JUNE 16
1221: Massacre of the Jews of Erfurt, Germany. At one time this was commemorated as a Fast Day on the 25th of Sivan.
1295: Mahmud Ghazan the seventh ruler of the Mongol Empire's Ilkhanate division in modern-day Iran converted to Islam which marked a downturn in the fortunes of Jews in Tabriz because they were “relegated to the status of dhimmis” as required by the covenant of Omar.
1385: Emperor Wenceslaus arrested Jews living in what was known as the Swabian League, (the league of free cities in South Germany) and confiscated their books. A hefty fine had to be paid for their return and the release of the prisoners.
1591: In Crete, “Elijah, a rabbi in Crete” and his wife gave birth to Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, who moved to Italy where he gained fame as a rabbi, physician and author. “A member of this family, Mordechai Gorodinsky (later hebraized to Nachmani) was one of the founders of the Israeli city of Rehovot.”
1612: Birthdate of Murad IV. During his reign as Sultan, Murad executed Rabbi Yehuda Kovo over a dispute revolving around the quality of cloth being supplied by the Jews of Salonika for army uniforms and the amount of taxes to be paid.
1660:The debate between Jacob Abendana, the “hakham of London from 1680 until his death in 1695” and Anton Hulsius, which was actually a series of letters written covering a ninth month period, over the meaning of a verse in the Book of Haggai, came to an end.
1775: Birthdate of Judah Touro, the native of Newport, Rhode Island who was the son of Isaac Touro who moved to New Orleans where he became a successful businessman. Touro fought in the Battle of New Orleans under Andrew Jackson and became one of the nation’s leading philanthropists contributing to a wide variety of secular and Jewish causes.
1779: Beila bat Michael Benjamin zl was buried today at the Hoxton Old Jewish burial ground.
1800: Birthdate of Jacobus (Jacques) Marx Lewy, the native of Trier who was the brother of Samuel Marx, the uncle of Karl Marx, and who gained fame as successful businessman Jacob Marx, the father of Rachel and Henriette Marx.
1802: Francis Mosely and Elizabeth Samuel were married today at the Great Synagogue in the United Kingdom.
1812: In New York, Naphtali Phillips and Rachel Mendez Phillips gave birth to Isaac Phillips, a New York lawyer who served as an appraiser for the Port of New York and who was a member of Shearith Israel up until his death in 1889.
1823: In London, The Piano Concerto No. 4 (Op.64) written by Ignaz Moscheles was performed for the first time
1825(30th of Sivan, 5585): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1829: Birthdate of Baden, Germany native William Armholdm the graduate of “the Teachers Seminary in Karlsruhe who served as the rabbi at congregations Etz Chayim and Rodeph Shalom (both in Pittsburgh) and Philadelphia’s Keneseth Israel. (JTA)
1830: Samuel Nathan and Rebecca Cohen were married today at the Great Synagogue in the United Kingdom.
1832: Anna Netti von Goldschmidt married 29 year old Mortiz Moses von Goldschmidt.
1835: Birthdate of Samuel David Klauber, the husband of Charlotte Klauber.
1846: The Papal conclave of 1846 concluded. Pope Pius IX was chosen to lead the Catholic Church, beginning the longest reign in the history of the post-apostolic papacy. The papal reign of Pius IX was marked by a variety of reactionary policies as he sought to deal with the loss of the papal temporal power to the emerging united nation of Italy. The Pope returned those Jews under his control to the Ghetto. “Pius IX was the Pope who decided in 1867 to raise to sainthood one of sixteenth-century Spain's notorious grand inquisitors, Don Pedro Arbues de Epilae. He was considered a martyr (witness to the Catholic faith) after some of the family of his Jewish victims managed to assassinate him -- and then suffered grievously themselves.-- It was the conviction of the great liberal theologian of that time, Father Dollinger, that canonizing the inquisitor "served the pope's campaign of riding roughshod over liberal Catholics as well as Jews. The pope was celebrating a man who had sanctioned compulsory baptism of Jews, then inflicted judicial torture to make sure these conversions were sincere.” The most stinging example of the Pope’s anti-Jewish views and behavior is abduction of a Jewish child named Edgardo Mortara. When Pious IX was beatified in 2000, the ADL issued the following statement which summarizes the event. “The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today expressed concern at the Vatican’s beatification of Pope Pius IX, who was responsible for the 1858 abduction of a six-year old Jewish child. Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement: "The beatification of Pius IX is troubling for the Jewish community. Pius was responsible for the case of Edgardo Mortara, who at the age of six was abducted from his family in Bologna and taken to the Vatican by Papal police after it was reported that the Jewish child has been secretly baptized. Many European heads of state protested the 1858 kidnapping, as did Jewish leadership. As a result, Pius blamed Rome’s Jews for what he believed was a widespread Protestant conspiracy to defeat the papacy and levied medieval restrictions on the community. While ADL respects the beatification process as a matter for the Catholic Church alone, we find the selection of Pius IX as inappropriate based on policies he pursued as the head of the Church. It is in the context of the many years of positive progress in Catholic-Jewish relations, including the historic visit of Pope John Paul II to Israel and his asking for the forgiveness of the Jewish people, that the beatification of Pius IX, whose role in denying Edgardo Mortara his family and his right to be who he was, is most unfortunate."
1847: Ruben Samuel Heilbut and Matilda Symons were married today at the Great Synagogue in the United Kingdom.
1849: Sixty nine year old German theologian and biblical scholar Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette whom Julius Wellhausen described as "the epoch-making opener of the historical criticism of the Pentateuch” passed away today.
1851: Adolf Jellinek, the spiritual leader of Vienna’s Jewish Community and his wife gave birth to legal theorist George Jellinek author of the 1895 essay “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. He and his wife had six children, two of whom Walter and Dora were deported to Theresienstadt and a third, Otto who was murdered by the Gestapo in 1943.
1852: Jacob Aarons and Abigail Jacobs were married today at the New Synagogue in the United Kingdom
1853: Isaac Kohn the native of Bavaria who settled in Philadelphia and his wife Henrietta Yetta Kohn gave birth to Samuel Kohn today.
1854: An article entitled "The Position and Power of Prussia" published today includes the information that 200,000 of its inhabitants are Jewish.
1862(18th of Sivan, 5622): Nineteen year old Gustavus Poznanski, Jr. a private, Company D, 1st (Charleston) Battalion South Carolina Infantry who had enlisted in March of 1862 “was killed in action in Charleston County, SC.
1864: In the Netherlands, Jacques Löehman Sachs and Rebekka de Jonge gave birth to Louis Sachs, the husband of Emma Sachs who was murdered at the age of 78 in Auschwitz.
1865: Having completed its work – a survey of Jerusalem – the team led by Captain Charles W. Wilson left Jaffa for a return trip to England.
1865: In Pittsburg, PA, Samuel Floersheim and Pauline Wertheimer gave birth to Bertha Floersheim, who married Enoch Rauh and became Bertha Rauh, a member of the Board of the Humane Society and Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Allegheny General hospital as well as the author of several articles including “Justice to the Jew,” “Reform in Confirmation” and “Woman’s Place in Judaism.”
1868: Austrian businessman Eugen Rappaport and his wife gave birth to Austrian diplomat and author Alfred Rapport who converted to Roman Catholicism in 1883 – a move designed to enhance his career and social status.
1871: Former U.S. Secretary of State Seward ate dinner with the American Counsel General in Jerusalem.
1871: “An editorial in the Jewish Messenger criticized the New York Herald for lecturing Jews on the nedd for English-speaking rabbis and suggested that the problem be left to ‘rabbis and Jews.’ The editorial in the New York Herald was prompted by a resolution of Reform rabbis meeting at Cincinnati, to establish a rabbinical seminary. The Herald applauded the resolution and blamed American Jewry for its failure to halt the decline of attendance at religious services.” (As reported by Abraham P. Bloch)
1875(13th of Sivan, 5635): Forty-five year old Kennington, London native Michael Henry, the founder of the General Benevolent Association and editor of the Jewish Chronicle “succumbed to the effect of an accident” and passed away today.
1877: Harry J. Hirsch became a Cadet today at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point)
1878: A review of “Philochristus: A Memoirs of a Disciple of the Lord” which is a work of historical fiction designed to reconstruct the life and times of Jesus was published today. Among the book’s many shortcomings is the author’s description of events immediately following the Crucifixion. On the one hand he explains the empty cave of the third day by insisting that the Jews stole the body of Jesus and then “disposed of it in some unknown manner” yet also insisting that the Resurrection was a reality. [Editor’s Note – The book serves a reminder that even in a world where authors were re-examining the stories of the New Testament, the Jew still is depicted as the villain.]
1878: "Three Golden Spheres" published today described the history and current status of pawn-broking in the United States. "It has long been generally supposed that the money-lending, and especially the pawn-brokering, business is monopolized by the Jews. This is far from being the truth, for in this city the pawnbrokers who belong to the Jewish faith hardly represent one third of the total number." All religious groups are represented in the business. Among national groups, the Irish make up the greatest number.”
1879: According to reports published today, Sarah Bernhardt’s current performance at the Gaiety has been well received by audiences in London. Unfortunately, Mme Bernhardt has not made good on her promise she was learning English and would be able to speak in that language when she appeared in the UK. Nobody in the cast can speak English. At the same time, her reputation for eccentric behavior continues to grow. Photographs already exist proving that she dresses as a man when working on her sculpture and there is proof that she travels with her own coffin. But now there are new rumors claiming that her next portrait will be in a Napoleonic Pose complete with a hat model after that worn by the Emperor.
1879: The Commencement Ceremony of the Emanu-El Preparatory School of the Hebrew College took place at Temple Emanu-El this evening. Rabbi Gottheil officiated at the ceremony which included addresses in German, Hebrews and English.
1880: Louis Davis and Moritz Hartman of the Simon Benevolent Association went to the Coroner’s office in New York to tell him the story of how they were mistakenly given the body of a Christian boy over the weekend when they had come to claim the body of a young Jewess named Kate Ungerleider. The mix-up was an example of official incompetence not anti-Semitism.
1882(29th of Sivan, 5642): Five year old Albert Aaron Scharff passed away today in St. Luis.
1882: It was reported today that “serious obstacles have risen” to thwart Laurence Oliphant’s plan to “re-establish the Jews in Palestine.” The Turkish government said that Russian Jews are welcome to settle in any part of the empire except in the land of their fathers. While the Sultan did not give a reason for the ruling it is assumed that the Porte does not consider prudent to give the Jews a national center which might attract others of their faith.
1882: It was reported today that Julius Porgas left two notes behind explaining that he had taken his own life because of financial difficulties that left him to embezzle funds left in his care. In an example of being worth more dead than alive, he told his wife that he had life insurance policies with three entities including one for a thousand dollars with the Kesher Shel Barzel Society.
1883: As he was about to board the elevated at the Bowery and Canal Street Station, a conductor pushed Louis Batist back saying “You are a Jew! We don’t permit Jews on this train.”
1885: In Indiana, David Jacob Wile and Harriet Wile, the daughter of Leopold and Rose Adler gave birth Helen C. Wile who became Helen C. Burkhardt when she married Charles Ernest Burkhardt with she had three children – Alice, Ralph and Billy Burkhardt.
1885: In Charleston, SC, Rabbi Levy officiated at the wedding of Bertha V. Williams and Camden, SC resident Samuel Rosenberger
1887: Harry J. Hirsch began serving as a Cadet at the U.S. Military Academy.
1887: Four young girls and five young boys attending the public schools in New York’s 19th Ward competed tonight for the Hornthal Prizes for Elocution which were created by Louis M. Hornthal.
1887:Maurice Arnold de Forest and his younger brother Raymond were adopted today “by the millionaire Baroness Clara de Hirsch, née Bischoffsheim, wife of Jewish banker and philanthropist Baron Maurice de Hirsch de Gereuth, and given the surname de Forest-Bischoffsheim
1888: Birthdate of Alexander Alexandrovich Friedman, Russian born physicist and mathematician. “He discovered the expanding-universe solution to general relativity field equations in 1922, which was proven by Edwin Hubble’s observations in 1929.” He died of typhoid fever at the age of 37.
1888: The staff of the Hebrew Journal is hosting a fundraiser tonight at the Lyric Hall proceeds of which will go to the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society. The society was established in 1879 to care for destitute children, including, but not limited to, orphans. At its founding the society had an all-female board and its first president was a woman. In 1940, the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society merged with Hebrew Orphan Asylum, Fellowship House and the Jewish Children’s Clearing Bureau to form the New York Association for Jewish Children which became the Jewish Child Care Association.
1888: At Temple Beth El in New York Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler “paid an eloquent tribute” to the late Kaiser Wilhelm I who passed away earlier this year. He praised the emperor for having “all the noble ideal qualities of the German without the rather coarse ways of the Prussian soldier.” The rabbi also praised him for conferring the highest honors upon several Jews and for denouncing anti-Semitism; something his wife continued to do after his death. Kohler believed that he had “transmitted his liberal ideas to Bismarck and his son and that so long as they are a power there is little fear of anti-Semitism.”
1889: It was reported today that the Hebrew Benevolent Orphan Asylum was among the organizations awarded a banner as part of the centennial celebration in New York.
1890: “Medals for Jewish Students” published today identified the outstanding scholars at New York’s Ahavath Chesed’s Sabbath School. Roderick Goetz was the Dr. Adolph Huebsch Medal for being the outstanding student. Louis Obermeyer actually was the best student, but since he had won the award last year it was decided to let another have the medal and Louis was given “a set of books to show that his scholarship was appreciated. Margaret Kohut received the Rasker Medal and Lillie Ahrens received the Eisner Medal.
1890: “A short, stout, red-whiskered Polish Jew” later identified as Marcus Goldstein, entered the office of Gill Engraving Company and asked a junior member of the firm, George M. Gill, “to make him a plate for reproducing tickets of the Hamburg Lottery Company of Germany. After Goldstein explained to Gill what he wanted and made arrangements to pick up the finished product he left the store. Gill contacted the police because he thought Goldstein was part of a plan to print and sell counterfeit lottery tickets. (More to come, so keep reading during the next few days)
1891: It was reported that 600 to 700 tailors, most of whom are Jewish have gone on strike in Philadelphia in an attempt to get a more equitable distribution of work from the “ ‘sweaters’ who employ them.”
1891: “Told By An Eyewitness” published today of the persecution of the Jews in Russia provided by Miss Adele M. Fielde a Baptist missionary who had been in Moscow this spring as she traveled across the country on her way to Russia. “The sights that met her eye on every side in Moscow and other places along her journey were so frightful that she could not help sending a description of the Russian outrages to New York in the hope that it might attract notice and sympathy for the suffers.
1892: The eighth annual exhibition and commencement exercises for the students of the Hebrew Technical Institute took place today.
1892: In London, Sarah Bernhardt performed her new drama “Pauline Blanchard” which “was first seen in Australia” for the first time in the imperial capital.
1892: In Baligrod, a small village in Galicia, Austria, Malka and Ashe Selig gave birth to Jennie Grossinger, the wife of Harry Grossinger who created Grossinger, the iconic Borscht Belt hostelry.
1892: In Baligrod, a small village in Galicia, Austria, Malka and Ashe Selig gave birth to Jennie Grossinger, the wife of Harry Grossinger who created Grossinger, the iconic Borscht Belt hostelry.
1893: The ninth annual exhibition and commencement exercises of the Hebrew Technical Institute took place this afternoon at Arlington Hall on St. Mark’s Place.
1894: In Łódź, in Russian-occupied Poland, Solomon Szyk and his wife Eugenia gave birth to illustrator and “political artist” Arthur Szy
1895: It was reported today that Rothschild’s in Paris and London “refuse to touch the Russo-Chinese loan.” This was a loan that the Russians were guaranteeing so that the Chinese could pay money owed to the Japanese under the Shimonoseki Treaty. (The complexity of international finance began long before the 21st century)
1895: In Cincinnati, Ohio, Max and Sarah Hexter gave birth to Betty Hexter who became Betty Fabe when she married Isadore Fabe.
1895: “Louis Down-Town Sabbath and Daily School” published today described it as “a magnificent example of what can be accomplished by noble-minded women among the young and old of their sex in the hearts of the slums. From that up-town section where the wealthiest of the community live a few of the philanthropic Jewish women have combined for the highly laudable purpose of elevating the children of the lowliest of the Jewish population in the thickly settled down-town districts.”
1896: In St. Louis, MO, the opening prayer at the Republican National Convention was offered by a local rabbi “who is a Democrat” and who has brother who “are very active as Democrats in local political affairs.”
1896: In today’s diary entry, Herzl described his vision of the Jewish state as "a destination for the civilized world which will come to visit as it now visits...Sadigura"– a vision that was rejected by the Rebbe of the Sadigura Hasidic dynasty along with the rest of his ideas.
1896: Birthdate of Meta Neumann, nee Greenbaum, one of the last Jewish inhabitants of Kleinsteinach who was deported to Isbica or Theresienstadt.
1897: Birthdate of Elaine Hammerstein, “an American silent film and stage actress” who was the daughter of opera producer Arthur Hammerstein
1897(16th of Sivan, 5657): Orange, NJ, banker, Jacob Seholle passed away today.
1899: In Vlagtwedde, Netherlands, Louis and Emma Sachs gave birth to Sophie Josephine Sachs who became Sophie Josephine Frank when she married Siegfried Frank with whom she had two children – Julius and Emma Frank.
1899: Twelve year old Julia Lichtner arrived in New York aboard the White Star liner Cymric from Liverpool today. Her father, Herman Lichtner, a Hungarian-Jewish tailor died during the crossing.
1899: Oscar I.Lembergle, who has been working with Wilson Dunlap to convert Jews to Christianity wrote a letter to Mayor Van Wyck protesting the Mayor’s ruling that conversion attempts would not take place on public street corners and should be confined to private halls.
1899: It was reported today in Brest, France, “posters announcing the Court of Cassation…have been torn down and defaced with inscriptions hostile to the Jews and Dreyfus. (The Dreyfus Affair would continue to embroil France for years to come, in part because it was a stalking horse used by the Right to inflame passions against liberals, modernity and the Jews)
1900: Herzl meets Arminius Vámbéry a Hungarian Jewish Orientalist with connections to the Ottoman Empire who will write to the Sultan on Herzl's behalf.
1904: Irish author James Joyce begins a relationship with Nora Barnacle, and subsequently uses the date to set the actions for his novel Ulysses. This date is referred to as “Bloomsay”; a reference to Leopold Bloom. Bloomsday has been celebrated since 1994 in the Hungarian town of Szombathely, the birthplace of Leopold Bloom's father, Virág Rudolf an emigrant Hungarian Jew.
1900: Herzl meets Arminius Vámbéry a Hungarian Jewish Orientalist with connections to the Ottoman Empire who will write to the Sultan on Herzl's behalf.
1904: Irish author James Joyce begins a relationship with Nora Barnacle, and subsequently uses the date to set the actions for his novel Ulysses. This date is referred to as “Bloomsay”; a reference to Leopold Bloom. Bloomsday has been celebrated since 1994 in the Hungarian town of Szombathely, the birthplace of Leopold Bloom's father, Virág Rudolf an emigrant Hungarian Jew.
1906: After three days of violence, the Bialystok Pogrom came to an end. The death count varies; from a low of 80 to a high of 100. Hundreds of Jewish owned shops were destroyed. A major textile manufacturing center and a hot bed or revolutionary activity, approximately three-fourths of the city’s population was Jewish. This did not protect the Jews from violence instigated by the Russian authorities. “Russian authorities tried to blame the pogrom on the local Polish population in order to stir up the hatred between two ethnic groups (both of which generally opposed the Tsar). However Jewish survivors of the violence reported that the local Polish population had in fact sheltered many Jews during the pogrom and did not participate in it. Apolinary Hartglas, a Polish Jewish leader and later a member of the Polish Sejm, together with Ze'ev Jabotinsky, managed to obtain secret documents issued by Szeremietiev which showed that the pogrom had been organized well in advance by Russian authorities who had actually transported Russian railroad workers from deep within Russia to participate.”
1907: Today, Rabbi Kaufman Kohler, the chair of the Committee on Uniform Pronunciation of Hebrew, submitted a recommendation to the Central Conference of American Rabbis that “as soon as it seems feasible the same pronunciation of Hebrew that is now being used at HUC should be introduced “in the Religious Schools and Children’s Services” so as overcome the various forms of Hebrew pronunciation that do more to divide Jews than to unite them.
1907: Birthdate of actor Jack Albertson. Albertson appeared in numerous films but he may be best remembered for his starring role in the television sit-com “Chico and the Man.”
1908: The Republican Convention, which would select William Howard Taft, the first President to attend a Seder while in office, opened today in Chicago.
1911: Jews in Sfru (south of Fez) were attacked by rebellious Berbers.
1911: Jews in Sfru (south of Fez) were attacked by rebellious Berbers.
1912: Seventy-two year old Henri Jean Baptiste Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu, author of Les Juifs et l'Antisémitisme; Israël chez les Nations in 1893 and L’Antisémitisme in 1897 passed away today.
1912: Birthdate of Olga Ivinskaya, the Russian poet and writer who was the friend and lover of Boris Pasternak “and the inspiration for the character Lara in Doctor Zhivago.” (He was Jewish; she wasn’t)
1912(1st of Tammuz, 5672): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1912(1st of Tammuz, 5672): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1912(1st of Tammuz, 5672): Fifty-five year old Adolf Landesberger, the Director of the Anglo-Austrian Bank who was honored by being named Knight of the Order of the Iron Crown, passed away today in Vienna.
1912: Sir Charles Waldstein and his wife Florence (nee Einstein) gave birth to agricultural researcher and MP Henry David Leonard George Walston, the future Baron Walston.
1913(11th of Sivan, 5673): Henry S. Herman, “one of the Directors of the Hudson Realty Company” and a trustee of New York’s Temple Beth-El passed away today “at Dral NY.
1913: Birthdate of Phillip M. Kaiser who would serve as a diplomat or political appointee under every Democratic President from Harry Truman to Jimmy Carter. He was the ninth of 10 children of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants from imperial Russia. He wrote in his 1992 memoir that "whatever political skills I may have, I attribute to the fact that I had to develop them early to cope with sibling rivalries." In his childhood home, his mother rarely spoke English, communicating with her children in Yiddish. But they spoke English to her. At a parochial school, the young Mr. Kaiser learned Hebrew, which, he later wrote, "established my credentials as a Jewish boy and enabled me to feel superior to Yiddish, which I considered a 'greenhorn's' jargon." He graduated from the University of Wisconsin, where he won a Rhodes scholarship. In September 1936 he arrived in England, which was his home base for three subsequent years of study and travel in the European continent as it was lurching toward World War II.
1915: At Albany, NY, the Bill of Rights Committee of the Constitutional Convention held a hearing on a proposal for “an amendment to the Constitution providing for the abolition of capital punishment” at which Rabbi Jacob Goldstein, the Jewish Chaplain of Sing Sing” testified in favor of the amendment telling “the committee that one of the gunmen sent to their death in connection with the murder of Herman Rosenthal was a victim of injustice.” Committee Chairman Marshal received a letter from Jacob H. Schiff “in which the case of Leo M. Frank was advanced as a convincing argument in support of the contention that the death penalty should be abolished.”
1915: At Albany, NY, the Bill of Rights Committee of the Constitutional Convention held a hearing on a proposal for “an amendment to the Constitution providing for the abolition of capital punishment” at which Rabbi Jacob Goldstein, the Jewish Chaplain of Sing Sing” testified in favor of the amendment telling “the committee that one of the gunmen sent to their death in connection with the murder of Herman Rosenthal was a victim of injustice.” Committee Chairman Marshal received a letter from Jacob H. Schiff “in which the case of Leo M. Frank was advanced as a convincing argument in support of the contention that the death penalty should be abolished.”
1915: “Ex-Congressman W. M. Howard closed his plea for a commutation of the sentence” of Leo Frank “shortly after 4 o’clock this afternoon” meaning that “the fate of Leo M. Frank has been finally committed to the hands of Governor John M. Slaton” who will decide if “Frank shall die on the gallows or spend the remainder of his life in the penitentiary.”
1916: Birthdate of Irma Silberbach, the native of Lippe Detmold, Germany who would marry Werner Julius Seligman and become Irma Seligman.
1916: Today, Maurice Simmons released a copy of a letter previously sent to the Adjutant General of the New York National Guard in which he said that the National Guard was not taking the investigation of alleged discrimination against Jews seriously.
1916: In St. Louis, MO, the National Democratic Convention which nominated Woodrow Wilson, the President who appointed the first Jewish justice to the Supreme Court, came to a close.
1917: In New York, Eugene Isaac Meyer, Jr. and Agnes Elizabeth Ernst gave birth to Katharine Myer who became Katherine Graham after marrying Phil Graham and was the publisher of the Washington Post. Although Katherine Graham came from a distinguished Jewish background she was baptized at the age of ten. The only people who thought she was Jewish were the myriad of anti-Semites who loved to write about the "Jewish Controlled Media in America." Mrs. Graham died in 2001.
1917: Birthdate of Irving Penn “an American photographer known for his portraiture and fashion photography.”
1917: It was reported today that there will be no funding raising by Jewish organizations including the American Jewish Relief Committee during Red Cross Week which is scheduled to begin on June 18.
1918: It was reported today that the Central Jewish Relief Committee has received $1,050 from Congregation Beth Israel in Milwaukee, $100 from Shearith Israel in Atlanta and $100 from Shaare Zedek in Clinton, MA.
1918: Dr. Eugen Kohn of Baltimore delivered the opening pray at today’s joint session of the United Synagogue and the Jewish Women’s League was held at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
1920: Birthdate of basketball player Henry “Hank” Rosenstein who played forward for the City College of New York.
1922: Birthdate of William Korey the University of Chicago graduate who became Director of the Anti-Defamation League.
1931(1st of Tammuz, 5691): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1931: Birthdate of American sociologist Donald Nathan Levine, one of the leading figures in the field of Ethiopian Studies.
1932: “The Doomed Battalion” a WWI movie directed by Cyril Gardner and produced by Carl Laemmle, Jr was released today in the United States.
1932: In Chicago, the Republican National Convention which Samuel S. Koenig attended as delegate from New York and which nominated Herbert Hoover for a second term came to an end.
1933: According to a census on this date, the Jewish population of Berlin, Germany's capital city was about 160,000. Berlin's Jewish community was the largest in Germany, comprising more than 32 percent of all Jews in the country.
1933(22nd of Sivan, 5693): Unknown assailants murder Zionist Labor leader Chaim Arlosoroff
1933: President Roosevelt signed into law a series of bills that began the creation of what came to be called The New Deal. For Jews, like so many others, the legislation provided immediate economic assistance. More importantly, the New Deal opened up career opportunities for a whole generation of Jews especially those with degrees in law and accounting. The myriad of government agencies that resulted from the New Deal were a critical ingredient in the growth of the Jewish Middle Class especially for the children and grandchildren of those who had come to the United States from Eastern Europe starting in the 1880's.
1933(22nd of Sivan, 5693): Unknown assailants murder Zionist Labor leader Chaim Arlosoroff
1933: President Roosevelt signed into law a series of bills that began the creation of what came to be called The New Deal. For Jews, like so many others, the legislation provided immediate economic assistance. More importantly, the New Deal opened up career opportunities for a whole generation of Jews especially those with degrees in law and accounting. The myriad of government agencies that resulted from the New Deal were a critical ingredient in the growth of the Jewish Middle Class especially for the children and grandchildren of those who had come to the United States from Eastern Europe starting in the 1880's.
1934: Man Ray was photographed today at the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Montparnasse exhibition in Paris
1934: “Mussolini and Hitler Agree That Austria Must Remain an Independent Government” published today in the Springfield (Mass) Union described the first meeting of the two European dictators.
1936: “Jewish Congress Seen As Harmful” published today described the opposition to the World Jewish Congress scheduled to open in Geneva led by such notables as Roger Straus of New York and Harold and Eustace Riegelman who feel that the meeting only represents a minority of Jewish organizations and because it would actually be counter-productive in the fight against anti-Semitism in Europe.
1937: Marx Brothers'"A Day At The Races" opens in LA
1937: Birthdate of author Erich Segal.
1937: Birthdate of author Erich Segal.
1937: Eighteen year old Welwel Sczezerbowski, a Jewish boy was sentenced to death after having been found guilty of murdering a policeman during an anti-Jewish riot.
1938: Birthdate of Joyce Carol Oates. “Joyce Carol Oates’ paternal grandmother was Jewish, but fearing persecution, kept that fact hidden. Her grandmother died in 1970, and it wasn’t until afterwards, that Oates found out the truth about her family’s Jewish heritage. Her book, ‘The Gravedigger’s Daughter’ is dedicated to her paternal grandmother.”
1939: In Oxford, England future famed diplomat Philip Kaiser married Hannah Greeley,
1940: Birthdate of Neil Goldschmidt former Mayor of Portland and Governor of Oregon as well as member of the Cabinet under President Carter
1940: French Premier Reynaud, whose government was in exile, resigned. Henri Petain replaced him. Petain earned a place of dishonor in Jewish and French history as head of the Nazi-collaborating government at Vichy.
1940: Fifty-five year old French journalist and political leader Georges Mandel, who would be murdered by French Fascists in 1944, was arrested in Bordeaux and then after a brief time released. (Mandel would refuse Churchill’s offer to flee to the safety of Great Britain saying "You fear for me because I am a Jew. Well, it is just because I am a Jew that I will not go tomorrow; it would look as though I was afraid, as if I was running away." (While many would collaborate and then invent stories of being secretly part of the Resistance, Mandel was the real deal.)
1940: Admiral François Darlan himself ordered “French naval authorities to facilitate if need be the embarkation of [former] Prime Minister Léon Blum aboard any naval ship or aircraft headed to North Africa
1941: “New German and Italian schemes for fanning Arab violence against British authority in the Middle East to counteract strategic reverses of the Axis in Iraq and Syria” which would “charge that Jewish banking interests in New York forced a guarantee from the British of a great Jewish homeland in return for supporting United States intervention in the war” were reported today
1941: “László Radványi” and his wife “poet Anna Seghers” and their children Pierre and Ruth who had escaped from Nazi occupied Europe, arrived in New York today.
1941: Today, in Atlantic City, “the Independent Order of Brith Abraham voted to contribute a total of $50,000 to the Jewish section of the British War Relief Society, the United Jewish Appeal and the United Service Organizations.”
1942(1st of Tammuz, 5702): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1942: Most of the Jews of Łazy, Poland, were deported to Auschwitz. Jews from other nearby villages were also deported with them.
1942: The American chargé d'affaires in the Vatican, Harold Tittmann, reports to the State Department that Pope Pius XII is adopting "an ostrich-like policy towards atrocities that were obvious to everyone."
1943: SS chief Heinrich Himmler allows a transfer of Jewish prisoners from the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp located in Germany for medical experiments involving jaundice.
1943(13th of Sivan, 5703): Dr. Niuta Jurezkaya, a physician who escaped from the Minsk (Belorussia) Ghetto to nearby forests, is recaptured, tortured, and shot.
1943: Two hundred patients from Berlin are sent to Theresienstadt along with the remaining Jews of the Berlin community. The German capital was declared "judenrein" - Free of Jews. Ten years earlier the Berlin Jewish population was estimated around 186,000.
1944 In Ness Ziona, Moshe and Sarah Kahalani, immigrants from Yemen, gave birth to Brigadier General (and future political leader) Avigdor Kahalani.
1944: Residents of the Jewish ghetto at Lódz, Poland, are notified of "voluntary registration for labor outside the ghetto." In truth, there is no work but only death at the Chelmno, Poland, extermination camp, where the Germans plan to murder 3000 Jews a week for three weeks.
1944(25th of Sivan, 5704): In France, Jewish historian Marc Bloch, a leader of the resistance group Francs-Tireurs et Partisans, is executed by German troops.
1944: Residents of the Jewish ghetto at Lódz, Poland, are notified of "voluntary registration for labor outside the ghetto." In truth, there is no work but only death at the Chelmno, Poland, extermination camp, where the Germans plan to murder 3000 Jews a week for three weeks.
1944(25th of Sivan, 5704): In France, Jewish historian Marc Bloch, a leader of the resistance group Francs-Tireurs et Partisans, is executed by German troops.
1946: Tonight, Operation Markolet or Night of the Bridges, a Haganah operation designed “to destroy eleven bridges linking Palestine with the neighboring countries of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt began.
1947(28th of Sivan, 5707): Bronislaw Huberman, famed violinist and founder of the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra, passed away.
1948: Lt. Col. Abdullah el-Tell commander of the Jordanian forces and Colonel David Shaltiel the commander of Israeli forces in West Jerusalem continued their discussions in the presence of UN observers which included the disposition of Abu Tor, “civilian access to retrieve personal belongings, "examination by Arabs of municipal records in the Jewish area", recovery of Torah scrolls from the Old City and the closing of the New Gate.
1949: U.S premiere of “Roughshod” a cowboy film directed by Mark Robson.
1949: Birthdate of Xu Xin, a professor at Nanjing University and China's leading Judaic scholar,as well as the founder and director of the Diane and Guilford Glazer Institute for Jewish and Israel Studies at Nanjing University in Nanjing, China.”
1952: In Syosset, NY, “Gertrude "Trudy" (née Albert) and Morris Isikoff” gave birth to American investigative reporter and author Michael R. Isikoff, the husband of Mary Ann Akers and the father of their son Zachary and Willa Isikoff the daughter who was born during his marriage to Lisa Stein.
1952: Alexander Marx, librarian of the Jewish Theological Seminary arrived in New York after having spent ten weeks in Israel.
1952: Brigadier General Mordechai Makleff, vice chief of staff of the IAF arrived in New York aboard the Cunard Line’s Queen Elizabeth to begin an unofficial tour of U.S. military installations.
1952: "Anne Frank: Diary of Young Girl" is published in the United States
1952: The New York Times reviews “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” translated from the Dutch by B.M. Mooyaart-Doubleday with an introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt.
1952: "Anne Frank: Diary of Young Girl" is published in the United States
1952: The New York Times reviews “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” translated from the Dutch by B.M. Mooyaart-Doubleday with an introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt.
1953: CBS broadcast the first episode of “Steve Randall” a television series starring Melvyn Douglas.
1955: In Philadelphia, linguist Myrna Gopnik and Irwin Gropnik gave birth to Dr. Alison Gopnik who is a professor of both psychology and philosophy.
1955: Publication of the first issue of Roll Call the highly influential publication created by Sid Yudain, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants.
1955: In Hewlett, NY, Norma and Harry Ganz, “the owner of a private-label blouse company,” gave birth to Nancy Ganz who turned her back on a potential career in the field of biology to found “Bodyslimmers’ whose product line includes Belly Buster and Butt Booster.
1956: Dr. Henry Cohen was raised to the peerage as Baron Cohen of Birkenhead, of Birkenhead in the County Palatine of Chester. This meant that the famous physician was now Henry Cohen, 1st Baron Cohen of Birkenhead. The Lord Cohen Medal, the highest award for services to gerontology in the United Kingdom and is named, is named for him.
1957(17thof Sivan, 5717): Fifty-four year old David “Davie the Jew” Berman a mobster who began his criminal career in Sioux City, Iowa died today during surgery in Las Vegas where he had teamed up with Bugsy Siegel to turn the city into a gambler’s paradise.
1958: Filming of “The Geisha Boy” produced by Jerry Lewis who was also one of the co-stars began today.
1959: Release date for “John Paul Jones” a film about the American Revolutionary War naval hero produced by Samuel Bronston with a script co-authored by Jesse Lasky, Jr and music by Max Steiner.
1961: Birthdate of Anne Elaine Heyman, the native of Pretoria who used her knowledge of Israel’s solution to its “orphan problem to create a system that helped to save the 1.2 million orphans created by the genocide in Rwanda.
1961: Birthdate of Adisu Massala, the native of Ethiopia who made Aliyah in 1980 following a clandestine route and eventually became a member of the Knesset.
1963: David Ben-Gurion resigned for the second and last time as Prime Minister and Defense Minister. Levi Eshkol will be chosen as a compromise candidate to fill both positions. Eshkol, the Israeli politician most Westerners had never heard of will thus be the leader of the Jewish state when it faces it's greatest test in 1967 and enjoys its greatest triumph with the reunification of Jerusalem.
1963: David Ben-Gurion resigned for the second and last time as Prime Minister and Defense Minister. Levi Eshkol will be chosen as a compromise candidate to fill both positions. Eshkol, the Israeli politician most Westerners had never heard of will thus be the leader of the Jewish state when it faces it's greatest test in 1967 and enjoys its greatest triumph with the reunification of Jerusalem.
1967: “The Reluctant Astronaut” a comedy with a script by Everett Greenbaum was released in the United States today.
1968:` Governor Nelson Rockefeller designated Jennie Grossinger Day in New York State, the first time this honor was bestowed on a living woman. Jennie Grossinger, who helped make the Catskills resort Grossinger's into the most famous retreat of its kind, was born in Austria on June 16, 1892. At age eight, she immigrated with her family to New York, where she struggled to learn English and succeed in school. At thirteen, she left school to work in a garment factory, providing her family with much-needed income. In 1914, her father bought a piece of land in the Catskills, intending to leave factory work and return to farming. It soon became clear that the rocky soil would never support a prosperous farm, and Jennie suggested that the family take in boarders. The first year, the family charged $9 a week and cleared a net profit of $81. From that modest beginning, Grossinger's was born. Although the initial farmhouse lacked heat, electricity, and indoor plumbing, its other amenities helped to make it a success. Jennie Grossinger's mother, Malka, was a good kosher cook, and Jennie's warm personality was credited with making guests feel at home. In addition, Jennie's husband Harry (a cousin with the same last name), who had stayed in New York, was able to send guests their way. By 1919, the family had made enough money to sell the original farmhouse and buy a nearby hotel. Grossinger's thrived in the 1920s, becoming an opulent resort with tennis courts, a children's camp, crystal chandeliers, and an auditorium that featured world-class entertainers. It was in this decade that Grossinger's became a destination of choice for upwardly mobile East Coast Jews. Although the decade of the Great Depression brought hard times, Grossinger's managed to stay open. One innovative development was the establishment of a training camp for boxers. The boxers provided much-needed income, while Grossinger's provided a Jewish atmosphere and facilities. In the years after the Second World War, Grossinger's fame spread from Jews to non-Jews. While maintaining its kosher kitchen, the resort began to attract a non-Jewish clientele. Part of this was due to the successful national distribution and marketing of "Grossinger's Rye," accompanied by Jennie Grossinger's image and signature. By 1970, non-Jews were estimated to make up one third of the 150,000 annual guests. In the post-war years, such prominent figures as Eleanor Roosevelt, Robert Kennedy, and Nelson Rockefeller visited the resort.
1968:` Governor Nelson Rockefeller designated Jennie Grossinger Day in New York State, the first time this honor was bestowed on a living woman. Jennie Grossinger, who helped make the Catskills resort Grossinger's into the most famous retreat of its kind, was born in Austria on June 16, 1892. At age eight, she immigrated with her family to New York, where she struggled to learn English and succeed in school. At thirteen, she left school to work in a garment factory, providing her family with much-needed income. In 1914, her father bought a piece of land in the Catskills, intending to leave factory work and return to farming. It soon became clear that the rocky soil would never support a prosperous farm, and Jennie suggested that the family take in boarders. The first year, the family charged $9 a week and cleared a net profit of $81. From that modest beginning, Grossinger's was born. Although the initial farmhouse lacked heat, electricity, and indoor plumbing, its other amenities helped to make it a success. Jennie Grossinger's mother, Malka, was a good kosher cook, and Jennie's warm personality was credited with making guests feel at home. In addition, Jennie's husband Harry (a cousin with the same last name), who had stayed in New York, was able to send guests their way. By 1919, the family had made enough money to sell the original farmhouse and buy a nearby hotel. Grossinger's thrived in the 1920s, becoming an opulent resort with tennis courts, a children's camp, crystal chandeliers, and an auditorium that featured world-class entertainers. It was in this decade that Grossinger's became a destination of choice for upwardly mobile East Coast Jews. Although the decade of the Great Depression brought hard times, Grossinger's managed to stay open. One innovative development was the establishment of a training camp for boxers. The boxers provided much-needed income, while Grossinger's provided a Jewish atmosphere and facilities. In the years after the Second World War, Grossinger's fame spread from Jews to non-Jews. While maintaining its kosher kitchen, the resort began to attract a non-Jewish clientele. Part of this was due to the successful national distribution and marketing of "Grossinger's Rye," accompanied by Jennie Grossinger's image and signature. By 1970, non-Jews were estimated to make up one third of the 150,000 annual guests. In the post-war years, such prominent figures as Eleanor Roosevelt, Robert Kennedy, and Nelson Rockefeller visited the resort.
1970(12th of Sivan, 5730):Elsa Yur'evna Triolet, a Russian born Jewish French author passed away.
1970: “Two Mules for Sister” a droll western film directed by Don Siegel with a screenplay by Albert Maltz was released today in the United States.
1974: In Rhode Island, Rabbis William Bradue and Herschel Shacter officiated at the wedding of Elizabeth Fain and Samuel Gerson, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Gerson of Natanya, Israel
1975(7th of Tammuz 5735): One of the Israelis wounded in yesterday’s rocket attack yesterday at Nahariya passed away today.
1975: “Thirty-eight Soviet Jewish activists, including Vitaly Rubin, Vladimir Slepak, Victor Brailovsky and Mark Azbel appealed to the International Pen Club and five prominent Western authors to act in defense of the samizdat magazine “Jews in the USSR”.
1976: “Silent Move” a comedy directed by Mel Brooks, with a script by Mel Brooks and Barry Levinson and starring Mel Brooks, Marty Feldman, Marcel Marceau, Sid Caesar, James Caan, Harold Gould, Henny Youngman and Paul Newman was released today. (June 17 and June 30 are also given for release dates,)
1976: “I’ve Got a Secret” created by Allan Sherman and produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman began appearing in weekly syndication.
1977: Seventy-seven year old Maxwell M. Bilofsky, “the husband of the former Betty Edith Keller” was buried today at Beth David Cemetery in Elmont on Long Island after funeral services in Oakhurst, NJ.
1977: “Grand Theft Auto” featuring Ken Lerner as “Eagle I” was released today in the United States.
1977: Gerald Davis, “one of Ireland’s leading semi-abstract artists” and “a prominent member of the Jewish community in Ireland” launched an exhibition based on Ulyssescalled “Paintings for Bloomsday” in a gallery located on Howth Head, the setting of the soliloquy that ends the novel.
1978: U.S. Premiere of the musical spoof “Grease” featuring Didi Conn as “Frenchy”, Dinah Manoff as “Marty Maraschino” and Sid Caesar as “Coach Calhoun.”
1983: As the Soviet Government continues its crackdown on Jewish dissidents, “Yuri Adnropov, the former chief of the KGB was appointed head of state.
1984(16th of Sivan, 5744):Rabbi Bernard Bergman, the nursing home mogul, passed away.
1985:“An Off-Broadway revival” of “Merrily We Roll Along,” a Stephen Sondheim musical “based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart” opened today at San Diego's La Jolla Playhouse, where it ran for 24 performances
1991: Dr. and Mrs. Robert Sheon of Toledo, Ohio, announced the August wedding plans for their daughter, Amy Ruth Sheon, and Marvin Krislov, the son of Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Krislov of Lexington, Ky.
1995: U.S. premiere of the Italian film “Il Postino: The Postman” directed by Michael Radford.
1996(29th of Sivan, 5756): Forty year old First Sargent Meir Alush, an off-duty policeman, “was shot and killed in a toy store in the village of Bidiya.” (Jewish Virtual Library)
1996(29th of Sivan, 5756): Eighty-three year old sportscaster Mel Allen passed away. Yes, the man who was the Voice of the New York Yankees for so many years, the man with the smooth southern drawl, was Jewish. He grew up in rural Alabama as an observant Jew. He reluctantly changed his surname from Israel to further his career. His last name was considered "too Jewish." The Allen in Mel Allen was taken from his father's middle name i.e. Julius Allen Israel. In 1950, Allen served as chairman of Operations Sports for Israel which shipped over three tons of athletic and recreational gear to Israeli children.
1998: Robert D. Sack, the son of Rabbi Eugene Sack of Beth Elohim, began serving as Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
2000: Israel complies with UN Security Council Resolution 425 and completely withdraws from Lebanon.
2001:Moris Farhi, a “Turkish author” who was “vice president of International Pen” “was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in June 16, 2001, in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, for services to literature.
2000: Israel complies with UN Security Council Resolution 425 and completely withdraws from Lebanon.
2001:Moris Farhi, a “Turkish author” who was “vice president of International Pen” “was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in June 16, 2001, in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, for services to literature.
2002: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Fly Swatter by Nicholas Dawidoff and Six Days of War by Michael B. Oren.
2002: Today Dominique Strauss-Kahn was reelected Member of Parliament in the 8th circonscription of the Val-d'Oise.
2002: Olivier Dassault, the grandson of Marcel Dassalt, was elected today “as deputy for the first circonscription of Oise, running on the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) ticket.”
2002: A former Miss Israel is among those whom plastic surgeon Pamela Lipkin has invited to a Botox Party.
2004: Final day of a Birthright trip to Israel - Towards a Sustainable Future for Israel: An Environmental Leadership Seminar for Students and Young Professionals – focused on the environment sponsored as a joint project of COEJL, the Heschel Center for Environmental Leadership and Learning, the Jewish Agency for Israel, and Hillel.
2004: “100th anniversary of the day in 1904 on which Dublin's best-known fictional Jew (and cuckold), 38-year-old Leopold Bloom, wandered the city as a modern-day Odysseus and, after numerous adventures located more in his mind than on the street, circumnavigated his way home” (As reported by Jonathan Wilson)
2005: What Sotheby's is calling the only known surviving autographed draft of the Balfour Declaration, the 1917 document that called for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in what was then Palestine, along with other documents from the archive of the Zionist Leader Leon Simon is to be auctioned in New York today. Besides two original drafts of the Declaration, the auction includes a signed letter from Chaim Weizmann, a Zionist and chemist who relocated from Germany to Britain after the start of World War I, asking his colleagues to review the draft. Sotheby's expects the archive to sell for $500,000 to $800,000.
2006: The Presbyterian Church, USA (PCUSA) began debating the issue of divesting from companies doing business with Israel because of Israel's policy in the Palestinian territories.
2005: What Sotheby's is calling the only known surviving autographed draft of the Balfour Declaration, the 1917 document that called for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in what was then Palestine, along with other documents from the archive of the Zionist Leader Leon Simon is to be auctioned in New York today. Besides two original drafts of the Declaration, the auction includes a signed letter from Chaim Weizmann, a Zionist and chemist who relocated from Germany to Britain after the start of World War I, asking his colleagues to review the draft. Sotheby's expects the archive to sell for $500,000 to $800,000.
2006: The Presbyterian Church, USA (PCUSA) began debating the issue of divesting from companies doing business with Israel because of Israel's policy in the Palestinian territories.
2006(20th of Sivan, 5766): Seventy-seven year old editor and “queen of letters” Barbara Epstein passed away today. (As reported by Charles McGrath)
2006: Hebrew Book Week comes to an end.
2007(30th of Sivan, 5767: Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
2008: Time magazine features a profile on Foreign Minister Tzipi Livini who is favored to succeed Ehud Olmert entitled “Mrs. Clean.”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1812071,00.html
2008: In an article entitled “Grapes on the Golan,” Kevin Peraino profiles the growth Israel’s wine industry which is located on the Golan Heights and the effect peace talks between Damascus and Jerusalem might have on it.
http://www.kosherwinereport.com/2008/06/grapes-on-the-golan---newsweek-june-16th-2008.html
2008: In New York, the Center for Jewish History co-sponsors “’Bloom’ Comes Home.” This is a preview of "Bloom,” which is a documentary film homage to James Joyce's masterpiece, “Ulysses,” with filmmakers Alan Adelson and Kate Taverna. On Bloomsday, 2003, the Center for Jewish History and Jewish Heritage staged an exciting dramatic reading of scenes from Joyce's “Ulysses” featuring Kathleen Chalfant and a host of talented actors playing the Odysseus-like protagonist Leopold Bloom. The acclaimed performance has now become the centerpiece of a film which plays with notions as light as reading Joyce in bed and as serious as what kind of Jew Leopold Bloom really was. The film travels to Ireland to reveal how an anti-Semitic outbreak in Limerick in 1904 inspired Joyce to create Dublin's best known fictional Jew. The preview of this work in progress takes place in the very auditorium where it was first performed. The evening will include conversation with the filmmakers and special additional readings.
2008: Despite intense lobbying by Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, the European Union - in a sign of vastly improved European-Israeli relations over the last few years - agreed to a significant upgrade of relations. The upgrade was announced in Luxembourg during the annual EU-Israel Association Council meeting, headed by foreign ministers, which conducts the bilateral relations between Israel and the EU. The announcement was made at a meeting attended by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and the ministers of the 27 EU states.
2008: After a report in The Sun which exposed Nazi war criminal Milivoj Asner mingling with Euro 2008 football fans in Austria, the British daily interviewed the 95-year-old man at his Austrian home.
2008: In Milwaukee, The Third International Festival of New Jewish Liturgical Music came to a close.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1812071,00.html
2008: In an article entitled “Grapes on the Golan,” Kevin Peraino profiles the growth Israel’s wine industry which is located on the Golan Heights and the effect peace talks between Damascus and Jerusalem might have on it.
http://www.kosherwinereport.com/2008/06/grapes-on-the-golan---newsweek-june-16th-2008.html
2008: In New York, the Center for Jewish History co-sponsors “’Bloom’ Comes Home.” This is a preview of "Bloom,” which is a documentary film homage to James Joyce's masterpiece, “Ulysses,” with filmmakers Alan Adelson and Kate Taverna. On Bloomsday, 2003, the Center for Jewish History and Jewish Heritage staged an exciting dramatic reading of scenes from Joyce's “Ulysses” featuring Kathleen Chalfant and a host of talented actors playing the Odysseus-like protagonist Leopold Bloom. The acclaimed performance has now become the centerpiece of a film which plays with notions as light as reading Joyce in bed and as serious as what kind of Jew Leopold Bloom really was. The film travels to Ireland to reveal how an anti-Semitic outbreak in Limerick in 1904 inspired Joyce to create Dublin's best known fictional Jew. The preview of this work in progress takes place in the very auditorium where it was first performed. The evening will include conversation with the filmmakers and special additional readings.
2008: Despite intense lobbying by Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, the European Union - in a sign of vastly improved European-Israeli relations over the last few years - agreed to a significant upgrade of relations. The upgrade was announced in Luxembourg during the annual EU-Israel Association Council meeting, headed by foreign ministers, which conducts the bilateral relations between Israel and the EU. The announcement was made at a meeting attended by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and the ministers of the 27 EU states.
2008: After a report in The Sun which exposed Nazi war criminal Milivoj Asner mingling with Euro 2008 football fans in Austria, the British daily interviewed the 95-year-old man at his Austrian home.
2008: In Milwaukee, The Third International Festival of New Jewish Liturgical Music came to a close.
2009: A reception is held at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. honoring Ann F. Lewis the recipient of the NJDC Belle Moskowitz Award.
2009: In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Laurie Silber, Search Committee Chairperson, announces that Temple Judah has officially hired Rabbi Todd Thalblum. Rabbi Tahlblum will begin on August 1, 2009.
2009: In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Laurie Silber, Search Committee Chairperson, announces that Temple Judah has officially hired Rabbi Todd Thalblum. Rabbi Tahlblum will begin on August 1, 2009.
2009(24th of Sivan, 5769): Eighty-eighty year old Seymour “Sy” Broday author of Jewish Heroes of America and its sequel, Jewish Heroes and Heroines of America passed away today.
2010: In “Revolutionary Love” published today, Jonathan Sarna described the role of Jacob I. Cohen in the American Revolution and his marriage to Esther Mordecai.
2010: A screening of “Leon Blum: For All Mankind” and lecture by filmmaker, Jean Bodon, are scheduled to be held at noon today at the Library of Congress
2011: “The Addams Family” a musical with a book by Marshall Brickman and which Bebe Neuwirth played “Morticia” was performed for the 500th time tonight.
2011: “Fiddler on the Roof” is scheduled to be performed at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
2011: Congregation Agudas Achim in Iowa City is scheduled to hold its annual meeting.
2011: At the Historic 6th& I Synagogue in Washington, DC, Leah Koenig, author of “The Hadassah Everyday Cookbook: Daily Meals for the Contemporary Jewish Kitchen” and former editor-in-chief of the award winning food blog The Jew and the Carrot, is scheduled to make eco-kosher Portobello mushroom burgers and basil two-bean salad as part of “Jewish Cooking 101: Farmers' Market Meals”
2011:Today, thousands will retrace the steps of Leopold Bloom, the Jewish protagonist of James Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses on “Bloomsday,” an annual event celebrating the Irish author’s novel and his Jewish hero.
2011:After two months of quiet in the South, a Kassam rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into the Eshkol Regional Council on tonight. The projectile exploded in an open field and no injuries or property damage was reported. Near to 9:30 p.m., a siren was heard in Eshkol-area communities, followed seconds later by an explosion
2011: Jewish Congressman Anthony Weiner announced his resignation today, following the revelation that he had sent a lewd photograph to young women online. Instead of sending a written letter of resignation, Weiner made a televised public statement, which was met by hecklers shouting out angry remarks
2011:The Korean Embassy in Israel today held a special ceremony to mark the 61st anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. In honor of soldiers who fought to help South Korea stop the communist invasion, a seemingly unlikely group was also recognized: Jewish Korean War veterans living in Israel. According to an official statement released by the Embassy, some 4,000 Jewish soldiers fought alongside South Koreans and Allied Forces in the Korean War between 1950 and 1953. The Embassy has been awarding medals to Jewish soldiers since 2009. This year's ceremony was hosted by Korean Ambassador to Israel Ma Young-Sam at his home in Rishpon.
2012: The Queen Has No Crown is scheduled to be shown at The London Israeli & Film Festival.
2012: Rabbi Jonah Layman and Cantor Wendi Fried are scheduled to lead “A Taste of Shabbat” at Shaare Tefila in Olney, MD.
2012: National Hebrew Book Week is scheduled to come to an end.
2012: Second and final day of the great Pastrami Sandwich giveaway at Langer’s Deli in Los Angeles which is celebrating its 65th anniversary.
2012:The IDF received a report this morning that a rocket shell had been found in southern Israel, following reports overnight that an explosion had been heard in the area. No injuries or damages were reported in the incident. Following an initial examination, the IDF determined that the projectile appeared to be a 122 millimeter Grad-type rocket. IDF officials said they were further investigating the incident.
2012(26thof Sivan, 5772): Eighty-two year old “Dan Dorfman, a highly visible financial journalist whose televised market reports could send a stock soaring — or plummeting — but whose career was tarnished by accusations of insider trading” passed away today. (As reported by Margalit Fox)
2013(8thof Tammuz, 5773): Ninety year old Bernard Sahlins, a founder and former owner of the Second City, the Chicago nightclub which launched the career of many funny people including John Beulushi and Stephen Colbert passed away today. (As reported by Bruce Weber)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/18/theater/bernard-sahlins-patriarch-of-sketch-comedy-dies-at-90.html
2013: In San Diego, CA, the Used Book Sale to benefit the Samuel & Rebecca Astor Judaica Library is scheduled to come to an end.
2013: A show consisting of “more than 130 works by R.B. Kitaj which have been on display concurrently at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester and at London’s Jewish Museum is scheduled to come to an end.
2013: Seret 2013, the London Israeli Film & Television Festival is scheduled to come to an end.
2013: TheNew York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code by Margalit Fox, whose linguistic talents turn the obituary columns into a unique art form.
2013: This evening the Cabinet approved measures that will make it easier for authorities to prosecute against “price tag” attacks, while at the same time rejecting calls to have them labeled as acts of terror.
2013: Today President Shimon Peres welcomed the election of Hasan Rowhani as Iranian president, saying the relatively moderate cleric could bring about a change in Iran’s nuclear policy while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday against being taken in by Iran’s election of the relatively moderate cleric Hasan Rowhani to the Iranian presidency.
2014: Today is the 110th anniversary of the day in 1904 on which Dublin's best-known fictional Jew (and cuckold), 38-year-old Leopold Bloom, wandered the city as a modern-day Odysseus and, after numerous adventures located more in his mind than on the street, circumnavigated his way home. (As reported by Jonathan Wilson)
2014: The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington is scheduled to host its annual gala at Beth Shalom in Potomac, MD.
2014: Following in the footsteps of fellow Jewish economist Janet Yellen, Stanley Fischer began serving as Vice Chairperson of the Federal Reserve System.
2014: The International Consortium for Research on Anti-Semitism and Racism hosted by the Jewish Studies Program at Central European University is scheduled to begin in Budapest, Hungary.
2014: Chet Orloff is scheduled to address the annual meeting of the Oregon Jewish Museum this evening.
2014: Israel voiced concern today at the prospect of its closest ally, Washington, cooperating with what it considers its deadliest foe, Iran, to stave off a sectarian break-up of Iraq.
2014: “IDF soldiers shot at three Palestinians suspected of attempting to infiltrate the West Bank settlement of Kochav Yaakov, near Ramallah, late tonight.
2014: “Vandals slashed the tires of an IDF vehicle at the Yitzhar settlement this evening as supplies were being brought to soldiers at the West Bank community.” (As reported by Stuart Winer)
2014: As the IDF continues to search for three kidnapped Jewish teenagers, the uncle of one of the victims pleaded with the captors to return them unharmed while Prime Minister Netanyahu warned the cabinet about a long and diffiuclt military mission and others called for a dismantling of Hamas on the West Bank.
2014: 33rdAnnual Bloomsday on Broadway, the creation of Isaiah Sheffer is scheduled to take place this evening.
2015(29th of Sivan, 5775):Bonna Devora Haberman, the founder of Women of the Wall, a group pressing for egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall passed away today.
2015: In New Orleans, in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, JWA, Hadassah, and the National Council of Jewish Women are scheduled to sponsor “A Celebration of Community and Jewish Women’s Leadership” during which Jewish Women’s Archive Executive Director Judith Rosenbaum oral historian Rosalind Hinton and a panel of local women will explore the impact of women’s leadership during the hurricane and beyond, and assess the state of Jewish women’s leadership in New Orleans today.
2015: Aaron Lansky, founder and president of the Yiddish Book Center, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the Kulturfest in New York City.
2015: In Essex, UK, Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Romain is scheduled to lecture on “Royal Jews – Jewish Life in Berkshire from the Readmission Till Today.”
2015: Puppet Theater Company Great Small Works and Eddy Portnoy are scheduled to return to YIVO for the world premiere of their reinterpretation of the work of Modicut, the first Yiddish puppet theater in America.
2015: Thirty-five year old Rav Shmuly Yanklowitz the “dean of Valley Beit Midrash and the cofounder of Orthodox social justice movement Uri L’Tzedek” donated a kidney today.
2015: Pears Institute for the study of Anti-Semitism in collaboration with the Jewish Council for Racial Equality is scheduled to present Dr. Omar Khan, Dr. Camilla Schofield and Dr. Anastasia Vakulenko speaking about “Race, Equality and the Law.”
2016: “Enough With the Gefilte Fish. I’ll Have Sushi” published today described the shift in Jewish fish eating habits.
2016: The American Sephardi Federation’s “theatrical season” is scheduled to conclude with David Serero’s Othello, a Moroccan adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic play about love and war, reason and race, fortuna and virtù.”
2017(22nd of Sivan, 5777): Twenty-three year old Border Police officer Hadas Malka was died today of wounds inflicted by a terrorist who stabbed her on Sultan Suleiman Street as she ran to defend those being attacked by terrorists at Zedekiah’s Cave
2017: “The Women’s Balcony,” “the number film of the year in Israel” is scheduled to be shown at theatres San Francisco, San Jose, Chicago, Baltimore and Minneapolis.
2017: “London Mayor Sadiq Khan is scheduled to meet with the Met Police Commissioner today where he will express his “concerns about the forthcoming anti-Israel Al-Quds Day march.”
2017: “Letters from Baghdad,” a documentary that tells “the true story of Gertrude Bell and Iraq” is scheduled to open in numerous theatres in several theatres in Dallas, Seattle, San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles.
2017: At the Bremen Museum, “The Summer Institute on Teach the Holocaust” is scheduled to come to an in Atlanta.
2017: Or Olam – The East Fifth-Street Street Synagogue, one of the friendliest congregations I have ever visited, is scheduled to host a “Musical Kabbalat Shabbat” led by Cantor Shiree Kidron.
2017: The Stephen Wise Free Synagogue is scheduled to host a “celebratory oneg, with Champagne-inspired beverages, strawberries, and hors d’oeuvres.”
2018: “Israeli poet Amir Or” is scheduled visit Berl’s Brooklyn Poetry Shop for a celebration of “the publication of his latest collection, Wings, in an English translation by Seth Michelson.”
2018: The Ariel Quartet is scheduled to perform at the North Shore Chamber Music Festival today.
2018: The 57thNational Hebrew Book Week is scheduled to come to an today
2018(3rd of Tammuz, 5778): The 24th Yahrzeit of the man known simply as “the Rebbe” who made us all the better for sending the Lamplighters out into a world of “darkness” and challenged each Jew to do just one more mitzvah, to elevate the mundane and to take personal responsibility for the tikkun olam.