May 8
336: Emperor Constantine prohibits Jews from negatively interacting with their co-religionists who have converted to Christianity. "Jews are not allowed to disturb any man one has converted from Judaism
to Christianity, nor may they assail him with any outrage. Such behaviour will be punished according to the nature of the act [CT 16.8.5]"
336: In a further move to secure the primacy of Christianity over Judaism Constantine decreed "If a Jew should purchase and circumcise a Christian slave or a slave of any other sect, he shall not keep that circumcised person in slavery. The slave who endured such treatment will receive the privilege of freedom." [CT 16.9.1]
589: Reccared summoned the Third Council of Toledo. Reccared or Recared I was Visigoth King of Hispania (think modern day Spain). His reign marked a climactic shift in history, with the king's renunciation of traditional Aryanism in favor of Catholic Christianity in 587. He was a favorite of Pope Gregory for submitting to the papal see and for promulgating an edict of intolerance that included limiting the freedom and daily activities of the Jewish community. He zealously followed the promulgations of the Council of Toledo which included “restrictions on Jews, and the conversion of the country to orthodox Christianity led to repeated persecutions of Jews.” Of the 23 cannons adopted by the Council of Toledo, the fourteenth canon “forbade Jews to have Christian wives, concubines, or slaves, ordered the children of such unions to be baptized, and disqualified Jews from any office in which they might have to punish Christians. Christian slaves whom they had circumcised, or made to share in their rites, were ipso facto freed.”
1147: Encouraged by Peter the Hermit, a mob attacked the Jews on the second day of Shavuot in Ramerupt, France. Rabbenu Tam was one of its victims. After being stabbed five times (to match the five wounds of Jesus) he was saved by a passing knight. His house was ransacked, and a Torah scroll was destroyed.
1435: The Jews were expelled “forever” from Speyer by decree that said, “The council is compelled to banish the Jews; but it has no designs upon their lives or their property: it only revokes their rights of citizenship and of settlement. Until November 11 they are at liberty to go whither they please with all their property, and in the meantime they may make final disposition of their business affairs.
1492: The first printed edition of Mishnayot with commentary by Maimonides was published in Naples. The term Mishnayot is plural form of the word Mishna, which part of the Oral Law. By appearing in printed form, the commentaries of one of Judaism greatest teachers on one of its core text was available to what today we would be called, "the mass market." This is an event worth nothing since it goes to prove that even in the worst of years, something good can happen.
1612 “Dr. Eliua da Luna Montalto, a Marrano who had” returned “to Judaism wrote…to his wife’s sister, Isabella de Fonseca, and her husband, Dr. Pedro Rodrigues, imploring them to return to” the faith of their fathers. He wrote, in part, “There are so many arguments which prove the truth of biblical prophecy…nobody has an excuse for not understanding it…I protest against your following a road which leads to the brink and the undoing of your soul.” Montalto was a distinguished physician whose patients included Queen Marie de Medicis of France. (As reported by Abraham Bloch)
1705: Birthdate of António José da Silva, a Portuguese-Brazilian dramatist, known as "the Jew" (O Judeu). His parents were descended from Portuguese Jews and they became targets of the Inquisition when it turned its attention to Marranos living in Brazil. Eventually he would be found guilty of “judaizing” and would be strangled deather following which his body was burnt as part of “auto de fe.”
1737: Birthdate of English historian, Edward Gibbon, author of The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. Gibbon wrote authoritatively about the Jewish origins of Christianity. “The history of the church of Jerusalem affords a lively proof …of the deep impression which the Jewish religion had made on the minds of its sectaries. The first fifteen bishops of Jerusalem were all circumcised Jews; and the congregation over which they presided united the Law of Moses with the doctrine of Christ.”
1794: English playwright Richard Cumberland's The Jew; or the Benevolent Hebrew, the first English language play to feature a Jewish moneylender as the benevolent hero of a stage comedy premiered today at the Drury Lane Theatre in London.
1794: “Sheva, the Benevolent” an adaptation of English playwright Richard Cumberland's “The Jew; or the Benevolent Hebrew,” the first English language play to feature a Jewish moneylender as the benevolent hero of a stage comedy premiered at the Drury Lane Theatre in London.
1796: Joseph Cohen married Mariane Joachim today at the Great Synagogue.
1800(Iyar 13)): Rabbi Joseph of Piltz, author of “Maaseh Choshev” passed away today.
1800: In Hamburg, banker Salomon Heine and his wife gave birth to their third daughter Amalie Friedlander, who was the cousin of poet Heinrich Heine.
1806(20thof Iyar): Rabbi Feibus Cohen passed away.
1808: Financier Carl Friedrich Buderus, a friend of Wilhelm and Rothschild, was arrested as French officials attempted to establish a connection between plots against French rule and the exiled Landgrave and his Jewish financier.
1827(11thof Iyar, 5587): Fourteen days before his 67th birthday Rabbi Naftali Zvi Horowitz of Ropshitz who “was born on the day that the Baal Shem Tov died, “who was reputed to have had tens of thousands of followers” and was “a crucial figure in the development of Galician Hassidism” passed away today after which he was buried in Łańcut, Poland.
1829: Birthdate of Louis Moreau Gottschalk an American composer and pianist whose father was Jewish and whose mother was Creole from New Orleans.
1837: Having been prevented from moving to Prague by immigration authorities, historian Heinrich Graetz arrived at Oldenburg where he spent three years with his patron Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, “as a pupil, companion, and amanuensis.”
1841: In New York Rabbi and Mrs. Myer Samuel Isaacs gave birth to Judge Myer S. Isaacs who co-founded the Jewish Messenger and who served as President of the Baron de Hirsch Fund.
1843: In Grätz, Grand Duchy of Posen, Dr. Markus Moses, a noted physician and his wife gave birth to “German publisher and philanthropist” Rudolf Mosse
1847: Birthdate of Oscar Hammerstein, businessman, theater impresario, composer in New York City and the grandfather of lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II.
1852: It was reported today that following the fining of MP David Salomons for his attempt to take his seat in the House of Commons all the work of “emancipation” that has been done on behalf of the Jews will have to be done over again because given the hereditary nature of the House of Lords and the life expectancy of the members nothing will change for at least 20 years.
1858: Henry Lewis Raphael and Henrietta Raphael gave birth to Arthur Lewis Raphael, the husband of Marianna Floretta Raphael.
1864: Major Adolph Proskauer of the 12th Alabama was wounded so severely at Spotsylvania Courthouse that he could no longer serve. A native of Germany, Proskauer "was among the few Jewish immigrants who became a high-ranking Confederate Officer. ("Jews of the Civil War")
1870: The Hebrew Leader, a weekly newspaper; published in New York city by Jonas Bondy, cautioned its readers about the possible success to be enjoyed as a result of the upcoming meeting of the Conference of Evangelical Alliance.
1870: According to today's Religious Items column " The Hebrew Leader referring to the coming Conference of the Evangelical Alliance says: 'No fear; what these gentlemen achieved in London, Paris, Berlin, Geneva and Amsterdam they will achieve in New York: Nihil.'"
1871: The Omaha Bee was a pioneer newspaper in Omaha, Nebraska founded today, by Edward Rosewater, a Bohemian Jewish immigrant who supported abolition and fought in the Union Army.
1873: British philosopher John Stuart Mill whose views on the Jewish people were explored by Professor Edward Alexander in an article entitled “John Stuart Mill and the Jews” passed away.
1874: Today’s Jewish Times quoted Judge Charles P. Daly as saying that “the history of his own race has taught him to practice charity in the widest sense, and if the country had been the first to extend the full privileges of freedom to the Jews, they, in their turn, have richly returned the precious gift by their efforts, their labors, their examples of frugality, thrift and industry, which have helped lift this country to the proud position which it occupies today.
1874: Special letter of administration were granted with the consent of the Earl of Beaconsfield who is the executor of the of the estate of Mary Anne Disraeli, Viscountess of Beaconsfield, that would allow stocks belonging her to be passed on to the Reverend William Lewis Price when she passed away.
1876: Birthdate of Reinhold Quaatz, the German political leader who espoused anti-Semitic positions despite having a Jewish mother but avoided being shipped to a concentration camp.
1876: It was reported today that a part of the French Mediterranean fleet has received orders to set sail for Salonica, formerly known as Thessalonica. The fleet is being sent to in response to fighting in the city between Christians and Moslems. The city’s population includes approximately 20,000 Jews who have lived there for centuries. Unfortunately, attacks based on the religious differences between Moslems and Christians have a way of spilling over to harm the Jewish population. (The ancient Jewish community of Salonica would be a casualty of the Shoah).
1877: “The Jews in Roumania” published today reported the Turkish Legation in Washington, DC has been told by its government that there are no Turkish troops or inhabitants on the west bank of the Danube River, where the Jews living in Giurgevo (have been attacked. According to the Turks, this area is controlled by the government at Bucharest. Furthermore, “Israelites” have “equal rights in Turkey with all other Ottoman subjects of whatever religion” and the government is determined to protect them. As “new proof of the …impartiality of his Majesty the Sultan” and Israelite named “David-chon Effendi” has been nominated as a Senator of the Empire. [Today all of this sounds like meaningless gibberish. The treatment of the Jews of Romania was a grave matter in the second half of the 19th century. Sometimes it got caught up in the on-going Balkan crises and the slow demise of the Ottoman Empire. On top of that newspaper reports of the time were not always accurate when it came to names leaving us to guess. Giurgevo probably refers to Giurgiu which was an ancient fortress town on the Danube. Effendi may refer to a prominent Turkish Jew of the time who was an admiral in the Sultan’s navy.]
1878(Iyar 5): Rabbi Meir ben Isaac Auerbach, author of Imre Binah, passed away.
1879: An article published today entitled “Revolutionary Papers In Russia” describes discoveries made by government officials regarding “an anonymous revolutionary organ called “Semla i Schwaboda” (Land and Liberty.” Three days after the police successfully found the printing presses that produced the paper, a Polish Jews was found murdered in a Moscow tavern “with a paper on his breast containing the words ‘Death to Traitors.’” The Polish Jew was reported to be the informer who guided the authorities to the presses. [Once again Jews are bad guys on both sides of the street. They were portrayed as anti-Czarist revolutionaries and as betrayers of the revolutionaries. Ah, anti-Semitism!]
1882: Edward J. King’s Will which was dated today includes bequests to Mount Sinai Hospital, the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum, Congregation B’Nai Jeshrun, the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews of New York and the United Hebrew Charities.
1884: Birthdate of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States. If David Ben-Gurion is the "father of the state of Israel" then Truman might be considered the godfather-the one who held the baby at the moment of birth. Standing up against pressure from the British and his own top advisors, Truman helped garner the votes that led to the U.N. resolution that created Israel in 1947. Standing up to even stronger pressure, Truman gave the new state the aura of legitimacy by being the first to recognize. At 6:00 p.m. , Washington D.C. time, the state of Israel came into existence. At 6:11 p.m. , the United States recognized the existence of the state of Israel. Recognition might have come a few minutes sooner, but the representatives of the newly created government had not been sure of the name to use for their new country. Jewish voters heavily supported Truman for this bold act as well as his progressive social views and his strong stance against the emerging Stalinist menace.
1885(23rd of Iyar, 5645): Six days before his 65thbirthday, Morris Rosenbach, the husband of Isabella H. Polock and the father of Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach, the creator of the Rosenbach Museum and Library passed away today.
1885: In Chicago, the Dearborn Station designed by Cyrus L.W. Eidlitz opened today.
1885: Birthdate of Georg Abrahamsohn who was transported from Berlin to Terezin in 1942 and in 1944 from Terezin to Auschwitz where he was murdered.
1886: Dr. John S. Pemberton sells the first Coca-Cola at Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia. Jacob’s Pharmacy was owned by Joseph Jacobs, the son of Gabriel and Ernestine Hyman Jacobs. The Georgia native opened the Athens Pharmaceutical Company in Athens. He later bought out his competition in the Five Points section of Atlanta. The first Coke was served
1888(27th of Iyar, 5648): Professor Leone Levi, “an economic writer” passed away today.
1890(18th of Iyar, 5650): Lag B’Omer
1891: “The Karlsbrucke” published today described the history of Prague’s historic bridge including the fact that the oldest of the figures on its buttresses was “a large stone crucifix..which was built with money wrung from the Jews.”
1891: Rabbi Levy officiated at the wedding of Selig Behrman and Sarah Saundinsky at the Hasell Street Synagogue.
1892: Dr. G. Stockston Burroughs, the Samuel Green Professor of Biblical History and Interpretation will conduct classes in the Semitic and Hebrew languages at Amherst College.
1892: “Johns Hopkins University” published today described activities at the Baltimore school including the decisions of Dr. Cyrus Adler to lead a group that “are organizing an America-Jewish historical association to collect and preserve records and memorials of the Jews of America.”
1892: Most of the 3,000 people attending tonight’s lecture at Cooper Union which had been called by various Socialist groups were young Jews from Russian and Poland.
1893: “Jews Might Be Kept Afloat: Expelled by Russian and Excluded by this Country” published today describes the plight of the millions of Russian and Polish Jews who are being expelled by the Czar’s government. The new situation is even more catastrophic than the Passover Edicts of 1891 that resulted in the expulsion of 400,000 Jews. The changes in American immigration laws and the attitude of various European governments limit the options of where these Jews might settle. The article goes to describe the efforts – financial, political, and communal – to provide havens for their coreligionists.
1893: The five-story double tenement house at 33 and 35 Suffolk Street which “is inhabited by more than twenty families” most of whom are Jews from Poland was the scene of fire that started in the apartment of Abraham Barnett.
1893: The Hartford (CT) Courant provided an account of “documentary evidence that the Russian government has begun a wholesale expulsion of the Jews from Poland” where 1,500,000 of them live.
1894:”Anti-Jew Riot In Poland” published today described how troops fired on a mob that was attacking Jews in Grajewo
1895: The third East Side Free Art Exhibition sponsored by the University Settlement Society and the Hebrew Educational Alliance will open today at the Hebrew Institute at East Broadway and Jefferson Street.
1898(16th of Iyar, 5658): Zvi Hermann Schapira, the mathematician born in Lithuania in 1840 who attended the First Zionist Congress and was the first to suggest the creation of what became the Jewish National Fund passed away today in Cologne.
1898: Private Roy Wiseman of Minneapolis and Private Charles Markowitz became U.S. soldiers today when the 14th Minnesota Voluntary Infantry was mustered into the United States Army.
1898: “The Triumph of Titus” published today provides a summary of information that first appeared in Open Court, a magazine specializing in philosophy, science and religion describing the celebration at Rome of the victory over Judea that included a display of “the sacred vessels of the temple,” the scourging and throttling “of Simon, the real leader” of the revolt and imprisonment for life of John.”
1899: George M. Appel began serving as Second Lieutenant in the Second U.S. Volunteer Engineers.
1899: “Jews True Patriots” published today described a speech given by Dr. Madison C. Peters which says that “history does not tell of braver men. After describing the leading role of European Jews in the military including Napoleon’s Marshal Massena and Albert Goldsmid, Sir Jacob Adolphus and Sir David Ximines of the British Army, he described the leading role of the Jews in the American military including Isaac Franks and Benjamin Moses in the Revolutionary War, Moses Albert Levy, Leon Dyer and Henry Seligson in the Mexican War, and a long list in the Civil War including Edward S. Soloon, Leopold Blumberg and Simon Levy and his three sons to name but a few. According to Dr. Peters, four thousand Jews served in the military during the just completed war with Spain including Sergeant Maurice Just of the First California Jews, a regiment that included 100 Jews and seven Jewish Rough Riders whom Theodore Roosevelt praised for their “most astonishing courage.”
1899: According to a list published today the leadership of the Hebrew Infant Asylum includes President Ester Wallenstein, Solomon Japha, Maurice Untermyer, S.F. Bleyer, Robert J. Gerstler and A.N. Steinhart.
1901: The Order of Ancient Maccabeans (also Maccabaeans), an Anglo-Jewish charity which was established in 1894 was registered today under the ‘Friendly Societies’ Act.”
1902: In Ainay-le-Château, Allier Marie (Siminovitch), an artist, and Solomon Lwoff, a psychiatrist gave birth to Andre Michael Lwoff, French microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He passed away in 1994.
1904: Five hundred forty-eight delegates, including “8 female delegates” attended “the Eighteenth Annual Convention of the Independent Order of Brith Abraham” which took place today in New York City.
1905(3rd of Iyar, 5665): After two days of rioting in Zhitomir (Russia) twenty Jews have been killed by the mob and an untold number have been injured while an additional ten Jews were killed in the village of Troyanov as they tried to come to the aid of their co-religionists.
1905(3rd of Iyar, 5665): Yaakov Shlomo Margalit, the son of Moshe Dov Ber Margalit and Taibe (Yona) Margalit passed away today in his native Petach Tikva.
1905: In a move that presaged the Righteous Gentiles of the Shoah, Nicholas Blinov, a Christian student, was killed when he came to the aid of the Jews of Zhitomir.
1912: In London, Baron Heyking, the Russian Consul-General published a letter in the Times “protesting against British denunciation” of ritual murder reportedly taking place in Russia.
1912: Founding of The Paramount Company. This giant of the motion picture industry began
1913: Birthdate of Solomon Joel Cohen, the Johannesburg native who went from being a hairdresser to an English actor and comedian known as Sid James.
1913: Dr. Moses Hyamson, Senior Dayan, or Chief Judge, of the Ecclesiastical Court of the United Synagogue of London, has been elected rabbi of the Congregation Orach Chaim, at Lexington Avenue and Ninety-Fifth Street. The new rabbi will receive a salary of $5,000. Hyamson succeeds Dr. Joseph Hertz who was chosen over Dr. Hyamson as the Chief Rabbi of Great Britain.
1914: Eleanor, the daughter of Woodrow Wilson – the President who appointed the first Jew to serve as a Supreme Court Justice and was a supporter of Zionism- was married today in the White House
1915: At their convention in Memphis, Tennessee, the National Conference on Jewish Charities adopted a resolution creating a committee to conduct a survey of Oriental Jews in the United States.
1915: In Worcester, MA, Benjamin and Mary Meltzer gave birth to historian and author Milton Meltzer. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
1915: “The Exchange Telegraph Company” today “received the following telegram from Copenhagen: ‘Berlin newspapers print the news of the sinking of the Lusitania in colossal type and hail the successful torpedoing of the ship as a new triumph for Germany’s naval policy.”
1916: It was reported today that Hugh Dorsay, one of the prosecutors in the Leo Frank case has announced his candidacy for Governor of Georgia.
1916: It was reported today that Henry Morgenthau, the former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey was unable to speak at the dinner sponsored by the Jewish Charities of Brooklyn so Supreme Court Justice of Hugo Pan of Illinois filled in for him speaking on “Preparedness and the Jews.”
1916: During an investigation into allegations that Jews were being discriminated against when they tried to enlist in certain units of the New York National Guard Charles E. Klein testified today when “he had applied for membership in Battery D, Lieutenant Charles J. McCronan asked the nationality of his father and when Klein said he was Russian McCronan then asked if he was a Jew to which he replied “I am” and then asked what difference it made.
1917: It was reported today that during the forced deportation of Jews from Palestine “two Jews were hanged at the entrance to Tel Aviv, the object being, it was explained to indicate the fate in store for any Jews who might be so foolish as to resist the Turkish order for evacuation.”
1917: It was reported today the young men from the Jewish settlements who had organized to protect refugees from bands of robbers were arrested by Turkish authorities and imprisoned “after suffering considerable maltreatment.”
1918:Vilmos Vázsonyi, who championed the recognition of the Jewish religion by the state completed his second and final term in office as Minister of Justice for Hungary.
1918: It was reported today that “the peace treaty signed by Germany and her allies with Rumania consists of eight clauses” one of which provides for “equality of all religions in Rumania” and includes a provision that Jews will have the same rights as all other Rumanian subjects.
1919: In Tel Aviv, David Remez (born David Drabkin), one of those who signed the Israeli Declaration of independence and his wife gave birth to Aharon Remez, who flew combat missions with the RAF in World War II before becoming the second commander of Israel’s fledgling Air Force serving from 1948 through 1950. He went on to a successful career as a “civil servant, politician and diplomat.
1919: Mrs. M.M. Straus, pianist Mrs. Sidney Pollak and violinist Elinor Rose Isaacs are scheduled to provide musical entertainment at the meeting of the Deborah and Deborah Juniors in the Sinai Social Center.
1920: Birthdate of Saul Bass the New York native who designed motion picture title sequences for films such “The Man with the Golden Arm” and “North by Northwest” and corporate logs for Bell Telephone System and United Airlines and was the husband of fellow artist Elaine Makatura Bass
1921(30th of Nisan, 5681): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1921: High Commissioner Sir Herbert Samuel agrees to the appointment of Haj Amin al Husseini, a leading Arab nationalist, as Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and head of the Supreme Muslim Council. Samuel rejects protests by the Jewish leadership.
1921: Birthdate of Allard Roen, the native of Cleveland, Duke University baseball player and WW II Navy veteran who was the husband of Evelyn Roen and “Managing Director of the Desert Inn and the Stardust Resort and Casino in Paradise, Nevada.”
1922: Louis Stern, President of Stern Brothers, which became the largest retail store in the United States in 1910, underwent a major operation at Mt. Sinai Hospital just prior to leaving for Paris.
1922: In Blackpool, England, Cyril and Ann Constant Levy gave birth to Reginald Levy, the Sabena pilot who would play a key role in thwarting an Arab attempt to hijack his aircraft.
1924(4thof Iyar, 5684): Seventy-five year old Prague born photographer Leopold Adler passed away today.
1924: In Beilsko, Poland, business executive Julius Weissmann and his wife Helene (nee Mueckenbrunn) Weissmann gave birth to Gerda Weissmann who gained fame as Gerda Weissmann Klein, author of the autobiographical account of the Holocaust All but My Life which “was adapted for the 1995 short film, One Survivor Remembers, which received an Academy Award and an Emmy Award, and was selected for the National Film Registry.
1926: In Queens, New York, insurance and clothes sales man Max Rickles and the former Etta Feldman gave birth to Donald Jay “Don Rickles. After graduating from high school, Rickles served in the United States Navy. After World War II he began working as a comic in a variety of venues. Eventually, he turned to the "insult comedic" mode which has become his stock and trade. His big break came in 1957 when Frank Sinatra caught his act and loved it. Rickles also has numerous film and television appearances to his credit. According to his semi-official biography, one of his proudest accomplishments was the construction of a gym named in his honor (he raised the money) at Temple Sinai in Los Angeles.
1928: Birthdate of Theodore “Ted” Sorensen, speech writer for John F. Kennedy who “helped” to write Profiles In Courage. Sorensen’s mother was a Russian Jew. His was father was Christian.
1929:Today “through an agreement signed with Albert Kahn by President of Amtorg Saul G. Bron, the Soviet government contracted the Albert Kahn firm to design the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, the first tractor plant in the USSR
1933: Lucienne Bolch took the pictures which “are the sole visual record of the great Diego Rivera's ill-fated Rockefeller Center fresco with its doomed depiction of Lenin” known as “Man at the Crossroads.”
(As reported by Robert McG. Thomas, Jr.)
1933: Birthdate of Alfred “Al” Lerner the New York born son of Russian-Jewish immigrants who became Chairman of the Board of MBNA and the owner of the Cleveland (football) Browns.
1934: Eleanor Neyens was born in Dubuque County, Iowa. As Eleanor Schueller she became the mother of Deb Schueller who as Deb Levin is responsible for the technology and patience that makes these daily offerings possible.
1934: Birthdate of Leonard Hubert “Lennie” Hoffman, the South African born British barrister who became a leading Jurist.
1935: “The plight of thousands of young women refugees arriving in Palestine from Germany and other countries was outlined today at luncheon of the Women’s League for Palestine” held at the Hotel Astor. The speakers appealed for additional funds to provide homes for these refugees. Mrs. Albert Einstein and Mrs. Elisheeva Kaplan, Chairman of the Working Women’s Council of Palestine were guests of honor.
1936: Brooklyn District Attorney William F.X. Geoghan said that “nearly $2,000,000 in funds may have passed through the hands of” of Rabbi Zeida Schmellner’s 36 year old secretary Mary Berd who has been charged with grand larceny”
1936: Emperor Hailie Selassie of Ethiopia, who has been forced to flee his native land because Italy has conquered it, arrived in Haifa aboard the British cruiser Enterprise. The Emperor whose official title includes the appellation “Lion of Judah” and his royal household then took the train to Jerusalem where they were greeted by a cheering crowd. When he heard the crowds chanting “Long Live Ethiopia” and “Long Live Haile Selassie” the exiled monarch broke into tears. [Editor’s Note: Ethiopia and the Jewish people each shared the dubious honor of being early victims of the Axis and the world turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to both of them. Also, the British officer Orde Wingate played a role in the lives of the Jews and the Ethiopians. Wingate served a tour in Palestine where he helped the Zionists self-defense forces in their fight against the rioting Arabs. During World War II, Wingate played a leading role in liberating Ethiopia from its Axis occupiers.]
1936: “Emergency measures were invoked to preserve order following the decision of 150 Arab leaders to launch a campaign of civil disobedience, including a rigid boycott of everything Jewish.
1936: As Arab violence continued “a Jewish-owned envelope factory at Atlith was set on fire” today “and Jewish officials who work in the city of Jaffa were instructed not to report to work.”
1936: Today in Geneva, “the first Jewish world was convoked officially for August 8th.”
1936: In Cairo, “authoritative sources said tonight that two companies of British infantry totally 300 men had been sent to Palestine as reinforcements for troops at Jerusalem and other cities” as Arab unrest and violence continued.
1936: Otto A. Rosalsky, a senior judge of the court of General Sessions and an active member of the Jewish community has an operation today for a minor ailment at Mt. Sinai Hospital – an operation that would not prevent his death a few days later.
1936: In Warsaw, “police said they had seized a quantity of powerful explosives” after arresting 100 “anti-Semitic extremists today for an alleged plot to bomb Jewish restaurants and night clubs.”
1937: Mrs. Edward Jacobs who had returned from a fact finding tour in Palestine last week said today that Jewish settlers felt that British should be doing a better job of protecting them from Arab attackers since they had entered the country under the terms of the Mandate which included the terms of the Balfour Declaration. She said that the vast majority of the 400,000 Jewish settlers were neither discouraged nor willing to abandon their efforts. Finally, she said that it might be necessary to divide the country into Jewish and Arab “zones of influence to minimize friction.”
1937: Several Jews were beaten today during riots at Grabow.
1938(7th of Iyar, 5698): Sixty-six year old Birmingham born architect turned set designer Sidney Ullman passed away today in Los Angeles.
1938: The Jerusalem Postreported that one of the top Arab terrorist leaders in the Hebron area, Issa Battat, was shot and killed by police near Beit Govrin.
1938: In Port Chester, NY, Dorothy and James Stewart gave birth to Alice Stewart who gained fame as Alice Stewart Trillin, the wife of author Calvin Trillin
1939(19th of Iyar, 5699): Ten days before his 54thbirthday, former Reichstag member Kurt Löwenstein who had founded the German socialist organization the Falcons and the husband of chemist Mara Kerwel passed away today in Paris.
1939: In St. Louis, “Alma Weil Michaels (née Weil), a playwright and theatrical producer and Ephraim London, a civil rights attorney” gave birth to “feminist” Sheila Babs Michaels. (As reported by Margalit Fox)
1939: Admiral Sir Barry Edward Domville the famous British naval officer who was among those who expressed pro-German and anti-Semitic views during the 1930’s wrote an endorsement for The Case For Germany by Dr. Arthur Pillans which praises Hitler and National Socialist while attacking the Jewish people. (Editor’s Note – Seven decades after WW II, many are unaware of the pro-Nazi, anti-Semitic views held among many in the upper-echelon of British society)
1940: Birthdate of Canadian political leader Irwin Cotler who has proven to be a proponent of human rights and a staunch foe of “the new anti-Semitism.”
1942: The Battle of the Coral Sea, which was the first naval battle in which airpower was responsible for the outcome and which stopped the Japanese advance towards Australia came to an end today.
1942: Muriel Rukeyser was among the recipients of awards presented by The National Institute of Arts and Letters http://jwa.org/thisweek/may/08/1942/muriel-rukeyser
1942: “Sunday Punch” a comedy with a script co-authored by Fay Kanin and featuring Sam Levene as “Roscoe” and Leo Gorcey as “Biff” was released today in the United States.
1943 (3rd of Iyar, 5703): On Shabbat, The Leaders of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising meet death as the flame of resistance flickers out. The massive German forces that had been brought into the former Warsaw Ghetto to fight the Jewish rebels burned the ghetto street by street. Only by torching the buildings could the fighters be flushed out and forced to seek another place to hide and fight. Terror and inferno raged in the improvised underground bunkers as the Germans made the fighters come out in the only way possible-by hurling grenades into the bunkers or by pumping in tear gas. The ZOB command bunker, staffed by Mordechai Anielewicz and other leaders of the resistance, fell on May 8. Mordecai Anielewiczhad been born in 1919. He had accomplished the seemingly impossible twice. First, he united the various factions in the ghetto and then conducted an armed resistance against what had been the world's greatest killing machine. Anielewicz was an ardent Zionist and his memory lives on at a Kibbutz established by survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. With the destruction of the Great Synagogue on Tlomackie Street, outside the confines of the ghetto the German commander General Juergen Stroop bragged that "there is no longer a Jewish quarter in Warsaw." On May 19, Warsaw was declared Judenrein. But this handful of rabble had actually engaged in armed combat with the Nazis for a longer period of time than some of the professional armies of Europe.
1944: An internal memo of this week from the United States Government War Refugee Board states that it would not be wise to transport Jewish refugees to Afghanistan, as it is a "fanatically Moslem country" with a "primitive economy and low standard of living." Though Jews live in Afghanistan, they are "not popular".
1944: Keel was laid down for the HMS Springer, a submarine which be sold to Israel in 1958 and be renamed “Tanin” which Hebrew for Crocodile
1945: Birthdate of Bruce Mark Cohen one of three children of Emil Cohen a New York State Supreme Court Justice. Cohen became a rabbi serving Mishkan Israel in New Haven, Connecticut. He worked to promote peace through better understanding of ordinary Jews and Arabs. Along with Farhat Agbaria he found Interns for Peace.
1945: As of today an additional 53 of those who revolted at Sobibor “had died of other causes between October 14, 1943, the day of the revolt” and today.
1945: Hilde Nathan “was freed from” Theresienstadat “after it was liberated by the Soviet Army today.”
1945: V.E. (Victory in Europe) Day; the surrender Germany signed on May 7, 1945, goes into effect. Unfortunately, this did mean an immediate end to the fighting. Units of the SS continued to resist and German U-Boats, once they got the order to surface, were often scuttled by their crews instead of making for the ports designated by the victorious allies.
1945: “Dutch teacher and child psychologist Bloeme Evers-Emden was liberated by the Soviets at Liebau”
1945: “In a pastoral letter” Conrad Gröber, the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Freiburg “declared that no one should succumb to any extreme anti-Semitism. In his eyes the Holocaust was wrong because it forced the Jews into a defensive position from which they could cause the State greater harm than many a powerful enemy army.”
1945: The U.S. Army competed an investigation into allegations that soldiers under the Command of Colonel Felix L Sparks had killed Nazi guards at Dachau after they had surrendered came to an end.
1945: With the end of World War II, the question of what do with the refugees at Fort Ontario most of whom were Jewish – repatriation or settlement in the United States – became a pressing matter that had to be resolved.
1945: “Sixty million Americans tuned in to hear ‘On A Note of Triumph,’ narrated by Martin Gabel, Norman Corwin's radio masterpiece marking the end of World War II in Europe” which was “lauded by Carl Sandburg as "one of the all-time great American poems," it was the most listened-to radio drama in U.S. history.”
1946: The Dov Hoz, carrying 675 Ma’apilim and the Eliahu Golomb carrying 339 Ma’apillim left La Spezia bound for Palestine.”
1946: “The Dark Corner,” a film “based on a story in Good Housekeeping by Leo Rosten” with music by Emil Newman was released today in the United States.
1946: U.N. Assistant Secretary General Benjamin Cohen of Chile was among the speakers who participated at Hunter College’s World Friendship exercises which were designed to mark the first anniversary of the end of WW II in Europe.
1947(18th of Iyar, 5707): Lag B’Omer
1947: Birthdate of H. Robert Horvitz, American biologist on the faculty of M.I.T. who won the 2002 Nobel Prize in in Physiology or Medicine.
1947: Leonard Bernstein has been invited to conduct the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra at the second International Music Festival which is scheduled to begin today in Prague.
1947:As the international community began its deliberations that Jews hoped would lead to the creation of their state, Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, a Reform Rabbi from Cleveland Ohio, “appeared before the United Nations as a spokesman for the Jewish Agency and formally voiced the demands of his people for national recognition and for the right to reestablish a national state in the ancestral home.” Silver had worked “closely with David Ben-Gurion and Moshe Shertok in preparing the presentation of the Jewish Agency.” Silver, who was head of the American section of the Jewish agency “spoke first because the plane bringing Ben-Gurion from Palestine was delayed. According to David Geffen, Silver concluded his speech with these words. “The Jewish people places great hope upon the outcome of the deliberations of this great body. It has faith in its collective sense of justice and fairness; and in the high ideals which inspire it.“We are an ancient people, and though we have often, on the long, hard road which we have travelled, been disillusioned, we have never been disheartened... The Jewish people belongs in this society of nations. The representatives of the Jewish people of Palestine should sit in your midst – the representatives of the people and of the land which gave to mankind spiritual and ethical values, inspiring human personalities, and sacred texts which are your treasured possessions.”“Twenty-five years ago a similar international organization [League of Nations] recognized the historic claims of the Jewish people, sanctioned our program and set us firmly on the road of realization... The Jewish people was confirmed in its right to rebuild its national life in its historic home. It eagerly seized the long-hoped-for opportunity and proceeded to rebuild that ancient land of Israel in a manner which evoked the admiration of the whole world. It has made the wilderness blossom as a rose.”
1947(18th of Iyar, 5707): “A Jewish settler named Joel Drubin, 21 years old, was shot dead today” when he and two other settlers were attacked by 8 Arabs in an area between Kfar Uriah and Hulda “two Jewish settlements southeast of Tel Aviv. The Arabs got away and the British were unable to find them.
1948 Nazi collaborator V-Mann Antonius van de Waals sentenced to death
1950: An announcement was made today at Geneva that “Israel has accepted the proposal of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine to proceed with direct negotiations with the Arab states while the commission acts as mediator for the settlement of all outstanding issues.” However, this announcement by Israel may not immediately lead to negotiations since the Arabs have pre-conditioned their participation on the demand that Jewish state must recognize the right of Palestinian refugees to return to Israel.
1953: The Jerusalem Postreported that, the Histadrut Executive unanimously to accept Arab workers into its Trade Unions starting on May 15, 1953.
1953: The Jerusalem Postreported that jobs for 40,000 workers were envisaged following the approval, by the Knesset Finance Committee, of a special IL70m “Development Budget.”
1953: The Jerusalem Postreported that, approximately 800 persons were killed in traffic accidents during the past four years.
1953: The Jerusalem Postreported that, Syria had appealed to all Arab States to tighten the economic blockade of Israel as "the best way to kill Israel peacefully."
1954: In Amsterdam Hans Ever and Bloeme Evers-Emden gave birth to Rabbi Raphael Evers, exactly nine years to the day after Bloeme had been liberated from a concentration camp by the Soviets.
1956: Aaron Albert “Al” Silvera played his last game as an outfielder with the Cincinnati Reds.
1957: “Saint Joan” the movie version of the play by the same name directed and produced by Otto Preminger with music by Mischa Spoliansky and title sequences and theatrical posters by Saul Bass was released today in the United States.
1958: In Westport, CT, Howard Newmark and Gilda Gourlay (née Rames) gave birth to Brooks Phillip Victor Newmark, the Conservative MP and Cabinet member and son-in-law of historian John Keegan who left Parliament under a cloud of personal scandal.
1959(30th of Nisan, 5719): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1960: While exploring caves in the Judean desert an archaeological expedition led Yigael Yadin discovers fourteen letters written by Simon Bar-Kokhba, leader of the Jewish revolt against the Romans in 132 - 135 CE. One letter is written on wood and the rest are written on papyrus. Bar Kokhba is called Shimon Ben Kossiba in the letters. Once again, archeology helps to establish another of what some had called the “myths of Jewish history.”
1960:Gideon Hausner is appointed attorney general in Israel.
1960: Gertrude Berg, better known as “Molly Goldberg” appeared for the second time as the “mystery guess” on “What’s My Line?”
1960(11thof Iyar, 5720): Sixty-two year old Sir Hersch Lauterpacht passed away.
1962(4thof Iyar, 5722): Yom HaZikaron
1962: “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum,” a Stephen Sondheim musical with a “book” co-authored by Larry Gelbart starring Zero Mostel and featuring Jack Gilford and Ruth Kobart with lighting design by Jean Rosenthal opened today at the Alvin Theatre.
1964: Birthdate of Melissa Gilbert, child star on “Little House on the Prairie.”
1966: CBS broadcast a television adaptation of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” produced by Daniel Melnick and David Susskind, co-starring Lee J. Cobb and George Segal and featuring Bernie Kopell and Gene Wilder.
1967(28thof Nisan, 5727): Yom HaShoah
1970: In Montreal, documentary film-maker Bonnie Sherr Klein, who is best known for her anti-pornography film Not a Love Story and Michael Klein, is a physician and a member of Physicians for Social Responsibility gave birth to Naomi Klein Canadian journalist, author and activist known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalization.
1972 Four Palestinian terrorists from Black September boarded Sabena Flight 571 from Vienna to Tel Aviv. Twenty minutes after taking off from a scheduled stop, the hijackers took control of the flight and instructed the captain to continue as planned to Israel’s Lod Airport (now Ben Gurion International Airport). Less than 24 hours later, Israeli commandos, among them today’s most prominent Israeli leaders launched a daring operation to rescue the flight’s passengers and retake the plane.
1972: Fiftieth birthday of airline pilot Reginald Levy.
1974: “Kazablan” an “Israeli musical film directed by Menahem Golan and written by Menahem Golan and Haim Hefer starring Yehoram Gaon, Efrat Lavie, Arieh Elias, Etti Grotes and Yehuda Efroni was released today in the United States by MGM.
1976: After only seven performances, the curtain came down on “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue” a musical created by Leonard Bernstein and Alan Jay Lerner at the Mark Hellinger Theatre.
1978(1st of Iyar, 5738): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1978: The Jerusalem Postreported that in New York, the Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, appealed to the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, to "renew the spirit of our talks in Jerusalem"
1978: The Jerusalem Postreported that the New York police estimated that a crowd of 750,000, gathered in and around the Central Park, at an event which marked Israel's 30th anniversary, and listened to a 20 minute address by the Prime Minister.
1978: ABC TV airs "The Stars Salute Israel at 30" in honor of Israel's thirtieth Independence Day.
1980: Friends and family, including Elsa Leibler and Max Stern are scheduled to mark the passing of Sue Freedman Mintz, the wife of Jack Mintz and the mother of Terry Scharf and Dr. David Mintz at a pre-funeral gathering this evening.
1980: Three months after being released in the United States, “Saturn 3” a sci-fi film directed and produced by Stanley Donen, starring Kirk Douglas and Harvey Keitel and with music by Elmer Bernstein was released in the United Kingdom
1981: “Second-Hand Hearts” a comedy filmed by cinematographer Haskell Wexler was released in the United States today.
1981(4th of Iyar, 5741): Eighty-three year old Uri Zvi Greenberg, a Hebrew and Yiddish poet, fighter for the independence of Israel and a member of the Knesset passed away today. “A representative of the new wave of 20th-century Jewish poetry, Mr. Greenberg drew on the tradition of biblical prophecy to write poems combining personal experience with an impersonal Jewish messianic destiny. Born in 1898 in Galicia, he served in the Austro-Hungarian Army in World War I and later emigrated to Palestine. He published his first volume of poetry in Yiddish in 1912. Mr. Greenberg served in the Irgun Zvai Leumi, a and as a member of Israel’s parliament for one term.
1981: In “Efforts To Rehabilitate Crown Heights Apartment Houses,” Alan Oser described efforts to dealing with challenge of providing affordable housing in a neighborhood so closely connected with the Chabad movement.
1982: Shimon Peres meets with a dozen leaders of the Labor Party to report on a plan conceived by Defense Minister Arik Sharon for a massive military operation in Lebanon aimed eliminating the PLO presence and influence from that country.
1982: The original London production of They're Playing Our Song a musical with a book by Neil Simon, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, and music by Marvin Hamlischwhich which had opened in October, 1980 closed today
1982(15thof Iyar, 5742): Forty-nine Sue Pritzker, the widow of Donald Pritzker who had died ten years ago, passed away today.
1983: Mr. and Mrs. Harry M. Rosenfeld of Albany have announced the engagement of their daughter, Susan Margot Rosenfeld, to Dr. Stuart Wachter, son of Mr. and Mrs. Irving Wachter of Flushing, Queens
1984(6thof Iyar, 5744): Eighty-five year old CCNY basketball star Nathan “Nat” Krinsky the “father of Paul L. Krinsky, former superintendent of the United States Merchant Marine Academy, and Edward M. Krinsky, former Director of Operations for the United States Basketball League” passed away today.
1985(23rdof Iyar, 5645): Seventy-seven year old Notre Dame, U of Wisconsin and Brooklyn Dodgers football player Robert Sherman Halperin, a decorated WW II Naval officer, Bronze Medal sailor and CEO of Commercial Light Company passed away today after which he was buried next to his wife at Arlington National Cemetery.
1985: “The Dewey House, also referred to as Building 29, North Chicago VA Medical Center, an historic building” designed by David Adler was added to the National Register of Historic Places today.
1986: NBC broadcast the final episode of season 4 of Family Ties, a sitcom created by Gary David Goldberg.
1986(29thof Nisan, 5746): Emanuel “Manny” Shinwell, the trade unionist who was elevated to the peerage as Lord Shinwell passed away today at the age of 101.
1986(29thof Nisan, 5746): Eighty-five year Ukrainian born American sculptor and watercolorist Eugenie Gershoy passed away today.
1988: Today, on Mother’s Day the Feminist Taskforce (FTF) convened a conference in Philadelphia on Women and Poverty” during which a “panel discussion led by Adrienne Rich addressed the reality of high poverty rates among all women and discussed how stereotypes of Jewish wealth work to hide the poverty many Jewish women struggle with.”
1991(25th of Iyar, 5751):Rudolf Serkin, one of the world's great concert pianists passed away at the age of 88. The cause of death was cancer. A lanky man once described as looking "like a benign and slightly befuddled chemistry professor," Mr. Serkin performed for much of the 20th century. He made his concert debut in 1915, at age 12, and had his last major concert in 1988. https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/10/obituaries/rudolf-serkin-88-concert-pianist-dies.html
1993(17th of Iyar, 5753): Avram Davidson passed away. Born in 1923, Avram Davidson is considered by some to be "one of the most original, charming, neglected and undervalued writers of our time.” A self-taught, bearded Orthodox Jewish, Davidson's work started with science fiction and then moved into more extreme areas of fantasy. Readers who like him compare his works to Rudyard Kipling, Isaac B Singer and S.J. Perelman.
1995: According to reports published today stamps portraying the comic strips “Lil’l Abner” and Rube Goldberg Inventions” were two of the twenty classic strips being issued by the U.S. Postal Service “in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the American comic strip.”
1996(19th of Iyar, 5756): Ninety-five year old Serge Chermayeff, the only Jew to chair the architecture departments at both Yale and Harvard passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/10/arts/serge-chermayeff-95-architect-taught-at-harvard-and-yale.html
1999: “Rabbi Admits Theft Charge” published today described a “massive fraud” in which Rabbi Jacob Lustig of Cincinnati’s Kneseth Israel Congregation reported that their bingo game had brought in half a million dollars between 1996 and 1997 when in fact the games had earned two million dollars.
2001: The BBC broadcast “The British Wars” the 8th episode of “A History of Britain a documentary series written and presented by Simon Schama” which began its second season tonight.
2001: The BBC broadcast “The British Wars” the 8th episode of “A History of Britain a documentary series written and presented by Simon Schama” which began its second season tonight.
2001: Chandra Levy’s aunt, Linda Zamsky calls D.C. police Detective Durant and tells him that her niece had been having an affair with Congressman Gary Condit.
2001: Thirteen year old Yaakov “Koby” Mandell and fourteen year old Yosef Ishran were kidnapped while hiking near their village and subsequently brutally murdered.
2002: In a column entitled “The Politics of Victimhood,” Todd Gitlin makes the argument that “victimhood has become a default position for Jews and Palestinians alike – with bloody consequences for both peoples.”
2002(26th of Iyar, 5762):A Palestinian terrorist detonated a suitcase packed with explosives in a crowded gambling and billiards club near Tel Aviv, killing at least 15 people and wounding 58. The attack apparently was timed to coincide with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's visit to the United States, where he met with President George W. Bush and other administration officials to discuss a new proposal for ending the conflict.
2003: The 19th Israel Film Festival opens in Chicago with the premiere of A Trumpet in the Wadi
2003: “According to testimony gathered by journalist Philippe Broussard for today’s issue of Le Monde” Saddam Hussein’s “regime removed most the discriminatory anti-Jewish laws.”
2005: The New York Timesincluded reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430-1950” by Mark Mazower and a 75th anniversary edition of “Civilization and its Discontents by Sigmund Freud.
2006, Pulitzer prize winning author David Remnick gave an interview on The Daily Show to promote his book “Reporting: Writings from The New Yorker.”
2006: “The Communists Who Saved The Jewish State” published today describes a little known aspect (at least in the West) of the “miracle” that made it possible for the Jewish David to defeat the Arab Goliath.
2006: Germany's national Holocaust memorial has drawn an estimated 3.5 million visitors in the year since it was inaugurated according to figures made public today. The memorial - a vast field of more than 2,700 gray slabs situated close to the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of Berlin - opened to the public on May 12 last year. Some 3.5 million people are estimated to have wandered through the monument since then, said Uwe Neumaerker, a top official with the foundation that manages it. The memorial is freely accessible around the clock. About 490,000 visitors have been registered at the site's underground information center, at one end of the site, with exhibits on the fate of some of the Nazis' six million Jewish victims. Although the slabs are covered with an anti-graffiti coating, in the first year, five swastikas, four stars of David and one other piece of graffiti had been reported, Neumaerker said. Last year's inauguration of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe followed 17 years of wrangling among German politicians over the design and message of the monument. Writer Lea Rosh, who proposed the memorial in 1988, said that the reaction "was fifty-fifty, and so it has stayed." She said she hoped the monument could still win over skeptics, some of whom have argued that it is too abstract.
2007: Dr. Tamara Levitz presents "Kurt Weill's Kol Nidre and Jewish Memory" at New York’s Center for Jewish History. Tamara Levitz, associate professor at UCLA, and currently a visiting professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, explores Kurt Weill's use of the Kol Nidre melody in three Jewish works composed in American exile: The Eternal Road; We Will Never Die; and A Flag is Born.
2007: “Paula Abdul's second greatest-hits CD, Greatest Hits: Straight Up!, was released by Virgin Records” today.
2007: “The J.A.P. Show, Jewish American princesses of Comedy” is performed at Actors Temple Theatre in New York City.
2007: Belgian Prime Minster Guy Verhofstadt publicly apologized for Belgian authorities’ involvement in the deportation of Jews to Nazi extermination camps during World War II. The apology came on the day that the government-backed report “Submissive Beligium was published. It lays bare the responsibility of high-ranking officials and municipalities in collaborating with the the Nazi persecution of the Jews.
2007: The Associated Press reported today that researchers claim they’ve found Herod’s tomb, a find that could provide insights into one of the Bible's most reviled figures.
2007: Tight-end Michael Andrew "Mike" Seidman signed with Indianapolis Colts after having been cut by the Carolina Panthers.
2008: In an ongoing program designed to share Jewish culinary traditions Hillel offers another cooking class taught by Cordell Braverman of Cooking Cottage
2008:In Rockville, Maryland Joyce Antler, a professor of Jewish history and culture discusses You Never Call! You Never Write!: A History of the Jewish Mother (recently published in paperback) at a luncheon event at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington
2008(3rd of Iyar, 5768): Yom Ha”Atzmaut – Israeli Independence Day
2008: On Israel's 60th Independence Day, eight organizations are awarded the Israel Prize for a lifetime contribution to the state and society. The recipients are the Perah work-study mentoring program at universities, the Jewish Agency, the Manufacturers Association of Israel, the Youth Movements Council incorporating 14 movements, Ezer Mizion - Israel's largest paramedic support organization, and the three major women’s organizations that have been active since pre-state days: WIZO, Na'amat, and Emunah.
2008: Italian President Giorgio Napolitano opened the prestigious Turin book fair in the northern Italian city, despite international Muslim anger over the choice of Israel as the event's guest of honor.
2008: Italian President Giorgio Napolitano opened the prestigious Turin book fair in the northern Italian city, despite international Muslim anger over the choice of Israel as the event's guest of honor.
2009:Pope Benedict XVI began his eight day pilgrimage which will take him to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.
2010: “The Portuguese gave us fried fish, the Belgians invented chips but 150 years ago an East End boy united them to create The World’s Greatest Double Act” published today described the role Joseph Malin, a 13 year old Jewish boy in created the delicacy known as “Fish & Chips.”
2010: The Yom HaAtzmaut Spring Marathon 2010, an evening of dancing, ushering in the delights of spring in celebration of Israel’s independence is scheduled to begin tonight at 8:45 this evening at the 92nd St Y.
2010: “Giants of Jazz on Film - Benny Goodman and the Kings of Swing” is scheduled to begin at 8 pm at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco.
2010: Hamas or another group fired a rocket, which landed in open ground near Ashkelon today. Approximately 50 rockets have landed in Israeli territory since the beginning of 2010.
2010:The fans of a Polish professional soccer team displayed an anti-Semitic banner during a match. Fans of Resovia Rzeszow at a May 8 match put up a large banner showing a caricatured hook-nosed Jew with a blue and white yarmulke -- the colors of the opposing team -- and the phrase “Death to the Crooked Noses.”
2010(24th of Iyar, 5770): Andor Lilienthal, the last of the original 27 chess grandmasters, who played 10 world champions and beat 6 of them, passed away today at his home in Budapest at the age of 99 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/crosswords/chess/12lilienthal.html
2011: Rabbi Kenneth Ehrlich, Dean, Cincinnati campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is scheduled to facilitate “The People of the Book” a lecture/discussion designed to review the rich and varied experience of the Jewish people in America in words and images created by American Jewish literary artists
2011: Roman Arkadyevich Baranovichi was ranked # 3 on the Sunday Times Rich List 2011 which was published today. Shlomo Moussaieff and his wife and business partner, Alisa, were ranked #315
2011: The Jewish Historical Society of Delaware is scheduled to hold its Annual Meeting, featuring a presentation by the Delaware Art Museum’s Executive Director and noted art historian Dr. Danielle Rice. In her lecture, “The Jewish Contribution to Art in Delaware,” Dr. Rice will highlight the Delaware Art Museum’s holdings by Jewish artists and the worlds from which they come.
2011:In honor of Yom Hazikaron (Israeli Remembrance Day) and Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) Yeshiva University Museum and Center for Jewish History with American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research are scheduled to present: “Remembering 1948 - In Color” featuring “I Was There In Color,” Avishai Kfir’s documentary that uses recently discovered footage, shot by Fred Monosson, a Jewish-American businessman to show the birth of the Jewish state in living color.
2011: The Los Angeles Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Sempre Susan: A Memoir of Susan Sontag” by Sigrid Nunez
2012: Mr. David McKenzie, Interpretive Programs Manager of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington will discuss, the award winning exhibit “Jewish Washington: Scrapbook of an American Community” an “exhibit created by the Jewish Historical society of Greater Washington that tells stories about the Jewish community in Washington from 1795 to the present.”
2011(4thof Iyar, 5771): On Mother’s Day, 97 year-old Holocaust survivor Rose Linder passed away. As a young woman she had clerked for Raphael Lemkin, the Polish born attorney credited with coning the term “genocide.” After fleeing Poland, Mrs. Linder worked as a teacher and employment counselor in the Chicago metropolitan area.
2012(16thof Iyar, 5772): One-hundred one year old Polish born American violinist Roman Totenberg, the husband of Melanie (Shroder) Totenberg who was his business manager for 50 years and father of NPR Correspondent Nina Totenberg and Judge Amy Totenberg passed away today.
2012(16thof Iyar, 5772): Eighty-nine year old “Louis H. Pollak, a federal judge and former dean of two prestigious law schools who played a significant role in major civil rights cases before the Supreme Court, including the landmark Brown v. Board of Education desegregation case” passed away today. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
2012: The 18th annual World of Hope Charity Golf Classic for the benefit of The Rabbi Itzhaq M. Klirs Adult Education Fund & Caring Capital is scheduled to take place at the Twin Lakes Golf Course in Centerville, VA.
2012(16thof Iyar, 5772): Eighty-three year old “Maurice Sendak, widely considered the most important children’s book artist of the 20th century, who wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche” passed away today (As reported by Margalit Fox)
2012: Alon Yavnai Big Band with special guest Dave Liebman is scheduled to perform at Joe’s Pub in New York City.
2013(28thof Iyar, 5773): Yom Yerushalayim – Jerusalem Reunification Day
2013: “Settling In,” an exhibition that “examines the experience and acculturation of immigrants to Oregon through the lens of Jewish experience” is scheduled to open at the Oregon Jewish Museum.http://ojmexhibitmedia.weebly.com/
2013: University of Iowa Professor Dr. Robert Cargill, biblical studies scholar, classicist, archeologist, author and digital humanist is scheduled to a lecture entitled "The Five Defenders of Jerusalem: A Study of Cities (not people) that defended Jerusalem from attacks including Hazor, Meggido, Gezer, Lachish and Azekah."
2013(28thof Iyar, 5773): One hundred one year old violin virtuoso Roman Totenberg passed away today.
2013: American Society for Jewish Music and American Jewish Historical Society is scheduled to present “A Living Connection: The Musical Lives and Legacies of Morris Hollender, Sonia Victor, and Marty Levitt.”
2013: Yeshiva University Museum is scheduled to present “It’s a Thin Line: The Eruv and the Jewish Community in New York and Beyond”
2013: Stephen Hawking, the noted British physicist, has reportedly opted to endorse the academic boycott of Israel and withdraw from the fifth annual Presidential Conference in Jerusalem in June, where he was slated to give a talk, the British daily Guardian reported today.
2013: Today the Jordanian Parliament voted unanimously in favor of petitioning the government to expel Israel’s ambassador in Amman and recall Jordan’s ambassador in Tel Aviv in protest of alleged Israeli desecration of holy sites in Jerusalem
2013: Eighty-eight year old “Geza Vermes, a religious scholar who argued that Jesus as a historical figure could be understood only through the Jewish tradition from which he emerged, and who helped expand that understanding through his widely read English translations of the Dead Sea Scrolls” passed away today. (As reported by William Yardley)
2013: President Shimon Peres delivered remarks at the state memorial ceremony for the Jews of Ethiopia who died on their journey to Israel
2014: Observance of “Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust” a memorial day championed by director Steven Spielberg.
2014: “Circus Palestina” is scheduled to be shown at the Israel Film Festival hosted by Agudas Achim under the leadership of Rabbi Jeff Portman.
2014: “A new Anne Frank play premieres in Amsterdam today, promising to bring the troubled teenage girl’s identity out from behind the shadow of the Holocaust’s most famous victim.”
2014: “Closer to the Moon” is scheduled to be shown at the National Center for Jewish Films 17th annual film festival.
2014: Tzvi Arieli told JTA today that “Ukrainian Jewish with combat skills have a rapid intervention force” which he leads “to stop anti-Semitic attacks.”
2014: “Schools near the Dead Sea were shut and several roads in the area were blocked by authorities this morning as a rare tropical storm dumped rain across the country causing flash floods and wreaking havoc in the south of the country.”
2014: As part of Jewish American Heritage Month, in Philadelphia, PA, the National Museum of American Jewish History is scheduled to host a presentation by the official Historian of the Major League Baseball, John Thorn on “Jackie Robinson: Outside Hero.”
2014(8thof Iyar, 5774): Ninety-six energy economist Morris A. Adelman passed away today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)
2014: Richard A. Flak completed his service as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied since 1967
2014: Closing night of The Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival.
2015(19thof Iyar, 5775): Eighty-two year old “Israeli painter and sculptor Menashe Kadishman passed away today in Ramat Gan.
2015: “A judge declared a mistrial in the Etan Patz case today after jurors said for a third time that they could not reach a verdict despite three weeks of deliberation, leaving unresolved a missing-child case that vexed New York City for decades and led to a sea change in the way Americans view the security of their children.”
2015: In Cedar Rapids, Temple Judah is scheduled to host its final Musical Shabbat for 5775
2015: Ruth David “a former Tel Aviv district attorney” who was arrested in a corruption scandal “fainted on the steps of the Jerusalem District Court” today “ahead of a hearing for the extension of her remand.”
2015: “Dancing Arabs” is scheduled to be shown at the 18th Annual Film Festival sponsored by the National Center for Jewish Film’s
2015: A day after the general election. Ed Miliband, the leader of the Britain’s Labour Party offered to resign today.
2015: The Cultural Services of the Israeli Embassy is scheduled to co-sponsor “A Literary Quest” at the Westbeth Center for the Arts that includes Assaf Gavron and Carlos Fraenkel
2015: Susan Veronica Kramer complete her service as the Minister of State for Transport in the United Kingdom.
2015: The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center is scheduled to co-host a “Community Wide Commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of Victory Day” “honoring the victory of Soviet and Allied forces in World War II and Holocaust Survivors.”
2015: The Washington Jewish Music Festival is scheduled to host Shabbat In Song.
2015: Juliana Maio is scheduled to speak on “When Cairo Was Paris” at the 92ndStreet Y where she will described Egypt in the first half of the 20thcentury when “Jews, Christians and Muslims lived together harmoniously and Cairo and Alexandria were among the most cosmopolitan, glamorous and pluralistic cities in the world.
2016(30thof Nisan, 5776): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
2016: “The Women of the Wall organization proceeded with its plan to hold a priestly blessing at Jerusalem’s Western Wall today, despite a ruling from the attorney general barring the group from doing so.
2016: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier’s Story by Matti Friedman and the recently issued paperback editions of Frank: A Life in Politics From the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage by Barney Frank and Book of Numbers by Joshua Cohen
2016: The Illinois and Holocaust Museum and Education Center is scheduled to host a speech by Zev Rogalin who survived the Siauliai Ghetto and the Stutthof Concentration Camp.
2016: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to host a Spring Walking Tour where participants will “learn what Jewish life and worship was like in the historic Seventh Street, NW, neighborhood from 1850 to 1950.”
2016: In Philadelphia, the National Museum of American Jewish History is scheduled to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month by opening its doors without charge today, Mother’s Day.
2016: CBS television broadcast the last episode of “The Good Wife” starring Julianna Margulies today.
2016: The American Society for Jewish Music is scheduled to host “Music in Our Time”
2016: After seven very successful seasons, CBS broadcast the final episode of “The Good Wife” starring Julianna Margulies.
2016: The Center for Jewish History and the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research are scheduled to host Dr. Samantha Hill on “Eichmann in Jerusalem: Hannah Arendt and the Banality of Evil.”
2017: “The Wonders” is scheduled to be shown today at the Vancouver Jewish Film Center.
2017: NEH Senior Scholar Naomi Seidman is scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled “My Unconscious Speaks Yiddish at the Center for Jewish History in New York.
2017: Genealogist Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage is scheduled to share techniques, resources and repositories in the US and in the world that helped him discover the US branch of his family in a lecture at the Library of Congress.
2017: “The "Immortal Regiment" march was held in the Israeli city of Ashdod today.
2017(12thof Iyar, 5777): Seventy-seven year old author Judith Stein passed away today. (As reported by Sam Roberts)
2017: Today “President Donald Trump directed the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to make a case against FBI Director James Comey in writing.
2017: For the first time Senior Sephardi Rabbi Joseph Dweck reportedly said “the LGBT revolution had been a “fantastic” development for humanity” for which he would be condemned by Rabbi Shraga Feivel Zimmerman, the Rov of Gateshead.
2017: Susan Kramer completed her service as the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for the Treasury.
2018: The “Out with the Old” and “Tevye’s Daughters” are scheduled to be shown at the Washington Jewish Film Festival today.
2018: “Saving Auschwitz?” and “The Invisibles” are scheduled to be shown at the 26thToronto Jewish Film Festival.
2018: The Yeshiva University Museum, Commentary Magazine and The Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought are scheduled to present “Moses on Film – from Ten Commandments to the Prince of Egypt.”a
2018: The Streicker Center is scheduled to host “Israel: A Conversation Across Generations with Professor Jonathan Sarna, Leah Sarna, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin and Naomi Telushkin.”