January 12
1517: María López denied all charges presented against her by the prosecutor of the Inquesion including observing the Sabbath and dressing in holiday garb. (As reported by Renee Levine Melammed)
1412: In Spain, the regent Donna Catalina acting in the name of the child-king Juan II issued an edict of twenty-four articles intended to impoverish and humiliate the Jews and to reduce them to the lowest grade in the social scale.
1493: The Jews were expelled from Sicily, which had become a province of Aragon in 1412. The Jews never really returned there, despite an invitation during the 1800's.
1519: Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor passed away. Joseph ben Gershon Loans better known as Yosel von Rosheim an Alsatian Jew born in 1480, served as “shtadlen” or advocate for the Jews during Maximilian’s reign. In 1514, while living in Mittelbergheim Yosel and several other Jews were imprisoned on charges of “host desecration.” They were all freed several months later when their innocence was established. Between 1515 and 1516, Yosel personally presented the complaints of the Jews of Oberehnheim to the Maximilian himself and obtained a safe conduct pass for his co-religionists. Yosel outlived Maximilian and served as ‘shtadlen” until his death in 1554. While Maximilian was capable of taking stands inimical to Jewish interests such as when he signed an edict allowing John Pfefferkorn to confiscate Hebrew books (an order he later modified, he was also capable of coming to their aide. He regarded the Jews as his property and opposed those who banish them from his empire. For example in January of 1516, he sent a letter to the Elector Albert and his allies ordering them to hold any meetings that would result in the banishment of the Jews from Frankfort, Worms and Mayence.
1539: King Francis I of France and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V signed the Treaty of Toldeo. The treaty ended the hostilities between the two monarchs. Charles wore two hats (or crowns) – Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. As Holy Roman Emperor, he treated the Jews of central Europe comparatively well. As King of Spain, he continued the policies of the Inquisition and hostility to the Jewish people. Both monarchs were beneficiaries of business dealings with Dona Gracia Nasi one of the most powerful and unusual leaders of the Sephardic community.
1565(29thof Tevet, 5325):Meir ben Isaac Katzenellenbogen, the Meir of Padua, passed away.
1723: Birthdate of Reverend Samuel Langdon, the President of Harvard who delivered a speech to the Legislature in New Hampshire entitled “The Republic of the Israelites an Example to the American States” in which he contends that Moses and the “Old Testament” provide a picture of proto-democratic government which stands in contrast to the monarchy of the English.
1729: Birthdate of Edmund Burke, Anglo-Irish statesman and political philosopher. One of Burke’s most famous quotes is “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” This line is found in many study programs about the Holocaust.
1735:At Frankfort-on-the-Main, Rabbi Jacob Kahana demanded that Moshe Chaim Luzzatto take an oath promising "to abandon his Kabbalistic illusions, and to refrain from writing on or instructing anyone in the doctrines of the Zohar."
1770:Charles Bonnett wrote a letter to Moses Mendelssohn saying that he regretted that Lavater had sent him a copy of his book as if it were an attack on the beliefs of the Jewish philosopher.
1808:"Jerome...issued an edict declaring all Jews of his state without exception to be full citizens, abolishing Jew-taxes of every description, allowing foreign Jews to reside in the country under the same protection as that afforded to Christian immigrants and threatening with punishment the malicious who should derisively call a Jewish citizen of his state 'protection Jew' (Schutz-Jusde)." Jerome is Jerome Bonaparte, the youngest of Napoleon’s brothers who was King of Westphalia from 1807 to 1813.
1823:Birthdate of Hermann Jellinek the Austrian author who was the brother of Adolf Jellinek.
1850: Birthdate of Wilhelm Bacher, the native of Liptó-Szent-Miklós, Hungary who gained fame as a scholar, rabbi, Orientalist, and linguist.
1853: The New York Times reported that William Gladstone has replaced Benjamin Disraeli as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the new British government. Gladstone and Disraeli would be political rivals for much of the rest of the century with one replacing the other as Prime Minister in future governments.
1862:Members of Congregation Beth Elohim laid the cornerstone for the first synagogue built on Long Island on two lots at the corner of State Street and Boerum Place in Boerum Hill.
1864: As Americans prepare for their first war time Presidential elections, August “Belmont held a national committee meeting at his Fifth Avenue home, the first since the summer of 1860. Most of the twenty-three members attended.” Most of those who were absent were westeners only the weather accounted for the absence of some westerners," Belmont sided with those committee members who wanted a late Democratic national convention — in July.
1873: Relying on information that first appeared in the London Daily Telegraph,“The Past” published today provides a summary of a paper by George Smith in which he summarizes his findings and hopes for the future surrounding the explorations of the ruins and mounds in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates which have shed light on the historical veracity of accounts in the Biblical Book of Kings and which should provide further information about the origins of the Semitic people of the area including the ancient Hebrews. (Editor’s note –Smith was a noted 19th century Assyriologist who discovered and translated “The Epic of Gilgamesh.”)
1876: James Eustis began serving as U.S. Senator from Louisiana. Eustis would later serve as U.S. Ambassador to France during the Dreyfus affair and apparently was sympathetic to the French Jewish officer
1878: In a case of Jews versus Jews, at Buffalo, NY, Jacob and Burnet Friedmann brought suit in chancery court against Henry Cone, Abraham Altman, Emanuel Levi and the Third National Banks charging them with fraud and other financial crimes.
1878: Birthdate of Ferenc Molnár, the Hungarian author and playwright who came to the United States to escape the Nazis.
1878(8th of Shevat, 5638): Joseph, Baron Günzburg passed away.
1879: It was reported today that “Liberty in Germany” an article about the Socialist movement, by Leonard Montefiore, will be published in the January issue of The Nineteenth Century. A graduate of Balliol College, Montefiore was the brother of Claude G. Montefiore and a fellow student of Arnold Toynbee.
1890: The Harmony Club, which housed a Jewish social organization, was among the buildings caught in the path of cyclone that struck St. Louis, MO this afternoon.
1890: President James H. Hoffman presided over today’s meeting of the members and patrons of the Hebrew Technical Institute in New York City.
1890: “Crowns” published today described the royal headgear of 19thcentury monarchs the purposed of which “remains as it was in the days of King Solomon…an article of display rather than of practical of utility. “The King of Romania is said to buy his crown from a Jewish dealer in Frankfort” Germany.
1891: It was reported today that the Hebrew Technical Institute which was formed eight years ago as manual training school for Jewish students has elected a officers for the new year including: James Hoffman – President; David L. Einstein – First Vice President; Otto A. Moses – Second Vice President; Leo Schlesinger – Treasurer; Joseph Metzler – Secretary.
1891: Professor Dr. Moritz Lazarus wrote in his foreword to Nahida Ruth Remy’s The Jewish Woman (Das jüdische Weib): “Writing about Jews is seldom without prejudice; writing by women is seldom thorough. But this book about the Jewish woman, written by a Christian woman, is both thorough and free of prejudice.” (As reported by the Jewish Women’s Archive)
1892: First day of the ceremonies marking the opening of the Jewish Maternity Association's facility in Philadelphia, PA
1892: Based on information that first appeared in the Kreuz Zeitung it was reported today that a Jewish butcher who had been arrested in the town of Xanten on charges of murdering a Christian boy has been released. The German paper maintains the release was in error and that the boy had been part of a Jewish practice “of killing Christian children for the purpose of using their blood in their peculiar religious rites.”
1893: It was reported today that the Fire Chief in Elizabeth, NJ said that the fire that burned down the house and saloon owned David Sampson, a Jewish citizen, was of mysterious origin. Sampson estimated the loss, which was covered by insurance, at four thousand dollars. Neighbors claim that the fire was deliberate.
1895: As part of the Dreyfus Affair, the French military judges acquit Colonel Esterhazy of all charges while the high command stripped Colonel Picquart of his commission and pension for not letting the Dreyfus matter come to a quiet, if unjust end.
1895: Birthdate of Leo Aryeh Mayer, the native of Galicia who became “an Israeli scholar of Islamic art and rector of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The L.A. Mayer Institute for Islamic Art which was established in 1974 by Vera Bryce Salomons was named in his honor
1895: Reports published today in the Baltimore Sundescribed the visit of Dr. Michael L. Rodkinson, a Russian Jew, to Maryland’s largest city where he has attempted to gain financial backing from the local rabbis for his proposed first of its kind translation of the Talmud into English
1896: The National Council of Jewish sponsored a lecture given by Dr. Solis Cohen of Philadelphia, a Temple Beth-El in New York City.
1897: Property valuations reported today included Temple Emanu-El, $700,000; Temple Beth-El, $400,000; Shearith Israel, $275,000; Mt. Sinai Hospital - $300,000. All of this property is tax exempt.
1899: Mr. Adler introduced a bill for consideration by the New York State Assembly “fixing the rate for infants received and cared for by the Hebrew Infant Asylum of New York City at 38 cents per day.”
1899: In Hüngheim, Germany, businessman Isaak Schorsch and his wife gave birth to Emil Schorsch a German born rabbi who survived Buchenwald who served a congregation in Pottstown, Pa from 1940 to 1964 before passing away in 1982.
1900: Premiere of Herzl’s "I Love You" in the Vienna Burgtheater.
1903: Birthdate of Binyamin Mintz, the native of Lodz who made Aliyah in 1925 who was elected to the first Knesset and served as Minister of Postal Services.
1903: Harry Houdini performed at the Rembrandt Theater in Amsterdam .
1903:Herzl arrives in London in his continuing quest to gain governmental support for a Jewish homeland in Eretz Israel .
1904: In Great Britain, the Limerick Pogrom, the name given to a wave of anti-Jewish violence in Wales that followed a failed miners’ strike, takes place.
1905: Emanuel Wallach, the son of Samson and Adelaide Wallach and the brother of the distinguished attorney Leopold Wallach was laid to rest today.
1906: Churchill was elected a Liberal Member of Parliament for North-West Manchester following which he traveled to Europe where he stayed with three Jewish supporters Sir Ernest Cassel, Lionel Rothschild and Baron de Forest .
1908(9th of Shevat, 5668):RabbiBernhard Felsenthal, one of the world’s leading Jewish scholars who is considered to be the founder of the Reform Movement in Chicago, Illinois, passed away today at the age of 88.
1909(19th of Tevet, 5669):Hermann Minkowski, German mathematician, passed away. He was the brother of Dr. Oskar Minkowski who played a key role in research on the pancreas that led to life saving treatment of diabetics.
1909(19th of Tevet, 5669): Eighty-nine year old Major General Sir Fredric John Goldsmid passed away today.
1911(12th of Tevet, 5671): Fifty nine year old Austrian legal scholar and “legal positivist” George Jellink passed away.
1911: Birthdate of Robert Abshagen, the native of Hamburg who would be beheaded in 1944 for his role in the anti-Nazi resistance movement.
1915: Birthdate of Martin Agronsky. Agronsky was a journalist and Peabody Award winning radio and television newsman and commentator. He was also related to Gershon Agronsky. Gershon changed his named to Agron and was the founder of the Palestine Postwhich became the Jerusalem Post after the birth of Israel.
1915: Birthdate of Norman Rufus Colin Cohn whose father was Jewish and whose mother was Roman Catholic. The London born historian influenced a generation of historians and social scientists with his insight that totalitarian ideologies of the 20th century, chiefly Communism and Nazism, were propelled by mythologies associated with medieval apocalyptic movements
1916: Herbert Samuel assumes the position of Home Secretary in the government of Prime Minister H.H. Asquith.
1917: First provisional council of Palestinian Jewry was established. (The Jews were the Palestinians long before the name was usurped by the Arabs.)
1918: Finland’s "Mosaic Confessors" law went into effect, making Finnish Jews full citizens.“Under the Act, Jews could for the first time become Finnish nationals, and Jews not possessing Finnish nationality were henceforth in all respects to be treated as foreigners in general.”
1919: Birthdate of Seymour B. Sarason, “a leader in Community Psychology.”
1919: A general assembly met today to form a women’s Zionist organization in Great Britain.
1921: The position of Baseball Commissioner, which had been part of the Lasker Plan (named after its author Albert Lasker) was created. Lasker would play a key role in having Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis serve as the frist commissioner.
1921: In a letter to Prime Minister Lloyd George and Foreign Secretary Lord Curzon, Churchill summarized the view of the French government toward the Middle East which was basically pro-Arab and anti-Zionist.
1926: Birthdate of composer Morton Feldman.
1926(26th of Tevet, 5686): Sixty-one year old Martin Behrman, who was serving his 5th terms as Mayor of New Orleans, passed away today. A native of New York, he came to the Crescent City as an infant and grew up in the Algiers section which was on the city’s West Bank.
1930: According to dispatches from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency published today, “Achduth Avodah, representing the industrial workers and Hapoel and Hazaif” joined together at a meeting in Tel Aviv last week to for the Palestine Jewish Labor Party. Among those sending congratulatory telegrams to the new organization were Leon Blum, Chaim Wiexann and PIincus Rutenberg.
1932: In the midst of dedicating the main building, Ada Maimon and 10 girls, accompanied by a Hebrew guard, started living in Ayanot. They had to live in the cowshed for a short time, and they were later joined by more girls until there were 70 residents.
1936: “Reich Scientists Uphold Freedom” published today descried the hostility showed by the National Socialists (Nazis) for the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science which “has refused to introduce the ‘Aryan clause’” which would require it to “expel Jewish members.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that John Llewellyn Starkey, 50, one of the most distinguished archaeologists conducting excavations in Palestine , was shot and killed by a gang of Arab terrorists on the Beit Guvrin track, northwest of Hebron . Starkey was returning to Jerusalem from Tell el-Duweir, the site of the ancient Lachish , where he discovered inscribed tablets from the period of Jeremiah. Starkey was buried in Jerusalem.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that The Court of Honor of the Zionist Congress found Mr. Meir Grossman of the Jewish State Party guilty of revealing details of the secret conversation between Dr. Chaim Weizmann and the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Ormsby Gore, on the subject of Partition. Grossman was fined to cover the costs of the trial and deprived from participation in the Zionist General Council for two years.
1940: The Nazis murdered 300 patients at Hordyszcze, a Polish mental health facility.
1940:Ferenc Molnár, the Hungarian born novelist and playwright who fled the Nazis, arrived in the United States today.
1942: China joins 9 European nations in adopting a resolution calling for the trial of Axis Leaders on charges of War Crimes.
1942: The first of 19,582 Odessa Jews were transported in cattle trucks to Berezovka and then onto two concentration camps elsewhere. Most would die within the year of starvation, cold, untreated disease, or executions. The Jews of Odessa were no longer.
1942: While working as part of burial duty at Chelmno, Michael Podklebnik found the remains of his wife, daughter and son. He buried them amongst the other corpses of those just gassed.
1943: Over the next eight days, twenty thousand Jews are deported from Zambrow , Poland Auschwitz .
1945: Shalom Scopas, a Jewish soldier serving with the Soviet Army, went behind the lines of the Nazis "for what would be his last retrieval mission.”
1945: The Soviets began a major winter offensive against the Nazis in Eastern Europe. This final push would help to liberate the remnant of the Jews who had escaped the final solution including the more than 100,000 Jews clinging to life in Budapest .
1946: This morning a gang of seventy robbers took part in a daring train hold-up that resulted in the robbery of 35,000 pounds [about $140,000] in cash, representing the railway staff payroll. According to officials, the robbers were Jews armed with rifles and automatic weapons.
1947: Members of Lehi blew up a police station in Haifa.
1947(20th of Tevet, 5707): Jonas Cohn passed away at the age of 77 in Birmingham. The German born professor of philosophy was forced to flee Germany in 1933 with the rise of the Nazis. He settled in England where he continued his work.
1948: Ferenec Molnar planned to spend his 70thbirthday by “working, because it’s an old habit of mine.” He is currently working on two plays, “Wax Works and “Games of Hearts.” While some Americans may not be acquainted with his more than 40 dramatic works, many know the Rogers and Hammerstein musical “Carousel” which was inspired by his play “Liliom.”
1950: Birthdate of Dorit Moussaieff, “an Israeli-born British jewellery designer, editor and businesswoman” who was the great granddaughter of Shlomo Moussaieff “one of the founders of the Bukharim neighborhood in Jerusalem
1950(23rdof Tevet, 5710): Producer and director John M. Stahl, a Jewish immigrant from Baku who was one of the founding member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (the Oscars), passed away today.
1952: The U.N. Genocide Pact went into effect
1952: In Los Angeles, CA, Leroy Mosely and Ella Slatkin whose family was Jewish immigrants from Russia, gave birth to mystery writer Walter Ellis Mosley. “In 2010, there was a debate in academic literary circles as to whether Mosley's work should be considered Jewish literature.”
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that despite Cairo 's vigorous campaign against the British occupation of the Suez Canal zone and disregarding Israeli protests that such action might bring a new war, Britain delivered 25 new jet fighters to Egypt .
1953: Nine"Jewish" physicians were arrested for "terrorist activities" in Moscow. This was part of the so-called “Doctors’ Plot” that existed only in the twisted minded of Joseph Stalin. Stalin planned to use the plot as a springboard for creating a wave of virulent anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union . Stalin died before he could bring his plans to fruition.
1954: Birthdate of Howard Stern. Hey, they all can’t be Nobel Prize Winners!
1954(8thof Shevat, 5714): Bernard "Barney" Samuel passed away. Born in 1880, he was a Republican Pennsylvania politician who served as mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1941 to 1952. Samuel first won election to City Council in 1923. When in 1939 George Connell, then president of City Council, became acting mayor upon the death of S. Davis Wilson, Samuel succeeded to the position of president pro tempore. Upon the death in August, 1941, of Mayor Robert Eneas Lamberton, however, Samuel assumed the mayoralty for the remainder of Lamberton's term. Samuel won re-election to the mayor's office in 1943 and 1947, defeating Democrats William C. Bullitt and Richardson Dilworth respectively, to become the first multi-term mayor since William S. Stokley (1872–81). To date, Bernard Samuel's mayoralty was the longest in Philadelphia's history. In defending the political machine he served, Mayor Samuel ironically prepared the city for reform by endorsing creation of Philadelphia's highly-touted City Planning Commission and supporting 1947's Better Philadelphia Exhibition, which subjected the failures of a "corrupt and contented" Republican political machine to harsh scrutiny and made the elections of 1949 and 1951 for city controller and mayor, respectively, landmarks in the city's political history. Samuel was succeeded by reformist mayors Joseph Sill Clark, later Democratic United States Senator, and Richardson Dilworth, later a Democratic candidate for governor of Pennsylvania who was also mentioned as a possible Democratic presidential candidate in 1960.[2] Samuel remains the last Republican elected mayor of Philadelphia. Mayor Samuel is buried at Arlington Cemetery in suburban Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania.
1966: The 6th Knesset “started with Levi Eshkol’s Alignment forming the 13thgovernment today.
1966: Golda Meir completed her service as Foreign Minister. She was the second person to hold that post and the first women to hold it. It would be forty years before another woman would hold this post.
1966: Abba Eban completed his service as Deputy Prime Minister.
1971: Norman Lear’s "All in the Family" premiered on CBS featuring. Once again we find a Jew creating an American cultural icon.
1971: A Federal grand jury indicted Reverend Philip Berrigan and 5 others, including a nun and 2 priests, on charges of plotting to kidnap Henry Kissinger. They were not kidnapping Kissinger because he was Jewish. They were looking for a dramatic way to protest the Vietnam War and Kissinger was Nixon’s leading foreign policy advisor.
1975: Steeler tight end Randy Grossman would earn one of his 4 Championship rings as Pittsburgh defeated Minnesota in Super Bowl IX at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, LA.
1977: Anti-French demonstrations took place in Israel after Paris released Abu Daoud, responsible 1972 Munich massacre of Israeli athletes
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli-Egyptian negotiations started somewhat inauspiciously after Israel stated that it wished to preserve the Jewish settlements in Sinai. There were severe differences over the agenda, and the Egyptians did not permit the Defense Minister Ezer Weizmann to give the speech he had prepared for the opening. In Cairo , however, President Anwar Sadat assured Rabbi Alexander Schindler "that Egypt guarantees the security of Israel ."
1982(17thof Tevet, 5742): Sixty four year old Eva Schocken passed away.
1988: Eight four year old Hiram Bingham, the American diplomat who worked with Varian Fry to save over 2,500 Jews in France from falling into the hands of the Nazis.
1989(6thof Shevat, 5749): Ninety-five year old Paula Ackerman passed away today in Thomaston, GA
1989:In an article entitled “Soviet-Israeli Diplomacy Is Winner in a Court Test,” Esther B. Fein describes the significance of the fact that an Israeli basketball team was playing on a court in the Soviet Union for the first time 21 years. The game represents a major step in the normalization of relations between the Soviet Union and Israel. Even more amazing than the game itself was the scene at courtside where “blue-and-white Israeli flags, large ones draped from poles, small paper ones, homemade ones painted on sheets were being waved to Hebrew chants of ''Am Yisrael chai!'' - The people of Israel lives! - and ''Hevenu shalom aleichem!'' - We bring you peace! -and to loud cries of Mac-CA-bee! Tonight's game seemed less a sports event than an occasion for Soviet Jews to flaunt their pride in Israel. Stars of David and medallions with the word ''chai,'' Hebrew for life, were worn proudly. Heads bared of fur hats were covered with yarmulkes. Hebrew folk songs rang out spontaneously. People greeted one another by saying ''shalom.'' Soviet officials said 175 Israeli fans had been issued visas to attend the game, but the loudest Hebrew cheers in the audience appeared to come from Soviet Jews.
1990: Richard Shepard reviewed ‘‘The Return,'' Frederic Glover's play at the Jewish Repertory Theater about conflict between two leading Zionists – Chaim Weismann and David Ben-Gurion.
1994(29th of Tevet, 5754): Moshe Becker of Rishon Le-Zion was stabbed to death by three Palestinian terrorist employees while working in his orchard. The Popular Front claimed responsibility for the murder.
1994(29thof Tevet, 5754): Eighty-five year old producer and director Samuel Bronstein, the nephew of Leon Trotsky passed away today.
1995: Harry Schwarz whose family fled Germany in 1934 and who was an active opponent of Apartheid completed his service as South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States.
1997: The New York Times book section features a review of Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood by Binjamin Wilkomirski, a Holocaust survivor who was born to a Jewish family in Latvia in 1941 and was rescued from Auschwitz at the age of five.
1998(14thof Tevet, 5758): American born poet and Professor of English Lit at Hebrew University passed away today.
2001: The University of Pennsylvania Law School announces that during the spring semester Harry Reicher, a University of Pennsylvania adjunct law professor, will teach "Law and the Holocaust," a course which has been termed a world first."Law and the Holocaust" draws together the fields of comparative law and jurisprudence and international law to examine the Nazi philosophy of law in the Third Reich.
2003: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Lucyby Ellen Feldman
2006: Jewish political leader Steve Rothman was featured on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, in Stephen Colbert's part nine of the "Better Know A District" segment, which highlighted Rothman and New Jersey 's 9th District.
2007: Kassam rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel , as IDF troops operating in Gaza and the West Bank discovered and safely detonated two bombs.
2007: Author E.L. Doctrow spoke at Washington D.C. Cardozo High School
2008: In a tribute to the vitality of small community Judaism, Shecharya Flatte celebrates his Bar Mitzvah at Agudas Achim Congregation in Iowa City , Iowa
2008:"Yud Shevat" Yahrtzeit observances begin. The Hebrew letter has the numerical value of “10.” Since the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe passed away on the tenth day of the month of Shevat the anniversary of his passing is called “Yud Shevat. Chabad-Lubavitch Chassidim observe the special customs of the Shabbat prior to the yahrzeit (anniversary of the passing) of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (1880-1950), which occurs next week, on the 10th of Shevat, January 17, 2008 . The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the son-in-law of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe wrote the following instructions for how this Yahrzeit should be observed. For those who know Lubavitch only through elements of its outreach program including the Mitzvah Mobiles and the public Chanukah Menorah lightings, the instructions provide an interesting view of the wondrous and wonderful rituals and philosophy that are part of Chabad. “On the Shabbat before the yahrzeit, each should try to be called up to the Torah for an aliyah. If there are not enough aliyot, the Torah should be read a number of times in different rooms. However, no additions should be made to the number of aliyot per reading. The one who is honored with Maftir should be the most respected congregant, as determined by the majority; alternatively, the choice may be determined by lot. The congregation should choose someone to lead the prayers on the day of the yahrzeit. It is proper to divide the honor, choosing one person to lead the evening service (Ma’ariv), a second to lead the morning service (Shacharit), and a third – the afternoon service (Mincha). In this way a greater number of community members will have the privilege. A yahrzeit candle should be lit that will burn for the entire twenty-four hours. If possible, the candle should be of beeswax. Five candles should be lit throughout the prayer services. After each prayer service (in the morning service—following the reading of Psalms), the one leading the prayers should study (or at least conclude the study of) the following selections from the Mishnah: Chapter 24 of Keilim and chapter 7 of Mikvaot. He should then recite the Mishnah "Rabbi Chananyah ben Akashya...," followed silently by a few lines of Tanya and Kaddish de Rabbanan. After Ma’ariv, part of the discourse (maamar) entitled Basi LeGani, which the Rebbe released for the day of his passing, should be recited from memory. If there is no one to do this from memory, it should be studied from the text. This should be continued after Shacharit, and the discourse should be concluded after Mincha. Before Shacharit, a chapter of Tanya should be studied. This should also be done after Mincha. In the morning, before prayer, charity should be given to causes associated with our Nasi, my revered father-in-law, of sainted memory. Donations should be made on behalf of oneself and on behalf of each member of one's family. The same should be done before Mincha. After Shacharit and the recitation of the maamar, each individual should read a pidyon nefesh. (It goes without saying that a gartl should be worn during the reading.) Those who have had the privilege of being received by the Rebbe in yechidut, or at least of seeing his face, should—while reading the pidyon nefesh—envision themselves as standing before him. The pidyon nefesh should then be placed between the pages of a discourse maamar or other pamphlet of the Rebbe's teachings, and sent, if possible on the same day, to be read at his graveside. In the course of the day one should study chapters of Mishnah that begin with the letters of the Rebbe's name. In the course of the day one should participate in a Chassidic gathering (farbrengen). In the course of the day one should set aside a time during which to tell one's family about the Rebbe, and about the spiritual tasks at which he toiled throughout his life. In the course of the day, people (to whom this task is appropriate) should speak at synagogues and houses of study in their cities and cite a saying or an adage from the Rebbe's teachings. They should explain how he loved every Jew. They should make known and explain the practice that he instituted of reciting Psalms every day, studying the daily portion of Chumash with the commentary of Rashi, and (to appropriate audiences) studying the Tanya as he divided it into daily readings throughout the year. If possible this should all be done in the course of a farbrengen. In the course of the day, people (who are fit for the task) should visit centers of observant youth — and, in a neighborly spirit, should make every endeavor to also visit centers for the young people who are not yet observant — in order to explain to them the great love that the Rebbe had for them. It should be explained to these people what the Rebbe expected from them, his hope for them and the trust that he placed in them that they would ultimately fulfill their task of strengthening Judaism and disseminating the study of Torah with all the energy, warmth and vitality that characterize youth.”
2009: The American Jewish Historical Society, the Center for Jewish History and Jewish Heritage present: “The Lifecycles of New York Jews: Little Disturbances and Enormous Changes.” This isthe first in a series of staged literary evenings that will depict the complex and ever-surprising lives of New York Jewish families. Stage and screen star Kathleen Chalfant will be joined by Matt Rauch, Jerry Matz and Robert Zukerman to pay tribute to authors Grace Paley and J. D. Salinger. Gabriel Brownstein will read from his Hemingway/PEN Award-winning fiction. A sample of a work-in-progress documentary film portrait of Grace Paley by Lilly Rivlin will be shown.
2009:The Canadian dance troupe La La La Human Steps takes part in the Dance at the Mishkan series by performing Edouard Lock's newest piece, Amjad, a marriage and contemporary reinvention of two of Tchaikovsky's most famous works, Swan Lake
2009:Edward Kritzler discusses and signs copies of his latest book entitled Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean: How a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out an Empire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure, Religious Freedom--and Revenge at the D.C. Jewish Community Center.
2009: Haaretz reported on demonstrations around the world that have been held in support of Israel’s cross-border military action. According to the paper, nearly 1,000 people in Mexico City demonstrated over the weekend in favor of Israel and its war effort. Supporters waved Israeli flags and carried signs reading, “Forward Israel!”, “Israel is Attacking in Self-Defense”, “12,000 rockets in 8 years is not enough? It’s plenty!” and more. Israel’s Ambassador to Mexico, Yossi Livneh, addressed the Israel-supporters and explained the importance of Israel’s anti-terrorism campaign. In Odessa , Ukraine Ukraine , addressed the participants. In Houston, the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the American Jewish Committee, and Hadassah organized a rally in support of Israel this past Wednesday at Congregation Beth Yeshurun. The Consul-General of the Israel Consulate to the Southwest, Asher Yarden, was among the speakers.Since Thursday, pro-Israel rallies have been held in London , Philadelphia , Harrisburg , Pa. New York City , Texas Connecticut , and elsewhere around the world.
2009 (16 Tevet):Rabbi Alan Lew, who was known for his efforts to bridge Judaism and Buddhist teachings, died unexpectedly. Lew, the retired spiritual leader of San Francisco’s Congregation Beth Sholom, died Monday while jogging, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. He was 65.Synagogue officials told JTA that he was in Baltimore teaching at the Jewish Theological Seminary’s rabbinic training institute. Lew was the author of “One God Clapping: The Spiritual Path of a Zen Rabbi.” Before joining the Conservative rabbinate he spent 10 years studying Zen Buddhism, and later pioneered the use of meditation to enhance Jewish spirituality. The rabbi also was a social justice activist who protested executions at San Quentin penitentiary and argued for the homeless and poor at City Hall, according to Rabbi Micah Hyman, the current spiritual leader at Beth Sholom.
2009: Several news outlets reported that Julius Genachowski would be President-Elect Obama's choice to head the FCC.His father's cousin, Menachem Genack, is the CEO of the Orthodox Union Kosher Division.
2010: Father Patrick Desbois who has spent a lifetime documenting the Holocaust was honored today by Alan Solow Chairman of the President's Conference and by Malcolm Hoenlein, the group’s executive vice chairman who presented him with an etching of a dove.
2010:The first class of a four part series entitled “Why Be Jewish” is scheduled to be taught tonight by Dr. Erica Brown at The Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. This four-part series will explore modern Jewish identity in America through self-reflection, an exploration of stereotyping, case studies, and classic Jewish texts. The four classes include: “You as a Jew,” “Stereotypes Make Life Easy,” “Jewish Foods, Jewish Moods,” and “Jewish Values: Seeking and Finding.”What do Barbie and Borat have in common?
2010: Steve Luxenberg, a senior editor at The Washington Post, is scheduled to discuss and sign his memoir "Annie's Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret" at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington in Rockville, MD.
2010:The Hebrew Language Table of the Library of Congress presents a lecture by Dr. Maurice Roumani entitled “North African Jewry during WWII: The Holocaust and its Impact.”
2010(26th of Tevet, 5770): Shirley Bell Cole passed away. From 1930 to 1940, she was the primary radio voice for Little Orphan Annie. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
2010:Pope Benedict XVI should be welcomed when he visits Rome's main synagogue, but he should halt moves to beatify wartime pontiff Pius XII, criticized for not doing enough to stop the Holocaust, a former chief rabbi of Israel said today.
2011: The New York Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to begin tonight, marking the 20th year of the event.
2011:Rami Kleinstein & ISRAMERICA are scheduled to perform at The City Winery in New York City.
2011: CMJ UK is scheduled to hold a memorial service for Kristine Lukenin today at Southwell, north of Nottingham. Lukenin was one of two women who were stabbed as they took a Shabbat walk near Beit Shemesh. Her friend, Givat Ze’ev resident Kay Wilson was seriously wounded.CMJ is the Church’s Ministry Among Jewish People, which promotes Messianic Judaism.
2011: The New York Times featured a review of Dueling Writers Take on Each Other and the World co-authored by Bernard-Henri Lévy.
2011:The Knesset approved a preliminary reading of the "Jerusalem Law" proposed by MK Uri Ariel (National Union).
2011:“Mahler on the Couch,” a lush fictionalization of a 1910 meeting between composer Gustav Mahler and psychologist Sigmund Freud, opened the New York Jewish Film Festival
2012: “His Wife’s Lover” is scheduled to shown at the Yiddish Film Series in Santander, Spain.
2012: Yeshiva University Museum is scheduled to present “Poetics of Place – Readings with Drunken Boat, Tin House and Conjunctions.”
2012: Donna Karan is scheduled to join Fern Mallis at 92Y for a coffee klatch today, where the two fashion industry powerhouses will talk shop–and, of course, shopping
2012:The Israeli Defense Forces demolished the illegal West Bank outpost Mitzpe Avichai near Kiryat Arba, in the early hours of this morning.
2012: IDF tanks opened fire on a terror cell operating east of the al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza late tonight. Army sources said soldiers manning an observation post spotted a number of Palestinians as they were attempting to plant bombs near the security fence separating Israel from the Strip.
2012: "We, the State of Israel, should say thank you to immigrants from Ethiopia and not vice versa," President Shimon Peres said today during a visit to a school in Jerusalem. "We do not want racism here, or anywhere else." Peres' statement came a day after Immigration Absorption Minister Sofa Landver, in response to recent protests against discrimination against Ethiopian immigrants, said that Ethiopian immigrants should be grateful for what they have received from Israel.
2012: “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess” opened tonight at the Richard Rogers Theatre in New York.
2013(1stof Shevat, 5773): Rosh Chodesh Shevat
2013(1st of Shevat, 5773: Eighty-three year old “Leon Leyson, the youngest Holocaust survivor on Schindler’s list passed away today in Los Angeles.
2013: Magen David Sephardic Congregation is scheduled to host “Path to Jerusalem” which will let attendees “visit Israel in the heart of Rockville, MD” with music, coffee and pasties.
2013: “How to Re-Establish a Vodka Empire” is scheduled to be shown at The New York Jewish Film Festival.
2013: The Minneapolis (MN) Jewish Humor Festival is schedule to open for the 4thyear in a row tonight.
2013: “The Best of Chamber Music” featuring a performance of Dvorak Piano Quintet of opus 81 in A major is scheduled to be performed at the Eden-Tamir Music Center.
2013: Avraham Heffner’s “The Winchell Affair” is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
2013: Rabbi Ovadia Yosef suffered a mild stroke this morning during the Sabbath-morning prayer service
2013: Jan Fischer lost in his bid to become the first Jew to be elected President of the Czech Republic.
2014: At Agudas Achim, Nancee Blum is scheduled to present “To Buy or Not to Buy” a program about compulsive shopping.
2014: In Ashburn, VA, Beth Schafter is scheduled to perform at Beth Chaverim.
2014: JCCNV is scheduled to present the final performance of “Mister Benny.”
2014: “Mamele” and “The Zigzag Kid” are scheduled to be shown at the New York Jewish Film Festival.
2014: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Andrew’s Brain by E.L. Doctorow and The Exiles Returnby Elisabeth de Waal
2014: Israel is scheduled to bid farewell to former prime minister and one of the most prominent commanders of all times today. The casket of Israel's 11th prime minister Ariel Sharon will be placed in the Knesset plaza from 12:00 noon until 18:00 so the public can pay its last respects. (As reported by Moran Azulay)