January 3
106 BCE : Birthdate of Marcus Tullius Cicero. Cicero is remembered as Roman statesman and orator. From the Jewish point of view he was just one more anti-Semitic intellectual. “He denounced Judaism as a ‘barbarous superstition.’” He defended a Roman official who had stolen contributions that we supposed to be shipped to the Temple at Jerusalem. He decried the influence of Jews in Rome cautioning one group to speak quietly lest they be overheard by the Jews. Unfortunately, when I had difficulty translating Cicero in high school, my father would not accept my excuse that Cicero was an anti-Semite so how could he expect to do well in Latin class.
1521: Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem. Leo is portrayed as the epitome of Church corruption – the great seller of indulgences. But Leo also provided protection for the Jews living in the Papal States. On one occasion he defied King Louis of France by not burning Jewish texts and he actually encouraged a Christian printer to publish a complete, uncensored copy of the Talmud. Luther is portrayed as the great reformer and father of the Reformation. Jews certainly benefited from the Protestant Reformation since was in the Protestant Netherlands and protestant England that the Jews found refuge and had a chance to grow and develop. However, Luther’s version of the Protestant Reformation included a large dose of anti-Semitism that would help fuel the fires of what became the Holocaust. History is not always black or white, but can be a whole lot of gray.
1571:Joachim II Hector, the Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, who allowed the Jews to return to the Margavite after having been banished because of false accusations of host desecration, passed away.
1598: In a letter from the Sultan to the Ottoman leaders in Jerusalem, he expressed his approval of the fact that the local Muslims locked the doors of the Nachmanides (Ramban) Synagogue, since, "the noisy ceremonies of the Jews in accordance with their false rites hinder our pious devotion and divine worship." Because of this the door was locked and sealed. The Sultan approved of the closing of the building, and he then ordered the synagogue to be annexed to the Muslims.
1676: Frederick William of Brandenburg issued a decree safeguarding the privileges of the Jews of Berlin.
1690(22ndof Tevet, 5450): Famed Lithuanian Rabbi Hillel ben Naphtali Zevi passed away. Born in 1615, he served as a Rabbi in several towns throughout Lithuania. He was an important communal leader since he was a delegate to the Council of Four Lands. He was the author of Bet Hillel which was a major commentary on the code of Jewish law known as the Shulchon Oruch.
1769: Birthdate of Jacob Herzfeld, a native of Dessau, Germany who studied medicine at Liepzig before become an actor and theatrical manager. He passed away in 1826.
1811: In New Orleans, Pierre Brugman who was from Curaçao and of Dutch–Jewish Sephardic ancestry and Puerto Rican Isabel Duliebre gave birth to businessman and leader in the movement for Puerto Rico’s indepenced Mathias Brugman
1825: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the first engineering college in the U.S. is opened in Troy, New York. Today its 4,000 undergrad student body includes approximately 500 Jewish students.
1835: Schiee Jaffé and his first wife Ernestine gave birth to Moritz Jaffe.
1853: “The Affairs in Europe” column published today reported that Parisians are amused at the “Protestant rigors in Germany against the Jews” in reaction to “the event of December 2, 1851…” The “event of December 2, 1851” is a reference to the overthrow of the Second French Republic by Louis Napoleon who had himself crowned Emperor on December 2, 1852.
1855(13th of Tevet, 5615): Forty-two year old Henry Edward Goldsmid passed away today in Cairo. Born in London in 1812, he spent most of his career serving in India in various positions with the East India Company.
1858: Judah Touro’s fourth Yahrzeit was observed this afternoon at the Green Street Synagogue in NYC.
1858: As she grew weaker, Rachel Felix completed a final letter to her father around 11 in the morning. At 8 o'clock a dozen Jews arrived from Nice to be with Rachel Felix in her last hours. Sometime after 10 pm, two women and one man approached Rachel's bed and and began chanting prayers for the dying Jewess.
1858 (17th of Tevet, 5618): Elisabeth Rachel Felix, known simply as “Rachel,” the French actress and singer passed away at the age of 36. “Élisabeth Rachel Félix was the second of the six children of Alsatian Jewish peddlers, Jacob (Jacques) and Esther Hayyah (Thérèse) Félix, and a French citizen under the Civic Emancipation, Rachel always remained profoundly in phase with the Jews’ entry into and participation in modernity. Although singular, her career was characteristic of the collective experience of the second generation of Jews born after the Emancipation and who participated fully in French social, economic, political and cultural life. Furthermore, for many French people, Rachel personified the great allegorical figures of Tragedy, History and the Republic. Her example illustrates the extent to which an often passionate but at any rate profound and intimate adhesion to French culture was an essential component in the construction of emancipated French Judaism. In Rachel we find all the cultural and political paradoxes and contradictions of her time. She was a symbol of legitimist and republican virtue in equal measure. Her performance as La Marseillaise had the public in raptures in 1848. But if she exercised such fascination it was also because she personified the social ascension of the lower classes, and was proud of it. Never hiding her humble origins and always asserting the importance of her family ties, she worked furiously at educating and cultivating herself and modeling her image. But despite her aspiration to affluence and respectability, she could never avoid details of her private life fuelling the whiff of scandal that clung to her name. Although never developing a critical awareness of the condition of women in the society of her time, she was loath to espouse the model of the bourgeois, cultivated woman defined by the notables of her time – married, a mother, either discreet or ceasing to appear on stage – and constantly asserted her desire to remain independent in order to devote herself fully to her art.
The Rachel phenomenon in many ways transcends that of the successful actress. Many biographies of her were written, and she became one of the most famous women of her century. Other artists, men and women, may also have left their mark on their time, but Rachel forged a new model of the actress and woman.” As one reads this entry, one gets a sense of how “French” French Jews felt themselves which provides understanding to the depth of shock and dismay felt at the time of the Dreyfus Affair.
1862: In Paddington, English businessman Jonah Nathan and Miriam Jacob Nathan gave birth to Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Matthew Nathan, the brother of Major F.L. Nathan and Sir Nathaniel Nathan.
1863: Cesar Kaskel arrived in Washington and went to meet with Cincinnati congressman John Addison Gurley to get his help in arranging a meeting with President Lincoln.
1866: Sir Saul Samuel completed his first term as Treasurer of New South Wales.
1871(10th of Tevet, 5631): Asara B’Tevet
1876(6th of Tevet, 5636: Sixty-five year old Sir Anthony de Rothschild, 1st Baronet, the second son of Nathan Mayer Rothschild, passed away today. He took on much of the responsibility for the family’s banking business, was the first President of the United Synagogue and was known as an art collector and breeder of thoroughbred racehorses. He died without a male heir so his title transferred to his nephew Nathan Mayer Rothschild.
1879: It was reported today that a commission appointed at the recent convention of American Hebrew Congregations to consider plans to establish one central college to train Rabbis in the United States is meeting in Philadelphia. The commission includes Rabbis Gottheil and Einhorn from New York and L.M. Demibtz of Louisville, KY. Currently there are at least three such colleges located in New York, Philadelphia and Cincinnati, Ohio.
1882: In Milwaukee, WI, Isaac David Adler, a prosperous wholesale manufacturer of men's clothing, and Therese Hyman Adler gave birth to their only son David Adler, the noted American architect
1882: In Shanghia, Isaac “Ned” Ezra, the merchant whose name was given to Ezra Road and his wife gave birth to the first of the nine children, Edward Isaac Ezra.
1883: Birthdate of British political leader Clement Attlee. Atlee was a member of the Labor Party and served as Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951. He replaced Winston Churchill as Prime Minister shortly after VE Day when the Laborites defeated the Conservatives in the first Parliamentary elections since the start of World War II. Talk about ingratitude. In what seemed like unnecessary cruelty, the Atlee Government continued to bar Jews from immigrating to Palestine. The government pursued an active war of suppression against the Zionists and made it clear that the Laborites had no intention in honoring the promise of the Balfour Declaration. Faced with financial bankruptcy and war weariness, Atlee began dismember the British Empire which meant surrendering the Palestine Mandate as well as the colony of India.
1887: In San Francisco, Marcus Schiller and others formally established the Beth Israel congregation with forty male members.
1888: Opening of the 111th New York State Legislature in which Jacob Cantor served as a member of the York State Senate.
1890: “Trouble Over A School” published today described the opposition of Jewish citizens on the Lower East Side to the establishment of a school by Reverend Morgan of St. Mark’s which some of them “regard as movement to undermined the Jewish faith.”
1891: Birthdate of poet and author Osip E Mandelstam. A native of Warsaw, Mandelstam grew up in the comfortable middle class Jewish home that was described as not being very religious. The ups and downs of his career and posthumous honor mirrored the fate of many other intellectuals living in the Soviet Union. He died in the Gulag in 1938.
1891: Among the charities that the Brooklyn Board of Estimate said would be receiving public funds were the Eastern District of the Hebrew Benevolent Society ($155.86); Western District of the Hebrew Benevolent Society ($88.96) and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum ($319.06).
1892: It was reported today that among the forty Europeans being held as prisoners by the Mahdists are eight Jews.
1893: In Alliance, NJ, Anna Saprho and George Sergius Seldes gave birth to Gilbert Vivian Seldes the a writer and American “social critic.
1893: It was reported today that Henry Mazinsky, the young boy who had contracted typhus, had been at The Ladies’ Deborah Nursery and Child’s Protectory for four months “under the constant care of the attendants” and how he contracted the disease remains a mystery.
1893: It was reported today that The Ladies’ Deborah Nursery and Child’s Protectory is currently caring for 150 boys.
1894: A meeting was held this evening at the Jewish Theological Seminary “for the purpose of founding a society” that will improve the observance of Shabbat.
1894(25th of Tevet, 5654): Adolph L. Sanger, a native of Baton Rouge, LA who graduated from Columbia Law School in 1864 following which he forged a successful career as an attorney, politician and leader of the Jewish community passed away today.
1894: The Footlight Club provided the entertainment for a fundraiser held at the Berkley Lyceum for the benefit of the Louis Downtown Sabbath and Daily School.
1895: Birthdate of British born Protestant archaeologist James Leslie Starkey who was “the chief excavator of the first archaeological expedition at Lachish.
1895: It was reported today that Aaron Leiman was at work at cloak factory when a fire broke out in his apartment killing his wife and two children.
1895: It was reported today that the tenement house at 25 Pitt Street that burned yesterday “was inhabited entirely by the families of” Jewish “cloakmakers and tailors” most of whom are suffering financially due to the cloakmakers’ strike.
1895: Colonel David S. Brown who will be leaving on trip that will take him to Egypt and Palestine was the guest of honor at a dinner at the Colonial Club.
1895: Herzl personally witnessed Colonel Dreyfus being “drummed out of the army in the courtyard of the Ecole Militaire as huge crowds outside shouted, ‘” ‘Death to the Jews!’”
1897: Dr. Maurice Harris of Temple Israel in Harlem delivered the sermon this morning at Temple Emanu-El.
1897: Adolph Sutro completed his service as the 24th Mayor of San Francisco.
1897: “Maspero On The East Again” provides a detailed review of The Struggle of the Nations: Egypt, Syria and Assyria by Gaston Maspero in which “he records the exodus, the conquest of Canaan, the founding…of David’s kingdom, the building of the reservoirs ascribed to Solomon, and of Solomon’s temple.”
1898: It was reported today that Julius D. Eisenstein has been chosen as president of “The American Congregation, the Pride of Jerusalem” – a new organization to provide aid for the indigent Jews living in Jerusalem.
1898: Gratz College is scheduled to open its doors today in Philadelphia. A teachers’ and general college, it is the third Jewish institution of higher-learning in the United States. Faculty members include Rabbi Henry M Speaker (Jewish literature), Arthur A. Dembitz (Jewish history) and Isaac Husik (Hebrew). The course of study lasts three years and “under certain conditions” students who cannot afford the tuition “will be admitted free of charge.”
1901: Birthdate of George W.F. Hallgarten, the German born American historian
1906 (6th of Tevet, 5666): Dr. Otto A. Moses passed away at the age of 72. Born in 1846, the South Carolina native “had a worldwide reputation as a geologist and chemist.” He was also the founder of the Hebrew Technical Institute, a New York “institution for the education of poor boys” and was an active supporter of other Jewish charities including the Hebrew Orphan Asylum and the Montefiore Home.
1909(10th of Tevet, 5669): Asara B'Tevet
1911: Emir Said Mir Mohammed Alim Khan for whom Levi Babakahn the grandfather of the Central Asian musician Ari Babakhanov served as “court vocalist” began his reign today.
1915: The Memphis Commercial Appeal“printed a long review of the Leo Frank case from a Georgia newspaper man who argued that the evidence in the case warranted the verdict” rendered.
1915: British synagogues joined other houses of worship in holding special services on behalf of the empire as requested by the King.
1915: In St. Louis at the 18thannual convention of the Knights of Zion, Louis D. Brandeis declared “Responsibility for preserving Jewish customs and ideals now rests almost wholly with the American Jews.”
1915:Birthdate of Jack Levine the Boston born American Social Realist painter and printmaker best known for his satires on modern life, political corruption, and biblical narratives.
1917: In New York City wealthy heiress Gladys Guggenheim and Roger Williams Straus, Sr whose family owned Macy’s gave birth to Roger Williams Straus, Jr.
1919: Simon Petlyura, "hetman" of Russia and the Ruthenian Republic, a Ukrainian nationalist and commander of the Zaporog Cossacks and Haidamaks, began his attack against the Jews. He accused them of being supporters of the communist regime. In Berdichev, Uma, Zhitomir and other cities about seventy thousand were killed and an equal number wounded. Altogether 372 cities and towns were attacked in 998 major and 349 minor pogroms. This took placed during the Russian Civil War that followed the Bolshevik Revolution. The civil war was loosely described as fight between the Reds (the communists) and the Whites (all of the various groups opposed to the communists). The Jews were caught in the middle and suffered at the hands of both sides.
1919: The Faisal-Weizmann Agreement was signed today, by Emir Faisal (son of the King of Hejaz) and Chaim Weizmann as part of the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 settling disputes stemming from World War I. It was a short-lived agreement for Arab-Jewish cooperation on the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and an Arab nation in a large part of the Middle East. Weizmann first met Faisal in June 1918, during the British advance from the South against the Ottoman Empire in World War I. As leader of an impromptu "Zionist Commission", Weizmann traveled to southern Transjordan for the meeting. The intended purpose was to forge an agreement between Faisal and the Zionist movement to support an Arab Kingdom and Jewish settlement in Palestine, respectively. Weizmann and Faisal established an informal agreement under which Faisal would support dense Jewish settlement in Palestine while the Zionist movement would assist in the development of the vast Arab nation that Faisal hoped to establish. Weizmann and Faisal met again later in 1918 in London and soon afterwards at the Paris peace conference. In their first meeting in June 1918 Weizmann had assured Faisal that "the Jews did not propose to set up a government of their own but wished to work under British protection, to colonize and develop Palestine without encroaching on any legitimate interests". The day after they signed the written agreement, which bears their names, Weizmann arrived in Paris to head the Zionist delegation to the Peace Conference. It was a triumphal moment for Weizmann; it was an accord that climaxed years of negotiations and ceaseless shuttles between the Middle East and the capitals of Western Europe and that promised to usher in an era of peace and cooperation between the two principal ethnic groups of Palestine: Arabs and Jews. The maipoints of the agreement were:
- The agreement committed both parties to conducting all relations between the groups by the most cordial goodwill and understanding, to work together to encourage immigration of Jews into Palestine on a large scale while protecting the rights of the Arab peasants and tenant farmers, and to safeguard the free practice of religious observances. The Muslim Holy Places were to be under Muslim control.
- The Zionist movement undertook to assist the Arab residents of Palestine and the future Arab state to develop their natural resources and establish a growing economy.
- The boundaries between an Arab State and Palestine should be determined by a Commission after the Paris Peace Conference.
- The parties committed to carrying into effect the Balfour Declaration of 1917, calling for a Jewish national home in Palestine.
- Disputes were to be submitted to the British Government for arbitration.
Weizmann signed the agreement on behalf of the Zionist Organization, while Faisal signed on behalf of the short-lived Arab Kingdom of Hedjaz.
Two weeks prior to signing the agreement, Faisal stated:
The two main branches of the Semitic family, Arabs and Jews, understand one another, and I hope that as a result of interchange of ideas at the Peace Conference, which will be guided by ideals of self-determination and nationality, each nation will make definite progress towards the realization of its aspirations. Arabs are not jealous of Zionist Jews, and intend to give them fair play and the Zionist Jews have assured the Nationalist Arabs of their intention to see that they too have fair play in their respective areas. Turkish intrigue in Palestine has raised jealousy between the Jewish colonists and the local peasants, but the mutual understanding of the aims of Arabs and Jews will at once clear away the last trace of this former bitterness, which, indeed, had already practically disappeared before the war by the work of the Arab Secret Revolutionary Committee, which in Syria and elsewhere laid the foundation of the Arab military successes of the past two years.The areas discussed were detailed in a letter to Felix Frankfurter, President of the Zionist Organization of America, on March 3, 1919, when Faisal wrote :
The Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement. Our deputation here in Paris is fully acquainted with the proposals submitted yesterday by the Zionist Organization to the Peace Conference, and we regard them as moderate and proper."The boundaries of Palestine shall follow the general lines set out below: Starting on the North at a point on the Mediterranean Sea in the vicinity South of Sidon and following the watersheds of the foothills of the Lebanon as far as Jisr el Karaon, thence to El Bire following the dividing line between the two basins of the Wadi El Korn and the Wadi Et Teim thence in a southerly direction following the dividing line between the Eastern and Western slopes of the Hermon, to the vicinity West of Beit Jenn, thence Eastward following the northern watersheds of the Nahr Mughaniye close to and west of the Hedjaz Railway; in the East a line close to and West of the Hedjaz Railway terminating in the Gulf of Akaba; in the South a frontier to be agreed upon with the Egyptian Government; in the West the Mediterranean Sea. The details of the delimitations, or any necessary adjustments of detail, shall be settled by a Special Commission on which there shall be Jewish representation. Faisal conditioned his acceptance on the fulfillment of British wartime promises to the Arabs, who had hoped for independence in a vast part of the Ottoman Empire. He appended to the typed document a hand-written statement:
"Provided the Arabs obtain their independence as demanded in my [forthcoming] Memorandum dated the 4th of January, 1919, to the Foreign Office of the Government of Great Britain, I shall concur in the above articles. But if the slightest modification or departure were to be made [regarding our demands], I shall not be then bound by a single word of the present Agreement which shall be deemed void and of no account or validity, and I shall not be answerable in any way whatsoever." The Faisal-Weizmann agreement survived only a few months. The outcome of the peace conference itself did not provide the vast Arab state that Faisal desired mainly because the British and French had struck their own secret Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 dividing the Middle East between their own spheres of influence, and soon Faisal began to express doubts about cooperation with the Zionist movement. After Faisal was expelled from Syria and given the Kingdom of Iraq, he contended that the conditions he appended were not fulfilled and the treaty therefore moot. St. John Philby, a British representative in Palestine, later stated that Hussein bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca and King of Hejaz, on whose behalf Faisal was acting, had refused to recognize the agreement as soon as it was brought to his notice. However, Sharif Hussein formally endorsed the Balfour Declaration in the Treaty of Sèvres of 10 August, 1920, along with the other Allied Powers, as King of Hedjaz. The United Nations Special Committee On Palestine did not regard the agreement as ever being validwhile Weizmann continued to maintain that the treaty was still binding. In 1947 Weizmann explained:"A postscript was also included in this treaty. This postscript relates to a reservation by King Feisal that he would carry out all the promises in this treaty if and when he would obtain his demands, namely, independence for the Arab countries. I submit that these requirements of King Feisal have at present been realized. The Arab countries are all independent, and therefore the condition on which depended the fulfillment of this treaty, has come into effect. Therefore, this treaty, to all intents and purposes, should today be a valid document". According to C.D. Smith the Syrian National Congress had forced Faisal to back away from his tentative support of Zionist goals
1920: Viola Flannery married Elie Nadelman, the Polish born American-Jewish sculptor, in New York City.
1924: Birthdate of Israeli Admiral Mordechai Limon, the man who would mastermind and execute the Cherbourg Project in 1969.
1925: Benito Mussolini, the Italian Fascist, announced that he was taking dictatorial powers over Italy. Mussolini enjoyed support among Italian Jews. According to Alexander Stille, by 1938 one third of adult Italian Jews belonged to Fascist Party. “This amounted to 10,000 Jews out of Italy's small Jewish population of 47,000.” But according to Claretta Petacci, Mussolini's mistress, between 1932 and 1938, the Italian dictator “was a fierce anti-Semite, who proudly said that his hatred for Jews preceded Adolf Hitler's and vowed to ‘destroy them all.’”
1925: In London, Aileen Freda Leatherman and Michael Balcob gave birth to English actress Jill Balcon.
1927: At Cooper Union, the United Palestine Appeal held its kickoff event designed to raise $100,000. During the meeting it was announced that $15,000 had already been raised with $2,500 having been donated by Morris Eisenman.
1927: During a meeting of the United Palestine Appeal held at Cooper Union in New York City, tribute was paid to the memory of Asher Ginsberg who was better known by his pen name, Achad Ha’am. Ginsberg who was living in Tel Aviv when he passed away, was described as “one of the most creative forces in world Zionism.”
1929: At the tender age of 27 William S. Paley became President of CBS.
1930(3rd of Tevet, 5690): The first Chanukah to be observed during The Great Depression comes to an end today on the 8thday of the festival.
1936: The Manchester Guardian published an article disproving Hitler’s claims that the Jews had a “stranglehold or monopoly” on German cultural and professional life. The percentages were based on official German statistics.
1937: The New York Timesreports that Mrs. Yetka Levy-Stein the wife of a Berlin Rabbi arrived here last week on the Cunard White Star liner Berengaria to make a three-month tour of the United States on behalf of the Youth Aliyah movement, which is concerned with the settlement of German-Jewish children in the cooperative colonies of Palestine.
1937:California Congresswomen Florence Prag Kahn completed her fifth and final term in office.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that it was no coincidence that most of the arms found on Arab terrorists were of German manufacture. They were smuggled in from Lebanon, Syria and Transjordan. British troops, assisted by police, fought a bloody battle with a band of arms smugglers near the Sahla village in Galilee.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that settlers at Kibbutz Neveh Ya'acov, north of Jerusalem, repelled another heavy Arab attack.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that a forest was planted at the Ma'aleh Hahamisha hill in memory of the five pioneers who were murdered there while preparing land for this new settlement.
1938: New York Supreme Court Justice Salvatore A. Cotillo signed a writ of reasonable doubt today which allowed the release of convicted felons Samuel "Sammy" Weiss and David Goldberg. The two had been convicted by Thomas E. Dewey for filing false tax returns. Weiss was a notorious racketeer and mobster.
1939: In Tel Aviv, actor Yaakov Einstein and his wife gave birth to Israeli entertainer Arik Einstein.
1940: Germany’s Ministry of Agriculture denied German Jews food ration cards.
1941: During World War II, German bombers dropped some of their payload on Greenville Hall Synagogue. The building was damaged but not destroyed in the raid.
1943: Polish President Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz requested that Pope Pius XII publicly denounce German atrocities against the Jews. Pius remained silent concerning both the German slaughter of the Polish Jews as well as the German attacks against Polish Catholics.
1945: Benjamin Rabin assumes office as member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 4th district
from New York's 4th district
1947: The USCGC Northland the last cruising cutter built for the Coast Guard equipped with a sailing rig was sold for scrap today after which she was renamed the Jewish State and used to transport Jewish refugees and renamed Eilat in 1948 so that she could be the flagship of the newly created Israeli navy.
1947: Jacob Javits begins serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from New York’s 21st congressional district.
1948: The Palmach received orders concerning the attacking on Salama.
1949: Lyndon Johnson, who had already shown himself to be a friend to the Jewish people, completed his 12 years of service representing Texas’ 10th Congressional District.
1949: Lyndon Johnson began serving as U.S. Senator from Texas.
1949: Leo Isaacson, a member of the American Labor Party, finished his term as a member of the House of Representatives representing New York’s 24thcongressional district
1949: As part of Operation Horev, Israeli troops attacked the Egyptians at Rafah in an attempt to encircle the Arab force.
1951: Sydney A. Fine assumes office as member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 23rd district.
1952: A revival of “Pal Joey”, the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart musical opened today for the first of 540 performances.
1953: Isidore Dollinger assumed office as member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 23rd district
from New York's 23rd district
1956: More than 600 leaders of Hadassah from all over the United States met at New York’s Plaza Hotel to celebrate the twenty-second anniversary of Youth Aliyah, the worldwide child rescue and rehabilitation organization.
1959: Seymour Halpern assumed office as member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 4th district. Unlike most New York Jewish politicians, Halpern was a Republican.
from New York's 4th district. Unlike most New York Jewish politicians, Halpern was a Republican.
1959: Alaska became the 49th state to join the Union. For more about Alaska, the final Jewish Frontier you may go to http://www.joyfulnoise.net/JoyAlaska5.html, featuring “Alaskan Jewry – An Historical Overview.”
1959: Ernest Gruening began serving as U.S. Senator from Alaska.
1963: Tel Aviv University opened. Although its antecedents go back to the early 1950's the university became an independent entity on this date. Today it is the largest University in the country with over 100 departments and over 75 research facilities.
1965: James H. Scheuer began assumed office as member of the House of Representatives from New York’s 21st District.
1965(29th of Tevet, 5725): Semyon Ariyevich Kosberg passed away. Born in 1903, this Jewish-Soviet engineer developed an expertise in aircraft and rocket engines who won the Lenin Prize in 1960 and was named a Hero of Socialist Labor in 1961.
1965: Richard Ottinger assumed office as member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 25th district
from New York's 25th district
1967(21st of Tevet, 5727): Jack Ruby, the man who shot accused presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, died in a Dallas hospital.
1969: Ernest Gruening, one of only two Senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin resolution completed his service as U.S. Senator from Alaska.
1969: Ed Koch began serving as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York’s 17th District.
1970: Jerry Herman’s musical “Mame” closed on Broadway after 1,508 performances.
1973: Ed Koch completed his service as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York’s 17th District.
1973: Ed Koch began serving as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York’s 18th District.
1973: Elizabeth Holtzman began serving as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York’s 16th District.
1973: James Scheuer completed his service in Congress from New York’s 21stDistrict.
1973: Seymour Halpern finishes his career as a member of the House of Representatives representing New York’s 6th congressional district.
1975: Stephen J. Solarz began serving in the United States House of Representatives as the Congressman from New York’s 13th District, a post he would hold until 1993.
1975: James Scheuer began serving in the U.S. House of Representatives as the Congressman from New York’s 11th District.
1975: President Gerald Ford signed the Trade Reform Act which contained the Jackson-Vanik-Mills Amendment. The Amendment required any nation that wanted “most favored nation status” had to grant its citizens the right immigrate to the country of their choice. The Amendment was intended as a way of forcing the Soviet Union to allow Jews to leave the USSR and was part of the campaign to “Free Russian Jews.”
1977: Ted Weiss assumed office as member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 20th district
from New York's 20th district
1977: Stan Lee and his partner “launched the Spider-Man newspaper comic strip today.
1977(13th of Tevet, 5737): Avraham Ofer, Minister of Housing the cabinet of Yitzchak Rabin, passed away
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that the US was seeking to establish a bloc of moderate Arab and Muslim states, like Turkey, that would accept Israel's self-rule proposal for the West Bank and Gaza as a transitional phase, leading eventually to these areas' fuller independence, preferably in close linkage to Jordan. Gush Emunim members settled at Karnei Shomron, on the Kalkilya-Nablus road. The Gush rejected Prime Minister Menachem Begin's assurances that his new peace plan would not affect the safety of the existing Jewish settlements in administered areas.
1981: Jacob Javits completed his career as a member of the U.S. Senator from New York.
1981: Elizabeth Holtzman completed her service as a Member of the U.S. Representatives from New York’s 16th District.
1981: Lester L. Wolfe finished his career as a member of the House of Representatives representing New York’s 6th congressional district
1983: James Scheuer completed his service as a Member of the U.S. House from New York’s 11th Congressional District and began serving as a Member of the U.S. House from New York’s 8th Congressional District.
1983: Jerry Nadler completed his service as a member of the New York State Assembly from the 69th district and began serving as the member from the 67thDisrict.
1984: A revival of David Merrick’s “Hello Dolly” starring femal impersonator Danny La Rue as Dolly opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre.
1985: The government of Israel confirmed the resettlement of 10,000 Ethiopian Jews. In a world where revisionists condemn the Zionist dream or at least pronounce it dead, this rescue operation served as poignant, pressing reminder of one of the reasons the Jewish state must continue to exist.
1987: The original production of “Smile,” a Marvin Hamlisch musical closed today after 48 performances.
1988: As part of the war against terrorists, Israel ordered 9 Palestinian "instigators" deported from West Beirut.
1988: The Reagan Administration, through an announcement by its State Department, withheld comment today on the Israeli air strikes into southern Lebanon. A State Department official said Administration officials monitoring weekend developments in the Middle East would assess the information about the air strike
1988(13th of Tevet, 5748):Rose Ausländer a Jewish German- and English language poet passed away.
1989: Steven Schiff assumed office as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District.
1989: Eliot L. Engel assumed office as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 17th district.
from New York's 17th district.
1989: Nita Lowey assumed office as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 18th district.
from New York's 18th district.
1990:Ezer Weizmann is scheduled to leave today for Moscow, a visit that is a further sign of warming relations between the Soviet Union and Israel. Shimon Peres is planning a Soviet trip at the end of January or beginning of February.
1991: Israel reopened its consulate in the USSR after 23 years. The Soviets had broken off relations with Israel after the Six Day War. The Soviets alternately used its Jewish population as pawns or prisoners depending upon the vagaries of the Cold War. The cry of “Free Soviet Jewry” now seems like something out of the distant past.
1991: Pan American World Airways announced today that it was suspending flights to Tel Aviv and to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, because of surging insurance rates, a result of the crisis in the Middle East.
1992: Yasar Arafat demanded that the United States vote for a U.N. resolution that would “strongly deplore” Israel’s decision to deport a dozen Palestinians described as “inciters to violence.” The Israeli action followed the murder of four Israeli settlers by P.L.O. hit men over the past ten weeks.
1992: In the State Department office of Assistant Secretary Edward Djerejian, at the instigation of Director of Policy Planning Dennis Ross and with the concurrence of Richard Haass, a national security aide, the decision was made to unload on Israel as never before. PLO hit men had murdered four Israeli settlers in the past 10 weeks, provoking Israel to expel a dozen Palestinian inciters to violence. No Yasser Arafat was sending word that Arabs would boycott the peace talks unless the U.S. voted in the U.N. to strongly deplore the deportations.
1993(10th of Tevet, 5753): Asara B'Tevet
1993: Nita Lowey completed her term representing New York’s 20th Congressional District and began representing New York’s 18th Congressional District.
1993: Stephen J. Solarz’s career in the House of Representatives came to an end.
1993: James Haas Scheuer’s career in the House of Representatives came to an end.
1993: Jerry Nadler stopped serving as a House Member from New York’s 17th Congressional District and began serving as a House Member from New York’s 8thCongressional District.
1993:"Catskills on Broadway" closes at Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City after 452 performances
1993(10th of Tevet, 5753): An agent of the Shin Bet security service was stabbed and bludgeoned to death today, apparently by an Arab assailant, in a rare attack on a member of Israel's secretive internal intelligence agency. The body of Haim Nahmani, 25, was found in the stairwell of an apartment building in a Jewish neighborhood in West Jerusalem. A police statement said Mr. Nahmani had been "on active duty" when an assailant known to the security forces stabbed him repeatedly and battered him with a hammer. No further details were released.
1993: Bob Filner completed his service on the San Diego City Council and began serving as a Member of the U.S. House from California’s 50th District.
1993: At a building site in Holon, near Tel Aviv, attackers slashed the throat of a Jewish man, seriously wounding him. The police said they were searching for an Arab laborer from the West Bank who had fled the scene.
1993: The Associated Press reported that a pipe bomb exploded in the baggage hold of an Israeli bus outside Tel Aviv today. The police said no one had been injured on the bus, which was taking at least 40 people to Jerusalem from Haifa
1993: Junk bond king Michael Milkin was released from jail after 22 months.
1993: The New York Times describes the Israeli Folk Dancing classes taught by Uri Aqua at the Y.M.-Y.W.H.A. of Mid-Westchester in Scarsdale and at Congregation Kneses in Port Chester, NY. Mr. Aqua, a Sabra, or native Israeli, came to this country in 1983, is a cantor at Beth Israel Synagogue in New Rochelle. But now he says he has a mission: to teach Israeli folk dancing, which he studied in Jerusalem.
1997: Steve Rothman is sworn in to serve his first term in the House of Representatives representing New Jersey’s Ninth Congressional District.
1998(5th of Tevet, 5758): Howard Gilman, the chairman of the Gilman Paper Company, who was a philanthropist and a collector of photographs and other art, died today on an estate near Jacksonville, Fla. Among the beneficiaries of his largess were Tel Aviv University, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
1999: Anthony Weiner began serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from New York’s 9thcongressional district.
1999: Israel detains, and later expels, 14 members of Concerned Christians. Concerned Christians is described as apocalyptic Christian cult that believed the Al-Aqsa mosque has to be destroyed to facilitate the Second Coming.
1999: The New York Times features a review of Life of the Movie:How Entertainment Conquered Realityby Jewish critic Neal Gabler.
2000: Israeli and Syrian leaders meet today as they resume American-brokered negotiations ambitiously aimed at reaching a peace accord by this summer.
2001: Frank Lautenberg completed a career in the U.S. from New Jersey that had begun in 1982.
2001(8th of Tevet, 5761: Sports broadcaster and youthful track & field star, Marty Glickman passed away at the age df 83.
2001: Representative Shelley Berkley begins her second term as the 107th Congress holds its first sessions. Berkley is the first Jewish woman to represent Nevada in the U.S. House of Representatives.
2001: Nita Lowey began serving as Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
2002: Operation’s Noah’s Ark began this morning when Israeli naval commandos boarded a Palestinian freighter during the second intifada loaded with tons of arms including Katyusha rockets, and anti-tank weapons without firing a shot.
2002: “The world press eulogized Julia Phillips, the first woman to win an Academy Award as a producer, following her death on January 1, 2002”
2003(29th of Tevet, 5763): College and professional football coaching great Sid Gillman passed away.
2003: Fundtech Ltd., whose software helps banks transfer money electronically, said today that it would cut jobs as it combined units that handle development, professional services and customer services. Fundtech, has headquarters in Ramat Gan, Israel, and Jersey City. Shares of Fundtech, controlled by Clal Industries and Investments, which is based in Tel Aviv, have dropped 19 percent in the last year as reduced demand forced the company to sell its software for less.
2003: Jerry Abramson began serving as the first May of Louisville Metro, a governmental created by the merger of Louisville and Jefferson County, KY.
2003: Nita Lowey completed her term as Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
2003: Bob Filner began serving as a Member of the U.S. House from California’s 51stCongressional District.
2003: Norma Coleman began serving as United States from Minnesota.
2003: Frank Lautenberg as is sworn in as U.S. Senator from New Jersey.
2004: Four Palestinians were killed by the Israeli Army here today in Nablus which has been a center of militant activity since the current cycle of violence started in September 2000. An army spokesman said the operation, the largest now under way, was intended to dismantle a terrorist network in Nablus, after 18 attempted terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians originated in the city over the last month.
2005 (22nd of Tevet, 5765): Will Eisner passed away. Born in 1917, Eisner first knew fame from The Spirit, a weekly comic strip appearing in newspapers from 1940-1945, where he nurtured a young Jules Feiffer. After being drafted in 1945, he created the Joe Dope series of instructional comics for soldiers. He is generally credited with the creation of the graphic novel when he published A Contract with God in 1978. He also wrote Comics & Sequential Art in 1985, a groundbreaking academic overview of those subjects.
2005: High powered GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to three felony charges in a deal with prosecutors that helps clear the way for his testimony about members of Congress in a wide-ranging political corruption investigation.
2006: Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to three criminal felony counts related to the defrauding of American Indian tribes and corruption of public officials, in a Washington, D.C., federal court.
2008: “Psalm Song: Healing through the Art of Carol Hamoy” opens at the Jewish Museum of Florida.
2008: The Rabbinical Court of Appeals is scheduled to convene for a meeting that will decide whether or not Rabbi Yona Metzgeer resigns as Israel’s Ashkenazi Rabbi in the wake of a recommendation by Justice Minister Daniel Friedman that the chief rabbi be impeached for alleged breach of trust and fraud.
2008: A Katyusha is fired from Gaza at the city of Ashkelon, ten miles away. For the first time this major Israeli city has been attacked by Palestinians using a rocket.
2009: In Cedar Rapids, The traditional Saturday Morning Minyan at Temple Judah enters its eighth year with 19 people in attendance (an amazing turn-out for such a small congregation)!
2009: As the stain of the Madoff financial scandal spreads the New York Times reported that the trustee overseeing the bankruptcy of Madoff’s trading firm has made an urgent request to the court for unusually broad authority to subpoena witnesses and documents because of the “vast scale” of this self-described record Ponzi scheme.
2009: Israeli ground troops entered Gaza tonight, following a week of aerial strikes aimed at ending rocket fire on Israel's southern communities. Despite repeated bombing raids, the rocket fire continued, killing four Israelis over the last week. Initial reports from both Israel and Gaza tonight indicated that IDF troops had killed dozens of Hamas gunmen as they traded heavy fire upon entering the Strip.
2009: Three New York office holders - Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, U.S. Congressman Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia and Mayor Bloomberg - boarded a plane bound for Israel late Saturday night for a trip designed to show support and concern for the citizens of Israel who are under missile attack from Gaza.
2009: An Israeli film, “Waltz with Bashir,” was named the best picture of 2008 by The National Society of Film Critics at its annual meeting in New York.
2009: The Des Moines Register reports on the work of Colorado playwright Don Fried to create a stage drama based on events at Postville, Iowa.
2009: Jared Polis assumed office as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District.
2009: Norman Coleman completed his term as U.S. Senator from Minnesota.
2009: John Adler completed his service as a member of the New Jersey Senate from the 6thdistrict
2009: John Adler began serving as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey’s 3rd district.
2010: An exhibition styled “Folk Art Judaica by Herman Braginsky” presented by the Yeshiva University Museum comes to a close. Born in 1912, Braginsky was a self-taught craftsman who carved ritual objects made of fine and aged woods, including tzedakah boxes, Torah pointers, mizrach plates, mezuzot, dreidels, Torah arks, spice containers, many of which are on display as part of this exhibit. Braginsky passed away in 1999.
2010: The Washington Post included reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Worse Than War: Genocide, Eliminationism, And the Ongoing Assault on Humanity by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen and the recently released paperback edition of Sashenka by Simon Montefiore.
2010: The New York Times included reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including A Literary Bible: An Original Translation by David Rosenberg.
2011: Steve Grossman began serving as the 57th Treasurer and Receiver-General of Massachusetts.
2011: MesorahDC which provides young, single professionals with exciting opportunities in Jewish enrichment is scheduled to present Cafe Nite at the Historic Sixth & I Synagogue in Washington, DC.
2011: A romantic play entitled “Apples from the Desert” is scheduled to be performed tonight at the Jerusalem Theatre at 20 Rehov Marcus.
2011(27thof Tevet, 5771): On the Jewish calendar, Yahrzeit of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch.
2011: Dozens of English-speaking Bar-Ilan University students demonstrated in front of the university administration building today, demanding rights promised to them as new olim. Wielding signs with slogans like "We left our families, what more do you want?" and "What? I don't understand you," the students rallied after the administration raised the price of translating exams into English to NIS 285, and limited the translations to first-year students alone.
2011: Despite last-minute efforts by President Shimon Peres, Russian President Dimitri Medvedev canceled his planned visit to Israel in February, Beit Hanassi announced this afternoon.
2011(27thof Tevet, 5771): Israeli actor Yosef Shiloach passed away today at the age of 69 after a long battle with cancer. Shiloach was known for Israeli comedy film classics such as Alex Holeh Ahava, Sapiches, and Hagiga B'Snuker. A year ago, Shiloach was awared a life-time achievement award in at Jerusalem Film Festival. Shiloach was born in Kurdistan in 1941, and moved to Israel at the age of 9. He was one of the first graduates of the Beit Zvi acting school, and in 1964 he appeared in his first film - Mishpachat Simchon. Shiloach went on to star in dozens of films and television shows, mostly portraying comic characters, among them caricatures of a Mizrahi man with a heavy accent. He also participated in a number of American films, including Rambo III and The Mummy Lives. He was considered a left-wing activist, and has called for Arab-Jewish coexistence as well as equal rights for Mizrahi Israelis.
2011(27thof Tevet, 5771):Dorothy Silk, a professional leader of volunteers and a volunteer until her last years, died today in East Lansing, Mich., at 90. In 2008, at age 88, Silk was named one of "Eight Over Eighty," an annual event sponsored by Jewish Senior Life of Metropolitan Detroit recognizing people over 80 whose efforts showed dedication to "tikkun olam," or "repair of the world."
2011:The Jewish community of St. Martin opened its first synagogue since the 18th century. The synagogue, part of a new Chabad Center operated by Rabbi Moshe and Sara Chanowitz, is based in a 1,200-square-foot office space that once housed a church. Opening ceremonies were held today. The Chanowitzes moved to the Dutch-owned Caribbean island in 2009 to serve its 300 Jewish residents. The Jewish population swells to 1,000 or so during the tourist season. Jews first came to the island as refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, and the community grew during the 16th and 17th centuries. The lone synagogue was abandoned in 1781 and later destroyed by a hurricane. A historic Jewish cemetery also was recently discovered, according to chabad.org.
2011: Jerry Abramson completed his term as the Mayor of Louisville Metro, KY.
2011: John Adler completed his service as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey’s 3rd district.
2012: Grace Hannah is scheduled to appear at the Blaze Bar at 23 Rechov Hillel.
2012: Yair Lehman and Inbal Lori are scheduled to perform “The Slaughter Cow,” a comedic show about all topics from politics to the Torah, at Bet Avi Chai.
2012: European rabbis told MKs today that laws prohibiting kosher slaughter will lead to banning circumcision.
2012: Israel and Palestinian negotiators meeting in Amman today for the first direct talks in 16 months agreed to continuing talking, with another round of talks scheduled in Jordan next week.
2013: “A Hole in the Moon and Three Shorts” is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
2013: Jerry Nadler completed his service a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York’s 8th district.
2013: Jerry Nadler assumed office as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the New York’s 10th district.
2013: Beth Jacob Congregation is scheduled to host a debate between the L.A. Mayoral candidates.
2013: Nita Lowry began serving as the Representative from New York’s 17thCongressional District.
2013: Today “Israel’s National Library unveiled the cache of recently purchased documents that run the gamut of life experiences, including biblical commentaries, personal letters and financial records.” (As reported by Aron Heller)
2013: Steve Rothman completed his services as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey’s 9th district.
2013: Approximately 3,000 haredim were enlisted into the IDF and will begin active service by August 2013, Maj.-Gen. Orna Barbivai told Israel Radio today.
2013:Israeli doctors have developed a portable device which they say can detect strokes, the third biggest killer in the western world. The prototype, worn on patients' heads, monitors brain waves and identifies any discrepancies in their pattern.
2014: The Eden-Tamir Music Center is scheduled to host “Excellence-The Future Generation” featuring outstanding composers and performers from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.
2014: “Copying Beethoven” and “Vivre sa vie” are scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival
2014: “Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon addressed the IDF’s successful test flight of the Arrow 3 interceptor missile, which was conducted today in a joint operation by the Israel Missile Defense Organization and the US Missile Defense Agency, and said that the missile would prove a major asset to Israeli society.”
2014(2ndof Shevat, 5774): Ninety-two year old Oscar winning producer Saul Zaentz passed away today. (As reported by Robert D. McFadden)
2014(2ndof Shevat, 5774): Seventy-eight year old publisher Tom Rosenthal passed away today.
2014: A Wall Street Journal report published today stated that U.S. officials believe members of Hezbollah are smuggling” “components of the Yahkont advanced guided missles” which the terror group could used to attack Haifa and Ashdod into their bases in Syria or Lebanaon. (As reported by Yoav Zitun)
2014: “Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon addressed the IDF’s successful test flight of the Arrow 3 interceptor missile, which was conducted today in a joint operation by the Israel Missile Defense Organization and the US Missile Defense Agency, and said that the missile would prove a major asset to Israeli society. “
2014: “German, Jewish and Neither” published today
2015: “The Imitation Game” is scheduled to be shown in Jerusalem today.
2015: The Eden-Tamir Music Center is scheduled to present "The Glorious Sound of Two Pianos" -- The Jerusalem Piano Duo: Shir Semmel- Dror Semmel
2015: Under the leadership of Lena Gilbert, Temple Judah is scheduled to host the third annual Cedar Rapids Opera Recital featuring six principal singers from Don Giovanni