November 11
603 BCE (7th of Kislev): King Jehoiakim burned the scroll which had been dictated by the prophet Jeremiah to Barcuh ben Heriah.
518 BCE: A delegation of Babylonian Jews arrived in Jerusalem to inquire from the prophet Zechariah whether the fast of Av should be discontinued (Zechariah 7:1)
1050: Birthdate of Henry IV, who as Holy Roman Emperor took steps to protect his Jewish subjects. For example, Henry granted the request of Moses ben Guthiel, leader of the Jewish community of Speyer that Jews who had been forcibly converted by marauding Crusaders be allowed to renounce the vow and return to Judaism without penalty. This and other such protective measures set him at odds with various leaders of the Church.
1155: Birthdate of King Alfonso VIII of Castile who employed a number of Jews in position of importance including Joseph ben Solomon Ibn-Shoshan and Abraham Ibn-Alfachar who served as his ambassador to Morocco which was governed by the intolerant Almohades.
1215: The meeting of the Fourth Lateran Council during the the papacy of Pope InnocentIII (1161-1215) marked the zenith of Papal power. Old anti-Jewish decrees were expanded and Jews were compelled to wear the Yellow Patch, the "Badge of Shame", to distinguish them from Christians. It was enforced in France, England, Germany and later in Hungary. The Pope also originated the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, in which the wafer (Host) and wine in the Eucharist are believed to become the blood and flesh of Jesus. This led to the infamous Host Desecration libels of the next few centuries.
1500: Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon sign The Treaty of Granada in which they agree to divide the Kingdom of Naples between them. The treaty did not hold and Ferdinand would not gain control of Naples until 1510 at which time he would expel the Jews, following the same pattern he adopted in 1492.
1651: The Cossacks are forced to accept a peace treaty dictated by John Caimir, the Polish King. One of the terms of the treaty, was a guarantee that Jews could settle anywhere in the Ukraine and could hold property on lease. Chmeilnicki, the leader of the Cossack uprising would soon break the treaty and the violence would resume again.
1711(29th of Cheshvan): Rabbi Moses Hefez (Gentili) author of Melekhet Mahashevet, passed away
1792: Birthdate of Mary Anne Evans, who gained fame as Mary Anne Disraeli, 1stVicountess Beaconsfield, the wife of Benjamin Disraeli.
1803(26th of Cheshvan, 5564) Eighty-one year old Raphael Cohen who served as Chief Rabbi of Alton-Hamburg-Wandsbek passed away today.
1807: In Charleston, SC, Rebecca Phillips married Josiah Moses this evening.
1819(23rd of Cheshvan): Rabbi Joseph Raphael Hazzan (Yerach) author of Hikrei Lev passed away
1813: During the War of 1812, Mordecai Myers of Newport, Rhode Island, was wounded “while leading the Thirteenth Pennsylvania Infantry at the Battle of Chrysler’s Farm” which was fought on the Canadian side of the St. Lawrence River (As
1821: Birthdate of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Dostoyevsky”s anti-Semitic views were revealed in The Diary of a Writer.
1830 (26th of Cheshvan): Rabbi Raphael Yekutiel Zalman author of Torat Yekutiel passed away
1839: At, Lexington, founding of Virginia Military Institute (VMI), “the oldest state supported military college” in the United States. Moses Jacob Exekiel, who joined his fellow cadets at the Battle of New Market in 1864, was the first Jew to attend the academy.
1848: In Moravia, Elijah Karpeles and his wife gave birth to historian and editor Gustav Karpeles.
1852: Rabbi Jonas Wiesner and Estra (Therese) Wiesner gave birth to Leopold Wiesener.
1852: Tonight a number of citizens of the Jewish persuasion, met at Constitution Hall, to celebrate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the "HEBRA HASED V. AMET," a society originally established, and still sustained, by Benevolent Israelites, for the purpose of aiding the sick of their faith who need aid, and to bury the dead according to the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish persuasion. George Henriques chaired the event. He was assisted by Isaac Philips, the President of the Association.
1853: The Jewish Chronicle reported that in Jersey, Alfred Alexander Jones of Quality Court, Chancery Lane was elected to represent the synagogue in London.
1855: Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard passed away.
http://pietyonkierkegaard.com/category/kierkegaard-and-the-jews/
1860: First Jewish wedding takes place in Buenos Aires Argentina.
1863: Mrs. Sarah Brydges Willyams passed away today. She left her considerable estate to Benjamin Disraeli “in testimony of her affection for him and in approval and admiration of his efforts vindicate the race of Israel…”
1864: Birthdate of Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian born pacifist and winner of the 1911 Nobel Peace Prize.
1874: The Times of London reported approvingly on the judicial performance of Sir George Jessel who disdained the “proverbial slowness” of others serving in the judiciary. Jessel cleared cases quicker and with more accuracy than his colleagues.
1874: “A Rabbi’s Scientific Expedition" published today traces the life of Mardochée abi Serour the son of a poor Moroccan Jewish family whose travels took him to Palestine where his studies earned him the title of Rabbi. He traveled to Timbuktu where he established the first Jewish counting-house which he ran successfully for ten years until his caravans were attacked leaving him penniless. Mardochée eventually made his way to Paris where he convinced the French government to provide financial support for an expedition to Timbuktu that will combine commerce with scientific inquiry.
1878: It was reported today that Dr. E. M. Snow’s Annual Vital Statistics Report shows that only two Jews were married in Providence, Rhode Island. This ranks them at the bottom of the list along with the members of the Mormons.
1882: It was reported today that following riots in the suburbs of Vienna, the police tore down posters from the lampposts reading “Down with the Jews.”
1883: It was reported today that the district attorney in Troy, NY, will prosecute an unnamed Jewish merchant for bigamy if he goes ahead with his planned marriage. The Polish Jewish merchant said he plans on marrying a Jewess from New York City because he has received a bill of divorce from a religious tribunal. The DA does not recognize their authority in this matter.
1883: “By Direction of the Grand Lodge No. 1, of the Independent Order of the Free Sons of Israel, Julius Harburger, the District Grand Master, will send Sir Moses Montefiore a letter congratulating on him on the celebration of his 99th birthday.”
1884: It was reported today that Mt. Sinai Hospital in NYC is planning a reception to introduce its recently completed wards.
1884: “Mr. Irving” published today highlights the month-long appearance of Henry Irving and Ellen Terry who bring an added dimension to their respective portrayals of Shylock and his daughter Portia in “The Merchant of Venice.” Irving, a noted English actor portrays Shylock in a manner that is “delightful” for its “completeness, beauty” and “scholarship.”
1884: Counselor John H. Bird is scheduled to play the role of Shylock, the Jew in the Mimosa Dramatic Society’s performance of “The Merchant of Venice.”
1885: The funeral of Albert Cardozo, attorney, jurist, leader of the Sephardic Jewish community and father of future Supreme Court Justice, was scheduled to take place at 10:30 this morning in NYC.
1885: Birthdate of General George Patton, Jr. Regardless of how you may about the career of Old Blood and Guts” and allegations that he was an anti-Semite, many Jews will always remember Patton as the leader of the troops that liberated Ohrdruf, a sub-camp of Buchenwald, the first concentration camp liberated by American troops. (There is a note of irony that the Warrior General was born on the date that would become synonymous with “Peace In Europe.”)
1885: It was reported today that Referee hearing the suit for divorce filed by Mrs. Clara Bronner Waterman against her husband B. Frank Waterman. The Watermans were married in a synagogue in Syracuse but she moved back to New York City after he suffered financials reversals and stopped supporting her and their children.
1886: It was reported today that all of the students escaped unharmed when a night school for Jewish children caught fire in New York City. It was determined that the fire was started by a kerosene stove in the basement of the building occupied by Joseph Bluestone, his wife and child all of whom escaped from the flames.
1887: Albert Parsons, the husband of Lucy Parsons who addressed the Jewish dominated the Jewish dominated Chicago Tailor’s Union on the danger of overly powerful capitalists, was hung today for his alleged role in the Haymarket Riot.
1888: Birthdate of Stefan Lux the Jewish Czech journalist, who committed suicide in the general assembly room of the League of Nations during its session to alert the world on the perils of German anti-Semitism.
1888: It was reported today that Acting Grand Master Julius Harburger addressed the 400 people who attended the 20th anniversary celebration of the Free Sons of Israel.
http://www.freesons.org/Home.html
1888: It was reported today that the benefit council held for the Hebrew Sheltering and Guardian Society was well-attended and raised “a neat sum.”
1889: It was reported that new wards have been added to the Home For Aged and Infirm Hebrews to meet the needs for the “exceedingly old and infirm patients.” This latest addition to the building and improvement to the grounds cost $24,000 and was brought to fruiting under the leadership of Simon Borg and the Building Committee.
1889 The Young Men’s Hebrew Association is scheduled to host its “first informal entertainment of the season” tonight at the Vienna Hall in New York City.
1889: Washington joins the Union as the 41st state. Isadore Friedlander, a trader in Washington during its territorial days, gained fame and notoriety when he married an Indian princess named Sken-What-Ux who was also known as Elizabeth. According to one source, “in her later days she became affectionately known as ‘Grandmother Elizabeth’ Friedlander.” Edward S. Salomon, a decorated hero of the Civil War and one of the famed Salomon cousins all of whom became generals in the Union Army, served as governor of Washington territory for two years. Bailey Gatzert served as mayor of Seattle during the 1870’s. Gatzert had married Babette Schawbacher. Her three brothers had settled in Walla Walla, Washington where they prospered as merchants becoming leaders of the communities in Walla Walla and Seattle. Babette is described as the first woman (not just the first Jewish woman) to establish a home on the northwestern frontier. The ups and downs of the Schawbacher clan, which played an active role in Washington’s secular and Jewish communities until the 1970’s, is a saga worthy of a made for television movie or HBO special.
1891(10th of Cheshvan, 5652): “Hungarian oculist” Ignaz Hirschler, “who was made a life member of the Hungarian House of Magnates by the Emperor Franz Joseph and who “was the intellectual leader of the Jewish community in Hungary” passed away today.
1891: Birthdate of Lilya Yuryevna Brik, the Moscow born Jewess who was married to Osip Brik, the Jewish-Russian author.
1893: Birthdate of Clarence D. Chamberlain who flew Charles Albert Levine to Europe in what would make the Jewish businessman, the first “passenger” to fly the Atlantic.
1893: By special request the band from the Hebrew Orphan Asylum is scheduled to play this evening at Mr. McCrow’s Flower Show, a major New York City social event.
1894: Birthdate of Aaron Avshalomov who fled pogroms and revolutions in Russia in the beginning of the 20th century, went to China where he entered the world of Shanghai's academia and trained a number of young Chinese musicians in classical music, who in turn became leading musicians in contemporary China. He moved to Portland Oregon and was the father of composer Jacob Avshalomov, conductor of the Portland Junior Symphony (now called the Portland Youth Philharmonic Orchestra) from 1953-1994.
1894: The London Daily News reported that the total number of Jews leaving Russia in 1894 will total 250,000 by the end of the year.
1894: A “fire was discovered at 11:10 o’clock” tonight on the first floor of a tenement at 80 Henry Street which is occupied by 20 families most of whom are Jewish.
1894: Professor Felix Adler delivered the first in a series of lecture on “the religion of humanity” at the Society of Ethical Culture entitled “It’s Dawn In Palestine.”
1894: A fund raiser was held tonight at the Lenox Lyceum for the benefit of Beth Israel Hospital, “the poorest of the three Jewish hospitals in New York.”
1897: Today, in New York City, Miss Julia Richman, the Principal of Grammar School 77 will celebrate “the 25thanniversary of her first appointment as a teacher in the public schools. In addition to her work as a public school educator, Miss Richman is a champion of improving the quality of Jewish education as can be seen in her works as the Director of the Hebrew Free School Association, Vice President of the Jewish Religious School Union and “Chairman of the National Committee on Sabbath School Work of the Council of Jewish Women.
1897: According to reports published today during the past year the United Hebrew Charities of New York raised $135, 348.93 and spent $133,680.97 providing aid and assistance. The society spent $38, 210.24 in relief work while expending additional sums for 16,420 free burials and working to obtain employment for almost 6,600 people.
1897(16th of Cheshvan, 5658): Rabbi Sabato Morais passed away. Rabbi Sabato Morais was the spiritual leader of Philadelphia's Spanish and Portuguese Congregation Mikveh Israel from 1851 until his death in 1897. To many in his community, the Italian-born Morais epitomized the idealized traits of a sage: piety, humility, and wisdom.
http://personal.stevens.edu/~llevine/sabato_morais.pdf
1899: A list of the editors of compiling “The Jewish Encyclopedia” which is to be published by Funk & Wagnalls showed Dr. Isidiore Singer of New York City “who is the author of several books on the Jewish question” as being the managing editor.
1899: In New York, Ida Japhe and advertising executive Samuel Knopf gave birth to Edwin H. Knopf who pursued a career in film after working for his brother’s publishing house – Alfred Knopf.
1900: In Lithuania, Hannah Rivkin and Abraham Saks gave birth to Emil Solomon (Solly) Sachs who gained fame as English labor leader Emil Solomon Sachs.
http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/emil-solomon-sachs
1901: The Charles Frohman production “Quality Street,” a comedy in four acts written by the same author who created Peter Pan opened today at the Knickerbocker Theatre in New York.
1901: Birthdate of Helen Faith Kahn, the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Poland, who would gain famed as Helen Reichert, the graduate of Cornell University who founded The Round Table of Fashion Executives.
1901: Birthdate of Bensison Gotlob, the native of Pologne, France who was on board Convoy 25 that left Drancy for Auschwitz in August of 1942.
1903: Birthdate of Sam Spiegel. Born in Galicia, Spiegel enjoyed a successful career in Europe until the rise of the Nazis. He left Germany and came to the United States. He is remembered as the producer of several cinematic hits including “On the Waterfront” and “Bridge Over The River Kwai.”
1903: Herzl writes the "Letter to the Jewish People".
1906: Official formation of the American Jewish Committee
1906: Birthdate of “Theodore Gottlieb, who as Brother Theodore performed apocalyptic one-man shows about life, death and broccoli in Greenwich Village nightclubs to dazzling and disturbing effect.” (As reported by Douglas Martin)
1910: Birthdate of Israel Scheib who gained fame as Israel Elad, leader of Lehi. He described his activities from 1938 in The First Tithe which was finally published in English by the Jabotinsky Institute in 2008. He passed away at his home in Jerusalem in January of 1996.
1910: A Jew, Zeki Effendi Hayon, was appointed Inspector of Finance for the Ottoman Empire.
1911: Jewish colony of Petach-Tikvah in Palestine passes a resolution to contribute 1,000 Francs to the Ottoman military towards defense of the [Turkish] country.
1914: Birthdate of controversial author Howard Fast.
1914: Birthdate of Jacob C. Hurewitz, “Columbia University professor whose voluminous research, belief in the importance of local histories and evenhanded scholarship contributed depth and complexity to the emerging field of Middle Eastern studies starting in 1950.” (As reported by Douglas Martin)
1914: “Sell Stamps to Aid Jews” published today described a plan of the Central Committee for the relief of Jews” to issue “self-taxation stamps to storekeepers and others who will then sell them to their customers and use them on their business letters.”
1914: It was reported today that according to Dr. Alexander von Nuber de Pereked, the Austro-Hungarian Consul General…there were more than 400,000 Jewish refugees from Galicia, Poland and other parts of the war zone in Vienna and Budapest nearly of” who “were in need of immediate relief.”
1915: In the Bronx, ”Hillel Jacobson and the former Pauline Shainmark, Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe” gave birth to Anna Jacobson who would gain fame as “Anna J. Schwartz, a research economist who wrote monumental works on American financial history in collaboration with the Nobel laureate Milton Friedman..” (As reported by Robert D. Hershey, Jr)
1915: While in a hospital in England, Corporal Zalman Cogan wrote today about the impact Second Lieutenant Alex Grodsky’s death had on the members of the Zion Mule Corps including its commander Colonel Patterson. ‘He had been an officer and at the same time best friend of all the soldiers. Owing to his knowledge of English he was the intermediary between us and the Colonel … I never heard from him one complaint … an honest and just man …we have lost one of the best men of the Corps …promoted in the field to Lieutenant.’ (Jewish Virtual Library)
1916: “Ralph Horween (born Ralph Horwitz) kicked a 35-yard field goal to lead Harvard over previously unbeaten Princeton
1917: Birthdate of Eliezer Henkin the son of a a rabbi and Talmudic scholar who gained fame as “Louis Henkin, a legal scholar often credited with creating the field of human rights law and the author of classic works on constitutional law and the legal aspects of foreign policy…”
1918: The Western Allies and the Germans signed an Armistice that signified the official end of World War I with an Allied victory. Out of the estimated 1,506,000 Jewish soldiers in all the armies approximately 170,000 were killed and over 100,000 cited for valor. In Germany alone over 100,000 Jews fought for the Fatherland with 12,000 killed. According to Winston Churchill some 60,000 Jews had fought in the Armed Forces of the British Empire. Of these 2,324 gave their lives for the cause and 6,350 were wounded. Five Jewish soldiers won the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest decoration and another 1,533 won other awards for bravery. Considering the small size of the Jewish population, Churchill described the Jewish participation as disproportionately high for such a small number of people.
1918: Among those who breathed a sigh of relief that the war was over was Saul Adler, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants who was born in Pittsburgh, PA and who proudly kept the marksman’s medal he earned as a Marine long after the war was over.
1918(7th of Kislev, 5679): At 10:45 am, 15 minutes before the Armistice on the Western Front was to go into effect, Battery D, 2nd Battalion, 129th Field Artillery of the American Expeditionary fired its last barrage. The unit was commanded by Captain Harry S. Truman, the man who consider himself as a modern day Cyrus for the role he played 30 years later during the creation of the state of Israel and included in its ranks his friend Eddie Jacobson who would boldly plead for President Truman’s support of the Jewish state
1918: Birthdate of Stubby Kaye. The chubby, cherubic Kaye played in a wide variety of hits including “Guys & Dolls,” “Lil' Abner” and “Cat Ballou.”
1918: Józef Piłsudski comes to Warsaw and assumes supreme military power in Poland. Poland regains its independence. “As one of his first acts as chief of state, he assured a delegation of Jewish leaders of his full-heated commitment to their people’s security.” But the Poles did not share Pilsudski’s enlightened views. As a wave of xenophobia in general, and anti-Semitism in particular, swept the re-born nation of Poland, Pilsudski gave into to pressure to diminish the role of the Jewish people. Pilsudski would become disgusted with Polish political life and return to serving as chief of the Army. In the mid-twenties he was brought back to political power in a bid to bring peace to the nation. At the time of his return, conditions improved for the Jews. However, with the advent of the Great Depression, anti-Semitism returned in full force.
1920: Birthdate of Chaike Belchatowska Spiegel, the Warsaw native who would become a fighter during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Spiegel was one of the few who survived the fighting and settled in Montreal after the war.
1921: Vladimir Jabotinsky, organizer of the Jewish Legion, which served under General Allenby in Palestine, arrives in New York on the SS Olympic with a delegation of European Zionists headed by Nahum Sokolow.
1922 (20th of Cheshvan): Composer Abraham Baer Birnbaum passed away
1924: The Martin Beck Theatre which will be renamed the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in 2003 opened in New York City.
1926: Birthdate of Yitzhak Arad “a Lithuanian-born Israeli historian and retired IDF brigadier general. A veteran of the Nazi-era Jewish resistance movement in ghetto; partisan, he has researched, lectured, and published extensively on the Holocaust.”
1927: GUS magnate Sir Isaac Wolfson, 1st Baronet and his wife gave birth to Sir Leonard Gordon Wolfson who would become 2nd Baronet in 1991.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/leonard-wolfson-businessman-and-philanthropist-1990944.html
1930: Patent number US1781541 was awarded to Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd for their invention, the Einstein refrigerator.
1933: In Cleveland, Ohio, Helen Rosenfeld and Joseph Lewis, who co-founded the Progressive Mutual Insurance Company, gave birth to Peter Benjamin Lewis the insurance mogul who was also a noted philanthropist.
1936: The Maccabee champion soccer team which had been playing exhibition matches in the United States since September 14th, departed for home on the French liner Normandie.
1936: The Peel Commission was sent to Eretz-Israel to investigate the Arab riots. Though Peel judged Arab claims to be baseless, he encouraged partition into three separate Arab and Jewish states. This, he claimed, would silence Arab objections to a Jewish state.
1936: The members of the Peel Commission arrived in Jerusalem. Since this was Armistice Day, they attended the memorial services at the British Military Cemetery on Mt. Scopus.
1937: Birthdate of sportscaster Warner Wolf. Yes, Jewish boys can grow up to be something besides lawyers, accountants, doctor or dentists.
1934: Father Cougllin, the anti-Semitic pro-fascist Detroit priest announces the formation of the National Union for Social Justice
1938: Jews are killed and injured during an anti-Semitic pogrom at Bratislava, Slovakia
1938(17th of Cheshvan, 5699):Fifty-year old Jesse Sampter an influential Zionist educator, a poet, and a Zionist pioneer passed away at Kibbutz Givat Brenner. Born into a highly assimilated home in New York City, Sampter was influenced by Henrietta Szold, Josephine Lazarus, Mary Antin, Mordecai Kaplan and others to become an ardent advocate of Judaism and Zionism. Assuming the role of Hadassah's leading educator, she produced manuals and textbooks and organized lectures and classes. She led Hadassah's School of Zionism, training speakers and leaders for both Hadassah and other Zionist organizations. She also wrote poems and short stories throughout her life that emphasized her primary concerns: pacifism, Zionism, and social justice. Having contracted polio at age thirteen she remained in poor health throughout her life. This did not prevent her from settling in Palestine in 1919 where she helped organize the country's first Jewish Scout camp. Sampter developed a strong commitment to assisting Yemenite Jews, founding classes and clubs especially for Yemenite girls and women who often received no education. At the time of her death, she had established a vegetarian convalescent home at Kibbutz Givat Brenner. Henrietta Szold presided at her funeral.
1938: Erich Kreutzberger and Anna Blumenfeld Neufeld, the parents of Mario Luis Kreutzberger Blumenfeld also known as television personality Don Francisco, escaped to Chile.
1938:“The Italian council of ministers announces a series of new anti-Semitic laws:all Jews will get a special notation in their civil records, they are excluded from the military, they are not allowed to employ "Aryan" servants, marriages between Jews and "Aryans" are forbidden, any such marriages that currently exist are annulled, and Jews are forbidden from owning large tracts of land.”
1938: Following Kristallnacht, Heydrich reported to Goering that 815 shops, 29 department stores, and 171 dwellings of Jews had been burned or otherwise destroyed, and that 267 synagogues had been set ablaze or completely demolished (in fact, this was only a fraction of the synagogues destroyed). The selfsame report refers to 36 Jews killed and the same number severely injured, but it was later officially stated that the number killed was 91. In addition, hundreds perished in the concentration camps.
1939: Six hundred Jews are murdered by German troops at Ostrow Mazowiecki, Poland.
1939: Two Jews are among six men and three boys taken from Zielonka, Poland, to be shot in nearby woods
1940: Fifty-five non-Jewish Polish intellectuals are murdered at Dachau, Germany.
1940: German authorities in Poland officially declare the existence of the Warsaw (Poland) Ghetto.
1943: On the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice in the forest of Compiegne, German officials take revenge by assembling all 47,000 Jews not yet deported from Theresienstadt ghetto to Birkenau in a large square for an ill-organized “census.” At 4:00 AM the torture began by rousing them all and making them stand in the cold in the city square. As night fell, the Jews stood in a drizzle made more miserable by falling temperatures. The Germans held them until 10 pm at which time the survivors were allowed to seek shelter inside. Drizzle came, the dark of night, and the temperatures lowered.
1943: “What’s Up?” the musical created by Frederick Lowe and Alan Jay Lerner opened on Broadway at the National Theatre.
1963: Brian Epstein and Ed Sullivan sign a 3 show contract for the Beatles
1964: Murray Schisgal's "Luv," premieres in New York City
1966:”Father of Biophilosophy” published today described the plans that Jonas Salk has for the Salk Institute in La Jolla, CA.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9506E3DC1330E43BBC4952DFB767838D679EDE
1969(1st of Kislev, 5730): Rosh Chodesh Kislev
1971: Neil Simon’s “Prisoner of Second Avenue” premiered in New York City.
1973: The Egyptians and Israelis began negations for the disengagement of forces along the Suez Canal. When the fighting had stopped, Israeli forces were on the West Bank of the Suez Canal. They had reached kilometer 101 on the Suez-Cairo Road. The Israelis offered to cross the Canal and to a position 10 kilometers to the east. Egypt wanted a much deeper withdrawal with Israeli forces taking up positions on a line east of the passes in the Sinai that were key to controlling the entire Peninsula.
1974(26th of Cheshvan, 5736): Seventy-seven year old Jane Ace (born Jane Epstein) the wife of Goodman Ace with whom she created the American radio hit show “Easy Aces” and who made America life with her “Jane-isms” passed away today.
http://www.radiohof.org/easyaces.htm
1979(21st of Cheshvan, 5740): Ukrainian born American composer Dimitri Tiomkin passed away. Tiomkin wrote the scores for countless film classics including Lost Horizon, It’s A Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and High Noon. He also wrote themes for popular television westerns including Rawhide and Wild Wild West.
http://www.dimitritiomkin.com/
1981(14th of Cheshvan, 5742): Eighty-three year old Soviet economist Evsei Grigorievich Liberman whose “wife, Regina Horowitz, pianist and pedagogue, was a sister of the famed pianist Vladimir Horowitz” passed away today.
1982: A gas explosion at an Israeli army headquarters results in 60 deaths.
1988: U.S. premiere of “Iron Eagle II” a film based on Operation Opera, the Israeli bombing of an Iraqi nuclear reactor, co-starring Stuart Margolin and Maury Chaykin.
1992: "The Liberators," a film that portrayed the neglected history of the 761st Battalion, putting considerable stress on the involvement of some of its members at the liberations of two of the most notorious camps in Germany, Dachau and Buchenwald was viewed today. (The film became controversial because of the lack of evidence concerning the liberation of these camps by this unit)
1998: Israel's Cabinet narrowly ratified a land-for-peace agreement with the Palestinians. Six years later, the world is waiting for the Peace.
1999(2nd of Kislev, 5760): Rosh Chodesh Kislev
1999(2nd of Kislev, 5760): Jacobo Timmerman passed away. Born in 1923, Timmermanpublished a newspaper in Argentina that publicized human rights violations by the Argentinean government, in particular calling attention to the disappearances of people during that government's "Dirty War". As a result, he was arrested, and during interrogations he was subjected to electric shock treatments, beatings, and solitary confinement. He chronicled his experiences in his 1981 book, Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number. After his release, he immigrated to Israel.
1999: After almost 21 years of service, David Herbert Samuel ceased to be a member of the British House of Lords.
2000(13th of Cheshvan, 5761):Sgt. 1st Class Avner Shalom, 28, of Eilat, was killed in a shooting attack at the Gush Katif junction in the Gaza Strip.
2001(25th of Cheshvan, 5762): Aharon Ussishkin, 50, head of security at Moshav Kfar Hess, east of Netanya, was shot and killed at the entrance to the moshav on Sunday evening, after being summoned to investigate a suspicious person.
2003: The helipad at the Ted Arison Medical Center in Tel Aviv is used by the Israeli Air Force for the first time.
2003: The Jewish Museum in New York presents an exhibition styled “Ours to Fight For: American Jews During the Second World War” The inaugural exhibition for the Robert M. Morgenthau wing, “Ours To Fight For: American Jews in the Second World War” was named the grand-prize winner of the Excellence in Exhibition Competition at the American Association of Museums Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Citing the exhibition's use of the first-person narrative, the judges felt this approach engaged museum visitors and allowed them to make connections with the experiences of soldiers 60 years ago and troops serving today. The exhibition companion volume, Ours To Fight For: American Jewish Voices from the Second World War, chronicles the experience of American Jewish men and women who came together with other Americans to heed their nation's call to arms.
2004: The reunion episode of Israeli sit-com “Krovim Krovim” named "Hamatzav Tzav" was filmed today in the studios of the Israeli Educational Television
2004: Theatre Or presents Voices from the Holy Land-A Festival of Staged Readings of Cutting Edge Plays at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. Local co-sponsors North Carolina Hillel, the Freeman Center for Jewish Life, Judea Reform Congregation, and Beth Meyer Synagogue. The purpose of the festival is to present the community with unique artistic works from a foreign culture that pose questions of universal urgency, help us reflect about our values in new ways and promote cross-cultural dialogue.
2005: The topsy-turvy world of Israeli politics becomes even more confused. Shimon Peres has been defeated by Amir Peretz in the race to head the Labor Party. This could bring down the government led by Likud’s Ariel Sharon forcing new national elections. Since Sharon well might lose the chair of the Likud Party, the elections might include a coaltion party led by Peres and Sharon, two national leaders who cannot control their own political parties.
2005: Right-wing British historian David Irving, who claimed that Adolf Hitler knew nothing about the systematic slaughter of six million Jews, has been arrested in Austria on a warrant accusing him of denying the Holocaust. Under an Austrian law Holocaust denial is a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
2005: The Princeton University Board of Trustees approved the endowment for S. Daniel Abraham Visiting Professor in Middle East Policy Studies in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Daniel C. Kurtzer, former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Egypt was the first one appointed to fill this endowed chair
2006: Members of Congregation Beth-El, gathered, in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, to celebrate their heritage and the many people who have enriched and defended it
2006: Initial screening of Yoav Segal’s “Battle of Cable Street” in selected London cinema houses.
2006: As America honors its veterans on Armistice Day, the Jewish community of Cedar Rapids takes special note of the following who served in uniform: Harold Becker, Arnold Bucksbaum, Maurice Estes, Bill Gasway, Herman Ginsberg, Bert Katz, Sol Maikon, Oscar Siegel and Ed Spector
2006: The United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council draft resolution today that sought to condemn an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip and demand Israeli troops pull out the territory. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the Arab-backed draft resolution was "biased against Israel and politically motivated."
2006(19th of Cheshvan, 5767): Esther Lederberg, pioneering microbial geneticist and wife of Nobel Prize winner Joshua Lederberg passed away at the age of 83.
2007:In Tampa, FL, as part of Jewish Book Day, theJCC , features an afternoon with nationally acclaimed writer Gloria Goldreich, author of Leah's Journey, Dinner with Anna Kareninaand other award-winning books for adults and children.
2007: At the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington 38th annual Book Festival, Brad Meltzer discusses his latest novel, The Book of Fate.
2007: The Sunday New York Times and the Washington Post book sections each feature a review of Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King by Foster Hirsch.
2007: On Veteran’s Day, The Cedar Rapids Gazette features an article about the World War II military exploits of Bert Katz the 85 year old businessman, philanthropist and pillar of the Jewish Community.
2007(1st of Kislev, 5768): Rosh Chodesh Kislev – It’s beginning to look a lot like Latke Time.
2008: 90th anniversary of the Armistice that needed the War to End All Wars. The impact of that war is with us to this day in places like Jerusalem, Baghdad and any home in the United States where families mourn the loss of a loved one in Iraq or Afghanistan.
2008: Idina “Menzel released ‘Hope’ benefitting Stand Up To Cancer.”
2008: Wagner College and the Center for Jewish History present “The Pulpit and the "Bully Pulpit":Religion in the 2008 Presidential Campaign in which a panel including Rev. James M. Dunn, PhD, Divinity School, Wake Forest University, Rabbi James Rudin, Senior Advisor on Inter-religious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee, Peter Steinfels, PhD, New York Times columnist, Co-Director, Fordham Center on Religion & Culture, Seymour P. Lachman, PhD, Hugh L. Carey Center for Government Reform, Wagner College, co-author One Nation Under God: Religion in Contemporary American Science, Moderator discussed “How religion affected the 2008 presidential election and voting patterns.”
2008:U.S. Jewish organizational leaders are meeting today with Bahraini King Hamad ibn Issa al-Khalifa, who has introduced democratic reforms in his Persian Gulf island nations and who recently named Houda Nonoo, a Jewish woman, as ambassador to Washington.
2008: Lyricsby Paul Simon appears on bookstore shelves. “Lyrics spans his entire career from Simon & Garfunkel’s 1964 debut album through this year’s unrealeased songs ‘Rewrite’ and ‘Hard Times.’”
2008:Over 35 percent of eligible voters cast their ballot in the Jerusalem mayoral race by 9:00 p.m., an indication that opposition leader Nir Barkat and MK Meir Porush of the United Torah Judaism Party will be in for a close finish. Incumbent mayors of Afula and Beit Shean had reportedly won re-election as Israelis went to the polls to vote in mayoral elections across the country.
2009:Stephen P. Cohen, the president of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development, discusses and signs his new book, "Beyond America's Grasp: A Century of Failed Diplomacy in the Middle East," at Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C.
2009(24thof Cheshvan, 5770): Seventy-four year old Emanuel Zisman, a former MK and the 2006 recipient of the Yakir Yerushalayim award passed away today.
2009(24thof Cheshvan, 5770): Seventy-eight year old movie and television producer Mavin Minoff, the husband of actress Bonnie Franklin passed away today.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?pid=135914438
2009:David Makovsky, author of Myths, Illusions, & Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East“offers a groundbreaking explanation of how we have repeatedly fallen prey to dangerous myths about the Middle East highlighting those with roots that reach back decades and still persist today” during a session of the 40th Annual Book Festival sponsored by the JCCGW.
2010: Americans observed Veterans Day. This holiday was originally known as Armistice Day. It was celebrated on November 11th because on the 11thday of the 11th month at the 11th hour the guns fell silent on the Western Front marking the end of what was then called the Great War. One person who opposed the Armistice was General John J. Pershing, the commander of the American Expeditionary Force. He wanted the Allies to push forward with great assault on the German Army. He said that if the war end now, the German Army would march back into Germany as an intact force and the people would never accept the fact that they had been defeated; a fact that was fraught with all sorts of unforeseen consequences. Apparently Pershing knew what he was talking about, because no sooner had the war ended then the myth that the German Army had not been defeated but had been stabbed in the back began to gain wide currency. This myth, which features the Jews as prominent backstabbers, would become a staple of right wing politicians including Hitler and his supporters.
2010:In New York City, The National Yiddish Theatre – Folksbiene is scheduled to present the noted Israeli actor Rafael Goldwaser in “New Worlds: A Celebration of I.L. Peretz,” an evening of multi-media one-acts based on the writing of the great Yiddish writer I.L. Peretz.
2010:A 1600 for 1600 rally was held on the mall in Washington, DC this evening. The goal was to attract at least 1600 people to protest against the abduction and continuing imprisonment of Gilad Shalit, who has spent 1600 days in captivity.
2010: “Roy Lichtenstein painting fetches $42.6m at auction” published today described the record setting sale of the Jewish artists work.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11732551
2010:Today Egyptian security forces arrested 25 members of a terror cell who allegedly intended to carry out attacks on Israeli tourists in Sinai.
2010:The remains of IAF pilot Maj. Amihai Itkis, 28, and navigator Maj. Emmanuel Levi, 30, whose F-16I jet crashed at the Ramon Crater last night, were found this afternoon.
2011: Charlene Bry, Ellie S. Grossman, Jon Harris and Ari Axelbaum are scheduled to take part in “Missouri’s Own Program” at the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival.
2010:Today, the Anti-Defamation League criticized as “completely inappropriate and offensive” remarks by Glenn Beck on his radio and television programs, in which he drew a link between the behavior of US Jewish billionaire investor George Soros as a young boy and the actions of others in sending Jews to death camps during the Holocaust. On his October 10 radio show, Beck described how Soros, who was born in Hungary to Orthodox Jewish parents, “used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off. And George Soros was part of it. He would help confiscate the stuff. It was frightening. Here’s a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps.” ADL national director Abe Foxman released a statement slamming the Fox News commentator's criticism of Soros. "Glenn Beck’s description of George Soros’s actions during the Holocaust is completely inappropriate, offensive and over the top. For a political commentator or entertainer to have the audacity to say – inaccurately – that there’s a Jewish boy sending Jews to death camps, as part of a broader assault on Mr. Soros, that’s horrific," said Foxman. Foxman, a holocaust survivor, added that while he too sometimes disagrees with Soros, known for his support of left-wing causes and occasional criticism of Israel, Beck's comments were unacceptable. "To hold a young boy responsible for what was going on around him during the Holocaust as part of a larger effort to denigrate the man is repugnant. The Holocaust was a horrific time, and many people had to make excruciating choices to ensure their survival. George Soros has been forthright about his childhood experiences and his family’s history, and there the matter should rest," added Foxman.
2011: “Jewish Political Behavior in Europe, Israel, and the United States,” a two-day symposium at the University of Michigan is scheduled to come to an end.
2011: Agudas Achim Congregation is scheduled to host its annual New Member Shabbat Dinner
2011:The Dead Sea was not among the winners in the New 7 Wonders of Nature contest despite a high profile campaign on the part of the government, according to a list of provisional results released at about 9:30 p.m. Israel time today.
2012: Yiddish Vinkl’s 20th Anniversary concert with Cantor Michael Smolash is scheduled to take place at the Sabes Jewish Community Center in Minneapolis, MN.
2012:The largest annual Jewish philanthropic conference in the country - The Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly – is scheduled to open in Baltimore, MD.
2012: At the UK Jewish Film Festival, premiere showing of “The Other Son,” a film about a Jewish and Muslim baby who are switched at birth.
2012: “For his Chromatic Silence show,” Wissam Jubran, a resident of Nazareth, “will take the stage with only oud for company.
2012: The 4th Annual International Bazaar sponsored by the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Educational Center is scheduled to come to an end.
2012: Armistice Day – Today marks the 94th anniversary of the end of WW I. On the 11th day, of the 11thmonth at the 11th hour, the guns fell silent on the Western Front marking the conclusion of what was called “The War To End All Wars.” For the Jews of Eastern Europe, this would be a farce as tens of thousands more would die in the many wars and revolutions that plagued the old Russian Empire into the 1920’s. On the other hand, Zionists were heartened by the end of the hostilities which made it possible for Jews who had been expelled from Palestine by the Turks to return to their homes and opened the way for the implementation of the Balfour Declaration.
2012: Veteran’s Day – As the following article points out. Jews have been serving in the military since colonial times
http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2010/45/at_column_berger_20101104.html
2012:Three people were wounded by rocket fire in Sderot during a barrage fired to coincide with the daily commute to work.
2012:The IDF fired a warning shot, in the form of a guided missile, at the Syrian military today after a Syrian shell exploded in the Golan Heights for the second time in recent days. Israel has not fired at Syria since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
603 BCE (7th of Kislev): King Jehoiakim burned the scroll which had been dictated by the prophet Jeremiah to Barcuh ben Heriah.
518 BCE: A delegation of Babylonian Jews arrived in Jerusalem to inquire from the prophet Zechariah whether the fast of Av should be discontinued (Zechariah 7:1)
1050: Birthdate of Henry IV, who as Holy Roman Emperor took steps to protect his Jewish subjects. For example, Henry granted the request of Moses ben Guthiel, leader of the Jewish community of Speyer that Jews who had been forcibly converted by marauding Crusaders be allowed to renounce the vow and return to Judaism without penalty. This and other such protective measures set him at odds with various leaders of the Church.
1155: Birthdate of King Alfonso VIII of Castile who employed a number of Jews in position of importance including Joseph ben Solomon Ibn-Shoshan and Abraham Ibn-Alfachar who served as his ambassador to Morocco which was governed by the intolerant Almohades.
1215: The meeting of the Fourth Lateran Council during the the papacy of Pope Innocent
1500: Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon sign The Treaty of Granada in which they agree to divide the Kingdom of Naples between them. The treaty did not hold and Ferdinand would not gain control of Naples until 1510 at which time he would expel the Jews, following the same pattern he adopted in 1492.
1651: The Cossacks are forced to accept a peace treaty dictated by John Caimir, the Polish King. One of the terms of the treaty, was a guarantee that Jews could settle anywhere in the Ukraine and could hold property on lease. Chmeilnicki, the leader of the Cossack uprising would soon break the treaty and the violence would resume again.
1711(29th of Cheshvan): Rabbi Moses Hefez (Gentili) author of Melekhet Mahashevet, passed away
1792: Birthdate of Mary Anne Evans, who gained fame as Mary Anne Disraeli, 1stVicountess Beaconsfield, the wife of Benjamin Disraeli.
1803(26th of Cheshvan, 5564) Eighty-one year old Raphael Cohen who served as Chief Rabbi of Alton-Hamburg-Wandsbek passed away today.
1807: In Charleston, SC, Rebecca Phillips married Josiah Moses this evening.
1819(23rd of Cheshvan): Rabbi Joseph Raphael Hazzan (Yerach) author of Hikrei Lev passed away
1813: During the War of 1812, Mordecai Myers of Newport, Rhode Island, was wounded “while leading the Thirteenth Pennsylvania Infantry at the Battle of Chrysler’s Farm” which was fought on the Canadian side of the St. Lawrence River (As
1821: Birthdate of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Dostoyevsky”s anti-Semitic views were revealed in The Diary of a Writer.
1830 (26th of Cheshvan): Rabbi Raphael Yekutiel Zalman author of Torat Yekutiel passed away
1839: At, Lexington, founding of Virginia Military Institute (VMI), “the oldest state supported military college” in the United States. Moses Jacob Exekiel, who joined his fellow cadets at the Battle of New Market in 1864, was the first Jew to attend the academy.
1848: In Moravia, Elijah Karpeles and his wife gave birth to historian and editor Gustav Karpeles.
1851: Reverend Henry Giles delivered at lecture at the Mercantile Library Association entitled “The Hebrew Man, or the Man of Faith." Giles "gave a clear analysis of Hebrew laws, showing that the thought they seemed extremely sever, yet provisions was always made to mitigate or avert them. He contended that "The Hebrew man stands out among ancient men as the special recipient of religion -- among modern men as its special witness, and often as its special martyr. As the man of Faith, the, he may be considered, first, as the man of theocracy; second as the man of tradition....His mere existence is evidence of vitality, and strength and honor."
1852: Rabbi Jonas Wiesner and Estra (Therese) Wiesner gave birth to Leopold Wiesener.
1852: Tonight a number of citizens of the Jewish persuasion, met at Constitution Hall, to celebrate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the "HEBRA HASED V. AMET," a society originally established, and still sustained, by Benevolent Israelites, for the purpose of aiding the sick of their faith who need aid, and to bury the dead according to the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish persuasion. George Henriques chaired the event. He was assisted by Isaac Philips, the President of the Association.
1853: The Jewish Chronicle reported that in Jersey, Alfred Alexander Jones of Quality Court, Chancery Lane was elected to represent the synagogue in London.
1855: Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard passed away.
http://pietyonkierkegaard.com/category/kierkegaard-and-the-jews/
1860: First Jewish wedding takes place in Buenos Aires Argentina.
1863: Mrs. Sarah Brydges Willyams passed away today. She left her considerable estate to Benjamin Disraeli “in testimony of her affection for him and in approval and admiration of his efforts vindicate the race of Israel…”
1864: Birthdate of Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian born pacifist and winner of the 1911 Nobel Peace Prize.
1874: The Times of London reported approvingly on the judicial performance of Sir George Jessel who disdained the “proverbial slowness” of others serving in the judiciary. Jessel cleared cases quicker and with more accuracy than his colleagues.
1874: “A Rabbi’s Scientific Expedition" published today traces the life of Mardochée abi Serour the son of a poor Moroccan Jewish family whose travels took him to Palestine where his studies earned him the title of Rabbi. He traveled to Timbuktu where he established the first Jewish counting-house which he ran successfully for ten years until his caravans were attacked leaving him penniless. Mardochée eventually made his way to Paris where he convinced the French government to provide financial support for an expedition to Timbuktu that will combine commerce with scientific inquiry.
1878: It was reported today that Dr. E. M. Snow’s Annual Vital Statistics Report shows that only two Jews were married in Providence, Rhode Island. This ranks them at the bottom of the list along with the members of the Mormons.
1882: It was reported today that following riots in the suburbs of Vienna, the police tore down posters from the lampposts reading “Down with the Jews.”
1883: It was reported today that the district attorney in Troy, NY, will prosecute an unnamed Jewish merchant for bigamy if he goes ahead with his planned marriage. The Polish Jewish merchant said he plans on marrying a Jewess from New York City because he has received a bill of divorce from a religious tribunal. The DA does not recognize their authority in this matter.
1883: “By Direction of the Grand Lodge No. 1, of the Independent Order of the Free Sons of Israel, Julius Harburger, the District Grand Master, will send Sir Moses Montefiore a letter congratulating on him on the celebration of his 99th birthday.”
1884: It was reported today that Mt. Sinai Hospital in NYC is planning a reception to introduce its recently completed wards.
1884: “Mr. Irving” published today highlights the month-long appearance of Henry Irving and Ellen Terry who bring an added dimension to their respective portrayals of Shylock and his daughter Portia in “The Merchant of Venice.” Irving, a noted English actor portrays Shylock in a manner that is “delightful” for its “completeness, beauty” and “scholarship.”
1884: Counselor John H. Bird is scheduled to play the role of Shylock, the Jew in the Mimosa Dramatic Society’s performance of “The Merchant of Venice.”
1885: The funeral of Albert Cardozo, attorney, jurist, leader of the Sephardic Jewish community and father of future Supreme Court Justice, was scheduled to take place at 10:30 this morning in NYC.
1885: Birthdate of General George Patton, Jr. Regardless of how you may about the career of Old Blood and Guts” and allegations that he was an anti-Semite, many Jews will always remember Patton as the leader of the troops that liberated Ohrdruf, a sub-camp of Buchenwald, the first concentration camp liberated by American troops. (There is a note of irony that the Warrior General was born on the date that would become synonymous with “Peace In Europe.”)
1885: It was reported today that Referee hearing the suit for divorce filed by Mrs. Clara Bronner Waterman against her husband B. Frank Waterman. The Watermans were married in a synagogue in Syracuse but she moved back to New York City after he suffered financials reversals and stopped supporting her and their children.
1886: It was reported today that all of the students escaped unharmed when a night school for Jewish children caught fire in New York City. It was determined that the fire was started by a kerosene stove in the basement of the building occupied by Joseph Bluestone, his wife and child all of whom escaped from the flames.
1887: Albert Parsons, the husband of Lucy Parsons who addressed the Jewish dominated the Jewish dominated Chicago Tailor’s Union on the danger of overly powerful capitalists, was hung today for his alleged role in the Haymarket Riot.
1888: Birthdate of Stefan Lux the Jewish Czech journalist, who committed suicide in the general assembly room of the League of Nations during its session to alert the world on the perils of German anti-Semitism.
1888: It was reported today that Acting Grand Master Julius Harburger addressed the 400 people who attended the 20th anniversary celebration of the Free Sons of Israel.
http://www.freesons.org/Home.html
1888: It was reported today that the benefit council held for the Hebrew Sheltering and Guardian Society was well-attended and raised “a neat sum.”
1889: It was reported that new wards have been added to the Home For Aged and Infirm Hebrews to meet the needs for the “exceedingly old and infirm patients.” This latest addition to the building and improvement to the grounds cost $24,000 and was brought to fruiting under the leadership of Simon Borg and the Building Committee.
1889 The Young Men’s Hebrew Association is scheduled to host its “first informal entertainment of the season” tonight at the Vienna Hall in New York City.
1889: Washington joins the Union as the 41st state. Isadore Friedlander, a trader in Washington during its territorial days, gained fame and notoriety when he married an Indian princess named Sken-What-Ux who was also known as Elizabeth. According to one source, “in her later days she became affectionately known as ‘Grandmother Elizabeth’ Friedlander.” Edward S. Salomon, a decorated hero of the Civil War and one of the famed Salomon cousins all of whom became generals in the Union Army, served as governor of Washington territory for two years. Bailey Gatzert served as mayor of Seattle during the 1870’s. Gatzert had married Babette Schawbacher. Her three brothers had settled in Walla Walla, Washington where they prospered as merchants becoming leaders of the communities in Walla Walla and Seattle. Babette is described as the first woman (not just the first Jewish woman) to establish a home on the northwestern frontier. The ups and downs of the Schawbacher clan, which played an active role in Washington’s secular and Jewish communities until the 1970’s, is a saga worthy of a made for television movie or HBO special.
1891(10th of Cheshvan, 5652): “Hungarian oculist” Ignaz Hirschler, “who was made a life member of the Hungarian House of Magnates by the Emperor Franz Joseph and who “was the intellectual leader of the Jewish community in Hungary” passed away today.
1891: Birthdate of Lilya Yuryevna Brik, the Moscow born Jewess who was married to Osip Brik, the Jewish-Russian author.
1893: Birthdate of Clarence D. Chamberlain who flew Charles Albert Levine to Europe in what would make the Jewish businessman, the first “passenger” to fly the Atlantic.
1893: By special request the band from the Hebrew Orphan Asylum is scheduled to play this evening at Mr. McCrow’s Flower Show, a major New York City social event.
1894: Birthdate of Aaron Avshalomov who fled pogroms and revolutions in Russia in the beginning of the 20th century, went to China where he entered the world of Shanghai's academia and trained a number of young Chinese musicians in classical music, who in turn became leading musicians in contemporary China. He moved to Portland Oregon and was the father of composer Jacob Avshalomov, conductor of the Portland Junior Symphony (now called the Portland Youth Philharmonic Orchestra) from 1953-1994.
1894: The London Daily News reported that the total number of Jews leaving Russia in 1894 will total 250,000 by the end of the year.
1894: A “fire was discovered at 11:10 o’clock” tonight on the first floor of a tenement at 80 Henry Street which is occupied by 20 families most of whom are Jewish.
1894: Professor Felix Adler delivered the first in a series of lecture on “the religion of humanity” at the Society of Ethical Culture entitled “It’s Dawn In Palestine.”
1894: A fund raiser was held tonight at the Lenox Lyceum for the benefit of Beth Israel Hospital, “the poorest of the three Jewish hospitals in New York.”
1897: Today, in New York City, Miss Julia Richman, the Principal of Grammar School 77 will celebrate “the 25thanniversary of her first appointment as a teacher in the public schools. In addition to her work as a public school educator, Miss Richman is a champion of improving the quality of Jewish education as can be seen in her works as the Director of the Hebrew Free School Association, Vice President of the Jewish Religious School Union and “Chairman of the National Committee on Sabbath School Work of the Council of Jewish Women.
1897: According to reports published today during the past year the United Hebrew Charities of New York raised $135, 348.93 and spent $133,680.97 providing aid and assistance. The society spent $38, 210.24 in relief work while expending additional sums for 16,420 free burials and working to obtain employment for almost 6,600 people.
1897(16th of Cheshvan, 5658): Rabbi Sabato Morais passed away. Rabbi Sabato Morais was the spiritual leader of Philadelphia's Spanish and Portuguese Congregation Mikveh Israel from 1851 until his death in 1897. To many in his community, the Italian-born Morais epitomized the idealized traits of a sage: piety, humility, and wisdom.
http://personal.stevens.edu/~llevine/sabato_morais.pdf
1899: A list of the editors of compiling “The Jewish Encyclopedia” which is to be published by Funk & Wagnalls showed Dr. Isidiore Singer of New York City “who is the author of several books on the Jewish question” as being the managing editor.
1899: In New York, Ida Japhe and advertising executive Samuel Knopf gave birth to Edwin H. Knopf who pursued a career in film after working for his brother’s publishing house – Alfred Knopf.
1900: In Lithuania, Hannah Rivkin and Abraham Saks gave birth to Emil Solomon (Solly) Sachs who gained fame as English labor leader Emil Solomon Sachs.
http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/emil-solomon-sachs
1901: The Charles Frohman production “Quality Street,” a comedy in four acts written by the same author who created Peter Pan opened today at the Knickerbocker Theatre in New York.
1901: Birthdate of Helen Faith Kahn, the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Poland, who would gain famed as Helen Reichert, the graduate of Cornell University who founded The Round Table of Fashion Executives.
1901: Birthdate of Bensison Gotlob, the native of Pologne, France who was on board Convoy 25 that left Drancy for Auschwitz in August of 1942.
1903: Birthdate of Sam Spiegel. Born in Galicia, Spiegel enjoyed a successful career in Europe until the rise of the Nazis. He left Germany and came to the United States. He is remembered as the producer of several cinematic hits including “On the Waterfront” and “Bridge Over The River Kwai.”
1903: Herzl writes the "Letter to the Jewish People".
1906: Official formation of the American Jewish Committee
1906: Birthdate of “Theodore Gottlieb, who as Brother Theodore performed apocalyptic one-man shows about life, death and broccoli in Greenwich Village nightclubs to dazzling and disturbing effect.” (As reported by Douglas Martin)
1910: Birthdate of Israel Scheib who gained fame as Israel Elad, leader of Lehi. He described his activities from 1938 in The First Tithe which was finally published in English by the Jabotinsky Institute in 2008. He passed away at his home in Jerusalem in January of 1996.
1910: A Jew, Zeki Effendi Hayon, was appointed Inspector of Finance for the Ottoman Empire.
1911: Jewish colony of Petach-Tikvah in Palestine passes a resolution to contribute 1,000 Francs to the Ottoman military towards defense of the [Turkish] country.
1914: Birthdate of controversial author Howard Fast.
1914: Birthdate of Jacob C. Hurewitz, “Columbia University professor whose voluminous research, belief in the importance of local histories and evenhanded scholarship contributed depth and complexity to the emerging field of Middle Eastern studies starting in 1950.” (As reported by Douglas Martin)
1914: “Sell Stamps to Aid Jews” published today described a plan of the Central Committee for the relief of Jews” to issue “self-taxation stamps to storekeepers and others who will then sell them to their customers and use them on their business letters.”
1914: It was reported today that according to Dr. Alexander von Nuber de Pereked, the Austro-Hungarian Consul General…there were more than 400,000 Jewish refugees from Galicia, Poland and other parts of the war zone in Vienna and Budapest nearly of” who “were in need of immediate relief.”
1915: In the Bronx, ”Hillel Jacobson and the former Pauline Shainmark, Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe” gave birth to Anna Jacobson who would gain fame as “Anna J. Schwartz, a research economist who wrote monumental works on American financial history in collaboration with the Nobel laureate Milton Friedman..” (As reported by Robert D. Hershey, Jr)
1915: While in a hospital in England, Corporal Zalman Cogan wrote today about the impact Second Lieutenant Alex Grodsky’s death had on the members of the Zion Mule Corps including its commander Colonel Patterson. ‘He had been an officer and at the same time best friend of all the soldiers. Owing to his knowledge of English he was the intermediary between us and the Colonel … I never heard from him one complaint … an honest and just man …we have lost one of the best men of the Corps …promoted in the field to Lieutenant.’ (Jewish Virtual Library)
1916: “Ralph Horween (born Ralph Horwitz) kicked a 35-yard field goal to lead Harvard over previously unbeaten Princeton
1917: Birthdate of Eliezer Henkin the son of a a rabbi and Talmudic scholar who gained fame as “Louis Henkin, a legal scholar often credited with creating the field of human rights law and the author of classic works on constitutional law and the legal aspects of foreign policy…”
1918: The Western Allies and the Germans signed an Armistice that signified the official end of World War I with an Allied victory. Out of the estimated 1,506,000 Jewish soldiers in all the armies approximately 170,000 were killed and over 100,000 cited for valor. In Germany alone over 100,000 Jews fought for the Fatherland with 12,000 killed. According to Winston Churchill some 60,000 Jews had fought in the Armed Forces of the British Empire. Of these 2,324 gave their lives for the cause and 6,350 were wounded. Five Jewish soldiers won the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest decoration and another 1,533 won other awards for bravery. Considering the small size of the Jewish population, Churchill described the Jewish participation as disproportionately high for such a small number of people.
1918: Among those who breathed a sigh of relief that the war was over was Saul Adler, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants who was born in Pittsburgh, PA and who proudly kept the marksman’s medal he earned as a Marine long after the war was over.
1918(7th of Kislev, 5679): At 10:45 am, 15 minutes before the Armistice on the Western Front was to go into effect, Battery D, 2nd Battalion, 129th Field Artillery of the American Expeditionary fired its last barrage. The unit was commanded by Captain Harry S. Truman, the man who consider himself as a modern day Cyrus for the role he played 30 years later during the creation of the state of Israel and included in its ranks his friend Eddie Jacobson who would boldly plead for President Truman’s support of the Jewish state
1918: Birthdate of Stubby Kaye. The chubby, cherubic Kaye played in a wide variety of hits including “Guys & Dolls,” “Lil' Abner” and “Cat Ballou.”
1918: Józef Piłsudski comes to Warsaw and assumes supreme military power in Poland. Poland regains its independence. “As one of his first acts as chief of state, he assured a delegation of Jewish leaders of his full-heated commitment to their people’s security.” But the Poles did not share Pilsudski’s enlightened views. As a wave of xenophobia in general, and anti-Semitism in particular, swept the re-born nation of Poland, Pilsudski gave into to pressure to diminish the role of the Jewish people. Pilsudski would become disgusted with Polish political life and return to serving as chief of the Army. In the mid-twenties he was brought back to political power in a bid to bring peace to the nation. At the time of his return, conditions improved for the Jews. However, with the advent of the Great Depression, anti-Semitism returned in full force.
1918: In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, William L. Shirer, who was in an officer training unit watched the Armistice celebrations with a sense of disappointment because he would not be able to respond to Wilson’s call to fight in the “War to end all Wars.” Shirer would see the face of war as covered the rise of Adolph Hitler and the opening years of WW II for CBS News and write two classics on the subject - Berlin Diary and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.
1918: As WW I comes to an end, “at least thirty nine Utah Jews” had joined the armed forces.
1920: Birthdate of Chaike Belchatowska Spiegel, the Warsaw native who would become a fighter during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Spiegel was one of the few who survived the fighting and settled in Montreal after the war.
1921: Vladimir Jabotinsky, organizer of the Jewish Legion, which served under General Allenby in Palestine, arrives in New York on the SS Olympic with a delegation of European Zionists headed by Nahum Sokolow.
1922 (20th of Cheshvan): Composer Abraham Baer Birnbaum passed away
1924: The Martin Beck Theatre which will be renamed the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in 2003 opened in New York City.
1926: Birthdate of Yitzhak Arad “a Lithuanian-born Israeli historian and retired IDF brigadier general. A veteran of the Nazi-era Jewish resistance movement in ghetto; partisan, he has researched, lectured, and published extensively on the Holocaust.”
1927: GUS magnate Sir Isaac Wolfson, 1st Baronet and his wife gave birth to Sir Leonard Gordon Wolfson who would become 2nd Baronet in 1991.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/leonard-wolfson-businessman-and-philanthropist-1990944.html
1930: Patent number US1781541 was awarded to Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd for their invention, the Einstein refrigerator.
1933: In Cleveland, Ohio, Helen Rosenfeld and Joseph Lewis, who co-founded the Progressive Mutual Insurance Company, gave birth to Peter Benjamin Lewis the insurance mogul who was also a noted philanthropist.
1936: The Maccabee champion soccer team which had been playing exhibition matches in the United States since September 14th, departed for home on the French liner Normandie.
1936: The Peel Commission was sent to Eretz-Israel to investigate the Arab riots. Though Peel judged Arab claims to be baseless, he encouraged partition into three separate Arab and Jewish states. This, he claimed, would silence Arab objections to a Jewish state.
1936: The members of the Peel Commission arrived in Jerusalem. Since this was Armistice Day, they attended the memorial services at the British Military Cemetery on Mt. Scopus.
1937: Birthdate of sportscaster Warner Wolf. Yes, Jewish boys can grow up to be something besides lawyers, accountants, doctor or dentists.
1934: Father Cougllin, the anti-Semitic pro-fascist Detroit priest announces the formation of the National Union for Social Justice
1938: Jews are killed and injured during an anti-Semitic pogrom at Bratislava, Slovakia
1938(17th of Cheshvan, 5699):Fifty-year old Jesse Sampter an influential Zionist educator, a poet, and a Zionist pioneer passed away at Kibbutz Givat Brenner. Born into a highly assimilated home in New York City, Sampter was influenced by Henrietta Szold, Josephine Lazarus, Mary Antin, Mordecai Kaplan and others to become an ardent advocate of Judaism and Zionism. Assuming the role of Hadassah's leading educator, she produced manuals and textbooks and organized lectures and classes. She led Hadassah's School of Zionism, training speakers and leaders for both Hadassah and other Zionist organizations. She also wrote poems and short stories throughout her life that emphasized her primary concerns: pacifism, Zionism, and social justice. Having contracted polio at age thirteen she remained in poor health throughout her life. This did not prevent her from settling in Palestine in 1919 where she helped organize the country's first Jewish Scout camp. Sampter developed a strong commitment to assisting Yemenite Jews, founding classes and clubs especially for Yemenite girls and women who often received no education. At the time of her death, she had established a vegetarian convalescent home at Kibbutz Givat Brenner. Henrietta Szold presided at her funeral.
1938: Erich Kreutzberger and Anna Blumenfeld Neufeld, the parents of Mario Luis Kreutzberger Blumenfeld also known as television personality Don Francisco, escaped to Chile.
1938:“The Italian council of ministers announces a series of new anti-Semitic laws:all Jews will get a special notation in their civil records, they are excluded from the military, they are not allowed to employ "Aryan" servants, marriages between Jews and "Aryans" are forbidden, any such marriages that currently exist are annulled, and Jews are forbidden from owning large tracts of land.”
1938: Following Kristallnacht, Heydrich reported to Goering that 815 shops, 29 department stores, and 171 dwellings of Jews had been burned or otherwise destroyed, and that 267 synagogues had been set ablaze or completely demolished (in fact, this was only a fraction of the synagogues destroyed). The selfsame report refers to 36 Jews killed and the same number severely injured, but it was later officially stated that the number killed was 91. In addition, hundreds perished in the concentration camps.
1939: Six hundred Jews are murdered by German troops at Ostrow Mazowiecki, Poland.
1939: Two Jews are among six men and three boys taken from Zielonka, Poland, to be shot in nearby woods
1939:Under threat of military action from the Nazis, António de Oliveira Salazar issued orders today that consuls were not to issue Portuguese visas to "foreigners of indefinite or contested nationality; the stateless; or Jews expelled from their countries of origin". This order was followed only six months later by one stating that "under no circumstances" were visas to be issued without prior case-by-case approval from Lisbon.
1940: Fifty-five non-Jewish Polish intellectuals are murdered at Dachau, Germany.
1940: German authorities in Poland officially declare the existence of the Warsaw (Poland) Ghetto.
1940: Birthdate of Barbara Boxer, U.S. Senator from California since 1993. Born Barbara Levy, Boxer worked her way through the system like any other politician serving a stint in the Marin County Government and the House of Representative before being elected to the Senate.
1942: Norwegian Protestant bishops in Oslo publicly protest deportations of Norwegian Jews. They state in a letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Vidkun Quisling: "God does not differentiate between people."
1942: Seven hundred forty-five French Jews were shipped to Auschwitz.
1942: After the Nazis took over “unoccupied France” today, the Vichy government transferred Jewish resistance fighter Georges Mandel to the Gestapo.
1942: Jews living in the Free Zone of France were ordered to start wearing the Yellow Star.
1942: In Newark, Henry and Ruth Wolkstein gave birth to Diane Wolkstein, “a children’s author and folklorist who once served as New York City’s official storyteller.” (As reported by Paul Vitello)
1943: Following in the centuries old custom of an individual community creating its own special Purim when it is delivered from great calamity, the Jews of Casablanca celebrated Hitler Purim (1 Kislev) when the city was saved from falling into German hands. “A Hitler Scroll was written, paraphrasing the traditional Megillah, including the words ‘cursed be Hitler, cursed be Mussolini,’ and naming many of the other Nazi and Fascist leaders.”
1943: On the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice in the forest of Compiegne, German officials take revenge by assembling all 47,000 Jews not yet deported from Theresienstadt ghetto to Birkenau in a large square for an ill-organized “census.” At 4:00 AM the torture began by rousing them all and making them stand in the cold in the city square. As night fell, the Jews stood in a drizzle made more miserable by falling temperatures. The Germans held them until 10 pm at which time the survivors were allowed to seek shelter inside. Drizzle came, the dark of night, and the temperatures lowered.
1943: “What’s Up?” the musical created by Frederick Lowe and Alan Jay Lerner opened on Broadway at the National Theatre.
1944: The leadership of Histadrut condemned the killing of Lord Moyne and condemned the Stern Gang and Irgun as fascist.
1945: Senator Ralph O. Brewster (Maine) says British-Russian disputes in Middle East may presage another war and urges creation of a Jewish commonwealth in Palestine.
1945(6th of Kislev, 5706): Broadway and cinematic composer, Jerome David Kern passed away. Kern was born in 1885 to a first generation Jewish family from Germany. Kern wanted to follow a career in music. His father wanted him to enter the family business. In one of his first deals, Kern was sent to buy two pianos. However, he mistakenly signed an order for two hundred pianos. When the pianos were delivered, Kern’s father gave in. Young Jerome pursued his musical education and then followed with a successful career as composer for Broadway and the movies.
1945(6th of Kislev, 5706):Yehoushua Hankin passed away. Born in the Ukraine in 1864, Hankin made Aliyah in 1882 when he moved with his family to Rish Litzion. He was active in making purchasing land on behalf of the World Zionist Organization. Among his first purchases was the land that would be occupied by Rehovoth.
1946: Nikolai V. Novikov, Soviet ambassador to Washington, suggests that Palestine be given independence from Britain and the area be placed under UN trusteeship.
1947: Vaad Leumi (Jewish National Council) votes to raise money for defense fund against Arab and Jewish terrorists.
1947: Release date for “Gentlemen's Agreement,” the cinema version of Laura Hobson’s novel that dealt with the issue of anti-Semitism. Moss Hart wrote the screenplay. Daryl Zanuck, who was mistakenly thought to be Jewish produced the movie despite objections from Jewish movie moguls who were afraid of how audiences would react to a movie on this topic.
1948:”Recently ousted Haganah Chief of Staff Yisrael Galili briefed members of the Mapam Political Committee” about reports concerning “the killing of civilians during Operations Yoav and Hiram.”
1953(4th of Kislev, 5714):Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, a prominent Talmudist and leading figure in the Conservative Movement of Judaism passed away in New York City.
1954: Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, the oldest Jewish congregation In New York City celebrated its 300thanniversary today.
1955(26th of Cheshvan, 5716): Jerry Ross an American lyricist and composer whose works with Richard Adler for the musical theater include The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees, winners of Tony Awards in 1955 and 1956 respectively in both the "Best Musical" and "Best Composer and Lyricist" passed away.
1957: The New York Times reported from Jerusalem that “digging in Israel supports the Bible’s accuracy as a historical document.” The contention is based on the recent discovery of a “massive gate” that was “unearthed in Hazor” which “appears to have been built by Solomon.” Further evidence of the Bible's accuracy as a historical document has been uncovered by Israeli archaeologists in their diggings at the site of ancient Hazor
1963: Brian Epstein and Ed Sullivan sign a 3 show contract for the Beatles
1964: Murray Schisgal's "Luv," premieres in New York City
1966:”Father of Biophilosophy” published today described the plans that Jonas Salk has for the Salk Institute in La Jolla, CA.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9506E3DC1330E43BBC4952DFB767838D679EDE
1969(1st of Kislev, 5730): Rosh Chodesh Kislev
1971: Neil Simon’s “Prisoner of Second Avenue” premiered in New York City.
1973: The Egyptians and Israelis began negations for the disengagement of forces along the Suez Canal. When the fighting had stopped, Israeli forces were on the West Bank of the Suez Canal. They had reached kilometer 101 on the Suez-Cairo Road. The Israelis offered to cross the Canal and to a position 10 kilometers to the east. Egypt wanted a much deeper withdrawal with Israeli forces taking up positions on a line east of the passes in the Sinai that were key to controlling the entire Peninsula.
1974(26th of Cheshvan, 5736): Seventy-seven year old Jane Ace (born Jane Epstein) the wife of Goodman Ace with whom she created the American radio hit show “Easy Aces” and who made America life with her “Jane-isms” passed away today.
http://www.radiohof.org/easyaces.htm
1979(21st of Cheshvan, 5740): Ukrainian born American composer Dimitri Tiomkin passed away. Tiomkin wrote the scores for countless film classics including Lost Horizon, It’s A Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and High Noon. He also wrote themes for popular television westerns including Rawhide and Wild Wild West.
http://www.dimitritiomkin.com/
1981(14th of Cheshvan, 5742): Eighty-three year old Soviet economist Evsei Grigorievich Liberman whose “wife, Regina Horowitz, pianist and pedagogue, was a sister of the famed pianist Vladimir Horowitz” passed away today.
1982: A gas explosion at an Israeli army headquarters results in 60 deaths.
1988: U.S. premiere of “Iron Eagle II” a film based on Operation Opera, the Israeli bombing of an Iraqi nuclear reactor, co-starring Stuart Margolin and Maury Chaykin.
1992: "The Liberators," a film that portrayed the neglected history of the 761st Battalion, putting considerable stress on the involvement of some of its members at the liberations of two of the most notorious camps in Germany, Dachau and Buchenwald was viewed today. (The film became controversial because of the lack of evidence concerning the liberation of these camps by this unit)
1998: Israel's Cabinet narrowly ratified a land-for-peace agreement with the Palestinians. Six years later, the world is waiting for the Peace.
1999(2nd of Kislev, 5760): Rosh Chodesh Kislev
1999(2nd of Kislev, 5760): Jacobo Timmerman passed away. Born in 1923, Timmermanpublished a newspaper in Argentina that publicized human rights violations by the Argentinean government, in particular calling attention to the disappearances of people during that government's "Dirty War". As a result, he was arrested, and during interrogations he was subjected to electric shock treatments, beatings, and solitary confinement. He chronicled his experiences in his 1981 book, Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number. After his release, he immigrated to Israel.
1999: After almost 21 years of service, David Herbert Samuel ceased to be a member of the British House of Lords.
2000(13th of Cheshvan, 5761):Sgt. 1st Class Avner Shalom, 28, of Eilat, was killed in a shooting attack at the Gush Katif junction in the Gaza Strip.
2001(25th of Cheshvan, 5762): Aharon Ussishkin, 50, head of security at Moshav Kfar Hess, east of Netanya, was shot and killed at the entrance to the moshav on Sunday evening, after being summoned to investigate a suspicious person.
2003: The helipad at the Ted Arison Medical Center in Tel Aviv is used by the Israeli Air Force for the first time.
2003: The Jewish Museum in New York presents an exhibition styled “Ours to Fight For: American Jews During the Second World War” The inaugural exhibition for the Robert M. Morgenthau wing, “Ours To Fight For: American Jews in the Second World War” was named the grand-prize winner of the Excellence in Exhibition Competition at the American Association of Museums Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Citing the exhibition's use of the first-person narrative, the judges felt this approach engaged museum visitors and allowed them to make connections with the experiences of soldiers 60 years ago and troops serving today. The exhibition companion volume, Ours To Fight For: American Jewish Voices from the Second World War, chronicles the experience of American Jewish men and women who came together with other Americans to heed their nation's call to arms.
2004: The reunion episode of Israeli sit-com “Krovim Krovim” named "Hamatzav Tzav" was filmed today in the studios of the Israeli Educational Television
2004: Theatre Or presents Voices from the Holy Land-A Festival of Staged Readings of Cutting Edge Plays at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. Local co-sponsors North Carolina Hillel, the Freeman Center for Jewish Life, Judea Reform Congregation, and Beth Meyer Synagogue. The purpose of the festival is to present the community with unique artistic works from a foreign culture that pose questions of universal urgency, help us reflect about our values in new ways and promote cross-cultural dialogue.
2005: The topsy-turvy world of Israeli politics becomes even more confused. Shimon Peres has been defeated by Amir Peretz in the race to head the Labor Party. This could bring down the government led by Likud’s Ariel Sharon forcing new national elections. Since Sharon well might lose the chair of the Likud Party, the elections might include a coaltion party led by Peres and Sharon, two national leaders who cannot control their own political parties.
2005: Right-wing British historian David Irving, who claimed that Adolf Hitler knew nothing about the systematic slaughter of six million Jews, has been arrested in Austria on a warrant accusing him of denying the Holocaust. Under an Austrian law Holocaust denial is a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
2005: The Princeton University Board of Trustees approved the endowment for S. Daniel Abraham Visiting Professor in Middle East Policy Studies in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Daniel C. Kurtzer, former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Egypt was the first one appointed to fill this endowed chair
2006: Members of Congregation Beth-El, gathered, in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, to celebrate their heritage and the many people who have enriched and defended it
2006: Initial screening of Yoav Segal’s “Battle of Cable Street” in selected London cinema houses.
2006: As America honors its veterans on Armistice Day, the Jewish community of Cedar Rapids takes special note of the following who served in uniform: Harold Becker, Arnold Bucksbaum, Maurice Estes, Bill Gasway, Herman Ginsberg, Bert Katz, Sol Maikon, Oscar Siegel and Ed Spector
2006: The United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council draft resolution today that sought to condemn an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip and demand Israeli troops pull out the territory. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the Arab-backed draft resolution was "biased against Israel and politically motivated."
2006(19th of Cheshvan, 5767): Esther Lederberg, pioneering microbial geneticist and wife of Nobel Prize winner Joshua Lederberg passed away at the age of 83.
2007:In Tampa, FL, as part of Jewish Book Day, the
2007: At the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington 38th annual Book Festival, Brad Meltzer discusses his latest novel, The Book of Fate.
2007: The Sunday New York Times and the Washington Post book sections each feature a review of Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King by Foster Hirsch.
2007: On Veteran’s Day, The Cedar Rapids Gazette features an article about the World War II military exploits of Bert Katz the 85 year old businessman, philanthropist and pillar of the Jewish Community.
2007(1st of Kislev, 5768): Rosh Chodesh Kislev – It’s beginning to look a lot like Latke Time.
2008: 90th anniversary of the Armistice that needed the War to End All Wars. The impact of that war is with us to this day in places like Jerusalem, Baghdad and any home in the United States where families mourn the loss of a loved one in Iraq or Afghanistan.
2008: Idina “Menzel released ‘Hope’ benefitting Stand Up To Cancer.”
2008: Wagner College and the Center for Jewish History present “The Pulpit and the "Bully Pulpit":Religion in the 2008 Presidential Campaign in which a panel including Rev. James M. Dunn, PhD, Divinity School, Wake Forest University, Rabbi James Rudin, Senior Advisor on Inter-religious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee, Peter Steinfels, PhD, New York Times columnist, Co-Director, Fordham Center on Religion & Culture, Seymour P. Lachman, PhD, Hugh L. Carey Center for Government Reform, Wagner College, co-author One Nation Under God: Religion in Contemporary American Science, Moderator discussed “How religion affected the 2008 presidential election and voting patterns.”
2008:U.S. Jewish organizational leaders are meeting today with Bahraini King Hamad ibn Issa al-Khalifa, who has introduced democratic reforms in his Persian Gulf island nations and who recently named Houda Nonoo, a Jewish woman, as ambassador to Washington.
2008: Lyricsby Paul Simon appears on bookstore shelves. “Lyrics spans his entire career from Simon & Garfunkel’s 1964 debut album through this year’s unrealeased songs ‘Rewrite’ and ‘Hard Times.’”
2008:Over 35 percent of eligible voters cast their ballot in the Jerusalem mayoral race by 9:00 p.m., an indication that opposition leader Nir Barkat and MK Meir Porush of the United Torah Judaism Party will be in for a close finish. Incumbent mayors of Afula and Beit Shean had reportedly won re-election as Israelis went to the polls to vote in mayoral elections across the country.
2009:Stephen P. Cohen, the president of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development, discusses and signs his new book, "Beyond America's Grasp: A Century of Failed Diplomacy in the Middle East," at Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C.
2009(24thof Cheshvan, 5770): Seventy-four year old Emanuel Zisman, a former MK and the 2006 recipient of the Yakir Yerushalayim award passed away today.
2009(24thof Cheshvan, 5770): Seventy-eight year old movie and television producer Mavin Minoff, the husband of actress Bonnie Franklin passed away today.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?pid=135914438
2009:David Makovsky, author of Myths, Illusions, & Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East“offers a groundbreaking explanation of how we have repeatedly fallen prey to dangerous myths about the Middle East highlighting those with roots that reach back decades and still persist today” during a session of the 40th Annual Book Festival sponsored by the JCCGW.
2010: Americans observed Veterans Day. This holiday was originally known as Armistice Day. It was celebrated on November 11th because on the 11thday of the 11th month at the 11th hour the guns fell silent on the Western Front marking the end of what was then called the Great War. One person who opposed the Armistice was General John J. Pershing, the commander of the American Expeditionary Force. He wanted the Allies to push forward with great assault on the German Army. He said that if the war end now, the German Army would march back into Germany as an intact force and the people would never accept the fact that they had been defeated; a fact that was fraught with all sorts of unforeseen consequences. Apparently Pershing knew what he was talking about, because no sooner had the war ended then the myth that the German Army had not been defeated but had been stabbed in the back began to gain wide currency. This myth, which features the Jews as prominent backstabbers, would become a staple of right wing politicians including Hitler and his supporters.
2010:In New York City, The National Yiddish Theatre – Folksbiene is scheduled to present the noted Israeli actor Rafael Goldwaser in “New Worlds: A Celebration of I.L. Peretz,” an evening of multi-media one-acts based on the writing of the great Yiddish writer I.L. Peretz.
2010:A 1600 for 1600 rally was held on the mall in Washington, DC this evening. The goal was to attract at least 1600 people to protest against the abduction and continuing imprisonment of Gilad Shalit, who has spent 1600 days in captivity.
2010: “Roy Lichtenstein painting fetches $42.6m at auction” published today described the record setting sale of the Jewish artists work.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11732551
2010:Today Egyptian security forces arrested 25 members of a terror cell who allegedly intended to carry out attacks on Israeli tourists in Sinai.
2010:The remains of IAF pilot Maj. Amihai Itkis, 28, and navigator Maj. Emmanuel Levi, 30, whose F-16I jet crashed at the Ramon Crater last night, were found this afternoon.
2011: Charlene Bry, Ellie S. Grossman, Jon Harris and Ari Axelbaum are scheduled to take part in “Missouri’s Own Program” at the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival.
2010:Today, the Anti-Defamation League criticized as “completely inappropriate and offensive” remarks by Glenn Beck on his radio and television programs, in which he drew a link between the behavior of US Jewish billionaire investor George Soros as a young boy and the actions of others in sending Jews to death camps during the Holocaust. On his October 10 radio show, Beck described how Soros, who was born in Hungary to Orthodox Jewish parents, “used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off. And George Soros was part of it. He would help confiscate the stuff. It was frightening. Here’s a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps.” ADL national director Abe Foxman released a statement slamming the Fox News commentator's criticism of Soros. "Glenn Beck’s description of George Soros’s actions during the Holocaust is completely inappropriate, offensive and over the top. For a political commentator or entertainer to have the audacity to say – inaccurately – that there’s a Jewish boy sending Jews to death camps, as part of a broader assault on Mr. Soros, that’s horrific," said Foxman. Foxman, a holocaust survivor, added that while he too sometimes disagrees with Soros, known for his support of left-wing causes and occasional criticism of Israel, Beck's comments were unacceptable. "To hold a young boy responsible for what was going on around him during the Holocaust as part of a larger effort to denigrate the man is repugnant. The Holocaust was a horrific time, and many people had to make excruciating choices to ensure their survival. George Soros has been forthright about his childhood experiences and his family’s history, and there the matter should rest," added Foxman.
2011: “Jewish Political Behavior in Europe, Israel, and the United States,” a two-day symposium at the University of Michigan is scheduled to come to an end.
2011: Agudas Achim Congregation is scheduled to host its annual New Member Shabbat Dinner
2011: The UN Security Council met today in New York behind closed doors to review a report presented on whether the Palestinians meet the criteria for admission to the UN, but did not raise a vote on the issue, nor is it clear when or if such a vote would be brought to the body.
2011:The Dead Sea was not among the winners in the New 7 Wonders of Nature contest despite a high profile campaign on the part of the government, according to a list of provisional results released at about 9:30 p.m. Israel time today.
2012: Yiddish Vinkl’s 20th Anniversary concert with Cantor Michael Smolash is scheduled to take place at the Sabes Jewish Community Center in Minneapolis, MN.
2012:The largest annual Jewish philanthropic conference in the country - The Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly – is scheduled to open in Baltimore, MD.
2012: At the UK Jewish Film Festival, premiere showing of “The Other Son,” a film about a Jewish and Muslim baby who are switched at birth.
2012: “For his Chromatic Silence show,” Wissam Jubran, a resident of Nazareth, “will take the stage with only oud for company.
2012: The 4th Annual International Bazaar sponsored by the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Educational Center is scheduled to come to an end.
2012: Armistice Day – Today marks the 94th anniversary of the end of WW I. On the 11th day, of the 11thmonth at the 11th hour, the guns fell silent on the Western Front marking the conclusion of what was called “The War To End All Wars.” For the Jews of Eastern Europe, this would be a farce as tens of thousands more would die in the many wars and revolutions that plagued the old Russian Empire into the 1920’s. On the other hand, Zionists were heartened by the end of the hostilities which made it possible for Jews who had been expelled from Palestine by the Turks to return to their homes and opened the way for the implementation of the Balfour Declaration.
2012: Veteran’s Day – As the following article points out. Jews have been serving in the military since colonial times
http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2010/45/at_column_berger_20101104.html
2012:Three people were wounded by rocket fire in Sderot during a barrage fired to coincide with the daily commute to work.
2012:The IDF fired a warning shot, in the form of a guided missile, at the Syrian military today after a Syrian shell exploded in the Golan Heights for the second time in recent days. Israel has not fired at Syria since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
2013: Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff a decorated retired military chaplain and Rear Admiral Herman Shelanski are scheduled to speak at the “53rdAnnual Meeting: Fait and the Foxhole” at Adas Israel in Washington, DC
2013: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to sponsor a discussion of The Short, Strange Life of Herschel Grynszpan led by the father and son literary duo – Jonathan and Adam Kirsch.
2013: 95thanniversary of the end of “The War to End All Wars
2013: Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Religious Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett and Deputy Religious Affairs Minister Eli Ben-Dahan proposed a bill today that would create one chief rabbi replacing the dual system that leaves the state with the Ashkenazi and Sephardic chief rabbis. (As reported by Lahav Harkov)
2013:“Yisrael Beytenu Avigdor Liberman is now Foreign Minister, after he was sworn in to the position in the Knesset today, less than a week after his acquittal from fraud and breach of trust charges.” (As reported by Lahav Harkov)
2014:Professor Emma Maayan Fanar a visiting Art Historian from the University of Haifa spending the academic year at UConn.is scheduled to deliver a lecture on Photographic Expeditions to the Holy Land in the 19th & Early-20th Century
2014: In Virginia, George Mason University Hillel is scheduled to host its second annual “Expression of the Holocaust” that will include “Uniform,” a one act play by Aaron Sulkin.
2014: As Americans observed Veterans Day, Jews can take pride in their military service which dates back to 1654 when Asher Levy insisted he be allowed to serve as a guard in New Amsterdam and refused to pay a fee that would have excused his service.
2014: The “whole House of Israel” and decent people everywhere mourn the passing of 20 year old Almog Shiloni an IDF soldier who was murdered yesterday by a terrorist at a Tel Aviv train station.
2014: The “whole House of Israel” and decent people everywhere mourn the passing of 26 year old Dalia Lemkus who was stabbed to death yesterday as she waited at a bus stop.
2014: Fifty-nine year old Gilad Goldman is reported to be recovering from the wounds he suffered yesterday when he tried to thwart a terrorist attack yesterday in Tel Aiv.