December 22
69: Emperor
Vitellius is captured and murdered by the Gemonian stairs in Rome. Vitellius
was the third of The Four Emperors. He
would be succeeded by Vespasian, the man who put down the rebellion in Judea
that began 2,000 years of exile.
244:
Birthdate of Diocletian, the Roman Emperor who ordered all of his subjects to
accept his divinity and offer sacrifices to him. He exempted the Jews from this
decree. According to Meir Holder, “his
regime was comparatively favorable to the Jewish people.
1095: Birthdate
of Roger II whose reign over the Kingdom of Sicily was unique for its religious
tolerance which allowed native Jews, Byzantine Greeks, Muslim Arabs, Normans,
Longobards and "native" Sicilian peoples to live in harmony. (As
reported by Luigi Mendola)
1135:
Coronation of Stephen as the King of England during whose reign Jewish
communities were established in Norwich, Cambridge and Oxford.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6081-ferdinand-iii
1603:
Mehmed III Sultan of the Ottoman Empire passed away. Born in 1566, Mehmed III
continued the Turkish practice of taking advantage of the skills of his Jewish
subjects. He appointed a Jew named Gabriel Buonaventura as ambassador to Spain
which may seem counter-intuitive considering that Spain had expelled her Jews a
century earlier. Two Jewish doctors named Benveniste and Korina were in palace
service. In 1597 a Morrano named Alvaro Mendez who had taken the Turkish
appellation Solomon Abenyaes prepared a treaty of alliance with England aimed
at King Philip of Spain.
1603: Ahmed I becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire following the
death of Mehmed III. During his reign, Sultan Ahmed I caught smallpox, a highly
fatal disease. When his palace
physicians could not help him, Ahmed sought help from Buha Eskenazi, the widow
of Solomon Eskenazi who had been one of his doctors. The widow Eskenazi was
able to affect a cure and she remained in the Sultan’s service.
1639: Birthdate of French
dramatist Jean Racine. Racine chose two
very different Jewish women as topics for two of his plays both of whose names
provided the title for the respective works. In 1689, he wrote Esther. In 1689, he wrote his last play Athalie
based on the life of the wicked Queen Athalia, daughter of Jezebel.
1653:Nethaneel ben Benjamin ben
Azriel Trabot the Rabbi of Modena who was the uncle of Solomon Graciano, and
the author of “the collection of response entitled ‘Kenaf Renamin’” passed away
today.
1666: Founding of the French Academy of Sciences which “in 1833 the
Académie des Sciences awarded Danish surgeon Ludwig “Lewin Jacobson one of the
Monthyon prizes (4,000 francs), having previously awarded him a gold medal for
his important research into the venal system of the kidneys in birds and
reptiles.”
1696: Birthdate of James Oglethorpe, founder of the colony of
Georgia. “In July, 1733, a month after
Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe, forty Sephardic Jews arrived in
Savannah.” A year later German Jews arrived in the colony.” The trustees of the colony wanted to
discourage the Jewish settlement.
Oglethorpe had the courage and good sense to ignore their wishes.
1723: Seventy-year-old Normandy native Jacques Basnage de Deauval, the
Protestant minister and author whose works included L'Histoire des Juifs
(History of the Jews) which the author said is "a survey of all that
pertains to the religion and the history of the Jews since Herod the Great”
passed away today. (Editor’s note- other sources show 1725. I have not been able to resolve the
disparity.)
1762: In New York City, Caty Hays and Abraham Sarzedas gave birth to
Judah Sarzedas.
1764(28th of Kislev, 5525): Parashat Miketz; Fourth Day of
Chanukah
1765(10th of Tevet, 5526): Asara B’Tevet observed as Colonists
and Parliament clash over the Stamp Act.
1767(1st of Tevet, 5528): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Seventh Day of
Chanukah
1769: Jacob and Abigail Pinto gave birth to Thankful Pinto who had been
named after Jacob Pinto’s first wife.
1772(26th of Kislev, 5533): Second Day of Chanukah
1772: As Jews prepared to kindle the third light of Chanukah, The Belfast
News Letter reported that in South Carolina there is “a great crop of rice” but
a lack of ships to carry the product to market.
1775(29th of Kislev, 5536): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1775: As Jews prepared to kindle the sixth Chanukah candle and light the
Shabbat candles, today the Continental Congress commissioned the first officers
in the United States Navy.
1779: Rebecca Franks and English native Lucius Levy Solomons who passed
away in Montreal, gave birth to Elizabeth (Betsy) Solomons.
1780(24th of Kislev, 5541): In the evening, kindle the first
Chanukah candle.
1783(27th of Kislev, 5544): Third Day of Chanukah
1791(26th of Kislev, 5552): Second Day of Chanukah
1791: As Jews prepare to kindle the third Chanukah candle, Secretary of
State Thomas Jefferson wrote to President Washington telling him of the
progress of the negotiations with Spain that will allow Americans to use the
Mississippi River and the port of New Orleans which was a significant milestone
in the growth of the newly created federal government.
1793(19th of Tevet, 5554): “Mistress Heneli Sarah bat Moses
from Lohzin passed away today after which she was buried at the “Alderney Road
(Globe Rd) Jewish Cemetery.”
1794(30th of Kislev, 5555) Sixth Day of Chanukah; Rosh Chodesh
Tevet
1795(10th of Tevet, 5556): Asara B’Tevet observed on the same
day that President Washington wrote to Alexander Hamilton on a number of
subjects including the behavior of John Jay who had just successfully
negotiated the Jay Treaty and was now serving as governor of New York.
1799(24th of Kislev, 5560): In the evening the first Chanukah
candle is lit for the last time in the 18th centuary.
1808: Abraham Jacobs married Rachel Raphael at the Great Synagogue today.
1810(25th of Kislev, 5571): Chanukah
1811: In Falmouth, Cornwall, Sarah and Moses Hyman gave birth to Harriet
Elizabeth Hyman.
1813: William Collins married Priscilla Marks at the Western Synagogue
today.
1816(3rd of Tevet, 5577): Eighth Day of Chanukah
1819: Zadock Jessel married Mary Harris at the Great Synagogue today.
1821(28th of Kislev, 5582): Shabbat shel Chanukah; Parashat
Miketz
1822: In Berlin, Samuel Bleichröder, founder of the banking firm of S.
Bleichröder in 1803, and his wife gave birth to Gerson von Bleichröder who
followed in his father’s footsteps.
1823: Birthdate of Chaim David Lippe, the Hungarian born cantor he moved
to Vienna where he opened a Jewish publishing house.
1827: Birthdate of Russian native Samuel Lasker, the husband of Augusta
Lasker and the father of Henry, Sallie, Harry, Bettie and Esther Lasker, who
settled in Little Rock, AR,
1830: In Bavaria, Abraham Feineman and Sibila Oswald gave birth to B.A.
Feineman, the husband of Bettie Binswanger, the President of the congregation
in St. Joseph, MO for several years and the congregation in Kansas City, MO for
seventeen years who was also a vice president of banks in Kansas City and a
member of the City Council in Kansas City for two years.
1830(6th of Tevet, 5591) Bordeaux native Moise Rodrigues, the
husband of Esther Rodrigues passed away today in South Carolina.
1833: In Prussia, a prohibition was issued prohibiting Hews from assuming
the “names of Christian saints as first names.”
1837(24th of Kislev, 5598): Kindle the first Chanukah Candle
1837(24th of Kislev, 5598): Mrs. Anne Jones (Yentela bat
Benjamin) passed away today after which she buried at the Brompton (Fulham
Road) Jewish Cemetery.
1838: In Hackney, London, Hannah Isaac Simons and 38-year-old Samson
Genese gave birth to Isaac Samson Geneses.
1840: In London, Sarah Boam and Morris Van Praagh gave birth to Rebecca
Van Praagh.
1841: Joel Jewell married Mary Solomon at the Great Synagogue today.
1841: La reine de Chypre,(The
Queen of Cyprus) “a grand opera in five acts composed by Fromental Halevy
was first performed today at the Salle
Le Peletier of the Paris Opéra
1842: In New York, Benjamin Bloomingdale and Hannah Weil gave birth to
their third child, Joseph Bernard Bloomingdale, the husband of Clara Kaufman
and Vice President of the Hebrew Technical Institute who along with his brother
Lyman founded Bloomingdale’s Department Store.
1842: In Bavaria, Loew Affelder and Rosalia Regine Rosenberg gave birth
to Jacob Affelder who came to the United States in 1858 and was the husband of
Catherine Fleishman Affelder.
1843: In London, Rachel and Joseph Rosinbloom gave birth to Esther
Jeanette Rosinbloom.
1844: In Paddington, London, Isabella Lloyd and Henry Russell gave birth
to Fanny Marcella Russell.
1848: Birthdate of Hungarian born and Viennese trained doctor Arpad G.
Gerster a surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital and Mount Sinai Hospital as well as a
Professor of Clinical Surgery at Columbia while writing such books as Recollections
of a New York Surgeon and while raising a son with his wife, the former
“Anna Barnard Wynne of Cincinnati.”
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1923/03/12/105988329.pdf
1848: In Germany, Dorothea Indig and Philip Hirsh gave birth to attorney
Hugh Hirsch, “the head of the firm of Hirsh, Newman and Reass” and an active
Republican political leader who served as Chairman of the Kings County
Republican Executive Committee and the Republican candidate for Supreme Court
Judge while being a director of the Jewish Hospital.
1849: The execution of Fyodor Dostoevsky is called off at the last
second. The Russian author had been imprisoned for his involvement with a
“liberal intellectual literary group” feared by the Tsar Nicholas I.
Whatever their political and intellectual differences Dostoyevsky and
the Czar had at least one thing in common, they were both anti-Semites. Dostoyevsky believed that “Jews were behind
just about every attempt to disrupt Europe’s order.” As he wrote, “The Jews have everything to
gain from every cataclysm and coup d’état…and profit from anything that serves
to undermine gentile society.”
1852(11th of Tevet, 5613): Solomon ben Akiba Eger who first
served as the Rabbi of Kalish before succeeding his late father as the rabbi in
Posen, a position he held when he passed away today.
1854(1st of Tevet, 5615) Rosh Chodesh Tevet; seventh day of
Chanukah
1855: "Mr. Gottschalk Soiree" published today reviewed the
performances of Louis Moreau Gottschalk saying that "in Mr. Gottscahlk we
have an artist who doubly claims our attention and our respect.
1856(25th of Kislev, 5617): First Day of Chanukah
1859(26th of Kislev, 5620): Second Day of Chanukah
1861: In Cincinnati, Edward and Henrietta Bloch gave birth Charles Edward
Bloch, the husband of the former Bertha Eisendrath, who joined the family
business, Bloch and Company which led him to publishing the Chicago Israelite and founding The Reform Advocate.
1862(30th of Kislev, 5623): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of
Chanukah
1862: In Lancashire, Rosetta and Lewin Barnet Mozely gave birth to Frank
Lewis Mozely.
1863: In London, Hannah Belasco, Abraham Haim Nieto gave birth to Jews
College of London and CCNY educated rabbi, Jacob Nieto, the husband of Rose
Frankel and since 1893, the spiritual leader of Temple Tefirith Israel in San
Francisco who was a leader in the movement to abolish capital punishment and an
organizer of the Y.M.H.A as well as President of the Western Association of
Jewish Ministers.
1867: In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the lower house of the Parliament
adopted a bill favoring the emancipation of the Jews today.
1870: In New York City, Severine Lippman and Louis Hirschhorn gave birth
to Fred Hirschorn, the husband of Hannah Sharps, President of the General Cigar
Company a member of the Harmonie Club.
1870: Birthdate of Sara Hyamson, the Polish born daughter of Avrohom
Gordon and wife of Rabbi Moses Hyamson who was President of the Joint Passover
Fund and an officer in the New York Federation of Jewish Organizations.
1871(10th
of Tevet, 5632): Asara B’Tevet
1871:
Birthdate of Sophie Grünbaum one of the last Jewish inhabitants of
Kleinsteinach who was deported in 1942.
1871: It
was reported today that B.L. Solomon & Sons (a partnership of Barnet L.,
Solomon B. Judah H. and Simon B. Solomon) has a “superb store” in the 600 block
of Broadway which offers a “stock of furniture” that includes the most “’costly
and luxurious” furniture and materials for decorating the home.
1871:
French orientalist Dr. Joseph (Naftali) Derenburg, the son of Hartwig (Ẓebi-Hirsch) Derenburg, the grandson of
Jacob Derenbur and the younger brother of French attorney Jacob Derenburg was elected a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et
Belles-Lettres today.
1872: Two
days after she had pass away, 67-year-old Elizabeth Manuel, the widow of Moses
Emanuel with whom she had had five children, was buried today at the “Brompton
(Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.”
1872: In
“Pirot, Serbia, Isaac and Rachel (Mevorach Varon,” gave birth to David J.
Varon, the employee of the Edmond de Rothschild colonies in Palestine and
husband of Henriette Behar who came to the United States in 1905 where he was a
“Professor of Architectural Design at Syracuse University” and later lived in
New York City where he wrote Indication in Architectural Design, lectured on
architecture at Cooper Institute and became a member of the Association of
Staten Island Architects.
1873: It
was reported today that in England, there has been some talk of making Sir
Moses Montefiore and Baron Rothschild “peers of the realm.” Before this
happens, the Oath of Allegiance taken by members of the House of Lords will
have to be modified as has already happened with the House of Common. The current oath requires all knew members of
Lords to swear “on the true faith of a Christian.” Dropping these words was
what made it possible for Rothschild to finally take his seat in the House of
Commons.
1873: In
Great Britain, Ellen Cohen Montague and Samuel Montague, the founder of Samuel
Montagu & Co gave birth to Lilian Helen Montagu, the sister of Louis and
Edwin Montague.
1873: In England, Ellen Cohen and Samuel Montague, the banker and member
of the House of Commons gave birth to Lillian Helen “Lily” Montague, a leader
of Liberal (Reform) Judaism in the United Kingdom where she as a co-founder of
the Jewish League for Woman Suffrage and prgesidnt of the World Union for
Progressive Judaism.
1873: Three
days after he had passed away, 94-year-old Lewis Schultz, the husband of Louisa
Schultz, was buried today at the “Exeter Jewish Cemetery.”
1875(24th
of Kislev, 5636): In the evening, kindle the first light of Chanukah
1874:
Birthdate of German socialist leader Erhard Auer who was imprisoned by the
Nazis for his role in the July 20 assassination and was murdered by them in
March of 1945.
1875: This
evening when the Hebrew Charity Fair comes to a close in New York City, all
unsold items will be sold at auction to the highest bidder.
1876(26th
of Kislev, 5639): Second Day of Chanukah
1876: It
was reported today that New York Governor Samuel Tilden, New York City Mayor
William Wickham and Mayor-elect Smith Ely, Jr. had attended the Hebrew Charity
Ball at the Academy of Music. The ball,
which raised funds for Jewish and non-Jewish charities, was sponsored by the
Purim Association and marked the start of the fashionable ball season in New
York. The Purim Association is one of
the oldest of such Jewish organizations in the city. The society used to sponsor a annual
masquerade ball but has not done so since 1871 do to the enactment of the
Masquerade law which made it impossible to sponsor such events.
1877:
Birthdate of economist Karl Primbram, the Prague native who in 1934 moved to
the United States where “he was successively connected with the Brookings
Institution, Social Security Administration and the United States Tariff
Commission.”
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/pribram-karl
1878(26th
of Kislev, 5639): Second Day of Chanukah
1878: In
Wien, Austria, Gustav Przibram, the son of Salomon and Marie Przibram and
Charlotte Przibram gave birth to
Professor Karl Przibram
1878: Naphtali Herz Imber,
(1856-1909) a Hebrew poet, wrote the words for Hatikvah. The poem eventually became the national anthem of the
State of Israel.
Hatikvaהתקווה "The Hope"
כל עוד בלבב פנימה עוד לא אבדה תקותנו, | Kol 'od
balevav P'nimah - 'Od lo
avdah tikvatenu | As long
as in the heart, within, Our hope
has not yet been lost, |
1878: Per
the request of the deceased, Reverend A. J. Lyman, pastor of the South
Congregational Church officiated at the funeral of the late Randolph Herr who
had taken his own life. Reverend Lyman
chose passages from the Old Testament for the service. Mr. Herr’s brother tried to stop the funeral
proclaiming that his brother was Jewish and he should be buried as Jew. The widow and the former partner of the
deceased assured the brother that Lyman was there because this was a request of
the late Mr. Herr. After the ceremony, Mr. Herr was buried in Greenwood
Cemetery. No reason was given for this
apparently odd request.
1878: Three
days after he had passed away, 70-year-old Simeon Samson was buried at the
“Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.
1878: The
Board of Directors of New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital held a lengthy meeting
today during which they agreed to reject the five-hundred-dollar donation
offered by Mrs. Stewart through Judge Hilton.
There was no question that the board would reject the donation. The only matter up for discussion was how
strongly to word the letter of rejection. The Directors will make up the
shortfall resulting from the rejection of the donation. Rejection was a matter of pride since a large
segment of the Jewish community had expressed their opposition to accepting
money from the man who banned them from being guests at his fashionable hotel
in Saratoga Springs. If the board had
accepted the money, several of the donors who contribute to the institution’s
annual budget of ten thousand dollars would no longer support the hospital.
1878: It
was reported today that the Jewish Messenger has issued a called for a “united
effort” to provide religious training for the city’s poor Jewish children. The
Messenger said that “there should be 10,000 children attending the Jewish free
schools instead of only 1,000.” The paper took the community to task for
arguing about “the length of a prayer or the position of a seat” while
Christian missionaries are busy converting these young Jews.
1879: An
anonymous correspondent wrote to the Jewish Messenger of New York that:
“Mr. S. L. Lewis . . . died on Saturday, November 29th [1879] . . . funeral . .
. the following day with Jewish rites, Mr. C. J. Fishel, of the firm of Mellis
and Fishel, opening the services by reading a prayer. . .. Deceased carne here
about fourteen years ago and has resided here ever since. Mrs. Rebecca Green, wife of Mr. Mark Green,
of the firm of Phillips and Company, [died] on the 8th [of December, 1879]. Mr.
J. Hyman opened the services. . .. The deceased was born in San Francisco,
Cal., and was the daughter of Mr. I. Salomon, a wealthy merchant. Her body will
be sent to San Francisco for interment.”
These are believed to be the first Jewish funerals that took place in
what was then known as the Sandwich Islands, or as we know them today, the
Hawaiian Islands, our 50th state.
1879: It
was reported today that “The Jews, Their Customs and Ceremonies” by E. M. Myers
is now available in New York.
1880: In
New York Rebecca Goldsmith and actor “Joseph Frankau, a cousin of London cigar
importer Arthur Frankau” gave birth to pioneering Broadway designer Aline
Bernstein.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/aline-bernstein
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/bernstein-aline
1880: Mary
Anne Evans, better known by her pen-name George Eliot, under which she wrote
her last novel Daniel Deronda which was published in 1876 and presented
a presented a positive view of Jews and was sympathetic to the cause that would
later be labeled as Zionism, passed away today.
1881(30th
of Kislev, 5642): Sixth Day of Chanukah; Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1882: It
was reported today that in Russia, the legislature “has decided to accede to
the request of certain Jewish chemists to rescind the order…forbidding Jews
from keeping chemists’ shops outside of those part of the empire set aside for
Jews to reside in.” (This is an example
of the crazy-quilt of regulations with which Jews coped with during the 19th
century. There never was a sense of
permanence to any of the gains made by Jews since the government was autocratic
and the society was dominated by ant-Semites.)
1882(12th
of Tevet, 5643): Eighty-year-old “German orientalist” Justus Olshausen, author
of several works including a commentary on the Psalms which “was epoch-making
in its textual and historical criticism and its keen exegetical insight based
upon a profound grammatical knowledge” passed away today in Berlin.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11695-olshausen-justus
1883:
Birthdate of New York City native Emil Salomon, the Executive Director of the
Tulsa, Oklahoma Jewish Federation starting in 1949 who “argued with the USNA
(United Service New American, which was founded to help Jewish refugees after
WW II) that Tulsa Jews were too few and the employment opportunities too
limited to absorb the number of refugees that USNA requested” which was a total
of 24.
1883:
William Goldsmidt found the body of his father Isidor in his room at the home
they shared on 2nd Avenue in New York. Based on notes that were found and the
examination by the coroner, it was deduced that he had died of a self-induced
overdose of laudanum. It would appear that
he had never gotten over the death of his wife which was soon followed by the
death of his daughter.
1885:
Birthdate of old Riga native and Cornell undergraduate Samuel Berkowitz the
holder of a Masters from Columbia and public school principal who was the
husband Frances Berkowitz with whom he raised three children, Henry, Arthur and
Evelyn
1885: In
what is now Latvia, Esther Bernstein and Abraham Shuman gave birth to John
Marshall Law School trained attorney the husband of Jennie Lebsohn and Vice
President of the Z.O.A who served as secretary of the Federated Orthodox Jewish
Charities of Chicago and chairman of the Chicago Keren Hayesod Committee.
1885: In
Great Britain, the first passenger train ran through the Mersey Railway Tunnel
which had been built under the superintendence of Samuel Isaacs.
1886(25th
of Kislev, 5647): Chanukah
1886: The first passenger train ran through the
Mersey tunnel owned by Samuel Isaac
1886: A
review of “Leah the Forsaken” panned the performance of Margaret Mather in the
title role. On the other hand, Milnes
Levick performed the role “bore the role of the apostate Jew with dignity and
skill of a sound experienced actor.”
1888: It
was reported today that the Seligman Solomon Society will be providing an
evening of entertainment at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum later this month.
1888:
“Members of the highest of London’s Jewish circles” attended the reception that
followed the marriage of “Brandon Thomas, one of the best known of the younger
actors on the English stage and Marguerite Blanche Leverson, the beautiful
daughter” diamond merchant James Leverson and his wife Henrietta” who had
previously opposed the marriage on religious grounds.
1888: Among
the allocations made by the Brooklyn Board of Estimates were $134.39 to the
Hebrew Benevolent Association of Brooklyn and $703.49 to the Hebrew Orphan
Asylum Society.
1889(29th
of Kislev, 5650): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1889: It
was reported today that the Hebrew Educational Fair, a fund raiser for several
Jewish charities in New York City raised $125,000
1889:
Birthdate of avant garde Russian artist Nathan Altman who decades long career
spanned the Czars and the Commissars.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Altman#/media/File:Natan_Altman_(selfportrait,_1911,_GRM).jpg
1889: The
Montefiore and Lady Judith Hebrew Association was formed by a group of Jews who
met tonight at the Florence Building in New York City.
1889: It
was reported today that during the month of November, the United Hebrew
Charities had provide aid to 2,77i adults and children who comprised 639
families
1889: It
was reported today that Henry Rice is the President of the United Hebrew
Charities and that I.S. Isaacs serves as secretary of the organization.
1889: It
was reported today that the newspapers are filled with “reminiscences” of
Robert Browning who passed away earlier this month. These include articles which “tend to support
the theory that he is of Jewish descent.”
His father was a clerk in the employ of the Rothschild at a time when
their bank “employed scarcely any but Jews.”
The name “Bruning” (a Germanic form of Browning) was very common among
Jewish families in North Germany.” He
was a friend of Emma Lazarus and “both his verse and private correspondence
show that he kept an interest in the” persecution of the Russian Jews.
1890:
Abraham B. Arnold, the graduate of the Washington University School of Medicine
was among those granted a certificate to practice medicine and surgery in
California at today’s “regular meeting of the Board of Examiners.
1891:
Founding of Congregation Kenesseth Israel in Minneapolis, MN.
1891: Sixty-four-year-old
Paul Anton de Lagarde who “argued that Germany should create a
"national" form of Christianity purged of Semitic elements and
insisted that Jews were "pests and parasites" who should be destroyed
"as speedily and thoroughly as possible".
1891: The
NYPD police station on East 22nd Street appeared to a monument to
ecumenism since it was filled with three carloads of loot stolen from Churches
and Synagogues by a thief who styled himself as “Pastor John Weih.”
1892: In a
move that will have an impact on Russian Jews trying to reach the United
States, Secretary of the Treasury Charles Foster has told the Secretary of
State that officials at Hamburg are prepared to let ships sail for the United
State even though a few cases of Cholera have been reported and recommended
that German officials be told that ships would not be admitted to the United
States until cholera was no longer presence in Hamburg.
1892: Birthdate
of Polish native and University of Chicago trained attorney “Samuel Pasach
Gunnan,
who in 1909 came to the United States where
he served as a “a special corporation council” and “director of the Oak Forest
Sanitarium.
1892: In
Palestine, Rivka and Moshe David “Morris” Gelman gave birth to Joseph Gelmanm,
the husband of Said Sid Simons.
1892:
Birthdate of NYC native and Columbia trained Pharmacist, Miss Fanchon Hart, the
bacteriologist and food and drug analyst who served on the faculty of her alma
mater.
1893: A
representative of the United Hebrew Charities was among those who signed a
letter addressed to the Mayor calling on him to help provide more relief for
all the newly unemployed who have lost their jobs as a result of the Panic of
1893.
1893: In
Osterholz-Scharmbeck, “merchant and cigar manufacturer Bernhard Reemtsma” and
his wife gave birth to Philipp Fürchtegott Reemtsma, “the tobacco
industrialist” whose son Jan described Phillip’s art collection as “stolen” and
who has been part of the work to return art to its rightful Jewish owners who
were forced to part with it during the Nazi era.
1894: On
the last day of the Dreyfus Court Martial his defense attorney Edgar Demange
“spent three hours arguing that the very contents of the bordereau showed that
it could not be the work of Dreyfus” while prosecutor Brisset abandoned “the
moral proofs” presenting an emotional appeal the Judges.
1894: In
France, The Dreyfus affair moved to a new level when Alfred Dreyfus was wrongly
convicted of treason.
1894: At
Shabbat morning services in New York, erev Chanukah, “rabbis earnestly and
vigorously pleaded for the better observance of the Sabbath.”
1894:
Today’s announcement “that the whole village of Halberton in Cumberland
Country, New Jersey has been sold by the Sheriff” provides the public with
proof that another of the Russian Jewish colonies in the state has failed.
1895: Rabbi
Joseph Silverman delivered a sermon today at Temple Emanu-El entitled “On What
Basis Can Christian and Jews Unite?”
1895: Wolf
Avener of Philadelphia and Isaac Falpe were arraigned today before the
Magistrate at the Centre Street Court on charges of trying to blackmail Aris
Lichtenstein, a Jew who converted to Christianity.
1895:
Birthdate of Viennese native Trude Fleischmann, the noted American
photographer. (Editor’s note – thanks to Cedar Rapids photographer par
excellence Steve Eckert for helping to increase our awareness of Jewish
photographers and the role of Jews in photography.)
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/fleischmann-trude
1895: Based
on reports published today the charity fair sponsored by the New York Jewish
community for the last couple of weeks has raised more than $150,000, two
thirds of which will go to the Education Alliance and one third to the Hebrew
Technical Institute.
1897(27th
of Kislev, 5658): Third Day of Chanukah
1897: In
Charleston, SC, Dr. Mendes of Savanah officiated at the marriage of Isabelle
Nathan and Benjamin Mantoue.
1897: In
London, Rabbis Marks and Joseph officiated at the wedding of George Frederick
Hart, “the eldest son of the late Neville Hart” and Emily Frances, the daughter
of the Late Michael Abrahams of Regent’s Park.
1898: Thirty-three-year-old
Columbia trained surgeon Alexis Victor Moschcowitz, the Hungarian born son of
Morris and Rosa Moschowtiz who would become the attending surgeon at Mt. Sinai
Hospital in 191 and serve as Lt. Col. in the Medical Corps of the Army during
WW I married Milly Loewi today.
1898:
Schenectady, NY native Frank B. Yovits who had enlisted in 1897 and served with
the “13th U.S. Infantry in Cuba” was promoted to Corporal today
after which he was ship to the Philippines. (Editor’s note – this is during the
Spanish American War and the subsequent Moro Uprising)
1899: Birthdate of Austrian native Jay Daniel
Federbush, who in 1912 came to the New York city where he attended NYU before
going to be a realtor.
1900(30th
of Kislev, 5661): Parshat Miketz; Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of Chanukah
1900: It
was reported today that “the Fleming H. Revell Company has published a number
of books especially for the benefit of travelers or prospective travelers in
Palestine as well as for those who wish to study the country without going
there” including the Land of Israel by Dr. Robert Laird and Jerusalem,
the Holy by Edwin S. Wallace, the former United States Consul in Jerusalem.
1900: Emil
Jellinek”s delivery of the first new
Mercedes which had been sold to racecar driver Baron Henry de Rothschild took
place at the railway station in Nice.
[The car was called Mercedes in honor of the Jewish automobile
developer’s daughter. Somehow, this naming convention escaped the notice of the
Nazis who were proud to ride in Mercedes-Benz vehicles.]
1901: In
“Lutheran View Of Sunday” published today, William Dallmann, a Lutheran pastor
wrote “as to the Sabbath: There is no “Sabbath.” The law of Moses touching the Sabbath given
to the Jews in the Old Testament is not binding on the Christians in the New
Testament.”
1902: In
New York, Louis Napoleon Levy, the New York born son of Jonas Phillips Levy and
Frances Allen Levy and Lillian Hendricks Levy gave birth to Alma Levy, who
became Alma Bookman when she married Robert Bookman.
1903: It
was reported today that “two Russians named Gnetschin and Marosjeik, who have
been on trial charged with murder as the authors of the massacre of Jews here
last Spring, were sentenced to seven and five years' penal servitude
respectively.”
1904:
Approximately 100 students met in Earl Hall today and formed the Zionist
Society of Columbia after listening to speeches by Dr. P.H. Mendes, Dr. L.J.
Magnes and Professor Israel Friedlander.
1905(24th
of Kislev, 5666): In the evening, kindle the first light of Chanukah
1905: A
special matinee performance of “La Tosca” starring Sarah Bernhardt, who along
with Mark Twain, had appeared earlier in the week at a benefit performance for
the fund for the suffering Jews of Russia, is scheduled to take place this
afternoon at the Lyric Theatre.
1905: An
additional $3,367.41 was added to the fund for the relief of the persecuted
Jews in Russia today.
1905: The Novoe Vremya published a series of
articles alleging that the Jews are at the bottom of the whole revolutionary
movement” in Russia and “would alone benefit from it.”
1906(5th
of Tevet, 5667): Parashat Vayigash
1906:
Birthdate of German native Salomon (Solomon) Flink who in 1927 came to the
United States where he earned a PhD from Columbia and was a member of the
faculties of the University of Newark and Yeshiva College while serving as the
edito the Jewish Forumn.
1906: Through the Jewish papers of “New York” city, the rabbis and
prominent Jews who have been trying to have” the Christmas exercises in public
schools “abolished, issued statements tonight advising all Jewish parents to
keep their children out of school” on December 24 which is ’when the children have
been asked to come to school in their best clothes to take part in the
Christmas festivities.”
1906: It
was reported today that the present concessions made by the Russian government
“fall so far short that “they can be of no value in strengthening the
government or in aiding the Jews”
1907: It
was reported today that Rabbi Joseph Silverman of Temple Emanu-El has taken issue with a speech delivered by
Harvard President Eliot to members of the Menorah Society “in which he said,
among other things, the Jews are inferior physical to almost any other race in
the world and that through the oppression of centuries they have lost the
warlike spirt which they once had had.
1908: At
tonight’s meeting of the New York Milk Committee of the Association for
Improving the Conditions of the Poor Dr. Wilbur C Phillips paid tribute to
Nathan Straus for his efforts to bring fresh mil to the poor and said that he
believed that “if Mr. Nathan Straus could join with the Milk Committee in
issuing an appeal for funds money would be lacking to feed every starving
mother and underfed baby…”
1909(10th
of Tevet, 5670): Asara B’Tevet
1909: A
fare-well banquet in honor of Rabbi Martin A Meyers was held tonight at the
Hotel Premier in New York City. The 31-year-old Meyers has been serving as the
Rabbi at Temple Israel in Brooklyn. He
is moving to San Francisco to begin serving as the Rabbi at Temple Emanuel, the
Pacific Coast’s largest Jewish congregation.
Rabbi De Sola Mendes served as Toastmaster at the event which was
attended by 22 rabbis including Stephen Wise, Joseph Silverman, Alexander
Lyons, and Rudolph Grossman.
1910(21st
of Kislev, 5671): Fifty-three-year-old David Günzburg the 3rd Baron
de Günzburg, a noted orientalist and leader of the Jewish community in Russia
passed away today in St. Petersburg
http://www.jewhistory.ort.spb.ru/eng/main/s.php?id=421
1910: It
was reported today that The Jewish Immigrants’ Information Society which
provides quarters for Jews at Galveston: had taken an active role in helping
Secretary of Commerce and Labor Charles Nagel reach the decision to admit
thirteen of the twenty Russian Jewish immigrants seeking admission to the
United at Galveston.
1911(1st
of Tevet, 5672): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Seventh Day of Chanukah
1911: Mrs.
Leopold de Rothschild was awarded the Order of Mercy.
1911: At
Cape Town, the council of the university, confirmed its “resolution to include
Hebrew among the optional subjects in its syllabus for matriculation.”
1911:
Anglo-American Archeologist Charles Waldstein resigned the Slade of
Professorship of Fine Arts at Cambridge University.
1912:
Report that in response to joint representations by foreign Ambassadors, the
Turkish government repeals order expelling Italian subjects, majority of whom
are Levantine Jews.
1912: In
Philadelphia, founding of Adath Zion.
1912: The
K.A.M. Club is scheduled to meet today at the K.A.M. Temple
1912:
Arthur Dunham is scheduled to be the conductor this evening at the Tenth Sinai
Orchestral Concert being held at Sinai Temple on Chicago’s south side.
1912: Rabbi
Schanfarber officiated at the wedding of Henry Horwitz of Cleveland, Ohio and
Mrs. Carrie Baldauf of Oskaloosa, Iowa. (Editor’s note – you have to be a real
Hawkeye to understand this one.)
1912:
Bernard Jadwin of New York married Adeline Horwich at the Ashland Club today in
Chicago.
1912: In
Chicago, Rabbi Julius Rappaport officiated the wedding of Milton E. Kauffer,
the son of “Mr. and Mrs. Jonas Kauffer of Milwaukee, WI” and Marie Unger, the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bert Unger.
1912:
Birthdate of Joseph Wulf, the native of Chemnitz who was a resistance fighter
in the Krakow Ghetto and a survivor of the Auschwitz death marches and as an award-winning
historian in the post-war fought to make the site of the Wannsee Conference
“into a Holocaust memorial and document center.
1913: It
was reported today that George McAney, the President-elect of the of the Board
of Alderman spoke at a dinner of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association which was
attended by Marcus M. Marks, Borough-elect President where he called for “a new
city charter” to bring progress to New York.
1914: The
American Jewish Relief Committee has raised a total of $222,122.06 as of today.
1914:
Following the outbreak of WW I, General John Monash, who had “acted as censor
for four weeks” “before being appointed to command the 4th Infantry
Brigade of the Australian Imperial Force” set sail for Egypt where it would
join the forces fighting the Ottomans and protecting the Suez Canal.
1914: The
Provisional Executive Committee for General Zionist Affairs remitted $26,
144.42 to various entities in Palestine.
1914: Twenty-four-year-old
author and published Samuel Ornitz, the New York City born son of Morris and
Deborah (Badish) Ornitz married Sadie Florence at the same time he was serving
as Assistant Superintendent for the Brooklyn Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children.
1914: A
group of 300 citizens from Waco, TX submitted a petition to Georgia Governor
John M. Slaton listing seven reasons why they “believe that the verdict of the
jury, of the death penalty based upon the evidence was not justified” and that
“it would be a blot on the escutcheon of the fair State of Georgia to permit
Leo M. Frank to executed.”
1915: At
the headquarters of the Campaign Committee working to raise five million
dollars before the end of 1916 for the millions of Jews suffering in Europe due
to the work, and in the offices of Felix Warburg, the clerks were busy all day
today “opening letters offering help in tie and money and answering telephone
calls from persons who wanted to work on the drive and contribute to the fund.
1915: NYU
and Harvard alum Samuel Abraham Goldsmith, the New York City born son of Lena
Cohen and Adolph Goldsmith who became the executive director of the Bureau of
Jewish Social Research married Marion Sardofsky today.
1916: More
than 1000, members of the Hebrew Retail Kosher Butchers’ Association of the
East Side met today and voted to boycott the beef offered by the local slaughterhouses
since the price has continued to rise.
In the last month, chuck has gone from 12 and a half cents a pound to 17
and a half cents a pound.
1916:
Herbert H. Lehman, Treasurer of the Joint Distribution Committee representing
the American Jewish, Central and People’s Relief Committees announced today
that his work of tabulating the contributions and pledges from the mass meeting
in Carnegie Hall on December 21 had gone far enough to prove that predictions
about having raised three million dollars were accurate.
1916: It
was reported today that “the publishers of the Jewish Daily Forward” had
promised to contribute the gross income of their issue of April 22, the value
of which is estimated to be between ten and fifteen million dollars, to the ten
million dollars fund being raised for Jewish War Relief.
1916: The
26th Annual Assembly of the Jewish Chautauqua Society opened in New
Orleans today.
1917(7th
of Tevet, 5678): Parashat Vayigash
1917: Dr.
Samuel Schulman is scheduled to deliver the sermon at Temple Beth-El.
1917: “Word
was received at the headquarters of the Jewish War Relief Committee” on New
York’s fifth avenue “that the bulk of the subscriptions obtained by Adolph
Zukor” one of the founders of Paramount Pictures, totaling more than $50,000”
were ready to be turned over the committee’s Treasurer.
1917:
Marcus Loew reported to the Jewish War Relief Committee that he and his
managers had collected approximately $42,000 from “actors, directors, musicians
and” others in the entertainment industry with whom they do business.
1917:
Today, in discussing the impact on Zionism of the capture of Jerusalem by the
British at Temple Israel in Harlem, Dr. Maurice H. Harris said “There will be
less need now of a Jewish homeland because the days of Jewish persecution are
over” and that “the Jew who bends his steps to Judea today will be the idealist
who feels that ‘not on bread alone doth man live’ seeking to “got there not to
make money but because it is the Holy City” with all that the name Jerusalem
conjures up.
1917: Vice
Chairman Mrs. Leopold Stern presented “an illuminated book of old Italian
design…to Jacob H. Schiff at reception…this afternoon at Delmonico’s” given in
honor of the women who worked on the campaign to raise five million dollars for
the war relief fund.
1917:
Colonel Ronald Storrs, the newly appointed British Military Governor of
Jerusalem toured the city for the first-time meeting with wounded Turkish
soldiers being treated at the Grand New Hotel and the Mufti of Jerusalem, Kamel
al-Husseine, the spiritual leader of the city’s Muslims.
1917:
Formal peace negotiations begin at Brest-Litovsk between the Germans and the
Russians whose chief delegate is Adolf Joffe, a Jewish born Bolshevik.
1917:
Having crossed the Auju River, outside of Jaffa the British position was made
even more secure when the 54th (East Anglian) Division captured Bald Hill to
the right of the 52nd and in doing so the Ottoman defenders lost
fifty-two killed and forty-four more were taken prisoner.
1917: Isaac
Steinberg began serving as People’s Commissar for Justice of the RSFSR
1917: In
the newly independent Finland, Parliament approved an Act concerning
"Mosaic Confessors." Under the
Act, Jews could for the first time become Finnish nationals, and Jews not
possessing Finnish nationality were henceforth in all respects to be treated as
foreigners in general.
1918: “A
gold medal was presented to Felix M. Warburg” tonight” at a dinner at the Hotel
Biltmore by a group of the division heads and workers, who under his leadership
have just completed a successful campaign for $5,000,000 for Jewish war
sufferers.”
1919: The United
States deported 250 alien radicals, including anarchist Emma Goldman.
1919(30th
of Kislev, 5680): Rosh Chodesh Tevet, Sixth Day of Chanukah
1920(11th
of Tevet, 5681): Sixty-nine-year-old Rabbi Abram S. Isaacs, the New York born
of Jane Symmons and Rabbi Samuel Meyer Isaacs and the husband of Lily Lee Harby
who edited The Jewish Messenger and published several books including A
Modern Hebrew Poet: The Life and Writings of Chaim Luzzatto passed away
today in Paterson, NJ.
http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/downloadFile.cfm?FileID=5525
1921:
Future State Supreme Court Justice Alfred Frankenthaler married Martha
Lowenstein today in New York. The couple
had three children – Marjorie, Gloria and Helen.
1921:
Birthdate of Lee Wolff Wattenberg the cancer fighting doctor. (As reported by
Douglas Martin)
1922(3rd of
Tevet, 5683): 8th and final day of Chanukah
1922: What
is described by the bankers as the first Jewish bond issue in history was
announced for today by Harvey Fisk & Sons, Inc. The bond issue is valued at 75,000 pounds and
is issued by the city of Tel Aviv which plans to use the funds for public works
projects including the construction of sewage systems, streets and roads and
installations to produce electricity.
1922: In
Lynn, MA, Mary Pauline (née Gold) Roman, a dancer and Abraham Roman, a barker
in a family-owned carnival gave birth to Ruth Roman, the sister of Ann and Eve
Roman.
1922:
Birthdate of Heinz Bernard, the son of the Hazzan of the Orthodox Synagogue in
Nuremberg who as Heinz Bernard Lowenstein gained fame in the UK as an actor and
director. The name change came about
after his natural father died when the boy was two years old, and he was
adopted Max Lowenstein.
1923(14th
of Tevet, 5684): Parashat Vayechi
1923: President
Ben Altheimer presided over a meeting at Temple Beth-El this afternoon where it
decied to honor Rabbi Samuel Schulman with a lifetime appointment in honor of
his twenty-five years of service to the congregation.
1924: The
Institute of Jewish Studies of the Hebrew University is opened in Jerusalem,
although the university has not yet officially opened.
1924: “The
Wonderful Adventure” a silent film directed by Manfred Noa and written by
Robert Liebmann was released today in Germany.
1924:
Birthdate of attorney Jack Greenberg, the Brooklynite son of Jewish immigrants,
who argued many of the landmark Civil Rights cases
http://www.forumonlawcultureandsociety.org/bio/jack-greenberg/
http://web.law.columbia.edu/faculty/jack-greenberg
1925:
Birthdate of financier Lewis Glucksman, a trader with Lehman Brothers and
1925(5th
of Tevet, 5686): Sixty-five-year-old Paul Nelke, the Berlin-born British
stockbroker who was a senior partner in Nelke, Phillips and Bendix and who was
the father of socialite and patron of the arts Maude Julia Augusta Nelke,
passed away today.
1925(5th
of Tevet, 5686): Eighty-year-old Benjamin W. Fleisher, the husband of Ida Maria
Fleisher passed away after which he was buried at Mount Sinai Cemetery in
Philadelphia, PA.
1926: Part
I of “Queen Louise” a biopic produced and written by Max Glass was released in
Germany today.
1927(28th
of Kislev, 5688): 4th day of Chanukah
1927: One
thousand friends and associates of builder Abraham Bricken. who had arrived
from Kiev in 1905 as a penniless immigrant and had gone on to form Bricken
Construction Company which erected such edifices as “the forty-five -story
Transportation Building at Barclay Street and Broadway, “gathered tonight for a
testimonial dinner in his onor.
1927(28th
of Kislev, 5688): Eighty-nine-year-old Dr. Jacob Da Silva Solis-Cohen, founder
of laryngology in the United States passed away today.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v141/n3565/abs/141361b0.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9213113
1928: The
American Advisory Committee of the Hebrew University announced today that the
archaeological department had sent to the Newark Museum a collection of
potsherds and other other material from the excavations at tel el Jerish, a Middle Bronze Age, mound
north of Tel Aviv. Dr. Eleazar Sukenik,
field archaeologist of the university recently cleared a cave in the
Wady-en-Nar. A number of ossuaries with
Hebrew inscriptions were removed. Of
particular intnerest is an ossuary bearing the name Shamai be Jehosaf. The fragments have been added to the
university collection.
1928: Felix
Warburg, Chairman of the American Advisory Committee announced today that
Societies of Friends of the Hebrew University had been formed in Boston under
the chairmanship of Dr. Milton J. Rosenau of Harvard Medical School and in New
Haven under the chairmanship of Colonel Isaac M. Ullman.
1928: Bing
Crosby and the Paul Whiteman Orchestra (who were not Jewish) recorded “Makin
Whoopee!” the Eddie Cantor hit with lyrics by Gus Kahn
1929: Anita
Pollitzer, the South Carolina feminists and patron of the arts and her husband
were photographed today at Muir Woods.
http://lcdl.library.cofc.edu/lcdl/catalog/lcdl:32862
1929:
Tillie and Barney Balaban gave birth to American Jazz man, Leonard “Red”
Balaban, he husband of Maxine “Micki” Israel and father of Michael, Steven, and
Rachel Balaban.
1929: U.K.
flyweight Moe Mizler fought his final bout of the year – a bout which resulted
in a loss.
1930(2nd
of Tevet, 5691): Eighth Day of Chanukah
1930: “The
Royal Family of Broadway” the cinema version of the play by Edna Ferber and
George S. Kaufman, directed by George Cukor and with a screenplay by Herman
Mankiewicz was released today in the United States today.
1930:
Kosher Prime Butchers Corporation was among the businesses that were
incorporated today in the state of New York.
1931(12th
of Tevet, 5692): Forty-nine-year-old Lithuania native and Omaha businessman Harry
Lapidus, the president of the Omaha Fixture Supply Company and leader of the
Jewish community who “was a member of the American Jewish National Council of
Americanization and a member of the executive committee of the United Palestine
Appeal while raising two children – Earl and Estelle – with his wife, the
1931: “The
Captain from Köpenick,” a comedy directed by Richard Oswald with a script
co-authored by Albrecht Joseph was released today in Germany
1932:
Premiere of “The Rebel,” a German historical film directed by Curtis Bernhardt
and Edwin H. Knopf and co-produced by Joe Pasternak.
1932: “The
Mummy” a horror film directed by Karl Freund and produced by Carl Laemmle Jr.
was released in the United States today.
1932:
Seventy-six Major General Erwin von Heimerdinger, the father of Gertrude von
Heimerdinger was employed in the German Foreign Office as assistant Chief of
the Diplomatic Courier Section. An anti-Nazi, she secretly arranged for special
passes to enable diplomat Fritz Kolbe (the main Allied source of intelligence)
to make frequent trips to Switzerland to pass on information to Allen Dulles,
head of American O.S.S.
1933: “A
decree of the Prussian Ministry puts an end to the last possibility for the
Jews to have any voice in the school administration of Prussia” because “it
repeals the law of 1920” that “provided that in every district where at least
twenty Jewish children attend the common schools, the rabbi with the logest
service should belong to the board of school inspectors and all to the board of
directors.”
1934(16th
of Tevet, 5695): Parashat Veyechi
1934:
“Morris Rothenberg, the President of the ZOA, made public today a message from
David Lloyd George” the former Prime Minister of Great Britain in which he
declared “that mankind would be aided by the re-establishment of the Jewish
homeland in Palestine.”
1934:
Yehuda Sheftei and Moshe Dayan were wounded today in a clash with Arabs which
broke in the neighborhood of Nahal, when Arabs…invaded land belong to the
Jewish National Fund.”
1935(26th
of Kislev, 5956): Second Day of Chanukah
1835(26th
of Kislev, 5956): Fifty-eight-year-old Philadelphia realtor Jesse J. Schamberg who
“had been associated with Albert M. Greenfield and Company and Mastabuam
Brothers and Flesisher before starting his own firm passed away today.
1935: In
Amsterdam Leo Speyer, the “son of Isak Itzig Speier and Flora Speier and Elize
Nanette Speyer gave birth Isaac Alfred Speyer who had the dubious honor of
having his father murdered at Auschwitz and his mother murdered at Sobibor.
1935:
Birthdate of Jamaica, NY native Rabbi Joel Mathew Chazin, the JTS graduate and
“strong advocate for social justice” who served for 22 years as chaplain and
director of religious services at Montefiore and who raised three children with
his wife Linda while living in Shaker Heights, OH.
1936:
“Balalaika” a musical play co-authored by Eric Maschwitz opened today in London
at the Adelphia Theatre where it ran for 569 performances.
1936(8th
of Tevet, 5679): Sixty-eight-year-old Milton S. Florsheim, the founder and
chairman of the board of Florsheim Shoe Company passed away today.
http://www.florsheim.com/shop/index.html
1936: At a
dinner at the Hotel Commodore attended by 1,000 guests in honor of British
Labor leader Lord Marley, “the project to settle oppressed Jews in the
autonomous territory of Birobidjan in the Soviet Union” appeared to move
forward with the announcement that “the U.S.S.R. had authorized admittance of
2,000 families and 500 individuals from Poland for 1937.”
1937: The Palestine Post reported no fewer
than 16 terrorist attacks over the weekend. An Arab police inspector, Sa¹ad
al-Arab, was killed in Haifa. A second victim of the attack on the
Haifa-Nahalal bus, Aaron Sloverson, died in a hospital. Isaac Orphali, 26, was
badly wounded when an Egged bus was shot at near Motza.
1938:
Attorney Seymour Barkin represented the Park Terrace Improvement Company led by
President William Barkin the purchase of “a plot of about 8,750 square feet at
the northwest corner of Park Terrace East and 217th Street.
1938: “The
United States abruptly rejected a sharp protest the German Government sought to
deliver to the State Department in which the Boys from Berlin complained about
a speech by Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes which he “had criticized
Henry Ford and Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh for having accepted decorations
from Germany and then had trained his guns on Germany” for persecuting the
Jews.
1939: In
New York, Helena Nuischa Kustanovich and Herman Segal gave birth to Lilian
Lijn, “the American artist who pioneered the use of technology to make moving
art.”
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/liliane-lijn-1511/introducing-liliane-lijn
1939:
“Everything Happens at Night” an espionage mystery featuring Maurice Moscovitch
as “Dr. Hugo Norden” was released in the United States today.
1940(22nd of Kislev, 5701): Author Nathanael West dies in auto accident
at the age of 37. In his short career West produced Miss Lonely Hearts, Cool
Million and The Day of the Locust.
1941(2nd of Tevet, 5702): Eight Day of Chanukah
1941:
Massacres of the Jews of Vilna ended leaving 32,000 dead Jews.
1941: Ten days after Romania declared war on the United States the former
U.S. ambassador died at Bucharest before he could return to the U.S.
1941: Over the next eight days, more than 40,000 Jews are murdered at
Bogdanovka in the Transnistria region of Romania.
1942: The Jewish Fighting Organization (JFO) lead by Aharon
Liebeskind attacked Nazi troops gathered at Cyganeria, a coffee house in
Kraków, Poland, killing several SS officers.
1942:
German Rockefeller scholar Arvid Harnack, the husband of Milwaukee native
Mildred Fish-Harnack, both of whom were members of the Red Orchestra, “was
hanged” along with eight others “from meat hooks suspended from a T-bar acress
the ceiling of the executive chamber at Plotzensee Prison.”
1942: Franz
Boas, “father of modern Anthropology” passed away. Born in 1858, Boas never converted to
Christianity, but he was one of those German Jews who saw himself as a German
first and foremost. Of course, the last
decade of his life might have caused him to re-think that concept.
1943(25th
of Kislev): 5704): First day of Chanukah, a holiday that was celebrated in the
Lodz Ghetto this year with a party according to a photo provided by Yad Vashem.
http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/december/08.asp
1943: Rabbi
Louis Wefel, the “flying Chaplain” spends his last Chanukah in Casablanca
leading services. A few days later, Werfel would become one of only 6 Jewish
chaplains to actually die in combat in World War II.
1943: After
the family of Adolfo Kaminsky had been interned in Drancy, which was a prelude
to deportation to the death camps, the family was freed today and moved to
Paris thanks to the “support from the Consul of Argentina…”
1943: The
Gestapo discovered 62 Jews hiding in a cellar of a building on Krolewska Street
in Warsaw. All are murdered.
1943:
Birthdate of Paul Wolfowitz, a sub-cabinet official in the Bush Administration
who was named President of the World Bank, a position from which he was forced
to resign in disgrace.
1943: United States Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau
confronted U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Breckinridge Long, telling him to
his face that "the impression is all around that you, particularly, are
anti-Semitic!"
1943: As
Jews light the second Chanukah candle, the Women’s League for Palestine takes
over tonight’s performance of Carmen Jones in New York City with the proceeds
to be used to support their centers in Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv which feed
needy children.
1944(26th
of Tevet, 5704): Parashat Vaera
1944(26th
of Tevet, 5704): Fifty-five-year-old German born dentist Fritz Pfeffer who was
in hiding in with Anne Frank died today of “enterocolitis” at the “Neuengamme
concentration camp, Hamburg, Nazi Germany” today.
http://www.annefrankguide.net/en-GB/bronnenbank.asp?oid=3072
1944: “Irving
L. Levey, who was elected last November to a fourteen-year term as Justice of
the Supreme Court, was sworn in t0day in a brief ceremony by Presiding Justice
Francis Martin of the Appellate Division Court.”
1944: Modi
Alon, completed his RAF flight training at a base in Rhodesia. Four years
later, Alon would become the first member of the fledgling IAF to score an
aerial victory.
1944:
“Winged Victory” the cinematic adaptation of Moss Hart’s stage play was
released today in the United States.
1944:
Together Again” a film based on a story co-authored by Herbert J. Biberman and
directed by Charles Vidor was released today in the United States.
1945: The American Displaced Persons Act makes it easier for Nazi
war criminals to immigrate to the United States. It particularly benefits
Balts, Ukrainians, and ethnic Germans--many of whom had engaged in a "high
level of collaboration" with the Germans. The act discriminates against
Jewish refugees. When the bill is debated, many congressmen and members of the
Departments of State, Justice, and Interior express their anti-Jewish feelings
indirectly and in private.
1945(18th
of Tevet, 5706):Otto Neurath an Austrian philosopher of science,
sociologist, and political economist passed away. “Before he was forced to flee
his native country for Great Britain in the wake of the Nazi occupation,
Neurath was one of the leading figures of the Vienna Circle.”
1945(18th
of Tevet, 5706): Seventy-three-year-old Vilna born and educated pioneer Zionist
leader David Podolsky who came to the United States in 1896 where he combined
work as a realtor with support of such organization of Yeshiva College and HIAS
while raising three daughters and a son with his wife Fannie passed away today.
1945: Today
Colliers magazine published “I’m
Crazy” a story by J.D. Salinger “that contained material later used in The
Cather in the Rye.”
1946(29th
of Kislev, 5707): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1946(29th
of Kislev, 5707): Phillip Langh, the graduate of Columbia and JTS who served as
the rabbi at Chicago’s Anshe Emet Synagogue from 1920 to 1928 passed away
today.
1947: The
new leader of the Jewish Community (Dr. Ghingold) appeared at the residence of
the Chief Rabbi, Dr. Alexandru Safran, bearing words from the government that
he must leave Romania within two hours! The expulsion of Dr. Safran from the
country, and his replacement by Rabbi Moses Rosen represented a turning point
in the life of the Jewish community in Romania."
1948:
Mordechai Hod was among a group of IAF pilots who flew several Spitfires and
Messerschmitts from Czechoslovakia to Israel.
The planes, which were war surplus clandestinely purchased in
Czechoslovakia, were some of the first modern warplanes acquired by the infant
Jewish state.
1948: At
night, Operation Horev began with an attack by the IDF against Hill 86, an
Egyptian position overlooking the Gaza-Rafa Road.
1948: Syria
banned Life and Newsweek because of “their increased Zionist propaganda.”
1949: “East
Side, West Side” a film based on a novel by Marcia Davenport (Marcia Glick) and
directed by Mervyn Leroy was released today in the United States today.
1950: Eighty-eight-year-old
conductor and arranger Walter Damrosch whose father was Lutheran but whose
grandfather was Jewish (a common German sequence) passed away today
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Cyclopædia_of_American_Biography/Damrosch,_Walter_Johannes
1952: “The
Member of the Wedding” directed by Fred Zinnemann and produced by Stanley
Kramer was released today in the United States.
1952: Beginning of the national syndication of Ding Dong School.
Created by and starring Frances Horwich, it was one of the first television
shows to offer quality educational programming for young children. It appeared
locally on the NBC affiliate in Chicago beginning in the fall of 1952. 2. The Chicago
Tribune estimated that 2.4 million preschoolers and their mothers were
watching the daily program by January 1953. Ding Dong School ran
nationally for four years, until December 1956. It continued on a Chicago
station for two years and ran in syndication until 1965. Equipped with an
old-fashioned brass school bell and simple props, Horwich—whom viewers knew as
"Miss Frances"—addressed her young audience directly, asking
questions, telling stories, and leading them in simple games and activities.
Through crafts and movement, she encouraged children to participate rather than
passively watch. Her respect for children's abilities was a crucial aspect of
Horwich's philosophy and of her program. In a 1966 interview, she commented
that "too many programs on television rob children of their own ideas,
without giving them a chance to create and think for themselves." Horwich,
who left a position as head of the education department at Roosevelt College to
appear on the show, became NBC's Supervisor for Children's Programming in 1955.
In the meantime, Ding Dong School won a Peabody Award in 1952; the
citation called the show "simple, sincere, and unpretentious." The
Chicago Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honored
Horwich with a "Silver Circle" award for lifetime achievement in
June, 2001. She died in Scottsdale, Arizona, later that month, at age 94. (JWA)
1952: The Jerusalem Post
reported that the UN General Assembly failed to give the needed two-thirds
majority to its Political Committee¹s resolution, which required that the Arab
states enter into immediate and direct peace negotiations with Israel, and
without any preconditions. The vote was 24 for, 21 against and 15 abstentions.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that a Negev
settler, Yosef Yairi, 24, of Sde Boker, was killed by marauders. Infiltrators
stole 80 sheep and irrigation equipment from the kibbutz. Israel protested that
meat purchased in Ethiopia was seized by Egyptian authorities in Port Said.
1953:
Yitzhak Pundak was appointed head of the IDF’s Armored Corps.
1955: “The
Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell” a movie based on the life of the air power
advocate who proved you cannot be a prophet in your own time directed by Otto
Preminger, produced by Milton Sperling who also co-authored the script and with
music by Dimitri Tiomkin was released in the United States by Warner Bros.
1955:“Lola Montès,” an epic historical romance film and the last
completed film of director Max Ophüls
and featuring Anton Walbrook as “Ludwig I, King of Bavaria” was released
in France today.
1955:
“Dementia” a horror film co-starring Shelly Berman was released today in the
United States.
1956: After
six months, the curtain came down on the Broadway production of “New Faces of
1956” produced by Leonard Sillman.
1956:
Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Wrong Man” co-starring Nehemiah Persoff and featuring
Werner Klemperer with music by Bernard Hermann was released today in the United
Sates
1956:
Oswald Rothuag, the Nazi jurist who perverted justice for the sake of the Reich
and “who presided over the trial of Leo Katzenberger” and ordered “his
execution for ‘racial defilement’” was released on parole today after his life
sentence was reduced to twenty years of which he served less than ten.
1958(11th
of Tevet, 5719): Eighty-three-year old Edinburgh born Los Angeles businessman
and philanthropist David A. Brown the
former president of the General Necessities Corporation of Detroit and chairman
of the Board of Broadway National Bank and Trust Company who was the president
and publisher of The American Hebrew and Jewish Tribune and was active in
numerous Jewish organizations including the American Jewish Joint Distribution
Committee, the Palestine Economic Corporation and the Jewish Agency for Palestine
passed away today. (NYT)
!959(21st of Kislev,
5720): Seventy-six year old Harry P. Fierst , the Kovno born clothing
manufacturer and husband of Miriam Fierst with he raised a son and a daughter
and whose many activities in the Jewish community including serving as a
President of the Mount Vernon Young Men’s Hebrew Association and a director of
Congregation Emanuel in Mt. Vernon, NY while helping to “organize the Mount
Vernon District of the Zionist Organization of America in 1920” and helping to
found the American Zionist Youth Commission passed away today.
1959: In
one of those only in America moment NBC broadcast “Christmas Startime” a
“musical Christmas special that featured conductor/composer Leonard Bernstein.”
1960: “Two
Women” which was released today in Italy produced the Oscar Winning Actress
thanks to the “the heavy promotions by its North American distributor Joseph E.
Levine.”
1961: In
today’s issue of The Jewish Chronicle,
editor William Frankel led with the story of Rabbi Louis Jacobs’ resignation
from the staff of Jew’s College due to the Chief Rabbi’s ongoing opposition and
then followed a week later with an editorial expressing “regret” at “the loss
of another spiritual leader followed by the pointed comment that “a religious
revival will never be brought about prohibitions and denunciations, by
exclusive claims to authenticity, or by mutual recriminations between different
sections of the community.”
1961: In
Washington, DC, Carl and Joan Fastow gave birth to Andrew Fastow, a key figure
in the Enron debacle who pleaded guilty and went to jail for his part in Enron’s
demise.
1962(25th
of Kislev, 5723): Chanukah
1962:
Birthdate of Buenos Aires native Andrés Cantor, the grandson of refugees from
Nazi occupied Poland and “sportscaster and pundit who works in the United
States providing Spanish-language commentary and analysis in sports.”
1963: In
one of those cultural ironies that can only happen in America, a special
rendition of “Steam Heat,” the Richard Adler and Jerry Ross hit was performed
today on the Judy Garland Christmas Show.
1964:
Release date for “Kiss Me Stupid” a comedic film written by I.A.L. Diamond and
Billy Wilder and produced and directed by Billy Wilder.
1964:
Comedian Lenny Bruce is convicted on obscenity charges.
1964: In
Israel, Levi Eshkol formed the 12th government today.
1964: As
the 11th government gives way to the 12th government
Golda Meir continues to serve as Foreign Minister.
1965:
Birthdate of David Samuel Goyer, “an American screenwriter, film director,
novelist, and comic book writer.”
1965(28th
of Kislev, 5726): Fourth day of Chanukah
1965: Simon
and Garfunkel recorded “Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall” today.
1965(28th
of Kislev, 5726): Sixty-four-year-old Al Ritz, the oldest of the Ritz Brothers
passed away today in New Orleans.
1966: Today
in Rome, Father Hruby, “a Paris Catholic Institute priest told a Gregorian
University audience that it was ‘absolutely untrue’ that such Jewish religious
works as the Talmud or the Shulchan Aruch condemned Christianity or expressed
any antagonism to it” and “he declared tat charges of Jewish hostility against
Christianity stemmed mostly from that the that the Christian censors of the
Talmud changed and substituted words either in ignorance or with the purposed
of proving Jewish enmity against Christians.” (JTA)
1967: “The
Graduate,” directed by Mike Nichols, with a screenplay co-written by Buck
Henry, co-starring Dustin Hoffman and with songs by Paul Simon was released
today in the United States.
1968(1st
of Tevet, 5729): Rosh Chodesh Tevet and the 7th day of Chanukah
1968(1st
of Tevet, 5729): Fifty-nine-year-old Cornell University and University of
Chicago (Ph.D.) trained economist and WW II Army Air Forces officer Oscar L.
Altman, one of the “first economist to see the importance of the Eurodollar”
and “treasurer of the International Monetary Fund” passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1968/12/24/76923387.pdf
1968: Today,
Jeffrey Garten married Ina Rosenberg who gained famed as author and television
cook Ina Rosenberg, the host of the “Barefoot Contessa” cooking show.
1969: As
part of the Cherbourg Project, retired Israeli Admiral Mordecai Limon met in
Paris with Martin Siemm and Amiot. The owner of the Cherbourg shipyard signed a
contract with Limon canceling the original sale of the boats to Israel. Amiot
then signed a contract with Siemm selling the boats to the Norwegian for the
same price. Copies of the contracts were immediately dispatched to the relevant
French authorities.
1969(13th
of Tevet, 5730): Seventy-five-year-old Austrian-born, American movie director
Josef von Sternberg best known for his two versions of “The Blue Angel” and
“discovering actress Marlene Dietrich, passed away today.
http://www.hollywoodsgoldenage.com/moguls/von_sternberg.html
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/12/23/103476244.pdf
1970(24th
of Kislev, 5731): Kindle the first Chanukah candle.
1970: The
S.S. commander of Treblinka was sentenced to life imprisonment.
1971: Kurt Waldheim was
elected Secretary General of the UN. Waldheim became a controversial figure
after being exposed by the Austrian Weekly Profile and the New York Times.
Although he denied any Nazi past, the World Jewish Congress contended they had
proof that he had been a member of the S.A. and Army group E that was involved
with deportation of Greek Jews and Yugoslavian partisans. Despite the WJC’s
proof that the United Nations War Crimes Commission had wanted Waldheim for
murder, he denied any direct involvement with such actions. Although he did not
succeed in his bid for a third term, he was elected President of Austria in May
1986. Waldheim was denied entry to the U.S. and many diplomats refused to call
on him. A notable exception was the Pope who received him in 1987.
1973(27th
of Kislev, 5734): Sixty-five-year-old Philip Rahv, born Ivan Greenberg, the
co-founder of “The Partisan Review” passed away today.
1973:
“Rabbi Daniel J. Fingerer” officiated at the wedding of Carole Drucker, the
Assistant State Attorney General and chief of the Civil Rights Bureau in the
State Attorney General's office and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Drucker
and George D. Zuckerman the University of Michigan and Harvard Law School
graduate and son of Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Drucker,
1974: An
American child was injured today in Jerusalem during a terrorist grenade attack
on a bus.
1974:
“Jacob the Liar,” an East German-Czechoslovak Holocaust film based on the novel
of the same name by “concentration camp survivor Jurek Becker was shown on GDR
TV today for the first time.
1975(18th
of Tevet, 5736): Eighty-year-old Johns Hopkins trained obstetrician and
gynecologist Jacob Pearl Greenhill, the New York City born son of Charles
Greenhill and Fanny Pearlberg, who was on the faculty of Loyal Medical School
passed away today.
1976(1st
of Tevet, 5737): Sixth Day of Chanukah
1976: Yosef
Burg, a member of the National Religious Party, completed his term as Internal
Affairs Minister.
1976: In
Israel, the government head by Yithak Rabin resigned today “after ministers of
the National Religious Party were sacked because the party had abstained from
voting on a motion of no confidence, which had been brought by Agudat Yisrael
over a breach of the Sabbath on an Israeli Air Force base.”
1977(12th
of Tevet, 5738): Eighty-three-year-old Leo Perper, the native of Odessa who
became the President of the Roger Kent clothing-store chain passed away today.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9E03E6DE173BE036A05750C2A9649D946690D6CF
1979(2nd
of Tevet, 5740): Parashat Miketz; 8th and final day of Chanukah
1979(2ndof
Tevet, 5740): Theodore Bernheim, the husband of Gwen Bernheim with whom he had
three children – Michael, Marijane and Lisa – passed away today.
1979:
Darryl Zanuck passed away. Zanuck was
not Jewish. He is the movie mogul who produced “Gentlemen’s Agreement,” the
1947 film about anti-Semitism that Jewish movie makers all turned down.
1981(26th
of Kislev, 5742): Second Day of Chanukah
1981:In his review of “Elephants” a play now appearing at the
Jewish Repertory Theatre which tells the story of “an otherwise upstanding,
aging janitor in a Chicago synagogue who steals cocaine from a children's
hospital in order to finance a trip to Tel Aviv to visit his dying sister” Mel
Gussow describes David Rush’s dramatic effort as being “about as far-fetched a
play as one could imagine.”
1982(6th of
Tevet, 5743):Robert Weltsch an important European Zionist passed
away.
1984(28th
of Kislev, 5745): Parashat Miketz, Fourth Day of Chanukah
1984(28th
of Kislev, 5745): Eighty-six-year-old Edith Elliot Lindeman Calish, the author
of Jewish children’s books, and writer of popular song lyrics who was the
entertainment editor the Richmond Times-Dispatch for over three decades passed
away today.
http://www.outsidethewalls.org/obit.pdf
1985:
Richard F. Shepard described an exhibition at the Bronx Museum “Between the
Wars: The Bronx Express a Portrait of the Jewish Bronx.”
1985:
“Capturing the Holiday Spirit” by Moshe Brilliant published today describes the
unique celebration of Christmas in Israel.
1985: John
Koenig published a review of Jesus and Judaism by E.P. Sanders.
1987(1st
of Tevet, 5748): Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1987:Hundreds of thousands of Arabs inside Israel joined others
in the occupied territories today in a general strike protesting Israel's
handling of a wave of protests.
1988: After
numerous appeals by Dr. Herman D. Noether, the eldest son of Professor Fritz M.
Noether who had been convicted of being a German spy in 1938, today “the Plenum
of the USSR Supreme Court passed a decree No. 308-88 which determined that
Professor Fritz M. Noether had been convicted on groundless charges and voided
his sentence, thus fully rehabilitating him."
1988:
Likud's Yitzhak Shamir formed the twenty-third government including the
Alignment, the National Religious Party, Shas, Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah
in his coalition, with 25 ministers
1988: The
Labor Party gave final approval today to a new coalition government led by the
Likud party.
1988: Ezer
Weizman replaced Gideon Patt as the Science and Technology Minister of Israel
1988:
Yithak Shamir, a member of Likud, completed his service as Internal Affairs
Minister.
1988: Areyh
Deri, a member of Shas, began serving as Internal Affairs Minister.
1988:
“Burning Secret,” a filmed “based on the short story Brennendes Geheimnis by
Stefan Zweig” was released today in the United Kingdom and West Germany.
1989(24th
of Kislev, 5750): Kindle the first Chanukah Candle.
1989:During the American invasion of Panama the United States
Embassy in Panama reported that Mike Harari, a 62-year-old retired agent of the
Israeli intelligence service, Mossad was an American ''prisoner of war.''
1989:
“Music Box,” produced by Irwin Winkler and with a screenplay by Joe Eszterhas
was released today in the United States.
1990(5th
of Tevet, 5751): Ninety-six-year-old Rabbi Abraham Zieda Helleer, the Safed
born son of Zeev Wolf Heller and Tziporah Feiga Heller and husband of Frieda
Chaya Heller passed away today.
1990 (5th
of Tevet, 5751): Seventy-eight-year-old “Gershom G. Schocken, an influential
Israeli journalist who was the editor and publisher of the daily newspaper Haaretz
for half a century, died on Saturday at Shiba Medical Center outside Tel
Aviv, where he lived.” (As reported by Peter B. Flint)
1990: The
New York Times reported today on a sudden surge in the number of Soviet
Jewish immigrants arriving in Israel this month may well bring the total of
Jews settling here this year to more than 200,000, making it perhaps the
largest influx of immigrants in 40 years.
1990: AnIsraeli ferry capsized killing 21 US servicemen.
1990: While
taping an interview with a crew from Tele 5, the Spanish television station,
President Hussein says Tel Aviv would be Iraq's first target whether or not
Israel joins the war effort against Iraq.
1991(15th
of Tevet 5752): Three days after celebrating her 74th birthday,
Selma Goldmaker, the Youngstown, OH born daughter of Sarah and Jacob Grobstein,
the wife of Harry Grobstein passed away today.
1991: Ninety-two-year-old
Helen P. Silvermatser, the wife of Nathan Silvermaster both of whom were
alleged to have been spies for the Soviet Union passed away today.
1992(27th
of Kislev, 5753): Third Day of Chanukah
1992(27th
of Kislev, 5753): Eighty-one-year-old Polish born English actor, director and
writer Milo Sperber, the brother of Manes Sperber passed away today.
1992: “The
Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany has issued a statement
detailing the criteria for eligibility of Jewish victims of Nazi persecution
for German Government compensation under an agreement concluded in November.(As reported by David Binder)
1992: “American
Samurai,” a “martial arts action film directed by Polish born, Jerusalem raised
American filmmaker Sam Firstenberg was released today in Germany
1993:
Eliahu Levin and Meir Mendelovitch were killed by shots fired at their car by
terrorists from a passing vehicle for which Hamas claimed responsibility.
1993:
“Italian Fascism Didn’t Practice Anti-Semitism” published today described Louis
Jay Herman’s view on Mussolini and the Jews.
1993: Two
were left dead following a shooting attack near Ramallah.
1993:Israeli and Palestinian negotiators worked in secret today
on a compromise plan for control of border checkpoints between Israel and parts
of the occupied territories where Palestinians are soon to have autonomy.
1993: Seventy-eight-year-old
Bangladesh native Sir Reginald Michael Hadow, the British diplomate who was
Ambassador to Israel from 1965 to 1969 passed away today.
1994(19th
of Tevet, 5755): Eighty-two-year Haham Rabbi Dr. Solomon Gaon, the Bosnian born
son of Isaac and Rahela Gaon, both of whom died in the Holocaust, and the
husband of Regina Gazon with whom he had two children – Isaac and Raquel – who
was “a world leader of Sephardic Jews and Professor of Sephardic Studies at
Yeshiva University” passed away today in New York.
1995(29th
of Kislev, 5756): Fifth Day of Chanukah
2000: “The
Family Man” a romantic comedy directed by Brett Ratner, co-produced by Howard
Rosenmen with a script co-authored by David Weisman and music by Danny Elfman
was released today in the United States.
2001(7th
of Tevet, 5762): Parashat Vayigash
2001(7th
of Tevet, 5762): Eighty-six-year-old WW II Captain Leonard “Len” Maidman, the
NYU forward and member of the 1935 National Championship team who was described
by University of California head coach Nibs Price as, "the best player
I've seen around” and who “practiced medicine until his retirement in 1985”
passed away today.
2002:Yael Weiss, a pianist, and Mark Kaplan, a violinist, who
met at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival in the summer of 1999 were married at
the Americas Society in Manhattan to strains of Bach.
2002: The New York Times book section featured
books by Jewish authors and/or about subjects of Jewish interest including Analyzing
Freud: Letters of H.D., Bryher, and
TheirCircle edited by Susan Stanford Friedman, Nobody’s
Perfect:Billy Wilder: A Personal
Biographyby Charlotte Chandler, and Kafka Goes to the Movies by
Hanns Zischler; translated by Susan H. Gillespie.
2003(27th
of Kislev, 5764): Third Day of Chanukah
2003: “After
a day of meeting with Israel's leaders, Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Maher,
was attacked and heckled this evening by Muslim radicals inside the Aksa Mosque
here, one of the holiest sites in Islam.”
2004(10th
of Tevet, 5765): Asara B'Tevet
2004: “Meet
the Fockers” based on a story by Jim Herzfeld and Marc Hyman with music by
Randy Newman and co-starring Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand was released
in the United States today.
2005: An
immigration judge order John Demjanjuk deported to Germany, Poland or Ukraine.
2005:
Israeli Harry Potter fans have something to be in high spirits about this
Hanukah. The Hebrew version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,
JK Rowling's sixth book in her magical series hits the bookstores just two days
before the first night of Chanukah.
2006(1st
of Tevet, 5767): Rosh Chodesh Tevet, 2006: Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni announced
that Italy’s Holocaust Museum will be located in Rome at the Villa Torlonia.
2006: Alan
G. Hevesi completed his term as State Comptroller for the State of New York.
2006:
STS-116 Discovery under the command of Mark Lewis “Roman” Polansky completed
its twelve day mission today.
2006:
Today, “the Board of Immigration Appeals upheld” John Demjanjuk’s deportation
order.
2007:
Chazak Shabbat observed by Conservative Synagogues across the United
States. Chazak Shabbat always falls on
the Shabbat when Vayechi is the weekly portion.
Congregations honor members who are fifty-five years and older and the
special programs designed to encourage their continued participation in the
Jewish community.
2007:The Cedar Rapids Gazette reported that "the head of the
largest branch of Americana Judaism is urging members of the movement to do
more to observe Shabbat. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for
Reform Judaism told those attending the group's Biennial convention that
stressed out families need a day when they can stop running around long to
see what God is doing. Among other things, Yoffie urged Reform Jews to
make a commitment to attend Saturday morning worship.
2008: Eric Alterman
“announced that his blog Altercation would be moving to The Nation's website in 2009 and would appear on a less regular
basis than its previous Monday through Friday schedule.
2008:
The AJS (Association for Jewish Studies) Women’s Caucus Breakfast and The
Sephardi/Mizrahi Caucus Lunch are held on the second day of the AJS
(Association for Jewish Studies) 40th Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.
2008:
The Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel designed by Ben Novack was added to the NRHP
today.
2008:
HappyBirthday “Hatikvah” – 130th anniversary of the
creation of the poem “Hatikvah” by Naphtali Herz Imber.
2008(25th
of Kislev, 5769): First Day of Chanukah
2008:
Jewish Book Month comes to an end.
2008:Gaza gunmen fired at IDF soldiers patrolling the
security fence near the Sufa crossing late this afternoon, seemingly refuting
reports of a 24-hour ceasefire.
2008:The suspected murderer of Yemeni Jew Moshe Yaish
Nahari told a court on today that he had warned Jews to convert to Islam or
leave the country and that if they didn't, he would kill them
2008:
The scandal at Agriprocessors makes Time
magazine’s list of Top 10 Religion Stories in 2008. At #9, “When Kosher Wasn’t Kosher – A raid on
a kosher-meat-processing plant in Iowa highlighted unethical practices.”
2008:
Time quotes Ehud Olmert’s reaction to Jewish attacks in Hebron. “As a
Jew, I was ashamed at the scenes of Jews opening fire at innocent Arabs.”
2009:
In Washington, D.C. at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue students in the
conversion class at Tifereth Israel Congregation share their stories and
celebrate their first December holiday season as Jews in America in a program
entitled “Journeys to Judaism: Jews by Choice Tell Their Stories.”
2010:
“Jewish Life in Mr. Lincoln's City,” an exhibition sponsored by the Jewish
Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to come to an end today.
2010:
The Coen Brothers’ version of “True Grit” is scheduled to be released today.
2010:
Jamal Hussein Ahmad, a 49-year-old tailor, who was charged with trying to bomb
a synagogue in the heart of Cairo, is scheduled to go on trial today.
2010:The president of Austria’s tiny Jewish community
wrote a letter today to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressing a feeling
of “betrayal” and “outrage” at deputy minister Ayoub Kara’s current visit to
Vienna at the invitation of the right-wing Freedom Party, formerly the
political home of Jorge Haider.
2010:
Master classes at the Stage-Center International Theatre in Tel Aviv which are
being taught by Michael Mayer, the director who has
become the toast of Broadway with his megahit musicals Spring Awakening and
American Idiot begin today.
2010:Tensions were rising today between Fatah and Hamas,
the two main Palestinian political factions, over a leaked American diplomatic
cable and ongoing accusations by each side regarding the other’s arrests, plans
and statements.
2010: A stage adaptation of Romain Gary’s novel, “The Life Before
Us” (“La vie Devant Soi”), about an orphaned Arab boy’s devotion to a
terminally ill Auschwitz survivor and ex-prostitute, featuring Myriam Boyer was
broadcast across Europe today.
2011: In New Orleans, Gates of Prayer is scheduled to host its
Sisterhood Chanukah Dinner
2011: In New Orleans, Touro Synagogue is scheduled to host its
Sisterhood Chanukah Family Dinner
2011: Moshav, Soulfarm & DeScribe are scheduled to perform at
the Highline Ballroom as part of the Sephardic Music Festival.
2011:In San Francisco, the Contemporary Jewish Museum is
scheduled to host a Houdini-themed Hanukkah concert, with Leonard Cohen tunes
performed by all-male musical group, Conspiracy of Beards
2011: The final weekend of Hamshoushalayim is scheduled to begin
today in Jerusalem with activities especially geared for families.
2011: In Linn County, the first area wide Chanukah Candle Lighting
Ceremony is scheduled to take place in Springville, Iowa under the leadership
of Lena Gilbert
2011:Hamas has moved to join the Palestine Liberation
Organization - a key step toward unifying the long-divided Palestinian
leadership, the Associated Press reported today
2011:Today, Defense Minister Ehud Barak criticized
statements made by Israel's Foreign Ministry, which said the
"bickering" of European Union members of the UN Security Council over
Israeli settlement was making them "irrelevant."
012: “Aya” is schedule to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film
Festival.
2012: “World’s second-oldest Bible fragment posted online”
published today described the posting online of thousands of pages from fragile
religious manuscripts including a 2,000 year old copy of portions of the 10
Commandments and the Shema by Cambridge University (As reported by JTA)
2012: “Dreaming in Yiddish,” a concert in tribute to singer,
teacher, feminist and activist Adrienne Cooper featuring the leading artists in
the Yiddish music world is scheduled to
take place at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College.
2012: The head of the nationalist Jewish Homes Party denied
calling for insubordination in the army tonight, rebuffing accusations that he
endorsed refusing orders when he said two days earlier that he would not
evacuate settlements
2013: The New York
Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special
interest to Jewish readers including American Mirror: The Life and Art of
Norman Rockwell by Deborah Solomon, The Empty Chair by Bruce Wagner and The
Myth of America’s Decline: Politics, Economics, and a Half Century of False
Prophecies by Josef Joffe.
2013: “The Escape,” a movie about eight young Israelis
from different backgrounds who retrace the routes of those trying to escape the
Holocaust, is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
2013:
The Jerusalem Municipality and the Jewish National Fund are scheduled to
distribute free Christmas trees to Christian residents of Jerusalem today
between 09:00 am and 12:00 pm at College Des Freres - De La Salle High School,
20 Bab El-Jadid Rd.
2013:
A bomb exploded on a bus in Bat Yam this afternoon, but nobody was injured
because an alert passenger had spotted the device and the bus driver had
ordered the vehicle evacuated.
2013:
Police are investigating an attempt by three Palestinian Authority Arabs to
stab officers, this evening at a police roadblock at the Mishor Adumim
Junction, next to the eastern Jerusalem suburb of Ma'alei Adumim. (As reported
by Gil Roen)
2014:
The Washington DC, Jewish Community Center is scheduled to present “World Music
for Chanukah with Avram Penga” the “Greek-born guitarist and bouzouki virtuoso.
2014:
“Night of Fools” and “The Outrageous Sophie Tucker” are scheduled to be shown
at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
2014
The public Chanukah lighting is scheduled to take place at Cosenza.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/italian-towns-arab-street-decked-with-menorahs-for-xmas/
2014:
In London, “Rabbi Santa Comedy Night,” consisting entirely of Jewish comedians,
an evening organized by Bennett Arron, is due to open today.
2014:
“Less than a week after the National Insurance Institute published statistics
saying that 1.65 million Israelis lived under the poverty line in 2013,
umbrella aid group Latet released its own report today, claiming nearly a
million more Israelis — totaling a third of the country — are living in
poverty.
2014:
“Two hundred and twenty-six immigrants, 76 of which are children, landed this
afternoon in Israel on a special flight from Ukraine.”
2015:
“Apples from the Desert” a tale of tradition versus modernity is scheduled to
be shown for the last time at the UK Jewish Film Festival.
2015:
Publication of Pinstripe Patronage by Martin and Susan J. Tolchin.
2015(10th
of Tevet, 5776): Yahrzeit of Judy Levin Rosenstein, gone too soon but never
forgotten.
2015:
“Twelve selected pieces from the Valmadonna Trust Library — an unrivalled
library of some 300 handwritten Hebrew documents and 13,000 rare printed Hebrew
books, with some dating as far back as 1,000 years — is scheduled to go on sale
in New York today.
2015:
“Sotheby’s set a new world auction record for any piece of Judaica in New York,
when of the finest copies of Daniel Bomberg’s Babylonia Talmud sold for $9.3
million” today.
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/2015/valmadonna-trust-library-part-i-n09443.html
2015(10th
of Tevet, 5776): The Tenth of Tevet is a communal fast day, commemorating the
beginning of the siege of Jerusalem in the era of the First Beis HaMikdash, the
Holy Temple.
http://www.arjewishcenter.com/library/article_cdo/AID/91427
2016:
The Temple Israel of Memphis Family Tour of Israel is scheduled to leave the
United States today.
2016:
Jonathan Brent, YIVO’s Executive Director, is scheduled to host a panel
discussion on “YIVO, Liberalism and the Jewish Response to Fascism.
2016:
Rachel Freirer, a mother of six and former lawyers who practiced commercial and
residential estate law “officially became the first Chasidic women to be sworn
in as a Judge in New York State” when she “was sworn in today as the Civil
Court judge in Kings County’s 5th judicial district.”
2016:
Lipa “Schmeltzer sang "God Bless America" in Yiddish (as "Gott
Bensch Amerike") in Brooklyn Borough Hall at the inauguration of New York
Civil Court Judge Rachel Freier.
2016:
In Coralville, IA, The Augdas Achim is scheduled to discuss The Schocken Book
of Modern Sephardic Literature edited by Ilan Stavans.
2017:
FOX news announced that James Rosen was “exiting the company at the end of the
year” without making any references to charges of sexual misconduct.
2017:
A special exhibition “The Capture and Trial of Adolf Eichmann” is scheduled to
come a close at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.
2016:
Today, “in Warsaw, Polish culture minister Piotr Glinski signed a contract with
Michal Laszczkowski, head of the Cultural Heritage Foundation” that formalized
the Polish government’s donation of 100 million zlotys “to restore and protect”
the Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery which was “established in 1806 and is the
resting spot of 250,000 Polish Jews.”
2017:
In Jerusalem, Hansen House is scheduled to host “Context with Mindy Weisel.
2017(4th
of Tevet, 5778): Eighty-eight-year-old Laborite and MP Eric Moonman, the
Liverpool born son of Leah and Borach Moonman who left school at the age of 13
to become an apprentice priner and who was chair of both Poale Zion and
president of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland passed away
today.
2017(4th
of Tevet, 5778): Yahrzeit of Rabbi Joshua Isaac Shapira
http://www.aish.com/dijh/Tevet_4.html
2017(4th
of Tevet, 5778): Yahrzeit of Yiddish playwright Solomon Ettinger who passed
away on the 4th of Tevet, 5617.
2018(14th
of Tevet, 5779): Parashat Vayechi;
2018:
Ninety-four-year-old Simcha Rosten,” the last surviving Warsaw Ghetto uprising
fighter” passed away today.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/simcha-rotem
2018:
As a sign of the vitality of Judaism Southern Style, in Memphis, Rachel Perlman
is scheduled to be called to the Torah as a Bat Mitzvah at Temple Israel.
2018:
In New York, Symphony Space is scheduled to host Israeli singer “David Broza
and Friends Not Exactly Christmas Show.”
2018:
In Atlanta, the Oakland Cemetery homed to “the second oldest Jewish burial
ground in Georgia, is scheduled to host a tour featuring the “Sights, Symbols
and Stories of Oakland.
2018:
This year’s Yiddish New York Festival is scheduled to officially open tonight
with a Yiddish Dance Party at the Church of the Immaculate Conception.
2018:
Following her an operation which in which “she had two cancerous growths
removed from her lung” yesterday, Jews everywhere, regardless of their
political views, offer a prayer for “refuah shlema” or “perfect healing,” for
Associate Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
2019:
Yiddish New York and the Yiddish Artists and Friends-Actor Club is scheduled to
host a “Celebration of Molly Picon.”
2019:
The Mayor of London is scheduled to attend Chanukah in the Square hosted by
Rachel Creeger at Trafalgar Square.
2019(24th
of Kislev, 5780): Ninety year old Ronald Hyman Melzack, the Montreal born son
Joseph and Annie (Mandel) Melzack and the McGill University trained
psychologist best known for his 1973 book The Puzzle of Pain who was the
husband of interior designer Lucy Birch
passed away today.
https://www.cdnmedhall.org/inductees/ronaldmelzack
2019:
The Yeshiva University Museum is scheduled to host a “Family Concert,”
featuring “Hanukkah music from around the world with Elad Kabilio and the
musicians from MusicTalks.”
2019:
The New York Times featured reviews
of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers
including Family Papers: A Sephardic Journey Through the Twentieth Century by
Sara Abrevaya Stein.
2019(24th
of Kislev, 5780): First time lighting the Chanukah menorah without Deb Levin
Z”L.
2020:
The Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth Country is scheduled to begin present an
online view of “the documentary film, Shalom Bollywood: The Untold Story of
Indian Cinema.”
2020:
FIDF Engage is scheduled to present Maj. Gen. (Res.) Nadav Padan, Former Head
of IDF Central Command, who will discuss Cyber Warfare: A New Dimension in
Modern War which given the hack just suffered by the United States is a very
timely presentation.
2020:
The Vilna Shul, Boston’s Center for Jewish Culture is scheduled to present
online “Not Your Bubbe’s Book Club.
2020:
The first direct flight from Israel to Morocco marking the establishment “of
ties between the two Mideast countries” is scheduled to depart today.
2020:
Judaism Your Way in Colorado which is offer virtual cooking classes to make
Jewish comfort foods is scheduled to provide instruction for making homemade
pita and hummus this evening.
2020:
YIVO is scheduled to present “Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese Food” in which author
Andrew Cohen traces “this delicious history from the turn-of-the-century Lower
East Side to today’s take-out lo mein”
2020:
In Columbus, OH, Tifereth Israel is scheduled to host online “Perek Yomi” with
Rabbi Skoinik
2021:
For a second night, The Emerson Colonial Theatre is scheduled to host a new
production of “Fiddler on the Roof” in Boston.
2021.
The Boston Synagogue is scheduled to present a concert with Klezmer musician
Abigale Reisman, the violinist who is also a composer, arranger and performer
in the International Musical Festival award-win band Ezekiel’s Wheels Klezmer Band
which can be enjoyed in person or online
2021:
The American-Israel Friendship League is scheduled to present “Stitching a New
Identity: Fashion in Israel’s Nation Building” during was Keren Ben Horin
“investigates the relationship between fashion, national identity and
diplomacy.”
2021:
As of today, Israelis could become the first people in the world to be able to
get a fourth vaccine shot in the wake of the outbreak of the Omicorn variant of
COVID>
2021:
LIB is scheduled to present Professor Atina Grossman and Dr. Max Czollek as
they discuss “Perspectives on Jewish Life in Germany Today.”
2021:
After having arrived last night, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan
is scheduled to hold talks with Israeli officials including President Herzog
who “plans to inform” him of the request of the family of Yehuda Dimentman, the
victim of a terrorist attack, that Israeli legalize the Homesh Yeshiva which is
located on an isolated West hilltop near Jenin.”(As reported by Tovah Lazaroff)
2022:
The Center for Jewish History and the Polish Cultural Institute of New York are
scheduled to present “Mechitza: Individual and Collective Resistance of Women
During the Shoah” by Vivian J. Prins Artistic Resident Zuzanna Hertzberg -
Installation & Spoken Word Performance.”
2022:
YIVO is scheduled to present an online lecture by David Biale on “A Very Jewish
Christmas: Jesus and Shabbtai Zvi, from Heretic to Hero”
2022:
The Museum for Jewish Heritage is scheduled to host a screening of “The Man
Without a World” a film with a life score by Alicia Svigals and Donald Sosin.
2022:
The New Conservatory Theatre is scheduled to host a performance of “Oy Vey in a
Manger.”
2022:
Chabad of Downtown Boston, Back Beacon Hill and South End are scheduled to host
the Seaport Menorah Lighting with Governor Charlie Baker.
2022:
Temple of Emanuel of Newton is scheduled to present “Hanukkah Happens: Hazzan
Elias Rosemberg with the Zamir Chorale of Boston.”
2022(28th
of Kislev, 5783): Fourth Day of Chanukah https://jeopardylabs.com/play/chanukah10
2023:
The first online auction of Artists Against Antisemitism is scheduled to come
to an end today.
2023:
Deadline for nominations for The Diller Tikkun Olam Awards.
2023(10th
of Tevet, 5784): Yahrzeit of Judy Rosenstein (nee Levin) the wife of Larry
Rosenstein of blessed memory, the mother of Danny, David Asher and Joel
Rosenstein and the sister of David ,Mitchell Levin all of whom miss her and
remember her with love and affection
2023(10th
of Tevet, 5784): The Fast of the 10th of Tevet; Asarah b’Tevet, is a
minor fast day that commemorates the date “when, according to the Tanach (II
Kings 25:1-4), the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem.”
2023:
As December 22 begins in Israel, the Hamas held
hostages begin day 77 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)