JUNE 12
816: Leo III, the Pope whose aggressive plan to crown Charlemagne gave the Jews of the Rhineland a comparatively benign ruler, passed away today.
1240: Nicholas Donin, a renegade Jew under the patronage of Louis IX, convinced Pope Gregory IX to confiscate the Talmud on the grounds that it was anti-Christian. A debate ensued with Rabbi Yechiel ben Yosef of Paris and three other Rabbis speaking in defense of the Talmud. Yechiel ben Yosef of Paris was a major Talmudic scholar and Tosafist from northern France, father-in-law of Isaac ben Joseph of Corbeil. He was a disciple of Rabbi Judah Messer Leon, and succeeded him in 1225 as head of the Yeshiva of Paris, which then boasted some 300 students; his best known student was Meir of Rothenburg. But even a scholar like Rabbi Yechiel could prevail since he was not allowed to counterattack or take the offensive in his argument making the outcome a foregone conclusion. Ultimately 24 carriages loaded with Jewish books including all of the available copies of the Talmud were burned. Rabbi Yechiel eventually left France and in 1260 the rabbi arrived in Eretz Yisroel (Land of Israel) along with his son and a large group of followers, settling in Acre. There he established the Talmudic academy Midrash haGadol d'Paris. He is believed to have died there between 1265 and 1268, and is buried near Haifa, at Mount Carmel.
1519: Birthdate of Cosimo de’ Medici whose reign was “originally beneficial for the Jews as can be seen by his issuance in 1551of “an invitation to merchants from the Levant, including Jews, to settle in Tuscany and do business there; previously; giving asylum to refugees from the Papal State; and his refusal “to implement the anti-Jewish restrictions issued by Pope *Paul IV or to hand over the Jews to the jurisdiction of the Inquisition.” But when he wished to gain the favor of the Pope he burned the Talmud and he “rigorously applied to the obligation to wear the Jewish badge.” (Jewish Virtual Library)
1648(22ndof Sivan, 5408): Rabbi Yechiel Michael ben Eliezer, the head of the Jewish community in Nemirov was clubbed to death before his mother’s eyes during the Chmielnicki Uprising, the worst massacre of Jews until the Holocaust.
1665: The English rename New Amsterdam, New York. England had gained control of the colony as a result of winning the war with the Dutch. Ironically, Peter Stuyvesant the Dutch governor who had tried to keep the Jews out in 1654 had to leave the colony while the Jewish settlers got to stay.
1713:: “Only a few weeks after the beginning of his reign,” Frederick William I, “appointed Moses Leven Gumperts of the famous Gumperts family of Cleves as Chief Court and Army Factor.
1720: Birthdate of Isaac Pinto, translator of the first Jewish prayer book published in America Israel New York America New York City New York Yale College New York
1755: Immanuel Kant, the German philosopher who had many Jewish friends and “believed that that Judaism is concerned only with things of this world, and lacks any formulation of the concept of immortality” received his Ph.D. today. (Jewish Virtual Library)
1773: Birthdate of Amschel Mayer Rothschild “the second child and eldest son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, the founder of the dynasty, and Gutlé Rothschild née Schnapper.
1776: The Virginia Convention of Delegates unanimously adopted The Virginia Declaration of Rights which includes Article 16 that states,“That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator and the manner of discharging it, can be directed by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience;” The declaration was drafted by founding father George Mason.
1777(7thof Sivan, 5537): Second Day of Shavuot
1782(30thof Sivan, 5542): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1796(6thof Sivan, 5556): Shavuot is observed for the last time under the Presidency of George Washington.
1796: Birthdate of George Bush “an American biblical scholar, pastor, abolitionist and Christian Restorationist academic” who was an early American supporter of the creation of a Jewish state of Israel. “In 1844 Bush published a book entitled ‘The Valley of Vision; or, The Dry Bones of Israel Revived.’ In it he denounced “the thralldom and oppression which has so long ground them (the Jews) to the dust,” and called for ‘elevating’ the Jews ‘to a rank of honorable repute among the nations of the earth’ by re-creating the Jewish State in the land of Israel. This, according to Bush, would benefit not only the Jews, but all of mankind, forming a ‘link of communication’ between humanity and God. ‘It will blaze in notoriety...It will flash a splendid demonstration upon all kindreds and tongues of the truth.’”
1799: Rabbi Abraham Azuby officiated at the wedding of Phillip Cohen and Eleanor Moses, the daughter of the later Myer Moses, a successful Charleston SC merchant.
1830: The French begin their colonization of Algeria Algiers
1832: Rabbi Aaron Worms was unanimously elected chief rabbi of Metz.
1847(28thof Sivan, 5607): Sixty-six year old philanthropist Abraham Muhr who fought for the full emancipation of German Jews passed away today.
1856: An article entitled “Slidell, Blemont and Buchanan” described the role of “Auguste Belmont, the Austrian Jew” who was John Slidell’s nephew by marriage in a conspiracy to nominate James Buchanan as President of the United States. Belmont was described as an “agent of the Rothschilds.”
1859: The Comstock Lode was discovered near Virginia City , Nevada Comstock Lode was Adolph Sutro. Sutro was not the run of the mill prospector. Rather he was “a self taught financier and mining engineer” who developed a new ore extraction process and built the Sutro Tunnel that was designed to provide ventilation for the miners, “ease the hauling of ore and drain water from the mines.” He sold Nevada San Francisco
1861: During the Civil War the Union began placing restrictions on trade with the Confederacy for those living in Paducah, KY. This was one of many attempts by the Union Army to deny the Rebels of many of the goods they could not produce for themselves. General Grant’s unfortunate order a year later was actually part of this larger attempt to cripple the Confederate Army by crippling the Southern economy. This is not meant to excuse Grant’s action but to put it into a larger context.
1862(14th of Sivan, 5622): Jacob Goodman, who had enlisted with Company D at Keokuk, Iowa, which became part of the 15th regiment died today. He had distinguished himself at the Battle of Corinth (Miss.) where he was fatally wounded.
1867: Following its defeat by Prussia, Austria reorganized itself into the Austro-Hungarian Empire and granted legal equality to Jews living with the new constituent states.
1870: The annual examination of students of the Hebrew Free Schools of New York took place today at Steinway Hall. Several hundred students from the schools which were established five years ago by the Hebrew Free School Association took part in this rigorous, yet fun-filled annual event. The students were quizzed by teachers from a cross section of the faculties. They displayed “considerable proficiency” in “their knowledge of the Hebrew language and of the primary branches of English education. Follow the exams, Alderman Henry Woltman addressed the attendees. At the end, the principal, Mr. J.C. Noot distributed prizes to some fifty of the more “meritorious pupils.
1872(6thof Sivan, 5632): Shavuot
1873:According to a report published today the Hebrew Orphan and Benevolent Society has received contributions totaling $65,075.21 for the year 1872-1873.
1874: According to a report published today the Hebrew and Benevolent Society received contributions totaling $70,688.26 for the 1873-1874 reporting year.
1876: George Richardson was fined ten dollars at the Tombs Police Court for having struck Louis Raminsky with enough force to cut the bearded Jew’s lip. Richardson struck Raminsky because he mistook him for a man named Rubinstein whom he identified as a “murder”.
1877: According to reports published today Jews living in Bucharest are petitioning Secretary Evarts for protection. "They are Russian and Austrians Hebrews, and comprise the very worst types of the race, refusing either to work or to pay taxes
1877(1st of Tammuz, 5637): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1878: A Coroner’s Inquest was held at the home of the late Lucien Levy to determine the cause of the death of the Jewish businessman who had died yesterday. Among those giving testimony were his widow and his brother Henry. After hearing all of the evidence, the coroner determined that the death was indeed a suicide and that no autopsy would be necessary.
1880(3rdof Tammuz, 5640): A Jewish child named Kate Ungerleider died at police headquarters in New York of whooping cough. Her father who was a member of the Simon Benevolent Society had abandoned Kate and her 3 siblings after their mother had eloped with one of his friends.
1881: It was reported today that no matter of foreign policy has attracted as much attention in England was “the horrible persecution of the Jews in Russia.” While several Jews are trying to get the government to aid their co-religionist, Baron Henry de Worms, the MP from Greenwich, who is not Jewish is leading the way in this manner. When Parliament is sitting, “not a night passes without” without putting one or more questions on this matter to the responsible government minister.
1882: “Jews Going of Russia” published today described the mass exodus of Jews seeking to escape the oppression of the Russian Empire and the measures being taken to deal with this in the West.
1882: Joseph Wolf and Meyer Morris, two Jewish refugees from Russia who had arrived in New York two weeks ago, were under arrest today on charges that they had attacked a member of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society when he did not comply with their latest demands.
1884(19thof Sivan, 5644): Eighty year old Rosa Gavay, passed away today at the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews today she had an accident on the elevator and fell to her death.
1884: At a time when many Jews were turning their backs on Hebrews, Protestants provided another example of their interest in the language when Reverend John M. Lansing was named to fill the newly created Gardner Sage Professorship of Hebrew at the Reformed Church in America’s seminary at New Brunswick, NJ.
1886: It was reported today that Rabbi James K. Gutheim passed away in New Orleans. At the time of his death he was the leader of Temple Sinai. From 1868 until 1872 he had been the “English reader” at Temple Emanu-El in New York. [Note – this was at a time when services were conducted in German] He was praised for his working to raise the level of education and health among all the people of the city regardless of their religious beliefs.
1887: Oscar Straus, the U.S. Minister to Turkey had his first audience with the Sultan
1887: It was reported today that “the officers and managers of the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children” are collecting funds so that, for the 9th year in a row, they can provide outings for poor and sick Jewish mothers and their children. Last year there were seven such outings which provided service to over ten thousand woman, children and infants. [These excursions were part of an effort in urban America to get youngsters out of the tenement districts for even a little while during the summer in the belief that fresh air would help their health.]
1890: Over 500 people attended the graduation exercises of The Hebrew Technical Institute that were held this afternoon at its facility on Stuyvesant Street
1890: As of today, the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children has received $4, 017.50.
1890: Currently the officers of the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children are Nathan Lewis, President; Hezekiah Kohn, Treasurer; Joseph Davis, Secretary.
1891(6thof Sivan, 5651): Shavuot
1891: “A Trusted Agent’s Theft” published today described Julio Merzbacher’s theft of between $300,000 and $500,000 from his former employer, New York Life Insurance Company.
1891: When Morris Vender was arraigned this morning in Newark, NJ on charges of non-support he claimed that he was divorced and produced a Hebrew language document to buttress his claim
1891: “New Hebrew Cemetery Dedicated” published today described the services led by Rabbi Bernard Drachman of Park East Synagogue dedicating the new cemetery on Long Island. Joseph Blumenthal, the President of the Mount Zion Association which owns the cemetery also spoke to the attendees.
1892: The closing exercisies of the Louis Down-Town Sabbath and Day School took place this afternoon at Temple Emanu-El during which Rabbi Gustave Gottheil “administered the Confirmation Rites” on the graduating students.
1893: “Monument to Moses Mehrbach” published today described the unveiling ceremony led by Rabbi Hirsch in the Hebrew section of Cypress Hills Cemetery of a granite monument in honor of Moses Mehrbach, of blessed memory who was a note philanthropist who served as a presidential elector for the Democrats in 1884 and 1888.
1893: Colonel Weber, who had served as Superintendent of Immigration and who had been in Europe studying “the character and habits of those intending to emigrate to the United States said today that “the Polish Jews would dull indeed if they did not take the expulsion of their coreligionists in Russia to heart.” The new decrees, which could increase immigration to the United States are aimed at the hitherto protected classes (protection cost 1,000 rubles) including doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects, artists and university of graduates.”
1893(28thof Sivan, 5653): The body of twenty-three year old Emanuel Weltman, a peddler living with his sister Mrs. Rosenbaum was found near High Bridge this morning.
1894: The Constitutional Convention’s subcommittee on Charities and Education visited several institutions today including Mt. Sinai Hospital and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum
1894: The Governor’s Tenement House Committee reportedly found that the Tenth Ward which is populated almost exclusively by Jews is in the worst condition of all wards because “its population is three times as dense as the most crowded quarter in London.” Some of the streets in the ward have taken on the characteristics “of European Juden Strassess and Ghettos.”
1894: Last will and testament of Dr. Benhard Grunhut which names Abraham Stern and William Ketcham as executors signed today.
1895: “New Publications” published today included a brief review of As Others Saw Him: A Retrospect, a novel about the life of Christ “given in the guise of letters from Meshulam Ben Zadok, a scribe of the Jews of Alexandria” written to a physician in Corinth.
1897: Birthdate of Anthony Eden. Eden Eden Eden Eden Suez Canal . Despite the success of the Israelis against the Egyptians, the whole project falls apart in the face of joint U.S.-Soviet support for Egypt Eden
1897: The 700 peasants working on the estate of Baron Daniel, the Hungarian Minister of Commerce attacked a Jewish farmer today. When four gendarmes were called to protect him the mob rush them, hacking at them with their scythes.
1897: The Columbia University, home of the “Temple Emanu-El Library of Biblical and rabbinical literature, numbering 3,500 books and pamphlets rich in medieval and modern Hebrew works” will be closed today for the first time in its history so that it can move into its new facility which will open in October.
1898: More than 100 pupils attended the closing exercises of the Religious School at Temple Rodeph Sholom this afternoon at 63rd Street and Lexington.
1899: As the Zionist movement begins to gain strength, officers of the Order of Knights of Zion in Chicago, “received official notification from the Jewish Colonial Bank of London” that it now has 100,000 shareholders.
1899: Birthdate of Fritz Albert LipmannAmerican biochemist and a co-discoverer in 1945 of coenzyme A. For this, together with other research on coenzyme A, he was awarded half the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1953.
1899: Birthdate of Usher Fellig who changed his name to Arthur Fellig after coming to the United States from Austria to fend off anti-Semitism. He is best known as Wegee the American photographer and photojournalist.
1901: Birthdate of Ben Welden, the native of Toledo, Ohio who carved out a career as a “character actor” – one of those faces you recognize but whose name you do not know who are critical to the success of movies and television shows which in his case included the classic mystery, “The Big Sleep.”
1902(7thof Sivan, 5662): Second Day of Shavuot
1903: Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity for Women (Alpha Chapter) was founded at the University School of Music in Ann Arbor, Michigan by seven women. Beverly Sills is one its many Laureates.
1912: A kosher kitchen was installed at Ellis Island for use by immigrants.
1913(7thof Sivan, 5673): Second Day of Shavuot
1916: Birthdate of Irwin Allen. Allen gained fame as a producer of disaster movied. Allen helped bring to the screen two of the most famous disaster films ever made – The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno. His name is now synonymous with the genre – a name that can also be spotted amongst the tombstones of late and great Jewish performers in LA’s Mount Sinai cemetery.
1917 The Ziegfeld Follies of 1917 featuring Eddie Cantor opened today.
1918: Birthdate of Samuel Z. Arkoff. Born in Iowa AIP . As a producer at AIP he perfected a formula for low budget films in a variety of genres including gangster, horror and "blaxploitation." His studios produced everything from "The Amityville Horror" to the series of beach party movies starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. He provided the training ground for a many famous directors including Brian De Palma, Martin Scorsese, and Fancis Ford Coppola, as well as such performers as Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, and Melanie Griffin. He died in 2001 and is buried in Mt. Sinai Cemetery California
1920: Birthdate of Dave Berg. Berg gained famed as a cartoonist for "Mad Magazine". He passed away in 2002.
1921(6thof Sivan, 5681): Shavuot
1923: Harry Houdini (Eric Weiss) freed himself from a straitjacket while suspended upside down forty feet above the ground in New York City.
1929: In Frankfort, Edith (Hollander) Frank and Otto Frank gave birth to Anne Frank, one of the most famous diarists in the history of Western civilization.
1929:Birthdate of Frank Lawrence "Lefty" Rosenthal, sports handicapper and a former Las Vegas casino executive who also hosted a television talk show in Las Vegas during the late 1970s. He passed away on October 13, 2008.
1931: Mickey Cohen fought and lost a match against World Featherweight Champion Tommy Paul, having been knocked out cold after 2:20 into the first round.
1932: Birthdate of novelist Rona Jaffe.
1935: Birthdate of Sanford Morton Gorssman, the frustrated sports broadcaster who “became an Emmy-winning director of National Football Games.” (As reported by Richard Sandomir)
1936(22ndof Sivan, 5696): After a short illness, sixty-two year old Austrian author Karl Kraus passed away today.
1938: Birthdate of French journalist and essayist Jean-Francois Kahn the brother of scientist Axel Kahn whose father was Jewish and mother was Catholic.
1939:Leonard Kaplan graduates from West Point. Leonard Kaplan served as a captain, a major, and upon leaving active duty in 1947, only eight years from graduation, he was a lieutenant colonel. While in the Army Reserves, he ultimately reached the rank of colonel. His service record included the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star with one oak leaf cluster, and a Purple Heart. During World War II he served as a battalion commander of one of the first amphibious units, serving in the South Pacific for33 months.
1939: Shooting begins on Paramount Pictures'“Dr. Cyclops, “the first horror film photographed in three-strip Technicolor. Paramount was dominated by two Jews: Adolph Zukor, the Chairman of the Board, and Barney Balaban, its President
1940: Margaret and Hans Reys arrive at Etampes having pedaled 18 kilometers from Paris. They find suitable lodging and spend the night
1941(17th of Sivan, 5701):Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss who worked for Murder Incorporated was executed at Sing Sing.
1941(17th of Sivan, 5701):Martin "Bugsy" Goldstein who worked for Murder Incorporated was executed at Sing Sing.
1942: Anne Frank received a diary on her thirteenth birthday.
1942: In Khmelnik, the Ukraine
1943: The Jewish community at Berezhany , Ukraine
1943 (9th of Sivan, 5703): In the Lódz (Poland) Ghetto, the chiefs of Jewish police are forced to witness Nazi executions of recaptured ghetto escapees: 23-year-old Hersch Fejgelis, 29-year-old Mordecai Standarowicz, and 31-year-old Abram Tandowski.
1943: Birthdate of sportscaster Marv Albert.
1944: In the weekly internal report of the War Refugee Board, it states that Ambassador MacVeagh in Cairo Greece
1944: The Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter was established in Oswego, New York by order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and was operated by the War Relocation Authority
1945(1stof Tammuz, 5705): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1946: Fifty-two of the officials and guards from the Flossenbürg concentration camp went on trial today.
1950: U.S. release of 1950 film noir “Panic In the Streets” produced by Sol C. Siegel, co-starring Zero Mostel with music by Alfred Newman.
1950: Birhdate of American journalist and author and Richard Ben Cramer.
1950:Eddie Cantor, his wife Ida and Mr. and Mrs. Yolanda Markson of Los Angeles arrived in Israel this morning on what was Mr. Cantor’s first visit to Israel. Among those greeting him at the airport was United States Ambassador to Israel, James G. McDonald. Cantor has raised over ten million dollars to support the Jewish state. He said that as a good American it was his duty to support the young democracy and that doing so was in the same spirit being shown by the United States in funding the Marshall Plan which was designed to support the democracies of Western Europe.
1951(8th of Sivan, 5711): An unnamed Israeli soldier was killed when he sought to stop Jordanian troops from crossing the border into Israel.
1952(19th of Sivan, 5712): Rabbi Henry Cohen who “served Congregation B'nai Israel in Galveston, Texas from 1888 to 1952” passed away. Born in 1863, Cohen played an integral role in the Galveston Movement. The Galveston Movement operated between 1907 and 1914 to divert Jews fleeing Russia and eastern Europe away from crowded East Coast cities. Ten thousand Jewish immigrants passed through Galveston, Texas during this era, approximately one-third the number who migrated to Palestine during the same period.”
1952: Michael von Faulhaber, the Roman Catholic Cardinal who while Archbishop of Munich in 1933 defended the Old Testament against the anti-Semitism of the Nazis and courageously declared: “God always punishes the tormentors of his Chosen People, the Jews.""No Roman Catholic approves of the persecutions of Jews in Germany."
1954: Kenneth Nichols, the General Manager of the Atomic Energy Commissioner recommended that Robert Oppenheimer's security clearance not be reinstated. In five "security findings," Nichols said that Oppenheimer was "a Communist in every sense except that he did not carry a party card," and that he "is not reliable or trustworthy." The commission agreed, and Oppenheimer was stripped of his security clearance
1955: Outfielder Al Silvera made his major league debut with the Cincinnati Reds.
1955: Comedian Buddy Hackett married Sherry Cohen.
1959(6thof Sivan, 5719): Shavuot
1961: Walworth Barbour presents his credentials as the United States Ambassador to Israel.
1962:David Ben-Gurion sends a letter to Eliezer Steinman, in which he writes, “Today, more than ever, the "religious" tend to relegate Judaism to observing dietary laws and preserving the Sabbath. This is considered religious reform. I prefer the Fifteenth Psalm, lovely are the psalms of Israel. The Shulchan Aruch is a product of our nation's life in the Exile. It was produced in the Exile, in conditions of Exile. A nation in the process of fulfilling its every task, physically and spiritually . . . must compose a "New Shulchan"--and our nation's intellectuals are required, in my opinion, to fulfill their responsibility in this.”
1963: Cleopatra, co-starring Elizabeth Taylor opened. During the filming of the this epic flic, Taylor, who had converted to Judaism and was married to Jewish crooner Eddie Fisher, began a torrid and public affair with her co-star Richard Burton. Burton Taylor
1965: After 540 performances a musical version of Budd Schulberg’s “What Makes Sammy Run?” closed at the 54th Street Theatre in New York.
1967: First Israeli ship sailed through Gulf of Eilat after the Six Days War. It was the closure of the Gulf of Eilat port of Eilat
1967: The INS Dolphin arrived at Eilat
1970(8thof Sivan, 5730): Sixty-six year old Israeli political leader Yisrael Barzilai passed away. Born in Poland in 1913, he made Aliyah in 1934. A member of the Knesset, he served in several ministerial positions included Minister of Postal Services and Minister of health. Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon was named in his honor.
1972(30th of Sivan, 5732): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1972(30th of Sivan, 5732): Saul David Alinsky radical, writer and social activist, passed away. Born in 1909, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Alinsky had a passion for justice that originated from his experience growing up in Chicago
1979: The Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life at the University of Connecticut in Storrs which was founded by the Board of Trustees in February of 1979, was formally launched at an Inaugural Program today when Nobel Laureate I.B. Singer addressed nearly 1,000 persons
1983(1stof Tammuz, 5743): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1983(1stof Tammuz, 5743): Academy award winning actress Norma Shearer who converted to Judaism when she married Irving Thalberg, passed away today. (As reported by Eric Pace)
1986: In an article entitled “The Jewish Freud,” Michael Ignatieff begins his review of “Freud’s Discovery of Psychoanalysis: The Politics of Hysteri”by William J. McGrath and “Freud and His Father”by Marianne Krull with the following story. “When Sigmund Freud was twelve and out walking with his father Jacob in the streets of Vienna, his father wanted to show his son how much better things had become for Jews since the days when he was a poor peddler wearing a beaver hat and a kaftan in the shtetls of Galicia. So he told his son about the time in Tysmenitz when a gentile had crossed his path on the pavement and had knocked his hat into the gutter jeering after him, 'Jew, get off the pavement.’”
1990: Moshe Arens completed his term as Foreign Minister.
1994(3rd of Tamuz, 5754): Ronald Goldman is murdered along with Nicole Brown Simpson. OJ Simpson was found not guilty in the criminal case. The civil trial turned out with just the opposite verdict.
1994 (3 Tammuz on the Jewish calendar): The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, passed away. Rabbi Schneerson, or simply "The Rebbe" as he was known by his followers and admirers, was the leader of the Lubavitch movement for decades. He is most famous for the outreach program that he began which reached Jews throughout the world. Thanks to his effort, it is almost impossible to go any place and not find a Chabad House. He sent "lamplighters" out into to the world to bring the light of Torah to Jews who were in darkness whether they were in Moscow , Morocco Little Rock , Arkansas
1997(7thof Sivan, 5757): Second Day of Shavuot
1998: In an article describing the history of Savannah, Georgia, reporter R.W. Apple, Jr. reminded his readers of the early Jewish connection to this colonial seaport. “Only five years after General Oglethorpe's arrival in 1733 to found the last of the original 13 colonies, a group of Jews landed here, and descendants of some of them, including Sheftalls and Minises, remain prominent in Savannah's economic and cultural life. Temple Mickve Israel United States America Savannah
2001(21stof Sivan, 5761): Sixty-nine year old “Amos Perlmutter, a Washington-based political scientist, author and commentator on Middle Eastern affairs” passed away today. (As reported by Wolfgang Saxon)
2001: In an article entitled ‘Anatomy of a Bagel” C. Claiborne asks “How many calories are in a plain, sesame or poppy seed bagel from a New York coffee shop? What are the ingredients and nutritional value?” and then provides the following answer: “Let us assume that you get the biggest plain, enriched bagel analyzed by the United States Department of Agriculture, 4 1/2 inches in diameter, weighing 110 grams, about 3.8 ounces. The ingredients -- flour, water, salt, yeast and malt, but no sugar, if it is a classic bagel -- are boiled and then baked. They add up to 302.5 calories, the U.S.D.A. says. On a standard nutrition facts label, the bagel would boast 1.76 grams of fat, no cholesterol, 587.4 milligrams of sodium, 111.1 milligrams of potassium, 58.74 grams of carbohydrate and 11.55 grams of protein. Vitamins and minerals include a significant amount of folate, 96.8 micrograms, from the enriched flour, but most are present in trace amounts. A bagel preserved with calcium propionate has more calcium than one without it: 81.4 milligrams, compared with 19.8 milligrams. Oddly, the U.S.D.A. does not differentiate among plain, onion, poppy seed and sesame bagels. Poppy seed, which the department considers a spice, not a food, would probably not add enough calories to make a weight watcher feel guilty. There are only about 15 calories in a teaspoonful, fewer than a spoon of sugar. Sesame seeds have perhaps 26 calories in a teaspoonful, figured at a sixth of an ounce, by volume.”
2003(12thof Sivan, 5763): Avner Maimon, 51, of Netanya, was found shot to death in his car near Yabed in northern Samaria. The Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack. (Jewish Virtual Library)
2004 Ehud Barak defeated Amir Peretz in his bid to be the leader of the Labor Party.
2005(5th of Sivan, 5765): Erev Shavuot
2005:Several families gather in the beit midrash at Milken Community High School in Los Angeles, where the they fulfill a commandment derived from Deuteronomy 31:19 by each writing a letter in Torah scroll that will lead to its completion.
2005: The Cedar Rapids Gazette reported that Marv Levy, former coach of the Buffalo Bills and Coe College graduate was the speaker Coe’s Alumni weekend. A 1950 graduate, Levy had excelled as a college athlete and student having earned a Phi Beta Kappa Key. His topic for the alumnae address was “So You Want to Write a Book.”
2005: The Chicago Tribune featured reviews of two books that examined the role of Jews in the military. “GI Jews: How World War II Changed a Generation” by Deborah Dash Moore examined the impact of military service on American Jews and the gentiles with whom they came in contact during the Second World War. “Company C; An American’s Life as a Citizen-Soldier in Israel” by Haim Watzman examines the impact of military service on Jews, the Jewish character and Israeli society based on his twenty years of service as an active duty soldier and reservist. The reviewer does an artful job of showing how these two books deal with similar issues from differing points on the experiential compass.
2005:The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Steinberg at The New Yorker” by Joel Smith and“Chaplin and Agee:The Untold Story of the Tramp, the Writer, and the Lost Screenplay”by John Wranovics
2006:JWA launches Katrina’s Jewish Voices, one of the first online collecting projects
2007: In Los Angeles
2007: The Jerusalem Post reported that “Eighty three percent of Jewish Israelis are satisfied or extremely satisfied with their lives, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics annual Social Survey 2006. Furthermore, more than half the population told researchers that they believed within the next few years, life in 2007: The Washington Post reported about the programming on Shalom TV, a Jewish oriented cable television channel that has expanded in to the Washington-Baltimore region. The network offerings include a kosher cook-off program, hip-hop entertainer Russell Simmons discussing anti-Semitism, Hebrew lessons Talmud study and the “Jewish Mr. Rogers.” Television targeting Jewish audiences certainly has come a long way since “Lamp unto my Feet.”
2007: News broke that two Bear Stearns hedge funds speculating in mortgage-backed securities were melting down. (This “was the precursor to the panics and collapses” that have led to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression which, when combined with activities of Bernard Madoff, have gutted or threatened the well-being of so many Jewish communal organizations)
2007(26th of Sivan, 5767): Ninety-eight year old Baron Guy de Rothschild passed away today in Paris. (As reported by Paul Lewis)
2008: Hazak Week of Study begins. Hazak is the United Synagogue's organization for Jews 55 and over.
2008: The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) will honor Mildred and George Weissman at its Israel Benefit Luncheon today. Shari Eshet, director of NCJW's Israel Office, will keynote the luncheon which is being held at the Jewish Museum in New York City
2008: “Waiting for the Barbarians” an opera in two acts composed by Philip Glass was performed today at the Barbican Center in London
2009: Mark Kurlansky, the author of “A Chosen Few,” discusses and signs his new book, “The Food of a Younger Land: A Portrait of American Food, Before the National Highway System, Before Chain Restaurants, and Before Frozen Food, When the Nation's Food Was Seasonal” at Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C.
2009: At Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Tessa Cohen, daughter of Terri and Brian Cohen, helps in leading Friday Night Shabbat Services as she begins the weekend that marks her Bat Mitzvah.
2009: The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. reopened to large crowds after having been closed on Thursday to honor the memory of Stepehn T. Johns, the guard murdered by a anti-Semitic white supremacist who had tried to shoot his way into the shrine on Wednesday.
2009: Opening of the Derfner Judaica Museum at Hebrew Home at Riverdale in the Bronx.
2010(30th of Sivan, 5770): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
2010:Golem with Girls In Trouble are scheduled to perform at the Washington Jewish Music Festival.
2010: The sitting of shivah by the family of Steve Averbach, who was injured thwarting an Arab terrorist attack, is scheduled to end this evening.
2011: The award winning duet "Dinner" by Israeli based Maya Stern and Tomer Sharabi is scheduled to be performed by Tomer Sharabi and Tal Kol on the fifth and final night of Contemporary Israel Dance Week.
2011:The Wisconsin Institute for Torah Study is scheduled to celebrate its 31st Anniversary and the Graduation of the WITS Class of 2011!
2011:Palestine Solidarity Group Chairman, Per Gahrton who was reportedly responsible for the segregation of the Israeli team at Malamo in 2009, is scheduled to deliver an address at the stadium where Israel will play Sweden in major international handball completion an hour after the speech.
2011: “I Married Wyatt Earp,” a musical based on the life Josephine Marcus is scheduled to have its final performance in New York. Marcus was the eccentric Jewish daughter of a successful San Francisco family who ran away from home and ended up performing in Tombstone, Arizona where she met and wed the famous lawman. It is because of Marcus that Earp is buried in a Jewish cemetery leading many to mistakenly assume that marshall who gained lasting fame at the OK Corral was Jewish.
2011: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “The Filter Bubble:What the Internet is Hiding From You” by Eli Pariser, “A Most Dangerous Book:Tacitus’s “Germania” From the Roman Empire to the Third Reich” by Christopher B. Krebs and “In the Garden of Beasts:Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin” by Erik Larson that is a biography of William E. Dodd, FDR’s first Ambassador to Hitler’s Germany.
2011: In a modern day story of David beating Goliath, Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat to win the NBA Championship.
2011:It was announced that Leonid Borisovich Nevzlin had purchased a 20% stake in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, for NIS 140m. Nevzlin's acquisition leaves the Schocken family with a 60 percent stake in the company
2011(10th of Sivan, 5771): Sixty-one year old Laura Ziskin, the American film producer who helped gives Pretty Woman and Spider Man, passed away. (As reported by Aljean Harmetz)
2011(10th of Sivan, 5771): Eighty-one year old Alan L. Haberman, the man who played a key role in popularizing the now ubiquitous bar code passed away. (As reported by Margalit Fox)
2012: “Off-White Lies” (Orhim le-Rega) is scheduled to be shown tonight at the JCC in Manhattan
2012:“The High Court justices who recommended state support for non-Orthodox rabbis had conflicts of interest, Religious Services Minister Ya’acov Margi charged today.”
2012: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to sponsor “A Centennial Celebration of the First Jewish Aviator” honoring Arthur “Al” Walsh.
2012:Aided by Orthodox, City’s Jewish Population Is Growing Again published today described the changing face of the Big Apple’s demographics.
2012: The Foreign Ministry announced today that Russian President Putin is planning to make a visit to Israel this year, although an exact date has not been set.
2012:Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said today that Israel has an obligation to remember the murder of more than a million Armenians at the hands of the Turks nearly a hundred years ago, but warned that the issue should not be turned into an attack on the Turkish government of today. The Knesset speaker made the comments at a Knesset discussion of the Armenian genocide. (As reported by Gil Hoffman)
2012: According to Joseph Berger, “After decades of decline, the Jewish population of New York City is growing again, increasing to nearly 1.1 million, fueled by the “explosive” growth of the Hasidic and other Orthodox communities, a new study has found. It is a trend that is challenging long-held notions about the group’s cultural identity and revealing widening gaps on politics, education, wealth and religious observance.
2012: “Speaking to the Haves, in a Plea to Consider All the Have-Nots” includes a review of End This Depression Now! by Paul Krugman.
2012: Seventy eight year old Elinor Ostrom, whose father was Jewish and is, as of this date the only woman to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science, passed away today. (As reported by Catherine Rampell)
2013: “Wit’s End: The Satirical Cartoons of Stephen Roth featuring the works of the “Czech Jewish artist whose cartoons lampooned fascist dictators and put a wry spin on political events during the Second World War” is scheduled to come to an end at the Wiener Library in London, UK.
2013: The American Jewish Historical Society and Yeshiva University are scheduled to present a Curator’s Tour of “Passages Through the Fire: Jews and the Civil War.”
2013(4th of Tammuz): Yahrzeit of Rabbi Jacob Ben Meir Tam, the grandson of Rashi.
2013: In “Born Again” Nicole Krauss reminiscesYoram Kaniuk , of blessed memory..
2013: Traces of the crippling polio virus, discovered last week in Beersheba and Rahat, were found today in the sewers of Kiryat Gat and Ashdod as well. The Ministry of Health believes that the traces originated in the Bedouin village of Rahat. (As reported by Adiv Sterman & Stuart Winer)
2013: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yoday that Israel sought a “historic compromise” with the Palestinians to end the conflict “once and for all” and was ready to enter negotiations “without preconditions [and] without delay.”
2014: “A visitor’s center telling the story of the Eldridge Street Synagogue telling the s tory of the congregation and its place in its Baltimore neighborhood” is scheduled to open today. (As reported by Hillel Kuttler)
2014: The Israeli Film Center Festival is scheduled to open at the JCC of Manhattan with a showing of “Operation Sunflower.”
2014: In London, the Weiner Library is scheduled to host “Karl Kraus's The Last Days of Mankind as a German-Jewish Tragi-Comedy.”
2014: The Lower East Side Film Festival is scheduled to open with a showing of “Sturgeon Queens.”