May 19
1911: The Turkish government instructs its Minister at Teheran to protest the Persian government attacks against lives and property of Ottoman Jews at Kermanshah.
1911: The King of Italy confers Knighthood of Order of Crown on Rabbi Abraham Elbgen, Chief Rabbi ofCrete .
1911: Jews ofConstantinople take a prominent part in the celebrations of the anniversary of the Sultan's accession to the throne.
1911: Plans are made in Cairo to form a Federation of Synagogues.
1954: Nicholas Winton, a Briton who organized the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish children from German-occupied Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War relinquished his commission of “flying officer” in the RAF while retaining the rank of “flight lieutenant.”
1959: As reported in today’s New York Times, Richard Tucker was among those who appeared at the “Puccini Night” open air concert at Lewisohn Stadium in New York City. The stadium was named in honor of Adolph Lewisohn, the German-Jewish banker who donated the money to pay for its construction.
1962: Birthdate of French journalist and musician Ariel Wizman the Sephardic Jew from Casablanca, Morocco.
1966: The emblem for the Israeli town of Arad, a square with a hill and a flame, was adopted today.
1969: Palestinian terrorists from Jordan bombard the Musa Alami School near Jericho.
1972(6th of Sivan, 5732): Shavuot
1972: The Bernard M. Baruch College of the City University of New York scheduled final exams today. It was the only college in the system to do so. (The exams would be moved to May 30 after a major protest led by Hillel, the ADL and other major Jewish organizations.)
363: For a second day in a row, a series of earthquakes that took place along a fault-line stretching from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba shook the region around the Galilee. According to some, this seismic event was part of the reason the Temple in Jerusalem was not rebuilt despite Emperor Julian’s support for the project.
1103 (10 Iyar 4063): Isaac Alfasi passed away. Born in Fez RIF ". He compiled the first codification of Jewish law, called Sefer Halachot. It still appears today in every volume of the Talmud. Joseph Caro later used it as a basis for his work. Sefer Halachot was the most important codex until Maimonides'Mishna Torah. Alfasi was 25 years old when Hai Gaon died. He was called Gaon by many authorities and his death marked the very end of that (Gaonic) period. His students included Judah Halevi and Josef ibn Migash.
1588: The Spanish Armada set sail from Lisbon. The Armada was the most massive fleet of its day including 130 ships and 30,000 soldiers and sailors. The Armada was designed to take control of the English Channel and facilitate the invasion of England Netherlands England
1604: The city of Montreal was founded today. Jews would not start arriving in Montreal until the 18th century following the British defeat of the French. Today Montreal boasts a vibrant Jewish community number approximately 90,000 which some describe as the “most Orthodox” in North America. However it has lost its position as the leading Jewish community in Canada to Toronto because of the rise of the French separatists and their political party, Parti Quebecois.
1707(17thof Iyar, 5647): Chief Rabbi Saul ben Joshua Heschel passed away today in Breslau while on his to Amsterdam.
1771: Birthdate of Rahel Levin, the prominent 19th century literary figure who converted when she married and gained fame as Rahel Varnhagen who was the subject of a biography by Hannah Arendt, Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess.
1762: Birthdate of German philosopher and anti-Semite Johann Gottlieb Fichte who “in his defense of the ideals of the French Revolution in 1793, singled out Jews and Judaism as constituting a ‘state-within-a-state’ that was ‘predicated on the hatred of the entire human race’ and ‘spreading through almost all lands of Europe and terribly oppressing its citizens.’”
1769:Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, who as councilor to the Holy Office had issued a memorandum declaring that the Jews were innocent of the “Blood Libel”, was elected Pope Clement XIV today.
1792: The Russian army entered Poland. Ultimately Poland
1802: The Légion d'Honneur is founded by Napoleon Bonaparte. Among the Jewish recipients are Rabbi Langer of New York’s Congregation Orach Chaim, Rabbi David Feuerwerker,a veteran of the French Army who served with the Marquis during World War II, David Saul Marshall, political leader in Singapore and Victor Attias and Henry Smadja who were members of the Jewish Resistance in Tunisia during World War II.
1818: Eliza Frances (née Campbell) and Mr. Lionel Prager Goldsmid, an officer in the 19th Dragoons, and a scion of the well-known London family of that name whose maternal grandmother's father was Revolutionary War aide-de-camp David Franks gave birth to Sir John Goldsmid who would rise to the rank of Major General in the British Army
1820(6thof Sivan, 5599): Jews in the United States celebrate Shavuot in tranquility since the nation has just avoided a potential breakup over the issue of slavery with the adoption of the Missouri Compromise
1839(6thof Sivan, 5599): As American Jews celebrate Shavuot they are forced to contend with an economic panic that will continue to cause ripples into the next decade.
1858(6thof Sivan, 5618): Less than a month before Abraham Lincoln delivered his “House Divided Speech” American Jews celebrate Shavuot
1860: The New York Times reviewed The Throne of David by Rev. J.H. Ingraham, which “illustrates the grandeur of the Hebrews at the height of their power and splendor.”
1861: In San Francisco, CA, J. P. Davis, the President of the Hebra Bikur Holim, (Society for Visiting the Sick) presented a new Torah Scroll to Congregation of Sherith Israel.
1863(1st of Sivan, 5623): Rosh Chodesh Sivan
1863(1st of Sivan, 5623):Jonas Ennery passed away. Born at Nancy, France, in 1801, he worked at the Jewish School of Strasbourg for 26 years. In 1843 he published “Le Sentier d’Israel” and he helped to edit "Prières d'un Cœur Israélite," (Prayers of a Jewish Heart) which was published in 1848. Despite anti-Jewish rioting in Alsace, Ennery was elected representative to the French National Assembly as a representative for the department of the Lower Rhine. After the coup d'état that brought Louis Napoleon to power Ennery was exiled forced into exile. He moved to Brussels, where he lived as a teacher until his death. Ennery's brother, Marchand Ennery, was the chief rabbi of Paris.
1866(5th of Sivan): Seventy-six year old Solomon Ludwig Steinheim the German philosopher passed away. The Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute was named in his honor.
1867: According to reports published today, The Hebrew Educational Society of Baltimore has adopted the Christian plan of Sabbath school instruction.
1871(28thof Iyar): Meir Halevi Letteris passed away
1873: “The New Home for Aged and Infirmed Hebrews” published today described the opening of this facility in New York City which was first envisioned by Mrs. Henry Leo in 1870. She enlisted the support of the Bnai Jeshurun Benevolent Society to help her make the home a reality. Unfortunately, Mrs. Leon did not live to see the her dream come to fruition.
1878: According to todays “Home and Foreign Events” column “at the suggestion of the Board of Delegates of American Israelites, the Alliance Israelita Universelle will issue invitations for a conference of representatives of the Jew Jewish organizations of Europe and America. The conference will be held in Paris and it will be open to the discussion of all subjects affecting the interests of Judaism.”
1873: Sixty two year old German psychiatrist Carl Friedrich Stahl, whose parents had become Lutherans while he a small child, passed away today.
1879: An article published today entitled “The Rothschild Family: The Greatest Financiers of the Age,” purports to provide “an authentic history of the Rothschilds in Frankfort, London, Paris and Vienna” including how the founder of the family acquired his wealth and anecdotes about “family peculiarities.
1879: Joseph H. De Meza “a young Cuban Jew” was arrested today for stealing clothing from Mrs. Charles A. Lillie in New York City. De Meza came to Mrs. Lillie’s home and asked for “an outfit of her husband’s clothing” claiming that the husband had fallen into the East River at the Fulton Ferry and that he had sent De Meza to get a dry outfit.
1879: “Sunday Services for Hebrews” published today described reaction among various Jewish leaders to the recently announced plans by Temple Emanuel to start holding “Sabbath” services on Sunday.
1880: Eighteen year old Matthew Nathan, the son of Jonah Nathan joined the Royal Engineers
1880: It was reported today that Joseph Seligman’s will names his widow, Babet, as executrix of his estate, and his brothers James and Jesse and his son David as executors. The will provides that they may use $25,000 for contributions to the charities of their choice and sets up the terms for the disbursement of his estate so that it will provide for his wife and his children.
1881: In Paris, Adelaide and Baron Edmond de Rothschild gave birth to their second child Maurice.
1882(1stof Sivan, 5642): Rosh Chodesh Sivan
1882: The Leadville, CO Jewish community suffered a financial loss when a building owned by New Yorkers Caesar J. Kaskel and Jacob Michaels burned. The building was the home to a clothing store managed by Julius W. Kaskel.
1882: As part of a blood libel investigation an entourage of mounted policemen arrived in Tisza-Eszlar, a small Hungarian village. The investigation revolved around the disappearance of a fourteen year old Catholic housemaid named Esther Solymossy.
1882: In Tisza-EszlarJoszef Sharf, custodian of the local synagogue and his wife were arrested in connection with the disappearance of Esther Solymosi, a Christian peasant girl fourteen years old whom the locals claim was the victim of a Jewish blood lust.
1886: The future Sir Mathew Nathan was promoted to the rank of Captain in the Royal Engineers
1887: Fifty-five year old Otto Stobbe, the gentile German historian who is best known for “a scholarly work on Jews in Germany during the Middle Ages called Die Juden in Deutschland während des Mittelalters
1889(18th of Iyar, 5649): Lag B'Omer
1890: Samuel Hutch, a Jewish peddler was seen alive for the last time near Wurtsborough, NY.
1890: “New Publications” published today includes a review of A Visit of Japheth to Shem and Ham
1891: Barney Greenman, a fourteen year old Jewish boy came to the Barge Office in New York and asked the immigration officials to send him back to Rotterdam.
1891: The Czar has issued a new proclamation or “ukase” ordering the expulsion of the Jews from the Asiatic provinces of the Russian Empire.
1894: “Literary Notes” published today described the upcoming publication of Christopher Columbus and the Participation of the Jews in the Spanish and Portuguese Discoveries by Dr. Meyer Kayserling, the German born rabbi and historian.
1895: “Hebrew Home to be Mortgaged” published today described plans by the managers of the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews of New York City to build a new facility with funds gained from taking out a mortgage on the property at 106thStreet and Columbus Avenue.
1895: Most of the 4,000 “uptown people” who had been invited to a tea at the Hebrew Institute attended this event which gave them a chance to observe the various activities of the educational organization.
1895: “In A Wide Labor Field” published today provided a detailed description of the work of the Educational Alliance which was formed in 1892 under the direction of the Hebrew Free School Association, the Young Men’s Hebrew Association and the Aguillar Free Library Society
1896: The village of Metula was founded with funds supplied by Baron Rothschild. Metula was the northern most town in Palestine Israel Lebanon
1896: In Birmingham, England, Jewish immigrants Laura (nee Greenberg) and Louis Balcon gave birth to movie producer Sir Michael Elias Balcan
1896: Herzl is received by Agliardi, the Papal Nuncio in Vienna
1897: Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol. In “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” Wilde created a Jewish theatre manager named Isaacs whom he describes as “A hideous Jew, in the most amazing waistcoat I ever beheld in my life, was standing at the entrance, smoking a vile cigar. He had greasy ringlets, and an enormous diamond blazed in the centre of a soiled shirt…He was such a monster.” This does not mean he was an anti-Semite. After all, Ada Leverson, the English Jewess, invited Wilde to her Salon after he had been arrested.
1898: “Gladstone’s Career” published today contained a summary of the late English political leaders life including his rivalry with Disraeli which began with a battle over the budget when Gladstone was made Chancellor of the Exchequer and continued even after Disraeli took his seats in the House of Lords.
1899: The new Hebrew Charities Building that was dedicated yesterday “will provide accommodation for the relief work of the United Hebrew Charities, afford convenient offices and meeting rooms for…various Jewish charitable and philanthropic enterprises” and to provide a meeting place large enough to accommodate gatherings of those supporting various Jewish agencies and institutions.
1899: “At Grenoble, a hostile crowd” followed “notorious Jew baiter Max Regis” as he made his way to the railway station following his acquittal “on the charge of inciting murder and incendiarism.”
1899: At Grenoble “a mob marched to the Officers’ Club cheering for Dreyfus” which touched off a riot.
1899: In Algiers, fifty anti-Semitic rioters were arrested when a mob marched on the Jewish quarter.
1901: Herzl sends a letter to the Sultan and asks for a final audience before his departure.
1903: Menachem Ussishkin arrives in Vienna Palestine
1906: Birthdate of Gerd Bucerius, the German journalist and lawyer whose Jewish wife took refuge in the United Kingdom when the Nazis came to power. He remained behind and defended numerous Jewish clients facing charges from the German authorities.
1907(6thof Sivan, 5667): Shavuot
1908(18th of Iyar, 5668): Lag B'Omer
1909: Birthdate of composer Shlomo Yoffe or Schlomo Joffe. Born in Warsaw he studied piano theory in Samara, Russia from 1918 until 1921 and, in 1924 in Warsaw joined the Zionist movement Hashomer Hatza'ir, playing the mandolin, tuba, baritone and clarinet in its folk orchestras. He graduated from the Teachers' Seminarium in Poznan Poland Brno Czechoslovakia Palestine Darmstadt
1909: Birthdate of Sir Nicholas George Winton, MBE a Briton who organized the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish children from German-occupied Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War in an operation later known as the Czech Kindertransport. Winton found homes for them and arranged for their safe passage to Britain. The UK press has dubbed him the "British Schindler".
1911: The Turkish government instructs its Minister at Teheran to protest the Persian government attacks against lives and property of Ottoman Jews at Kermanshah.
1911: The King of Italy confers Knighthood of Order of Crown on Rabbi Abraham Elbgen, Chief Rabbi of
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1911: Plans are made in Cairo to form a Federation of Synagogues.
1914: Birthdate of Max Perutz, Austrian-born British molecular biologist who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1962.
1915(6thof Sivan, 5675): Shavuot observed for the first time during WW I.
1918: Birthdate of Louis Sachwald, who was among the brave American soldiers who battled the Japanese during the dark days of WW II at Corregidor and survived a brutal imprisonment to become a successful business man in Maryland
1918: Birthdate of Abraham (Bram) Pais a Dutch-born American physicist and science historian.
1919: In Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk moves to Samsun from Istanbul with a few followers, to oppose the Ottoman government, which eventually leads to the Turkish War of Independence and the creation of the modern Turkish state. As part of his reform programs Ataturk made religious faith a matter of individual conscience. He created a truly secular system in Turkey Turkey
1919:The twenty-sixth biennial council of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations begins in Boston
1921: The Emergency Quota Act passes the U.S. Congress establishing national quotas on immigration. Because of the convoluted quota system established by this law, immigration from southern and eastern Europe effectively came to an end. This had the effect of closing the American Door for the Jews of Eastern Europe and Russia. The strict enforcement of this law would also mean that European Jews would have no place to go when Hitler came to power.
1926(6th of Sivan, 5686): Shavuot
1928: Birthdate of NBA great Adolph "Dolph" Schayes.
1930: The world executive of the Mizrachi (Orthodox Zionists) sent a telegram to Dr. Chaim Weizmann today calling for an immediate meeting of Zionist congress that would address the announcement by the British High Commissioner to suspend immigration to Palestine. The appeal stated that “the new immigration ban reveals a new British government tendency to disregard the principles of the mandate.” This “tendency endangers the Zionist work.” Protests against the new British policy are already taking place in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the Emek Valley. The Jewish Agency and the Vaad Leumi are meeting in a joint session to deal with this issue.
1934: In Brooklyn Rabbi Isaac Landman is scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled “Two Sets of Commandments” at Congregation Beth Elohim.
1934: Rabbi I. Mortimer Bloom is scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled “The Reign of Law” at Temple Oheb Shalom.
1934: Rabbi Louis I. Newman is scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled, "Goebbels' Speech and the Madison Square Garden Meeting-What Do They Conceal?" at Congregation Rodeph Sholom
1934:Dr. Samuel H. Goldenson is scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled “Who is Who-With Respect to Life's Values" at New York’s Temple Emanu-El.
1934(5th of Sivan, 5694): Erev Shavuot
1934:Rabbi Milton Steinberg is scheduled to lead Shavuot Services at Park Avenue Synagogue at 6 p.m. this evening.
1935: T. E. Lawrence, known as Lawrence of Arabia, died from injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident. Lawrence Lawrence Lawrence Palestine Lawrence Syria March 5, 19 19Lawrence Europe , to make head against the drift of the aces, and return once more to the Orient from which they came. The colonists will take back with them to the land which they occupied for some centuries before the Christian era samples of all the knowledge and technique of Europe . They propose to settle down amongst the existing Arab-speaking population of the country, a people of kindred origin, but far different social condition. They hope to adjust their mode of life to the climate of Palestine Europe , and in that case the new confederation might become a formidable element of world power. However, such a contingency will not be for the first or even for the second generation, but it must be borne in mind in any laying out of foundations of empire in Western Asia “
1936(27th of Iyar, 5696):“A 43 year old Jew named, Feivil Schnitzer, was shot and killed early this morning by an Arab in the Armenian quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It was the twenty- sixth murder of a Jew by Arabs since the present disturbances began, and in every case the assassins are still at large.”
1936: “Tel Aviv celebrated the inauguration of its new port today. Tens of thousands gathered around a provisional jetty to watch the arrival and unloading of two steamers with cargoes of cement.” Tel Aviv’s aged and ailing Mayor, Meir Dizengoff, left his sick bed to watch the Jewish porters unloading bags of cement. “Now that my eyes have sevenths, I am ready to die.”
1937(9th of Sivan, 5697): Eighty two year old Samuel Sale who had served as Rabbi for Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis from 1887 to 1919 passed away today.
1938: Simon W. Gerson, an aide to Manhattan Borough President Stanley M. Isaacs spent three hours testifying before the Joint Legislative Committee on Law Administration and Enforcement chaired by state senator John J. McNaboe. The committee spent very little time questioning Gerson about the aleteration of his name on Municipal Court records in the a rent case which was supposed to be the focus of the hearing and a lot of time questioning Gerson about his political views. Gerson, who was Jewish, was a self-described Communist who, along with his wife, has been very critical of the American political and economic system. His boss, Borough President Isaacs was also Jewish but he was a leading member of the Republican Party.
1939: In defiance of the White Paper, 309 “illegal Jewish immigrants” landed on the “shores of Southern Palestine.” Before they were discovered by British troops, the group, including 74 women and 14 children were attacked by an armed mob of Arab villagers.
1940: Today is the last day on which Hans Rey would paint his illustrations on French soil.
1941: Birthdate of Nora Ephron. Born in New York to parents who were dramatists, Ephron attended Wellesley. She has been a novelist, screenwriter and director. Some of her hits include “Sleepless in Seattle
1941: The Palmach ("peluggot mahaz" - "assault companies") commando units were established by Yitzhak Sade as a defense from any Axis (Germany and Italy) attack on Eretz Israel. Later they assisted in planning and executing the dropping of Parachutists in occupied Europe . At its peak (November 1947) it had approximately 5000 members which were mainly responsible for capturing Safed and Tiberias as well helping to open the road to Jerusalem.
1943: Liberal Judaism, a new illustrated monthly journal of opinion and letters, has been issued by The Union of Hebrew Congregations, it was announced today. The cover of the first, or May, issue, published last Saturday, is dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, founder of Reform Judaism in the United States.
1943: Berlin was declared "Judenrein", Jew Free.
1943: In the House of Commons, the courageous Eleanor Rathbone attacked the British government for the defeatist attitudes expressed at the Bermuda Conference and noted that the Allies are responsible for the deaths of any Jews if they refuse to help.
1943: Ben Hecht’s “We Will Never Die”was performed at the Chicago Stadium, with guest stars John Garfield and Burgess Meredith in the lead roles. An estimated 20,000 people attended as the stadium, “scene of many a hectic convention and gaudy circus, was turned into a house of worship,” as the Chicago Daily News put it.[Jewish Virtual Library]
1944(26th of Iyyar, 5704): Jews deported from Paris to Kovno, Lithuania, are machine-gunned by guards in a fenced enclosure after some of the prisoners attack SS troops.
1944: The Germans transport Hungarian Jew Joel Brand to Turkey so he could deliver a proposal from Adolf Eichmann that would have required the Western Allies to exchange 10,000 trucks for one million Eastern European Jews. Eichmann called it "blood for trucks." Arrested by the British, Brand was sent to Lord Moyne (resident minister of state in the Middle East), who comments: "What shall I do with those million Jews?"
1944:Mel Mermelstein the man who would defeat the Institute for Historical Review in an American court and had the occurrence of gassings in Auschwitz during the Holocaust declared a legally incontestable fact was deported to Auschwitz along with the rest of the Jewish community of Munkacs, which was part of Czechoslovakia at that time.
1945(7thof Sivan, 5705): For the first time since VE Day, Yizkor is recited on the 2ndday of Shavuot.
1948: Israeli forces abandoned Bet ha-Aravah and the potash works on the northern end of the Dead Sea.
1948: The provisional government of Israel declared a state of emergency.
1948: As the undermanned and outgunned Israeli units sought to keep the Syrians and Iraqis from taking the Jordan Valley, a second raid, by a Yiftach company, crossed the Jordan and struck the Syrian camp at the Customs House, near the main Bnot Yaakov Bridge After a short battle, the Syrian defenders (one or two companies) fled. The Palmachniks destroyed the camp and several vehicles, including two armored cars, without losses.”
1948:The Iraqis, who were about to drive west through Nablus toward Tulkarm, “asked the Syrians to make a diversion in the Degania area to protect their right flank. The Syrians complied, their main objective being to seize the bridge across the river north of Degania Alef, thus blocking any Israeli attack from Tiberias against the Iraqi line of communications.”
1948: During the War for Independence Negev and the Arab Legion besieging Jerusalem Jerusalem Jerusalem
1948: The provisional government council of Israel proclaimed a state of emergency.
1948: "A tiny force of the Palmach took Mount Zion and broke through to the Jewish Quarter." The unit was forced to withdraw several hours later when reinforcements could not come to their aid.
1950(3rdof Sivan, 5710): Eighty year old “German-born rabbi, Jewish theologian, and philosopher of religion” Julius Guttman, the son of Rabbi Jakob Guttman who was serving Professor of Jewish Philosophy at Hebrew University passed away today.
1950(3rd of Sivan, 5710): The Aliyah of Iraqi Jews began. The first deportation of Eretz Yisrael Jews to Babylonia took place in 597 B.C.E. The bulk of Eretz Yisrael Jewry followed them to Babylonia 11 years later, in 568 B.C.E. The first return of some Babylonian Jews to Eretz Yisrael took place in 539 B.C.E. The majority, however, remained in Babylonia, where they were destined eventually to make a major contribution to Judaism through the creation of the “Babylonian Talmud” and the “Geonic Responsa.” It was not until 1951, 2,548 years after the arrival of the first Jewish deportees in Babylonia, that this ancient Jewish community began its own liquidation through an Aliyahto Israel.
1951(13th of Iyar, 5711): David Remez passed away. Born David Drabkin in Russia in May of 1886, he made Aliyah in 191. Trained as a lawyer and teacher, he worked as field hand on several agricultural settlements. A founding member of Mapai and a leader of Histadrut, he was a true founding father as one of the signatories to Israel’s Declaration of Independence. He was the first Minister of Transportation and was serving as Minister of Education at the time of his death.
1951: Menachem Cohen became an MK replacing the deceased David Remez.
1953(5th of Sivan, 5713): Erev Shavuot
1953:A call went to 3,750 Jewish communities throughout the country, to assure the successful financing this summer of the most important agricultural development program to be launched in Israel since the establishment of the state, was issued here today by the United Jewish Appeal on the eve of Shavuos, the Festival of Pentecost, which in the ancient days celebrated the appearance of the first fruits of summer.The appeal was made by Rabbi Jonah B. Wise, a national chairman of the UJA. "There can be no greater observance of this ancient festival commemorating Jewish attachment to the soil than support of the United Jewish Appeals current special effort to help Israel achieve agricultural self-sufficiency and maturity." he said.Rabbi Wise called specific attention to a special emergency drive for $25,000,000 in cash launched by the UJA for a five-week period beginning May 1. The cash fund is being sought for establishment in Israel by the end of June of 36 new agricultural settlements, for the immediate channeling to the new colonies of large, recently-discovered water sources, and for speeding a rise in the productivity both of the soil and those newly placed on it as immigrant farmers.
1954: Nicholas Winton, a Briton who organized the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish children from German-occupied Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War relinquished his commission of “flying officer” in the RAF while retaining the rank of “flight lieutenant.”
1959: As reported in today’s New York Times, Richard Tucker was among those who appeared at the “Puccini Night” open air concert at Lewisohn Stadium in New York City. The stadium was named in honor of Adolph Lewisohn, the German-Jewish banker who donated the money to pay for its construction.
1962: Birthdate of French journalist and musician Ariel Wizman the Sephardic Jew from Casablanca, Morocco.
1966: The emblem for the Israeli town of Arad, a square with a hill and a flame, was adopted today.
1969: Palestinian terrorists from Jordan bombard the Musa Alami School near Jericho.
1972(6th of Sivan, 5732): Shavuot
1972: The Bernard M. Baruch College of the City University of New York scheduled final exams today. It was the only college in the system to do so. (The exams would be moved to May 30 after a major protest led by Hillel, the ADL and other major Jewish organizations.)
1974(27th of Iyar, 5734): Sandy Sasso wasordained as the first female Reconstructionist rabbi by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia
1975: The New Yorker published “The New York Review of Gossip” by Marshall Brickman.
1977:A bi-national foundation, designed to promote joint industrial research and development between the United States and Israel was established in Washington today at a formal ceremony between Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs C. Fred Bergsten and Israeli Ambassador Simcha Dinitz. The move to establish the Bi-national Industrial Research and Development Foundation, followed President Carter's signing into law Congressional legislation which stipulated that Israel and the U.S. would each contribute $30 million to create an endowment to promote activities of mutual interest and benefit to both countries. An agreement for the project was signed in Jerusalem March 3, 1976. The Joint Israel-American Committee for Investment and Trade, whose objective is to foster economic ties, initiated the project which is expected to provide direct mutual economic gains such as the development and participation in new external markets and increase the flow of materials and services between the two countries. According to a spokesman for the Government of Israel Investment Authority, which is headquartered in New York, the Foundation "is the first of its kind established between the United States and another country." For a project to be supported by the Foundation it must show promise of tangible direct benefits to the national economies of both countries, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Treasury Department. The Foundation will be governed by a board consisting of three officials of each government (JTA)
1980: Time magazine reported today that “Died: Arthur Levitt, 79, New York State comptroller from 1955 to 1978, whose nonpartisan dedication, thrift with public funds and relentless criticism of fiscal chicanery endeared him to voters, who returned him to office five times with huge majorities; in New York City. A Brooklyn lawyer and nominal Democrat, Levitt served under four Governors, tightening the state's auditing procedures, including "performance audits" of state agencies, and eventually giving his office prestige and power virtually beyond politics.”
1981: Former Finance Minister Yigal Hurvitz joins Moshe Dayan's Telem party.
1983(7thof Sivan, 5743): Second Day of Shavuot, Yizkor
1985(28thof Iyar, 5745): Yom Yerushalayim
1985: Two famous Jewish men of letters are joined together in Harold Bloom’s review of Zuckerman Bound by Philip Roth
1988: Shimon Peres is scheduled to address commencement ceremonies at the Jewish Theological Seminary this afternoon.
1989(14th of Iyar, 5749): Dr. Abel J Herzberg passed away. Dr. Abel J. Herzberg was a lawyer in Amsterdam Bergen-Belsen in January 1944 and, as a Zionist, he was put on the list of 1300 Jews who were available to be sent to Palestine Amsterdam Bergen-Belsen . It appeared in English under the title, “Between Two Streams: A Diary From Bergen-Belsen.”
1989: Morton Isaac Abramowitz completed his term as Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research which left him free to accept appointment as U.S. Ambassador to Turkey.
1993(28thof Iyar, 5763): Yom Yerushalayim
1996(1st of Sivan, 5756): Rosh Chodesh Sivan
1997: David Blaine's first television special, David Blaine: Street Magic aired on then NBC
1999: Conductor Yakov Kreizberg made his debut appearance with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
2000: In U.K., release date for “One Day in September,” a documentary that examined the murder of the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
2002: In The Observer Michael Sfard the lawyerrepresenting Israeli conscripts who refuse to serve beyond the 1967 ceasefire lines explains why a growing number of soldiers are disobeying orders, in order to protect the basic values on which Israel was founded.
2002(8thof Sivan, 5762):Yosef Haviv, 70, Victor Tatrinov, 63, and Arkady Vieselman, 40, all of Netanya, were killed and 59 people were injured - 10 seriously - when a suicide bomber, disguised as a soldier, blew himself up in the market in Netanya. Both Hamas and the PFLP took responsibility for the attack. “Viselman, a chef at the Park Hotel had survived the Passover bombing” that had taken place in March.
2003: Forensic experts said today that the second terrorist who had participated in the bombing of Mike’s Place had met death by drowning. Hamas and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades who had claimed joint responsibility for the murderous attack identified the terrorist and his compatriot as being Muslims from Great Britain.
2004(28th of Iyar, 5764): Yom Yerushalayim - Jerusalem Day - is the anniversary of the liberation and unification of Jerusalem under Jewish sovereignty that occurred during the Six Day War. Yom Yerushalayim is celebrated on the 28th of the month of Iyar(one week before Shavuot). In 2004 Iyar 28 corresponds to May 19 on the secular calendar.
2005(10th of Iyar, 5765): Steven Budeysky, a member of the U.S. Army’s 105th Military Intelligence Battalion was killed today while serving in Iraq. “Budeysky was born in Moldova in the former Soviet Union and went on to learn English as part of a singing group that toured Europe. When Budeysky was 12 years old, he and his family immigrated to the United States, settling in Chicago, where he attended Ida Crown Jewish Academy. He was also known as Baruch or Boris to his friends. A 2001 graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in economics and history, Budeysky was pursuing a graduate degree in political science from Troy University when he enlisted in the Army in 2002.” (As reported by Forwards)
2006:The Jewish Chroniclerevealed that the Claims Conference highest-paid official, executive vice-president Gideon Taylor was awarded $437,811 (£240,000) in salary and pension (2004 numbers). An advisor to British survivors in compensation claims in the 1990s, Dr Pinto-Duschinsky, commented: "It is wrong for the executive vice-president to earn annually the same as the compensation for several hundred former slave laborers. The moral authority of the leading Jewish organizations is gravely weakened by excessively high salaries for top officials."
2006: “Long, long ago, when basketball was kosher” an article published in Haaretz today described a gathering of about 125 Yeshiva University (YU) alumni and friends at the school's Jerusalem campus for a nostalgic evening with "The YU Dream Team of the 1950s" - six former basketball players from New York City who later immigrated to Israel.
2006(21st of Iyar, 5766): Yitzhak Ben-Aharon,the last founding giant of Israel’s left wing, died two months short of his 100th birthday. A controversial figure on the Israeli political scene, he was one of the first to call for the return of all territories occupied by Israel in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war, and reached the peak of his career as secretary-general of the Histadrut, Israel’s trade union federation.
2007:After a two-month tryout at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, a London revival of “Fiddler on the Roof” opened today at the Savoy Theatre starring Henry Goodman as Tevye, Beverley Klein as Golde, Alexandra Silber as Hodel, Damian Humbley as Perchik and Victor McGuire as Lazar Wolf. The production was directed by Lindsay Posner. Robbins' choreography was recreated by Sammy Dallas Bayes (who did the same for the 1990 Broadway revival), with additional choreography by Kate Flatt.
2007: After 13 performances at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Felicja Blumental International Music Festival comes to a close.
2008: At the Israel Museum opening of an exhibition entitled “Swords into Plowshares
The Isaiah Scroll and Its Message of Peace.” On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel, theIsrael Museum
The Isaiah Scroll and Its Message of Peace.” On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel, the
2008: At the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York
2008 (5768): Pesach Sheini
2009: Time magazine reports on the recent passing of “Jewish boxer Salamo Arouch” at the age of 86. Arouch survived the Holocaust by winning boxing matches staged by the guards at Auschwitz. “He was the subject of the film ‘Triumph of the Spirit’ starring Willem Dafoe.”
2009: At Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C.,children's author Amy Krouse Rosenthal reads from and discusses her new picture book, “Duck! Rabbit!”
2009:Rivka Galchen discusses her debut novel, “Atmospheric Disturbances,” in conversation with Ron Charles, Book World's deputy editor, as part of the Nextbook series at the D.C. Jewish Community Center.
2009:Today the Edinburgh International Film Festival returned a 300-pound grant from the Israeli embassy, after bowing to pressure from director Ken Loach. The grant was intended to enable Tel Aviv University graduate Tali Shalom Ezer to travel to Scotland for a screening of her film, Surrogate. Ezer's film is a romance set in a sex-therapy clinic, and makes no reference to war or politics. It recently won the award for best film at an international women's film festival in Israel
2009:This evening, Israel Air Force (IAF) jets attacked targets throughout Gaza after a woman was lightly injured from a rocket explosion in Sderot.
2009(15th of Iyar, 5769): Shlomo Shamir whose life reads like something out a James Bond novel, passed away. Born Shlomo Rabinowitch in Russia in 1915, he made aliyah ten years later. He was an active member of the Haganah from 1929 until 1940 when he joined the RAF and rose to the rank of major before his discharge in 1946. During the War of Independence he played a key role in the fighting around Latrun and the creation of the Burma Road. After the war, he served as the 3rd commander of the Israeli Navy and the 3rd commander of the Israeli Air Force. After leaving the military he graduated from Tel Aviv University and Harvard. He was an entrepreneur who developed several successful businesses.
2009: Ninety year old Sheikh Jabr Muadi, a Druze Israeli politician who served in the Knesset from 1951 to 1981 passed away today.
2010(6th of Sivan, 5770): First day of Shavuot
2010(6th of Sivan, 5770):At Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, IA, Melanie Abzug, Miriam Maikon and Sam Sarasin are scheduled to Confirmed during Evening Shavuot Services.
2010(6th of Sivan, 5770): Martin Cohan, 77, who co-created the ABC sitcom "Who's the Boss?" and was a prolific TV writer and producer, died today at his home in Pacific Palisades after a two-year battle with large-cell lymphoma, his family announced. Cohan and his business partner, Blake Hunter, created the sitcom starring Tony Danza and Judith Light, which ran from 1984 to 1992. The two men also served as creative consultants for a British version of the TV show called "The Upper Hand," which debuted in 1990 and ran for seven seasons. Besides his work as executive producer and writer for "Boss," Cohan wrote hundreds of scripts for such popular TV series as "The Bob Newhart Show,""Diff'rent Strokes,"" Mary Tyler Moore" and "Silver Spoons." Born July 4, 1932, in San Francisco, Cohan graduated from Stanford University in 1955 after studying theater arts. He found work as a stage manager and assistant director at ABC Television, his family said. He got his break on "Mary Tyler Moore" as an assistant director in 1971 and won a Writers Guild of America award in 1972 for best comedy episode. He went on to write, direct and produce for "The Bob Newhart Show."
2010: The Washington Postreviewed Jules Feiffer's account of his multifaceted career which will delight that generation of readers for whom his whimsical, sardonic and often politically barbed Village Voice cartoons were a cultural touchstone. Those whose understanding of Feiffer's achievements is not enhanced by the warm glow of nostalgia, however, may have less patience with this shambling, highly episodic book. “Backing Into Forward” starts with the author's account of growing up urban and Jewish, complete with a domineering mother and raging adolescent hormones. This back story has the ill fortune of sounding remarkably similar to that of Feiffer's friend Philip Roth: not a face-off that Feiffer -- or anyone else -- is likely to win. Feiffer is an energetic storyteller, but structurally the book is so haphazard that it's often hard to keep track of where we are in the arc of the artist's career. Feiffer wins points, though, for the acuity of his insights on the craft of cartooning. He's also remarkably modest. He repeatedly speaks of encounters with Marlene Dietrich, Lauren Bacall, George Plimpton and many others with a fan's sense of awe and good fortune
2010: “The Frozen Rabbi” by Steve Stern is among the books briefly reviewed in today’s “Newly Released” Column.
2011:The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington is scheduled to honor Dennis Berman, The Kramer Family and Esther B. Newman at tonight’s annual fundraising dinner in Potomac, MD.
2011: Ed Goldberg and the Odessa Klezmer Band are scheduled to perform at the Marlboro branch of the Monmouth County (NJ) Library.
2011: The Second Annual Atlanta Jewish Music Festival is scheduled to take place at Eddie’s Attic in Decatur, GA.
2011:“A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs, 1910-65” a “colorful new exhibition that celebrates the many Jewish composers of the American Songbook and their great contribution to American popular culture including Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein is scheduled to open today at The Bainbridge Library in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
2011: The Center for Jewish History and Leo Baeck Institute are scheduled to present “Follow the Fugue” a concert featuring the Phoenix Chamber Ensemble.
2011: Prosecutors announced today that a grand jury had indicted Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn on charges related to the alleged sexual assault of a hotel housekeeper at the Sofitel New York.
2011: A judge granted Dominique Strauss-Kahn bail today, allowing the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund to be freed from Rikers Island to stay in a Manhattan apartment while his sexual assault case is pending.
2011:Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today Israel would object to any withdrawal to "indefensible" borders, adding he expected Washington to allow it to keep major settlement blocs in any peace deal.
2011:Lars von Trier was expelled from the Cannes Film Festival today, a day after joking at a news conference that he was a Nazi and expressing sympathy for Hitler. The Danish director’s film “Melancholia” is in competition at the festival and seen as a contender for the top prize. (As reported by Melena Ryzik)
2011:Swiss producer Arthur Cohn, a six-time Oscar winner, was honored for his body of work by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.Cohn’s grandfather the chief rabbi of Basel. He invited Theodor Herzl to hold the first Zionist Congress there after rabbis elsewhere objected.
2012: In Springfield, VA, Congregation Ada Reyim is scheduled to present “A Night of Magic and More.”
2012: As part of the Ahavat Yisrael Weekend, Moshav is schedule to perform at Adas Israel in Washington, DC.
2012: In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the family and many friends of Amy Barnum have a chance to celebrate her birthday. An ayshish chayil she has raised three marvelous daughters, provided leadership for Temple Judah and Hadassah and is the glue for the annual traditional High Holiday services. “Her children (and everybody else) call her blessed.”
2012:Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg updated his status to "married" today.
2013: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker and the recently released paperback edition of The Price of Inequality by Joseph Stiglitz
2013: The Alexandria Kleztet is scheduled to perform for the Jewish Community Association at Riderwood Village in Silver Spring, MD.
2013: David Senesh, the nephew Hannah Senesh is scheduled to Dr. Louis D. Levine in a talk about the brave young Jewish poet and paratrooper and whose life and work are being honored at the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie with an exhibition “Fire In My Heart.”
2013: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to sponsor a walking tour of Downtown Jewish Washington which will give participants a chance to experience the neighborhood along Seventh Street, NW as it was from 1850 to 1950.
2013: In Little Rock, AR, the friends and family of Rabbi PInchus and Estie Ciment are scheduled to gather to celebrate the Bat Mitzvah of their daughter Zissie. The Ciments are the quintessential “lamplighters” who have brought the light of Chabad Lubavtich to the Arkansas Jewish Community.
2013: Israel will go ahead with its candidacy for an unprecedented seat on the UN Security Council in 2019 despite Germany’s determination to run against it, diplomatic officials told The Jerusalem Post today
2013: Iran’s state radio says authorities have executed two men convicted of spying for Israel’s Mossad and the American CIA spy agency. Today’s report says Mohammad Heidari, who was accused of providing Mossad with classified information in return of money, and Kourosh Ahmadi, who allegedly gave the CIA intelligence on Iran, were hanged.
2013:“With Wheelchair and Lively Baton, Levine Commands Carnegie Hall” published today described the return of the famous conductor.
2013: Damascus has put a number of advanced weapons on standby to strike Israel, should Jerusalem hit targets inside Syria again, the UK’s Sunday Timesreported. According to the report, satellite images show Syria has readied its stock of Tishreen missiles for use against Tel Aviv
2014: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to “host a special preview screening of Watchers of the Sky, the Sundance Film Festival award-winning documentary that uncovers the forgotten life of Raphael Lemkin who coined the term “genocide” and campaigned for international laws that would prevent and punish this crime against humanity.”
2014: On the second day of the Jerusalem International Writers Festival Ayelet Waldman and Lihi Lapid are scheduled to participant in discussion entitled “Bad Mother-Good Mother.” (As reported by David B. Green)
2014: “In Honor of Jewish American History Month,” Marvin Kalb is scheduled to moderate a panel discussion with Martin Goldsmith and Dr. Diane Afoumado “Voyage of the St. Louis” marking the 75th anniversary of “of the sailing of the SS St. Louis, ‘the saddest ship afloat.’”
2014: At the Library of Congress, Sanford Sternlicht, Emeritus English Professor at Syracuse University, is scheduled to discuss his book, The Tenement Saga: The Lower East Side and Early Jewish-American Writers.