April 5
1291: Muslim forces began the siege of Acre, the last Crusader stronghold. Today, this site, Akko, is back in the control of the true titleholders, the people of People of Israel who were more often than not victims during the centuries dominated by the Crusades.
1419: Sixty-nine year old Vincent Ferrer, the Dominican Friar who used dubious means to force Jews to convert to Catholicism and helped to sow the seeds of anti-Semitism in Spain passed away today. Among the leaders who sought to provide the Jews with the intellectual support to fight this period of darkness was Isaac ben Jacob Canapton, the Spanish rabbi who lived from 1360 to 1463 and wrote A Methodology of the Talmud. ( The Catholic Church saw fit to canonize the priest)
1464: Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Seville, Spain.
1896: Dr. Joseph Silverman spoke today at Temple Emanu El on “Passover and Easter; a Comparative Study.”
1896: Using information that first appeared in The American Hebrew, “Error in the Jewish Calendar” published today described a lecture “delivered under the auspices of the Graetz College in Philadelphia on ‘The Jewish Calendar’ in which Dr. Cyrus Adler called attention to an error in the calendar” which was first “promulgated by Hillel II” in or around 350 C.E.
1919(5th of Nisan, 5679): The Polish army executed 35 young Jews who had helped in the distribution of packages sent by the Joint to the Jewish community of Pinsk. They were taken from a legitimate business meeting of the Jewish Cooperative and accused of being Jewish Bolshevists. Others also arrested were told to dig their own graves and but were released. Ironically, the relief activities of the Joint Distribution Committee were used by Russians, in the declining years of Stalin, as a pretext for their anti-Semitic charges of disloyalty against Soviet Jews.
1940: Birthdate of Aliza Kashi, Israeli, actress and singer. She gained some of her popularity as a regular on the Merv Griffin Show.
1942: The Lutheran Church of Norway issued "Kirken grunn"("Foundations of the Church"), a letter condemning Nazism and racism and protesting efforts of Vidkun Quisling, Norway's German puppet, to "Nazify" Norway's churches.
1943(29th of Adar II, 5703): Three hundred Jews from Soly and Smorgon, Byelorussia, were transported by rail westward to Vilna, Lithuania. En route, the captives shattered the railcars' wire-reinforced glass and attempted to flee, but were shot to death by guards. The survivors were later shot at Ponary, southwest of Vilna, by German and Lithuanian SS troops. About 4000 Jews from in and around Vilna were trucked to Ponary, slaughtered, and dumped into mass graves. Jews arriving at the Ponary station by rail from Oszmiana and Swieciany, Lithuania, resisted with revolvers, knives, and their bare hands; a few dozen escaped to Vilna and the rest were shot. During the massacre, a Lithuanian policeman was wounded by Jews and an SS sergeant was hospitalized after being stabbed in the back and in the head.
1943(29th of Adar II, 5703): The final trainload of Jews from Macedonia arrived at Treblinka. All aboard were gassed immediately.
1944: Deadline arrives for all Jews of Hungary to wear a Gold Star on their clothing.
1997(27th of Adar II, 5757): Beat poet Allen Ginsberg passed away.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/08/specials/ginsberg-obit.html
2005(25th of Adar II, 5765): Pulitzer Prize winning author Saul Bellow passed away at the age of 89.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/06/books/06bellow.html?_r=0
http://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/apr/07/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries
2007: An exhibition opens at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles entitled “The Art of Vintage Israeli Travel Posters” The exhibition is designed as part of a commemoration of Israeli Independence Day.
2008: The 92ndStreet Y presents a piano recital by Peter Serkin, son of the famous Rudolf Serkin
2008: Shabbat Ha-Chodesh
2008(29th of Adar II, 5768): Eugene Ehrlich, a self-educated lexicographer who wrote 40 dictionaries, thesauruses and phrase books for the "extraordinarily literate," not to mention people just hoping to sound that way, died at his home in Mamaroneck, New York at the age of 85
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/books/15ehrlich.html
2008: The New York Times reported that Sederot, a long neglected immigrant town a mile from Gaza, pounded by Palestinian rockets for the past seven years, is taking on a new identity, edging into the center of Zionist consciousness as a symbol of the nation’s unofficial motto: “Never Again.” Like the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, Sderot is now a must-see stop for those who support Israel or are being urged to do so.
2009: “Picturing the Shoah,” a film festival sponsored by YIVO that explores how movies have represented the Holocaust from radical, provocative, and unexpected angles continues with a presentation of the works of director Jean-Luc Godard including– In Praise of Love and Our Music.
2009: The New York Times featured books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Mainly On Directing: Gypsy, West Side Story, and Other Musicals”by Arthur Laurents
2009: The Washington Post featured books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Spartacus War by Barry Strauss.
2009:Israeli archaeologists continued their inspection today of the Western Wall stone by stone in a new conservation effort at the Jewish holy site.
2010(21st of Nisan, 5770): In Jerusalem, Isralight is scheduled to host the Seudat Mashiach this evening.
2010:Edom; featuring Israeli guitaristEyal Maoz is scheduled to appear at The Local 269 in New York City.
2011(1stof Nisan, 5771): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
20122(1stof Nisan, 5771): Eighty-seven year old Charles Laufer, the creator of magazines aimed at teenage girls passed away today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/business/media/13laufer.html
2011(1stof Nisan, 5771): Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Baruch Blumberg passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/health/07blumberg.html?pagewanted=all
2011: In New York City, the Guggenheim Museum is scheduled to present “Omer Fast: Art Talk.”Omer Fast is a native of Jerusalem who “works with film, video, and television footage to examine the complex interplay between personal and public histories.”
2011: Irwin and Ginny Edlavitch are scheduled to be honored at the Washington DCJCC Annual Spring Gala.
2011: Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to kick off the 150th anniversary month of the Civil War with t a Lunch and Learn entitled “The Jewish Civil War.”
2011: President Peres joined President Obama for a working lunch at the White House where they will discuss Israeli peace proposals.
2011:A leading US Congressman blasted demonization of Israel and anti-Semitism in the Arab world today, and stressed that action against incitement must be part of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. “If this is a new era of openness in the Middle East, then the work of defending Israel from ideological attacks becomes even more pressing,” House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer told the Anti-Defamation League’s leadership conference. “That’s because, if this is a new era of openness, it matters more than ever that the Arab people have a view of Israel unclouded by bigotry.
2011:Doctors around the country began a two-day warning strike in the public health and hospital system today after a meeting between representatives from the Finance Ministry and the Israel Medical Association (IMA) ended with no agreement yesterday. The public health sector and hospitals around the country will operate on a reduced Shabbat schedule.
2013: “No Place on Earth” a documentary about the Sterner and Wexler families surviving in Ukrainian caves for 17 months is scheduled to premiere in New York City.
2014: Yaala Ballin and her Quintent are scheduled to “celebrate the outstanding female vocalists of Jazz history” at their performance at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.
2014: Yoni Rechter is scheduled to perform at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue.
2014: “Friends From France” is scheduled to be shown at the Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2014: “Cupcakes” is scheduled to be shown at 11th JCC Rockland International Jewish Film Festival
2014: In Waterloo, Iowa, Sons of Jacob Synagogue is scheduled to host Harry Brod, author of Superman is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice and the Jewish-American Way
2014: The Shachar Club, a kosher nightclub, is scheduled to open in Moscow.
1291: Muslim forces began the siege of Acre, the last Crusader stronghold. Today, this site, Akko, is back in the control of the true titleholders, the people of People of Israel who were more often than not victims during the centuries dominated by the Crusades.
1419: Sixty-nine year old Vincent Ferrer, the Dominican Friar who used dubious means to force Jews to convert to Catholicism and helped to sow the seeds of anti-Semitism in Spain passed away today. Among the leaders who sought to provide the Jews with the intellectual support to fight this period of darkness was Isaac ben Jacob Canapton, the Spanish rabbi who lived from 1360 to 1463 and wrote A Methodology of the Talmud. ( The Catholic Church saw fit to canonize the priest)
1464: Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Seville, Spain.
1533: In an effort to stop the Inquisition, Pope Clement VII issued the Bulla de Perdao which was essentially a pardon for all past offenses. This was supposed to help the News Christians living in Portugal. Unfortunately the pope died a few years later and the Inquisition was officially established.
1558: Birthdate of Philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes discusses the nature and source of the canonized Biblical texts in Chapter 33 of his seminal work, The Leviathan.
1566: Two hundred Netherlands noblemen, led by Hendrik van Brederode, force their way into the presence of Margaret of Parma and present the Petition of Compromise which denounces the Inquisition in the Netherlands. The Inquisition was suspended and a delegation was sent to Spain to petition Philip II.(Ed note: This should provide further explanation of the reasons for the rise of the Jewish community in the Netherlands and ultimately in the United States)
1568: Baptism of Maffeo Barberini who has Pope Urban VIII “ended the custom according to which a Jew, upon enter the pontiff’s presence was expected to kiss the Holy Father’s foot.” All that he required was that the Jew kiss the spot on the floor where the Pope’s foot had stood.
1649: Birthdate of Elihu Yale who took a Jewish wife while serving in India and fathered a child with her. [And you thought the only Jewish connection was the group of Hebrew letters on the crest of Yale University.]
1721(8th of Nisan): Rabbi Benjamin Zev, author Ir Binyamin, passed away today
1760(19thof Nisan, 5520): Centenarian Isaac Ḥayyim de Brito Abendana:Ḥakam of the Portuguese community in Amsterdam, who “published "Sermão Exhortatoria," in 1753 passed away today.
1775: Pope Pious VI issued the “Editto sopra gli ebrei,” a proclamation that reinstituted all former anti-Jewish legislation. The proclamation included forty-four clauses prohibiting the possession of Talmudic writings, erection of gravestones, forbidding Jews from passing the night outside the ghetto, under pain of death, and more. The regulations were in effect until the arrival of Napoleon army 25 years later.
1795(16thof Nisan, 5555): 2nd day of Pesach
1795(16thof Nisan, 5555): After having been arrested as an Austrian spy, accused of corruption and bribery” Moses Dobruschka was sent to the guillotine.
1804: Birthdate of German botanist Matthias Jakob Schleiden
1812: In Stuttgart, Germany, Sheinle Ephraim and Isaac Samuel Wormser gave to Lewis Wormser Harris the successful Irish financier who served as Lord Mayor of Dublin and President of the Dublin Hebrew Congregation.
1822(14th of Nisan, 5582):Ta'anit Bechorot
1822(14th of Nisan, 5582): Rabbi Benjamin Zev of Zabrocz , Poland, passed away in Tiberias.
1830, “In his maiden speech to the House of Commons, Thomas Macaulay spoke eloquently in favor of Robert Grant's bill for the Removal of Jewish Disabilities. Alluding to but not actually naming, Nathan Rothschild (who had financed the Allied armies ranged against Napoleon), Macaulay noted that "as things now stand, a Jew may be the richest man in England.... The influence of a Jew may be of the first consequences in a war which shakes Europe to the centre," and yet the Jews have no legal right to vote or to sit in Parliament. "Three hundred years ago they had no legal right to the teeth in their heads." If some members of the House thought it indecent of Macaulay to dredge up this nasty old business about King John extracting gold teeth from Jewish heads, certain opponents of Jewish Emancipation found it still much the best policy. According to J. A. Froude, his biographer, Thomas Carlyle, standing in front of Rothschild's great house at Hyde Park Corner, exclaimed: "I do not mean that I want King John back again, but if you ask me which mode of treating these people to have been nearest to the will of the Almighty about them--to build them palaces like that, or to take the pincers for them, I declare for the pincers." Carlyle even fancied himself in the role of a Victorian King John, with Baron Rothschild at his mercy: "Now, Sir, the State requires some of these millions you have heaped together with your financing work. 'You won't? Very well'--and the speaker gave a twist with his wrist--'Now will you?'--and then another twist till the millions were yielded." Although Macaulay was a liberal, he did not speak for all liberals, some of whom stood much closer to Carlyle on the Jewish question. One of these was Thomas Arnold, the famous headmaster of Rugby and intellectual leader of the liberal or Broad Church branch of the Church of England. Arnold set himself against conservatism as the most dangerously revolutionary of principles: "there is nothing so unnatural and so convulsive to society as the strain to keep things fixed, when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress." (4) When John Henry Newman, leader of the Anglo-Catholic (or "High") branch of the Church of England, declared that liberalism was "the enemy," and that by liberalism he meant "the Anti-dogmatic Principle," Arnold was among the principal culprits he had in mind, particularly "some free views of Arnold about the Old Testament." But Arnold's preference of improvement to preservation and of free views to dogma drew up short where the Jews were concerned. He might excoriate the High Church party for having, throughout English history, opposed improving measures of any kind; but he shared with his Anglo-Catholic adversaries the conviction that Christianity must be the law of the land. In 1834 (a year after the Jewish Emancipation Bill had been passed by the Commons but rejected by the Lords) Arnold insisted that he "must petition against the Jew Bill" because it is based on "that low Jacobinical notion of citizenship, that a man acquires a right to it by the accident of his being littered inter quatuor maria [on the nation's soil] or because he pays taxes." That indelicate word "littered" suggests that Arnold's opposition to Jewish emancipation was not purely doctrinal, but had a strong admixture of compulsive nastiness (or worse).
1850: The Danish King implemented a law that allowed foreign Jews to settle in Denmark
1860: According to reports published today Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, “editor of the Cincinnati Israelite, has written to several Senators to caution them against the repetition of any clause in the Chinese treaty similar to that in the treaty with Switzerland, which debars the Jews from enjoying the privileges of other American citizens.”
1860: In New York, the Assembly passed a bill “to amend the charter of the Hebrew Benevolent Society”.
1860: In New York, the Assembly passed a bill “to amend the charter of the Cemetery Association of” B’nai Jeshurun.
1861:“What Made Him Sick” published today described the desperate financial condition of the Ottomans whose creditors include Jews who left the government undisclosed amounts of money. [During its last century of existence, Westerners referred to the Ottoman Empire as “the sick man of Europe.’]
1870(14th of Nisan, 5631):Ta'anit Bechorot
1870: Today the Sultan Abdul Aziz issued a firman that allocated the "Alliance Israelite Universelle" 2600 dunams of land east of Jaffa for the establishment of a school of agriculture and also granted permission for importing all kinds of tools and machinery free of taxes and customs. As Ben Gurion, said: "I doubt that the Israeli dream would have been realized if the farm school of Mikveh Israel had not existed."
1871(14th of Nisan, 5631): As the Jews of Newark, New Jersey, begin the celebration of Passover this evening, it is estimated that they will consume 10,000 to 15,000 pounds of matzoth during the eight days of the holiday.
1882(16th of Nisan, 5642): Second Day of Pesach; First Day of the Omer
1882(16th of Nisan, 5642): German born rabbi and educator Max Lilienthal passed away in Cincinnati, Ohio. After a successful career in Europe, “Lilienthal left Russia suddenly in 1844 and went to the United States. Settling in New York, he became rabbi of the Congregation Anshe Chesed, Norfolk street and, later, rabbi of Shaar ha-Shomayim,. His somewhat advanced views led to considerable friction. He resigned his position in 1850 and established an educational institute with which he attained considerable success. In 1854 he became correspondent of the "American Israelite," and in the following year removed to Cincinnati and became associate editor of that journal and rabbi of the Congregation Bene Israel. His activity in Cincinnati extended over a period of twenty-seven years. He organized the Rabbinical Literary Association, serving as its president, and was at first instructor and later professor of Jewish history and literature at Hebrew Union College. He was prominent, also, in the Jewish press as the founder and editor of the "Hebrew Review," a quarterly, and the "Sabbath-School Visitor," a weekly, and as a frequent contributor to the "Israelite," the "Occident,""Deborah" (founded by him), the "Asmonean,""Volksblatt," and "Volksfreund." He published a volume of poems entitled "Freiheit, Frühling und Liebe" (1857), several volumes of addresses and sermons, and left three dramas in manuscript—"Die Strelitzen Mutter,""Rudolf von Habsburg," and "Der Einwanderer."Lilienthal took an active interest in the affairs of the municipality. As member of the Cincinnati board of education, and as director of the Relief Union and of the university board, he contributed much to the welfare of his adopted city. He was a reformer by nature; he was instrumental in introducing reforms in his own congregation in Cincinnati, constantly preached tolerance, and urged a more liberal interpretation of Jewish law.”
1890(15th of Nisan, 5650): First Day of Pesach
1895: “Bequests by Bernhard Bernhard” published today included a partial list of those benefiting from his generosity including the Hebrew Benevolent Association, Mount Sinai Hospital, the Home for the Aged and Infirm Hebrews and the Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids each of which received $150 and the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews which received $100.
1896: Rabbis Gottheil, Silverman and Sparger will officiate at the funeral of Leonard Friedman who died last week in New Jersey. Edward Lauterbach will deliver the graveside address.
1896: Dr. Joseph Silverman spoke today at Temple Emanu El on “Passover and Easter; a Comparative Study.”
1896: “Solomon’ Song” published today contains a detailed review of Elbert Hubbard’s study of the biblical book entitled The Song of Songs, Which Is Solomon’s
1896: Using information that first appeared in The American Hebrew, “Error in the Jewish Calendar” published today described a lecture “delivered under the auspices of the Graetz College in Philadelphia on ‘The Jewish Calendar’ in which Dr. Cyrus Adler called attention to an error in the calendar” which was first “promulgated by Hillel II” in or around 350 C.E.
1897: Reverend Lyman Abbott of Plymouth Church addressed an event hosted by the Jewish Alliance in the Assembly Hall of Temple Emanu El
1899: Dr. Lee K. Frankel of Philadelphia accepted the offer to serve as the manager of United Hebrew Charities of New York City succeeding N.S. Rosenau who had resigned from the position last February due to poor health.
1899: “Real Estate Exemption” published today described Assemblyman Green’s efforts to gain a property tax exemption for the Young Men’s Hebrew Association of New York City.
1901: Birthdate of actor Melvyn Douglas. Born Melvyn Hesselberg in Macon,Georgia, Douglas enjoyed a long and distinguished career in films. One of his most memorable roles was in Hud, in which he played the craggy old Texas father committed to the virtues of the frontier. This is another example of the Jew portraying the quintessential American. Douglas gained a different kind of fame when his wife Helen Gagahan Douglas ran against Richard Nixon for U.S. Senator in 1950. Nixon and his allies combined her liberal politics with his Judaism to create the specter of the Jewish/Communist Conspiracy. The fact that Douglas had changed his name was considered evidence of he conspiracy. "Californians can do one thing very soon to further the ideals of Christian nationalism, and this is not to send to the Senate the wife of a Jew." Douglas died at the age of 80 in 1981 just before the appearance of his final film, Ghost Story.
1905: The announcement of the engagement of journalist and former cigar worker Rose Pastor to prominent Protestant philanthropist James Graham Phelps Stokes caused a media sensation.
1909(14th of Nisan, 5669): The New York Times reported that “The celebration of the Jewish festival of Pesach, or the Passover, will commence at sunset this evening and will continue among the orthodox members of the Hebrew community for eight days. The first two days and the last two days of this period are held as strict holidays on which no business should be transacted or servile work entered upon, except such as may be considered works of necessity or charity.”
1910: Birthdate of Chaim Grade, poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Vilna, Lithuania (which at that time was part of Russia), Grade gained prominence in the 1930's as a Yiddish author. He survived the Holocaust and came to the United States after the war where he continued to write. Two of his more famous novels are The Agunah and The Yeshiva. In My Mother's Sabbath, Grade created a memoir praising his mother, "a pious woman, who raised her son alone and worked herself to the bone...but never forgot the holiness of the Sabbath." Elie Wiesel described Grade as "one of the greatest, if not the greatest of contemporary Yiddish novelists." Grade passed away on June 26, 1982.
1911:Eight hearses carried the caskets of seven unknown victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire to the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn.
1914:Preparations were made today for the free distribution of thousands of pounds of unleavened bread or Matzoth to needy Jewish families, for use duruing the week of the Passover, which begins on Friday night.
1914: The 24th annual convention of the Independent Order of Free Sons of Judah opened today at the Murray Hill Lyceum
1914: The New York Times Magazine features on articledescribing “the almost unrivaled collection of Jewish manuscripts found at the Jewish Theological Seminary, which, thanks to Dr. Solomon Schechter and others is surpassed only by those found at the British and Bodleian Museums.”
1917: Birthdate of Robert Albert Bloch. Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over twenty novels, usually crime fiction, science fiction, and, perhaps most influentially, horror fiction. He was a contributor to pulp magazines like Weird Tales in his early career, and was also a prolific screenwriter. He was the recipient of the Hugo Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the World Fantasy Award. He served a term as president of the Mystery Writers of America. Robert Bloch was also a major contributor to science fiction fanzines and fandom in general. In the 1940s, he created the humorous character Lefty Feep in a story for Fantastic Adventures. He passed away in 1994.
1918: Premier Radoslavoff of Bulgaria praises the patriotism of Jews, and pledges his Government will be an ally of the Jewish cause in the negotiations with Romania.
1919(5th of Nisan, 5679): The Polish army executed 35 young Jews who had helped in the distribution of packages sent by the Joint to the Jewish community of Pinsk. They were taken from a legitimate business meeting of the Jewish Cooperative and accused of being Jewish Bolshevists. Others also arrested were told to dig their own graves and but were released. Ironically, the relief activities of the Joint Distribution Committee were used by Russians, in the declining years of Stalin, as a pretext for their anti-Semitic charges of disloyalty against Soviet Jews.
1923: Birthdate of Belgian born philosopher and economist Ernest Mandel
1925: Celebration of the 40th anniversary of the founding ofMontefiore Hospital for Chronic Diseases a leading medical intuition named to honor the memory of Sir Moses Montefiore. During the observance, President Rosenbaum reviewed the history of the hospital and Dr George E. Vincent, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, delivered an address on "The Hospital and the Community."
1926: New York Times correspondent T. Walter Williams reports that the American Zionist Commonwealth and the Palestine Securities Corporation are paying $20 a dunam (quarter of an acre) to the Arabs for land in Palestine and selling it to Jewish settlers for $100 per dunam.
1927: Municipal elections are held in Jerusalem. The election ordinance allocates four seats for Jews and eight for Arabs. Ragheb al Nashashibi is elected mayor. Deputy Mayors are Chaim Salomon and Ya'akuv Faraj (a Christian).
1931(18th of Nisan, 5691): 4thday of Pesach
1931(18th of Nisan, 5691): Seventy-nine year old Nathan Frank,
1934: Birthdate of “Dr. Fritz H. Bach, a physician and medical researcher who helped develop techniques to improve people’s chances of surviving organ and bone marrow transplants.” As reported by Douglas Martin)
1937: The Palestine Post reported in a leading article that the Mandatory government’s delay in granting certificates to workers, apparently for political reasons, had caused a severe shortage of Jewish labor.
1937: The Palestine Post reported that Jews living Safed were forced to remain in their own quarter since those who dared to go into the Arab parts of the city were stoned.
1937: The Palestine Post reported that a royal palace was been unearthed at Megiddo by the archaeological expedition, organized by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
1937: The Palestine Post reported in Poland Menachem Begin and members of his Betar Revisionist youth group were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment for having demanded free immigration to Palestine, during a demonstration held outside the British Embassy in Warsaw. The Polish government expressed its regrets to the British Embassy.
1937: Birthdate of Aryeh “Arie” Selinger who “served as the head coach of the USA Women's Team in the years 1975-1984.”
1938: Anti-Jewish riots break out in Dabrowa and spread across Poland.
1939(16th of Nisan, 5699): Second Day of Pesach; 1st day of the Omer
1939(16th of Nisan, 5699): Dr. Moses Gaster passed away today.
1940: Birthdate of Aliza Kashi, Israeli, actress and singer. She gained some of her popularity as a regular on the Merv Griffin Show.
1942: The Lutheran Church of Norway issued "Kirken grunn"("Foundations of the Church"), a letter condemning Nazism and racism and protesting efforts of Vidkun Quisling, Norway's German puppet, to "Nazify" Norway's churches.
1943(29th of Adar II, 5703): Three hundred Jews from Soly and Smorgon, Byelorussia, were transported by rail westward to Vilna, Lithuania. En route, the captives shattered the railcars' wire-reinforced glass and attempted to flee, but were shot to death by guards. The survivors were later shot at Ponary, southwest of Vilna, by German and Lithuanian SS troops. About 4000 Jews from in and around Vilna were trucked to Ponary, slaughtered, and dumped into mass graves. Jews arriving at the Ponary station by rail from Oszmiana and Swieciany, Lithuania, resisted with revolvers, knives, and their bare hands; a few dozen escaped to Vilna and the rest were shot. During the massacre, a Lithuanian policeman was wounded by Jews and an SS sergeant was hospitalized after being stabbed in the back and in the head.
1943(29th of Adar II, 5703): The final trainload of Jews from Macedonia arrived at Treblinka. All aboard were gassed immediately.
1943: Three Tunisian Jews, Joseph, Gilbert and Freddy Scemla, were flown from North Africa to Germany where they would be imprisoned in Dachau and eventually be beheaded. The three men had been betrayed by an Arab when they were attempting to hide from the Nazis in the days before Tunisia was liberated by the Allies.
1944: Deadline arrives for all Jews of Hungary to wear a Gold Star on their clothing.
1944: A prisoner escaped from Auschwitz to warn Czech Jews about the death camp.
1947(15th of Nisan, 5707): In China, a Seder was held at The Shanghai Jewish Young Community Center
1949: Birthdate of Dr. Judith Arlene Resnik. Born in Akron, Ohio, Resnik was a design engineer, electrical engineer and biochemical engineer for Xerox, RCA and NIH. She was a mission specialist on the Challenger where she died in 1986.
1951: The Rosenbergs and David Greenglass were convicted of spying. Prosecuted by Jewish lawyers, the Rosenbergs were sentenced to death by a Jewish judge.
1953: Birthdate of Ghaleb Majadele, an Israeli-Arab member of the Labor Party who has served as an MK and cabinet minister.
1956: Birthdate of “English author and screenwriter” Anthony Horowitz.
1956: In a case of Jew versus “Abraham Telvi, a mobster and hit man, attacked journalist Victor Riesel with acid, blinding him as he left” Lindy’s Restaurant in New York. Riesel was a crusading journalist who exposed the connection between mobsters and certain elements of the American labor movement.
1956: Egyptian artillery in the Gaza Strip bombarded settlements in the Negev. Four civilians and two Israeli soldiers were wounded. At mid-day Egyptian terrorists were spotted trying to infiltrate from Gaza. The failed attempt was accompanied by a renewed barrage from the Egyptians which killed three Israeli soldiers. The Israelis returned fire, killing 63 civilians in the process. The Foreign Ministry expressed regret at the loss of civilian life but reminded the Egyptians that it was “their folly” which had brought on the exchange in the first place. Attacks like these from Gaza were one of the causes of the war between Egypt and Israel that took place later in 1956. [Yes, this is the same Gaza from which the Kassam Rockets are being launched during the 21st century.]
1958(15th of Nisan, 5718): First Day of Pesach
1965:Jack Benny, whose weekly television show will not continue after this season, said today he would star on two special hour-long shows next season on the National Broadcasting Company network. The 71-year-old comedian will thus continue the uninterrupted association with broadcasting that began in 1932.
1966(15thof Nisan, 5726): Pesach
1967(24th of Adar II, 5727): Violinist Mischa Elman passed away.
1972(21st of Nisan, 5732):: Sixty-five year old MK Reuven Barkat passed away today.
1977:The Jerusalem Postreported that US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger warned that his country and Israel must not paralyze ourselves by suspiciousness that deprives our relationship of dignity and our cooperation of significance. He reassured, “We’ll never abandon Israel.”
1977:The Jerusalem Postreported that President Sadat of Egypt, who was in Paris on an arms-purchasing mission, assured his hosts that he had withdrawn the Soviet Union’s right to use Egyptian port naval facilities.
1977: Birthdate of Israeli tennis player Jonathan Erlich.
1982(12th of Nisan, 5742): Abe Fortas Supreme former Supreme Court Justice and advisor to Lyndon Johnson died at the age of 71. (As reported by Linda Greenhouse)
1990: Eighty-one year old Rabbi S. Gershon Levi, a former president of the Rabbinical Assembly and a former editor of the quarterly publication Conservative Judaism, died of heart failure at his home in Jerusalem.
1992(2nd of Nisan, 5752): Actress Molly Picon, the star of the Yiddish theatre who played Yente the Matchmaker in the film version of “Fiddler on the Roof” passed away today
1994: "Jackie Mason Politically Incorrect" opened in New York City for the first of 347 performances.
1995: Alisa Flatow, a Brandeis University Junior from New Jersey, was riding a bus in the Gaza Strip when a van loaded with explosives was driven into the bus. Shrapnel from the bomb went through her skull and she never regained consciousness. Stephen Flatow, her father, flew to Israel to confirm that the brain-dead young woman was his daughter. Staff at Sororkin Hospital in Beersheva asked him if he would be willing to donate his daughter’s viable organs. After consulting with his wife and making a conference call to his rabbis, Alvin Marcus and Rabbi Moshe D. Tendler of Yeshiva University, Alisa’s parents decided to follow the positive mitzvah of Pikuach Nefesh, the "Saving a Life." Alisa’s organs changed the lives of six people on the transplant waiting list. "People have called it a brave decision, a righteous decision, a courageous decision. To us it was simply the right thing to do at the time," said Flatow. The Flatow family decision had an emotional impact on a grieving Israel. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin told American Jews in May 1995 that "Alisa Flatow’s heart beats in Jerusalem." Even more, the Flatow’s decision made public a painful issue — Jewish views about organ donation.
1993: The keel of INS Hanit, the corvette built Northrop Grumman, was laid down today.
1996: Marlon Brando made anti-Semitic remarks about Hollywood on The Larry King Show.
1997(27th of Adar II, 5757): Beat poet Allen Ginsberg passed away.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/08/specials/ginsberg-obit.html
2000: Joseph Gutnick was among three men who resigned as directors of Great Central Mining following the exposure of financial irregularities.
2001(12th of Nisan, 5761): German born entertainer, Theodore Gottlieb, known as Brother Theodore, passed away.
2002: Operation Defensive Shield continued today with Israeli forces fighting terrorists in a number of towns including Jenin, Hebron, Nablus and Bethlehem where their mission was made that much more difficult because the terrorists hid among the Arab civilians.
2002: Operation Defensive Shield continued today with Israeli forces fighting terrorists in a number of towns including Jenin, Hebron, Nablus and Bethlehem where their mission was made that much more difficult because the terrorists hid among the Arab civilians.
2002(23rdof Nisan, 5762):Sgt. Merom Fisher, 19, of Moshav Avigdor; Sgt. Ro'i Tal, 21, of Ma'alot; and Sgt. Oded Kornfein, 20, of Kibbutz Ha'on - were killed in exchanges of fire between IDF troops and Palestinian gunmen in Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield.
2004(14th of Nisan, 5764): On the Jewish calendar, 61st anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
2005(25th of Adar II, 5765): Pulitzer Prize winning author Saul Bellow passed away at the age of 89.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/06/books/06bellow.html?_r=0
http://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/apr/07/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries
2007: An exhibition opens at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles entitled “The Art of Vintage Israeli Travel Posters” The exhibition is designed as part of a commemoration of Israeli Independence Day.
2008: The 92ndStreet Y presents a piano recital by Peter Serkin, son of the famous Rudolf Serkin
2008: Shabbat Ha-Chodesh
2008(29th of Adar II, 5768): Eugene Ehrlich, a self-educated lexicographer who wrote 40 dictionaries, thesauruses and phrase books for the "extraordinarily literate," not to mention people just hoping to sound that way, died at his home in Mamaroneck, New York at the age of 85
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/books/15ehrlich.html
2008: The New York Times reported that Sederot, a long neglected immigrant town a mile from Gaza, pounded by Palestinian rockets for the past seven years, is taking on a new identity, edging into the center of Zionist consciousness as a symbol of the nation’s unofficial motto: “Never Again.” Like the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, Sderot is now a must-see stop for those who support Israel or are being urged to do so.
2009: “Picturing the Shoah,” a film festival sponsored by YIVO that explores how movies have represented the Holocaust from radical, provocative, and unexpected angles continues with a presentation of the works of director Jean-Luc Godard including– In Praise of Love and Our Music.
2009: The New York Times featured books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Mainly On Directing: Gypsy, West Side Story, and Other Musicals”by Arthur Laurents
2009: The Washington Post featured books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Spartacus War by Barry Strauss.
2009:Israeli archaeologists continued their inspection today of the Western Wall stone by stone in a new conservation effort at the Jewish holy site.
2010(21st of Nisan, 5770): In Jerusalem, Isralight is scheduled to host the Seudat Mashiach this evening.
2010:Edom; featuring Israeli guitaristEyal Maoz is scheduled to appear at The Local 269 in New York City.
2011(1stof Nisan, 5771): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
20122(1stof Nisan, 5771): Eighty-seven year old Charles Laufer, the creator of magazines aimed at teenage girls passed away today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/business/media/13laufer.html
2011(1stof Nisan, 5771): Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Baruch Blumberg passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/health/07blumberg.html?pagewanted=all
2011: In New York City, the Guggenheim Museum is scheduled to present “Omer Fast: Art Talk.”Omer Fast is a native of Jerusalem who “works with film, video, and television footage to examine the complex interplay between personal and public histories.”
2011: Irwin and Ginny Edlavitch are scheduled to be honored at the Washington DCJCC Annual Spring Gala.
2011: Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to kick off the 150th anniversary month of the Civil War with t a Lunch and Learn entitled “The Jewish Civil War.”
2011: President Peres joined President Obama for a working lunch at the White House where they will discuss Israeli peace proposals.
2011:A leading US Congressman blasted demonization of Israel and anti-Semitism in the Arab world today, and stressed that action against incitement must be part of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. “If this is a new era of openness in the Middle East, then the work of defending Israel from ideological attacks becomes even more pressing,” House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer told the Anti-Defamation League’s leadership conference. “That’s because, if this is a new era of openness, it matters more than ever that the Arab people have a view of Israel unclouded by bigotry.
2011:Doctors around the country began a two-day warning strike in the public health and hospital system today after a meeting between representatives from the Finance Ministry and the Israel Medical Association (IMA) ended with no agreement yesterday. The public health sector and hospitals around the country will operate on a reduced Shabbat schedule.
2012: The Timofeyev Ensemble is scheduled to present the NYC premiere of "Shloyme: a Musical Biography of an Imaginary Hero."
2012: The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center is scheduled to present “All the Missing Souls: A Personal History of the War Crimes Tribunal.”
2012(13thof Nisan, 5772): Ninety-four year old Bernard Rapoport, the Texas insurance tycoon who became the financial angel for numerous liberal candidates and causes passed away in Waco, TX.
2012: “Fake ‘eviction notices’ scare Jewish Students” published today described efforts by Students for Justice in Palestine to terrorize Jewish students attending Florida Atlantic University.
2013: The Eden-Tamir Music Center is scheduled to host a celebration of Verdi’s 200thBirthday in the form of a performance by The Israeli Opera’s Meitar Studio.
2013: In Coralville, IA, Agudas Achim is scheduled to host its annual Sisterhood Shabbat Service.
2013: “No Place on Earth” a documentary about the Sterner and Wexler families surviving in Ukrainian caves for 17 months is scheduled to premiere in New York City.
2013:Hundreds of demonstrators marched in Tel Aviv this afternoon for the second consecutive year in protest of violence against women in the now world-famous Mitzad Sharmuta (SlutWalk).
2013: Royal Dutch Shell declined to comment on reports that it will divest its stake in an Australian energy firm because of that firm’s investment in Israel’s gas fields. (As reported by Times of Israel)2014: Yaala Ballin and her Quintent are scheduled to “celebrate the outstanding female vocalists of Jazz history” at their performance at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.
2014: Yoni Rechter is scheduled to perform at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue.
2014: “Friends From France” is scheduled to be shown at the Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2014: “Cupcakes” is scheduled to be shown at 11th JCC Rockland International Jewish Film Festival
2014: In Waterloo, Iowa, Sons of Jacob Synagogue is scheduled to host Harry Brod, author of Superman is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice and the Jewish-American Way
2014: The Shachar Club, a kosher nightclub, is scheduled to open in Moscow.