March 13
624: Islamic forces under the command of Muhammad were victorious at the Battle of Badr which cemented the power of the Moslem leader with all that we would mean for civilization in general and the Jews in particular.
1245: As the Mongols sweep across Asia and Christian Europe, Innocent IV issued “Cum non solum,” a letter addressed to the Mongols asking them to desist from attacking Christian nations. This is the same Innocent IV who had ordered the massive burning of Jewish books including many priceless copies of the Talmud.
1421 (10th of Nisan): After nearly a year’s imprisonment, the Jews of Austria were ordered to be burned. “In Vienna Danube .”
1421(10th of Nisan): Rabbi Aaron of Neustadt, author Hilkhot Niddah died the martyr’s death in Vienna
1524: Suleiman II issued a firman that brought closure to Abraham de Castro who had exposed the traitorous plans of Amad-Pasha to take control of Egypt and protection for the Jews of Egypt, an event memorialized by “Cairo Purim)
1601(9th of Adar II): Mordecai Marcus Meisel passed away. Born in in 1528, the son of Samuel Meisel, he was one of the wealthiest people in Bohemia. A noted philanthropist, he was a leader of the Jewish community in Prague. During his youth, the Jews of Prague were the victims of the fanatical persecutions instituted by Ferdinand I. “In 1542 and 1561 his family, with the other Jewish inhabitants, was forced to leave the city, though only for a time. The source of the great wealth which subsequently enabled him to become the benefactor of his coreligionists and to aid the Austrian imperial house, especially during the Turkish wars, is unknown. He is mentioned in documents for the first time in 1569, as having business relations with the communal director Isaac Rofe (Lékarz), subsequently his father-in-law. His first wife, Eva, who died before 1580, built with him the Jewish Town Hall in Prague, which is still standing, as well as the neighboring Hohe synagogue, where the Jewish court sat. With his second wife, Frummet, he built (1590-92) the Maisel Synagogue, which was much admired by the Jews of the time, being, next to the Altneusynagoge, the metropolitan synagogue of the city.” After his death, despite the fact that “his widow had given presents of tens of thousands of florins to the king and city, soldiers would forcibly enter his house on the Sabbath and torture his nephews until they ‘confessed’ that there was still more money hidden away. All the money was declared property of the Bohemian Chamber with nothing left to the family.”
1615: Birthdate of Antonio Pignatelli who as Pope Innocent XII abolished Jewish loan-banks in Rome 1682. In the following year he extended the ban to Ferrara and other Jewish ghettos under his authority. He also prohibited the Jews under his control from serving as shopkeeper and banned them most trades and crafts, causing the Roman Jewish community to shrink.
1639: Harvard College is named for clergyman John Harvard. Eighty-three years later, Harvard would hire its first Jewish instructor, sort-of. In 1722,”the officers of Harvard Corporation vote that Judah Monis be approved as an instructor of the Hebrew language at the College, under the condition that he convert to Christianity. One month before assuming his post at Harvard, Monis converts before a large assembly in College Hall.” It would take Harvard another 221 years to hire a Jewish professor without the requirement that he convert. Harry Levin became the first Jewish full professor in the Harvard English department in 1943.
1656: The Jews were denied the right to build a synagogue in New Amsterdam.
1682: Students in Cracow staged anti-Semitic riots
1741: Birthdate of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor. On the positive side, Joseph did away with numerous humiliating conditions for his Jewish subjects including the special badges and taxes. He wanted to liberate the Jews from “humiliating and oppressive laws and to assure that all Austrian subjects could contribute to the public welfare without any distinction with regard to nationality and religion.” The thrust of his reforms were intended to make Germans out of his Jewish subjects. This liberalization worried the empire’s anti-Semites. But it also bothered Jewish leaders including Moses Mendelssohn. They feared that the price of being free was a diluted Judaism.
1745: Jews exiled from Prague
1808(14th of Adar, 5568): Purim
1808: Frederick VI, who had shown a great deal of interest in his Jewish subjects while regent and who would support full Jewish emancipation began his reign as King of Denmark.
1809: Birthdate of Alexander Levi, a French born Sephardic Jew, who was one of the early settlers of Dubuque, Iowa. He would live there until he passed away in 1893. Levi was a successful merchant and civic leader who was one of the first Jews to hold public office in the Hawkeye state.
1815: In Pressburg, Sarel, the daughter of Rabbi Akiva Eger and Rabbi Moses Sofer gave birth to Shmuel Binyomin Sofer a leading 19th century Hungarian Rabbi and rosh yeshiva of the Pressburg Yeshiva.
1825: Birthdate of Immanuel Heinrich Ritter who succeeded Samuel Holdheim as the rabbi at the Berlin Reform Temple in 1860.
1844: In Paris, twenty-one year old Emma Silberstein, “the daughter of Salomon Silberstein and Amilie Kempner married Louis Loewe with whom she had four daughters and five sons, “one of whom was James Lowe, Raphael Loewe’s grandfather.”
1845: Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto is premièred in Leipzig with Ferdinand David as soloist. Born in 1809 Felix Mendelssohn was the grandson of Moses Mendelssohn. His Jewish parents had him baptized as a Lutheran in 1816. The violinist Ferdinand David was Jewish.
1852: An article styled "Austria" published today reported that "an Hungarian Jew has been arrested for trying to negotiate a number of Kossuth notes, that he had brought with him from Hamburg."
1862(11th of Adar II, 5622): As the American Civil War enters into its second year, Jews observe the Fast of Esther.
1865(15th of Adar, 5625): Shushan Purim
1865: Frederick Knefler, who was serving under the command of General William Tecumseh Sherman, was promoted to the rank of brevet brigadier general just before the end of the Civil War. Born in Hungary in 1833, Knefler had the distinction of being one of the few people to rise from the rank of private to general during the course of a war. In 1861 he volunteered for the Union Army and became a captain within one year. He passed away in 1901.
1865:During the Civil War Major Alfred Mordecai, Jr was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Union Army. The newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel was the son of Alfred Mordecai, a southern born officer in the United States Army. Mordecai Sr. resigned from the Army rather than fight against the South, marking the end to an illustrious career. However, in a display of honor that was rare among other Southerners who left the U.S. Army, he refused to accept a commission in the Confederate Army or serve the South in any civilian capacity.
1866(26th of Adar, 5626): Seventy-one year old Julius Rubo who despite his brilliance and ability found both a legal and academic career ultimately closed to him because of his religion from which he refused to convert, passed away today.
1870: At a meeting of the board of directors of the “B'nai Jeshurun Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Society, the President, Mrs. Henry Leo, the founder of the Society, presented a report on the growing number of destitute Jews who were elderly and in poor health. She urged the ladies to develop a practical way of dealing with this growing problem
1870: A group of leaders of the Jewish community, including Thomas H. Keasing, E.S. Isaacs and T.J. Solomon, met today to make plans for establishing a society that would destitute Jewish immigrants when they came to United States. A committee of seven was selected to draw up plans for such an organization that would be submitted to this group at its next meeting. In the meantime, fifty dollars was donated to serve as “seed money” for the group’s work.
1871: The children of Aaron Adolphus, a wealthy New York Jew who passed away in January, contested the terms of their father’s will in Surrogate Court.
1873(14thof Adar, 5633): Purim
1873: Birthdate of Benzion ben Moses Eisenstadt, the native of Minsk whose literary output included poetry and biography of rabbis and scholars.
1873: In New York, the Sabbath School Fair Association of the 57th Street Congregation hosted a Purim reception and masked ball at the Terrace Garden.
1875: It was reported today that the police in Hartford, Connecticut, have arrested a swindler named W.F. Gerhardt. Gerhardt is really is really Hungarian born Jew named Moritz who worked his larceny in his native land before being forced to flee to the United States. His confederates include Michael Mandl, an Austrian Jew and Henry Hertz.
1876: It was reported that the Jews in Washington, DC celebrated Purim with “a brilliant masked ball.”
1876: A police officer found the body of Leopold King in front the building housing Ahavat Chesed in New York City. The police found an empty blue vial in his hand that smelled of prussic acid. The 54 year old King was a native of Prussia who had retired from his successful cap making business and gone into real estate. The family could offer no reason for a suicide and said they thought “that he died from a fit of apoplexy.”
1876: It was reported today that the managers of the Home for the Aged and Infirm Hebrews has leased the “Old Hildebrand Mansion “ at the corner of 87th Street and Avenue A in New York City. The number of people seeking admission has grown to such a large number that the current facility on Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street is no longer large enough.
1881: Alexander II of Russia is assassinated, which put an end to his half-hearted liberalism. He was succeeded by Alexander III who was devoted to medievalism and urged a return to “Russian civilization.” The most influential person during his reign was Pobestonostov, his financier and procurator of the Holy Synod, who earned the title "the Second Torquemada." The newspapers in Moscow Kiev Odessa
1884(16th of Adar, 5644): Sixty-four year old Charlotte von Rothschild, the only daughter of Carl Mayer von Rothschild and the wife of Lionel de Rothschild with whom she had five children passed away today.
1887: In Clinton, IA, a group of Protestants founded the American Protective Association which was anit-Catholic and anti-immigrant at the same time that the an untold number of Jews were trying to escape from repressive regimes Russia and Romania.
1888: Justice Samuel Greenbaum married Selina Ulman today. They had four children - Lawrence Samuel, Edward Samuel, Grace and Isabel – before she passed away at 25 years of age.
1890:It was reported today that the Passover Relief Association had raised nearly $250 at its annual Purim masquerade ball which would go toward the fund it raises yearly to provide the Hebrew poor of this city with the wherewithal to celebrate Passover.
1890: “Hebrew Charities” published today summarized the efforts of the United Hebrew Charities during the month of February which including providing 226 applicants with work and providing 216 pupils with free instruction in the industrial school. The charity provided over seven thousand dollars in direct aid.
1891: It was reported today that the funds Jesse Seligman has received from Baron Hirsh “will be kept in the vaults of various trust companies until the trustees of the fund decide” how it is to be invested.
1892(14th of Adar, 5652): Purim
1893: Felix Adler is among those scheduled to meet with President Cleveland today to urge him to veto the newly passed Treaty of Extradition with Russia.
1893: “Oriental Records Translated” published today provides a detailed review of Records of the Past edited by A.H. Sayce which includes the information that “in the soil of Palestine, for example, the spade has brought to light evidence of the existence of a Canaanitish library dating from a period earlier than the birth of Moses…” The material translated provided a comparison between Biblical texts and those of other, recently discovered civilizations in the East.
1894: “Want The School Reopened” published today describe a meeting held to protest the closure of grammar school on Hester Street which will impact 500 children, most of them who are Jewish. The leaders of the protest contend that the Jewish “resident of the district were anxious to have their children the English language” and were afraid that the closure would impede this. (Editor’s Note – Compare this view of the English language by Jewish immigrants with that which has evolved in the 21stcentury)
1894: The United Hebrew Charities is one of the organizations distributing the proceeds from a concert given by Musurgia to help aid those suffering during the current economic depression.
1897: San Diego State University founded. The first Jew connected with San Diego was a young adventurer named Louis Pollock who was temporarily imprisoned in San Diego along with other Americans by Mexican authorities. By 1851, there were enough Jews in San Diego for Lewis Franklin to organize the first High Holiday services held in southern California. Today SDSU has approximately 2,500 Jews among its 27,000 undergraduates and 500 Jews among more than 6,300 graduate students. The school offers 15 courses in Jewish studies and students can major or minor in Jewish Studies. The campus has an accredited Hillel with its own Hillel House.For more information about the SDSU Jewish community see http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~jewish/
1897: “Another Homer to be Identified” published today provides a critique of “The Unknown Homer of the Hebrews” by Amos Kidder Fiske the author of The Jewish Scriptures. According to Fiske, just as Homer is the father of Greek literature, so is there one author un-named author who created much of the Biblical literature. Based on “higher biblical criticism” Fiske contends that the author is the Prophet Elijah
1897: “The Austrian Election” published today described the outcome of the vote for Mayor in Vienna where “Dr. Lueger, the well-known Jew-baiter” has emerged victorious over Mayor Strohbach. The Emperor had nullified an earlier victory by Lueger but the belief is that the he will not intervene for a second time.
1898: “Money Lenders Attacked” published today summarized the testimony of Sir George Lewis “the well-known lawyer” and leader of the Jewish community before the House of Commons in which he complained of the behavior of money lenders, “the bulk of them” who “were Jews whom “the Jewish community loathed and despised.” The worst of the lot was one known as “Sam” who had played a key role in the scandal surrounding Lord Nevill-Spender Clay.
1898:Lemercier-Picard, author of the forged letter quoted by General de Pellieux a month earlier (the "faux Henry"), is found hanging from the window-catch of his hotel bedroom. Circumstances of death remain unclear.
1899: While testifying before the Court of Inquiry investigating “the beef counsel” Edward Tilden, the treasurer of Libby, McNeill & Libby Packing Company testified that “the forequarter of the carcass is the only part eaten by an Orthodox Jew” but that that the price of the beef does not depend on “the number of Jews in the community.”
1899: Rabbi H.P. Mendez, Dr. Stephen Wise, Rabbi Gustav Gottheil and his son were among the prominent Jews attended Professor Thomas Davidson’s lecture entitled “Zionism from a Non-Jewish Standpoint” at Shearith Israel Synagogue.
1899: This evening Cincinnati, Ohio, Rabbi David Philippson is scheduled to deliver the “address of welcome” at the preliminary meeting prior to the official opening of the annual Conference of American Rabbis which will start tomorrow. Dr. Joseph Silverman and Rabbi Isaac M. Wise are also scheduled to address the meeting to which the general public has been invited.
1900: Henri Didon Louis Remy, the Dominican Friar who wrote approvingly of the fifth and final volume of Renan’s History of the Jews passed away today.
1901: Sixty-seven year old Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President of the United States whose Secretary of State, James G. Blaine “instructed the American minister to Russia to exert his influence against” any new anti-Jewish measures being adopted by the Czar and whose administration received a memorial from William Blackstone and his supporters calling for “an international conference to consider the condition of the Israelites and their claims to Palestine as their ancient home” passed away today.
1902: The Sultan approves the Rouvier project (from the French government) for the consolidation of the public debt. This was part of a project that Herzl had worked on, the idea being that assisting the Ottomans with their financial needs would help smooth the way for the creation of a Jewish homeland in Eretz Israel
1903(14th of Adar, 5663): Purim
1904:During the presidency of Isaac Wallach, the new buildings of the Mount Sinai Hospital in Madison Avenue (between 100th and 101st streets) for which $1,500,000 had been raised, were dedicated today.
1904:Ludovic Trarieux, the French political leader who served as Minister of Justice during the Dreyfus Affair where he should great courage in taking up the cause of the French military officer who was a victim of anti-Semitism and a conspiracy of right wing militarists passed away today.
1906: Social reformer and suffragette Susan B. Anthony. Among Antony’s allies were Ernestine Rose, the Polish born American and English suffragette whose slogan of “Agitate, Agitate” she adopted.
1906: Birthdate of Oscar Nemon, the Slavonian born English sculptor, best known for his series of more than a dozen public statues of Sir Winston Churchill as well as sculptures of Harry Truman and Margaret Thatcher. After World War II, he made sculptures of a spectacular list of high-profile figures including such war-time leaders as Dwight D. Eisenhower Earl Alexander of Tunis, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, Lord Freyberg and Lord Beaverbrook. He passed away in 1985.
1908: Birthdate of Walter Annenberg. The famed philanthropist built a publishing empire around the Daily Racing Form, the Philadelphia Inquirer and that uniquely American cultural icon, TV Guide.
1908: A major fire in the Jewish quarter of Haskoy, Constantinople , Turkey Constantinople to Oscar S. Straus, U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Labor asking for assistance.
1912: Birthdate of Lillian Fruendlich , the wife of Irwin Freundlich who had been born in 1908 and with whom she teamed to perform recitals “featuring pieces for one piano and 4 hands.
1913: Birthdate of Harold Hochstein who would gain fame as Harold Stone, a character who played numerous roles on Broadway, in Hollywood films and television. Stone usually played ‘heavies” or bad guys. He was the sort of actor who became the role. You might not recognize the name but as you see the original version of Spartacus or re-runs of the television series, The Untouchables, you will remember who he was.
1914: Premiere of Die geheimnisvolle Villa“a short silent German film directed by Joe May” born Joseph Otto Mandel.
1915: Sixty-five year old Count Sergei Witte a leading progressive Russian minster, whose marriage to Matilda Ivanovna (Isaakovna) Lisanevich, to a converted Jew caused a scandal and limited his political effectiveness and who tried to reform the Empire while keeping Russia from entering WW I which he feared would doom his country passed away today
1915: Among those listed as contributors to the American Jewish Relief Committee for Sufferers from the War were Beth Gimel, Ottumwa, IA; Beth Chayim Congregation, Cumberland, MD; Congregation Israel, Hot Springs, Arkansas and the Literary Society of Beaumont, TX.
1918: American Red Magen David, the Jewish Red Cross, was formed.
1919(11th of Adar II, 5679): Amid the chaos of post-World War I, Jews observe the fast of Esther.
1921: U.S. premiere of “Know Your Men” filmed by cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg.
1921: Birthdate of cartoonist and Mad Magazine illustrator Allan Jaffee.
1924: Birthdate of “jazz pianist, arranger and producer” Dick Katz.
1926(27thof Adar, 5675): Eighty-five year old Shlomo Elyashiv passed away. The grandson of Yosef Sholom Eliashiv, and the son of Chayim Chaikl Eliashiv or Eliashoff , he is best known author of Leshem Shevo V’Achlama
1928: Despite support from Lloyd George and Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill, the British Cabinet rejects a loan designed to support the “Zionist enterprise” in Palestine in a manner consistent with the Balfour Declaration.
1930: Woolf Barnato, the youngest son of Barney Barnato, “set off from the bar at the Carlton Hotel” this evening in his 6½ Litre Bentley Speed Six as he tried to win a bet that he could reach London before the Blue Train reached Calais.
1931: Premiere of Sturm im Wasseglas (Storm in a Water Glass) a film based on a play by Bruno Frank with a script co-authored by Felix Salten, co-produced by Josef Somlo and starring Paul Otto who would hang himself when his Jewish origins were discovered during the Nazi period.
1932: On Sunday, Benjamin Cardozo was sworn in as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme. A liberal nominated by the conservative President Herbert Hoover, he would join Louis Brandies as the second Jew to serve on the High Court. Unlike Brandeis whose confirmation hearing had been contentious with more than a whiff of anti-Semitism, Cardozo’s nomination sailed through with near unanimous support.
1933: Jewish lawyers and judges were expelled from court in Breslau
1933: Birthdate of rock and roll composer Mike Stoller.
1935: Birthdate of philosopher and political commentator Michael Walzer
1936: Sir Francis Henry Dillon Bell, thefirst New Zealand-born Prime Minister of New Zealand, passed away. His Jewish mother had converted before he was born.
1938: While walking home from school in Hungary, Tom Lantos sees a newspaper with the headline: "Hitler Marches into Austria.” Years later, Lantos said that he sensed that this historic moment would have a tremendous impact on the lives of Hungarian Jews, my family, and myself."
1939: Birthdate of musician Neil Sedaka, a product of Brooklyn’s Sephardic Community.
1939: Churchill wrote to a leading Albanian diplomat stating that he had been authorized to negotiate ways to establish a refuge for Jews fleeing Germany in Albania. The plan came to naught when Mussolini invaded the little Balkan country a month later.
1940: The three month war between Finland and the U.S.S.R which had begun with the Soviet invasion of its neighbor and in which 204 Finnish Jews had fought (with 37 dead) ended today with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty.
1941(14th of Adar, 5701): Russian author Isaac E Babel was executed during one of Stalin’s periodic purges. The Soviets exonerated him in 1954.
1942: The first trainload of 1000 deportees arrived from Theresienstadt at the village of Izbica Lubelsak, just north of Belzec. Only six would survive the war.
1943(6th of Adar II): German forces liquidated the Jewish ghetto in Cracow. Two thousand Jews were rounded up for deportation at Cracow , Poland
1943: An attempt to assassinate Hitler masterminded by General Henning von Tresckow failed today when a bomb that had been smuggled aboard the Fuhrer’s plane failed to detonate.
1946:Birthdate of Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu who was a commander in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit of the Israel Defense Forces. His younger brothers are Benjamin Netanyahu, the current Prime Minister of Israel, who previously held that office from 1996-99, and Iddo Netanyahu, an Israeli author and playwright. Yoni was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service (Hebrew: עיטור המופת) for his conduct in the Yom Kippur War. He was killed in action during Operation Entebbe at Entebbe airport, by Ugandan soldiers, when the Israeli military rescued hostages after an aircraft.
1947:The Lerner and Lowe musical ''Brigadoon'' opened on Broadway.
1947: Tonight the British government in Palestine announced that it had arrested 78 people including 15 members of the Stern gang and 12 members of the Irgun. The arrests of these “terrorists” had been made possible, in part, because of “assistance from the Jewish community.”
1947: “Some resistance was encountered by British troops today when 703 Jews who arrived in Palestine waters yesterday after running the naval blockade were taken aboard the steamer Empire Rival.” The Jews are reportedly being shipped to camps in Cyprus.
1948:While speaking at the ceremony marking the induction of Dr. Nelson Glueck as head of Hebrew Union College Samuel I. Rosenmean, who has served as a special assistant to both Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, assails appeasement. He called for a "policy of resistance" rather than appeasement and said that the Russian dictatorship had started rolling westward in true Hitler manner.
1950: The body of Dr. Mordecai Eliash, Israel’s first ambassador to the United Kingdom, arrived at Lydda Airport today and was taken to Jerusalem where it will lie in state until tomorrow’s funeral.
1950: Dr. Walter Caly Lowdermilk, American expert on soil erosion, met today with Prime Minister David Ben Gurion and Finance Minister Elizar Kaplan before leaving for London.
1951: Israel demanded DM 6.2 billion compensation from Germany
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that Eilat was bedecked and illuminated to mark the third anniversary of the town¹s liberation. A military parade was held and a message was read from Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, who said: "The military victory will be won only if pioneers make the land fertile."
1960(14th of Purim, 5720): Last Purim observance during the Presidency of Ike Eisenhower.
1961: Monash University, the Australian school named in honor of Sir John Monash accepted its first 347 students today at Clayton.
1965: In Los Angeles, CA, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, the Jewish stars of “Mission Impossible” gave birth to actress Juliet Rose Landau.
1967: Margaret Arnsteinbecame dean of the Yale University School of Nursing. As dean, she brought Yale's nursing school into the forefront of nursing education. Arnstein's lifetime of work was well recognized in her later years. In 1966, she became the first woman to receive a Rockefeller Public Service Award. In 1971, she received the Sedgwick Memorial Medal, the American Public Health Association's highest honor.
1967: Broadway opening of “You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running” for which Martin Balsam won the Tony for best performance by a leading actor in a play.
1969(23rd of Adar, 5729): Paul Burlin, famed abstract expressionist painter, passed away. Burlin joined such artists as Picasso, Manet, Monet, and Degas at the famous Armory Show in 1913 which was the turning point in public acceptance of expressionism in the United States.
1971: Jerry Wolman, the former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, has agreed to sell historic Shibe Park which he had purchased in 1964 for $757,500.
1973: The New York Times reviewed the first edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves. Nine of the 12 women who first formed the collective that created this groundbreaking women's health reference were Jewish
1974: One of David Wolper’s crews filming a National Geographic history of Australopithecus at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area was killed when the Corvair 440 Sierra Pacific Airlines plane exploded on takeoff from Eastern Sierra Regional Airport in Bishop, California killing all 35 on board including 31 Wolper crew members.
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported from Washington that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was surprised to find out that when the US State Department spoke about "minor adjustments" in the pre-1967 Israeli borders, it referred to border changes of only a few hundred meters, or "straightening out of the line" in such places as Latrun or Kalkilya. It was in order to correct such assumptions that Rabin repeated that under no circumstances would Israel Israel
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that In Washington Hanafi Moslem terrorist leaders freed their hostages in return for their release without bail, guaranteed by the authorities.
1979(14th of Adar, 5736): Purim
1981(7th of Adar II, 5741):Jacques Zucker, an artist whose paintings in post-Impressionist style were seen in many one-man shows in the United States and abroad, died today at Beth Israel Hospital after a long illness. Mr. Zucker, who lived in Manhattan, was 80 years old. His work, including landscapes, still lifes and portraits, is part of permanent collections in Paris, Tel Aviv and the collection of Joseph Hirschorn in Washington, D. C. He was born in Radom, Poland. As a youth studied art at the Bezalel Art School in Jerusalem. He continued his art studies in Paris and maintained a home there.
1985: In Topanga, California, Margaret Esther (née Davenport) and David M. Hirsch gave birth to actor Emile Davenport Hirsch
1986(2nd of Adar II, 5746): Ninety-three year old Leo Korbin “an owner of Kobrin Brothers” passed away today.
1987:A poll conducted by the Yediot Aharonot newspaper today indicated that two-thirds of Israelis believed their Government should help Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Pollard.
1990(16th of Adar, 5750): Bruno Bettelheim, noted child psychologist, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor committed suicide six years after his wife had died from cancer.(As reported by Daniel Coleman)
1993(20th of Adar, 5753): Simha Levy, a woman who worked as driver taking Palestinians from Gaza to their jobs inside the pre-1967 borders was axed to death in her van at Khan Yunis.
1997(4th of Adar II, 5757): Seven school girls aged twelve and thirteen, all from the same school at Beit Shemesh, were shot dead by a Jordanian soldier who went berserk on the Jordan Border. King Hussein paid surprise and much appreciated condolence call on the grieving families.
1997:Virologist and immunologist, Hilary Koprowski who invented the world's first effective live polio vaccine received the Legion d'Honneur from the French government.
1998: Former major league catcher and manager of the Detroit Tigers Brad “Ausmus and his wife Liz whom he married in 1995 gave birth to their first daughter, Sophie.
1999(25th of Adar, 5759): Director Garson Kanin passed away. From a Jewish point of view, Kanin’s claim to fame is that he direced the play Diary of Anne Frank. The play premiered in 1955 and ran for 717 performances. In 1964 he directed the Broadway hit Funny Girl, the story of Fannie Brice. The musical ran for over a thousand shows.
1999(25th of Adar, 5769): Ninety year old multi-talented artist Lucienne Bloch, the youngest child of Ernst Bloch, passed away today. (As reported by Thomas Roberts, Jr.)
2001: In an article entitled “Year by Year, a Witness to the Nazis’ Affronts,” Bruce Weber reviews “I Will Bear Witness: The Diaries of Victor Klemperer” by Victor Klemperer; adapted by Karen Malpede and George Bartenieff; translated by Martin Chalmers a one-actor theatrical adaptation of the second volume of Klemperer’s diaries that had been published last year.
2005: In a case of Jew follows Jew, Disney announced that Bob Eiger would succeed Michael Eisner as CEO
2005: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of interest to Jewish readers including recently released paperback editions of An Almost Perfect Moment by Binnie Kirshenbaum a darkly comic novel, set in the 1970's that revolves around a Jewish teenager in Brooklyn who thinks she's the Virgin Mary and There Are Jews in My House by Lara Vapnyar
2006: Cole Meyer announced that it was selling Myer, an Australian department store chain founded by Sidney Meyer (born Simcha Myer Baevski) ”to a consortium controlled by US private equity group Newbridge Capital, part of the Texas Pacific group:
2006(13th Adar): The Fast of Esther has been designated International Agunah Day by Yad L'Isha. An agunah is a woman who is unable to obtain a get (Jewish divorce).
2007: Under the direction of its founder Eylon Nuphar, Mayumana opens its production of “Be” at the Union Theatre Square. “Mayumana is a corruption of the Hebrew word for skill, and the players display a variety of them, in a show that combines mime, dance, gymnastics, music and percussion in a joyous celebration of life.”
2008:In Washington, D.C. veteran scriptwriter and television producer Gary David Goldberg, creator of the series "Family Ties" and "Spin City," discusses his new memoir, Sit, Ubu, Sit: How I Went from Brooklyn to Hollywood with the Same Woman, the Same Dog, and a Lot Less Hair at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue formerly the site of Adas Israel which relocated to Connecticut Ave and Porter and is the only Conservative Synagogue still located in the District of Columbia.
2008: Israeli President Shimon Peres paid tribute to the French who saved Jews during the Holocaust in a somber ceremony at the Pantheon in the Latin Quarter, and visited a French Foreign Ministry exhibition about the origins of the state of Israel.
2009: “The Saul Steinberg: Illuminations” travelling exhibition opened in Hamburg, Germany
2009: Award winning Israeli author Etgar Keret comes to Albany University for a screening of his film “Wristcutters: A Love Story” sponsored by the Albany Center for Jewish Studies and the Writers Institute.
2010: Israeli diva Rita is scheduled to begin her U.S. Tour today.
2010: As part of the Scholar-In-Residence program, Professor David Kraemer is scheduled to speak on “Laity in the Lead” following Shabbat morning services.
2010:Late today Israel Defense Forces soldiers arrested a top Hamas official in Ramallah, suspected of leading military cells responsible for the murder of more than 70 Israelis over the course of the second Intifada. Mahar Udda, 47, has been wanted in Israel for over a decade for his alleged involvement in terror activity including the deadly double terror attack at Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem and at the bus stop near the Tzrifin military base in central Israel on September 9, 2003
2010:Around 1,000 demonstrators marched this evening outside the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem to protest Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz's decision to allow the continuation of single-sex bus lines that serve the Haredi community.
2011(7th Adar II): Yahrzeit of Moshe Rabbeinu. According to tradition Moses passed on his 120thbirthday, Adar 7, 2488 (1273 BCE). This same tradition teaches that he was born in Egypt on the 7th of Adar of the year 2368 from creation (1393 BCE).2011(7thof Adar II): Burial Society Day. “The Chevrah Kadisha (Jewish Burial Societies) hold their annual get-together and feast on Adar 7th. This is based on the tradition that God Himself buried Moses on this day.”
2011:The Palestinian leadership must be held accountable for continued incitement and failure to stop the glorification of murderers, a senior aide to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said today as the Fatah faction named a town square in El-Bireh after the leader of the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre.
2011:Chabad Lubavitch of Northern Virginia is scheduled to present The Rabbi Samuel and Zehava Friedman Annual Yeshiva Day.
2011:“Jubanos: The Jews of Cuba” and “The Fig Tree” (La Higuera) are two of the films scheduled to be shown at the 15th New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival.
2011: As part of its commemoration of the Triangle Waist Factory Fire and the changes that followed in its wake, the Jewish Women's Archive has organized a walking tour which is scheduled to take place today.
2011: The second wedding to take place at the Huvra Synagogue since its re-dedication is scheduled to take place today.
2011: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Executive Unbound : After the Madisonian Republic co-authored by Eric A. Posner and the recently released paperback editions of Wrestling With Moses:How Jane Jacobs Took On New York’s Master Builder and Transformed the American City by Anthony Flint and Making a Toast:A Family Story by Roger Rosenblatt.
2011:Former Knesset member Tawfik Toubi aged 89 a Haifa resident, who was the last remaining living member of the first Knesset was laid to rest in Haifa's Kfar Samir (Sde Yehoshua) cemetery. Toubi, a Christian Arab Israeli, was a member of the Communist Party.
2011: An orthodox Jewish prayer observance by three passengers aboard an Alaska Airlines flight today alarmed flight attendants unfamiliar with the ritual, prompting them to lock down the cockpit and issue a security alert, officials said.
2011: Tens of thousands attended the funeral for five members of the Fogel family massacred at Itamar.
2012: A Chabad rabbi who was serving the tiny ancient Jewish community in Cochin, India, and his wife were expelled today and sent back to Israel for allegedly engaging in illegal activities. Indian authorities accused Rabbi Zalman Bernstein of failing to declare on his visa application that he would be conducting religious activities and of trying to convert foreigners. A local daily accused him and his wife of spying for Israel.
2012:Gaza militants fired a Grad-type Katyusha rocket toward the western Negev today, despite a Egypt-mediated cease fire between Israel and militant groups that went into effect earlier in the day.
2012:Israel's Counter Terrorism Bureau warned Israeli citizens today against travelling to Turkey, citing intelligence that terror groups were planning attacks against Israeli or Jewish institutions in the country.
2012: Israeli composer and organist, Roman Krasnovsky is scheduled to perform a solo recital at the Central Synagogue in New York City.
2012:Shmuel Ashkenasi is scheduled to perform with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
2013: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to sponsor a private tour lead by Dr. Peggy Pearlstein of Words Like Sapphires: 100 Years of Hebraica at the Library of Congress,
1912-2012
2013: Seton Hall basketball player Tom Maayan informed his uncle David Fuchs that he could not postpone his service in the IDF any longer and packed his bags for the flight to Tel Avv.
2013: The Yeshiva University Museum is schedule to sponsor a curator’s tour “Passages Through the Fire: Jews and the Civil War.”
2013(2nd of Nisan, 5773): Eighty-four year old actor Malachi Throne passed away today. (As reported by Daniel E. Slotnik
2013: In another case of “Jew on Jew” Larry page announced in a blog post that Andy Rubin “had moved from the Android division to take on new projects at Google.”
2013: “A new documentary, ‘Philip Roth: Unmasked’ opened at New York City’s Film Forum today.
2013: Bruce Ruben, director of the School of Sacred Music at HUC, is scheduled to a lecture entitled “Max Lillienthal and the Making of the American Rabbinate” at the Leo Baeck Institue.
2013:In Washington, DC, the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism is scheduled to host a community organizing training program for those participating in the Jewish Energy Network.
2013: Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the Argentinian cardinal who was elected pope late today and will take the name Francis I, is said to have a good relationship with Argentinian Jews.
2014: The 17th Annual New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to open at the Center for Jewish History.
2014: The 92nd Street Y is scheduled to host “The Immigrant Experience in Movies.”
2014(11thof Adar II, 5774): Fast of Easter observed on Thursday.
2014: Terrorists continued their rocket attack firing missles at Ashdod and Ashkelon in the morning and at Sderot and surrounding communities this afternoon. (As reported by Maayana Miskin)
2014: There was no confirmation today by Israel of Islamic Jihad’s claim that an Egyptian brokered cease fire had gone into effect. (As reported by Spencer Ho)
2015: Team Crossroads is scheduled to participate in today’s Jerusalem Marathon.
2015: The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host its last Friday Night of the academic term.
2015: Lewis Black is scheduled to appear at the Johnny Mercer Theatre in Savanah, GA.