December 16
1431: King Henry VI of England France
1485: Birthdate of Catherine of Aragon, future wife of Henry VIII and Queen of England. This daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella failed to produce a male heir which changed the religious face of Christian Europe. As for the Jewish view, Henry’s father had to promise his future Spanish in-laws that Jews would not be permitted to live in England
1584: Birthdate of John Seldon the English scholar and jurist who developed an interest in an Jewish laws and customs that led to the development of a “theory of international law” based on seven Noahide Laws as well as a “treatise on marriage and divorce among the Jews entitled “Uxor Ebraica.” For more see Renaissance England's Chief Rabbi: John Selden by Jason P. Rosenblatt
http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2011/12/john-selden-as-an-early-modern-maccabee/ and http://jcpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/john-selden.pdf
1653: Oliver Cromwell became lord protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. Regardless of what others may have thought of him, Cromwell did work to allow the Jews to return to England
1684: The first room for prayer meetings of was opened in Copenhagen which was the home of the newly founded Ashkenazi community
1741: Birthdate of Nathan Adler a German Kabbalist from Frankfurt, who passed away in 1800.
1769: Dr. John Sequeyra, scion of a distinguished Sephardic family of physicians in England Washington
1750: Birthdate of David Friedländer, (Friedlander) a German Jewish banker, writer and communal leader.
1776: In Great Britain, declaration of an official fast “to wish success against the rebels in America.”
1778: Birthdate of Liepmann Levin, the brother of Rahel Levin, who converted and gained fame as German dramatist Ludwig Robert.
1832: Birthdate of French painter and illustrator Jules Worms
1847: In Paris, General Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy and his wife gave birth to Ferdinand Esterhazy, the French officer who was a spy for the German and “the perpetrator of the acts of treason for which Captain Alfred Dreyfus was wrongfully convicted.
1854(25thof Kislev, 5615) Chanukah
1858: Birthdate of Yiddish singer, actor, and composer Sigmund Mogulesko.
1858: An article published today entitled “Gen. Cass and the Mortara Affair” examined the American response to the Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara and the Pope’s refusal to return the child to his parents. “Gen. Cass” is Lewis Cass, the American military leader who carved out a successful political career that including serving as Secretary of State under James Buchanan starting in 1857. According to the article, Cass conceded that an injustice had been done but that the United States could not be expected to officially interfere any time a matter of injustice in a foreign land was brought to its attention. According to Cass “The President full participates in the public feeling and he cannot refrain from expressing equal surprise and pain that, in this advanced age, such unnatural practices should be ascribed to any part of the religious world and such barbarous measures resorted to.” Regardless of the President’s personal feelings, he still cannot bring himself to join the protests of other governments including England, France, Sardinia Holland and Austria. The author of the article wonders if Cass would intervene if the Jews were suffering at the hands of the inquisition. [Considering the international clamor that arose over the issue, President Buchanan’s reluctance may seem a little mystifying to some especially when you consider that one of August Belmont was reported to be one of his major supporters. For those who know anything about the days leading up to the American Civil War, Buchanan’s behavior is not a matter of anti-Semitism but merely another reflection of a President who had no will to act no matter what the cause.]
1862(27thof Kislev, 5623): Chanukah observed just two weeks before the Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect.
1863: Birthdate of George Santayana the philosopher and writer best known for the quote “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Witty though he may have been a reading of Chapter 25 of George Santayana: A Biography by John McCormick entitled “Moral Dogmatism: Santayana as Anti-Semite gives one a different view of the famous Spaniard. While it would appear that his negative view of Jews was a slowly evolving one, starting in the late 19th century it took full form during the 1930’s as can be seen from his reading of and comments about Lecole des Cadavres written by “the pro-Hitler, Jew-baiting fascist Louis-Ferdinand Celine.
1864: On the second and final of the Battle of Nashiville , Colonel Frederick Kneifler and his brigade of Hoosiers turned a possible defeat into victory by charging the on-coming Rebels, “forcing them to retreat” in such confusion that they left much of their equipment on the field of Battle.
1870:Dr. Isaac Mayer Wise, founder of American Reform Judaism, preached the dedicatory sermon at the laying of the cornerstone of the Central Synagogue, Lexington and Fifty-Fifth Street
1874: “Property Exempt From Taxes” published today described the decision of Judge Van Brunt exempting a lot adjacent to the Hebrew Free School from taxes even though the school is only renting the property and does not own it.
1875: The children from the Hebrew Orphan Asylum were taken to the Hebrew Charity Fair, which is now in its second week. So far, the fair has raised nearly $100,000.
1875:The H.M.S. Malabar set sail from Egypt Portsmouth , England London Louisiana Purchase from France Alaska Russia Suez Canal transaction. It briefly established the House of Rothschild as a sovereign state on a par with -- or perhaps even slightly ahead of -- Her Majesty's Government. Two decades earlier, the British were strangely myopic about the value of a proposed canal that would unite the Mediterranean with the Red Sea . Benjamin Disraeli, then the Chancellor of the Exchequer, dismissed the notion: ''The operation of nature would in a short time defeat the ingenuity of man.'' For the greatest maritime power on earth, this would prove a grave miscalculation, ceding construction of the canal to French capital and engineers, backed by Egyptian forced labor. By the time the canal opened in 1869, it had redrawn the map of the British Empire . The sea journey that had stretched 10,800 nautical miles from London India British Empire until President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt Egypt Cape of Good Hope . Even so, the hundred-mile canal remains the pivot of much Middle East commerce and diplomacy.
1877: Rabbi Henry S. Jacobs of the 34th Street Synagogue officiated at the funeral of Jacob Grau, the impresario. The Hebrew Mutual Benefit Society had attended the body before the ceremony which was attended by a large throng. Burial was at the Washington Cemetery.
1879(1st of Tevet, 5640): Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1879: The Young Men's Hebrew Association hosted a Chanukah reception at the Academy of Music
1880: It was reported today that the Union Presbyterian Church of Alexandria, VA which does not have a building in which to hold services has accepted the offer of a local synagogue to use its facility.
1881: It was reported today that Young Men’s Hebrew Association had raised over $6,000 at its Chanukah ball. The money will go towards the association’s building fund.
1881: It was reported today that the Commissioners of Emigration have sent 200 of the 250 Jewish immigrants from Russia who arrived aboard the SS Suevia to Ward’s Island. The rest of them will be sent there in a day or two.
1882: Rabbi Gustav Gottheil of Temple Emanu-El testified before a committee headed by Senators Boyd and Browning that was investigating “the subjects of corners and futures and the effect which they have upon commerce and public morals.”
1883: It was reported today that “Mme. Janauschek” will be starring in an upcoming performance of “Zillah, the Hebrew Mother
1883: “Shall Jews Marry Christians” published today summarized the views of Rabbi Isaac M. Wise on the subject on intermarriage of which he spoke approvingly. To what extent the fact that one of his daughter married an Irish Catholic influenced his attitude is unknown.
1883: In Rochester, NY, members of Berith Kodesh are scheduled to vote today on adopting the new English ritual for their services which they began using at Shabbat services this past weekend.
1883: Birthdate of French film pioneer, Mix Linder.
1883: “Revision” published today described some of the changes that can be found in the latest translation of the Old Testament Among them is changing the garment that Jacob gave to Joseph from a “coat of many colors” to “a tunic with long sleeves.”
1884: It was reported today that vice cases were treated differently based on religion as could be seen by the fact that, Herman Schneider, a 28 year old Jew, was indicted and held without bail on the same charge for which the light haired and fair skinned Frank Snyder was allowed to post bail.
1885: It was reported today that the Ladies’ Fair being held at the Metropolitan Opera House has already raised $10,000 which will got to the Kindergarten and Industrial Schools of the Hebrew Free School Association
1885: In San Francisco, Julius C. Koosher was one of four men arrested today on charges that they planned to assassinate 20 prominent Californians including Leland Stanford and Charles Crocker and then blow up the city’s Chinatown. Koosher, who is also known by the name Kowalski is a Jew who escaped Russia after suffering unspeakable persecutions and came to the United States where he became an agent of the Jewish Relief Society. His animosity towards the railroads stemmed from being swindled by railway magnet Henry Villard who had promised to pay me $600 for every family that helped become homesteaders.
1886: In Detroit, a dispute erupted at the Commercial National Bank between insurance man William Parkinson a Jew named Weinberger over $75 that the former owed to the latter.
1887: Lieutenant Louis Ostheim, the Philadelphia native and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy was detached to take charge of Fort Myer in Virginia.
1889: Dr. Anton Zolki, a Jewish “journeyman dentist” attacked Dr. C. H. De Lamater while the being treated for a dental problem.
1889: A large contingent from the B’nai B’rith is expected to attend the events this evening at the “Hebrew educational fair” being hold at the American Institute Building.
1889: “Foreigners In The Trades” published today reiterates the stereotypes among immigrants including “the Chinamen who seem to be able to do little else besides washing lines” and Jews who continue to involve themselves “in callings in which compound interest figures prominently.” (Another way of calling Jews moneylenders and usurers)
1891: Plans were published today for the construction of a new synagogue to be built at Plainfield, NJ to serve the Jews of that town as well as the Jews living in North Plainfield, Bound Brook and Somverville.
1892: Rabbis Theodore Guenzburg, David Chan and Henry S. Jacobs led services this evening which part of the jubilee exercises celebrating the 50th anniversary of Rodeph Shalom in New York City which featured a sermon by Dr. Gustav Gottheil, the Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El.
1894: At Temple Emanu-El Rabbi Silverman “gave the third of the series of sermons on ‘Answers to Jewish and Christians Inquirers,’” entitled “The Essential Basis for a Religion of Humanity.”
1894: A list published today of the officers of the New York Hebrew Mutual Benefit Association included M.D. Michaels as President and Philip Benjamin as Treasurer.
1894: Funeral services were held today for Abraham Keyser, a retired grocer who had originally been buried in a grave without a marker because nobody knew who he was when he mysteriously passed away.
1895: After being closed yesterday, the Educational Fair, a fundraiser sponsored by prominent New York Jewish families re-opened today. So far the fair has raised almost $100,000.
1896: Solomon Schechter left England bound for Egypt and Palestine so he could study Hebrew manuscripts including those in the Geniza at Cairo. Although there were reports of the Geniza dating back to the 1750’s, Agnes and Margaret Smith, known as the Westminster Sisters, were the ones who saw it in 1896 and told Schechter about what would become the greatest literary treasure trove found in Jewish history. Schechter’s involvement would vault him to a leading spot among Jewish intellectuals which led to his becoming the President of the Jewish Theological Seminary; a position from which he would try to rescues Judaism from the extremes of radical reform and stultifying orthordoxy
1900: Last day on which the Barge Office was used as the processing station for immigrants, including tens of thousands of Jews, entering the United States through the port of New York. This was the second time that the Barge Office was used for this purpose. It had been temporarily re-opened due to a fire at Ellis Island, the place most people think of as the entry point to America.
1901: Birthdate of American anthropologist Margaret Mead.
1905: In Kiev, the Czar’s forces crush the four day old Shuliavka Republic whose founders had called for an end to pogroms aimed at Jews.
1905: In Salonika which was then a part of the Ottoman Empire Isaac Carasso and his wife gave birth to Daniel Carasso who founded what would eventually become Dannon Yoghurt.
1909: Confirmation of Rabbi Chaim Bidjarano’s election as Chief Rabbi of Adrianople .
1911(25th of Kislev, 5672): Chanukah
1911: Educational institutions in Jaffa
1911: Celebration of the 25th anniversary of the first Jewish colony in Argentine. The colony was made up of 200 families from Constantinople . By mid-1917, Ashkenazim made up 80% of the Jews in South and Latin America , the other 20% being Sephardim.
1913: Charlie Chaplin began his film career at Keystone for $150 a week.
1915: Albert Einstein published his "General Theory of Relativity.
1917(1st of Tevet, 5678): Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1917(1st of Tevet, 5678):During World War I, Naaman Belkind was hung by the Turks as a spy. Naaman Belkind was born in 1889. The nephew of Bilu founder Israel Belkind and the son of Bilu pioneer Shimshon Belkind, Naaman Belkind was born in Eretz Yisrael. Bilu was founded in 1882 and was a pre-Herzl Zionist movement. Bilu is an acronym based on a verse from Isaiah (2:5), "Beit Ya'akov Lekhu Ve-nelkha/Let the house of Jacob go!" BILU's founders believed that the time had come for Jews not only to live in Israel Egypt Damascus
1917: In London, Herbert Samuel one of the highest ranking Jews in the British political firmament wrote a letter to his son stating that “The fall-or rather the liberation-of Jerusalem has caused much emotion in this country. I have received dithyrambs from all sorts of people, mostly strangers.”
1917: The New York Timesreported Jacob Schiff’s announcement that The New York Jewish community had just successfully completed its first $5 million campaign for Jewish war relief, its share of a $10 million national campaign. In making the announcement Schiff commented, “Fifty-two years ago, when I came to this country, I don’t believe the combined wealth of American Jewry was equal to $5,000,000. See where we have arrived; see where our unity and strength have brought us.”
1918: In Philadelphia, at a meeting of the American Jewish Congress, plans were formulated to send a delegation of Jews to the Versailles Peace Conference which will push the claims of the Jews for full civil and political right in all lands.
1919(24th of Kislev, 5680): In the evening, kindle the first Chanukah light
1919: It was reported today that “with the coming of sunset this evening will begin…the world world-over, the celebration of Chanukah or the Festival of the Dedication. Although rated in the traditional calendar as a minor festival, Chanukah, which is also known as the Feast of Lights is of major significance, as it commemorates one of the most heroic and far-reaching victories for the fatherland and the faith.”
1920: President Morris Handle and Recording Secretary Herman Natal send out invitations inviting their co-religionists to “attend the celebration of the organization of Congregation Beth-El in Camden, NJ.
1922(26th of Kislev, 5683): Sixty-four year old Eliezer Ben-Yehuda the father of the Modern Hebrew Language succumbed to TB in Jerusalem today.
1922:SS Albert Ballin was an ocean liner of the Hamburg-America Line which was named after Albert Ballin was launched oday.
1922: Gabriel Narutowicz, President of Poland was a assassinated by a right-wing nationalist. The right-wingers derided him as the “President of the Jews.”
1923: Birthdate of Menahem Pressler a German-born pianist who fled to Palestine before settling in the United States where among other things he has spent 60 years on the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University
1924: Birthdate of Nissim Ezekiel, the native of Bombay who was an Indian Jewish poet, playwright, editor and art-critic.
1930: An Arab mob attempted to prevent Jewish settlers from plowing land near Herzlia. British police came from Tel Aviv and arrested the Arabs at which point the Jews went back to their farm work.
1930: “Six Jewish laborers were sentenced today to three weeks’ imprisonment for participation in an unruly unemployment demonstration at Ness Ziona, near Jaffa.”
1933: In address at the fourth annual Maccabean Festival held in Madison Square Garden to celebrate Chanukah, Samuel Untermeyer charged the German Ambassador, Dr. Hans Luther, with “insincerity and hypocrisy.” “Mr. Untermyer said the activities of the Friends of New German and other Nazi organizations constituted a ‘criminal conspiracy against the sovereignty and neutrality of our country’ and that the purpose of these organizations was to propagate German national socialism which that ‘American citizens are to propagate on American soil the disenfranchisement of Jewish American citizens.”
1934: In Camden, NJ, Congregation Beth-El hosted its annual dinner and installation of congregational officers’ ceremony.
1936: Magistrate Jeannette G. Brill will deliver an address entitled “Everyday Problems” at the annual luncheon of the metropolitan branch of the Women’s League of the United Synagogue of America being held today at the Hotel Commodore in New York City.
1936(2nd of Tevet, 5697): 8thDay of Chanukah
1937: The Palestine Post reported from London Palestine
1937; The Palestine Post reported that Jews in the Old City of Jerusalem were surprised when ordered to pay for the costs of the 20 supernumerary constables appointed to guard them from frequent attacks by their Arab neighbors. Talk about adding insult to injury. This was almost as bad as when the Jews had to pay for cleaning up the broken glass after Kristallnacht.
1937: Birthdate of Morris Dees Jr., co-founder of the Southerner Poverty Law Center Dees is not Jewish but his father Morris Seligman Dees Sr. was named after a Jewish Merchant in Montgomery whom Grandpa Dees admired. Joe Levin (no relation) who is Jewish was the other Co-Founder of Southern Poverty Law Center.
1939: Girls in Lodz Warsaw
1939: The Nazis excluded the Jews from all employment benefits.
1939: Jewish girls in Lódz , Poland
1941: In Romania, the government dissolved the Federation of the Unions of the Jewish Communities
1941: Hans Frank, governor-general of Occupied Poland, notes in his diary that some 3,500,000 Jews live in the region under his control.
1942: A Jewish ghetto is established in Kharkov , Ukraine
1942: Heinrich Himmler orders that Roma candidates for extermination be deported to Auschwitz.
1942(8th of Tevet, 5703):David M. Bressler, who was widely known for his activities in Jewish, State and municipal relief and in charity organizations, died this afternoon at the office of his physician to which he had been taken from his office at 75 Maiden Lane after he had suffered a heart attack. Mr. Bressler, son of Julius and Sarah Rothenberg Bressler, was born in Germany on May 1, 1879, and came here in 1884. He rendered service to thousands of immigrants whom he helped to settle throughout the country. Outstanding was his work as director of the Industrial Removal Board during the first decade of the century. He directed immigrants from the Eastern States to communities in the South and Middle West and provided them with the opportunities for their Americanization. By his plan, as he described it himself, he avoided over-crowding of New York and other large Eastern cities, and organized the Jewish community of America to divert the stream of Jewish immigration. The Removal Office thus was a clearing house for Jewish immigrants and prevented congestion at the port of entry. Among the many charity drives which he conducted was the United Jewish campaign of New York that raised more than 56,000,000 in 1926. After a campaign that lasted but a little more than a month, the goal was exceeded by $656,000. Another drive conducted by Mr. Bressler as national chairman was the Allied Jewish campaign of 1930. The plan, commended by President Hoover, was conceived in Washington, where Mr. Bressler was one of 800 representative Jews from all parts of the United States, who mapped out the details of the campaign. Mr. Bressler's philanthropic and social service career covered more than forty years. During that time he served many agencies. He extended his chief field of Jewish activities, to State-wide efforts when Governor Lehman appointed him a member of the New York State Planning Board in 1934, and when he became a director of Sydenham Hospital. Previously, Governor Lehman had made him a member of the Appeal Board of Unemployment Insurance, and in 1931 he was named vice chariman of the National Council of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, of which Felix M. Warburg was chairman. Mr. Bressler attended City College, the Jewish Theological Seminary and the New York Law School. He was admitted to the bar in 1900, and from 1900 to 1917 was general manager of the Industrial Removal Board. While he centered his business interests on insurance, he also served in a voluntary capacity as board member of the American Hebrew Congregations, the American Jewish Committee, the Palestine Economic Corporation, the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies and the National Refugee Service. As a member of a survey commission appointed by the Joint Distribution Committee, Mr. Bressler went to Europe in 1922 and 1929 to study the situation of Jews there, and published several reports on his observations. He was chairman of the New York War SufferersCampaign in 1922 and 1926, and served in 1930 as national co-chairman of the Allied Jewish Campaign of the Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency for Palestine. He was a Mason and a member of B'nai B'rith and the Metropolitan Club.
1943: Birthdate of producer Steven Boncho, creator of several hit shows including Hill Street Blues, LA Law and NYPD Blue.
1944(30thof Kislev, 5705): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; in the evening light 7 Chanukah candles
1944: As part of Ben-Gurion’s plan for breaking the power of the Irgun and the Stern Gang, Eliahu Golomb who had called the clash between the Yishuv and these groups “a struggle between Zionist democracy and Jewish Nazism” held a secret meeting with Nathan Friedman-Yellin one of the leaders of the Stern Gang. Friedman-Yellin would only agree to halt attempts to assassinate Churchill and not much more.
1944: As the Battle of the Bulge began, Captain Bert Katz, who would become a leader of the Cedar Rapids Jewish and business committees, was one of those facing the unexpected onslaught of Hitler’s Panzers. Among other Jewish soldiers who faced down Hitler’s last gasp attack was J.D. Salinger and Leste Milton Bornstein the father of author and Ambassador Michael Oren.
1944(30thof Kislev, 5705): Fifty-five year old Philip Guedalla, author, barrister and extremely unsuccessful candidate for a seat in the House of Commons passed away today. He served as a squadron leader in the RAF during WWII making him one of the oldest people, I would guess, to hold that rank. He was also noted for his quick wit, a few examples of which can be found below.
1946: In France
1948: Egypt charged that the Jews announced a new attack on the garrison at Faluja.
1949: Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion announced that Jerusalem will be become the capital of Israel on January 1, 1950.
1950: Birthdate of “Claudia Lynn Cohen, a high-profile gossip reporter for television and newspapers who was a frequent subject of the gossip columns herself, partly because of her marriage to, and remunerative divorce from, the billionaire businessman Ronald O. Perelman”.(As reported by Margalit Fox)
1952:The Jerusalem Post reported that the extraordinary meeting of the Israeli-Jordanian Mixed Armistice Commission broke down with each side accusing the other of border violations. Israel Jordan Israel Mount Scopus
1952: Birthdate of Susan Estrich, graduate of Harvard Law, and “liberal” foil on FOX News.
1960: “Wildcat,” a musical with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh and music Cy Coleman opened at the Alvin Theatre.
1966(3rd of Tevet, 5757): Eighty-one year old Alexander Trachtenberg the native of Russia who earned a Master’s from Yale and was a leader in the Socialist Party of America as the CPUSA as well as the founder of International Publishers passed away today.
1968: Birthdate of Peter Orszag, an American economist, who was VP with Citigroup and Director of the Congressional Budget Office.
1968: The Spanish government officially voided the order of expulsion of 1492.
1969: Release date for “Cactus Flower” a film that would not have been made if it weren’t for the Jews – director Gene Saks, writers Abe Burrows and I.A.L. Diamond and actor Walter Matthau
1969:Elimelekh Rimalt began serving as Communications Minister.
1969: Release date for the film version of “Hello Dolly” starring Walther Matthau and Barbra Streisand and written and produced by Ernest Lehman.
1975: CBS aired the first episode of “One Day at a Time” the popular sit-com starring Bonnie Franklin as Ann Romano that lasted for nine years.
1979: More than 800 guests attend special ceremonies to mark what Mayor Edward I. Koch has proclaimed as "Congregation Orach Chaim 100th Anniversary Day.”
1981: Defense Minister Ariel Sharon flew to the newly annexed Golan Heights today for a meeting with military commanders amid reports of Syrian troop alerts across the border.
1982: Sofia Cosma, a Jewish concert pianist who defied long odds to rebuild her career after seven years in Soviet prison camps played pieces by Chopin, Haydn and Rachmanioff at first concert at the 92nd Street Y.
1984: William G. Blair described a rent strike that is continuing at 4-6 East 65thStreet, properties which had formerly belonged to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations are across the street from Temple Emanu-El
1986: In “Altheimer Praised for Fostering Study in Agriculture Field” Bruce Kinzel described the contribution of Benjamin Joseph Altheimer Sr. the Pine Bluff born Jew to the activity which has historically been the economic backbone of the Razorback state.
1987(25thof Kislev, 5748): Chanukah
1990: The New York Times reported that last week, Dr. John Strugnell, a Harvard divinity professor, was dismissed as chief editor of the scrolls after having called Judaism "a horrible religion" in an interview published in November in a Tel Aviv newspaper. Several colleagues, who said they were horrified at the remarks, attributed them to Dr. Strugnell's "mental condition" and to a drinking problem. A spokesman for Harvard said Dr. Strugnell, a Roman Catholic, was being treated in a hospital, but he wouldn't say where or why.
1991: The U.N. General Assembly rescinded its 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism by a 111-25 vote.
1992: The body of IDF Sergeant Nissim Toledano, who had been kidnapped by Hamas, was found today. Toledano had been stabbed to death while his hands were bound.
1992: The Bangor Daily News reported that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin told a stunned and angry nation…that he would “strike pitilessly” against Muslim fundamentalists who kidnapped and killed and Israeli trooper. But he promised Israel would not abandon the U.S. – sponsored Mideast peace talks.
1992: Israel West Bank and/or Gaza
1992 (21st of Kislev, 5753):Simon M. Jaglom, a New York businessman and financier, died today at New York University Medical Center. A Manhattan resident, he turned 96 last Saturday. A native of Ukraine, he moved to what was then the Free State of Danzig, where he became general director of the Ministry of Foreign Trade. He went to London in 1937 to establish a business and came to this country two years later. He became president and later chairman of the New York Commodities Corporation and the Overseas Barters Corporation and continued to head both concerns until last month. He was a longtime supporter of Israel and Jewish causes. He was a past president of the American-European divisions of the United Jewish Appeal and of the Organization for Rehabilitation Through Training. He and his wife donated a wing to the Tel Aviv Museum.
1994: Tower Airlines, which has several flights from New York to Tel Aviv reported today that that someone, probably an employee, had cut electrical wires on three cargo planes and two or three passenger planes at Kennedy International Airport in October and early November, disabling monitoring systems. Terrorist activity, which would be of special concern to those on flights to Israel, has been ruled out as a cause.
1995: Rabbi Ronald B. Sobel officiated at the wedding of Ruth Goldestein Israels and William Rosenwald. The bride is an 82 year old graduate of Hunter College. The groom is the 92 year old son Julius Rosenwald, the longtime chairman of Sears, Roebuck & Company
1997:Janet Rosenberg was elected President of Guyana, making her the first American-born woman to be elected president of any country. Although she had been involved in the country's governance for over half a century, she was only elected president after her husband's death. Rosenberg Guyana Rosenberg Chicago Rosenberg British Guiana . Together, in 1950, the couple founded the People's Progressive Party, the colony's first modern political party. In 1953, Guyana Rosenberg U.S. Britain Guyana Guyana Rosenberg
2001(8th of Tevet, 5646): Helmut Flieg the German-Jewish writer who used the pseudonym of Stefan Heym passed away.
2001: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about subjects of Jewish interest including The Hidden Hitler by Lothar Machtan; translated by John Brownjohn. Notes translated by Susanne Ehlert, Heidegger’s Children: Hannah Arendt, Karl Löwith, Hans Jonas, and Herbert Marcuse by Richard Wolin, One Scandalous Story: Clinton
2005: The US House of Representatives passed a resolution that conditioned future financial aid to the Palestinian Authority on the exclusion of Hamas from the upcoming parliamentary elections next month.
2005: Soer Trondelag became the first province in Norway to bar the purchase of Israeli goods when the provincial board voted to impose a boycott. A board representative from the far-left Red Electoral Alliance said she hopes the boycott will spread to other Norwegian provinces. The Norwegian national government has not imposed or called for any such boycott.
2006: In Boston on the first day of Chanukah, Rob Tannenbaum and his pal David Fagin, who fronts the New York band the Rosenbergs, came to Boston with his latest Jewish-themed act, “Good for the Jews.” The duo performs songs such as the sarcastic "Good to be a Jew on Christmas" and "Jdate," an ode to the popular dating website.
2006(25th of Kislev, 5767): Chanukah
2006(25th of Kislev, 5767): Rabbi Yehosuha Yagel, who headed the Midrashiyat Noam Yeshiva High School since its founding in 1945 passed away at the age of 91. Midrashiyat Noam, located in Pardes Hannah, was the first yeshiva high school in the country and has become on of the flagship yeshivas of religious Zionism in Israel
2007: The Association for Jewish Studies (AJS) opened its 39th annual conference.
2007: The Sunday Washington Post featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or on topics related to Judaica including a marvelous text entitled How To Read The Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now by Professor James L. Kugel, The Year of Living Biblicallyby A.J. Jacobs, Churchill and the Jews by Martin Gilbert and Henry James: The Mature Master by Sheldon M. Novick.
2007: The Sunday New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or on topics related to Judaica including Prince of Darkness: Richard Perle by Alan Weisman, Love Falls by Esther Frued great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud and Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black by South African author Nadine Gordimer, both of whose parents were Jewish.
2007: The New York Times features an article on conflicts surrounding Gerard Schwarz’s tenure as conductor of the Seattle Symphony where he “is known for his fund-raising and civic involvement, but where he has made enemies and generated ill will among the players.”
2007: Julius Shulman attended a showing of his architectural photography at the Los Angeles Public Library.
2008:Mort Gerberg presents “Last Laughs: Cartoons About Aging, Retirement...and the Great Beyond” at the Washington DCJCC.
2008 (19 Kislev, 5769):Celebration of Yud-Tes Kislev, the 19th of Kislev. “The 19th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev is celebrated as the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidism. It was on this date, in the year 1798, that the founder of Chabad Chassidism, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi was freed from his imprisonment in Czarist Russia. For Chassidim this event is more than a personal liberation. They see this as a watershed event heralding a new era in the revelation of the ‘inner soul’ of Torah. This is also the celebration of the birthday of Avraham Elimelech ben Yosef Dov, the Coca Chef.
2008: Award winning Israeli-born photographer, Michal Chelbin delivers a lecture at New York School of Visual Arts Amphitheater
2008: Andy Statman joined the Flecktones in a concert at the Kimmel Center in Phildelphia. The venue was named in honor of Sidney Kimmel.
2008:The Israeli version of “Big Brother,” a reality show alternately beloved and reviled by Hebrew speakers, wrapped up today in exactly the manner in which it was broadcast all season: as a ratings juggernaut.
2009: In Cedar Rapids, IA, Hadassah Book Club meets at the home of Charlene Wolf to discuss Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner.
2009: Professor Ari Y. Kelman discusses his new book, "Station Identification: A Cultural History of Yiddish Radio in the United States," as part of the Nextbook series' 2009 season being held at the D.C. Jewish Community Center.
2009: Jonathan Sheehan of UC Berkeley is the Keynote Speaker at workshop entitled "The Bible and Secularism" at The Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies in Philadelphia, PA.
2009:Iran test-fired it’s most advanced ballistic missile, capable of hitting Israel and parts of Europe. The missile tested, according to Iranian reports, was an upgraded version of the Sajjil 2, a sophisticated ballistic missile that has a range of close to 2,000 kilometers, can carry a nuclear warhead and is powered by a solid-fuel propellant which gives it greater accuracy and range.
2009: US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was name Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” for 2009 today.
2009: The third annual Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism opens today in Jerusalem.
2009: Britain’s Supreme Court declared today that it was illegal for a Jewish school that favors Jewish applicants to base its admission policy on a classic test of Jewishness – whether one’s mother is Jewish.
2009: Today approximately 400 El Al passengers had to wait for almost seven hours in a grounded airplane in a U.S. airport due to a fuel leak.
2010: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present the” Chamber Music of Barber, Britten and Brahms” featuring the Phoenix Chamber Ensemble.
2010: Janis Spindel is scheduled to present a program entitled “Men and the City: Where Are all the Men in New York?” at the 92nd St Y in, of course, New York City.
2010: A judge has ordered members of the family that owned a kosher meatpacking plant in Iowa to pay more than $2 million after defaulting on financial agreements with one of their former banks.
2010(9thof Tevet, 5771): Ninety year old violinist and concert master Eric Rosenblith passed away.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2010/12/21/eric_rosenblith_90_violinist_of_acclaim_tireless_teacher/
2010(9thof Tevet, 5771):Irwin M. Abrams, a longtime professor of history at Antioch College, a pioneer in the field of peace research and a global authority on the Nobel Peace Prize, died today at the Friends Care Center, just a block away from the house on Xenia Avenue where he had lived for almost 60 years. He was 96. Irwin was born in San Francisco in 1914. He graduated from Lowell High School in December 1930 at the age of 16. He went on to earn a bachelors degree from Stanford University and a masters degree and PhD from Harvard University. In 1936–37, Irwin traveled to Europe to do research for his dissertation. It was a formative experience. He met many outstanding leaders and scholars of the international peace movement and delved into previously unknown source materials.
2010: Starting today the Galilee will be hosting its first annual international ornithological festival.
2010: Judith Malina’s production of “Korach” “a new play based on the Biblical account of Korach, ‘the first recorded anarchist in history,’ opened at The Living Theatre in New York.
2011: A brunch honoring Rabbi Eric Yoffie is scheduled to take place at today’s session of the Union for Reform Judaism Biennial.
2011: Before delivering the keynote address at the Union for Reform Judaism conference in Maryland today, President Obama met with Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
2011:President Obama told a gathering of Reform Jewry not to let anyone challenge his record of support for Israel, which he said was "unprecedented.""No U.S. administration has done more in support of Israel's security than ours -- none," he said in an address this afternoon to more than 5,000 people at the biennial conference of the Union for Reform Judaism. "Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. It is a fact." The crowd at a hotel in the Maryland suburbs outside of Washington gave him a standing ovation. Obama listed areas of close cooperation, including missile defense and Iran sanctions. Of the sanctions, he said they were the "hardest hitting" ever. He repeated his pledge that he would take "no options" off the table when it comes to forcing Iran to back down from its suspected nuclear weapons program. Obama peppered his speech with Jewish references, starting with "Shabbat Shalom" and joking about his daughter Malia's eagerness to attend bar and bat mitzvahs. His speech was based on the story of Joseph's declaration "Hineni" -- "Here I am" -- to his father, Jacob. To repeated applause, Obama ran through his domestic policy achievements on health care, and women's and gay rights, among others.
2011:The High Court of Justice ruled today to reject a petition asking to delay the second stage of the prisoner exchange deal brokered with Hamas to release kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit. The release of 550 Palestinian security prisoners is now expected to proceed as normal.
2012: Monni Must, acclaimed photographer and author of Living Witnesses: Triumph Over Tragedy, a portrait book trilogy that captures the lives and experiences of over 400 Holocaust survivors is scheduled to appear at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.
2012: The Third Israeli-Russian & International Russian Émigré Film Festival sponsored by the Russian American Cultural Center is scheduled to take place in New York City.
2012: The last performance of “Bad Jews” a comedy by Joshua Harmon is scheduled to take place at the Roundabout Underground’s Black Box Theater. (As reported by Charles Isherwood)
2012: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Marc Blitzstein: His Life, His Work, His World by Howard Pollack and The Polish Boxer by Eduardo Halfon
2012: “Amour” is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
2012: The JCNVV is scheduled to present a performance of “Clever Rachel,” a Moses Goldberg’s dramatic adaptation of a book by Debby Waldman.
2012: Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman formally submitted his resignation from the government to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this morning, ending a turbulent term as the country’s top diplomat.
2013: MoMA is scheduled to host the North American premiere of “Footsteps in Jerusalem.”
2013: The San Diego Center for Jewish Culture is scheduled to host The Holocaust & Churches in Nazi Germany: Examples of Complicity & Resistance
2013: Weather permitting, the “Stranger by the Lake” is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.