December 22
69: Emperor Vitellius is captured and murdered by the Gemonian stairs in Rome. Vitellius was the third of The Four Emperors. He would be succeeded by Vespasian, the man who put down the rebellion in Judea that began 2,000 years of exile.
244: Birthdate of Diocletian, the Roman Emperor who ordered all of his subjects to accept his divinity and offer sacrifices to him. He exempted the Jews from this decree. According to Meir Holder, “his regime was comparatively favorable to the Jewish people
1095: Birthdate of Roger II whose reign over the Ki J ngdom of Sicily was unique for it religious tolerance which allowed native Jews, Byzantine Greeks, Muslim Arabs, Normans, Longobards and "native" Sicilian peoples to live in harmony. (As reported by Luigi Mendola)
1603: Mehmed III Sultan of the Ottoman Empire passed away. Born in 1566, Mehmed III continued the Turkish practice of taking advantage of the skills of his Jewish subjects. He appointed a Jew named Gabriel Buonaventura as ambassador to Spain which may seem counter-intuitive considering that Spain had expelled her Jews a century earlier. Two Jewish doctors named Benveniste and Korina were in palace service. In 1597 a Morrano named Alvaro Mendez who had taken the Turkish appellation Solomon Abenyaes prepared a treaty of alliance with England aimed at King Philip of Spain.
1603: Ahmed I becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire following the death of Mehmed III. During his reign, Sultan Ahmed I caught small pox, a highly fatal disease. When his palace physicians could not help him, Ahmed sought help from Buha Eskenazi, the widow of Solomon Eskenazi who had been one of his doctors. The widow Eskenazi was able to affect a cure and she remained in the Sultan’s service.
1639: Birthdate of French dramatist Jean Racine. Racine chose two very different Jewish women as topics for two of his plays both of whose names provided the title for the respective works. In 1689, he wrote Esther. In 1689, he wrote his last play Athaliebased on the life of the wicked Queen Athalia, daughter of Jezebel.
1653:Nethaneel ben Benjamin ben Azriel Trabot the Rabbi of Modena who was the uncle of Solomon Graciano , and the author of “the collection of response entitled ‘Kenaf Renamin’” passed away today.
1696: Birthdate of James Oglethorpe, founder of the colony of Georgia. “In July, 1733, a month after Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe, forty Sephardic Jews arrived in Savannah.” A year later German Jews arrived in the colony.” The trustees of the colony wanted to discourage the Jewish settlement. Oglethorpe had the courage and good sense to ignore their wishes.
1810(25th of Kislev, 5571): Chanukah
1822: In Berlin, Samuel Bleichröder, founder of the banking firm of S. Bleichröder in 1803 and his wife gave birth to Gerson von Bleichröder who followed in his father’s footsteps.
1823: Birthdate of Chaim David Lippe, the Hungarian born cantor he moved to Vienna where he opened a Jewish publishing house.
1842: In New York, Benjamin Bloomingdale and Hannah Weil gave birth to their third child, Joseph Bernard Bloomingdale who along with his brother Lyman founded Bloomingdale’s Department Store.
1849: The execution of Fyodor Dostoevsky is called off at the last second. The Russian author had been imprisoned for his involvement with a “liberal intellectual literary group” feared by the Tsar Nicholas I. Whatever their political and intellectual differences Dostoyevsky and the Czar had at least one thing in common, they were both anti-Semites. Dostoyevsky believed that “Jews were behind just about every attempt to disrupt Europe’s order.” As he wrote, “The Jews have everything to gain from every cataclysm and coup d’état…and profit from anything that serves to undermine gentile society.”
1855: An article entitled "Mr. Gottschalk Soiree" reviewed the performances of Louis Moreau Gottschalk saying that "in Mr. Gottscahlk we have an artist who doubly claims our attention and our respect. 1878: Naphtali Herz Imber, (1856-1909) a Hebrew poet, wrote the words for Hatikvah. The poem eventually became the national anthem of the State of Israel.
Hatikvaהתקווה "The Hope"
כל עוד בלבב פנימה נפש יהודי הומיה, ולפאתי מזרח קדימה עין לציון צופיה - עוד לא אבדה תקותנו, התקוה בת שנות אלפים, להיות עם חופשי בארצנו ארץ ציון וירושלים. | Kol 'od balevav P'nimah - Nefesh Yehudi homiyah Ulfa'atey mizrach kadimah Ayin l'tzion tzofiyah. 'Od lo avdah tikvatenu Hatikvah bat shnot alpayim: Li'hyot am chofshi b'artzenu - Eretz Tzion Virushalayim. | As long as in the heart, within, A Jewish soul still yearns, And onward toward the East, An eye still watches toward Zion. Our hope has not yet been lost, The two thousand year old hope, To be a free nation in our own homeland, The land of Zion and Jerusalem. |
1871(10thof Tevet, 5632): Asara B’Tevet
1871: It was reported today that B.L. Solomon & Sons (a partnership of Barnet L., Solomon B. Judah H. and Simon B. Solomon) has a “superb store” in the 600 block of Broadway which offers a “stock of furniture” that includes the most “’costly and luxurious” furniture and materials for decorating the home.
1871: French orientalist Dr. Joseph (Naftali) Derenburg, the son of Hartwig (Ẓebi-Hirsch) Derenburg, the grandson of Jacob Derenbur and the younger brother of French attorney Jacob Derenburg was elected a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres today.
Jacob Derenburg, the first known member of the family, nothing is ascertainable. His son, Hartwig (Ẓebi-Hirsch) Derenburg,
1873: It was reported today that in England, there has been some talk of making Sir Moses Montefiore and Baron Rothschild “peers of the realm.” Before this happens, the Oath of Allegiance taken by members of the House of Lords will have to be modified as has already happened with the House of Common. The current oath requires all knew members of Lords to swear “on the true faith of a Christian.” Dropping these words was what made it possible for Rothschild to finally take his seat in the House of Commons.
1875(24thof Kislev, 5636): In the evening, kindle the first light of Chanukah
1875: This evening when the Hebrew Charity Fair comes to a close in New York City, all unsold items will be sold at auction to the highest bidder.
1876: It was reported today that New York Governor Samuel Tilden, New York City Mayor William Wickham and Mayor-elect Smith Ely, Jr. had attended the Hebrew Charity Ball at the Academy of Music. The ball, which raised funds for Jewish and non-Jewish charities, was sponsored by the Purim Association and marked the start of the fashionable ball season in New York. The Purim Association is one of the oldest of such Jewish organizations in the city. The society used to sponsor a annual masquerade ball but has not done so since 1871 do to the enactment of the Masquerade law which made it impossible to sponsor such events.
1878: Per the request of the deceased, Reverend A. J. Lyman, pastor of the South Congregational Church officiated at the funeral of the late Randolph Herr who had taken his own life. Reverend Lyman chose passages from the Old Testament for the service. Mr. Herr’s brother tired to stop the funeral proclaiming that his brother was Jewish and he should be buried as Jew. The widow and the former partner of the deceased assured the brother that Lyman was there because this was a request of the late Mr. Herr. After the ceremony, Mr. Herr was buried in Greenwood Cemetery. No reason was given for this apparently odd request.
1878: The Board of Directors of New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital held a lengthy meeting today during which they agreed to reject the five hundred dollar donation offered by Mrs. Stewart through Judge Hilton. There was no question that the board would reject the donation. The only matter up for discussion was how strongly to word the letter of rejection. The Directors will make up the shortfall resulting from the rejection of the donation. Rejection was a matter of pride since a large segment of the Jewish community had expressed their opposition to accepting money from the man who banned them from being guests at his fashionable hotel in Saratoga Springs. If the board had accepted the money, several of the donors who contribute to the institutions annual budget of ten thousand dollars would no longer support the hospital.
1878: It was reported today that the Jewish Messenger has issued a called for a “united effort” to provide religious training for the city’s poor Jewish children. The Messenger said that “there should be 10,000 children attending the Jewish free schools instead of only 1,000.” The paper took the community to task for arguing about “the length of a prayer or the position of a seat” while Christian missionaries are busy converting these young Jews.
1879: An anonymous correspondent wrote to the Jewish Messenger of New York that: “Mr. S. L. Lewis . . . died on Saturday, November 29th [1879] . . . funeral . . . the following day with Jewish rites, Mr. C. J. Fishel, of the firm of Mellis and Fishel, opening the services by reading a prayer. . . . Deceased carne here about fourteen years ago and has resided here ever since. Mrs. Rebecca Green, wife of Mr. Mark Green, of the firm of Phillips and Company, [died] on the 8th [of December, 1879]. Mr. J. Hyman opened the services. . . . The deceased was born in San Francisco, Cal., and was the daughter of Mr. I. Salomon, a wealthy merchant. Her body will be sent to San Francisco for interment.” These are believed to be the first Jewish funerals that took place in what was then known as the Sandwich Islands, or as we know them today, the Hawaiian Islands, our 50th state.
1879: It was reported today that “The Jews, Their Customs and Ceremonies” by E. M. Myers is now available in New York.
1880: Mary Anne Evans, who was better known by her pen-name George Eliot, passed away. “Daniel Deronda” was her last novel. Published in 1876, it presented a presented a positive view of Jews and was sympathetic to the cause that would later be labeled as Zionism.
1882: It was reported today that in Russia, the legislature “has decided to accede to the request of certain Jewish chemists to rescind the order…forbidding Jews from keeping chemists’ shops outside of those part of the empire set aside for Jews to reside in.” (This is an example of the crazy-quilt of regulations with which Jews coped with during the 19thcentury. There never was a sense of permanence to any of the gains made by Jews since the government was autocratic and the society was dominated by ant-Semities.)
1883: William Goldsmidt found the body of his father Isidor in his room at the home they shared on 2nd Avenue in New York. Based on notes that were found and the examination by the coroner, it was deduced that he had died of a self-induced overdose of laudanum. It would appear that he had never gotten over the death of his wife which was soon followed by the death of his daughter..
1886(25thof Kislev, 5647): Chanukah
1886: The first passenger train ran through the Mersey tunnel owned by Samuel Isaac
1886: A review of “Leah the Forsaken” panned the performance of Margaret Mather in the title role. On the other hand, Milnes Levick performed the role “bore the role of the apostate Jew with dignity and skill of a sound experienced actor.”
1888: It was reported today that the Seligman Solomon Society will be providing an evening of entertainment at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum later this month.
1888: “Members of the highest of London’s Jewish circles” attended the reception that followed the marriage of “Brandon Thomas, one of the best known of the younger actors on the English stage and Marguerite Blanche Leverson, the beautiful daughter” diamond merchant James Leverson and his wife Henrietta” who had previously opposed the marriage on religious grounds.
1888: Among the allocations made by the Brooklyn Board of Estimates were $134.39 to the Hebrew Benevolent Association of Brooklyn and $703.49 to the Hebrew Orphan Asylum Society.
1889: It was reported today that the Hebrew Educational Fair, a fund raiser for several Jewish charities in New York City raised $125,000
1889: The Montefiore and Lady Judith Hebrew Association was formed by a group of Jews who met tonight at the Florence Building in New York City.
1889: It was reported today that during the month of November, the United Hebrew Charities had provide aid to 2,77i adults and children who comprised 639 families
1889: It was reported today that Henry Rice is the President of the United Hebrew Charities and that I.S. Isaacs serves as secretary of the organization.
1889: It was reported today that the newspapers are filled with “reminiscences” of Robert Browning who passed away earlier this month. These include articles which “tend to support the theory that he is of Jewish descent.” His father was a clerk in the employ of the Rothschild at a time when their bank “employed scarcely any but Jews.” The name “Bruning” (a Germanic form of Browning) was very common among Jewish families in North Germany.” He was a friend of Emma Lazarus and “both his verse and private correspondence show that he kept an interest in the” persecution of the Russian Jews.
1891: Founding of Congregation Kenesseth Israel in Minneapolis, MN.
1891: Sixty-four year old Paul Anton de Lagarde who “argued that Germany should create a "national" form of Christianity purged of Semitic elements and insisted that Jews were "pests and parasites" who should be destroyed "as speedily and thoroughly as possible".
1891: The NYPD police station on East 22nd Street appeared to a monument to ecumenism since it was filled with three carloads of loot stolen from Churches and Synagogues by a thief who styled himself as “Pastor John Weih.”
1892: In a move that will have an impact on Russian Jews trying to reach the United States, Secretary of the Treasury Charles Foster has told the Secretary of State that officials at Hamburg are prepared to let ships sail for the United State even though a few cases of Cholera have been reported and recommended that German officials be told that ships would not be admitted to the United States until cholera was no longer presence in Hamburg.
1893: A representative of the United Hebrew Charities was among those who signed a letter addressed to the Mayor calling on him to help provide more relief for all the newly unemployed who have lost their jobs as a result of the Panic of 1893.
1894: On the last day of the Dreyfus Court Martial his defense attorney Edgar Demange “spent three hours arguing that the very contents of the bordereau showed that it could not be the work of Dreyfus” while prosecutor Brisset abandoned “the moral proofs” presenting an emotional appeal the Judges.
1894: In France, The Dreyfus affair moved to a new level when Alfred Dreyfus was wrongly convicted of treason.
1894: At Shabbat morning services in New York, erev Chanukah, “rabbis earnestly and vigorously pleaded for the better observance of the Sabbath.”
1894: Today’s announcement “that the whole village of Halberton in Cumberland Country, New Jersey has been sold by the Sheriff” provides the public with proof that another of the Russian Jewish colonies in the state has failed.
1895: Rabbi Joseph Silverman delivered a sermon today at Temple Emanu-El entitled “On What Basis Can Christian and Jews Unite?”
1895: Wolf Avener of Philadelphia and Isaac Falpe were arraigned today before the Magistrate at the Centre Street Court on charges of trying to blackmail Aris Lichtenstein, a Jew who converted to Christianity.
1895: Based on reports published today the charity fair sponsored by the New York Jewish community for the last couple of weeks has raised more than $150,000, two thirds of which will go to the Education Alliance and one third to the Hebrew Technical Institute.
1897: In Charleston, SC, Dr. Mendes of Savanah officiated at the marriage of Isabelle Nathan and Benjamin Mantoue.
1900: Emil Jellinek, delivery of the first new Mercedes which had been sold to racecar driver Baron Henry de Rothschild at the railway station in Nice. [The car was called Mercedes in honor of the Jewish automobile developer’s daughter. Somehow, this naming convention escaped the notice of the Nazis who were proud to ride in Mercedes-Benz vehicles.]
1909: A fare-well banquet in honor of Rabbi Martin A Meyers was held tonight at the Hotel Premier in New York City. The 31-year old Meyers has been serving as the Rabbi at Temple Israel in Brooklyn. He is moving to San Francisco to begin serving as the Rabbi at Temple Emanuel, the Pacific Coast’s largest Jewish congregation. Rabbi De Sola Mendes served as Toastmaster at the event which was attended by 22 rabbis including Stephen Wise, Joseph Silverman, Alexander Lyons, and Rudolph Grossman.
1910(21stof Kislev, 5671): Fifty-three year old David Günzburg the 3rd Baron de Günzburg, a noted orientalist and leader of the Jewish community in Russia passed away today in St. Petersburg
1912: Report that in response to joint representations by foreign Ambassadors, the Turkish government repeals order expelling Italian subjects, majority of whom are Levantine Jews.
1912: Birthdate of Joseph Wulf, the native of Chemnitz who was a resistance fighter in the Krakow Ghetto and a survivor of the Auschwitz death marches and as an award winning historian in the post-war fought to make the site of the Wannsee Conference “into a Holocuast memorial and document center.
1914: The American Jewish Relief Committee has raised a total of $222,122.06 as of today.
1914: A group of 300 citizens from Waco, TX submitted a petition to Georgia Governor John M. Slaton listing seven reasons why they “believe that the verdict of the jury, of the death penalty based upon the evidence was not justified” and that “it would be a blot on the escutcheon of the fair State of Georgia to permit Leo M. Frank to executed.”
1916: More than 1000, members of the Hebrew Retail Kosher Butchers’ Association of the East Side met today and voted to boycott the beef offered by the local slaughter houses since the price has continued to rise. In the last month, chuck has gone from 12 and a half cents a pound to 17 and a half cents a pound.
1917: Colonel Ronald Storrs, the newly appointed British Military Governor of Jerusalem toured the city for the first time meeting with wounded Turkish soldiers being treated at the Grand New Hotel and the Mufti of Jerusalem, Kamel al-Husseine, the spiritual leader of the city’s Muslims.
1917: Formal peace negotiations begin at Brest-Litovsk between the Germans and the Russians whose chief delegate is Adolf Joffe, a Jewish born Bolshevik.
1917: Isaac Steinberg began serving as People’s Commissar for Justice of the RSFSR
1917: In the newly independent Finland, Parliament approved an Act concerning "Mosaic Confessors." Under the Act, Jews could for the first time become Finnish nationals, and Jews not possessing Finnish nationality were henceforth in all respects to be treated as foreigners in general.
1919: The United States deported 250 alien radicals, including anarchist Emma Goldman.
1919(30th of Kislev, 5680): Rosh Chodesh Kislev
1920(11thof Tevet, 5681): Sixty-nine year old Rabbi Abram S. Isaacs who edited The Jewish Messenger and published several books including A Modern Hebrew Poet: The Life and Writings of Chaim Luzzatto passed away today in Paterson, NJ.
1921: Future State Supreme Court Justice Alfred Frankenthaler married Martha Lowenstein today in New York. The couple had three children – Marjorie, Gloria and Helen.
1921: Birthdate of Lee Wolff Wattenberg the cancer fighting doctor. (As reported by Douglas Martin)
1922(3rd of Tevet, 5683): 8th and final day of Chanukah
1922: What is described by the bankers as the first Jewish bond issue in history was announced for today by Harvey Fisk & Sons, Inc. The bond issue is valued at 75,000 pounds and is issued by the city of Tel Aviv which plans to use the funds for public works projects including the construction of sewage systems, streets and roads and installations to produce electricity.
1922: Birthdate of Heinz Bernard, the son of the Hazzan of the Orthodox Synagogue in Nuremberg who as Heinz Bernard Lowenstein gained fame in the UK as an actor and director. The name change came about after his natural father died when the boy was two years old and he was adopted Max Lowenstein.
1924: The Institute of Jewish Studies of the Hebrew University is opened in Jerusalem, although the university has not yet officially opened.
1925: Birthdate of financier Lewis Glucksman, a trader with Lehman Brothers and CEO of Kuhn Loeb.
1927(28thof Kislev, 5688): 4th day of Chanukah
1927(28thof Kislev, 5688): Eighty-nine year old Dr. Jacob Da Silva Solis-Cohen, founder of laryngology in the United States passed away today.
1928: The American Advisory Committee of the Hebrew University announced today that the archaeological department had sent to the Newark Museum a collection of potsherds and other other material from the excavations at tel el Jerish, a Middle Bronze Age, mound north of Tel Aviv. Dr. Eleazar Sukenik, field archaeologist of the university recently cleared a cave in the Wady-en-Nar. A number of ossuaries with Hebrew inscriptions were removed. Of particular intnerest is an ossuary bearing the name Shamai be Jehosaf. The fragments have been added to the university collection.
1928: Felix Warburg, Chairman of the American Advisory Committee announced today that Societies of Friends of the Hebrew University had been formed in Boston under the chairmanship of Dr. Milton J. Rosenau of Harvard Medical School and in New Haven under the chairmanship of Colonel Isaac M. Ullman.
1930: Kosher Prime Butchers Corporation was among the business that was incorporated today in the state of New York.
1932: Premiere of “The Rebel,” a German historical film directed by Curtis Bernhardt and Edwin H. Knopf and co-produced by Joe Pasternak.
1936(8thof Tevet, 5679): Sixty eight year old Milton S. Florshiem, the founder and chairman of the board of Florsheim Shoe Company passed away today.
1932: Seventy-six Major General Erwin von Heimerdinger, the father of Gertrude von Heimerdinger was employed in the German Foreign Office as assistant Chief of the Diplomatic Courier Section. An anti-Nazi, she secretly arranged for special passes to enable diplomat Fritz Kolbe (the main Allied source of intelligence) to make frequent trips to Switzerland to pass on information to Allen Dulles, head of American O.S.S.
1937: The Palestine Post reported no fewer than 16 terrorist attacks over the weekend. An Arab police inspector, Sa¹ad al-Arab, was killed in Haifa. A second victim of the attack on the Haifa-Nahalal bus, Aaron Sloverson, died in a hospital. Isaac Orphali, 26, was badly wounded when an Egged bus was shot at near Motza.
1940(22nd of Kislev, 5701): Author Nathanael West dies in auto accident at the age of 37. In his short career West produced Miss Lonely Hearts, Cool Million and The Day of the Locust.
1941: Massacres of the Jews of Vilna ended leaving 32,000 dead Jews.
1941: Ten days after Romania declared war on the United States the former U.S. ambassador died at Bucharest before he could return to the U.S.
1941: Over the next eight days, more than 40,000 Jews are murdered at Bogdanovka in the Transnistria region of Romania.
1942: The Jewish Fighting Organzation (JFO) lead by Aharon Liebeskind attacked Nazi troops gathered at Cyganeria,a coffee house in Kraków, Poland, killing several SS officers.
1942: Franz Boas, “father of modern Anthropology” passed away. Born in 1858, Boas never converted to Christianity, but he was one of those German Jews who saw himself as a German first and foremost. Of course the last decade of his life might have caused him to re-think that concept.
1943(25thof Kislev): 5704): First day of Chanukah
1943: Rabbi Louis Wefel, the “flying Chaplain” spends his last Chanukah in Casablanca leading services. A few days later, Werfel would become one of only 6 Jewish chaplains to actually die in combat in World War II.
1943: The Gestapo discovers 62 Jews hiding in a cellar of a building on Krolewska Street in Warsaw. All are murdered.
1943: Birthdate of Paul Wolfowitz, a sub-cabinet official in the Bush Administration who was named President of the World Bank, a position from which he was forced to resign in disgrace.
1943: United States Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau confronts U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Breckinridge Long, telling him to his face that "the impression is all around that you, particularly, are anti-Semitic!"
1943: As Jews light the second Chanukah candle, the Women’s League for Palestine takes over tonight’s performance of Carmen Jones in New York City with the proceeds to be used to support their centers in Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv which feed needy children.
1944: Modi Alon, completed his RAF flight training at a base in Rhodesia. Four years later, Alon would become the first member of the fledgling IAF to score an aerial victory.
1944: Release date for the cinematic adaptation of Moss Hart’s stage play, “Winged Victory”
1945: The American Displaced Persons Act makes it easier for Nazi war criminals to immigrate to the United States. It particularly benefits Balts, Ukrainians, and ethnic Germans--many of whom had engaged in a "high level of collaboration" with the Germans. The act discriminates against Jewish refugees. When the bill is debated, many congressmen and members of the Departments of State, Justice, and Interior express their anti-Jewish feelings indirectly and in private.
1945(18th of Tevet, 5706):Otto Neurath an Austrian philosopher of science, sociologist, and political economist passed away. “Before he was forced to flee his native country for Great Britain in the wake of the Nazi occupation, Neurath was one of the leading figures of the Vienna Circle.”
1947: The new leader of the Jewish Community (Dr. Ghingold) appeared at the residence of the Chief Rabbi, Dr. Alexandru Safran, bearing words from the government that he must leave Romania within two hours! The expulsion of Dr. Safran from the country, and his replacement by Rabbi Moses Rosen represented a turning point in the life of the Jewish community in Romania"
1948: Mordechai Hod was among a group of IAF pilots who flew several Spitfires and Messerschmitts from Czechoslovakia to Israel. The planes, which were war surplus clandestinely purchased in Czechoslovakia, were some of the first modern warplanes acquired by the infant Jewish state.
1948: At night, Operation Horev began with an attack by the IDF against Hill 86, an Egyptian position overlooking the Gaza-Rafa Road.
1948: Syria banned Life and Newsweek because of “their increased Zionist propaganda”
1949: U.S. premier of “East Side, West Side” a film based on a novel by Marcia Davenport (Marcia Glick) and directed by Mervyn Leroy.
1950: Eighty-eight year old conductor and arranger Walter Damrosch whose father was Lutheran but whose grandfather was Jewish (a common German sequence) passed away today
1952: Beginning of the national syndication of Ding Dong School. Created by and starring Frances Horwich, it was one of the first television shows to offer quality educational programming for young children.
1952: The Jerusalem Postreported that the UN General Assembly failed to give the needed two-thirds majority to its Political Committee¹s resolution, which required that the Arab states enter into immediate and direct peace negotiations with Israel, and without any preconditions. The vote was 24 for, 21 against and 15 abstentions.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that a Negev settler, Yosef Yairi, 24, of Sde Boker, was killed by marauders. Infiltrators stole 80 sheep and irrigation equipment from the kibbutz. Israel protested that meat purchased in Ethiopia was seized by Egyptian authorities in Port Said.
1953: Yitzhak Pundak was appointed head of the IDF’s Armored Corps.
1956: Oswald Rothuag, the Nazi jurist who perverted justice for the sake of the Reich and“who presided over the trial of Leo Katzenberger” and ordered “his execution for ‘racial defilement’” was released on parole today after his life sentence was reduced to twenty years of which he served less than ten.
1961: In Washington, DC, Carl and Joan Fastow gave birth to Andrew Fastow, a key figure in the Enron debacle who pleaded guilty and went to jail for his part in the Enron’s demise.
1962(25thof Kislev, 5723): Chanukah
1964: Release date for “Kiss Me Stupid” a comedic film written by I.A.L. Diamond and Billy Wilder and produced and directed by Billy Wilder.
1964: Comedian Lenny Bruce is convicted on obscenity charges.
1964: In Israel, Levi Eshkol formed the 12th government today.
1964: As the 11th government gives way to the 12th government Golda Meir continues to serve as Foreign Minister.
1965: Birthdate of David Samuel Goyer, “an American screenwriter, film director, novelist, and comic book writer.”
1969: As part of the Cherbourg Project, retired Israeli Admiral Mordecai Limon met in Paris with Martin Siemm and Amiot. The owner of the Cherbourg shipyard signed a contract with Limon canceling the original sale of the boats to Israel. Amiot then signed a contract with Siemm selling the boats to the Norwegian for the same price. Copies of the contracts were immediately dispatched to the relevant French authorities.
1968(1stof Tevet, 5729): Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1970: The S.S. commander of Treblinka was sentenced to life imprisonment.
1971: Kurt Waldheim was elected Secretary General of the UN. Waldheim became a controversial figure after being exposed by the Austrian Weekly Profile and the New York Times. Although he denied any Nazi past, the World Jewish Congress contended they had proof that he had been a member of the S.A. and Army group E that was involved with deportation of Greek Jews and Yugoslavian partisans. Despite the WJC’s proof that the United Nations War Crimes Commission had wanted Waldheim for murder, he denied any direct involvement with such actions. Although he did not succeed in his bid for a third term, he was elected President of Austria in May 1986. Waldheim was denied entry to the U.S. and many diplomats refused to call on him. A notable exception was the Pope who received him in 1987.
1973(27th of Kislev, 5734): Philip Rahv passed away. Born Ivan Greenberg, Rahv was the co-founder of “The Partisan Review.”
1974: An American child was injured today in Jerusalem during a terrorist grenade attack on a bus.
1976: Yose Burg, a member of the National Religious Party, completed his term as Internal Affairs Minister.
1976: In Israel, the government head by Yithak Rabin resigned today “after ministers of the National Religious Party were sacked because the party had abstained from voting on a motion of no confidence, which had been brought by Agudat Yisrael over a breach of the Sabbath on an Israeli Air Force base.”
1979(2ndof Tevet, 5740): 8th and final day of Chanukah
1979: Darryl Zanuck passed away. Zanuck was not Jewish. He is the movie mogul who produced “Gentlemen’s Agreement,” the 1947 film about anti-Semitism that Jewish movie makers all turned down.
1981:In his review of “Elephants” a play now appearing at the Jewish Repertory Theatre which tells the story of “an otherwise upstanding, aging janitor in a Chicago synagogue who steals cocaine from a children's hospital in order to finance a trip to Tel Aviv to visit his dying sister” Mel Gussow describes David Rush’s dramatic effort as being “about as far-fetched a play as one could imagine.”
1982(6th of Tevet, 5743):Robert Weltsch an important European Zionist passed away.
1985: Richard F. Shepard described an exhibition at the Bronx Museum “Between the Wars: The Bronx Express a Portrait of the Jewish Bronx.
1985: “Capturing the Holiday Spirit” by Moshe Brilliant published today describes the unique celebration of Christmas in Israel.
1985: John Koenig published a review of Jesus and Judaism by E.P. Sanders.
1987(1stof Tevet, 5748): Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1987:Hundreds of thousands of Arabs inside Israel joined others in the occupied territories today in a general strike protesting Israel's handling of a wave of protests.
1988: Likud's Yitzhak Shamir formed the twenty-third government including the Alignment, the National Religious Party, Shas, Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah in his coalition, with 25 ministers
1988: The Labor Party gave final approval today to a new coalition government led by the Likud party.
1988: Ezer Weizman replaced Gideon Patt as the Science and Technology Minister of Israel
1988: Yithak Shamir, a member of Likud, completed his service as Internal Affairs Minister.
1988: Areyh Deri, a member of Shas, began serving as Internal Affairs Minister.
1989:During the American invasion of Panama the United States Embassy in Panama reported that Mike Harari, a 62-year-old retired agent of the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad was an American ''prisoner of war.''
1990 (5th of Tevet, 5751): Seventy-eight year old “Gershom G. Schocken, an influential Israeli journalist who was the editor and publisher of the daily newspaper Haaretz for half a century, died on Saturday at Shiba Medical Center outside Tel Aviv, where he lived.” (As reported by Peter B. Flint)
1990: The New York Times reported today on a sudden surge in the number of Soviet Jewish immigrants arriving in Israel this month may well bring the total of Jews settling here this year to more than 200,000, making it perhaps the largest influx of immigrants in 40 years.
1990: AnIsraeli ferry capsized killing 21 US servicemen.
1990: While taping an interview with a crew from Tele 5, the Spanish television station, President Hussein says Tel Aviv would be Iraq's first target whether or not Israel joins the war effort against Iraq.
1992(27thof Kislev, 5753): Third Day of Chanukah
1992(27thof Kislev, 5753): Eighty-one year old Polish born English actor, director and writer Milo Sperber, the brother of Manes Sperber passed away today.
1992: “The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany has issued a statement detailing the criteria for eligibility of Jewish victims of Nazi persecution for German Government compensation under an agreement concluded in November.
1993: Eliahu Levin and Meir Mendelovitch were killed by shots fired at their car by terrorists from a passing vehicle. Hamas claimed responsibility.
1993: “Italian Fascism Didn’t Practice Anti-Semitism” published today described Louis Jay Herman’s view on Mussolini and the Jews.
1993: Two were left dead following a shooting attack near Ramallah.
1993:Israeli and Palestinian negotiators worked in secret today on a compromise plan for control of border checkpoints between Israel and parts of the occupied territories where Palestinians are soon to have autonomy. Shortly after midnight, Uri Savir, director-general of Israel's Foreign Ministry, emerged from the talks to say that both delegations would leave Versailles this morning and "a statement would be issued." He seemed discouraged but declined to elaborate on how the talks were progressing.
2000: U.S. premiere of “The Family Man” directed by Brett RAner, co-produced by Howard Rosenmen with a script co-authored by David Weisman
2002:Yael Weiss, a pianist, and Mark Kaplan, a violinist, who met at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival in the summer of 1999 were married at the Americas Society in Manhattan to strains of Bach.
2002: The New York Times book section featured books by Jewish authors and/or about subjects of Jewish interest including Analyzing Freud: Letters of H.D., Bryher, and TheirCircle edited by Susan Stanford Friedman, Nobody’s Perfect:Billy Wilder: A Personal Biographyby Charlotte Chandler, and Kafka Goes to the Movies by Hanns Zischler; translated by Susan H. Gillespie.
2004(10th of Tevet, 5765): Asara B'Tevet
2005: An immigration judge order John Demjanjuk deported to Germany, Poland or Ukraine.
2005: Israeli Harry Potter fans have something to be in high spirits about this Hanukah. The Hebrew version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, JK Rowling's sixth book in her magical series hits the bookstores just two days before the first night of Chanukah.
2006(1stof Tevet, 5767): Rosh Chodesh Tevet, 2006: Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni announced that Italy’s Holocaust Museum will be located in Rome at the Villa Torlonia.
2006: Alan G. Hevesi completed his term as State Comptroller for the State of New York.
2007: Chazak Shabbat observed by Conservative Synagogues across the United States. Chazak Shabbat always falls on the Shabbat when Vayechi is the weekly portion. Congregations honor members who are fifty-five years and older and the special programs designed to encourage their continued participation in the Jewish community.
2007:The Cedar Rapids Gazette reported that "the head of the largest branch of Americana Judaism is urging members of the movement to do more to observe Shabbat. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism told those attending the group's Biennial convention that stressed out families need a day when they can stop running around long to see what God is doing. Among other things, Yoffie urged Reform Jews to make a commitment to attend Saturday morning worship
2008: Eric Alterman “announced that his blog Altercation would be moving to The Nation's website in 2009, and would appear on a less regular basis than its previous Monday through Friday schedule.[
2008: The AJS (Association for Jewish Studies) Women’s Caucus Breakfast and The Sephardi/Mizrahi Caucus Lunch are held on the second day of the AJS (Association for Jewish Studies) 40th Annual Conference in Washington, D.C
2008: HappyBirthday “Hatikvah” – 130th anniversary of the creation of the poem “Hatikvah” by Naphtali Herz Imber.
2008(25thof Kislev, 5769): First Day of Chanukah
2008: Jewish Book Month comes to an end.
2008:Gaza gunmen fired at IDF soldiers patrolling the security fence near the Sufa crossing late this afternoon, seemingly refuting reports of a 24-hour ceasefire. The troops returned fire. No one was wounded and no damage was reported. In addition, soldiers arrested two Palestinians near Kissufim who had crossed the Gaza fence. They were transferred for interrogation. Also today afternoon, three Kassam rockets fired by Gaza terrorists hit southern Israel. One struck the Eshkol region, while two hit the Sha'ar Hanegev area. No one was wounded and no damage was reported.
2008:The suspected murderer of Yemeni Jew Moshe Yaish Nahari told a court on today that he had warned Jews to convert to Islam or leave the country and that if they didn't, he would kill them. The court ordered the suspect, Abdel Aziz Yehia Hamoud al-Abdi, to go for a psychiatric examination to determine if he is competent to stand trial.
2008: The scandal at Agriprocessors makes Timemagazine’s list of Top 10 Religion Stories in 2008. At #9, “When Kosher Wasn’t Kosher – A raid on a kosher-meat-processing plant in Iowa highlighted unethical practices.”
2008: Time quotes Ehud Olmert’s reaction to Jewish attacks in Hebron. “As a Jew, I was ashamed at the scenes of Jews opening fire at innocent Arabs.”
2009: In Washington, D.C. at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue students in the conversion class at Tifereth Israel Congregation share their stories and celebrate their first December holiday season as Jews in America in a program entitled “Journeys to Judaism: Jews by Choice Tell Their Stories.”
2010: “Jewish Life in Mr. Lincoln's City,” an exhibition sponsored by the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to come to an end today.
2010: The Coen Brothers’ version of “True Grit” is scheduled to be release today.
2010: Jamal Hussein Ahmad, a 49-year-old tailor, who was charged with trying to bomb a synagogue in the heart of Cairo, is scheduled to go trial today.
2010:The president of Austria’s tiny Jewish community wrote a letter today to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressing a feeling of “betrayal” and “outrage” at deputy minister Ayoub Kara’s current visit to Vienna at the invitation of the right-wing Freedom Party, formerly the political home of Jorge Haider.
2010: Master classes at the Stage-Center International Theatre in Tel Aviv which are being taught by Michael Mayer, the director who has become the toast of Broadway with his megahit musicals Spring Awakening and American Idiot begin today.
2010:Tensions were rising today between Fatah and Hamas, the two main Palestinian political factions, over a leaked American diplomatic cable and ongoing accusations by each side regarding the other’s arrests, plans and statements.
2010: A stage adaptation of Romain Gary’s novel, “The Life Before Us” (“La vie Devant Soi”), about an orphaned Arab boy’s devotion to a terminally ill Auschwitz survivor and ex-prostitute, featuring Myriam Boyer was broadcast across Europe today.
2011: In New Orleans, Gates of Prayer is scheduled to host its Sisterhood Chanukah Dinner
2011: In New Orleans, Touro Synagogue is scheduled to host its Sisterhood Chanukah Family Dinner
2011: Moshav, Soulfarm & DeScribe are scheduled to perform at the Highline Ballroom as part of the Sephardic Music Festival.
2011:In San Francisco, the Contemporary Jewish Museum is scheduled to host a Houdini-themed Hanukkah concert, with Leonard Cohen tunes performed by all-male musical group, Conspiracy of Beards
2011: The final weekend of Hamshoushalayim is scheduled to begin today in Jerusalem with activities especially geared for families.
2011: In Linn County, the first area wide Chanukah Candle Lighting Ceremony is scheduled to take place in Springville, Iowa under the leadership of Lena Gilbert
2011:Hamas has moved to join the Palestine Liberation Organization - a key step toward unifying the long-divided Palestinian leadership, the Associated Press reported today. Israel has rejected the reconciliation efforts, refusing to negotiate with a government including Hamas, whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel.
2011:Today, Defense Minister Ehud Barak criticized statements made by Israel's Foreign Ministry, which said the "bickering" of European Union members of the UN Security Council over Israeli settlement was making them "irrelevant."
2012: “Aya” is schedule to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
2012: “World’s second-oldest Bible fragment posted online” published today described the posting online of thousands of pages from fragile religious manuscripts including a 2,000 year old copy of portions of the 10 Commandments and the Shema by Cambridge University (As reported by JTA)
2012: “Dreaming in Yiddish,” a concert in tribute to singer, teacher, feminist and activist Adrienne Cooper featuring the leading artists in the Yiddish music world is scheduled to take place at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College.
2012: The head of the nationalist Jewish Homes Party denied calling for insubordination in the army tonight, rebuffing accusations that he endorsed refusing orders when he said two days earlier that he would not evacuate settlements
2013: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers includingAmerican Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell by Deborah Solomon, The Empty Chair by Bruce Wagner and The Myth of America’s Decline: Politics, Economics, and a Half Century of False Prophecies by Josef Joffe.
2013: “The Escape,” a movie about eight young Israelis from different backgrounds who retrace the routes of those trying to escape the Holocaust, is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
2013: The Jerusalem Municipality and the Jewish National Fund are scheduled to distribute free Christmas trees to Christian residents of Jerusalem today between 09:00 am and 12:00 pm at College Des Freres - De La Salle High School, 20 Bab El-Jadid Rd.
2013: A bomb exploded on a bus in Bat Yam this afternoon, but nobody was injured because an alert passenger had spotted the device and the bus driver had ordered the vehicle evacuated.
2013: Police are investigating an attempt by three Palestinian Authority Arabs to stab officers, this evening at a police roadblock at the Mishor Adumim Junction, next to the eastern Jerusalem suburb of Ma'alei Adumim. (As reported by Gil Roen)
2014: The Washington DC, Jewish Community Center is scheduled to present “World Music for Chanukah with Avram Penga” the “Greek-born guitarist and bouzouki virtuoso.
2014: “Night of Fools” and “The Outrageous Sophie Tucker” are scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
2014 The public Chanukah lighting is scheduled to take place at Cosenza.
2014: In London, “Rabbi Santa Comedy Night,” consisting entirely of Jewish comedians, an evening organized by Bennett Arron, is due to open today.