November 14
109 BCE (25 Cheshvan, 3652): John Hyrcanus defeated the Samaritans in Samaria and destroyed their temple. The Samaritans were a mixed race who had been in conflict with the Jews since the end of the Babylonian Exile. They believed in a form of monotheism but rejected all oral law. They believed that Mt. Gerizim, near Nablus, was their place of sacrifice. John Hyrcanus was a nephew of Judah Maccabee. He was the third son of Simon, the last of the original Maccabee brothers. John Hyrcanus ruled from 134 BCE through 104 BCE. He felt that it was his mission to restore the territory of the original Davidic Kingdom to Jewish control. The victory over the Samaritans was part of this grand plan of conquest
565: Roman Emperor Justinian dies at 82. As Christianity grew in power in the Roman Empire it influenced the emperors to limit further the civil and political rights of the Jews. Justinian's Law said Jews may not offer testimony against Christians who are engaged in litigation.
1305: In Lyon, consecration of Pope Clement, the first of the “Avignon Popes” who was the “first pope to threaten Jews with an economic boycott in an attempt to force them to stop charging Christians interest on loans.”
1417: On St. Martin’s Day, the Council of Constance elected Otto Colona Pope who as Martin V accorded “many privileges” to the Jews of Ancona in an effort to “increase the economy of the city and the state.”
1650: Birthdate of King William III of England. Also known as William of Orange, he was the ruler who came to the throne as a result of the Glorious Revolution, which was financed, in part by Dutch Jews. The newly readmitted Jewish community in England had nothing to fear from the new who King who be the first English monarch to bestow knighthood on a Jewish subject.
1792: Moses Ephriam married Lydia Nathan at th Great Synagogue today.
1797: Birthdate of Moses M. Haarbleicher the German-Jewish poet and critic whose father founded the Jewish School of Hamburg.
1802: Nathan Salomons married Esther Aron Goldsmid at the Great Synagogue today.
1805: Birthdate of pianist and composer Fanny Mendelssohn. Her brother was Felix Mendelssohn and according to some, his closest confidante. Fanny was the granddaughter of Moses Mendelssohn. Both of her parents were Jewish at the time of her birth. As a youngster, her parents had her (and her other siblings) baptized as Lutherans. Her father, like five of the six of Moses Mendelssohn’s children would also convert.
1810: Birthdate of educator and author Jacob Auberbach, the brother-in-law of novelist Berthold Auerbach who wrote Lessing and Mendelssohn and a History of the Jewish Community of Vienna from 1874.
1815: Birthdate of Moritz Duschak, the Moravian born rabbi who had studied with Rabbi Moses Sofer and who had served the community of Cracow, before finally settling “in Vienna where he spent his last days in neglect and disappointment.”
1820: “Margherita d’Anjou” an operatic melodramma semiseria in two acts by German-Jewish composer Giacomo Meyerbeer was performed for the first time in Milan, Italy.
1821: In Charleston, SC, Rabbi Peixotto officiated at the wedding of Myer J. Ellis and Miss Francis Polack Abrahams, the daughter of Jacob Abrahams.
1825: Three days after she had passed away, Elizabeth Phillips, the wife of Lyon Phillips and the mother of Joseph Phillips was buried to in the “Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery” today.
1827: Lesser Gottheimer married Elza Zachariah at the Great Synagogue today.
1831: German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel passed away. The work of this leading thinker of the Age of Enlightenment is beyond our grasp. For a better understanding of Hegel’s views on Judaism and his impact on Jewish thought see Chapter Three of Hegel's Philosophy of History by Robert L. Perkins entitled “The Fossil and the Phoenix: Hegel and Krochmal on the Jewish Volksgeist” by Shlomo Avineri or the entry in the Jewish Encyclopedia
1834: Moritz Wolff and Fanny Schwabe gave birth to Gustav Wilhelm Wolff, a German born British shipbuilder and politician. Wolff’s family had converted in 1819 so he was raised as a Lutheran.
1837: Danish painter David Monies married Bolette Jacobsen the daughter of Isaac Jacobson, a merchant and his wife, the former Sara Heimann.
1838: In Charleston, SC, Marx E. married Armida Harby, the “daughter of the later Isaac Harby.”
1848: Birthdate of Sándor Wekerle, the Hungarian Premier who introduced a bill into the Hungarian Parliament that provided “for equal religious rights for Jews and Christians.”
1852: In St. Louis, MO, Joachim Fleischman and Kathrine Bloch gave birth to Samuel M. Fleischman, the husband of Mathilda Kahn who served as a rabbi in Akron, Ohio from 1880 to 1886 and began serving as Superintendent of the Jewish Foster Home and Orphan Asylum at Philadelphia in 1886.
1853: Isidore Newman arrived in New Orleans today.
1855: Two days after she had passed away, 55 year old Mary Kensington Levy, the wife of Moses Levy of Notting Hill (London) with whom she had ten children, “who opened the first soup kitchens in the East End” was buried today at the Brady Street Jewish Cemetery.
1864: During the Civil War, Sherman’s Army, including the 82nd Illinois Infantry under the command of
Colonel Edward Selig Salomon spent its last night in Atlanta as it prepared for the March to the Sea.
1870: An English language production of “La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein,” an operetta, based on a libretto co-authored by Ludovic Halevy at the Metropolitan in New York City.
1871:
1871: It was reported today that “during the remainder of the Jewish year the following holidays will be observed by our Hebrew population: Dec. 8, Feast Chanukah; Dec. 22, Feast of Teveth; March 21, 1872, Fast of Esther; March 24, Purim; March 25, Shushan Purim; April 23, first day of Passover; June 12, Feast of Weeks; July 23, Fast of Tammuz; August 13, Fast of Av.”
1873(24th of Cheshvan, 5634): Seventy-three year old Louis (Ludwig) Bischoffsheim who had married the daughter of Chaim Goldschmidt of Frankfort-on Main and the son of Raphael (Nathan) Bischoffsheim passed away today.
1879: Joseph Betzky lost five members of his family, including his wife and two sons in a fire this morning in the tenement house at #80 Cannon Street in New York City. Solomon and Lena Cohen were questioned about the origins of the fire since the son of the building’s owner claimed that Mrs. Cohen had started it. However, authorities released them without making any charges after the deposition was taken.
1880: “A Story of the East” published today provided a lengthy review Ben Hurby Lew Wallace. The reviewer has nothing but praise for this creation by Civil War General Lew Wallace who created the character of Judah ben Hur, a prince among his people.
1881: Birthdate of Nicholas M. Schenck, the native of Rybinsk who became one of the early movers and shakers in the film industry.
1881: Pavel Axelrod and his wife Nadezhda Ivanovna Kaminer, one of his former students gave birth to their third child Sofia today.
1882: Birthdate of Dr. William Fileerman who at the beginning of World War was the President of the Federation of the Unions of the Jewish Communities in Romania
1883: In state Supreme Court, Judge Larremore married Samuel Moressor and Fannie Abraham. Moressor agreed to marriage to avoid further incarceration on charges of breach of promise of marriage.
1883: In a case of Jew versus Jews, the Sheriff arrested Morris Dampsky in a suit for $10,000 for breach of promise of marriage brought against him by Annie Zeiss.
1883: In Manhattan, David Salzman, Russian Jewish youngster who earns his living by blacking boots in Castle Garden, found a check in the amount of $1,250 today.
1884: It was reported today that Rosa Schuminchler, who arrived in this country yesterday, will be deported for a second time. She had been sent back to Poland after she took part “in the disturbance in the offices of the Hebrew Aid Society on State Street in New York City.
1885: The annual fair of the Hebrew Ladies Benevolent Society, a fund raising activity, opened tonight at Parepa Hall in New York City
1885: Birthdate of Galveston native and merchant George Solomon Cohen.
1885: In Gradizhsk, a village in the Ukraine, Anne Terk Stern and Elie Stern give birth to Sonia Stern, who as Sonia Delaunay became known for her vivid use of color and her bold, abstract patterns, breaking down traditional distinctions between the fine and applied arts as an artist, designer and printmaker. (As reported by Julio Maryann De)
1886: The Board of Directors of the Hebrew Free School Association hosted a reception today in honor of 3 of its members who have just returned from Europe.
1886: “M. De Giers” published today described the shifting foreign policy of the Russian Empire and the increased role that Nicholas de Giers, who “comes from a Swedish-Fin family of Jewish extraction” will be playing in shaping relationships with Germany and other European powers. De Giers, “whom haughty Grand Dukes, intriguing Panslavists and impatient Generals sneer at as ‘the Jew’ has a reputation for taking the blame for policies that are not of his making. In this case, he was supporting the Czar’s continued desire to ally with Germany.
1886: The residents of the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews will be entertained this evening by a concert featuring Master I. Wessell.
1887: “Life in the Holy Land 1900 Years Ago” published today provided a detailed review of Palestine in the Time of Christ by Edmond Stapfer
1889: “Why The Child Is Not Buried” published today describes the fate of Abraham Bergman, a child who died two weeks but remains unburied because Marcus Sanftman, the former President of the Warschauer Benefit Sick and Burial Society has refused to sign the burial permit even though the burial fee has been paid. By his own admission, Warschauer has failed to act because of a dispute he is having with the newly installed President.
1889: Birthdate of Jawaharlal Nehru, leader of the movement for Indian Independence and first Prime Minister of India. Nehru was opposed to the creation of the state of Israel. Like so many others, Nehru admired the suffering Jews, but did not like to see them in a position of power. More to the point, he opposed the creation of a Jewish state in an attempt to curry favor with India’s Moslem minority. After the creation Israel, Nehru did what he could to isolate the new Jewish state. Fortunately, over the last decade, India and Israel have developed harmonious relations at both the personal and governmental level.
1889: In St. Louis, MO, Joseph Lazarus Kranson and Caroline Kranson gave birth to Abraham H. Kranson.
1890: Judge David McAdam, the Chief of the City Court and the Judge-elect of the Superior Court published his campaign expenses today which included $25 owed to the Hebrew World, $10 owed to the Hebrew Leader and $40 owed to the Jewish Daily News.
1890: In New York City. De Witt J. (David) Seligman, the son of James (Jacob) Seligman and Rosa Seligman and Addie Seligman gave birth to James Bernheimer Seligman.
1892: In St. Petersburg, the prohibition against Jews being allowed to emigrate “that was enforce during the cholera epidemic” has been lifted.
1892: In another example of how Jewish culture infuses Western culture, the New York premier of Israel in the Wilderness, a cantata that opens with a Hebrew Chorale and includes sections entitled “The God Abram Praise,” “Forth from the Land of Egypt” and “O Fertile Land of Egypt” was well received by the audience and the journalist who reviewed it.
1892: In Cincinnati, Ohio, Reverend Henry P. Smith a noted Professor of Hebrew at Lane Theologilical Seminary is being tried by his fellow Presbyterians for his beliefs which question the inerrancy of Scripture and question the accuracy of statements made in the Bible when one considers the differences between events described the books of Samuel and Kings as opposed to the description in Chronicles.
1892: Judge Henry M. Goldfogle presided over the special meeting of the Grand Lodge, District No. 1 Order of B’nai B’rith which had been called to deal with the financial crisis facing the organization.
1892: In an interview published today, former Chancellor Bismarck denied that Germans or Russians wanted to fight a war with each other saying that “the only warlike elements in Russia are the press, the Poles and the Jews.” (Bismarck seemed to have forgotten the German decision not renew its alliance with Russia which pushed it into the arms of the French. But aw we have seen in our times, it is so much easier to blame the Jews and the media)
1892: Reports published in New York today relying on information provided by the Vienna correspondent of the London Standard described the confirmation received by “the leading financial house of Vienna” that “the Paris house of Rothschild has declined to have anything with the new Russia loan. Baron Alphonse agreed with the logic stated by the London house of Rothschild that the House of Rothschild would not assist those who oppress Jews. (Contrary to the Shylock image of the Jew, this was a case where principle outweighed profit)
1893(5th of Kislev, 5654): Fifty-six year Baron Moritz von Königswarter, the Austrian banker and spokesmen who was appointed by the emperor a life member of the Austrian House of Peers in 1879 and who was outspoken defender of his co-religionists passed away today.
1894: The 15th annual reported of the President of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society of New York which has been issued as pamphlet “contains an interesting history of the work that has been done by the society.”
1896: In New York delegates are gathering from across the country for the first convention of the National Council of Jewish Women which is scheduled to open tomorrow.
1896: Mr. Isidor Straus presided over the dinner at Delmonico’s given “in honor of Joseph Jacobs, the English author and critic who is here to deliver a series of lectures to the National Council of Jewish Women” before moving on to Johns Hopkins University and the University of Chicago.
1896(9thof Kislev, 5657): Eighty-four year old Ephraim Wolbach, a native of Bavaria who “was engaged in the jewelry and tailoring businesses before retiring 24 years ago” passed away today at the home of his niece, Mrs. Max Lion.
1896: “The advanced pupils of the Academy of Dramatic Arts are scheduled to participate in a pantomime and play directed by Henry E. Dixey” this evening at the Hebrew Institute at the corner of East Broadway and Jefferson Street.
1897: In Vienna, the authorities blamed the Jewish students for the second outbreak of violence because they were angered by the Germans who had attacked them in the first uproar earlier in the week.
1897: “The winter program of the Jews’ College Literary Society” is scheduled to begin today with a lecture by “Mr. Alexander” a rabbi who served “one or two provincial congregations” before going into business in London
1897: Professor Felix Adler delivered a lecture at Carnegie Hall to members of the Society for Ethical Culture entitled “What Has Religion Done for Civilization?”
1897(19thof Cheshvan, 5658): Benn Levy, the youngest son of Joseph and Cordella Levy of Leicester died today after “a fall from his horse.”
1897: Three days after he had passed away, 33 year old Henry Barend Hayman was buried today at the “Plashet Jewish Cemetery in London”
1897: “Honors to the American Author” published today described the visit of Mark Twain to Vienna where “the utmost attention is being paid him by the press, the ‘Jewish press’ as the big Vienna dailies are called. The anti-Semitic papers have hardly taken any notice of his visit.” (While in Vienna, Twain would write about the government’s used of anti-Semitism to deflect public attention from rioting in the Empire and he later defended his comments in “Concerning the Jews” which was published in Harper’s magazine.
1898: Barnet Phillips is scheduled to deliver at lecture this evening entitled “The Past in the Present” which will be the first in a series of weekly talks sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association.
1898: “Israel Zangwill delivered an address on the religion of the Ghetto” tonight at the annual meeting of the Education Alliance at Temple Emanu-el.
1898: A “mass meeting” attended by 3,000 was held tonight at Oheb Zedek on Clinton Street in an attempt to raise the $3,000 from the realtors wrecking ball.
1899: Lord Rothschild, Sir Samuel Montagu and Mr. Benjamin Montagu were among the Jewish leaders who were on the platform at the tercentenary celebration of Oliver Cromwell which included “the unveiling of a statue of the Protecter.
1900(22nd of Cheshvan): Author Judah Behak passed away
1900(22ndof Cheshvan): Sixty-eight year old Adolph Pollitzer, the Budapest native who “was regarded as the most eminent” violin teacher “of his time in England” passed away today.
1900: Leopold Hilsner was found guilty of the ritual murder of Agnes Hruza of Polna Bohemia
1900: Herzl seeks a meeting with Lord Rothschild.
1900: In Brooklyn, Harris Morris Copland, a merchant who had Anglicized its name from the original Kaplan, and Sarah Mittenthal Copland gave birth to Aaron Copland who was noted for a variety of concertos for piano and clarinet, the suite Quiet City and the Ballets Billy the Kid, Rodeo and Appalachian Spring. He won a Pulitzer Prize for this last creation. He passed away in 1990. ‘Many of Aaron Copland's fans have wondered how a young Jewish music-lover from Brooklyn came to compose such works as Billy the Kid and Rodeo. Copland himself had a handy explanation: his grandparents had once lived in Texas, where his grandfather owned a store in Dallas. Frank James - brother of Jesse James – was reputed to have been one of the employees. But for the persistence of choreographer Agnes de Mille, Rodeo might never have been produced. After the success of Billy the Kid, she suggested that Copland write another Western ballet. Copland resisted giving as his initial response, ‘I've already composed one of those. Can't you do a ballet about Ellis Island?’"
1903: “A few of his veteran friends” celebrated the 50th anniversary of the arrival of Isidore Newman in New Orleans
1904: In Camden, NJ Abraham Lichtenstein purchased the property at 335 Liberty
Street which had previously belonged to Congregation Sons of Israel today.
1904: Today, “on the West Side of Manhattan, David Mannes and the former Clara Damrosch - founders of the Mannes College of Music” gave birth to “author, journalist and critic” Marya Mannes “who wrote under the pen name of ‘Sec’”.
1904: As of today “the nature of the rift that has split the Camden, NJ Jewish community with the Sons of
Israel going to” property at South and Sycamore Street and others staying at 335 Liberty Street is
unknown.
1905(16thof Cheshvan, 5666): Five year old Morris Samuel Abrams passed away today after which he was buried at the Shaare Zedek in Pittsburgh, PA.
1905: David Belasco's "Girl of Golden West," premieres in New York City. Belasco’s father was Jewish. His mother was Roman Catholic.
1905: “Three influential Jews left Odessa for St. Petersburg today to present to the Council of Ministers a full account of the outbreak at Odessa, supported by documentary evidence.”
1905: The list of the Directors of the Educational Alliance published today included “James Frank, Albert Friedlander, Samuel Greenbaum, Ferdinand Kuhn, Henry M. Leipziger, Louis Marshall, William Salomon, Isidor Straus and Benjamin Tuska.”
1905: Today’s American Hebrew called for “new measures to cope with” the massacres of Russian Jews including “convening a Jewish congress in the United States” for the purpose of coordinating the relief efforts of every Jewish organization.
1905: It was reported today that in Odessa, P.D. Neidhart has been replaced by “General Gergorieff, a conservative anti-Semite. (This is the same general who will massacre the Jews of Odessa in the Summer of 1919 during the Russian Civil War)
1905: As of today “the fund for the relief of Jewish sufferers from the Russian massacres” “has reached at $200,000 although there is actually in hand about $70,000 less than that sum.”
1905: The Citizens’ Permanent Relief Committee is scheduled to meet in the office of the Mayor of Philadelphia today to discuss ways of providing “immediate relief to the survivors of the massacre in Russia.”
1906: “Miss Alice Lewisohn Is Now An Actress” published today provided the explanation by the daughter of the late philanthropist and businessman Leonard Lewisohn that she concealed her identity while performing in “Pippa Passes” at the Majestic Theatre because she did not plan on being a professional actress and that her appearance was purely for educational purposes that would help her with the amateur theatrical productions at the Henry Street Settlement House.
1907: In Brooklyn, Joseph Steig, a house painter, and his wife Laura Ebel Steig, a seamstress gave birth to multi-talented graphic artist William Steig.
1908: Oscar Straus' musical "Der tapfere Soldat," premieres in Vienna. . Straus dropped the
second‘s’ at the end of his name so he would not be confused the more famous Strauss family.
1908: Albert Einstein presents the quantum theory of light
1908: Birthdate of Yedida Shofet the native of Kashan, Iran who was the last Chief Rabbi of Iran “and the worldwide spiritual leader of Persian Jewry.
1909(1st of Kislev, 5670): Rosh Chodesh Kislev
1909(1stof Kislev, 5670): Thirteen year old Benze Zieg passed away today.
1910: Emma Keyman “the second daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Keyman” married David Krichefski, the youngest sont of Mr. & Mr. Krichefski of Jersy at the Wellington Road Synagogue.
1909: Birthdate of artist, illustrator and author of children’s books William Steig. Steig sold his first cartoon to the New Yorker Magazine in 1930. His work would appear so often in that publication (including 117 covers, that he was dubbed the “king of cartoons.’ Here are a couple of his more “bland” works. For more covers go to
1909: Dr. Emil G. Hirsch, the Rabbi at Chicago’s Temple Sinai, gave an address tonight at the Broad Street at event celebrating the centenary of Rabbi David Einhorn, of blessed memory. During his speech he demonstrated how the Reform movement had revitalized Judaism from the dead hand and hypocrisy of Orthodoxy. “Nine hundred and ninety-nine ot of every thousand Orthodox Jews who pray regularly to back to Jerusalem would be stricken with apoplexy if the Messiah should suddenly announce that they could go back.”
1910: Today, the Nobel Prize Committee awarded German poet and novelist Paul Johann Ludwig Heyse the Nobel Prize for Literature.
1912(4thof Kislev, 5673): Eighty-three year old Civil War veteran Joseph Rosenthal passed away today in Chicago.
1913(14thof Cheshvan, 5674): Seventy-five year old Joseph Hiam Levy, the native of Aldgate and son of Lawrence Levy whom he upset by leaving the Great Synagogue for the more liberal West London Synagogue and who was an Inspector of Accounts at the Department of Education before becoming a lecturer at Birkbeck College and a leader of the Personal Rights Association passed away today.
1914: In Georgia, the appellate court, upheld the trial court’s ruling denying Leo Frank a new trial.
1914: Birthdate of Shmuel Tankus, the native of the Neve Shalom district of Jaffa who became the 5th commander of the Israeli Navy.
1914: It was reported today that “there will be five Jews in the next Congress” including two Democrats – Julius Kalen of California and A.T. Sabath of Illinois --, two Socialists – Victor Berger of Wisconsin and Meyer Loudon of New York – and one Republican – Isaac Sigel of New York.
1914: It was reported today that “the Massachusetts Commission recently stated that Russian Jews in Massachusetts presented a larger proportion of naturalized citizens than any other nationality with which the commission came into contacts.”
1915: “Old Heidelberg” a silent romance co-starring Erich von Stroheim was released today in the United States.
1915: “Revive Jewish Artistry” published today described an exhibition in New York of works from Jerusalem’s Bezalel School under the leadership of Professor Boris Schatz who has led to the revival of the arts among “the Hebrews in Palestine.”
1915: An order signed today by Russian Cavalry General Oblonsky commands “that when the Russians enter a town of the enemy, or reconquer a town of their own , the leaders of the Jewish community be taken and held as hostages” and that “at the same time a warning should be given to all Jews that if any one of them should be in any way help the enemy, even after we have left the town, these Jewish leaders will be killed.”
1915: “It was decided at the ninth annual meeting of the American Jewish Committee” which held was held today at the Hotel Astor in New York City “to call a conference “which will take steps to organize “organize a congress of American Jews” that will meet after the end of the World War “to consider” ways to ensure “the rights of Jews in belligerent lands and Romania.”
1916: As control of Poland shifts from Russia to Germany during WW I, it was reported that Herman Bernstein, the editor of the American Hebrew has urged all concerned “that steps should be taken” to ensure that Jews enjoy “equal rights with others in Poland after war” comes to an end.
1916: Birthdate of writer and producer, Sheldon Schwartz. Schwartz is another Jew who played a key role in the creation of what some call middlebrow American culture. He wrote for Ozzie and Harriet, produced The Brady Bunch and created and produced Gilligan’s Island.
1917: “A bloody battle” was fought between the Turks and The Kiwis (New Zealand soldiers fighting under General Allenby) at Ayun Kara, a village “southeast of Tel Aviv.”
1917: It was reported today that “the declaration by Great Britain of its purpose to facilitate the effort of the Zionists to establish a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine…carries with it a proviso that the establishment of a Jewish State in the Holy Land shall not in any way conflict with the rights of non-Jewish communities now existing in Palestine” while carrying “pledges by Great Britain to oppose any project which might in any way impair the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.
1917: Amid growing attempts to prevent Jewish students from receiving scholarships, Stuart Samuel and Charles Emanuel met with Cyril Cobb, the Chairman of the London County Council’s Education Committee and Sir Robert Cecil in a failed attempt to thwart the change in policy that would require eligible candidates “to be British when applying for the award and to have been born or have fathers who were born in Britain or in the Dominions.”
1918: Czechoslovakia becomes a republic. Jan Masaryk was the guiding force behind this effort the first president of the new Czech Republic. Masaryk was one of the most decent and courageous leaders of the 19th and 20thcentury. During the 1880’s when Prague was swept by a series of anti-Semitic riots including charges of the blood libel, Masaryk condemned the anti-Semites and worked to alleviate the suffering of the Jews. Ironically, in 1916, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandies, whose parents had emigrated from Bohemia (later to be part of Czechoslovakia) who arranged for Masaryk’s first meeting with President Wilson. Wilson’s support would prove to be critical in the creation of the Czech Republic. Thanks to the Masaryk’s Jews enjoyed the benefits of full citizenship in law as well as in fact. “Jewish communal institutions and holidays enjoyed full juridical recognition and protection.” Jews played a key role in creating a vibrant, Czech economy and played a leading role in the areas of art and culture. Of course, the most famous Jewish artist of the time was Franz Kafka. We are not better acquainted with the rest of these Jewish Czech artists because the Nazis did their job all too well.
1918: Days after the Armistice was signed, Rabbi Hyman Gerson Enelow wrote today that “these have been wonderful days in Paris” where “the streets have been full of wild enthusiasm” and “the people don’t seem to be able to find a way to express their joy” now that “the most terrible war in human history has come to an end.
1919: In a move that must have the Jews feel "uncomfortable," the Constituent Assembly in Poland declared Sunday as the official day of rest.
1920: Birthdate of Izo Hertzig, the native of Siret, Romania who gained fame as Israeli MK Yitzhak Artzi.
1920: “The fourteenth annual meeting of the American Jewish Committee…was held at the Hotel Astor” today where “President Louis Marshall presented the annual report of the Executive Committee, which dealt with endeavors to obtain improvement of the condition of the Jews in Poland, the Ukraine, Hungary and Rumania.”
1920(3rd of Kislev, 5681): Sixty-one year old Jacob Wertheim, the son of Baruch and Henrietta Wertheim who turned ownership in a small New York cigar story in “the United Cigar Manufacturers Company with a capital of twenty million dollars” and who was “one of the foundrs of the Federation ofr the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies” passed away today.
1920: Today, “leading Jews in America untied to protest against the announced proposal to undertake an evangelization campaign among the Jews of New York City” for which “the Presbyterian Church has” raised “nearly $200,000.”
1920: Birthdate of Irving Dover Ravetch the Newark born son of a Jewish immigrant who had fled the Russian pogroms, became a pharmacist and, later, a rabbi. His mother, an immigrant from what is now northern Israel, was a Hebrew teacher. He gained fame as Irving Ravetch, whose playwriting career stalled on the brink of Broadway but who became half of one of Hollywood’s most successful husband-and-wife screenwriting teams, creators of the Oscar-nominated scripts for “Hud” and “Norma Rae,”
1921: “Honor Lauterbach For Aid To Orphans” published today described the honors paid to Edward Lauterbach for his 39 years of service to the Hebrew Orphan Asylum including a brief talk by one of the children, Paula Schwartz who “said that this name would be everlastingly remembered by those who were housed in the institution during his trusteeship.”
1923: Winston Churchill told British businessman and leading member of Jewish community, Sir Robert Waley Cohen, that he would no longer be able to work with him on the merger of two of Cohen’s companies with the Anglo-Persian Company. Churchill turned his back on this lucrative business arrangement because he had decided to return to public life as a Member of Parliament. Ironically, Churchill would lose his first bid to return to Parliament in March of 1924. It speaks to Churchill and his business partners sense of rectitude that both wanted to avoid an appearance of impropriety regardless of any financial reverses that either of them might suffer.
1924: In Shanghai, Celia Krisel and Alexander Krisel, “a lawyer and distributor for United Arts films,” gave birth to architect William Krisel. (As reported by Sam Roberts)
1924: Birthdate of famed Russian violinist Leonid Kogan who won the Lenin Prize in 1952 proving that regardless of which side of the Iron Curtain you looked you would find a Jewish Fiddler on the Roof.
1925: Birthdate of Gladys Lenore Blum who would attain theatrical success as Gladys Nederlander, producer of nine Broadway shows. She passed away in July, 2008
1927: As Stalin consolidated his control over the Communist Party, Trotsky was expelled from the Party.
1928: “Impressive Armistice Day Celebration is Held in Jerusalem” published today described how “two hundred members of the former Jewish Legion which fought in the British Army during the World War for the liberation of Palestine passed in review before Acting High Commissioner H. C. Luke” as part of the ceremonies marking the anniversary of the end of the World War.
1929: Birthdate of Alan J. Shallack who collaborated with Margaret Rey staring in the 1970’s to bring Curious George, the creation of her late husband, to the television.
1929: It was reported today that “the Abyssinian government has awarded the Order of the Ethiopian Star to Dr. Jaques Faitlovitch, the international explorer and executive director of the work among the Falashas in Abyssinia” who “has made six expeditions into Abyssinia, during which he made scientific studies of the Falasha, a people that has observed the Jewish faith for over 2,000 years.” (As reported by JTA)
1929: Fritz and Charlotte Fuerst, got married today in Vienna, Austria. “Fritz Fuerst illegally immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1938. His wife, Charlotte, was deported to Kielce, Poland. Charlotte perished in the Holocaust “
1930: “Morocco” a romantic film for which Josef von Sternberg received an Oscar nomination for Best Director was released in the United States today.
1931: With Sid Gillman playing End, Ohio State defeated Wisconsin for its fifth victory out of seven games played to date.
1931: After 91 performances, the curtain came down on “The House of Connelly” starring Stella Adler, J. Edward Bromberg and Clifford Odets which was staged by Lee Strasberg at the Martin Beck Theatre.
1931: Montefiore Kahn, vice president of Oil Shares, Inc., a $6,000,000 corporation having its principal offices in Jersey City, was held on $25,000 bail for a hearing Tuesday, upon his arraignment before Magistrate Capshaw in Jefferson Market Court on a charge of being a fugitive from justice in New Jersey. He is wanted in connection with the theft of $100,000.
1933: In Passaic, N.J., Nathan and Anne Zion gave birth to Sidney Zion, “a journalist and author who turned his daughter’s death at New York Hospital in 1984 into a crusade that led to national reforms in the training, workload and supervision of young doctors.” (As reported by Robert D. McFadden
1934: It was announced today that Leo Arnstein, the “vice president and treasurer of J. H. Rossbach and Bros., Inc., and the Rossbach Brazil Co., who is a director of Federation of Jewish Philanthropic Associations” “was elected a member of the Board of Trustees of the Central Savings Bank.”
1935: The Nazis began the First Implementation Order to the Reich Citizenship, Clause 5; "A Jew is a person descended from at least three grandparents who were full Jews by race." This meant that a lot of Christian Germans found out that they were “really Jewish” since the conversion of their parents offered no protection from being designated as a Juden. As many as 500,000 German citizens fall into the Mischlinge or mixed-racecategory. Marriages between Jews and second-generation Mischlinge are prohibited by law.
1935: Seventy-year old German classical scholar Friedrich Münzer “was officially classified as Jewish, upon which many colleagues and acquaintances distanced themselves from him.”
1935(18th of Cheshvan, 5695) Seventy-five year old French banker and art collector Count Moïse de Camondo who rebuilt the family mansion on Parc Monceau complete with a Kosher Kitchen, passed away today. Unfortunately the family’s position and wealth was not enough to protect his family. The Camondo family disappeared after the French deported his daughter, Béatrice, his son-of-law Léon Reinach and their children, Fanny and Bertrand to Auschwitz where they were murdered.
1935: Birthdate of King Hussein of Jordan. The Jordanian monarch presented a mixed bag when it came to relations with Israel. In 1967, despite pleas from the Israelis, Hussein joined Syria and Egypt in waging war against Israel. It was his fortunate choice of action that resulted in Israel ending up with all of Jerusalem and the West Bank. At the same time, Hussein personally and publicly apologized for terrorist attacks against Israelis in 1997. Finally, in 1994, with cancer consuming his body, the King signed a peace agreement with Yitzchak Rabin. As he said, he finally completed the work begun by his grandfather, King Abdullah.
1935: Herbert Samuel completed his service as MP for Darwen which had begun in 1929.
1935(18th of Cheshvan, 5695): New York attorney Morris Cooper, the husband of Alice Jaretzki Cooper with whom he had two children – “Richard M. Cooper and Mrs. Gay V. Land”—passed away today.
1936: Sophomore Harry Shorten helped lead NYU to victory over Rutgers.
1936: Today, “the Provincial Commission in Tripoli issued an order…to the effect that all shops were to remain open all days of the week except Sunday” which was part an attempt to force Jewish shopkeepers to leave the new quarter of the city and return to the less economically attractive old quarter of Tripoli.
1936: “Representative Samuel Dickstein of New York, the chairman of the House Immigration Committee” announced “that in view of the large amount of religious and racial ‘hate propaganda’ brought out in the Presidential election campaign he will offer a resolution in the Congress for an investigation of subversive and un-American activities by the House committee which in 1934 looked into Nazi activities” in the United States.
1936: An exhibition of paintings by Elias Newman, an American artist who lived in Palestine for eight years that has been on display at the Jewish Club in New York comes to an end.
1937: The New York Times reports on the publication of the text of “And Stars Remain” by Julius S. and Philip G. Epstein, a comedy produced by the Theatre Guild during the 1936 season
1937: Dancer and choreographer Anna Sokolow debuted on Broadway. Sokolow got her professional start in "radical dance" in 1929 when she joined Martha Graham's dance company, and for the next decade she studied and danced with Graham, but she also began to work with other groups and to choreograph pieces of her own. Sokolow felt the need to move beyond Graham's orbit to draw upon her own ethnic background and to use dance to dramatize the economic, social, and political crises of the time. Sokolow's first major composition for a group, Anti-War Trilogy, was performed at the 1933 First Anti-War Congress, and the dangers of war and fascism continued to be reflected in her later work. Sokolow was a key figure in the development of modern dance in both Israel and Mexico, and worked with a variety of dance forms. Sokolow often worked with theater productions, choreographing many Broadway performances. She was a central figure in the choreography and staging of the musical Hairin 1967. In the later part of her career, Sokolow incorporated Jewish themes more heavily in her work. Her first piece with clear Jewish content was The Exile (1939), and many of her compositions returned to the themes of exile and suffering. Her 1945 Kaddish, which was choreographed just as the war was ending, drew upon traditional Jewish elements to express her pain and suffering. Sokolow's 1961 work, Dreams, was the first serious dance exploration of the Holocaust. She also based a number of her works on Jewish female figures, both Biblical and modern, ranging from Ruth and Deborah to Hannah Senesh and Golda Meir.
1937: “In the mixed Arab Jewish quarter of Romemah on the outskirts of Jerusalem Arabs attacked Jew who was rescued by a policeman. Two Jewish girls walking along the road were hit by a stray bullet and injured slightly.”
1938: “Daniel Frohman, dean of Broadway theatrical producers was one of the many show people who signed a telegram” sent to President Roosevelt today “urging him to ‘express the feeling of horror and indignation of American people toward Nazi brutality by invoking” his “Executive powers under existing American laws to declare an official embargo on all trade with Germany.”
1938: Dorothy Thompson, who in 1934 had become the first American journalist to be expelled from Nazi Germany, made an impassioned broadcast to an estimated 5 million listeners in defense of Herschel Grynszpan, pointing out that the Nazis themselves had made heroes of the assassins of Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss and German Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau.
1938: “Contrary to early reports, Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury was not consulted in advance on the new French financial decrees and knew nothing of the French plans until he read of the in the newspapers, the Secretary said at a press conference this afternoon.”
1938: “Storm Over Bengal” which received a an Oscar nomination for Best Score for the music written by Cy Feuer was released in the United States today.
1939: Divisional meetings of members of the League for Palestine were today at the homes of members throughout the Long Island area today to discuss plans for a campaign to raise $100,000 for a new league center in Jerusalem similar to those already established in Haifa and Tel Aviv.
1939: “Five hundred Jewish refugees, mostly from Poland and the first to arrive since the war started, landed near Tel Aviv today and were taken into custody by British officials who said their entry was illegal.”
1940(13thof Cheshvan, 5701): Eighty year old Albert Kahn, the son cattle dealer Louis Kahn and Babette Bloch, a millionaire Parisian banker and philanthropist whose plan to use his fortune to document the world in photographs was thwarted by the Great Depression died in France today during the Nazi occupation.
1940: During the Blitz, the Nazis bombed Coventry. Unbeknownst to people at the time, the bombing of Coventry, a civilian target of no military value, presented Churchill with his greatest moral dilemma of the war. Because of Ultra, the English could “read” Nazi communications which gave them a great edge. When Churchill found out that the Nazis were going to bomb Coventry which lacked anti-aircraft defense, he had to decide if he should send guns to the city which would have tipped the Germans off that the English were reading their code which would have led to them changing the code or let them remain defenseless during the terror raid. He opted for the latter. As cold-blooded as this decision may seem to us today, to have done otherwise might have led to the loss of the Battle of Britain which would have brought The Final Solution to the British Isles. http://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/coventryh.htm
1941: In a message to the Jewish Chronicle Winston Churchill recognized the Jewish suffering. "None has suffered more cruelly than the Jew... The Jew bore the brunt of the Nazis' first onslaught upon the citadels of freedom and human dignity." Fine words, but there was no action to back them up. The doors to Palestine remained firmly shut and millions of Jews perished
1941: “I Wake Up Screaming” a film noir produced by Milton Sperling was released in the United States today.
1941: Nine thousand Jews from Slonim, Belorussia, are murdered at Czepielow
1942: The Nazis set up Ghettos in Radom, Cracow, and Galicia.
1942: In Perth Australia engineer Simon Feldman and his wife gave birth to Guggeheim Fellow and Dan Prize winner Marcus Feldman, who, ironically earned one of his degrees at Monash University, a school named after Sir John Monash the leading Australian general in WW I and a leader of the post-war Australian Jewish community.
1942(5thof Kislev, 5703): Sixty-one year old Henry Charles Dyte, the son of Isabella Benjamin and David Moses Dyte passed away today.
1943: At today’s general Fascist Party Congress, Benito Mussolini arranged “to have all Jews in Italy declared enemy aliens” under the law.
1943: Italian fascists in Ferrara killed 3 Jews in cold blood in broad daylight. They were not arrested or prosecuted in any way.
1943:Chicago Bear’s Sid Luckman passed for 7 touchdowns as the Monsters of the Midway defeated the New York Giants, 56 to 7.
1943: Having recently been appointed assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein made his conducting debut on last-minute notification—and without any rehearsal—after Bruno Walter came down with the flu. He became instantly famous because the concert was nationally broadcast. The soloist for that concert was Joseph Schuster, solo cellist of the New York Philharmonic, who played Richard Strauss's Don Quixote. Because Bernstein had never conducted the work before, Bruno Walter coached him on it prior to the concert. It is possible to hear this concert thanks to a transcription recording made from the CBS radio broadcast that has since been issued on CD.
1944(28th of Cheshvan, 5705): Seventy-one year old Hungarian violinist Carl Flesch died in Lucerne, Switzerland today.
1944: The Nazis hanged German businessman Walter Cramer, for his role in the attempt to kill Hitler on July 20.
1945: Dr. Abba Hillel Silver and Dr. Stephen S. Wise, joint chairmen of the American Zionist Emergency Council, criticize U.S. for agreeing to the creation of an Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry designed to determine the facts concerning the conflict in Palestine and to make recommendations to improve the situation.
1945: Hadassah and World Jewish Congress criticized British foreign minister Ernest Bevin.
1945: Former Senator Guy Gillette, who is the President of the American League for a Free Palestine, is scheduled to fly to London today as head of an unofficial delegation to the British Government on behalf of the establishment of Palestine as a “free and democratic state.” [Until the creation of the state of Israel, the Jewish homeland was referred to as Palestine and Gillette was head of a Zionist organization.”]
1946: Birthdate of folk musician Jay Ungar who with his wife Molly Mason wrote “the soundtrack to the acclaimed documentary film Brother's Keeper” and “Ashokan Farewell.”
1946: The Board of Deputies of British Jews condemns the idea of anti-British being expanded from Palestine to Britain.
1947: In Egypt, Lucy and Eliyahu gave birth to Yosef Frachi who was a member of the INS Dakar when it was lost at sea in 1968.
1947: Violence erupted in Palestine after the British kill three Jewish girls and two boys are at a farmhouse where a cache of weapons is found.
1948: "While Iraqi troops were still on the battlefield, an Iraqi law had added 'Zionism' to communism, anarchism and immorality in a list of offences whose propagation was punishable by seven years in prison or a heavy fine.
1948(12th of Cheshvan, 5709): Sixty-seven year old Samuel Abelow, the Lithuanian born son of Harris Abelow and the husband of Jeanette Abelow who served on the Board of Education of the School of Biblical Instruction passed away today after which he was buried at the Mount Hebron Cemetery in Queens.
1950: “An official publication Reshumot (Portofolio of Notifications 130) announcement on the election to Jerusalem municipality council, that were held today, states that among the approved candidates Rabbi Amram Aburbeh was candidate number 7 to honor the Yichud Shevet Yehudah party candidates list, representing the religious Sephardi Jews.”
1956: The Knesset agreed to an Israeli withdrawal from all territory captured in the Sinai campaign, provided that the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) could be used to keep Egypt from closing the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and stop Gaza from serving as a base for terrorists attacking Israel. Eleven years later, it would be the unilateral withdrawal of UNEF from the Sinai and the blockade of the Straits that would lead to the famous Six Days War in June of 1967.
1956: “Love Me Tender” Elvis Presley’s first film with music by Lionel Newman was released in the United States today.
1956: Birthdate of Avraham “Avi” Cohen a football player who played for Liverpool in England.
1957: The West End production of the musical “Bells Are Ringing” “with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne
1960: Alexander "Alex" Bittelman was formally expelled from the Communist Party.
1960: “The Facts of Life” co-directed, co-produced and co-written by Melvin Frank and featuring Louis Nye was released in the United States today.
1962: Birthdate of Keyboardist Josh Silver.
1963: “The Servant,” Harold Pinter’s film adaptation of a novelette of the same name in which he appears as “Society Man” “opened at London's Warner Theatre.”
1966(1stof Kislev, 5727): Rosh Chodesh Kislev
1966(1stof Kislev, 5727): Seventy-eight year old Rabbi Moses Aaron Poleyeff, a native of Minsk who was on the faculty of Yeshiva College passed away today in Jersey City, NJ.
1968(23rd of Cheshvan, 5729): Seventy-two year old Riga native, Samuel J. Briskin who worked at produced films for several major studies including Columbia, RKO, Paramount, MGM and Liberty as well as the U.S. government during WW II passed away today.
1968: “The Shoes of the Fisherman,” the film version of the novel of the same name produced by George Enguland, the son of Mabel Albertson and the nephew of Jack Albertson, was released in the United States today.
1969: Two days after he had passed away, funeral services were held today for sixty-nine year old Columbia graduate and Parkinson disease patient A. Wilfred May, the former foreign correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune, NANA and The London Financial Times and “economic expert with the SEC”
1972: Birthdate of wrestler Mathew Jason “Matt” Bloom.
1974: Birthdate of actor David Moscow. When asked about his religious upbringing Moscow said, “My father is Jewish and my mother is Mormon. Culturally, I was raised Jewish. We celebrated the major holidays in my house but we celebrated many Christmases with my mother’s side of the family.”
1974: “Leading Jewish activist Victor Polsky received an exit visa” which will lead to his arrival in Israel on December 24th.
1977: In an interview with CBS newscaster Walter Cronkite, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat repeated his willingness to visit Israel.
1977: In an unauthorized interview, IDF Chief of Staff, General Motta Gur said that Egyptian forces were being prepared for an attack against Israel in 1978.
1978(14th of Cheshvan, 5739): Eighty year old Edwin Herbert Samuel, 2ndViscount, the son of Herbert Samuel and the father of Professor David Samuel passed away. A WW I veteran who served with the Jewish Legion he served as the last Director of the Palestine Broadcasting Service which was part of the Mandatory Government.
1978: David Samuel, the 3rd Viscount Samuel, began serving in the British House of Lords.
1980: It was reported today that 1,424 Soviet Jews had emigrated during the month of October.
1980: “The Idolmaker,” a musical co-starring Tovah Felshuh was released in the United States today.
1986: “Wall Street arbitrageur Ivan Boesky” the son of Jewish Detroit delicatessen owners “pleads guilty to insider trading and agrees to pay a $100 million fine and cooperate with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s investigation.”
1986: “Streets of Gold” a movie about Jew who wants to play on the Russian basketball team directed and produced by Joe Roth was released in the United States.
1986: Five days after he had passed away, a memorial service for seventy-three year old A. James Speyer, the Pittsburg born “son of Stella (Tillie) Speyer and Alexander C. Speyer and graduate of Carnegie Institute of Technology who was one of the “leading experts on contemporary American and European art” is scheduled to be held today at the Art Institute.
1986: U.S. premiere of “Hoosier’s” the basketball movie with the signature score by Jerry Goldsmith.
1986: “Every Time We Say Goodbye,” a movie about “a gentile American in the Royal Air Force, stationed in mandatory Jerusalem, who falls in love with a girl from a Sephardic Jewish family” directed and written by Moshe Mizrahi and filmed mostly in Israel” was released in the United States today.
1988: Neil Simon’s latest play, “Rumors” is scheduled to open today at the Broadhurst Theatre under the direction of Gene Saks.
1990(26thof Cheshvan, 5751): Seventy-one year composer Saul Kaplan passed away today.
1990: U.S. premiere of “The King’s Whore” with a script by Frederic Raphael.
1991: Today,the music video for "Black or White" which John Landis helped to create “premiered on MTV, BET, VH1, and Fox (giving them their highest Nielsen ratings ever at the time) as well as the BBC's Top of the Pops in the UK.”
1994: In East Jerusalem, the al-Wasiti Art Centre was opened in Sheikh Jarrah. Its first exhibition of paintings was entitled ‘From Exile to Jerusalem.’
1999: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World Since 1948 by Avi Shlaim Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-1999 by Benny Morris, The David Story: A Translation With Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuelby Robert Alter, Spanking Watson by Kinky Friedman and Give Us A King Samuel, Saul, and David: A New Translation of Samuel I and II with an introduction and notes by Everett Fox.
2002: In “Holocaust Writer in Storm Over Role of Catholic Church, published today “ Mark Landler describes the response of the Catholic Church to 'A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen
2003: In an interview conducted by Yedioth Ahronoth reporters Alex Fishman and Sima Kadmon, Ami Ayalon and three other former heads of the Israeli Security Agency (ISA), Avraham Shalom, Yaakov Peri and Carmi Gillon “warn of an impending "catastrophe" for Israel and urge the public to rally behind a document created which sets out the principles of a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.”
2004: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or on topics of special Jewish interest including What We Owe Iraq: War and the Ethics of Nation Buildingby Noah Feldman, Ulysses S. Grant: The Unlikely Heroby Michael Korda and The Final Solution: A Story of Detection by Michael Chabon.
2004: Shalshelet’s2004 Inaugural Festival of New Jewish Liturgical Music which was held at Temple Shalom in Chevy Chase, Maryland, comes to an end.
2005: Boychicks, Beantown, Basketball, Baseball. Sports Illustrated Magazine of this date carried stories about Red Auerbach and Theo Epstein. Auerbach, a coach legend in his own time and the President of the Boston Celtics attended the team’s home opener at the age of 88. Feisty and competitive as ever, Red, sans cigar, was insisting that it was time for another championship, something that has eluded the Celtics since 1986. Epstein, last year’s boy-wonder who broke the Boston Red Sox jinx, found himself out a job. Even a genius general manager has a boss. In the world of work, when employees clash with the boss, the boss always wins even when he (or she) is not right.
2006: At Brown University a three day conference entitled “The Jerusalem Perspective: 150 years of Archaeological Research” comes to an end. The conference features abstracts by Jon Seligman, Jerusalem region archeologist for the Antiquities Authority.
2006: Fran Dreshcer guest starred today in “The War at Home,” an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intnent.
2006: Those participating in the Perek Yomi Program complete the final chapter of the Book of Chronicles, the final book of the Tanach. This calls for a Siyum Tanach, a party celebrating this milestone in Jewish study. Siyum is the Hebrew word meaning “finish.”
2007: “The Quarrel” is performed at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York followed by a discussion with playwright Rabbi Joseph Telushkin “This provocative play follows a chance encounter between two estranged friends, each believing that the other had perished in the concentration camps. One man an Orthodox rabbi, the other a secular writer, their experiences and losses during the Holocaust have reinforced the rabbi’s trust in God and the writer’s trust in himself. Capturing the bittersweet memories of two men revisiting their past, the play confronts the spiritual questions raised by these survivors’ opposing lifestyles.”
2007(3rd of Kislev, 5768): Eighty-five year old clarinetist David Oppenheim, the former Dean of the N.Y.U. School of Arts passed away today.
2007: The Israel Antiquities Authority announced that the remains of an ancient terraced street that dates back to the roman period have been uncovered in the Western Wall tunnels. The street, which like led to the nearby Temple Mount itself, dates back nearly 2,000 years when the city was call Aelia Capitolina during the second to fourth centuries of the Common Era.
2007: New York Governor Elliot Spitzer withdrew an executive order that would have allowed the state to issue driver’s licenses to illegal aliens starting in December.
2007: “The Farnsworth Invention” “a stage play by Aaron Sorkin did not open on Broadway as scheduled today due to a strike by stagehands.
2008:“No Rock Like You: Songs for the Jewish Soul” Shalshelet’s annual musical festival comes to an end in Washington, D.C.
2008: Today, Rabbi Rachel Cowan was awarded HUC-JIR’s President's Medallion at Jerusalem Academic Convocation
2008 “The First Basket,” a documentary about Jews and basketball, opens in Los Angeles.www.thefirstbasket.com.
2008:In Cedar Rapids, Iowa,Curtis David Litow, son of Kathy and Charlie Litow, begins his Bar Mitzvah weekend by leading Friday Evening Services. “Am Yisroel Chai”
2008: At an initial appearance today on new charges of bank fraud, former Agriprocessors Chief Executive Officer Sholom Rubashkin, 49, was ordered by Magistrate Judge Jon Scoles to be held until a detention hearing Wednesday.
2008: Following the morning's Kassam rocket strikes on Sderot and the Sha'ar Hanegev region, the Ashkelon area also came under attack on Friday afternoon. Five Grad-type Katyusha rockets were fired at the region, one of which hit the city center and another that landed on its outskirts. Three more struck open areas. Shortly afterwards, another Kassam rocket landed in a kibbutz in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council. Also, a mortar shell exploded near the Kissufim area. Three people were sent into shock as a result of the attack and were evacuated to Ashkelon's Barzilai Hospital.
2009: Congregation Sha’are Shalom, Loudoun County’s Conservative synagogue, hosts its annual art auction this evening. Proceeds from the art auction will be used to benefit the synagogue.
2009: In Acre Registration begins for the Second UNESCO World Heritage Workshop on “Disaster Risk Reduction to Cultural Heritage. “Professionals from 16 countries are coming for the conference, including speakers from Italy, Japan, Peru and India. The workshop is about reducing the risk to cultural heritage sites - in Israel and around the world. There are ways to stop the damage before it happens. Israel was chosen to host the event due to the country's abundance of cultural heritage sites, Kislev said. Places such as Masada, Caesarea and Safed are exposed to many risks, from earthquakes to floods to vandalism”
2009: In San Francisco, after Shabbat, Yuri Foreman became the first Israeli to claim a professional boxing crown when he defeated Daniel Santos of Puerto Rico to take the WBA junior middleweight (under-70 kilogram) title on points. Foreman, a Belarus-born Israeli who has lived in Brooklyn for 10 years and is studying to be an Orthodox rabbi, won the 12-round bout by unanimous decision - 116-110, 117-109 and 117-10. The 29-year-old Foreman was so excited after his victory that a few minutes after midnight he called his father in Haifa from his MGM hotel suite in Las Vegas to give him the big news.
2009: Hundreds of hareidi religious Jews picketed outside the plant belonging to computer chip giant Intel at the Har Hotzvim hi-tech industrial area in Jerusalem, in protest of the fact that the plant employs workers on the Sabbath.
2009: Tonight was a split decision for Jewish boxers. In New Castle, England, Dimitry Salita lost to Amir Khan when the two fought for the WMA light welterweight title. In Las Vegas, Yuri Foreman won the WBA super welterweight championship by a unanimous 2010: The Los Angeles Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including I Remember Nothing and Other Reflections by Nora Ephron
2010: In Cedar Rapids, Iowa the Hadassah Donor Dinner features Temple Judah’s own Murray Wolfe, an award-winning playwright, who is scheduled to read from his one-man autobiographical play, “My Name is Moses Volvovic.” Murray’s many interests and accomplishments mark him as the epitome of the term Renaissance Man. Of course Murray is fortunate to enjoy the support of his wife Charlene a culinary virtuoso and an Ashish Chayil in the truest sense of the term.
2010:“With Earth and Each Other: A Virtual Rally for a Better Middle East,” an online event promoting peace through cross-border cooperation is scheduled for a global broadcast today at www.withearthandeachother.org. Anti-Israel groups have failed to get Pete Seeger and others to refrain from taking part in the event.
2010: The 50th Anniversary Annual Meeting of the Jewish Historical Society is scheduled to take place at Adas Israel, one of two Conservative congregations in the District of Columbia.
2010: The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled to present “A Moroccan Jewish Odyssey.”
2010: Major Emanuel Levi who was serving as navigator for IAF pilot Major Amichai Itkis when their plane crashed earlier this week will be buried today at 11:30 a.m. The funeral is scheduled to take place in the Har Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem. He was from Maaleh Adumim and is survived by his parents, two younger brothers who are serving in the army, and a sister. Friends and family described him as a talented, caring, well-liked man who was “addicted to the army” and had planned to work as a career soldier.
2010: As part of Jewish Book Month, Michelle Edward read from her new book, “The Hannukkah Trike” this morning.
2010: The Temple Rodef Shalom Players performed “Fools” – A Comic Fable by Neil Simon
2010: The head of state-owned French railway company SNCF made an unprecedented show of regret today for the company’s responsibility in sending some 76,000 Jews in France to Nazi death camps.The apology came as part of a bid to assuage American and Jewish community reticence about working with a company that notoriously collaborated with Nazi occupiers.
2011: The Jewish Agency for Israel’s board of governor is scheduled to convene today in Argentina.
2011: Molly Birnbaum and Rabbi Andrea Myers are scheduled to take part in the “Memoir Panel” at the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival.
2011: “Love Me Please” based on the life of Russian journalist Anastasia Baburova is scheduled to be shown at the Jewish Eye World Film Festival.
2011 Funeral service for Evelyn Lauder are scheduled to be held at 11:30 at Central Synagogue in New York City.
2011: Archaeologists have deciphered a grey marble slab whose 800-year-old Arabic inscription makes it the only Crusader artifact in that language ever found in the Middle East, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said today.
2011: The Knesset approved this evening a bill proposing to abolish the rule that a justice cannot be appointed Supreme Court president unless he is at least three years short of the mandatory retirement age of 70. The bill would pave Justice Asher Grunis' way to becoming Supreme Court president.
2012: “Simon and the Oaks,” a film depicting the story of Simon Larsson’s childhood under the specter of Nazi German, is scheduled to be shown at the UK Jewish Film Festival
2012: Shawn Joe Lichaa is scheduled to deliver a lecture “As It Is Written - Karaite Judaism: Texts, Textualists and Tradition” at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC
2012: Harry Brod read from Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice, and the Jewish-American Way Prairie Lights in Iowa City.
2012: “A New York grand jury indicted Pedro Hernandez on charges of second-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping in the case of Etan Kalil Patz the six year old who disappeared from his New York neighborhood in 1979.
2012: Dorit Beinisch, the first woman to service as president of the Supreme Court in Israel was awarded "Doctor of Humane Letters-Honoris Causa"by The "Hebrew Union College"Jerusalem,
2012: In response to the incessant rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip - more than 800 have struck Israel since the beginning of the year, and more than 120 since Saturday - the IDF has launched a widespread campaign against terror targets in Gaza. The operation, called Pillar of Defense, has two main goals: to protect Israeli civilians and to cripple the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza
2012: Second and final day of Kosherfest
2013: The 7th annual Other Israel Film Festival is scheduled to open today in NYC
2013: The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio is scheduled to perform at the 92ndStreet Y.
2013: Four mortars were fired into Israel from Gaza with one landing in the Eshkol Regional Council, one landing in “PA Arab Territory” and two landing around Ofakim.
2103: The IAF blasted “two concealed missile launchers in northern Gaza in response to a barrage of rockets and mortars fired by terrorists.
2013: Today “a United Nations interpreter, unaware that her microphone was on, uttered words of truth in reaction to the General Assembly’s adoption of nine politically-motivated resolutions condemning Israel, and zero resolutions on the rest of the world.”
2013: “Janet Yellen breezed through questions about the financial crisis, the Fed's stimulus efforts and banking regulation, as the Senate Banking Committee weighed her nomination to serve as future head of the Federal Reserve” today
2014(21stof Cheshvan): “Yahrtzeit of Rabbi David ibn Abi Zimra (1480-1573), known by the acronym of his name, Radbaz who served as the Chief Rabbi of Egypt.”
2014(21stof Cheshvan, 5775): Ninety-three year old composer Irving Getz passed away today. (As reported by Margalit Fox)
2014: In Melbourne, “Night Will Fall” and “Operation Sunflower” are scheduled to be shown at the Jewish International Film Festival.
2014: “This Is Where I Leave You” is scheduled to be shown at the UK Jewish Film Festival
2014: In Coralville, IA, at Agudas Achim composer Samuel Adler and guest cantor Deborah Norin-Kuhn are scheduled to lead Friday night services.
2014: “Walking With the Enemy” is scheduled to open in Cedar Rapids, IA.
2014: The family of Palestinian terrorist Abdel-Rahman al-Shauludi who killed two people including an infant at light rail station in Jerusalem last month has forty-eight hours to aplea the order issued today for the demolition of the home in Silwan.
2014: MKs Hanin Zoabi (Balad) and Afu Agbaria (Hadash) as well as Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the radical wing of the Islamic Movement in Israel were among those demonstrating in Umm al-Fahm while others threw rocks and blocked the road north of Jerusalem today. (As reported by Itamar Sharon)
2015: “Son of Saul” is scheduled to be shown at Auckland as part of the Jewish International Film Festival.
2015: The Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival began today.
2015: “Afterthought” and “Man in the Wall” are scheduled to be shown at the 29thIsrael Film Festival in Los Angeles.
2015: A screening and discussion of the 2003 documentary El último sefardí (The Last Sephardic Jew) are scheduled to take place at the Yiddish Book Center
2016: “The Second Time Around” and "The Settlers” are scheduled to be shown at the 20th UK International Jewish Film Festival.
2016: “The Tenth Man” and “Sand Storm” are scheduled to be shown in Sydney, Australia as part of the Jewish International Film Festival.
2016: The American Jewish Historical Society and American Sephardi Federation are scheduled to host author Yossi Sucary in “a staged reading” of Benghazi Bergen-Belsen, “the first novel exploring the experiences of Libyan Jews in the Holocaust.”
2017: In New Orleans, the Bart Jewish Cultural Series is scheduled to host an evening with author Walter Isaacson who latest work is a biography of Leonardo da Vinci.
2017(25thof Cheshvan, 5778): Ninety-three year old Tulane trained, iconic architect Albert C. Ledner passed away today in New Hampshire. (As reported by Neil Genzlinger)
2017: Today Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered humanitarian assistance to the victims of the devastating earthquake that has killed hundreds in Iran and Iraq.
2017: It was revealed to that “an Iron Dome missile defense battery was deployed in the Dan region — made up of Tel Aviv and the surrounding suburbs to protect against a possible rocket attack.”
2017: The Jewish Federation’s General Assembly is scheduled to come to an end today in Los Angeles.
2017: “Lenny” and “Monsieur Mayonnaise” are scheduled to be shown at the 21stUK International Film Festival.
2017: Dr. Naomi Weinberger is scheduled to lecture on “American Priorities in the Middle East” at the Streicker Center.
2017: Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to contemplate the lives of Jewish authors such Sir Martin Gilbert, the official biographer of Winston Churchill and the author of 80 books many of which provide a highly literate look at the Jewish people and the events of the World Wars, and Jewish books for the next thirty days is scheduled to continue for a third day.
2018: While the people of Gaza danced last night celebrating the truce that had been reached after their unprecedented, massive barrage of rocket and mortars, Israelis are awakening this morning to reports of squabble among government ministers over what actions should have been taken and will be taken
2018: Tali Rubinstein, an Israeli born and raised musician is scheduled to make her debut at Lincoln Center.
2018: The Gersham Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to host the Philadelphia premiere of “Heather Booth: Changing the World
2018: Irene Pletka, a Vice Chairman of the YIVO Board and Founder and Chairman of the Kronhill Pletka Foundation,” is scheduled to honored this evening as “The YIVO Institute Research’s 2018 Gala Award Dinner.”
2018: The Breman Museum is scheduled to host “The Science of Photography: Jewish Pathways” in which “Professor Michael Berkowitz will explore the particular historical circumstances that allowed and encouraged Jewish innovators” including “Gabriel Lippmann, a French pioneer in color photography; Nahum Luboshez, responsible for huge advances in radiography; Leopold Mannes and Leopold Godowsky, Jr., the co-inventors of Kodachrome; and Edwin Land, founder of Polaroid” “to challenge photographic conventions.”
2018: The Oxford Jewish Society and the Islamic Society are scheduled to host tonight’s “Interfaith Formal Dinner” at Lady Margaret Hall.
2018: The Uri Gurvitch Quarter whose leader “was only 20 years old when he won Israel’s Jazz Player of the Year competition” is scheduled to perform at “Dizzy’s Club at Coca-Cola.”
2018: The Streicker Center is scheduled to host a screening of “In Love and Anger” followed by a discussion with screenwriter and AIDS “activist” Larry Kramer.”
2018: The 30th Kosherfest is scheduled to come to an end today at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, NJ.