May 4
1008: Birthdate of King Henry I of France who reigned from 1031 until his death in 1060. This means that he was on the throne when a future wine maker, Shlomo Yitzhaki, was born at Troyes in 1040. [But today, who remembers the French monarch and who remembers Rashi?]
1287: Jews were arrested and accused of "clipping" the coinage in England. Although there was no evidence, the community as a whole was convicted and ordered to be expelled. A ransom of 4,000 (some say 12,000) pounds of silver were paid in ransom. This was the penultimate act in the story of the medieval English Community. For a century or more they had been drained of their wealth by Richard the Lionhearted, his brother King John and his son Henry III . In 1290, having reduced the Jews to a state of semi-poverty, and replaced them with Italian Bankers, King Edward I expelled the Jews from England
1415: Jan Hus, who saw himself as a religious reformer was declared a heretic by the Roman Catholics at the Council of Constance. The followers of Hus were called Hussites. The fight between the Hussites and the Catholic Church turned violent and the Jews of Central Europe would get caught in the crossfire. After all, if you were busy killing Hussites, why not kill another group of “non-believers” living in your midst?
1493: Pope Alexander VI divided the New World including parts of east Asia between Portugal and Spain along the so-called Demarcation Line. In other words the Western Hemisphere was divided between two Catholic Kingdoms both of which had or would soon expel their Jewish subjects. Alexander VI was one of the so-called Renaissance Popes, a group of papal leaders who left much to be desired in matters related to religion. Alexander VI was the Borgia pope. And he was the father of the notorious Cesare and Lucretzia Borgia. Alexander VI presented a mix bag when it came to his dealings with the Jews. Alexander allowed so many Marranos fleeing Spain Rome
1515: An edict was issued ordering the expulsion of the Jews from Ragussa. The expulsion was another instance of economics hiding behind religious doctrine. There were exceptions to the order including physicians and merchants operating in the country on a temporary basis.
1680: Birthdate of Johann Gerhard Meuschen, the anti- Jesuit Lutheran theologian. In 1736 he “Novum Testamentum ex Talmude et antiquitatibus Hebraeorum illustratum,” which was a collection of studies that examined the relationship between the New Testament and the Talmud and other Jewish writings.
1689: Christian Knorr von Rosenroth passed away. Born in Silesia in 1636, this Christian scholar became an accomplished Hebraist who became an avid student of the Kabbalah and the Zohar who authored several books on the topic.
1758: Solomon Lipschitz who was born at Furth in 1675 and served as a cantor in Prague and
Frankfurt passed away today leaving behind Te'udat Shelomo as a guide for future generations of Jewish musicians.
1789: Birthdate of author Angelo Paggi, the native of Sienna who served as the principal of the Jewish school at Florence from 1836 to 1846 before being forced to retire due to poor health.
1789: As France hurtles towards Revolution, Come de Mirabeau whose advocacy for the rights of the Jews included the call to “”confer upon them the enjoyment of civil rights and they will enter the ranks of useful citizens’ began serving as a deputy for the National Constituent Assembly
1810: Birthdate of Alexandre Colonna-WalewskiAlexandre Colonna-Walewski the European noble and diplomat who was reported to be the illegitimate son of Napoleon and who was the paramour of the French-Jewish actress Rachel Felix with whom he had a son - Alexandre-Antoine Colonna-Walewski – whom he adopted in 1860.
1814: Ferdinand VII of Spain ordered all previous proceedings of the Cortes of Cadiz null and void. This voided the 1813 statement saying the Inquisition was not in line with Spain
1816: Birthdate of violinist Joseph Franco
1818: In Charleston, SC, Rebecca Lopez and Mordecai Hendricks De Leon, a doctor from Philadelphia and mayor of the southern city gave birth to Edwin de Leon, the brother of Thomas Cooper, David Camden, Agnes, Maria Louisa and Adeline Mary de Leon.
1843: Louis Loewe delivered “a discourse” today on the day of the funeral of H.R.H. Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex.
1851: A major fire broke out in San Francisco, destroying among other things, the “canvassed roof store” that had been opened up by newly arrived Pomeranian immigrant Abraham Abrahamsohn. The loss of his “store” after only a month of being in the United States, forced him to head for the gold fields and try his luck as a miner. Unfortunately, this effort did not pan out. (Sorry for the horrible pun.)
1852(16thof Iyar 5612): Seventy-three year old “Austrian printer, publisher, and lexicographer” Moses Landau who created “a new edition of the "'Aruk" of R. Nathan of Rome, to which he added Benjamin Mussafia's "Mussaf he-'Aruk" passed away today.
1853: In England, Nathaniel Montefiore and his wife gave birth to British author and philanthropist Leonard Montefiore, the brother of Claude Montefiore, the grand-nephew of Sir Moses Montefiore, and the nephew of Sir Anthony Rothschild.
1854: Fromental Halevy’s five-act grand opera “Charles VI” was performed in Buenos Aires for the first time.
1862: The New York Times reviewed books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Spirit of the Hebrew Poetry by Isaac Taylor in which the author described the “historic personality of God, the reality of Revelation and the…certainty of Man’s Salvation as deduced from the the Hebrew Psalmists and Prophets…”
1862: Birthdate of Schepsel Schaffer, the native of Courland who became rabbi of Shearith Israel in Baltimore Maryland , where he also served as president the city’s Zionist association starting in 1895.
1872: A Times correspondent writing from Smyrna today described a blood libel that had taken place in that Greek city. Despite the efforts of local medical authorities and clergy to convince the populace that a Christian child had died in accidental drowning and not as part of Jewish plot tied to the Passover ritual, mobs attacked the Jewish quarter converting into a place of “pandemonium, pillage, rape and murder.”
1875: Publisher Michael Levi passed away in Paris.
1875: Seventy-one year old Heinrich Ewald the author The Poetical Books of the Old Testament, History of the People of Israel, Antiquities of the People of Israel and Complete Course on the Hebrew Language– the book which led him to be described as “the second founder of the science of the Hebrew Language – passed away today
1876: Emile Berliner starts work that leads to the invention of the gramophone.
1878(1st of Iyar, 5638): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1878: According to today's Literary Notes column, "Prof. Goldwin Smith who is said to be a cordial Jew-hater is preparing a reply to an article in the April Nineteenth Century in which it is maintained that Jews are good patriots."
1878: “Philip Leon, a well-dressed Hebrew was arraigned in the Court of Special Session on a charge of having stolen a pawn ticket and a dollar from Julia McCloughlin.” Although he denied the larceny, which was took the form of a swindle, he was found guilty and sentenced to a month in New York’s city jail and ordered to pay a fine of $50.
1878: “Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society”, a column published today provides information about the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society based on its recently released 55th annual report. Currently the asylum provides service to 301 boys and girls. The children attend local primary and grammar schools where, according to letters from school officials, they are doing quite well. The asylum teaches Hebrew and other Jewish studies. The asylum houses an industrial school where boys “are taught to be printers and shoemakers.”
1879: The New York Times featured a review of "Moses the Lawgiver" by Rev. William M. Taylor in which the author writes favorably about the Jewish leader and the customs and ceremonies of his time. This is the first in a series of that is to include "Daniel, the Beloved", "David, King of Israel" and “Elijah the Prophet.”
1879: “Matacong” an article published today reported on the activities of Nathaniel Isaac, a Jew, who was the only English resident of this island off the coast of Sierra Leone. In 1856, Isaac accompanied a French merchant named Milon on a visit to the King of Forécariah where he served as an intermediary to assure that the Frenchman could contact his commercial operations on the island.
1879: Dr. Szold, the Rabbi of the Hanover Street Synagogue in Baltimore delivered a lecture on Abraham Lincoln. The talk was sponsored by the Hebrew Young Men’s Association and included “a number of short anecdotes concerning the great man. Dr. Szold said that Mr. Lincoln had the most remarkable faculty for solving difficult problems by tell little stories or parables.” Alexander the Great used a sword to cut the Gordian knot. Lincoln used his “sharp, keen incisive wit “to unravel the most” difficult and intricate questions.
1882: During the blood libel known as the Tiszaeszlár Affair, the mother of 14 year old Eszter Solymosi appeared before a judge where she accused the Jews of having murdered her daughter.
1884(9th of Iyar, 5644): Baer Ben Alexander Goldberg passed away in Paris. Born at Soludna near Warsaw in 1799 he eventually moved to Berlin where he began a career as an author and translator; a career he continued after moving to London in 1847 and Paris in 1852. One of his first works was "Ḳonṭres mi-Sod Ḥakamim," a commentary on the Jewish calendar, with chronological tables published 1845 was one the first works by this prolific author. "Ma'aseh Nissim," a translation from the Arabic into Hebrew of Daniel the Babylonian's critical work on Maimonides is an example of the many translations he produced while living in Paris.
1885: Birthdate of Russian born pianist Leo Sirota who taught in Japan for 15 years where his daughter Beate Sirota Gordon was born before settling in the United States.
1887: The funeral of Isaac Henricks, the prominent businessman and member of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum Society, is scheduled to take place at his brother-in-law’s home this morning.
1890(14thof Iyar, 5650): Pesach Sheini
1890: Four new trustees are scheduled to be appointed a meeting of the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum.
1890: It was reported today that Russia is preparing to adopt more stringent passport regulations, requiring that the documents of all those entering the country must show their religion. Anyone who does not show a religion will be registered as a Jew and will only be able to visit “localities where Jews are permitted to reside.”
1892: The funeral of Abraham L. Grabfeelder, the General Southern Agent of Manhattan Life Insurance Company a director of the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children will be held this morning at 9:30
1892: Six Jews and Jewesses were convicted at Vilna of murdering babies that had been left in their care.
1892: It was reported today that David Boody, the Mayor of Brooklyn, Joseph C. Hendrix, President of the Board of Education and Oscar S. Straus, the former minister to Turkey, addressed those attending the cornerstone laying ceremonies of the new building belong to the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum.
1893: Simon Goodheart, one of the leaders of the aggressive movement to convert Jews living on the lower east side denied accusations contained in affidavits signed by those whom his group had converted and who have now renounced their conversion that financial inducements are used to gain converts and that most of those who are supposed to be converts have taken the step for financial gain.
1894: Birthdate of Archibald Maul Ramsay, a British army officer, out spoken anti-Semite and the only MP to ever be interred on suspicions that he was a spy for the Axis
1895: A nameless seven year old deaf mute Jewish boy whose mother had passed away and whose father “was unable to provide for him” has been taken to Randall’s
1895: Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Zuckerman of 71 East 109th Street appeared before the justice at the Harlem Police Court and charged their 20 year old son of burglary – specifically of stealing tree silver candlesticks worth $100 and a gold watch worth $75.
1896: The New York Times published an article entitled “Peculiarities of Baron Hirsch” that had first appeared in the London Chronicle. It described a man of great personal wealth who was, at heart, a populist who sided with the working classes in their conflicts with “cosmopolitan financiers” and other power brokers including those inhabiting the British House of Lords.
1900: “B’nai B’rith Convention” an article published today reported on the recently adjourned convention of the Jewish fraternal organization which has been held in Chicago, Illinois.
1901: The Books and Authors column included Israel Zangwill’s comments about “Robert Annys, Poor Priest” by Annie Nathan Myer. “Zangwill writes, ‘You are to be heartily congratulated. The book is full of color, spirituality and drama. There is a fine sense of the early commerce of early English history…You score in so many ways. Your pure use of words shows you have the true artist’s joy in them for their own sake.”
1902: Herzl began a three day trip in Berlin. Herzl talked to the director of the Deutsche Bank through which the Zionist movement would like to buy the Deutsche Palästinabank. For the first time Herzl met Franz Oppenheimer.
1902(27thof Nisan, 5662): Fifty-six year old French physician Theodore Klein who served for 18 years as president of the Société de l'Etude Talmudique passed away today.
1903: Birthdate of actor Luther Adler. Born in New York
1904: The United States began the construction of the Panama Canal. The first Panamanian Jewish community, Kol Shearith Israel Panama Columbia
1907: Birthdate of Lincoln Edward Kirstein American writer, impresario, art connoisseur, and cultural figure in New York City who was better known for his social influence than for his own artistic achievement. Among other accomplishments he co-founded the New York City Ballet.
1909: Birthdate of Howard Da Silva. A large man, with a distinctive baritone voice, Da Saliva's birth name was Silverblatt. He worked in the steel mills to pay his way through Carnegie Institute. His early stage work includes stints with Orson Wells as well as playing the original Judd in Oklahoma
1910: According to some sources this was the date on which Tel Aviv was founded. The confusion stems from the fact that the land company to purchase the acreage for Tel Aviv was formed in 1909. In 1909 a number of Jewish residents decided to move to a healthier environment, outside the crowded and noisy city of Jaffa. They established a company called Ahuzat-Bayit and with the financial assistance of the Jewish National Fund purchased some twelve acres of sand dunes, north of Jaffa
1913: In Sacramento, CA, rededication of B’Nai Israel Synagogue.
1915: “Chicago Plea for Frank” published today included the announcement of the those who were willing to speak out on behalf of Leo Frank who has been wrongly convicted of married Mary Phagan included the famous defense attorney Clarence Darrow, Bishop Samuel Fallows and Frank and Mrs. Grace Wilbur Trout, President of the Illinois Equal Suffrage Society.
1915: “The Illinois Legislature was asked today to pass resolutions asking for the suspension of the death sentence on Leo M. Frank” who has been “sentenced to death at Atlanta for the murder of Mary Phagan.”1915: It was reported today that “the resentencing of Leo Frank at this time would mean the hastening of the hearing before the Prison Commission of his petition for a commutation of the death sentence to life imprisonment” which “would mean that the case would reach Governor Slaton before the expiration of his term in the latter part of June.”
1915: As of today Judge Samuel Greenbaum is the President of the Educational Alliance which as of June 30, 1914 had 2,692 members.
1916: Birthdate of sociologist Rose Laub Coser who “made contributions to medical sociology, refined major concepts of role theory, and analyzed contemporary gender issues in the family and in the occupational world.”
1916: As Jewish leaders becoming increasingly concerned about the fate of Jews in Russia, U.S. Secretary of State Robert Lansing wrote to Simon Wolf that the State “Department has cabled the Embassy in Petrograd making inquiry” “as to the authenticity of a report that there is to be an outbreak against the Jews of Russia at the coming Russian Easter.”
1917: At the request of the government of Salonika, the rabbis approve burial of bodies in shrouds made of paper, because linen was scarce and expensive.1917: Tel Aviv was sacked by Arabs. Djemal Pasha announced that it was the intention of the Turkish government to purge Eretz Yisrael of its Jewish population. Tel Aviv was sacked by the Arabs on the anniversary of the official adoption of the name "Tel Aviv". That same year the British attacked the Turks in
1917: Djemal Pasha of the Ottoman Army declared that the intention of authorities was to "wipe out Jewish population of Palestine."
1918: “Plan New Hebrew Club” published in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer described plans to build a $20,000 facility that will included an 500 seat auditorium which will a home for the Young Men’s Hebrew Association and the Young Women’s Hebrew Association in Camden, NJ.
1921(26th of Nisan, 5681): Jonas Kuppenheimer, president of the clothing manufacturing company that bears his family name passed away today in Lake Forest, Illinois. Born at Terre Haute, Indiana in 1854, Kuppenheimer came to Chicago fifty years ago with his father Bernard, and his brothers Louis and Albert where they opened a clothing store that grew into a major producer of menswear.
1925: Birthdate of Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, former
1925: In Johannesburg, South Africa Julius First and Matilda Levetan gave birth to anti-Apartheid activist Ruth First.
1925: U.S. premiere of “Any Woman,” a silent film produced by Jesse Lasky and Adolph Zukor.
1926: In Palestine, “all work in Jewish office, factories and institutions…stopped at 1:30 today as thousands of mourners paid tribute to the late Dr. Max Nordau…whose body was brought to Palestine from France. As the body was being carried to Tel Aviv’s town hall, the procession stopped at the Great Synagogue where special religious services were held.
1930: Birthdate of Roberta Peters, who achieved the longest tenure of any soprano in the history of the Metropolitan Opera.
1937: It was announced today that Arturo Toscanini will again conduct the Palestine Symphony Orchestra in a series of concerts that will include a November 10 in Tel Aviv as well as performances in Jerusalem and Haifa.
1938:In an address to 500 newly married couples at Castel Gandolfo, Pope Pius XI criticizes Adolf Hitler, currently visiting Mussolini in Rome, and the Nazi Party. Pope Pius XI says that these couples deserve a papal benediction because "such sad things are happening, sad things, very sad, both near to us and far away. Certainly among these sad things is that on the feast day of the Holy Cross of Christ, the banners of another cross which certainly is not that of Christ should have been hoisted in Rome. This was out of place and time. We tell you this so that you may understand how necessary it is to pray, pray, and pray for the mercy of the Almighty in all its largeness." (Editor’s Note – this was not the only time that Pius XI would publicly criticize Hitler or speak up in defense of the Jews. Any discussion of the role of the Catholic Church in events leading up to the Shoah must include an examination of this brave cleric)
1938: A picture was taken of the teachers and students at a Jewish school in Sirvintos, Lithuania.
http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/may/03.asp
1938: In Los Angeles, Oscar winning screen writer Phillip G. Epstein and his wife gave birth to American author Leslie Donald Epstein whose novels includes King of the Jews. Epstein was the nephew of screenwriter Julius Epstein and the father of baseball mogul Theo Epstein.
1938: Carl von Ossietzky, an anti-Nazi German journalist and winner of the 1935 Nobel Peace Prize, dies at age 50 after five years' captivity in concentration camps.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that Arab gangs murdered Hassan Darfil, a prominent Arab notable representing the Wadi Salib quarter of Haifa. Arab gangs continued to abduct and rob villagers and spread terror across the country.
1939: According to the diary of Jay Pierrepont Moffat, a State Department official, President Roosevelt met at the White House with Jewish leaders where the President seemed to be convinced that the warnings given by the U.S. Embassy in Berlin “were sound and not exaggerated.”
1939: Birthdate of Israeli author Amos Oz. To understand the works of Oz, you must realize that he is Jewish, but a sabra, a person who never has known the Diaspora. Born in
1939: In
1942: Birthdate of Michael Dray. His family had moved from Casablanca to Paris. He was the youngest of the Moroccan-born Jews who would be deported from Paris to Auschwitz - an event that took place when he was twenty months old.
1942: The first day of an eleven day deportation of 10,000 Jews from Lodz ghetto to the Chelmno Death Camp. They were part of 145,000 people who were gassed between December, 1941 and September 1942.
1942: Starting on this date and lasting until May 8, six Jews in Lódz, Poland, fearing deportation, commit suicide.
1942: Starting on this date and lasting until May 15, more than 10,000 Jews are deported from the Lódz (Poland) Ghetto to Chelmno.
1943: Against all odds, the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, which began on April 19 continues.
1943: An advertisement condemning the recently completed Bermuda Conference appeared on page 17 of the New York Times under the headline of To 5,000,000 Jews in the Nazi Death-Trap Bermuda was a Cruel Mockery,”
1943: The Committee for an Army of Stateless and Palestinian Jews published an advertisement today in the New York Times which included the “unauthorized use of the names of several members of Congress – including Harry S. Truman, Robert A. Taft and Edwin C. Johnson.”
1943: U.S. premiere of “Five Graves to Cairo” a war movie set in North Africa directed by Billy Wilder who co-authored the script
1944(11th of Iyar): Author Yehoshua Hana Rawnitzki passed away today.
1945: Red Army troops liberate the camp at Oranienburg, Germany, where 5000 inmates remain alive.
1945: The U.S. 82nd Airborne Division liberates the concentration camp at Wöbbelin,Germany.
1945: At Mauthausan the prisoners were not taken out to work and SS men were observed leaving the camp.
1945: The International Red Cross took over the administration of the camp/ghetto at Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia. The last of the camp's SS men flee.
1947:Today marked the start of the fifth annual nation-wide observance of Religious Book Week, sponsored by The National Conference of Christians and Jews and designed to stimulate the reading of books of spiritual value, is being held this week. The Conference was established in 1928 "to demonstrate that those who differ deeply in religious beliefs may work together in the American way toward mutual goals."
1947: The Irgun Zeva'l Le'umi, known in Hebrew by the abbreviation as Etzel or the Irgun, staged the famous prison break at Acre Prison. In April, 1947, the British had hung members of the Irgun so Menachem Begin felt it was imperative to try and rescue at least some of those held in the aging fortress. In a act of daring-do worthy of any adventure novel, the Irgun entered the prison and freed 41 Etzel and Lehi (Stern Gang) prisoners. They could not free more because of the lack of hiding places. These escape is one of the climactic scenes in Leon Uris's novel (and movie by the same name) Exodus.
1947: More than 2,000 people filled Temple Emanu-El this afternoon at a special memorial service for Henry Monsky, international president of B'nai B'rith and chairman of the interim committee of the American Jewish Congress. Mr. Monsky died on Friday in the Hotel Biltmore at the age of 57, while attending a meeting of the future organization committee of the conference.
1948: In direct violation of international law the Arab Legion which was the Jordanian army that included a compliment of British officers attacked Kfar Etzion and was driven back the poorly armed Jewish fighters.
1948: With only five days left until the end of the British Mandate, the Jewish forces were working feverishly to develop a military posture that would enable them to avoid annihilation by Arab military forces operating illegally in Palestine. At the same time they were trying to prepare a defensive posture that would enable them to face the invading armies they would face within the next week. To that end, the Palmach launched Operation Broom. Operation Broom was intended to “sweep away” Arab bases so that Jewish settlements in the lower and upper Galilee could be joined together with a wide, safe strip of Jewish territory. Large numbers of Arabs departed the Galilee for safe haven across the Jordan River . Their departure was a result of rumors of that a large Jewish force was on its way and the belief that once the Arab armies had had their way with the Jews, they could return and reap the spoils of victory.
1948: Norman Mailer's first novel, The Naked and the Dead, was published.
1949: U.S. premiere of “The Barkley’s of Broadway” produced by Arthur Freed, written by Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Sidney Sheldon with music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin and featuring Oscar Levant as “Ezra Miller” and Hans Conried as “Ladislaus Ladi”
1952: In an interview given on the eve of his departure for the United States, Abba Khoushy, Mayor of Haifa declared “that this is going to be THE city of the country.” In outlining the many virtues of this major seaport, the mayor noted that the population has grown from 63,000 in 1949 to 200,000 in 1952. He has four major projects on the drawing board, which, if funded, will “bring greatness to Haifa.”
1952: Birthdate of Harry Ehrenberg, Jr., a pillar of the Little Rock, Arkansas Jewish Community and a mensch in the truest sense of that term.
1953: The Jerusalem Postreported that the Treasury doubled the exchange rate for leather and textiles to IL2 per dollar. The Histadrut banned all overtime and double jobs in order to ease the current heavy unemployment.
1956: Birthdate of author David Guterson, the author of the novel Snow Falling on Cedars which won many awards, including the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award. The son of Jewish parents, Guterson is a self-described agnostic.
1957: The Anne Frank Foundation was formed in Amsterdam. This is one of the organizations dedicated to preserving the memory of this tragic Jewish figure whose diary has captured and continues to capture the hearts and imagination of millions around the world.
1965: Israel Bar-Yehuda completes his term as Minister of Transport and Road Safety
1970: In deciding the legal case "Walz v. Tax Commission of New York," the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a New York US Vietnam
1972(20th of Iyar, 5732): Ninety year old Hetty Goldman, “one of the first female archaeologists who was a member of the Goldman-Sachs banking family” passed away today.
1973: Initial release of Steambath, the film treatment of the play by Bruce Jay Friedman who wrote the script featuring Herb Edelman.
1975(23rd of Iyar, 5735): Comedian Moe Howard passed away. Born Moses Horowitz in 1897, Howard was "Moe" of the famous comedy group called the Three Stooges. All of the Stooges were Jewish. Another example of how Jews were successful in the entertainment field by being "All American" as opposed to ethnic.
1975: Terrorists set off a bomb in a Jerusalem apartment building.
1975: The New York Times featured a review of "Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang" by Mordecai Richler.
1976(4thof Iyar, 5736): Yom HaZikaron
1976: The musical “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue” with lyrics and book by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Leonard Bernstein opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre.
1977: The first of David Frost’s interviews with Richard Nixon which were produced by Marvin Mintoff, the husband of Bonnie Franklin, was broadcast today.
1978: The Jerusalem Postreported from Lebanon that Arab terrorists murdered four French UNIFIL paratroopers, wounded seven and abducted five. France Israel
1978(27th of Nisan, 5738): Yom HaShoah
1979: Nigel Lawson, the scion of prominent Anglo-Jewish financial family began serving as Financial Secretary to the Treasury.
1979: Robert Strauss began serving as the first “Special Envoy for the Middle East” a newly created position created during the administration of Jimmy Carter.
1981(30th of Nisan, 5741): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1982(11th of Iyar, 5742): Just 6 weeks before his 90thbirthday, Barnett Janner, who had been made a life peer which meant he was recognized as Baron Janner, passed away today.
1983: Phillip Dougherty reported that “Geers, Gross Advertising has been named agency for Hebrew National Kosher Foods, which has also named Levy, Flaxman & Associates to handle its recently acquired fresh chicken and turkey operation. The main account should be billing $3 million, and fresh fowl, $1 million. The former agency is Scali, McCabe, Sloves, whose account list includes Frank Perdue and all his little chicks. Since Perdue is already in fresh fowl and is eyeing franks made with chicken, it is easy to see why S.M.S. is no longer the Hebrew National agency.”
1984: U.S. premiere of “The Bounty” featuring Daniel Day Lewis as “Sailing Master John Freyer.”
1985: Michael A. Ledeen, an informal envoy of Robert C. McFarlane, the U.S. national security adviser, met with Shimon Peres in Jerusalem and inquired whether Israel had ideas about how to open contacts with Teheran. This is meeting that the Israelis have always cited as the American request for help that brought Israel into what became known as the Iran-Contra affair.
1991(20th of Iyar, 5751): Eighty-seven year old master wood sculptor Chaim Gross passed away today. (As reported by John T. McQuiston)
1994: In a letter published today entitled Jews Have Reason to Fear Italian Fascism, Susan Zucotti traces the history of Mussolini et al to explain “why Jews and other Italians are wary of Gianfranco Fini’s resurgent neo-Fascist party.
1994: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat signed an according that granted the Palestinians the right of self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
1995(4thof Iyar, 5755): Yom HaAtzma’ut
1997(27th of Nisan, 5757): Yom Hashoah; Rabbi Erwin Herman told the story of the "Yanov Torah" to 500 people at San Diego's community Yom HaShoah services today causing many of them to cry.
1997: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Gospel According to the Son by Norman Mailer.
1997: Barb Feller, executive director of the Granger House in Marion, Iowa, traveled to England to interview John Granger, last surviving grandson of the home’s original owner. Mrs. Feller is an active member of the Temple Judah community serving as a Hebrew teacher and co-President of the congregation.
2001: The Mitchell Report (named for Maine Senator George Mitchell) “that examined the cause of violence that began in 2000 and gave rise to the so-called Al-Aqsa Intifada was submitted today.
2003: The New York Times featured books by Jewish writers and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including the recently released paperback edition of Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro.
2004: Publication of Ugly Americans: The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided the Asian Markets for Millions by Ben Mezrich
2005: Natan Sharansky completed his term as Minister Without Portfolio.
2005: The premiere of the ballet “An American in Paris” using the “eponymous music by George Gershwin from 1928.”
2006: The American Jewish Committee's centennial events culminates with a gala event attended by US President George W. Bush, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and German Chancellor Angela Merkel
2006(6th of Iyar, 5766):Luba Kadison, the last surviving member of the Vilna Troupe, an influential Yiddish theater company founded in Europe during World War I, passed away at the age of 99. Caraid O'Brien, a scholar of Yiddish theater and a friend of Kadison announced that she had died at her home in Manhattan. Kadison, whose married name was Luba Kaison Buloff, toured extensively in Europe before becoming a leading actress in Yiddish theater during its heyday on New York Lower East Side . She was part of a golden age of Yiddish theater that saw serious and satirical plays challenge the dominance of popular musicals. "They did experimental things. They were doing stuff in the style of German expressionists before most English-speaking theaters," said O'Brien, who called Kadison an "incredible inspirational artistic figure." Born in Lithuania in 1906, Kadison began performing in Europe as a child. Her father, Leib Kadison, was a founder of the Vilna Troupe, which performed modernist works by Yiddish writers S. Ansky and Sholom Aleichem, and translations of plays by others, including Maxim Gorky and Henrik Ibsen. In 1923 she married another member of the troupe, Joseph Buloff. The couple came to America Lower East Side theaters packed with Jewish immigrants. Kadison had roles in Sholem Asch's "God of Vengeance," I.J. Singer's "Brothers Ashkenazi" and Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman." The Holocaust devastated Yiddish culture, and declining use of the language worldwide was eventually mirrored in New York
2006: Ehud Olmert went from Interim Prime Minister to Prime Minister after he established his own government in the wake of Ariel Sharon’s second stroke.
2006: Avraham Hirschson began serving Minister of Finance today “as part of the Kadima –led 31st governemtn.”
2006: Yael "Yuli" Tamir began serving as Minister of Education.
2006:Yaakov Edri began serving as Jerusalem Affairs Minister of Israel.
2006: Meir Sheetrit replaced Ze’ev Boim as Minister of Housing and Construction
2006: Binyamin Ben-Eliezer replaced Roni Bar-On as the Energy and Water Resources Minister of Israel.
2006: Shaul Mofaz was named Minister of Transport
2006: Ariel Atias replaced Avraham Hirschson as Minister of Communications.
2006: Roni Bar-On replaced Ariel Sharon Internal Affairs Minister.
2006: Amir Peretz replaced Shaul Mofaz as Minister of Defense.
2006: Avi Dichter replaced Gideon Ezra as Minister of Public Security.
2006: Ruhama Avraham Balila completed her term as Deputy Internal Affairs Minister.
2007: This year's Jacob's Ladder Festival opened for the first of two days at Nof Ginasar along the Kinneret. A Cajun dance workshop, fiddle classes and bluegrass gospel music from the Abrams Brothers, a teenage duo from Canada were just a few of the 35 acts featured at this year’s event.
2008: In Chicago, The Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies presented a Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) Program entitled “Poetry of the Holocaust: New Texts and Enduring Debates.”In this special Yom HaShoah conversation, poet Joy Ladin and DePaul University professor Eric Selinger explored Holocaust poetry, including Ladin’s own remarkable work, The Book of Anna, a collection of narrative poems and diary entries written in the voice of a fictional Czech-German Jewish concentration camp survivor.
2008: Secret government documents from post-World War II stored in Britain’s National Archives opened today “show that British diplomatic and military officials were concerned that sending Jews to German military camps so soon after the Holocaust would spark anger and protests around the world.”
2008: A 2008 U.S. touring production of Marvin Hamlisch’s “A Chorus Line” opened at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
2008 The Sunday New York Times book section featured reviews of A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horowitz, The Mayor’s Tongue by Nathaniel Rich son of Frank Rich and 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War by Benny Morris.
2009: As part of the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature the 92nd Street Y presented the second Critics Voice program, “David Grossman on Bruno Schulz” during which Israeli novelist David Grossman, who wrote See Under: Love which stands as a lasting tribute to Schulz discusses the work of this Ukrainian born author who perished in the Holocaust.“Born in Drohobycz, Galicia (now Ukraine) in 1892, Bruno Schulz, a drawing teacher by trade, wrote two story collections—Cinnamon Shops(1934) and Sanatorium Under the Sign of Hourglass (1937)—before he was killed by the Gestapo in 1942. His novel-in-progress, The Messiah, has never been found.”
2009:“Spots of Light: To Be a Woman in the Holocaust,”, an exhibition recently opened by Yad Vashem had its last showing at the Royal Palace in Dresden, Germany.
2010: In New York, Manuel Forcano, Professor of Semitic Studies and Vice President of the Catalan Council for the Arts is scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled “Traces of Esther: The Jewish Presence in Contemporary Catalan Literature.”
2010: A screening of “I had a Dream- The Story of Yona Bogale, Leader of Ethiopian Jewry” is scheduled for the opening of the Sheba Film Festival at the JCC in Manhattan. The Sheba Film festival highlights the legacy of Ethiopian Jewry.
2010:Jewish community leaders, Democratic Party officials and others gathered at a dinner in honor of DNC Chairman Governor Tim Kaine, hosted by Ambassador Michael Oren at his Washington home.
2010:The Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies dedicated the first building of its new campus next to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The Schechter Institute is a non-profit organization of the Conservative Movement dedicated to the advancement of pluralistic Jewish education in Israel.
2011: Alexandria, VA is scheduled to host its 24thannual Holocaust Yom Ha’Shoah observance which will be attended by the Polish ambassador to the United States and Holocaust Survivor Charlene Schiff who will read an excerpt from her biography, “Don’t Ask For Soap.”
2011: The Tolerance Education Center in Rancho Mirage, CA, is scheduled to present “Fiddlers on MY Roof” featuring Stanley Walden.
2011:The American Jewish Historical Society is scheduled to present the 2011 Emma Lazarus Statue of Liberty Award Dinner honoring Machal and Aliyah Bet, all North American women and men who volunteered in Israel's War of Independence between 1947 and 1949, and Ralph Lowenstein, Ph.D., founder of the Machal/Aliyah Bet Archives; Machalnik; Dean Emeritus, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida.
2011: The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage is scheduled to present “Flight to Freedom – A Tribute Jewish Artists” during which “Joan Chesterton, Art historian and Professor Emerita at Purdue University, offers a fascinating illustrated presentation that pays tribute to the incredible contributions of four European artists who fled the Holocaust and immensely enriched American art—architect Mies van der Rohe, painter Hans Hoffmann, composer Kurt Weill and filmmaker, Billy Wilder.”
2011: Jewish song leader Mark Levy is schooled to lead a workshop on “Jews 'n' Jazz!” at the Reutlinger Community for Jewish Living. “The workshop will trace the development of America's notable Jewish jazz artists and composers beginning with their immigration to the U.S.”
2011: The Cutler Plotkin Jewish Heritage Center is scheduled to present “Jewish Identity in Pioneer Arizona: Anna and Lillian Solomon and Suitable Love” As part of the Arizona Jewish Centennial Series, Emily Jacobson, M.A., will speak about the Solomon family of Solomonville in Graham County. Anna Solomon, the family matriarch was a remarkable woman who raised all six of her children to marry Jews in a region where there were barely enough to form a minyan.
2011(30th of Iyar, 5771): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
2011:UK Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks slammed the notion of making peace with Hamas in a speech he gave to the House of Lords today. The chief rabbi said that unless Hamas changes its ways, "there may be a process but there will not be peace."
2012: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is scheduled to participate in the Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Skokie, Illinois.
2012: As Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, kicks-off a week-end of events marking its 90th anniversary, David Neuman, the son of former Rabbi Isaac Neuman is scheduled to address the congregation during Shabbat Eve Services.
2012: For the first time a production Marvin Hamlisch’s “A Chorus Line” opened at the Marina Bay Sands in Sinagor.
2013: Friends and family of Harry L. Ehrenberg, Jr. gather to celebrate the natal day of this mensch who is a pillar of the Arkansas Jewish community
2013: A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff by Alicia Jo Rabins is scheduled to be performed at the Washington Jewish Music Festival.
2013: The winner of the 2nd Annual Jewish Playwriting Contest is scheduled to be chosen today at New Haven, CT.
2013: The Courier-Journal published “A Memorable Derby.”
2013: “Three to Max” a creation of Ohad Naharin, the artistic director of the Batsheva Dance Company is scheduled to be performed at The Joyce Theatre.
2013: The 15th annual Felicja Blumental Chamber Music Festival is scheduled to come to an end.
2013: Israeli tightens defenses long her northern border as the situation in Syria deteriorates.
2013: The airstrike that Israeli warplanes carried out in Syria overnight was directed at a shipment of advanced surface-to-surface missiles from Iran that Israel believed was intended for Hezbollah, the militant Lebanese organization, American officials said today
2014: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewsh readers including Love and Treasure by Ayelet Waldman and John Qunicy Adams: American Visionary by Fred Kaplan
2014: The Jewish Historical Sociey of Greater Washington is scheduled to conduct a tour of “Jewish Sites in Arlington National Cemetery including the Confederate Memorial by Sir Moses Ezekiel and the Challenger and Columbia Space Shuttle Memorials.
2014: Jewish education is scheduled to come to an end in the corriodor for the year as Agudas Achim and Temple Judah close their religious schools until the fall.
2014: “The Seder: Meanings, Rituals & Sprituality” is scheduled to close at the Oregon Jewish Museum.
2014: In the Netherlands, Nationale Herdenkingsdag (National Memorial Day
2014: The Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington and the JCC of Greater Washington are scheduled to host author, David Laskin, who will talk about the research that went into the writing of his book, "The Family: Three Journeys into the Heart of the Twentieth Century."
2014: As part of Jewish American Heritage Month, Dr. Ted Merwin is scheduled to lecutre on “The Delectable History of the Jewish Deli at the Jewish Museum in Miami Beach.
2014: Authorities opened an investiagtion today in “anti-Arab graffiti…found spray painted…at a construction site in Kiryant Ye’arim also known as Telz Sonte” which was “another incident in a spate of race-hate ‘price-tag’ attacks by suspected Jewish extremists.” (As reported by Times of Israel Staff)
2014: In Washington, DC, final performance of “Camp David” a play based on the 1978 peace negotations at Camp David.
2014(4th of Iyar, 5774): Seventy-one year old Alan J. Friedman passed away today. (As reported by Bruce Weber)
2014: “Right wing actvists…threw rocks at ploice and damaged a Border Police vehicle” when they “came to Yitzhar to search the home of a copule that had been arrested on suspicion of participating in a ‘price tag’ attack” in the norther norhtern city of Umm al-Fahm.
2014: “A group of 19 Ukranian Jews were immigrating to Israel today ami an escalating crisis that has seen a rising tide of anti-Semitic attacks.”
2015: The Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia is scheduled to host Dana Kalshov’s presentation “The Israel Defense Forces: A Window on Modern Israeli Society.”
2015: “In the Community: Raise the Roof” is scheduled to be shown at the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival.
2015: Israeli pianist Roman Rabinovich is one of three “young accomplished pianists” chosen by Sir Andras Schiff to perform with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players.