August 12
30 BCE: Cleopatra committed suicide. According to Josephus, the Egyptian tried to
convince her lover and co-ruler, Marc Antony, to give her control over lands to
the east including Syria and Palestine.
Herod was so afraid of her that he reportedly built the fortress at
Masada as place of refuge should she attack. While Antony did not give into all
of her demands, he did give her control over Jericho and several towns
surrounding the ancient city.
1099: During the First Crusade, the Crusaders defeated the
Saracens at the Battle of Ascalon. This
led to the creation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem under Godfrey of Bouillon. The Crusader victory led to a period of
persecution of the small Jewish population living in Palestine. The Crusaders attempted to ban the Jews from
living in Jerusalem. Apparently it did
not occur to them that such a ban would have meant that Jesus could not live in
the Christian kingdom.
1121:
At the Battle of Didgori the Georgian army under King David the Builder won a
decisive victory over the famous Seljuk commander Ilghazi. Georgian-speaking Jewry is one of the oldest surviving
Diaspora Jewish communities. The origin of Georgian Jews, also known as Gurjim
or Ebraeli, is debated, but some claim they are descendants of the ten
tribes exiled by Shalmaneser. Others say the first Jews made their way to
southern Georgia after Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. after
first fleeing to Babylonia. The first Jews in Western Georgia arrived in the
6th century when the region was ruled by the Byzantine Empire. Approximately
3,000 of these Jews then fled to Eastern Georgia, controlled by the Persians,
to escape severe persecution by the Byzantines. The existence of the Jews in
these regions during this period is supported by archaeological evidence
showing that Jews lived in Mtzheta, the ancient capital of the East Georgian
state of Kartli. The Ebraeli spoke Georgian and Jewish traders developed
a dialect called Qivruli, or Judeo-Georgian, which included a number of Hebrew
words. In the second half of the 7th century, the Muslim Empire conquered
extensive Georgian territory, which became an Arab caliph province. Arab emirs
ruled the majority of the region until 1122. Under the Arabs, in the late 9th
century, Abu-Imran Musa al-Za'farani (later known as Abu-Imran al-Tiflisi)
founded a Jewish sect called the Tiflis Sect which lasted for more than 300
years. The sect deviated from halakhah in its marriage and kashrut
customs. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Georgia.html
1281: The fleet of Qubilai Khan, the Chinese emperor who
celebrated the festivals of the Muslims, Christians and Jews, indicating that
there really were a significant number
of Jews living in China during his reign, is destroyed by a typhoon while
approaching Japan.
1317: John XXII, the second of the Avignon Popes, issued “Ex Parte Vestra” a Bull that dealt with converts
who relapse i.e. Jewish converts who wanted to return to the “faith of their
Fathers and Mothers.”
1381(14th of Av, 5141): In the Balearic Islands, Sayd
ben David was burned at the stake after being charged with “incontinence with a
nun”
1452: Birthdate of Abraham Zacuto “a Sephardi Jewish astronomer,
astrologer, mathematician and historian who served as Royal Astronomer in the
15th century to King John II of Portugal. The crater Zagut on the Moon is named
after him.” The creator of new type of astrolabe that could be used at sea, he
was one of the few Jews who was able to flee Portugal despite the edicts of
King Manuel I. He either passed away in
Jerusalem in 1515 or Damascus in 1520.
http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Zacut_BEA.htm
http://thejewniverse.com/2017/the-jewish-astronomer-behind-vasco-da-gamas-maiden-voyage/
1484: The Papacy of Sixtus IV came to an end.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0018_0_18679.html
1530: A charter was
granted to the Jews of Germany despite the protests of Martin Luther. Josel of
Rosheim, the famous "shtadlan" (interceder) was instrumental in its
passing.
1656:
“The Jews of Barbados were granted ‘the privileges of laws and statutes of the
Commonwealth of England and of this island, relating to foreigners and
strangers.’” (Abraham P. Bloch)
1777(9th
of Av, 5537): Tish’a B’Av
1793(4th
of Elul, 5553): Meyer Jacob passed away today and was buried at the Alderney
Road Jewish Cemetery.
1795:
Richea Hart and Abraham Mendes Seixas who were married at Charleston in 1877
gave birth to Zipporah Seixas, their tenth and youngest children.
1799:
Having failed to conquer Palestine, Napoleon ordered the “ransoming of
prisoners.
https://www.shapell.org/manuscript/napoleon-palestine-hostages/
1807(8th
of Av, 5567): Erev Tish’a B’Av
1811:
Today Hamburg native Georg Harog Gerson, “the unsung Jewish hero of the Battle
of Waterloo” “was proposed for the position of Assistant Surgeon…for the 5th
Line Battalion, King’s German Legion.”
1816:
Birthdate of Ion Ghica, the five-time Prime Minister of Romania “a valuable
ally for Yiddish theater in Bucharest who n several occasions expressed his
favorable view of the quality of acting, and even more of the technical aspects
of the Yiddish theater. In 1881, he obtained for the National Theater the
costumes that had been used for a Yiddish pageant on the coronation of King
Solomon, which had been timed in tribute to the actual coronation of Carol I of
Romania.
1816:
Henry Harvey married Louisa Hart at the Hambro Synagogue today.
1817:
Birthdate of German Orientalist Max Grünbaum
1819: Anti-Semitic riots broke out in Darmstadt and
Bayreuth, Germany.
1820(1st
of Av, 5580): Rosh Chodesh Av
1827:
In New York City, Abigail Seixas and Benjamin Jonas Phillips gave birth to
Miriam Eugenia Phillips who died four months after her second birthday.
1827:
Sixty-nine-year-old English poet William Blake whom some critics believe that “t
the end of the section entitled “To the Jews,” Blake expresses a sentiment that
seems, at the very least, philo-semetic” while others argue that ”Blake only accepts the
Jewish people after they have already eradicated their cultural and religious
identity.”
1828:
In Schubin, Prussia, Rabbi Benjamin Mielziner and his wife gave birth Moses
Mielziner who would become a leading rabbi in the Reform Movement.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/mielziner-moses
1829:
John Hadkins married Maria Woolf at the Great Synagogue today.
1829(13th
of Av, 5589): Mordecai ben Abraham Benet, who was born in 1753 and became the
chief rabbi of Moravia passed away.
http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Banet_Mordekhai_ben_Avraham
1833:
Founding of Chicago. Jews were present
in Chicago from its earliest days. The first Jews in the city were German and
Ashkenazim. By 1847, there were enough
Jews in Chicago to establish Kehilath Anshe Maariv — Congregation of the Men of
the West — on an upper floor of a commercial building. The congregation was
popularly referred to as KAM and found its home in Hyde Park among the South
Side German Jewish community. German Jews generally were accepted into
mainstream society. In Chicago, they were already being elected to political
office in the 1850s. Among the enterprises established by Chicago's German Jews
were Florsheim Shoe Co., Hart Schaffner & Marx clothiers, the Brunswick
billiard-table empire, Spiegel mail-order Company and Mandel Brothers
department store, long a fixture on State Street. The Jews of Chicago: From
Shtetl to Suburb by Irving Cutler provides a readable, popular history of
the Jews of the Windy City.
1835:
Isaac Jacobs married Matilda Levy at the Great Synagogue today.
1840:
At Petersburg, VA,Rabbi Abraham H. Cohen officiated at the wedding of Capt.
I.S. Cohen of Columbia, SC and Virginia Davis, he daughter of Ansley Davis
1842:
Birthdate of Emily Bath, the native of Jefferson, Indiana who was interred in
the Jewish Cemetery in Natchitoches, LA when passed away in 1924
1843:
Birthdate of American playwright Bartely Campbell, the son of Irish immigrants
who wrote “Siberia” a play about the persecution of the Jews in Russia.
1844:
Birthdate of Edward Lauterbach, successful defense attorney, leader of the
Republican Party and trustee of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.
1845(9th
of Av, 5606): Tish’a B’Av
1845:
Two days after he had passed away, Mendel Samuel, the husband of Amelia Emanuel
with whom he had five children – Samuel, Charlotte, Jane, Anne and Lewis – was
buried today in the United Kingdom
1845:
Today a month after the death of Henrik Wergeland, the Norwegian leader who
gone from being an anti-Semite to favoring the admission of Jews as full
citizens of his country, passed away, “the constitution committee referred
their recommendation to repeal” the ban on Jews to the Parliament.
1847(30th
of Av, 5607): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1847:
Lawrence Emanuel married Eve Braham at the Great Synagogue today.
1848(13th
of Av, 5608): Avraham Ullmann, who had been born in 1791 and was the son Shalom
Charif Ullman, the chief rabbi of Lackenbach, passed away.
1851:
Luis Schlesinger, a Hungarian born Jew who had fled to the United States after
the failed revolutions of 1848 was captured by the Spanish at Pinar del Rio
when he led an unsuccessful raid on Cuba under the auspices of Cuban General
Narciso Lopez. (As reported by Ben G .Frank)
1853:
A German Jew, who has used a variety of aliases including J. Meyer, was
arrested at the Irving House. While
being taken to court he tried to get rid of a package containing pledge tickets for a large quantity of valuable
goods recently pawned at the shops of Bernstein, Levy, Silver, Smith and
Murdock. The items left at the pawn shop were all stolen.
1854:
The Moral and Religious column described a new sect that has started in England
called The Disciples. They believe that Christ will appear in 1864; that the
Russians will triumph over the Turks and the Jews over the Russians-- the
latter event to happen in ten years' time when the Jews will become a nation in
the Holy Land. Christ is to be their King, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the
rest of the righteous Jews of old, with a few elect among Christians, will rise
from the dead and live forever in Palestine; but the heathen and the wicked
Jews and Christians will sleep eternally.
1857:
Joseph Magnus married Sarah Natali today.
1859:
Birthdate of Albert Lucas, he native of London who was the husband of Rebecca
Nieto and “Secretary of the Union Orthodox Jewish Congregation of America, and
Secretary of the Joint Distribution Committee.”
1860:
In Lebanon, PA, Lemuel and Henrietta Mansbach Oppenheimer gave birth to Bessie Oppenheimer Jaffa the
wife of Henry N. Jaffa whom she married in 1877.
1860:
Birthdate of Polish native Benjamin Feigenbaum, the American Socialist and
journalist who was an associate editor of The
Forward.
http://yleksikon.blogspot.com/2018/10/benyomen-feygenboym-benjamin-feigenbaum.html
1861:
In New York City, Moritz and Sophie (Spier) Stadfelt gave birth to Joseph
Stadtfeld, the husband of Carried Edmundson, who practiced law in Pittsburg
which serving as a director of the Potter Title and Trust Company and Kaufman
Department Stores and being a member of
Rodef Shalom Congregation.
1862:
In Springfield, Illinois, “Samuel Rosenwald and his wife Augusta Hammerslough
Rosenwald, a Jewish immigrant couple from Germany” gave birth to Julius
Rosenwald who turned Sears, Roebuck and Company into a retailing behemoth while
using much of his fortune to support education for African-Americans when this
was one of the least important social concerns in the United States.
http://www.searsarchives.com/people/juliusrosenwald.htm
1862:
Construction was completed on the first synagogue built on Long Island which
came to be known as the Boerum Schule because it was located in Boerum Hill.
1862:
In the part of Germany that included the cities of Moisling and Lubeck, The
Oath More Judaico or Jewish Oath was modified.
It would remain in force until 1879, when the Germans adopted laws
regulating civil procedure which abolished the oath.
1862:
Philadelphian Samuel W. Rowe began serving as a 1st Lieutenant in
Company B of the 122nd Regiment.
1862:
Philadelphian Benjamin F. Baer began serving as a Captain in Company F of the
122nd Regiment.
1862:
Philadelphian Solomon H. Kamer began serving as Corporal in Company G in the
128th Regiment.
1863:
Philadelphian Nathan Fromm, a Corporal in Company A of the 167th
Regiment completed his service with the Union Army today.
1863:
Philadelphian Joseph Jacoby, a Sergeant in Company I of the 167th
Regiment completed his service with the Union Army today.
1865:
Birthdate of a British psychoanalyst, physician, Zionist and writer David Eder
whose opposition to the partition of Palestine in the 1920’s was summed up in
his statement that “There can be only one national home in Palestine, and that
a Jewish one, and no equality in the partnership between Jews and Arabs.”
1869:
In Baltimore, Emma Blumenthal and Samuel Rosenthal gave birth to University of
Maryland trained medical doctor Melvin S. Rosenthal, an associate professor of genito-urinary
diseases at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore and an associate
professor of dermatology at the University of Maryland who was a member of
Congregation Oheb Shalom in Baltimore.
1870(15th
of Av, 5630): Tu B’Av
1870:
Birthdate of Podolia native Akiba Fleischman who in 1897 came to the United
States where he became a journalist in Brooklyn.
1870: A few days into the inquest being held to determine the facts surrounding
the death of Benjamin Nathan, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle protested the
disparity in treatment being shown to his son’s Washington and Frederick, and
the Irish Catholic servants of the Nathan family who had suddenly become the
prime suspects.
1872:
Birthdate of Morris Largeman, “the husband of Annie R. Largmen” and member of
Shaari Zedek in Brooklyn, NY.
1873:
Birthdate of New Yorker Alexander Alexander who passed away in 1940 at Miami
Beach, FL.
1873:
In San Francisco, CA, Moses and Bertha (Koshland) Blum the University of
California trained physician and author Sanford Blum who was the “director of
the research laboratory at the San Francisco Polyclinic and Post Graduate
School.
1874:In
Warsaw, Rabbi Seidel and his wife gave birth
to Rabbi Jacob Seidel who led congregations In Bellair, OH and Wilkes
Barre, PA before lead Congregation Adath Yeshurun in Newport News, VA.
1876:
In New York City, Abraham Freund and his wife gave birth CCNY and University of
Cincinnati graduate Charles Joseph Freund, the HUC trained rabbi who led a
congregation Charleston, W.VA before coming to Congregation Shomer Emoonim in
Toledo, OH in 1900.
1876(22nd
of Av, 5636): Parashat Eikev
1876(22nd
of Av, 5636): Forty-eight-year-old Leopold Blumberg, the Prussian Army Veteran
who came to the United States in 1854, settled in Baltimore, MD and joined the
Union Army after the attack on Fort Sumter finally succumbed to the effects of
the wounds he received when shot by a sharpshooter at the Battle of Antietam in
1862.
1877(3rd
of Elul, 5637): Rabbi Jaques Judah Lyons passed away today in New York. Judah
and Mary Lyons; gave birth to him at Surinam, Dutch Guiana in 1814. “He was
educated in Surinam and was minister of the Spanish & Portuguese
congregation there, Neveh Shalom, for five years. He left Surinam in 1837 and
went to Richmond, Va., where for two years he was minister of the Congregation
Beth Schalom. In 1839 he was elected minister of the Spanish and Portuguese
congregation Shearith Israel, New York city, in succession to Isaac Seixas, and
served the congregation thirty-eight years, successfully combating every
movement to change the form of worship in his congregation. Lyons was among those
who founded The Jews' (now Mount Sinai) Hospital; he was actively concerned in
founding the Jewish Board of Delegates and Hebrew Free Schools and was
superintendent of the Polonies Talmud Torah School…For many years he was
president of the Hebra Hased ve-Emet and of the Sampson Simpson Theological
Fund. Lyons was an ardent student and collected a library that is now in
possession of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.” In 1857, he joined
with Dr. Abraham de Sola of Montreal, in preparing and publishing a Hebrew
calendar covering fifty years, together with an essay on the Jewish calendar
system
1878:
Jewish representatives from the United States, Holland, Germany, England,
Belgium, Romania, Palestine, Turkey, Italy Spain, France Austria and Russia met
in Paris today to celebrate the anniversary of the Alliance Israelite
Universelle of France. During the meeting, the attendees provided reports on
the conditions of Jews in various countries and possible ways to improve their
conditions. It was suggested that a
medal “commemorating the emancipation of the Jews in the East” should be
presented to each member of the Berlin Congress on behalf “of the Jews of the
world.”
1878:
It was reported today that details have been released regarding the will of the
late Michael Reese. His generosity included $650,000 for the State University
of California and $25,000 to the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.
1879(23rd
of Av, 5639): Judah Levy-Yuly, the Moroccan born son of Nessim Levy-Yuly and
brother of Samuel Levy-Yul.
1879:
It was reported today that Romania might agree “to accept the principle of
equal rights for the Jews” if some consideration would be given to how it is
applied. Germany might be willing to
agree to such an arrangement.
1879:
“A Theory of Noses” published today provides an example of the outlandish 19th
century that physical characteristics determined people’s behavior, intellect
and social standing. The fact “that the
Jewish nation has for ages maintained a high level of civilization and that
nevertheless the Jewish nose is not straight but curved” presents a problem for
this theory.
1880:
In Hungary, Kalman Hartman and the former Sarah Luchs gave birth Gustav Hartman
attorney, Republican Party leader, jurist and philanthropist who founded the
Israel Orphan Asylum in 1913 which he oversaw until his death in 1936
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1936/11/16/85435329.pdf
1881: In Ashfield, MA, Henry and Matilda Beatrice
DeMille gave birth to movie mogul Cecil B. DeMille. His father was Episcopalian, and his mother
was Jewish. Regardless of how you view his religious background, he will
forever be connected with Moses and the Jewish people through “The Ten
Commandments.”
1881:
It was reported today that anti-Semitism is so prevalent Pomerania and West
Russia that recent government actions to protect the Jews living there will be
totally ineffective.
1882:
Today’s Congressional Record contained “a speech by the Honorable S.S. Cox on
the persecution of the Jews in Russia.”
It was “an elaborate paper illustrated with poetical extracts, two pages
of tables and a neatly engraved map.”
1882:
Birthdate of Montreal native Archibald Moses Hillman, the Harvard trained
attorney who served as assistant city solicitor in Worcester, MA and as an
officer of the United Jewish Charities and B’nai B’rith
1882:
“Russian Jews” published today described the plan of Chicago banker Lazarus
Silverman to settle several Jewish immigrant families totaling 150 men, women
in children on 300 acres that owns on 300 acres of land on Carp Lake in
Michigan. The group includes one tailor, one wagon-maker, one blacksmith, one
cooper, one paper-hanger, two tinsmiths, three coppersmiths and most important
of all, 3 farmers.
1883(9th
of Av, 5643): Tish’a B’Av
1883(9th
of Av, 5643): Sixty-five-year-old Jeanette Ries Mayer, the Alsace born daughter
of Moses and Eléonore "Ella" (Salomon) Ries and the widow of John
Mayer who had passed away in 1882 and the mother of Maurice, Emma, Simon,
Caroline, Ophelia, Henry, Clementine, Melanie, Adelaide, Theresa, Benjamin, John,
Jr., Eleanora and Joseph Mayer
died today in Natchez, MS after which she was
buried the Jewish Hill plot of the Natchez City Cemetery.
1883:
“Bread Making” published today which describes the baking of bread in the
British Isles begins by declaring that “since the time of the early Jews there
has been very little change in the process.”
1883:
“Ancient Manuscripts” published today described how Moses Shapira acquired an
ancient copy of the Book of Deuteronomy in Palestine and sent it on to London
where it can be preserved and studied. It is claimed this codex is 2,700 years
old and provides evidence that the ancient Israelites were writing “consecutive
narrative” at a time that corresponds to the Greeks Homer and Hesiod.
1884:
It was reported today that a note had been found on the body of Israel
Blatchky, a young Jew who had been living in Des Moines for three years. According to the note he was despondent over
a failed love affair and bought poison six months ago.
1884:
Birthdate of Yiddish writer David Bergeson whose “only child, Lev, was an
eminent Soviet biochemist who served as a Soviet Army captain during World War
II and emigrated to Israel in 1991 with his wife Naomi, where both he and his
wife died in 2014 and who was ironically murdered by Stalinist anti-Semitic
purge that took place 68 years to the day from the date of his birth.
http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Bergelson_Dovid
1884:
Birthdate of May Belle Greenebaum, the wife of Herbert Fleishhacker and mother
of Marjorie, Herbert, Jr and Alan Fleishhacker.
1884:
In Telšiai, Lithuania, Isaac Noyk and Esther Chana Ravid gave birth to Michael
Noyk who became a solicitor and Irish republican political leader.
1884:
Leading Chicago businessman Morris L. Cohn was arraigned today and held for
trial in lieu of $10,000 bond on numerous charges of forgery that included his
issuance of $15,000 in bogus notes.
1885:
Americans living Haifa write today that their “colony” in that city “is well
known as an industrious, intelligent and law-abiding community and the members
of it are justly entitled to the full protection of their government…The time
has come when it is absolutely necessary for the United States government to
take a firm stand against the aggressive and illegal policy of the Turkish
authorities.” (As reported by Ruth Kark
and Seth Frantzman)
1885:
Birthdate of Russian native Samuel Maurice Pearl, who came to Boston in 1901,
earned a medical degree from Tufts University and practiced medicine in Boston
where he also served as a “trustee with B’nai B’rith.
1887:
Congregation Keneseth Israel of Philadelphia, PA made a payment of $152 to the
Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
1887:
In France, Esther and Joseph Tcherniac gave birth to Dora Tcherniac.
1887:
Seymour Bottigheimer the son of Ellis Bottigheimer of Richmond, VA turned
celebrated his sixteenth birthday today while waiting to find out if he had
been admitted to Hebrew Union College.
1888:
It was reported today that the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children will be providing
another free excursion for sick children under the age of six later this month.
1888:
In St. Paul, MN, Silas Abraham Vehon and Anna Vehon gave birth to Isadore Vehon
who was a merchant in Salina, KS and the husband of Josephine Bondy.
1890:
The Lord Mayor of London announced that “inquiries into the persecution of the
Jews of Russia give reason to believe that the Government’s edicts will not be
enforced.” (He was wrong)
1890: Birthdate of Al Goodman. Born in Nikopol
Russia, he was the orchestra leader for the NBC Comedy Hour, a show that
dominated Sunday nights during the early 1950’s.
1891(8th of Av, 5651): Erev Tish’a B’Av
1891: In Russayn, Meyer Cohen and Rebecca Benyash gave birth to
Canadian lawyer and professor Joseph Cohen.
1891: Birthdate of New York native and CCNY alum Benjamin Sinclair
Hornstein, the “executive with the
American Wholesale Corp who may have been the husband of Renee “Ray” Skloer.
1892: In Canada, Judge Dugas ordered the extradition of two Jews -
Harris Blank and Charles Rosenweigh - who are accused of murdering a Jewish
peddler named Jacob Marks in Towanda, PA.
1892: Davis Rubenstein, a Russian Jew who lives at 183 Clinton
Street lodged a complaint against Berman’s butcher shop at 9 Suffolk Street for
the sale of “impure food.”
1893: Birthdate of Elmira, NY, native Irwin Wallace Alpert, the
orthopedic surgeon educated at Union College and the University of Buffalo.
1893: In New Orleans, Maximilian Heller, the rabbi at Temple Sinai
and a leading member of the Reform movement and Ida Annie Heller gave birth to
Isaac Sherck Heller
1893: Birthdate of sculptor Bashka Paeff, the native of Minks who
began her training at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and created
such works as the “Lexington Militia Man” relief.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9B02E0DA1639E732A25755C2A9679C946890D6CF
1894(10th
of Av, 5654): The 9th of Av fell on Shabbat so Tish’a B’Av is
observed today
1895: Felix Fader who was found selling calico from a pushcart on
Mulberry Street, Nathan Rablowitz who was caught selling dry goods at his store
on Grand Street, Abraham Wolf who was arrested for selling three hats on Bowery
and Max Rothman who was arrested for selling underwear from a wheelbarrow on
Catherine Street went to court and pleaded that they observed the Jewish
Sabbath which meant they should not have been arrested for violating the Sunday
Closing Laws. The court “overruled their
plea that they worked on the Christian Sunday they must do so quietly.” This
downturn was consistent with the downturn for all immigrant groups.
1895: Birthdate of Rabbi Baruch I. Treiger, the graduate of JTS
and husband of Leah F. Treiger who was serving at Congregation Agudath Achim of
Altoona, PA when he passed away in 1954.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1954/11/14/110072133.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1896: Birthdate of Loyola of Chicago trained dentist Irving Earl
Laby who served on the faculty of his alma mater.
1897: At Temple Emanuel, Rabbi Gustav Gottheil will officiate at
the funeral of the late Moses Schloss the life-long Republican businessman who
had served as the Congregation’s Vice President as well as President of the
Hebrew Theological Institute. He was
predeceased by his wife of 56 years, Amalia Water, the daughter of I.D.
Walter. He is survived by his bother
Philip and his son Israel,
1897: A summary of immigration statistics published today showed
that 22,750 Russian Jews had arrived in the United States as of the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1897. This compared with
45,137 Russian Jews who had arrived in the United States for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1896.
1897: Two days after he had passed away “in his 47th
year,” Michael Isaacs was buried today at the Plashet Jewish Cemetery in
London.
1898:
An armistice took effect ending the Spanish-American War. “In the Spanish-American War, Jews once again
demonstrated that they are willing and ready to fight and serve in defense of
our country. When the battleship Main was sunk on February 15, 1898, there were
15 Jewish sailors who went down with the ship. The executive officer of the
Maine, and later a vice admiral in the United States Navy, was Adolph Marix, a
Jew. Marix was the chairman of a board of inquiry to investigate the mysterious
sinking of the Maine. It is interesting to note that his father was an interpreter
in the Lincoln Administration and that Abraham Lincoln appointed Adolph Marix
to the United States Naval Academy. When the United States declared war against
Spain on
1898: Birthdate of actor Oscar Homolka who was not Jewish but whose first
wife was Jewish and who left for Great Britain when the Nazis came to power.
1899: In Rennes, France, the President of the Court returned Dreyfus’
salute for the first time marking a shift in the tone of the Court Martial
which indicates the Jewish Captain will be acquitted.
1899: “Third Zionist Congress” published today identified the “two chief
questions” that will be discussed at the upcoming meeting in Basel, Switzerland
which relate to the settlement in Palestine and the “financing of trust
company” which will further that endeavor.
1899: Five thousand “enthusiastic” Jews gather in London this evening to
express their sympathy with Captain Dreyfus.
1899:Herzl travels to Darmstadt and is
received by the Grossherzog of Hessen, brother-in-law of the Czar. Herzl asks
him to recommend the "Chartered Company" to the Czar.
1899: “Dreyfusites Ask Full Publicity” published today described the demand
of Dreyfus’ supporters that that the secret dossier which was used to convict
him should be made public so that everybody can see the obvious forgeries and
understand that he was framed by the military.
1899: Jacob Adler performed the role of King Lear at the People’s
Theatre, a Jewish playhouse located in the Bowery.
1900:
A Garden Party was held in Regent's
Park during Herzl’s visit to Great Britain.
1900(17th of Av, 5660): The Father of
Modern Chess, Wilhelm Steinitz, passed away.
Born in the Jewish Ghetto in Prague, in 1836, Steinitz began
his professional career as a journalist.
He won his first major chess tournament in Vienna in 1861. This marked the beginning of his domination
of the game that would continue almost up to the time of his death.
1901: Just a week before his 22nd birthday, Louis H.
Glueck, the Russian born son of Joseph and Rebecca (Levin) Glueck, the future
president of the Mid-City State banks and Mid-City Realty and one of the
organizes of the Talmud Torah and Congregation Temple Israeli in Gary, Indiana
married Rachel Cohen today in Chicago,
1902(9th of Av, 5662): Tisha’ B’Av
1902: In Dallas, TX, Rabbi Simon Glazer and Ida Cantor Glazer gave
birth to B. Benedict Glazer, the brother of Charles and Aubrey Glazer, who
followed in his father’s footsteps after being ordained at HUC, leading
congregations in New York and Detroit, Michigan where he also served on the
state’s Commission on Civil Rights.
1903: In a letter to the Philadelphia Public Ledger. Jacob H.
Schiff wrote that Jewish question in Russia must
be solved by and in Russia” because five million people cannot emigrate, and no
matter how many of its Jewish subjects may leave the Czar's dominions there
will always remain five million Jews in Russia.”
1904(1st of Elul, 5664): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1904(1st of Elul, 5664): Thirty-one-year-old Rumanian
native Mary Bunderoff passed away today after which she was buried at the Happy
Valley Jewish Cemetery in Hong Kong.
1905(11th of Av, 5665): Shabbat Nachamu
1906: “The
tenth Summer assembly of the Jewish Chautauqua Society came to a close this
morning with a business session, when the officers were re-elected and
resolutions were adopted, one of which recommends that future gatherings be
held elsewhere than in Atlantic City.”
1907: In
Rome, Romolo Milan ad Valeria Milano gave birth to historian Attilio who moved
to Palestine in 1939 when Italy adopted anti-Semitic laws and who was the
husband of Zevi Milano.
https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/milano-attilio
1907: It was reported today that in Casablanca, “having completely
plundered the Morish and Jewish quarters” the Arabs attacked the “consulates in
order to have the European shops and stores at their mercy.”
1907: It was reported today that Lewis Kahn, Bero Kohn and Louis
H. Levin, three
members of the Building Committee of the newly organized Jewish Home for
Consumptives in Baltimore, Md., which is to build a $100,000 sanitarium for
those suffering from the disease in that city, reached Saranac Lake in less
than week while traveling in a motor car owned by Albert A. Broger, chairman of
the committee.
1908(15th of 5658): Tu B’Av is observed for the last
time during the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt.
1909: In “Human Sacrifice: The Teaching of Old Testament and
Jewish Religion” published today Rabbi H. Pereira Mendes takes issue with the
assertion published in the NYT that “repeats the assertion that the God of the
Hebrews desired human sacrifice.”
1910: Jews in Serres, Salonica protested against the use of the
200-year-old Jewish cemetery site for the construction of a new hospital. The
plan was later abandoned.
1911(18th of Av, 5671): Parashat Eikev
1911: It was reported today that 102-year-old “Mrs. S. H. Cohen of
London, the great aunt of Sir Rufus Isaac is the oldest Jewess in England.”
1911: It was reported today that “in a recent address Czar
Ferdinand of Bulgaria said that he hoped the Jews would always regarded as
political equals in that country…”
1911: It was reported today due to “constant persecution,” one
hundred Persian Jewish families from Shiraz “who have lost their homes” “have
petitioned the Jews of London” for funds to help them emigrate to Palestine.
1911(18th of Av, 5671): Eighty-seven-year-old Dutch painter Jozef
Israëls whose works included “David Singing Before Saul” and “Jewish Wedding”
painted in 1903 passed away today
http://www.nndb.com/people/207/000104892/
1912:Yankee Guy Zinn sets a record by stealing home twice
in the same game.
1912: On his 50th birthday Julius “Rosenwald made a
dramatic entry into large-scale philanthropy” when he “announced he would be
giving away close to $700,000 (about $16 million in current dollars), and
encouraged other wealthy individuals to support good causes of their own. “Give
While You Live,” was his slogan.”
http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/hall_of_fame/julius_rosenwald
1912(29th of Av, 5672): Twenty-seven-year-old Chester
H. Brunswick, the “Deputy Harbor and Wharf Commissioner” passed away today in
St. Louis.
1912: In Worcester, MA, Benjamin Rabinovitch and his wife gave
birth to author and screenwriter Samuel Michael Fuller the decorated member of
the Army’s famous First Division which he immortalized in “The Big Red One,”
the popular name for his WW II unit
1912: Birthdate of Max I Dimont, the native of Helsinki who moved
to Cleveland as a teenager and wrote Jews, God and History while
spending 35 years working for Edison Brothers.
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/jews-god-and-history-by-max-i-dimont/
1912: Birthdate of Whitney Harris, one of the prosecutors who
brought high-ranking Nazi war criminals to justice at the Nuremberg trials and
who, a half-century later, was a significant voice in the creation of the
International Criminal Court.
1913(9th of Av, 5673): Tish’A B’Av
1913: The brand name "Oreo" was registered by the United
States Patent and Trademark Office for exclusive use by the National Biscuit
Company (Nabisco) for its cookies which get its Chesher in 1988.
1914: As Europe stumbles its way into what will become World War I
with all of its negative consequences for Jews Britain (and therefore the
British Empire) declares war on Austria-Hungary.
1914: “Jewish historian
Gustav Mayer…found his father bewailing the collapse of business as his drapery
shop in Berlin’s Zehlendorf. (As
reported by Max Hastings)
1915: In Wennetka, a suburb of Chicago Alfred Samuel Alschuler,
Sr. and Rose Alice Alschuler, the daughter of Charles and Mary Haas, gave birth
to Richard Haas Alschuler
1915: At the Dardanelles, during the Gallipoli campaign, for the
first time a ship was sunk by torpedo from a British seaplane
1915: Sixty year old Eli Pochansky, “an Orthodox Jewish father”
who believes that smoking cigarettes on
the Sabbath is a sin deserving of severe punishment” appeared in Tombs Court
today “on a charge of assaulting members of his family who do not conform to
his views.”
1916: Isaac Don Levine, the Russian born American newspaperman who
covered the Russian Revolution for the New York Herald Tribune described a
meeting of the ruling Cabinet held in July where discussion of the “Jewish
Question” included approval of the abolishment of the Pale of Settlement and
agreement to discuss it further when “the Minister of Finances, Pierre Bark and
the Imperial Controller N.N. Pokrovsky return from abroad.”
1916(13th of Av, 5676): Parashat Vaetchanan
1916(13th of Av, 5676): Polish born Simeon Kutner the “oralist
teacher of the deaf, who became Head Master of the Jews’ Deaf and Dumb Home, in
Wandsworth passed away today in London.
https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/library-rnid/tag/jewish-deaf-school/
1916: At a farewell luncheon at the City Club, “Abram I. Elkus,
the newly appointed Ambassador to Turkey, told Jewish editors and educators”
including Herman Bernstein “that serious problems awaited him in Turkey but he
hoped to to solve them to the satisfaction of the Administration and of his
friends.”
1916: “Italian troops landed at Salonika” home to an ancient
Jewish community that would be wiped in the Shoah, and joined in the fighting
with Allied forces.
1916: In the aftermath of
the Battle of Romani, the first clear victory by Allied troops over the
Ottomans, the Anzac Mounted Division entered Bir el Abd and found that the
Austrians, Turks and Germans had withdrawn and was head back to El Arish and
beyond.
1917: It was reported today that, “following the example set by
Nathan Straus who has offered his New York City home for sale for the benefit
of Jewish war sufferers, Mrs. Charles Brady of Rock Island, Illinois has given
away her jewels with the idea that they will be sold and the proceeds given to
the Central Jewish Relief Committee” which is attempting to raise $10,000,000
under the leadership of Harry Fischel who is the treasurer.
1917: “About 100 Palestine Jews, principally the wives and
children of men who were naturalized years ago in the United States arrived” in
Berne, Switzerland “today from Jerusalem on their way to New York.”
1918: Birthdate of Sanford Daniel Garelik, the Bronx native whom
became the first Jew to serve as Chief Inspector in the New York Police
Department (As reported by Matt Flegenheimer)
1918: Birthdate of Sidney “Sid” Bernstein the “impresario whose
long career included bringing the Beatles to Carnegie Hall in 1964 and Shea
Stadium in 1965.” (As reported by Allan Kozinin)
1918: The “announcement of the decision of the Prussian Foreign
Minister that Jewish laborers will not be admitted to Germany from the East has
caused resentment in all Jewish circles especially in Austria” where the
realization has set in that while “Russia has abolished all laws placing
limitations on Jews” “Germany is the only European state which wises to drive
out the Jews.”
1918: General John Monash was knighted as a Knight Commander of
the Order of the Bath on the battlefield by King George V following the
successful Battle of Amiens. (Monash was Jewish; King George wasn’t)
1918(4th of Elul, 5678): Anna Held Polish-born, American actress
and singer, passed away. Held is
variously described as the mistress and/or common-in-law wife of Flo
Ziegfeld. Reportedly, she collaborated
with Ziegfeld on the creation of his famed Follies review. She was 46 when she
died of cancer.
1919: “It is reported from Warsaw that 40,000 Polish Jews have
permission to emigrate to America” and “it is expected that that there will be
a great number of emigrants leaving the whole of Central Europe in the near
future for America.”
1919: Mrs. Henry Moskowitz was among those named to serve on the
committee appointed by Federal Food Administrator for New York that will
“determine fair prices” in New York.
1920: “Colonel Harry Cutler” who has been “named by Secretary
Baker” to serve “on the War Memorial Commission left for Europe” today aboard
the SS Imperator.
1921: Following an earlier donation by Mrs. Nathan Straus of
jewels valued at $18,500 to the “Zionist Organization of America for medical
and health services in Palestine, today, “Nathan Straus presented eight milk
stations and a pasteurization laboratory” to the city of New York.
1922: Birthdate of Holocaust survivor and Polish journalist,
Leopold Unger.
1923: It was reported today that at a session of the World Zionist
Congress that Dr. Chaim Weizmann and Nahum Sokolow received “a huge ovation”
when they “defended their administration from the attacks to which it has been
subjected during the last few days.”
1924: “Post-war conditions affecting Jews in Europe will be
considered at a conference of delegates from various countries at Carlsbad
which is scheduled to begin today.
1924:
Moshav Magdi'el (now part of Hod Hasharon) was founded. A Moshav is a form of
collective settlement. Unlike the
Kibbutz, the Moshav allowed for more private ownership. Hod Hashron has grown into a modern city in
the Central District of Israel.
1925:
“Cables received by Dr. Henry Moskowitz, Chairman of the ORT Reconstruction
Funds from the office of the European ORT Council “ report that $62,000 has
been assigned to reconstruction work in Russia.
1925(22nd of Av, 5685): Fifty-nine-year-old Albert Kruger,
the husband of Yetta Kruger and Lewis Kruger who was “one of the leaders of
Jewish philanthropic work in New York City” and “for more tan 25 years the
Superintendent of the Home of the Daughters of Jacob” passed away today.
1926:
In Southwark, “a professional photographer” and his wife gave birth to David
Cyril Aarons who gained fame as “jazz pianist and songwriter” David Lee.
1927: Birthdate of cellist Mstislav Rostropovich winner of the Jewish
National Fund 1987 Man of the Year and the Humanitarian Award from the United
Jewish Appeal Federation.
1928: Today “nearly 1,000 Jewish farmers from all over New England
celebrated their annual field at Rockville, CT.
1929:
In Berlin Polish born furrier Same Rosenfeld and his wife Esther (Szerman) gave
birth toe Hirsch (Harry) Moritz Rosenfeld the Syracuse University graduate
husband of Anne (Hahn) Rosenfiled with whom he had two daughters – Susan and
Stefanie – who as the Washington Post’s assistant managing editor for
metropolitan news played a key role in the coverage of the Watergate Scandal.
(As reported by Sam Roberts)
1930:
In Budapest, Erzsébet (also known as Elizabeth) Soros and attorney “Tivadar”
Soros gave birth to “billionaire businessman and philanthropist George Soros
“the right wing bogeyman” who in a 1993 speech essentially blamed Jews for
anti-Semitism saying that the rise in European anti-Semitism was just the
result of Israel’s policies which lead the “head of the Anti-Defamation League
to describe his views as obscene.”
1931: In Highland Park, Illinois, Marion (née Weil) and Maurice
Clarence Goldman gave birth to author William Goldman, whose works included Marathon
Man and Princess Bride as well as the script for “Butch Cassidy and
the Sundance Kid.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/16/obituaries/william-goldman-dead.html
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/nov/16/william-goldman-obituary
1931:Louis Lipsky, former president of the Zionist
Organization of America, returned today aboard the White Star liner Homeric
from Europe where he had attended the World Zionist Congress, held recently at
Basle, Switzerland.
1931: “Following the death of President George Cowen and the
resignation of Sigmund T. Hess, Walter T. Kohn was elected president of Temple
Beth Miriam in Long Branch, NJ.
1931: Martha and Jackie Fields, the winner of two boxing world
championships were joined in a marriage today which did not last since they
separated in 1940 and divorced in 1944.
1932: The Issuance of a permit for the operation of a small
refreshment concession at the Cumberland Street entrance to Fort Greene Park,
Brooklyn, was authorized "through a misrepresentation on the part of the
concessionaire" and will become void after Sept. 15, according to an
explanation of the incident by the acting Park Commissioner in Brooklyn, in a
letter to Nathan Straus Jr., president of the Park Association of New York
City, Inc.
1933: “Formation of a committee for the defense of Jewish rights
in Central and Eastern Europe was announced by a group of influential people
including Anatole Demonze, Minister of National Education in Paris tonight.
1934: It was reported today that German Minister to Argentina had
told Fritz Busch that if he performed a concert with violinist Mischa Elman “he
would not be permitted to return to Germany.”
1935: Birthdate of Joan Hamburg, “New York Radio’s First Lady” and
the first cousin of Arthur Liman.
1936: In Vienna, Ernest and Mimi Hausner gave birth to Evelyn
Hausner, the Austrian born refugee who gained fame as Evelyn Lauder, the wife
of Leonard Lauder.
1936: Today, New York City “Mayor La Guardia accepted…membership
on a committee sponsoring the publication of the United Palestine Appear Year
Book for 1936 which will aid the $3,500,000 campaign for the settlement in
Palestine of Jews from Germany, Poland and other lands” writing to the
committee that “the regeneration of Palestine through the settling of more than
30,000 refugees from Germany is a warning to oppressors and tyrants.”
1936: “A proposal was made today to finance by an individual tax
the permanent world organization that the World Jewish Congress is meeting” at
Geneva “to create” while “the boycott commission agreed today to recommend that
the Jewish congress endorse the German boycott, establish a special department
to extend and strengthen this boycott and issue economic reports exposing
subsidies for products made in Germany.”
1937: The British Colonial Secretary, Mr. W.G.A.
Ormsby-Gore, declared in Geneva, during the deliberations of the League of
Nations Permanent Mandates Commission, that he was told by Dr. Chaim Weizmann
that the political resolution adopted by the 20th Zionist Congress opened the
door to negotiations for giving effect to the Peel Commission¹s proposals for
the partition of Palestine and that talks on this subject would start at the
conclusion of the September sessions of the League of Nations Council. Reports
from Damascus indicated that Syria had become the center of activity for the
training of armed men, the future leaders of the Palestine Arab uprising. The
recent attack on Kfar Menahem was a trial measure perpetrated by such roving
terrorist bands. The Arab Higher Committee denied that foreign money donations
were used to carry out such military and sabotage training, carried out in
preparations for future disturbances.
1937: “A contract was drawn up today requesting ‘musical dramatic
work…suitable for radio broadcasting” that would result in Marc Blitzstein
creating “I’ve Got the Tune,” an opera dedicated to Orson Wells for CBS Radio.
1937:A proposal to settle 200,000 Jews in
Palestine within the next three years, involving an investment of about
$175,000,000, was laid before the World Zionist Congress today. The proposal
was made by Elieser Kaplal, treasurer of the Zionist executive committee, who
said American Jewry was expected to contribute $2,000,000 to the Zionist
movement and Palestine fund in the current fiscal year.
1938(15th of Av, 5698): Tu B’Av
1938(15th of Av, 5698): Seventy-four-year-old German born
Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt who married Emilie (Mimi) Cohen, the daughter of
artist Eduard Cohn, in 1903, and was involved in the excavations of the Pyramid
of Sahure and Amana where the bust of Nefertiti was found passed away today in
Paris.
1938: In Timblin, PA, Doras and Christine Huffman gave birth “actress and
voiceover artist” the wife of screenwriter and producer Richard Levinson.
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/rosanna-levinson-obituary?pid=180127392
1939: In Greenwich, CT, Walter E. Sachs, an investment banker with
Benjamin & Sachs married actress Mary Williamson.
1939: In Baltimore, Ruth Levinson, “a homemaker” and Melvin Jacobs “a
bookie, cabdriver and insurance salesman
gave birth to David Jacobs the screenwriter who created “Dallas” the prime-time
CBS soap opera that made JR Ewing a household name.
1939: “The Spy in Black” produced by Alexander Korda with a screenplay by
Emeric Pressburger was released in the United Kingdom today by Columbia
Pictures.
1940(8th of Av, 5700): Erev Tish'a B'Av
1940: In New York City, Ruth (née Goldberg) Kostner and her husband, Wall
Street executive Theodore Kostner, gave birth to Gail Kostner who gained fame
as screenwriter and author Gail Parent.
1941: It was reported today that “Edgar J. Nathan, recently chosen by the
New York County Republican organization as its candidate for Borough President
of Manhattan, may also be entered in the Labor party primary against Stanley M.
Issacs, the incumbent,:
1941: In Vire, France, Abraham Drucker and his wife gave birth to
television executive Jean Drucker, the brother television host Michel Rucker
and Professor of Medicine Jacques Drucker and the father of journalist Marie
Drucker.
1941(19th of Av, 5701):
Nazis began the systematic murder of the Jews of Dvinsk, Latvia.
1941: The House of
Representative votes to extend the first peace time conscription bill. Proponents of the bill prevailed by one
vote. This one-vote victory was one of
Sam Rayburn’s proudest legislative accomplishments. If the bill had not passed, the United States
would have been in the process of disbanding its newly created military force
just at the moment when the Japanese were attacking Pearl Harbor. One can only imagine of how much longer World
War II would have lasted and how many more than six million Jews would have
perished in a prolonged Holocaust.
1941: “Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde” the movie version of the 19th century novella with a
script co-authored by Samuel Hoffenstein, music by Franz Waxman and filmed by
cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg was released in the United States today.
1942: Despite a
campaign under the leadership of Hashomer Hatzair activist Zvi Dunski to stay
away, “all the remaining Jews in Bedzin, Sosnowiec and Dabrowa Gornicza, the
three neighboring towns located in the Zaglebie district in southwest Poland
reported to the soccer field in Sosnowiec, where instead of having their papers
revalidated they were subjected to “a large selection resulting in the
deportation of 8,000 to Auschwitz.”
1942: Eighty-seven year
old Jacob Gould Schurman who as President of Cornell University in 1905 sent a
check to Jacob H. Schiff “for the fund in relief of the suffering Jews of
Russia” along with a letter saying “The atrocities of the Russian mob have been
beyond all description or imagination” and that it was his prayer “that the
Christians of America may…remember with compassion and help with the generous
contributions their sorely stricken Jewish brethren in Russia” passed away
today.
1942(29th of Av, 5702):
Fifty-six-year-old pioneering psychoanalyst Sabin Spielrein was murdered by the
Nazis at Rostov-on-Don.
http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesmz/a/sabina-spielrein.htm
1943: “Phantom of the
Opera” directed by Arthur Lubin and featuring J. Edward Bromberg was released
today in the United States.
1944: Members of the 16th
SS-Panzergrenadier Division “Reichsfuehrer SS,” killed more than 500 civilians
in the Tuscan Village of Sant’Anna di Stazzema (As reported by David Rising)
http://www.timesofisrael.com/germany-drops-investigation-into-nazi-massacre-in-italy/
1944: Birthdate of
American actor Bruce Solomon who appropriately played Rabbi David Small in the
television series “Lanigan’s Rabbi.”
1944(23rd of Av, 5704):
Berl Katznelson “one the intellectual founders of Labor Zionism, instrumental
to the establishment of the modern State of Israel, and the editor of Davar,
the first daily newspaper of the workers' movement,” passed away today. “He was
born in Bobruysk, Russia in 1887, and dreamed of settling in the Jewish
homeland from an early age. In Russia, he was a librarian in a Hebrew-Yiddish
library and taught Hebrew literature and Jewish history. He made aliyah to
Ottoman Palestine in 1909, where he worked in agriculture and took an active
role in organizing workers' federations based on the idea of "common work,
life and aspirations." With Meir Rothberg, Katznelson founded the consumer
co-operative known as Hamashbir Latzarhan. He helped to establish the Kupat
Holim Clalit sick fund, a major fixture in Israel's network of socialized
medicine. He was the editor of the newspaper, Davar, as well as the founder and
first editor-in-chief of the Am Oved publishing house.” Katznelson was buried
in the cemetery on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
1944: “Just
days before the liberation of Paris” 39-year-old Suzanne Spaak, the lady of
luxury who joined the joined Leopold Trepper’s “Red Orchestra and saved 163
Jewish children from sent to the death camps before being captured, tortured
and murdered by the Nazis – actions for which she recognized by Yad Vashem as a
Righteous Among the Nations – “was executed by the Gestapo today.
1944: Birthdate of
Jersey City, NJ native Steven Katz, the hold of Ph.D. from Cambridge (UK) who
has served as “the director Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies” at Boston
University.
1945: In Brooklyn,
Henry Rascoff, a pediatrician, and the former Minna Martz, a criminal lawyer
gave birth to Joseph Fishel Rascoff the accountant who “became the business
manager and tour producer of the Rolling Stone, U2 and Paul Simon. (As reported
by Richard Sandomir)
1945: From
Halkis, Greece it was reported, "The one man capable of teaching Hebrew
and Judaism, Rabbi Davidson Matsa and his wife and 6 children have recently
left for Janina, where he hopes to function as rabbi. He originally came from
Janina. Individual Jews are trying to fill his place by carrying on religious
activities in the Synagogue."
1946(15th
of Av, 5706): Tu B’Av
1946:
President Harry Truman sent a telegram rejecting the ”Morris-Grady” plan
because it would turn the Jewish zone in Palestine into “a ghetto” and “a
betrayal” of promises made to the Jews and to Jewish aspirations for a
homeland.
1946:
Birthdate of New York native William D. Rubenstein, the husband of historian
Hilary L. Rubenstein and the Swarthmore
and Johns Hopkins University trained historian who has taught in Great Britain
and Australia and is the author of Men of Property: The Very Wealthy in
Britain Since the Industrial Revolution.
1947:
According to an announcement made today, “The ‘Conquest of the Air,’ a cubist
masterpiece has been acquired by the Museum Art, through the generosity of Mrs.
Simon Guggenheim,” the widow of John Simon Guggenheim.
1948: The
first diplomatic envoy of the United States arrived in Israel
1948: The
Czech government ordered a halt to arms shipment to Israel. The new Communist Czech government’s policy
was conforming to the increasing anti-Israel policy of their Soviet masters.
1948(7th of Av, 5708): Three Jewish soldiers, Moshe Eliash,
Alfred Rabinowitz and Pinah Solevetchik, were killed when Arab Legion shells
fell on Mount Zion.
1948: “Arab
Legion forces blew up the Latrun water pumping station” forcing Jewish
Jerusalem to rely on private cisterns for its water supply.
1949: In
Glasgow, Scotland Erwin Knopfler a Jewish refugee Hungary and Louisa Mary gave
birth to rock musician Mark Freuder Knopfler
1949(17th
of Av, 5709): Eighty-one-year-old Al Shean the German born Jewish comedian who
was the “Shean” in the vaudeville team of Gallagher and Shean passed away. (Editor’s note – is comedy genetic; Shean was
the brother of Minnie Marx meaning he was the uncle of the Marx brothers)
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gallagher-and-Shean
1950: Riots
broke out at Kikar HaShabbat (Sabbath Square) in Jerusalem when members of the
Haredi community clashed with youth from Hashomer Hatzair who were upset by the
problems they were having delivering milk from their farms.
1950(29th
of Av, 5710): Parashat Re’eh
1950(29th
of Av, 5710): Fifty-nine year old Austrian native Morris Jacobovits, who served
as a rabbi in Cologne and Strasbourg as well as a chaplain in the French Army
and worked with “the French Underground and various American relief
organizations” to help adults and children regardless of religion during the
occupation before escaping to Switzerland with his family and finally arriving
in New York where he was serving “Congregation K’hall Adath Jeshurun” when he
passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1950/08/15/91630268.pdf
1950: After
581 performances, the curtain came down today at the Broadhurst Theatre on the
original Broadway production of “Detective Story” written by Sidney Kingsley
and in which Lee Grant “earned praise for her role as a shoplifter.”
1951(10th
of Av, 5711): Since the 9th
of Av fell on Shabbat, observance of Tish'a B'Av
1951:
Joseph B. Levin was designated Assistant Director of Office of Opinion Writing
at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
1952: The government withdrew from the Knesset the bill granting the
World Zionist Organization a special status, as “the representative of the
Jewish people.” The government felt that there were many Jews and Jewish
organizations in the world which were not a part of the Zionist movement and
who had no intention of joining it, and yet they were interested and working
for Israel. The government did not wish to do anything to lessen their goodwill
or to interfere with their direct connection with the State. It was, however,
prepared to support a corrected version of the WZO status. A new, blue Israeli
passport was shown to the press for the first time.
1952: “Park Row” a drama directed, produced and written by Samuel Fuller
was released in the United States today.
1952(21st of Av, 5712):
In what was part of a wave of post-war anti-Semitism, 24 of the foremost
Yiddish writers of Russia were executed by the Soviet Government. Among the
victims were Peretz Markish, David Bergelson, Itzik Fefer, Leib Kwitko, David
Hofstein,Benjamin Zuskin, Solomon Lozovsky and Boris Shimeliovich
http://yivo.org/events/index.php?tid=205&aid=1396
https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/1672/playing-the-fool/#
1955: Today Columbia trained attorney
William Bernard “Herlands received a recess appointment from President Dwight
D. Eisenhower to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern
District of New York.”
1956: William Shatner married
Gloria Rand.
1957(15th of Av, 5717): Tu B’Av
1957: “The Twelfth of Never,” a popular love song co-written by
Jerry Livingston was released today.
1957: “Chances Are” a popular song with lyrics by Al Stillman was
released today.
1958: In New York, psychologist Sally Landsburg and Alan Landsburg
gave birth to actress Valerie Landsburg “best known for her role as Doris
Schwartz in the 1982 television series ‘Fame.’”
1959(8th of Av, 5719) Erev Tish’a B’Av
1959: It was reported today that The World Jewish Congress has
elected Dr. Nahum Goldmann to serve a
second term as President.
1961(30th of Av, 5721): Parashat Re’eh; Rosh Chodesh
Elul
1961(30th of Av, 5721): Bryn Mawr grad and pioneering
psychiatrist Sadi Muriel Baron, the wife of Dr. David Raskind and the mother of
Dr. Richard Raskind who gained fame as Dr. Renee Richards passed away today.
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/Baron-Sadi-Muriel
1961: Dr. Arthur G. King wrote to Dr. Jacob R. Marcus discussing
“the origin of the Jewish cemetery located in the Cincinnati, Ohio suburb of
Clifton.
1962: Birthdate of David Horovitz, the London born Israeli
journalist who made Aliyah in 1983 and founded the newly created The Times of Israel.
1964: “The Patsy” a comedy directed by Jerry Lewis who co-wrote
the script and co-starred along with Ina Balin, Phil Foster and Peter Lorre was
released in the United States today.
1964: Ellen Siegel, a
“Freedom Summer volunteer” wrote a letter today in which she said, ““For the
first time in my life, I am seeing what it is like to be poor, oppressed, and
hated. And what I see here does not apply only to Gulfport or to Mississippi or
even to the South … The people we’re killing in Viet Nam are the same people
whom we’ve been killing for years in Mississippi. True, we didn’t tie the knot
in Mississippi and we didn’t pull the trigger in Viet Nam—that is, we
personally—but we’ve been standing behind the knot-tiers and the
trigger-pullers too long.” (JWA)
1965(14th of Av, 5725): Ninety-one-year-old Lillian “Leba” Rubin
Cohen, the wife of Joseph Morris Cohen with whom she had three children –
Pauline, Louis and Mark – passed away today after which she was buried at the
Riverside Cemetery in Albany, GA.
1965: In Tel Aviv, “the $150,000 Anna Lazaroff Synagogue of the
Lubavitcher Vocational Schools in Kfar Chabad, created with contributions from
a number of American Jewish families, was dedicated today.” (JTA)
1966(26th of Av, 5726): Seventy-four-year-old Abraham
Brown, the husband of Tillie Brown and the father of Lester Brown passed away
today after which he was buried at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University,
MO.
1967: In a letter written today to General Julius Klein, David Ben-Gurion
predicted that “the Six Day War will not be Israel’s last.”
https://www.shapell.org/manuscript/six-day-war-ben-gurion/
1970: “Soldier Blue” a movie based on the Sand Creek Massacre
produced by Harold Loeb and co-starring Peter Strauss was released today in the
United States.
1971: Birthdate of actor
Michael Ian Black
1971: “The Black Belly of the Tarantula” an Italian horror film
featuring Barbara Bach was released today.
1972(2nd of Elul, 5732): Sixty-two-year-old Richard “Dick” Fishel
who played halfback for Syracuse in the 1930’s and then turned pro as a
linebacker with the Brooklyn Dodgers football team passed away today.
1976(14th of Av, 5733): Sixty-three-year-old Harry A.
Pearson the graduate of Cooper Union and NYU and director of research for the
Sontone Coporation passed away today in White Plains, NY five days after his
birthday.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A03E0DA103DE63ABC4C52DFBE668388669EDE
1976(14th of Av, 5773): Seventy-five-year-old
Pittsburgh native J. Marshall Taxay, the graduate of the University of
Cincinnati and Hebrew Union College who served as the Rabbi at Temple
Israel in Bath, OH from 1945 to 1953 and at Temple B’nai Israel in
Pinellas Count from 1960 until his retirement in 1969 and who raised one child,
Emil, with his wife Mildred passed away today.
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Message_of_Rabbi_J_Marshall_Taxay_Pr.html?id=rsOBNAAACAAJ
1976: “The Israeli Ministry of Commerce and Industry” announced
today that “an agreement had been worked out between the Government and Ted
Ashley, the Chairman of the Board of Warner Bros., to produce a film about the”
rescue “of more than 100 Israeli hostages” who had been “held last month in a
hijacked Air France plane at Entebbe Airport in Uganda.
1976: Daniel P. Moynihan said today “that the United Nations was
lax in combating terrorism and pointed to the Istanbul bombing…as proof of the
need for the ‘world’s democracies’ to form an ‘international force to do the
job.”
1976: First Lady Betty Ford “shook hands with the 160 members” of
“the national board of Hadassah” who attended a reception in the Blue Room
where they enjoyed “tea, pastries and string ensemble music.”
1976: In Istanbul, the state prosecutor said tonight that “two
Palestinian terrorist will face the death penalty in a Turkish court on charges
stemming from their attack at Istanbul airport” where they killed four and
wounded more than thirty people” in a vain attempt to hijack an Israeli
airliner”
1979)19th of Av, 5739) Ninety-nine-year-old Ukraine
native Samuel Wolf Kapitanoff, the husband of Minnie Balaban Kapitanoff whom he
married in 1908 and the father of Arthur Wolf Kapitanoff pass away today in Los
Angeles after which he was buried at the Waldheim Cemetery in Forest Park, Il.
1979(19th of Av, 5739): Seventy-nine-year-old Ernst Boris Chain,
the Berlin born son of Margarete (née Eisner) and Michael Chain, biochemist and recipient of the Nobel Prize
for Physiology or Medicine in 1945 who had fled Nazi Germany in 1933 passed
away today.
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1945/chain/biographical/
1980: Birthdate of University of Wyoming and Minnesota Vikings
lineman Adam David Goldberg, the son of a Jewish father who “considers himself
to be Jewish.”
1982: During the siege of Beirut, today “the Israeli cabinet
stripped Ariel Sharon of most of his powers; he was not allowed to order the
use of air force, armored force and artillery without agreement of the cabinet
or prime minister.”
1984(14th of Av, 5744) Leona Berman Katcher, the
husband of Jack L. Katcher passed asway today after which she was buried at the
Hebrew Memorial in Clinton Township, Michigan.
1988: “Tucker: The Man and His Dream” a biopic comedy written by
Arnold Schulman and David Seidler and co-starring Martin Landau was released in
the United States today.
1988: “The Last Temptation of Christ” co-starring Harvey Keitel
and Barbara Hershey and featuring Irvin Kershner was released today in the
United States.
1990: Iraq President Saddam
Hussein says he is ready to resolve the Gulf crisis if Israel withdraws from
occupied territories. Of course,
invading Kuwait had nothing to do with Israel, but Israel is always a good
smoke screen when Arab dictators are up to devious deeds.
1991(2nd of Elul, 5751): Yeruham Cohen, an early Israeli
undercover soldier, died today, at the
age of 75 years. “Mr. Cohen, an Arabic-speaker of Yemeni origin, died of an
unspecified illness. He was a top aide to the commander of Israel's underground
forces during the country's war for independence in 1948 and also belonged to a
unit whose members disguised themselves as Arabs to infiltrate enemy
lines. Mr. Cohen is most famous for his
acquaintance with Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, whom he met in 1948 during the
Israeli war for independence while Israeli forces encircled Egyptian troops the
southern Negev. According to historical accounts, Mr. Cohen saw the future
President while watching the Egyptians retreat, shouted and ran toward him, and
they shook hands warmly.
1991: “Responding to overseas appeals that it release Arab
prisoners to help free Western hostages, Israel said today that it was prepared
to discuss such a move if it could learn the fate of seven Israeli soldiers
missing in Lebanon.”
1992: NBC begins broadcasting season four of “Seinfeld.”
1994(5th of Elul, 5754): Eighty-eight-year-old Yedidia
Monsenego, the Grand Rabbi of Morocco and president of Moroccan rabbinic
tribunals, who “came from a line of Jewish religious leaders who arrived from
Spain after their expulsion in 1492” passed away today in Fez, Morocco, a
country whose Jewish population “has dwindled to below 8,000, from 275,000 at
independence in 1956.”
1997(9th of Av, 5757): Tish’a B’Av
1998: “A Swiss fund to help needy Holocaust survivors will make
payments to some 2,000 Gypsies in Germany, a fund spokesman said today. Each
will receive $1,350 in the fund's biggest operation yet involving non-Jewish
victims of the Nazis, said a spokesman, Lorenz Wolffers.”
1998: “Bowing to American pressure, Israel announced today that it
would not block the next step in a United Nations effort to draft an
international treaty that would halt the production of the fissionable
materials used to make nuclear weapons.”
1999(30th of Av, 5759): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1999(30th of Av, 5759): Eighty-two-year-old character
actor Ross Elliot passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/24/arts/ross-elliott-82-an-actor-on-tv-series.html
2000: Television wizard Steve Bocho, whose hits included “Hill
Street Blue” re-married today.
2001: The New York Times
book section featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special
interest to Jewish readers including Houdini’s
Box: The Art of Escapeby Adam Phillips, a children’s book
entitled Sigmund Freud Pioneer of
the Mindby Catherine Reef and two books about Nixon’s Jewish
born Secretary of State: The Trial
of Henry Kissingerby Christopher Hitchens andNo Peace No Honor: Nixon, Kissinger, and Betrayal in Vietnamby Larry
Berman.
2001: Palestinian Islamic Jihad took credit for today’s bombing at
the Wall Street Café in Kiryat Motzkin that injured 21 people. (According to
other sources one person was killed and fifteen were injured.)
2002: “Yasir Arafat said today that the meetings between his
representatives and American officials in Washington last week had been ''very
positive,'' but Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel charged that the
Palestinians' provisional agreement to an Israeli security plan was ''a
trick.''
2003(14th of Av, 5763): Eighteen-year-old Erez Hershkovitz and
twenty-two year old Amatzia Nisanevitch were murdered by a Hamas terrorist
bomber.
2003(14th of Av, 5763): Forty-three-year-old Yehezkel
(Hezi) Yekutieli was murder today by terrorist suicide bomber at Rosh HaAyin.
2004(25th of Av, 5764): Thirty-year-old Capt. Michael Y. Tarlavsky was killed today when his unit was
attacked in Najaf, Iraq.(As reported by Maia Efrem)
2005: A report in the Jerusalem
Post concerning absenteeism among workers may come as a surprise to some
Americans. For the first seven months of
2005, the rate of absenteeism was higher among men than women. There was no explanation for this reverse in
the statistical model from past years.
The report also revealed that absenteeism rates rise when economic
conditions improve. During economic
slowdowns workers are loathe to be away from work for fear of being
replaced.
2005: It was announced at
Texas Tech University that an article about co-option for which Michael Levin
was the lead author was accepted for inclusion to the American Marketing
Association's Winter Educators Conference which is the top conference for
strategists.
2005: Today, the Younker’s main store in downtown Des Moines which
had been operating at the 7th and Walnut Streets location since 1899
when it moved there “by three Polish Jewish immigrant brothers Lipman, Samuel,
and Marcus Younker” was closed today
2005: Reuben Greenberg resigned as Chief of Police in Charleston,
SC.
2006(18th of Av, 5766):Staff Sgt. Uri
Grossman, 20, the son of renowned novelist and peace activist David Grossman
was killed in Lebanon, just days after his father made a public call for the
government to halt its military operation and enter negotiations.
2007: The Sunday New York
Times book section features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including How American Grew From Sea to
Shining by Jewish Pulitzer Prize winning author Richard Kluger and The
Man In The White Sharkskin Suit by Lucette Lagnado in which she “chronicles
her Jewish family’s flight from the rise of Nasser.”
2007: The Chicago Sun Times
book section featured a Q&A with Gail Carson Levine author of Fairy
Haven and the Quest for the Wand and a review of What Goes Up by
Eric J. Weiner.
2007: In a story entitled, “A Museum to Get Lost In, And How
Israel Is Fixing It” the New York Times describes “an $80 million
expansion and renovation that will transform the way a visitor navigates and
experiences” the Israel Museum, “
2007(28th of Av, 5767): Eighty-six-year-old Dr. Ralph Asher
Alpher, author of the Big Bang Theory, passed away.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/18/us/18alpher.html
2007: The City of Toronto “granted a closure of Bloor Street
between Bathurst and Markham Streets to accommodate a celebration in honor of
Ed Mirvish” the late Canadian “businessman, philanthropist and theatrical
impresario.”
2008: In Little Rock, AR at the Chabad House,
second session of From Ruins to Glory, a course of study based on a virtual
tour of the Temple
2008:Rabbi David Loksen and Rabbi Shmulie
Hecht, of the Brooklyn, New York-based Chabad Lubavitch Jewish Community
Enrichment Program who are volunteers with Chabad Hawaii, leave Guam. They have been working with the island’s
small Jewish community since July 22, 2008
2008:Two Israeli physicians were dispatched
to Georgia to treat Yedioth Aharonot journalist Zadok Yehezkeli, who was
seriously wounded in Gori when shrapnel from an artillery shell, reportedly
fired by the Russians, hit him.
2008: General Norton A. Schwartz became the 19th Chief of
Staff of the U.S. Air Force and the first Jew to hold that position.
2008: Janet Jagan was elected as editor of the PPP newspaper, Thunder
today.
2009:Tzfat [Safed] Klezmer Festival comes
to a close.
2009:Two Israelis were lightly wounded in a shooting attack in
the northern West Bank tonight, according to the IDF. An initial investigation
established that two of three young passengers driving in a car near the
settlement of Ma'ale Levona, near Nablus, were lightly injured when
Palestinians in a passing car opened fire on them.
2009:The youth movement Habonim Dror, a driving force behind the
popular campaign for Gilad Schalit's return, organized a global prayer for the
captured IDF soldier's safe return the focus of which was a communal service
held at the Western Wall tonight at time that coincided with the soldier's 23rd
birthday according to the Hebrew calendar..
2010:YAD Detroit Book Club Cluster is scheduled to discuss The
Piano Teacher by Janice Y. K. Lee at the Barnes & Noble Book Store in
West Bloomfield, Michigan.
2011:A special performance by Makela, DC’s co-ed Jewish a
cappella group, is scheduled to take place at the Sixth &I Historic
Synagogue.
2011:Tel Aviv municipal inspectors distributed an eviction
notice today to a tent dweller who erected a structure that served as a kitchen
and storage room at the Nordau Boulevard tent city in north Tel Aviv.
2011: A
hearing to discuss political redistricting in the Baltimore area began this
evening at 6:30 p.m. The hearing was
originally scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. but was changed to the earlier time to
accommodate Jewish citizens who need to be at home or in their synagogues to
mark the start of Shabbat. Like all
other citizens, Jews can e-mail in their testimony.
2011: The
New York Daily News published the first interview that Levi Aron, the man
charged with killing 8 year old Leib Kletzky, has given to the media.
2012: The New York Times features reviews of
books written by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers
including The Patagonian Hare: A Memoir by Claude Lanzmann and the
recently released paperback editions of The Night Circus by Erin
Morgenstern and Heddy’s Folly:The Life and
Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World by Richard
Rhodes.
2012: The
Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia is scheduled to sponsor a
contra-indicated (by the weather) fundraiser – Community Eat-for-Heat featuring
a pancake feast and water play.
2012: The
Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is scheduled to present a
special screening of “Granito: How to
Nail a Dictator”
2012(24th
of Av, 5772): Eighty-five-year-old comic book artist Joe Kubert passed away
today. (As reported Margalit Fox)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/14/arts/design/joe-kubert-giant-of-comic-book-art-dies-at-85.html
2012: The Summer Learning Institute at Hebrew Union College is
scheduled to come to an end.
2012: “Word
Games (Mischakei Milim)” is scheduled to be shown at the Abingdon Theatre in
NYC
2012: An
off-duty female soldier was forced to disembark from a bus before she had
completed her journey in order to avoid a verbal assault by ultra-Orthodox
passengers who complained about her attire and point of boarding onto the
vehicle, Israel Radio reported today
2012: Luiza
Nahari, a Yemenite Jew whose husband, Moshe, was murdered in their hometown of
Raydah in December 2008, immigrated to Israel this morning with four of her children.
Nahari was reunited with her five other children, who had moved to Israel
following her husband’s murder.
2012: “More than 1,000 people gathered at Rostov-on-Don, which 70
years ago witnessed the worst Holocaust atrocity in Russia. Wearing arm bands marked with a Star of
David, the crowd today marched to the mass grave of approximately 27,000 people
executed by German soldiers near the city in 1942. Most of the victims were
Jewish, according to the Russian Jewish Congress. Leading the procession was
Rabbi Meir Lau, a Holocaust survivor and former chief rabbi of Israel. “The
unprecedented turnout shows the memory of the Jewish genocide in Rostov is
shared and preserved by Jews and non-Jews,” Russian Jewish Congress President
Yury Kanner said.(As reported by Haaretz)
2013: “The A Word” which tells the story of the Rotenberg clan who
live in the Arava desert is scheduled to shown at the San Francisco Jewish Film
Festival.
2013: Lisa Levine of the Wharton Business School is scheduled to
present “Negotiate with Israelis – Like a Pro!” at Talpiyot Jerusalem.
2013: MK Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi) today called for
implementing the death penalty for terrorists. She said the measure was
necessary to ensure that terrorist murderers are "never released."
(As reported by David Lev and Ari Soffer)
2013: The recently deployed
Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted a least one of the rockets that was
fired towards Eilat tonight. (As reported by Elad Benari)
2013:
The Israel Prisons Service published “the list of the first 26 convicted
terrorists who will be released as part of Israel’s confidence-building
measures to help the restart of peace talks with the Palestinian Authority. The
list included 17 names of prisoners who had murdered Israelis, including
Abu-Musa Salam Ali Atia of Fatah, who murdered Holocaust survivor Isaac
Rotenberg in a Petah Tikvah construction site in 1994.” (As reported by Haviv
Rettig Gur and Aaron Kalman)
2014:
It was announced today that Steve Ballmer “would become the owner of the Los
Angeles Clippers.
2014:
In New Orleans Bruce Spizer is scheduled to deliver a lecture at the Uptown JCC
on the cause of Beatlemania were the attendees will be able to enjoy a catered
kosher lunch.
2014:
Tova Birnbaum, Director of the North America Region of the World Zionist
Organization, is scheduled to speak on Is Zionism Still Relevant for the Next
Generation? with Hadassah’s Lauren Katz.
2014:
Prime Minister Netanyahu “summoned senior ministers late tonight to discuss”
developments at the Cairo ceasefire talks in what is described as a
“preparation talk.” (As reported by Attila Somfalvi)
2014(16th
of Av, 5774): Ninety-three-year-old photographer Lida Moser passed away today.
2014(16th
of Av, 5774): A month before her 90th birthday, actress Lauren
Bacall, the first cousin of Israeli President Shimon Peres, passed away today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lauren_Bacall_with_Vice_President_Truman.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bogart_and_Bacall_To_Have_and_Have_Not.jpg
2014:
“Members of the United States Senate are demanding an independent investigation
into the role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency during Israel's
most recent war in Gaza with Hamas.” (As reported by Michael Wilner)
2014:
New York Governor Mario “Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate
co-leaders Dean Skelos and Jeff Klein are scheduled to travel to Israel” today
for a two-day visit as a “demonstration of solidarity” with that country in the
conflict in Gaza. (As reported by David Klepper)
2015:
The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education is scheduled to
show “The Love Bug” as part of its “August at Noon – Car Movies” program.
2015:
“Researchers open 'neglected chapter' of Ukraine's Holocaust history” published
today revealed how a “project commemorating the killing of Jews” revealed
“tensions between Soviet and modern Ukrainian historical narrative.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/12/ukraine-holocaust-history-project
2015:
The Thaler Holocaust Programming Committee under the leadership of Dr. Robert
Silber is me today in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
2015:
Holocaust survivor Peter Kubicek who “calls himself the luckiest man alive” is
scheduled to speak at the National Czech & Slovak Museum and Library in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
2015(28th
of Av): Yarhrzeit for Larry Rosenstein, of blessed memory, husband of Judy
Levin Rosenstein, of blessed memory. Gone too soon but always
remembered!
2016:
Today, “Treasure hunters relaunched their search for a lost Nazi gold train
allegedly loaded with loot and buried in southwestern Poland, despite there
being no scientific evidence it exists.”
2016:
“Israel’s Or Sasson beat Cuba’s Alex Maxell Garcia Mendoza to win a bronze
medal in the men’s over-100kg competition at the Rio Games” today,
2016:
Diana van den Boogaard and Adam Brown are scheduled to provide a Preview of the
2017 conference to be held at Orlando on the final day of the 36th
IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Seattle, Washington.
2016:
Flooding began in Baton Rouge, LA, which would eventually cost 34 families in
the state capitol’s Jewish community their homes.
2016:
“From the Deep” a play “inspired by the story of Gilan Shalit and Israeli POW
Ilan Shaiach” is scheduled to open at The Fringe in New York City.
2017(20th of Av, 5777): Parashat
Ekev
2017:
Following the June Chicago Dyke March, “when three Jewish participants at the
LGBTQ demonstration were ejected for carrying LGBTQ Pride flags adorned with
the Star of David
2017:
In the Negev, Mitzpe Ramon is scheduled to host “special events in the Spice
Route Quarter” complete with telescopes to provide the best possible viewing of
the Perseids Meteor Shower which is at its most impressive today organizers of
the Slutwalk Chicago used “red umbrellas to block sings being held by Zioness
Movement members who had “joined the initial rally in a local park, carrying
signs depicting a woman wearing a Star of David necklace and some wearing
rainbow-colored T-shirts emblazoned with a Star of David.”
2017:
Hatikva 6 is scheduled to host Hanan Ben Ari at the International Jerusalem
Arts and Crafts Fair -(the Hutzot Hayotzer festival)
2017:
In Weimar, The Yiddish Summer Farewell Ball is scheduled to be held tonight
marking the end of YSM 2017.
2017:
As Jews observe Shabbat, they mourn the passing at Haifa Erev Shabbat of
“Yisrael Kristal, a Holocaust survivor who was recognized by the Guinness Book
of World Records to be the world’s oldest man who He was one month shy of his
114th birthday. (As reported by Liel Leibovitz)
2018: The New York Times featured reviews of
books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest Jewish readers including Famous Father: A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein by Jamie Bernstein
and Get What’s Yours: The
Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security co-authored by
Laurence J. Kotlikoff
2018(1st of Elul, 5778): Rosh Chodesh Elul –
Blow the shofar for the first time
2018: In Beverly Hills, CA, the Wallis Annenberg Center
for the Performing Arts hosted the last performance of “Hershey Felder:
Beethoven.”
2018: Demonstrators
who are expected to be carrying Nazi flags as they did last year in
Charlottesville, VA are scheduled to take to the streets of Washington, DC
2018: In London, JW3
is scheduled to host a screening of “Through Lotte’s Lens” a documentary that
tells the extraordinary story of the ‘Hitler Émigrés’, the refugees – mainly
Jewish who escaped the Nazi regime in the 1930s and found refuge in the UK.”
2018: Israeli
cellist Inbal Segev is scheduled to perform solo works by 21st
century women including “Anna Clyne, Missy Mazzoli, Augusta Reed Thomas and
Gity Razaz.”
2018: Today the
Daily Mail published photos of Jeremy Corbyn laying a wreath at a memorial to
the perpetrators of the Munich Olympics Massacre in Tunis in 2014 which led Dame
Margaret Hodge, a fellow Labor MP, to call Corbyn “an anti-Semite and a racist”
to his face.
2018: In Los
Angeles, “Yiddishkayt is scheduled to join with the Southern California Arbeter
Ring/Workmen’s Circle and the Sholem Community to view the 1925 classic film
JEWISH LUCK, with titles in English translation” as part of events marking “the
66th anniversary of Stalin's purge of the members of the Jewish Antifascist
Committee and” the 70th anniversary of the “murder of the Committee
leader, the great Yiddish actor Shloyme Mikhoels.”
https://www.facebook.com/events/485950888522991/
https://mailchi.mp/yiddishkayt/head-to-the-heartland-of-jewish-culture-1488937?e=3efca73e9a
2019: The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center
is scheduled to host “German and True” a “multi-media presentation by Michael
Haas, Chair of the exil.arte Center at Vienna's University for Music and
Performing Arts, who will highlight the lost contributions of Jewish composers
who identified culturally as German, both those who survived and those who
perished.”
2019: In New Orleans, the Jewish Community Day School is
scheduled to hold its board meeting this evening.
2019: Having finished a four game series with the
Phillies, outfielder Kevin Pillar and the San Francisco Giants are scheduled to
have a day off before taking the Athletics for a two game series.
2020: Israel claimed today “that it had thwarted a
cyberattack by a North Korea-linked hacking group on its classified defense
industry.”
2021: A new Chabad in S.F.’s West Portal is
scheduled to present a pop-up Kosher NY-Style Deli that includes pastrami and
corned beef sandwiches on rye, matzah ball soup, potato knishes, rugelach and
drinks. Pre-order or order on site that includes pastrami and corned beef
sandwiches on rye, matzah ball soup, potato knishes, rugelach and drinks.
2021:
The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present “Exploring your Canadian
Connections” a program sponsored by the Ackerman & Ziff Family and
Genealogy Institute.
2021:
As part of the summer series of book talks, the JWA Book Club is scheduled to
host Rachel Sharona Lewis, author of The Rabbi Who Prayed with Fire, the
tale of a queer female rabbi whose synagogue bursts into flames.”
2021:
In Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Temple Judea a minyan with Cantor Abbie Strauss via
livestream or in person for those wearing masks.
2021:
Today “2021, the Jews of Color Initiative published
"Beyond the Count," a report based on surveys and interviews of over
a thousand Jews of Color.”
2021:
The Hampton Synagogue in Westhampton, NY is scheduled to host Judy Batalion,
author of The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in
Hitler’s Ghettos.
2021:
In San Jose, CA, Temple Emanu-El is scheduled to host Rabbi Dana Magat and
Director of Education Phil Hankin as they discuss “The Boy in the Striped
Pajamas.”
2022:
In Los Altos Hills, CA, Congregation Beth Am Is scheduled to host a celebration
of the Jewish day of love with wine and
chocolate on the patio after Erev Shabbat service
2022(15th
of Av): Tu B’Av – Jewish Valentine’s Day
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/tubav.html
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/53680/jewish/15th-of-Av.htm
http://www.israeldailypicture.com/
2023(25th
of Av, 5783): Parashat Re’ay; for more see https://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/
2023:
In Berkley, CA, Chomat Halev is scheduled to host a “Concert for Peace and Unity,”
during which “The Yuval Ron Ensemble, led by world music artist and peace
activist Yuval Ron, will perform Sufi and Jewish music in Hebrew and Arabic.”
2023: Israel is scheduled to enter into another
heat wave. In Tel Aviv, where it'll be very humid, temperatures are expected to
reach 88°F (31°C) this afternoon while Jerusalem, it'll be 97°F (36°C), in
Eilat 104°F (40°C), Tiberias 106°F (41°C), and Beit Shean will experience a
high of 108°F (42°C).
2023:
The Sixth and Eye Synagogue supports today’s scheduled sorting of “supplies for
respited center throughout the city providing support for migrants arriving in
Washington, D.C.
https://www.sixthandi.org/events/
2024:
The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, Secure Community Network and Congregation
Beth Shalom are scheduled to host “a film screening of HBO’s “A Tree of Life:
The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting” followed by a panel discussion and erev
Tish’a B’Av services.
2024:
In Palo Alto, CA, Congregation Kol Emeth and Congregation Etz Chayim are scheduled
to host a screening of “Legend of Destruction,” a “film about the story of the
destruction of the second Jewish Temple and the civil war that preceded it in
honor of Erev Tisha B’Av. Followed by discussion and reading of Lamentations
and Ma’ariv.”
2024:
Congregation Beth Israel in Metairie, LA is scheduled to host a class in
Conversational Hebrew.
2024(8th
of Av, 5784): Yahrzeit of David "Dugo" Leitner who celebrated
liberation from a Nazi concentration camp each year with falafel, a tradition
that has spread around the world.
2024:
Hawkeye Minyan’s Tisha B’Av Service is scheduled to take place at the home of
Dr. Steven Green in Iowa City.
2024:
As they head for home after the close of the 2024 Olympics in Paris Israeli athletes
with 20 Olympic medals “a massive jump
for a nation with a population of ten million” who overcame personal death
threats in addition to all the other challenges of performing on the world
state.
2024(8th
of Av,5784): Erev Tish’a B’Av
2024:
As August 12th begins in Israel, an
unprecedented wave of anti-Semitism that has included Hamas supporters calling
for Zionist passengers on a New York subway to raise their hands, sweeps the
United States and the Hamas held hostages begin day 311 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)