April 13
1111: Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. Henry gained power by revolting against his father Henry IV. This was unfortunate for the Jews of Germany since Henry IV had been protective of his Jewish subjects as can be seen by his enforcement of laws forbidding the forcible baptism of Jews and allowing Jews who had been forcibly baptized to return to the faith of their fathers even if this ruling was contrary to Church doctrine. While no record exists that shows Henry V repealed the rulings his father’s loss of power was still a blow to the Jews because it was rare to find a monarch who was protective of his Jewish subjects.
1204: During the Fourth Crusade the sack of Constantinople continues. The Fourth Crusade was initially called for by Innocent III, one of the more anti-Semitic Popes. European Jews did not suffer in the way they had during the first 3 crusades, in part because of the devastation they had already experienced. The Fourth Crusade degenerated into a fight among Christians as the Latin Crusaders made war against eastern Orthodox Christians.
1250: The Seventh Crusade, led by King Louis IX of France is defeated in Egypt. This marked the last of the Crusades. Considering the impact they had on the Jews, the end of the Crusades was a positive thing. This did not mark the end of the Crusading Spirit which would continue to rear its ugly head in events such as the expulsion from Spain two and half centuries later. Louis IX’s four decade long reign was a time of misery for the Jews. It wasmarked by the famous burning of twenty four carloads of Talmudic writings in Paris in 1242 and a similar such conflagration two years later.
1519: Birthdate of Catherine de' Medici who would become the wife of Henry II of France. When it came to choosing a doctor, Catherine opted to go for quality and used Jews even though Childen of Israel had been banned from living in France. Catherine first employed a Marrano named Luis Nunez. Later she began using Philotheus Montalto, a Portuguese doctor who had cured of her some un-named malady when he was passing through Paris.
1556(23rdof Nisan, 5316): Portuguese Marranos who had returned to Judaism were burned to death in Acona, Italy. A Jewish-led boycott of the port of Acona marked the first community-wide effort by "free" Jews, since the beginning of the Diaspora, to hit back at their enemies.
1587(5thof Nisan, 5347): Jacob Luzatto passed away in Venice, Italy at the age of 60. It is not known if this is the same Jacob Luzzato who lived and preached at Safed and was a prolific author of tomes ranging from Talmudic commentaries to Haggadot.
1598: Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots in Catholic France. The edict did not cover Moslems or Jews living in France, including “New Christians” who had fled to France because of the Inquisition.
1636(7th of Nisan): Rabbi Elijah Kalmankes of Lemberg author of Eliyahu Rabbah passed away.
1660: Antonio Enrequez Basurto, a Marano poet and comedic playwright was burned in effigy after seeking refuge in Amsterdam.
1712:Shabbethai ben Joseph Bass was suddenly arrested today “on the charge of having spread abroad incendiary speeches against all divine and civic government.”
1727(22ndof Nisan, 5487): Judah ben Samuel Rosanes passed away Born in 1657, this student of Samuel ha-Levi and Joseph di Trani was appointed by the Sultan to serve as “hakam bashi” (Chief Rabbi of the Ottoman Empire because of his scholarship and linguistic skills. He was the son-in-law of Abraham Rosanes.
1763: At Providence, Jacob Rivera, Aaron Lopez, Naftali Hart and Moses Lopez were among the ten signatories of the Spermaceti Candle Agreement. The agreement was an effective tool for controlling the candle making trade in area including Pennsylvania, New York and New England.
1764: Final effective date for the Spermaceti Candle Agreement which had been supported by Jacob River, Aaron Lopez, Naftali Hart and Moses Lopez, four of the leading merchants in an industry based on whale oil.
1885: In Budapest, József Löwinger and his wife Adele Wertheimer gave birth to Hungarian philosopher and literary critic Georg Lukács,
1890: “New Publications” published today provides a detailed review of The Temple of Solomon: History of Art in Sardinia Judea, Syria and Asia Minor by Georges Perrot and Charles Chipiez.
1893: Theodore Seligman, the son of Jesse Seligman was blackballed at the Union Club this evening when his application for membership came before that body. The members who voted to blackball young Mr. Seligman publicly and proudly admitted that “it was a simply a matter of race prejudice.” In response to this action, the senior Mr. Seligman who had been a member of the club for a quarter of a century and a vice president for 14 years immediately resigned.
1894: Congregation Shaaray Tefila (Gates of Prayer) dedicated their new sanctuary on west 82nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues this evening
1895: The celebration marking the 50th anniversary of Temple Emanu-El entered its second day. Rabbi Joseph Silverman and Cantor William Sparger conducted the morning services. Approximately 2,500 people attended the evening events.
1895: The Chicago Evening Journal“welcomed the premier of the ‘American Jewess and praised its editor Rosa Sonneschein.” (As reported by the Jewish Women’s Archive)
1895: Alfred Dreyfus is placed in solitary confinement on Devil's Island, off the coast of French Guiana.
1897: During the meeting of the New York City Board of Health where contagious diseases were discussed it was noted that “the most troublesome contagion is trachoma or granulated eyelid;” a condition to which Jewish children from Russia are highly susceptible to given their constant exposure to this condition.
1900(14th of Nisan, 5660): In one of those quirks of the calendar Christians observe Good Friday on the same day when Jews sit down to their first Seder.
1900(14th of Nisan, 5660): Poor Jews living on the Lower East Side were relieved to find that free matzoth were being distributed at Charles “Silver Dollar” Smith’s “old place on Essex Street.” There was concern that the distribution would end since Smith had passed away last year. Before he had changed his name, Smith was known as variously as Charles Goldschmidt or Charles Solomon. A New York alderman who was part of the Tammany Hall machine, he was called “Silver Dollar” because of the “2,400 silver dollars used as a studded inlay in his saloon…”
1900: Herzl met with Austrian Prime Minister Ernest von Koerber.
1903(16thof Nisan, 5663): Second Day of Pesach
1903(16thof Nisan, 5663): Seventy-eight year old German philosopher and Jewish communal leader and author Mortiz Lazarus passed away today.
http://humanities.tau.ac.il/history-school/images/yanivE.pdf
1909: The Jews took an active part in uprising of the Young Turk movement including Nissim Effendi Mazliah and Emmanuel Effendi Carusso, members of the Parliament. Many Jews from Adrianople, Constantinople, Monastir and Salonika volunteered for service in the Army of the Young Turks. The Young Turks was the name given to those who sought to modernize the Ottoman Empire.
1911(15thof Nisan, 5671): Pesach
1913: The United Hebrew Community sent several hundred pounds of Matzoth to the Otisville Sanitarium in Otisville, NY. The organization also sent new dishes to the sanitarium which will be used on Passover which begins next week.
1914(17th of Nisan, 5674): Harry Horowitz a gangster also known as Gyp the Blood and a leader of the Lenox Avenue Gang in New York City was executed at Sing Sing Prison
1915: U.S. Attorney General Gregory announced that the Department of Justice had retained Louis D. Brandeis of Boston to serve as special counsel for the Interstate Commerce Commission in the five percent rate case to defend Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo and Comptroller of the Currency Williams in the injunction proceedings being brought by Riggs National Bank in Washington, D.C.
1920: In Patterson, NJ, Gussie and David Lefkowitz gave birth to Joseph Lefkowitz a graduate of Rutgers University who worked for the Social Security Administration until he retired in 1985 and moved to Crossville, TN where he was living at the time of his death.
1922(15thof Nisan, 5682): Pesach
1922: In Camden New Jersey, Congregation Beth El holds Passover service at 9 in the morning and seven in the evening.
1922: “Make It Snappy” starring Eddie Cantor opened at the Winter Garden Theatre.
1923: Birthdate of comedian Don Adams best known for his portrayal of Maxwell Smart in the television hit Get Smart. Smart’s father was a Hungarian Jew, but his mother was an Irish Catholic.
1924: In Columbia, South Carolina, Helen Cohen, the daughter of a jewelry salesman and Mordecai Moses Donen, a dress-shop manager gave birth to director and choreographer Stanley Donen who most famous works are “On the Town” and “Singin’ in the Rain.”
1930: American composer and music administrator William Howard Schuman went to a Carnegie Hall concert of the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Arturo Toscanini with his older sister, Audrey. According to the Philharmonic's archives, the program included works by Brahms, Mendelssohn, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and Smetana. Of this experience, Schuman later said, "I was astounded at seeing the sea of stringed instruments, and everybody bowing together. The visual thing alone was astonishing. But the sound! I was overwhelmed. I had never heard anything like it. The very next day, I decided to become a composer."
1930(15thof Nisan, 5690): First Pesach of the Great Depression
1930(15th of Nisan, 5690): On the first day of Pesach, rabbis combined the message of the holiday with the fact that this date marked the anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson “who wrote the statue providing religious freedom in the Constitution of the State of Virginia.” On the Upper East Side at Temple Emanu-El Rabbi Nathan Krass declared that Moses, a figure even mightier than Thomas Jefferson, had first promulgated the doctrine of religious freedom when he had told Pharaoh that he wished to liberate everybody. Krass also combined the message of religious freedom with the current economic crisis. In the Bronx at the Montefiore Congregation, Rabbi Jacob Katz compared the prophetic message with sage of Monticello who championed American independence and religious liberty. In this time of worsening financial crisis, Katz said that today we must “remove oppression, and create economic equality” just as our forefathers created political equality. [Ed. Note: Neither of these Rabbis saw the irony of invoking the name of Jefferson the slaveholder on a holiday that celebrated the end of slavery.]
1932: In Berlin, Peter and Irma Unger gave birth to Eva Unger who gained fame as Eva Figes, the “acclaimed novelist, memoirist, critic and author of “Patriarchal Attitudes.” (As reported by Leslie Kaufman):
1932: Birthdate of Yosef “Yossi” Banai, the native of Jeruslame who gained fame an entertainer ahd who was “one of the first members of the IDF’s famous troupe of performers – the Nahal troupe.
1933: During a debate in the House of Commons, Churchill warned that “there is a danger of the odious conditions now ruling in Germany being extended by conquest to Poland, and another persecution of pogrom of Jews begun in this new area.”
1933: Central Committee of German Jews for Relief and Reconstruction was founded.
1937: Mishmar HaShlosha, a moshav in the lower Galilee was established today on land purchased by the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association.
1938: At 8:30 this evening, Arturo Toscanini appeared before an audience of 1,700 adoring fans and began conducting a concert by the Palestine Orchestra. The evening included a performance of Mendelssohn’s Fourth Symphony which is a double statement against fascism since Mendelssohn has been banned by the Nazis and Toscanini said he was dedicating the performance to the Italy he still loves.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that commander Oliver Locker-Lampson, Conservative MP from Birmingham, had introduced in the House of Commons a bill proposing to extend Palestinian nationality to all persecuted Jews. The vote was 144 "Ayes" and 144 "Nays," and the bill was passed after the Speaker voted in the affirmative. There was little doubt that the bill would never reach the Statute Book and become law.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that a mounting toll of Jewish suicides continued to be reported from Vienna, including a number of prominent Jewish residents.
1941: German troops enter Belgrade Yugoslavia. Another 75,000 more Jews would now fall under the German yoke. Jewish shops that day were ransacked by German troops and German citizens living in the Yugoslav capital city.
1941: German troops and German citizens living in Belgrade finished the second day of a two-daylong orgy of violence aimed at the Jewish citizens of the Yugoslav capital city.
1941: The Soviet Union and Japan sign a five year non-aggression pact. The Japanese had fought a brief undeclared war with the Russians in the late 1930’s in which they did poorly. This helped cause Japan to turn its attention to south Asia which ultimately led to Pearl Harbor. This agreement meant that the Soviets did not have to worry about war with Japan so it could focus all of its attention on defeating the Nazis. At the same time, the treaty made it possible for Japan to attack the United States which brought the might of America to bear against the Nazis.
1943: In the Katyn Forest in the Soviet Union, the Germans discovered more than 4000 corpses of Polish officers, some of them Jews. The officers were killed by the Soviets.
1945(30th of Nisan, 5705): On Rosh Chodesh Iyar, five thousand Jews being taken from Auschwitz and marched to Belsen were herded into a barn. The Germans set the barn on fire. While some escaped, many thousands more were burned to death. The Germans shot those who tried to escape during the fire.
1945: Frank Towers was among the members of the U.S. Army’s 30 Infantry Division “who freed prisoners from Bergen-Belsen” today “who had been packed into a train 40 to 50 cars long bound for Theresienstadt. (As reported by Hillel Kuttler)
1946: During an interview today, Ben Hecht, “author and co-chairman of the American League for a Free Palestine” pleaded with Americans to provide financial support that would “enlarge the trickle of Jews from Europe to Palestine to a mass exodus despite” despite British military efforts to keep the Jews out of Eretz Israel.
1948: In San Antonio, TX, Gloria and S.S. “Sy” Kalter gave birth to Suzy Gershman, “author of ‘Born to Shop’ Guides.” (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
1948: As the Arab Legion trained its guns on the besieged Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, a kindergarten was hit injuring 20 children.
1948: As night gave way to morning, units of the Palmach took the villages of Al-Mansi and Naghnaghiya
1948(4th of Nisan, 5708): Seventy-seven people, mostly doctors and nurses on their way Hadassah hospital on Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, were murdered by Arabs. This took place after the Partition Vote, but before the British had left. It was part of an Arab terror campaign to drive the Jews out Israel even before the state had been declared. British troops stationed close by refuse to "interfere". During this period of time, the British Army did little to acquit itself admirably from the Jewish point of view. At the same time, their behavior of antagonism and outright hostility towards the Jews was representative of the policies and practices of the British Government.
1948 a large group of doctors, nurses, patients, professors and students joined a supply convoy which was travelling to the Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus. The convoy was ambushed and its vehicles blown up as it made its way through the affluent Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah — only a few hundred meters from a British military outpost. With the British looking on, Arab attackers mercilessly slaughtered any personnel attempting to escape the inferno. Incredibly, having resisted Haganah attempts to rescue Jews caught in this death trap, it still took the British over six hours to intervene. Seventy‑eight people were murdered in the attack, or burned to death after their ambulances and buses were set on fire. Among the victims was the director of the Hadassah organization in Palestine, Dr. Chaim Yassky. (As reported by Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am)
1948: Operation Har'el launched by Haganah at conclusion of Operation Nachshon, does not succeed in opening the road to Jerusalem.
1948: As the Haganah fought to defend Mishmar HaEmek from being conquered by the Arab Liberation Army,Palmach units took the villages of Al-Mansi and Naghnaghiya.
1949(14th of Nisan, 5709): Fast of the First Born.
1949(14th of Nisan, 5709: In the evening, first Seder celebrated in the independent state of Israel.
1953:The Jerusalem Post reported that Jordan had instructed the Barclays and Ottoman banks, as well as individual Arab refugees, to stop their participation in the Israeli scheme for the release of Arab bank accounts frozen in 1948 in Israel.
1953:The Jerusalem Post reported that the Cabinet had established committees for Internal Affairs and Services, for Legislative Drafting, for a Foreign Affairs and Security and a special Experts Committee to study the question of foreign currency control.
1953:Chaim Leavanon is elected mayor of Tel Aviv.
1953:Israel Rokach completes his service as mayor of Tel Aviv.
1954: Birthdate of Barbara Maureen Roche (née Margolis, “a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament” and served as a cabinet minister in the government of PM Tony Blair.
1957: Sidney Lumet’s “12 Angry Men” was released for distribution.
1957: Birthdate of Amy Goodman
1962: Birthdate of Hillel Slovak, guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He passed away in 1988.
1968(15th of Nisan, 5728): First Day of Pesach celebrated in a united Jerusalem. The Jewish people are able to observe the holiday of liberation at the Kotel for the first time since 1948.
1971: Aline Milton Bernstein Saarinen was named chief of the Paris bureau of the National Broadcasting Company making her the first woman to head an overseas bureau in television.
1974: Yonatan Netanyahu wrote to his parents:
"I have no real girl friend at the moment. My last romance is over, and as I don't have time to run around anyway, it looks as if I'll remain on my own for the time being. . . On the whole, I've nothing to complain of. I'm up to my neck in my army work, and during leaves I move about a lot in our lovely land. The whole world marvels at the Inca and Aztec civilizations and such—and they do indeed deserve admiration. Nevertheless almost all of these came into being after the start of the Christian Era (not that this detracts from their value), whereas here it seems that the cradle of world civilization is all around us, everything dating back thousands and thousands of years. A few Saturdays ago I visited the Biblical Gibeon, and saw the remarkable ancient pool there (I'll take you to see it when you come). It's this pool that's mentioned in II Samuel in connection with Abner ben Ner and Joab ben Zeruiah, who 'met together by the pool of Gibeon' and let 'the young men arise and play before them.' And the country is all like that!"
1975(2nd of Iyar, 5735): American movie actor Larry Parks died of a heart attack at the age of 60. Parks gained his first taste of fame at the age of 31 when he played the title role in “The Jolson Story” followed by another portrayal of the Jewish entertainer in “Jolson Sings Again.” His career was a casualty of the Red Hunt. Despite efforts to avoid testifying, he ended appearing before the House Un-American Activities Committee where he implicated others. His testimony did not save his career. He was Blacklisted which meant the studios would not hire him and pictures he had already made were shelved.
1975: Christian Falange killed 27 Palestinians, beginning the Lebanese civil war. Stability in Lebanon was based on a fragile power-sharing agreement between Christians and two groups of Moslems. At one point in the 1950's President Eisenhower had sent Marines to Lebanon to help restore order. Contrary to popular misconception, Israel was not the cause of the disintegration of Lebanon or the civil war that raged in that country. Today, part of Lebanon is occupied by Syrian troops and is essentially a province of the Damascus government. Control of Lebanon was part of the late President Assad's dream of a Greater Syria. Control of Israel and part of what is now Jordan was also part of that dream.
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that radios had again reverberated and TV screens had glittered as the Israel Broadcasting Authority signed an agreement with the Journalists Association, ending an 11-day radio and TV journalists' strike.
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that President Carter, while playing host to the Romanian president Nicolae Ceasescu, described Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, giving the town the status which the US Government had refused to acknowledge.
1980: “One Day at a Time,” starring Bonnie Franklin closes its 5th season on CBS.
1983(30th of Nisan, 5743): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1983: In a battle of “firsts” Harold Washington, Chicago’s first African-American mayor defeated Bernard Epton. If he had been elected, Epton would have been the Windy City’s first Jewish mayor.
1984: President Ronald Reagan read the report describing the events of the Beirut Bombing attack that killed and wounded over 300 Marines in its entirety as his keynote address to the Rev. Jerry Falwell's "Baptist Fundamentalism '84" convention, in Washington, DC. The report had been prepared by Rabbi Arnold Resincoff who was in Beirut at the time.
1984(11th of Nisan, 5744): On the second day of the Egged Bus Hostage Crisis, at around seven in the morning, following lengthy negotiations “a special force of Sayeret Matkal under the command of brigadier-general Yitzhak Mordechai stormed the bus while shooting at the hijackers through the vehicle's windows. During this takeover operation the soldiers were able to eliminate two of the hijackers, capture the two additional hijackers, and release all hostages except for one passenger – a 19-year-old female soldier named Irit Portuguese who was killed during the takeover operation. Seven passengers were wounded during the course of the operation
1985(22nd of Nisan, 5745) Oscar Nemon the Croatian born English sculptor whose work includes statutes depicting Dwight D. Eisenhower, Earl Alexander of Tunis, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, Lord Freyberg, Harold Macmillan, Harry S. Truman and Margaret Thatcher passed away.
1986: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including a review Heroes and Hustlers, Hard Hats and Holy Men: Inside the New Israel by Ze'ev Chafets
1986: Pope John Paul II, “became the first pope known to have made an official papal visit to a synagogue when he visited the Great Synagogue of Rome” today.
1987: Ofra Moses was buried today in Petah Tikvah. Mrs. Moses, aged 35, was riding in a car yesterday with her husband and four children when an unidentified assailant threw the firebomb, a bottle filled with gasoline and a burning rag, through the open window of the car. They were driving to the Tel Aviv suburb of Petah Tikvah to buy food for the Passover holiday. None of the family could attend the funeral since her husband was in the hospital being treated for extensive burns, her five year old was hospitalized in critical condition and the remaining three children had not been released due to the extent of their injuries.
1988: The New York Times reported thatthe Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, Yitzhak Navon, and Justice Minister Avraham Sharir are expected to arrive in Poland today for a one-week visit to take part in ceremonies to mark the 45th anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising.
1993: A revival of George Abbott’s “Three Man On A Horse” featuring Tony Randall, Jack Klugman and Jerry Stiller opened at the Lyceum Theatre.
1994(2nd of Iyar, 5754): Hamas conducts a suicide bombing claiming that it is in response to Baruch Goldstein’s attack on mosque in Hebron in February during which he killed 29 Muslims who praying there.
1994(2nd of Iyar, 5754): At annual Memorial Day ceremonies in Jerusalem Prime Minister Rabin took note of last week’s bombing in Afula and today’s bombing in Hadera, both the work of Hamas when he said, "Even today, Israelis have paid with their lives, taken by despicable murderers, enemies of peace. They are trying to torpedo the peace. Beyond the bloodshed, the booby-trapped cars and the bombs, we continue to hold out our hands for peace in order to put an end to the suffering. In spite of the difficulties, we will continue on our way to peace." The somberness of the day gave way to ceremonies tonight marking the 46th anniversary of the country's founding. But the celebrations were muted for many, not only because of the latest attack but also because of warnings from the Hamas group of Islamic militants that more horror was on the way in one of the worst terrorist waves inside Israel in years.
1997: The New York Times includes a review of “In The Memory of the Forest”, a novel by Charles T. Powers based on the fate of the Jews of Jadowia and ensuing events that take place in Polish village under the Communist regime.
1997: “An American Daughter,” a play written by Wendy Wasserstein “premiered in a Lincoln Center Theatre Production at the Cort Theatre.
2007: Those following the Perek Yomi program posted on the Torah Page of the Temple Judah (Cedar Rapids) website www.templejudah.org orhttp://DownhomeDavarTorah.blogspot.com/read Psalm 150 which means they have completed the entire Book of Psalms.
2008: The two week long Bat Yam International Biennale of Landscape Urbanism opens in this Israeli metropolis near Tel Aviv.
2008: In Denver, at The Mizel Center for the Arts, the final production of “In the Belly of the Whale.”
2008: In New York, The Center for Jewish History presentsacolloquium entitled “Objects of Affection: The Wedding in Jewish Culture” during which scholars, artists, curators and others gather to discuss the most elaborately celebrated of Jewish life cycle events. Weddings provide rich opportunities to consider the intersection of media and Jewish religious life.
2008:The headstone unveiling for Don Novick at Eben Israel Cemetery in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
2008: The Washington Post book section featured a review of Jewish author Cynthia Osick’s latest work, A Quartet.
2008: The Sunday New York Times featured a review of “The Genius” by Jesse Kellerman, the Orthodox Jewish mystery writer who is the son of two other Orthodox Jewish mystery writers, Faye and Jonathan Kellerman and “Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America”by Steven Waldman. Waldman describes the religious beliefs of the “Founding Fathers” and the origins of the doctrine of separation of church and state which was driven by concerns among various Christian sects that one would come to dominate the other. So even though Jews and American Judaism benefited from this, Jewish beliefs were not a concern. This is the opposite of the European experience. In Europe, when Christians clashed with their co-religionists or with Moslems, the Jews suffered often as a form of collateral damage. In a strange application of the law of unintended consequences, in America, Jews benefited from such clashes.
2009: At Yale University, Miriam Benson, former counsel to the International Committee of Women of the Wall delivers a talk on the Struggle of Women of the Wall for Freedom of Worship in Israel entitled "Praying in Her Own Voice."
2009:The American POWs in Germany traveling exhibit "Behind Barbed Wire" comes to Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This educational exhibit features the experiences of Midwest prisoners of war (POWs) who were imprisoned in Hitler's Third Reich.
2009: Newsweek publishes its third annual list of the Fifty Most Influential Rabbis compiled by compiled by Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman & CEO Michael Lynton, News Corporation Executive Vice President Gary Ginsberg and JTN Productions CEO Jay Sanderson and its first annual list of America’s 25 Most Vibrant Congregations compiled by the same businessman. [Editor’s Note: If you are upset that your rabbi did not make the list, relax. The sages of Pirke Avot and Rashi couldn’t have either when you consider that David Saperstein got “the top spot because of his role as Washington insider and political powerbroker and Friend of Obama.” And Marvin Hier ranked #2 because he “is a major player in national and world politics…”
2010: Tali Ploskov was elected head of Arad’s municipality today.
2010: Ghaleb Majadele an Arab Israeli who became “country’s first Muslim cabinet minister” in 2007 “re-entered the Knesset today as a replacement for Yuli Tamir who had resigned her seat.”
2010: PBS is scheduled to broadcast Independent Lens: “Blessed Is the Match” the first documentary feature about Hannah Senesh, the World War II-era poet and diarist who became a paratrooper and resistance fighter and was captured, tortured and ultimately executed by the Nazis narrated by Joan Allen. Senesh is famous for her such works as “Blessed is the Match” and “Eli, Eli” (My God, My God).
2011: The Center for Jewish History and Center for Traditional Music and Dance are scheduled to present a multi-media lecture entitled “Sounds of Immigrant New York: Bukharian Jewish Music in New York City”
2011: “Max Blumb” portrayed by Adam Pally made his appearance on the television series “Happy Endings.”
2011:Today Israel reopened a commercial crossing with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip that was shut for seven days, as a lull in cross-border fighting continued, an Israeli spokesman said. Israel had closed the Kerem Shalom crossing during a violent flare-up in which Hamas militants fired rocket and mortars at south Israel, shooting an anti-tank rocket at a school bus.
2011:YIVO Institute for Jewish Research presents: “Ethnography of a Vanishing Courtyard: Moyshe Kulbak's Zelmenyaner”
2011:Israel’s attorney general announced today his intention to indict the foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, on corruption charges, but said he would allow Mr. Lieberman a hearing to contest an indictment before issuing a formal charge sheet.
2011(9thof Nisan, 5771): Evelyn Einstein, the 70 year old granddaughter of Albert Einstein, passed away.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/19/us/19einstein.html?_r=1
http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/11109/1140362-84-0.stm
2011:“Bar Ilan University unveils four rare Haggadot”
http://www.jpost.com/VideoArticles/Video/Article.aspx?id=216404
2012(21stof Nisan, 5772): Seventh Day of Pesach; final day of observance in Israel and for Reform Jews.
2012(21stof Nisan, 5772): Thirty-five year old Jeremiah Luber the grandson of Elaine and Harvey Luber, of blessed memory, passed away today.
2012: “Once More, With Feelings” published today provides a detailed review of Schmidt Steps Back by Louis Begley.
2013: Congregation Ada Reyim and The Northern Jewish Film Festival are scheduled to present “Kaddish for a Friend.”
2013: PBS is scheduled to show “Blessed is the Match” which present the brave tale of Hannah Senesch, the Jewish poet who parachuted into Nazi-occupied Europe where she was murdered by her captors.
2013: “Inventing Our Life: The Kibbutz Experiment” is scheduled to be shown at the Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2013: “All In” and “Koch” are scheduled to be shown at the Hartford Jewish Film Fest.
2013: This evening The 3rd Annual National Collegiate Jewish A Cappella Championship Competition sponsored by Adas Israel is scheduled to take place at the UDC Theatre of the Arts in Washington, DC
1111: Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. Henry gained power by revolting against his father Henry IV. This was unfortunate for the Jews of Germany since Henry IV had been protective of his Jewish subjects as can be seen by his enforcement of laws forbidding the forcible baptism of Jews and allowing Jews who had been forcibly baptized to return to the faith of their fathers even if this ruling was contrary to Church doctrine. While no record exists that shows Henry V repealed the rulings his father’s loss of power was still a blow to the Jews because it was rare to find a monarch who was protective of his Jewish subjects.
1204: During the Fourth Crusade the sack of Constantinople continues. The Fourth Crusade was initially called for by Innocent III, one of the more anti-Semitic Popes. European Jews did not suffer in the way they had during the first 3 crusades, in part because of the devastation they had already experienced. The Fourth Crusade degenerated into a fight among Christians as the Latin Crusaders made war against eastern Orthodox Christians.
1250: The Seventh Crusade, led by King Louis IX of France is defeated in Egypt. This marked the last of the Crusades. Considering the impact they had on the Jews, the end of the Crusades was a positive thing. This did not mark the end of the Crusading Spirit which would continue to rear its ugly head in events such as the expulsion from Spain two and half centuries later. Louis IX’s four decade long reign was a time of misery for the Jews. It wasmarked by the famous burning of twenty four carloads of Talmudic writings in Paris in 1242 and a similar such conflagration two years later.
1519: Birthdate of Catherine de' Medici who would become the wife of Henry II of France. When it came to choosing a doctor, Catherine opted to go for quality and used Jews even though Childen of Israel had been banned from living in France. Catherine first employed a Marrano named Luis Nunez. Later she began using Philotheus Montalto, a Portuguese doctor who had cured of her some un-named malady when he was passing through Paris.
1556(23rdof Nisan, 5316): Portuguese Marranos who had returned to Judaism were burned to death in Acona, Italy. A Jewish-led boycott of the port of Acona marked the first community-wide effort by "free" Jews, since the beginning of the Diaspora, to hit back at their enemies.
1587(5thof Nisan, 5347): Jacob Luzatto passed away in Venice, Italy at the age of 60. It is not known if this is the same Jacob Luzzato who lived and preached at Safed and was a prolific author of tomes ranging from Talmudic commentaries to Haggadot.
1598: Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots in Catholic France. The edict did not cover Moslems or Jews living in France, including “New Christians” who had fled to France because of the Inquisition.
1636(7th of Nisan): Rabbi Elijah Kalmankes of Lemberg author of Eliyahu Rabbah passed away.
1660: Antonio Enrequez Basurto, a Marano poet and comedic playwright was burned in effigy after seeking refuge in Amsterdam.
1712:Shabbethai ben Joseph Bass was suddenly arrested today “on the charge of having spread abroad incendiary speeches against all divine and civic government.”
1727(22ndof Nisan, 5487): Judah ben Samuel Rosanes passed away Born in 1657, this student of Samuel ha-Levi and Joseph di Trani was appointed by the Sultan to serve as “hakam bashi” (Chief Rabbi of the Ottoman Empire because of his scholarship and linguistic skills. He was the son-in-law of Abraham Rosanes.
1763: At Providence, Jacob Rivera, Aaron Lopez, Naftali Hart and Moses Lopez were among the ten signatories of the Spermaceti Candle Agreement. The agreement was an effective tool for controlling the candle making trade in area including Pennsylvania, New York and New England.
1764: Final effective date for the Spermaceti Candle Agreement which had been supported by Jacob River, Aaron Lopez, Naftali Hart and Moses Lopez, four of the leading merchants in an industry based on whale oil.
1743: Birthdate of Thomas Jefferson. “Thomas Jefferson is deservedly a hero to American Jewry. His was one of the few voices in the early republic fervently championing equal political rights for Jews. Jefferson’s Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom in Virginia is a classic American statement of religious toleration. Significantly, while Jefferson championed the rights of Jews and other religious minorities, he did not do so out of respect for Judaism but because he respected the right of every individual to hold whichever faith they wished….Despite his reservations about the perceived “defects” in Judaism, Jefferson never wavered in his commitment to civil and religious freedom for Jews. Jefferson’s most notable achievement in establishing religious and civic toleration for American Jewry was his 1779 Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom in Virginia. Adopted in 1785, the Bill proclaimed: “No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested or burdened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess. . . their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise . . . affect their civil capacities.” Two years later, in 1787, the U. S. Constitution was adopted. Article VI contains the following, Jefferson-inspired phrase: “No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” Despite his attitude toward Judaism as a religion, Jefferson’s advocacy of the rights of Jews –and those of other religious minorities – has become the law and custom of the land. Toleration of all religions, the absence of an official government religion, and the right to practice and express religious thought freely are the hallmarks of Jefferson’s legacy. Despite his private views of Judaism, he was indeed a most ‘righteous Gentile.’”
1793: Birthdate of Louis Jacques Begin, a Belgium born French surgeon and author.
1822(22nd of Nisan, 5582): 8th day of Pesach
1823: In the northern Italian city of Leghorn, Samuel and Bonina Morais gave birth to Sabato Morais, a leading 19th century American Orthodox Rabbi.
1829: In Great Britain, Parliament passes the Catholic Relief Act which removes most of the remaining legal obstacles to full participation of Roman Catholics in the political life of the country. The Jews living in this British Isles saw this as a sign of hope that they would soon attain full religious freedom. They and their non-Jewish supporters began a campaign to gain equal rights for the Jews. Unfortunately, success was not just around the corner and the fight would take fifteen years to win. One Catholic politician was reported to have said that he would support the Jews in their fight since he could not deny to others what had been won for him and his Catholic brethren.
1849: During the Hungarian Revolution which was a revolt against being ruled by the Habsburgs of Austria, Hungary becomes a republic. Thousands of Jews fought on the side of the revolutionaries and thousands more contributed financially to the short-lived success of the cause. The new Hungarian Republic voted to give the Jews full rights of citizenship. Unfortunately, the Jews would enjoy their new status for only two weeks. Austrian forces conquered the Hungarians and put an end to this short lived new republic.
1850: Birthdate of Hungarian-Jewish author and professor Bernhard Alexander who passed away in Budapest in 1927.
1851: Sabato Morais was elected Hazan of Mikveh Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation in Philadelphia, PA.
1852: Birthdate of Rabbi Haim (Henry) Pereira Méndez. Mendez was part of a family famous for its rabbis. Mendez began his career in England before moving to the United States where he served as rabbi for Shearith Israel (The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue) in New York. He was also one of the founders of the Jewish Theological Seminary.
1860: “Savoy in the British Parliament” published today described Switzerland as a place “which worship William Tell; persecute the Jews; and find the Bourbons in body-guards, English clergymen in scenery, and all the world in watches” [Apparently Swiss antipathy towards Jews was a well-established fact as could be seen by a treaty that the Switzerland tried negotiated with the U.S. in the 1850’s that permitted them to discriminate against American Jews.]
1861: On his way back to his post at Watervilet, NY, Major Alfred Mordecai stopped in Richmond where his brother George urged him to resign from the U.S. Army and join the Confederates.
1866(28thof Nisan, 5626): Fifty-six year old Naphtali Frankfurter, the brother of Berhnhard Frankfurter, the reform Rabbi who led the Hamburg Temple and who was elected to serve in the Hamburg Parliament passed away today.
1870(22nd of Nisan, 5631): 8th day of Pesach
1870: The New York State Legislature granted the Metropolitan Museum of Art an Act of Incorporation marking today as the founding date of this great institution. The Robert Lehman Collection, which was donated in 1969, following Lehman’s death is one of the largest and most unique collections on display at the museum.
1880: It was reported today the a Selig Selbiger, a Jewish peddler from western Prussia, has testified before the coroner that his 22 year old sister Fanny has been killed by her husband Moses Adler, a Lithuanian born matzo maker.
1881: Birthdate of Ernst Heilmann, the German jurist and political leader who was murdered at Buchenwald in 1940.
1881: An “anti-Jewish” petition was sent to Otto von Bismarck today. The petition, which has been circulating throughout the German Empire for the last six months calls for restrictions to be placed on the number of Jews immigrating to Germany and for repealing the legislation which has given the rights of citizens to the Jews of Germany.
1882: An Anti-Semitic League was formed in Prussia. Prussia was the dominant state in the newly united Germany. [Obviously Hitler did not start anti-Semitism in Germany.]
1885: In Budapest, József Löwinger and his wife Adele Wertheimer gave birth to Hungarian philosopher and literary critic Georg Lukács,
1890: “New Publications” published today provides a detailed review of The Temple of Solomon: History of Art in Sardinia Judea, Syria and Asia Minor by Georges Perrot and Charles Chipiez.
1893: Theodore Seligman, the son of Jesse Seligman was blackballed at the Union Club this evening when his application for membership came before that body. The members who voted to blackball young Mr. Seligman publicly and proudly admitted that “it was a simply a matter of race prejudice.” In response to this action, the senior Mr. Seligman who had been a member of the club for a quarter of a century and a vice president for 14 years immediately resigned.
1894: Congregation Shaaray Tefila (Gates of Prayer) dedicated their new sanctuary on west 82nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues this evening
1895: The celebration marking the 50th anniversary of Temple Emanu-El entered its second day. Rabbi Joseph Silverman and Cantor William Sparger conducted the morning services. Approximately 2,500 people attended the evening events.
1895: The Chicago Evening Journal“welcomed the premier of the ‘American Jewess and praised its editor Rosa Sonneschein.” (As reported by the Jewish Women’s Archive)
1895: Alfred Dreyfus is placed in solitary confinement on Devil's Island, off the coast of French Guiana.
1897: During the meeting of the New York City Board of Health where contagious diseases were discussed it was noted that “the most troublesome contagion is trachoma or granulated eyelid;” a condition to which Jewish children from Russia are highly susceptible to given their constant exposure to this condition.
1900(14th of Nisan, 5660): In one of those quirks of the calendar Christians observe Good Friday on the same day when Jews sit down to their first Seder.
1900(14th of Nisan, 5660): Poor Jews living on the Lower East Side were relieved to find that free matzoth were being distributed at Charles “Silver Dollar” Smith’s “old place on Essex Street.” There was concern that the distribution would end since Smith had passed away last year. Before he had changed his name, Smith was known as variously as Charles Goldschmidt or Charles Solomon. A New York alderman who was part of the Tammany Hall machine, he was called “Silver Dollar” because of the “2,400 silver dollars used as a studded inlay in his saloon…”
1900: Herzl met with Austrian Prime Minister Ernest von Koerber.
1903(16thof Nisan, 5663): Second Day of Pesach
1903(16thof Nisan, 5663): Seventy-eight year old German philosopher and Jewish communal leader and author Mortiz Lazarus passed away today.
http://humanities.tau.ac.il/history-school/images/yanivE.pdf
1909: The Jews took an active part in uprising of the Young Turk movement including Nissim Effendi Mazliah and Emmanuel Effendi Carusso, members of the Parliament. Many Jews from Adrianople, Constantinople, Monastir and Salonika volunteered for service in the Army of the Young Turks. The Young Turks was the name given to those who sought to modernize the Ottoman Empire.
1911(15thof Nisan, 5671): Pesach
1913: The United Hebrew Community sent several hundred pounds of Matzoth to the Otisville Sanitarium in Otisville, NY. The organization also sent new dishes to the sanitarium which will be used on Passover which begins next week.
1914(17th of Nisan, 5674): Harry Horowitz a gangster also known as Gyp the Blood and a leader of the Lenox Avenue Gang in New York City was executed at Sing Sing Prison
1915: U.S. Attorney General Gregory announced that the Department of Justice had retained Louis D. Brandeis of Boston to serve as special counsel for the Interstate Commerce Commission in the five percent rate case to defend Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo and Comptroller of the Currency Williams in the injunction proceedings being brought by Riggs National Bank in Washington, D.C.
1920: In Patterson, NJ, Gussie and David Lefkowitz gave birth to Joseph Lefkowitz a graduate of Rutgers University who worked for the Social Security Administration until he retired in 1985 and moved to Crossville, TN where he was living at the time of his death.
1922(15thof Nisan, 5682): Pesach
1922: In Camden New Jersey, Congregation Beth El holds Passover service at 9 in the morning and seven in the evening.
1922: “Make It Snappy” starring Eddie Cantor opened at the Winter Garden Theatre.
1923: Birthdate of comedian Don Adams best known for his portrayal of Maxwell Smart in the television hit Get Smart. Smart’s father was a Hungarian Jew, but his mother was an Irish Catholic.
1924: In Columbia, South Carolina, Helen Cohen, the daughter of a jewelry salesman and Mordecai Moses Donen, a dress-shop manager gave birth to director and choreographer Stanley Donen who most famous works are “On the Town” and “Singin’ in the Rain.”
1930: American composer and music administrator William Howard Schuman went to a Carnegie Hall concert of the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Arturo Toscanini with his older sister, Audrey. According to the Philharmonic's archives, the program included works by Brahms, Mendelssohn, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and Smetana. Of this experience, Schuman later said, "I was astounded at seeing the sea of stringed instruments, and everybody bowing together. The visual thing alone was astonishing. But the sound! I was overwhelmed. I had never heard anything like it. The very next day, I decided to become a composer."
1930(15thof Nisan, 5690): First Pesach of the Great Depression
1930(15th of Nisan, 5690): On the first day of Pesach, rabbis combined the message of the holiday with the fact that this date marked the anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson “who wrote the statue providing religious freedom in the Constitution of the State of Virginia.” On the Upper East Side at Temple Emanu-El Rabbi Nathan Krass declared that Moses, a figure even mightier than Thomas Jefferson, had first promulgated the doctrine of religious freedom when he had told Pharaoh that he wished to liberate everybody. Krass also combined the message of religious freedom with the current economic crisis. In the Bronx at the Montefiore Congregation, Rabbi Jacob Katz compared the prophetic message with sage of Monticello who championed American independence and religious liberty. In this time of worsening financial crisis, Katz said that today we must “remove oppression, and create economic equality” just as our forefathers created political equality. [Ed. Note: Neither of these Rabbis saw the irony of invoking the name of Jefferson the slaveholder on a holiday that celebrated the end of slavery.]
1932: In Berlin, Peter and Irma Unger gave birth to Eva Unger who gained fame as Eva Figes, the “acclaimed novelist, memoirist, critic and author of “Patriarchal Attitudes.” (As reported by Leslie Kaufman):
1932: Birthdate of Yosef “Yossi” Banai, the native of Jeruslame who gained fame an entertainer ahd who was “one of the first members of the IDF’s famous troupe of performers – the Nahal troupe.
1933: During a debate in the House of Commons, Churchill warned that “there is a danger of the odious conditions now ruling in Germany being extended by conquest to Poland, and another persecution of pogrom of Jews begun in this new area.”
1933: Central Committee of German Jews for Relief and Reconstruction was founded.
1937: Mishmar HaShlosha, a moshav in the lower Galilee was established today on land purchased by the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association.
1938: At 8:30 this evening, Arturo Toscanini appeared before an audience of 1,700 adoring fans and began conducting a concert by the Palestine Orchestra. The evening included a performance of Mendelssohn’s Fourth Symphony which is a double statement against fascism since Mendelssohn has been banned by the Nazis and Toscanini said he was dedicating the performance to the Italy he still loves.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that commander Oliver Locker-Lampson, Conservative MP from Birmingham, had introduced in the House of Commons a bill proposing to extend Palestinian nationality to all persecuted Jews. The vote was 144 "Ayes" and 144 "Nays," and the bill was passed after the Speaker voted in the affirmative. There was little doubt that the bill would never reach the Statute Book and become law.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that a mounting toll of Jewish suicides continued to be reported from Vienna, including a number of prominent Jewish residents.
1941: German troops enter Belgrade Yugoslavia. Another 75,000 more Jews would now fall under the German yoke. Jewish shops that day were ransacked by German troops and German citizens living in the Yugoslav capital city.
1941: German troops and German citizens living in Belgrade finished the second day of a two-daylong orgy of violence aimed at the Jewish citizens of the Yugoslav capital city.
1941: The Soviet Union and Japan sign a five year non-aggression pact. The Japanese had fought a brief undeclared war with the Russians in the late 1930’s in which they did poorly. This helped cause Japan to turn its attention to south Asia which ultimately led to Pearl Harbor. This agreement meant that the Soviets did not have to worry about war with Japan so it could focus all of its attention on defeating the Nazis. At the same time, the treaty made it possible for Japan to attack the United States which brought the might of America to bear against the Nazis.
1943: In the Katyn Forest in the Soviet Union, the Germans discovered more than 4000 corpses of Polish officers, some of them Jews. The officers were killed by the Soviets.
1944: Birthdate of Representative Susan Davis, member of Congress from California’s 53rd Congressional District.
1944: In Hungary, Jews of the annexed territories were being rounded up and concentrated in urban ghettos.
1945(30th of Nisan, 5705): On Rosh Chodesh Iyar, five thousand Jews being taken from Auschwitz and marched to Belsen were herded into a barn. The Germans set the barn on fire. While some escaped, many thousands more were burned to death. The Germans shot those who tried to escape during the fire.
1945: Frank Towers was among the members of the U.S. Army’s 30 Infantry Division “who freed prisoners from Bergen-Belsen” today “who had been packed into a train 40 to 50 cars long bound for Theresienstadt. (As reported by Hillel Kuttler)
1946: During an interview today, Ben Hecht, “author and co-chairman of the American League for a Free Palestine” pleaded with Americans to provide financial support that would “enlarge the trickle of Jews from Europe to Palestine to a mass exodus despite” despite British military efforts to keep the Jews out of Eretz Israel.
1948: In San Antonio, TX, Gloria and S.S. “Sy” Kalter gave birth to Suzy Gershman, “author of ‘Born to Shop’ Guides.” (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
1948: As the Arab Legion trained its guns on the besieged Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, a kindergarten was hit injuring 20 children.
1948: As night gave way to morning, units of the Palmach took the villages of Al-Mansi and Naghnaghiya
1948(4th of Nisan, 5708): Seventy-seven people, mostly doctors and nurses on their way Hadassah hospital on Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, were murdered by Arabs. This took place after the Partition Vote, but before the British had left. It was part of an Arab terror campaign to drive the Jews out Israel even before the state had been declared. British troops stationed close by refuse to "interfere". During this period of time, the British Army did little to acquit itself admirably from the Jewish point of view. At the same time, their behavior of antagonism and outright hostility towards the Jews was representative of the policies and practices of the British Government.
1948 a large group of doctors, nurses, patients, professors and students joined a supply convoy which was travelling to the Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus. The convoy was ambushed and its vehicles blown up as it made its way through the affluent Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah — only a few hundred meters from a British military outpost. With the British looking on, Arab attackers mercilessly slaughtered any personnel attempting to escape the inferno. Incredibly, having resisted Haganah attempts to rescue Jews caught in this death trap, it still took the British over six hours to intervene. Seventy‑eight people were murdered in the attack, or burned to death after their ambulances and buses were set on fire. Among the victims was the director of the Hadassah organization in Palestine, Dr. Chaim Yassky. (As reported by Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am)
1948: Operation Har'el launched by Haganah at conclusion of Operation Nachshon, does not succeed in opening the road to Jerusalem.
1948: As the Haganah fought to defend Mishmar HaEmek from being conquered by the Arab Liberation Army,Palmach units took the villages of Al-Mansi and Naghnaghiya.
1949(14th of Nisan, 5709): Fast of the First Born.
1949(14th of Nisan, 5709: In the evening, first Seder celebrated in the independent state of Israel.
1950: Birthdate of actor Ron Perlman.
1950: Israel informed the United Nations that it would not participate in talks with the Arabs that included return to the partition boundaries of 1947 as a pre-condition to opening negotiations. The Israelis reminded the UN that the Arabs have consistently rejected all offers to negotiate a peace settlement and that the Jewish state has “authentic information at is to disposal to the effect that a war of revenge against Israel is a plan which exercises certain minds at the very sumit of political power in the Arab world.
1950: At a luncheon meeting of the Overseas Automotive Club, “Isaac Arditi of Arditi, Ltd., a Tel Aviv importer and exporter, declared that Israel is now the biggest export market for small automotive replacement parts, tools and tires in the Near East.” The number of civilian owned automobiles has more than doubled since the days of the British mandate and in the past year Israel has imported three quarters of million dollars of various automobile supplies from the United States.
1951: Birthdate of Max Weinberg, drummer for Bruce Springsteen.
1953:The Jerusalem Post reported that Jordan had instructed the Barclays and Ottoman banks, as well as individual Arab refugees, to stop their participation in the Israeli scheme for the release of Arab bank accounts frozen in 1948 in Israel.
1953:The Jerusalem Post reported that the Cabinet had established committees for Internal Affairs and Services, for Legislative Drafting, for a Foreign Affairs and Security and a special Experts Committee to study the question of foreign currency control.
1953:Chaim Leavanon is elected mayor of Tel Aviv.
1953:Israel Rokach completes his service as mayor of Tel Aviv.
1954: Birthdate of Barbara Maureen Roche (née Margolis, “a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament” and served as a cabinet minister in the government of PM Tony Blair.
1957: Sidney Lumet’s “12 Angry Men” was released for distribution.
1957: Birthdate of Amy Goodman
1962: Birthdate of Hillel Slovak, guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He passed away in 1988.
1968(15th of Nisan, 5728): First Day of Pesach celebrated in a united Jerusalem. The Jewish people are able to observe the holiday of liberation at the Kotel for the first time since 1948.
1970: Intense Israeli air attacks on targets far west of the Canal Zone come to an end.
1971: Aline Milton Bernstein Saarinen was named chief of the Paris bureau of the National Broadcasting Company making her the first woman to head an overseas bureau in television.
1974: Yonatan Netanyahu wrote to his parents:
"I have no real girl friend at the moment. My last romance is over, and as I don't have time to run around anyway, it looks as if I'll remain on my own for the time being. . . On the whole, I've nothing to complain of. I'm up to my neck in my army work, and during leaves I move about a lot in our lovely land. The whole world marvels at the Inca and Aztec civilizations and such—and they do indeed deserve admiration. Nevertheless almost all of these came into being after the start of the Christian Era (not that this detracts from their value), whereas here it seems that the cradle of world civilization is all around us, everything dating back thousands and thousands of years. A few Saturdays ago I visited the Biblical Gibeon, and saw the remarkable ancient pool there (I'll take you to see it when you come). It's this pool that's mentioned in II Samuel in connection with Abner ben Ner and Joab ben Zeruiah, who 'met together by the pool of Gibeon' and let 'the young men arise and play before them.' And the country is all like that!"
1975(2nd of Iyar, 5735): American movie actor Larry Parks died of a heart attack at the age of 60. Parks gained his first taste of fame at the age of 31 when he played the title role in “The Jolson Story” followed by another portrayal of the Jewish entertainer in “Jolson Sings Again.” His career was a casualty of the Red Hunt. Despite efforts to avoid testifying, he ended appearing before the House Un-American Activities Committee where he implicated others. His testimony did not save his career. He was Blacklisted which meant the studios would not hire him and pictures he had already made were shelved.
1975: Christian Falange killed 27 Palestinians, beginning the Lebanese civil war. Stability in Lebanon was based on a fragile power-sharing agreement between Christians and two groups of Moslems. At one point in the 1950's President Eisenhower had sent Marines to Lebanon to help restore order. Contrary to popular misconception, Israel was not the cause of the disintegration of Lebanon or the civil war that raged in that country. Today, part of Lebanon is occupied by Syrian troops and is essentially a province of the Damascus government. Control of Lebanon was part of the late President Assad's dream of a Greater Syria. Control of Israel and part of what is now Jordan was also part of that dream.
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that radios had again reverberated and TV screens had glittered as the Israel Broadcasting Authority signed an agreement with the Journalists Association, ending an 11-day radio and TV journalists' strike.
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that President Carter, while playing host to the Romanian president Nicolae Ceasescu, described Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, giving the town the status which the US Government had refused to acknowledge.
1980: “One Day at a Time,” starring Bonnie Franklin closes its 5th season on CBS.
1983(30th of Nisan, 5743): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1983: In a battle of “firsts” Harold Washington, Chicago’s first African-American mayor defeated Bernard Epton. If he had been elected, Epton would have been the Windy City’s first Jewish mayor.
1984: President Ronald Reagan read the report describing the events of the Beirut Bombing attack that killed and wounded over 300 Marines in its entirety as his keynote address to the Rev. Jerry Falwell's "Baptist Fundamentalism '84" convention, in Washington, DC. The report had been prepared by Rabbi Arnold Resincoff who was in Beirut at the time.
1984(11th of Nisan, 5744): On the second day of the Egged Bus Hostage Crisis, at around seven in the morning, following lengthy negotiations “a special force of Sayeret Matkal under the command of brigadier-general Yitzhak Mordechai stormed the bus while shooting at the hijackers through the vehicle's windows. During this takeover operation the soldiers were able to eliminate two of the hijackers, capture the two additional hijackers, and release all hostages except for one passenger – a 19-year-old female soldier named Irit Portuguese who was killed during the takeover operation. Seven passengers were wounded during the course of the operation
1985(22nd of Nisan, 5745) Oscar Nemon the Croatian born English sculptor whose work includes statutes depicting Dwight D. Eisenhower, Earl Alexander of Tunis, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, Lord Freyberg, Harold Macmillan, Harry S. Truman and Margaret Thatcher passed away.
1986: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including a review Heroes and Hustlers, Hard Hats and Holy Men: Inside the New Israel by Ze'ev Chafets
1986: Pope John Paul II, “became the first pope known to have made an official papal visit to a synagogue when he visited the Great Synagogue of Rome” today.
1987: Ofra Moses was buried today in Petah Tikvah. Mrs. Moses, aged 35, was riding in a car yesterday with her husband and four children when an unidentified assailant threw the firebomb, a bottle filled with gasoline and a burning rag, through the open window of the car. They were driving to the Tel Aviv suburb of Petah Tikvah to buy food for the Passover holiday. None of the family could attend the funeral since her husband was in the hospital being treated for extensive burns, her five year old was hospitalized in critical condition and the remaining three children had not been released due to the extent of their injuries.
1988: The New York Times reported thatthe Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, Yitzhak Navon, and Justice Minister Avraham Sharir are expected to arrive in Poland today for a one-week visit to take part in ceremonies to mark the 45th anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising.
1993: A revival of George Abbott’s “Three Man On A Horse” featuring Tony Randall, Jack Klugman and Jerry Stiller opened at the Lyceum Theatre.
1994(2nd of Iyar, 5754): Hamas conducts a suicide bombing claiming that it is in response to Baruch Goldstein’s attack on mosque in Hebron in February during which he killed 29 Muslims who praying there.
1994(2nd of Iyar, 5754): In the second such attack in a week, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up today in an assault on an Israeli commuter bus, killing five Israelis and wounding 30 others at the main bus station in Hadera, a working-class town in the country's heartland. Most of the survivors had minor wounds, but they told of a scene of blood and terror, of bodies ripped apart and of people too stunned in the first moments even to scream. Those killed today were not immediately identified, but they included several soldiers, a fact that increased the shock for Israelis as they paused to remember their war dead.
1994(2nd of Iyar, 5754): At annual Memorial Day ceremonies in Jerusalem Prime Minister Rabin took note of last week’s bombing in Afula and today’s bombing in Hadera, both the work of Hamas when he said, "Even today, Israelis have paid with their lives, taken by despicable murderers, enemies of peace. They are trying to torpedo the peace. Beyond the bloodshed, the booby-trapped cars and the bombs, we continue to hold out our hands for peace in order to put an end to the suffering. In spite of the difficulties, we will continue on our way to peace." The somberness of the day gave way to ceremonies tonight marking the 46th anniversary of the country's founding. But the celebrations were muted for many, not only because of the latest attack but also because of warnings from the Hamas group of Islamic militants that more horror was on the way in one of the worst terrorist waves inside Israel in years.
1997: The New York Times includes a review of “In The Memory of the Forest”, a novel by Charles T. Powers based on the fate of the Jews of Jadowia and ensuing events that take place in Polish village under the Communist regime.
1997: “An American Daughter,” a play written by Wendy Wasserstein “premiered in a Lincoln Center Theatre Production at the Cort Theatre.
2001: According to reports published to “an American Jewish Congress delegation” has been “invited to attend this month's inauguration of President Mathieu Kerekou of the West African West Africa.”
2001: The Los Angeles Times contained an article entitled "Doubting the Story of the Exodus", by Teresa Watanabe which summarized the current scholarly consensus about whether or not the Exodus happened:
2002: As Operation Defensive Shield, the Israeli response to terrorists attacks that culminated with a murderous bombing at hotel Seder, was coming to an end, the IDF was reported to have determined the location of 23 bodies in Jenin.
2003: The New York Times included reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including ''The Rebbe's Army'' by Sue Fishkoff
2005: Following opening day, today, the Boston Red Sox shipped Kevin Youkilis to Pawtucket today.
2006(15th of Nisan, 5766): Pesach
2007: Those following the Perek Yomi program posted on the Torah Page of the Temple Judah (Cedar Rapids) website www.templejudah.org orhttp://DownhomeDavarTorah.blogspot.com/read Psalm 150 which means they have completed the entire Book of Psalms.
2008: The two week long Bat Yam International Biennale of Landscape Urbanism opens in this Israeli metropolis near Tel Aviv.
2008: In Denver, at The Mizel Center for the Arts, the final production of “In the Belly of the Whale.”
2008: In New York, The Center for Jewish History presentsacolloquium entitled “Objects of Affection: The Wedding in Jewish Culture” during which scholars, artists, curators and others gather to discuss the most elaborately celebrated of Jewish life cycle events. Weddings provide rich opportunities to consider the intersection of media and Jewish religious life.
2008:The headstone unveiling for Don Novick at Eben Israel Cemetery in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
2008: The Washington Post book section featured a review of Jewish author Cynthia Osick’s latest work, A Quartet.
2008: The Sunday New York Times featured a review of “The Genius” by Jesse Kellerman, the Orthodox Jewish mystery writer who is the son of two other Orthodox Jewish mystery writers, Faye and Jonathan Kellerman and “Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America”by Steven Waldman. Waldman describes the religious beliefs of the “Founding Fathers” and the origins of the doctrine of separation of church and state which was driven by concerns among various Christian sects that one would come to dominate the other. So even though Jews and American Judaism benefited from this, Jewish beliefs were not a concern. This is the opposite of the European experience. In Europe, when Christians clashed with their co-religionists or with Moslems, the Jews suffered often as a form of collateral damage. In a strange application of the law of unintended consequences, in America, Jews benefited from such clashes.
2009: At Yale University, Miriam Benson, former counsel to the International Committee of Women of the Wall delivers a talk on the Struggle of Women of the Wall for Freedom of Worship in Israel entitled "Praying in Her Own Voice."
2009:The American POWs in Germany traveling exhibit "Behind Barbed Wire" comes to Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This educational exhibit features the experiences of Midwest prisoners of war (POWs) who were imprisoned in Hitler's Third Reich.
2009: Newsweek publishes its third annual list of the Fifty Most Influential Rabbis compiled by compiled by Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman & CEO Michael Lynton, News Corporation Executive Vice President Gary Ginsberg and JTN Productions CEO Jay Sanderson and its first annual list of America’s 25 Most Vibrant Congregations compiled by the same businessman. [Editor’s Note: If you are upset that your rabbi did not make the list, relax. The sages of Pirke Avot and Rashi couldn’t have either when you consider that David Saperstein got “the top spot because of his role as Washington insider and political powerbroker and Friend of Obama.” And Marvin Hier ranked #2 because he “is a major player in national and world politics…”
2010: Tali Ploskov was elected head of Arad’s municipality today.
2010: Ghaleb Majadele an Arab Israeli who became “country’s first Muslim cabinet minister” in 2007 “re-entered the Knesset today as a replacement for Yuli Tamir who had resigned her seat.”
2010: PBS is scheduled to broadcast Independent Lens: “Blessed Is the Match” the first documentary feature about Hannah Senesh, the World War II-era poet and diarist who became a paratrooper and resistance fighter and was captured, tortured and ultimately executed by the Nazis narrated by Joan Allen. Senesh is famous for her such works as “Blessed is the Match” and “Eli, Eli” (My God, My God).
2011: The Center for Jewish History and Center for Traditional Music and Dance are scheduled to present a multi-media lecture entitled “Sounds of Immigrant New York: Bukharian Jewish Music in New York City”
2011: “Max Blumb” portrayed by Adam Pally made his appearance on the television series “Happy Endings.”
2011:Today Israel reopened a commercial crossing with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip that was shut for seven days, as a lull in cross-border fighting continued, an Israeli spokesman said. Israel had closed the Kerem Shalom crossing during a violent flare-up in which Hamas militants fired rocket and mortars at south Israel, shooting an anti-tank rocket at a school bus.
2011:YIVO Institute for Jewish Research presents: “Ethnography of a Vanishing Courtyard: Moyshe Kulbak's Zelmenyaner”
2011:Israel’s attorney general announced today his intention to indict the foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, on corruption charges, but said he would allow Mr. Lieberman a hearing to contest an indictment before issuing a formal charge sheet.
2011(9thof Nisan, 5771): Evelyn Einstein, the 70 year old granddaughter of Albert Einstein, passed away.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/19/us/19einstein.html?_r=1
http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/11109/1140362-84-0.stm
2011:“Bar Ilan University unveils four rare Haggadot”
http://www.jpost.com/VideoArticles/Video/Article.aspx?id=216404
2012(21stof Nisan, 5772): Seventh Day of Pesach; final day of observance in Israel and for Reform Jews.
2012(21stof Nisan, 5772): Thirty-five year old Jeremiah Luber the grandson of Elaine and Harvey Luber, of blessed memory, passed away today.
2012: “Once More, With Feelings” published today provides a detailed review of Schmidt Steps Back by Louis Begley.
2013: Congregation Ada Reyim and The Northern Jewish Film Festival are scheduled to present “Kaddish for a Friend.”
2013: PBS is scheduled to show “Blessed is the Match” which present the brave tale of Hannah Senesch, the Jewish poet who parachuted into Nazi-occupied Europe where she was murdered by her captors.
2013: “Inventing Our Life: The Kibbutz Experiment” is scheduled to be shown at the Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2013: “All In” and “Koch” are scheduled to be shown at the Hartford Jewish Film Fest.
2013: This evening The 3rd Annual National Collegiate Jewish A Cappella Championship Competition sponsored by Adas Israel is scheduled to take place at the UDC Theatre of the Arts in Washington, DC
2013: In Columbus, Ohio, Jacob Daniel Levin is called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah at Congregation Tifereth Israel. L’dor V’dor
2013(3rdof Iyar, 5773): Eighty-two year old Carmen Weinstein, the President of the Jewish Community of Cairo passed away at her home in Zamalek
2014: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including You Should Have Known, a novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz.
2014: “Hellman v McCarthy,” Brian Mori’s dramatic portrayal of clash involving Jewish born playwright Lillian Hellman, the skilled playwright who was an apologist for Communism’s worst abuses is schued to close at the June Havoc Theatre.
2014:Filmmaker Aviva Kempner is scheduled to discuss her most recent work: a documentary on Julius Rosenwald, the Chicago Jewish businessman and philanthropist who joined with African American communities in the South to build schools during the Jim Crow era at the Washington DCJCC.
2014: WQXR is scheduled to present “A Musical Feast for Passover with Itzhak Perlman.
2014: In Tel Aviv, the European Weightlifting Championships are scheduled to come to an end.