February 27
272: Birthdate of Constantine the Great, Roman Emperor from 306 to 337.Constantine Roman Empire which marked a turning point (negative) for the Jews of Europe.[ There is plenty of agreement that Constantine was born on February 27 but there is not agreement on the year. It ranges from 272 to 289]
2006: The Harlem Globetrotters, the creation of Abe Saperstein, extended their overall record to 22,000 wins.
2011: Among the Jewish winners are tonight’s Oscar ceremonies were:
Israel-born Natalie Portman for her portrayal of a tortured ballerina in “Black Swan”
Emile Sherman one of the co-producers of “The King’s Speech” which was named best picture
David Seidler of “King’s Speech” winning for original screenplay
Aaron Sorkin of “The Social Network” for adapted screenplay
Danish director-writer Susanne Bier, took the best foreign-language film statuette for “In a Better World,”
American filmmakers Kirk Simon and Karen Goodman won in the short documentary category for “Strangers No More” - a film based on the work of the Bialik-Rogozin School in south Tel
Director-writer Lee Unkrich accepted the award for his animated feature “Toy Story 3,”
Randy Newman won for his song “We Belong Together.”
Lora Hirschberg was one of the co-winners for the work of sound-mixing for “Inception.
(As reported by JTA)
2012: Anna Kantar is scheduled to give a reading of poems by Leah Goldberg at the Stern College for Women in New York City.
2012: Open Women’s Mic Night featuring Poetry, Music, Comedy, whatever you do to entertain the ladies at David Lilimnick’s Off the Wall Comedy Club in Jerusalem
2012:Nurses across Israel went on a 24-hour strike this morning, after overnight negotiations betweent the Finance Ministry and the chairman of the national nurses union failed to reach an agreement to prevent the strike.
272: Birthdate of Constantine the Great, Roman Emperor from 306 to 337.
380: Theodosius I, Gratian, and Valentinian II jointly issued The Edict of Thessalonica which made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire.
1514: King Sigismund I appointed Michael Yosefovich “senior” of all Lithuanian Jews
1562: Pius IV issued Dudum e felicis recordationis, a papal bull that confirmed the papal bulls of Paul IV including those that put restrictions on where Jews could live and how they could earn a living.
1670: Leopold I ordered the Jews expelled from Austria
1755: Birthdate of Shalom Ullman, the Hungarian born rabbi and Talmudist whose son and grandson followed in his footsteps by serving as rabbis at Lackenbach.
1799: Birthdate of Frederick Catherwood the English artist architect. In 1833, he made a detailed survey of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. He probably was the first westerner since the days of the crusades to have access to this shrine which is located on the Temple Mount. Catherwood was one of a veritable army of English visitors to “the holy land” who helped to excavate and map the area in the 19th century.
1801: Pursuant to the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, Washington, D.C. is placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.“The first recorded Jewish resident of the city was Isaac Polock. He arrived in 1795. Polock, a grandson of a founder of the Newport, Rhode Island synagogue, was a small time real estate developer. He built a number of fine homes along present day Pennsylvania Ave. An early renter of one of Polock's houses and his neighbor was James Madison, a later President.” Major Alfred Mordecai was another of D.C.’s first Jewish residents. The North Carolina native entered West Point at the age of 15 and was in the first graduating class when he completed his studies in 1823. Mordecai came to Washington in 1828 where he served as the commander of the Washington Arsenal. Washington Hebrew Congregation founded in 1852 was the city’s first Jewish Congregation. Adas Israel, which was originally founded as an Orthodox synagogue in 1869 received a donation from President Grant for its building fund. The congregation later switched to the Conservative movement. Today the downtown location of Adas Israel is remembered as the Historic 6th& I Synagogue. For me, the synagogue at 6th&I was the place in the late 1940’s and 1950’s where I went for my first Simchat Torah Services, my first Megillah readings and a whole lot more. The synagogue at 5th& I was famous because Al Jolson’s father had been its cantor and Jolson sang their as a little boy. Adas Israel moved to its Connecticut and Porter where it remains today. During the 1950’s Ambassador Eban spoke from its pulpit on more than one occasion much to the congregation’s joy and delight. For more about the history of the Jewish community in Washington you might want to look at the website of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington.
1805(28th of Adar I, 5565):Naphtali Herz (Hartwig) Wessely passed away. Born in Hamburg in 1725, he “was a 18th-century German Jewish Hebraist and educationist born at Hamburg.”
1807: In Portland, Maine Zilpah Wadsworth Longfellow and Stephen Longfellow gave birth to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow the poet famed for such famous poetic works as “Paul Revere’s Ride” and “Evangeline” as well as “Judas Maccabaeus” an 1872 five-act verse tragedy a Hebrew version of which was published in 1900.
1841: In the Netherlands Eliezer Eduard Hirschel Kann and Hyacintha Kann gave birth to Livia Amalia Kann.
1844: The Dominican Republic (then known as Santa Domingo) on the island of Hispaniola gained its independence from Haiti. During the 16th and 17thcentury Sephardic merchants settled on the island, many of them coming from Curaco. “The oldest Jewish grave (on the island) is dated 1826.” Jews of this period assimilated into the general population and lost their identity. In the 1930’s the Dominican Republic became a haven for Jews escaping Hitler’s Europe and most of today’s vibrant Jewish community traces its origins to this period.
1844: Birthdate of Moses Ha-Levi Horowitz, the Romanian born Yiddish actor and playwright who came to the United States in 1882 where he was known as the famous Morris Horowitz.
1847: Birthdate of English actress Ellen Terry, whose portrayal of Portia in the Merchant of Venice was one of her signature role. She performed with Sir Henry Irving whose greatest dramatic success came with his performances in “The Bells.”
1852: Benjamin Disraeli began serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer. It was the first of three times he would hold this office.
1855: A concert designed to raise funds for the Hebrew Benevolent Society is scheduled to be held today.
1859:Birthdate of Bertha Pappenheim “the founder of the Jüdischer Frauenbund (League of Jewish Women).”
1861(17th of Adar): Rabbi David Tevele ben Moses of Minks author of Bet David passed away today
1864(20th of Adar I, 5624):Chaia Basia, the daughter of Rabbi Yehoshua Usher Rabinowicz of Parysow passed away.
1865(1st of Adar, 5625): Rosh Chodesh Adar
1865: Birthdate of Armand Bloch, the native of Strasbourg who was the grandson of Rabbi Moses Bloch known as of 'Hokhom (the Wise) of Uttenheim, who served in a variety of rabbinic and communal roles in France and Algeria. In 1931, the French government named him as Chevialier of the Legion of Honor in recognition of his service to his co-religionists and his country.
1868: Benjamin Disraeli begins serving as Prime Minister for the first time.
1870: The Chicago Tribune reported that the Constitutional Convention will not be amending the Illinois State Convention mandating a day of the week for observing the Sabbath. The Jews and the Seventh Day Adventists had petitioned the convention include a provision making the 7th day of the week the Sabbath. Since this would be based on the 4th commandment of the Decalogue, the biblical source would make it more likely that the populace would enjoy a day of rest. Other groups wanted to disregard the literal biblical reading and follow the first day of rest practice. Rather than offend any group, the committee hearing the matter decided the convention should take no action.
1871: In Newark, NJ, the Ladies’ Temple Association opened a grand fair at Turn Hall. The fair is scheduled to be open for the next four nights and is a fund-raiser for the Temple on Washington Street.
1873: A national convention of those who want to amend the U.S. Constitution so that it will state that the United States is a Christian nation met today in Pittsburgh, PA. There were 500 people at the opening session and more than a thousand attending the evening session. Attendees claim that their move is part of a fight against atheism, something that Catholics and Jews of the time might have found difficult to believe.
1874: It was reported today that the annual Purim reception at the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews in New York will be held on March 1st and 2nd.
1877(14th of Adar, 5637): Purim
1877: The Young Men’s Hebrew Association hosted a Purim Ball this evening at Cooper Hall in Jersey City, New Jersey.
1878: The parents of Lucy Shereck, a young Jewess, “wept bitterly” as they watched the baptism of their daughter at the Marcey Avenue Baptist Church.
1879: Constantine Fahlberg discovered the artificial sweetener saccharine which Ellen Glotz described in The Accidental Epicure.
1880(15th of Adar, 5640): Shushan Purim
1880: Over 4,000 people attended the fancy dress ball given by the Purim Association at the Academy of Music. This year’s annual event raised an estimated $18,000 for Mount Sinai Hospital.
1880: It was reported today that “the war which has for some time raged in Germany between the natives and the Jews, seems to increase rather than to diminish…The crime of the Jews appears to be…their financial prosperity.” “If the Jews in Germany were poor, they would not be attacked.” But many of them are very rich “and this is their offense.” [Editor’s note – this is fifty years before Hitler came to power]
1881: It was reported today that the second edition of the History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs by Dr. Henry Brugsch-Bey is now available. The description of the Exodus presented in this edition is one of the many improvements made in this edition. In a special preface to the new volume, Brugsh-Gey claims that he bases his description of the change in direction taken by the Jews on “contemporary records and the evidence of the Egyptian monuments” to establish “the veracity of the scriptural record.” He also co-authored The True Story of the Exodus of Israel: Together with a Brief Review of the History of Monumental Egypt with Francis Henry Underwood.
1881: It was reported today that over 500 costumed guests are expected to lead the opening procession at the Purim Masquerade Ball to be held on March 15 at the Academy of Music in New York City.
1882: A review of The Electorate and the Legislature by Spencer Walpole, one of a series of books on the rights and responsibilities of an English Citizen, published today notes that “The House of commons kept one of the members elected for the city of London out of his seat for 11 years because he was a Jew.” This was based on the “historic intolerance and prejudice” of the Commons and its members which has not been fully overcome.
1883:Oscar Hammerstein patented the 1st cigar-rolling machine
1888: Birthdate of Lotte Lehman German opera star who eventually moved to the United States Austria Paris United States
1895: “Elsie Leslie’s Little Guests” published today described an afternoon at the theatre enjoyed by several hundred Jewish children who saw “The Prince and the Pauper” who were there as guest of the famous child actress. As a sign of their appreciation they gave her an a bag which was elegantly embroidered with her initials – “E.L.L.”
1891: Birthdate of David Sarnoff. Born in Russia
1891: It was reported today that the Purim Association raised $15,000 at its annual ball which it will donate to the United Hebrew Charities.
1893: “Coming Exodus of Russian Jews” published today compared the doubling of the Jewish population in the United Kingdom over the last twenty years to the projected redoubling of that number in only another five years because of the mass migration of Jews from the lands of the Czar due to their cruel treatment.
1895: A debate opened in the Reichstag today over a motion to restrict the immigration of Jews from Russia and Austria.
1895: A large number of prominent Jewish citizens attended “the third reception for the season of the Young Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s League of the Montefiore Home took place this evening at Carnegie Hall.
1895: Rabbi Joseph Silverman of Temple Emanu-El delivered a speech tonight entitled “Charity” in which he said that charity was “the language of the heart…the very poetry religion.” “The Jewish sages of old had said that the world existed on three pillars – education, religion and charity. Some might be willing to strike of education, others would be willing to strike of religion and even some would go so far as to strike off both religion and education, but where is the man who would be willing to strike off the pillar of charity?”
1897: A visit to “the Hebrew theatres” was included in the tour of the Lower East Side slums by a group of Yale University divinity students which was followed by a symposium on the methods of organized charities that included Nathaniel S. Rosenthal of the United Hebrew Charities.
1898: “Jews Defended In Reichstag” described the debate during which “deprecated the promotion of Jews to the rank of officers and surgeons, on the ground of their ‘un-soldier like spirit.’” Herr Eugene “Richter vigorously repudiate this” He said that during the war with France in 1870,83 Jewish soldiers received the Iron Cross and 36 of the 70 Jewish surgeons received the same decoration. General Heinrich von Gossler, the Minister of War, defended the Jews against the false accusation that they had sold defective rifles to the government.
1899: “A Bible Story Up To Date” published today described Abraham Gruber’s updated version of the Purim story which equated the behavior of Haman with anti-Dreyfus forces in France and the European bigots who falsely claim that Jews have their own laws which makes them disloyal of whatever country they are living in.
1899: In his on-going attempt to create a Jewish homeland, Herzl meets with Grossherzog Friedrich of Baden in Karlsruhe Berlin
1902: In London, a group of Zionists formed the Anglo Palestine Company which became the Bank Leumi.
1908: Zionist leader Arthur Ruppin delivered an address to the Jewish Colonization of Vienna.
1913: Birthdate of author Irwin Shaw. Two of his most famous works were The Young Lions, a novel about World War II that became a popular movie and Rich Man, Poor Man, a saga about department store tycoon that provided the basis for a television mini-series of the same name.
1917: The Russian Revolution broke out in Petrograd . After three years of ruinous war the old regime collapsed. By March a provisional government under Kerensky was set up. During the ensuing revolution, the Jews were caught in the middle. Much of the conflict centered around the south and west where over 3 million Jews lived. It is estimated that over 2000 pogroms took place, especially in the Ukraine
1919: The Versailles Peace Conference opened. The American Jewish Congress was represented by Louis Marshall (President of the American Jewish Committee), Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and Judge Julian Mack, President of the Congress. In France
1925: Birthdate of Sam Dash. The Georgetown Law Professor would gain fame as the Chief Counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate Scandal.
1922: Psychoanalyst Ernest Jones and his wife gave birth to Mervyn Jones the British author whose works included Joseph, a fictional tale based on the life of Stalin.
1927: In Detroit, MI, Abraham and Ruth Jaroff gave birth to Leon Morton Jaroff, “a science writer and editor who persuaded Time Inc. to start Discover magazine in 1980, became its top editor and for many years wrote the popular Skeptical Eye column challenging pseudosciences…” (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
1927: Birthdate of Ariel Sharon, Israeli soldier and political leader.
1932: Birthdate of Elizabeth Taylor, American actress who converted to Judaism in the 1950’s when she married producer Michael Todd.
1933: Germany’s parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, was set on fire. The Reichstag Fire was started by the Nazis who used the fire as an excuse to begin their subversion of the German legal and political system.
1933: As a result of the Reichstag Fire which he saw as the confirmation of the Nazis rise to power, Walter Benjamin left Germany.
1935: In the Bronx, Jeanette Efron and Sol Fineman gave birth to Eleanor Fineman, an “American photographer, author, and artist” whose works included “Vilna Nights” with dealt with lost Jewish culture.
1935: Harry Hoffman, who works at the Curb Exchange, is scheduled to compete in the 400-meter run at tryouts for the American Maccabi Team being held at the 102ndEngineers Armory today. The “Jewish Olympics” are scheduled to be held in Tel Aviv starting on April 2 and finishing on April 7.
1935: Birthdate of Uri Shulevitz American author and illustrator. Born in Poland, he survied the bombing of Warsaw in 1939 and moved with his family first to Paris and finally to Israel, in 1949. During the Sinai War in 1956, Mr. Shulevitz joined the Israeli Army. Later, he joined the Ein Gedi kibbutz. He moved to New York City in 1959, studying painting at Brooklyn Museum Art School and working as an illustrator for a Hebrew children's book publisher. In 1962, an editor at Harper & Row saw his freelance portfolio and suggested he write children's book. He won the Caldecott Medal in 1969 for his illustration of The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship. He created his first picture book, The Moon in My Room, in 1963.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that during his last day in Palestine, the departing High Commissioner, Sir Arthur Wauchope, laid the foundation stone of the Andrews Memorial Hospital in Netanya, and visited Pardess Hana, Hadera and Haifa.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that In New York the Joint Distribution Committee announced that the Soviet government's firm opposition to the immigration of Jews from outside of the Soviet Union to Birobidjan ended the practical prospect of the development, if not of the entire existence, of what was expected to become an autonomous Soviet Jewish republic. The report mentioned that out of some 27,000 foreign Jews who immigrated to Birobijan, 20,000 had later left the area.
1939: Birthdate American Formula One driver Peter Revson, who won the 1973 British and Canadian Grand Prix events and was runner-up at the 1971 Indianapolis 500. He was killed during a practice run in 1974.
1939:As the multi-year Arab wave of violence continues, 32 people were killed today and another fifty persons were wounded in a series of explosions and shootings throughout Palestine today.
1940: Jewish scientists Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discovered carbon-14, the critical material for the method known as “carbon dating.”
1940: The Land Transfer Regulations aimed at ending Jewish property acquisition in Palestine
1941: The Nazis completed the suppression of “the February Strike,” the first even if unsuccessful direct action taken against the “treatment of Jews in Europe.”
1941: In retaliation for an innocent incident in Amsterdam, the Germans arrested 425 Jewish men, beat them and deported 389 of them to Buchenwald concentration camp. Two months later 364 of them were transferred to Mauthausen concentration camp. Ten of them committed suicide. By autumn, none of the men were alive.
1942: The first transport of French Jews was sent to Nazi-Germany
1942: A group of Aryan women staged a protest in Berlin against the arrest of their Jewish husbands whom the government was planning to ship off to concentration camps.
1943: Work orders were increased in the Lodz Ghetto increased, easing tensions within the ghetto since more Jews would be needed to work and less would be exposed to deportation.
1943 (22nd of Adar I, 5703): On Shabbat, Rabbi Avraham Duber Shapiro, Chief Rabbi of Kovno, died in the Kovno Ghetto. Shapiro was a famous Talmudic scholar. He had been Chief Rabbi of Kovno since before World War I. At the outbreak of World War II he was in Switzerland Lithuania United States
1944: This morning, there were reports of explosions at the income tax office in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa. There were no reports of casualties. The Irgun Zvai Leumi is thought to have set off the devices that caused the explosions.
1945: During “The Hunting Season,” “Yaakov Tavi who was in charge of Irgun’s intelligence service was kidnapped at 11 a.m. a the corner of Dizengoff and Yirimiyahu streets.”
1945(14thof Adar, 5705): Final Purim celebrated during World War II.
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that an Israeli soldier was killed when Jordanians opened fire on an Israeli patrol in the frequently infiltrated Beit Guvrin area.
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that A Nahal group established a settlement at Ein Gedi, on the shores of the Dead Sea.
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that A festive meeting celebrated the establishment of the first local council of Ashkelon, the Afridar housing suburb near Migdal Ashkelon.
1956: Final broadcast on NBC of “The Tony Martin Show,” a 15 minute musical variety hosted by Tony Martin and produced by Bud Yorkin.
1958(6th of Adar, 5718): Harry Cohn, CEO of Columbia Pictures passed away after suffering a heart attack. Cohn was one of several Jewish movie moguls who shaped Hollywood
1964: Budd Schulberg’s “What Makes Sammy Run?" opened at 84th St New York City
1970: Birthdate of science fiction writer Michael A. Burstein. According to some, Burstein is not unique because he is a Jewish science fiction writer. He is unique because he is a practicing Jew who writes science fiction. “Burstein appears at a number of science fiction conventions throughout the year, which can be a problem because they are inevitably held on weekends. “It can be difficult, but it is manageable," he said. He and his wife Nomi either bring kosher meals or arrange to have them delivered to the hotel. Other issues are more complicated. "One of the biggest problems is that a lot of hotels use electronic key cards," he explained. Burstein arranges with a non-Jewish friend to handle unlocking his room during Shabbat, when such usage might not be deemed appropriate. There are a number of Shabbat-observant fans at local science fiction conventions, and they often congregate in Burstein's room for a festive Friday night meal, complete with wine and challah. As for his science fiction, Burstein said there's been nothing particularly Jewish about it... so far. Although there are many Jews who have made it big in science fiction, including Robert Silverberg, Harlan Ellison, and Asimov himself, Burstein is one of the few who has succeeded in the genre who takes his religious obligations as seriously as his scientific ones.”
1976: The World Sephardi Federation headed by Nessim Gaon met with King Juan Carlos of Spain Israel Spain
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that the cabinet had agreed on a new settlement policy which apparently implied a virtual moratorium on new settlements in the administered territories. The cabinet, however, actually failed to make this statement official. At the same time the cabinet rejected any phrasing of the Palestine Egypt West Bank and Gaza Egypt US Israel
1980: Egypt Israel
1980(9th of Adar, 5740): Actor George Tobias passed away. Many Americans will remember him as Abner Kravitz, the husband of the busybody neighbor Alice Kravitz on the television sitcom “Bewitched.”
1981 (22nd of Adar I, 5741): Former New York Congressman Jacob Gilbert passed away at the age of 60. Gilbert served in Congress from 1960 to 1971.
1983(14th of Adar, 5743): Purim
1987:The Israeli Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, announced today that he had agreed with Egyptian officials that there should be an international conference on Middle East peace this year. The agreement, reached after two meetings here with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, reaffirmed in writing a call the two men made in Alexandria last fall, when Mr. Peres was the Israeli Prime Minister. Mr. Peres's commitment, announced at the end of a three-day visit here, was expected to provoke strong reaction from the current Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, who vehemently opposes such a conference.
1990 (1st of Adar, 5750): Nahum N. Glatzer passed away. Born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and educated in Germany United States
1991: President George H.W. Bush announced the end of the first Gulf War. During the war, the Israelis agreed not to join the coalition and not to retaliate against the Iraqi’s when they began firing Scuds into their country. It was the first time that the Israelis had entrusted their security to another country.
1995: Uzi Baram replaced Yithak Rabin as Minister of the Interior
2000:The opening ceremony of the temporary exhibition of photographs and artifacts, “The Jewish Community of Volos” took place, at the Jewish Museum of Greece.
2000: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special
interest to Jewish readers including Stroheim by Arthur Lennig.2003(25th of Adar I, 5763): Eighty-nine year old Rabbi Noah Golinkin, the former spiritual leader of a Columbia synagogue who earned a national reputation for programs that taught Hebrew literacy to more than 150,000 Jewish adults, passed away today at Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center & Hospital of complications after surgery. .His one-day Hebrew Reading Marathon and its forerunner, the Hebrew Literacy Campaign, is credited with quickly giving adults enough knowledge of the language to follow the Hebrew prayer book. He wrote textbooks widely used to teach adults because he could not find any suitable for his programs. He is best known for his crash course, an eight-hour program that uses familiar Hebrew words, repetition, exercise, humor and encouragement to bring Hebrew reading familiarity to those who did not learn it as children.
2005: The New York Times included reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and
Dangerous Life by Tom Reiss2006: The Harlem Globetrotters, the creation of Abe Saperstein, extended their overall record to 22,000 wins.
2006: The Jerusalem Post reported that a new Israeli tourism campaign will take center stage at Emirates Stadium, the London home of English soccer giants Arsenal, starting in August. Tourism Minister Avraham Hirchson and Arsenal managing director Keith Edelman signed a two-year sponsorship deal at a press conference at the David Intercontinental hotel in Tel Aviv. Now here is what really makes this newsworthy. Edelman said the campaign was given the blessing of Emirates Airlines, which is based in Dubai United Arab Emirates
2007: Holocaust survivors from around the world gather in Warsaw to urge the Polish government to compensate them for property confiscated by the former communist regime.
Representatives of Jewish groups hope to convince the authorities to speed up legislation allowing the restitution of lost property.Poland Belarus
Representatives of Jewish groups hope to convince the authorities to speed up legislation allowing the restitution of lost property.
2007: Israel United States
2007: Commander Mark Polansky visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to meet Sophie Turner-Zaretsky. He presented the replica of the bear called Refugee that had comforted Sophie during the Holocaust and a photo of an orphan from war-torn Dafur -- along with NASA space travel certificates -- to U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum chief of staff Bill Parsons, who said the Museum wanted to provide something that would be a timely reminder of history’s relevance. "Although we can send people into space, we still can’t seem to stop them from hating and killing one another. A child’s stuffed toy from the Holocaust and a photograph of a refugee from the genocide today in Darfur remind us the lessons of the Holocaust have yet to be learned."
2007: David Bromberg released “Try Me One More Time,” the first new studio album he had recorded since 1990.
2007, Teapacks performed four songs in a TV special, and the song "Push The Button" was chosen as the Israeli entry for the 2007 Eurovision Contest by popular vote
2008: The Finalist Grand Prize portion of The Second Annual Simply Manischewitz Cook-Off takes place in New York City.
2008 (21 Adar I 5768): Anthony Bernard Blond passed away. The British publisher and author’s mother was a Sephardic Jew from Manchester and he was the cousin of Harold Laski, the noted British socialist and Laborite.
2008(21 Adar I): Myron Cope,"the voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers" passed away.
2008 (21 Adar I 5768): Approximately 50 Palestinian rockets hit the western Negev today, with one of them slamming into Sapir College near Sderot, killing a 47-year-old student. Another exploded on the helipad of Barzilai Hospital Ashkelon , while the hospital was treating casualties from Sderot. The deceased, Roni Yechiah from the town of Btecha Negev , was inside his car in Sapir's parking lot. He died of shrapnel wounds to the chest. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. Yechiah is survived by his wife, Esther, and four children: Niv, who is currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces, Lital, a 17-year-old high school pupil, her 14-year-old sister Coral and 8-year-old brother Idan.
2009:Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip continued their attacks on Israeli civilian areas early this morning when they fired a Kassam that hit an open area in the Sdot Negev region.
2009: Rick Recht returns to Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa for another incomparable Musical Shabbat. Rick is joined by the talented Abbe Silber, daughter of Dr. Bob & Laurie Silber, pillars of the Jewish community.
2009:Robert M. Morgenthau, the long-serving Manhattan district attorney and an institution in New York City politics, will not run for re-election this year, a person told of his decision said on Friday. His departure marks a changing of the guard and opens one of Manhattan’s plum elected posts for the first time in decades — a major draw in a year when the overturning of term limits has left many of the city’s ambitious younger politicians pondering their future. The retirement of Mr. Morgenthau, 89, who has held his office since 1975, has become a topic of increasing speculation in conversation in Democratic political circles. As the Manhattan prosecutor, Mr. Morgenthau presided over an office with almost 100,000 cases, 500 assistant district attorneys and some of the nation’s more high-profile trials. Mr. Morgenthau started his career as a prosecutor in New York when he was appointed in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy to be the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, but resigned in 1969 under pressure from President Richard M. Nixon’s administration. He was elected to be Manhattan district attorney in a special election in 1974 caused by the death of Frank S. Hogan, who had served as district attorney for more than 30 years. Among Mr. Morgenthau’s high-profile cases: a three-year investigation into the Bank of Credit and Commerce International in the early 1990s, and the indictment against a former Tyco chief executive, Dennis Kozlowski, in 2002. Outside New York, Mr. Morgenthau is most well-known as the model for the original district attorney, Adam Schiff, on the television show “Law & Order.” Mr. Morgenthau had a cameo on the show, portraying a judge. One of the district attorney’s hobbies is a Morgenthau family passion and tradition since 1913: the raising of free-range chickens and their eggs at a farm in Duchess County, where heirloom tomatoes are also grown. In recent years, Mr. Morgenthau, who is a World War II veteran, has been showing his age. Deaf in one ear and with a hearing aid in the other ear, he is sometimes slow and shaky of gait. Mr. Morgenthau and his family, with German-Jewish roots, had political ties to some of the more storied names in American history. His father, Henry Morgenthau Jr., was secretary of the treasury under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and one of the most tenacious advocates of the American rescue of Jews during World War II. The Morgenthaus were also family friends with the Kennedys. As boys, Robert Morgenthau and John Kennedy raced sailboats off Cape Cod. His grandfather, Henry Morgenthau Sr., served as ambassador to the Ottoman Empire under President Woodrow Wilson. Among those who have served in Mr. Morgenthau’s Manhattan office were Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was hired in 1982, and Eliot Spitzer, who worked as an assistant district attorney and in the rackets bureau for six years before going on to become state attorney general and governor.
2010: An Egyptian court overturned a lower court ruling today that called for a halt to natural gas exports to Israel, saying the deliveries should continue unhindered.
2010:An Israeli Arab rights committee sent a petition to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) today opposing the addition of Israel to the organization. After two years of official talks, the OECD will vote in May on whether to admit Israel.
2010: Shabbat Zachor!
2010: In the evening, Purim and the reading of the Megillah.
2010:Glass falling from the atrium roof of the Sony Building in New York interrupted a Purim party. Ice reportedly broke through the glass roof of the midtown Manhattan building after 11 p.m., injuring at least 10 of the 300 guests, according to reports.The party, reportedly given by Aish Hatorah, was attended by "Sex and the City" actor Chris Noth, as well as reality show "Jersey Shore" cast members Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Vinny Guadagnino. "Omg roof just collapsed!" Polizzi Tweeted from the party."I think me and @sn00ki felt the wrath for not being Jewish," Guadagnino Tweeted.The actors were not injured.
2010(Adar 13, 5770):Eighty-nine year old Hank Rosenstein, who played in what is considered the National Basketball Association’s first game, in 1946, as an original member of the New York Knicks, died today in Boca Raton, FL. (As reported by Vincent M. Mallozzi)
2010: Opening of Jewish Book Week in London, UK.
2011(27th of Adar I, 5771): Eighty-nine year old Philip Burgher, a World War II Army veteran passed away in Buffalo Grove, Illinois.
2011(27th of Adar I, 5771):Brazilian born authorMoacyr Scliar, whose “The Centaur in the Garden,” was included among the 100 Greatest Works of Modern Jewish Literature by The National Yiddish Book Center, passed away today. (As reported by William Grimes)
2011: The Prince of Kosher Gospel, Joshua Nelson, is scheduled to perform at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, IA.
2011: Closing night of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.
2011: Closing night of The “Voices From a Changing Middle East” festival.
2011: The Los Angeles Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Modigliani: A Life by Meryle Secrest and Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall — From America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness by Frank Brady
2011: Among the Jewish winners are tonight’s Oscar ceremonies were:
Israel-born Natalie Portman for her portrayal of a tortured ballerina in “Black Swan”
Emile Sherman one of the co-producers of “The King’s Speech” which was named best picture
David Seidler of “King’s Speech” winning for original screenplay
Aaron Sorkin of “The Social Network” for adapted screenplay
Danish director-writer Susanne Bier, took the best foreign-language film statuette for “In a Better World,”
American filmmakers Kirk Simon and Karen Goodman won in the short documentary category for “Strangers No More” - a film based on the work of the Bialik-Rogozin School in south Tel
Director-writer Lee Unkrich accepted the award for his animated feature “Toy Story 3,”
Randy Newman won for his song “We Belong Together.”
Lora Hirschberg was one of the co-winners for the work of sound-mixing for “Inception.
(As reported by JTA)
2012: Anna Kantar is scheduled to give a reading of poems by Leah Goldberg at the Stern College for Women in New York City.
2012: Open Women’s Mic Night featuring Poetry, Music, Comedy, whatever you do to entertain the ladies at David Lilimnick’s Off the Wall Comedy Club in Jerusalem
2012: The Tal Law cannot be extended by even one hour, and any attempt to ignore the issue is a mistake, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said at a press conference in the Knesset today. According to Liberman, there are enough positions in the IDF or in national service, so that everyone can contribute. (As reported by Lahav Harkov)
2012:Workers at the Haifa, Ashdod and Eilat ports who had held a one-day strike over pension-related demands yesterday will return to work today after a truce was reached at a late-night National Labor Court meeting.
2012:Nurses across Israel went on a 24-hour strike this morning, after overnight negotiations betweent the Finance Ministry and the chairman of the national nurses union failed to reach an agreement to prevent the strike.
2013: L'Chaim Kosher Vodka is scheduled to sponsor the reception that follows The SHUFFLE Concert that will feature performances by Eliran Avni, piano, Moran Katz, clarinet, Linor Katz, cello, Hassan Anderson, oboe, Francisco Fullana, violin, and soprano Ariadne Greif
2013: “The Mexican Suitcase” Rediscovered Spanish Civil War Negatives by Capa, Taro and Chim is scheduled to open at the Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme
2013: The Weiner Library is scheduled to sponsor a lecture by Mary Fulbrook, author of A Small Town Near Auschwitz
2013: In Portland, the Oregon Jewish Museum is scheduled to host a reception marking the opening of “Pictures of Resistance: The Wartime Photographs of Jewish Partisan Faye Schulman.”
2013:A panel of judges at the International Convention Center Haifa awarded the title of Miss Israel to 21 year old Yityish Aynaw “the young and gorgeous model, who came to Israel only about a decade ago from Ethiopia.” (As reported by Yori Yanover)
2014: The Consulate General of Israel in New York, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and the Jewish National Fund are scheduled to honor Dr. Clarence B. Jones, co-author of the “I Have A Dream Speech” at the annual commemoration of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
2014: Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen are scheduled to discuss their bestseller The New Digital Age at the Historic 6th& I Synagogue.