January 31
314: Sylvester I whose name is “the Israeli term for New Year’s night celebrations” began his papacy
“The Israeli term for New Year’s night celebrations, “Sylvester,” was the name of the “Saint” and Roman Pope who reigned during the Council of Nicaea (325 C.E.). The year before the Council of Nicaea convened, Sylvester convinced Constantine to prohibit Jews from living in Jerusalem. At the Council of Nicaea, Sylvester arranged for the passage of a host of viciously anti-Semitic legislation. All Catholic “Saints” are awarded a day on which Christians celebrate and pay tribute to that Saint’s memory. December 31 is Saint Sylvester Day – hence celebrations on the night of December 31 are dedicated to Sylvester’s memory. (As reported by Jewlicious)
439: Promulgation of the Code of Theodosius II in the Byzantine Empire. This was the first imperial compilation of anti- Jewish laws since Constantine III (425-455).
1253: Henry III of England
1419: Pope Martin V issued a Bull that abolished the oppressive laws promulgated by antipope Benedict XIII and granted the Jews those privileges which had been accorded them under previous popes.
1493: Jews fleeing Spain Genoa Spain Genoa
1504: France ceded Naples to Aragon. Jews had lived in Naples in comparative freedom but began to suffer persecution when the French conquered the kingdom in 1495. Conditions worsened when the Spanish began to rule the southern Italian land and by 1541 the Jewish community ceased to exist.
1674(24th of Shevat): Rabbi Abraham Auerbach of Coesfeld, Germany instituted an annual fast in commemoration of his expulsion on this date.
1813: Birthdate of Dutch physician, pharmacist and philanthropist, Samuel Sarphati. “One of the great Amsterdammers of the 19th century,” Sarphati, was a promoter of public housing, an organizer of municipal services such as garbage collecting, and the builder of a bread factory that provided better and cheaper bread for the city. He also built the Amstel hotel. Sarphati is seen by Dutch history as a great philanthropist. Nobody ever knew he was Jewish—until the Germans authorities changed the name Sarphati Street
1820(15thof Shevat, 5580): Tu B’Shevat
1845: The government Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler permission to leave Hanover so that he could move to London and assume the position of Chief Rabbi.
1846: After the Milwaukee Bridge War, Juneautown and Kilbourntown were incorporated to form the modern city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Four years prior to this, the families of Solomon Adler, Isaac Neustadt, and Moses Weil settled in the city. As proof of the vibrancy of the young community, during the 1840’s the first Rosh Hashanah services were held at the home of Henry Newhouse and the first Yom Kippur Services were held in a building containing Pereles grocery store. For more about the history of the Jews of Milwaukee consider a visit to the Jewish Museum of Milwaukee or reading "One People, Many Paths: A History of Jewish Milwaukee," by John Gurda.
1848: Birthdate of Nathan Straus who the wealthy American businessman and philanthropist who owned R.H. Macy & Company and Abraham and Straus. Born in Otterberg , Germany United States Georgia New York City Israel
1851(28th of Shevat, 5611): David Spangler Kaufman passed away. Born in 1813,Kaufman was the first Jewish United States Congressman from Texas
1856: F.W. Evans delivered a lecture tonight entitled "Shakerism" during which he described numerous similarities in the beliefs and/or practices of the Shakers and those of the Jews. This positive view Jews may be one of the reasons that systemic European style anti-Semitism never took firm root in the United States.
1865: The House of Representatives passed the 13th Amendment today paving the way for it to be sent to the States for ratification.
1871: It was reported today that the Russian government has issued an imperial decree exempting Jews from military service once they reach the age of 32. Christians are exempt once they reach the age of 23. Any Jew who converts will not have to serve in the military – another example of “proselytism by main force.”
1886: Birthdate of Lev Shestov.Lev Isaakovich Shestov, born Yehuda Leyb Schwarzmann was a Russian - Jewish existentialist philosopher. The Kiev native fled to France in 1921 seeking to escape the society created by the Bolsheviks after the Russian Revolution. He lived in Paris until his death in 1938.
1890: Henry A. Jackson, the Secretary of the Emigration Commission received a letter from Charles Frank, the Superintendent of the United Hebrew Charities attesting to the ability of Moses Gershonfeldt to be able to provide for his wife and four children who were being held at Ward’s Island because Commissioner Stephenson had arbitrarily denied them admission even though Moses, a butcher who earned $12 a week and his son Joseph who earned $9 a week had come to his office, described their financial condition and sought to leave with his wife and remaining children whose passage he had paid so that the family could be reunited.
1892: In New York City, Meta and Mechel Iskowitz gave birth to Edward Israel Iskowitz the orphan who was raised by his grandmother Esther Kantrowtiz and gained fame as Eddie Cantor.
1892: It was reported today that six members of the senior class at Rutgers are studying Hebrew, “the study of which is increasing in” the United States
1892: Rabbi Henry S. Jacobs of B’nai Jeshrun officiated at the funeral of Benjamin Russak which was held at his home and followed by burial at Cypress Hills. The police were on hand to deal with the large number of carriages that brought a throng of the city’s leading business leaders and prominent members of the Jewish community.
1892: Charles Spurgeon, the English Reformed Baptist Minister who expressed his discuss for the Czar’s treatment of his Jewish subjects, passed away. “If I had all the health and strength that could fall to the lot of man, I should be quite unable to express my feelings on reading of Russia’s intolerance of the Jews…The Czar is greatly injuring his own country by driving out God’s ancient people. No country can trample with impunity.”
1892: “The Russian Exiles” published today described efforts by the Jewish community to meet the needs of the swelling tide of immigrants that is arriving from Europe. According to the United Hebrew Charities 62,574 Jews arrived in New York last with five-sixths or 54,194 of them coming from Russia. The total included 26,891 men, 16,393 women and 19,290 children. Only 195 of the immigrants were sent back to Europe by the U.S. government while 46,029 have remained in the city with the rest having been provided transportation to other cities.
1893: The Jewish community of Philadelphia is scheduled to host a charity ball today to which President-elect Grover Cleveland was invited by A.E. Greenwald and Chapman Raphael.
1893: “L’Amico Fritz” Mascagni’s second opera is scheduled to be performed at the Music Hall tonight under the direction of Walter Damrosch with the proceeds going to the Hebrew Educational Institute.
1895: Isaac Spectosky of the Hebrew Institute was among those who attended today’s meeting of the Federation of East Side Workers.
1896: In Philadelphia PA, the American Jewish Historical Society held the final day of it fourth annual conference during which Dr. Cyrus Adler present a paper on “Notes on the Inquisition in Mexico and the Jews”; Max Kohler presented a paper on “The Jews and the American Anti-Slavery Movement” and Professor Morris Jastrow presented a paper on “Documents Relating to the Career of Colonel Isaac Franks.”
1897: Dr. Emil G. Hirsch was among those who attended a conference of South Side Charities in Chicago, Illinois.
1897: Rabbi Gustav Gottheil preached a sermon entitled “Rights and Wrongs of Rich and Poor” at Temple Emanu-El this morning.
1897: The Jewish Socialists’ Convention continued its meeting for another day at the Walhalla Hall on Orchard Street.
1897: Professor Richard J.H. Gottheil “delivered the fifth and last course of his on ‘The Geography of Palestine’ at Temple Emanu-El” this evening. Gottheil is the son of the congregation’s rabbi and the college professor who helped found Zeta Beta Tau.
1898: It was reported today that Mrs. Esther Wallenstein has been elected President of the Hebrew Infant Asylum Association and that Maurice Untermyer has been elected Vice President
1898: It was reported today that arrangements are being completed for a debated between representatives of the Jewish Technical School, the Hebrew Institute and the Young Men’s Hebrew Association.
1898: It was reported today that Rabbi Gustav Gottheil views newspapers “as the recorders and distributors of the world’s daily history” which provide information that will break down prejudice.(for 2014 quote last paragraph
1898: It was reported today that the committee that is trying to building the first Jewish hospital in Brooklyn has selected four potential sites. The committee’s officers are: President – Robert Strahl; Vice President – Sigmund Wechsler; Secretary – Charles Levy
1899: The seventh annual meeting of the Hebrew Free Loan Association was held this evening at the Educational Alliance on East Broadway
1899: It was reported today that the officers of the Union of Jewish Religious Schools are: President-Richard Gottheil; Vice Presidents – Miss Julia Rachman and Dr. Kaufmann Kohler; Honorary Treasurer – A.F. Hochstader; Honorary Secretary – Rabbi Stephen O. Wise
1899: Daniel P. Hays presided over a dinner given by the Judeans to honor Dr. Cyrus Adler who is the newly elected President of the American Jewish Historical Society.
1906: Birthdate of composer Benjamin Frankel.
1909: Birthdate Yosef Burg, “a seminal Israeli political figure who was a Cabinet Minister for 35 years as a head of the religious Zionist movement…” (As reported by Deborah Sontag)
1911(2ndof Shevat, 5671): Sixty-seven year old Paul Singer, a leading German Marxist and a co-chairman of the Social Democratic Party passed away.
1916:While developments today with respect to the nomination of Louis D. Brandeis to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court did not change the rather general opinion among Senators that the nomination would be confirmed, it became more apparent that confirmation would not be accomplished without a struggle.
1916: Sendel and Riva Grynszpan, the parents of Herschel Grynsapan (the alleged assassin of Ernst von Rath) gave birth to their third child and second daughter, Esther.
1917: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.
1918(18th of Shevat, 5678): Dr. Jechiel Tchlenow, the Moscow
1919: Birthdate of Jackie Robinson, the man who broke the color barrier in major league baseball when he played with the Brooklyn Dodgers. . Robinson was befriended by Hank Greenberg, the Jewish slugger who had had to deal with bigotry during his career. According to Jonathan Eig, the only friends that Robinson had in Brooklyn during his first year “were Jewish people.” “The Jewish community clearly recognized a kindred spirit here, someone who had to prove himself. The war had just ended, [and] anti-Semitism was running high. Blacks and Jews both, after the war, felt they had some work to do to establish more respect."
1921: The Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Victor Berger. Berger had been convicted of violating the Espionage Act and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. In overturning the conviction the Supreme Court found that the presiding Judge, Kennesaw Landis (the future Baseball Commissioner) had improperly presided over the case after the filing of an affidavit of prejudice.
1923: Birthdate of author Norman Mailer. Born in Long Branch, NJ, The future Pulitzer Prize winner’s family soon moved to Brooklyn “later described by Mailer as ‘the most secure Jewish environment in America.’”
1925: Birthdate of Charles Eliot Silberman, the native of Des Moines, Iowa, who gained fame as “a journalist whose books addressed vast, turbulent social subjects including race, education, crime and the state of American Jewry.” (As reported by Margalit Fox)
1928: Nathan Straus, prominent philanthropist, celebrated the eightieth anniversary of his birthday today at his home, 580 West End Avenue. He will spend the day quietly with members of his immediate family. Among those sending congratulatory communications are President Calvin Coolidge and New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker. While Straus has gained great honor for his humanitarian efforts, he was proud of his business acumen and some of his unique accomplishments which, according to him, included the introduction of rest rooms and medical care employees. His philanthropic contributions in Palestine were made with the understanding that they would be available to all regardless of race, religion, creed or nationality. Everybody knows about his support of Jewish settlers, but how many people are aware of the fact that he gave funds that were to be used by Arabs so that they buy modern agricultural equipment? How many people known that when Palestine was struck by an earthquake, and Arabs were the chief victims, he sent a substantial sum earmarked for their use?
1928: Mrs. Hertha Fuerth Lasker, a Viennese artist who was married last August to Edward Lasker, one of the leading chess players in the United States and a cousin of Albert Lasker, former Chairman of the United States Shipping Board, was a passenger on the Hamburg-American liner which arrived in New York tonight.
1929:Stalin expelled Leon Trotsky Russia. Trotsky took refuge in Turkey
1930: The Golden Ring, a romantic operetta, set in Tel Aviv, premiered at the National Theatre on Second Avenue in New York City.
1930:The trial of Simcha Hinkas, the Jewish policeman charged with leading a Jewish crowd which killed a family of Arabs in Jaffa on Aug. 25, 1929 continued today in Jaffa with the prosecution presenting what it consider to be its strongest witnesses.
1931: Dr. William H. Hechler, a Protestant clergyman and teacher who was an early supporter of Theodore Herzl and his Zionist program passed away today at the age of 86. Among other things, Hechler arranged for Herzl to meet Kaiser Wilhelm in those pre-war days when it was thought that the German monarch could persuade the Ottomans to support a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
1932: The New York Times reported that Miss Freda Berson of Warsaw who is one of the best discus throwers in Poland and Miss Heda Bienenfeld of the Vienna Hokah, an outstanding Austrian swimmer will be competing in the upcoming Maccabiah.
1934: Birthdate of “Alfred Appel Jr., a scholarly expert on Vladimir Nabokov, whose lecture course he attended at Cornell and the author of wide-ranging interpretive books on modern art and jazz.” (As reported by William Grimes)
1934(15th of Shevat, 5694): Tu B'Shevat
1935 (27th of Shevat, 5695); David Trietsch, an expert on the agriculture and economy of Palestine, as well as “one of the founders of the Zionist movement” passed away today. The 65 year old native of Germany died of heart failure at Rmat Ayim, near Tel Aviv. Trietsch believed that a Jewish homeland would be created through “practical colonization” as opposed to political negotiations. When the Ottomans sought to halt Jewish settlement in Palestine, Trietsch supported the settlement of Jews in Cyprus so that they would be poised to move to Palestine quickly as soon as there was a change in the political climate.
1935: In Croatia, Mane and Helen Hochwald gave birth to Branko Hochwald, who would come to United States in 1944 where he gained fame as Raymond B. Harding, the leader of New York State’s Liberal Party. (As reported by Robert D. McFadden)
1937: In Baltimore, MD Ida (née Gouline) and Benjamin Charles Glass, a record store owner, gave birth to composer Philip Morris Glass.
1937: Ben-Zion Mossinson of Tel Aviv delivered an address at New York’s Rodeph Sholom entitled “Is There A Solution for the Jewish Problem?”
1938:Muriel Rukeyser established herself as a poet of enduring impact with the publication of U.S.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that three large Arab bands abducted nine Arab supernumerary policemen from their police post near Acre, and shot their corporal dead in cold blood. The Arab policemen were disarmed and beaten, warned to leave the force and released. At another police post in the South arms and ammunition were stolen.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that Romania officially denounced the Minorities Treaty into which it had entered upon gaining independence at the Peace Conference at Versailles, and claimed that the Jewish question was now "a purely internal matter" over which the League of Nations had no more jurisdiction. This meant that Romania now felt free to implement still more severe anti-Semitic discriminatory measures.
1938: The Palestine Post reported on the rise of anti-Jewish feelings and vandalism in Yugoslavia including the fact that "local Nazis" had smashed the windows out of the Sephardic synagogue of Belgrade.
1940: In New York, Dr. Eugene Hevesi, a Hungarian-born leader in the American Jewish community who served as foreign affairs secretary for the American Jewish Committee and as representative to the United Nations for several Jewish NGOs and his wife gave birth to Alan Hevesi, the New York Democrat who served as Comptroller of New York City and State Comptroller for the state of New York. He is also the brother of New York Timesman Dennis Hevesi who creates literary gems for the obituary page.
1941: Three thousand Jews were taken from their villages and moved into the Warsaw Ghetto. Another 70,000 Jews would be uprooted and moved into the Warsaw Ghetto by the end of March.
1942 (13th of Shevat, 5702):Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah passed away in New York. Wife of the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Sholom DovBer Schneerson, and mother of the sixth Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah lived through the upheavals of the first half of the 20th century. She fled the advancing front of World War I from Lubavitch to Rostov Latvia Poland Warsaw United States
1942: Einsatzgruppe A commanding officer, Franz W. Stahlecker, sent a detailed report about activities in the Baltic and White Russian countries. It stated that between July 23 and October 15, 19 41
1945 (17th of Shevat, 5705): Fritz Freund, husband of Mathilde Freund, died at Buchenwald just three months before the camp was liberated. In the first decade of the 21st century Mathilde Freund would sue France’s government owned railroad, Societe National des Chemins de Fer Francais over its role in the deportation of her husband and thousands of other French Jews to the death camps.
1946: Having resigned from the RAF Mordechai "Modi" Alon returned to Palestine and enrolled as an architecture student at the Technion. Allon would gain fame as one of the first fighter pilots in the IAf and the first one to shoot down an enemy aircraft.
1947: In the House of Commons, during a debate about Britain marinating the Mandate in Palestine, Churchill, leading the Opposition, calls for the Government to end the Mandate. Two weeks later, the Labor Government will adopt this as policy.
1948: Birthdate of poet Albert Goldbarth.
1948:J D Salinger's "A Perfect Day for Banana Fish" appears in New York City
1949: After hearing Churchill’s speech in Parliament denouncing the logic of the Labor Government’s policy towards Israel and calling for recognition of the new Jewish state, Sir Simon Marks, a leading Jewish businessman and philanthropist, wrote to the former PM assuring him that Chaim Weizmann would find great comfort in his words.
1950: President Truman revealed that he had ordered the Atomic Energy Commission to develop the hydrogen bomb. This decision might have been called Dueling Jewish Physicists. On one side was Dr. Oppenheimer father of the A-Bomb who opposed building the hydrogen bomb. On the other side was Dr. Teller who had worked on the A-Bomb and favored building the H-Bomb. Teller won out. Oppenheimer’s opposition was one of the causes of him losing his security clearance during the 1950’s. This was an injustice that Teller did not support and that President Kennedy would rectify.
1954: Birthdate of Rabbi Michael Melchior, the native of Copenhagen who made Aliyah in 1986.
1955: Egyptian authorities hanged two Jews in Cairo Israel
1957: Martin Landau married Barbara Bain today.
1958: Lieutenant General Haim Laskov is serving as IDF Chief of Staff as the Egyptians and Syrians prepare to form the United Arab Republic which will increase the threat faced by the Jewish state.
1960: World Sephardi Federation meets in Madrid , Spain Spain Spain
1960:Songwriter Adolph Green marries actress/singer Phyllis Newman in New York City
1961: David Ben-Gurion resigned as premier of Israel
1961: A 3.5 kilometer tract of land southwest of Mount Kidod was chosen today as the site for the city of Arad.
1968: At sunset, all non-Israeli military units gave up the search for the INS Dakar, an Israeli submarine that had been first been reported missing on January 26.
1974 (8th of Shevat, 5734): Samuel Goldwyn, a major force in the creation of the motion picture industry, passed away at the age of 91. The evolution of Goldwyn’s name is microcosm of the experience of European Jews who came to America Great Britain America Poland
- "A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on."
- "Include me out."
- "What we need now is some new, fresh clichés."
- "Anyone who would go to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined!"
- "Every director bites the hand that lays the golden egg."
- "Flashbacks are a thing of the past."
- "A wide screen just makes a bad film twice as bad."
1978: Israel turned 3 military outposts in the West Bank into civilian settlements
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that Defense Minister Ezer Weizmann left for Cairo for the second round of the interrupted military discussions. One of his specific aims was reported to be to influence the Egyptians so that they would modify their position of "not giving up even one inch of Sinai."
1979(3rd of Shevat, 5739): Celia Adler passed away today at the age of 89. Known as the “First Lady of the Yiddish Theatre” she was part of Jewish theatrical dynasty that included her parents, Jacob and Dinah Shtettin, her half-sister Stella Adler and her half-brother Luther Adler.
1981: Jean-Marie Lustiger was enthroned as Archbishop of Paris. He had been born Aaron Lustiger and converted at the age of 13 in 1940. His mother died at Auschwitz.
1987: As more information came out about what would be known as The Iran-Contra Affair, Yaacov Nimrodi, said today that Israel's Defense Ministry had approved the sale of $50 million worth of Israeli-made weapons to Iran almost two months before the first reported American request for Israel's help in approaching Teheran.
1988: A Jewish settler was severely burned today when his car was firebombed in an area near the Ofra settlement north of Jerusalem.
1990: Yuval Ne'eman resigned from the Knesset today and was replaced by Gershon Shafat.
1992: Tonight’ performance of the Gershwin musical "Crazy for You" at the Shubert Theater is a benefit designed to raised funds for the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
1995(30THof Shevat, 5755) Rosh Chodesh Adar I
1996: Alan Binder completed his service as the 15th Vice Chairperson of the Federal Reserve.
1996 (10th of Shevat, 5756): Mathematician Gustave Solomon passed away at the age of 65.
1999: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or topics of special interest to Jewish readers including Playing For Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made by David Halbestram and The Burden of Responsibility:Blum, Camus, Aron and the French Twentieth Century by Tony Judt.
2004:“Talmud: in the Art of Ben-Zion and Marc Chagall,” an exhibit at the Center Art Gallery at Calvin College that brings together the Biblical work of two of the most important Jewish artists of the 20th Century that features 18 intaglio prints by Ben-Zion and 25 color lithographs by Marc Chagall comes to an end.
2004: Joelle Fishman, the daughter of Jewish immigrants who was born in 1946, “addressed the Communist Party’s conference on the 2004 elections in New York.
2007: Haim Ramon was convicted of “indecent assault” and sentenced to community service.
2007: The Times of Londonreported that Lord Levy (Michael Levy) the Prime Minister's personal friend and fundraiser, is the second person close to No 10 Downing Street to be questioned by police under suspicion of perverting the course of justice in the ongoing cash-for-honors investigation. After amassing a fortune in the recording industry, Levy became a major fundraiser for the Labor Party and Tony Blair as well as various Jewish and Israeli charities.
2007: The Jerusalem Post reported that the recently launched Yad Vashem Farsi site has been well received by the target audience. Since the Persian site went on-line last week, some 11,000 hits have been recorded, including 2,242 visits from Iran
2008: June Muriel Brown “made history by being the first and so far only actress to carry an entire episode single handed in the history of British soap, with a monologue looking back over her past life, dictated to a cassette machine for her husband Jim to listen to in hospital following a stroke.”
2008: In Manhattan 92nd St
2008: The Washington Postfeatured a review of Sacha Baron Cohen the Unauthorized Biography: from Cambridge to Kazakhstan by Kathleen Tracy
2008: It was announced that Neil Diamond will appear at the upcoming Glastonbury Festival in the UK
2009: The 92nd St Jerusalem
2009: The Jewish Federation of Howard County (MD) presents Yom Hadash Community Concert.
2010:Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) said today that Israel would allow the ultra-Orthodox community to continue to run their private bus lines segregated by gender, but could not officially recognize the practice on public bus lines. .
2010: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Blood and Faith:The Purging of Muslim Spain by Matthew Carr and 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein
2010:The Tenth Herzliya Conference is scheduled to open this afternoon on the Campus of the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya in Israel.
2010:The Israel Center of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center and the Jewish Museum Milwaukee invite the Jewish community to attend “Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible: A Jewish Night at the Museum” which will include a tour of the “Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible” exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum and recitation by Museum President and CEO Daniel Finley of the real story of how the exhibit came to the Museum.
2010: Opening session of The Tenth Herzliya Conference, “Israel‘s primary global policy annual gathering, drawing together Israeli and international participants from the highest levels of government, business, and academia to address pressing national, regional and world strategic issues.”
2010: An exhibition at the Krasdale Gallery in White Plains, NY, entitled “Pages de Guerre” featuring the works of Avigdor Arikha comes to an end.
2010(16th of Sh'vat, 5770):David V. Becker, a pioneer in using radioactive materials to diagnose and treat thyroid disease and an expert on the thyroid damage caused by the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident in 1986, passed away at his home in Manhattan. (As reported by Mathew Wald)
2011: Dr. Ron Taffel is scheduled to present a program entitled “Childhood Unbound: Confident Parenting in a World of Change” at the 92nd Street Y in NYC.
2011:Rami Feinstein is scheduled to presents a concert featuring songs from his two albums—a combination of rock, folk, and funk- in Jerusalem.
2011:NYC based Israeli choreographers Deganit Shemy and Netta Yerushalmy, are scheduled to perform this evening in an event intended to raise funds for the 1st Contemporary Israeli Dance Festival in New York, coming in June 2011.
2011: Last day for submitting recipesfor the 2011 Man-O-Manischewitz Cook-Off.
2011: The Jerusalem Post reported today that “The Sundance independent film festival over the weekend followed the Oscars and Golden Globes in recognizing the Jewish and Israeli contribution to world cinema by handing out awards to two Israeli filmmakers. The world cinema dramatic screenwriting award went to Erez Kav-El for his film, Restoration. "Thank you to the shuttles in Sundance," Kav-El joked on receiving the award. Restoration depicts the rich texture of modern Israeli society telling the story of Yakov Fidelman who is forced to deal with his estranged son when he discovers his antique furniture-restoration shop is in grave financial difficulty. Talya Lavie received an Inaugural Sundance Institute Mahindra Global Film-making award which recognizes and supports emerging independent filmmakers from around the world. Her film, Zero Motivation, is a sometimes comic, often dramatic look at the power struggles of three female clerks over one year in an administrative office at a remote army base in the Israeli desert.”
2011:Right-wing activists have exploited Facebook's protocol that prohibits organizations from opening personal profiles to report and block the profiles of several leftist groups, Haaretz learned on today. The move, initiated by activists linked to the far-right leader Baruch Marzel, has thus far led to the blocking of the profile pages of left-wing groups including Machsom Watch, Yesh Gvul, and Anarchists against the Wall.
2011: Grad rockets landed near the cities of Netivot and Ofakim in the western Negev today, causing damage to a car and leading to four people being treated for shock. One rocket hit Netivot, which is 9 miles east of Gaza, and the second exploded in Ofakim, 15 miles from Gaza.
2011:American Sephardi Federation presents an evening with Edwin Black author of “The Farhud: Roots of the Arab-Nazi Alliance in the Holocaust.”
2011: Thanks to the efforts of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation and the British Christian Zionist Movement an appropriate tombstone was placed what had been the unmarked gravesite of Reverend William Henry Hechler, a Protestant clergyman who was an early ally of Herzl and a supporter of the establishment of a Jewish home in Palestine.
2012: “Jewish Soldiers in Blue Gray” is scheduled to be shown at the Southwest Florida Jewish Film Festival in Fort Meyers, FL.
2012: “Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg” is scheduled to be shown at Beth Tikvah Synagogue in Toronto, Canada.
2012: Alan Zweibel will be signing copies of “Lunatics,” a nove, he co-authored with Dave Barry, following his scheduled interview with Mo Rocca at Buttenwieser Hall at the 92nd Street Y
2012:Iran's "evil" leaders cannot be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons, President Shimon Peres said today, calling the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions the world's single most important issue.
2012:Turnout for the Likud party's primary elections was unusually low today.
2013(20th of Shevat, 5773): Seventy year old children’s author Diane Wolkstein passed away.(As reported by Paul Vitello)
2013: PBS is scheduled to broadcast a documentary entitled “Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope” which ”tells the remarkable true story of Colonel Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut, and the miniature Torah scroll he carried from the depths of Hell to the heights of Space.”
2013: “Cartoonists Against the Holocaust: Art in the Service of Humanity” is scheduled to come to an end today.
2013: Award-winning, bestselling author Edwin Black is scheduled to chronicle the centuries of intersection between Islam and Jewry that led to the Farhud pogrom in Baghdad in 1941 and the ensuing Arab-Nazi alliance in the Holocaust in a major address at Fordham University this evening. ”Black's presentation is based on his recent bestselling and critically acclaimed book, The Farhud: Roots of the Arab-Nazi Alliance in the Holocaust
2013: Rabbi Gil Marks, “noted chef and cookbook author” is scheduled to deliver a lecture “From Schmear To Eternity” at Agudas Achim in Iowa City.
2013: Composer Phillip Glass turns 75.
2013: The Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) was once again the beneficiary of a winter storm today as rain poured down upon the Land of Israel, causing power outages around the country.
2013:Mt Hermon will be closed to the public today as well. Hermon Administration has announced another 20 cm of snow at the bottom of the ski lift. 40 cm have piled up at the bottom of the ski lift since the beginning of the current storm
2014(30th of Shevat, 5774): Rosh Chodesh Adar I