March 2
117(12th of Adar, 3877): As the rebellion by Disapora Jews against the Roman Empire of Trajan came to an unsuccessful close, two Jewish brothers who had been leaders in the revolt, Pappus and Julianus were executed at Laodicea in Syria. Trajan did not get to savor his victory since he died in 117. Unfortunately for the Jews he was followed by Hadrian who was even crueler than his predecessor.
986: Louis V becomes King of the Franks. Louis was the last of the Carolingian, a dynasty under whom the Jews had done rather well, all things considered. Charlemagne was the most famous of the Carolingian rulers and he supported his Jewish subjects despite opposition from church leaders. Louis le Débonnaire who reigned from 814 to 833 was another of the Carolingians who gave special protection to his Jewish subjects. During the reign of Carolingians the Jews were active in commerce, medicine and agriculture, especially in the field of viticulture a fact of which we are reminded when we study about Rashi. The change in dynasties would not have an immediate effect on the Jews living in France. Life for them would not really change until the first crusade in 1096.
1127: Charles, the Good, Count of Flanders was murdered while praying in the church of St. Donat at Bruges. This came two years after Charles had expelled the Jews from Ghent because he blamed them for the famine that consumed his realm in 1125.
1336(10th of Adar I, 5096): Physician and astronomer Joseph Sason, a member of a prominent Iberian Jewish family passed away today in Toledo
1349: In Erfurt, the capital of the German state of Thuringia, 1,000 Jews were killed in a single day of violence in a pogrom brought on by hysteria surrounding The Black Death which struck Europe in 1340. During this outbreak of what was probably bubonic plagues millions died in Europe removing approximately one third of the continent’s population. “Modern research has revealed that the plague was probably carried by boat from an Asian source, but at the time the affected communities had no idea why and how such a terrible affliction had come upon them so suddenly. In seeking an explanation, they needed a scapegoat and lighted upon the Jews living in their midst. In many villages, towns and cities, Jews were accused of causing the sickness by poisoning drinking water in wells and fountains.” [Editor’s note: for those tracking sweeping patterns of history, note that blaming Jews is not different or rational today than it was in what was supposedly the unenlightened Dark Ages.
1382: The Mailotin Riots began in Paris. These riots were similar to the tax riots held two years previously. Both times the Jews were considered accomplices in over-oppressive taxes. Sixteen Jews fell victim to this outbreak violence.
1640(20th of Adar): Rabbi Joel Sirkes, author of Bayit Hadash passed away today.
1727: Abraham Pinto and his wife gave birth to Samuel Pinto. (Editor’s note – There are several men who bear the name of Samuel Pinto)
1743: In Wolfenbütteler, “court factor Samson Gumpel” and his wife gave birth to “court banker” Philipp Samson.
1753(26th of Adar I, 5513): Issachar Berush Eskeles the native of Poland who was the son of Gabriel Eskeles and son-in-law of Samson Wertheimer, who was named rabbi of Kremsir in 1710, when he was only eighteen years old and eventually served as "Landesrabbiner" of Moravia passed away today in Vienna.
1779(14th of Adar, 5539): Purim
1794: Benjamin Farmer who had changed his last name from Solomons married Phoebe Moses at the Great Synagogue today.
1796: Rabbi Mordecai of Niesvizh, issued a proclamation, which was approved by other rabbis in Poland, addressed to all Jews of Poland, imploring every male and female, adult and minor, whether living in cities or villages, to subscribe a fixed sum every week for the support of their countrymen, who had settled in the Holy Land with the amount to be paid quarterly, in addition to special donations at weddings, circumcisions, and other religious rejoicings all of which resulted in a substantial increase in the halukkah (the fund to support Jews living in the Holy Land.
1798(14th of Adar, 5558): Purim
1803: Isaac Joseph married Judith Myers today at the Great Synagogue.
1822: In Bavaria, Solomon Blumauer and Helen Binswanger gave birth to Simon Blumauer the Portland businessman, the builder of the second brick building in Portland, Oregon, and charter member of Congregation Beth Israel who was the husband of Malie Rodelsheimer.
1824: Founding of The Boston Courier which had become a weekly newspaper by the time Benjamin Cohen began serving as its Business Manager.
1831: Frederick Samuel married Sarah Mocatta today at the Great Synagogue.
1835: Francis, who as Francis II was the last Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and who as Francis I was the first Emperor of the Austrian Empire passed away.
1836: Texans signed the Texas Declaration of Independence at Washington-on-the-Brazos, effectively creating the Republic of Texas. Adolphus Sterne was one of the many Jews who supported the cause of Texas Independence both on and off of the battlefield. Sterne was “an East Texas merchant who became a principal source of financial backing for the Texas Revolution. Born in the Rhineland in 1801, he arrived in Texas in time to fight in the ill-fated 1826-27 Fredonia Rebellion at Nacogdoches. He was sentenced to be shot but was released on the promise never to bear arms against the government again. He kept to the vow in the 1836 struggle for independence but supplied funds, coordinated with his old friend Sam Houston, who he had known in Tennessee before coming to Texas.”
1839: French political leader Benoit Fould was re-elected for a third time.
1847(14thof Adar, 5607): Purim
1847(14thof Adar, 5607): Forty-seven year old Immanuel Wohlwill taught at the Israelite Free School in Hamburg and then became the Director of the Jacobson School in Seesen.
1848: Ibrahim Pasha who issued a decree “forbidding the Jews to pave the passage in front of the Wall. It also cautioned them against “raising their voices and displaying their books there.” They were however allowed “to pay visits to it as of old” began his reign over Egypt without the approval of the Porte.
1854: Temple Israel which was established as the Orthodox Congregation B'nai Israel in 1853 by 36 heads of families, was granted a charter by the Tennessee state legislature today.
1855: Czar Nicholas I, a narrow-minded, reactionary, whose anti-Semitism included but was not limited to expulsion from a variety of cities including Kiev; the drafting of under-age Jewish boys for twenty-five years of military service; the banning of beards and a sidelocks for men and banning of women shaving their heads at the time of marriage; the banning of Yiddish; censorship and destruction of Jewish books passed away today.
1855: Alexander II becomes Czar of Russia. Alexander gets high marks from many historians for two reasons. First, he is the Czar who freed the serfs. Second he was a lot better than his two successors, Alexander III and Nicholas II. Alexander earned the goodwill of the Jewish people because “he called a half to the cantonist system that separated Jewish youths from their families, a staple of the previous Czars anti-Semitic program.” From then on, “only Jews of draft age would serve, and under the same rules as well as other Russians.” Under his reign, universities liberalized their admission policies for Jews and Jews were allowed to enter the legal profession. Jewish businessman and craftsmen were allowed to work outside of the Pale and enter into the commercial life of many major urban areas. The Czar was no liberal. His changes in policies were caused, in part, by a desire to attract investment from Jewish European financiers. The Czar’s reforms were proving to be too little too late. When the Czar saw Jewish names among opponents, his anti-Semitism rose to the surface as can be seen by the closing of Yeshivot and his opposition to legal equality for Jews when the issue came up at the 1878 Congress of Berlin.
1857: In New York Solomon and Jael Belais gave birth to Henry Belais Belais
1859: Birthdate of Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich whom we know as Sholom Aleichem, the most famous Jewish author of his times. As with many Russians of his periods, Sholom Aleichim has two birthdates on the secular calendar – one on the Julian calendar and one on the Gregorian calendar.
1861: In Warsaw, despite the fact that is was Shabbat, three Rabbis including Morris Jastrow joined the funeral procession for five Polish nationalists who had been shot by the military.
1861: Morris Jastrow preached his first sermon in Polish at the Shabbat service during which the five victims of the Polish military were memorialized.
1864(O.S.) Birthdate of Sergei Zubatov. “the head of the Czarist Secret Police in Moscow” who “convinced” the imprisoned Manya Shochat to form “tame” workers “organizations that would work for reform rather than the overthrow of the government” which would supposedly “help achieve rights for Jews” – a supposition which the policeman knew was false and which the Jewish leader came to see as a “pipe dream.”
1868: “The Alleged Illegal Action of the American Consul at Jerusalem” published today described a dispute that took place recently in Jerusalem involving a Prussian Rabbi, named Markus, a Prussian Jewess named Steinberg, her sister who had converted to Christianity and Victor Beaubouchier, the American Counsel in Jerusalem
1870(29thof Adar I, 5630): Abraham Jacob Jones, the native of Whitechapel and husband of Sophia Goldsmid passed away today
1870: In New York, Judge Brady began hearing a suit brought by Benjamin Abrahams, the executor for the estate of his late brother Dr. Simeon Abrahams. The total value of the bequest exceeds the value of the estate and the executor is seeking to obtain a decree that will establish “which if any legacies have preference” or, if there be no such preference, what pro rata share each of the legacies should receive. The late Dr. Abrahams was a prominent member of the Jewish community and he left several large bequests to Jewish charities including the Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mt. Sinai Hospital as well as numerous bequests to secular charities most of which provide aid to orphans, juveniles and those in need of medical aide.
1871: The Purim Association hosted its second reception of this social season at Delmonico’s under the management of Emanuel B. Hart, Samuel A. Lewis and Gustave D. Cardozo.
1871: Adolph Marx Oppenheimer, the son of Marx and Sarah Oppenheimer, and Julie Oppenheimer gave birth to Alfred Oppenheimer
1874(13thof Adar): Fast of Esther
1874: In Vicksburg, Mississippi, Nicholas Scharff and the former Carrie Bernheimer gave birth to their second child Sidney N. Scharff.
1874: Today marked the second and final day of the Purim reception at the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews in Manhattan.
1877: The Hayes-Tilden election is finally settled by the specially created electoral commission that resolved the disputed election returns of four states in favor Hayes making him the 19th President of the United States. Hayes appointed the first Jew to effectively serve as a U.S. Ambassador - Benjamin Peixotto – and assured a government employee that she would not lose her job if she did not work on Saturday.
1879: At the Clinton Street Synagogue in New York City, Rabbi H.P. Mendes of the Nineteenth Street Synagogue delivered a lecture on “A Dark Chapter of Spanish-Jewish History” one the opening of the tenth season of lectures sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Union.
1876: In Rome, Filippo Pacelli and Virginia (née Graziosi) Pacelli gave birth to Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli who gained fame as Pope Pius XII, the Holocaust Pope.
1877: Rutherford B. Hayes declared winner of the 1876 Presidential Election. Samuel Tilden won the popular vote, but Hayes won a majority of the disputed in the Electoral College giving him and the Republicans the White House by one vote. As President, Hayes worked to protect the well-being of Jewish communities in Europe. In 1879, his Secretary of State, William Evarts said that “this government has ever felt a deep interest in the welfare of the Hebrew race in foreign countries.” Hayes backed up these noble sentiments in negotiations with the government of Romania where he worked to try and improve the condition of Jews living under that anti-Semitic regime.
1880: It was reported today that Mrs. W. T. Brothington of Newark, NJ has finally received the $10,000 from the estate of deceased English family.
1882: The twentieth annual Hebrew charity dress ball sponsored by the Purim Association will begin at the in the Academy of Music at nine o’clock with the grand march starting at ten.
1884: Birthdate of Albert Samuel, the native of Vesoul who was the father of Raymond Samuel better known as French Resistance leader Raymond Aubrac.
1884: Seventy-four year old anti-Semitic author Theodor Griesinger passed away.
1886: This afternoon Rabbi Gustav Gottheil of Temple Emanu-El officiated at the wedding of Julia Wormser, “the only daughter of Isidor Wormser” and Jefferson Seligman, the “youngest son of James Seligman, the head of the well-known bank house.”
1888: The Convention of Constantinople is signed, guaranteeing free maritime passage through the Suez Canal during war and peace. The one major exception to this would be the state of Israel. For years, the government of Egypt denied ships flying the flag of Israel from using the canal. The Egyptians also denied access to ships that had visited Israeli ports from using the canal.
1891: At today’s meeting of the Louisville (KY) Ministerial Association a debate was held over the question of admitting priests, rabbis and Unitarian Ministers.
1891: At a meeting of the New York Siberian Exile Petition Association was held at the Church of Ascension in New York City, “Isaac Aronavitch Hourvitch, a Russian Jew who had suffered exile in Russia related his terrible experiences as a political prisoner.” Following discussion of this and other matter, “copies of the petition which is to be forwarded to the Czar in April protesting against the present treatment of the Jews were circulated” and signed by many attendees.
1892: A theatrical review published today described Carl Weiser’s portrayal of Shylock, “the vengeful Jew” as being “picturesque, if not strikingly dignified.” “The Merchant of Venice” reportedly first performed in America in the 16thcentury making it possibly the first Shakespearean drama performed in what would become the United States.
1892: It was reported today that the sixty Russian Jewish immigrants who are in quarantine on North Brother Island due to the outbreak of typhus are housed in their own heated pavilion where they have their own cooks who prepare their food according to Orthodox Jewish law.
1892: Fifty-year old Otto Glagau the anti-Semitic author whose hatred of Jews may be traced to losses he suffered while speculating in stocks passed away today.
1892: Forty two Russian Jewish immigrants who may be infected with typhus and are under the care of the United Hebrew Charities will be taken to North Brother Island today if the storm sweeping the area abates.
1892: Birthdate of Felix Bressart, a native of what was then East Prussia the German-American character actor whose best known for his appearance in the Jimmy Stewart comedy “The Shop Around the Corner.”
1893(14th of Adar, 5653): Purim
1893: A fire broke out in a building in Fall River, MA, that was used as meeting place by the Hebrew Literary Club. (Who would have thought that Fall River would have been home to such an organization in the 19th century?)
1893: Birthdate of Eliyahu Golomb the native of Russia who made Aliyah in 1909 and organized the Haganah during the Mandate.
1894: Birthdate of Hélène Falk, the native of Crest who was the mother of of Raymond Samuel better known as French Resistance leader Raymond Aubrac.
1895(6th of Adar I, 5655): Thirty-eight year old Charlotte Myers, the wife of Godfrey Harris passed away today after which she was buried at the Edmonton, Western Jewish Cemetery.
1895: The National Council of Women, an organization that was unique for its time because it included Jewish, Catholic and Protestant members, held the final session of its triennial meeting in Washington, DC.
1896: “Mathias Bells for Bicycles” published today described the debate in Parliament where lawmakers are trying to force cyclists to use “the continuous bell of the kind brought into vogue by Sir Henry Irving’s “Polish Jew.”
1897: Birthdate of Budapest native Jacob Weiss who gained fame as producer, director and writer Jack White.
1898(8th of Adar I, 5658): Forty-two year old Marylebone native Isaac Botibol, the son of Moses Botibol and Jessie Myers, passed away to today.
1898: In Albany, the Senate Cities Committee will report out a bill sponsored by Senator Cantor “exempting the real estate of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association from taxation, assessment and water rates.”
1899: The annual Purim reception at the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews will be held today starting at 11 a.m. and lasting until 5 p.m.
1900: In Dessau Emma Weill (née Ackermann) and Albert Weil gave birth to German-American composer Kurt Weill whose “best-known work is The Threepenny Opera.”
1901: Birthdate of Breman native, mathematician Grete Hermann.
1901(11th of Adar, 5661): Sixty-six year old Joseph Blumenthal passed away in New York City. Born in Munich in 1834, he came to the United States in 1839, settled in California with his family before moving to New York. He was part of the Committee of Seventy that helped to overthrow the infamous Tweed Ring and spend the last 15 years of his life working to create and build the Jewish Theological Seminary.
1902: In Harlem, Bernard Berg, a pharmacist, and Rose Tashker, a homemaker” gave birth to their third and last child baseball catcher Morris “Moe” Berg. In a day when most baseball players were barely literate Berg stood out as a Princeton graduate who was multi-lingual. His major league career lasted from 1923 to 1939. He was a journey-man catcher, described as “good field, no hit.” The stories about his eccentricities are too numerous for this brief entry. Suffice it to say, he makes the television character “Monk” look normal. His real claim to fame was his espionage work. During barnstorming trips to Japan in the 1930’s, the Japanese speaking Berg would leave the group to do his own “explorations.” Among other things, he took a series of pictures in Tokyo which later were used to help plan the famous Doolittle Raid during World War II.
1903: Herzl receives Leopold Greenberg's report. Greenberg was the owner of a successful advertising agency, publisher of the Jewish Yearbook and an ardent Zionist.
1904(15th of Adar, 5664): Fifty-seven year old professor of statistics Gottlieb Schnapper-Arndt passed away today in Halberstadt, Germany.
1904(15th of Adar, 5664): Sixty-six year old Moritz Framing, the German rabbi who edited two Jewish magazines and whose writings included On the Introduction to Maimonides and Jerome’s Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets, passed away today in Magdeburg.
1905: Birthdate of Pincus “Pinky” Sober the half-miler who became an executive with the Amateur Athletic Union.
1905: Birthdate of Philadelphia native and noted composer Marcus Samuel Blitzstein.
1906: “The Rabbinical Conference of Bohemia decided that a Rabbi may officiate at the funeral of a cremated body” which led “Chief Rabbi Ehrenfield of Prague” to resign his membership.
1907:Ein Walzertraum (A Waltz Dream), “an operetta by Oscar Straus premiered today at the Carltheater in Vienna.
1909(9thof Adar, 5669): Seventy-six year old Baron Horace Günzburg, the son Joseph Günzburg, wealthy merchant and army contractor, and the father of David Günzburg who was a major philanthropist and leader of the Jewish community passed away.
1909: Birthdate of composer Hanoch Jacoby
1910: Birthdate of Natie W. Brown, the Washington, D.C. native, brother of Morris Brown and wife of Ann McKinley Brown, who “fought Joe Louis two times in the heavyweight division.”
1911: Sophie Tucker recorded “Some of these Days” on a four inch cylinder. “Some of these Days” was written by African American composer Shelton Brooks in 1910. “Some of these Days” was Tucker’s signature song and the title of her autobiography.
1912(13th of Adar, 5672): Parashat Tetzaveh; Shabbat Zachor; Erev Purim
1913: The New York Times reported that Dr. Joseph H. Hertz, Rabbi of the Congregation Orach Chayim of New York was recently appointed replace the late Dr. Hermann Adler, who was serving as Chief Rabbi of the British Empire when he passed away in July of 1911.
1913: “Mr. Aaron Aronsohn, chief of the Experimental Station at Haifa is scheduled to deliver a lecture at Sinai Temple in Chicago.
1913: Today, “The Hebrew Sunday School Society which maintains fifteen schools in various parts of Philadelphia with an enrollment of more than 4,000 pupils celebrated its 75th anniversary at the Horticultural Hall in Philadelphia.
1913: I.D. Levy and Frederick M. Gottlieb are scheduled to perform a ventriloquist act as part of a congregational social at Temple Emanuel.
1914: Birthdate of Martin Ritt director of The Long Hot Summer.
1915: Vladmir Jabotinsky formed a Jewish military force to fight in Palestine against the Turks in World War I.
1915: The Red Cross Fund of which Jacob H. Schiff is the treasurer received an additional $1,670.07 in contributions bringing the total collected so far to $464,796.11.
1915: An “official communication” concerning the condition of the Jews was sent from Constantinople stating that “All the recent publications to the contrary are unfounded. The natural inconveniences they may have experienced during the mobilization have been shared by the rest of the population.”
1916: The funeral of Bertha Hirsch, the wife of Adolphe Hirsch and the sister of Mrs. William Hirsch is scheduled to take place at her residence today in Chicago.
1916: After funeral services are held at the home of George Levitt, his father Jacob Levi is scheduled to be buried at Waldheim Cemetery where mourners will include his other son Henry Levi.
1916: On the Gregorian calendar, birthdate of Solomon Naumovich Rabinovitch, whose birthdate was February 18, 1859 (OS) and who was better known by his penname Sholem Aliechem
1917: Birthdate of American fiction writer David Loeb Goodis
1918: Today, “the House Immigration Committee recommended the adoption of a resolution by Representative Slayden of Texas” which be beneficial to Jewish immigrants “authorizing readmission to the United States of aliens who were conscripted or have volunteered for service with the United States or the Allies.”
1918: An announcement was made today at the headquarters of the Palestine Restoration Fund, “that contributions for the fund were close to the $950,000 mark nearly $150,000 having been raised in the last ten days.
1919(29thof Adar I, 5679): For the first time since the end of The World War, observance of Parashat Vayakhel and Shabbat Shekalim.
1919: “Approval of the plans of Zionist leaders for the creation of a national Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine was given tonight by President to a delegation of representatives who spent an hour at the White House in conference with the President over the international stats of Jews around the world.”
1920: An appeal signed by several prominent Polish academics supporting historian Szymon Askenazy joining the faculty of Warsaw University was published today in Robotnik,“a newspaper published by the Polish Socialist Party.” (He did not get the position, probably because he was Jewish)
1920: The U.S. Supreme Court hear arguments in Missouri v. Holland in which Louis Marshall, submitted an amicus curae brief on behalf of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks
1921: In Harrisburg, PA, Jules Solomon, “a scrap-metal dealer” and homemaker Lena Solomon gave birth to Birdie Solomon who gained fame as “operatic soprano” Brenda Lewis.
1922: On the Lower East Side, Barnet and Tessie Greenglass gave birth to “Atomic Spy” David Greenglass, the brother of Ethel Rosenberg and the brother-in-law of Julius Rosenberg.
1923(14th of Adar, 5683): Purim
1923(14th of Adar, 5683): Sixty-seven year old Max Meyerhard a native of Krojanka, Germany who practiced law in Rome, Georgia for nearly forty years passed away today.
1923: In the Bronx, social worker Louis Keepnews and his wife, the former Naomi Perlman gave birth to “Orrin Keepnews, who as a record company executive and producer helped create some of the most celebrated recordings in jazz over a half-century.” (As reported by Nate Chinen)
1924: Birthdate of Calvin “Cal” Abrams, the native of Philadelphia the left-handed hitting outfield who played for several major league teams from 1949 to 1956.
1925(6th of Adar, 5685): Zionist leader Shneur Abel passed away today in NYC/
1926: It was reported that Jean Barondes, the daughter of Joseph Barondess, had joined with the Herzliah Hebrew Academy Choir and Cantor Adolphe J. Weisgal had provided the music at the gala dinner honoring her father’s “forty years of work in behalf of American Jewry.
1926: In the Bronx, chemist David Rothbard and his wife Rae gave birth to American economist Murray Rothbard.
1928(10th of Adar, 5688): Sixty-two year old Max Pine the native of Smolensk who came to the United States in 1889 who became the Secretary of the United Hebrew Trades passed away today.
1928: In Antwerp, Belgium, Morris Golinski, a tailor and his wife Caroline gave birth to Marie Golinski who gained fame as Mary Adelman, whose Osner Business Machines was the most famous of that dying breed – a typewriter repair shop.
1930: Twenty-two year old Solomon “Happy” Furth, who would compete in the 1932 Olympics, won “the 70 yard hurdles at the IC4A indoor meet” today.
1931: Birthdate of Lionel I. Pincus “an American finance executive, venture capitalist, and entrepreneur” who “ran the private equity firm Warburg Pincus from 1966 to 2002.”
1932: Birthdate of Jacob “Jack” Austin, the native of Calgary who went from being an attorney to a political leader whose career included serving the Canadian Senate.
1932: Reports published today explained that the delay between the Senate confirmation of Judge Cardozo and its transmittal to the President was due to “a Senate rule that all confirmations must be held through three executive sessions in the event that the Senate should wish to reconsider its action.
1932: The New York Times reported on speech by Senator Dill of Washington praising the appointment of Benjamin Cardozo to the U.S. Supreme Court.
1933: Despite the fact that he was gay, on his 28th birthday composer Marc Blitzstein married novelist Eva Goldbeck whose mother was soprano Lina Abarbanell, whose “father was the descendant of prominent Sephardic family.
1935: In Toronto, Aaron Waxman and his wife who together owned and operated Melinda Lunch gave birth to actor and director Albert Samuel “Al” Waxman the husband of Sara Waxman.
1935 (27th of Adar I, 5695):Eighty-three year old Samuel Sachs, an American investment banker passed away. He was born in Maryland in 1851 to Jewish immigrants from Bavaria, Germany. Sachs along with his longtime friend Philip Lehman of Lehman Brothers pioneered the issuing of stock as a way for new companies to raise funds. He married Louisa Goldman, the youngest daughter of close friends and fellow Bavarian immigrants, who had already seen their older child wed as well. Sachs then joined his father-in-law Marcus Goldman's firm which prompted the name change to Goldman Sachs in 1904. Together they underwrote securities offerings for such large firms as Sears, Roebuck and Company. During this time Goldman Sachs also diversified to become involved in other major securities markets, like the over-the-counter, bond, and convertibles markets which are still a big part of the company's revenue today. Sachs retired in 1928 and died in 1935.
1936(8thof Adar I, 5695): Seventy-six year old, Shalom Binder, the retired cantor and father of composer Abraham W. Binder, who had come to the United States from Poland forty-five years ago and was the “founder of the Federation of Galician and Bukowinian Jews” as well “as the first president of the Home of the Sons and Daughters of Israel” passed away at Bronx Hospital today.
1936(8thof Adar I, 5696): Sixty-one year old Isaac Brill, the leader and rabbi of Congregation Agudath Achim, native of Mainz and son the Jewish scholar Jechiel Bril, who came to the United States from London in 1904 where spent 25 years as the editor of the English department of The Jewish Daily News and was the first editor “of The Hebrew Standard which later merged with the Jewish Tribune” passed away today.
1936: When the “first crown session of Parliament” opened today in Athens, deputies swore their oath to their respective deities which meant “the Spanish Jews from Salonika swore by Jehova.”
1936: It was reported today that the Nazi Governor of the Saar has already warned that now that Germany has assumed full sovereignty over the region it “will become the most Jewless part of Germany.”
1936: “The official organ German Justice announced 763 notaries had been ousted through the recent Nuremberg anti-Jewish laws.”
1936: The newly formed Physician Committee of the United Palestine Appeal is scheduled to hold its first meeting this evening at the Harmonie Club under the leadership of co-chairmen Dr. Emanuel Libman and Dr. Bernard Sachs.
1937: “According to a statement issued” today “by the American Delegation to Palestine, Great Britain has not discharged her duties or fulfilled her pledges with respect to Palestine but instead has place artificial barriers to immigration there and obstructed the purchase of land by Jws and failed to give adequate assistance in reconstruction work.
1937: In Pittsburgh, the Convention of the Women’s League of the United Synagogue adopted resolutions “urging prompt ratification of the child labor amendment, passage of neutrality legislation to prohibit the use of American armed forces outside continental and territorial United States and endorsing President Roosevelt’s ‘good neighbor’ policy in Pan-American relations” at its final sessions. (Editor’s Note – For those critical of FDR’s response to the plight of the Jews of Germany, please note that this leading Jewish women’s organization favored the very kind of isolationist legislation that helped to tie the President’s hands.)
1937: “Lost Horizon,” the cinema version of the novel with the same name with a screenplay by Robert Riskin, co- starring Sam Jaffe and with music by Dimitri Tiomkin was released today in the United States.
1937: Rabbi Goodman “George” Lipkind wrote “Here’s Hoping” a three act farce.
1938: The Palestine Post (the progenitor of today’s Jerusalem Post) published the farewell message of the retiring High Commissioner, Sir Arthur Wauchope, addressed to the people of Palestine. In a separate letter to the Post, Sir Arthur wrote that “though rather busy during most of my leave in England, I always found time to read The Palestine Post... I hope to read your paper in future years.”
1938: The Palestine Post reported that Sir John Woodhead, Sir Allison Russel and Mr. A.P. Waterfield were appointed by the British Government to serve as members of the Technical Commission which will proceed to Palestine to investigate conditions for the country’s eventual partition.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that An Emek settler, Abraham Goldschlager, 38, was murdered by Arab terrorists near Mishmar Ha¹emek. Tirat Zvi came under heavy Arab fire.
1938: According to a report published today, The Jewish Agricultural Society, Inc. led by General Manager Dr. Gabriel Davidson, which aids Jews in settling on farms and then helps them with an educational and extension programs, has granted 12,313 farm loans totaling $7,513,857 since its founding in 1900.
1939: Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli is elected Pope and takes the name Pius XII. As Secretary of State for the Vatican he had negotiated a concordat with Hitler. As Pope, he would remain silent about the Nazis and the Holocaust even when a Roman Catholic nun who converted to Judaism years ago was taken to the death camp because, under Hitler’s Race Laws, she was really a Jew. Based on this alone, one wonders what this Pope thought about the meaning of baptism.
1940: “The police imposed curfew regulations at Tel Aviv tonight after breaking up widespread demonstrations protesting against British restrictions on the sale of Arab lands to Jews.
1942: Birthdate of Brooklyn born American musician Lewis Allan “Lou” Reed
1942(13thof Adar):As Purim began, Jews from Minsk refused to cooperate in latest deportation. Germans and Ukrainians retaliated by searching houses, dragging children to sand pits and throwing them in alive, throwing candies in after them as they died. By the end of Purim 5,000 Jews were murdered in Minsk. Jews all over Europe were tortured, murdered or deported that day included those from Krosniewice, Baranowicze, Lvov and Zdunska Wola
1942: At Janowska, eight laborers were ordered to stand in a barrel of water by Gestapo chief Dibauer, because "they didn't look too clean." They all froze to death by the next day as the ice hardened around their feet.
1943: Over 2,500 Jews in Salonica are crammed into 593 rooms in the Baron de Hirsh Ghetto. The ghetto was surrounded with high wooden fences, topped with barbed wire. Signs in German, Greek and Ladino warned Jews not to leave, under penalty of death.
1943: The daily transports to Treblinka continued. Included are New York Born Yetta Flater and London born Helene Rosenberg. Three hundred of the deportees that day were over 70 years old.
1943: In explaining the Nazi commitment to the Final Solution, Goebbels writes in his diary, “We are so entangled in the Jewish question that henceforth it is impossible to retreat.”
1944: Eighty-five year old Lucius Nathan Littauer, the first Harvard football coach, businessman and Congressman passed away today.
1944: Denise Bloch and a fellow SOE agent “were dropped back into central France” on what would, tragically prove to be her last mission since she would be captured in June and executed at Ravensbruck.
1945: Haaretz published the following description of kidnapping Yaakov Tavin during the “Hunting Season.” “Passersby in Dizengoff and Yirmiyahu streets were greatly struck…by the kidnapping of a young man in the street. The kidnapping occurred at 11 a.m, and was witnessed by a large number of people. A large taxi halted at the corner of Dizengoff and Yirmiyahu streets, and several men emerged, one of them dressed in police uniform. They approached the young man, who was standing on the pavement holding a package. Shouting 'Thief!', they attacked him and began to hit him. The crowd thought that he was in fact a thief, and several of them joined the attackers and helped them to push the young man into the taxi. He struggled with them and shouted in Yiddish and in Hebrew: 'Jews, help me! Why do you let them hit a Jew?' He was thrown into the car, which swiftly drove away.
1945: In Afula, Yemima and Adam Rubin gave birth to Michal Breslavy who gained fame Michal Bat-Adam who among other things was “the first Israeli woman to direct a feature film.”
1947: In Tel Aviv a radio announcement by the Irgun was heard in which the Jewish organization took responsibility for yesterday’s attack on a British officers’ club in Jerusalem yesterday. The Irgun said the attack was in retaliation for British attacks in Haifa on Friday, February 28.
1947: In response to the latest wave of violence, the British imposed martial law throughout Palestine. At 4 A.M. British troops occupied Petah Tikav Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv as well as other coastal communities while the government in Jerusalem imposed additional restrictions on Mea Sharim.
1947(10th of Adar, 5707): Four year old Ketti Shalom died tonight after having been shot by British forces as she stood on the balcony of her home in Jerusalem, which is under martial law. Her mother was wounded but survived the shooting.
1947: Composer Morton Gould and his second wife Shirley Blank gave birth to their second child David.
1949(1st of Adar, 5709): Rosh Chodesh Adar
1949(1st of Adar, 5709): Fifty-four year old Henry J. Berkowitz, the Rabbi at Temple Israel “the largest Jewish Congregation in the Pacific Northwest passed away today. Born in Philadelphia, a veteran of WW I, and a graduate of HUC, he wrote several books including Book Camp which “described his experiences as a Navy chaplain.” (As reported by JTA)
1949: “Two Blind Mice,” a comedy by Samuel and Bella Spewack opened on Broadway at the Cort Theatre.
1950(13th of Adar, 5710): Ta'anit Esther
1950: Israel Railways began regular passenger service today from Tel Aviv North Railway Station, via the Eastern Railway and Rosh HaAyin, to Jerusalem.
1950: “Salih Jabr, the Iraqi interior minister in a draft bill to parliament – Supplement to Decree 62 of 1933 -- that became law a week later which said the Jews were “free to go” as long as they give up their citizenship, agree never to return and basically left them impoverished at the time of their departure
1950: A bill was introduced in the Iraqi parliament allowing the Jews of Iraq to immigrate to Israel. Introduction of the bill required a large cash payment by the Israeli representatives. The “Jews could leave provided they left behind all gold, jewelry and valuables and provided that they also gave up their Iraqi citizenship.”
1950: In Iraq, Parliament passed the Revocation of Citizenship which had been introduced earlier on that same day by Saleh Jabr, the Minister of the Interior.
1950: A horse named Tel Aviv is entered in the second race at Hialeah Park in Miami.
1951(24th of Adar I, 5711): Yakov Gilyarievich Etinger, “one of the physicians accused in the ‘Doctor’s Plot’” died today in prisons as result of the brutal interrogations he was forced to endure.
1952: Birthdate of comedian and early star of SNL Laraine Newman and the sister of Emmy winning television writer Tracy Newman.
1952: It was reported today that 74 year old Dr. Alexander Marx, director of libraries and Jacob H. Schiff Professor of History at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America will be taking his first trip to Israel this month.
1953: Birthdate of Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold.
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported from Washington that the Eisenhower administration decided to pay more attention to Arab countries and less to Israel. The first concrete step in this direction was granting Egypt an $11m. credit so it could purchase American arms.
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that twenty Jewish families from Poland arrived in Austria on their way to Israel. They reported that the Polish Jews were in a state of panic and more families were expected to follow.
1956: Seventy-four year old Israel Zolli, the former chief rabbi of Rome who converted to Catholicism in 1945 passed away today.
1956: Morocco gains its independence from France; date celebrated as Independence Day in Morocco. Jews are known to have settled in what is no Morocco during Roman times. In 1948, the ancient Jewish community had over a quarter of a million members. Following violent attacks, large numbers of Jews began leaving for Israel. At the time of independence, Jews served in the parliament and held at least one ministerial post. The new government banned immigration to Israel. The ban was lifted in 1963 and Jews began moving en masse to Israel. The ancient community has now dwindled to a couple of thousand members.
1958: In “Israel’s Anniversary Year” Mary Qualley King described plans being made by Israelis to celebrate the country’s tenth anniversary.
1959: “Sleep Warm,” an album including songs by Alan Bergman and Harold Arlen was released today.
1961(14th of Adar, 5721): Purim is observed for the first time during the Presidency of John Kennedy.
1964: Pre-Broadway tryouts for “Anyone Can Whistle” “with a book by Arthur Laurents and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim” opened in Philadelphia.
1965: U.S. premiere “The Sound of Music” the movie version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical with a score by Irwin Kostal and a screenplay by Ernest Lehman.
1966: In Moscow, Mikhail Sheferovsky and Rachel Sheferovskaya gave birth to Felix Mikhailovich Sheferovsky who gained fame as real estate developer and business associate of Donald Trump Felix Henry Sater.
1970: “The white minority Rhodesian Front government, led by Ian Smith, severed ties with the British crown; Smith declared Rhodesia an independent republic.” The majority black population resisted the Smith government. A civil war broke between the Smith government and the black population which was represented by ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union) and ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People’s Union). Because of the civil war, most of the Jewish population (approximately 7,000 in number as of 1961) left the country. Eventually the minority white government was defeated and the Republic of Zimbabwe was formed.
1972: “Journey Through Rosebud” co-starring Kristoffer Tabori was released in the United States today.
1975: Birthdate of Rishon LeZion native Danny Niv, the “Israeli singer and rapper” known as “Muki.”
1978:The Jerusalem Post reported that Egypt was counting on US President Jimmy Carter to put forward an American peace package to put pressure on Israel and to break the apparent deadlock over the Israeli-Egyptian “declaration of principles.” In Israel government sources declared that the positions of the two sides remained far apart on major issues, especially on the problem of the future of the “administered areas.”
1978: “Fingers,” an aptly named drama about a pianist directed and written by James Tobac and starring Harvey Keitel was released in the United States today.
1978:The Jerusalem Post reported that Venezuela had announced that there were no obstacles in selling oil to Israel and welcomed cooperation on other aspects of energy.
1979: U.S. premriere of “Norma Rae” directed by Martin Ritt, with music by David Shire, a screenplay by Irving Ravetch and his wife Harriet Frank Jr. co-starring Ron Liebman.
1980(14th of Adar, 5740): Purim
1980: Yigal Allon’s funeral took place today at Kibbutz Ginosar on the shore of Lake Kinneret which had been his home for almost fifty years.
1981: Rockets from Lebanese territory struck several homes in the Galilee town of Qiryat Shemona today, wounding three people.
1981: Discovery of 5020 Asimov, an asteroid named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov.
1982: Rabbi Haim Meir Drukman lost his post as Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs.
1982(7th of Adar, 5742): Seventy-one year old Yoel Zussman the fourth President of the Supreme Court of Israel, passed away today.
1982: The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously adopted a resolution calling on the Soviet Union to end the persecution, arrests and trials of Jewish activists; to remove obstacles to emigration; and to respect the rights of its citizens to practice their religion
1982: The Dearborn Station, “a Romanesque Revival structure designed by Cyrus W. Eidlitz” was designated as an official Chicago Landmark.
1983: Shulamit Ran's Verticals“was premiered by pianist Alan Feinberg at New York's Merkin Concert Hall. The New York Times described the work by the Tel Aviv native as “rhapsodic and intriguing.”
1984: U.S. premiere of “This Is Spinal Tap” “an American 1984 rock music mockumentary written and scored by Rob Reiner who also co-starred along with Harry Shearer.
1984: U.S. premiere of “Harry and Son” directed, produced and written by Paul Newman, who co-starred in the feature along with Ellen Barkin.
1984: “Against All Odds” a romantic thriller featuring Saul Rubinek was released today in the United States.
1986(21st of Adar I, 5746): Marcel Liebman, Belgian historian and Holocaust survivor, passed away at the age of 56.
1986: A revival of “Jubilee” a musical with a book by Moss Hart opened today at The Town Hall.
1987:Law-enforcement officials said today that federal prosecutors are on the verge of seeking the indictment of Aviem Sella, a prominent Israeli Air Force officer who the Justice Department alleges played a key role in directing the espionage activities of Jonathan Jay Pollard,
1988:Dr. Inamullah Khan, secretary general of the Pakistan-based World Moslem Congress has been named as the winner of the $369,000 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion even though there are reports that the prize winner has been associated with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel causes.
1989: The Broadway production “Lend Me A Tenor” directed by Tony Award winner Jerry Sake opened at the Royale Theatre.
1991(16th of Adar, 5751): French musician Serge Gainsbourg passed away at the age of 62. Born Lucien Ginzburg, Gainsbourg survived the Nazi occupation of France to become a leading poet, songwriter, singer and director.
1992(27th of Adar I, 5752): The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, suffered a disabling stroke while praying at the gravesite of the previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of Lubavitch.
1993(9th of Adar, 5753): Yehoshua Weissbrod was stoned and then shot dead by Palesinian terrorists in the town of Rafa.
1993: ABC broadcast the episode of “Civil Wars” created by Steven Bocho who served with Executive Produces along with William M. Finkelstein and co-starring Debi Mazar and Alan Rosenberg.
1997: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Rubber Bullets:Power and Conscience in Modern Israel
by Yaron Ezrahi, the children’s book, When Chickens Grow Teeth: A Story From the French of Guy de Maupassant retold and illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin and Too Much Is Never Enough by Russian born architect Morris Lapidus, the man who “created Miami Beach in the 1950’s
by Yaron Ezrahi, the children’s book, When Chickens Grow Teeth: A Story From the French of Guy de Maupassant retold and illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin and Too Much Is Never Enough by Russian born architect Morris Lapidus, the man who “created Miami Beach in the 1950’s
1998: After almost three months of negotiations, Ronald Perelman and Al Dunlap reach an agreement involving the sale of Sunbeam and Coleman.
1999(14thof Adar, 5759): Purim
2000: Thomas Buergenthal began serving as a Judge of the International Court of Justice.
2001(7thof Adar I, 5761): Forty-seven year old British journalist and broadcaster John Diamond lost his battle with throat cancer and passed away today.
2001: “Inherit the Wind,” the controversial play co-authored Jerome Lawrence “that used Darwin vs. Genesis as a way to speak out against McCarthyism” opened at the Sheffel Theatre of the Topeka Civic Theatre & Academy
2001:“Eleanor Antin: Real Time Streaming” opened at the Cornerhouse in Manchester, UK.
2001: The Times of London reviewed The Jewish State: The struggle for Israel's Soul by Yoram Hazony
2002(18th of Adar, 5762): Eleven Israelis were killed in a Palestinian suicide bombing in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox neighborhood.
2003: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of interest to Jewish readers including 'The Pieces From Berlin': Swindling Holocaust Victims by John
Sutherland and Irving Howe: A Life of Passionate Dissent by Gerald Sorin.
2005: Start of the 12th Daf Yomi Cycle. Daf Yomi is translated as "Daily Page." Daf refers to the double-sided page of the Talmud. Daf is also the word for Plank. Tjere are those who say that the double meaning of the term Daf comes from a story about Rabbi Akiva who was saved by from drowning when he grabbed hold of a plank of a daf. By holding on a daf - a page of the Talmud, the Jew stays a float in the worldly sea. The program called Daf Yomi is "a systematic approach to the daily study of the Talmud formulated by Reb Meir Shapira of Lublin in 1923. The program enables Jews throughout the world to study the same daf or double-sided page of the Talmud simultaneously. Using this method, one can study the Talmud in a little over seven years. This system has become popular and there is plethora of sites that provide both text and audio explanations. There are also weekly summaries. The success of Daf Yomi has led to the creation of other cyclical study programs. These programs can be found on the web. Also, many congregations - Orthodox, Conservative and Reform - now have spontaneously formed lay study groups that cover this material. It is one more example of the burgeoning interest in Adult Jewish Education.
2005: Start of the 12th Daf Yomi Cycle. Daf Yomi is translated as "Daily Page." Daf refers to the double-sided page of the Talmud. Daf is also the word for Plank. Tjere are those who say that the double meaning of the term Daf comes from a story about Rabbi Akiva who was saved by from drowning when he grabbed hold of a plank of a daf. By holding on a daf - a page of the Talmud, the Jew stays a float in the worldly sea. The program called Daf Yomi is "a systematic approach to the daily study of the Talmud formulated by Reb Meir Shapira of Lublin in 1923. The program enables Jews throughout the world to study the same daf or double-sided page of the Talmud simultaneously. Using this method, one can study the Talmud in a little over seven years. This system has become popular and there is plethora of sites that provide both text and audio explanations. There are also weekly summaries. The success of Daf Yomi has led to the creation of other cyclical study programs. These programs can be found on the web. Also, many congregations - Orthodox, Conservative and Reform - now have spontaneously formed lay study groups that cover this material. It is one more example of the burgeoning interest in Adult Jewish Education.
2005: Final performance of television series “Boston Public” co-starring Fyvush Frinkel, the veteran of the Yiddish theatre who portrayed “history teach Harvey Lipshultz.”
2006: The Jerusalem Post reported on deteriorating condition for Jewish communities in parts of the former Soviet Union. In Uzbekistan authorities are probing the murder of one of Tashkent's rabbis. And despite pleas from the Jewish community and international organizations, the Tajikistan government has started to destroy the country's only synagogue.
2006(2nd of Adar, 5766): Marty Stein, who helped start Stein drugstores and Stein Optical, has died of cancer. He was 68. Mr. Stein was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 1994. He passed away in Milwaukee. A former pharmacist, Mr. Stein co-founded the first Stein drugstore in Menomonee Falls in 1961. He later expanded the chain into 19 stores, which he sold to the Walgreen Co. in 1979. He then started Stein Health Services Inc., which ran three companies in home health care, eye care and related fields. The Eye Care One division ran Wisconsin stores as Stein Optical and Chicago stores as EyeQ. Those were sold in the late 1990s.Mr. Stein also was involved in efforts to help Israel and Jewish immigrants, including serving as national chairman of a worldwide effort to airlift thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. By 1988, he had met President Ronald Reagan, the pope and Israeli leaders. Despite his international focus, Mr. Stein remained committed to helping those in his local communities.” There are two Americas in America," he once said. "There's the one where I live and there's the other one in places such as the inner city. I want to help other people who live in the other America to know the America I know. "Mr. Stein was active in groups such as the Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee. Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson called the news of Mr. Stein's death "devastating."
2006: This evening poet Rachel Tzvia Back gave a lecture entitled "Placing the Voice: The Personal and Political, Israel 2006" at Williams College. Though born in Buffalo, NY, she "is the seventh generation of her family in Palestine," according to this bio at The Drunken Boat. Her grandfather left there in the 1920s, seeking his fortune in America; in the 1980s she returned to Israel, completing the cycle, and lives there still.
2007: Ethiopian born singer Aiiala Ingdsht released her first album in Tel Aviv.
2007: The Secretary of State appointed Eliot Asher Cohen, the Harvard Ph.D. and graduate of the Army ROTC program at MIT “serve as Counselor of the State Department.
2007(12th of Adar, 5767): Former American Jewish Congress leader William Maslow died in his Manhattan home at the age of 99. Born in Kiev in 1907, Maslow moved to the United States with his family in 1911. He served as general counsel to the American Jewish Congress from 1945 to 1960, and as executive director from 1960 to 1972, guiding the organization’s fight against discrimination to the court system. Under Maslow’s direction, the American Jewish Congress fought housing restrictions on Jews in many communities, as well as discriminatory hiring and admissions policies at U.S. companies and universities. He filed the group’s amicus brief in Brown v. Board of Education and helping organize the 1963 March on Washington that featured the “I Have a Dream Speech.” He also founded the Commission on Law and Social Action, modeled after the ACLU and NAACP. A nephew of Paula Ben-Gurion, wife of Israel’s first Prime Minister, Maslow was a dedicated Zionist and helped lead Israel’s fight against the Arab economic boycott in the 1970s.
2007: 153 years to the day after the congregation now known as Temple Israel received its charter from the State of Tennessee, a historical marker was erected by the Shelby County Historical Commission, the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, and Temple Israel, on the corner where the synagogue had once stood describing the building as the "First Permanent Jewish House of Worship in Tennessee".
2007: After almost thirty two years, Jacob “Jack” Austin completed his service as a Senator from British Columbia.
2008: The Washington Post featured a review of Richard M. Cohen's Strong at the Broken Places.
2008: The Sunday New York Times features a review of Dreams and Shadows:The Future of the Middle East by Robin Wright and The Bush Tragedyby Jacob Wiesberg.
2008: In New York City, the 92nd Street Y presents what might be called“Jewish night the press” in a program styled “In the News With Jeff Greenfield—On the Election with Jonathan Alter, Joe Klein and Rich Lowry.”
2008: During Operation Hot Winter the “IDF decided to change its strategy today and sent a whole regiment (about 2000 men) into the Northern Strip to occupy Jabalya and Sajiyah but met stiff resistance from the Palestinians. In the bloodiest day for Gaza since 2002, close to 70 civilians were killed. Military deaths totaled 4 Palestinian fighters and 2 Israeli soldiers.”
2009: Jonathan David Leibowitz assuming the Chairmanship of the Federal Trade Commission.
2009: Sports Illustrated reports that Andy Roddic will “not be showing up at the Dubai Open” this week. “He’s ticked that Israel’s Shahar Peer was denied entry to the United Arab Emirates to ply in the women’s tournament.”
2009: At the 92ndStreet Y, playwright, author and actress Anna Deavere delivers the Annual State of Anti-Semitism lecture entitled “Hatred Knows No Boundaries, a unique address on the issues of hatred, racial conflict and genocide
2009: In Washington, D.C. Jewish author Adam Gopnikdiscusses and signs his new book, Angels and Ages: A Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life,
2009: Israel's UN envoy filed a letter of complaint about the continued rocket attacks from Gaza to the Secretary-General and the president of the Security Council, whose rotating chair is currently held by Libya. Ambassador Gabriela Shalev warned that the Hamas attacks would hinder efforts to reach a "stable and durable cease-fire" - a deliberate echo of language adopted by the Security Council in its January resolution calling for an end to Israel's Operation Cast Lead offensive in Gaza.
2009: In an article entitled “The Good, the Bad, the Bible,” Lisa Miller examines The Good Book by David Plotz, “a naïf wandering in a strange land full of eccentric people and incomprehensible rules.”
2010: Today is the day the New Israeli Foundation for Cinema & TV has set as the deadline for submitting scripts based on the stories of Sholom Aleichem that could be used for television productions. The selected scripts will be eligible for special funding supplied by the foundation.
2010: A direct-to-DVD sequel to the animated film Curious George titled Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!” based on the character created by Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey was released today.
2010:At noon today a demonstration that will include members of the Union of Israel Journalists who are demanding the safeguarding of public broadcasting in Israel is scheduled to take place at Beit Sokolov in Tel Aviv. The demonstration is being initiated by a group of organizations concerned that the sharp deterioration in employer/employee relations at the Israel Broadcasting Authority, coupled with the souring of relations between the IBA and the Finance Ministry and other government bodies, may result in a decision that the IBA is no longer necessary.
2010: The Tulane University Jewish Studies Program under the direction of Dr. Brian Horowitz is scheduled to present to present a program entitled “Obama and Israel,” featuring Mitchell Bard of the American Israeli Cooperative Enterprise
2010:Late today reports started to emerge that, contrary to initial reports, the Masorti synagogue in Concepcion was destroyed in the earthquake that had rocked Chile this past weekend.The head of the international Masorti organization, Rabbi Tzvi Graetz had been to Concepcion which was close to the epicenter of the earthquake. He said that ‘it was like the 'hurban habayit' [destruction of the Temple], the walls were all cracked and the roof had fallen down. I couldn't stay there, so I got the sifrei Torah and left,’”
2010: Amos Oz said today that the Khoury family of East Jerusalem had funded the translation of A Tale of Love and Darkness, his best-selling autobiography to promote coexistence. The translation which was done by Israeli Arab Jamal Gnaim, was done in memory of Khoury’s son George who was a promising Hebrew University law student when he was killed in a 2004 shooting attack while jogging on the university's Mt. Scopus campus.
2011: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to present a program entitled “Jewish Confederates” at Adas Israel Congregation.JHSGW Board Member Les Bergen’s presentation will include information about “a female spy living just doors from the White House and her sister, who ran a military hospital in Richmond and became known as the ‘Confederate Clara Barton.’”
2011:Pope Benedict XVI reiterated that the Jewish people are not responsible for Jesus' death in a new book released today. The Pope also denies the Gospel writers' claim that Jews working in the Temple collaborated with the Roman authorities, leading to Jesus' execution."Many readers will find this section of the book particularly interesting as the Pope reviews the historical positions taken about this," said Father Joseph Fessio, founder and publisher of Ignatius Press, the primary publisher of the Pope's books in the US. "He discusses some very controversial claims that have been made, and draws on some contemporary scholarly resources to reach a conclusion that I am certain will generate a lot of discussion."The book, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week - From the Entrance Into Jerusalem to the Resurrection,a sequel to a previous book on Jesus' life, the Pope describes "the final week of Jesus' earthly life."
2011:There were signs today of a new effort to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process after months of stagnation, but chances of a resumption of talks looked slim and Israel appeared to be stepping back from the stated goal of reaching a framework agreement resolving the core issues of the conflict by September. 2011(26thof Adar I, 5771):Eighty-seven year old Walter Zacharius, a publisher and iconoclast who released an unauthorized version of the erotic classic "Candy" and had the savvy and sales talk to help romance novels make the transition from drugstores to superstores to the Internet passed away today (As reported by Hillel Italie)
2012: Final day to make reservations for the 2012 Humanitarian Awards Dinner sponsored by the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.
2012:Joseph Cedar’s “Footnote,” a tragicomic tale of rival father-and-son Jewish scholars in the Talmud department of Hebrew University in Jerusalem is scheduled to open in New York today.
2012: Emanuel Berman, author of “City within a City” is scheduled to participate in a lecture and book signing sponsored by the YIVO Institute of Research.
2012:In his first public comments on a North American visit that will include talks with U.S. President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today Israel reserved the right to defend itself against Iran.
2012:Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said today that Israel is ready to help treat Syrians wounded in the uprising against President Bashar Assad.
2013(20thof Adar, 5773): In Cedar Rapids, the traditional minyan at Temple Judah gathers for Shabbat Parah which, the weekly portion includes the story of the Golden Calf, might be called “The Tale of Two Bovines.
2013: The Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival is scheduled the Minnesota Premiere of “Life In Stills.”
2013: The Israel String Quartet – Yigal Tuneh and Avital Steiner (violins), Robert Moses (viola), and Tzvi Moskovsky (cello) – is sechduedl to perform to pieces by Beethoven at the Eden-Tamir Music Center
2013: “After failing to assemble a coalition within the legally allotted month, Prime Minister Netanyahu went back to President Shimon Peres tonight to ask for an extension. Peres granted Netanyahu a two week extension, which is the maximum allowed by the law. If he fails to put together a coalition within two weeks, Peres can assign the job of assembling the coalition to someone else, and if that attempt fails, Israel will be required to hold new elections.” (As reported by Jewish Press News Briefs)
2013: Three Syrian mortars landed near moshav Ramat Magshimim in the southern Golan Heights this afternoon, causing no injuries or damage (As reported by Yoel Goldman and Gavriel Fiske)
2014(30th of Adar I, 5774): Rosh Chodesh Adar II
2014(30th of Adar I, 5774): Eighty-eight year old Justin Kaplan who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1967 for Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain passed away today. (As reported by Margalit Fox)
2014: The Center for Jewish History and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research are scheduled to present a symposium, “Tevye’s Daughters: How Jewish Women Confronted Modernity.”
2014: Yuval Adler’s “Bethlehem” a move that “explores the relationship between a Shin Bet agent and a Palestinian teenager is among the films competing tonight for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. (As reported by Debra Kamin)
2014: Niv Adiri who was “part of the team” nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound for “Gravity” is the only Israeli nominated for one of tonight’s Oscars.
2014: Opening session of the AIPAC Policy Conference is scheduled to take place today in Washington
2014: “The Sturgeon Queens,” a documentary featuring Russ & Daughters is scheduled to be shown at the Washington, DC Jewish Film Festival.
2014: Eight people have been arrested as suspects in a stabbing that took place in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, this evening. The background for the attack is suspected to be nationalistic.
2014: A Jewish man is beaten on the Paris Metro by assailants who reportedly told him “Jew, we are going to lay into you, you have no country.”
2014: Jerusalem is the site of the so-called million man march where haredim protest having to serve in the IDF.
2014: Michael Kapustin, the rabbi at Ner Tamid, the reform congregation in Simferpolo, the capital of Ukraine’s republic “said there is an atmosphere of fear in the city, with few cars and fewer pedestrians on the streets” and that his congregants should “stay indoors.” Ner Tamid has already been vandalized with “anti-Semitic graffiti including swastikas” (As reported by Amanda Borschel-Dan)
2014: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or Jewish readers including Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program That Brought Nazi Scientists to America by Annie Jacobsen and Not I: Memoir of a German Childhood by Joachim Fest.
2015: Dr. Hana Barouk is scheduled to deliver a lecture on”Chassidic Feminism? Rabbi Menachem Schneersohn's Approach to the Role of Women in Chabad Chassidism” at the Jewish Museum of Florida.
2015: Rabbi Robert Loewy is scheduled to officiate at the graveside services at Hebrew Rest Cemetery in New Orleans for Elma Bloch Rosenfeld, the mother of Becky Ripps.
2015: Evan Rapport is scheduled to deliver a lecture “Greeted with Smiles: Bukharin Jewish Music and Musicians in New York” at the Center for Jewish History.
2015: In an interview to be broadcast on Channel 2 today, “Israel’s recently retired Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz hinted that he helped prevent a possible Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear program
2015: Three thousand reservists will have to report for duty today as part of an exercise to prepare of “possible destabilization of the security situation in the West Bank.” (As reported by Justin Jalil)
2015: US Secretary of State John Kerry today delivered a vigorous defense of Israel before the UN Human Rights Council, urging its members to end what the United States says is its unfair and biased focus on the Jewish State that could undermine its credibility.
2015: Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed AIPAC today.
2016: “Black Jews: The Roots of the Olive Tree” and “Chaos Within” are scheduled to be shown today at the 26th annual Washington Jewish Film Festival.
2016: As part of the Books on Broadway seriesAuthor Barbara Isenberg is scheduled to chronicle the rich tale of how Sholem Aleichem's 19th-century Yiddish stories of Tevye the milkman and his family were re-imagined, set to music and popularized onstage and onscreen and scholar Diane Cole is scheduled to set the context with a background discussion on Yiddish author Sholom Aleichem, whose stories were the basis for Fiddler on the Roof.
2016:Dario Disegni, the president of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Italy, told a meeting of the foundation board in Rome today that Carbon 14 dating carried out by the Geochronology Laboratory of the University of Illinois has established that “a Torah scroll from the synagogue in the northern Italian town of Biella has been identified as probably the oldest in the world still owned and used by a Jewish community.” (As reported by JTA)
2016: In Tel Aviv, the Estonian Israeli Music Festival is scheduled to come to an end today.
2016: “Mr. Kaplan” a movie made in Uruguay about a Jewish refugee is scheduled to be shown at the Charlotte Jewish Film Festival.
2016: “A bipartisan slate of House lawmakers introduced a bill that would ensure that claims of Jews from Iran and Arab lands are addressed in any Arab-Israeli peace talks in which the United States is involved and also requires that any administration report to Congress each year what it has done to address the issue of those Jews.”
2017: The family of photojournalist David Rubinger made public the news today that he had passed away yesterday at the age of 92.
2017: The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center is scheduled to host “Growing Up Bielski” during which Michael “Mickey” Bielski, the son of Tuvia Bielski describes the his families fight for survival which was depicted in the film “Defiance.”
2017: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to host the final focus group to provide input for a new Jewish Museum.
2018: The 92nd Street Y is scheduled to host a concert by the Woman to Woman All-Start Band featuring clarinetist Anat Cohen.
2018: In Des Moines, I, Temple B’nai Jershurun is scheduled to host a special “Megillah reading for kids” this evening.
2018: The Jackson Hold Jewish Community Center is scheduled to host “Megillah Madness: Purim Shabbat and Improv Comedy Night.”