February 23
1807: The British Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of abolition of the slave trade. This victory was due in large measure to the decades’ long efforts of William Wilberforce. This is the same William Wilberforce who helped found Christ Church Ministries Jerusalem (CMJ) inEngland Jerusalem School of Industry Hebrew College Christ Church
1815(13th of Adar): Patriot and founder of Aaronsburg, PA Aaron Levy passed away
1823: In Piotrkow, Poland, Phineas Mendel Heilprin and his wife gave birth to Michael Heilprin the American author, philanthropist and champion of social justice.
1832(22ndof Adar I. 5592):Wolf Heidenheim, who was born at Heidenheim in 1757 and whose works included several editions of the Pentateuch, a Pesach Haggadah, and several siddurim passed away today at Rödelheim
1835: La Juive (The Jewess) a grand opera in five acts composed by Fromental Halévy premiered today at the Opéra, Paris
1879(30th of Shevat, 5639): Rosh Chodesh Adar
1895: It was reported today that English actor John Hare, who has played the lead in “The Old Jew” will be coming to New York City to perform in December. Among the productions in which he is expected to appear is “The Old Jew.”
1904: Birthdate of William L Shirer. Shirer was one of "Murrow's Boys" a group of correspondents hired by Edward R. Murrow who covered the events prior to and including World War II. Shirer's post wasBerlin
1954: The first mass inoculation using the Salk Polio Vaccine began. In one of the irony of history the first polio vaccine was created by a Jewish Doctor, Jonas Salk. But the second polio vaccine was also created by a Jewish Doctor, Albert Sabin.
2009: Manhattanville College sponsors a lecture and Q&A session with Ambassador Danny Carmon, Deputy Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations entitled "Israel and Europe: An Insider's Perspective."
2012(30thof Shevat, 5772): Rosh Chodesh Adar
2012: Dina Zvi-Riklis’s 2006 film “Three Mothers” that explores Israel’s history through the lives of three Egyptian-born sisters Triplets Rose, Flora and Yasmin who were born into “high society” over 60 years ago in Alexandria, Egypt and now live in Israel, is scheduled to be shown at The Yeshiva University Ring Family Israel Film Festival.
2012: “Jewish Soldiers in Blue and Gray” is scheduled to shown at the Columbus Jewish Film Festival in Columbus, GA
2012: In London, “Mordechai Richler: The Last of the Wild Jews” a film about the Canadian-Jewish author is scheduled to be shown as part of Jewish Book Week.
2012: In London, Simon Goldhill is scheduled to discuss “Freud's Couch, Scott's Buttocks, Bronte's Grave” as part of Jewish Book Week.
2012:Iran submitted a letter of protest to the United Nations Security Council today, charging Israel of attacking its nuclear scientists and coloring recent accusations of Tehran's links to attempted attacks against Israeli officials worldwide as being part of a "war game" against the Islamic Republic.
2012:Interior Minister Eli Yishai said today that "The government will have to extend Tal Law until alternative legislation regulating yeshiva students' military service is drafted, with the collaboration of the Defense, Justice and Finance ministries." Yishai's comment was reportedly made following a "lengthy conversation" with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
42: King Agrippa I began the construction of a gate for the of Jerusalem
68: During the Great Revolt, Vespasian occupied the city of Gadara as the legions made their slow, inexorable march to Jerusalem.
1422: During the conflict between the Hussites and the Dominicans, Pope Martin V issued a Bull favorable to the Jews reminding Christians that their religion had been inherited from the Jews. “The pope forbade the monks to preach against intercourse between Jews and Christians.”
1447 Pope Eugenius IV passed away. In speaking about the Jews, Eugenius declared “We decree and order that from now on, and for all time, Christians shall not eat or drink with the Jews, nor admit them to feasts, nor cohabit with them, nor bathe with them. […] They cannot live among Christians, but in a certain street, separated and segregated from Christians, and outside which they cannot under any pretext have houses.”
1455: Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed from movable type. This revolution in publishing was one of the most liberating events in Western history. Some say that it really marked the beginning of the Modern Intellectual Era of Western Civilization. Soon books would be printed Hebrew giving the People of the Book greater access to books thus further democratizing the concept of learning which is a cornerstone of Jewish civilization. The chapter and verse system finally took hold in copies of the Torah (books not the Scroll itself) as a result of the printing revolution.
1484: Over this day and the next, 30 men and women were burned alive, as well as the bones of 40 others at the Inquisitional Tribunal of Ciudad Real.
1592: Emperor Rudolph II invited Rabbi Judah ben Bezalel Lowe, known as the Maharal of Prague to his castle. The two men met for an hour and a half during with they “developed a mutual respect for each other. Rabbi Judah Lowe made use of his excellent connections with the Emperor, often intervening on behalf of his community when it was threatened by anti-Semitic attacks or oppression. (As reported by Chabad Knowledge Base)
1658: Jacob (John) Lumbrozo, the first doctor in Maryland was tried for having, "Denied Jesus of Nazareth…." Lumbrozo was convicted, sentenced to death, and was to have all his property confiscated by the government. He was later freed from these penalties. Lumbrozo was born in Portugal Holland Maryland
1685: Birthdate of composer George Frideric Handel. In 1718, he wrote the oratorio “Esther” which was based on Racine’s 1689 tragic drama of the same name. Two of his other oratorios were “Deborah” based on the life of the Biblical Judge and “Athalia,” an operatic treatment of the life of the murderous Jewish Queen.
1723: Birthdate of Richard Price, the non-conformist minster who held the lectureship at Old Jewry, the Presbyterian meeting house built on the site of London’s original Jewish neighborhood.
1734: Birthdate of Mayer Amschel Rothschild in Frankfort Frankfort Europe . This great banking family would be the source of philanthropy and power for Jews in many parts of the world over the coming centuries. Their rise to power will make for fascinating reading when reach the study of European Jewry. Mayer Amschel died in 1812.
1777: Birthdate of Leopold Bettelheim, the Hungarian physician who “was the recipient of a gold medal of honor from the emperor Franz I. for distinguished services to the royal family and to the nobility.”
1807: The British Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of abolition of the slave trade. This victory was due in large measure to the decades’ long efforts of William Wilberforce. This is the same William Wilberforce who helped found Christ Church Ministries Jerusalem (CMJ) in
1815(13th of Adar): Patriot and founder of Aaronsburg, PA Aaron Levy passed away
1823: In Piotrkow, Poland, Phineas Mendel Heilprin and his wife gave birth to Michael Heilprin the American author, philanthropist and champion of social justice.
1832(22ndof Adar I. 5592):Wolf Heidenheim, who was born at Heidenheim in 1757 and whose works included several editions of the Pentateuch, a Pesach Haggadah, and several siddurim passed away today at Rödelheim
1835: La Juive (The Jewess) a grand opera in five acts composed by Fromental Halévy premiered today at the Opéra, Paris
1836: The Siege of the Alamo began at San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Mark Levy, a Jewish physician was reportedly one of those manning the walls of the Texas
1846: In Poland, the National Government issued a proclamation “calling for the Jewish population to join the uprising and ensuring their full equality.”
1848: John Quincy Adams, Sixth President of the United States passed away. In what seems like a strange turn of events, President Adams expressed his support for a Jewish homeland in the land of Israel America Adams wrote that he believed in the “rebuilding of Judea as an independent nation.”
1848: During the third French Revolution François Guizot, the reactionary Prime Minister opposed by Adolphe Cremieux was forced to resign and flee the country.
1852: Birthdate of Nathan Frank, the native of Peoria, Illinois and leader of the Republican party who founded the St. Louis Star and served in the 51st Congress.
1853: In Philadelphia, a dinner was held at the Samson Street Hall to raise funds for Jewish charities.
1855: The New York Times reported that the concert designed to raise funds for the Hebrew Benevolent Societies scheduled for February 27 has been moved from Dodworth's Rooms to Niblo's Saloon because of the unusually high demand for tickets.
1860(30th of Sh'vat, 5620): Rosh Chodesh Adar
1861: Birthdate of Emrich Ullmann the Austrian surgeon who was a pioneer in renal transplantation research.
1865: Birthdate of pioneer baseball executive, Barney Dreyfuss. Dreyfuss was the owner of the Pittsburg Pirates and the “father” of the World Series.
1868(30th of Shevat, 5628): Rosh Chodesh Adar
1870: Professor George Bartchelor delivered a talk on education reform to the New York Liberal Club. Batchelor contended that when it came to language, Hebrew, along with Greek and Latin, were the foundation of liberal education. But the public schools were teaching German, French and Spanish. [Considering who belong to the Liberal Club, one wonders what would have happened if a Hebrew teacher from the Lower East Side had shown up at its meeting.]
1871: The official position of the Jewish community in Ghent was regulated by two decrees one of which was issued today.
1872: Mortiz Ellinger ended his term as publisher of the Jewish Times today.
1878: “Celebrated Jews In Power” published today claims that the rise of Jewry in Europe has turned the fiction of “Coningsby” and the predictions of Sidonia into reality. One of the proof points is the leading role that Benjamin Disraeli, the author of Coningsby, plays in British politics.
1879(30th of Shevat, 5639): Rosh Chodesh Adar
1879: It was reported today that an unnamed Jew had scored a coup during the sale of old military stores at Edinburgh Castle. He bought 600 rusty old helmets for 6 pence a pound. After he cleaned them up, he discovered that they were made of “fine steel…adorned with Arabic inscriptions” showing that they were very old pieces of equipment. After selling a few of the helmets, an Armenian purchased the lot of them for 18 shillings per helmet. Realizing their error, the government bought the helmets from him for 2 of 3 English pounds per helmet.
1880: It was reported that in Germany, associations have been formed for the purpose of excluding Jews from serving in Parliament. In Breslau, one such group has announced that it will not support a Jew under any circumstances. [The rise of anit-Semitism paralleled the moves to emancipate German Jewry.]
1882: The SS Illinois arrived at Philadelphia, PA at 3:20 pm carrying 325 men, women and children who were refugees from the anti-Semitic violence that had been taking place in the Russian Empire including Poland, Kiev and Odessa. The refugees were greeted by members of the committee that has been preparing for their arrival. After being examined by Dr. T. J. Elleinger and his medical staff, the refugees were taken to the old Pennsylvania Railroad station which has been remodeled to meet their needs. The refugees had harrowing tales of deprivation and violence to tell their American benefactors who included Jews and Christians.
1882: It was reported today that the Toronto Globe has received a cable from London describing a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Mansion House Fund for the Relief of Russo-Jewish Refugees presided over by Cardinal Manning. With the support of Sir A.T. Galt a sub-committee was established to select sites for the establishment of agriculture settlements in Palestine the Canadian Northwest that could provide a viable new home for the persecuted Jews. The subcommittee has a budget of ten thousand pounds. [This outpouring of support for the Jews who were the victims of a series of Pogroms following the assassination of Alexander II is laudable. Sensing that England could and New York City could inundated by a wave of refugees, plans were made to try and settle the Jews in the under-populated areas of Canada, the United States and Argentina]
1886: Lena Lillienthal married Meyer Goldberg. By August of the following year, the two would embroiled in nasty divorce case in which she sought to end the marriage.
1890: The President and Managers of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society of New York will hold a reception today between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. in honor of George Washington’s birthday. (Washington was born on February 22 which in 1890 fell on Shabbat which accounts for the delay)
1890: English dramatist Leopold Davis Lewis passed away. Born in 1828 and trained as a solicitor he began his dramatic career by translating Erckmann-Chatrian's “Le Juif Polonais,” (the Polish Jew) which he then produced as “The Bells.”
1890: It was reported today that among those charities received property tax exemptions were the Ladies’ Deborah Nursery and Child’s Protectory ($12,000) and the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews ($30,000).
1890: “Gladstone At Oxford” published today included comments by the English Prime Minister about the status of the Jews. When asked if he thought “that there is any likelihood of an anti-Semitic agitation in England” Gladstone replied “I have not the least fear of an agitation in England against the Jews. You might as well expect one against the law of gravity.”
1890: “Sir A Sassoon” published today relying on information that first appeared in The Spectator briefly described “this rise of this Jewish family in England” which “were till quite recently strictly Indian Jews” who were “almost natives in their manner of life.” (Sir A. Sassoon probably referred to Sir Albert Abdulah David Sassoon, the First Baronet)
1890: It was reported today that in the summer of 1875 a group of visitors from Massachusetts came to Lincoln’s Inn, London looking for Judah P. Benjamin, the Confederate leader turned British Barrister.. They were surprised that Benjamin, who was Jewish “was engaged to appear against an influential firm of Jewish money lenders.”
1891: “A Row in the Synagogue” published today described the outbreak of fight at the Grant Street synagogue in Pittsburg, PA. Ruben Miller bloodied the nose of Harris Bartniski during a meeting at which congregants were discussing a sermon by Rabbi Feinich in which he denounced Miller for renting his building “to a company of atheists.”
1893: New York State Jacob A. Cantor met with party leaders at the “Tammany Wigwam” to discuss pending legislation in Albany.
1894: It was reported that among those who attended the 14th annual reception of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society included Mr. and Mrs. Selig Steinhardt, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Seligman, Mr. and Mrs. Lyman Bloomingdale and the Honorable and Mrs. Joseph Blumenthal.
1895: It was reported today that English actor John Hare, who has played the lead in “The Old Jew” will be coming to New York City to perform in December. Among the productions in which he is expected to appear is “The Old Jew.”
1896: It was reported today that the sale of tickets and boxes for the upcoming Purim Ball are “exceeding all expectations.”
1896: “Nordau Replied To” published today contained a detailed reviews of Regeneration: A Reply to Max Nordauwith an Introduction by Nicholas Murray Butler.
1896: The Tootsie Roll is introduced by Leo Hirshfield. The soft chewy candy took its name from the nickname of Hirshfield’s daughter. Hirshfield was from Austria
1896:Mihail Grigore Sturza, the voivode, (count or military governor) signed a document recognizing the Jewish community of Galatz, Romania.
1896: “The Shoket, and Kosher and Trefa Dishes –Where to Buy Meats” published today
1898: In France Émile Zola was convicted following his trial for libel. He received the maximum sentence – one year in jail and a fine of 3000 Frances. He had written “J'accuse” which was a letter accusing the French government of anti-Semitism and wrongfully placing Alfred Dreyfus in jail.
1898: As the Dreyfus Affair reached one of its climaxes, Paul Deroulede attempted to get the troops at Neuilly to take part in a coup d’état.
1899: In France, during President Félix Faure’s state funeral Paul Déroulède, Jules Guérin and the Ligue des Patriotes attempt a coup which resulted in their arrest.
1899:The Nineteenth Century Club heard Israel Zangwill and Hamlin Garland discuss "The Novel" in Delmonico's large ballroom tonight, and both authors agreed so well upon the functions of art in fiction that the men and women present had to forego the usual argumentative entertainment which they plan for these meetings by bringing together speakers of supposedly differing views
1902: The ninth meeting of the Union of Judaeo-German Congregations opened today in Berlin.
1903: Leopold Greenberg anEnglish newspaper editor, Zionist and friend of Theodore Herzl leaves Egypt.
1904: Birthdate of William L Shirer. Shirer was one of "Murrow's Boys" a group of correspondents hired by Edward R. Murrow who covered the events prior to and including World War II. Shirer's post was
1904: Birthdate of Leopold Trepper, a Jewish James Bond. Trepper was born in Poland France Russia Germany Paris Moscow Israel
1913: Solomon Schechter, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary, founded the United Synagogue of America, the association of Conservative synagogues in the United States Canada
1910: The Hahambashi proposes to convene, in summer, a conference of delegates of all Jewish communities in the Ottoman Empire to consider reform of the rabbinate and to plan a new reorganization of the community. Included in this would be the elimination of life appointments in favor of elections.
1912: A New York Ladino language newspaper called La Aguila hit the presses, but failed due to lack of support and finished running on March 22 of the same year.
1912: Jews in Kustendil , Bulgaria
1912: A bill introduced in the Portuguese Congress provides for cession of land to Jewish emigrants who move to Angola, Portuguese West Africa.
1917: The February Revolution began in Russia. This is the revolution that brought down the Czars and brought the Social Democrats to power. Unfortunately, they failed and the next revolution brought the Communists to power with disastrous effects for the world in general and the Jews in particular.
1917(1st of Adar, 5677): Rosh Chodesh Adar
1919: Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party in Italy Italy
1919(23rd of Adar I, 5679): Just weeks before his 84th birthday New York lawyer, jurist and author Abraham Jesse Dittenhoefer passed away. Ironically, he was a native of Charleston, SC, the cradle of Southern Secession who was the last surviving elector from the election of 1864 during which he cast his vote for Abraham Lincoln.
1921: Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook and Rabbi Ya'akov Meir were elected as the first two chief Rabbis of pre-state Israel
1921: As head of the Colonial Office, Winston Churchill reviews Pinchas Rutenberg’s request for a concession to harness the waters of the Jordan and Yarkon fivers for electrical power; a concession that would employ 800 Jews and Arabs.
1929(13thof Adar I, 5689): Thirty-nine year old Mercédès Jellinek, the granddaughter of Adolf Jellinek, the former chief rabbi of Vienna whose name is the Mercedes in the Mercedes-Benz automobile succumbed to bone cancer today.
1932: In the Netherlands Amsterdam Historical Museum
1936: Birthdate of Harrison Jay Goldin the Bronx born lawyer and former New York politician who served as an attorney in the United States Department of Justice Office of Civil Rights during the Kennedy Administration and ran in the 1989 Democratic Primary election for Mayor of New York.
1936: Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope the High Commissioner of the British Mandate of Palestine was booed by a crowd as he left a museum in Tel Aviv where he had just given a dedicatory address. The demonstration was prompted by reports that the mandatory government is about to implement new regulations designed to limit Jewish immigration and land purchases by Jews. The High Commissioner ordered the crowd to disperse but did not order any arrests.
1938: Today is the planned date on which passengers will begin debarking at the newly refurbished port of Tel Aviv. The event is viewed as “a milestone in the rebuilding of the Jewish National Home.”
1939: Birthdate of Lester Glassner, an artist who graduated from Pratt Institute who created a “museum-size collection that included dolls and wind-up toys, plastic fruit sculptures and costume jewelry, sunglasses and makeup kits, greeting cards and matchbooks, salt and pepper shakers and Christmas ornaments, not to mention movie stills, posters, cardboard cutouts, books, magazines, records, and 8- and 16-millimeter films.”
1939: “The chief architect and designer of the Palestine Paviilion” at the New York World’s Fair, Arieh El-Hanani arrived today “on the Queen Mary to supervise “the setting up of the Palestine exhibits, which will arrive next week on the liner Excalibur.
1940(14th of Adar I, 5700): Purim Katan
1941 Romanian born painter Marcel and Medi Janco and their two daughters who had survived the Iron Guard’s Bucharest Pogrom, arrived in Tel Aviv
1941: David Zacharin, Russian born cellist and director of the Tel Aviv Academy, gave his first New York recital tonight at the Town Hall. His program was devoted Jewish music. Of the seventeen works played 14 were his own while the remaining three were Bloch’s “Schelomo” (Hebrew for Rhapsody, Gnessin’s “Song of the Wandering Knight” and Bruch’s “Kol Nidre.” Zacharin “achieved real eloquence” when he played “If I Forget Thee Jerusalem,” a piece of his own creation. Whatever the evening lacked in artistic perfection was overcome by the fact that it gave “insight into the longings and religious aspirations of an ancient people.”
1941: A large scale pogrom in Amsterdam continued for a second day.
1942:Edward M.M. Warburg, son of the late Felix Warburg and Chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee, joined the army last week as a private, despite the fact that he is married and has a 6-months-old son, it was learned here today. A member of Company B, 518th Military Police Battalion, Private Warburg is in training at Governors Island, home station of the unit. Army headquarters, in disclosing Mr. Warburg's enlistment, emphasized that the battalion was a field unit subject to call to active service. Warburg himself declined to comment on his enlistment.
1942:Struma, a ship chartered to carry Jewish refugees from Axis-allied Romania to British-controlled Palestine during World War II, with its engine inoperable, was towed from Istanbul through the Bosporus out to the Black Sea by Turkish authorities with its refugee passengers aboard, where it was left adrift.
1943: A division of the Red Army attacked the Germans at Alexseyevka, in the Ukraine. Many of the attacking soldiers were Jews
1944: At Zwadka, Poland, a Polish man and his daughter were killed by Germans, along with the two Jewish women whom they had helped.
1945: As the Soviet Army approached Schwarzheide, in the Dresden (Germany) area 300 Jews who had been moved from Berkenau to the Schwarzheide factories were shot. The German camps of Belsen, Dachau, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Sachsenhausen and Ravnebruck became the destination of thousands of evacuated Jews from all the other camps
1945: Joe Rosenthal takes the most famous picture of World War II, "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima ."
1946: In a report issued by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, medical authorities said that there were no reports of Plague in Europe with the exception of the Mediterranean ports including Jaffa with two cases, and Haifa and Tel Aviv with one case each.
1947: General Eisenhower opened a drive to raise $170 million in aid for European Jews
1954: The first mass inoculation using the Salk Polio Vaccine began. In one of the irony of history the first polio vaccine was created by a Jewish Doctor, Jonas Salk. But the second polio vaccine was also created by a Jewish Doctor, Albert Sabin.
1960(25thof Shevat, 5720): Seventy-eight year old gold medal winning Olympic fencer Alexandre Lippmann passed away.
1962: Churchill’s friend Montague Brown wrote a letter expressing his concerns about the retired Prime Minister’s plan to visit Israel Britain Middle East . Ultimately, Churchill’s yacht would pass the coast of Israel
1965: Sixty-four year old Herberts Cukurs, a member of the Arajs Kommando which slaughter thousands of Jews in Latvia died today in Uruguay.
1965: Birthdate of Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers.
1965: American classic’s scholar Charles A. Robinson, the husband of Celia Sachs and son-in-law of art historian Paul J. Sachs who played a key role in saving European art from the Nazis, passed away today.
1968(24th of Shevat, 5728): Fannie Hurst passed away at the age of 78. Born in 1889 in Ohio Washington University St. Louis Columbia Hurst Hurst
1973(21st of Adar I, 5733): Tehilla Lichtenstein passed away. She served as leader of the Society for Jewish Science from 1938 until her death.
1974(1st of Adar, 5734): Songwriter Harry Ruby passed away.
1977:Leonard Steinberg, Baron Steinberg of Belfast in the County of Antrim was shot by the Provisional Irish Republican Army after he refused to give in to a demand to pay “protection money.”
1979: Release date in Italy for “Christ Stopped at Eboli” (Cristo si è fermato a Eboli) a film adaptation of the book of the same name by Carlo Levi.
1983: Moshe Arens replaced Menachem Begin as Defense Minister.
1986: In an article entitled “The Museums of Israel,” Nitza Rosovsky, the curator of exhibits at the Harvard Semitic Museum and the author of Jerusalem Walks describes “Israel, as a crossroads of ancient civilizations in which the countryside itself is like a museum filled with the remains of those who were here before, from Canaanites to Philistines, from Romans to Crusaders. Even the present-day inhabitants -Jews from some 80 lands, Arabs from all over the Middle East, Christians of different denominations - create a living museum.” In describing the rich variety of museums to be found in Israel, she captures both the history and the efforts to capture the history of the land and cultures that are now part of the Jewish homeland.
1987: The Russian Writers Union accepts Boris Pasternak as a as member posthumously
1987:Aulcie Perry Jr., a former basketball player who became an Israeli citizen and was hailed as a sports champion there, was convicted in Brooklyn Federal Court tonight of smuggling heroin with a street value of $1.8 million into the United States. Judge Mark A. Constantino said sentencing would be set for the end of March. The 36-year-old Perry had been on trial since Feb. 17 on charges of conspiracy to import heroin, importation of heroin and possession of heroin with intent to distribute. He was convicted on all counts, each of which carries a possible 20-year prison term. His lawyer, Richard Lind, said he would appeal. Perry, who was born in Newark, played for the Virginia Squires of the American Basketball Association in 1974-75. He was signed by the Knicks but was cut before the 1975-76 season. The 6-foot-10-inch Perry, who holds a dual citizenship, joined the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team in Israel in 1977 and helped bring it a European Cup championship that year and in 1979. He remained on the team until 1984. Perry's cousin, Kenneth Johnson, 29, who was charged with Perry, pleaded guilty earlier this month and is awaiting sentencing.
1989:At the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Soviet émigré pianist Vladimir Feltsman is scheduled to play the music of Schubert and Mussorgsky at a benefit performance designed to raise funds for the Maimonides Research and Development Foundation.
1990(28th of Sh'vat, 5750):David Samuilovich Kaufman who wrote under the name of David Samoylov passed away. Born in 1920, he was a “notable poet of War generation of Russian poets, and considered one of the most important Russian poets of the post-World War II era.”
1997: Sixty five million viewers watch the completely uncensored version of “Schindler’s List” on NBC television.
1997(16th of Adar I, 5757): Oscar Lewenstein, British producer and director, passed away at the age of 80.
1997:Palestinian Ali Abu Kamal opens fire on tourists on the observation deck of the Empire State Building, killing one and wounding another six before committing suicide.
1997: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Nazi Germany and the Jews, Volume 1: The Years of Persecution, 1933-1939by Saul Friedlander and Conflicting Accounts: The Creation and Crash of the Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Empireby Kevin Goldman
1998: Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders. Considering what the Crusaders did to the Jews during the Middle Ages, these is a strange declaration indeed.
1999: In another example of personalization and splintering of Israeli politics, Yitzhak Mordechai quit Likud and formed the Israel in the Centre Party. Other members included David Magen and Dan Meridor from Likud, Hagai Meirom and Nissim Zvili of Labour, and Eliezer Sandberg of Tzomet.
1999: Michael Nudelman and Yuri Stern left Yisrael BaAliyahto form Aliyah, which later entered into an alliance with another Russian-immigrant party, Yisrael Beiteinu.
2000(17th of Adar I, 5760): Ofrz Haza, popular Yeminite Israeli singer, passed away. Born in 1957, she made her international debut at the Eurovision Song Contest 1983, which she very narrowly failed to win for Israel with the song "Hi". Ofra Haza had a world-wide hit in 1988 with "Im Nina'lu" from the album Fifty Gates of Wisdom.Her international hits also included "Temple of Love (Touched by the Hand of Ofra Haza)" with the Leeds-based post-punk band, The Sisters of Mercy in 1992 and "My Love is for Real" with Paula Abdul in 1995. She also sang in the animated film The Prince of Egypt in 1998.Her Israeli hits include "Shir ha-Frekha" ("The Bimbo Song", theme from the movie Shlager, in which she also acted) and "le-Orekh ha-Yam" ("Along the Shore").Haza, who came from the poor Hatikvah neighborhood of Tel-Aviv, at one time almost a slum, was a success story and the subject of pride on behalf of many Israelis of Yemenite origin. She died of AIDS.
2003(21st of Adar I, 5763): Meyer R. Schkolnick, who became the famed sociologist Robert K. Merton, passed away at the age of 93. According to one source he is the man who coined such as phrases as “unintended consequences,” “role model” and “self-fulfilling prophecy.”
2003: Bruce Fleisher won the Verizon Classic.
2005: The French Law on Colonialism passed to by the Union for a Popular Movement was opposed by Jewish French historian Pierre Vidal-Naquet
2005: Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz announced that Dan Halutz would be the next IDF Chief of Staff.
2005: Effi Eitam and Yitzhak Levi announced that they had officially split from the NRP to form a new party, the Renewed Religious National Zionist Party
2005: Chief Nazi hunter Eli Rosenbaum was the guest speaker for "Prosecuting Nazi War Criminals". Over 150 students, staff and community members crammed into the UMKC School of Law Courtroom for the lecture. Eli Rosenbaum has directed the Office of Special Investigations (OSI ) for over 10 years.
2005: Purim Katan
2006:As reported in The Washington Post, Frederick Busch, 64, a writer whose novels and short stories were esteemed by critics but who never quite found a large following with the general public, died of a heart attack at a New York City
2006: The Roundabout Theatre Company revival of “The Pajama Game,” a musical created by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross opened today.
2007: Ben Stiller received the Hasty Pudding Man of the Year award from Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals. According to the organization, the award is given to performers who give a lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment
2007: In Amsterdam, the Jewish Historical Museum opens Retrospectives of the works of photographers Robert Capra and Eva Besnyö.
2007: In Jerusalemthe 23rd International Book Fairwhich is being held at the Binyanei Haooma Convention Center comes to an end.
2007(5th of Adar, 5767): Heinz Berggruen, collector and gallery owner passed away at the age of 93. (As reported by Alan Riding)
2008: In Washington, D.C. Susan Jacoby author of Half Jew: A Daughter's Search for Her Family's Buried Pastdiscusses and signs her newest work, The Age of American Unreason.
2008:Joseph Cedar, director of the Oscar-nominated Israeli film Beaufort, and an Orthodox Jew, will attend a symposium sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the five finalists vying for the best foreign-language film Oscar today. Since the symposium is being held on Shabbat attending presented a unique challenge for Cedar. Cedar’s rabbi told him he could attend as long as he walked to the event and did not use a microphone. Observing Shabbat would require a two mile long walk to the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre which Cedar, New York born whose parents made Aliyah when he was five, figured he could cover in about two hours.
2008: Simon Garfield described the story of Anne Frank’s lost love.
2009: Manhattanville College sponsors a lecture and Q&A session with Ambassador Danny Carmon, Deputy Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations entitled "Israel and Europe: An Insider's Perspective."
2009: After undergoing surgery to remove a tumor on her pancreas,Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg returned to the court in time for three days of oral arguments.
2009: Sport Illustrated“remembers the life” the late Joe Goldstein, the “old-school sports public relation man” who recently passed away at the age of 81. He was known for his upbeat manner as well as his persistency which cause an NBC executive to describe him as “the Jewish equivalent of the Chinese water drip.” His clients included “Joe Frazier, Bob Hope, the New York City Marathon, Evel Knivel and the Palisades Parkway.”
2009: In Washington, D.C.,Sara Houghteling reads from and signs her new novel, Pictures at an Exhibition, at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue (formerly the home of Adas Israel)
2009:The Israel Antiquities Authority announced today that a routine archeological excavation that was conducted before the scheduled start of a private construction project in an Arab neighborhood on the outskirts of Jerusalem has uncovered a series of seal impressions from the reign of the biblical King Hezekiah 2,700 years ago.
2009:IDF soldiers foiled a large-scale attack at the Kissufim border crossing against troops or a southern Israeli community. The attempted attack came early this morning, when a Golani force spotted two Palestinians laying explosive devices near the border crossing.
2009: Gaza terrorists fired two Kassam rockets at southern Israeli civilian areas on Monday. One hit an open area in the Sha'ar Hanegev region, while the other landed in a field near Sderot. No one was wounded and no damage was reported.
2010: The three-day long meeting of the Jewish Agency for Israel being held in Jerusalem is scheduled to end.
2010:The Jewish Studies Program at Tulane University under the leadership of Dr. Brian Horowitz and the Center for Cultural Judaism are scheduled to present a program about Satmar Chasidism featuring Dr. David N. Myers,Professor and Director, UCLA Center for Jewish Studies.
2010:Israel said today that Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon will lead a high-level delegation next week to China, the most prominent holdout against tough sanctions on Iran.
2010:Delaware's first Jewish governor hung a mezuzah at the governor's mansion in Dover today. Among those joining Jack Markel in today’s ceremony in the capital were Rabbi Peter Grumbacher of the governor’s synagogue, Congregation Beth Emeth in Wilmington; Rabbi Steven Saks of the Rabbinical Association of Delaware; and Glenn Engelmann, president of the Jewish Federation of Delaware, according to the Sussex Countian. Markel received the mezuzah as an inauguration gift, according to the report.
2011: “Vidal Sassoon: The Movie” and “The Klezmatics: On Holy Ground” are two of the documentaries scheduled to be shown tonight at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.
2011: The 25th Jerusalem International Book Fair is scheduled to present a program entitled ''The Changing Jewish Kitchen - Is Jewish food still Jewish food and what is it?''
2011: David McKenzie is scheduled to present a program entitled “Isachar Zacharie: Lincoln’s Chiropodist—and Peace Envoy” at Adas Israel in Washington, DC.
2011(19thof Adar I, 5771): Eighty-seven year old Joseph H. Flom, a pioneering corporate lawyer who helped build Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom into one of the nation’s leading law firms, passed away today.
2011(19th of Adar I, 5771):Jack Gottlieb, a composer who brought synagogue melodies to concert halls and who worked closely with the legendary composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein passed away today at the age of 80.
2012(30thof Shevat, 5772): Rosh Chodesh Adar
2012: Dina Zvi-Riklis’s 2006 film “Three Mothers” that explores Israel’s history through the lives of three Egyptian-born sisters Triplets Rose, Flora and Yasmin who were born into “high society” over 60 years ago in Alexandria, Egypt and now live in Israel, is scheduled to be shown at The Yeshiva University Ring Family Israel Film Festival.
2012: “Jewish Soldiers in Blue and Gray” is scheduled to shown at the Columbus Jewish Film Festival in Columbus, GA
2012: In London, “Mordechai Richler: The Last of the Wild Jews” a film about the Canadian-Jewish author is scheduled to be shown as part of Jewish Book Week.
2012: In London, Simon Goldhill is scheduled to discuss “Freud's Couch, Scott's Buttocks, Bronte's Grave” as part of Jewish Book Week.
2012:Iran submitted a letter of protest to the United Nations Security Council today, charging Israel of attacking its nuclear scientists and coloring recent accusations of Tehran's links to attempted attacks against Israeli officials worldwide as being part of a "war game" against the Islamic Republic.
2012:Interior Minister Eli Yishai said today that "The government will have to extend Tal Law until alternative legislation regulating yeshiva students' military service is drafted, with the collaboration of the Defense, Justice and Finance ministries." Yishai's comment was reportedly made following a "lengthy conversation" with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
2013: The Northernmost Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to open in Fairbanks, Alaska.
2013: In Iowa City, Hillel is scheduled to host its annual fundraising event in which Benjamin Coelho will join with colleagues from the University Of Iowa School Of Music to perform a program entitled “Songs without Words.”
2013: Purim in Ein Karem “More than Carnival: with the Ensemble Millennium is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. today.
2013: The Maccabeats are scheduled to perform at Temple Moses in Miami Beach, FL.
2013(13thof Adar, 5773): Shabbat Zachor Erev Purim
2013: In the evening, reading of the Megillah Esther
2013: Today’s announcement by the Pentagon it was grounding all F-35 fighter jets due to a crack found in one of the engine blades” could have an unforeseen impact on Israel’s military capabilities since the IAF has ordered 20 of the planes in a bid to maintain a qualitative edge over its vast array of actual and potential adversaries
2014: Adam Liptak, Supreme Court correspondent for the New York Times is scheduled to address the The Hadassah Attorneys Council dinner in Washington, DC
2014: “Handle With Care,” a hilarious and heartwarming romantic comedy about an inept package deliverer who loses an Israeli grandmother’s corpse in a Virginia parking lot on a snowy Christmas Eve is scheduled to have its final performance at Westside Theatre Downstairs
2014: ”Threshold to the Sacred: The Ark Door of Cairo’s Ben Ezra Synagogue” is scheduled to close today at Yeshiva University Museum.
2014: Ruth Grumber is scheduled to appear via Skype at the event officially opening “Ahead of Time: The Extraordinary Journey of Ruth Gruber.”
2014: The annual Seforim Sale – the largest sale of Jewish books in North America – is scheduled to come to a close.
2014: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Forgiving The Angel: Four Stories for Franz Kafka by Jay Cantor