 92nd Street Y in New York, Deborah Solomon interviewed actor Steve Martin about his new novel, An Object of Beauty, which is set in the art world. In response to emails received in real-time by the Y staff from viewers of the interview, a note was dispatched to Solomon on-stage, telling her to shift the conversation from art to Steve Martin's film career



2010(22nd of Kislev, 5771): Ninety year old “Richard N. Goldman, a San Francisco civic leader and philanthropist best known for co-founding the Goldman Environmental Prize, which is given to six grass-roots environmental activists every year, died  today at his home in San Francisco. (As reported by Daniel Slotnik)



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/us/05goldman.html



2010(22nd of Kislev, 5771): Seventy year old “Stephen J. Solarz, a nine-term Democratic congressman whose concerns went beyond traffic lights and beach erosion in his Brooklyn district to nuclear weapons, the Middle East and his revelation that Imelda Marcos owned 3,000 pairs of shoes, died today in Washington. (As reported by Douglas Martin)



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/nyregion/30solarz.html?pagewanted=all



2011: David Kalender, the Senior Rabbi of Olam Tikvah in Fairfax, Virginia, is scheduled to deliver the first in a series of lectures on The Book of Ruth.


 


2011: In honor of the 10th anniversary of the JCC in Manhattan, the JCC is scheduled to screen the audience’s favorite film.


2011: “Sara Hurwitz, an Open Orthodox Jewish spiritual” from South Africa who was raised in Boca Raton, FL and “who received ordination from Rabbi Avi Weiss” was “featured in Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance's (JOFA) Mission Statement YouTube video uploaded” today in which she said “JOFA is trying to shape the young minds of children, to a gender sensitive curriculum that I worked on many years ago.


2011: The Tulane Hillel Board Meeting is scheduled to take place at Goldie & Morris Mintz Center for Jewish Life.


2011: In New Orleans, Rabbi Alexis Berk is scheduled to lead the Touro Synagogue Interfaith Chavurah Group in a discussion of “The December Dilemma.”


2011: Former Mossad Chief Meir Dagan said in a television interview today that if Israel attacks Iran, it will be dragged into a regional war. According to Dagan, Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas will respond with massive rocket attacks on Israel.


2011: It was announced earlier today that former Mossad chief Meir Dagan will lead a group that will endeavor to immediately alter the system of government in Israel. Maariv reported today that the group is operating without much publicity, backed by a group of leaders in the fields of business, culture and law that has already begun to raise funds. Former IDF Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, businessman Gad Zeevi and Herliya Interdisciplinary Center President Professor Uriel Reichman have already joined the new group.


2012: Yeruham Scharovsky is scheduled to conduct the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in a gala concert featuring young piano artists. (In a tribute to the courage and resiliency of the Jewish people, the flyer announcing this event went out at the same time that rockets were being filed on the capital city of Israel)


2012: Pianist Bill Charlap was the real piano player at the television wedding of “Liz Lemon,” a leading character on “30 Rock.”  He is a descendant of 16th century Italian Talmudist of Gedaliah ibn Yahya ben Joseph


2012: The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is scheduled to sponsor a screening of “Jew in the Warsaw Rising” followed by a Q & A with the film’s director Anna Ferens.  (This is a film about the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 and not the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943


2012: The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is scheduled to present an evening with Montreal writer Julija Šukys, the author of  Epistolophilia: Writing the Life of Ona Šimaitė,“which beckons back to life this quiet and worldly heroine, a giant of Holocaust history (one of Yad Vashem's honored Righteous Among the Nations) and yet so little known.”


2012 Sixty-fifth Anniversary of the UN vote approving the creation of Jewish state in Palestine with independence to come within six months. Am Yisrael Chai.



2012: Sixty-five years to the day after the UN voted for the partition of mandatory Palestine – a move the Jews accepted and the Arabs rejected – the same body overwhelmingly voted today to grant the Palestinian delegation the upgraded status of non-member observer state.


2012: Labor members went to the polls today to elect the party’s list for the 19th Knesset, in a vote that will show how much influence party leader Shelly Yacimovich has, as opposed to the growing opposition within Labor led by MK Amir Peretz.


2013(26thof Kislev, 5774): Second Day of Chanukah


2013(26thof Kislev, 5774): Seventy-seven year old Pulitzer Prize winning historian Michael Kammen passed away today. (As reported by Matt Schudel)



2013: “Moses Montefiore: The Man Behind the Windmill,” an international conference at Mshkenot Sha’annaim is scheduled to come to a close.



2013: The Maccabees Festival near Modi’in, the site of the original Chanukah story, is scheduled to open today.


2013: “Closer to the Moon” a dark comedy based on the “exploits” of the Ioanid Gang “had its world premiere at the Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema Festival at the Lincoln Center” today.  (This is one of those must see flics)


2013: Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon expressed outrage at the incident reported in Israeli media that three Druze IDF soldiers were delayed entry to the Dimona nuclear reactor while there Jewish fellow soldiers were admitted. (As reported by JPost)


2013: An editorial published by the Washington Post today claims that “the White House is omitting key facts about the nuclear deal signed with Iran” (As reported by JPost and Washington Post)




2014: In Melbourne, “The Last Mentsch” and “Zero Motivation” are scheduled to be shown at the Jewish International Film Festival.


2014(7thof Kislev, 5775): Sixty year old Hillel Oscar of Ashdod died today at the hospital after beig his by the ball “while refereeing a cricket matching in the Israeli coastal city.”



2014: A fire broke out this evening in Jerusalem’s Pat neighborhood on the grounds of Hand in Hand a dual Hebrew and Arabic language school in southern Jerusalem, sparking suspicion of politically motivated arson.


2014: The Eden-Tamir Music Center is scheduled to host a performance by the Amaya Trio.


2014: Shabbat Va-yaytzay


2015(17thof Kislev, 5776): Seventy-nine year old David Cohen, former president of Common Cause and voice for ethics in government passed away today. (As reported by Sam Roberts)



2015: “Seeking Justice: The Leo Frank Case”  an “800 square foot exhibit that examines the historical context surrounding 13-year old Mary Phagan's murder at the National Pencil Company as well as Jewish superintendent Leo Frank's trial, appeals, and eventual lynching that has been on display at the Southern Museum at Kennesaw, GA, is scheduled to close today.


2015: Today, while playing Guard for the New York Giants, Mitchell Schwartz, who had started all eleven games, sustained a broken leg during a loss to the Washington Redskins.”


2015: The National Appeal for Tzedakah, the major fund raising campaign of the Jewish Federation of France (FSJU) is scheduled to start today after having been postponed because of the terrorist attacks in Paris.


2015: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Complete Works of Primo Levi, a 3 volume work edited by Ann Goldstein and the recently released paperback editions of We Are Piratesby Daniel Handler and Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion by Harold Holzer


2016: As part of the “Meet The Author Series” Alice Hoffman is scheduled to “discuss her career, her novels and her latest book Faithful at the Skirball Center


2016: According to a report from Israel Radio. “a ceremony is scheduled to held tonight in the British Parliament tonight to mark the 100thanniversary of the Balfour Declaration.


2016: According to the Anti-Defamation League, today “the Huffington Post’s Arabic-language edition” contained “a blog post claiming a Jewish woman poisoned the Prophet Muhammad with arsenic.”


2017: The Illinois Holocaust Museum is scheduled to host an “Intimate Concert with Jam Band Mr. Blotto: paying “tribute to iconic rock and roll producer and Holocaust survivor Bill Graham.”


2017: Followed by “a meal of burgers and hot dogs” (who knew the English ate such stuff) the Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host a screening of “Love Actually” as part of the popular “Movie Night.”


2017: Today, “in Norfolk, VA, the JWB Chaplains Council, a signature program of the JCC Association of North America” is scheduled to dedicate a Torah in memory of World War II” Army Air Corps “veteran Jacob Kamaras aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford.


2017: The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center is scheduled to host an evening of schmoozing with Joy Behar, Gretchen Carlson, Maureen Dowd and Jill Kargman.


2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such as Howard M. Sachar whose works included the classic “A History of the Jews in the Modern World” and “A History of the Jews in America” which might be the single best piece of Holocaust literature, continues today.


 2018:  The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center is scheduled to host a lecture on “History Matters: Defining Holocaust Memory in Poland” moderated by Northwest University Associate Professor Benjamin Frommer, Ph.D.


2018: The Village East Cinema is scheduled to host the final screening of Ofir Trainin’s “Family in Transition.”


2018: In London, JW3 is scheduled to host the final screening of “Back to Berlin.”


2018: The Hebrew University is scheduled to celebrated  the “100 years since the laying of its cornerstone” with a conference during which “the German Literature Archive Marbach together with the Hebrew University will explore the history of a century of German-Jewish culture and research.”


2018: In Manhattan, the Quad City Cinema is scheduled to host the final screening of Claude Lanzmann’s “Shoah: Four Sisters – Ruth & Ada” and “Shoah: Four Sisters – Hanna & Paula.”


2018: Seventy-first anniversary of the UN General adoption of Resolution 181.



 


 


 


This Day, November 30, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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November 30



1215: The Fourth Lateran Council which had been led by Innocent III came to a close. The Fourth Lateran Council made first official use of the term "transubstantiation," with reference to the Eucharist (Lord's Supper). The adoption of this concept would lead to anti-Semitic outbreaks based on charges that Jews had desecrated the Host i.e. the wafer that was seen as being the body of Christ.



1286 Pope Honorius wrote to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, reaffirming the decision of the Lateran Councils. He enlarged on the evils of relations between Christians and Jews and warned of the pernicious consequences of the study of the Jews’ Talmudgoing so far as to issue a bull condemning the Jewish text.



1518: Maria Lopez and her daughter Isabel were sentenced to death by the Inquisition after having been charged with “juadizing.  (As reported by Renee Levine Melammed)



1631(5th of Kislev, 5932): Rabbi Samuel Eliezer ben Judah ha-levi Edels passed away.  Born in Cracow in 1555, Edels is known by the acronym Maharsha. He was known as outstanding Talmudist and master of dialectics whose commentaries were of such value that they were included in most editions of the Talmud.  Edels was a man of character as well as erudition.  “He attacked the misuse of rabbinic authority and the attempt made by wealthy individuals to monopolize communal offices.”



1654: Sixty-nine year old John Selden an English jurist and student of Jewish law whose writing included a 1646 treatise on marriage and divorce among the Jews entitled Uxor Ebraica, passed away today.



1654: Sixty nine year old English jurist and scholar John Selden, “the first Talmudist in England since the expulsion of the Jews…who recognized the humanness of Jewish marital law and found in Deuteronomy and the Talmud a model for the proper relationsip between the judicial and executive branches of government” and who wrote The Jewish Wife, a work “on the theory and practice of Jewish marriage and divorce law” passed away today.



1670: Birthdate of John Toland, Anglo-Irish author and philosopher. In 1714, at a time when Jews were still considered to be outsiders by many Englishman, Toland wrote “Reasons for Naturalizing the Jews” in which he advocated “full citizenship and equal rights for the Jewish people.



1725: Today Felix de Castro, a Spanish physician living at Agramunt “was condemned by the Inquisition for life for Judaizing.



1726: In Dusseldorf, Lazarus Eliezer Leiser Joseph van Geldern and Sara Lea van Geldern gave brith to Dr. Gottschalk van Geldern.



1748(9th of Kislev, 5509): Mordecai ben Jacob Ẓahalon, a doctor and rabbi who was part of a famous Sephardic family, passed away today in Ferrara, Italy. Among his many books were Megillat Naharot," describing the miraculous rescue of the Jewish community of Ferrara from the inundation that occurred in 1707



1774: Pamphleteer Thomas Paine whose opposition to Monarchy was based in part on his reading of the Bible where the Israelite kings had a propensity for leading their subjects into the evils of idolatry, arrived in Philadelphia on the eve of the American Revolution.



1778: The “40 year old wife of Abraham ben Simon” was buried today at the “Alderney Road (Globe Road) Jewish Cemetery.”



1782:In Paris, representatives from the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign preliminary peace articles (later formalized as the 1783 Treaty of Paris).



1790: King Leopold II forwarded the petition from the Jews asking for full equality with other citizens to the “chancelleries of Hungary and Moravia” to see if this change would be supported.



1790: Georgia Governor, Edward Telfair granted to Levy Sheftall, Cushman Pollock, Joseph Abrahams, Mordecai Sheftall, Abraham de Pas, Emanuel de la Motta, and their successors a charter of incorporation wherein they were declared to be "a body incorporates by the name and style of the 'Parnass and Adjuntas of the Mickve Israel at Savannah.'" This charter is still in the hands of the congregation and it is the document under which it operates to this day.


1803:  In New Orleans, Louisiana, Spanish representatives officially transfer the Louisiana Territory to a French representative. Just 20 days later, France transfers the same land to the United States as the Louisiana Purchase.



1805: In Chatham, Kent, England, Lazarus Magnus and Sarah Moses gave birth to Jacob Magus.



1813: In Paris, Alkan Morhange and Julie Morhange, née Abraham gave birth to Charles-Valentin Morhange, the descendant of Ashkenazi from Metz who gained fame as French pianist and composer Charles-Valentin Alkan.



http://www.alkansociety.org/



1813: William VI, the future King William I who would play an active role in the reorganization of the Dutch Jewish community arrived at Scheveningen.



1817: Birthdate of German scholar and political leader Theodore Mommsen who denounced the anti-Semitic campaign being led by his colleague Heinrich von Treitschke and who descried the “position and influence of Jews in the Roman Empire” in his multi-volume History of Rome.



1823: Birthdate of German botanist Nathanael Pringsheim who “in 1882 established the German Botanical Society, which in twelve years included over 400 German botanists, and of which he was annually elected president until his death.”



1831(25th of Kislev, 5592): Chanukah



1836: Today, “Mr. Danofsky, of King Street, St. James, Westminster married Mrs. Hughes, the widow of the late Mr. Moses Hughes at Margate.”



1845: Birthdate of Wisconsin Congressman Richard W. Guenther who worked with Congressman Ford during the 1880’s to conduct a series of hearing designed to exclude Jews from immigrating to the United States



1840: Birthdate of Ludovic Trarieux, the supporter of Dreyfus who founded the League of Human and Civil Rights



1852: Birthdate of Hermann Gollancz the Professor of Hebrew at University College.



1854: Between 300 and 400 people danced to the music of Dodsworth’s Band at the Hebrew Young Men’s Ball held in the New York City’s Chinese Assembly Rooms.  Proceeds from tonight’s event will be be given to the Ladies’ Hebrew Benevolent Society.



1856(3rd of Kislev, 5617): Marcus Cone, a Jew who had been living in New York, passed away today in Abbersweiler, Germany, his home town.


1856: The Manchester Guardianreported a "Great Fire" had taken place in Constantinople where 600 homes were destroyed, and another devastated Adrianople.



1856: Two days after he had passed away, 49 year old Joseph Abrahams was buried at the “Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.



1858: Today’s City Intelligence column reported that the recent stories about the arrest of three Jews for their role in selling lottery tickets were in error.  At least one of those arrested was identified as being a rabbi when in fact he made no claim to being a clergyman.  Apparently he is the leader of a “Bet Hamidrash” or House of Instruction which is attended by recently arrived poor immigrant Russian Jews who speak little or no English.  In Europe, the sale of lottery tickets is legal and apparently the immigrants had no reason to think that this was not the case in the United States.  Those preparing the original report were unaware of the fact that the term “Reb” merely implies that one is a “master” or an “instructor” and not a clergyman.



1861: Emmanuel Marks, who was killed while serving in the Union Army, began serving with Company K of the 28thRegiment.



1864: In Tennessee, Colonel Frederick Knefler commanded a brigade protecting the Union flank at the Battle of Franklin, one of the worst defeats suffered by the Rebels during the Civil War.



1864: Private Abraham Greenawalt, Company G, 104th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, served with such valor at the Battle of Franklin that he would be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for capturing the “corps headquarters flag” of the Confederates.



1867(3rd of Kislev, 5628): Fifty-two year old Wolf Alois Meisel, the Chief Rabbi in Budapest passed away while preaching a sermon that was “later published  by Simon and Wilhelm Bacher under the title Die Brunnen Isaak's”



1869: Two days after he had passed away, David Nathan, the husband of Mary Lazarus with whom he had four children, was buried today at the “Canterbury Jewish Cemetery.”



1870: E.B. Hart delivered the opening remarks at the Hebrew Charity Fair.  The lavish event was held to raise funds for the Mount Sinai Hospital and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.  In his speech Governor Hoffman of New York said praised both institutions saying that the latter was indeed populated primarily by Jewish children but that the former served all members of the community, regardless of their religion.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9904E5DF1E3DE53BBC4953DFB467838B669FDE



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9407E6DF1E3DE53BBC4850DFB767838B669FDE



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C00E6DF1E3DE53BBC4850DFB767838B669FDE



1871(17th of Kislev, 5632): Thirty-five year old Gaston Cremieux who along with fellow Jew Adolphe Carcassone headed the Revolutionary Commission of the Département Bouches-du-Rhône was condemned to death and executed today for his role in the revolt that had followed the Franco-Prussian Warin November 1871, the only one among the leaders of the Commune.



1873: The Jewish Maternity Association, originally known as Ezrath Nashim (Helping Women) was founded in Philadelphia, PA.



1874:  Birthdate of Sir Winston Churchill, the British statesman, orator and author who served as prime minister during World War II.  Churchill’s official biographer was the famous Jewish historian Martin Gilbert. Churchill often spoke of his support for a Jewish homeland.  During the war, his government studiously supported the White Paper which effectively banned Jewish immigration to Palestine.  Churchill’s supporters explained this as being a wartime necessity meant to ensure Arab support for the Allied cause.  Even if one accepts this argument, it does not explain Churchill’s support for the ban on Jewish immigration after the Nazis had surrendered in May of 1945. For more about Churchill and his relationship with the Jewish people, see Churchill and the Jews by Martin Gilbert.  Like all off Gilbert’s work it is well researched and highly readable.



1876: Rabbi Einhorn is scheduled to deliver the sermon at Temple Bethel’s Thanksgiving Services the first of which will be held at 10 AM followed by a second service at 11 AM.



1876: Rabbi Gottheil will deliver the sermon at this afternoon’s Centennial Thanksgiving Service at Temple Emanu-El. The service will include musical program by the congregation’s choir and a reading of the President’s Thanksgiving Proclamation.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A05E0DE133AE63BBC4850DFB767838D669FDE



1876: In Philadelphia, a ceremony was held today unveiling and dedicating a monument symbolic of Religious Liberty that was built with contribution from member of B’nai Brith from throughout the United States.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A06E3D9153FE63BBC4953DFB467838D669FDE



1876: It was reported today that the Ladies of the Forty-fourth Street Synagogue’s Hebrew Benevolent Society are seeking donations of goods and money for the fair they are holding during the last two weeks of December.



1878: Solomon A. Levy and Dilah Horner Levy gave birth to Henry Horner, the first Jewish governor of Illinois.



1879: C.J. Fishel of Mellis & Fishel read the opening prayer at the funeral of S.L. Lewis which was the first Jewish funeral to be held in the Sandwich Islands which we know as Hawaii.



1881: It was reported today that new regulations issued in Russia divided the Jews of Kiev into 8 different classes based on education and occupation.  Membership in a particular class determines your rights including where you can live in the area and for how long.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=990DE4DE113EE433A25753C3A9679D94609FD7CF



1881: It is reported today that at least one Jew in St. Petersburg has found a way to get around the government law forbidding Jews from changing occupations.  A Jew who began as a maker of ladies’ riding habits is now operating a counting house.  He just never changed the signage, something that everybody including the authorities is aware of



1881: In Brooklyn, the fair sponsored by Temple Israel will open today and last until December 10.



1882: It was reported today that the United Hebrew Charities has contributed one hundred dollars to the Charity Organization Society, an umbrella organization that investigates applicants for charities in New York Society to make sure that they are really in need.



1883(1st of Kislev, 5644): Rosh Chodesh Kislev



1883(1st of Kislev, 5644: In Rushville, Indiana, a violent quarrel, including fisticuffs and gunfire, between Jewish merchants Eli Frank and Jacob Block turned fatal when Frank was shot to death by Block’s son.



1883 In Zalal Lovo, Hungary, a peasant woman informed a Jewish merchant named Kohn
that “some bands had collect in the neighboring villages and that they “planed “an attack upon him tonight.  Kohn warned the Mayor who “strengthened the night watch” and the Jews prepared themselves for the worst.



1885: It was reported today that an unnamed Jew from Pittsburg stole $475 from a co-religionist in Newark, NJ.



1885: “Le Cid” a four act opera with a libretto co-authored by Adolphe d’Ennery was performed for the first time at the Paris Opera.



1885: It was reported today that New York Police Commissioner Stephen B. French, a Republican had several explanations for his party’s defeat in the recent election, including the fact that in Fourth Assembly there are “a great many Irish and a great many Hebrews.”  According to French, the Jews “are always nearly against” the Republicans and the Irish have reverted to voting Democratic after their apparent switch in the 1884 election. (Electoral post mortems are nothing new and misguided ones are certainly not.  Actually, in the post-Civil War United States, Jews in the North and Mid-West tended to vote for Republicans)



1886: The wife and daughter of a Polish Jew named Milkowski who has lived in Louisiana for the last 30 years took refuge in Lake Providence after a mob attacked their home in Caledonia.



1887: Based on information that first appeared in the London Truth, it is reported that there are no more than 100,000 Jews in France, but of the 86 prefectures (administrative chiefs) 60 are Jews.  Furthermore “Jews have the best places in the Treasury” and “merit was the last consideration when they were appointed.”  (Editor’s note: This sub-text of French anti-Semitism would play out in the Drefyus Scandal and continue into the darkest days of Vichy)



1887: It was reported today that the recently concluded conference of Reform Rabbis adopted a resolution introduced by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise to appoint a committee to “consider establishing a reformatory for Jewish children.”  According to Wise, there are more than 150 Jewish children in various reformatories and they are never visited by a Rabbi.



1887: It was reported that the next national meeting of The Jewish Ministers’ Association, an organization of Reform Rabbis will be held this Spring in Washington, D.C.



1888: It was reported today that there had been a record number of Jews attending Thanksgiving services and that the Thanksgiving Dinner served to 200 east side children by the United Hebrew Charities was further proof of Israelites enjoyment of this American holiday.



1888: Birthdate of Frank T. Fleisher who did not live to see his second birthday.



1891: Benjamin Berensen, a leading member of the Boston Jewish community disappeared.



1891: Birthdate of Chicago native and Kent College of Law graduate Benjamin Kahane who entered the motion picture industry as general counsel for what became RKO studios, after which he served as vice president of Columbia Pictures and president of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences while being married to Mildred Kahane with whom he had two children – Shirley and Benjamin, Jr.



1891(29th of Cheshvan, 5652): Seventy-three year old Edwin de Leon, the native of Columbia, South Carolina who while serving as U.S. consul-general to Egypt during the Franklin Pierce administration “rendered conspicuous services in protecting American Missionaries in Jaffa,” passed away today.



1892: The Hebrew Orphans Asylum band – 45 boys under the direction of Martin Cohen – will perform at this evening’s session of the American Institute Fair,



1893: Birthdate of author I.J. Singer the older brother of Isaac Bashevis Singer. Born in Poland, Singer gained fame as Yiddish writer.  He was the Polish correspondent for The Jewish Daily Forward.  He came to the United States in 1934.” Singer’s epic masterpiece Di Bruder Ashkenazi (The Brothers Ashkenazi) details Jewish industrial development before World War I.”



1893: “Three hundred children will be given a Thanksgiving dinner of Turkey, cranberry sauce and trimmings at the Industrial School of the United Hebrew Charities today at noon.”



1893: In the Reichstag, “toward the end of the budget debate” Dr. Foerster declared that “anti-Semitism was not a passing phenomenon” and that “it would endure as long as the Hebrew race.”



1894: Birthdate of Columbus, Ohio, native Donald Ogden the Academy Award winning screenwriter who during the 1930’s was Chairman of the Hollywood Ant-Nazi League “the first American anti-Nazi organization that was not overtly linked to American Jews” and that “served as the focal point of the film industry’s anti-Nazism from 1936 through 1939.”



1894: “Dedicated to Humanity” published today provided a description of the Montefiore Home’s  new additions which is a five story edifice that includes a new synagogue on the ground floor that will accommodate 500 worshippers as well “a vast kitchen and laundry in the basement” and quarters for servant



1894: As of today, there are “3,383 children between the ages of eight and fourteen years enrolled in the afternoon classes sponsored Hebrew Free School Association ; children who must attend public schools in the morning to able to take these classes in Hebrew and “religious subjects.”



1895(13th of Kislev, 5656): Parashat Vayishlach



1895: Birthdate of Samuel Norton "Sam" Gerson, the Ukrainian born Jewish-American wrestler who won a Silver Medal at the 1920 Olympics and helped to organize Philadelphia's Maccabi Sports Club.



1895: In New York, Daniel Ryan and Daniel Healy were each fined $10 for “striking at every Hebrew they passed on Broadway” which the court described as “Jew baiting.”



1895: Rabbi Joseph Silverman delivered a sermon entitled “One Touch of Nature, our Appeal in Behalf of Armenia” at Temple Emanu-El during Friday night services.



1896(25th of Kislev, 5657): For the last time during the administration of President Grover Cleveland, first day of Chanukah



1896: Prior to the tomorrow’s start of the 15th Biennial Council of the American Hebrew Congregation in Louisville, KY, the Executive Committee met and chose temporary officers.



1897: “Ethnic Politics” published today described the difficulties that the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, which is polyglot multi-national domain is having in creating a national identity as can be seen even in Vienna where political lines “are drawn between Jews and Jew-baiters.”  The rise of Jews in Viennese culture has been matched by a rise in Anti-Semitism which is opposed by the Emperor.



1897(5th of Kislev, 5658): Just 12 days before his 65th birthday Abraham Carl (A.C.) Wertheim, a partner in the Dutch banking house of Wertheim & Gompertz, the husband of Rosalie Marie Wertheim who was a member of States-Provincial for twenty and a leader of the Jewish community passed away today.



1897: Rabbi “Backowitz” (Berkowitz) of Philadelphia is scheduled to deliver a speech this evening at Temple Emanu-El in New York entitled “Jews’ Gifts to Humanity.”



1898: Leo M. Franklin an 1892 graduate of Hebrew Union College who was the Rabbi at Temple Israel in Omaha, Nebraska, “became the 11th rabbi of Congregation Beth El in Detroit, a position he would hold for the rest of his life.”



1898: As the measles epidemic at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum comes to an end 15 children ranging in age from 6 to 11, remain in isolation at the hospital



1898: Private Will Hu Freudenstein of St. Louis finished his military service when Light Battery A, Missouri Volunteers was mustered out at Jefferson Barracks, MO.



1899: One thousand pounds of turkey was consumed by the children under the care of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society.  The daylong celebration included band music, a speech by Dr. Kaufman on the meaning of Thanksgiving and an afternoon of play preceded by the receipt of “a masquerade costume” for youngster.



1899: Four hundred children attended the 19th annual Thanksgiving Day Dinner at the Industrial School of the Hebrew Charities Society.



1899: In New York City, “Isidor Heldenstein and Rose Miller” gave birth to Columbia Law School trained attorney Herbert W. Haldenstein, the President of the Central Bureau for the Jewish Aged who married “the former Mrs. Jennie L. Whitehill” after his first wife Mrs. Marion Kaufman Haldenstein had passed away.



1899: One hundred children who attend the kindergarten sponsored by the Shearith Israel Sisterhood were provided with a free Thanksgiving Dinner.



1899: In Branchville, SC, Julius and Etta Karesh Levin gave birth to Sidney Levin, the future husband of Tina Levovitz Levin.



1899: Seventy-five year old philosopher and psychologist Mortiz Lazarus, “son of Aaron Levin Lazarus” celebrated “the fiftieth anniversary of receiving his doctorate.”



1900: Oscar Wilde passed away.  The Picture of Dorian Gray, possibly his most famous novel, includes a Jewish character named Isaacs, a theatre manager. The author stresses both his Jewishness and his ugliness describing him as “a hideous Jew,” a “horrid old Jew” who had “greasy ringlets, and an enormous diamond … in the centre of a soiled shirt.”



1903: In a case of literary matrimony, Else Lasker-Schuler married George Lewin, the author who used the penname Herwarth Walden.



1905(2nd of Kislev, 5666): Forty-two year old chess champion Samuel Lipschutz passed away today.



http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=39131



1905: It was reported today that the massacre of Jews in Minsk that was originally supposed to take place on November 26th will now take place on December 3.



1905: Jacob Schiff presided over “the great celebration in honor of the 250th anniversary of the settlement of the Jews in the United States… held in Carnegie Hall” this afternoon which “included the reading of a letter from President Roosevelt and “the singing in Hebrew of ‘Adon Olam’ by fifty members of the Downtown Cantors’ Association of New York accompanied by 250 members of the Choral Union and the New York Symphony Orchestra.”



1905: “John Hoar, an American jockey who has been riding for Prince Louborinski in Russia arrived “in New York today and described “the sights he witnessed” which “were so awful that he fainted” that included the gutters in that “ran red with blood.



1905: It was reported from Paris today that prices on the Bourse “have firmed” now that it has been confirmed that laws aimed at restricting the Jews have “been abrogated.”



1905: The Orphan Hebrew Asylum observed Thanksgiving and the 250th anniversary of the settlement of the Jews” in North America with a reading of a sketch by Harry Schneidermann on the history of the Jews in the United States followed by a dress parade and concert by the 400 member Cadet Corps and ending with a dinner for 1,030 children “provided by Emanuel Lehman.”



1905: Jacob Schiff presided at the Thanksgiving Day Services held at the Montefiore Home.



1905: Today, on Thanksgiving, “Mrs. Daniel Guggenheim gave dinners to the 272 resident of the Montefiore Home in honor of her son Robert’s wedding.”



1905: “The 1,245 immigrants detained on Ellis Island,” many of whom were Jewish enjoyed a turkey dinner with all of the trimmings followed by an evening of song that ended with the singing of the Star Spangled Banner.



1905: “A copy of a manifesto issued by the Odessa Zionist Central Committee” describing the murderous events in that city and the plans for a response was received in New York City today.



1905: It was reported today that to date the National Committee collecting funds to helping Jews being massacred in Russia has raised, $942,548.17 including $100 from the Societe Israelite Francais, $100 from Elihu Root, $543 from the Hebrew Benevolent Association of Binghamton, NY, $250 from Herbert Lehman, $100 from the Jews of Millville, NJ and $100 of Congregation Beth-El in Jersey City, NJ.



1908: Birthdate of Bernard Bernstein, the economist who rose to the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army during WW II where he “served as a financial adviser to General Eisenhower” until the Morgenthau Plan was rejected as post war policy for the treatment of Germany.



1909(17th of Kislev, 5670): Seventy-one Bavarian born, New Orleans businessman Isidore Newman who founded the Newman Training School which became a leading private school and supported numerous secular and Jewish charities including Turo Infirmary and the Young Men’s Hebrew Association passed away today



1910: Lucille Selig married Leo Frank.  Selig was the member of an “old” Atlanta Jewish family that had founded the city’s first synagogue.  Frank would come to a horrible end when he was lynched for a crime that he did not commit.



1912(20th of Kislev, 5673): Parashat Vayeshev



1912: Rabbi Weil is scheduled to lead services at Temple B’Nai Jehoshua this morning in Chicago.



1912: Dr. A.B. Yudelson is scheduled to lead services this morning at the South Side Hebrew Congregation.



1912: Rabbi Abram Hirschberg is scheduled to lead services this morning at Temple Sholom in Chicago.



1912: In Chicago, Rabbi Israel Klein is scheduled to speak at this afternoon’s Shabbat Children Service at the Institute.



1912(20th of Kislev, 5673): Seventy-five year old Joseph Felsenthal, a Confederate veteran and communal leader passed away today in Brownsville, TN.



1912: Yiddish actors Leon Blank, Francis Adler and Jacob Adler are scheduled to perform at the Haymarket Theatre this eveing.



1913: Jacob H. Schiff, President of the Montefiore Home, presided at the dedication ceremonies of the new buildings at the institution located at Gun Hill Road and 210th Street, near Jerome Avenue.  The ceremonies included services at the synagogue located at the Montefiore Home.



1914: “To Meet Jewish Mark Twain” published today described the arrival of Solomon Rabinowitz, the author known as Sholom Aleichem, his wife and six children in New York who were making the second trip to the United States; the first coming in 1906 when  they were escaping the Kiev massacres.



1914: It was reported today that Sholom Aleichim will be lecturing in New York “on the part the Jews are taking in the Great War.”



1914: “Contributions to the Central Committee for the Relief of Jews suffering through the war reached a total of $28, 098.52” today.



1914: “Counsel for Leo Frank, who is under sentence for the murder of Mary Phagan, a factory worker at Atlanta, GA, last year will ask the United States Supreme Court at noon today for leave to file a petition for a writ of error which, if it should be granted would lead to a retrial of the case” and if it is denied it will be up to the Governor Slaton of Georgia to save this victim of a wave of anti-Semitism and lynch mob mentality that has swept the Peachtree State.



1914: At today’ session of the sixth annual convention of the Federation of Jewish Farmers being held in the Educational Alliance, “it was suggested’ that Jewish famers with holdings close to New York City should cooperate that they could ship their produce to the city at a lower rate and would then enable them to charge less when making sales on the Lower East Side.



1914: In response to an appeal for aid from Ambassador Morgenthau, at Constantinople the American Red Cross cabled $3,000 from its reserved contingent fund for relief work Mr. Morgenthau” the prominent Jewish American businessman and diplomat.



1915: It was reported today that several million rubles, much of which was donated by Jewish organizations, have been given to support the 250,000 to 350,000 destitute people living in war-torn Warsaw.



1915: A large gathering of Rumanian Jews held a special memorial service at the Manhattan Lyceum in honor of Dr. Solomon Schechter who had passed away on November 20.  While recognizing his leadership and scholarly skills, the Rumanians were also honoring one of their own and voted to name soon to be opened Jewish Home for Convalescents the “Professor Solomon Schechter Memorial.



1915: It was reported today that Meyer London’s matzah bakery which had originally been located on Bayard Street starting in 1871 is now located at 494 Grand Street in New York.



1916: “While the majority of the London and provincial newspaper” have kept silent “on peace topics, “the Northcliffe press today made its chief feature a denunciation of Jacob H. Schiff’s American Neutral Conference Committee.” A lengthy article by D. Thomas Curtin represents Schiff as “a deadly enemy of the Allies” and “an arch-intriguer on behalf of Germany” while “detailing his financial connections” with Kuhn, Loeb and Co which gives him access to Paul Warburg whose “membership in the Federal Reserve Board confers on Kuhn, Loeb at Washington an influence on government policy and national finance enjoyed by no other banking institution.”



1916: It was reported today that following the defeat of the Rumanians at Pitechti, a town sixty-five miles northwest of Bucharest, that while the majority of the wealthy residents fled, the town’s Jews “who are professedly friendly to the Germans” remained but did close their stores.



1916: It was reported today that Harry H. Schlacht of the East Side Protective Association has asked that any upcoming peace conference should have an “adequate representation of Jews” to ensure their religious, civic and political liberty “even if the Christian nations could not be induced to allow them re-establish an independent nation in Palestine.”



1917: According to an AP dispatch from Alexandria, Egypt, a German court-martialed hanged leaders in Jaffa after having used confessions obtained through torture to convict them of espionage



1917: The Australian Light Horse, part of Allenby’s forces, took the offensive against the Turkish forces blocking the way to Jerusalem resulting in the capture of 200 Turks while the remainder fell back toward the City of David.



1917: In Bieltsi, “two thousand Bolsheviki troops, deserters and Black Hundreds” began three days of looting Jewish owned shops.



1917: In Ostrog, gangs carried out attacks on Jews and their shops



1917: In reply to a deputation of Jews who asked him to use his influence to put an end to the pogroms, Leon Trotsky said “that as in Internationalist he sees no reason to defend the Jews.”



1917: Walter J. Finlay, an American engineer who has spent the last four years in Palestine and Syria arrived in New York today where he said that when he had “left Jerusalem in the early part of September”  there was no coal to be had I the city, the cost of food and clothing had increased by five hundred percent and “that the small loaf of common bread that cost one cent in normal times is now selling for twelve cents” while “a can of kerosene costs $30.”



1917: As victorious British Imperial forces approached Jerusalem, the Turkish governor began to make good on the promise that there were would be no Jews in the city to welcome the British.  Forty American Jews living in Jerusalem and several Zionists of Ottoman nationality were expelled from the city.  A staff member of the German Consulate in Jerusalem said that the Jews were driven out on foot and beaten like criminals as they made their way towards Jericho.



1917:  The Germans captured a British brigade headquarters and ammunition dump at Masnieres and Les Rues Vertes, France. Among those taken prisoners was the Captain Robert Gee, the son of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Gee managed to escape and organized a party of the brigade staff with which he attacked the enemy, closely followed by two companies of infantry. He cleared the locality and established a defensive flank, then finding an enemy machine-gun still in action, with a revolver in each hand he went forward and captured the gun, killing eight of the crew. He was wounded, but would not have his wound dressed until the defense was organized. Gee was awarded the Victoria Cross for this action.



1918: All Night” a “silent comedy-drama film” co-starring Carmel Myers the San Francisco born daughter of an Australian rabbi and Austrian Jewish mother was released today in the United States.



1918: In New York, violinist Efrem Zimbalist, Sr. and soprano Alma Gluck gave birth to actor Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. who was baptized as a child in the Episcopal Church. 



1918(26th of Kislev, 5679): Seventy-two year old Jesse Lewisohn, the son of Leonard Lewisohn and the nephew of Adolph Lewisohn, all of whom made fortunes in the copper mining business fell victim to the infamous Spanish Flu Epidemic  and passed away today.



1919(8th of Kislev, 5680): Forty-nine year old Sir Lionel Barnett Abrahams the son of Mordecai Abrahams and the nephew of Barnett Abrahams, the civil servant, economist who worked with John Maynard Keynes and historian whose work included Jews from England in 1290 passed away today.



1920(19th of Kislev, 5681): Seventy-two year old Arthur Strauss, the British MP whose son George was a served as an MP for 46 and whose other son Victor was killed in 1916 while serving as a Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps.



1924:  Birthdate of songwriter and humorist Allan Sherman author of the famous camp song that began, “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah.”



1924(3rd of Kislev, 5685): Fourteen year old William Hayes Block, the son of Meir S. Block and Carly Pierson Block passed away today in St. Louis.



1924(3rd of Kislev, 5685): Twenty seven year old Hannah Schnur passed away today.



http://www.timesofisrael.com/family-stumbles-upon-jewish-gravestone-on-beach-jetty/



1924: “Forbidden Paradise,” a silent film directed by Ernst Lubitsch and produced by Adolph Zukor and Jesse Lasky was released in the United States today.



1925: Josephine Bloomingdale Sperry married Walter David Yankauer today.



1925(13th of Kislev, 5686): Sixty year old New York native and Columbia Law School graduate “a former Judge of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals passed away today.



https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1925/12/02/100033844.pdf



1926: Birthdate of Andrew V. Schally, a Polish-born American endocrinologist and co-recipient with Roger Guillemin and Rosalyn Yalow, of the 1977 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Schally fled Poland with his family in 1939. Schally became a U.S. citizen in 1962.  He became senior medical investigator with the Veterans Administration in 1973. He was noted for isolating and synthesizing three hormones that are produced by the region of the brain known as the hypothalamus; these hormones control the activities of other hormone- producing glands. These accomplishments were the synthesis of TRH (thyrotropin-releasing hormone), the isolation and synthesis of LH-RH (luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone), and studies of the action of somatostatin.



1928: “10 Religious Groups Meet” published today described the “community Thanksgiving service” that had been held in Carnegie Hall that included participants from the Free Synagogue, the Central Synagogue, Temple Israel, Tremont Temple, Congregation Rodeph Sholom and the West End Synagogue.



1929: “It’s You I Have Loved” a German film compared by some to “The Jazz Singer” with a script by Walter Reisch was released today.



1929: In Phoenix, AZ, Pauline and Sylvan Ganz gave birth to Joan Ganz, who as Joan Ganz Cooney gained fame as the television producer who was one of the founders of the Children’s Television Workshop that created “Sesame Street.” She was the granddaughter of Emil Ganz, the German Jewish immigrant who served three terms as the mayor of Phoenix.



1930: At a meeting in London today, Dr. Chaim Weizmann “insisted…that he did not and would not accept the MacDonald Government’s White Paper.” While expressing his displeasure with the White Paper, the Zionist leader “cautioned the Zionists…against taking sides in politics, a reminder obviously directed toward the White-chapel by-election in the East End of London, where it is said the preponderant Jewish vote may make trouble for the Labor candidate.”



1932: Birthdate of Erich Dyner, who was living in Prague when he was transported to Ujazdow at the age of nine after which he was murdered.



1932: “The David Baazov Museum of History of Jews of Georgia, a principal museum of the Jewish history and culture in Tbilisi, Georgia was established by the decision of Administration of the "Georgian Committee for assisting the Poor" today as a departmental organization within the framework of cultural base of Jewish workers.”



http://museum.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=160



1933: The David Baazov Museum of History of the Jews of Georgia “was officially founded by the order of People's Commissariat of Education of Georgia today, under the title 'Jewish Historic-Ethnographic Museum'.”



1933: Rabbi Jerome D. Folkman, of Temple Beth Israel, delivered the Thanksgiving sermon today at a joint service attended by Jews and Gentiles. The services were held in the First Baptist Church of which the Rev. Carl Winters is pastor. (JTA)



1934: “The Private Life of Don Juan” a British comedy directed and produced by Alexander Korda and with music by Ernst Toch was released in the United Kingdom today.



1935: Rosa and Avrom Shlavestein gave birth to their daughter Nina.in Berdichev in the Zhitomir District, USSR (today in Ukraine). Before World War II, Nina’s family lived in Moscow. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union Nina was vacationing in Klintsy in the Bryansk District of the Soviet Union, and was unable to return home because of the invasion. Nina perished during the Holocaust. Her mother Rosa survived and immigrated to Israel. Rosa submitted a Page of Testimony in Yiddish to commemorate her daughter Nina, probably in the 1950s. (As chronicled by Yad Vashem)



http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/october/02.asp



1936:  Birthdate of Abbie Hoffman.



1936: In Jerusalem, while testifying before the Royal Commission on the question of Jewish immigration especially as it pertained to laborers, Moshe Shertok, the head of the political department of the Jewish Agency, “indicated that far from overcrowding the labor market, the lasts group of immigrants, accompanied as it was by new Jewish capital for investment…increased opportunities for Arab laborers” who “are far better paid in Palestine than in any neighboring country.”



1936: “An American flag, the gift of Mayor a Guardia of New York, was presented today to the municipality of Tel Aviv by the Maccabee soccer team” which had just returned from a tour of the United States.  “The Maccabee also presented a flag of New York Harbor to the new Tel Aviv port in ceremonies at the City Ha, where the athletes were officially welcomed after a parade.



1937: The Arab owner of a house in Nazareth where “two bombs and nineteen rounds of ammunition were found” yesterday remains under arrest today while awaiting trial “in the military court at Haifa.”



1938: According to Michael Hesemann, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli – the future Pius XII – wrote a letter today urging Catholic archbishops throughout the world to apply for visas for "non-Aryan Catholics" and Jewish converts to Christianity who wanted to flee Germany



1938: Germany bans Jews from being lawyers



1938(7th of Kislev, 5699): Mrs. Jessie Fox Mack, the wife of Judge Julian Mack of the United States Court of Appeals passed away today “after an illness of several months.” (JTA)



1939: Just months after having divided Poland with its Nazi ally, the Soviet Union invaded Finland in hopes of scoring another quick victory that would re-establish Russian control of what was viewed as breakaway province from the old Imperial System.  The attack would further confuse the military and political situation in Europe during the period of the Phony War.



1939: Three months after the start of World War II, the Soviet Union invades Finland marking the start of the Winter War in which 204 Finnish Jews fought for the country with 27 being killed.



1939(18th of Kislev, 5700): Seventy-seven year old Reuben Brainin, the Russian born Jewish journalist who was a delegate to the first Zionist Congress  passed away today.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9A02E7DF153EE432A25752C0A9649D946894D6CF



1939: It was reported today that “there are already 45,000 Jews in the Lublin” ghetto” and that “more than 200,000 Lodz Jews will be sent there now that the center of the Polish textile industry has been incorporated into the Reich.



1939: It was reported today that “fifty thousand Jews have already been driven from their homes in Warsaw” and that while “Polish schools have been reopened” “Jewish schools are still closed.”



1939: In Paris, “Jewish circles are informed from Warsaw that the Nazis suggested the abolition of ghettos for” a payment of “1,000,000,000 zlotys” – an offer “Jewish leaders declined fearing the Nazis would not keep their promise.”



1940: “Lady with Red Hair,” a biopic directed by Curtish Bernhardt and produced by Jack Warner was released in the United States today.



1940: Anti-Jewish laws are established in Tunisia.



1940: “Bernhard Lichtenberg…the single most well-known Catholic cleric who openly disagreed not only with the persecution of baptized Jews but of Jews in general” said today “that the idea of Volksgemeinschaft (a racially bound community) was unchristian and that the Holy Spirit goes wherever it wishes irrespective of whatever Volk.”



1940: After the “Patriaincident,” General Wavell, Britain’s top military officer in the Middle East complains vehemently to Sir Anthony Eden protesting the decision to let any Jewish refugees remain in Palestine. He contends that the decision to let 1,900 Jews remain in Palestine will undermine British relations with the Arabs.  The Mufti, who is Berlin with Hitler, will be strengthened.  Nazi sympathizers in Syria will be encouraged.  And fifth-columnist in Egypt will find it easier to gain support for the Germans.  At least Wavell was honest.  For him as for so many less honest Englishmen (and others) it was all about keeping the Arabs happy.    



1941: Start of the Rumbula Massacre, the liquidation of the Riga Ghetto, a killing spree exceeded only by Babi Yar.



http://www.rumbula.org/remembering_rumbula.shtml



1941: The first group of Jews from Berlin were the first group of Jews to die during the Rumbala Massacre - a crime that that the Nazis would later describe as “1,000 Berlin Jews had been ‘disposed of.’”



1941: Eduard Strauch “participated, with 20 men under his command, in the murder of 10,600 Jews of Riga in the Rumbula forest near the city for which he was promoted to commander in Sipo and the SD and transferred to Belarus.”



1941: Fifty-nine year old Max Kohn was deported from Prague to Terezin today.



1941: Jews began to arrive at Theresienstadt from Prague.



1941: “Two-Faced Woman” a romantic comedy directed by George Cukor, produced by Gottfried Reinhardt, with a script by S.N. Behrman and Salka Vertel, filmed by cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg and co-starring Melvyn Douglas was released in the United States by MGM.



1941:  Haj Amin, leader of the Palestinians was “ceremoniously received by Hitler.”



1942(21st of Kislev, 5703): Sixty-two year old Vilna born “coal and fuel dealer” Edward M. Gans, the co-owner of Harris and Gans, former Norwalk, CT, City Councilman and “Zionist” passed away today.



1942: Bernhard Bästleingave the Gestapo a written statement explaining why he had been and would remain a Resistance fighter.”



1943(3rd of Kislev, 5704):Esther "Etty" Hillesum a young Jewish woman whose letters and diaries, kept between 1941 and 1943 describe life in Amsterdam during the German occupation died at Auschwitz. They were published posthumously in 1981, before being translated into English in 1983.


 


1943(3rd of Kislev, 5704): One of two dates given for the death of 65 year old movie actor Paul Otto who committed suicide along with his wife in Berlin when his Jewish origins were discovered.


1943: All nine Palestinian Hebrew newspapers and the German-language daily issued at Tel Aviv re-appeared today after eleven days' suspension. “The suspension resulted from” the “simultaneous uncensored publication” by these papers “of identical accounts with uniform editorial comment on the search carried” out at a kibbutz named Ramat Hakovesh by British forces looking for arms.  The search turned violent resulting in the murder of one of the Jewish settlers. The articles in the newspapers had been part of the Jewish response which, among other things, continues to claim the right for Jews to be able to defend themselves.



1943: Italy's Interior Ministry orders the concentration of all Italian Jews in camps.



1944(14th of Kislev, 5705): Anna Dresden-Polak’s husband, Barend, died today Auschwitz. Anna, a member of the Dutch ladies’ gymnastic team that won the Gold Medal at the 1928 Olympics, had been killed the year before at Sobibor along with Eva, her six-year old daughter.



1944: More than 100,000 persons, more than half the population of the city, greeted Dr. Chaim Weizmann when he visited Tel Aviv today for the first time since arriving in Palestine two weeks ago. The demonstration was the greatest welcome ever given to anyone in Tel Aviv.  Weizmann responded by saying, “I never imagined my own people could have received me with such spontaneous joy.” When he went to Tel Aviv to review 200 soldiers who were serving in the new Jewish bridged of the British Army, he was greeted by crowds that were so large that they filled balconies, windows, lamp posts, trees, and telephone poles.  Weizmann saw a direct connection between the fate of European Jewry, these troops and the creation of a Jewish commonwealth.  He told the crowd that the “remnants of the European Jews” would receive the Jewish brigade as “a harbinger of freedom and by the masses of Jewish soldiers serving in the Allied armies as a symbol of national unity.”



1944: Cordell Hull completed his service as U.S. Secretary of State, a post he had held since FDR’s inauguration in March, 1933. Hull’s wife, Frances Witz, was the daughter of an Austrian Jew, something he worked very hard to hide.  He may have won a Nobel Prize for helping to create the United Nations, but for Jews, his policy opposing the entry of Jewish refugees from Hitler’s Europe, should have earned a large measure of contempt. 



1946: Bombs are set off in Jerusalem.



1947: A day after the two-state solution is approved by the United Nations, Arabs begin attacking Jews in Palestine.



1947: Arab rifleman fired shots at an ambulance on its way to Hadassah Hospital on Mt. Scopus.



1947(17th of Kislev, 5708): Arabs armed with machine guns and grenades attacked a bus traveling from the coast to Jerusalem killing four Jews including Jerusalemites Hirsh Stark and Hanna Weiss and twenty year old Shoshana Mizrachi Farhi who had been on her way to Jerusalem to get married.



1947(17th of Kislev, 5708): In another attack on a bus bound for Jerusalem, Arab gunmen killed Hehama Hacohen a pathologist at Hadassah Hospital.



1947(17th of Kislev, 5708): Moshe Goldman, a twenty five year old from Jerusalem was shot dead at the Jaffa-Tel Aviv boundary.



1947(17th of Kislev, 5708): Fifty-five year old director, actor, writer and producer Ernst Lubitsch passed away. Born in 1892, his urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch".”



http://www.lubitsch.com/



1947(17th of Kislev, 5708): Sixty-nine year old Ukrainian native William Edlin who came to the United States in 1891 where attended Stanford University where he acquired many of the Socialist ideas that would influence his career as a journalist, author and activist who “helped to found the Workmen’s Circle’ and serve as “president of the I.L. Peretz Yiddish Writers Union” passed away today.



http://findingaids.cjh.org/?pID=1529162



https://www.jta.org/1947/12/01/archive/william-edlin-editor-of-jewish-day-dies-was-69-years-old



 



1947: On the day after UN decree for Israel, Arabs attacked Jewish settlements. Even though the Jewish state would not officially declare its independence until May, 1948, this day marked the beginning of the Israeli War of Independence as a bus near Lydda (Lod) was attacked by Arabs killing five passengers. The Arabs proclaimed a general strike and attacked the commercial quarter near the Old City of Jerusalem. The Arabs, including those living outside of Palestine, were determined to destroy the Jewish homeland before the mandate officially ended.  Their efforts would include attacks on Jewish settlements throughout the Yishuv as well as a siege of the City of Jerusalem.  The Arabs were well armed and moved about with impunity.  The Jews were limited in their response by an international arms boycott and the presence of the British Army.



1947: Birthdate of David Mamet, an American playwright, screenwriter, director and poet born to a Jewish family in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. Mamet first gained acclaim for a trio of off-Broadway plays in The Duck Variations, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and American Buffalo. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for Glengarry Glen Ross. In 2006, he wrote The Wicked Son, an examination of self-hating and assimilated Jews.



1948: In Philadelphia, comedian and late night television host Joey Bishop and Sylvia Rzga gave birth to Larry Bishop who partnered with high school chum Rob Reiner, the son of Carl Reiner before pursuing a solo career in director, writing and acting.



1948(28th of Cheshvan): Seventy-three year old Brooklyn born realtor Joseph May, the recently “elected treasurer of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies and husband of “Aimee D. Loeb” passed away today.



http://www.cemeteryscribes.com/calendar.php?living=0&hide=altbirth,burial,bapt,endl,seal&tree=Cemeteries&m=12&y=2018



1948:Colonel Moshe Dayan of Israel and Lieutenant Colonel Abdullah el Tell of Transjordan Arab Legion sign cease-fire agreement “which included provision for a fortnightly convoy to Mount Scopus.”



1948:The American Council for Judaism asks Attorney General Tom C. Clark for a federal investigation of Menachem Begin’s U.S. activities.



1949: Birthdate of Matti Caspi, the member of Kibbutz Hanita who became a leading force in the Israeli pop music world.



http://www.matticaspi.co.il/home/index_eng.shtml



1950(21st of Kislev, 5711): William Ackerman, the rabbi at Temple Beth Israel in Meridian, Mississippi passed away opening the way for his widow, Paula Ackerman to become “the interim spiritual leader” of the congregation. (Jewish Women’s Archives)



1950: Birthdate of Danny Sanderson, the native of Kfar Blum, who began his musical in 1971 after leaving the IDF by recording  "The Left-handed Octopus" with the Egyptian-born musician Zouzou Moussa and the orchestra of Israel Radio Arabic.



1952: Birthdate of Semyon Mayevich Bychkov a Russian-American conductor who is the brother of the conductor Yakov Kreizberg, of blessed memory.


1952: In Chicago, “Doris "Doralee" (née Sinton), a homemaker, and Lester Patinkin, who operated two large Chicago-area metal factories, the People's Iron & Metal Company and the Scrap Corporation of America” gave birth to Mandel Bruce Patinkin who gained fame as Mandy Patinkin who attended Kenwood High and the University of Kansas before beginning his Broadway career that playing Che Guevara in Evita and a leading role in Stephen Sondheim's Follies.



1953: Edward Mutesa II, the kabaka (king) of Uganda is deposed and exiled to London by Sir Andrew Cohen, Governor of Uganda. “Sir Andrew was from a distinguished Anglo-Jewish family. He was a descendant of Levi Barent Cohen, the founder of the oldest Ashkenazi family in Britain.”



1953: “Confessions of a Nervous Man” by George Axelrod which depicts a “playwright waiting anxiously in a theatre district bar for the newspaper reviews of his first play to hit the streets” was broadcast on the television drama show, “Studio One.”



1953(23rd of Kislev, 5714): Elvira Nathan Solis, “the daughter of David Hays Solis and Elvira Nathan Solis, sister of Emily Grace Soils Solis-Cohen and Isaac Nathan Solis, and a granddaughter of Jacob da Silva Solis” passed away today in New York



1954: As Churchill celebrated his 80th birthday, Moshe Sharett (formerly Shertok), sent the aging British statesman a telegram praising him for his leadership again the Nazis during World War II and for his steadfast support of Zionism in general and the Balfour Declaration in particular.



1954: The Alma Trio including pianist Adolph Baller, whose hands were crushed by the Nazis in 1938 after which his fiancée, Edith Strauss-Neustadt helped him to escape to the United States, performed the first of three Beethoven concerts tonight at Town Hall in New York City.



1955: Birthdate of Kiev native Peter Fishman who became a leading sculptor and painter.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Fishman#/media/File:Admiral_Makaroff.JPG



1955: “Pipe Dream” the seventh Rogers and Hammerstein musical opened on Broadway today at the Shubert Theatre.



1956(26th of Kislev, 5717): Second Day of Chanukah



1956(26th of Kislev, 5717):Seventy-eight year old Budapest native Jean Schwartz, the songwriter who came to the United States at the age of 13 who wrote “Mr. Dooley” – a song “which was sung by the title character in The Wizard of Oz” passed away today.



1957: Eighty three year old Winston Churchill receives early Christmas presents – a case of Israeli oranges from Vera Weizmann, widow of Israel’s first President and longtime friend of Churchill and a Virginia Ham from American Jewish financer Bernard Baruch.



1958(18th of Kislev, 5719): Seventy-five year old Russian born Yiddish author and co-founder of the Sholem Aleichem Schools, Joshua Kaminsky who in November of 1937 “introduced the new Kinder Tsaytung (Children’s newspaper) with a “cover that features a buoyant impressionistic drawing by Nota Koslowsky” passed away today.



https://www.jta.org/1958/12/02/archive/joshua-kaminsky-educator-and-author-dies-in-new-york



1959: Today’s broadcast of the Play of the Week featured the David Susskind production Sartre’s “Crime of Passion” translated by Lionel Abel, the Brooklyn born son of author Anna Schwartz Abelson and Rabbi Alter Abelson whom “Sartre called the most intelligent man in New York City.”



1960: Birthday of Hiam Abbass, the Israeli Arab actress and director born in Nazareth.



1961(22nd of Kislev, 5722): Ninety-one year old Louis Parnes, the chairman of the board of the Paul Parnes Corporation and a founder of the Brooklyn Jewish Center and the Louis Parnes Foundation passed away today.



1962: The United Nations General Assembly elects U Thant of Burma as the new UN Secretary-General. U Thant was the Secretary General who caved in to President Nasser’s demand to remove the UN peace keeping force from the Sinai.  The men in the Blue Helmets were the guarantee that Egypt would not remilitarize the Sinai.  U Thant’s spineless behavior, in violation of the understandings that had caused the Israelis to withdraw after the 1956 Sinai Campaign, set events in motion that would lead to war in June of 1967.



1962: Birthdate of actor Ben Stiller



1964(25th of Kislev, 5725): first day of Chanukah



1964: In Mexico City, actor and producer Muni Lubezki and his wife gave birth to cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki Morgenstern.



1964: “The Diamond Ring” a song written by Al Kooper and Irwin Levine was recorded today.



1965: Ninety-four out the 100 prominent Washingtonians whom Charles E. Smith had invited to a dinner at the Mayflower listened to his vision of what would become a campus on Montrose Road in Rockville that would include the Wasserman Residence, the JCC and the Charles E. Smith Day School



1966: Barbados becomes independent from the United Kingdom. In 1667 “many Jews moved to Barbados to retain their British citizenship. Jews are believed to have been established in Barbados as early as 1628. In 1661, three Jewish businessmen requested permission to institute trade routes between Barbados and Surinam, which was still part of the British Empire. As will be seen repeatedly, even though the Jews had full legal citizenship and were allowed by the government to trade and conduct business, their success caused the other settlers to try to limit the scope of Jewish trade. British businessmen claimed the Jews traded more with the Dutch than the British, and the government did finally put limits on the Jews' ability to trade. They were not allowed to purchase slaves, and were required to live in a Jewish ghetto. By 1802, the colonial government in Barbados had removed all discriminatory regulations from the Jews living there. A Jewish community remained on Barbados until 1831, when a hurricane destroyed all of the towns on the island.” By the time Barbados gained its independence, there were approximately 80 Jews living in the country. In 1987, the Nidhei Israel Synagogue would be rededicated in a new location and the Old Jewish cemetery in Bridgetown would be restored. “The former Nidhei Israel building, which served as the synagogue, is today used for a library. The Jewish cemetery in Barbados is considered to be the oldest graveyard in the Western Hemisphere. A few of the graves date back to the 1660s and include Samuel Hart, son of Moses Hart, and Moses Nehemiah (the first Jew to live in Virginia). Today, approximately 40 Jews live on Barbados. It was the Jewish community of Barbados that initiated and maintains the Caribbean Jewish Congress.”



1966: Birthdate of Leonard “Lenny” Abrahamson, the native of Dublin whose films have twice won the IFTA award for best film.



1968: “The Shakiest Gun in the West” a comedy written by Everett Greenbaum was released today.



1969:  In New York City,actress Susan Kohner and Berlin-born novelist/menswear designer John Weitz” gave birth Christopher John Weitz who “is best known for his work with his brother Paul Weitz” for their work on the films “American Pie” and “About a Boy.”



1971: In Montreal, Toby Gilsig who is Jewish and his wife Claire gave birth to actress Jessalyn Sara Gilsig who had a Jewish wedding when she married Bobby Solomon.



1974(16th of Kislev, 5735): Seventy four year old Bert Gordon (Barney Gorodetsky) whose career spanned the golden age of radio (Eddie Cantor Program) to the golden age of television (Dick Van Dyke Show) passed away today.



1974: In northern Israel, one Muslim was killed and another was wounded during a home invasion at Rihaniya.



1975: WABC-AM is scheduled to broadcast Message of Israel with an address by Dr. Human Judah Schachtel.



1975: WBAI is scheduled to broadcast “A Hanukah Offering – Shtetl on the Hudson with Issac Bashevis Singer, Leonard Michaels and Jerome Charyn, writers who transformed the Jewish experience from the old country to New York



1975: WMCA is scheduled to broadcast a 2 hour program featuring an interview of playwright Dore Schary.



1975: WNBC is scheduled to broadcast the long-running Jewish radio series, Eternal Light, with an appearance by Harry Kemelman, author of “Tuesday the Rabbi Saw Red.”



1975: New York Senator Jacob Javits, the state’s most prominent Jewish Republican, is scheduled to appear on a broadcast of Focus on Youth.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F30C10F73E55157493C2AA178AD95F418785F9



1976(8th of Kislev, 5737): Eighty-five year old Philip Reis Alstat, the native of Lithuania and graduated of Columbia University and Jewish Theological Seminary who was a leading rabbi in the Conservative movement,  ardent Zionist and author for 40 years of “Strange to Relate,” a weekly syndicated newspaper column passed away today.



1977: In South Africa, Harry Schwarz began serving as “Shadow Minister of Finance.”



1977: U.S. premiere of Neil Simon’s “The Goodbye Girl” directed by Herbert Ross, co-starring Richard Dreyfus in his Oscar winning performance as “Elliot Garfield.”



1978(30th of Cheshvan, 5739): Rosh Chodesh Kislev



1979(10th of Kislev, 5740):  Seventy-eight year old Zeppo Marx, the youngest of the famed Marx Brothers, passed away.



http://www.marx-brothers.org/biography/zeppo.htm



https://www.biography.com/people/zeppo-marx-21181001



1979: Ted Koppel becomes anchor of nightly news on Iranian Hostages (ABC)



1979: Stephen Roy “Reinhardt was nominated by President Jimmy Carter today, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, to a new seat authorized by 92 Stat. 1629.



1980:  Leonard Bernstein’s "West Side Story" closes at Minskoff Theater New York City after 341 performances



1980: “For the second successive Sunday police prevented Moscow refuseniks from attending the unofficial scientific seminar in the apartment of Victor Brailovsky.”



1981: “Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon arrived at the Pentagon today for a meeting with Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger on the strategic cooperation between Israel and the United States.”



1985(17th of Kislev, 5746): Ninety-four year old Israeli artist Joseph Zaritsky passed away. A native of the Ukraine, he studied art in Kiev before making Aliyah in 1923. He moved to Jerusalem in 1929 and finally settled Tzova, a kibbutz near Israel’s capital city.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:313_69~Yossef_Zaritsky,_Safed,_c_1924_1.jpg



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zaritsky,_Yossef,_Painting,_1950-1~B74_0036.jpg



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zaritsky,_Yossef,_Painting,_1950-1~B74_0036.jpg



1988(21st of Kislev, 5749): Amiram Nir, who “was said to have been in Mexico on avocado business” “boarded a one-engine Cessna on a flight from Uruapan to Mexico” which ended “when the plan went down in the mountains” killing Nir.



http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-counterterror-chiefs-son-blames-us-for-his-1988-assassination/



1988(21st of Kislev, 5749): Seventy-four year old Kathleen Annie Pannonica de Koenigswarter (née Rothschild) the daughter of Charles Rothschild, a patron of Jazz and bebop passed a way today.



http://www.thejazzbaroness.co.uk/



1988: As Israeli political leaders continue try and form a government following the election held on November 1, today the Labor Party decided to end coalition negotiations with Likud. At about the same time, its leader, Shimon Peres, vowed that if a measure redefining who is Jewish under the Law of Return were put to a vote in Parliament, every Labor member would ''vote clearly against it.''



1988: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. buys RJR Nabisco for $25.07 billion. All three of the takeover kings were Jewish.



1993: “Schindler’s List,” the movie version Schindler’s Ark premiered in Washington, D.C. today



1994: Mark B. Cohen completed his service as “Democratic Whip of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.” Today.



1994(27th of Kislev, 5755): Eighty-six year old “Lionel Stander, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants whose gravelly voice and beetling brow made him a memorable presence on stage and screen and whose political beliefs in the era of the Hollywood blacklist earned him a long exile from American films, died today at his home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. (As reported by Lawrence Van Gelder)



http://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/02/obituaries/lionel-stander-dies-at-86-actor-who-defied-blacklist.html?scp=1&sq=Lionel+Stander&st=nyt



1997(1st of Kislev, 5758): Rosh Chodesh Kislev



1997(1st of Kislev, 5758): Kathy Acker (née Karen Lehmann) “an American experimental novelist, prose stylist, playwright, essayist, postmodernist and sex-positive feminist writer” passed away.



1997: The New York Timesfeatured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including The Darkside of Camelot by Seymour Hersh and an essay by Alfred Kazin entitled “Missing Murray Kempton.”



1998: Michael Dobbs examines the interaction between major American companies and the Nazis in “Ford and GM Scrutinized for Alleged Nazi Collaboration” published today.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm



2000(3rd of Kislev, 5761):  Seventy-five year old Holocaust survivor Ilona Karmel who was remembered as the author of the novel, An Estate of Memory passed away today. It is considered one of the most significant novels in English to address the experiences of Jewish women during World War II. Born in Cracow in 1925, Karmel was interned along with her mother and sister in three different labor camps after the Nazi occupation of Poland. She sustained severe leg injuries during the war and required years of recuperation before immigrating to the United States in 1948. Within four years of arriving in the United States, Karmel graduated from Radcliffe College, won a fiction-writing contest sponsored by Mademoiselle Magazine, and completed her first novel, Stephania. Stephania focused on the physical and spiritual recovery of a young woman who had survived the Nazi concentration camps. In 1969, Karmel published An Estate of Memory, which was reissued by the Feminist Press in 1986. Reviewed on the front page of the New York Times Book Review, it was one of the earliest significant literary treatments of Jewish experience in the Nazi camps and remains one of the most significant novels to address Jewish women's experiences during the Holocaust. Karmel taught creative writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for many years where an annual writing prize that she established has been renamed in her honor.



http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/18/arts/ilona-karmel-75-who-wrote-of-holocaust.html



http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/karmel-ilona



2000: Time of Favor (Ha-hesder) Israeli writer-director Joseph Cedar's 2000 debut film, starring Aki Avni was released in Israel today.



2000(3rd of Kislev, 5761): Seventy-five year old Ilona Karmel, “literary chronicler of the Holocaust and author of An Estate of Memory, passed away.(As reported by the Jewish Women’s Archives)



http://jwa.org/thisweek/nov/30/2000/ilona-karmel



2001(15th of Kislev, 5762): Ninety-three year old Syracuse native Robert P. Jacobs who served as the Rabbi at Temple Adas Emuno and Temp Beth Ha-Tephila before founding the Hillel House at Washington University in 1946 which he served as director until 1972, passed away today in St. Louis, MO.



2001: South African businessman Cyril Kern gave Gilad Sharon a loan to help cover the shortfall in the contributions being raised for his father’s campaign.



2002(25th of Kislev, 5763): First Day of Chanukah; light second candle in the evening



2003: The New York Timesfeatures reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or on topics of special interest to Jewish readers including In An Uncertain World: Tough Choices From Wall Street to Washington by Robert E. Rubin and Jacob Weisberg, Secrets of the City by Anne Roiphe, Primo Levi: A Life by Ian Thomson and Rumsfeld: A Personal Portrait by Midge Decter



2005: Former Labor chairman Shimon Peres announced that he was ending his political activity in the Labor Party and would support Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the upcoming March elections.



2006: Haaretz reported that a small room in Kibbutz Merhavia which was once home to Israel's first woman prime minister, Golda Meir, has been renovated and refurbished  in the style of the 1920s when Golda lived there. It will soon be opened to visitors seeking to learn a little about that period and the severe austerity that prevailed in the Meir household. The reconstructed room is in one of the kibbutz's old stone residential buildings.



2006(9th of Kislev, 5767): Poet, songwriter and journalist Eli Mohar who wrote the “Goings On Around Town” column in the Tel Aviv weekly Ha’ir passed away from cancer at the age of 58.



2006: Sasson Somekh, visiting professor in Jewish Studies, opened the Jews Among Arabs conference at Vanderbilt with a lecture based on his memoir Baghdad Yesterday. Somekh grew up in the Jewish community in Iraq in the 1930s and ‘40s. He pointed out that some 250 Muslim Iraqis died in 1941 while trying to defend their Jewish neighbors being attacked by a pro-Nazi mob. About 150 Jews were killed in the incident, which launched the decline of Jewish community in Iraq, which had thrived there for 26 centuries. 



2007:John Strugnell, controversial Dead Sea Scrolls scholar, passed away.



2007: The Wall Street Journallisted Ramaz as one of the top schools for graduates entering the top eight universities in the country, with 10 out of a class of 100 (class of 2007) going to these schools. The Ramaz School is a coeducational, private Modern Orthodox Jewish prep school located on the Upper East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan.



2007: At The Sydney Jewish Museum an exhibition styled “Butterflies of Hope” comes to an end. “Butterflies of Hope” is a very special exhibition designed to raise awareness of the plight of children trapped in war.  Developed for children 10+ and their families, the exhibition introduces the Holocaust from a Child Survivors perspective.  The experiences of Sydney based child Holocaust Survivors will be highlighted, along with original objects and photographs.  Notably, original children’s drawings and a toy butterfly from the Terezin ghetto have been loaned from the Terezin Memorial Museum for the exhibition. A photographic exhibition of children caught up in recent genocides will also feature in the exhibition.  Children are invited to inscribe a message of hope for children affected by such atrocities, and place it within the exhibition in support of the right of every child to live in peace. 



2007: The week long launch of "Operation: Last Chance” will continue with a press conference in Chile. The Simon Wiesenthal Center's "Operation: Last Chance" is targeted to find and bring to justice at least some of the thousands of Nazis still hiding in South America 62 years after the end of World War II. It will probably be the final major effort to locate and bring to justice Nazis in hiding scattered around the world.



2007: The New York Timesreviewed The Mascot: Unraveling the Mystery of My Jewish Father’s Nazi Boyhood by Mark Kurzem.



2007(20th of Kislev, 5768): IDF Private Ma’ayan Rotenberg of Kibbutz Beit Haemek passed away as a result of an accident while training with a tank unit.  He died a week before his 19th birthday.



2007(20th of Kislev, 5678): Ninety-three year old Isaac Cohen who served as Chief Rabbi of Ireland from 1958 to 1979 passed away today.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Windermere%27s_Fan_(1925_film)



2008: The Orthodox Union's National Conference meeting, at the Ramada Hotel in Jerusalem comes to a close.  Participants included Rabbi Metzger, Rabbi Lau, Rabbi Menachem Genack and Rabbi Herschel Schachter. The Keynote address was given by British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.



2008: The International Conference on Contemporary Issues and Halacha, opens at Yeshurun Synagogue in Jerusalem.



2008: Four of eight soldiers wounded in terrorist attacks on the Nahal Oz Base Gaza crossing during the Sabbath remained hospitalized. Three of them are being treated for moderate to serious wounds in Soroka Medical center in Be'er Sheva. The fourth victim, Sergeant Noam Nakash, 21, of Beersheba, lost his leg in a mortar attack and is being treated in Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.



2009: “Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza” a play panned by The Sunday Times, condemned by the Board of Deputies of British Jews and described as “a blood libel” by Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic opened at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon



2009: "Pray for You" a song written by Joel Brentlinger & Jaron Lowenstein and recorded by American singer Jaron Lowenstein was released today.



2009: Amy Goodman, host of the radio and television program "Democracy Now!," discusses and signs her new book, Breaking the Sound Barrier, at Busboys and Poets in Washington, D.C.



2009: AJWS and its President, Ruth Messinger join Congregation Emanu-El, Congregation Emanu-El’s Young Adult Community, Congregation Beth Sholom, Congregation Sherith Israel, Taube Center for Jewish Life at the JCCSF, The Hub of the JCCSF, The SF Bay Area Darfur Coalition and Congregation Sha’ar Zahav to cosponsor an advance screening of Reporter the new documentary featuring Nicholas Kristof, two-time Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist.  Reporter documents Kristoff’s efforts to write about the gut-wrenching conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.



2009:The opening of the John Demjanjuk trial today in Munich had to be delayed by over an hour because of the flood of visitors - including Holocaust survivors - who wished to observe what might be the last prosecution of an alleged Nazi war criminal



2009(13th of Kislev, 5770): Eighty-nine year old Columbia Law School graduate Charles Miller Metzner, the former “counsel to the General Jewish Council” and a federal judge starting in 1959 passed away today.



https://www.fjc.gov/node/1385066



2010:"My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish, and I'm Home for the Holidays!," is scheduled to have its first performance in Charlotte, NC.



2010: The 92nd Street Y in New York apologized for the way Deborah Solomon had conducted her interview of Steve Martin along with an offer to refund their money.



2010: The Shin Bet has arrested three Palestinian militants suspected of carrying out a shooting attack against two Israelis in late September, it emerged today The three Palestinians belong to the Abu-Moussa group, a splinter faction of Fatah; the head of the cell received his military training in Syria and Lebanon.



2010(23rd of Kislev, 5771): Eighty-four year old Cleveland native Lawrence E. “Larry” Gelfand, Professor-Emeritus in the Department of History at the University of Iowa and husband of Miriam Ifland passed away today in Irvine, CA.



2010: Norman Lebrecht reviews “Why Mahler?: How One Man and Ten Symphonies Changed Our World.”



2010:Through the Gale,” the third album of Asaf Avidan & the Mojos was released in Israel today.



2011: The Chabad Jewish Center in Metairie, LA, is scheduled to host its monthly Rosh Chodesh event which this month is entitled “Impression & Expression: The Essential Woman.”



2011: In New Orleans, Temple Sinai is scheduled to host its final session of this month’s Adult Education Series, “The Major Message of the Minor Prophet!”



2011: David Schmahmann is scheduled to discuss his new novel “The double Life of Alfred Buber” at the final event of the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore’s Jewish Book Month.



2011:Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's top cabinet ministers approved the handover of $100 million in tax money to the Palestinian Authority today, despite the vocal opposition of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.



2011:An errant volley of projectiles landed in the vicinity of a top Israel Defense Forces officer today, in what preliminary reports say was a severe mishap during a large-scale drill in Israel's south.



2012: Adi Neuhaus, first prize winner of the “Voice of Music Young” Artist Competition is scheduled to perform at noon today in Jerusalem.



2012: “A Late Quartet,” Israeli director Yaron Zilberman's engrossing drama about an illustrious string quartet, is scheduled to shown at several cinemas in New York City.



2012: “A Search for God Through Bluegrass and Klezmer” published today described the career of Andy Statman.



http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/nyregion/andy-statmans-search-for-god-in-music.html?ref=music&_r=0



2012: In a clever combination of Mitzvot (Tzdekah and Shabbat) the Young Professionals Network is scheduled to host a Shabbat dinner where the attendees will make contributions toward the B'nai B'rith's Disaster Relief Fund for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.



2012:Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, who delivered a supportive speech of Israel at the UN before its vote yesterday on the Palestinian statehood, said today "the bottom line is we will not let the Jewish people and the State of Israel stand alone when the going gets tough."



2012:  At a meeting of the Saban Forum, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blamed the Palestinians for the collapse of the peace talks in 2000, when she said, “I don’t care how many people try to revise that history, the fact is [Arafat] said no at Camp David.”  “The Palestinians could have had a state as old as I am if they had made the right decision in 1947,” she said. “They could have had a state if they had worked with my husband and then-Prime Minister Barak at Camp David. They could have had a state if they’d worked with Prime Minister Olmert and Foreign Minister Livni.”


2013(27thof Kislev, 5774): Shabbat Chanukah


 


2013: Scheduled opening of the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.


2013:A Palestinian was shot to death this morning by Border Guard volunteers, who were searching after illegal aliens in the area of Yarkon Cemetery in Petah Tikva. The Border Guard stated that a policeman shot the Palestinian after the latter attempted to stab him. (As reported by Hassan Shaalan)


2013: Beduin Israelis and their supporters throughout the country staged protest demonstrations today against the controversial Prawer resettlement plan.


2014: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present “Modeling the Flood Story – from Ancient to Modern Times.”


2014: As part of UK Jewish Comedy Festival, LOCO and JW3 are scheduled to present “Time Travel” with Woody Allen


2014: In Melbourne, “King of the Jews” and “Magic Men” are scheduled to be shown at the Jewish International Film Festival.


2014: Thirty-one year old Gill Rosenberg, “an Israeli-Canadian woman who traveled to Syria to fight alongside the Kurds there earlier this month has been abducted by Islamic State fighters, Hebrew media reported today, citing Syrian jihadist-linked media


2014: According to a report published today in Haaretz, Jerusalem’s “is plumbing new depths to devise funerary solutions to Israel’s shortage of space, and has broken ground on two experimental crypts near the entrance to the city.


2014: “Rafi Eitan, the head of the Bureau of Scientific Relations in November 1985 that ran Jonathan Pollard confirmed Sunday for the first time that the prime minister Shimon Peres and defense minister Yitzhak knew full well that Israel had a spy within the US armed forces” who was in fact Jonathan Pollard.


2014: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including  George Marshall by Debi and Irwin Unger with Stanley Hirschon and an essay “To Russia, With Tough Love” by Marsha Gessen


2015: Friends and family of Dr. Fred Goldblatt, whose incomparable contributions to the Cedar Rapids Jewish community include a willingness to share his considerable musical skills, prepare to celebrate his natal day.


2015(18thof Kislev, 5776): “Janet Wolfe — gleeful gadabout, archetypal Gothamite and the longtime executive director of the New York City Housing Authority Symphony” passed away today at the age of 101. (As reported by Margalit Fox)



2015: Seventy-one year old Sheldon Silver “the son of a hardware store owner on the Lower East Side” who rose become “one of the most feared politicians in New York State was found guilty…of federal corruption charges” today.



2015: “Righteous Among Us: Two Who Defied the Nazis,” a film about how Waitsill and Martha Sharp worked to save Jews from the Shoah in 1939 is scheduled to be shown at Congregation Beth Shalom in Northbrook, Illinois.



2016: The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is scheduled to host a memorial tribute for Elie Wiesel this evening.


2016: “For the first time in three months, Israeli jets reportedly struck targets in Syria early this morning, hitting a Bashar Assad regime military base and a Hezbollah convoy en route to Lebanon, according to foreign media.”


2016: “Army reported” today that “several leading rabbis have decided to campaign against moves by the IDF to further integrate women into combat units and plan to advise religious male soldiers to avoid orders relating to mixed-gender acivities.”


2016: During an interviews on CNBC today, future Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said that the Trump administration’s job is to “make sure that the average American has wage increases and good jobs” and “his priority was getting a sustained growth of GDP of 3% or 4%.”


2016: The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled to present “We Were Neighbors: Remembering Middle Eastern Jewish Communities” which will include “scholarly, first-person reflections by award-winning writers Lucette Lagnado (The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World) and André Aciman (Out of Egypt)


2017: The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host a noon-time “chill and chat” with Rabbi Michael Rosenfeld-Schueler who also will be leading an “in-depth text-based Gemara learning” session before the weekday evening meal.


2017: The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center is scheduled to host Peter G. Weintraub’s first session of “Introduction to Judaism.”


2017: The Jewish Music Forum is scheduled to host a lecture by historian Daniel Jütte on “Gustav Mahler:  Jewish Identity and Nineteenth-Century Musical Culture”  followed by a concert featuring Arnold Schoenberg and Rainer Riehn’s chamber orchestra arrangement of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth)


2017: “The Jstyle Winter Premiere Party” is scheduled to take place at the StoneWater Golf Club in Highland Heights, Ohio.


2017: The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education is scheduled to host “An Evening of Unity”


2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such as David Fromkin whose works included the must-read A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East continues today.


2018: “The 10 Best Books of 2018” from the NYT included How To Change Your Mind: What the Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression and Transcendence by Michael Pollan, “the son of author and financial consultant Stephen Pollan and columnist Corky Pollan.”


2018: As of today, the Kfir Infantry Brigade has “completed an extensive two-month exercise simulating a war in the Gaza Strip against the Hamas terror group” prior to the unit being “stationed outside the coastal enclave” in 2019.


2018: The Israel Museum is scheduled to host a lecture on “Vayeshev” with “Noga Elias-Zalmanovitch” at 11:00 A.M.


2018: As American Jews prepare for Shabbat, they dealt with reports of arsonists being responsible for a fire at an Orthodox synagogue in Houston, the attack by vandals on the offices of Professor Elizabeth Midlarksy at Columbia who painted the walls with Swastikas and the ramifications of Michael Cohen’s plea deal that included claims that were diametrically opposite to President Trump’s description of the same events.


 

This Day, December 1, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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December 1

500: (Kislev 4428): This is the traditional date of the closing of the Talmudic era and the beginning of the Saboraic era. Saboraim is “the title applied to the principals and scholars of the Babylonian academies in the period immediately following that of the Amoraim.  The Saboraic Era lasted for approximately 200 years.

800: Charlemagne judges the accusations against Pope Leo III in the Vatican. Fourteen years later, with the crown firmly on his head Charlemagne would issue his Capitulary for the Jews.


During his papacy, Leo III “introduced public disputations between Jews and Christians, resulting in forced conversions to Christianity.”


1081: Birthdate of Louis VI of France. “During his reign jurisdiction over the Jews (and their revenues) gradually passed from royal control to the hands of the Church. The Abbey of Saint-Denis, in 1112, obtained from the king judicial control over the Jews in the town. In 1119 Louis ceded half his income from the Jews of *Tours to the Abbey of Saint-Martin there; and in 1122 he granted five houses belonging to Jews to Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis.” (As reported by Bernhard Blumenkranz)


1135: Henry I of England passed away. During Henry's reign (1100–1135) a royal charter was granted to Joseph, the chief rabbi of London, and all his followers. Under this charter, Jews were permitted to move about the country without paying tolls, to buy and sell goods and property, to sell their pledges after holding them a year and a day, to be tried by their peers, and to be sworn on the Torah rather than on a Christian Bible. Special weight was attributed to a Jew's oath, which was valid against that of 12 Christians, because they represented the King of England in financial matters. The sixth clause of the charter was especially important: it granted to the Jews the right of movement throughout the kingdom, as if they were the king's own property (sicut res propriæ nostræ).  Henry died without a direct male heir.  The result was civil strife that was bad for England in general and the Jews in particular.  Peace would only come when Henry’s grandson, Henry II, took the throne.


1145: Pope Eugenius III issued “Quantum praedecessores” a papal bull calling for the Second Crusade – another disaster for the Jews of Europe and Palestine.


1145: Pope Eugene IIIsent a papal bull to the French King, Louis VII, proclaiming the Second Crusade. Led by Louis and Emperor Conrad III from 1147 to 1149, the crusade failed to accomplish its goal.


1291: Eight year old Infanta Isabella of Castile, the eldest daughter of Sancho IV, the ruler of Castile “who treated the story of the affair between Rahel la Fermosa, a Jewish woman from Toledo, and King Alfonso VIII as fact and not fable” married James II of Aragon.


1516: Jerusalem surrendered to Selim I, the Ottoman Sultan


1521: Forty-five year old Pope Leo X, one of those Italian Popes whose pursuit of other interests left him “no time to think of torturing Jews” passed away today. Bonet de Lates, a Jew from Provence served as Leo’s physician and unofficial advisor.  He was more of an aristocrat than man of the cloth who was more concerned about navigating among the competing temporal powers than matters of religion. His leniency towards the Jews may have stemmed from an attitude summed up by his statement that “It is well known how useful this fable of Christ has been to us and ours!”


1573(Kislev, 5334): This date marks the death of Solomon Luria who was born in 1510 at Brest-Litovsk.  Luria is known as the "Rashal" or the Maharshal. A contemporary of Salomon Shakna, he represented an opposing view in Talmudic study, believing in plain but lucid methods. He was also the author of the Yam Shel Shlomo (Sea of Solomon), a commentary on several volumes of the Talmud, and Chokmat Shlomo (Wisdom of Solomon) in which he corrected many faulty readings in the Talmud, Rashi and the Tosophot.


 


1626: Ibn Farukh (Governor of Jerusalem) was deposed after harshly persecuting the Jews.


1652(Tevet, 5413): Portuguese Jewish statesman Manuel Fernando de Villarreal was executed by the Inquisition.


1676: Aaron Samuel Kaidanover the Chief Rabbi of Cracow, who lost two of his two daughters and had all his possession stolen during the Khmelnytsky Uprising, passed away today “while attending the Vadd HaGalil of Krakow.”


1742: The Jews living in “Great Russia” were expelled by order of Empress Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great and Catherin I.


1742: Suleiman Pasha of Damascus ended the siege of Tiberias


1762: Lob Kann’s son, Moses Kann, the chief rabbi of Hesse-Darmstadat, passed away today.



1793(27th of Kislev, 5554): Third Day of Chanukah


1793: The day after he had passed away, “Abraham ben Jacob” was buried at the “Alderney Road (Globe Rd.) Jewish Cemetery” today.


1820(25th of Kislev, 5581): Chanukah


1820: Hayman and Almeria Levy gave birth to their oldest child, George Levy


1825: Czar Alexander I passed away.  This anti-Semitic Russian monarch’s death coincided with a temporary cessation of the forced re-settlement of Jews in the Pale of Settlement.  The cruel re-settlement policy would be quickly reinstituted by his son and successor, Nicholas I. Prayer for the Czar: May the Lord keep the Czar…far away from the Jews.


1825:Nicholas I, the incompetent, reactionary Czar who led his nation to defeat in the Crimean War and promulgated a series of anti-Semitic decrees that included drafting under-age Jewish boys for 25 years of military service, the banning of Yiddish and the banning of Jews from several cities including Kiev.


1833: The music journal, Le Ménestrel which was a competitor with Maurice Schlesinger’s Gazette Musicale de Paris, first appeared today.


1834: Birthdate of Joseph Blumenthal, the native of Munich who became a successful New York businessman who served in the State Assembly and was instrumental in bring down the Tweed Ring.


1841: In Charleston, SC,Emanuel Nunes Carvalho married Caroline A. (Woolf) Carvalho.


1843: Birthdate of Leopold Lowenstein a German rabbi born from Gailingen, Baden. The son of a rabbi, he would eventually serve as the Rabbi for three districts located in his native Baden.


1844: In an election for Chief Rabbi of the British Empire Jacob Adler received 121 votes, Hirsch Hirschfeld 12, and Samson Raphael Hirsch 2.


1848: Birthdate of Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld, or Sonnenfeld, who was the Chief Rabbi and co-founder of the Edah HaChareidis, Haredi Jewish community in Jerusalem, during the years of the British Mandate of Palestine. 


1850: Birthdate of Hermann M. Kisch, the thirty-yearlong member of the Indian Civil Service diplomat who had earned an M.A. from Cambridge in 1879 and was called to the Bar in 1883 and was President of the Bristol Branch of the Anglo-Jewish Association.


1852: A British ship, the Fitzjames under the command of Captain arrived at the Quarantine area in New York tonight.  Among the passengers were two Jews – a man named Drestner from Poland and Augustine Behr from Germany.  Apparently when the ship was about thirty miles from Sandy Hook (off the coast of New York) the two Jews had a discussion about religion that became so heated that Behr stabbed Drestner with his knife.  Drestner was taken to the hospital on Staten Island.  While the police are holding Behr in jail, U.S. authorities say they have authority in the case since the attack took place on British vessel in international waters.  The British Counsel has been notified and may send Behr back to England for a hearing.


1855: The U.S.S. Minnesota, on which Adolph Marix would serve in 1880, was launched today.


1859: In New York City Simon and Rosa Marx (the future Rosa Bloom) gave birth to Samuel Marx


1860: The New York Times correspondent wrote from Jamaica that “an Anti-Jewish feeling is brewing in the community, and I am very much afraid that, politically -- that is, speaking daggers, but using none, for we can never come to that -- a war of races will have to be fought. The colored classes who constitute the education, the planters who represent the wealth, and the blacks who have the force of numbers, are not going to rest satisfied while the Government and the patronage of Government are given up to the Jews, who are clannish enough to employ them to their own use, and to the detriment of all other classes. This is the state of things at present; but the difficulty is far from being settled, and I am afraid the Governor will, at the long run, be forced to retire.”


1861: E. Delafield Smith, the U.S. District Attorney, wrote a letter of introduction to President Lincoln on behalf of Rabbi Fischell “who has been appointed by the Board of Delegates of the Israelites of the U.S. to urge the modification of the laws in relation to chaplains, so far as they affect the practice, though I doubt not unintended exclusion of clergymen of the Jewish faith from acting in that capacity, even in regiments composed of persons of that faith. This class of our citizens has evinced loyalty to the Government, and I need not say is entitled to at least a hearing on this subject. Dr. Fischell is a gentleman of great worth and intelligence.”


1867: Birthdate of Ignacy Mościcki who in 1935 as President of Poland and despite the growing anti-Semitism in the country appointed Biblical scholar, historian and Jewish community leader Moses Schorr to serve in the Senate.


1868: Disraeli completed his first term as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and became the leader of the Opposition.


1870: It was reported today that the Hebrew Charity Fair under the chairmanship of E.B. opened to a full house with a program that included a speech by the Governor of New York.


1870:  Attendance at the second day of the Hebrew Fair for the benefit of Mount Sinai Hospital and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum was less than on opening night, but was robust enough to raise an additional $7,000.  When this total is added to the over $51,000 raised the first night, it means that in only two days the fair has already raise almost $60,000.


1870: Professor Singler’s Orchestra provided the music at tonight’s second annual ball of the Hebrew Young Men’s Literary Association which was held at the Apollo Hall in New York.


1871: The Hebrew Young Men’s Literary and Benevolent Association is scheduled to host an evening of entertainment at the Irving Hall.


1871: It was reported today that children at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum enjoyed a “splendid” Thanksgiving meal filled with “holiday pleasure.”


1871: It was reported today that in Brooklyn all businesses were closed for Thanksgiving except for “saloons and Jew clothing-stores.”


1876: It was reported today that the Hebrew Charity Ball will be held on December 21 at the Academy of Music.


1876: It was reported that Rabbi George Jacobs delivered the invocation at yesterday’s ceremony in Philadelphia, PA during which a monument dedicated to Religious Liberty financed by the B’nai B’rith was presented to the Centennial Committee chaired by A.L. Singer.


1877: The Hebrew Free School Association in New York is providing services to 701 students.


1878: The annual meeting of the Hebrew Free School Association was held today at the schoolhouse located at Number 96 Bowery. As of this date, the association operates five schools, employs 17 teachers and serves 1,045 students.


1879: The Paula Markham troupe including Josephine Sarah Marcus, the future wife of Wyatt Earp arrived by stagecoach in Tombstone, supposedly on the same day that Wyatt and his brother arrived in the Arizona town


1883: In Rushville, Indiana, Jewish merchant Jacob Block is suffering from the after effects of having been slashed with a razor by the son of his competitor Eli Frank while his is son is under arrest for fatally shooting Eli Frank.


1883: In the early morning hours, just after midnight, a troop of peasants from Budas armed with guns and axes attacked Jews living at Zala Lovo in southwestern Hungary.


1885: The new home of Congregation B’nai Jershurun on Madison between 64thand 65th Streets is scheduled to be dedicated today.


1885: Two days after he had passed away, John Hadkins, the husband of Maria Woolf with whom he had had five children was buried today at the “Balls Pond Jewish Cemetery.”


1886: The Wife and daughter of a Polish Jew named Milkowski who has lived in West Carroll Parish came to Lake Providence, LA to report that a mob made of people who owed him money had destroyed the family home and outbuildings at Caledonia.


1887: D. Burkmann, a Polish Jew arrived in New York aboard the Steamship State of Indiana along with Perl Cajesky who had promised him that her husband would repay him for her ticket as soon as they arrived.


1888: Mr. Harpman said today that $500 has been turned over to the committee for the benefit of destitute Jews in Dakota and “there is no longer any need for the money among the Jews” because “they are abundantly supplied” and he feels compelled “to request that nothing further be shipped.”


1890: In Latvia, Isaac and Ida Gelfand gave birth to Maurice Hirsh Gelfand, the Cleveland lawyer and WW I veteran who was the husband of Rachel Shapiro Gelfand and the father of Lawrence Emerson Gelfand.


1891: “Benjamin Berensen Disappears” published today described how Berensen, a Boston Jewish “dry-goods jobber” defrauded his co-religionist out cash and goods valued at $10,000 to $15,000 by using an elaborate check-kiting scheme before skipping town.


1892: Officials of the New York Health department were alarmed yesterday at the reappearance of typhus five months after dealing with the last epidemic which had begun with a group of infected Russian and Polish Jews who had arrived on the SS Massila,


1893: In Posen, Prussia, “Ida (Kohn) and Max Toller, a pharmacist” gave birth to Ernst Toller, a German-Jewish playwright and active anti-fascist, who fought for the Kaiser in World War I and whose sister and brother were to a concentration camp after which he hung himself at the Mayflower Hotel.  W.H. Auden memorialized him with a poem entitled “In Memory of Ernst Toller” published in 1940 in an anthology called Another Time.


 1893: It was reported today that among the dignitaries who had served Thanksgiving Dinner to the children at the United Hebrew Charities’ Industrial School were H.S. Allen, Dr. H.P. Mendes and Mrs. Louis Mendes.


1894: New Yorker A. M. Huntington has purchased University of Chicago Professor William I. Knapp’s 6,000 volume library that included the Ferrara Bible of 1443 which is known as the “Jews Bible.


1895: It was reported today that the Harmonie clubhouse at 42nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues “has already been the scene of some excellent affairs” and that “the club is deeply interested in the success of the Hebrew fair” which means the club “will not give any of its larger affairs until late December.”


1895: It was reported today “that mint sauce, the accompaniment of roast lamb is a survival of the Jewish custom of eating the Passover lamb with bitter herbs.”


1895: “Dr. Silverman On Armenia” published today provided a summary of the views of Rabbi Joseph Silverman of Temple Emanu-El on  “the Turkish persecution directed against the Armenians” as well  the Turkish persecution against Christian missionaries, and against those Americans residing in the Ottoman Empire. Silverman believes that Jews, given their own history of persecution, have an obligation to speak out when others persecuted.


1895: Despite the dismissal of an indictment against Peter Peiser, a delicatessen dealer, who had been arrested for selling sausage on Sunday, today the police will follow the instruction of Acting Police Chief Conlin and arrest today any violators of the Sunday law prohibiting sales after ten o’clock in the morning.


1896: The Fifteenth Biennial Council of the American Hebrew Congregations opened today in Louisville, KY, with a business meeting in the gymnasium of the Yong Men’s Hebrew Associations and ending with a “musicale” at Liederkranz Hall.


1897: Moritz Rosenthal is scheduled to “give his first piano recital…at the Academy of Music.”


1897: Le Figaro published a letter from Zola entitled “Le Syndicat” “in which the novelist defended the position of the Dreyfus faction.”


1898: The United States Consul at Beirut wrote a report today “The Jews in Palestine” which opened by saying “In view of the impetus given the Zionist movement by the second Zionist congress held at Basel in September and also by the Palestine journey of Emperor Wilhelm II, the present status of Jews in Palestine becomes a matter of general interest.”


1899: Forty-six year old Vaiben Louis began serving as the 21st Premier of South Australia.


1900(9thof Kislev, 5661): Parashat Veyetzei


1900(9thof Kislev, 5661): Joshua Ḥayyim ben Mordecai ha-Levi Epstein also known as "Reb Joshua Ḥayyim the Sarsur" who authored a “novella on the Midrah Rabbot” passed away today in his native Wilna.


1901: Birthdate of Budapest native and world class violinist Ilona Fehér who escaped a concentration with her daughter, fought with the partisans and made Aliyah in 1949 where she resumed and expanded her career which is forever memorialized by the foundation created in her name.


1901: The St. Louis World’s Fair which included a display of Conrad Schick’s final model, in four sections, each representing the Temple Mount as it appeared in a particular era, came to a close today.


1901: The St. Louis World’s Fair which included nine of the works of Moshe Maimon which were on display at the Russian Exhibition came to a close today.



1905: A review of The White Terror and The Red: A Novel of Revolutionary Russiaby Abraham Cahan said that “he revolutionary outbreaks in Russia, and particularly the rioting and massacre of Jews in Odessa seem to have been foretold in Abraham Cahan’s dramatic novel of revolutionary Russia in which the vivid pictures of the mob looting houses and assailing men, women and children while the gutters ran with liquor and the streets were strewn with household goods, affords a realistic idea of actual present conditions in the present centers of disturbance in Russia.”




 


 


1905: As of today it was reported that the Hebrew Orphan Asylum in New York is caring for over 1,030 children.


1905: As of today the national committee collecting funds for the relief of the Jews being attacked in Russia totaled $970,130 included contributions of $217 from the Community of Baton Rouge, LA, $510 from the “Israelites and friends of Augusta, GA and $158 from Congregation Mt. Zion in Jersey City, NJ.


1907(25thof Kislev, 5668): Chanukah


1907: In Alpena, Michigan, the community’s Jewish women formed the Hebrew Ladies Benevolent Society.


1909: The first Kibbutz, Degania, was established in pre-state Israel. Aaron David Gordon (1856-1922), one of its founders, was considered the "Apostle" of the kibbutz movement. Each colony was independent and democratically governed. Membership was voluntary and all earnings and expenses were shared.


1911: Peter Bercovitch, of Montreal was appoint “King’s Consul” today.


1911: The Queen of Holland appointed T.M.C. Asser as a “member of the committee formulating the Government’s proposals to the International Committee making arrangements for the third Peace Conference at the Hague.


1911: In Montreal, during a meeting of the Baron de Hirsch Institute, attendees expressed their opposition to “the forcible teaching of Christians Scriptures in schools largely attended by Jewish children.”


1912: Miss Kate Block is scheduled to perform as the soloist at the Seventh Sunday afternoon concert hosted by the Institute in Chicago.


1912: Yiddish theatre stars Jacob P. Adler, Leon Blank and Francis Adler are scheduled to perform for the last time tonight at the Haymarket in Chicago this evening.



1912: The People’s Synagogue Association held services this afternoon at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Michigan Avenue in Chicago.


1913: Birthdate of Hilda Hammerschlagova, who in 1942 was deported from Prague to Ujazdow where she was murdered by the Nazis.


1913: Crete, having obtained self-rule from Turkey after the First Balkan War, is annexed by Greece. “The Jews of Crete are first mentioned in 2 Maccabees and appear to have had a community at Gortys.”  “Toward the end of the 19th century, Crete was made into an independent republic under a Greek prince regent. A parliament was established, with several Jewish representatives, who managed to claim their constitutionally guaranteed seats with great difficulty. After Crete was formally annexed to Greece in 1913, Jewish emigration continued until, by 1941, there were only 364 Jews in Hania, 1 in Rethymnon, and 7 in Herakleion.”


1913(2nd of Kislev, 5674): Sixty-seven year old Rosa (Kahn) Hirschel, the daughter of Samuel and Henriette Kahn passed away today in Schopfen.


 


1914:  It was reported today that the “lack of adequate schools in the rural” areas of the United States “was given as the chief reason why more Jews did not take up farming” – a reality that is being overcome by some daring individuals including “Isaac Neleber the 25 year old owner of a 120 acre in Connecticut.”


1914: A list of contributors to the Central Committee for the Relief of Jews suffering through the war published today included I.L. Greenblatt, San Francisco; Congregation Augdas Achim, Little Rock, AR; Congregation Agudas Achim, Bessemer, Alabama; Congregation Agudas Achim, Braddock, PA; Congregation B’nai Zion, Farrell, PA and Congregation Eitz Chaim in Ellwood City, PA


1914: In Hlinski. Otto Taussig and Frederike, née Federer Taussig gave birth to Czech journalist Josef Taussig and “amateur trombonist” who used his musical skills to survive for almost two years at Theresienstadt before being shipped to Auschwitz and ultimately dying at Flossenburg.


1914: “Frank Appeals to Highest Court” published today provides a complete of the pleadings made by the attorneys representing Leo Frank before the U.S. Supreme Court.


1915: First night of a “fete” held for the benefit of the Spanish and Portuguese Sisterhood which is chaired by Mrs. Mortimer M. Meken. 


1915: “The Joint Distribution Committee which represents the three largest of the American Jewish committees for the relief of Jewish sufferers in the European war zones voted” today to send those in need an additional $229,000 of aid.


1915: “The Spanish and Portuguese Congregation gave a series of historical tableaus in its synagogue” tonight “as part of a fair held by the Sisterhood to raise funds to aid Oriental Jews” who have been forced to come to the United States to seek refuge from the World War.


1916; “The Executive Committee of the Federation of Jewish Farmers was instructed by a resolution adopted” today “at the Convention of the organization held in the Education to petition President Wilson and Congress asking that no restriction be placed upon immigration” because “there is a dearth of farm labor at present which is a decided handicap to those who are operating farms.”


1916: Italian government declares an Italian, and not a native, be appointed as rabbinate in Tripoli. Arabs are in charge of local courts of justice and deal unjustly against Jews.


1916: While serving with the Australian Imperial Force on the Western Front, Leonard Maurice Keysor was promoted to the rank of Sergeant today.


1917: In furious fighting at Nebi Samwill, Imperial forces repulsed numerous counterattacks by the Ottoman Seventh Army.


1917: As the British fought the Turks in and around Jerusalem, it was reported today that one Turkish airplane “was driven down out of control and one was damaged” when five enemy planes attacked three Allied aircraft.


1917(16th of Kislev, 5678): Just 28 days before his 63rdbirthday Dr. Henry M. Leipzieger, whose twenty-five year career in New York City education culminated with his service as Supervisor of Lectures of the Board of Education passed away today.


1917: A fund raising campaign led by Jacob Schiff is scheduled to begin today in New York City.


1917:  The Bolshevik Armistice Commission, with two Jews, Adolf Jofee and Leo Kamenev (Trotsky’s brother in law) as chief negotiators left Petrograd for peace talks with the Germans at Brest-Litovsk.


1917: It was reported today that the “Turko-German artillery again made its objective the mosque erected on the traditional sit of the tomb of the Prophet Samuel” resulting in the destruction of the minaret “by this bombardment.”


1918: “The French expelled Harry Besslau from Stasbourg because he was a ‘militant-pan Germanist.’”


1918: Following the incorporation of Bessarabia and Bukovina, Transylvania united with Romania to form what will become known as Greater Romania. Greater Romania gained its legitimacy as a result of the Versailles Peace Conference that end World War I, during which 882 Jewish soldiers died defending Romania (and 825 were decorated). This enlarged state had an increased Jewish population. Based on treaties signed after the war, the government of Romania agreed to change its policy towards the Jews, promising to award them both citizenship and minority rights, the effective emancipation of Jews. The 1923 Constitution of Romania sanctioned these requirements, meeting opposition from Cuza's National-Christian Defense League and rioting by right-wing students.


1918: The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed.  The redrawing of the map of Europe by the Allied Powers following WW I was intended to break up the old European imperial system recognizing the aspirations of a variety of nationalities throughout central and eastern Europe.  The process may have looked very tidy in the drawing rooms of London and Paris.  But it was quite messy for those having to live it out and this very true for the Jews of the Balkans.  For a primer on the early days of the Sephardic and Ashkenazic communities in the political invention called Yugoslavia read the following:http://www.ceu.hu/jewishstudies/pdf/02_goldstein.pdf


1918:Iceland becomes a sovereign state, yet remains a part of the Danish kingdom. Jews were not officially allowed to reside in Iceland until 1855 when the parliament complied with the request of the Danish king to allow Jews to enter the little island and trade under the same terms as had been adopted in Denmark. By the end of 19th there were a small number of trading agents which represented firms owned by Danish Jews but there is no record as to how many of them, if any were Jewish.  A Jewish Danish merchant named Fritz Heyman Nathan moved to Iceland and pursued a successful business career in Reykjavik in the first two decades of the twentieth century.  He moved returned to Copenhagen to pursue his business interest, having found that Iceland was a hard place to follow a Jewish way of life.  Today, the Jewish population of Iceland is miniscule.


1920: In the House of Lords, Lord Crawford declared that “in the application of the Balfour Declaration the revival of Hebrew is legitimately considered to play an important part…and that the percentage of the Jewish population in Palestine speaking” classical Hebrew with such modifications as modern conditions require “is probably between 60 and 70” per cent.


1921: In South Philadelphia, Morris Wolinsky and the former Sadie Pincus gave birth to Sylvia Wolinsky who gained game as actress Sylvia Kauders. (As reported by Sam Roberts)



1921: The additional recovery of the German mark on the London exchange “was assisted by optimism regarding the negotiations led by Walter Rathenau, the former German Minister of Reconstruction, regarding “Germany’s forthcoming reparations payment and the possibility of a moratorium. (Rathenau was the German industrialist who played a key role in putting the Kaiser’s economy on war-time footing which did nothing to ameliorate the Kaiser’s anti-Semitism and the victim of German assassin who murdered him as the “stabbed in the back” myth took hold in the 1920’s)


1921:Following an investigation into Sir Edgar Speyer's wartime conduct held in camera by the Home Office's Certificates of Naturalization (Revocation) Committee, his naturalization was revoked by an order issued today.


1922: Rabbi Joseph Stolz delivered the sermon at the Isiah Temple at Hyde Park Blvd and Greenwood Avenue.


1922(11th of Kislev, 5683): Thirty-four year old Dr. Moses Feinberg, the son of Barnett and Dora Kriss Feinberg passed away at which he was buried at Bayside Cemetery.


1922: Rabbi S. Felix Mendelsohn led services at Temple Beth Israel on North Kedzie Blvd.


1924: “Lady, Be Good” a George and Ira Gershwin musical “premiered on Broadway at the Liberty Theatre tonight.”


1924: In Indianapolis, funeral services are scheduled to be held for 14 year old William Hayes Block, the grandson of William H. Block, president of the William H. Block, after which he will be interred in the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation Cemetery.


1925: “The Love Trap,” a silent movie filmed by cinematographer Heinrich Garnter who would be forced to flee Germany when the Nazis came to power because of his Jewish descent and featuring Johannes Reimann who became “a member of the Nazi party.”


1925: Funeral services are scheduled to be held today for 60 year Julius M. Mayer, the New York born son of “on of J. Daniel and Fannie (Marshuetz) Mayer and Columbia Law School Graduate who had served as a Judge of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Southern District of New York.



1925: Mr. and Mrs. Abraham J. Cahan arrived in New York today aboard the SS Majestic.  Mr. Cahan is editor of the Forwards. They were returning from a month long visit to Palestine where Mr. Cahan had spent most of his time investigating the growth and development of the newly created city of Tel Aviv


1925: Birthdate of Martin Rodbell. Dr. Rodbell was an American biochemist who was awarded the 1994 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery in the 1960s of natural signal transducers called G-proteins that help cells in the body communicate with each other. He shared the prize with Alfred G. Gilman, who later proved Rodbell's hypothesis, by isolating the G-protein, which is so named because it binds to nucleotides called guanosine diphosphate and guanosine triphosphate, or GDPand GTP. Prior to Rodbell's research, scientists believed that only two substances--a hormone receptor and an interior cell enzyme--were responsible for cellular communication. Rodbell, however, discovered that the G-protein acted as an intermediate signal transducer between the two.  [Ed. Note: I have note a clue as to what this really means.]


1927(7thof Kislev, 5688): Sixty-Eight year old Isaac N. Fleischner, the son of Jacob and Fanny Fleischner and the husband of Tessie Golinsky of San Francisco whose business activities led him to spend “five years in Europe and Africa” and who “the first President of the Portland Lodge of the International Order of B’nai B’rith passed away today after which he was buried at Beth Israel Cemetery in Portland Oregon.


1927: Birthdate of Mordkhe Schaechter, a leading Yiddish linguist who spent a lifetime studying, standardizing and teaching the language.


1927: Birthdate Abraham Goodman, the native of Philadelphia who grew up in East Pittsburg and went to become American film writer and producer Abby Mann best known for his work on controversial subjects and social drama. His most famous work is the drama Judgment at Nuremberg, which was initially a television drama aired in 1959. Stanley Kramer directed the 1961 film adaptation, for which Mann received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. In his acceptance speech, he said: "A writer worth his salt at all has an obligation not only to entertain but to comment on the world in which he lives." Mann later adapted the play for a 2001 production on Broadway, which featured Maximilian Schell from the 1961 film in a different role. Working on television, he most notably created the television series Kojak, starring Telly Savalas. Mann was executive producer, but was credited as a writer also on many episodes. His other writing credits include the screenplays for the television films The Marcus-Nelson Murders, The Atlanta Child MurdersTeamster Boss: The Jackie Presser Story, and Indictment: The McMartin Trial, as well as the film War and Love. He passed away in 2008 at the age of 80


1927: “The False Prince” a film set in post-World War I Germany produced by Lothar Stark was released in the Weimar Republic.


1928: “A London reported received today by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency” said that the “Fascist press” in Italy had “taken exception to the terminology employed by the Italian Zionists during their recent convention.”


1928: “Dream of Love,” a silent film featuring Carmel Myers as “The Countess” was released in the United States today by MGM


1928: In New York, “Austro-Hungarian Jews, Samuel and Rebecca Thorne gave birth to Malachi Throne.




1929: Eleven months after premiering in Germany, “Pandora’s Box” featuring Siegfried “Sig” Arno opened today in New York City.


1929(28th of Cheshvan, 5690): Seventy-Nine year old German pharmacologist Louis Lewin who in 1886 “published the first methodical analysis of the Peyote cactus, a variant of which was named Anhalonium lewinii in his honor” passed away today in Berlin.


1929: Journalist Emil Ludwig (born Emil Cohn) interviewed Mustafa Kemel Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish state.


1930: Birthdate of Joachim Hoffmann, the German military historian, who contended that the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust, was in the thousands and not the millions and who testified on behalf of Holocaust denier Germar Rudolf.


1930: The “so-called matzoh trust trial” where “the question to be answered was whether or not Horowitz Brothers & Margareten, Inc. of New York and B. Manishewitz Company of Ohio constituted a combination in restraint as charged by Rabbi Moses Winberger, Inc.” opened today,


1931: Twenty-five year old Eduard Strauch who would convicted as War Criminal for his role in the mass murder of the Jews of Riga became a member of the SS.


1931: Birthdate of Mervyn Taylor, the native of Dublin who became a solicitor and leader of the Irish Labour Party.


1933: Birthdate of Sir James David Wolfensohn the Australian who was the ninth president of the World Bank Group.


 


1934: In the Soviet Union, Leonid Nioleav murdered Sergei Kirov, the head of the Communist Party in Leningrad providing Stalin with an excuse to start the five year long purge known as The Great Terror the first victims of which were two Jewish leaders, Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev.


1935:  Birthdate of Woody Allen


1936: “Dr. Isaac Herzog, the chief rabbi of Dublin, Ireland, was elected chief rabbi of Palestine today by a council of seventy elders, which is the modern equivalent of the Hebrew Sanhedrin.


1936: “At today’s session of the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Palestine, Moshe Shertok, head of the political department of the Jewish Agency told of the work being done in European countries to prepare prospective immigrants for pioneer tasks in Palestine” the aim of which is to “forge both muscles and spirit so as to change university students and shopkeepers in farmers, artisans and manual laborers.”


1936: On behalf of “the Brooklyn lodge of B’nai B’rith, the largest Jewish fraternal organization in the United States” Postmaster Albert Goldman “presented an award” tonight “to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle as the metropolitan New York City newspaper that had done most this year to promote ‘inter-racial amity and comity as well as good-will among the people of the United States.”


1937: This date marks the seventh anniversary of the Palestine Post, which would later become the Jerusalem Post.


1937(27th of Kislev, 5698): Third Day of Chanukah


1937(27th of Kislev, 5698): Seventy-nine year old attorney Eli Benjamin Felsenthal, the son of former school board member Herman Felsenthal and  Gertrude Felsenthal and husband of Nettie Goldsmith Felsenthal with whom he had five children who was “the last surviving of the charter members of the board of trustees of the University of Chicago” passed away today.



1937: “Courage of the West” a “B” of the singing cowboy genre, which marked the directorial debut of Joseph H. Lewis was released today in the United States.


1937: “The original Broadway production of ‘Hooray for What!’ with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E.Y. Harburg opened at the Winter Garden Theatre.


 1937:  The Palestine Post reported that two members of a police patrol, a British sergeant and an Arab constable were killed by an Arab terrorist gang at Wadi Malak, near Haifa. A Public Works Department store was sabotaged and burnt out at Tulkarm.


1938: Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Haining, the General Officer Commanding British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan, reported secretly to the Cabinet that "practically every village in the country harbors and supports the rebels and will assist in concealing their identity from the Government Forces."


1938: ReichsbankPresident Hjalmar Schacht travels to London to propose to George Rublee, of the Intergovernmental Committee for Political Refugees, an extortionate scheme: German Jews could emigrate if they put up cash assets that would be transferred to the Reich upon emigration. This Schacht-Rublee plan will be abandoned in January 1939, when Schacht will be dismissed by Hitler after Schacht objects to the high cost of Germany's rearmament.


1938: The British Cabinet allows 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children into Britain in an action called the Kindertransport.(Britain, however, refuses to allow 21,000 more Jewish children into Palestine.) The rescued children come from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia with the help of British, Jewish, and Quaker welfare organizations. Because of the Holocaust, most of the children will never see their parents again, and many of the Jewish children will be converted to Christianity.


 1939:  This date marked the final deportation of Jews from Poland to the Soviet Union. The Jews had been marched from Chelm to Hrubieszow, Poland.  Then 1800 Jews set off marching from Hrubieszow, Poland to the Soviet border. More than 1,400 were killed on December 4 on or near the Russian border.


1939: German Field Marshal Johannes Blaskowitz, commander-in-chief of the German Army Group East, reports that many Jewish children in transport trains are arriving at their destinations frozen to death.


1939: The Lipowa camp at Lipowa Street in Lublin, Poland, is established. It is initially an assembly point for Polish-Jewish POWs, and it will later be a Jewish work camp.


1939: Lódz (Poland) Ghetto administrator Friedrich Übelhör notes that ghettoization of Jews is only temporary. The final goal is to clean Jews out of Lódz, to "utterly destroy this bubonic plague."


1939: Publication date of Desert Democracy by Roy L. Smith, “the story of ancient Jews and how their struggles for freedom contributed to modern democracy.”


1940: Inside the Warsaw (Poland) Ghetto, Polish-Jewish historian Emanuel Ringelblum begins work on a secret diary of ghetto life.


1940: “Veteran song writer, actor and movie director Gus Edward” who “discovered Eddie Cantor, George Jessel and Groucho Marx” and Lillian Boulanger celebrated their 35thwedding anniversary today.


1941: Lew Zickman left Japan today aboard the Tatsuma Maruwhich was bound for the United States.


1941: The German Ministry of Occupied Eastern Territories decrees that the destruction of Jews shall continue irrespective of economic considerations; i.e., the allure of unpaid Jewish labor will be ignored.


1941: During the murder of 5000 Jews at Novogrudok, Belorussia, 200 Jews resist and kill 20 Nazis before being gunned down.


1941: “Himmler issued strict instructions to Frederich Jeckelin that no mass murder of Jews shipped from Germany to the ghetto in Riga were take place without his express orders”


1941: Ten thousand Jews deported from Odessa, Ukraine, are murdered at camps at Acmecetka, Bogdanovka, and Domanevka, Romania.


1941: Mass murders of Jews in the Ukraine and Volhynia region of Poland are slowed when the frozen ground prevents the digging of execution pits.


1941: Fur coats belonging to Jews in eastern Germany are confiscated by the Nazis. They'll be used by German soldiers on the Eastern Front.


1941: The Jesuit journal Civiltà Cattolica, published in Rome under strict Vatican supervision,reminds Catholics that the Jews are supposedly those primarily responsible for murdering God and that the Jews repeat this crime by means of ritual murder "in every generation."


1941: For the next three days and nights, seven thousand Jews from Novogrudok, Belorussia, are forced to stand all day and night in frigid temperatures outside the municipal courthouse. Five thousand are taken away to their deaths on the 6th; the remaining 2000 are impressed into forced labor at suburban Pereshike


1941: According to an Einsatzkomando Report only 15% of Lithuanian Jews were left alive less than six months after the Nazis had invaded the Soviet Union.


1941: The German established a ghetto in Losice forcing all the Jews from surrounding areas to move there.


1941: Himmler issued “strict instructions that no mass murders of deported German Jews were to occur without his express orders.


1942: Birthdate of Israeli-American businessman Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter, who owned Remington and Mavel Toys before become CEO of Marvel Entertainment.


1942: Birthdate of New Yorker world shotput champion Gary Gubner who switched to weightlifting and finished fourth at the 1964 Olympic Games.


1942:Ayn Rand, novelist and creator of Objectivism, delivered the completed manuscript of her novel The Fountainhead to her publisher


1942: Four hundred laborers were killed at Karczew a town near Warsaw


1942: Members of the Siemiatycze (Poland) Group of Jewish resisters kill a Polish peasant and his entire family as retribution for the peasant's capture and betrayal to the Nazis of three Jews.


1942: Nazis lock 1000 Gypsies in a Lithuanian synagogue until the prisoners starve to death.


1942 Ghetto resistance is organized at Czestochowa and Kielce, Poland.


1942: At Brody, Ukraine, Jewish resistance is led by Solomon Halberszstadt, Jakub Linder, and Samuel Weiler.


1942:  Jewish resistance at Chortkov, Ukraine, is led by Heniek Nusbaum, Mundek Nusbaum, Reuven Rosenberg, and Meir Wasserman.


1942: Jewish Resistance leader Dr. Yeheskel Atlas, a young Polish physician, is mortally wounded by Nazi troops in a battle at Wielka Wola, Poland.


1942: The Jewish ghetto at Lvov, Ukraine, is liquidated.


1942: The SS shuts down extermination activities at Belzec.


1942: A Sonderkommando plan to escape from Auschwitz is discovered, and the inmates are gassed.


1942: A forced-labor camp is established at Plaszów, Poland.


1942(22nd of Kislev, 5703): Partisan leader Hirsch Kaplinski, survivor of an August 1942 massacre of Jews at Diatlovo, Belorussia, is killed in combat during a German attack on the Lipiczany Forest.


1942: Roosevelt and Churchill issued a joint public statement revealing the dire facts of the Nazi extermination program aimed at the Jews and issuing a solemn warning that individuals engaged in it would ultimately would be tried as war criminals.


1943: Mussolini ordered the arrest of "all Jews living on the national territory."  As a result Italian police and carabinieri arrested thousands, who were promptly delivered to the Germans and deported to Auschwitz. Within Italy, 200 Jews were murdered by German Nazis and their Italian Fascist collaborators. “However, by now, many Italians did not follow Il Duce's bidding and 40,000 Italian Jews survived the war while another 8,000 died.


1943: United States Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau instructs assistants Randolph Paul and John W. Pehle to investigate the State Department's handling of the Jewish refugee issue.


1943: The Daman Yankee, a B-17 piloted by Bruce Sundlun was damaged by flack during a bombing run over Solingen, Germany.  The plane was so badly damaged that crew was forced to bail out over Jabbeke, Belgium.  Before bailing out, Sundlun turned the plane to make sure it crashed harmlessly into a turnip field instead of landing in the town, an act of derring-do that earned him the designation of honorary citizen in 2009. (Sundlun would serve the war and eventually served as the second Jewish governor of Rhode Island) 


1944: After three months' work at Lieberose, Germany, Nazis suspend slave labor on a vacation complex for German officers. They instead evacuate the Jewish workers 100 miles on foot northwest to the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen, Germany. Of the 3,500 who began the march, only 900 arrived at the destination. Several hundred sick inmates who were unable to begin the march were shot in their beds.


1944: Birthdate of Eric Bloom of “Blue Oyster” fame.


1944:  American pollster Elmo Roper warns that anti-Semitism has infected the U.S., most strongly in and around cities.


1945:  Anti-Semitic Poles murder 11 Jews in the town of Kosow-Lacki, Poland, which is located less than six miles from the site of the Treblinka extermination camp.


1945: Oliver Cox, an American sociologist, concludes that Christians in the United States regard the Jew as "our irreconcilable enemy within the gates, the antithesis of our God, the disturber of our way of life and of our social aspirations."


1945: After having been “convicted and sentenced to by an American military tribune, a photographer was taken of German General Anton Dostler being “tied to a stake before his execution by a firing squad.



1945: In Honolulu, Ruth (née Schindel), a seamstress and housewife, Fred Midler who worked at a Navy base in Hawaii as a painter, and was also a housepainter gave birth to University of Hawaii graduate Bette Middler the singer, actress and comedian who got her start singing in the Continental Bathhouse and is known as “The Divine Miss M.”


1946: Birthdate of the multi-talented Jonathan Paul Katz.



1946: Anglo-Jewish teacher Esther Cailingold, who would die while defending the Old City from the Arab Legion in 1948, arrived in Jerusalem where she would teach English at the Evelina de Rothschild School.


1947: In response to the partition vote, the Arab High Committee declared that November 29 was henceforth to be “a day of mourning” and that it marked the beginning of the struggle against the Partition. 


1947: The Arab League plans to meet and discuss ways to resist the partition of Palestine into two states.


1947: Emanuel Neuman, President of the Zionist Organization of America, sought formal recognition of the Jewish volunteer defense units as being the Jewish militia in Palestine.


1947: In Cluj in Transylvania, Romania, Shmuel Grunzweig and his wife Olga who was a survivor of Auschwitz gave birth to Emil Grunzweig who made Aliyah in 1963 and after serving in several wars with the IDF became a teach and “a peace activist affiliated with ‘Peace Now.’”


1948: U.S. premiere of the “Adventures of Don Juan” a swashbuckler directed by Vincent Sherman and produced by Jerry Wald with music by Max Steiner.


1948: The Arab Congress names Abdullah of Trans Jordan, King of Palestine.  Abdullah earned this title because the Jordanian Army (known as the Arab Legion) had successfully crossed the Jordan River and seized what is now called the West Bank and the eastern section of Jerusalem. Under the partition plan, the area of the West Bank should have been part of an Arab State.  Apparently the Arabs saw things differently since they awarded it to Abdullah as “spoil” for his part in the war against the Jewish state.  Since it now held land on both sides of the Jordan, Trans-Jordan would officially change its name to Jordan.  Please note, there was no attempt to create an independent Palestinian state on this land for the almost twenty years it was occupied by the Jordanian Army.


1948: Riots break out in Damascus in response to King Abdullah of Transjordan being proclaimed king of Palestine at a meeting of central Palestinian Arabs in Jericho and Syrian premier Jamil Mardam Bey and his cabinet resign.


1949: The UN General Assembly's Political Subcommittee recommends an international Jerusalem despite objections of Israel and Jordan.


1950: Ten boxes containing thousands of documents describing life in the Warsaw Ghetto collected by Oyneg Shabbos which was part of what we call the Ringelblum Archive, name in honor of historian Emanuel Ringelbum who gave a whole new depth of meaning to the Biblical command “Zachor… Remember let you forget” was unearthed today. (For more see Who Wil Write Our History by Samuel D. Kassow)


1950: Today, during the Korean War, U.S. Army Corporal Morris Meshulam was captured in the Gaunlet near Kunu-ri and taken as a Prisoner of War.


1956: The Dutch Kingdom officially recognized the Jewish community of Aruba.


1958: “The Buccaneer” a biopic about Jean Lafitte that made no reference to rumors of his Jewish origins co-starring Clare Bloom, written by Jesse Lasky, Jr. and with music by Elmer Bernstein was released today in the United States.


1958: Rogers and Hammerstein’s 8thmusical, “Flower Drum Song” opened on Broadway today at the St. James Theatre with Larry Blyden playing the role of “Sammy Fong” which would gain him a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical.


1959: NBC broadcast “Something Special: starring Red Buttons which was the 9th episode of “Ford Startime.”


1959: Publication today of The Mystery of the Chinese Junk a Hardy Boys mystery novel which was the basis for a 1967 film directed by Larry Peerce,.


1959: U.S. Premiere of “The Fugitive Kind” directed by Sidney Lumet, produced by Richard Shepherd and filmed by cinematographer Boris Kaufman.


1960: In “Simon Dubnow-A Revaluation” published today, Saul Goodman re-examines the life and the work of this Jewish historian as we mark the 100th anniversary of his birth.



1960: “Cimarron” the film version of Edna’s 1929 novel with a screenplay by Arnold Schulman and music Franz Waxman


1961: Birthdate of Tel Aviv native, South African trained photographer Nadav Kandar who “began taking pictures when he was 13 on a Pentax camera, which he bought with his Bar Mitzvah money” and who gained a certain amount of additional fame (or notoriety) for his photograph of the 2016 TIME Person of the Year cover.



1961: “The Jungle,” episode 77 of the “The Twilight Zone” featuring Jay Adler was broadcast today.


1961: Jean-Marie Gaétan Déry began serving as Canada’s Ambassador to Israel.


1961: It was reported today that the late dress manufacturer Louis Parnes, chairman of the board of the Paul Parnes Corporation was survived by his daughter Mrs. Rose Ptechesky and his sons Paul, Samuel and Edward Parnes.


1962(4th of Kislev, 5723): Sixty-nine year old Jona von Ustinov, the native of Jaffa “who worked for MI5 during the time of the Nazi regime” passed away today.



1962: Ninety-two year old William Stiles Bennet, the member of the House of Representatives who in 1915 worked to help Jews raise funds to aid their brethren in war torn Europe passed away today.


1965: Although he lost his seat in the November elections, Fritja Zoaretz “returned to the Knesset as a replacement for Shabtai Daniel.”


1966: In response to competition from W & S an automated bagel factory that had begun operating in metropolitan New York, “the bagel bosses” presented baker’s union with a list of “radical demands,” including a 40% pay cut, a decrease in the number of paid holidays and a 50% cut in the number of bakers on each shift.


1966: Yad Vashem officially recognized Father Père Marie-Benoît as a Righteous Among the Nations for helping thousands of Jews to reach Switzerland and Spain from the South of France and continuing his work after escaping to Rome where he was pursued by the Gestapo.


1968: Near Amman, Jordan, Israeli commandos destroy four bridges.


1968(10th of Kislev, 5729): While on his way to the airport in Istanbul forty-seven year old musician and actor  Darío Moreno who began his career by singing at Bar Mitzvah in the Turkish Sephardic community suffered a heart attack and passed away.


1968: “Promises, Promises” a Burt Bacharach musical with lyrics by Hal David and a book by Neil Simon produced by David Merrick premiered today on Broadway at the Schubert Theatre.


1968: It was reported today that “Tel Aviv is building a huge five-level bus terminal with local and out-of-town platforms, shops and movie theatres. The terminal will be the world’s largest surpassing even the Port Authority Terminal in New York City.”


1969: NBC broadcast the 12thepisode of “My World and Welcome to it” created by Melville Shavelson, produced by Sheldon Leonard and Danny Arnold and co-starring Harold J. Stone.


1970: In Manchester, NH, Beth Ann O'Hara and Donald Silverman gave birth to Sarah Kate Silverman of SNL fame.


1970(3rd of Kislev, 5731): Ninety-five year old David de Sola Pool the native of London who served as the rabbi of New York’s Congregation Shearith Israel — often called the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue which is the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States.


1971: Jeff Goldbulum was part of the chorus when “the Broadway production of Two Gentlemen of Verona directed by Mel Shapiro opened at the St. James Theatre, where it ran for 614 performances and won two Tony Awards.”


1971: Birthdate of Berkley, CA native and Peabody Award winning write Akiva Schaffer, “a member of the comedy group The Lonely Island.


1972(25th of Kislev, 5733): Chanukah


1973: Today, Rachael Lily Rosenbloom (And Don't You Ever Forget It), a musical featuring Ellen Greene is her “first starring role on Broadway” which had begun it Broadway previews on November 26 closed tonight “prior to it its official opening” earning it a place on the list of all-time Broadway flops.           


1973(6th of Kislev, 5734):  David Ben-Gurion, First Prime Minister of Israel, passed away.  There is no way that a short blurb can do justice to one of the greatest Jewish leaders in modern times.  Regardless of what one might think of his flaws, and he did have them, without Ben-Gurion there would have not been a modern state of Israel.  He was a walking contradiction:  an idealist and a pragmatist; a secular Jew who was an expert on the Bible and biblical history; a man whose hands were hardened from manual labor on a kibbutz who taught himself English and classical Greek; a seemingly autocratic political figure who believed in democracy even when the process when against him.    No matter how the revisionists work at it, nobody can take away his most monumental achievement – the Jewish homeland.  To paraphrase what was said about Maimonides, from David (the king) to David (Ben-Gurion) there was none like David.


1973:“A small notice in the local newspapers announced Rachael Lily Rosenbloom (And Don't You Ever Forget It) starring Ellen Greene would be closing tonight, prior to its official opening.”


1974: “In the Guidelines and Suggestions for Implementing the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate, published today, the Holy See's Commission recalled that "the step taken by the Council finds its historical setting in circumstances deeply affected by the memory of the persecution and massacre of Jews which took place in Europe just before and during the Second World War". Yet, as the Guidelines pointed out, "the problem of Jewish- Christian relations concerns the Church as such, since it is when "pondering her own mystery" that she encounters the mystery of Israel. Therefore, even in areas where no Jewish communities exist, this remains an important problem".


1975:Over 300 British doctors appealed for the release Dr. M. Stern who was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment by the Soviets.


1975: “Felix Dektor, co-editor of samizdat magazine “The Jews in the USSR”, was expelled from the Writers’ Union” today.


1975: Harold H. Saunders began servicing as 6thAssistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research today.


1976: “Funeral services” are scheduled to “be held for 85 year old Philip R. Alstat, a leading Conservative Rabbi, “columnist for the Jewish Week and former chaplain of the Manhattan House of Correction.”


1977: Birthdate of guitarist Bard Delson.


1977: Three weeks into the Sadat peace initiative, the Carter administration had offered only the faintest approval for the Egyptian president’s visit to Jerusalem, and had not yet abandoned its support for Geneva in favor of the bilateral Egyptian-Israeli process that Sadat, Begin and Dayan were actively proposing.


1980: Yosef Mendelevich, the last of the Jewish prisoners form the First Leningrad trial who is still in prison, begins a hunger strike.


1980: During November, 1980, 789 Jews had left the Soviet Union.


1983(25th of Kislev, 5744): Chanukah


1983: “Scarface” a crime film produced by Martin Bergman, with a screenplay by Oliver Stone whose father was Jewish and featuring Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfieffer, Richard Belzer and Mark Margolis premiered in New York City today.


1984: Three people were injured when grenade throwing terrorists attacked a bus in Jerusalem.


1985: In an article entitled “First A State, Then A Nation,” Paul Johnson reviews Israel The Partitioned State: A Political History Since 1900 by Amos Perlmutter.


1985: In “Quarrying History In Jerusalem” Thomas Friedman described the impact of the excavations at Zedekiah’s Cave.



1985:Zvi Kanar, an internationally known mime who survived six concentration camps “drew upon his experiences of the Holocaust in ‘Run Jacob, Run’ an autobiographical mimetic drama” while performing this afternoon at the Dramatis Personae Theatre at 25 East Fourth Street in New York.


1986: Ivan “Boesky was on the cover of Time magazine today


1987: One Israeli soldier was injured by a terrorist crossing into Israel from Egypt.


1988(22nd of Kislev, 5749): Seventy-eight year old Gwendolyn Cafritz a leading Washington hostess often referred to as “the Jewish Pearl Mesta) and the widow of real estate magnate Morris Cafritz passed away today. (As reported by Susan Heller Anderson)



1988: Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz gave birth to Zoe Kravitz.


1988: As Israeli politicians struggle to form a new government after the elections which were held on November 1, Shimon Peres signed a coalition agree with Agudat Israel even though his Labor Party and this Orthodox political party held different views on attempts to redefine who is Jewish under the Law of Return.


1988:Israeli and American women joined together and attempted to pray as a group at the Western Wall for the first time today.



1991: Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory by Lawrence L. Langer, Maus: A Survivor's Tale II. And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman and Wartime Liesby Louis Begley are among the ten books chosen by the New York Times Book Reviewas the best books published in the country during the preceding year


1991: After 469 performances at the Booth Theatre, the curtain came down on the original Broadway production of “Once on This Island,” a “musical with a book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens.


1992(6th of Kislev, 5753): Eighty-three year old Rabbi Eli A. Bohnen passed away today.



1993(17th of Kislev, 5754):Shalva Ozana, age 23, and Yitzhak Weinstock, age 19, were shot to death by terrorists from a moving vehicle, while parked on the side of the road to Ramallah because of engine trouble. Weinstock died of his wounds the following morning. Iz a-Din al Kassam claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that it was carried out in retaliation for the killing by Israeli forces of Imad Akel, a wanted HAMAS leader in Gaza.


1994: “A Christmas Carol” the musical version of the Dickens’ classic with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens who co-authored the book was performed for the first time at the Paramount Theatre


1994(28th of Kislev, 5755):An ax-wielding Islamic militant killed an Israeli soldier in a northern Israeli town today, officials said. The police identified the attacker as Wahib Abu Alrub, 25, from the occupied West Bank, and said he was in custody.


1995:Yigal Amir, the confessed assassin of Yitzhak Rabin, today denied suggestions that he had acted with the approval of a rabbi, and insisted that he had decided on the killing alone after careful deliberation. Mr. Amir, 25, had asserted that he was required to kill Mr. Rabin under religious law because the Prime Minister was betraying Jewish lives and land to the enemy. Suspecting that Mr. Amir may have received a rabbinic authorization, the police interrogated four rabbis this week to determine whether they had declared Mr. Rabin a "pursuer" under Jewish law -- a deadly assailant who can be legally killed. None were held in custody, but the questioning highlighted discussions in some Orthodox circles about whether the Government could be subject to the law of the "pursuer." In court today, Mr. Amir sat hunched and intent as he listened to the proceedings. A police representative said he expected an indictment to be handed down on Sunday against Mr. Amir and his brother, Hagai and a third suspect, Dror Adani, who are being held on conspiracy and other charges. Judge Dan Arbel ordered all three held until next week.


1995: It was reported today that Alfred Lerner, the son Russian-Jewish immigrants and one of America's wealthiest men, with a net worth of $1 billion gained in real estate and banking has donated 25 million dollars to Columbia University in New York City.


1995: “Wil Bill” a biopic about the 19thcentury lawman co-starring Ellen Barkin as “Calamity Jane” was released in the United States today.


1996: In “Shulberg Tackling Fitzgerald Play Anew” published today Meryl Spiegel described his interview with Budd Schulberg in this last of “the living links to F. Scott Fitzgerald, talked about ''The Disenchanted,'' his fictional tale of their cataclysmic collaboration on a film script.Having lost favor with the literary world of the 1930's, the ''laureate of the Jazz Age'' was a shadow of his former self, Mr. Schulberg recalled. Deeply in debt, physically ill and desperately trying to stay sober, Fitzgerald grabbed the screenwriting job just to pay his bills and finance a return to his own work. The film, called ''Winter Carnival,'' was written in 1939, two years before the writer died nearly penniless at the age of 44. ''The Disenchanted'' was first written as a novel, published in 1950, and was later transformed into a play that opened on Broadway in 1958. Mr. Schulberg, 82, is probably most famous today for writing the screenplay for ''On The Waterfront,'' starring Marlon Brando, and for his first novel, ''What Makes Sammy Run?'' He has published many other novels, however, several works of nonfiction, and has seen his plays produced on Broadway.”


1996: Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw who converted to Judaism gave birth to Destry Allyn Spielberg.


2001(28th of Kislev, 5755): Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in back-to-back explosions at a downtown Jerusalem pedestrian mall, killing 11 bystanders.


2001(28th of Kislev, 5755): Eleven people including Assaf Avitan, 15; Michael Moshe Dahan, 21; Ya'akov Danino, 17; Yosef El-Ezra, 18; Sgt. Nir Haftzadi, 19; Yuri (Yoni) Korganov, 20; Golan Turgeman, 15; Guy Vaknin, 19; Adam Weinstein, 14; and  Moshe Yedid-Levy, 19 were killed and about 180 injured when explosive devices were detonated by two suicide bombers close to 11:30 P.M. Saturday night on Ben Yehuda Street, the pedestrian mall in the center of Jerusalem. A car bomb exploded nearby 20 minutes later. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.


2002: In “Monsters in Fine Detail” published today Steven Heller reviewed Steven Luckert’s The Art and Politics of Arthur Szyk.



2002: The New York Timesfeatured books by Jewish authors and/or about subjects of Jewish interest including One World:The Ethics of Globalization by Peter Singer,The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941-1945by Michael Beschloss and Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the Worldby Margaret MacMillan.  The last two may seem like general history texts but they deal with events that had a unique impact on the Jewish people


2002: Maxine Frank Singer, a leading biochemistry researcher and advocate of science education, stepped down, after 15 years as the president of the Carnegie Institution, a major national scientific research center.


2002(26th of Kislev, 5763): Ninety-three year old British bridge grandmaster Boris Schapiro passed away.



2004: “Or” a film directed by Keren Yedaya was released to theatres in RAnce.


2004(18th of Kislev, 5765):  Dr. Jonathan A. Goldstein, former professor at the University of Iowa passed away. Among his scholarly works were his translations and commentaries on the Books of the Maccabees as part of the Anchor Bible.  He will be missed by all those who knew him. 


2005: A new defense system designed for civilian planes passed it its final test. The new anti-missile protectionsystem is designed to defend passenger jets from shoulder-held missile attacks.El Al will begin installing the systems as early as next week.  The development of the systems came as a result of attacks on Israeli civilian airliners flying in Africa by terrorists armed with shoulder held missiles.


2005: The Maryland/Israel Development Center and The Trendlines Group co-sponsored a conference in Tel Aviv on raising money for Israeli homeland security companies.


2005: In France, Jean-François Copé began serving as Mayor of Meaux.


2006: “The Jews Among Arabs Conference” at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN sponsored by the Program in Jewish Studies comes to an end.http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news/lectures/2006/12/1/lecture-sasson-somekh-speaks-at-jews-among-arabs-conference-nov-30


2006(10th of Kislev, 5767): Songwriter and journalist Eli Mohar passed away at the age of 58, of cancer. Mohar, considered one of Israel's best songwriters, was best known as the veteran columnist in the Tel Aviv weekly Ha'ir, which published his weekly column "Goings on Around Town."


2006(10th of Kislev, 5767): Character actor Sid Raymond passed away at the age of 97. The NYU dropout was famous for being the face people remembered but did not connect with any given character he portrayed. He was also “known” for being the voice of the cartoon character Baby Huey


2007(21st of Kislev, 5768):Ninety-five year old “Moses M. Weinstein, a Queens Democrat who served in the State Assembly, with stints as majority leader and acting speaker in the 1960s, and nearly two decades as a trial and appellate judge of the State Supreme Court, died on today at Memorial Hospital in Pembroke Pines, Fla. (As reported by Robert D. McFadden)



2007: The Ninth Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival opens at the Jerusalem Cinematheque with the showing of Etz O Palestine, The Tribe, The Powder and the Glory, Toots, O Jerusalem and Song of David.


2008:The92nd Street Y presents  "Radical Islam and the Nuclear Bomb: Understanding Contemporary Genocidal Anti-Semitism" - A conversation featuring Dr. Charles Small, founder and director of the Yale University Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Anti-Semitism, and Bret Stephens, a writer and editor for the Wall Street Journal


2008 CSI star Marg Helgenberger has separated from her husband of nearly 20 years, actor Alan Rosenberg who is Jewish.


2008: Archbishop of Lublin, Josef Zycinski participates in a symposium entitled "Confronting a New Reality: The Polish Catholic Church, the Jews, and Israel." The symposium is being sponsored by The Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel (ICCI), The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, The Adam Mickiewicz Institute, The Polish Council of Christians and Jews, and Laboratorium Wiez in the framework of Polish Year in Israel 2008-2009. Rabbi Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland, will also take part




2009: Michael Rosen reads from What Else But Home, “a strikingly honest portrait of his unusual (Jewish) identity” at Prairie Lights Books in Iowa City, IA.


2009:Journalist Walter Isaacson, a former managing editor of Time magazine and currently CEO of the Aspen Institute, discusses and signs his new book, American Sketches: Great Leaders, Creative Thinkers, and Heroes of a Hurricane, at Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C.


2009: At Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, former Israeli Ambassador Asher Naim delivers a speech entitled “Ethiopian Jews then and now-from Operation Solomon-1991 to Israel 2009.”Asher Naim has been the Israeli ambassador to Japan, Finland and Korea, is multilingual and has been active in working with Arab-Israeli relations.


 2009:Knesset Member Ayoub Kara (Likud), who also is Deputy Minister for Development of the Galilee and Negev, is scheduled to tour the Dead Sea area this morning, accompanied by representatives of the Megilot Regional Council. He is promoting the Dead Sea as one of the 28 finalists in the contest for the New Seven Wonders of Nature, sponsored by the New Seven Wonders Fund.


2010:Dalia Tsuk Mitchell, a Professor of Law and History at The George Washington University, and author of a biography of Felix Cohen is scheduled to present a program entitled “Felix Cohen, Father of Federal Indian Law” at the Interior Department in Washington, DC.  Felix Solomon Cohen's experiences as a Jewish American deeply influenced his career and legal philosophy, helping shape his reworking of federal Indian law in the 1930s. Come learn about this influential legal scholar in the beautiful New Deal-era auditorium at the Department of the Interior, where Cohen worked in the Solicitor's office.


2010: Editor and writer Robert Gottlieb and New Yorker writer Judith Thurman are scheduled to speak at the 92nd Y in a program entitled “The Life of Sarah Bernhardt”


2010(24th of Kislev, 5771):  This evening Jews all over the world will be lighting the first Chanukah candle.


2010(24th of Kislev, 5771): Eighty-one year old Harold Elkins, the producer best known for “Oh! Calcutta!” passed away today.




2010: Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) is scheduled to light the first Chanukah candle at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron this evening. The event, which is partially sponsored by the Knesset’s Land of Israel Caucus, is part of a plan to bring MKs to various places of historic significance in the West Bank during the holiday, caucus chairman MK Ze’ev Elkin (Likud) said. Hebron Jewish community spokesman David Wilder said Rivlin’s intended visit makes an important statement about the Jewish significance of Hebron, at a time when the international community was trying to deny the city’s Jewish roots.


2010: In a world where the inmates seem to be running the asylum, today is the final day for students at Princeton to cast their ballot on a referendum that would allow brands of hummus other than Sabra to be sold in university stores. Sabra is half-owned by The Strauss Group, which has publicly supported the IDF and provides care packages and sports equipment to Israeli soldiers. The referendum was initiated by Princeton Committee on Palestine, which is led by Yoel Bitran, an American-born Jewish student who moved to Chile and returned to the U.S. to attend Princeton. It is part of larger program supported by the Philly BDS, which calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions against companies that support the Israel Defense Forces. 


2010: “Comedian Conversation Falls Flat at 92ndStreet Y” published today provides Felicia R. Lee’s description of Deborah Solomon’s interview with Steve Martin.



2010: Today Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu defended his policies against opposition claims that he had not kept his promises in regard to the peace process.


2010: Today, British Prime Minister David Cameron wished "Hanukkah Sameach" to the millions of Jews around the world who prepared to light the first candle of the Jewish festival of lights.


"I want to pass on my very best wishes to the Jewish community here and around the world for a happy and peaceful Hanukkah," Cameron said. "The story of Hanukkah continues to be an inspiring message of the power of hope to sustain people through the toughest of times, and the strength that we can find when we come together and focus on building a brighter future," he added. "I wish you and your families a Hanukkah sameach,” Cameron said. The eight-day Jewish holiday, known as the Festival of Lights due to the ritual of lighting candles, commemorates the re dedication of the Second Temple and marks the narrative of the miracle of the oil lamp, in which oil that should have lasted for one day to light up the temple, lasted for eight days. British Foreign Secretary William Hague also recorded a special Hanukkah greeting saying "it's a great pleasure to send warm good wishes to the Jewish community in Britain and all over the world as you celebrate Hanukkah, the festival of lights.""Hanukkah is about courage," he said. "It is about hope, looking forward of course to the future and we certainly hope for peace and for continuing to strive for peace in a region that so desperately needs it."


2010: Still Hilfe, or Silent Aid, an organization which provides help for Third Reich fugitives of justice, is funding the defense of Klass Faber, a Dutch Nazi living in Germany, the Daily Mirror reported today.  According to the report, Gudrun Burwitz, the 81-year-old daughter of Gestapo head Heinrich Heimler is a leading member of the organization, which began operating in 1946.


2010: At Princeton University, the referendum on whether to ask the university's dining services to provide an alternative brand of hummus came to an end.  The referendum is anti-Israel championed by The Princeton Committee on Palestine, which is led by Yoel Bitran, an American-born Jewish student in attempt to dislodge Sabra brand hummus from the campus.


2010: In “Small-City Congregations Try to Preserve Rituals of Jewish Life” published todayJane Levere described the effort of the Jewish Community Legacy Project to help cities like Laredo, Texas; Sumter, SC; and Marion, Indiana deal with “an economic and social decline, shrinking synagogue membership and the eventual end of cemetery oversight.” http://jclproject.org/



2011: After about three months of operation Jerusalem’s light rail is scheduled to begin charging passengers today



2011: The 22nd Washington Jewish Film is scheduled to open with a screening of “Mabul” and a reception at the Avalon Theatre.



2011: The seventh annual Hamshoushalayim event begins today in Jerusalem


 


2011: Israel's Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch today condemned the recent "delegitimization campaign" carried out against the Supreme Court, saying Israeli politicians are responsible.


2011: “al-Qaeda claimed to be holding Warren Weinstein” a contractor who had been kidnapped while working in Pakistan.


2012: Clarinetists Alex and Daniel Gurfinkel are scheduled to perform at The Best of Chamber Music concert in Jerusalem


2012: The JCCNV is scheduled to host its 32ndAnnual Fundraising Gala.


2012: Today, Amram “Mitzna joined Tzipi Livni's new centrist party, Hatnuah.”


2012: In Cedar Rapids, the traditional minyan observes Solidarity Shabbat, marking the 65th anniversary of the passage of UN Resolution 181, celebrating 65 years of American support for the Jewish state and memorializing those who were killed during the recent attacks on Israel


2012: Representatives of Jewish communities in Spanish-speaking countries are today and tomorrow in Miami to discuss the effects of recent political shifts on Jewish life in the Americas and Iberia.


2012: Today, Tzipi Livni’s newly founded Hatnua (The Movement) party began filling its ranks, ahead of next week’s deadline for submitting Knesset lists.


2013: The New York Times list of “100 Notable Books of 2013” includes the following books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers: Dissident Gardens by Jonathan Lethem, The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner, Half the Kingdom by Lore Segal, The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer, Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die Cherish, Perish by David Rakoff, The Two Hotel Francforts by David Leavitt. Woke Up Lonely by Fiona Maazel, After the Music Stopped by Alan S. Blinder, The American Way of Poverty by Sasha Abramsky, The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger and a Forgotten Genocide by Gary J. Bass, The Boy Detective by Roger Rosenblatt, Miss Anne In Harlem by Carla Kaplan, My Promised Land by Ari Shavit, The Riddle of the Labyrinth by Margalit Fox, The Town by Mark Leibovich,  and Unthinkable: Iran, the Bomb and American Strategy by Kenneth M. Pollack


2013: In Little Rock, Chabad Lubavitch is scheduled to present “Latkes and Laughter” with Mike Niehaus (and if the Latkes are prepared by Mrs. Ciment, everybody is in for a real treat)


2013: “The Magic Flute” is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.


2013: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to host an evening of Sephardic songs set to tango entitled “SepharTango.”


2013: “LOX & VODKA the Washington, DC based Klezmer band” is scheduled to perform in Alexandria, VA.


2013: “The Temple Mount was closed to Jews today after a fight between Jews and Muslim worshippers broke out on the plaza. According to police, the scuffle began after Muslims took exception to a group of Jews at the site singing Hanukkah songs, Israel Radio reported.” (As reported by Lazar Berman)


2013(28th of Kislev, 5774): Seventy eight year old “French-born American author, publisher and socialist passed away today in Paris.  (As reported by Robert D. McFadden)



2013: Israel’s Prime Minister took part in the candle-lighting ceremony at the Great Synagogue in Rome.


2013: The water bill for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upscale Caesarea house amounted to some NIS 72,000 (about $20,435) in 2012, and the cost of gardening services reached NIS 22,000 ($6,245), according to a report published by a government watchdog group today


2014: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to host a screening of “Commissar” followed by a discussion led by Dr Jonathan Brent, Executive Director, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research


2016: “British and German tax investigators conducted a search of Ivanov's Fabergé Museum in Baden-Baden” in what appears to be a raid connected to a tax dispute involving the Rothschild egg.


2014: The Crescent City Jewish news is scheduled to co-host Walter Issacson’s reading from his latest book – The Innovators – at the New Orleans Jewish Community Center on St. Charles Avenue.


2014: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to announce his decision on whether or not to “call for early elections” today.


2014: Gaithersburg, MD department store owner Sidney A, Katz, the grandson of Jacob and Rose Wolfson and the husband of Sally Katz began serving as a member of the Montgomery County Council from District 3.


2014: Rudy Wax is scheduled to perform at the UK Jewish Comedy Festival.


2014: Israeli television broadcast a documentary featuring Rafi Etian who covered a wide range of topics of which he had first had knowledge including Adolf Eichman and Jonathan Pollard. (As reported by Mitch Ginsburg)


2014: Labor MK Hilik Bar has proposed the adoption of “the Declaration of Independence with its call for equality for all citizens as part of Israel’s quasi- constitutional Basic Laws.” (As reported by Haviv Rettig Gur)


2014: Yehoshua Lorch, an Israeli woman, was stabbed south of Jerusalem by 22 year old Amal Taqatqa an “affiliate” with the Fatah movement who “tried to stab a soldier at the same location” in 2011.  (As reported by Lazar Berman)


2014: “Sendak’s Estate: Debating Where the Things Go” published today.



2015: Nolan Altman, Vice President for Data Acquisition and Coordinator of the Online Worldwide Burial Registry project for Jewish Gen. is scheduled to talk about “JewishGen's Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) and the Importance of Jewish Burial Records.”


2015: An exhibition of new works by Michal Nachmany is scheduled to go on display at the gallery on 14th Street in New York.



 2015: After breaking his leg in a game against the Redskins, Geoff “Schwartz was placed on season-ending injured-reserve” today.


2015(19th of Kislev):  On the Hebrew calendar birthday of Avraham Elimelech ben Yosef Dov


2015(19th of Kislev): On the Hebrew calendar “Yahrzeit of the Maggid of Mezrech, the successor of the Baal Shem Tov,


2015(19th of Kislev): The "New Year" of Chassidism




2016(1st of Kislev, 5777): Rosh Chodesh Kislev; for more see http://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/


2016: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to host the Phoenix Chamber Ensemble which ”will perform Beethoven’s "Ghost" Trio in D Major, Op. 70, No.1, Schubert’s Fantasie for violin and piano D934, and Brahms’ Piano Quartet in C minor.”


2016: “Philip Sutton, reference librarian at the Schwarzman Building’s Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History, and Genealogy, is scheduled to provide an orientation to family history source materials in the various research divisions of the Schwarzman Building sponsored by the Center for Jewish History.


2016: In New York, “Harmonia” is scheduled to be shown on the opening night of the 10th Annual Other Israeli Film Festival.


2016: The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education is scheduled to host a screening of “the Emmy Award winning documentary ‘A Walk To Beautiful.’”


2016: The morning news shows are scheduled to continue discussing Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees including Steven Mnuchin is slated to become Secretary of the Treasury in the new administration.



2017: Rabbi Neil Blumofe and Cantor Magda Fishman are scheduled to lead Kabbalat Shabbat and Maariv as the Conservative Movement begins its Biennial Convention.


2017: As part of Human Rights Shabbat, Stav Shaffir, “the youngest-ever female MK” is scheduled to speak from the bimah” tonight followed by “an extra celebratory oneg.”


2017: The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host the last Friday Night Dinner of the term.


2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such as Anita Shapira whose works included the must-read Israel: A History and Ben Gurion: Father of Modern Israel continues today.


2018(23rd of Kislev, 5778): Parashat Va-yayshev; for more see http://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/


2018: The College Band Winter Concert under the direction of Temple Judah’s own “music man” William S. Carson is scheduled to take place tonight and will include musical tributes to the 100th anniversary of the War to End All Wars.


2018: The Christine Park Gallery is scheduled to continue displaying the “first New York solo exhibition by Tel-Aviv based artist Yuval Shaul.



 


 


 

This Day, December 2, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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December 2


127 CE: In a document drawn up on this date at a government office in Rabbatg, east of the Dead Sea, four date groves in Maoza were registered by their owner as part of a provincial census ordered by the Roman governor. The date groves abutted the property of Tmar, daughter of Thamous (Tamar, daughter of Thomas).  Record of this ancient document from an area the Romans called Palestine is proof that women did own property in their own right.  Who was Tamar?  Who was her father Thomas?  These are questions for which, as yet, we have no answers.


499: (Kislev, 4427): Ravina II (Bar Shemuel), the nephew of Ravina passed away.  According to tradition Ravina completed the final editing of the Talmud that had been begun by Rav Ashi about one year prior to this time.  According to some authorities, Ravina committed the Oral Law (the Talmud) to writing, despite protests that only the Bible should be written down. His death marked the end of the period of the Amoraimushered in the period of the Savoraim.


1264: In Sinsig, Germany, a convert to Judaism was arrested for preaching Judaism. Although tortured he refused to recant his belief in Judaism and is burned at the stake.


1523: Giles of Viterbo, who provided a safe haven for Elias Levita with whom he studied Hebrew and who studied Zohar with Baruch de Benevento was installed as Bishop of Veterbo e Tuscania.


1684: Twenty-six year old Samson Wertheimer, a native of Worms who became the chief rabbi of Hungary and Moravia and “a court Jew “ arrived in Vienna today following which he became an associate of banker Samuel Oppenheimer/


1763: The Touro Synagogue opened in Newport, Rhode Island. Sephardic Jews in Jamaica, Surinam, London and Amsterdam sponsored the building of this first major center of Jewish culture in America.  It is the oldest synagogue in the United States.The new edifice introduced an important innovation in synagogue design. The women’s gallery of this traditional synagogue featured a low balustrade that offered women an open view of the rest of the sanctuary.Women’s galleries in other “new world” and “old world” synagogues generally were constructed with high or opaque barriers meant to keep women out of the sight of men within the sanctuary. The change in Newport represented less a reform of traditional practice than a reflection of colonial American expectations for female religious expression.The strong presence of women in colonial American churches was an important way in which women demonstrated the religious piety expected of them by their society. Observing the behavior of their non-Jewish neighbors, colonial American Jewish women seemed to understand that it was more important that they be seen in the space of public worship than had been the case in their previous communities. Early American synagogue records suggest that unmarried young women both attended and asserted their presence in the synagogue.The open gallery layout of the Newport synagogue demonstrates a changing consciousness of what women’s synagogue role should be. Moreover, the open plan was imitated by most of the early American synagogues that followed Newport.”



1790: In Hungary, “the Diet drafted a bill showing that it intended to protect” the rights of the Jews as they had requested in the petition submitted to King Leopold II.


1790: Birthdate of Charleston, SC, native Mark Elias, “the physician and educator” who in 1828 founded “the South Carolina Female Collegiate Institute, an institution for the higher education of women located outside of Columbia, SC” which “Marks called ‘Barhamville’ to honor his late wife and teacher Jane Barham.”


1795: Michael Hart married Sarah Moses at the Great Synagogue today.


1796: Ezekiel Hart, the first Jew to be elected to public office in the British Empire, and his brothers Moses and Benjamin went into partnership to establish a brewery in Trois-Rivières, the M. and E. Hart Company. By the terms of the agreement the three agreed to hold equal shares in the firm. They had the financial backing of their father. Ezekiel Hart later withdrew from the M. and E. Hart Company. Ezekiel sold everything to Moses, apparently soon after their father's death in 1800. Subsequently Ezekiel followed in the footsteps of his father, who was in every respect his model. He went into the import and export trade, kept a general store, never let a good business deal pass, and acquired property. Besides inheriting the seigneury of Bécancour, he bought a great deal of land, mainly at Trois-Rivières and Cap-de-la-Madeleine.


1807: In Charleston, SC, Rabbi Jacob Suares officiated at the wedding of Hyam Moise to Cecilia Woolf, “the daughter of the late Solomon Woolf.”


1807: In Charleston, SC, Rabbi Jacob Suares officiated at the wedding of Nathan Hart, a Charleston merchant and Rachel Hart, “eldest daughter of Daniel Hart.”


1820: Yitzchak Alter and Feigele Lipschitz gave birth to Nechemya Alter.


1824: Birthdate of Oswald Hönigsmann, the native Rzeszow, Austrian Galicia who “was a member of both the city and communal councils of Lemberg.


1825: Birthdate of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil. An opponent of slavery and a comparatively tolerant man, he was tolerant of both Jews and Muslims. “when asked why there were no laws against” the Jews of Brazil he answered: ‘I will not attack the Jews, as the God of my religion came from their people.’”


1825: In Frankfort, literary critic Karl Ludwig Borne who had converted to Christianity delivered an address in memory of the recently deceased author John Paul Richter.


1834: In Baiersdorf, Erlangen-Hochstadt, Bayern, Germany, David Isaak Seligman and Fanny Steinhardt gave birth to Isaak Seligmann who gained fame as Isaac Seligman, the brother who was in charge of the London branch of the “Seligman banking empire” and a leader in the Anglo-Jewish community.


1834: Fifteen year old Jacques Offenbach’s name was struck from the roll of students at the Paris Conservatoire indicating he had “left of his own free will.”


1837: Birthdate of London native George Joseph Emanuel, “at teacher of English and Latin at Jews’ College,” “a lecturer in Hebrew at Queen’s Theological College in Birmingham,” and staring in 1864, the Rabbi of the “Birmingham Hebrew Congregation.”


1839(25th of Kislev, 5600): Chanukah


1840: Isaac Phillips married Julia Hyman at the Great Synagogue today’


1844:Salomon Přzibram and Marie Przibram gave birth to Gustav Przibram the husband of Charlotte Przibram.


1846: Michael Nathan married Sarah Green at the Great Synagogue today.1848: Franz Josef I becomes Emperor of Austria. Born in 1830, Franz Josef reigned until his death in 1916.  Most people think of him as the Austrian Emperor who declared war on Serbia in 1914 and started World War I.  From the Jewish perspective, the last of the Hapsburg monarchs was one of the better rulers under which to live.  Despite the rising tide of anti-Semitism in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Josef saw himself as the protector of his Jewish subjects.  At one point he told his ministers, “I will tolerate no Jew-baiting in my empire!”  He described anti-Semitism as “an illness” whose “excesses were awful.”  He is reliably reported to have publicly walked out of a theatre when performers began a series of anti-Semitic songs.  In 1895, he moved to block the anti-Semitic rabble-rouser Karl Lueger (one of Hitler’s early role-models) from becoming burgomeister of Vienna. In 1869, Franz Josef visited Jerusalem where he met with a group of local Jews and contributed to the building of a new synagogue.  Austrian Jews spoke highly of the Emperor during his reign and at the time of his death.  But his enemies provided the full measure of the monarch’s attitude towards his Jewish subjects.  Behind his back, they called him the “Judenkaiser.”


1840: At Camden, SC, Dr. Lawrence L. Cohen of Charleston, SC, married Miriam Louisa De Leon, the daughter of Dr. De Leon of Camden.


1851: Baron von Königswarter became deputy of the Seine department in the legislature, holding this seat until 1863 when he was defeated by Jules Simon.


1851: French President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte overthrows the Second Republic.


1851: In France, Adolphe Crémieux was arrested and was imprisoned for his opposition to Louis Napoleon. 


1852: Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned Napoleon III. In one sense, he was a comic opera figure who used his name to gain power, Napoleon was not as weak as his enemies thought nor as wily a politician as he himself thought.  He did not dabble in anti-Semitism and counted Jews among his friends and supporters, especially if they were wealthy and successful.  His relations with the House of Rothschild were strained by the fact that the Jewish bankers had supported one of his opponents.  But Napoleon overlooked this since he needed their financial support.  On the other hand, Louis Napoleon was the sole supporter of reactionary Pope Leo IX who pursued a number of anti-Semitic practices.  However, this was more a case of power politics than personally held beliefs.  In the end the greatest impact Louis Napoleon had on the Jews was tangential. Louis Napoleon led France to defeat in the disastrous Franco-Prussian War in 1870.  The French desire to avenge this humiliation and regain its lost provinces was one of the contributing factors to World War I.  And of course, World I begot World War II and the Holocaust. 


1852: Today, “Wilhelm Hoffman one of the royal Prussian court preachers at the Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church in Berlin, co-founded Jerusalem's Association (Jerusalemsverein), a charitable organization which helped Samuel Gobat, the second Protestant bishop of Jerusalem who did not spend time trying to convert Jews and Muslims but “spent it proselytizing among Christians of other, mostly Orthodox denominations.” (Gobat and his wife are buried on Mount Zion in Jersualem)


1855: Articles of Incorporation for the Judah Touro Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio.


1856: In Vienna, Gustave and Rosa Freund gave birth to Dr. of Jurisprudence Arthur Freund


1857: The Melbourne Heralddescribed the interment of 4 of the participants in the goldfields uprising at the Eureka Stockade including a German-born Jew, Edward (Teddy) Thoen.


1858: “The Papal Abduction” publication today described the response of the American government to the Mortara Affair.


1859: Abolitionist John Brown was hung after his unsuccessful raid on the armory at Harpers Ferry that was intended to be the first step in an uprising that would free the slaves. Three Jews – August Bondi, Jacob Benjamin and Theodore Weiner – had fought alongside Brown in his first armed attack that took place at Osawatomie, Kansas.


1861(29th of Kislev, 5622):Meïir Eisenstädter “one of the greatest Talmudists of the nineteenth century; died at Ungvár” today.


1863: Adolphus Alexander married Julia Cohen at the Great Synagogue today.


1867(5th of Kislev, 5628): Sixty-four year old German poet Lesser Ludwig upon whom King Frederick William III conferred “the gold medal for art and science and who wrote One thing to Life you owe: Struggle, or seek for rest. If you're an anvil, bear the blow; If a hammer, strike your best” passed away today in Berlin.


1867: Birthdate of Paul Cohnheim, the native of Labes, Pomerania who was educated at the gymnasium at Stettin and went on to become a physician in Germany.


1867: Two days after she had passed away, Maria Lyon was buried today at the “Lauriston Road Jewish Cemetery.”


1868: Disraeli’s first British government resigns.  Disraeli’s father may have had him baptized, but Disraeli’s enemies would never let him forget his Jewish ancestry.


1869: Birthdate of Jonas Cohen German-born, English philosopher.


1877(26th of Kislev, 5638): Seventy-five year old Michelangelo Asson the Verona born “physician and medical” author passed away today in Venice


1877: Over 500 people attended the annual meeting of the Society of the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews. Mrs. P.J. Joachimsen, the President of the society, chaired the meeting.  The unusually large turnout was precipitated by concerns over financial irregularities combined with the election of officers. In her annual report, the President expressed her concern over financial irregularities involving other officers and the home’s superintendent.  Despite request that she serve another term, Mrs. Joachimsen has decided to end her service due to the contention she has had to deal with. 


1877: It was reported today that The Board of Delegates of American Israelites and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations have met and agreed to unite their organizations.  The new organization will meet every three years. A committee with 30 members from all four sections of the country will be empowered to handle administrative matters.


1878: The New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals is scheduled to hand down a ruling today in the case of Erie v Dringer which is on appeal from Vice Chancellor Van Fleet. Erie is the Erie Railroad.  Dringer is an Austrian born Jew who came to the United States in 1867 and went from driving a junk wagon in New York to owning his own junk yard in Paterson. He invented a unique machine for cutting up old iron which made it possible for him to buy large amount of scrap and made him the largest scrap dealer in the United States.  Eventually some of his less successful competitors brought suit against him, claiming among other things that he was effectively stealing scrap metal from the Erie Railroad.  The trial court ruled in favor of Dringer and his co-defendants.  The Plaintiffs appealed and now that case has been argued, a decision is awaited by all parties.


1880: Plans for Sarah Bernhardt’s final performances New York and opening performance in Boston were published today.


1881: It was reported today that the government in Belgrade will introduce a Jewish emancipation bill in Parliament in March that will conform to the Treaty of Berlin and that will place Serbian Jewish on an equal footing “with Jews who are Austrian subjects.”


1881: The fair sponsored by Temple Israel was suspended for this evening because it was erev Shabbat.


1881: “Riotous Doings In Hungary” described an attack on the Jews of Zalalövő in south-west Hungary.


1882(21st of Kislev, 5643): Seventy-two year old Leopold Stein, the rabbi at Frankfort-on-the-Main, a leader of the Reform movement who “composed the song "Tag des Herrn," to be sung to the music of "Kol Nidre" on the eve of the Day of Atonement” passed away today.


1883: The Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Hoboken (NJ) hosted an evening of entertainment including singing and recitation entitled “Spartacus” as the Odd Fellow’s Hall.


1883: “Herr Stocker” published today described the hostile reception Adlolph Stocker, the Jew-baiting German clergyman received on his recent visit to England. He was greeted by hostile mobs that were primarily made up German Socialist living in London who regard him “as the typical representative of that military tyranny under which they say the Fatherland is groaning.”


1883: It was reported today that the Adloph Stocker, the anti-Semitic clergyman is disliked by the younger members of the German court including the Crown Prince who has snubbed him on more than one occasion and by Chancellor Bismarck, “who has no sympathy with his Jew hating proclivities” as can be seen by his confidential relationship with Jewish banker Gerson Von Bleichroeder.


1883: “He Has No Such Prejudices” published today contains a denial by Hugo O’Neill that ever told a Jew that “We don’t want any of your people in our employ” using as proof that he employs Jews some of whom were recommended to him by Rabbi D.H. Nieto of the 19th Street Synagogue.


1883: “Riotous Doings In Hungary” published a report of a pogrom in south-west Hungary that was thwarted when police fired on a mob of thirty peasants armed with axes and guns killing two and arresting two more who gave up the name of their leaders.


1884: In New York, Jacob Asch, a formerly successful businessman, met an acquaintance, Jacob Starker, coming out of coffee house on the bowery and “complained to him of his bad luck and said he was broke.


1885:Die Königin von Saba (The Queen of Sheba) an opera in four acts by Karl Goldmark premiered in the United States at the Metropolitan Opera.


1885(24th of Kislev, 5646): In the evening, kindle the first Chanukah candle.


1885: Rabbi Kohut delivered a sermon “on the victory of the Maccabees” at the Chanukah service at Ahavath Chesed at Lexington and 55thStreet.


1888: J. Harpman the Treasurer of Temple Shaari Tov in Minneapolis, was reported to have responded to questions about the distribution of money an “unknown New Yorker” sent for the benefits of destitute Jews living in Dakota by saying that “there is no longer any need for the money among the Jews” because their needs have been met but he did object to the fact that when there was need for this money it “was held by the authorities in Bismarck.”


1890: As the cloak manufacturers were reported today to be strengthening their Cloak Manufacturers’ Association, many of the cloakmakers want Joseph Barondess to resume his role as leader of their union.


1890: Birthdate of Bohemian born German-American author Hans Janowitz whose military service in WW I turned him into a pacifist and who gave up his career in movies for the oil business.


1891: Based on information that firs appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette, Joseph Pennell the American artist and photographer attributed his deportation from Russia to his photographing of the Jewish quarter of Kiev and not “his sketching of the Jews and poking about the Jewish quarters” which the authorities didn’t like either.


1892: In Jaffa, Magdalena and Born Plato von Usino gave birth to their old child Jonah Freiherr von Ustinow, the British anti-Nazi agent who was the father of actor Peter Ustinov.


1893: Birthdate of Russian-born, American composer Leo Ornstein. He was one of the leading American experimental composers and pianists of the early twentieth century. Though he gave his last public concert around the age of forty, he continued to compose through his late nineties. He passed away in 2002.


1894: Among the “New Novels” listed today are Jewish Tales by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, translated from the French by Harriet Lieber Cohen.


1894: Rabbi Joseph Silverman delivered a sermon this morning at Temple Emanu-El entitled “Why Do We Still Remain Jews?” in which he “declared that Judaism was a philosophy and not a system of creeds.”


1895: In Vienna, police dispersed an anti-Semitic mob that had gathered in the Prater to protest, in part the Emperor’s rejection of the anti-Semitic Dr Luger as Burgomaster of Vienna.


1895: Birthdate of Harriet Cohen, the native of Brixton who was the niece of Rabbi F. L. Cohen and the cousin of Irene Scharrer who also worked to help refugees from Hitler’s Germany which led to her becoming a Zionist.


1896: At today’s session of the 15th Biennial Council of the American Congregations, delegates are scheduled to elect officers, discuss the future of the Hebrew Union College and in the evening attend a banquet at the Standard Club followed by a ball.


1897: L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's official newspaper, runs a story on the Dreyfus Affair explaining that Dreyfus' treason is only to be expected from Jews.According to the Catholic paper:"The Jewish race, the deicide people, wandering throughout the world, bearing with it everywhere the pestiferous breath of treason....  And so, too, in the Dreyfus case...it is hardly surprising if we again find the Jew in the front ranks, or if we find that the betrayal of one's country has been Jewishly conspired and Jewishly executed." (As reported by Austin Cline)


1897: Birthdate of Soviet economist Evsei Liberman, the husband of Regina Horowitz and the brother-in-law of pianist Vladimir Horowitz.


1900:Herzl First visit of the Turkish agent Eduard Crespi in Vienna.


1900(10th of Kislev, 5661): Thirty-two year old poet Ludwig Jacobowski passed away today “in Berlin from the effects of meningitis.”


Oh, our bright days


Glänzen wie wenige Sterne,Shining like a few stars,


Als Trost für künftige Klage As a consolation for future action


Glüh'n sie aus goldener Ferne. Glüh'n them golden distance.


Nicht weinen, weil sie vorüber!Do not cry because it over!


Lächeln, weil sie gewesen!Smile because they have been!


Und werden die Tage auch trüber,And also the gloomy days


Unsere Sterne erlösen! Our star redeem!


 



1902: In order to renew the connection with Austrian Prime Minister Ernest von Koerber, Herzl sends him a copy of "Altneuland".


1903: The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today the in Camden, Jews “are asking for contributions for the erection of a synagogue.”


1903: Today, “a non-Jewish lady” who became “interested in the Zionist movement” as a result of “a lecture” she heard “in a town in New York State” contributed “$90 for an entry in the Golden Book of the National Fund as a thanksgiving offering…”


1905: “A Polish Jew” published today provide a review of a “melodramatic” novel Children of Fate: A Story of Passion by Adolph Danziger that “traces the career of a young man named Joseph, a Jew of Jobrzyn, in Poland including his love for a Christian noblewoman.


1905: “What Do the Zionists Want?” which first appeared in London advises that “if the Jews really want to found some sort of Hebrew State” they should the “very needy Sultan…a good sum down and a handsome tribute” for “a portion of Palestine under his suzerainty provided they are prepared to handsomely compensate its inhabitants for the expropriation.”


1905: Birthdate of Moses ("Moe") Asch, the founder of Folkways Records. He was the son of Yiddish language novelist and dramatist Sholem Asch and the younger brother of novelist Nathan Asch.


1905: “German Liberty” published today provided a review of Poultney Bigelow’s History of the German Struggle Liberty, a volume that includes a description of “the arrest in Munich of Saphir, a witty Austrian Jews and his subsequent expulsion from Bavarian territotry.”


1905: “Christians Urged to Contribute” published today included a statement by Samuel Goldstein, who has contributed $10 for the “poor suffering Jews of Russia, that “if every Christian” living in the United States read the recently published letters of Sherva Sandelman and Aaron Sheftshik, two Jewish children trapped in Russia “the amount sent in for the Jewish relief fund will be increased thrice the amount already received.”


1906:  Birthdate of award-winning engineer, Peter Carl Goldmark.  Born in Hungary, Goldmark came to the United States in the 1930’s.  Goldmark is best known for his invention of the l.p. or long-playing record which revolutionized the recording industry.  He also help develop the first commercial color television.  He passed away in December of 1977.


1908: Daoud Effendi Molho, First Dragoman of the Imperial Divan, Constantinople was nominated to serve as a Senator in Turkey. The functions of the First Dragoman were mainly political; he accompanied the ambassador or minister at his audiences of the sultan and usually of the ministers, and was charged with the core of diplomatic negotiations


1910: A Jew, Jacob Effendi de Vidas, ex-Censor of the Jewish Press at Smyrna is appointed Inspector of Elementary Schools at Mitylene (Lesbos).


1911: Birthdate of Paterson, NJ native and mathematician Abraham “Abe” Gelbart who earned a doctorate from MIT and went on to be “the founding dean of the Belfer Graduate School of Science at Yeshiva University.”



1911: In the Bronx, Julius and Ethel (née Loewy) Fleischl gave birth to Harriet Fleischl who gained fame as attorney Harriet Fleischl Pilpel “who served as general counsel for both the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood.”




1911 Big Jack Zelig, a Jewish gangster murdered Italian gangster Julie Morrell at the Stuyvesant Casino. Zelig believed Jack Sirocco and Chick Tricker had hired Morrell to kill him so he struck first.  This killing was part of the fight by the Jewish dominated Eastman gang to control the Five Points section of New York.


1912: Today, at the annual meeting of Isaiah Temple in Chicago, Dr. Joseph Stolz, who spent eight years as the rabbi of Zion Congregation and seventeen years as the rabbi at Isaiah Temple “was unanimously elected Rabbi…for life along with an increase in salary.


1912: “Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous actress in world” and “her French company are scheduled to make their “American debut in vaudeville” at the Majestic Theatre.


1914: A committee headed by Joseph Barondess of the Board of Education met Solomon Rabinowitz who uses the pen name Shalom Aleichem when he and his wife and two children arrived in New York today from Copenhagen aboard the Frederick VIII.


1914: Lt. Hugo Gutman was awarded the Iron Cross 2ndclass today.


1914: “Appeal For Aid For Jews” published today described the appeal by the American Jewish Relief Committee for aid their co-religionist because “the disaster, in which the whole world shares, fall with disproportionate weight upon the Jewish people more than nine million of whom live in the coutries at war and over six million of these in the actual war zone in Poland, Galicia and the whole Russian frontier.


1914: It was reported today that the officers of the newly formed American Jewish Relief Committee are Chairman Louis Marshall, Secretary Cyrus L. Sulzberger and Treasurer Felix M. Warburg.


1914: A Committee composed of Joseph Barondess, Charles J. Minikes and Joseph Fallen met Solomon Rabinowitz (Sholom Aleichem) today


1914: Birthdate of composer of Adolph Green.  With his partner Betty Comden, he wrote numerous hits, including "New York, New York" (the version from the musical On The Town) and the screenplay for the film Singin' in the Rain.


1915(25th of Kislev, 5676): Chanukah


1915: Second night of a “fete” featuring historical tableaux held for the benefit of the Spanish and Portuguese Sisterhood which is chaired by Mrs. Mortimer M. Meken. 


1915:  Albert Einstein published the general theory of relativity.


1915: Representative Meyer London plans on submitting his proposal for a peace resolution to Congress which will include a request for $100,000 to help the neutral nations provide mediation between the belligerents.


1915: It was reported today that of the $229,000 being sent to aid Jews suffering in the war zones, $80,000 will go to Russia, $70,000 will go to that part of Poland under German control, $50,000 will go to Galicia, $25,000 will go to Palestine and $5,000 will go to Turkey.


1916: The Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering through the War whose members include “Leon Kaimaiky, editor The Jewish Daily News; Rabbi Israel Rosenberg, Rabbi Meyer Berlin, Albert Lucas and Harry Fishcel” announced in a report made public today “that it has collected to date $1,455,132.96” with the money coming “from 26,321 separate sources.”


1916:Isaiah "Jacques" Pais married Kaatje "Cato" van Kleeff.  This union of a Sephardic Jew and Ashkenazi Jew produced a son named Abraham Pais, the famed Dutch born physicist.


1917: As the Battle for Jerusalem reached its final phase the British began to replace its weary front-line forces with fresh troops including sending in the XX Corps led by the 10th (Irish) Division to replace the XXI Corps.


1917: In New York Pauline (Weiss) Blagman and Abraham Blagman gave birth to Sylvia Blagman who gained fame as Sylvia Sims “one of the most admired pop-jazz singers of her generation.” (As reported by Stephen Holden)


1917: In Baltimore, MD, two meetings were held at the Hippodrome and Palace Theatres sponsored by the Baltimore Conference for Jewish National Restoration in Palestine heard an address by Jacob De Haas, a former secretary to Theodore Herzl, after which resolutions were “unanimously and enthusiastically approved” expressing support for “the declaration of the British Government, promulgated by Mr. Balfour, favoring the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine.”


1917(17th of Kislev, 5678): In Shreveport, LA, sixty-eight year old William Winter, a member of the legislature, city council and school board passed away today.


1917: “The campaign by which $5,000,000 is to be raised in New York City by December 16 for the Jewish War Relief Committee and the Jewish Welfare Boarding, working among soldiers and sailors was opened” tonight “with a dinner given at the Astor by Jacob H. Schiff, the Chairman of the committee” for “the Captains and members of the forty-five teams” which will be in charge of raising this sum in the next two weeks.


1917: It was reported today that “the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society, the clearing house through which thousands of Jewish refugees in the war stricken countries and in other lands have received news of their relatives in America has” recently “received hundreds of letters from those seeking word of relatives” in the United States and “in a majority of cases the society” which is led by President John L. Bernstein and Jacob R. Fain, the General Manager “has been able to find those sought.”


1918: Jacob Billikopf of the American Jewish Relief Committee, Dr. I. Edwin Goldwasser of the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies and Charles S. Ward of the Y.M.C.A. were among those who attended a dinner at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Felix M. Warburg which “formally inaugurated” “the campaign to raise $5,000,000 in New York City for the relief of Jewish war sufferers.”


1919: Former Kaiser Wilhelm II wrote to Field Marshal August von Mackensen, denouncing his own abdication as the "deepest, most disgusting shame ever perpetrated by a person in history, the Germans have done to themselves... egged on and misled by the tribe of Judah ... Let no German ever forget this, nor rest until these parasites have been destroyed and exterminated from German soil!" Wilhelm advocated a "regular international all-worlds pogrom à la Russe" as "the best cure" and further believed that Jews were a "nuisance that humanity must get rid of some way or other. I believe the best thing would be gas!" (The Kaiser and His Court by John Rohl)


1921(1st of Kislev, 5682): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


1921: Temple Israel, which is temporarily holding services at the Second Presbyterian Church while its new sanctuary is being built, began the celebration of its Golden Jubilee this evening.


1922(12th of Kislev, 5683): Parashat Vayetzei


1922” Rabbi Philip A. Langh led Shabbat morning services at Temple Anshe Emes.


1922: Rabbi Julian Gusfield led services at Temple Beth El in Chicago.


1922: Rabbi Abram Hirschberg led services at Temple Sholom in Chicago.


1922: Led by head coach George Levene, Wake Forest defeated Hampden-Sydney in its final game of the season.


1923:Arnold "Arnie" Horween “kicked a 35 yard field goal and his brother Ralph ran for a touchdown as the Chicago Cardinals beat the Oorang Indians 22 to 19.


1923:  Birthdate of Meshulam Riklis, chief executive of McCrory Corporation.  After serving in the military during World War II, Riklis majored in mathematics at Ohio State University.  He worked his way through college as a Hebrew teacher before starting out on his very successful business career.


1924(5th of Kislev, 5685): Seventy-one year old Sir Edward Elias Sassoon, 2nd Baronet, the younger son of Elias David Son and the father of Victor Sassoon passed away today.


1924: “Man Against Man” a silent drama with a script by Adolf Lantz was released today in Germany.


1924: Sigmund Romberg’s operetta “The Student Prince” opened at Jolson’s 59th Street where it ran for 608 performances, making it “the longest running Broadway show of the 1920’s.”


1928: In Berlin, world première of Arnold Schönberg’s the Variations for Orchestra, op. 31.


1928: This morning, Rabbi Samuel Schulman delivered a sermon on “Liberal Religion, American Politics and the Jew” at Temple Emanu-El in which he decried “the ‘dragging’ of Judaism into the past political campaign and scoring a ‘certain prominent rabbi’ for explaining from his pulpit why he as a rabbi would vote for a Catholic President.”


1929: Today, Irving Berlin “first published” “Puttin’ On the Ritz” a song he had written in May 1927 and made famous in the movie “Blue Skies.”


1930: “Annie Christie” a German language film based on the play of the same name starring Salka Viertel was released today in the United States by MGM.


1930: Birthdate of economist Gary Stanley Becker, the native of Pottsville, PA who “was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1992 and received the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007.



1931: In the Weimar Republic, premiere of “Emil and the Detectives,” a “German adventure film with a script by Billy Wilder.”


1932: “If I Had a Million” an anthology film produced by Emanuel Cohen and whose directors included Ernst Lubitsch, Norman Taurog and Lothar Mendes was released in the United States today.


1932: “Secrets of the French Police” the movie version of an unpublished novel by Samuel Ornitz, produced by David O. Selznick, co-starring Gregory Ratoff and with music by Max Steiner was released today in the United States.


1932: “The Triangle of Fire,” directed by Edmond T. Gréville, who was, based on genetic testing done in 2017 a member of Ashkenazic family from Russia and with music by Casimir Oberfeld was released in France today.


1933: Release of “Dancing Lady,” a musical comedy that showed the Jewish involvement in the movie industry. It featured the Three Stooges (all Jewish) in one of their first film.  Louis Silvers provided the music and David O. Selznick coproduced this film that was distributed by MGM.


1934(25th of Kislev, 5695): Chanukah


1934: “English born American clergyman and newspaper writer” Samuel Parkes Cadman, who would “later called for the U.S. to boycott the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, because of the Nazis' anti-Semitic policies” today “wrote an article condemning the Nazi German government for the firing of theologian Karl Barth from a German university post as a result of the professor's outspoken opposition to the Nazi regime and adamant refusal to sign an oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler.”


1934: Birthdate of Salomon Gottlob, who at the age of seen boarded Convoy 25 that left Drancy for Auschwitz on August, 28, 1942


1936: “Compliments of Mister Flow” a French mystery directed by Robert Siodmak was released today.


1936: In Berlin, “the public learned further details today of the new exchange law empowering the Exchange Control Service to seize and administer the fortune and property of any citizens suspected of an intention to go abroad permanently” – a law that did not apply to Jews because for some time now, “Jews suspected of a desire to flee the Reich were ordered to deposit a certain percentage of their fortunes with a Reichsbank subsidiary” without the benefit of any legal protection.


1936: At a dinner honoring Dr. Arthur J. Brown, Chairman of the American Committee on Religious Rights and Minorities, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise “declared that the time is come for the public opinion of mankind, expressing itself either through the league of Nations at Geneva or through its great religious organizations to speak earnestly and solemnly with respect to the lawless violation of the rights of many minority peoples in Europe and most especially of Jewish minorities.”


1937: The Palestine Post reported that out of the three Arab constables ambushed and kidnapped by an Arab terrorist gang near Shfaram, two were "tried" and murdered. The third constable was released to inform the authorities of the murder and the "trial."


1937:  The Palestinian Post reported that scores of bullets hit the Haifa-Kiryat Haim bus, but no one was wounded. 


1938: “Flirting with Fate,” a comedy produced by David Loew and music by Victor Young was released today in the United States by MGM.


1938: “The first Kindertransport arrived in Harwich, Great Britain today bringing some 200 children from a Jewish orphanage in Berlin which had been destroyed in the Kristallnacht pogrom.”


1939: Birthdate of Yael Dayan. This daughter of Moshe Dayan has made a career in her own right including that of an Israeli politician.


1939: “The Return of Doctor X” a science fiction horror film directed by Vincent Sherman and co-produced by Hal Wallis and Jack Warner was released today in the United States.


1940: Prime Minister Churchill replied to General Wavell’s concerns about letting the survivors of the Patria remain in Palestine.  Churchill wondered if even the most militant of Arabs could find fault with what Churchill described as a humanitarian gesture.  He wondered if the Arab commitment to the cause of the fight against the Nazis was so slender that such an event as this could have such disastrous consequences.  At the same time, Churchill assured Wavell that there would not be a repetition of the Patria since all future illegal Jewish immigrants would be imprisoned in Mauritius for the duration of the war.


1940(2nd of Kislev): Fifty-five year old Rabbi Bernard Revel passed away. Born in Lithuania, he came to the United States after the Russian Revolution of 1905, entered NYU and received an MA in 1909. In 1915, he was named the first President of Yeshiva College, a position he held at the time of his death.  This blog cannot do justice to his life and contributions to the Jewish people.  You can begin to learn more about him at http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/revel.html


1941: Release date for “Ball of Fire,” a comedic treatment of cloistered intellectuals produced by Samuel Goldwyn written by Billie Wilder.


1941: U.S. premiere of “All Through the Night” directed by Vincent Sherman, produced by Hal Wallis and Jerry Wald and based on a story by Leo Rosten with Phil Silvers play the “Waiter” and Peter Lorre as “Pepi.”


1942: Jews in 30 countries hold a day of prayer and fasting for European Jews.


1942: After being screened for the Office of War Information's Bureau of Motion Pictures today, George Cukor’s “Keeper of the Flame” “was disapproved by the Bureau’s chief, Lowell Mellet.


1942: The first self-sustained nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated in Chicago, Illinois. At the University of Chicago, Enrico Fermi and his team achieved the world's first artificial nuclear chain reaction, in a makeshift lab underneath the University's football stands at Stagg Field. Work on the experimental pile had begun on 16 Nov 1942. It was a prodigious effort. Physicists and staffers, working around the clock, built a lattice of 57 layers of uranium metal and uranium oxide embedded in graphite blocks. A wooden structure supported the graphite pile. The chain reaction was part of the Manhattan Project, a secret wartime project to develop nuclear weapons, which initiated the modern nuclear age. This was a discovery that changed the world. 


1942: In Los Angeles, “television and film writer Maurice Zimring, better known by his stage name Maurice Zimm, and his wife Molly, a lawyer who passed the California Bar in 1933” gave birth to  “American criminologist, law professor, and the William G. Simon Professor of Law at the UC Berkeley School of Law,” Franklin Ester Zimring.



1943: The first RSHA transport reached Birkenau from Vienna.


1943: In Toronto, Ontario MPP Allan Grossman and his wife gave birth to Larry Grossman who would follow his father into Parliament for what would be a 32 year stint of father/son legislative service.


1943:  One hundred Jews from Vienna arrive at Auschwitz.


1944: In Budapest, three Jews were killed when gangs attacked the building in which they were living even though it was under Swiss Protection. Some Swiss diplomats, like their Swedish counterparts, used the diplomatic concept of extra-territoriality to provide safe haven for Hungarian Jews.  Unfortunately, the various forces of anti-Semitism operating in the Hungarian capital did not always respect the niceties of international law.


1944(16th of Kislev, 5705):  Russian born painter and pianist Josef Lhévinne, whose birth name was Joseph Arkadievich Levin passed away in New York City just a few days before his 70th birthday.


1947: First day of a three-day general strike called by the Arab Higher Committee to protest the UN vote for partition.


1947: Birthdate of British businessman Michael Phillip Green who founded Carlton Communication with his brother David.


1947: Today “Joseph and Tilly Newman made their first trip to London their son’s MBE from the king who expressed his pleasure at being to acknowledge Isidore Newman’s gallantry in this way.”


1947: Bands of Arabs engage in violent protests and murderous attacks on the Jewish populace. Three Jews were shot dead in the Old City.  Hundreds of Arab youths marched towards Zion Square in the center of Jerusalem chanting “Death to the Jews.” Fighting broke out in Jerusalem’s Commercial Centre between marauding Arab mobs and Jews seeking to protect their property.


1947: On the second day of general strike called by the Arab Higher Committee 200 Arabs broke into the commercial center in Jerusalem, looting and burning Jewish owned shops.  The British troops made no effort to intervene.  They did prevent a platoon of Haganah troops from coming to the aid of the embattled Jews.


1948: The Iraq government “suggested” to oil companies operating in Iraq, that no Jewish employees be accepted.


1950: NBC broadcast the last episode of “The Hank McCune Show,’ a sit-com produced by Samuel Z. Arkoff, the Iowa born lawyer turned film producer.


1951: "Borscht Capades" closes at Royale Theater in New York City after 90 performances.  Mickey Katz and his son Joel Grey both appeared in this short-lived musical.


1952: In Casablanca, Morocco, Elie and Esther Mimran gave birth to fashion designer Joseph Mimran.



1952:The Jerusalem Post reported on the new Israeli peace initiative which urged the scrapping of all old UN resolutions and provided for negotiations based on the consideration of all security, territorial, refugee, economic and regional questions, as well as scientific, cultural and technical cooperation.


1953: Eugene Ferkauf opened the first of E.J. Korvette Stores in what had been a Long Island potato field.


1954: The U.S. Senate votes 65 to 22 to censure Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (R-WI) for refusing to cooperate with a Senate subcommittee that was investigating his finances. This was a backdoor way for the Senate to express its displeasure over the abusive investigative tactics of the Senator which many Jews opposed.  On the other hand, the Senator’s right-hand man was none other than Roy Cohn, the Jewish lawyer from New York.


1954: “The Other Women” with a script by Hugo Haas who also directed, produced and starred in the film with music by Ernest Gold was released in the United States today.


1956: In Havana Lillian Samson Agostini, a schoolteacher whose father was a Jewish refugee from German and Esteban Echevarria gave birth to Esteban Ernesto Echevarría Samson who gained fame as actor Steve Bauer.


1957(9th of Kislev, 5718): Fifty-seven year old Dr. Manfred J. Sakel passed away.  Born in 1900, Manfred Joshua Sakel was a Polish born neurophysiologist and psychiatrist who introduced insulin-shock therapy for schizophrenics and other mental patients in 1927, while a young doctor in Vienna. Insulin-induced coma and convulsions, due to the low level of glucose attained in the blood (hypoglicemic crisis) improved the mental state of drug addicts and psychotics, sometimes dramatically. His findings indicated that up to 88% of his patients improved with insulin shock therapy. His method became widely applied for many years in mental institutions worldwide. He immigrated to the U.S. ahead of WW II. in 1936. "Sakel's Therapy" is still used in Europe, but in the U.S. it has been superseded by electroconvulsive therapy and other means of treatment.


1959: “Five Finger Exercise,” a play by Sir Peter Levin Shaffer, opened at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway.


1962: Birthdate of David Levi, the native of Tel Aviv who played soccer for Hapoel Ramat Gan before becoming a professional poker player who “has won over $2.6 million in live tournaments.”


1962: Police estimated that a crowd of 25,000 mourners attended the funeral service for Rabbi Aaron Kotler held the synagogue of Congregation Sons Of Israel Kalwarier on Pike Street between East Broadway and Henry Streets.


1965(8th of Kislev, 5726): Seventy-one year old German born Siegried Ullman, the “husband of Irma Ullman” passed away today in Palm Beach, FL.



1968: President Nixon names Henry Kissinger security advisor.  Kissinger was a surprise choice for the job for two reasons. He had supported Nelson Rockefeller and strongly questioned Nixon’s fitness for the job. And, as we have found out from the Nixon Tapes, Richard Nixon had an anti-Semitic streak that bordered on the paranoid. 


1968: In Arcadia, CA, Susan (née Franzblau), a psychology professor, and Martin Sofer, a Conservative Jewish rabbi gave birth to actress Rena Sofer who appears on the soap “General Hospital” and is “a descendant of Baal Shem Tov and of the Chasam Sofer through her father's family.”


1968: Madison Square Garden is scheduled to host one of the events marking the 125th anniversary of the found of B’nai B’rith


1970: Birthdate of comedic actress Sarah Silverman.


1971: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm Al Quwain form the United Arab Emirates.


1972(26th of Kislev, 5733): Shabbat Shel Chanukah and Parashat Vayeshev


1972(26th of Kislev, 5733): Sixty-four year old Max Leonard Rosenheim, the British physician was honored by being named Baron Rosenheim passed away today.



1973: King Hussein of Jordan said that there could no peace in the area until Israeli forces had completely withdrawn from all lands taken in 1967 including all of Jerusalem


1973: French authorities forestalled a terrorists attack when they arrested 2 Palestinians, 1 Algerian and 1 Turk carrying weapons and explosive which had been brought into the country “for unknown purposes


1973: Yonatan Netanyahu wrote to his brother Benjamin: "We're preparing for war, and it's hard to know what to expect. What I'm positive of is that there will be a next round, and others after that. But I would rather opt for living here in continual battle than for becoming part of the wandering Jewish people. Any compromise will simply hasten the end. As I don't intend to tell my grandchildren about the Jewish State in the twentieth century as a mere brief and transient episode in thousands of years of wandering, I intend to hold on here with all my might.”


1974: As the Soviets crackdown on dissidents, including refusniks, author Alexander Solzhenitsyn was arrested in Moscow in the first step to his being deported and stripped of his citizenship.


1976(10th of Kislev, 5737): Sixty-five year old William Tannen who followed in the footsteps of his father Julius Tannen and pursued an acting career most notable for his reoccurring appearance in the Wyatt Earp television show passed away today.


1977:  In the aftermath of Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem, Moshe Dayan and Hassan Tuhami, the Egyptian Deputy Prime minister held a second secret meeting in Morocco.  Dayan provided a proposal for the restoration of Egyptian sovereignty over the Sinai. Much to Dayan’s chagrin, Tuhami is less than thrilled with the offer.  It is obvious that there is big gap between Sadat’s spectacular flight to Jerusalem and his claims to want piece and the achievement of that stated outcome.


1977: Castle Hill, with a 59 room mansion designed by Chicago architect David Adler was placed on the National Register of Historic Places today.


1978:"You Don't Bring Me Flowers" featuring Neil Diamond & Barbra Streisand makes it to the top spot on the charts.


1981(6th of Kislev, 5742): Hershey Kay, American born composer and arranger, passed away


1981: In what “was seen as a rebuff to the Reagan administration, today Howard “Metzenbaum was one of four senators to vote against an amendment to President Reagan's MX missiles proposal that would divert the silo system by $334 million as well as earmark further research for other methods that would allow giant missiles to be based.


1982(16th of Kislev, 5743): Marty Feldman, the comedic actor featured in the film Young Frankenstein, passed away.


1983: Michael Jackson's Thriller, an American 13-minute music video for the song of the same name with music by Elmer Bernstein was released today,


1983: Birthdate of Flushing, New York native Arian Asllani the American rapper known as Action Bronson



1983: Dr. Moisés Carlos Bentes Ruah and Catarina Lia Azancot Korn gave birth to Daniela Sofia Korn Ruah a Portuguese-American Jewish actress best known for playing NCIS Special Agent Kensi Blye in the CBS series NCIS: Los Angeles.


1984: Him With His Foot In His Mouth and Other Stories by Saul Bellowand Lives of the Poets: Six Stories and a Novella by E. L. Doctorow are among the twelve books chosen by the New York Times Book Review as the best books published in the country during the preceding year.


1985: Jean Herly, who was the French Ambassador to Israel from 1973 to 1977 completed his service as the 15th Minister of State to Monaco


1987(11th of Kislev, 5748):Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, a Soviet scientist who played a key role in the development of nuclear weapons in the U.S.S.R. passed away.


1988: Bank Leumi, Tel Aviv, named Moshe Zanbar chairman and David Friedman managing director.


1988: A man carrying the passport of a former Israeli official linked to the Iran-contra scandal was killed in a plane crash, Government officials said today. The man was tentatively identified by a passport found on his body as Amiram Nir, said a statement from the Attorney General's office in the state of Michoacan.


1988: “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!” a police comedy directed by David Zucker, who wrote the script along with Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams was released in the United States today.


1990: The New York Times reported that Israel has undertaken an investment initiative designed to lure high-tech American and European companies to invest in its economy. The program was developed by Moshe Nissim, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade.


1990(15th of Kislev, 5751): Ninety year old composer Aaron Copland some of whose best known works include Rodeo, Billy the Kid, Fanfare for the Common Man and Appalachian Spring passed away today.http://www.milkenarchive.org/people/view/all/553/Copland,+Aaron




1990(15th of Kislev, 5751): Terrorist conducted a deadly attack on a bus in Tel Aviv.


1991(25th of Kislev, 5752): Chanukah


1991(25th of Kislev, 5752): Seventy year old English biochemist Anne Beloff-Chain passed away today.



1993: “Slaughter of the Innocents” directed and written by American investment professional James Glickenhaus was released in the United States today by Shapiro Glickenhaus Entertainment.


1994: Jury finds Heidi Fleiss guilty of running a call girl ring


1994:Tonight, “with a rousing encore of Johann Strauss Sr.'s "Radetzky March" that had a stadium audience of 14,000 people chanting for more, Zubin Mehta put the finishing touch to a long-standing ambition: bringing the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra to India, and better still to Bombay, the hometown Mr. Mehta left 40 years ago to begin his musical career.


1997: MCI Center opens in Washington, DC, as the Wizards played the Seattle SuperSonics.  The Wizards are owned by Abe Pollin and the MCI Center, which helped to rejuvenate downtown Washington, was the product of this forty year fixture of the basketball and Jewish community.


1998: In Israel, one person is injured in a stabbing attack.


2001: The New York Timeslist of the Best Books of 2001 contains the following works about Jewish related subjects or by Jewish authors including Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald and Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood by Oliver Sacks a physician and author raised as an Orthodox Jew.


2001(17th of Kislev, 5762):A suicide bombing on an Egged bus #16 in Haifa shortly after 12:00 kills 15 people. The victims: Tatiana Borovik, 23, of Haifa; Mara Fishman, 51, of Haifa; Ina Frenkel, 60, of Haifa; Riki Hadad, 30, of Yokne’am; Ronen Kahalon, 30, of Haifa; Samion Kalik, 64, of Haifa; Mark Khotimliansky, 75, of Haifa; Cecilia Kozamin, 76, of Haifa; Yelena Lomakin, 62, of Haifa; Rosaria Reyes, 42, of the Philippines; Yitzhak Ringel, 41, of Haifa; Rassim Safulin, 78, of Haifa; Leah Strick, 73, of Haifa; Faina Zabiogailu, 64, of Haifa; Mikhail Zaraisky, 71, of Haifa. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.


2001(17th of Kislev, 5762): One person was killed when terrorist fired on a car “near Elei Sinai.”


2002(27th of Kislev, 5763): Seventy-eight year old Edgar Sherick the movie and television producer whose most lasting contribution to American culture was his role in the creation of “ABC’s Wide World of Sports, passed away today. (As reported by Bill Carter)



2004: A Broadway revival of “Pacific Overtures,” a musical written by Stephen Sondheim, opened at Studio 54.


2004: “The Syrian Bride” directed by Eran Riklis, who also co-authored the screenplay, was released today in Israel.


2005(1st of Kislev, 5766): Rosh Chodesh Kislev


2005(1st of Kislev, 5766): American painter Nat Mayer Shapiro passed away at the age of 86.


2005:On this date Haaretzreported that thousands of Ethiopian immigrants gathered along the Sherover-Haas Promenade overlooking Jerusalem's Old City to celebrate Sigad - the Ethiopian Jewish holiday that for 2,500 years in exile marked the yearning for Zion.


2005: Nicholas F Taubman began serving as United States Ambassador to Romania.


2005: “60 years later, Task Force Baum succeeds” published today reminds of the events surrounding the attempt to rescue Lt. Col. John K. Waters, the son-in-law of General George Patton led by its namesake, Major Abe Baum.  (Baum was Jewish which was part of the risk for a mission that was going to work behind the Nazi lines)



2006: After 11 months, Kaddish is recited for the last time by the family of Judy Rosenstein, of blessed memory. 


2006: The Economist Magazine of this date reviewed Jonathan I. Israel’s Enlightenment Contested in which he contends that the Dutch led by Spinoza were the real “torchbearers of the enlightenment” and not the English of the time whom he describes as apologists for colonialism and enemies of equality.


20016: Jules Feiffer completed his academic residency “at the Arizona State University Barret Honors College” today.


2007: Jewish Book Month comes to an end.


2007: After 20 years of renovation work that cost US$20 million, and that was overseen by the non-profit Museum at Eldridge Street the Eldridge Street Synagogue reopened today to the public. It continues to serve as an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, with regular weekly services on the Sabbath and Holidays, and is also the Museum at Eldridge Street offering informative tours that relate to American Jewish history, the history of the Lower East Side and immigration


2007: In Kensington, MD, children's author and illustrator Sallie Lowenstein, author of Waiting for Eugeneand The Festival of Lights,discusses the evolving state of children's books. Lowenstein, also a keen book collector, will have a number of her treasures on display to help enliven the discussion.


2007: The Sunday New York Times book section features reviews of books on Jewish topics and/or by Jewish authors including A Dangerous Woman: The Graphic Biography of Emma Goldman by veteran underground cartoonist Sharon Rudahl, Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan one of the founders of the Actus Tragicus collective of Israeli cartoonists and I Killed Adolf Hitler by the Norwegian cartoonist known simply as Jason


2007: The Sunday Washington Post book section lists the Books of 2007 including the following books on Jewish topics and/or by Jewish authors including Lost Genius, by Kevin Bazzana, The Worlds of Lincoln Kirstein, by Martin Duberman, Einstein, by Jurgen Neffe, Calvin Coolidge, by David Greenberg, Ike, by Michael Korda, Opening Day by Jonathan Eig, Reality Show by Howard Kurtz, The Art of Political Murder, by Francisco Goldman, Power, Faith, and Fantasy, by Michael B. Oren, The Grand Surprise, edited by Stephen Pascal, Musicophilia, by Oliver Sacks, A Tranquil Star: Unpublished Stories, by Primo Levi, Away, by Amy Bloom, Imposture, by Benjamin Markovits and The Yiddish Policemen's Union, by Michael Chabon.


2008: As part of the Oud Festival sponsored by Confederation House, Violet Salameh will perform a program of works dedicated to the three great divas of the classical Arabic music world - Layla Morad, Asmahan and Oum Koulthoum at the Jerusalem Theater


2008: In New York, AFHUS Einstein Award Gala Honoring Bill Gates. Einstein biographer Walter Isaacson isthe guest speaker. Proceeds will benefit pioneering research at The Hebrew University's Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, developing innovative solutions to feeding the world through sustainable agriculture.


2008: Hours after voting began this morning, the Labor party postponed the primary elections after computerized voting systems malfunctioned in several locales around the country. Initially party leader Ehud Barak wanted to postpone the primary by eight days, to December 10, but on Tuesday afternoon, the party's secretary general, MK Eitan Cabel, announced that the primary will be held on Thursday, December 4th.


2008: Throngs of mourners packed the funerals of the six Jews killed in last week's terror attack in India. The six died after gunmen struck the Chabad House, the Mumbai headquarters of the ultra-Orthodox Lubavitch movement, last Wednesday. After a two-day standoff, four Israelis, an American Jew and a Mexican woman were dead. The dead included Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, his 28-year-old wife, Rivka, 38-year-old Aryeh Leibish Teitelbaum, 28-year old Bentzion Kruman and 50-year-old Norma Shvarzblat-Rabinovich.


2009: The trial of Heinrich Boere, a man accused of murdering Dutch civilians as a member of a Waffen SS hit squad  and has said that he was proud about being chosen to fight for the Nazis is scheduled to resume today.


2009(15thof Kislev, 5770): Sixty-four year old Eric Wolfson the multi-talented musician who “was born into a Jewish family, in the Charing Cross area of Glasgow and raised in the Pollokshields area” passed away today.





2009(15thof Kislev, 5770): Eighty-one year old “Harold A. Ackerman, a federal judge in New Jersey for three decades whose hundreds of cases included trials of crooked politicians, corrupt union officials and reputed organized crime chieftains, died today at his home in West Orange, N.J. (As reported by Douglas Martin)



2009(15thof Kislev, 5770)L Eight-six year old Samuel Hirsch, the co-founder of the Greater New York Labor Religion Coalition and a life-long champion of civil rights and the rights of American workers passed away today.


2009: David Wessel, the economics editor at the Wall Street Journal and author of the Capital column, discusses and signs his new book, In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic, at the Arlington Central Library in Arlington, VA.


2009: Chabad and JCCNV present “Extreme Makeover: Spiritual Edition” featuring Laibl Wolf, noted Australian Mystic, author of “Practical Kabala” and originator of Mind-Yoga.


2010: Lynda Barry and Maira Kalman are scheduled to “show slides of their work, compare notes and talk about their experiences as creators in many genres” in a program entitled “Words and Pictures” at the 92nd Street Y.


2010: Jewish children's author Jacqueline Jules is scheduled to read from her book, The Ziz and the Hanukkah Miracle at the Historic 6th& I Synagogue in Washington, DC.


2010: A huge brushfire was raging across the Carmel Mountains near Haifa this  afternoon, resulting in the death of some 40 people and hurting dozens of others, among them prison guards and firemen.


2010: Two Palestinian terrorists were killed on the Gaza border this morning, when IDF troops opened fire on a number of suspects on the northern end of the Strip. The terrorists were apparently trying to infiltrate a kibbutz on the Gaza border. 


2010: In Gainesville, FL, The Lubavitch Chabbad Jewish Center celebrated the second of the eight day Hanukah holiday with a twelve foot Menorah filled with toys for hospitalized children.


2010: Today marked the 30th anniversary the death of French-Jewish novelist Romain Gary,


2010: As Irving Picard sought to get control of funds related to the Madoff Ponzi Scheme non-profits targeted by clawback suits yesterday and today include the Joseph Persky Foundation, the Miles and Shirley Fitterman Charitable Foundation, and the Melvin B. Nessel Foundation. In all, over 20 charities and foundations were sued.


2011: The Heist Project is scheduled to perform works by Israeli choreographer Idan Sharabi


2011: David Skorton, the President of Cornell accompanied Billy Joel on flute, during Joel's rendition of "She's Always a Woman" at a concert at Cornell University's Bailey Hall


2011:U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called on Israel today to take diplomatic steps to address what he described as its growing isolation in the Middle East.


2011:Roni Fuchs and Zeev Frenkiel, the two Israeli businessmen sentenced to imprisonment in Georgia earlier this year for allegedly offering seven-million-dollars-worth of bribes to the Georgian deputy finance minister, returned to Israel today after being pardoned.


2012: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including  A Kosher Christmas: ‘Tis the Season to Be Jewish by Joshua Eli Plaut, Jewish Jocks: An Unorthodox Hall of Fame, edited by Franklin Foer and Marc Tracy, A Ship Without a Sail: The Life of Lorenz Hart by Gary Marmorstein, The Gershwins and Me: A Personal History in Twelve Songs by Michael Feinstein and Ian Jackman and We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy by Yael Cohen


2012: Those attending the ECLC Barnes and Noble Book Fair scheduled to take place in Fairfax, VA, will have a chance to have their picture taken “with a special Chanukah Dreidel.”


2012: In Minneapolis, MN, the Sabes Jewish Community Center is scheduled to sponsor, How Do You Spell Chanukah?? This is “a unique evening of comedy, fun, music and dreidel spinning and a FUNdraiser for the 2013 Minneapolis Jewish Humor Festival.”


2012: Ambassador Richard Schifter is scheduled to “speak about his childhood in Vienna, escape after the Nazi takeover, and his return to Europe as a Ritchie Boy” at today annual meeting of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington  


2012:AFIPO is scheduled its annual Family Music Day!


2012:Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz decided today to confiscate the tax revenues that Israel collected for the Palestinian Authority during the month of November, and use it to offset the PA's debt to Israel's Electric Corporation.


2012: “In a game against the Miami Dolphins” Julian Edelman of the New England Patriots “broke his right foot and was placed on injured reserve”


2012:Holocaust survivors gathered in front of the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem this morning to protest the Treasury’s handling of the budget allocated to the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel, which reimburses survivors’ annual medical expenses.


2013: “Jerusalem on a Plate” is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.


2013: The Center for Jewish Culture is scheduled to present “Welcome to America: Memories of a Bintel Brief.


2013:The Syrian war continues to spill over into Israel: IDF forces on the Golan Heights near the Syria border were shot at from a Syrian army outpost today. The IDF returned fire and identified a direct hit on a Syrian soldier. No IDF soldiers were injured. (As reported by Ari Yashar)


2013: “Seventy-five years after fleeing Nazi Germany for Britain the children of Kindertransport recall how they were saved from Hitler’s murder machine”



2013: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met this morning with Pope Francis at the Vatican and presented the pontiff with a copy of his late father’s book about the Spanish Inquisition. (As reported by Lazar Berman)


2014(10thof Kislev): Yarhrzeit for the first mass of Jews who were murdered during the Rumbula Massacre near Riga, Latvia that would ultimately claim the lives of more than 25,000 Jews.


2014: On “Giving Tuesday” the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is scheduled to seek support for the Opportunity Scholarships program which “helps to ensure that all students, regardless of school means, have the opportunity to learn the Museum’s message of universal tolerance.”


2014: The YIVO is scheduled to present a lecture-concert “Klezmer Influences in American Jewish Music.


2014: The House of Representatives passed the No Social Security Act for Nazis today which ”closed a loophole that had allowed ex-Nazis who lied about their past when immigrating to the United States — and been identified and deported by the Justice Department — to continue receiving Social Security and other benefits.”


2014: “France voted to recognize Palestine as a state, which the Israeli embassy in Paris says sends “the wrong message to leaders and people in the region.”


2014: After overcoming a series of political hurdles the Senate voted to confirm Noah Mamet as the U.S. Ambassador to Argentina.


2014: “The ruling Likud faction has formally decided to vote in favor of opposition-proposed bills on the Knesset docket that would dissolve the Knesset and bring about early elections, party sources told The Times of Israel today.” (As reported by Haviv Rettig Gur and Ricky Ben-David)


2014: In Chicago, the Spertus Book Meetup is scheduled to discuss The Familyby David Laskin.


2015: “Singer-musician Judith Berkson is scheduled to present arrangements of cantorial music from YIVO’s sound archives” at the Center for Jewish History.


2015: The Consulate General of Israel in New York and the Edmond J. Safra Synagogue are scheduled to host a reception and panel discussion commemorating “The Exodus of Jews from Arab Countries.”


2015: In Florida, Boca Raton Synagogue is scheduled to host Jeffrey Goldberg, the National Correspondent for The Atlanticspeaking on “Battleground for Truth: Confronting Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial.”


2015(20thof Kislev): Day two of the Rosh HaShanah of Chassidus


2015(20thof Kislev): Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yitzhak Hutner, the dean of the Chaim Berlin yeshiva in New York.


2016: “Hannah and the moonlit Dress” is scheduled to open at the 14th Street Y.


2016: “A Basel Appeals Court” “overturned the hate incitement conviction of” David Klein, “a Jewish musician who on Facebook described Muslims as ‘the Nazis of today’” after considering “his apology for words that he wrote about a video showing Arabs assaulting Jews in Jerusalem and the fact that he is the descendant of Holocaust survivors.”


2016: The 10th Annual Other Israel Film Festival is scheduled to continue this morning at the JCC Manhattan followed this evening by the New Israel Fund’s New Generations and JCC 20s + 30s Shabbat dinner featuring conversations with guest filmmakers.


2016: Marina Rustow, the Khedouri A. Zilkha Professor of Jewish Civilization in the Near East at Princeton University, is scheduled to deliver a lecture on “Fatimid State Documents,


Serial Recyclers and the Cairo Geniza” at the Iowa Memorial Union on the campus of the University of Iowa in Iowa City.


2017(14th of Kislev, 5778): Parashat Va-yishlach


2017: Rabbi David Lerner delivered a sermon “Rabbi   Neil   Gillman,  z”l ,  and   What   Do   We   Believe?” following the death of “one of the premiere theologians of the Conservative Movement.”



2017: In Atlanta, the second day of the USCJ Convention is scheduled to begin with Barry Mael leading a study session on Leadership Lessons from Pirke Avot.


2017: The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host a Pirke Avot study session followed by Ma’ariv and Havdallah.


2017: The Maccabeats are scheduled to perform in London today.


2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such as Sholem Asch whose works included the New Testament based trilogy The Nazarene, The Apostle and Mary continues today


2018(24thof Kislev, 5779): In the evening kindle the first light of Chanukah


2018: The Jewish Museum of London is scheduled to host a “Hanukah Family Day” where Lydia Hardwick will help attendees create their own clay lamp and the Yiddish Choir will perform “traditional holiday songs followed by a candle lighting ceremony.


2018: JW3 is scheduled to host two screenings of “Disobedience” in London.


2018: In Atlanta, “Conductor Juan Ramirez and Cantor Lauren Adesnik as members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Emanu-El Youth Choir” are scheduled to perform a very special Hanukkah concert, From Darkness to Light” which includes “highlights inspiring music from the Holocaust, melodic Sephardic tunes and uplifting Hanukkah favorites.”


2018: The Yiddish Book Center is scheduled to host a screening of the Prince and the Dybbuk.


2018: The Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, under the leadership of Rosh Yeshiva Joshua Kulp is scheduled to “start a new tractate of Talmud--Kiddushin, which is mostly concerned with the laws of betrothal.”


2018: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including I Might Regret This: Essays, Drawings, Vulnerabilities and Other Stuff by Abbi Jacobson, Beastie Boys Book by Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz and The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created by Jane Leavy.


 


 


 


 


 

This Day, December 3, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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December 3


311: Sixty-sixty year old Emperor Diocletian passed away.



1368: Birthdate of Charles VI, the French king who would order the expulsion of the Jews from his realm in 1394. Unlike the orders of expulsion issued by some of his predecessors this one remained in force with Jews not returning to France until the 17th century.


1447: Birthdate of Bayezid II the Sultan who in 1492, issued a formal invitation to the Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal and sent out ships to safely bring Jews to his empire.


1656: First entry in the diary of Thomas Burton which recorded the activities of Parliament during the era of Oliver Cromwell and provided a written record of “the assurance of the right of Jews to remain in England. “The Jews, those able and general intelligencers whose intercourse with the Continent Cromwell had before turned to profitable account, he now conciliated by a seasonable benefaction to their principal agent [Carvajal] resident in England.”


1685: King Charles XI of Sweden ordered the governor-general of the capital to see that no Jews were permitted to settle in Stockholm, or in any other part of the country, "on account of the danger of the eventual influence of the Jewish religion on the pure evangelical faith."


1771: In a letter written today, Moses Mendelssohn described Johann Jacob Rabe, as a patient, “strong Talmudist” who “has translated into German the first three parts of the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud” which are “ready for the printer” but for which no publisher can be found.


1791: Based on account that appeared in the Newcastle Courant, today “a marriage was celebrated at Sunderland according to the rites and ceremonies of the Jews between Lyon Hermann, dentist, of Edinburgh and Mrs. H. Pollock, widow of the late Mr. Pollock, a merchant in London.”


1792: One day after she had passed away, “Miriam bat Joseph” was buried today at the “Alderney Road Jewish Cemetery.”


1800: Birthdate of  Émile  Péreire who along with his brother Isaac were leading French financiers who, among other things created the Crédit Mobilier bank and were considered the Sephardi equivalents of the Rothschilds.


1802: Last will and testament of Emanuel Abrahams, a “Jewish resident of Charleston, SC.”


1807: In Charleston, SC, Rabbi Jacob Suares officiated at the wedding of Hyam Moise to Cecilia Woolf, the daughter of the late Solomon Woolf.


1807: In Charleston, SC, Rabbi Jacob Suares officiated at the wedding of Aaron Moise to Sarah Cohen the daughter of the late Gershon Cohen.


1807: In Charleston, SC, Rabbi Jacob Suares officiated at the wedding of Nathan Hart to the eldest daughter of Daniel Hart.


1809: Birthdate of Samuel Adler a leading German-American Reform rabbi, Talmudist, and author who was also the father of Felix Adler, the well-known founder of the Society for Ethical Culture.


1811: In Berlin, Fanny Eleonore Bendemann née von Halle, a daughter of the Jewish banker Joel Samuel von Halle and banker Anton Heinrich Bendemann gave birth to painter Eduard Julius Friedrich Bendemann



1818: Isaac Gompertz married Charlotte Florence Wattier today.


1818: Illinois becomes the 21st state admitted to the Union. “John Hays was the first Jewish pioneer in Illinois.  He served as county sheriff and collector of internal revenue before the territory became a state. German Jews built the first synagogue in 1851 in Chicago calling it the Congregation of the Men of the West. By the end of the decade Polish Jews had started their own congregation and a group of Reform Jews had split away from “the Men of the West” to form their own synagogue called Sinai Congregation.  The Jewish population of Illinois was large enough to provide over 1,100 volunteers to fight in the Union Army. 


1819: Birthdate of Daniel Abramovich Chwolson, the native of Vilna who became a distinguished Orientalist and defender of the Jews from the rampant anti-Semitism of Czarist Russia.


1827: Moritz Gottlieb Saphir “founded the Tunnel über der Spree literary society.”


1830: Two days after he had passed away, 72 year old Lyon Phillips, the husband of Elizabeth Phillips and the father of Joseph Phillips was buried today at the “Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.


1831(28th of Kislev, 5592): Shabbat Shel Chanukah; Parashat Miketz


1831(28th of Kislev, 5592): Forty-eight year old Morocco native Solomon Ben Masud Ben Abraham Sebag, the husband of Sarah Goldsmid and “the father of Sir Joseph Sebag-Montefiore and Jemima Sebag-Montefiore passed away today in London


1831: Birthdate of German humor writer Julius Sttenheim.


1831: Birthdate of James Graham Fair, the Irish born American mining engineer who made a fortune in Nevada silver mines and served as United States and then left a $25,000 bequest “to the Hebrew asylums” in San Francisco.


1836: In Vienna, Ignatz Lieben and his wife gave birth to Austrian Chemist Adolf Lieben.


1839: Phillip Fama married Charlotte Lambert at the Great Synagogue today.


1842(30th of Kislev, 5603): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; 6thday of Chanukah


1842(30th of Kislev, 5603): Seventy-four year old Samuel Levin Egers, who was appointed the Rabbi of Brunswick in 1809 and who did not “relax his labors” after losing his sight in 1836, passed away today.


1844(22nd of Kislev, 5605): Fifty-six year old Hamburg native Georg Hartog Gerson, the third generation of German-Jewish doctors and a member of  the 5th Line Battalion, King's German Legion who saw action in the Peninsula, in Southern France, the Lowlands and at the Battle of Waterloo” passed away today.



 


1845: Samuel Samuel married Elizabeth Mordecai today.


1846: Two days after she had passed away, “Sarah Kate Jacob (nee Simons)” the daughter of Samuel Simons and Rose Moses and the wife of Jacob Jacob wth whom she had had four children, was buried today at the “Falmouth Jewish Cemetery.”


1847(25th of Kislev, 5608): Chanukah


1850: In Padua, Samuel David Luzzatto and his wife gave birth to Beniamino Luzzatto, the Italian physician who became chief of the propaedeutic clinic of Padua University.


1852: The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Benjamin Disraeli, delivered a major address today in the House of Commons on the subject of taxation.  The speech, which was well received, contained proposals to change the Tea Duties and the Income Tax.


1854(12th of Kislev, 5615: A German-born Jew, Edward (Teddy) Thonen was killed today when troops stormed the stockade during the goldfields uprising at Ballarat, Australia.


1857:  Birthdate of Dr. Carl Koller, a Czech-born American ophthalmic surgeon whose introduction of cocaine as a surface anesthetic in eye surgery (1884) inaugurated the modern era of local anesthesia. He was a colleague of Sigmund Freud, who in 1884 was interested in the use of cocaine to cure morphine addiction. Koller noticed cocaine had a numbing effect on the tongue and, after experimenting with animals, introduced it as a local anesthetic in ophthalmology. It was also quickly adopted for nose and throat surgery and for dentistry. He died in 1944. Koller was one of the so-called Vienna Trio made up of three Jewish doctors - Carl Koller (1857-1944), Sigmund Lustgarten (1857-1911) and Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). All three are characterized by several interesting similarities. In their early achievements in medical research they were pathfinders of the first successful local anesthetic: cocaine. All three became later victims of anti-Semitism.


1857: In Neustadt, Prussia, Josef Pinkus and Auguste Fränke gave birth to Max Pinkus, the husband of Hedwig Pinkus.


1858: After purchasing “a considerable number of Arabic and Hebrew manuscripts on behalf of the Bibliothèque Nationale” and being “elected secretary of the Consistoire Central des Israélites de France” today Salomon Munk “was elected a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres” after which “he was appointed professor of Hebrew at the Collège de France.”


1859:At the Green-street Synagogue in NYC, Rabbi S.M. Isaacs “delivered a stirring appeal to his congregation on behalf of the Jews who have fled from Morocco and taken refuge at Gibraltar. Their suffering co-religionist were forced to take flight because of the fighting between the natives and Spain. Issacs acknowledged the help rendered by the British who had provided the refugees with tents and food.  He also expressed thanks for support from the local Christian population.  But he still urged his congregants and the rest of the Jewish community to come to the aid of the some 29,000 Jews who had been living along the Barbary Coast.


1861(30th of Kislev, 5622): Rosh Chodesh Tevet


1862: First Lieutenant Herman Hamburger, who would see action at the Battle of Gettysburg while serving as Assistant-Adjutant General of the First Brigade, of the Third Division began his service today with the 18thCavalry today.


1863: In Cincinnati, OH, Moses and Sarah Waldheim gave birth to Aaron Waldheim, the manager of St. Louis “outlet of May-Stern, a retail furniture store he started with David May and Harry Stern that was so successful it enable him to become one of the city’s leading philanthropists.


1870(9th of Kislev, 5631): Parashat Vayetzei


1870(9th of Kislev, 5631): Seventy-seven year old War of 1812 veteran Levi Charles Meyers Harby, who served in the “Texas Navy” during its war for independence and in the Confederate Navy during the Civil War while finding time to marry “Leonora Rebecca De Lyon, a member of the prominent Jewish family from Savanah with whom he had three children passed away today.



1871: In Martinsburg, W. VA, Newton Diehl Baker Sr. and Mary Ann (Dukehart) Baker gave birth to Newton D. Baker, Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of War who supported the nomination of Felix Frankfurter to the Supreme Court and was the 1930 recipient of the American Hebrew Medal for the Promotion of Better Understanding Between Christian and Jew in America.


1871: The annual meeting of the B’nai Jeshurun Ladies’ Benevolent Society and Home for Aged Hebrews took place today the 34th Street Synagogue.  Following the reading of the annual report the following officers were elected: Mrs. Henry Leo, President; Mrs. H. B. Hertz, Vice President; Mrs. Zion Bernstein, Treasurer; Judge P.J. Joachimsen, Honorary Counsel; Dr. Simeon U. Leo, Physician


1871(20th of Kislev, 5632): Sixty-four year old Jonas Königswarter who “in recognition of his public services, was decorated with the Order of the Iron Crown of the third class, and elevated to the knighthood; and in 1870 received the decoration of the second class of the same order, and was raised to the baronetage” passed away today.


1871: Charles Hart was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”


1872: Prime Minister William Gladstone was among those who heard George Smith read “his translation of the Chaldean account of the Great Flood” at today’s meeting of the Society of Biblical  Archaeology. Known as the Epic of Gilgamesh, this is another version of Noah’s Flood.


1873: The Oratorio Society, a choral music society founded by Leopold Damrosch gave its first concert today.


1873: Birthdate of Hungarian native Charles Gelman who in 1892 came to the United States where he settled in Glens Falls, NY where owned and operated “the dry goods firm of Merkel and Gelman” while raising his two daughters Elsa and Babette.


1873: In Lithuania Isaac Margolis and Hinde Margolis, the daughter of David Aryeh Leib Zirilstein and Kaila Bernstein gave birth to Bertha Barnett


1874: Birthdate of Vienna native Jacob Leon Wolff who gained fame as “pianist and composer Erich Jaques Wolff.”


1875: Birthdate of Father Bernhard Lichtenberg German clergyman, anti-fascist and outspoken defender of the Jews of Germany. For example, after Kristallnachtwhile the German churches kept their silence in face of the vicious attack upon the Jews, Lichtenberg was the only Church man to raise his voice publicly and fearlessly against Nazi brutality. “We know what happened yesterday, we do not know what lies in store for us tomorrow. But we have experienced what has happened today: Outside burns the temple. This is also a place of worship.” From that evening until his arrest in 1941, Lichtenberg continued to pray daily from his pulpit in the St Hedwig Cathedral for the both Jews and Jewish Christians as well as other victims of the regime. Following his two year imprisonment, Lichtenberg turned the Gestapo’s offer to leave him alone if he would stop speaking out against the regime.  Lichtenberg asked to be allowed to accompany the Jews and Jewish Christians being sent to the Ghetto at Lodz, Poland.  The Church refused his request because of his failing health. Instead the Gestapo ordered him to be sent to Dachau. The sixty-seven year old priest died on November 5, 1943while waiting to be shipped to the concentration camp.



1876: It was reported today that the “Czar has written a private letter to” Queen Victoria “in which he does not disguise his resentment at the treatment which he has received at the hands of her Prime Minister” Lord Beaconsfield better known as Benjamin D’Israeli.  (One cannot but wonder if part of the ruler of the anti-Semitic realm greatest resentment comes from having to deal with the son of London Jew.)


1876: “Touching the Jew” published today described a visit by an American journalist to the home of “a strict family of the chosen people” (Orthodox Jews) where they discussed the novel Daniel Deronda of which the Jews said the title character was “a weak visionary” and the character “Mordecai was a common madman.”  “And as for that wild notion which so many of you Christians entertain about Jerusalem, one of the Jews said let us “disabuse your mind of it.  The Jews don’t want to go Jerusalem; they wouldn’t if they could.”  “The very idea” of “being compelled to live in Jerusalem…is enough to make one shudder.”


1878:Settlers arrive at Petach Tikvah in what is now Israel.  Petach Tikvah is Hebrew for Gateway of Hope. The land was purchased by Jews living in Jerusalem from a Greek landowner after the Sultan of Turkey had thwarted their efforts to buy land near Jericho.  The village they built was in an area prone to malaria outbreaks.  In 1882, the settlers gave up the village, due in part to poor harvest.  At the time only 66 people were living in ten houses.


1880: The Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society “purchase the Devlin property at 10thAvenue, the Boulevard and 136th to 138th Streets for $138,000” with the intention of constructing a facility at this location.


1880: At Gottingen University, a group of students is preparing a statement for the Rector protesting the distribution of Court Chaplain Adolph Stocker’s “petition against the Jews.


1881: “Some Minor Foreign Facts” published today include estimates of the Jewish population that “have been prepared in Rome showing that there are 6,568,000 Jews in the world, 5,500,000 of whom live in Europe, 240,000 in Asia, 500,000 in Africa and 308,000 in America.


1881: After having been closed for Shabbat, the fair sponsored by Temple Israel in Brooklyn reopened tonight.


1882: “Notes On Art” published today described the discovery of  a“grotesque wall painting” called ‘The Judgment of Solomon,’ a veritable caricature of the famous Biblical  story” in a house at Pompeii that had been built by merchants from ancient Alexandria, a city “well acquainted with Jewish lore” which would have accounted for the artistic creation.


1884: On the day before he committed suicide in the New York park near the Farragut Monument, Jacob Asch, a Jewish native of Prussia who had operated a millinery story in Chicago where he had left his wife and family, met with Adolph Schwab and gave back to him the lace goods which Schwab had given to him sell on commission.


1885(25thof Kislev, 5646): Chanukah


1885: Birthdate of chess champion Edward Lasker.


1885: “Lighting A Candle Each Day” published today described the celebration of Chanukah, a “festival that last eight days” where “at the beginning of each day the orthodox Hebrew family lights a candle until they eight candles burning.”


1886: A wealthy Jew named Altmayer who was serving time for embezzlement has escaped from the Mazas Prison using a “forged letter of release.”


1887: In New York, Judge Barrett has displayed Solomon in deciding “that the child about whose ownership the mulattoes William and Jennie Lee and the Russian Jews Bertha and Harris Brodsky have each been contesting is Nellie Lee and not Yetta Brodsky and has order the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children to deliver her to the Lees.  The unanswered question is, what has become of the missing Yetta Brodsky


1888: Supporters of Boulanger rallied in Paris today shouting for an end to the Republic and chanting “Down with the Jews!”  (French anti-Semitism was a subset of right-wing hostility towards the Third Republic)


1888: In Łomża, Poland, the son of Liba Miriam (Cyrowicz) and Joel Leib Herzog gave birth to Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog who was the first Chief Rabbi of Ireland, serving from 1921 to 1936 and then began servings as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of the British Mandate of Palestine and of Israel until his death in 1959


1889: “In Wandsbek, which was then a town in the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein (now a district of the city of Hamburg), Julius and Henriette (née Hirsch) Levy gave birth to Paul Levy who gained fame as American screenwriter, director and producer who was an assistant to his fellow co-religionist and movie maker Irving Thalberg.



1889: A party of fifty Jews from several cities including Ogden, Utah and Chicago, Illinois, passed through Pittsburgh, PA today on their way to Jerusalem.


1890(21stof Kislev, 5651): Leonard Arnheim, the four year old son of Ida and Lewis Arnheim, passed away.  Lewis Arnheim served in the Georgia State Legislature as a representative from rural Dougherty County and was the son-in-law of David Mayer of Atlanta. A native of Germany, he made a career in the law before taking an active role in state politics.


1891: The residence of the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews are scheduled to enjoy a free evening of musical entertainment.


1891(2ndof Kislev, 5652): Ninety-year old Abraham Alexander Wolff, the German born Rabbi who spent most of his life leading the congregation in Copenhagen and as “the father of Danish homiletics” delivered approximately 5,000 sermons during his “career of 65 years” passed away today.


1892: The Moscow Chamber Commerce resolved “to exclude all Jews from the list of city merchants unless they” convert and become Greek Orthodox.


1892: In Chattanooga, TN, Harry Clay Adler and Ada Ochs gave birth to Julius Ochs Adler, the publisher of The Chattanooga Timesand general manager of The New York Timeswho had a distinguished military career in both World Wars.


1892: Judith Solis-Cohen began a ten year stint as the editor for “the weekly ‘Womanknd’ column in the Jewish Exponent.” (As reported by the Jewish Women’s Archives)


1893: “A Practical Charity” published today described the work of the East Side Relief Committee whose members included Mr. Spectorsky of the Hebrew Institute and is an example of what can happen when “Catholic, Protestant and Hebrew religious societies” work together.


1893: “Professor Felix Adler spoke” to “the usual large audience” “in Carnegie Music Hall this morning on the idea of God and the futurity as taught in the Old Testament.”


1893: “Jewish President of Each Board” published today described the lack of anti-Semitism in Lexington, KY a city of 30,000 that includes about one hundred Jews where a Jew was chosen to service as the President of the Boards of Alderman and the Boards of Councilmen.


1893: Much to consternation of French anti-Semites, David Raynal began serving as Minister of the Interior.


1894: In Hamburg,Bernhard Bästlein, Sr. of Thuringia and Cornelia Bästlein, née Kock, of East Friesland Bernhard Bästlein a leader of the anti-Nazi resistance who was executed “at Brandenburg-Görden Prison. (He was not Jewish.  But we do have an obligation to “Remember” those who stood against the Evil of the Darkest Night.”


1894: In Baltimore, MD, Jacob and Hilda (Kaplan) Sobeloff gave birth to Simon Sobeloff who served as Solicitor General of the United States and Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth District.


1894: Glass dealer Benjamin Rosenthal was assaulted by a gang of boys hollering “Sheeny, sheeny” at 34th Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan.


1894: “A Philosophy And Not A Creed” published today described the views of Rabbi Joseph Silverman on Judaism stating that it “is not a system of creeds but a philosophy”  Unlike other religions, “Judaism has no symbol” but maybe it should adopt the question mark as one since “Judaism is an everlasting searcher after truth.” 


1895: Birthdate of Anna Freud, Austrian-born English psychoanalyst and daughter of Sigmund Freud.She was the founder of child psychoanalysis and one of its foremost practitioners. She also made fundamental contributions to understanding how the ego, or consciousness, functions in averting painful ideas, impulses, and feelings. She diverged from her father in emphasizing the role of the ego (as opposed to id forces) in psychological functioning. Her book The ego and mechanisms of defense (1936) laid the groundwork for ego psychology. She was one of the first psychoanalysts to work primarily with children. She passed away1982.


1895:”Vienna’s Anti-Semitic Mobs” published today described the response of the ant-Semites to the Emperor’s rejection of Dr. Luger as Burgomaster of Vienna which included “insulting and threatening passers-by and other persons in the cafes and shops whom they regarded as being Hebrews.”


1895: Birthdate of Jaujard Jacques, “the man who save Mona Lisa.”



1896: Birthdate of Mihály Maurice Bergsmann, the son of a practicing physician in Budapest who converted to Unitarian Christianity and gained fame as psychoanalyst Michael Balint.


1897: Starting today and for the next ten years Judith Solis-Cohen “edited the weekly “Womankind” column in the Jewish Exponent. In these columns, which covered such topics as “What Women Can Earn,” “Coeducation,” “Women Zionists,” “The Woman Suffrage Movement,” and “The Council of Jewish Women.” (As reported by the Jewish Women’s Archives)


1898: In “Zhyomyr, Haim Bardinstein and Miryam-Mother Bardinstein to Shlomo H. Bardin the husband of Roth Bardin, with whom he had two sons – David and Hillel – “who studied at the University of Berlin, University College and Columbia University after which “he founded the Haifa Technical High School and Haifa Nautical School.


1900: In Great Britain, The Court of Appeal has rendered a decision upholding that of a Divisional Court in the suit of the Attorney General vs. the Jewish Colonization Association. The Crown claimed estate and succession duty upon the death of Baron Maurice de Hirsch. This victory means the Crown gains upwards of 1,250,000 English pounds.


1902: Birthdate of American artist Louis Leon Ribak, the husband of artist Beatrice Mandelman, who passed away at Taos, NM in 1979



1903(14thof Kislev, 5664): In Vilna, Deborah Romm who “took an active interest in the affairs” of the Romm Publishing House after her husband David died in 1860, passed away today.


1903:  Birthdate of mathematician John von Neumann.  Born in Hungary, von Neumann brilliant career included work on the project to build the hydrogen bomb as well and development of logical design.  This work was critical in the development of the modern computer.  He won the Medal of Freedom in 1956 a year before his death.


1903: Birthdate of Abe Pollin future owner of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Washington Wizards, the National Hockey League's (NHL) Washington Capitals and Women's National Basketball Association's (WNBA) Washington Mystics. Pollin would use his own money to build a home for the Wizards that would revitalize a large section of downtown Washington, D.C.   He would also support a number of civic and charitable efforts that would do everything from rewarding public school teachers to feeding starving children in Africa. If the first question asked of a soul by the heavenly court is “How did you conduct yourself when doing business?” Pollin will pass with flying colors.


1904(25thof Kislev, 5665): Chanukah


1904: In St. Louis, MO, Charles and Rose Ellman Weissman gave birth to Ben Weisman, the husband of “Esther Polinsky Weisman” with whom he had two children – Harry and Sandra.


1904 (25th of Kislev, 5665):Rabbi Chaim Chizkiah Medini, the author of the Halachic encyclopedia Sdei Chemed passed away.


1905: In Minsk, “a hooligan disguised as a Jew is” supposed “to fire on a holy image in a religious procession” which is then to be followed by the killing of Jews; an act that will be made easier because the houses of the Jews “are to be marked with white crosses.”


1910(2ndof Kislev, 5671): Parashat Tolodot


1910(2ndof Kislev, 5671): Forty-seven year old Ida Dolce Foa Ghiron, the daughter of Giuseppe and Annetta Foa and the wife of Pacifico Ghiron passed away today after which she was buried next to her father in Piemonte, Italy.


1911: In Calgary, Canada, those attending a meeting at Tabor Hall there was a “protest against religious education in public schools.”


1912: Mrs. Mark A. Cohen performed a vocal solo accompanied by pianist Mrs. Justin Levin at “the third regular meeting of the Ladies’ Society of B’nai Sholom Temple Israel which took place this afternoon in Chicago.


1914:  Birthdate of composer Irving Gifford Fine.




1914: The American Jewish Committee appropriates $2,500 for an orphan asylum in Sophia, Bulgaria due to orphans of the Balkan War. This was at the request of the Chief Rabbi, Dr. M. Ehrenpreis.


1914: “Solomon Rabinowitz Here” published today described the arrival in New York of the 54 year old  author from Kiev called the “Jewish Mark Twain” who like Twain writes under a pen name which in this case is Sholom Aleichem


1914: It was reported today that Solomon Rabinowitz, who writes under the pseudonym “Shalom Aleichem” “was at a health resort near Berlin when Germany declared war on Russia” following which he was arrested and sent to Berlin under guard along with the Russian Minister of Education” and then 24 hours later was put on a train for Denmark.” (This is event has all of the irony of a Shalom Aleichem tale since the Germans did not see any irony in treat the Jewish author as a Russian – a view of his persona not shared by the Czar who ruled over him,)


1914: Among those listed today as contributor to the American Jewish Relief Committee were the Central Jewish Council of Denver, CO; Congregations Sons of Jacob, Galesburg, Il; Committee of Orthodox Jews, Lafayette, IN; Jewish Conference of Minneapolis MN; Jewish War Veterans Committee of Omaha Nebraska; Temple Mount Sinai, El Paso, TX and Alxxander Joske, San Antonio, TX who may have been related to Julius Joske who founded Joske’s the San Antonio based department store chain.


1915: Seventy year old Theodor Kohn, the seventh Archbishop of Olomouc whose grandfather was Jewish making him the first person of Jewish origins to hold the post passed away today.


1915: “Ford Has A Rival” published today described the plan of Representative Meyer London for mediating a peace in Europe which he will have presented to Congress before Henry Ford’s peace ship can reach Europe.”  (Did this loss of face tied to a Jewish legislator help to fuel Ford’s anti-Semitism?)


1915: In describing the hardships and challenges facing Russia’s war effort, Ernest P. Horrwitz wrote today that “it is not feasible to replace coal” with “timber which is abundant in the Russian forests because the timber trade is almost exclusively in the hands of the Jews and they have been decimated by the most cruel pogroms or expelled from the west and northwest which is the great forest land of Russia.”


1916: “The campaign to raise the final half million of the two million dollars need for the work of the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies began” tonight “with a rally at the Thirty-ninth Street Theatre” where Dr. Moses Hyamson delivered the opening prayer, music was provided by the Russian Trio of Eugene, Michael and Arthur Bernstein and hundreds of the attendees responded positively “to the appeal of Leo Arnstein who asked for 2,000 volunteer workers to enlist 20,000 more subscribers in the course of this week.”


1916: Following three years of fundraising, the new annex on St. Mark’s Place of the National Orphan House opened today with a dedication ceremony that included remarks by Judge Gustave Hartman, President of the Israel Orphan Asylum who said that while Jews appreciated the efforts of Christians to care for Jewish orphans “it was incumbent upon the Jews to care for their own people and bring them up in the Jewish faith.”


1916: General Joffre, the commander-in-chief of the French army, who had “raised to the rank of corps commander, two Jewish generals, Cohen and Hyman” and conferred upon General Cohen, who had been wounded 27 times since the start of the war, the order of the Legion of Honor was replaced today by General Robert Nivelle.


1917(18th of Kislev, 5678): In Pine Bluff, AR, eighty-two year old Gabe Meyer who had served on the City Council and the School Board passed away today.


1917(18th of Kislev, 5678): Fifty-five year old Justine Dreyfus Levy passed away today after which he was buried in the Jewish Cemetery at Natchitoches, LA.


1917: In Austria, Rudolf and Helena Brasse gave birth to Wihlelm Brasse, the unwilling creator of the part of the photographic record of the Holocaust. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)



1917: At Temple Emanu-El, Dr. Joseph Silverman, assisted by Rabbi Simon Shlager and Dr. H.G. Enelow officiated at the funeral of “Dr. Henry M. Leipziger, “the founder of the public school lecture courses” in New York City” during which Daniel P. Hayes delivered the eulogy followed by an internment in Bayside Cemetery.


1917: Contrary to some reports the Ottomans had not abandoned their positions outside of Jerusalem as could be seen when the British suffered 300 casualties and were forced to withdraw from the Wadi Zeit because the Turks held the high ground.


1917: “The members of the forty-six teams of men and women who are working to obtain five million dollars before the end of next week for Jewish war relief in Europe and welfare work in the army and navy met at tea” this “afternoon in the Berkeley Arcade” on West 44th Street to review the two days of effort which has raised $1,120,418.50.


1918: Felix Warbrug, the chairman of the Campaign Committee of the Joint Distribution Committee of the American Fund for Jewish War Sufferers announced tonight that the “official information gathered in Europe by the Food Administration is to be turned over to the Jewish War Relief for use in apportioning the fund of five million dollars now being” raised in New York City.


1919: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, the French artist who painted “Alice and Elisabeth Cahen d’Anvers” (most commonly referred to as Pink and Blue) passed away.  The painting portrayed the 2 daughters of the banker Louis Raphael Cahen d'Anvers, the blonde, Elisabeth, born in December 1874, and the younger, Alice, in February 1876, when they were respectively six and five years old. The artist produced many portraits for the families of the Parisian Jewish community at the time. Renoir was commissioned to paint many portraits for this family, which he had met through the collector Charles Ephrussi, proprietor of the "Gazette des Beaux-Arts."


1920: Sir Mathew Nathan, the second son of Jonah and Miriam Nathan began serving as the 13thGovernor of Queensland (Australia)


1920: Premiere of “Anna Boleyn” German historical film directed by Ernst Lubitsch starring Henny Porten who would refuse to divorce her Jewish husband when the Nazis came to power, as Anne Boleyn


1921(2nd of Kislev, 5682): Parashat Toldot


1921: Samuel Greenbaum, a Justice of the Supreme Court was among the speakers at a banquet tonight marking a continuation of the Temple Israel’s celebration of its golden jubilee held at the Hotel Astor where an additional $400,000 was raised for the congregation’s building fund.


1922: Birthdate of Henry Anatole Grunwald, an Austrian-born Jewish-American journalist and diplomat perhaps best known for his position as managing editor of TIME magazine and editor in chief of Time, Inc.


1922: Birthdate of Len Lesser, a veteran character actor best known for his recurring role in the 1990s as Uncle Leo on the hit NBC-TV comedy "Seinfeld."


1922: Ethel Jacobs is scheduled to present a paper on Upstream by Ludwig Lewinsohn followed by Aileen Paradise’s piano solo at the meeting of the Young Peoples Congregation of Temple Mizpah’s Studay circle this afternoon.



1922:Silent movie, Hungry Hearts produced by the Goldwyn Company and based on a book of the same name written by Anzia Yezierska opened in Los Angeles. In her short stories and novels, author Anzia Yezierska focused on the challenges faced by young Jewish women trying to navigate between their immigrant families and their desire to become part of America. After a long period of struggling to attain a public voice, Yezierska published Hungry Hearts, a book of short stories, in 1920. Once the book found public attention, it attracted interest from Hollywood. The Goldwyn Company paid $10,000 for the film rights and brought Yezierska to Los Angeles as a $200 per week screen writer. This was the first financial security Yezierska had ever experienced. Despite the excitement of finally being rewarded for her work as a writer, Yezierska was overwhelmed by her portrayal in the popular press as a “sweatshop Cinderella.” She also felt unable to draw upon authentic immigrant experience while ensconced in Hollywood luxury. She returned to New York after a few months. The film Hungry Hearts is notable for its attempts to portray the struggle of immigrant life and for its street scenes that were actually filmed on the Lower East Side. Still many reviewers and Yezierska, herself, objected to the sentimentality of the final script and to a tacked-on happy ending (described by the New York Times as “incredible and mushy”). In Hungry Hearts and her later stories and novels (e.g.Breadgivers, 1925), Yezierska was the first author to present the struggles of immigrant women to a broader American audience. Persea Books began publishing reprints of Yezierska's work in 1975.


1923: In Pittsburgh, PA, Rabbi Wolf Leiter and his wife gave birth to photographer Saul Leiter.




1923(25thof Kislev, 5684): Chanukah


1923(25thof Kislev, 5684): Seventy-five year old French historian and academic who was a professor of Roman history at the Faculté des lettres in Paris” and the father of historian Marc Bloch passed away today.


1923: Today President Calvin Coolidge “remitted the sentence of Controller Charles L. Craig who had been sentenced to “imprisonment for sixty days in jail for contempt of court by Judge Julius M. Mayer” whose ruling was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.


1924: Today, “the United States and Great Britain entered into a convention with respect to Palestine” that “provided that no modification should be made in the League of Nation Mandate unless such modification had been assented to by the United State” and that “the mandate recited ‘the solemn pledge…to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine.


1925: George Gershwin's Piano Concerto in Fis premiered at Carnegie Hall.


1926(27thof Kislev, 5687): Third Day of Chanukah


1926(27thof Kislev, 5687): Forty-five year old “German writer and theatre critic Siegfried Jacobsohn passed away today.


1927: Birthdate of “Canadian novelist, humorist and lawyer” whose works include The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick and who is the father of actress of Sarah Torgov.



1927: Flyweight Pinky Silverberg lost a ten round unanimous decision in a non-title bout at the State Armory, in Bridgeport, CT shortly after which the NBA stripped of his Flyweight Championship making it “the only time that in boxing history that a champion was short of a legitimately won championship do to a poor performance in a non-title bout.”


1928: In Atlantic City, it was Jew versus Jew as featherweight Harry Blitman scored a victory over Wilbur Cohen’


1928: It was reported today that the Schuberts are the producers for “Make Boom Boom” a musical comedy that will begin its pre-Broadway tryouts in Wilmington, Delaware.


1929: In London, Moe Mizler fought his 35th bout which he won by KO’ing his opponent.


1930: Rodgers and Hart's musical "Evergreen" premiered in London.


1934: In what is said to be the first clinical conference in medical history devoted to chronic diseases opened this morning at the Montefiore Hospital for Chronic Diseases, Gun Hill Road, the Bronx, and will continue through the week. The conference is the chief scientific feature of the observance of the hospital's fiftieth anniversary.  The hospital was named in honor of the great British born Jewish philanthropist and the original funding was largely raised by the Jewish community.


1936: “Thomas Mann, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929…was deprived of his citizenship tonight by Dr. Wilhelm Frick, Minister of Interior because “he has repeatedly cooperated in demonstrations of international, generally Jewish-influence, societies whose attitude of enmity to Germany is well known…”


1937: Birthdate of British attorney and businessman Stephen Rubin. The founder of Pentland, he struck it rich with Reebok and Adidas.


1937: The Palestine Post reported that a large police unit accompanied by a detachment of Transjordanian Frontier Force, scoured Galilee in pursuit of Arab terrorists that had murdered two Arab policemen and apparently sought to escape to Syria. In London, Major C.S. Jarvis, the former British governor of Sinai, said that after he had seen what the Jewish settlers had done in various arid areas of Palestine, he would strongly recommend a large Jewish settlement of the entire Negev, which ought to be included in the Jewish state in any partition negotiations.


1937: The Palestine Post reported that the total official population of Palestine was given at the end of September 1937 as 811,347 Moslems, 389,504 Jews, 108,433 Christians and 11,588 others.


1938: The German government decrees that all Jewish industries, shops, and businesses must be forcibly "Aryanized."


1938: At the Ambassador Theatre, the curtain came down on “You Can't Take It with You” a comedic play in three acts by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart that won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Drama after 838 performances.


1939: In Brooklyn, “Jack and Sylvia Israel” gave birth to Leonore Carol Israel who gained fame as forger Lee Israel.




1939: Among the patents issued this week was one issued to Rudoph Feige of Tel Aviv for “a tropical hat with a crown separated from the brim to provide and air circulating slot around the hat…”


1940: Heads of educational institutions and other prominent persons were among the 3,000 attending a funeral service for Rabbi Bernard (Dov) Revel, one of the founders of Yeshiva College which became Yeshiva University.


1940:  Debut of Bugs Bunny with the voice supplied by Mel Blanc. Bugs Bunny was not Jewish but Mel was.


1941: Amidst the misery of the Lodz Ghetto, a newly arrived Viennese Pianist, Leopold Birkenfeld held a concert for his fellow Jews. He played Shubert, Liszt and Beethoven brilliantly.


1942(24th of Kislev, 5703): In the evening, kindle the first Chanukah candle.


1942(24th of Kislev, 5703): The Nazis shot three young girls who had escaped from Poznan labor camp


1942(24th of Kislev, 5703): One thousand Jews from Plonsk, Poland, are killed at Auschwitz.


1942(24th of Kislev, 5703): Salomon Malkes, an official of the Lódz Ghetto, commits suicide after becoming despondent over the deportation of his mother.


1942: Herbert Henry Lehman completed his service as the 45th Governor of New York.


1942: An unknown photographer took a picture of Jews in the Drancy assembly and detention camp which was the departure point for sending French Jews to Auschwitz.  The picture is part of the Yad Vashem Photo Archives.



1942: Birthdate of David K. Shipler “an American author who won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-fiction in 1987 for Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land


1943: At a meeting with the German ambassador Francisco Franco said, “’Thank God a clear appreciation of dangers caused by Jews led our catholic Kings to insure ‘we have for centuries been relieved of that nauseating burden.’” Oddly enough, Franco actually protected that ‘nauseating burden’ from the clutches of the Final Solution.


1943: Popular American singer Dinah Shore (Frances Rose Shore) the graduate of Vanderbilt University where she was a member of AEPhi, the Jewish sorority, married her first husband today.


1944:Hungarian death march of Jews ends


1944: Beginning of the Greek Civil War in which pro-Soviet Communist forces attempt to destroy the pro-Western government.


1945:Abdul Azzam Bey, Arab League secretary general, announces that member states will boycott all Jewish-produced goods from Palestine beginning January 1, 1946.


1947(20th of Kislev, 5708): While Jewish workers were evacuating undamaged goods from the Centre a group of Arabs attacked them, killing Yitzhak Penzo,


1947: Broadway Premiere of “A Streetcar Named Desire” which would be revived in London in 1974 with Claire Bloom playing “Blanche DuBois” – a portrayal that led the play’s author to state “I declare myself absolutely wild about Claire Bloom.”


1947: Arab violence continues with an attack on a synagogue in the Old City. Following threats by Arab gangs to burn their dwellings, “Eight Jews living in a house in the Musrara Quarter outside the Damascus Gate were forced to leave their homes”


1947: The Motion Picture Association of America issued The Waldorf Statement, a response to the contempt of Congress charges against the so-called "Hollywood Ten" drafters of which included Louis B. Mayer, Harry Cohn, Nicholas M. Schenck, Barney Balaban, Samuel Goldwyn, Albert Warner, William Goetz, Dore Schary and Mendel Silbergberg.


1948: Mission of the UN Mediator on the Palestine Disaster Relief Project meets with volunteer agencies. Dr. Pierre Descooeudres, chief of mission, reports that refugees in camps do not have good living conditions. More supplies are needed as well as a better system of transporting them. Refugees tend to feel frustrated and isolated, although the goal of the camps is to build a sense of social consciousness.


 


1950: Bessarabian born Opera singer Isa Kremer who included Yiddish songs in her repertoire appeared for the last time at Carnegie Hall today before retiring to Argentina to be with her husband, Buenos Aires psychiatrist Dr. Gregorio Bermann.


1952: At Rutgers University, “the Special Faculty Committee issued a reported stating that there should be no charges” brought against Moses Finley who had invoked the Fifth Amendment when called to testify before the House Un-American Activity Committee (HUAC) “and that the university should take no further action.”


1952(15th of Kislev, 5713): Rudolph Slansky, former secretary-general of the Czech Communist Party, Rudolf Margolius and 9 of their co-defendants were hanged after a show trial aimed at purging alleged Zionist conspirators.


1952: The Jerusalem Post reported the Israeli denial that its troops crossed the armistice lines in the vicinity of Jerusalem and tried to lay mines in Jordanian-occupied territory. The Israeli spokesman complained, however, that Jordan failed to control the scores of infiltrators who crossed the armistice lines every night in order to rob and murder. Only a week earlier, infiltrators killed two Israeli watchmen in the Jerusalem 'corridor' and escaped over the lines to Jordan. At the UN Mexico urged Arab states to consider seriously the recent Israeli peace offer. The Mexican delegate, Dr. Luis Quintamilla, pointedly asked why the Arabs always 'see evil' and automatically reject any Israeli proposal in which there might be at least some good for all concerned.


1953(26th of Kislev, 5713) Second Day of Chanukah


1953(26th of Kislev, 5713): Seventy-two year old Charleston native and U. of West Virginia graduate and the Naval Academy Commander Hugo Frankenberger who was a classmate of Admiral Chester Nimitz and a veteran of both World Wars passed away today.


1954: Birthdate of Bronx native and New York State Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz


1956: As part of the end of the Suez Crisis England and France pull troops out of Egypt.  Israeli forces remain in the Sinai.


1956(29th of Kislev, 5717): Fifth day of Chanukah


1956(29th of Kislev, 5717): Seventy-eight year old German Jewish mathematician Felix Bernstein who went to the United States during the Hitler period passed away today in Zurich.


1957: “The Naked Truth” a British comedy co-starring Peter Sellers with music by Stanley Black was released in the United Kingdom today by J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors.


1958: Rabbi Ya’akov Moshe Toledano was appointed Minister of Religions.


1958(21st of Kislev, 5719): Terrorist killed one and injured thirty-one others in an attack on Gonen, a kibbutz in northern Israel in the Upper Galilee.


1959: “I Married A Woman” an American comedy directed by Hal Katner with a script by Goodman Ace was shown for the first time in Sweden.


1960: Lerner and Loewe’s musical hit Camelot opens for the first of 873 performances at the Majestic Theatre in New York City


1961(25th of Kislev, 5722): Chanukah for the first time during the Presidency of JFK.


1961: The Beetles meet their future agent Brian Epstein.


1962: “25,000 Mourners At Kotler’s Rites” published today described the funeral for Rabbi Aaron Kotler.



1966(20th of Kislev, 5727): Parashat Vayeshev


1966(20th of Kislev, 5727): Eighty-six year old Morton David Cahn, the son of Joseph and Miriam Cahn and the husband of Julia Elizabeth Cahn passed away today in his native Chicago.


1967: Surgeons in Cape Town, South Africa, led by Dr. Christian Barnard, performed the first human heart transplant. Louis Washkansky lived 18 days with the new heart.  Washkansky was a Jew who had been born in Lithuania. 


1968: Hunter Hawker Jets of the Royal Jordanian Air Force attack IAF craft as they bomb PLO terror camps in Jordan.


1970: The world of detectives took on Jewish look when The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, written by I.A.L. Diamond and directed and produced by Billy Wilder appeared in theatres in the United Kingdom for the first time.


1974(19thof Kislev, 5735): Rosh Hashanah of Chassidism


1974(19thof Kislev, 5735): Netherlands native Cecile J. Seiberling, the daughter of Jacobus and Alice Berlage and the wife of Maurice Wertheim passed away today.


1974: As to the Soviet crackdown on all dissidents including refusniks, Alexander Solzhenitsyn was deported from the U.S.S.R. and stripped of his citizenship.


1974: Birthdate of “French journalist and television personality” Marie Drucker the daughter of television executive Jean Drucker and the niece of television journalist Michel Drucker.


1975(29thof Kislev, 5736): Fifth Day of Chanukah


1975(29thof Kislev, 5736): Ninety-two year old Solon De Leon, the son of labor leader Daniel De Leon, whose “most lasting contribution was The American Labor Who's Who which is a registry or directory of people involved in the American Labor Movement” passed away today in Ellenville, NY.




1976: After premiering in New York in November, “Rocky” the boxing movie produced by Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff was released in the United States today.


1977: Six people were injured when terrorists set off a bomb in a Jerusalem market.


1977: President Tito of Yugoslavia began a two day tour of Romania during which he said "Israel exists for many years as a genuine fact, is recognized by the UN and is a member of it; any other view would be unrealistic. Thus, all the Arab states must recognize Israel as a state."


1983(9th of Kislev, 5745):Vladimir Abramovich Rokhlin one of the leading Soviet mathematicians, working in the fields of topology, geometry and ergodic theory passed away.


1984(9thof Kislev, 5745): Sixty-five year old Soviet mathematician Vladimir Abramovich Rokhlin passed away today


1985: Michael Dekel and Weizman Shiry began serving as Deputy Ministers of Defense.


1985: Jack Anderson described the work of Zwi Kanar, a mime who survived 6 concentration camps.



1985(20th of Kislev, 5746): Eighty-four year old Rabbi Phillip S. Bernstein who worked to settle displaced Jews after WW II, passed away today.



1988: Five Soviet hijackers seized a bus full of schoolchildren, exchanged their hostages for a cargo plane and more than $3 million in ransom, then flew here today and surrendered to Israeli authorities


1989: Billy Bathgate by E. L. Doctorow, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution by Simon Schama, From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas L. Friedman, A Peace to End All Peace: Creating the Modern Middle East 1914-1922 by David Fromkin and The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick are among the thirteen books chosen by the New York Times Book Review as the best books published in the country during the preceding year


1990(16th of Kislev, 5751): One Israeli was killed and five were wounded today in a stabbing attack aboard a bus in Israel, officials said. The police said three West Bank Palestinians climbed aboard the bus just outside Tel Aviv this morning, rode a few stops sitting in the back, then got up screaming "Allah Akhbar," or God is great, as they drew knives and stabbed four Jewish passengers. One of the Israelis, a 24-year-old student at a religious school, died in a hospital a short time later.


1990: Birthdate of Canadian professional tennis player Sharon Fichman.


1992: The SEC filed a complaint against Salomon Brothers trader Paul Mozer “for filling false bids.”


1993: “A Dangerous Woman” a film version of the novel of the same name with a screenplay by Naomi Foner, co-starring Debra Winger and Barbara Hershey and featuring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jake Gyllenhaal was released in the United States today.


1994(30thof Kislev, 5755): Rosh Chodesh Tevet and Shabbat Chanukah – three Torah scrolls


1994(30thof Kislev, 5755): Seventy-three year old German born Anglo-Jewish historian Sir Geoffrey Elton who specialized in the Tudors passed away today.



1995(10th of Kislev, 5756): Matityahu Shmuelevitz, a close aide to the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin, passed away today at the age of 75.  Yehiel Kadishai, a longtime Begin spokesman, said that doctors at Tel Aviv's Tel Hashomer Hospital, where Mr. Shmuelevitz was taken after he collapsed on Saturday, reported that the cause of death was a blood clot. From 1980 to 1983, Mr. Shmuelevitz served as chief of the Prime Minister's office under Mr. Begin. The Polish-born Mr. Shmuelevitz immigrated to Palestine, then ruled by Britain, in 1938 and joined the Lehi, a right-wing Jewish underground group that was also known as the Stern gang. He was imprisoned by the British in 1940, escaped in 1943 and was wounded and recaptured in 1944. He was sentenced to death for firing at a British officer and carrying illegal arms. His sentence was commuted to life, but he escaped from jail in February 1948. He was a businessman for many years afterward.


1995:Zola: A Life by Frederick Brown, Sabbath’s Theatre by Philip RothOvercoming Law by Richard A. Posner are among the twelve books chosen by the New York TimesBook Review to the best books published in the country during the preceding year.


1995(10thof Kislev, 5756): Seventy-year old Max Posin, the owner of Posin’s Delicatessen, a Washington, DC landmark whose bagels, bialys and fresh bake onion rolls were an integral part of the author of this blog’s childhood passed away today.




1997(4thof Kislev, 5758): Eighty-eight year old CCNY all-star basketball player Louis “Lou” Spindell who went onto play professionally in the American Basketball League in the 1930’s passed away today.


1997(4thof Kislev, 5758): Eighty-eight year old Russian-born American “social activist” Abraham Bluestein, who finally married his longtime “companion” Selma Cohen, passed away today. (As reported by Robert McG. Thomas, Jr.)



1997:Michael Abraham Levy, Baron Levy made his maiden speech in the House of Lords.


1998: U.S. premiere of “Shakespeare in Love” co-produced by Harvey Weinstein and Edward Zwick and co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow.


1999(24th of Kislev, 5760): In the evening, kindle the first light of Chanukah


1999: “The End of the Affair” a cinematic version of the novel by the same name featuring Jason Isaacs with music by Michael Nyman was released today in the United States.


1999(24th of Kislev, 5760): Actress and comedian Madeline Kahn passed away.



1999(24thof Kislev, 5760): Sixty seven “Lebanese Brazilian Jewish banker” Edmond J. Safra passed away in Monaco.



2000: The New York Times list of the Best Books of 2000 contains the following works about Jewish related subjects or by Jewish authors including The Human Stain by Phillip Roth and One Palestine Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate by Tom Segev.


2001(18thof Kislev, 5762): Ninety year old Gerhart Moritz Riegner theWorld Jewish Congress official who was the first to warn an incredulous world that Nazi Germany had formally decided at the highest levels to annihilate Europe's Jews” passed away in Geneva today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)



2001: After having received information about an impending government raid on the Holy Land Foundation, Judith Miller telephone the organization for a comment following which the New York Times published an article about it in the late edition.


2001: In the wake of bombings that killed 26 Israelis, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared war on terror.


2003: A party was held in honor of Abe Pollin's 80th birthday at the Verizon Center. A slideshow was presented about the history of Abe's career as owner of the Bullets/Wizards. Tony Bennett also performed there as the guest entertainer.


2004: “The Merchant of Venice” a cinematic version of the famous play directed by Michael Radford was released today in the United Kingdom.


2004(20th of Kislev, 5765): Chaim Madar the chief rabbi of Tunisia's Jewish community, passed away today in Jerusalem.  His funeral services were held at the Beit Mordekhai Synagogue in La Goulette, Tunis, and the El Ghriba synagogue on the island of Djerba where he lived for most of his life. Among those extending their condolences was Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. According to some, the Jewish community dates back to the time of the destruction of the First Temple.


2005: Sharon Fichman was the runner-up in today’s tennis tournament at Rama HaSharon, “home to the Israel Tennis Center.



2005: Today, Israel reiterated threats made last week to block Palestinians from access to the Karni and Erez crossings if the flow of terrorists into Gaza continues. The threat came as the Palestinian Authority ordered an urgent investigation into several border officials at the Gaza-Egypt crossing. Israel was outraged that terrorists, including the brother of Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar, were allowed to enter Gaza, and threatened to declare its other borders with Gaza international crossings, a move that would sever a customs deal between Israel and the Palestinians.



2006: (12 Kislev): Yahrzeit for Rabbi Solomon Shechter. Schechter’s life is too richly textured to do more than just hit the highlights in this short blurb.  He was born in 1847 and died at the age of 68 in 1915 in New York City.  He gained fame in 1896 because of his work with the opening of the Genizah attached to the ancient Egyptian Ben Ezra Synagogue. In 1902 he moved to the US to head the new Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, which became the home of Conservative Judaism. He turned the struggle Rabbinic school into a first rate academic institution.  In 1913, he founded the United Synagogue of America, the umbrella organization of the Conservative Movement. By the time he died in New York in 1915, he had changed the face of American Judaism in attempting to find a middle road between Reform and Orthodox while raising the educational and cultural level for all Jews regardless of their level of observance or involvement.



2006: The Washington Post’s selections for best non-fiction in 2006 include:Sweet and Low: A Family Story, by Rich Cohen, The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977, by Gershom Gorenberg, The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East, by Sandy Tolan, Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew Across the Middle East Divide, by Jeffrey Goldberg,The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million, by Daniel Mendelsohn; Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland After the Holocaust, by Jan T. Gross, My Father Is a Book: A Memoir of Bernard Malamud, by Janna Malamud Smith.



2006: The Israel Cancer Research Funds’ “Celebration of Life-Tower of Hope Ball” is held at the Pierre Hotel.



2007: An exhibition styled “The Art of Rabbi Shnoi Labowitz” presented by The Jewish Museum of Florida comes to an end.



2007: “The Farnsworth Invention” a play by Aaron Sorkin about how David Sarnoff stole the original invention that made possible the transmission of television signals opened on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre with Hank Azaria in the role of Sarnoff.



2007:  Sixty one years after he was buried at a cemetery in southeast Washington, the exhumed remains of Stephen Theodore Norman, the only grandchild of Theodor Herzl will be flown to Israel following services at Adas Israel in Washington, D.C.



2008: Nicholas F. Tabman completed his service as the United States Ambassador to Romania.



2008:At Princeton. N.J., The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs presents "Israel and Palestine at a Crossroad" - A panel discussion with Sari Nusseibeh, president of Al-Quds University; former US ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer of Princeton University; and Itamar Rabinovitch, former Israeli ambassador to the US.



2008: In New York, The American Sephardi Federation presents a showing of Jews of Lebanon (Le Petite Histoire des Juifs du Liban) a film that recounts the demise of the Lebanese Jewish community over the last four decades when it went from a community of 8,000 in the 1960’s to a mere 60 at the start of the of the 21stcentury with most of its members now in “exile to many countries.”



2008:Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, a leading Orthodox thinker and an early champion of women's rights, who passed away on Monday at the age of 98 was buried in Jerusalem.



2009:Activist Greg Mortenson, author (with David Oliver Relin) of "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time," reads from and discusses his new book, "Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan," at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue.


2009: The Israel-America Chamber of Commerce presents “US & Israel: Confronting Challenges,” a daylong “symposium” that will identify current challenges in order to secure our economic future.”


2009: The Israel-America Award is presented to Kenneth J. Bialkin, Chairman, America-Israel Friendship League, for his continuous support of the State of Israel and his outstanding contribution to the economic growth between the US and Israel.


2009: Opening of the 20th Washington Jewish Film Festival.


2009: Alan Gross was taken into custody by Cuban authorities.  Although not formally charged, the Cubans reportedly are claiming that he is linked to espionage activities involving the Cuban Jewish community.


2010: As part of the 21st Washington Jewish Film Festival British filmmaker Rex Bloomstein is scheduled to present a program entitled “Humor, Identity and the Holocaust”


2010: At the 92nd Street Y Light the menorah and Shabbat candles, eat latkes and challah, and celebrate Hanukkah and Shabbat at the same time!


2010: “Is Greed Godly?” published today, David E.Y. Sarna examines the relationship between white-collar crime and Jewish law.



2010: As Alan Gross prepares to mark the first anniversary of captivity at the hand of Cuban authorities, the leaders of Cuba’s  two main Jewish groups both denied having worked with a jailed American contractor whose family says he was on the island to hand out communication equipment to Jewish organizations.  Cuban authorities have accused Alan Gross of espionage, though they have not pressed charges despite keeping him in custody since he was detained on December 3, 2009.  


2010: The Carmel fire was spreading late tonight from the direction of Haifa University towards the neighborhood of Denya in the city


2010(26thof Kislev, 5771): Eighty-one year old “Elaine Kaufman, who became something of a symbol of New York as the salty den mother of Elaine’s, one of the city’s best-known restaurants and a second home for almost half a century to writers, actors, athletes and other celebrities” passed away today (As reported by Enid Nemy)



2010: A Princeton student referendum on whether to ask the university’s dining services to provide an alternative brand of hummus to Sabra was defeated. Some 1,014 students voted against the referendum and 699 students were in favor during the three days of voting last week, according to results announced today. The Princeton Committee on Palestine initiated the referendum seeking other brands in university stores besides Sabra. The campaign reportedly was the brainchild of Philly BDS, which calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions against companies that support the Israel Defense Forces. Sabra is half-owned by The Strauss Group, which has publicly supported the IDF and provides care packages and sports equipment to Israeli soldiers.


2010: After having served 43 months of six year sentence for “mail fraud, conspiracy to bribe public officials and tax evasion,” Jack Abramoff was released from prison today after which “he wrote the autobiographical book Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Washington Corruption From America's Most Notorious Lobbyist which was published in November 2011.


2011: The first weekend of this year’s Hamshoushalayim is scheduled to come to an end.


2011: “Kaddish for a Friend” is one of four movies scheduled to be shown tonight at the 22nd Washington Jewish Film Festival.


2011: The JNF is scheduled to present “Modifying Afforestation Practices in Adaptation to Climate Change,” a program that demonstrates the techniques of JNF and Israel use to keep forests healthy in semi-arid regions, particularly when the regions encounter disasters such as last year’s Carmel fire.


2011: The traditional minyan at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, IA is to celebrate “Jewish Book Month Shabbat” with special honor to Living Jewish Literary Legends – Sir Martin Gilbert and Herman Wouk.


2011: Israel Police and the Knesset Guard assigned Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On a bodyguard today, following threats on her life.


2011: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on today that Iran is getting closer to developing a nuclear bomb, and that new and more crippling sanctions should be imposed on the Islamic Republic.


2012:The Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation is scheduled to sponsor a speech by Steven Pearlstein, Washington Post columnist and Professor of Public Affairs and International Relations at George Mason University entitled “ The Voters Have Spoken: What Is Our Economic Policy Now?”


2012(19thof Kislev, 5773): Yud-Tet-Kislev sometimes referred to as the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidism” celebrating the release Rabbi Schneur Zalman Liadi, the found of Chabad Chassidism from the prison of the Czar



2012(19thof Kislev): Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Dov Ber ben Avraham, the Maggid of Mezeritch who followed the Baal Shem Tov as the leader of the Chassidim.


2012: Bob Filner begins serving as the 35th Mayor of San Diego, CA.


2012: The Broadway cast of Stephen Sondheim’s “Assassins” “reunited for a special benefit performance.


2012: 2012: Australia’s largest natural gas and oil company, Woodside Petroleum, has taken a 30 percent stake in Israel’s Leviathan off-shore gas drilling operation, it was announced today. Located in the Mediterranean 130 km. west of Haifa, Leviathan is estimated to contain up to 17 trillion cubic feet of usable natural gas, making it one of the largest fields in the world.


2012: Israeli security forces continue to foil Arab road terror attempts, including an attempted axe-murderer and a briefcase bomb under a bridge.


2013(30th of Kislev, 5774): Rosh Chodesh Tevet


2013: “New Israeli ambassador to America Ron Dermer presented his credentials this afternoon to US President Barack Obama, officially taking over the role as the Jewish state’s top US envoy.” (As reported by Lazar Berman)


2013: A letter was written today to Ontario MPP Peter Shuman admonishing him “for claiming mileage from his Niagara-on-the-Lake home to Toronto as an expense, something specifically cleared by the Legislative Finance Department.”


2013: Rabbi Yonah Grossman of the Chabad Jewish Center of North Dakota shows that he takes the appellation “lamplighter” literally at Grand Forks where he is scheduled to lead the community in the lighting of a Menorah in the Lincoln Drive Park Warming House.


2013: “Life of the Jews in Palestine: 1913,” documentary about First and Second Aliyah, is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.


2013: French forensic tests have concluded that former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat did not die of poisoning, as had been suggested by an earlier report, a source who saw the conclusions of the report said today.


2013(30th of Kislev, 5774): Sixty-six year old actor and comedian Sefi Rivlin passed away today.



2014: Dr. Brian Horowitz, the chairman of the Tulane University Jewish Studies Department is scheduled to deliver a lecture on “Jabotinsky: The Final Years” tonight in New Orleans.


2014(11thof Kislev, 5775): Eighty-four year old psychotherapist Nathaniel Branden who was a partner of Ayn Rand’s in more ways than one passed away today.



 


2014: The Museum of the City of New York is scheduled to host Jeffrey Shandler speaking on “Coming of Age in Poland: Jewish Life Stories from the 1930’s.”


2014: “Palestinian teen stabbed two people and was shot by an off-duty security guard at a West Bank supermarket this afternoon in what Israeli police said was an apparent terror attack.” (As reported by Lazar Berman)


2014: “Knesset members voted overwhelmingly in favor of dissolving the current Knesset in a preliminary vote today.”


2014: “Congress was poised to give its final approval this afternoon to a bill that supporters say will create a unique status for Israel and serve as a framework for increased partnership in a number of key sectors, particularly energy and defense


2014: The bris and baby naming ceremony for the son of Arik and Samarya Shalom is scheduled to take place at the Chabad Jewish Center in Little Rock under the leadership of Rabbi Pinchas Ciment.


2015: Toronto Blue Jays President and CEO Mark Shapiro selected the sixth person to serve as the team’s general manager.


2015: Sixty-year old Monte Hanson a Jewish Montana man who had pleaded guilty to shoot a bartender and killing his dog because he was served a non-kosher drink (a beverage containing clam juice) was sentenced to 20 years in state prison today. (JTA)


2015: A trio consisting of “pianist Evgeny Kissin, violinist Itzhak Perlman, and cellist Mischa Maisky” is scheduled to perform at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan.


2015: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to host “Chronicling a Dead City: The Fate of the Dubovo Shtetl in 1919” in which” Elissa Bemporad (Queens College, CUNY) examines the fate of the Ukrainian shtetl of Dubovo during the Russian Civil War in a micro study of one shtetl that sheds light on future conditions for Soviet Jewry, and the Holocaust in Ukraine.


2015: In New York, the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is scheduled to host a lecture by Dr. Jehuda Reinharz on “Statesman Without a State: The Case of Chaim Weizmann.”


2015: In New Orleans, LA, the Jewish Children’s Regional Service, one of the most worthwhile agency of its kind in the United States, is scheduled to host “Latkes With a Twist” featuring the cooking of Chef Daniel Esses and the singing of Israeli Eleanor Tallie.


2016(3rd of Kislev, 5777): Shabbat Toldot;


2016(3rdof Kislev, 5777): Eighty-eight year old U.S. Federal Judge Leonard B. Sand passed away today in Sleepy Hollow, NY.



2016: In Atlanta, GA, The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum is scheduled to celebrate its 20th anniversary with a gala dinner honoring Jarvin Levison “whose work with Elinor and Bill Breman was instrumental in the founding of the Breman Museum.”


2016: The 10th Annual Other Israel Film Festival is scheduled to host a panel discussion on “The Power of Film at the JCC Manhattan followed by a screening of “The Writer.”


2016: The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education is scheduled to host “an Educator Workshop on Elie Wiesel’s Night from the internationally-renowned Holocaust education curriculum, Echoes and Reflections.”


2017: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson, Annie Leibovitz: Portraits 2006-2016 by Annie Leibovitz, Ali by Jonathan Eig, Sense of Occasion by Harold Prince, Bad Rabbi And Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press by Eddy Portnoy and Jewish Comedy: A Serious History by Jeremy Dauber.


2017: In Coralville, IA, Dr. Robert Cargill is scheduled to lecture on “The Wisdom of Ben Sira:


Ethnical Reflections in Early Judaism” as part of the series examining “ancient books dropped from the Tanakh ‘in peer review.’”


2017: Fiona Murphy, the director of “Remember Baghdad” and Edwin Shuker a member “of Baghdad’s once flourishing Jewish community are scheduled to participate in “a Q and A at the Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley.


2017: The Jewish Genealogical Society of Georgia is scheduled to meet at the Breman Museum,


2017: The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled to present The Jew of Malta, by Christopher Marlowe, “performed in a staged-reading version, adapted by and starring David Serero as Barabas and featuring Sephardi songs sung by the baritone opera star.”


2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such as Frederic Raphael whose works included A Jew Among Romans: The Life and Legacy of FlaviusJosephus continues today.


2018(25thof Kislev, 5779): First Day of Chanukah





2018: According to a “poll conducted by the Jewish People Policy Institute,” “73% of Israeli” Jews will be lighting their Chanukah menorahs.


2018: The Center Jewish History, the Jewish Studies Program of Cornell University and YIVO are scheduled to present a musical adaptation of I.L. Peretz’s “Monish” with “a score created by Sanford Margolis.


2018: In Chevy Chase, MD, Ohr Kodesh is scheduled to host the first session of “Well Red-Hebrew Poetry and Wine” where attendees “will discuss poems by Agi Mis'hol and Yehuda Amichai,”


 


 

This Day, December 4, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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December 4



771: King Carloman dies, leaving his brother Charlemagne King of the entire Frankish Kingdom.  Following the death of their father, King Pepin the Short, the two brothers had each ruled a portion of the realm.  The sharing was not a peaceful process.  For once the consolidation of political power in the hands of one monarch worked to the advantage of the Jewish people since Charlemagne was favorably disposed to his Jewish subjects even to the point of willingly defying the edicts of powerful prelates.


1075: Anno II, the Archbishop of Cologne passed away, an event reported to have been lamented by the Jews who lived in a Jewish Quarter first mentioned during his episcopate.


1110: The Syrian harbor city of Saida (Sidon) surrendered to Crusaders.  The Crusader success would prove to be only temporary. Sidon was one of the original Phoenician trading cities and it is the same Sidon from which Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel in the summer of 2006. 


1197: During the Third Crusade, the wife and daughters of Rabbi Eleazar ben Judah ben Kalonymous of Worms were murdered and his was mortally wounded.  Born in 1165 in Germany, Rabbi Eleazar was “a Kabbalist, Halachic scholar and religious poet. In Sefer ha Hokhmah (The Book of Wisdom) he described the loneliness he felt after the death of his family and his teacher Judah he-Hasid.  He passed away in 1230, leaving behind a body of writings that has influenced Kabbalists down to our own times.   


1259: Kings Louis IX of France and Henry III of England agreed to the Treaty of Paris, in which Henry renounces his claims to French-controlled territory on continental Europe (including Normandy) in exchange for Louis withdrawing his support for English rebels. There was nothing positive in this for the Jews in this.  Louis IX attacked the financial well-being of his Jewish subjects, going so far as to expel them as a way of financing the Seventh Crusade. He also burnt 12,000 Jewish books including copies of the Talmud.  Henry also attacked the financial well-being of his Jewish subjects, milking them for all they were worth.  When the Jews sought to leave his kingdom, he stopped them as a way of protecting a valued source of tax revenue.


1334: John XXII, the second of the Avignon Popes passed away.  Sangisa, the sister of John XXII, urged her brother to ban the Jews from Rome.  At first he ignored her.  But finally, in 1321, He gave in and issued an order of expulsion. The Jews responded with fasting and “fervent prayers.  At a more practical level, they turned to King of Robert of Naples for support and sent a delegation to Avignon with 20,000 ducats for the Pope.  This combination of divine and temporal intervention worked since the Jews were allowed to remain in Rome.


1489: The Spanish army captured Baza from the Moors. The Battle of Baza was part of the lengthy conflict between the Catholics and the Moors.  Slowly but surely, they were driving the Moslems of Spain back across the Mediterranean to North Africa from whence they had come over seven hundred years before.    Within 3 years, the Moors would be driven from the Iberian Peninsula and Spain would be united as a Catholic Kingdom.  This would lead to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain.


1539: TheOttoman Sultan known as Suleiman the Magnificent occupied Baghdad which meant an improvement for the condition of the Jews who had suffered during the Mongol period. During his reign Suleiman welcomed the Jews fleeing from the effects of expulsion from Spain and Portugal and encouraged them to settle in Palestine.  His rebuilding program in Jerusalem showed a sympathy and respect for Jewish history and culture.  His willingness to employ a Jew as his personal physician   and to use Don Joseph Nasi and Gracia Mendes Nasi as advisors demonstrated the extent to which Jews had found a haven and home in the lands of Suleiman, who for the Jews, was truly magnificent.


1629(19thof Kislev, 5390): Madeira island native Jacob Israel Belmont, who along with “Jacob Tirado and Solomon Palache” was “one of the founders of the Portuguese-Jewish Community of Amsterdam and husband of “Simḥah (Gimar) Vaz” passed away today,


1642: Cardinal Richelieu, the “power behind the throne” during the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV passed away.  The decrees issued in their name were probably the product of this churchman turned “chancellor” including Louis XIII reaffirmation issued in April, 1615 of the ban on Jews living in France and Louis XIV’s declaration granting the Jews of Metz the right to conduct business after the French took the city in 1632.


1655: Oliver Cromwell convened a gathering of English notables at Whitehall to decide if the Jews should be readmitted to England.  Cromwell was a strong proponent of readmission as were most of Cromwell’s military and government leaders. Members of the Millenarian and Sabbatarian sects also favored readmission.  Opposition came from the merchants and the mainline Christian clergy. When realized that he would be unable to gain the complete support for his plan to readmit the Jews to England so he dissolved the Council rather than suffer defeat.  The conferees did agree that that there was no legal reason not to re-admit the Jews since they had been expelled by royal decree and not by an act of Parliament. In the meantime, Cromwell accomplished his goals through a round-about manner and by 1657 there were enough Jews in London who felt confident in being able to practice their faith in public that they purchased a private home to be used as a synagogue.


1655: Middelburg, Netherlands forbade the building of a synagogue.


1674: French Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette erected a mission on the shores of Lake Michigan, in present-day Illinois. His log cabin became the first building of a settlement that afterward grew to become the city of Chicago.  Chicago is of course, the home of one this country’s largest and most vibrant Jewish communities as well as some of the finest Jewish families around including that of my aunt and uncle, Dr. Jacob and Betty Levin and that renowned photographer and alum of the College of Jewish Studies, Harvey Luber and his wife.Just think, if it had not been for Marquette, there would not have been a home for Chagall’s Windows (the Art Institute) Sarah Lee Bakery or a Crate & Barrel (the latter two were founded by Jews in Chicago).


1679: Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher, passed away. Born in 1588, “Thomas Hobbes was foremost among the seventeenth century political philosophers who led the Western world across the fault line separating classical from modern political philosophy. In doing so, he, like his other colleagues, had to confront not only classical political philosophy but the Bible. From the first of his writings to the last he consistently confronted Scripture. Reading Hobbes reveals both the ambiguity and the ambivalence of his confrontation with the Bible. Hobbes wished to assault orthodox or conventional Christian belief but at the same time is drawn to the Hebrew Scriptures, not only because it is necessary for him to confront it for the sake of his argument or because of the Bible's own elemental and compelling power. His struggle foreshadows and is even paradigmatic of that of modern man. The most neglected aspect of Hobbes's attempt to solve the theological-political problem is his reliance on divine punishment of the iniquitous sovereign.”  He uses the murder of Uriah by King David to discuss this part of his political philosophy. In his writings, Hobbes elaborates a conception of the Messiah in his political treatises that is unusual because it seems to combine Jewish and Christian elements. He asserts that Jesus is the Messiah in the sense of being the earthly king of the Jews as well as the Son of God and king of heaven. To clarify Hobbes's position and to highlight its strangeness, it is compared with the views of Moses Maimonides and Blaise Pascal. Hobbes emerges from this comparison as a spokesman for a kind of "Jewish Christianity," whose purpose is not to return to the early Jewish sects that embraced Jesus as a new Moses but to humanize the Messiah and to redefine Christianity for a new age of secular happiness. Hobbes thereby inaugurates a new kind of biblical criticism which the Deists of the enlightenment era developed and which continues today. This incomplete entry about Hobbes reinforces the many different ways in which Jewish Culture as opposed to Jewish people influenced the development of Western Civilization.


1750: Birthdate of Henri Grégoire who as Abbé Grégoire who was “considered a friend of the Jews” because during the French Revolution “he argued that in this anti-Semitic society the supposed degeneracy of Jews was not inherent but rather a result of their circumstances.”


1762: Catherine II of Russia permitted foreigners to settle and travel in Russia "Kromye Zhydov." However Jews were still forbidden to settle there. Catherine II may have been the Great to some Russian nobles but she certainly was certainly.


1772(OS): Birthdate of Dov Ber of Mezeritch, known as the Maggid, the leading disciple of the Baal Shem Tov and his successor as leader Chassidic Judaism.


1779(25thof Kislev, 5540): Chanukah


1790: The citizens of Trnava, addressed a petition to the Diet in Hungary at the same time as the Jews did asking that their rights be upheld.  The Diet approved the petition of the Jews and sent word to King Leopold II.


1791: In London, the first edition of The Observer, the world's first Sunday newspaper was published. In 1891, Rachel Sasoon Beer, the granddaughter of David Sasoon and daughter of Sasoon David Sasoon  was named editor of the Observermaking her the first female editor of a national newspaper. During her tenure as editor “The Observer achieved one of its greatest exclusives: the admission by Count Esterhazy that he had forged the letters that condemned innocent Jewish officer Captain Dreyfus to Devil's Island. The story provoked an international outcry and led to the release and pardon of Dreyfus and court martial of Esterhazy.”


1795: One day after he had passed away, 52 year old “Jacob Yechiel” was buried today at the “Lauriston Road Jewish Cemetery.”


1800: Solomon Levien married Harriet Salomons at the Hambro Synagogue today.


1802: In Bavaria, “Jacob Hirsch Kann and Jetta Kann gave birth to Jennette Kann who became Jeannette Goldschmidt when she married Benedict Hayim Salomon Goldschmidt.


1805(13th of Kislev, 5566): Sixty-two year old German banker Philipp Samson, the founder of the Samson School in Wolfenbuttel passed away today.


1811 (18th of Kislev, 5572):Rabbi Baruch Mezhibuzher the son of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov’s daughter, Adel, and her husband, Rabbi Yechiel Ashkenazi passed away. He was born in 1753 in Mezhibuz, the town from which his illustrious grandfather led the Chassidic Movement. He was one of the Rebbes (Chassidic masters) in the 3rd generation of Chassidism, and had thousands of followers.


1816: Three days he had passed away. “Nachman bar Aaron” was buried today at the “Colby Gate Jewish Burial Ground in Great Yarmouth.”


1817(25th of Kislev, 5578): Chanukah


1829: A fired destroyed the building housing Congregation Mikveh Israel in Savannah, Georgia.  The building had been consecrated in 1820 making it the first synagogue to be built in “The Peachtree State.” Fortunately, the congregation’s Torah Scrolls were saved from the fire.


1830; “The Alsatian Deputy Pierre Andre stated that before the Revolution had not been allowed to open vocational schools” – a statement that was challenged by those who said that “before the Revolution…Berr-Isaac Berr of Nancy had founded agricultural colonies in order to mitigate the charge that Jews were not productive.”


1836(25th of Kislev, 5597): Chanukah is celebrated for the last time during the Presidency of Andrew Jackson.


1836: Two days after he had passed away, “Alexander Schomberg” was buried at the “Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery” today.


1839: Moses Joseph married Esther Samuel at the Great Synagogue today.


1839: In Charleston, SC, Jacob I. Moses of Columbus, GA married Rina Ottolengui, the daughter of Abraham Ottolengui.


1847: In New York, Abigail and Asher Kursheedt gave birth to Grace Eloise Kursheedt.


1852: Today’s edition of the Times of London devoted sixteen columns to the speech given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Benjamin Disraeli, on the subject of taxation.  The speech, which was well received, contained proposals to change the Tea Duties and the Income Tax. The lengthy article also included copies of the tables that Mr. Disraeli used.


1853:The "Shaare Zedek Hebrew National School," erected in the rear of the Henry-street Jewish Synagogue, was consecrated this afternoon. The congregation to which the School is attached has been in existence about sixteen years. The ceremonies began at 3 pm with religious services that included a sermon by Rabbi H.A. Henry who has been chosen to serve as the school’s superintendent. Services were followed by a “banquet” in one of the school’s room. Mr. Mendel Joseph, President of the Building Committee, addressed the attendees. The meal included the recitation of the proper Hebrew prayers both before and after eating.


1858: A crowd of 2,500 Christians and Jews gathered tonight in New York City to express their indignation over what has come to be called the Mortara Affiar.  The event was chaired by Jonas Phillips, the ex-President of the Board of Common Councilmen. Among the resolutions passed were ones that recalled the response of the United States government to the Damascus Affair in 1840.  The speakers all separated the actions of those involved in taking of the Mortara family from the Roman Catholic religion and stated their respect for their fellow citizens who were adherents of that religion. Among those in attendance was Mr. A.M. Phillips Levi from Montreal who had traveled from Canada to express that Jewish community’s solidarity with the other Jewish communities that had expressed their outrage and called for a return of the Mortara child to his parents. The speakers included leaders of the Jewish community as well as prominent non-Jews including Chauncey Shaffer, Esq. and Reverend Blair, a Methodist clergyman.


1860: Birthdate of actress and singer Lillian Russell, the native of Iowa who married the Anglo-Jewish composer Edward Solomon in 1884, two years before he was arrested for bigamy.


1861(1st of Tevet, 5622): Rosh Chodesh Tevet


1861: Today, Sir George Grey, who hired Samuel Joseph, an Anglo-Jew from London as his interpreter” began serving his second term as Governor of New Zealand


1864: Romanian Jews were forbidden to practice law.


1864: A meeting was held today in Philadelphia, PA that resulted in the establishment of Maimonides College, “the first Jewish theological seminary in” the United States. The school which was designed to train rabbis for the numerous synagogues opening this country began operating in 1867.  It closed its doors 6 years later in 1873 due to a lack of support.


1865: Birthdate of Edith Louisa Cavell, the British nurse who was defended by Sadi Kirschen when the Germans arrested her and charged her with treason.  There was little that her Jewish defense lawyer, who would flee the Nazis when they invaded Belgium in 1940, could do for her since she confessed to helping British and French soldiers escape and the Kaiser’s army was in no mood to show leniency.


1866(26th of Kislev, 5627:Evelina Gertrude de Rothschild passed away during childbirth. She was a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of England. Her father Lionel assumed sponsorship of the first school for girls in Israel, opened in Jerusalem in 1864, renaming it the Evelina de Rothschild School.


1868: Two days after he had passed way, 93 year old “Henry Mordecai,” the father of “David Mordecai,” was buried today at the “Lauriston Road Jewish Cemetery.”


1873: It was reported today that last month’s overflow of the Tiber River created a novel situation in Rome.  Some of the Jews whose homes were flooded have been temporarily lodged in the Covent of Ara Caeli one of the religious orders recently disbanded by the new, republican government of Italy.  In the new Italy, including the formal Papal States, there is no distinction of citizenship based on religion.


1875: Mr. Emanuel B. Hart appeared before a special meeting of the Board of Police to request that anti-lottery laws not be enforced in matters pertaining to the Hebrew Benevolent Fair.  Hart told the board that if the laws were strictly enforced the fair would not be able to raise the funds to support local charities.  The members of the Board denied the request saying that the police would halt any drawing that violated the lottery laws.


1876: Three days after she had passed away, “Priscilla Rees,” the daughter of Moses and Phoebe Davis and the wife of Daniel Rees was buried today at the “Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.


1877: Birthdate of Morris Alexander, the Cambridge University educated native of Zinn, Germany who was “admitted to practice as an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Cape Colony where lectured on law, served on the city council and participated in Jewish communal life as an officer of the New Cape Town Congregation and the Jewish Philanthropic Society.


1878: Birthdate of Dr. Alwin M. (Max) Pappenheimer the Columbia trained pathologist who was on the faculty at Columbia and who was the father of Dr. Anne P. Forbes, Dr. John R. Pappenheimer and Dr. Alwin M. Pappenheimer, Jr. of NYU who followed in his father’s footsteps.



1878(8th of Kislev, 5639): Fifty two year old Danish banker and political leader David Baruch Adler was a partner in Martin Levin & Adler in London and D.B.Adler & Company in Copenhagen as well as the husband of Jenny Raphael the daughter of banker John Raphael, passed away today.


1878: It was reported today that Romanian leaders continue to oppose granting Jews full rights as citizens as promised by the Treaty of Berlin.  As non-citizens, Jews are not allowed to own land which means Romanian nobles can borrow money from Jews without fear of losing their estates when they default on the loans.  If Jews were citizens were made citizens, the nobles could no longer swindle them out of the money owed.


1880: It was reported today that in Germany, “The Jewish question continues to attract much public attention.  Newspapers are debating it, pamphlets are pouring forth, tumults are taking place among the students and an occasional fracas still occurs in the streets.”


1880: It was reported from Berlin that in light of the wave anti-Semitic agitation sweeping German, a large number of “eminent Jews” are meeting to consider ways of defending themselves including the establishment of a newspaper to support their position.


1880: It was reported that an article published in the Grenzboten seeks to refute that Chancellor Bismarck is sympathetic to the anti-Semitic movement championed by Court Chaplain Stoecker.


1880: Sarah Bernhardt is scheduled to give her last two performance in New York – a matinee during which “Hermani” will be repeated followed by an evening featuring “Frou-Frou,” “La Dame aux Camelias” and “En Passant.”


1881: The first edition of the Los Angeles Times is published. Sam Zell bought the Tribune Company, including the LA Times, in 2007 making him the first Jewish owner of the paper.


1881: For unknown reason, the fair sponsored by Temple Israel in Brooklyn which opened on November 30 was scheduled to be closed this evening and to reopen tomorrow.


1882: U.S. Army Major Alfred Mordecai, Jr. a West Point graduate and hero of the Civil War was promoted to the permanent rank of Lt. Colonel.  He was brevetted to the rank of Lt. Colonel in the last months of the Civil War “for distinguished served in the field…” For those of you who know anything about the U.S. Army, this means the rank was “temporary” and that for official purposes he returned to the rank of Major when peace arrived. Promotion in the peace time army was much slower.  This promotion does reflect the high esteem in which Mordecai was held as will be seen when reaches the rank of full Colonel.


1882(23rd of Kislev, 5643): Twenty-three year old Mortiz Zuckerman, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, hanged himself today apparently because he had lost his job and was unemployed.


1884: Mrs. Mandelbaum, the “fence” who disappeared from New York arrived at Oelan at three o’clock this afternoon with a package of lace that she tried to sell to several local “rich people.”


1884(16th of Kislev, 5645): An unidentified 5’9” Jew approximately 48 year in age committed suicide at 7 p.m. when he shot himself while sitting on a bench near the Farragut monument.


1888: In Romania, the lower house of the legislature defeated the bill which would have granted citizenship to businessman, banker and philanthropist Jacob Noisotz.


1888: Aline Caroline, daughter of Gustave Samuel de Rothschild and Sir Edward Albert Sassoon gave birth to Sir Philip Albert Gustave David Sassoon, 3rd Baronet, the grandson of Albert Abdullah David Sassoon.


1888: In Brooklyn the weeklong fair that is a fundraiser for the Hebrew Orphan Asylum will come to an end this evening.


1889: Commissioner Hermann von Wissmann, the leading German official in East Africa met the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition and took it to Bagamoyo where a banquet of welcome was held. Emin Pasha was a Silesian born Jew named Isaac Edward Schnitzer who converted to Christianity and then to Islam so that he could further his career in the Ottoman Empire.


1889: In Johannesburg, Solomon Barnato Joel and Ellen (Nellie) Ridley gave birth to Doris Irene Kathleen Joel the wife of Arthur Walter.


1889: Members of a party of fifty Jews passing through Pittsburgh on its way to Jerusalem would not comment on the possible outcome of their “pilgrimage, saying that the future depends entirely upon the laws of the country, concessions which may be secured” and the desire for future settlement.


1890(22nd of Kislev, 5651): Fifty-six year old Isaac Shapira, the husband of Beyla Shapira and the son of Joshua Shapira passed away today in Petah Tikva.


1891: The Jaffa-Jerusalem Railway line reached Deir Aban (today's Beit Shemesh) as it made its way from the seacoast to the City of David.


1892: It was reported today that the Monetary Conference at Brussels is debating the plan presented by Albert de Rothschild.


1892: It was reported today that Charles Frohman will not be producing Lady Windermere’s Fan “the play of the season last year in London and has transferred it to another production company.


1892: It was reported today that those Jews who convert to Greek Orthodoxy in compliance with the Moscow Chamber of Commerce’s requirement for them to be able to do business in the city “will still be placed on probation for three years” and required to live in village five miles from Moscow.


1892: Birthdate of Francisco Franco. Whatever his other short-comings, Franco has a surprisingly positive record when it comes to the Holocaust.  For most of the war, he did not close the border with France to escaping Jews.  He did not return Jewish refugees to the Nazis and allowed many of his foreign legations to provide letters of transit making it possible for thousands to escape Hitler’s Henchmen.


1893(25th of Kislev, 5654): Chanukah


1893: It was reported today that Hebrew will be one of the languages the Professor Hughes will be teaching at the University of New York in a class “especially designed for missionaries intending to go to Turkey.


1893: “God and Futurity “published today provides the views of Professor Felix Adler


1893: It was reported today that the German chancellor said that “anti-Semitism was the most dangerous form of Socialism” because “while pretending to attack only Jewish capitalists, it would menace eventually all capitalists.


1893: It was reported today that in Germany, Dr. Foerster interrupted a debate on the budget “to say that Anti-Semitism is not a passing phenomenon and would endure as long as the Hebrew race.”


1894: Alderman “Silver Dollar” Smith was arrested between 2 or 3 o’clock this morning on charges that he had attacked a saloonkeeper named August J. Gloisten. During his arraignment this morning Smith said that he had been born in Germany at which time he was named Charles Finkelstone. He got his nickname of “Silver Dollar” came from the fact that 1,000 silver dollar pieces were embeeded in the floor of his saloon at Essex Street.  “Silver Dollar” Smith was Charles R. Solomon a Tammany Hall leader of the 10th District.  His saloon “was one of the sites of operation for the Eastman Gang, run by Jewish gang leader Monk Eastman…and a member of the Max Hochstim Association, also known as the Essex Market Court Gang.” Besides the silver dollars, Smith was known for hosting Passover celebrations at the saloon.


1894: In New Orleans, Leo Levi of Galveston delivered the annual oration “at today’s meeting of the American Hebrew Congregations.


1894: “Among the passengers on the steamship Spree which is due here today is the noted German anti-Semitic agitator Dr. Ahlwardt of Berlin.”


1894: “Assaulted In Open Daylight” published today described an attack by a group of boys who beat up Benjamin Rosenthal on Fifth Avenue who hollered anti-Semitic epithets as they beat him.


1895: Hermann Ahlwardt the German anti-Semitic agitator from Berlin is scheduled to arrive in New York today aboard the SS Spree.


1895: Birthdate of Syracuse, NY native Nathan Wesley Markson, the husband of “Maybelle Grody Markson” and the father of Lois and Audrey Markson who served as the “director of the Jewish Home for the Aged.”


1897: Today, at Temple Israel of Harlem, Rabbi Maurice H. Harris delivered a sermon that responded to the negative sermon delivered by Dr. Savage in which he attacked the “Old Testament” in general and “the God of the Old Testament” in particular.


1897: The merit examination for the position of official Supreme Court reporter in the First Judicial District, which requires a fluency in “Hebrew jargon” is scheduled to be given today. (Hebrew jargon refers to Yiddish)


1898: The Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Orphan Asylum Band is scheduled to perform a fund raiser sponsored by the Ladies Aid Society at the Lexington Avenue Opera House.


1899: Dr. Isaac M. Wise, President of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati praised the late Baron Hirsch as ranking “among the greatest philanthropists of the century equaled only by his wife Baroness Hirsh.  He did all the good one millionaire could possible do, or ever did do, for the poor, neglected and persecuted.”  Wise was speaking in support of plans to build a statue in New York honoring Baron Hirsch.


1899(2nd of Tevet, 5660): Eighth of Chanukah, the end of the last celebration of the holiday during the 19th century.


1899(2nd of Tevet, 5660): Seventy-three year old Leopold Ullstein the founder and publisher of several successful German newspapers, including B.Z. am Mittag and Berliner Morgenpost passed away today.  The Nazis would take over his publishing empire in 1934 and his son Hermman Ullstein would flee the country in December of 1938.


1900: Birthdate  of Waldemar Levy Cardoso, the Algerian-Moroccan Jew who became a Field Marshall in the Brazilian Army.


1902(4th of Kislev, 5663): Eighty-one year old Austrian Poet Heinrich Landesmann whose “first important literary production, Abdul, the Mohammedan Faust legend, in five cantos” was completed in 1843 and who was the brother-in-law of Berthold Auberbach, passed away today at Brno.


1903:Herzl reports in his diary: "The Russian members of the A. C., particularly Usshiskin, Jacobson, etc. are in open rebellion."


1903: In New York, Rabbi M.H. Harris preached a Friday night sermon on “Zionism and East Africa.”


1903: Birthdate of New York native Aaron Siskind, the school teacher turned documentary photographer.



1905: “The New York Board of Jewish Ministers and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of the United States and Canada have set aside” today “as a day of general mourning for the Jewish victims of the massacres in Russia.”


1905: Rabbi Joseph Silverman, Rabbi F. de Sola Mendes, Rabbi M.H. Harris, Rabbi Rudolph Grossman, Oscar S. Straus and Louis Marshall are scheduled to speak tonight at the memorial service being held at Temple Emanu-El.


1905: Rabbi Samuel Greenfield, Rabbi Henry S. Morais and Albert Lucas are scheduled to speak at tonight’s memorial service at Congregation Mount Zion on East 113th Street.


1905: Rabbis Joseph M. Asher, Bernard Drachman and M.M. Kaplan are scheduled to speak at the memorial service at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on East 85th Street.


1905: The Cantors’ Association of Mount Zion Congregation and Congregation Mickveh Israel are scheduled to take part in services held to honor the Jews who have been murdered in Russia.


1905: Rabbis Phillip Klein, H. Periera Mendes, Harris Maslinasky and Isidor Herschield are scheduled to speak at the memorial service being held at Congregation Ohav Zedek on Norfolk Street.


1905: The parade organized by the Jewish Defense Association in memory of the Jews murdered in Odessa is scheduled to start at noon today with Joseph Barondess serving as Marshall.


1905: Services memorializing the Jews who have perished in the Russian Massacres are scheduled to take place this afternoon and this evening at several locations on the Lower East Side.


1905: In Camden, NJ, Rabbi Gordon of Philadelphia and William spoke at the memorial services “for the murdered Jews of Russia” being held at the Synagogue of the Sons of Israel.


1905: Because the reports of the massacres of the Jews Russia have underestimated the suffering of their co-religionists, those attending a meeting a Temple Emanu-El tonight decided to issue an appeal for an additional million dollars in aid to go along with the one million dollars already raised.


1906: Birthdate of Manchester, UK native Sir Maurice Pariser, the Solicitor, WW II veteran and Laborite member of the Manchester City who was vice president of the Institute of the Jewish Studies and Knighted in 1965.


1908: Birthdate of Alfred Hershey, an American biologist who, along with Max Delbrück and Salvador Luria, won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1969. The prize was given for research done on viruses that infect bacteria. This was the famous "blender experiment" (1956).  Hershey used an isotope- labeled phage to infect a bacterial colony and begin to inject their genetic material into the host cells. Then he whirred them in a blender to tear the phage particles from the bacterial walls without rupturing the bacteria. Upon examining the bacteria, Hershey found that only phage DNA, but no detectable protein, had been inserted into them. This showed that the DNA was sufficient to transfer to the bacteria all the genetic information needed to produce more phage. He passed away in 1997.


1910: The New York Timesfeatures a review of The Life of Benjamin Disraeli: The Earl of Beaconsfield by William Money.  This is the first volume of a multi-volume work covering the years 1804 through 1837.  The book sold for three dollars.


1910: Birthdate of Chester, PA native Isadore Soifer who gained famed as Alex North, the often Oscar nominated composer who wrote scores for such films as Spartacus and “A Streetcar Named Desire.”



1911: The trial of the owner’s Triangle Waist Company, Max Blanck and Issac Harris who were represented by Max Steuer on charges of First and Second Degree Manslaughter began today.


1912(24th of Kislev, 5673): In the evening, kindle the first Chanukah light


1912: Birthdate of Brooklyn native Edward Fields, the Manhattan rug designer and manufacturer.



1912: Fifty-year old Archibald Gracie IV, the last survivor to leave the Titanic who spent much of his time on the cruise discussing the Civil War with Isidor Strauss passed away today.


1912: Jacob A. Cantor of New York City was a delegate to the Ninth Convention of Rivers and Harbors Congress opening today in Washington, DC.


1912: Birthdate of David Amato, second son of Abraham Amato and father of Leah Amato Franco.  A graduate of George Washington University, Amato had a successful career the U.S. Department of Labor and the National Board before accepting a position with the American diplomatic corps to help the Mexican government in the field of vocational rehabilitation.


1913: Birthdate of Mark Robson the Montreal native who began his career as an editor in Citizen Kane and went on to direct thirty-four films including two war movies with a strange twist – The Bridges at Toko-Ri and Von Ryan’s Express.



1913: Birthdate of journalist Jesse Zel Lurie who wrote for the Palestine Post and the Jerusalem Post before spending 35 years as the editor of Hadassah Magazine “turning it from an 8 page newsletter into a nationally known Jewish” publication.



1914: U.S. State Department informs American Jewish Committee that it will not expel Russian Jews who sought refuge in Turkey, but will permit them to become naturalized citizens.


1914: According to a report supplied by “Dr. Arthur Levy, a rabbi serving with the German Army,” this evening during Friday evening Sabbath services, the Russian “Governor appeared in Petrikau (Piortikow) with the police, ordered that the Scrolls of the Law be removed from the Holy Ark, and the Ark be searched for secret telephones which the Jews were charged with hiding there.”


1914: “Victim of Yellow Journalism” published today provided the views of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle of the case of Leo M. Frank of which it said “the state of public feeling being what it was he never had a chance for a fair trial.  His case was for all practical purposes tried in the newspapers anda verdict of guilty assured before the first witness was sworn.”


1914: “In Glescow, 150 Jews were arrested as spies and dragged to Warsaw” by Russian authorities.


1915: It was reported today that “a new Jewish theological seminary” which will train Orthodox rabbis, making it the first of its kind in the United States will be opening in Manhattan.


1915: Lt. Hugo Gutmann was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class today.


1915(27thof Kislev, 5676): Third Day of Chanukah; Parashat Miketz


1915(27thof Kislev, 5676): Fifty-five year old New York political leader Andrew Freedman passed away today.


1915: In Bayonne, NJ, The Bayonne Zionist is scheduled to hold a Chanukah Ball this evening at the Bayonne Opera House Hall, “the proceeds of which will be used to build up the Zionist library.


1916: It was reported today that an additional $2,500 has been raised “for further work at the Hebrew National Orphan House” on Seventh Street with an annex on St. Mark’s Place.


1916: Judge Julian W. Mack’s description of the success enjoyed by the Federation plan used by the Jewish community in Chicago for the last 17 years was published today.


1917: British forces under General Allenby “launched an assault on Turkish positions all around Jerusalem.”


1917: Birthdate of Olympic fencing champion Daniel Bukantz, the decorated WW II combat veteran who also had a successful career as a dentist and who was one the five members on the U.S. foil team at the 1956 Olympics which was made up entirely of Jews



1917: The Jewish Ministers’ Association of American which was organized in March and is led by President Aaron Yudelowitz of Boston held the opening session of its first annual convention in New York City.


1917: A total of $389, 941.50 was raised today on the “second day of the campaign to raise five million dollars for Jewish war relief and welfare work in the army and navy” meaning that in just two days, the campaign had raised $1,509,910.00.
1917: Today, while addressing “an assembly of Orthodox rabbis at the convention of the Jewish Minister’s Association of America the Young Men’s Hebrew Association Building, Nathan Strauss “condemned a resolution adopted by the rabbis in which they had expressed their gratitude to the British Government for ‘publicly declaring its sympathy with the Zionist movement and pledging itself to use it best endeavors to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine” because he feared that “any Zionist agitation at the present time would tend to stimulate antagonism against Jews in any of the enemy countries” i.e. Germany and the Ottoman Empire


1917(19th of Kislev, 5678): Seventy-one year old Rabbi Jacob David Kallen passed away in Roxbury, MA.


1918: In Atlantic City, NJ, Rhea and Alfred Ettigner, 2 immigrant Jews, gave birth to Robert Chester Wilson Ettinger, a science fiction writer and physics instructor whose idea of freezing the dead for future reanimation repelled most scientists…and persuaded at least 105 game humans to pay $28,000 each to have their bodies preserved in liquid nitrogen at his Cryonics Institute in suburban Detroit…” (As reported by Paul Vitello)


1918: Birthdate of Milton Charles Calechman, the “brother of Harold Calechman.”


1919(12th of Kislev, 5680): In Chicago, Paul Bittermann, the husband of Jessie Bitterman and the father of Pauline and Dorothy Bitterman passed away today.


1921: It was reported today that Dr. Maurice H. Harris who has been the rabbi at Temple Israel for forty years of the fifty year old congregation said that he hoped his desire to see the new building fully paid for would not be seen as a lack of humility on his part but rather as what he would consider “the crowning glory” of his four decades of service.


1922: Birthdate of Isaac Neuman, the native of Zdunska Wola, Poland who survived the Holocaust who served as the rabbi at Sinai Temple in Champaign, Illinois and served as “spiritual leader for the Jewish community for 40 years.



1922(14th of Kislev, 5683): Centenarian Abraham Manning “the oldest Jewish resident of” Utica New York and a 25 year veteran of “the Russian Army” who “gained the unusual distinction of being made a member of the Russian Emperor’s body guard” passed away today.


1923: Sixty one year old anti-Semitic journalist August-Maurice Barres who wrote “That Dreyfus is guilty I deduce not from the facts themselves but from his race” passed away today.


1923:Premiere ofCecil B DeMille’s original version of the "Ten Commandments." 


1923: The Eveready Hour, which starred Nathaniel Shilkret as the conductor premiered today.


1924:”Greed” a silent film directed and co-produced by Erich von Stroheim who also co-authored the script and also co-produced by Irving Thalberg was released in the United States today.


1924: In the Bronx, “Harry Weinberg and Helen Jordon Weinberg” gave birth to Melvin Weinberg, the conman who was a key player in the Abscam Scandal.(As reported by Robert D. McFadden)



1926: Einstein sent Max Born a letter today in which he said, Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer to the secret of the 'old one'. I, at any rate, am convinced that He is not playing at dice” (This is often paraphrased as “God does not play dice)


1927: Birthdate of John McCandlish Phillips Jr, The New York Times reporter who wrote one of the most famous articles in the newspaper’s history — exposing the Orthodox Jewish background of a senior Ku Klux Klan official, Daniel Burros. (As reported by Margalit Fox)


1927: In Poughkeepsie, NY, “Philip Morowitz, a newspaper and magazine distributor, and the former Anna Levine” gave birth to biophysicist Harold Joseph Morowitz. (As reported by Sam Roberts)



1928, Goldman Sachs launched the Goldman Sachs Trading Corp. a closed-end fund with characteristics similar to that of a Ponzi scheme. “The fund failed as a result of the Stock Market Crash of 1929, hurting the firm's reputation for several years afterward.


1928:  Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn's musical "Whoopee" premiered in New York.  Kahn was one of a number of Jewish lyricists who created hit songs for Broadway and Hollywood


1928: Members of "Kvuzat HaHugim" and members of "Tnuat HaMahanot HaOlim" from Haifa and Jerusalem founded Beit HaShita, the kibbutz named after the biblical town of the same name, where the Midianites fled after being beaten by Gideon.  Eleven members of this idyllic Jewish community were killed during the Yom Kippur War meaning it lost “the largest number as a percentage of the population than any other community in Israel.”


1932: “Flying Gold,” a crime film directed by Steve Sekely who moved to Hollywood to escape the rise of fascism in his native country, was released today in Hungary.


1933(15th of Kislev, 5694): Emile Meyerson passed away.  Born in 1859, Meyerson was Polish-born French chemist and philosopher of science whose concepts of rational understanding based on realism and causalism were popular among scientific theorists in the 1930s. An anti-positivist, he argued, for example in Identity and Reality (1908) that scientific knowledge attempts to reach beyond mere descriptive and predictive laws to an understanding of the nature of the reality beyond appearances. The human mind seeks the permanent behind phenomenal change, the identity within diversity as exemplified in conservation laws, such as the law of inertia and the law of conservation of energy. And yet this identity which our reason apprehends (or perhaps constructs) cannot embrace the totality of reality, for there is also change.


1935: “With the implementation of the Nuremberg Laws,” eighty-five year old historian Ernst Bernheim lost his German citizenship today.


1936: The Palestine Post reported on the daily work of the Peel Commission and included the rumor that one or two of the Commissioners were starting to feel the pressure of their continuous and arduous work.


1936: “A list of 650 legal books by Jewish authors which are to be removed from all libraries in Germany and boycotted in the future has been withdrawn” because “several authors listed as Jews were found to be members of the National Socialist party” and “many writers who are really Jewish were not included.”


1937: In Norwich, CN, Asher and Annette Libo gave birth to Kenneth Harold Libo “a historian of Jewish immigration who, as a graduate student working for Irving Howe in the 1960s and ’70s, unearthed historical documentation that informed and shaped “World of Our Fathers,” Mr. Howe’s landmark 1976 history of the East European Jewish migration to America” (As reported by Paul Vitello)


1938: Ghalib Budairi, a member of a prominent Arab family was found by British troops tonight lying wounded on a street in Jaffa, the apparent victim of Arabs who, as part of their uprising, have been attacking Jews, Englishman and Arabs who are not supporting their efforts.


1938:Father Charles Coughlin gave a national radio address in which he attacked the "Jewish international banking houses." (As reported by Austin Cline)


1938: Tehilla Lichtenstein first took the pulpit as the leader of the Society of Jewish Science in New York City, giving a sermon entitled “The Power of Thought.” Her topic reflected the Society’s idea, borrowed from Christian Science, that God’s healing power lies within each individual. With this service, Lichtenstein became the spiritual leader of the Congregation of Jewish Science in New York—the first woman to serve as the spiritual leader of any American Jewish congregation. Born in Jerusalem in 1893, Lichtenstein had left doctoral work in English at Columbia University to marry Morris Lichtenstein, a Reform rabbi, in 1920. Together, the Lichtensteins established the Society of Jewish Science in 1922. The Lichtensteins hoped to create a variant of Judaism that could offer the spiritual sustenance that they believed too many Jews were finding within Christian Science. They showed that through Judaism, as through Christian Science, one could emphasize spirituality, the goodness of God, and the effectiveness of prayer. Unlike Christian Science, Jewish Science did not deny the benefits of modern medicine. Rather, it attempted to harmonize Judaism with science. They believed that their program of meditation, affirmation and visualization would reveal that in its essence, Judaism was the highest of healing sciences. During the early years of the Society, Tehilla Lichenstein ran the Society religious school where she taught Hebrew and Bible and edited its monthly journal, the Jewish Science Interpreter. When Morris Lichtenstein died in 1938, Tehilla became the spiritual leader of the Society. Illustrating her view of Judaism as a practical religion, Lichtenstein’s early sermons included the topics “Seven Rules for Happy Living” and “When is War Justified?”. Although some of Lichtenstein’s teachings drew on her own experiences as a wife and mother and focused on interpersonal relationships, she also gave sermons taking up such issues as Soviet foreign policy and anti-Semitism in post-war America. In addition to her regular sermons, Lichtenstein continued to edit the Interpreter, taught classes in Jewish Science, and trained members of the Society to become spiritual healers. In the 1950s, she hosted a weekly radio program. She continued to preach from


1939: In Washington, DC, “the creation of an army of 200,000 Jews to be recruited in the United States, Palestine and other countries was urged tonight in a series of resolutions adopted at a conference called by Dr. Samuel Harden Church president of the Carnegie Institute and chairman of the new committee for a Jewish Army.”


1940:August Marian Kowalczyk, was arrested today while trying to cross the border with Czechoslovakia so he could join the Polish Army in France and sent to Auschwitz. (He would become the last survivor of the breakout attempt from that camp in June of 1942.


1941: Nazi ordinances placed the Jews of Poland outside protection of courts


1941: Himmler issued strict instructions to Frederich Jeckeln that no mass murders of deported German Jews were to occur without his express orders: "The Jews deported into the territory of the Ostland are to be dealt with only according to the guideline given by me and the Reich Security Main Office acting on my behalf. I will punish unilateral acts and violations.


1941: Betty Warner, the daughter of movie mogul Harry Warner and Milton Sperling gave birth to their first child Susan, today.


1942(25thof Kislev, 5703): Chanukah


1942(25thof Kislev, 5703): Fifty-nine year old Austrian “librettist, lyricist and writer” Fritz Löhner-Beda was murdered in Auschwitz III Monowitz concentration camp 



1942: During the Holocaust, two Christian women, Zofia Kossak and Wanda Filipowicz risked theirlives by setting up the Council for the Assistance of the Jews in Warsaw.


1942: “Thunder Rock” a movie version of the 1939 play of the same name featuring Lilli Palmer with music by Mutz Greenbaum was released today in the United Kingdom today.


1943: During World War II, in Yugoslavia, resistance leader Marshal Tito proclaims a provisional democratic Yugoslav government in-exile. Originally there had been two resistance movements in Yugoslavia – Tito’s which was multi-ethnic and included Jewish partisans and the Chetniks, led by a Serbian named Draza Mihailovich who would become an ally of the Axis and a practitioner of ethnic cleansing.


1943: In Manhattan, the former Bernice Landau and her husband, both of whom were “Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe” gave birth to Paul Jonathan Novograd the last owner of New York’s Claremont Riding Academy.



1944: The Kasztner transport carrying 1,361 Jews left Bergen Belsen heading for the Swiss border. For more see Gaylen Ross’ “Killing Kasztner” http://www.killingkasztner.com/


1945: By a vote of 65 to 7, the United States Senate approves United States participation in the United Nations.  This was a sign that the United States would not retreat into Isolationism as it had at the end of World War I.  More importantly, by joining the UN, the United States was able to support measures that ended the British Mandate in Palestine and the creation of the state of Israel.


1946: Guy M. Gillette, the former U.S. Senator from Iowa who is president of the pro-Zionist American League for a Free Palestine, denied charges by Rabbi Judah Magnes that “A Flag Is Born,” a play sponsored by the league, “makes an open appeal for funds for the purchase of arms for terrorist groups in Palestine.”  Gillette insisted that all funds raised by the Ben Hecht play go the Reparation Fund chaired by Hecht, Will Rogers, Jr. and Louis Bromfield.


1948:The UN General Assembly Political and Security Committee passes a British-Canadian plan for a council commission on Palestine to negotiate a final peace settlement. The plan calls for (1) commission members to be appointed by Big Five; (2) an international Jerusalem; (3) a small UN guard to protect commission; and (4) aid to refugees. (The plan will be dead on arrival since it does not recognized the realities on the ground and the continued unwillingness of the Arabs to accept the creation of the Jewish state,)


1949: In Norwalk, CT, Barbara Freedman Berg and Dick Berg gave birth to Pulitzer Prize winning biographer Andrew Scott Berg.


1950(25thof Kislev, 5711): During the first winter of the Korean War, Chanukah


1950: In Passaic, New Jersey, Morris Goldberger and Edna Kronman gave birth to architect and Vanity Fair editor Paul Goldberger.


1951: Having survived the ghetto in Kielce, Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen, seventeen year old Thomas Buergenthal “emigrated from Germany to the United States” today where he pursued a legal education which led to him serving as a Judge of the International Court of Justice from 2000 to 2010.


1951: AaronCopland’s “Pied Piper," premieres in New York City.


1952: “Two’s Company” a musical revue with lyrics by Sammy Cahn, directed by Jules Dassin and choreographed by Jerome Robbins did not open on Broadway as scheduled due to the illness of one of the leading stars.


1952: “Million Dollar Mermaid” a biopic directed by Mervyn LeRoy was released in the United States today by MGM.


1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that the cabinet approved the resignation of Lt.-Gen Yigael Yadin, the second chief of General Staff, and appointed Maj.-Gen. Mordechai Makleff as his successor. Yigael Yadin was one of those amazing figures who helped to form Israel in the early days of the Jewish state.  A sabra, born in 1917, Yadin was the son of the famed Eliezer Sukenik of Dead Scrolls fame.  Just prior to, and during the War for Independence, Yadin was the acting chief of staff of the Jewish military forces.  After the war he was the first chief of staff of the IDF and created the mold for the military that is followed to this day.  After leaving the military, Yadin pursued a career in archaeology which was so successful that almost overshadowed his military successes. He passed away in 1984.


1953: Eighty year old Russian born NYU Law School graduate Alice Petluck, “the first woman lawyer to practice in the Federal District Court in the Southern District of New York and the first of her sex to argue a case in the Appellate Division, First Department who co-founded the Bronx Women’s Bar Association after the Bronx Bar Associated rejected her “because she was a woman and who was the husband of Dr. Joseph Petluck with whom she had three children – Charles, Ann and Robert – all of whom became lawyers passed away today.




1956: A month after opening on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre, “Fanny” a musical with lyrics and music by Harold Rome and a book co-authored by S.N. Behrman transferred to the Belasco Theatre.


1959: “The Stranglers of Bombay” a horror movie written by David Zelag Goodman was released today in the United Kingdom.


1960(15thof Kislev, 5721): Seventy-four year old Austrian born City College alum and WW I Army veteran Jacob Field “a tax consultant, former I.R.S. revenue officer” and “regional director of the American Joint Distribution Committee in Minsk” who was the husband of “Mrs. Minna Field, the author of Patients Are People: A Medical-Social Approach to Prolonged Illness passed away today.



1960(15thof Kislev, 5721): Fifty-seven year old composer and conductor Walter Goehr who was forced to leave Germany, like so many of his contemporaries because he was Jewish passed away today “in City Hall, Sheffield, United Kingdom, today immediately after conducting a performance of Handel's Messiah.”



1967(2nd of Kislev, 5728): Bert Lahr, the Cowardly Lion from “The Wizard of Oz” passed away.  The famed actor changed his from Lahrheim to Lahr.  He was the last of the Jews in his family line.


1968: “Where Eagles Dare” the film version of the novel produced by Elliot Kastner and Jerry Gershwin was released today in the United Kingdom.


1970: “The Garden of the Finzi-Continis” a film version of the novel by the same name produced by Arthur Cohn and Artur Brauner was released today in Italy.


1971: Birthdate of American screenwriter and producer Adam Horwoitz, creator of the “ABC fantasy series “Once Upon a Time.”


1972(28thof Kislev, 5733): Seventy-seven year old Israeli political leader Kadish Luz passed away at Degania Bet.


1974: Birthdate of Irish cricketer Jason Molins the Dublin native who is a right-handed batsman


1975(29th of Kislev, 5736): Hannah Arendt passed away.





1976: In Israel, “three young Palestinian killed themselves while building a bomb.”


1976: In New York City, novelist Fred Waitzkin, the author of Searching for Bobby Fischer: The Father of a Prodigy Observes the World of Chess and his wife gave birth to chess prodigy Joshua Waitzkin.


1977:Neil Simon's "Chapter Two" premiered in New York City.


1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that President Anwar Sadat and the Egyptian government were disappointed by what they regarded as an insufficiently forthcoming Israeli response to Sadat's historic visit to Jerusalem. Sadat was reported to be still expecting a 'dramatic' Israeli concession at the planned Cairo meeting which he hoped would advance the success of the reconvened Geneva peace conference. Prime Minister Menachem Begin arrived in Britain for a five-day official visit 'to renew the covenant signed by the British people and the Jewish people 60 years earlier on that unforgettable Lord Balfour Day, of November 2, 1917.'


1977: After 22 performances the curtain came down on Uncommon Women and Others the first play by Wendy Wasserstein.


1978: Dianne Feinstein is named the 1st female mayor of San Francisco.


1978(4th of Kislev, 5739): Samuel Abraham Goldsmithpassed away.  Born in 1902, Goldsmith was a Dutch-born U.S. physicist who, with George E. Uhlenbeck, a fellow graduate student at the University of Leiden, Netherlands, formulated (1925) the concept of electron spin. It led to recognition that spin was a property of protons, neutrons, and most elementary particles and to a fundamental change in the mathematical structure of quantum mechanics. Goldsmith also made the first measurement of nuclear spin and its Zeeman Effect with Ernst Back (1926-27), developed a theory of hyperfine structure of spectral lines, made the first spectroscopic determination of nuclear magnetic moments (1931-33), contributed to the theory of complex atoms and the theory of multiple scattering of electrons, and invented the magnetic time-of-flight mass spectrometer (1948).


1983: “Baby” the David Shire musical opened on Broadway today at the Ethel Barrymore Family.


1983:The Anatomy Lessonby Philip Roth, The Price of Power by Seymour M. Hersh and The Rosenberg Fileby Ronald Radosh are among the twelve books chosen by the New York Times Book Review to the best books published in the country during the preceding year.


1985: “Les Misérables” a musical version of the French novel with lyrics and book by Alain Boublil “transferred to the West End’s Palace Theatre” today where it became “the longest-running musical in West End history.


1986: Neil Simon's "Broadway Bound" premiered in New York.


1988(25th of Kislev, 5749): The First Day of Chanukah; in the evening, kindle the second light


1988: The five Soviet citizens involved in the hijacking of an Aeroflot plane to Israel were sent back to the Soviet Union today in two Soviet planes.


1988: Israel's stock market in Tel Aviv was hit by a 24-hour strike by employees today, and share trading was halted. Israeli news reports said the market was expected to reopen today. The strike was called after contract negotiations stalled over who would arbitrate a dispute about seniority benefits, the Haaretz daily said.


1990: An Israeli military court sentenced 12 Palestinian guerrillas today to 30 years in prison for a foiled seaborne raid in May that prompted Washington to sever its contacts with the Palestine Liberation Organization. Israeli forces killed 4 Palestinians and captured 12 in the attempted speedboat raid on beaches near Tel Aviv. The captured men were convicted last month of membership in a terrorist group, illegal possession of arms and attempted murder. The Palestine Liberation Front, a P.L.O. faction led by Abul Abbas, was behind the assault.


1993: Daniel Schorr delivered the eulogy for the late composer Frank Zappa today on NPR.


1993:Talal al-Bakri's living came from selling vegetables in Hebron. His death came from traveling past this neighboring Jewish settlement. Someone in a group of Israelis waving submachine guns here today put a bullet in his head. Five Israelis have been arrested in connection with the case.


1994: Tony Kushner’s "Angels in America-Millennium Approaches" closes after 367 performances.


1995(11thof Kislev, 5756): Seventy-seven year old Jack Rotman, who played at Boston University from 1938-1940 where he was a two-time All-New England selection passed away today.


1995:The confessed assassin of Yitzhak Rabin suggested today that one of the slain Prime Minister's bodyguards had been an accomplice in the shooting. The killer, Yigal Amir, asserted that if he told everything he knew, it "would turn the country upside down." Mr. Amir spoke to reporters before the start of a hearing at the Tel Aviv Magistrate Court, where he was ordered held in custody for four more days. Police officers and the presiding judge, Dan Arbel, cut Mr. Amir off, as they have several times in the past, to prevent him from using the courtroom as a platform for his opinions. Israel Radio did not even carry Mr. Amir's voice in its news roundups today, referring to his statements only as "abusive language."


1996: “Oui” a French comedy costarring Dany Boon as “Wilfried” was released today in France.


1997:"Diary of Anne Frank" opens at Music Box Theater New York City.


1997(5th of Kislev, 5758): Joseph Wolpe passed away. Born in 1915, Wolpe was aSouth African-born American psychotherapist who helped usher in cognitive behavioral therapy during the 1960s; he devised a treatment to help desensitize patients with phobias by exposing them to their fears incrementally. He worked on systematic desensitization with a methodology designed to treat people with extreme anxiety about specific events, situations, things, or people. His approach involved developing a hierarchy of anxiety-provoking situations, learning relaxation techniques, then associating these situations with relaxation, beginning at the bottom, or least anxiety-provoking, part of the hierarchy. He founded the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy and the Journal of Behavior Therapy.


1999(25thof Kislev, 5760): Chanukah


1999: Shanghai Jews were permitted to use Ohel Rache Synagogue for Chanukah services.


2001: The United States froze the financial assets of organizations allegedly linked to Hamas, the group that claimed responsibility recent deadly suicide attacks in Israel.


2001: Today’s search of the Home Land Foundation’s offices by the government led to a lawsuit with prosecutors claiming that the Judith Miller had queried the Islamic charity in such a way that it made the members aware of the planned searches.


2002:On the morning of the second Hanukkah lighting and party President Bush met with Jewish leaders in the Roosevelt Room. Jay Lefkowitz, an observant Jew who was chief of the president's Domestic Policy Council, remembered that one participant stood up and said that some 60 years earlier, his father had been part of a delegation of Jewish leaders who sought to meet with President Franklin D. Roosevelt to urge that the U.S. bomb railroad tracks to impede the Nazis' ability to kill Jews in concentration camps. The Jewish leaders never got a meeting, and Roosevelt never took action to thwart Hitler's genocide. He said it would divert resources from the effort to win the war. "Mr. President," the man said to Bush, "I think I can speak for everyone in this room when I say that if you had been president, there would be millions more of us alive today."


 


2004: After only a week on the Job, Victor Bailovsky lost his job as Science and Technology Minister when his party left the governing coalition.


 


2004: Avraham Poraz completed his term as Minister of Internal Affairs.


 


2004: “Christmas at Water’s Edge” co-starring Tom Bosley was released today in the United States.


2004: Eliezer Sandberg completed his term as Minister of Energy and Water Resources.


 


2004: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ousted Avraham Poraz from his position as Interior Minister. Poraz was a member of the Shinui party.  When Shinui voted against Sharon’s budget, he removed all members of the party from his government.


 


2005: During his talk SPORT show today Charles Wolf described Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist who had been killed by an Israeli military bulldozer, as "scum." Ofcom would later rule this comment to be in breach of the "Generally Accepted Standards" section of the Broadcasting Code and stated it was "seriously ill-judged".


 


2005(4th of Kislev, 5766): Eighty-eight year old “German born Israeli woodcut artist and art collector” Jacob Otto Pins passed away today.


 


2005: Opening session of the Conservative movement’s biennial convention in Boston, MA where leaders will be unveiling a more a liberal and aggressive outreach program.


2005: In an interview with Time Magazine, movie director Steven Spielberg said his new film "Munich," the story of Israel's revenge for the killing of its athletes by Palestinian guerrillas at the 1972 Olympics, is "a prayer for peace."  The man who brought the world “Schindler’s List” and the “Shoah Project” is very proud of the fact that "Munich" doesn't demonize either the Israeli or Palestinian side.  Spielberg says that “the biggest enemy is not the Palestinians or the Israelis. The biggest enemy in the region is intransigence."  Such an evenhanded treatment does not seem to jibe with the facts.  Palestinian terrorists invaded the Olympic Village, seized the Israeli Olympic team and later murdered them.   


2006(13th of Kislev, 5767): Arthur Shimkin, Grammy Award winning producer of children’s records passed away at the age of 84.  In one of those cultural ironies that are part of Jewish History, Shimkin produced the Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer album sung by Jimmy Durante.


2006: While appearing on his late night television show, comedian Stephen Colbert jokingly took credit for the recent nuptials of two Jewish Democratic congressmen – Brad Sherman of California and Steven Rothman of New Jersey. Sherman married Lisa Kaplan, a State Department anti-Semitism expert.  Rothman found his new wife, Jennifer Beckenstein on JDate.com.  Jewish love- isn’t it grand?


2006: The Hebrew Free Burial Association (HFBA) “launched a Russian edition of their website to further reach out to members of that community.  The HFBA was established in 1888 as a free burial society for Jews living on the Lower East Side.  As Jews moved into other communities, the association widened its service area and today it is the largest burial society outside of the state of Israel.


2006: Dennis Prager continued to defend his contention that Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress should be allowed to take the oath of office using a Koran because “the act undermines American Civilization” 


2007: Michael Korda appeared at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. Michael Korda has written the first major single-volume biography of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, exploring a great general and an important president—a man who won the war and kept the peace. Korda’s previous books include Charmed Lives: A Family Romance, Queenie,Ulysses S. Grant: The Unlikely Heroand Journey to a Revolution: A Personal Memoir and History of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.


2007: The Center for Jewish History presents a special screening of “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation”, Brazil's Official Selection for the 2008 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.


2007: The Jewish Aggies, a student group at Texas A&M, lit the largest menorah in the state of Texas.


2008: Final night of the 2008 Oud Festival sponsored by Confederation House.


 


2008: At the Chabad House in Iowa City a genuine Simchah – the Brit Milah of the son of Avremel & Chaya Blesofsky


2008: The Labor Party is scheduled to hold its primary which was postponed after computerized voting systems malfunctioned in several locales around the country on December 2.


2008: A Kassam rocket landed near Sderot, causing no casualties or damage.


2009: “1943, A pause during the Holocaust” a film based on Angelo Donati’s rescue of 2,500 Jews trapped in Nice was “shown for the first



2009: The 20th Washington Jewish Film Festival features a matinee presentation of A Matter of Size (Sipur Gadol).


2009: At Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, IA, Friday Night Services mark the start of the Third Season of Musical Shabbat.


2009: Police arrested a man from Baka al-Gharbiya for orchestrating an extorition attempt aimed at McDonald's of Israel.


2010:Shalshelet’s 4th International Festival at Congregation Ansche Chesed, New York City.


2010: “Gruber’s Journey,” “The Debt,” “Mary Lou” and “Phovidilia” are scheduled to be shown tonight at the 21st Washington Jewish Film Festival.


2010: Gabe Finn was called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, IA.


2010: The 12th Jerusalem Film Festival opened at the Jerusalem Cinematheque


2010:Jerry Herman was among the five 2010 Kennedy Center Honorees who were feted at tonight's gala in Washington, D.C.


2010: In “'Candlelight': 2010's Hanukkah anthem” Monica Hesse traces the rise of the Maccebeats The field of Chanukah music was  wide “open for the harmonizing Maccabeats, whose YouTube video of "Candlelight" (jauntily sung to the tune of Taio Cruz's "Dynamite") reached nearly 1 million views in less than eight days.


2011: “The Kissinger Saga: Walter and Henry Kissinger, Two Brothers From Feurth,” is among the films scheduled to shown on the second day of the Washington Jewish Film Festival.


2011: The Temple Sinai Sisterhood Chanukah Bazaar is scheduled to take place a New Orleans’ largest Reform congregation.


2011: Soccer player Camille Levin, a graduate of the Tarbut V’Torah Community Day School in Irvine, CA set up the winning goal scored by her teammate which finally led to Stanford University winning the NCAA College Cup.



2011: “A commemorative plaque to Władysław  Szpilman in Polish and English was unveiled at 223 Niepodległości Avenue in Warsaw in the presence of his wife, Halina (Grzecznarowski) Szpilman, son Andrzej and Wilm Hosenfeld's daughter Jorinde Krejci-Hosenfeld


2011: As a sign of the vibrancy of the Cedar Rapids Jewish community Diane Handler and Robert Becker are scheduled to host Temple Judah’s first annual adult congregational cocktail party.


2011: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Howard Cosell: The Man, the Myth and the Transformation of American Sports” by Mark Ribowsky, “Balzac’s Omeltte” by Anka Mulstein (the great-great-granddaughter of James de Rothschild) and “MetaMaus” by Art Spiegelman as well as three children’s books about Chanukah: “The Golem’s Latkes” by Eric A. Kimmel, “Chanukah Lights” by Michael J. Rosen and “The Story of Hanukkah” by David Adler.


2011:  The epicenter of an earthquake felt across northern Israel today was in the Hula and Sea of Galilee (Kinneret) area, the Geophysical Institute of Israel stated.


2011: Israel’s decision to release frozen public funds to the Palestinians last week came after Germany insisted it did so as a condition for the completion of the sale of a submarine, a German newspaper reported today. The Welt am Sonntag quoted sources as saying Germany had told Israel it could not go ahead with the purchase of the submarine unless it made political concessions.


2011: A commemorative plaque to pianist and Holocaust survivor Władysław Szpilman in Polish and English was unveiled at 223 Niepodległości Avenue in Warsaw in the presence of his wife, Halina (Grzecznarowski) Szpilman, son Andrzej and Wilm Hosenfeld's daughter Jorinde


2012: The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is scheduled to honor Baron David de Rothschild at its 87th Annual Benefit Dinner.


2012: Professor Jonathan Sarna is scheduled to discuss “When General Grant Expelled the Jews with Jonathan Karp, Executive Director, American Jewish Historical Society at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. (A book and an evening not to be missed)



2012: Rabbi Bruce Aft of Congregation Adat Reyim is scheduled to lead a discussion of “A Century Catholic-Jewish Relations” under the auspices of the JCCNV.



2012(20thof Kislev): For Chabad Chasidim “the 20th of Kislev is like the second day of Rosh Hashanah. Just as the two days of Rosh Hashanah are considered a single “long day” (יומא אריכתא ) so the 19th and 20th of Kislev are considered a single long day marking the redemption of the Alter Rebbe and a turning point in the history of Chassidut. The 19th of Kislev was the day on which the Alter Rebbe was released from prison and acquitted of the charges against him. But, what happened on the 20th of Kislev? Historically, after the Alter Rebbe was released, he was taken to S. Peterburg to the house of a wealthy local Jew. It seemed all good and well, but that house was the house of one of the greatest mitnagdim, those who opposed the Chassidic movement and were responsible for the Alter Rebbe’s incarceration in the first place. And so, the Alter Rebbe had to stay with this Jew and his family for a few hours until he left his house on the 20th of Kislev. (From the teachings of Harav Yitzchak Ginsburgh)



2012: “Insular and Torn, Straight From Hasidic Brooklyn” published today provides a review of ‘My Name Is Asher Lev’ playing at the Westside Theatre.



http://theater.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/theater/reviews/my-name-is-asher-lev-at-the-westside-theater.html?adxnnl=1&hpw=&adxnnlx=1354665583-RbTgbfAMtciUo0m8rSGgdA



2012: French police today announced that they had arrested a man and a woman in connection with the Toulouse shootings in March, in which Mohammed Merah, a French-Algerian Islamist, killed a rabbi and three children at a Jewish school, several days after gunning down four French paratroopers in two separate attacks.



2012: Tzipi Livni, the head of the Hatnua (The Movement) party, today lambasted the government for its handling of the fallout from the Palestinians’ successful UN status-upgrade gambit, saying that its apparently punitive decision to construct thousands of housing units in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, including in the controversial E1 corridor between the capital and the settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim, was detrimental to Israel’s security interests.



2013: In Coralville, Iowa, Agudas Achim is scheduled to host its annual Chanukah Party.


2013(30thof Kislev, 5774): Ninety-two year old Lila Perl, “the award-winning children’s book Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story” passed away today.



2013: The Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia is scheduled to sponsor Light Up the Night: Community Menorah Lighting at Mosaic District


2013: “The Art of Spiegelman” and “Through the Eye of a Needle,” a film about Holocuast survivor and artist Nisenthal Krinitz is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.


2013: Hezbollah accused Israel of assassinating Hasan al-Laqis “a top operative” and“one of the main commanders of its rocket division.  Hezbollah did not say how it had eliminated Suunis who are upset with its involvement in the Syrian Civil War or other Moslem groups with which it is at odds.


2013: A group of more than 20 Christian leaders from Norway will be coming to the Knesset today to ask for forgiveness for the diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinians that began in their capital.


2013: NGO Monitor will be awarded the prestigious Begin Prize, "For the organization's efforts exposing the political agenda and ideological bias of humanitarian organizations that use the discourse of human rights to discredit Israel and to undermine its position among the nations of the world." Founded in 2002 by Professor Gerald Steinberg and the Wechsler Family Foundation, NGO Monitor is an independent research institute based in Jerusalem and the primary source of expertise on activities and funding of political non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict


2013: Today Warner Bros. revealed that Israeli actress Gal Gadot was cast in the role of Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.”


2013: In “Degenerate Hart and the Jewish Grandmother” published today Walter Laqueur described the events that led up to the discovery of an art collection that belonged to Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of Hildebrand Gurlitt, “one of four dealers commissioned by the Nazis to sell their looted art abroad…”



2014: “Three FREE masterclass conversations for everyone interested in comedy: The Joys of Podcasting with Helen Zaltzman (Answer Me This) and Stuart Goldsmith (The Comedian’s Comedian) Understanding the Industry with Steve Bennett (Chortle) and a top comedy agent Comedy Formats: TV, Theatre and Social Media with Dan Patterson (Mock The Week) are scheduled to take place at the UK Jewish Comedy Festival


2014: Today marks the 70th anniversary of 1,361 Jews of the Kasztner transport release from Bergen Belsen.




2014: The Discovery Channel is scheduled to broadcast “Biblical Mysteries Explained” which will examine “new scientific theories that support the extraordinary tale of Exodus.”


2014: “After only a two-month hiatus from politics, former interior minister Gideon Sa’ar is reportedly considering running against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the Likud party leadership next month, party sources said today.”


2014: “Over 80 people were treated for respiratory problems on both sides of the Israel-Jordan border this morning, amid warnings of an ecological disaster following a major oil spill overnight that flooded the highway leading into Eilat.” (As reported by Avi Lewis)


2015(22ndof Kislev, 5776): Seventy-five year old “long-term MK Yossi Sarid” passed away today.



2015: In Olney, MD, Shaare Tefila is scheduled it annual “Taste of Chanukah.”


2015: In Cedar Rapids, Shir Yehuda will lead Temple Judah in a “Musical Shabbat.”


2016: Israeli-born composer and musician Eyal Vilner is scheduled to return “to Eldridge Street with his swinging sixteen-piece band which will perform Vilner’s new compositions, original versions of jazz classics and music from the Big Band’s new project “Sacred Swinging Sounds!”


2016: The New York Times features books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Last Girl Before Freeway: The Life, Loves, Losses and Liberation of Joan Rivers by Leslie Bennetts, The Daily Show (The Book): An Oral History by Chris Smith, Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor and What It All Means by Michael Krasny, The Menorah: From the Bible to Modern Israel by Steven Fine, Moses: A Human Life by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg and Jerusalem: 1000-1400 Every People Under Heaven edited by Barbara Drake Boehm and Melanie Holocomb


2016: “Holy Zoo” and “Forever Pure” are scheduled to be shown at the 10thAnnual Other Israel Film Festival.


2017: “LA folk singer Cindy Paley will perform with Issac Sadigursky on accordion, Miamon Miller on violin, Zinovy Goro on clarinet, and guest artist from Poland Menachem Mirski are scheduled to perform this evening at Valley Beth Shalom.


2017: The Leo Baeck Institute is scheduled to present a lecture by historian Jeremy Adelman on “Pariahs and Prophets: How Outsiders Help Insiders Think About the Wordl.”


2017:Global Jewish singer, superstar Yaakov Shwekey is playing live for one night only in London tonight as Mizrachi UK launch their “Israel 70 programme”


2017: Rabbi David Wolpe is scheduled to present the first session of “Lessons on Lust and Love From the Bible: Torah As A Dating and Relationship Manuel” at the Streicker Center.


2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such as Deborah Pessin whose works included History of the Jews In America, one of the first Jewish history books I ever read, continues today.


2018(26thof Kislev, 5779): Second Day of Chanukah


2018: The Temple Emanuel Streicker Center is scheduled to host “Jewish Lives, Jewish Legacies” during eight biographers discuss the lives of several prominent Jews including Rabbi Akiva – Sage of The Talmud; Barry W. Holtz, Professor of Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America; Barbra Streisand who redefined Beauty, Femininity and Power;Neal Gabler, award-winning journalist and historian; David Ben-Gurion – Father of Modern Israel; Anita Shapira, winner of the Israel Prize for History; Louis D. Brandeis – American Prophet; Jeffrey Rosen, President & CEO of the National Constitution Center; Emma Goldman for whom Revolution was a Way of Life; Vivian Gornick, celebrated critic and essayist; Hank Greenberg, America’s leading Jewish athlete; Mark Kurlansky, award-winning author of 32 works of fiction and nonfiction; Peggy Guggenheim;Francine Prose, award-winning author of 20 novels; Yitzhak Rabin – Soldier, Leader, Statesman and Itamar Rabinovich, Rabin’s ambassador in Washington and president of the Israel Institute


2018: Thousands of women are expected to take to the streets today to protest government inaction in addressing violence against women; cities including Tel Aviv, Haifa, Be'er Sheva and Jerusalem and many companies and organizations pledge support to campaign. (YNET)


2018: The Yiddish Book Center is scheduled to host Gerri Chanel in an “author talk” in which she talks about “Saving Mona Lisa.”



 


 


 

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