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

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February 17



1411: Musa Celebi became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. During his reign the small Jewish community of Manisa grew in size and wealth after it had been conquered by the Ottomans.

 
1525(24th of Adar): Rabbi Isaac Eizik Margoliot author of Seder Gitten ve-Halizahpassed away.

 
1537: “Pope Paul III” issued “a call for a general council to deal with the Reformation.” This is the same pontiff who issued “Licet Judaei” a bull that spoke against the blood libel.

 
1732: Birthdate of English dramatist Richard Cumberland who “The Jew” a comedy about a Jewish moneylender that was first produced at London’s Drury Lane Theatre in May of 1794.  Unlike earlier English portrayals of Jewish moneylenders, in this case,  Sheva the moneylender is the benevolent hero.

 
1772:  First partition of Poland by Russia, Prussia and Austria.  The multi-parted partition of Poland would mean the demise of the Polish nation until after World War I.  Much to the disappointment of the Russians, they acquired a large Jewish population as a result of the partition; a Jewish population that the Russians did not want.

 
1776: Publication of the first volume of Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.


From the reign of Nero to that of Antoninus Pius, the Jews discovered a fierce impatience of the dominion of Rome, which repeatedly broke out in the most furious massacres and insurrections. Humanity is shocked at the recital of the horrid cruelties which they committed in the cities of Egypt, of Cyprus, and of Cyrene, where they dwelt in treacherous friendship with the unsuspecting natives, and we are tempted to applaud the severe retaliation which was exercised by the arms of the legions against a race of fanatics whose dire and credulous superstition seemed to render them the implacable enemies not only of the Roman government, but of human kind.


 - Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776)

 
1785: Birthdate of Nachman Kohen Krochmal, the native of Brody who interrupted his studies to become a business man who wrote Moreh Nebuke ha-Zeman

 
1801: An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives. Thomas Jefferson was the fist President to appoint a Jew to a Federal post. In 1801 he named Reuben Etting of Baltimoreas U.S. Marshall for Maryland.  More importantly from a Jewish perspective was the fact that Jefferson was a strong defender of the concept of separation of church and state.

 
1809: Miami University is chartered by the State of Ohio. According to recent figures a thousand of the school’s 15,000 undergrads are Jewish and 100 of its 1,000 grad students are Jewish.  The school offers approximately 20 Jewish Studies courses and a Major in Jewish Studies. The school hosts a robust Hillel Chapter offering a wide variety of programs including a weekly Friday night Shabbat services and dinner.

 
1852(27th of Shevat, 5612): Five days before his 40thbirthday, Hebrew Poet Micha Joseph Levenson passed away.



 

1853: A Hungarian tailor makes an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Emperor Franz Josef.  Jews are erroneously thought to have colluded with Italian dissidents in the attempt.

 
1856: Heinrich Heine passed away. The famed poet was born to a Jewish family but converted to Christianity in 1825 seeing it as the only way to fully enter German and European society. Reportedly Heine saw his conversion as matter of practical convenience saying that “As Henry IV said, 'Paris is worth a mass'; I say, 'Berlin is worth the sermon.'"  Heine remained ambivalent about his decision for the rest of his life.  When the Nazis decided to burn books by Jewish authors, they included the works of Heine. Heine has prophetically written, “Where they burn books, they will ultimately also burn people."

 
1863: Birthdate of British political leader David Lloyd George. Lloyd George was the Prime Minster of Great Britain during the last half of World War I.  His resolve helped to bring victory to the Allies. For Jews, Lloyd George will be remembered as the Prime Minister whose government issued the famous Balfour Declaration.  Unlike some of his wartime contemporaries, Lloyd George remained a loyal supporter to both the letter and the spirit of the Balfour Declaration after the Great War when it was no longer fashionable to keep the promises made to the Jewish people.

 
1866: A correspondent for the New York Times arrived in Kai-fun-fee, the capital of Honan where he has gone in search of the remnants of an ancient community of Chinese Jews.

 
1870: In Milwaukee, WI, Temple Emanu-El which had been formed in 1869 was formally incorporated, making I the city’s second oldest congregation.  E.M.V. Brown was the first Rabbi to serve the congregation.

 
1871: The victorious Prussian Army parades though Paris after the end of the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War. Jews fought in the armies of the victorious Prussians and the vanquished French.  More importantly, the humiliating defeat in 1871 led to World War I which in turn led to World War II and the Shoah. 

 
1872: It was reported today that of the $528,742.47 that New York City gave to sectarian charitable institutions in 1869 and 1870, Hebrew institutions received $14,404.49 as compared to the $412,082.56 that went to Roman Catholic Institions.

 
1874(30th of Shevat, 5634): Rosh Chodesh Adar

 
1874:  Benjamin Disraeli finished serving as leader of the Loyal Opposition as he prepared to assume the role of Prime Minister.

 
1875: Twenty-one year old Sophie Seligman became Sophie Walter when she married Moritz Walter today.

1875: The Israelite General Benevolent Society gave its 9th annual ball at the Turn Hall tonight.  The affair was a fundraiser to raise money for destitute and poor Jewish families
 
1877(4thof Adar, 5637): Fifty-six year old German-born Austrian writer known for his “opera libretti” passed away today
 
1878: “Daniel – The Third Ruler in the Kingdom” published today discusses why Daniel who interpreted the inscription for the Babylonian king was referred to as the “third ruler” when Joseph who interpreted the dream for the Pharaoh was referred to as the “second ruler.”


1878: It was reported today that after four years, the Young Men’s Hebrew Association of New York City has 900 members.

 
1878: It was reported today that the Gemeindebund  ("Union of Judæo-German Congregations") has been reorganized to better protect the Jewish communities in Germany

 
1878: It was reported today that more than one third of the Jews living in Amsterdam are paupers.  These 13,000 individuals are supported by the Jewish community and the government.  The Congregational Council spent 130,214 florins in 1877 to support a variety of community officials and institutions including a Chief Rabbi, Chief Cantor, free religious schools for 1,800 boys and 600 girls, a rabbinical college, an orphan asylum and a hospital and lunatic asylum “considered the best in the country.”

 
1880: “Historic Balds,” a comic look at the lack of hair among men through the ages printed today, not that based on the story of Elisha “baldness seems to have been considered a disgrace in remote ages…”  On the other hand, the stories of Samson and Absalom would indicate that flowing locks are not a guarantee of good fortune or divine approval.


 
1880: After having been charged with arson, Jacob Naftal, a Jewish clothing merchant, went on trial today for his role in starting a fire at Red Bank, NY which destroyed 9 buildings.  The 9 buildings, which included a store owned by the defendant, were in the town’s business district. The trial is expected to last for several days.

 
1881:  Rabbi E.M. Meyer Rafael of Brooklyn provided his version of the conflict between Raphael Joseffy and Matthew Arbuckle who were supposed to be participating in an upcoming concert to provide funds for his Brooklyn synagogue. According to Meyer, Arbuckle, one of the leading coronet players had agreed to charge a reduced price for his performance and the Joseffy, one of the leading pianists, had agreed to play for free.  However, when Joseffy’s secretary found out the Arbuckle was performing, the secretary said Joseffy would not perform if a coronet was being played.  Joseffy expressed no opinion about Arbuckle.  The objection would have been the same if it had been another coronet player. The dispute could derail this benefit event.

 
1882:  The description of the conditions of the Jews in Kiev and its surrounding area provided by Russian speaking Protestant Englishman who had visited the area were published today. According to him the homes of the Jews had been “completely wrecked…with the…doors and windows…torn from their hinges.  At least 2,000 Jews – men, women and children – were left with nothing but the clothes on their backs. During one 48 hour period of carnage, “numerous defenseless young women were completely at the mercy of the mob…” The authorities did nothing to prevent the violence and expressed sympathy for the attackers. When some of the attackers were put on trial, “the government prosecutor expressed sympathy with the motives” of the attackers. The light sentences showed that the populace supported the attacks and the violence. In some of the small towns outside of Kiev, the soldiers who were ordered to protect the Jews actually joined the rioters.

 
1882: Hamilton Disston wrote a letter from Jacksonville, FL to Mayor King of Philadelphia offering a free 40 acre tract of land owned by Okeechobee Land and Improvement Company of Florida to each of the 50 Jewish families fleeing Russian persecution that are on a boat bound for the City of Brotherly Love.
 
1882: It was reported today that at Kiev, Odessa, Elizabethgrad and other Russian cities “more than 250 women were outraged by Jewbaiters during the disturbances [“Outraged” is a euphemism for rape and “disturbances is a euphemism for Pogrom.]

 
1882: It was reported today that petroleum was poured on a Jew’s head in Odessa and that he was then set on fire.

 
1882: It was reported that at Kiev, General Dreutlen refused to protect the Jews because it was not worth risking the lives of his soldiers to do so.

 
1882: It was reported today that F.D. Moccatta has contributed £ 1,000 to the relief fund for the Jews of Russia.  He has also to contribute 1 per cent of any sum collected within the next two years in an amount not to exceed £ 1,000,000. [F.D. Moccatta is Frederick David Mocatta]

 
1888:  Birthdate of Otto Stern, 1943 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics.

 
1890: It was reported that the funds raised by the concert and reception hosted by the Seligman Solomon Society would go to the Seligman Solomon Prize Fund for the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.  The society which is was founded three years ago is made up of those who had lived at the asylum and the late Seligman Solomon was one of its leading patrons. 

 
1890: United States Commissioner John A. Shields continued to hear testimony regarding the Sixth National Bank case, which if true, would mean that Siegmund T. Meyer and his sons Philip and Arthur, “raided” the financial institution.

1890(27thof Shevat, 5650): Herman Frohman a wealthy New York butcher, the husband of Mary Frohman and the father of Henrietta Frohman, Lena Frohman Vollman, Fannie Frohman Adler, Bertha Frohman and Rebecca Frohman passed away today.

 
1891: Birthdate of Abraham Fraenkel, the Munich native and “fervent Zionist” who became the first Dean of Mathematics at Hebrew University.

 
1891(9th of Adar I, 5651): In Leadville, CO, Abe Oliner passed away just two months short of his sixth birthday.  Abe came to Leadville in 1885 with his father Isaac, age 30, mother Gilla, age 25, brother Jacob, age 4 and sister Fannie, age 2.

 
1894(18th of Adar I, 5654): Sixty-three year old Albert S. Rosenbaum, a retired tobacco merchant and hotel proprietor passed away today in New York.  A native of Cassel, Germany he came to the United States when he was 18 and settled in California where he made his fortune investing in San Francisco real estate.  He moved to New York to better manage his tobacco interest.

 
1895: “Heine’s Pension” published today described Heinrich Heine’s life in France beginning with “his exile in Paris in 1831.” (Heine was the German literary figure who converted, a decision that he later came to regret but never rectified.)

 
1895: In St. Louis, Russian, Austrian, Polish, Hungarian and Scandinavian Jews who had become naturalized citizens of the United States form the Progressive Order of the West, a fraternal and benevolent organization. The Progressive Order's objectives were to familiarize members with the laws, customs, and institutions of this country; to create a fund to be used for charitable purposes, and to provide for the payment of death benefits to the families of members. In 1898, 7 lodges were in existence in St. Louis and steps were being taken to extend the order to other cities.

 
1895: It is reported today that the Government in Germany  has taken the side of the striking tailors and seamstresses. (Considering the reactionary nature of the German ruling class this would seem rather strange except that the owners are described as being “mostly Jews.”)

 

1895: “Are Sisters of Mercy” published today described the Temple Emanu-El Sisterhood as one of “the pioneer of all Jewish sisterhoods: and “one of the most excellent institutions among…Hebrew charities.”

 
1896: It was reported today that Baron von Leonrod, the Bavarian Minister of Justice has said that it would be impossible to refund the 80,000 marks that Louis Stern of New York had left as bail even though he had received a pardon from the Prince Regent

 
 
1897: It was reported today that Professor Felix Adler is one of the speakers scheduled to address the upcoming conference on improving housing conditions in New York City.


 
1897: “Large Gift to Orphans” published today described the offer of Emanuel Lehman to provide “$100,00 for the endowment of an industrial and provident fund for the benefit of graduates” who have been under the care of the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society.

 
1897: As Emanuel Lehman celebrated his 70th birthday it was reported today that “every charitable association” in New York City “in which Lehman is interested received a handsome check from him…with an explanatory note that it was a birthday present.

 
1897: “Work of the United Hebrew Charities” published today showed that during January 114 people had received money to be used for transportation to other parts of the United States or Europe. During January, the UHC provided 53 free burials and provided medical assistance to 394 people including medicine and visits to the doctor.  Finally the UHC provided clothing, shoes, furniture, lodgings, meals and cash to 5,422 applicants.

 
1898: Judge Meyer S. Isaacs will deliver a lecture  entitled “The Old Guard” tonight at Temple Israel sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association.

 
1903: Herzl meets Dr. Abdullah Djevdet Bey whose poetry he reviewed in the Neue Freie Presse. Djevdet offers his help in gaining support for the Zionists in Turkey. Leopold Greenberg reports from Egypt that it will be impossible to obtain a Charter that will support Jewish colonization.

 
1904:  Birthdate of political scientist and historian Hans J. Morgenthau.  Born and educated in Germany, Morgenthau came to the United States in the 1930’s.  He gained fame as director of the Center for the Study of American Foreign and Military Policy while teaching at the University of Chicago.  Morgenthau was a realist and opposed the Vietnam War “because the risks of military participation outweighed any benefits.”  He was a leader in the fight to improve the conditions of Soviet Jewry and he spoke out against the PLO as a terrorist organization.  He passed away in 1980.

 
1910:  Birthdate of American cinema actor Marc Lawrence.  Born Max Goldsmith, Lawrence gained fame as a character actor.  He was a friend and acting contemporary of John Garfield.  Like Garfield, Lawrence ran into trouble during the McCarthy Period.  Unlike Garfield, Lawrencesurvived professionally and personally.  He passed away in 2005.

 
1911: Birthdate of Oskar Koplowitz, a native of Silesia, who as Oskar Seidlin became a noted American “literary scholar, poet and” an author of detective novels and books for children.
 
1913: The Armory Show opens in New York City, displaying works of artists who are to become some of the most influential painters of the early 20th century. William Zorach, Max Weber, Elie Nadelman, Maurice Becket and Abraham Walkowitz were among  the Jewish artists invited to display their work.


 
1915: Reverend Thomas Kelly Cheyne, the former Oriel Professor of Interpretation of the Scriptures at Oxford and who was one of the first “English scholars” to apply “the methods of Higher Criticism” to the study of the Old Testament – a methodology that had already become popular among some German-Jewish scholars – passed away today. Cheyne was the author of Job and Solomon: The Wisdom of the Old Testament,   The Prophecies of Isaiah in two volumes and work on the prophet of Jeremiah.

 
1916: A musical co-authored by Sigmund Romberg premiered in New York City.

 
1917: General James Rowan O’Beirne,  the Civil War and Medal of Honor winner who served as Superintended of Immigration in the 1890’s who opposed Jess Seilgman’s efforts to gain admittance to the United States for the 86 Jewish passengers aboard the SS Marsala passed away.

 
1918:Jacob H. Schiff, head of the special committee of the American Jewish Relief Committee that arranged the plan whereby the workers of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union will forego the holiday on Washington's Birthday and give their day's earnings to the Jewish war sufferers announced that almost no factory organized by the ILGU would be open and that many owners would be paying time and half or double time.

 
1918: Rabbi Stephen S. Wise announced that the Palestine Restoration Fund now totals more than $800,000 of which $250,000 was collected in New York.

 
1918:  Saul J. Cohen, editor The Maccabean, the official Zionist journal received a cable from Israel Zangwill, founder of the Jewish Territorial Organization, saying that he has altered his position following the issuance of the Balfour Declaration and “now looks toward Palestine as the land of the Jews.”

 
1918: Morris Rothenberg, Chairman of the Zionist Committee of New York presided over a meeting of Zionists at the Casino Theatre who had gathered to honor the memory of Dr. Jechiel Tchlenow  who died last month in London. 

 
1920: Birthdate of Bella Levy, a noble mother among the House of Israel

 
1921: Herah Lerner, his wife Elka and their daughter who had been born two days ago while aboard a ship bringing these Jews to the United States arrived in New York.

 
1921:After having been informed by the New York World that “the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which he has been reprinting with anti-Semitic commentary in his own newspaper the Dearborn Independent, are a forgery”  Ford said he did not care replying "The only statement I care to make about the Protocols is that they fit in with what is going on. They are sixteen years old, and they have fitted the world situation up to this time. Indeed they do."

 
1925: In York, PA, Dorothy and Joseph Rosenmiller gave birth to Joseph Lewis Rosenmiller, Jr. “who earned a fortune building a chain of radio stations and then donated tens of millions to promote causes that he felt traditional philanthropies largely ignored, like voting rights and the empowerment of domestic workers…” (As reported by Leslie Kaufman)

 
1925, Florence Prag Kahn won a special election, becoming the fifth woman and first Jewish woman to serve in the United States Congress.

 
1925: Harold Ross and Jane Grant found The New Yorker magazine. Numerous Jewish writers and artists have contributed to the sophisticated journal.  These include two cartoonists – Jules Feifer and Roz Chast as well as such authors as Dorothy Park and S.J. Pearlman.

 
1927: David T. WIlentz, the Attorney General of New Jersey who prosecuted Bruno Hauptmann and his wife gave birth to Robert Wilentz, the longest serving Chief Just of the New Jersey Supreme Court.

 
1929:  Birthdate of the author Chaim Potok.  A graduate of YeshivaUniversity, Potok was ordained as a Conservative Rabbi after studying at The Jewish Theological Society.  He earned a PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. He decided to become a writer after reading Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisitedin 1945. He was fourteen years old, and all he had read were magazines and pulp fiction. He wanted to read a serious adult book, and he chose Brideshead Revisited at random from the public library. He later said about reading it, "I found myself inside a world the merest existence of which I had known nothing about. I lived more deeply inside the world in that book than I lived inside my own world."   Potok’s work draws on his own life’s experiences – Judaism (The Chosen, The Promise,) and a stint as an Army Chaplain serving in the Far East (The Book of Lights) – as well as the conflicts he faced including becoming an artist despite family and cultural opposition (My Name Is Asher Lev and The Gift of Asher Lev).  His success stems from many factors.  One is that he opened doors to worlds that people did not know existed i.e. Chasidic Judaism and the Orient.  The second is that he dealt with larger issues such as how a minority culture copes with a majority culture, how to temper brilliance with humanity,  and the challenge of effective parenting in changing world, to name but a few. 

 
1930: Release date for The Vagabond King, a musical operetta, produced by Adolph Zukor, written by Herman J. Mankiewicz and co-starring  Lillian Roth

 
1932: Irving Berlin and Moss Hart’s musical "Face the Music" premiered in New York.

 
1933: The first edition of Newsweek makes its appearance. In 1961, America’s “perennially #2 newsweekly” will be purchased by Katherine Graham’s Washington Post Co.

 
1935(14th of Adar I, 5695): Purim Katan

 
1936: S. N. (Samuel] Nathaniel) Behrman's "End of Summer" premiered in New York.

 
1937:Bronislaw Huberman, the violinist and founder of the Palestine Symphony Orchestra, received a rousing tribute at a concert here tonight with the Concertgebouw, under the auspices of the Society for Art for All.

 
1938: The Palestine Post reported that Austria had capitulated to the German ultimatum and appointed pro-Nazis to the cabinet, marking the effective end of the country's independence.

 
1938: The Palestine Post reported that there was a major, festive ceremony when the District Commissioner, Mr. Keith Roach, opened Kalia, the first hotel and health resort on the Dead Sea, with the keys handed to him by Major T.C. Tuloch, Chairman of the Kalia Health Resort Company.

 
1938: The Palestine Post reported that Mohammed el-Rab, a Palestinian Arab, was executed at the Acre prison, one week after his arrest and an immediate Military Court trial, for possession of a loaded automatic gun and ammunition.

 
1940: Birthdate of Dennis Gamsy a South African cricketer who played in two Tests in 1970.

 
1943(10th of Adar II, 5703): Fifty-three year old Victor Atler, the Jewish socialist who was a leader of the Bund was executed today on charges of spying for Hitler.  The execution was carried out with Stalin’s approval.

 
1943: Dutch churches protested against Seyss-Inquart’s persecution of Jews. The Austrian born Seyss-Inquartbecame Reich Commissioner of the Netherlands in May, 1940.The Dutch churches were protesting against "the forced sterilization of Jewish partners in mixed-marriages.  For once, the Germans relented and ended this one form of inhumanity. At the end of the war Seyss-Inquart was arrested and charged with war crimes in Nuremberg. At his trial it was pointed out that of the 140,000 Dutch Jews, only 8,000 survived in hiding and only 5,450 came home from camps in Polandand Czechoslovakia. Seyss-Inquart was found guilty and hanged on 16th October, 1946.

1945:Nicholas George Winton, the Englishman who organized “the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish children from German-occupied Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II in an operation later known as the Czech Kindertransport” “was promoted to war substantive flying officer” in the RAF.  Winton, who was later knighted, was not Jewish.  He was a decent human being who, unlike so many others, did the right thing during “the long, dark European Night.”

 
1946:Birthdate of Steve Grossman the Treasurer and Receiver-General of Massachusetts and   the former President of Grossman Marketing Group, a family-owned marketing company based in Somerville, Massachusetts. From 1992 to 1997, he was the chair of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and from 1997 to 1999 he was the chair of the Democratic National Committee. Grossman received his Bachelor's from Princeton University, and his MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar. He is married to Barbara Wallace Grossman, a Professor of Theater at Tufts University, and they have three children.

 
1948: In the aftermath of today's coup in which the ruler of Yemen was assassinated, "the Jews were accused of murdering two young Muslim girls and throwing their bodies down a well."  This Arab-world version of the blood libel led to the leaders of Yemen's Jewish community being beaten and imprisoned while a mob looted and robbed those living in the Jewish Quarter.

 
 1949: Chaim Weizmann was sworn in as the first president of Israel. The election took place in Jerusalem, a city that had been under siege by the Arabs and almost lost to the invading enemy.  The election of a President of the state of Israel was one of the first items of business for the Knesset which was holding its first meeting in Jerusalem.  Weizmann was elected by a vote of 83 to 15.  In Israel, the President is a figurehead.  The Prime Minister holds the political power.  The election of Weizmann was recognition for his long, untiring decades of service to the Zionist cause. One of his proudest accomplishments was getting the British Government of adopt the Balfour Declaration which gave international recognition and approval to the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.  The President of Israel is called "Nasi" a term which means ruler or prince.  In the early centuries of the Diaspora it had been a honorific title applied to the heads of various Talmudic academies and Jewish communities. To give you some idea of the esteem in which Weitzman was held, he was the first person to be called a Nasi in almost 1500 years.

 
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that in a statement read to the Knesset, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion stressed that the recent bombing of the Soviet Legation in Tel Aviv was no justification for a rupture of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. The Soviet action was the culmination of "a campaign of defamatory propaganda against the State of Israel, the Zionist Movement and World Jewry which had been proceeding for a long time."Holland agreed to represent Israeli interests in Moscow.


 
1957: The Suez Canal re-opens marking the end of the Suez Crisis that had started in October of 1956.


 
1958: Time published “Historical Notes: Diary of Anne Frank – The End”



The diary of 15-year-old Anne Frank ended abruptly when the Nazis broke into her family's hiding place in Amsterdam. What happened next? Of the last days of one of the world's best-known modern heroines, little was known except that she had died, like millions of other Jews, in a German concentration camp. To fill out the chronicle of her short life, West German Publisher S. Fischer last year assigned Author Ernst Schnabel to search the German and Dutch archives and interview survivors of the camps who might have known her. In Paris Le Figaro Littéraire printed excerpts from Schnabel's findings, to be published as a book in the U.S. this fall. Anne, her sister Margot, and her father and mother were first taken to Westerbork prison in The Netherlands, then shipped by cattle car to Auschwitz. Recalls a woman fellow prisoner: "The doors of the cars were opened violently, and the first thing we saw at Auschwitz was the garish light of the searchlights trained on the cars . . . The voice of a loudspeaker dominated all others; it bellowed: 'Women to the left, men to the right!' I saw them go away: Mr. Van Daan, Mr. Dussel, Peter, Mr. Frank." The men never saw the women again. The women were told that trucks were ready to take the small children and the sick to the prison. But those who fought their way into the trucks never reached the camp; they vanished from-the face of the earth. At Auschwitz, Anne's long hair was clipped and her eyes seemed to grow larger and larger as she grew thinner. Her gaiety disappeared but not her indomitable spirit. The women were divided into groups of five and, though the youngest of her group, Anne became its leader, partly because she was efficient at scrounging necessities. When during cold weather she and the others were reduced to sackcloth smocks, Anne found somewhere a supply of men's long underwear. She even magically produced a cup of coffee for an exhausted prisoner. Most of the adults tried to armor themselves against reality: "Who bothered to look at the flames billowing up from the crematory? When, suddenly, an order came to barricade the neighboring block, who was disturbed? We well knew that they were being readied for the gas chamber, but we were too well-trained to worry about it. We no longer heard anything, saw anything." But Anne Frank did, right up to the end. Said a survivor: "I can still see her standing by the door, watching a group of naked young gypsy girls being shoved along to the crematory. Anne watched them, weeping. And she also wept when we filed past Hungarian children waiting, twelve hours naked under the rain, for their turn to enter the gas chamber. Anne cried: 'Look at their eyes!' She wept when most of us had no tears left." On Oct. 30, 1944, there was a selection of the youngest and strongest to be sent to the concentration camp at Belsen. Single file, the undressed women were ordered into a hall where, seated behind the glare of a searchlight, a doctor chose this one for Belsen, that one for the gas chamber. "Anne's face remained unchanged, even in the cruel light of the projector. She took Margot's arm and they came forward. I can see them now, stripped naked. Anne turned her serene face toward us; then they were led away. It was impossible to see what happened behind the light, and Mrs. Frank cried: 'The children! My God! My God!'" In the hell of Belsen, Anne and Margot Frank lasted scarcely five months. They both became ill. Margot was in a coma for several days and was found, fallen from her bunk, dead. Anne was so sick that no one told her of Margot's fate. Says a fellow prisoner who watched: "Several days later she died peacefully, in the certitude that death was not a calamity."

 
1959: Birthdate of Arhey Deir, the Moroccan born Israeli political leader of Shas.


 
1962(13th of Adar I, 5722):  Conductor Bruno Walter passed away.


 
1963: The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan which is credited with sparking the modern feminist movement is published.


 
1969(29th of Shevat, 5729): Levi Eshkol, third Prime Minister of Israel, died suddenly.  In one of the great ironies of history, it was the mild-mannered Eshkol and not any of his more flamboyant contemporaries who led the Israeli government during the June, 1967 War that resulted in the re-unification of Jerusalem.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/eshkol.html



http://research.haifa.ac.il/~eshkol/


1969: Golda Meir sworn in as Israel's 1st female prime minister. Goldie Mabovitch (who later Hebraized her name to Golda Meir) was a Russian immigrant living in Milwaukee.  In 1918 she wanted to join the Jewish Legion, a British unit organized to fight the Turks in World War I.  Mrs. Meir made Aliyah and eventually became a major political figure in the Zionist Community and later in the state of Israel.  Her description of being in Moscowfor Simchat Torah after the creation of the state of Israel is a moving story.  She served as Foreign Minister and following the death of Levi Eshkol became Prime Minister.  She lead the country through the trying days of the Yom Kippur War and its aftermath.  By the time Anwar Sadat made his memorable trip to Israel, Mrs. Meir was no longer in the government.  When the two adversaries met she is reported to have said, "Long after we have forgiven you for killing our sons, we will be working to forgive you for turning our sons into killers."  This modern Devorah took no pleasure in being involved in so many military adventures.


 
1970(11th of Adar I, 5730): Shmuel Yosef or S.Y. Agnon (Hebrew: שמואל יוסף עגנון; born Shmuel Yosef Czaczkes) passed away.  Agnon was the first Hebrew author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.  He won the prize in 1966. Since this is beyond my area of expertise, included find this canned summary. “Shmuel Yosef Agnon was born in Galicia in 1888. He immigrated to Jaffa in 1908, but spent 1913 through 1924 in Germany. In 1924 he returned to Jerusalem, where he lived until his death in 1970. A prolific novelist and short-story writer from an early age, Agnon received numerous literary awards, including the Israel Prize on two occasions. Called "a man of unquestionable genius" and "one of the great storytellers of our time," S.Y. Agnon is among the most effusively praised and widely translated Hebrew authors. His unique style and language have influenced the writing of subsequent generations of Hebrew authors. Much of his writing attempts to recapture the lives and traditions of a former time, but his stories are never a simple act of preservation. Agnon's tales deal with the most important psychological and philosophical problems of his generation. "Via realistic and surrealistic modes," writes the New York Times, "Agnon has transmuted in his many words the tensions inherent in modern man's loss of innocence, and his spiritual turmoil when removed from home, homeland and faith." An observant Jew throughout most of his life, he was able to capture "the hopelessness and spiritual desolation" of a world standing on the threshold of a new age. Extolled for his "peculiar tenderness and beauty," for his "comic mastery" and for the "richness and depth" of his writing, it is S.Y. Agnon's contribution to the renewal of the language that has been seminal for all subsequent Hebrew writing.”

 


1972: President Richard Nixon begins his historic trip to China.  This major diplomatic breakthrough was orchestrated by White House advisor Henry Kissinger who would become the first Jewish Secretary of State.


 
1977: In New York City, the first Conference on Feminism and Orthodoxy comes to a close. The two day meeting led to the founding of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance

 
1981: In “Yiddish Book Collection Grows in New England,” Michael Knight described the work of the Yiddish Book Exchange.
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/17/arts/yiddish-book-collection-grows-in-new-england.html?pagewanted=print


 
1981: Birthdate of Joseph Gordon-Levittan American actor best known for his role as Tommy Solomon on “3rd Rock from the Sun.”


 
1982(24th of Shevat, 5742): Lee [Israel] Strasberg, father of method acting passed away at the age of 80.  Strasberg also enjoyed a career as an actor with one of his most roles coming at the end of his life when he played the “Meyer Lansky” figure in The Godfather Part II

 
1985: Martin Eli Segal “served as the the Gerneral Chairman of the “Night of 100 Stars II, the first AIDS benefit held by the Actors’ Fund of American.

 
1987:Aulcie Perry Jr., a former basketball player who had become an Israeli citizen and was hailed as a sports champion in Israel, went on trial today on charges of conspiracy to import heroin, importation of heroin and possession of heroin with intent to distribute.The 6-foot-10-inch Perry, who holds a dual citizenship, joined the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team in Israel in 1977 and helped bring it a European Cup championship that year and in 1979. He remained on the team until 1984. Perry's cousin, Kenneth Johnson, 29, who was charged with Perry, pleaded guilty earlier this month and is awaiting sentencing.

 
1988: The United States announced that it is planning to change ambassadors to Israel next summer. According to State Department officials, William A. Brown, currently ambassador to Thailand, will replace Thomas R. Pickering, who has served in Tel Aviv since 1985. Mr. Pickering is scheduled to return to Washington to become Under Secretary of State for management. The State Department also plans to replace Morris Draper, the Consul General in Jerusalem, with Philip C. Wilcox Jr., a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State who deals with Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. The Consul General in Jerusalem has something approaching ambassadorial status. He reports directly to the State Department, not to the United States Embassy in Tel Aviv, a situation that reflects Washington's refusal to recognize Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem.

 
1988:A dozen Israeli playwrights, poets and other intellectuals made an urgent appeal to the Government tonight to ''talk peace with the Palestinians.'' Amos Oz, the Israeli novelist, started and ended his address to the group with the words, ''What was, will not be again.'' Seventy New York writers, artists and performers sent a telegram expressing their support to the Israeli Playwrights' Association, a gesture welcomed by Israelis here who feel support from abroad can put effective pressure on the Government. Among the signers were Erica Jong, Allen Ginsburg, Grace Paley, Gloria Steinem, E. L. Doctorow, Arthur Miller, Norman Mailer and Susan Sontag.


 

1988: The violence in the occupied territories continued today, as Israeli soldiers shot and killed one Palestinian and wounded at least three others while dispersing riots in the West Bank village of Shuyukh, near Hebron, an army spokesman said.

 

1994 (6th of Adar, 5754): Yuval Golan who was stabbed on December 29, 1993 by a terrorist near Adarim in the Hebron area he died of his wounds.

        
1996: In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, world champion Garry Kasparov beats the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match. Kasparov’s mother is Armenian and his father is Jewish.

 
2001: At the Library of Congress of an exhibition entitled “Herblock’s History: Political Cartoons from the Crash to the Millennium” which presents works by cartoonist Herb Block, who chronicled the nation’s political history and caricatured twelve American presidents from Herbert Hoover to Bill Clinton comes to an end.

 
2003(15th of Adar I, 5763): Seventy-eight year old art dealer Felix Landau passed away today (As reported by Eric Pace)

 

2005: Today, in the wake of the bankruptcy of Sunbeam Products, Ron Perelman filed a lawsuit against Morgan Stanley, claiming that Morgan had defrauded him by knowingly misleading him about the financial condition of Sunbeam Products.  The Sunbeam acquisition was only one in a long series of such deals in which this Jewish philanthropist and businessman had engaged in over the past four decades starting with the purchase of Esslinger Brewery in 1961. He and his father bought the company for “$800,000, then sold it three years later for a $1 million profit.” 

 
2006: Thousands of mourners gathered at the Cameri Theater in Tel Aviv this morning to pay their final respects to ShoshannaDamari, who lay in state on the stage until the memorial service began shortly before noon.  During the memorial service President Moshe Katsav said "One can say of her that she was the voice of Israel," he said. "We have lost her, but not her songs.” Damari, whose unique throaty voice and larger-than-life performances embodied the Hebrew revival myth, died Tuesday at 83 after a short bout with pneumonia. She was buried later Friday afternoon at the
Trumpeldor Street
cemetery in Tel Aviv. Damari, who was born in 1923 in the city of Damar in Yemen and immigrated to Israelas a toddler, was a grandiose figure, the diva of Israeli popular music and the recipient of the Israel Prize. The country's leaders and trendsetters saw Damari as a synthesis of biblical splendor, Eastern exoticism and security-consciousness; she also embodied a feeling of destiny and belonging, pathos and, generally speaking, the intensification of the drama of Israeli life to the point of collective, operatic shuddering. Before all of the grief cliches are extracted - those that refer to "the last of the giants" and bury Israeliness itself with all of its creators and representatives who pass away - it may be worthwhile to say this in Damari's favor: Death caused by old age and disease, not by fire or sword, is in and of itself a small victory of existential normality. And if we have recently been lamenting the passing of more and more people who have completed a 60-year career, it's certainly not joyous, but it isn't tragic. It may even be heroic and nice. This is especially true in a country where "we have reached the final wall / And the sword is dangling over us," as verses written in the 1940s for Damari's phenomenal voice, sparkling beauty and dramatic performances would have it. Damari was to the world of song what David Ben-Gurion was to the world of politics and Ariel Sharon and his generation are to the world of military commandos: talented figures that became larger than life - in their own eyes and in the eyes of others - when life itself wasn't so great.

 
2006: Israel's hopes for an Olympic medal took a blow when ice dancer Galit Chait fell during the compulsory program of the Pairs Ice Dancing competition.
 
2007: Shabbat Shekalim – The Sabbath of the Shekel.

 
2007: Celebration of Fred Rodgers birthday: a brand plucked from the flames of the Holocaust and pillar of the Jewish community.

 
2008: Final performance of “Fabrik: The Legend of M. Rabinowitz” at the Urban Stages Theatre in Manhattan.  This adult puppet show traces the life of Moritz Rabinowitz.  He was a Polish Jew sent to Norwayby his family to escape pre-World War II pogroms, who became a successful businessman before ending up at Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin.

 
2008: The Sunday Los Angeles Times book section featured reviews of The Bad Wife Handbook by Jewish poet Rachel Zucker and The Life of the Skies by Jonathan Rosen

 
2008: An exhibition entitled “Sosúa: A Refuge for Jews in the Dominican Republic” opens at The Museum of Jewish Heritage.In 1938, a time when openings for Jewish refugees were hard to find, the government of the Dominican Republic offered to resettle up to 100,000 Jews. Sosúa, an abandoned banana plantation on the north coast of the island, would become a refuge to hundreds of Jews. The settlers were given resources to cultivate the land they were provided, and built a thriving town – one that still exists today. This exhibition will tell how the settlers were recruited and came to Sosúa, what awaited them there, what role the Dominican and U.S.governments and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee played in the story, how the settlers worked with their Dominican neighbors to establish themselves, and what kind of a town they created. Sosúa speaks poignantly to one chapter in a shared Dominican and Jewish story.

 
2008: An exhibition entitled “To return to the land…” Paul Goldman’s Photographs of the Birth of Israel opens at The Museum of Jewish Heritage.Hungarian-born photojournalist Paul Goldman fled to the British Mandate of  Palestine in 1940, where he chronicled the events leading up to the foundation of the State of Israel. Goldman’s photos of life before statehood, during the War of Independence, and the ingathering of dispersed Jews are complemented by rich memories of individuals who lived through those same events. Images and words together tell stories of the birth of Israelthrough the lenses of photographic and human memory.  From Tel Aviv streetscapes to the bombing of the KingDavidHotel, from street vendors to Prime Ministers; both the extraordinary and every-day document this monumental story.

 
2009: In Manhattan’s East Village, the fourth and final part of a four part series The Comedy and Kabbalah of Relationships featuring Rabbi YY Jacobson

 
2009: At New York University, Professor Yoram Peri, head of the Chaim Herzog Institute for Media, Politics and Society at Tel Aviv University delivers a public lecture entitled "New Leadership in Israel and the Peace Process"

 
2010: The CJH is scheduled to co-sponsor “Music in the Age of the Wittgensteins,” featuring a performance by the Phoenix Chamber Ensemble.

 
2010: In Arkansas, Bella Levy, wife of Manford Levy, celebrates her 90th birthday.  Bella is an Ashes Chayel in the truest sense of the word.  All who know are are blessed by the experience.


2010:The heads of various medical associations held an emergency meeting today, and the president of the Israel Medical Association(  IMA) Dr. Leonid Eidelman, said the organization would not hesitate to carry out its threat to strike if necessary, in its escalating battle with Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman should its Scientific Council be transferred to the ministry.

 
2010:According to JTA, “lawyers for the estate Adrian Jacobs added J.K. Rowling's name to a lawsuit it filed in the High Court of England last June -- some 12 years after Jacobs died penniless in Nightingale House, a home for elderly Jews in south London. Adrian Jacobs, an art collector, lawyer and accountant who made millions on the stock market before going bust, wrote a children’s book in 1987 titled The Adventures of Willy the Wizard: No. 1 Livid Land.” The suit claims that Rowling plagiarized ideas for her fourth book, the best-selling “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” (2000), from "Willy the Wizard No. 1."
 
2011: A job fair, held in conjunction with the Orthodox Union Job Board, is scheduled to take place at Sasson v’ Simcha Hall located in Brooklyn.


2011:Gainsbourg, “the boldly imaginative and wildly entertaining biopic of Jewish French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, one of the most iconic and diversely talented music artists of the 20th Century” is scheduled to be shown at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.



2011:Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman attempted to dispel rumors that relations between him and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had soured, saying on today that "our relations are intact.""I spoke to the prime minister," after vetoing Uzi Arad, Netanyahu's choice for ambassador to London, Lieberman said. "We'll keep working together."



2011: A Lebanese military court convicted a man of spying for Israel and sentenced him to death late today.Amin al-Baba was found guilty of giving Israeli intelligence agents information in return for money.
 
2011: A Night of Outrageous Comedy with Julie Goldman is scheduled for tonight at the Washington DCJCC.



2011:Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman attempted to dispel rumors that relations between him and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had soured, saying  that "our relations are intact.""I spoke to the prime minister," after vetoing Uzi Arad, Netanyahu's choice for ambassador to London, Lieberman said. "We'll keep working together."



2011:Israel Defense Forces soldiers shot and killed three Palestinians  after observeing the Palestinians approaching the security fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip attempting to plant explosives.."


 
2011: The Washington Post featured a review of  Heart of the City: Nine Stories of Love and Serendipity on the Streets of New Yorkby Ariel Sabar, the son Yona Sabar, a Kurdish Jewish scholar, linguist and researcher. He was born in the town of Zakho in the Kurdish region of Northern Iraq. His family moved to Israel in 1951. He received a B.A. in Hebrew and Arabic from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1963 and a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from Yale University in 1970. He is currently professor of Hebrew at UCLA. He is a native speaker of Aramaic and has published more than 90 research articles about Jewish Neo-Aramaic and the folklore of the Kurdish Jews. His immigrant journey from the hills of Kurdistan to the highways of Los Angeles is the subject of an award-winning memoir by his son, Ariel Sabar, an American author and journalist. Ariel Sabar's book — My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for his Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq— won the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography.


 
2012(24thof Shevat, 5772): Seventy-seven year old “Peter Novick, a history professor at the University of Chicago who stirred controversy in 1999 with a book contending that the legacy of the Holocaust had come to unduly dominate American Jewish identity” passed away today (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/us/peter-novick-wrote-divisive-holocaust-book-dies-at-77.html?_r=1&hpw


 
2012: Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein is scheduled to deliver a Friday night talk entitled “True Love..How to Find It and Keep It” at the Magen David Sephardic Congregation in Rockville, MD.


 
2012: Following Carlebach Services and dinner, Dr. Jerry Muller, Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History,Catholic University of America, Washington DC is scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled “Capitalism and the Jews” as part of the Scholar-In-Residence Weekend at Tifereth Israel in Washington, DC.


 
2012: Opening session of LimmudLA


 
2012: Tali Yehoshua-Koren, the wife of the Defense Ministry's representative to India who was moderately injured in the attack on Israel’s embassy in New Delhi , gave a testimony to police, which may change previously held assumptions about the attack and its perpetrator, the Times of India reported today.

2012: Palestinian terrorists fired an RPG at IDF forces stationed near the Gaza border fence today, according to the IDF Spokesman's Office.. 


2013: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Four New Messages by Joshua Cohen and the recently released paperback editions of In Our Prime: The Fascinating History and Promising Future of Middle Age by Patricia Cohen


2013: Professor Brian Horowitz is scheduled to deliver the opening remarks of two day conference at Tulane University – “Jewish Secular Utopias and Distopias in Central and Eastern Europe”


2013: The Toronto Jewish Film Society is scheduled to present “The Barber of Stamford Hill” and “The 10th Man” at the Miles Nadel JCC.


2013: “Six Million and One” is among the movies scheduled to be shown at the final night of the 17thDenver Jewish Film Festival.


2013: In “Online Battle Over Sacred Scrolls, Real-World Consequences” published in print today, John Leland describes the efforts of Raphael Haim Gold”s less than honorable attempts “to advance his father’s views about the Dead Sea Scrolls.”

 
2013(7thof Adar, 5773): Seventy seven year old Israeli entertainer Shmuel "Shmulik" Kraus passed away.


2013:A Knesset panel will launch an independent investigation into the jailing and suicide of Mossad agent Ben Zygier, following growing calls for an official accounting of the case, the committee said tonight.


2013: A delegation of Israeli security officials visited Cairo to discuss the security situation in the region with their Egyptian counterparts today, the second such trip in less than a week.
 
2014: The Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia Cultural Arts Department in Fairfax is scheduled to hold auditions for the one-act family theatre production of “Cinder-Rachella,” an original play with music that celebrates Israeli culture through the eyes of the iconic fairytale Princess


2014: “Broken Lines,” a film about “Jake, a working class Jewish boy…and his fiancée Zoe” is scheduled to be shown for the first time at as part of the UK Jewish Film Festival.



This Day, February 18, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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February 18



 

1229: During The Sixth Crusade, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor signed a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy. Prior to the Sixth Crusade, Pope Gregory III had used the Crusading Spirit to impose anti-Semitic legislation.  Frederick II was involved in a power struggle with the Papacy.  As part of that he struggle, he defied Rome and granted a charter of privileges to the Jews of Vienna in 1238.


1239: The ten year truce between Emperor Frederick II and the Sultan of Egypt came to an end.  During this period, 1236, the Emperor issued a decree refuting the accusations of ritual murder and providing for the protection of his Jewish subjects.


1488: The first printed eviction of tractate Gittin of the Babylonian Talmud was published in Soncino, Italy


1546: Martin Luther passed away.  Luther was a significant figure in the movement to reform Christianity.  He extended the hand of friendship to the Jews, thinking that he could win them over to his side with kindness.  When the Jews rejected his goal - conversion - Luther turned on them.  By 1544, he was publishing a pamphlet entitled "Concerning the Jews and Their Lies." Jews were characterized as “venomous, virulent, thieves, brigands and disgusting vermin."  According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, "'...Luther's ferocious castigation of the Jews provided fuel for anti-Semites and vicious force of that legacy was still evident in Nazi propaganda.'"


1564:Michelangelo passed away. Among his works were a statue of Moses that had horns and a statue of an uncircumcised David.


1574: An auto-de-fe took place in Mexico City; nearly 100 people were sentenced that day, including New Christians.


1577: The Jews of Safed requested assistance from the Sultan for persecution by local officials. In a letter to the local Ottoman officials, the Sultan told his people that the Jews, "have complained of wrong done to them." The Jews were forced to pay high taxes, transport dung on Saturdays, were levies tolls on the road to Damascus, and were beaten with a strip of metal. The Sultan ordered his people not to molest the Jews, to investigate and give back what the Jews are owed.


1723: In Prussia a revised form of the "Aeltesten-reglement" (Constitution of the Jewish Community) was issued.  The original document which was supposed to be read every in the synagogue was issued in March of 1722.


1743: Premiere performance of Handel’s “Samson” at Covent Garden, an oratorio based on the life of the Biblical figure described in the Book of Judges.


1757: In Avignon, France, a local townsman walking through the ghetto on a dark night, stumbled and fell into a well near the synagogue. Fortunately he was not hurt. The day was declared a local holiday for generations. The rationale was that had the townsman drowned so near the synagogue, the Jewish community would have been accused of complicity in his death. 


1794(18th of Adar): Rabbi Alexander Suskind of Horodno author of Yesod ve-Shoresh ha-Avodah passed away


1804:  Ohio University founded in Athens, Ohio. Today approximately 10% of its 17,000 students are Jewish.  There is an on-campus Hillel Chapter at Ohio University.

1813: Emancipation of the Jews of Mecklenberg, Germany


1839: Birthdate of Zadoc Kahn, the Alsatian native who became Chief Rabbi of France.


1839: Birthdate of Charles S. Baker who while serving as Congressman from New York in 1890 submitted a resolution “protesting…the enforcement by Russia of the edicts of 1882 against the Jews” and requesting the President to submit a protest to the Czar’s government.


1840: Sultan Abdul Mejid I issued a royal decree absolving the Jewish community on the island of Rhodes of charges “of having killed a gentile child” so that his blood could be used in baking matzoth. The day was celebrated as The Purim of Rhodes.  The Sultan was a reformer who was trying to make the Ottoman Empire a modern nation as can be seen by his attempts to replace the turban with the fez, introduce the use of banknotes and the issuing of a patent so that a telegraph system could be built in Turkey.


1846: Beginning of the Galician peasant revolt.  At this time Galicia was a province of the Austrian Empire.  The revolt was one of many that would sweep Europe during the late 1840’s. By 1851, once the revolts in Galicia had been suppressed, the Reform Constitution would be  revoked and, among other things, Jews would lose their newly won right to purchase  land in Galicia,


1848(14th of Adar I, 5608): Purim Katan


1850: In Budapest, Karl Ullmann and his wife gave birth to  Alexander de Erény Ullmann the political economist who served in the Hungarian Parliament from 1884 to 1892.  His father who was born in 1809 and passed away in 1880 founded the first Hungarian Insurance Company.  Alexander passed away in 1897.


1852: According to reports published today, a juror named Shubal Hubbard claimed that Alexander Christallar, a witness for the defendant, had tried to engage him in inappropriate social contact during a break in the trial.  In his deposition, Hubbard claimed that Christallar was a Jew and that he was President of a Williamsburg Synagogue.  He also claimed that Christallar had invited him to a celebration at which Oysters would be served.


1853: August Belmont, the Jewish banker and Democratic political leader, and Caroline Slidell gave birth to August Belmont, Jr. who was raised as a Christian.


1856: Full civil rights are granted to Turkish Jews


1859: Birthdate of Solomon Rabinowitz who became famous under the penname of Sholem Aleichem.  Born in Russia, Sholem Aleichem first wrote in Hebrew and only later turned to writing in Yiddish.  He moved from Russia to Denmark, to Switzerland and ultimately moved to the United States at the outbreak of World War I.  Unfortunately, he only lived in America for two years and he passed away in 1916.  Known as the Yiddish Mark Twain, Sholem Aleichem is most famous for creating Tevya and all of the wonderful characters who lived with him in the shtetels of the Pale.  He used humor to portray both the joy and the suffering of his co-religionists.  He became famous among generations of Jews who had thought they had escaped from all of that "Yiddish stuff" and gentiles as well with the production of Fiddler on the Roof.  Some of his famous lines include: "In the mud, but not of the mud."  "When a Jew eats a chicken one of them was sick.""A bachelor is a man who comes to work each morning from a different direction.""Gossip is nature's telephone.""Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.""No matter how bad things get you got to go on living, even if it kills you.""The rich swell up with pride, the poor from hunger." Some of his works that have been translated into English include Tevye's Daughters, The Adventures of Menahem-Mendel, The Best of Sholom Aleichem and The Great Fair which is his autobiography.


1861: With the Italian unification almost complete, King Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumes the title of King of Italy.  Jews were active participants in the fight to unify Italy and the newly unified Italian nation was certainly hospitable to its Jewish citizens.  Historian Elliot Rosenberg cites a quote from his fellow historian Howard Morely Sacher to capture what the new Italian nation meant to the Jewish people.  “In 1848, there had been no European country save Spain where the restrictions placed upon Jews were more galling and more humiliating than in Italy.  After 1860, there was no country on the continent of Europe where conditions were better for Jews.”


1866: Birthdate of Samuel Krauss, a professor at the Jewish Teachers' Seminary in Budapest and the Jewish Theological Seminary in Vienna who was a contributor to the Jewish Encyclopedia.


1870: State Supreme Court Justice Cardozo denied a motion for an injunction in an action styled the Mayor of New York City vs. the Beach Pneumatic Transit Company.


1871: Rabbi Wise delivered the first in a series of lectures on the “Origin of Christianity” at Steinway Hall in New York City.  Reverend O.B. Frothingham introduced the Rabbi.


1874(1st of Adar, 5634): Rosh Chodesh Adar


1874: Ida Morgenthau, the daughter of Lazarus Morgenthau married William J. Erich.

1874: Lazarus Morgenthau founded a society that would provide dowries for orphan Jewish girls.


1876: In Maryland, Circuit Court Judge Pinkney, ruled that the City of Baltimore did not have the right give public funds to a variety of charitable organizations including the Hebrew Hospital.


1880: Mr. Moses Levinson of New Rochelle sued the New Haven Railroad today in United States Circuit Court for “exemplary damages.”  Levinson contended that he had been wrongfully put off one of the New Haven’s trains when the conductor claimed he had not paid for his ticket.  Levinson sought $5,000 in damages.  The jury awarded him $750.


1882: “The Russian War on the Jews” published today described the renewed attacks to which the Jews of Kiev have been subjected and Count Totleben’s refusal to intervene without special instructions from the government at St. Petersburg.


1882: In Philadelphia, PA, the old passenger station belonging to the Pennsylvania Railroad, has been configured to provide temporary accommodations for the Jewish refugees who will arrive in the city after having escaped from the recent round of pogroms in Russia.  A supply of food has been gathered for the refugees and Dr. Thomas G. Morton is the head of a group of doctors who will be available to take care of their medical needs.  In the mean time, an Employment Committee will make every effort to find jobs for the new arrivals.


1887: In New York, the Hebrew Technical Institute moved from its location on Crosby Street to its new school building at 34 and 36 Stuyvesant Street. Founded in 1884, the school provides vocational training to young Jews most of whom are the children of recent immigrants.

1890:  In Moscow, according to the Gregorian calendar, Leonid Pasternak, a professor at the Moscow School of Paint, Sculpture and Architecture and concert pianist Rosa Kaufman gave birth to Boris Pasternak, the author of Doctor Zhivago


1893: “Regulators in Louisiana” published today described “the existence of an oath-bound organization having for its object the banishment of Jewish merchants…and Negroes from Tangipahoa Parish.”  Among those threatened was David Stern, a leading merchant in Amity, LA.


1893: Seventy-year old Gerson von Bleichröder the second generation German-Jewish banker who provided his services to Bismarck and Prussia passed away today.


1894: It was reported today that George Eliot had told American author Charles Godfrey Leland “that in order to write Daniel Deronda she had read through 200 books.” Leland wrote that he “longed to tell her that she had better have learned Yiddish and talked with 200 Jews and been taught, as Iwas by my friend Solomon the Sadducee, the art of distinguishing Fraulein Lowenthal of the Ashkenazim from Senorita Aguado of the Sephardim by the corners of their eyes.” (Daniel Deronda is the philo-Semitic novel written by Mary Anne Evans who used the penname George Eliot.  At the time of this entry, Leland was doing research on gypsies.)


1894: “All Fools’ Day” published claimed that 17thcentury antiquarian John Brand attributed the origin of April Fool’s Day to the Jews.  According to Brand, Noah sent the dove out of the ark before the waters had abated on a day which corresponds to April 1.  The celebration of fools on this date reminds of the original “fool’s errand” on which Noah sent the Dove.


1894: It was reported today that the late Albert S. Rosenbaum passed away as a result of heart disease which probably does not offer any comfort to the widow and five children who survived him.


1897: In Paris, French author Emil Zola was attacked by a mob on his way home from the court where his case was being heard.  The police were forced to intervene to prevent a lynching.  The frustrated mob then “made a rush for the Jews threatening to throw them into the Seine.”


1901: Winston Churchill makes his maiden speech in the House of Commons. At the time, Churchill was member of the Conservative Party serving as an MP for Oldham.  In 1904, the Conservatives at Oldham would tell Churchill that they could no longer support him.  This would force Churchill to seek a new constituency which would be Manchester North-West where a third of the voters were Jewish.  This change in political fortune would force Churchill to deal with Jewish political issues for the first, but not the last time, in his career.  For more on this topic you should Sir Martin Gilbert’s highly readable Churchill and the Jews.


1903(21st of Shevat, 5663): Moses Mielziner, the Prussian born American rabbi who had been President of the Hebrew Union College since 1900 passed away today.


1910: In Lithuania, Rabbi Moshe Yom Tov Wachtfogel gave birth to Nosson Meir Wachtfogel who became known as the Lakewood Mashgiach.


1913: During the Third Republic, when real power was held by the Prime Ministers, Raymond Poincaré becomes President of France. Along with General Pershing (commander of the AEF), Poincare opposed the Armistice contending that Allied armies needed to penetrate deeper into Germany lest the German people not realize that their army had been beaten.  Their view did not prevail.  The German Army marched back into Germany giving rise to the “stabbed in the back” myth that helped Hitler come to power.  During the 1920’s, Poincare intervened on behalf of the Jews of Poland when he convinced the Polish government to refrain from adopting legislation that would have discriminated against her Jewish citizens.


1914:Charles Edward Sebag-Montefiore and Muriel Alice Ruth de Pass gave birth to Denzil Charles Sebag-Montefiore


1916: Birthdate of Maria Victoria Bloch-Bauer, who as Maria Altmann gained fame for her “successful, five decades long fight to regain five Gustav Klimt paintings owned by her family that had been stolen by the Nazis during World War II.


1918: Morris Rothenberg, Chairman of the Zionist Committee of New York, presided over the memorial service held in honor of the late Jechiel Tchlenow, the Russian born doctor who passed away in London only months after having participated in the negotiations that produced the Balfour Declaration.
 
1920: The Jewish Court of Arbitration held its first session (p 112)


1927: The London Gazette reported from Whitehall that “Letters Patent have passed the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, granting the Dignity of a Baronet of the said United Kingdom to the undermentioned gentlemen and the heirs male of their respective lawfully begotten: Sir Joseph Duveen, of Millbank in the City of Westminster”


1929: First Academy Awards are announced. “Broadway Melody” produced by Irving Thalberg was named Best Picture for 1928 – 1929. “All Quiet on the Western Front” directed by Lewis Milestone was named Best Picture of 1929-1930.


1930: Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart's "Simple Simon" premieres in New York


1931(1st of Adar, 5691): Rosh Chodesh Adar


1931(1st of Adar, 5691): Fifty year old Russian born American actor Louis Wolheim who gave a memorable performance in “All Quiet on the Western Front” passed away today.


1931: King Levinsky fought a four round exhibition with former Heavy Weight Champion Jack Dempsey. Levinsky the scion of a Jewish family from Chicago that had a fish business on Maxwell Street


1932:  Birthdate of Czech born film director Milos Forman.  Forman’s father was Jewish but his mother was not.  They died in the camps.



1933: Marinus van der Lubbe, the man who will be accused of setting the Reichstag Fire, arrived in Berlin. There are those who contend the fire was really set by the Nazis.  Regardless, they used it as tool to consolidate their power weeks after Hitler became Chancellor.


1934(3rd of Adar, 5694): “Dr. Heinrich York Steiner, Hungarian Jewish writer, friend of Dr. Theodore Herzl” and one of the founders of the Zionist movement passed away today at the age of 75.  Dr. York-Steiner, who was born in Hungary, spent most of his life in Vienna.  Known as a novelist, critic and dramatist, he became friendly with Dr. Herzl as a young man and worked closely with him to form Zionist groups. He played an important part in the creation of the World Zionist Organization.”


1938: The Palestine Post reported that owing to German influence there had been in recent months a concentrated Italian drive against the appointment of Jews to leading positions in the economic and political life of the state.


1938: The Palestine Post reported that there were three successive Arab attacks on the Rana police post, near Acre. Some 150 Arab villagers in the Tulkarm area were arrested in connection with a number of recent railway sabotages.


1938: The Palestine Post reported that Maestro Toscanini had withdrawn from participating in the Nazi-dominated Salzburg Festival and announced his intention to come and conduct the Orchestra in Palestine.


1940: In Warsaw, two Jewish girls were raped by two German sergeants.


1943: A group of 1,220 Jewish refugees from Poland arrived in Israel from Tehran where they had found refuge in 1924.

1943: Joseph Goebbels gave his Total War speech which should have put an end to any later claims that the Allies were wrong in pursuing a policy of Unconditional Surrender when fighting the Axis.


1943: The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.  The White Rose movement was an anti-Nazi movement inspired by German students.  It is important to remember that there were those in Germany who opposed Hitler and were willing to risk their lives to express that opposition. 


1945: The last of six convoys of deportees arrived at The Langenstein-Zwieberge, an under-camp of the Buchenwald concentration camp.  


1946: A clandestine radio transmitter known as the “Voice of Free Israel” that is reportedly operated by the Stern Gang was seized in Tel Aviv after “a house to house search by British Soldiers and police officers.”


1946: Clemens August Galen was named as a Cardinal.  During World War II, while serving as the Bishop of Munster (Germany), he opposed the Nazis.


1947: Birthdate of Eliot Engel, Congressman representing New York’s 17th District.


1949:Eamon de Valera resigns as Taoiseach (head of government) of Ireland. The controversial Irish leader was rumored to have been the illegitimate son of a Portuguese Jew, a rumor he vehemently denied. However de Valera was not an anti-Semite as can be seen by his support in 1937 for a provision in the Irish Constitution that explicitly recognized the existence and rights of the Jewish community in Ireland.

1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that the Knesset approved, by 79 votes to 16, the government's statement on the ruptured relations with the Soviet Union. The resolution upheld the role the Soviet Union played in the establishment of Israel in 1948, but found no justification for the Soviet role in breaking off the diplomatic relations between the two countries now. Mass meetings in New York asked the Soviet Union to "Let My People Go!"


1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that in London the House of Commons backed the British government's decision to continue selling jet fighters to Arab nations to the exclusion of Israel.
 
1955: Pinchas Lavon’s resignation as Defense Minister is accepted.


1955: David Ben Gurion agrees to come out of retirement and serve as Defense Minister.  Four months later he will also agree to serve as Prime Minister.


1965(15th of Adar I, 5725): Eight-six year old Paul Sachs, the Assistant Director of the Fogg Art Museum and founding member of The Museum of Modern Art who played a key role in making plans for protecting American art during WWII and retrieving art from war torn Europe as described in The Monuments Men passed away today.


1966(28th of Shevat, 5726): Fifty-seven year old Robert Rossen, the director of the Oscar winning picture “All the King’s Men” passed away today.


1967(8th of Adar I, 5727): Robert Oppenheimer passed away.  The famed physicist was director of the Manhattan Project and is one of those referred to as the father of the Atomic Bomb.


1969: The PLO attacked El-Al plane in Zurich Switzerland.  Long before 9/11, the Israelis were forced to deal with a level of vicious terrorism aimed at strangling their avenues of commerce and tourist industry.  As a result of the PLO attacks, the Israelis were the first to put sky marshals on their flights and to do in depth pre-screening of all passengers.  And yes, the head of the PLO was Yassar Arafat, the "partner for peace." 


1970:  The Chicago Eight, including Abbe Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, were found not guilty of charges relating to the riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention held in Chicago.


1973: A headline in the New York Times read "Half Baghdad's Jews Said to Apply to Leave; Property Seized."  "Half the members of the tiny Jewish community in Baghdad have applied for passports to leave Iraq in recent weeks in the face of a crackdown by Iraqi authorities, according to a first day account.


1973: In Montreal's Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, Naim Kattan, an Iraqi-born Jew spoke at a memorial and protest rally for nine more Jews who had been murdered in Baghdad.  (page 300 for the dead)


1981:Israel's 60,000 teachers, who earn an average of $110 a week, staged a one-day strike today to press for a wage increase promised by the Government. The Government's decision in principle last month to grant the raise brought the resignation of Finance Minister Yigal Hurvitz, which resulted in the Government coalition losing its majority in Parliament. Negotiations, however, have continued.


1982(25th of Shevat, 5742): Ninety-two year old multi-talented musician Nathaniel Shilkret passed away today.


1983(5th of Adar, 5743): Eighty-two year old Leopold Godowsky, Jr. the American violinist who held to create Kodachrome passed away.


1988(30th of Shevat, 5748): Rosh Chodesh Adar


1990: Dozens of supporters are planning to lie down across the road here in front of Ariel Sharon's northern Negev ranch this morning to stop him from driving to Jerusalem for the Cabinet meeting where he plans to resign. But as the former general sees it, by resigning as Industry and Trade Minister he is not leaving; he is simply opening a new front. And the goal of this new campaign, he said in an interview, is to be Israel's next prime minister replacing Yitzhak Shamir.


1992(14th of Adar I, 5752): Purim Katan


1999(2nd of Adar, 5759): Comedic actor and director Noam Pitlik passed away.


2001: The New York Timespublished an op-ed essay explaining the pardon of Marc Rich which did not mention the donations of almost two million dollars that Denise Rich had made to the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton’s senatorial campaign or the Clinton Library.


2003: (16th of Adar I, 5763) Isser Harel, head of Mossad from 1952 until 1963, passed away.  He was in charge of the operation that brought Eichmann to Israel to stand trial.


2005(9th of Adar I, 5765): Lee Kahn passed away at the age of 101. She was one of the siblings of Helen Reichert, all of whom were centenarians.

2006: Shabbat Shekalim, the Sabbath of the Shekel.


2007: The 23rd International Book Fair opens in Jerusalem


2007: The Sunday New York Times book section featured a review of French Seduction:
An American’s Encounter With France, Her Father, and the Holocaust by Eunice Lipton. The book deals, in part with the sense of conflict that art historian Eunice Lipton, the offspring of Jews who fled the rising tide of pre-war anti-Semitism, feels when chooses to live in Paris, city rich in art and rife with the memories of the roundup of Jews by the Nazis and their French partner.s


2007: The Sunday Washington Post book section “Poet’s Choice” by Robert Pinksy features a commentary on "The Amen Stone" and The Jewish Time Bomb" that appeared in Yehuda Amichai's last collection of poems, Open Closed Open.


2007: The Sunday Chicago Tribune book section included a review of Amanda Vaill's Somewhere, a biography of Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz who came to be known as Jerome Robbins the man who “conquered--and in many ways defined--both the musical and modern American ballet, a genius by nature…” 


2008: In New York, Dror will perform his graduation Recital at Mannes Concert Hall.The program includes the favorites of all times- Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata and Chopin's 'Funeral March' Sonata.Dror will perform his graduation Recital at Mannes Concert Hall.The program includes the favorites of all times- Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata and Chopin's 'Funeral March' Sonata.Dror will perform his graduation Recital at Mannes Concert Hall.The program includes the favorites of all times- Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata and Chopin's 'Funeral March' Sonata.Dror will perform his graduation Recital at Mannes Concert Hall.The program includes the favorites of all times- Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata and Chopin's 'Funeral March' Sonata.Dror will perform his graduation Recital at Mannes Concert Hall.The program includes the favorites of all times- Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata and Chopin's 'Funeral March' Sonata.Dror will perform his graduation Recital at Mannes Concert Hall.The program includes the favorites of all times- Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata and Chopin's 'Funeral March' Sonata.Dror will perform his graduation Recital at Mannes Concert Hall.The program includes the favorites of all times- Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata and Chopin's 'Funeral March' Sonata.Dror will perform his graduation Recital at Mannes Concert Hall.The program includes the favorites of all times- Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata and Chopin's 'Funeral March' Sonata.Dror will perform his graduation Recital at Mannes Concert Hall.The program includes the favorites of all times- Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata and Chopin's 'Funeral March' Sonata.Dror will perform his graduation Recital at Mannes Concert Hall.The program includes the favorites of all times- Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata and Chopin's 'Funeral March' Sonata.Dror will perform his graduation Recital at Mannes Concert Hall.The program includes the favorites of all times- Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata and Chopin's 'Funeral March' Sonata.Drior Baitel performs his graduation recital at Mannes Concert Hall.  The performance includes such favorites as Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata and Chopin’s Funeral March Sonata.


2008: In the United States, FBI  domestic terror squads remain on the alert for any threats against synagogues and other potential Jewish targets in the United States after the assassination of the top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyah and the movement's leader threatened to attack Israeli and Jewish institutions around the world.


2009:In, Manhattan’s East Village, the fourth and final part of a four part seriesThe Comedy and Kabbalah of Relationships featuring Rabbi YY Jacobson


2009: At New York University, Professor Yoram Peri, head of the Chaim Herzog Institute for Media, Politics and Society at Tel Aviv University delivers a public lecture entitled "New Leadership in Israel and the Peace Process"


2009: Today, the IDF announced that apples grown by Israeli farmers in the Golan Heights will be exported to Syria,


2009: The New York Times reported that the American Tennis Channel will not televise the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships this week to protest the United Arab Emirates' refusal to grant an entry visa to Israeli player Shahar Peer.

 

2009: Holocaust survivors voiced criticism of Yad Vashem's announcement that it will bestow its highest honor on a Nazi officer who helped save a Polish Jew, whose story became the basis for the film The Pianist. Yad Vashem said it would posthumously name ex-Wehrmacht officer Wilm Hosenfeld as Righteous Among the Nations - a title reserved for non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.

2010: The 92nd St Y is scheduled to present another in the series Spiritual Journeys: Feminine Reflections on the Rhythms of Our Lives entitled “Adar: Increasing Joy” with   Rabbi Joyce Reinitz.


2010:Today, while the media is filled with stories about supposed Israeli resonsiblity for the death of Hamas leader in Dubai, Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer advanced to the semifinals of the Dubai Championship, after beating 10th seed Na Li in the quarterfinal match.


2010:An IDF soldier was lightly wounded today by a bomb which exploded near a patrol unit on the security fence near the central Gaza Strip.

 

2010: Terrorists hurled a Molotov cocktail at an Israeli bus in Gush Etzion yesterday evening. There were no casualties, but the bus was damaged.


2010: The Washington Post features a review of Bible Babel: Making Sense of the Most Talked About Book of All Timeby Kristin Swenson in which the reviewer recommends “Robert Alter’s books…as well as the exhilarating Richard Elliot Friedman’s Who Wrote the Bible?


2011: Einsatzgruppen The Death Brigades, the “harrowing two-part documentary meticulously details the Nazi killing squads charged with destroying entire Jewish populations in occupied Eastern Europe during WWII” is scheduled to be shown at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.


2011: A Small Act is scheduled to be shown at the 21st Annual San Diego Jewish Film Festival.


2011:The Portland Jazz Festival is scheduled to start today. “This year's theme is 'Bridges and Boundaries', which refers to bridging the two minority communities of Jewish Americans and African Americans.”


2011: A German prosecutor said today that he has opened a murder investigation against a key witness in the trial of alleged Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk. The probe is based on evidence Alex Nagorny may have been involved in mass killings at the Nazis' Treblinka concentration camp in occupied Poland.


2011: Friends and family celebrate the birthday of Joel Barnum, an unpressuposing pillar of the Cedar Rapids Jewish Community.


2011:The United States used its veto this afternoon to block a Security Council resolution declaring Israel’s settlement construction in the West Bank illegal. The other 14 members of the council voted in favor of the resolution. The Obama administration has criticized Israel’s settlement policy for the past two years, but in the end it chose to use the veto rather than allow the split between the United States and Israel to deepen. (As reported by Neil MacFarquhar)


2011: In “Auschwitz Shifts From Memorializing to Teaching,” Michael Kimmelman described the changing role of the site of the worst of the Death Camps.


2012: Shabbat Shekalim, 5772



2012: “Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldbeerg is scheduled to be shown at Beth El Temple Center in Belmont, MA



2012: “Jewish Soldiers in Blue and Gray” is scheduled to be shown at Congregation Beth-El Jewish Film Festival in Fort Worth, TX!



2012: In Iowa City, Hillel is schedyked to present a concert by University of Iowa School of Music faculty members, Uriel Tsachor and Rachel Joselson.



2012: Palestinian terrorists in Gaza took advantage of stormy weather conditions to fire rockets towards large southern cities in Israel. A Grad-type rocket was launched in the direction of the Negev's largest city, Beersheba, today triggering air raid sirens.


2012: British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that Iran is clearly trying to develop a nuclear weapons capability, and if it succeeds it will set off a dangerous round of nuclear proliferation across the Middle East while the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Martin Dempsey said that an Israeli strike on Iran "wouldn’t achieve its long-term objectives" and would be "destabilizing."

 

2013: In London, Professor Neil Gregor is scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled “Mockery as Politics: The Degenerate Art Exhibition, 1937” in which he examines how the Degenerate Art Exhibition of 1937 was used to prepare people intellectually for the Holocaust


2013: Hadassah’s National Center for Attorneys’ Councils and the Greater Washington Area Chapter Attorneys’ Council are scheduled to host a dinner honor those who are to be sworn into the U.S. Supreme Court


2013: At Tulane University, the second and final day of “Jewish Secular Utopias and Distopias in Central and Eastern Europe” co-sponsored by Dr. Brian Horowitz and Dr. Andrew Solin


2013: At Brandeis University, a two-day conference “Zionism in the Twenty-First Century” is scheduled to come to an end.


2013: “Religious Studies and Rabbinics” a conference designed to promote dialogue between the fields of religious studies and rabbinics is scheduled to open at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va.


2013: President Shimon Peres today announced that he will present his American counterpart with the Presidential Medal of Distinction during his March stay in Israel.


2013: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today sent Pope Benedict XVI a letter of appreciation on behalf of the State of Israel, a week after the pontiff announced his imminent resignation from office. Benedict said he would step down as head of the Catholic Church at the end of February.


2013(8thof Adar, 5773): Eighty-three year old legal scholar Alan F. Westin passed away today. (As reported by Margalit Fox)


2014: The Skirball Center is scheduled to present another in the series of lectures by Dr. Daniel Rynhold entitled “Rav Kook and the Heroism of the Holy.”


2014: “The Zigzag Kid” is scheduled to be shown at the David Posnack Jewish Community Center’s Jewish Film Festival.


2014: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present “American Jerusalem: Jews and the Making of San Francisco.”


2014: Friends and family celebrate the natal day of Joel Barnum, one of those quite “pillars” of the Cedar Rapids Jewish Community.


2014: A three-day long on-line marathon brainstorming session sponsored by the Israeli government to Plan the Future of the Jewish People is scheduled to come to and end.

This Day, February 19, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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February 19


 
197: Emperor Septimius Severus defeated the usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, Severus was trying to use syncretism to maintain imperial unity and authority.  Since Jews, as well as Christian, resisted this concept, the Emperor outlawed conversion to either of these religions. 


356: Following in the footsteps of his father Constantine the Great Constantius II closed all pagan temples. During his reign, he would also issue a series of edicts designed to limit the economic and social activities of Jews. All of this was part of the drive to make Christianity the state religion which would then serve as a unifying force for the empire that was past its zenith.

 
607: Boniface III is named Pope.  His papacy only lasted for nine months but during that time he “ensured that the title of ‘Universal Bishop’ belonged exclusively to the Bishop of Rome” thus ensuring the primacy of the Pope as head of the Catholic Church. The impact of this decision would indirectly affect the Jews for centuries to come as they were forced to deal with Church sponsored persecution and/or to seek Papal protection from a variety of murderous enemies.

 
842: The Medieval Iconoclastic Controversy ended, when a Council in Constantinople formally reinstated the veneration of images (icons) in the churches. This debate over icons is often considered the last event which led to the Great Schism between the Eastern and WesternChurches. This split continues to this day between the Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox.  As students of Jewish history know, many of the things done to the Jews by Christians were by-products of these various squabbles between various Christian sects.

 
1090: In Speyer, Germany, Emperor Henry IV renewed to Rabbi Judahben Kalonymus, the poet David ben Meshullam, and Rabbi Moses ben Yekuthiel the pledges granted six years earlier by Bishop Ruediger. In addition the emperor guaranteed the Jews freedom of trade in his empire as well as his protection. Within six years Speyerbecame one of the first communities on the Rhineto be attacked. After the attacks Rabbi Moses took it upon himself to care for and protect the orphans created by this violence.

 
1229: During the Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor signed “a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the Pope Gregory IX.” The Sixth Crusade is remembered as one that did not result in the massive slaughter of Jews in Europe or Palestine. Gregory is remember as the Pope who created the dreaded institution known as the Inquisition.During his reign, Frederick “decided to combine the manufacturing of silk and the dying trades and to give them over to a number of Jewish families. For many years both of these industries were “almost the exclusive activities of Jews in Sicily, Naples, and other parts of Italy” which were part of the Holy Roman Empire.

 
1539: The Jews of Tyrnau Hungary (then Trnava Czechoslovakia) were expelled.  In case you had not noticed, there seems to be an expulsion somewhere on almost every day of the year. 

 
1543: The Vaticanestablished the House of Catechumens (Casa dei Catecumeni). The purpose of the house, supported by Jewish taxation was solely to convert Jews. Those sent there were subjected to 40 days of intense “instruction”. If after that time he still refused baptism he was allowed to return to his home – few did. Until it was abolished in 1810 around 2440 Jews were converted in Rome alone. Other houses were set up in various Italian cities. On this same day three Portuguese Marranos from Ferrara were burned in Rome's Campo dei Fiori.

 
1560: The third volume of the Zohar was printed for the first time in Mantua, Italy

 
1583(27thof Shevat): In Italy, Joseph Saralbo was burned at the stake at the command of Pope Gregory XIII. Saralbo was accused of returning to Judaism and of trying to convince other Marranos in Ferrarato join him. According to reports he proudly proclaimed that he had helped 800 Marranos return to Judaism.  He asked the Jews of Rome not to mourn for him stating “I am on my way to meet immortality.”

 
1594: King Sigismund III ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is crowned King of Sweden. Under King Sigismund’s rule, conditions for Polish and Lithuanian Jews continued to deteriorate.  Such could not be said of his Swedish realm since there was no Jewish community in Sweden at this time.

 
1674:  England and the Netherlands sign the Peace of Westminster, ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War. A provision of the agreement transfers the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England, which renamed it New York.  If the war had turned out otherwise, comedians would have been talking about New Amsterdam Jews instead of New York Jews. Think of Seinfeld in Dutch.

 
1707(17thof Adar l, 5467):Jonah Abravanel, “a learned and highly respected” member of the Amsterdam Jewish community passed away. [Jonah Abravanel was a fairly a common name and this individual should not be confused with  the16th century poet who was the son of the physician Joseph Abravanel, and a nephew of Manasseh ben Israel]

 
1732: In Cambridge, UK, Johanna Bentley and Dr. Denison Cumberland gave birth to dramatist Richard Cumberland, author of “The Jew of Magadore” and  “The Jew,” “the first playing the English theatre to portray a Jewish moneylender as the hero of a stage production.” In 2012, the play was published as “Sheva, the Benevolent.”

 
1740(22nd of Shevat): Rabbi Jacob ben Benjamin Papiers of Frankfort author of Shev Ya’akov passed away.

 
1819:Under the influence of Rabbi Moses Münz, Rabbi Aron Chorin “recalled” Ḳin'at ha-Emet (Zeal for Truth), a paper written on April 7, 1818, and published in the collection Nogah ha-Ẓedeḳ (Light of Righteousness),” in which “he declared himself in favor of reforms, such as German prayers, the use of the organ, and other liturgical modifications. The principal prayers, the Shema', and the eighteen benedictions, however, should be said in Hebrew, he declared, as this language keeps alive the belief in the restoration of Israel. He also pleaded for opening the temple for daily service.” A year later he would publish Dabar be-'Itto (A Word in Its Time), in which he reaffirmed the views expressed in Ḳin'at ha-Emet, and pleaded strongly for the right of Reform.

 
1825: Birthdate of Abraham Pereira Mendes, the native of Kingston, Jamaica who was trained in Londoa by Rabbi David Meldola and Rabbi D.A. de Sola and who led several Sephardic congregations in the United Kingdom and the United States.

 
1835: Birthdate of Austrian Rabbi Moritz Güdemann who passed away in 1918.  

 
1843: A committee of representatives, including eight from the Great Synagogue, met under the chairmanship of Isaac Cohen in the Vestry room in Duke's Place

 
1843: In Madrid, Salvatore Patti and Salvatore Patti gave birth to Adelina Patti, the 19th century opera star who was discovered by Jewish impresario Max Maretzek.


 
1856: During the current session of the New York Legislature,today Mr. Brooks gave notice that he planned to introduce a bill "to increase the number of trustees of the Jews Hospital" in New York City.

 
1857: Moses Polydore Millaud, the French banker who owned La Presse“hosted a banquet for the Goncourt brothers, but later that year he was faced with financial difficulties and sold the newspaper to Felix Solar.”

 
1861: As part of his reforms, Czar Alexander II abolished serfdom. Although the Jews were not directly affected by the emancipation of the serfs, they benefited from other reforms initiated by Alexander II including putting an end to the drafting of Jews into the Russian Army and the opening of some educational institutions and occupations to the Jews of Russia.  This gave rise to the masklim movement in Russia.  Unfortunately, all of this came to an end when the Czar was assassinated in 1881 which led to Pogroms and reactionary regimes.

 
1863: “The Doom of Memphis”  published today described the desperate economic conditions in the Tennessee city including the fact that many of the city’s prominent businessman have joined the retreating Rebel Army and their homes have been occupied by “military Generals or Hebrews, who have turned them into Sutlers' establishments.

 
1867: Birthdate of Annie Nathan Meyer, “an American author and promoter of the higher education of women.”

 
1870: In Brooklyn, Congregation Beth Elohim which had been conducted services in “the traditional manner” adopted a moderate reform ritual in its worship.

 
1871: “Abraham’s Sacrifice” which was published today included a description of Rembrandt’s relationship with the local Jewish population including the fact that after the death of his wife, the Dutch painter “retired to an old house on the Rue des Juifs in Amsterdam.”

 
1875(14thof Adar I, 5635): Purim Katan

 
1881: Seventeen year old Marion Calisch, the Hebrew teacher at Professor Felix Adler’s Kindergarten at 45th and Broadway disappeared today.

 
1882: President Isaac Marx addressed the opening session of annual convention of the Grand Lodge of the order Kesher Shel Barzel, District Number 1. During his speech, Marx expressed remorse at the recent death of President Garfield and concern for the plight of the Jews of Russia.  Marks praised the work of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society in aiding the Russian Jews. He suggested that the Order should emulate the action of the Free Sons of Israel and make a generous contribution to HIAS.

 
1882: It was reported today that in the upcoming session of Parliament, the Opposition plans to pepper Prime Minister Gladstone with “taunts and jibes” over his denunciation of the Bulgarian atrocities while remaining silent about the Russian persecution of the Jews.  The difference they claim has nothing to do with the Jews and everything to do with the fact the Turks are weak and the Russians are strong.

 
1882: In London, the Lord Mayor’s relief fund to aid the Jews of Russia has reached £50,000.

 
1882: Reverend Jacob Freshman addressed a large gathering this afternoon at Cooper Union on the subject of “Hebrew and Christian Unity.”  Freshman, the son of a rabbi, had converted to Christianity.  The meeting was part of a movement “looking toward the converting and Christianizing of the Jews.”

 
1882: In St. Petersburg, Count Nikolay Pavlovich Ignatyev, the Russian Minster of the Interior told a Rabbi that the government would neither encourage nor oppose the emigration of the Jews.[This statement does not conform with reality.  The Russian government was committed to the one-third, one-third, one-third policy: One third of the Jews would convert; one-third would emigrate; one-third would die.]

 
1887: Rabbi Alexander Kohut of Ahawath Chesed is scheduled to host a reception for members of his congregation at his home in Beekman Place

 
1894: “Huxley on the Bible” published today provides a detailed review of Science and Hebrew Traditions, a collection by Thomas H. Huxley. (Huxley was a 19thcentury scientist who was an enthusiastic advocate of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution)

 
1894: The United Hebrew Charities was one of the recipients of money given to New York charities by the Distribution Committee of the Citizens’ Relief Committee when it met today in the office of J. Pierpont Morgan.
 
1897: Birthdate of silent screen star Alma Rubens. The San Francisco native’s mother was Irish Catholic and her father was Jewish.

 
1897(17thof Adar I, 5657): In New York, Simon Goldenberg, the husband of Mary Goldenberg and member of Temple Beth El who left an estate of $200,000 in real property and $100,000 in personal property passed away today.
 
1898: “It is said that the taking of testimony” in the trial of Emile Zola “will be concluded tonight.”  There are only five or six more witnesses to be heard.

 
1898(27thof Shevat, 5658): Five year old Tina Fein passed away at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.

 
1898: “Grant Allen’s Book on God” published today provides a review of The Evolution of the Idea of God: An Inquiry Into the Origins of Religion by Grant Allen in which the author say, “The only people who ever invented or evolved a pure monotheism at first hand were the Jews.  It is the peculiar glory of Israel to have evolved God.  The mistake Jews make, is to believe that Abraham…was always a monotheist…and that monotheism was smitten out at a single blow by the genius of…Moses at the moment of the Hebrew exodus from Egypt.”

 
1899: It was reported today that in the past year the Gemilath Chasodim Committee lent $68,110 to 3,917 needy families comprised 19,000 individuals.  The American Hebrew described the committees practicing of providing small loans as “The Help that Helps.”
 
1899: Rabbi Gustav Gottheil delivered a sermon entitled “Was Christ a Christian?” today at Temple Emanu-El.

 
1903: Birthdate of Louis Slobodkin, the sculptor and award winning illustrator of children’s books who was the father of “pioneering ecologist” Lawrence Slobodkin.

 
1909:Auguste Leon Luzatto Pasha, the director-general of the Banque d’Egypte, passed away.  Following his death, his heirs sold his home to the Curciel family – the Jewish family that owned Egypt’s largest department store chain.

 
1912: Birthdate of Saul Chaplin. Born Saul Kaplan in Brooklyn, Chaplin won four Oscars his work on the scores and orchestrations for An American in Paris (1951, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) and West Side Story (1961).

 
1915: During World War I, The Battle of Gallipoli began as Allied forces attack the Turks. The Battle of Gallipoli took place on the Turkish Peninsula at the Dardanelles.  The idea was to break the stalemate on the Western Front and at the same time open the Dardanelles to Allied ships carrying supplies to the Russians.  If the attacks had been executed as planned, World War I might have ended in 1915 or 1916 which would have meant a lot less bloodshed, no Russian Revolution and no Versailles Treaty.  The Battle of Gallipoli saw the appearance of the Zion Mule Corps – the first all Jewish fighting unit to operate in World War I.  The Zion Mule Corps paved the way for the Jewish Legion in the British Army. The Zion Mule Corps was one of the progenitors of the modern I.D.F.
 
1918: Birthdate of Benjamin Miedzyrecki, the Warsaw native who would survive the Warsaw Ghetto and after coming to the United States would his name of Benjamin Meed.  Meed would parlay eight dollars into a successful import-export business and become a leading advocate for Jewish Holocaust survivors before passing away at the 88 of in 2006.
 
1920(30th of Shevat, 5680): Rosh Chodesh Adar


1922:  Ed Wynn became the first talent to sign as a radio entertainer.  Born in 1886, Wynn started out as a haberdasher.  He starred in the Ziegfield Follies in 1915 and 1916.  He translated his success in vaudeville to radio and later to both movies and television.  In this way, he was part of a long line of Jewish comedians who made the same trek including George Burns, Jack Benny and Eddie Cantor.  Wynn was the father of character actor Kennan Wynn.  He passed away in 1966.

 
1924: Birthdate of David Bronstein, Ukrainian born chess player

 
1927(17th of Adar I, 5687): Georg (Morris Cohen) Brandes passed away at the age of 85.  Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1842, Brandes gained fame as a critic and literary historian.  Among those whose careers he affected were Henrik Ibsen and Friedrich Nietzsche.  Brandes was an outspoken critic of Herzl, but he switched to a pro-Zionist position with the issuing of the Balfour Declaration

 
1930: Birthdate of movie director John Frankenheimer.

 
1931: Birthdate of Dr Meir Rosenne, one of Israel’s most distinguished jurists and scholars of international law. Born in Jasy, Romania, he immigrated to Israelin 1944.

 
1935: Publication of “Brown Shirts in Zion” by Robert Gessner in The New Masses
 
1935:Clifford Odets'"Awake and Sing," premieres in New York City at the Belasco Theatre. The play explores the experiences of one Jewish family during the Great Depression. The original production starred Luther and Stella Adler. The play tells the story of the impoverished Berger family and their conflicts as the parents scheme to manipulate their children's relationships to their own ends, while their children strive for their own dreams 

 
1937: During the Arab Uprising, violence comes to Tiberias a city known, until now, for peaceful relations between Arabs and Jews. After a week of an Arab boycott in Tiberias, Erev Shabbat, the Jews retaliated by boycotting Arab fish mongers.  Arab youths began pelting Jews walking in the town with oranges and then escalated to throwing stones.  As the Jews retreated to the town’s Jewish quarter, the clashes became more intense as Revisionists who were passing through town in two buses stopped to come to the aid of their co-religionists.  Arabs in the hills above Tiberias began firing shots into the town and at least one Jew was stabbed in the back while another had his head split open with a stone.  By the time the British intervened, thirty Jews and thirty Arabs were “slightly injured and two Jews were seriously hurt.”

 
1938(18th of Adar I, 5698):Edmund Georg Hermann Landau a German Jewish mathematician who worked in the fields of number theory and complex analysis passed away.  Born in 1877, he married Marianne Ehrlich, the daughter of Nobel Prize winner Paul Ehrlich.

 
1941: The Nazis raided Koco Amsterdam and seized 425 young Jews who were sent to Beuchenwald.  Koco was described as an isolated Jewish section in Amsterdam.  This roundup was part of a week of violence aimed against the 70,000 Jews of this Dutch city.  On February 9, Dutch Nazis sparked the first anti-Jewish riots in Amsterdam.  Although there was considerable damage and destruction, the Jews along with many of the Dutch countrymen fought back.  After the arrests on the 20th, tens of thousands of Dutch men and women went on strike in protest.  The stunned Nazi occupiers struck back brutally and crushed the strike.  However, this would not be the last time that the embattled people of Hollandworked to protect their Jewish fellow countrymen.

 
1942(1st of Adar, 5702): In the Dvinsk Ghetto (Latvia), Chaya Mayerova was murdered for trading a bit of cloth with a non- Jew for a two-kilogram bag of flour. The entire Jewish population was gathered to witness the execution. There were over 11,000 Jews living in Divinsk when the war broke out.  By 1970 there were fewer than 2,000.  Divinsk should be remembered for more than this tragic entry.  It was the home to one of the sages of the 19thand early 20th century Rabbi Meir Simcha HaKohen.  Reb Meir was not just a Talmudist whose learning was so great that Chaim Nachmann Bialik called him “a walking encyclopedia.”  He was also a man of courage.  During World War I, Reb Meir refused to leave Divinsk even though it was in a combat zone.  If there were only nine Jews left in the town, he said he must remain so there would be a minyan.  Reb Meir supported Zionism but in 1906 he turned down an offer to be the Rabbi in Jerusalem.  The people of Divinsk convinced them that Divinsk needed him more than Jerusalemso he stayed with his kinsman.  It is important to remember the texture of the civilization that the Holocaust sought to destroy.  What was lost was so much more than a cold listing of numbers will ever convey.

 
1943: Birthdate of "Mama" Cass Elliot.

 
1943: German tanks under Brigadier General Buelowius attacked the U.S. Army at the KasserinePassin Tunisia.  This little known battle was the first contest between the German Army and the U.S. Army.  The Americans took a real beating and it took them months to recover.  There are those who think that World War II was a string of victories for the Americans.  Such was not the case.  The precarious nature of the war as well a streak of anti-Semitism helps to explain why Rooseveltdid not “do more to help the Jews.”  This is not a defense of FDR; merely an attempt to provide historic context for his behavior.


1945:Edward "Eddie Jacobson" opened a menswear store in Kansas City, MO.

 
1945: Battle of Iwo Jima begins. There were approximately 1,500 Jewish Leathernecks among the 70,000 Marines who fought in this climactic battle of the war in the Pacific. On the 60thanniversary of the start of the battle Sam Bernstein, a 20-year-old (Jewish) Marine corporal at the time of the battle reminisced about the fight. “I thought it appropriate to spotlight some news and information about the Jews who fought and died in the five-week battle between 70,000 American Marines (1,500 of which were Jewish) and an unknown number of deeply entrenched Japanese defenders. “Bernstein chuckles when he remembers the Tootsie Rolls he put in his cartridge belt. I chose Tootsie Rolls because they wouldn't melt and they were just the size of a bullet. At the same time, I strapped on three or four bandoliers full of ammunition. Still, if the officers had known what I was doing, they probably would have shot me instead of the Japanese! He does not chuckle when he remembers the two men who were killed in his foxhole. Or the day he helped the Jewish chaplain bury some Marines.” The Jewish Chaplain was Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn, assigned to the Fifth Marine Division who was the first Jewish chaplain the Marine Corps ever appointed. Rabbi Gittelsohn was in the thick of the fray, ministering to Marines of all faiths in the combat zone.  His tireless efforts to comfort the wounded and encourage the fearful won him three service ribbons.  When the fighting was over, Rabbi Gittelsohn was asked to deliver the memorial sermon at a combined religious service dedicating the Marine Cemetery. Unfortunately, racial and religious prejudice led to problems with the ceremony. What happened next immortalized Rabbi Gittelsohn and his sermon forever. It was Division Chaplain Warren Cuthriell, a Protestant minister, who originally asked Rabbi Gittelsohn to deliver the memorial sermon.  Cuthriel wanted all the fallen Marines (black and white, Protestant, Catholic and Jewish) honored in a single, nondenominational ceremony.  However, according to Rabbi Gittelsohn's autobiography, the majority of Christian chaplains objected to having a rabbi preach over predominantly Christian graves The Catholic chaplains, in keeping with church doctrine opposed any form of joint religious service. To his credit, Cuthriell refused to alter his plans. Gittelsohn, on the other hand, wanted to save his friend Cuthriell further embarrassment and so decided it was best not to deliver his sermon.  Instead, three separate religious services were held.  At the Jewish service, to a congregation of 70 or so who attended, Rabbi Gittelsohn delivered the powerful eulogy he originally wrote for the combined service:


"Here lie men who loved Americabecause their ancestors’ generations ago helped in her founding.  And other men who loved her with equal passion because they themselves or their own fathers escaped from oppression to her blessed shores.  Here lie officers and men, Negroes and Whites, rich men and poor, together.  Here are Protestants, Catholics, and Jews together.  Here no man prefers another because of his faith or despises him because of his color.  Here there are no quotas of how many from each group are admitted or allowed.

"Among these men there is no discrimination. No prejudices. No hatred.  Theirs is the highest and purest democracy!  Whosoever of us lifts his hand in hate against a brother, or who thinks himself superior to those who happen to be in the minority, makes of this ceremony and the bloody sacrifice it commemorates, an empty, hollow mockery.  To this then, as our solemn sacred duty, do we the living now dedicate ourselves:  To the right of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews, of White men and Negroes alike, to enjoy the democracy for which all of them have here paid the price.
"We here solemnly swear this shall not be in vain.  Out of this and from the suffering and sorrow of those who mourn this, will come, we promise, the birth of a new freedom for the sons of men everywhere."

Among Gittelsohn's listeners were three Protestant chaplains so incensed by the prejudice voiced by their colleagues that they boycotted their own service to attend Gittelsohn's.  One of them borrowed the manuscript and, unknown to Gittelsohn, circulated several thousand copies to his regiment.  Some Marines enclosed the copies in letters to their families.  An avalanche of coverage resulted.  Time magazine published excerpts, which wire services spread even further.  The entire sermon was inserted into the Congressional Record, the Army released the eulogy for short-wave broadcast to American troops throughout the world and radio commentator Robert St. John read it on his program and on many succeeding Memorial Days. In 1995, in his last major public appearance before his death, Gittelsohn reread a portion of the eulogy at the 50th commemoration ceremony at the Iwo Jimastatue in Washington, D.C.  In his autobiography, Gittelsohn reflected, I have often wondered whether anyone would ever have heard of my Iwo Jima sermon had it not been for the bigoted attempt to ban it.


 
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles invited Israel to join his new Middle Eastern Defense Organization. (Note: If this is the organization that would be known as CENTO, neither the United States nor Israel would ultimately join the organization.)  
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that Pravda, the official Communist party newspaper, charged that Israel was joining NATO and allowing the US to build military bases on its territory. (This was pure propaganda designed that was part of the shift in Stalin’s foreign policy.)

 
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that The State Comptroller's Report for 1951-1952, prepared under the supervision of the Comptroller, Dr. Siegfried Moses, marked a definite improvement of the Israeli Civil Service.

 
1956: The Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America dedicated a community center in New York, with impressive ceremonies. Speakers included Judge Jonah J. Goldstein and the late Judge Edgar J. Nathan, Jr. The Brotherhood Memorial Post presented the colors (flags).

 
1959: The United Kingdomgrants Cyprusits independence. Jewish settlement in Cyprus dates back to Biblical times.  In the first century, the Jews of Cyprus rebelled against the Romans.  In modern times, Cypruswas the site for the camps housing Jews who tried to run the British blockade and enter Eretz Israelbefore 1948.  For more about the Jews of Cyprus, you might want to read Place of Refuge: A  History of the Jews in Cyprusby Stavros Panteli.

 
1963: Following his conviction for the 1962 murders of two New York City police detectives, Jerry “the Jew” Rosenberg began serving his sentence today. By the time he died in 2009, he would have set a record for length of incarceration in the state of New York.

 
1964: In Brooklyn, Richard Brown Lethem and Jewish political activist Judith Frank Lethem gave birth to best-selling author and MacArthur Fellowship recipient Jonathan Lethem.

 
1964: Paul Simon wrote "The Sounds of Silence," the song which, in a year and a half, will catapult him and Art Garfunkel to stardom as Simon & Garfunkel.

 
1967: An article published in the American Journal of Cardiology described an electronic device capable of recording arterial pulsations and the mechanical events of the heart without actually making contact with the chest wall.  This device was the product of combined efforts led by Dr. Aaron Valero who brought together the clinical medical staff at Rambam Hospital and the engineers at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology.  Dr. Valero organized and put together teams from the two institutions, which he headed up. This unique cooperation led to the first product of the soon to be established Biomedical Engineering Department of The Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. It was an electronic device capable of recording arterial pulsations and the mechanical events of the heart without actually making contact with the chest wall.

 
1973(17th of Adar I, 5733): Hungarian born violin virtuoso Joseph Szigeti passed away at his home in Switzerland.

 
1976(18thof Adar I, 5736): Seventy-four year old seamstress Ruth Rosenfeld Taffel, the widow of Frank Taffel passee away today.

 
1977(14th of Adar I, 5559): Purim Katan

 
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that, two Arab terrorists assassinated Youseff el-Sibaei, the editor of the semi-official Egyptian Al-Ahram newspaper at the Larnaca Hilton hotel, in Cyprus and took 11 Egyptian hostages to the local airport in an apparent reaction to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's peace initiative.


1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that US President Jimmy Carter defended his offer of jet fighters to "staunch, friendly Arab allies." In his comment, Defense Minister Ezer Weizman said that the worst effect of the aircraft sale proposed by the Carter administration was the fact that it put Israel together with Egypt and Saudi Arabia in a "package deal."


1980(2ndof Adar, 5740): Nathan Yellin-Mor the Lehi leader who became a pacifist passed away.

1988(1st of Adar, 5748): Rosh Chodesh Adar


1988:A memorial service is scheduled to be held tonight at 8 P.M. at Beth Am, The People's Temple in Manhattan to honor Rabbi Israel Raphael Margolies, of blessed memory who passed away earlier this week at the age of 72.  Rabbi Margolies had served at Temple Emanu-el in Engelwood, N.J. at Beth Am, The People's Temple in Manhattan. He “frequently called for equality for minority group members and for women. He was a supporter of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and once marched alongside him in a civil rights parade in Englewood.”


1990:The Soviet Union, under heavy pressure from Arab countries, has rejected an appeal from the Bush Administration to allow direct flights for Soviet Jews from Moscow to Israel, Administration officials said today. American and Israeli officials said that in the absence of such flights, thousands of Soviet Jews were in effect trapped in the Soviet Union at a time of rising anti-Semitism.


1994 (8th of Adar, 5754): Zipora Sasson, five months pregnant, was killed on the trans-Samaria highway in an ambush by shots fired at her car. The terrorists were members of HAMAS.


1994(8th of Adar, 5754: Fifty-seven educator and MK Yitzhak Yitzhaky passed away today.


1995(19th of Adar I, 5755): Israeli Rabbi Shlomo Averbach passed away at the age of 84.


1995: Poet Kenneth Koch wins Bollingen Prize.


1997(12th of Adar I, 5757):Leo Rosten passed away at the age of 88.  Born in 1908, Rosten was an amazingly prolific writer on a variety of topics.  While best known for his writings on Jewish topics - The Joys of Yiddish, Treasury of Jewish Quotations and Hooray Yiddish - he also wrote such works as Religions In America and Captain Newman, M.D.  (As reported by Margalit Fox)

 
1999: Actor Dennis Franz receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

 
1999: In New York, the Museum of Jewish Heritage features an exhibit entitled “A Living Memorial to the Holocaust” featuring artifacts, documents, photographs, videos and film clips are included in exhibitions on the Holocaust and on Jewish life before and after World War II.

 
2001(26th of Shevat, 5761): Eighty-seven year old director and producer Stanley Kramer passed away.(As reported by Rick Lyman)

 
2003: Iranian officials announced that they had released the five last remaining Jews imprisoned in the city of Shiraz. The men: Dani (Hamid) Tefillen; Asher Zadmehr; Naser Levy Hayim; Farhad Saleh and Ramin Farzam, where the last 5 out of 13 Jews on trial for spying for the "Zionist regime" and "world arrogance." Ten of the men were convicted and sentenced to prison. Since their sentencing in July 2001, five had already been quietly released.


2004: Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal was awarded an honorary knighthood in recognition of a "lifetime of service to humanity."


 
2005:  Fred Rodgers, who just celebrated his birthday on February 17, joined his sister Hilda for her 85th birthday.  Fred is a pillar of the Jewish community in Cedar Rapids.   He and his sister were two of those who were not lost in the European Holocaust, Baruch Ha'shem.

 
2006: The New York Times Book Section features a review of Barney Ross by Douglas Century.

2007(1stof Adar, 5767): Rosh Chodesh Adar

 
2008:Veteran broadcast journalist Daniel Schorr discusses his new book, Come to Think of It: Notes on the Turn of the Millennium, at a luncheon event at the Woman's National Democratic Club in Washington, D.C.

 
2009: It was reported today that all ten members of Yisrael Chala's family had been flown from Yemen to Israel.  Two months earlier, two firebombs had been thrown into the courtyard of the family's home. 

 
2009:In New York City, the American Friends of Tel Aviv University and the Simon Wiesenthal Center co-host a lecture by Professor Dina Porat, head of the Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism at Tel Aviv University entitled "Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism: Which is the chicken and which is the egg?"

 
2009:Israeli Andy Ram will be allowed to compete in a Dubai tennis tournament next week after the Arab country said said today that it would permit the seventh-ranked doubles player to enter the country.

 
2009: In Manhattan, the exhibition of the Valmadonna Trust Library at Sotheby’s comes to an end.  Edward Rothstein’s article “A Lifetime’s Collection of Texts in Hebrew, at Sotheby’s” explains the significance of this collection and provides a useful description of the importance that the printed word plays for Jews and Judaism.

 
2010: In Jerusalem, Beit Avi Chai presents "Kalabbat Shabbat" featuring Kobi Arieli.

 
2010:The opening of the opera "La Juive" (The Jewish Woman) at St. Petersburg's Mikhailovsky Theater was postponed from last night to tonight by a bomb threat that proved to be false, according to the ITAR-TASS news agency.

 
2010:Omri Caspi, the first Israeli to play in North America's National Basketball Association, will participate in a special Friday-evening service and Shabbat meal this evening with hundreds of members of the Los Angeles Jewish community, ahead of the Sacramento Kings' game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night.

 
2010: The Washington Post features a review of Making Toast: A Family Story by Roger Rosenblatt.


 
2011: The Matchmaker a coming-of-age drama directed by Avi Nesher that “tells the story of a relationship between an Israeli teen and a Holocaust survivor who makes ends meet by brokering marriages” is scheduled to be shown at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.


 
2011: A documentary entitled Jewish Soldiers in Blue and Gray is scheduled to be shown at the 21st Annual San Diego Jewish Film Festival.


 
2011:President Shimon Peres called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today to discuss the failed United Nations resolution condemning Israeli settlement building.

2011:The family of kidnapped Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit marked the 1,700th day of his captivity today along with hundreds of supporters in front of the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem.

 
2011: Canadian born professional tennis player Sharon Fichman was the runner-up in the Copa Colsanitas Tournament in Bogotá, Columbia.
2011(15th of Adar I, 5771):Sanford C. Sigoloff, a Los Angeles-based turnaround expert nicknamed “Mr. Chapter 11,” who also did what he could for employees when they were fired, passed away today at the age of 80. (As reported by Mary Williams Walsh)
2012(26th of Shevat, 5772): Ninety-year old “Ruth Barcan Marcus, a philosopher esteemed for her advances in logic, a traditionally male-dominated subset of a traditionally male-dominated field” passed away today.  (As reported by Margalit Fox


2012: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank” by Nathan Englander and ‘Liebestod: Opera Buffa With Leib Goldkorn’ by Leslie Epstein.

2012: LimmudLA is scheduled to come to an end at Costa Mesa.



2012:The IDF is planning to deploy an Iron Dome battery in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area for the first time as part of a drill simulating a missile attack, Ynet learned today.  

2012:Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the 38th Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem today.


2013: Kobi Kablek is scheduled to present “Failure and Memory: How the Rescue of Jews During the Holocaust is Depicted in Post-War German Film” at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC


2013: YIVO is scheduled to present “It Was a Long Time Ago, and It Never Happened Anyway: Russia and the Communist Past” featuring author David Satter.


2013: In Iowa City, Iowa, the Bijou Theatre is scheduled to present “The Rabbi’s Cat,” a film that tells the tale of a talking cat owned by a rabbi.


2013: “Uproar Over Netanyahu’s Ice Cream Is Welcome in One Parlor” described how Prime Minister spent $2,700 on ice cream including his favorite, pistachio. (As reported by Isabel Kershner)


2014: “Putzel” is scheduled to be shown at the DPJCC's 14th Annual Jewish Film Festival


2014: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present “Light and Shadows: The Story of Iranian Jews.”


2014: The JCC of Northern Virginia is scheduled to host Bob Budoff’s “Analysis of Current Developments in Israel and the Middle East.”


 

This Day, February 20, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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February 20


 
390: Emperors Valentinian II., Theodosius, and Arcadius issued a decree that thwarted the attempt of the association of "navicularii" (ship-and cargo-owners) of Constantinople to force the Jews and the Samaritans to join them and to share in the burdens of the society. They “decided that the communities of the Jews and the Samaritans could not legally be forced to join the navicularii, and that at most their wealthy members only could be taxed ("Codex Theodosianus," xiii. 5, 18). This decree was most important to the Jews, for many of them were ship-owners, and more than one-half of the shipping in Alexandria was controlled by Jews.” (As reported by the Jewish Encyclopedia)


 
1194: King Tancred of Sicily died effectively ending the Norman Kingdom of Sicily and bring it under the German Hohenstaufens. This would prove beneficial to the Jews because 15 years later, Emperor Frederick II would intervene on behalf of his Sicilian Jewish subjects to temporarily put an end to their persecutions by the Crusaders.


 
1422:  Pope Martin V (1417-31) issued a Bull reminding Christians that Christianity was derived from Judaism and warned the Friars not to incite against the Jews. The Bull was withdrawn the following year amidst allegations that the Jews of Rome attained the Bull by fraud.

 
1431: Pope Martin V, the author of  Sicut Judaeis ("and thus to the Jews," passed away,

 
1547:  Edward VI of England crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey. Edward was the male heir sought by his father Henry VIII. Edward’s reign was short since he died at the age of 15.  Reportedly small numbers of Conversos made their way to the kingdom during his reign as they had during Henry VIII’s time and worshipped secretly in London and Bristol.

 
1662(1stof Adar, 5422): Shabbatai ben Meir HaKoehn, the Lithuanian-born Moravian rabbi whose works included Siftei Kohn or the Shakh, a commentary on the Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah passed away today.

 
1667(26th of Shevat, 5427): Rabbi David ben Samuel Halevi passed away. Born in Cracowin 1586, he was known as TA"Z an acronym for his response Turei Zahav – Rows (or Rock) of Gold. During the Chmelnitsky Uprisings which resulted in the massacre of thousands of Jews he found refuge in the castle of Prince Radziwillin a narrow room at the top, near the clock – the symbol of the Polish eagle that could be seen for miles. A folktale says that when Chmelnitsky and his hooligans approached the town Olyka, the rabbi and a large number of Olyka Jews took refuge in the Prince's castle and prayed to God. They fought alongside the Prince's men against the cruel enemy. Two ancient huge cannons that were not even usable suddenly shot out by themselves and killed off many of the enemy. In any event, the fear of God befell the hooligans and the quickly retreated and ran away. In memory of this miracle, Rabbi David composed special penitential prayers for the 20th of Nisan, the day the miracle occurred. The descendants of Rabbi Ha-Levi were the Russian rabbinical family Paltrowitch. This family produced 33 rabbis over several generations. One of these rabbis, Simcha Paltrowitch (1843-1926) served the
Pine street
“shul” in Buffalo from 1890 to 1914.  His brother’s descendant is the producer-director Bruce Paltrow (Hill Street Blues, St.Elsewhere), the father of the actress Gwyneth Paltrow.

 
1751:Benedict XIV issued Elapso proxime Anno, a papal bull dealing with the issue of what the Church called “Jewish heretics.”

 
1790:  Austrian Emperor Joseph II passed away at the age of 49.  Joseph II actually reigned over the Holy Roman Empire which was "neither holy nor Roman."  For his time he was a benign despot who sought to reform his empire.  Jews viewed him with mixed feelings.  On the one hand he abolished many of the archaic restrictions on Jewish social and commercial life.  He abolished laws pertaining to wearing the yellow badge and prohibiting Jews from practicing law and medicine.  At the same time, he called for an end to writing public documents and contracts in Yiddish or Hebrew and the abolition of certain aspects of self-governance in the Jewish community.  On the one hand even a reformer like Moses Mendelssohn was concerned about the impact of Joseph's plans on Jewish identity.  On the other hand, a century and a quarter later, Adolph Hitler expressed his disdain for this Austrian monarch.  I guess you will have to be the judge after you have had a chance to the history of Jews in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries.
 
1790: At Strasbourg, The Society of the Friends of the Constitution admitted its first Jewish member.

 
1792: “Jews who lived in the vicinity of Strasbourg were granted permission to enter the city to take an oath of allegiance.

 
1798: Following Napoleon’s conquest of Italy, the ghetto at Rome was abolished.  When the Pope regained power the ghetto was re-established.  It would finally be abolished after the re-unification of Italy in 1870.

 
1804: At Hobart, Australia a penal colony was established which included 8 Jews among its prisoners.

 
1808: In Canada, the assembly resolved by a vote of 35 to 5 that "Ezekiel Hart, Esquire, professing the Jewish religion cannot take a seat, nor sit, nor vote, in this House.”

 
1827: Sir Moses Montefiore and Lady Judith Montefiore began their first trip to Palestine (As reported by Jennifer Breger)

 
1852(30th of Shevat, 5612): Rosh Chodesh Adar

 
1855:The inauguration of the Touro Literary Institute took place this evening, at the rooms of the Institute at Number 448 Broome-street in New York City.”  Most of those attending the meeting were described as “intelligent” and of “Hebraic descent.”  Benjamin H. Myers, the president of the Association presided over the meeting.  Jonas B. Phillips and Rabbi R.J.M. Raphall addressed the meeting. In their speeches, the speakers traced the history of Jewish literature and literary societies from ancient Jerusalem, through Spain and London to modern times.

 

1857: According to an article published today, the boot manufactures of Hopkinton, MA, have discovered, much to their consternation, that some of their workmen have been selling some of their footwear to "certain Jew pedlars and others" at a fraction of their cost.  The plan was to purchase the goods in one town and sell them in another, thus avoiding detection. [Please note, only the Jews are identified by their religion.  This was often in the case in newspapers and journals of the day including the New York Times.]

1863: Ha-Levanon, the first Hebrew language periodical in Palestine, was published today

 
1864: Ellen Terry, the British actress who gained fame for her portrayal of Portia in The Merchant of Venice marred George F. Watts, the artist who painted her portrait.

 
1872: According to reports published today, a dispute has arisen in New York over the ritual purity of wine being supplied to the Jewish community.  According to Rabbi Aronson, the wine being supplied to the local synagogues has not been prepared in accordance with Jewish law.  But the wine dealers say that their wine bears the seal and signature of Rabbi A.J. Ash of the Grand Beth Hamedrash of New York City proving that the wine is Kosher.  Rabbi Isaacs has also certified the wine as ritually fit.

 
1874: Benjamin Disraeli began serving his second and final term as Prime Minister of Great Britain. Disraeli was a leader of the Conservative Party.  But as can be seen by the reform legislation passed by his government these Conservatives have more in common with the liberal Democrats of the 21st century than they do with those on the American right who call themselves Conseratives.  “Disraeli's government introduced various reforms, including the Artisan's and Labourers' Dwellings Improvement Act 1875, the Public Health Act 1875, the Sale of Food and Drugs Act (1875), and the Education Act (1876). His government also introduced a new Factory Act meant to protect workers, the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875 to allow peaceful picketing, and the Employers and Workmen Act (1875) to enable workers to sue employers in the civil courts if they broke legal contracts. As a result of these social reforms the Liberal-Labour MP Alexander Macdonald told his constituents in 1879, ‘The Conservative party have done more for the working classes in five years than the Liberals have in fifty.’”  When it came to foreign policy, Disraeli’s government supported the concept of Empire.  He engineered the first British acquisition of financial interest in the Suez Canal.  He understood the great issue of the time as being the management of the decline of the Ottoman Empire and showed his mastery of the diplomacy at the Congress of Berlin.

 
1876: It was reported today that The Alliance Israélite Universelle, which is headquartered in Paris, is providing a variety of services to Jews throughout the world.  Among other things, the Alliance is providing care for a large number of Russian Jewish orphan, supporting an Agricultural School in Jaffa and operating a normal school for Jewish women from Asia Minor in Paris.  The Alliance is supporting numerous other schools throughout North Africa and western Asia, including ones at Aleppo, Baghdad and Constantinople.

 
1878: Leo XIII is elected Pope. “In reaction to the painful loss of the papacy’s temporal power…Leo XIII lashed out against modernity.”  “The Vatican increasingly viewed the Jews who were beneficiaries of the demise of the church’s temporal rule as part of the array of dangerous forced against it.  In 1880, apparently with the approval of Leo XIII, “Civilta Cattolica kicked off a decades-long campaign against the Jews accusing them of all the old sins and then many new ones such as being responsible for both capitalism and communism and of being disloyal to the countries in which they lived.’ (As reported in Antisemitism by Richard S. Levy)

 
1880: In Prescott, AZ, the Pauline Markham troupe that included Josephine Sarah Marcus, the eccentric Jewess who became the lover and wife of Wyatt Earp completed their performances of HMS Penifore.

 
1880: “Oil in the World,” an article published today that describes the conditions of oil fields throughout Asia, Europe and the United States, reported that  some of the fields in Eastern Galicia are controlled by Polish Jews. The Jews of Boryslaw are more interested in gaining the wax found in their fields because it is part of the highly profitable candle business.  Therefore, they have resisted spending the money necessary to develop the oil production in the area.

 
1882: Birthdate of Polish -born “American sculptor, draughtsman and collector” Elie Nadelman.

 
1882: This morning, Philadelphia’s Mayor King received a telegram from J.M. Brown of Galveston Texas offering to provide one hundred acres of land in Motely County, Texas to any of the 50 Jewish families who are on their way to Philadelphia from Russia who are willing to settle in the Lone Star State. Motely County is one of those under populated expanses in the northwest part of the state.

 
1882: The Grand Lodge of the order Kesher Shel Barzel, District No. 1 continued with its annual convention at the Pythagoras Hall.

 
1886: “Undesirable Immigrants” published today described the condition of 300 Romanian Jews who were expelled from their native land and are now being held at Castle Garden.  While few of them had any money, most of them had tickets that would take them to American cities where they say that have friends who will assist them.

 
1886:  Birthdate ofBéla Kun head of HungarianSovietRepublic formed in 1919 in the aftermath of World War I.  Neither the Soviet nor Kun survived for very long.

 
1888: Henry de Worms, the Lord Pirbright, began serving as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies in the government of Marquess of Salisburgy.

 
1888: Rabbi Joseph Silverman finished his service with Congregation B'nai Israel in Galveston, Texas, where he had been serving since July, 1885.  The Ohio born rabbi was on his way to a pulpit in New York City.  

 
1890(30thof Shevat, 5650): Rosh Chodesh Adar

 
1890; It was reported today that Mrs. Phillip J. Joachimsen is President of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society of New York and C.W. Meyer is serving as Secretary.

 
1892: The Cunard Line Etruria was being held in quarantine because of the need to take extra precautions because there are Jews from Russia among the steerage passengers.

 
1893: “Some New Publications” published today includes a review of Studies by a Recluse in Cloister, Town and Country in which Augustus Jesopp describes the history the Abbey at Bury St. Eduunds including a period in the Middle Ages during which Abbott Sampson drove out the Jews who had legitimately acquired much of the property following a period of gross mismanagement.

 
1893: The Hebrew Sheltering Guardian and Orphan Asylum will give a concert at the Lenox Lyceum this evening under the sponsorship of the Ladies’ Auxiliary Society.

 
1894: It was reported today that Jesse Seligman, Nathan Straus and Perry Belmont were among those who attended the meeting of the Distribution Committee established by the Citizens’ Relief Committee.  The committee had been set up to deal with the suffering caused by the Depression that began in 1893.  Belmont was the son of August Belmont, Jr. the Jewish born financier.  Perry’s mother was not Jewish.

 
1895:Ferdinand Forzinetti, the commandant of the Cherche-Midi military prison, and one of the first to be convinced of Dreyfus's innocence was granted his retirement today while his most famous prisoner sailed to Guyana. Later, Alfred Dreyfus paid homage to his jailer who had dissuaded him from taking his own life and "who knew how to combine the strict duty of a soldier with the highest feelings of humanity."

 
1896: It was reported today that the last year’s charity ball sponsored by the Young Ladies and Gentlemen’s League of the Montefiore Home raised $10,088.12.

 
1896: It was reported today that among those who included on the lists as patrons for the upcoming charity ball sponsored by the Young Ladies and Gentlemen’s League of the Montefiore Home are Governor Levi Morton, Mayor W. L. Strong and Theodore Roosevelt.

 
1898: As the Dreyfus Case continued to embroil France a mob of three thousand Parisians “marched toward the Pantheon yelling ‘Down with Zola!’ and “Death to the Jews.’”

 
1898:Ludovic Trarieux, Emile Duclaux, Edouard Grimaux and Francis de Pressensé are among those who founded “The Ligue des Droits de l'Homme et du citoyen” [League for Human and Civic Rights] which was founded to defend Alfred Dreyfus who had been wrongly convicted of treason Ludovic Trarieux served as its first President,

 
1898: A mass meeting was held in New Jersey synagogue tonight to protest the statements by William J. Corssley, the Prosecutor in Mercer County, who while trying a case against a peddler, said “The god of the Jew is gold.  They are not fit to be citizens, as they only come here to hoard wealth, that they may go back to Jerusalem and spend it.

 
1899: “Christ and His Religion” published today provides Rabbi Gustav Gottheil’s views on Jesus whom he does not believe would be comfortable with the practices and the preachings of today’s Christian churches.

 
1901: Birthdate of famed architect Louis I. Kahn

 
1905: Miss Annie Russell appeared to-night in the leading role of "Jinny, the Carrier," a four-act comedy by Israel Zangwill, which was presented for the first time before a packed house at the Park Theatre in Boston, MA.

 
1907(6th of Adar, 5667): French Chemist Henri Moissan passed away. Moissan isolated fluorine and won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1906

 
1916: “A profile of Theda Bara (born Theodosia Burr Goodman) that appeared in the New York Times, reported that 500,000 fans followed Bara everywhere she went. She was said to have received over a thousand marriage proposals from adoring fans. Others named children after her. One critic called her "a clever actress with...a marvelously mobile and expressive face."’

 
1917: The musical “Oh Boy” with the score composed by Jerome Kern, premiered in New York City.

 
1917: Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, is appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Germany. This will make him the eyes and ears and representative of the Vatican during the rise of Hitler.

 
1918: In New York, Clara and Maxwell Cohn gave birth to Lenore Cohn. A niece of movie mogul Harry Cohn, she gained fame as Lee Annenberg, the wife of Walter Annenberg

 
1919:Victor Berger was convicted of having violated the Espionage Act of 1917 and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. “The trial was presided over by Judge Kenesaw Landis, who later became the first commissioner of Major League Baseball. His conviction was appealed, and ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court which found that Judge Landis had improperly presided over the case after the filing of an affidavit of prejudice.” Berge was Jewish and was the first member of the Socialist Party elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.  In the eyes of many, these were his real crimes.

 
1920(1st of Adar, 5680): Rosh Chodesh Adar

 
1920(1st of Adar, 5680):Pauline Einstein, the mother of the physicist Albert Einstein, passed away. Born in Cannstatt, Württemberg, in 1858, she “had an older sister, Fanny, and two older brothers, Jacob and Caesar. Her parents were Julius Doerzbacher, who had accepted the family name Koch in 1842, and Jette Bernheimer.”

 
1924: Birthdate of Mordechai Ofer, the Krakow native who made Aliyah a year later and served in the Knesset from 1965 until his untimely death in 1971 at the age of 47.

 
1924: Birthdate of Gerson Goldhaber, the German born “American particle physicist and astrophysicist who was one of the discoverers of the J/ψ meson which confirmed the existence of the charm quark.”

 
1926: Chief Justice Walter I. McCoy in Equity Court ruled today that Mrs. Beta Isenberg, the 80 years old,widow of Paul Isenberg, a citizen of Bremen and also of the Hawaiian Islands, is an American citizen because of the Hawaiian citizenship and is entitled to the return of $2,500,000 worth of property despite the protest of the Alien Property Custodian

 
1926: In Marshalltown, Iowa, Louis Bucksbaum and the former Ida Gervich gave birth to Matthew Bucksbaum the co-founder of “a family shopping mall empire that helped transform the landscape of suburbia and the habits of American consumers.” (As reported by Bruce Weber)

 
1927: Birthdate of Roy Cohn the lawyer, who gained fame or infamy as the council for the (Joseph) McCarthy Committee.  McCarthy and Cohen took advantage of American fears of Communism to conduct a witch hunt that ruined reputations and lives without saving us from any Communist spies.  Publicly homophobic, Cohn's death from AIDs was the subject of an HBO movie.

 
1932: In the Bronx, Mae and Nathan Ader gave birth to Doctor Robert Ader, the Tulane University graduate and experimental psychologist who was among the first scientists to show how mental processes influence the body’s immune system; a finding that changed modern medicine. (As reported by Paul Vitello)

 
1933: Industrialists met at Goering's Reichstag President's Palace to show support of Hitler. Hitler promised to rid the world of Marxists and restore the Wehrmact (the Germany Army).  Hitler and his anti-Semitic policies enjoyed support from Germany’s business community from the outset.

 
1936: Bronislaw Huberman, the Polish violinist and founder of the Palestine Symphony Orchestra, announced today that “the first concert of the newly organized Palestine Symphony Orchestra will be broadcast to the United States from Tel Aviv late in October over the facilities of the National Broadcasting Company.”  He also said that “negotiations have been started for regular visits of the orchestra to Egypt and Greece” as well as a world tour that would include a visit to the United States.

 
1937:Tiberias, one of the towns of Palestine known for its friendly relations between Arabs and Jews, was the scene of disorder today. Thirty Jews, thirty Arabs and two British policemen were slightly injured and two Jews were seriously hurt before order was restored.

 
1938:Louis Lipsky, chairman of the administrative committee of the United Palestine Appeal presided over a meeting of Jewish leaders held under the auspices of the Zionist Organization of America at the Hotel Pennsylvania.  The Jewish leaders, including Dr. Bernard Joseph, legal adviser of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, expressed a desire for a peaceful solution to the problems separating Jews and Arabs in Palestine.

 
1938: Hitler addressed the Reichstag and served notice that the future of Austria and the Sudeten Germans were in the direct interest of Nazi Germany. The annexation of Austriaand the Sudetenland would be two of the landmarks on the road to World War II and the Final Solution.

 
1938: The Palestine Post reported that one British officer was shot dead and two others wounded when their car was shot at in the vicinity of Haifa. British troops and police cordoned off the whole area and one Arab was shot dead when he tried to break through. A number of Arab suspects were arrested. There were many other cases of sniping at traffic and sabotage throughout the country.

 
1939: Twenty thousand Nazi supporters gather in New York City’s Madison Square Garden.  While there were only a limited number of such displays, the power of the isolationists led by Lindbergh and the America First movement provided a socially acceptable cover for anti-Semites and fascists.  FDR’s decisions about European Jewry were made against this hostile background.

 
1939: In an apparent attempt to strengthen the Axis Alliance, Mussolini shifts policy by banning Jews from his Fascist Party.  According to some, as many as 10,000 Jews had been members of the party.  Years later, Mussolini’s mistress would claim that Il Duce had claimed that he always had been an anti-Semite.

 
1941: The Nazis ordered Polish Jews barred from using public transportation

 
1941: The firsttransport of Jews from Plotsk, Poland to be sent to a concentration departed. "We remember so that nobody will forget.  We remember lest anybody try and forget."

 
1942: In France, Jacques Bielinky described the responses of his non-Jewish fellow citizens to anti-Jewish policies, expressing contempt for their lack of making any attempt to prevent the dismissal of their Jewish colleague.  “They did not make the move; cowardice has become a civic virtue.”

1943: Birthdate of English movie director Mike Leigh.

 
1943: Birthdate of Moshe Cotel, the Baltimore native who would become an acclaimed pianist and composer whose works were often infused with themes emanating from his deep Jewish roots. Cotel’s “Jewish reconnection” would lead him to the rabbinate. He would be ordained five years before his death in 2008 while he was serving as spiritual leader of Temple Beth El of Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn.

 
1947:A female member of The Irgun Zvai Leumi telephoned newspapers correspondents stating the Irgun was responsible for cutting an oil pipeline in two places and attacking an Royal Air Force installation near Hadera.

 
1947: The British government announced that it would withdraw from India.  This decision signaled a change in the U.K.’s foreign policy.  Its willingness to give up the Palestine Mandate would be triggered in part by the realization that protecting the Suez Canal as the lifeline to an imperial possession was no longer a critical need.

 
1951: Rostam Bastuni, the first Israeli Arab to represent a Zionist party in the Knesset left Mapam and “set up the Left Faction with Adolf Berman and Moshe Sneh.


1951: Birthdate of Dr. Robert “Bob” Silber, a fine physician, a devoted husband and father, an ardent Hawkeye fan, a pillar of the Cedar Rapids Jewish Community and a real mensch, who is smart enough to have more questions than answers.


1952: The film The African Queen opened at the Capitol Theatre in New York City.  The African Queen marked the film debut of Theodore Bikel.


1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that Washington Senator William Langer, a Republican, introduced a resolution asking Congress to investigate the plight of Arab refugees, a roadblock to the "stability and security" of the Middle East. (The Republican Party was not always friendly territory for supporters of the State of Israel.)


1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that The Jewish Agency opened a hostel in Tel Aviv for skilled Western immigrants. 


1959(12thof Adar I, 5719): Israeli poet Zalman Shneur, the native of Belarus who wpm the Bialik Pririze in 1951 and the Israel Prize in 1955 passed away today in New York City.

 
1960: Sir Charles Leonard Woolley passed away at the age of 80. This non-Jewish British archaeologist is remembered for having excavated Ur of the Chaldees, and for discovering the ancient Sumerian civilization.  Yes, these are the actual places which produced Abraham, Lot and Sarah.

 
1963: Opening performance of Rolf Hochhuth’s “The Deputy” which provides a controversial view of Pious XII’s behavior during the Holocaust.

 
1965(18th of Adar I, 5725): Director and producer Michał Waszyński passed awar.

 
1972(5th of Adar, 5732): Walter Winchell passed away at the age of 74.  According to some, Winchell was the creator of the modern newspaper gossip column.  Starting out with the New York Graphic and then the Daily Mirror in the nineteen twenties, Winchell's column was eventually syndicated in papers across the country.  At one time he had 30 million readers.  The column coupled with his radio show gave Winchell an amazing amount of power - sort of cross between Rush Limbaugh and Entertainment Tonight.  The right mention in a Winchell column could make you; the wrong mention or the lack of a mention could break you. How Jewish were Kun, Cohn and Winchell? Who really is a Jew in Jewish History?  These are questions that will plague us and challenge us on many Monday nights to come

 
1973(18th of Adar I, 5733): Joseph Szigeti Hungarian born US violinist, passed away at the age of 80.

 
1976(19th of Adar I, 5736): French born human rights activist, Renee Cassin, passed away.  Jurist, combat veteran of  World War I, member of the Resistance in WW II and leader of the French Jewish community, Cassin received the Nobel Prize Winner for Peace,


1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that in a chaotic gun battle at Larnaca, Cyprus, 38 Egyptian commandoes freed the 11 Egyptian hostages held aboard a Cypriot Airways DC-8 airliner and apprehended the two Arab terrorists who held them.


1981(16thof Adar I, 5741): Seventy-six year old “Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, a former senior fashion editor at Vogue magazine whose panache and sense of quality earned him the reputation of one of the fashion industry's great men of style” passed away today.  (As reported by Sheila Rule)

1992:The clashes between Israelis and Iranian backed guerrillas in Lebanon culminated with an Israeli armored push today into the villages of Kafra and Yater, about a mile north of what Israel calls its security zone in southern Lebanon.


1995(20thof Adar I, 5755): Eighty-four year old Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, the Rosh Yeshiva of the Kol Torah Yeshiva in Jerusalem passed away today. Over a quarter of a million people attended his funeral.


1996(30th of Shevat, 5756):  Dr. Solomon Asch, leading Gestalt Psychologist and pioneer social psychologist passed away.

 
1999(4th of Adar, 5759): Film critic Gene Siskel passed away.  As the article below indicates, he was not just a successful critic he was also, a committed Jew, a real `mensch'


People the world over have eulogized him as a master movie critic, a dedicated family man and a modest person whose fame didn't detract from his friendliness.A lesser-known but equally important side to Siskel reflected his Jewish upbringing and his continued dedication to Judaism and his community. Siskel, who died of cancer at age 53, was an active supporter of Israel and Jewish educational initiatives. He spent his early childhood in a historically Jewish neighborhood on Chicago's North Side. After his parents died when Siskel was very young, he and his siblings were raised by their mother's sister and her family in a northChicago suburb. His aunt and uncle were founding members of Conservative Synagogue Beth El, where he celebrated his bar mitzvah and later became a member with his wife, Marlene. Their daughter celebrated her bat mitzvah at Beth El in January, the last time he was out in public. More than 1,200 people attended his funeral there on Monday, among them his film-critic partner and longtime friend Roger Ebert. Just days before he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, Siskel emceed at Chicago's community celebration of Israel's 50th anniversary. At the time he was suffering from migraine headaches due to his illness. “Gene was a revolutionary at his craft, known the world over, yet he never forgot where he came from," said Steven Nasatirof the Chicago area Jewish federation." In an era when public figures often have little to do with their community, Gene was a mensch, whose Judaism was paramount in his life and who was a very willing and active member of his community." Siskel's dedication to Israel was strongly influenced by a family trip there two years ago when his oldest daughter, Kate, was in eighth grade. Siskel's children attended Moadon Kol Chadash, a small, family-run Hebrew school whose first graduating class was taken to Israel. Believing that such a trip should be offered to a greater number of local Hebrew-school students, Siskel took the project under his wing. As a result a group of eighth-graders went to Israellast February, and a second, much larger group, went earlier this month. Siskel compiled a video chronicling Jewish stereotypes and anti-Semitism in Hollywood, which he used as an educational tool. Friends say Siskel expressed Judaism with modesty and little fanfare. "He was very low-key and never took himself too seriously," said his longtime friend Howard Caroll, a retired Illinoisstate senator, "but he was fervent about his Jewish beliefs." Beth El Rabbi Vernon Kurtz said in his eulogy Monday that just weeks ago, prior to their second daughter's bat mitzvah, Siskel and his wife told her that the two most important values in life were family and Judaism. "Judaism," Siskel said, "has taught me right from wrong,"

 
2000: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Nazi Terror: The Gestapo, Jews, and Ordinary Germans by Eric A. Johnson and The Arcades Projectby Walter Benjamin; edited by Rolf Tiedemann; translated by Howard Eiland and Kevin McLaughlin.


2000: Bruce Lee Fleisher won the GTE Classic.


2002: The Israeli Defense Ministry awarded Elbit Systems, the Haifa based electronics manufacturer founded in 1967,  a ground-breaking tender to purchase new trainers for the air force


2003(18th of Adar I, 5763):Daniel Aaron, a refugee from Nazi Germany and an orphan who went on to become a founder of Comcast, the largest cable company in the country, died today in Philadelphia, where he lived. He was 77. The cause was Parkinson's disease, according to the company.In 1990, speaking at a dinner for his retirement as vice chairman of Comcast in Philadelphia, Mr. Aaron described himself as something like the conscience of the operation. He pictured the young company as a car, with Mr. Roberts, the chairman, behind the wheel, Julian A. Brodsky, the principal fund-raiser, stepping on the gas, and Mr. Aaron himself with a foot on the brake. In 1963, Mr. Aaron persuaded Ralph J. Roberts, a Philadelphia entrepreneur who had recently sold a men's wear business, to buy a small cable television system in Tupelo, Miss. As part of the deal, Mr. Aaron agreed to help run it, and over the next 30 years they built or acquired dozens of other cable systems around the country. Last fall, the company they started, Comcast, acquired AT&T Broadband to become the largest cable television service provider in the country

 
2005: At the DCJCC, the final performance of Joyce Carol Oates’ The Tattooed Girl.  The play is an adaptation of the author's post-9/11 novel of the same name, published in 2003. The work takes a big picture view of America by focusing its lens sharply on two distinct and distinctly differing characters, Alma, a working-class woman who has run short of options, and Joshua Siegl, a faded literary star closing in on 40, who had caused a stir with the publication of his first novel when he was all of 26. 

2006: Right-wing British historian David Irving was convicted in Austria on Monday of denying the Holocaust - a crime in this country once run by the Nazis - and was sentenced to three years in prison.  Irving, 67, who had pleaded guilty and insisted during his one-day trial that he had a change of heart and now acknowledged the Nazis' World War II slaughter of 6 million Jews, had faced up to 10 years behind bars for the offense. "The court did not consider the defendant to have genuinely changed his mind," presiding judge Peter Liebetreu told the court after pronouncing the sentence. "The regret he showed was considered to be mere lip service to the law."


2005:  The New York Times included reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Nice Big American Baby by Judy Budnitzan, the recently released paperback edition of Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z. by Debra Weinstein and essay by the recently deceased Susan Sontag entitled “Report on the Journey.”


2007: Former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak speaks at CoeCollege in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.


2008: Chelsea Football Club announced that Avraham Grant had received anti-Semitic death threats from unknown sources


2008: At the Jerusalem Cinematheque a showing of “Le Viel Homme et L’Enfant” ( הזקן והילד). Set in WW II France, the story revolves around the relationship between a young Jewish boy sent to hide with a rural family and the older man who is a WW I hero, a supporter of Petain and a vocal anti-Semite.


2008: The Washington Post reported on the results of a cancer study conducted by Itai Kloog, of the University of Haifa.  According to the study, “women who live in neighborhoods with large amounts of nighttime illumination are more likely to get breast cancer than those who live in areas where nocturnal darkness prevails, according to an unusual study that overlaid satellite images of Earth onto cancer registries.


2008: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met in Jerusalem in an attempt to further latest round of peace talks which appear to be faltering.  These talks are an outgrowth of the negotiations held in Annapolis, MD in November of 2007.


2009: The 24th Annual Jerusalem International Book Fair comes to an end.


2009:A barrage of 10 mortar shells was fired at Gaza Belt communities  in what military sources said might have been the first stage of an attempted two-part combined terrorist attack.

 

2010:Singer, actress and playwright Rebecca Joy Fletcher is scheduled to perform her acclaimed one-woman show “Cities of Light” at Congregation Beth Emeth in Herndon, VA.


2010: “A Matter of Size” is scheduled to be shown on the opening night of The 12th Annual Northern New Jersey Israel Film Festival.


2010:  Birthday celebration of Dr. Bob Silber, a pillar of the Jewish community and a mensch in the truest sense of the word.


2011(16th of Adar I, 5771): Jay Landesman, a writer and editor whose journal Neurotica analyzed the anxieties of postwar America and whose Broadway musical, “The Nervous Set,” has been called the first (and only) Beat musical passed away today in London at the age of 91.

2011: The 21st Annual San Diego Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to come to an end.


2011: Amos Oz: The Nature of Dreams, a documentary based on the memoirs of Amos Oz, that “delves into the persona of one of Israel's greatest and most controversial authors and political commentators” is scheduled to be shown at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.


2011: English author Ian McEwan is scheduled to be awarded the Jerusalem Prize, Israel's highest literary honor for foreign writers at the opening of the Jerusalem International Book Fair.


2011: The family and myriad friends of Dr. Bob Silber celebrate the 60th natal day of this die-hard Hawkeye fan, ardent Zionist and all-around good-guy.



2011: The New York Times featured a profile of author Walter Isaacson who has been the chairman and chief executive of CNN and the editor of Time magazine and the recently released paperback edition of Rebecca Newberger Goldstein’s 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction, a “philosophical novel about love, Jewish cultural identity and academic infighting.”


2011:The Environment Ministry reported that the recent appearance of an extensive bout of haze has brought the concentration of dust in central Israel to a level four to 10 times more than the average rate as of today.


2012:US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon's three day trip to Israel brought on by rising tensions over the creation of an Iranian nuclear capability is scheduled to come to an end today.


2012: MesorahDC is scheduled to sponsor Café Nite at the Historic 6th& I Synagogue in Washington, DC.



2012: As the United States celebrates Presidents’ Day,  the Jewish community may reflect on the unique interaction between it and various Chief Executives including: Washington’s letter to the Jews of Newport, Rhode Island; Franklin Pierce’s appointment of the first Jew to serve as the U.S. Minister to a foreign country; Abraham Lincoln’s role in making it possible for Rabbis to serve as Chaplains in the U.S. Army and revoking Order #11; U.S. Grant’s attempt to appoint the first Jew to the Cabinet and his attendance at the dedication of Adas Israel; Teddy Roosevelt’s appointment of the first Jew serve in the Cabinet; William H. Taft’s at the first seder ever to be graced by a U.S. President; Woodrow Wilson’s appointment of the first Jew to serve on the Supreme Court; President Herbert Hoover’s appointment of the second Jew to serve on the Supreme Court; President Harry Truman’s role in the creation of the state of Israel; Lyndon Johnson’s role in saving Jews from the Holocaust, passing legislation that outlawed discrimination based on religion and support Israel during the 1967 War. (And this is a short list)



2012:If Cairo unilaterally decides to alter the peace treaty with Jerusalem, Israel will ask why sign agreements with other neighbors if these accords are not kept, Intelligence Agencies Minister Dan Meridor said today.


2012:US President Barack Obama will meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on March 5, the White House said today. Netanyahu will be in Washington to address the annual policy conference of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, which will be held on March 4-6.



2012:Ammunition Hill will not close after an emergency meeting this evening with representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Defense Ministry, and the Finance Ministry, Cabinet Secretary Tzvi Hauser promised a budget of NIS 2 million for the 2012 year. Before the decision was reached, a group of veterans and children of soldiers killed in the battle for Ammunition Hill lowered the giant billowing flag from the hilltop this afternoon for the first time since 1967. The dramatic move drew condemnation from some veterans who fought in the Six Day War. The flag lowering was in protest to the lack of government funding for the site, which had depleted its resources and could not even pay the salaries of the six employees, according to director Katri Maoz. The Paratroop Brigade fought a fierce battle at Ammunition Hill against the Jordanian Arab Legion on June 6, 1967, during the Six Day War. The victory on the hilltop was a turning point in the army’s campaign for Jerusalem.


2012:Iran Raid Seen as a Huge Task for Israeli Jets” published today describes the great challenge that the IAF would face if it had to destroy Iran’s nuclear capability.


2013: My German Children,” which premiered at Jerusalem’s Jewish Film Festival in December, is scheduled to air for the first time on Israeli TV today as part of a Yes Doco series on children. (As reported by Renee Ghert-Zand)


2013: Happy Birthday Dr. Bob


2013:YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is scheduled to present a ”discussion on the groundbreaking anthology Choosing Yiddish: New Frontiers of Language and Culture, “featuring editors Lara Rabinovitch, Shiri Goren, Hannah S. Pressman, editors, along with Gennady Estraikh (NYU), Eddy Portnoy (Rutgers), Jennifer Young (NYU/YIVO), and many others.”


2013: Nigerian security forces this evening arrested three people belonging to an Iranian-linked terror cell that was reportedly planning to launch an attack against Israeli and American targets, Army Radio reported.


2014: Friends and family of Dr. Bob Silber, pillar of the Jewish committee, President of the Thaler Holocaust Memorial Committee and diehard Hawkeye celebrate his natal day.


2014: Hemi Rudner, “one of the finest musicians in the Israeli rock scent” who is the leader of “Eifo Hayeled” at CAFÉ WHA?


2014” The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present “The Power of the Geniza.


2014: “Bethlehem.” winner of 6 Ophir Awards, is scheduled to be shown at the DPJCC's 14th Annual Jewish Film Festival

This Day, February 21, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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February 21



362: Athanasius returns to Alexandria so he can lead the fight against various Christian heretics such as the Arians.  His negative views about the Jews were really part of his fight against Christian heretics. His “anti-Jewish rhetoric served to stigmatize Christians who resisted” the efforts of Athanasius “to reform the Alexandrian (local) practices of Lent and Easter along more international (catholic) lines.” For more on this view of his works and writings one should read “Jewish Flesh and Christian Spirit in Athanasius of Alexandria” by David Burke, Journal of Early Christian Studies - Volume 9, Number 4, Winter 2001, pp. 453-481

 
1513: The papacy of Julius II came to an end.  His greatest claim to fame was that he gave Michelangelo the paint brush for the Sistine Chapel.  Samuel Sarfatti, a Jewish physician, took care of the Pope’s health needs.  His papacy was a period of benign neglect for the Jews.  Julius was more interested in temporal pleasure than doctrine so he pretty much left the Jews alone; not a bad deal considering what other Popes did to the Jews.
 
1519: Upon the death of Maximilien, the Jewish community at Regensburg numbering approximately 800 souls, (one of the oldest in Germany,) was expelled. The synagogue was destroyed and a chapel, built in its place. About 5,000 gravestones were taken from the Jewish cemetery and used for building the Christian house of worship.

 
1520: Birthdate of Moses Isserles, the Ashkenazic rabbi from Cracow best known for writing HaMapah (The Table Cloth) a “gloss” on The Shulchan Aruch (Set Table) of Joseph Karo.  Karo relied primarily on Sephardic sources. Isserles used Ashkenazic sources to create a table cloth that would cover the set table thus making Caro’s work viable for the large number of Jews living in Northern and Eastern Europe.

 
1619(7th of Adar): Rabbi Ephraim Solomon ben Aaron of Luntshits, author of Keli Yakar passed away

 
1665: Emperor Maximilian II granted permission to Christophe Plantin, whose work included the Plantin Polyglot Bible the first four volumes of which were the “Old Testament” which contained two columns with the Hebrew original and the Latin translation, to print Hebrew books in Antwerp

 
1677(19thAdar I, 5437): Philosopher Baruch de Spinoza passed away. His philosophy and his life are too complex for this simple summary page. I did not understand why he was banned from the Jewish community when I first read about him as a ReligiousSchool student.  His philosophy baffled me when I first read it at Tulane.  Since I do not fake it, I suggest you begin your quest athttp://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Spinoza.html. and go from there. Good luck.

 
1730: The papacy of Benedict XII came to an end. In 1727, he had issued Emanavit Numer that laid down the conditions under which Jews could be forcibly baptized. Two years later, he issued Alias Emanarunt that “forbade the selling of goods by Jews.”  (For more see The Inquisition: A History by Michael C. Thomsett)

 
1743: George Frederic Handel's oratorio, "Samson" premiered in London.  The musical was based on the figure depicted in the Book of Judges and is another example of how Jewish culture enriched the culture of the Western World.

 
1821: Birthdate of Elisabeth "Eliza, or Élisa" Rachel Félix better known only as Mademoiselle Rachel. She gained fame as an actress and as the mistress of the rich and famous including Napoleon III.

 
1848: Karl Marx published the Communist Manifesto.  Marx was not Jewish but his father was.  This fact has not stopped a myriad of anti-Semites including Adolph Hitler from equating Judaism with Communism.

 
1852: 1st of Adar, 5612): Rosh Chodesh Adar

 
1852: Pope Pius IX wrote to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, “insisting that he revoke the right of the Jews to live outside of the Ghetto.”

 
1856: A blood libel case occurred in Constantinople, with Jews being targeted with violence from Greeks, Armenians, and Turks. This occurred only three days after the Ottoman "reforms" which were to bring equality.

 
1860: An Imperial decree issued today granted the Jews of Lower Austria, Moravia, Silesia, Hungary, Voywodina, and the Banat, Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, and the Littoral Districts, the right of possessing real property. They cannot, however, exercise the rights of patronage, jurisdiction, or scholastic representation, attached to such possession.

 
1860: Uriah P. Levy was appointed Commodore and given command of the U.S. Navy’s Eastern Mediterranean fleet. A Jewish officer in the Navy at this time was rather unusual.  Levy dealt with his share of anti-Semitism during his career including a court-martial at the end of which he was fully exonerated. Levy waged a successful fight to end flogging as a form of punishment in the Navy.  He was an ardent admirer of Thomas Jefferson.  After Jefferson’s death, Levy bought Monticelloand restored it to its former luster.  The restoration included reclaiming Jefferson’s library which numbered about 2500 volumes.  When Levy passed away in 1862, he left the estate to the people of the United States.  Levy was proud of his Jewish heritage.  He served as the first president of Washington Hebrew Congregation which is still one of the dominant Reform congregations in Washington, D.C. Forty-three years after President Monroe had made Levy a lieutenant, President Buchanan gave him command of the Mediterranean Squadron. With command came the Navy's highest rank: Commodore. The American fleet and frigates from Russiaand Sardinia boomed out a thirteen-gun salute in the harbor at La Speziaas the pennant bearing a single star ran up the main mast of his flagship, USS Macedonian.

 
1865: Cécile Anspach and Baron Gustave de Rothschild gave birth to Aline Caroline de Rothschild who became Lady Sassoon when he married Edward Sassoon in 1887. She passed away in 1909 having  given birth to two children – Philip Albert Gustave David and Sybil Rachel Bettie Cecile.

 
1867: Birthdate of banker and patron of the arts Otto Hermann Kahn. While his name is unknown today, in his time Otto Kahn was a major financial and cultural figure in the United States and Europe.   Kahn began his banking career in Germany.  But he reached greatness after moving to the United Statesin 1893 where he became a partner in the banking firm of Kuhn, Loeb and Company.  Described as Wall Street Wizard, he helped “reorganize the U.S. railroad system, finance the Allied effort in World War I and encourage banking reform after the 1929 stock market crash.”   He organized and bankrolled theMetropolitan Opera Company.  He also supported a whole slew of artists many of whom were unknown and struggling at the time. Among the many recipients of his support were Hart Crane, George Gershwin, Arturo Toscanni, EugeneO’ Neil, Paul Robeson, Isadora Duncan and Ezra Pound.  The eclectic Kahn was also a favorite of the inventor Thomas A. Edison who kept a picture of the banker-philanthropist on the wall of his New Jersey Home.  Kahn accomplished this and a lot more despite anti-Semitism and anti-German feelings in the United States.  He passed away in 1934.Here is something to think about.  If a man with a resume like Kahn can be so quickly forgotten, how many of today’s “important people” will be remembered fifty years from now?

 
1874:  Benjamin Disraeli replaced William Gladstone as Prime Minister.  Disraeli was born Jewish, but his father had him baptized.  The conversion came over a dispute that the elder Disraeli had with the local synagogue.  Since he was not Jewish, Disraeli was not limited by English law in pursuing his political career.  At the same time, he was the target of anti-Semitic barbs and he was quite proud of his Jewish heritage.

 
1875: According to “Poland Today” described conditions in the present day Russian province which has shrunk from 282,000 square miles to 48,863 square miles under the rule of the Czars.  While the majority of the population is Roman Catholic, “the money in Poland is chiefly in the hands of the Jews.”

 
1877: The 200th anniversary of the death of the great Dutch Jewish philosopher on the secular calendar was marked by the publishing of “Baruch Spinoza.”

 
1879:"The Reformer and Jewish Times; A Journal of Progress in Religion, Literature, Science, and Art" published its final edition today.  It first appeared in 1869 as “The Jewish Times: A Journal of Reform and Progress.”

 
1880: According to “The Elder Disraeli’s Tomb” published today, the tomb of Benjamin Disraeli, the grandfather of the Prime Minister which is located at the Spanish and Portuguese Cemetery in the Mile-end-road has been repaired.  The need to recut and repaint the tombstone should come as no surprise since the elder Disraeli was buried in 1816. No repairs have been made on the tombstone of the Prime Minister’s grandmother who was buried in the same cemetery.
 
1880: It was reported today the Jewish leaders in New York City have an issued an appeal to their co-religionists throughout the United States to make generous contributions to the Alliance Israelite Universelle, the Paris based charity that provides financial support and educational opportunities for Jews living under the Czar and the Ottoman Sultan.  It is suggested that leaders take advantage of the upcoming Purim festivities and address their congregations on the Sabbath of Remembrances on the need for providing financial support.

 
1881: Birthdate of Rabbi Jonah Bondi Wise “an American Rabbi and leader of the Reform Judaism movement, who served for over thirty years as rabbi of the Central Synagogue in Manhattan and was a founder of the United Jewish Appeal, serving as its chairman from its creation in 1939 until 1958.”

 
1883(14th of Adar I, 5643): Purim Katan

 
1882: It was reported today that the reports of British Consular officials have “to a certain extent” exaggerated “the seriousness of the anti-Jewish riots in Russia” especially when it comes to “the reports of loss of life” and attacks on Jewish women.  Only  about “100 Jews were shamefully” mistreated in Warsaw of whom only 10 or 12 have died because of their injuries. However, the reports of property destruction were not exaggerated.

 
1890(1stof Adar, 5650): Rosh Chodesh Adar

 
1891: In Pittsburgh, PA on Shabbat, the rabbi at Poale Zedeck Congregation on Grant Street was prevented from preaching his announced sermon by Rueben Miller, the Vice President of the synagogue who was to be the topic of the talk.

 

1892: As New York City continued to deal with an outbreak of Typhus, the SS Etruria which had been “detained at Quarantine” because she had a large “number of Russian Jews among her steerage passengers” was allowed to dock today.  The Health Officer order the seventy Russian Jews to remained on board until “their baggage” had been “thoroughly fumigated.”

 
1892: “Non-Success of Russian Jews” published today which relied on information first published in the Pall Mall Gazette reported that Voskhod has examined the conditions “of Jews who left Russia during the persecutions of the last 18 months.”  According to this monthly Jewish publication, those who went to Palestine want to return to Russia because the agricultural settlements “have been failures.”  And things are so bad for those who went to United States, “that were a society formed…to pay” their expenses “two thirds would gladly avail themselves of its funds and return.” (This report may reflect the philosophic stance of Voshkod as much as it does the conditions of the people it described. 

1892: “A Great Hebrew Hospital” published today provided a lengthy history of Mount Sinai Hospital which began as the Jewish Hospital.  In addition to all of its other accomplishments, it “was the first hospital in the city to admit women to membership on its house staff.”

 
1893: Mr. Weinstock wrote from Sacramento, CA to Pierre Botkine of Century Magazine asking  about the status of Jews in Russia “who enter the Greek Catholic Church.”  Specifically, he wanted to know if conversion brings “full civil and political rights.”

 
1895: Birthdate of Szmul Zygielbojm (Zygelbojm or Zigelboim) “a Jewish-Polish socialist politician, leader of the Bund, and a member of the National Council of the Polish government in exile” who in 1943  “committed suicide to protest the indifference of the Allied governments in the face of the Holocaust.”

 
1895: Alfred Dreyfus was “removed from his prison and transferred to an icy cell in a naval cruiser” which would carry him imprisonment on Devil’s Island.

 
1896: Students' party at "Kadimah". The students give Herzl a great ovation.

 
1897: Birthdate of Meir Ya’ari, the native of Galicia who made Aliyah in 1920 where he help to found Kibbutz Artzi before serving in as a member of Israel’s first Knesset.

 
1897: In correspondence bearing today's date, “leading members of the Jewish community in Tripoli sent a letter to the President of the Alliance that gave a grim picture of Jewish life in rural Tripolitania."  The Jews reported that they were living as “dhimmi.” An Arab mob had destroyed the synagogue in the village of Zliten and in another village the authorities refused to find those who had murdered one Jew and injured his companion.

 
1897: The Board of Trustees of the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum is scheduled to meet today where they will take up Emanuel Lehman’s offer to provide $100,000 “for the endowment of an industrial and provident fund for the benefit of graduates of the asylum.”

 
1898: As the trial of Emile Zola, the publisher of the Aurore enters its final days it was reported today that “public feeling against the Jews is so overwhelming that” his conviction is a foregone conclusion.

 
1898: It was reported today that Jews in Trenton, NJ are are still upset with the anti-Semitic remarks of William J. Cossley, the Prosecutor in Mercer County. 

 

1899: It was reported today that “Max Regis, the former Mayor of Algiers” and “notorious Jew-baiter…has been sentenced…to three years’ imprisonment” and ordered “to pay a fine of 1,000 francs” for press offenses and glorify murder and pillage at meetings in Algiers and Paris.”  (These meetings were part of the anti-Dreyfus violence that swept France.)

 
1900: Birthdate of Henry Cohen, the British physician and lecture who was honored as the 1st Baron Cohen of Birkenhead for his contributions in the field of medicine.

 
1905: During the Russian Revolution of 1905 the Chief of Police for the district that included Bialystok was killed.  Attacks like this would become an excuse for the attacks against the Jews known as  the Bialystok Pogrom that would take place in June of the following year.

 
1910: Samuel D. Warren, a former law partner of Louis D. Brandeis passed away today in Boston, MA

 
1914: Dr. John Tatlock and Marjorie Tatlock gave birth to Dr. Jean Frances Tatlock whom some contend was the mistress of  J. Robert Oppenheimer. Tatlock was a Communist and this relationship would be used against him when his security clearance was lifted after World War II.

 
1915: Dr. Cyrus Adler, President of Dropsie College, presided over the opening session of the 23rd annual meeting of the American Jewish Historical Society which is being held at the Hotel McAlpin in New York City.

 
1915: William Vincent Byars of St. Louis read a paper on the part played by the Gratz brothers in the development of trade in the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys at the morning session of the annual meeting of the American Jewish Historical Society.

 
1915: Leon Huchner presented a paper on the life of Daniel Gomez a merchant in colonial New York at the afternoon session of the annual meeting of the American Jewish Historical Society.
 
1916: During World War I, 1,400 German guns fired the open salvo in the Battle of Verdun.  The bloodletting would last for ten months at a cost over half a million French casualties and four hundred thousand German casualties.  For the French, this pointless blood letting would lead to a pacifism when facing the threat of Hitler.  Life in the trenches would lead to the creation of the Maginot Line which also helped to pay the way for France’s early collapse in World War II.  In other words, a fairly straight line can be drawn from a battle in 1916 and the rise of Vichy and French collaboration with the Nazis that led to the death of so many Jews.

 
1918(9thof Adar, 5678): Fifty-two year old author and linguist Hedwig Lachmann passed away. (As reported by Hanna Delf von Wolzogen)

 
1918:  During the fight to freePalestine from Turkish control, Australian units under the overall command of General Allenby drove the Turks from Jericho and reached the northern end of the Dead Sea. As a result of these victories, the British would become the mandatory power after the war and the Balfour Declaration would be worth the paper it was written on, for a little while at least.

 
1919:  As the right wing reasserts its authority in Germany, a German aristocrat named Count Anton Arco-Valley shot Jewish born Bavarian political leader Kurt Eisner in the back and killed him as he on his way to the Munich Parliament.

 
1919: In Hungary, “the prime minister ordered the arrest of over one hundred prominent Communists including Bela Kun.”

 
1922: Birthdate of DJ Murray “the K,” referred to as the Fifth Beatle.

 
1922: Birthdate of Zivi Zeitlin, the native of Dubrovna who was raised in Palestine and became “an internationally renowned violinist known for interpreting the work of contemporary composers.” Zeitlin was 11 years old when he won a scholarship to Julliard making him the youngest person to win such an honor from the famed music school.  In 1967, he became a professor at the Eastman School of Music.(As reported by Margalit Fox)

 
1925: In York, PA, Lewis and Nettie Wolfson Leibowitz gave birth to Herschel Weldon Leibowitz, “a Penn State University psychologist who was among the first scientists to explore how the mind can misinterpret what the eye sees at night, a phenomenon that contributes to traffic accidents.” (As reported by Benedict Carey)

 
1932(14th of Adar I, 5692): Purim Katan

 
1932(14th of Adar): Boris Schatz, founder of the Bezalel Art School passed away

 
1932: The New York Times featured a review of The Tragedies of Progress by Italian Jewess Gina Lombroso who is described as a severe critic "of the trend in our technical civilization"

 
1935: “When the Jewish-owned steamer Tel Aviv” docked today in Palestine for the first time, the first passenger to land was” Georg Martini the correspondent for The Völkischer Beobachter the official newspaper of the Nazi Party.

 
1938: Semyon Dimanstein who had at one time been head of Yevsektsiya, the Jewish section of the Soviet Communist party, was arrested by Stalin.  Within short order he would be condemned to death and executed.

 
1938: The Palestine Post reported that British troops, assisted by police, inflicted heavy casualties on a gang of armed Arabs halfway between Rosh Pina and Safed and that there were about 500 suspected Arab terrorists interned at El Mizra camp.

 
1938: The Palestine Post reported that R.E. Alderson, R.A.F. Squadron Leader murdered by Arab terrorists near Atlit was buried with honors at Ramle.

 
1938: The Palestine Post reported that The Jewish Agency, The Marine Trust Ltd. and other Jewish organizations asked the government to speed up the development of the Tel Aviv port in order to stop congestion and allow normal passenger traffic. The basin had to be deepened, the quay space doubled and another lighter basin added to the existing facilities.

 
1939: In a further move to impoverish the Jews,the German government order them “to surrender all objects made from gold, silver, precious stones and pearls.” (Like Haman, Hitler knew that anti-Semitism was a profitable “business.”

 
1940: Oberfuerher Richard Gluecks informed Himmler that he had found a "suitable site" for a new "quarantine Camp" at Auschwitz.

 
1940: Czech architect Otto Eisler arrived in Norway after fleeing his homeland which had been taken over by the Nazis who had imprisoned and tortured him.

 
1943: The Battle of Guadalcanal ended.  Former champion boxer, Barney Ross won a Silver Star the second highest medal given for battlefield gallantry for his heroics during this grinding eight month long battle.  Ross had enlisted at the age of 32 and fought in the first of the island hopping battles that would lead to victory over Japan in 1945.

 
1943: Dutch Roman Catholic bishops protested against persecution of Jews. This came as part of the response to Nazi recent roundups of Jews in Amsterdam. The "Righteous Gentiles" did make their attempts to help, but there were just too few of them.

 
1943: Birthdate of record producer David Geffen.

 
1943: Sir Harold MacMichael, High Commissioner of the British Mandate of Palestine, broadcast a speech tonight on the eve of Red Army Day in which he “warmly praised the achievements of the Red Army.”

 
1944(27thof Shevat, 5704): Dov Lopatyn was killed by a landmine today.  While serving as the head of the Judenrat in Lachwa  he “refused the demand of the Einsatzgruppen that the Lakhva Ghetto inhabitants line up for deportation and led one of the first ghetto uprisings after which an untold number of the Jews escaped to the Pripet Marshes.  It was there the Lopatyn joined the partisans with whom he fought until his death.

 
1944: Birthdate of Dr. Sander L. Gilmnan, the New York native and Tulane University alum whose accomplishments include the founding of the Jewish Studies program at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

 
1946: British soldiers and policeman are searching for those who attacked the police headquarters tonight in Haifa and Tel Aviv.  The attackers in Tel Aviv were armed with machine guns and grenades and set-off at least 6 separate explosions.  The attacks followed searches of Jewish settlements by the police that resulted in the seizure of rifles and “a clandestine radio.”

 
1946: Congressman Augustus Bennett, a New York Republican, with the support of Congressman Thomas J. Lane, a Massachusetts Democrat, introduced a resolution today in the House of Representative calling for a “Congressional investigation of the Palestine situation…The measure calls for a joint House-Senate committee to be sent to the Holy Land to investigate conditions there and report its findings to Congress.”

 
1947: Edwin H. Land demonstrated the first instant developing camera in New York City. It took only sixty seconds to develop a black and white photograph.  Most of us know that such famous scientists as Einstein, Salk and Sabine were Jewish.  But how many knew that this famous college dropout was Jewish as well?  He is also given credit for creating improved lenses and sunglasses as well as providing research on new theories related to color perception.

 
1948: The Arab League voted to deny American oil companies pipeline rights in the Middle East until Washingtonaltered its Palestinepolicy reinforcing efforts by Secretary of State George Marshall and others at the State Department to get President Truman to reconsider his support for the creation of a Jewish state.

 
1955: David Ben-Gurion succeeded Pinhas Lavon as Defense Minister.

 
1956(9th of Adar, 5716): Edwin Franko Goldman the founder of Goldman Band of New York City and the American Bandmasters Association passed away at the Montefiore Hospital in New York


1958: Birthdate of exercise expert Jake Steinfeld (Body by Jake).

 
1958: Egypt and Syria having formed the United Arab Republic (UAL) elected the Egyptian dictator Gamiel Nasser as its new President.  Nasser was a Pan Arabist - yes they show up year in and year out - who was determined to destroy the state of Israel as his means of uniting the Arab World.  He failed on both counts.


1958: In Cambridge, MA, Elaine Salovey, a registered nurse, and Ronald Salovey, a physical chemist gave birth to their oldest child Peter Salovey, a descendant of the Soloveichik rabbinic family who became the 23 President of Yale Univeristy.

 
1962: In Brooklyn, Norma and Al Lerner gave birth to Randy Lerner the billionaire businessman who took over ownership of the Cleveland Browns when his father passed away.

 
1962: Birthdate of Eliezer Sandberg, the Haifa native who has served as an member of the Knesset and held at least two cabinet posts.

 
1969(3rd of Adar, 5729): Itzik Manger (איציק מאַנגער) passed away. Born in what is now the Ukraine in 1901, Manger lived in various European cities as he wrote plays and poems in Yiddish. Towards the end of his life, he made Aliyah and lived in Tel Aviv. Itzik's Midrash and Songs of the Megillah were two of his more famous works, both of which drew upon Biblical themes.

 
1970: A Swissair plane bound from Zurich to Tel Aviv explodes and crashes shortly after takeoff; all 47 people aboard are killed.

 
1970: An Austrian airliner carrying mail for Israel from Frankfurt, West Germany, to Vienna is damaged by an explosion in flight; no one is hurt.

 
1971: In “Seeing the Sinai” Douglas Greener described his tour of the Wilderness 4 years after the Six Day War.

 
1973: Israeli fighter planes shot down a Libyan Airlines jet over the Sinai Desert, killing more than 100 people.

 
1974: Israeli forces left the territory on the western side of the Suez Canal.  While the Yom Kippur War (October, 1973) began as a disaster for the Israelis, the military outcome was a triumph.  Troops under Sharoncrossed the Suez Canal and put a stranglehold on the Egyptian Army.  The disengagement of 1974 led to the historic visit of Sadat and the peace treaty that followed.

 
1977:Birthdate of Birthdate of Jonathan Safran Foer an American author whose works include Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Eating Animals.

 
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that there were at least 2,000 guests at the colorful opening of the 29th Zionist Congress in Jerusalem.

 
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that Finance Minister Simha Ehrlich had set up a special police task force to study how to implement the Shimron Committee's recommendations on fighting the organized crime in Israel.

 
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that Egypt withdrew its diplomatic mission from Cyprus after its 15 commandos were killed and some 50 injured in fighting Cypriot soldiers and PLO terrorists in an attempt to free a plane at the Larnaca airport, in which two Arab terrorists were holding Arab and Egyptian hostages.

 
1982: A revival of “Little Me,” a musical written by Neil Simon, with music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Carolyn Leigh the cast of which included Bebe Neuwirth closed at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre.

 
1982(28th of Shevat, 5742): Gershom Scholem passed away.  Born on December 5, 1897, Scholem, was a Jewish philosopher and historian who was raised in Germany. He is widely regarded as the modern founder of the scholarly study of Kabbalah, becoming the first Professor of Jewish Mysticism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Scholem is best known for his collection of lectures, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism(1941) and for his biography Sabbatai Zevi, the Mystical Messiah(1973). His collected speeches and essays, published as On Kabbalah and its Symbolism(1965), helped to spread knowledge of Jewish mysticism among non-Jews. He was awarded the Israel Prize in 1958 and was elected president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 1968.

 
1983(8th of Adar, 5743): Murray Seasongood, who served as Mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio from 1926 through 1930 passed away today at the age of 104.

 
1987: The Syrian army marched into Beirut.  This was part of Syria’s plan to rule “Greater Syria” a territory that would include Lebanon, Israel and Jordan.  At the behest of the United States, Israel blocked Syria’s plans to seize part of Jordanin the 1970’s.  As the bombing in Beirut this week reminds us, the Syrians still dominate the Lebanese political scene.

 
1988:In an article entitled “Russia and the Jews: Photos of a Turbulent Past,” Chaim Potok used his critique of an exhibition at the Jewish Museum to provide a semi-sentimental journey through the world of Russian Jewry in the closing decades of the 19th century and the opening decades of the twentieth century.

1991: Neil Simon's "Lost in Yonkers" premiered at Richard Rodgers Theater in New York City for the first of 780 performances.

 
1991: British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher delivers the key note address at the retirement dinner honoring Sir Immanuel Jakobovits, Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth,

 
1992:Israeli forces withdrew from two villages in southern Lebanon today, ending a 24-hour thrust against Shiite Muslim guerrillas who had fired salvos of rockets into northern Israel. Hours after the withdrawal, the villages were again filled with gunmen from the pro-Iranian Party of God, and fresh barrages of rockets were fired at Israeli border villages.

 
1992(17th of Adar I, 5752): In Granot Haglil, five-year old Avia Elizad was killed by a Katyusha fired by Arabs in Lebanon as she ran to meet her father who was returning from work.  Her last words were “Daddy, Daddy!”

 
1992: A Palestinian fatally stabbed Russian émigré today in Kfar Sava, northeast of Tel Aviv. The assailant, from neighboring Kalkilya on the West Bank, stabbed the woman in the neck with a kitchen knife and wounded three other émigrés before being shot and subdued. Leaflets distributed in Gaza and signed by the Islamic Holy War movement took responsibility for the stabbing.

 
1993: After a campaign sullied by charges of mischief and wrongdoing, Israeli rabbinical elders and political leaders chose Chief Rabbis today for the Ashkenazic and Sephardic branches of Judaism. The election may affect the Government because the results seem to strengthen Shas, a party of fervently Orthodox Sephardic Jews and the only religious party in the coalition. Shas supported both winning candidates. Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, 56, Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, won the closely watched race to represent Ashkenazic Jews, or those of Eastern and Central European origin. Several women accused him of trying to seduce them years ago. He sued one for libel. Rabbi Eliahu Bakshi-Doron, 52, of Haifa, won the Sephardic contest, affecting Jews with Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and North African backgrounds. He had his own problems: affidavits charging he once tried to bribe a Haifa City Council candidate to drop out of the race. He denied the charges. The atmosphere was so thick with accusations that at one point the incumbent Chief Rabbis publicly deplored the quality of the campaign. The moral authority of the new Chief Rabbis was not enhanced when the former Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi, Shlomo Goren, called the candidates "minor leaguers" in scriptural scholarship. Nearly 150 electors chose the Chief Rabbis, whose interpretations of Jewish law are binding on the Government. The positions have political roots.

 
1993(30thof Shevat, 5753): Rosh Chodesh Adar

 
1993(30thof Shevat, 5753): Sixty-eight year old cartoon pioneer Harvey Kurtzman passed away today. (As reported by Richard D. Lyons)

 
1994(10thof Adar, 5754): Ninety-three year old Mary Woodard Lasker, the widow of Albert Davis Lasker with whom she established the Lasker Foundation passed away today. (As reported by Eric Pace)

 
1996(1st of Adar, 5756): Science fiction writer Horace Leonard Gold passed away at the age of 81.

 

19961st of Adar, 5756): Composer and former President of ASCAP Morton Gould passed away at the age of 82. (As reported by Bernard Holland)

 
1999: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Kissinger Transcripts:The Top Secret Talks With Beijing and Moscow,Edited by William Burr and Ex-FriendsFalling Out With Allen Ginsberg, Lionel and Diana Trilling, Lillian Hellman, Hannah Arendt, and Norman Mailerby Norman Podhoretz

 
1999(5th of Adar, 5759): Gertrude Elion, winner of The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1988,passed away.For more about this fascinating woman in her own words see

 
1999: At the Museum of Jewish Heritage, Family Heritage Week, with special activities, including creating family trees and special tours, goes on through Sunday. Exhibitions include ''Jewish Life a Century Ago,'' with memorabilia from Jewish rituals and celebrations in Europe in the early 1900's; ''War Against the Jews,'' detailing events from 1933 to 1945, and ''Jewish Renewal,'' focusing on life after the Holocaust comes to an end.

 
2000: Ninety-two year old General Kenneth D. Nichols who played a key role in the development of the Atomic Bomb during WW II and who was one of the driving forces behind removing J. Robert Oppenheimer’s security clearance passed away.

 
 2002: The State Department declared that Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was dead, a month after he'd been abducted by Islamic extremists in Pakistan.
 
2002: A videotape was released titled “The Slaughter of the Spy-Journalist, the Jew Daniel Pearl.” The video shows Pearl's mutilated body, and lasts 3 minutes and 36 seconds.


2004: Bassam al-Asker, one of the murdering terrorists who hijacked the Achille Lauro was erroneously reported to have died today.  (As of 2007, he was supposedly living in Lebanon having spent 14 years training terrorists in Iraq.)

 
2006: The Jewish author E. L. Doctorow was named the winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. The winning work was "The March" (Random House), his best-selling novel about Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's devastating march through the Confederate South, The Associated Press reported. Mr. Doctorow, who also won the 1990 Pen/Faulkner Award for "Billy Bathgate," will receive a prize of $15,000 from the Washington-based organization, which is "committed to building audiences for exceptional literature and bringing writers together with their readers."

 
2006: Wafa Sultan, an American author and critic of Muslim society and Islam who trained as a psychiatrist in Syria took part in Al Jazeera's weekly 45-minute discussion program The Opposite Direction. She criticized Muslims for treating non-Muslims differently, and for not recognizing the accomplishments of Jewish and other members of non-Muslim society while using their wealth and technology. Her comments, especially a pointed criticism that "no Jew has blown himself up in a German restaurant", brought her invitation to Jerusalem by the American Jewish Congress.

 
2006(23rd of Shevat, 5766):  Abraham Lopez Cardozo passed away at the age of 91.  The New York cantor was known for his efforts to preserve the music of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews (As reported by Ari L. Goldman)

 
2007: Haaretzreported that only 19,264 people immigrated to Israelin 2006, down nine percent from 2005. It is the lowest number of immigrants recorded since 1988.
 
2008: In New York, Susannah Heschel presents a lecture entitled “Biblical Scholarship and the Rise of Racism.” An esteemed scholar—and the daughter of Abraham Joshua Heschel— Dr. Heschel takes a fascinating look at the modern history of biblical scholarship.

 
2009: Shabbat Shekalim – Sabbath of the Shekel (5769)

 
2009: Two and a half weeks after United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon discovered five rockets ready to be launched toward Israel, a Katyusha rocket slammed into the western Galilee near the town of Ma'alot this morning, lightly wounding three people.

 


2009: The 92nd Street Y presents “It Started With a Dream: David Zippel—Lyrics He Wrote, Lyrics He Wishes He Wrote”during which the Jewish Tony Award-winner and multiple Oscar, Emmy and Grammy award nominee  presents highlights from his own scores and shares his inspirations and personal favorites from the iconic Songbook canon.  

 
2009: The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus, who leads a small congregation in suburban Chicago, will become the second woman to head the rabbinical assembly of Judaism’s liberal Reform movement. Dreyfus, 57, is to be installed as president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis on February 28 in Jerusalem and will begin her tenure in Israel.

2010: Family, students and friends, including American historians Jonathan Sarna and Kimmy Caplan will gather at 7 p.m. at Jerusalem’s Yedidiya Synagogue for a memorial symposium marking the 40th anniversary of the death of Rabbi Geffen, who for 60 years was considered the dean of the Southern Orthodox rabbinate in the US.

 
2010: The Jewish Agency for Israel is scheduled to open its three-day long meeting today in Jerusalem.  The meeting had originally been scheduled to be held in St. Petersburg (Russia, not Florida.)

 
2010: The Israeli Ballet is scheduled to perform Don Quixote, at the Walt Whitman Theatre in Brooklyn, NY.

 
2010:A man hurled a suitcase containing a makeshift bomb at Cairo's main downtown synagogue in the early hours this morning, causing no injuries or damage, police said.

 

2010: The Washington Postfeatured a review of Pulitzer:A Life in Politics, Print, and Power by James McGrath Morris, a biography about the Hungarian born Jewish immigrant who changed the face of American journalism.

 
2011: The movies scheduled to be shown today at the Atlanta Jewish Film touch a wide range of Jewish emotions and themes since they include Diary of Anne Frank and American Tail, an animated film about “the immigrant adventure of Russian-Jewish mice that flee persecution in pursuit of the American dream.”

 
2011: Israeli pianist Idith Meshulam is scheduled to perform the second annual Music Of Now Marathon in New York City.

 
2011: Suez Canal officials said today that two Iranian naval vessels were expected to start their passage through the strategic waterway early tomorrow.

 
2012: Sue Eckstein is scheduled to discuss her latest novel “Interpreters” in London as part of Jewish Book Week.


 
2012: Pam Fox is scheduled to discuss “A Place to Call My Jewish Home: Memories of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue 1911-2011” in London as part of Jewish Book Week.


 
2012: Joshua Cohen, Ruth Franklin and Adam Kirsch are scheduled to participate in “In the Beginning Were Words: The Greatest Jewish Books” at the 92nd St Y in Manhattan


 
2012:IDF and Israel Police forces conducting anti-smuggling operations foiled a potential terrorist attack when they discovered a powerful explosive device being brought into the country.

 


2012: As tensions in Israel continue to rise due to threat of a nuclear Iran, the deputy head of the Islamic Republic's armed forces was quoted by a semi-official news agency as saying today that Iran would take preemptive action against its enemies if it felt its national interests were endangered
http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=258731


 
2013: In London, The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide is scheduled to mark LGBT history month with a “screening two of the earliest sympathetic depictions of same-sex attraction in the history of cinema” which “were created in the German Weimar Republic.”

 
2013:The Center for Jewish History and Leo Baeck Institute is scheduled to present a concert, “The Best of the Classics.”

 
2013: In New York, Temple Shaaray Tefila is scheduled to host a Klezmer Jam.

 
2013(11thof Adar, 2013): Fast of Esther

 
2013:Three men were found guilty today of planning a “spectacular bombing campaign” in the UK, including an attack on a synagogue.

 
2013: Today President Shimon Peres exhorted the European Union and its member states to place Hezbollah on their terror lists, and warned Lebanon against initiating violence against Israel.

 
2014: Congregation Har Tzeon-Agudath Achim in Silver Spring, MD is scheduled to host “Rockin’ Moroccan Shabbat Dinner” this evening.

 
2014: In Iowa City, Avremel and Chaya Blesofsky invite the community to attend the brit of their son.

 

This Day, February 22, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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February 22



1290 BCE:  The coronation of Ramses II, who, according to some, is the Pharaoh of the Exodus. Since the Bible does not mention the Pharaoh by name, Ramses is not the only candidate.  In addition to which, there is some debate among Egyptologist as to when Ramses actually came to power.  According to some, his reign began in 1297 BCE. 


1040: On the secular calendar birthdate of Rashi ישר, an acronym for Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac or Shlomo Yitzchaki.  Rashi was one of the greatest commentators on the TaNaCh and the Talmud.Rashi was born at Troyes, Champagne, northern France, in 1040 and died there in 1104 or 1105. He was reputedly descended from the Davidic line with lineage to the royal house of King David. He studied at Worms under Yaakov ben Yakar, and at Mainz under Isaac ben Judah. He returned to Troyes at age 25, probably serving as Rabbi and “religious judge.”  According to the Dictionary of Jewish Biography, as a judge and a rabbi, “he was unpaid…and he earned his living from the vineyards that he is reported to have owned.” [Editor’s note: Like Maimonides, Rashi followed the admonitions that he who makes a spade of the Torah shall perish and calling upon people to work for a living as well as studying Torah.]  About 1070 he founded a Yeshiva which attracted many disciples. According to tradition Rashi earned his living as a vintner and/or as a wine merchant. Although there are many legends about his travels, Rashi likely never went farther than from the Seine to the Rhine - the utmost limit of his travels was the Yeshivot of Lorraine. Rashi had no sons, only three daughters, Yocheved, Miriam and Rachel, all of whom married scholars. Yocheved married Meir ben Samuel, Miriam married Judah ben Nathan (see above), and Rachel married (and divorced) Eliezer ben Shemiah. Yocheved and Meir's four sons were the tosafists Shmuel (Rashbam), Yaakov (Rabbeinu Tam), Yitzchak (Ribbam), and the grammarian Shlomo; one of their daughters, Channah, wrote a responsum explaining the ritual and blessing for the Shabbat lights. Besides minor works, such as an edition of the Siddur (Prayer-Book), Rashi wrote two great commentaries on which his fame rests. These were the commentaries on the whole of the TaNaCh (Hebrew Bible) and on about thirty tractates of the Talmud. Rashi's works are so well respected that he is often cited simply as "the Commentator." His commentaries are of interest to secular scholars because he tended to translate unfamilar words into the spoken French of his day. As such, his commentaries offer an interesting insight into the vocabulary and pronunciation of Old French. The authors of the Dictionary of Jewish Biography and The New Encyclopedia of Judaismagree that “although Troyes (Rashi’s city of residence) was untouched by the First Crusade of 1096…the last years of his life were saddened by the devastation that the Crusaders brought to bear on “defenseless Jewish communities of the Rhineland” in general and “the disasters which had befallen his own colleagues.


 Commentary on the TaNaCh


Rashi's commentary on the TaNaCh is very thorough, and is used to understand both the plain meaning of the TaNaCh and the interpretation of the medieval rabbis. His commentary is often used in basic, intermediate, and advanced studies of the TaNaCh. There are a small number of commentaries that bear his name that were not authored by him, but by his students. Rashi's commentary on the Torah has become an indispensable part of the framework of Orthodox Judaism - tens of thousands, men and women alike, daily study "Chumash with Rashi" (Chumash = Pentateuch + corresponding portions from the Prophets) in reviewing the Parsha to be read on the next Shabbat. Rashi's explanation of Chumash, clarifies the "simple" meaning of the text so that a bright child of five could understand it. At the same time, it is the crucial foundation of some of the most profound legal analysis and mystical discourses that came after it. Since its publication, this commentary has been included as a standard in almost all Chumashim produced within the Orthodox community. Supercommentaries on this work include Gur Aryeh by Rabbi Judah Loew (Maharal), Sefer ha-Mizrachi by Rabbi Elijah Mizrachi (Re'em) and Yeri'ot Shlomo by Rabbi Solomon Luria (Maharshal). Almost all later commentaries will discuss Rashi either bringing His view as a support or debating it


Commentary of the Talmud


Rashi also wrote the first comprehensive commentary of the Talmud. His commentary attempts to provide a full explanation of the words, and of the logical structure of each Talmudic passage. Unlike other commentators, Rashi does not paraphrase or exclude any part of the text, but carefully elucidates the whole of the text. He also exerted a decisive influence on establishing the correct text of the Talmud. He compared different manuscripts and determined which readings should be preferred. His work became such a standard that it is included in all printed versions of the Talmud.


Rashi's Talmud commentary is always situated towards the middle of the opened book display; i.e. on the side of the page closest to the binding. The semi-cursive font in which the commentaries are printed is often referred to as "Rashi script." This does not mean that Rashi himself used such a script, only that the printers standardly employ it for commentaries. Daniel Bomberg, a Christian printer from Venice, introduced "Rashi script" in his publication of Rashi's commentary on the Tanakh in 1517. Rashi's commentary, which covers almost all of the Babylonian Talmud, has been printed in every version of the Talmud since the first Italian printings. Rashi did not compose commentaries for every tractate of the Babylonian Talmud. Some of the printed commentaries which are attributed to him were composed by others, primarily his students. In some commentaries, the text indicates that Rashi died before completing the tractate, and that it was completed by a student. This is true of the tractate Makkot, the concluding portions of which were composed by his son-in-law Rabbi Judah ben Nathan and of Bava Batra finished (in a more detailed style) by his grandson, Rabbi Samuel ben Meir (also known as the Rashbam), one of the prominent contributors to the Tosafot.


“Rashi’s responsa (replies to inquiries on matters of Jewish law) …are characterized by liberality and humility…He ruled that it is permissible to interrupt the grace after meals to fee ones animals, basing the decision other scriptural injunction for a man to feed his animals before himself.  On one occasion he told his questioner, ‘I was asked this question before but I realize that my answer then was wrong and I welcome the opportunity to correct my mistake.’”  There are places in his commentaries where admits that he does not understand the meaning.  “Of this I do not know.” 


Rashi in his own words:


“Any plan formulated in a hurry is foolish.”


“Be sure to ask your teacher his reasons and his sources.”


“Teachers learn from their sudent’s discussions.”


“A student of laws who does not understand their meaning or cannot explain their contradictions is just a basket full of books.”


“Do not rebue your fellow man so as to shame him in public.”


“To obey out of love is better than to obey out of fear.”


“”All the 613 commandments are included in the Decalogue.”


1217(6thof Adar, 4977):Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg passed away. Born in 1140 in Speyer, he was also called He-Hasid or 'the Pious' in Hebrew and was the initiator of the Chassidei Ashkenaz, a movement of Jewish mysticism in Germany. “This movement is considered different from kabbalistic mysticism because it emphasizes specific prayer and moral conduct. Judah settled in Regensburg in 1195. He wrote Sefer Hasidim (Book of the Pious) and Sefer Hakavod (Book of Glory). The latter has been lost and is only known by quotations that other authors have made from it. His most prominent students were Elazar Rokeach and Moses ben Jacob of Coucy.



1288: Papacy of Nicholas IV began. Like many medieval popes, Nicholas IV displayed a mixed attitude toward the Jews. On the one hand, he issued various instructions (1288) to the inquisitors to proceed against *Conversos and he renewed earlier legislation concerning the Jews in Portugal, compelling them to wear a *badge. On the other hand, he specifically protected the Jews of Rome from being molested by Christians (January 1291). He wrote to Emperor Rudolph requesting the release of *Meir b. Baruch of Rothenburg from prison. There is a belief that he enlisted the services of the Jewish physician and scholar Isaac b. Mordecai Maestro Gaio, who also attended Boniface VIII and who was the first of the Italian Jewish papal physicians. (As described in the Jewish Virtual Library)


1349: In Zurich, Switzerland, the town council tried to protect the Jews of the town, they were forced to give in to the mob, resulting in the murder of many of the Jewish inhabitants. The Jews were then forced to leave.


1455: Birthdate of Johann Von Reuchlin the German linguist who came to the defense of the Jews when Dominican Friars led by Johann Pfefferkorn sought imperial support to destroy a vast array of Jewish books.


1475: The first known Hebrew book, a copy of the TaNaCh, was printed in Italy.


1495: King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne.  Following the expulsion from Spain, Jews had found refuge in Naples thanks to King Ferdinand of Naples.  When Ferdinand died his son Alfonso replaced him on the throne.  Charles deposed Alfonso.  During his short lived reign over the Italian city, the situation of the Jews worsened.  Fortunately, a mixed bag of political and religious leaders drove Charles back to France.  Unfortunately, the Jews of Naples would be expelled from their Italian haven in 1510.


1501: On this day and the following day, two tremendous auto-de-fe's took place in Toledo. A woman prophet and over 100 of her followers were burned. The woman envisioned those Jews who had previously died as martyrs were taken to heaven, and the Jewish Messiah was speedily going to return the Jews to the Promised Land.


1520: Birthdate of Moses Isserles, the Ashkenazic rabbi from Cracow best known for writing HaMapah (The Table Cloth) a “gloss” on The Shulchan Aruch (Set Table) of Joseph Karo.  Karo relied primarily on Sephardic sources. Isserles used Ashkenazic sources to create a table cloth that would cover the set table thus making Caro’s work viable for the large number of Jews living in Northern and Eastern Europe.


1618(27th of Shevat): Rabbi Tanhum Ha-Kohen of Cracow passed away today.


1656: The Jews in New Amsterdam are granted, "A little hook of land situate [sic] outside of this city for a burial place." This cemetery land was located by the Bowery, near Oliver Street in what is now lower Manhattan. It would be another month before Jews were granted the right to own real estate.  Public Jewish worship would not be an accepted matter of fact until the turn of the century.  The establishment of a burial society and cemetery is a matter of major importance for any Jewish community.   It was sign of permanence and belonging.  Following the defeat of the Dutch by the English in 1664, New Amsterdam would become New York. 


1732:  Birthdate of George Washington. Several Jew’s served with Washington during the Revolutionary War.  When Washington was elected President he sent amicable letters to different Jewish communities assuring them that Jews were welcome in the United States.  The tone set by Washington helped to make the American experience different for the Jews than anything they had known in their history. As he said in his famous letter written to the Jews of Newport, “May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants--while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

1755: Benedict XIV issued Beatus Andreas a Papal Bull that confirmed the blood libel as factual. ”The Bull reviewed the cases of ritual murder by Jews, which it explicitly upholds as a fact, and establishes the beatification but not the canonization of Andreas of Rinn and Simon of Trent”



1775: The Jews were expelled from outskirts of Warsaw, Poland.


1781: During the American Revolution Isaac Franks, who had been serving as “forage-master” at West Point, was commissioned as an ensign in the 7thMassachusetts Regiment.  He served in that capacity until 1782 when he resigned due to health problems. 


1788:  Birthdate of German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer.  Schopenhauer has nothing to positive to say about human existence.  For him, life is harsh and cruel.  If this is so obvious, Schopenhauer asks why there are any optimists in the world. Schopenhauer argues that ‘the aggressively optimistic philosophers of the Western World have fallen victim to a vulgar buoyancy which is rooted in the Jewish Tradition!”  In his most famous work The World as Will and Idea the philosopher says Jewish traditional optimism reflects "a self-congratulatory human egoism, which is blind to all except our (own) all too frail human goals and aspirations."


1819: The United States of America and Spain signed the Florida Purchase Treaty which gave the United States complete control over what is now the Sunshine State.  Within 2 years, records show that 30 to 40 Jews lived in northern Florida including Moses Levy a Moroccan born lumber dealer who built a Jewish colony in an area that is now home to the University of Florida.  Abraham Myers, a West Pointer who served during the Seminole Wars was one of the first Jews to live in south Florida.


1820: Birthdate of Elizabeth D. A. Cohen, who would become the first practicing female physician in Louisiana. Born in New York City and educated at the Philadelphia College of Medicine, Cohen practiced medicine in New Orleans, LA.  She passed away on May 28, 1921 and was buried in the Gates of Prayer Cemetery on Canal Street.


1828: In Vilnius, Abraham Bar Lebensohn and his wife gave birth to the Hebrew poet Micah Joseph Lebensohn. His brother-in-law Joshua Steinberg who was an author in his own right and functionary in the Russian government translated some of his Hebrew works into German.


1840:  Birthdate of August Bebel, a German social democrat and founder of the Social Democrat Party of Germany.  The non-Jewish Bebel was committed to the concept of the brotherhood of man and one of his famous statements was, "Anti-Semitism is the socialism of fools."


1847: In Germany, M.A. and Sophia Stern gave birth to Louis Stern.  After moving the family moved to Albany, Louis was sent to Petersburg, W. Va. “to learn the rudiments of merchandizing in the small store of any uncle after which he moved to New York where he and his brothers – Isaac, Bernard and Benjamin - opened the dry goods store that became known as Stern Brothers, that classier than Wanamakers and B. Altman’s but never quite reached the level of Lord & Taylor or Bonwit Teller.


1848: Beginning of the “The Third French Revolution” which replaced Citizen King Louis Philippe with the Second Republic.

 
1850: Birthdate of Isaac L Rice.  The German born Rice taught at Columbia University and is the namesake for its Rice Stadium.  As a businessman he played a key role in the development of submarines.  He was a famous chess player and the inventor of the Rice Gambit.

1852: Martin Beir, the secretary and treasurer of the Milton Clark Company, an insurance agency in Rochester, NY married 17 year old Clara Hirsch, the daughter of Wolf and Eva Hirsch. (Clara passed away at the age of 39 and Beir never remarried.  In 1898, he was chosen to head B’nai B’rith for the state of New York.


1853: Founding of Eliot Seminary in St. Louis which would become Washington University. According to recently published figures Wash U has 2,000 Jewish undergraduates who are 33% of the student population. This helps to rank it as number 11 on a list of the 30 private schools Jews choose.

http://www.stlouishillel.org/



1855: The New York Times reported that a concert designed to raise funds for the Hebrew Benevolent Society is scheduled to be held at the Dodsworth Academy.


1855:  Pennsylvania State University is founded.  Today Penn State has approximately 4,000 Jewish undergraduate and graduate students out of a total student population of over 40,000.  The university offers approximately 45 Jewish Studies courses.  Penn State offers both a major and a minor in Jewish studies.


1856: The Republican Party holds its first national meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Early Jewish Republican supporters included Sabato Morais, Rabbi of Philadelphia’s Mikveh Israel Congregation; Moritz Pinner, a German born editor of an abolitionist paper who would fight in the Union Army during the Civil War; Louis Naphtali Dembitz, a Louisville lawyer whose nephew would become the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice.  Jews were drawn to the Republican Party because of its anti-Slavery stance.  Ironically, another group drawn to the Republican Party were members of the short-lived American Party, also called “The Know-Nothing” Party.  The Know-Nothings were natavist who were opposed to the swelling tide of immigration, a belief that included more than just a whiff of anti-Semitism.


1857: Birthdate German born physicist Heinrich Hertz. He was the first one to broadcast and receive radio waves.  The unit of measure “hertz” is named for him.  Hertz was born into a Jewish family that converted to Christianity.  The German Jewish community was devastated two times: first by conversions in the 19thcentury and then by the Final Solution in the 20th century.  One wonders how many of those who perished in the latter were from families who had participated in the former.


1859: Ephraim Alex, the Overseer of the Great Synagogue secured the adoption of the following resolutions designed to help “the strange and foreign poor”:


(1) That it is highly expedient that the relief of the strange poor be managed by a Board of Guardians constituted of delegates from the three City Uniting Congregations.


(2) That the following gentlemen be appointed the delegates of this Board with power to meet the delegates appointed by the other two congregations and make such arrangements with them for one year as shall seem most desirable to effect the desired object, viz., Messrs. E. Alex, Samuel Moses, Lewis Jacobs, S. A. Jonas, Joseph Lazarus, Jacob Waley, M.A., and Lionel L. Cohen.


(3) That £220 be placed at the disposal of such Board of Guardians for one year to be paid in monthly instalments.


(4) That the Secretary of the Synagogue do attend the meetings of the Board of Guardians when requested and finish all information, books or documents bearing on the relief of the strange poor.


1860: The New York Times reported that “The community of Kingston, which is composed chiefly of Jews, have been making contributions for the relief of their suffering brethren of Morocco. They have managed to collect large sums in spite of the prevailing poverty.”


1861: Bell & Daly announced the forthcoming publication of The Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, by Isaac Taylor


1861: According to reports sent from Paris today, the arrest of Jules Mires has threatened the stability of the Credit Mobilier.  It is expected that when word of his arrest reaches Constantinople, ruinous panic will set in since investors there hold a glut of paper tied to his financial activities.


1865:The Richmond Examinerdescribed the condition of Charleston, SC when it fell to Union forces under the command of General Sherman. According to the Examiner, all that the Yankees found was “the abandoned hull of Charleston” inhabited by “a few Jews” and “some telegraph operators.”


1871:Dr. Henry W. Schneeberger received his formal rabbinical ordination from Dr. Hildesheimer. In the document of ordination Dr. Hildesheimer testified to Henry’s high moral character and to his devotion to Judaism. He also wrote, “He is worthy to be crowned with the crown of Morenu Horav [Our Teacher, the Rabbi].” “Thus equipped with the rabbinic title and with the university degree, he lost no time and hurried home to try out for a rabbinical post. Only three weeks after his ordination in Berlin, he preached at the synagogue where he had delivered his very first sermon, at the Rodeph Shalom Synagogue on Clinton Street in New York City.” Rabbi Dr. Henry W) Schneeberger was the First American Born, University Educated, Orthodox Ordained Rabbi in America (As reported by Dr. Yitzchok Levine).


1872: “Galicia’s Demands” published today described conditions in this portion of Austria that became part of the empire as a result of the partition of Poland.  According to the article, the Poles are in the majority.  However, the Germans and the Jews, who are in the minority “are far ahead of the Poles” “in money and intelligence.” Due to the electoral system, the Poles are the dominate force and the Germans and the Jews are underrepresented in the Diet.


1876: In New York City, a Polish Jew was arraigned on charges of cruelty to animals.  According to the arresting officer, Siwaski roasted a rat after he had caught in a wire cage trap. 


1876:  Johns Hopkins University was founded in Baltimore, Maryland.  Today, the elite school has approximately 750 Jewish students out of a student population of 6,500.  The university offers 45 courses in Jewish Studies and a major in Jewish Studies.



1878: It was reported today that Rabbi Maruice Treichenberg, who had served as the spiritual leader for the Greene-Street Synagogue, has passed away in Denver, Colorado.


1880: In New York, a meeting is scheduled to be held this afternoon at the Sons of Israel Synagogue to evaluate charges by Jewish butchers that they are being forced to violate Halachah by the wholesalers who employ them.  According to the butchers, the wholesalers are having them keep meat for a period longer than that allowed by law and they are not allowed to warn their customers about this.  The wholesalers deny the allegations.


1880: Professor Felix Adler delivered a lecture today on the subject of “Catholicism and Liberty” in which he took issue with the view of Cardinal Manning. Speaking on behalf of the Church, Manning has taken issue with the concept of the equality of man and the theory that government’s authority is derived from the will of the people


1882: The SS Illinois a ship carrying Jewish refugees from Russia is expected to arrive in Philadelphia, PA today.  The 50 Jewish families are escaping the violent attacks now going on the Czar’s domain.  A committee of prominent Christians including the Mayor and leading Jews has developed plans to care for the refugees including lodging, food and job placement.


1882: Philadelphia’s May King received an offer today from Calvin Jones of Charlotte, NC, offering 40 acres to each of the 50 Jewish refugee families. The land is located in Alexander and Wlikes counties and is described as well watered and suited for growing wheat, corn and tobacco.


1882: In London, Sir Alexander T. Galt, the Resident Minister in Great Britain of the Dominion of Canada, recommended that Russian Jews immigrate to Manitoba while he was attending a meeting of the Lord Mayor’s Jewish Fund Committee.


1884:  Birthdate of boxing Hall of Famer Abraham “Abe” Attell.  Known as “The Little Hebrew,” Attell was Featherweight Champion from 1901 until 1912.  He gained additional notoriety and ignominy as one of the figures alleged to have fixed the 1919 World Series.  Supposedly Attell was the one who actually passed the ten thousand dollars to several White Sox players to guarantee that they would throw the Fall Classic.


1887: The Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society opened a new facility “for infants and boys over six years old” at 11th Avenue between 150th and 151st Street in New York.


1887: Henry M. Stanley who had been designated as the leader of the expedition charged with rescuing the apostate Jew Emin Pasha arrived at Zanzibar.


1890: Tonight’s celebration of Washington’s Birthday sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association which will take place at the Hebrew Free School Building will include a speech by Rabbi Rudolph Grossman.


1890:  Birthdate of Ukrainian born British pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch.


1890: Menachem Ussishkin one of the originators of BILU, founded the Odessa Committee. The Committee was dedicated to the practical exponent of the Hovevei Zion movement, in establishing agricultural settlements in Eretz-Israel. Ussishkin later served as President of the Jewish National Fund. He was one of the few early Zionist leaders who actually settled in Eretz-Israel.


1891: Birthdate of "Chico" Marx one of the Marx Brothers.  A couple of his more famous films included “Animal Crackers” and “A Night at the Opera.”


1892: As New York City dealt with an outbreak of Tyhus that had been traced to recent arriving immigrants thirty-two year old Solomon Zabalzki and forty-two yeard old Rachel Hesselberg were among those who taken to North Brother Island where those thought to be infected were kept under quarantine.


1892: Sixty year old Esther Goodman, Robert Goodman and Sarah Goodman were rescued by firemen when a fire broke out this morning at their apartment in Brooklyn, NY,


1892: It was reported today that “the Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfort and Konigsberg Jewish Relief Committees” will be meeting “to consider the refusal of America to receive Russian Jewish immigrants brought by North German Lloyd steamers.”


1892: Birthdate of David Dubinsky one of a veritable army of American Jews who became leaders in the American labor movement.  Born in Russia, Dubinsky began working the United States in 1911 as a cloak cutter.  Two decades later he had risen to the presidency of the International Ladies Garment Union.  The ILGU was a force for social and labor progress that helped end sweatshops and improve the lot of American workers.  Dubinksy was honored with an American Medal for Freedom.  He died in 1982 at the age of 90.
 
1894: The 14th annual reception sponsored by the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society was held at the asylum’s facility on 151st Street.


1895: Captain Dreyfus began the journey that would take him to prison in French Guyana


1897: Amos J. Cummings will deliver a lecture today on “Horace Greeley” as part of the free lecture course offered at the Hebrew Institute.


1897: The Young Ladies and Gentlemen’s League will host a reception today in honor of George Washington’s Birthday at the Montefiore Home.


1897: The Jewish Alliance will host a reception today at Temple Emanu-El on 5thAvenue in honor George Washington’ Birthday.


1897: “Lehman Gift Accepted” published today provided details of the decision of the Board of Trustees of the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society to accept the gift of $100,000 from Emanuel Lehmnan that will serve as an endowment for a fund that will benefit those who had been under the care of the society and were now out on their own.


1898: The managers of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society will host their annual reception in honor of George Washington’s Birthday between 3 and 5 this afternoon.


1898: The Young Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s League of the Montefiore Home will host their fourth annual reception this afternoon in honor of George Washington’s Birthday.


1901: Over the next three days, Herzl writes letters to Zionists in France, Italy, England and America for parliamentary intervention against immigration restrictions in Palestine. He considers transferring the center of his action to London but drops the plan because he does not want to separate from his parents.


1902: Herzl travels to Munich and meets the banker Reitlinger. Herzl proposes the Turkish suggestion of Jewish immigration to Asia Minor and Mesopotamia and the exploitation of mines. Reitlinger considers the matter too costly, risky and unsafe.


1903: Boutros Ghali writes the conditions for the Jewish settlement in Sinai.


1907: Birthdate of actor, director and producer Sheldon Leonard.


1910: Birthdate of Sophie Melvin, the native of the Ukraine who gained fame as social activist Sophie Gerson (As reported by Deborah Gerson and Tim Wheeler)

1914: Birthdate of Dr. Renato Dulbecco, the Italian born virologist who shared a Nobel Prize in 1975 for his role in drawing a link between genetic mutations and cancer. During World War II, Dulbecco served as a medical officer in the Italian Army. When the train taking him to the Russian front “stopped in Warsaw, he saw railway laborers wearing yellow stars. When he asked about them, he was told that the workers were Jews who would be killed when their work was done. He was horrified.” According to him seeing this was life changing moment which may account for the fact that he deserted from the Italian Army and spent the rest of the war providing medical assistance to the resistance fighters in and around Torino.(As reported by Denise Gellene)


1915: The second day of the 23rd annual meeting of the American Jewish Historical Society will include another series of literary presentations and a business meeting that will include the election of officers.


1916: Elinor “Ellie” Fatman the daughter of Morris and Settie Fatman who had been teaching at the Henry Street Settlement House since 1913 proposed to Henry Morgenthau, Jr. in Central Park.(As reported by Edna S. Friedberg)


1917(30th of Shevat, 5677): Rosh Chodesh Adar


1918: Colonel John Henry Patterson led the Jewish Legion, the unit he commanded on parade down Whitechapel Road.


1920: The New Orleans Times-Picayunepublished an interview with Elizabeth D.A. Cohen, the first practicing female physician in Louisiana, her 100th birthday.


1922: Birthdate of Sammy Hershkovitz, the Romanian born Jew who made Aliyah at the age of 2 and gained fame as Sammy Ofer, the Israeli international shipping magnate, philanthropist and art collector who headed a family ranked as the richest in Israel. (As reported by Isabel Kershner)

 
1922 (24th of Shevat, 5682): Aaron David (A.D.) Gordon passed away.Gordon, a Hebrew writer and philosopher of the “religion of Labor,” was considered the ideological pillar of the kibbutz movement. Born in 1856 in Russia he only came to Eretz Israel at the age of 48. Neither his age nor health impeded his drive to work in agriculture .He helped found Kibbutz Degania in 1909. Gordon's philosophy included a call to a return to “Nature.” He believed that the self-improvement of each individual rather than external changes such as espoused by Marxism was the way to change Jewish destiny.

1925: Birthdate of the American poet Gerald Stern.  The Pineys, his first collection was published in 1971.  During the 1990’s he published Leaving Another Kingdom, and Odd Mercy.


1925(28th of Shevat): Poet and author Mrs. Radcliffe N. Salomon (Nina David) passed away


1931(5th of Adar): Poet and novelist Menahem Mendel Dolitzky passed away today.


1933: Birthdate of Gideon Patt, a Sabra who served in the Nahal Brigade, earned a BA from NYU before pursuing a career in politics that included service in the Knesset and several cabinet posts.


1933: Adolf Hitler made his private para-military units,  the SS and the SA, part of Germany’s police force.


1934: Bishop Hermann Wilhelm Berning of Osnabrück ordered all churches in his diocese to display the Nazi’s swastika flag on patriotic occasions alongside standard church flags


1936:This morning Arturo Toscanini accepted an invitation to conduct the opening concert of the newly organized Palestine Symphony Orchestra on next October 24 at Tel-Aviv.



1937(11thof Adar, 5697): Sixty-seven year old Astronomer J. Ernest G. Yalden who spent 25 years directing a “trade school funded by the Trustees of the Baron de Hirsch Fund passed away




 

1941: In Paris, Theodore Dannecker, the SS officer in charge of bringing the Final Solution to France reported approvingly that “The French inspectors formed and instructed in collaboration with our section for Jewish affairs today constitute an elite body as well as training cadres for Frenchmen to be drafted in the future to the anti-Jewish police.”  The “French inspectors” worked for the agency that “transferred” the over 20,000 Jewish businesses into the hands of Frenchmen sympathetic to the Third Reich.  “The anti-Jewish police” referred to the Frenchmen who would round up French Jews and ship them off to the death camps. 


1941: The Nazi SS began rounding up Jews of Amsterdam.


1942(5th of Adar, 5702): In Brazil, author Stefan Zwieg and his second wife Lotte (néeCharlotte Elisabeth Altmann) committed suicide together in Petrópolis using the barbiturate Verol. Filled with a sense of despair at the future of Europe and its culture, he wrote, "I think it better to conclude in good time and in erect bearing a life in which intellectual labor meant the purest joy and personal freedom the highest good on earth."


1942:Wanda Landowska performed Bach's Goldberg Variations at New York City's Town Hall. It was the first 20th-century performance of this work on the harpsichord. The Polish born Jewess who sought refuge from the Nazis first in France and then the United States is credited with reviving harpsichord music in the 20th century,


1942: Lord Moyne completed his service as Secretary State for the Colonies. Moyne was a close personal friend of Churchill, who as Deputy Resident Minister of State in Cairo took part in the interrogation of Joel Brand when a response was being crafted to Eichmann’s “Blood for Truck” proposal.  Moyne would be murdered by Lehi in 1944.


1943(17th of Adar 1, 5703): At Auschwitz, the Nazis murdered Communist Party member and anti-Fascist fighter Dagobert Biermann  


1943: For the next six days, 10,000 more Jews were deported to Chelmno. All were gassed to death.


1943: “An agreement was signed between the special Nazi envoy sent to facilitate the deportations, Theodor Dannecker and the Bulgarian Commissar for Jewish Affairs, Alexander Belev for the deportation of 20,000 Jews (12,000 from Macedonia and Thrace and 8,000 – from the old territory of Bulgaria).”


1943: Bulgaria agreed to allow the Germans to deport 11,000 Jews. Horrible overcrowding conditions existed in the 20 trains that would transport them. Each day the trains stopped to dump the bodies of those who died during the journey.


1943: Italians countermanded German orders to deport French Jews. Three days later Ribbentrop complained to Mussolini that "Italian military circles. . . lacked a proper understanding of the Jewish question."


1943:Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans and their friend Christoph Probst were found guilty of treason and condemned to death by head judge of the court Roland Freisler. They were beheaded by executioner Johann Reichhart in the Munich-Stadelheim prison only a few hours later at 17:00. The execution was supervised by Dr. Walter Roemer who was the enforcement chief of the Munich district court. Prison officials emphasized the courage with which she walked to her execution.” This trio was part of a small number of genuine anti-Nazi Germans who had worked to bring down the regime.


1943: “Allied military forces marched through the crowded streets of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa today as part of the celebrations of Red Army Day.” [The Red Army referred to is the Soviet Army which was doing the brunt of the fighting against the Germans.]


1944: Dr. Leonardo De Benedetti, Physician and Surgeon and Dr. Primo Levi, Chemist “left the concentration camp at Fossoli di Carpi with a convoy of 650 Jews of both sexes and all ages. They did not know that the trip would end four days later in Auschwitz.


1945(9th of Adar, 5705):Osip Maksimovich Brik “a Russian avant garde writer and literary critic, who was one of the most important members of the Russian formalist school, though he also identified himself as one of the Futurists,” passed away.


1946: The Palmach attacked the Police Tegart fort at Shefa 'Amr with a 200-pound bomb; in the firefight that followed, the Palmach suffered casualties


1946:The British said today that three members of armed Jewish bands had been killed during the series of night attacks on Palestine mobile police camps in which dynamite charges damaged several buildings, vehicles and other facilities last night.


1947: Birthdate of Israeli man of letters Yehonatan Geffen, the native of Nhalal who is the nephew of Moshe Dayan and the father of Aviv, Shira and Natasha Geffen.


1948 As the conflict over the coming partition of Palestine grew, three car bombs arranged by Arab irregulars exploded on Ben Yehudah Street killing 52 Jewish civilians and leaving 123 injured.This was part of the war waged by the Arabs between the partition vote in November, 1947 and the end of the Mandate in 1948.  In the mean time the international community did nothing then or later to enforce its decision to make Jerusalem a city to be governed by an international body.


1948: The Golani Brigade, one of Israeli’s most elite infantry brigades was formed. 


1951: Birthdate of Ellen Greene, the Brooklyn born daughter of a guidance counselor and dentist who has enjoyed a multi-dimensional career performing in nightclubs, on Broadway, in films and television programs including Law & Order, The X Files and Miami Vice.


1958(2nd of Adar, 5718): Movie producer Michael Todd died in plane crash. Born Avron Goldbogen, Todd may be best remembered for an innovation in widescreen film presentation called Todd-A-O.  This widescreen format launched such box office hits as Oklahoma and Around the World in Eighty Days. .  At the time of his death he was married to Elizabeth Taylor.  Reportedly, Taylor had wanted to convert to Judaism.  Todd advised her to take her time and make sure she was doing this for the right reasons.  Taylor took his advice and did not convert until she married her next husband, Eddie Fisher.


1958: Egypt and Syria announced that they were joining together in a new nation, The United Arab Republic.  The UAR was supposed to be the first step in the creation of giant Pan Arab Nation.  The Israelis were concerned because the two enemies now were going to have a one military command which made coordinated military actions against he Jewish state a potentially destructive reality.  The UAR would collapse three years later as the Syrians grew disgusted with the Egyptian attempts to dominate the relationship.  This would not be the first or last time that charismatic leader would try to form a Super Arab and/or Super Moslem state. 


1960: David Susskind produced “A Very Special Baby” this week’s “Play of the Week” co-starring Marion Winters as “Anna” and Larry Blyden as “Joey.”


1965(20th of Adar I, 5725): Felix Frankfurter, Supreme Court Justice passed away.  Born in 1882, Frankfurter was involved in various liberal and unpopular causes including the defense of Sacco and Venzeti.  He was a professor at Harvard Law School.  Many of his students went to work in FDR’s new deal and they were known as “Frankfurters” (for their teacher not the hot dog).  When FDR appointed him to the bench, Frankfurter was the third Jew to serve on the High Court.

1971: Birthdate of Arnon Grunberg, the Dutch born author of Blue Mondays which won the Dutch prize “for the best debut novel” and whose mother survived Auschwitz

 
1972: Paul Grüninger, the Swiss police official who save thousands of Jews following the Anschluss died in poverty today.


1982: New York City Mayor Ed Koch announced his plans to run for governor of New York.  The campaign would be a failure. 


1982(29th of Shevat): Legendary DJ Murray "the K" Kaufman, called the 5th Beatle by some, passed away at the age of 60.


1985(1stof Adar, 5745): Rosh Chodesh


1985 (1st of Adar, 5745): Violinist Efrem A Zimbalist passed away at the age of 95..  Born in Russia, Zimbalist was one of long line of violin virtuosos that included Jascha Heifitz, Yehudi Menuhin and Isaac Stern. Many of you may recognize this name with the word "Junior" after it.  Zimbalist’s son was a minor matinee idol in television and movies who was not Jewish.(As reported by Tim Page)

1986(13th of Adar I, 5746): Soviet PoetBoris Slutsky passed away.

1987(23rdof Shevat): David Susskind passed away at the age of 66. Susskind is best remembered for his pioneering role in late night television.  Susskind hosted a show called Open End, where guests from a variety of walks of life actually discussed issues of the day without a script and with civility. (As reported by Robert D. McFadden)

1989:At a benefit for the Dance Library of Israel, an international dance library and archive in Tel Aviv, Marge Champion presented an award to Agnes de Mille. The presentation took place at a dinner that preceded a benefit performance of “Jerome Robbin’s Broadway.”


1991: "Underground," a new work by the Israeli playwright Joshua Sobol, directed by Adrian Hall, has its world premiere at the Yale Repertory Theater today, directed by Adrian Hall.


1992(18thof Adar I 5752):Avot Yeshurun, an Israeli poet who wove Arabic and Yiddish idiom into a unique and influential form of Hebrew verse, passed away today at the age of 88. No cause of death was given by his family, which announced his death. Born in Ukraine as Yehiel Perlmutter, Mr. Yeshurun made aliyah in 1925, worked as a laborer and began publishing poetry. His family perished in the Holocaust. After Israel was established in 1948, Mr. Yeshurun was one of its first literary figures to acknowledge the plight of the uprooted Palestinians. He saw the Palestinians and the Jews of Europe as having endured a common tragedy, and sought to fuse their experience in the language of his poetry. Although long ignored by the establishment, Mr. Yeshurun was highly regarded by younger poets. His stature was formally recognized a month ago when he was awarded the Israel Prize.


1992:  Barry Diller resigns as CEO of FOX Television Network.


1992: American diplomat Josiah W. Bennett who as a member of the Foreign Service headed the United States Information Service in Tel Aviv passed away.  (Bennett was not Jewish)


1993: New York Judge Judith Kaye is nominated by then-governor Mario Cuomo to become the first female Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals.


1998: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including the recently released paperback editions of Love Invents Us by Amy Bloom and Ira Gershwin: The Art of the Lyricist by Philip Furia.


1998(26th of Shevat, 5758): Distinguished Democratic politician and government official, Abraham Ribicoff passed away.  Ribicoff was Governor of Connecticut, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under John Kennedy and U.S. Senator from 1963 until 1981.


1999(6thof Adar, 5759): Nobel Prize winner Gertrude Elion passed away.

2004: At least eight people were killed in an Arab suicide bombing in Jerusalem. (Does this start to sound repetitious?)


2005(13thof Adar I, 5765): Ninety-six year old German-Jewish American arranger of Broadway hits including Carousel and Sound of Music passed away today. (As reported by Wolfgang Saxon)


2006: The Liberal Party appointed Irwin Cotler Critic for Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness in the opposition shadow cabinet for the 39th Canadian Parliament. “Cotler's wife, Ariela, is a native of Jerusalem and worked as a legislative assistant to the Likud members of the Israeli Knesset from 1967 to 1979.”


2006:French President Jacques Chirac and his prime minister attended a synagogue memorial ceremony for a Jewish man who was kidnapped, tortured and killed.

 

2006(24th of Shevat, 5766):Bernie Weisberg, former national director of Young Judea and the Labor Zionist Alliance, passed away at the age of 82 (As reported by Anthony Weiss)

2008: The Jerusalem Post reported that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has established an unprecedented high-level government task force charged with fundamentally altering the Israel-Diaspora relationship.

 

2008: Israeli officials rejected Arab complaints that they are not committed to a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.  .


2009: In a move intended to improve its relationship with the new wave of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union, the Hebrew Free Burial Association hosted a Russian-Jewish Community event. Established in 1888, HFBA is one of the oldest and largest free burial associations serving the New York Jewish Community.


2009:Music of the Sephardic Diaspora is the focus of a concert in the new Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center when celebrated viola da gambist Jordi Savall and early music ensemble Hespèrion XXI present Diáspora Sefardí: From Medieval Spain to the Eastern Mediterranean.
 
2009:Agudas Achim conducts the first ever Early Passover Pallet Sale in eastern Iowa making it possible for those living in the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids Corridor to buy unique “Kosher for Passover “items including Chocolate Seder Plates, at “discount prices.”


2009: The New York Times features a review of A Hidden Life:A Memoir of August 1969by Johanna Reiss who had won a Newberry Award a quarter of a century ago for The Upstairs Room, her story of survival as a ten year old hiding from the Nazis in occupied Holland.


2009: The now-daily rocket attacks by Gaza terrorists against southern Israel resumed today with the launch of a Kassam rocket at the Sha'ar HaNegev region and a mortar attack fired at IDF troops near the Kissufim Crossing


2009(28th of Shevat, 5769): Howard Zieff, the commercial director and ad photographer who stuffed an actor with spicy meatballs in a memorable Alka-Seltzer spot and used an American Indian in print ads to convince people “You don’t have to be Jewish to love Levy’s real Jewish Rye,” then went on to direct movie comedies, passed away today at the age of 81. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/movies/25zieff.html



 


2010: The Knesset "approved a law instructing the Israeli Government to protect the rights of Jewish refugees from Arab counties in all forthcoming peace negotiations; the first Israeli law to recognize Jews as coming to Israel not only to fulfill Zionist aspirations, but as refugees


2010:The Jewish Studies Program at Tulane University under the leadership of Dr. Brian Horowitz and the Center for Cultural Judaism are scheduled to present a program entitled “The Jewish Question as the Arab Question: The Lost Voice of Simon Rawidowicz” at Tulane’s Uptown Campus in New Orleans, LA.



2010:National police headquarters issued an order today to cease the delivery of mail throughout Israel following the discovery of what is believed to be a package bomb at a post office in Migdal Haemek.

2010:Army Radio reported today that The Palestinian Authority handed a Kassam rocket made in a West Bank village to Israeli authorities last week. According to the report, PA security forces found the rocket ready to be launched towards central Israel.



2010:Israel's ice dancing team at the Winter Olympics finished in 10th place. Roman and Alexandra Zaretsky performed to music from "Schindler's List" in the free dance tonight at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, Canada.

2010:Israeli archaeologists said today that they've discovered an unusually shaped 1,400-year-old wine press that was exceptionally large and advanced for its time. The octagonal press measures 21 feet by 54 feet (6.5 by 16.5 meters) and was discovered in southern Israel, about 40 kilometers south of both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

2010(8th of Adar, 5770):Rabbi Menachem Porush, a long-serving Knesset member and father of current Deputy Education Minister Meir Porush, died in Jerusalem today at the age of 94. Porush, a seventh generation descendent of Lithuanian immigrants, sat in the Knesset for 35 years until 1994 and remained politically active until his death. The son of a deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Porush entered politics through journalism, working as a writer and editor for religious newspapers for two decades until his election to the Knesset in 1959. "He was a great Jew. He was like one of the stone of the Wailing Wall in the Holy City, Jerusalem," President Shimon Peres said on Monday. "Menachem my friend, you were full of vision and hope for the future of the Jewish nation. You loved the nation and worked to unify it. You stood as a bridge between its parts.



2010(8th of Adar, 5770):Steffi Sidney-Splaver, who as a young actress appeared in and then gave up acting to become a Hollywood writer, publicist and producer, passed away today at the age of 74.Born April 16, 1935, in Los Angeles, she was raised on movie lore and the entertainment business. She was the daughter of famed Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky, who observed movie stars and other personalities from his perch at Schwab's Pharmacy on Sunset Boulevard and claimed to have been the first to call the Academy Award statuette "Oscar." A graduate of Fairfax High School, Sidney-Splaver studied at the Actors Lab in Los Angeles. Her first movie role was in "The Eddie Cantor Story," a 1953 film her father produced. Two years later, the dark-haired actress landed the role of Mil in "Rebel Without a Cause," Nicholas Ray's 1955 film about adolescent angst starring James Dean and Natalie Wood. Billed as Steffi Sidney, she played one of the girls in the gang of teenagers tormenting Jim Stark, played by Dean. Decades later, teenagers still gushed about Sidney-Splaver's part in the classic film, she said in a 2000 interview with The Times. "They just flip," she said. "I just find that amazing. They still identify with that movie." A few more movie roles followed, including in "Hold Back Tomorrow" (1955) and "The Hot Angel" (1958). Then she left acting to write for teen magazines Datebook and Tiger Beat and work as a production assistant and associate TV producer. She also produced TV commercials. After she married Splaver in 1985, they formed a public relations agency, Splaver Associates. They moved to Whidbey Island near Seattle in 1998, and she retired in 2003. In addition to her husband, she is survived by her sister, Nina Marsh. A memorial service is planned for 11 a.m. April 16 at Mount Sinai Hollywood Hills, 5950 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles.



2011:Member of Knesset Danny Danon. The Deputy Knesset Speaker, Chairman of the Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee and of World Likud is scheduled to give an address at The OU Israel Center in Jerusalem.



2011: The Round Up,a “drama that tackles the controversial subject of French collusion in the atrocities of the Holocaust” is scheduled to be shown at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.



2011: At the Jerusalem International Book Fair, Galaade Editions and ITHl are scheduled to present: “Sisters, not enemies: Telling the story of Jews and Arabs in Israel in another voice.”


2011: Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is scheduled to perform at Carnegie Hall.


2011:Israel conducted a successful test of the Arrow 2 ballistic missile defense system off the coast of California early this morning, when it destroyed a target simulating an Iranian ballistic missile


2011: Rham Emanuel was elected Mayor of Chicago today, making him the first Jew to hold this position.


2011:Montreal's city council has condemned the boycott campaign against a local shoe store that sells footwear made in Israel. A council motion deploring the campaign, proposed and supported by Mayor Gerard Tremblay, passed today by a vote of 38 to 16.  (As reported by JTA)



2011(18th of Adar, 5771):George Einstein, a cousin, contemporary and occasional companion of Albert Einstein who was a successful inventor and businessman in his own right passed away at the age of 91.
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/articles/sandestin-38619-dies-wednesday.html



2011: Sue Fishkoff described the role of the Jewish community in the conflict between Wisconsin’s Governor Walker and public sector employees.
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/02/23/2743074/wisconsin-jews-react-to-senate-showdown-with-protests-and-no-comment



2011:Nearly 100 orthodox North American rabbis signed a letter demanding  Interior Minister Eli Yishai to “rectify the injustice being done to our converts, ourselves and the Jewish people” and “insure that those individuals whom we convert will automatically be eligible for aliyah as they have been in the past.”

2011:In an effort to curb the trend of Orthodox converts from abroad not being recognized by Israel for citizenship, the Jewish Agency today appealed the Interior Ministry for a more dominant role in identifying established Diaspora communities as such.

2012: “Ahead of Time: The Extraordinary Journey of Ruth Gruber” is scheduled to be shown at Temple Beth Sholom Idelson Library in Sarasota, FL.



2012: In London, Chochana Boukhobza is scheduled to discuss “The Third Day” a novel about two cellists who travel to Jerusalem for a concert, as part of Jewish Book Week.



2012: In London, Rod Arad is scheduled to talk about his passion for marrying unconventional forms with unexpected functions and the sources of his unbridled creativity during Jewish Book Week.



2012: Publication of “The Jewish Community of Harbin, China”
http://audreyfm.wordpress.com/tag/prof-dan-ben-canaan/



2012:Iran may develop inter-continental missiles that can reach the east coast of the United States in two to three years, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said in a CNBC interview today.

 


2012: Israel Beiteinu will propose an alternative to the Tal Law by which "everyone will serve the state," Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said today..



2013: The Israeli Opera’s Meitar Opera Studio is scheduled to present The Operas of Donizetti at the Eden Tamir Music Center


2013: In Springfield, VA, Congregation Adat Reyim is scheduled to host a wine and cheese reception along with a Shabbat Folk Service “celebrating the anniversary of Debbie Friedman’s birth.”


2013: Palestinian protests in Jerusalem and the West Bank turned violent today, with demonstrators throwing stones at Israeli security forces at several locations.


2014: In Iowa City, Hillel under the leadership of Director Jerry Sorkin  is scheduled to host its annual fundraising concert featuring University of Iowa School of Music faculty members, Kenneth Tse (saxophone), Alan Huckleberry (piano), and Scott Conklin (violin), along with a quartet of School of Music graduate students.


2014: The DPJCC's 14th Annual Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to close with the showing of “Orchestra of Exiles”


2014: Friends and family of Cyndie Birchansky, whose accomplishments include raising three really neat children, look forward to celebrating her natal day.


2014: The Red Door is scheduled to host “Waiting Room” an evening curated by Leah Wolff and Guy Ben-Ari.


 


 



 

This Day, February 23, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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February 23



42: King Agrippa I began the construction of a gate for the of Jerusalem

68: During the Great Revolt, Vespasian occupied the city of Gadara as the legions made their slow, inexorable march to Jerusalem.


1422:  During the conflict between the Hussites and the Dominicans, Pope Martin V issued a Bull favorable to the Jews reminding Christians that their religion had been inherited from the Jews.  “The pope forbade the monks to preach against intercourse between Jews and Christians.”


1447 Pope Eugenius IV passed away. In speaking about the Jews, Eugenius declared “We decree and order that from now on, and for all time, Christians shall not eat or drink with the Jews, nor admit them to feasts, nor cohabit with them, nor bathe with them. […]  They cannot live among Christians, but in a certain street, separated and segregated from Christians, and outside which they cannot under any pretext have houses.”


1455:  Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed from movable type.  This revolution in publishing was one of the most liberating events in Western history.  Some say that it really marked the beginning of the Modern Intellectual Era of Western Civilization.  Soon books would be printed Hebrew giving the People of the Book greater access to books thus further democratizing the concept of learning which is a cornerstone of Jewish civilization.  The chapter and verse system finally took hold in copies of the Torah (books not the Scroll itself) as a result of the printing revolution.


1484: Over this day and the next, 30 men and women were burned alive, as well as the bones of 40 others at the Inquisitional Tribunal of Ciudad Real.


1592: Emperor Rudolph II invited Rabbi Judah ben Bezalel Lowe, known as the Maharal of Prague to his castle. The two men met for an hour and a half during with they “developed a mutual respect for each other. Rabbi Judah Lowe made use of his excellent connections with the Emperor, often intervening on behalf of his community when it was threatened by anti-Semitic attacks or oppression. (As reported by Chabad Knowledge Base)


1658: Jacob (John) Lumbrozo, the first doctor in Maryland was tried for having, "Denied Jesus of Nazareth…." Lumbrozo was convicted, sentenced to death, and was to have all his property confiscated by the government. He was later freed from these penalties. Lumbrozo was born in Portugal. He then moved to Hollandand finally settled in Marylandin 1656.


1685: Birthdate of composer George Frideric Handel.  In 1718, he wrote the oratorio “Esther” which was based on Racine’s 1689 tragic drama of the same name. Two of his other oratorios were “Deborah” based on the life of the Biblical Judge and “Athalia,” an operatic treatment of the life of the murderous Jewish Queen.


1723: Birthdate of Richard Price, the non-conformist minster who held the lectureship at Old Jewry, the Presbyterian meeting house built on the site of London’s original Jewish neighborhood.


1734: Birthdate of Mayer Amschel Rothschild in Frankfort.  A banker in Frankfort, Mayer Amschel became the chief investor for the ruler of the Germanic state of Hesse-Cassel.  This was the start of the famous House of Rothschild.  Mayer Amshel's five sons would establish branches throughout Europe.  This great banking family would be the source of philanthropy and power for Jews in many parts of the world over the coming centuries.  Their rise to power will make for fascinating reading when reach the study of European Jewry.  Mayer Amschel died in 1812.


1777: Birthdate of Leopold Bettelheim, the Hungarian physician who “was the recipient of a gold medal of honor from the emperor Franz I. for distinguished services to the royal family and to the nobility.”


1807: The British Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of abolition of the slave trade. This victory was due in large measure to the decades’ long efforts of William Wilberforce. This is the same William Wilberforce who helped found Christ Church Ministries Jerusalem (CMJ) in England in 1809. Wilberforce and other leading evangelicals such as Lord Shaftesbury believed that the Jewish people had to be restored to their ancient land in order to pave the way for the return of Jesus. From the 1840s on the Society built in Jerusalema School of Industry for training Jewish believers in basic trades; an Enquirers House, a HebrewCollege, and a modern hospital for Jewish people as well as ChristChurch.



1815(13th of Adar): Patriot and founder of Aaronsburg, PA Aaron Levy passed away



1823: In Piotrkow, Poland, Phineas Mendel Heilprin and his wife gave birth to Michael Heilprin  the American author, philanthropist and champion of social justice.



1832(22ndof Adar I. 5592):Wolf Heidenheim, who was born at Heidenheim in 1757 and whose works included several editions of the Pentateuch, a Pesach Haggadah, and several siddurim passed away today at Rödelheim



1835: La Juive (The Jewess) a grand opera in five acts composed by Fromental Halévy premiered today at the Opéra, Paris



1836: The Siege of the Alamo began at San Antonio, Texas.  Dr. Mark Levy, a Jewish physician was reportedly one of those manning the walls of the Texas mission facing the forces of Santa Anna.


1846: In Poland, the National Government issued a proclamation “calling for the Jewish population to join the uprising and ensuring their full equality.”


1848: John Quincy Adams, Sixth President of the United States passed away.  In what seems like a strange turn of events, President Adams expressed his support for a Jewish homeland in the land of Israel.  In a letter to Mordecai Manuel Noah, one of the most prominent Jews in pre-Civil War America, Adams wrote that he believed in the “rebuilding of Judea as an independent nation.”


1848: During the third French Revolution François Guizot, the reactionary Prime Minister opposed by Adolphe Cremieux was forced to resign and flee the country.


1852: Birthdate of Nathan Frank, the native of Peoria, Illinois and leader of the Republican party who founded the St. Louis Star and served in the 51st Congress.


1853: In Philadelphia, a dinner was held at the Samson Street Hall to raise funds for Jewish charities.


1855: The New York Times reported that the concert designed to raise funds for the Hebrew Benevolent Societies scheduled for February 27 has been moved from Dodworth's Rooms to Niblo's Saloon because of the unusually high demand for tickets.


1860(30th of Sh'vat, 5620): Rosh Chodesh Adar


1861: Birthdate of Emrich Ullmann the Austrian surgeon who was a pioneer in renal transplantation research.


1865: Birthdate of pioneer baseball executive, Barney Dreyfuss.  Dreyfuss was the owner of the Pittsburg Pirates and the “father” of the World Series.


1868(30th of Shevat, 5628): Rosh Chodesh Adar


1870: Professor George Bartchelor delivered a talk on education reform to the New York Liberal Club.  Batchelor contended that when it came to language, Hebrew, along with Greek and Latin, were the foundation of liberal education.  But the public schools were teaching German, French and Spanish. [Considering who belong to the Liberal Club, one wonders what would have happened if a Hebrew teacher from the Lower East Side had shown up at its meeting.]


1871: The official position of the Jewish community in Ghent was regulated by two decrees one of which was issued today.


1872: Mortiz Ellinger ended his term as publisher of the Jewish Times today.


1878: “Celebrated Jews In Power” published today claims that the rise of Jewry in Europe has turned the fiction of “Coningsby” and the predictions of Sidonia into reality.  One of the proof points is the leading role that Benjamin Disraeli, the author of Coningsby, plays in British politics.


1879(30th of Shevat, 5639): Rosh Chodesh Adar



1879: It was reported today that  an unnamed Jew had scored a coup during the sale of old military stores at Edinburgh Castle. He bought 600 rusty old helmets for 6 pence a pound.  After he cleaned them up, he discovered that they were made of “fine steel…adorned with Arabic inscriptions” showing that they were very old pieces of equipment. After selling a few of the helmets, an Armenian purchased the lot of them for 18 shillings per helmet. Realizing their error, the government bought the helmets from him for 2 of 3 English pounds per helmet.


1880: It was reported that in Germany, associations have been formed for the purpose of excluding Jews from serving in Parliament. In Breslau, one such group has announced that it will not support a Jew under any circumstances. [The rise of anit-Semitism paralleled the moves to emancipate German Jewry.]


1882: The SS Illinois arrived at Philadelphia, PA at 3:20 pm carrying 325 men, women and children who were refugees from the anti-Semitic violence that had been taking place in the Russian Empire including Poland, Kiev and Odessa.  The refugees were greeted by members of the committee that has been preparing for their arrival. After being examined by Dr. T. J. Elleinger and his medical staff, the refugees were taken to the old Pennsylvania Railroad station which has been remodeled to meet their needs.  The refugees had harrowing tales of deprivation and violence to tell their American benefactors who included Jews and Christians.


1882: It was reported today that the Toronto Globe has received a cable from London describing a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Mansion House Fund for the Relief of Russo-Jewish Refugees presided over by Cardinal Manning.  With the support of Sir A.T. Galt a sub-committee was established to select sites for the establishment of agriculture settlements in Palestine the Canadian Northwest that could provide a viable new home for the persecuted Jews. The subcommittee has a budget of ten thousand pounds. [This outpouring of support for the Jews who were the victims of a series of Pogroms following the assassination of Alexander II is laudable.  Sensing that England could and New York City could inundated by a wave of refugees, plans were made to try and settle the Jews in the under-populated areas of Canada, the United States and Argentina]


1886: Lena Lillienthal married Meyer Goldberg. By August of the following year, the two would embroiled in nasty divorce case in which she sought to end the marriage.


1890: The President and Managers of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society of New York will hold a reception today between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. in honor of George Washington’s birthday.  (Washington was born on February 22 which in 1890 fell on Shabbat which accounts for the delay)


1890: English dramatist Leopold Davis Lewis passed away.  Born in 1828 and trained as a solicitor he began his dramatic career by translating Erckmann-Chatrian's “Le Juif Polonais,” (the Polish Jew) which he then produced as “The Bells.”


1890: It was reported today that among those charities received property tax exemptions were the Ladies’ Deborah Nursery and Child’s Protectory ($12,000) and the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews ($30,000).


1890: “Gladstone At Oxford” published today included comments by the English Prime Minister about the status of the Jews.  When asked if he thought “that there is any likelihood of an anti-Semitic agitation in England” Gladstone replied “I have not the least fear of an agitation in England against the Jews.  You might as well expect one against the law of gravity.”


1890: “Sir A Sassoon” published today relying on information that first appeared in The Spectator briefly described “this rise of this Jewish family in England” which “were till quite recently strictly Indian Jews” who were “almost natives in their manner of life.” (Sir A. Sassoon probably referred to Sir Albert Abdulah David Sassoon, the First Baronet)

1890: It was reported today that in the summer of 1875 a group of visitors from Massachusetts came to Lincoln’s Inn, London looking for Judah P. Benjamin, the Confederate leader turned British Barrister..  They were surprised that Benjamin, who was Jewish “was engaged to appear against an influential firm of Jewish money lenders.”
1891: “A Row in the Synagogue” published today described the outbreak of fight at the Grant Street synagogue in Pittsburg, PA.  Ruben Miller bloodied the nose of Harris Bartniski during a meeting at which congregants were discussing a sermon by Rabbi Feinich in which he denounced Miller for renting his building “to a company of atheists.”


1893: New York State Jacob A. Cantor met with party leaders at the “Tammany Wigwam” to discuss pending legislation in Albany.


1894: It was reported that among those who attended the 14th annual reception of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society included Mr. and Mrs. Selig Steinhardt, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Seligman, Mr. and Mrs. Lyman Bloomingdale and the Honorable and Mrs. Joseph Blumenthal.


1895: It was reported today that English actor John Hare, who has played the lead in “The Old Jew” will be coming to New York City to perform in December.  Among the productions in which he is expected to appear is “The Old Jew.”



1896: It was reported today that the sale of tickets and boxes for the upcoming Purim Ball are “exceeding all expectations.”


1896: “Nordau Replied To” published today contained a detailed reviews of Regeneration: A Reply to Max Nordauwith an Introduction by Nicholas Murray Butler.


1896: The Tootsie Roll is introduced by Leo Hirshfield. The soft chewy candy took its name from the nickname of Hirshfield’s daughter.  Hirshfield was from Austria.  However, the question as to whether he was or was not Jewish is still up for grabs.  Like the mystery of the Red Heifer, this one may not be answered until the coming of the Moshiach.


1896:Mihail Grigore Sturza, the voivode, (count or military governor) signed a document recognizing the Jewish community of Galatz, Romania.


1896: “The Shoket, and Kosher and Trefa Dishes –Where to Buy Meats” published today


1898: In France Émile Zola was convicted following his trial for libel.  He received the maximum sentence – one year in jail and a fine of 3000 Frances. He had written “J'accuse” which was a letter accusing the French government of anti-Semitism and wrongfully placing Alfred Dreyfus in jail.


1898: As the Dreyfus Affair reached one of its climaxes, Paul Deroulede attempted to get the troops at Neuilly to take part in a coup d’état.


1899: In France, during President Félix Faure’s state funeral Paul Déroulède, Jules Guérin and the Ligue des Patriotes attempt a coup which resulted in their arrest.


1899:The Nineteenth Century Club heard Israel Zangwill and Hamlin Garland discuss "The Novel" in Delmonico's large ballroom tonight, and both authors agreed so well upon the functions of art in fiction that the men and women present had to forego the usual argumentative entertainment which they plan for these meetings by bringing together speakers of supposedly differing views


1902: The ninth meeting of the Union of Judaeo-German Congregations opened today in Berlin.


1903: Leopold Greenberg anEnglish newspaper editor, Zionist and friend of Theodore Herzl leaves Egypt.


1904: Birthdate of William L Shirer.  Shirer was one of "Murrow's Boys" a group of correspondents hired by Edward R. Murrow who covered the events prior to and including World War II.  Shirer's post was Berlin where he broadcast stories about the rise of the Nazis.  He actually provided live coverage of the French surrendering to Hitler in 1940.  His greatest claim to fame was as author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a classic on Hitler and his followers, based, in part, on Shirer's first hand observations



1904: Birthdate of Leopold Trepper, a Jewish James Bond.  Trepper was born in Poland.  During World War II he organized and ran one of the most famous espionage rings in history - The Red Orchestra.  Operating in France in 1940, the ring penetrated German intelligence and was able to provide the Soviets with detailed information about the impending invasion of Russia by Germany.  Unfortunately, Stalin refused to believe the warnings. Members of the Red Orchestra were captured in 1942.  Trepper escaped and hid until the liberation of Parisin 1944.  When he returned to Moscow, he was arrested along with thousands of others who had bravely fought the Nazis and spent ten years in prison.  Eventually he moved to Israelwhere he died in 1982.


1913: Solomon Schechter, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary, founded the United Synagogue of America, the association of Conservative synagogues in the United Statesand Canada. In 1957, it organized the World Council of Synagogues with membership in 22 countries


1910: The Hahambashi proposes to convene, in summer, a conference of delegates of all Jewish communities in the Ottoman Empire to consider reform of the rabbinate and to plan a new reorganization of the community. Included in this would be the elimination of life appointments in favor of elections.


1912: A New York Ladino language newspaper called La Aguila hit the presses, but failed due to lack of support and finished running on March 22 of the same year.


1912: Jews in Kustendil, Bulgaria were attacked by a mob and nine people were injured.


1912: A bill introduced in the Portuguese Congress provides for cession of land to Jewish emigrants who move to Angola, Portuguese West Africa.


1917: The February Revolution began in Russia.  This is the revolution that brought down the Czars and brought the Social Democrats to power.  Unfortunately, they failed and the next revolution brought the Communists to power with disastrous effects for the world in general and the Jews in particular.


1917(1st of Adar, 5677): Rosh Chodesh Adar


1919: Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party in Italy. According to author Alexander Stille "What distinguished the story of Italian Jews from that of Jews elsewhere in Europe was the long coexistence between Jews and Fascists in Mussolini's Italy. Italian Fascism was in power for 16 years before it turned anti-Semitic in 1938. Until then, Jews were as likely to be members of the Fascist Party as were other conservative-minded Italians. This singular fact altered the entire moral and existential equation for Italy's Jews. In other countries, Fascism was the undisguised enemy. But the experience of Italian Jews was far more complex: a strange mixture of benevolence and betrayal, persecution and rescue."


1919(23rd of Adar I, 5679): Just weeks before his 84th birthday New York lawyer, jurist and author Abraham Jesse Dittenhoefer passed away. Ironically, he was a native of Charleston, SC, the cradle of Southern Secession who was the last surviving elector from the election of 1864 during which he cast his vote for Abraham Lincoln.


1921: Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook and Rabbi Ya'akov Meir were elected as the first two chief Rabbis of pre-state Israel.  Kook was the Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi and Rabbi Ya'akov Meir was the Chief Sephardic Rabbi.


1921: As head of the Colonial Office, Winston Churchill reviews Pinchas Rutenberg’s request for a concession to harness the waters of the Jordan and Yarkon fivers for electrical power; a concession that would employ 800 Jews and Arabs.


1929(13thof Adar I, 5689): Thirty-nine year old Mercédès Jellinek, the granddaughter of Adolf Jellinek, the former chief rabbi of Vienna whose name is the Mercedes in the Mercedes-Benz automobile succumbed to bone cancer today.


1932: In the Netherlands, the Jewish Historical Museum was officially opened. It was located in a single room on the top floor of the AmsterdamHistoricalMuseum, which was housed in the Weigh House.


1936: Birthdate of Harrison Jay Goldin the Bronx born lawyer and former New York politician who served as an attorney in the United States Department of Justice Office of Civil Rights during the Kennedy Administration and ran in the 1989 Democratic Primary election for Mayor of New York.


1936: Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope the High Commissioner of the British Mandate of Palestine was booed by a crowd as he left a museum in Tel Aviv where he had just given a dedicatory address.  The demonstration was prompted by reports that the mandatory government is about to implement new regulations designed to limit Jewish immigration and land purchases by Jews. The High Commissioner ordered the crowd to disperse but did not order any arrests.


1938: Today is the planned date on which passengers will begin debarking at the newly refurbished port of Tel Aviv.  The event is viewed as “a milestone in the rebuilding of the Jewish National Home.”


1939: Birthdate of Lester Glassner, an artist who graduated from Pratt Institute who created a “museum-size collection that included dolls and wind-up toys, plastic fruit sculptures and costume jewelry, sunglasses and makeup kits, greeting cards and matchbooks, salt and pepper shakers and Christmas ornaments, not to mention movie stills, posters, cardboard cutouts, books, magazines, records, and 8- and 16-millimeter films.”


1939: “The chief architect and designer of the Palestine Paviilion” at the New York World’s Fair, Arieh El-Hanani arrived today “on the Queen Mary to supervise “the setting up of the Palestine exhibits, which will arrive next week on the liner Excalibur.


1940(14th of Adar I, 5700): Purim Katan


1941 Romanian born painter Marcel and Medi Janco and their two daughters who had survived the Iron Guard’s Bucharest Pogrom, arrived in Tel Aviv


1941: David Zacharin, Russian born cellist and director of the Tel Aviv Academy, gave his first New York recital tonight at the Town Hall. His program was devoted Jewish music.  Of the seventeen works played 14 were his own while the remaining three were Bloch’s “Schelomo” (Hebrew for Rhapsody, Gnessin’s “Song of the Wandering Knight” and Bruch’s “Kol Nidre.”  Zacharin “achieved real eloquence” when he played “If I Forget Thee Jerusalem,” a piece of his own creation.  Whatever the evening lacked in artistic perfection was overcome by the fact that it gave “insight into the longings and religious aspirations of an ancient people.”


1941: A large scale pogrom in Amsterdam continued for a second day.


1942:Edward M.M. Warburg, son of the late Felix Warburg and Chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee, joined the army last week as a private, despite the fact that he is married and has a 6-months-old son, it was learned here today. A member of Company B, 518th Military Police Battalion, Private Warburg is in training at Governors Island, home station of the unit. Army headquarters, in disclosing Mr. Warburg's enlistment, emphasized that the battalion was a field unit subject to call to active service. Warburg himself declined to comment on his enlistment.


1942:Struma, a ship chartered to carry Jewish refugees from Axis-allied Romania to British-controlled Palestine during World War II,  with its engine inoperable, was towed from Istanbul through the Bosporus out to the Black Sea by Turkish authorities with its refugee passengers aboard, where it was left adrift.


1943: A division of the Red Army attacked the Germans at Alexseyevka, in the Ukraine. Many of the attacking soldiers were Jews


1944: At Zwadka, Poland, a Polish man and his daughter were killed by Germans, along with the two Jewish women whom they had helped.


1945: As the Soviet Army approached Schwarzheide, in the Dresden (Germany) area 300 Jews who had been moved from Berkenau to the Schwarzheide factories were shot. The German camps of Belsen, Dachau, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Sachsenhausen and Ravnebruck became the destination of thousands of evacuated Jews from all the other camps

1945:  Joe Rosenthal takes the most famous picture of World War II, "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.


1946: In a report issued by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, medical authorities said that there were no reports of Plague in Europe with the exception of the Mediterranean ports including Jaffa with two cases, and Haifa and Tel Aviv with one case each.


1947: General Eisenhower opened a drive to raise $170 million in aid for European Jews


1954: The first mass inoculation using the Salk Polio Vaccine began.  In one of the irony of history the first polio vaccine was created by a Jewish Doctor, Jonas Salk.  But the second polio vaccine was also created by a Jewish Doctor, Albert Sabin. 



1960(25thof Shevat, 5720): Seventy-eight year old gold medal winning Olympic fencer Alexandre Lippmann passed away.


1962: Churchill’s friend Montague Brown wrote a letter expressing his concerns about the retired Prime Minister’s plan to visit Israel on an upcoming cruise to the eastern Mediterranean.  He was fearful of the effect such a visit would have on Britain’s Arab friends in the Middle East. Ultimately, Churchill’s yacht would pass the coast of Israelat night and would not make landfall.


1965: Sixty-four year old Herberts Cukurs, a member of the Arajs Kommando which slaughter thousands of Jews in Latvia died today in Uruguay.


1965: Birthdate of Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers.


1965: American classic’s scholar Charles A. Robinson, the husband of Celia Sachs and son-in-law of art historian Paul J. Sachs who played a key role in saving European art from the Nazis, passed away today.


1968(24th of Shevat, 5728): Fannie Hurst passed away at the age of 78.  Born in 1889 in Ohio, she graduated from WashingtonUniversity (St. Louis) and then furthered her studies at Columbia in NYC. (This educational activity was unusual in and of itself for a woman of her times.  Hurst was a successful author, friend of Eleanor Roosevelt and supporter of the New Deal and aid to refugees from Nazi Europe.  By the time she passed away she had written seventeen novels, nine volumes of short stories, three plays, many articles, speaking engagements, a television talk show and collaborated on a number of films. One of the most amusing stories about her, which shows that she was way ahead of her times, involved her marriage. “In 1915, she had secretly married pianist Jacques Danielson and they each had their own residence. When their marriage was revealed in 1920, a New York Times editorial took them to task for having separate residences when there was a housing shortage. Hurst retaliated by stating that a married woman had the right to retain her own name, her own special life and her own personal liberty. They remained happily married until his death in 1952.” When Justice Arthur Goldberg declared in 1962, "that it is time that we evaluated Women on merit and fitness for a job," she snapped back, "Time sir! You are a half century too late."

 

1973(21st of Adar I, 5733): Tehilla Lichtenstein passed away.  She served as leader of the Society for Jewish Science from 1938 until her death.


1974(1st of Adar, 5734): Songwriter Harry Ruby passed away.

1977:Leonard Steinberg, Baron Steinberg of Belfast in the County of Antrim was shot by the Provisional Irish Republican Army after he refused to give in to a demand to pay “protection money.”


1979: Release date in Italy for “Christ Stopped at Eboli” (Cristo si è fermato a Eboli) a  film adaptation of the book of the same name by Carlo Levi.


1983: Moshe Arens replaced Menachem Begin as Defense Minister.


1986: In an article entitled “The Museums of Israel,” Nitza Rosovsky, the curator of exhibits at the Harvard Semitic Museum and the author of Jerusalem Walks describes “Israel, as a crossroads of ancient civilizations in which the countryside itself is like a museum filled with the remains of those who were here before, from Canaanites to Philistines, from Romans to Crusaders. Even the present-day inhabitants -Jews from some 80 lands, Arabs from all over the Middle East, Christians of different denominations - create a living museum.”  In describing the rich variety of museums to be found in Israel, she captures both the history and the efforts to capture the history of the land and cultures that are now part of the Jewish homeland.


1987: The Russian Writers Union accepts Boris Pasternak as a as member posthumously


1987:Aulcie Perry Jr., a former basketball player who became an Israeli citizen and was hailed as a sports champion there, was convicted in Brooklyn Federal Court tonight of smuggling heroin with a street value of $1.8 million into the United States. Judge Mark A. Constantino said sentencing would be set for the end of March. The 36-year-old Perry had been on trial since Feb. 17 on charges of conspiracy to import heroin, importation of heroin and possession of heroin with intent to distribute. He was convicted on all counts, each of which carries a possible 20-year prison term. His lawyer, Richard Lind, said he would appeal. Perry, who was born in Newark, played for the Virginia Squires of the American Basketball Association in 1974-75. He was signed by the Knicks but was cut before the 1975-76 season. The 6-foot-10-inch Perry, who holds a dual citizenship, joined the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team in Israel in 1977 and helped bring it a European Cup championship that year and in 1979. He remained on the team until 1984. Perry's cousin, Kenneth Johnson, 29, who was charged with Perry, pleaded guilty earlier this month and is awaiting sentencing.


1989:At the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Soviet émigré pianist Vladimir Feltsman is scheduled to play the music of Schubert and Mussorgsky at a benefit performance designed to raise funds for the Maimonides Research and Development Foundation.


1990(28th of Sh'vat, 5750):David Samuilovich Kaufman who wrote under the name of David Samoylov passed away. Born in 1920, he was a “notable poet of War generation of Russian poets, and considered one of the most important Russian poets of the post-World War II era.” 


1997: Sixty five million viewers watch the completely uncensored version of “Schindler’s List” on NBC television.


1997(16th of Adar I, 5757):  Oscar Lewenstein, British producer and director, passed away at the age of 80.


1997:Palestinian Ali Abu Kamal opens fire on tourists on the observation deck of the Empire State Building, killing one and wounding another six before committing suicide.


1997: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Nazi Germany and the Jews, Volume 1: The Years of Persecution, 1933-1939by Saul Friedlander and Conflicting Accounts: The Creation and Crash of the Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Empireby Kevin Goldman


1998: Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders. Considering what the Crusaders did to the Jews during the Middle Ages, these is a strange declaration indeed.


1999: In another example of personalization and splintering of Israeli politics, Yitzhak Mordechai quit Likud and formed the Israel in the Centre Party. Other members included David Magen and Dan Meridor from Likud, Hagai Meirom and Nissim Zvili of Labour, and Eliezer Sandberg of Tzomet.


1999: Michael Nudelman and Yuri Stern left Yisrael BaAliyahto form Aliyah, which later entered into an alliance with another Russian-immigrant party, Yisrael Beiteinu.


2000(17th of Adar I, 5760): Ofrz Haza, popular Yeminite Israeli singer, passed away. Born in 1957, she made her international debut at the Eurovision Song Contest 1983, which she very narrowly failed to win for Israel with the song "Hi". Ofra Haza had a world-wide hit in 1988 with "Im Nina'lu" from the album Fifty Gates of Wisdom.Her international hits also included "Temple of Love (Touched by the Hand of Ofra Haza)" with the Leeds-based post-punk band, The Sisters of Mercy in 1992 and "My Love is for Real" with Paula Abdul in 1995. She also sang in the animated film The Prince of Egypt in 1998.Her Israeli hits include "Shir ha-Frekha" ("The Bimbo Song", theme from the movie Shlager, in which she also acted) and "le-Orekh ha-Yam" ("Along the Shore").Haza, who came from the poor Hatikvah neighborhood of Tel-Aviv, at one time almost a slum, was a success story and the subject of pride on behalf of many Israelis of Yemenite origin. She died of AIDS.


2003(21st of Adar I, 5763): Meyer R. Schkolnick, who became the famed sociologist Robert K. Merton, passed away at the age of 93. According to one source he is the man who coined such as phrases as “unintended consequences,” “role model” and “self-fulfilling prophecy.”


2003: Bruce Fleisher won the Verizon Classic.


2005: The French Law on Colonialism passed to by the Union for a Popular Movement was opposed by Jewish French historian Pierre Vidal-Naquet


2005: Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz announced that Dan Halutz would be the next IDF Chief of Staff.


2005: Effi Eitam and Yitzhak Levi announced that they had officially split from the NRP to form a new party, the Renewed Religious National Zionist Party


2005: Chief Nazi hunter Eli Rosenbaum was the guest speaker for "Prosecuting Nazi War Criminals". Over 150 students, staff and community members crammed into the UMKC School of Law Courtroom for the lecture. Eli Rosenbaum has directed the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) for over 10 years.


2005: Purim Katan


2006:As reported in The Washington Post, Frederick Busch, 64, a writer whose novels and short stories were esteemed by critics but who never quite found a large following with the general public, died of a heart attack at a New York Cityhospital. Since 1971, Mr. Busch had written 27 books and came to be known, perhaps in sympathy with his middling sales, as the quintessential "writer's writer." Novelist Scott Spencer called him "a first-rate American storyteller," and Washington Post book critic Jonathan Yardley praised him as "a serious and gifted novelist" whose stories and novels "tend to be quiet, reflective and subtle."


2006: The Roundabout Theatre Company revival of “The Pajama Game,” a musical created by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross opened today.


2007: Ben Stiller received the Hasty Pudding Man of the Year award from Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals. According to the organization, the award is given to performers who give a lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment


2007: In Amsterdam, the Jewish Historical Museum opens Retrospectives of the works of photographers Robert Capra and Eva Besnyö. 


2007: In Jerusalemthe 23rd International Book Fairwhich is being held at the Binyanei Haooma Convention Center comes to an end.


2007(5th of Adar, 5767): Heinz Berggruen, collector and gallery owner passed away at the age of 93. (As reported by Alan Riding)

2008: In Washington, D.C. Susan Jacoby author of Half Jew: A Daughter's Search for Her Family's Buried Pastdiscusses and signs her newest work, The Age of American Unreason.


2008:Joseph Cedar, director of the Oscar-nominated Israeli film Beaufort, and an Orthodox Jew, will attend a symposium sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the five finalists vying for the best foreign-language film Oscar today. Since the symposium is being held on Shabbat attending presented a unique challenge for Cedar.  Cedar’s rabbi told him he could attend as long as he walked to the event and did not use a microphone. Observing Shabbat would require a two mile long walk to the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre which Cedar, New York born whose parents made Aliyah when he was five, figured he could cover in about two hours.


2008: Simon Garfield described the story of Anne Frank’s lost love.



2009: Manhattanville College sponsors a lecture and Q&A session with Ambassador Danny Carmon, Deputy Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations entitled "Israel and Europe: An Insider's Perspective."



2009: After undergoing surgery to remove a tumor on her pancreas,Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg returned to the court in time for three days of oral arguments.


2009: Sport Illustrated“remembers the life” the late Joe Goldstein, the “old-school sports public relation man” who recently passed away at the age of 81.  He was known for his upbeat manner as well as his persistency which cause an NBC executive to describe him as “the Jewish equivalent of the Chinese water drip.”  His clients included “Joe Frazier, Bob Hope, the New York City Marathon, Evel Knivel and the Palisades Parkway.”


2009: In Washington, D.C.,Sara Houghteling reads from and signs her new novel, Pictures at an Exhibition, at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue (formerly the home of Adas Israel)

 

2009:The Israel Antiquities Authority announced today that a routine archeological excavation that was conducted before the scheduled start of a private construction project in an Arab neighborhood on the outskirts of Jerusalem has uncovered a series of seal impressions from the reign of the biblical King Hezekiah 2,700 years ago.

 

2009:IDF soldiers foiled a large-scale attack at the Kissufim border crossing against troops or a southern Israeli community. The attempted attack came early this morning, when a Golani force spotted two Palestinians laying explosive devices near the border crossing.

2009: Gaza terrorists fired two Kassam rockets at southern Israeli civilian areas on Monday. One hit an open area in the Sha'ar Hanegev region, while the other landed in a field near Sderot. No one was wounded and no damage was reported.


2010: The three-day long meeting of the Jewish Agency for Israel being held in Jerusalem is scheduled to end.

2010:The Jewish Studies Program at Tulane University under the leadership of Dr. Brian Horowitz and the Center for Cultural Judaism are scheduled to present a program about Satmar Chasidism featuring Dr. David N. Myers,Professor and Director, UCLA Center for Jewish Studies.


2010:Israel said today that Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon will lead a high-level delegation next week to China, the most prominent holdout against tough sanctions on Iran.

2010:Delaware's first Jewish governor hung a mezuzah at the governor's mansion in Dover today. Among those joining Jack Markel in today’s ceremony in the capital were Rabbi Peter Grumbacher of the governor’s synagogue, Congregation Beth Emeth in Wilmington; Rabbi Steven Saks of the Rabbinical Association of Delaware; and Glenn Engelmann, president of the Jewish Federation of Delaware, according to the Sussex Countian. Markel received the mezuzah as an inauguration gift, according to the report.


2011: “Vidal Sassoon: The Movie” and “The Klezmatics: On Holy Ground” are two of the documentaries scheduled to be shown tonight at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.


2011: The 25th Jerusalem International Book Fair is scheduled to present a program entitled ''The Changing Jewish Kitchen - Is Jewish food still Jewish food and what is it?''


2011: David McKenzie is scheduled to present a program entitled “Isachar Zacharie: Lincoln’s Chiropodist—and Peace Envoy” at Adas Israel in Washington, DC.


2011(19thof Adar I, 5771): Eighty-seven year old Joseph H. Flom, a pioneering corporate lawyer who helped build Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom into one of the nation’s leading law firms, passed away today.

2011(19th of Adar I, 5771):Jack Gottlieb, a composer who brought synagogue melodies to concert halls and who worked closely with the legendary composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein passed away today at the age of 80.

2012(30thof Shevat, 5772): Rosh Chodesh Adar



2012: Dina Zvi-Riklis’s 2006 film “Three Mothers” that explores Israel’s history through the lives of three Egyptian-born sisters Triplets Rose, Flora and Yasmin who were born into “high society” over 60 years ago in Alexandria, Egypt and now live in Israel, is scheduled to be shown at The Yeshiva University Ring Family Israel Film Festival. 



2012: “Jewish Soldiers in Blue and Gray” is scheduled to shown at the Columbus Jewish Film Festival in Columbus, GA



2012: In London, “Mordechai Richler: The Last of the Wild Jews” a film about the Canadian-Jewish author is scheduled to be shown as part of Jewish Book Week.



2012: In London, Simon Goldhill is scheduled to discuss “Freud's Couch, Scott's Buttocks, Bronte's Grave” as part of Jewish Book Week.



2012:Iran submitted a letter of protest to the United Nations Security Council today, charging Israel of attacking its nuclear scientists and coloring recent accusations of Tehran's links to attempted attacks against Israeli officials worldwide as being part of a "war game" against the Islamic Republic.



2012:Interior Minister Eli Yishai said today that "The government will have to extend Tal Law until alternative legislation regulating yeshiva students' military service is drafted, with the collaboration of the Defense, Justice and Finance ministries." Yishai's comment was reportedly made following a "lengthy conversation" with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.



2013: The Northernmost Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to open in Fairbanks, Alaska.


2013: In Iowa City, Hillel is scheduled to host its annual fundraising event in which Benjamin Coelho will join with colleagues from the University Of Iowa School Of Music to perform a program entitled “Songs without Words.”


2013: Purim in Ein Karem “More than Carnival: with the Ensemble Millennium is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. today.


2013: The Maccabeats are scheduled to perform at Temple Moses in Miami Beach, FL.


2013(13thof Adar, 5773): Shabbat Zachor Erev Purim


2013: In the evening, reading of the Megillah Esther


2013: Today’s announcement by the Pentagon it was grounding all F-35 fighter jets due to a crack found in one of the engine blades” could have an unforeseen impact on Israel’s military capabilities since the IAF has ordered 20 of the planes in a bid to maintain a qualitative edge over its vast array of actual and potential adversaries


2014: Adam Liptak, Supreme Court correspondent for the New York Times is scheduled to address the The Hadassah Attorneys Council dinner in Washington, DC


2014: “Handle With Care,” a hilarious and heartwarming romantic comedy about an inept package deliverer who loses an Israeli grandmother’s corpse in a Virginia parking lot on a snowy Christmas Eve is scheduled to have its final performance at Westside Theatre Downstairs


2014: ”Threshold to the Sacred: The Ark Door of Cairo’s Ben Ezra Synagogue” is scheduled to close today at Yeshiva University Museum.


2014: Ruth Grumber is scheduled to appear via Skype at the event officially opening “Ahead of Time: The Extraordinary Journey of Ruth Gruber.”


2014: The annual Seforim Sale – the largest sale of Jewish books in North America – is scheduled to come to a close.

2014: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Forgiving The Angel: Four Stories for Franz Kafka by Jay Cantor

This Day, February 24, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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February 24



303: The first official Roman edict for the persecution of Christians was issued by Roman Emperor Galerius Valerius Maximianus.  This was part a contest between Pagans and Christians for control of the Roman Empire.  The Jews were not involved.  But they would be the ultimate losers when Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire and the Church unleashed the power of the state on all religious groups that opposed it, including the Jews.


1221: AlicedeMontmorency, wife of  Simonde Montfort, passed away.  In 1217, Alice ordered the arrest of all of the Jews living in Toulouse.  They could either convert or be killed.  Children under the age of six were taken from their parents, baptized and raised Christians.  Her actions violated the promise her husband had made to the Jews of Toulouse guaranteeing them their freedom and right to practice their religion.   


1147: In Wurzburg, Germany, a rumor began that a Christian corpse was found in the river which could perform miracles. The Jews were accused to killing the person. In the ensuring riots, twenty two Jews were murdered including the rabbi, Isaac ben Elyukem. After the riot the survivors fled to a local Castle.


1479: After four years of conflict and intrigue, Queen Isabella of Castile secured her throne.  Isabella’s machinations to gain control of the kingdom show her as every bit as other female monarchs as Elizabeth of England or Catherine the Great of Russia.  Later in the year, she would marry Ferdinand of Aragon, a move that would lead to the creation of the modern Spanish state.  Contrary to popular misconception, she was the abler of the two monarchs.  In fact, it was only because Ferdinand was a man in a male-dominated society that saved his reputation.  Isabella’s accession to the throne was the first in a series of events that would end with the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.


1510:  Pope Julius II excommunicated the Republic of Venice. Many remember Julius II as the Pope who commissioned Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel.  Julius II, like at least one of his predecessors, had a Jewish physician; in this case Samuel Sarfatti.  From the Jewish point of view, Julius clashes such as the one that brought on the above mentioned excommunication and aesthetic projects meant that he did not have time to waste on persecuting his Jews.  Out of sight out of mind or benign neglect placed Julius on the list of one of the “better Popes.” 


1582:  Pope Gregory XIII announced the Gregorian calendar.  This replaced the Julian Calendar which explains why there is some confusion about various dates in history.  Of course the Jews use their own calendar, but as a people who “live in time” it is useful to know when other parts of the Western world began changing the way they keep track of the years.


1590: An entire family of Marranos named de Carabaja “was forced to confess and abjure at a public auto-da-fé, celebrated” today. “Luis de Carabajal the younger, with his mother and four sisters, was condemned to perpetual imprisonment, and his brother, Baltasar, who had fled upon the first warning of danger, was, along with his deceased father, Francisco Rodriguez de Matos, burnt in effigy.”


1688(23rd of Adar): Portuguese poet and grammarian Moses Gideon Abudiente passed away.


1739: The army of Iranian ruler Nadir Shah defeats the forces of the Mughal emperor of India, Muhammad Shah at the Battle of Karnal.  Nadir Shah’s rise to power marked an improvement in the lives of the Persian Jewish community.  The last half of the 17th century had been a period of persecution for the Jews when many of them actually outwardly converted to Islam. Under Nadir, the Jews were once again free to practice their religion in public.


1765: David Tevele Schiff was named as the Rabbi to lead the Great Synagogue in London succeeding Hart Lyon in that position.  Hart had actually been the rabbi for the Great Synagogue and the Hambro Synagogue. The two congregations were supposed to continue this practice.  But they could not agree on a successor.  Once the Great Synagogue had made its decision, the Hambro Synagogue chose Israel Meshullam Solomon to serve as their rabbi.


1831: Birthdate of Leo von Caprivi, who as Chancellor of Germany earned the enmity of the anti-Semites, who were a growing force, when he attacked their leaders in a speech before the Reichstag in 1893.


1835: Birthdate of Sir Julius Vogel, the eighth Premier of New Zealand and the first Jew to hold this position.


1848: Louis-Philippe, “King of the French,” abdicates the throne. Louis’s reign began with a revolution in 1830 and ended with a revolution in 1848.  This monarch from the house of Orleans was a rather dull character when compared to the glory of the Bourbons and Bonaparte but it was his very dullness that got him to the throne.  As is so often the case, Louis’ record in dealing with the Jews is a mixed bag.  As Elliot Rosenberg points, by the time Louis came to the throne French Jews were well on their way to full emancipation.  Under Louis, “rabbis joined other clerics paid from the state exchequer.”  While English Jews were still denied entry to Oxford and Cambridge, the doors “opened widely” at French universities.  “Jewish communities joined in praising” him as the monarch who “’had enlarged our liberties.’” In 1835, Louis defended the rights of French Jews in a diplomatic conflict with the Swiss.  James de Rothschild, head of the French branch of the House of Rothschild was “a royal intimate” who according to his brother Salomon “goes to the palace whenever he wishes.  James was not only a pillar of the French government, he was also the man who handled the “personal investment accounts” of the French monarch.  All this good will was tainted by the Damascus Affair in which the French sided with those who supported the claim of the Blood Libel against Jews living in Syria.  The French were trying to establish their sphere of influence in the Middle East and North Africa and if the price was that of a few Jews, so be it.  Regardless, by the time of the abdication, Jewish emancipation in France was so ingrained that nothing would stem that tide.  Of course, the Dreyfus Affair, fifty years later would demonstrate the illusory nature of that emancipation.  Louis’s successor, Napoleon III would prove to be “bad for the French people” and therefore “bad for the Jews.”


1848: As the revolutionary forces took power, the Republicans named Adolphe Cremieux, a prominent lawyer, statesman and leader of the French Jewish community,  to serve as the minister of justice. During his time in office, he “secured the decrees abolishing the death penalty for political offenses, and making the office of judge immovable.”  “He was instrumental in declaring an end to slavery in all French Colonies, for which some have called him the French Abraham Lincoln.”


1860(1st of Adar, 5620): Rosh Chodesh Adar


1863: In Vienna, Austria, Rabbi Ignatz and Nettie (Rosenbaum) Grossman gave birth to Louis Grossman who graduated from Hebrew Union College and served as the rabbi at Detroit’s Temple Bethel and Congregation B’nai Yeshurun in Cincinnati, Ohio.


1864: During the Civil War, Joseph B. Greenhut, who had been fighting as a member of the Union Army since April of 1861, resigned his commission and returned to civilian life. Greenhut had fought at a series of famous battles including Fort Donelson, Gettysburg and Lookout Mountain.


1868(1st of Adar, 5628): Rosh Chodesh Adar


1877: An agreement was reached today between the Ottoman rulers and the Serbian envoys led by Prince Milan. The Serbians agreed to all of the conditions set by the Turks except two, one of which was the requirement that the Jews of Serbia be granted the same rights as all other Serbs.


1878: “Is Disraeli A Jew” was published today.


1878: The Young Men’s Hebrew Association met tonight in New York to discuss the proposal made by Thomas Grady to abolish the Free College.


1879(1st of Adar, 5639) Rosh Chodesh Adar


1881: Seventeen year old Marion Calish, the Hebrew teacher at Professor Felix Adler’s kindergarten who has been missing since the 19th, was found just before midnight tonight by a traveling salesman who took her to the local police precinct.


1882: A man who claimed to be named Rothschild and is thought to be Jewish attempted to use a bogus check to pay for purchases at A & C Myer in New York City.


1882: Two of the Jewish refugees from Russia who arrived in Philadelphia, PA on the SS Illinois are the only ones who have been identified as being sick – that is two out over three hundred men, women and children.


1882: A cable sent to the Toronto Globe from London stated that at a meeting of the Committee on the Fund for the Relief of Russo-Jewish Refugees, Sir A.T. Galt suggested that two or three of the Jewish refugees should be allowed to go to Canada’s Northwest Territories to make arrangements for the arrival of their co-religionists. 


1885: Birthdate of Joseph Sprinzak, first Speaker of Israeli Knesset. “Born in Moscow, Sprinzak's father was active in the Hovevei Zion. When Jews were expelled from Moscow in 1891, the family moved to Kishinevand then Warsaw. The home was a center for young Hebrew writers and Zionists. In the early 1900s, he was one of the organizers of HaTehiyah, a Zionist group led by Yitzhak Gruenbaum. During this period he worked in a Hebrew publishing house as well as on Hebrew and Yiddish newspapers in Warsaw. In 1905 he returned to Kishinev where he was active in Zionist affairs. In 1908 he spent several months in Constantinoplewhere he was in contact with Zionist leaders, and then went to Beirut to study medicine. His studies were cut very short when, after just a few months, he was asked to become secretary of HaPoel HaZair. During World War I he was in Eretz Yisrael and after the war, was instrumental in founding Hitahdut, a world movement which joined HaPoel HaZair and Zeirei Zion. A delegate to the 11th and 12th Zionist Congresses, Sprinzak became the first representative of the yishuv's labor movement to be elected to the Zionist Executive. When independence was declared in 1948, he was elected to the Provisional State Council as well as the first three Knessets, serving as speaker for 10 years.   Joseph Sprinzak was known as a Zionist leader who strongly identified with the rank-and-file, both in Israeland abroad. His conception of Zionism was based on socialism and the process of national rebirth. During his tenure as secretary of HaPoel HaZair, he was involved in the absorption of Jews from Yemen. During World War I, he helped organize the yishuv's Jewish workers. In the 1920s, as a member of the Zionist executive, he was head of the Labor and then the Aliyah Departments. He also helped found the Histadrut labor federation and was a member of the Tel Aviv municipality. In the 1930s, as a member of the Histadrut executive, Sprinzak was instrumental in the formation of Ben-Gurion's Mapai political party. In the 1940s he became a leading member of the Zionist General Council and eventually was general secretary of the Histadrut. As Knesset speaker during the body's first 10 years, Sprinzak had a major influence on the country's emerging democracy. He died in 1959.”


1889: Birthdate of Jacques (Jacob) Presser “a Dutch historian, writer and poet best known for his book Ashes in the Wind: The destruction of the Dutch Jews which descried “ the persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands during World War II.”.


1890: It was reported today that Sarah Bernhardt will be returning to the United States in October to perform at the Broadway Theatre in New York City. 


1890: It was reported today that at the request of Elsie Leslie, 500 hundred children from the Industrial Schools of the Associated Hebrew Charities will attend one of her final matinee performances of “The Prince and the Pauper at the Broadway Theatre. (Elsie Leslie was a noted child actress of her time.  Born in 1881, she passed away in 1966.  I cannot find any reason why she singled out a school for Jewish students for this treat.)


1890: It was reported today that the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society is caring for nearly 600 children, 200 of whom were girls and 400 were boys.


1891: “Elevated Funeral Trains” published today described the decision of the Directors of the Union Elevated Railroad in Brooklyn to extend service to Cypress Cemetery and the “numerous Jewish cemeteries in the neighborhood and to establish funeral trains consisting of a car for the coffin and two or three cars for the funeral party.  Most of the directors are Jewish and Edward Lauterbach who is counsel for the company is attempting to establish contracts with various synagogues to convey the funeral parties from the ferries or bridge to the cemetery.


1893: The AmericanUniversity, a private Methodist university in Washigton, D.C. is chartered by an act of the Congress of the United States of America. A.U. has over one thousand Jewish undergraduate students out of a total of almost 6,000.  Out of an estimated 4,700 grad students, 1,000 are Jewish.  The school offers a minor in Jewish Studies, a university program in Israel and the services of an authorized Hillel House. (In the 1950's it was where the Levine and Levin children learned to swim at 7:30 Saturday mornings - before going to services)

1893(8th of Adar): Benjamin Henry Ascher, Hebrew scholar and author passed away


1893: “At the second session of the 52ndCongress…a bill was presented to the House ordering that a gold medal be struck off in recognition of the services rendered by Haym Solomon during the Revoluionary War, in consider of which the Salomon heirs waived their claims upon the United States for indemnity.” The full House never took action on the resolution.


1894: It was reported that Kuhn, Loeb & Co is among the contributors to the Citizens’ Relief Committee which has raised $94, 065.50 for those suffering from the effects of the economic depression.


1894: It was reported today that Jacob H. Schiff, Solomon Loeb and Abraham Wolff are among the prominent citizens who have joined a movement led by Cornelius Vanderbilt “to establish a pawn broking establishment” in New York modeled on “public pawn broking establishing that have been of great help to the poor in several large European cities.


1895: “A Most Noble Charity” published today described the work of the Montefiore Home for Incurables which “was originally intended as home where incurable patients should be received and made comfortable during their lives” has not taken on the additional role of providing treatment for chronic invalids” many of whom “were hopelessly stricken by disease” but have left the facility “in the full possession of health.


1896: “Religion In Large Cities” published today described the conditions of religious institutions in New York City including the fact that there “51 Hebrew organizations” in the city.


1896: According to Emily Crawford of the Associated Press, Prince Henry of Orleans is hoping to capitalize on the anti-Dreyfus spirit as a way of bringing about the downfall of the Republic which he no doubt hopes will be replaced with a Monarchy.


1898: “Prison and Fine For Zola” published today described the scene in the courtroom when Emile Zola was convicted. The verdict was handed down at seven in the evening but the jury had agreed on its decision days ago in response, in part to threats from the mob that surrounded the court during the trial. In response to the sentence which stemmed from his defense of Captain Dreyfus the defamed Jewish officer Zola compared himself to Christ saying that he too was “a victim of mob violence office cowardice and a grand miscarriage of justice.”  (Considering that the Catholic Churc were one of the groups arrayed against him, this was a bold, fitting, comparison.)


1899(14th of Adar, 5659): Last Purim celebration of the 19th century.


1902: In Berlin, the ninth meeting of the Union of Judæo-German Congregations came to end.


1904:  Herzl writes, "Yesterday I had a most curious visitor: Ali Nuri Bey ... His proposal ... comes to this: Sail into the Bosporuswith two cruisers, bombard Yildiz, let the Sultan flee or capture him, put in another Sultan (Murad or Reshad), but first form a provisional government - which is to give us the Charter for Palestine...."


1906: Birthdate of Yosef Serline, the native of Bialystok who served as personal secretary Nahum Sokolow before making Aliyah in 1930 following he which he served as an MK in the first seven Knessets.


1907(10th of Adar, 5667): Composer Otto Goldschmidt passed away at the age of 87.


1906: Birthdate of Yosef Serlin, the native of Bialystok who made Aliyah in 1933 and worked as lawyer in Tel Aviv while pursuing a political career that included serving as member of the First Knesset.


1908(22nd of Adar): Rabbi Jehiel Michal Epstein of Novogrdok, Russia author of Arukh ha-Shulhan passed away


1909: Birthdate of Max Black.  Born in Azerbaijan, raised and educated in England, Black became a U.S.citizen in 1948.  It is hard to classify him because his interests were so varied. “Black was famed for his contributions to the philosophy of language, the philosophy of mathematics and science, the philosophy of art, conceptual analysis, and his studies of the work of several major philosophers. Black was a prolific author and lists of his publications contain over 200 items. He passed away in 1988.


1912: Birth of Hadassah, the largest women's organization in America.


1914: Birthdate of Esta Saltzman the native of Boston, MA who gained fame as Yiddish actress Esta Saltzman Lubin


1916: The Zionist Council of New York held a mass meeting at Cooper Union tonight.  Louis Lipsky, who presided over the meeting, attacked the critics of the Zionist movement, including fellow Jews who had called it a “partisan issue.”  He said that “Zionism is the essential ingredient of any policy the Jewish people may adopt at this time time for the protection of Jewish interests.”  Wolf Gluskin, who has only arrived in the United States from Palestine where he had helped to establish one of first Zionist settlements, told the assembly about the suffering being experienced by 35,000 Palestinian Jews as a result of the World War.  The wine industry, which the Jewish settlers had worked so hard to develop, was on the verge of destruction.  The New York Zionists also heard from Dr. Ben Zion Mossinsohn, a teacher living in Jaffa and Dr. Schmaraya Levin of the International Zionist Committee.


1917: H. Pereira Mendes celebrates his 40th anniversary as rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israelof New York City.


1917: The Judeo-Spanish newspaper El Emigrantewas established in New Jersey.


1917: The Russian Revolution begins in earnest when troops of the Czar fire on the citizens of St. Petersburg.  This is the first, non-Bolshevik Russian Revolution. Jews played an active role in the various upheavals that would bring an end to the reign of the Czars.  The Jews did not realize that anti-Semitism was such an integral part of the Russian psyche that it would survive and flourish under the next wave of autocrats – the Communists who replaced the Czars.


1917: The German plan to bring Mexico into World War on the German side is exposed.  The incident is referred to as the “Zimmerman telegram.”  Zimmerman was the German foreign minister.  This bit of arrogance and ignorance was one of the causes of the United States entering the war in April of 1917.  The Jewish author Barbara Tuchman wrote a very readable and informative book on this subject.


1918:  Einstein wrote “to an academic correspondent who had rebuked him for his dislike of war, ‘Your ostentatious Teutonic muscle-flexing runs rather against my grain.  I prefer to string along with my compatriot Jesus Christ, whose doctrines you and your kind consider to be obsolete.  Suffering is indeed more acceptable to me than resort to violence.’”


1920: The Nazi party held it first major meeting in Munich, Germany.


1921: In Cincinnati, Ohio, the Board of Governors announced that Dr. Kaufman Kohler, President of the Hebrew Union College, will retire at the end of the current academic year.  Dr. Kohler has been serving as President since February, 1903.


1921: As head of the Colonial Office, Winston Churchill makes his first commitment to practical Zionist enterprise by approving Pinchas Rutenberg’s plan to harness the waters of the Jordan and Yarkon rivers for electrical power enabling the Jews to begin to make further plans for substantial urban and rural development.


1922:  Birthdate of actor Steven Hill.  Born Solomon Krakovsky in SeattleWashington, he is best known for his role as Adam Schiff on the television series “Law and Order.


1922(26thof Shevat, 5682): Sir Ellis Kadoorie passed away today and was buried in keeping with Jewish ritual was buried on the same day at the Jewish Cemetery in Hong Kong. Born in 1865, he was part of prominent Jewish family from Baghdad that moved to Bombay and eventually made their fortune in a variety of enterprises many of which were located in China and Hong Kong.


1925(30th of Shevat): Rabbi Isaac Jeroham Diskin passed away


1928: Birthdate of Ezat Delijani, a 1979 refugee from Iran’s Islamic Revolution who became a prominent Los Angeles businessman (As reported by Dennis McLellan)

1932: Benjamin N. Cardozo was confirmed by a unanimous voice vote in the Senate to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Compare the ease with which Cardozo’s name sailed through the approval process with the contentious combat that surrounded the confirmation of Justice Brandeis.  


1932: The Maccabee Association of the United States hosts a benefits concert at Carnegie Hall to raise funds for an athletic stadium in Tel Aviv.


1936: “Henrietta Szold…replied today to Palestine Jewry’s greetings on her seventy-fifth birthday, stating that without their assistance she could have achieved nothing.”


1940:  Winston Churchill shared a telegram with the War Cabinet in which Chaim Weizmann described the “deplorable” effect that adoption of the Land Transfer Regulations would have.  The War Cabinet was unmoved by the plea.


1941: Following a two-long pogrom in Amsterdam, “an open air meeting was held on the Noordermarkt to organise a strike to protest against the pogrom as well as the forced labor in Germany.


1942: The Struma it was torpedoed and sunk by the Soviet submarine SC 213  Approximately 769 illegal Jewish immigrants aboard the Struma perished on their way to Palestine.  The Struma was one of a series of ships filled with Jews that attempted to run the British blockade.  The blockade was part of the British commitment to the Arabs to keep Jews out of Palestine in violation of the Balfour Declaration and the terms of the Mandate.  The British slavishly enforced the blockade during and after World War II.  The Struma traversed the Black Seaand attempted to stop at Istanbul.  But the British told the Turks that the Jews would not be allowed to land in Palestine so they turned the ship back in the Black Sea.  It was there that the ship was sunk, reportedly torpedoed by a Nazi submarine.  Exodus by Leon Uris is based on another blockade running episode that took place in 1947.


1942:  Birthdate of Senator Joe Lieberman.


1943: Hitler sent Nazi members a message on the anniversary of the establishment of the Nazi Party, "The struggle will end . . . with the liquidation of Jewry in Europe."


1944: At Birkenau, 200 of the 800 prisoners in the Sonderkommando were sent to Majdanek where they were shot.


1944:Max Jacob a French artist, who was born Jewish but converted to Catholicism, was arrested by the Gestapo and put into Orléans prison. He was then transferred to a holding camp in Drancy for transport to a concentration camp in Germany.


1946:In Tel Aviv, a throng of more than 50,000 Jews attended the funeral of four men killed during an attack on several RAF airfields. For more than six hours, this “all-Jewish” city was truly in control of the Jewish people as there were no signs of any British police or soldiers.  Jewish newspapers published black-bordered obituaries for each of the deceased.  During the funeral, the Haganah distributed leaflets, giving further proof that the airfield attacks were not the work of the Irgun, but were the work of a broader-based Jewish resistance movement.  The attack and the public outpouring of grief seemed to indicate a change in mood among the Jewish population who were now apparently willing to support more aggressive tactics designed to secure their national home in light of what they have come to view of as the British betrayal of the Zionist cause and their support for the Arabs.


1946: Birthdate of Michael Radford the New Delhi born son of an Austrian Jewish mother who became a successful director and screenwriter who directed the 2004 film version of the Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino as Shylock.


1947: Birthdate of Lawrence Bailey Bogdanow an architect whose love for natural materials and fine craftsmanship brought a sense of warmth and ease to the interiors of dozens of Manhattan’s most popular restaurants, including Union Square Café, Savoy and the Cub Room (As reported by William Grimes)


1947: Birthdate of Juval Aviv, the native of kibbutz Kfar Menachem who is known as an Israeli-American security consultant and writer.


1949: "Under the auspices of the United Nations Mediator Dr. Ralph Bunche, an armistice was signed between Egypt and Israel."  This marked, more or less, the end of Israel's War for Independence.  "It was the first such agreement between Israeland any of its warring neighbors.  The aim of the armistice was not merely to end the fighting but, as its terms stated to 'facilitate the transition...to permanent peace'.  The phrase was taken from the United Nations Security Council resolution of November 16."  Unfortunately, the Egyptians and the other Arab nations only viewed this as a cease fire.  Over the next several decades they would violate the spirit and the agreement as they sought to destroy the state of Israel.  For the Israelis the armistice was a great victory won against seemingly impossible odds.  When asked to explain the reason for this victory which sealed the creation of the Jewish state, Yigal Yadin replied, "If we are to condense all the various factors, and they are many, which brought about victory, I would not hesitate to credit the extraordinary qualities of Israel's youth, during the War of Independence, with that victory."  In other words, it was the spirit of the people that provided the will to hold out in the early dark days and then to take advantage of later breakthroughs to turn toward victory.  As we study Jewish History, it will be interesting to see the similarity between the causes of Jewish victories in ancient and modern times.


1949: President Weizmann entrusted David Ben-Gurion with the task of forming Israel’s first government.


1950: Ada Maimon, a member of the Knesset, is spearheading the drive to tighten Israel’s marriage laws.  She is seeking to raise the minimum age of consent from 15 to 18 and tighten up on rules concerning the exceptions.  Current law, which is left over from the British mandate allows girls to marry at the age of 15 but allows for marriage at a younger age with parental consent. Miss Maimon would limit exceptions to girls at the age of 17.  Miss Maimon, who is a member of the Knessett, is most concerned about ending what she considers the abuse of this “loophole” that has girls as young as 12 getting married.  Primary opposition is coming from Jews of Oriental orign who are offended by Miss Maimon’s characterization of Oriental mothers as “breeding delinquents.”  The fifty-seven year old Miss Maimon is the sister of Rabbi Judah L. Maimon Israel’s Minister for Religious Affairs and is in charge of the agricultural training farm at Ayanot that was founded in 1930.


1952:  Birthdate of Simon Weinstock, British businessman and racehorse owner.


1953: Birthdate of Marc Feinstein the native of Mitchell, South Dakota who has served as the Representative from the 14thDistrict in the South Dakota House of Repesentatives.


1954: Birthdate of Dutch author Leon de Winter whose works include the novels Kaplan and Hoffman’s Hunger.


1956: “Churchill received the Israeli Ambassador, Eliahu Elath, who presented him with a portfolio of woodcuts depicting ancient Jerusalem as an eightieth birthday gift from the Prime Minister and Government of Israel.


1956:  Birthdate of television journalist, Paula Zahn.


1967(13th of Adar I, 5727): German born, American composer Franz Waxman passed away.  Waxman was nominated for 12 Oscars.  In back to back victories he won for “Sunset Boulevard” and “A Place in the Sun.”  These two films give us a sense of the breadth of Waxman’s skills since the first film was classic cinema noir and the second was a Western.


1976: Jules Feiffer's "Knock Knock" premiered in New York City.


1981: Jean Harris is convicted of murdering Dr. Herman Tarnower, the Jewish author of the bestselling The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet. From “eat, eat my children eat” to a mania for weight watching; such is the Jewish experience in the last hundred years. 


1981:Two bronze doors, weighing about 200 pounds, were stolen from a mausoleum at the Baron Hirsch Cemetery on Staten Island cemetery today. The police estimated the value of the doors at $600.


1983(11th of Adar, 5743): Ta’anit Esther


1987(24th of Shevat, 5747):Marian Gerber Greenberg, who worked closely with Henrietta Szold, the founder of the Hadassah, the Woman's Zionist Organization of America, and its Youth Aliyah to help rescue thousands of Jewish children from Nazi Germany, died of congestive heart failure at the Cooley-Dickenson Hospital, Northampton, Mass. She was 89 years old and lived in Amherst, Mass. Mrs. Greenberg was the first national chairman of Youth Aliyah, serving in the post from 1936 to 1941. A national board member of Hadassah since 1927, she was a national vice president and a Hadassah delegate to five world Zionist Congresses between 1931 and 1952. She was also national chairman of the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Building Fund. She edited the Hadassah newsletter (now a magazine) and, from 1943 to 1946 was editor of the monthly bulletin of the Citizens' Housing and Planning Council of New York. A former resident of Manhattan, she retired to Amherst in 1976, where she taught courses in the Bible and modern Jewish thought, sponsored by the Judaic Studies department of the University of Massachusetts. She was born in Philadelphia and graduated from Cornell University in 1919. She was the widow of David Greenberg, a writer on wildlife and conservation, who died in 1968.


1988(6th of Adar, 5748): Sixty-one year old Seymour Siegel, the Rabbi who has been a major force in Conservative Judaism for the last four decades passed away today. (As reported by Ari L.Goldman)

1989(19th of Adar I): SergeantBinyamin Meisner, an Israeli paratrooper, was killed today when he was struck in the head by a concrete block thrown from a building in Nablus, in the West Bank, the army said. Meisner, a 24-year-old reserve sergeant, is the sixth Israeli soldier to die in the current Arab wave of violence.


1991: The New York Times reviews To Know A Woman by Amos Oz.


1994(12th of Adar, 5754): Dinah Shore passed away. Born Francis Rose Shore in 1916, the Tennessee native gained fame as a singer and star of her own television variety show. (As reported by Stephen Holden)

1996:  Andrew Beckerman-Rodau a Jewish professor at Suffolk University Law School flew from Detroit to Kiev. His visit to Kievwas at the invitation of the Ukrainian Supreme Court in cooperation with USAID, an agency of the United Statesgovernment. USAID's mission is to assist this newly independent country in developing a democratic government.


1997: Time published “Echoes of the Holocaust” that describes attempt for victims regain some of the wealth stolen from them be bankers during the Nazi domination of Europe.



 

1998(27th of Shevat, 5758): Comedian Henny Youngman passed away at the age of 92.  Youngman was famous for his tagline “Take my wife please.”  Youngman did not have a Bar Mitzvah as a child.  When he was in his seventies, he finally had one much to his joy and delight. (As reported by Mervyn Rothstein)

1999(7th of Adar, 5759): David Daube, a world renowned Biblical law scholar who charmed generations of students while teaching at the University of California, Berkeley's law school passed away at the age of 90.

2001(1st of Adar, 5761): Rosh Chodesh Adar


2002: Bruce Fleisher won the RJR (Golf) Championship


2002(11th of Adar, 5762):  Leo Orenstein, Russian born American composer and pianist passed away at the age of 89.


2002: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including A Life in Pieces: The Making and Unmaking of Binjamin Wilkomirskiby Blake Eskin and Kindred Souls: The Friendship of Eleanor Roosevelt and David Gurewitschby Edna P. Gurewitsch. (Gurewitsch, the son of Jewish immigrants from Russia was “Eleanor Roosevelt's friend, confidant, personal physician, housemate, and traveling companion during her post-White House years.”)


2005: 14th of Adar – observance of Purim.


2006: London Mayor Ken Livingstone was suspended from office for four weeks after being found guilty of bringing his office into disrepute by comparing a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard.


 2007: Israel Non-Stop  “seven days of cutting edge Israeli music, theatre, film, art, food and more” began in New York with the appearance of Israeli music phenomenon Mosh Ben-Ari. According to the playbill, “Mosh Ben-Ari combines ecstatic middle eastern rhythms, spirituality, and scents of reggae and African beats. Mosh Ben-Ari's joyous concerts around the world turn into high spirited celebrations for peace. His recently released album, Go Giving, has been praised by music critics and fans alike.”


2007: “West Bank Story” won the Academy Award for Short Film-Live Action. The 21 minute musical has a “West Side Story” motif. “In this case the confrontation is between competing West Bank Falafel stands, the Israeli Kosher King and the Palestinian Hummus Hut.


2008: Rabbi Avrohom Yitzchok Ulman was one of the main speakers at a major protest rally against the growing influence of nationalistic (Zionist) thought and philosophies in the Haredi world” Born in Hungary, Ulman is an expert on Jewish law pertaining to fiancé and property and he is a member of the Dushinksy Hasidic Movement founded by Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky


2008:  “Burnt Diary Yields Horror of Warsaw Ghetto” published today described the recovery of the writings of person known only as “Debora” who chronicled life in one of the most infamous places of Jewish captivity.

2008: The Sunday New York Times book section featured a review of a biography about Jewish author and playwright David Mamet entitled David Mamet: A Life In The Theatre by Ira Nadel.


2008: An exhibition styled “CHIM: The Photography of David Seymour (1911 – 1956)” came to an end at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco.


2008: The Washington Post book section featured a review of Alfred Kazin:A Biography by Richard M. Cook and Staring At The SunOvercoming the Terror of Deathby Irvin D. Yalom, the award winning Jewish born psychiatrist and author.


2008: Israelis (and many others) wonder if Beaufort directed by Joseph Cedar will win the Oscar for best Foreign Language Film.  This is the seventh time an Israeli film has been nominated in this category. Beaufort is set “in the days leading up to Israel's withdrawal from Lebanonin 2000. The soldiers stationed at the mountaintop outpost of Beaufort live under a barrage of constant attacks. Frustrated by the knowledge that they are risking--and often losing--their lives in defense of a fortress that will soon be abandoned, the men struggle to do their duty while grieving for their dead comrades and preparing for the evacuation.”The movie is based on the novel Im Yesh Gan Eden (If There is a Paradise) by Ron Leshem, who co-wrote the screenplay with Cedar.


2009: Dalia Itzik completed her term as Speaker of the Knesset


2009: Paul Finkelman, a professor of law and public policy who had reviewed Eli Faber’s Jews, Slaves, and the Slave Trade: Setting the Record Straightand is the author of Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson, presents a lecture on abolitionist John Brown as part of the "Great Lives Lecture Series" at the University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA.


2009:More than 300 rabbis gather at the 120th annual Central Conference American Rabbis convention opens in Jerusalem, Israel.


2009(1stof Adar, 5769): Rosh Chodesh Adar

2009(1stof Adar, 5769): Eighty-seven year old choreographer Pearl Lang, the founder of the Pearl Lang Dance Theatre passed away today. (As reported by Jack Anderson)

2009:More than three months after the 17th Knesset was dispersed, the 18th Knesset was sworn in this afternoon, in a ceremony that began with a moving speech by President Shimon Peres, during which he paid tribute to the IDF for the recent Gaza operation, hailed US President Barack Obama's election and called for a peace deal with the Palestinians during the next Knesset's term.


2009: The Jerusalem Post reported that an archive of over 10,000 works of modern Yiddish literature has gone on-line. The collection of full texts, comprising the National Yiddish Book Center's Steven Spielberg Digital Library, can be read, downloaded and printed free at

2010:The Israel Ballet, Israel's foremost classical ballet company which was founded in 1967 by Berta Yampolsky and Hillel Markman is scheduled to perform "Don Quixote" in Elmira, NY.


2010:Ted Leonsis, the AOL entrepreneur and the owner of the Washington Capitals as well as a partner in the Washington Wizards franchise, is scheduled to discuss his new book, "The Business of Happiness: 6 Secrets to Extraordinary Success in Life and Work," at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington, D.C.


2010:A bill that allows civil marriage in Israel to couples who could not be married by the rabbinate failed by a large margin in its initial reading. The Civil Union bill, introduced today by the Kadima Party’s Meir Sheetrit, was defeated 58-22.
 
2010:Today, the Israel Flower Growers Association reported a 30-percent drop in exports for Valentine’s Day compared to last year. The flower-growers blamed the drop on a shortage of Thai workers, which made it impossible for them to meet demands, and have threatened to sue the government for damages.
 
2011: Gainsbourg,the boldly imaginative and wildly entertaining biopic of Jewish French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, one of the most iconic and diversely talented music artists of the 20th Century” and Chariots of Fire are scheduled to be shown at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival


2011:Ruth David, Professor Peter Davies (Edinburgh) and Dr Andrea Hammel (Aberystwyth) are scheduled to present a program entitled Holocaust Texts and Translation” at The Wiener Library in London, UK.



2011:The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to continue its year round programming in Berkeley with an encore presentation of 2010 Festival sleeper hit Father’s Footsteps– a gripping coming of age drama about a Tunisian-Israeli family threatened by violence and crime.



2011:YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is scheduled to present: "Integrale Yidishkeyt": Modern Yiddish Culture's Turn Inward in Response to the Holocaust.



2011:YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is scheduled to present a discussion of : Joseph Roth's Job



2011:IAF aircraft struck against a number of terrorists in the southern Gaza Strip today in a joint IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) operation that left one dead and three injured. IDF Spokesperson released a statement saying that the aircraft successfully hit their intended targets. The Israeli operation came after a grad-model Katyusha rocket struck Beersheba  the first such attack on the city since Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip over two years ago.

2011:With Israeli Apartheid Week a week away, Israel seems to have found an unexpected champion in Michael Lucas, a popular gay columnist and porno producer with dual US-Israeli citizenship. Lucas told The Jerusalem Post by phone from New York today that “I defeated a group of anti- Semites” who sought to equate Israel with the former South African apartheid regime at an event slated to be held at the city’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Center.

2011(20thof Adar I, 5771):Jerrold (Yoram) Kessel passed away today.
http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=209791



2011: Judy Gross, the wife of Alan Gross “pleaded with the Cuban government to release her husband on humanitarian grounds. Gross' daughter, 26, has breast cancer, and his mother has been diagnosed with lung cancer.” (As reported by JTA)



2012(1stof Adar, 5772): Rosh Chodesh Adar

2012: In London, Claudia Roden is scheduled to talk about discoveries she made while researching her new book “The Food of Spain” as part of Jewish Book Week.



2012: As many as 100 college students who are part of the Kol HaOlam competition are scheduled to attend the Ruach Minyan at Adas Israel in Washington, DC.



2012: In New York City, Temple Emanu-El is scheduled to host a Friday night service that will include a commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the founding of Hadassah attended by Marcie Natan, National President of Hadassah.



2012:Tensions continued to escalate in the South early thismorning with the Israel Air Force making two separate forays into the Gaza Strip to bomb terror targets in response to the firing of Kassam rockets into Israeli communities.

2012:Security forces used force to disperse hundreds of Muslim worshipers at the Temple Mount today who rioted and threw stones following a tense week in the Old City.

2013: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend by Glenn Frankel, City of Angels Or, the Overcoat of Dr. Freud by Christa Wolf and the recently released paperback edition of God’s Jury; The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World by Cullen Murphy


2013: Center for Jewish History, YIVO Institute and the International Center of Photography are scheduled to sponsor a screen of Eleanor Antin’s “Man Without a World.”


2013: Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa is scheduled to celebrate Purim complete with a megillah reading and separate costume contests for children and adults.


2013: Dedication of the Jacobs Family Education Center is scheduled to take place at Agudas Achim in Iowa City, Iowa.


2013: The Maccaebeats are scheduled to perform at The Moriah School Purim Chagiga in Englewood, NJ


2013(14th of Adar, 5773): Purim


2013:Purim’s carnival atmosphere spread out across Israe today, with revelers of all types and ages soaking up the holiday cheer, many bedecked in bright, loud and extravagant costumes.   http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=304356


2014: German Chancellor Angela Merkel is scheduled to begin a two day visit to Israel.


2014: At the Center for Jewish History, Henry L. Feingold is scheduled to speak on “American Jewish Political Culture and the Liberal Persuasion.”


2014: “Dancing Alfonso” is scheduled to be shown at the UK Jewish Film Festival


2014: Israel Apartheid Week, a week-long orgy of anti-Semitism hidden under the guise of anti-Israel lectures and workshops is scheduled to begin today.


2014:Ian Heath Gershengorn, Principal Deputy Solicitor General, U.S. Department of Justice, is scheduled to address the Hadassah Attorneys Council in Washington, DC.


2014: In New Orleans, the Jewish Studies Department of Tulane University is scheduled to present a lecture by Tome Beller entitled “J.D. Salinger’s Late Barmitzva.”


This Day, February 25, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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February 25



161 BCE: Jewish soldiers led by Judah Maccabee defeated Nicanor, the Syrian general who had boasted that he would destroy the Temple and mount Judah’s head on the gates of Jerusalem.


138: The Emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius, effectively making him his successor. For Jews Hadrian stands out as one of the cruelest of the Roman emperors.  He is the one who defeated Bar Kochba.  It is said that Hadrain was more evil than Titus because he did not just make war against the Jewish people.  He made war against Judaism by banning its practice.  In one of those many ironic twists of fates, Antionious Pious, his hand-picked successor reversed the decrees of Hadrain. He allowed the Torah to be studied and is laws obeyed.  He reinstituted the ban on imperial statues in synagogues and he allowed the Jews to practice the rite of circumcision.


 

1308: Coronation of King Edward II.  One of this uniquely incompetent monarch’s claim to fame is that he was the first King of England to reign over a realm without any Jews since the Norman conquest in 1066.  Edward’s father, Edward I, had expelled the Jews in 1290.

 
1304: Birthdate of Ibn Battuta, the Moslem Moroccan explorer who visit large segments of Asia and Africa where he chronicled meetings with various groups including Jews in India and China.
 
1333: Ibn Batuta, the Arab traveler, visits Jewish communities in India

 
1336: Alfonso X of Castile was persuaded by the apostate Alfonso of Valladolid to ban the prayer Aleinu. Alfonso alleged that the prayer was anti-Christian. As a result, many Jewish communities excised a sentence from the prayer which has only been printed in recent years in only some prayer books.  The offending line which was taken out comes just before the time when everybody bows and recites “Va-ananchnu Kor’im – But we bend our knees…” The line that was taken out reads “For they bow to vanity and emptiness and pray to a god which helps not.”  If you read the entire prayer and insert this line, the following line makes a lot more sense.  According to several commentators the offending line had nothing to do with the Christians but had been placed there to refer to all heretics and that its origins were found in Isaiah (30:7 and 45:20). Further evidence refuting the claim that it was anti-Christian can be found in the fact that it was composed in the third century by Rav Abba Arucha head of the Academy of Sura (Persia) which was not a Christian country.  Ashkenazi prayer books dropped the line but Sephardic prayer books i.e. those in the land of Islam, retained the line.  Today it can be found in some Ashkenazi prayer books including those in the Artscroll Series.

 
1451: Nicholas V issued a papal bull banning all social intercourse between Christians and Jews.  This was because of the fear of Christians being attracted to Judaism. A Christian who converted to Judaism and the Jews who helped him were usually subject to the death penalty in most Catholic and Eastern Orthodox countries.  It is amazing that with the Church's attitude towards Judaism, and with the contempt that Jews in which Jews were held, that there should be such a fear of "Jewish missionizing".
 
1570:  Pope Pious V excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I.  This was one of the steps on the road to loosening the stranglehold that doctrinal Christianity had on Western Europe.  As the Church’s grip on Europe weakened it opened up the way to a religious toleration that was highly beneficial to the Jewish people.

 
1593:Pope Clement VIII issued “Caeca et Obdurata Hebraeorum perfidia” (the blind and obdurate perfidy of the Hebrews) a papal bull which expelled the Jews from the Papal States, effectively revoking the bull Christiana pietas issued in 1586 by his predecessor Pope Sixtus V.The bull was a culmination of Clement VII's tightening of the anti-Jewish measures of his predecessors which began with his elevation to the papacy in 1592. The bull gave Jews three months to leave the Papal States (with the exception of Rome, Ancona, and the Comtat Venaissin of Avignon). The main effect of the bull was to evict Jews who had returned to areas of the Papal States (mainly Umbria) after 1586 (following their expulsion in 1569) and to expel Jewish communities from cities like Bologna (which had been incorporated under papal dominion since 1569). For the Jews remaining within Rome, Ancona, or the Comtat Venaissin, the bull re-established mandatory weekly sermons. The bull also resulted in the relocation of Jewish cemeteries to Ferrara and Mantua. The bull alleged that Jews in the Papal States had engaged in usury and exploited the hospitality of Clement VIII's predecessors "who, in order to lead them from their darkness to knowledge of the true faith, deemed it opportune to use the clemency of Christian piety towards them" (alluding to Christiana pietas).

 
1799: Napoleon defeat the army led by Al Jazzar as he made his way from Khan Younis to Gaza.

 
1799: Napoleon captured Gaza. (Yes, the same place in the news today). This was his first encounter with "Palestinian" Jews.” It is said that he offered “the reestablishment of ancient Jerusalem” as a Jewish homeland in return for Jewish loyalty.

 
1795: First New York City performance of “Sheva, The Benevolent” by English playwright Richard Cumberland which features, Sheva, “the Jewish moneylender as the benevolent hero.”

 
1806: Birthdate of Rabbi Salomon Ulmann the French rabbi who among other things organized the Central Conference of the Chief Rabbis of France

 
1840: Birthdate of German philosopher, the Kantian, Otto Liebmann
1841: Birthdate of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, the French artist who painted “Alice and Elisabeth Cahen d’Anvers” (most commonly referred to as Pink and Blue).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."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_and_Blue_(Renoir)

 
1844: Birthdate of Leó Frankel, the Hungarian born revolution who active in the First International and a member of the Paris Commune that was formed in the wake of the Franco-Prussian War.

 
1847: State University of Iowa was approved.  What is now called the University of Iowa has certainly provided employment and educational opportunities for a fair number of Jews from the land of the Hawks as well a number of other places. The 28,000 student body includes approximately 600 Jewish undergrads and 200 Jewish grad students.  The school offers ten Jewish studies courses and the campus offers students a choice of Hillel or Chabad.  They also have access to Agudas Achim and its Rabbi, Jeff Portman, a mensch in the truest sense of the word. Several distinguished Jewish scholars have taught at the university including the late Dr. Jonathan A. Goldstein who provided the introduction and commentary for The Anchor Bible's Book of Maccabees and Dr. David Schoenbaum who has authored numerous works about German history as well as The United States and the State of Israel, a diplomatic history of relations between the United States and Israel from 1948 to 1993.
 
1848: Birthdate of Eugène-Melchior, vicomte de Vogüé the French diplomat and archaeologist who provided “much of the earliest documentation about the Temple Mount. Because his work was done with the “full consent of the Muslim Counsel” he “work included the most complete and detailed mongraphs on how the mosques looked and their relationships to ancient Temple of Jerusalem.”  De Vogue “was also known for his architectural studies of Jerusalem and its surroundings.” (For more on thisDigging Through the Bible by Richard A. Freund

 
1855:The Jewish residents of Lancaster PA organized Congregation Shaarai Shomayim which then took possession of the old Jewish cemetery.

 
1856: Professor O.M. Mitchell is scheduled deliver a lecture tonight entitled "Critical Examination of the Astronomical Allusions and Illustrations Employed by the Writers of the Sacred Books of the Hebrews" at the Brooklyn Athenaeum. 

 
1858: Sir Anthony de Rothschild, Louis Nathan, Ephraim Alex and Marcus Samuel, the father of the first Lord Bearsted were among those who attended a conference designed to deal with the problems of “the strange and foreign poor” held in the chambers of the Great Synagogue in London.

 
1859: The first formal meeting was held at 31 New Bridge Street of the Board of Guardians which consisted of delegates from the London’s three leading congregations.

 
1862: Judah P. Benjamin began serving as Attorney General in the cabinet of Jefferson Davis.

 
1862: Birthdate of Stanisław Głąbiński Polish attorney and political leader who shared a cell in Lubyanka Prison with Rabbi Moses Schorr with whom he formed a close friendship before the Jew and Gentile met the same fate – murder by the NKVD in 1941.

 
1862: A fire broke at 6 o'clock this morning in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, on Lamartine-place.  Damages which are valued at three hundred dollars, should be fully covered by insurance.

 
1865(29th of Shevat, 5625): Shabbat Shekalim

 
1867: Ralph Disraeli and his wife gave birth to British political leader Coningsby Disraeli, the nephew of Benjamin Disraeli.

 
1870: As a reminder that the battle over the separation of church and state which has been a cornerstone of Jewish success in the United States is on-going, a meeting was held at the Reformed Presbyterian Church in New York in which the attendees called for a national convention that would promote “constitutional recognition of Almighty God and the Christian religion in the United States.”

 
1871: Rabbi Stephen Wise of Cincinnati delivered a lecture on the Apostle Paul, the third and final in a series of addresses on the Origin of Christianity. The well attended event took place at Steinway Hall in New York City
 
1876(30thof Shevat, 5636): Rosh Chodesh Adar

 
1877: It was reported that the Purim Association will host a masked ball at Delmonico’s on March 1st in celebration of this minor Jewish festival.

 
1877: A reception celebrating Purim was held today at the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews.  The event was hosted by the lady managers of the well-maintained facility located at 87th Street and Avenue A in New York City.

 
1877: Professor Felix Adler delivered a detailed laudatory address to a mostly Jewish audience at Standard Hall on the life and teachings of Baruch Spinoza.  The 200th anniversary of the death of the famous Jewish Dutch philosopher provided the impetus for the “panegyric.”

 
1880(13th of Adar, 5640) Ta'anit Esther

 
1881: It was reported today that the will of Louis Strauss of San Francisco includes bequests to the Pacific Hebrew Orphan Asylum and Home Society of San Francisco ($10,000), and the Jewish Orphan Asylum of New York ($5,000) as well as three other non-Jewish institutions.

 
1881: It was reported today that Marion Calisch, young Jewess kindergarten teacher who disappeared mysteriously, has been re-united with her parents and taken home.  The police are still investigating the matter since they do not find Ms Calisch’s explanation of events creditable.

 
1882: A mass meeting is scheduled to be held at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia during which the attendees will express their outrage at the treatment of Russian Jews by the Czarist government.  The multi-denominational array of speakers will be expressing their sympathy with the plight of the refugees, some of whom have just arrived in the City of Brotherly Love.

 
1882: It was reported today that John W. Foster will be deliver a lecture on “The Czar and His People” before the Young Men’s Hebrew Association in Chickering Hall.  The New York event will be a benefit for Jewish refugees who have fled persecution in Russia.
 
1882: A Purim celebration for the Temple Beth-El Sunday School students was held at the Terrace Garden this afternoon in New York City.

 
1882: The Young Men’s Association of Temple Beth-El sponsored a grand ball in Terrace Garden.  This Purim celebration was organized by Nathan Ullman, Louis Lowenfels and Samuel Eiseman.

 
1885: Birthdate of Princess Alice of Battenberg, the mother-in-law of Queen Elizabeth II, who personally saved Rachel Cohen and two of her children from the Nazi death camps.

 
1887: Relief expedition to rescue the apostate Jew turned Ottoman official Emin Pasha, under the command of Henry M. Stanley, left Zanzibar for its next stop, Banana at the mouth of the Congo River.

 
1888: Birthdate of John Foster Dulles, Eisenhower’s Secretary of State from 1953 through 1959.  No, Dulles was not Jewish. But this patrician Cold Warrior did play a major role in American Israeli relations and his effect was less than positive.  He sided with the Soviets in their support of Nasser during the Suez crisis of 1956.  He led the forces that put pressure on Israel to withdraw from the Sinai and Gazaleaving the terrorist bases in tact while propping up the Egyptian dictator.  Dulles and Eisenhower’s misguided action led to the development of the independent French nuclear capability and to the Six Day War in 1967.

 
1891: Charles W. Foster began serving as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, a position which gave him considerable control over the increasing influx of Jews from Russia and Poland; a fact that would be duly noted later in appeals made to him by leaders of the American Jewish Committee.

 
1892: “No Mercy For the Jews” published today provided a detailed account of the report prepared by Colonel John B. Weber who had represented the 33rdDistrict of New York in the 49th and 50th Congresses and Dr. Walter Kempster on the “conditions and treatment of the Jewish subjects of the Czar.  The report which was prepared for the House Committee on Immigration, “sets forth calmly, dispassionately and with a careful regard to accuracy...a state of things unheard of in modern times.” 

 
1894: In Philadelphia, PA, a non-sectarian memorial service in memory of the late George W. Childs was held at Keneseth Israel.

 
1894: It was reported today that a member of the Women’s Literary Club of Baltimore has contributed a paper on the “The Booth” the famous family of 19thcentury thespians.  According to the paper, they were originally a Jewish family from Spain named “Cabana.”  When one of the ancestors settled in England he translated the family name into English and that back the family name – Booth

 
1895: “Once Famous, Now Forgotten” published today described the life of Bernard Bauer, the Hungarian Jew who converted to Catholicism, where, as Father Maria Berhnard he became a popular preacher in France and the confessor of Empress.  This meant that he was following in the footsteps of Hermann Cohen, the Jewish pianist who converted and gained fame as Father Hermann.

 
1898: A social event is scheduled to be held today to raise funds for Jewish hospital to be built in Brooklyn.  Currently there are no Jewish hospitals in Brooklyn and Robert Strahl, Sigmund Wechsler and Charles Levy are among those leading the drive to remedy this deficiency

 
1899: It was reported today that the Junior Association of the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews had participated in the annual Purim reception that had been held at the home on 106th Street.

 
1899: Paul Julius von Reuter founder of the news agency Reuters passed away.  Reuter was born in 1816 and his name was Israel Beer Josaphat.  He left his uncle's bank in the German town of Gottingeng and established what would become the world's greatest wire service in 1848. No Kaddish was said since he had converted and became a Lutheran in 1845 after having moved to London.

 
1901: Birthdate of Zeppo Marx, one of the famous Marx Brothers
1903: Dr. Kaufmann Kohler, the senior Rabbi at New York’s Temple Beth-El has been asked to serve as President of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, the first and until recently, when a conservative seminary was established in New York, the only college in America designed for the education of Rabbis.
1903: “Zionist committees set out today to investigate the feasibility of a British proposal to have Jews colonize El-Arish” which is located on the Mediterranean coast of the Sinai Peninsula.   
1903:Herzl receives a telegram from the commission in El Arish: "Vicinity has made a favorable impression."

 
1907: Birthdate of actor Shimen Rushkin.  Born in Poland, he gained famed in America in televisions and a variety of films including Fiddler on the Roof and the original version of The Producers.  He passed away in 1967.

 
1908: Continued massacres in Setatt drive Jews to Casablanca for safety. During this period the Jewish population of all Moroccois somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000.

 
1914: Maurice and Ada Nudelman Kallis gave birth to  Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman, whose donation of artworks by the likes of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell and Alexander Calder greatly bolstered the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s standing as an exhibitor of modern art.
 
1919: The funeral for the Abraham Jesse Dittenhoefer, the native South Carolinian who was the last living elector to have voted for Lincoln in 1864, will be held at his home this morning at ten o’clock.

 
1919: Birthdate of Brooklyn born cellist  Fred Katz.

 
1920: In Germany, the Nazi party endorsed its own platform consisting of twenty-five points. Seven of these points concerned the Jews.
 
1921: Greek authorities expropriate the old Jewish cemetery in Smyrna.

 
1923: The price of bread rose to 2,000 marks in Berlin.  This hyper-inflation wiped people’s life savings and destroyed the basic faith of the middle class in many of the existing political and social institutions.  It laid the groundwork for the rise of political extremism that would make the Communists and the Nazis the dominant political forces in the 1930’s.

 
1923:In an article entitled “Palestine Relief Work Extended,” Doctor Isaac M. Rubinow, the director of the Hadassah Medical Organization describes the positive changes that the work of the Hadassah doctors and nurses has had on the citizens of Palestine including Jews, Arabs, Moslems and Christians.  When Dr. Rubinow went to Israel in 1919 the unit consisted of 43 nurses and doctors.  Today four hundred medical personnel sponsored by Hadassah support five major hospitals and several field hospitals.  As a sign as of its commitment to “heal the wounds of prejudice” all Hadassah hospitals and clinics are open to Moslems and Christians as well as Jews.  To ensure equality of treatment, the staff members do not maintain a private practice and there are no private rooms in the medical facilities.  Everybody is treated in a democratic fashion on modern hospital wards.  The Hadassah Medical Organization has established a modern infant welfare plan under the management of pediatricians at Rothschild Hospital in Jerusalem and a department of school hygiene “which has saved thousands of children from blindness and other ailments by regular examination for and treatment of trachoma and various forms of skin diseases.”

 
1928: In New York City, Dr and Mrs. Henry Stern gave birth to Richard Gustave Stern,the best American author of whom you have never heard…” (As reported by Bruce Weber)

 
1928: Birthdate of Larry Gelbart, television producer responsible for the hit show “MASH.”

 
1928: Birthdate of Shlomo Kalo, a native of Bulgaria who survived the Holocaust and made Aliyah in 1949.  He gained fame as a microbiologist as well as a poet and an author of works of fictions and non-fiction.

 
1932: Immigrant Adolf Hitler officially became a German citizen.  Hitler was born in Austria.  His Germanic connection was ethnic rather than political.  His formal connection with the government of Germanybegan when he joined the Kaiser’s army in 1914.

 
1933: The Literary Digest, the magazine that would go out of business after picking Alf Landon to win the election in 1936, published “Israel’s Alarm at Hitler’s Rise.”

 
1935:  Birthdate of Sally Lowenthal, better known to most Americans as talk show hostess Sally Jesse Raphael.

 
1936: Rose Pesotta joined the Goodyear Rubber workers' sit-in as an organizer of the strike which temporarily closed the largest tire factory in the world.

 
1937(14th of Adar, 5697): Purim

 
1937: In London, Winston Churchill met Emery Reves for the first time. Reeves was a Hungarian born Jew whose birth name was Imre Rvesz who had become a leading literary agent for European democratic leaders, a role he would soon assume for Churchill.

 
1938: The Palestine Post reported that The Times of London criticized, in its leading article, the delay shown by the Colonial Office in appointing a new technical commission which would advise how to implement the proposed by the Royal (Peel) Commission and the League of Nations partition of Palestine. 

 
1939: Heinrich Himmler reportedly issued a secret decree designed to get of Germany’s Jews by encouraging emigration. This report would seem to lack credibility given the impediments that the German government placed in the way of Jews leaving Nazi control.

 
1939: In Britain, the Picture Post published the first of two photo-journalist presentations that supported the call for Winston Churchill’s return to an active role in the Government.  Stefan Lorant was the editor and designer for the Picture Post was the moving force behind the article.  Lorant was a Hungarian born Jew who had worked in Germany before being imprisoned at Dachau in 1933.

 
1941: The 1941 February Strike (aka The Strike of February 1941) began today.  The strike was organized in the Netherlands as protest following pogroms that had taken place in Amsterdam’s Jewish neighborhoods.

 
1945: Birthdate of Amram Mitzna “an Israeli politician and former general. He is the acting mayor of Yeruham, the former mayor of Haifa (1993–2003) and lead the Labour Party from 2002 to 2003.”

 
1946: Three RAF installations were attacked in Palestine tonight resulting in damage valued at $2,000,000,000.  Fourteen planes were destroyed outright and another 8 planes were damaged so badly that they were beyond repair.

 
1947: Birthdate of Gary Rosenblatt who has served as editor for the Baltimore Jewish Times, The Jewish News of Detroit, The Atlanta Jewish Times and The Jewish Week of New York

 
1947: British Foreign Minister Bevin continues his anti-Semitic rhetoric attacking Zionism and defending theArabs who have been in Palestine “for 2,000 years.”

 
1947: The SS President Warfield set sail from Baltimore, MD on a voyage which would sail her into the history books as The Exodus.

 
1948: The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia takes control of government in Czechoslovakia and the period of the Third Republic ends.  The Communist seizure of power was a major step in the hardening of positions during the early days of the Cold War.  It galvanized pro western forces in Europe to participate in what would become NATO.  It also helped interantionalists (many of whom were Jewish) in the United States to overcome isolationist opposition America taking the lead in opposing Soviet imperialism.  For the Jews of Palestine who were already facing Arab attacks prior to the pending departure of the British, this turn of events was beneficial.  With the approval of their Soviet masters, the new Czech government would allow the shipment of surplus ME-109 aircraft that was stored in Czechoslovakia to Israel at the moment of the creation of the Jewish state.  In one of the great ironies of history, the first combat aircraft flown by Israeli pilots were former German fighter planes shipped from Communist Czechoslovakia.

 
1950: "Your Show of Shows" with Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca premiered on NBC. Writers included Mel Brooks, Neil Simon and Woody Allen. This was an early hour long variety - primarily comedy - show that dominated the airwaves in its weekend time slot.  And it was live when live meant live.  Yes, three of those mentioned above were Jewish.  But by now you have come to expect a connection between Jewish and Humor
 
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that after Jordan asked Britain to intervene against what he called Israeli "aggression" and invoked the Jordanian-British pact of mutual assistance, the British government officially disclosed that it considered the possibility of stationing its armed forces on Jordanian territory.

 
1953:The Jerusalem Post reported that Hevrat Ovdim (the Histadrut's General Cooperative Society), together with the Histadrut's pension funds and other organizations, mobilized funds for the construction of the first huge hotel and rest house in Eilat. Eilat is Israel's southern port.  Early on, the Israelis sought to make it a tourist haven as well as a port that would be a gateway to Africa and Asia.  The blockade of Eilat by the Egyptians in 1967 was the official act of war that provided the justification under international law for what would become the Six Days War.

 
1954: Nasser became Egyptian premier. The “man behind the throne” who had masterminded the downfall of the Egyptian monarchy now took center stage and took his country down a road to repeated war with Israel as well as doom and disgrace.

 
1957(24th of Adar I, 5717): Mark Aldanov, aka Mark A Landau, Russian born author and chemist passed away at the age of 70.

 
1957(24th of Adar I, 5717): B. P. Schulberg passed away. Born Percival Schulberg in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1892, he took the name Benjamin from the boy in front of him when registering for school to avoid mockery for his British name. He worked in the fledgling film industry in New York City until 1919 when he moved to Hollywood, California where he operated "Preferred Pictures" and was responsible for making Clara Bow a star. He joined Louis B. Mayer to form "Mayer-Schulberg Studio" but after Mayer became part of MGM, Schulberg would join with Adolph Zukor and became the head of Paramount Pictures. In an era when the film industry was filled with conservative studio executives, B.P. Schulberg was a "New Deal" liberal, described by Moving Pictures magazine as "a political liberal in the reactionary world of Mayer and Hearst." His wife Adeline Jaffe-Schulberg founded a talent agency taken over by her brother, producer/talent agent Sam Jaffe. She spent little time with Hollywood society women, instead working for charities that aided the poor and promoting socialism. She subsequently had a literary agency in New York. They were the parents of renowned novelist and screenwriter, Budd Schulberg, producer Stuart Schulberg, and writer Sonya Schulberg O'Sullivan.In a power struggle at Paramount, Schulberg left the studio in 1937 and remained out of the business until 1940 when he began producing for Columbia Pictures. He produced six films for Columbia in three years until he retired in 1943.

 
1960: Lillian Hellman's "Toys in the Attic" premiered in New York City.

 
1963(1st of Adar, 5723): Melville J. Heskovits passed away.The American born anthropologist established African and African American studies in American academia. Herskovits's controversial classic The Myth of the Negro Pastis about African cultural influences on American blacks. He also helped forge the concept of cultural relativism, particularly in his book Man and His Works.


1967:Birthdate of Jonathan Saul Freedland “a British journalist, who writes a weekly column for The Guardian and a monthly piece for the Jewish Chronicle. Freedland has previously written for The Daily Mirror and as of September 2005, he writes each Thursday for the London Evening Standard. He is the son of Michael Freedland, the biographer and journalist.

 
1970(19th of Adar I, 5730): Latvian born American painter and print maker Mark Rothko born Marcus Rothkowitz passed away whose unusual work. includes the 1961 painting “Blue, Orange, Red.”

 
1973: Steven Sondheim's musical "Little Night Music" premiered at the Shubert Theater in New YorkNYfor the first of its 601 performances.

 
1975(14th of Adar, 5735): Purim

 
1986:  Birthdate of actor Justin Berfeld who plays Reese on “Malcolm in the Middle.”

 
1988(7th of Adar, 5748): Eighty year old William G. Braude who has served as a rabbi for 40 years at Congregation Sons of Israel and David, Temple Beth-El in Providence, R.I., passed away today. A native of Lithuania, he came to the United States in 1920 where he earned degrees from the University of Cincinnati and Hebrew Union College. He also taught at Yale, Brown, Hebrew University and Leo Baeck College in London.

 
1988: Secretary of State George Schultz arrived in Israel today on the first of four day mission to the Middle East designed to explore reaction to recent American peace proposal. Shultz called on Israel to make ''decisions of historic proportions'' to help change the status quo in the Middle East when greeted by Foreign Minister Shimon Peres who responded by saying that this is ''a most demanding period of our life, facing probably the most complicated issue of the day.''

 
1991: The barrage of Iraqi scud attacks that began on January 18th came to an end today.  During that period 39 missiles were fired into Israel.

 
1994(14th of Adar, 5754): Purim

 
1994 (14th of Adar, 5754): Eighty- year old Sam Eisenstadt was assaulted with an axe while walking in the center of Kfar Saba. Sam died of his wounds shortly afterwards.

 
1994: In one of the most shameful acts committed by a Jew, American-born Baruch Goldstein opened fire inside the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank, killing 29 Muslims before he was beaten to death by worshippers. 

 
1999: The Reuters News Agency commemorated the 100th anniversary of the death of its founder,Paul Julius Reuter, by launching a university award in Germany.

 
1999: Disney named Bob Iger president of Walt Disney International, the business unit that oversees Disney's international operations, as well as chairman of the ABC Group. Disney called the change a promotion for Iger. But the company's insistence was initially viewed with skepticism, as some thought Iger was merely being removed from day-to-day authority at ABC since ABC had been struggling.

 
2000: Hilary Koprowski, a Polish Jew, was honored with a reception at Philadelphia's Thomas Jefferson University celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first administration of his oral polio vaccine. At the reception, he received commendations from the United States Senate, the Pennsylvania Senate and Governor Tom Ridge.

2006: Tens of thousands of people marched through Paris in memory of Ilan Halimi, who was kidnapped, tortured and killed two weeks ago in an attack that authorities say was partly motivated by anti-Semitism.

 
2006: American cellist Yo-Yo Ma, a group of four journalists and a pair of U.S. cancer researchers have each won $1 million Dan David awards.

 

2007: In Amsterdam, an exhibition styled “Looted, But from Whom?,” an exhibition about art objects which were either acquired by forced sale or stolen from their Jewish owners by the Nazis during the Second World War, closed.

 
2007: Yaakov Edri “was appointed be responsible for Israel’s sixtieth anniversary celebrations.

 
2007: Yaakov Edri “was questioned under caution on suspicion of having tried to receive personal benefits in return for promoting a police commander, Ya'akov Zigdon, whilst he was Deputy Minister of Internal Security” and denied the charges.

 
2007: The Sunday New York Timesfeatures reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Bambi vs. GodzillaOn the Nature, Purpose, and Practice of the Movie Business by David Mamet, George Gershwin His Life and Work by Howard Pollack and Overture by Yael Goldstein.

 
2007: Corresponds to the 7th day of Adar which “traditionally marks the birth and the death of Moses.  This is a minor fast date “observed by members of Jewish burial societies to atone for any acts of disrespect which they may unwittingly have committed toward the dead.”

 
2008: In New York City, the 92nd Street Y presents “Life is a Cabaret: A Tribute to Fred Ebb” highlighting the decades long collaboration between Jewish lyricist Fred Ebb and composer John Kander that produced such works as Cabaret, Zorba, Chicago, Woman of the Year, Kiss of the Spider Woman andCurtains

 
2008: Newsweekreported on the financial loss suffered by the New England Patriots owner, Jewish businessman Robert Kraft, as a result of the Pats failure to have a perfect 19-0 season.  Anticipating a Super Bowl victory, Kraft had applied for trademarks to use phrases such as “19-0” and Perfect Season” on a litany of gear including greeting cards, jigsaw puzzles, kites and temporary tattoos.  The trademarks are worthless and sale of the merchandize never materialized.

 
2008: Time reported on the recent death of 14 term California Congressman Tom Lantos the only Holocaust survivor to serve in the U.S. Congress.  Lantos was sixteen when the Nazis occupied his native Hungarywhere he escaped the death camps and fought against the Nazis.

 
2009: In New York, famed Italian performer Moni Ovadiahis presents a performance “Kavanah” (intention and participation through a chant), a reflection on the Hebraic liturgical tradition and its complex maze of meanings and sources.

 
2009:A fresh exhibition in New York that has put a spotlight on postcards used during and after the turn of the 20th century meant to depict important aspects of Jewish life comes to a close. “The show at the Bernard Museum of Judaica includes more than 200 photographic postcards that portray a variety subject matter, including Jews' emigration from Europe, arrival in the New World, the building of synagogues and Zionism. The exhibition also offers a glimpse into communities that were once considered "exotic," including Yemenite and Bukharan Jews in traditional dress. Many of these cards were created and mailed during the years 1898 to 1918, a period known as the "Golden Age of the Postcard." Together the cards provide a visual resource for the study of modern Jewish history. Some of the postcards were designed as holiday greetings and were accompanied by Yiddish poems. Others highlighted the grand synagogues that existed in the United States and in Europe - many of which were destroyed during the Holocaust.”

 
2009: Rosh Chodesh Adar – First day of Adar, 5769

 
2009:Two Kassam rockets were fired across the Gaza border into Israel today.One of the rockets fired from Gaza hit an agricultural area near a kibbutz in the Sha'ar Hanegev region, and rescue services were yet to find the second rocket.

 
2009:A British bishop whose denial of the Holocaust led Argentina to order him out of that country returned to England today. Richard Williamson, a bishop with the conservative Society of St. Pius X, was told to leave Argentina or face expulsion amid criticism over a television interview in which he said no Jews were gassed during the Holocaust. The controversial bishop had been excommunicated 20 years ago, but Pope Benedict XVI last month lifted the excommunication decree on Williamson and three other bishops. The four had been excommunicated because they were consecrated by the late ultraconservative Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre without papal consent _ a move the Vatican said was an unacceptable violation of the pope's authority. The recent lifting of the decree by the pope, which angered many Jews worldwide, came days after Williamson was shown in a Swedish state TV interview saying historical evidence indicates there were no Nazi gas chambers and that a maximum of 300,000 people died in concentration camps in the Holocaust. Most historians believe about 6 million Jews died at the hands of the Nazis during the Holocaust. The U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League also found records of speeches and letters by Williamson when he was based at a seminary in Winona, Minnesota. He was quoted in one 1989 speech as saying that "Jews made up the Holocaust, Protestants get their orders from the devil and the Vatican has sold its soul to liberalism."The Vatican has ordered Williamson to retract his comments before he can be admitted as a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church. Williamson has apologized for causing distress to the pope but has not recanted. A spokesman for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, who declined to be named in keeping with the group's policy, said he had no idea what Williamson would do next. The spokesman said that the conference had no relationship with Williamson. The Society of St. Pius X in Great Britain declined comment today.

 
2010: During a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee held today, Illinois Rep. Don Manzullo, a Republican, asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to intervene on behalf of a gefilte fish factory in his district. The factory, Schafer Fishery is located in Thomson, Illinois. Manzullo is concerned about several hundred jobs at the fishery in his district and he said Israel had imposed a 120-percent tax on nine containers of Asian carp that had been made into gefilte fish patties.

2010:As he arrived at Jerusalem District Court for the opening of his trial today Ehud Olmert became the first former prime minister in Israel's history to stand trial for alleged corruption.

 
2010: “Andy Warhol's Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century: In Retrospect” is scheduled to open at the Washington DCJCC.

 
2010:Novelist, critic and broadcaster Howard Jacobson is scheduled to appear at the Washington DCJCC.

 
2010(11th of Adar, 5770): Ninety-two year old Eugene L. Moore, a past commander of the Department of Florida Jewish War Veterans, passed in Boynton Beach, Florida.


2010(11th of Adar, 5770):Herta Herzog-Massing,Austrian-American social scientist specializing in communication studies,” passed away


2011(21stof Adar I, 5771): Ninety-two year old Eugene Moore, a past commander of the Department of Florida Jewish War Veterans passed away in Boynton Beach, FL.


2011:Ahead of Time, “graceful portrait of the extraordinary life of 99-year-old American journalist and humanitarian Ruth Gruber whose efforts led to the rescue of 1,000 Jewish Holocaust refugees” and The Judge, a documentary featuring the former Chief Justice of Israel's Supreme Court, are scheduled to shown at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.


2011:Today, the IDF instructed teachers to keep children from going outside to play in kindergartens located in towns near Gaza. The order comes from concerns of further firing from Gaza after two Grad rockets landed in Beersheba earlier this week, causing building damage, with five people treated for shock. The IDF also instructed residents of towns surround Gaza to be alert over the weekend.


2012: In London, Jonathan Safran Foer, Jeffery Goldberg and Maureen Kendler are scheduled to a new Haggadah edited by Foer and translated by Englander as part of Jewish Book Week.


2012; “Jewish solders in Blue and Gray” is scheduled to be shown at Young Israel of Woodmere in Woodmere, NY.


2012: “Making Trouble: Three Generations of Funny Jewish Women” is scheduled to be shown at B'nai Sholom Reform Congregation in Albany, NY.


2012: HaOlam II, at the end of which the second official National Collegiate Jewish A Cappella will named, is scheduled to take place at Adas Israel in Washington, DC.


2012: Indian intelligence services have considerable evidence that Iran was behind this month's New Delhi terrorist attack, but are not releasing it in a bid to avoid public confrontation with the Islamic republic, an Israeli security source says.


2012:Hundreds gathered in front of Ministry of Interior offices in Tel Aviv today to protest the deportation of families whose petitions for residency permits were rejected.

 

2013: The Leo Baeck Institute is scheduled to co-host “Arnold Bernstein and Gerd Bucerius,” a lecture and discussion on the relationship between shipping pioneer Arnold Bernstein and Gerd Bucerius, the lawyer and published who defended him against the Nazis.


2013:Burglars broke into the home of an employee at the Prime Minister's Office today. Initial reports indicate a computer was taken from the house, which is located in Moshav Beit Yitzhak in the Sharon. The content of the computer is still unknown. The burglars managed to escape the scene undetected, and police have launched an investigation.(As reported by Yaniv Kubovich)


2013: Over 10,000 Palestinians attended the funeral procession today for the detainee Arafat Jadarat, who died on Saturday in Meggido Prison at the age of 30. The funeral ended without disturbances; however the IDF remains on high alert in anticipation of continued riots. (As reported by Yaniv Kubovich and Chaim Levinson|)


2013:Israel carried out a successful test of its upgraded Arrow III missile interceptor today. Defense sources said it was the first flight test of the advanced interceptor. (As reported by Gil Cohen)


2014: Dr. Daniel Rynhold is scheduled to deliver a lecture “Rav Kook and the Heroism of the Holy” at the Skirball Center.


2014: German Chancellor Angela Merkel is scheduled to complete her two day trip to Israel.


2014: Kay Menchel is scheduled to lecture on “The Short Stories of Bernard Malmud” at the JCC of Northern Virginia.


2014: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to host  YIVO, Freud, and American Jewry: Discourse on Eastern Europe as a Talking Cure” for American Jewish Ambivalence” in which Marcus Krah explores how American Jews in the 1940s-50s used competing narratives of aspects of the East European Jewish past - from the shtetl, to pogroms, to Hasidism and Socialism - to find meaning in their American present.


 

This Day, February 26, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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February 26



11 BCE: According to some sources, the day on which Herod dedicates the renovated Holy Temple in Jerusalem. According to Heinrich Graetz, the building project began in 20 BCE, the 18th year of Herod’s reign. A year and half later, (18 BCE) the inner part of the Temple was finished. It took another eight years to build the outer walls, courts and galleries. The dedicatory celebration took place on “the very anniversary of the day when twenty years previously, Herod, with blood stained hands, had made himself master of Jerusalem.”  Herod reportedly built this modernized version of the Second Temple because he loved to build things and because he was trying to show his Roman masters that he was the beloved ruler of his people.  Regardless, in one sense, Herod sealed the doom of the Temple and the Jewish people because he placed it under the protection of Rome.  What Rome protected Rome could destroy.


364:  Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor. He was the last Emperor to rule the Empire alone.  A month later, he would appoint his brother Valens Emperor in the East, while he would rule over the Western portion of the Empire. Valentinian belonged to a minority sect called the Arians.  In an attempt to keep peace in the Empire, in 371 he issued a proclamation allowing Christians and Arians to practice their religious belief without incurring any “political disadvantage. This toleration was extended to the Jews.”


1147: The Crusaders massacred the Jews of Wurtzburg; so much for all of those tales of knights and chivalry.


1418: Emperor Sigsmund “issued commands to all the German princes and magistrates, cities and subjects, to allow” the Jews the full enjoyment of the privileges and immunities given them by the Pope who had denounced attacks on the persons and property of the Jews and the practice of forced conversion.


1498: Isaac Abravanel completed "Mashmia' Yeshu'ah" (Proclaiming Salvation), one of three works “devoted to the exposition of the Jewish belief concerning the Messiah and the Messianic age.”


1569: Pius V issued Hebraeorum gens, a papal bull that accused the Jews of a variety of evil deeds including the practice of magic.


1569:  Pope Pius V ordered the eviction of all Jews from the Papal States (excluding Rome and Verona) who refuse to convert. Most of the approximately 1000 Jewish families decided to emigrate.


1802 Birthdate of French man of letters Victor Hugo the “preeminent biblical poet among the French Romantics.” He eulogized Isaiah and Ezekiel in William Shakespeare (1864) and injected some basic knowledge of the Kabbalah (probably gained from his Jewish admirer, Alexandre Weill) into Les Contemplations (1856).


1814: In Holland, a law was enacted officially ending the French rule that had been overseen by Napoleon’s.  The Jews supported the new government under William I and the Netherlands proved to be a welcoming home for the Jewish population which thrived there throughout the rest of the 19th century.


1825: Marylandremoved the requirement of a Christian oath for public office, and substituted a declaration of belief in reward and punishment and the World to Come. This obviously made life in Maryland easier on its Jewish citizens. On the very last day of the session of the legislature an act "for the relief of the Jews in Maryland," which had already been passed by the Senate, was passed by the House of Delegates by a vote of twenty-six to twenty-five.  Only fifty-one out of eighty members were present for the vote.  The bill provided that "every citizen of this state professing the Jewish religion" who shall be appointed to any office of profit or trust shall, in addition to the required oaths, make and subscribe a declaration of his belief in a future state of rewards and punishments instead of the declaration now required by the government of the state.


1829:  Birthdate of Levi Strauss.  The man who made the riveted blue denim trouser an icon of American fashion called “Levi’s” was none other than a Jewish immigrant from Bavaria.
 
1848: In the wake of revolutions that swept Europe, the Second French Republic comes into being.  The Republic last a mere four years when it was swept aside when Louis Napoleon (Bonaparte’s nephew) proclaimed the second empire.  Just prior to the birth of the Republic, the Jew’s Oath had been declared unconstitutional by the French courts.  This opened the way to further participation of the Jews in the general world of French business, society and culture.


1853: The New York Times published a portion of a paper present  by Dr. A.K. Gardner on "the meats of New York" that was delivered before the Academy of Medicine and was published in the New York Journal of Medicine. According to Dr. Garnder unlike the other butchers, the Jewish butchers "do not prostrate the animal with the ax but first suspend it and then cut this throat.  This must be performed in a peculiar manner.  It is necessary to have along knife, which must be from rust, nic, or any imperfection of the cutting edge."  Only one cut is allowed.  If more cuts are required, “the animal is deemed unfit for food for the Hebrews.  After the animal is dead, he is upon the fore-quarters.  From the difficulty of removing the blood vessels, as required by their law, from the hind quarters, this portion is rarely eaten by the Hebrews, but the mark is placed upon them for the benefit of many Christians, who prefer the meat thus examined.  The butcher paid by the Society in which he worships an annual salary and in addition he receives a small sum per animal from the keeper of the slaughter house for his services."


1861: The Fundamental Law of February 26, 1861 was promulgated in Austria today after which Raphael Basch, he served as the official spokesman government of Anton Ritter von Schmerling. Born in Bohemia, Basch alternated between being a journalist and political activist who actually became part of successive Austrian governments.  This latter element was unusual for a Jew living in the Austrian Empire at this time.


1865(30thof Shevat, 5625): Rosh Chodesh Adar


1873: It was reported today that the recent Hebrew Charity Ball in Philadelphia raised $7,920 after expenses.  The money has already been distributed to several of the city’s Jewish institutions.


1876(1stof Adar, 5636): Rosh Chodesh Adar and the Sabbath of Shekel.


1877(13thof Adar, 5637): Fast of Esther


1877: “The Home for Aged Hebrews” published today described it as “one of the most delightful” institutions of its kind in New York City.  The building which was originally a country home of the Astor family, offers views of the East River and Long Island Sound..The facility currently is home to 70 older men and women who live in “air well-furnished rooms,” are well clothed and enjoy excellent food on a daily basis which is complimented by wine if so desired.
 
1880(14th of Adar, 5640): Purim


1880: The Young Men’s Hebrew Association is scheduled to host a Purim entertainment and reception this evening at the Harlem Music Hall.


1880: In New York, the Purim Association sponsored a ball in the Academy. A tableaux featuring Queen Esther surrounded by the Muses, preceded the evening’s dancing.


1880: Sixty-year old Dr. Simon Rosenberger, a distinguished Philadelphia, PA and Ida Smith, a servant girl working in his house, were the victims of a mysterious malady. Miss Smith passed away after suffering convulsions brought on possibly by coal gas that had seeped into the house from the cellar.  Rosenberger who is unconscious and near death is thought to be a victim of the case or possibly an ingestion of poison.


1882: “The Hebrew Charity Ball” published today described plans for the upcoming Purim Association’s upcoming fancy dress ball.  This ball, which has been a part of the New York Social Scene for two decades, will be held at the Academy of Music under the leadership of M.H. Moses, the association’s President.

                                                  
1882: A review of “Divorce and Divorce Legislation” by Theodore D. Woolsey notes that the volume includes a chapter devoted to the history of divorce among the Jewish people.


1882(7th of Adar, 5642): German painter Moritz Daniel Oppenheim passed away. He is often regarded as the first Jewish painter of the modern era. His work was shaped by his cultural and religious roots at a time when many of his German Jewish contemporaries chose to convert to Christianity. Oppenheim is considered to be in sympathy with the ideals of the Wissenschaft des Judentums (Science of Judaism) movement, because he remained "fair to the present" without denying his past.




1888(14thof Adar, 5648): Purim


1890: In honor of a request made to Charles Frohman by child acting star Elsie Leslie, 500 children from the Industrial Schools of the Associated Hebrew Charities attended today’s matinee performance of the “Prince and the Pauper (Frohman was one of three Jewish brothers from Ohio who were involved with the Broadway theatre before World War I)


1891: The Purim Association hosted its 30th annual charity ball at the Metropolitan Opera House tonight in New York City.


1892: The New York Times“has received $20 for Russian Hebrew immigrants from ‘A.Y.E.’”


1893: “New Things in Lawsuits” published today described a lawsuit brought by Max Bronestein against three New Jersey constables for desecrating his home “by cooking and eating meals which had not been prepared according to the Hebraic usages and principles” including the use of “pork sausage.”


1894: “Zangwill’s New Jewish Stories” published today provided a review The King of Schnorrers: Grotesques and Fantasies by Israel Zangwill.


1894: It was reported today that Rabbi Henry Berkowitz offered the opening prayer and then presided over the non-denominational memorial service held in Philadelphia at Keneseth Israel in memory of George W. Childs who was a newspaper and public benefactor in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Joseph Krauskopf the rabbi at Keneseth Israel delivered an address that highlight Mr. Child’s philanthropic work.


1896: More than 3,000 people are expected to attend tonight’s charity ball sponsored by the Young Ladies and Gentlemen’s League of the Montefiore Home.  This ball is the successor to Purim balls which were a popular social and fundraising event in New York City for many years.  Among the expected attendees are Mayor Strong and Governor Morton.


1898: “London Literary Letter” published today described Israel Zangwill’s new novel as being “a Jewish story” similar to the one that was his “first great success.”  Zangwill’s attendance at the “congress called to consider” “the project of colonizing Palestine with Jews” means “that he intends to do more than write stories of the Ghetto.”


1898: It was reported today that David Christie Murray, the English author, “is emulating Zola in taking up the defense of Dreyfus. 


1898: Emile Zola appeals his conviction.

 1898: Picquart is dismissed from the Army.



1899(16thof Adar, 5659) Shushan Purim – the 15th of Adar fell on Shabbat


1899: The children attending the religious school at Congregation B’nai Jershurun on the corner of 65th Street and Madison Avenue celebrated Purim today.


1901: Birthdate of Aharon Zisling, the native of Minsk who helped to found Youth Aliyah, the Palmach and Ahdut HaAovoda and was Israel’s first Minister of Agriculture.


1903: Rabbi Kaummann Kohler was elected to the presidency of Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio.


1903:Leopold Greenberg arrives in Brindisi and sends a short telegram whose obscurity of wording dismays Herzl.


1903: A paper by Victor Rosewater was read at The National Convention on Municipal Ownership and Public Franchises which is meeting at the Reform Club in New York City.  Rosewater was arguing for the ownership of electric lighting plants by municipalities. Rosewater was the editor of the Omaha (Nebraska) Daily Bee, an important Republican political leader and an active member of the Jewish community.


1906: The New York Times reported that the Motor Yacht Club of Great Britain has received two challenges from E.J. Schroeder of New York, owner of the Dixie, to compete in races for the Hamsworth Cup and the International Cup which was won last year by Napier II, a vessel owned by Lord Montague and Lionel Rothschild.


1916: Henry Morgenthau, the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, who has just returned from Constantinople, is to be honored today by the public at the Great Hall of the College of the City of New York.  Cleveland H. Dodge, acting on behalf of the Mayor, is chairman of the committee sponsoring the event.  Among the speaks will be Mayor Mitchell, Bishop Greer, Oscar S. Straus, Rabbi Wise John H. Finley, President Sidney E. Mezes and Ambassador Morgenthau himself.


1916: Birthdate of award winning composer Mordecai Seter.  Born in Russia, he moved to Palestine in 1923 where he spent the rest of his life.  Among his earliest work was The SabbathCantata, patterned after Renaissance music.  Several of his most important works included Biblical themes.  These included music for the ballet Judith commissioned by Martha Graham, Jephthah’s Daughter commissioned for the Bat Sheva Dance Company and a symphony simply entitled Jerusalem


1918(14th of Adar, 5678): As World War I enters its final year, Jews celebrate Purim


1920: Major General Louis Bols, the Officer Administering the Government of Palestine, issued an official proclamation that the British government intended to carry out the terms of the Balfour Declaration


1920: Birthdate of Tony Randall.  Born Leonard Rosenberg in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Randall is best remembered for his role as Felix Unger in the television version of The Odd Couple.  Randall often played light comedic roles in the movies but in reality he was an accomplished actor and very urbane, cultured individual.  During the 1950’s, Randall lived near the Met.  In the evening he would take around the neighborhood often stopping in to catch the last two or three acts of that evening’s opera.  As Ed Murrow said when visiting Randall’s apartment during “Person to Person,” Randall’s apartment was not only filled with books, but Randall had actually read the books.


1924: The trial against Hitler began in Munich.  Hitler was on trial for his part in attempted coup that began in a Munich Beer Hall.  The coup failed.  Hitler was found guilty and sent to jail.  While in jail, he wrote Mien Kampf.  He was treated like a celebrity while in jail and came out stronger politically than when he went in.


1925:As a sign of the growing power of the Nazi Party, The Völkischer Beobachter the party’s official newspaper begins publishing again.


1926: In London, David and Rose Pollack gave birth to Dr. William Pollack, who in 1980 along with his colleagues won the Lasker Award “for excellence in biomedical research.”


1926: In New York City, Isaac and Bertha Belack, Jewish immigrants from Russia, gave birth to Doris Belack, the veteran actress known for her roles on “Law & Order” and the hit comedy “Tootsie” who was also the wife of Philip Rose, the producer of “A Raisin in the Sun.” (As reported by Paul Vitello)


1927: Ten year-old Yeudi Menuhin made is his European debut as a soloist with the Lamoureux Orchestra under the baton of Paul Paray in Paris


1928: In Kfar Malal, Shmuel Scheinerman of Brest-Litovsk and Vera (née Schneirov) Scheinerman of Mogilev gave birth to Ariel Scheinermann who would gain as soldier-statesman Ariel Sharon.


1930:  Birthdate of pianist Lazar Berman.  Born inLeningrad to Jewish parents, he placed third in the piano competition at Budapest in 1956.
1931(9th of Adar, 5691): Otto Wallach passed away at the age of 93.  The German born chemist was a veteran of the Franco-Prussian War and won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1910.
1932(19th of Adar I, 5692):Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld, or Sonnenfeld, passed away.  Born in 1848. He “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. He was originally given the name "Chaim", however, the name "Yosef" was added to him while he experienced an illness. Sonnenfeld was born in Verbó, Hungary (today: Vrbové, Slovakia). His father, Rabbi Avraham Shlomo Zonnenfeld, died when Chaim was five years old. He was a student of Rabbi Samuel Benjamin Sofer (the Ksav Sofer), the son of Rabbi Moses Sofer (the Chasam Sofer). He was also a student of Rabbi Avraham Schag in Kobersdorf (who was himself a disciple of the Chasam Sofer); Sonnenfeld moved from the latter city to Jerusalem in 1873. He became an important figure in Jerusalem's Old City, serving as the right-hand man of Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin and assisting the latter in communal activities, such as the founding of schools and the Diskin Orphanage, and the fight against secularism. He refused to meet with Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany who visited the Old City because he believed that the Emperor was a descendant of the nation of Amalek. Sonnenfeld sent a delegate, a former Dutch diplomat and writer who had become a baal teshuva, Dr. Jacob Israël de Haan, to Jordan with a peace proposal for King Abdullah.” Contrary to what some might have claimed, “he had a warm relationship with and mutual respect for Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, although the two were vigorous opponents in many areas. Indeed, in 1913 the two traveled together to Northern Israel to try to return lapsed Jews to Torah Judaism.”
1933: Birthdate of Anglo-French financier Sir James Michael "Jimmy" Goldsmith.


1933: A program marking the sixtieth anniversary of the birth of Chaim Nachman Bialik, national Hebrew poet, was held this evening in the auditorium of the College of the City of New York. Bialik’s birthdate was actually January 9, 1873.


1933(30thof Shevat, 5693): Rosh Chodesh Adar


1933(30thof Shevat, 5693): Therese Loeb Schiff, the daughter of Solomon Loeb and the wife of Jacob Schiff, who “organized a literary series for wealthy German Jewish women, donated ten thousand dollars to the National Council of Jewish Women to help cope with Jewish prostitution among young immigrant women, and lectured for the Consumers League in support of protective legislation to end child labor and the exploitation of women” passed away today.


1934: The New York Times featured a review of “’The Dream of My People, a film described as “a screen trip though Palestine with Cantor Joseph Rosenblatt” produced by the Palestine-American Film Company now showing at the Acme Theatre which  is also showing “Lot in Sodom.”


1935: In violation of the Versailles Treaty, Hitler orders the rebuilding of the Luftwaffe.  This is one of the many times the West missed a chance to stop Hitler’s march that would lead to the Holocaust.

1935: The Jerusalem Shopkeepers Association announced today that it will be conducting a one day work stoppage next week in a “a protest against rising rents and the refusal of the Municipal Council to pass a rent restriction law.”


1938: In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a meeting of the pro-Nazi German-American Volksbund ends in a riot. (A meeting like this in America’s heartland provides part of the background around which FDR made his decisions about the Jews of Europe This is not an excuse. It is an explanation.)


1939: Jews held protest demonstrations in Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv, and several of the large kibbutzim this evening. The demonstrations were sparked by credible reports from London that the British government intends to create an independent Arab State in Palestine which will be structured in such a way to ensure that Jewish people will be permanently relegated to “minority status.” 


1939: Israel Rokach, the Mayor of Tel Aviv, sent a telegram to Colonial Secretary of Malcolm MacDonald expressing the displeasure of the 150,000 citizens of his city over what is reported to be the British decision to turn Palestine into an Arab State in which Jews will permanently be a minority.   He wrote that “establishment of a Jewish National Home in the historic land of our ancestors was accepted by fifty-two nations as a sacred trust” and the Jewish people would never agree to accept this newly created permanent minority status.


1941: In the Netherlands, the citizens of Utrecht and Zaandam staged strikes protesting Nazi raids on the Jews.


1942:For twelve hours today, between midday and midnight, the Jewish population of Palestine observed a voluntary stoppage of all commercial and business. During this period all persons remained indoors in a self-imposed curfew, as a sign of mourning for the loss of the more than 700 Jews who died when the Struma, sank in the Black Sea north of the Bosporus. The Jewish passengers were trying to escape from Nazi dominated Europe and settle in Palestine, something opposed by the British and the Arabs.


1944: Birthdate of Ronald Steven Lauder “an American businessman, civic leader, philanthropist, and art collector. Forbes lists Lauder among the richest people of the world with an estimated net worth of $3.0 billion in 2007.”


1944: Primo Levy and Dr. Leonardo de Benedetti arrive at Auschwitzafter a four day trip from a detention camp at Fossoli in central Italy.


1944: Shooting begins of the Nazi propaganda film, "The Fuhrer Gives a Village to the Jews" in Theresienstadt.


1946: As they searched for those responsible for last night’s attacks on three RAF airfields that destroyed and/or severely damaged 22 aircraft, British troops “seized 5,000 Jews today and imposed a paralyzing night traffic ban throughout Palestine.” The British have already found the body of a dead Jew near one of the airfield.  The deceased is assumed to have been one of the attackers.


1946: “Inveterate Los Angeles Gambler, publicist and nightclub owner W.R. ‘Billy Wilkerson’” who had “bought a thirty-three acre site between the El Rancho Vegas and the airport” “signed a contract with (Meyer) Lansky’s agent, Harry Rothberg, for a syndicate of investors to buy 60 percent of Wilkerson’s property for one million dollars. (The Mob meaning Lansky and Bugys Siegel, would completely buy-out Wilkerson)


1946: A resolution is scheduled to be introduced today in the United States Senate that would call for a “Congressional investigation of the Palestine situation…The measure calls for a joint House-Senate committee to be sent to the Holy Land to investigate conditions there and report its findings to Congress.”


1947: Jacob (26) and Niza (22) Gabbai arrived in New York from Palestine today.  The couple is here to continue their education.  The Gabbais were married in Tel Aviv in 1944 while Mr. Gabbai, who was serving with the Jewish Brigade of the British Army, was home one leave.  After the war, Mr. Gabbai became co-editor of the Maavak (Struggle), “a publication of the Young Palestinian League in Tel Aviv, which seeks to integrate the country’s cultural resources.


1950: Leonard Bernstein's "Age of Anxiety" premiered in New York City.


1951: Monnett B. Davis presented his credentials as the U.S. Ambassador to Israel.


1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that an agreement on the future status of the Haifa Refineries was initialed by the representatives of the government, the Consolidated Refineries Ltd. and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. Ltd.


1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that the fourth anniversary of the liberation of Eilat was celebrated by a military parade attended by President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, and "a show of local achievements."


1954:  Birthdate of singer and actor Michael Bolton. He won the Grammy in 1990 and again in 1992 as the Male, Best Pop Vocal Performance


1954: Birthdate of Yuli Tamir the veteran of “Aman” who has served as an MK and held various ministerial posts.


1969(8th of Adar, 5729): Levi Eshkol passed away.  Eshkol is one of the ironic characters in Jewish History.  He was the Prime Minister sandwiched in between such giants as David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir.  Yet this comparative political non-entity was the Prime Minister in 1967.  He was the one who made the decisions that saved the state in those fateful days of May and June.  And he was the Prime Minister who reunited Jerusalemand reclaimed the City of David.


1974: At its founding convention The American Sephardi Federation announced its goals: First to revitalize Sephardi heritage, and second to provide for aid the underprivileged population in Israel.


1980: Egyptand Israelexchanged ambassadors for the first time.  This was one of the tangible outcomes of the historic Sadat - Begin Peace Accords.  While the peace may have turned out to be a cold one, the peace has held.


1984: Reverend Jesse Jackson acknowledged that he called New York City, "Hymietown".  What can I say? Twenty years later we get Mel Gibson and his dad.


1987:Israeli officials contended tonight that the Tower Commission had played down the Israeli role in the Iranian arms deal as secondary to that of the United States. ''At first glance, it doesn't seem to stress especially the role of Israel; we are not being blamed,'' said Avi Pazner, spokesman for Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. ''But that's at first glance, and we have to study it in depth.'' Unofficially, Government members appeared generally relieved that the report did not disclose any involvement deeper than that already attributed to Israeli officials and middlemen.


1987(27thof Shevat):Eighty-three year old Fredric R. Mann,  an industrialist and patron of the arts who helped finance music centers in Philadelphia and Tel Aviv, died of cancer this morning in Miami. (As reported by Tim Page)


1988: Secretary George Shultz is scheduled to meet with Israeli leaders today in an attempt to promote the Bush Administration’s latest peace proposals for the Middle East.


1988:Settlers from the West Bank demonstrated in Jerusalem today outside the office where Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir was meeting with Secretary of State George P. Shultz at the start of a new Middle East peace drive. The demonstrations stood in stark contrast to the expression of other Israelis, notably Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who are willing to consider trading occupied land for peace.


1988:Naum Meiman a 77-year-old Soviet Jew who battled for 13 years to leave the Soviet Union embraced his daughter when he arrived in Israel today. Mr. Meiman hugged his daughter, Olga Plam, 50, of Boulder, Colo., who left the Soviet Union 14 years ago and had not seen her father since then.  Meiman who is a mathematician said, “Some of us managed to get out. Many are still left behind.'' Soviet authorities said they delayed Mr. Meiman's emigration request because of his ''access to state secrets.'' Mr. Meiman had worked on classified calculations in 1955.


1989:In an article entitled “Design: Imagine This,” Carol Vogel describes architect Ron Arad's gallery and office including the small back room in which the architect is drafting his design for the new opera house in Tel Aviv.


1991:The Bank of Israel said today that it would permit foreign companies to issue stocks and bonds on the Tel Aviv stock exchange. But the amount of money a foreign concern could take out of the country would be limited to 20 percent of any new issue. Previously the central bank had turned down applications by foreign firms to issue shares on the stock market. The change of policy "will make the Israeli stock market more international," said Gideon Schurr, speaking for the Bank of Israel."Now we need local investments, not Israeli investments abroad."

1993: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing 6 and injuring over a thousand. One of the bombers claimed the attack was in retaliation for American support of Israel.  The bombers were later found to be connected with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda.


1993(5thof Adar, 5753): Sixty-four year old Carol Solomon author of Report from the Asylum: Afterthoughts of a Shock Patient, “an account of the shock-therapy treatment used to treat patients in asylums, drawn directly from personal experience.”


1994:The Peace Now supporters rallied tonight in central Jerusalem, demanding an independent inquiry into the Friday massacre and an evacuation of the 400 Jewish settlers living in overwhelmingly Arab Hebron.


1994:Palestinians rioted and fought with Israeli soldiers across the occupied territories and in predominantly Arab towns in Israel today to protest the massacre here on Friday of at least 40 Arab worshipers by a Jewish settler.


1996(6th of Adar, 5756):Mieczysław Weinberg passed away. Born in Warsaw in 1919, he moved to Moscow in 1943.  He lived and composed in the Soviet Union for the rest of his life. His musical virtuosity did not keep him from being arrested during the period Stalin’s “Doctor Plot.” (He left a large body of work that included twenty-two symphonies and seventeen string quartets; according to one reviewer he ranked as, "the third great Soviet composer, along with Prokofiev and Shostakovich".


2002(14thof Adar, 5762): Purim


2004:A fourth Broadway revival of “Fiddler on the Roof” today and ran for 36 previews and 781 performances at the Minskoff Theatre in NYC.


2005(17th of Adar I, 5765):Henry Anatole Grunwald an Austrian-born journalist and diplomat perhaps best known for his position as managing editor of TIME magazine and editor in chief of Time, Inc passed away today. (As reported by Richard Severo)


2005(17th of Adar I, 5765): Jeff Raskin passed away at the age of 61. He was an America human-computer interface expert best-known for starting the Macintosh project for Apple Computer in the late 1970s


2005: In “The Morning After the Tel Aviv Bombing” Joseph M. Hochstein provided a portrait of the indomitable will of the citizens of Tel Aviv in the face of senseless slaughter.


2006(28th of Shevat, 5766): Sixty-six year old artist and photograph editor Sally C. Fox passed away


2006(28th of Shevat, 5766): Sir Hans Singer, a refugee from Nazi Germany and a well-known British development economist, passed away.


2006: In an essay entitled Betty Friedan's Enduring 'Mystique', Rachel Donadio describes the importance of the writings and career of the recently deceased author and feminist.


2006:  The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel's two chief rabbis, Rabbis Shlomo Amar and Yona Metzger have “questions” for the Archbishop of Canterbury, but will not cancel plans to meet the leader of Britain's state church this May in light of the vote by the General Synod of the Church of England to divest its shares in companies whose products are used by the Israeli government in the territories.


2007: Members of Histadrut remained on the job giving authorities more time to affect an immediate solution to the problem of salary debts in 40 local authorities. The money is owed to 7,000 to 8,000 employees. One hundred authorities have also failed to make deposits to pension and education funds, even though the employees' contribution has been debited to their salaries. It seems odd that a Jewish state would have such a problem with this issue concerning the Torah injunction, “Do not keep the wages of hired man overnight.


2008: In New York, The Center for Jewish History and the American Jewish Historical Society presents distinguished writer and journalist Janet Malcolm reading from her stunningly perceptive work Two Lives, in which she pursues the charmed life of famed literary couple Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas while living in a Vichy, France village and pursues the larger question of biographical truth.


2008: The New York Timesreports on the results of  a survey of religious affiliation by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.http://religions.pewforum.org/.  The report indicates that the behavior of American Jews in terms of religious affiliation may be more a function of their behavior as Americans as opposed to their behavior as Jews.  The report supports the bi-modal nature of religious behavior in America– a quest for spirituality which is not necessarily tied to usual patterns of denominational affiliation – which is also apparent in the Jewish community.


2008(20th of Adar I, 5768):Lt. Gen. Dan Shomron, a former chief of Israel’s general staff and the paratroop commander who planned and led the storied 1976 raid in which Israeli troops freed 103 hijacked hostages at EntebbeAirportin Uganda, in Israel. He was 70. He was the 13th Chief of Staff for the IDF.


2008:Rabbi Charles A. Klein, a Conservative rabbi and for the last 30 years the spiritual leader of the Merrick Jewish Center-Congregation Ohr Torah,will be installed today as the 59th president of the New York Board of Rabbis, the world’s oldest and largest interdenominational rabbinical board.


2009: The Nineteenth Annual KOACH Kallah, sponsored by KOACH, the college program of The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism opens at the Brandeis-Bardin Campus of the American Jewish University in Simi Valley, CA.


2009: In Venezuela, assailants threw an explosive at a Jewish community center today, but nobody was hurt in the. This was the second assault against Venezuela's Jewish community this year. Abraham Garzon, president of the Jewish Community Center, told the local Globovision television news channel that a small explosive resembling a pipe-bomb was lobbed at the building in Caracas before dawn today. The explosion damaged the doors to the center.
 
2009: Today Sergio Widder of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center criticized Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for failing to take steps aimed at curbing anti-Semitism.


2010:Rabbi Barry Baron, Co-Director of the Jewish Welfare Board is scheduled to lead Purim festivities and services at Fort Belvoir. Plans call for the serving of a traditional Shabbat Dinner followed by services led by Rabbi Baron. The JWB is the premier endorser of Military Rabbi’s worldwide.


2010:Today's issue of Haaretz Magazine is scheduled to publish the exclusive story of Mosab Hassan Yousef, the the son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a Hamas founder and one of its leaders in the West Bank, who served for over a decade as the Shin Bet security service's most valuable source in the militant organization's leadership.


2010:ABC News President David Westin confirmed in an interview today that the network's ranks of bureau correspondents, which currently number several dozen, would be cut in half and be replaced with "digital" journalists who would be expected to shoot and edit their own stories.


2010(12 Adar, 5770):Prof. David Bankier, one of the world's most renowned Holocaust scholars who also served as the head of the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem, died at the age of 63 today after a four-year battle with cancer.  


2011:Five Brothers, a film about a brotherhood of Algerian Jews living in France who rally to defend themselves while avenging the memory of their murdered father, is scheduled to be shown at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.


2011: In Iowa City, Benjamin Coelho and other local musicians are scheduled to perform at Hillel’s Champagne & Classical Evening, which is a fundraiser for this vital part of the University Of Iowa and Iowa City Jewish communities.


2011: In Fairfax, VA, the Olam Tikvah Mens Club is scheduled to host its Judaism is for Lover’s Party.


2011: Israeli pianist Inon Barnatan is scheduled to perform as part of the People’s Symphony Concerts in NYC.


2011:Palestinians in Gaza reported today that IDF planes hit targets in Gaza belonging to Islamic Jihad west of Khan Younis.


2011:Iran and Syria have agreed to cooperate on naval training, Reuters reported Iran’s official news agency saying today. “
 
2011(22nd Adar I, 5771): Eighty-nine year old “Judith Coplon, a former Justice Department employee who became a sensation in 1949 when she was accused of being a Soviet spy” passed away today.(As reported by Sam Roberts)


2011(22nd Adar I, 5771):Arnost Lustig, an acclaimed Czech author who drew on his own harrowing experiences as a teenager in World War II to produce novels and short stories laced with tales of young people who survive the Holocaust, passed away today the age of 84. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)


2011(22nd Adar I, 5771):Ora Eyal, one of Israel’s most successful children’s book illustrators, whose work included the Israeli classic “A Tale of Five Balloons,” passed away today at the age of 64. “Eyal was born in Jerusalem in 1946 and studied at the Bezalel Academy in the city. She also worked as a translator from Italian. Eyal won the 1994 Ben Isaac Prize for Illustration from the Israel Museum. She was awaiting delivery of the final book she illustrated, “Everyone Went for a Trip,” just before she died.” (As reported by the Eulogizer)


2011(22nd Adar I, 5771):Howard R. Johnston, 86, a retired lieutenant colonel, passed away today. A native of Bruce Lake, Indiana, he spent 23 years on active duty, and was a combat veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He was a senior aviator, qualified in fixed and rotary wing aircraft, and a certified flight examiner. (As reported by the Eulogizer)

2012: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “The Technologist” by Matthew Pear and the recently released paperback edition of “Endgame: Bobby Fischer’s Remarkable Rise and Fall — From America’s Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness” by Frank Brady.



2012: Today, the IDf is expected to open the southwest segment of a highway that leads to Eilat for the first time since a terror attack near the border with Egypt left 8 Israelis dead after having made major security improvements including the erection of 23 foot high fence. (As reported by Yoav Zitun)



2012: “The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg” is scheduled to be shown at Temple Beth-El in Poughkeepsie, NY



2012: “Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg” is scheduled to be shown at the Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival in Scottsdale, AZ



2012: In London, Jeremy Ben-Ami, the founder and president of J Street and the author of “A New Voice for Israel” and Jonathan Freedland who writes a weekly column for The Guardian are scheduled to take part in a panel discussion entitled “A New Voice for Israel” as part of Jewish Book Week.
2012: The new edition of “IBM and the Holocaust” by Edwin Black will be released today at a special Live Global Streaming Event at Yeshiva University’s Furst Hall in New York. The Event can be seen at http://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com/
http://hnn.us/articles/new-ibm-correspondence-about-holocaust-revealed-edwin-black



2012(3rd of Adar):  Anniversary of the completion of the Second Temple.  [Editor's Note – This usher’s in one of the best periods in Jewish History; we got to be Jewish and nobody tried to kill us!  It is puzzling that we celebrate the tragedy of the destruction of the Temple but do not celebrate the joy of it completion.  It is also puzzling that we celebrate an invented moment in our history (Purim) and do nothing to celebrate a real moment of joy.]



2012: One-hundred-one year old Canadian violinist Ethel Stark founder of the Montreal Women’s Symphony Orchestra passed away.
http://www.jewishpubliclibrary.org/blog/?p=1296



2012(3rdof Adar, 5772): Ninety-four year old Sol Schiff who so dominated his sport that he was known as “Mr. Table Tennis” passed away today. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/sports/sol-schiff-mr-table-tennis-dies-at-94.html?hpw



2012:Workers at Haifa, Ashdod and Eilat ports called a general strike starting at 6 A.M. this morning, after overnight talks between representatives of the finance and transportation ministries, leaders of the Histadrut labor federation and workers’ committees failed to reach an agreement to prevent the strike.

 


2012:Israeli aircraft bombed two targets in the southern Gaza Strip overnight, the military said today.


2013: “MAKERS: Women Who Make America,” which is follow up to “Gloria Steinem: In Her Own Words” is scheduled to be shown on PBS this evening


2013((16th of Adar, 5773): Ninety-five year old Stéphane Hessel, the hero of the Resistance, concentration camp survivor and French diplomat passed away.


2013: The 92nd Street Y is scheduled to host “Political Earthquake In The Middle East: Are There Any Good Options For The U.S. and Israel” with Walter Russell Mead and Warren Kozak


2013:A rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip at Ashkelon early this morning, breaking months of quiet between Israel and the Palestinian enclave.


2013: US President Barack Obama will not present a new peace initiative when he visits Israel and the Palestinian territories next month, and instead is coming “to listen,” Secretary of State John Kerry said today,


2014: The Thaler Holocaust Committee under the leadership of Dr. Bob Silber is scheduled to meet at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.


2014: Author and newswoman Hoda Kotb is scheduled to talk about her memoir with Jonathan Tisch  at the 92ndStreet Y.


2014: Pulitzer-prize winning author Philip Schultz is scheduled to discuss The Wherewithal: A Novel in Verse about a young man translating his mother mother’s diaries that “concern the Jedwabne massacre.”


 

This Day, February 27, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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February 27


 
272:  Birthdate of Constantine the Great, Roman Emperor from 306 to 337.  Constantine adopted Christianity as the state religion for the Roman Empire which marked a turning point (negative) for the Jews of Europe.[ There is plenty of agreement that Constantine was born on February 27 but there is not agreement on the year.  It ranges from 272 to 289]


 
380: Theodosius I, Gratian, and Valentinian II jointly issued The Edict of Thessalonica which made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire.
 
1514: King Sigismund I appointed Michael Yosefovich “senior” of all Lithuanian Jews

 
1562: Pius IV issued Dudum e felicis recordationis, a papal bull that confirmed the papal bulls of Paul IV including those that put restrictions on where Jews could live and how they could earn a living.

 
1670: Leopold I ordered the Jews expelled from Austria.

 
1755: Birthdate of Shalom Ullman, the Hungarian born rabbi and Talmudist whose son and grandson followed in his footsteps by serving as rabbis at Lackenbach.

 
1799: Birthdate of Frederick Catherwood  the English artist architect.  In 1833, he made a detailed survey of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.  He probably was the first westerner since the days of the crusades to have access to this shrine which is located on the Temple Mount.  Catherwood was one of a veritable army of English visitors to “the holy land” who helped to excavate and map the area in the 19th century.

 
1801: Pursuant to the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, Washington, D.C. is placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.The first recorded Jewish resident of the city was Isaac Polock. He arrived in 1795. Polock, a grandson of a founder of the Newport, Rhode Island synagogue, was a small time real estate developer. He built a number of fine homes along present day Pennsylvania Ave. An early renter of one of Polock's houses and his neighbor was James Madison, a later President.”  Major Alfred Mordecai was another of D.C.’s first Jewish residents. The North Carolina native entered West Point at the age of 15 and was in the first graduating class when he completed his studies in 1823.  Mordecai came to Washington in 1828 where he served as the commander of the Washington Arsenal. Washington Hebrew Congregation founded in 1852 was the city’s first Jewish Congregation.  Adas Israel, which was originally founded as an Orthodox synagogue in 1869 received a donation from President Grant for its building fund. The congregation later switched to the Conservative movement.  Today the downtown location of Adas Israel is remembered as the Historic 6th& I Synagogue.  For me, the synagogue at 6th&I was the place in the late 1940’s and 1950’s where I went for my first Simchat Torah Services, my first Megillah readings and a whole lot more.  The synagogue at 5th& I was famous because Al Jolson’s father had been its cantor and Jolson sang their as a little boy.  Adas Israel moved to its Connecticut and Porter where it remains today. During the 1950’s Ambassador Eban spoke from its pulpit on more than one occasion much to the congregation’s joy and delight.  For more about the history of the Jewish community in Washington you might want to look at the website of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington.

 
1805(28th of Adar I, 5565):Naphtali Herz (Hartwig) Wessely passed away. Born in Hamburg in 1725, he “was a 18th-century German Jewish Hebraist and educationist born at Hamburg.”

 
1807: In Portland, Maine Zilpah Wadsworth Longfellow and Stephen Longfellow gave birth to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow the poet famed for such famous poetic works as “Paul Revere’s Ride” and “Evangeline” as well as “Judas Maccabaeus”  an 1872 five-act verse tragedy a Hebrew version of which  was published in 1900.

 
1841: In the Netherlands Eliezer Eduard Hirschel Kann and Hyacintha Kann gave birth to Livia Amalia Kann.

1844: The Dominican Republic (then known as Santa Domingo) on the island of Hispaniola gained its independence from Haiti.  During the 16th and 17thcentury Sephardic merchants settled on the island, many of them coming from Curaco. “The oldest Jewish grave (on the island) is dated 1826.”  Jews of this period assimilated into the general population and lost their identity.  In the 1930’s the Dominican Republic became a haven for Jews escaping Hitler’s Europe and most of today’s vibrant Jewish community traces its origins to this period.

1844: Birthdate of Moses Ha-Levi Horowitz, the Romanian born Yiddish actor and playwright who came to the United States in 1882 where he was known as the famous Morris Horowitz.

 
1847: Birthdate of English actress Ellen Terry, whose portrayal of Portia in the Merchant of Venice was one of her signature role.  She performed with Sir Henry Irving whose greatest dramatic success came with his performances in “The Bells.”

 
1852: Benjamin Disraeli began serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer.  It was the first of three times he would hold this office.

 
1855: A concert designed to raise funds for the Hebrew Benevolent Society is scheduled to be held today.

 
1859:Birthdate of Bertha Pappenheim “the founder of the Jüdischer Frauenbund (League of Jewish Women).”
 
1861(17th of Adar): Rabbi David Tevele ben Moses of Minks author of Bet David passed away today

 
1864(20th of Adar I, 5624):Chaia Basia, the daughter of Rabbi Yehoshua Usher Rabinowicz of Parysow passed away.

 
1865(1st of Adar, 5625): Rosh Chodesh Adar

 
1865: Birthdate of Armand Bloch, the native of Strasbourg who was the grandson of Rabbi Moses Bloch known as of 'Hokhom (the Wise) of Uttenheim, who served in a variety of rabbinic and communal roles in France and Algeria. In 1931, the French government named him as Chevialier of the Legion of Honor in recognition of his service to his co-religionists and his country.

 
1868: Benjamin Disraeli begins serving as Prime Minister for the first time.

 
1870: The Chicago Tribune reported that the Constitutional Convention will not be amending the Illinois State Convention mandating a day of the week for observing the Sabbath.  The Jews and the Seventh Day Adventists had petitioned the convention include a provision making the 7th day of the week the Sabbath.  Since this would be based on the 4th commandment of the Decalogue, the biblical source would make it more likely that the populace would enjoy a day of rest. Other groups wanted to disregard the literal biblical reading and follow the first day of rest practice.  Rather than offend any group, the committee hearing the matter decided the convention should take no action.

 
1871: In Newark, NJ, the Ladies’ Temple Association opened a grand fair at Turn Hall.  The fair is scheduled to be open for the next four nights and is a fund-raiser for the Temple on Washington Street.

 
1873: A national convention of those who want to amend the U.S. Constitution so that it will state that the United States is a Christian nation met today in Pittsburgh, PA.  There were 500 people at the opening session and more than a thousand attending the evening session.  Attendees claim that their move is part of a fight against atheism, something that Catholics and Jews of the time might have found difficult to believe.

 
1874: It was reported today that the annual Purim reception at the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews in New York will be held on March 1st and 2nd.
 
1877(14th of Adar, 5637): Purim

 
1877: The Young Men’s Hebrew Association hosted a Purim Ball this evening at Cooper Hall in Jersey City, New Jersey.

 
1878: The parents of Lucy Shereck, a young Jewess, “wept bitterly” as they watched the baptism of their daughter at the Marcey Avenue Baptist Church.

 
1879: Constantine Fahlberg discovered the artificial sweetener saccharine which Ellen Glotz described in The Accidental Epicure.

 
1880(15th of Adar, 5640): Shushan Purim

 
1880: Over 4,000 people attended the fancy dress ball given by the Purim Association at the Academy of Music. This year’s annual event raised an estimated $18,000 for Mount Sinai Hospital.

 
1880: It was reported today that “the war which has for some time raged in Germany between the natives and the Jews, seems to increase rather than to diminish…The crime of the Jews appears to be…their financial prosperity.” “If the Jews in Germany were poor, they would not be attacked.”  But many of them are very rich “and this is their offense.” [Editor’s note – this is fifty years before Hitler came to power]

 
1881: It was reported today that the second edition of the History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs by Dr. Henry Brugsch-Bey is now available.  The description of the Exodus presented in this edition is one of the many improvements made in this edition. In a special preface to the new volume, Brugsh-Gey claims that he bases his description of the change in direction taken by the Jews on “contemporary records and the evidence of the Egyptian monuments” to establish “the veracity of the scriptural record.”  He also co-authored The True Story of the Exodus of Israel: Together with a Brief Review of the History of Monumental Egypt with Francis Henry Underwood.


1881: It was reported today that over 500 costumed guests are expected to lead the opening procession at the Purim Masquerade Ball to be held on March 15 at the Academy of Music in New York City.


1882: A review of The Electorate and the Legislature by Spencer Walpole, one of a series of books on the rights and responsibilities of an English Citizen, published today notes that “The House of commons kept one of the members elected for the city of London out of his seat for 11 years because he was a Jew.” This was based on the “historic intolerance and prejudice” of the Commons and its members which has not been fully overcome.


1883:Oscar Hammerstein patented the 1st cigar-rolling machine


1888: Birthdate of Lotte Lehman German opera star who eventually moved to the United Statesand became known for the foundation in her name.  Lehman was not Jewish.  But her stepchildren (on their mother’s side) were Jewish.  When Hitler marched into Austria, Lehman got the children out, moved them to Parisand eventually brought all of them to the United States. 


1895: “Elsie Leslie’s Little Guests” published today described an afternoon at the theatre enjoyed by several hundred Jewish children who saw “The Prince and the Pauper” who were there as guest of the famous child actress.  As a sign of their appreciation they gave her an a bag which was elegantly embroidered with her initials – “E.L.L.”
 
1891: Birthdate of David Sarnoff.  Born in Russia, Sarnoff became the head of R.C.A. and N.B.C.


1891: It was reported today that the Purim Association raised $15,000 at its annual ball which it will donate to the United Hebrew Charities.


1893: “Coming Exodus of Russian Jews” published today compared the doubling of the Jewish population in the United Kingdom over the last twenty years to the projected redoubling of that number in only another five years because of the mass migration of Jews from the lands of the Czar due to their cruel treatment.


1895: A debate opened in the Reichstag today over a motion to restrict the immigration of Jews from Russia and Austria.


1895: A large number of prominent Jewish citizens attended “the third reception for the season of the Young Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s League of the Montefiore Home took place this evening at Carnegie Hall.


1895: Rabbi Joseph Silverman of Temple Emanu-El delivered a speech tonight entitled “Charity” in which he said that charity was “the language of the heart…the very poetry religion.”  “The Jewish sages of old had said that the world existed on three pillars – education, religion and charity.  Some might be willing to strike of education, others would be willing to strike of religion and even some would go so far as to strike off both religion and education, but where is the man who would be willing to strike off the pillar of charity?”


1897: A visit to “the Hebrew theatres” was included in the tour of the Lower East Side slums by a group of Yale University divinity students which was followed by a symposium on the methods of organized charities that included Nathaniel S. Rosenthal of the United Hebrew Charities.
 
1898: “Jews Defended In Reichstag” described the debate during which “deprecated the promotion of Jews to the rank of officers and surgeons, on the ground of their ‘un-soldier like spirit.’” Herr Eugene “Richter vigorously repudiate this” He said that during the war with France in 1870,83 Jewish soldiers received the Iron Cross and 36 of the 70 Jewish surgeons received the same decoration.  General Heinrich von Gossler, the Minister of War, defended the Jews against the false accusation that they had sold defective rifles to the government.


1899: “A Bible Story Up To Date” published today described Abraham Gruber’s updated version of the Purim story which equated the behavior of Haman with anti-Dreyfus forces in France and the European bigots who falsely claim that Jews have their own laws which makes them disloyal of whatever country they are living in.


1899: In his on-going attempt to create a Jewish homeland, Herzl meets with Grossherzog Friedrich of Baden in Karlsruhe. He offers the Grossherzog the protectorate over the land company and requests another audience with the Kaiser. Herzl receives a recommendation to the Deutsche Bank in Berlin to act as a subscription agency for the Jewish Colonial Bank.
 
1902: In London, a group of Zionists formed the Anglo Palestine Company which became the Bank Leumi.


1908: Zionist leader Arthur Ruppin delivered an address to the Jewish Colonization of Vienna.


1913:  Birthdate of author Irwin Shaw. Two of his most famous works were The Young Lions, a novel about World War II that became a popular movie and Rich Man, Poor Man, a saga about department store tycoon that provided the basis for a television mini-series of the same name.


1917: The Russian Revolution broke out in Petrograd. After three years of ruinous war the old regime collapsed. By March a provisional government under Kerensky was set up. During the ensuing revolution, the Jews were caught in the middle. Much of the conflict centered around the south and west where over 3 million Jews lived. It is estimated that over 2000 pogroms took place, especially in the Ukraine, leading to the death of 100,000-200,000 Jews within the next 3 years.


1919: The Versailles Peace Conference opened. The American Jewish Congress was represented by Louis Marshall (President of the American Jewish Committee), Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and Judge Julian Mack, President of the Congress. In France, they joined with other world Jewish organizations to form the Comite des Delegation Juives, with Julian Mack and then Louis Marshal as chairmen. Dr. Leo Motzkin, Zionist and publicist, was appointed secretary. They succeeded in passing a plan ensuring the right for minorities to establish their own schools and speak their own languages, while retaining full citizenship.


1925:  Birthdate of Sam Dash.  The Georgetown Law Professor would gain fame as the Chief Counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate Scandal.


1922: Psychoanalyst Ernest Jones and his wife gave birth to Mervyn Jones the British author whose works included Joseph, a fictional tale based on the life of Stalin.


1927: In Detroit, MI, Abraham and Ruth Jaroff gave birth to Leon Morton Jaroff, “a science writer and editor who persuaded Time Inc. to start Discover magazine in 1980, became its top editor and for many years wrote the popular Skeptical Eye column challenging pseudosciences…” (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)


1927: Birthdate of Ariel Sharon, Israeli soldier and political leader.


1932: Birthdate of Elizabeth Taylor, American actress who converted to Judaism in the 1950’s when she married producer Michael Todd.


1933: Germany’s parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, was set on fire.  The Reichstag Fire was started by the Nazis who used the fire as an excuse to begin their subversion of the German legal and political system.


1933: As a result of the Reichstag Fire which he saw as the confirmation of the Nazis rise to power, Walter Benjamin left Germany.


1935: In the Bronx, Jeanette Efron and Sol Fineman gave birth to Eleanor Fineman, an “American photographer, author, and artist” whose works included “Vilna Nights” with dealt with lost Jewish culture.


1935: Harry Hoffman, who works at the Curb Exchange, is scheduled to compete in the 400-meter run at tryouts for the American Maccabi Team being held at the 102ndEngineers Armory today.  The “Jewish Olympics” are scheduled to be held in Tel Aviv starting on April 2 and finishing on April 7.


1935: Birthdate of Uri Shulevitz American author and illustrator. Born in Poland, he survied the bombing of Warsaw in 1939 and moved with his family first to Paris and finally to Israel, in 1949. During the Sinai War in 1956, Mr. Shulevitz joined the Israeli Army. Later, he joined the Ein Gedi kibbutz. He moved to New York City in 1959, studying painting at Brooklyn Museum Art School and working as an illustrator for a Hebrew children's book publisher. In 1962, an editor at Harper & Row saw his freelance portfolio and suggested he write children's book. He won the Caldecott Medal in 1969 for his illustration of The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship. He created his first picture book, The Moon in My Room, in 1963.


1938: The Palestine Post reported that during his last day in Palestine, the departing High Commissioner, Sir Arthur Wauchope, laid the foundation stone of the Andrews Memorial Hospital in Netanya, and visited Pardess Hana, Hadera and Haifa.


1938: The Palestine Post reported that In New York the Joint Distribution Committee announced that the Soviet government's firm opposition to the immigration of Jews from outside of the Soviet Union to Birobidjan ended the practical prospect of the development, if not of the entire existence, of what was expected to become an autonomous Soviet Jewish republic. The report mentioned that out of some 27,000 foreign Jews who immigrated to Birobijan, 20,000 had later left the area. 


1939: Birthdate American Formula One driver Peter Revson, who won the 1973 British and Canadian Grand Prix events and was runner-up at the 1971 Indianapolis 500. He was killed during a practice run in 1974.


1939:As the multi-year Arab wave of violence continues, 32 people were killed today and another fifty persons were wounded in a series of explosions and shootings throughout Palestine today.


1940: Jewish scientists Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discovered carbon-14, the critical material for the method known as “carbon dating.”


1940: The Land Transfer Regulations aimed at ending Jewish property acquisition in Palestine were put into effect by the British government.


1941: The Nazis completed the suppression of “the February Strike,” the first  even if unsuccessful direct action taken against the “treatment of Jews in Europe.”


1941: In retaliation for an innocent incident in Amsterdam, the Germans arrested 425 Jewish men, beat them and deported 389 of them to Buchenwald concentration camp. Two months later 364 of them were transferred to Mauthausen concentration camp. Ten of them committed suicide. By autumn, none of the men were alive.


1942: The first transport of French Jews was sent to Nazi-Germany 


1942: A group of Aryan women staged a protest in Berlin against the arrest of their Jewish husbands whom the government was planning to ship off to concentration camps. 


1943: Work orders were increased in the Lodz Ghetto increased, easing tensions within the ghetto since more Jews would be needed to work and less would be exposed to deportation.


1943 (22nd of Adar I, 5703): On Shabbat, Rabbi Avraham Duber Shapiro, Chief Rabbi of Kovno, died in the Kovno Ghetto.  Shapiro was a famous Talmudic scholar.  He had been Chief Rabbi of Kovno since before World War I.  At the outbreak of World War II he was in Switzerlandunder a doctor’s care.  He insisted on returning to Kovno in Lithuaniaand revisited one of his son’s efforts to join in him in the United States.  Shapiro stayed with his fellow Jews.  When he died, the Nazis forbade any public demonstrations.  Thousands of Jews defied the decree and showed their affection by attending his funeral on the next day.


1944: This morning, there were reports of explosions at the income tax office in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa.  There were no reports of casualties.  The Irgun Zvai Leumi is thought to have set off the devices that caused the explosions.


1945: During “The Hunting Season,” “Yaakov Tavi who was in charge of Irgun’s intelligence service was kidnapped at 11 a.m. a the corner of Dizengoff and Yirimiyahu streets.”


1945(14thof Adar, 5705): Final Purim celebrated during World War II.


1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that an Israeli soldier was killed when Jordanians opened fire on an Israeli patrol in the frequently infiltrated Beit Guvrin area.


1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that A Nahal group established a settlement at Ein Gedi, on the shores of the Dead Sea.


1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that A festive meeting celebrated the establishment of the first local council of Ashkelon, the Afridar housing suburb near Migdal Ashkelon. 


1956: Final broadcast on NBC of “The Tony Martin Show,” a 15 minute musical variety hosted by Tony Martin and produced by Bud Yorkin.


1958(6th of Adar, 5718):  Harry Cohn, CEO of Columbia Pictures passed away after suffering a heart attack.  Cohn was one of several Jewish movie moguls who shaped Hollywoodand the entertainment business.


1964:  Budd Schulberg’s “What Makes Sammy Run?" opened at
84th St
Theater in New York Cityfor the first of 540 performances.


1970:  Birthdate of science fiction writer Michael A. Burstein.  According to some, Burstein is not unique because he is a Jewish science fiction writer.  He is unique because he is a practicing Jew who writes science fiction. “Burstein appears at a number of science fiction conventions throughout the year, which can be a problem because they are inevitably held on weekends. “It can be difficult, but it is manageable," he said. He and his wife Nomi either bring kosher meals or arrange to have them delivered to the hotel. Other issues are more complicated. "One of the biggest problems is that a lot of hotels use electronic key cards," he explained. Burstein arranges with a non-Jewish friend to handle unlocking his room during Shabbat, when such usage might not be deemed appropriate. There are a number of Shabbat-observant fans at local science fiction conventions, and they often congregate in Burstein's room for a festive Friday night meal, complete with wine and challah. As for his science fiction, Burstein said there's been nothing particularly Jewish about it... so far. Although there are many Jews who have made it big in science fiction, including Robert Silverberg, Harlan Ellison, and Asimov himself, Burstein is one of the few who has succeeded in the genre who takes his religious obligations as seriously as his scientific ones.”


1976: The World Sephardi Federation headed by Nessim Gaon met with King Juan Carlos of Spain. The WSF goal of helping to normalize relations with Israel and Spain did not come to fruition immediately, but over time a relationship developed and eventually the two countries recognized each other.


1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that the cabinet had agreed on a new settlement policy which apparently implied a virtual moratorium on new settlements in the administered territories. The cabinet, however, actually failed to make this statement official. At the same time the cabinet rejected any phrasing of the Palestine question in the declaration of principles, now being discussed with Egypt, which would go significantly further than the West Bank and Gaza autonomy scheme, already proposed to Egyptand the USby Israel.


1980: Egypt and Israelexchanged ambassadors for the first time.


1980(9th of Adar, 5740):  Actor George Tobias passed away.  Many Americans will remember him as Abner Kravitz, the husband of the busybody neighbor Alice Kravitz on the television sitcom “Bewitched.”


1981 (22nd of Adar I, 5741): Former New York Congressman Jacob Gilbert passed away at the age of 60.  Gilbert served in Congress from 1960 to 1971.


1983(14th of Adar, 5743): Purim


1987:The Israeli Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, announced today that he had agreed with Egyptian officials that there should be an international conference on Middle East peace this year. The agreement, reached after two meetings here with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, reaffirmed in writing a call the two men made in Alexandria last fall, when Mr. Peres was the Israeli Prime Minister. Mr. Peres's commitment, announced at the end of a three-day visit here, was expected to provoke strong reaction from the current Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, who vehemently opposes such a conference.


1990 (1st of Adar, 5750): Nahum N. Glatzer passed away. Born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and educated in Germany, Glatzer moved to the United States in 1938 where he furthered his reputation as a literary scholar, theologian, and editor. A list of his works includes The Schocken Passover Haggadah, The Complete Stories of Franz Kafka and Franz Rosenzweig: His Life and Thought


1991: President George H.W. Bush announced the end of the first Gulf War. During the war, the Israelis agreed not to join the coalition and not to retaliate against the Iraqi’s when they began firing Scuds into their country.  It was the first time that the Israelis had entrusted their security to another country.


1995: Uzi Baram replaced Yithak Rabin as Minister of the Interior


2000:The opening ceremony of the temporary exhibition of photographs and artifacts, “The Jewish Community of Volos” took place, at the Jewish Museum of Greece.


2000: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special

interest to Jewish readers including Stroheim by Arthur Lennig.



2003(25th of Adar I, 5763):  Eighty-nine year old Rabbi Noah Golinkin, the former spiritual leader of a Columbia synagogue who earned a national reputation for programs that taught Hebrew literacy to more than 150,000 Jewish adults, passed away  today at Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center & Hospital of complications after surgery. .His one-day Hebrew Reading Marathon and its forerunner, the Hebrew Literacy Campaign, is credited with quickly giving adults enough knowledge of the language to follow the Hebrew prayer book. He wrote textbooks widely used to teach adults because he could not find any suitable for his programs. He is best known for his crash course, an eight-hour program that uses familiar Hebrew words, repetition, exercise, humor and encouragement to bring Hebrew reading familiarity to those who did not learn it as children.


2005:  The New York Times included reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and

Dangerous Life by Tom Reiss



2006: The Harlem Globetrotters, the creation of Abe Saperstein, extended their overall record to 22,000 wins.



2006:  The Jerusalem Post reported that a new Israeli tourism campaign will take center stage at Emirates Stadium, the London home of English soccer giants Arsenal, starting in August. Tourism Minister Avraham Hirchson and Arsenal managing director Keith Edelman signed a two-year sponsorship deal at a press conference at the David Intercontinental hotel in Tel Aviv. Now here is what really makes this newsworthy. Edelman said the campaign was given the blessing of Emirates Airlines, which is based in Dubaiin the United Arab Emirates. The airline bought the naming rights to Arsenal's new stadium in 2004 for a reported $100 million. The stadium is set to open in August. "Before we strike any deal, we discuss it with our partners. This was the situation here as well," said Edelman. The agreement makes Israel Arsenal's "official and exclusive travel destination.""This is the only tourism deal we intend to do," Edelman said.


2007: Holocaust survivors from around the world gather in Warsaw to urge the Polish government to compensate them for property confiscated by the former communist regime.
Representatives of Jewish groups hope to convince the authorities to speed up legislation allowing the restitution of lost property. Poland, the biggest post-communist European Union member, is the only country from eastern Europe, besides Belarus, that has not enacted a program for the restitution of property seized after World War II.


2007: Israel got its first Arab President.  Acting President Dalia Itzik left for a week long trip to the United States.  During that time, Jajallie Whbee, a Druse who had attained the rank of Lt. Colonel before retiring from the IDF, served in the largely ceremonial post.


2007: Commander Mark Polansky visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to meet Sophie Turner-Zaretsky.  He presented the replica of the bear called Refugee that had comforted Sophie during the Holocaust and a photo of an orphan from war-torn Dafur -- along with NASA space travel certificates -- to U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum chief of staff Bill Parsons, who said the Museum wanted to provide something that would be a timely reminder of history’s relevance. "Although we can send people into space, we still can’t seem to stop them from hating and killing one another. A child’s stuffed toy from the Holocaust and a photograph of a refugee from the genocide today in Darfur remind us the lessons of the Holocaust have yet to be learned."


2007: David Bromberg released “Try Me One More Time,” the first new studio album he had recorded since 1990.


2007, Teapacks performed four songs in a TV special, and the song "Push The Button" was chosen as the Israeli entry for the 2007 Eurovision Contest by popular vote


2008: The Finalist Grand Prize portion of The Second Annual Simply Manischewitz Cook-Off takes place in New York City.


2008 (21 Adar I 5768): Anthony Bernard Blond passed away.  The British publisher and author’s mother was a Sephardic Jew from Manchester and he was the cousin of Harold Laski, the noted British socialist and Laborite.


2008(21 Adar I): Myron Cope,"the voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers" passed away.


2008 (21 Adar I 5768): Approximately 50 Palestinian rockets hit the western Negev today, with one of them slamming into Sapir College near Sderot, killing a 47-year-old student. Another exploded on the helipad of BarzilaiHospitalin Ashkelon, while the hospital was treating casualties from Sderot. The deceased, Roni Yechiah from the town of Btecha in the western Negev, was inside his car in Sapir's parking lot. He died of shrapnel wounds to the chest. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. Yechiah is survived by his wife, Esther, and four children: Niv, who is currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces, Lital, a 17-year-old high school pupil, her 14-year-old sister Coral and 8-year-old brother Idan.


2009:Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip continued their attacks on Israeli civilian areas early this morning when they fired a Kassam that hit an open area in the Sdot Negev region.


2009: Rick Recht returns to Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa for another incomparable Musical Shabbat.  Rick is joined by the talented Abbe Silber, daughter of Dr. Bob & Laurie Silber, pillars of the Jewish community.


2009:Robert M. Morgenthau, the long-serving Manhattan district attorney and an institution in New York City politics, will not run for re-election this year, a person told of his decision said on Friday. His departure marks a changing of the guard and opens one of Manhattan’s plum elected posts for the first time in decades — a major draw in a year when the overturning of term limits has left many of the city’s ambitious younger politicians pondering their future. The retirement of Mr. Morgenthau, 89, who has held his office since 1975, has become a topic of increasing speculation in conversation in Democratic political circles. As the Manhattan prosecutor, Mr. Morgenthau presided over an office with almost 100,000 cases, 500 assistant district attorneys and some of the nation’s more high-profile trials. Mr. Morgenthau started his career as a prosecutor in New York when he was appointed in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy to be the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, but resigned in 1969 under pressure from President Richard M. Nixon’s administration. He was elected to be Manhattan district attorney in a special election in 1974 caused by the death of Frank S. Hogan, who had served as district attorney for more than 30 years. Among Mr. Morgenthau’s high-profile cases: a three-year investigation into the Bank of Credit and Commerce International in the early 1990s, and the indictment against a former Tyco chief executive, Dennis Kozlowski, in 2002. Outside New York, Mr. Morgenthau is most well-known as the model for the original district attorney, Adam Schiff, on the television show “Law & Order.” Mr. Morgenthau had a cameo on the show, portraying a judge. One of the district attorney’s hobbies is a Morgenthau family passion and tradition since 1913: the raising of free-range chickens and their eggs at a farm in Duchess County, where heirloom tomatoes are also grown. In recent years, Mr. Morgenthau, who is a World War II veteran, has been showing his age. Deaf in one ear and with a hearing aid in the other ear, he is sometimes slow and shaky of gait. Mr. Morgenthau and his family, with German-Jewish roots, had political ties to some of the more storied names in American history. His father, Henry Morgenthau Jr., was secretary of the treasury under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and one of the most tenacious advocates of the American rescue of Jews during World War II. The Morgenthaus were also family friends with the Kennedys. As boys, Robert Morgenthau and John Kennedy raced sailboats off Cape Cod. His grandfather, Henry Morgenthau Sr., served as ambassador to the Ottoman Empire under President Woodrow Wilson. Among those who have served in Mr. Morgenthau’s Manhattan office were Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was hired in 1982, and Eliot Spitzer, who worked as an assistant district attorney and in the rackets bureau for six years before going on to become state attorney general and governor.


2010: An Egyptian court overturned a lower court ruling today that called for a halt to natural gas exports to Israel, saying the deliveries should continue unhindered.


2010:An Israeli Arab rights committee sent a petition to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) today opposing the addition of Israel to the organization. After two years of official talks, the OECD will vote in May on whether to admit Israel.


2010: Shabbat Zachor!


2010:  In the evening, Purim and the reading of the Megillah.


2010:Glass falling from the atrium roof of the Sony Building in New York interrupted a Purim party. Ice reportedly broke through the glass roof of the midtown Manhattan building after 11 p.m., injuring at least 10 of the 300 guests, according to reports.The party, reportedly given by Aish Hatorah, was attended by "Sex and the City" actor Chris Noth, as well as reality show "Jersey Shore" cast members Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Vinny Guadagnino. "Omg roof just collapsed!" Polizzi Tweeted from the party."I think me and @sn00ki felt the wrath for not being Jewish," Guadagnino Tweeted.The actors were not injured. 


2010(Adar 13, 5770):Eighty-nine year old Hank Rosenstein, who played in what is considered the National Basketball Association’s first game, in 1946, as an original member of the New York Knicks, died  today in Boca Raton, FL. (As reported by Vincent M. Mallozzi)


2010: Opening of Jewish Book Week in London, UK.


2011(27th of Adar I, 5771): Eighty-nine year old Philip Burgher, a World War II Army veteran passed away in Buffalo Grove, Illinois.


2011(27th of Adar I, 5771):Brazilian born authorMoacyr Scliar, whose “The Centaur in the Garden,” was included among the 100 Greatest Works of Modern Jewish Literature by The National Yiddish Book Center, passed away today. (As reported by William Grimes)


2011: The Prince of Kosher Gospel, Joshua Nelson, is scheduled to perform at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, IA.


2011: Closing night of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.


2011: Closing night of The “Voices From a Changing Middle East” festival.


2011: The Los Angeles Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Modigliani: A Life by Meryle Secrest and Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall — From America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness by Frank Brady


2011: Among the Jewish winners are tonight’s Oscar ceremonies were:



Israel-born Natalie Portman for her portrayal of a tortured ballerina in “Black Swan”



Emile Sherman one of the co-producers of “The King’s Speech” which was named best picture



David Seidler of “King’s Speech” winning for original screenplay



Aaron Sorkin of “The Social Network” for adapted screenplay



Danish director-writer Susanne Bier, took the best foreign-language film statuette for “In a Better World,”



American filmmakers Kirk Simon and Karen Goodman won in the short documentary category for “Strangers No More”  - a film based on the work of the Bialik-Rogozin School in south Tel



Director-writer Lee Unkrich accepted the award for his animated feature “Toy Story 3,”



Randy Newman won for his song “We Belong Together.”



Lora Hirschberg was one of the co-winners for the work of sound-mixing for “Inception.
(As reported by JTA)


2012: Anna Kantar is scheduled to give a reading of poems by Leah Goldberg at the Stern College for Women in New York City.



2012: Open Women’s Mic Night featuring Poetry, Music, Comedy, whatever you do to entertain the ladies at David Lilimnick’s Off the Wall Comedy Club in Jerusalem



2012: The Tal Law cannot be extended by even one hour, and any attempt to ignore the issue is a mistake, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said at a press conference in the Knesset today. According to Liberman, there are enough positions in the IDF or in national service, so that everyone can contribute.  (As reported by Lahav Harkov)


2012:Workers at the Haifa, Ashdod and Eilat ports who had held a one-day strike over pension-related demands yesterday will return to work today after a truce was reached at a late-night National Labor Court meeting.


2012:Nurses across Israel went on a 24-hour strike this morning, after overnight negotiations betweent the Finance Ministry and the chairman of the national nurses union failed to reach an agreement to prevent the strike.



2013: L'Chaim Kosher Vodka is scheduled to sponsor the reception that follows The SHUFFLE Concert that will feature performances by Eliran Avni, piano, Moran Katz, clarinet, Linor Katz, cello, Hassan Anderson, oboe, Francisco Fullana, violin, and soprano Ariadne Greif


2013: “The Mexican Suitcase” Rediscovered Spanish Civil War Negatives by Capa, Taro and Chim is scheduled to open at the Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme


2013: The Weiner Library is scheduled to sponsor a lecture by Mary Fulbrook, author of A Small Town Near Auschwitz


2013: In Portland, the Oregon Jewish Museum is scheduled to host a reception marking the opening of “Pictures of Resistance: The Wartime Photographs of Jewish Partisan Faye Schulman.”


2013:A panel of judges at the International Convention Center Haifa awarded the title of Miss Israel to 21 year old Yityish Aynaw  “the young and gorgeous model, who came to Israel only about a decade ago from Ethiopia.” (As reported by Yori Yanover)


2014: The Consulate General of Israel in New York, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and the Jewish National Fund are scheduled to honor Dr. Clarence B. Jones, co-author of the “I Have A Dream Speech” at the annual commemoration of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


2014: Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen are scheduled to discuss their bestseller The New Digital Age at the Historic 6th& I Synagogue.


 

This Day, February 28, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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February 28


 
1255: Bishop Richard of Worms transferred to the chapter of the local cathedral, among other revenues from the city, the sum of 40 pounds heller which the Jewish community was obliged to pay annually on St. Martin's Day which falls on November 11.

 
1276(12th of Adar): Bishop Pierre III Rostaing guaranteed protection to the Jews of Carpentras, France in return for a tax of one-thirteenth of the total seat rents of the synagogue

 
1348: At the Cortes of Alcala de Hebares King Alfonso XI issued a "startling" decree which forbad Jews and Moors from lending money “at interet.”

 
1488: Joshua Solomon Soncino began printing copies of the Bible at Soncino, Italy.

 
1533:  Birthdate of French writer and philosopher Michael de Montaigne.  His mother, Antoinette de Louppes, came from a rich Spanish Jewish family, but was herself raised as a Protestant.  Should Montaigne be considered Jewish?  It depends upon whose list you look at, so I will leave it up to others to investigate more fully and decide.

 
1574: The first official Auto da Fe in the New World was held in Mexico after the establishment of the Inquisition 5 years earlier. The first unofficial Auto da Fe was actually held in 1528 when the conquistador Hernando Alonso was executed.

 
1575: Rabbi Elijah ben Moses de Vidas completed Reishit Hakhmah

 
1592: Clement VIII issued Cum saepe accidere, a Papal Bull that forbade the Jews of Avignon from selling new goods.

 
1593: Clement VIII issued Cum Haebraeorum militia, a Papal Bull decreeing that the Talmud should be burnt along with cabalistic works and commentaries, which gave the owners of such works 10 days to turn them over to the Universal Inquisition in Rome and subsequently two months to hand them over to local inquisitors.

 
1675: An agreement was ratified today that would allow 250 Jewish families to return Vienna and occupy 50 places of business.  In return for this privilege, the Jews agreed to make a payment of 300,000 florins and the payment of an annual tax of 10,000 florins.  The government agreed to the return of the Jews because the treasury was empty.

 
1677: In Newport, RI, Jewish community purchased land to be used as a cemetery

 
1720: Judah Monis, an Algerian born Jew who would become the first American author of a Hebrew grammar book arrived in New York.

 
1747: Benedict XIV issued Postremomens, a Papal Bull that deals with the baptism of Jews.

 
1787: The state legislature of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania granted Hugh Henry Breckenridge a charter for a school that is now known as the University of Pittsburgh. Today, there are approximately 1,800 Jewish students among the total undergrad population of 16,000 and 500 Jewish students among the 7,000 graduate students. The university offers a major in Jewish studies.  Jewish students can avail themselves of programs offered by Hillel and Chabad as well as find kosher meals at the “Kosher Korner” at the University Center.

 
1799: Napoleon, the first European leader to meet with Jewish leaders in Palestine, led his army out of Gaza and headed for Ramallah.

 
1805(29thof Adar I, 5565):Naphtali Hirz Wessely, the Jewish man of letters born at Hamburg in 1725 and educated at Copenhagen passed away today in his native city.

 
1812: Birthdate of German-Jewish author Berthold Auerbach.  Born Moses (Moyses) Baruch, Auerbach published a novel entitled Spinoza: Ein Historischer Roman in 1837.  He passed away in 1882 at the age of 70.

 
1823: Birthdate of Ernest Renan a French author who specialized in studies of the ancient languages and civilizations of the Middle East. Late in life, Renan wrote a three volume “History of Israel.”  The first volume appeared in 1887 and the final volume appeared in 1897. Some claimed that he was an anti-Semite (anti-Jewish) because of comments about the limitations of the Semitic mind.  But Renan contended that the Jewish people were not a race in the biological and he was an opponent of the nationalism that took hold in Germany in the latter of the 19th century because of its anti-Semitic component.

 
1827(1st of Adar): Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Shklov passed away

 
1829(25th of Adar): Wolf Breidenbach passed

 

1831: In Philadelphia, John A. Forepaugh and Susannah Heimer gave birth to Adam John Forepaugh, the circus owner who included Leopold S. Kahn, “the dwarf performer” known as Admiral Dot among his acts in the 1890’s

 
1838: Birthdate of French engineer Maurice Levy.

 
1842: B'ne Yeshurun, a congregation organized by the German Jews living in Cincinnati, Ohio was incorporated under the laws of the state of Ohio.

 
1842: In Cleveland, Ohio, Anshe Chesed (now Anshe Chesed - Fairmount Temple) which had been founded as a German Orthodox congregation in 1841 was chartered today.  The congregation had 30 members and Asher Lehman served as the Rabbi.

 
1843: In Bishop-Purnitz, Austria, Mina and Benedict Greenhut gave birth to Joseph B. Greenhut, a decorated Civil War veteran and a successful Chicago, Illinois, businessman

 
1850: The General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret established the University Desert which was the forerunner of the University of Utah located at Salt Lake City, Utah. Today the university has approximately 350 Jewish students out of a student population of 15,000.  The school has ten courses in Jewish studies and offers a major degree in Jewish Studies.  Not bad for a school founded deep the heart of the land of Brigham Young.

 
1854: The Republican Party of the United States is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin. The party was formed in the wake of the Kansas-Nebraska act and was designed to stop the Democrats’ pro-slavery agenda.  Some of the Jews who were active in the early days of the party were Sabato Morais, rabbi of the Mikveh Israel Congregation, Moritz Pinner who edited a German language abolitionist paper in Kansas, Kentuckian Lewis Naphtali Dembitz, uncle of the Louis Brandeis and New Yorker Sigsmund Kaufman who was an a member of the electoral college that chose Abraham Lincoln to serve as President in 1860.

 
1855: In a demonstration of the extent to which Jewish concepts have penetrated the general cultural milieu, while giving a speech in New York on the habits of North American Indians, General Sam Houston tells the audience that until “the spirit of revenge had been conquered by civilization” the law of the Cherokee Nation “was the same as that practiced under the old dispensation by the Jews of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and blood for blood.”

 
1860: Birthdate of Victor L. Berger who would become the first member of the Socialist Party to hold a seat in the U.S. House of Representative.

 
1862: A column entitled “Affairs In Utah” published today described the drive of those living in that territory to become a state in the Union. “As things go, it does seem apparent that Jews and Gentiles here are, more or less, under the conviction that the particular time ‘in the course of human events’ is at hand when a change is inevitable in the fashion of Government among "this people." Some may be surprised to hear of Jews connected with Utah which is almost synonymous with the Mormon Religion. The first Jews who settled in Utah were probably “dropouts” from the wagon trains heading to California during the California Gold Rush. By 1853, two Jews had established a millenary store in Salt Lake City. The first non-Mormon governor of Utah would be a Jew named Simon Bamberger.  As to the issue of statehood, it would be another 34 years before that goal was reached.  The price of admission would be a formal rejection by the Mormons of the practice of polygamy.  To date, this is the only time that the federal government has “interfered” with the doctrines of a religious organization.

 
1863: The will of the late Commodore Uriah P. Levy, U.S. Navy, which has been admitted to probate, is now before the Supreme Court, at Special Term. Proceedings have been “instituted to break it, in respect to its bequests to the people of the United States, or the State of Virginia, and then to certain Hebrew congregations in New-York, Philadelphia and Richmond, for the purpose of founding an agricultural school at Monticello, in the State of Virginia.”

 
1868(5th of Adar): Rabbi Israel Muschkat, author of Harei Besamim, passed away.

 
1877(15thof Adar, 5637): Shushan Purim

 
1882: It was reported today that the Russian government offered an explanation to the British government for the expulsion of Mr. Lewisohn from the Czar’s empire.  While the British saw Lewisohn as an English citizen, the Russians saw him as being a Jew.  And in Russia, Jews, regardless of the country in which they live, are considered to be Jews which make them a thing without legal standing.

 
1882: John W. Foster will deliver a lecture on “The Czar and His People” a tonight’s meeting of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association at Chickering Hall in New York City.
 
1887: Rumania excluded Jews from public service and the tobacco trade.

 
1887: Birthdate of William Zorach, “a Lithuanian-American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and writer” who won the Logan Medal of the arts.

 
1891: Birthdate of Yaakov Kamenetsky, the Lithuanian born Rosh Yeshiva and Talmudist, who moved to North America in 1937 where he served as a Rabbi in several U.S. and Canadian cities.

 
1894: Birthdate of playwright and novelist Ben Hecht. His most famous work was “The Front Page” which he co-authored with Charles MacArthur. Hecht also won two Oscars for two of his screen plays.  This comic drama about the newspaper business was a Broadway hit as well as a successful movie in the original and remakes.  Hecht was also an ardent Zionist.

 
1895: It was reported today that the officers of the Young Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s League of the Montefiore Home are: Lucien Bonheur, President; Miss Gertrude Hess, Vice President; James Loeb, Treasurer; Amelia Simon, Secretary.
 
1895: “Great Hebrew Charity” published today included Jacob Schiff’s acknowledgement of the receipt $10,063.19 for the Montefiore Home that was raised by the recent charity ball as well as an additional $2,000 that came from payment of dues.

 
1895: “German Hebrew Immigration” published today described the debate in the Reichstag on restricting the immigration of Jews from Russia and Austria which one deputy described as being “so great as to amount to a national plague.” Deputies from the Social Democrats and National Liberty Party voiced their opposition to any restrictive measures which led to an end to the debate.

 
1898: Birthdate of Yiddish actress Molly Picon.

 
1898: “The Get-Together Clubs” of New York and Brooklyn met this evening where the general discussion of “The Problem of the Unemployed” including a presentation by N.S. Rosenau, the Director of the United Hebrew Charities.

 
1900: During the Second Boer War the 118 day siege of Ladysmith came to an end. 1899: Major Karri Davies was one of the Jewish soldiers who fought in defense of the British position at Ladysmith. There were at least 2,800 Jews fighting for the British and an untold number fighting for the Boers.

 
1903: Max Nordau meets Leopold Greenberg in Paris and sends a wire to Herzl: "Greenberg had obtained everything that can possibly be conceded in an official agreement."

 
1905: In New York, the initial meeting of a “Choral Society for Ancient Hebrew Meolodies” was held at the rooms Young Men’s Hebrew Association under the direction of Mr. Rosenblatt.

 
1906:  Birthdate of mobster Bugsy Siegel

 
1907(14thof Adar, 5667): Purim

 
1907(14thof Adar, 5667): Eighty year old Wilhelm Rapp passed away.  Born in Germany in 1827, he moved to the United States in 1852 after having participated in the failed Revolutions of 1848. Rapp edited newspapers in several cities before the Civil War.  An outspoken abolitionist and Unionist he was forced to flee from Baltimore to Washington, DC in 1861. Rapp turned down President Lincoln’s offer to make him postmaster general and moved to Chicago, Illinois where worked as a newspaper editor until his death.

 
1909: In Kensington (UK) Edward Harold Spender and Violet Hilda Schuster who was consider “half Jewish” because her father’s family had been German Jews before converting gave birth to Poet Laureate Sir Stephen Spender whose identification with the Jewish people was strengthened by the fact that his second wife was English Pianist and author Natasha Spender.

 
1915: Birthdate of actor Zero Mostel known for his roles in the original version of “The Producers” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”

 
1916(24th of Adar I, 5676): Morris Lasker, aged 76, millionaire miller, pioneer, Indian fighter and philanthropist died in Galveston, Texas, this afternoon.  Mr. Lasker won wide fame when he led the Jews of the South in a fight for the life and vindication of Leo Frank, who was convicted in Atlanta for the murder of Mary Phagan.  Mr. Lasker came to America from Germany at the age of 16.  He “was in the mercantile business in George for three years, and then came to Texas, settling at Weatherford, where he engaged in many expeditions against the Indians.”  He settled in Galveston in 1867 and married Miss Nettie Davis of Albany, NY, the widow who survives him, along with six children including Albert Lasker of Chicago.

 
1916: Henry James, one of the literary giants of the 19th century, passed away.  For more about how James viewed Jews including his review of George Eliot's Daniel Deronda see Milton Kerker’s Henry James on the Jewish scene/

 
1921: Fire destroys 120 homes and a large amount of shops in the Jewish quarter of Kouskoundjouk, Constantinople. Most of these belonged to poor Jews.

 
1921: Conference of rabbis in Jerusalem elects a court of Justice and chooses four Ashkenazi and four Sephardi rabbis with Rabbi Kook (Ashkenazi) & Jacob Meir (Sephardic).

 
1921: In Passaic, NJ, “Morris and Goldie Zaentz, Jewish refugees from a shtetl in eastern Poland” gave birth to Oscar award winning movie producer Saul Zaentz whose work included “One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Next” and “Amadeus” (As reported by Robert McFadden

 
1926(14thof Adar, 5686): Purim

 
1928:  The Soviets decided to set up a Jewish district in Biro-bijanin Eastern Siberia. Most of its 14,200 square miles were uninhabitable due to floods. It was to be used as a buffer zone against China.

 
1929:  Birthdate of Canadian born architect Frank Gehry.

 
1935(25th of Adar I, 5695): Jeannette Miriam Goldberg, who organized Texas chapters of the National Council of Jewish Women and the Jewish Chautauqua Society, passed away.

 
1938: As the latest wave of Arab violence continued, The Palestine Post reported that the "representatives" of armed bands were regularly visiting Arab towns and villages, demanding money for their "activities" and issuing "receipts." A bridge on the Jenin-Afula road was damaged by an explosion and there were numerous shooting incidents throughout the country. A curfew was imposed on a number of villages after armed Arab terrorists stormed isolated police posts and stole arms and ammunition, intimidating the local Arab constables.

 
1938: The Palestine Post reported that The Union of Romanian Journalists expelled all Jews who became members after December 1919.

 
1939: The curfew that had been imposed on all of the Arab quarters starting on February 26 following the murder of 3 Jews by Arabs was scheduled to come to an end today at 6 A.M.

 
1940: The British adopted the MacDonald White Paper that included restriction of sale of Arab land to Jews in Eretz Yisrael. This document nearly voided the Balfour Declaration

 
1942: In Tel Aviv, Aharon Werba, a civil servant who made Aliyah in 1933 and his wife Chava gave birth to Dorit Werba who as Dorit Beinish was the first woman to serve as president of the Supreme Court of Israel.

 
1943: George Gershwin's "Porgy & Bess" opened on Broadway with Anne Brown and Todd Duncan.  The musical originally premiered in 1935 and survived for a mere 124 performances.  The musical was revised after Gershwin's death and slowly gained popular and critical acclaim.

 
1943: In Kovono Ghetto, thousands of Jews attend the funeral of Rabbi Avraham Duber Shapiro, Chief Rabbi of Kovno despite an order from the Nazis forbidding them to do so.

 
1945(15thof Adar, 5705): Shushan Purim

 
1945(15thof Adar, 5705): Walter Süskind, the German born Dutch Jew who saved over six hundred Jewish children died either at Auschwitz or one of the death marches inflicted on Jews by their Nazi captors as the war came to a close.




 
1947: British naval forces seized 1,398 “illegal” Jewish immigrants today.

 
1947: Jacob and Niza Gabbai, a husband and wife couple who have just arrived in New York City from Palestine enrolled at Fordham University.  The Gabbais are part of the Young Palestinian League which is working to develop a new cultural environment in their homeland.  They chose Fordham “because it is a complete university and not just a drama or radio school, and also because it located in the world capital of the theatre.”

 
1948: The famed Golani Brigade was formed today  during the Israeli War for Independence when the Levanoni Brigade in the Galilee split into the 1st Golani Brigade and the 2nd Carmeli Brigade

 
1950: Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett presented the cabinet with the draft of five year non-aggression pact between Israel and Jordan.  The pact is the product of several months of secret negotiations.  It includes most of the terms of the armistice agreement without setting final boundaries.  Some additional points include the opening of the Israeli held road to Bethlehem to Arab traffic, the opening of the road to Mt. Scopus to Israelis and an Israeli promise to supply electricity to the Arab held sections of Jerusalem.  Israeli opposition to the agreement will be limited to a handful of leftists who oppose King Abdullah because they think he is a puppet of the British imperialists and the rightwing nationalists who believe that all of the land west of the Jordan should be part of a Jewish state.  Jordanian approval is much more problematic since it will face serious opposition from numerous sources including those who want a second war with the Jews so that they can destroy the Zionist entity. [Abdullah would be assassinated in the following year for conducting these negotiations and it would take another four decades before Israel and Jordan finally concluded a peace agreement.]

 
1953: Birthdate of Paul Krugman, leading U.S. economist, New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize Winner.

 
1953(13th of Adar, 5713): Israeli archeologist and Hebrew University professor,Eleazar Lipa Sukenik passed away. His life reads like an early history of the Zionist movement. Born in Bialystok in 1889, Sukenik made Aliyah in 1911. He served in the British army in World War I in the 40th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers which became known as the Jewish Legion. He played a central role in the establishment of the Department of Archaeology of the Hebrew University. He recognized the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls to Israel and worked for the Israeli state to buy them. In 1948, he published an article tentatively linking the scrolls and their content to a community of Essenes, which became the standard interpretation of the origin of the scrolls, a theory that is still probably the consensus among scholars, but has also been widely questioned. He was the father of soldier, politician and archeologist Yigael Yadin, the actor Yossi Yadin, and Mati Yadin, who was killed in action during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.


1959: Birthdate of Jack Abramoff

 
1961: Recently elected President Kennedy named Henry Kissinger as special advisor.  Before being the first Jew to be named Secretary of State, Kissinger followed a path that took him from Kennedy, to Rockefeller, to Nixon.

 
1972(13th of Adar, 5732): Fast of Esther

 
1974: The United States and Egypt renew diplomatic relations.  This was one of the steps from the Yom Kippur War to the Camp David Peace Accords.

 
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that the majority of the plenum of the 29th Zionist Congress, held in Jerusalem, approved a resolution calling for a Jewish education program in the Diaspora, based on the principle of equality for all trends in Judaism, and specifically including the Conservative and Reform movements.

 
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that the Liberal Faction of the Likud in the Knesset described the recent action taken by Agriculture Minister Ariel Sharon in the settlement of the Yamit (Rafiah) area as injurious to the national interest, "idiotic" and "crazy."

 
1983(15th of Adar, 5743): Shushan Purim

 
1986: John Demjanjuk was deported to Israel today

 
1986: Laura Z. Hobson who wrote Gentlemen’s Agreement, the novel about anti-Semitism that was turned into a 1947 film classic starring Gregory Peck, passed away.

 
1987(29thof Shevat, 5747): Sixty-seven year ballerina Nora Kay, born Nora Koreff, passed away. (As reported by Jennifer Dunning)
 
1991: A twenty-five year old Jewish religious student, Elhanan Atali, was found in an abandoned storeroom in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.  His throat had been slit and he had been stabbed in the back.

 
1993: At the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre, “The Sisters Rosensweig…a play by Wendy Wasserstein” that “focuses on the lives of three Jewish-American sisters” closes after 149 performances.

 
1993: Actor Tony Curtis, born Bernard Schwartz, wed Lisa Deutsch.  She was his fourth wife.

 
1999: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Amateur: An Independent Life of Lettersby Wendy Lesser and Turbo-Capitalism: Winners and Losers in the Global Economyby Edward Luttwak

 
2000(22nd of Adar I, 5760): Kariel Gardosh, the prominent Israeli political cartoonist known by the pen-name "Dosh," died in his home in Tel Aviv from a cardiac arrest. He was 79 years old. “Gardosh was best known for cartoons featuring his character Srulik. Srulik was a small boy in short, sandals and a traditional Tembel hat. Gardosh's character, always intended by the caricaturist to act a symbol for Israel, was a blank slate upon which to reflect the changing national mood and a perfect emblem for the emerging nation's view of itself in the 1960s and 1970s as a small nation surrounded by hostile aggressors. The small boy facing down representative from a hostile Arab world left an indelible impression upon several generations of Israelis allowing the character to remain popular through several changes in the political climate. The character is still a presence in various licensed formats such as posters and stickers.”

 
2003(26th of Adar I, 5763): “Alfred Bernstein, a New Deal lawyer who led the movement to unionize government workers and later helped desegregate the lunch counters, restaurants, public swimming pools and playgrounds of Jim Crow-era Washington, died today at his home in Washington. He was 92.Mr. Bernstein attended public schools in Manhattan and graduated from Columbia College and Columbia Law School. Inspired by the social ferment of the New Deal, he moved to the capital in 1937 to work as an investigator for the Senate Commerce Committee's inquiry into the monopolistic railroad industry. ''What all of us were interested in was the transformation of the political process -- drafting regulations, establishing Social Security, making regulatory agencies work,'' he once told an interviewer. ''There was a lot of idealism at the time.''After serving in the Army Air Transport Command in the South Pacific in World War II, Mr. Bernstein returned to Washington where he helped lead the successful effort against Jim Crow laws in the capital.”

 
2003: Ariel Sharon begins serving as Communications Minister.

 
2003: Eliezer Sandberg began serving as Science and Technology Minister

 
2003. Reuven Rivlin completed serving as Communications Minister.

 
2003: Benjamin Netanyahu completed his service as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

 
2003: Silvan Shalom begins serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
 
2003: Natan Sharansky completed his service as Minister of Housing and Construction.

 
2003: Eli Suissa completed his service Jerusalem Affairs Minister

 
2003: Tzachi Hanegbi succeeded Uzi Landau as Minister of Public Safety.

 
2003: Yosef Paritzky replaced Effi Eitam as National Infrastructure Minister

 
2003: Avraham Poraz replaced Eli Yishai as Minister of Internal Affairs.

 
2003: David Azulai competed his service as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs.

 
2004(6th of Adar, 5764): Daniel Boorstin passed away at the age of 89. He was one of America's most renowned historians and, between 1975 and 1987, the Librarian of Congress in the world's largest library in Washington. The son of Russian-Jewish im­migrants, Daniel Joseph Boorstin was born on October 1, 1914, in Atlanta. He was educated at Tulsa Central High School and Harvard, from where he graduated with honors in Law. Boorstin wrote more than 20 books, including a trilogy on the American experience and one on world intellectual history. The Americans: The Democratic Experience, the final book in the first trilogy, received the 1973 Pulitzer Prize in history.
2006(30th of Elul, 5766): Rosh Chodesh Adar (first of a two day Rosh Chodesh).


2006: Johanna van Schagen, a woman who helped Jews escape from the Nazis during the Holocaust and later was honored by Israel died at the age of 91. Johanna van Schagen, who had suffered a series of strokes, died at Friendship Village in nearby Trotwood, where she lived. Van Schagen and her husband, Cornelius, moved to the United States from the Netherlands in 1956. She told the Dayton Daily News in 1994 that she and her husband sheltered Jews out of anger toward Germans who were taking over their native Netherlands. "We were afraid many times ... there were lots of raids and if they had found them in your home, you would be taken to concentration camps, too," she said. Israel honored the couple in 1987 and a tree along the Avenue of the Righteous in Jerusalem is named for Johanna van Schagen, the newspaper said. Her funeral was scheduled for Friday at Polk Grove United Church of Christ in Dayton, which sponsored the van Schagens when they moved to the United States, said Jacob van Schagen, a son. She is survived by four sons and a daughter.


2007: The second International Eilat Chamber Music Festival opens.


2008: In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Rabbi Lane Steinger, Regional Director of the Union for Reform Judaism,teaches an adult education class at Temple Judah on the Reform Movement's New Prayer book, Mishkan Tifillah.


2008: In New York City, the 92nd Street Y presents “Witness to Nuremberg” featuring Richard W. Sonnenfeldt the chief interpreter for the American prosecution at the Nuremberg trials who discusses startling new information about the Nazi war criminals and the origins and development of the Holocaust. At age 22, Richard W. Sonnenfeldt became chief American interpreter at the Nuremberg trials. He was later a principal developer of color television, computers and the technology for the first moon landing.


2008:The Diary of Anne Frank: A Song To Life” opens in Madrid, Spain. This musical tells the story of Anne Frank's life in German-occupied Holland and her death in a concentration camp, using songs that sound like a combination of Fiddler On the Roof and Spanish tunes (complete with flamenco guitar).


2008(22 Adar 1, 5768): Israel Prize-winning author and translator Aharon Amir passed away at age 85. Amir, who was born in Lithuania, grew up in Tel Aviv and was a member of both the Irgun and the Lehi. He was one of the founders of the Canaanite movement, which saw geographical location rather than religious affiliation as the defining element of Hebrew or Israeli culture. He studied Arabic language and literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, but translated works of literature mainly from English and French. Authors whose work he rendered into Hebrew include Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Herman Melville, Lewis Carroll, Albert Camus, and Charles de Gaulle. Amir won the Tchernichovsky Prize for translation in 1951 and the Israel Prize for translation in 2003.


2008:Eyes Wide Open,” a documentary film that chronicles the preconceptions and revelations of American Jews as they visit Israel, is held at the Jerusalem Cinematheque.The film was directed by veteran filmmaker Paula Weiman-Kelman and written by award-winning journalist Stuart Schoffman


2008(22 Adar 1, 5768):Esra Shereshevsky, 92, noted Hebrew-language scholar and educator, died in Jerusalem. As founder and former chairman of the Department of Hebrew and Near Eastern Languages and Literature at Temple University, Shereshevsky was one of the first professors to establish Hebrew as a full course of study at an American university. His classes were exciting events. Whether discussing Bible, medieval manuscripts or 20th-century poets, his teaching was seasoned by his love of the Hebrew language.


2009:According to Reform Judaism magazine, Brandeis University, Harvard University and Radcliffe College, Tufts University, Boston University, and Northeastern University are among the "Top 60 Schools Jews Choose."


2009: In Barbados, Terry Schwarzfeld, who had just started her term as president of Canadian Hadassah WIZO and was executive director of Ottawa's largest synagogue, Agudath Israel, was mortally by an ex-con when he tried to rob her and her daughter-in-law, Lauana Cotsman.


2009: In Chicago, the Harris Theatre presents “Pinchas Zukerman in Recital” along “with his long time collaborator, pianist Mark Neikruug.”


2009:Rabbi Ellen Weomberg Dreyfus is installed in Jerusalem during the CCAR's 120th Annual Convention.

 

2009:From January 1 through today, there were 64 terrorist attacks that took place in the West Bank or were carried out by terrorists from the West Bank


2009: In an article entitled “His Story Told, Koch Makes His Peace and Dares to Look Ahead,” former New York May Ed Koch ruminates on his concerns as he reaches the twilight years and describes his plans for a funeral that will leave no question as to his profound attachment to his Jewish faith. He’s already installed and inscribed his tombstone. He’s recruited a rabbi to preside over his funeral. He’s been saying some goodbyes. He insists he no longer carries any grudges; well, maybe just a few. He’s issued an apology or two and even confesses to a few regrets as mayor. But the former mayor — still looming though stooped from stenosis, a spinal degeneration — is philosophically confronting his own mortality. His is a life that has played out mostly in the public eye, and now, perhaps appropriately, so are many of his preparations for the beyond.


“We all die,” he said over lunch in Midtown the other day, his words unequivocal but his voice raspy. “Whenever he or she wants me, I go.” Not surprisingly, though, Edward I. Koch, New York’s 105th mayor, proposed several conditions for whenever the time comes. Having survived a stroke in 1987 and a heart attack in 1999, he said he has no desire to linger: “I had a conversation with God: ‘Take me totally or don’t take me. No salami tactics.’ He’s been very good about it.” “I want to die at my desk,” Mr. Koch added. The former mayor is at his desk daily (he is a partner at the Manhattan offices of Bryan Cave, a law firm). He begrudgingly exercises at a gym several days a week and goes for rehabilitation for the spinal condition. He lunches every Saturday with a regular group of about 10 alumni of his administration. He doesn’t march in parades any more, except for St. Patrick’s Day, and says he is through writing books.  “After eight autobiographies and two children’s books,” he said, “I don’t think I have anything left in me.”


Mr. Koch also insists that while the fight hasn’t gone out of him — he is particularly concerned about anti-Semitism and wants to bring Jews and Catholics closer together — he picks his fights more carefully. He says he is sorry for having started some and has unilaterally declared a cease-fire for others.  “I’m not settling any scores,” he said. “I absolutely have no grudges. That’s over with. It’s not that I love those people. I don’t, but it takes too much energy if you think about who injured you.” Of all the grudges he has held, the one that people who know Mr. Koch figured he would carry to his grave was with Mario M. Cuomo, whom he defeated for mayor in 1977 and who was later elected governor. But there is evidence of rapprochement. Yes, it’s true, the former mayor said, he did pointedly refer to Mr. Cuomo by a very disparaging epithet several years ago in a recorded interview with The New York Times that is not to be made public until after Mr. Koch’s death. Reminded of the remark, he laughed heartily, and did not take it back.  “I told the truth as I felt it then,” he said. “But it all worked out.” Mr. Koch’s anger was originally triggered by placards that sprouted in the 1977 mayoral campaign that said “Vote for Cuomo, not the homo.” The Koch camp blamed Cuomo operatives. Mr. Cuomo has always disclaimed any responsibility.


“If anything, I thought it was done by someone who wanted to see me lose,” Mr. Cuomo recalled last week. “I never did anything like that and it was a wrong thing to do, whoever did it; it was ugly and unfair. If he believed I did it and forgave me for it, that was kind of him. I always liked him and respected him however he felt about me.” In December, Mr. Cuomo invited himself to a birthday party for the mayor at Gracie Mansion and offered a gracious tribue. Mr. Koch was moved. He recalled: “Mario always told people, ‘I like Ed a lot more than he likes me.’ The first time he said that, I replied, ‘You’re right, Mario.’ But that’s over with. He said he was sorry.” (For the record, Mr. Koch, a lifelong bachelor, declines to say whether he is gay. “I do not want to add to the acceptability of asking every candidate, ‘Are you straight or gay or lesbian?’ and make it a legitimate question, so I don’t submit to that question. I don’t care if people think I’m gay because I don’t answer it. I’m flattered that at 84 people are interested in my sex life — and, it’s quite limited.”) Mr. Koch said he also no longer holds a grudge against Bernard Rome, a former campaign treasurer, whom he fired as head of the Off-Track Betting Corporation for publicly opposing casino gambling.  “Bernie Rome called me years later and wanted to meet,” Mr. Koch recalled. “I said to my secretary, ‘Tell him I have no desire to.’ I don’t hold a grudge, but I don’t have to become his buddy.” Mr. Koch is certain of his legacy — restoring New Yorkers’ self-confidence after the city’s fiscal crisis of the mid-1970s, balancing the budget, rebuilding the Bronx and instituting a merit selection for the appointment of judges. (He was feted last year by some of the 140 he appointed: “They wanted to say goodbye,” Mr. Koch said.)  Mr. Koch does not typically second-guess himself, but feels guilty over one nagging regret: his decision to shutter Sydenham Hospital in Harlem, both to save money and because of complaints about the quality of health care there.  “I fought,” he said. “We closed it. We did the right thing. But, in retrospect, it was the wrong thing to do. The total amount saved was $9 million, but there was such a psychological attachment to Sydenham because black doctors couldn’t get into other hospitals. It was the psychological attachment that I violated. That was uncaring of me. They helped elect me and then in my zeal to do the right thing I did something now that I regret.” Mr. Koch says he has few other major misgivings. “I’m sure there are things we could have done better, but in terms of waking up in the middle of the night and thinking of mistakes, no,” he said. “I’ve had a wonderful ride. I’ve done what I wanted to do.” “I’m not morbid,” he added. “How many 84-year-olds do you know who are as active as I am? Not many. And how many 84-year-olds do you see in obituaries? A lot. But I believe I have another five years.” Whenever the ride is over, his funeral service will be held at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. He has given his sister the names of several potential speakers, but has not made any other arrangements, including the music (“I love the Catholic hymns,” he said, “but they can’t be sung even in Temple Emanu-El”). He will be buried in the nondenominational Trinity Church Cemetery in Upper Manhattan under a tombstone that quotes the last words of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter beheaded in 2002 by Islamic terrorists (“My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish”) and includes the most familiar Jewish prayer, in English and Hebrew, (“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One”) and the epitaph the former mayor wrote after his stroke: “He was fiercely proud of his Jewish faith. He fiercely defended the City of New York, and he fiercely loved its people. Above all, he loved his country, the United States of America, in whose armed forces he served in World War II”  “That’s it,” Mr. Koch said. “It takes up the whole stone.”  He recalled the funeral for a much-loved mayor of Madrid: “Eight hundred thousand people turned out. That won’t happen with me,” he predicted, “but I hope a lot of people do go to the cemetery — which, by the way, is conveniently located at 155th and Broadway on the subway.” New York has not lavished monuments on former mayors. The most famous memorial is La Guardia Airport. Mr. Koch, who was raised for 10 years in Newark, would not mind one of his own. “I have said — and it won’t happen — that I would like Newark Airport changed to E.I.K.,” he said. [It] “Kind of rhymes with J.F.K.”


2010(14th of Adar, 5770): Purim


2010(14th of Adar, 5770): Ninety-five year old Chicago born child-welfare advocate Natalie Goldstein Heineman passed away today.


2010: An exhibition at the Center for Jewish History in New York entitled “In the Beginning: Artists Respond to Genesis” is scheduled to come to a close.


2010: Final performance of Rinne Groff’s “Compulsion” is scheduled to take place at the Yale Repertory Theatre.


2010: The Los Angeles Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Ask, a novel by Sam Lipsyte


2010: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Devotion: A Memoir by Dani Shapir.


2010(14th of Adar, 5710): Jose Mindlin, a Jewish bibliophile who owned the largest private library in Latin America has died today in Brazil. He was 95. Born to Ukrainian parents, Jose Mindlin owned over 38,000 books and was a member of the prestigious Brazilian Academy of Letters. In 2006, he donated about half of his collection to the University of Sao Paulo, mostly on topics related to Brazilian studies. A building will be built in the university's campus specifically to maintain this massive library, and will be named after the Guita and Jose Mindlin Foundation. After retiring from the business world, Mindlin was able to dedicate his time to a passion he had since he was 13 years old: collecting and preserving rare books. The first rare edition in his collection was "Discours sur l'Histoire Universelle," by Jacques-Benigne Bossuet, published in 1740. Mindlin had occupied several public positions in the cultural field in Sao Paulo, including that of secretary of culture. "He was a giant of the Brazilian culture. His legacy is the library he left, the result of a life dedicated to the books. Today it's an asset of all Brazilians," said Sao Paulo Mayor Gilbero Kassab. Henry Sobel, emeritus rabbi of Latin America's largest Jewish congregation, the 2,000-family Congregacao Israelita Paulista, declared that Mindlin's life was book itself. "He was a righteous man who could see ethics in politics and culture. I felt so little when I was in his library. His greatest book was called Jose Mindlin," Sobel said.


2010:Israeli police entered the Temple Mount compound today after Palestinians began throwing stones during rioting in Jerusalem's Old City.


2010: Two Jewish athletes took home medals at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver which ended today. Steve Meisler won a gold medal for the United States in the four-man bobsled, pushing his team to a combined time of 3:24:46 in the four-heat race.  Jewish ice dancer Charlie White claimed a silver medal in ice dancing along with partner Meryl Davis.  White's victory edged a fellow ice dancer and American Jew, Ben Agosto, off the medal podium. Agosto and his partner, Tanith Belbin, finished fourth. The pair won a silver medal at the 2006 games.


2010:Ethan Bronner wrote the following obituary describing the life of Holocaust scholar David Bankier. “David Bankier, who helped expand the contours of Holocaust research by examining the participation of ordinary Europeans in the extermination of their Jewish neighbors, died over the weekend after a long illness, Yad Vashem, the Jerusalem Holocaust center, announced. He was 63.  Mr. Bankier, who was head of the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem, focused his scholarly work on anti-Semitism, especially its use by the Nazis to promote and sustain a broader ideology. He was the author of “Germans and the Final Solution: Public Opinion Under Nazism” as well as a collection of essays, “Hitler, the Holocaust and German Society: Cooperation and Awareness.”  Born in Germany just before the state of Israel was created, Mr. Bankier grew up and was educated here, earning his doctorate in Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He held a professorship at Hebrew University and had served as a visiting professor in Britain, the United States, South Africa and South America. He spoke excellent English and Spanish, in addition to German and Hebrew. A rumpled, somber man who sought to understand the most bewildering aspects of genocide — how someone could play soccer with an acquaintance one day and assist in his murder the next — Mr. Bankier insisted both on the uniqueness of the Nazi Holocaust of six million Jews and on its applicability to other cases of mass murder. For anti-Semites, ‘Jews represent mysterious, mythic and evil forces,” he said at a recent lecture, “an omnipotence playing a sinister role in world history.’ At another lecture he noted that for Hitler, “Nazism was a doctrine of world salvation to redeem humanity from the Jewish-Christian-Marxist doctrine. The acquisition and maintenance of total suppression of the German race, Hitler believed, must be through total war of Germans against the Jews.” At the same time, Mr. Bankier said last year in an interview with The New York Times that the work he was overseeing at Yad Vashem on the role of bystanders and neighbors in numerous smaller mass killings across the former Soviet Union in the early 1940s had important implications for contemporary genocide in Africa and other places. He argued that the world was a different place as a result of what the Nazis had done, that if genocide in far-off places shocked average people today it was partly because of their knowledge of the details of the Holocaust. In other words, Holocaust deniers aside, Holocaust awareness was central to contemporary sensibility. Avner Shalev, chairman of Yad Vashem, said that with Mr. Bankier’s death, the world had lost one of its most important scholars in the field. He noted that Mr. Bankier, who had fought his illness over a long period, kept a regular schedule until his last day.”


2011:“Korach: The Biblical Anarchist” is scheduled to have its final performance tonight at the Living Theater on New York’s Lower East Side.


2011: Theodore Bikel and Jim Brochu are scheduled to do a concert reading of The Sunshine Boys by Neil Simon at a fundraiser for Theatre J in Washington, DC.


2011:A host of charities and social action organizations from across the Jewish world” are scheduled to meet at the Nalaga’at Theater in Jaffa ttoday “to discuss the future of their field and hear from a wide range of professionals who will guide them on improving their services.

 

2011: The New York Times featured a review of “Then Everything Changed: Stunning Alternate Histories of American Politics: JFK, RFK, Carter, Ford, Reagan” by Jewish author and political pundit Jeff Greenfield.


2011(24th of Adar I, 5771): Prolific writer, editor and popular radio broadcaster Netiva Ben Yehuda passed away in the early hours of this morning. She was 82. A feisty personality, for whom diplomacy was a word more than it was a trait, Ben Yehuda spent a great deal of her time correcting the mistaken impression that she was related to Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the father of the modern Hebrew language. They were not related at all. Her father was Baruch Ben Yehuda, a maths teacher who became the first director-general of Israel's fledgling Ministry of Education. The spirited and multi-talented Netiva joined the Palmach and was trained as a demolitions and bomb disposal expert. She also accompanied convoys, commanded a sapper unit and trained new recruits. She fought in the War of Independence and in 1949 left the army to study at Bezalel. In addition to her talent as an artist, she was also a promising athlete whose main forte was discus throwing. She had been considered a possible candidate for an Israeli Olympic team, but her career as an athlete was stopped by a bullet in the arm, that caused her permanent injury. After completing her studies at Bezalel, she spent a long period in London, and later studied philosophy at the Hebrew University. Of the many books that she wrote, one of the best known is the World Dictionary of Hebrew Slang, which she co-authored with the charismatic iconoclast Dahn Ben Amotz. More recently, she wrote her Autobiography in Poem and Song. She was particularly fond of old Israeli folk songs and collected them obsessively. On her late night radio program, listeners in her own age group and older, would frequently sing snatches of songs that have by and large faded from public memory, and she would often join in the chorus. No-one called her Geveret Ben Yehuda. She was Netiva to one and all. Her wee small-hours program, "Netiva talks and listens," which she broadcast for 14 years on Israel Radio, had an enormous following, despite her raspy voice which was at all radiophonic. It was amazing how many people were willing to do without sleep in order to listen in and to occasionally phone in. The program almost always included songs written before the establishment of the state. They were part of her regular appointment with history and nostalgia. Three years ago, when the Israel Broadcasting Authority sought to introduce severe cutbacks, her program was designated among those to be sacrificed. There was such a public outcry of protest, that the IBA had to rethink its priorities and she was transferred to Reshet Gimmel. Jerusalemites often saw her as some kind of eccentric tourist attraction, and would come from all over the city to her favorite coffee shop in the capital's Hapalmach Street – where else? – to be photographed with her and exchange a few words. She held court in the coffee shop on an almost daily basis and conducted her own parliament there.


2011:The prosecuting attorney in the trial of Adolf Eichmann, retired Supreme Court justice Gabriel Bach, said today that a psychiatric evaluation conducted on the Nazi leader following his capture in 1960 suggested that the man responsible for the deaths of millions during the Holocaust had ambivalent sexual tendencies.That and other information about the case was revealed in a special conference held today at the Massuah Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Tel Yitzhak, marking the 50-year anniversary of the Eichmann trial. (As reported by the Jerusalem Post).


2011(24th of Adar I, 5771): Ninety-two year old Louis Sachwald, the former resident of Pikesville, MD who survived the Bataan Death March  and 42 months as a POW passed away today.  He was a member of Baltimore’s Beth-El Congreation.

2011(24thof Adar I, 5771): Seventy-five year old Harvey Dorfman who worked with many Major League Baseball stars and wrote books on sports psychology, including “The Mental Game of Baseball: A Guide to Peak Performance,” passed away today. (As reported by the Eulogizer)


2011: Actress Natalie Portman condemned Christian Dior chief designer John Galliano for anti-Semitic comments made at a bar in Paris, France which appeared on an online. “I am deeply shocked and disgusted by the video of John Galliano’s comments that surfaced today," Portman said in a statement. "In light of this video, and as an individual who is proud to be Jewish, I will not be associated with Mr. Galliano in any way." The Oscar winning actress is currently under an endorsement contract with Dior for its "Dior Cherie" fragrance.


2011: The United States Senate confirmed the nomination of Amy Totenberg to serve as Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia


2012: Ballet de Genève's stunning artists are scheduled to perform a work by Israeli born choreographer Emanuel Gat at the Joyce Theatre in New York City.


2012: Israeli trained clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein is scheduled to perform at Lincoln Center tonight. The program will include a work by American Jewish composer Aaron Copland.


2012: Megillat Ha-Manginot (The Scroll of Melodies) a musical celebrating Israel and its songs is scheduled to be performed at the Jerusalem Theatre on Rechov Marcus.


2012: Publication of “Faye Schulman – the Jewish Girl Who Fought the Nazis”


2012: Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch put down her gavel this morning, ending a 45-year legal career, and urged in her farewell remarks that it is crucial to maintain the independence of court. 

 

2012: The IDF said today that soldiers patrolling the border overnight spotted a group of people who had breached the frontier. It says the soldiers called on the people to stop, but the infiltrators opened fire, drawing return fire from the troops. The IDF said one man was shot and died of his wounds, and the others fled back to Egyptian territory. According to Israel Radio, it was the third infiltration attempt along the Sinai-Israel border since last week


2013: Jack Lew, an observant Orthodox Jew, was sworn as Secretary of the Treasury.


2013: It was announced today that Idina Menzel would make her return to the Broadway stage, starring as Elizabeth in the new musical “If/Then.”


2013: Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot “performed with violinist Itzhak Perlman at a Jewish Music concert at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn.”


2014: The exhibition, “Passages through the Fire: Jews and the Civil War,” comes to a close at the Jewish Museum of Maryland.


2014: In Bethesda, MD, Congregation Adat Shalom is scheduled to start a hosting a weekend devoted to exploring “The Enduring Legacy of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan.”


2014: Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor are scheduled to perform at Abrons Arts Center Playhouse.


2014: In Denver, CO, “45 Israeli and North American Jewish Artists are scheduled to show and sell their creations: under the auspices “Jewishcolorado.”

This Day, March 1, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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March 1

 
286: Roman Emperor Diocletian raises Maximian to the rank of Caesar. Diocletian was determined to restore greatness and stability to the Roman Empire.  He was far more concerned about the Christians whom he saw “as the sole cause of the dissolution of the Empire, on account of their persistent struggle against the Roman state religion and their zeal for conversion” than he was about the Jews.  When he attempted to unify the empire by ordering all of those under his reign to accept his divinity and “bring sacrifices to his cult,” Diocletian exempted the Jews.  The only negative note of import surrounding Diocletian and his Jewish subjects had to do with accusation that they had mocked him because of his early origins as a swineherd.  Judah III, the Patriarch, actually had to appear before the Emperor while he was in Tiberias to answer the charge.  Judah assured him that while some may of spoken disrespectfully of Diocletian the swineherd nobody had uttered any words of criticism against Diocletian, the emperor.  The explanation assuaged Diocletian but it has been used an example of the dangers of speaking L’shon Hara.

 
293: Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian appoint Constantius Chlorus and Galerius as Caesares, thus beginning the Tetrarchy.  This move on the part of Diocletian was part of an attempt to ensure a smooth transition of power after Diocletian resigned as Emperor.  The plan would fail and would result in 19 years of turmoil that would end only when Constantine took the throne. For the Jews, this would mean an end to great Yeshiva at Tiberias.  Those who could would flee to Caesarea where they would a haven at the yeshiva begun by Abbahu.

 
317: Crispus and Constantine II, sons of Roman Emperor Constantine I, and Licinius Iunior, son of Emperor Licinius, are made Caesares. Lucinius and Crispus would be killed, the latter by his father Emperor Constantine I.  Constantine II would continue the anti-Jewish policies of his father.  Among other things, he decreed that any Christians who converted to Judaism would forfeit their property to the state.


 
1105:Birthdate of Alfonso VII who in 1130, started a school in Toledo which begins to spread Hebrew and Arabic learning as well as ancient Greek knowledge through Western Europe

 
1274: Gregory X issued Turbato Code, a Papal Bull that forbade Christians from “embracing Judaism.”
 
1349 (Adar 10): Riots broke out in Worms (Germany). Many Jews fled to Heidelberg.  Others in desperation set fire to their homes or were murdered. An estimated 420 people died that day. Their property was seized by the town.


 
1655: The Magistrate of New Amsterdam wrote a ruling making an attempt to expel the Jews. It read, in part, "Resolved that the Jews, who came last year from the West Indies and now from the Fatherland, must prepare to depart forthwith." (“The Patroons of the West India Company decided, however, that the Jews owned most of the stock in that organization they would have to be left alone.”


 
1655: The Sheriff of New Amsterdam as plaintiff filed suit against the defendant Abram de la Sina, a Jew, for the crime of keeping his store open during the hour the church gave a sermon.


 
1565: Portuguese settlers founded the city of Rio de Janeiro. For the first two centuries of its existence, Jewish life in the city was hindered by the reality of the Portuguese laws against Judaism and the Inquisition.  “New Christians” played an active role in the city’s commercial and social life but records show that at least 300 of these New Christians were found guilty by the Inquisition of secretly practicing Judaism.  After Brazil gained its independence in 1822 and adopted a constitution in 1824 that allowed for religious toleration, more Jews began arriving in the city and played a more active role in its growth and prosperity.  Today, Rio has the second largest Jewish community in Brazil.


 
1670:  “A solemn proclamation was made in all public places that ‘for the glory of God’ all Jews should, on penalty of imprisonment and death, leave Vienna and Upper and Lower Austria before Corpus Christi Day, never to return. Hirz Koma and a physician named Leo Winkler, “made a last attempt to propitiate the emperor by offering him 100,000 florins and, in addition, 10,000 florins a year.”


 
1790: The Pennsylvania Packet featured an advertisement offering the skills of Abraham Cohen as Hebrew tutor


 
1803: Ohio is admitted as the 17th U.S. state. Under the terms of the Northwest Ordinance there was not to be any religious qualification for states formed in the region including Ohio. The first record of Jewish settlement in Ohio relates to the city of Cincinnati.  By 1824, there were enough Jews living in the “Queen City,” that the Jews formed a congregation called the Sons of Israel.  The twenty-four members of the congregation were not able to raise enough funds for a building until 1836.  Max Lilienthal and Isaac Mayer were the first two rabbis in the state.  By the time of the Civil War, the Jewish population was large enough that it sent almost 1,200 of its sons to fight in the Union cause.


 
1806(11thof Adar, 5566): Chaim Yosef David Azulai ben Isaac Zerachia passed away.  Born in Jerusalem in 1724, he was the great-great grandson of Abraham Azulai who was a noted student of the Talmud and Kabbalah, community leader and prolific author.


 
1810:Georgetown College was chartered in Washington, D.C., making it the first Roman Catholic institution of higher learning established in the United States.  Today Georgetown has approximately 1,600 Jewish students out of a student boy of 13,000 students.  The school offers approximately 35 Jewish Studies Courses.


 
1823: In New York, Solomon Henry Jackson published “The Jew,” an anti-missionary journal. This is thought to be the first Jewish publication to be published in the United States. Jackson is also known for translating and publishing the first Sephardic Siddur in America. He published an  English-Hebrew  version in 1826.


 
1843: The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of New York passed a resolution prohibiting the performing of ceremonies at funerals of persons intermarried with Christians.


 
1851: Noting the appearance of Jews in Utah, Lorenzo Brown wrote in his diary today that he had seen “some Hungarian Jews living in the ward--emigrants bound for the [California] mines...forced to leave their native land because of the revolution.”


 
1852: The New York Times reported that a funding raising ball has raised $1,034 which will be donated to "The Hebrew Hospital" in New York City.


 
1858: The New York Times reported that in February of this year, Lord John Russell's bill that would modify the oath of office so that Jews could serve in Parliament had been "debated and read for a second time" in the House of Commons. [This was in the days before the transatlantic cable.  Gaps between events and published reports are responsible for some of the inconsistencies in providing specific dates for events]


 
1858: Birthdate of German born philosopher and sociologist Georg Simmel. Simmel’s family was Jewish, but when his father died, Simmel’s Catholic guardian converted him to the Church of Rome. 


 
1860:Gang of Rogues Started on a Traveling Tour,” an article published today, reported that “Five Polish and Prussian Jews, who have long been known to the police authorities of” New York City “as expert pickpockets and daring burglars… started on a Western traveling tour” yesterday evening.  Information of their departure was given by two members of the gang, who have lately sundered relationship with their old associates.” According to these two, “the gang has for a long time gone by the name of the ‘Order of Vatabeds,’ a name till now kept private among the members.” Since it was impossible for the police to detain them in New York, “telegrams were sent to Albany, Buffalo and Dunkirk, stating the fact of their departure, and putting the public and Police on guard against their arrival. The names of the traveling troupe are Samuel Levy, alias "Old Levy"; Morris M. Goldstein, alias Goldever; L. Truebart; Michael Roberts, alias "Big Roberts," and Henry Wcyman. Most of them have served terms in foreign state prisons.” 


 
1860: A column entitled London Town Talk published today provides a gossipy and       negative view of William Ward’s elevation from Baron of Ward to Earl of Dudley. His elevation was attributed not to his virtue but to his wealth. According to the unnamed author the role of money should comes as no surprise since it was “Baron Rothschild’s millions” that made Lord John Russell an advocate of the bill to remove “Jewish disabilities” when it came to taking the oath to serve in Parliament. 
 
1861: The Purim Ball, the last of the three great events of New York’s Winter Social Season was held this evening.


 
1861: The first train of the Florida Railroad arrived in Cedar Key providing the first link between Florida’s Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico’s ports.  The railroad was the creation of David Levy Yulee, the first Jew to be elected to the United States Senate. Unfortunately for Yulee, the business success was short-lived due to the Civil War which began a month later.  Yulee supported secession and served in the Confederate Congress so you might say he was the architect of his own doom


 
1861: Birthdate of American author Henry Harland. A lawyer by trade he began his literary career by using the pen name Sidney Luska under which he wrote his first three novel’s  As It Was Written, Mrs. Peixadaand The Yoke of the Torah which were known as his “Jewish Trilogy.”


 
1861: The New York Times reported that The Knoxville (Tenn.) Whig gave “a first rate” description of a “Jew” named Mordecai who distinguished himself a few weeks” ago since by presenting $10,000 to the Governor of South Carolina. The Whig stated that “Mordecai who is a druggist, visited New-York, Philadelphia and Boston, just before he did this act, and represented to his creditors that he was insolvent, and settled with them by paying 50 cents on the dollar.”  [By this time, South Carolina had seceded from the Union so the money was going to support the Rebel government.]


 
1865: The Medal of Honor was issued to Private Benjamin Levy for bravery displaced during fightigat Glendale, VA in 1862.


 
1866(14th of Adar, 5626): Purim
 
1867: Nebraska becomes the 37th state to join the Union. The Jewish community in Nebraska pre-dates statehood. Services were conducted in Omaha in the 1860’s. The oldest congregation in the state, Temple Israel, was founded in 1871 along with a burial society.  The town of Lancaster was renamed Lincoln at this time and Lincoln became the state capital. Lincoln, Nebraska’s Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, also known as the South Street Temple was Lincoln’s first Jewish congregation. The Temple was founded in 1884, principally by German immigrants. The year 1884 must have been an auspicious one for Cornhusker Jews, since that is the same year in which the first synagogue building in the state was dedicated at Omaha.  It was the home of Congregation Israel now known as Temple Israel.


 
1870: J.K. Buchner published Di Yiddshe Zeitunge, the first Yiddish weekly to be published in the United States. The language itself was more of a German Yiddish than the eastern European variant of the patois.   The politics were conservative rather then socialist in direction.


 
1874: The first day of the annual Purim Reception at the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews in New York is scheduled to begin at eleven o’clock this morning.


 
1875: It was reported today that a Jewish furniture dealer named Beyfus has brought suit against a weekly London newspaper claiming that he and his son have been defamed as money-lenders by the publication.


 
1876: In Savannah, GA, the cornerstone is laid for the new home of Mikveh Israel.  The new structure was required because the congregation had outgrown the old building. 


 
1877: The Purim Association is sponsoring a Purim calico masked reception at Delmonico’s in New York City.  The association had originally planned on sponsoring a fancy dress ball but changed its plans because of the current economic problems.


 
1878: It was reported that George H. Hepworth is scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled “Our American Homes” at a meeting of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association at Lyric Hall later this week.


 
1879: In a modern case that is harkens back to the fifth commandment, in the Court of General Sessions, Judge Gildersleeve heard charges from seventy year old Fanny Salomon that she had been abandoned and refused support by her three sons – Alfred, Leopold and Felix.  The sons responded by contending that their mother was financially secure and was merely to parsimonious to pay for her own upkeep.


 
1880: It was reported today that Lee & Shepard is about to published “The Exodus of the Children of Israel” by Francis Underwood and Brugsch Bey that uses the latter’s research to provide that the Red Sea has been mistaken for the Sea of Reeds in the Exodus narrative.


 
1880: It was reported today that Ernest Renan, the French scholar who is an expert on ancient eastern civilizations and Semitic languages is scheduled to deliver a series of lectures in London.  Renan’s knowledge of Hebrew is such that he was the chair of Hebrew at the College de France, a position from which he was ousted because he challenged the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church.[Renan would eventually write a three volume history of Israel.]
 
1881: Twenty-three citizens of Salt Lake City met to form B’nai Israel. Under the direction of President Henry Siegel $2,600 was spent on a lot which would be the site of Utah’s first synagogue.(As reported by Jack Goodman)
 
1885(14thof Adar, 5645): Purim


 
1886: First organized Arab attack on a Jewish settlement in what would become Eretz Yisrael.  The attack was waged against Petak Tikvah, the first all Jewish village to be built in Palestine during modern times.  The early settlers had a difficult time of it facing not only Arab marauders but malaria as well.  The land on which the village was built was purchased by English Jew named Hayyim Amzalak who had moved to Palestine in 1830.  Money for draining the malarial swamps in the area was given by Baron Edmond de Rothschild.  Much of the labor was supplied by Russian Jewish immigrants.


 
1888: Rabbi Joseph Silverman begins serving as spiritual leader for Temple Emanu-El replacing the legendary Gustav Gottheil. Silverman is the first American born rabbi to serve a congregation in New York City.


 
1890: Birthdate of Theresa Ferber Bernstein the Krakow born American artist who settled in Manhattan in 1912 whose husband William Meyerowitz was a well-known artist in his own right.
http://nml.cuny.edu/theresabernstein/
http://forward.com/articles/189491/why-theresa-bernstein-was-the-jewish-artist-of-the/


1891(21stof Adar I, 5651): Sixty-seven year old Bernhard Sondheim passed away today in New York.  Born in Hesse Homburg, he and his family moved to Georgia when Sondheim was nine years old.  Eventually he settled in New York where he established a successful import business. He was a member of the 10thRegiment of the state militia and served as Vice President of the Hebrew Mutual Benefit Society, a position he held at the time of his death.


 
1891: With less than two months until the start of Passover, The Passover Relief Association, which provides matzoth and items to New York’s less fortunate Jews, finds itself with only $173.45 in its treasury.  Considering the fact that the association spent $675.24 and the fact that the population of needy Jews has greatly increased, the association is in need of donations which can be sent to its members including the chairman, Benjamin Saidel.

 
1891: Today the United States trustees of the fund created by the late Baron de Hirsch to provide for the needs of immigrants coming to America will draw the $2,400,000 set aside for this purpose from the banks in Paris.


 
1892: It was reported today that the next meeting of the Hebrew Technical Institute will take place at Temple Emanu-El


 
1892: Carl Wiser played the role of Shylock in the German version of “The Merchant of Venice” at New York’s Thalia  Theatre


 
1892:  As of this afternoon, 21 year old Joseph Seigler who worked in his father’s dry good store is the only new case of typhus reported today. 


 
1892: As New York City continued to deal with the latest outbreak of typhus fever, public health officials ordered all synagogues on the Lower East to be fumigated.


 
1893: “Jewish Women’s Achievements” published today outlined the plans for the presentation of papers to delivered at the upcoming Parliament of Religions “which is to be a feature” of the upcoming World’s Fair. The papers which will be prepared by some of New York’s leading Jewish ladies will highlight the unique contributions of such groups as the Woman’s Auxiliary of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum


 
1894: According to the testimony of Benny Weiss, Charles Krumm gave two ten dollar bills to  Ward Man Jeremiah Levy of the Eleventh Police Precinct “in pursuance of an arrangement with the policeman.” (Arrangement is a euphemism for bribe)


 
1894: Over the last six months (10/1/93 – 3/1/94), the United Hebrew Charities spent $103,102.40 providing aid to the needy as opposed to $46,498.22 “for the corresponding period of the preceding year.”


 
1895: The National Council of Women, an organization whose members included Jewish, Protestant and Catholic women, opened the penultimate session of its annual triennial meeting in Washington D.C.


 
1895: “Russians Arrested on Suspicion” published today relied on telegraphs from the Vienna correspondent of the Central News to described arrests made in Kiev and Odessa of those thought to be “engaged in revolutionary plots’ many of whom were Jews.


 
1896:  Theodor Herzl and Nathan Birnbaum meet for the first time. Nathan Birnbaum was born in Vienna, and lived there from.1864-1908, and again from 1914-21. In 1882, together with two other students in the University of Vienna, he founded “Kadimah,” the first organization of Jewish nationalist students in the West. In 1884, he published his first pamphlet, Die Assimilationsucht (“The Assimilation Disease/Mania”). He founded, published and edited Selbst-Emancipation!(“Self-Emancipation!”)  The periodical promoted “the idea of a Jewish renaissance and the resettlement of Palestine.” It incorporated and developed the ideas of Leon Pinsker. In 1890, Birnbaum coined the terms “Zionist” and “Zionism,” and, in 1892, “Political Zionism.” In 1893, he published a brochure entitled Die Nationale Wiedergeburtdes Juedischen Volkes in seinem Lande als Mittel zur Loesung der Judenfrage(“The National Rebirth of the Jewish People in its Homeland as a Means of Solving the Jewish Question”), in which he expounded ideas similar to those that Herzl was to promote subsequently. Birnbaum played a prominent part in the First Zionist Congress (1897) and was elected Secretary General of the Zionist Organization. However, he and Herzl developed ideological differences. Birnbaum had begun to question the political aims of Zionism and to attach increasing importance to the national-cultural content of Judaism. Birnbaum eventually left the Zionist movement and later became a leading spokesman for Jewish cultural autonomy in the Diaspora. He stressed the Yiddish language as the basis of Ashkenazi Jewish culture and was chief convenor of the Conference on Yiddish held in Czernowitz, Bukovina, in 1908. This was attended by leading Yiddish writers, and proclaimed Yiddish as a national Jewish language. Birnbaum propagated his ideas in writing and by lecturing in many Jewish communities. In the years preceding World War I he gradually abandoned his materialistic and secular outlook, eventually embracing full traditional Judaism. He may be seen as the forerunner of the modern Baal Teshuvah movement. His most famous book of this period was Gottesvolk (“God’s People”) first published in German and Yiddish in 1917 (translated into English in a shortened form by J. Elias in 1947 titled "Confession"). In 1919, he became the first Secretary General of the new Agudath Yisrael Organization. Dissatisfied with the spiritual complacency of the religious masses, he initiated a movement, the Order of the Olim (“[Spiritual] Ascenders”), to consist of small groups of people dedicated by their way of living to raising spiritual awareness within the larger Jewish society, thus leading toward a Jewish spiritual renaissance. Disturbed by the urbanized focus of Jewish life, he promoted the establishment of agricultural communities and other groups living a style of Jewish life more in conformity with nature. Settlement in Eretz Israel was to be for the prime purpose of fulfilling the spiritual role of the Jewish people. He lived in Berlin from 1912-1914, and again from 1921-1933. After the rise of Nazism, he left Germany for Scheveningen, Netherlands, where he edited Der Ruf("The Call"), a platform for his ideas. He died there in 1937.


 
1896: “Gifts on Purim” published today based on information that first appeared in The American Hebrew described the near disappearance of “the custom of sending gifts on Purim to friends” a custom, “that can easily be restored.”


 
1896: “The Mexican Inquisition” published today described the publication of two papers by the American Jewish Historical Society – “Trials of  Jorge de Alemdia by the Inquisition in Mexico” by Dr. Cyrus Adler and Jewish Martyrs of the Inquisition in South America” by George Alexander Kohut – which provide a hitherto untold story of the  early Jews living in Latin America.


 
1897:”Old Bibles In A New Home” published today “rich and curious library of the American Bible Society” which includes “an ancient Hebrew roll found in a synagogue in the interior of China” that “is supposed to date back to the year 900 and is supposed to have been used for centuries.”


 
1897: It was reported today that the Yale Divinity Students who visited New York last week learned about “the magnitude of the problems confronting charitable organizations” including the United Hebrew Charities whose director N.S. Rosenau told them “We have been faced since with an unprecedented rush of immigration” since 1890 because the Russian have driven 400,000 people to the United States.


 
1898: “Get-Together Clubs Meet” published today included a summary of a speech, “The United Hebrew Charities and the Unemployed” by N.S. Rosenau in which the director described “the problem of Jewish labor in New York saying that their natural limits of ability had kept them out of the work of the day laborer” and had “sent them into the garment trades” where “the Italians were already displacing them.”


 
1898: “Hope For Zionist Union” published today described efforts two unify the religious and secular supporters of the Zionist which, if successful will strengthen the movement designed to buy land for Jewish settlement in the Ottoman Empire.  Representative of 26 different Jewish organizations including Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, Adam Rosenberg, E.D. Eisenstein and Dr. Moses Mintz are working on the effort led by Columbia Professor Richard Gottheil.


 
1900: In France, a bill calling for amnesty of all matters related with the Dreyfus Affair is introduced by   the Senate


 
1903: In an article entitled “Light on the Jewish Question in Romania,” the New York Times summarizes an article that first appeared in The Romanian Bulletin that defends King Charles (a.k.a. Carlos I) against accusations that he is the prime mover in the persecution of his Hebrew subjects.  The article depicts him as being sympathetic to their plight, but as constitutional monarch, all but powerless to defend the Jews against “unscrupulous ministers” who do not share his enlightened views of Romanian Hebrews.  


 
1904: Israel Schochat, founder of Ha-shomer arrived in Palestine.

1911: Birthdate of chess grandmaster Harry Golombek



1914: Birthdate of Aaron Ruben the Chicago native who gain fame as a producer, writer and director for some of the most popular television comedies of the 1960s and ’70s, notably “The Andy Griffith Show,” “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.” and “Sanford and Son


 

 1917: The U.S. government released the plaintext of the Zimmermann Telegram to the public.  Barbara Tuchman, the noted Jewish historian, wrote The Zimmerman Telegram a fascinating volume covering this little known event which had a major impact on America’s decision to enter World War I on the side of the Allies.


 
1919: Emir Feisal, the son of Emir Hussein, Grand Sharif of Mecca and the leader of the Arabs of Hejaz sent a letter to Felix Frankfurter.  According to Martin Gilbert he wrote, “We Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement.  We will wish the Jews a most hearty welcome home.”  “I hope the Arabs may soon be in a position to make the Jews some return for their kindness.  We are working together for a reformed and derived Near East, and our two movements complete one another.  The Jewish movement is notional and not imperialist: our movement is national and not imperialist, and there is room in Syria for both.  Indeed I think that neither can be a real success with the other.  I look forward, and the people with me look forward to a future in which we will help you and you will help us, so that the countries in which we are mutually interested may once against take their place in the comity of the civilized peoples of the world.” 


 
1920(11th of Adar, 5680): Tel Hai, a Jewish village in the Galilee is attacked by Arabs. Joseph Trumpeldor, the one-armed Jewish military leader and one of the Zionist movement’s first military heroes was killed in the ensuing battled along with five men under his command. “Trumpeldor was born in 1880 in Russia. Originally in training as a dentist, he volunteered for the Russian army in 1902. During the Russo-Japanese War he participated in the siege of Port Arthur, where he lost his left arm and was captured. Subsequently, he received four decorations for bravery, which made him the most decorated Jewish soldier in Russia. In 1906 he became the first Jew in the army to receive an officer's commission. In 1911 he emigrated to Palestine then under the Ottoman Turks, living for a time at kibbutz Deganya. When World War I broke out, he went to Egypt, where together with Vladimir Jabotinsky he developed the idea of the Jewish legion to fight with the British against common enemies and as a result, the Zion Mule Corps was formed in 1917, considered to be the first all-Jewish military unit organized in close to two thousand years, and the ideological beginning of the Israel Defense Forces. He saw action in Gallipoli, where he was wounded in the shoulder. Upon his return to Russia in 1918, he established the He-Halutz, a youth organization that prepared immigrants for aliyah (moving to Palestine), and returned to Palestine himself, then under the British Mandate. He was one of the founders of the Zionist Socialist movement in pre-state Israel.. After his death Trumpeldor became the symbol of Jewish "self-defence", and his memorial day on the 11th day of Adar is officially noted in Israel every year. Supposedly, his last words were, "Never mind, it is good to die for our country". There is no proof whether this is true.”


 
1921: The Political committee of the Zionist Organization met in London to discuss Churchill’s forthcoming visit to Palestine.


 
1921: Margery Merlyn Baillieu and Sidney Myer, the founder of Myer (Australia’s largest department store chain) gave birth to the first child, Ken.  But since Myer had converted a year earlier and Baillieu was not Jewish, Ken would not be carrying on the “faith of his fathers.”


 
1922: John Schuburgh a member of the Middle East Department (of the British Government) sent a visiting Arab delegation a letter reiterating British support for the Balfour Declaration and the establishment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine. 


 
1922:  Birthdate of Yitzhak Rabin (יצחק רבין). A Sabra, Rabin was a soldier-statesman who served as Prime Minister from 1974 until 1977.  The scandal which drove him from office would open the way for the Right-Wing Likud to take power for the first time since the founding of the Jewish State.  Rabin would return as Prime Minister in 1992.  He would win the Nobel Peace Prize for his groundbreaking attempts to end the violence in the Middle East.  Sadly, the man who had avoided death at the hands of Israel’s Arab enemies, met death at the hands of a Jewish fanatic bent on derailing the Peace Process.  Would events been different had Rabin lived?  We will never know.  Just as a killer at Dallas had thwarted the American electoral process, so a killer thwarted the democratic process in Israel in 1995.


 
1926: Birthdate of Robert Clary.  The French born actor gained fame playing the part of LeBeau on “Hogan’s Heroes.”  The irony is that Clary was the only one of his immediate family members to survive imprisonment by the Nazis during World War II.


 
1928: Joseph Levy, writing in the New York Times described the ceremonies that marked “the recent inauguration of the plantation of the Balfour Forest at Ginegar, in the Valley of Jezreel, Palestine.” As part of the ceremony, Sir Alfred Mond delivered an address in which he “paid high tribute to Lord Plumer, the High Commissioner, for the devotion he has shown during his tenure in office and to the Jewish national fund. The entire cost of the Balfour Forest is being borne by the Jews of Great Britain.  The project is part of the Zionist led reforestation project that is vital to the renewal of Palestine.


 
1931: The White House released President Herbert Hoover’s congratulatory message expressing his congratulations to Baith Israel Anshei Emes on the celebration of the 75thanniversary of its founding.


 
1932: On a radio broadcast on the day of Cardozo's confirmation, Clarence C. Dill, Democratic Senator for Washington, called Hoover's appointment of Cardozo "the finest act of his career as President"


 
1932: The Maccabee Association of the United States announced the members of the swimming and track and field teams that will be sent to compete in the Jewish Olympic Games that will take place at the end of March.  The selection committee was chaired by Sol Goodstein.


 
1934(14thof Adar, 5694): Purim


 
1934: As of this date, according to a report prepared by Morris Rothenberg, President of the ZOA, there are a quarter of a million Jews living in Palestine which marks a significant increase from the total of 85,000 Jews living there in 1921.



1935:  Birthdate of Judith Rossner, author of Looking for Mr. Goodbar.


 
1936: Birthdate of Richmond, VA native Shirley Bernice Politzer who would gain fame as “Dr.Shirley P. Glass, a psychologist who strove to redefine the nature of infidelity” and the mother of Ira Glass, producer of “This American Life.”


 
1937: Winston Churchill retains Hungarian born Jew Emery Reves as his literary agent which would prove a boon to Churchill’s literary career and pocketbook.


 
1941: Prime Minister Winston Churchill writes to Colonial Secretary Lord Moyne expressing his displeasure with General Wavell who, “like most British officers is pro-Arab” and opposed to the Jews.  This attitude extends to an unwillingness on the part of the British military to form additional Jewish military units to fight in the Imperial Army.


 
1941:  Himmler inspected the Auschwitz concentration camp


 
1941: Bulgaria officially joins the Axis Powers - Germany, Italy and Japan

1942: On Purim Eve, the Germans ordered 5,000 Jews deported from Minsk.


 
1943: In Jerusalem, Aliza and Menachem Begin gave birth to Benny Begin who earned a doctorate in Geology from Colorado State University before following his father into the world of Israeli politics.


 
1943: In Amsterdam, a Jewish old age home for the disabled was raided.


 
1943:  In a speech given before a crowd of 70,000 people at Madison Square Garden, Chaim Weizmann states, “Two million Jews have already been exterminated.  The world can no longer plead that the ghastly facts are unknown or unconfirmed. This rally had been planned by the American Jewish Congress in an attempt to mobilize American public opinion in support of efforts to rescue Jews trapped in Hitler’s Europe.


 
1945: During the “Hunting Season” the British expressed their concerns that the Jewish Agency was interested in more than just going after terrorists when the High Commissioner to the Minster of Colonies wrote today that Unfortunately, the Jewish Agency's lists of so-called terrorists continues to include numerous people who have no terror connections, but politically speaking are undesirable to the Jewish Agency. This adds to the difficulties the police has in separating the sheep from the goats…”


 
1947: Jews responded violently to British Foreign Minister Bevin’s latest pronouncements about Palestine by conducting multiple attacks that resulted in the death of at least sixteen British military personnel.



1947: David Remez, Chairman of The Jewish National Council, announced tonight that the “Jewish population of Palestine will observe a self-imposed curfew for four hours” tomorrow night to express their concern for the refugees from Europe recently seized by the British.

1948: This month Henry and Phoebe Ephron gave birth to author Hallie Ephron one of four sisters all of whom are talented authors.


1950: It was revealed today that in the non-aggression pact being considered by Israel and Jordan included a promise that Haifa would become a free-port for Jordan thus giving the Arab state access to the Mediterranean.



1960(2ndof Adar): Hundreds of Jews, including some students of the local Chabad Yeshivah, were among the thousands of victims to perish in a devastating earthquake that struck Agadir, Morocco today



1969: Joseph Vogel the MGM executive who served as its President from 1956 to 1963 during which the studio produced the classic “North by Northwest” passed away.



 

1972: Naomi Bronheim Levine was appointed Executive Director of the American Jewish Congress (A. J. Cong.), becoming the first woman to take the helm of a major American Jewish organization that included both men and women as members. Born in New York on April 15, 1923, Levine was educated at Hunter College and Columbia University and worked as a lawyer before joining the A. J. Cong.),  in 1951. She would remain there for more than two decades. Levine began her work at the Congress as a lawyer for its Commission on Law and Social Action; from that position, Levine went on to become director of the A. J. Cong.),  Women's Division. These positions foreshadowed her involvement with civil rights and women's issues as executive director of the organization. Although she was considered a pioneer for women, Levine saw herself as caught somewhere between an older ideal of domesticity and a newer feminism. She told the New York Times that "women's lib is probably correct, but it's not my style." Although a Times profile published when Levine was appointed to the top post at the A. J. Cong.),  focused on her devotion to the traditional roles of wife and mother even as she built a path-breaking career, Levine had long been committed to progressive women's issues. From 1955 to 1971, she had owned and operated Camp Greylock, an all-girls summer camp that was later credited with contributing to the professional success of many of its alumnae. Levine stepped down from her post at the American Jewish Congress in 1978, when she was appointed head of public relations, government relations, and fundraising at New York University. She stayed at NYU for over two decades, eventually becoming senior vice president for external affairs and raising over $2 billion. Her fundraising success allowed the University to transform itself from a local commuter school to a strong university with a national presence. During her tenure at NYU, Levine created the Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising and the Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life. After retiring in 2000, Levine continued to chair the boards of both of these organizations. Upon her retirement, NYU President L. Jay Oliva called Levine "quite simply a spectacular human being."

 


1972(15thof Adar, 5732): Shushan Purim



1972(15thof Adar, 5732): Sixty- three year old Moshe Sneh passed away


http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0018_0_18758.html



1978:  Charlie Chaplin's coffin was stolen from a Swiss cemetery.



1985: Milwaukee businessman Herb Kohl purchased the Milwaukee Bucks.  Kohl would go on to become one of Wisconsin’s two Jewish senators.



1987:  In an article entitled “An Israeli Lawyer Dares Defend an Accused Nazi,” Francis X. Clines describes the challenges and criticism facing  Yoram Sheftel, the Tel Aviv criminal lawyer serving as co-counsel in the defense of  John Demjanjuk, the retired auto worker from the United States who is accused of being the infamous executioner of the Treblinka death camp.



1988(12th of Adar, 5748):  Joe Besser one of the Three Stooges passed away.


1991(15th of Adar, 5751): Edwin H Land inventor of the Polaroid Camera passed away at the age of 81.



1991: Following the end of the Iraq War,Lufthansa plans to resume service to Tel Aviv today.


 

1993: In the following article entitled “Doubts Mar PBS Film of Black Army Unit,” Richard Bernstein describes the controversy surrounding a movie that is supposed to be a documentary about the 761st Tank Battalion’s role in the liberation of Jews held in concentration camps at the end of World War II.  The tank battalion was an all-black unit and the film was supposed to be a tool to rejuvenate the alliance between Jews and African-American.

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/01/nyregion/doubts-mar-pbs-film-of-black-army-unit.html?pagewanted=print&src=pm



 


 

1993: Publication of E. M. Broner's The Telling: The Story of a Group of Jewish Women Who Journey to Spirituality Through Community and Ceremony



1993(8th of Adar, 5753): “Two civilians in their twenties, Natan Azaria and Gregory Avramov, were stabbed to death in Tel Aviv by Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.


1994: Ari Halberstam, a 16-year-old yeshiva student, was returning from a vigil for Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. While pulling onto the exit ramp for the Brooklyn Bridge, Halberstam’s vehicle was shot at by Rashid Baz, a Lebanese immigrant. He died five days later. (As reported by Seth Berkman)



1994: Publication of Gun, with Occasional Music, a novel by Jonathan Lethem.



1995: Publication of the paperback edition of Gun, with Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem.



1998: The New York Timesfeatured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or special interest to Jewish readers including recently released paperback editions of Unto the Soulby Aharon Appelfeld in which “Gadand Amalia, brother and sister, have been given the sacred duty of tending an ancient cemetery of Jewish martyrs near their village in turn-of-the-century Eastern Europe and Isaiah Berlin John Gray’s study of the 20th century's premier Renaissance man that focuses on his liberalism, which was complex in that it acknowledged no one right path for human society.


2005: Completion of the Eleventh Daf Yomi Cycle begun in September, 1997.  The next cycle begins on Wednesday, March 2, 2005.



2005: Penultimate broadcast of “Boston Public” co-starring Fyvush Finkel as “Harvey Lipschultz.”



 

2006:  On the secular calendar Rosh Chodesh Adar, first day of the month of Adar.


2006: London Mayor Ken Livingstone began serving his four week suspension from office after being found guilty of bringing his office into disrepute by comparing a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard.



2007: Fast of Esther observed on 11th of Adar since the 13thof Adar falls on Shabbat.


2007(11th of Adar, 5767): Meyer “Mike” Feldman, a White House advisor for President Kennedy, passed away at the age of 92.


 

2007: Celebration of the birthday of Muriel Rogers, doyen of the Cedar Rapids Jewish Community


2008: The Jerusalem Cinematheque presents The Path Of Our Fathers \ בדרכי אבות This is “an extraordinary and at times surrealistic road movie about a charismatic man named Menahem Goldberg. On the eve of Passover, Menahem took his donkey and two sons, one 12 years old and the second 8 years old, and set out to fulfill the mitzvah of going up to Jerusalem. The 170 km, 9-day trip by foot from their home in the north to the Western Wall, took them through the biblical landscapes of Judea and Samaria and brought them into contact with the present-day Israeli and Palestinian realities there.”


2008: Beth Hillel Congregation in Wilmette, Illinois, presents a screening of the Argentinean film Legadoa documentary about the arrival of the first Russian Jews in 19thcentury Argentina. “In August 1889, the steamship Wesser docked in Argentina with the first group of Jewish escapees from the pogroms of Czarist Russia. After first finding work in order to survive first and to progress later, they grouped themselves in colonies, distributed in different provinces - Entre Ríos, Santa Fe, La Pampa, Santiago del Estero and Buenos Aires -, most of them thanks to the initiative of baron Mauricio de Hirsch who facilitated around one hundred hectares to each group.This, the first Jewish agricultural colonization gave birth to a new way of life that, beyond the questions related to the traditions and faith (or indeed by them), would leave a remarkable imprint on the country of Argentina. The film's Yiddish narrator is Esther, one of the many women who arrived in those very small boats and participated in the foundation of Moisésville, known as "the mother of all the colonies". Her account spans eighty years.”



2008(24th of Adar I, 5768): St. Sgt. Doron Asulin, 20 of Beersheba and St. Sgt. Eran Dan-Gur, 20, of Jerusalem, were killed early Saturday as their Givati Brigade units operated against terrorists.  Asulin served in the brigade’s anti-tank company and Dan-Gur served in the Shaked Battalion.


2008:On the second day of Operation Hot Winter which was aimed at disrupting terrorist infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces “carried out airstrikes at ammo warehouses, rocket factories, rocket warehouses and launching cells, combined with small incursions close to the border. Despite the IAF presence in the whole Gaza Strip and the IDF presence in the border areas, the Palestinian militants managed to fire more than 200 rockets during the operation, most of them at Sderot, but at least 20 at Ashkelon and 1 at Netivot.”



2009: Jonathan Schanzer, director of policy at the Jewish Policy Center discusses and signs copies of Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle For Palestine at Politics and Prose Bookstore in


Washington, D.C.



 

2009: The 120th annual Central Conference American Rabbis being held in Jerusalem comes to an end.

 

 

2009: The annual Koach Kallah comes to an end.



 

2009: The New York Timesfeatured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The House of Wittgenstein: A Family at War by Alexander Waugh, A Mad Desire to Dance by Elie Wiesel and recently released paperback editions of The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal,by Lily Koppel and Swimming in a Sea of Death:A Son’s Memoir, by David Rieff.


2009: The Washington Postfeatured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Future of Liberalism by Alan Wolfe



2009:Effective today the Glendale Uptown Home will become a nonkosher facility, leaving Philadelphia proper without a certified glatt-kosher nursing home. While the facility has not technically been a Jewish home since it was sold in 2006, a large number of its residents are Jewish, and it has long been associated with Philadelphia's Jewish community. Executive director Ed Harding recently mailed a letter to residents' families announcing the change and the switch to "kosher-style" dining, meaning the use of traditional Jewish foods. While rising kosher-meat prices may have contributed to the decision, money was far from the only consideration, said Harding.  "Cost is always a factor, and in these hard economic times, cost is even more of a factor," he said. "A number of our residents, however -- the majority, including the Jewish residents -- are pleased with this movement. Most of them have not remained kosher their entire lives. Those families or residents who wish to remain kosher will receive the kosher meals from our supplier." For those who want them, kosher meals will be available through an arrangement with Meal Mart, a New York vendor specializing in premade kosher foods. The cost for these meals, according to Harding, is "a little over $10 a day. That's our retail cost, which if you were to get a kosher meal of this quality in a restaurant, you may be spending $15 for it." Residents who keep kosher will not be charged any additional fees, explained Harding, as the expense is considered part of residents' room and board. Many nursing homes offer frozen kosher meals for residents who request them, though the quality often varies, according to those who eat them. Formerly known as the Golden Slipper Health and Rehab Center, the building was sold in late 2006 to a firm specializing in long-term care. While the owners are Jewish, the facility dropped its religious identification upon the sale. More than 200 seniors currently live at the Glendale Uptown Home, about 70 percent of whom are estimated to be Jewish. Among those affected by the switch will be Rabbi Abraham Novitsky -- or, more specifically, his wife, who is a resident at Glendale. The rabbi resides in Northeast Philadelphia. Novitsky said that he attempted to convince the home's management to postpone the switch until after Passover, but he was unsuccessful. The home has "done an outstanding service to the community throughout the years," said Novitsky. "But this is a Jewish institution in the city, and now there's no glatt-kosher home." The Philadelphia area does still offer other kosher options for the Jewish elderly, including at Martins Run Senior Residential Community in Media and at the Madlyn and Leonard Abramson Center for Jewish Life in Horsham. Both keep kosher, but lie beyond city limits. Moreover, these residences often carry high price tags or long waiting lists. The Glendale Uptown Home is "an institution that's been kosher for many decades -- part of its identification as a Jewish home dealt with it being kosher," said Rabbi Isaac Leizerowski, who currently oversees kashrut at the facility. "The Golden Slipper Club understood that and understood it well, and despite financial hardships, decided that that was something they would not compromise on. They understood that was a linchpin in Jewish identity." When the Golden Slipper was sold in 2006, there was no stipulation that the home would remain kosher, though "the hope was that they were going to maintain it as [such]," said Norman Zarwin, the attorney who headed the committee for the sale.



"I don't know what percentage of the residents keep kosher," admitted Rabbi Fred Davidow, the home's on-site Jewish leader. "I know that of the 220-odd residents we have here, approximately 165 are Jewish, but I don't know the percentage of those who would be insistent that we have kosher food." Harding said that a "handful" of residents have requested the kosher meals, amounting to only five or six so far. Davidow is a full-time staffer at the facility, acting as chaplain and holding regular services. In addition to a rabbi on site, Jewish-themed art adorns the lobby, and a glassed-in space houses electric yahrzeit candles. Davidow said that despite the change in dietary policy, he still plans to hold two Passover seders and do the same programming he's done in past years. In a similar vein, Harding said that residents who wish to keep kosher for Passover will have access to kosher meals, but for others, food will be kosher-style. "We know that kosher-style is not an acceptable change for kosher," said Leizerowski. "They are not synonymous; people can say they'll serve kosher-style, but we know that kosher-style will not be kosher." Novitsky, formerly Philadelphia's representative for the Orthodox Union, pointed out that, by law, food is either kosher or not. Rachael Friedman, whose husband is a resident, said that she and her husband try to keep kosher. "Maybe I'll try to bring things from home," she said. Yet for many, the point was different -- better to lose kosher dining, they said, than to skimp on other elements of elder care. "We like the Jewish-style, but it doesn't have to be glatt kosher," said the wife of a resident, who didn't want her name used. "I felt that, if it's kosher, it's a better quality of food, and it's prepared different," said Elias Beil, whose wife is a resident. "It isn't up to us. The facility must be strapped for money; there's a big difference of kosher meat and nonkosher meat in price, and the company wants to make money." Kosher or not, the bottom line was simple for Beil: "I'm glad she's being taken care of."



2009: A revival of Rogers and Hart’s Pal Joey presented by the Roundabout Theatre Company .had its last performance 



2010 (15th of Adar, 5770): Shushan Purim


 


2010:In a talk at Harvard University on "Identity, Diversity, and Human Rights," Canada Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella shared her family's Holocaust story and explained how it informs her view of human rights. (As reported by Jewish Women’s Archives)


 


2010: “The 48 Ways to Wisdom,” a program cosponsored by The Jewish Renaissance is scheduled for this evening at Keter Torah Synagogue this evening in West Bloomfield, Michigan.


 


2010:In Jerusalem, The Kingdom of Alrov Mamilla Avenue is scheduled to celebrate Shushan Purim at its annual Purim carnival which will include a colorful parade with characters from the Megilla, clowns and jugglers, circus performances, circus workshops, magnet games, and whole lot more. 


 


2010:Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel was released from a German prison today after serving a five-year sentence.

2011: Israel LTD, film that records “a group of young Americans on their intensive bus journey across a strong and righteous Israel” is scheduled to be shown at the JCC in Manhattan.



2011:Today Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh accused Israel of financing and plotting the protests in his country and other Arab states. "The wave of political unrest sweeping across the Arab world is a conspiracy that serves Israel and the Zionists," Saleh said while delivering a speech at Sanaa University. .


 


2011:In reaction to clashes that took place a day earlier in the Gilad Farm outpost in Samaria, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said today that "We cannot let citizens take the law into their hands.""These disturbances damage the rule of law in the country," Barak said during a tour of the Givati Brigade's training in the Negev. "They are not representative of the people, they are actions carried out by small groups whose behavior is inappropriate and we will continue to deal the problem," the defense minister said. Barak went on to say that "there was provocation, use of force and resistance to orders of people sent by the state."

 

2011: Amy Totenberg assumed office as the Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia which includes Atlanta, GA.



2011: In an “Anti-Semtism Double Header”Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan said Jews and Zionists are "trying to push the US into war" and are a cover for Satan, at the group's annual meeting near Chicago today while a report published by a British magazine today said the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, suggested that British journalists, including the editor of The Guardian, were engaged in a Jewish-led conspiracy to smear his organization.


2011(25th of Adar I, 5771):Marilyn Henry, a journalist and lecturer, died of cancer today four days short of her 58th birthday. She lived in Teaneck, NJ with her husband, Rabbi Shammai Engelmayer


2011(25th of Adar): On the Yahrzeit of those who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire (March 25), Rabbi Shmuel Plafker led a memorial survey at the Hebrew Free Burial Association cemetery on Staten Island where 22 of the victims are buried (As reported by Joseph Berger)


2011:The postal services of Liberia, Gambia and Sierra Leone will simultaneously issue a set of three commemorative postal sheets today in memory of 12 Jews – men and women – who fought Apartheid and racism in Africa.

2011: On the 70th anniversary of the signing of the pact uniting Bulgaria with Germany as Axis partners The Sephardic Temple in Cedarhurst, New York is hosting a public meeting as part of a campaign to convince “the government of Bulgaria to reveal the truth over its interaction with the Jews during the Holocaust.”


2011: A Merkava MK IV stationed near the Gaza border, equipped with the Trophy active protection system, successfully foiled a missile attack aimed towards it and became the first operational success of the system


2011: It was announced today that Frank Rich would be leaving the New York Times for New York magazine. The Times'loss is New York's gain, although the real losers are those of us will miss Mr. Rich's witty and literate commentaries.


2012: “Jewish Soldiers in Blue and Gray” is scheduled to be shown at the Charleston Film Festival in Charleston, SC


2012: “Tijuana Jews” is scheduled to be shown at Congregation Etz Chaim in Toledo, Ohio.


2012: Miriam Gilbert is scheduled to deliver a lecture Shakespeare and ‘the likeness of a Jew’ Shylock, Fagin and Disraeli” will take place at the Iowa City Public Library


2012: YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is scheduled to present: “Anti-Jewish Violence in Eastern Europe” an evening based on a book of the same name that “and Israel that investigates the phenomenon of anti-Jewish violence, the local and transnational responses to pogroms, and instances where violence was averted.”


2012:Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein today ordered the police to open a criminal investigation into illegal building in the West Bank Shiloh settlement. Notification of the investigation was given to the High Court of Justice, which in November asked the state to decide if it planned to hold such a investigation.


2012:Former Shas Minister Shlomo Benizri, who was released from the Maasiyahu Prison this morning, said Israel was the most anti-Semitic country in the world due to what he referred to as its "incitement campaign against the haredi community."


2013: In Ashburn, VA Beth Chaverim is scheduled to join hundreds of congregations throughout the United States in “Shabbat Across America!” that will include a screening and discussion of “Advice and Dissent” starring Eli Wallach.


2013:As sequestration goes into effect today, Israeli defense planners are bracing for a potentially dramatic cut in US assistance that may slash as much as $300 million in aid over the next seven months. (As reported by Haviv Rettig Gur)


2013(19thof Adar, 5773): Sixty-nine year old actress Bonnie Franklin passed away. (As reported by Douglas Martin


2013: Some 20,000 runners took part this morning in the Jerusalem marathon, which was won by Abraham Kabeto Katale of Ethiopia. His final time of 2:16:29 was a record for the course.
 
2013:Secretary of State John Kerry said today that Turkey’s prime minister had made “objectionable” remarks when he cast Zionism as a crime against humanity in comments earlier this week.


2014: In London, JW3 in partnership with the UK Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to present “Oscars Warm-Up Night” including a screening of “Searching For Sugar Man.”


2014: “A Prayer for Aliyah” and “The Jewish Cardinal” are scheduled to be shown at the 24th Washington Jewish Film Festival.”


2014: Observance of Tel Hai Day in honor of the memory of Joseph Trumpeldor


2014: Professor David Shneer is scheduled to host a seminar on “Post Holocaust American Judaism” in Boulder, CO.


2014(29thof Adar I, 5774: Shabbat Shekalim
 
2014: At Tiftereth Israel in Columbus, Ohio, Rachel Levin will join her classmates in the First Grade Consecration Service.


2014: Twentieth anniversary of the mortal wounding of 16 year old yeshiva student Ari Halberstram who was shot by Rashid Baz, an immigrant from Lebanon.


This Day, March 2, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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March 2



117(12th of Adar, 3877):  As the rebellion by Disapora Jews against the Roman Empire of Trajan came to an unsuccessful close, two Jewish brothers who had been leaders in the revolt, Pappus and Julianus were executed at Laodicea in Syria.  Trajan did not get to savor his victory since he died in 117.  Unfortunately for the Jews he was followed by Hadrian who was even crueler than his predecessor.  


986: Louis V becomes King of the Franks. Louis was the last of the Carolingian, a dynasty under whom the Jews had done rather well, all things considered.  Charlemagne was the most famous of the Carolingian rulers and he supported his Jewish subjects despite opposition from church leaders. Louis le Débonnaire who reigned from 814 to 833 was another of the Carolingians who gave special protection to his Jewish subjects. During the reign of Carolingians the Jews were active in commerce, medicine and agriculture, especially in the field of viticulture a fact of which we are reminded when we study about Rashi.  The change in dynasties would not have an immediate effect on the Jews living in France.  Life for them would not really change until the first crusade in 1096.


1127: Charles, the Good, Count of Flanders was murdered while praying in the church of St. Donat at Bruges. This came two years after Charles had expelled the Jews from Ghent because he blamed them for the famine that consumed his realm in 1125.



1349: In Erfurt, the capital of the German state of Thuringia, 1,000 Jews were killed in a single day of violence in a pogrom brought on by hysteria surrounding The Black Death which struck Europe in 1340.  During this outbreak of what was probably bubonic plagues millions died in Europe removing approximately one third of the continent’s population. “Modern research has revealed that the plague was probably carried by boat from an Asian source, but at the time the affected communities had no idea why and how such a terrible affliction had come upon them so suddenly. In seeking an explanation, they needed a scapegoat and lighted upon the Jews living in their midst. In many villages, towns and cities, Jews were accused of causing the sickness by poisoning drinking water in wells and fountains.”  [Editor’s note: for those tracking sweeping patterns of history, note that blaming Jews is not different or rational today than it was in what was supposedly the unenlightened Dark Ages.


1382: The Mailotin Riots began in Paris. These riots were similar to the tax riots held two years previously. Both times the Jews were considered accomplices in over-oppressive taxes. Sixteen Jews fell victim to this outbreak violence.


1640(20th of Adar): Rabbi Joel Sirkes, author of Bayit Hadash passed away today.


1798(14th of Adar, 5558): Purim


1836: Texans signed the Texas Declaration of Independence at Washington-on-the-Brazos, effectively creating the Republic of Texas. Adolphus Sterne was one of the many Jews who supported the cause of Texas Independence both on and off of the battlefield.  Sterne was “an East Texas merchant who became a principal source of financial backing for the Texas Revolution. Born in the Rhineland in 1801, he arrived in Texas in time to fight in the ill-fated 1826-27 Fredonia Rebellion at Nacogdoches. He was sentenced to be shot but was released on the promise never to bear arms against the government again. He kept to the vow in the 1836 struggle for independence but supplied funds, coordinated with his old friend Sam Houston, who he had known in Tennessee before coming to Texas.”

1848:Ibrahim Pasha who issued a decree “forbidding the Jews to pave the passage in front of the Wall. It also cautioned them against “raising their voices and displaying their books there.” They were however allowed “to pay visits to it as of old” began his reign over Egypt without the approval of the Porte.


1855: Alexander II becomes Czar of Russia. Alexander gets high marks from many historians for two reasons.  First, he is the Czar who freed the serfs.  Second he was a lot better than his two successors, Alexander III and Nicholas II.  Alexander earned the goodwill of the Jewish people because “he called a half to the cantonist system that separated Jewish youths from their families, a staple of the previous Czars anti-Semitic program.”  From then on, “only Jews of draft age would serve, and under the same rules as well as other Russians.”  Under his reign, universities liberalized their admission policies for Jews and Jews were allowed to enter the legal profession.  Jewish businessman and craftsmen were allowed to work outside of the Pale and enter into the commercial life of many major urban areas.  The Czar was no liberal.  His changes in policies were caused, in part, by a desire to attract investment from Jewish European financiers.  The Czar’s reforms were proving to be too little too late.  When the Czar saw Jewish names among opponents, his anti-Semitism rose to the surface as can be seen by the closing of Yeshivot and his opposition to legal equality for Jews when the issue came up at the 1878 Congress of Berlin.


1859: Birthdate of Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich whom we know as Sholom Aleichem, the most famous Jewish author of his times. As with many Russians of his periods, Sholom Aleichim has two birthdates on the secular calendar – one on the Julian calendar and one on the Gregorian calendar.


1868: An article published entitled “The Alleged Illegal Action of the American Consul at Jerusalem” described a dispute that took place recently in Jerusalem involving a Prussian Rabbi, named Markus, a Prussian Jewess named Steinberg, her sister who had converted to Christianity and Victor Beaubouchier, the American Counsel in Jerusalem


1870: In New York, Judge Brady began hearing a suit brought by Benjamin Abrahams, the executor for the estate of his late brother Dr. Simeon Abrahams.  The total value of the bequest exceeds the value of the estate and the executor is seeking to obtain a decree that will establish “which if any legacies have preference” or, if there be no such preference, what pro rata share each of the legacies should receive. The late Dr. Abrahams was a prominent member of the Jewish community and he left several large bequests to Jewish charities including the Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mt. Sinai Hospital as well as numerous bequests to secular charities most of which provide aid to orphans, juveniles and those in need of medical aide.


1871: The Purim Association hosted its second reception of this social season at Delmonico’s under the management of Emanuel B. Hart, Samuel A. Lewis and Gustave D. Cardozo.


1874: Today marked the second and final day of the Purim reception at the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews in Manhattan.


1874(13thof Adar): Fast of Esther


1877: The Hayes-Tilden election is finally settled by the specially created electoral commission that resolved the disputed election returns of four states in favor Hayes making him the 19th President of the United States. Hayes appointed the first Jew to effectively serve as a U.S. Ambassador - Benjamin Peixotto – and assured a government employee that she would not lose her job if she did not work on Saturday.


1879: At the Clinton Street Synagogue in New York City, Rabbi H.P. Mendes of the Nineteenth Street Synagogue delivered a lecture on “A Dark Chapter of Spanish-Jewish History” one the opening of the tenth season of lectures sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Union.


1882: The twentieth annual Hebrew charity dress ball sponsored by the Purim Association will begin at the in the Academy of Music at nine o’clock with the grand march starting at ten.


1876: Birthdate of Pope Pius XII, the Holocaust Pope.


1877: Rutherford B. Hayes declared winner of the 1876 Presidential Election.  Samuel Tilden won the popular vote, but Hayes won a majority of the disputed in the Electoral College giving him and the Republicans the White House by one vote.  As President, Hayes worked to protect the well-being of Jewish communities in Europe.  In 1879, his Secretary of State, William Evarts said that “this government has ever felt a deep interest in the welfare of the Hebrew race in foreign countries.”  Hayes backed up these noble sentiments in negotiations with the government of Romaniawhere he worked to try and improve the condition of Jews living under that anti-Semitic regime.


1884: Birthdate of Albert Samuel, the native of Vesoul who was the father of Raymond Samuel better known as French Resistance leader Raymond Aubrac.


1886: This afternoon Rabbi Gustav Gottheil of Temple Emanu-El officiated at the wedding of Julia Wormser, “the only daughter of Isidor Wormser” and Jefferson Seligman, the “youngest son of James Seligman, the head of the well-known bank house.”


1888: The Convention of Constantinople is signed, guaranteeing free maritime passage through the Suez Canal during war and peace.  The one major exception to this would be the state of Israel.  For years, the government of Egypt denied ships flying the flag of Israel from using the canal.  The Egyptians also denied access to ships that had visited Israeli ports from using the canal. 


 
1891: At today’s meeting of the Louisville (KY) Ministerial Association a debate was held over the question of admitting priests, rabbis and Unitarian Ministers.


1891: At a meeting of the New York Siberian Exile Petition Association was held at the Church of Ascension in New York City, “Isaac Aronavitch Hourvitch, a Russian Jew who had suffered exile in Russia related his terrible experiences as a political prisoner.”  Following discussion of this and other matter, “copies of the petition which is to be forwarded to the Czar in April protesting against the present treatment of the Jews were circulated” and signed by many attendees.


1892: A theatrical review published today described Carl Weiser’s portrayal of Shylock, “the vengeful Jew” as being “picturesque, if not strikingly dignified.”  “The Merchant of Venice” reportedly first performed in America in the 16thcentury making it possibly the first Shakespearean drama performed in what would become the United States.


1892: It was reported today that the sixty Russian Jewish immigrants who are in quarantine on North Brother Island due to the outbreak of typhus are housed in their own heated pavilion where they have their own cooks who prepare their food according to Orthodox Jewish law.


1892: Forty two Russian Jewish immigrants who may be infected with typhus and are under the care of the United Hebrew Charities will be taken to North Brother Island today if the storm sweeping the area abates.


1893(14th of Adar, 5653): Purim


1893: A fire broke out in a building in Fall River, MA, that was used as meeting place by the Hebrew Literary Club. (Who would have thought that Fall River would have been home to such an organization in the 19th century)


1893: Birthdate of Eliyahu Golomb the native of Russia who made Aliyah in 1909 and organized the Haganah during the Mandate.

1894: Birthdate of Hélène Falk, the native of Crest who was the mother of of Raymond Samuel better known as French Resistance leader Raymond Aubrac.


1895: The National Council of Women, an organization that was unique for its time because it included Jewish, Catholic and Protestant members, held the final session of its triennial meeting in Washington, DC.


1896: “Mathias Bells for Bicycles” published today described the debate in Parliament where lawmakers are trying to force cyclists to use “the continuous bell of the kind brought into vogue by Sir Henry Irving’s “Polish Jew.”


1898: In Albany, the Senate Cities Committee will report out a bill sponsored by Senator Cantor “exempting the real estate of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association from taxation, assessment and water rates.”


1899: The annual Purim reception at the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews will be held today starting at 11 a.m. and lasting until 5 p.m.


1900:  Birthdate of German-born American composer Kurt Weill.


1901(11th of Adar, 5661): Sixty-six year old Joseph Blumenthal passed away in New York City.  Born in Munich in 1834, he came to the United States in 1839, settled in California with his family before moving to New York.  He was part of the Committee of Seventy that helped to overthrow the infamous Tweed Ring and spend the last 15 years of his life working to create and build the Jewish Theological Seminary.


1902: Birthdate of baseball catcher Moe Berg.  In a day when most baseball players were barely literate Berg stood out as a Princeton graduate who was multi-lingual. His major league career lasted from 1923 to 1939. He was a journey-man catcher, described as “good field, no hit.” The stories about his eccentricities are too numerous for this brief entry.  Suffice it to say, he makes the television character “Monk” look normal.  His real claim to fame was his espionage work.  During barnstorming trips to Japan in the 1930’s, the Japanese speaking Berg would leave the group to do his own “explorations.”  Among other things, he took a series of pictures in Tokyo which later were used to help plan the famous Doolittle Raid during World War II. 


1903:  Herzl receives Leopold Greenberg's report. Greenberg was the owner of a successful advertising agency, publisher of the Jewish Yearbook and an ardent Zionist.


1905: Birthdate of composer Marc Blitzstein


1909(9thof Adar, 5669): Baron Horace Günzburg, the son Joseph Günzburg, wealthy merchant and army contractor, and  the father of David Günzburg who was a major philanthropist and leader of the Jewish community passed away.

1909: Birthdate of composer Hanoch Jacoby


1911: Sophie Tucker recorded “Some of these Days” on a four inch cylinder.  “Some of these Days” was written by African American composer Shelton Brooks in 1910.  “Some of these Days” was Tucker’s signature song and the title of her autobiography.


1913: The New York Times reported that Dr. Joseph H. Hertz, Rabbi of the Congregation Orach Chayim of New York was recently appointed replace the late Dr. Hermann Adler, who was serving as Chief Rabbi of the British Empire when he passed away in July of 1911.


1914:  Birthdate of Martin Ritt director of The Long Hot Summer.


1915:  Vladmir Jabotinsky formed a Jewish military force to fight in Palestineagainst the Turks in World War I.


1917: Birthdate of American fiction writer David Loeb Goodis


1926:  Birthdate of American economist Murray Rothbard.


1931: Birthdate of Lionel I. Pincus “an American finance executive, venture capitalist, and entrepreneur” who “ran the private equity firm Warburg Pincus from 1966 to 2002.”


1932: The New York Times reported on speech by Senator Dill of Washington praising the appointment of Benjamin Cardozo to the U.S. Supreme Court.


1935: Birthdate of Canadian native, actor Al Waxman.


1935 (27th of Adar I, 5695):Eighty-three year old Samuel Sachs, an American investment banker passed away. He was born in Maryland in 1851 to Jewish immigrants from Bavaria, Germany. Sachs along with his longtime friend Philip Lehman of Lehman Brothers pioneered the issuing of stock as a way for new companies to raise funds. He married Louisa Goldman, the youngest daughter of close friends and fellow Bavarian immigrants, who had already seen their older child wed as well. Sachs then joined his father-in-law Marcus Goldman's firm which prompted the name change to Goldman Sachs in 1904. Together they underwrote securities offerings for such large firms as Sears, Roebuck and Company. During this time Goldman Sachs also diversified to become involved in other major securities markets, like the over-the-counter, bond, and convertibles markets which are still a big part of the company's revenue today. Sachs retired in 1928 and died in 1935.


1938: The Palestine Post (the progenitor of today’s Jerusalem Post) published the farewell message of the retiring High Commissioner, Sir Arthur Wauchope, addressed to the people of Palestine. In a separate letter to the Post, Sir Arthur wrote that “though rather busy during most of my leave in England, I always found time to read The Palestine Post... I hope to read your paper in future years.”


1938: The Palestine Post reported that Sir John Woodhead, Sir Allison Russel and Mr. A.P. Waterfield were appointed by the British Government to serve as members of the Technical Commission which will proceed to Palestine to investigate conditions for the country’s eventual partition. 


1938: The Palestine Post reported that An Emek settler, Abraham Goldschlager, 38, was murdered by Arab terrorists near Mishmar Ha¹emek. Tirat Zvi came under heavy Arab fire.


1939: Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli is elected Pope and takes the name Pius XII. As Secretary of State for the Vatican he had negotiated a concordat with Hitler.  As Pope, he would remain silent about the Nazis and the Holocaust even when a Roman Catholic nun who converted to Judaism years ago was taken to the death camp because, under Hitler’s Race Laws, she was really a Jew.  Based on this alone, one wonders what this Pope thought about the meaning of baptism.


1940: “The police imposed curfew regulations at Tel Aviv tonight after breaking up widespread demonstrations protesting against British restrictions on the sale of Arab lands to Jews.


1942: Birthdate of Brooklyn born American musician Lewis Allan “Lou” Reed


1942(13thof Adar):As Purim began, Jews from Minsk refused to cooperate in latest deportation. Germans and Ukrainians retaliated by searching houses, dragging children to sand pits and throwing them in alive, throwing candies in after them as they died. By the end of Purim 5,000 Jews were murdered in Minsk. Jews all over Europewere tortured, murdered or deported that day included those from Krosniewice, Baranowicze, Lvovand Zdunska Wola


1942: At Janowska, eight laborers were ordered to stand in a barrel of water by Gestapo chief Dibauer, because "they didn't look too clean." They all froze to death by the next day as the ice hardened around their feet.


1943: Over 2,500 Jews in Salonica are crammed into 593 rooms in the Baron de Hirsh Ghetto. The ghetto was surrounded with high wooden fences, topped with barbed wire. Signs in German, Greek and Ladino warned Jews not to leave, under penalty of death.


1943: The daily transports to Treblinka continued. Included are New York Born Yetta Flater and London born Helene Rosenberg. Three hundred of the deportees that day were over 70 years old.


1943: In explaining the Nazi commitment to the Final Solution, Goebbels writes in his diary, “We are so entangled in the Jewish question that henceforth it is impossible to retreat.”


1945: Haaretz published the following description of kidnapping Yaakov Tavin during the “Hunting Season.” “Passersby in Dizengoff and Yirmiyahu streets were greatly struck…by the kidnapping of a young man in the street. The kidnapping occurred at 11 a.m, and was witnessed by a large number of people. A large taxi halted at the corner of Dizengoff and Yirmiyahu streets, and several men emerged, one of them dressed in police uniform. They approached the young man, who was standing on the pavement holding a package. Shouting 'Thief!', they attacked him and began to hit him. The crowd thought that he was in fact a thief, and several of them joined the attackers and helped them to push the young man into the taxi. He struggled with them and shouted in Yiddish and in Hebrew: 'Jews, help me! Why do you let them hit a Jew?' He was thrown into the car, which swiftly drove away.


1947: In Tel Aviv a radio announcement by the Irgun was heard in which the Jewish organization took responsibility for yesterday’s attack on a British officers’ club in Jersualem yesterday.  The Irgun said the attack was in retaliation for British attacks in Haifa on Friday, February 28.


1947: In response to the latest wave of violence, the British imposed martial law throughout Palestine.  At 4 A.M. British troops occupied Petah Tikav Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv as well as other coastal communities while the government in Jerusalem imposed additional restrictions on Mea Sharim.


1947(10th of Adar, 5707): Four year od Ketti Shalom died tonight after having been shot by British forces as she stood on the balcony of her home in Jersuaem, which is under martia law.  Her mother was wounded but survived the shooting.


1949(1st of Adar, 5709): Rosh Chodesh Adar


1949(1st of Adar, 5709): Fifty-four year old Henry J. Berkowitz, the Rabbi at Temple Israel “the largest Jewish Congregation in the Pacific Northwest passed away today.  Born in Philadelphia, a veteran of WW I, and a graduate of HUC, he wrote several books including Book Camp which “described his experiences as a Navy chaplain.” (As reported by JTA)


1950(13th of Adar, 5710): Ta'anit Esther


1950: A bill was introduced in the Iraqi parliament allowing the Jews of Iraq to immigrate to Israel.  Introduction of the bill required a large cash payment by the Israeli representatives.  The “Jews could leave provided they left behind all gold, jewelry and valuables and provided that they also gave up their Iraqi citizenship.”


1950: In Iraq, Parliament passed the Revocation of Citizenship which had been introduced earlier on that same day by Saleh Jabr, the Minister of the Interior. 


1950: A horse named Tel Aviv is entered in the second race at Hialeah Park in Miami.


1952: Birthdate of comedian and early star of SNL Laraine Newman.


1952: It was reported today that 74 year old Dr. Alexander Marx, director of libraries and Jacob H. Schiff Professor of History at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America will be taking his first trip to Israel this month.


1953:  Birthdate of Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold.


1953: The Jerusalem Post reported from Washington that the Eisenhower administration decided to pay more attention to Arab countries and less to Israel. The first concrete step in this direction was granting Egypt an $11m. credit so it could purchase American arms.


1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that twenty Jewish families from Poland arrived in Austria on their way to Israel. They reported that the Polish Jews were in a state of panic and more families were expected to follow.


1956: Morocco gains its independence from France; date celebrated as Independence Day in Morocco. Jews are known to have settled in what is no Moroccoduring Roman times.  In 1948, the ancient Jewish community had over a quarter of a million members.  Following violent attacks, large numbers of Jews began leaving for Israel.  At the time of independence, Jews served in the parliament and held at least one ministerial post.  The new government banned immigration to Israel.  The ban was lifted in 1963 and Jews began moving en masse to Israel.  The ancient community has now dwindled to a couple of thousand members.


1958: In “Israel’s Anniversary Year” Mary Qualley King described plans being made by Israelis to celebrate the country’s tenth anniversary.

1970: “The white minority Rhodesian Front government, led by Ian Smith, severed ties with the British crown; Smith declared Rhodesia an independent republic.” The majority black population resisted the Smith government. A civil war broke between the Smith government and the black population which was represented by ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union) and ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People’s Union).  Because of the civil war, most of the Jewish population (approximately 7,000 in number as of 1961) left the country.  Eventually the minority white government was defeated and the Republic of Zimbabwe was formed.

1978:The Jerusalem Post reported that Egypt was counting on US President Jimmy Carter to put forward an American peace package to put pressure on Israel and to break the apparent deadlock over the Israeli-Egyptian “declaration of principles.” In Israelgovernment sources declared that the positions of the two sides remained far apart on major issues, especially on the problem of the future of the “administered areas.”


1978:The Jerusalem Post reported that Venezuela had announced that there were no obstacles in selling oil to Israel and welcomed cooperation on other aspects of energy.


1980(14th of Adar, 5740): Purim


1980: Yigal Allon’s funeral took place today at Kibbutz Ginosar on the shore of Lake Kinneret which had been his home for almost fifty years.

1981:Rockets from Lebanese territory struck several homes in the Galilee town of Qiryat Shemona today, wounding three people.


1982: Rabbi Haim Meir Drukman lost his post as Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs.


1982(7th of Adar, 5742): Seventy-one year old Yoel Zussman , the fourth President of the Supreme Court of Israel, passed away today.


1983: Shulamit Ran's Verticals“was premiered by pianist Alan Feinberg at New York's Merkin Concert Hall. The New York Timesdescribed the work by the Tel Aviv native as “rhapsodic and intriguing.”


1986(21st of Adar I, 5746): Marcel Liebman, Belgian historian and Holocaust survivor, passed away at the age of 56. 


1987:Law-enforcement officials said today that federal prosecutors are on the verge of seeking the indictment of Aviem Sella, a prominent Israeli Air Force officer who the Justice Department alleges played a key role in directing the espionage activities of Jonathan Jay Pollard,


1988:Dr. Inamullah Khan, secretary general of the Pakistan-based World Moslem Congress has been named as the winner of the $369,000 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion even though there are reports that the prize winner has been associated with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel causes.


1991(16th of Adar, 5751):  French musician Serge Gainsbourg passed away at the age of 62. Born Lucien Ginzburg, Gainsbourg survived the Nazi occupation of France to become a leading poet, songwriter, singer and director.


1992(27th of Adar I, 5752): The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, suffered a disabling stroke while praying at the gravesite of the previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of Lubavitch.


1993(9th of Adar, 5753): Yehoshua Weissbrod was stoned and then shot dead by Palesinian terrorists in the town of Rafa.


1997: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Rubber Bullets:Power and Conscience in Modern Israel
by Yaron Ezrahi, the children’s book, When Chickens Grow Teeth: A Story From the French of Guy de Maupassant retold and illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin and  Too Much Is Never Enough by Russian born architect Morris Lapidus, the man who “created Miami Beach in the 1950’s


1998: After almost three months of negotiations, Ronald Perelman and Al Dunlap reach an agreement involving the sale of Sunbeam and Coleman.


1999(14thof Adar, 5759): Purim


2001: “Inherit the Wind,” the controversial play co-authored Jerome Lawrence “that used Darwin vs. Genesis as a way to speak out against McCarthyism” opened at the Sheffel Theatre of the Topeka Civic Theatre & Academy


2001:Eleanor Antin: Real Time Streaming” opened at the Cornerhouse in Manchester, UK.


2001: The Times of London reviewed The Jewish State: The struggle for Israel's Soul by Yoram Hazony


2002: Eleven Israelis were killed in a Palestinian suicide bombing in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox neighborhood.


2003: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of interest to Jewish readers including 'The Pieces From Berlin': Swindling Holocaust Victims by John
Sutherland and Irving Howe:A Life of Passionate Dissent by Gerald Sorin.


2005: Start of the 12th Daf Yomi Cycle.  Daf Yomi is translated as "Daily Page."  Daf refers to the double-sided page of the Talmud.  Daf is also the word for Plank.  Tjere are those who say that the double meaning of the term Daf comes from a story about Rabbi Akiva who was saved by from drowning when he grabbed hold of a plank of a daf.  By holding on a daf - a page of the Talmud, the Jew stays a float in the worldly sea.  The program called Daf Yomi is "a systematic approach to the daily study of the Talmud formulated by Reb Meir Shapira of Lublinin 1923.   The program enables Jews throughout the world to study the same daf or double-sided page of the Talmud simultaneously.  Using this method, one can study the Talmud in a little over seven years.  This system has become popular and there is plethora of sites that provide both text and audio explanations.  There are also weekly summaries.  The success of Daf Yomi has led to the creation of other cyclical study programs.  These programs can be found on the web.  Also, many congregations - Orthodox, Conservative and Reform - now have spontaneously formed lay study groups that cover this material.  It is one more example of the burgeoning interest in Adult Jewish Education.


2005: Final performance of television series “Boston Public” co-starring Fyvush Frinkel, the veteran of the Yiddish theatre who portrayed “history teach Harvey Lipshultz.”


2006:  The Jerusalem Post reported on deteriorating condition for Jewish communities in parts of the former Soviet Union.  In Uzbekistanauthorities are probing the murder of one of Tashkent's rabbis.  And despite pleas from the Jewish community and international organizations, the Tajikistan government has started to destroy the country's only synagogue.


2006(2nd of Adar, 5766): Marty Stein, who helped start Stein drugstores and Stein Optical, has died of cancer. He was 68. Mr. Stein was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 1994. He passed away in Milwaukee. A former pharmacist, Mr. Stein co-founded the first Stein drugstore in Menomonee Falls in 1961. He later expanded the chain into 19 stores, which he sold to the Walgreen Co. in 1979.  He then started Stein Health Services Inc., which ran three companies in home health care, eye care and related fields. The Eye Care One division ran Wisconsin stores as Stein Optical and Chicagostores as EyeQ. Those were sold in the late 1990s.Mr. Stein also was involved in efforts to help Israeland Jewish immigrants, including serving as national chairman of a worldwide effort to airlift thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. By 1988, he had met President Ronald Reagan, the pope and Israeli leaders. Despite his international focus, Mr. Stein remained committed to helping those in his local communities.” There are two Americasin America," he once said. "There's the one where I live and there's the other one in places such as the inner city. I want to help other people who live in the other Americato know the AmericaI know. "Mr. Stein was active in groups such as the Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee. Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson called the news of Mr. Stein's death "devastating."


2006:This evening poet Rachel Tzvia Back gave a lecture entitled "Placing the Voice: The Personal and Political, Israel 2006" at Williams College. Though born in Buffalo, NY, she "is the seventh generation of her family in Palestine," according to this bio at The Drunken Boat. Her grandfather left there in the 1920s, seeking his fortune in America; in the 1980s she returned to Israel, completing the cycle, and lives there still.


2007: Ethiopian born singer Aiiala Ingdsht releases her first album in Tel Aviv.


2007(12th of Adar, 5767): Former American Jewish Congress leader William Maslow died in his Manhattan home at the age of 99. Born in Kievin 1907, Maslow moved to the United States with his family in 1911. He served as general counsel to the American Jewish Congress from 1945 to 1960, and as executive director from 1960 to 1972, guiding the organization’s fight against discrimination to the court system. Under Maslow’s direction, the American Jewish Congress fought housing restrictions on Jews in many communities, as well as discriminatory hiring and admissions policies at U.S. companies and universities. He filed the group’s amicus brief in Brown v. Board of Education and helping organize the 1963 March on Washington that featured the “I Have a Dream Speech.” He also founded the Commission on Law and Social Action, modeled after the ACLU and NAACP. A nephew of Paula Ben-Gurion, wife of Israel’s first Prime Minister, Maslow was a dedicated Zionist and helped lead Israel’s fight against the Arab economic boycott in the 1970s.


2008: The Washington Post featured a review of Richard M. Cohen's Strong at the Broken Places.


2008: The Sunday New York Times features a review of Dreams and Shadows:The Future of the Middle East by Robin Wright and The Bush Tragedyby Jacob Wiesberg.


2008: In New York City, the 92nd Street Y  presents what might be called“Jewish night the press” in a program styled “In the News With Jeff Greenfield—On the Election with Jonathan Alter, Joe Klein and Rich Lowry.” 


2008: During Operation Hot Winter the “IDF decided to change its strategy today and sent a whole regiment (about 2000 men) into the Northern Strip to occupy Jabalya and Sajiyah but met stiff resistance from the Palestinians. In the bloodiest day for Gaza since 2002, close to 70 civilians were killed. Military deaths totaled 4 Palestinian fighters and 2 Israeli soldiers.”


2009: Jonathan David Leibowitz assumed the Chairmanship of the Federal Trade Commission.


2009: Sports Illustrated reports that Andy Roddic will “not be showing up at the Dubai Open” this week.  “He’s ticked that Israel’s Shahar Peer was denied entry to the United Arab Emirates to ply in the women’s tournament.”


2009: At the
92nd Street
Y, playwright, author and actress Anna Deavere delivers the Annual State of Anti-Semitism lecture entitled “Hatred Knows No Boundaries,
a unique address on the issues of hatred, racial conflict and genocide


2009: In Washington, D.C.Jewish author Adam Gopnikdiscusses and signs his new book, Angels and Ages: A Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life,


2009:Israel's UN envoy filed a letter of complaint about the continued rocket attacks from Gaza to the Secretary-General and the president of the Security Council, whose rotating chair is currently held by Libya. Ambassador Gabriela Shalev warned that the Hamas attacks would hinder efforts to reach a "stable and durable cease-fire" - a deliberate echo of language adopted by the Security Council in its January resolution calling for an end to Israel's Operation Cast Lead offensive in Gaza.


2009: In an article entitled “The Good, the Bad, the Bible,” Lisa Miller examines The Good Book by David Plotz, “a naïf wandering in a strange land full of eccentric people and incomprehensible rules.” 


2010: Today is the day the New Israeli Foundation for Cinema & TV has set as the deadline for submitting scripts based on the stories of Sholom Aleichem that could be used for television productions.  The selected scripts will be eligible for special funding supplied by the foundation.


2010: A direct-to-DVD sequel to the animated film Curious George titled Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!” based on the character created by Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey was released today.


2010:At noon today a demonstration that will include members of the Union of Israel Journalists who are demanding the safeguarding of public broadcasting in Israel is scheduled to take place at Beit Sokolov in Tel Aviv

2010: The Tulane University Jewish Studies Program under the direction of Dr. Brian Horowitz is scheduled to present to present a program entitled “Obama and Israel,” featuring Mitchell Bard of the American Israeli Cooperative Enterprise


2010:Late today reports started to emerge that, contrary to initial reports, the Masorti synagogue in Concepcion was destroyed in the earthquake that had rocked Chile this past weekend.The head of the international Masorti organization, Rabbi Tzvi Graetz had been to Concepcion which was close to the epicenter of the earthquake.  He said that ‘it was like the 'hurban habayit' [destruction of the Temple], the walls were all cracked and the roof had fallen down. I couldn't stay there, so I got the sifrei Torah and left,’”


2010: Amos Oz said today that the Khoury family of East Jerusalem had funded the translation of A Tale of Love and Darkness, his best-selling autobiography to promote coexistence. The translation which was done by Israeli Arab Jamal Gnaim, was done in memory of Khoury’s  son George who was a promising Hebrew University law student when he was killed in a 2004 shooting attack while jogging on the university's Mt. Scopus campus.


2011: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to present a program entitled “Jewish Confederates” at Adas Israel Congregation.JHSGW Board Member Les Bergen’s presentation will include information about “a female spy living just doors from the White House and her sister, who ran a military hospital in Richmond and became known as the ‘Confederate Clara Barton.’”


2011:Pope Benedict XVI reiterated that the Jewish people are not responsible for Jesus' death in a new book released today. The Pope also denies the Gospel writers' claim that Jews working in the Temple collaborated with the Roman authorities, leading to Jesus' execution.

2011:There were signs today of a new effort to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process after months of stagnation, but chances of a resumption of talks looked slim and Israel appeared to be stepping back from the stated goal of reaching a framework agreement resolving the core issues of the conflict by September.

2011:Eighty-seven year old Walter Zacharius, a publisher and iconoclast who released an unauthorized version of the erotic classic "Candy" and had the savvy and sales talk to help romance novels make the transition from drugstores to superstores to the Internet passed away today (As reported by Hillel Italie)

2012: Final day to make reservations for the 2012 Humanitarian Awards Dinner sponsored by the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.


2012:Joseph Cedar’s “Footnote,” a tragicomic tale of rival father-and-son Jewish scholars in the Talmud department of Hebrew University in Jerusalem is scheduled to open in New York today.


2012: Emanuel Berman, author of “City within a City” is scheduled to participate in a lecture and book signing sponsored by   the YIVO Institute of Research.


2012:In his first public comments on a North American visit that will include talks with U.S. President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today Israel reserved the right to defend itself against Iran.

2012:Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said today that Israel is ready to help treat Syrians wounded in the uprising against President Bashar Assad.

 

2013(20thof Adar, 5773): In Cedar Rapids, the traditional minyan at Temple Judah gathers for Shabbat Parah which, the weekly portion includes the story of the Golden Calf, might be called “The Tale of Two Bovines.


2013: The Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival is scheduled the Minnesota Premiere of “Life In Stills.”


2013: The Israel String Quartet – Yigal Tuneh and Avital Steiner (violins), Robert Moses (viola), and Tzvi Moskovsky (cello) – is sechduedl to perform to pieces by Beethoven at the Eden-Tamir Music Center

2013: “After failing to assemble a coalition within the legally allotted month, Prime Minister Netanyahu went back to President Shimon Peres tonight to ask for an extension. Peres granted Netanyahu a two week extension, which is the maximum allowed by the law. If he fails to put together a coalition within two weeks, Peres can assign the job of assembling the coalition to someone else, and if that attempt fails, Israel will be required to hold new elections.” (As reported by Jewish Press News Briefs)


2013:Three Syrian mortars landed near moshav Ramat Magshimim in the southern Golan Heights this afternoon, causing no injuries or damage (As reported by Yoel Goldman and Gavriel Fiske)
2014: The Center for Jewish History and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research are scheduled to present a symposium, “Tevye’s Daughters: How Jewish Women Confronted Modernity.”


2014: Yuval Adler’s “Bethlehem” a move that “explores the relationship between a Shin Bet agent and a Palestinian teenager is among the films competing tonight for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. (As reported by Debra Kamin)



2014: Niv Adiri who was “part of the team” nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound for “Gravity” is the only Israeli nominated for one of tonight’s Oscars.


2014: Opening session of the AIPAC Policy Conference is scheduled to take place today in Washington


2014: “The Sturgeon Queens,” a documentary featuring Russ & Daughters is scheduled to be shown at the Washington, DC Jewish Film Festival.


2014: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or Jewish readers includingOperation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program That Brought Nazi Scientists to America by Annie Jacobsen andNot I: Memoir of a German Childhood by Joachim Fest.

This Day, March 3, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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March 3



321: Roman Emperor Constantine named Sunday which had been a Roman pagan day for honoring the sun as a day of rest.  This was an attempt by Constantine to close the gap between pagans and Christianity and to isolate the Jews.  Constantine’s day of rest should not be confused with the Jewish Sabbath which was a universal day of rest.


505: Rav Ahai ben Ray Huna, a member of the Saboraim, passed away


561: The Papacy of Pelagius I came to an end.  He owed his election to Justinian I, the emperor whose religious program included placing restrictions on Jews and interfering with their practices by trying to force them to substitute the Greek Septuagint for the TaNaCh.


1186: Saladin takes control of the city of Mosul which at that time had a Jewish population of approximately 7,000 souls which had been led by Zakkai ha-Nais “who claimed to be a descendant of King David.” (As reported by the Jewish Encyclopedia)


1240: Seizure of all copies of the Talmud in France


1337: Levi ben Gershon, better known by his Latinised name as Gersonides or the abbreviation of first letters as RaLBaG Levi observed a solar eclipse today.


1431: Eugene IV began his papacy today. This was a less than positive move for Jews since the new pope would “decree and order that from now on, and for all time, Christians shall not eat or drink with the Jews, nor admit them to feasts, nor cohabit with them, nor bathe with them. […]  They cannot live among Christians, but in a certain street, separated and segregated from Christians, and outside which they cannot under any pretext have houses.”


1619(17thof Adar, 5379): Shlomo Ephraim ben Aaron Luntschitz passed away.  Born at Lenczyk in 1550 he “a rabbi, poet and Torah commentator, best known for his Torah commentary Keli Yakar.” (For more see Seeing with Both Eyes: Ephraim Luntshitz and the Polish-Jewish Renaissance by Leonard S. Levin)


1658: Dr. Jacob Lumbrozo, the first Jew to settle in Maryland was given amnesty by Oliver Cromwell. Lumbrozo had been indicted on charges of blasphemy which was a capital offense.


1732(6thof Adar I, 5492): Isaiah Azulai, father of Isaac Zerahiah Azulai and the grandfather Hayyim Joseph David Azulai passed away in Jerusalem.


1799: The French army under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte reached the outskirts of Jaffa. The army had left for Palestine on the first of February in an attempt to forestall a Turco-British invasion through the Palestinian land-bridge. A division under the command of General Kleber deployed along the shores of the river Yarkon, 10 kms north of the town and was responsible for shielding the besieging forces from hostile interference. This military action had nothing to do with the Jewish people. It was another example of the land of the Jews being a battleground because it was the land bridge between Africa, Asia and indirectly, Europe.


1801: David Emanuel took office as the Governor of Georgia. Emanuel was the first Jewish person to serve as a governor in the United States. Emanuel was appointed to serve the last eight months of the term of his predecessor who had assumed a seat in the U.S. Senate. Born in Pennsylvania in 1743, he passed away in 1808.


1811: Birthdate of Bernhard Wolff, the German journalist and editor who founded Wolffs Telegraphisches Bureau which was the German version of Rueters (British) and Havas (French).


1814: Birthdate of Charles Kensington Salaman, the native of London who gained fame as pianist and composer.


1822: Birthdate of Baltimore native Phineas J. Horwitz , the 1845 graduate of the University of Maryland who would become Surgeon General and Chief of the Navy Bureau of Medicine.


1833: Birthdate of Mendel Hirsch, the German born Bible commentator and poet who was the son of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch.


1844: Birthdate of “Dreyfeusard” Clement Moras.


1845: Florida becomes the 27th state to join the Union.” In 1763, the first recorded Jews in Florida came to Pensacola, in the northwest corner of the territory. More Jews moved to north Florida in the next few decades, but the Jewish population remained small during this time, numbering no more than a dozen individuals. When Florida became a state, there were less than 100 Jews in a population of 66,500. The first U.S. Senator from Florida was a Jew, David Levy Yulee.” For more about the history of the Jews of Florida see


1846: The French Supreme Court declared the “Jewish Oath” unconstitutional in response to a case involving Rabbi Lazard Isidor of Pflazburg who was defended by Isaac Adolphe Crémieux, the Jewish lawyer and political leader.


1849: The United States Department of the Interior is established. Joel D. Wolfsohn who served as Assistant Secretary of the Department from in the final months of the Truman Administration appears to be the highest ranking Jew to have served at the Department of the Interior. He served from July 10, 1952 through February 20, 1953.
 
1849: Israel’s Herold published for the first time in the United States


1851: David Levy Yulee completed his first terms as a United States Senator from Florida. He was the first Jew to sit in the Upper Chamber of the U.S. Congress. Yulee was also the last Jew in his family line since he married a gentile and raised the children in the faith of their mother. Yulee would not only turn his back on his religion, he would turn his back on his country and join the Confederacy during the Civil War.


1852: Birthdate of Sir Ernest Joseph Cassel British merchant banker and capitalist. Born in Cologne, Germany, the son of Jacob Cassel, who owned a small bank, Cassel arrived penniless in Liverpool, England in 1869 and found employment with a firm of grain merchants. With an enormous capacity for hard work and a natural business sense, Cassel was soon in Paris working for a bank. The Franco-Prussian War forced him to move to a position in a London bank, as he was born in Prussia. He prospered and was soon putting together his own financial deals. His areas of interest were in mining, infrastructure and heavy industry. Turkey was an early area of business ventures, but he soon had large interests in Sweden, the United States, South America, South Africa, and Egypt. One of the wealthiest men of his day, Cassel was a good friend of King Edward VII as well as of Prime Minister Herbert Asquith and the young Winston Churchill. In 1878, he married Annette Mary M. Maxwell at Westminster He became a Roman Catholic at the behest of his wife, Annette, but was always thought of as a Jew. The establishment was shocked to find out on his death that he had converted many years before. A few months after his death in 1921, Cassel's estate was probated at £6,000,000


1855: Philip Phillips, the son of a prominent Charleston, SC Jewish family completed a term representing Alabama’s First Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.


1861: Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs.


1862: During the American Civil War, David Yulee, barely avoided capture by Union troops who were attacking Fernandina FL. Yulee was the first Jew to be elected to the United States. When Florida left the Union and joined the Confederacy, Yulee resigned from the U.S. Senate and took a seat in the southern Congress.


1863: During the American Civil War, Alfred Mordecai, Jr. was promoted to the rank of Captain in the Union Army.


1870: Arguments resumed this morning in the matter revolving around the will of the late Simeon Abraham, the New York physician and Jewish civic leader whose bequests exceeded the value of his estate. The executor is seeking a court order in how to resolve the shortfall while several of the beneficiaries are seeking to protect their interests.


1871: While serving with the United States Navy, Dr. Phineas J. Horowitz was appointed medical inspector.


1871: In New York, the remodeled sanctuary of Shaarey Tzedek was dedicated today. The building, which is located on Henry Street, was bought by the Jewish congregation from Quakers in 1840. The remodeling was necessitated by the growth of the congregation.


1874(14th of Adar, 5634): Purim


1874: As a group of temperance crusaders marched through Columbus, Ohio looking for support it was rebuffed by various merchants and other locals including a group of German Jews who taughtened them with offers of free beer. [Could the beer drinking Jews have been Purim revelers?]


1875: William Sprague completed his 12 year career as a United States Senator from Rhode Island.  During a debate in the United States Senate on the massacre of Jews of Romania, Sprague said “the facts would show that the Jews of Romania had possessed themselves of nearly all the land and of all of the trade of the that principality while a vast population of Christians there were deprived of their means of support..”  He said that this “would be found to be the cause of the recent outbreak” and that that this experience should provide “food for profound reflection…in regard to conditions…in our own country.


1877: It was reported today that a Reuter’s dispatch from Constantinople the Greeks are upset with the outcome of the election held in that city to choose delegates for the Ottoman Parliament because the of the five non-Muslims chosen the Greeks got the same number as the Jews – one – with the other three going to Armenians


1877: It was reported that a dispatch from the Daily News that one Jew was among the 10 delegates elected to serve in the Ottoman Parliament. Of the remaining delegates, 5 were Turks and 4 were Christians – a result that the Daily News said “caused no excitement.” [Editor’s Note – no matter which version you prefer, for the Jews the important item was that they were an accepted part of the electoral process as the Porte lurched toward a more open form of government.]


1878: Following the Russo-Turkish War, Bulgaria regained its independence from Ottoman Empire. The rights of the Jews of Bulgaria, along with other religious minorities, were guaranteed by the Treaty of Berlin. The treaty guarantee did not protect from outbreaks of anti-Semitic violence, blamed in part on the erroneous notion that the Jews had supported the Ottomans. Bulgaria was never very hospitable to its Jewish population. On the other hand, Bulgaria managed to avoid shipping most of its Jewish population to concentration camps.


1878: In New York City, Meyer S. Isaacs presided over a meeting of prominent Jewish leaders including rabbis, synagogue presidents and representatives of Jewish benevolent societies. Those attending the meeting which was held at the 34th Street Synagogue discussed ways of raising funds to aid the suffering Jews of Turkey and the East during the current hostilities. A proposal to by the Ball Committee to hold a masked ball at the end of March as a fundraiser was rejected and a more direct approach for appealing for funds was adopted.


1878: Rabbi D.C. Lewin delivered a well-received lecture on “The Life and Character of Moses Mendelssohn” at the Young Men’s Hebrew Union in New York City this evening.


1878: Birthdate of German-born expressionist theatrical producer and director Leopold Jessner. Jessner left Germany in 1933. His life was saved but his career was over. He passed away in 1945.


1878: “Macklin in the Merchant of Venice” published today described the decision of great 18th century thespian Charles Macklin to play the role of Shylock in the manner of a serious character. Despite the doubts of others, Macklin was so successful that he reprised it hundreds of times. No other actor even came close to his portrayal of this Jewish figure until Edmund Kean took up the role in the 19th century. Of Macklin’s portrayal, Alexander Pope, the great English poet wrote, “This is the Jew, That Shakespeare Drew.”


1878: In Philadelphia, PA, “Hebrew School No. 2 opened today in a synagogue building” at “fifth and Catherine Streets. The school would later move to Wheatley Hall before finding its final home at Touro Hall. (As reported by Cyrus Adler and David Sulzberger)


1879: Jewish financier and businessman Joseph Seligman was among the major stockholders of the St. Louis and San Francisco who arrived in St. Louis this morning prior to tomorrow’s meeting during which a new Board of Directors will be elected


1880: It was reported today that the first edition of the “Oriental and Biblical Journal” edited by Stephen D. Peet has been issued in Chicago, Illinois. [Peet served as a pastor to several Congregational and Presbyterian Churches in the Middle West. He had a passion for archeology which he used in his Biblical studies. He was one of a series of English and American clergyman who tied the study of Archeology with Biblical Scholarship; a connection that late would become a national pastime of the Zionists.]
 
1889: The Temple Emanu-El Sisterhood was incorporated today by several leading Jewesses including Mrs. Theodora G. Levy, Mrs. Cordeilia Schnitzer and Mrs. Theresa Sidenberg.


1890: The Trustees of Columbia College met today and “acknowledged and accepted “ sever al gifts including “a valuable collection of Hebrew manuscripts from” Oscar S. Straus, the former American minister to Turkey.


1891: It was reported today that the New York Siberian Exile Petition Association will be forwarding a petition to the Czar in April “protesting against the present treatment of the Jews.”


1891: “Priests and Rabbis Barred” published today described an attempted Dr. T.T. Eaton, “a liberal Baptist preacher” to have the Louisville Ministerial Association admit Catholic and Jewish clergy as members.  His motion failed in 14 to 12 vote.


1891: Prominent St. Louis Jewish leader Nathan Frank completed his service as U.S Congressman.


1891: Charles Baker completed his service in the House of Representatives during which he had protested the treatment of the Jews by the government of Russia.


1892: President James H. Hoffman presided over tonight’s meeting of The Hebrew Technical Institute which was held at Temple Emanu-El in New York City.


1892(4th of Adar, 5652): Joseph Ratner, a Russian Jewish immigrant who has been married for two months shot himself this afternoon.  He was believed to have been despondent over health problems.


1893: Birthdate of Salvator Cicurel “an Egyptian Olympic fencer, who competed in the individual and team épée and team foil events at the 1928 Summer Olympics.”


1893: Forty-two year old Sigmund Hyman was taken from Mount Sinai Hospital and sent to North Brother Island because he was suffering from typhus fever.


1893: The New York Auxiliary to the Jewish Section of the Woman’s Branch of the Parliament of Religions is scheduled to resume its meeting today at the home of Mrs. Scholle where they will continue making plans for the papers they will be presenting at the upcoming World’s Fair. The members include Mrs. Oscar Straus, Mrs. Jacob Schiff, Mrs. Simon Borg, Mrs. Isidor Wormser, Mrs. Jesse Selgiman and Mrs. Alexander Kohut, the wife of Rabbi Alexander Kohut.


1894: Policemen Fay and Schultz came to Shearith Israel to investigate reports that “there was a crazy man in the synagogue.”


1895: Birthdate of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. Born in Uzda, Belorussia "Reb Moshe" was the leading authority on Orthodox Jewish religious law (Halacha) during the last century. He served as a Rabbi of Luban, near Minsk starting in 1921 before coming to the United States in 1937. In 1938, he was named Rosh Yeshiva (Dean) of Mesivta Tiferes Yerushalayim, a New York yeshiva a position he held until 1986, the year he passed away. As his reputation grew, his rulings on religious law came to be accepted worldwide. A multi-volume collection of his letters, Igros Moshe, is considered authoritative among Orthodox Jews with regard to moral and ethical issues. He served President of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada, 1968-1986, Chairman, American Branch, Mo'ezet Gedolei ha-Torah of Agudat Yisrael, the Council of Torah Sages, and was acknowledged as the Gadol Ha-Dor, or preeminent individual of his generation of Jewish scholars.


1895: “Early Bible Printing in This Country” published today described the role of the city of Philadelphia has played “in this branch of bookmaking” including the fact that the first Hebrew Bible published in the United States was printed by Philadelphian William Fry in 1814. This was done five years after a Hebrew language copy of the Book of Psalms had been printed at Harvard.


1895: “B’nai B’rith Pioneers” published today traces the fifty year history of “the pioneer of all the existing Hebrew secret societies.”


1895: Isidor Straus completed his service as U.S. Congressman from New York’s 15thCongressional District.


1896: Professor Felix Adler will deliver a lecture entitled “Moral Aspects of the Question” at the opening session of a conference on Improved Housing being held at the United Charities Building.


1897: Four lodges of B’nai B’rith hosted a party in honor of the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln at the Tuxedo on Madison and 59thStreet.


1898: “The Jews For Arbitrators” published today described  Rabbi Pereira Mendes wish that the United States would consider submitting its claims against Spain following the blowing up of the battleship USS Maine to a court of international arbitration instead of resorting to war.


1902(24THof Adar, 5662): Isaac Conquy Abecassis, a native of the Azores born in 1840 passed away today at Var, France


1903: Congress passed legislation aimed at curbing immigration to the United States. The bill required immigrants to pay a two dollar head tax (a considerable sum in those days for poor immigrants). It also gave immigration officers the right to exclude those whom they deem anarchists or as people who believe in or advocate the overthrow of the United States government. The legislation was obviously aimed at immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, including the large Jewish populations in the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires.


1903: Senator Joseph Simon, Oregon Republican, finishes his term in the U.S. Senate. Simon returned to Portland, Oregon where he resumed his law practice and would serve as may from 1909 to 1911.


1903: Despite “all the pressure that has been brought to bear to induce him to reconsider,” the leaders of Temple Beth-El reluctantly accepted the resignation of Dr. Kaufmann Kohler from his position as Rabbi of New York’s leading Reform congregation.


1904: In South Carolina, Rabbi J.J. Simenhoff officiated at the wedding of Jake l. Karesh and Minnie A. Ellison.


1905: In the wake of the defeat by Japan and the Russian Revolution, Czar Nicholas II agreed to create an elected assembly, the Duma.

1907: Charles Grosvenor completed his 14 year career as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio’s 11th district.  He was an opponent of immigration bills that specifically barred Russian Jews from coming to the United States.


1911(3rd of Adar, 5671): Rabbi Jacob de Botton leader of the Jewish community in Salonica passed away at the age 68.


1912: The New York Times publishes a review of Die Juden und das Wirtschaftsleben (The Jews in Economic Life) recently published in Germany by Prof. Werner Sombart, Professor of Political Economy at the Commercial High School of Berlin that includes the insights of Dr. Solomon Shechter.


1912(14thof Adar, 5672): Purim


1913: Victor L. Berger completed his term representing the 5thCongressional District of Wisconsin


1913: Simon Guggenheim completed his term as U.S. Senator from Colorado.


1913: Birthdate of Harold Hochstein who gained fame as Harold J. Stone, the American actor who traveled from Broadway, to Hollywood to Television.


1915: As the 63rd session of the United States Congress, Jacob Cantor completed his term as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He had been elected on November 4, 1913 to fill the vacancy of Francis Harrison (who was not Jewish). He lost to Issac Siegel who was Jewish and returned to his New York law practice. Siegel in turn would be replaced by that most famous of all New Yorkers, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, the son of a Jewish mother who was raised as a Yiddish speaking Italian Catholic.


1917: Djemal Pasha offers to give the Jews free access to the Western Wall in Jerusalem to pray if they provide the sum of 80,000-100,000 Francs


1918: Germany and the new Communist government of Russia signed The Brest-Litovsk Treaty. This treat dismembered the Russian Empire and took Russia out of the war. This freed the German Army to shift all of its forces to the Western Front where the Kaiser’s forces tried for a knock-out blow that failed. The treaty helped bring on the Russian Civil War between the Whites and the Reds during which Jews were slaughtered by both sides. Also, the treaty resulted in western forces (U.S., English, etc.) sending troops to Russia. Once again, Jews were caught in the middle and suffered economic ruin and death.


1918: In New York City, Joseph and Lena Kornberg who had married in 1904 and emigrated to New York from Austrian Galicia gave birth to Arthur Kornberg US biochemist who synthesized artificial DNA. He received the Nobel Prize in 1959. He died in 2007 at the age of 89.


1918: Birthdate of famed photographer Arnold Newman.


1919: Emir Faisel writes a letter to Felix Frankfurter expressing his support for the Zionist cause. ”We Arabs...look with deepest sympathy on the Zionist Movement....We will wish the Jews a most hearty welcome… The Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement. Our deputation here in Paris is fully acquainted with the proposals submitted yesterday by the Zionist Organization to the Peace Conference, and we regard them as moderate and proper." The boundaries of Palestine shall follow the general lines set out below: Starting on the North at a point on the Mediterranean Sea in the vicinity South of Sidon and following the watersheds of the foothills of the Lebanon as far as Jisr el Karaon, thence to El Bire following the dividing line between the two basins of the Wadi El Korn and the Wadi Et Teim thence in a southerly direction following the dividing line between the Eastern and Western slopes of the Hermon, to the vicinity West of Beit Jenn, thence Eastward following the northern watersheds of the Nahr Mughaniye close to and west of the Hedjaz Railway. In the East a line close to and West of the Hedjaz Railway terminating in the Gulf of Akaba [will serve as the boundary]; in the South a frontier to be agreed upon with the Egyptian Government; in the West the Mediterranean Sea. The details of the delimitations, or any necessary adjustments of detail, shall be settled by a Special Commission on which there shall be Jewish representation. Emir Faisel fought against the Turks alongside T.E. Lawrence. Faisal was expecting to be able to control a Caliphate based in Damascus. As we can see here he had even worked out a plan with Chaim Weizmann that would have allowed for the creation of a Jewish home in Palestine. Unfortunately, the French, who controlled Syria after the war, drove Faisal from Damascus, ending his power and the dream of peace in the Middle East.


1919(1st of Adar II, 5679): Abraham (Albert) Antebi, head of the Alliance Israelite Universelle in Constantinople passed away. He was born at Damascus in 1899.


1919: Meyer London, one of only two members of the Socialist Party to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives completed his term representing the 12th District of New York. He had defeated Henry M. Goldfogle, a Jew, for the seat and Goldfogle returned the favor.


1921: Birthdate of Allen Ginsberg beat generation poet. In 1969 he received the Arts & Letters Award.


1922: An Arab delegation “held a meeting…at the Hyde Park Hotel in London to denounce Britain’s ‘Zionist policy.’” The Secretary of the delegation was reported to have declared “the necessity of killing Jews if the Arabs did not get their way.”


1922: The schedules in the estate of Jacob H. Schiff, banker and philanthropist, who died Sept. 25, 1920, prepared for submission to the State Tax Commission in the inheritance tax proceeding to begin shortly, fix the value of the property to be taxed in New York State at $35,257,008. The net estate on which the executors estimate a tax will be fixed is $34,426,282.


1923: Meyer London completed his second, non-successive term as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing New York’s 12th District. He was followed in office by another Jewish politician, Samuel Dickstein.


1923: TIME magazine was published for the first time by Henry Luce. Jews connected with America’s leading weekly news magazine have included managing editors Henry Grunwald (1968–1977) and Walter Isaacson (1996–2000) and contributors Lev Grossman, Joe Klein and Joel Stein.


1926: The Lenox Quartette performed “String Quartette” by Leopold Mannes at the New York Public Library.


1929: In the Old City of Jerusalem, Rabbi Salman Eliyahu, a Jerusalem Kabbalist from an Iraqi Jewish family and his wife Mazal gave birth to Rabbi Mordechai Tzemach Eliyahu


1932: Judge Cutherbert W. Pound addressed Benjamin Cardozo on his last as Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals saying of the man who was about to become a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, “We shall miss not only the great Chief Judge whose wisdom and understanding have added glory to the judicial office but all the true man who has blessed us with the light of his friendship, the sunshine of his smile.”


1933: About a month after Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany and about a week after the burring of the Reichstag 100 prisoners were taken to a school in the small town of Norha near the city of Weimar. They were interrogated and sent into three large rooms where they guarded by policemen and students from the school. This was the start of Germany's first Concentration camp.


1937: In an address at the annual luncheon of the Women’s Division of the American Jewish Congress, Fiorello La Guardia suggested that Hitler’s effigy be placed in a chamber of horrors at the World’s Fair.


1938: Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia. The connection with Jewish history should be self-evident.


1938(30th of Adar I, 5698): Rosh Chodesh Adar II


1938(30th of Adar I, 5698): Sholem (Samuel) Schwarzbard a Bessarabian-born Jewish poet and anarchist, known primarily for the assassination of the Ukrainian nationalist leader Symon Petliura who wrote poetry in Yiddish under the pen name of Baal-Khaloymes (English: The Dreamer) passed away today in Cape Town, South Africa.


1938: The Palestine Post reported from London that the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Ormsby Gore, assured the House of Commons that Palestinian police, assisted by British troops, were doing everything possible to contain the deeply seated and widespread Arab terror.


1938: The Palestine Post reported that Yacoub Marata, an Arab police corporal, and Alfred Koblenz, a Jewish constable, were shot and badly wounded by Arab terrorists at a Haifa market.


1938: The Palestine Post reported that the Haifa Port inaugurated a new, extensive cargo jetty.


1939: Cardinal Pace III, a long time semi-supporter of the German government, became Pope Pius XII. He was later greatly criticized for his passive acceptance of the Final Solution.


1939: “The first contingent of about 500 Jews who had been expelled from Danzig left early this morning for an unknown destination. In a departure marked by “distressing farewell scenes” the contingent of men, women and children were taken to a German railway station by a convoy of buses and trucks. There are unconfirmed rumors that these homeless Jews will pass through Hungary to Constanta, Romania where a ship is waiting to take them to Tel Aviv. The Jews face the double whammy of the Nazis and the Arab inspired limits on Jewish immigration to Eretz Israel since no valid visas are available for this wretched contingent.


1940: When hundreds of Jewish women took to the streets of Tel Aviv today chanting “anti-land law slogans,” the British military commander issued an order imposing a total curfew that was scheduled to last for three days until.


1941: Ice cream parlor owner Ernst Cahn was executed by a Nazi firing squad today in the Netherlands.


1941(4th of Adar, 5701): Adolph Schwartz died from a heart attack today at the age of 74.


1943(26th of Adar I, 5703): Judikje Simons, later Judikje Themans- Simons, died today at Sobibor, together with her husband, Bernard, their five-year-old daughter Sonja, and their three-year-old son Leon. Simons was one of six Jewish members of the Dutch Ladies’ Gymnastic Team that won the Olympic title at Amsterdam in 1928, Simons, who ran an orphanage with her husband in the city of Utrecht that housed 83 children, had apparently been warned that the Nazis were heading her way, and was offered a hiding place by Dutch friends. However, Simons had no intention of forsaking her orphans, sealing her fate, and that of almost all of the children.


1944: “The Iraqi Government today announced through the Arab News Agency that its protest to Washington with regard to the Palestine resolution “has had satisfactory results.” (As reported by JTA)


1944: Birthdate of Yoram Jerrold Kessel, the South African born Israeli journalist and correspondent who gain fame with American audiences as the CNN correspondent reporting on the Middle East from Jerusalem.


1944: “The Jewish Agency for Palestine today announced that David Ben-Gurion, chairman of its executive, has withdrawn his resignation and resumed work in the Agency’s headquarters.” (As reported by JTA)


1944: Emir Abdullah Ibn Husseein, ruler of Transjordan…cabled a bitter protest to President Roosevelt against the pending Senate resolution reaffirming United States approval of Palestine as Jewish national homeland.”


1944: Jermie Adler, a Jewish father of three who was hiding in village outside of Liege, Belgium became so ill that he checked himself into a hospital today. “While he was in the hospital, the Gestapo arrested his wife, two daughters, and a nephew.” Only his oldest daughter survived the war.


1945: The Jewish Infantry Brigade was activated as part of the British Army. Jewish military groups fought with distinction during World War II. These soldiers were drawn from the Yishuv - the Jewish community in what was then called Palestine. At the end of the war, some of these soldiers participated in daring rescue activities that brought survivors of the Holocaust from central Europe, through Italy and eventually to ships bound for Palestine. Military training gained by the Jewish troops proved useful when the Israelis converted from the small military unit tactics of the pre-Independence period to the larger operations necessary to defeat the invading armies they faced in 1948 and 1949.


1945: Eri Jabotinsky, son of the late Zionist Revisionist leader, Vladimir Jabotinsky, was released after two days in custody for interrogation concerning his “activities.”


1945: Over two thousand Jews from Ebensee, a sub-camp of Mauthausen were sent from Gross Rosen. Of them 49 died in the trains on the way and 182 more died upon arrival.


1946: The Union of American Hebrew Congregations, parent body of Reform Judaism in the United States, was urged today by Dr. Maurice N. Eisendrath, executive director, "to disassociate itself from dogmatic anti-Zionism."


1946: In an article about the appropriate ways to rehabilitate disabled WW II GI’s Dr. Howard Rusk reported that the number of “working-age males, who are either unemployable or marginally employable because of handicaps exceed, numerically, the Jewish population.” Such a comparison would indicate that the average American knows how many Jews live in the United States.


1947: Having left Poland for Paris in 1946 and Paris for the United States in February 1947, future novelist Louis Begley and his family arrived in New York City.


1947: The four hundred ton “motor ship Susanna” left Italy carrying 800 Jewish refugees who hope to avoid the British blockade and find a home in Palestine.


1947: The Irgun gave proof to its announcement that open warfare exists between its forces and the British by attacking British military installations in Haifa with a barrage of 500 hand grenades.


1947: The Haganah accused the British of “deliberately destroying the Jewish economy” by imposing martial law on “thousands of people who have nothing whatsoever to do with terror or crime.”


1947: Lieutenant General G.H.A. MacMillan announced that the word “terrorist” would no longer be used to describe those Jews attacking the British in Palestine. The term had acquired a sense of “glamour” which should not be ascribed to people he said were no better than the gangsters from Al Capone’s Chicago.


1950(14th of Adar, 5710): Purim


1950: In the San Fernando Valley, California, Elaine Edelman, and Jay Ziskin gave birth to Laura Ziskin, the producer of “Spider Man” and “Pretty Woman.”


1950: In Jordan the cabinet has reportedly resigned because it was opposed to the non-aggression pact which has been secretly negotiated with Israel. King Abdullah is said to be the major supporter of the agreement.


1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that seven infiltrators from Jordan were killed in two separate incidents on Israeli territory. The Soviet ambassador to Egypt, Semyon Kozirev, invited the former mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin el-Husseini, to visit Moscow. The increased food rations for Pesach included an extra 100 grams of meat, a welcome addition to the monthly rate of 200 grams, and 290 grams of olive oil to every consumer. (As you can see from this entry, even without the attacks from Arab terrorists and the threat of attack from the surrounding Arab nations, the early settlers of Israel had a rough time of it.)


1956: Morocco gained its independence from France. "One of the first actions of the government was to order the Jewish agency to halt its emigration activities."


1957(30th of Adar I, 5717): Controversial Holocaust survivor Rudolf (Israel) Kastner, the man who negotiated with Eichmann to save Hungarian Jews was shot by by Zeev Eckstein, 24, a Holocaust survivor, and died of his injuries nine days later.


1959: Birthdate of Ira Glass, host of public radio’s “This American Life.”


1961: Hassan II becomes King of Morocco. When he came to the throne, Hassan II had a reputation as a playboy. Nobody would have predicted the positive role he would play in relations with Israel. The following story written when the King died in 1999 describes the impact of the Moroccan Monarch. “Tens of thousands of Israelis are mourning the death of Morocco's King Hassan II, a man they considered "their" king, leaving them homesick for the land their families left. Young Israelis of Moroccan origin placed the Moroccan flag on top of their cars, while others displayed huge posters in their homes of the king, who died last Friday of a heart attack at the age of 70. The Moroccan Jewish community in Israel declared a seven-day period of mourning for the king. A delegation led by Israeli President Ezer Weizman, Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former Prime Minister Shimon Peres joined 30 other world leaders, including President Clinton and Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat, in remembering a man who played a vital role in bridging the gap between the Jewish state and the Arab world. In a condolence message, Weizman called Hassan a "true partner in the peace process.” Attending the funeral, Barak called Hassan a "great leader" and a "farsighted man, a friend to the governments of Israel in their voyage toward peace with the Arab people." In Israel, Moroccan Jews have traditionally supported parties, such as Likud or Shas that espouse hard-line policies toward the Arab countries. That is partly to compensate for the fact that they felt "Ashkenazi Jews regarded them as Jewish Arabs," according to Haim Shiran, director of Inbal, an ethnic center in Tel Aviv. He said anti-Arab political views were a kind of self-defense mechanism, a way to distinguish themselves from the Arabs. But when it came to the king's death, the reaction of Israel's estimated 300,000 Moroccan Jews appeared similar to Morocco's Arab residents, many of whom consider the king to be a direct descendent of the Muslim prophet Mohammad. "I know that it may sound ridiculous," said Shiran, "but when on Friday, I saw the Moroccan announcer on television announcing the death of the king, I broke out in tears." Hassan took power in 1961 after the death of his father, Mohammed V. When Hassan ascended to the throne, he was an unknown quantity with a reputation as a playboy. But ruling with a deft mixture of pro-Western democracy and traditional autocracy, he earned the respect of his people. He also survived several coup attempts. Mohammed V was widely credited with having saved Morocco's Jews from deportation during World War II, and Hassan continued the philo-Semitic policies of his father. Although there was an outbreak of anti-Jewish incidents following the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, the Jewish community was generally safe under the protection of both Mohammed and Hassan. When tens of thousands of Jews left Morocco in a massive aliyah that began after Morocco gained its independence in 1956 -- and accelerated after Hassan II gained power -- it was due as much to Zionism and a desire for economic opportunity as it was to a fear of anti-Semitism. Along with the recently deceased King Hussein of Jordan, Hassan was considered a moderate in the Middle East. During his 38-year reign, he discreetly, and later openly, promoted ties with Israel at a time when most of the Arab world rejected such contact. In the 1967 and 1973 Middle East wars, he contributed only a nominal number of troops to support Arab forces. His mediation efforts, including secret meetings with Israeli intelligence officials and political leaders, helped pave the way for the 1978 Camp David accord between Israel and Egypt. Hassan also played a role in preparing for the 1991 Madrid peace conference and welcomed Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in September 1993, making Morocco the first Arab nation outside of Egypt to officially host an Israeli leader. In 1994, Hassan hosted the first Middle East regional economic conference, which included Israel, in Casablanca. After the euphoria of the 1993 Oslo accords between Israel and the Palestinians, Israel was allowed to establish a consular office in Rabat, and an estimated 40,000 Israeli tourists visited Morocco in 1995 and 1996. Even in death Hassan provided an opportunity for Israeli and Arab officials to meet -- in this case, an unprecedented exchange among Barak, Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Speaking in French, Bouteflika asked Levy whether Israel was serious about peace, to which the Moroccan-born minister responded, "Yes." Levy added that it was in Israel's interest to do so and was ready to work hard to achieve it. Turning to Barak, Bouteflika said his country was willing to help in any way it could.


1968: Iraqi Prime Minister, Tahir Yahya, instituted a law that impoverished the Jews. "Jews couldn't sell their cars or furniture. All licenses given to Jewish pharmacists were canceled" and their pharmacies were ordered to close. "All commercial officers in Baghdad had to dismiss their Jewish employees. Muslim owned businesses were warned not to engage in commerce with Jews.


1969: In a Los Angeles, California court, Sirhan Sirhan admits that he killed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy. According to his diaries, he killed Kennedy because he was a supporter of Israel.


1973: Senator Guy Gillette passed away. While serving in the Senate during World War II, Gillette spoke out in favor of caring for the Jewish refugees in Europe and in favor of Jewish aspirations in Palestine. After he lost his bid for re-election he served as “president of the American League for a Free Palestine, serving until the Committee's work ended with the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.” [Why a senator from Iowa, a state with a miniscule Jewish population, would adopt such views is a mystery awaiting further study.]


1978: The Jerusalem Post reported from Washington that US President Jimmy Carter warned that “the abandonment” of UN Resolution 242 by any of the parties in the Middle East “would put us back many months or years.” Observers, however, noted that on the eve of the expected Carter-Begin summit meetings, the American position on many issues was seen to be much more supportive of Egypt than of Israel. In Jerusalem, the 91-year-old Notre Dame Hospice, uninhabited for years, had quietly begun a new life as a modern hostel for pilgrims.


1978(24thof Adar I, 5738): Seventy-two year old “American industrial psychologist, executive, civil rights leader, and philanthropist” Alfred J. Marrow passed away.


1980: In “Tens of Thousands of People Attend Funeral of Yigal Allon” Yitzhak Shargil described the final ceremony honoring the fallen Israeli leader.


1981: Israeli planes raided Palestinian positions northeast of Tyre today, according to the Lebanese radio. The raid came a day after rockets from Lebanese territory struck several homes in the Galilee town of Qiryat Shemona today, wounding three people.


1983(18th of Adar, 5743): Hungarian born author Arthur Koestler passed away. Two of his more famous works were Darkness at Noon and Thirteenth Tribe, which highlighted his view of the role the Khazars played in the life of European Jewry.


1985(10thof Adar I, 5745): Seventy-one year old Sándor Scheiber who served as director of the Rabbinical Seminary in Budapest from 1950 until his death passed away today.


1987(2nd of Adar, 5747): Multi-talented performer Danny Kaye passed away. Born David Kominsky in 1913, the red-headed comedian and vocalist enjoyed success in a variety of entertainment formats. His hit movies included The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and Hans Christian Andersen. He also starred in his own television variety show. He used his fame for the betterment of mankind serving as a champion for UNICEF when that organization was dedicated to welfare of the world's children without consideration to politics. (As reported by Eric Pace)


1987: Israeli Air Force Colonel Aviem Sella was indicted today for his alleged role in the Pollard spy operation.

1988(14thof Adar, 5748): Purim


1988(14thof Adar, 5748): Sixty-nine year old Polish-born Mexican violinist Henryk Szeryng who donated his Stradivarius “King David” violin to Jerusalem in 1972 in honor of 25 years of Israeli independence passed away today.


1988: Today the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith and the American Jewish Committee protested the designation of Dr. Inamullah Khan, secretary general of the Pakistan-based World Moslem Congress, as the winner of the $369,000 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion because he has been associated with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel causes. The league said Dr. Khan and the congress were linked to anti-Semitic groups, including those that deny the Holocaust occurred, and that Dr. Khan had rejected Israel's right to exist. Dr. V. A. Hamdani, the congress's representative at the United Nations, where the Islamic group has observer status, called the league's complaint a ''rehash'' of old charges. He said his organization had not supported denials of the Holocaust. ''To my knowledge,'' he added, ''we have never denied Israel's right to exist.''


1991(17th of Adar, 5751): Arthur Murray passed away at the age of 95. Born Arthur Teichman, Murray became "America's dance instructor" through a string of dance studios and a hit television show featuring his wife and partner, Catherine.


1991: As the war with Iraq came to an end Air France is scheduled to resume service to Tel Aviv today.


1993(10th of Adar, 5753): Albert Sabin passed away at the age of 86. Born in 1903, Sabin developed an oral polio vaccine which supplanted the earlier Salk Vaccine. Sabin was 86 at the time of his death.


1995: Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb's She Who Dwells Within, which she describes as "a practical guide to nonsexist Judaism," was published. In 2004, Gottlieb left the pulpit to become director of a California organization dedicated to interfaith work.


1996 (12th of Adar, 5756): Dr. Meyer Schapiro, university professor emeritus at Columbia University, multi-disciplinary critic and historian, galvanic teacher, lifelong radical and for more than 50 years a pre-eminent figure in the intellectual life of New York, died at the Greenwich Village house that had been his home for more than 60 years. He was 91.


2002: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Summer in Baden-Baden by Leonid Tsypkin; translated by Roger Keys and Angela Keys and Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire by Michael T. Kaufman


2003: Natan Sharansky began serving as Jerusalem Affairs Minister.


2005(22nd of Adar I, 5765): Max M. Fisher, the Detroit oil and real estate magnate known for his philanthropy and for the advice he gave Republican presidents on the Middle East and Jewish issues, passed away at his home in Franklin, a Detroit suburb at the age of 96. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/04/national/04fisher.html


2006(3rd of Adar, 5766): William Herskovic who was a Holocaust survivor and humanitarian passed away at the age of 91. His escape from Auschwitz in 1942 and early eyewitness testimony inspired Belgium's opposition to Nazi Germany during World War II, and alerted the Resistance to the atrocities that were taking place in the concentration camps. Because of Herskovic's escape and testimony, hundreds of lives were saved. Herskovic is also the founder of Bel Air Camera, a veritable landmark in Los Angeles, which he established in 1957, and has received numerable awards for his philanthropy.


2007: Shabbat Zachor


2007: In the evening, Jews fulfill the mitzvah of hearing the Megillah as Purim begins


2008: This evening, Israel pulled its troops out of the Gaza Strip marking the end of operation Hot Winter.


2008: Agudas Achim, the Shulman Hillel and Chabad Lubavitch of Iowa City sponsor “An Evening in Tribute to Michael Balch” (devoted member of the Iowa City Jewish Community and Professor Emirtus of Economics at Iowa University) featuring an address by Rabbi Dov Greenberg from Stanford University entitled “Death and Afterlife in Judaism.”


2009: David Polonsky discusses “Waltz With Bashir” at the Society of Illustrators. David Polonsky is the art director and chief illustrator for Waltz With Bashir, written, produced and directed by Ari Folman.


2009: The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research presents a lecture by Dr. David Berger, author of The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference, entitled “The Lubavitcher Rebbe as Messiah: Turning Point in Judaism?” in which he will examine whether the Lubavitch messianic movement represents a fundamental transformation of Judaism or is merely a passing development of little moment.


2009: The Believers, Zoë Heller’s latest novel appears in American bookstores.


2009: Hillary Clinton makes her first visit to Israel as Secretary of State meeting with a variety of Israeli leaders.


2009: A press release issued today confirmed that Julius Genachowski was President Obama’s choice to serve as Chairman of the Federal Communication Commission.


2010: The Jewish Women's Archive’s tour of Santa Fe is scheduled to begin today.


2010: Israeli musicians Asaf Avidan &cellist Hadas Kleinman of Asaf Avidan and the Mojos leading rock/folk band are scheduled to perform at the City Winery in New York City.


2010: In Columbus, Ohio, Congregation Tifereth Israel is scheduled to host “Interfaith Study of Genesis” in conjunction with First Congregational Church and Noor Islamic Center.


2010: After years of drought-like conditions that saw the water level of the Dead Sea plummet by 15 meters, this winter the water level rose by 8 centimeters, the Water Authority said today.


 2010: Canadian businessman and Brandeis graduate Leonard Asper stepped down as Canwest CEO today.


2010: A documentary entitled “Harlan – In the Shadow of ‘Jew Suss’” opened today in Manhattan


2011: The Wiener Library, “the world’s oldest Holocaust memorial institution,” is scheduled to sponsor an exclusive gala fund raising event that will feature a recital by Andras Schiff and a talk by Misha Aster about the Berlin Philharmonic under the Third Reich.


2011: Amit Peled and Dina Vainshtein are scheduled to perform at Symphony Space in New York City.


2011: Today Prime Minister Netanyahu met with White House senior advisor Dennis Ross, who is in the country with a team of Middle East experts – including Fred Hoff and Mara Rudman from US envoy George Mitchell's team – for talks.


2011(28th of Adar I, 5771): Holocaust survivor Gina Borchardt Nencel passed away today in Israel at the age of 100.


2011: In “Yankees remember late baseball author Harvey Dorfman” Marc Carig described the impact that the Jewish sports psychologist had on the National Pastime.


2012: A conference entitled "One State Conference: Israel/Palestine and the One-State Solution” hosted by Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government is scheduled to open in Cambridge Mass.


2012: “Mahler on the Couch” is scheduled to be shown at the Denver Jewish Film Festival sponsored by the Mizel Arts and Culture Center


2012: “Making Trouble: Three Generations of Funny Jewish Women” at Florida Atlantic University’s Jewish Kultur Festival in Boca Raton, FL

2012: “Camera Obsucra” is schedule to be shown at Temple Beth Israel’s Fresno Jewish Film Festival in Fresno, CA


2012: “Ahead of Time” is scheduled to be shown at Congregation Beth Israel Judea in San Francisco, CA.


2012: “Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg” is scheduled to be shown at Congregation Kerem Shalom in Concord, MA.


2013: “My Name is Asher Lev,” Aaron Posner’s dramatic adaptation of Chaim Potok’s novel of the same name is scheduled to have its final performance tonight at the Westside Theatre.


2013: The Maccabeats are scheduled to perform at West Side Institutional Synagogue

2013: An evening concert is scheduled tonight as part of the Preliminary Program for Jewish Music in New Orleans hosted by Tulane University.


2013: The AIPAC Policy Conference is scheduled to open in Washington, DC


2013: Rebekka Helford and Bruce Bierman are scheduled to lead the Klezmer Jam Session and Dance at The Talking Stick in Venice, CA.


2013:A young couple expecting their first child was on their way to a hospital early Sunday when the car they were riding in was hit, killing them both, but their baby boy was born prematurely and survived, authorities said.


2013: Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, opened the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual policy conference with an appeal for pro-Israel outreach to African Americans, Latinos and Muslims, and others.


2013: In “The Holocaust Just Got More Shocking.” Eric Lichtblau lets us know that the worst event in Jewish history was even worse than we had thought it was.


2013: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Russ & Daughters: Reflections and Recipes from the House That Hearing Builtby Mark Russ Federman the grandson of the founder who made each trip to his store a most memorable occasion for two Jews from Iowa.


2013: In New York City, the City Winery is scheduled to host a Kosher Wine Tasting


2013(21stof Adar, 5773): Ninety-one year old Abe Baum the leader of ill-fated Task Force Baum in WW II passed away today.


2014: The HEA All-Judaic & Israeli Art and Jewelry Festival is scheduled to take place in Denver, CO.


2014: David Broza is scheduled to appear in concert at the AIPAC Policy Conference.


2014: “Master of a Good Name” and “Nothing Old About This Testament” are scheduled to be shown at the 24th Jewish Film Festival.


2014: Shelter Studious is scheduled to host a reading of “Suddenly a Knock at the Door” by Robin Goldin based on stories by Etgar Keret


2014: In London, JW3 is scheduled to co-sponsor a showing of “Flash Faith.”


This Day, March 4, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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March 4



457BCE(1st of Nisan, 3303): According to chapter 7, verse 9 of the Book of Ezra, Ezra and his followers left Babylonia for Jerusalem


1193: Saladin, the great Moslem leader, passed away.  Among Saladin’s many accomplishments was the re-taking of Jerusalem from the Crusaders and his subsequent defeat of Richard the Lionhearted.  Saladin had begun his leadership career in Egypt where Maimonides served as physician to his court.  There is some question as to whether Maimonides provided medical services to Saladin or to his brother-in-law and his entourage. 


1152: Frederick Barbarossa was elected Roman-German king.  Born in 1123, Barbarossa or Frederick I was Holy Roman Emperor for forty years.  He was slated to lead the Third Crusade along with Phillip of France and Richard the Lion-Hearted.  Unfortunately, Barbarossa drowned before he could help lead the Crusade.  From the Jewish point of view, unfortunately is the correct word to use in describing his death.  Unlike other Crusaders, Barbarossa sought to protect the Jews. He warned local priests and monks not to preach against the Jews.  He told the Diet (Parliament) that anybody who killed a Jew would forfeit his own life.  Thanks to Frederick's efforts, German bishops threatened those who attacked Jews with excommunication.  As a Jewish commentator of that time wrote, "Frederick defended us with all his might and enabled us to live among our enemies, so that no one harmed the Jews."


1215: King John of England makes an oath to the Pope as a crusader to gain the support of Innocent III.  While they may have been odds over many issues, the two leaders both held firm to the concept of allowing the Jews to exist, but in a state of humiliation.  In 1210, John imprisoned the Jews of Bristol and demanded 66,000 in ransom as the price of their freedom.  To move the process along, John reportedly had the teeth of the prisoners extracted one at a time until they agreed to the payment. Such was his treatment of the Jews, that Barons included special language about the treatment of the Jews in the Magna Carta. The Fourth Lateran Council over which Innocent actively presided adopted several cannons attacking Jews including the denying them the right to hold office and the requirement to wear distinctive dress. 


1349:  Birthdate of Prince Henry the Navigator.  The Portuguese prince earned his sobriquet and place in history for supporting ever more ambitious efforts to explore the uncharted waters of the Atlantic Ocean and beyond.  His efforts were financed and encouraged by the family of Don Judah Abarbanel a wealthy refugee from Spanish persecution who served as financer and confident to two generations of Portuguese monarchs.


1386: Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila) is crowned King of Poland. The situation of the Jews in Poland had already begun to deteriorate prior to his kingship.  In the middle of the century, the Jews were blamed for the Black Plague and attacked by the countrymen.  Under Wladislaus II and his successors the first extensive persecutions of the Jews in Poland commenced, persecutions which the monarch did not act to stop.


1524: In Cairo, Mohamed Bey freed the Jews who had been imprisoned by the viceroy Ahmed Schaitan on the day on which he planned to kill them.  Ahmed had rebelled against the Sultan and when a Jewish leader, Abraham de Castro, exposed the plot, Ahmed responded by demanding a ransom from the Jews of Cairo and then imprisoning them once they had brought him the money.  This day of deliverance is celebrated as the Purim of Cairo.


1648(8th of Adar): Rabbi Issachar Baer, author Arba’ah Hadashim passed away


1699: Jews of Lubeck, Germany, were expelled.


1791: Vermont is the 14th state to join the Union.  It is the first state to join the original 13 states.  Today Vermont boasts a vibrant, if small, Jewish community.  This includes houses of worship in at least half a dozen cities, a Chabad in Burlington and Hillel chapters at two of the state’s universities. 


1791: A Christian in Alsace was punished by the Church for lighting a fire for a Jew on Shabbat.


1791: Israel Jacobs of Pennsylvania took his seat as the first Jewish member of the United States House of Representatives.


1797: John Adams is sworn in as second President of the United States, succeeding George Washington.  This orderly transfer of power, including the acceptance of the outcome of elections, is a uniquely American gift to the world of political science.  At the national level, the U.S. failed to abide by this and the result was four violent years of Civil War.  There are those who would say that the Jewish people have been able to thrive in America because of the stability of the society and because of its respect for the rule of law as epitomized by this seemingly simple event.  Adams, like so many of his New England contemporaries was greatly influenced by his reading of what he called “the Old Testament.”  The images of George III as Pharaoh and the colonists as the modern day Israelites fighting tyranny provide a couple cover for what others might have called treason.  Adams was an early Zionist, writing to the Jewish leader Mordechai Manuel Noah, “I really wish the Jews again in Judea an independent nation.”  For more about the views of our Second President on the Jewish people see http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/adams.html


1798: Catholic women were forced to do penance for kindling fire for Jews on Shabbat.
Either this is the same episode reported at two different times or being a "Shabbos Goy" was a big no-no among the Catholic hierarchy.


1799:Under cover of night, between the 3rd and the 4th of March, work commenced- the erecting of five batteries, four against the southern wall and one in support of the northern sector.13 The artillery park at Napoleon¹s command consisted only of field pieces, mostly of 12, 8, 6 and 3 "pouces" (=inches of 2.7 cm), of howitzers of 6 pouces and of 6-pouce mortars,14 since the heavy artillery had all been loaded for transfer to Acre bay onto the ships of the flotilla commanded by captain Standelet, and onto the freighters that had been collected for that purpose in the Egyptian harbors. Those ships were only just then commencing their journey north, without the means of contact with the land forces, and Napoleon was compelled to make do with the lighter ordnance at his command. However, he did not seem to have been unduly worried.Most probably, the outward appearance of these antiquated walls revived his confidence in the description of M. de Volney, who, in 1784, had called the ramparts of Jaffa "mere garden walls."


1820: Alexander I of Russia prohibited the employment of Christian servants by Jews.


1822(11th of Adar): Isaac Franks passed away


1837: Chicago receives its official charter by the state of Illinois. Jews first came to Chicago from Prussia, Austria, Bohemia and sections of modern-day Poland, fleeing oppression to settle in the Chicago area as early as 1832. Kehilat Anshe Mayriv (Congregation of the People of the West), Chicago's first Jewish congregation, was founded in 1847; in 1851 KAM built the city's first synagogue at Clark and Jackson streets, a site now occupied by the Kluczynski Federal Building. It was followed by B'nai Shalom, in 1852, and Chicago Sinai, the city's first Reform congregation, in 1861. The expansion of the Jewish community was slow but steady. In 1871, the Great Fire destroyed many residences near the downtown business district, forcing thousands of people to relocate. The more prosperous German Jews, who made up the majority, moved south along Michigan, Wabash and Indiana avenues, eventually settling in Washington Park, Kenwood, Hyde Park and South Shore; the Eastern European Jews moved west of the central business district in the vicinity of Maxwell Street. Between 1880 and 1900, a new wave of 55,000 Russian and Polish Jews crowded into the Maxwell Street market neighborhood. Yiddish was the language of choice. Dozens of Hebrew schools and Yiddish theaters were organized, and 40 Orthodox shuls were built within walking distance of Halsted and Maxwell streets. As successive waves of Jewish immigrants became settled and successful, the Jewish community began expanding. In addition to continued growth on the South Side, neighborhoods such as Lawndale and Douglas Park on the West Side and Albany Park, Humboldt Park, Lake View, Uptown and Edgewater on the North Side became vibrant Jewish communities. Many Chicago Jews today trace their roots in this city to one or more of these areas. 


1838: The first Sunday School for Jewish students, under the direction of the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society, opened today in Philadelphia, PA.


1849: Austrian Jews were granted equal civil and political rights under the new constitution. The imperial government would renege on its promise and full rights would not be finally granted until 1867.


1853: Philip Phillips began serving as a U.S. Congressman representing Alabama’s 1stDistrict.


1855: After having been out of office for four years, David Yulee, the first Jew elected to the United States, began his second term in office today.
 
1861: Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the 16th President of the United States.  Lincoln sensitivity to Jewish can be seen in the way he handled the law that allowed Jews to serve as Chaplains and the aftermath of General Grant’s infamous order banning Jews from the area under his command.  But Lincoln’s greatest contribution to the welfare of the Jewish people was his successful effort to save “the last best hope of man” which has provided Jews with unprecedented opportunity.


1862: An article entitled “From the African Coast” published today described the travels of the USS Saratoga through the waters of the South Atlantic including a stop at the island of St. Helena where the ship took on provisions. According to the author, the Jews on the island exploited the plight of the American naval vessel, selling spoiled and overpriced supplies and even exchanging money at rate that exploited the Americans. “The Jews of St. Helena took money out of us and tucked sour flour and bad rice into us, sold us Spanish dollars at 4s. 2d., and took them at 3s. 9d., was a caution, never to come again if we can help it. Even the common necessaries of life were in price luxuries -- for instance, beef, 60c. per pound; mutton, do.; butter, 55c. per pound; eggs, 5c. each, &c., &c.” [It is difficult to know who these Jews were.  During the 1820’s, Nathanial Isaacs uncle served on St. Helena as the counsel for France and Holland.Saul Solomon who converted to Christianity was born in St. Helena in 1817 but left to find fame and fortune in South Africa. “The few other St. Helena Jews who settled” on St. Helena “during Napoleon's banishment, the Gideon, the Moss, and the Isaacs families, were all related to” Solomon, and, like him “most of them drifted from Judaism.”


1863: A rumor from Jackson, Miss., says that a Jew has been arrested on the charge of offering to spike the guns at Port Hudson for $60,000.


1863: William Sprague completed his term as governor of Rhode Island and took his seat in the United States Senate representing his home state.  While in the Senate Sprague would explain away the suffering of the Jews of Romania as being the result of their taking away the lands and livelihood of the Christian, a pattern that he implied could be repeated in the United States.  Sprague’s words take on additional weight because he was not just an ordinary political hack  He was a successful businessman who supported Abraham Lincoln and was the son-in-law of Salmon Chase, the powerful Republican politician who served as Secretary of the Treasury and Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.. 


1865: Birthdate of Lieutenant General Sir George Mark Watson Macdonogh, that rarity among British officers, “a Zionist sympathizer” who was a close enough friend of Chaim Weizmann, that Jewish leader discussed the possibility of having Herbert Samuel removed as British High Commissioner following the issuance of the report issued by the Haycroft Commission of Inquirty.


1866: An article published today entitled  “The Purim Ball: The Wonders or a Persian Temple-A Glimpse of the Glories of Babylon Fun, Frolic and Phantasmagoria” described the celebration of the Purim Ball in New York City which was “duly celebrated…with all the pomp, display an out-rivaling effectiveness which was promised for it by its promoters.


1869: William Seward who had served as Secretary of State under Presidents Lincoln and Johnson completed his service in this office following which he took a tour around the world which included a stop in Jerusalem and Palestine which he had first visited in 1859. Seward described in the Jews as “the builders and the founders of “ Jerusalem.

1870: President U.S. Grant appointed Civil War hero Edward Selig Salomon governor of Washington Territory (the future state of Washington, not D.C.) 


1871: Robert C. De Large, the son of black woman and Jewish man, began serving in the U.S. Representatives as a member from South Carolina’s 2nd district.  A Republican, he had served in the state legislature and as state land commissioner before being elected to Congress.


1874(15th of Adar, 5634): Shushan Purim


1874: “The Jews In Italy” published today contains a synopsys of an article by Dr. Berliner published in the Judische Presse. According to Dr. Berliner there are approximately 4,500 Jews living in Rome “most of who are destitute.”  There are 5 synagouges in Rome two of which follow the Sephardic (Spanish) rite and three of which follow the Italian rite. One of the synagogues dates backs to the time of Titus, the Roman who destroyed the Second Temple. 

1875: William Sharon began serving as U.S. Senator from Nevada.  When he passed away ten years later, his recipients of his bequests included several California charities including those established by the Jewish community


 
1875: It was reported today that over 2,000 tickets have already been sold to the upcoming Hebrew Charity Ball sponsored by the Purim Association.



1877: “The Russian Army of the South” published today provides a detailed description of Kishinev, the city that is the headquarters of the major Russian unit under the Grand Duke that has been mobilized in the war against the Turks.  Kishinev has a population of 100,000, more than half of whom are Jews. [This is the same Kishinev that will be the site of future horrible Pogroms.]


1877:  Emile Berliner invented the microphone.  He would also invent the flat disc that replaced Edison’s cylinder and became the prototype for the record which would become the standard for the recording industry for the better part of a hundred years.


1879: It was reported today that the Purim Association will be sponsoring a fancy dress charity ball to be held later this week at the Academy of Music in New York City.


1879(9th of Adar, 5639): Leon Hyneman passed away. Born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, in 1808, he “was the author of "The Fundamental Principles of Science" and of several works on masonic subjects, the chief among them being "The Origin of Freemasonry" and "Freemasonry in England from 1567 to 1813." Hyneman was one of the members of the Jewish Publication Society of America. Among his eight children were Leona Hyneman who “under the stage name of "Leona Moss," became a talented actress. Another daughter was Alice Hyneman, authoress; born in Philadelphia Jan. 31, 1840; contributor to "The North American Review"; "The Forum"; "The Popular Science Monthly"; and the author of "Woman in Industry," a treatise on the work of woman in America, and of "Niagara," a descriptive record of the great cataract and its vicinity.


 

1879: Edwin Jonas took his seat as a United States Senator from Louisiana making him the third Jew to serve in “the upper chamber.”


1879: Edwin Einstein, a native of Cincinnati, began to serve as a member of the U.S. House Representatives from New York’s 7thCongressional District.


1881: William Sharon, who would bestow a bequest of $5,000 on the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of San Francisco, completed his term as service as a U.S. Senator from Nevada.


1884: Arthur Sebag-Montefiore and Harriett Beddington gave birth to Charles to English stock-broker Charles Edward Sebag-Montefiore, the husband of Muriel Alice Ruth de Pass.


1885: Edwin Jonas, who failed to win re-election, competed his term as a United States Senator following which he was appointed Collector of the Port of New Orleans.



1885: Charles Henry Grosvenor is elected to the House of Representatives from Ohio for the first time.  His career will last until 1907, but he will represent 3 different congressional districts.  During his career he will take part in several debates on immigration bills during which he said “he said he would not vote for a measure framed specially to restrict the entrance of the Russian Jews, for such a would be charged up to him as a vote against a  man on account of his religion.”


 1887: William Stewart, who will defend the Jews of Romania against persecution, begins serving as the U.S. Senator from Nevada.


1889: St. Louis newspaperman Nathan Frank began serving as a member of the House of Representatives in the 51st Congress.

 


1890: The 29th annual ball sponsored by the Purim Association is scheduled took place this evening at the Metropolitan Opera House. Money raised this year will go to the aid of the United Hebrew Charities.


1890: Thieves attempted to rob Solomon Barnett, a Jewish tailor, while he was working at this shop on Lexington Avenue, near 83rdStreet in New York City.
1891(24th of Adar I, 5651: Two students at the Hebrew Union College, Isador H. Frauenthal and Ernst Sallinger, passed away today in Cincinnati, Ohio.
1891: James B. Eustis completed his last term as a United States Senator following which he would become U.S. Ambassador to France, a position from which he would study the Dreyfus Affair but die before he could deliver his report to the government in Washington
1892: It was reported today that Abraham Herrman, Simon Borg and Solomon B. Solomon have been unanimously elected to serve three year terms as Directors of the Hebrew Technical Institute
1893: It was reported today that the proceeds from the upcoming ball sponsored by the Purim Association will be donated to the United Hebrew Charities
1893: “Scenes in the Azores” published today provides a picture of life on these Atlantic Islands including the fact that “native Azorean Jews” have gradually come to dominate the banking business, the importation of coal and the ownership of the mail boats to Lisbon.  The Jews now own homes in Tangiers and Lisbon.
1893: “Manifesto of Jewish Rabbis” published today described a document issued by 210 German Rabbis designed to counteract the increasing power of the country’s anti-Jewish movement.
 
1894: The Superintendent of the Bureau of Immigration, a section of the Treasury Department, “has received an official denial from the Russian Government that” it is aiding Russian Jews in their efforts to come to the United States.


1894(26th of Adar I, 5654):Rabbi Joseph Perles passed away. Born in Baja, Hungary in 1835, he received his early instruction in the Talmud from his father, Baruch Asher Perles, he was educated successively at the gymnasium of his native city, was one of the first rabbis trained at the new type of rabbinical seminary at Breslau, and the university of that city (Oriental philology and philosophy; Ph.D. 1859, presenting as his dissertation Meletemata Peschitthoniana). Perles was awarded his rabbinical diploma in 1862. He had already received a call, in the autumn of the previous year, as preacher to the community of Posen; and in that city he founded a religious school. In 1863 he married Rosalie, the eldest daughter of Simon Baruch Schefftel. In the same year he declined a call to Budapest; but in 1871 he accepted the rabbinate of Münich, being the first rabbi of modern training to fill that office. As the registration law which had restricted the expansion of the communities had not been abrogated until 1861, Perles found an undeveloped community; but under his management it soon began to flourish, and in 1887 he dedicated the new synagogue. He declined not only a call to succeed Abraham Geiger as rabbi in Berlin, but also a chair at the newly founded seminary in Budapest. Perles' most important essays were on folklore and custom. There is much that is striking and original in his history of marriage (Die Judische Hochzeit in nachbiblischer Zeit, 1860), and of mourning customs (Die Leichenfeierlichkeitcn ins nachbiblischen Judenthum, 1861), his contributions to the sources of the Arabian Nights (Zur rabbinischen Sprach-und Sagenkunde, 1873), and his notes on rabbinic antiquities (Beitrage zur rabbiniscizen Sprachund Altertumskunde, 1893). Perles' essays are rich in suggestiveness, and have been the starting-point of much fruitful research. He also wrote an essay on Nachmanides, and a biography and critical appreciation of Rashba (1863).


1894: As the United States grapples with the problem of unemployment brought by economic depression, the United Hebrew Charities is one of the organizations making daily requests to aid the needy.
 
1894: Among the donations made to the fund to help New York’s unemployed are R.H. Macy & Co ($100), Simon Borg ($100) and Emanuel Lehman ($100).


1895: “The Pope May Interfere” published today described the Pope’s plans to issue an “encyclical letter denouncing the anti-Semitic agitation in Europe.  The Pope is reacting to the reports brought to him several weeks ago by Cardinal Schoenborn “concerning Jew-baiting in Austria.”


1895: The 3 year old “waif” found wandering the streets and known only as “John Doe, No.19” moved to the Hebrew Sheltering Society’s Home where the Philip Goodhart, the President of the home gave him the name of Judah Touro.


1895: “Mrs. Ida Lieberman, the convicted fire-bug was taken to Auburn Prison” today to begin serving “her sentence of six years and eight months.


1895: The six year old daughter and eight year old son of prisoner Ida Lieberman, for whom no provision had been made, were provided with a home today at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.


1896: Among the facilities being visited by those attending the conference on “Improved Housing” is the Hebrew Institute on East Broadway, where they will be greeted Inspector
Isaac Spectorsky


1897: Joseph Simon begins his term as U.S. Senator from Oregon.  Born in Germany, Simon settled in Portland, Oregon where he became a member of the bar and played an active role in Republican Party politics. 


1897: “Two Heroes Remembered” published today summarized a speech given by Hugo Hirsh in honor of the 1st and 16thpresidents of the United States in which he said that the “Hebrew race was typified by the institutions of the county in that the Hebrew was the most cosmopolitan among peoples and the United States the most cosmopolitan of nations.”  Furthermore, “the principles of educational, religious and political freedom fostered by these two leaders had been of incalculable benefit to the Hebrew race.”


1899: A group of “prominent” Jews met in Cincinnati to plan for the reception and entertainment of the rabbis who will be attending the upcoming annual Central Conference of American Rabbis.


1899: It was reported today that among the three new novels in Houghton, Mifflin & Co.’s spring list is A Tent of Grace, a story of a Jew and a gentile in Germany by Adelina C. Lust.

1900: In Philadelphia, PA Joseph and Eva Biberman gave birth to screenwriter and director Herbert J. Biberman who was one of the Hollywood Ten.


1901: Birthdate of master bridge player, Charles Goren.  The Philadelphia born lawyer probably did more to popularize the game bridge than did any other single American.


1901: Henry Mayer Goldfogle began serving as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York’s 9thCongressional District.


1904: In Richmond, VA, Beth Ahabah, a Reform congregation that could trace its roots back to 1789, laid the cornerstone for a new house of worship popularly referred to as the Franklin Street Synagogue because of its address 1111 West Franklin Street.


1905: William M. Stewart completed his services as U.S. Senator from Nevada.  During one debate on anti-Semitism in Romania, Stewart defended the Jews of charges from Senator Sprague that the Jews were the author of their own suffering because they had been so successful.

1906: Only days after Martial Law had come to an end a police officer name Kulchitsky was killed in Bialystok.  This killing was one of the many acts of violence that would lead to the pogrom that took place in June of that year.
 
1907: John Simon Guggenheim, the son of Meyer and Barbara Guggenheim began serving as U.S. Senator from Colorado.


1909: Birthdate of Millionaire Real Estate Mogul Harry B. Helmsley.


1910(23rd of Adar I, 5670): Romanian born Yiddish dramatist Moses Horowitz passed away in the Montefiore Home at the age of 76.  The Bucharest native came to the United States in 1882 and was hailed at his passing as being “the Pioneer Yiddish playwright in New York.”  Five years before his death he lost all of his money while trying to produce a unique Yiddish opera at the Windsor Theatre.


1911: Victor Berger of Wisconsin became the first member of the Socialist Party to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.


1911: Jefferson Monroe Levy, the nephew of Uriah P. Levy began serving as the U.S. Congressman from New York’s 13thDistrict.


1912:  Birthdate of the actor John Garfield in New York. Born Julius Garfinkle, Garfield rose to stardom in the 1930's and 1940's playing a variety of wisecracking, “lover boy” type roles.  One of his most famous roles was in the film hit, “The Postman Rings Twice.”  Garfield was caught up in the Anti-Communist Witch Hunts of the 1950's.


1913: Dr. Joseph Hertz sailed from New York on the SS Mauritania bound for the British Isles where he will become Chief Rabbi of England which will make him not only the leader of British Jewry but one of the most influential Jewish clerics in the world.


1914: The General Orders issued on this date provided the official citation  awarding Louis C. HOseher the Congressional Medal of Honor. “The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Second Lieutenant Louis C. Mosher, United States Army, for most distinguished gallantry on 11 June 1913, while serving with the Philippine Scouts, in action at Gagsak Mountain, Jolo, Philippine Islands. Second Lieutenant Mosher voluntarily entered a cleared space within about 20 yards of the Moro trenches under a furious fire from them and carried a wounded soldier of his company to safety at the risk of his own life.”


1914: “Arthur Ruppin wrote in his diary, ‘Today I succeeded in buying from Sir John Gray Hill his large and magnificently situated property on Mount Scopus, thus acquiring the first piece of ground for the Jewish University in Jerusalem.’”


1915: Jefferson Monroe Levy completed his second and final term as a U.S. Congressman


1915: Meyer London, the Jewish Socialist, began serving his first term in the U.S House representing New York’s 12th Congressional District.


1919: After four years out of office, Henry Mayer Goldfogle began serving as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from  New York’s 12th Congressional District.


1920: Birthdate of Leo Greenland, the Bronx born adman whose accounts included Tanqueray Gin, Johnnie Walker (Red & Black) Scotch and Olvatine. Do you think he ever confused his liquids? (As reported by Margalit Fox)


1920: In Harlem, Robert and Mary Habib Yohai, Jewish immigrants from Turkey, gave birth to Morrie Robert Yohai, the man who Cheez Doodles one of America’s most popular junk snack foods. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)


1921: Having been out of office for two years, Meyer London again begins representing New York’s 12th Congressional District.


1922: Birthdate of British cardiologist David Mendel.


1922: Release date of German silent horror film “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror” co-starring Wolfgang Heinz, the stage name of David Hrisch.


1923(16thof Adar, 5683): Shushan Purim, since the 15th of Adar fell on Shabbat


1923(16thof Adar, 5683): Edward Lauterbach, prominent New York attorney and leader of the Republican Party who devoted four decades of his life to the Hebrew Orphan Asylum passed away today.


1923: Birthdate of Kurt Schubert, the founder of Austria's first Jewish museum after World War II and the founder of the Jewish Institute at the University of Vienna.


1923: Royal Samuel Copeland begins serving as a U.S. Senator from New York. In June of 1933, when several Senators rose on the floor to condemn the treatment of the Jews of Germany, Copeland “paid tribute to the Jews as whole mentioning Nathan Straus as an example of Jews whose work set an example for the world.” He went on to say that the condemnation of Germany’s treatment of the Jews by Senator Pat Robinson of Arkansas, the Senate majority leader, “will bring hoe and cheer into the hearts of many persons…”


1925(8th of Adar, 5685): Polish born composer Moritz Moszkowskipassed away at the age of 70 while living in Paris.


1927(30th of Adar I, 5687): Rosh Chodesh Adar II


1927(30th of Adar I, 5687): Solomon Cicurel, 46, was fatally stabbed - eight times - shortly after midnight today.The only witness to the crime was Cicurel’s wife Elvire Toriel. She had little to say except that she had been chloroformed by her husband’s assailants. Four suspects were eventually tried. They had either murdered Cicurel during a robbery or as part of an act of revenge or both. The four were all tried, but due to the legal system under which existed, they were tried in the courts of their native countries. This reality caused as much anger among many Egyptians as did the murder of the Jewish merchant.  The murdered victim was the eldest of three brothers. Solomon, Salvator and Joseph were the sons of Moreno Cicurel, a Sephardic Jew who came to Egypt the previous century from Smyrna (Izmir), then a thriving cosmopolitan trading port in Turkey. A self-made man, Moreno, started his career as an employee with a coreligionist who owned a textile shop in the Mousky district, Cairo’s main commercial hub. Moreno Cicurel was the founder of one of the largest department stores in the Middle East. The murdered victim was the eldest of three brothers. Solomon, Salvator and Joseph were the sons of Moreno Cicurel, a Sephardic Jew who came to Egypt the previous century from Smyrna (Izmir), then a thriving cosmopolitan trading port in Turkey. A self-made man, Moreno, started his career as an employee with a coreligionist who owned a textile shop in the Mousky district, Cairo’s main commercial hub. Moreno Cicurel was the founder of one of the largest department stores in the Middle East.


1928:  In Mannheim, Germany, cantor and composer Hugo Chaim Adler and Selma Adler gave birth to composer Samuel Adler who came to the United States in 1939 where he earned a B.M. from Boston University, and an M.A. from Harvard University. He has also received several honorary doctorates in recognition for his artistic accomplishments. During his tenure in the U.S. Army, he founded and conducted the Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra, and because of the orchestra's great psychological and musical impact on the European cultural scene, he was awarded the Army's Medal of Honor.

1933: Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as 32nd President of the United States.  Regardless of what one may think of Roosevelt's record during the Holocaust, there is no denying the positive things he did for Jews during the days of the New Deal.  He had numerous Jewish advisors and appointed them to a variety of positions of power including Supreme Court Justice to Secretary of the Treasury.  A hitherto untapped cohort of well-educated first or second generation American Jews gained access to positions through the newly emerging federal agencies that were part of Roosevelt's program to reform American government, business and labor practices.


1933: Cordell Hull began serving as U.S. Secretary of State a post he would hold until 1944. Hull would win the Nobel Peace Prize but he earned low marks from the Jewish community for his moves to thwart attempts to aid Jewish refugees and his failure to curb the genteel anti-Semitism found in his department.


1933: Seventy more people are imprisoned at Nohra on the second day of the operation of Germany's first Concentration Camp.  This brings the total of prisoners to 170.


1935: The Jerusalem Shopkeepers Association plans to shutter its shops today in an attmpet to “force the Municipal Council to adopt a rent regulation ordinance” similar to the ones in force in Tel Aviv and Haifa.
 
1937: The 9th Annual Academy Awards, hosted by Jewish actor and Hollywood fixture, George Jessel, are held at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.


1938(1st of Adar II, 5698): Rosh Chodesh Adar II


1938: The Palestine Post reported that Sir Harold MacMichael had arrived in Palestine and described the ceremony in which he was sworn as the fifth High Commissioner.


1938: The Palestine Post reported that The Lydda-Jerusalem train was sabotaged when the railway line was damaged by an explosion. Another bomb was found on the railway tracks near Khan Yunis. Curfew was imposed on Arab villages situated close to the railway tracks.


1938: The Palestine Post reported that there were 5,734,917 Palestine pounds in circulation and 15,641 registered vehicles in the country in 1937. There were also 95 credit cooperatives with 79,750 members.


1938: Birthdate of Allan Nathaniel Kornblum, the Brooklyn native who would help steer the F.B.I. into the post-J. Edgar Hoover era by drafting guidelines for its surveillance operations in the 1970s, and whose testimony would help convict the murderer of a black man in a celebrated civil rights case revived nearly 40 years after the event.


1941: A group of tailors who worked in shop supplying uniforms to the German Army were photographed in Nazi occupied Bendzin, Poland.



1941: "I. Segaloff" wrote “My best regards to my friend Tatsuo Osako," on the back of a photo. Segaloff was probably a Jewish refugee who had been helped by Osako who was a young employee of the Japan Tourist Bureau at the start of World War II. Osako probably worked with “Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat stationed in Lithuania who granted transit visas to several thousand Jews in the early days of the war. In doing so, he defied strict stipulations from Tokyo that such recipients have proper funds and a clear final destination after Japan. He was one of a handful of diplomats such as Sweden's Raoul Wallenberg and Hiram Bingham IV of the U.S. who used their bureaucratic machinery, often without their government's knowledge, to issue the paperwork that would get Jews to safety. Dubbed the "Japanese Schindler," Sugihara was honored in 1985 by Yad Vashem as one of the Righteous Among the Nations, a high honor reserved for non-Jews who saved Jews at their own personal risk from the Holocaust, Hitler's destruction of 6 million Jews. A short movie about him, "Visas and Virtue," won an Academy Award in 1997. Museums at his home town and in Lithuania are dedicated to his memory.”


1942: Algiers radio announced that all firms, property and legal titles owned in part or full by Jews have been put under "Aryan" administration. This came after the dismissal of 3,000 Jews from the French civil service just a couple months prior.


1942: Eichmann met with all his territorial representatives to discuss the organizational problems of the deportations to come. Actual plans commenced months earlier.



1943:Most of the Jews living in Cuomotini, Greece were arrested and transported in 20 open train cars to the notorious Dupnitsa transit camp, and then dispatched from Lom by boat via the Danube. The Jews from Cuomotini and Kavala on the Karageorge were shot by the Bulgarians and the Germans; while three other boats, of which one held Cuomotini Jews, arrived in Vienna and from there the Thracian Jews were sent to Treblinka; where they were gassed upon arrival. The Bulgarians confiscated all of the Jewish properties and possessions.


1943:The Jews of Drama, a town in Macedonia, were arrested by the Bulgarian police and army, held in tobacco warehouses in the Agia Barbara quarter for three days, and then sent to the Gorna Djumaya camp in Bulgaria, where they were kept in extremely harsh conditions. From there, young men in their teens and early twenties were sent to forced labor in Bulgaria and 113 families (589 people) were dispatched by train to Lom and from there put on a boat to Vienna, where they were reloaded on trains to Treblinka and gassed upon their arrival.


1943: Jews continued to be sent from Paris to Chelmno, Sobibor, and Majdanek.


1943: At the 15th Annual Oscar award ceremony, “Mrs. Miniver” directed by William Wyler wins for Best Picture of 1942.  Wyler, a refugee from Hitler’s Europe wins for Best Director.


1944(9th of Adar, 5704):In Warsaw, four Jewish women were shot in the ghetto along with 80 non Jews. All their bodies, dead and wounded alike, were thrown into a building that was then lit on fire.


1944(9th of Adar, 5704):  In Ossining, New York, Louis Buchalter, the leader of 1930s crime syndicate Murder, Inc. was executed at Sing Sing.


1946: Birthdate of English impresario Harvey Goldsmith


1947: As much of Palestine’s Jewish community endured the third day of martial law, Joseph Saphir, the mayor of Petach Tikva reported that 4,000 men were out of work due to the clampdown and the number was growing.  In Tel Aviv, the banks were closed due to a lack of coin and currency while the population worried about getting the necessities of life including fresh milk.


1949: The Security Council of the United Nations recommended Israel for membership in the international body.


1950: In an article about the proposed Israel-Jordan non-aggression pact entitled “Israel and Jordan Working for Peace,” Gene Currivan declares that “Israel decided long ago that while external advice is always welcome, she must rely principally – as the Jews have over the centuries – on her own resourcefulness where the future is concerned.”


1950: The Revocation of Citizenship Bill, which made it possible for Iraq's Jews to flee the country, went into effect.   "By the end of May of 1950, at least ten thousand Iraqi Jews" many of whom were impoverished before leaving, "had crossed the border into Iran” as they made their way to Israel.


1953:The Jerusalem Post reported that the new, official US Middle Eastern policy was to “equalize the support for Israel and other countries in the area.” According to the explanation given to the Post by US Embassy officials in Tel Aviv, this new policy did not mean that the support hitherto given to Israel was to be lessened, but that the assistance offered to the Arab states was to be increased. [This new policy was a product of the newly elected Republican Administration of Dwight Eisenhower and his Secretary of State John Foster Dulles.  Eisenhower and Dulles would show their true feelings about Israel when they took the side of the Egyptians over the Israelis during the Suez Crisis of 1956.]


1953:The Jerusalem Post reported that following the recent Israeli offer, the Barclay and Ottoman banks in Cyprus started accepting claims from Arab Palestine refugees for the release of their frozen accounts held in Israeli banks.


1953:The Jerusalem Post reported that a new draft for the Punishment of Crimes against the State was tabled in the Knesset. It provided for a death sentence for the high treason in time of war.


1954: As attempts were being to remove his security clearance, J. Robert Openheimer, the “father of the Atomic Bomb,” sent a letter to Major General Kenneth D. Nicholas describing his relationship with Jean Tatlock.


1957:  Israel, in compliance with the United Nations resolution, withdrew from the Gaza Strip and other territories.  These territories had been seized in the Sinai Campaign of 1956, some times referred to as “the One Hundred Hour War” because of its short duration.  The fighting in 1956 was an Israeli response to years of attacks by terrorists as well as the arming of the Egyptians by the Soviets with an arsenal of modern weapons.  The history of the war is too complicated to summarize here.  Suffice it to say that the Israelis withdrew with guarantees from the United Nations and the United States that the Sinai Peninsula would be a demilitarized zone and that Israel would enjoy unfettered access from Eilat, its southern port through the Straits of Tiran.  In 1967, Egypt would completely break the agreements of 1957 and the U.N. would fail to honor its commitments which brought about the Six Days War.


1957: The Importance of Overweight by childhood obesity researcher Hilda Bruch was published.


1969(14TH of Adar, 5729): The first Purim during the Nixon Presidency


1969(14th of Adar, 5729): Pioneering movie mogul, Nicholas M. Schenck passed away.

1973: Marcel Marceau appears at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City, IA.


1974(10th of Adar, 5734): Adolph Gottlieb, prominent Abstract Expressionist painter passed away at the age of 71.


1974: "Five months after Israel's defeat of the Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, four young Syrian Jewish women were found raped, robbed and murdered in a cave on the Syrian side of the Syrian-Lebanese borders...The bodies were returned to their parents in sacks."

1975: Charlie Chaplin was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of England.


1984:The life of journalist and author Sidney Zion “was transformed” tonight “when his 18-year-old daughter, Libby, a Bennington College freshman with a history of depression and cocaine use, was admitted to New York Hospital with fever, chills and agitation. Her condition was not diagnosed, but two interns gave her a painkiller and sedative, a plan approved by phone by a senior clinician who had treated members of the family, and Ms. Zion was tied down to prevent injury. She died eight hours after admission.”  This tragedy resulted in Zion leading a crusade that resulted in national reforms in the training, workload and supervision of young doctors.


1987: Jonathan Pollard was sentenced today by a Washington, D.C. court to life imprisonment for spying for Israel.


1988:Sir John Templeton, sponsor of the $369,000 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, has expressed surprise at charges that this year's prize winner was associated with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel causes. ''We'd heard absolutely nothing of that nature and I don't think any of the judges had either,'' Sir John said by telephone today from the Bahamas. ''We are completely surprised and will be trying to study the facts.'' The Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith and the American Jewish Committee protested the designation of Dr. Inamullah Khan, secretary general of the Pakistan-based World Moslem Congress, as the winner because Dr. Khan and the congress have linked to anti-Semitic groups, including those that deny the Holocaust occurred, and that Dr. Khan had rejected Israel's right to exist. Dr. Khan is the first Moslem to be chosen for the Templeton Prize.


1993(11th of Adar, 5753): Ta'anit Esther observed since the 13th of Adar falls on Shabbat


1993(11th of Adar, 5753):Izaak Maurits (Piet) Kolthoff “a highly influential chemist, widely considered the Father of Analytical Chemistry” passed away. https://www2.chemistry.msu.edu/portraits/PortraitsHH_Detail.asp?HH_LName=Kolthoff


1994: The INS Hanit a corvette built by Northrop Gruman was launched today.


1995: President Clinton appoint Martin S. Indyk as U.S. Ambassador to Israel.


1996(13th of Adar, 5756):A suicide bomber killed at least 10 people and and wounded at least 35 others. The Arab bomber, with explosives strapped to his body, blew himself up in the street near the indoor mall known as Dizengoff Center. 


1996(13th of Adar, 5756): This morning, owner Abe Lebewohl the 2nd Avenue Deli was in his delivery truck, going to make his habitual deposit at a nearby bank when he was shot and killed, a victim of a robbery that remains unsolved to this day. His baby brother, Jack Lebewohl, who, unlike Abe, realized their parents’ American dream by becoming a “professional,” a real estate lawyer, gave up his practice and took over the deli. He made a go of it for almost 10 years, despite the fact that delis in New York have been disappearing for almost 40 years.


2001: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Islam's Black Slaves: The Other Black Diaspora by Ronald Segal


2005: A German court ruled that the heirs of a once prominent Jewish-owned department store chain were entitled to compensation for what has in recent years become one of Berlin's most valuable pieces of real estate. Deciding one of the biggest and most bitterly disputed claims for restitution of property seized by the Nazis, the German Administrative Court awarded $17 million to Barbara Principe and her nephew, Martin Wortham. They are the main surviving heirs of the family of German Jews that, until the war, owned and operated the Wertheim department store chain, which even today is to Berlin what Macy's or Bloomingdale's is to New York.  The Wertheim Company, founded in the 19th century, owned seven large stores in Berlin before the war, all of them appropriated by the Nazis in 1937 as part of the process by which Jews were squeezed out of German economic life and their holdings turned over to "Aryans." The Wertheim brothers arrived in the United States penniless in the 1940's. Gunther Wertheim, Mrs. Principe's father, ran a chicken farm in southern New Jersey.
 
2005:  The New York Times reviewed The Great Morality by John Kelly.  This book provided “an intimate history of the Black Death.  Included in this acclaimed volume are references to the treatment of the Jews including reports of “survivors pointing accusatory fingers at Jews and Muslims and outsiders” and the “pogroms instituted against the Jews, who were scapegoated for spreading the plague; the abdication of responsibility on the part of many officials and community leaders; and the exploitation of the needy and grief-stricken by con men and opportunists.”


2005: An exhibition styled “The Power of Conversation of Jewish Women and Their Salons” opens at the Jewish Museum.


2006: Dalia Itizk a native of Jerusalem born into a family of Iraqi Jews, began serving Speaker of the Knesset, making her the first women to hold this post.


2007: The Sunday New York Times book section featured a review of The Art of Aging:A Doctor’s Prescription for Well-Beingby Jewish author Sherwin B. Nuland and a review of  Becoming Judy Chicago: A Biography of the Artistby Gail Levin. “Judy Chicago, born Judith Sylvia Cohen in Chicago in 1939, is descended from a long line of rabbis, going back to the Vilna Gaon in eighteenth century Lithuania.” 


2007(14th of Adar, 5767): Purim.


2008: As part of “Hadassah on Tour,” Dr. Michael Wilschanski, the Director of the Pediatric Gastroenterology Unit of the Division of Pediatrics at Hadassah Medical Center, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, speaks in Duluth, MN


2008: In New York, the 92nd Street Y presents “Breaking News from Israel: Reports from the Front Lines” featuring NBC journalist Martin Fletcher and moderated by New York Times editor and author Joseph Berger.


2008:James L. Kugel and Rabbi Harold Kushner are among the 20 writers honored tonight at the 57th annual Jewish Book Awards, to be held at the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan. In January, the Jewish Book Council, which administers the awards, named Mr. Kugel's How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now the Jewish Book of the Year for 2007, and chose Rabbi Kushner, the author of the 1981 best seller When Bad Things Happen to Good People, the recipient of its Lifetime Achievement Award. The Jewish Book Council, founded in 1943, is the only organization in America devoted exclusively to promoting books reflecting the Jewish experience. The annual awards honor achievement in biography and memoir, children's and young adult literature, fiction, poetry, and history.


2008: According to Palestinian sources, the Arabs suffered 110 casualties during Operation Hot Winter.  The Israelis launched Operation Hot Winter following a series of rocket attacks launched from Gaza that targeted Israeli towns, including Sderot. 


2009: In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Hadassah Book Club meets at the home of community leader Amy Barnum discuss a novel by Anita Dimant entitledGood Harbor


2009: In New York, the Jewish Community Relations Council and the Chinese Community Relations Council sponsor a presentation by Avrum Ehrlich, Professor at the University of Shandong, China, entitled China-Israel Relations: Geopolitical and Social Dimensions.


2009:  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits Ramallah before flying out of Israel as she completes her first official peace mission to the Middle East.


2009: Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander in chief of the Iran’s Revolutionary guard announced that Iran now has missiles that can reach Israeli nuclear sites.  Iran’s Shahab-3 missiles have a range of up to 1,250 miles, putting Israel within striking distance.


2009: According to the Providence Journal,the last two paid staff member of the Touro Synagogue in Newport, R.I., were let go and public tours were canceled because of financial difficulties.


2009(8th of Adar, 5769:Joseph Bloch, who was a professor of piano literature at the Juilliard School in New York passed away today at the age of 91. at his home in Larchmont, N.Y. For the better part of the past five decades, every Juilliard pianist passed through Mr. Bloch’s classroom. There was a brief interruption to this process in the 1980s when Mr. Bloch tried to retire but proved indispensable and was persuaded to return. His pupils included many of the best-known performers of the second half of the 20th century, among them Van Cliburn, Emanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson, Misha Dichter, Jeffrey Siegel, Jeffrey Swann and Yoheved Kaplinsky, the current chairwoman of Julliard’s piano department. A pianist trained as a musicologist, Mr. Bloch did not teach his students prowess at the keyboard; that was done by the conservatory’s studio teachers, eminent pianists like Rosina Lhévinne and Adele Marcus. What he taught was not so much the how-to of pianism but the who, the why and the what-if. Mr. Bloch also leaves behind a world of pianists, each of them,. Emmanuel Ax said, “a cultured musician, someone who retains curiosity throughout one’s life of music.” “Maybe all of us would have found another road that would have led us to the same end,” Mr. Ax added. “But we were lucky enough not to have had to look beyond him.”


2010: YIVO is scheduled to present a program entitled Goebbels in Arabia during which Jeffrey Herf, eminent historian and a professor at the University of Maryland, discusses his new book, Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World (Yale University Press), a detailed account of how Hitler's Germany planted the seeds of its own brand of virulent anti-Semitism in the Middle East.


2010: The Twentieth Annual KOACH Kallah is scheduled to begin today at the Pearlston Conference and Retreat Center in Reisterstown, MD.  KOACH is the is the college program Conservative Movement.

2010: In Washington, D.C., Norman Shore is scheduled to lead a “learn over lunch” that examines the reign of Solomon as described in Book of I Kings.


2010: Rabbi Joshua Maroof, the spiritual leader of the Magen David Sephardic Congregation in Rockville, Maryland is scheduled to conduct another class designed to discover the fascinating world of Sephardic Jewish thought in which attendees delve into the legacy of great philosophers such as Maimonides and Joseph Caro (author of the Shulchan Aruch) and discuss monotheism, free will and other ever-contemporary themes.


2010:The High Court today refused to throw out a lawsuit by Peace Now against construction in Kiryat Netafim, even though the government says it has evidence that shows that construction was approved before the lawsuit was undertaken, contradicting the contention of the suit that the building was illegal. The court, however, rejected a demand by Peace Now that the town and the Samaria Regional Council be held in contempt of court for allowing construction to continue, even though the court had ordered building frozen until the lawsuit was heard.


2010: Michigan Congressman Sandy Levin took over as chairman of the committee today when Charles B. Rangel of New York stepped aside in due to a number of ethics violations. (Levin is Jewish; Rangel is not.)


2011: Agudas Achim in Iowa City is scheduled to celebrate Shabbat Across America.


2011: In Rockville, MD, Tikvat Israel is scheduled to explore the world the Jews of Ethiopia in a program styled: “From Tesfa to Tikva: A Lens on Ethiopian Israelis.”


2011: Congregation Adat Reyim is scheduled to celebrate a Shabbat Service Honoring Military Families.


2011:Several hundred people gathered in central Tel Aviv today to protest government plans to deport hundreds of children of foreign workers and illegal residents of Israel.

2011: Twenty year old Jessica Feibler, a U.C. student has brought a federal civil rights lawsuit against the University of California, Berkeley, saying the university did not protect her from being attacked because she is Jewish. The case, filed in U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif., today against the university, the regents of the University of California and their ranking officials, is the first of its kind.


2011(29thof Adar I, 5771):Vivienne Harris, 89, who worked with her husband to found the Jewish Telegraph, now a regional publishing powerhouse in northern England with editions in Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Glasgow, passed away. Harris received an Order of the British Empire -- MBE -- for her professional and charitable works, and was still active as the company's financial director until days before her death. Her son, Paul, the Telegraph's editor, said that "I always said that she had three children -- myself, my brother and the Jewish Telegraph. The paper was very much her baby, and she nurtured it like a child for 60 years. Even in her 90th year, she was devoted to the company." Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdon, Ron Prosor, said that Harris "embodied what we should all be proud of: Jewish values, Zionistic determination and motivation of someone who established the Jewish Telegraph with her late husband with just the 10 fingers that she had, against all the odds. A remarkable woman who I had the privilege of meeting and talking to. It's a great loss (As reported by the Eulogizer)


2012: The AIPAC Policy Conference is scheduled to begin in Washington, DC


2012: Rabbi Jeffery Saks is scheduled to lead the first in a three part mini-series, “Aganon’s Eretz Yisrael” that examines the work of Nobel Prize Winner, S.Y. Agnon.


2012: Virginia’s Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader and the only Jewish Republican serving in the U.S. House of Representatives endorsed Mitt Romney for president and said that he is not interested in the vice-presidency.


2012(10thof Adar): Ninety seven year old Shmuel Tankus, who commanded Israel’s navy from 1954 until 1960 passed away today.


2012: President Barak Obama addressed the AIPAC Policy Conference.


2013: Josh Sussman is scheduled to host a Montreal Aliyah Fair this evening.


2013: Dr. Brian Horowitz is scheduled to be the first speaker at today’s session of the a day-long conference at Tulane University - “Jewish Music in New Orleans”


2013(22ndof Adar, 5773):Sixty-eight year oldRabbi Menachem Froman died tonight at has home in Tekoa in Gush Etzion, where 200 of his students and followers sang and prayed instead of learning with him a weekly lesson in the mystical Zohar.


2013: Pawel Frenkel, who fought alongside Mordecai Anielewicz is to be commemorated today at an event marking anniversary of the Jewish rebellion


2014: Sandy, Larry and Michael Levin, from suburban Chicago, are among those scheduled to attend the final day of the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, DC.


2014:Emily Casden, Coordinating Curator for “Art Spiegelman’s Co-Mix: A Retrospective” is scheduled to participate in a Q & A following a screening of “The Art of Spiegelman.”


2014: “Dancing in Jaffa” and “An Evening of Yiddish Song” are scheduled to be shown at the 24th Washington Jewish Film Festival.


2014: The Historic 6th&; I Synagogue is scheduled to host “Judaism on Trial: The Barcelona Disputation of 1263”


2014: YIVO is scheduled to host “Jacob Glatstein: A Yiddish Genius in Anglicizing America.”

This Day, March 5, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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March 5



363: Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sassanid Empire, in a campaign which will bring to his own death. Julian followed Constantine to the throne and turned back his predecessor’s pro-Christian promulgations.  Effectively, his decrees gave validity to other religions previously practiced in the Empire.  On his was to fight the Sassanids, Julian gave orders that the Temple in Jerusalem should be rebuilt.  His untimely death prevented this from happening.  The Sassanids were the Persians of their day.


1133: Birth of King Henry II of England during whose reign Jews would prosper as reported by visitors including Abraham ibn Ezra and Isaac of Chernigov as well as the money that flowed to his coffers through the estate of Aaron of Lincoln and “the Saladin tithe.”


1179:  The Third Lateran Council opens at Rome.  At the end of the meeting the council would adopt the following as matters of canon law: "Jews should be slaves to Christians and at the same time treated kindly due of humanitarian considerations."”The testimony of Christians against Jews is to be preferred in all causes where they use their own witnesses against Christians."


1245: As the Mongols continued their sweep across Christian Europe, Innocent IV issued “Dei patris immense,” a Papal bull urging them to be baptized.  These are the same Mongols who had destroyed the kingdom of the Khazars in 1239.  Apparently the Mongols were no more impressed with Christianity than the Khazars had been since the latter, in a legendary contest, had chosen Judaism over Islam and Christianity.


1291: Sa'ad al'Da'ulah, Jewish grand vizier of Persia under the Mongols was assassinated.


1328(15th of Adar, 5088): After the death of Charles the Fair, Pedro Olligoyen, a Franciscan friar, used the Jews as a scapegoat against French rule. Starting today, Shabbat, all the Jewish houses were pillaged and then destroyed. Approximately 6000 Jews were murdered with 20 survivors. Among the dead were parents and four younger brothers of Menachem ben Zerach, “then barely twenty years old who became a scholar of commanding influence.”  He was saved by “a compassionate knight” who was a friend of the young Jew’s father.


1563: Havazzelet ha-Shaon, a commentary on the Book of Daniel by Rabbi Moses Alshekh was published for the first time today.


1616: The Roman Catholic Church decreed that the Copernican theory was “false and erroneous” and that teaching or believing in the earth orbiting the sun was prohibited.  For one view of Copernicus and the Jews see

1696: Birthdate of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.  His fresco, “The Sacrifice of Isaac” is an example of how European artists used the Hebrew Bible as an inspiration and resource. It also is an example of how deeply entrenched Judaism is in the fabric of Western Civilization  



1783: King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski granted rights to Jews of Kovno. 


1820: Dutch city of Leeuwarden forbade Jews to go to synagogues on Sundays.


1861: Dr. Fischer delivered a paper at tonight’s meeting of the New York Historical Society entitled “The History of the Inquisition in America” that included a description of the life and death by fire of the dramatist Antonio José da Silva.  Da Silva wrote most of his plays while imprisoned in a dudgeon and faced the auto de fe rather than betray the faith of his fathers.


1861: William H. Seward began serving as Secretary of State under President Abraham Lincoln. Seward had visited Jerusalem and other parts of Palestine in 1859 and it is thought that his talk about that visit may have been the factor that prompted Lincoln’s comment that when his term was over he wanted to visit the “Holy Land” during his travels aboard with Mrs. Lincoln.
1863(14th of Adar, 5623) Purim
1863: In New York, more than three thousand Jews and their friends gathered tonight at the Academy of Music to for the second annual grand ball of the Purim Association. The first grand ball took place last year and it was great success. Many of the guest came in costumes including “one lady who was dressed … in garments made entirely of Frank Leslie's paper, and was decidedly a feature of the night, as were "Joan of Arc,""Old Aunt Dinah,""Mehitabel Ann,""Old Mother Goose,""Pocahontas,""Anne Boleyn" and the "Dame aux Camelias.” One lady was dressed in the height of fashion, in garments made entirely of Frank Leslie's paper, and was decidedly a feature of the night, as were "Joan of Arc,""Old Aunt Dinah,""Mehitabel Ann,""Old Mother Goose,""Pocahontas,""Anne Boleyn" and the "Dame aux Camelias.” Myer S. Isaacs and his committee are to be congratulated for putting on such a successful event which was orderly and entertaining.


1869: Birthdate of Michael von Faulhaber who was Archbishop of Munich from 1917 until 1952 who opposed the Nazis on certain issues but demonstrated the anti-Semitism compatible with European Christianity as manifested by his work with Amici Israel among other things.
1869: The first edition of the Jewish Times appeared in New York City.  Mortiz Ellinger was the publisher.
1870: In Cambridge City, Indiana, Michael H. and Rachel Levy Franklin gave birth to Leo Morris Franklin who served as Rabbi of Detroit’s Temple Beth El for over four decades.


1871: Birthdate of German revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg


1874: “A Gang of Swindlers” published today J. Moritz Ehrenberg, a college educated middle class Hungarian born Jew as the leader of a group of con man who have preyed on members of the American financial community in many cities. Michael Mandel, an Austrian born Jew and Henry Hertz, a Russian born Jew are two of his comrades in these larcenous schemes for which they have been imprisoned in New York and Missouri.


1876: It was reported today that a Purim reception will be held at Delmonico’s 4 days after the actual celebration of the holiday on the Jewish calendar.



1878(30th of Adar I, 5638): Rosh Chodesh Adar II


1879: In New York, Judge Gildersleve is scheduled to rule on an application compelling the 3 Salomon brothers to pay six dollars a week in support of Mrs. Fanny Solomon, their 70 year old mother.  She had petitioned the court for a payment of support.  The sons had contested the matter claiming that their mother was financially capable of taking of herself.


1880:  The would-be assassin of General Melilkoff, a leading figure in Russia, who was to be hanged today, said while be interrogated that he had converted from Judaism because it was impossible for a Jew to live in St. Petersburg.


1880:  Publication of “Was Shylock A Jew”



1882(14th of Adar, 5642): Purim


1884: In the wake of an order expelling all Jews holding foreign passports from Odessa and other Russian cities, The Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of Internal Relations, St. Petersburg said that it could not provide Jewish citizens of America with Russian permits of residence.


1885: Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen completed his terms U.S. Secretary of State under President Chester A. Arthur during which he dealt with problems related to the persecution of Jews in Russia and Russian discrimination against American Jews trying to do business in the Czar’s empire.


1890: “Dancing For Charity” published today described the charity ball given by the Purim Association has raised between ten and twelve thousand dollars for the United Hebrew Charities.


1890: In Baltimore, MD, Benjamin and Rose Nathan Perlman gave birth to Philip B. Perlman who was appointed as U.S. Solicitor General by President Truman in 1947, making him the first Jew to hold that post.


1890: As Mr. and Mrs. Lazar Anezes and their four children are detained by the Commissioners of Emigration as paupers and the United Hebrew Charities work for their admission by offering “to go surety for them” Judge O’Brien granted a writ of habeas corpus.


1890: “Lipschutz Won Another Game” published today descried the third game of the  match between Jewish chess champions Eugene Delmar and Samuel Lipshcutz at the Manhattan Chess Club which Lipschutz  when Delmar “resigned” after the 49th move.


1891 In one of the earliest manifestation of popular non-Jewish support for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, the Blackstone Memorial was sent to President Benjamin Harrison.  The petition was the creation of Reverend William Eugene Blackstone and called for U.S. government support in the endeavor. It was signed by 431 prominent Americans including John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan and future President William McKinley and was supported by a myriad of newspapers including the New York Times,Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post.  Harrison’s lack of response may have been another sign of the ineptitude that would lead voters to deny him a second term a year later. 


1892: Kansas Congressman Funston was brought to tears during his visit to Ellis Island today when he saw the conditions under which the immigrants were living.  A member of the House Committee on Immigration, Funston was so moved by what he saw that he took money from his own billfold and gave it to some of those whom he encountered.


1892(6th of Adar, 5652): James Solomon Moore who had suffered a stroke two years ago passed away this evening in New York City.  Born at Konigsberg, Germany in 1821, he moved to England at the age of 17 where he pursued his studies while living with his uncle, P.B. Moore.  He came to the United States during the 1840’s and in 1849 joined the California Gold Rush. After a successful business career, he became interested in economic theory and his advocacy of removing tarries earned him the title of “The Father of Free Trade.” He married Amelia Moore in 1854 and was a member of B’nai Jeshrun at Madison and 65thStreet.


1892:In New York Rabbi Henry Pereira Mendes was shot in the abdomen at his home by a beggar named Jose Mizrachee. Born in England, he had been the rabbi at Congregation Shearith Israel of New York and an active member of the Jewish community, who, among other things, established the Jewish Theological Seminary and The American Hebrew. Misrachee followed the rabbi home from the synagogue and forced his way into the house and shot him during a botched robbery attempt.  The rabbi’s wife and baby were in the house at the town.  Emergency surgery spared Mendes and permanent harm.  Mizrachee is described as an “Arabian Jew” who came to the United States in 1890.  He was well known to the victim and other members of his congregation for his aggressive begging habits and his failure to be content with any “alms” that were given to him.


1893: R.H. Macy & Co. was advertising the sale of “Passover Goods for the Holiday” including “Matzoths, Matzoth Flour and Potato Flour” for nine cents a pound on the fifth floor of its new building.


1893: It was reported today that tickets for the upcoming Purim Ball will cost ten dollars and they may be purchased from M.H. Moses as well as several other Jewish businessmen.  Those wanting a box for the event must contact S.B. Solomon or Simon Schafter.


1893: At today’s meeting of The Central Labor Federation, “the Hebrew printers said they had conferred with Typographical Union, No.6”


1894: “Russian Hebrew Immigrants" published today described some of the controversy surrounding the admission Jews to the United States.  According to the Bureau of Immigration many of the Russian Jews are actually coming from South America where they have been living in agricultural communities financed by the Baron Hirsh Funds.  The colonies in Argentina have failed and the Jews have come to the United States where they have been allowed to settle as long as they meet the legal requirements regarding health and financial responsibility.  Despite criticism, the Bureau cannot turn people away because of their religion.


1894: In the New York, Assemblyman Ainsworth made use of the term “Jew pawnbrokers” while addressing the legislature.


1896: Birthdate of Jacob Rader Marcus, the Reform Rabbi who founded the American Jewish Archives at the Hebrew Union College of Cincinnati, Ohio. He passed away in 1995 at the age of 99.


1898: “Notes of Forthcoming and Recent Publications” published today described an article by Israel Zangwill written by Israel Zangwill “for the Sunday School Times on the second Moses – Moses Maimonides – without a knowledge of whom the old Hebrew prover ‘From Moses to Moses there was non like Moses,’ is meaningless.”


1898: “Bargain Books” published today listed The Jew at Home by Joseph Pennell as costing $.10


1898: “Colonel Picquart, who was disciplined for giving testimony favorable to the case of Emile Zola,” the defender of Dreyfus, “at the recent trial of the author, fought a duel with swords today in the riding school of the Military School with Colonel Henry who testified against Zola.”


1898: “New Jewish Synagogue” published today described plans for the construction of a new synagogue being built by Congregation Hand-in-Hand, the first such building to take place in the Borough of the Bronx. The congregation, which received a gift of $1,000 from Baroness Hirsch for its building fund, has been meeting at the North Side Republican Club Hall


1899: “Rabbis Will Meet in Cincinnati” published today described the decision of reform movement to hold its Annual Central in March instead of July because March  marks the birthday of Dr. I. M. Wise and the rabbis wish to honor the man who mentored so many of them.


1901(14th of Adar, 5661): Purim


1902: Mizrachi (literally: "Eastern", but actually derived from the Hebrew acronym for "Spiritual Centre") was established by Rabbi Isaac Jacob Reines as a religious Zionist organization based on the Basel Program and commitment to the Torah. Their slogan is "Eretz Israel for the people of Israel according to the Torah of Israel." Mizrachi is a worldwide religious Zionist movement. Its main ideal is that Torah should be the spiritual center of Zionism. In Israel, it initiated the Ministry of Religion and helped pass laws for "Kashrut" and Sabbath observance in public life and in the Israel Army. During WWII, it participated in the American Zionist Emergency Council.


1902: Leopold Greenberg, one of Herzl's most devoted followers and representative in London suggests that Herzl should appear before the Royal Commission in London.


1902:26th of Adar I, 5662: Fifty-four year old New York businessman Leonard Lewisohn passed awa at the London home of his son-in-law Charles S. Henry. A native of Hamburg, Mr. Lewisohn came to the United States when he was 16 years old. He was President of the United Metals Selling Company and a philanthropist who had mad generous contributions to numerous Jewish charities.


1902: Reports of the death of Leonard Lewisohn “caused some weakness in the stock market where Amalgamated Copper declined 1 and 3/8 points.


1902: In response to the death of Leonard Lewishon who was trying “make a bull market in coffee” the coffee market opened 10 to 20 points lower than the day before but regained its losses by the close of business
 
1902: Louis Seligisberg, who represented the business interests of Leonard Lewisohn announced that his death would not affect the coffee business of the firm


1903: A committee was appointed to secure a site for a new building at Hebrew Union college.


1909: Alianza Hispano-Israelita formed in Spain to bring about the return of Spanish Jews.


1909: Oscar Solomon Straus completed his terms as the third U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Labor. Straus had been appointed by Theodore Roosevelt and left when William Howard Taft took office.  A year later Straus would return to a post he had held before, U.S. Minister to the Ottoman Empire.


1915: Birthdate of French mathematician, Laurent Schwartz.  His considerable mathematical work, including the theory of distributions, won him the Fields Medal in 1950.  During World War II the Schwartz hid his Jewish identity by using nuemrous aliases including  that of Laurent Sélimartin.  He passed away in 2002.


1919:  In a letter published in the New York Times Emir Feisal wished “the Jews a hearty welcome home” and asserted “our two movements complete one another.” “There is room in Syria for both of us” he concluded.


1919: Birthdate of Albert J. Rosenthal, who as dean of Columbia Law School in the late 1970s and early 1980s helped increase the number of women on the school's faculty.” (As reported by Margalit Fox)


1923:  Birthdate of businessman Laurence Tisch, CEO of CBS from 1986 through 1995.  Tisch passed away in 2003.



1927(1st of Adar ii, 5687): Rosh Chodesh Adar II and Shabbat Shekalim


1928: Herbert Samuel’s successor as High Commissioner, Field Marshal Viscount Plumer, a distinguished WW I commander, opened Jerusalem’s first Arts and Crafts Exhibition which was held in the Citadel at the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem.


1929:John D. Rockefeller Jr. spent the day viewing ancient and historic sites in Jerusalem, including the Mosque of Omar and the Holy Sepulcher.


1929: In the Bronx, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Halpern gave birth to Howard Marvin Halpern, “psychotherapist who wrote popular self-help books about severing or realigning burdensome relationships.” (As reported by Bruce Weber)


1932: Three members of the team of athletes assembled by the Maccabee Association of the United States to participate in the Jewish Olympic Games in Palestine sailed on the SS Aquitania.  The three athletes included co-captains David White and Lesslie Flaskman representing the Maccabee Association of Boston and Harold Ginsburg representing the 92nd Stree Y.M.H.A. The other ten members of the team are to sail next week on the Majestic or the Conte Grande.


1933: Last democratic election during Hitler's lifetime. Nationalists gain 52 seats, but not enough to establish a dictatorship by consent of Parliament. The Third Reich is born.


1934: Birthdate of Daniel Kahneman, Israeli economist, and Nobel Prize laureate.Daniel Kahneman was born in Tel Aviv, in the then British Mandate of Palestine, now in Israel), is a key pioneer and theorist of behavioral finance, which integrates economics and cognitive science to explain seemingly irrational risk management behavior in human beings. He is famous for collaboration with Amos Tversky and others in establishing a cognitive basis for common human errors using heuristics and in developing prospect theory. Kahneman spent his childhood years in Paris, France and moved to Palestine in 1946. He received his B.Sc. in mathematics and psychology from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1954, after which he served in the Israeli Defense Forces principally in its psychology department. In 1958 he came to the United States and earned his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1961. Currently a faculty member at Princeton University and a fellow at Hebrew University, he is the winner of the 2002 Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for his work in prospect theory, despite being a research psychologist and not an economist. In fact, Kahneman claims to have never taken a single economics course — he claims that what he knows of the subject he and Tversky learned from collaborators Richard Thaler and Jack Knetsch. In explaining why he entered the field of psychology, Kahneman once wrote: “It must have been late 1941 or early 1942. Jews were required to wear the Star of David and to obey a 6 p.m. curfew. I had gone to play with a Christian friend and had stayed too late. I turned my brown sweater inside out to walk the few blocks home. As I was walking down an empty street, I saw a German soldier approaching. He was wearing the black uniform that I had been told to fear more than others - the one worn by specially recruited SS soldiers. As I came closer to him, trying to walk fast, I noticed that he was looking at me intently. Then he beckoned me over, picked me up, and hugged me. I was terrified that he would notice the star inside my sweater. He was speaking to me with great emotion, in German. When he put me down, he opened his wallet, showed me a picture of a boy, and gave me some money. I went home more certain than ever that my mother was right: people were endlessly complicated and interesting.”


1935: A brothel run by Polly Adler was raided resulting in the only conviction for which the famed madam served jail time (24 days of a 30 day sentence). 


1936(11th of Adar, 5696): Observance of the Fast of Esther since the 13th of Adar fell on Shabbat


1936(11th of Adar, 5696):Rabbi Yosef Rosen, known as the Rogatchover Gaon (Prodigy/Genius), passed away in Vienna today. Born in 1858, and raised in the Belarusian city of Rogatchov,  he served for decades as a rabbi in the Latvian city of Dvinsk (Daugavpils). He was an unparalleled genius, whose in depth understanding of all Talmudic literature left the greatest of scholars awestruck. He habitually demonstrated that many of the famous debates between the Talmudic sages have a singular thread and theme. Rabbi Rosen authored tens of thousands of responsa on the Talmud and Jewish law. Many of them have been compiled in the set of volumes Tzafnat Paneach.


1936: The Spitfire went through its first test-flights.  The famed fighter plane would play a key role in the defeat of the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain.  Thanks to the Spitfire and the spirited pilots of the Royal Air Force (RAF), Hitler’s seemingly invincible legions were stopped for the first time; the British Isles remained free and would become the launching point for the Allied invasion of Europe which would save a remnant of European Jewry. Robert Roland Stanford Tuck, known as “Lucky Tuck” was one of the Jewish pilots in the RAF who flew the Spitfire.  In his case he flew it at the Battle of Dunkirk where he earned a DSO. The Spitfire was the favorite plane of Ezer Weizmann the father of Israel’s Air Force and later President of the Jewish state.  He had his own Spitfire which was featured in flyovers by IDF planes during various Israeli celebratory activities.


1937: U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull offered a public apology for New York Mayor LaGuardia’s suggestion that the “1939 New York World’s Fair would include a ‘chamber of horrors’ displaying that ‘brown-shirted fanatics who is menacing the peace of the world.’” (Hull’s comments came during the hey-day of Isolationism in the United States.  His apology came in the same year that the United States ignored a Japanese attack on an American gunboat in China.)


1937: British author Mary Frances Butts who had been the wife of Jewish poet and published John Rodker whose career she had worked to further and with whom she had one child passed away today.


1937: The wave of Arab terror spread into southern Palestine when an Arab entered a Jewish orange grove near the colony of Less Tzionah and shot Vladislav Louga, a non-Jewish worker from Poland, in the stomach.  Louga was rushed to a hospital in Tel Aviv where he is in critical condition.


1939: The New York Times reported that Palestine Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Eugen Szenkar has just completed four subscription concerts in a tour that included stops in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem where the symphony played before audiences totaling 30,000 music lovers.


1939(14th of Adar, 5699): Purim


1939(14th of Adar, 5699): Moses Gaster, the Romanian born Jewish scholar who served as Hakam of the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation in London passed away today at the age of 82. In addition to all of his other accomplishments he was the father of the renowned scholar, Thedore Herzl Gaster.


1940: The Jewish Labor Committee, representing about 500,000 members of Jewish labor unions in the United States, sent a cable to the Labor Party in England requesting the Laborites oppose the recent British restriction of Jewish land purchases in Palestine.


1940: A delegation consisting of Henrietta Szold, Mrs. Isaac Herzog, wife of the Chief Rabbi of Palestine and “others representing the Council of Jewish Women of Palestine” met with the British High Commissioner and gave him a memorandum protesting the recent change in the land laws that was intended to be forwarded to his superiors in London.


1942: At the “Selection” of Jews at Baranowicze, Poland those sent to the left were beaten and placed in trucks where they sent away to their death in a pit just outside of town. Those on the right looked on. Of the 12,000 Jews living in the town at the start of the war, 3,500 were killed that Purim.


1943: In the Ukraine, over 1,000 Jews were murdered outside the Khmeilnik ghetto.


1943: Office of Strategic Services interviews Dr. Eduard Bloch, a Jewish Austrian physician who had been doctor and confidant to Adolf Hitler and his family while the future Fuehrer was growing up, and who ministered to Hitler's mother Klara during her losing battle with breast cancer.


1944(10th of Adar, 5704): Max JacobFrench writer and painter, died at the Drancy, the French concentration camp at the age of 68.  Born in Brittany in 1876, Jacob converted to Roman Catholicism in 1914. He spent most of the war hiding from the Nazis and their French fascist allies. He died while awaiting transport from France to a concentration camp in Germany Apparently his conversion was not enough to get the Roman Catholic Church to intervene on his behalf. His friends, who included the renowned Pablo Picasso, saw to it that he had a fine burial after the war, but were unable to do anything so save him from the fate common to most of the Jews of Europe, great and small alike.


1944(10th of Adar, 5704):Ernst Julius Cohen, “a Dutch chemist known for his work on the allotropy of metals,” was murdered today in a gas chamber in Auschwitz. Born in 1869, “Cohen studied chemistry under Svante Arrhenius in Stockholm, Henri Moissan at Paris, and Jacobus van't Hoff at Amsterdam. In 1893 he became Van't Hoff's assistant and in 1902 he became professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Utrecht, a position which he held until his retirement in 1939. Throughout his life, Cohen studied the allotropy of tin. Cohen’s areas of research included polymorphism of elements and compounds, photographic chemistry, electrochemistry, pizeochemistry, and the history of science. He published more than 400 papers and numerous books. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 1926.


1945: While excavating the site near Crematorium II at Auschwitz, Soviet soldiers found a German canteen which contained the diaries of Salmen Gradowski.One of the entries read,“At almost each block, beside the men standing in line, bodies of three, four persons are lying. These are the victims of the night that have not lived to see the day. Even yesterday they were standing members of the roll-call and today they lie, lifeless, motionless. Life is not important at the roll-call. Numbers are important. Numbers tally…” Gradowski’s diary was published in a book entitled Amidst a Nightmare of Crime: Manuscripts of the Sonderkommando which describes life in the  death camp through the eyewitness accounts of four Sonderommandos. For more about this work, Gardowski and the others who supplied the material see

1946: Birthdate of Martin Levi van Creveld “an Israeli military historian and theorist. Van Creveld was born in the Netherlands in the city of Rotterdam, and has lived in Israel since shortly after his birth. He holds degrees from the London School of Economics and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he has been on the faculty since 1971. He is the author of seventeen books on military history and strategy, of which Command in War (1985), Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton (1977, 2nd edition 2004), The Transformation of War (1991), The Sword and the Olive (1998) and The Rise and Decline of the State (1999) are among the best known. Van Creveld has lectured or taught at many strategic institutes in the Western world, including the U.S. Naval War College.”


1947: Birthdate of Dr. John Kitzhaber the Oregon physician who served as governor from 1995 to 2003.


1947: As the Jews of Palestine endure their fourth day of living under martial law, banks in Tel Aviv are scheduled to reopen thanks to a shipment of coins and currency in an amount equal to thirty-two million American dollars having arrived from Jeruslaem.  In an attempt to exercise greater control, the British suspended the press passes of correspondents which had enabled the journalists to enter and leave zones of military occupation.


1948: Actor Eli Wallach married actress Anne Jackson.


1949:Negev Brigade forces set out from Beersheba to the Ramon Crater, through Bir 'Asluj. Golani forces simultaneously set out from Mamshit to Ein Husub on the first day of Operation Uvda, one of the final campaigns of the War for Independence.


1950: Jordanian political leader Samir Rifai Pasha has rejected King Abdullah’s request that he form a new government.  Pasha’s refusal is tied to opposition to the non-aggression pact with Israel which was first made public on February 28, 1950.  Despite Abdullah’s support, the pact seems doomed since Jordan’s political leaders do not.


1950: Iraq’s announcement that effectively, the Jewish population must leave the country within the next twelve months represents a reversal of its policy of not allowing Jews to move to Israel while completely dislocating “Israel’s immigration program for 1950.” The Jewish agency had budgeted for the absorption of 150,000 immigrants, including 50,000 from Arab countries and 50,000 from eastern Europe.  Since there are approximately 150,000 Jews living in Iraq, the Israelis will have to find some way to raise additional funds allowing for the in-gathering of twice as many as Jews as had been originally planned.


1950: Daniel Frisch, the President of the Zionist Organization of America, underwent surgery today at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center today after having named Benjamin G. Bowdy, on the ZOA’s vice president, as acting president.


1952(8th of Adar, 5712): Sixty-six year old Rachael “Rae” Landy the Cleveland born nurse who helped create the health system in pre-World War I Palestine and rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army passed away today.

1953: Birthdate of Michael J. Sandel, the Minneapolis born Harvard Professor “best known for his course ‘Justice.’”


1953: Stalin died disrupting plans for mass deportations of Russian Jews.  The Soviet dictator was an anti-Semite.  Unlike Hitler, he could curb his anti-Semitism when it suited his purposes.  For example, he allowed the government of Czechoslovakia to sell modern arms to Israel at the moment of its birth.  He later switched his views and followed an anti-Zionist as well as anti-Semitic policy.


1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that the Lower House of the Bonn Parliament passed the first reading of the West German agreement to pay reparations to Israel and World Jewry for the Nazi persecution.


1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that theiIn the Knesset, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion defined the role of the army in national life. The Knesset extended for a year the provisional military law currently in force, providing for prison terms for any form of propaganda intended to undermine the authority of the state.


1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that the Abill to legalize the requisition of land or property for the development, security or settlement, from the establishment of the State in May 1948, to the end of April 1, 1952, was presented for the second and third reading.


1954(30th of Adar I, 5714): Rosh Chodesh Adar II


1954(30th of Adar I, 5714): Forty-year old Donald Bloomingdale the son of Rosalie and Irving Bloomingdale and the onetime husband of Bethsabée de Rothschild passed away today.


1956:Erich Itor Kahn composer, pianist and Holocaust survivor passed away at the age of 50.


1957: Jewish comedian Phil Silvers in the role of “Sergeant Ernie Bilko” satirizes rock star Elvis Presley.


1973: Marcel Marceau appears at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City, IA.


1974: In the aftermath of the Yom Kippur Israeli forces withdrew from the west bank of the Suez Canal as step towards ending hostilities brought on by the Arab sneak attack.  Ariel Sharon was responsible for the audacious attack across the Suez Canal which gave the strategic advantage to the Jewish forces.


1974(11th of Adar, 5734): Solomon I "Sol" Hurok US impresario, passed away at the age of 85. Hurok was responsible for bringing a troupe of Yemenite Jews who had moved to Israel to perform in the United States.  Thanks to these efforts Yemenite culture was introduced to Americans (Jews and non-Jews alike).  Not only did this help to preserve an ancient part of the Jewish heritage, it helped create a positive image of Israel as a homeland for persecuted Jewry no matter where they lived.


1978: A revival of David Merrick’s “Hello Dolly” that would run for 147 performances began at the Lunt-Fontaine Theatre.


1978:The Jerusalem Post reported that the US State Department was upset and angered that between the time that Prime Minister Menachem Begin presented his peace plan to US President Jimmy Carter in early December, and when the same plan was submitted at the end of the month to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, significant changes were made in the text. The draft added Israel’s right to maintain security and “public order” in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, and stipulated that only those Palestinians who accepted Israeli citizenship could buy land in Israel, while any Israeli could purchase land in the administered areas. The Americans demanded complete reciprocity.


1980: Gail Winston and journalist Frank Rich gave birth to novelist Nathaniel Rich, the brother of screenwriter Simon Rich.


1987: Today, in Tel Aviv, Defense Minister Yithak Rabin, read a statement in English apologizing to the American government and the American people for the Pollard sypinng operation, an operation that Foreign minister Shimon Peres had characterized as a mistake.


1987:Yossi Sarad, a member of the Knesett, called for the dismissal of Rafael Etian from his job as chairman of the state-owned Israel Chemicals since he was the Defense Ministry official who organized the Pollard spying operation.


 
1995: The New York Times features a review of The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Anne Frank; edited by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler; translated by Susan Massotty


1996(14th of Adar, 5756): Purim


1997(26th of Adar I, 5757): Eighty-eighty year old Zalman Abramov the Israeli politician who had been born in Minsk, made Aliyah in 1920 and served as an MK from 1959 to 1977 passed away today.


1999: The Times of London featured a review of Brother Against Brother: Violence and
 Extremism in Israeli Politics from Altalena to the Rabin Assassination by Ehud Sprinzak.


2000: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or special interest to Jewish readers including The Unruly Life of Woody Allen: A Biography by Marion Meade, Law of Return: Short Stories by Maxine Rodburg and Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs, and Rituals by George Robinson.


2002: “The Vagina Monologues” with Idina Menzel opened at the West Side Theatre.


2003: Victor Brailovsky began serving as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs.

 
2003 (1 Adar II, 5763): Seventeen people were killed and 53 wounded in a suicide bombing of an Egged bus No. 37 in the Carmel section of Haifa, en route to Haifa University. The blast, which took place on the city's main Moriah Boulevard near the Carmel Center, turned the bus into a charred wreck and scattered bodies along the road. The bus driver, a Christian Arab from Shfaram, was moderately injured. Police said the bomb was laden with metal shrapnel in order to maximize the number of injuries and strapped to the bomber's body. This was the first suicide bombing in two months, following the bombing in the Neve Sha'anan neighborhood in Tel-Aviv on January 5, in which 23 people were killed. The Hamas spokesman praised the attack. The suicide bomber has been identified as a member of Hamas. A letter found on his body praised the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers.  The victims included the following all but two of whom died on the day of the attack:


·        Kmer Abu Khamed, 12, from Daliyat al Karmel


·        Yuval Mendelevitch, 13, from Haifa


·        Smadar Firstatter, 17, from Haifa


·        Avigail Lietel, 14, from Haifa


·        Asaf Tzur, 16, from Haifa


·        Daniel Harush, 16 , from Safed


·        Tom Hershko, 16, from Haifa, and his father-


·        Motti Hershko, 41, from Haifa


·        Tal Kehrmann, 17, from Haifa


·        Elizabeth (Liz) Katzman, 17, from Haifa


·        Meital Katav, 20, from Haifa


·        Moran Shushan, 20, from Haifa


·        Anatoly Biryakov, 20, from Haifa


·        Be'eri Ovad, 21 , from Rosh Pina


·        Eliyahu Laham, 22, from Haifa


·        Miriam Atar, 27, from Haifa


·        Mark Takash, 54, from Haifa


2005: "Dear Esther," an Arizona Jewish Theatre Company production had its last performance in Phoenix, Arizona.  The play is based on the life of Esther Rabb and her experiences as recorded in “Escape from Sobibor” about the 1943 uprising.


2006:  A restoration of a 1942 freight car, the type used to carry Jews to death camps went on display at the Holocaust Museum in Houston, Texas. The freight car is intended to symbolize the penultimate step in the industrialized mass murder of the Jews of Europe.


2006:  The Jerusalem Post reported that American Jewish leaders welcomed the decision by British architect Richard Rogers to resign his membership in a professional organization that has called for the boycott of Israel's construction industry. However New York politicians had questions for Lord Richard Rogers, in light of the state contract awarded him on September 29 to design a $1.7 billion project that would almost double the size of Manhattan's Jacob Javits Convention Center. The boycott by an association of British engineers and architects follows on the heels of an anti-Israel weekend at Oxford and a plan by the Anglican Church to divest itself of investments of companies doing business with the Jewish state.  It would appear that the genteel, and not so genteel, anti-Semitism is still alive and well among the British.  The people who spent the inter-war years catering to the Arabs and who closed Eretz Israel to the Jews during the Holocaust are still at it.


2006: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Absolute Convictions, a biography of Dr. Shalom Press by his son Eyal Press, The Case for Goliath:How America Acts as the World's Government in the Twenty-First Century by Michael Mandelbaum and Intuition by Allegra Goodman.


2007: Opening of an exhibition styled “Studio Man Ray: Photographs by Ira Nowinski” at the

Judah L  Magnes Museum.



2008: Sheldon Adelson ranked #12 on the list of The World’s Billionaires published today.

2008(28th of Adar I, 5768): Joseph Weizenbaum “a German-American author and professor emeritus of computer science at MIT” passed away.


2008: As part of “Hadassah on Tour,” Dr. Michael Wilschanski, the Director of the Pediatric Gastroenterology Unit of the Division of Pediatrics at Hadassah Medical Center, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, speaks in Minnesota’s Twin Cities.


2008: A Yarhtzeit on the civil calendar - Five Year Anniversary of the bombing of Egged Bus 53  carried out by a Hamas suicide bomber who killed 17 innocent civilians.


2008: Following the completion of Operation Hot Winter, today “Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office announced that Israel would maintain its pressure on Hamas.

2008: In “A City That Was and Is No Longer” published today, Aharon Appelfeld examines the history of Czernowitz.

2009:Sherman Oaks-based mortgage banker Bruce Friedman, whose Friedman Charitable Foundation committed $10 million to the Children’s Museum of Los Angeles and $1 million to Brandon’s Village, a special-needs park in Calabasas, was indicted on securities fraud charges today by the Securities and Exchange

2009:Professor Anat Helman of Hebrew University delivers a talk and visual presentation exporing the deeper meanings of Israeli styles of the 1950s at Rutgers University entitled "Fashion and Identity in Israel in the 1950s."


2009:An exhibition of paintings by Simon Black hosted by the Manchester Jewish Museum comes to an end.  Simon was raised in a close knit Jewish family in Prestwich and attended Stand Grammar in Whitefield. He studied art in Manchester, Wolverhampton, Rochdale and École des Beaux Arts in Paris. Even through he lived in London, he remained an ardent Manchester City fan!His paintings portray figures from everyday life whilst bringing out the humor and enigmatic nature in their characters. Simon has exhibited his works nationwide and had many private commissions. In 2002 he was commissioned to produce six paintings for the Royal Free Hospital and also received work from the Financial Authorities Services. Not only was he an artist, but Simon fought for the rights of artists, being an active member of the National Artists Association and a board member of the Design and Artists Copyright for fifteen years. Simon tragically passed away in March 2008 after a battle with cancer. The exhibition is a tribute to his life and work and a celebration of his talent.


2009:An Arab terrorist attacked police officers and civilians in Jerusalem with his bulldozer today.

2010: The Washington DCJCC is scheduled to host Interfaith Couples Shabbat Dinner with Rabbi Tamara Miller explaining the rituals while attendees enjoy a traditional Shabbat Dinner.


2010: A major security exercise is scheduled to take place today at the Sha'ar Ha'ir building in Ramat Gan, next to the Diamond Center.

 

2010:Clashes broke out between Israeli police officers and Muslim rock throwers at the end of Friday prayers on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem following a sermon on a recent Israeli decision to include two West Bank shrines on a list of national heritage sites.

2010: Vandals have defaced a former Nazi concentration camp with anti-Jewish and anti-Turkish graffiti, Austrian authorities said today.

2011:Ravid Kahalani, a veteran of Israel’s renowned Idan Raichel Project who uses his music to showcase his Yemenite-Jewish heritage is scheduled to appear in Berkeley, CA at opening night of the Jewish Music Festival.


2011: Israeli sculptor Ohad Meromi is scheduled to host a series of events as the culmination of his evolving New Commission project in New York City.


2011: Leonard I. Weinglass, filed brief on behalf Mumia Abu-Jamal that was part of “a post-conviction motion to vacate the conviction of his client,” (Weinglass was Jewish; Abul-Jamal was not)


2011(29 Adar I): Shabbat Shekalim


2011:A computer glitch which had been preventing the flow of natural gas at the Mari-B natural gas field operated by the Yam Tethys conglomerate off of Ashdod was fixed after several hours today.  

 

2012: “A Child of the Ghetto” is scheduled to be shown at Prague in the Czech Republic.


2012: The second of the annual AIPAC Policy Conference capped off by an gala evening event is scheduled to take place in Washington, DC


2012:Yeshiva University Museum with Fantagraphics Books is scheduled to present: “Diane Noomin’s Graphic Details: Glitz-2-Go Book Launch.”


2012: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Barak Obama at the White House.


2012: President Shimon Peres today praised US President Barack Obama's speech to the AIPAC annual policy conference, saying he had offered the maximum support for Israel that an American president could possibly offer.

2013: The field of candidates in today’s Mayoral election in Los Angeles includes Wendy Gurel a synagogue attending Christian married to a Jew whose 10-year-old son studies Hebrew and is being raised in the Jewish tradition, City Councilman Eric Garcetti whose mother is Jewish and City Councilwoman Jan Perry, an African-American who converted to Judaism while in college. (As reported by Bill Boyarsky)


2013: Iranian born Israel singer Rita Yahan-Faourz, known simply as Rita, sang in Persian, Hebrew and English at performance in the UN General Assembly Hall tonight.


2013: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to sponsor a lecture by Zalmen Mlotek entitled “100 Years of Yiddish Theater Music.”


2013: Defense Minister Ehud Barak is scheduled to meet with newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel today.  This will be Hagel’s first meeting with a foreign defense chief since his confirmation by the U.S. Senate.


2013: The AIPAC conference is scheduled to come to an end in Washington, DC


2013(23rd of Adar, 5773): Eighty-seven year old actor and director Arthur Storch passed away today.(As reported by Paul Vitello)

2013:The daughters of a Yiddish writer persecuted under communism reclaimed copies of his works today, following a prolonged legal fight to establish their ownership.

2013: The first Hebrew language edition of Playboy magazine was launched in Tel Aviv.


2013: Thousands attended the funeral of Menachem Froman in the Judean Desert settlement of Tekoa today, remembering the mystic rabbi and activist as a unique figure in Israel’s religious and political landscape.


2014: The Library of Congress is scheduled to host “Dancing in Jaffa,” Diane Nabatoff’s documentary about ballroom dance Pierre Dulaine.


2014: “The Women Pioneers” and “Shtisel” are scheduled to be shown at the 24thWashington Jewish Film Festival.


2014: The Jewish Study Center is scheduled to present “Two 20th-Century Theologians:  Herberg and Soloveitchik”


2014: “If/Then” a musical featuring Idina Menzel is scheduled to open at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.


 

This Day, March 6, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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March 6



19 BCE (12th of Adar II,) The Temple “built” by King Herod was dedicated.  Technically, Herod had refurbished the Second Temple and not built a ‘third ‘Sanctuary


1239: With the Edict of Valencia, Spanish King James I validated privileges of the Jews of Aragon. The Jewish courts (Bet din) were authorized to try all cases except capital offenses.


1447: The papacy of Nicholas V began today. According to Shlomo Simonsohn he “changed course several times in his policy the Jews just as his predecessors had done.” (For more on Nicholas V and the Jewish people see The Apostolic See and the Jews)


1475: Birthdate of famed Italian artist Michelangelo Buonarroti.  Say Michelangelo to most people and they respond, Sistine Chapel ceiling.  Say his name to Jews and the response is “Moses.”  Moses” is a marble sculpture which depicts the greater Jewish leader. Originally intended for the tomb of Pope Julius II in St. Peter's Basilica it was placed in the minor church of San Pietro in Vincoli on the Esquiline in Rome after the pope's death. The statue depicts Moses with horns on his head. This is believed to be because of the mistranslation of Exodus 34:29-35 by St Jerome. Moses is actually described as having "rays of light" coming from his head, which Jerome in the Vulgate had translated as "horns." This horned Moses provided further proof that the Jews were, as the Gospel says, “the Devil’s spawn.”


1754: British statesman Henry Pelham who while serving as Prime Minister introduced the Jew Bill of 1753 “which allowed Jews to become naturalized citizens by application to Parliament” passed away today.


1758: Abraham de Mesquito was one of those witnessing the changes of the will made by Abraham Menedes Seixas  also known as Miguel Pancheco Da Silva.


1781: James Wright, the British Colonial Governor ordered the Jews of  Georgia to leave; accusing them of disloyalty to his majesty by supporting the revolution. The order was never carried out. For the most part, Wright had it right.  Most Jews did support the American Revolution.


1789(8th of Adar): Rabbi Aryeh Leib ben Jacob Joshua Falk, author of Penei Aryeh, passed away


1815: With the defeat of Napoleon, new restrictions were imposed on the Jews all over Europe.


1816: The Jews were expelled from the Free City of Lubeck, Germany at the instance of the local guilds. This was part of the reactionary backlash that followed the defeat of Napoleon a year earlier. Many of these Jews finally found refuge in the German of city of Moisling.  After  “a period of adjustment” where the citizens of Moisling determined how many Jews would live in their city and under what conditions, the government provided a house for a rabbi and constructed a building that the Jews were allowed to use as a synagogue if they paid “a moderate annual rent.”


1821: Start of the Greek War for independence. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, Jewish populations in the Peloponnese had become in disfavour with the Greeks by apparently supporting the Ottomans, and during the Greek War of Independence thousands of Jews were massacred alongside the Ottoman Turks by the Greek rebels, with the Jewish communities of Mistras, Tripolis, Kalamata and Patras completely destroyed. At the same time, Jews throughout other parts of Europe, including the Rothschilds supported the revolt, which captured the popular imagination with its imagery of Greece the cradle of Democracy versus the Ottoman Sultan.


1825(16th of Adar, 5585): Hungarian Talmudist Shalom Charif Ullman passed away at Lackenbach where he, his son and grandson all served as Rabbis.


1834: In Canada, York was incorporated as the city of Toronto.It was not until the 1840s that small numbers of Jewish immigrants from Western and Central Europe began to arrive in Ontario and settle in the cities of Hamilton, Kingston, and Toronto. In 1849, Abraham Nordheimer moved from Kingstonto Toronto and purchased a plot of land for a cemetery on behalf of the Toronto Hebrew Congregation. The congregation was originally an Orthodox synagogue, made up of members from Germany, including Bavaria, Bohemia, and Alsace, Great Britain, the United States, Russia, Galicia, and Lithuania. It became known as the Daytshishe Shul because of its modernized services. In 1856, Lewis Samuel of York, England, immigrated to Torontoand helped organize the Sons of Israel Congregation. In 1858, the two congregations combined to form the TorontoHebrewCongregation-HolyBlossomTemple. Holy Blossom was Orthodox, but in the 1920s joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and became Reform. It was the only Reform temple in Toronto until the 1950s, when it was joined by TempleSinai and TempleEmanu-El.Today Holy Blossom is the largest Reform Congregation in Canada. In the 1880s, the arrival of large numbers of Eastern European Jews escaping the pogroms of czarist Russia, led to the creation of three new synagogues. Goel Tzedec and Beth Hamidrash Hagadol Chevra T'Hillim were founded in 1883, and were made up of mostly Russian members. They merged in the early 1950s to form Beth Tzedec, a Conservative congregation. The third synagogue, Shomrei Shabbos, was started in 1889 by Orthodox Galician Jews. Also in 1889, Beth Jacob, known as the Poylishe Shul and Rumanian Synagogue or Adath Israelcame into existence. By the 1940s, Torontohad about 60 synagogues. These were mainly small Landsmannschaften, which were immigrant synagogues that represented the different hometowns of settlers from Russian Poland, the Ukraine, Lithuania, and Belorussia. In the 1950s and 60s, the smaller shtiblekh merged into larger synagogues. Therefore, the number of synagogues decreased, but in their place were larger and more stable congregations. The Jewish population of Toronto started out small in the 18th and 19th centuries and grew slowly but steadily into the early 20th century. In 1871, 157 Jews lived in Toronto, in 1891, the number rose to 1,425, and, by 1901, the Jewish population had increased to 3,090. The size of the community always depended on waves of immigration from Europe, based on pogroms and persecution in various countries. In 1911, the Jewish population of Toronto had expanded to 18,237 and, by 1921, had almost doubled to 34,619. In 1931, 45,000 Jewish immigrants, made up of mostly Poles, settled in Canada after the United Statestightened its immigration quota in 1924. Because of restrictions imposed by the Canadian government during the Depression, Immigration preceding and during World War II declined significantly. This was a huge blow to Eastern European Jews trying to escape persecution, and only small groups of Austrian and German Jews fleeing Hitler were able to immigrate to Toronto during this period. In 1941, the number of Jews in Torontohad only risen slightly to 49,046, despite the thousands who desperately sought refuge in Canada. After World War II, the Canadian government established anti-discrimination laws and eased immigration regulations. The Canadian Jewish Congress and needle traders helped refugees come to Toronto from displaced persons camps. In addition, an important development in the Torontocommunity was the growth of the Jewish day school system in the post-World War II era. Previously, the Montrealand WinnipegJewish communities had larger networks of congregational and day schools. The 1950s and 60s saw a tremendous growth of population and community life. In 1951, the Jewish population of greater Torontoreached 66,773. It was augmented further after the 1956 Hungarian uprising brought a new influx of Jewish refugees to the city. In the 1960s, the first Sephardic Jews came to Torontofrom Morocco, and established the first Sephardic synagogues and organizations in the city. Toronto's economic developments of the 1960s, combined with the rise of Quebec's separatist movement in the 1970s, led to a mass migration from Montrealto Toronto in the late 70s and early 80s. In 1971, the Jewish population stood at 105,000, by 1981, it reached 128,650 and, by 1991, increased to 162,605. When the Parti Quebecois won the provincial election in 1976, 20,000 to 30,000 Jews fled to Toronto, fearing an independent Quebecwould divide and weaken the national Jewish community. Toronto assumed Montreal's position as the center of Jewish activity. However, the economic recession of the 1990s had a deleterious impact on the Jewish community's finances and its ability to subsidize Jewish day schools. Despite this setback, Torontomaintains the largest Jewish population of any Canadian city. In recent years, Toronto has received Jewish immigrants from South Africa, the former Soviet Union, the United States, and Israel. Today, the Jewish community stands at approximately 150,000 out of Toronto's 3.5 million inhabitants. Most Jews living in Toronto have only been there for one or two generations. With such close ties to their homelands, Torontonian Jews are typically more traditional than those in the rest of Canada and the United States. Of the 50 percent or so of the Jewish population that associate themselves with the community, 20 percent are Orthodox, 40 percent Conservative, 35 percent Reform, and the remainder nondenominational. Torontomaintains around 50 synagogues, a growing network of Jewish day schools, and a number of Jewish organizations.


1836: The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, fell to Mexican forces after a 13-day siege. Antony Wolfe, a young Englishman, was reportedly the only Jew who fought and died at the Alamo.


1851(2nd of Adar II, 5611): Benjamin Wolf Löw passed away today.  Born at Loslau in 1775, this Polish-Hungarian rabbi was the son of Eleazar Low, the father of Eleazar Low and the grandfather of Abraham and Benjamin Singer.


1856: The University of Maryland, College Park is chartered as the Maryland Agricultural College. According to recent figures approximately 5,000 of the school’s 25,000 undergraduate students are Jewish while 1,500 of the 10,000 grad students are Jewish.  These figures do not include the other U of Md. Campuses.  The school offers 35 Jewish studies courses with a major and minor in Jewish Students. In 1949, Evelyn Levow Greenberg, the wife of the Hillel Rabbi at the University of Maryland published The Little Tractor who Traveled to Israel one of the first children’s books to celebrate the Kibbutz movement and the creation of the state of Israel.


1858: Isadore Untermyer and Therese Laudauer, two Jews from Bavaria, gave birth to Samuel Untermeyer in Lynchburg, VA.  Untermeyer would move to New York as a child and become a prominent lawyer, civic leader, successful businessman and pillar of the Jewish Community


1863: Mr. Max Maretzek resumption of his old position at the Academy of Music this evening was greeted with the full approval of “all classes of the music-loving community in New York.


1870:  Birthdate of Austrian-born composer Oscar Straus whose most famous work is an operetta called “Der tapfere Soldat” or “The Chocolate Soldier.”


1871(13thof Adar, 5631): Fast of Esther


1876: “Ben Israel or Under the Curse” opened at the Grand Opera House in New York City this evening.  Described as “a Jewish drama” in five acts, the drama had previously been performed in Troy, New York.


1876: It was reported today that the Purim Association will host a full dress reception at Delmonico’s that will mark the end of five days of festivities celebrated the Jewish people who hold private masquerade parties as is their “usual custom.”


1877(21st of Adar, 5637): Franklin J. Moses, Sr. an attorney, planter, politician and judge in South Carolina who both opposed secession, then supported the Confederacy and then was accused of being a scalawag during Reconstruction, passed away. His maternal grandfather was Jonas Phillips a founder of Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia, PA and the paternal grandfather Commodore Uriah P. Levy, the highest ranking Jewish officer to serve in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War.  Yes, you got it right.  These two Jewish grandees were on opposite sides during the Civil War, a fight that pitted brother against brother, father against son and in this case, grandson against grandson. For a contemporary view of Moses, written by a Northern newspaper see


1877: It was reported today that humorist Raphael J. de Cordova is scheduled to deliver a lecture at an upcoming fundraiser to be held at Steinway Hall sponsored by the Hebrew Lodge for those who suffered during the recent fire in Brooklyn.


1879 (11th of Adar, 5639): Fast of Esther observed because the 13th of Adar is Shabbat


1879: The Purim Association is sponsoring this evening’s fancy dress charity ball which is taking placed at the Academy of Music.


1886 Nine thousand members of the Knights of Labor struck Jay Gould’s Southwestern Railroad System. The Knights were one of the earliest attempts at forming a national labor union in the United States.  The Cloak and Suit Maker’s Union which was made up largely of “westernized Jews from Austria, Galicia and Germany” was part of the Knights which made it one of the successful joining of Jewish laborers with this umbrella labor organization. Cultural and linguistic differences as well as plain old fashioned anti-Semitism trumped the supposed solidarity of labor.


1890(14thof Adar, 5650) Purim


1890: It was reported today that the United Hebrew Charities have offered to post a bond on behalf of Lazar Anezes, his wife and four children who have been detained by the Commissioners of Emigrations because they are “paupers.”


1890: It was reported today that the next event sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association will be held at the Vienna Hall on Lexington Avenue at 58thStreet.


1890: Solomon Barnett, a Jewish tailor who had thwarted an attempt to rob him “is lying at his home in a badly demoralized condition” as a result of the injuries he received at the hand of the thieves.


1891: I.S. Isaacs of the United Hebrew Charities was among those who a attended a conference in the office of the President of the Sanitary Aid Soceity where plans were made to promote a municipal lodging house law in New York City.


1891: It was rumored today that United States Collector of Internal Revenue Ernst Nathan had retired.


1891: “They Ask For Palestine” published today described the efforts of William E. Blackstone, Chairman of the Conference of Christians and Jews to present “a memorial to President Harrison concerning the Russian Government’s treatment of the Jews.”


1892: In New Jersey, two Jewish grocers operated their business today for which they would be arrested because they were open on Sunday.


1892: The Superintendent of the orphan asylum operated by the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society said that only of the youngsters was suffering from measles and that the twelve other youngsters who had been diagnosed with the disease have been sent to the Willard Parker Hospital.


1892: Henry Pereira Mendes, the rabbi at Shearith Israel is recovering from the gunshot wound he suffered at the hands of Jose Mizrachee who some describe as a “professional beggar”


1892: “To Establish ‘Special Alcoves’” published today described the efforts of the directors of the Aguilar Free Circulating Library to establish special alcoves at the various branches of the library” including the one in the Hebrew Institute at East Broadway and Jefferson Street “for the reception of works on particular lines of reading.”


1893: Charles W. Foster completed his service as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury who during his term in dealt with issues surrounding the massive influx of Russian Jews as can be seen by his response to the letters of 1891 from Simon Wolf and Lewis Abraham of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in which he expressed his appreciation for their “expressions of confidence” that the department would act humanely “while executing the immigration laws efficiently.”


1893: “The Answers to Correspondence Column” published today included the information that “a ellow badge, round or square, was the mark of degradation a Jew was obliged to wear in certain parts of medieval Europe.”


 

1895: In Germany, by a vote of 167 to 51, the Reichstag rejected the bill to restrict Jewish emigration.


1896(21stof Adar, 5565):Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor a leading Russian rabbi and Talmudist passed away. Born in 1817, Rav Spektor engaged in a wide variety of activities including visiting St. Petersburg to ameliorate the suffering that followed the Pogroms of 1881, the establishment of yeshivas and involvement with the Hovevei Zion movement.  His impact was so great that the Yeshiva University named it theologic seminary after him - Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), or Yeshivat Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan, 


1896: Rabbi M.H. Harris delivered the first in a series of lectures on the Inquisition tonight at Temple Israel in New York City.


1897: In City Court today, Justice McCarthy signed an order for the release of Oscar Altman from the Ludlow Street Jail where he has been held on a charge of “breach of promise of marriage.”


1897: It was reported today that Mrs. Esther Herrmann whose late husband was a partner in H. Herrmann, Sternbach & Co has given $10,000 to the Young Men’s Hebrew Association. According Percival Menken, the President of the association, the money will make it possible to improve the facility at 861 Lexington Avenue which Jacob Schiff had donated to YMHA last January.


1897: Seymour Mork and Philip Harrison won the prizes at the debate hosted this evening by the Young Men’s Literary Society of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association which was held at Temple Ahawath Chesed.


1897: Cantor David Kahn led “the regular Sabbath service” at Temple Rodloph Shalom at Lexington and 63rd.


1897: Rabbi Kaufman Kohler delivered the “charge” to Dr. Rudolph Grossman at services marking his installation as the new rabbi at Temple Roloph Sholom.


1897: A two day conference begins in Vienna with members of the Zionist circles of Vienna, Berlin, Breslau and Galicia. Herzl's proposal of a general Zionist Congress is adopted with the reservation that the cooperation of the Russian Zionists will be obtained. München is chosen as the city for the congress.


1898: Congregants from Beth Elohim with a membership of 150 and Congregants from Temple Israel with a membership of 140 met in Brooklyn and voted unanimously to consolidate the two congregations and build a new building to serve as their synagogue.


1898: More than a thousand people attended the annual Purim reception at the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews hosted by President Simon Borg and the Board of Trustees.


1898: It was reported today that the “heads of the army” refused to allow Commandant Esterhazy who played a key role in framing Dreyfus with Colonel Picquart because they were afraid of “the effect on popular sentiment if Esterhazy were defeated.”


1899:Bayer registers aspirin as a trademark. According to Diarmuid Jeffreys, the author of Aspirin: The Story of a Wonder Drug, a Jew named Arthur Eichengrün, was “the Bayer chemist who first found an aspirin formulation which was tolerable in the human stomach and did not have the unpleasant side effects of nausea and gastric pain. Eichengrün also invented the name aspirin and was the first person to use the new formulation to test its safety and efficacy. However, Eichengrün was excluded from the official version of Bayer's history in 1934 because of his Jewish origin. Instead, it was claimed by Bayer that aspirin was ‘discovered" by an Aryan scientist, Felix Hoffman, to alleviate the sufferings of his rheumatic father.”  Fritz ter Meer who “became chairman of Bayer's supervisory board” in 1956 had been “convicted at the Nuremberg trials for his part in carrying out experiments on human subjects at Auschwitz and was imprisoned for five years.”


1900: Birthdate of Avraham Shlonsky, a Russian born Israeli poet.


1903:On this date it is announced that the King has been pleased to give and grant unto the Right Honorable Sir Ernest Joseph Cassel, E.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., his Majesty's Royal license and authority that he may accept and wear the Grand Cordon of the Imperial Ottoman Order of the Osmanieh, conferred upon him by his Highness the Khedive of Egypt, authorized by his Imperial Majesty the Sultan of Turkey, in recognition of valuable services rendered by him to his Highness.


1901: Birthdate of Russian born film director Mark Donskoy


1902: Herzl informs the Sultan that on March 15th three million francs will be deposited to his account in banks in Paris, Berlinand London.


1910: Fifteen hundred members of The Hebrew Actor’s Union honor the memory of Morris Horowitz with “an elaborate funeral” that remembered his contributions to the Yiddish Theatre yet belied the impoverished state to which he had fallen in his declining years.


1917: Birthdate of cartoonist Will Eisner. Besides his other accomplishments, Eisner was a mentor for Jules Pfeiffer.


1921: As the lockout aimed of members of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers enters its 14th week, Joseph Schlossberg told a meeting at New York’s Town Hall, that employers were trying to the old sweatshop environment.  Schlossberg was a Russian born Jewish was one of the founders the Amalgamated and served as its Secretary General.


1926: Birthdate of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.


1927: Fritz Lang's silent film epic “Metropolis” is released.  Lang’s murky ethnic heritage is typical of many Germans of his era.  Lang’s parents were practicing Roman Catholics.  But Lang’s mother was born Jewish and she did not convert until Fritz was ten.  Sort of makes hash of those easy answers about “who is a Jew” although by Nazi standards Fritz and his brother would have been fodder for the Holocaust.


1928(14thof Adar, 5688): Purim


1928(14thof Adar, 5688): Mrs. Lewis M. Nelson who was a member of the Directors of the Beth El Sisterhood and Hadassah, passed away today in Camden, NJ.


1930: Birthdate of conductor and composer Lorin Maazel


1930: In the Bronx, David and Dora Rubin gave birth to “Ira Rubin, a champion bridge player and an innovative theorist who was nicknamed the Beast because of the emotional intensity of his play…”  (As reported by Paul Vitello)


1937: And on the other side of the financial ledger, birthdate of Ivan Boesky the stockbroker convicted of insider trading.


1937: “Despite the official statement of regret made by the State Department yesterday for Mayor La Guardia’s attack on Adolf Hitler, the Mayor said he would stand by what he had said.”


1937: In the OldCity section of Jerusalem, an Arab shot and wounded M. Schneerson as he walked to daven at the Western Wall. 


1938: The Palestine Post reported that an armed Arab gang was routed by troops in the Umm el-Fahm area. One British soldier was killed and three wounded in this operation, while numerous Arabs were killed, wounded or arrested. There was also unrest in the Acrenorthern district.


1938: The Palestine Post reported that the new High Commissioner, Sir Harold MacMichael, had outlined his immediate policy in a radio broadcast. He asked the rival parties in the area to reconcile their claims “upon an amended basis.”


1938: The Palestine Post reported that the first Palestinian “Who’s Who” was published by Masada in Tel Aviv.


1939(15th of Adar, 5699): The last observance of Shushan Purim before the Holocaust explodes across Europe.


1940: The Nazis barred Jewish physicians from treating Aryans and vice-versa.


1940: Vladimir Jabotinsky, president of the New Zionist Organization of the World lectures on "The Fate of, Jewry" at ManhattanCenter.


1940: “Three leaders of the Jewish Labor party were sentenced to three months in prison today on charges of organizing recent demonstrations against the British government that took place in Tel Aviv.


1940: Laborite M.P. Philip J. Noel introduced a motion to censure the British government in response to the newly enacted laws restricting the purchase of land in Palestine by Jews.   In defending the government’s action, Malcolm MacDonald, the Colonial Secretary, said, in effect, that the restrictions were put in place to placate the Arabs and avoid more Arab-led violence.  Baker contended that the enactment of the new laws was in violation of the rules of the League of Nations.  Furthermore he said that “if the Jews were not a weak and hunted race today, the British government would have repudiated the moral contract which we made with them while the last great was going on.”  Sir Archibald Sinclair, the Liberal leader and Leopold S. Amery, the former Colonial Secretary spoke out against the government’s action, with Mr. Amery reminding the House that Winston Churchill also opposed the new rules.  All the of the talk was useless since the Chamberlain government had the votes to thwart any vote of censure.


1942: Adolph Eichmann talked of deportation of 50,000 Jews from the Old Reich. He emphasized the importance of secrecy.


1943: In Swieciany, Ukraine, 20 youths armed with two revolvers escaped the ghetto and hid in the forest.


1943: The Bulgarian army started to liquidate Jewish property. All confiscated gold and silver was deposited it in sealed packages in the Bulgarian National Bank. Many Bulgarian officials became rich by stealing from the Jews.


1944: An internal memo from the United States Government War Refugee Board states that the United States was negotiating the purchase of a ship for $400,000. The S.S. Necat would be donated to the Turkish Red Crescent after evacuating 5,000 Jewish refugee children from Romaniato Palestine.  


1947: Birthdate of John Stossel, the Chicago born journalist who was born to two Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany who raised him as a Protestant.


1947: Birthdate of actor and director Rob Reiner.  Reiner was best known as the son of the talented Carl Reiner and for his role of “Meathead.” Archie Bunker’s son-in-law in the comedy hit “All in the Family.”


1947: In his second visit to Tel Aviv in two days, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the former President of the Zionist organization and world-class chemist, told a group of civic leaders that he is setting aside his research to do whatever he can to help the people on the coastal plain who are living under strict martial law.  


1947: In a demonstration of how successful their campaign has been, British authorities announced today that “25 known terrorists have been captured in Palestine in recent days.”  Authorities said that many of them are members of Irgun or the Stern Gang.


1949: On the second day of Operation Uvda “the Negev Brigade travelled to Sde Avraham and began to clear land for an airfield there” and that night the “7th Brigade reinforcements from the Gahal platoon arrived by air in the newly cleared airfield” carrying “supplies and fuel vital to continue the operation.”


1950(17th of Adar, 5710):Fifty-your year old Lew Lehr, the comedian, writer and editor who authored Lew Lehr's Cookbook for Men and Stop Me If You've Heard This One passed away today

1951: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg go on trial charged with espionage for providing secret information concerning the Atomic Bomb to the Soviet Union.  In this case the defendants, the prosecutor and the Judge will all be Jews.  But right wing Americafixated on the ethnicity of the defendants and used it to equate beings Jewish with being anti-American.


1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that Stalin¹s condition was very grave.


1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that The World Jewish Conference, scheduled to open in Zurich was postponed.


1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill had promised that the British sales of jet aircraft to Arab States would take care to preserve the balance of power in the area.


1957: United Kingdom colonies Gold Coast and British Togoland become the independent Republic of Ghana.  Israel and Ghana formed several joint ventures including a shipping company.  The leaders of Ghana and other emerging African countries saw Israelas a non-threatening source of Western technology and training.  The African leaders were afraid that accepting similar assistance from the major Western powers would lead to re-colonization, something they did fear from the tiny nation of Israel.  The Israelis provided aid to Ghana and other newly independent countries as a way of breaking out of the diplomatic and economic isolation that the Arabs and their allies were trying to use to destabilize and destroy the Jewish state.


1957: Israel withdrew its troops from the Sinai Peninsula.  The withdrawal followed the October, 1956 war with Egypt.  The Americans and the Soviets joined forces to make the Israelis leave.  They saved President Nasser of Egypt.  The Soviets quickly re-armed Nassar.  The American action had the effect of giving Nasser a free hand to follow his Pan-Arab dream which included the destruction of the state of Israel. 


1959:  Birthdate of actor Tom Arnold.


1964: Allan Sherman sang “The Dropouts March” on tonight’s edition of “That Was The Week That Was.


1964: Jewish movie star Liz Taylor divorced Jewish “crooner” Eddie Fisher so that she could marry Richard Burton. Fisher and Taylor were Jewish – he by birth, she by choice.


1966(14th of Adar, 5726): Purim


1969: Yonatan Netanyahu wrote to his parents, "In another week I'll be 23. On me, on us, the young men of Israel, rests the duty of keeping our country safe. This is a heavy responsibility, which matures us early... I do not regret what I have done and what I'm about to do. I'm convinced that what I am doing is right. I believe in myself, in my country and in my future"


1971: Publication of “Diplomacy in the Living Room.”

1972: Birthdate of Israeli Olympic swimmer Yoav Bruck


1973: Marcel Marceau appears at CoeCollegein Cedar Rapids, IA.


1976(4th of Adar II, 5736): "Slapsie" Maxie Rosenbloom light-heavyweight box champion from 1932 to 1934 passed away at the age of 71.  Rosenbloom boxed during a period when Jews dominated the ring.  In 1933, during Maxie's reign as light-heavyweight champion, Jewish boxers were the champions in four out of the eight weight classes.


1978:The Jerusalem Post reported that Premier Menachem Begin, on the eve of his departure to the US, was adamant that Resolution 242 did not specify the withdrawal of the “territories occupied in the recent conflict” and that the war of 1967 was a war of national self-defense, while the West Bank was never under Jordanian sovereignty. Begin did not rule out any West Bank territorial compromise, but argued that 242 was unspecific, and Israel reserved its position until there was a practical prospect of negotiating the issue.


1981: The Mannes Orchestra performed under the baton of Yakov Kreizberg as part of his graduation ceremony from the Mannes College The New School for Music.


1982(11th of Adar, 5742): Russian born Ayn Rand, author and social commentator, passed away.


1984: Ninety-two year old “German anti-Nazi theologian and Lutheran pastor passed away today. He is best known for his statement


“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Socialist.


Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
 
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Jew.


Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me



1986: Birthdate of American actor Eli Marienthal.


1991: Harry Heinz Schwarz began serving as the Ambassador of South Africa to the United States.


1994: Twenty-six year old Rabbi David Keehn, who is legally blind, is one of 144 rabbis who is honored with formal ordination at the quadrennial Chag HaSemikhah (rabbinic convocation) of YeshivaUniversity's affiliated Rabbis Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) in the Nathan Lamport Auditorium, Joseph and Faye Tanenbaum Hall, New York City.


1997: Janet Rosenberg Jagan, the daughter of middle class Jewish parents from Chicago moved from being the first lady of Guyana to the role of Prime Minister.


1998:The Times of London featured a review of The Founding Myths of Israel: Nationalism, Socialism and the Making of the Jewish State by Zeev Sternhell; translated by David Maisel.


2000:First showing of ''The Life of the Jews in Palestine'' at the Museum of Modern Art. The classic documentary was produced in 1913 by the Odessa-based Mizrakh Company and presumed to be lost for some 80 years -- has resurfaced in New York. This excellent new print with English inter-titles of Noah Sokolovsky's 78-minute silent film is quite likely the rarest of the rarities featured in the museum's 10-program tribute to France's national film archives, the Centre Nationale de la Cinematographie.


2002(22nd of Adar, 5762): Seventy-four year old “Walter Goodman, a former reporter and critic at The New York Times and the author of a widely read history of the House Committee on Un-American Activities” passed away today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)

2005:After 138 years, Rich's (as Rich's-Macy's) disappeared and became part of Macy’s-Central. Rich’s began as a dry goods store run by Morris Rich in 1876.


2005: The Washington Post book section features a review of Michael Medved’s autobiography, The Faith of a Critic.


2005: The Chicago Tribune reported that despite an anti-Semitic backlash, the renaissance of Jewish culture and religion continued its growth in Russia.  This “quiet cultural revolution” has been fueled, in part, by Jews who moved to Israel during starting in the 1970’s and have returned at the start of the 21st century. 


2005:  The New York Times reported that Robert K. Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots made his thirtieth visit to Israel since 1963.  On this most recent visit he took the Lombardi Trophy which was proof of his teams’ Super Bowl Victory and showed it Prime Minister Sharon.  While Sharon is not known as a football fan, he posed for the obligatory photo with a major Jewish philanthropist.


2005: The New York Times reviewed Ester and Ruzya by Masha Gessen.  The title characters are Gessen’s grandmothers.  The biography tells how these two women maintained their Jewish identities while living through Stalin, Hitler and the Cold War.


2005: The cover story of The New York Times Magazine was “A Memory Loop” by Joseph Lelyveld featuring an account of life with his father Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld.


2006(6th of Adar, 5766): Ninety-seven year old Ruth F. Weiss, also known as Wèi Lùshī, an Austrian born Chinese “educator, journalist and lecturer” passed away today.


2007: The Colorado Jewish Artist’s Guild of the MizelMuseum hosts a workshop styled “Catapulting Your Visions to Achievements: Do You Want to Be A Working Artist or An Artist Who Works?”


2007: Former White House aide I. Lewis Libby, Jr. was found guilty on four of five counts of perjury and obstruction of justice trial. The one person convicted in the whole Plame Affair was a practicing Reform Jew. 


2008: As part of its Israel at 60 celebration, the 92nd Street Y presents “Lee Saar The Company & Netta Yerushalmy: Out of Israel” as two innovate Israeli dance companies join forces to present a compelling evening of duets.


2008: Eight people were killed and nine others were wounded this evening when a terrorist infiltrated a Jerusalem yeshiva and opened fire. Three of the wounded in the attack at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood were serious condition and taken to Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Karem. The other six were lightly hurt and taken to Sha'arei Tzedek Medical Center. One of the wounded is 15 years old. Magen David Adom emergency medical service declared the incident a "multiple casualty event."


2009: Agudas Achim hosts Shabbat Across Iowa City with an early Friday evening service followed by a Shabbat Dinner.


2009:Composer Samuel Adler lights up the marquee at TempleEmanuel’s Synaplex Shabbat service on Friday night. The German-born son of a cantor showcases a sampling of his music, performed by the Los Angeles Zimriyah Chorale.  In addition to putting his musical talents on display, Adler also exhibits his strong faith in a musical sermon.


2009: At the KirkDouglasTheatre in Culver City, Kirk Douglas appears in “Before I Forget” a scripted one-Douglas show all about the 92-year-old Hollywood icon. . In this rare theatrical appearance, Douglas shares stories about his life and acting career — the stroke he suffered in 1996 that left him unable to speak, his numerous starring roles and  his return to Judaism.

2009: The lawyers for Bernard Madoff, the goniff who ran the biggest Ponzi Scheme in history, has taken steps that could lead to him pleading guilty as early as next Tuesday. ”


2009:The Foreign Ministry said today it had closed its embassy after the government of Mauritania, an overwhelmingly Muslim West African nation asked the Israeli ambassador and his staff to leave. The move came after Mauritania's military junta recalled its own ambassador from Israel last month.

2009: In Davis Cup competition, Thomas Johansson put Sweden ahead of Israel with a five-set win over Harel Levy Israel’s Duda Sela even the series with a five-set victory against Andreas Vinciquerra.


2010 (5770): Shabbat Parah


2010:Theater J in association with Jonathan Reinis Productions is scheduled to present the World Premiere of Andy Warhol - Good for the Jews?


2010: In London, UK, Jewish Book Week came to an end.


2010:U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell met with Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Tel Aviv today as he began a round of meetings aimed at relaunching peace negotiations.


2011:Veretski Pass is scheduled to perform their new composition “Klezmer Shul” as well as their standard repertoire and some special surprises at the Freight and Salvage Coffee House in Berkeley, CA as part of the Jewish Music Festival.

2011: Mlle. God” by playwright Nick Kazan is scheduled to have is final performance at the Atwater Village Theatre in Los Angeles. “The subtext of Kazan’s production is an attempt to mitigate the controversial role the playwright’s father — Oscar- and Tony-winning director Elia Kazan — played during the era of the Hollywood blacklist.”  Regardless of how you may view the elder Kazan’s role during the Red Hunting days of the 1950’s, this Greek immigrant had the courage to serve as director of “Gentlemen’s Agreement,” the 1947 film that dealt with the issue of anti-Semitism in the United States.  Jewish directors and movie moguls had shied away from making the film because they were afraid of an anti-Semitic backlash. [Yes, this is post Holocaust America]


2011:“Down Home,” a multi-media project that “celebrates Jewish contributions to North Carolina social, civic and commercial life” that has been appearing at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh is scheduled to come to a close today. The project also aimed “to capture a nearly vanished way of life for Jews in the state’s mill and market towns, according to Leonard Rogoff, an organizer of the project and historian at the Jewish Heritage Foundation of North Carolina, which is producing “Down Home.” According to Eli Evans, a speechwriter for Lyndon Johnson whose parents lived in Durham where his mother served Hadassah for 40 years, “The story of the Jews is the untold story of the South.” The Jewish experience in North Carolina was unique in the South, Evans said, because North Carolina was unique in the South. “We didn’t have a strong Klan in our state. We had a commitment to public education, a more moderate political atmosphere, and enlightened political leaders,” he said. “I’m not saying no antisemitism existed. But there was a philo-Semitism that manifested itself in many ways.” While the exhibit’s was partly intended to educate North Carolinians about their own history, it was also intended to provide Jews from outside of the South a look at Jewish culture and customs as practiced below the Mason-Dixon Line.


2011: The Los Angeles Times featured reviews by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Eisenhower 1956: The President's Year of Crisis — Suez and the Brink of War by David A. Nichols


2011: Most of the Israel’s welfare services will be suspended indefinitely starting today  after negotiations between representatives of social workers and the Finance Ministry broke down two days ago.


2011:A sanitation worker of the Jerusalem Municipality was moderately injured today by an explosion apparently set off when he picked up a garbage bag in Jerusalem.

2011(30th of Adar I, 5771): Rosh Chodesh Adar II


2011(30th of Adar I, 5771) Ninety-two year old Dr. Sholom Omi Waife a noted writer and medical researcher who was the grandson of Sholom  Aleichem passed away today.

2012: The annual AIPAC Policy Conference is scheduled to come to an end.


2012: The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center is scheduled to host its annual Humanitiarian Awards Dinner.


2012: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to sponsor a noontime screening of “Jewish Women in American Sport: Settlement Houses to the Olympics,”


2012: Jewish Women's Morning at the Capitol (JWMC) is scheduled to take place in St. Paul, MN.


2012: Professor Deborah E. Lipstadt is scheduled to deliver the annual Charles Grossman Lecture In Jewish Intellectual History entitled “History Written, History Re-Written: On American, The Holocaust and Playing the Blame Game” at The Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning at Temple Emanu-El


2012:The organization Peace Now filed a complaint with police this morning after a death threat was made against director Yariv Oppenheimer the night before. (As reported by Ben Hartman)


2012(12thof Adar, 5772): Ninety-four year old “Albert Abramson, who became a principal force in the creation of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington by using the same pragmatic approach that had made him a successful developer of apartments, offices and malls” passed away today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)

2012:Israel Military Industries will be barred from submitting bids for Indian defense contracts for the next ten years, along with five other firms, The Times of India reported today.
2013: The Humanitarian Awards Dinner co-sponsored by the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is scheduled to take place this evening in Chicago, Illinois.


2013: To mark its acquisition of the defense archive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, The Wiener Library is scheduled to host a public panel discussion on the subject of Anglo-Jewish responses to domestic fascism in the 1930s.


2013: “The Last White Knight: Is Reconciliation Possible?” is scheduled to have its Minnesota Premier tonight at the Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival.


2013: The Hebrew language edition of Playboy will be available on newsstands today in Israel.


2013: “Agriculture Ministry workers armed with pesticides went into action at first light today morning, distributing both aerial and ground sprays in the area where millions of locusts descended upon southern Israel from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula the day before.” (As reported by Sharon Udasin)


2013:New York police today said they arrested a suspected hit-and-run driver following a weekend accident that killed a young Orthodox Jewish couple whose baby was later delivered by C-section but then died.


2013: A global Shi’ite terrorism network made up of Iranian Quds Force operatives and Hezbollah continues to target Israelis overseas, the National Security Council’s counterterrorism bureau warned today, ahead of the Passover vacation season.


2013:The Los Angeles mayoral runoff opened today with Democrats Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greue, each of whom have Jewish connections,l fighting over who can best craft an image of fiscal restraint in a cash-strapped city whose voters refuse to raise taxes to maintain public services.


2014: Shaul Magid, professor of Religious Studies and Jewish Studies at Indiana University Bloomington is scheduled to deliver a lecture “After Multiculturalism: Postethnicity and Judaism in America” at the University of Colorado Boulder.


2014: Leslie Maitland is scheduled to discuss “Crossing the Borders of Time: A True Story of War, Exile and Love Reclaimed.”


2014: “Dove’s Cry and “Sukkah City” are scheduled to be shown at the Washington Jewish Film Festival.


2014: Dr. Rose Cohen is scheduled speak on “Facets of Holocaust Research: Victims and Survivors, Possessions and Plunder Search strategies and Integrating Resources” at the Center for Jewish History

This Day, March 7, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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March 7



322 BCE:  Aristotle passed away. “Aristotle was almost universally held in esteem by the Jews; at one time for his intelligence and mental power, at another as a penitent sinner. The following is Maimonides' verdict concerning him: "The words of Plato, Aristotle's teacher, are obscure and figurative: they are superfluous to the man of intelligence, inasmuch as Aristotle supplanted all his predecessors. The thorough understanding of Aristotle is the highest achievement to which man can attain, with the sole exception of the understanding of the Prophets." Shem-ob ben Isaac of Tortosa (1261) styles Aristotle "the master of all philosophers." Elijah b. Eliezer of Candia, who edited the "Logic" about the end of the fourteenth century, calls Aristotle "the divine," because, having been endowed by nature with a sacredly superior intellect, he could understand of himself what others could receive only from the instruction of their teachers.”

 
161: Roman emperor Antoninus Pius passed away.  He was the handpicked successor of Hadrian.  Antonious undid the anti-Jewish decrees of his predecessor and when he died the Jewish people lost one of the few friends they ever had sitting on the throne in Rome.

 
161: Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus are named co-Emperors of the Roman Empire following the death of Antonious Pius.  Marcus Aurilius had little understanding or appreciation of the Jewish people.  He described them as “stinking and tumultuous” when he traveled through Judea. He reportedly said that he preferred the company of Germanic barbarians to that of Jews.

 
321: Constantine I, the first Christian Roman Emperor decreed that the dies Solis Invicti (sun-day) is the day of rest in the Empire.  Thus would begin the conflict between the Christian Sunday and the Jewish Saturday.  Of course the commandment says to hallow the 7th day and Sunday is the first day of the week.

1190(20th of Adar, 4950): During the Lenten Fair, Crusaders filled “with passion for crusade” and jealousy over the supposed wealth of the Jews, slaughtered them at Stamford, England.

 
1236(21st of Adar, 4996): The Jews of Narbonne began celebrating the Purim of Narbonne after Don Aymeric, the governor, intervened to protect the Jews from marauding Christian  who had already carried off the library of Reb Meir ben Isaac as they made their riotous way through the Jewish quarter.

1274: Catholic theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas passed away.  While no friend of the Jews, Aquinas’ view of Jews was a little better than the average one held by ecclesiastical and temporal leaders of his time.  He opposed conversions at the point of the sword.  He opposed the murder of Jews.  He felt they should be allowed to live so they could serve as eternal witnesses to “the truth of Christianity.”  The views of this influential Catholic theologian are best summed up in a letter to a widow who had inherited a duchy that included what is now Belgium and the Netherlands.  “It is true, as the laws declare, that in consequence of their sin (rejecting Jesus) Jews were destined to perpetual servitude, so that sovereigns of state may treat Jewish goods as their own property, save for the sole proviso that they do not deprive them of that is necessary to sustain life.”  In other words, Jews could live, but they could only live a miserable life.  Aquinas also made it respectable for Catholic nobles to borrow from Jews and then not repay their debts.

 
1361(30th of Adar): Rabbi Simeon ben Zemah Duran, author of Sefer ha-Rashbaz passed away

 
1612(3rd of Adar II, 5372): Mordecai ben Avraham Yoffe passed away at Prague.  Born in 1530, he the Rosh Yeshiva in Prague and author of “Levush Malkhut, a ten-volume codification of Jewish law that particularly stressed the customs of the Jews of Eastern Europe.”

 
1693: Birthdate of Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico, who as Pope Clement XIII would rule that there was no substance to the claim that Jews used blood in the preparation of their unleavened bread. Among other things he intervened with the Polish church and nobles and ordered the protection of Jacob Zelig, the Jewish spokesperson that the Polish Jews had sent to Rome to plead their case

1748: Birthdate of William V, Prince of Orange-Nassau who “donated a considerable sum for a new menorah” when he stayed with Benjamin Cohen in Amersfort and whose wife gave the same community a curtain for the congregation’s holy ark.

 
1788: The Jews of the Netherlands celebrated the birthday of William V as a  holiday as a sign of their support for the Prince of Orange.

 
1789: Birthdate of Michel Martin Drolling the French painter who counted among his student the Alsatian Jew, Benjamin Ulmann whose works include “Sylla and Manus” which hangs in the Luxembourg Palace.

 
1799: (30th of Adar I, 5559): Rosh Chodesh Adar II

 
1799: As Napoleon Bonaparte fought his way across Palestine, his army defeated “a 12,000-strong mixed force of Al Jazzar and the Mamluks” and captured the port city of Jaffa. In one of the first examples of what would become a recurring theme, westerners used modern technology to defeat a Muslim army.  In this case, Napoleon use of bombardments from his heavy artillery was the key to victory.  Following the victory, the French commander “set out to try and gain political advantages from his military achievements. Letters and proclamations were directed at the Sultan, the various communities of Palestine and Syria and their leaders, Akhmad Jasar, the pasha of Acre and commander-in-chief (seraskir) of the Ottoman forces at that time.  All these aimed at paving the way for the complete occupation of the Holy Land by negotiation or by making alliances and contacts to ease further military conquest. Among these was the contact with the Jewish communities in Palestine and Syria, the first de facto attention to the Jews as a potential factor in international policy in modern times.”

 
1799: The Royal Institution an organization devoted to scientific education and research is founded in London.  The Royal Institution today is led by director Baroness Susan Greenfield, renowned scientist and the daughter of Jewish parents.

 
1802(3rd of Adar II): Rabbi Noah Chaim Zevi Berlin, author of Azei Arazim, passed away.

 
1807: On the day before “the Great Sanhedrin presented its responses and formally ended its proceedings, Rabbi Sinzheim delivered a short summary of its conclusions and proclaimed them as nothing less than a ‘social pact’ between ‘the People of God and the People of France.’”

 
1818: Birthdate of German born historian, author and rabbi David Cassel, the brother of Selig Cassel.

 
1822(14th of Adar, 5582): Purim

 
1822: Turkish soldiers killed 60 Jews in Bucharest.

 
1824: Il crociato in Egitto (The Crusade in Egypt), an opera in two acts by Jewish composer Giacomo Meyerbeer, premiered at La Fenice theatre in Venice, Italy.

 
1825:  Birthdate of Alfred Edersheim, English biblical scholar. Edersheim converted to Christianity before the age of 20. He was the author of The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiahwhich is considered by many Christians to be a classic study on this topic.

 
1839: Birthdate of Dr Ludwig Mond a German-born British chemist and industrialist.

 
1841(14thof Adar, 5601): Purim

 
1851: A poll tax was levied on Russo-Polish Jews entering Austrian Galicia was discontinued.

 
1856: A letter from the Hahambashi discusses "reforms" to institute in the Jewish community. The Judeo-Spanish language is discussed, "As the language taught by the Jews of the Levant is not, properly speaking, a language, and cannot be useful to the youth, we order the creation of free schools for the poor where Turkish, Greek, French, and Italian will be taught."

 
1857: Birthdate of Julius Wagner-Jauregg, the Austrian born physician and Nobel Prize Winner.  Apparently he saw no conflict between the fact that he had been a student of Salomon Stircker, the Jewish pathologist and his support of the Nazis.



 
1863: “The Purim Ball. A Jewish Festival – A Great Success” published today reported that “No one of the ancient Hebraic celebrities holds a more absolute sway in the affections of the Jews of this day than Esther, the beautiful and pious spouse of Ahasuerus. In commemoration of the signal service rendered by that estimable lady to her nation, on the occasion of the timely elevation of Haman, the envious enemy of her uncle Mordecai, whose daily place of rest was in the neighborhood of the King's gate, the Jewish people yearly observe the Feast of Purim. In this City, the first grand ball of the Purim Association was given last year, with marked success, and the second was given on Thursday night, at the Academy of Music. The building was very elegantly and tastefully decorated and most brilliantly illuminated, the floor was laid for dancing, and the usual magnificence of the Academy incredibly enhanced.” [Please note, this article which showed a certain comprehension and approval for this minor Jewish holiday appeared in a United States newspaper at a time when Jews comprised approximately 1% of the Jewish population.]

1866: Birthdate of Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein who was Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Knesseth Yisrael in Slabodka, Lithuania and is recognized as having been one of the leading Talmudists of the twentieth century.

 
1869: Birthdate of Ernst Julius Cohen “a Dutch chemist known for his work on the allotropy of metals” who was gassed by the Nazis at Auschwitz.

 
1871(14th of Adar, 5631): Purim

 
1871: Receptions celebrating Purim were held at numerous New York Jewish institutions including the Asylum for the Aged and Infirm, the Orphans Home and the Industrial Home on west 17thStreet.

 
1871: Henry Cardoza and Mary Levi were married this morning by Justice Buckley in Brooklyn’s Second District Police Court.  Cardoza opted for a civil ceremony because he could not afford a rabbi.

 
1872(27th of Adar I, 5632): Jekuthiel Süsskind (Süssel) Rapoport, a leader of the Russian Jewish community passed away today.  Born in 1807, he was the son of Rabbi Chaim ha-Koen and the great-grandson of Rabbi Chaim ha-Koen Rapoport. He and his brother Jacob, rabbi of Ostrog, published their father's work "Mayim Ḥayyim"

 
1875(30th of Adar I, 5635): Rosh Chodesh Adar II

 
1876: Attendance at tonight’s fancy dress ball sponsored by the Purim Association is expected to be greater than at such past events.  The Association has increased its membership which should me more revelers will be dining and dancing at Delmonico’s.
 
1876: “Ben Israel or Under the Curse,” a 4 hour long drama about the travails of a Jewish patriarch named Ben Israel, his granddaughter Rachel and her suitors was described in a review published today as being “destitute of originality, coherence and interest.”

 
1878: Joseph Seligman was elected as one of the vice presidents of the newly formed American Pig Lead Association at a meeting of the leading lead miners and dealers held at St. Louis, MO.

 
1878: Reverend George H. Hepworth, a Unitarian Minister will deliver a lecture entitled “Our American Homes” to the Young Men’s Hebrew Association who are meeting at Lyric Hall in New York City.

 
1879: In New York’s Court of General Session, Judge Henry A. Gildersleeve heard evidence before rendering a decision on the application of the Commissioners of Charities and Correction to force Leopold, Felix and Alfred Salomon to pay six dollars a week in support of their 70 year old widowed mother, Fanny Salomon.  The brother’s contested the request saying that she had rejected their offers to live with them and that she had been able to pay for a trip to France which would indicate she was not destitute.

 
1880: A service was held to this afternoon at Temple Emanu-El to honor the memory of the late Isaac Adophe Creimieux, the Frenchman who had served as President of the Universal Israelite Alliance. When word reached New York that the 84 year old philanthropist and statesman had passed away, the Board of Delegates on Civil and Religious Rights of the Union of American Hebrew congregations recommended a city-wide service.  This afternoon’s service was a collaborative effort of 11 congregations under the leadership of Louis May.

 
1880: Former U.S. Secretary of State Elihu B. Washburne was the featured speaker at today’s memorial service in Chicago held at Temple Sinai to honor the memory of the late Adolphe Cremieux.

 
1883: Herzl withdraws from the Akademische Burschenschaft Albia. ("Ich sagte den edlen jungen Leuten Lebewohl und fing nun an, mich ernstlich an die Arbeit zu setzen." - "I said farewell to my noble young colleagues and sat down seriously to my work.")

 
1887: North Carolina State University is founded by the North Carolina General Assembly. According to recent figures there are approximately 250 Jewish students among an undergrad population of 20,000.  The campus is home to a Hillel Chapter. The North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh contains a Judaic Art Collection that includes an array of historic and contemporary pulpit, life cycle and holiday objects.

 
1889: At a meeting of the Board of Trade, Jacob Schloss “agreed to support a scheme to drive an exploratory mining shaft to demonstrate the continuing viability of the mining district.

 
1890: Abraham Sudyham, a criminal defense attorney was sentenced to five years in New York State prison after having been convicted of grand larceny when he tried to sell the house belonging to his aunt.

 
1891: Birthdate of Marcel Barger.  Born Meyer Streliskie the famed European cabaret performer died at Auschwitzin 1942.

 
1891: Professor Charles A.L. Totten “the well-known military instructor” at Yale University made a statement today in which he described his approval of the memorial presented to President Harrison by William E. Blackstone advocating a project for “restoring Palestine to the Jews.”

 
1891: “Collector Nathan To Retire” published today described Ernst Nathan’s repudiation of unfounded reports that he was retiring from his position or that he would seek the office of Mayor of Brooklyn.

 
1892: It was reported today that the 600 children living at the orphan asylum operated by the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society will be returning to school next week.  They have been confined to the orphanage since January 1stdue to an outbreak of measles – a medical challenged that has been successfully dealt with.  (In an era of vaccinations, we do not appreciate the deadly challenges of childhood illnesses)

 
1892: The Hebrew Orphan Asylum Bazar, sponsored by the Ladies’ Aid Society is scheduled to take place in Baltimore, MD.  Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, the wife of the President is scheduled to be one of the guests.  Mrs. Harrison had told Mrs. Edward Pels and Mrs. J.B. Eiseman that she will be sending a donation of flowers from the White House for the event.
 
1893: It was reported today that Russian Jews who had formed at a colony in Chesterfield, Connecticut are returning to New York after a suffering through a winter of hardships.

 
1894: Assemblyman Ainsworth apologized to the Jews for using the term “Jew pawnbrokers” during the debate on a bill to incorporate the “Provident Loan Society.”  The bill passed by a vote of 86 to 6 with the Jewish members all voting no.

 
1894(29th of Adar): Abraham Baer author Ba’al Tifillah, passed away.

 
1895: The Beth Israel Hospital on East Broadway received a substantial benefit this evening from the proceeds of the Purim charity ball an concert sponsored by the Young Ladies and Gentlemen’s League, the purpose of which is to support the hospital.

 
1895: The last “open meeting” of the Monte Relief, “one of the best known Hebrew charitable organizations in” New York City, “will take the form of a “Cake Walk and Colored Jubilee.”

 
1896: The New York Times reports on the preparations for the upcoming celebration of the 45th anniversary of Dr. Sabato Morais beginning his service as the Rabbi for Congregation Mikvah Israel in Philadelphia, PA.

 
1897: Professor Felix Adler delivered a lecture “Religion of To-day” at Carnegie Music Hall this morning.

 
1897: Rabbi Gustav Gottheil spoke on “The Present Bible Controversy” today at Temple Emanu-El.

 
1897: It was reported today that August Belmont was one of the principal financial backers of plan to unite the manufacturers of bourbon whiskey into a national syndicate.

 
1897: It was reported that Seymour Mork and Phillip Harrison won the prizes at a debate sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association.

 
1898: “Tatza Jews Killed by Arabs” published today describe the pillaging of the Moroccan city by Ghiatz Arabs who abducted the women after murdering the men.

 
1898: Senator Cantor introduced a bill today that would exempt the real estate of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association from taxation, assessment and water rates.

 
1898: “Congregations to Unite” published today traces the decision of members Temple Beth-Elhoim to consolidate with Temple Israel.  Both of the congregations are located in Brooklyn with Beth-Elhoim having 150 members and Temple Israel having 140 members.  The enlarged congregation will have to build a new sanctuary as neither of the currently occupied edifices are big enough to accommodate the increase in attendance.

 
1898: It was reported today that the oldest resident of the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews is a 99 year old man “whose only physical ailment is deafness.”

1900: Birthdate of Gerald Burton Windrod, the Kansas native whose virulent anti-Semitic views earned him the title of "the JayHawk Nazi

 
1903: In Athens, Ohio, newspaper editor and publisher Charles Harvey Bryson, who owned the Athens Morning Journal and his wife gave birth to Bernarda Bryson who married Ben Shan and gained fame in her own rights as Bernarda Bryson Shan (As reported by Margalit Fox)

1909(14th of Adar, 5669): Purim

 
1912: Hadassah was founded by Henrietta Szold.  “At a meeting at TempleEmanu-Elin New York City, Henrietta Szold, a noted scholar, teacher, journalist, editor, social worker and pioneer Zionist, convinced the Daughters of Zion study circle to expand its purpose and embrace “practical Zionism,” proactive work to help meet the health needs of Palestine’s people. Because the meeting was held around the time of Purim, the women called themselves “The Hadassah chapter of the Daughters of Zion,” adopting the Hebrew name of Queen Esther. Hadassah also means “myrtle,” a hardy Levantine plant with agricultural and biblical significance. Henrietta Szold became the first president.

 
1914: Mrs. Simon Baruch had a surprise party for twenty-one Italian children from the Bronxat her home as part of her program to teach patriotism and American values to the children of immigrants newly arrived in the United States.

 
1917: Birthdate of Ruth Dayan, ex-wife of Moshe Dayan. 

 
1917:  During World War I, on the Dialah River in Mesopotamia, Private Jack White, a signaler, during an attempt to cross the river, saw the two pontoons ahead of him come under very heavy fire with disastrous results. When his own pontoon had reached mid-stream, with every man except himself either dead or wounded, and not being able, by himself, to control the boat the private tied a telephone wire to the pontoon, jumped overboard and towed it to the shore, thereby saving an officer's life and bringing to land the wounded and also the rifles and equipment of all the men in the boat.

 
1921: Red Army under Trotsky attacked sailors of Kronstadt in a move to put down “a counter-revolutionary” plot.  Soviet leaders were always putting down “counter-revolutionary plots” both real and imagined.  Stalin would later brand Trotsky as a counter-revolutionary and drive him from the party and the Soviet Union.

 
1922: Birthdate of Hans Eduard Ephraimson-Abt, the Berlin born Jew who became an internationally known advocate for families of air-crash victims after the death of his daughter on Korean Air Lines Flight 007, shot down by Soviet fighter planes in 1983 (As reported by Margalit Fox)

 
1925: Dr. Chaim Weizmann is scheduled to sail for England today aboard the SS Olympic so that he can accompany Lord Blafour to Palestine where they will take part in the dedication of the new Hebrew University on Mt. Scopus.

 
1928(15th of Adar, 5688): Shushan Purim

 
1929: Today in Iraq, "Jewish journalist, Anwar Shaul, published an open letter in weekly magazine al-Hasid, addressed to the British High Commissioner and commander-in-chief, Brigadier-General Sir Gilbert Clayton, demanding full independence for Iraq from Britain

 
1930: Birthdate of Alfred Gottschalk, the native of Germany who “as head of Reform Judaism’s major institution of higher learning ordained the first women as rabbis in the United States and Israel.”

 
1930: Chief Justice MacDonnell and Justices Baker and Kermak heard the appeal of Simcha Hinkis, a 22-year-old Jewish policeman accused of participating in the murder of an Arab family at Jaffa in the August riots. Hinkis had been “found guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced to death.”  “Mordecai Eliash, counsel for the defense, declared the conviction was based on insufficient evidence.”  The court is expected to render its judgment next week.  [It is ironic that a Jewish policeman is the one who was convicted of murder following the murderous Arab rampage of 1929.]

 
1930: The blue liveried state luxury saloon carriage of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia, which entered service today would gain an extra measure of fame when it became part of the 2009 Winton Train – “a private passenger train which travelled from the Czech Republic to England in September 2009, in tribute to the wartime efforts of Sir Nicholas Winton, described as the 'British Schindler' for his part in the saving refugee children from Czechoslovakia.”

 
1936:  Hitler violated Treaty of Versailles by sending troops to the Rhineland. This was one of the early steps leading to World Word II and the Final Solution. Hitler was running a bluff.  He really lacked sufficient military force to have made the remilitarization stick.  If France and Great Britainhad acted decisively, Hitler would have been forced to back down and he might even have been forced from power.

 
1938: The Palestine Post reported that members of the RussianZionistCenterin Tel Aviv were worried by a new wave of purges and arrests in the Soviet Union. They reported that in Moscow, Odessaand many other Russian towns charges of counter-revolutionary activities were trumped up against Jews and the youth was particularly affected. Although there were hardly any Jews in Japan, the Tokyogovernment launched Japan¹s first anti-Semitic campaign announcing a “worldwide Jewish plot.” The Japanese press presented a long list of the country’s Jewish enemies who included, among others, various international peace leagues, socialists and even Rotary International. The charges against Rotary were later withdrawn.

 
1938: Birthdate of David Baltimore, American biologist, recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

 
1940: As Jews continued to protest against the newly enacted British laws limiting purchase of land in Palestine by Jews, the Chief Rabbis and leaders of the Vaad Leumi led a protest demonstration through the streets of Jerusalem while other Jews took part in a work stoppage in Haifa.  In reaction to the protest in Jerusalem, the British imposed an over-night curfew on the Jewish quarter of the City of David.

 
1940: Birthdate of Arlene Hannah Butter, the New York born daughter of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who gained fame as artist Hannah Wilke.

 
1942: Birthdate of Michael Eisner President of The Walt Disney Company.

 
1942: Lucy Parsons the labor organizer and anarchist who addressed the striking members of the Chicago Tailors Union most of whose members were Jewish and who clashed with Emma Goldman passed away.

 
1943(30th of Adar I, 5703): Rosh Chodesh Adar II

 
1943: “The third American enlisted men’s club in the Middle East” is scheduled to be open in Tel Aviv today.  The club has “sleeping quarters for 150 men and lounge, game reading and music rooms.  It is 300 yards from the beach.” In addition, hospitality committees of the Jewish Agency arrange sightseeing trips in the Holy Land and the Tel Aviv Hospital committee is operating three clubs for solidiers and nurses of the Allied armies serving in Palestine.

 
1944: The poet David Vogel was deported from Drancy the French concentration camp and sent to Birkenau along with another 1,500 Jews.

 
1944: At Birkenau, 3,860 Jews who had been living in "family quarters", were sent to the gas chambers. Five days earlier, in their special "family quarters", they were shown off to Red Cross representatives (who were not allowed to see the rest of the camp.) The Jews were told to write postcards to their Czech relatives, but post date them March 25, 26, and 27. The Jews would never live to see those days. Of this group, only 37 were spared, including eleven sets of twins. They would be sent to Dr. Mengele for medical experiments.

 
1945:Brigadier General Ernest Frank Benjamin began serving with the British Eighth Army in the Faenza Area, Italy; a posting that would last until the end of World War II in Europe. Born in 1900, Benjamin “was a British officer from Canada of Jewish birth who commanded the Jewish Infantry Brigade during the Second World War. Benjamin was commissioned into the Royal Engineers and served with that service during 1941-42 before being transferred as a General Staff Officer 1 to the Middle East Command in 1943. He served as Assistant Quartermaster-General there until 1944 when he was appointed Deputy Director of Military Training Middle East Command and in the autumn of the same year as the Commanding Officer, Jewish Brigade Group. yHis last post with the Brigade group was in north-west Europe as part of the VIII Corps of the British Army of the Rhine. He passed away in 1969.

 
1945: The US9th Armored Division seized the bridge at Remagen Germany, enabling them to cross the Rhine and enter the German heartland.  This is an amazing story of luck and unbelievable courage on the part of American soldiers which shortened the war and help end the nightmare for European Jewry. 

 
1946: Birthdate of Ronald Reider, the New Jersey native who settled in Cedar Rapids, after earning his M.D. at the University of Iowa. 

 
1947: Major Beneral R.N. Gale, the British commander of “Operation Elephant” expressed satisfaction with the results of having imposed martial law over a large area of Palestine and that it will be able to “cut out this canker of underground violence.”

 
1947: As the British continued their efforts to pacify Palestine, 5,000 troops and policemen surrounded Rehoveth, Nathanya and Hadera and began searching the communities for “terrorists” and weapons.  The raid netted thirty-two detainees and a small cache of arms.  Dr. Chaim Weizmann is a resident of Rehovoth. “After the searches ended” armed masked men attacked the police station at Rishon le Zion.  As the British looked for the attackers, they let be known that they were looking for members of the Irgun and the Stern gang and not members of Haganah.

 
1949: During Operation Uvda, “Golani forces conquered the village Ein Harouf.

 
1949: During Operation Uvda, “the Alexandroni Brigade moved from Beersheba through Mamshit towards Sodom and then made an amphibious landing near Ein Gedi through the Dead Sea.”

 
1949: The IDF established a based Ayn Husb at the junction of the Beersheba-Sodom and Sodom-Eilat tracks

 
1950(18th of Adar, 5710): Daniel Frisch, the President of the Zionist Organization of America, passed away today at the age of 52 following a surgical procedure that had been performed yesterday.  Born in Palestine, Frisch was the son of Rabbi Eliezer and Haia Landau Frisch.  His family moved to Roumania when Frisch was one year old.  Frisch came to the United States in 1921 and settled in Indianapolis where he operated a successful salvage yard.  Frisch who had been active in the Zionist movement since childhood, founded the Indianapolis Zionist District, served as President of the Ohio Valley Zionist Region and was elected to the ZOA Administrative Council in 1934.  He retired from business five years ago and moved to New York so he could devote himself to the Zionist cause.  Frisch reportedly made at least 14 trips to Israel and worked tirelessly to raise funding for a projects for the infant Jewish state.

 
1950: In what has to be one of the all time great whoppers of history, the Soviet Union issues a statement denying that Klaus Fuchs served as a Soviet spy days after he had been found guilty by a British court.  Fuchs testified that Harry Gold was his courier for getting information to the Soviets.  Harry Gold led to David Greenglass that led to the Rosenbergs.

 
1950: “The Communist newspaper Kol Ha’am charged today that Israel has instituted an anti-Communist campaign and inquirty to similar to those that it said had been launched by President Truman in all countries under American protection.”  The paper charged that America was pulling the strings of anti-Communism in Israel just as it was in England. [This charge came at the same time when many right-wing Americans were warning of the Jewish Communist conspiracy.]

 
1951: Lillian Hellman's "AutumnGarden" premiered in New York City.

 
1951: In one of those incidents that undermine stability in the Middle East and thus prove worrisome to Israel, the Prime Minister of Iran was shot and killed by an Islamic fundamentalist.

 
1952: Dr. Alexander Marx, director of libraries and the Jacob H. Schiff Professor at JTS is will leave for Israel today.  This is his first trip to the new Jewish state during which he plans to establish closer working relationships between JTS and libraries in Israel.
 
1953(20th of Adar, 5713):Maksymilian Apolinary Hartglas passed away in Tel Aviv.  Born in 1883, he was a lawyer, Zionist and a politician in pre-war Poland who courageously escaped from Warsaw and finally settled in Jerusalem.

1960: “Volpone” co-starring Lou Jacobi as “Corvino” was broadcast today at the Play of the Week.

 
1965: On Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, group of 600 civil rights marchers are violently prevented from marching to the state capital in Montgomery.  Two weeks later a group of marchers would successfully begin the march from Selma to Montgomery.  Included among them would be Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel who said he was “voting with his feet.”

 
1965: Release date for “The Train” a film based on Le front de l'art by Rose Valland, which tells the story of a successful attempt to keep a train filled with looted French art from reaching Germany.  In reality, the boxcar doors were opened by Free French forces under the command of Lt. Alexandre Rosenberg who had no trouble identifying the masterpieces since man of have them had been hanging in the Paris home of his father Paul Rosenberg

 
1967: Alice B. Tolkas passed away. Born Jewish in 1877, the San Francisco she  gained fame as confidante, lover, cook, secretary, muse, editor, critic, and general organizer for another famous Jewess, Gertrude Stein.  Before her death, Tolkas converted to Roman Catholicism. 

1969: The Central committee of the Labor Party voted to nominate Golda Meir as Prime Minister.

 
1971: Birthdate of British-bornAcademyAward winning actress Rachel Weisz.  Her father was a Hungarian Jewish inventor who fled to England to escape the Nazis.  Her mother is described as Catholic with Jewish ancestry. Weisz has appeared in films with Keanu Reeves and Hugh Grant.

 
1971:  Egypt refused to renew the Suez ceasefire during an outbreak violence that presaged the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

 
1975(24th of Adar, 5735): Canadian born comedian Ben Blue passed away at the age of 73.  Blue never achieved the fame of some his contemporaries like George Burns or Milton Berle.  But he was good enough to have his own life variety show in the early days of television.

 
1977:  Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin met President Carter.  Most people remember Rabin as the Prime Minister of Peace from the 1990's.  But Rabin was first Prime Minister back in the 1970's.  It was at this time that he and the Labor Party were rocked by a scandal dating from Rabin's days as Israel's Ambassador to the United States.  The scandal drove him from power.   It resulted in the rise to power of Likud and the election of Menachem Begin as Prime Minister.  In other words, Rabin's financial indiscretions ended Labor's control of the Israeli government which dated back to the founding of the state in 1948 and changed the political landscape of Israel.


1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that the representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the Histadrut met to discuss the current wave of strikes which for more than seven weeks paralyzed the merchant marine, disrupted El Al flights and TV, radio and other communications.


 
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that In Iran the shah warned that he might impose an oil embargo on Israel to make it more flexible in negotiations with Egypt.

 
1985(14thof Purim, 5745): Purim

 
1986: Divers from the USS Preserver locate the crew cabin of Challenger on the ocean floor. The crew included Judith Resnik, the first Jewish American astronaut and the first Jewish woman to go into space.

 
1986(26th of Adar I, 5746): Former Senator from New York, Jacob K Javits passed away in Palm Beach FL at the age of 81.  Javits was a political anomaly for his time.  At a time when most Jews were Democrats, he was a Republican.  True, he was part of the liberal wing of the Republican Party, but he was a Republican nonetheless.  Javits was a champion of Civil Rights and stood against the right wing tide that swept his party in the 1960's.  A lot of Jews were critical of Javits for supporting President Eisenhower in 1956.  Ike and his Republican Administration sided with Egypt during the Suez Crisis and threatened Israelwith crippling economic sanctions unless she bowed to the will of the Americans.

 
1987: In his “Jerusalem Journal,’ Francis X. Clines described the newly Ophel Garden which is “a magnificent ascending honeycomb of history at the southern foot of the Temple Mount that allows passing mortals to meander across 3,000 years of history, from the First Temple time of Solomon in the 10th century B.C. to the Ottoman extravagances of the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, 2,500 years later.

 
1993(14thof Adar, 5753): Purim observed for the first time under President Bill Clinton.

1996: The Third Way was formed today “towards the end of the thirteenth Knesset's term when two MKs, Avigdor Kahalani and Emanuel Zisman, broke away from the Labour Party.”

 
1996: MK Efraim Gur left Likud.

 
1997(28th of Adar I, 5757):  Rabbi Emanuel H. Bronner passed away.  Born in 1908, Emanuel H. Bronnerwas the eccentric maker of Dr. Bronner's castile soap, a concentrated liquid notable for the vast amount of lather produced from a few drops and the vast amount of tiny text on its packaging. Although his parents were killed in the Holocaust, Rabbi Bronner believed in the goodness and unity of humanity. He was born in Heilbronn, Germany to the Heilbronner family of soap makers. He emigrated to the United States in 1929, dropping "Heil" from his name to protest the rise of Hitler. He pleaded with his parents to emigrate with him for fear of the Nazis, but they refused. His last contact with his parents was in the form of a postcard saying, "You were right. —Your loving father." He started his business making products by hand in his home. The product labels were crowded with statements of Bronner's philosophy, which he called "All-One-God-Faith" and the "Moral ABCs". Many of Bronner's references came from Jewish and Christian sources, such as the Shema and the Beatitudes; others from poets such as Rudyard Kipling. Sometimes they contained unusual product statements, for example suggesting a contraceptive use for the soap. They became famous for their idiosyncratic style, including hyphens to join long strings of words and the liberal use of exclamation marks. In 1947, while promoting his "Moral ABC's" at the University of Chicago, Bronner was arrested and committed to a mental hospital from which he escaped. Eventually his operation grew into a small factory in Escondido, California. At his death in 1997, it produced over a million bottles of soap and other products a year but was still not mechanized. The firm did no advertising but has been the subject of many published articles. It supported many charitable causes. After Bronner's death, his family continued the business. They have said the labels he wrote will not change except when required by government regulations.

 
1999(19th of Adar, 5759):  Sidney Gottlieb passed away.Born in 1918, Sidney Gottlieb was an American chemist probably best-known for his involvement with the Central Intelligence Agency mind control program (MKULTRA). Sidney was born in the Bronx under the name Joseph Schneider. He received a Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology. Despite the fact that he was a stutterer since childhood, Sidney got a master's degree in speech therapy. He also had a club foot, but this did not stop him from practicing folk dancing, a lifelong passion. In 1951, Sidney Gottlieb joined the Central Intelligence Agency. As a poison expert, he headed the chemical division of the Technical Services Staff (TSS). Sidney became known as the "Black Sorcerer" and the "Dirty Trickster". He supervised preparations of lethal poisons and experiments in mind control.

 
1999(19th of Adar, 5759): Movie director Stanley Kubrick passed away at the age of 70.  Some of his more memorable films included “Spartacus,” “2001-A Space Odyssey” and “Dr. Strangelove.”

 
1999: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or special interest to Jewish readers including The Times of My Life: And My Life With The Times by Max Frankel, A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue by Wendy Shalit, Hirschfeld On Line by Al Hirschfeld and P.S.: The Autobiography of Paul Simon by Paul Simon

 
2000:Second showing of ‘The Life of the Jews in Palestine'' at the Museum of Modern Art. The classic documentary was produced in 1913 by the Odessa-based Mizrakh Company and presumed to be lost for some 80 years -- has resurfaced in New York. This excellent new print with English inter-titles of Noah Sokolovsky's 78-minute silent film is quite likely the rarest of the rarities featured in the museum’s 10-program tribute to France's national film archives, the Centre Nationale de la Cinematographie.

 
2001: Gesher pulled out of the coalition as a result of Ehud Barak’s participation in the Camp David Smmit.

 
2001: Shlomo Ben Ami completed his service as Israel’s Foreign Minister.

 
2001: Binyamin Be-Eliezer replaced Ehud Barak as Defense Minister.

 
2001:Dalia Rabin-Pelossof replaced Efraim Sneah as Deputy Minister of Defense.

 
2001: Shimon Peres begins serving as Israel’s Foreign Minister.

 
2001:  Reuven Rivlin replaced Binyamin Ben-Eliezer as Communications Minister.

 
2001: Asher Ohana replaced Yossi Beilin as Minister of Religion

 
2001: Avigdor Lieberman replaced Avraham Shochat as the National Infrastructure Minister

 
2001: Natan Sharansky began serving as Minister of Housing and Construction.

 
2001: Uzi Landau replaced Shlomo Ben-Ami as Minister of Public Security.

 
2001: Gideon Ezra began serving as Deputy Minister of Public Security

 
2001: President Bush met with 25 leaders from the Jewish community in the White House Roosevelt Room.

 
2004: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of interest to Jewish readers including The Prisoner of Vandam Street by Kinky Friedman and the recently released paperback edition of Trains of Thought: From Paris to Omaha Beach: Memories of a Wartime Youth, by Victor Brombert in which the renowned literary scholar recalls his bourgeois Jewish childhood in Europe and his stateless youth: his parents escaped from France to the United States in 1941, and after joining the Army he returned to Europe to fight in the Normandy campaign and the Battle of the Bulge.

 
2004(14th of Adar, 5764): Purim

 
2005:After considering Hiram Bingham's deeds during the war years in Marseille for a number years, Israel's memorial Yad Vashem ("Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority") issued the Bingham family a letter of appreciation


2006: The Jerusalem Post reported that Saudi Arabiahas continued to participate in the boycott against Israeli goods in violation of promises the Saudis had made to the United States and the international economic community.

 
2006: The Cedar Rapids Gazette announced that it would no longer carry the column by Mitch Albom because he was not reliable.  Apparently the Gazette could tolerate his fictional columns, just not the fact that he could not be trusted to get his work to the paper once a week as promised.

2007: The Ministry for the Development of the Negev and Galilee decided  to move the national archive of Israel from Jerusalem to Arad,

 
2007: At the Skirball Cultural Center, a screening of Black Book.  In the film “a beautiful chanteuse (Carice van Houten) joins the Dutch resistance in 1944 to track down the Nazis who killed her family and becomes embroiled in a web of seduction, betrayal, and revenge. Directed by Paul Verhoeven, Black Book premiered at the Veniceand Toronto International Film Festivals to rave reviews.

 
2007: The Israel Air Force began incorporating the new "Shoval" drone, which according to the Israel Defense Forces has an improved ability to identify the launch of projectile rockets such as Katyushas and Qassams.The army said the drones will also be able to provide better assistance to troops on the ground. Shoval is the IAF nickname for the "Mahatz" drone manufactured by the Israel Aircraft Industries.

 
2007: An exhibition entitled “Superheroes and Schlemiels: Jewish Memory in Comic Strip Art” opens at the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam. “Superman, Maus, The Rabbi’s Cat and many other heroes and anti-heroes from the art of comics feature in this exhibition of comics and graphic novels by Jewish artists.

 
2008(30 Adar I, 5768: Rosh Chodesh Adar II

 
2008 (30 Adar I, 5768): The eight victims of the attack on Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem were buried this afternoon, each with Torah scrolls stained with their blood, in accordance with the Halakhic decision ruled by former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu. The victims included American student Avraham David Moses, aged 16, Doron Maharata, 26 the oldest of those killed whose family immigrated to Israel as part of Operation Moses when he was eight years old,Yochai Lipschitz, 18, of Jerusalem; Yonatan Yitzchak Eldar, 16, of Shiloh; Yonadav Chaim Hirschfeld, 19, of Kochav Hashahar; Neriah Cohen, 15, of Jerusalem; Roey Roth, 18, of Elkana; and Segev Pniel Avihayil, 15, of Neveh Daniel

2008: Roland E. Arnall completed his term as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands.

 
2008: Today a state historical marker was erected by the Georgia Historical Society, the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, and Temple Kol Emeth, near the building at 1200 Roswell Road, Marietta where Leo Frank was lynched.  The memorial reads:

 
Near this location on August 17, 1915, Leo M. Frank, the Jewish superintendent of the National Pencil Company in Atlanta, was lynched for the murder of thirteen-year-old Mary Phagan, a factory employee. A highly controversial trial fueled by societal tensions and anti-Semitism resulted in a guilty verdict in 1913. After Governor John M. Slaton commuted his sentence from death to life in prison, Frank was kidnapped from the state prison in Milledgeville and taken to Phagan's hometown of Marietta where he was hanged before a local crowd. Without addressing guilt or innocence, and in recognition of the state's failure to either protect Frank or bring his killers to justice, he was granted a posthumous pardon in 1986.

 
2009: In “The Perfect Hamantaschen” published today Deborah Gardner attempts to settle the dispute between those who prefer prune and those who munch on “mun.”

 
2009:Journalist David Plotz, the editor of Slate, discusses and signs Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible at Politics and Prose Bookstore, 202-364-1919.

 
2009:Israeli illustrator and artist David Polonsky discusses and signs his new graphic novel, Waltz with Bashir: A Lebanon War Story (created with Ari Folman, whose animated film of the same name inspired the book), at Busboys and Poets (D.C.)

 
2009: Shabbat Zachor 5769

 
2009: With demonstrators clashing with the police outside a near-empty stadium, Sweden won a doubles match to take a 2-1 lead against Israel in the Davis Cup series in Malmo, Swed

2009:In case involving Dead Sea Scrolls scholars, The Chicago Tribune reported thatNew York City authorities this week charged the son of University of Chicago professor Norman Golb with identity theft, criminal impersonation and harassment in connection with a campaign to smear opponents of his father's scholarly theories.

2010: The Jewish Women's Archive’s tour of Santa Fe is scheduled to come to an end today.

 
2010: “The Splendor of the House of Camondo: From Constatinople to Paris, 1806-1845” which opened at the Museum of Jewish Art and History in Paris on November 6, 2009 is scheduled to close today.

 
2010: The 121st annual convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis opened in San Francisco.

 
2010:The Twentieth Annual KOACH Kallah is scheduled to come to an end.KOACH is the college program of The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

 
2010: After a year-and-a-half of careful restoration work by the Egyptian authorities, the Maimonides Synagogue in Cairo is scheduled to be rededicated today. The 19th-century synagogue and adjacent yeshiva, which stand on the site where Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, the Rambam, worked and worshiped more than 800 years ago, was restored by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

 

2010: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readings including The Ask by Michael Lipstye

 
2010(21 Adar, 5770):Arnold Forster, an American Jewish leader, lawyer and writer who was a longtime executive of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, passed away today in the Bronx at the Hebrew Home for the Aged in Riverdale.  He was 97. Associated with the Anti-Defamation League for nearly six decades, Mr. Forster was its general counsel from 1946 to 2003. In that capacity he helped document, publicize and combat myriad forms of anti-Semitism in the United States and overseas. He was widely quoted in the news media over the years on a range of Jewish issues, including Zionism, a cause he defended ardently and about which he wrote frequently. His books, many of which began life as league reports, include “The Trouble-Makers” (Doubleday, 1952), “ ‘Some of My Best Friends ...’ ” (Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, 1962) and “The New Anti-Semitism” (McGraw-Hill, 1974), all written with Benjamin R. Epstein. Mr. Forster was also the author of a memoir, “Square One” (D. I. Fine, 1988), which has a foreword by Elie Wiesel. Mr. Forster began his work with the Anti-Defamation League in the 1930s. In 1938, he convened a group of lawyers to serve pro bono as the league’s legal arm. He formally joined the league in 1940 and later became its associate national director, presiding over an expansion of its law department and civil rights programs. In 1965 Mr. Forster hired a young law school graduate named Abraham H. Foxman as an assistant to the director of the league’s law department. Mr. Foxman is now the league’s national director.  After retiring from the league in 1979, Mr. Forster was associated with two New York law firms, Shea & Gould and Baer Marks & Upham. Besides writing books, Mr. Forster wrote the screenplays of several documentary films. Among them are “The Avenue of the Just” (1978), about Gentiles who saved Jews during the Holocaust, and “Zubin and the I.P.O.” (1983), about Zubin Mehta, the music director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Broadcast on NBC, “Zubin and the I.P.O.” won Daytime Emmy Awards for its director, Samuel Elfert, and for Mr. Mehta. In “Square One,” Mr. Forster recounted his decades-long campaign against bigotry. Reviewing the memoir in The New York Times Book Review, Marlene Sanders called it “an earnest chronicle of the useful life of a dedicated man.” Ms. Sanders continued: “The work of Mr. Forster and the league over the years has contributed to eliminating many institutionalized forms of prejudice.” She added, “We may not be back to ‘Square One’ in solving the problem, but this book is a reminder that there is still work to be done.”

 
2011: Israeli choreographer Michal Samama is scheduled to perform ‘Still Life with Seven Stones’ in New York City.

 
2011:Israeli violinist Misha Keylin, Seymour Lipkin and the Jupiter musicians are scheduled to perform at the Good Shepherd Church in New York City.

 
2011: On the day before Mardi Gras, Jews in the Crescent City have the opportunity to participate in Breakfast with Maimonides during which Rabbi Zelig Rivkin is scheduled to lead a study of the writings of the Rambam

 
2011: (1 Adar II 5771): Rosh Chodesh Adar II

 
2011: (1 Adar II 5771) Yahrzeit for the passengers killed on Egged Bus #53 8 years ago in Tel Aviv:


·        Kmer Abu Khamed, 12, from Daliyat al Karmel


·        Yuval Mendelevitch, 13, from Haifa


·        Smadar Firstatter, 17, from Haifa


·        Avigail Lietel, 14, from Haifa


·        Asaf Tzur, 16, from Haifa


·        Daniel Harush, 16 , from Safed


·        Tom Hershko, 16, from Haifa, and his father-


·        Motti Hershko, 41, from Haifa


·        Tal Kehrmann, 17, from Haifa


·        Elizabeth (Liz) Katzman, 17, from Haifa


·        Meital Katav, 20, from Haifa


·        Moran Shushan, 20, from Haifa


·        Anatoly Biryakov, 20, from Haifa


·        Be'eri Ovad, 21 , from Rosh Pina


·        Eliyahu Laham, 22, from Haifa


·        Miriam Atar, 27, from Haifa


·        Mark Takash, 54, from Haifa


2011:Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has ordered the state to demolish all illegal West Bank outposts built on private Palestinian land by the end of 2011, Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser announced today.

 
2011: Publication of “Jewish Texts Lost in War Are Surfacing in New York”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/nyregion/08books.html?_r=2&hpwm


 
2012:Nicholas Winton: The Power of Good” is scheduled to be shown at the Pittsburgh Jewish Film Festival in Pittsburgh, PA.


 
2012: The junior faculty at the University of Haifa is scheduled to go on strike as part of “an ongoing dispute with the Committee of University Presidents over work conditions”

 
2012: Friends and family of Dr. Ron Reider join together to celebrate his natal day.  Besides being a crack physician, Reider is an avid wrestling fan, a pillar of the Jewish community and a loyal supporter of the Traditional Minyan. In addition to which, he is one of only two people in Cedar Rapids who wraps his tefillin around his right arm.

 
2012(13th of Adar, 5772): Fast of Esther


2012: As part of their Fast of Esther observance, the 9thgraders at Temple Judah have agreed to take part in “Say No To Lashon Hara Day.”  Purim is a holiday that reminds of the evil consequences of the Evil Tongue..  Traditionally, on the day before Purim, we give up food and drink to show our solidarity with Esther. They are going to avoid Lashon Hara, both in its literal and figurative meaning, on the day before Purim to show that modern world would be better off without it just as the Jews of Shushan would have benefited from its absence.


2012:Education Minister Gideon Saar announced today that Rabbi Chaim Druckman will receive the Israel Price for his contributions to society and education.

 

2012: Thirteen Israelis made this year’s list of billionaires which totaled 1,226 people.Idan Ofer, director of Ofer Group, leads the list of Israeli billionaires in the 161st spot, with an estimated fortune of $6.2 billion. Beny Steinmetz of Steinmetz Business Group ranked eight spots bellow Ofer, with a net worth of $5.9 billion. Another Ofer brother, Eyal, came in 173rd on the list, with $5.8 billion.  Iscar founder Stef Wertheimer and his family ranked 255th with some $4.2 billion, while Bank Hapoalim's Shari Arison was placed in the 288th spot with $3.9 billion. Other Israelis included on the list were film producer Arnon Milchan (290th, $3.8 billion); Kazakh-Israeli tycoon Alexander Machkevich (418th, $2.8 billion); Check Point founder Gil Shwed (683, $1.9 billion); Delek Group owner Yitzhak Tshuva (683, $1.9 billion);Lev Leviev (764, $1.7 billion); Marius Nacht (1015, $1.2 billion); Teddy Sagi (1015, $1.2 billion) and Moris Kahn (1153, $1 billion). (As reported by Y Net)


2013:Center for Jewish History and American Jewish Historical Society are scheduled to present a discussion of the soon-to-be published book FDR and the Jews.


2013: In Cedar Rapids, the family and friends of Dr. Ronald Reider, a pillar of the Jewish community and an ardent supporter of the Shabbat Minyan, celebrate his natal day.  Dr. Reider is one of two men in Cedar Rapids who uses “left-handed’ tefillin.


2013(25thof Adar, 5773): Ninety-eight year old Jacques Torczyner, the Belgian born former president of the ZOA passed away today.



2013:”British Fascism, Anti-Fascism and Jewish Defence,” a one day conference co-sponsored by the Board of Deputies of British Jewish is scheduled to take place at the Wiener Library. 


2014: JW3 is scheduled to host a “100% Shabbat friendly” Friday Night Supper Club in London.


2014: The Library of Congress is scheduled to screen “Sukkah City,” Jason Hutt’s documentary that “explores the artistic process of architects and documents how an ancient building was reinvented for the 21st century.”


2014: In Coralville, Iowa, Agudas Achim is scheduled to host Shabbat Across America.


2014: Following a congregation spaghetti dinner, the 9th grade class is scheduled to lead Friday night services at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.


2014: The third bi-annual LimmudFest New Orleans is scheduled to open this evening with registration at Temple Sinai on St. Charles Avenue.


 

This Day, March 8, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

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March 8


 
1126: Alfonso VII is proclaimed king of Castile and Leon, after the death of his mother Urraca. Under the reign of Alfonso Christian Spain “became a refuge for the persecuted Andalusian Jews.  The capital city of Toledo became a new center for Jewish learning.  The major reason for this positive turn of fortune for the Jews was the king’s positive relationship with Yehuda Ibn-Ezra.  After taking the fortress of Calatrava, the king appointed Ibn-Ezra as its commander as a reward for his bravery.  Ibn-Ezra used his influence to create a refuge for the Jews who were fleeing Almohades, a religiously fervent Berber Moslem dynasty that had crossed into Spain after successful conquests in parts of North Africa. Those who equate the Golden Age of Spain with Moslem rule would do well to remember that life for the Jews was much more varied than that.

 
1255: King Przemysl Ottocar II  renewed the charter granting favorable rights to his Jewish subjects.

 
1607: A complaint was filed today by the Inquisition “against Jorge de Almeida, a Portuguese domiciled in the City of Mexico, husband of Dona Lenor de Andrada” who had been convicted of observing Mosaic law” which makes her a Jewess.

 
1688: On this night a large group of secret Jews planned to escape from the island of Majorca by booking passage on an English ship. They were looking for religious freedom. A storm delayed their departure, and their plan was betrayed. All those planning to leave were put in prison. In the spring of 1691 these prisoners were sentenced at an auto-de-fe, where 37 were burned at the stake.

 
1702: King William II of England passed away today. Antonio Lopez Suasso, later Baron Avernes de Gras had provided financing for William who had been Prince of Orange to take the English throne. In 1700 William knighted Solomon de Medina who had served as an army contractor making him the first Jew to be so honored.

 
1731: In Mladá Boleslav, David Brandeis a Jewish shopkeeper who had been accused of poising a local Christian printer with plum jam was released today after the accusation was proven to be untrue.

 
1768:In the Netherlands, synagogues held services of thanks-giving on the day that “King William V entered the legislature on the day of his majority.” “Under the government of William V the country was troubled by internal dissensions; the Jews, however, remained loyal to him” and William did not forget the loyalty of his Jewish subjects.



 

1799(1st of Adar II, 5559): Rosh Chodesh Adar II

 
1807: In France, the Great Sanhedrin presented its conclusions at its final session.

 
1817:  In New York, the Stockbrokers Guild formerly incorporates itself and becomes the New York Stock Exchange.  Among the founders were several prominent Jewish financiers including Benjamin Seixas, Isaac Gomez, Alexander Zuntz and Ephraim Hart.  Ephraim Hart’s son’ Bernhard, became Secretary of the NYSE.  Bernhard was also the grandfather of writer Bret Harte.

 
1817:Joseph Jonas the first Jew to settle in Cincinnati, Ohio arrived in the Queen City today.  He was an English-born peddler who had come from Philadelphia, PA. “He became a successful watchmaker and silversmith and lived on Broadway between Fifth Street and Harrison. Jonas, like most early Jews, settled in downtown Cincinnati. Jonas wrote letters describing the opportunities that existed in the Ohio River valley. This convinced other Jews to join him including two younger brothers. In 1821, when Benjamin Lieb was dying, he begged to be buried as a Jew. He was the first Jew to die in Cincinnati. In response to his request, Joseph Jonas and Morris Moses, two of Cincinnati's six Jews, purchased the lot for Cincinnati's first Jewish cemetery from Nicholas Longworth for $75.00, and then buried Lieb there. This cemetery known as the Old Jewish Community or the Chestnut Street Cemetery is the oldest Jewish cemetery west of the Alleghenies. By 1824 there were enough Jewish residents to fulfill the requirement of ten adult males so that regular religious services could be held, and the first Jewish congregation beyond the Allegheny Mountains was established. This congregation became the Rockdale Temple. Most of the early Jews were British.”

 
1831: Birthdate of French photographer Félix Bonfils who created one of the first modern photographic records of the Middle East including Palestine including the Wall of the Second Temple.

 
1857:Today one of the first real organized actions of women's solidarity took place in New York City when hundreds of women staged a strike against the garment and textile factories in New York City, protesting low wages, long working hours and inhumane working conditions.  This strike, which undoubtedly included Jewish workers took place 54 years before the Triangle Shirt Factory Fire.

 
1857: Reverend Charles Harris, "a Christian Jew" is scheduled to preach twice today at the John Street First M.E. Church in New York City. [The Jews for Jesus concept obviously was not a 20th century phenomenon.]

 
1860(14thof Adar): As war clouds loom in the United States, celebration of Purim

 
1871(15thof Adar, 5631): Shushan Purim

 
1871: The New York Times reviewed “The Recovery of Jerusalem: A Narrative of Exploration in the City and the Holy Land” by two legendary British officers, Captains Wilson and Warren, who, among other accomplishments, conducting the first modern mapping of the ancient Jewish capital.
 
1871: “The Purim Festival” published today described the history of the holiday as well as local observances including the celebrations at the Asylum for the Aged and Infirm, the Orphans’ Home and the Industrial Home on West 17th Street.



1872: Four years after Abraham Oppenheim had been enobled, German-Jewish banker Gerson von Bleichröder and his family were made Prussian nobles; making them the second Jewish family to have been so honored.


 

1874: “The Prince of Printers” published today traces the history of printing in Italy including the rise of the printers of Soncino who were the first to print texts using Hebrew letters. Although they would set up presses at other locations, they always used the name of their home town which they adopted as their family name.


1875(1stof Adar II, 5635): Rosh Chodesh Adar II

 
1875: It was reported that next week’s Hebrew Charity Ball will include music supplied by two bands and a supper catered by Delmonico’s served at the Academy of Music.

 
1877: The Hebrew Lodge, Number 5 of the International order of B’nai Brit is sponsoring a fundraiser at the Steinway Hall tonight to aid those who suffered loss in the recent fire in Brooklyn.  Entertainment will included vocalists and violinists.

 
1879: Birthdate of Otto Hahn.In 1944, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering the fission of heavy nuclei, which made the atomic bomb possible.

 
1879: It was reported today that the Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Harlem are sponsoring a Purim Calico Ball which will be held on the day that coincides with Shushan Purim.

 
1879: The Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Manhattan will host its fourth annual Purim celebration at the Lexington Avenue Opera House.

 
1881: The town of Seligman, MO, which was named for Joseph Seligman, was incorporated today.

 
1890: “The charity ball of the Hebrew Benevolent Society of Long Island City took place tonight at Ahler’s Astoria Assembly Rooms.

 
1891: “Palestine for the Jews” published today described the plan “advocated by prominent men of the leading cities” including such philo-Semites as Yale Professor Charles Toten “to obtain in a peaceable way” the “old homes in Palestine for Jews through… an international conference.”

 
1891: “Electric Light In The Holy Land” published today relied on information that first appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette to described the introduction of electric light at a new flour mill located near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem.

 
1891(28th of Adar I, 5651: Seventy year old Benjamin Feuerstein, a clothing cutter, passed away while riding the elevated on his way to a meeting of a Jewish charitable society.

 
1891: Birthdate of American film and television actor Sam Jaffee.  His film career included the role of Gunga Din in the movie of the same name and “Doc”, the criminal mastermind in the film noire classic “The Asphalt Jungle.”  His film career came to a halt as a result of the infamous blacklist.  He returned to acting as the wise old Dr.Zorba in the television medical melodrama “Ben Casey.”

 
1892: As public health workers in New York cope with the latest outbreak of typhus, 20 year old Sarah Koslofsky who was living in a tenement occupied by 18 Jewish families was taken to the hospital after she was found to suffering with the fever.  Thirteen year old Baruch Stelson who was also found to be suffering from the disease was taken the facility at North Brother Island.
 
1894: “Benny” Weiss” saw  Wardman Jeremiah Levy and Charles Krumm shake hands without exchanging any money.

 
1894: “Brooklyn Bridge Trustees” published today described Senator Cantor’s objection “to removing men from office upon charges of dishonesty unless the charges were shown to be true.”



1894: “Mr. Ainsworth Makes an Apology to the Hebrews” published today described New York Assemblyman Ainsworth’s public recantation of his use of the term “Jew pawnbrokers’ claiming that he spoke hastily during the debate on reforming pawn-brokering “and did not think of my Hebrew brethren on the floor of the house.”
 
1895: “Unparalleled” published today, relying on information first appearing in the Cincinnati Tribune described the United as “perfect in a religious way” because it is the only country on earth where “a Hebrew Mayor” could “call for the troops to keep the Catholics and Protestants from getting into a riot.”

1896: “Rabbi Morais’s Anniversary” published today described plans for the upcoming celebration of Dr. Sabato Morais’s 45th anniversary as the Rabbi of Philadelphia’s Congregation Mikve Israel.
 
1897(4th of Adar II, 5657):Frederick C. Salomon passed away.  A native of Prussia where he trained as a surveyor, Salomon moved to Wisconsin where he worked as a surveyor, registrar of deed and chief engineer on a local railroad.  At the outbreak of the Civil War, he joined the Union Army where he served with such distinction that he rose to the rank of Major General (Brevet) by the time he mustered out in 1865.  After the war he served as the Surveyor General of Utah Territory and settled in Salt Lake City where he passed away.




 
1897: Maurico Jacobs, a native of Peru who has been living in Cuba for the last 12 years has applied to the United Hebrew Charities for assistance for himself and his family.


 
1898(14th of Adar, 5658): Purim



1898(14th of Adar, 5658): Sixty-eight year old Moses Bruckheimer, a pawnbroker living in Brooklyn passed away today. He was active in the Jewish community serving as trustee of Temple Beth Elohim and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.


1899: At the annual diplomatic dinner given by the Emperor of Germany Today, the Kaiser looked “robust,” having “fully recovered from the effects of his Palestine” trip where he sought to strengthen the German role in the Ottoman Empire.
 
1899: In Albany, State Senator Elsberg introduced a bill “authorizing the consolidation of the Education Alliance and the Hebrew Free School Association of New York City.


1899: At the Bloomingdale Church in Manhattan Dr. Madison C. Peters will deliver a lecture on “Justice to the Jew,” “which is intended to refute popular fallacies and prove that the movements of civilization have hung upon the Jew.”  “Dr. Peters claims that he will show that the Jew is in the front rank as patriot, lawyer, statesman, scientist, philosopher, artist, dramatist, poet, physician, musician, mathematician, astronomer, actor, discoverer, philologist, physiologist – in every department of human acti

1900: Ray Emanuel, the daughter of David and Amelia Emanuel married Joseph Jewell at the Central Synagogue.


1906: In New York City, Rebecca (née Green) and Dr. Isidore L. Marrow gave birth to Alfred J. Marrow “American industrial psychologist, executive, civil rights leader, and philanthropist.”


1906: Po’alei Zion was organized underground in Poltava, Russia


1908: The Federation of Rumanian Jews in America was founded
1908(5th of Adar II, 5668): Adolph Meyer, a native of Natchez, Mississippi, who served as a member of the House of Representatives from Louisiana, passed away today.


1908: Miss Dora Brachman married Louis Ginsberg in Marietta, Ohio where they will make their home.


1910: Birthdate of Louis “Lulu” Bender, “an all-American basketball player at Columbia whose stellar play during the Depression helped popularize the game and make Madison Square Garden a magnet for college basketball…” (As reported by Vincent M. Mallozzi)


1911: International Women's Day is launched in Copenhagen, Denmark, by Clara Zetkin, leader of the Women's Office for the Social Democratic Party. Born Clara Eissner, she married a Russian Jewish socialist leader named Ossip Zetkin. 


1912:  The Greek town of Zante was devastated by an earthquake. The Jewish quarter was destroyed, and more than 100 Jewish families are homeless


1912: Marco Besso of Trieste and Errea Cavalieri of Ferrara were both elected as Senators in Italy.


1914: Birthdate of Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich who played a key role in the development of nuclear weapons for the Soviet Union


1914: Mrs. Simon Baruch hosted a party at her home today for twenty-one Italian children from the Bronx as part of an attempt to combat anarchist propaganda and to the immigrant a children a sense of American history and patriotism.  Mrs. Baruch is the wife of Dr. Simon Baruch.  They are the parents of Bernard Baruch.


1918: The first issue of Di varhayt (The Truth), the first Yiddish communist paper in the world, was published today. Di varhayt was published in Petrograd, Russia by the People's Commissariat for Jewish Affairs. It was closed down after a brief existence, as the People's Commissariat was shifted to the new capital Moscow and the lack of Yiddish journalists in Petrograd. The paper was later re-started as Der Emes.


1918: Ukrainian mobs massacred the Jews of Seredino Buda


1918: Jews of Gloucher were massacred by Ukrainians.  At this point in Russian history, the empire was in chaos.  The Czar had been deposed.  Kerensky and his Social Democrats were trying to rule the country.  The Bolsheviks under Lenin and Trotsky were plotting to replace the Provisional Government.  In the mean time, the Ukrainians continued their tradition of anti-Semitism and killing Jews whenever they had the chance.


1918: The Government of Greece decides to exempt Jewish Ottoman subjects living in Greece from regulations prohibiting commercial transactions with subjects of enemy states.

1919: Representative Julius Kahn, Republican congressman from California expressed his opposition to Zionism. He said “that the Zionist Congress which was recently held in Philadelphia had asserted that it represented 150,000 out of approximately 3,000,000 American Jews. These figures would seem to indicate that the so-called Zionist number only a small minority” of American Jewry. “The reason I am opposed to a Jewish state is that experience has shown that the Jew becomes a good patriotic citizen of any country giving him full citizenship and civil and religious liberty….I am afraid that many avowed Zionists are also internationalists.  I am not.  I believe that the we in Americashould stand for this country and its institutions against all the world.  In fact, I believe that as nationalist we make of our religion a secondary matter.  Our country comes first.  Our Judaism is simply our religious faith.”   


1920: During a series of Arab protest demonstrations “led to several Arab attacks on Jewish passers-by and shop owners.  The British authorities were alarmed at the violent tone of the Arab protests, in which calls to kill the Jews were heard alongside the popular slogan ‘Palestine is our land and the Jews are our dogs.’”


1921: In Paris, Marguerite and Paul Rosenberg, “a key figure in the Parisian art world in the first half of the century” gave birth to “Alexandre P. Rosenberg, founding president of the Art Dealers Association of America and for many years a prominent art dealer in New York.” (As reported by John Russell)


1927: Birthdate of Dick Hyman, composer and conductor.


1929: Financier Paul Warburg warned that the wild speculation gripping the stock market could lead to disaster. [Bernard Baruch was another Jewish financier who expressed the same concern.]


1936(14thof Adar, 5696): Purim


1937: Helmut Hirsch, a Jewish architectural student originally from Stuttgart was sentenced to death today for his role in the attempted murder of Julius Streicher.


1937: The New York Times reported on acts of human kindness and brotherhood during the ongoing wave of terrorism in Palestine.  “During recent disturbances a Jewish chauffeur took the son of an Arab who was killed to a hospital and an Arab driver resuced on the Jews hurt by stone-throwing.”


1938: The Jewish Theological Seminary of America observed the twenty-fifth anniversary of Dr. Joseph H. Hertz as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire in a broadcast from Radio Station WHN. Dr. Hertz was the first graduate of the seminary.


1941: In a prelude to her famous diary, Esther "Etty" Hillesum wrote a letter addressed to Julius Spier in an exercise book. These would provide a picture of life in Amsterdam under Nazi occupation.


1943(1stof Adar, 5703): Rosh Chodesh Adar II


1943: Greek Jews of Salonika were transported to Nazi extermination camps.


1943: The Sokolovo Czech battalion battled the Germans for three days. Of the 1,000 Czech soldiers, 600 are Jews.


1944: In the Warsaw Ghetto 37 Jews are given away in their hiding places.  Emanuel Ringelblum, noted historian and author of a detailed chronicle of the plight of the Warsaw Jews is one of the group that is captured.  Ringelblum was tortured for three days during which he revealed nothing about his fellow Jews in hiding. A few days later Ringelblum aged 43, his wife, and 13 year old son Uri were executed.


1944: In France, "in the morning there is a knock on the door at the apartment of Hélène Berr's family." Her parents Raymond and Antoinette will die later that year in Auschwitz.  Helene will survive until 1945 when she will die at Bergen Belsen where she was beaten to death five days before the camp was liberated by the British.


1947: The Committee organizing the second International Music Festival to be held in Prague has invited Leonard Bernstein to conduct the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra when it performs in May of this year.


1947: The refugee-filled SS Ben Hecht also called the Abril is intercepted by British ships off the coast of Palestine.


1947: Dr. Ludwig Fischer was executed for his role in the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto


1947: Jewish terrorists defy British Martial law by launching a series of attacks in Tel Aviv tonight that injure 17 people, including 15 Jews, one British constable and one Arab constable.


1948: Birthdate of Yaakov Zvi, the London native we know as Jonathan Henry Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth and one of the most influential Jewish leaders of his time.


1948:The U.S.Supreme Court ruled that religious instruction in public schools was unconstitutional.


1949: During Operation Uvda, as the defending Jordanian forces withdrew, the Golani forces took Ein Ghamr.


1949: During the day the IDF moved towards Umm Rashrash through the Valley of the Fingers which in the evening the Alexandroni Brigade set sail from Sodom on the Dead Sea with the intent of seizing Ein Gedi.


1949: Following elections, David Ben-Gurion formed the first government of Israel.  In what would prove to be the curse of the Israeli political system, it was a coalition government led by Mapai but including two other smaller parties.  Ben-Gurion served both as Prime Minister and Defense Minister. Future Prime Minister Golda Meir served as the Minister of Labor and Social Security.


1949: "In a Knesset session in Tel Aviv...Eliahu Eliashar, a parliamentary representative of the Sephardi Jews, spoke on behalf of the Jews from Muslim lands."


1950: An overflow crowd of one thousand mourners filled New York’s Park West Memorial Chapel and spilled out into the street at the funeral services for Daniel Frisch, the president of the Zionist Organization of America.  Rabbi Bernard Bergman officiated at the service and he was assisted by Cantor Robert Segal.  Numerous tributes were paid to Frisch for his support of Jewish causes and Zionism by several famous dignitaries include Eliahu Elath, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Louis Lips, chairman of the American Zionist council and Dr. Nahum Goldmann, chairman of the American section of the Jewish Agency for Palestine.  Following the service, Mr. Frisch’s body will be taken to Indianapolis for burial.


1950: Judge Morris Rothenberg, National Chairman of the United Palestine Appeal, issued a report today that funds raised by American Jews “had made possible” the establishment” of 3,000 small businesses for the rehabilitation and resettlement of invalid immigrants in Israel at a cost of five million dollars.”


1951: The International Table Tennis Federation banned Egypt for refusing to play Israel.  You have to give some points to the ping pong players.  They were one of the few international organizations that has not knuckled under to the Arabs and their supporters.


1951: Release date for “Royal Wedding” the Alan Jay Lerner musical comedy directed by Stanley Donen.


1951: Release date for “Lemon Drop Kid,” a comedy directed by Sidney Lanfield, featuring Sid Melton as “Little Louie” and Ben Welden as “Singing Solly.”


1952: Birthdate of former U.S. Senator George Allen.  According to Jewish law, Allen is Jewish since his mother was Jewish. This information surfaced during Allen’s campaign for re-election in 2006. He did not find out that his mother was Jewish until sometime after he became an adult.  His mother had lived in Tunisiaduring World War II and seen her father hauled off by the authorities.  She did not want her children to know about their Jewish heritage because she saw being Jewish as threat to their physical well-being.  If it could happen in Tunisia, she reasoned, it could happen again, even in the United States,


1955(14th of Adar, 5715): Purim


1957:  Egyptreopened the Suez Canal to minor shipping after the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Sinai Peninsula. This was the last chapter in the Suez Crisis of 1956.  Unfortunately the United Nations did not honor its guarantees to Israel and the result was the Six Days War of 1967



1959: George Lincoln Rockwell founded the American Nazi Party


1961:  Birthdate of actress Camryn Manheim.  She has appeared in such movies as “Bonfire of the Vanities” and television programs as “The Practice.”  In 1999 she published her autobiography entitled Wake Up, I'm Fat!


1965:The Knesset passed the “Broadcasting Authority Law” which is the basis for the Israeli Broadcasting Authority’s operations. The Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was formed as an independent corporation responsible for all broadcasts in Israel and to the Diaspora. Until 1965, Kol Israel operated under the Office of the Prime Minister.


1969:During “The War of Attrition” a massive artillery barrage marked the start of the Egyptian campaign to destroy the Bar Lev Line.  The plan was under the direct supervision of General Abdul Munim Riad, the chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces.


1971: William Davidon, a Jewish physics professor at Haverford College led “a group of anti-war activists” who “broke into a small FBI satellite office in the town of Media,” Pennsylvania.


1971: Dorothy Fields was inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame. She was the only woman in the first class of inductees. Two of her songs that are still played today are"I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby" and "On the Sunny Side of the Street."The song "The Way You Look Tonight" an Academy Award for "Best Song" in 1936


1977: First International Women’s Day as proclaimed by the United Nations.


1993(15th of Adar, 5753): Uri Magidish was stabbed to death by two Palestinians while working in a hothouse at Gan Or.


1998: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or special interest to Jewish readers including The Picasso Papers by Rosalind Krauss, Mahler by Jonathan Carr and Conversations With Joseph Brodsky: A Poet's Journey Through the Twentieth Century by Solomon Volkov.


2006: French born, American-Jewish businessman Roland Arnall begins serving as United States Ambassador to the Netherlands.


2006: Zubin Mehta, conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, is honored as a Dan David Laureate the annual awards ceremony at the Opera Garnier in Paris.  The Dan David Prize annually awards 3 prizes of US$ 1 million each for achievements having an outstanding scientific, technological, cultural or social impact on our world.


2007: Haaretzreports the 2006 war in Lebanontriggered a baby boom. According to health maintenance organization statistics show that the number of women now in their fifth, sixth or seventh month of pregnancy was 35 percent higher than the figure a year ago.


2008: A scaled down London revival Jerry Herman’s and Harvey Fierstein’s “La Cage aux Folles” came to a close at the Menier Chocolate Factory


2008: Rosh Chodesh Adar II, 5768, First Day of Adar II


2008: Shabbat Shekalim, 5768


2008: (1 Adar II 5763) Yahrzeit for the passengers killed on Egged Bus #53 five years ago in Tel Aviv:


·        Kmer Abu Khamed, 12, from Daliyat al Karmel


·        Yuval Mendelevitch, 13, from Haifa


·        Smadar Firstatter, 17, from Haifa


·        Avigail Lietel, 14, from Haifa


·        Asaf Tzur, 16, from Haifa


·        Daniel Harush, 16 , from Safed


·        Tom Hershko, 16, from Haifa, and his father-


·        Motti Hershko, 41, from Haifa


·        Tal Kehrmann, 17, from Haifa


·        Elizabeth (Liz) Katzman, 17, from Haifa


·        Meital Katav, 20, from Haifa


·        Moran Shushan, 20, from Haifa


·        Anatoly Biryakov, 20, from Haifa


·        Be'eri Ovad, 21 , from Rosh Pina


·        Eliyahu Laham, 22, from Haifa


·        Miriam Atar, 27, from Haifa


·        Mark Takash, 54, from Haifa


2009: In Chicago final performances of two plays by Lillian Hellman – “The Little Foxes” and “Scoundrel Time.”



2009: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Pictures at an Exhibition by Sara Houghteling, The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell, The Believers by Zoe Heller and the recently published paperback edition of The Forger by Cioma Schönhaus.



2009: In its on-line edition The Washington Postfeatured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Believers by Zoe Heller and Hunting Eichmann:How a Band of Survivors And a Young Spy Agency Chased Down The World's Most Notorious Nazi by Neal Bascomb.



2009:Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin said today at the weekly cabinet meeting that "Iran has crossed the technological threshold" in its quest for nuclear arms.



2009: In articled entitled “They Lived in our midst: Area was haven for Nazi-era figures,” published today, Ron Grossman reports on Nazis who moved to Chicago after World War II.http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-chicago-nazis-08-mar08,0,758025,print.story


2009:Israel advanced to the Davis Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 1987 after rallying to beat seven-time champion Sweden 3-2 today in a close series overshadowed by political protests. Harel Levy beat Andreas Vinciguerra 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 8-6 to decide the World Group first-round series in a near-empty arena in Malmo.Only about 300 special invitees were allowed to watch the match because city officials said they couldn't guarantee security at the venue. Critics, including the Israeli team, said Malmo was caving in to threats of violence from anti-Israel groups.


2009: In an article “Even Among Venerable Texts, a Torah Like No Other,” published today Sophia Hollander describes the discovery of an 800 year-old Torah and the unique career of Yitzchok Reisman who is both a rabbi and a sofer.


The weathered brown parchment with its frayed edges and inked Hebrew letters seemed beautiful but unremarkable. Itzhak Winer, a 34-year-old Torah scribe turned Judaica seller, considered the item a nice find, but just one of the 30 or more Torahs he buys and sells in a year. From his Jerusalem dealer, he learned that the Torah had been owned by a family in Morocco and was in excellent condition. “He knew that it’s old, but he didn’t really know — and neither did I — how special it was,” said Mr. Winer, who works out of his home in Willowbrook, Staten Island.  Curious about the item’s origins, Mr. Winer took it to a Lower East Side rabbi named Yitzchok Reisman, an expert in identifying antique Torahs, the scrolls containing the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures. Rabbi Reisman, born in 1938 in Flatbush, Brooklyn, found himself drawn as a teenager to the scribes who congregated on the Lower East Side. They shared their craft with him, passing down stories and lore of ancient scrolls. Rabbi Reisman also became attracted to the buying and selling of Torahs. “There were 400 congregations that were declining, closing up and selling off the Torahs and the assets,” he said. As Torahs from the Lower East Side migrated to the suburbs and across the continent, the sellers, he saw, “helped transfer the Torah scrolls on to the rest of America.” Today, Rabbi Reisman restores Torahs using handmade ink and carved turkey feathers at his workshop on Grand Street. Heaps of wooden rollers and antique furniture obscure treasures like the gleaming copper case of a 300-year-old Yemenite Torah and an elaborately woven Torah cover from Iraq. Rabbi Reisman quickly realized that Mr. Winer’s Torah was unique. The materials and calligraphic style identified it as Spanish, which meant that it was written before 1492, when the Jews were expelled from Spain. In addition, the strong swirls on the top of certain letters matched the style favored in Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical movement.  “There are very, very few manuscripts and pieces of manuscripts that are older than the 1400s,” Rabbi Reisman said on a recent day in his ramshackle office as Mr. Winer looked on. And the kabbalistic flourishes, the rabbi added, make it “the only Spanish Torah known done in that way.”


These special markings are “like thorns that appear in certain letters that only show up in a small window of time,” Rabbi Reisman said. “No!” Mr. Winer interrupted. “A few hundred years.” “That’s a small window,” Rabbi Reisman retorted. As they bickered gently over nearly every detail, the two men also said that their research suggested that the Torah was created between 1272 and 1302, and that it could be connected to a famous Spanish scribe, Shem-Tob ben Abraham ibn Gaon. But they did seem to agree on who should get the Torah. “We’re hoping to get somebody or some community or some organization that wants to preserve the Spanish kabalistic tradition,” Mr. Winer said, “and it’s important to them to give it the


2010:CJH, LBI and YIVO are scheduled to present “Czernowitz in Jewish Memory” during which a panel of historians and writers, including Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer, the authors of a new volume entitled Ghosts of Home: The Afterlife of Czernowitz in Jewish Memory, will discuss and debate the reconciliation of the two different memories Czernowtiz within the broader history of Jewish emancipation, assimilation and resistance in Eastern Europe.


2010(22ndof Adar, 5770: David Kimche, reputed Israeli spymaster and diplomat passed away.  A native of London who made Aliyah in 1936 he fought in the War of Independence before attending  the Sorbonne and Hebrew University.


2010: Ronald Florence is scheduled to discuss Emissary Of The Doomed: Bargaining For Lives In The Holocaust his new book on the fate of Hungary’s Jews during World War II at noon today in the James Madison Building of the Library of Congress.


2010:Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. began a five-day visit to the Middle East today, part of a concerted American effort to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and keep Israel focused on relying on sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program rather than on unilateral military action.


2010: George J. Mitchell, the administration’s Middle East envoy, announced today in Jerusalem that Israel and the Palestinians had agreed to start indirect negotiations and that he would be back next week to continue structuring those talks.


2010:The Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO) hosted a ceremony at the Tel Aviv Opera Housed at which it presented mock awards for what the nonprofit organization has termed the “most sexist advertisements” of the year.

 
2011:At the Crowden Music Center, in Berkley, CA, violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley is scheduled to perform the “rarely heard works from the St. Petersburg Society for Jewish Folk Music, a turn-of-the-century movement that brought Jewish folk music into European classical form” during the Jewish Music Festival.


2011:The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to host a panel discussion entitled “The Rebbe, Charismatic Leadership and the American Spiritual Landscape.”


2011: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Moonwalking With Einstein:The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer


2011:A recent blast of cold air from Scandinavia coupled with warm Mediterranean Sea influence created torrential rain and thunderstorms today. Snow fell in the Hermon and other areas in the north. The morning hours saw between 10-30 mm of rainfall in the country's center, and between 5-15 mm in the North, with the Israeli Meteorological Service reporting up to 32 mm in the Tel Aviv area.


2011:A film festival on women and religion is launching today at the Jerusalem Cinematheque.


2011:The Hurva Synagogue, which was officially rededicated a year ago, celebrated a milestone today. For the first time since its destruction by the Jordanian Arab Legion in May 1948, the Ashkenazi synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter hosted a wedding ceremony as an operational house of worship. Avraham Pashnov and Rachel-Orli Journo were married in the Hurva’s courtyard. During the ceremony, Pashnov said he and his wife are “only a tiny chain link that brings together the past and the future.”


2011: In an interview published today by the Wall Street Journal, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that Israel was considering asking the United States for an additional $20 billion in aid due to the increased volatility in the Middle East.


2012(14thof Adar, 5772): Purim


2012: Under the leadership of Rabbi Pinchas Ciment, Chabad Lubavitch of Arkansas is scheduled to sponsor the Royal Purim Feast With The Stars in Little Rock, AR.


2012: “Grace Paley: Collected Shorts” is scheduled to be shown at the Farthest North Jewish Film Festival in Fairbanks, Alaska.


2012: Professors Jerome Copulsky and Alison Peterman are scheduled to lead “Scripture and Spinoza,” a backstage discussion following tonight’s performance of “New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch De Spinoza.


2012:A Palestinian stabbed an IDF soldier in the village of Yata in the southern Hebron Hills today. The soldier returned fire, injuring the attacker and killing another Palestinian with him. The two Palestinians that were shot were both teenagers. The soldier was moderately wounded and evacuated to Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital in Jerusalem.


2012: Maj.-Gen. Nitzan Alon was appointed head of the Central Command in place of Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrahi. Alon, who in the past served as commander of the Judea and Samaria Division will officially take up his post on the first day of next week at a ceremony at Central Command headquarters in Jerusalem.


2012: As Israel struggles with how to keep Iran from going nuclear “Six world powers called on Iran today to let international inspectors visit a military site where the UN nuclear watchdog says development work relevant to nuclear weapons may have taken place.” 

 

2013:  Soloists and Ensembles of the Jerusalem Conservatory of Music and Dance are scheduled to perform at the Eden-Tamir Music Center.


2013:Eva Erben who as a young girl “ was forced by the Nazis to leave her home in Prague and join one of the transports to the Theresienstadt Ghetto” is scheduled to speak at the Wiener Library on “Escape Story: Surviving the Holocaust as a Young Girl.”
2013: The Maccabeats are scheduled to perform at Beth Jacob Congregation in Beverly Hills, CA.


2014: Nir Areli’s, “Inframan” in which he created a series of portraits using an infrared technique is scheduled to have its final showing at the Daniel Cooney Gallery.


2014: In London the Girls in Trouble duo (poet and multi-instrumentalist Alicia Jo Rabins, accompanied by bassist Aaron Hartman) are scheduled to perform songs from their two albums; Girls in Trouble and Half You Half Me.


2014: “Natan” and “When Jews Were Funny” are scheduled to be shown at the Washington Jewish Film Festival.


2014: “The Jewish Cardinal” is scheduled to be shown at the Northern Virginia Jewish Film Festival.


2014: “A Little String Music” featuring performances of Israeli and klezmer music by Ruth Navarre is scheduled to take place this evening at “LIMMUD” New Orleans.


 


 


 

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