November 13
354: Birthdate of St. Augustine of
Hippo. While St. Augustine may be held
in high regard by the Roman Catholic Church, he held the Jews in especially low
regard. In his famous work The City of God, Augustine reports that the
Jews were exiled because of their rejection of Jesus. The dispersal of the Jews
to so many different places is way of reminding Christians that their belief in
Jesus as Messiah is correct. The exile
came about because the Jews were enemies of the Church, but the Jews must not
be slain so that they can finally see the error of their ways and repent. The sword of Constantine and the cross of
Augustine would soon draw together to make a bitter brew for Jews for centuries
to come.
361: Emperor Constantius II who continued the anti-Semitic policies of his
father and who, among other things, “decreed that a person who was proven to have converted from Christianity to
Judaism would have all of his property confiscated by the state” passed away
today. (Those who contend that Christianity grew because of spiritual
superiority might want to rethink this in light of this entry)
833, Ebbo, with Agobard of Lyon, presided over a synod at the Church of
Saint Medard in Soissons which saw Louis the Pious, who was faithful
to the principles of his father Charlemagne and granted strict
protection to Jews, whom he respected as merchants and who like his father,
believed that 'the Jewish question' could be solved with the gradual conversion
of Jews, undertake public penance
for the second time in his reign
1093: Normans loyal to King William Rufus who had “managed to prevent the
massacre of Jews in England like those that had taken place in Rouen and the
Rhineland that had preceded the First Crusade” were victorious at the “Battle
of Alnwick”
1160: Marriage of Louis
1312: At Windsor Castle, King Edward II and Isabella of France gave birth to
King Edward III who borrowed 140,000 florins “on the eve of the Hundred Years’
War” from a consortium led by Vivelin of Strasbourg, “an Alsatian Jewish
financier” who was thought to be “one of the richest people living in the Holy
Roman Empire.”
1460: Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal passed away at the age of
66. A devout Catholic who was a master
of the Knights Templar, Henry was dedicated to bring glory to Portugal through
maritime endeavors. To that end he was
only too willing to employ Jewish mathematicians, astronomers and cartographers
despite his strong Crusading temperament.
1549: Paul Fagius, who learned Hebrew from Elia Levita with whom he founded
a printing business that published Shemot Devarim, an Old
Yiddish-Hebrew-Latin-German dictionary, in 1542 and who served as Hebrew
lecturer at the University of Cambridge before being replaced by convert
Immanuel Tremellius passed away today.
1685: King James II of England ordered the Attorney General to stop any
proceedings against the Jews because “they should not be troubled upon his (the
King’s) account but they should quietly enjoy the free exercise of their
religion whilst they behaved dutifully and obediently to his government.”
1742: Founding of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters to which
Ludwig Lewin Jacobson in 1809 announced rediscovery of and researches
concerning a hitherto unknown absorptive organ in the human nose (later named
after him "the Jacobsonian organ").
1757: The Talmud was publicly burned in Kamenets-Podolski (Poland). Jacob Frank, a follower of the false
Messiah Shabbetai Zevi had begun his own movement which emphasized the Kabbalah
and denigrated the Talmud. His practices (some of which were of sexual nature)
were condemned by the local Rabbinate. In revenge, he arranged a dispute in
Lvov between himself and the local Jewish leaders. Bishop Nicholas Dembowski
who presided over the disputation ruled in favor of Frank and ordered all
copies of the Talmud found to be dragged through the streets and burned. Around
1000 copies of the Talmud were destroyed. Within a few years, many of the
Frankists converted to Christianity.
1761(19th of Cheshvan, 5522): Nathan Nata Spira, the son of Selig
Spira and grandson of Nathan Nata Spira passed away at at Eibenschütz, in
Moravia, where he had been serving as rabbi for the past year.
1769: Sarah Cohen and Henry Marks gave birth to Miriam Marks was living in
Philadelphia when she passed away in 1784.
1773(o.s.): In Liozna, Sterna Segal and Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi gave
birth to Dovber Schneuri the second Rebbe of
the Chabad Lubavitch Chasidic movement also known as the “Mitteler
Rebbe” or Middle Reebe since he was the second in the chain of the first three
leaders of Chabad.
1775: When Major General Richard Montgomery and the Americans “triumphantly
entered Montreal” today they “were warmly welcomed by David S. Franks” who
“also appears to have acted as an unofficial paymaster to the army…”
1779: Birthdate of German native Solomon Samuel Massenbacher, the husband of
Lisette Arnold and father of Isabella, Caroline, Miriam, Hester and Jeanette
Massenbacher.
1785:Hirsch Janow, known as “Hirsch Harfi” (Hirsch the acute) who had succeeded his father-in-law Raphael
Kohn as the rabbi of Posen in 1776 before becoming chief rabbi at Furth passed
away today in Bavaria.
1787: In Essingen, Germany, “Bunle Babetter Isaac” and Emanuale Nathan
Scharff gave birth to Abraham Scharff, the husband of Nanette Dreyfus and
father of Sara, Heinrich, Regine, Isaac, Esther and Babette Scharff.
1791: King Louis XVI signed the resolution of emancipation guaranteeing all
French Jews full rights of citizenship.
1796: In Offenbach-on-the Main, Wolf Breidenbach and his wife gave birth to
Moritz Breidenbach, who earned an LL.D. from the University of Heidelberg in
1817 “whose principal literary work was his commentary on the Hessian legal
code” of which he had been the “principal author.”
1797: In Buchau, Germany, Sarah Binswanger and David Wolf Bernheim gave
birth to Jakob Bernheim, the husband of Katharina Heilbronner and father of
David, Benedic “Isak,” and Emanuel Bernheim.
1798: In Heidenheim, Germany, Barbara Adelsdorfer and Moses Hausman gave
birth to “Jeutle (Judith) Hausman,” the wife of Isaak Baer and mother of
Bernard, Babette, Mary, David, Samuel, Moses and Fanny Baer.
1799: Henry Harris married Fyla Frances at the Great Synagogue today.
1799: Moses Levy married Sarah Phillips at the Great Synagogue today.
1806: Jewish merchants of Gibraltar wrote Aaron Nunez Cardozo a prominent
merchant serving as a liaison between the British government and the Muslim
Barbary States seeking his help in getting them an exemption from the Moroccan
dress code for dhimmis. As the following entry shows, dhimmi status was
part of the “peculiar relationship” that the Muslims imposed on the
Jews. “The Muslim attitude toward Jews is reflected in various
verses throughout the Koran, the holy book of the Islamic faith. "They
[the Children of Israel] were consigned to humiliation and wretchedness. They
brought the wrath of God upon themselves, and this because they used to deny
God's signs and kill His Prophets unjustly and because they disobeyed and were
transgressors" (Sura 2:61). According to the Koran, the Jews try to
introduce corruption (5:64), have always been disobedient (5:78), and are
enemies of Allah, the Prophet and the angels (2:9798). Still, as "People
of the Book," Jews (and Christians) are protected under Islamic law. The
traditional concept of the "dhimma"
("writ of protection") was extended by Muslim conquerors to
Christians and Jews in exchange for their subordination to the Muslims. Peoples
subjected to Muslim rule usually had a choice between death and conversion, but
Jews and Christians, who adhered to the Scriptures, were allowed as dhimmis
(protected persons) to practice their faith. This
"protection" did little, however, to insure that Jews and Christians
were treated well by the Muslims. On the contrary, an integral aspect of the
dhimma was that, being an infidel, he had to openly acknowledge the superiority
of the true believer--the Muslim. In the early years of the Islamic conquest,
the "tribute" (or jizya), paid as a yearly poll tax,
symbolized the subordination of the dhimmi. Later, the inferior status of Jews
and Christians was reinforced through a series of regulations that governed the
behavior of the dhimmi. Dhimmis, on pain of death, were forbidden to mock or
criticize the Koran, Islam or Muhammad, to proselytize among Muslims or to
touch a Muslim woman (though a Muslim man could take a non-Muslim as a wife).
Dhimmis were excluded from public office and armed service, and were forbidden
to bear arms. They were not allowed to ride horses or camels, to build
synagogues or churches taller than mosques, to construct houses higher than
those of Muslims or to drink wine in public. They were not allowed to pray or
mourn in loud voices-as that might offend the Muslims. The dhimmi had to show
public deference toward Muslims-always yielding them the center of the road.
The dhimmi was not allowed to give evidence in court against a Muslim, and his
oath was unacceptable in an Islamic court. To defend himself, the dhimmi would
have to purchase Muslim witnesses at great expense. This left the dhimmi with
little legal recourse when harmed by a Muslim. Dhimmis were also forced to wear
distinctive clothing. In the ninth century, for example, Baghdad's Caliph
al-Mutawakkil designated a yellow badge for Jews, setting a precedent that
would be followed centuries later in Nazi Germany. The Moslem view of the Jew
as permanent second class citizen would help to explain the hostility towards
the state of Israel. Under the concept
of dhimmi Moslems could not accept living in a state where Jews had equal
rights and they certainly could not accept living in a state that had been
created by a victory of Jewish soldiers over soldiers of Islam.
1809: Birthdate of Kingston, Jamaica native Moses Joseph Henriques, the
husband of Sarah Henriques and the father of Elizabeth Henriques.
1811(26th
of Cheshvan, 5572): Abigail Sarzedas, the daughter of Abraham Zaradas and the
wife of Myer Polock passed away today in Savannah after having lived in New
York City and Newport, RI.
1817: In London, Isabel and Isaac Lyon Goldsmid gave birth to Caroline
Goldsmid.
1822: In the Hague, Isaac Moses Veerver, the son of Mozes Abraham Verveer
and Saartje Isaac van der Velden and his wife Saartje Isaac van der Velden gave
birth to Isaac Moses Verveer, the husband of
Adeline Verveer and Sophie Verveer.
1827: Birthdate of Philadelphia lawyer Leonard Myers, the native of
Attleborough, PA who “was elected as Republican from the 3rd
District of Pennsylvania to the 38th, 39th, 40th,
41st, 42nd and 43rd Congresses.”
1830: Joseph Mérilhou, the Minister of Public Education under Louis
Phillippe, offered a motion placing Judaism on an equal footing with the
Christian religions, paying Synagogues and rabbis from the public treasury in
the same manner as was done for Churches and their ministers. In presenting his motion, "which was
adopted by a large majority" Merilhou spoke approvingly of how well Jews
had performed as citizens of the republic since they had been granted
citizenship during the French Revolution.
1833: Birthdate of Edwin Booth, a member of the famous 19th
century acting family of whom critics said that “there is no other actor who
can realize so well as he all the meaning of the character of Shylock, the
bitter hatred, the firmness of purpose, the deep passion, the unswerving faith
and the tenderness of his undemonstrative affection for his child” which sets
apart from all his contemporaries including Lawrence Barrett..
1834: In New York, Rachel Lopes Mendes Peixotto and of Dr. Daniel Levy
Maduro Peixotto gave virth Benjamin Franklin Peixotto the lawyer who was the grandson of Rabbi
Moses L. M. Peixotto. After attending school in New York he went to Cleveland,
Ohio, where he studied law under Stephen A. Douglas and wrote for the Cleveland
Plaindealer. In 1867 he removed to San Francisco, where he continued his
practice as a lawyer. In 1870-'5 he was United States consul in Bucharest,
Romania, where his influence was marked in securing civil and religious
liberty. In 1876 he returned to the United States and took part in the
presidential canvass in favor of Rutherford B. Hayes. In 1877 he declined the
appointment of consul-general at St. Petersburg. He was subsequently made
United States consul at Lyons, France, a post which he held until 1885, when he
returned to New York and resumed the practice of law. Peixotto was active in
various Jewish educational and charitable movements throughout the United
States. A well-known lecturer, he was
the editor of the Menorah, a publication established in 1886 which highlighted
the activities of the B’nai Brith as well as the Jewish religion and
literature.
1837: In Texas, Abraham Lewis who had served as “a member of Captain James
C. Winn’s Company” during the fight for independence “was issued Bounty
Certificate No. 278 for 640 acres” today for having served in the army
1839: In Darmstadt, Germany, Lob and Bina Oppenheimer gave birth to Rosa
Oppenheimer who became Rosa Bloom when she married her second husband Isidor
Bloom.
1839: In Charleston, SC, Rabbi Gustavus Poznanski officiated at the wedding
of John J. Cohen of Augusta, GA and Miss Cornelia Anne Jacobs, the daughter of
Colonel Jacobs.
1834: In New York,
o Dr. Daniel Moses Levy Maduro Peixotto and Rachel Lopes Mendes Peixotto gave
birth to “lawyer, diplomate and Jewish communal leader Benjamin Franklin
Peixotto, the husband of Hannah Peixotto who while working as a “clothing
merchant in Cleveland” wrote editorials for the Cleveland Plain Dealer” was “a
founder of the Sunday School at Congregation Tifereth Israel” before returning
to New York to practice law.
https://case.edu/ech/articles/p/peixotto-benjamin-franklin
1841: Following an
investigation by magistrates the Bahamian Attorney-General went on board the
brig Creole which nineteen slaves had seized from the slave traders marking the
beginning of an international incident that would result in litigation in which
Judah P. Benjamin “represented insurance companies being sued.”
1844(3rd of Kislev): Purim Amtchislav (Mstislavl, Belorussia) was annually
observed by that community in a commemoration of a happy event that took place
on that day
1844: Czar Nicholas I of Russia issued a decree calling for the
establishment of a school for Jewish students and a seminary to train rabbis
and teachers. This was not nearly as
benign as it sounded and most Jews avoided the siren call of enrolling their
young in schools run by the government of Czarist Russia. The Czar had a secret plan to gradually close
the old Jewish schools and thus leave Jewish education in the hands of a
government committed to the extinction of the Jewish people in Russia.
1845: In Germany, Zadek and Esther Machol gave birth to Michaelis Machol,
the graduate of the Theological Seminary of Breslau and served as rabbi at
Kehillath Anshe Maariv in Chicago before beginning his long-term service as a
Rabbi at Temple Anshe Chesed in Cleveland, Ohio.
http://www.clevelandjewishhistory.net/people/machol.htm
http://www.clevelandjewishhistory.net/people/machol-ccar.htm
1849: The Hebrew Benevolent and German Hebrew Benevolent
Society are scheduled to hold its anniversary in New York City.
1852: Birthdate of Jacob Voorsanger, the native of
Amsterdam who came to the United States in the early 1870’s where he served as
the rabbi at several congregations including Emanu-El in San Francisco while
also serving as a professor of Semitic Languages at the University of
California and a chaplain at Stanford.
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/northwest/idaho/history/article195798964.html
http://americanjewisharchives.org/education/timeline/alex_moses.html
1855: Rabbi Isidor
Kalisch’s translation of a Phoenician inscription that had been found in Sidon,
Asia was read before the Syro-Egyptian Society of London,
1856: Birthdate of Louis Brandeis.
Southern born, Harvard educated; Brandeis pursued a successful legal
career as a champion of the underdog. He
was an ally and confidant of President Woodrow Wilson. Wilson appointed Brandeis to the U.S. Supreme
Court in 1916. This was a milestone in
American history and Jewish history.
Brandeis was the first Jew named to the high court. He was also the first of whole group of
minorities who would eventually take their place on the court including
African-American and women. The Brandeis
nomination was contested by anti-Semites and the American business
community. Brandeis served on the bench
until 1939. Brandeis was also a
committed Zionist and a leader of the movement in the United States. He passed away in 1941. Words from Brandeis: “The greatest menace to
freedom is an inert people.” “Every
American Jew who aids in advancing the Jewish settlement in Palestine, though
he feels that neither he nor his descendants will ever live there, will be a
better man and a better American for doing so.”
https://www.oyez.org/justices/louis_d_brandeis
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Brandeis.html
1856: In New York, the Hebrew Benevolent Society celebrated the 35th
anniversary of its founding with a lavish banquet held in the City Assembly
Rooms.
1857: One day after he had passed away, 61 year old Lewis Abrahams, the
husband of Julia Abrahams and the father of Charles Abrahams was buried today
at the Brady Street Jewish Cemetery.
1858: The New York Times reported that
"the Jews of New Orleans have contributed $150 for the New Orleans
sick."
1860: Four days after he passed away, Reuben Salomons,
the son of Barent and Rose Salomons and the husband of the former Sarah Hurwitz
was buried today at the Balls Pond Jewish Cemetery.
1863: Sixty-four year old Alexander McCaul, the
Anglo-Irish author who spent over a decade trying to convert Jews in Poland,
who “wrote vigorously against the blood libel” and who “became professor of
Hebrew and rabbinical literature at King’s College, London” passed away today.
1865: In Mississippi, Isaac Lowenberg, the German born of
Fanny and Samuel Lowenberg and his wife Ophelia Lowenberg gave birth to future
New Orleans resident Clara Lowenberg Moses, the wife of Abraham Moses.
1866: In Louisville, KY, Moritz and Esther Flexner gave
birth to Dr. Abraham Flexner, the husband of the former Anne Crawford with whom
he had two daughters Jean and Eleanor
https://www.ias.edu/flexner-life
1868: In Philadelphia, “Seligman Bernheimer and Betty
Loeb” gave birth to Dr. Charles S. Bernheimer, a graduate of the University of
Pennsylvania, the President of the Young Men’s Hebrew Union and a member of the
Jewish Chautauqua Society who was the “compiler and editor” of “The Russian Jew
in the United States.”
1870: Birthdate of San Francisco realtor Alfred Isaac
Esberg.
1871: In Orangeburg, SC, Philip and Jennie Rich were wed
today.
1872: It was reported today that, based on information
that had first appeared in The Times of London that the suffering of the
Romanian Jews has given rise to a demand for concerted action by their
co-religionists to protest and improve their condition. A conference to be held in Brussels for this
purpose is attracting delegates who are prominent leaders from several places
including Paris, London and Berlin.
1872: Birthdate of Savannah, GA native Charles Garfunkel, the husband of
Lina Adler Garfunkel with whom he had two sons – Benjamin and Sylvan
1873: One day after she had passed away, Edith Russell was buried today at
the Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.
1875: Birthdate of Gershon Lichetenstein, the native of Babimost who would
be murdered by the Nazis in Lodz at the age of 65.
1876:
In Berlin, Max Wilczyhski and Friederike Hurwitz gave birth to University of
Berlin trained American mathematician Ernest Julius Wilczynski, who taught at the University of California
and the University of Chicago while developing a “research career as a
mathematical astronomer passed away today.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14917-wilczynski-ernest-julius
https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Wilczynski/
1877: In Salt Lake City, UT, Ichel and Auguste (Graupe) Watters gave birth
to University of Utah trained chemist Leon Laizer Watters, the holder of Ph.D
from Columbia where he later taught and the “President of the Hospital Supply
Company and The Watters Laboratories who was the Vice President of the Hebrew
Technical Institute for Boys, Treasurer of Temple Emanu-El in NYC and the
author of “The Earliest Jews of Utah.”
1878: Birthdate of German born American mathematician Max Wilhelm Dehn, who
look so many others gave up his career in his homeland with the rise of the
Nazis, but unlike others, was able to find refuge in the United States.
1880: Todays dispatch to the London Standard from Berlin stated, “A petition
has been presented to Prince Bismarck to restrict the civil rights of the Jews
and repeal the absolute equality enjoyed by them with German citizens.” (Prince
Bismarck is Otto Von Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor who really ran Germany)
1881: Seventy-four year old Harris Michaels, the husband of the former
Elizabeth Daniel and the father of Priscilla Michaels, was buried today at the
Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.
1882: It was reported today that “the Mount Sinai Hospital…is one of the
leading hospitals” in New York City. It
treats patients of all creeds and its “list of free patients is as large as any
other institution of its kind in the country.”
1882(2nd of Kislev, 5643): Ephraim Alex the Anglo-Jewish
philanthropist who served as overseer of the Great Synagogue and founded the
Jewish Board of Guardians passed away today in London.
1882: In Russia, Dora and Joseph Meir Hoberman gave birth to George
Washington University trained physician Samuel Hoberman a specialist in chest
diseases and Republican Party activist who was the husband of May Struck, a
director of the Malden, MA Hebrew School and a member of Beth Israel.
1883: Birth date of German Jewish
Weimar era anti-Nazi criminal defense lawyer and scholar Max Hirschberg, a WWI
I veteran of the German Army who “directly confronted Adolf Hitler in courts”
and was forced to fee Germany and eventually settle in New York City where he
wrote “about miscarriages of Justice.”
1883: It was reported today that when the Lord Mayor of London refused to
allow the Dr. Stocker, the anti-Semitic Chaplain to the Court of Germany to
lecture at Mansion House, he said “he could not disregard the feelings of the
Jewish community of London by giving prominence…to a man who has excited
hostility against the Jews.”
1884: Rosa Schuminchler, a Polish Jewess who had previously been deported,
and her seven children were among those who arrived in the United States today
aboard the SS Queen
1884: Samuel A. Lewis, Tammany political leader, former President of the
Board of Alderman an the editor of Jewish newspaper was arrested as a result of
civil suit brought by his sister, Harriet L. Lewis.
1884: “Mgr. Capel on Patriotism” published today described the speech by
Monsignor Thomas John Capel to the Young Men’s Hebrew Association” in which he
calls for quality public education where the teachers are “appointed upon their
merits and goodness” and not “because they are friends of the mayor.” In
describing the role of women, he reminds his listeners that “husbands are
breadwinners” but women “are formers of character.” (Why Capel, a Catholic
priest who stood accused of a variety of “improprieties” during his lifetime,
was chosen to lecture to a Jewish organization is something for which I have
not found an explanation.)
1884: English thespians Henry Irving and Ellen Terry will perform “The
Merchant of Venice” this evening. She
will play the Jewess Portia and he will play Shylock, the Jew – one of his
signature dramatic roles. (Based on
newspaper accounts at the time, this particular Shakespearian drama was
extremely popular in the post-Civil War United States.)
1885: William Sharon, the former Senator from Nevada, who would bequeath
$5,000 to the Hebrew Orphan Asylum at San Francisco passed away today.
1886: It was reported today that plans are being made for a concert at the
Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews.
1887: In Estonia, “Yoel and Hannah Rothenberg” gave birth to American
sculptor Minna Harkavy, a founding member of both the Sculptors Guild and the
New York Society of Women Artists who was the wife of pharmacist and Yiddish
author Louis Harkavy.
1888: One day after she had passed away, Henrietta Salamon, the daughter of
Solomon and Harriet Prager Levien and the wife of Edward Salamon with whom she
had eight children was buried today at the “Rookwood Cemetery in Rookwood, NSW
Australia.”
1889: A delegation of Jews went to New York political leader Coroner Levy to
protest the failure of authorities to bury Abraham Bergman, a child who died
two weeks ago.
1891: In New York,
Carrie Metzger and Albert Seligman gave birth to Harvard graduate Herbert Jacob
Seligman, the husband of Lilias Hazewell MacLane, a supporter of the NAACP, director of public
relations of the American Joint Distribution Committee, who upon returning from
a fact finding trip to Germany in 1936 said “Terror, insecurity and
pauperization are the lot of millions of Jews in Central Europe and the author
of Race Against Man.
1892: “Israel in the Wilderness” a cantata by Dr. Alfred R. Gaul which opens
with “a Hebrew chorale” was performed for the first time in New York City.
1892: Founding of the Perth Hebrew Congregation “the oldest of three
synagogues serving the Jewish community of Perth, Australia”
1892: The Trustees of Temple Emanu-El met today and decided to hold a
memorial service in honor of the late Seligman Adler the New York businessman
who was a trustee of the Temple for 22 years.
1893: In Romania, birthdate of Rubin Zelicovici, who gained fame as Israeli
painter Reuven Rubin whose works included an oil canvas painted in 1922
entitled “Self Portrait with a Flower” which is on display in the Rubin Museum.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32357038@N08/6152510301/
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/reuven-rubin
For more of his paintings see http://www.imj.org.il/artcenter/galleryE.asp?artist=277535&list=
1894: In Vienna, Jewish philosopher Nathan Birnbaum and Rosa Korngut gave
birth to Austrian artist Uriel Birnbaum.
1894: Three days after she had passed away, Kettchen May, the daughter of
Isaak Simon Landauer and Sprinz Salomon Michel and wife of Ferdinand May was
buried today at the West Ham Jewish Cemetery on Buckingham Road.
1894: Following their debut at London in July pianists Rose Laura Sutro and
Ottilie Sutro played a Bach concerto during their American debut which took
place in Brooklyn today.
1895: According to a summary of the United Hebrew Charities’ monthly report,
during October the society processed 2,507 applications which provided
assistance for a total of 8, 356 people.
1895: Work of United Hebrew Charities” published today described the
successful operations of this New York organization which collected $14, 413.
50 this past month of which it spent over $10,000 to provide services ranging
from the support of an industrial school for girls to providing transportation
for immigrants to settle in other parts of the country.
1895: After the Emperor had refused to ratify the election of “Dr. Karl
Luger, the anti-Semitic leader in the Reichsrath” as Burgomaster of Vienna, the
Municipal Council elected him to the position again today which led to an
imperial decree dissolving the council.
1895: The New York Times reported
on an instructive and most entertaining lecture on the subject of “Ghosts”
given in the West End Synagogue by Rabbi F. de Sola Mendes to an audience
composed almost entirely of women and young girls.
1896: “Dowers For Orphan Girls” published today described the work of the
newly formed Greater New York German Orphan Society which was modeled on a
program started several years ago by Mr. Morgenthau for Jewish girls that will
provide dowries to German girls, regardless of their religious denomination
which will enable these worthy but impoverished maidens a chance to enjoy the
benefits of marriage.
1897: Birthdate of Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Friedman, the founder and
former spiritual leader of the Garment Center Synagogue in Manhattan. Born in
Jerusalem, Rabbi Friedman came to the United States with his mother and brother
in 1918 to escape famine in his homeland. His father had arrived a year
earlier. Trained as a scribe, Rabbi Friedman began his rabbinical studies in
1919. He was a rabbinical graduate of Yeshiva University's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan
Theological Seminary. He was ordained in 1921. After his ordination, he was
appointed rabbi of Congregation Ezrath Israel in Ellenville, N.Y., a position
he held for four years before moving to Brooklyn. In 1931, after serving at
several synagogues in New York City, Rabbi Friedman founded the Garment Center
Synagogue. In the mid-1950's, he was named rabbi emeritus. He passed away in
1993 at the age of 95.
1897(18th of Cheshvan, 5658): Mrs. Marion Levy, the
widow of A.S. Levy, who was born in New York in 1857 and who later moved to
Brooklyn passed away in her adopted hometown.
1897(18th of Cheshvan, 5658): Sixty-four year old Dutch
banker and philanthropist A.C. (Abraham Carel) Wertheim who was the husband of
Rosalie Marie Wertheim with whom he had eight children passed away today.
1897(18th of Cheshvan, 5658): Sixty-seven year old
James Picciotto passed away today at his mother-in-law’s residence in London.
1897: In Vienna police were called to quell the fighting that
broke out today between German and Jewish university students
1897: “The Rev. Sabato Morais” published today eulogized the life
of the recently deceased Rabbi whom the secular press said devoted his life “
to the promotion of the liberty and advancement of the human race, the defense
of the conservatism of the Jewish religion and the leadership and uplifting of
the Jewish People.”
1898: Plans were published today describing the upcoming course of
Monday talks to be given at the Young Men’s Hebrew Association.
1899: In Chicago, Julia (née
Cohen) and Paul Caspary gave birth to American “lady of letters” Vera Louise
Caspary who wrote the novel Laura, which was turned into one of the
finest films-noire
1900: Herzl meets the French millionaire Reitlinger and discusses the idea
of redeeming the Turkish debt.
1901(2ND
of Kislev, 5662): Sixty-three year old Edward Micholls Henriques, the
Bloomsburg born son of Rebecca and David Quixano Henriques and the husband of
Rose Emily Henriques passed away today in Manchester, England.
1902: Kaiser
Wilhelm II of Germany who would blame the Jews for the loss in WW I visited
Great Britain ruled by King Edward VII who counted the Rothschilds and Sasoons
as friends.
1903: In “Bishop Grafton and Jews in Russia,” published today Jacob De
Hass “a British-born Jewish journalist and an early leader of the Zionist
movement in the United States” took issue with Bishop Charles Grafton positive
description of Russian civilization and his comments on Jews “who are animated
by the ‘crafty wealth-getting spirit of Jacob…’”
1903(22nd of Cheshvan, 5664): French impressionist painter Camille Pissarro
passed away at the age of 73. Born Jacob-Abraham-Camille Pissarro he was the
son of a Sephardic Jew living in the Virgin Islands where owned by Denmark.
“None of Pissarro's paintings refer to the Bible or Jewish rituals or include
Hebrew inscriptions. However, the art historian Stephanie Rachum has pointed
out references to Judaism in three pen and ink drawings that Pissarro created
in 1890 for his nieces. In "Capitol," Pissarro drew a smartly-dressed
man with a hooked nose amidst throngs of needy people. In a letter to his
nieces, Pissarro identified the ‘vulgar and ugly’ figure as a portrait of a
rich Jew, ‘of an Oppenheim, of a Rothschild, of a Gould, whatever.’ The hooked
noses appear in two other illustrations in the series, which also depict the
Golden Calf. Although some might consider Pissarro a self-hating Jew for
drawing these pictures, it is significant that they were not intended for
publication. They reflect the complicated way in which his anarchist political
views confronted his Jewish identity; to Pissarro, a rich Jew seemed to have
been primarily a rich man and coincidentally Jewish. Joachim Pissarro, an art
scholar and Camille's great-grandson, suggests that Camille's complicated
relationship with Judaism impacted his work. The artist's religious struggles
helped him develop, according to Joachim, "a critical stance which he
could apply to the system of taste and to the conventions that governed art
teaching at the time of his arrival in France in 1855."
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/culture/2/Art/History_and_Theory/Jewish_Painters/pissarro.shtml
1904: In Hamburg, Louise (née Löwenthal) and John Biermann gave birth to
Dagobert Biermann the Jewish resistance fighter who was murdered by the Nazis
at Auschwitz.
1905: “Jacob H. Schiff told an audience at the headquarters of the
Educational Alliance” tonight “of the outrages” suffered by the Jews of Russia
which is causing their “exodus…to the United States” where they “would make…
the greatest Jew of all the ages.”
1905: As of tonight, approximately $40,000 “has been collected by the
various Jewish organizations” in Philadelphia, PA for the relief of the Jewish
“survivors of the massacre in Russia.”
1905: “At the meeting of the Executive Committee” today ‘in the United
Hebrew Charities Building word was received from the banking houses of
Rothschild in London and Paris that London’s fund, of which Baron Rothschild is
Treasurer, has reached £53,000 and the Paris fund is 625,000 francs which is
about half the London fund.”
1905: According to Mr. Spring-Rice, the Attaché of the British Legation,
today, “the house of every Jew in St. Petersburg was marked with chalk as a
preliminary to a general campaign against the Jewish race.”
1905: As a sign that the concern for the plight of the Jews of Russia is not
limited to a single “creed or faith” a meeting is scheduled to be held this
afternoon at the Baptist Church of the Epiphany at Madison and 64th
Street “to protest against the massacres and to take steps to aid in the relief
work.”
1905: The Free Sons of Israel sent a “communication” today to Jacob Schiff
declaring that the Order “was now actively engaged in the collection in the
collection of money for the alleviation of the sufferings of the Russian
Hebrews” along with its first contribution of $1,000.
1905: In Odessa, “the dismissal of Prefect D.B. Neidhartd” who is considered
to be responsible for many of the recent anti-Semitic attacks “was announced
this evening” which brought “rejoicing to the Jewish population.”
1906: In spite of her efforts to conceal the fact, Eleanora Leigh, the
actress appearing in “Pippa Passes” at the Majestic Theatre finally conceded
that she is really “Alice Lewisohn, the daughter of the late Leonard Lewisohn
and the sister of Jesse Lewisohn.
1906: Birthdate of Eva Zeisel, American industrial designer. Born in
Hungary, Zeisel is another refugee from Hitler’s Europe who enriched American
culture; in her case in the world of ceramics and pottery.
1906: American diplomat and Columbia graduate Lewis Einstein, the New York
born son of Caroline and David L. Einstein and the husband of Hele Rallli began
serving as first Secretary of the American Embassy and Charge d ’Affairs at
Constantinople.
1906: Miss Alice Lewisohn, the daughter of the late Leonard Lewisohn and the
sister of Jesse Lewisohn explained that she was performing in “Pippa Passes”
under the name of “Eleanora Leigh” because while she enjoyed the theatre she
did not want to be known as a professional actress.
1907: In West Park, Ohio, Wilbur and May Nichols gave birth to Kenneth David
“Nick” Nichols, a Major General who played a key role in the Manhattan project
and who was one of the driving forces behind removing the security clearance of
J. Robert Oppenheimer whom he said was a community “in every sense except that
he did not carry a party card.”
1908: Birthdate of New York City native Robert Garvey Cohn, the CCNY trained
writer.
1908: Birthdate of New York native and Cornell University graduate Samuel
Dalsimer, a program director of the Office War Information during WW II who was
a “vice chairman of the board and director of Grey Advertising and national
chairman of the ADL and the husband of “the former Shirley Wasch” whom he
raised two sons James and Andrew, both of whom were doctors.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/08/23/78392402.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1909(29th of Cheshvan, 5670): Parashat Toldot
1909(29th of Cheshvan, 5670): Elje Schafirstein passed away
today.
1909: Rabbis
attending this week’s meeting of the Central Conference of American Rabbis are
scheduled to speak at congregations throughout Greater New York today.
1909: A special
dinner is scheduled to be held tonight at the Hotel Savoy for those attending
this week’s meeting of the Central of American Rabbis.
1909: The University of Michigan led by halfback Joseph “Joe” Magidsohn,
“the first Jewish athlete to win a varsity ‘M’” who was the “first athlete
known to have refused to compete on the Jewish High Holy Days” defeated the
University of Pennsylvania today.
1909: The Tennessee Volunteers coached by George Levene lost to the
University of Alabama today.
1910: It was
reported today, that Jacob H. Schiff, Felix M. Warburg, and Mrs. Esther Herrman
were among the guests of honor at a dinner given by the Young Men's Hebrew
Association celebrating the tenth anniversary of the opening of the
association's present building at Lexington Avenue and Ninety-Second Street.
1911(22nd of Cheshvan, 5672): Forty-year old architect Charles
Henry Israels, the New York born “son of Lehman Hartog Israels and Florence
Zilla Israels and husband of Belle Linder “whom she met at the Alliance where
he had been a volunteer club leader” passed away today from the effects of
“heart disease.”
1911:
It was reported today that “Judge Julian W. Mack, Justice of the new Commerce
Court and President of the National Conference of Charities and Correction” has
“made a plea for more liberal policy of immigration” saying that “the greatest
task of this country is to weld together the multitude of races that have come
here so that their children of the second generation may be American.”
1911: The Vaad or Council of Rabbis of the Jewish community of Safed voted
20,000 Francs toward the [Turkish] war fund.
1913(13th of Cheshvan, 5674): Thirty-eight year old theatrical
manager Daniel S. Fishell, the Louisiana born son of Ferdinand and Lizzie
Fischell passed away in St. Louis.
1913: Birthdate of Karl Jay Shapiro, the Baltimore native who “was appointed
the fifth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in
1946.
1914(24th of Cheshvan, 5675): Seventy year old “Hebraic scholar”
Moses Neumann, the son of Wolf Neumann of Austrian Galicia who came to the
United States seventeen years ago passed away today in New York
1914: In Sydney, the Hebrew Standard of Australasia reported that
thirty-four year old Louis Sefton Cullen joined the Royal Fusiliers.
1915: The “glories of great master craftsmen of the Hebrews are revived in
the exhibition of the Bezalel School, Jerusalem, which has opened at 233 Fifth
Avenue, near Twenty-seventh Street” where “exquisite examples of filigree work,
copper inlay, carving in ivory and in wood, which are here displayed, bear
witness to the fact that the skill of the race has lost nothing since the days
of Bezale
1916: Herman Bernstein, the editor of The American Hebrew said today that
“the economic boycotts against the Polish Jews of which he had spoken about
previously had taken place in Russian Poland and not in the part” of Poland
occupied by the German forces.
1916(17th of Cheshvan, 5677): Private Philip Samuels, the native
of West Kensington, London and son of Charles and Rebecca Samuel was killed
today during the Battle of the Somme while serving with the 7th
Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers.
1916: Julius Rosenwald, Chicago merchant and philanthropist contributed
$500,000 toward the endowment fund for the proposed medical department of the
University of Chicago
1917: During the “October Revolution” the Bolsheviks used artillery to gain
control of Moscow but Alexander Kerensky, the moderate Socialist who was
Chairman of the deposed Russian Provisional Government continued to enjoy
support outside of the Russian capital.
1917: Private Abraham Balustein and the rest of the 165th which
had just arrived in France from the United States remained in Brest for a
second day.
1917: As Egyptian Expeditionary Force continued its advance after the
battles at Beersheba and Gaza, Allenby’s forces drove back the Ottoman forces
from their strong defensive positions in what was known as the Battle of Mughar
Ridge, but was, in a typical case of English understatement as the Action of El
Mughar in official dispatches.
1918: Pierre-Paul Louis Lévy and
Jeanne Lévy gave birth to Auschwitz victim Madeline Levy.
1918: A group of prominent Jewish leaders including Samuel Untermeyer,
Nathan Straus, Abram I. Elkus, Louis Marshal, Adolph Lewisohn Samuel C.
Pamport, Louis Lipsky, Judge Otto A. Rasalsky, Dr. Samuel Schlman, Israel
Unterberg and Franklin Simon host a dinner in New York for a delegation of
visiting Zionists led by Vladimir Jabotinksy that includes Professor Otto
Warburg and Alexander Goldstein.
1918: Jeanne Levy, the Paris born daughter “Alfred Dreyfus and Lucie Eugénie
Hadamard” and her husband Pierre-Paul Louis Lévy gave birth to Madeleine Lévy
who was murdered at Auschwitz.
1919: In Los Angeles attorney Joseph Max Wapner and the former Fannie
Friedman gave birth to decorated WW II Army veteran Joseph Albert Wapner a real
judge and the “judge on televisions The Peoples Court who was the husband of
Mildred Nebenzahl and the father of Sarah, Frederick and David Miron-Wapner.
1919: Birthdate of Józef Władysław Walaszczyk a Polish leatherworker and
businessman who was declared Righteous Among the Nations in 2002 for sheltering
Jews during the Holocaust and has been
described as a "second Schindler" or "Polish Schindler".
1919: Birthdate of Isadore “Izzy” Spector who lead the Grand Junction High
School to the state championship in Colorado before playing three years at the
University of Utah where he earned honorable mention on the Grantland Rice
All-America team in 1940.
1920(2nd of Kislev, 5681): Parashat Tolodot
1920: Dr. R. H. Melamed is scheduled to deliver a sermon on the portion of
the week at Petach Tikvah in Brooklyn.
1920: Rabbi E.L. Solomon is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “The Doctrine
of Immortality” at Kehilath Jeshurun.
1920: Rabbi David Davidson is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “Jacob and
Esau: A Character Study for Simple Folks and Superwise Critics” at Atereth
Israel’
1920: Birthdate of Eugene Ferkauf “the founder of the E. J. Korvette chain
of discount department stores, whose 1950s strategy of low prices, quick
turnover and high volume helped shape today’s retail landscape…” (As reported
by Douglas Martin)
1921: Over 2,000 men, women and children gathered today to commemorate “the
completion of thirty-nine years by Edward Lauterbach as a trustee of the Hebrew
Orphan Asylum.
1921(12th
of Cheshvan, 5682) Fifty-one year old Ignác (Yitzhaq Yehuda) Goldziher passed
away. Born in 1850, this Hungarian Jew
is considered with of the three founders of modern Islamic studies in Europe.
1921:
Dr. Joseph Silverman, rabbi emeritus of Temple Emanu-El, surprised almost 1,200
guests at a dinner at the Hotel Astor tonight by declaring himself in favor of
the upbuilding of Palestine and the establishment there of a republic patterned
after the democracy of the United States. “Rabbi Silverman has always been
known as a non-Zionist, and while his beliefs do not quite coincide with those
of the ardent Zionist, they were accepted by the large attendance as a
practical endorsement of the Zionist movement.”
1921: In Camden, NJ Rabbi Mortimer J. Cohen of Philadelphia’s Beth Sholom
and Rabbi Max Klein took part in the services dedicated the building which
would serve as the temporary home for Congregation Beth El
1922: The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Samuel Bashlow had delivered a
eulogy entitled “Facts of the Unknown” at the service in Camden, NJ honoring
the five members of the Y.M.H.A. who had lost their lives in the World War
which was followed by Rabbi Harry S. Davidowitz’s speech and closing prayer
offered by Rabbi Solomon Grayzel.
1923: In Boyle Heights, Morton and Fanny Greenstone gave birth to Leonard
Greenstone, “a Los Angeles businessman and developer who helped create
innovative training and rehabilitation programs for California prison inmates
during 50 years of volunteer service to the prison system…” (As reported by
Rebecca Trounson)
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-leonard-greenstone-20121031,0,7464335.story
1923: In Edmonton, Alberta, Harry Hiller the owner of a secondhand musical
instrument store and the former Rose Garfin gave birth to director Arthur
Hiller whose most famous picture was the schmaltzy, tear-jerker “Love Story.” (As reported by
Dave Kehr)
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/18/movies/arthur-hiller-dead.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=
1924: “Waxworks,” a silent horror film directed Paul Leni and Leo Birinsky
who was also the producer was released in Germany today.
1925: Frances
(Fanny) Wolff Lewis, the daughter of Louis Napoleon Levy and Lillian Hendricks
Levy and her husband Harold Lewis gave birth Harley Alma Lewis who became
Harley Alma Cohn when she married Richard James Cohn.
1926: In his 11th bout, Seymour “Cy” Schindel suffered his second
loss at the Walker Athletic Club in New York.
1927: In New York, Louis and Mary (Halkin) Wiener, gave birth to Dr. Naomi
W. Cohen, the Columbia University trained history professor and author who was
the wife of Gerson D. Cohen, the Jewish historian and chancellor of JTS.
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/cohen-naomi-w
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/241380
1927: This evening, Albert Weisbord is scheduled to deliver a lecture on
“Ten Years of Working-Class Government” at a “Mass Celebration” marking the
“Tenth Anniversary of Soviet Russian” hosted by the Workmens Circle Temple.
1928: During a dinner “arranged by the Union of Orthodox Congregations of
America in’ honor of the fifty years of religious and public service of Dr. H.
Pereira Mendes which was broadcast by WJZ, Rabbi Mendes called for the
“convocation of the Jewish World Sanhedrin, the religious parliament which has
not met since the Roman era, to deal with problems of orthodox Judaism raised
by recent social and economic changes” in the modern world.
1929: It was announced today “that to inspect the workings of the industrial
relief program carried by the ORT Reconstruction Campaign for destitute Jews
abroad, the young woman members of the Junior will take over the ORT Tool
Supply Company “on November 14 and “they will run the business which buys
machinery from American manufacturers,
ships it to destitute Jewish families in Eastern Europe and receives payment
from American who order equipment of impoverished relatives abroad.
1930: Birthdate of New York native left-wing Princeton Professor Richard A.
Falk who was able to provide a rationalization for the terrorist bombing of the
Boston Marathon.
1931: In Budapest Klara nee Fejer and grain merchant Alexander Steiner gave
birth to Agnes Steiner who survived the Holocaust and made a new life for
herself as Leach Barcela in Israel.
1931(3rd of Kislev, 5692): Fifty-four-year-old Harvard trained
attorney Irvin V. Barth, the Boone County, MO born son of Victor and Nettie A.
Barth who was a circuit court judge and
lecturer at St. Louis University passed away today.
1932: The Yiddish Art Theatre is scheduled to host a performance of “Yoshe
Kalb” by I.D. Singer.
1933: The film version of “The Invisible Man” produced by Carl Laemmle, Jr.
was released in the United States today.
1933: In contrast to how the Jews were being treated in Germany, the Baden
Interior Minister “sent the following directive to police headquarters” today: "Forceful measures against Catholic
clergymen outside the framework of the general laws are not permitted in the
future."
1933: “A rally of German Christians was held at the Berlin Sportpalast,
where — before a packed hall — banners proclaimed the unity of National
Socialism and Christianity, interspersed with the omnipresent swastikas
and series of speakers addressed the
crowd's pro-Nazi sentiments with ideas such as:
the removal of all pastors unsympathetic with National Socialism
the expulsion of members of Jewish descent, who might be arrogated to a
separate church
the implementation of the Aryan Paragraph church-wide
the removal of the Old Testament from the Bible
the removal of "non-German" elements from religious services
the adoption of a more "heroic" and "positive"
interpretation of Jesus, who in pro-Aryan fashion should be portrayed to be
battling mightily against corrupt Jewish influences.
1934: “J. W. Mack to Remain As Head of Reform Union Body Till’35” published
today described the decision to have “Jacob W. Mack, newly elected chairman of
the executive board of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, serve in
that capacity at least until the Union’s thirty-fourth annual council in
Washington in March, 1935.” (As reported by JTA)
1934”Egon Kisch jumped from the Strathaird onto Melbourne's concrete dock,
breaking his leg. Kisch held the mistaken belief that he would be arrested and
detained on Australian soil if he set foot in the country. Instead, authorities
carried him back onto the ship as it sailed for Sydney.”
1935: Dr. Cyrus Adler, M. Maldwin Fertig and Louis Lipsky met with President
Roosevelt in Washington, D.C. today and told him about the progress in the work
to rehabilitate Palestine as a Jewish national home.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/11/14/88618014.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1936: Winston Churchill wrote to his son Randolph that the initial basis for
the creation of the Anti-Nazi League was Jewish resentment at their abominable
persecution, the base had grown to include all those who are prepared to
support genuine military action to resist tyranny or aggression.
1936: Four meetings sponsored by the Brooklyn council of the American Jewish
Congress scheduled to be held this evening in honor of Justice Louis D.
Brandeis who is celebrating his 80th birthday today include a
discussion of the jurist’s life led by Zionist leader Abraham Goldberg “at an
open forum in the Flatbush Congress House.
1936: Those sending cables and telegrams to Justice Brandies on his 80th
birthday included Chaim Weizmann, President of the World Zionist Organization;
David Ben Gurion on behalf of the 100,000 members of the Federation of Jewish
Workers in Palestine; Dr. Israel Goldstein on behalf of the Jewish National
Fund of America; Menachem M. Ussishkin, Henrietta Szold and Isaac Ben Zvi on
behalf of “Palestine Jewry.”
1936: The executive board of Hadassah, which had announced “that the
out-patient department of the medical center now under construction in
Jerusalem would be named for Justice
Brandies and that a Brandeis for would be established in his honor in
Palestine,” today “sent a birthday message to Justice Brandeis on half of its
52,000 members.”
1936: In Washington, DC, at Adas Israel, Rabbi Solomon Metz is scheduled to
deliver a Friday night sermon “Brandeis, a Modern Sage” which will be followed
by “an open forum with a talk on ‘Brandeis, the Champion of the People.
1937: In Konigsberg, Germany, “Rabbi Josef Hirsch Dunner” and “Yitta (Ida)
Dunner” gave birth to “Abraham (Aba) Moshe Dunner.”
1937(9th of Kislev, 5698): Parashat Vayetzei
1937(9th of Kislev, 5698): Eighty-three year old “Samuel H.
Trounstine, retired clothing manufacturer, former president of the United
Jewish Charities and a member of the Cincinnati Club” who was the brother of
Emma Trounstine” passed away today after suffering a heart attack.
1938: “The twenty-seventh annual convention of the New Jersey Federation of
the Y.M.H.A. and Y.W.H.A continued to meet at the Morristown Jewish Center.
1938: The Nazi government orders the Jews to cease all trading and business
activities by end of the year.
1938: Today, mathematician Ernest David Hellinger, “the Silesian born son of
Emil and Julie Hellinger” “was arrested, taken to Festhalle and then put into
Dachau” from which he was later rescued and eventually found his to the faculty
of Northwestern University.
https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095929484
http://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Hellinger.html
1938: “Pastors at many congregations protested in sermons from their
pulpits” today “against the renewed persecution of the Jews in Germany” and
“the congregation of the Community Church approved” sending “a message to the
German Ambassador in Washington asking him to inform his government of American
reaction.”
1939: “Divisional meetings of members of the Women’s League for Palestine
were held…at the homes of members in all part of” New York “ to discuss plans
for a campaign to raise $100,000 for a new league center in Jerusalem similar
to those already established in Haifa and Tel Aviv.”
1939: SS troops in
Poland arrest and execute 53 Jewish men who happen to reside at the same
address as a Jewish man who has shot and killed a Polish policeman.
1940: In Bay Shore, New York, Dorothy K. Kripke and Myer S. Kripke would
serve as rabbi at Beth El Synagogue in Omaha, Nebraska gave birth to their
first child, “philosopher and logician” Saul Kripke,
https://www.gc.cuny.edu/news/saul-kripke-eminent-philosopher-and-professor-dies-81
1941: Warsaw diarist
Chaim Kaplan writes that his wife has been stricken with typhus.
1941: Francie Rabiner, the Ft. Dodge, Iowa, native who was the daughter of
Samuel and Daisy Lumelsky Rabiner became Francie Cohen when she married Samuel
Cohen today in Cedar Rapids, IA.
1942: The members of a Kibbutz originally called Sha’ar HaNegev “moved to
the Finger of the Galilee, where they established a new kibbutz called Kfar
Szold.”
1942: The American (Jewish) Joint Distribution Committee (AJDC) report on
the situation of Jews in North Africa including the fact that the occupation by
Spanish military forces at Tangiers had led to the introduction of anti-Jewish
laws being put into effect.
1943(15th of Cheshvan, 5704): Parashat Vayera
1943(15th of Cheshvan, 5704): Today, after a year in hiding the
Urman family was betrayed and when the German police came to arrest them eleven
and half year old Jerzy Feliks Urman took his own life, telling his mother with
his dying breath “Mummy, I took the cyanide.”
1943: Frizt Lustig tried to
escape from Birkenau. He was caught and shot ten days later.
1944: Due to “constantly rising costs, irreplaceable personnel losses,
curtailed business due to war conditions and mounting losses,” today, after 57
years, “The Jewish Daily Courier, one
of the oldest Jewish newspapers in the United States, suspended publication.”
(JTA)
1944: In Newcastle upon Tyne Labour Party political leader Bennie Abrahams
and his wife gave birth to David Martin Abrahams, the British real estate
developer and Labour Party activist.
1945: American soprano Edis de Philippe landed in Israel and within a short
time created the Israel National Opera.
De Philippe's company performed night after night all over the country.
The company was so successful, that it attracted young and rising international
opera stars to spend some time in Israel.
1945: Prime Minister Clement Attlee suggests formation of a joint
Anglo-American committee to investigate the problem of Jewish refugees and
devise a solution to it. This apparently
benign suggestion was an attempt to smooth Truman’s ruffled feathers over the
British government’s refusal to accept Truman’s request that 100,000 Jews be
admitted immediately to Palestine.
1945:
British Foreign Minister Bevin gives a speech attacking Zionism and the Jewish
people.
1945:
President Truman and British foreign minister Ernest Bevin announce
U.S.-British agreement on creating joint committee of inquiry to examine
problem of European Jews and Palestine. Bevin suggests that Palestine become a
trustee state of UN and later have self-government.
1945:
Foreign Minister Bevin refuses the entry of 100,000 Jews into Palestine and
declares a quota of 1,500 immigrants a month, subject to Arab acquiescence.
1945:
Senator Kenneth McKellar (Tennessee) charges that British are distributing arms
to Arabs and denounces UK Foreign Minister Bevin.
1945.
Senator Warren G. Magnuson of Washington State, Representative Bertrand W.
Gearhart of California’s 9th Congressional District and Guy W.
Gillette, the former Senator from Iowa appeared on radio show tonight to
discuss the situation in Palestine.
During the broadcast, Senator Gillette charged “that the present restrictions
on Jews in Palestine were comparable with the anti-Jewish Nuremberg laws of
Nazi Germany.” Senator Magnuson
“discounted the idea that transfer of large numbers of Jews to Palestine would
cause any trouble with the Arabs.”
Representative Gearhart, a conservative Republican said, “Every Hebrew
who declares his desire to go to Palestine should be declared a citizen of that
land, ipso fact, and should immediately be repatriated”
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FB0916FD3D5B10738DDDAD0994D9415B8588F1D3
1945:
Congressman Emanuel Celler (New York) denounced the British.
1946: As part of growing wave of terror caused by Britain’s failure to honor
its war time promise to allow Jewish immigration to Eretz Israel and increasing
repressive measure aimed at the Jews of the Yishuv, two British policemen were
killed while patrolling the Jerusalem-Jaffa rail line.
1946(19th of Cheshvan, 5707): Seventy year old investment banker
Robert C. Schaffner, “the chairman of the board of A.G. Becker and Co. who had
one daughter, Katherine, with his wife Frances and who a supporter of Chicago’s
Art Institute passed a way today in Michael Reese Hospital.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1946/11/14/93177634.html?pageNumber=29
1947: U.S. premiere of “Out of the Past” starring Kirk Douglas
1947: Today, “the Synagogue Council of America appealed to the American
rabbinate to give special attention to the collection of books and religious
articles for Europe’s needy Jews” because as important as it is to send
clothing, food and medical supplies, it also important to send those things
that will “help in the cultural rebirth of the remnant of European Jewry.
1948: The newly created Israeli government announced that it will launch
shortly a full-scale development plan for the Negev desert area of southern
Palestine, centered on Beersheba as an Israeli town, it was learned today.
1948: President Truman feels that direct Arab-Jewish negotiations might work. He
advocates a full recognition of Israel and aid for 500,000 Arab refugees in
Middle East.
1948:UN Security Council listens to plan by UN
mediator Ralph Bunche. Israel would withdraw to October 14 lines. Egypt would
stay where it had retreated in Negev fighting. A large part of Negev would be
demilitarized pending UN negotiations for peace. Israel rejects part of plan in
which Beersheba would be under Arab administration. Plan is endorsed by
Council's special committee on Negev and Bunche orders Egypt and Israel to
carry out plan.
1949: “ Jungle Healer” published today provided a review of Albert
Schweitzer: Genius in the Jungle by Joseph Gollomb, the St. Petersburg, Russia
born son of Julius and Rachel Gollomb.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1949/11/13/93550989.html?pageNumber=130
1949: The biennial convention of the American Jewish Congress came to an
end.
1949: “The Jungle Healer” published today provided a review of Albert
Schweitzer: Genius in the Jungle by Jewish author Joseph Gollomb.
1950(4th of Kislev, 5711): Seventy-four-year-old Columbia medical
school trained physician and author Samuel Kopetzky, the New York City born son
of Lena Bernhardt and Joseph Kopetzky, a professor in the department of otology
at the Manhattan Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital and member of the board of
governors of the American Jewish Physicians committee for the Establishment of
the Medical Department at Hebrew University who, while serving as a
medical officer with the 81st Division
was “cited for gallantry in action after the Meuse-Argonne Offensive” and who
was the husband of Anah H. Dobb with whom he had two children – Yvonne and Karl
– passed away today.
1952: In Chicago, Illinois, Shirley (née Horwitz) Garland. a director of
volunteer services at Chicago's Council for Jewish Elderly and Cyril Garland,
the head of Garland Advertising gave birth to Judge Merrick Garland, the
Supreme Court Nominee whom the Republican refused to consider because they
claimed lame duck President were not supposed to fill openings on the High
Court, a position that set them at odds with Presidents going back to George
Washington who as a lame duck President during an election year (1796) filled
two positions on the court.
1952: Moss Hart’s “The Climate of Eden” opened at the Martin Beck Theatre in
Manhattan.
1952(25th of Cheshvan, 5713): New York born and Harvard trained
attorney Abraham Howard Feller who taught at his alma mater before providing
legal services to the Office of Lend-Lease Administration and the Office of War
Information before serving as general counsel to the newly formed United
Nations, reportedly jumped to his death today.
1953: In “Summoning Mr. Truman,” published today, attorney Nathaniel
Phillips expresses disapproval the so-called House Un-American Committee
issuing a subpoena for former President of the United States Harry Truman.
1954: Larry Blyden completed an eleventh month run as “Grant Cobble” in the
Broadway production of “Oh, Men! Oh, Women!”
1955: Two Jewish refugees who met and married while living in China during
WW II gave birth Eliezer “Eli” Marom, the native Moshav Sde Eliezer who served
as the Commander of the Israeli Navy” from 2007 to 2011.
1956: The first Israeli train arrived in Gaza, after Israeli troops drove
out the occupying Egyptian army and cleaned out the terrorist bases. Israeli troops would leave Gaza in 1957 under
pressure from the U.N. and the Eisenhower Administration. Ten years later, the U.N. would fail to honor
the guarantees made to Israel concerning protecting the Jewish state from the
Arabs. The result would the Six Day War
in 1976.
1956: In London, Sylvia (née
Packman) Cesarini and Henry Cesarini, a hairdresser, gave birth to Jewish
historian David Cesarani.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/26/david-cesarani
1957: In Babylon,
LI, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Lurie announced the engagement of their daughter Bernice
to Lafyette College graduate and WW II U.S. Navy Jonas Anderson Levin, the son
of Dr. and Mrs. Louis Levin.
1958: It was
reported today that “Carl Foreman, who produces for Columbia in England under
the banner of Highroad Productions plans” to make a movie version of the novel The
League of Gentlemen.
1958: It was
reported today that “Luther Adler has been signed” to play “Dr. Max Vogel” in
the film adaptation The Last Angry Man and Paul Muni has been signed to
play “Dr. Sam Abelman.”
1960: “North to Alaska” a cold weather westerner co-produced by Charles
Feldman with a script co-authored by Ben Hecht and music by Lionel Newman was
released in the United States today.
1960: Sammy Davis, Jr. married
Swedish actress May Britt. Davis was
probably one of the most famous if not the most famous convert to Judaism in
the middle of the 20th century.
His marriage to Britt caused a furor because it was inter-racial. Others, with a more parochial view, were
upset that he had married a non-Jew.
1962(16th of Cheshvan, 5723): Eighty-seven-year-old Harry
Emanuel, the son of Elizabeth and George Joseph Emanuel and the husband of
Jessie Emanuel passed away today.
1962: “Mr. and Mrs. Goodman A. Sarachan of Rochester, N.Y., announced here
the engagement of their daughter, Miss Donna Ellen Sarachan, to Martin L.
Lawrence.”
1963: Abdelkader Benjelloun completed his served as “Minister Delegate for
Employment and Social Affairs” in Morocco.
1963: U.S. premiere of “Take her, She’s Mine,” produced and directed by
Harry Koster based on a play by Henry and Phoebe Ephron with music by Jerry
Goldsmith.
1964(8th of Kislev, 5725): Rabbi Dov Appleman, the husband of
Franny Appleman and the “father of Rabbi Abraham Joseph, Rabbi Hyman, Rabbi
Morris, Norman, and Jennie Sodden” passed away today.
1964: Birthdate of actress Tzufit Grant, the native of Petah Tikvah who
hosted the television show “Milkshake” and who has had two children with her husband
Avram Grant.
1966(30th of Cheshvan, 5727): Rosh Chodesh Kislev
1966(30th of Cheshvan, 5727): Seventy four lyric tenor Mario
Chamlee, the Los Angeles born son of Samuel Ricket Chamlee and Clarissa
Elizabeth Chamlee, the husband of Ruth Miller Chamless and the father of Archer
Mario Chamlee, who sang “the style of the Great Caruso” passed away today after
which he was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, CA.
https://library.stanford.edu/collections/ruth-and-mario-chamlee-collection
1966(30th of Cheshvan, 5727): Eighty-six year old New York born,
NYU trained attorney Nathan Raymond Leavitt, the founder of Central Home Trust
Company passed away tonight at his home in Elizabeth, NJ after suffering a
heart attack.
1967(10th of Cheshvan, 5728): Seventy-two year old Lemberg,
Austria, native, Harry Salpeter, “an art deal and critic” and the husband of
Betty Berkowitz passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1967/11/14/90417644.pdf
https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/harry-salpeter-papers-9052
1968(22nd of Cheshvan, 5729): Eighty-two year old University of
Wisconsin trained economist Dr. David J. Saposs, the Kiev born son of peddler
Isaac Saposnik and Shima Erevsky Saposnik, who held several government post,
wrote both Left Wing Unionism and Communism in American Politics
while raising two daughters with his wife Bertha Tigay Saposs passed away
today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1968/11/16/76907905.html?pageNumber=37
1967(10th of Cheshvan, 5728):
Seventy-one year old world class pianist Harriet Cohen passed away. Born
in London in 1895, she studied at the London Conservatory before going on to
fame and fortune. Such was her skill,
that she was honored as a
1970: Birthdate of Ariel Atias, the Tel Aviv native who has served as an MK
and cabinet minister.
1971: “The Go-Between” a movie version of the novel by the same name with a
script by Harold Pinter was released in the United States today.
1972(7th of Kislev, 5733): Forty-one year old M(arshall) Glenn
Koenig, the New York born son of Stella and the Cornell University trained
physician who “became the director of the Division of Infectious Diseases
in the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University” passed away today.
https://academic.oup.com/jid/article-abstract/127/4/488/861779?redirectedFrom=PDF
1973: Maj.-Gen. Shmuel (“Gorodish”) Gonen wrote to IDF Chief of Staff
Maj.-Gen. David “Dado” Elazar that as the cease-fire appeared to be stable,
“the timing is right to ask that you investigate the conduct of General Sharon
and if my claims are proven, that he stand trial” adding “that failure to do so
“after what happened, will cause demoralization and damage the character of the
army.”
1974(29th of Cheshvan, 5735): Sixty-four year old Philadelphia
native and University of Pennsylvania trained electrical engineer Saul Nathan
Lev passed away today
1975: In Jerusalem an explosive charge went off near cafe Naveh, on Jaffa
Road near the pedestrian mall. Seven people were killed and 45 injured.
1976: In Houston, TX, attorney J. Kent Friedman, the Tulane University
baseball player and his wife gave birth to Andrew Friedman who followed in his
father’s footsteps by playing baseball at Tulane who went from being a
financial analyst to a career in baseball management that led him to becoming
the President of Baseball Operations of the Los Angeles Dodgers”
http://blog.nola.com/tpsports/2008/10/tulane_alumnus_andrew_friedman.html
1977: Palestinian terrorists detonated bombs in 2 separate attacks in
Jerusalem during which two of the bombers were killed and four bystanders were
injured.
1977: The comic strip ''Li'l
Abner'' by Jewish cartoonist Al Capp appeared in newspapers for the last time.
1979: Birthdate of Ya'akov "Kobi" Shimoni known by his stage name
Subliminal an Israeli hip hop artist and music producer.
1980: “Victor Brailovsky, the editor of the samizdat journal “Jews in the USSR” and organizer of the
unofficial scientific symposia”, was arrested today.
1982(27th of Cheshvan, 5743): Parashat Chayei Sara
1982(27th of Cheshvan, 5743): Seventy-two-year old Yeshiva
University rabbi Abraham Noah Avrutick, the Russian born son of “ Fishel and
Sosel (Shimshilevitch) AvRutick, and husband of Frances Ruth Feldman with whom
he had three children – Naomi, Rena and Judith – who in 1921 came to Canada and
then moved to the United States where he held pulpits at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, 1936-1938,
Newburgh, New York, 1938-1946. Rabbi Agudas Achim Synagogue, Hartford,
Connecticut, from 1946 while successively serving as secretary, treasurer, vice
president Rabbinical Council American, president, 1962-1964, honorary
president, 1965 passed away today.
1982: Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff, the former military chaplain who “worked to
create the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC…delivered the closing
prayer” today at its official dedication.
1984: David Levy finds his 1st comet.
1984: “The West Point Jewish
Chapel was built at the academy beginning in 1982” opened today.
1985(29th of
Cheshvan, 5746): Ninety-four year old Austrian born and Columbia University
trained attorney Emil N. Baar the justice of the Supreme Court of the State of
New York and chairman of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations passed away
today.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/baar-emil-n
1987: “Cross My Heart” a comedy produced by Lawrence Kasdan and featuring
Paul Reiser was released in the United States today.
1988: ABC broadcast the first episode of “War and Remembrance,” “an American
miniseries based on the novel of the same name written by Herman Wouk”
1990: Comptroller Liz Holtzman greeted the Committee for Responsive
Democracy when it began its hearings in New York City by “saying that ‘many
don’t see themselves as being represented.’”
1991: World Premiere of Beauty and the Beast, a 1991 American animated
musical romantic fantasy film, with music by Alan Menken.
1995: “Israeli Security Neglected a Tip Of a Rabin Plot” published today
revealed failures that led to the assassination of the Prime Minister by Yigal
Amir including a reliable tip received last June about the killer’s intention
on which there was no follow up.
1995: The Henry and Lucy Moses Fund, freely admitting that it was reviving
the charitable practices of a bygone era, announced that it would give a total
of $2 million to four leading New York City hospitals to help pay for care for
uninsured patients as government cutbacks are made in Medicare and Medicaid.
Most foundation executives see payments for direct aid as largely fruitless
since the problems the money is being spent for will remain long after the
money is spent. The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, for example,
already spends more than $25 million a year on free care out of its annual
hospital budget of $600 million. Mount Sinai, Montefiore and
Columbia-Presbyterian, the other three hospitals that received gifts yesterday,
also absorb large amounts on unreimbursed care and see these needs growing as
Medicare and Medicaid are reduced. Those executives have focused on giving to
programs they think will offer solutions to broader problems. But to Henry
Schneider, president of the Henry and Lucy Moses Fund, the needs of the sick
poor, and the nonprofit hospitals that deal with them, are so distressing that
he felt a need to make a gesture to highlight the problem and to try to spur
others to make similar contributions. Dr. John Mendelsohn, chairman of the
department of medicine at Sloan-Kettering, recalled the days before government
assumed responsibility for larger amounts of medical care, when private
philanthropy accounted for a larger share of their support. "Now it is
round-robin, back to the citizens of the country who will have to take
responsibility for at least some of it," he said.
1996: Eighty-five year old June Gale, the second wife of Oscar Levant passed
away today.
1997(13th
of Cheshvan, 5758): Ruth Fischman, the sister of Jacob H. Fischman and the aunt
of Mark B. Fischman, Elaine Zekind, Lois Halpern and Barbara Klibanoff passed
away today.
1998: “Lord Levene of Portsoken became the eighth Jewish Lord Mayor of
London. An Ashkenazi by birth, Lord Levene's first public act was to walk, with
a retinue, from his official residence (Mansion House) to Bevis Marks
Synagogue, for the Sabbath Eve service.”
1998: U.S. premiere of “Meet Joe Black” directed and produced by Martin
Brest, with a script by Bo Goldman, music by Thomas Newman and filmed by
cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki.
2000(15th of Cheshvan, 5761): Gabi Zaghouri, 36, of Netivot was
killed by gunfire directed at the truck he was driving near the Kissufim
junction in the southern part of the Gaza Strip
2000(15th of Cheshvan, 5761): Sarah Leisha, 42, of Neveh Tzuf was
killed by gunfire from a passing car while travelling near Ofra, north of
Ramallah.
2001(15th of Cheshvan, 5761): Cpl. Elad Wallenstein, 18, of
Ashkelon, and Cpl. Amit Zanna, 19, of Netanya were killed by gunfire from a car
passing the military bus carrying them near Ofra.
2002(8th of Kislev, 5763): Irving D. Rubin chairman of the Jewish Defense
League (JDL) from 1985 to 2002 died in jail awaiting trial on charges of
conspiracy to bomb private and government property.
2003: In a reiteration of the
American commitment to the separation of church and state, the Alabama Court of
the Judiciary (COJ), issued a unanimous opinion ruling that "Chief Justice
Moore has violated the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics” and that he was being
removed from office because it was obvious from his past behavior and
statements that he would not comply with any orders regarding the removal of
his “Ten Commandments Monument”
2004: Opening of the 2004 Inaugural Festival of New Jewish Liturgical Music
2005: Today, during an interview on “60 Minutes,” Jim Cramer discussed “his
violent temper and what finally led him to come to his senses and ‘calm down’.”
2005: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors
and/or on topics of special Jewish interest including A Time to Run by
Barbara Boxer
2006: Haaretz reported that an initiative to
refurbish the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp has sparked a storm among Holocaust
survivors in Israel.
2007(3rd
of Kislev, 5768): Eighty year old Peter Zinner, the Oscar and Emmy award
winning film editor passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/19/arts/19zinner.html
2007:Wagner
College and the Center for Jewish History present “Immigration to New York
City:100 Years of Transformation” in whicha distinguished
panel explores the changing face of New York City through the framework of
three diverse ethnic and religious communities--Irish, Italian, and Jewish--and
address the implications of these transformations on current and future
generations.
2007:
While visiting Israel, Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko promised followers
of Reb Nachman that he would protect the gravesite from sale or commercial
exploitation.
2007:
Joe Roth, the former chairman of 20th Century Fox and Walt Disney
Studios “was introduced as the majority owner of the Seattle Sounders, the
Major League Soccer team that began playing in 2009.
2008: The Jewish Reconstructionist (JRF) Biennial Convention opens in
Boston, Mass.
2008: In New York, the 23rd annual Israel Film Festival comes to an end.
2008: Opening of The 32nd annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show will
be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. This premier show and sale of
contemporary craft features 23 artists from Israel among the 195 artists who
will be showing and selling their wares.
2008: Opening of Congregation Beth Judea’s Family Education Weekend
featuring Mordechai Rosenstein as its Artist in Residence in Long Grove,
Il. “The Hebrew alphabet is the essence
of the art of Mordechai Rosenstein.”
2008: In Iowa City, Award winning authorAmy Bloom attends a reception at the University of Iowa Hillel and then
participates in a reading at Prairie Lights Book Store.
2008: Hassan Diab, 54, a dual Lebanese-Canadian citizen who teaches at the
University of Ottawa, was arrested at his home in Gatineau, Quebec today by
Royal Canadian Mounted Police acting on a French request for extradition.
2008: Today, the day after municipal elections, secular Jerusalem
mayor-elect Nir Barkat attempted to assuage the fears of the city's haredi
community, whose candidate Meir Porush failed in his bid to replace Mayor Uri
Lupolianski, saying he would gladly welcome the ultra-Orthodox parties into his
coalition if they agree to his basic party line
2008: US President-elect Barack Obama's White House chief of staff
apologized to the Arab-American community today for remarks his Israeli-born
father made to Ma'ariv.
2009(29th of Cheshvan, 5770): Hannah Block, one of the Tar-Heel
State’s leading civic leaders and trailblazing feminists passed away at the age
of 96 in Wilmington, North Carolina.
http://jwa.org/thisweek/nov/08/2010/hannah-block
2009: At 8 PM this evening Lt Col (Ret) Bruce Lichtman will lead a Veteran’s
Day Service at Ft. Belvoir in Virginia. Services will be preceded by a deli
dinner at the Fort Belvoir Chapel Social Hall. Rabbi Chaplain Gary Davidson is
the featured speaker for the evening.
2009: Friday the 13th– The idea that Friday the 13th
is inherently unlucky is a belief whose origin has been lost. According to some, it is tied to the story of
Jesus i.e. there were thirteen people at the Last Supper which provided the
impetus for Good Friday. Others claim
that the Egyptian First Born died on Friday the 13th. The idea that 13 is unlucky for Jews would
certainly come as a heck of a shock to the legion of Bar Mitzvah Boys whose
right of religious passage is tied to their 13th birthday.
2009: An 18-year-old Arab terrorist
attempted to attack a group of IDF soldiers near the Mughrabi Gate in the Old
City of Jerusalem today. Shouting "Allahu Akbar!" (Allah is
Great), the cry of the Muslim jihad (holy war), the young man unsheathed a
knife and tried to stab a Border Patrol officer. The soldier managed to fight
off the attacker, who was subdued by other soldiers and then arrested.
2009: Jeffrey Pollack announced on his Twitter feed that he was
resigning as Commissioner of the World Series of Poker.
2010: On Shabbat,Rahm Emanuel formally kicked off his campaign for
Chicago mayor at large public gathering.
2010: Today, 94 year old Eli “Wallach
received an Academy Honorary Award for his contribution to the film industry
from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.”
2010: Bernard Kouchner, the French
physician who co-founded Doctors Without Borders completed his term as Minister
of Foreign and European Affairs
2010: Chavruta, the first ever county
wide Night of Jewish Learning and Celebration complete with a Chinese/Sushi Bar
sponsored by the Westchester Board of Rabbis and The Westchester Jewish Council
is scheduled to be held tonight at the Temple Israel Center of White Plains in
White Plains, NY.
2010:Hollywood's Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is scheduled to
award an honorary Oscar to French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, "a notorious
vocal...anti-Semite."
2011: Funeral services will be
held at noon today at Temple Beth Emunah, for “Irving H. Franklin …co-founder of Franklin Sports and innovator of the
baseball batting glove.”
2011: The 8th Jewish Eye
Festival, the World Jewish Film Festival held each year in Ashkelon is
scheduled to open today.
2011: Erin Bode is scheduled to appear
with St. Louis Symphony Musicians in a concert featuring the works of Rogers
and Hammerstein at the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival.
2011: Dr. Stephen P. Morse is scheduled
to present a lecture entitled “Getting Ready for the 1940 Census” sponsored by
the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington.
2011: The 3rd Annual
International Holiday Bazaar sponsored by the Illinois Holocaust Museum &
Education Center is scheduled to come to an end in Skokie, Illinois.
2011:The Global Day of Jewish Learning is scheduled to take place in over 200
Communities in 40 different countries.
2011:A popular German radio host is slated to return to his program today,
after being temporarily pulled from his post for writing an email denying the
Holocaust and spreading conspiracy theories against the US to a listener
earlier this month. Ken Jebsen, who is a host at the publicly funded
“Jugendwelle” music program aired by Radio Fritz, wrote, “I know who invented
the Holocaust as PR.”
2011:Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat today urged District Police Commander Niso
Shaham to put a stop to the exclusion of women's images from billboards across
the city, and to the defacing of advertisements on which women do appear, both
trends initiated of late by the local ultra-Orthodox sector. out of advertising
in the capital.
2011:Egyptian security forces have arrested 16 suspects in connection with
recurrent attacks on a pipeline for the supply of gas to Israel and Jordan, a
security source said today. The head of security in North Sinai, Saleh
al-Masri, told DPA that the search for suspects began yesterday with police and
the army deployed in Sinai.
2011: In “Sisters Unto Death”
Caroline Weber reviewed A Train in Winter by Caroline Moorehead.
2012: The Hebrew language film “The
Matchmaker” is scheduled to be shown at the UK Jewish Film Festival.
2012: Ilan Elia, whose songs “have
always combined local Jewish and Israeli traditions with ancient ones from the
mountains of Kurdistan,” is scheduled to perform at the Jerusalem International
Oud Festival.
2012: Israeli artist Domy
Reiter-Soffer is scheduled to lecture at the Library of Congress in Washington,
DC.
2012: In Baltimore, MD, the largest
annual Jewish philanthropic conference in the country - The Jewish Federations
of North America’s General Assembly - is scheduled to come to an end today.
2012: The Free Library of
Philadelphia hosted authors Franklin Foer and Marc Tracy for a discussion of
their book Jewish Jocks: An Unorthodox Hall of Fame followed by a
discussion that featured contributors David Plotz and Mark Leibovich.
2012: Israel faces threats on two
fronts why Syria fires into the Golan and terrorists fire more rockets from
Gaza.
2012: Two rockets fired by Gaza
terrorists slammed into a greenhouse in the Hof Ashkelon region this afternoon,
breaking a brief lull in hostilities after four days of cross border fire.
2012: Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak during a
visit to the Gaza border said the current episode of rocket fire from the
coastal strip is not over. Today Barak held a security analysis with the Israel
Defense Forces chiefs in the area.
2012:Elie Wiesel and President Obama are not writing a book together, as
reported by an Israeli newspaper. The subscription-only Publisher's Lunch,
citing a source close to Obama,reported that there is no book and no book deal,
the Forward reported today.
2013: In California, the Center for Jewish Culture
is scheduled to present “Pacific Jews: Exploring 19th Century Jewish
In California” in which Dr. Joellyn Zollman “will look at the many reasons
American Jews settled in the Golden State.”
2013: Israeli born glass artist, Ilanit Shalev is
scheduled to lead a “fused glass workshop at the LFJCC.
2013: The History Channel is scheduled to broadcast
“Lost in Translation,” the first in a series entitled “Bible Secrets Revealed”
part of which “was shot in Tel Zekah” where U of I Professor Robert Cargill is
“participating in an excavation of a sit on the border of the Biblical kingdoms
of Judah and the Philistines.”
2013(10th of Kislev, 5774): Eighteen year
old Eden Atias, an Israeli soldier was stabbed to death by a sixteen year old
Palestinian terrorist from Jenin as he slept on a bus in Afula. Atias was still in basic training and was
returning to his base from his home in Nazareth Illit. The murderous attack
comes a day after Prime Minister Netanyahu had called a halt to further
construction In Jerusalem in compliance with Secretary of State Kerry’s demand
which he said, if unmet, could lead to a third Intifada. There has been no comment from the Secretary
on this latest act of violence.
2013(10th of Kislev, 5774): Ninety-eight
year old Marjory Raskin, the Polish born daughter of Rachel and Morris Kurtzman
and the wife of Morris Raskin passed away today in “West Bloomfield Township,
Michigan.”
2013: Jerry Levin received the Hall of Fame Award at
the National Shoe Retail Leadership Conference today in Boston, MA.
2013: Benjamin Weiser described the government’s
response to charges of ant-Semitism in New York’s Pine Bush Central School
District first reported in the New York Times on November 8.
2014:
Lewis Black is scheduled to perform at the Mahalia Jackson Theatre of the
Performing Arts in New Orleans, LA.
2014:
Barbara Winton, the daughter of Nicholas Winton is scheduled to share the
“story of her father’s rescue of Czech Jewish children on the eve of the
Holocaust” at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.
2014:
The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to host a panel discussion – “Giving
Women their Place in Holocaust History.”
2014(20th
of Cheshvan, 5775): Eighty-six year old German born French mathematician
Alexander Grothendieck who won the Fields Medal in 1966 passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/world/europe/alexander-grothendieck-math-enigma-dies-at-86.html
2014:
“Next Year Jerusalem” is scheduled to be shown at the 18th UK Jewish
Film Festival.
2014:
“The US government condemned the scheduled demolition of homes belonging to
Palestinians who carried out terror attacks in Israel, with State Department spokeswoman
Jen Psaki contending that such a move amounted to collective punishment and
would only heighten tensions in the region.”
2014:
"Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York,
and George Venizelos, the assistant director of the New York field office of
the FBI, announced the indictments” of “more than a dozen members of a
prominent Satmar Hasidic family in New York who were charged with lying to
obtain $20 million in mortgages while also receiving hundreds of thousands of
dollars in public benefits.” (As reported by JTA)
2014:
“Rising anti-Semitism in Europe threatens not only Jews but overall European
values, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said at a
conference on anti-Semitism in Berlin” that ended today.
2014:
“The trilateral meeting in Amman between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
Jordan’s King Abdullah II and US Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss the
recent surge of violence in Jerusalem ended this evening, with Kerry issuing a
statement praising the sides for their commitment to reduce tensions
surrounding the Temple Mount.”
2014:
“Closer to the Moon” a “dark comedy” based on the Ioanid Gang screened at the
Romanian Film Festival in London
2014:
“THE INTELLIGENT HOMOSEXUAL’S GUIDE TO CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM WITH A KEY
TO
THE SCRIPTURES” by Tony Kushner is scheduled to open at Theatre J in
Washington, DC.
2015(1st
of Kislev, 5776): Rosh Chodesh Kislev
2015:
The Eden-Tamir Music Center is scheduled to host the winners of the Kol
Hamusica Young Artists Competition.
2015:
“Under the Wings of the Sultan: The Rise of Jewish Communities in the Ottoman
Empire" is scheduled to be delivered as the opening lecture in “The Rise
and Fall of Ladino-Speaking Jews” at the Yiddish Book Center.
2015:
“Indecent,” “a play by Paula Vogel” that “recounts the controversy surrounding
the play God of Vengeance by Sholem Asch, which was produced on Broadway in
1923, for which the cast of the original production was arrested on the grounds
of obscenity” opened today at the La Jolla Playhouse.
2016:
The New York Times featured reviews
of books by Jewish writers and or of special interest to Jewish readers
including Bridge of Words: Esperanto and the Dream of a Universal Language
by Esther Schor and Algren :A Life, Mary Wisniewski’s biography of
Nelson Ahlgren Abraham whom the world knew as author Nelson Algren.
2016:
The recently renamed Ben Katz Post No. 580 of the Jewish War Veterans of
America is scheduled to host a prayer service and a special program in honor of
Jewish war veterans and servicemen and servicewomen at Shir Chadash
Conservative Congregation where Major Carol Berman will speak on “A Jewish
Soldier in a Hostile War Zone” and Post Commander Judge Sol Gothard, who will
deliver a talk on “Jewish Defenders of Freedom Throughout the Ages.” (As
reported by the Crescent City Jewish News)
2016:
The Jewish Community Day School (JCDS) is scheduled to celebrate 21 “fabulous”
years in a Las Vegas style gala fundraising affair at Congregation Gates of
Prayer synagogue in Metairie, LA this evening.
2016:
The 11th Annual Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema is scheduled to
come to an end with a screening of “Mr. Gaga.”
2016:
The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled to host a reading and discussion
of Sarit Yishai-Levi’s award winning novel The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem
2016:
Last chance to see “Odessa: The Soul of a City” an exhibition that provides a
picture of this city that played such a critical role in the development of
Jewish culture including “literature, art and politics” at the Yeshiva
University Museum.”
2016:
One-hundred sixtieth birthday of Louis D. Brandeis, the ground-breaking lawyer,
distinguished Jurist and ardent Zionist who 100 years ago, in 1916 became the
first Jew to sit on the Supreme Court.
http://www.brandeis.edu/legacyfund/bio.html
2017:
Dr. Diane M. Sharon is scheduled to continue lecturing on “Demagogues, Madmen
and Cowards” The Failure in the Book of Judges at the Streicker Center.
2017:
The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is scheduled to host a presentation on
“Imagining I.N. Steinsberg’s Jewish in the Kimberly” which examines “I. N.
Steinberg’s plans for a Jewish refugee settlement in the Kimberley region of
Western Australia.”
2017:
“Mr. Emmanuel” and “The Women’s Balcony” are scheduled to be shown at the 21st
UK International Jewish Film Festival.
2017:
Today “the United Nations authorized Israel to expand its technological support
for its peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic and help improve
security in the country.”
2017:
The Jewish National Fund’s National Conference is scheduled to end today.
2017:
Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to
contemplate the lives of Jewish authors such as mystery writer Faye Kellerman
whose sleuths combine crime solving with observing Kashrut and Shabbat and
Jewish books for the next thirty days is scheduled to continue for a second
day.
2018:
The 30th Kosherfest is scheduled to begin at the Meadowlands
Exposition Center in Secaucus, NJ.
2018:
After suffering through a night filled with a barrage of “over 300 rockets and
mortar shells” “school was cancelled today for all students in Ashkelon Kiryat
Malachi and Kiryat Gat.” (As reported by Matan Tzuri, Yoav Zitun, Ilana Curiel
and Elior Levy)
https://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-3082,00.html
2018:
In Ann Arbor, Michigan, Eddie Portnoy of the YIVO Institute is scheduled to
“discuss the seamy underbelly of pre-World War II New York and Warsaw, the two
major centers of Yiddish culture in the late- 19th and early-20th centuries”
during his lecture entitled “The Bizarre Tales of Yiddishland: What the Yiddish
Press Reveals about the Jews.”
2018:
The Streicker Center is scheduled to host the second in a series of lectures on
“New York Jewish History” in which Dr. David E Kaufman explores the “Jerusalem
of America.”
2018:
In Brooklyn, The Community Bookstore is scheduled to host a discussion of Muck
with its author Dror Burstein and Joshua Cohen, author of Book of Numbers
https://www.communitybookstore.net/burstein
2019:
In suburban New Orleans, Gates of Prayer is scheduled to host its second
Women's Mega Challahbake!!
2019:
As part of the UK Jewish Film Festival, The Glasgow Film Theatre is scheduled
to host a screening of “The Birdcatcher” and Cineworld Disbury in Manchester is
scheduled to host a screening of “Murer: An Anatomy of a Trial.”
2019:
The Rutgers University Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to host screenings of
“Those Who Remain” and “Latter Day Jew.”
2019:
At Oxford, today, the JSoc is scheduled to host “a welfare coffee-meetup” that
will include advice for students coping with the stressing of “5th
week.”
2019:
In San Francisco, Congregation Emanu-El is scheduled to host “three members of
the law nonprofit Integrity First for America who will speak about their legal
actions against white supremacists, in a conversation with Rabbi Jason Rodich
2019:
Temple Emanu-El is scheduled to host “Jewish-Christian Relations in the Modern
World” taught by Rabbi Joseph Skloot.
2019:
As the day begins, the question on the minds of Israelis and all those
concerned with the Middle East, is will Islamic Jihad continue its rocket
attacks on Israel and what role will Iran play in its client’s muscle flexing
which will have an indirect impact on the upheaval going on in Syria.
2020:
In Columbus, OH, Tefereth Israel is scheduled to host via ZOOM a discussion of How
to Read the Jewish Bible by March Brettler.
2020:
Kan Kol Hamusika is scheduled to broadcast, live “A Poet’s Love – Songs Cycle
and Duets” with Oded Reich – baritone, Reut Ventorero - mezzo-soprano and
pianist Dror Semmel.
2020:
The South University Law Center is scheduled to host a screening of
“Rosenwald.”
2020:
Silicon Valley and Nob Hill Moishe House are scheduled to team up for a
learning and celebratory event during Mizrachi Heritage Month.
2020:
In another session examining UC Berkeley’s Magnes Collection, curators
Francesco Spagnolo and Shir Kochavi are scheduled to talk about an emerging
Israeli sculptor and her Leaning Towers series.
2020:
The City Club of Cleveland is scheduled to “host an in-depth analysis of the
American Jewish Committee’s State of Anti-Semitism in America Report’s findings
and what they mean for efforts to combat anti-Semitism in the United States
with speakers Dan Elbaum, Chief Advocacy Officer at American Jewish Committee,
and Holly Huffnagle, U.S. Director of Combating Antisemitism at American Jewish
Committee.
2020:
The UK Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to host a screening of “Black
Mercedes.”
2021:
The Boston Jewish Film is scheduled to present online a screening of “Who Will
Remain” (Ver Vet Blaybn), a documentary in which Israeli actress Hadas Kalderon
examines the life of her grandfather, Yiddish poet Avrom Sutkever.
2021:
The Eden-Tamir Center is scheduled to present “Flute Sounds in Ein Kerem” with
Noam Buchman and Friends.
2021(9th
of Kislev, 5781): Parashat Vayetzei;
2022:
The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams
by Stacy Schiff and The Escape
Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World by Jonathan
Freedland.
2022:
In New York, the New Plaza Cinema is scheduled to “Black Notebooks: Ronit,” a
film by Shlomi Elkabetz with a Q&A with the director hosted by Mili Avital.
2022:
The Museum at Eldridge Street is scheduled to host the opening of its new
exhibition, “Upon Thy Gates: The Elaine K. and Norman Winik Mezuzah
Collection,” from the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education
in Portland which presents 73 mezuzahs collected by the Winiks that represent a
wide range of styles, materials, and Jewish symbols
2022:
In Canada, the Leah Posluns Theatre is scheduled to host “Jazz at the J
Featuring the Moe Kaufman Tribute Band which “carries the legacy” of Moe
Kaufman a legendary jazz flutist who
wrote and recorded hits, such as “Swinging Shepherd Blues" and “Curried
Soul.”
2022:
President Isaac Herzog is scheduled to “hand Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu
the mandate to form a government” today. (TOI)
2022:
UK Jewish Film is scheduled to host a screening of “Farewell Mister Hafffman,
which stars “French screen legend Daniel Auteuil
as Joseph Haffmann, a Polish-born Jewish
jeweler who sells his shop to his employee Francois when the Nazis enter Paris”
2022: The first performance of Fiddle on the Roof
in Yiddish is scheduled open for a seven-week return engagement at the New
World Stages direct by Joel Grey sponsored by the National Yiddish Theatre
Folksbiene.
2023:
The Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to host screenings of
“Remembering Marrakech” and “Delegation.”
2023:
As part of the “Jewish Values and Strategy in Wartime” series, the Tikvah
online Academy is scheduled to host a lecture by Neil Rogachevsky on “The War
of 1948: The Founding of Israel.”
2023:
The UK Jewish Film festival is scheduled to host a screening of “The Doll’s
House” and “The Soldier on Smithdown Road.”
2023:
The Oscar J. Tolmas Charitable Trust and Alan & Sherry Leventhal are
scheduled to sponsor a Rosh Chodesh event offered by The Center for Interfaith
Families & JNOLA.
2023:
David Patterson is scheduled to deliver the keynote presentation at the Jewish
American and Holocaust Literature Symposium being held at the Betsy Hotel in
Miami Beach.
2023:
As November 13, begins in Israel, the
northern border has become more dangerous as can be seen from yesterday’s attack
by Hezbollah on Dovev which left at least 21 civilians wounded, the IDF
continues to advance in Gaza amid reports that German Chancellor Olaf has opposed an “immediate ceasefire or long
pause” because “that would mean ultimately that Israel leaves Hamas the
possibility of recovering and obtaining new missiles,” and the Hamas held hostages begin day 38 in captivity.
(Editor’s
note: this situation is too fluid for this blog to cover so we are just
providing a snapshot as of the posting at midnight Israeli time)