OCTOBER 23
1973: Rabbi Sally J. Priesand offered the opening prayer in the United States House of Representatives, at the invitation of Congresswoman Bella Abzug. According to Abzug, Priesand was not only the first Jewish woman, but the first woman to be accorded this honor. October 23, 1973 also turned out to be the day on which the first resolution to impeach President Richard Nixon was offered. Priesand became the first woman to be ordained by a rabbinical seminary in June 1972. While Priesand was the first American woman rabbi, she was not the first woman to study toward that goal. She was preceded at Hebrew Union College and the Jewish Institute of Religion by other women including Martha Neumark, Helen Levinthal Lyons, Toby Fink, and Norma Kirschner.
1973: The UN Cease Fire Resolution was proving a difficult document to enforce on the ground. There was opposition in Israel to accepting a cease fire. In particular, Menachem Begin, speaking for the coalition of right wing parties, opposed accepting the cease fire as long as Arab forces occupied our territory i.e. any part of the Sinai east of the Suez Canal. Ironically, this would be part of the very land that Begin would trade with Sadat to gain a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.
521 BCE (17th of Tishrei):The first Babylonian record of Nebuchadnezzar III the usurper who challenged the rule of Darius, the Persian ruler under whose reign the building of the Second Temple began.
42 BCE : The army of Marcus Junius Brutus was defeated at the Second Battle of Philippi. Brutus committed suicide at the end of the day. Since he was one of those who murdered Julius Caesar, the death of Brutus was probably not mourned by most Jews. Caesar's popularity was such among the Jews of the Roman Empires that when he died, the Roman biographer Suetonius wrote, “Public grief was enhanced by crowds of foreigners, lamenting in their own fashion, especially Jews, who came flocking to the Forum for several nights in succession.” Additionally, the victory paved the way for the eventual rule of Augustus who was a better Emperor than most from the Jewish point of view.
1086: At the Battle of az-Zallaqah, the army of Yusuf ibn Tashfin defeats the forces of Castilian King Alfonso VI. Yusuf ibn Tashfin was the leader of group of puritanical Muslims known as Berber Almoravids. Many Jewish and Muslims scholars and intellectuals left areas controlled by these Berbers and took refuge in Toledo which had been conquered by the Christians in 1085. Periods of Berber control were not a Golden Age for the Jews of Iberia and thousands of Jews joined the army of Alfonso. Although Alfonso lost the battle, the Berbers were too battered to take advantage of their victory and Yusuf had to return to North Africa marking the end of this phase of the long, drawn-out conflict between Christians and Muslims. During the centuries’ long contest, Jewish loyalties varied depending on the nature of the combatants. All of this would come to an end with the Expulsion of 1492.
1456: Seventy Year old John of Capistrano a Franciscan friar who would be canonized by the Catholic Church but who was also known as the “Scourge of the Jews” for his “fiery sermons” that “persuaded southern German regions to expel their Jewish populations,” passed away today.
1625: “Pope Urban VIII forbids Jews from having gravestones within the city limits of Rome.”
1715: Birthdate of Peter II of Russia. During his reign, Peter modified some of the anti-Jewish rulings of his predecessor, Catherine I. At the request of some of the Cossack leaders, he allowed them to return to the fairs in Little Russia since their presence was essential for the commercial wellbeing of the area.
1726:António José da Silva a Portuguese-Brazilian dramatist, known as "the Jew"“went through the great auto-da-fé held” today “in the presence of King John V and his court, abjured his errors, and was set at liberty.” His mother would not be released until October of 1729.
1776: The brigantine Andrea Doria left the United States headed for the Dutch held island of St. Eustatius with a copy of the Declaration of Independence. The Andrea Doria returned from the island which had a significant Jewish population which was supportive of the Americans with the first of several loads of arms and munitions that were critical to American success.
1818(23rdof Tishrei, 5579): Simchat torah
1842: Fifty-six year old Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius the German Biblical critic and Hebrew language expert who authored a Hebrew grammar and a commentary on Isaiah passed away today.
1853(21stof Tishrei, 5614): Hoshanah Rabah
1853: “Compulsory Christianity in Italy,” published today summarized the events of the last five years that are known as the Mortara Affair or The Kidnapping of Edgar Mortara which it says is recent stretch of Papal power in Italy ,making a noise in Europe, which will not be hushed up. It also pointed out that the Papacy and this policy are propped up on the bayonets of Napoleon III’s troops and that if these troops were withdrawn the populace would rise up to defend the rights of the Jewish child’s father. “If rascally servants may clandestinely baptize the children of Hebrews, there is no reason why they not extend the same blessing to those of Protestants and if the Church can lawfully found a claim to the possession of their persons and their minds upon such a ceremony in the former case, they may in the latter.”
1854: It was reported today that in the matter of Abraham Oettinger v Uriah P. Levy, the judge decided in favor of the Plantiff and gave a judgement in the amount of $313.69. This was a landlord/tenant dispute over who should pay for plumbing repairs. [Yes, this is the same Uriah P. Levy who was highest ranking Jewish officer in the United States Navy and a member of one New York’s most prominent Sephardic families.
1855: Birthdate of Emily Levy, the Hamburg born linguist and lexicographer.
1859: Birthdate of Simon Marx, the native of Alsace who is better known as Sam Marx, the husband of Minnie Marx and the father of the Groucho Marx and the rest of the Marx brothers.
1860: “The Present Condition of the Jews” published today stated that the second of Mr. De Cordova’s course of lectures, to be delivered this evening at Clinton Hall, is upon this highly interesting topic. To discuss it, it is needless to say, the lecturer lays aside the vein of light humor and pleasantry, which usually characterize his productions, and gives us sober facts and apposite illustrations instead.”
1860: A very large audience listened to Mr. De Cordova’s lecture on ‘the Past and Present condition of the Jews,’ delivered in Clinton Hall this evening. Commencing with the Biblical renown of the Israelites, the lecturer traced the distinction of that nation in the field of letters of arms, of medicine, and, in fact, of all the arts and sciences, demonstrating that they are well worth a place in history. He cited the popular idea of a Jew as that of a man with a very protuberant proboscis, engaged in buying old clothes, renovating them by same mysterious and secret process, and selling them for eight times their value to unsuspecting countrymen. He accounted for the degraded condition of the lower class of Israelites from the fact of the relentless persecutions to which the race has been subjected in Austria, Spain, Germany and other countries, where they have been obliged to withstand the most terrible pains and penalties in their adherence to the religion of their fathers. He read official correspondence from Holland to show the good effect of emancipation the Jewish nation in that country, and from the increasing liberality manifested in all countries -- taking example by America -- he foretold a glorious future for Israel. As to the politics of this country he knew many Jews who would vote for Lincoln… Some who would vote for Douglas….Some who would go for Breckenridge and two or three who were Know-Nothings…In conclusion, Mr. De Cordova paid a glowing tribute of admiration to our free institutions, which alike honor and protect the Jew and the Gentile” [Editor’s Note – De Cordova was a Sephardic Jew who was quite popular as a humorist, author and public speaker.]
1861: Samuel Du Pont the U.S Navy officer in charge of the expedition aimed at taking Port Royal, SC from the Rebels “was furious” when he saw the article published in today’s New York Times providing details of his activities. “Jacob da Silva Solis Cohen, as Sephardic Jew…was an assistant surgeon with Dupont’s expedition to Port Royal” who also served with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron which was a key, if unsung, element in the Union’s victory.
1864 :( 23rd of Tishrei, 5625): Simchat Torah
1864: Major Mordecai was named Chief of Ordinance, Department and Army of the Ohio, which was one of the major military units of the Union forces during the American Civil War. Ordinance dealt with Artillery, the one element of the Northern Army that consistently out-performed its Confederate counterparts.
1866: Birthdate of Paul Ferdinand Strassman, a leading German gynecologist who would be forced to flee when the Nazis came to power.
1867: Seventy-two Senators are summoned by Royal Proclamation to serve as the first members of the Canadian Senate, the upper house of the Canadian Parliament. Jews played an active role in Canadian politics as can be seen by the fact that Ezekiel Hart was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada in 1807 and Henry Nathan was elected as to serve as an MP in the House of Commons in 1874. But a Jew did not serve in the Canadian Senate until 1955 when David Kroll was appointed to serve in the upper chamber.
1868: Birthdate of Sri Alfred Moritz, the younger son of Ludwig Mond, who gained fame as an industrialist, financier, politician and Zionist.
1868: The Jews of Barbados were denied the right to engage in retail trade.
1872(21stof Tishrei, 5633): Hoshanah Rabah
1872: “Minor Topics” published today described the theory of “J.B. Bartnett, a Hebrew scholar” that “Ireland was…settled” by people “from Judea when the Prophet Jeremiah emigrated” there “with the remnant of the tribe of Judah. According to Bartnett, prophet brought with him the stone known as ‘Jacob’s Stone’ which was kept in the sanctuary of the first temple at Jerusalem” and has become “the Stone of Destiny” that was used to crown Irish kings and was later taken to Westminster Abbey by Edward III who used it for the same purpose.
1874(12th of Cheshvan, 5635):Abraham Geiger a German rabbi and scholar who led the founding of Reform Judaism passed away. (There is no way this brief entry can do him justice. See below for gateway article into his fascinating life.)
1877: Louis Lazarus, the Jewish owner of a second-hand clothing store on the corner of Baxter and Leonard in Manhattan, was held at the tombs Police Court on the charge of receiving stolen goods. Bail was set at $1,500.
1878: It was reported today that Moritz Ellinger has been chosen to run for the position of Coroner by the opponents of the Tammany political machine.
1879: It was reported today that Joseph De Longpres, a fourteen year old who had arrived yesterday in New York from New Orleans is missing. He was last seen entering a hack hired by a Jew whom he had met on the boat coming up from New Orleans. The boy, who had money and luggage when he left the ship is described as “timid and effeminate.” There is no other description of the other party except that he was a Jew. How this was deduced is not mentioned.
1879: The Vicksburg (Miss.) Herald reported that a meeting held in Bolivar County adopted resolutions denouncing Edward Storm as “a dishonest Jew, the servile tool of the slave-owner before the war and the convenient and abandoned ally of the carpetbagger.” The citizens of Bolivar County are urged to vote against Storm who has been nominated by the Republicans for the position of County Supervisor.” [A Google Search cannot find any reference to a Jew named Edward Storm. Poor man, he was hit with the big three of the post war South – Republican, Carpetbagger and Jew.]
1879: Simon Curriak, a Jewish tailor working on Division Street in NYC, has come forward to claim his children who being held at Castle Garden. In the meantime, an unidentified Jewish newspaper editor has asked the authorities to hold the children until he can present their case to “the local Jewish societies” who will provide for their needs.
1881: It was reported today that the Jewish synagogues of East Prussia, which total 34, “recently held their first convention.
1881: It was reported today that “the Russian Government proposes to give special privileges to those Jews who will engage in agricultural pursuits.” The Jews will be allowed to purchase land outside of the Pale of Settlement, “but they will be under strict surveillance.”
1881: It was reported today that for Jews, the disappearance of “religious hate” has so completely disappeared” from Serbia that a Jew has been elected to the Serbian Parliament. This stands in stark contrast to “the neighboring kingdom of Romania” where “persecution of Jews still goes on.”
1882: It was reported today that the six largest Jewish congregations in New York are Temple Emanu-El Temple Beth El, Ahavath Chesed, B’nai Yeshurun, Shearay Tefilla and Rodoph Sholom. The membership of these congregations total approximately 1,500.
1883(22ndof Tishrei, 5622): Shmini Atzeret
1883(22ndof Tishrei, 5622): Seventy-nine year old German physicist Peter Riess the first Jewish member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences passed away today.
1883: In New York, Christopher Oscanyan, an Armenian-American, delivered a lecture at Steinway Hall entitled “The Women of Turkey and the Jews of the East.”
1884: New York Mayor Franklin Edson and Jesse Seligman were among the dignitaries who attended the dedication of the new building housing the Hebrew Orphan Asylum
1884: It was reported today that in New York City, the Young Men’s Hebrew Association is planning on holding “a Montefiore centenary celebration.”
1884: Rabbi Mendes of Shearith Israel wrote to President Chester A. Arthur inviting him to participate in the upcoming events celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Sir Moses Montefiore. Arthur’s private secretary replied with a note expressing his high esteem for the great philanthropist and his regrets that he would not be able to attend due to other official demands on his time
1885: “The Mystery At Wilmington” published today described events surrounding the death of lodger at the Clayton House in Wilmington, Delaware. “The man’s features are clear German, and there are evidences that he was of the Hebrew faith.” (The latter statement may have been a polite reference to the decedent having been circumcised.)
1886: Birthdate of Paul Ferdinand Strassmann, “a pioneer in surgical gynecology.”
1886: It was reported today that the Honorable S.S. Cox will address the upcoming opening exercises of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association.
1887: “From Anjou to Touraine” published today described the history of the region during Medieval times including the fact that “in 1329, when the Jews were accused of having formed a plot to poison all the wells and springs in France, 160 unfortunate people of that race were burned at the stake in Chinon.”
1887: Dr. Kaufmann Kohler, the rabbi at New York City’s Temple Beth-El gave the second of his Sunday lectures today which was entitled “What is Judaism?”
1888: In New York, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment met today and provisionally approved expenditures for several agencies of the city government and charitable institutions including an expenditure of $60,000.00 for the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.
1889: In Rockford, Illinois, Professor E.L. Curtis delivered a sermon in which he declared that the Book of Job is only a poem written by some pious Jew during the period of the exile.
1889: A group of Russian Jewish immigrants escaping pogroms and persecution who had arrived in Argentina aboard the SS Weser founded Moisés Ville a small town in Santa Fe province which was part of the Jewish agricultural settlements to be financed by Baron Maurice Hirsch.
1889:Birthdate of Avshalom Feinberg one of the leaders of Nili, a Jewish spy network in Ottoman Palestine helping the British fight the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Feinberg was born in Gedera, Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire, and studied in France. He returned to work with Aaron Aaronsohn at the agronomy research station in Atlit. Soon after the beginning of war, Aaronson founded the Nili underground along with his sister Sarah Aaronsohn, Feinberg and Yosef Lishansky. In 1915 Feinberg travelled to Egypt and made contact with British Naval Intelligence. In 1917, Feinberg again journeyed to Egypt, on foot. He was apparently killed by a Bedouin near the British front in Sinai, close to Rafah. His fate was unknown until after the 1967 Six-Day War when his remains were found under a palm tree that had grown from date seeds in his pocket to mark the spot where he lay. In 1979 a new Israeli settlement in the Sinai Peninsula, Avshalom was named after him. Although it was abandoned following the Camp David Accords, a new village by the same name was founded in Israel in 1990.
1892: Birthdate of Gummo Marx. This actor and comedian was one of the famous Marx Brothers. He died in 1977.
1892: Professor Adolph Cohn of Columbia delivered the address of welcome at this evening’s dinner honoring French Admiral Abel de Libran and his staff which was attended by many prominent New York dignitaries including President Rosenthal of the French Hebrew Society.
1892: Fifty-two year old Mehmed Emin Pasha passed away today, reportedly by two Arab slave traders in the Congo Free State while working for the German East Africa Company. One of the minor romantic figures of the 19th century, he was born Isaak Eduard Schnitzer, to a German-Jewish family. He converted to Christianity and then to Islam, as he played multiple roles in different parts of the Ottoman Empire.
1892: In his formal speech which the Republican candidate for Mayor of New York City delivered at the Hebrew Institute Hall last night, Edward Einstein called on his mostly Jewish audience to go to the polls and “rebuke the present City Government.
1893: Richard Mansfield’s unique portrayal of Shylock in The Merchant of Venicewas seen for the first time at Hermann’s in New York City.
1893: “Cholera Panic” published today described the reaction to outbreak of the disease including the decision by the Chief Rabbi of Leghorn to close “the grand marble synagogue which is the wealthiest synagogue in the world” with the exception of the one in Amsterdam and the “panic and flight” of the Jews living in Baghdad.
1894(23rdof Tishrei, 5655): Simchat Torah
1896(16thof Cheshvan, 5657): Sixty-eight year old Adolph H. Maas who “began his business career in Savannah, GA before moving to New York in 1852 where he developed a successful chemical manufacturing company passed away today at his home on Lexington Avenue.
1898: Dr. Joseph Krauskopf, who served as the rabbi to several American Congregations was the founder of The National Farm School said today "Tolerance of another's rational faith is the truest stamp of the genuineness and high standard of one's own faith."
1898: The Judeans hosted a dinner at the Tuxedo honoring Israel Zangwill. Dr. Danzinger, President of the Association and Judge Sulzberger from Philadelphia New York
1899(19th of Cheshvan, 5660): One day after his 62nd birthday Australian businessman and political leader Ephraim L. Zox who held several leadership positions in the Australian Jewish community including serving as President of the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation passed away today.
1902: Max Brod met Franz Kafka for the first time when he gave a lecture on Arthur Schopenhauer at Charles University.
1904: Birthdate of American artist Edward Biberman
1905: Birthdate of Felix Bloch who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1952.
1907:W.R. Wheeler, who is a member of the commission appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to visit foreign countries for the purpose of studying matters bearing on the American immigration problem, sailed for America on the Adriatic. Before he left England United States America Russia
1908: Birthdate of Iya Frank, the Russian born physicists who won the Nobel Prize in 1958. Establishing the Jewish lineage of those who lived in the Soviet Union can present quite a challenging. Frank’s father definitely was Jewish.
1909: Birthdate of Avraham Bergman, the Petah Tikva native who as Avraham Biran was the archaeologist who led the dig at Tel Dan and “headed the Institute of Archaeology at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem.”
1914: “Mass Meeting for Palestine Cause” published today described plans for an upcoming meeting sponsored by Hadassah to deal with the crisis faced by the Jewish community due to World War.
1914: “Wars Horrors In Russia” published today described a Jewish soldier in the hospital at Petrograd “who was raving mad” after having taken part in a bayonet charge against the Austrians where “he drove his bayonet through the chest of his opponent" and heard him “gasp the Hebrews death prayer which begins ‘Hear, O Israel.”
1914: “Nathan Straus for Glynn” published today described the Jewish leader’s support for Martin H. Glynn, the first Catholic chief executive of the state of New York.
1918: Birthdate of Meri Vilner, the native of Vilnius who as Ber Kovner became a leader of the Communist Party of Israel. He was a cousine of Abba Kovner, the famous resistance fighter and Israeli poet.
1927: In Israel
1929: Birthdate of Leonard Freed, the son of Jewish immigrants who became a leading documentary photojournalist who photographed everything from the Amsterdam Jewish Community to the Civil Rights movement with a special emphasis on Martin Luther King, Jr to the Yom Kippur War passed away today.
1929: The city of Netanya
1931: The part of recently deceased playwright Dr. Arthur Schnitzler’s will, dealing with the disposition of his property is scheduled to be read today.
1934(14thof Cheshvan, 5695): Seventy-nine year old Samuel Samuel the British businessman who founded Samuel Samuel & Co in Yokohama in partnership with his brother Marcus and who served as a Conservative MP from 1919 until he passed away today.
1934: Birthdate of Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan
1934: Nathan L. Goldstein, President of the United States Maccabiah Association announced today that “the United States will be represented by a team of twenty five athletes at the second Maccabiah” scheduled to be held in Tel Aviv in April of 1935.
1935: Dutch Schultz, Abe Landau, Otto Berman, and Bernard "Lulu" Rosenkrantz are fatally shot in a bar in Newark in what will become known as The Chophouse Massacre. Were there Jewish gangsters? Yes! But contrary to a recent revisionist books on the topic, these thugs were not role models or heroes.
1936: In Amsterdam, violinist Bronislaw Huberman who was the founder of the Palestine Symphony Orchestra performed as a soloist this evening with the Concertgebouw Orchestra under the direction of Bruno Walter.
1936: Birthdate of director and screenwriter Philip Kaufman.Kaufman became involved with the first Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, for which he receives story credit. While the character of Indiana Jones was created by George Lucas, it was Kaufman who came up with the story and the pursuit of the Ark of the Covenant.
1939: Warner Brothers released The Roaring Twenties, a “crime thriller” produced by Hal Wallis with a script co-authored by Mark Hellinger, Jerry Wald and Robert Rossen..
1940: 21stof Tishrei, 5701): Hoshanah Rabah
1940: The Jewish Hospital in Warsaw
1940: Hitler and Spanish dictator Francisco Franco met in Hendaye today where the Nazi leader demanded that his fascist client join his war effort; a demand that the Spaniard turned down.
1941(2nd of Cheshvan, 5702): Odessa "action" continued as 19,000 more Jews were gathered into the city square, sprayed with gasoline and burned alive.
1941(2nd of Cheshvan, 5702): Thousands of Jews are murdered at Kragujevac, Yugoslavia.
1941: Father Bernhard Lichtenberg was arrested for protesting against German deportation of the Jews. He died on his way to Dachau
1941(2nd of Cheshvan, 5702): The Nazis executed 10,000 Jews of the Vilna ghetto
1942: The Battle of El Alamein began with a major attack by British forces on Rommel’s Afrika Corps and their Italian Allies. When the fighting started the Axis were on the verge of sweeping the British out of Egypt, seizing the Suez Canal, cutting the Imperial lifeline to India and destroying the Jewish community in Eretz Israel. The well-supplied Allied forces overcame the usual timidity of their generals and broke the Axis lines, starting the Germans on a long retreat that would end with surrender in Tunisia in 1943.
1942: Algerian-Jewish resistance leader José Aboulker meets with American General Mark Clark in Morocco North Africa . One of the big unknowns was how the French forces would react. Would they resist since the French Vichy government was allied with Germany
1942(12th of Cheshvan, 5703): Ralph Rainger who was born Ralph Reichenthal was among ,the 12 passengers and crewmen aboard an American Airlines DC-3 airliner who are killed when it is struck by a U.S. Army Air Forces bomber near Palm Springs, California. Ralph Rainger was the award-winning composer responsible for such hits as Love in Bloom,Blue Hawaii and Bob Hope’s signature song, Thanks for the Memory. Rainger was 41 at the time of his death.
1943(24th of Tishrei, 5704): Five days after their deportation train left Rome, its 1,060 Jewish passengers were gassed at Auschwitz and Birkenau.
1943(24th of Tishrei, 5704: Eighteen hundred Polish Jews formerly held at Bergen-Belsen, Germany, arrive at Auschwitz, where the women revolt outside the gas chambers, killing one SS guard and wounding two. SS reinforcements use gas grenades and machine-gun fire to subdue and kill the resisters.
1943: In Lithuania
1943(24th of Tishrei, 5704: One thousand, seven hundred-fifty Polish Jews, believing they were awaiting transport to South America, were sent to Birkenau instead. The women took part in a minor revolt in response to SS Sergeant Josef Schillinger's request for them to strip. He was shot and other SS men were injured. Rudolf Hoess ordered the removal of each of the women into the camp grounds, and had each one shot. According to Jerzy Tabau, who later escaped, "the extermination of the Jews continued relentlessly. . ."
1944: In Budapest Hungary
1944: Hungarian authorities agreed to send another 25,000 Jews to Germany
1945: Birthdate of Kenneth Feinberg, an American attorney, specializing in mediation and alternative dispute resolution who first came to fame as the Special Masster of the September 11thVictim Compensation Fund. He has remained in the public eye as the TARP “pay czar” and the man who was supposed to sort out the mess related to compensating the victims of the BP Oil Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
1946: The original Kibbutz Ein Tzurim was founded today in Gush Etzion. The Jordanian Army destroyed the Kibbutz during Israel’s War for Independence.
1947: In Kiriyate Bialik, Hadasa and Moshe gave birth to Yosef (Yosi) Barena who at the age of twenty would perish aboard the INS Dakar.
1949: An Israeli government spokesman reports hundreds of Jews in Iraq
1950(12th of Cheshvan, 5711): Al Jolson passed away. Born Asa Yoelson in Lithuania in 1886, Jolson’s father was a Cantor for a synagogue in downtown Washington D.C. at the turn of the century. Jolson chose to use his singing talents in a different manner. As one of America’s first “superstars, he starred on Broadway, radio and film. He is most famous for starring in the first talkie – the first full length film with sound. It was called the Jazz Singer.
1951(23rd of Tishrei, 5712): Simchat Torah is celebrated by congregants of Adas Israel in its new home at Connecticut Avenue and Porter.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported at length on the research conducted in the Negev wadis by Dr. Nelson Glueck, the president of the Hebrew Union College Cincinnati Negev wastes, whose sides had been terraced from bottom to top. There were numerous cisterns to catch the run-off rainwater, as well as many dams and irrigation channels, a testimony to the former intense cultivation and human presence in that currently uninhabited territory. Glueck would eventually record all of his findings in a popular tome entitled Rivers In The Desert.
1955: In New York
1955: It was reported today that Dr. Benjamin Mazar, the President of Hebrew University is visiting the United States as part of an effort to highlight the observance of the school’s thirtieth anniversary. The university currently has 4,000 students and a faculty of 560.
1956: The Hungarian Revolution began as Hungarians sought to remove Soviet forces from their country. The revolt would turn violent as Soviet tanks returned to the streets of Budapest
1958: Russian novelist Boris Pasternak won the Nobel Prize for Literature. The author of Dr. Zhivago was born to Jewish parents in Moscow
1960: U.S. premiere of “The Magnificent Seven” the classic western with a most memorable score created by Elmer Bernstein and a script co-authored by Walter Bernstein
1961(13th of Cheshvan, 5722):Harold K. Guinzburg, founder of Viking Press, and the father of publisher Thomas Guinzburg, passed away.
1963: Neil Simon’s “Barefoot in the Park” opened on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre.
1963: Ivry Gitlis performed in Vilna making him the first Israeli violinist to play in the Soviet Union under the cultural exchange between the two countries.
1970(23rdof Tishrei, 5731): Simchat Torah
1970:“The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail” co-authored by Jerome Lawrence was performed professionally for the first time at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC.
1973: Rabbi Sally J. Priesand offered the opening prayer in the United States House of Representatives, at the invitation of Congresswoman Bella Abzug. According to Abzug, Priesand was not only the first Jewish woman, but the first woman to be accorded this honor. October 23, 1973 also turned out to be the day on which the first resolution to impeach President Richard Nixon was offered. Priesand became the first woman to be ordained by a rabbinical seminary in June 1972. While Priesand was the first American woman rabbi, she was not the first woman to study toward that goal. She was preceded at Hebrew Union College and the Jewish Institute of Religion by other women including Martha Neumark, Helen Levinthal Lyons, Toby Fink, and Norma Kirschner.
1973: The UN Cease Fire Resolution was proving a difficult document to enforce on the ground. There was opposition in Israel to accepting a cease fire. In particular, Menachem Begin, speaking for the coalition of right wing parties, opposed accepting the cease fire as long as Arab forces occupied our territory i.e. any part of the Sinai east of the Suez Canal. Ironically, this would be part of the very land that Begin would trade with Sadat to gain a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that the International Federation of Airline Pilots Association, reacting to the recent passenger aircraft hijacking incidents and the murder of a Lufthansa pilot, had postponed its threatened 48-hour global air-transport strike, after the UN agreed to hold a full meeting of the General Assembly on the subject of air piracy.
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that Lev Ovsiher, a highly decorated Jewish Red Army veteran, gave his 17 medals back to the Soviet government, to protest the refusal to let him immigrate with his family to Israel Soviet Union . Change does happen and sometimes it is for the better.
1983: A suicide terrorist truck bomb killed 243 US personnel in Beirut. President Reagan responded by withdrawing the Marine peacekeeping force from Lebanon Europe and the downing of an airliner over Scotland
1983: While serving as a chaplain for the United States Sixth Fleet, Arnold Resnicoff was present in Beirut, Lebanon, during the suicide truck bomb attack that took the lives of 241 American military personnel, and wounded scores more.
1983(16th of Cheshvan, 5744): Thirty-six year old newscaster Jessica Savitch and 34 year old Martin Fischbein, the vice president and assistant general manager of the New York Post were killed in an automobile accident today. (As reported by Peter Kerr)
1983: Following a lengthy and intense debate within the Conservative movement, the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) faculty senate, voted 34-8 to admit women to the JTS Rabbinical School. (As reported by Jewish Women’s Archives)
1992: U.S. premiere “Zebrahead” starring Michael Rapaport.
1996: In Providence, RI, pediatrician Scott Berns and pediatric intern Leslie Grove gave birth to Sampson Gordon Berns “a Massachusetts high school junior whose life with the illness progeria was the subject of a documentary film recently shortlisted for an Academy Award.” (As reported by Margalit Fox)
1998: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed the Wye River Memorandum, thus bringing about the end of his first government. He did this with his own mouth: After being perceived as undermining the Oslo Accords, and after declared that any withdrawal from more than nine percent of the West Bank would harm Israel's security, he ratified the accords and sought a 13-percent withdrawal. His term was rife with conflicts with the United States president, and he made both the right and left heartily sick of him. A decade later, Netanyahu is at a similar juncture.
1998 (3rd of Cheshvan, 5759):Dr. Barnett Slepian, , was murdered at his home in suburban Buffalo , N.Y.
1998:Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat signed a land-for-peace agreement at the White House, following nine days of talks at Wye River , Md.
2002(17thof Cheshvan, 5763): Sixty-nine year old Al Lerner, the billionaire owner of the Cleveland Browns passed away today.
2003:Israel honored Hans von Dohnányi by recognizing him as one of the Righteous Among the Nations for saving the Arnold and Fliess families, at risk to his own life.
2005: The New York Times reviewed The Life of David by Robert Pinksy. This biography is one of the first books in the “Jewish Encounters” series, which will match prominent Jewish writers with a variety of subjects.
2005: In an article styled “Curacao ’s place in the Diaspora,” the Boston Europe .
2006(1stof Cheshvan, 5767): Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan
2006: The Jerusalem Post reported that Indonesia will purchase four Israeli unmanned planes, or drones, through a Filipino distributor. The deal was a surprise to some because Indonesia Israel
2006: Max Kellerman began hosting the 10 AM to noon program on WEPN, replacing ESPN's nationally broadcast Colin Cowherd program.
2007: The Upper Midwest Region of Hadassah hosts its annual Big Gifts Dinner honoring Barbara Melamed with Hadassah’s Myrtle Wreath Award. Babara Sofer,The Israel Director of Public Affairs and Communications for Hadassah and popular columnist for the Jerusalem
2007: “Avenue Q,” Moshe Kepten’s Israeli version of the Broadway hit musical debuts at Beit Lessin, in Tel Aviv.
2008: “Mother Economy,” the 19-minute film on view at New York’s Jewish Museum since July 1, comes to an end
2008:As part of the Israel Vassar College
2008(24th of Tishrei):Friends and family of Avraham Ozeri voiced sorrow and anger at the killing of the 86-year-old they described as "salt of the earth" in today's stabbing attack in Jerusalem.
2008:Vandals rampaged through a sprawling Jewish cemetery in Romania
2008:Today, the German government handed Israel's national Holocaust memorial personal details of the 600,000 Jewish residents of Nazi Germany, the most comprehensive record to date of German-Jewish life during the Nazi era. German Culture Minister Bernd Neumann presented the "Directory of Jewish residents in Germany 1933-1945" during a ceremony at the Yad Vashem memorial.
2009(5thof Cheshvan, 5770): Ninety-fiver year old Canadian-born character actor Lou Jacobi passed away in New York City.
2009: As part of his World Tour, Leonard Cohen performs at Madison Square Garden.
2009: The New York Times featured a review of The Humbling, Philip Roth’s latest novella
2009: “Killing Kasztner: The Jew Who Dealt With Nazis” opens at the Cinema Village in New York City. This is a cinematic presentation of material covered in the recently publish, Kasztner’s Train: The True Story of an Unknown Hero of the Holocaust by Anna Porter.http://www.killingkasztner.com/
2010(15th of Cheshvan): Yahrzeit of Shlomo Carlebach
2010: Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple is scheduled to open tonight as Theatre J kicks off its 2010-2011 season in Washington, DC.
2010: New York Times opinion columnist Thomas Friedman said that many Americans are becoming "fed up" with Israel. Friedman's comments came in an interview with Channel Two reporter Dana Weiss to be aired today. Friedman stated that while the American public was by no means anti-Israel, they no longer care about the Israeli-Arab conflict and this could eventually hurt Israel's national security interests.
2010:The vote on a bill that would reinstate stipends for men who study Torah full-time will not take place tomorrow as was previously scheduled, the Prime Minister's Office announced today.
2011: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to sponsor “A Walking tour of Old Town Alexandria” that will include visits “to the sites of two former synagogues and several Jewish businesses along King Street-including some that show traces of past Jewish owners.”
2011: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to sponsor a Walking Tour of Jewish Sites in Arlington National Cemetery that will include visits to “memorials by or for Jews, and headstones of prominent Jewish leaders buried at Arlington.”
2011: Hyman S. & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival is scheduled to open in Washington, D.C.
2011: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Alice Hoffman’s latest book, a novel entitled “The Dovekeepers,” which attempts to retell the story of the Jewish resistance during the Roman siege of Masada in the first century and “The End:The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler’s Germany, 1944-45” by Ian Kershaw.
2011: Israel has offered to aid the Turkish government in any way it can after a massive earthquake shook the Turkish southeast, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said today.
2011: Police have arrested a third suspect in the torching of a mosque in the Beduin village of Tuba Zanghariya in the Galilee in early October, police announced today. The suspect, a minor, was arrested day before yesterday and brought before the Rishon Letzion Magistrate's Court on Sunday morning, where his remand was extended by five days
2011:National Infrastructures Ministry announced today that Egypt has resumed natural gas deliveries to Israel.
2012: Israeli cellist Elad Kabilio is scheduled to appear at the Joyce Theatre in New York
2012: YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is scheduled to present “An Evening with Romanian Jewish Author Norman Manea” during which he will from his latest novel, The Liar
2012: An IDF officer was critically wounded while carrying out a routine patrol near the Gaza border fence today.
2012:The Emir of Qatar embraced the Hamas leadership of Gaza today with an official visit that broke the isolation of the Palestinian Islamist movement, to the dismay of Israel and rival, Western-backed Palestinian leaders.
2013:The Jacqueline and Myron Blank Fund along with The Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines are scheduled to host a program in dedicating the Iowa Holocaust Memorial at the State Historical Building
2013: Emmy Award winning theatre critic Pat Launer is scheduled to discuss “Broken Glass” one of the last plays by Arthur Miller that combines themes of Kristallnacht with anxieties of a American Jewish couple living in New York.
2013: The Lawrence Family JCC is scheduled to host a screening of “50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus” which “chronicles the efforts of Gilbert Kraus and his wife, Eleanor, two Americans who undertook the successful rescue of 50 Jewish children from Vienna in the late spring of 1939.”
2013: Israeli warplanes hit a convoy of advanced missiles heading out of Syria and into Lebanon where they were to be delivered to Hezbollah, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported today (Reported Stuart Winer)
2013: When the Red Sox take the field agains the Cards tonight in the opening game of the World Series, Craig Breslow will be in the Boston bull-pen.
2013: According to unofficial figures released today 35.9% of the eligible voters went to the polls in Jerusalem and 31.5% of the eligible voters went to the polls in Tel Aviv during the just completed mayoral elections.
2013:Israel's unusual period of seismic activity continued today as yet another small earthquake was felt - this time in the southernmost Israeli city of Eilat. (As reported by Ari Soffer)
2013(19thof Cheshvan, 5574): Ninety-year old sandal maker and musician Allan Block passed away today, (As reported by Bruce Weber)
2013(19thof Cheshvan, 5574): Ninety-two year old Bill Mazer“who was a voice and face of sports coverage in New York for decades, pioneering sports-talk radio and becoming a television fixture while earning the nickname the Amazin’ for his encyclopedic recall of sports facts and figures” passed away today. (As reported by Richard Goldstein)
2014: The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education is scheduled to host a screening of “American Jerusalem: Jews and the Making of San Francisco.”
2014: The University of Connecticut is scheduled to host a lecture by Dr. Philip Balma on “Hiding in Plain Sight: Italian Jews and the Film Industry.”
2014: The University of Connecticut is scheduled to “I Have No Right to Be Silent” -- a panel discussion on the social activism and human rights work of Rabbi Marshal Meyer.
2014: The Chicago International Film Festival which has included a screening of “Gett” is scheduled to come to an end today.
2014: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to host “Two Jewish Loves: Food and Literature.”
2014: “The Sturgeon Queens” is scheduled to be shown at the Twin Cities Jewish Film Festival.
2014: Rita Jahan-Foruz is scheduled to introduce her biographical film this evening at the Skirball Center.