April 28
66:
After stealing money from the Temple Treasury, the Roman Procurator Gessius
Florus allowed his troops to “loot the Upper Market” of Jerusalem. He also
unleashed his Cohorts on the crowds of Jews who gathered to protest the
theft. This would prove to be the
precipitating event that would start the Great Revolt which would end in
disaster for the Jewish people.
70:
Following an early repulse of his forces, the Roman Legions commanded by Titus
retake and destroy Jerusalem’s middle wall. The Romans followed this victory by
quickly building a wall that will surround the city, cutting off all shipments
of food and causing increased starvation among the Jewish defenders.
1192:
Conrad I, newly crowned King of Jerusalem was assassinated in Tyre only days
after ascending the throne. According to
one source, the assassins were Moslems who may have been in the pay of Conrad’s
Christian enemies. The whole affair of
Conrad’s selection during the time of the Third Crusade points to the fact that
these were not noble religious adventures at all. This makes the treatment of the Jews during
this period all the more despicable.
1560(2nd
of Iyar): Rabbi Kalman of Worms passed away.
1694(3rd
of Iyar, 5454):Judah
ben Samuel ha-Kohen Cantarini the Talmudist and physician who had a large
number of Christian and Jewish patients passed away in Padua.
1758(20th
of Nisan, 5518): Sixth Day of Pesach
1758:
Birthdate of James Monroe, leader of the American Revolution and fifth
President of the United States. During
the Revolutionary War, Monroe was one of the many
patriots who accepted “loans” from Haym Salomon. This money enabled Monroe and the others to
live in Philadelphia and carry on the war against the English.
1771(14th
of Iyar, 5531): Pesach Sheni observed as Moscow and St. Petersburg fight an
outbreak of bubonic plague which would eventually claim the lives of 52,000
people in Moscow alone.
1775: Birthdate of Judah Touro. Born in Newport, Rhode Island
Touro, who never married, was a famous merchant and philanthropist who
supported many Christian and Jewish charities. He started as a merchant selling
soap, candles and codfish, and would eventually become one of the wealthiest
men in all of America. Touro's father was of Portuguese Jewish extraction, by
way of Jamaica.
1778(1st of Iyar, 5538): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1778(1st of Iyar, 5538): The eldest son of Rabbi Tzvi
Hirsh Horowitz of Chortkiv, Shmelke of
Nikolsburg who was one of the earliest great Chasidic Rebbes from both the The
Nikolsburg Hasidic dynasty and the Boston Hasidic dynasty passed away to in
Nikolsburg.
1785(18th of Iyar, 5545): Lag BaOmer
1786: Michael Hays, who appears to have been a prominent member of
the Jewish community who “tradition relates was concerned in the drafting of
the constitution of the State of New York” was a sent a letter today telling him
that at a meeting the home of Isaac
Nortons that Isaac Norton Henry Scudder and Ebenezer Lockwood were chosen as
candidates for the Senate and seeking his support for the election
1788: Maryland becomes the seventh state to ratify the
Constitution of the United States. By the time of the ratification, there are
enough Jews living in Baltimore that the community can maintain its own burial
site. Among the families living in
Baltimore are the Ettings, headed by the widowed mother Shina and her five
children including two sons, Reuben and Solomon. Jews do not enjoy full civil
rights at this point in time. Under the
spirit of the “Toleration Act” those are reserved for people who believe in
Jesus Christ. In 1797, Jews and their
Gentile supporters make their first attempt to remove the religious test. It failed along with all subsequent efforts
until 1825 when the so-called Jew Bill passed in the Lower House by one
vote. It would not be until 1826 that
the religious test for office would be modified so that anybody declaring “his
belief in a future state of rewards and punishment” could hold a position of
public trust.
1790(14th of Iyar, 5505): Pesach Sheni observed on the
same day that advertisements announcing the sale of lottery tickets to support
construction of the schoolhouse that will eventually be named West College and
then re-named Williams College which today has approximately 200 Jewish
students.
1794: One day after he had passed away, 34-year-old Joseph Levy
was buried today at the “Alderney Road (Globe Rd) Jewish Cemetery.”
1801: Birthdate of Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of
Shaftesbury who was an early supporter of plans to populate “Greater Syria”
(the name for the territory part of which became Palestine and finally the
state of Israel). In 1853, when he was
President of the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews
wrote to Prime Minister Aberdeen that Greater Syria was "a country without
a nation" in need of "a nation without a country... Is there such a
thing? To be sure there is, the ancient and rightful lords of the soil, the
Jews!"
1813: Birthdate of Bavaria native Moses Amberg, who with his
Sophia and three children – Seke, Nathan and David – settled in Lafayette,
Indiana, where his brother David was operating a successful clothing business
and helped to found Congregation Ahavat Achim which he served as president
starting in 1851.
1814: In Germany, Samuel Gans gave birth to future Philadelphia
resident Meyer Gans, the husband of Bertha Cauffman Ganw with whom he had five
children – Julia, Emanuel, Jacob, Lean and Sigmund.
1818(22nd of Nisan, 5578): Eighth Day of Pesach; Yizkor
1823: In London, Rabbi David Aaron de Sola, the Amsterdam born
son of Rafael Aron (v. Haim David) de Sola and Sara v. Isaac
Namias Torres and his wife Rebecca (Rica) de Sola gave birth to Aaron de Sola.
1824: Mark Friedberg married Buena Pass at the Great Synagogue
today.
1824: Maurice Solomon married Louisa Raphael at the Western
Synagogue today.
1824: Henry Weiler married Bloomy Hart at the Great Synagogue
today.
1834(19th of Nisan): In Mantua, philanthropist Samuel
Trabotti passed away today.
1835(29th of Nisan, 5595): A. Löwy, the chief rabbi of
Dresden passed away today
1838: Birthdate of Tobias
Michael Carel Asser a Dutch jurist, co-winner (with Alfred Fried) of the Nobel Prize for
Peace in 1911 for his role in the formation of the Permanent Court of
Arbitration at the first Hague peace conference (1899). He also advocated for
the creation of an international academy of law, which led to the creation of The Hague Academy of
International Law. He passed away in 1913.
1839(14th of Iyar, 5599): Pesach Sheni
1839: In Bavaria, Seligmann Pinchas Luchs, the Swabia born son of
Moses Luchs and Marianne Marie Luchs and his wife Judith Marx Luchs gave birth
to Moritz Moses Luch, the husband of Rika Luchs and the father of Albert Luchs;
Jette Strauss; Sigmund Luchs; Jakob Luchs; Sabina Berman; Isidor Luchs and Ida
Metzger.
1840: In Maine, Henry Benjamin Nones the Philadelphia born son of
Abraham Benjamin Nones and Miriam Marks de Nones and his wife Anna M. Nones
gave birth to Albert Smith Nones
1842(18th of Iyar, 5602): Lag BaOmer
1842: In Amsterdam. Sara Rimini, the Dutch born daughter of
Alexander (Elkan) Rimini and Juedith Abraham Messias and her husband Abraham
Delmonte gave birth to Rebecca Delmonte
1845(21st of Nisan, 5605): Seventh Day of Pesach
observed for the first time during the Presidency of James K. Polk.
1847: Birthdate of Arthur Strauss who was first elected the House
of Common in 1895, serving into the 1970’s when he earned the unofficial
designation of “Father of the House” and who like so many of his generation
paid the price of patriotism when his son Victor, a Lieutenant in the Royal
Flying Corps “was killed in action in 1916.”
1854(30th of Nisan, 5614): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1854: Rabbi Solomon Jacobs officiated at the wedding of Henry
Davis of Charleston, SC and Dinah Joel, the daughter of the late David and
Catherine Joel of London, England.
1859: In Great Britain, start of the General Elections which saw
David Salomons re-elected as the MP for Greenwich.
1859: Accompanied by Odo Russell, a British diplomat, Sir Moses
Montefiore went to the Vatican where he met with Cardinal Antonelli with whom
he discussed the Mortara Case and reasons for returning the boy to his Jewish
parents. The meeting proved to be a
fruitless waste of time.
1860(6th of Iyar, 5620): Sixty-year-old Amsterdam born
poet Isaac De Costa whose prose works included Israel en de Volken, a multi-volume survey history of the
Jewish people that was translated into English under the title Israel and
the Gentiles passed away today. In 1822, De Costa converted to
Christianity.
1861(18th Iyar, 5621): Lag B’Omer observed for the
first time during the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln.
1861: Birthdate of Kiev native David Slusky, who in 1878 moved to
Augusta where he was a “merchant” and who was an officer of the Hebrew Orphans
Home in Atlanta.
1862: In the UK, Sir Saul Samuel and Henrietta Matilad Levien gave
birth to Sir Edward Levien Samuel, the husband of Ray Cowan, the son-in-law of
Abraham Cowan and the father of Sir Edward Louis Samuel and Vera Leah Henrietta
Samuel.
1863: In Hungary, Rabbi Albert Siegfried Bettelheim, the Slovakia
born son of Samuel and Chava Eva Bettelheim and his wife Anna Henriette
Bettelheim gave birth to Minnie Thalimer, the wife Jacob E. Thalimer with whom
she had three children – William, Etta and Albert
1864(22nd of Nisan, 5624): As Jewish soldiers in the Union Army
participate in the Wilderness Campaign in Virginia and follow Sherman on his
march to Atlanta, they celebrate the 8th day of Pesach.
1864: Eleazer and Athalia Wolff Frank gave birth to Massachusetts resident
Benjamin Frank, the husband of Fannie Frank and the brother of Matilda Frank
Lehrburger and Fannie Frank Phillips
1865: Birthdate of Adolph Bluthenthal, the native of Bavaria who
settled in Pine Bluff, AR where his daughter Adele was born.
1865: L'Africaine premiered today almost a year after Giacomo
Meyerbeer's death at the Salle Le Peletier
1867: Today’s “Current Literature” column contained a lengthy
expert from The Jew’s Revenge.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B07E2DB103AEF34BC4051DFB266838C679FDE
1868(NS): Birthday of Berdyansk native Yuliy Dmitrievich Engel who
gained game Joel Engle the “music critic, composer and one of the leading
figures in the Jewish art music movement” who made aliya in 1924 and who has
been called "the true founding father of the modern renaissance of Jewish
music."
https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Engel_Yoel
1869: In Berg, Hungary, Joseph and Victoria Cukor gave birth to
Morris Cukor, the husband of Cora Cukor and the brother of Victor Cukor.
1871: In Russia, Dora Markel and Chaim Ber Finn gave birth to chess
master Julius Finn, the husband of Dora Berson who won his first N.Y. State
Chess Championship 1901 and who was a director of the Jewish Center of the East
Side, the Manhattan Chess Club and the Society of the Advancement of Judaism in
New York City.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6122-finn-julius
1872: In Camden, SC, Isabelle
("Belle") Wolfe and Dr. Simon Baruch gave birth to Herman B. Baruch
the physician turned diplomat “who served as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands
and Portugal.
1872:
In “New Malden, Kingston-upon-Thames, England,” public accountant Victor Bauer
and piano teacher Mary Taylor Lloyd gave birth to internationally
acclaimed concert pianist Harold Bauer who performed for the first time in the
United States in 1900 and “gave his last formal concert in 1939” passed away
today having been pre-deceased by his wife Marie Knapp who had passed away in
1940.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/03/13/113175687.pdf
https://www.operamusica.com/artist/harold-bauer/#biography
1874: Jacob
Kraus, a papermaker, and his wife Ernestine, née KantorJacob
Kraus, a papermaker, and his wife Ernestine, née Kantor gave birth to Karl
Straus, Austrian writer and journalist.
Kraus converted to Catholicism in 1906 but left the church in 1923. Freud found him so irritating that he
referred to him as a “mad, half-wit.” He passed away in 1936.
http://www.theabsolute.net/minefield/kraus.html
1875: Nathan Strauss married Lina Gutherz with whom he had six
children, among them Sissie Strauss who would become the wife of Chief Judge
Irving Lehman.
1876:
The funeral is scheduled to take place for fifty-year-old German born Princeton
and Harvard alum Samuel Hirsch “the well-known Hebrew lawyer” who drowned
yesterday followed by interment in the Cypress Hills Cemetery.
1877(15th
of Iyar, 5637): Parashat Emor
1878:
Birthdate of Adolf Openheimer who was only eighteen years old when he passed
away and was buried in London’s Plashet Jewish Cemetery.
1880:
Birthdate of Frank Boyd Merriman, 1st Baron Merriman who in 1929 was the counsel who presented the Jewish case before the British
Commission of Inquiry” meeting in Jerusalem.
1881(29th
of Nisan, 5641): Sixty-three-year-old French sculptor and photographer Antoine
Samuel Adam-Salomon passed away in Paris.
1881: University of Michigan trained astronomer Edward Israel, the
Kalamazoo born son of Manne and Tillie Israel, the first Jews to settle in that
Michigan town, left for Washington D.C. today “to join the Lady Franklin Bay
Polar Bay Expedition.
1881: In Kherson,
Elizabethgrad, a tavern dispute over blood libels spawned massive outbreaks
against the Jews (often joined by the soldiers) in Odessa and Kiev. In all,
over a hundred and sixty riots occurred in southern Russia. Ignatiev, the
Minister of the Interior, insisted that the Jews caused the pogroms. General
Drenbien refused to endanger his troops "for a few Jews."
1881: In Toulouse, France, Jeanne and Victory Levy gave birth to
Dr. Pierre-Paul Louis Levy, the husband of Jean Levy with whom he had five
children.
1881: Czar Alexander III suggested to his ministers that outside
agitators must have incited the mobs against the Jews, and that reports of
policy and military laxity in quashing the pogroms were a disgrace.
1882: In New York City, Rosa Wolf and Gerson Mayer gave birth to
Columbia University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute trained mining
engineer, the husband of Mildred Mack and starting in 1917 a partner in the
consulting engineering firm of Rogers, Mayer and Ball.
1882: It was reported today that Jewish leaders in Berlin have
received word from their co-religionists in Russia that “they will quit the
country en masse if” their persecution continues. (This would be a triumph of
at least part of the Russian one third policy.
The government planned on solving its Jewish problem by having one third
convert, one third immigrate and one third die.)
1883(21st of Nisan, 5643): Shabbat shel Pesach
1883: In Vienna, suffragist Ernestine Spitzer and Dr. Salomon
Federn, a prominent physician and pioneer in the monitoring of blood pressure
gave birth to “writer, translator, educator and important woman of letter
Marietta Federn, the sister of economist Walther Federn, psychoanalyst Paul
Federn and social worker Else Fdern.
1886: Bernhard Liebentahl, a young Jew from Schafenburg, Germany
was among the passengers who arrived in New York today aboard the SS Main.
1886: Birthdate
of photographer Erich Salomon, the native of Berlin who worked as a
carpenter and studied to be a lawyer before he found his true calling. He was a
genius in the use of the then newly developed 35 mm camera. He is
considered one of the founders of photojournalism. His fame as a
photographer of the European leaders and celebrities spread beyond
Germany. One French politician joked that no conference could be
considered important if Salomon were not there to take pictures. His
artistic skills did not save him, and he died at Auschwitz at the age of 58 on
July 7, 1944. In one of those great ironies, the daily blurbs on many
websites list him as "a German photographer" and simply give the date
of his passing with no mention as to the place or its significance.
http://weimarart.blogspot.com/2010/07/erich-salomon-king-of-indiscreet.html
1887(4th of Iyar, 5647): Fifty-six-year-old Isaac Hendricks passed
away today at the home of his brother-in-law, H.S. Henry. A retired businessman and part of a prominent
Jewish family, Hendricks was a member of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum Society.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D01E6D61630E633A25753C3A9629C94669FD7CF
1888(17th of Iyar, 5648): Parashat Emor
1889: As churches and synagogues in New York held services
observing the centennial of George Washington’s first inaugural (April 30,
1789) Rabbi Henry S. Jacobs spoke at an assembly of youngsters at B’nai
Jershrun. The students had been greeted
by a larger banner framing a portrait of General Washington that hung across
the center door of the synagogue. The program included a program of patriotic
music and recitations by the children.
1890(8th of Iyar, 5650): Fifty-four-year-old Samuel
Solomon, the London born son Louisa and Maurice Solomon, the husband of Ema Maurice
and the “father of Albert Jafa Maurice; Mabel Maurice; George Maurice; Harold
Maurice and Frederick Joseph Maurice passed away today in Cheshire, England.
1890: It was reported today that the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan
Asylum Society has a rejected a proposal from the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum
that the two organizations consolidate.
The Brooklyn organization is caring for one hundred children while the
New York organization is caring for 559 children.
1891(20th of Nisan, 5651): Sixth Day of Pesach
1891(20th of Nisan, 5651): Eighty-one-year-old Rebecca
Marks, the Haverstraw, NY born daughter Joachabed Isaacks and Michael Marks who
were married at Newport in 1786 and the wife of Goodman Davis whom she married
in 1830 passed away today in New York City.
1891: In Great Britain, The Pall Mall Gazette describes a
plan to settle Jews living in Poland and parts of southeast Europe in
uninhabited areas in Brazil and Australia.
Baron Hirsch is so supportive of the plan that he has pledged 15 million
dollars to set the resettlement project in motion. The plan could not come at a better time
since the United States, which has been a haven for these Jews, is adopting
laws designed to limit immigration.
According to the Gazette,“This decision comes at an opportune
moment for England, for the new United Sates legislation against the
immigration of destitute aliens might result in converting the United Kingdom
into a dumping ground for all the Hebrew refugees of Europe. They arrive here already at the rate of
18,000 annually.”
1892(1st of Iyar, 5652): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1892: Twenty-eight-year-old University of Michigan Law School
graduate Charles Bechhoefer, the Somerset County born son of Rebecca and Abraham
married his first wife Helen Goldman today and then married her sister after he
death in 1917 while pursuing a legal career in St. Paul, MN which led to him
being appointed as “Judge of the District Court.”
1892:
One hundred heads of Jewish families from Russia left Montreal for Oxlow in the
Canadian Northwest where they plan to start an agriculture colony. As
soon as they have built houses, these farmers will be sending for their family
members. The colonization is part of the efforts of Baron Hirsch, the
Baron Hirsch Colonization Alliance and the Young Men's Hebrew Benevolent
Society of Montreal. If this initial settlement is successful, the Jews
in Montreal plant to settle as many as 10,000 Russian Jews as farmers in
Manitoba.
1893:
In Dublin, William Nurock and his wife gave birth Max Mordechai Nurock,
Israel’s first Ambassador to Australia who passed away at the age of 85 in
Jerusalem.
1893:
Dr. H. M. Harris delivered a lecture at Temple Israel in Harlem entitled “The
Religious Rights of the Minority, Apropos of the Movement to Convert the Jews.”
1894(22nd of Nisan, 5654): 8th day of Pesach
1894: “Ex-rector Hermann Ahlwardt, the Jewbaiter who has been
imprisoned several times for criminal libel” declared in a meeting this evening
“his intention of publishing next week some revelations” concerning the
formation of “annuity estates in Prussia” that would expose the “corruptness of
the Jews and the criminal complicity of those in authority.”
1894: This evening 30 young Jewish girls will be featured
performers at a benefit hosted by the Young Ladies’ Charitable Society at the
Lexington Avenue Opera House.
1895: “A Free Art Exhibition” published today described an
upcoming fundraiser to be held for the benefit of the University Settlement
Society and the Hebrew Educational Alliance as well as providing a brief
history of these organizations.
1895:
In Cincinnati, Professor William Herzberg from Jerusalem addressed the opening
session of the B’nai B’rith Convention which was attended by at least “one
hundred Hebrews from all parts of the world.
1896(NS):
Birthdate of Romanian native Samuel or Samy Rosenstock who gained fame as “poet,
essayist and performance artist Tristan Tzara who settled in France and
survived WW II thanks in part to the efforts of Varian Fry.
https://www.europeana.eu/en/exhibitions/from-dada-to-surrealism
1896:
German Historian and Reichstag Deputy Heinrich von Treitschke who became a
leading anti-Semite starting in 1878 when he began attacking the Jews for
failing to assimilate as well as no longer being useful because the Aryans had
learned the money management skills that had been the sole reason for allowing
Jews to play a role in the German Empire.
1897:
Two days after he had passed away, 26-year-old Nathan Woolf Jacobson, the son
of Rebecca Levy and grandson of “Joseph and Rose Levy” was buried today at the
“Plashet Jewish Cemetery” in London.
1897:
Mr. Goldstein and Mr. Meyer were among those arrested in Brooklyn today for
operating an illegal still.
1897(26th
of Nisan, 5657): Seventy-six-year-old Sarah Ochs, the Bavarian born daughter of
Nanette Wexler and Leser Lazarus Ochsenhorn and the wife of Samuel Bissinger
whom she had married in 1848 and with whom she had five children – Benjamin,
Mathilda, Nannie, Elizabeth and Francis – passed away today in Brooklyn, NY.
1897:
Dr. Robert Ward, “a Harvard professor who founded the Immigration Restriction
League” and falsely “apprised Congress” of plans for “a well-organized Jewish
mass immigration” to the United States, married Emma Lane today.
1898:
In Galveston, TX, Arthur Fischel Samson and Babette Levy gave birth to Dr. John
Jacob Sampson
1899(18th
of Iyar, 5659): Lag B’Omer
1899:
Birthdate of Herman Shinbang, the University of Manitoba School of Medicine who
served in Palestine during WWI the 40 Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, retired
from the practice of medicine “due to permanent disabilities, and served a
Major in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during WW II.
1900:
Charles Frohman's London comedians are scheduled to conclude their engagement at
the Lyceum Theatre tonight.
1901:
Birthdate of Lena Shimshak, the wife of Morris J. Clurman and the mother of
Bernice and Herman Clurman.
1901:
It was reported today that “The work of the Alliance Israelite Universelle,
which was the subject discussed at the meeting before which Bishop Potter spoke
in the Temple Emanu-El last week, was again outlined in the most recent sermon given
by . Dr. H. Pereira Mendes at the Shearith Israel Synagogue,
1902(21st
of Nisan, 5662): Seventh Day of Pesach
1902:
It was reported today that Jewish bankers Isidor Wormser, Jefferson Seligman
and Maurice Wormser were among those who “were corralled” by the police for
“running their vehicles faster than the law allows” in Yonkers, NY.
1902:
“East Side Sunday Fair Undisturbed” published today described the failure to
enforce the “Sabbath Laws” yesterday, just as they had done on the previous
Sunday when “the Jewish inhabitants…were laying stores of food and clothing for
the feast of Passover” and how “Magistrate Pool in the West Side court,
criticized the Mayor and the Police Commissioner for suspending the Sunday
closing law in favor of the Jewish vendors of food during Passover.”
1903:
CCNY graduate, and Columbia trained physician Walter M. Brickner, the New York
City born son of Sara M. Ritterband and David Brickner who began practicing as
a surgeon in NYC in 1899 married Perla S. Abrahms today in Savannah and went on
to a career tht included serving overseas during WW I as a Lt. Colonel with the
Medical Reserve Corps of the United States Army.
1903:
Birthdate of Trenton, NJ, Saul Habas, the Rutgers University graduate and
husband of Ruth Janette Zerkowsky who served as a rabbi and was buried in
Natchez, Mississippi after his death in 1983
1903:
In “The Jewish Massacre Denounced,” The
New York Times reported that “The anti-Jewish riots in Kishinev,
Bessarabia, are worse than the censor will permit to publish. There was a well
laid-out plain for the general massacre of Jews on the day following the
Russian Easter. The mob was led by priests, and the general cry, "Kill the
Jews," was taken up all over the city. The Jews were taken wholly unaware
and were slaughtered like sheep. The dead number 120 and the injured numbered about
500. The scenes of horror attending this massacre are beyond description. Babes
were literally torn to pieces by the frenzied and bloodthirsty mob. The local
police made no attempt to check the reign of terror. At sunset the streets were
piled with corpses and wounded. Those who could make their escape fled in
terror, and the city is now practically deserted of Jews."
1904:
The arbitration resolutions which were offered by Oscar S. Straus were adopted
unanimously at the trade meetings with Canada.
1905:
It was announced in Cleveland today that “a conference of all the rabbis in
American will be held in Cleveland” beginning on July 2 where the issue of
inter-marriage between Jews and Christians will be a prime matter for
discussion.
1906:
Birthdate of Richard Rado the “German-born British mathematician” who fled
Germany following the rise of the Nazis.
1907(14th
of Iyar, 5667): Pesach Sheni
1907:
Today, Rabbi Schulman of Temple Bethel, criticized the first sermon preached by
Dr. Aked, the English minster who is the new pastor at the Fifth Avenue Church
as being a slur on the Jewish people, when in speaking about immigrants to
America that “The deepest truth of all is this that the best Christian citizen
is the best citizen and the surest way, the quickest way and the most
economical way of making these people good Americans and good patriots is to
make them good Christians.”
1908: Birthdate of Oskar
Schindler, the Schindler of “Schindler’s List” fame. He passed away in 1974. While much has been written about how
authentic the tale told in the film and book was, the reality is that he saved
over 1,200 Jews, which is more than most people can say.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/oskar-schindler
1908(27th of Nisan, 5668): Jacob Voorsanger passed away
today.
1909: “Immigrants’ Friends Quits” published today described how
upset people on the east side were with the resignation of Alexander Harkavy as
head of the Hebrew Aid Society of Ellis Island.
1909: At three o’clock this morning “Abdul Hamid, the deposed
Sultan of Turkey was sent to Salonica where he will be staying “in a small
country house belong to a Jewish banker… which is near a flour mill that is
also the property of the Jewish banker.
1910: Eighteen year old Edith Altscul, the San Francisco born
daughter of Charles and Camilla (Mandelebaum) Altschul became Edith Altschul
Lehman today when Herbert Lehman, the “member
of a very influential New York family and a partner in the Lehman Brothers
investment firm” with whom she had three children – Peter, John and Hilda.
1911: In St. Louis “Eleanor Alina” and “Benjamin Gross” gave birth
to Leon Harrison Gross, who gained fame as Lee Falk creator of “The Phantom”
and “Mandrake the Magician.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-lee-falk-1081509.html
1911: Council of Rabbis of Constantinople decides to establish a
yeshiva for the training of rabbis for Sephardic Jewry.
1911: Bedouins set fire to the synagogue at Tschebel (Tripoli, Barbary),
entirely destroying the building which contained old and valuable manuscripts
and books.
1912: “How A Russian Girl’s Failure Was Turned To Success,”
published today described the successful, important work of the Young Women’s
Hebrew Association and its fund raising drive that will enable it to enlarge
its facilities.
1913(21st of Nisan, 5673): Seventh Day of Pesach
1913: In Atlanta, Leo Frank, a director with the National Pencil
Company told the police that Newt Lee, the night watchman who had found the
body of Mary Phagan had not punched his time card which “was supposed to be
punched every half hour during his security rounds” at “three or four
intervals.”
1913: In Chicago, at Isaiah Temple, a Reform congregation, Rabbi
Joseph Stolz is scheduled to lead services on the final day of Passover
celebrated by Reform Jews.
1914: It was reported today that Eastern Council of Reform Rabbis
has chosen for its officers: Rabbi Maruice Harris, New York, President; Rabbi
Joseph Silverman, New York, Vice President; Rabbi Isaac Moses, Treasurer; and
Rabbi Harry Levy, Secretary.
1915(14th of Iyar, 5675) Pesach Sheni
1915: The International Congress of Women, where Rosika Schwimmer
offered a proposal for a Neutral Conference for Continuous Mediation between
the governments of the belligerents fighting the World War began today in The
Hague.
1915: The Zion Mule Corps completed its landings at Cape Helles,
four weeks after the unit had been formed.
1915: As the British Empire was fighting for its survival in WW I,
the soap opera triangle involving Prime Minister H.H. Asquith, Venetia Stanley,
the Jewish Liberal M.P.Edwin Samuel Montagu reached a climax when Venetia, who would
convert to Judaism, “finally accepted Montagu’s proposal” of marriage.
1915: Birthdate of Bernard Phillips, the native of Minneapolis who
earned a Ph.D. at Yale and became a professor of philosophy and religion.
1916: “Predicts a Massacre” published today described reports for
a planned massacre of Jews that was being “arranged by reaction in Russia to
being with the Easter holidays” as celebrated on the Greek calendar.
1916: “A sharp debate in an open session of the Senate today
revealed the fact that a vote at the present time in the Judiciary Committee on
the nomination of Louis D. Brandeis…for the Supreme Court of the United States
would result in an adverse” because the Democratic members of the committee
were not united behind Wilson’s nominee and the supporters of Brandeis were
looking to line up support among Republican legislators.
1916: It was reported today that “Benjamin Schlessinger, President
of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union …said that if the
manufacturers carried out their threat of a lockout, the entire industry would
be tied up next week” – a sentiment echoed by Morris Hillquit, the counsel for
the union who “also predicted a long fight.
1917(6th of Iyar, 5677): (Parashat Tazria-Metzora
1917: Jacob H. Schiff donated “$10,000 to the American Red Cross”
to purchase equipment for three United States military hospitals.
1917: In Columbus, OH, the former Selma Dallet and Samuel
Ungerleider gave birth to Brown graduate and WW II Army veteran Samuel
Ungerleider, Jr., the vice president of “the Central National Corporation
Gottesman and Company and starting in 1969 President of the 92nd
Street Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association who was the husband of
“the former Joy Gottesman,” with whom he had four children – Peter, Steven,
Andrew and Jeane.
1917: At Temple Israel of Harlem, Rabbi M.H. is scheduled to
deliver a Shabbat morning sermon on “Master and Servant.
1917: At Temple Emanu-El, Rabbi Silverman is scheduled to deliver
a Shabbat morning sermon on “The Liberalism of the Jews.”
1917: “There were three names that called forth cheers each time
they were mentioned at the opening of the eighth annual convention of the
Kehillah of New York City in the Hebrew Technical School for Girls” tonight,
three words that sum up the immediate heart interests of the delegates on the
floor and crowds in the gallery – America, Russia, and Palestine.”
1917: “Rabbi J.L. Magnes, Chairman of the Executive announced
tonight “that it had been decided to sever from the Kehillah its two important
Bureaus of Education and Industry” so “that the bureaus might develop
unhampered and at the same the Kehillah might work out the democratic
experience without hindrance.”
1918(14th of Iyar, 5675): Pesach Sheni
1918: In New York, Morris Meltsner and Rose Klarman gave birth to
Matilda Meltsner, the fourth of their five children.
1918: During World War I, The Jewish Board of Welfare Work and the
Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Camden (NJ), is scheduled to host a dinner
this evening for all of the Jewish young men who are about to begin their
training at Fort Dix, NJ.
1918: The Hisradruth Ibrith, which had been formed in 1916 for the
purpose of promoting Hebrew culture and reviving the Hebrew language held its
second annual convention today in New York.
1918: The “Twelfth Semi-Annual Assembly” of the Eastern Council of
Reform Rabbis began at New York today.
1918: Rabbi George Fox is scheduled to officiate at the funeral
service in Fort Worth for sixty-one-year-old Louis Weltman, the brother of Jake
and Sam Weltman and the husband of Louise Weltman with whom he had six children
– Hattie, Flora, Leon, Marguerite, Sidney and Hazel – who “was formerly
associated in business with H. Brann & Company and was a member of the Sons
of Herrmann and also of the I.O.B.B.
1918: Louis Marshall presided over a special meeting of the
American Jewish Committee where the attendees who until had not “taken any
active part in the Zionist movement adopted a resolution supporting the project
based upon the declaration of the British government” which has also been
approved by the French government” saying that the organization favors “the
establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.
1919: The funeral for 26-year-old Harry Zuckerman, the “son of
Henry and the late Sarah Zuckerman” is scheduled to take place in Chicago
today.
1919: It was reported today that “the Federation of Galician and
Bukowinian Jews” has joined in the protests against a proposed ordinance being
considered by the Board of Alderman in New York City “forbidding meetings of
non-citizens and prohibiting the use of foreign tongues” at all meetings.
1919: It was reported today “The Jewish Soldiers’ and Sailors’
Legion is about to be organized under the auspices of a new society calling
itself the American Jewish Seventy Elders.”
1920: The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic came to an end today when
it was replaced by the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic a product of the
Red Army’s invasion under the direction of Lenin. The creation of the Soviet
puppet state brought an end to Zionist activities in the region and the banning
of Jewish and Hebrew cultural activities. A few hundred Jews were able to leave
for Palestine, but the rest would remain trapped and would not have the
opportunity for Aliyah until the 1970’s
1920: Rabbi Ephraim Epstein, who has just returned from Poland, is
scheduled to address a dinner meeting of the Directors of the Central Committee
for the Relief of Jews Suffering Through The War on the conditions under which
the Jews of Poland are living.
1921(20th of Nisan, 5681) Sixth Day of Pesach
1921: Lightweight Leach Cross (Louis Charles Wallach) fought his
141st bout.
1922: The first edition of The
American Hebrew appeared.
1922: Funeral services were held today for seventy-four-year-old
Russian born “Jewish scholar” and Rabbi, Simon Zaretsky, the founder of
“Congregation Anshe Oshmane and the husband of Dora Zaretsky with whom he had
five children, after which he was interred at Mount Sinai Cemetery.
1923(12th
of Iyar, 5683): Parashat Achrei Mot-Kedoshim
1923:
It was reported today that leaders of the Persian Jewish community have
presented “Rabbi Joseph S. Kornfeld of Columbus, OH who is the American
Minister to Persia with a silver plate inscribed with the Ten Commandments as a
token of gratitude for his intervention on their behalf during “the
anti-Semitic disorders” that took place last year.
1924:
It was reported today that a campaign has been started to “obtain $250,000 for
the construction of a conservatory of music in Palestine as a memorial to
Jewish Soldiers who died in the World War.”
1925: “In the interests of the Commission on Jewish Education, Dr.
Philipson of Cincinnati held a national conference on welfare and religious
work at colleges and universities at Harvard University tonight.”
1925:
Today after two divorces, Cathleen (Kitty) von Rothschild, the Philadelphia
born daughter of Mary Olivia Wolff and Dr. Lawrence Wolff, married her third
husband Baron Eugene von Rothschild whose family paid a “substantial ransom” to
the Nazi to gain the release of his bother Louis from imprisonment in Vienna
and who were able to escape to the United States in 1940 where they settled at “Still
House,” a mansion in Nassau Country, NY.
https://family.rothschildarchive.org/people/199-cathleen-kitty-von-rothschild-nee-wolff-1885-1946
1926(14th
of Iyar, 5686): Pesach Sheni
1926: In Detroit, the former Rhoda Katzin and Theodore Levin who
become chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District
of Michigan gave birth to University of Michigan trained attorney Charles
Leonard Levin who “served as a Michigan Court of Appeals judge from 1966 to
1972 and as a justice of the Michigan Supreme Court from 1973 to 1996.”
1926: Three days after she had passed way, 72-year-old Alice
Rachel Henriques, “the eldest daughter” of Jacob Quixano and Elizabeth Waley
was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1927: “A delegation of 23 American Jews was chosen today to go to
Geneva early in August to attend an international conference on the Rights of
Jews livings in Rumania, Hungary, Poland and Lithuania.
1927: At the Italian Gardens of the Hotel Ambassador, Dr. Solomon
Foster of Newark officiated at the marriage of Doris Samuel and Alfred J.
Lippman of St. Louis.
1928: Birthdate of Yves
Klein, French artist, who, among other things, was a major figure in school of
art known as neo-Dadaism.
1928: Middleweight Seymour “Cy” Schindell fought his 21st
bout today, which he lost.
1929: Birthdate of Avigdor Arikha, the
Israeli artist who learned the power of art as a boy during the Holocaust when
he sketched scenes from a concentration camp onto salvaged scraps of paper. Arikha,
a painter, draftsman and printmaker, became one of Israel's most important
contemporary artists, imbuing his portraits and scenes of daily life — a red
umbrella against a wall, an overflowing bookshelf, a jumble of bottles in a
cabinet — with enigmatic, disconcerting beauty.The artist, who abandoned
abstract art for figurative work in the 1960s, was well-known for portraits of
subjects including Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and his close friend,
writer Samuel Beckett. He also produced many probing portraits of himself and
his wife, poet Anne Atik. "I paint not to get a copy of nature but to get
with the brush what I see while I see it," he told The Times in 1987.
"It's an act of observation by means of the brush. The instant cannot be
repeated and the brushwork is organic. When you retouch it, you disorganize it.
I can't bear to go back." Born in Romania, Arikha turned to drawing to
cope when he was sent to a Ukrainian labor camp at age 12. Seventeen sketches
survived the war: One showed a pile of corpses in a wagon and a woman's naked body
being tossed into a grave. Arikha and his sister were rescued when his drawings
came to the attention of the International Red Cross during a camp inspection.
Arikha's father died in the Holocaust, and his mother learned that her children
were alive in Palestine only after the war. Arikha lived on a kibbutz, studied
at the Bezalel School and fought in the war over Israel's creation, during
which he was wounded in 1948. Recognizing his talent, supporters in Israel
insisted he go to Paris to study and financed him. He arrived in Paris in 1949
and built on the foundations of his Israeli studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
Arikha's works are in collections around the world, including the National
Portrait Gallery in London, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He also wrote extensively about art and
was named a knight in France's Legion of Honor in 2005. Arikha died at the age
of 81 from complications of cancer at his home in Paris, where he spent most of
his adult life.
1928(8th of Iyar, 5688): Parashat Achrei-Mot
and Kedoshim.
1928: At the Free Synagogue in Carnegie Hall,
Rabbi Wise is scheduled to deliver a Passover sermon “New Egypts and the Old Exodus
– Escape Versus Liberation.”
1929(18th of Nisan, 5689): Fourth Day of Pesach
1929: Birthdate of Carolyn
Jones. Born in Amarillo, Texas, Jones carved out a career on the stage,
in films and television. Her most famous role was as Mortica Addams, in
the TV. hit, “The Addams Family.” A convert to Judaism, Jones died
tragically in 1983 at the age of 54, a victim of cancer.
1929: Birthdate of Holocaust Survivor Monique Rauch.
https://vaholocaust.pastperfectonline.com/Archive/919D9E0E-E891-4BFC-A7CF-410165102802
1929: Aaron Rabinowitz and Lieutenant Governor Herbert Lehman take
title to the building that had housed the Hoe & Co print plant so that they
could convert the property into a cooperative housing project similar to one
already created under the aegis of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
on Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx.
1930: Herman Bernstein, the U.S. Ambassador to Albania, presented
his credentials today.
1931: A resolution was adopted at the final session of the annual
convention of United Synagogues of America at the Breakers Hotel in Atlantic
City “calling upon American Jewry to continue the work of rebuilding the Home
in Palestine and to support the work of the Joint Distribution Committee.
1931: Jewish businessman Samuel Lippman commissioned architect
George G. Miller to prepare plans for a “twelve-story and penthouse apartment
building to be erected at 310-314 East 55th Street” at a cost
“estimated be at least $600,000.”
1932(22nd of Nisan, 5692): Eighth and Final Day of
Pesach observed for the last time during the Presidency of Herbert Hoover.
1933: Birthdate of Warsaw native and Holocaust survivor Israel
Himmelstaub who gained fame as Israel Shank, the Hebrew University Organic
Professor and head of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/jul/06/guardianobituaries.physicalsciences
1933: Birthdate of Dr. Allan Rosenfield, who as dean of the
Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University will become a leading
advocate for women’s health during the global H.I.V./AIDS epidemic.
1934(13th of Iyar, 5694): Parashat Achrei Mot-Kedoshim
1934(13th of Iyar, 5694: Sixty-eight-year-old “German
political writer Eduard Goldbeck” who had married famed soprano Lina Abarbanell
in 1900 and who was the father of “writer Eva Goldbeck and the father-in-law of
composer Marc Blitzstein passed away today.
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/abarbanell-lina
1935: “The United Jewish Appeal, which seeks to raise $3,250,000
nationally on behalf of Jews in Germany, Eastern Europe and refugee settlements
in Palestine” is scheduled to begin it drive today a dinner at the Commodore.
1936: Sixty-eight-year-old Faud I, the King of Egypt who continued
the “friendly” attitude towards the Jews living in Egypt regardless of their
citizen which had been followed during British rule passed away today.
1936: It was reported today that the Nazis “have waged a valiant
battle to seize” the funds of the Felix Mendelsohn-Bartholdi Foundation to
“assure that nobody of Mendelssohn’s own race shall become a beneficiary of his
generosity.”
1936: In Nazareth, four British constables were injured by Arab
demonstrators who stoned the police.
1936: A fire at a Jewish tannery in the Moledeth quarter near the
village of Yazur ‘was discovered in time to prevent” it from spreading.
1936: In Jerusalem, this evening a Jew was sent to the hospital
after having been “stabbed twice in the back by Arab.”
1936: Because of the Arab strike at the port of Jaffa, Tel Aviv
merchants have stopped using the port and today “Jewish importers have cabled
manufacturers abroad to send all goods to Haifa.”
1937: When the seven-day sale of the art collection of the House
of Lionel Rothschild ended tonight at Sotheby’s Galleries the items auctioned
brought in a total of 125,262 pounds.
1938: The Palestine Post reported on the arrival in
Jerusalem of the four members of the new Palestine Commission, which was
expected to study the situation and recommend to the British Government how to
implement the country's partition. The Palestine Government welcomed the Commission
and set it up at the Jerusalem's Government House. The Palestine Arab
leadership objected to the Commission's presence and announced a total business
strike. But only a fraction of the Arab-owned shops and businesses remained
closed for a day.
1938:
“Today was the last day that the United States was taking requests for
emigration from Germany to the United States” at the consulate in Stuttgart.
1938: “Max
and Suse Ettlinger” the parents of future Monuments Man Harry Ettlinger who
“had been applying for years to Switzerland, Great Britain, France and the
United States for permission to emigrate” without success “rode the train fifty
miles to the U.S. Consulate in Stuttgart in search of answers to a few a
question but instead were given more papers to fill out which for some unknown
led to their getting permission to leave for America a few days later.
1939: Two
days after he had passed away, funeral services are scheduled to be held this
afternoon at Temple Rodelph Sholom for 77-year-old Isaac Goldberg, the head of
“trucking business” that had been founded by his father Jacob Goldberg and
Democratic political leader who raised two sons – Bertram and Edwin – with his
wife “the former Mae E. Perlberg.”
1940(20th
of Nisan, 5700) Sixth Day of Pesach
1940: “Mr.
Asch Returns From the Past” described Sholem Asch’s plans for writing a new
novel which “will deal with Jewish life in America, more specifically in
America.”
1941(1st
of Iyar, 5701): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1941:
Today, Federal Judge Charles C. Simons of Detroit was elected president of the
biennial Council of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
1942: “Criticism
of the British Government's policy in Palestine for its "appeasement"
of the Arabs and refusal to permit creation of a Jewish army, and belief that
victory by the United Nations would mean a "new day" for Jews
throughout the world, were voiced today by speakers at the annual donor
luncheon of the women's division of the American Jewish Congress.”
1943: A
smaller ghetto at Izibica in Polan was “dismantled today with all of the remaining
inmates being sent to the Sobibor death camp.”
1943:
Thomas "Toivi" Blatt and his family, with about 400 other Jewish
people from Izbica, was transported by the Germans to Sobibor, where “all of
Blatt's family were killed there, along with most of the people from his
village.”
1943: During
World War II, as British forces confronted the Axis Lance-Corporal John Patrick
Kenneally single-handedly thwarted a planned attack by the Fascists when he
charged down a slope at at Dj Arba, Tunisia, firing his Bren gun into the enemy
formations. The enemy was so surprised that they broke and ran. Kenneally was
awarded the Victoria Cross (VC).John Patrick Kenneally was an assumed name. He
was the illegitimate son of a wealthy Jewish textile manufacturer in
Manchester. His mother was an 18-year-old un-married daughter of a Birmingham
pharmacist, who was disowned by her family.
1943: In the
Warsaw Ghetto, the uprising enters into its tenth day.
1944: Mohammed
Alim Khan “the last emir representative of the Uzbek dynasty” whom Levi
Babakham, the father of Moshe Babakhanov and grandfather of Ari Babakhanov,
served as “court vocalist” passed away today,
1944: “1,500
people suitable for labor were taken from the Kistarcsa internment camp to
Osweicim” where “they were compelled to write encouraging notes to their
relatives with datelines from “Waldsee” which “were brought by an SS-Courier to
Budapest and were distributed by the Jewish Council.
1945: Benito
Mussolini and his mistress were executed by Italian partisans and then hung by
their heels from a sign at a local gas station.
1945: Polish
born French trade unionist Henri Krasucki returned to France after having
survived Drancy, Auschwitz and Buchenwald.
1945: The Big
Red One, including the 16th division whose member had included
Samuel Fuller, “arrived near Selb and began advancing further east through
Czechoslovakia.”
1945(15th
of Iyar, 5705): Anna Kann, the wife of Jacob Kann and the mother of three
children – Maurits, Johan and Jap – who died during the Shoah passed away today
at Theresienstadt
1945: Tonight,
“a secretly formed International Prisoners Committee took control of the main
camp at Dachau after “Victor Maurer, a representative of the International Red
Cross negotiated an agreement to surrender the camp to U.S. troops.”
1945: Martin
Dannenberg, “a counterintelligence officer” serving with Patton’s Third Army
and Frank Perls, both of whom were Jewish, “found a manila folder sealed with red
wax embossed with swastikas inside of which was an original four-page copy of
the Nuremberg Laws signed by Adolf Hitler in September 1935, which stripped
German Jews of their citizenship and prohibited Jews from marrying
"Aryans".
1945: Film
crews captured the arrival of several ferries carrying thousands of
concentration survivors at Malmo, Sweden where “the undernourished victims took
their first steps in freedom.”
1945: An armed
revolt took place in the town of Dachau. Both former and escaped concentration
camp prisoners, and a renegade Volkssturm (civilian militia) company took part.
At about 8:30 AM the rebels occupied the Town Hall. The advanced forces of the
SS gruesomely suppressed the revolt within a few hours.[
1945:
Lieutenant Colonel Arkadi Timor entered the heart of Berlin at the head of the
Fourteenth Soviet Armored Battalion. At
twenty-four he was one of the youngest officers to hold this rank in the Soviet
Army. Despite the fact the Timor already knew that the Nazis had wiped out his
entire family from his 2-year-old sister to his 96-year-old grandfather he
refused to take revenge on the Berliners.
Instead, “he ordered his soldiers to hand out soup to the starving
civilians” and he established the first kindergarten for German orphans. After rising to the rank of Colonel, Timor
whose interest in Judaism had been re-kindled was imprisoned in 1956. His wife was told that he would never return
from the Gulag. But in 1960, thanks to
secret negotiations, he was allowed to move to Israel where he provided
invaluable assistance to the Israeli Ordinance forces as well as serving with
valor in combat.
1946:
“Representative Emanuel Celler of New York declared that” the British “decision
to hold all of the 180,000 Jews of Tel Aviv responsible for the killing of
seven British soldiers…was ‘Hitler technique.’” “Mr. Celler said that he as
well as other responsible and God-fearing Jews deplored the terrorist
activities, but to hold the entire city responsible ‘is exactly the same kind
of perverted law that the German military brought with when it occupied
Europe.’” Representative Celler assailed
the British for taking “a page out of Himmler’s book.”
1947:
Birthdate of Robert Magnus who would serve as the 30th Assistant Commandant of
the Marine Corps.
1948(19th
of Nisan, 5708): Fifth Day of Pesach
1948:
Release date for “Letter from an Unknown Woman” based on story by Stefan Zweig
and directed by Max Ophüls who also co-authored the script.
1948:
Pitcher Saul Rogovin appeared in his first major league baseball game as a
member of the Detroit Tigers.
1948:
British troops pulled out of the last police fortress in their control in Upper
Galilee, at Rosh Pinah in the valley immediately below Mount Canaan. The fort was then occupied by the Haganah.
1948:
Today, Secretary of State George C. Marshall appointed retired U.S. Army Major
General and former assistant secretary John H. Hilldring to serve as “a special
assistant to the Secretary of State in charge of Palestine Affairs.
1948:
Approximately 50 children were evacuated from Kibbutz Gesher in the Jordan
Valley. The Jordanian Legion had
attacked the kibbutz which was on the banks of the Jordan River in an attempt
to seize the kibbutz’s bridge and an adjacent British police fortress. Afer a lengthy and bloody battle the kibbutz
members decided to transfer the children in the dead of the night to a safe
haven. The children were taken on a
dangerous nighttime trek from the Kibbutz to Haifa and housed in an abandoned
German monastery in the Bat Galim neighborhood adjacent to what is now the
Rambam Medical Center.
1948: As
the Arabs wage a war intended to thwart the U.N. partition plan and destroy the
Jewish population of Eretz Israel, it was reported today that “the recruiting of
women for a Jewish auxiliary force has begun” with women between 18 and 25
being eligible regardless of their marital status.
1948:
Despite previously published reports that the last flight, an Air France plane,
had taken off from Lydda on April 25, the Palestine Post reported today that “The
evacuation of British civilians from Palestine will be virtually completed
today, when all Britons except 20 high Government officials will fly to the
U.K. Their flight from Lydda will be last from that Airport under British
administration.”
1949:
Birthdate of Dorothea
Miriam Bratu, who as Miriam Hansen, “introduced a new level of sophistication
to film studies with her groundbreaking study of American silent film and
research on cinema and the human senses.” (As reported by Margalit Fox)
1949: Birthdate of Springfield, MA native Jerome
“Jay” Apt, Ph.D. the Harvard and MIT trained “American physicist and astronaut
who was a Professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
http://www.orbitexperience.com/
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/apt_jerome.pdf
1952: Alfred W. Stern,
a resident of Chicago who is a collector of Lincoln memorabilia presented the
United States Library of Congress with “a scrapbook in which Lincoln” had
“pasted newspaper account of his historic diabetes with Stephen A. Douglas. The scrapbook was used as a printer’s copy
for a book edited by Lincoln” entitled Debates which became a bestseller
in 1860 when it reportedly sold 50,000. Thanks to the generosity of the Jewish
American, the library, and therefore the American people, own the only book
ever written or edited by The Great Emancipator.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that for the second
consecutive day the Jerusalem Labor Exchange closed after only 120 of
Jerusalem's 2,000 jobless were willing to accept the offered forestation work.
More than 450 were needed for this work daily, but the unemployed were reluctant
to accept such jobs since the payment was set up according to production norms.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that Jerusalem was still
short of water since the Municipality could not manage to settle the debt of
IL60,000 owed to the Jerusalem Electric Corporation.
1953(13th
of Iyar, 5713): Ninety-five-year-old Odessa born, Yiddish acting star
Sarah Levitzka Adler, the widow of famous Yiddish actor Jacob P. Adler with
whom she raised five children including actors Luther and Jack Adler and
actresses Sarah, Frances and Julia Adler passed away today.
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/adler-sara
https://jwa.org/thisweek/mar/14/1939/sara-adler
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1953/04/29/92709781.pdf
1953: “Jewish
Chaplain, Wounded in Korea, Awarded Purple Heart” published today described the
how Chaplain Samuel Sobel earned this commendations while serving with the
First Division in Korea.
1956: The
recording of “The Greatest!! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards”
featuring “Tho Swell” and “This Can’t Be Love” both by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers, “Love is
Here to Stay” and “S Wonderful” both by George and Ira Gershwin and “Fine
Romance” by Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern began today.
1957(27th
of Nisan, 5717): Yom HaShoah
1957(27th of Nisan, 5717): Sixty-year-old “Jewish torch singer
Belle Baker” passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1957/04/30/87271009.pdf
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/baker-belle
1958:
Bombing of Jewish Center, a synagogue in Jacksonville, Florida.
1958: A
suitcase containing more than 50 sticks of dynamite failed to explode at Temple
Beth El in Birmingham, Alabama when overnight rain soaked the explosives.
1959(20th
of Nisan, 5719): Sixth Day of Pesach
1959(20th
of Nisan, 5719): Abraham Abelson, the Russian born American husband of Bessie
Abelson passed away today after which he was buried in the Home of Peach
Memorial Park in East Los Angeles.
1963(4th of
Iyar, 5723) יום הזכרון Yom HaZikaron Israel Remembrance Day
1963: “The John Simon
Guggenheim Memorial Foundation announced today its 1963 fellowship awards to
269 scholars, scientists and artists. The award totaled $1,380,000.”
1964(16th of
Iyar, 5724): Seventy-one-year-old Alexandre Koyré the Russian born French
academic whose field of interest was the philosophy and history of science
passed away today in Paris.
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4024941?uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21106601202893
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Alexandre_Koyre.aspx
1965: “My Name is
Barbra” was broadcast this evening.
1966: Simon Gerson
sponsored the Herbert Aptheker Testimonial Dinner at the Sutton Ballroom of the
New York Hilton. (Pretty spiffy for an event hosted by members of the Communist
Party USA)
1967(18th of
Nisan, 5727): Fourth Day of Pesach
1967(18th of
Nisan, 5727): Seventy-four-year-old Leah K. Koen Joseph, the daughter of Joe and
Justine Koen, the wife of Erwin M. Joseph and mother of Regina Joseph Baunig
passed away today after she was buried in a plot of Beth Israel Cemetery at
Oakwood Cemetery in Austin, TX.
1968(30th of Nisan,
5728); Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1968: Today British
business tycoon and political powerhouse Lord Alan Michael Sugar, the Jewish
born son of Nathan Sugar, “a tailor in the garment industry of the East End”
who now claims to be an “atheist” married Ann Simos “a former hairdresser.
1968: Birthdate of Daisy Berkowitz, original
guitarist with Marilyn Manson.
1969:
Dr. Farouk Shabtai and his two brothers were released after almost two years of
imprisonment by Egyptian authorities.
Over four hundred adult Jewish males were seized by the Egyptians at the
start of the Six Days War and held in what they claimed was a form of
“protective custody.”
1970(22nd
of Nisan, 5730): Eighth and final day of Pesach
1971(3rd
of Iyar, 5731): Yom HaZikaron
1971(3rd
of Iyar, 5731): Eighty-five-year-old Polish born American textile manufacturer
and philanthropist Israel Rogosin, the husband of Evelyn Rogosin and father of
movie producer Lionel Rogosin passed away today.
1971:
Release date of Woody Allen’s “Bananas” co-starring Louise Lasser with music by
Marvin Malisch.
1972(14th
of Iyar, 5732): Pesach Sheni
1972(14th
of Iyar, 5732): Eighty-one-year-old Syracuse University trained attorney turned
movie producer and director Harry Joe Brown who was also the producer of two
long running television shows “Topper” and “Mr. and Mrs. North” passed away.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0113693/
1974:
First baseman Mike Epstein nicknamed “Super Jew” played his last big league
game today with the American League California Angles.
1977:
Birthdate of award-winning author Dara Horn
1978:
NBC broadcast the last episode of “C.P.O. Sharkey” a sitcom created by Aaron
Ruben and starring Don Rickles.
1978:A Treasury of
modern drawing: the Joan and Lester Avnet Collection went on exhbit
in
the Museum of Modern Art today.
1979:
ABC broadcast the last episode of
“What’s Happening!!” a ground breaking urban themed sit com produced by
Bud Yorkin, Saul Turtletaub and Bernie Orenstein.
1980:
Moisei Tonkonogy, from Odessa, who was an exit visa when “his parents and
sister went to Israel in 1973” was sentenced to a year in custody “for
parasitism”.
1981:
Today “the IAF (F-16A fighters from 117 squadron in Ramat David air base) shot
down two Syrian helicopters over Lebanon.”
1982(5th
of Iyar, 5742): Yom HaAtzma’ut
1983(15th
of Iyar, 5743): Eighty-year-old Hebraist Dr. Harry Blumberg passed away today.
1984: In promoting his contention that "One
of the principal elements in the study of Rambam is the unification of
Jewry," the Rebbe explained that when everyone studies the same thing on
the same day, their learning is united across continents. The Rebbe added that
when different people study the same topic, they will come to discuss and
debate it. This friendly and scholarly debate, the Rebbe said, will bring
people closer to each other, contributing to unity among Jews.”
1985: Several thousand people attended a ceremony marking
the 40th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Dachau,
near Munich.
1987: Rabbi Arnold Resincoff delivered his prayer, “To Keep the
Dream Alive,” at the National Civic Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony in the
Capitol rotunda.
1987(29th of Nisan, 5747): Leona Celeste Graham, the
Chicago born daughter of Benjamin Charles Bachrach and Martha Blanche Bachrach
and the wife of Ralph Waldo Gerard and Norman "William" II Graham
passed away today in Eugene, OR.
1987:Today, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir went to Paris in order, as he
put it, to ''undermine European support for an international conference.'' This
puts him at loggerheads with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and threatens to end
the Likud-Labor coalition currently governing Israel.
1988: The final episode of Season 4 of the Cosby Show which was
co-created by Ed Weinberger who also scripts for the show, was broadcast this
evening.
1990: After 6,137 performances at the Shubert Theatre the curtain
came down on the original production of “A Chorus Line” with lyrics by Edward
Kleban and music by Marvin Hamlisch.
1991(14th of Iyar,
5751): Pesach Sheni
1991: The New York Times
reports that Israeli commemorative coins “appeal more to the heartstrings than
to the purse strings.” Some examples of this are “the coins struck for Israel's
1991 Independence Day to commemorate the immigration of Jews from around the
world, a process that is continuing with the arrival of Jews from Ethiopia and
the Soviet Union. In 1950, the Israeli Parliament passed the Law of Return,
which guarantees citizenship to any Jewish immigrant. Since then, millions of
Jews have immigrated. Previous surges of such immigration have strained the
Israeli Government's resources, and the new surge's proportions are nearly
overwhelming. To raise money for the new immigrants, Israel has been selling
bonds and seeking donations. The Government Coins and Medals Corporation has
minted three new commemoratives. The three coins are similar in design. Each
shows immigrants alighting from a Boeing 747. Around the outside of the coin,
in English and Hebrew, appears a phrase from the Book of Jeremiah: "I will
gather them out of all countries." On the other side is a wide band running
through the center of the coin with a large numeral -- the coin's value. The
coins are available in one-shekel and two- and 10-sheqalim pieces. The smaller
denominations are 92.5 percent silver, while the 10-sheqalim piece is 90
percent gold. The coins will have a limited mintage -- 15,000 of each silver
coin and 6,000 gold 10-sheqalim coins. The silver shekel and the gold
10-sheqalim coin both weigh close to half a troy ounce, while the two-Shekalim
coin is nearly a troy ounce of silver. The prices are $32 for the large proof
silver two-Shekalim coin and $52 for both the brilliant uncirculated one-shekel
and the proof two-Shekalim coins. The gold proof 10-sheqalim coin is $399. All
are packaged in a presentation case. The coins may be ordered from the American
Israel Numismatic Association.”
1995: “Destiny Turns On The Radio” a comedy featuring Allen
Garfield was released today in the United States.
1996: “Big the musical” with tunes by David Shire and a book by
John Weidman, the son of Jerome Weidman opened on Broadway at the Schubert
Theatre.
1996(9th of Iyar, 5756): Dora “Dutch” Sudarsky, who had
been married to sportscaster Bill Mazer for fifty years, passed away today.
1997(21st of Nisan, 5757): Seventh Day of Pesach;
Yizkor for Reform
1999(12th of Iyyar, 5759): Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist and
Nobel Prize laureate passed away.
2000: “Rabbi at end of 1800’s wasn’t really a rabbi” published
today declared that Jacob Voorsanger, a leading 19th century rabbi
who led Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco
was never ordained according to Visions of Reform: Congregation
Emanu-El and the Jews of San Francisco 1849-1999 by Fred Rosenbaum.
http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/13100/rabbi-at-end-of-1800s-wasn-t-really-a-rabbi/
2000: Birthdate of Jacob Levin. A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Mr. Levin is
the most wonderful grandson in the world.
2001(5th
of Iyar, 5762): Ninety-four-year-old Vienna born Professor Marie Jahoda, the
foremost social psychologist who “worked as a researcher for the American
Jewish Committee” passed away today. (As reported by Wolfgang Saxon)
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/10/world/marie-jahoda-94-studied-work-and-women.html
2002: An
exhibition entitled “New York: Capital
of Photography” opens at The Jewish Museum in New York City.
2002: The New York
Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special
interest to Jewish readers including Master of the Senate by Robert Caro
2003(26th of
Nisan, 5763): Fifty-six-year-old Ira Herskowitz, the Brooklyn born American
geneticist passed away in San Francisco.
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-analysis/ira-herskowitz-dies-51712
2004: Omer Golan made
his international debut for the Israel national football team when he came on
as a 74th minute substitute for Eyal Berkovich in a friendly against the
Moldova national football team” today.
2005(19th of
Nisan, 5765): Fifth Day of Pesach
2005: Today, “after
several years of construction,” Steve Wynn opened the Wynn Las Vegas, which at
that time “was his most expensive resort.
2005: In Waterloo, IA, three-year-old
twins Ben and Noah Susskind along with their parents Robin Gurien and Josh
Susskind rise to the challenge of celebrating Pesach in a semi-rural Eastern
Iowa.
2006(1st of
Iyar, 5766): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
2006(1st of
Iyar, 5766): Israeli composer Ben-Zion Orgad, the native of Gelsenkirchen,
Germany who made Aliyah in 1933, passed away today in Tel Aviv.
2006: Ninety-seven-year-old
Noble prize winner Rita Levi-Montalcini attended the first meeting of the
Senate in Italy.
2006: “The TV Set,” a
comedy directed and written by Jake Kasdan who co-produced the film with Judd
Apatow premiered at Tribeca today.
2007: The Cedar Rapids Gazette
featured an article entitled “Temple Judah Plans for big crowd at Big
Dinner.” The article describes the
preparations and purpose for this major event in the Jewish community that is
scheduled for Sunday, May 6. The article
includes a large picture of Rugalach “a sweet pastry prepared by members of
Temple Judah.”
2008: Seven months after a “limited theatrical release, the DVD of “I
Want Someone to Eat Cheese with” a comedy directed, produced and written by
Jeff Garlin who also starred in the film with Sarah Silverman was made today.
2008(23rd of Nisan, 5768): Ninety-year-old air pioneer Diana
Barnato Walker passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/12/world/europe/12walker.html?_r=0
2008: The Jerusalem Cinematheque presents a screening of: “We Who Remained Among the Living”אנחנו שנותרנו בחיים (מיר לעבען געבליבענע)
Years after the original film was made, we present for the first time a
Hebrew-subtitled version of Mir Leben Gebleibene (We Who Remained Among the
Living) – although footage from this documentary have often been used as raw
material in many productions on the Holocaust. Of 3,000,000 Jews who lived in
Poland before WWII, only 43,000 remained after liberation, among them 5,000
children. The film follows the first steps in the return to life in 1946-47,
and the attempts to rehabilitate Jewish identity. The film presents an extraordinary
look at the various efforts to make a new start: by the Zionist movement, the
youth pioneer movements, the JDC and the Polish government. The film features
rare images of the destruction of Warsaw, the exposure of the Ringelblum
archive under the ruins of the ghetto, the story of the repatriates returning
to Poland and the orphanages for the rehabilitation of children survivors, the
renewal of the Jewish theater and the establishment of educational institutions
for children.
AND
“Pizza
At Auschwitz” \ פיצה באושוויץ.
Survivor Danny Hanoch has been on every possible trip to Poland to tell his
story, but he hasn't yet succeeded in convincing his own children Sagi (40) and
Miri (38) to come with him on such a journey. When filmmaker Moshe Zimmerman,
himself a son of Holocaust survivors, comes into the picture, the two agree to
go along. The result is a charged family adventure full of pain and humor.
2008:The New
York Times
reports that“Schindler’s
100th Birthday Is Private Affair for Survivors.”As
he does every year on the birthday of Oskar Schindler, Nahum Manor will make a
pilgrimage to the famed factory owner’s grave on Mount Zion. Manor, 85, met his
wife while working in Schindler’s factory. “My life changed very dramatically
when I started working at Schindler’s factory,” he said. “We moved from hell to
a kind of paradise.” April 28 would have been Schindler’s 100th birthday, and
around the world there will be scattered, locally inspired memorials to the
factory owner who saved 1,100 lives during the Holocaust and was immortalized
in Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film “Schindler’s List.” In New Jersey, Sol Urbach,
a Schindler survivor, will be at a small ceremony at the Kaplen Jewish
Community Center in New Jersey that his daughter helps organize every year. In
Krakow, Poland, last month, 30 Schindler survivors joined a march to commemorate
the 65th anniversary of the liquidation of the city’s ghetto, winding from the
ghetto to the concentration camp to remember the liquidation and honor
Schindler. The march ended at the Palace of Art, where more than 500 photos of
Schindler and his factory were on display. Many elements of Holocaust
memorialization have become ritualized to intense levels of detail and
organization. But Schindler has not yet earned any regular form of
commemoration. The homegrown ceremonies that have sprung up around his birthday
suggest the personal ways in which many Holocaust survivors are still dealing
with their experiences of horror and heroism. “What we have seen recently is
the routinization of Holocaust commemoration,” said Michal Bodemann, a
professor at the University of Toronto who has written about Holocaust
remembrance. Bodemann said the individualized commemorations of Schindler hark
back to an earlier era. “From 1945 up to 1978, all commemoration was personal,
out of the public eye,” Bodemann said. “It is important to see,” Bodemann
added, “that the Schindler Jews have their own private way of celebrating
Schindler that is very different from what is happening in public.” Schindler
was born in 1908 in Svitavy, Austria-Hungary, which is now a part of the Czech
Republic. Under his watch, his family’s business dissolved into near
bankruptcy. But when the war started, he saw a business opportunity in
following the German army into Poland. There, he used his connections to secure
a factory in Krakow that made pots and pans and defective munitions for the
German forces.Driven by profits, he used the
cheapest labor around: Jews. But on March 12, 1943, Schindler changed his life,
the life of his workers and history. Addressing his workers, he told them not
to go home that night. The Krakow ghetto, he said, would be liquidated the next
day. Schindler had witnessed the killings and decided he must protect his
laborers. He built his own concentration camp as a satellite to Kraków-Plaszów,
and his staff compiled the now famous list of workers he wanted transferred to
his camp.Schindler’s dramatic change in character - from a self-absorbed
playboy to a caring hero willing to risk his life to save others - attracted
Thomas Keneally, the Australian author who wrote “Schindler’s Ark.” The book
was later renamed “Schindler’s List,” and used in Spielberg’s movie. “You’d
expect Oskar to be a perfect Nazi,” Keneally said from his home in Melbourne,
Australia. “He was a good German lad. You’d think he’d be a pushover for the
dominant propaganda about race, but he wasn’t. It is a remarkable legacy in
that way.” Schindler’s story has become the core of many of the personalized
efforts to commemorate the man. Lili Haber, whose father was on Schindler’s
list, organized a symposium that will coincide with Schindler’s birthday, to
take place in Ariel, Israel, on behalf of the Association of Krakovians in
Israel. Haber hopes to fill the 400-seat auditorium with students. The
symposium will include a panel discussion featuring a Holocaust scholar and 10
to 20 survivors. “It is important for young people to learn Schindler’s
legacy,” Haber, said. “This way, we show young people Schindler’s great
accomplishments and what he risked.” In New Jersey, rather than focusing on
history, the Schindler admirers have designed a ceremony that will have more of
a personal, religious bent. Families and members of the community will gather
in the Kaplen JCC. The ceremony will begin with a playing of Itzhak Perlman’s
music from “Schindler’s List.” The Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the deceased,
will be recited, as will the “El Maleh Rachamim,” the prayer for the souls of
the deceased. A candle lighting will take place, too, and a survivor will
address the audience. “Schindler was a very personal hero,” said Barbara Urbach
Lissner, Urbach’s 53-year-old daughter. “That is always acknowledged on a
personal level, but as a community the focus is on the tremendous loss and the
tremendous sadness.” For many survivors, the personal nature of the connection
to Schindler means that remembering the man does not require his birthday or a
ceremony. “I think of Schindler most of the time. I don’t have to wait for his
birthday,” said the youngest member of Schindler’s list, Leon Leyson, who is 78
and lives in Los Angeles. “I could be spreading margarine on my toast,” Leyson
said, “and I’ll remember having that little piece of margarine as part of the
ration and remember that Schindler had given me bread and, at that time, that
was as precious as you can imagine.” In Jerusalem, where Schindler is buried,
there are always a number of people who congregate at his grave for his
birthday, though not in any organized fashion. Manor said he was considering
going to Krakow this year, but he did not need to return to remember. “It
wouldn’t be right to say we are going back, because we are always back,” he
said. “We never leave Krakow, nor Schindler, nor the war.”
2008:Yossi Harel was buried at the Caesarea-area kibbutz, Sdot Yam
today. Harel, who commanded four ships bringing Jews to Israel illegally, died
at the age of 90 in Tel Aviv. Harel assisted 24,000 Jews in reaching Israel
aboard four ships, including the famed SS Exodus, between 1945 and 1948. Great
Britain, which controlled the region at the time, banned Jewish immigration due
to Arab pressure. The other three ships were called Knesset Yisrael (Gathering
of Israel), Atzma'ut (Independence) and Kibbutz Galuyot (Ingathering of the
Exiles).The Exodus was made famous by a film of the same name. Born in 1919,
Harel was the sixth generation in his family born in Jerusalem. At the age of
15 he joined the pre-state Haganah defense force. By the age of 28 he oversaw
the clandestine immigration operations bringing Jews, many of them survivors of
the Holocaust, to the Holy Land. Later on, Harel oversaw the IDF’s Unit 131, an
intelligence unit that ran a spy ring in Egypt until the so-called Lavon Affair
of 1954.
2009: “Picturing the Shoah,” a film festival sponsored by YIVO
that explores how movies have represented the Holocaust from radical, provocative,
and unexpected angles continues with an exhibition of “Lili Marleen.”
2009 (4 Iyar): Yom Hazikaron – Israel
Remembrance Day - Israel's National Memorial Day for the Fallen and the Victims
of Terrorhttp://www.jafi.org.il/education/festivls/ZKATZ/ZK/index.html
2009(4 Iyar, 5769) Richard J. Pratt
passed away. Born Ryszard Przecicki, in 1934 he “was a prominent Australian
businessman, chairman of the privately owned company Visy Industries, and a leading
figure of Melbourne society. In the year before his death Pratt was Australia's
fourth richest person, with a personal fortune was valued at A$5.48 billion
dollars. Pratt was appointed an Officer, of the Order of Australia; however, he
returned his awards in February 2008 after he was fined $36 million for price
fixing.”
2009:Journalist
and motivational speaker Jean Chatzky discusses
her new book, “The Difference: How Anyone Can Prosper in Even The
Toughest Times,” at the U.S.
Department of the Interior.
2009:The
National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) welcomes Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter
to the Democratic Party following the longtime Republican Senator’s
announcement today that he is “crossing the aisle.” Specter becomes the 12 Jewish Democratic
Senator. The number will rise to 13 with
the seating of Al Frankin from Minnesota
2010: The American Sephardi Federation is
scheduled to sponsor “Daughters
of Sara, Mothers of Israel: Jewish Women of Medieval Gerona,” the first of two
lectures on the Jews of Catalonia.
2010:Israeli
singer songwriter Danny Robas, one of Israel's most unique musicians in the
last 20 years is scheduled to perform at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City.
2010: “The Duel,” a film based on the
novel of the same name directed by Israeli Dover Kosashvili was released in the
United States today.
2011: Rabbi Joseph Krakoff is
scheduled to lead the discussion at Congregation Shaarey Tzedek’s “Tequila and
Talmud” in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
2011: Graveside services will be held today at Zion Memorial Park
for Holocaust surivior Gora Hudesa Gora
2011:A bomb killed 15 people including two Jews who were among 10
foreigners in Morocco's bustling tourist destination of Marrakesh, state
television said today in an attack that bore the hallmark of Islamist
militants. The Jewish woman was reportedly an Israeli citizen and pregnant. The
blast ripped through a cafe overlooking Marrakesh's Jamaa el-Fnaa square, a
spot that is often packed with foreign tourists. A Reuter’s photographer said
he saw rescuers pulling dismembered bodies from the wreckage.
2011: Wisconsin offensive guard Gabe Carimi was drafted in the
first round of the 2011 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears.
2012: Jacob Wertheimer, the son of former Heavyweight Boxing
Champion Muhammad Ali's daughter Khaliah Ali Wertheimer and her husband Spencer
Wertheimer had his Bar Mitzvah ceremony in the congregation Rodeph Shalom in
Philadelphia
2012: Bonnie Franklin “was among several stars who appeared at the
28th annual Southland Theatre Artists Goodwill Event (STAGE) benefit, titled
Original Cast 3, at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills to benefit AIDS Project
Los Angeles” which “raised more than $200,000 for APLA's work with clients
living with HIV and AIDS in Los Angeles County.”
2012: “Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life,” a film that tells “the story of
a boy born to Russian-Jewish parents in Nazi-occupied Paris rising to
international fame” is scheduled to be shown at the Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2013(18th of Iyar, 5773): 33rd day of the Omer – Lag B’Omer
2013(18th of Iyar, 5773): Eighty-eight-year-old world
renowned cellist Janos Starker passed away today. (As reported by Margalit Fox)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/arts/music/janos-starker-master-cellist-dies-at-88.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10025887/Janos-Starker.html
2013: Rabbi Alfredo Borodowski is scheduled to lead “Finding God:
A Workshop” at the Skirball Center
2013: Lubavitch of Iowa City is scheduled to host its annual Lab
B’Omer BBQ this afternoon
2013: The Jewish Food Festival is scheduled to be held at the
River Market Pavilion in Little Rock, AR.
http://www.jewisharkansas.org/content/events/food_fest.asp
2013: The New York Times
features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to
Jewish readers including The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner and Al
Capp: A Life to the Contrary by Michael Schumacher and Denis Kitchen
2013: The Maccabeats are scheduled to perform at the Yom
Ha’Atzmaut celebration sponsored by the Jewish Community Association of Greater
Phoenix.
2013: “Steal a Pencil for Me,” the opera composed by Gerald Cohen
with a libretto by Deborah Brevoorst will debut at Congregation Shaarei Tikvah
in Scarsdale, NY.
2013: Friends and family gather to celebrate the birthday of Jacob
Levin
2013: Phil Hochberg was honored before today’s game between the
Washington Nationals and Cincinnati Reds.
2013: The Israel Air Force bombed two sites in the Gaza Strip
early this morning in response to a Qassam rocket that was fired from Gaza into
southern Israel last night.
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=8893
2013:While some in Israel are enjoying the first flush of summer of
recent days, hitting the beach and packing out the cafes and boulevards, the
unseasonably hot weather has brought the usual spate of wildfires and
heatstroke cases as people celebrate Lag B’Omer
2013: Israel will not tolerate a "drizzle" of rockets on
its territory, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the cabinet today,
explaining an IAF strike in Gaza hours earlier against a terror facility and
weapons storage site in southern Gaza
2014(28th
of Nisan, 5774): Yom HaShoah
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/179973#.VT2V6pvwt9A
2014:
In New Orleans, the keynote speaker at the Holocaust Memorial Program is
scheduled to be eighty-eight year old Philip Bialowitz, one of only seven
survivors of the Sobribor revolt at the Nazi death camp who was 17 at the time
of the revolt, joined with his brother and others to overwhelm the guards and
helped free 200 of the 600 prisoners housed there” whose memoir is A Promise
at Sobribor: A Jewish Boy’s Story of Revolt and Survival in Nazi-Occupied
Poland. (As reported by the Crescent City Jewish News)
2014:
Rabbi Sara Luria is scheduled to present the first in a three-part lecture
series “Jewish Spirituality Through Water: Reclaiming an Ancient Tradition” at
the Skirball Center.
2014:
Rob Reiner is scheduled to be honored tonight at the 41st Chaplin
Award Gala by several notables including James Caan and Billy Crystal.
2014:
As part of The William Rosenwald and Ruth Israels Roswenwald Course in
Contemporary Jewish History Yitschak Schwartz is scheduled to lecture on “How
We Here: Judaism in America, 1654-2014
2014:
Lena Gilbert, a leading member of Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, IA, is
scheduled to deliver a lecture tonight at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon on her
life as the daughter of Holocaust Survivors.
2014:
Friends and family prepare to celebrate the natal of Jacob Levin, whose
academic, musical and Hebraic skills mark him as a budding “Renaissance Man”
adding to the fact that he has already proven himself to be a Mensch par
excellence
2015:
“The Dove Flyer” and “Almost Friends” are scheduled to be shown at the
Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2015:
The Washing Society of Jewish Deaf is scheduled to present a screening of “Lost
and Sound.”
2015:
Dr. Michael Hornum Archaeologist and Smithsonian Scholar is scheduled to
deliver his final lecture on the “Archaeology of Israel – From Canaanite to
Israelite” The Transformation from Bronze Age City States to the Iron Age
National State” at Beth Shalom in Howard County, MD.
2015:
The Jewish Historical Society of England is scheduled to sponsor a presentation
by Shirli Gilbert author of Music in the Holocaust in which she “examines the
role of music in the Nazi ghettos and camps and the insight it offers into
victims' responses” For more see http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/ and
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/history/about/staff/sg4u06.page
2016(20th
of Nisan, 5776): Sixth Day of Pesach
2016:
The 92nd Street Y is scheduled to host an evening with Paul Krugman
of the New York Times discussing the
condition and future of the economy.
2016:
Despite Prime Minister Netanyahu’s public support of the Republican position on
the Iran nuclear agreement, “President has proposed granting Israel the largest
package of military aid ever provided by the United States to another nation” –
a proposal that the Israeli Prime Minister is challenging based, some say” on
his “calculation that he can reach a more advantageous deal with a future
president.”
2016:
Hainan Airlines, the largest private carrier in China, is scheduled to begin
flights between Ben Gurion Airport and China today.
2016:
The exhibition “Dorothy Bohm: Sixties London” opened at the Jewish Museum in
London.
2016:
“Paul Rudd Set To Star As Moe Berg In Fact-Based WWII Tale The Catcher Was A
Spy” published today described plans for Paul Rudd to start in “The Catcher Was
a Spy” directed by Ben Lewin and based on the biography about Moe Berg by
Nicholas Dawidoff.
2016:
Friends and family celebrate the all-important 16th birthday of
Jacob Levin!
2017:
Today “it was announced that an eight-episode revival of ‘Roseanne’” starring
Roseanne Barr, “was in the works.”
2017:
Today “President Trump proclaimed May 2017 Jewish American Heritage Month,
marked annually since 2006 across the United States and preceded each year with
an announcement by the sitting President.
2017:
MJE is scheduled to host “Spring Season – Opening Day” – a baseball themed
Shabbat dinner held in conjunction with B’nai B’rith
2017:
The Iowa Community Theatre performed “The Diary of Anne Franke,” a played based
on The Diary of Young Girl, newly adapted by Wendy Kesselman
2017:
The Oxford University Jewish Society the first Friday night service and Shabbat
dinner for this term.
2017:
In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Holocaust Survivor Dr. Jacob Eisenbach is scheduled to
speak at Temple Judah, the congregation he once served as President.
2017:
In addition to Kindling the lights of Shabbat, the friends and family of Jacob
will be lighting the lights for his 17th birthday.
2018(13th
of Iyar, 5778): Parashat Acharay-Kedoshim;
2018(13th
of Iyar, 5778): Ninety-six Bronx born photographer Art Shay, “another Jew with
a camera” passed away today (As reported by James Estrin)
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/art-shay-legendary-photographer-dies-at-96/
2018:
Double mitzvah – Shabbat and celebration of Jacob Levin’s 18th
birthday which fittingly enough falls when Jews start reading “The Holiness
Code.”
2018:
Atara Frish’s “The Love Letter” is scheduled to be shown for the last time at
the Tribeca Film Festival.
2018:
Zoe Pelts is scheduled to become a Bat Mitzvah at Temple Israel, Memphis, TN’s
largest congregation.
2019:
The Illinois Holocaust Museum is scheduled to host “Together We Remember,” a
commemoration of Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month.
2019:
The New York Times featured reviews
of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers
including Losing Earth: A Climate History by Nathaniel Rich, the son of
Frank Rich and Uncertain Manifesto, “a recently translated book from
Swiss-born French writer and artist Frédéric Pajak” that highlights the “recurring
motif is the story of Walter Benjamin, the German Jewish philosopher and
cultural critic who witnessed Europe being consumed by fascism.”
2019:
While Jews and all decent human beings mourn for the murdered victim at the
Chabad of Poway and pray for the “perfect healing” of the wounded investigators
have said that the perpetrator was a nineteen year old white male who had tried
to burn down a mosque and was enamored with white supremacist who had murdered
a record number of Jews six months ago.
2019:
Pesach ended yesterday, but the big holiday is today as the friends and family
of Jacob Levin who is spending a year studying in Israel honor his natal day.
2020(4th
of Iyar, 5780): Yom Hazzikaron
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/masas-annual-yom-hazikaron-ceremony-goes-online-626046
https://reformjudaism.org/yom-hazikaron-history-customs
2020:
On the same day that we remember with sadness all of those who have made the
ultimate sacrifice be it as fighters or victims of terror for the creation and
maintenance of the State of Israel, friends and family of Jacob Levin remember
that today is the natal day of this mensch and grandson par excellence.
2020:
The Streicker Center is scheduled to host John Kenrick as he takes a virtual
“Look at ‘Funny Girl.’”
2020:
The Jewish Alliance for Law and Social is scheduled to host, virtually, “Schmoozefest:
Social Justice Conversation, Music and Comedy.”
2020:
HaMaqom|The Place educator Tamar Zaken is scheduled to virtually lead “a class
about the experiences of Sephardic, Middle Eastern and North African Jews in
Israel.”
2020:
Rina Neiman is scheduled to participate in three 30-minute webinars in which
she discusses Born Under Fire,“her historical novel based on her
mother’s life in pre-state Israel.”
2021:
The Contra Costa JCC is scheduled to host virtually “A Brief History of
Jerusalem” during which UC Berkeley professor Ron Hassner is scheduled to
address the city’s significance to Jews, Christians and Muslims, its religious
and political tensions and possible resolutions.
2021:
Chabad of Downtown Boston, Back Bay, Beacon Hill and South End is scheduled to
present online “Rarely Explored Jewish Tenet Course” during which participants
learn “to demystify the Jewish idea of a perfect world and discover a practical
path for reaching it in our lifetime.”
2021:
The Jewish Community Library is scheduled to present “Jim Van Buskirk as he leads
a discussion of real family secrets and those in James McBride’s “The Color of Water,”
Dani Shapiro’s “Inheritance” and Evan Imber-Black’s “The Secret Life of
Families.”
2021:
Stanford’s Taube Center for Jewish Studies is scheduled to present author
Moriel Rothman-Zecher as he discusses his book about an American Jew poised to
enter the Israeli army, in conversation with Stanford professors Vered Shemtov
and Steven J. Zipperstein.
2021:
The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled to present Joshua de Sola
Mendes
lecturing
on “Chocolate Around the World.”
2021:The High Court of
Justice is scheduled to issue a ruling at 3.30 pm today on Likud minister Ofir
Akunis’ appointment as justice minister after a contentious cabinet vote on his
nomination was disqualified by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit.
2021:
Jacob Levin, a mensch of the first order, a fine student, Hebraist, and the
world’s greatest grandson turns 21 today.
2022(27th
of Nisan, 5782): Yom HaShoah
https://www.ushmm.org/remember/days-of-remembrance/resources/calendar
2022:
On Yom HaShoah, the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education is
scheduled to sponsor the Reading of the
Names a public recitation of Holocaust victims’ names, ages, and birthplaces at
Pioneer Courthouse Square.
2022:
The Alliance for Jewish Theatre is scheduled to host a “Clowning Workshop”
feature Danielle Levsky.
2022:
A newly produced film featuring Anne Levy & Lila Millen is scheduled to be
presented for the first time at the community Holocaust Memorial Program in New
Orleans.
2022:
At Temple Judea, in Palm Beach Gardens, FL Rabbi Feivel Straus and Cantor Abbie
Straus are schedule to lead this morning’s Yom HaShoah Minyan.
2022:
The auction for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s decorative arts and memento its
from her Supreme Court chambers and residence in the Watergate complex in
Washington, is scheduled to take place today. (As reported by Johnny Diaz)
2022:
The American Jewish Historical Society is scheduled to present “50 YEARS OF
LGBTQ FAMILIES: FROM THE "QUEER DEATH DRIVE" TO THE JEWISH “GAYBY
BOOM”
2022:
The New York Medical College and Touro University are scheduled to host a Yom
HaShoah Symposium on the Nuremberg Doctor’s Trial.”
2022:
Aviva Kempner is scheduled to speak at the Baltimore Jewish Film Festival
today.
2022:
The Illinois Holocaust Museum is scheduled to host award-winning journalist
Ondrej Kundra the author of Vendulka: Flight to Freedom which tells the
story of a candid photograph of a young girl from 1943, taken mere hours before
her and her family’s deportation to the Terezin/Theresienstadt ghetto, and how
that artifact became a humanizing symbol of those who were murdered in the
Holocaust.
2022:
The Jewish Museum of London is scheduled to host “a Yom HaShoah Candle lighting
followed by Curator’s talk ‘The Eye as Witness: Reflections on Holocaust
photography and the ethics of seeing’ by Professor Maiken Umbach MA PhD
FrHistS.”
2023:
Kan Kol Hamusika is scheduled to broadcast live a Young Artists Concert
featuring “outstanding young soloists and ensembles playing “mostly
Rachmaninoff.”
2023:
The third and final concert in the series titled “Twelve Tribes” celebrating
the 75tn anniversary of the State Israel is scheduled to be performed by the
Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra at the Jerusalem Theatre. (As reported by Yahel
Ili Benami)
2023:
“Americans and the Holocaust” an exhibition that “examines the motives,
pressures and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism, war and
genocide” which has been on display at the Prairie State College Library in
Chicago Heights since March 17 is scheduled to come to an end today.
https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust/main
2023:
A double simcha, as we light the Shabbat Candles, the friends and family of
Jacob Levin, a mensch in the truest sense of that term, light the candles on
his birthday cake.
2024:
The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including The Secret Minda of Bertha
Pappenheim: The Woman Who Invented Freud’s Talking Cure by Gabriel
Brownstein and The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl.
2024:
As Jews munch their matzah and celebrate their freedom from bondage, friends
and family of Jacob Levin, who is so amazing, get to celebrate his natal day with
KP treats.
2024:
In San Francisco, the JFCS in conjunction with the Glide Center for Social Justice
is schedule to present “Passover Mitzvah Magic” which is a “volunteer opportunity
for teens to prepare and serve meals to people experiencing food insecurity”
which a 21st euphemism for “starving people.”
2024:
Lockdown University is scheduled to host a lecture by Philip Rubenstein on “Ayn
Rand: High Priestess of the American Right.
2024:
As April 28th begins in Israel, an unprecedented wave of anti-Semitism sweeps
the United States and the Hamas held hostages begin
day 205 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.)
2024(19th of Nisan, 5784): Sixth Day
of Pesach; for more see https://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/