May 28
408: Emperor
Theodosius issued a decree restricting Jewish activities related to Purim. Specifically, he banned the burning of
Haman’s effigy because early Christians felt the Jews were mocking the
Crucifixion of Jesus
1247: “Pope
Innocent IV wrote to the archbishop of the French province of Vienne to protest
Christian excesses in dealing with Jews accused of the blood libel.” Innocent share the anti-Semitic views of his
contemporaries but had reservations about the severity of the physical assaults
on the Jews. (As reported by Abraham Bloch)
1247: Innocent
IV. issues the "Divina justitia nequaquam," against blood accusation.
1291: Crusader
control over the Holy Land appeared to come to an end when Henry II “the last
ruling King of Jerusalem” fled to Cyprus after Acre fell to Al-Ashraf Khalil
“the 8th Mamluk sultan of Egypt.”
1349: Sixty
Jews were murdered in Breslau, Silesia in riots which followed a disastrous
fire which had destroyed part of the city.
1357: King
Alfonso IV whose subjects included more than 200,000 Jews and whose reign was
part of “Portugal’s Golden Age of Discovery” in which Jews paid a major role
passed away today.
1501: In
Pilsen, the councilors together with the aldermen decided on matters concerning
those Jews living in the city. These matters included: interest rates, the loan
of clothes, not loaning money on yarn and bed linen, not selling certain types
of clothing, overdue pledges, stolen items, not to wash themselves in gentiles'
baths, not to buy clerical items, not to house foreign Jews without the
permission of the city mayor, that foreign Jews can stay in the city for a
maximum of three days, and not to melt coins. The following interest rates were
agreed: two deniers per schock per week, one denier per half schock, and 20
coppers or less for one heller (As reported by Rabbi Professor Dr. Max HOch
1524:
Birthdate of Selim II, the Ottoman Sultan who named Joseph Nassi as Duke of
Naxos. Nassi negotiated the treaty signed by Selim and Charles IX of
France. Selim settled several hundred of
Jewish families on the Cyprus after the Ottomans took control of the
island. He saw the Jews as being loyal
subjects who had the necessary business skills to develop this newly acquired
possession.
1588: The
Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon heading
for the English Channel. The Armada has a two-fold purpose – the defeat of the
Dutch and the conquest of England. A
Spanish victory would doom the Jews who had taken refuge in Holland. The critical question for the English was
when the Armada was leaving and when it was to reach the Channel. Marranos or Conversos reportedly supplied
this desperately needed information which helped secure the ultimate English
victory.
1731: All
Hebrew books in the Papal States were confiscated.
1750: In a reference
to Emanuel Mendes Da Costa Charles Lyttleton wrote to Dr. Thomas Birch today “the
Little Jew’s being over busy…”
1754(7th
of Sivan, 5514): Second Day of Shavuot observed on the same day as George
Washington led British forces against French Canadians at the Battle of
Jumonville Glen which marked the opening of the French and Indian War.
1760: Solomon
Barnet Gompertz and Martha Hyman were married today in the United Kingdom.
1764: Jews of
Frankfort on the Main, Germany, were permitted for the first time to appear in
public at the coronation of Joseph II.
1765: Benjamin
D’Israeli, married his second wife Sarah Siprut de Gabay Villareal, making them
the parents of Issac Di’Israeli and the grandparents of the British Prime
Minister Benjamin D’Israeli, the future Earl of Beaconsfield.
1769: Today’s
consecration of Pope Clement XIV was viewed as positive moment by Jewish people
since prior to his elevation to the Papacy he had decried the notion of the
blood libel.
1773(6th
of Sivan, 5633): Shavuot
1773: The
first Jewish sermon preached and published in America was delivered by Rabbi
Hayyim Isaac Carigal in the Newport Synagogue.
1777: In
Montreal, Ezekiel Solomon and Marie Elizabeth Louise Dubois gave birth to
William Solomon.
1781(4th
of Sivan, 5541): Moses Mordecai, the German born American merchant who was one
the signatories of the Non-Importation Resolutions of 1765 (one of the steps to
the American Revolution) whose wife Esther, in a move unusual for its time, had
converted to Judaism from Christianity, passed away today in Philadelphia, PA.
1783:
Birthdate of Harriet Salomons, the native of Clapton, London who moved to
Sydney where she passed away I 1862.
1788: Sarah
Mendes da Costa married Jacob da Fonseca Brandon
1792(7th
of Sivan, 5552): Second Day of Shavuot and Yizkor
1797: Michael
Oppenheim married Kitty Joseph at the Great Synagogue in London.
1815: William
Levin married Franny Joseph at the Great Synagogue in London.
1818: Former
president Thomas Jefferson set forth in a letter to a Jewish journalist his
opinion of religious intolerance: 'Your sect by its sufferings has furnished a
remarkable proof of the universal point of religious insolence, inherent in
every sect, disclaimed by all while feeble and practiced by all when in power.
Our laws have applied the only antidote to this vice, protecting our religions,
as they do our civil rights, by putting all on equal footing. But more remains
to be done.'
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/loc/madison.html
1820: Sixty-eight-year-old
Christian Wilhelm von Dohn, the Christian friend of Moses Mendelssohn, who was
a supporter of Jewish emancipation and author of On the Civil Improvement of
the Jews passed away today.
1823: John and
Esther Nathan were married today at the New Synagogue in London.
1827:
Birthdate of Gustav Gottheil, the Prussian born Rabbi, who come to New York
City where he become one of the leaders of the Reform Movement. Gottheil was a bit of a maverick since he
attended the First Zionist Congress and supported Herzl.
1831: Jesuit
Priest and social reformer Henri Grégoire “who was considered a friend of the
Jews” passed away today. “He argued that in his anti-Semitic society the
supposed degeneracy of Jews was not inherent, but rather a result of their
circumstances. He blamed the way the Jews had been treated, persecution by
Christians, and the "ridiculous" teachings of their rabbis, for their
condition, and believed they could be brought into mainstream society and made
citizens.”
1833: In
Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Caroline and David Israel Davis gave birth to
Louis Davis the husband of Julia Berman with whom he had six children.
1844: Adam
Bernard Mickiewicz, the Polish nationalist who would later try and form a
Jewish military unit called the Hussars of Israel to fight against the Czar,
gave his last lecture as a professor of Slavic languages and literature at the
Collège de France.
1848:
Birthdate of London native Morris Joseph, the graduate of Jews’ College who
served as the rabbi at the North London Synagogue, the Old Hebrew Congregation
of Liverpool and finally the West London Synagogue.
https://rabbisylviarothschild.com/tag/rabbi-morris-joseph/
https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/european-judaism/48/1/ej480104.xml
1849(7th of
Sivan, 5609): Second Day of Shavuot
1850: Maurice
Moses Beddington, the “son of Esther and Henry Moses” and his wife Hannah gave
birth to Esther Hannah Beddington who became Esther Hannah Samuel after she
married Henry Sylvester Samuel with whom she had four children – Marguerite,
Edith, Hilda and Evelyn.
1855: Selig
Cassel who was the brother of Rabbi David Cassel, was baptized as a member of
Evangelical Church in Prussia today in the St. Peter's Church receiving the
name "Paulus Stephanus" became known as Paulus Stephanus Cassel.
1855: In New
York, Sarah Ottolengu and Jacob I. Moses who were married in Charleston, SC in
1848 gave birth Jacob Isaiah Moses.
1855: Twenty-three-year-old
Marseilles born Aristide Felix Cohen, the brother of composer Jules Cohen, “was made auditor of the Conseil d’Etat
today.”
1857(5th
of Sivan, 5617): Erev Shavuot observed “as mutiny of sepoys of British East
India Company’s army continued for an 18th day.
1858: In
Wisconsin Jewish immigrants “John and Mary (Perles) Black gave birth to Lizzie
Black Kander, author of “The Settlement Cookbook.” “Like many
middle-class Jewish women of her time, she was deeply involved in Progressive
Era reform movements that sought to aid and Americanize immigrants. Kander
first became involved in local reform efforts in 1878, when she joined
Milwaukee's Ladies Relief Sewing Society. Under Kander's leadership, the
Society evolved into the Milwaukee Jewish Mission. It was as president of
"the Settlement," Milwaukee's first settlement house, a multi-purpose
reform organization modeled on Jane Adams’s Hull House, that Kander made her
most lasting contribution. Among the Settlement's programs was a series of
cooking classes for immigrants. In 1901, Kander asked the Settlement's board
for $18 to print a small booklet of recipes for her students. When the board
refused, she raised money from the local business community and produced the
first edition of The Settlement Cookbook,
which combined her recipes with instructions on cleanliness and food storage
and general housekeeping tips. The first edition of the Cookbook was published on
1859: Abraham
Berliner, the Berlin born son of Franziska and Baruch Benjamin Berliner and his
wife Henriette Berliner gave birth to Flora Berliner who became Flora Joelnberg
when she married Siegfried Jolenberg.
1860(7th
of Sivan, 5620): Second Day of Shavuot is observed 10 days after the
Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln for President who unlike later iterations
of his party supported binding up the nation’s wounds while opposing armed
insurrection.
1861: The 11th
Regiment of the New York State Militia commanded by Colonel Joachim Maidhof
left New York on its way to be mustered into the Union Army.
1861: Today,
Iowan Joseph Meyers, who died during the battle of Fort Donaldson, enlisted in
Company C of the Second Infantry Regiment.
1861:
Philadelphian Henry Jacques began serving as a Second Lieutenant with Company G
of the 26th Regiment.
1862: The Will
of Commodore Uriah P. Levy was presented to the Surrogate today for probate. It
includes the following provisions:
Mrs. Levy
receives only her right of dower and all the household furniture, plate,
&c., so long as she shall remain unmarried, excepting what is otherwise
bequeathed to revert upon her death or marriage. Capt. Levy's nephew, Ashel S.
Levy, receives the Washington farm, in Albemarle, Va., with all the negro
slaves, &c., and $5,000 in cash; also, his gold box with the freedom of the
City of New-York. He leaves to his brother, Joseph M. Levy, $1,000 in cash, and
mortgage on his house in Baltimore; to his brother, Isaac Levy, $1,000, and all
debts due him on notes; to Mitchell M. Levy, son of his brother, Joseph P.
Levy, $1,000 in cash; to Eliza Hendricks, of Cincinnati, Ohio, the income of
$1,000; to his nephew, Morton Phillips, of New-Orleans, his gold hunting-watch
and $500; to Col. T. Moses, of South Carolina, a large silver urn, formerly
belonging to Dr. Phillips, on which is to be engraved, "From Capt. Uriah
P. Levy, United States Navy, to his kinsman, Col. Franklin Moses, State Senator
of the State of South Carolina, as a testimony of my affection." There are
also legacies of $100 each to Capt. John B. Montgomery, Capt. Lawrence Kearney
and Capt. Francis Gregory, United States Navy, and Benjamin F. Butler, to
purchase mourning rings. To Lieuts. Peter Turner and John Moffatt United States
Navy, and Dr. J. Cohen and Jacob J. Cohen, Jr., Col. M. Cohen. United States
Navy: Lieut. Lanier, Capt. William Mervine and Commodore Thomas Ap C. Jones,
each $25, to purchase mourning rings. The will directs the executors to erect a
monument at Cypress Hills, to consist of a full length statue of Capt. Levy, in
iron or bronze, in the full uniform of a Captain of the United States Navy, and
holding in his hand a scroll on which shall be inscribed: "Under this
Monument," or, "In Memory of Uriah P. Levy, Captain in the United
States Navy, Father of the Law for the Abolition of the Barbarous Practice of
Corporeal Punishment in the Navy of the United States." The monument is to
cost $6,000, and the body is to be buried under it. To the Historical Society
are bequeathed three paintings -- "The Wreck of the Medusa Frigate,"
by Gericault; "The Descent of the Infant Jesus," and "Virgin
Confessing the Bishop of Rouen," and a Rural Scene, by Carl Bonner. He
then bequeaths his farm and estate at Monticello, Virginia, formerly belonging
to President Thomas Jefferson, with all the residue of his estate, "to the
people of the United States," or such persons as Congress shall appoint to
receive it; and especially all his real estate in the City of New-York, in
trust, for the sole and only purpose of establishing and maintaining at the
farm in Monticello, Virginia, an agricultural school for the purpose of
educating as practical farmers children of the Warrant-office of the United
States navy whose fathers are dead. "The children to be supported by this
fund from the ages of 12 to 16." For fuel and fencing said farm-school the
will bequeaths two hundred acres of woodland of his Washington farm, Virginia.
The will especially requires that no professorships be established in said
school, and no professors employed, the school being intended for charity, and
not for pomp. In case Congress refuses to carry out the intention of this
bequest, the property is bequeathed to the people of Virginia for the same
purpose; and in case the Legislature of Virginia declines to receive the trust,
the property is to go to the Portuguese Hebrew congregation in this City, and
the old Portuguese Hebrew congregation in Cherry-street, Philadelphia, and the
Portuguese Hebrew congregation of Richmond, Va., for the establishment of the
said school at Monticello, for the children of all denominations, Hebrew and
Christian. Should this fund be more than sufficient for the support of children
of warrant officers of the navy, the children of sergeant-majors of the United
States army are to be included in the benefit -- the balance to be for the
benefit of children of seamen. He further bequeaths $1,000 to the Portuguese
Hebrew Hospital of this City.
1863:
Birthdate of Leo Paul Oppenheim, the native of Berlin who became a leading
German naturalist.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11733-oppenheim-leo-paul
1864: Sir Saul
Samuel and his wife Henrietta gave birth to their third child “Henri Saul, a
major in the army pay department and the husband of the former Eva Fulton with
whom they raised one child “Gerald Glen.
1866: In New
York, Raphael Peixotto and his wife gave birth to Sidney Peixotto who has spent almost his entire life in San Francisco, where he
has served as a major in the California National Guard and the founder and
leader of The Columbia Park Boys' Club.
1866: In San Francisco, Lewis and Hannah Gerstle gave
birth to Harvard trained lawyer and WW I veteran “Marcus ‘Mark’ Lewis Gerstle,
the father of Mark Lewis Gerstle Jr.
https://oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb4j49n9wb&brand=oac4&doc.view=entire_text
1868(7th of Sivan, 5628) Second Day of Shavuot
1868: In Neustadt, Lithuania, Sarah Liebstadt and Wolf
Rittenberg gave birth to South Carolina General Assembly leader and Democratic
Party leader Sam Rittenberg, the husband of Sadie B. Pearlstine and Chairman of
the Charleston, SC District of the ZOA.
1868; In London, the former Ellen Maragaret Smart and Hungarian
born wool merchant gave birth to Balliol College, Oxford educated philosopher Harold
Henry Joachim, “the husband of his first cousin, Elisabeth Anna Marie Charlotte
Joachim, the daughter of his famous uncle” violinist Joseph Joachim, with whom
he had two daughters and one son and the holder of the Wykeham professorship of
logic from 1919 “until his retirement in 1935.”
1870: Birthdate of New York City businessman Samuel Isaac
Hyman the husband of the former Tillie M. Eudel with whom he had two children –
George and Norma – who was leader of both Congregation Kehilath Jeshrun and
Congregation Derech Emunoh and President of the Central Jewish Institute.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/07/13/96255425.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/07/13/96255424.html?pageNumber=9
1871: In Luka, Czech Republic, Aron Adolf Zentner Zentner and Sara Zentner gave birth to Julius Zentner,
the husband of Emilie Zentner and “father of Arnost Zentner; Irma Kohn; Paul
Zentner; Egon Zentner; Hugo Zentner; Wilhelm Zentner; Walther Zentner; Arthur
Zentner; Erna Zentner; Gertrud Zentner; Marta Propper; Erhard Zentner; Herbert
Zentner and Elsa Zentner.”
1871: In New York, Yetta Hackes and Louis Stix who had
been married in 1852 in Cincinnati, OH gave birth Sylvan Louis Stix.
1876(5th of
Sivan, 5636): Erev Shavuot observed for the last time during the Presidency of
U.S. Grant
1877: In New York City. Caroline Reiss and Adolph
S. Jager gave birth to Washington University trained physician Alfred Sydenham
Jaeger, the husband of Blanche Dorothy Keifer who settled in Indianapolis, IN
where he practiced obstetrics, served on the Indiana State Board of Health and
was a member of B’nai B’rith.
1877: According to the Gossip From London Column
published today "All London flocked to sit spellbound at the feet of the
Russian Jew Rubenstein while he played his own works on the piano at the
Crystal Palace."
1877: “The Gossip from London” column published today
reported on the success of a twenty-year-old English Jewish composer named
Solomon. Earlier in the month, he was greeted with a round of applause when he
entered the Orchestra at the Folly Theatre based in part on his work "The
Contempt of Court". According to the critic, "if Solomon had
been a German Jew instead of an English child of Israel the critics would have
gushed over the promise exhibited by so young a man.” [Editor’s note –
“Solomon” probably refers to Edward “Teddy” Solomon whose first work was “A
Will With a Vengeance,” a musical comedy that appeared in 1876. His highly successful career came to a sudden
end when he died at the age of 39.]
1877: The Board of Delegates of the American Israelites
met in New York City today. One of the topics was the upcoming meeting of the
International Conference of Israelites which is going to be held in December at
Paris where they will be seeking ways to improve the conditions the Jews living
in the European provinces of the Ottoman Empire.
1877: A critique published today of the June edition of The
Catholic World reported that the
magazine continues to demonstrate Catholicism’s fascination with Judaism, or
more properly the passionate desire to convert Jews to the Church of Rome as
can be seen from a feature article entitled “The Present State of Judaism in
America.” According to the article “The
number of conversions from Protestantism to the holy Roman Catholic Church,
here and in Great Britain is continually on the increase. But nothing is more rare than the conversion
of a Jew. They are rapidly parting with their own faith, but very seldom do
they embrace any form of Christianity in its stead. In a few years the great
majority of Jews in the United States will probably have ceased to be Jews save
in name only. But all how many of them
will become Catholic? All roads lead to
Rome but very few Jews have made the journey.”
The article concludes that eventually all of the Jews will “come into
the fold.” In order to help those who
want to convert Jews, the magazine provides an estimate of the number of Jews
in the United States, their wealth and “relative distribution throughout” the
country.
1878:
The annual meeting of the United Hebrew Charities of the City of New-York was
held this evening at their head-quarters, in St. Mark's-place. The various
charitable institutions were fully represented by male and female delegates.
During his report, Henry Rice, the President, laid special stress on the evils
of slum life.
1878:
Birthdate of Louisville native Joseph Ainslie Bear, the husband of Julia Pam
who co-founded Bear Stearns with Harold C. Maye and Robert B. Sterns the Yale
educated son of Virginia Michaels and Isaac Stearns, the founder of Stern’s
Department Stores.
1878:
John Russell, the first Earl Russell, the British Prime Minister who supported
legislation removing the “disabilities of Jews passed away today.
https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1853/feb/24/jewish-disabilities
1879: A jury in the Union County Court at
Elizabeth, NJ, had failed to reach a verdict in the case brought against Henry
M. Levy. Levy had been charged with
selling cigars on Sunday. Levy admitted
that he sold the cigars on Sunday but said that since he was Jewish he did not
feel bound to observe Sunday as the Sabbath.
Furthermore, as a Jew, he did not sell goods on Saturday and kept his
store closed. The Prosecution contended
that Levy had to obey the Sunday closing law because he had sworn to obey all
laws when he took the oath of citizenship.
1879(6th
of Sivan, 5639): Shavuot
1879: In Posen
which at the time was part of Germany, Pauline and Isidor Sommerfeld gave birth
to their “youngest son” Felix A. Sommerfeld,
an engineer, “soldier of fortune” and agent of the Kaiser working for
different sides during the turbulent times in Mexico prior to and during WW
I. (Editor’s note: If you did not know
that Sommerfeld was a real peson, you would be sure that he had been invented
by some very creative fiction author.
1879:
Philadelphia native Florence Liveright, the daughter of Abraham and Rebeccah
Kan and Simon Liveright gave birth to Ben K. Liveright
1880:The
Jewish Messenger reported that Congregation Orach Chaim "...is quietly
extending its influence and securing the objective for which it was organized -
not the formation of a large congregation and the building of a handsome
synagogue, but the daily study and practice of the Law." Officials of the Congregation include Lazarus
Herzberg, first spiritual leader; Seligman Dannenberg, chazzan; Abraham
Nussbaum, first president.
1880(18th
of Sivan, 5640): Seventy-two year old Mortiz Rappaport who earned his medical
degree in 1832 and wrote “Moses” an epic poem that appeared in 1842 passed away
today.
1881: In
Amsterdam, Isaac Jacob Gans, “the son of Jacob and Rececca Mozes Gans” and his
wife Gogeltje Dooseman gave birth to Bethe “Isaac” Gans
1884: In New
York, “American investment banker Samuel Sachs” and Louisa Goldman gave birth
to Walter Edward Sachs, a partner at Goldman-Sachs and the husband of Mary
Williamson from 1939 to 1960.
http://www.worldcat.org/title/reminiscences-of-walter-edward-sachs-oral-history-1956/oclc/309726536
1885:
Birthdate of Baltimore native and Johns Hopkins trained physician Charles
Robert Austrian, who maintained a life-long connection with his alma mater
while also serving as “physician-in-chief of Baltimore’s Sinai Hospital for
twenty years during which time “his chief interest was in the field of
infectious diseases, particularly tuberculousis.”
https://portraitcollection.jhmi.edu/portraits/austrian-charles-robert
1886: In
Kieff, Gregory and Marie Sokoloff gave birth to Yale University School of Music
trained violinist and conductor Nikolai Sokoloff and husband of Lyda Marix who
began his career with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and starting in 1918,
serving as the conductor the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra while leading the New
York Philharmonic in “Stadium Concerts” in 1925 and 1926.
1886: One of
two possible birthdates for Solomon Zeitlin, the Russian born American history
who taught at Dropsie College and who works included The Rise and Fall of
the Judean State.
1888: In
Galicia, Saide and Jacob Ellias Weisstein gave birth to future California
resident Clara Weisstein Kaminker the mother of Ronal Reagan supporter and
Ambassador to Austria Theodore E. Kaminker Cummings.
1890: A
representative of the Jewish congregation of Rondout is at Wurtsborough, NY is
waiting to take possession of the body of Samuel Hutch the Jewish peddler whose
cause of death is being determined at inquest being conducted by Coroner Joseph
Rosesh.
1890:
Birthdate of Isaac Pacht, the native of Millie, Austria who graduated from
Brooklyn Law School and moved to California where he became a jurist and
advocate for prison reform.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/pacht-isaac
1891:
Birthdate of Ostoge Ukraine native “Hebrew educator, poet and scholar Israel
Isaac Efros who in 1905 came to the Unites States where “he founded the
Baltimore Hebrew College and Teachers Training School and served as rabbi of Temple Beth El in
Buffalo before settling in Israel in 1955 where he served as rector of Tel Aviv University while
co-authoring a “definitive Hebrew-English dictionary.”
https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/efros-israel-isaac
1891:
Boise Penrose who in 1911 described “discrimination by the Russian Government
against American Hebrews as an assault on American principles and traditions”
and assured a delegation of Jews from Philadelphia “that he agreed with their
contention that the violation of their treaty rights as American citizens was
not a proper subject for an arbitration tribunal but should result in the
passing of a resolution by Congress denouncing the present treaty” with Russia completed
his service as President pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate.
1892: In
Cincinnati, Lena Bardenstein Levand gave
birth to Max Levand, the husband of Lillian Eppstein Leavand with whom he had
three sons – Elliot, Jack and Marvin – who went from being a newspaper boy in
Denver to being president and general manager of The Beacon Newspaper
Corporation which produced the Wichita (KS) Beacon.
1892: It was
reported today that the prohibition against the entry of Russian Jews into
Germany has been withdrawn.
1892:
Birthdate of Lutzk, Poland native and WW I veteran Morris Brooks, the Long
Island College Hospital trained physician who in 1896 came to Brooklyn where
practiced medicine and worked with Metropolitan Life.
1893:
Professor Felix Adler delivered a speech to the Russian American Hebrew
Association in front of a packed house at the Hebrew Institute on East Broadway
and Jefferson.
1893: “New
Parties In German” published today described the rise of new political
formations as the Centerists fracture. Among them is the German Reform Party,
led Herr Simmerman the anti-Semite who used to sit in the Reichtsag. Zimmerman
has been “wildly cheered” “at mass
meetings held in Dresden” and other population centers.
1895(5th
of Sivan, 5655): Erev Shavuot
1895:
Birthdate of Brooklynite Robert Kates, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants who
served in Palestine during WW I with the Jewish Legion or the 38th
Royal Fusiliers who lived in Montreal after the war.
1897: Birthdate
of Romania native Edith Jacobs who became Edith Mandel when she married Abraham
Mandel.
1897: In
Auckland, NZ, “Henry and Ethelred Frances Bolitho” gave birth to Hector
Bolitho, the author of Beside Galilee: A First-hand Survey of Zionism and
Modern Palestine published in 1933.
1898(7th
of Sivan, 5658): Second day of Shavuot
1898: Volume
one of A Dictionary of the Bible edited by James Hastings with the
assistance of Professors of Hebrew at Oxford and Cambridge has just been issued
by Scribners and Sons.
1898:
Approximately 500 people attended the confirmation services at the Brooklyn
Hebrew Orphan Asylum this afternoon.
1898:
Birthdate of Saul Lieberman the native of Motal, the Israeli Talmudist “known
as Rabbi Shaul Lieberman or, among some of his students, The Gra"sh (Gaon
Rabbeinu Shaul.”
http://www.joshyuter.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Saul-Lieberman-and-the-Orthodox-31.pdf
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/slieberman.html
1899:
Anti-Semitic riots began in Jassy, Romania
1899(19th
of Sivan, 5659): Hungarian tailor and immigrant to America Herman Lichtner
became despondent today while returning to Europe on the SS Cymric and jumped
overboard leaving behind his little daughter to fend for herself.
1899: The
exercises marking the closing of the religious school at Congregation B’nai
Jeshurun took on a patriotic air when they were combined with a reception for
the Hebrew Union Veteran’s Association which was part of the upcoming
observance of Decoration Day.
1899: As
American’s prepare to celebrate Decoration Day, Assistant District Attorney
Maurice B. Blumenthal was the main speakers at the memorial services held
tonight by the Independent Order of the Free Sons of Israel at Congregation
Rodoph Sholom.
1899: “Harsh
Treatment of Jews” published today described the renewed complaints made by
Germany concerning the unreasonable treatment of German Jews who need to go to
Russia for business or cultural reasons. For example, “the well-known Berlin
impresario Wolff, who is a German-Jew” organized the current tour of the Berlin
Philharmonic in Russia. Wolff found the
impediments place in his path by the Russian government to be so onerous that
he did not accompany the orchestra, but sent one of his Christian assistants in
his place.
1900: It was
reported today that almost 3,000 people most of whom were Jews were recently
witnessed “the impressive ceremonies attending the laying of the cornerstone of
the new Beth Israel Hospital at Jefferson and Cherry Streets.”
1901: A
provisional Executive Committee was named at meeting this evening chaired by
Dr. Isadore Singer which will help to work for the established of “a Jewish
University” in New York City which “which will be on a higher plane than either
the Hebrew Union college or the Jewish Theological Seminary.
1902: In
Detroit, “Cyrus Sulzberger of New York painted such a vivid word picture of the
ghetto in New York before the National Conference of Jewish Charities today
that when he finished his appeal for aid in removing the poor Jews from the
Ghettos to the country districts there was scarcely a dry eye among those
present in Temple Beth-El.”
1903:
Birthdate of Bisbee, AZ native and booking agent turned movie producer Leonard
Goldstein whose memorable movies included sever of the “Ma and Pa Kettle”
series and the “Francis the Talking Mule” comedies.
1903:
Birthdate of Berlin native Walter Goehr “the composer and conductor” who
“studied with Arnold Schoenberg” and found refuge in Great Britain after the
Nazis came to power.
https://www.discogs.com/artist/454981-Walter-Goehr
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Goehr-Walter.htm
1904(14th
of Sivan, 5664): Parashat Nasso
1904: Funeral
arrangements have not been made for 44-year-old Henry Hendricks who dropped
dead yesterday.
1904: This
morning, at the conclusion of services at the Great Synagogue in Sydney, “a
number of ladies and gentlemen assembled in the schoolroom to witness a
presentation to Mr. Shefton Louis Cohen of an engraved “silver backed brush as
measure of appreciation for his work with the Sydney Jewish Sabbath School’
prior to his sailing for England.
1905: Soldiers
fired on a crowd in the neighborhood of a synagogue killing two Jews at Lodz.
1906:
“Louisville Keeps Sabbath” published today described how rigidly the Sabbath
had been informed on Sunday with the only exception being a Jew who had
observed Saturday as the Sabbath who had been arrested for operating his saloon
but who was, strangely enough “allowed to continue selling throughout the day.”
1906: It was
reported today that “Sylvia Neuman, the daughter of Emanuel Newman” had played
a “key” role in the dedication of Temple Adath Israel’s dedication of its new
house of worship which had been constructed under the leadership of Joseph L.
Schneider, president of the congregation and Henry Love, Chairman of the
Building Committee.
1907:
Birthdate of New York City native and NYU trained attorney Lilia H. Axinn.
1908:
Birthdate James Bond creator Ian Fleming “who, like many Englishmen of his
generation, wore his anti-Semitism on his sleeve” and whose books “unlike the
much more popular films they spawned, occasionally trade in vulgar and hateful
Jewish stereotypes, and whenever a character does seem Jewish, he is always a
villain.”
https://forward.com/culture/film-tv/453228/on-her-majesty-s-semitic-service/
1909:
Hahambashi Haim Nahoum of Turkey met with Prime Minister and Interior Minister
of Turkey to discuss the practice of limiting the residence of foreign Jews to
three months.
1909: It was
reported today that “Ahmed Riza, President of the Chamber of Deputies visited
Hahm Pasha, the ritual head of the Jews in Turkey and on behalf of the Turkish
Government extended an invitation to the Jews of Russia and Rumania to migrate
to Turkey” and promised that the government “will confer full citizenship on
the Jewish immigrants immediately on their arrival in Turkey.
1910: In
Chicago Rose Alice Alschuler, the daughter of Charles and Mary Haas and Alfred
Samuel Alschuler, Sr. gave birth to Francis Gudeman
1911: It was
reported today that “in a peace sermon” given at Temple Emanu-El, Dr. Joseph
Silverman “praised President Taft for his successful efforts in inducing Russia
to admit Jews with American passports, and accord them the same treaty rights
as other American citizens.”
1911 “A New
Life of Rachel” published today provides a review of Rachel: Her Stage Life and
Her Real Life, Francis Gribble’s “exhaustive biography of the famous French
actress of the nineteenth century.”
1912: Agudath
Israel was formed as the world organization of Orthodox Jewry at Katowitz.
Jacob Rosenheim was its first president.
1913: The Georgian
reported that E.F. Holloway, the plant day watchman, believed Jim Conley had
strangled Mary Phagan when he was drunk. This should have gone a long way
towards exonerating Leo Frank.
1913: The
Independent Order of B’rith Abraham which had been organized in 1887 ended its
26th Annual Convention today in New York City
1913: “Rabbi
Hyamson, the Dayan of the United Synagogue in London” is scheduled to “deliver
a lecture on ‘A Comparison of Hebrew Law’” today at the Dropsie College in
Philadelphia.
1913: In
Pennsylvania, dedication ceremonies begin for the Philmont Country Club.
1914: Samuel
S. Koenig, the President of the Republican Committee is one of those attending
today’s Republican conference at the Waldorf Hotel.
1915: Joseph
“Joe, the Greaser” Rosenzweig, the first of the east side gang leaders known as
“starkers’ “to furnish hired thugs to the unions” “appeared before Justice
Shearn in the Criminal Term of the Supreme Court and pleaded guilty to
manslaughter in the first degree.
1915: A
“telegram directed to the State Prison Commission was received in the
Governor’s office late this afternoon from United States Senator John W. Kearn
of Indiana, which began “I have followed proceedings in the Leo Frank case step
by step with great and increasing interest and as a lawyer with forty years of
experience I beg you to spare this man’s life.”
1915: Joseph
S. Schwab, the Chairman of a New York committee supporting the commutation of
the sentence of Leo M. Franks sent a telegram to President Wilson today which
read “Will you add another laurel wreath to your fame as a broad-mined man by
requesting the authorities of Georgia in your individual capacity to commute
the sentence of Leo Frank, who it universally conceded, has not had a fair
trial.”
1915: Birthdate of linguist Joseph Harold
Greenberg.
1916: The
ninth annual convention of the Federation of Rumanian Jews of America continued
for a second day in New York where attendees have heard an array of speakers
including Dr. Julius Weiss, Dr. Henry Moskowitz, Congressman William s. Bennet,
Judge Jacob S. Strahl, Albert Lucas, D.J. Hermalin and Samuel Goldstien.
1916: “Bernard
Turkel, President of the Har Moriah Hospital…announced” today “at the meeting
of the 13th annual convention of the Federation of Galician and
Bukowinean Jews of America that the hospital directors have decided to build a
new hospital costing about $400,000” which will be located “south of Fourteenth
Street and east of the Bowery.”
1916: The list
of contributions to the Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering
Through the War published today included $350 from the Jewish Alliance of
Ontario, Canada, $80 from the Sisters of Peace and $23 from the Relief
Association of Sioux City, Iowa.
1916: “Solomon
Schechter Home Appeals” published today described the solicitation for
contributions by the managers of the Solomon Schechter Memorial Jewish Home for
Convalescents located “at Grand View on the Hudson which was established by the
Federation of Rumanian Jews in America.
1917(7th
of Sivan, 5677): Second Day of Shavuot
1917: Rabbi
Rosenstein conducted the “Memorial Service” this morning at B’nai Yehoshua
Temple.
1917: Rabbi
Julius Newman conducted services this morning at Congregation Moses Montefiore.
1917: At the
Manhattan Casino in New York City Benny Leonard won the World Lightweight Title
with a TKO in the 9th round.
1917: In
Brooklyn, Goldie Yarmolinsky and Isidore Commoner, Jewish immigrants from
Russia, gave birth to Barry Commoner, one of the founders of the ecology
movement. (As reported by Daniel Lewis)
1917: In
Manhattan Mark and Mariam Villchur gave birth to “Edgar M. Villchur, whose
invention of a small loudspeaker that could produce deep, rich bass tones
opened the high-fidelity music market in the 1950s to millions of everyday
listeners…” (As reported to Dennis
Hevesi)
1917: In
London, The Times published the
responses of Lord Rothschild, Rabbi Joseph Hertz and Chaim Weizmann to a letter
that had appeared in the Times on May 24 signed by Claude Montefiore and David
Lindo Alexander in which they express their opposition to Zionism and the
concepts that will be embodied in the Balfour Declaration.
1917: Dr.
Chaim Zhitlowsky addressed “a mass meeting of Jewish workingman” at Clinton
Hall who are in the process of choosing delegates to the Jewish Congress which
is scheduled to meet this September in Washington, DC.
1917: “Great
Britain, France Italy and the Catholic Church are in full sympathy with the
Zionist plan for the establishment in Palestine of a publicly recognized,
legally assured homeland for the Jewish people and are prepared to give this
project their support and co-operation according to a statement issued” today
“by the Provisional Committee for General Zionist Affairs” which had been
approved by “Dr. Chaim Weitzman, President of the English Zionist Federation
and Nahum Sokolow, a member of the Zionist Actions Committee.”
1917: In
London, the Palestine Wine and Trading Co. received from its representative in
Switzerland a “telegram from the Rishon-le-Zion colony that that reports of
persecution of Jews are completely false” and that the government “gives every
protection to our vine growers and has not molested any of the laborers engaged
in the industry.” (Editor’s note: During WW I there was great concern about the
well-being of the Jewish community in Palestine, but this telegram seems to run
counter the general picture painted of ill treatment at the hands of the
Ottoman)
1918: During
the Battle of Cantigny, one of the first major offensives involving the U.S.
Army, Abraham Kauffman “refused to leave his gun after he had lost a finger”
and continued to perform his duty until so severely wounded as to be unable to
assist in serving” his weapon.
1918:
Birthdate of Toronto native Louis Weingarten, who gained fame as Johnny Wayne,
the “Wayne” in the comedy duo of “Wayne and Shuster.
1918: In
Cincinnati, OH, the mayor married Rabbi Henry Joseph Berkowitz to his first
wife Claire Henle.
1918: More
than 2,000 attended “the final session of the three-day convention of the
United States Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of B’rtih Abraham” where
they heard New York Governor Whitman say that “the Jews deserved great praise
for standing behind President Wilson” and “that the loyalty of American Jewry
could never be questioned.”
1918: A
meeting of “prominent Jews” at the Metropolis Club heard “Ittamar Ben Aizi, a
native Palestine and the editor of the first daily paper ever published in
Jerusalem” pay “a glowing tribute to the British Army for the conquest of
Palestine” before declaring that “We are living again in Palestine just as
Joshua lived.”
1919: In
Vienna, Austria, Israel and Leah Heller gave birth Max Moses Heller the refugee
from Hitler’s Europe and husband for sixty-nine years of the former Trude
Schonthal who founded the Maxon Shirt Company and Mayor of Greenville, SC from
1971 to 1979 during which he courageously “desegregated all municipal
departments and commissions.”
1919: “Jewish
workers laid down their tools at 2 o’clock” this “afternoon and Jewish
storekeepers closed theirs shops as a protest against the pogroms in Poland,
Romania and other countries” while 25,000 people including Jewish students from
the University of Chicago marched to the Auditorium Theatre
“where a mass meeting was held.”
1920: The
Jewish community in Constantinople published a letter to the former Hahambashi,
Haim Nahoum Effendi who had stepped down from his post a few weeks prior. They
declared his departure a calamity. They expressed regret at his departure and
their gratitude for his past services, attributing to him the prestige which
the community has acquired in the eyes of the Turkish government.
1920: “A
special Memorial Service” was held this evening Sinai Temple of the Bronx where
Civil War veteran Edward Boyer spoke on “Sacrifice and Service,” Spanish War
veteran Maurice Simmons spoke on “The Jewish Soldier” and Rabbi Max Reichler
spoke on “After-War Optimism” after which a special Kadidish was recited for
four members of the congregation who had made the ultimate sacrifice – Jerome
Heine, Erwin Lowenstern, Joseph Shops and Melvin Spitz.
1921(20th
of Iyar, 5681): Parashat Behar
1921(20th
of Iyar, 5681): One Hundred and one year old New Orleanean Elizabeth D.A.
Cohen, the New York born daughter of David and Phoebe Cohen and the mother of
Dr. Aaron Cohen, who became the first woman to practice medicine in Louisiana
passed away today after which she was buried in the Gates of Prayer Cemetery.
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/cohen-elizabeth-da
1922(1st of
Sivan, 5682): Rosh Chodesh Sivan
1922: “At the
biennial meeting of the Directors of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society,
which operates the cottage plan institution” J”udge Samuel D. Levy of the
Children's Court and Vice President of the organization, was presented today
with a silver tea service by Adolph Lewisohn” as a sign of appreciation for his
25 years of service as a director of the orphanage.
1922: “In Hilaire
Belloc Writes About the Jews” published today noted scholar Dr. H.G. Enelow who
played a key role in the establishment of chairs of Jewish History at Harvard
and Columbia provides a lengthy review of The Jews by Hilaire Belloc who
is “sore afraid of the Jews,” who “would like to see the Jews segregated” and
who blames them for the Russian Revolution.
1922: The Bnei
Akiva youth movement was founded. The youth branch of the Mizrachi was
originally established to train its members in agriculture and crafts. Its goal
was the synthesis of Torah and Avodah (Torah and labor). Soon, the movement
formed its own kibbutzim within the structure of "Kibbutz Hadati,"
the religious kibbutz movement.
1923: In
Brooklyn, whole produce worker Meyer Schneiderman and his wife Bess gave birth
to Irwin Schneiderman, “a self-described ‘kid from the Jewish Ghetto’” who
became a highly successful attorney and philanthropist whose passions included
the New York City Opera. (As reported by Douglas Martin)
1924: The
cornerstone laying ceremonies for the new building to house the Chachmel Lublin
Yeshiva came to an end.
1924: Funeral
services are scheduled to be held this afternoon at the B’nai B’rith
Headquarters on Broadway for Samuel Fleishman
1925(5th
of Sivan, 5685): In Camden, NJ, Beth El Congregation is scheduled to hold a
Shavuot “Service at Sunset.”
1925:
Birthdate of Lydia Csato Gasman, the native of Foccsani Romania who gained fame
as a painter and scholar.
1926: The
Burnside Bridge, a bridge that “spans the Willamette River in Portland, OR,”
which incorporated a bascule lift mechanism designed by Joseph Strauss opened
today.
1927(26th
of Iyar, 5687): Parashat Bamidbar
1927: It was
reported today that the Minorities Committee of the League of Nations has heard
reports from “anti-Semitic forces in Rumania charging Jews with lack of
patriotism, trading with the enemy and shirking military duties” which
justifies the restrictions under which Jews live and their inability to “enjoy
the liberties of other peoples.”
1928: In Brooklyn
the former Florence Goldstein and Fred Fisher “a law clerk who became a Hollywood
stuntman gave birth to Anna Fisher who gained fame as “Florence Fisher, an
adoptee who spent decades searching for her birth parents and then spent
another half century fighting to open adoption records for millions of others…”
(As reported by Clay Risen)
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/us/florence-fisher-dead.html
1928: U.S.
premiere of the German Film “Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis” with a script by
Carl Mayer and Karl Freund.
1928:
Birthdate of Alfred Gilbert Aronowitz, an American rock journalist best known
for introducing Bob Dylan and The Beatles in 1964.
1929(18th
of Iyar, 5689): Lag B’Omer
1929:
In Hartford, Connecticut, Thomas Birmingham and Editha Gardner Birmingham gave
birth to Stephen Birmingham author of Our
Crowd’: The Great Jewish Families of New York, The Grandees: America’s
Sephardic Elite and The Rest of Us: The Rise of America’s Eastern
European Jews.
1930:
Premiere of “À propos de Nice” a
silent documentary depicting daily in the French city of Nice filmed by
cinematographer Boris Kaufman.
1931:
In Cracow, Poland, Ignac and Felicia Karp gave birth to their “only child”
Celina Karp,“the youngest of the roughly 1,200 Jews” rescued by Oscar Schindler
who became Celina Biniaz after marrying
dentist Amir Biniaz in 1953.
1931:
Birthdate of actress Carroll Baker who converted to Judaism when she married
Holocaust survivor Jack Garfein with whom she had two children – Blanche Baker
and Herschel Garfein
1932:
Birthdate of Brooklyn native and College of William and Mary graduate
“Timesman” and author Arnold Lubasch. (As reported by Daniel Slotnik)
1932:
The Licensed Trade News, the
Birmingham based publication that “gives news from all over England about the
brewing trade” reported today that former British Olympic weightlifter Edward
Lawrence Levy who later went to work the brewer’s trade association had passed
away.
http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/EdwardLawrenceLevy.htm
1933:
“Dr. Friedrich von Winterfeld, leader of the Nationalist party as Dr. Alfred
Hugenberg's deputy, declared in a speech here today that the boycott of the
Jews had harmed Germany more than its intended victims.”
1934:
“I. Edwin Goldwasseer, Nathan Straus, Jr. and Ira M. Younker, co-chairman of
the United Jewish
Appeal
which is seeking to raise $1,200,000 in New York City which will go “for the
relief and rehabilitation of German Jews and their settlements in Palestine
announced today that so far they have raised $302,000.
1935:
The Italian newspaper Popolo di Roma
published a report describing the funeral held aboard Italian ship Domenico for a Jewish cadet who had
drowned while training at the Betar Naval Academy. The academy had been
established at Civitavecchia, Italy in 1934 in an agreement worked out between
Benito Mussolini and Ze’ev Jabotinsky, the leader of the Revisionist Zionist
Movement.
1935(25th of
Iyar, 5695): Sixty-eight year old Bella Mehrbach passed away in White Plains,
NY.
1936(7th of
Sivan, 5696): Second Day of Shavuot
1936(7th of
Sivan, 5696): Bertha Pappenheim “an Austrian-Jewish feminist, a social pioneer,
and the founder of the Jüdischer Frauenbund (League of Jewish Women) passed
away. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freuds-patients-serial/201201/bertha-pappenheim-1859-1936
1936: Striking
Arabs said they would send “a protest to the British Administration demanding
its withdrawal from the Levant Fair” now being held in Tel Aviv. The Palcor (news) Agency) reported that at
least 48 people had died to date since the Arab uprising began in April.
1936: As of today,
it was reported that 24 Jews have been killed since the outbreak of the Arab
Riots and another 110 have been wounded.
1936: Twenty-three-year-old
British Constable Robert Bird, who “shot from ambush by an Arab” in the Old
City of Jerusalem was among the five people murdered today.
1936: “The
mandates commission of the League of Nations received” a letter from the Jewish
Agency for Palestine appealing to the British Government “to make the Jewish
national home immune from further attack” at the opening of its 29th
session today in Geneva.
1937(18th
of Sivan, 5697): Mrs. Louise G. Pollak, the Baltimore born wife of Dr. Berthold
S. Pollak, medical director of the Hudson County Tuberculosis Hospital, and
mother of mother of Theresa Pollak and Mrs. Rosa Birnbaum passed away ‘this afternoon
of a heart ailment at her home on the hospital grounds at Secaucus, N. J.’
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/05/29/118973198.html?pageNumber=17
1937(18th of
Sivan, 5697):Alfred Adler an Austrian medical doctor, psychologist and
founder of the school of individual psychology passed away (As reported by
Kendra Cherry)
http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesal/p/alfred-adler.htm
1937: Neville Chamberlain becomes British Prime
Minister. Chamberlain is remembered for Munich Agreement which immediately
imperiled those Czech Jews who now came under Hitler’s sway and helped lead to
World War II and the Shoah. In the best
tradition of “realistic British leaders” he was pro-Arab as can be seen when
told a meeting of the Cabinet’s Palestine Committee that it was “of immense
importance to have the Muslim world with us. If we must offend one side, let us
offend the Jews rather than the Arabs.
This led to the adoption of policy designed to “ensure a permanent Arab
majority and a permanent Jewish minority in Palestine.”
1938: In
Frankfurt, caricatures of Jews drawn with insulting inscriptions on Jewish shop
windows. Gangs threatened Jews to move out of Frankfurt.
1938:
Foundation for Tel Aviv harbor was `laid
1938: Jewish
businesses in Frankfurt, Germany, are boycotted.
1939: In
reaction to the White Paper the Jewish Agency declares: "The need of the
Jewish People for a Home was never more acute and its denial at this time is
particularly sharp." The White Paper is denounced as illegal as it
contradicts the terms of the Mandate, which can only be changed with the
agreement of the Council of the League of Nations.
1939(10th
of Sivan, 5699): Russian native David Hayyim Bachrach whom came to the United
States in 1889 and served as a rabbi in Trenton, NJ and Providence, RI, passed
away today.
1939: The
"Atrato", a ship under the command of the Haganah, is captured by the
British navy, after having completed seven voyages during six months and
bringing more than 2,400 illegal immigrants to Palestine.
1940:
Birthdate of Steven Riskin, who as Shlomo Riskin founded the Lincoln Square
Synagogue in 1964 and became the first chief rabbi of Erfat. Supreme Court
Justice Elena Kagan had her bat mitzvah at the Lincoln Square Synagogue.
1940: Irving
Berlin's musical "Louisiana Purchase" premiered in New York City.
1940: Mr. and
Mrs. P. Irving Grinberg of White Plains, NY announced the engagement of their
daughter Carol Grinberg, “a
great-granddaughter of Mors. Esther Herrman, one of the founders of Barnard
College and Richard M. Lederer, Jr, the controller of the Woodside National
Bank in Queens.
1940: After
three days of debate, Churchill’s War Cabinet decides to continue the war
against Germany. Churchill prevailed
over formidable forces led by Foreign Minister Lord Halifax that sought to
reach an accommodation with the Nazi regime.
Eventually Halifax would see the logic of Churchill’s position and become a strong
advocate of the war against Hitler. If
the debate had gone otherwise, for the Jews, there would have been even more
finality to the Final Solution than was suffered with the loss of the Six
Million.
1940:
Realizing that the Lord Lloyd will not end his opposition to arming the Jews of
Palestine so they can defend themselves, Churchill writes his Colonial
Secretary urging him to meet with Weizmann to see what can be done to end the
impasse. Churchill wanted to bring most of the British troops in Palestine back
to England to face the expected cross-Channel invasion by the Nazis. He realized that these British troops were
often all that stood between the Jews and the forces of the Grand Mufti and
Arab marauders who had a history of attacking the Jewish settlers. Churchill
ends the letter by reminding Lord Lloyd of his continued opposition to the
White Paper.
1941(2nd
of Sivan, 5701): Thirty-seven year old Dudley Joel, a member of a prominent and
wealthy Anglo-Jewish family and Member of Parliament who “joined the Royal
Naval Volunteer Reserve” at the start of WW ii was killed today off the Cape
Cornwall today when his ship was bombed by Nazi aircraft after which he was
buried at the Wilesden Jewish Cemetery.
1941: In a
prelude to the Fahrud, the Iraqi name for this year’s pogrom,Yunus al-Sabawi, “the
governor of Baghdad and head of the Nazi groups in Baghdad (indeed, al-Sabawi
translated Mein Kampf into Arabic), summoned Hakham Sassoon Khedouri, leader of
the Jews in Baghdad, informing him that Jews were to stay home on May 31, June
1 and 2 (Shabbat and Shavuot)” and also him told to inform the Jews to pack one
suitcase, and to be prepared to attend detention centers.”
1942(12th
of Sivan, 5702): Sixty-five year old New York born glass maker Charles H.
Harris “who opened his home” in Norwalk, CT “as a vacation farm for
undernourished girls sent by social service departments of hospitals and
welfare associations in New York” passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1942/05/29/85558322.pdf
1942:
Birthdate of Dr. Stanley B. Prusiner, native of Des Moines, Iowa, who won the
Nobel Prize Physiology and Medicine in 1997.
1943: Today,
“Aaron Copland's ballet Rodeo was performed for the first time, with symphonic
accompaniment by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops.”
1943: Today,
for the first time in modern history the city of Tluste is “Jew Free” following
yesterday’s murder of the 3,000 Jews lving in the town.
1944(6th
of Sivan, 5704): Last Shavuot of WW II
1944: At
Berkenau, some Jews tried to revolt as they were marched to the gas
chambers. They were machine-gunned to death.
1945(16th
of Sivan, 5705): Fifty-eight year old Alexander Warshawsky, the Cleveland born
son of Jewish immigrants Ida and Ezekiel Warshawsky, who along with his brother
Abel “attended the Cleveland School of Art and New York’s National Academy of
Design” and moved to Europe before WW II when he returned to the United States
where he settled in Los Angeles and raised his son Ivan with his wife Berthe.
http://www.askart.com/artist/Alexander_Warshawsky/26765/Alexander_Warshawsky.aspx
1945: In
Quebec, Harry Cohen, “an immigrant from Lithuania who owned an auto parts
business” and his wife gave birth to Stephen Philip Cohen, the “professor who
secretly brokered peace talks between Arab and Israeli officials.” (As reported
by Sam Roberts)
1945: In a
letter made public today “by Charles Schwager, a member of the administrative
committee of the National Council of Organizations for Palestine” Governor Tom
Dewey, the 1944 Republican candidate for President who was planning another run
in 1948 declared that “the problems of the unfortunate, homeless and persecuted
Jews of eastern Europe should be on the agenda of our international
deliberation and their representatives should be invited to plead their cause.”
1946(27th
of Iyar, 5706): Sixty-eight-year-old Benjamin Joseph Altheimer, Sr. who enjoyed
successful legal career in his native Pine Bluff, AR and Chicago , Illinois and
established “the Ben J. Altheimer Foundation, which has provided funding for
civic, legal, and agricultural endeavors” in Arkansas passed away today.
1946: “At the
royal estate at Inchass, about 25 miles from Cairo, 26-year old King Farouk”
hosted a first ever meeting of the rulers of seven Arab states where the agenda
included: Reconciliation of the Hashimites and Saudis, an Anglo-Egyptian treat,
the attitude of the big powers toward the Arabs, adequate representation of
Arabs in the peace conference and the inevitable Palestine question, which
meant putting to any attempt to settle one hundred thousand Jews in the country
immediately.
1946(27th
of Iyar, 5706): Eighty-one year old NYU and Columbia trained industrial chemist
Dr. Maximilian Toch, the New York born son of Moses and Caroline Levy Toch, the
“president and chief chemist of Toch Brothers, Inc. and chairman of Standard
Varnish Works “called America’s first camofleur” for his work in camouflaging
the Panama Canal and developing the gray paint used to “hide” U.S. Navy ships
who raised four daughters – Elain, Constance, Alma and Maxine – with his wife
“the former Hermine E. Levy” passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1946/05/31/88366766.pdf
1947: At the
Hotel Sheraton in Manhattan, “Dr. Mordecai Soltes, executive director of
Yeshiva University presented Rabbi S. Felix Mendlesohn” the rabbi at Temple
Beth Israel in Chicago, with “a scroll and recalled how he had started National
Jewish Book Week in 1927” which led Rabbi Mendelsohn to decry “the apathy of
the Jewish people toward Jewish Liberation
1948: Israeli
forces captured the Arab village of Zar'in on Mt. Gilboa.
1948: (19th
of Iyar, 5708) The commander of the Jewish defense of Jerusalem, “Yitzhak Rabin
went up to Mount Zion in Jerusalem, where he later wrote, ‘I witnessed a
shattering scene. A delegation was
emerging from the Jewish Quarter bearing white flags. I was horrified to learn that consisted of
rabbis and other residents on their way to hear the Legion’s terms for their
capitulation. That same night, the
Jewish Quarter surrendered to the Arab Legion.’” The loss of the Jewish Quarter in the Old
City meant that the spiritual heart of Jerusalem with the Western Walls and its
many synagogues was now under Jordanian control. This was the Arab Legion’s first victory in
Jerusalem. It would prove to be its last
as the Jewish forces were able to strengthen their defenses around the rest of
the city. Esther Cailingold, a 22 year
old English woman was one of the defenders who lost her life in the fight for
the Old City. In a letter to her parents she wrote, “’We had a difficult
fight. I have tasted hell, but it has
been worthwhile because I am convinced that in the end we will have a Jewish
state…I have lived my life fully, and very sweet it has been to be in our
land.’”. Under the U.N. Partition Resolution, Jerusalem was supposed to be
under international control. Instead the Jordanians invaded the city and
held the eastern section for 19 years. During that time they defaced the
Jewish quarter and denied the Jews access to the area under their
control. The world community did nothing to remedy the situation.
Only with the Six Day War in 1967 were Jews able to have access to the entire
City of David.
1948: With
Jewish Quarter completely cut off, Mordechai Weingarten led a delegation that
met with Abdulla el Tell, the commander of the Arab Legion that had illegally
attacked Jerusalem to discuss surrender terms.
Under the terms of the surrender which Weingarten had no choice but
accept “all men capable of bearing arms were made prisoners of war. When
El-Tell saw how few Jewish fighters he had been confronting he told Moshe
Russnak, the Haganah commander that “If I had kown you were so few would have
come after with sticks, not guns.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Weingarten_and_el_Tell.JPG
1948: The
Jewish Quarter suffered a scourge of looting after the departure of its Jewish
residence.
1948: After
the surrender of the Jewish Quarter today, “Esther Calingold and the other
wounded were moved to the nearby Armenian School, just outside of the Jewish
Quarter.”
1948: Israeli
forces captured Zar’in on Mt. Gilboa
1948: Iraqi
troops captured Ge’ulim
1948: At the
U.N. Security Council, following the third or fourth Arab rejection of a cease
fire, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Arthur Austin rejected the Arab position in
most undiplomatic language. He accused
the Arabs of having only one goal – overwhelming the government of Israel by
armed power. “An existing government
cannot be blotted out this way…We know this is a violation of the Charter…This
is equivalent in its absurdity to a legend that these five armies are there to
maintain peace and at the same time are conducting a bloody war.”
1949:
Birthdate of television performer Sandy Helberg, the father of actor Simon
Helberg
1950: In an
attempt to promote peace in the region, the government of Israel proposes that
certain religious sites in Jerusalem be placed under international
control. Everybody from the Arabs to the
Catholic Church rejects the proposal.
1950: The plan
of the three major western powers to tie shipment of arms to Israel and
surrounding Arab states to pledges of non-aggression has met with mixed, mostly
negative reactions from various Arab nations.
While the Egyptians have gone along with this tripartite declaration,
the Iraqis, Lebanese and Syrians have all condemned the western-backed policy.
1951: The BBC
Home Service broadcast the first episode of “Crazy People” a radio comedy
program starring Peter Sellers.
1953: The West
End premiere of “Guys and Dolls” “a musical with music and lyrics by Frank
Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows” opened today at the London Coliseum.”
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that one
Israeli soldier was killed and another wounded when Israeli units clashed with,
and inflicted considerable losses on an armed Jordanian unit near Hebron. The
Jordanians had previously crossed the armistice lines, but were forced to flee
in the ensuing exchange of fire.
1954: Ninety-eight-year-old
Poultney Bigelow, the American journalist who in the 1890’a described the
persecution of non-Orthodox Russians but who portrayed “the Czar as a kindly
man overruled by fierce and venal bureaucrats.”
1955(7th
of Sivan, 5715): Second Day of Shavuot
1955:
“Egyptian and Israeli forces exchanged heavy mortar fire for twenty minutes
today across the demarcation in the Egyptian-held strip of Palestine.”
1957(27th
of Iyar, 5717): Fifty-nine-year-old Minsk native and Yale trained attorney
Samuel H. Markle, the Connecticut regional director of the Anti-Defamation
League, the husband of Bertha Markle and father of Lois Markle “collapsed and
died of heart attack while at tending a session of the 105th annual
convention of District 1 of B’nai B’rith at the Concord Hotel.
1958: “The
Proud Rebel” a movie set in post- Civil War America directed by Michael Curtiz,
produced by Samuel Goldwyn, Jr. with music by Jerome Moross and featuring Eli
Mintz as “Mr. Gorman” was released in the United States today.
1959(28th
of Iyar, 5719): Sixty-year-old Des Moines, IA, native and Yale University
graduate Elliot E. Cohen, the founding editor of Commentary magazine passed away today.
1959: In
Brooklyn, the former Hilma Liebman, who gained fame as the novelist Hilma
Wolitzer and psychologist Morton Wolitzer gave birth to Brown University
graduate and novelist Meg Wolitzer whose works include the novel Sleepwalking
and The Wife.
1959:
Birthdate of Meg Wolitzer, author of The Wife. She followed in the
footsteps of her mother Hilma Wolitzer “whose novels include Ending,In
the Flesh, The Doctor's Daughter and Hearts
1962: Israel
Bar-Yehuda replaced Yitzhak Ben-Aharon as Minister of Ransportation
1962: Enter
Conversing, “a collection thirty-two essays by Clifton Fadiman” is
scheduled to “be issued by World” today,
1962: Arthur
Julian Andrew began serving as the Canadian Ambassador to Israel.
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that in
Washington, the U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. John Foster Dulles, claimed that
the Egyptian Prime Minister, Naguib, was ready to "make a deal with
Israel." (Ed note: Not for the first time and certainly not for the last
time, Secretary Dulles "got it wrong, big time.")
1955(7th
of Sivan, 5715): Second day of Shavuot and Shabbat
1955(7th
of Sivan, 5715): Seventy-five-year-old Philadelphia resident Moses Lawrence
Blumenthal, the Wilmington, NC born son of Samuel Blumenthal and the husband of
Catherine Wallerstein, whom he married at Richmond in 1915 and with whom he had
two children, passed away today.
1955: Herut
and Maki factions presented no-confidence motions, in which the General
Zionists, a coalition member, abstained — leading to Prime Minister Sharett’s
resignation.
1958: “The
Proud Rebel” an off-beat Western film directed by Michael Curtiz, produced by
Samuel Goldwyn, Jr and with music by Jerome Moross was released today in the
United States.
1959: In
Brooklyn novelist Hilma (Liebman) Wolitzer and psychologist Morton Wolitzer
gave birth to author and college writing instructor Meg Wolitzer.
1960:
Birthdate of Gail Sheryl Asper, OC, OM “a director and corporate secretary of
CanWest Global Communications Corp, president of the CanWest Global Foundation,
and managing director and secretary of The Asper Foundation, the private
charitable foundation spearheading the establishment of the $310 million
Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the
daughter of entrepreneur and philanthropist Izzy Asper, she attended Kelvin
High School before receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1981 and a Bachelor
of Laws degree in 1984 from the University of Manitoba. She was called to the
Nova Scotia bar in 1985 and is a member of the Law Society of Manitoba. She
articled with Halifax, Nova Scotia law firm of Cox Downie & Goodfellow in
1984 and was an Associate Lawyer in Halifax with Goldberg McDonald from 1985 to
1989. In 1989, she joined her father's firm, CanWest, as a corporate secretary
and director. She has long been associated with arts and culture as a
volunteer, performer, and fund-raiser. She is associated with the Liberal Party
of Canada and endorsed Scott Brison's bid to become leader in 2006. Ms. Asper
has received numerous community service and humanitarian awards and was the
2005 recipient of the Governor-General Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for
Voluntarism in the Performing Arts. In 2007, she was awarded the Order of
Manitoba. In 2008, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.”
1962: Arthur
Julian Andrew began serving as Canada’s ambassador to Israel.
1962: In Philadelphia
Mardell and Richard L. Baum, Sr gave birth to Michael Baum, the holder of a computer
science degree from Drexel University and an MBA from Wharton “an American businessman and investor, best
known as the founder & CEO of Splunk, a big data software technology used
for understanding machine-generated data primarily for systems management,
security forensics, compliance reporting and real-time operational
intelligence.”
1963(5th
of Sivan, 5723): Erev Shavuot
1963(5th
of Sivan, 5723): Sixty-four year old HUC trained Rabbi Ernest R. Trattner, the
Denver born “son of Louis and Rosa (Levy) Trattner” who began his career
leading Temple Beth Israel in San Diego and who had been leading West Temple in
Los Angeles since 1948 while raising three children – Elinor, Louise and Rosa
Jean – with his wife the former Johanna Gronsky passed away today after which
he was buried at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, CA
1963: U.S.
premiere of “Hud” co-starring Paul Newman and Melvyn Douglas, co-produced by
Irving Ravetch who also wrote the screenplay with music by Elmer Bernstein.
1964:
Birthdate of Israeli born “Action painter” Rotem Reshef who in 1987 “was
awarded a promising young artist scholarship from the America-Israel Cultural
Foundation.
1964:
Palestine National Congress formed the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization)
in the eastern section Jerusalem. The PLO charter called for the
destruction of the state of Israel. At the time of its
founding, Arab countries controlled the West Bank and Gaza.
Yet no attempt was made to create a Palestinian state in these two areas.
1965: “Funeral
services” are scheduled to “be held” in Brussels today for “former Belgian
Chief Rabbi and former Chief Jewish Chaplain of the Belgian army Dr. Solomon
Ullman.” (As reported by JTA)
1965:
Birthdate of actor Alon Moni Aboutboul, the native of Kiryat Ata who “in 2000
won the ‘Film actor of the decade’ award at the Haifa International Film
Festival.”
1966(9th
of Sivan, 5626): Parashat Nasso
1966: In New
South Wales, Australia, Gwen Ford and “Desmond Ford, a noted Seventh-day
Adventist theologian gave birth to author Luke Ford, who converted to Judaism
while living in Los Angeles.
1966: “Rivals
in Democratic Race for Surrogate” published today describe Arthur George Klein
and Samuel Joshua Silverman the candidates for
the Democratic nominated for Manhattan Surrogate both of whom happen to
be Jewish.
1967(18th of
Iyar, 5727): Lag B’Omer observed as the
crisis builds that will lead to war in June, a war in which Israel’s
enemies again failed to destroy the country.
1968(1st
of Sivan, 5728): Rosh Chodesh Sivan
1969: Katyusha
rockets fired from Jordan bombard Jericho twice.
1969: “April’s
Fools,” a romantic comedy directed by Stuart Rosenberg with a score by Marvin
Hamlisch and featuring Harvey Korman as “Matt Benson” was released today in the
United States.
1972: An
apparent terrorist attack was foiled today when a Lebanese woman in possession
of weapons was apprehended in Rome.
1973: At the
Broadway Theatre, final performance of “Henry IV” with David Hurst in the role
of ”Dr. Dionysius Genoni”
1974(7th
of Sivan, 5734): Second Day of Shavuot
1974: More
than 30 Moscow Jews launched a one-day hunger strike in solidarity with
Alexander Feldman.
1974: Yitzhak
Rabin announced the formation of a three-party coalition government that will
replace the government led by fellow Laborite, Golda Meir. The new government represents a bit of a
generational change in the Israeli power structure. The new leaders are all younger than those
they are replacing. Rabin is 52. Yigal
Allon, the new Foreign Minister is 55 and the new Defense Minister,
Shimon Peres is 52. Among the marquee
names missing from the new collation are Moshe Dayan and Abbe Eban.
1976(28th
of Iyar, 5736): Yom Yersushalayim
1976(28th
of Iyar, 5736): Two police officers were killed today while attempting to
defuse a terrorist bomb.
1976: On
Friday night, an historic event happened in Madrid, Spain. Her Majesty, Queen
Sofia, attended Friday Night Services at Madrid's only synagogue. It was a
highly emotional event for many of the congregation that night since it was
another Spanish monarch who expelled their ancestors some 500 years ago.
1977: Five
people were injured when a bomb went off while they were riding on a bus in
Jerusalem.
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that the
Cabinet embarked on a major political debate on the future of the West Bank and
the Gaza Strip. There were indications that unless Israel addresses itself to
the question of the sovereignty of these territories, the U.S. will step in with
its own ideas to get the negotiations for a Middle Eastern settlement moving
again. In New York, the HIAS (Hebrew Immigrants Aid Society) rejected the
Israeli request to stop helping the Soviet drop-outs in Vienna from going to
other countries, instead of going, as they stated in the Soviet Union, that
they intended to leave for Israel.
1979: Sixty-year-old
Herbert S. Landsman, the New York born son of Nathan and Sara Landsman the WW II U.S. Navy Commander and Ivy League
educated executive vice president of Federated Department Stores who married
Madeline Rollman Stricker after his first wife Claire Zimmerman passed away and
raised four children – John, Herbert, Jr, Margaret and Julie – passed away today.
1979(2nd
of Sivan, 5739): Seventy-five year old German born Berthold “Bert” Adler, “the
son of Salomon and Julie Adler” and the husband of Ruth Adler passed away today
in New York City.
1980: Menachem
Begin replaced Ezer Weizman as Minister of Defense
1982(6th
of Sivan, 5742): Shavuot
1983: In “La
Mort de Louise Weiss: Européenne et féministe” published today the French
newspaper Le Monde reported the death of “French journalist and lifelong
champion of European union and women’s rights, Louise Weiss” who had passed
away two days ago.
1984: “One Day
at a Time,” a unique sit-com starring Bonnie Franklin aired for the last time
in prime t.v.
1984: George
“Soros signed a contract between the Soros Foundation (New York) and the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the founding document of the Soros Foundation
Budapest.”
1985(8th
of Sivan, 5745): Seventy-six-year-old “Georges Devereux, a Hungarian-French
ethnologist and psychoanalyst, often considered the founder of ethnopsychiatry”
who converted to Catholicism in 1933 passed away today.
1986: Today,
the U.S Court of Appeals upheld “the conviction of writer R. Foster Winans for securities fraud which had consisted of
him giving advance information about his influential Wall Street Journal column to two brokers, one of whom was Peter
Brant, the Buffalo, NY native who was born Peter Bornstein, the second son “of
Martin Bornstein, “a middle-class Jewish insurance salesman.”
1987: Daniel
Barenboim is scheduled to conduct the IPO during one of several concerts
celebrating the orchestra’s 50th anniversary.
1988: For the
first time HBO broadcast “Blood Money” co-starring Ellen Barkin as “Nadine
Powers.”
1988: At the
Circle in the Square Theatre, final Broadway performance of “Ghetto” “a play by
Israeli playwright Joshua Sobol about the experiences of the Jews of the Vilna
Ghetto during Nazi occupation in World War II” which “focuses on the Jewish
theatre in the ghetto, incorporating live music and including as characters
historical figures such as Jacob Gens, the chief of the Jewish Police and later
Head of the ghetto.”
1991: ABC
broadcast the final episode of the hit sitcom “Thirtysomething” created by
Edward Zwick and Marshal Herskovitz
1995(28th
of Iyar, 5755): Yom Yershualayim
1997(21st of
Iyar, 5757): Ninety-two-year-old Dr. Kurt Adler, the son of Alfred Adler,
passed away today. (As reported by Ford Burkhart)
1998:
According to “Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship,”
which won the George Polk Award, prepared by Amy Goodman, “that documented
Chevron Corporation's role in a confrontation between the Nigerian Army and
villagers who had seized oil rigs and other equipment belonging to oil
corporations” “the company provided helicopter transport to the Nigerian Navy
and Mobile Police (MOPOL) to their Parabe oil platform, which had been occupied
by villagers who accused the company of contaminating their land.”
1998: “The
Eternal Road, an opera-oratorio with spoken dialogue in four acts by Kurt Weill
with a libretto (originally in German: Der Weg der Verheißung – The Way of the
Covenant), by Austrian novelist and playwright Franz Werfel and translated into
English by Ludwig Lewisohn” was first performed today in Vienna.
1999: Today
the REMORA II, a remote operated vehicle, took the first picture of the INS
Dakar after the wreck was found four days ago. The submarine “rests on her
keel, bow to the northwest. Her conning tower was snapped off and fallen over
the side. The stern of the submarine, with the propellers and dive planes,
broke off aft of the engine room and rests beside the main hull. Some small
artifacts were recovered, including the boat's gyrocompass.” But the pictures did not reveal the cause of
the sinking.
2000:
The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including the recently released paperback editions of “Hitler 1889-1936:
Hubris” by Ian Kershaw and Village of a “Million Spirits: A Novel of the
Treblinka Uprising” by Ian MacMillan harrowing account of the daily operations
of the infamous Treblinka concentration camp in Poland, and the 1943 revolt by
hundreds of Jewish prisoners.
2001(6th of
Sivan, 5761): First Day Shavuot, 5761
2001(6th
of Sivan, 5761): Ninety-one-year-old Hyman Lazarus passed away after which he
was buried at the New Tifereth Israel Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio.
2002: Mariane
Pearl gave birth to Adam Daniel Pearl almost four months after his father and
her husband Daniel Pearl was murdered by terrorist in Pakistan.
2003: The 19th
Israel Film Festival opens at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
in Beverly Hills.
2003: “Wicked:
The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz”
“a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz” was performed for
the first time at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco “as the start of SHN
pre-Broadway tryouts.”
2004: Jewish
businessman and community leader, Earle I. Mack was sworn-in as Ambassador to
Finland
2005(19th of Iyar, 5765): Seventy-nine-year-old
Avner-Hair Shaki, a native of Safed who became a governmental leader in Israel
passed away today.
2005: HBO broadcast the first episode of “Empire Falls” a
movie adaptation of the novel of the same name co-starring Paul Newman.
2006(1st of Sivan, 5766): Rosh Chodesh Sivan
2006: The New York Times featured reviews of
books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including
the recently released paperback editions of What We Owe Iraq: War and the Ethics
of Nation Building by Noah Feldman and 1962: The Night of 100 Points and
the Dawn of a New Era by Gary M. Pomeranz
2006: Pope
Benedict XVI visited Auschwitz-Birkenau where he delivered a speech in Italian
to Holocaust survivors and members of the Jewish community in Poland.
2006: Haaretz reports haredim rioted outside
the Ashdod cemetery and stole the body of a baby girl from the cemetery’s
tahara room to prevent
2007: The last
Monday in May is celebrated as Memorial Day. The federal holiday began in 1868
as a way to honor the Union Soldiers who had died in the Civil War. According
to at least one source, over 7,000 soldiers served on both sides during the
Civil War, with the bulk of them fighting on the side of the United States.
(Rabbi Fred Davidow, who has a great deal more expertise on the subject than I
do, can vividly describe the role of Jews in the Confederacy.)
2007: At New
Haven, Benjamin Levin, son of David Levin, graduates from Yale!
2008:
The Walter Reade Theatre in New York features a screening of “Late Marriage,” “ a ribald dark and subversive comedy that
pits tradition against modernity” in a film featuring Zasa, a Tel Aviv bachelor
and his Georgian born mother and “Three
Sisters,” a film that tells the tale of three Sephardic sisters born into an
affluent Egyptian family in the 1940’s and who end their lives sharing a
cramped apartment in Israel half a century later.
2008:
Shachiv Shnaan, an Israeli-Druse political leader entered the Knesset today “following
the resignation of Efraim Sneth.
2008:
Laura Ellen Ziskin was among those who joined in today’s announcement of the
creation of “Stand Up To Cancer.”
2008:
Following further revelations about cash payments by a U.S. businessman to Ehud
Olmert, coalition partner Ehud Barak called on the Prime Minister to resign or
face the collapse of his government.
2008:
In “Pressure Seen Mounting Against Kosher Meat Giant” published today, Debra
Nussbaum Cohen described the hostile reaction of some observant Jews to the
illegal activities of AgriProcessors.
http://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/pressure-seen-mounting-against-kosher-meat-giant/
2008:
During a goodwill visit to Israel that included a visit to the Western Wall, Dr
J, Julius Erving, met with Shimon Peres at the presidential mansion.
2008: Associate Press writer
Reem Khalifa reports Bahrain has named
a Jewish woman as ambassador to US
2009(5th
of Sivan, 5769): Erev Shavuot
2009:
As part of the Tel Aviv Centennial Celebrations many of the “Tikun” (learning
sessions) that are held as part of the observance of Shavuotwill
explore the Jewish facets of Tel Aviv, and the spiritual heritage of the First
Hebrew City.
2009:IDF gunfire wounded four Palestinians in the Gaza
Strip today, medics said, in an incident
that ruptured the calm of a shaky truce achieve after a spasm of cross-border
violence earlier this month.
2010: In Cedar Rapids, IA, on Friday night, Dr. Bob
Silber, a mensch in the truest sense of the word is scheduled to lead services
as Temple Judah hosts it last Musical Shabbat for 5770.
2010:Joshua Joel Siegel, son of Kris and Kenny Siegel and a
fourth generation Temple Judah member, will be giving the Valedictorian speech
at the Commencement Cermonies at Kennedy High School today. He is the brother
of David Siegel; the grandson of the late Oscar and Lillian Siegel and the
grandson of Jerolyn Selkirk. Josh will be attending Stanford University in Palo
Alto, CA.
2010: The Israeli Air Force bombed weapons
manufacturing site and a terror tunnel tonight following further Hamas rocket
attacks on the Western Negev, despite announcements by the terrorist
organization and its allies they would cease the rocket attacks
2011: The Amerigo Trio- Inbal
Segev, cellist; Glenn Dicterow, violinist; Karen Dreyfus, violist -with Pianist Alon
Goldstein is schuedled to perform in
New Lebanon, NY.
2011:For the first
time in the Israel Festival, Yasmin Levy is scheduled to “offer a special
performance including a selection of Ladino songs, well-loved classics, and
original compositions, together with songs from the repertoire of Yiannis
Kotsiras, one of the leading Greek singers. Yiannis, who is considered one of
his country’s most outstanding performers, will join the special performance at
the festival, and the two artists will offer joint renditions of each other’s
songs. The two singers will be accompanied by Levy’s band, which includes some
of the best ethnic instrumentalists in Israel, together with guest
musicians.
2011: Egypt opens the border with Gaza to
Palestinians after four years of closure.
2011: In “The Secret Life of Cairo’s Jews,”
Anthony Julius reviewed the marvelous new work by Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole
entitled Sacred Trash.
2011(24th of Iyar, 5771): Parashat
Bechukotai
2011(24th of Iyar, 5771): Ninety-seven-year-old,
Leo Rangell, a dominant force in the field of psychiatry during the second half
of the 20th century passed away today. (As reported by Paul Vitello)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/us/05rangell.html
2011(24th of Iyar, 5771): Sixty-four-year-old
Milt Avruskin, “the voice of Superstars of Wrestling in the 1970s and
International Wrestling in the 1980s, as well as the key player behind Pro
Wrestling Canada, died suddenly” today. (As reported by Greg Olive
2011(24th of Iyar, 5771): Seventy-year-old
award winning, controversial painter Uri Lifschitz, passed away.
2012(7th
of Sivan, 5772): Second Day of Shavuot
2012: As part of the
Israel Festival, Les Deux Mondes is scheduled to perform “Living Memory” at the
Rebecca Crown Auditorium.
2012: Sports Illustrated reported that the
International Olympic Committee has rejected requests for a moment of silence
at the London Olympics “in recognition of the 40th anniversary of
the 1972 terrorist attacks that killed
11 Israeli coaches and athletes. The IOC
is “reluctant to alienate other members of the Olympic community with any
specific references to the attacks.” 2012: The HBO biopic “Hemingway &
Gellhorn” directed by Philip Kaufman with a script co-authored by Jerry Stahl
aired for the first time tonight.
2012: “An uncertain and uncomfortable calm descended on Tel Aviv today, as
Israel's paramilitary police unit Magav ("Border Guard") deployed
throughout the city's southern neighbourhoods and tensions between residents
and a large population of African migrants simmered just below boiling point.
The deployment follows years of festering resentment by the poverty-stricken
residents of the area, who believe they are unfairly being forced to shoulder
the burden of the tens of thousands of Sudanese and Eritrean refugees and
economic migrant who have arrived in Israel.”
2012: The Virginia Holocaust Museum in Richmond, VA, celebrated Jewish
American Heritage Month by unveiling a Jewish-American Hall of Fame plaque
honouring Nobel Prize Winner in Medicine Dr. Gertrude Elion.
http://jwa.org/thisweek/may/28/2012/gertrude-elion
2013:The 4th International Conference of the Global
Forum for Combating Antisemitism is scheduled to open in Jerusalem.
2013: Today a top Israeli minister condemned Russia’s
declared intention to deliver advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, and
another senior minister said Israel would “know what to do” if the weapons were
delivered. Minister of Intelligence, International Relations and Strategic
Affairs Yuval Steinitz told reporters the Russian decision to press on with the
deal was an “odd” and unjustifiable move, which he said was “totally wrong” on
moral and strategic grounds. (As reported by Raphael Ahren)
2013(19th of Sivan, 5773): Seventy-year-old
photographer Abigail Heyman passed away today. (As reported by Paul Vitello)
2013(19th of Sivan, 5773): Ninety-year-old
Holocaust survivor and physician Henry Morgentaler passed away today. (As
reported by Robert D. McFadden)
2013: Archaeologists expressed deep concern over
construction and renovation works at the Western Wall enclosure in Jerusalem’s
Old City, Maariv reported today. The work, they said, would greatly damage
artefacts under the plaza floor, which would be lost forever. The Israel
Antiquities Authority said in response that extensive preservation work was
being conducted at the site. (As reported by Aaron Kalman)
http://www.timesofisrael.com/western-wall-project-threatens-history-archaeologists-warn/
2014: Professor Marat Grinberg is scheduled to discuss his
biography of Wood Allen, Woody on Rye at the Oregon Jewish Museum.
2014: “Zemer Chai, DC’s Premier Jewish Choir” is scheduled
to perform “In Every Age!” at Ohr Kodesh in Chevy Chase Maryland.
2014: The Kaufman Music Centre is scheduled to present The
Israeli Chamber Project.
2014(28th of Iyar, 5774): One hundred one year
old published Oscar Dystel passed away today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)
2014(28th of Iyar, 5774): Yom Yerushalayim
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Modern_Holidays/Yom_Yerushalayim.shtml
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/yomyerushalayim.html
2014: In honor of Jerusalem
Day, University of Iowa Professor Robert Cargill speaks on “The Water System of
Ancient Jerusalem” this evening.
2014: In “Posin’s: Legen-dairy
in DC” published today Zachary Paul Levine provided a brief history of this
legendary Jewish institution which provided the offer of this blog with
immeasurable amounts of corned beef, bakery fresh bagels, and mouth-watering
smoked white fish.
http://jewishfoodexperience.com/posins-legen-dairy-dc/
2014: “The Foreign Ministry
blamed the Jewish Agency today for endangering eastern Ukraine’s Jewish
community and provoking accusations of dual loyalty. “
2014: “Over a thousand people
on Wednesday attended a state ceremony honoring Ethiopian Jews who died en
route to Israel during two major waves of immigration in 1984 and 1991.”
2014(28th of Iyar,
5774): Eighty –five-year-old Malcolm Glazer the president and chief executive
officer of First Allied Corporation, a holding company for his varied business
interests, and owner of both Manchester United of the Premier League and Tampa
Bay Buccaneers of the NFL passed away today.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/manchester-united-owner-malcolm-glazer-dies-at-85/
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/29/malcolm-glazer
2015:
“An Evening of Exploration” featuring a performance by Itamar Borochov, a
member of Yemen Blues and the New Jerusalem Orchestra and a discussion by Rabbi
Marc Angel and Rabbi Yamin Levy about The David Berg Rare Books Room's latest
exhibit, “Sephardic Journeys” is scheduled to take place at the Center for
Jewish History.
2015(10th
of Sivan, 5775): Ninety-year-old Esther Ghan Firestone, “Canada’s first female
cantor” passed away today.
2015:
“In a lengthy interview with Egypt's Mehwar TV today - segments of which were
translated by MEMRI - historian Maged Farag insisted it was time for Egyptians
to leave "the old ideology and cultural heritage on which we were
raised" - namely, rabid anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism - in favor of a
more rational focus on Egypt's own national interests.”
2015:
“The right-wing American philanthropist Irving Moskowitz purchased an abandoned
church near Hebron for future use as a Jewish West Bank settlement, employing a
variety of shell corporations and charitable organizations to cover up the
acquisition of the property, the Haaretz daily reported” today.
2015:
“The Israel Festival” which “is subsidized by the government and Jerusalem
municipality” is scheduled to open today.
2016(20th
of Iyar, 5776): Parasha Behar
2016:
Ninety-four-year-old banker and pillar of the Jewish community Harold M. Becker
passed away today.
http://www.cedarmemorial.com/Obituary/2016/May/Harold-Becker/
2016:
“Meeting You” a work choreographed by and featuring Israeli Ori Flomin is
scheduled to open at The Club in New York City this evening.
2017:
“To Be or Not To Be” and “Fanny’s Journey” are scheduled to be shown on the
last night of the Washington Jewish Film Festival.
2017:
The New York Times Book Section
features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to
Jewish readers including Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the
Occupation, The Six-Day War: The Breaking of the Middle East by Guy
Laron, A Land Without Borders: My Journey Around East Jerusalem and the West
Bank by Nir Baram, The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise
in Israel and Palestine by Nathan Thrall, Salt Houses by Hala Alyan,
Where the Line is Drawn: A Tale of Crossings, Friendships and Fifty Years of
Occupation in Israel-Palestine by Raja Shehadeh, and A Stricken Field
by Martha Gellhorn as well as an interview with Senator Al Franken
2018:
Memorial Day observed as Americans remember those who made the supreme
sacrifice for the United States and her citizens.
https://kaplancenter.org/memorial-day-and-united-jewish-people
http://forward.com/news/135331/profiles-of-our-fallen/#ixzz1DeAMPaIh
http://www.algemeiner.com/2011/07/18/jews-in-the-military/
2018:
The Oxford University Jewish Society is not scheduled to provide a weekday meal
today because students will be attending the Iftar dinner sponsored by the
Islamic Society that will include Kosher meals for the Jewish attendees.
2018:
JW3 is scheduled to host a screening of “Entebbe” in London this evening.
2018:
In Atlanta, GA, the Breman Museum is scheduled to be open on Memorial Day where
visitors can the permanent exhibition “Absence of Humanity: The Holocaust Years
1933-1945” and “Eighteen Artifacts: A Story of Jewish Atlanta.”
2019:
In London, JW3 is scheduled to host a screening starring Noa Koler who has been
nominated by the Israeli Film Academy for the Best Actress Award.
2019:
The Comedy For Koby tour is scheduled to reach Tel Aviv this evening.
2019:
In Canada, the Edmonton Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to host a screening
of “The Waldheim Waltz,” Ruth Beckermann’s documentary about “the process of
uncovering former UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim’s wartime past.”
2019:
“Rabbi Dr. Raphael Zarum, the Dean of the London School of Jewish Studies” is
scheduled to deliver a lecture on “The Invasion of Tilgath-Pileser III and
Shalmaneser V” as part of a series on “The Ten Lost Tribes.
2019:
The Veterans Games are scheduled to continue for a second day in “Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem at rehabilitation centers run by Beit Halochem.”
2019:
President Zelenskyy, the Jewish leader of Ukraine restored the Ukrainian
citizenship of Mikheil Saakashvili
2019:
If all has gone well with the airlines Jacob Levin returning to his family
after spending a gap-year in Israel on an intensive work/study program. – Go
Bobcats!
2019:
As a glimmer of hope appears in Arab-Israeli relations with the Egyptians
providing assistance in putting the raging wildfire, a shadow also appears as
Israelis look to the skies to see if the firing of an anti-aircraft missile by
Syria was a “fluke” or a muscle-flexing move by the Assad regime.
2020:
The Jewish Arts Collaborative and the Vilna Shul are scheduled to host “Simona
Di Nepi, the Museum of Fine Arts Charles and Lynn Schusterman Curator of
Judaica, as he virtually talks about the stories behind Jewish American objects
in the collection as part of Jewish American Heritage Month.
2020:
S.F. JFCS Holocaust Center scheduled to host a virtual talk by author Glenn
Kurtz, who wrote the book Three Minutes in Poland after discovering a home
movie of his grandparents’ 1938 trip to Poland.
2020:
Addison-Penzak JCC is scheduled to host a Shavuot panel featuring three local
Jewish leaders discussing women in leadership roles, from the Bible to Silicon
Valley, followed by cheesecake-baking class.
2020:
The Switzerland Independent Film Festival is scheduled to host a screening of
“The Spy Behind Home Plate.”
2020:
The Guy Mintus Show featuring the young Israeli piano virtuoso is scheduled to
begin this afternoon.
2020:
The inaugural Great Big Jewish Food Fest featuring Jewish culinary talents like
Michael Solomonov, Joan Nathan and Michael Twitty is scheduled to come to an
end today.
2020:
Live on Zoom, the Leo Baeck Institute is scheduled to host “Refuge in the
Heights” Migration Memory and Authoritarianism in the 20th Century.”
2020(5th
of Sivan, 5780): Erev Shavuot.
2021:
Tonight, His Eminence, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, is
scheduled to attend a special Shabbat service at Temple Emanu-El “in solidarity
against anti-Semitism…”
https://emanuelnyc.ticketleap.com/may-28---in-person-shabbat-services/details
2021:
Kan Kol Hamusika is scheduled to broadcast “Young Artists in Concerts”
featuring Alon Petrillin – Piano; Tom Shamarkov – Violin; Etai Kimmel – Cello;
Malachi Rozenbaum – Piano.
2021:
Bestselling author Anita Diamant is scheduled to appear on JLive to speak about
her new book, Period. End of Sentence., which will be available this
month.
2021:
“A week after a ceasefire brought an end to 11 days of hostilities between
Israel and Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces is reportedly preparing for the
next round of fighting, with senior army officials said concerned an escalation
from the Gaza-based terror group could come at any time.”
2022:
In Jerusalem, The Eden Tamir Center is scheduled to host “The Best of Chamber
Music” performed by violinist David Radynski, cellist Simca Hele and pianist
Michael Zartsekel.
2022
(27th of Iyar, 5782): Parasha Bechukotai and Chapter 5 Pirke Avot
2022:
In the evening, start of Yom Yerushalayim, “the Israeli national holiday
commemorating the reunification of Jerusalem which had been divided for
nineteen years as a result of an illegal occupation by Jordan.
2023:
The Museum at Eldridge Street is scheduled to host an All-of-a-Kind Family
Walking Tour in which participants “follow in the footsteps of Ella, Henny,
Sarah, Charlotte, and Gertie, the beloved sisters depicted in Sydney Taylor’s
children’s classic.”
2023:
The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including
Happily: A Personal History, With Fairy Tales by Sabrina Orah
Mark, who grew up “in Brooklyn in an orthodox Jewish community” where she went
to a Hebrew day school and King: A Life by Jonathan Eig, the new definitive
biography of Martin Luther King Jr.
2023:
In Israel, the fire and rescue services are scheduled to deal with more blazes
and the possibility of flash flooding in the south as the “the country swelters
under a heat wave.
2023:
The final performance of “Hidden,” written and directed by Marc Weiner is
scheduled to take place at Theatre in Manhattan.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hidden-tickets-549457511207
2024:
A screening of "A Pocketful of
Miracles: A Tale of Two Siblings" which is a family memoir focusing on the
pre-war and wartime experiences of siblings Hanka Ciesla, who passed as a
Polish Catholic within Germany, and Dudek Ciesla, who survived Auschwitz, and
the story of Harold Kempner, who captured their reunion in Berlin as a military
government journalist is scheduled to be shown this evening at Bethesda-Chevy
Chase High School in suburban Maryland.
2024:
Even as Israel is fighting for its very existence Reichman University is
scheduled to hold online information session for those seeking to in a BA in Government.
2024:
In Walnut Creek, CA, the Lesher Center for the Arts is scheduled to host the
opening night of the Center Repertory Company presentation of “Cabaret” “the
Tony-winning musical about two doomed romances set in a seedy cabaret called
the Kit Kat Klub during the emergence of antisemitism and fascism in 1920s
Berlin.”
2024:
Lockdown University is scheduled to host a lecture by Jonathan Schanzer on “Iran’s
Multifront War Against Israel.”
2024;
In San Francisco, the American Conservatory Theatre is scheduled to present “The
Lehman Trilogy,” a play that follows “the lives of three immigrant brothers
from when they arrive in America and start an investment firm through the
collapse of the company in 2008.”
2024:
At the Einan Theater - Azrielli Modiin, Modiin, The Koby Mandell Foundation is
scheduled to host fundraiser featuring Jann Karam, Buddy Lewis and John Roy -
hosted by Avi Liberman.
2024:
As May 28th begins in Israel,
an unprecedented wave of anti-Semitism sweeps the United States and the Hamas held hostages begin day 235 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.)