JUNE 15
1215: King John of England puts his seal to the Magna Carta. The Great Charter which is supposed to be one of the cornerstones of English and American rights contains the following reference to the Jews: “If anyone who borrowed from the Jews any amount, large or small, dies before the debt is repaid, it shall not carry interest as long s the heir is under age, of whomsoever he holds; and if that debt falls in our hands [i.e., the king’s hands, following the Jewish creditor’s own demise], we will take nothing except the principal sum specified in the bond.” King John and the Barons both saw the Jews as a source of revenue to be used and abused.
1226: Twelve Jews of Cologne martyred
1389: Murad I, the Ottoman Sultan whose reign began in 1362, allowed Jews fleeing from persecution in Hungary to settle in Thrace and Anatolia which were part of his empire. On the same day, the forces of Murad fought the Serbs in the Battle of Kosovo, a battle that would be a rallying point for Serbs in the Balkan battles of the 1990’s
1520: Leo X issued the papal encyclical 'Exsurge Domine,' which condemned German Reformer Martin Luther as a heretic on 41 counts and branded him an enemy of the Roman Catholic Church. This moved heightened the tensions between Rome Europe into Protestant and Roman Catholic states. This conflict would lead to the Hundred Years War. Too often, the Jews would be innocent bystanders in this Christian conflict that would turn them into victims. Much of the treatment of the Jews in Christian Europe can only be understood if it is seen against the backdrop of this theocratic conflict.
1567: Jews of Genoa
1580: Phillip II of Spain declares William I, Prince of Orange, to be an outlaw. William led the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that started the Eighty Years War, which ended in 1648 with recognition of the independence of the United Provinces (aka The Netherlands). The Netherlands were Protestant and they provided a refuge for the Jews of Europe including those fleeing the Spanish Inquisition begun by Phillip’s predecessors and continued by his successors.
1623: Cornelis de Witt was killed by an angry mob from the monarchist, Orangist-Calvinist faction. De Witt and his brother had admired the works of Spinoza. News of his death was quite disturbing for Spinoza since it could presage the rise of a conservative faction that would not be tolerant of unconventional thinkers like himself.
1798(1stof Tammuz, 5558): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1826: Sultan Mahmud II destroyed the Janissary soldiers as part of his reforms for his empire. This was said to be a "great boon" for the Jews, who were often harassed by these soldiers.
1815: Birthdate of Rudolph Carl Hertzog, the father of Louis Rudolph Hertzog and the grandfather Rudolph Hertzog who in 1839 founded the famous Berlin department store that bore his name - Rudolph Hertzog
1833: Birthdate of Theodor Hermann Meynert, the non-Jewish psychiatrist whose students included Josef Breuer and Sigmund Frued.
1834: In what will be the first of three days of violence, “members of the local Arab population gathered to attack Tzfat’s Jewish community. Jewish property was plundered, as Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues were burnt to the ground. Jewish women were tortured and raped. Many Jews were murdered or maimed.” Tzfat is the town in Israel famous for its connection with Jewish mystics. It is "the home of Lecha Dodi" the hymn used to welcome the Sabbath Queen. [This was not an isolated episode. Ever since the 16th century the town which is also called Safed, became a major Jewish center it was subject to
1835: Birthdate of Adah Isaacs Menken, American actress and poet. Adah Menken’s true religious origins are controversial. Born in Louisiana New Orleans Cincinnati America Paris III sent his personal physician to care for her. Yet today, she is a less than a footnote in history. She passed away at the age of 33 in 1868.
1836: Arkansas is admitted as the 25th state to join the Union. There were only a handful of Jews living in the land of the Razorbacks. Probably the first Jew to live in the state was Captain Abraham Block who moved there in the 1820’s with his family of seven and became a prominent merchant who proudly maintained his Jewish identity. For more about the small, but vibrant Arkansas Jewish community see A Corner of the Tapestry: A History of the Jewish Experience in Arkansas, 1820s-1990s by Carolyn Gray LeMaster.
1847:In a discussing the matter of Jewish emancipation Otto Von Bismarck said today that Prussia was indeed a Christian state and that Jews could not expect equality within it. They could only hold a subordinate position. That might not be perfectly Christian, but admitting the Jews into Prussia would not make Prussia itself more Christian. What the Jews most wanted, he said was to become military and civilian officers of the state and that was quite out of the question.
1864: A portion of the lands surrounding the Custis-Lee Mansion Potomac River from Washington Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery Union and about half that number fought on the side of the Confederacy. Five Union Civil War Veterans are buried in Section Thirteen. Two Rabbis who served as chaplains buried at Arlington Burma Arlington Palestine
1870: It was reported today that the review of Disraeli’s latest novel Lothairthat appeared in Blackwood goes beyond the bounds of a literary critique and takes on the tone of polemic that attacks the British statesman personally taking special pains to mockingly refer to his Jewish origins.
1870: Today's "European Mail News" column reported that a petition is being circulated in Paris asking that the Grand Rabbi Isidore should be nominated to serve as a Senator. No Jew has ever held such a position.
1871: While visiting “the Holy Land” former Secretary of State William Seward spent part of today at the Huvra Synagogue.
1874: Seventy-two year old German Orientalist Emil Roediger who revised Wilhelm Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar passed away today.
1875: In Patterson New Jersey, James A. Morrissee married Rachel Blumenthal, the daughter of a Jewish merchant from Montreal. Blumenthal left his bride and told her he was going to Chicago on business for his wife. (These facts would be revealed in a subsequent, messy divorce proceeding).
1876:According to a report published today the United Hebrew Charities raised $72,115.60 and the Hebrew Orphan Society raised $70,115.35 during the 1875-76 fiscal year.
1877: “To Jew” published today provides a summary of Richard Grant White’s wide-ranging linguistic history on the use of that term and concludes with the wish that the Jews “who have outlived the Pharaohs may outlive philology. Certainly they will lived down prejudice and obloquy of which this ver is evidence reproachful only of its users.
1877: “Where Boccaccio Gave Offense” published today provide a critical summary of the third novel of the first day entitled “Melchisedech a Jew, by recounting a Tale of three Rings”
1878: According to reports published today "The English, French, German and Eastern branches of the Israelite Alliance have sent a delegate to" the meeting of European leaders at Berlin (Congress of Berlin) to describe "the deplorable conditions" of the Jews living in Romania and Bulgaria with the hope of gaining some relief for their co-religionists.
1878: As "The Season" opened today at Saratoga, The Grand Union Hotel announced that will continue its policy of refusing to accept Jews as guest at the hotel.
1879: “Why clergyman should study Hebrew” published today stresses the necessity for Christian clergymen to learn this ancient Semitic tongue. “Without such knowledge they can neither understand the Old Testament, nor the new, nor explain the relationship of the two.”
1879: An article published today entitled "Murder That Do Not Out" explores the history of unsolved New York City murders including that of Benjamin Nathan, a wealthy New York Jew who was killed in 1870. Nathan had had his skull crushed during what appeared to be a robbery at his home. Despite a sizeable reward and the best efforts of the police department the crime remains unsolved.
1880: It was reported that conditions in Palestine have greatly improved over the last few years. In Jerusalem several houses have been restored or rebuilt. The streets are now lit and, for an Oriental city, kept clean. Water now flows to the city through the aqueduct connected to the Pools of Solomon. The tanneries and slaughterhouses have been outside the city walls. Bethlehem and Nazareth are emulating many of these improvements and windows are now being placed in many buildings in these cities. These and other improvements may lead to Europeans “wintering” here. [As we know, modern Israel has become a popular tourist destination for many Europeans seeking to escape the winter.]
1880: It was reported that “there is a fixed resolution on the part of thousands in Prussia to make that country as hot as possible for Jews” and this might force a large number of German Jews to move to Palestine. [The rise of Jews in German society coincided with a rise in anti-Semitism. In one sense this report is a prophecy of what happened in the 1930’s when German Jews left for Palestine.]
1880: It was reported today that while a conference in Madrid concerning conditions in Morocco was at an impasse, the British government was considering joint action by all the powers in favor of religious liberty in Morocco. At the conference, the Austrian and American governments were ready to “energetically” plead the cause of the Jews but the French and the Moroccons halted deliberations before they could do so.
1880:It was reported today the Maurice Heineltrop, left a note for his wife before taking his own life which was written in Hebrew and begged to take care of their four children and to pay off his workers.
1882(28thof Sivan, 5642): Julius Porges, the Principal of Hebrew Free School Number 8 passed away today by his own hand.
1883:In Dukora, a small village in Minsk Governorate, Zev Volf and Brokhe Tsharni (née Hurwitz) gave birth to Shmuel Ṭsharni who gained fame as Shmuel Niger as a leading Yiddish literary figure in Russia and then the United States.
1886: In a sign of an ecumenical spirit that was rare for this time in history it was reported that Dr. B.M. Palmer, a Presbyterian minister delivered the eulogy at the funeral of Rabbi James K. Gutheim of Temple Sinai. Other signs of the esteem in which he was held by the non-Jewish community was a floral offering from Christ Episcopal Church and attendance at the funeral by several minister including the Father Hubert who was a Jesuit.
1887: “Wanted by Two Wives” published today described a strange case of bigamy involving Abraham Bernstein who deserted his wife and family in Port Chester, NY and then married a woman in nearby Glenville, Conn. The two women have become aware of the situation and have sworn out a warrant for his arrest. The “husband” has disappeared. [It can’t all be about Nobel Prize winners and great scholars]
1887: A fire swept through Botosani, Romania destroying over a thousand buildings most of which were occupied by Jews and leaving 8,000 people homeless and on the verge of starvation. Jews made up a large part of the population of this city in Northeast Romania. By the first decade of the 20th century 72% of the city’s population would be Jewish, “the highest percentage of any large city in the world at that time.”
1888: Crown Prince Wilhelm becomes Kaiser Wilhelm II. Ten years after coming to the throne, the Kaiser would visit Jerusalem in 1898 where Herzl tried, and failed, to interest him creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
1888: It was reported today that Newton Harrison was the top performing student in the First Class at the Hebrew Technical Institute while Samuel Schneider was the top student in the Second Class and Max Lowenthal was the top student in the third school. The institute was created to provide free vocational training for young Jewish boys.
1889: In Sudlekov (Zhidachov), Ukraine, Rose Schwartz and grain dealer Isaac Schwartz gave birth to Avram Moishe Schwartz who gained fame as Maurice Schwartz the theatre and film actor who founded the Yiddish Art Theatre at New York in 1918.
1890: “Talmudic Quibbles” published today provides a commentary on the verse from Genesis “The Lord said, ‘Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great.’” (What makes this worth noting is that it was published in a leading American secular daily paper and not some obscure Yiddish or Hebrew language journal.)
1890: The New York Times reviews “The Montefiores: Diaries of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore” an illustrated two volume work edited by Dr. L. Lowe and his sons, based on the actual diaries of these two notables in which they recorded the events from 1812 through 1883.
1890: “The closing exercises of the Sabbath school of Temple Ahawath Chesed took place this afternoon at the 55th Street and Lexington Avenue
1891: Rabbi Gustav Gottheil presided over the opening session of the Jewish Ministers’ of America thirteenth convention which was being held at the Gates of Heaven Temple on 15th Street.
1891: “Judge Andrews, in Supreme Court Chambers reserved his decision on a motion to have transferred to Montgomery County for trial a suit brought by Gustave A. Epstein against David Straus of Amsterdam, NY to recover $10,000 malicious prosecution.” Epstein and Straus were Jewish businessman. Andrews was not Jewish.
1891 In Philadelphia, PA, hundreds of Jewish and Russian tailors went on strike this morning.
1893: The Senatorial Committee chaired by Senator David B. Hill which has been looking into immigration practices at Ellis Island, including the treatment of Jewish immigrants will leave New York to continue its work in Oklahoma, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
1893: In “Russians Fear the Jews” published today Colonel Weber, the former U.S. Immigration Commissioner takes issue with the claim by the Secretary of the Russian Legation that the laws limiting the rights of Jews are a matter of religion and are a matter of economic survival citing his observation that Jews who convert to the Orthodox religion are still discriminated against.
1894: It was reported today that Joseph Herman Hertz who has a PhD from Columbia has been ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary. Henry M. Speaker and David Wittenberg have earned diplomas as teachers of Hebrew from JTS.
1895: “The announcement that Mrs. Maud Craig Burke Davis is being held by police in San Francisco on charges of forgery has caused “a great sensation” among her friends and family in Rochester, NY. Mrs. Davis comes from a prominent and wealthy family in Rochester. Her recent marriage to J.C. Davis came as a surprise because her family was Catholic and Davis was Jewish.
1896: Based on information that first appeared in The Fishing Gazette, it was reported today that “no one in New York except the Jews eat the buffalo carp, a fish found in the Illinois River “which does not feed on anything except vegetable matter” which is “exceedingly sweet to the taste.” The carp was probably used by the Jews in the making of Gefilte Fish.
1896: Herzl and Newlinski travel to Constantinople . Herzl succeeds in visiting a number of highly placed individuals, including the vizier
1896: “Lauterbach Taunted As A Jew” published today described an episode at the Republican National Convention where Edward Lauterbach of New York was taunted by an opponent who “made a coarse remark when he coupled with an illusion to Mr. Lauterbach’s race.”
1897: A fire of unknown origin which began last night, possibly caused by faulty wiring, turned the wooden structures on Ellis Island into ashes. No loss of life was reported, but most of the immigration records dating back to 1855 were destroyed. About 1.5 million immigrants had been processed at the first building during its five years of use. Plans were immediately made to build a new, fireproof immigration station on Ellis Island.
1897: The Barge Office which had been the immigrant processing center from April 19, 1890 to December 31, 1891 began to fill that function again today due to the fire that had destroyed Ellis Island.
1897: “Topics of the Times” published today included a summary of The Chicago Israelite’s opposition to plans to settle Jews in Palestine. A Jewish return to the Palestine “without a Messiah or even the remote exception of one is an extremely odd conception.” (The opposition to Zionism by the weekly paper should come as no surprise the editor was Leo Wise the son Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise. But it is odd to have a pillar of Reform Judaism invoke the Messiah since Rabbi Wise and Reform Judaism had rejected the concept.)
1897: Starting today, the Barge Office was used as New York’s immigrant processing center as a result of the fire at Ellis Island. This was the second time that the Barge Office was used in this capacity.
1898: “Anti-Jew Riots in Austria” published today relies on information that first appeared in the Neue Freie Presse to described the outbreaks of anti-Semitic violence that has taken place throughout Galicia.
1899: As of today the United Hebrew Charities has collected $80.50 following a special appeal to meeting the needs of destitute family consisting of husband and wife who have ruined their health working and their four children. Donations have included one for $20 and one for fifty cents.
1899: Captain Dreyfus is expected to disembark from the French cruiser Sfax at Brest which he had boarded at French Guiana on June 10.
1900(18th of Sivan, 5660): Eighty year old. Samuel Kristeller the Polish born German physician who also was a leader of the Jewish community serving as an active member of the Deutsch-Israelitische Gemeindebund and the Society for Propagation of Handicrafts, passed away today in Berlin. (As reported by Isidor Singer and Frederick T. Haneman)
1901: Birthdate of Sir Dove-Myer Robinson, who became Mayor of Auckland City, New Zealand.
1902: Birthdate of Max Rudolf. Born inFrankfurt Germany he was conductor of the Gutenberg Symphony Orchestra.
1906: Day 2 of the Bialystok Pogrom.
1907: In his capacity as Minister of War, Major General Georges Picquart“told Dreyfus that it would be impossible to reconstitute his career, which led to Dreyfus's retirement.” This must have been difficult for Picquart since he “became a Dreyfusard after having identified Esterhazy as the author of the bordereau.”
1910: Birthdate of David Rose. The British-born American composer and conductor won four Emmys. His compositions include The Stripper, Calypso Melody, and the themes for two television hits – Little House on the Prairie and Bonanza.
1911: Tabulating Computing Recording Corporation (IBM ) is incorporated. For the role of IBM during the Shoah see IBM and the Holocaust by Edwin Black. “IBM Germany, known in those days as Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft, or Dehomag, did not simply sell the Reich machines and then walk away. IBM 's subsidiary, with the knowledge of its New York headquarters, enthusiastically custom-designed the complex devices and specialized applications as an official corporate undertaking. Dehomag's top management was comprised of openly rabid Nazis who were arrested after the war for their Party affiliation. IBM NY always understood-from the outset in 1933 that it was courting and doing business with the upper echelon of the Nazi Party. The company leveraged its Nazi Party connections to continuously enhance its business relationship with Hitler's Reich, in Germany Europe .”
1913: In Baltimore, MD, the Jewish Educational Alliance dedicated the Michael S. Levy Memorial Building.
1914: Hammerstein’s Roof Garden will host an amateur dance contest tonight in connection with “Dancing by Moonlight.”
1914: Birthdate of cartoonist and illustrator Saul Steinberg. Born in Romania Italy America Santo Domingo
1915: Birthdate of Oscar Westreich, the native of Vienna who made Aliyah in 1933 and as Yehoshua Bar-Hillel became a note mathematician and linguist.
1915: As of this date “approximately 600,000 Jews had been uprooted from the Pale of Settlement, by far the largest proportionate transplantation among the various populations of the Russian empire’s western provinces.
1916: Birthdate of developer and businessman Lois Lesser.
1917: Vilmos Vázsonyi began serving as Minister of Justice of Hungary.
1917: President Woodrow Wilson signed the Espionage Act of 1917 into law. Among those who have been charged under the act are Victor Berger, Daniel Ellsberg, Jonathan Pollard and the Rosenbergs.
1917: Birthdate of Lillian Violet Bassman, the Brooklyn born daughter of Russian Jews who became famous as “Lillian Bassman, a magazine art director and fashion photographer who achieved renown in the 1940s and ’50s with high-contrast, dreamy portraits of sylphlike models, then re-emerged in the ’90s as a fine-art photographer after a cache of lost negatives resurfaced…” (As reported by William Grimes)
1917: “The Royal Navy yacht Managamreturned two Palestinian Jewish agents to Athlit after they had been trained in the use of explosives in Cyprus. Their task was to blow up a section of the Haifa to Damascus railway, between Afula and Dera’a.”
1920: The Haganah, the pre-Israel Self Defense Force was formed during a meeting of the Ahdut Avodah party. It was designed to take the place of the Ha-Shomer movement, and was dedicated to "havlagah" or pure self-defense. The Haganah was formed in response to a wave of Arab violence from which the British were unable or willing to protect the Jewish community. The Haganah was forced to operate underground during the 1930's and 1940's as the British took an increasingly pro-Arab stance and the Arabs engaged in periodic waves of violence. The Haganah also was active in bringing immigrants into the country despite the White Paper.
1920: The operation to widen the Jaffa to Jerusalem Railway to “standard gauge” was completed today.
1921: Birthdate of Gavril Abramovich Ilizarov, the “Soviet physician, known for inventing the Ilizarov apparatus for lengthening limb bones and for his eponymous surgery.”
1923: The first financing by means of a bond issue for a city in Palestine was completed today when a loan 75,000 pounds was obtained for the city of Tel Aviv through the sale in New York of six and half percent municipal bonds. Tel Aviv is described as atypical American city in point of construction and improvements planted in the heart of Asia Minor.
1925: Sir Herbert Samuel the first Jewish British High Commissioner in Palestine attended a farewell reception in his honor at Hebrew University on Mount Scopus. Colonel Fredrick H. Kish of the Zionist Executive in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv Mayor Meir Dizengoff expressed their regret over his departure. They also expressed gratitude for the efforts of Lady Samuel’s efforts.
1928: The Zionist Executive in Jerusalem intervened to prevent the deportation of four Jewish immigrants. Unfortunately, they were not able to keep the British from deporting their family members. The National Council of Palestine Jews sent a letter to Lord Plumer, the High Commissioner, protesting the deportations. The council reminded the High Commissioner that only 54 Jewish immigrants had been admitted into the country during all of April, 1928.
1928: During an investigation of cemeteries and cemetery boards being conducted by the Attorney General for the State of New York, representatives of the Baron Hirsch Cemetery on Staten Island rebutted allegations of misconduct and abuse that had been previously presented by representatives of the Hebrew Religious Protective Association of Greater New York.
1929(7thof Sivan, 5689): For the last time before The Great Depression, Jews observe Shavuot.
1930(20thof Sivan, 5690): Sixty-two year old Louis-Lucien Koltz, the founder of Vie Franco-Russe, an illustrated paper and the French Minister of Finance at the end of World War I who negotiated the reparation payments from Germany following the war.
1930: “Flag Day…” published today described the Jewish origin of this American holiday.
1931(30th of Sivan, 5691): Rosh Chodesh Tamuz
1933:Governor Herbert H. Lehman and Dr. John H. Finley received the first honorary degrees to be conferred by Yeshiva College. Each was made a Doctor of Humane Letters at the institution’s second commencement exercise.
1936: As Arab violence escalated, The Palestine Post reported that heavy firing marked an Arab attack on Ekron. Since there were only four Jewish defenders they sent up rockets to ask for assistance, but ultimately repulsed the marauders. There were also Arab attacks on Migdal, Geshur, Kfar Saba, Gan Yavne, Kfar Azor, Tel Mond, Tzofit and Givat Ada, Over 500 three-year-old vines were uprooted at Rehovot and Givat Brenner. The Jewish National Fund planned to replace some 40,000 trees that have been burned so far. Marine insurance premiums went up and some insurance companies refused to cover riot risks. Five Jews were injured in separate attacks on Egged buses.
1938: Throughout Germany, any Jew "previously convicted" of a crime (even a traffic offense) was arrested.
1939:Malcolm MacDonald, British Colonial Secretary, today outlined before the League of Nations Mandates Commission the proposals for the future government of Palestine contained in the recent British White Paper.
1939:At a meeting of the women's division of the American Jewish Congress in the Temple of Religion at the World's Fair Rabbi Louis I. Newman of Temple Rodeph Sholom called upon the Jews to stand forth courageously against counsels of defeat in a time of persecution. Rabbi Newman made his appeal for courage in the face of the tragedy of the liner St. Louis whose passengers had been turned away from Cuba and who would not find refuge in any western nation including the United States.
1939: A secret directive issued to the German High Command stated that deployment for "Operation White" (invasion of Poland) would be put into operation on August 20. Hitler invaded Poland Poland
1940: Mordechai Rumkowski, Chairman of the Judenrat in Lodz, Poland, spoke to a large crowd today in the Lodz Ghetto.
1942(30thof Sivan, 5702): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1942:Deportations of Jews from the Netherlands to Poland and Germany began today. Over the next 15 months, more than 100,000 Jews would be transported from Westerbork to the various death camps in the East.
1942: Authorities in Riga , Latvia
1943: At the Janówska death pits at Lvov , Ukraine
1943: Jaworzno concentration camp opens in the Auschwitz region. It contained two crematoriums.
1944: A photo was taken today of a group of Jews from Dunaszerdahely, Hungary, boarding the cattle car that will take them to Auschwitz
1944: The 1,684 “exempted Jews” selected by Reszoe (Rudolf) Kasztner, head of the Aid and Rescue Committee known as Va’adah leave Hungry by a special train that takes them safely to Switzerland.
1945: Weizmann writes to Churchill expressing his sense of shock and betrayal over the Prime Minister’s decision to continue to restrict Jewish entrance to Palestine
1950: In Jerusalem, Israel turned over the British pilot of a Jordanian airliner that had been forced down when it flew across the Negev to members of the Arab Legion. Four Arab passengers from the plane that was flying from Amman to Cairo were also released. Charles Clinton Cloud, Jr., an American passenger flew to Cyprus.
1951: The Jerusalem Post reported that Food Control Commission took care of the sale and distribution of ice for domestic use in Jerusalem
1951: The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel had demanded that the UN Security Council should consider Egypt's refusal to allow ships engaged in trade with Israel to pass through the Suez Canal
1951: The Israeli government announced today that an Israeli soldier had been killed when he encountered Jordanian forces that had crossed the border.
1952: Today, the Israeli Foreign Ministry published the text of a note it addressed to the Czechoslovak Foreign Minister on June 11 concerning the arrest of Mordechai Oren, an Israeli citizen who is a leading member of the Mapam Party. The Israelis demanded that a member of the Israeli Legations be allowed to visit Oren and be with him as he worked his way through the Czech justice system. The Israelis believe that Oren was arrested as part of a plot to portray Rudolf Slansky, the former Deputy Premier, who is being held in prison as being a Zionist, something which was an anathema in Communist Czechoslovakia.
1952: “The first housing project specifically for immigrants from the United States and Canada was launched today when ground was broken for ten houses a Kfar Haroeh, a village midway between Tel Aviv and Haifa…The village which is being built on land donated by the JNF is only twenty minutes, by car from Natanya and Hadera two towns where the immigrants can go for jobs and western style entertainment.
1952(22nd of Sivan, 5712): Forty-four year old Christine Granville, the Polish born daughter of a Catholic Count and an assimilated Jewish mother who worked for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) in occupied Poland and France passed away today.
1953: It was reported today that Senator Paul Douglas, Democrat from Illinois who had taught at the University of Chicago before WW II, was the keynote speaker at the commencement exercises of Brandeis University in Waltham, MA.
1954: Ruth Ann and Daniel Edelman gave birth to Richard Edelman who would become President and CEO of the public relations firm Edelman that was founded by his father.
1960: “The Apartment” a Billy Wilder production that was co-written by I.A.L. Diamond was released for showing to the movie going public today.
1961: Rabbi David J. Bleich married Professor Judith Ochs today.
1961: In performances that were hailed as "good quality directed with great intelligence,""admirable for subtle expressiveness and intelligent composure," and "exceptional," the off-Broadway Living Theatre troupe made its European debut in Rome. By the time of the Living Theatre's European tour, co-directors Judith Malina and Julian Beck had been directing off-Broadway plays for over a decade.
1967: Argentine born Israeli pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim married British cellist Jacqueline du Pré who had converted to Judaism at a Western Wall ceremony.
1967: After “608 performances and 10 previews” the curtain came down on the original Broadway production of “Sweet Chairty,” with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and the book by Neil Simon.
1968: After “220 performances and 19 previews” the curtain came down on the original Broadway production of “How Now Dow Jones” with music by Elmer Bernstein, lyrics by Carolyn Leigh and the book by Max Shulman.
1970: Eleven Soviet citizens, nine of them Jews, tried to hijack a Soviet airplane so they could be flown out of the country. The plot was foiled before the plane took off and two of the Jews were sentenced to death for their part in the attempt. Due in no small part to protests from Jewish communities around the world, the sentences were commuted to 15 years at hard labor. The hijacking focused attention on the plight of Soviet Jews seeking to escape from the U.S.S.R. This was a major step forward in what became the campaign to “Free Soviet Jews.”
1975(6th of Tammuz, 5735): At Kfar Yuval, “terrorists seize farmhouse, killing 1 person, injuring 6, and taking family hostage; Israeli soldiers storm farmhouse and kill all four terrorists plus 1 hostage.”
1975(6th of Tammuz, 5735): Three were killed and another five were injured when terrorists fired three rockets into Nahariya.
1976: The Jerusalem Post reported that in Washington US Syria Lebanon Israel Lebanon
1976: The Jerusalem Post reported that ore Lebanese had been given Israeli first aid at Metulla.
1978: A Broadway revival of “Once in a Lifetime” the first play on which Moss Hartman and George S. Kaufman collaborated opened at the Circle Theatre.
1987: An exhibition entitled ''Daughters of the Pale,'' documenting in words and photographs the experiences of daughters of Jewish immigrant opened in London.
1987: An exhibition entitled ''East End Synagogues: From the Shtiebel to Duke's Place’’ opened at the Heritage Center in London.
1992: The Fifth International Convention of Studies of “Italia Judaica” opened in Palermo.
1994: Israel Vatican
1996: Judge Burkhardt Stein from Tübingen County Court ordered the confiscation and incineration of all books Grundlagen zur Zeitgeschichte and the destruction of all means for manufacturing them. The book was written by holocaust denier and anti-Semite Ernst Gauss.
1997: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Puttermesser Papers by Cynthia Ozick, Steven Spielberg: A Biographyby Joseph McBride and Steven Spielberg: The Unauthorized Biography by John Baxter
2006: Yakov Kreizberg made his “last appearance with the” London Symphony Orchestra “at the Barbican … when he performed Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto no. 5 with Stephen Hough, and Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony no. 11
2007: The Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam
2007: The 46th Hebrew Book Week comes to a close.
2007(29th of Sivan, 5767):Claudia Cohen, a high-profile gossip reporter for television and newspapers who was a frequent subject of the gossip columns herself, partly because of her marriage to, and remunerative divorce from, the billionaire businessman Ronald O. Perelman, died today in Manhattan. Claudia Lynn Cohen was born in Englewood, N.J. Her father, Robert, was president of the Hudson County News Company, a major distributor of newspapers and magazines. In 1985, with her marriage to Mr. Perelman, now the chairman of Revlon, Ms. Cohen became a boldface name herself. The couple were frequent guests at glittering parties and charity events in New York and the Hamptons, and Ms. Cohen was considered a crucial person to know if anybody who was somebody wanted to become even more of a somebody. The public scrutiny of Ms. Cohen’s private life only intensified with her divorce from Mr. Perelman in 1994. As was widely reported, she received an out-of-court settlement of $80 million. After her divorce from Mr. Perelman, Ms. Cohen, a Democrat, was romantically involved for about a year with Senator Alfonse M. D’Amato, Republican of New York. (As reported by Margalit Fox.)
2008: The Sunday New York Times book sections features reviews of Cecil B. DeMille: A Life in Artby Simon Louvish and Audition: A Memoir, the autobiography of Barbara Walters. How “Jewish” is the movie maker whose father is lay leader in the Episcopal Church and whose mother is a Sephardic Jew who converted? How Jewish is a television personality whose parents were both Jewish but who observed no Jewish ritual growing up and loves having a Christmas tree in her home?
2008: The Washington Post features books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including America Aged: How Pension Debts Ruined General Motors, Stopped the NYC Subways, Bankrupted San Diego, and Loom as the Next Financial Crisisby Roger Lowenstein
2008:Stephan Grayek, one of the last survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising who passed away at the age of 92 was buried at the Herzliya Cemetery today. He is survived by his daughter, Ora, his son, Yitzhak, grandchildren and a great granddaughter. During the Nazi era Grayek took advantage of his Aryan features to move with relative ease in and out of the ghetto, fighting against the Nazis with both Jews and Poles. Grayek's wartime exploits were recorded in his book, “Shelosha Yemin Krav” (“Three Days of Battle”). Eli Zborowski, chairman of the American and International Societies for Yad Vashem and vice president of the World Federation of Polish Jews, wrote in a condolence notice in the Hebrew press that he had lost his mentor and close friend. He referred to Grayek as the "commander and hero of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and worldwide leader of Holocaust survivors." Grayek, who was the founder of the World Organization of Partisans, Underground Fighters, Ghetto Rebels and Camp Inmates Poland Auschwitz and against the establishment of a Catholic convent there. He declared in 1989 that no convent would go up in the largest Jewish graveyard in the world. In a Jerusalem Post interview 20 years ago, Grayek was asked why he had not experienced the trauma so common among many Holocaust survivors. He answered: "Perhaps, because like other people in the resistance, I fought back."
2008: The Jewish Film Festival in Croatia
2009: Defense Minister Ehud Barak reportedly told French officials in Paris today that the Israel has “a secret accord” with the United States to maintain “natural growth” of settlements in the West Bank.
2009: Israeli artist Irit Zohar, whose work has been exhibited at the Tel-Aviv Museum (Meirovich section) and countless other galleries, debuts in America at the Historic Sixth and “I” Street Synagogue with Painting in Action, a series of large, powerful, energetic works deeply influenced by her spirituality.
2010:Mark Russ Federman (Herring Maven Emeritus) is scheduled to his share herring tales at the Russ & Daughters Herring Pairing at New York’s Astor, an event designed to celebrate the New Catch Holland Herring and the wonders of many different herrings
2010 “The Biennial Scholars' Conference on American Jewish History,” a meeting organized by the Academic Council of the American Jewish Historical Society, which will examine the notion of American Jewish "exceptionalism," or uniqueness, the has shaped conceptions of American Jewish history from its beginning is scheduled to open in New York City.
2011: The Leo Baeck Institute is scheduled to present a program entitled “Mahler & Radical Departures”, featuring the works of Mahler, Korngold and Schoenberg, three composers who are a representative of “German and Austrian musicians of Jewish descent who arrived in this country and transformed the American musical landscape.” The works of German-Jewish composer Mauricio Kagel are also scheduled to be performed.
2011: THE BIG JEWCY, sponsored by Jewcy.com, is scheduled to take place in Brooklyn, New York.
2011: At the Jewish Museum of Milwaukee, archivist Jay Hyland is scheduled to present a program entitled ‘Archival Exploration: WWII Edition' that will provide a first hand look at artifacts and documents from the JMM's collection connected with WWII. This program is a 'teaser' for the 'WWII Historical Encampment Reenactment' scheduled to be later this month.
2011: A Used Book Sale is scheduled to begin today in San Diego, CA,to benefit the Samuel & Rebecca Astor Judaica Library.
2011:The new Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, started work today, taking over for Meron Reuben, who had held the post on an interim basis since last year’s departure of Gabriella Shalev. Prosor will be the 16th Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations.
2011: A rare total lunar eclipse will occur tonight in Israel's skies from a little after 8:00 p.m. local time until 2:00 a.m. early Thursday morning. Not only is this lunar blackout going to be one of the longest possible, but the astronomy blogger, Ira Machefsky, also known as the 'Starman of Mitzpe Ramon' told the Jerusalem Post additional surprises may be in store.
2012: In Washington, DC, The Hadassah Attorney’s Council is scheduled to host a luncheon event where Judith Barnet “will speak with us about her decades of experience assisting companies to grow their business in the Middle Eastern and North African marketplace.”
2012: Funeral services are scheduled to take place this morning for Rabbi Stanley Rabinowitz who was the spiritual leader of Adas Israel for over a quarter of a century. While much has been written about his stature as a “Washington Rabbi” for us he was simply the Rabbi. Rabbi Rabinowitz arrived in the summer of 1960. My father had been on the search committee that brought him from Minneapolis. My brother was his first Bar Mitzvah. That Shabbat Nachamu service may have been Rabbi Rabinoiwtiz’s first Saturday morning service. I was in the first newly instituted post-Confirmation class which he taught. I remember him trying to explain to a group of adolescents what a Reconstructionist Jew was. It wasn’t about ritual; he wanted us to see that it was about the poetry of the soul. [Excuse the personal comments, but history is a story and even for the great and near-great it is still a story about individual persons.]
2012: Rabbi Ariel Stone the spiritual leader of Portland, Oregon’s Shir Tikvah, author of Because All Is One and the daughter-in-law of Cedar Rapids community leader Joan Thaler, is scheduled to deliver the sermon at Temple Judah this evening.
2012: Uzi Arad, who served as the head of the National Security Council during the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, slammed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his government for carrying out "sloppy work" in preparation for the flotilla to Gaza.
2012: In Los Angeles, Langer’s Deli began a celebration of its 65thanniversary by giving away its signature pastrami sandwich which normally sells for $15.20 for free.
2013: The Jerusalem Piano Duo – Shir Semel and Dror Semel – is scheduled to perform at the Eden-Tamir Music Center.
2013: In Coralville, Iowa, Agudas Achim is scheduled to honor outgoing religious school principal Kineret Zabnert with a special Kiddush Luncheon following Shabbat Moring Services led by Rabbi Jeff Portman.
2013: “Ameer Got His Gun” and “Dr. Pomerantz” are among the films scheduled to be shown today at “Seret 2013” – The London Israeli Film & Television Festival.
2013:Worshipers who came to a Bat Yam synagogue for Shabbat services this morning were stunned to see crosses spray-painted on the doors of the prayer house. Police were investigating the incident.
2013:“Unidentified assailants broke into an IDF base in northern Israel this morning, injuring a soldier and stealing his rifle. The assailants managed to enter the Naftali base, near Golani Junction, after tying up the soldier on guard duty. They then ran away with his rifle.”
2013(7thof Tammuz, 5773): Eighty-seven year old Paul Soros, the brother of George Soros passed away today. (As reported by Robert D. Hershey, Jr)
2014:Jean-François Copé is scheduled to complete his term of office as President of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP)
2014: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present “Centuries of Surnames: What Names Can Tell Us,” a presentation by Jeffrey S. Malka who is an authority on Sephardic last names.
2014: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including A Replacement Life by Boris Fishman, The Impossible Exile:Stefan Zweig at the End of the World by George Prochnik and The Myth of the Spoiled Child: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom About Children and Parenting by Alfie Kohn