March 20
43BCE: Birthdate of the Roman poet, Ovid. In “The Art of Love, Part One” Ovid wrote "And do not miss the festival of Adonis, mourned of Venus, and the rites celebrated every seventh day by the Syrian Jews." Apparently Ovid knew about Jewish customs and, at least when it came to love, thought well of them (the Jews and the customs)
1602: The Dutch East India Company is established. “By the middle of the seventeenth century, Jewish diamond merchants helped finance the Dutch East India Company, which organized its own trade route to India. So Amsterdam then replaced Lisbon as the port of entry in Europe for India's diamonds.”
1705: In Great Britain, Hambro Synagogue founded (there are other claims that this now defunct synagogue was found variously in 1702 or 1707)
1725: Birthdate of Abdul Hamid I, the Ottoman Sultan who employed two Jews from Salonica, Doctor Joseph and Doctor Cohen.
1799(13th of Adar II, 5559):Ta'anit Esther
1799: French forces under the command of Napoleon began the siege of Acre. This was part of Napoleon’s campaign that stretched from Egypt through Palestine. Napoleon’s campaign in the eastern Mediterranean marked the start of serious Western involvement in the land that would eventually become the modern state of Israel.
1806(1st of Nisan): Rabbi Joseph Harif of Zamosc, author of Mishnat Hakhamim passed away today
1815: After escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule. In a 1930’s movie about the Rothschilds, Nathan Rothschild agrees to pledge his entire fortune to defeat Napoleon. In exchange for his generosity, he demands that the Austrians and Prussian remove their restrictions against the Jews. “There is a legend told that on the day of the Battle of Waterloo, Nathan Mayer Rothschild came to the floor of the London Stock Exchange, leaned against a pillar, and started selling. It was well known that the Rothschilds had their own independent sources of information and intelligence, and nobody knew the results of the battle, so when he began to sell, everyone thought that England had lost, and they began selling, too. That forced a panic in the market. As much as 15%-20% of the value of the stocks fell in about three hours. And after they had fallen so low, Rothschild turned around and began buying. It is said that he knew all along that the Duke of Wellington had defeated Napoleon and that the British market would go up. And when the official news came the next day that the British had won, the market went up 1000 points, making Rothschild even wealthier. It is reputed that on that coup alone, a substantial amount of the Rothschild fortune was made.”
1810(14thof Adar II, 5570): Purim
1825(1st of Nisan, 5585): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
1836: Birthdate of Sir Edward John Poynter, the English painter who drew on the Bible as topics for his works as can be seen by his paintings “King Solomon,” King Solomon’s Temple,” “The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon” and “Israel in Egypt.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1867_Edward_Poynter_-_Israel_in_Egypt.jpg
1848(15th of Adar II, 5608): Shushan Purim
1848(15th of Adar II, 5608): Twenty Jews were killed in riots and street fighting that took place in Berlin. Anti-Jewish riots also spread to Bavaria, Baden, Hamburg and many other cities. This marked the start of the Revolution of 1848 that swept the states of Germany. In the end the liberals would lose, sparking a large migration of Germans including many German Jews to the United States. These freedom loving liberals would arrive in the United States just in time to support the infant Republican Party and provide a major element in the coalition that saved the Union during the Civil War.
1857: The New York Times reported today that "Jews are always scrupulously careful about the solemnization of marriages. Two witnesses, two men of character and unconnected with the parties by relationship have to sign the marriage document and ten adult males must be present to participate in the" ceremonies.
1859(14thof Adar II, 5619): Purim
1870: “The Board of Directresses” of "B'nai Jeshurun Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Society," met today in the 34th Street Synagogue. Mrs. Leo Henry, the President and one of the founders of the society, “presented a report calling attention to the number of destitute aged and infirm Hebrews in the city, who were constantly making application for relief which the society was unable to confer; also urging the ladies to devise some practical measure which, when adopted, might furnish permanent relief to these distressed and suffering co-religionists, without interfering with the original objects of the organization.” The society had been formed in 1848 to provide relief for “indigent females.”
1871: In the Hague, Johanna and Maurice Kann gave birth to Emma Louise Kann
1878(15th of Adar II, 5638): Shushan Purim
1878: Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli “gave away the bride” when Hannah Rothschild married Philip Archibald Primrose, fifth Earl of Rosebery. The Prince of Wales attended the ceremony that made her the Countess of Rosebery.
1879: It was reported today that Dr. Henry S. Jacobs will deliver a lecture this weekend at the Norfolk Street Synagogue sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Union.
1880: J W Seligman & Company are parties to a suit to be heard this morning by Judge Thayer concerning creating a receivership for financially troubled Memphis, Carthage and Northwestern Railroad Company. Jesse Seligman is one the trustees for the railroad’s bond holder
1880: Tonight, the Concord Society is sponsoring a charity for the benefit of the Young Ladies’ Charitable Union which is part of the United Hebrew Charities. This first annual event is being held at New York’s Lexington Avenue Opera House.
1883: In Warsaw, Siegmund Simon Epstein and Sarah Sophia (Lurie) Epstein gave birth to Russian-American mathematical physicist Paul Sophus Epstein.
http://books.nap.edu/html/biomems/pepstein.pdf
1885: The Yiddish theater season opened in New York with an operetta by Abraham Goldfaden
1886: In Philadelphia, Emily Grace Solis and Dr. Solomon Solis-Cohen gave birth to “prize-winning poet, author, translator, historian, and communal leader Emily Solis-Cohen.” (As reported by Arthur Kiron)
1890(28th of Adar, 5650): A Hebrew school teacher named Nathan Wisskerz “committed suicide” this evening “by turning on the gas in his room” at 51 Henry Street.
1890: Leo von Caprivi began who was an opponent of the anti-Semitic parties, began serving as Chancellor of Germany and Prime Minister of Prussia
1892: “Ivory in the Past” discussed the two sources of this item in ancient times. While the exploits of Hannibal and others points to an African source the fact that the ancient Hebrews and those living on the Indian coast and in Ceylon use the same word for Elephant (habba) and the similarity between the Hebrew word for Monkey (koph) and Sanskrit word for monkey (kapi) are two of the indications that India which was home to elephants was the other source for ivory along with the proven fact that Solomon conducted trade with the orient.
1893: “Errors About Intermarriage” published today provided the views of Rabbi Joseph Silverman of Temple Emanu El on this subject. According to Silverman, the Bible only prohibits marriage to seven Canaanite tribes and as can be seen from the examples of Moses and Solomon allows for marriage to non-Jews.
1893: William F. Wharton completed his services Assistant Secretary of State during which he had asserted “that the Department of State is without an information respecting the alleged suspension of the Russian edict against the Jews.”
1894: As the Board of Health struggles to combat the dangers of tuberculosis, it is having 15,000 copies of instructions on how to deal with consumptives printed in a variety of languages including Hebrew. (Apparently, the city officials did not know that Yiddish would have been a better choice for the immigrants from eastern Europe)
1894: The Ladies’ Bikur Cholim Society hosted a Purim celebration for youngsters at their industrial school.
1895: In Brooklyn, Louis Grunhurt and his sister Mrs. Mary Ballowa appeared in surrogate court to contest the will of the their brother, the late Dr. Bernhard Grunhurt who was reportedly lost at sea last August.
1895: The German Societies in New York asked that the fountain in memory of the poet Heinrich Heine be placed at 59th street and 5th Avenue entrance to Central Park.
1896: Dr. M.H. Harris delivered his second and final lecture today on the Inquisition at Temple Israel in Brooklyn, NY tonight. During the lecture he defended himself against charges of “ignorance, prejudice and falsifying history” made by Revered Brann of St. Agnes’s Roman Catholic Church made after the first lecture. “The Catholic Church would like to rid itself of this blog upon its annals. The fact is the Inquistion was a religious institution, but was mixed up with civil affairs…The fact that the Inquisition was instituted to investigate heresy is the best proof of its religious character.” (Holocuast deniers were preceded by Inquisition deniers)
1897: Yeshiva Rabbi Isaac Elhanan opened in New York as an Orthodox rabbinical seminary. It later expanded into Yeshiva University, with both Jewish and secular studies, a medical (Einstein) and a graduate school (Ferkauf).
1897: Oscar S. Straus, formerly the United States Minister to Turkey, returned to New York from Europe today.
1897: It was reported today that Mrs. Joseph B. Bloomingdale and Mrs. Edward Fridenberg had been responsible for the recent party given for those staying at the Amsterdam Street facility of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum. Mrs. Bloomingdale is the wife of the founder of Bloomingdales Department Store.
1897(16th of Adar II, 5657): Seventy-four year old Dr. Ignatz Grossman the native of Hungary who was ordained as a rabbi forty years ago passed away today in New York City.
1898: Yetta Firber took the three children of David Bogin, who were her grandchildren home from the police station after it appeared they had been abandoned their father. It turned out that they their mother had died in Denver and they had gotten lost on their way to join their father in East Hartford where he had gone for work. (Such was the chaotic life of the children of the “immigrant generations.”)
1899: Herzl established the Jewish Colonial Trust as the financial arm of the World Zionist Organization. Its goal was to encourage Jewish settlement and projects which would “advance the Zionist cause.” One of its subsidiaries, the Anglo-Palestine Company, later became Bank Leumi. Other investment helped create the Israel Electric Cooperation and Bank Hapoalim.
1901: Russian bank director Levontin presents his plan to buy up the shares of the Jaffa-Jerusalem railroad. Levontin will become the assistant manager of the Bank in London.
1903: Lady Sybil Grant the daughter of the 5th Earl of Rosebery and Hannah de Rothschild, the only child of Mayer Amschel de Rothschild and a granddaughter of Nathan Mayer Rothschild married Charles John Cecil Grant.
1903: American author and humorist Charles Godfrey Leland passed way. In his memoir, Leland recounted the following exchange with George Eliot concerning her one novel about Jews. “One day she told me that, in order to write Daniel Deronda she had read through 200 b00s. I longed to tell her she had better have learned Yiddish and talked with 200 Jews and been taught as I was by my friend Solomon the Sadducee the art of distinguishing Fraulein Lowenthal of the Ashkenazim from Senorita Arguado of the Sephardim by the corners of their eyes.
1906: Almost two years after the death of Herzl, Sir Edward Gray wrote to Leopold Greenberg rejecting the proposal for a Jewish settlement in Sinai for the third and last time.
1906: Birthdate of Abraham Beame, first Jewish Mayor of New York City.
1907 (6th of Adar, 5667): Birthdate of Moshe Aharon, the sixth child of Shoshe and Rabbi Avraham Halevi Shapiro, whom the sainted Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer, zt"l, pronounced to be an ilui (child prodigy)
1911: Birthdate of Gottfried Goldman, the Berlin native who gained fame as producer-director Gottfried Reihnardt. He passed away in Los Angeles in 1994.
1911: Birthdate of Milo Sperber, the “Polish born English actor, director and writer” who was the brother of Manès Sperber.
1911: “The body of a thirteen year old boy, Andrei Yustschinksi was discovered near a brick factory on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.” This simple statement describes the first event in what will eventually become The Case of Mendel Bellis, one of the most infamous episodes of anti-Semitism in Czarist Russia.
1915: American Jewish Relief Committee apportions $30,000 for Jews in Palestine, $1000 per month (for 6 months) for Palestinian soup kitchens, and $3000 per month (for 10 months) to Turkish Jews outside of Palestine.
1916: Albert Einstein published his theory of relativity. (And that is much as I know about it except to refer you to Dr. Joe Rosen, the only person I know who understands it.)
1918: Birthdate of comedian and television game show host, Jack Berry. Jack Barry met and teamed up with Dan Enright in Borscht Belt clubs. They started Winky Dink and You, a children's show known for the special transparent covers children had to put over the TV screen so they could draw the "hidden pictures" during Winky's adventures. Barry and Enright were also instrumental in producing and hosting early game shows, such as Concentration and Tic Tac Dough. Barry is best remembered as the host on the game show “21” which went from sensational television hit to be the symbol for corruption in the communications industry.
1922: Birthdate of actor Werner Klemper. The German born refugee from Hitler’s Germany was the son of Otto Klemper. Ironically, Werner gained his greatest fame as the bumbling Colonel Klink on “Hogan’s Hero” the sitcom set in a German POW Camp.
1922: Birthdate of comedian and writer Carl Reiner. The Bronx native first gained fame as “the second banana” on the Sid Caesar comedy show “Your Show of Shows.” He is also remembered for his work with the 2000 Year Old man and the Dick Van Dyke Show.
1925: The new Hebrew University is scheduled to be dedicated on Mt. Scopus with Lord Balfour and Dr. Chaim Weizmann in attendance.
1927(16th of Adar II, 5687): Shushan Purim observed because the 15th falls on Shabbat
1928: Birthdate of Anthony Bernard Blond “a British publisher and author” who was a cousin of Harold Laski. He passed away in 2008. You can learn more about Blond by reading his autobiography Jew Made in England, which was published in 2004
1930: Birthdate of Arthur Schneir, the native of Austria who survived the Nazi occupation of Budapest who has been Senior Rabbi at Park East Synagogue since 1962 and who founded the Appeal of Conscience in 1965.
1931: Birthdate of actor Hal Linden. Born Harold Lipshitz, the Bronx native gained his greatest fame in the title role of the police comedy “Barney Miller.”
1933: “German Fugitives Tell of Atrocities at Hands of Nazis” published today provided readers of the New York Times with accounts from Americans arriving in Paris from Germany of “outrages and cruelties in racial purging” and “Jews fleeing persecution.”
1933: At the initiative of the Jews of Vilna, an anti-Nazi boycott began. It eventually spread all over Poland and to many countries in Europe. Yet within 6 months Poland itself signed a non-aggression treaty with Hitler which called for the cessation of all boycott activities.
1933: The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that “the hoisting of Nazi swastika banners over the German consulates at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv has greatly disturbed the feelings of the Jewish public.” Fearing hostile demonstrations, British police and detectives are guarding the German buildings.
1933: The Nazis completed building Dachau, the first of the infamous concentration camps.
1936: Founding of Kol Israel (Voice of Israel).
1939: Seven thousand Jews fled German occupied Memel, Lithuania.
1939: A 24 hour strike was scheduled to begin a 5 A.M. in Palestine to protest Great Britain’s latest plan that would, according to The National Council Of Palestine Jews, would lead to the “liquidation of the Newish national home” and strangle Jewish settlement in Palestine.
1939: Approximately 5000 paintings, drawings, and sculptures, including many done by Jewish artists, deemed "degenerate" by the Nazis were burned on an enormous pyre in Berlin.
1941: At Baumann and Berson Children's Hospital in the Warsaw Ghetto, nurse D. Wagman writes that she is helpless to prevent death.
1943: On Purim Eve in Czestochowa, Poland, over 100 Jewish doctors and their families were taken away and shot. The meaning behind the factor-of-ten chosen was revenge for the ten sons of the Jew hater Haman who were hanged in Biblical times. Victims include 56-year-old gynecologist Dr. Kruza Gruenwald, 30-year-old general practitioner Dr. Irena Horowicz, and 44-year-old neurologist Dr. Bernard Epstein. Czestochowa is the home of the “Black Madonna.”
1944: One day after the Nazis took control of the Hungarian capital, the SS seized control of The Budapest University of Jewish Studies and turned it into a prison
1945: Erhard Auer, the Socialist political leader who was physically attacked by the Nazis in the 1930’s and who was imprisoned at Dachau for his alleged role to kill Hitler in 1944 died today.
1945(6th of Nisan, 5705): An Allied air raid killed Jewish women in a camp at Tiefstack, Germany, near Hamburg.
1948: Laura Z. Hobson’s “Gentleman’s Agreement” wins the Oscar
http://jwa.org/thisweek/mar/20/1978/laura-z-hobson-s-gentleman-s-agreement-wins-Oscar
1949: Israeli forces took control of Ein Gedi on the western shore of the Dead Sea. This move helped to secure the western border of the newly created Jewish state and to protect Israeli interests in an area that would be beneficial to the chemical and tourist industries.
1950: Moshe Sharett, Israel’s Foregin Minister, “called upon the seven member nationas of the Arab League today to make peace with Israel by direct negations.” He said that Israel only wished “to consolidate its present position…There will be no further war if the Arab world does not will it.”
1952(23rd of Adar, 5712): Rabbi Armand Bloch passed away.
1952: The Jerusalem Postreported that the Executive Branch of the US government made it known that experience in Israel suggested that technical cooperation could succeed there in specific objectives: "Namely to aid in reducing the present economic crisis, to contribute significantly to the development and to increase productivity." The Presidium of the Conference of Jewish Claims Against Germany announced that Moses A. Levitt, executive of the American Joint Distribution Committee, would lead the delegation to The Hague Conference on Jewish Claims and Reparations. In the House of Commons Selwyn Lloyd, Minister of State, announced that Britain was contributing £4,452,440 for the first year of the three-year international program (the Blandford Plan) to resettle 800,000 Arab refugees from Palestine in various parts of the Middle East. In addition Britain announced that it was proposing an interest-free loan of £1,500,000 to Jordan to contribute indirectly to the same purpose.
1954(15th of Adar II, 5714): Joe Levin, a founder of B’nai Abraham in Brenham, Texas and the father of Jewish Texan historian, Rosa Levin Toubin passed away
1954: In Madison, Wisconsin, Morton Wagner and Bernice Maletz gave birth to author and screenplay writer Bruce Alan Wagner whose work includes “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.”
1956: Under the leadership of Habib Bourghiba, Tunisia gained its independence from France. Bourghiba was well disposed to the 100,000 strong Jewish community, appointing a Jew to his first cabinet. But he was not able to stem the tide of "Islamic extremism" that would take hold in subsequent years.
1958: “Merry Andrew,” a musical starring Danny Kaye, produced by Sol C. Siegel and written by Isobel Lennart and I.A.L. Diamond, was released for showing to the movie going public.
1962(14thof Adar II, 5722): Purim
1965: Rabbi Heschel flew to Selma from New York tonight as civil rights leaders planned to try another march from Selma to Montgomery. Previous attempts had been stopped by violence so the aged sage was literally risking his physical well-being to help "the widow, the orphan and the stranger in our midst." The march was part of the fight to gain passage of what became known as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the second most important piece of Civil Rights legislation ever adopted in the United States.
1970: In New York, June Brody and David Rapaport gave birth to “actor, director and comedian” Michael David Rapaport
1975: Aharon Uzan replaced Yitzhak Rabin as Communications Minister
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that the French Foreign Minister, Louis de Guiringaud, said that Arab recognition of Israel's right to exist was a prerequisite of any Middle Eastern settlement. Israel, he continued, would have to withdraw from occupied areas, but this did not mean a complete withdrawal from all territories captured in 1967. In Cairo the mainstream and hard-liners of the members of the Palestine National Council struggled over the wording of a declaration of a political stance of the PLO. In Haifa the president of the Technion, Amos Horev, deplored the lack of a long-term industrial planning in Israel.
1981: In California, Actor Dustin Hoffman and Lisa Hoffman gave birth to Jacob Edward "Jake" Hoffman who has gone on to develop an acting career of his own
1993: 27th of Adar, 5753): Shabbat HaChodesh
1993: 27th of Adar, 5753): In separate incidents, two Israeli soldiers – Sergeant Gitai Avisor and Sergeant Yossi Shabtai – were killed.
1993: A third meeting between Arabs and Israelis began in Oslo, Norway.
1998(22ndof Adar, 5758): Yemina Avidar-Tchernovitz, the native of Vilna who arrived in Palestine as a twelve year old in 1921 and went on to become an author of children’s books written in modern Hebrew passed away today.
http://www.ithl.org.il/page_13612
http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/tchernovitz-avidar-yemima
2001: President Bush welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the White House.
2002(7th of Nisan, 5762): Seven Israelis died when an Islamic terrorist blew himself up in a packed bus.
2005: The New York Timesfeatured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of topics of special interest to Jewish readers including "Dark Hero of the Information Age: In Search of Norbert Wiener, the Father of Cybernetics" by Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman, "Rebels on the Backlot: Six Maverick Directors and How They Conquered the Hollywood Studio System" by Sharon Waxman and "The Angel of Forgetfulness" by Steve Stern.
2006: The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Jonathan Pollard’s appeal “to overturn a federal appeals court ruling that denied his attorneys access to classified information used in his trial” that they claim “are needed to make Pollard’s case for clemency.”
2006(20th of Adar, 5766): Ninety-six year old “Sophie Gerson, a legendary figure in the history of textile union organizing in the South and a lifelong fighter for peace, justice and socialism” passed away today. (As reported by Deborah Gerson and Tim Wheeler)
http://www.peoplesworld.org/sophie-gerson-labor-heroine-and-communist-96/
2006: Haaretz reported that Archaeologists have uncovered underground chambers and tunnels constructed in northern Israel by Jews for hiding from the Romans during their revolt in 66-70 CE. The Jews laid in supplies and were preparing to hide from the Romans, the experts said.
2007: An exhibition featuring documents from the Otto Frank as well as other material from the YIVO archives pertaining to the Holocaust in the Netherlands, which has been on display on the Batkin Mezzanine level, at the Center for Jewish History comes to an end.
2007: The Association for Jewish Theatre in conjunction with the Jewish Theatre of Austria hosts a three day international conference for Jewish theater professionals, artists, and aficionados.
2007: Avraham “Hirchson was investigated for seven hours by Israeli police regarding an alleged embezzlement at a non-profit organization while serving as the chairman of the National Workers Labor Federation.”
2007: Rosh Chodesh Nissan
2008 (13th of Adar II, 5768): Feast of Nicanor – “Judah Maccabee’s defeat of the Syrian general Nicanor was originally celebrated as a minor festival on 13 Adar (I Macc.7:49), this ‘Day of Nicanor’ being specifically mentioned in the Apocrypha as occurring immediately before Purim, ‘the day of Mordecai (II Macc. 15:36). In time, the Feast of Nicanor gave way to the Fast of Esther.” [Editor’s note: In another of the many oddities connected with the Purim celebration, a joyful celebration of a real historic event gave way to a fast connected to what is at best a piece of historic fiction.]
2008 (13th of Adar II, 5768): Fast of Esther,
2008: In Washington, veteran broadcast journalist Daniel Schorr discusses his new book, "Come to Think of It: Notes on the Turn of the Millennium."
2009: On Friday night, members of Mount Kisco’s Jewish community gather at Mount Kisco Hebrew Congregation in an unparalleled display of Jewish revitalization and Jewish unity as they take part in the 13th Shabbat Across America Program.
2009: Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu met with President Shimon Peres at 10:30 this morning to ask for more time in which to form a coalition. Peres agreed to the request, and gave Netanyahu an additional two weeks.
2010: The Washington Postfeatures a review of "The Irresistible Henry House" by Lisa Grunwald, the daughter of the late Henry Grunwald.
2010: Today two rockets were launched at the Ashkelon district, north of Gaza, another landed in Shaar HaNegev, northeast of Gaza and fourth rocket was fired at Shaar HaNegev. This brings the total of rockets fired at Israel this week to ten.
2010: A weak earthquake was felt in northern Israel tonight; no injuries or damage was reported. The Seismological Institute reported that the quake measured 3.6 on the Richter scale. It occurred just north of the Kinneret Sea (Sea of Galilee), near the Arik Bridge, at 8:45 PM, for about ten seconds.. The Arik Bridge is named for Aryeh Shamir, an IDF a paratroopers officer who fell in the line of duty.
2010: First time in 62 years: Hundreds gathered for emotional Sabbath prayers at the renewed, majestic Hurva synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem.
2011: Ilana Cravitz is scheduled to appear at Klezmer Workshop in Cambridge, UK.
2011: Israeli vocalist Yasmin Levy is scheduled to appear at the SF Jazz Spring Session where this daughter of “a revered Turkish cantor” will explore a forgotten treasure trove of songs dating back to 16th century Spain.”
2011(14th of Adar II): Purim]
2011(14th of Adar II): Fifty-four year old Robert Spiegelman, who accompanied the high school band he directed to the 2011 Rose Bowl Parade despite a serious illness, passed away today. Speigelman grew up and lived in the St. Louis area. The school’s jazz ensemble, under his direction, traveled to Paris in 1997 to play in the 50th anniversary of the school's namesake’s renowned flight from New York to Paris. (As reported by the Eulogizer)
2011: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Modigliani: A Life” by Meryle Secrest and "Jerusalem, Jerusalem" by James Carroll.
2011: The Los Angeles Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “New and Selected Stories” by E.L. Doctorow and “Lee Krasner: A Biography” by Gail Levin. In describing herself, Krasner said, "I happen to be Mrs. Jackson Pollock, and that's a mouthful. The only thing I haven't had against me was being black. I was a woman, Jewish, a widow, a damn good painter, thank you, and a little too independent."
2011(14th of Adar II): A 22-year-old IDF Armored Corps officer was stabbed during an attempt to steal his weapon in Jaffa this morning. An unknown masked assailant stabbed the soldier in his chest and made off with his weapon. Witnesses told Army Radio that the officer and several civilian bystanders chased down the attacker and retrieved the weapon. A Magen David Adom team treated the victim on the scene before evacuating him to Icholov hospital in moderate to light condition. Police were searching for the suspect in the area and investigating the circumstances of the incident.
2012: “Underdogs: A War Movie” is scheduled to be shown at the Gainesville Jewish Film Festival in Gainesville, FL.
2012(28thof Adar, 5772): One-hundred-one year Rabbi Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg passed away today.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/religion-obituaries/9161424/Rabbi-Chaim-Pinchas-Scheinberg.html
2012: In Philadelphia, PA, Congregation Mikveh Israel's 3rd Annual Sephardic Film Festival is scheduled to come to an end.
2012: “400 Miles to Freedom” is scheduled to be shown this afternoon at the 16th Annual New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival.
2013(9thof Nisan, 5773): Ninety-nine year old mezzo-soprano Risë Stevens who Jewish mother, “the former Sadie Mechanic, recognized Risë’s vocal talent early and was an enthusiastic steward of her youthful career” passed away today. (As reported by Margalit Fox)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/arts/music/rise-stevens-opera-singer-dies-at-99.html?hpw&_r=0
2014: The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is scheduled to host its 2014 Humanitarian Awards Dinner.
2014: “Wagner’s Jews” is scheduled to be shown at the Houston Jewish Film Festival.
2014: The 17th Annual New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to come to an end.
2014: The Northern Virginia Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to open with a screening of “When Comedy Went to School.”
43BCE: Birthdate of the Roman poet, Ovid. In “The Art of Love, Part One” Ovid wrote "And do not miss the festival of Adonis, mourned of Venus, and the rites celebrated every seventh day by the Syrian Jews." Apparently Ovid knew about Jewish customs and, at least when it came to love, thought well of them (the Jews and the customs)
1602: The Dutch East India Company is established. “By the middle of the seventeenth century, Jewish diamond merchants helped finance the Dutch East India Company, which organized its own trade route to India. So Amsterdam then replaced Lisbon as the port of entry in Europe for India's diamonds.”
1705: In Great Britain, Hambro Synagogue founded (there are other claims that this now defunct synagogue was found variously in 1702 or 1707)
1725: Birthdate of Abdul Hamid I, the Ottoman Sultan who employed two Jews from Salonica, Doctor Joseph and Doctor Cohen.
1799(13th of Adar II, 5559):Ta'anit Esther
1799: French forces under the command of Napoleon began the siege of Acre. This was part of Napoleon’s campaign that stretched from Egypt through Palestine. Napoleon’s campaign in the eastern Mediterranean marked the start of serious Western involvement in the land that would eventually become the modern state of Israel.
1806(1st of Nisan): Rabbi Joseph Harif of Zamosc, author of Mishnat Hakhamim passed away today
1815: After escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule. In a 1930’s movie about the Rothschilds, Nathan Rothschild agrees to pledge his entire fortune to defeat Napoleon. In exchange for his generosity, he demands that the Austrians and Prussian remove their restrictions against the Jews. “There is a legend told that on the day of the Battle of Waterloo, Nathan Mayer Rothschild came to the floor of the London Stock Exchange, leaned against a pillar, and started selling. It was well known that the Rothschilds had their own independent sources of information and intelligence, and nobody knew the results of the battle, so when he began to sell, everyone thought that England had lost, and they began selling, too. That forced a panic in the market. As much as 15%-20% of the value of the stocks fell in about three hours. And after they had fallen so low, Rothschild turned around and began buying. It is said that he knew all along that the Duke of Wellington had defeated Napoleon and that the British market would go up. And when the official news came the next day that the British had won, the market went up 1000 points, making Rothschild even wealthier. It is reputed that on that coup alone, a substantial amount of the Rothschild fortune was made.”
1810(14thof Adar II, 5570): Purim
1825(1st of Nisan, 5585): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
1836: Birthdate of Sir Edward John Poynter, the English painter who drew on the Bible as topics for his works as can be seen by his paintings “King Solomon,” King Solomon’s Temple,” “The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon” and “Israel in Egypt.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1867_Edward_Poynter_-_Israel_in_Egypt.jpg
1848(15th of Adar II, 5608): Shushan Purim
1848(15th of Adar II, 5608): Twenty Jews were killed in riots and street fighting that took place in Berlin. Anti-Jewish riots also spread to Bavaria, Baden, Hamburg and many other cities. This marked the start of the Revolution of 1848 that swept the states of Germany. In the end the liberals would lose, sparking a large migration of Germans including many German Jews to the United States. These freedom loving liberals would arrive in the United States just in time to support the infant Republican Party and provide a major element in the coalition that saved the Union during the Civil War.
1857: The New York Times reported today that "Jews are always scrupulously careful about the solemnization of marriages. Two witnesses, two men of character and unconnected with the parties by relationship have to sign the marriage document and ten adult males must be present to participate in the" ceremonies.
1859(14thof Adar II, 5619): Purim
1870: “The Board of Directresses” of "B'nai Jeshurun Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Society," met today in the 34th Street Synagogue. Mrs. Leo Henry, the President and one of the founders of the society, “presented a report calling attention to the number of destitute aged and infirm Hebrews in the city, who were constantly making application for relief which the society was unable to confer; also urging the ladies to devise some practical measure which, when adopted, might furnish permanent relief to these distressed and suffering co-religionists, without interfering with the original objects of the organization.” The society had been formed in 1848 to provide relief for “indigent females.”
1871: In the Hague, Johanna and Maurice Kann gave birth to Emma Louise Kann
1878(15th of Adar II, 5638): Shushan Purim
1878: Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli “gave away the bride” when Hannah Rothschild married Philip Archibald Primrose, fifth Earl of Rosebery. The Prince of Wales attended the ceremony that made her the Countess of Rosebery.
1879: It was reported today that Dr. Henry S. Jacobs will deliver a lecture this weekend at the Norfolk Street Synagogue sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Union.
1880: J W Seligman & Company are parties to a suit to be heard this morning by Judge Thayer concerning creating a receivership for financially troubled Memphis, Carthage and Northwestern Railroad Company. Jesse Seligman is one the trustees for the railroad’s bond holder
1880: Tonight, the Concord Society is sponsoring a charity for the benefit of the Young Ladies’ Charitable Union which is part of the United Hebrew Charities. This first annual event is being held at New York’s Lexington Avenue Opera House.
1883: In Warsaw, Siegmund Simon Epstein and Sarah Sophia (Lurie) Epstein gave birth to Russian-American mathematical physicist Paul Sophus Epstein.
http://books.nap.edu/html/biomems/pepstein.pdf
1885: The Yiddish theater season opened in New York with an operetta by Abraham Goldfaden
1886: In Philadelphia, Emily Grace Solis and Dr. Solomon Solis-Cohen gave birth to “prize-winning poet, author, translator, historian, and communal leader Emily Solis-Cohen.” (As reported by Arthur Kiron)
1890(28th of Adar, 5650): A Hebrew school teacher named Nathan Wisskerz “committed suicide” this evening “by turning on the gas in his room” at 51 Henry Street.
1890: Leo von Caprivi began who was an opponent of the anti-Semitic parties, began serving as Chancellor of Germany and Prime Minister of Prussia
1892: “Ivory in the Past” discussed the two sources of this item in ancient times. While the exploits of Hannibal and others points to an African source the fact that the ancient Hebrews and those living on the Indian coast and in Ceylon use the same word for Elephant (habba) and the similarity between the Hebrew word for Monkey (koph) and Sanskrit word for monkey (kapi) are two of the indications that India which was home to elephants was the other source for ivory along with the proven fact that Solomon conducted trade with the orient.
1893: “Errors About Intermarriage” published today provided the views of Rabbi Joseph Silverman of Temple Emanu El on this subject. According to Silverman, the Bible only prohibits marriage to seven Canaanite tribes and as can be seen from the examples of Moses and Solomon allows for marriage to non-Jews.
1893: William F. Wharton completed his services Assistant Secretary of State during which he had asserted “that the Department of State is without an information respecting the alleged suspension of the Russian edict against the Jews.”
1894: As the Board of Health struggles to combat the dangers of tuberculosis, it is having 15,000 copies of instructions on how to deal with consumptives printed in a variety of languages including Hebrew. (Apparently, the city officials did not know that Yiddish would have been a better choice for the immigrants from eastern Europe)
1894: The Ladies’ Bikur Cholim Society hosted a Purim celebration for youngsters at their industrial school.
1895: In Brooklyn, Louis Grunhurt and his sister Mrs. Mary Ballowa appeared in surrogate court to contest the will of the their brother, the late Dr. Bernhard Grunhurt who was reportedly lost at sea last August.
1895: The German Societies in New York asked that the fountain in memory of the poet Heinrich Heine be placed at 59th street and 5th Avenue entrance to Central Park.
1896: Dr. M.H. Harris delivered his second and final lecture today on the Inquisition at Temple Israel in Brooklyn, NY tonight. During the lecture he defended himself against charges of “ignorance, prejudice and falsifying history” made by Revered Brann of St. Agnes’s Roman Catholic Church made after the first lecture. “The Catholic Church would like to rid itself of this blog upon its annals. The fact is the Inquistion was a religious institution, but was mixed up with civil affairs…The fact that the Inquisition was instituted to investigate heresy is the best proof of its religious character.” (Holocuast deniers were preceded by Inquisition deniers)
1897: Yeshiva Rabbi Isaac Elhanan opened in New York as an Orthodox rabbinical seminary. It later expanded into Yeshiva University, with both Jewish and secular studies, a medical (Einstein) and a graduate school (Ferkauf).
1897: Oscar S. Straus, formerly the United States Minister to Turkey, returned to New York from Europe today.
1897: It was reported today that Mrs. Joseph B. Bloomingdale and Mrs. Edward Fridenberg had been responsible for the recent party given for those staying at the Amsterdam Street facility of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum. Mrs. Bloomingdale is the wife of the founder of Bloomingdales Department Store.
1897(16th of Adar II, 5657): Seventy-four year old Dr. Ignatz Grossman the native of Hungary who was ordained as a rabbi forty years ago passed away today in New York City.
1898: Yetta Firber took the three children of David Bogin, who were her grandchildren home from the police station after it appeared they had been abandoned their father. It turned out that they their mother had died in Denver and they had gotten lost on their way to join their father in East Hartford where he had gone for work. (Such was the chaotic life of the children of the “immigrant generations.”)
1899: Herzl established the Jewish Colonial Trust as the financial arm of the World Zionist Organization. Its goal was to encourage Jewish settlement and projects which would “advance the Zionist cause.” One of its subsidiaries, the Anglo-Palestine Company, later became Bank Leumi. Other investment helped create the Israel Electric Cooperation and Bank Hapoalim.
1901: Russian bank director Levontin presents his plan to buy up the shares of the Jaffa-Jerusalem railroad. Levontin will become the assistant manager of the Bank in London.
1903: Lady Sybil Grant the daughter of the 5th Earl of Rosebery and Hannah de Rothschild, the only child of Mayer Amschel de Rothschild and a granddaughter of Nathan Mayer Rothschild married Charles John Cecil Grant.
1903: American author and humorist Charles Godfrey Leland passed way. In his memoir, Leland recounted the following exchange with George Eliot concerning her one novel about Jews. “One day she told me that, in order to write Daniel Deronda she had read through 200 b00s. I longed to tell her she had better have learned Yiddish and talked with 200 Jews and been taught as I was by my friend Solomon the Sadducee the art of distinguishing Fraulein Lowenthal of the Ashkenazim from Senorita Arguado of the Sephardim by the corners of their eyes.
1906: Almost two years after the death of Herzl, Sir Edward Gray wrote to Leopold Greenberg rejecting the proposal for a Jewish settlement in Sinai for the third and last time.
1906: Birthdate of Abraham Beame, first Jewish Mayor of New York City.
1907 (6th of Adar, 5667): Birthdate of Moshe Aharon, the sixth child of Shoshe and Rabbi Avraham Halevi Shapiro, whom the sainted Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer, zt"l, pronounced to be an ilui (child prodigy)
1911: Birthdate of Gottfried Goldman, the Berlin native who gained fame as producer-director Gottfried Reihnardt. He passed away in Los Angeles in 1994.
1911: Birthdate of Milo Sperber, the “Polish born English actor, director and writer” who was the brother of Manès Sperber.
1911: “The body of a thirteen year old boy, Andrei Yustschinksi was discovered near a brick factory on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.” This simple statement describes the first event in what will eventually become The Case of Mendel Bellis, one of the most infamous episodes of anti-Semitism in Czarist Russia.
1915: American Jewish Relief Committee apportions $30,000 for Jews in Palestine, $1000 per month (for 6 months) for Palestinian soup kitchens, and $3000 per month (for 10 months) to Turkish Jews outside of Palestine.
1916: Albert Einstein published his theory of relativity. (And that is much as I know about it except to refer you to Dr. Joe Rosen, the only person I know who understands it.)
1918: Birthdate of comedian and television game show host, Jack Berry. Jack Barry met and teamed up with Dan Enright in Borscht Belt clubs. They started Winky Dink and You, a children's show known for the special transparent covers children had to put over the TV screen so they could draw the "hidden pictures" during Winky's adventures. Barry and Enright were also instrumental in producing and hosting early game shows, such as Concentration and Tic Tac Dough. Barry is best remembered as the host on the game show “21” which went from sensational television hit to be the symbol for corruption in the communications industry.
1922: Birthdate of actor Werner Klemper. The German born refugee from Hitler’s Germany was the son of Otto Klemper. Ironically, Werner gained his greatest fame as the bumbling Colonel Klink on “Hogan’s Hero” the sitcom set in a German POW Camp.
1922: Birthdate of comedian and writer Carl Reiner. The Bronx native first gained fame as “the second banana” on the Sid Caesar comedy show “Your Show of Shows.” He is also remembered for his work with the 2000 Year Old man and the Dick Van Dyke Show.
1925: The new Hebrew University is scheduled to be dedicated on Mt. Scopus with Lord Balfour and Dr. Chaim Weizmann in attendance.
1927(16th of Adar II, 5687): Shushan Purim observed because the 15th falls on Shabbat
1928: Birthdate of Anthony Bernard Blond “a British publisher and author” who was a cousin of Harold Laski. He passed away in 2008. You can learn more about Blond by reading his autobiography Jew Made in England, which was published in 2004
1930: Birthdate of Arthur Schneir, the native of Austria who survived the Nazi occupation of Budapest who has been Senior Rabbi at Park East Synagogue since 1962 and who founded the Appeal of Conscience in 1965.
1931: Birthdate of actor Hal Linden. Born Harold Lipshitz, the Bronx native gained his greatest fame in the title role of the police comedy “Barney Miller.”
1933: “German Fugitives Tell of Atrocities at Hands of Nazis” published today provided readers of the New York Times with accounts from Americans arriving in Paris from Germany of “outrages and cruelties in racial purging” and “Jews fleeing persecution.”
1933: At the initiative of the Jews of Vilna, an anti-Nazi boycott began. It eventually spread all over Poland and to many countries in Europe. Yet within 6 months Poland itself signed a non-aggression treaty with Hitler which called for the cessation of all boycott activities.
1933: The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that “the hoisting of Nazi swastika banners over the German consulates at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv has greatly disturbed the feelings of the Jewish public.” Fearing hostile demonstrations, British police and detectives are guarding the German buildings.
1933: The Nazis completed building Dachau, the first of the infamous concentration camps.
1936: Founding of Kol Israel (Voice of Israel).
1939: Seven thousand Jews fled German occupied Memel, Lithuania.
1939: A 24 hour strike was scheduled to begin a 5 A.M. in Palestine to protest Great Britain’s latest plan that would, according to The National Council Of Palestine Jews, would lead to the “liquidation of the Newish national home” and strangle Jewish settlement in Palestine.
1939: Approximately 5000 paintings, drawings, and sculptures, including many done by Jewish artists, deemed "degenerate" by the Nazis were burned on an enormous pyre in Berlin.
1941: At Baumann and Berson Children's Hospital in the Warsaw Ghetto, nurse D. Wagman writes that she is helpless to prevent death.
1943: On Purim Eve in Czestochowa, Poland, over 100 Jewish doctors and their families were taken away and shot. The meaning behind the factor-of-ten chosen was revenge for the ten sons of the Jew hater Haman who were hanged in Biblical times. Victims include 56-year-old gynecologist Dr. Kruza Gruenwald, 30-year-old general practitioner Dr. Irena Horowicz, and 44-year-old neurologist Dr. Bernard Epstein. Czestochowa is the home of the “Black Madonna.”
1944: One day after the Nazis took control of the Hungarian capital, the SS seized control of The Budapest University of Jewish Studies and turned it into a prison
1945: Erhard Auer, the Socialist political leader who was physically attacked by the Nazis in the 1930’s and who was imprisoned at Dachau for his alleged role to kill Hitler in 1944 died today.
1945(6th of Nisan, 5705): An Allied air raid killed Jewish women in a camp at Tiefstack, Germany, near Hamburg.
1948: Laura Z. Hobson’s “Gentleman’s Agreement” wins the Oscar
http://jwa.org/thisweek/mar/20/1978/laura-z-hobson-s-gentleman-s-agreement-wins-Oscar
1949: Israeli forces took control of Ein Gedi on the western shore of the Dead Sea. This move helped to secure the western border of the newly created Jewish state and to protect Israeli interests in an area that would be beneficial to the chemical and tourist industries.
1950: Moshe Sharett, Israel’s Foregin Minister, “called upon the seven member nationas of the Arab League today to make peace with Israel by direct negations.” He said that Israel only wished “to consolidate its present position…There will be no further war if the Arab world does not will it.”
1952(23rd of Adar, 5712): Rabbi Armand Bloch passed away.
1952: The Jerusalem Postreported that the Executive Branch of the US government made it known that experience in Israel suggested that technical cooperation could succeed there in specific objectives: "Namely to aid in reducing the present economic crisis, to contribute significantly to the development and to increase productivity." The Presidium of the Conference of Jewish Claims Against Germany announced that Moses A. Levitt, executive of the American Joint Distribution Committee, would lead the delegation to The Hague Conference on Jewish Claims and Reparations. In the House of Commons Selwyn Lloyd, Minister of State, announced that Britain was contributing £4,452,440 for the first year of the three-year international program (the Blandford Plan) to resettle 800,000 Arab refugees from Palestine in various parts of the Middle East. In addition Britain announced that it was proposing an interest-free loan of £1,500,000 to Jordan to contribute indirectly to the same purpose.
1954(15th of Adar II, 5714): Joe Levin, a founder of B’nai Abraham in Brenham, Texas and the father of Jewish Texan historian, Rosa Levin Toubin passed away
1954: In Madison, Wisconsin, Morton Wagner and Bernice Maletz gave birth to author and screenplay writer Bruce Alan Wagner whose work includes “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.”
1956: Under the leadership of Habib Bourghiba, Tunisia gained its independence from France. Bourghiba was well disposed to the 100,000 strong Jewish community, appointing a Jew to his first cabinet. But he was not able to stem the tide of "Islamic extremism" that would take hold in subsequent years.
1958: “Merry Andrew,” a musical starring Danny Kaye, produced by Sol C. Siegel and written by Isobel Lennart and I.A.L. Diamond, was released for showing to the movie going public.
1962(14thof Adar II, 5722): Purim
1965: Rabbi Heschel flew to Selma from New York tonight as civil rights leaders planned to try another march from Selma to Montgomery. Previous attempts had been stopped by violence so the aged sage was literally risking his physical well-being to help "the widow, the orphan and the stranger in our midst." The march was part of the fight to gain passage of what became known as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the second most important piece of Civil Rights legislation ever adopted in the United States.
1970: In New York, June Brody and David Rapaport gave birth to “actor, director and comedian” Michael David Rapaport
1975: Aharon Uzan replaced Yitzhak Rabin as Communications Minister
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that the French Foreign Minister, Louis de Guiringaud, said that Arab recognition of Israel's right to exist was a prerequisite of any Middle Eastern settlement. Israel, he continued, would have to withdraw from occupied areas, but this did not mean a complete withdrawal from all territories captured in 1967. In Cairo the mainstream and hard-liners of the members of the Palestine National Council struggled over the wording of a declaration of a political stance of the PLO. In Haifa the president of the Technion, Amos Horev, deplored the lack of a long-term industrial planning in Israel.
1981: In California, Actor Dustin Hoffman and Lisa Hoffman gave birth to Jacob Edward "Jake" Hoffman who has gone on to develop an acting career of his own
1993: 27th of Adar, 5753): Shabbat HaChodesh
1993: 27th of Adar, 5753): In separate incidents, two Israeli soldiers – Sergeant Gitai Avisor and Sergeant Yossi Shabtai – were killed.
1993: A third meeting between Arabs and Israelis began in Oslo, Norway.
1998(22ndof Adar, 5758): Yemina Avidar-Tchernovitz, the native of Vilna who arrived in Palestine as a twelve year old in 1921 and went on to become an author of children’s books written in modern Hebrew passed away today.
http://www.ithl.org.il/page_13612
http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/tchernovitz-avidar-yemima
2001: President Bush welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the White House.
2002(7th of Nisan, 5762): Seven Israelis died when an Islamic terrorist blew himself up in a packed bus.
2005: The New York Timesfeatured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of topics of special interest to Jewish readers including "Dark Hero of the Information Age: In Search of Norbert Wiener, the Father of Cybernetics" by Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman, "Rebels on the Backlot: Six Maverick Directors and How They Conquered the Hollywood Studio System" by Sharon Waxman and "The Angel of Forgetfulness" by Steve Stern.
2006: The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Jonathan Pollard’s appeal “to overturn a federal appeals court ruling that denied his attorneys access to classified information used in his trial” that they claim “are needed to make Pollard’s case for clemency.”
2006(20th of Adar, 5766): Ninety-six year old “Sophie Gerson, a legendary figure in the history of textile union organizing in the South and a lifelong fighter for peace, justice and socialism” passed away today. (As reported by Deborah Gerson and Tim Wheeler)
http://www.peoplesworld.org/sophie-gerson-labor-heroine-and-communist-96/
2006: Haaretz reported that Archaeologists have uncovered underground chambers and tunnels constructed in northern Israel by Jews for hiding from the Romans during their revolt in 66-70 CE. The Jews laid in supplies and were preparing to hide from the Romans, the experts said.
2007: An exhibition featuring documents from the Otto Frank as well as other material from the YIVO archives pertaining to the Holocaust in the Netherlands, which has been on display on the Batkin Mezzanine level, at the Center for Jewish History comes to an end.
2007: The Association for Jewish Theatre in conjunction with the Jewish Theatre of Austria hosts a three day international conference for Jewish theater professionals, artists, and aficionados.
2007: Avraham “Hirchson was investigated for seven hours by Israeli police regarding an alleged embezzlement at a non-profit organization while serving as the chairman of the National Workers Labor Federation.”
2007: Rosh Chodesh Nissan
2008 (13th of Adar II, 5768): Feast of Nicanor – “Judah Maccabee’s defeat of the Syrian general Nicanor was originally celebrated as a minor festival on 13 Adar (I Macc.7:49), this ‘Day of Nicanor’ being specifically mentioned in the Apocrypha as occurring immediately before Purim, ‘the day of Mordecai (II Macc. 15:36). In time, the Feast of Nicanor gave way to the Fast of Esther.” [Editor’s note: In another of the many oddities connected with the Purim celebration, a joyful celebration of a real historic event gave way to a fast connected to what is at best a piece of historic fiction.]
2008 (13th of Adar II, 5768): Fast of Esther,
2008: In Washington, veteran broadcast journalist Daniel Schorr discusses his new book, "Come to Think of It: Notes on the Turn of the Millennium."
2009: On Friday night, members of Mount Kisco’s Jewish community gather at Mount Kisco Hebrew Congregation in an unparalleled display of Jewish revitalization and Jewish unity as they take part in the 13th Shabbat Across America Program.
2009: Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu met with President Shimon Peres at 10:30 this morning to ask for more time in which to form a coalition. Peres agreed to the request, and gave Netanyahu an additional two weeks.
2010: The Washington Postfeatures a review of "The Irresistible Henry House" by Lisa Grunwald, the daughter of the late Henry Grunwald.
2010: Today two rockets were launched at the Ashkelon district, north of Gaza, another landed in Shaar HaNegev, northeast of Gaza and fourth rocket was fired at Shaar HaNegev. This brings the total of rockets fired at Israel this week to ten.
2010: A weak earthquake was felt in northern Israel tonight; no injuries or damage was reported. The Seismological Institute reported that the quake measured 3.6 on the Richter scale. It occurred just north of the Kinneret Sea (Sea of Galilee), near the Arik Bridge, at 8:45 PM, for about ten seconds.. The Arik Bridge is named for Aryeh Shamir, an IDF a paratroopers officer who fell in the line of duty.
2010: First time in 62 years: Hundreds gathered for emotional Sabbath prayers at the renewed, majestic Hurva synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem.
2011: Ilana Cravitz is scheduled to appear at Klezmer Workshop in Cambridge, UK.
2011: Israeli vocalist Yasmin Levy is scheduled to appear at the SF Jazz Spring Session where this daughter of “a revered Turkish cantor” will explore a forgotten treasure trove of songs dating back to 16th century Spain.”
2011(14th of Adar II): Purim]
2011(14th of Adar II): Fifty-four year old Robert Spiegelman, who accompanied the high school band he directed to the 2011 Rose Bowl Parade despite a serious illness, passed away today. Speigelman grew up and lived in the St. Louis area. The school’s jazz ensemble, under his direction, traveled to Paris in 1997 to play in the 50th anniversary of the school's namesake’s renowned flight from New York to Paris. (As reported by the Eulogizer)
2011: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Modigliani: A Life” by Meryle Secrest and "Jerusalem, Jerusalem" by James Carroll.
2011: The Los Angeles Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “New and Selected Stories” by E.L. Doctorow and “Lee Krasner: A Biography” by Gail Levin. In describing herself, Krasner said, "I happen to be Mrs. Jackson Pollock, and that's a mouthful. The only thing I haven't had against me was being black. I was a woman, Jewish, a widow, a damn good painter, thank you, and a little too independent."
2011(14th of Adar II): A 22-year-old IDF Armored Corps officer was stabbed during an attempt to steal his weapon in Jaffa this morning. An unknown masked assailant stabbed the soldier in his chest and made off with his weapon. Witnesses told Army Radio that the officer and several civilian bystanders chased down the attacker and retrieved the weapon. A Magen David Adom team treated the victim on the scene before evacuating him to Icholov hospital in moderate to light condition. Police were searching for the suspect in the area and investigating the circumstances of the incident.
2012: “Underdogs: A War Movie” is scheduled to be shown at the Gainesville Jewish Film Festival in Gainesville, FL.
2012(28thof Adar, 5772): One-hundred-one year Rabbi Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg passed away today.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/religion-obituaries/9161424/Rabbi-Chaim-Pinchas-Scheinberg.html
2012: In Philadelphia, PA, Congregation Mikveh Israel's 3rd Annual Sephardic Film Festival is scheduled to come to an end.
2012: “400 Miles to Freedom” is scheduled to be shown this afternoon at the 16th Annual New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival.
2013(9thof Nisan, 5773): Ninety-nine year old mezzo-soprano Risë Stevens who Jewish mother, “the former Sadie Mechanic, recognized Risë’s vocal talent early and was an enthusiastic steward of her youthful career” passed away today. (As reported by Margalit Fox)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/arts/music/rise-stevens-opera-singer-dies-at-99.html?hpw&_r=0
2013: Ruth Thomson, author of Terezín, A Story of the Holocaust is scheduled to deliver a lecture at The Wiener Library in London.
2013: “Jailed Unjust in the Death of a Rabbi, Man Nears Freedom” published today described the events surrounding the two decades old murder of Rabbi Chaskel Werzberg
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/nyregion/brooklyn-prosecutor-to-seek-freedom-of-man-convicted-in-1990-killing-of-rabbi.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/nyregion/brooklyn-prosecutor-to-seek-freedom-of-man-convicted-in-1990-killing-of-rabbi.html
2013: Israeli soldiers provided medical care to four wounded Syrians on the Golan Heights border. The Syrians approached the border today and were treated near the fence there, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statem
2013: A special screening of “The Flat” is scheduled to be hosted UKJF
2013: President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conveyed broad consensus on Israel’s top security priorities in a statements following a meeting in Jerusalem.
2013: The American Jewish Historical Society is scheduled to presents “Louis Marshall and the Founding of Modern American Judaism”
2014: Violinist Pinchas Zuckerman and cellist Amanda Forsyth are scheduled to join the IPO conducted by Zubin Mehta in a Benefit Concert held in honor of the late Marvin Hamlisch.2014: The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is scheduled to host its 2014 Humanitarian Awards Dinner.
2014: “Wagner’s Jews” is scheduled to be shown at the Houston Jewish Film Festival.
2014: The 17th Annual New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to come to an end.
2014: The Northern Virginia Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to open with a screening of “When Comedy Went to School.”