March 30
1135: On the secular calendar, birthdate of Maimonides (Moses Ben Maimon) in Cordova, Spain. According to Jewish tradition he was born Erev Pesach. "From Moses to Moses there was none like Moses.' This folk saying sums up the greatness of the man. There is not space enough to do justice to his amazing life. Such were his intellectual capabilities that one person said, if you did not know that Maimonides was the name of the man you would think that it was the name of a university. He is most noted for his codification of Jewish Law called the Mishneh Torah (Review of the Torah) and his philosophic work Moreh Nevuchim (Guide To The Perplexed). But for some the true measure of the man is the lesser known Letter of Consolation and Letter on the Sanctification of God. He wrote both of these to reassure the Jews of Fez that to encourage them in their steadfastness to Judaism and to emphasize the fact that God hears our prayers and that our sins do not detract from our good deeds. He wrote a great deal more including medical books. Maimonides refused to "make a profit from the crown of the Torah" so while he served as the leader of the Jewish community in Egypt; he earned a living as a leading physician. Maimonides died in Egypt in December, 1204 or Tevet, 4965. He is buried in Tiberias and many make a point of visiting the grave of this sage. If you do the math this is the 870th anniversary of the birth of Maimonides. This would make this an especially auspicious year for Jews to devote study time to this sage who has influenced non-Jews as well as Jews eight centuries.
http://www.amazon.com/Maimonides-Biography-Abraham-Joshua-Heschel/dp/0374517592
http://huc.edu/faculty/faculty/marmur/Heschel's%20Two%20Maimonides.pdf
1191: King Philip II of France set sail from Sicily to begin his campaign against Saladin in what is called the Third Crusade. Throughout his reign, Philip persecuted his Jewish subjects by variously holding them hostage for ransom, releasing Christians from paying their debts to the Jews and expelling them so he could seize all of their property and assets.
1218: Henry III of England enforced the Yellow Badge Edict. The badge was a piece of yellow cloth in the shape of the Tablets of the Law and was worn above the heart by every Jew over the age of seven.
1296: Edward I sacks Berwick-upon-Tweed, during armed conflict between Scotland and England. This is the same King who expelled the Jews from England in 1290. He expelled them so that he could finance his various wars against the French, the Welch and the Scots
1432: Birthdate of Mehmed II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Mehmed’s reign was a positive period for the Jews. After he conquered Constantinople in 1453, he allowed Jews from today's Greek Islands and Crete to settle in Istanbul. His declaration of invitation said, in part, "Listen sons of the Hebrew who live in my country...May all of you who desire come to Constantinople and may the rest of your people find here a shelter". After fighting off a crusade led by Jean de Capistrano, Mehmed invited the Ashkenazi Jews of Transylvania and Slovakia to the Ottoman Empire. The invitation may have been as a sign of appreciation for fighting prowess of a Jewish regiment called “the Sons of Moses.” Mehmed ordered that various synagogues that had been damaged by fire should be repaired and several Jews held positions at Court.
1492: King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella signed a decree expelling the Jews from Spain.
1526: In Antwerp, Belgium, Emperor Charles V issued a general safe-conduct to the Portuguese "New Christians" and Marranos allowing them to live and work there. Although they still had to live under cover they were safe from the Inquisition.
1581: Pope Gregory XIII issued a Bull banning the use of Jewish doctors. This did not prevent many popes from using Jews as their personal physicians.
1690: Alexander VIII issued “Animarum Saluti,” a papal relating to the neophytes in the Indies.
1739(20th of Adar II): Rabbi Moses Meir Perles of Prague, author of Megillat Sofer passed away
1773: In Newport, Ezra Stiles, the future President of Yale invited Hebron born Rabbi Chaim Isaac Caregal and Aaron Lopez to his home for a meeting that would be the beginning of strong friendship that lasted for the next 6 months when the Rabbi left town to continue his travels.
1801(16th of Nisan, 5561): Second day of Pesach; The Omer is counted for the first time during the Presidency of Thomas Jefferson.
1804: Birthdate of Salomon Sulzer the Austrian Chazan and composer whose "Shir Tziyyon" a work in two volumes that “established models for the various sections of the musical service—the recitative of the cantor, the choral of the choir, and the responses of the congregation—and contained music for Sabbaths, festivals, weddings, and funerals which has been introduced into nearly all the synagogues of the world.”
1804: Birthdate of Austrian Chazan and composer Salomon Sulzer
1816: In Moravia, Jacob Steinschneider and his wife gave birth to Moritz Steinschneider “a Bohemian bibliographer and Orientalist who passed away in 1907.
1820(15thof Nisan, 5580): As Americans enjoy political season of “good feelings” Jews observe Pesach
1831(16thof Nisan, 5591): In Mayence, Rabbi Samuel Bondi and Sophie Sueschen Bondi gave birth to Marcus Meir Bondi.
1839(15thof Nisan, 5599): Pesach
1849: In New York, Isidor Bush published the first edition of Israel’s Herald, “the first Jewish weekly in the United States” that folded after only 3 months.
1856: Birthdate Charles Waldstein, the native of New York who became a leading Anglo-American archaeologist who was knighted in 1912 and changed his name to Walston in 1918 so he became known as Sir Charles Walston, husband of Florence Seligman.
1856: The Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Crimean War. One of the stranger aspects of the conflict that most remember for “The Charge of the Light Brigade” was the creation of Mickiewicz’s Jewish Legion. A Polish nobleman and nationalist who was living in exile in Paris at the start of the war, Mickiewicz went to Constantinople where he and Armand Levy organized a military unit made up of Jews from Poland and Palestine. The group was also called the Hussars of Israel. Mickiewicz died before he could lead them into action.
1856: The attempts of the Turkish sultan, Abed Almagid, to ally his kingdom with the west came to fruition today when the Ottoman Empire “was officially included among the European family nations’ today during the Congress of Paris. Abed Almagid had showed his support for the cause of the Jews when he issued a decree in 1840 absolving the Jews of Rhodes from the charges of having killed a Christian child so his blood could be used in making matzah.
1858: Hyman Lipman, a Philadelphia Jew patented the lead pencil. Lipman was a printer who also played a key role in the early development of the postal card.
1862: In Brooklyn, Congregation Beth Elohim dedicated its new facility on Pearl Street which gave rise to its nickname “the Pearl Street Synagogue.”
1863: During the Civil War, President Lincoln issued a proclamation proclaiming Thursday, April 30, 1863 as a National Day of Fasting.
1864: Birthdate of German- born sociologist Franz Oppenheimer, the father of Hillel Oppenheimer, a professor of botany at Hebrew University.
After a distinguished career in Germany, Oppenheimer passed away as a refugee in Los Angeles in 1943.
1873(2ndof Nisan. 5633): Eighty-eight year old Count Abraham Camondo passed away. Born in Istanbul, he “was a Jewish Ottoman-Italian financier and philanthropist and the patriarch of the Camondo family.”
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/3949-camondo
1877(16th of Nisan, 5637): Second Day of Pesach; 1st day of the Omer
1879: “Egyptian Influence on Hebrew Names” published today described the work of Dr. Brugsh that there is no Hebrew derivation for the names Moses, Aaron or Miriam but they do contain Egyptian roots. Also, the name Pinchas (the famed slayer in the Book of Numbers) comes from an Egyptian term for “the Negro” which was applied to dark-skinned men in Egypt
1880: It was reported today that a new opera, “The Queen of Sheba” by Goldmark has been successfully performed in several German cities.
1881: In Leadville, CO, the liquor business owned by the Schloss family was determined to have sustained $250 in damages in a fire that began last night.
1882: Birthdate of Austrian-born English psychoanalyst and child psychologist Melanie Klein. Klein developed methods of play technique and play therapy in analyzing and treating child patients. She passed away in 1960.
1883: Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, Westmount, a Reform synagogue in Westmount, Quebec, the oldest “Liberal” or “Reform” synagogue in Canada, was incorporated today.
1888(18thof Nisan, 5648): Forty-one year old “German Jewish physician and Arctic explorer” Dr. Emil Bessels suffered a stroke today and passed away in Stuttgart, Germany.
1890: Ida Levy of New York will marry Henry Naftal of Asbury Park today.
1890: Authorities concluded that Morris Eising, German-Jewish immigrant who had been found dead in his rooming house had died by his own hand. Apparently he was despondent over the loss of his job which meant he could not send money back to his wife in Bavaria.
1890: This morning Rabbi Gustav Gottheil will officiate at the funeral Emanuel Bernheimer, “one of the owners of the Lion Brewery” and one of the oldest brewers living in New York. Born in 1817, he learned his craft in his native Germany before coming to the United States in 1844. In 1850 he and August Schmid formed the Constanz Brewery and in 1860 they took over and enlarged the Lion Brewery. Bernheimer was one of the oldest member of Temple Emanu El and a patron of several charities including Mount Sinai Hospital, the Hebrew Orphan Asylum and the Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids. After the funeral, Dr. Silverman will officiate at the burial in the Salem Field Cemetery.
1890: “The Theatrical Week” published today provides highlights of current and upcoming productions including “The Shatchen,” a new play by Charles Dickson and Harry Dobbin whose protagonist is Myer Petooksy a peddler who also works as “an unlicensed marriage broker.”
1891: “New Books” published today contains a complete review of The Persecution of the Jews in Russia that includes an “appendix containing a summary of special restrice laws, a map showing the pale of Jewish settlements.”
1892: It was reported today that Prague after police quelled a riot by a mob upset by the Imperial authority’s refusal to allow a celebration of the anniversary birth of a medieval educational reformer, John Comenius. When the rioters were thwarted by authorities, they cried “Let’s make for the Jews!” followed by calls to head for the Jewish quarter where they could “vent their fury on the inoffensive Hebrews.” The mounted policemen wanted an end to the rioters and drove them from the streets including those in the Jewish quarter. (Yes, this mindless anti-Semitic attack took place in the supposedly civilized confines Prague. The anti-Semitic outburst that consumed Paris during the Dreyfus affair was really not such an aberration after all.)
1892: A cable was received today in Toronto from London describing the death of sixty nine year old Canadian Jew Mark Samuel
1892: Birthdate of Erwin Panofsky, the husband of Dorothea (Dora) Mosse, the German art historian who was forced to pursue his career in the United States after the rise of the Nazis.
1895: Birthdate of Pierre Péteul, who as the Capuchin Franciscan friar Père Marie-Benoît saved approximately 4,000 Jews from the Shoah. He was was honored with the Medal of the Righteous among the Nations and was known as Père des juifs (Father of the Jews.
1896(16th of Nisan, 5656): Second Day of Pesach; First Day of the Omer
1896(16th of Nisan, 5656): Citizens are required to return their census papers in London. While most citizens are required to return their census papers today in London, the Jews have been given an extension and do not have to return them until tomorrow since today is the second day of Passover and the English respect the need to observe the holiday.
1896(16th of Nisan, 5656): Fifty-one year old Rabbi Aaron Wise who had gone to Rodelph Sholom to officiate at Passover Services this morning, complained of being ill and went home after consulting with Benjamin Blumenthal without preaching lay down on a longue in the basement dining room as passed away before medical help could arrive.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D04EFDA143BEE33A25752C3A9659C94679ED7CF
1897: Colonel Goldsmid asks Herzl to stay away from the Zionist Congress in order to prevent a split in the ranks of the Hovevei Zion.
1897: Dr. Adler, Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, and Moritz Güdemann, Chief Rabbi of Vienna, led anti-Zionist attacks. They were known as the "Protestrabbiner" - "Protest Rabbis".
1897: “In Memory of General Grant” published today described the units that will be marching in the parade to honor the late President and Civil War hero including a contingent from the Hebrew Orphan Asylum Cadets under the command of Major Martin Cohen and Adjutant Max Saltzman.
1897: In New York City’s Lower East Side, Bessie and Jakob Riskin gave birth to “screenwriter and playwright Robert Riskin who won an Oscar for the timeless comedy “It Happened on Night” as well as “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” – an example of the American cultural myth actually created by Jewish immigrants and their children in Tinsel Town.
1898: Liebe Blond and her four children who had arrived in the United States were put on a ship bound for Europe after authorities refused to let her husband who has been working here see her or listen to his entreaties to let them stay in the United States.
1899(19th of Nisan): Rabbi Hayyim Leib Tiktinski, head of the Mir Yeshivah for 49 years passed away
1899: It was reported today that when Baron Hirsch passed away he left a fortune estimated at 125 million dollars, most of which was tied to railroad companies. Both before and after his death, Hirsch had given large sums to the poor including 10 million dollars for the Jewish Colonization Association of the United States.
1899: It was reported today that since the death of her husband, Baroness Hirsch has been very generous in providing aid to the poor including $1,500,000 to the need of Paris and an even large amount to the Educational Alliance which assists the Russian Jews.
1899: Birthdate of movie producer Irving Thalberg., an early pioneer in the film industry. His brief career (he died of pneumonia at the age of 37) left such a mark on the world of cinema that a year after his death the Academy of Motion Picture Artists created a special award in his name that is given annually at the Oscar Presentations. Thalberg was the inspirations for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Last Tycoon. In explaining why his name did not appear in the film credits, Thalberg said, “if you’re in a position to give yourself credit, you don’t need it.”
1900: Birthdate of Charles A. Robinson, Jr. the Professor of Classic at Brown University who married Celia Sachs, the daughter of art historian Paul J. Sachs who played a key role in planning to save and retrieve works of art in World War II.
1903: Birthdate of Sol C Siegel, journalist turned movie producer who helped to create such hits as “High Society,” “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” “No Way to Treat a Lady,” “Alvarez Kelly” “Three Coins In A Fountain” and “A Letter to Three Wives” the last two which were nominated for Oscar’s as Best Picture.
1903: As part of negotiations to secure land for a Jewish homeland, Carton de Wiart talked to a lawyer with the Egyptian government who recommends that the concession should be in the form of a lease, not a freehold. Herzl demands a 99-year lease.
1904: It was reported today that the children of the late Mayer Lehman, who was a Director of Mount Sinai Hospital for 19 years, have given $93,000 to cover the cost of constructing the Dispensary Building which is to be dedicated in memory of their father.
1904(14th of Nisan, 5664): At Ellis Island, three hundred Jewish immigrants who “have been detained while awaiting inspection” held a Seder on the first night of Passover. The meal was served on dishes that were brand new having been brought straight from the storeroom. All of the utensils used in the kitchen were also brand new and the meal was prepared under the supervision of the Jewish immigrants. The meal included chicken soup, roast goose, apple sauce, mashed potatoes, black tea, oranges and, of course, Matzah and ground horseradish.
1904: Alice Weinberg, the twelve year old daughter of Max Weinberg was reported missing by her father. The girl had gone to play with her friends this morning while her family prepared for tonight’s Seder. The family called off its Passover celebration so it could search for Alice.
1907(15thof Nisan, 5667): Pesach
1909(8th of Nisan, 5669): Mrs. Michla Shilotzdky passed away this morning at the age of 106. The cause of death was pneumonia. Mrs. Esther Davis, 115 years old; Mrs. Rosei Aaronwald, 108 years old; and Mendel Diamond, 107 years old were at her bedside at the Daughters of Jacob Home in New York.
1909: Official opening of the Queensboro Bridge which two Jewish boys from Queens named Simon and Garfunkel would immortalize in the 1960’s hit "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)"
1910: The Mississippi Legislature founds The University of Southern Mississippi at Hattiesburg, Mississippi. At the time of the founding of USM, there was a small Jewish population in Hattiesburg including Maurice Dreyfus who operated a saw mill and Frank Rubenstein who opened a department store called “The Hub.”
1913: B’nai Israel Congregation was founded in Greensburg, PA.
1913: Ahavas Achim Congregation was founded in Buffalo, NY.
1915(15thof Nisan, 5675): Pesach
1915: Rabbi Aaron Elseman is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “America the Hope of Humanity” this morning at Temple Beth Israel in Manhattan.
1915: The 300 Jewish soldiers and sailors who attended last night’s Seder sponsored by the Army and Nay Y.M.H.A. which also provided a night’s lodging at the Hotel Roland are scheduled to worship at Temple Beth Israel at Lexington and 72ndStreet.
1915: The Secretary of War, the Governor of New York and the Mayor of New York City have been invited to attend tonight’s Seder sponsored by the Army and Navy Young Men’s Hebrew Association for the benefit of 300 of the 8,000 Jews serving in the military which is being held at Vienna Hall on Lexington and 58thStreet.
1919: Birthdate of Oscar Benjamin “Ossie” Schectman the Queens born son of Jewish immigrants who won the NIT while playing basketball for Long Island University and “is credited with having scored the first basket in what became the National Basketball Association.
1920: A British soldier digging a trench in Syria uncovered ruins of Dura Europus which would include the discovery a synagogue that dated back to 244 “making it one of the oldest synagogues in the world.
1920: In Baranovichi, Poland, Brakha née Sokolovsky and Shraga (Feivel) Tunkel gave birth to Yaakov Tunkel who would gain fame as Yaakov Banai, a leader of Lehi also known as the Stern Gang.
1921: Birthdate of Clemens Kalischer, the German born American photographer whose skill raises the question “What is there about Jews and cameras?”
http://forward.com/articles/175376/photographer-clemens-kalischer-survived-holocaust/?p=all
1921: Churchill visits Tel Aviv where he delivers a speech praising what the Jews have accomplished in the last twelve years since the city was first founded.
1921: Winston Churchill visits the “39 year old agricultural colony of Rishon le-Zion where he spoke approvingly of the accomplishments of the Zionists and the positive affect their activities have had on the surrounding Arab population.
1921: British Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill completes his fact finding trip to Palestine and leaves Jerusalem for Egypt.
1925: Birthdate of Edward Sidney Finkelstein, the native of New Rochelle, NY, “a master merchandiser who turned Macy’s into one of the nation’s smartest, fastest-growing department store chains.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/business/edward-s-finkelstein-89-is-dead-took-macys-to-its-highs-and-lows.html?hpw&rref=obituaries
1925: Timemagazine published the following account Rabbi Solomon Goldman’s attempt to make changes at his synagogue in Cleveland, Ohio.
In spite of generations of prophets and reformers, Jewish ritual with all its shrilly "orthodox" punctilio has lived with few radical changes. In Cleveland, Ohio, some months ago, Rabbi Solomon Goldman, spiritual head of the local "Jewish Center," proposed to rid his congregation of some bits of orthodoxy. In particular, he decided that men and women might sit in the same pews. Here was reform indeed! Not since Solomon built his great temple had the thoroughly orthodox Jewess sat with the thoroughly orthodox Jew at worship. She had been relegated to one side of the temple, or to the gallery, or to a seat in the rear behind a curtain. It was custom not merely Jewish, but Pan-Asiatic. Muhammadan women do not squat with men folk in the pit of the Mosque. And even in the new Christian Churches in China, Japan and elsewhere, women have always, until very recently, sat in a special section railed or curtained off for them. Now Rabbi Goldman of Cleveland has changed all this in his congregation. At once A. A. Katz, one of Rabbi Goldman's flock, cited him to appear before the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of America to answer for his ecclesiastical liberality. Rabbi Goldman refused to appear. In this, he was supported by his congregation. When the week ended, it was still the turn of the Jewish Fundamentalists to move. It should be noted that departure from Jewish orthodoxy is not equivalent to becoming a Reformed Jew. The latter class, whose most prominent leader is Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, disregards many customs from which Rabbi Goldman is not likely to depart, among which are:
Blessing - At each service, men are called up before the congregation to say a blessing before and after portions of the Torah, which is read— on all Sabbaths and holidays. In congregations where Jewish customs are meticulously observed, this privilege is auctioned off to the highest bidder.
Music - No instrumentation is permitted. Weird half-shouted chants, led by a slippered cantor, are the only melodies.
Costume - Both men and women must wear hats. The enthusiastically orthodox wear skullcaps, shawls. Men also wear the talis, a fringed scarf, draped over the shoulders.
1926(15thof Nisan, 5686): Pesach
1926: Birthdate Thomas Guinzburg, an editor and publisher who helped create The Paris Review, and who later became president of Viking Press, the publishing house founded by his father,
1928: While serving in the final year of her term as President of Hadassah Irma Levy Lindheim the American women's Zionist organization, declared that the administration of the ZOA was "not an effective instrument for the achievement of world Zionist aims for the up-building of Palestine." In so doing, she asserted her opposition to the leadership of ZOA President Louis Lipsky. Although Lindheim was careful to note that she spoke as an individual and that Hadassah had no quarrel with the World Zionist Organization led by Chaim Weizmann, she came under attack for her comments from both ZOA leadership and other Hadassah members. During her presidency, Hadassah was in frequent conflict with the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), which wanted to control and dispense the funds raised from the Hadassah membership. The Hadassah-ZOA conflict had roots dating back to 1918, when Hadassah (founded in 1912) first joined the umbrella organization, giving up some of its organizational authority. Seven members of the Hadassah board had been expelled in 1920 when the organization's Central Committee refused to raise money for the ZOA fund Keren Hayesod. Despite Hadassah's loss of autonomy, the organization's membership steadily increased even as general ZOA membership declined.
1928: Birthdate of American Jewish author Carl Solomon.
1929: U.S. premiere of “Chinatown Nights” based on the story “Tong War” by Samuel Ornitz and produced by David O. Selznick.
1929: It was reported today that Hadassah has acquired a portrait of Nathan Straus painted by Eward Salzan which will be hung in the Straus Health Center currently under construction in Tel Aviv.
1930: Birthdate of Gene Selznick, the native of Los Angeles who helped to make volleyball the popular sport in southern California.
http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-gene-selznick-20120612,0,4439222.story#axzz2x2Jxl7y2
1930: It was reported today that if the government’s case against New York’s Century Club ever reaches the Supreme Court on appeal, Justice Benjamin Cardozo would be one of the one the judges who would have to recuse himself because he had been a member of the exclusive New York social organization.
1930: A citrus tree was planted on the 140 acre plot purchased in 1926 under the direction of Mrs. Ada Maimon marking the official founding Ayanot, a women’s farm that took its name from the two springs located on the acreage. For the next two years, the women workers lived in Ness Ziona and came to Ayanot every day to cultivate the soil. In 1932, Ada Maiomon and ten girls would being living on a cowshed on the property.
1932: Birthdate of A. J. (Arie) Zuckerman, Dean of the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine. Zuckerman’s area of expertise is the study of hepatitis.
1936(7thof Nisan, 5696): Seventy year old David Eder, a British psychoanalyst who treated soldiers for mental problems during World War I and served as President of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain passed away today.
1938: Mrs. Joseph Stroock, a member of the national Youth Aliyah committee of Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America announced that a total of $20,000 was contributed last night to the Youth Aliyah (immigration) fund of Hadassah to remove children from Austria as well as Germany and Poland.
1940: At today’s meeting of its stockholders, The Workers Bank, Ltd. Of Tel Aviv, the central bank of the cooperatives in Palestine, declared the tenth annual dividend of 4 per cent on its common stock.
1942: After being open for only two weeks, the Belzac Concentration Camp has processed 15,000 Jews most of whom were from the Liviv Ghetto.
1944: Moshe Sertok, the head of the international department of the Jewish Agency, asked Oliver Stanley, the Colonial Secretary to allow any Jew reaching Istanbul from Nazi-occupied Europe to be admitted to Palestine.
1945(16th of Nisan, 5705): SS Sergeant Adolf Storms reportedly shot “a Jew who could no longer walk during a forced March in from Deutsch Shuetzenn to the village of Hartberg.”
1945(16th of Nisan, 5705): Nine women tried to escape from Ravenbruck. They were caught and executed.
1946: “St. Louis Woman,” a Harold Arlen musical opened its Broadway run at the Martin Beck Theatre
1946: Birthdate of Lesley Sue Goldstein who gained fame as recording star Lesley Gore.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/17/arts/music/lesley-gore-teenage-voice-of-heartbreak-dies-at-68.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0
1947: Benjamin Teller, who is managing the Hapoel’s American Tour announced today that the soccer team is scheduled to fly out of Tel Aviv on April 6 and arrive in New York on April 10.
1947: The Rabbinical Council of Palestine called on the terrorists to halt their actions and “issued a strong denunciation of terrorism as ‘completely contrary to Jewish religious feeling.’”
1947: The 18 Americans who made up most of the crew of the SS Ben Hecht, formerly the Abril, boarded the Marine Carp, an American ship headed for New York. The British had declined to press charges against the crew.
1949: Yigal Yadin and Walter Eytan returned to King Abdullah’s villa at Shuneh to try and reach final armistice terms with the Jordanians.
1950: In Ottawa, Canadian attorney and CFL owner Sam Berger and his wife gave birth to Canadian MP David Berger.
1950(12th of Nisan, 5710): Seventy-seven year old Léon Blum French, the former French premier, passed away. Leon Blum was born in Paris, France, on April 9, 1872. The son of Jewish parents, he studied law at the Sorbonne. He became active in politics as result of the Dreyfus Affair. Blum became a leader of the Socialist Part. He was part of a group of left-wing parties in France known as the Popular Front that opposed Hitler in the 1930's. As leader of the Popular Front and head of the Socialist Party, Blum became Prime Minister of France, the first Jew to hold that position in the history of France. Blum lost his post before the outbreak of the war over the issue of the Spanish Civil War. After the Germans invaded France, Blum was arrested by the Petain Government which tried him along with other officials of the Third Republic on charges of betraying France. He was found guilty in 1942 and held by the Germans until 1945. Blum briefly returned to public life after the warhttp://jbuff.com/c031110.htm
For more see Leon Blum: From Poet to Premier by Richard Stokes
http://books.google.com/books?id=T8fSuMogggoC&pg=PA270&lpg=PA270&dq=Prime+minister+leon+blum+obituary&source=bl&ots=rockzz3E_L&sig=LWk1kL-fs3g1EBjDto1KANL1Sps&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ExBWUaOkBpDY9ATpkoDwBA&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=Prime%20minister%20leon%20blum%20obituary&f=false
1951: Neve Shalom, a new synagogue, was dedicated in Istanbul,. The building holds more than 1,000 people, and the 400,000 Lira it cost to be built was raised by the Jewish community of Galata, Pera, and Chichli.
1953(14th of Nisan, 5713): Ta'anit Bechorot
1953(14th of Nisan): Yiddish novelist and poet Abraham Reisen passed away
1953: Albert Einstein announced his revised unified field theory.
1957: "The Libyan government began to enforce a law forbidding any individual or corporation in Libya 'to make personally or indirectly an agreement of any nature whatsoever with institutions or persons residing in Israel.' The penalty was eight years in prison and a heavy fine."
1957: In New York City, Helen and Sam Reiser gave birth to Paul Resier whose credits include “My 2 Dads,” “”Diner, “Aliens” and “Mad About You.”
1958: Syrian forces attack Israelis at Lake Hula
1962: “Delousing of Harry Bogen” published today reviewed “I Can Get It for You Wholesale” starring Elliot Gould as Harry Bogen and introducing Barbra Streisand as Miss Marmel-stein.
http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,895977,00.html
1965: In Los Angeles “Mission Impossible” stars Martin Landau and Barbara Bain gave birth to actress Juliet Rose Landau
1967(18thof Adar II, 5727): Linguist Uriel Weinreich of whom Dovid Katz said, "Though he lived less than forty-one years, Uriel Weinreich ... managed to facilitate the teaching of Yiddish language at American universities, build a new Yiddish language atlas, and demonstrate the importance of Yiddish for the science of linguistics” passed away today.
1970: “Applause,” the Tony Award musical “with a book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Charles Strouse and starring Lauren Bacall (Betty Joan Perske) in her Tony Award winning portrayal of “Margo Channing” and featuring Bonnie Franklin opened on Broadway today.
1972(15thof Nisan 5732): Pesach
1973: Birthdate of Adam Michael Goldstein, the native of Philadelphia known as DJ AM who found fame and fortune in Los Angeles.
1975: Agudas Achim, the Orthodox congregation in Little Rock, AR, breaks ground for its new building which is located in western Little Rock.
1976: Israeli Arabs hold their first Land Day which was public held a protest strike against the expropriation of lands in the Galilee "for purposes of security and settlement."
1976: Five Israeli Arabs were killed by security forces during mass protests in Nazareth, Israel. As a result of this deadly incident congregants of Mishkan Israel, a synagogue in New Haven, raised $10,000 so that their rabbi, Bruce M. Cohen, could go to Israel to promote peace. Three weeks later, while giving a speech in Jerusalem, Rabbi Cohen was approached by a young Israeli Arab, Farhat Agbaria, who shared his dream. Together they founded Interns for Peace.
1976: The first season of “One Day At A Time” starring Bonnie Franklin ended tonight.
1980: Yakov Kreizberg made one of his first public appearances as conductor today, when he led an orchestra at the Marble Collegiate Church in a performance of Haydn's Symphony no. 88.
1981: In the United Kingdom, premiere of “Chariots of Fire” based, in part on the life of Harold Abrahams with a score conducted by Harry Rabinowitz.
1988: U.S. premiere of the Geffen Film Company’s “Bettlejuice,” costarring Winona Ryder with music by Danny Elfman.
1994: The two terrorists who attacked Yitzhak Rothenberg, age 70, of Petah Tikva with axes yesterday were arrested today.
1997: The New York Times includes a review of "The Vanishing American Jew: In Search of Jewish Identity for the Next Century" by Alan M. Dershowitz
2000: At least 23 Israeli and Palestinian Arabs are injured in clashes with Israeli security forces during an annual day of protests.
2002(17thof Nisan, 5762):Border Policeman Sgt.-Maj. Constantine Danilov, 23, of Or Akiva was shot and killed in Baka al-Garbiyeh, during an exchange of fire with two Palestinians trying to cross into Israel to carry out a suicide attack. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility.
2002: Al Aqsa terrorists took credit for today’s bombing of an Allenby Street coffee shop in Tel Aviv.
2002: Joelle Fiasham, a member of the CPUSA, was among those who endorsed the call today for a national holiday honoring Cesar Chavez.
2003: Het Parool, which began “as a resistance paper during the German occupation of the Netherlands” “became the first newspaper in the Netherlands to switch from broadsheet to tabloid format.”
2003: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of interest to Jewish readers including "The New Face of War: How War Will Be Fought in the 21st Century" by Bruce Berkowitz and the newly released paperback edition of SOROS: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire by Michael T. Kaufman.
2003: Secretary of State Colin Powell addresses the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee’s Policy Conference
2005: Release date of “Live and Become” a French film about an Ethiopian Christian boy who disguieses himself as a Jew to escape to Israel was directed by Romanian born Jewish director Radu Mihăileanu
2005: Eli Aflalo began serving as Deputy Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor.
2005: Ruhama Avraham, a member of Kadima began serving as Deputy Internal Affairs Minister.
2006(1st of Nisan, 5766): Three Israelis were killed when a Palestinian suicide bomber detonated explosives in a car after nightfall at the entrance to the West Bank settlement of Kedumim, located west of Nablus. The vehicle blew up around 9:45 P.M. next to the Kedumim gas station. Security forces sealed roads in the area immediately in the wake of the attack. A new group linked to Fatah, the party headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, claimed responsibility for the attack. The group, from the Balata refugee camp in nearby Nablus, called itself Kateb al-Shahid Chamuda and identified the bomber as Mahmoud Masharka, 24, from the West Bank city of Hebron. Al-Manar TV in Lebanon broadcast a claim of responsibility from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent offshoot of Fatah. The three Israeli casualties had apparently picked up the suicide bomber, who was likely dressed as an observant Jew, as he was hitchhiking on the road. He then exploded in their car. It is not clear if the terrorist got in the car at the entrance to Kedumim or rode with the Israeli victims to Kedumim from another location. A rescue service official said medics could not approach the car, because it was still on fire nearly an hour after the blast. The blast scattered pieces of the car across a wide area. Rafaela Segal, who lives in Kedumim, said she heard the blast from her house, from where she can see the gas station. "I saw thick smoke rising from the gas station and at first I thought the gas station was on fire," she said. "Now all the roads are closed except for the emergency vehicles. The smoke has reached my windows," she told Israel Radio more than an hour after the blast. "Security forces are searching the area. "The Prime Ministers' Office blamed the Palestinian Authority for the attack, PMO official David Baker told Haaretz. "The Palestinian Authority continues to do nothing to prevent terror against Israelis. There are currently scores of terrorist alerts concerning attacks against Israelis in the works," said Baker. "The Palestinian Authority continues to be fertile ground for terrorist attacks, most notably because of the PA's aversion to taking any necessary steps to prevent terror," he added. The last suicide bombing in the West Bank was December 29, 2005, at an Israel Defense Forces checkpoint. An IDF soldier and two Palestinians were killed in addition to the bomber. This was the first suicide bombing claimed by a group other than Islamic Jihad since a cease-fire was declared in February 2005
2006: Lisa Kron's sparkling autobiographical play "Well” opened on Broadway when it premiered tonight at the Longacre Theater.
2006: Haaretz reported on how a piece of a Torah scroll passed from a former Nazi offer to a “holy man.” Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman was sitting in his home in Migdal Ha'emek and touching, for the umpteenth time, the parchment cut over 60 years ago from a Torah scroll in an Eastern European synagogue. Although the piece of parchment has been in his possession for several days, apparently it is still a source of great excitement for him. This parchment was cut by an officer in the German air force, the Luftwaffe, during World War II, from a Torah scroll; he used it as a cover for his officer's ID document. Now it has come into the hands of the rabbi of Migdal Ha'emek, head of the Migdal Ohr youth village and an Israel Prize laureate. Rabbi Grossman says Moti Dotan, the head of the Lower Galilee Regional Council, recently came to his house with a notebook in hand. Dotan had returned from a ceremony in honor of the 25th anniversary of the twin cities pact between the regional council and the Hanover district in Germany. Dotan said that at the conclusion of a festive evening, a member of the Hanover district council approached him and asked to speak to him. "My father, Werner Herzig, died a few weeks ago," said the man. "Before his death he said he wanted to speak to me, and he told me he had participated in the war and been involved in crimes. 'It's important for me to tell you this, because today there are Holocaust deniers,' [said the Herzig senior]." Dotan says Herzig added that his father told him he had participated in the burning of a synagogue on the Russian front. According to Dotan, Herzig junior gave him the ID document and asked him to find a holy man in the Lower Galilee and give it to him. "I thought that Rabbi Grossman did holy work, and he was the most suitable person to receive the notebook," says Dotan. "When I came to him and gave him the document, I told him the story, he held the parchment and began to cry," recalls Dotan. He says that Rabbi Grossman symbolizes all that is good in Judaism, and will make proper use of the item. Rabbi Grossman turns over the piece of parchment and reads from the text. The parchment is from the book of Deuteronomy, from the weekly portion "Ki Tavo." The rabbi reads: "...and distress wherewith thy enemy shall distress thee in thy gates ... then the Lord will make thy plagues remarkable, and the plagues of thy offspring, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and severe sicknesses, and of long continuance ... also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this Torah, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou art destroyed. And you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of the heaven for multitude" (Deuteronomy 28, 57-62). The rabbi is convinced that this is a "supreme message, with personal supervision. After 60 years, this notebook arrives in Israel, wrapped in these words of reproof, and is calling on us 'to awaken.' After all, the German could have cut the parchment from other books, from any of the Five Books of Moses, and he specifically cut out the section that speaks of redemption," said the rabbi. In recent days, Rabbi Grossman has shown the notebook to young people whom he met in the city, and according to him, it is causing a great deal of excitement. "It's a tangible thing, which you can see with your own eyes. You can see here the embodiment of evil, how after the destruction of a synagogue, this man had the daring to enter and to cut from the Torah scroll, only because he thought that the parchment was a suitable way to preserve his document." The rabbi promises to visit schools and young people with the notebook and to show it to them.
2008: In Jerusalem, as part of the Contemporary Music Concert at the Jerusalem Music Centre The Israeli Contemporary Players perform music by Josef Bardanashvili, Tristan Murail and Arnold Schoenberg.
2008: The Sunday New York Times featured a review of "The End of the Jews" by Adam Mansbach.
2008: In Washington, D.C., Aaron David Miller, a 20-year veteran of the State Department (most recently as the senior advisor for Arab-Israeli negotiations), discusses his new book, The Much Too Promised Land: America's Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace at Politics and Prose Bookstore.
2008: Wolfie Cohen's Rascal House, a Jewish delicatessen located at the intersection of 172nd Street and Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, which opened in 1954 and closed today. Sporting a large neon sign in the front, the building was designed in the 1950s "MIMO" style (Miami Modern) which is common too much of the northern precincts of the Miami-area beaches. The neon sign makes a brief appearance at the beginning of the video for "Night Fever" by the Bee Gees. Wolfie Cohen's Rascal House was not the same as the original Wolfie's, another famous Jewish deli and restaurant in Miami Beach, also started by Wolfie Cohen, on the corner of 21st Street and Collins Avenue (closer to South Beach). For several years, Wolfie's featured a sign that read "The only thing that needs to come dressed is our chickens!" (meaning dining was casual, not clothing optional). That restaurant closed in 2001. Cohen also founded a third Jewish deli, Pumpernik's, at 67th Street and Collins Avenue, which also closed. (Personal note: One of the great joys of my childhood was eating at Wolfie's and Pumperniks - escpecially the latter. It was billed as the home of the pumpernickel bagel which for lovers of dark bread was indeed a delight)
2009: Reuven Rivlin was chosen to serve as the Speaker of the Knesset when he got 90 out of the 120 possible votes.
2009: Yeshiva University hosts the first day of the Israel and India International Conference styled"A Relationship Comes of Age" which includes the following presenters: Nathan Katz (Florida International University), Amit Kapoor (Management Development Institute, India), Efraim Inbar (Bar-Ilan University), Shlomo Mor-Yosef (Hadassah Medical Organization), Maina Chawla Sing (University of Delhi), P R Kumaraswamy (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi), Gadi Ariav (Tel Aviv University).
2009(5th of Nisan, 5769): Fifty-two year old Frank Stein, 'the face of Australian Jewry in Israel passed away today. (As reported by Raphael Ahren)
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/news/frank-stein-the-face-of-australian-jewry-in-israel-dies-aged-52-1.273264
2010: 80th anniversary of the founding of Ayanot
2010(15th of Nisan, 5770): First Day of Pesach
2010: A Chabad house in Budapest was stoned during a Passover Seder. The home of Rabbi Shmuel Raskin was stoned twice during the Seder on tonight, according to Israel Radio. Police came after the first incident, and the second incident reportedly took place after the police left. The incident comes amid an election campaign in Hungary some have described as worrisome due to the expected rise of the far-right Jobbik party. No suspects were reported arrested in the attack.
2011: “The Matchmaker” and “Seven Minutes in Heaven” are two of the movies scheduled to be shown at the Hartford Jewish Film Festival.
2011:”Norman Mailer: The American” and “The Klezmatics: On Holy Ground” are two of the films scheduled to be shown at the Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2011: A memorial service for George Einstein is scheduled to be held at the Sandestin Beach Club in Sandestin Resort, Fl.
2011: Today the World Jewish Congress lauded Colombia’s decision not to recognize a Palestinian state, saying it showed courage in the face of pressure from neighboring countries.
2011: “Israel Air Force jets struck a group of Palestinian militants in southern Gaza, killing one gunman and wounding another as they rode a motorcycle. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed carrying out the dawn strike, saying it targeted Palestinians who had launched a short-range rocket across the border yesterday. No one was hurt in that attack, which followed a surge in fighting around Gaza this month.”
2012: One World One People, an exhibit of the works of renowned photographer Arnold Newman, is scheduled to come to an end at the Jewish Museum of Milwaukee.
http://www.jewishmuseummilwaukee.org/index.php
2012: “The Kid With a Bike,” “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” and “Footnote” are scheduled to be shown at the Westchester Film Festival.
2012: Shabbos Zingt - A Bay Area Yiddish ensemble that has created a new kind of Shabbos service, with Yiddish melodies and a Klezmer feel – is scheduled to appear at Shir Hadash in San Francisco.
2013: In Coralville, Agudas Achim is scheduled to host Shabbat Yeladim
2013: An ensemble consisting of violinists Anna Ioffe and Alina Keitlin and harpsichordist Natilie Rosenberg is scheduled to perform at the Edin-Tamir Music Center.
2013: "The ( * ) Inn”, an early touchstone for experimental theater in Yiddish, is scheduled to be performed at the Abrons Arts Center in New York.
2013:Natural gas flow from the Tamar natural gas field began flowing this afternoon
2013: In Memphis, TN “Paul Goldenberg, the burly former cop who runs the Secure Community Network, the security arm of the national Jewish community” has played a key role with the Jewish community including Cantor Rick Kampf in preparing for today’s scheduled rally by the KKK. (As reported by JTA)
2014: “Thousands of French Jews attended an information fair today in Paris about moving to Israel amid an unprecedented spike in immigration to the Jewish state and a wave of anti-Semitic attacks.”
2014: The musical “If/Then” starring Idina Menzel as “Elizabeth” is scheduled to official open on Broadway at the Richard Rogers Theatre.
2014(28thof Adar II, 5774): Seventy-one year old Rivka Haut, a founder of the Women at the Wall and fighter for the rights of women within traditional Judaism passed away today.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new-york/rivka-haut-71-champion-agunot
http://forward.com/articles/195683/rivka-haut-quiet-warrior-who-battled-for-orthodox/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily_Newsletter_Mon_Thurs%202014-04-02&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_term=The%20Forward%20Today%20%28Monday-Friday%29
2014: “Quality Balls: The David Steinberg Story” is scheduled to be shown on the last night of the Northern Virginia Jewish Film Festival.
2014: “The Sturgeon Queens” is scheduled to be shown at the Pittsburg Jewish Film Festival and the New Jersey Film Festival.
2014: “If/Then,” a musical starring Idina Menzel as “Elizabeth Vaughn” opened on Broadway at the Richard Rogers Theatre.
2014: “The Jews of Ioannnia gathered…to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the destruction of the community by the Nazis.”
http://www.timesofisrael.com/greeces-romaniote-jews-face-extinction-70-years-after-auschwitz/
2014: The 6thannual Gesher Jewish Day School Used Book Sale is scheduled to come to an end in Fairfax, VA.
2015: “The Muses of Isaac Bashevis Singer” is scheduled to be shown at the Gershman Y in Philadelphia, PA.
2015: The University of Connecticut is scheduled to host a faculty colloquium featuring historian Elisha Russ-Fishbane on “Maimonidean Controversies in Egypt.”
2015: Dr. Derek Penslar is scheduled to speak on “Dreyfus Was Not Alone: Jewish Military Officers in the Modern World” at FIU.
2015: At the Center for Jewish History, Jeffrey S. Gurock, author of The Holocaust Averted is scheduled to deliver a lecture that asks the question “What might have happened to the Jewish community in the United States if the Holocaust had never occurred?
2015:Carolyn Starman Hessel is scheduled to retire as Director of the Jewish Book Council.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-book-councils-oprah-turns-the-page/
2015(10thof Nisan): “According to the Book Of Joshua” that date on the Jewish calendar “of the first-ever mass Aliyah with the Biblical narrative relating that the Israelites crossed the Jordan River” today “ending their 40 years of wandering in the desert.” (As reported by Deborah Kamin)