April 12
240: Shapur I whom the Talmud “referred to as King Shabur, who “had good relations with the Jewish community and was a friend of Shmuel, one of the most famous of the Babylonian Amoraim” began his reign as “the second shahanshah (king of kings) of the Sasanian (Persian) Empire.”1204: During the Fourth Crusade, Venetian and French crusaders seize Constantinople. The Crusades were a disaster for much of the Jewish population of Europe. But the Jewish suffering was really an offshoot of Christian enmity towards Muslims or, in the case, hostility between two wings of Christianity and good old fashion commercial greed.
1451: A Flemish scholar recorded his observation of the Jews of Fez (Morocco): "Fez is divided in two parts. The Old City quite populous with about 50,000 families…The Jewish quarter is surrounded by its own walls. Approximately 4,000 Jews dwell there...The more the sultan needs money, the more they have to pay."
1454: In the on-going struggle between Islam and Christianity John of Capistrano called for a crusade against the Turks. Such a crusade was started in Cracow, but never left the city. Over thirty Jews were killed and their homes plundered. The crusade later expanded to include Posen and the surrounding area.
1464(4th of Iyar, 5224): Thirty Jews were killed in Cracow
1479: The King of Portugal awarded Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who relied on the services of Polish born Jew Yusuf Adil (Gaspar da Gama) when he “discovered” Brazil, “an annual allowance worth 30,000 reais” today.
1577: Birthdate of King Christian IV of Denmark. Christian reversed a prohibition against Jews living in Denmark that dated back to 1536. He gave permission to a Jewish merchant named Albert Dionis to settle in the newly founded city of Glückstadt. More Jews followed and in 1628 their rights were formally recognized. By the time Christian passed away in 1648, Jews could have their own cemeteries, hold religious services and enjoyed the protection of the civil law.
1660(1stof Iyar, 5420): Shabtai Horowitz, the son of Isaiah Horowitz and the cousin of Shabtai Sheftel Horowitz whose works included Emek Berakah passed away today at Vienna.
1712(4thof Nisan, 5472): Today as attempts to replace Tzvi Hirsch ben Yaakov Ashkenazi as the “chief rabbi of the Ashkenazi congregation of Amsterdam” “the parnasim sent a secretary and two attendants of the congregation to Ashkenazi to inform him that upon the return of the letter of appointment eh would be paid the money to which he was still entitled.”
1740(15th of Nisan): Rabbi Simhon ben Joshua Moses Morforso author of Shemesh Zedakah passed away
1755:1st of Iyar, 5515): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1769: “The Public Advertiser” attributed the origin of April Fool’s Day to the Jews based on the story of Noah sending out the dove looking for dry land after the flood.
1777: Birthdate of Henry Clay. As a United States Senator, Clay would lead the fight against ratifying a treaty with the Swiss Confederation that discriminated against Jewish Americans.
1792(20thof Nisan, 5552): Sixth Day of Pesach
1792: Birthdate of Heimann (Chaim) Michael, the Hamburg native who gained fame as “a Hebrew bibliographer.”
1798: Five weeks after French troops “overran Switzerland” leading to the collapse of the Swiss Confederation, “121 cantonal deputies proclaimed the Helvetic Republic which would resist French attempts to emancipate the Jews, "One and Indivisible" today.
1804: Birthdate of Abbe Lieberman
1804: In England, founding of the Shechita Board.
1806: Birthdate of Amsterdam born French “numismatist and bibliographer” Henry Cohen.
1808(15thof Nisan, 5568): Pesach
1819: Birthdate of Daniel Sanders, the German lexicographer who served as a principal for ten years of a private school in his home town of Altstrelitz.
1826: Michael Abraham Gordon married Esther Benjamin today at the Great Synagogue.
1827(15thof Nisan, 5586): Pesach
1831: Twenty-three year old Julia Reuben, the “eldest daughter” of Jacob Reuben and Leah Lyons was buried today at the “Canterbury Jewish Cemtery.”
1833, In Copenhagen, a new synagogue built under the leadership of Rabbi Abraham Alexander Wolff was dedicated today.
1838: In Wiesenbronn, Bavaria, Kela andSeligmann Baer (Dov) Bambergergave birth to Rabbi Moses Löb Bamberger
1838: Today, in Georgia, "Benjamin Davis advertised in the Columbus Enquirer that he had for sale 'Sixty Likely Virginia Negroes- House Servants, Field Hands, Blow boys, Cooks, Washers, Ironers, and three first-rate Seamstresses." The Davis family, who lived at Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia, owned "the largest Jewish slave-trading firm in the South." [This ad ran six days after the end of Pesach.]
1849: In New South Wales, Australia, Julia and Julia and Lewis Wolfe Levy gave birth to Rebecca Cohen
1853: During the Small Swords Society’s Uprising, formation of The Shanghai Volunteer Corps, a part time military unit that would survive until 1942 and whose Jewish members included Noel S. Jacobs and Mendel Brown. During the 1930’s Captain Brown commanded an all Jewish Company in the Corps and Rabbi Brown, who has head of the Sephardic community in Shanghai served as Chaplain.
1854(14thof Nisan, 5614): Fast of the First Born; erev Pesach
1854(14thof Nisan, 5614): David Pacifico, the merchant made famous in the Don Pacifico Affair passed away today.
1856: In Szathmar, Hungary, “Frank and Juliane (Fogel) Guth” gave birth to Hungarian trained American Rabbi Benjamin Baruch Guth, “the founder of the Jewish Center of East Side and member of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada who was the husband of the former Jennette Roth.
1859: Sir Moses Montefiore was informed today that the Pope has refused to enter into any discussion concerning Edgar Mortara and he considered what has become known as the Mortara Affair to be “a closed question.”
1860: Birthdate of Russian born German gynecologist Julius Schottlander who was appointed assistant professor at Heidelberg University in 1897.
1861: Confederate batteries fired on Fort Sumter marking the start of the Civil War. Confederate forces would include the five Moses brothers from South Carolina, the six Cohen brothers from North Carolina, the three Levy brothers from Virginia and the three Levy brothers from Louisiana as well as a Mississippian named Max Ullman who later became a rabbi in Birmingham, Alabama, David Camden de Leon who was the C.S.A.’s surgeon-general and Levi Meyers Harby the naval officer who commanded the defenses of Galveston Harbor and served as skipper of the CSS Neptune.
1861: As Confederate batteries open fire on Fort Sumter, Major Alfred Mordecai, "a senior officer in the Ordnance Department of the United States was testing artillery carriages at Fort Monroe, Virginia." Mordecai was the most prominent Jew serving in the United States Army. He was well-regarded for his professional skill and integrity. But Mordecai was a native Southerner and the Confederates would attempt to get him to join their cause. After much soul searching, Mordecai would resign from the U.S. Army but would refuse to join the Confederates. His son had no such qualms and served gallantly with the Union Army.
1861: Future Medal of Honor winner Private Benjamin B. Levy enlisted in the 1stNew York Infantry at New York City.
1862(12th of Nisan, 5622): Shabbat HaGadol
1862: In a published speech delivered in Berlin Ferdinand “Lassalle assigned primacy in society to the press over the state itself in the aftermath of the 1848 revolution – an assertion regarded as dangerous by the Prussian censorship. The entire print run of 3000 copies of the pamphlet of Lassalle's speech was seized by the authorities, who issued a legal charge against Lassalle for allegedly endangering the public peace.”
1863(23rdof Nisan): Hebrew poet Suskind Raschkow passed away today.
1863(23rdof Nisan): Dr. Julius Barrasch who in 1840 collaborated on a translation and comment on the “Eumunot” passed away in Bucharest
1864: “Max Glass, an Austrian immigrant and volunteer in the Union Army appealed to Major General Benjamin Butler to clear him of charges of desertion.” Glass had been the victim of anti-Semitic abuse and had only left his unit so that he go to the army’s headquarters to get redress for his grievances. There must have been some merit to his claim since Butler, who was no friend of the Jews, cleared him of the charges that could have meant his death but ordered him back to the regiment. (As reported by Abraham Bloch)
1865(16thof Nisan, 5625): Second Day of Pesach
1865: Private Louis Leon, who was a Rebel soldier being held at Elmira, NY following his capture 11 months ago “heard that Lee had surrendered” at Appomattox. He joined 400 of his fellow prisoners in taking the oath of allegiance thus gaining his release today, which included transportation back to North Carolina.
1866: Joshua Poland, the husband of Esther Isaacs with whom he had had ten children was buried today at the “West Ham Jewish Cemetery.”
1867: “La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein” a Jacques Offenbach operetta with a libretto co-authored by Ludovic Halévywas performed for the first time at the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris
1867: Seventy-five year old Ann Joseph, the “youngest daughter of the late Nathan and Esther Joseph” was buried today at the West Ham Jewish Cemetery.
1871: In Brooklyn, Barnett Phillips, the Philadelphia born son of “Isaac and Sarah Phillips” and his wife Josephine gave birth to Annabella Phillips who became Annabella Winnemore when she married Augustine Edward Winnemore.
1872: It was reported today that Rowland Davies, the only surviving founder of the Hebrew Benevolent Orphan Asylum Society, attended last night’s 50thanniversary celebration held at the Academy of Music.
1873(15thof Nisan, 5633): Pesach
1875: Birthdate of Giorgio Polacco, the native of Venice who became “the conductor of the Metropolitan Opera from 1915 to 1917 and the Chicago Civic Opera from 1921 to 1930.”
1879: The St. Louis Republican described the case brought by Edward Burgess again “Joseph Seligman & Co., eminent bankers of New York City.”
1879(19thof Nisan, 5639): Shabbat shel Pesach (5th day of Passover)
1879(19thof Nisan, 5639): Less than a month before his 68th birthday Hungarian born poet Karl Isidore Beck, the Austrian poet and playwright whose works included the “tragic play ‘Saul’” and who was active in the Revolutions of 1848 passed away today in “a suburb Vienna.”
1879(19thof Nisan, 5639): Eighty-two year old Philadelphia born Ophthalmologist Isaac Hays, a founder of the American Medical Association whose marriage to Sarah “Sally” Minis joined a prominent Jewish Savanah family with a prominent Gratz family of Pennsylvania.
1880: Birthdate of Isaac Siegel a Republican political leader who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from March, 1915 until March, 1923.
1880: Acting on behalf of the “Union of American Hebrew Congregations,” A.C Solomon and Simon Wolf requested the Secretary of State investigate the reports of the suffering that Russian Jews are enduring and to intervene on their behalf with the Czar’s government.
1880(1stof Iyar, 5640): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1881: It was reported today that the ball sponsored by the Purim Association raised $18,817.24 which is earmarked for the building fund of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.
1882: Several Jews were “severely wounded” and one was killed during a riot in Dubosarif, Russia.
1884: Birthdate of Otto Meyerhof. The German born psychologist and biochemist won the Nobel Prize in 1922.
1888: Birthdate of restaurant owner Samuel Feld, the husband of the former Edna Rosenfeld and the father of actor Normal Fell.
1890(22nd of Nisan, 5650): 8th day of Pesach
1890: It was reported today that during the month of March, the United Hebrew Charities had provided aid in the amount of $3,677.50 835 families with a total population of 3,589 people. This was in addition to the items such as shoes, coal, clothing, medicine and food that it had given to its existing case load which had grown by another 1,306 people during the last month.
1890: It was reported today of the most recent 2,186 Jewish immigrants to register at Castle Garden, 1,507 had stayed in New York.
1891: In McKeesport, PA, “Morris David and Josephine (Solosky) Weis gave birth HUC trained rabbi Max J. Weis who led Temple Israel in Gary and the Free Synagogue in Washington Heights and served as the “Secretary of the American Committee of the Palestine Exploration Society while writing Great Men Israel and raising his daughter Minnetta with his wife Estelle M. Sternberger Weis.
1891: “The World’s Approaching End” published provides the calculations ‘of Lt. Charles A. L. Totten the military instructor at Yale who already discovered “the exact day of the long day” described in the book of Joshua proving “that the end of the world will come in March, 1899.”
1892(15thNisan, 5652): Jews observe the last Pesach before what will become the Great Depression of the 1890’s
1892: The New York Court of Appeals ruled that the North American Relief Society is not entitled to $50,000 under the terms of the will of the late Sampson Simpson.
1894: Among the 5,000 children attending today’s performance of Barnum and Bailey’s Great Show at Madison Square Garden were those in the care of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society and the Hebrew Instituted
1894: Birthdate of Max Neuman one of the Jewish soldiers from Kleinsteinach who was killed in WW I while fighting for the Kaiser.
1895: The celebration of 50th anniversary of Temple Emanu-El began this evening at 5 pm with the regular Friday Night Services featuring a special sermon Rabbi Gustav Gottheil entitled “Stretching Out of his Wings Through the Breadth of the Land.”
1895: Tragedy struck the family of Mrs. Eva Abrahams today during Chol HaMoed Pesach. While preparing breakfast this morning, she accidently poured oil on her dress which then caught fire. As the flames filled the tenement, Mrs. Abrahams picked up her sleeping two week old baby and rushed out into the hall where she gave the baby to a neighbor. Then she went back into the burning room and carried out her sleeping two year old son. Mrs. Abrahams was badly burned. She is now lying in a bed at Gouverneur Hospital “at the point of death.”
1895: It was reported today that the residue of a trust fund the late Michael Stachelberg created for his sister Felicia Davidson will, after she dies, be equally divided among the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society, the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews, the Mount Sinai Hospital, the Montefiore Home for Chonic Invalids and the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society
1896: The Hebrew Charity Hospital was among those organizations that will benefit from tonight’s competition between various musical and athletic clubs being held at the Grand Central Palace on Lexington Avenue.
1896: The Hebrew Infant Asylum received over one thousand dollars from that the Young Folks’ League had raised at its first benefit performance in New York.
1898: One had after she had passed away, 27 year old Rosie Topper was buried at the “Plashet Jewish Cemetery” in London.
1898: Three days after she had passed away, 35 year old Rose Myers, the wife of Solomon Myers was buried at the “Plashet Jewish Cemetery” in London.
1899: Dr. Lee Frankel of Philadelphia has accepted the position of manager of the United Hebrew Charities. The position has been vacant since February when N.S. Rosenau was forced to resign because of his health.
1899(2nd of Iyar): Hebrew poet Abraham Baer Gottlober passed away
1903(15thof Nisan, 5663): Pesach
1903: In Portland, Oregon, Rabbi Stephen Wise and Louise Waterman Wise gave birth to distinguished Family Court judge and children's advocate Justine Wise Polier.
1903 (15th of Nisan, 5663): The New York Times reported that “at sundown last evening in the homes of all orthodox Jews the beginning of the Passover was celebrated. In the southern section of the city, east of the Bowery, all signs of commercial activit ceased and the Jewish families gather in their homes to eat the paschal lamb and hear the elders read the story of the deliverance from bondage.”
1903: Birthdate of Horace R. Clayton, Jr the American sociologist whom Lore Segal based her character “Carter Bayoux” in the award winning novel Her First American.
1904: This evening Rabbi B.A. Elzas officiated at the wedding Philadelphian Albert Luria Moise and South Carolinian Eva May Nathans.
1908: Fifty-seven year old Charles Adelle Lewis Totten passed away. A West Point graduate and Professor at Yale, among other things, he supported Jewish settlement in Palestine in the 1890’s before Herzl and Zionism.
1908: Friends and members of the Free Synagogue celebrated the first anniversary of its founding at its place of worship on 81st Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues.
1909: Formation of Ha Shomer
1909: Theodore de Lemos the architect who designed the Kuhn, Loeb & Co. Bank Building at 27 Pine Street and Macy’s Herald Square department store passed away today.
1909: “The young Jewish composers of St. Petersburg heard for the first time Joel Engels's artistic arrangements of Jewish folksongs [...] and were greatly surprised that such cultural and national value could result from such an enterprise. This concert stimulated the young Petersburg composers in the following period to the creation and performance of a whole series of Jewish song settings
1911(14th of Nisan, 5671): This evening, the Young Men’s Hebrew Association will host a public seder in New York and “special services” will be held for the Jewish immigrants currently detained at Ellis Island.
1912: Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Straus arrived in London after visiting Palestine. However, they arrived too late to join his brother and sister-in-law – Isidor and Ida Straus – for the return voyage to the United States. The ship carrying Isidor and his wife had sailed from Southampton on April 10. Their ship was the SS Titanic. Nathan had been delayed because he had spent extra time helping to provide for the Jewish community in Eretz Israel.
1912: In Paris, Republicans and Socialists began “a campaign against Jewish immigrants.”
1912: Birthdate of David Ginsburg, “a liberal lawyer and longtime Washington insider who helped found the Americans for Democratic Action and led the presidential commission on race relations whose report, in 1968, warned that the United States was 'moving toward two societies — one black, one white, separate and unequal’.
1912: “Jewish reservists and Jewish veterans of the Russo-Turkish and Russo-Japanese wars asked the permission of the Minister the Interior to hold a conference to protest against attacks on Jewish conscripts and to obtain the right of residence for all Jewish who have served in the army.”
1912: Management of the “Jewish Burial Society of Odessa was restored to the Jewish community.”
1912: In the Duma, deputies demanded “the exclusion of Jews from the press and printing trades.”
1912: “The Council of the Jewish Community of Rome elected Dr. Angelo Sacerdoti to the position of Chief Rabbi
1912: At the University of Berlin, Max Liebermann was “elected Senator of the Academy.”
1912: King George V appointed Lord Michelham (Sir Herbert Stern) Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.
1912(25th of Nisan, 5672): Seventy-three year old New York City merchant Julius Wile passed away today.
1912(25th of Nisan, 5672): Fifty-one year old Omaha, Nebraska engineer Samuel Katz passed away today.
1912: The King of Italy appointed “Elio Melli, the President of the Provincial Council of Ferrara” to serve as “Commander of the Order of the Italian Crown.”
1912(25th of Nisan, 5672): Fifty-year old New York City attorney Moses Weinman passed away today.
1912: “Thirty-five Jewish merchants in Paterson, NJ, petitioned the Board of Alderman to amend the Sunday Closing Law so as to exempt merchants who observe the Jewish Sabbath.”
1912: Birthdate of Elinor Sophia Coleman, who as Elinor Guggenheimer, the wife of Ralph Guggenheimer became an advocate for women, children and the elderly. (As reported by Douglas Martin)
1912(25thof Nisan, 5672): Eighty-seven year old Rabbi Tobias Lipschuta passed away at Brzesko, Galicia.
1913(5thof Nisan, 5673): Parashat Metzora
1913: It was reported today that immigration officials are saying “that this year so far the number of aliens arriving” at the port of New York “is greatly in excess of the figurers for the corresponding period of last year.”
1913: In Philadelphia, Frank and Elsie Pfaelzer gave birth to Morris Pfaelzer the University of Pennsylvania law school graduate, husband of Marjorie Lesser and WW II Navy veteran who practiced law in California after the war, lectured at the University of Southern Californian Law School
1914: In Laupheim, Germany, Paula (Stern) Bergmann and Max Bergmann gave birth to Gretel Bergmann who gained fame as high jumper Margaret Bergmann-Lambert
1914“Art Notes,” published today described an illustrated article by Ella Mielziner in the American Hebrew that describes the treatment of Passover by a variety of artists ranging from the Renaissance masters of the Florentine and Venetian schools to modern painters including Alma Tadema and Sir Frederick Leighton
1915: “The next meeting of the Chicago Rabbinical Association” is scheduled to be held this morning at the Stratford Hotel.
1915: President Woodrow Wilson wrote to Simon Wolf reassuring him that when the United States “negotiated a new treaty with Russia we shall not be forgetful of the very important matter” (securing full rights for the Jews of Russia) “to which you call my attention.
1915: Birthdate of Milwaukee native Isadore Perlman the award winning nuclear chemist who, among other accomplishments, worked on the Manhattan Project and served on the faculty of Hebrew University
1916: It was said today at the offices of the Industrial Department of the United Hebrew Charities “that with the aid movements such as Bundle Day” which was begun by Ben Altheimer of St. Louis in 1914 and is now under the direction of William Hirsch “it would be possible to provide adequate relief for many poor families, as a system had been developed under which material of all kinds could be converted into money.
1917(20thof Nisan, 5677): Sixth day of Pesach
1917(20thof Nisan, 5677): Lt. Louis Hemeret, an aviator, was killed today.
1917(20thof Nisan, 5677): Second Lieutenant Gerard von Brock was killed during in WW I.
1917: “Jewish deputies call the government’s attention to the growth of “anti-Semitic agitation and anti-Semitic riots in Galicia.”
1917: American Jews are being asked to contribute to a fund started today of which Jacob H. Schiff is the temporary treasurer, “to present a copy of the Statue of Liberty to the free people of Russia” as first proposed by Herman Bernstein, the editor of The American Hebrew.
1917: “The Polish press” accused “the German Government of disseminating antagonism between Poles and Jews to secure support of the Jews for the” plan to separate the Ukraine from Russia.
1918: In Budapest, Leo Luntshi celebrated his 50th birthday by donating a million and a quarter crowns for the establishment of a sanitarium for Hungarian war orphans.
1918(30thof Nisan, 5678): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1918: It was reported today that the United Hebrew Trades “which represents more than 200,000 Jewish workers” in the New York metropolitan area and the Retail Clothing Salesman under the leadership of President Louis Schradnik are two of the Jewish organizations, along with a number of Jewish actors, taking the lead in raising funds for the latest Liberty Loan Drive.
1919(12thof Nisan, 5679): Parashat Metzora; Shabbat HaGadol
1919: Rabbi Silverman is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “How Can One Become Religious” at Sabbath services at Temple Eamanu-El.
1919: Rabbi Samuel Schulman is scheduled to deliver the sermon at Sabbath services this morning at Beth El Temple.
1919: “The Great Sabbath” is scheduled to be observed this morning at Temple Israel of Harlem.
1919: Playwright and WW I veteran Ernst Toller ended his six day presidency of the Bavarian Soviet Republic.
1920(24thof Nisan, 5680): “Moncia Bauer” passed away today in Cincinnati, Ohio.
1920: The National Conference of Jewish Social Service opened today at the Hotel Grunewald in New Orleans, LA.
1920: The Twelfth Conference of the Bund, the Jewish labor organization opened today in Gomel.
1920: Two days after he had passed away, Joseph Myers, the son of Myer Myers and the husband of Clara Myers was buried today at the “Belfast Jewish Cemetery” in Northern Ireland.
1921: Birthdate of Hans Steinbrück one of the Ehrenfeld anti-Nazi resistance Group who was hanged in November of 1944.
1922: In Camden, NJ, the first issue of the “Beth-Elite,” the newsletter of Congregation Beth El appeared just before Pesach.
1922(14thof Nisan, 5682): Passover services begin at 7 p.m. at Congregation Beth-El in Camden, New Jersey.
1925: U.S. premiere of “Dangerous Innocence,” a silent film produced by Carl Laemmle, with a script co-authored by Lewis Milestone and filmed by cinematographer Richard Fryer.
1925: “The Wife of Forty Years” directed, produced and written by Richard Oswald and co-starring Sig Arno was released in Germany today.
1926: Will Rogers sent a check in the amount of $2,500, which represented the proceeds from his last concert at Carnegie Hall “as his contribution to the United Jewish Campaign of New York, chaired by William Fox.
1927: Birthdate of London native, Barbara Mankowitz, the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants and the sister of actor Wolf Mankowitz with whom she opened a shop that led to her being a driving force in the trade of China, including Spode and Wedgewood.
1927: Ernest Katz, Vice President of R.H. Macy & CO presided over a dinner at the Centre where a group of “old timers” pledged $40,000 toward the $1,500,000 fund being raised for the new Y.M.H.A. building on 92nd Street.
1928(22ndof Nisan, 5688): Observance of the 8th day of Pesach during the Presidency of Calvin Coolidge.
1929:Yehudi Menuhinwas soloist with Bruno Walter and the Berlin Philharmonic in a daunting program of concertos by Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms.’
1930(14thof Nisan, 5690): Parashat Tzav; Shabbat HaGadol; erev Pesach
1932: In Chicago, Jewish immigrants “Molly (Singer) and Harold Gelber” gave birth to playwright Jack Gelber.
1932: “Grand Hotel” based on a play by Vicki Baum and produced by Irving Thalberg was released in the United States today.
1933(16th of Nisan, 5693): Second Day of Pesach
1933(16th of Nisan, 5693): Max Hassel and Max Greenberg, “two associates of Irving ‘Waxey’ Gordon in the beer business” were murdered today in Union County, NJ.
1934(27th of Nisan, 5694): Sixty-six year old real estate mogul J. Clarence Davis, the New York born son of David Davies, “the owner of the Washington Rubber Company” and the former Maria Phillips who was “vice president of the West End Synagogue, director of the Bronx YMHA and patron of the arts who donated his collection the Museum of the City of New York passed away today.
1935: Germany prohibited publishing "not-Arian" writers.
1935: The office of the High Commissioner of Palestine announced “a new law empowering the municipalities to fix a weekly day of rest. The law as fixed by each municipality will govern all the inhabitants of that town. The basis of the new ordinance is a by-law drafted by the municipality of Tel Aviv which defines Saturday as the city’s day of rest.”
1936: Reverend Philip J. Furlong, vice president of St Patrick’s Cathedral College, Reverend Dr. W. Russell Bowie, rector of Grace Episcopal Church and R. Abraham L. Feinberg, rabbi of Mouth Neboh Temple “spoke over WOR in a program sponsored by the National Committee for Religion and Welfare Recovery” where they issued “a joint plea for the ‘religious co-operation’ of the principle faiths of the world in a united front against persecution intolerance and hatred” as part of the “observance of Easter and Passover.”
1936: Róża (The Rose) a historical film with a script co-authored by Anatol Stern was released in Poland today.
1936(20thof Nisan, 5696): Sixth Day of Pesach
1936: “The Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada made public a message” today “to American Jews” which should be offered at tomorrow’s Passover service praying for “the three and half million Jews in Poland who are waging a desperate struggle with the danger of extinction.
1936: It was announced today that “Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, Dr. Israel Goldstein, Maurice Levin, Louis Lipsky and Morris Rothen will speak at Passover services throughout New York tomorrow on behalf of the United Palestine Appeal which is seeking to raise $1,500,000 to go towards reaching the national goal of $3, 500,000.
1937: Dr. Pereira Mendes, the rabbi Emeritus of the old Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue celebrated his 85th birthday.
1937: As the Nazi power continues to rise, it was reported today the Rabbi Joachim Prinz of Berlin has said “Whatever the bitter portion, Jews everywhere must lift up the cup of experience and in accordance with the ancient sanctification ceremony add the words, ‘New Life, New Strength, New Hope’” and that “in the land of Palestine the Jewish people can gain a fresh grasp on the values of the Jewish spirit.”
1938: The Polish steamer Polonia lands 250 passengers at Tel Aviv, making it the second ship to use the world’s first “Jewish port.”
1939: Birthdate of Ilan Chet, the native of Haifa who became a noted microbiologist and professor at Hebrew University.
1939: In New York City, “Johanna (Papiermeister), a jeweler, and Morton Hoffman, a caterer” gave birth to playwright William M. Hoffman.
1940: After having premiered in February, “The House of the Seven Gables” the movie version of the novel of the same name directed by Joe May, with a screenplay by Lester Cole was released in the United States today.
1941(15th of Nisan, 5701): First Day of the last Pesach before the United States enters World War II.
1941(15th of Nisan, 5701): On Shabbat the first Bar Mitzvah took place in Iceland.
1941(15th of Nisan, 5701): As German troops entered Belgrade, Yugoslavia, a Jewish tailor who spit on the arriving troops was shot dead. Jewish shops and homes in Belgrade were ransacked by both German soldiers and resident Germans
1941: The Germans announced publicly that anyone caught leaving the Lodz Ghetto would be shot.
1941: “Hungarian forces entered Novi-Sad and immediately began terrorizing the Jewish and Serbian residents. Men between the ages of 16-65 were enlisted in labor battalions, some of which were sent to the front, primarily in the Ukraine, where they were forced to clear land mines, most of them dying in the process.” (As reported by Yad VaShem)
1941: Today, as part of the second Aufbaukommndo, Fritz Weiss was among a thousand people transported from Prague to Theresienstadt where he stayed alive thanks to his ability to put on musicals and “collaborate with orchestras outside the camp.”
1942: To maintain the deception that all was well and to better control the population, 115,000 of the Jews remaining in Lodz ghetto were told that the 100,000 Jews already deported (and in actuality gassed in Chelmno), were safe and staying in a camp near Warthburcken. Kolo was actually the town near Chelmno.
1942(25thof Nisan, 5702): Ninety year old Austrian author and jurist Marco Brociner, the brother of Joseph, Maurice and Adnrei Brociner died today while being held in a ghetto at Vienna by the Nazis
1943: In New York real estate investor Seymour Durst and his wife Bernice Herstein gave birth to Robert Durst, the brother of Douglas, Thomas and Wendy Durst, who gained notoriety for his alleged involvement in the death of his wife and a close friend.
1943: An Anglo-American Conference opens in Bermuda. The conference was supposed to come up with ways of saving European refugees (in reality the Jews of Europe). During the 12 days of meetings it became obvious that the Foreign Office and the State Department would do nothing including relaxing immigration quotas or opening Palestine to Jewish immigrants.
1944: ‘Who has made us Jews different to all other people? Who has allowed us to suffer so terribly up till now? It is God that has made us as we are, but it will be God, too, who will raise us up again. . ." From the daily entry of the Diary of Anne Frank
1944: Lillian Hellman's "Searching Wind", premiered in New York City.
1944: Arnold Newman photographed award winning author William Steig.
1944: In Oxford, UK, Jacob Bronowski and Rita Coblentz gave birth to Lisa Anne Bronowski who gained fame as British historian Lisa Anne Jardin
1945:General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, to visit Ohrdruf Concentration camp with Generals George S. Patton and Omar Bradley. After his visit, Eisenhower cabled General George C. Marshall, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, describing his trip to Ohrdruf:
. . .the most interesting--although horrible--sight that I encountered during the trip was a visit to a German internment camp near Gotha. The things I saw beggar description. While I was touring the camp I encountered three men who had been inmates and by one ruse or another had made their escape. I interviewed them through an interpreter. The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me a bit sick. In one room, where they were piled up twenty or thirty naked men, killed by starvation, George Patton would not even enter. He said that he would get sick if he did so. I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to 'propaganda.'
Ohrdruf made a powerful impression on General George S. Patton as well. He described it as "one of the most appalling sights that I have ever seen." He recounted in his diary that
In a shed . . . was a pile of about 40 completely naked human bodies in the last stages of emaciation. These bodies were lightly sprinkled with lime, not for the purposes of destroying them, but for the purpose of removing the stench. When the shed was full--I presume its capacity to be about 200, the bodies were taken to a pit a mile from the camp where they were buried. The inmates claimed that 3,000 men, who had been either shot in the head or who had died of starvation, had been so buried since the 1st of January. When we began to approach with our troops, the Germans thought it expedient to remove the evidence of their crime. Therefore, they had some of the slaves exhume the bodies and place them on a mammoth griddle composed of 60-centimeter railway tracks laid on brick foundations. They poured pitch on the bodies and then built a fire of pinewood and coal under them. They were not very successful in their operations because there was a pile of human bones, skulls, charred torsos on or under the griddle which must have accounted for many hundreds
1945:Birthdate of Irving D. Rubin who served as chairman of the Jewish Defense League (JDL) from 1985 to 2002.
1945: Franklin D. Roosevelt died at Warm Springs, Georgia. Roosevelt had been quite popular with Jewish voters and Jews certainly benefited from his Presidency. Many years after the war, historians began to raise issues of the American role concerning the plight of European Jewry and the lack of active intervention to save at least some of the Six Million.
1945: Vice President Harry Truman was sworn in as President of the United following the death of Franklin Roosevelt. No matter what, Truman will always be a hero among Jews for supporting the U.N. resolution that in effect created the state of Israel and for recognizing the state of Israel at the moment of its birth. He did this in spite of strong opposition from advisors in the Defense and State departments.
1945: Canadian troops liberated the Nazi concentration camp Westerbork, Netherlands
1945: Two American divisions reach the Elbe and Mulde Rivers and wait for the arrival of British and Russian troops to link up with them.
1946(11th of Nisan, 5706): Henry Benisch, the American representative of Meyer and Studlei, the Swiss-based watchmaker, and brother of Dr. Max Benisch of Tel Aviv passed away at the age of 60.
1947: In London, the Foreign Office said that “the Italian Government has replied ‘favorably on the whole’ to Britain’s request for cooperation in prevent unauthorized Jewish immigration to Palestine.”
1948: The Haganah attacked the Arab Liberation Army commanded by Fawzi al-Kaukji at Mishmar Ha-Emek. Kaukji had captured the Jewish settlement by using heavy artillery given him by the Syrian Army. Unfortunately for Kaukji, Mishmar Ha-Emek had been used as a secret training base by the Haganah. The smaller, poorly armed Jewish force took advantage of their unique knowledge to defeat the superior Arab force.
1948: While trying to help relieve Jerusalem, which was illegally under attack by Arab forces, settlers from Kfar Etzion attacked units of the Arab Legion.
1948: As the Jewish settlers in Palestine continued plans to form a government that would be place when the British leave in May, the 37 member Moetzet HaAm which was the forerunner of the Provisional State Council was formed today.
1949: Birthdate of American attorney turned author, Scott Turow.
1950: Tonight, Yehudi Menuhin began a concert tour of Israel with a performance in the Tel Aviv auditorium.
1950: In New York, Elizabeth (née Grumbach) and Henry Werner gave birth to American businessman Thomas Charles “Tom” Werner, the chairman of the Boston Red Sox.
1951: The Knesset (Israel's Parliament) passed a resolution setting 27 Nissan as Yom Hashoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day. Yom is the Hebrew word for 'day' and Shoah is the Hebrew word for 'whirlwind.' Shoah is the Hebrew term for the War Against the Jews that claimed over six million lives between 1938 and 1945. In Israel, a morning siren sounds, stopping all activity; people stand in honor of those who died. Jews around the world hold memorials and vigils, often lighting six candles in honor of the six million Holocaust victims. Many hold name-reading ceremonies to memorialize those who perished. There are many websites to consult for this observance including those supported by Yad Vashem and the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Here is another that you might want to look at as well.www.jewishpost.com/holocaust/
1953(27th of Nisan, 5713): Yom HaShoah
1954: A board of inquiry led by Gordon Gay, known as the Gray Board, began hearings as part of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s appeal of the suspension of his security clearance. By a vote of 4 to 1, the board would oppose the appeal thus ending Oppenheimer’s chance to regain his security clearance. This was the ignominious way in which the “Father of the Atomic Bomb” was treated by his government.
1955: After almost two years of testing and opposition Jonas Salk in the presence of 700 scientists was recognized for discovering a vaccine for the prevention of poliomyelitis. His work together with Albert Sabin, who later developed an oral vaccine, drove this paralyzing disease from much of the world. In recognition he received Presidential Citation and the Congressional Medal for Distinguished Achievement.
1955, April 12(12th of Nisan 5755): Public announcement was made that Dr Jonas Salk had successfully tested his Polio vaccine. For the first time, there was a way for people to avoid this scourge which attacked tens of thousands each year, leaving thousands of its victims paralyzed for life. Salk was actually one of three Jewish doctors who played a prominent part in the race to find a polio vaccine. His success was preceded by the work of a Polish born American Jew named Hilary Koprowski. Albert Sabin, a Russian born American Jew, developed an oral vaccine that supplanted Salk’s early product.
1956: In Portugal, premiere of “The Rose Tattoo” Hal Kanter’s cinematic adaption of the Broadway play.
1958(22nd of Nisan, 5718): 8th day of Pesach
1958: This evening, WTAR-TV, broadcasting from Virginia’s Tidewater region, is scheduled to host “UJFUND On TV” featuring interviews with Mr. and Mrs. Israel Schapiro of Norfolk, supporters of the UFDUND’s Resettlement Bureau.
1959: Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Norm Sherry plays in his first major league baseball game. Norm joined his brother Larry as the only Jewish battery in baseball. Together, they led the 1959 Dodgers to a World Series Championship.
1959: Youth Aliyah celebrated Child’s Day at a ceremony in the Israeli Consulate in New York City. Alan Parter, the 14 year old president of student council at Larchmont Temple Religious School presented Simcah Pratt, the Counsel General, with a sack containing 600 silver dollars which had been collected by Alan and his fellow students.
1960(15thof Nisan, 5720): As a crowd of Democratic candidates including JFK, LBJ, Adlai and HHH are fighting for their party’s Presidential nomination, Jews observe Pesach
1962: In the UK, premiere of “A King of Loving” directed by John Schlesinger and produced by Joseph Janni.
1962: “Cape Fear” a thriller co-starring Polly Bergen and Martin Balsam, with music by Bernard Herrmann was released in the United States today.
http://www.nytimes.com/1964/04/14/nathaniel-peffer-of-columbia-expert-on-the-far-east-dies.html?_r=0
1964(30thof Nisan, 5724): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1964(30thof Nisan, 5724): Seventy-four year old Columbia professor and Far East Expert Nathaniel Peffer passed away today.
1968(14th of Nisan, 5728): In the evening, Pesach begins with the first Seder held in a re-united Jerusalem.
1969: Simon & Garfunkel released "The Boxer"
1971(17thof Nisan, 5731): Third Day of Pesach
1971: Birthdate of Eyal Golan, (אייל גולן;) “a popular Israeli singer who sings in the Mizrahi style. Golan is one of the most successful singers of the Mizrahi genre in Israel. Except for his debut album, all of his studio albums became platinum albums, and most were sold in hundreds of thousands of copies, Eyal Golan's channel on Youtube has garnered over 17 million views as of July 2010 with five of his videos having garnered over a million views, and two have garnered over 2 million views making him one of Israel's most clicked artists.”
1972: “The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine” starring Marty Feldman with scripts co-authored by Feldman, Barry Levinson and Larry Gilbert was broadcast in the United States for the first time on ABC.
1973(10thof Nisan, 5733): Seventy-eight year old South Carolina born song-plugger turned movie producer Arthur Freed passed away today.
1974(20thof Nisan, 5734): Sixth Day of Pesach
1974: In Moscow, “39 Moscow activists appealed to the Central Committee of the CPSU in behalf of astrophysicist Evgeny Levich, who was punitively drafted to the army and despite ill health, sent to serve in Yakutia.”
1974: In Moscow, “activists demanded cessation of all repressions of Jews wishing to emigrate to Israel.”
1974(20thof Nisan, 5734): Pulitzer prize winning journalist Arthur Krock who for many set the standard for Washington journalists passed away today.
1975(1stof Iyar, 5735): Parashat Tazria-Metzora; Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1975(1stof Iyar, 5735): Eight-one year old CCNY and Columbia educated Dr. Benjamin Malzberg, the New York City born son of “Nathan and Anna (Elson) Malzberg, husband of Rose Hershberg and father of Judith, Ruth and Amy Malzberg who had serve as “director of research and statistics in the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene for over a decade passed away today.
1975: John Gunther Dean who came to the United States as a refugee from Hitler’s Germany experienced “one of the most tragic days of his life” when as U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia he saw his country depart from Phnom Penh leaving the citizens to the butcher of the Khmer Rouge.
1979(15thof Nisan, 5739): Pesach
1979: After having been released three months earlier in France, Nosferatu the Vampyre a horror film produced by Michael Gruskoff was released in Wiesbaden, Germany.
1980: During the International Conference on Collective Phehomena that began today was attended by 40 Soviet Jewish scientists.
1981:Israel today conditionally approved the reported French initiative to deploy a new United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon. At the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Government ministers welcomed the proposal but said that the envisaged force should replace the Syrian troops in Lebanon rather than serve as a buffer between the Syrians and the Christian Phalangists.
1981:Deborah Benjamin, professionally known as Deborah Hart, and Gerald Strober were married this afternoon at Congregation Bnai Jeshurun, by Rabbi William Berkowitz, president of the Jewish National Fund, and spiritual leader of the congregation. The bride is a music columnist and feature writer for The Jewish Week, a weekly newspaper, Mr. Strober, who is national director of The American Friends of Tel Aviv University in New York, is author of five books, including ''American Jews: Community in Crisis,'' and ''Aflame for God: The Jerry Falwell Story.''
1983:Gregory Allen winner of the 1980 Arthur Rubinstein Piano Competition in Tel Aviv and a member of the piano faculty of the University of Texas in Austin gave a recital tonight at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.
1984: “Four armed Arab guerillas from the Gaza Strip reached Ashdod where they boarded, as paying passengers, an Egged Bus No. 300 en route from Tel Aviv to Ashkelon with 41 passengers.” Shortly after the bus left the station at 7:30 pm, the terrorists hijacked the bus.
1985(21stof Nisan, 5745): Seventh Day of Pesach
1985(21stof Nisan, 5745): Eighty-eight year old Rabbi B. Parzen a native of Ozorkow, Poland who came to the United States in 1907 where attended Columbia University and was ordained at Jewish Theological Seminary passed away today.
1986: Fred Friendly finished his services as a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College.
1987:Israeli military helicopters rocketed roads near Shiite Moslem villages in southern Lebanon today, killing two people and wounding four others, according to the state-controlled radio.
The reported action came after a group calling itself the ''Islamic Resistance Movement'' said Moslem guerrillas had killed nine Israeli soldiers in an overnight rocket and machine-gun attack inside the belt of Lebanese territory just north of the Israeli border that the Israelis call their security zone. The radio said a number of helicopters from the Israeli Air Force strafed and fired rockets at roads in the district of Merj 'Uyun close to the zone. The radio added that the Israelis had moved reinforcements into the six-mile-deep enclave they control.
1987: In St. James, NY, “Sandi (née Wexler) and Larry Glazer” gave birth to award nominated actress Ilana Rose Glaza, the NYU grad who created “Broad City.”
1987:Randi Joy Rosenberg and Matthew David Steele were married today at Temple Beth-El in Great Neck, L.I. Mrs. Steele is a petroleum engineer who until recently was a consultant to the East Mediterranean Oil and Gas Company in Tel Aviv.
1987: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Out of Step: An Unquiet Life in the 20th Century by Sidney Hook.
1989(7th of Nisan, 5749): Abbie Hoffmann, American radical, passed away.
1989: Paul Goldberger delivered a lecture “Teaching About Architecture” at the National Art Education Association in Washington, D.C
1990: At the first meeting of the German Democratic Republic’s first democratically elected Parliament, the East German legislators acknowledged responsibility for the Nazi holocaust and asked for forgiveness. The German Democratic Republic, known in the West as East Germany had been a Communist dictatorship. The de-Nazification process in Germany had really taken place in West Germany. In the Communist Zone, the contention was that by adopting Communism, atonement had been made. Or so their Soviet masters told the tale.
1991: U.S. Premiere of “Out for Justice” featuring Gina Gershon and Juliana Margulies.
1995(12thof Nisan, 5755): Seventy-six year old Irving Abitz, the son of Michael and Rose Abitz and the husband of Marion Ruth Abitz who enlisted in the Army in January, 1941 following which “he was assigned to the Medical Department of the 455th AAA Bn., which served with XX Corps as part of Patton’s Third Army and fought its way across Europe from July, 1944 to May, 1945 passed away today.
1996: Israel launched the INS Dolphin, the first of its Dolphin class submarines.
1996: An exhibition, Synagogue for the Arts, featuring the works of Fritz Ascher, came to a close today.
1997(5th of Nisan, 5757): Latvian born Israeli bible scholar Nechama Leibowitz passed away. Her accomplishments are amazing in their own right. They are even more so when you consider the male-dominated world in which worked, study and taught. For a collection of her commentaries on each of the weekly portions which are called “Gilyonot” see
1998: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of interest to Jewish readers including Tough Jewsby Rich Cohen.
1999:As part of the Millennium Lecture Series hosted by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in the East Room of the White House, Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel delivered a very moving speech. His topic for the lecture was "The Perils of Indifference." He framed the following question: "We are on the threshold of a new century, a new millennium. What will the legacy of this vanishing century be? How will it be remembered in the new millennium? Surely it will be judged, and judged severely, in both moral and metaphysical terms." Wiesel went on to enumerate the great tragedies of the last century, and then concluded this litany with "So much violence, so much indifference." Wiesel then spent the rest of his speech on the significance of indifference. To him, indifference is more dangerous than anger and hatred. "Anger," he stated, "at times can be creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. But indifference is not a response. It is not a beginning, it is an end and it is always a friend of the enemy. It is not only a sin, it is a punishment and this is one of the most important lessons of this outgoing century's wide-ranging experiment in good and evil."
1999: In “Paying for Auschwitz” published today. Roger Rosenblatt draws on the experiences of his great uncle who survived the Nazi death camp, as he questions the attempts to put a dollar sign on the Holocaust.
2000: “Critic of a Holocaust Denier Is Cleared in British Libel Suit” published today described the defeat of David Irving in courtroom where the Judge declared that he was in fact an ‘active Holocaust Denier.’”
2001(19th of Nisan, 5761): Fifth Day of Pesach
2001: Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community, a project dedicated to shattering the glass ceiling, was launched today.
2001: Two days after he had passed away, funeral services are scheduled to be held in Manhattan at Temple Emanu-El for Belgium born American billionaire Michel P. Fribourg, the “chairman and CEO of Continental Grain” who was the fifth generation to lead the family business that stretched back to the early decades of the 19th century and who raised five children – Robert, Paul, Charles, Nadine and Caroline – with his wife Mary Ann passed away today.
2001: A Broadway revival of “Bells Are Ringing” a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne” opened at the Plymouth Theatre.
2002(30thof Nisan, 5762): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
2002: As Operation Defensive Shield came to an end “Ha'aretz reported that, "The IDF intends to bury today Palestinians killed in the West Bank camp ... The sources said two infantry companies, along with members of the military rabbinate, will enter the camp today to collect bodies. Those who can be identified as civilians will be moved to a hospital in Jenin, and then on to burial, while those identified as terrorists will be buried at a special cemetery in the Jordan Valley."
2002(30thof Nisan, 5762): Six people were murdered when a 17 year old female terrorist detonated a bomb at the Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem. The victims were Nissan Cohen, 57, of Ramot,
Yelena Konrav, 43, from Pisgat Ze'ev, Rivka Fink, 75, of Jerusalem, Zuhila Hushi, 47, Chinese citizen, of Gilo, Lin Chin Mai, 34, Chinese citizen and Chai Zin Chang, 32, Chinese citizen
2002(30th of Nisan, 5762): “Lt. Dotan Nahtomi, 22, of Kibbutz Tzuba, died of wounds sustained earlier in the week during IDF operations in Dura (Operation Defensive Shield).”
2002(30thof Nisan, 5762): “Border policeman St.-Sgt. David Smirnoff, 22, of Ashdod was killed when a Palestinian gunman opened fire near the Erez crossing, in the Gaza Strip, killing one and injuring another four Israelis. The terrorist killed one and injured three Palestinian workers in the same shooting spree. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.”
2005: “What Sort of Jew Was Jesus?” published today described the views of “Orthodox Rabbi Harvey Falk of Brooklyn who believes that much interreligious tension need never have existed at all.”
2005(3rd of Nisan, 5765):Ehud Manor (אהוד מנור) passed away. Born in 1941, he “was an Israeli songwriter, translator, and radio and TV personality. He composed many well-known songs, including "Ein Li Eretz Acheret" (I Have No Other Country), "Brit Olam" (World Covenant), "BaShanah HaBa'ah" (In The Next Year), "Zo Yalduti HaShniya" (This Is My Second Childhood), and "Achi HaTza'ir Yehuda" (My Younger Brother Yehuda). He wrote over 1,250 Hebrew compositions, and translated more than 600 works into Hebrew, including such Broadway hits as Cabaret and Les Misérables. He wrote the lyrics to many Israeli Eurovision entries, including the 1978 winner "Abanibi", the 1983 entry "Khay" (Alive), the 1992 song "Ze Rak Sport" (It's Just Sports), the 2004 entry, "Leha'amin" ("To Believe"; which he co-wrote with David D'Or)), and the 2005 entry, "Zman". In addition, he translated Barney songs into Hebrew for the Israeli coproduction "HaChaverim Shel Barney".
2006(14thof Nisan, 5766): Fast of the First Born; erev Pesach
2007: An exhibit styled “The Art of Aging” that explores “faith, culture and the search for meaning in the universal aspects of life’s journey”opens at the Jewish Museum of Florida.
2007: Formal ceremony was held marking the creation of AZIS, an organization of olim from Azerbaijan. “AZIS is short for Azerbaijan-Israel but is also an Azeri word meaning ‘dear’ or ‘precious.’
2007:Holocaust survivor Manya Friedman speaks about her World War II era experiences at Coe College in Kessler Lecture Hall of Hickok Hall. Friedman is a volunteer at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and is an active member of the speaker’s bureau for the organization. Friedman was born in 1925 in a small Polish town that included a Jewish community dating back to the 16th century. In the mid-1930s, the Friedman family experienced anti-Semitism as it became increasingly apparent in Poland. In September 1939, Friedman's father was selected for forced labor following the German invasion of Poland. A month later, her mother was arrested for violating the curfew. In 1941, Friedman was forced to work for a German company that produced military uniforms. In March 1943, she was separated from her family and never saw them again, as they were deported to Auschwitz. Friedman was forced to work in labor camps, and, in January 1945, she and other prisoners were transported for 10 days in open freight cars in the bitter cold to the Ravensbruck concentration camp. Later, Friedman was taken to the Rechlin concentration camp, where she was rescued by the Swedish Red Cross in April 1945, following the liberation of Europe. In 1950, Friedman emigrated from Sweden to the United Sates, where she continues to speak about her experiences during the Holocaust. This event is sponsored by the Joan and David Thaler Holocaust Memorial Foundation.
2008(7thof Nisan, 5768):Nearly 90 minutes after a fire had started,the bodies of the Rabbi Jacob S. Rubenstein, and his wife, Deborah, were found in the burning house. Rabbi Rubenstein led Young Israel of Scarsdale, an Orthodox synagogue.
2008: In Iowa City, Defunct Books presented a grand night of poetry featuring famous Yiddish poet and playwright Murray Wolfe and Dan Troxell.
2008: In “Holocaust Speaker Urges Audiences to Action” published todayThe Cedar Rapids Gazette reported on upcoming Holocaust remembrance activities.
As those who lived through the horrors of the Holocaust continue to age, the importance of getting their stories out becomes increasingly more significant, said Hedy Epstein of St. Louis, Mo., whose parents were taken from one concentration camp to another before being sent to Auschwitz when she was 14."It is perhaps even more important now because there aren't that many of us who are still alive, and in a few years there won't be any of us left," Epstein, 83, said by phone from her St. Louis home.Epstein will speak to six audiences in Cedar Rapids and Mount Vernon this week, making stops at four area colleges and two high schools. Her visit is funded through the Thaler Holocaust Memorial Fund.Epstein was 8 years old and living with her parents in Kippenheim, Germany, when Adolf Hitler took power in 1933. She watched as the dry-goods business her father and uncle owned was boycotted because it was a Jewish business, and as her father was taken to a concentration camp in November 1938, to be returned a changed man just a few weeks later. A short time later, her parents were both taken to camps and young Hedy Wachenheimer was sent to England on a children's transport. She received a few letters from her parents in the beginning but never heard from them again once they were sent to Auschwitz.When the war was over, Epstein returned to Germany to work for the American government, then came to the United States in 1948."It is important for me that whoever is in the audience hear about the Holocaust," Epstein said. "It is one of so many tragedies that have happened then, before then and today. I want to wake them up to this horrendous event but also to things that are still happening. I want to urge them to take some responsibility to right a wrong, become personally involved in whatever they choose and do something to right a wrong somewhere."Epstein started speaking publicly about her experiences in 1970, when her son was in junior high. A teacher approached her about speaking to the class when her son explained that his grandparents were sent to the concentration camps. The teacher asked her again the following year, and word of her speeches began to spread.Sharing her experiences is one way Epstein can honor her parents, she said."Before she was deported to Auschwitz (my mother) asked me that I never forget my parents," she said. "Of course I never forget, but it's like a mandate to me. By speaking about it, my mother's wish will not be forgotten but carried through."
2009: In Northbrook, Illinois, the Bernard Weinger JCC hosts the opening of Start Smart Baseball with programs for children ages 3 – 5 and adult participants.
2009: Final performance of Arthur Miller’s “Incident At Vichy” at The Beckett Theatre in New York City.
2009: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including the recently released paperback edition of “The End of the Jews” by Adam Mansbach and Joanna Smith Rakoff’s new novel “A Fortunate Age” which traces the post-collegiate struggle of seven Jews from prosperous enclaves “slumming” in a variety of non-affluent parts of New York.
2009: The Washington Post featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “The Soul of Medicine: Tales from the Bedside” by Dr. Sherwin B. Nuland
2009:Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas telephoned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu this morning and wished him a happy Passover. The telephone conversation was the first between the two since Netanyahu entered office as prime minister. Netanyahu reminded Abbas that the two men had cooperated in the past and said he was planning to do so again toward the goal of peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Abbas said that both sides must make moves to promote peace. Netanyahu's office said Sunday's conversation was initiated by Abbas. Abbas' office said the call was a gesture of courtesy to the new Israeli prime minister and it lasted a few minutes. Sources in Jerusalem said that the initiative by the PA president was testimony to his readiness to hold talks with Netanyahu despite relatively bellicose statements coming from Ramallah soon after the establishment of Netanyahu's government. Also Sunday, Netanyahu toured in the North with his wife and two sons. Their trip began in the Upper Galilee, and continued to Nevei Yehoshua and Kfar Nahum in the Golan Heights. Netanyahu called the trip "a tour of the deep roots of Jewish History."
2009: In “Research uncovers Israelites''foothold' in Jordan Valley” published today the Jerusalem Post reports that “The discovery of gigantic foot-shaped enclosures in the Jordan Valley may shed light on ancient Jewish holiday practices, according to University of Haifa researchers. The sites, identified with what the Torah terms "gilgal" (a camp or stone structure), were used for assemblies, preparation for battle, and rituals, according to a press release the university put out last week. The researchers, led by Prof. Adam Zertal, found five such structures, each shaped like an enormous foot. The term "gilgal" is mentioned 39 times in the Bible, the press release said - the most famous referring to the site where Joshua and the Israelites encamped after crossing the Jordan River into Israel. However, no archeological site had yet been identified with it. The five enclosures, presumed to have been established in the 13th-12th centuries BCE, were excavated between 1990 and 2008. In at least two cases, archeologists found paved circuits around the structures, believed to have been used to circle the sites during ceremonies. "Ceremonial encirclement of an area in procession is an important element in the ancient Near East," Zertal said. He added that the Hebrew word "hag" (festival) in Semitic languages originated from the verb "hug," meaning "encircle." According to Zertal, the foot shape would also explain another holiday-related term: aliya la'regel - the pilgrimage to Jerusalem on Pessah, Succot and Shavuot - literally translated as "ascending to the foot.""The discovery of these 'foot' structures opens an entirely new system of linguistic and historical perceptions," Zertal said. "Identifying the 'foot' enclosures as ancient Israeli ceremonial sites leads us to a series of new possibilities to explain the beginnings of Israel, of the People of Israel's festivals and holidays." He said the constructions had been used for assemblies during the first Iron Age, and when the religious center was moved to Jerusalem, the command of "aliya la'regel" (pilgrimage) became associated with the city. Zertal also noted that the foot traditionally symbolized ownership of territory, control over an enemy, connection between people and land, and the presence of a deity. The Bible alludes to some of these, as does ancient Egyptian literature, he said. 2010(28 Nisan, 5770): Yom Hashoah
2010:The International March of the Living honors six Holocaust survivors during its annual gathering at Auschwitz.
2010:MacNeil/Lehrer Productions is scheduled to introduce “Among the Righteous,” the story of Arabs who protected Jews during the Holocaust on PBS tonight. The special is based on the book of the same name by Robert Satloff and is one of four newly created programs appearing this week on PBS as part its Memorial to the Holocaust.
2010: Due to the dissolution of Parliament today, John Simon Bercow, who was elected to office in June, 2009, will have to stand for re-election. Eventually he will be the first Jew to serve as Speaker of the House of Commons.
2011: The Hunter College Hillel is scheduled to present “Daring to Hope” “the North American debut exhibition of Israeli artist and photojournalist, Ilan Mizrahi.”
2011:YIVO and The Jewish Daily Forward are scheduled to present: “A Celebration of Yiddish Literature in Honor of Boris Sandler,” featuring Evgeny Kissin
2011: On the 150thanniversary of the start of the Civil War, the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to present a screening of “Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington”documentary reveals the little-known struggles and sacrifices some 10,000 American Jewish soldiers who fought on both sides of the war
2011: Professor Faye Mosokowitz is scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled “What's Portnoy Complaining About Lately?” at Washington Hebrew Congregation.
2011: Tulane University is scheduled to present “If you Didn't Hate Me, Would I Still be Jewish? - Anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, and Jewish Identity in Post-War America” featuring Douglas Greenberg, Executive Dean, School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University.
2011: Followers of the Bahai faith unveiled their newly renovated holy site on the coast of Israel today drawing attention to one of the Holy Land's lesser-known religions.
2011(8 Nisan, 5711):Ninety-two year old Sidney Harman, an audio pioneer who built the first high-fidelity stereo receiver, dabbled in education and government, and made a late-in-life splash by acquiring an antiquated Newsweek magazine and wedding it with a sassy young Web site, The Daily Beast, died tonight in Washingtonhttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/business/media/14harman.html?_r=0 (As reported by Robert D. McFadden)
2012:Daniel Altman, chief economist of Big Think and best-selling author is scheduled to speak at the Global Emerging Leadership Forum hosted by the 92ndStreet Y.
2012: Remembrance, a film thatdepicts “a love story between a German Jew and a Polish Catholic that blossomed amid the terror of Auschwitz in 1944” is scheduled to be shown at the Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2012: Publication of “Screenwriting From Iowa- Writer Samson Raphaelson (Part 3)
2013: Dr. Martin Dean of the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies is scheduled to “discuss the new findings of the USHMM's Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos Project, including the impact of the International Tracing Service--a copy of which is now housed at The Wiener Library--and other digital archives” in London, UK.
2013: “Yossi” and “All In” are scheduled to be shown at the Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2013: “No Place on Earth” is scheduled to open in San Francisco, Berkley and San Jose.
2013: PBS is scheduled to show "Among the Righteous," which “documents the dogged search by historian and writer Robert Satloff to track down and verify any instances in which Arabs aided their Jewish neighbors while Hitler's Afrika Corps swept across North Africa.”
2013: As he begins the weekend of his Bar Mitzvah, the friends and family of Jacob Daniel Levin join him in a Shabbat Dinner in Columbus, Ohio.
2013: Police barred a group of mourners from entering Jerusalem’s Mt. Herzl military cemetery today in order to pay respect to lone soldiers killed in action whose families do not reside in Israel
2013: After 66 years of marriage, 86 year old Antoine Veil the husband of Simon Veil passed away today.
2013(25th of Nisan, 5773): Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, the eldest son of the spiritual leader of the Shas party, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, died this afternoon after suffering multisystem failure at Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem
2013: The IDF unearthed and defused an unexploded bomb, believed to date to World War II, near northern Tel Aviv’s Sde Dov Airport
2013:The Defense Ministry released its annual figures of fallen soldiers this morning ahead of Remembrance Day, stating that 92 soldiers had fallen this year and a total of 23,085 have fallen in Israel's wars since 1860.
2014: In Portland, Oregon, “A Pigeon and a Boy” by Meir Shalev is scheduled to be performed for the last time.
2014(12thof Nisan, 5774): Shabbat HaGadol
2014: SculptureCenter is scheduled to present the New York City book launch of Neomaterialism by Joshua Simon who is the director and chief curator of the Museums of Bat Yam.
2015: “Echoes of the Borscht Belt: Contemporary Photographs by Marisa Scheinfeld” is scheduled to close at the Yeshiva University Museum.
2015: The New York Times features books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Brothers: The Road to an American Tragedy by Masha Gessen, Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin and Ravensbrück: Life and Death in Hitler’s Concentration Camp for Women by Sarah Helm
2015: Due “an unseasonal recurrence of wintry weather” in Israel, “events planned for” today marking the celebration of Moroccan Miouna “have been canceled.
2015: “Watcher of the Sky” and “Secrets of War” are scheduled to be shown at the Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2015: Lewis Black is scheduled to perform at Providence, Rhodes Island.
2015: “Lest We Forget,” a service of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust featuring Holocaust survivor Renata Laxova organized by the Inter-Religious Council of Linn County and the Thaler Holocuast Memorial Fund chaired by Dr. Robert Silber is scheduled to take place this evening at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, IA.
2015: Police announced that due Rabbi Chaim Greinman’s funeral today several streets in Tel Aviv will be closed today.
2016: French art expert Eric Turquin told a news conference today about the discovery of a four year old picture called “Judith Beheading Holofernes” that “depicts the biblical heroine beheading an Assyrian Generals” which is thought to have been painted in the first decade of the 17th century by Caravaggio.
2016(4th of Nisan, 5776): Eighty-three year old British playwright Arnold Wesker passed away today. (As reported by Sewall Chan)
2016: In Cedar Rapids, IA with a Jewish community numbering just over 100 families, a variety of Kosher for Passover Cheese is on sale for the first time at one High-Vee Grocery Store thanks to the efforts of cheese manager Chris Luken and Deb Levin.
2016: “Rabin In His Own Words” is scheduled to be shown at the Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2016: The Center for Jewish History, American Jewish Historical Society and Leo Baeck Institute are scheduled to present "We cannot ignore this opportunity for service": Phi Epsilon Pi‘s Student Refugee Program, 1936-1940” which described the Jewish collegiate fraternity’s expansive national effort to bring over dozens of Central European Jewish refugees who were previously expelled from universities due to the rise of Nazism. This aid work invites new frameworks for understanding American Jewish communal efforts on behalf of European Jewry in the years leading up to World War...
2016: “Sabena Hijacking” is scheduled to be shown at the Northern Virginia Jewish Film Festival.
2017: “The Israeli Opera’s mornings of kid-friendly opera is scheduled to begin today.
2017: “The Ma’alot Tarshiha Sculpture Festival” is scheduled to being today.
2018: The Leo Baeck Institute is scheduled to host a presentation by “historian Michael Brenner who will discuss contemporary Jewish life in Germany on the occasion of the publication of A History of Jews in Germany since 1945
2018:Visiting Assistant Professor Kirsten Kumpf-Baele from the Division of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures, at the German Department is scheduled to deliver a talk in honor of Yom haShoah (Jewish Holocaust Day) at 7:30 p.m. at Agudas Achim in Coralville, Iowa.
2018: The Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University is scheduled to host a book launch and author talk with Gil Troy, whose latest work is The Zionist Ideas
2018: A video recorded by “American astronaut Andrew Fuestel aboard the International Space Station commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day” was released today.
2018(27thof Nisan, 5778): Yom Hashoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day; (The internationally recognized date for Holocaust Remembrance Day corresponds to the 27th day of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar so for those who follow the Gregorian Calendar the holiday appears to “float.”)
2019: This afternoon, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is scheduled to host a book signing by Gary Reiner, son of Holocaust survivors Kurt and Hennie and the author of Counting on America: A Holocaust Memoir of Terror, Chutzpah, Romance and Escape
2019: In Brooklyn an exhibition of the works of Israeli artist Shay Arick is scheduled to open at the Compère Collective.
2019: In San Francisco, in his role as Scholar-in-Residence at Congregation Emanuel, Rabbi David Ellenson is scheduled to deliver a lecture on “Faith, Doubt, Meaning and Belief in the 21st Century.”
2019: As Jews prepare for Shabbat today they can contemplate the last minute failure of Israel’s first moon lander and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s victory in this week’s election.