March 28
364: Roman Emperor Valentinian I appoints his brother Flavius Valens co-emperor dividing the Roman Empire between two rulers. Valens, The Emperor of the East “was an Arian and had suffered too severely from the powerful Catholic party to be interplant himself. He protected the Jews and bestowed honors and distinction upon them. Valentinian, who was Emperor of the West, also “chose the policy of tolerance in the struggle between Catholics and Arians, and permitted the profession of either religion without political disadvantage…” He extended this level of toleration to his Jewish subjects as well.
1038(20th of Nisan): Ravi Hai Gaon passed away
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112498/jewish/Rav-Hai-Gaon.htm
1193: On his way back from the Crusades, King Richard I of England becomes the prisoner of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor. When it came time to pay his ransom, the Jewish community was forced to contribute 5,000 marks to the total. This was more than three times the amount contributed by the entire City of London.
1285: Pope Martin IV passed away. “In 1281, Pope Martin IV” reminded “inquisitors that Jews should not be accused of encouraging converts to return to Judaism if all that was known that the Jews and converts had been engaged in conversations.” (For more see Between Christian and Jew by Paola Tartakoff)
1482: Lucrezia Tornabuoni the wife of Piero di Cosimo de' Medici passed away. She was doubly unusual for a woman of her time. First because she wrote poetry that was published and second because one of the subjects of her sonnets was Jewish – the Biblical figure of Esther.
1487: In Naples, Joseph Günzenhäuser printed “Psalms” with a commentary by Kimhi
1515: In Spain, in an example of how the Jews were treated, Alonso Sánchez de Cepeda whose father “Juanito de Hernandez, was a marrano (Jewish convert to Christianity) and was condemned by the Spanish Inquisition for allegedly returning to the Jewish faith” and his wife gave birth to Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada the future St. Teresa of Ávila
1537(16th of Nisan): King Sigismund I of Poland issued a decree granting a monopoly of importation and publication of Hebrew books to the Helitz brothers who had established the first Hebrew printing press in Poland. The Jews resisted the edit since the Helitz brothers had converted to Christianity.
1592: Birthdate of Czech educational reformer John Comenius. Three hundred years later, the imperial government would thwart plans by Czech nationalists to celebrate his birth which would lead to mob violence that would eventually be directed against the Jewish quarter of Prague.
1610(4th of Nisan): Rabbi Ben-Zion Zarfati of Venice passed away.
1744: In New York City, Isaac Mendes Seixas and Rachel Franks Levy gave birth to Moses Mendes Seixas.
1737: Joseph Suess Openheimer (Jud Suess), former confidential adviser to Karl Alexander, duke of Wuerttemgerg, was interrogated for the first time by a judicial examiner preparing an indictment on charges of high treason, violation of the constitution, and oppression of religion.” Although the charges were totally bogus, he would be convicted and hung. He died a proud Jew reciting the Shema as he climbed the scaffold to his death. (As reported by Abraham P. Bloch)
1763: In Philadelphia, Tabitha and Mathias Bush gave birth to Isaiah Bush
1795: As part of the Third Partition of Poland, the Polish Duchy of Courland ceased to exist when it became part of Imperial Russia. From 1772 until 1795 there were three successive partitions of the land that included Poland and Lithuania. The partitioning powers were Prussia, Austria and Hungary. Russia had gone to great lengths to limit its Jewish population. However, when it acquired its portion of Poland, it acquired a large Jewish population that it greeted with increasingly vicious anti-Semitism.
1797(1st of Nisan): Rabbi Saul Shiskes of Vilna, author of Shevil ha-Yashar passed away
1807: In London, Soloman and Sarah Polack gave birth to Joel Samuel Polack, the first Jew to settle in New Zealand (1830).
1818: Birthdate of Wade Hampton III the Confederate General and governor of South Carolina with whom Edwin Warren Moise served during the war. In 1876, Moise supported Hampton in his run for governor and ran successful for the position of adjutant general on Hampton’s ticket.
1820: Birthdate of Italian author Moses Soave, the native of Venice who wrote biographies on 16th century Jewish poet Sara Copia Sullam, 16thcentury Portuguese physician Amatus Lusitanus, 16th century Italian physician Abraham de Balmes, 10th century Italian physician Shabbethai Donnolo and 16th century French born Italian scholar Leon de Modena.
1824: In Nachod, Bohemia, Joseph and Sulamith Mautner gave birth to Isaac Mautner.
1824(28thof Adar II, 5584): Ninety-five year old Solomon Pinto, the Yale graduate, soldier in the American Revolution and member of the Society of Cincinnati who was the son of Jacob and Thankful Pinto and the husband of Clarissa Pinto passed away today.
1825(9th of Nisan): Rabbi Jacob Zevi Yales, author of Melo ha-Roim, passed away
1826(19th of Adar II): Rabbi Jacob Kahana of Vilna, author of Ge’on Ya’akov passed away.
1827: In Mayence, Germany, Rabbi Samuel and Sophie Bondi gave birth to Hugo Bondi
1832(26th of Adar II, 5592): Sixty-nine year old mathematician Lazarus Bendavid passed away today in Berlin.
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_International_Encyclop%C3%A6dia/Bendavid,_Lazarus
1832: In Mlečice (modern day Czech Republic) Marcus and Maria Lobl gave birth to Jacob Lobl.
1840: Birthdate of Eduard Carl Oscar Theodor Schnitzer the German born Jewish doctor who converted to Islam and gain fame as Mehmed Emin Pasha, a prominent leader of the Ottoman Empire who served as governor of Egypt. During his service, he would be captured by rebels and the international Emin Pasha Relief Expedition led by the famous explorer Henry Morton Stanley would come to his rescue.
1843: In Heidingsfeld, Germany, Joseph and Nanny Rosenheim gave birth to Julius Rosenheim, the husband of Ida Rosenheim.
1849: Birthdate of French orientalist James Darmester
1850(15thof Nisan, 5610): Pesach
1851: In Neuilly-sur-Seine,Nathaniel de Rothschild and Charlotte de Rothschild (née de Rothschild) gave birth to Baron Arthur de Rothschild who bequeathed his artworks to the Louvre and “provided the prize money for the America’s Cup.” (This date is provided by the Jewish Encyclopedia which conflicts with other sources.
1854: Great Britain and France declared war on Russia marking the start of the Crimean War. The Paris Treaty of 1858, concluding the war, granted Jews and Christians the right to settle in Palestine, forced upon the Ottoman Turks by the British for their assistance in the war effort. This decision opened the doors for Jewish immigration to Palestine.
1857: According to reports published today, the Jews Hospital in New York has enough beds to care for 170 patients. Currently, approximately 50 of those beds are in use.
1858: Birthdate of Imar Boas, he native of Exin, Prussia, a specialist in abdominal medicine who also authored several works on the topic.
1861: "The Hebrew Son" is scheduled to be performed at the Winter Garden in NYC, “for the special delectation of our Judaic brethren.”
1863: During the U.S. Civil War, two Jews were arrested today on the Thomas A. Morgan while she was sailing from Fortress Monroe to Yorktown, on charges that they had a load of contraband goods in their possession
1864: In New York, the Assembly adopted a bill “authorizing the conveyance of property to the Hebrew Benevolent Society.”
1865(1stof Nisan, 5625): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
1865: Thirty-four year Philadelphia native Myer Asch who had been serving with the Union Army since September of 1861 “was honorably discharged and mustered out with the rank of brevet Colonel of United States Volunteers” after spending most of the war with cavalry units of the Army of the Potomac except for the six months he spent as a prisoner in several Confederate prisons.
1865(1stof Nisan, 5625): Sixty-eight year old Leopold "Löbl Jünger" Strakosch the husband of Julia Strakosch passed away in Brno, Moravia.
1866: Birthdate of Leon Kahn who was interred in the Jewish cemetery at Morgan City, LA when he passed away.
1867: A meeting was held today in Richmond, VA where the participants expressed their indignation at the decision by the insurance companies “to take no more ‘Jew Risks.’” Those in attendance, many of whom were Jews, adopted resolutions stating that they would not do business with any company that took such action. The Mayor of Richmond, Joseph C. Mayo, told the meeting that he had been in the insurance business for several years and had most of his dealings with Jews whom he described as upright and “honest in their conduct.” While serving as prosecuting attorney, he could only think of three Jews who had been brought before and while sitting with them while serving in the City Council “he had found them trustworthy.”
1868: Birthdate of Simon Oscar Pollock, the native of Minsk who was forced to flee the United States in 1890 because of his political activities along with his wife Julia Moschowitz where he pursued a career as a lawyer, author and counsel to the Political Refugees Defense League.
1869(16th of Nisan, 5629): Second Day of Pesach; first day of the Omer.
1873: After accusations of ritual murder surfaced in Turkey, letters were sent to the Christians leader in Marmara, Gallipoli, Bursa , Salonica, Smyrna, Manisa, Chios, Adrianople, Janina, Silistria and other cities to warn of this behavior. The letters were formulated by the Turkish Jewish leadership in conjunction with the Greek Patriarch.
1875: It was reported today that Rabbi Brettenheim of Baltimore’s Howard Street Congregation recently officiated at the wedding of Rosa Stern, daughter of the later Bernhard Stern and Mr. Solomon Hochschild.
1876(3rd of Nisan, 5636): Eighty-year old Hungarian born violinist Joseph Böhm “who was a member of the string quartet, which premiered Beethoven's 12th String Quartet” and “a director of the Vienna Conservatory” passed away today.
1877(14th of Nisan, 5637): Fast of the First Born
1878: In New York City, “Babetta (née Newgass) and German-born immigrant Mayer Lehman, one of the three brothers who cofounded the Lehman Brothers investment banking firm” gave birth to Herbert Henry Lehman who served as Lt. Gov., Gov. and U.S. Senator from New York.
http://library.columbia.edu/locations/rbml/units/lehman/biography.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/nyregion/herbert-lehman-biography.html?_r=0
1878: Birthdate of Abraham Walkowitz, the Siberian born “American painter grouped in with early American Modernists.
http://rogallery.com/Walkowitz_Abraham/Walkowitz-bio.htm
http://www.askart.com/artist/Abraham_Walkowitz/30115/Abraham_Walkowitz.aspx#
1880(16th of Nisan, 5640): Second day of Pesach; 1st day of the Omer
1880: Birthdate of Louis Wolheim the multi-lingual Cornell football player who was fluent in Yiddish who gained fame as an actor in silent films, Broadway and finally in talkies including “All Quiet on the Western Front.”
1880: It was reported today that in Tula, Orel, and Kharkoff , the Russian government has “ruthlessly expelled” the Jews who have established businesses over the last several years.
1880: It was reported today that instead of improving the conditions of his Jewish subjects, the Czar has begun treating them with “increased severity.” The Jews have been forced to claim that they are Protestants to avoid be expelled from St. Petersburg by the police.
1880: It was reported today that an international conference is going to be held at Madrid aimed at adopting measures to protect the Jews of Morocco.
1880: It was reported today that the Jewish Messengerhas expressed its gratitude for the influence the United States has exerted on behalf of the Jews of Morocco. The paper views the United States diplomat serving in Morocco as “the best and most powerful friend the Jews of that country have.”
1881: Rabbi Nachum Levison of Safed, Palestine, and his wife gave birth to Sir Leon Levison, “the first chairman of the board of directors of the publishing house of Marshall, Morgan and Scott, the founder of relief funds for Russian Jews and Palestine Jews and the first President of the International Hebrew Christian Alliance who in 1908 married Kate Barnes, the daughter of John Barnes.
1882: A pogrom begins in the largely Jewish town of Balta, in Podolia, Russia.
1883: Jennie E. Lyman, a young gentile girl from Cleveland, Ohio, married Max Rosenberg while studying in New York City unbeknownst to her parents.
1884: Samuel Shrimski completed his term as a member of the New Zealand Parliament of Oamaru.
1889: Birthdate of Russian native Harry Cassman the prominent Atlantic City lawyer and “longtime leader of Beth Israel “who, in late 1923, founded what is now Jewish Federation of Atlantic & Cape May Counties with a group of local Jewish leaders and who was the husband of Celia Cassman and the father of Elaine Cassman McGee.
http://www.jewishvoicesnj.org/news/2015-09-16/Voice_at_the_Shore/I_will_always_have_sand_in_my_shoes.html
1890: Birthdate of Joseph Irving Pascal the native of Kovno who came to New York City in 1901 where he earned two degrees at Columbia before graduating from the Rochester School of Optometry.
1890: Rabbi Gottheil will officiate at the funeral of Emanuel Bernheimer one of the oldest members of Temple Emanu-El and Rabbi Silverman will officiate at the graveside services when the deceased is interred in the Salem Field Cemetery.
1891: Edward Lawrence Levy of England won the first World Weightlifting Championship which had been organized by the International Weightlifting Federation.
1892: The newly elected officers of the Jewish Theological Seminary Association are Joseph Blumenthal, President; M.I. Asch of Philadelphia, Vice President; Simon Heizig, Vice President; Daniel P. Hays and Jacob Singer of Philadelphia, Secretaries.
1892:L'Osservatore cattolico, reported that a leading German anti-Semite has thanked them and their extensive reporting on the crimes of the Jews "for having furnished him with such good scientific material" to him and his conservative political party.
1893: Joseph H. Senner was appointed Commissioner of Immigration at New York which means he will be charge in Ellis Island, the entry point for tens of thousands of eastern European Jews – a position formerly filled by Colonel Weber.
1893: Birthdate of Arnold Rice Rich, the native of Birmingham, Alabama, graduate of U. Va. And Johns Hopkins Medical School who served as Chairman of the Department of Pathology and pathologist-in-chief of the Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1944 to 1958 during which time he was married to “pianist and composer Helen Jones with whom he had two children – Adrienne and Cynthia.
1895: The Monte Relief Society hosted a grand cakewalk at the Terrace Garden tonight.
1896(14thof Nissan, 5656): Shabbat HaGadol; In the evening, the first Seder
1896: Over 150 poor Jewish immigrants from a variety of European countries took part in a Seder at the Hebrew Sheltering House on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. There was no charge for the Seder. The Hebrew Sheltering House also provided meals throughout the holiday at no charge.
1896: Rabbi Gustav Gottheil conducted Passover services this evening at Temple Emanu-El.
1896: Herzl took part in the Seder of the Zionist student association "Unitas".
1896: “Mll. Marsy’s Testimony” published today described the appearance of one of the key witnesses in the case brought by the state against ten conspirators including Armand Rosenthal to blackmail Max Lebaudy, the son of a wealthy sugar refiner. Before his arrest, Rosenthal used the pen name Jacques Saint Cere in his role as correspondent for Le Figaro and The New York Herald.
1897: M.S. Isaacs, the President of the Board of the Baron de Hirsch Fund presided over a meeting held at Temple Emanu El in New York which was also attended by Emanuel Lehman (Tea surer), Julius Goldman (Secretary), Henry Rich, James Hoffman, William B. Hackenberg and Judge Myer Sulzberger of Philadelphia.
1897: “Mucha’s famous Sarah Bernhardt cartoon” is among the works that will be shown at the poster exhibit sponsored by the Albany Club that is opening today.
1897: Birthdate of Lewis Coleman Cohen a “Labour councilor on the Brighton Borough Council”
1897: “The United Brothers,” a Jewish fraternal organization, celebrated its 50thanniversary “at the Grand Central Palace…with a reception this afternoon and a banquet followed by a ball this evening.” Among the speakers were Marks Fishel, George Hahn, Judge Joseph E. Newburger and Jacob Marks.
1899: “Boys Call On The Mayor” published today described an unscheduled visit six Jewish boys paid on the Mayor of New York. The boys were members of the City History Club of the Educational Alliance and they hold “his honor” that they were studying the history of the city and they thought they “would like to meet its ruler.” The mayor gave them each an autograph and then had a policeman give them an escorted tour of city hall.
1900(29th of Adar II, 5660: Mendel Hirsch, the eldest son of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch passed away. Born in 1833, he Bible teacher and commentator as well as a poet. After receiving his PhD in 1854, he taught at a school founded by his father. Several of his articles were published in the monthly magazine Jeshrun. His daughter Rachel Hirsch was the first woman to be appointed as a professor of Medicine in Prussia.
1901(8th of Nisan, 5661): Eighty three year old German physician turned poet and dramatist Max Ring who “in 1856 married Elvira Heymann, the daughter of publisher Karl Heymann passed away today in Berlin.
1901: Birthdate of Charles E. Smith, a Russian immigrant who became a successful real estate developer in Rockville, MD where he is philanthropies included the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School
1902: Birthdate of violinist Paul Godwin. Born Pinchas Goldfein in Poland, Godwin first gained fame playing under that name in his native country. He moved to the Netherlands where his career flourished under the name of Godwin. Godwin miraculously survived the Holocaust. A virtuoso in his day, his works are largely unknown to modern audiences.
1903: As part of another meeting with the Commission, Herzl, Goldsmid and Stephens visit Lord Cromer. He states that the Zionists should now demand the concession from the Egyptian government. He recommends that they engage lawyer named Carton de Wiart, to assist in this endeavor.
1903: In Bohemia, which at that time was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Mordko Serkin and his wife gave birth to pianist Rudolf Serkin who first performed in the United States in 1933 before making it his permanent home in 1939
https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/10/obituaries/rudolf-serkin-88-concert-pianist-dies.html
1904(12th of Nisan, 5664): Dr. Abraham B. Arnold, a graduate of Washington University School of Medicine who was “granted a certificate to practice in California in 1890” passed away today in San Franciscol
1905: In Pittsburgh, PA, Henry Berman who served as a general manager at Universal Pictures and his wife gave birth to producer Pandro Samuel Berman.
1906: “Judge Cohen Tells Jews of Their Weaknesses” published today included a warning from the New York jurist that “rich Jews…can get to be a pretty arrogant sort of person” who need to avoid being “purse proud” while Oscar Straus countered that Jews are sometimes mistaken as being materialistic because they “have been so hard-pressed and have had to struggle so hard” to make a living when in fact “the Jew was remarkable for his high ideals.”
1907: Jews on the Lower East Side sponsored a benefit performance in a Bowery theatre this evening with the funds to go to starving people in China. Local Chinese had raised thousands of dollars to relieve the suffering of Russian Jews and the Jews were responding in kind. The turnout was less than expected because many of the Jews were preparing for Passover which begins tomorrow night and since the performance was in Yiddish, Chinese patrons would not have been able to understand the performance.
1907: As violence bordering on revolution continues in Romania, the peasants in Northern Moldavia are reportedly prepared to renew their plundering and pillaging at the start of Passover, if the government does not fulfill all of its promises. This does not give the government much time to act since Passover begins tomorrow evening, March 29, 1907.
1908:Ein Walzertraum (A Waltz Dream) an operetta by Oscar Straus opened at the Hicks Theatre in London today.
1908: Birthdate of Isaak Kikoin the physicist who won both the Stalin and Lenin prizes and who played a key role in the development of the Soviet atomic program. He was born at Žagarė the same town that was the birthplace of Rabbi Israel Salanter and American labor leader Sidney Hillman.
1909: In Detroit, Michigan, Goldie (née Kalisher) and Gerson Abraham gave birth to Nelson Ahlgren Abraham who was raised in Chicago where he gained fame as author Nelson Algren.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/13/books/review/nelson-algren-biography-mary-wisniewski.html?ref=headline&nl=bookreview&emc=edit_bk_20161111&_r=0
1911: Max Florin’s black and white photo was printed in thumbnail size, along with a one-paragraph story” published today under the headline, “His Friends Think He Was Rescued.”
1912:Constantin C. Arion, who as the Rumanian Minister of Foreign Affairs would say that his “Government would grant rights to the Jews in accordance with the peace treat” and that the Government “would completely abolish Article 7 of the Rumanian Constitution” which states that “Jews in Rumania are aliens and that naturalization is only possible for them individually” began serving as Minister of Administration and Interior of Romania today.
1913(19thof Adar II, 5673): Thirty-eight year Viennese born pianist and composer Erich Wolf passed away in New York City today.
1913(19thof Adar II, 5673): Forty-four year old Rudolphn Beck, a Professor of Surgical Anatomy at the Chicago College of Dental Surgery passed away today.
1914: Birthdate of Oscar winning screen writer Edward Anhalt
1915: Birthdate of Jacob Harold Levison, the native of McDonald, PA, who gained fame as Oscar winning song writer Jay Livingston.
1915: During World War I, The Holland-America liner Maastendyk arrived in Amsterdam today from New York carrying ten pounds of Matzoth which were to be shipped to Rabbi Bernard Pressen in Berlin. As part of the laws adopted to conserve resources for the war effort, the German government had issued an order banning the use of wheat for making Matzah, so the Rabbi was depending on this shipment from the United States for his Seder. At this point in the war, both the Netherlands and the United States were neutral so no laws were being violated by sending goods to Germany.
1915: Judge Nathaniel E. Harris, who will become Governor of Georgia on May 1stcommented on the Leo Frank case saying “the Supreme Court will not be through with the case until some days after I take office and it is quite possible that I may never be asked to pardon Frank.”
1915: The American Jewish Relief Committee issued a special appeal for funds needed to alleviate the suffering of Jews caught in war-torn Europe. With Passover starting tomorrow evening, the committee invoked holiday motifs in its appeal. Responding to the appeal would be a fitting response to the words of the Haggadah, “let all who are hungry come and eat; let all al that are needy come and celebrate the Passover.”
1915: In “Russia of Today and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” published today French author Jean Finot presents a portrait of a “civilized Russia” that has been erroneously portrayed as Cossack barbarians by Germans – a portrait that includes the statement that “Jews, Moslems and Christians live together in harmony” and that “Jews” among others “should feel convinced that their martyrdom will cease when normal life is resumed and Germany decisively defeated” – statements that stand at odds with those who know a different reality of the Russian Jewish experience.
1916: In South Africa, Nathan Adelstein and Rosie Cohen gave birth to Dr. Abraham Manie “Abe” Adelstein “who became the Chief Medical Statistician of the United Kingdom.”
http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/31
1916: “Only one young man took the competitive exam today for the appointment to United States Naval Academy from Representative Isaac Siegel’s Congressional District” which is a bit unusual because in the past there have been six or seven candidates to take the exam.
1916: “Relics from Palestine” and several European art works were on sale at tonight’s sessions of the Jewish relief bazar which has raise $100,000 as of tonight.
1917: As the British forces advanced in Palestine, the Jews of Tel Aviv and Jaffa were expelled by the Turks. The Turks were sure that the Jews were secret (and not so secret) allies of the British Army. Tel Aviv had been founded by Jews eight years earlier and was truly the only all Jewish city in existence at the time.
1917: Leo Motzkin of Kiev, “one of the leading Zionists publicists and the head of the international press bureau” which played a key role in gaining an acquittal of Mendel Bellis said today in New York “that he was confident that the Russian Revolution would mean the ultimate liberation of the Jews and unprecedented progress for the Zionist movement.”
1917: Dr. B.E. Shatzky told a group of American businessmen “at a luncheon give under the auspices of the American-Russian Chamber of Commerce at the Hotel Biltmore” “aroused great enthusiasm when he declared that ‘through a glorious bloodless reconstruction all class and racial barriers, including discriminations again the Jews in Russia had disappeared forever at one blow. The Jewish question is now settled by Russian democracy, once and forever.’”
1917: The second concert of the Schola Cantorum given tonight at the Carnegie Hall included “two traditional Yiddish songs” – “Auram” and “Eili,” an “incantation sung by Russian, Polish and New York Jews based on” synagogue melodies.
1917: “The Times Riga correspondent wrote today, “I am grieved to state that the Jews are not behaving well. They have become citizens of free Russia but they do not display a sense of responsibility befitting their new positions. Similar complaints had reached me at Petrograd. Hotheaded, hysterical Jewish youths are playing into the hands of worse than demagogues and Russia’s external enemies….If anarchy comes to Russia, there bound to be reaction in which the Jews will be the first sufferers.”
1918(15thof Nisan, 5678): The last Pesach of World War I
1918: While serving with the 1st Australian Infantry Brigade, thirty-two year old Leonard Maurice Keysor who had already earned a Victoria Cross was wounded was wounded today during fighting on the defensive Méricourt-Sailly-Le-Sec line and temporarily evacuated
1918: During World War I, as Jews begin to observed Passover they will have to deal with food shortages brought about the food conservation rules of the United States Administration which means that there is a thirty percent reduction in the amount of matzoth and increase in the cost of mutton which has risen from six to seven cents a pound in 1917 to 11 to 12 cents per pound this year.
1918: Based on information supplied by the Jewish Welfare Board, “Jewish families in the vicinity of army and navy cantonments” are scheduled to act as hosts for Jewish soldiers and sailors” for a second day so they may observe Passover.
1918: At Temple Israel of Harlem, Rabbi M.H. Harris delivered a sermon “Passover and the Present Cirisis.
1918: During Passover services today at Ohab Zedek Synagogue, Rabbi Bernard Drachman “appealed to the Jews of America to give their adopted land their assistance and full cooperation.”
1919: Birthdate of composer Jacob Avshalomov. Born in Tsingtao China, Avshalomov, was the son of the famous Russian composer Aaron Avshalomov. Avshalomov moved to the United States in 1937 where he pursued his musical career. He also provided a haven in the United States for his more famous father after World War II.
1919: Today Captain J. M. Loughborough, a member of the committee preparing for the return of the 77th Division, “praised the record made by Jewish boys from the east side whose deeds…had been rewarded by official recognition in many cases from their divisional commander and General Pershing” and “declared that New York should be proud of the 14,006 Jewish boys in the Metropolitan Divison.”
1921(18th of Adar II, 5681): Fifty-two year old Julia Wormser Seligman the former of wife of Jefferson Seligman from whom she had been divorced for several years, passed away today in New York City.
1921: In Chelsea, Massachusetts, “Abraham Fradkin, who came from Russia, and the former Eva Steinberg, from Poland” gave birth to their seventh and young child Irving Fradkin the optometrist who founded the Dollars for Scholars Program. (As reported by Sam Roberts)
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/us/irving-fradkin-died-scholarship-america.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well
1921: In Hanover, Germany, Sendel and Riva Grynszpan gave birth to Herschel Grynszpan the alleged assassin of Ernst vom Rath whose death was the pretext for Kristallnacht.
1921: Birthdate of Jerzy Bielecki the Polish member of the resistance who was named a righteous gentile by Yad Vashem. (As reported Dennis Hevesi)
1921: In Jerusalem, Churchill met with Abdullah ruler of Transjordan who sought to have an Arab Emir (himself) appointed to rule Palestine saying that this was the best way to avoid violence between Arabs and Jews. Churchill sought to reassure the Abdullah, that his fears were groundless. He told him that if Abdullah would not oppose Jewish settlement west of the Jordan, he would not have to worry about Jewish settlements east of the Jordan in Transjordan.
1926: “Jews of Poland Again Face Periods of Want” published today described the “adverse economic condition that have undone much the past relief work which has left one million people in need of aid that can only met by charitable giving from the Unite States.
1927: Six years before the Nazis came to power Fraud Ludendorff, the wife Erick Ludendorff, the Quartermaster General of the Kaiser’s army in WW I took the lecture platform in Berlin where she declared that “Freemasonry and Jesuitism are adding the Jewish race to subdue and enslave the Germans and all the Nordic races.”
1928: The Presidium of the General Executive Committee of the USSR passed the decree "On the attaching for Komzet of free territory near the Amur River in the Far East for settlement of the working Jews." The decree meant "a possibility of establishment of a Jewish administrative territorial unit on the territory of the called region.
1928(6th of Nisan): Rabbi Dan Plotzki, author Kelei Hemdah, passed away
1928: In Berlin, Johanna "Hanka" Grothendieck, Johanna "Hanka" Grothendieck, the Chassi turned anarchist gave birth to French mathematician Alexander Grothendieck.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/math-great-grothendieck-son-of-jewish-nazi-victim-dies-at-86/
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/world/europe/alexander-grothendieck-math-enigma-dies-at-86.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=1
1930: In Paris, “English political activist Marion Cave and Carlo Rosselli, the scion of “a wealthy Tuscan Jewish family” and “anti-fascist activist” gave birth to poet Amelia Rosselli, the granddaughter of Amelia Pincherle Rosselli, a Venetian Jewish feminist, playwright, and translator from a family prominent in the Italian Risorgimento, the movement for independence.
1930: In Chicago, Russian Jewish immigrants Lillian Warsaw and Selig Friedman, “a sewing machine salesman gave birth to Jerome Isaac Friedman, the physicist who co- discovered the quark and won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1990.
1930: Birthdate of Albert S. Ruddy, the native of Montreal who was raised in New York and began work in film and television only after finding out that a career in architecture and construction was not for him.
1932: The first Maccabiah athletic games took place in Tel Aviv with representatives from 14 countries.
1933: The German Bishops' Conference bestowed a new level of acceptance of Hitler and the Nazis when the church leaders “conditionally revised prohibition of Nazi Party membership.”]
1934(12thof Nisan, 5694): Sixty-nine year old Russian born Louis Zuro, the younger brother of textile Aron Surasky, the father of the late Josiah Zuro, the music direct at Pathe motion picture studio and the husband of Leah Zuro, who began working on productions of Hammerstein’s grand operas in 1910 and organizing free Sunday concerts in 1924 passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1934/03/29/95038244.pdf
1934: Word of “Boycott Day” leaks out causing prices on the Berlin Stock Exchange to drop. Responding to economic reality Hitler decides that Boycott Day will go forward, but will last only for one day instead of serving as the kickoff day for an on-going boycott of Jewish businesses and professionals designed to destroy the economic well-being of Germany’s Jewish population.
1934: Rogers and Effie D. Pinner sold their house at 39 Riggs Place in South Orange, NJ.
1935: Mayor Fiorello La Guardia attended the formal opening of Reuben’s Restaurant and Delicatessen on East 58th Street in New York City.
1936: “The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee estimated” today that “the number of refugees from Germany to various European countries since the beginning of the Hitler regime totaled 58,837” of which 25,000 went to France and 5,837 went to Holland.
1936: “Poland Passes Meat Act” published today described the passage by the Polish Senate of a government bill designed “to break a Jewish monopoly in meat butchering” by permitting “the ritual slaughtering of animals to the extent of the amount necessary for Jews.” (Editor’s note – considering the blatant anti-Semitism of the Polish government including their attempts to ‘deport’ their Jewish population the motives of this bill expressed by the government are disingenuous to say the least.)
1936: “The high-geared Nazi party machine has undertaken” measures “to compel every eligible voter…to go the polls” tomorrow where only “yes” votes will be counted.
1937(16th of Nisan, 5697): Second Day of Pesach; 1st day of the Omer
1937: Twenty-six Polish Jews who was been arrested “for communistic activities” were sent to concentration camps today.
1937: “Rabbi Stephen S. Wise of New York, the President of the American Jewish Congress and Canon Anson Phelps Stokes of Washington Cathedral…agreed tonight in a panel discussion at the Town Hall of Washington that knowledge and faith were the great requisites for combating religious persecution.”
1937: In “Birobidjan Called Place of Promise” Jacob M. Budish “one of the founders of Ambijan, an organization supporting the settlement of Jews in Biro-Bidjan, in eastern Siberia” described progress being made in this region where American Jewish organizations have received permission to settle one thousand families. (Editor’s note – This Jewish region was an attempt by the Soviets to compete with the establishment of the Jewish home in Palestine and came before Stalin returned to the anti-Semitism of Czarist Russia.)
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/03/28/96735103.pdf
1938: Reuben's Restaurant and Delicatessen had a formal opening at 6 East 58th Street which was attended by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia in attendance. It stayed at this location for three more decades until it was sold in the mid-1960s, afterwards moving to a location at 38th Street and Madison Avenue.
Arnold Reuben, a German immigrant, had first opened the restaurant in 1908 on Park Avenue Eight years later, the restaurant moved Broadway and in 1918 it moved again, this time Madison Avenue.
1938: Birthdate of businessman Leonard Stern former owner of the Village Voice and head of Hartz Pet Supply.
1938(25thof Adar II, 5698): Six Jewish passengers were killed by Arabs while traveling from Haifa to Safed.
1938: Bronislaw Huberman leaves The Hague as he prepares to move to Tel Aviv where he will conduct the newly formed Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra.
1941: Jacques Masson, a French Mizrahi Sephardic Jew of Bukharian ancestry, and Diana (Dina) Zeiger the product of an Ashkenazi family gave birth to Jeffrey Masson, the author of The Assault on Truth, a controversial book about Freud and psychoanalysis.
1942: The first transport of French Jews to Auschwitz began. This represented one of the first transports of Western Jews to the Death Camps. The Jews were from Paris and were rounded up with the help of the French Police. One of the popular myths of World War II was that the French people were united in the Resistance to the Nazi occupation. In truth, there plenty of collaborators both in Vichy and the German occupied zones. This had tragic consequences for the Jews of France as well as Jews from other parts of Europe who had sought refuge there before the outbreak of the war.
1943: In San Francisco, Huntington Sanders Gruening, the son of Ernest Gruening, and his wife gave birth to Alaska politician Clark S. Gruening.
1942: Major Paul Alfred Cullen, who had changed his name from Cohen to Cullen while serving in the Middle East in 1941, arrived in Ceylon today.
1942: Anne Frank wrote a poem today that began
If you did not finish your work properly,
And lost precious time,
Then once again take up your task
And try harder than before.
If others have reproached you
For what you have done wrong,
Then be sure to amend your mistake.
That is the best memory one can make.
1944(4th of Nisan, 5704): Rabbi Chayyim Most, Maggid of Kovono, was killed by the Nazis. Apparently Rabbi Most was a leader of outstanding character although there is little about him in the official records that I have found so far. He appears to have not been killed with most of the other Jews of Kovno; but met death at the same time that the remaining youngsters of the ghetto were slaughtered.
1944: Anne Frank and her family hear Gerrit Bolkestein, Education Minister of the Dutch Government in exile; deliver a radio message from London urging his war-weary countrymen to collect "vast quantities of simple, everyday material" as part of the historical record of the Nazi occupation. "History cannot be written on the basis of official decisions and documents alone," he said. "If our descendants are to understand fully what we as a nation have had to endure and overcome during these years, then what we really need are ordinary documents -- a diary, letters."
1944: The Irgun issued a statement today claiming credit for the attacks on police stations in Haifa, Jerusalem and Haifa. It also claimed that it had called ahead and left warnings about the impending attacks. The Irgun denied responsibility for shootings in Tel Aviv and blamed those on the Stern Gang.
1944: Colonel Paul Alfred Cullen, who would eventually reach the rank of Major General, today returned to Cairns where he was attached to the Headquarters of the New Guinea Force.
1945(14th of Nisan): Fast of the first born
1945(14thof Nisan): While serving with the Middlesex Regiment, Lt. Basil Seymour Cornell, the brother of Sgt. Michael Cornell of blessed memory, was “killed in action” while fighting in Germany.
1945: After having sustained a nighttime attack by a superior German force, Captain Baum and the remnants of his ill-fated task force suffered further losses as they tried and failed to make their towards American lines.
1945: Birthdate of Israeli law professor Ruth Gaviszon.
1945: Members of the Jewish Infantry Brigade of the British 8th Army celebrated a Seder in Faenza, Italy.
1945: Members of the Jewish Brigade's First Camouflage (PAL) Royal Engineers celebrated Pesach in Libya using” a specially designed haggadah of their very own. The cover page of the soldiers' haggada bears their unit's emblem - a long-tailed wolf, outstretched in the center of a Magen David, the tail protruding between a couple of the star's corners. On either side of the insignia is written the unit's name, in English on one side and in Hebrew on the other, the letters sitting in what looks like fluttering ribbons.” (As reported by Lydia Aisenberg)
1946: “The State Department released the so-called Acheson-Lilienthal Report which was co-authored by David Lilenthal, the Illinois born son of Jewish immigrants who was head of the TVA that “outlined a plan for international control of atomic energy.”
1947: As Jerusalem prepared for its 17th night under a twelve-hour curfew, Haim Salomon and Dr. Jacob Thon, representing the Jewish Community Council, met with Brigadier General J.F. Bedford-Roberts in attempt to get him to lift the ban on Jewish movement and commerce.
1947: An explosion and fire rocked the Iraq Oil Pipeline near its terminal in Haifa Bay today. Five youths dressed as Arabs whom authorities believe were really Jews are assumed to be responsible for the attack.
1947: Lt. Gen Sir Alan G. Cunningham, High Commissioner for Palestine and LT. Gen. G.H. Macmillan, commander of the British troops in Palestine, left London for Palestine this morning after having conferred with Prime Minister Atlee on a new “get tough” policy for Palestine.
1947: In Minsk, Genia and Hayim Wohlberg gave birth to Yosef Nezer Wholberg who made Aliyah in 1957 and perished aboard the INS Dakar at the age of 21.
1947: An announcement was made today that the United States has given its approval for a special session of the United Nations General Assembly to deal with the issue of Palestine. U.N. officials think that the session could take place sometime during the month of May.
1948(17thof Adar II, 5708): “Twenty-five Jews were killed and twenty-four were wounded in a thirty-hour fight” when 3,000 Arabs ambushed their convoy “south of Bethlehem in the Solomon’s Pools area”
1948(17thof Adar II, 5708): This afternoon “250 Arabs” armed “with two-inch mortars and light machine guns…ambushed a convoy of five truck and an armored car killing 45 Jews “at Kabriri, a village each of Nahariya.
1948: In a refugee camp at Prague, Samuel Freilich, a lawyer and rabbi from Munkács, in the Carpathian Ruthenia and Ella (Wieder) Freilich, who along with her husband had survived both Auschwitz and Dachau gave birth to Hadassah Freilich who gained fame as Hadassah Lieberman, the wife of Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman who ran for Vice President on the ticket with Al Gore.
1948: On his radio show, Jack Benny hits the laughter jackpot with the immortal “Your money or your life” bit.
1949: James Grover McDonald, the first United States Ambassador to Israel presented his credentials today
1950(10th of Nisan, 5710): Fifty seven year old WW I Veteran and American Diplomat Laurence Adolph Steinhardt died in a plane crash today while serving as U.S. Ambassador to Canada.
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/lasteinh.htm
1956(16thof Nisan, 5716): Second Day of Pesach; 1st day of the Omer
1956(16thof Nisan, 5716): Sixty-seven year old Tilly Newman, the wife of Joseph Newman passed away today and was buried in the Ella Street Cemetery.
1958: “Satan’s Satellites” a film version of the 1952 serial “Zombies of the Stratosphere” which featured Leonard Nimoy in one of his first cinematic roles was released today.
1959: “Davy Jones’ Locker” a musical with lyrics by Mary Rogers opened on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre.
1960: Birthdate of Uri Orbach, the native of Petah Tikva who became an author and politician who served as Pensioner Affairs Minister.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/ex-jewish-home-minister-uri-orbach-dies-at-54/
1960: The Philadelphia Inquirer described the presentation of a Kiddush Cup to Rabbi Harry B Kellman by congregation president Morris E. Albert marking the 40thanniversary of Congregation Beth El in Camden, NJ.
1961: “Funeral services were held today for Brooklyn born Jewish communal leader Mitchell who “served in Congress in 1899 to 1901” and who was also a justice of the New York State Supreme Court.
1963: “The first Broadway production of ‘Mother Courage,’” a play written “in response to the invasion of Poland in 1939” directed by Jerome Robbins and featuring Gene Wilder opened today at the Martin Beck Theatre.
1966: Birthdate of James Douglas Bennet, an American journalist whose mother was Jewish and who became editor-in-chief of the Atlantic in 2006.
1966(7thof Nisan, 5726): Sixty-four year old actress Helen Menken, the first wife of Humphrey Bogart, passed away today.
1969(9th of Nisan, 5729): Rabbi Aryeh Levin passed away. Born in 1895, Reb Aryeh, was an Orthodox rabbi dubbed the "Father of Prisoners" for his visits to members of the Jewish underground imprisoned in the Central Prison of Jerusalem in the Russian Compound during the British Mandate. He was also known as the "Tzadik ("saint") of Jerusalem" for his work on behalf of the poor and the sick.”
1969: President Dwight D Eisenhower died in Washington DC at the age of 78. Eisenhower was President during the Suez Crisis of October, 1956. In a rare of Cold War harmony, Ike sided with the Soviets. He allowed the Russians to threaten the British and the French with atomic attack if they did not withdraw from Suez in effect supporting the Nasser, the Egyptian dictator. After the fighting ended, he threatened the Israelis with economic destruction if they did not withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza. Gaza was a base from which Egyptian supported terrorists attacked Israel. The Israelis wanted to trade withdrawal from the Sinai for and to the Egyptians illegally barring Israeli vessels or vessels that stopped at Israeli ports from using the Canal. None of this seemed to matter to Eisenhower. Instead he chose to take actions that bolstered Nasser who repaid Ike’s kindness with an even more virulent anti-Western, pro-Soviet policy. At the same time, it should be noted that Eisenhower was horrified by what American troops found when they liberated the concentration camps during World War II and insisted that all of it be filmed immediately so that nobody could ever denied what had happened.
1969: In Miami Beach Marsha Pratts and Ronald Ratner gave birth to director Bret Ratner who was raised by restaurateur Alvin Malnik
1970(20th of Adar II, 5730): Natan Alterman “an Israeli poet, playwright, journalist, and translator who - though never holding any elected office - was highly influential in Socialist Zionist politics, both before and after the formation of the state of Israel” passed away.
1974: Isaac Poltinikov,the “retired military ophthalmologist who was deprived of pension and rank following an application for exit visa for Israel two years ago and threatened by KGB with a trial on charge of parasitism” appealed to the American Congress of Ophthalmologist’s.
1974(5th of Nisan, 5734): Sixty-eight year old Dorothy Fields “one of the great Broadway lyricists, who wrote popular songs for revues, films and shows for nearly 50 years” passed away today.
http://www.dorothyfields.org/home.htm
1974: For English MP’s of the All-Party Parliamentary Committee for the Relief of Soviet Jewry today refused visas to Russia.
1975(16th of Nisan, 5735): Second day of Pesach; 1st day of the Omer.
1975: Two bus bombing in Jerusalem resulted in 13 casualties in one case and none in the other as terrorists struck on that was holy to Christians and Jews – Good Friday and Pesach.
1975(16th of Nisan, 5735): German born political scientist Ernst Frankel passed away.
1977: Birthdate of Lauren Weisberger, the native of Scranton, PA author of The Devil Wears Prada which was later made into a successful movie. (A book about a Jewess in the clothing industry – how novel a novel)
1978: The PLO leadership finally ordered a ceasefire today, after a meeting between UNIFIL commander General Emmanual Erskine and Yasser Arafat in Beirut
1980: The Eldridge Street Synagogue was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
1980: U.S. premiere of “When Time Ran Out,” a disaster epic produced by Irwin Allen, with a script co-authored by Carl Foreman, with music by Lalo Schifrin and co-starring Paul Newman.
1984: “The Last American Virgin” directed by Boaz Davidson and produced by Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan was released in Norway today.
1985: Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues" premiered in New York. The Jewish author wrote a hit play (and later successful movie) based on the clichéd collision between New York Jews and the U.S. Army during World War II.
1985(6th of Nisan, 5745): Marc Chagall passed away. Born on July 7, 1887 in Vitebsk, Russia (now Belarus), Chagall studied in St. Petersburg and then moved to Paris before World War I. He returned to Russia where he served for a time during the 1920's as art director for the Moscow Jewish Theatre. He left the Soviet Union in 1923 and moved back to France. Distinguished for his surrealistic inventiveness, he is recognized as one of the most significant painters and graphic artists of the 20th century. Many of his paintings draw upon his life as a Jew and use Jewish themes of which the Praying Jew is one of the most famous. His twelve stained glass windows at the Hadassah Hospital-Hebrew University Medical Center are another example of Chagall's open identification with his Jewish heritage. There are numerous cites where you can find out more about him and view his works. I cannot do justice to him in this limited space.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/chagall.html
http://www.artnet.com/artists/marc-chagall/
http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Marc-Chagall-1887-1985-6891
1986: 20thCentury Fox releases Lucas an “American teen tragicomedy film directed by David Seltzer and starring Corey Haim.”
1988: In Northridge, Los Angeles, Steven and Eileen Plata Kalish gave birth to major league outfielder Ryan Michael Kalish.
1994(16th of Nisan, 5754): Second Day of Pesach; 1st day of the Omer.
1994(16th of Nisan, 5754): Russian born Playwright Eugene Ionesco passed away in Paris. Two of his more noted works were the Bald Soprano and The Rhinoceros.
1995(26th of Adar II, 5755): Eighty-six year old Sidney “Sid” Goldin the star basketball and tennis player at Georgia Tech and WW II Bronze Star winning Naval Officer “was a member of both the Georgia Tech Athletic and Georgia Tech Engineering Halls of Fame” passed away today.
1996:The Shamgar commission, the official Commission of Inquiry set up to investigate the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, submitted its findings today.
1998: Arab Israeli politician, Haj Yahia entered the Knesset today as a replacement for Moshe Shahal. Upon taking his seat, he resigned his position as mayor of Tayibe.
1999: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including recently released paperback editions of "Unfinished Journey: Twenty Years Later" by Yehudi Menuhin and "Barney Polan's Game: A Novel of the 1951 College Basketball Scandals" by Charley Rosen.
1999: “The Devil’s Arithmetic,” a cinematic treatment of Jane Yolen’s novel of the same name that was turned into a screenplay by Robert J. Arech produced by Murray Schisgal and Fred Weintrub with an introduction by Dustin Hoffman was shown on Showtime for the first time this evening.
2000: The police recommend filing corruption charges against former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara
2001: Canadian born Jazz musician and composer Moe Koffman passed away. He was accomplished on at least three woodwind instruments including flute, saxophone and clarinet.
2001(4th of Nisan, 5761): Itzhak Mr. Yaakov, known as the father of the Israeli technology industry, was quietly taken into custody by a special security division of the Defense Ministry
2001(4thof Nisan, 5761): Fifteen year old Eliran Rosenberg-Zayat and 13 year old Naftali Lanskorn were murdered by Hamas during a bombing at Mifgash HaShalom.
2002(15thof Nisan, 5762): Pesach
2002(15thof Nisan, 5762): “Rachel and David Gavish, 50, their son Avraham Gavish, 20, and Rachel's father Yitzhak Kanner, 83, were killed when a terrorist infiltrated the community of Elon Moreh in Samaria, entered their home and opened fire on its inhabitants. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.”
2004: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of interest to Jewish readers including "Bobby Fischer Goes To War: How the Soviets Lost the Most Extraordinary Chess Match of All Time" by David Edmonds and "John Eidinow and Hirschfeld’s Harlem with Illustrations" by Al Hirschfeld.
2005:“The Knesset again rejected a bill to delay the implementation of the disengagement plan by a vote of 72 to 39. The bill was introduced by a group of Likud MKs who wanted to force a referendum on the issue.”
2006: Delta Airlines launched a route from Ben-Gurion International Airport to Atlanta and is also competing on the Tel Aviv-Newark route with El Al and Continental Airlines.
2006: Publication of the paperback edition of Behind Enemy Lines: The True Story of a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany by Marthe Cohn whose sister was sent to Auschwitz and who was a decorated member of the “Intelligence Service of the French 1stArmy.”
https://www.amazon.com/Behind-Enemy-Lines-French-Germany/dp/0307335909
2007: Shai Agassi resigned his position as President of the Products and Technology Group (PTG) at SAP AG. to pursue interests in alternative energy and climate change. In October 2007 would found a company named Project Better Place, focusing on a green transportation infrastructure based on electric cars as an alternative to the current fossil fuel technology
2008: In Jerusalem, The Bible Lands Museum in conjunction with the Rubin Academy of Music present Hot Slavic Winter – The Passion of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and more, as part of the Opera in the Morning series.
2008: With a theme of “Shake it up on Shabbat with your Shabbat Egg Shakers!” Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa sponsors its second Musical Shabbat. This is a testimony to the vitality of this small but vibrant outpost of the “whole house of Israel.”
2008: “21” a crime film based on Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich was released in the United States today.
2008: Three Kassam rockets were fired at Israel from the northern Gaza Strip, one of them hitting the outer wall of a preschool in one of the kibbutzim in the Sha'ar Hanegev region moments after the children were taken inside by their teacher. The teacher and a parent of one of the children suffered shock and the building was damaged. Two other Kassam rockets that were fired at the western Negev landed in open areas and caused no wounded or damage
2009(3rdof Nisan, 5769): Eighty-eight year old Janet Rosenberg Jagan, the wife and political partner of Cheddi Jagan who held numerous political offices in Gyuana including the presidency passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/world/americas/30jagan.html
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/30/janet-jagan-guyana-america-marxist
2009: Jews all over the world begin reading the Book of Vayikra (Leviticus)
2009: In Iowa City, the U of I Hillel sponsors “Blintzes, Bubbly & Bingo” an enjoyable evening of food, drink, good company...and fabulous prizes!
2009: The Chicago Tribune reviews “Levittown: Two Families, One Tycoon and the Fight for Civil Rights in America’s Legendary Suburb” by David Kushner
2010: An episode of the “Simpsons” titled "The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed," is scheduled to be shown this evening. The episode includes scenes of Homer and Bart at the Western Wall with their Israeli tour guide, who will be voiced by British comedian Sascha Baron Cohen, of Borat and Bruno fame. In the episode, Homer gets "Jerusalem Syndrome" and believes that he is the Messiah. Also, the tour guide bickers and exchanges political barbs with Marge. In one scene, tour guide Jacob (Baron Cohen) presses the Simpsons for positive marks on a comment card. When Marge accuses him of being “pushy,” he snaps back, “Try living next to Syria for two months and see how laid back you are.”Ned Flanders, the Simpsons’ neighbor who has taken it upon himself to redeem Homer, is the one who invited the Simpsons on a Christian tour of the Holy Land.“[Flanders] feels that when Homer sees the sacred sites that he’ll become a good person,” Jean said in a phone interview. When the family visits the Western Wall, Bart reads some of the notes and responds, “Nope, not gonna happen.” At the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Homer’s behavior gets Flanders banned for life. It is the Israeli hotel’s opulent breakfast buffet that appeals most to Homer. In the end, Producer Al Jean said, “Homer tries to unite the faiths through a message of peace and chicken because everybody eats chicken, no matter what religion they’re in.” “The Simpsons” have delved into Jewish subject matter in the past, including an adult bar mitzvah for Krusty the Clown (nee Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofski) and a 2006 “Treehouse of Horrors” segment titled “You Gotta Know When to Golem.” "This is an episode that people from all three religions will be equally offended by," said Simpsons producer Al Jean.
2010: Kathe Goldstein, “the musical voice” of Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa is scheduled to hold a piano recital for the enjoyment of the senior citizens living at Meth-Wick House who would otherwise be bereft of such cultural pleasure.
2010: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including "The Sabbath World" by Judith Shulevitz and "The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems, 1975-2010" by Edward Hirsch.
2010: The second and final day of The Legacy of the Shoah Film Festival is scheduled to take place at John Jay College in New York City featuring “Forgotten Transports: Family Stories – Latvia,” “Forgotten Transports: Men’s Stories – Belarus,” “Forgotten Transports: Fighting to Survive - Poland” and “Distant Journeys” by Alfred Radok
2010: Two Israeli soldiers killed in a firefight with Palestinian terrorists in the southern Gaza Strip were buried in separate ceremonies today. Thousands attended the funeral for Maj. Eliraz Peretz, who was on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. He is the father of four young children. His brother was killed in action in 1998. Staff Sgt. Ilan Sviatkovsky of the Golani Brigade, Staff Sgt. Ilan Sviatkovsky of the Golani Brigade, was buried later in the day.
2011: “The Simon Wiesenthal Center posthumously awarded Hiram Bingham IV their Medal of Valor in New York City with a film tribute” that showed how US Vice-Consul Bingham saved lives as the Nazis marched across western Europe.
2011: A ruckus broke out in the lobby of the Supreme Court on today when right-wing activists Itamar Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel hurled insults at Balad MK Haneen Zoabi as she came out of the courtroom. The judges had been debating the legality of a Knesset decision to strip her of some of her parliamentary rights.
2011: Evergreen is scheduled to perform a concert “Enchanted Celtic Music from Israel” sponsored by The Embassy of Israel, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington and Sixth & I Historic Synagogue.
2011: “An Article of Hope” is scheduled to be shown at the Hartford Jewish Film Festival.
2011: “Grace Paley: Collected Shorts” and “Eichmann’s End: Love, Betrayal, Death” are scheduled to be shown at The Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2011: Under legislation approved unanimously today by the Maryland House of Delegates, SNCF must catalog and put online records relating to its transportation of 76,000 Jews and other prisoners from the suburbs of Paris to the German border from 1942 to 1944. (As reported by JTA)
2011: The Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation is scheduled to host a lecture by Michael O’Hanlon entitled “The Limits of Foreign Policy: Reconsidering the Future Role of the U.S. In World Affairs
2012: Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, founder and President of The Israel Project, is scheduled to discuss "The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership" with its author, Ambassador Yehuda Avner.
2012: In New York City, The Center for Traditional Music and Dance's An-sky Institute for Jewish Culture is scheduled to present the year's first installment of the Tantshoyz Yiddish Dance Party series, as part of the Sixth Street Community Synagogue's klezmer series.
2012(5thof Nisan, 5772): Eighty-two year old “Irving Louis Horowitz, an eminent sociologist and prolific author who started a leading journal in his field but who came to fear that his discipline risked being captured by left-wing ideologues” passed away today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/nyregion/irving-louis-horowitz-sociologist-dies-at-82.html?_r=1&hpw
2013: YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is scheduled to present Boris Sandler's Film "Yosef Kerler"
2013: The Bernard and Irene Schwartz Distinguished Speakers Series is scheduled to present “Those Angry Days’ Roosevelt, Lindberg, and America’s Fight Over World War II” featuring Lynn Olson and Tom Brokaw.
2013: Artists Ben Schacter and Yona Verwer are scheduled to lead a discussion of “It's a Thin Line: The Eruv and Jewish Community in New York and Beyond´ at the Yeshiva University Museum.
2013: “Jewish dead lie forgotten in East L.A. graves” published today” described a snapshot of a forgotten world as seen through Mt. Zion Cemetery
2013: The traditional Birkat Kohanim mass priestly blessing took place this morning at the Kotel.
2013:The escalation of Palestinian violence in the West Bank is reminiscent of the second intifada, but has not yet turned into a third one, Judea Brigade Commander Col. Avi Baluth told The Jerusalem Post today.
2014: In Chile, “an art school that promotes Nazi ideology scheduled to open today in the southern island of Chiloé.”
2014: Paramount is scheduled release the biblically based epic film “Noah” to the general movie-going public.
2014: Israel told the Palestinians it will not free the final batch of prisoners they had been expecting alongside US-brokered peace talks, a senior Palestinian official said today.
2014: This afternoon, “Under the Same Sun” is scheduled to be shown at the Northern Virginia Jewish Film Festival.
2015(8thof Nisan, 5775): Shabbat Hagadol
2015: In a speech given today the Grand Synagogue in Jerusalem, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin used language that led to accusations that he had compared President Obama to “Haman” – a comparison that did not negatively affect his career since three months later his “term as Chief Rabbi of Erfat was extended by five years.”
2015: In keeping with its annual tradition Congregation Agudas Achim is scheduled to hold Shabbat morning services at the home of Joseph and Kineret Zabner, to honor the Torah scroll which is a long-time family possession.
2015: Lewis Black is scheduled to perform at the Garden of Laughs Benefit in NYC.
2015: “The Green Prince” and “Magic Men” are scheduled to be shown at the Northern Virginia Film Festival.
2015: Sonia Kaplan, author of My Endless War, is scheduled her experiences during the Shoah at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
2015(8thof Nisan, 5775): Shabbat Hagadol
2015(8thof Nisan, 5775): Ninety-three year old Tony Award winning director Gene Saks passed away today.
2016: Today, “American Jewish comedian Roseanne Barr is scheduled to participate in a conference in Jerusalem about fighting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, movement.”
2016: Center for Jewish History, American Sephardi Federation, Yeshiva University Museum and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research are scheduled to host a screening of “Watching the Moon at Night” a “documentary inspired by the historian Walter Laqueur explores the causes and consequences of terrorism and anti-Semitism around the globe.”
2017(1stof Nisan, 5777): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
2017: Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, “the leader of the so-called Jewish Faction, spoke during a rally in Jerusalem against the draft of the ultra-Orthodox community today.”
2017: The Jewish Women’s Archive sponsored “Good Girls and Nasty Women: Gender in American Jewish History” featuring Bonnie S. Anderson Lynn Povich, Rebecca Traister and moderator Bari Weis.
2017: The YIVO Institute sponsored a lecture by Jack Jacobs on the “Political Thinkers Of East European Jewry” where he “will focus on the ideas of Dubnow, Zhitlowsky, Pinsker, Ahad Ha’am, Syrkin, Borochov, Scherer, and Jabotinsky.”
2017: The Seattle Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to host a screening of the Women’s Balcony, a film about “a close-knit congregation that fractures along gender lines” in a “battle of the sexes.”
2018: Holocaust survivor Fritz Gluckstein is scheduled to tell “his story” at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.
2018: The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center is scheduled to host “Semitism: Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump.”
2018: “Broadway Chicken – A Performance from the World’s Greatest Musical” is scheduled to open at the Bascula arts center in Tel Aviv this evening.
2018: “Beneath the Cortex – The Human Theatre” is scheduled to premier this evening at Yung Yidish TLV.
2018: William “Kristol, founder and editor at large of The Weekly Standard, is scheduled to discuss “American Politics In the Age of Trump” this evening in the Kimmel Theatre at Cornell College which marks what he described as his first springtime visit to Iowa since he usually comes for the January Presidential Caucuses.