This Day, April 2, In Jewish History by Mitchell A and Deb Levin Z"L
April 2
742:
Birthdate of Charlemagne. Charlemagne was both King of the Franks and the first
Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Despite pressure from the Catholic Church and
the mighty Pope Gregory, Charlemagne treated his Jewish subjects and they
play…
April 2
742:
Birthdate of Charlemagne. Charlemagne was both King of the Franks and the first
Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Despite pressure from the Catholic Church and
the mighty Pope Gregory, Charlemagne treated his Jewish subjects and they
played a prominent part in his realm. Unfortunately, after his death in 814,
his successors were un cable to continue to his policies towards the Jews of
Christian Europe.
1118:
Baldwin I, who arrogantly styled himself King of Jerusalem. For Jews nothing more be said then that he
was a brother of Godfrey of Bouillon and a leader of the bloody First Crusade.
1272:
Richard of Cornwall, the second son of King John of England who came the
defense of the Jew known as Abraham of Berkhampstead passed away today.
1279(Nisan,
5039): A number of London Jews were martyred following ritual charges. You will
note that during the Easter Season there is a significant increase in these
reports for several centuries in different parts of Europe.
1453:
Mehmed II began his siege of Constantinople. The siege would lead to the
downfall of the Byzantine capitol which would improve the lot of the Jews
living in the city as well as opening it up to settlement by Jews living Crete,
Transylvania and Slovakia.
1473:
Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, under whose reign the condition of the Jews
improved, and his mistress, Barbara Edelpöck gave birth to John Corvinus
1550:
The Jews were expelled from of Genoa.
1608(26th
of Nisan, 5368): Joseph Ben Samuel Ibn Rey, the Italian rabbi who was the author of a work entitled "Sefer
Massoret," a treatise on the Masorah, in which he endeavored to prove that
there are no reasonless or unjustified repetitions in the Bible passed away
today. (As reported by Gotthard Deutsch, M. Seligsohn)
1678(10th
of Nisan): Rabbi Judah Ashael ben David del Bene author of Kisot le-Bet David
passed away
1756:
Benjamin D’Israeli, the Anglo-Jewish merchant who was grandfather of the
British Prime Minister married his first wife, Rebecca Mendez Furtado.
1755(21st
of Nisan, 5515): Aryeh Leib ben Saul Lowenstam passed away in Amsterdam. Born
in Cracow this Polish rabbi was a member of long line of Jewish sages including
his grandfather Rabbi Hoeschl of Cracow and his father Saul who served as rabbi
of Cracow from 1700 to 1704.
1768(15th
of Nisan, 5528): First Day of Pesach and Shabbat
1770(7th
of Nisan): Rabbi PInchas Zelig of Lask, author of Ateret Paz passed away
1771(18th
of Nisan, 5531): Fourth Day of Pesach celebrated on the same day that the
Connecticut Courant made one of the earliest references to the “Brown Bess,”
the famous musket used by the British Army.
1774(21st
of Nisan, 5534): Seventh Day of Pesach; Shabbat shel Pesach observed as
Benjamin Franklin, the American agent in London wrote to Thomas Cushing
describing plans being considered to punish the citizens of Boston for their
“rebellious behavior.”
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-21-02-0074
1779(16th
of Nisan, 5539): During the American Revolution France, the ally of the United
States, was ten days away from signing “a secret treaty with Spain to wage war
against Great Britain” Jews observed the Second Day of Pesach; first day of the
Omer
1782:
In Essingen, Germany, Bunle Babetter Isaac and Emanuel Nathan Scharff gave
birth to Lazarus Scharff.
1788:
Demmelsdorf, Germany, Relia and Choshman Stix gave birth to Solomon Stix, the
husband of Deborah Cohen whom he married in 1815 and with whom he had ten
children, several of whom settled in Cincinnati, OH,
1787:
Ephraim Hart “he was registered as an elector of the Shearith Israel
congregation” in New York City.
1790(18th
of Nisan, 5550): Fourth day of Pesach observed on the same day that Thomas
Jefferson wrote to Marquis Lafayette concerning his surprised at being
appointed U.S. Secretary of State.
1791:
Forty-two year old Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau (known simply as
Count Mirabeau) a leader of the French Revolution who was an admirer of Moses
Mendelssohn and whose support of Jewish emancipation can be seen in his
statement “Confer upon” the Jews “the enjoyment of civil rights and they will
enter the ranks of peaceful citizens, passed away today.
1801:
Birthdate of Falk Jacobsen who passed away exactly one month before his 80th
birthday after which he was buried in Denmark’s Horsens Jewish Cemetery.
1806(14th
of Nisan, 5566): Fast of the First Born; erev Pesach
1806:
Birthdate of Gabriel Riesser, youngest son of Lazarus Jacob Riesser and the
first Jewish judge in Germany who was also an advocate of the emancipation of
the Jews in Germany.
https://www.jhom.com/personalities/riesser/index.htm
1812:
Catherine Williams and Hugh Morse gave birth to Alfred William Morse.
1816:
In Charleston, SC, Grace Labatt and Isaac da Vega gave birth to Moses da Vega.
1817(16th
of Nisan, 5577): Second Day of Pesach; 1st day of the Omer
1817:
Birthdate of Sara Cohn, the wife of Meyer Abraham Heckscher.
1825(14th
of Nisan, 5585): Shabbat HaGadol; Erev Pesach
1825:
“The special privileges granted to the Portuguese Jewish citizens of Suriname
were terminated by order of the Dutch crown. Thenceforth, Jews in the Dutch
colonies were accorded the same rights as the other inhabitants, and all
privileges, concessions and exceptions of whatever nature were abolished.” (As
reported by the Suriname-Jewish Community)
1826:
In Ancona, Italy, “Anna Costantini, a young girl, was torn from her family and
forced into baptism.”
1827(5th
of Nisan, 5587): Forty-five year old Rachel Mordecai Harby, the Charleston born
wife of Isaac Harby whom she married in December, 1810 and mother of Solomon,
Julian, Horace, Samuel, Armida and Octavia Harby passed away today after which
she was buried in the Coming Street Cemetery at Charleston, S.C.
1827:
Birthdate of English painter William Holman Hunt who moved to Palestine in the
1850’s to find inspirations for his painting and whose house at No. 64 Street
of the Prophets in Jerusalem would be the future home of Hebrew language poet
Rachel Bluwstein.
1833:
Birthdate of Wolf Horn who passed away ten days before his 67th
birthday after which he was buried in the Penang Jewish Cemetery which “ is
located on Jalan Zainal Abidin (previously called Jalan Yahudi or Jewish
Street) in the heart of old Georgetown, on an island off the west coast of
Malaysia. 1840: Birthdate of Émile Zola. This non-Jewish French author would
become a leading player in the Dreyfus Affair. His J”Accuse would be an
indictment of the French military establishment and the anti-Semitic forces
that swirled around this entire act of injustice.
1842(22nd
of Nisan, 5602): Eighth Day of Pesach and Shabbat
1844:
"The building” housing the Great Synagogue in Sidney “was consecrated
today with the music for the ceremony in the hands of Isaac Nathan, father of
Australian music, who was also associated with the music at St Mary's
Cathedral. For the occasion Nathan composed settings for Baruch Habba
("Blessed be he that cometh") and Halleluyah.
1844:
In New Orleans, Henry and Mary Levy Florance gave birth to Henry Clay Florance,
the husband of Katie B. Beecher Florance whom he married in 1882 and the
grandson of Netherland native Zachariah Florance whose birth name Zahariah
Florance.
1846:
The last letter in the correspondence between Grace Aguilar and “the
philanthropist Miriam Moses Cohen who acted as an agent for her publications in
America” was sent today.
1848:
Two days after he has passed away, Barnet Barnett was buried today at the
“Brady Street Jewish Cemetery.”
1857(8th
of Nisan, 5617): Sixty-year old University of Heidelberg trained jurist Mortiz
Wilhelm August Briedenbach, the Offenbah-on-Main born son of Wolf Breidebenbach
who held a number of positions in the government of Hesse and served “as the
principal author of its penal code” passed away today.
1859:
Birthdate of Russian native Jacob Markel who in 1881 came to the United States
where he was President of the Merchants Bank of New York, a director of the
YMHA and active in the Jewish Education Society,
1861(22nd
of 5621): Eighth Day of Pesach observed just ten days before the Confederates
began the bombardment of Fort Sumter.
1862:
Abraham Crawcour married Catherine Rebecca Hart today.
1863:
During the Civil War, food shortages cause hundreds of angry women to riot in
Richmond, Virginia and demand that the Confederate government release emergency
supplies, in what became known as the Richmond Bread Riots. In her honor’s
thesis entitled The Richmond Bread Riot of 1863: Class, Race, and Gender in
the Urban Confederacy, MIDN 1/C Katherine R. Titus wrote that while the
rioters targeted speculators and government offices “Richmond citizens also
targeted foreigners and Jews. The city had a tradition of blatant
anti-Semitism. Once the War erupted, many Richmond citizens openly blamed the
Jews and foreigners in the city for speculation and charged them with
disloyalty. Sallie A. Putnam, for instance, believed that the Jews in Richmond
profited from the war. She exhorted, “They were not found, as the more
interested of the people, without the means to purchase food when the
Confederate money became useless to us from the failure of our cause.” Major
John W. Daniel contended that local stereotypes allowed the rioters to target
Richmond Jews. After the War, he reminisced, “certain people down there were
credited with great wealth. It was said that they had made barrels of money out
of the Confederacy, and the female Communists went at them without a qualm of
conscience.”
1863:
Two days after he had passed away, Abraham Abraham the husband of Sarah Abraham
was buried today in the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1864(25th
Adar II, 5624): Parashat Shmini; Shabbat Chodesh is observed as General Grant
prepares the Union Army for a campaign of national scope that will bring an end
to the Civil War in the following Spring.
1865:
Twenty Jewish men signed a constitution that became the framework that would
guide the future of Reform Jews in Akron, Ohio.
1865:
Founding of the Akron Hebrew Congregation which holds services on holidays and
Friday evenings.
1865:
In Montgomery, Alabama, “Abraham J. Schiff, the best Hebrew scholar in Wolosin”
who served as rabbi in Montgomery until moving to New York where he became
rabbi at Beth Hamedresh Hagodl and Sheve
Kapaln gave birth to I.O. Schiff who “opened his first dry goods store at 105
Essex Street” and married Stella Newmark with whom he had three children.
1866(17th
of Nisan, 5626) Third Day of Pesach; second day of the Omer
1867:
Birthdate of Mrs. Henry Gottdiener
1869(21st
of Nisan, 5629): Seventh Day of Pesach
1869:
Michael Henry became editor of The Jewish
Chronicle – a position he would hold until his death in 1875.
1870(1st
of Nisan, 5630): Rosh Chodesh Nisan/Shabbat Ha Chodesh
1871:
In Buffalo, NY, Samuel and Marie (Weil) Desbecker gave birth to Harvard
graduate and N.Y. Law School trained attorney Louis E. Desbecker, a partner in
the Buffalo law firm of Desbecker, Fisk and Newman as well as the Corporation
Counsel of Buffalo from 1895 to 1899 and a member of Temple Beth Zion.
1871
In Baltimore, MD founding of Congregation Chizuk Amunah whose members included
by M.S. Levy, Joseph Levi, and Milton Fleischer and has been served by Rabbi
Henry W. Schneeberger and Canto Herman Glass.
1874(15th
of Nisan, 5634): Pesach
1874:
In Elmira, NY, Simon and Jennie Levy gave birth to Cornell University trained
attorney Benjamin Levy, the husband of Martha Bimberg and leader in the Jewish
Community who was a director of the Y.M.H.A and President of the Children of
Israel Congregation.
1877(19th
of Nisan): Rabbi Chaim Bezalel of Bielitz, Poland, author of “Derekh Yivhar”
passed away.
1878:
In New York City, Austrian Jewish immigrants Fanny Ritterman and Bernard Kasner
gave birth to their sixth child mathematician Edward Kasner.
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Kasner.html
http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/kasner-edward.pdf
1878:
In Oswego, NY, Bernard and Pauline Bandler gave birth to Maurice Edward
Bandler, a graduate of Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons.
1878:
In Germany, Sophie and Seligman Lazarus Cohn gave birth to Gustav Cohn, the
husband of Henriette Cohn and the father of Karlo Alfons Cohn; Max Cohn; Fritz
Cohn and Margarethe de Tokayer.
1880(20th
of Nisan, 5640): Sixth Day of Pesach for the last time during the Presidency of
Rutherford Hayes.
1881:
It was reported today that the population of Thessaly, which is moving from
Turk to Greek rule includes 50,000 Jews and Muslims as well as 300,000 who are
classified as Greeks.
1882:
The New York Times reported that “the feast of Passover will commence
tomorrow evening at sundown in accordance with the rabbinical ordinance which
lays it down that it shall be celebrated from the evening of the 14th
of Nisan and continues for eight days. It is regarded strictly as a feast of
rejoicing and it’s a pleasant illustration of the liberalizing tendency of the
age that many Jews make it a custom to send small presents of unleavened bread
to the Christian friends”
1882:
In Louisville, KY, founding of Congregation B’nai Jacob which was led by Rabbi
S.J. Scheinfield and held daily services at 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. and Saturday
services at 8 a.m. while also providing a religious school for the young and a
cemetery on Lucas Lane for the deceased.
1882:
The New York Times publishes an excerpt from “Domestic and Artistic Life
of Copely” by Martha Babcock Amory in which the author describes a dinner with
Baroness Lionel Rothschild in 1857.
1882:
Birthdate of Russian born American Yiddish journalist and playwright Alexander
Seldin, editor of The Day and “founding member and President of the I.L. Peretz
Yiddish Writers Union.
1883:
In Łódź, Poland, Rabbi Adolph Moses Radin and his wife gave birth to
anthropologist Paul Radin, the holder of a Ph.D. Columbia who studied the
people called “Indians” and served as the chair of the Anthropology Department
at Brandeis while married to his wife Doris.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1959/02/22/89118689.pdf
https://www.academia.edu/262124/PAUL_RADIN_an_attempt_at_an_intellectual_biography
1883:
After telling him that it was customary for newly engaged couple to announce
their intention to become man and wife before an official at City Hall, the
relatives of Pauline Moses to David Holtz to City Hall where an alderman
performed a marriage ceremony; a fact not understood by Holtz because of his
limited knowledge of the English language.
1885:
Birthdate of Tarnow, Austria native and University of Pennsylvania Ear Nose and
Throat specialist Henry Dintefass, an associate professor otolaryngology at the
Graduate School of Medicine, who was the husband of Lillian Ditenfass and the
father of Miriam Ditenfass.
1886(26th
of Adar): Rabbi Aryeh Leib Yellin, author of Yefeh Einayim passed away today
1887(8th
of Nisan, 5647): Shabbat HaGadol
1887(8th
of Nisan, 5647): Sixty-one year old Austrian mathematician Simon Spitzer who
became a professor of analytic mechanics at the Vienna “Handelsschule” in 1870
1887(8th
of Nisan, 5647: Lithuanian born Schachne Issacs, the husband of Reitza Tobias
and the father of Genesha, Rachel and Abraham Isaacs passed away today in
Cincinnati, OH after which he was buried in Beth Tefyla Schachnus Cemetery.
1888(21st
of Nisan, 5648): Seventh Day of Pesach
1888(21st
of Nisan, 5648): Twenty-eight year old Aizik Aronchik, the son of “Jewish
trades from Gomel” and dropout from the St. Petersburg Institute of Railway of
Engineers who was involved in an attempt to kill the Czar in 1881 and was
sentenced to life imprison following the “Trial of Twenty” died in prison today
passed away today four years after having been transferred to the Shlisselburg
Fortress.
1890:
The Passover Association distributed free matzoth to over four thousand poor
Jews this evening at the Goodfellow’s Hall on Essex Street in New York.
1890:
The New York Times reported that the American Hebrew will be
publishing a special Passover edition this Friday.
1890:
It was suggested at today’s meeting of the New York Board of Estimate and
Apportionment that the old Hebrew Orphan and Asylum on 77th Street
could be used for the proposed new offices of the city’s Board of Education.
1891:
Birthdate of Max Ernst founder of surrealism who with his Jewish wife Luise
Straus gave birth to painter Jimmy Straus and who was briefly married to Peggy
Guggenheim at the end of 1941.
1892:
Simon Schafer, M.H. Moses, Judge M.S. Isaacs and A.L. spoke at tonight’s
meeting of the Purim Association which was held at the Hoffman House tonight.
1892:
“Want To Hear Cleveland” published today described the ex-President’s
popularity in New York as can be seen by warm reception his supporters receive
when they address rallies of Russian Jews.
The Russians barely understand English, but the sound of Cleveland’s
name is enough to bring out shouts of approval.
1893(16th
of Nisan, 5653): Second Day of Pesach; first day of the Omer
1893:
At Temple Emanu-El, Dr. Silverman is scheduled to deliver a lecture on “The
Crucifixition.”
1893:
It was reported today that in German “the Conservatives have definitely thrown
over Rector Hermann Ahlwardt the Jew baiter and libeler.” However, their rejection has not stopped him
from making public speeches and holding anti-Semitic rallies.
1893:
“Fine British Weather” published today described the social and political
events taking place in the UK including plans by “an organization of
progressive young Jews…to propose at all annual meetings of the synagogue
throughout England, most of which are held next week, a resolution that it is
not desirable to elect a man engaged in money lending as President of the
congregation.”
1893:
Dr. Silverman is scheduled to give an address at Temple Emanu-El on “The
Crucifixion.”
1893:
The New York Times reported that “an organization of progressive young
Jews has arranged to propose at all annual meetings of the synagogues
throughout England, most of which are held next week, a resolution that it is
not desirable to elect a man engaged in money lending as President of the
congregation.”
1893:Birthdate
of Sorrey, Russia born attorney and rabbi Jacob Katz, the chaplain of Sing Sing
and the spiritual leader of the Pelham Parkway Jewish Center.
1894:
It was reported today that approximately 50 Jews, many of them women attended
the evangelistic service at the Thalia Theatre Auditorium although there was no
report of any of them coming forward to convert. (These services were part of a concerted
effort by some Christians to convert Jewish immigrants at the turn of the
century)
1896:
The will of the late Charles S. Friedlander was filed with the Surrogate today
for probate.
1896:
The funeral for Dr. Aaron Wise was held this morning at Temple Rodolph Shalom,
the New York congregation he had served as Rabbi for several years.
1896(19th
of Nisan, 5656): Leonard Friedman, who is approximately 52 years old, passed
away today at Lakewood, NU. A native of
Germany, he came to the United States and after fighting his way out of poverty
established Leonard Friedman & Co which over the last twenty years has
become one of the leading tobacco houses in the United States.
1896:
Funeral services were held for Dr. Aaron Wise, who had been rabbi at New York’s
Temple Rudolph Shalom at the time of his death. The services at the Lexington
Avenue Temple were attended by so many mourners that “not one half could gain
entrance to the synagogue.” Several of New York’s leading clergy took part in
the ceremony including Dr. Rudolph Grossman of Temple Beth-El, Dr. Kaufmann
Kohler also of Temple Beth-El who delivered an address in German and Dr. Gustav
Gottheil of Temple Emanuel who delivered a eulogy in English in which he said
of Wise, “The spirit of his words cannot die. The influence of the teacher has
not limits as to time or space.” Burial followed the service in Union Field,
Cypress Hills Cemetery.
1897:
Reverend John Hall delivered a lecture on “Judaism and Christianity” in which
he said “There is a distinction between Judaism as described in the Bible and
the Judaism of the present generation.”
1897:
A school designed to teach students how to cook food according to the laws of
Kashrut opened today in Brooklyn in a neighborhood with a large Jewish
population.
1897:
In New York, Governor Frank Black appointed Jewish philanthropist and
Republican Party activist Edward Lauterbach to serve as a member of the State
Board of Charities.
1897:
In Austria, Count Casimir Badeni resigned during a government crisis that was
precipitated, in part, by his clash with the anti-Semitic parties.
1897:
Julius Goldschmidt who had been Consul General in Vienna under President Harrison
began serving as Consul General to Berlin
1897(29th
of Adar II, 5657): Fifty-three year old Paris native Isidore Danziger, a
resident of New Orleans for the last forty-eight years, the husband of Amelia
Amanda Dreyfous Danziger and father of Isabelle, Jennie, Alice, Alfred and
George Danziger passed away today after which he buried in Hebrew Rest
Cemetery.
1898(10th
of Nisan, 5658): Shabbat Hagadol
1898(10th
of Nisan, 5658): Austrian pathologist and histologist Salomon Stricker passed
away.
1899:
In Richmond, VA, founding of the Hebrew Sheltering Aid Society which “furnishes
shelter and means of transportation to strangers and whose members included
E.C. Meyer, Philip Hirshberg, S.I. Hirshberg and D.S. Sharove.
1899:
At the Hebrews Sheltering Guardian Society Orphan Asylum, Chaplain Joseph
Kauffman officiated at service were a “bronze tablet in memory of Samuel
Lewisohn” was unveiled.
1899:
“Disraeli and the Suez Canal” published today provided a summary an article by
Arnold White that appeared in Harper’s Weekly describing the British leader’s
role in facilitating the purchase of this vital waterway from which he gained
no financial advantage.
1900;
It was reported today that while delivering his eulogy for Rabbi Isaac M. Wise,
Rabbi Samuel Schulman had “called upon the young men of Congregation Beth-El…to
show that Americanism and Judaism can go hand in hand and that enlightenment
and faith are not inharmonious.”
1900:
“A Man and His Wife” produced by Charles Frohman opened on Broadway at the Empire
Theatre.
1901
It was reported today that Isaac M. Bernstein sold five lots on the south side
of 107th Street in Manhattan.
1902:
“Bugle Call,” starring Rose Eytinge opened today on Broadway.
1902:
“Controversy Over Hen Fattened For Passover” published in today’s Atlanta
Constitution described a complaint filed by Leo Fresh with police to retrieve
the chicken that he was preparing to take to a “shocket” which had mysteriously
ended up in the yard of a neighbor lady who planned to have it killed in a manner
not consistent with the laws of Kashrut.
1903:
The High Court of Australia sits for the first time. In 1930, Isaacs Isaacs
would become the third person to fill this position and the first Jew to serve
as Chief Justice of Australia.
1903:
Irvin Bettman, the Cincinnati born son of Louis and Rebecca (Bloom) Bettman,
and President of Bettman, Kleinhauser Clothing Company in St. Louis and the
Chairman of Jewish War Relief drives in St. Louis married Meta Pollak today.
1903:
Herzl meets McIlwraithe, the legal adviser of the Khedive where he finds out
that an immediate counter-proposal is out of the question. The size of the land
and the duration of the contract are discussed.
1904(17th
of Nisan, 5664): Shabbat shel Pesach
1904:
“A State Appraiser’s report filed today in the Surrogates’ Court shows thatn
Leonard Lewisohn left and estate of $12,029,213 when he died on March 5, 1902.
1904:
It was reported today that the funeral for Albany, NY native and Alfred
University educated shirt manufacturer Solomon Friend will take place on Sunday
at Temple Emanu-El.
1905:
The Executive Committee presented “the policy with regard to the granting of
the degree of Doctor of Divinity and the degree of Doctor of Hebrew Literature
as well as the formal requirement for the granting of these degrees was
presented today to the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America.
1905:
President N. Taylor Phillips presided over “the second annual meeting of the
New York Branch of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America where the
nominating committee composed of Dr. Cyrus Adler, Julius Dukas and Simon was
formed and the following were chosen to service as officers – Edgar J. Nathan,
President; Isaac J. Danziger, Vice President; Daniel Guggenheim, Treasurer; and
Joseph B. Abrahams, Secretary.
1906:
During the conference at Algeciras, Morocco, “Mr. White, the chief of the
American delegation and the Duke of Almodovar raised the question of “the
unfavorable situation of the Jews in Morocco.”
1906:
Tonight, in Clinton Hall, “at the installation of the newly elected officers of
the Zionist Council of Greater New York, Dr. J. L. Magnes, the Secretary of the
American Federation of Zionists read…a copy of a proclamation issued against
the Jews in Russia” which he said practically meant that there would be another
Pogrom in Ekaterinoslov.
1907:
In Brooklyn, movie producer Louis B. Meyer “and his first wife Margaret
Shenberg gave birth Irene Mayer Selznick famed as the producer of Street Car
Named Desire and the younger sister of Edith Selznick who was born in 1905
1908(1st
of Nisan, 5668): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
1908:
J. Levine, B. Mendelsohn and Victor Epstein and two boys from the Educational
Alliance were among the 80 contestants who took part in the preliminary round
of the Metropolitan Association wrestling championships at the Boys’ Club at 10th
Street and Avenue A.
1908:
As Jews observe Rosh Chodesh Nisan they could buy today’s issue of Vogue for
ten cents.
1909:
Ahmed Riza Bey, President of Turkish Parliament, offered Russian and Romanian
Jews who were suffering tremendous persecution and attacks a chance to come
settle in Turkey.
1910(22nd
of Adar II, 5670): Parashat Shmini; Shabbat Parah
1910:
“Attacks Prof. Hilprecht” published today described “an address on ‘The Latest
Additions to the Babylonia Literature of the Deluge Story’ presented by George
A. Barton in which he denounced the tablet discovered on an expedition by
Professor Herman V. Hilprecht as being a fabrication and a fraud that did not
uphold the Biblical story of the deluge as claimed by Hilprecht.”
1910:
Miss Sadie American of New York and her mother are now in London where they
will be “attending on behalf of the Council of Jewish Women of New York, the
International Conference on the White Slave Traffic.
1911:
The newly formed Grand Council of the Jewish Community of Constantinople
expresses loyalty of all Jews of all parties to the Ottoman Empire.
1911:
Rose Schneiderman, a prominent socialist and union activist, gave a speech at
the memorial meeting held in the Metropolitan Opera House today to an audience
largely made up of the members of the Women's Trade Union League in which she
used the Triangle Fire as an argument for factory workers to organize:
1912(15th
of Nisan, 5672): As TR and Taft battled for control of the Republican Party,
observance of Pesach observed the first day of Pesach.
1912:
Today “two wagons left the corner of Lilienblum and Herzl Streets in Tel Aviv
carrying 4 "Ahuza" members, 3 laborers and 2 armed watchmen. After a
5 hour journey, they unloaded their baggage at the place destined to become
Ra'anana which has grown to become a city of almost 70,000 people living in
Israel’s Central District.
1912(15th
of Nisan, 5672): Fifty women attended a Seder tonight at the Young Women’s
Hebrew Association building on Lexington Avenue. The attendance was limited by
the size of the building underscoring the need to build a new facility.
1913:
Isador H. Weinstock, the Cantor of the Plum Street Synagogue in Cincinnati,
presented a program on “The Music of the Synagogue” at “the seventh regular
meeting” of the Isaiah Woman’s Club.
1913:
Funeral services were held today for Bernard Wolf, the husband of Amalia Wolf
and “father of Mrs. Numa Lachman and Mrs. Isador Brown” at K.A.M. Temple in
Chicago followed by burial at Mount Maariv.
1913:
Today, Jews living in New York City brought copies of letters from family
members living in Anatolia describing persecution by Greeks living in that part
of the Ottoman Empire to the attention of the American Jewish Committee. They
called upon the committee to intervene on the behalf of their co-religionists
and to organize a protest against these outrages.
1914:
The officers of the Jewish Soldiers and Sailors Passover Committee met at the
Broadway Central Hotel in New York. After the meeting, Henry Berlin, Chairman
of the Arrangements Committee, reported that Secretary of War Garrison and
Secretary of the Navy Daniels had sent letters announcing that Jewish soldiers
and sailors would receive furloughs to celebrate Passover this year.
1914(6th
of Nisan, 5674): Paul Heyes, the first Jew to win the Nobel Prize for
Literature, passed away today at the age of 84. A native of Bonn, “he was
awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1910 ‘as a tribute to the consummate
artistry, permeated with idealism, which he has demonstrated during his long
productive career as a lyric poet, dramatist, novelist and writer of
world-renowned short stories.’ One of the Nobel judges, said that ‘Germany has
not had a greater literary genius since Goethe.’" [Considering what would
happen to the Jews of German two decades after his death, this praise has a
strange ring to it. Also, Heyes is living proof that winning a Nobel Prize is
no guarantee to lasting fame, even among his co-religionists.]
1914:
In New York, Mr. and Mrs. Percy Salomon gave birth to William Roger Salomon who
would become a long time managing partner of the bond trading house Salomon
Bros.
http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-william-salomon-20141210-story.html
1915:
Today “Henry Fischel, the Treasurer of the Central Committee for the Relief of
Jews Suffering through the War” “received a donation of five dollars from Leo
Frank” who faces the death penalty in Georgia” and who compared “his own
suffering with that now being borne by Jews in the war zones.”
1916:
At ninth anniversary services of the Free Synagogue led by Dr. Stephen S. Wise,
Ambassador Henry Morgenthau talked about plans to move the congregation from
its home in Carnegie Hall to a temple building to be built in the center of
Manhattan that will be better suited to the religious mission.
1916:
Grand Master Samuel Goldstein presided over the convention of the Independent
Order of the Free Sons of Judah in the Bronx today which was attended by
approximately “450 delegates representing 18,237 members of the Jewish
fraternal organization” who heard Rabbi Joseph Rosenblatt lead a memorial
service for Jews who have been killed during the war in Europe.
1916:
“Joseph H. Cohen, President of the Beth Israel, today announced a plan to build
a West Side Jewish Community Center” on 88th Street between Columbus
and Amsterdam avenues which “contain a synagogue, a library, a gymnasium,
kindergarten, public hall, roof garden and classrooms for educational work.”
1916:
Birthdate of Canadian Henry Goody, the 1936 graduate of the University of
Manitoba and the husband of Reba Goody who served as the rabbi of Congregation
B’nai Israel in Greensburg, PA after graduating from the Jewish Theological
Seminary in 1941 and as Lt. Goody served as Chaplain stationed at Ft. Belvoir,
MD
1916:
Thirty-two-year-old Newark, NJ attorney Aaron Levinstone, the Grodno born son
of Yeruchim and Esther Levinstone the Jewish community leader who was Chairman
of the United Palestine Appeal, a member of the National Executive of the Z.O.A
and a member of Temple B’nai Abraham married Etta G. Goldstein today.
1917(NS):
Today “the Provisional Government—in power until a Constituent Assembly could
be called to determine the character of the successor Russian state—abolished
all the legal restrictions on ethnic and religious communities, including Jews”
which meant that “for the first time since they had been admitted to the
Russian Empire, Jews gained full equality with all other citizens” which stood
in mark contrast to the era of the “tsarist regime which had confined Jews to
the Pale of Settlement and had severely restricted their opportunities in
agriculture, the professions, military service, education” and governmental or
civil unless Jews agreed to convert to Christianity.
1917:
According to a cable message received today by Louis Marshall, Chairman of the
American Jewish Relief Committee from Baron Alexander Gunzburg in Petrograd,
“all laws of Russia which are adverse to the Jews there are to be repealed by a
decree of the provisional Government.”
1917:
President Wilson asked the United States Congress for a declaration of war
against Germany. This was the first official step towards America’s entry into
World War I as a combatant on the side of the Allies. While American Jews
supported the war effort and served in all branches of the armed forces, there
was an unintended downside for the Jews living in Central and Eastern Europe.
It was easier for American Jews to get aid to their suffering co-religionists
when the United States was a “neutral.” Once it joined the Allied side, the
Central Powers (Germany and Austria) it would be much more difficult to get
help to those living in the war torn areas under the control of these nations.
1918:
In Bohemia, the Emperor pardoned Leopold Hilsner a shoemaker who was serving a
life term after having been convicted “on the charge of ritual murder” in 1900.
1918:
At Vienna “in an address to a deputation of the City Council…the Minister of
Foreign Affairs said that in the peace negotiations between the Central Powers
and Romania, the Jewish question will be solved with equal rights being
guaranteed to the Jews of Roumania.
1918:
One day after his death on the Western Front, a letter written by poet and
painter Isaac Rosenberg which had been written three days earlier arrives in
London. In the letter he describes life in the trenches.
1919:
Dr. Rudolph I Coffee delivered a speech on “Peace Treaty” at the Teachers
Institute of Boone County “under the auspices of the Illinois Branch of the
League to Enforce Peace.”
1919:
In Chicago, Lillian Mitnick and Abe Diaman of Kansas City, MO were married at
the Ashland Clubhouse.
1919(2nd
of Nisan 5679): Maita “Mattie” Banke Sivitz, the wife of Lithuanian born Rabbi
Moses Simon and the mother of Sam and Benjamin Sivitz passed away today in
Pittsburgh, PA after which she was buried at the Shaare Torah Cemetery in
Whitehall, PA.
1919(2nd
of Nisan, 5679): Jacob Schlesinger, the co-founder of the Kaspare Cohn Hospital
passed away today in Los Angeles.
https://calisphere.org/item/74642b2f2e1ca41f10b83b88aee84dd4/
1919:
In Chicago, Blanche Mosbach, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Mosbach married
Maxwell Glassner at the family’s home on Michigan Avenue.
1920(14rh
of Nisan, 5680): Ta’nit Bechorot observed for the last time during the
presidency of Woodrow Wilson
1921:
Professor Albert Einstein held a press conference aboard the steamship
Rotterdam today in New York Harbor. During the conference Einstein talked about
his Theory of Relativity and his support for the creation of a Jewish homeland
in Palestine.
1921:
Rufus Daniel Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading, began serving as Viceroy and
Governor-General of India.
1922:
“Two wagons left the corner of Lilienblum and Herzl Streets in Tel Aviv
carrying 4 "Ahuza" members, 3 laborers and 2 armed watchmen. After a
5 hour journey, they unloaded their baggage at the place destined to become
Ra'anana, a city in the heart of the southern Sharon Plain of the Central District
of Israel with a population of 68,300, as of 2009.”
1923(16th
of Nisan, 5683): Second day of Pesach
1924:
It was reported today that Dr. Abraham Isaac Kook, chief rabbi of Jerusalem is
scheduled to begin delivering a series of lectures at the Rabbi Isaac Eschanan
Theological Seminary which are designed “to interest America Jews in the
cultural activities in Palestine.
1925:
According to a cable message that was made public today by Judge Jacob S.
Stahl, President of the American Palestine Line steamship company, the SS
President Arthur has arrived in Haifa. The liner with 500 prominent American
Jews from all parts of the United States sailed on March 12 on her maiden
voyage to inaugurate a regular service between New York and the Holy Land.
1925:
At “the groundbreaking ceremony of the Hebrew University on April 2, 1925
Edmund Landau lectured in Hebrew on the topic Solved and unsolved problems in
elementary number theory.
1925:
The Vatucan’s Holy Office published a decree saying that the Catholic Church,
whatever its other views on Jew maybe, “condemns hatred against the people
elected by God, a hatred that today is vulgarly called anti-Semitism.” (For
more see Under His Very Windows by Susan Zucotti)
1926:
“Gdal Saleski, the Russian violoncellist” “who is a graduate of the Petrograd
Conservatory of Music” “gave a recital” this “evening at Steinway Hall”
accompanied by violinist Yasha Fishberg and pianist Lazare Weiner.
1926:
In Leipzig, “David Hilsenrath, a furrier, and Anna (Honigsberg) Hilsenrath”
gave birth to Holocaust survivor and author Edgar Hilsenrath whose works
included “a celebrated farce, The Nazi and the Barber which tells the
story of an SS officer and mass murderer who kills his Jewish best friend from
childhood, assumes his identity, flees to Palestine and is transformed into an
ardent Zionist.” (As reported by Sam Roberts)
1926:
It was reported today that according to the census taken by The Christian
Herald “numbers the members of Jewish congregations at 357,135” but notes “that
these are chiefly heads of families.
1926:
“The twentieth anniversary of the Palestine Maccabee Sport was celebrated in
Tel Aviv” today where Lord Plumer distributed the prizes.
1927:
Samuel Untermyer arrived in Jerusalem after a “rough” flight from Cairo that
included “a detour of thirty miles over the Mediterranean to avoid a sandstorm.”
1927:
It was reported today that Aaron Sapiro who has been testifying in the libel
suit he brought against Henry Ford will spend the weekend in Chicago on
personal business before returning to the stand on Monday to continue answering
questions from James A. Reed, the Senator from Missouri who is representing
Henry Ford, the anti-Semitic car maker.
1927:
“Service for Jewish Patients” published today described the services available
“to Jewish patients in all of the city hospitals on Welfare Island” including
the presence of Jewish social workers who can help the Jewish patients “in a
non-Jewish institution.”
1928:
Birthdate of actress Rita Gam who was the wife of director Sidney Lumet and
publisher Thomas Guinzberg (not at the same time) and the mother of producer
Kate Guinzburg
1928:
In Paris Olga (nee Bessman) and Joseph Ginsburg gave birth to Lucien Ginsburg
who gained fame as Serge Gainsbourg, a poet, singer, songwriter, actor,
director and finally controversial guest on French television talks shows.
1929:
The rabbinical commencement exercises of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological
Seminary and Yeshiva College, the first in three years and the first in the new
building of the institution, were held today. Dr. Bernard Revel delivered an
address in which he warned of the dangers of “religious illiteracy and urged
that synagogues become centers of faith. Among those receiving diplomas were
forty-one newly minted rabbis and 45 teachers.”
1930:
Birthdate of Highland Park, Illinois (Suburban Chicago) native and Goucher
College graduate Rosaline Fox Solomon, the award winning photographer.
https://www.rosalindfoxsolomon.com/
https://www.icp.org/infinity-awards/rosalind-fox-solomon
1930:
Isaac Isaacs completes his service as Puisine Justice of the High Court of
Australia and begins serving as the as Chief Justice of Australia.
1930:
Haile Selassie is proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia. Part of his title included
the honorific “Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah” which is tied to the
contention that the Ethiopian rulers traced their origin to a relationship
between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. During World War II, Orde Wingate
would aid the king in his fight against the Italians. This is the same Orde
Wingate who was stationed in Palestine before World War II. He was one of the
few British officers who was supportive of the efforts of the Jews to defend
themselves against the Arab who were attacking them. Wingate reportedly
provided training for the Zionists in basic military tactics and weapons usage.
1931(15th
of Nisan, 5691): Pesach
1931:
“The Street Song,” “a musical crime film” directed and produced by Lupu Pick
was released in Germany today.
1931:
“The Cleveland Indians picked” Moe Berg up today when “Chicago put him on
waivers.”
1931:
U.S. premiere of “Skippy” directed by Norman Taurog who won an Academy Award,
with a script co-authored by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Sam Mintz.
1931:
As Jews gathered to observe the second Passover of the Great Depression Rabbis
focused their holiday talks on the worsening economic conditions of the day and
the need for reform. Sermons mixed holiday motifs and symbolism with the rise
in unemployment and deteriorating social conditions. Using the Ten Plagues as
his point of departure Rabbi Rosenblum of Temple Israel “declared that the
unsettled economic condition of the world was the greatest plague of our era
and that the leaders of government and business were responsible for the chaos
and misery. Capitalism seems to be a Pharaoh…If Pharaoh listens he will not
suffer ten plagues. If he does not, the very first plague will yet come to
pass. It will be a revolution and blood.” At Temple Rodeph Shalom, Rabbi Newman
“said that Passover, the Jewish festival of freedom, commemorated the release
of the Israelites not only from political bondage but economic enslavement as
well.” Rabbi Samuel Schulman broadened the scope a bit by pointing out the
“power of religion to free or enslave man and emphasizing that real freedom
required economic freedom which would allow for just and equal opportunity for
every individual to use his powers in accordance with his ability and to
receive just rewards.” (Sounds a bit like Marx and Moses meeting on New York’s
fashionable east side.) But it was left to Rabbi Jonah Wise preaching at New
York’s Central Synagogue to pull all elements of religion including
Christianity together with the great crisis facing the nation. “Men are trained
by loyalties to country, church and self to refuse to share life with
foreigners, non-conformists and competitors. We shall never have security and
morality until we learn to live at peace. We are making occasional breaches in
the Chinese wall of creeds, tariffs and prejudices. Passover and Easter are
supposed to be feasts of freedom and salvation. They are farces in the face of
humanity starved in the presence of plenty and condemned to hatreds in fact
while applauding love in theory.”
1932(25th
of Adar II, 5692): Parashat Shmini; Shabbat HaChodesh
1932(25th
of Adar II, 5692): to Max Leopold Margolis the Lithuanian-born American
philologist whose accomplishments included serving as “editor-in-chief of the
Jewish Publication Society's translation of the Bible into English, the
finished product being published in 1917” passed away today.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0013_0_13280.html
1933:
“The Nazis Begin To Dodge Anti-Semitic Boomerang” published today examine the
effects of the government’s boycott of Jewish stores in Germany.
1934:
Birthdate of Paul Joseph Cohen famed mathematician who developed a technique he
called “forcing.” He won the Fields Medal in 1966.
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2007/april4/cohen-040407.html
1935:
In Tel Aviv, the second Maccabiah Games opened “before 40,000 spectators at the
Maccabiah Stadium. The German contingent marched flagless amid the fluttering
colors of the other teams entering the venue. The American team including
Janice Lifson, Doris Kelm and Lillian Copeland, placed “fourth in the “Tel Aviv
Prepares Its Greatest Fair” published today Joseph M. Levy describes plan for
the upcoming Levant Fair slated to open at the end of this month.
1936(10th
of Nisan, 5696): Eighty year old Mrs. Ethel “Etta” Yaroshev Cutler, the native
of Ukraine and wife of Isaac Cutler who was the mother of Colonel Harry Cutler,
the Chairman of the Jewish Welfare Board who had passed away in 1920, passed
away today after which she was buried in the Sons of David and Israel Cemetery
in Providence, R.I.
1936:
Birthdate of Shaul Paul Ladany, the Professor of Industrial Engineering and
Management at Ben Gurion University and two-time Olympian who survived
Bergen-Belson and the 1972 Munich Massacre.
1936:
The “formal presentation of the 1935 American Hebrew Medal for the Promotion of
Better Understanding between Christian and Jews in America” is scheduled to “be
made to Roger Williams Straus” the co-chairman of the National Conference of
Jews and Christians at ceremonies being held “in the auditorium of the College
of the City of New York.”
1936:
The list of ten true or false questions that was created by a professor at the
Rhode Island State College for a test that will demonstrate “the amount of
scientific thinking done by the person taking the test included: “The Christian
faith is the only true one” and “Any nation that persecutes the Jews, as
Germany has done recently be totally uncivilized.”
1936:
“Edwin Goodman, president of Bergdorf-Goodman was named” tonight “as chairman
of the dress division of the Greater New York Campaign of the Joint
Distribution committee for the Aid of Jews in German, Central and Eastern” at a
dinner at the Harmonie Club.
1936:
Rabbi Jonah B. Wise spoke to a dinner at the Metropolis Club, where “a group of
members reported that they had raised $30,000” which will go toward meeting the
$75,000 quota set by the Joint Distribution Committee.
1937(21st
of Nisan, 5697): Seventh day of Pesach
1937(21st
of Nisan, 5697): Nathan Birnbaum passed away. Born in Vienna in 1864, Birnbaum
coined the terms Zionists and Zionism in 1890. He was active with Herzl in the
First Zionist Congress. However, he later drifted away from the movement
becoming more concerned with a renaissance in Jewish culture and traditional
Judaism. He left Germany after Hitler came to power and moved to the
Netherlands where he continued his writings.
1937:
In Warsaw, “the Minister of Education issued a decree today dissolving the
militant ant-Semitic Nationalist students’ organizations in” universities in
Warsaw and Vilna.
1937:
On the outskirts of Warsaw at Sokolow and Lukow, “all the Jewish market stands
were smashed and many Jews were injured and driven from the marketplaces today
by a stone-hurling mob.”
1973:
Twenty-five year old New York City native Edward Isaac Lending arrived in Spain
where he would fight with the Lincoln Brigade against the fascist forces of
Franco.
1937:
In Albania, the Jewish community was granted official recognition by the
government. The largest Jewish populations were located in Kavaje and Vlora.
Approximately, 600 Jews were living in Albania prior to World War II, 400 of
who were refugees. At the beginning of World War II, hundreds of Jews arrived
in Albania seeking refuge from Nazi persecution in other regions of Europe.
1938(1st
of Nisan, 5698): Rosh Chodesh Nisan and Shabbat HaChodesh
1938(1st
of Nisan, 5698): Moise Micha Sapir the fourth commander of the Botwin Company
(named for Naftali Botwin, the Polish Jewish radical executed in 1924) was
killed at Lerida today during the Spanish Civil War.
1939:
The last in a series of concerts sponsored by the New Friends of Music
featuring the first of five symphonies, each of which has been verified “as the
work of the Austrian master by Dr. Alfred Einstein who has restored them to
their original form” is scheduled to place today in Carnegie Hall
1939(13th
of Nissan, 5699): Fifty-five year old Fordham University trained physician Dr.
Hirsch Sadowsky, the Russian born son of Shlomo and Peshe Sadowsky, the husband
of Golia Sadowsky and the father of Dr. Bernard Sadowsky passed away today at
his retirement home in Florida.
1940:
“Faced with the greatest crisis in their history, Jews must look to their
religious principles "to build inner and outer defenses" against
anti-Semitism, leaders of American Jews emphasized at a dinner meeting tonight
of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.”
1941:
In what would prove to be a prelude to the Farhud in June, today “Rashid 'Ali
al-Kailani, an anti-British nationalist politician from one of the leading
families in Baghdad, carried out a military coup against the pro-British
government in Iraq” which “was supported by four high-ranking army officers
nicknamed the “Golden Square,” and by the former Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin
al-Husayni.
1941(5th
of Nisan, 5701): Sixty-five-year-old Minnie B. Affelder, the New York born
daughter of Leopold and Rebecca Kahn Affelder, and the sister of William, Harry
and Jeanette Affelder passed away today after which she was buried at Mount
Neboh Cemetery.
1941:
Hungarian Premier Count Pál Telecki committed suicide rather than collaborate
with Germany. This is only one small chapter in the complex story of Hungary’s
involvement in World War II. For much of the war, Hungary’s Jewish population
would remain comparatively untouched by the raging Holocaust. Only in the final
year of the war would the final solution come to this eastern European state.
1942(15th
of Nisan, 5702): First Day of Pesach
1942(15th
of Nisan, 5702): Seventy-two year old Chicago Medical College trained
obstetrician Joseph Bolivar DeLee, the Cold Spring, NY born son of Morris and
Dora Tobias Lee who revolutionized his field of specialty while founding the
Chicago Lying-in Hospital and teaching at Northwestern and the University of
Chicago passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1942/04/03/85308288.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1942:
Birthdate of Larry Selman whose life would be captured in a documentary “The
Collector of Bedford Street.” (As reported by Paul Vitello)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtCz9PfYNQM
1942:
“My Favorite Blonde” a comedy based on a story by Melvin Frank was released
today in the United States.
1943:
At the Thirty-eighth Council of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations,
which opened its three-day meeting in the Hotel New Yorker today, speakers
declared that only through the creation of an international structure of mutual
responsibility will the world obtain a lasting post-war peace period.
1943:
“Flight for Freedom” based loosely on the disappearance of Amelia Earhart,
directed by Lothar Mendes, one of the many refugees from Nazi Germany, was
released today in the United States.
1944:
Today, 90 Jews who were captured by the Nazis at Chalcis, a port on the Greek
island of Euboea are shipped to Auschwitz.
1944:
In Haifa, British police discovered a cache of arms belonging to the Stern Gang
following a bombing which caused the death of a Jewish constable and wounded a
British policeman.
1944:
At night, British authorities arrested more than sixty individuals many of whom
were reported to be “members of the Jewish revisionist party known as the New
Zionist Organization.”
1945:
In a letter to Chaim Weizmann, president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine,
Peter Bergson provides a description of the efforts of the Hebrew Committee of
National Liberation (H.C.N.L.) to save the Jews of Europe and create a Jewish
state.
1945:
After more than three years of service, Laurence A. Steinhardt left his post as
Ambassador to Turkey.
1946:
In Cleveland, Ohio, Mrs. Henry Gottdiener celebrated her 79th
birthday today.
1946:
In London, a middle class Jewish accountant and his wife gave birth to award
winning British impresario Raymond Jonathan Gubbay who “was presented with a
BASCA Gold Badge Award in recognition of his unique contribution to music.”
1947:
Tonight, in “in a pre-Passover broadcast, presented in cooperation with the
American Jewish Committee, over the Mutual network, “Former Governor Herbert H.
Lehman urged “the assignment of unused immigration quotas to admit a "fair
share of the victims of nazism"
1948:
U.S. premiere of “B.F.’s Daughter” produced by Edwin H. Knopf and filmed by
cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg.
1948:
British Forces arrive at the air field south of Beit Darass looking for arms
that had been delivered to the Jews. They found nothing since the Jews had
hidden the weapons in the surrounding collective settlements.
1948:
In response to a Soviet order to restrict shipments of goods to Berlin by the
Allies General Lucius Clay ordered that all supplies be sent by air marking the
actual start of the Berlin Airlift. (Editor’s note – this entry serves as a
reminder that the events surrounding the creation of Israel took place at the
same time that Russia was pursuing a ruthless policy of imperialism across
Europe.)
1949(3rd
of Nisan, 5709): Parashat Vayikra
1949:
“Magistrate Morris Rothenberg, the acing national chairman of the United
Palestine Appeals reported” today “that a minimum of $100,000,000 most of which
will be raised by Jews” in the United States will be used “to cover the
construction costs of housing units for immigrants” in Israel.
1950(15th
of Nisan, 5710): First Day of Pesach
1951(25th
of Adar II, 5711): Fifty-four Odessa born American pianist Simon Barere who
survived the Bolsheviks and the Nazis so he could make his Carnegie Hall debut
in 1936 and who was the husband of Helena Vlashek, “suffered a cerebral
hemorrhage while performing the first bars of Grieg's Piano Concerto in A
minor, Op. 16 in Carnegie Hall with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by
Eugene Ormandy, had suddenly collapsed and died backstage shortly this
evening.”
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Barere-Simon.htm
1952:
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Knesset passed the Nationality
Act which was expected to confer automatic Israeli citizenship on all Jewish
residents, and some of the non-Jews, on July 14, 1952. The vote was 43 to 17.
The Knesset defeated, by a vote of 25 to 16, a proposal made by Herut which
would require all persons holding dual citizenship to give up one nationality
within two years after becoming Israeli citizens.
1952:
The Jerusalem Post reported that a report from The Hague stated that
the German delegation to the reparations talks left for Germany for further
consultations. The Israeli delegation denied that there was any
"crisis" in the talks and explained that the preliminary, informative
stage of deliberations drew to a close, and a formula for further talks had
been agreed upon. The delegation hoped that this would allow for good progress
in the further discussions and actual negotiations. A small letter bomb,
containing 40 grams of modern explosives, was sent to the leader of the German
reparations delegation at The Hague. It failed to explode when opened in the
mail room of the German Embassy.
1952:
The Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF had completed
"Operation Ma’barot," the winter-long assistance extended by various
army units to new immigrants in their camps.
1954:
In Hong Kong, a Centenary Dinner was held celebrating the 100th anniversary of
the founding of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps which from 1932 through 1942
included Company H or “The Jewish Company.”
http://net.lib.byu.edu/estu/wwi/comment/svc.htm
1955(10th
of Nisan, 5715): Parashat Tzav
1955:
At a testimonial dinner in the Roosevelt Hotel, Congregation Zichron Ephraim is
scheduled to celebrate the 65th anniversary of its founding and to
honor 84 year old Benjamin J. Weill who “has worshipped at the synagogue for 65
years” for his 35 years of service as the congregation’s treasurer.
1955:
Today, “six weeks after being sacked from a managerial position at AC Mila,”
Hungarian born Jewish “soccer legend” Bela Guttman “lost control of a car he
was driving, killing one teenager and seriously injuring another.”
1956:
CBS broadcast the first episode of “The Edge of Night,” a soap opera featuring
Shirley Stoler, the daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants as “Frankie.”
1958:
Release date for “The Young Lions,” the cinematic treatment of Irwin Shaw’s
novel of the same named produced by Al Lichtman one of the main protagonists of
which is “Noah Ackerman”
1960(5th
of Nisan, 5720): Parashat Vayikra
1960(5th
of Nisan, 5720): Seventy-four year old Philadelphia native and University of
Pennsylvania graduate Dr. Arthur D. Goldhaft, the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
and founder of the Vineland Poultry Laboratory which was “devoted to poultry
disease prevention who was the “consultant in vocational agriculture for the
Hadassah Youth Reference Board” and the husband of Florence Goldhaft with whom
he raised two children – Helen and Tevis – both of whom became veterinarians
passed away.
https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Egg-Autobiography-Arthur-Goldhaft/dp/B00XLWJAQO
1961(16th
of Nisan, 5721): Second Day of Pesach
1961:
ABC broadcast the first episode of “The Asphalt Jungle” created and produced by
Mel Epstein.
1961(16th
of Nisan, 5721): In Cincinnati, Ohio, seventy-six year old Julian A. Pollak,
the president of the Pollak Steel Company from 1944 to 1957 and Chairman of the
Board from 1957 until today who had been a member of the Cornell University
football team from 1905 to 1957 and major philanthropist in his hometown passed
away today.
1962: Frieda Caplan opened her specialty produce
company, Frieda's Inc., which has introduced a wide array of exotic produce to
the American market.
https://jwa.org/thisweek/apr/02/1962/frieda-caplan
1964(20th
of Nisan, 5724): Sixth Day of Pesach
1964:
In Frankfurt, Germany, the trail of twenty-former Auschwitz concentration
official charged with murder continues
for its 16th week.
1964:
It was reported today that “Fifty Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish
clergymen in Westchester County have sent a message to Premier Khrushchev urging that synagogues
and Jewish seminaries be reopened and that imprisoned synagogue leaders be
freed. They also asked that a ban on the baking of matzoh in state bakeries be
lifted.
1965(29th
of Adar II, 5725): Eighty-three year old Hebrew Union College graduate Dr.
Abraham Cronbach, the son of Marcus and Hanna Itzig and husband of Rose Hentil
who began his rabbinical career at the Reform congregation of Temple Beth Elin
South Bend, Indiana” passed away today.
http://collections.americanjewisharchives.org/ms/ms0009/ms0009.html
1965:
Birthdate of Rachel Freier, the daughter of Chasidic Jews from Borough Park and
the wife of David Frier who when she “was elected as a Civil Court judge for
the Kings County 5th judicial district in New York State” became the first
Hasidic Jewish woman to be elected as a civil court judge in New York State and
the “first Hasidic woman to hold public officein United States history.”
1965:
Hochhuth’s play "Stellvertreter" was banned in Italy. In English, the
play is called "The Deputy." It was a sensation at the time for its
dramatic portrayal of the negative role Pope Pious XII played during the
Holocaust in terms of saving the Jews from the Holocaust and resisting the
Nazis.
1966:
It was reported today that “A rare Seder dish from Spain, dating to the years
before the Jewish expulsion in 1492, has been acquired by the Israel Museum”
1966:
The appointment of Rose L. Halprin, a former national president of Hadassah
“who has been active in Zionist affairs for more than 35 years, to serve as
chairman of the American Agency for Israel was announced last night, making her
the successor to Dr. Emanuel Neumann who had been serving in that position.
1967(21st
of Adar II, 5727): Sixty-four year old Hungarian born Phi Beta Kappa graduate from Columbia
University John W. Gassner, the theatre critic, playwright and author whose
twenty books included Theatre at the Crossroads and Masters of the Drama who
was the husband of “the former of Mollie Kern” and whose academic career led
him to becoming the Sterling Professor of Playwriting and Dramatic Literature
at Yale University passed away today.
1969(14th
of Nisan, 5729): Ta’anit of Bechorot; erev Pesach observed for the first time
during the presidency of Richard Nixon.
1969(14th
of Nisan, 5729): Fifty-six-year-old NYU Law School trained attorney Henry J.
Buchman, the brother of his law partner Abraham Buchner and past president of
Congregation Beth Sholom in Lawrence who was the husband of the former Shirley
Goldsamt with whom he had two daughters – Nancy and Jacqueline – passed away
today.
1970:
An Israeli Phantom jet piloted by Pini Nahmani was shot down over a Damascus
suburb. Nahmani was imprisoned in the al-Mazza Prison in Damascus.
1972(18th
of Nisan, 5732): Fourth Day of Pesach
1972:
Actor Charlie Chaplin returned to the United States for the first time since
being labeled a communist in the early 1950s during the Red Scare.
1973(29th
of Adar II, 5733): Seventy-year old Hungarian born, CCNY grad and Fordham
University trained lawyer Nicholas Adas who served as an assistant U.S.
Attorney and as a leader of the Hungarian Jewish community in the United States
while being an active member of the Republican Party, passed away today.
1973(29th
of Adar II, 5733): Seventy-four year old Jascha Horenstein, a native of Kiev
who became a leading American conductor passed away today.
http://www.classical.net/music/performer/horenstein/index.php
1974:
Tonight, at the 46th annual Academy Awards, Marvin Hamlisch won
three Oscars “including Best Song and Best Dramatic Score for The Way We Were
along with the award for Best Song Score and/or Adaptation for The Sting.”
1975(21st
of Nisan, 5735): Seventh Day of Pesach
1977(14th
of Nisan, 5737): Parashat Tzav; Erev Pesach
1977:
“The Ascent” a Russian film set in WW II with music by Alfred Schnittke, the
son of Frankfurt born journalist Harry Viktorovich Schnittke and grandson of
“philologist and translator” Tea Abramovna Katz was released in the Soviet
Union today.
1978:
CBS broadcast the first episode of “Dallas” a five-part mini-series created by
David Jacobs that proved so popular it became a regular weekly show that lasted
until May of 1991.
1978:
Birthdate of Nicholas Evan “Nick” Berg “the American freelance repairman” who
was beheaded by Islamist terrorists in Iraq who were so proud of the act that
they put the video on the internet.
http://articles.philly.com/2004-05-15/news/25381697_1_kesher-israel-nicholas-e-berg-memorial-service
1979:
Menachem Begin visited Cairo, Egypt. The historic visit followed the historic
peace treaty that Begin and Sadat had signed. Begin was the first Israeli Prime
Minister to visit Egypt.
1979(5th
of Nisan, 5739): Seventy-two year old Carroll Rosenbloom the Baltimore born son
of Anna and Solomon Rosenbloom and University of Pennsylvania football star who
grew Blue Ridge Overalls into a major clothing supplier and who as best known
as an owner of NFL football teams, including the Baltimore Colts who won their
first championship under his leadership and the Los Angeles Rams died today in
a drowning accident in Florida.
1979(5th
of Nisan, 5739): Seventy-three year old Frankfurt, Germany native Richard
Ettinghausan, “one of the world’s leading authorities on Islamic Art, the
husband of “the former Elizabeth Sgalitzer and the father of two sons, Stephen
and Thomas, passed away today.
https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ettinghausen
1980(16th
of Nisan, 5740): Second Day of Pesach; First Day of the Omer observed for the
last time during the presidency of Jimmy Carter.
1981:
In London, the annual meeting of the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison
Committee came to an end today.
1981:
“Seventy-five British academics signed a letter to Soviet Minister of Culture
Petr Demichev protesting the repeated harassment of Hebrew teachers and
students in the Soviet Union.”
1981:
“Anatoly Shcharansky, the Jewish Prisoner of Zion, who is serving a sentence in
a Urals labor camp, informed his mother that in January 1981 he was sentenced
to six months’ solitary confinement, and deprived of family visits in 1981.”
1982:
“Ivan Kovalev, 28, one of the last active members of the Helsinki Group of dissidents
monitoring Soviet abuses of human rights, was sentenced by the Moscow City
Court to five years in a labor camp followed by five years’ internal exile.”
1982:
Jewish militants opposing Israel's withdrawal from Sinai tried to reach the
area by boat today after the army closed it to unauthorized civilians and set
up roadblocks
1987(3rd
of Nisan, 5747): Famed drummer and orchestra leader Buddy Rich passed away at
the age of 69. According to some sources, only Rich’s father was Jewish.
However, on the official Buddy Rich Website, Rich’s religion is listed as
Jewish
1987:
Theater of the Riverside Church offered a rare look at Israeli Experimentalist
Theater and dance when it presented Tmu-Na today. The Tel-Aviv group, founded
in 1982 by Nava Zukerman, takes its name from the Hebrew word for moving
pictures. And that, essentially, is what this good-looking company presents on
stage. But the work Tmu-Na chose for this New York debut engagement is a
disappointing one. ''Five Screams,'' loosely based on ''The Unbearable
Lightness of Being'' by Milan Kundera, sets a group of men and women on a
journey through five ''screams'' that program notes identify as ''signals of
disagreement with the absurdity of existence.'' The 90-minute work, which is
set to snatches of music composed by everyone from Laurie Anderson to Johann
Strauss, opens with ''The Journey'' and moves on to ''Anticipation.''
''Obedience and Rebellion'' is next, then ''The Kitsch: The Total Acceptance of
Existence.'' ''Five Screams'' ends with ''Resignation.'' There is nothing so
mystifying, often, as elucidating program copy.What we actually see are somber
encounters and separations that form a kind of cool if anguished ritual of
surviving. There are moments when the performers' individual qualities shine
through and give it all a fleeting poignancy or element of surprise. But there
is something very familiar in the scattered chairs, the women's flowing hair
and drab dresses, the men's casual and inexplicable brutality and the air of
unspecified angst that hangs over ''Five Screams.'' Tmu-Na has clearly been
influenced by Pina Bausch, who has had great success in Israel.This is diluted
Bausch, however, and it says little about the lives and gifts of the performers
who helped to create ''Five Screams,'' which was adapted and directed by Ms.
Zukerman and Koby Meydan. The performers are Amnon Doyeb, Netta Moran, Phina
Bradt, Rama Ben-Zvi, Yael Bechor, Mr. Meydan, Yael Sagi and Yossi Pershitz.
''Five Screams'' will be performed again tonight and tomorrow night at
Riverside, 120th Street and Riverside Drive.
1988(15
of Nisan, 5748): Pesach
1989(26th
of Adar II, 5749): Jack Ruby Lindo whose tombstone in the Anglican cemetery in
Ocho Rio has a “large six-pointed Star of David” passed away today.
http://www.kulanu.org/jamaica/jews-of-jamaica.php
1991(18th
of Nisan, 5751): Fourth Day of Pesach
1992:
Bernard Kouchner began serving as Minister of Health of France.
1992:
Jack Lang completed his second term as Culture Minister of France.
1993:
“The Crush” directed and written by Alan Shapiro and starring Alicia
Silverstone was released in the United States today.
1993:
“Jack The Bear” a film based on the novel of the same name directed by Marshall
Herskovitz was released today in the United States.
1993:
“Cop and a Half” a comedy directed by Henry Winkler was released in the United
States today.
1993:
CBS broadcast the first episode of “Good Advice” a sitcom with scripts co-authored
by Max Mutchnick.
1995:
Two members of Hamas blew themselves up in Gaza City while preparing for an
attack on Israel.
1995:
In an article entitled “Central Synagogue; A $500,000 Restoration of an 1872
Masterwork,” Christopher Gray traces the history of Central Synagogue, one of
the most spectacular houses of worship in New York City, is a rare surviving
example of early Victorian religious architecture. Construction sheds are now
going up for a $500,000 restoration of the building's 1872 stone exterior.
Central Synagogue, which was originally called Ahawath Chesed, was founded in
1846 by immigrants from Prague and the nearby regions of what was then Bohemia.
1996:
“The Dreyfus Affair” is scheduled to have its American premiere at the New York
City Opera this evening.
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/31/arts/classical-music-who-owns-the-dreyfus-affair.html
1997(24th
of Adar II, 5757): Forty-nine year old Hedi Kravis, the Brooklyn born daughter
of psychiatrist Bernard Shulman, the first wife Henry Kravis, passed away
today. (As reported by Lawrence Van Gelder)
https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/05/nyregion/hedi-kravis-chic-society-s-interior-designer-49.html
1998:
“Golden Child” produced Benjamin Mordecai by opened on Broadway today at the
Longacre Theatre.
1998:”Israel
Offers Pullout if Lebanon Bars Raids” published today described the conditions
under which Israel will leave its neighbor to the north.
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/02/world/israel-offers-pullout-if-lebanon-bars-raids.html
2000:
James Rubin completed his service as Assistant Secretary of State for Public
Affairs
2000:
The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or
special interest to Jewish readers including “I Will Bear Witness: A
Diary of the Nazi Years, 1942-1945” by Victor Klemperer; translated by
Martin Chalmers and the recently released paperback edition of “Playing for
Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made” by David Halberstam
2000:
Columbia University and the Jewish Campus Life Fund celebrates the dedication
and cornerstone-laying, of the Robert K. Kraft Family Center for Jewish Student
Life, a new $11.5 million building that fulfills the long-held goal of creating
a permanent home for Columbia's vibrant and diverse Jewish student community.
The building is named for the family of Robert K. Kraft, a 1963 graduate of
Columbia College and University Trustee since 1991. His lead gift in 1993
launched the building campaign for the Center.
2001:
Scott Schoeneweis was awarded the honor of being the Angels' opening day
starter today (his first such assignment) and he pitched effectively, yielding
3 runs and 8 hits in 7 innings; but Anaheim lost to Texas, 3-2.
2001:
Pitcher Tony Cogan played in his first major league game as a player with the
Kansas City Royals.
2002(20th
of Nisan, 5762) Sixth Day of Pesach; 5th day of the Omer
2002:
Funeral services are scheduled to be held at Guttermans in Woodbury, L.I, for
Abraham Goldberg, the husband of Marjorie Goldberg and father of Barry Goldberg
and Lori Kamper.
2002:
As part of Operation Defensive Shield, the IDF entered the booby-trapped camp
at Jenin and ”surrounded the headquarters of the Preventive Security Force in
nearby Beitunia.”
2002:
Israeli forces surrounded the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem after 200
Palestinian terrorists took refuge inside. Instead of storming the church, the
IDF surrounded the building a laid siege to the armed killers.
2002:
Frieda Caplan's specialty produce company, Frieda's Inc., which has introduced
a wide array of exotic produce to the American market, celebrated forty years
in business.
2003:
Milwaukee Brewers Pitcher Matt Ford appears in his first major league baseball
game.
2004:
“Home on the Range” an animated musical western featuring the voice or Roseanne
Barr was released in the United States today.
2005:
Pope John Paul II, “the Polish Pope” whose efforts to improve relations with
the Jewish people included the first Papal visits to Auschwitz, a synagogue and
Yad Vashem as well as his decision to recognize
the state of Israel and serving as host of “The Papal Concert to
Commemorate the Holocaust” passed away today.
2005:
The Cedar Rapids Gazette reported that “the search for a new rabbi for
Temple Judah has ended with the hiring of Rabbi Aaron Sherman.” Rabbi Sherman
and his wife Stephanie Alexander recently purchased a home in Cedar Rapids. A
graduate of Brown University, Rabbi Sherman has a Masters in Hebrew Letters and
was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2000.
2006:
At about 1 am today “a man at a party in Hollywood, a man argued with Paula
Abdul grabbed by the arm and threw her against the wall” resulting “in a
concussion and spinal injuries.”
2006:
Haaretz reported that Poland is going to probe 1940s murder after
Israeli meets alleged killer
2006:
Jaclyn Leibson Mintz, daughter of Dale Mintz, the national director of women’s
health and advocacy for Hadassah and editor of “The Hadassah Jewish Family Book
of Health and Wellness” and Stephen A. Mintz were married in a ceremony
officiated at by Rabbi A. Rothman.
2006:
The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including “Fair Trade For All: How Trade Can
Promote Development” by Joseph E. Stiglitz and Andrew Charlton and the recently
released paperback edition of “Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt
Gödel by Rebecca Goldstein.”
2007:
“Nightrise” the third book in The Power of Five series, by Anthony Horowitz was
released in the United Kingdom today.
2007(14th
of Nisan): Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on the Jewish calendar
2007
(14th of Nisan): In the evening, Pesach begins with the first Seder.
2007:
The New Republic Magazine featured a review of George Konrad’s
autobiography, “A Guest In My Own Country: A Hungarian Life.” Konrad, like the
more famous Elie Weisel, survived the Holocaust in Hungary, but spent his adult
life in the land where he had faced almost certain death.
2007:
Erev Pesach, Newsweek Magazine featured an article entitled “American
Jews: The List—Choosing the Chosen” in which three American Jewish
multi-millionaires list the top fifty rabbis in the United States. Following
the criteria used by this trio, the Rabbis we read about Bnei Berak in the
Haggadah would not have made the list.
2007:
Chicago real estate billionaire Sam Zell “has won the auction for the Tribune
Co.” The 65 year old native of Highland Park, Illinois has bought the company
whose holdings include the Chicago Tribune.
2008:
In Vancouver, B.C., the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival presents a screening of
“Jewish Luck.” which was among the first Soviet Yiddish films to be released in
the US during the 1920s.
2008:
The Hallmark Channel “Son of the Dragon” with a teleplay written by David
Seidler “which helped to launch the cable channel.”
2008:
The Rosenbach Museum and Library received an official State Historical Marker
by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in recognition of the
lasting contributions of museum co-founder, Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach.
2009:
Television financial personality and Harvard Law School graduate Jim Cramer has
license to practice law suspended today “for failure to pay the registration
fee” for the New York Bar.
2009:
Professor Amy-Jill Levine, of Vanderbilt University, delivers an address at Coe
College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, entitled “Misunderstanding
Judaism/Misunderstanding Jesus.”
2009:
“The Teddy Bear was born in Bedford Stuyvesant” published today described the
role of “Rose and Morris Michtom, two Russian Jewish immigrants who lived in Brooklyn”
in creating this iconic American stuffed animal.
http://savebedfordstuyvesant.blogspot.com/2009/04/teddy-bear-was-born-in-bedford.html
2009:
Centenarian Andrew Steiner, the Czech born architect who saved Jews as a leader
in the Bratislava Working Group and settled in Atlanta, GA after the war passed
away today.
https://www.thebreman.org/Research/Cuba-Family-Archives/Oral-Histories/ID/1901/Steiner-Andre
2009(8th
of Nisan, 5769): A terrorist infiltrated Bat Ayin in the Gush Etzion region of
the West Bank and killed Shlomo Nativ, a 13-year-old Israeli boy, by striking
him in the head with an axe. The terrorist also attacked a 7-year-old boy with
the axe, hitting and wounding him in the head. He was taken to Hadassah
Hospital in Jerusalem and is in moderate condition. Iran-backed Palestinian
Islamic Jihad and an organization calling itself the Imad Mughniyeh Group
claimed responsibility for the attack, although this has not been confirmed.
2009:
Today in an interview to the Radio Liberty Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg denounced
the FSB as an institution harmful to Russia and the ongoing expansion of its
authority as a return to Stalinism
2010:
Krista Tippe, host of American Public Media's Speaking of Faith and author of ,
Einstein's God: Conversations About Science and the Human Spirit, is scheduled
to appear with Michel Martin, host of NPR's Tell Me More are scheduled , to get
together for a dialogue about the role of faith in their lives at the
Shakespeare Theatre Company's Sidney Harman Hall in Washington.
2010:
“Musical Shabbat” is scheduled to return to Friday Night Services at Temple
Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
2010:
After premiering at the Locarno Film Festival “Breath Made Visible,” a
“documentary film about modern dance legend Anna Halprin” was released in the
United States
2011:
Professor Yosef Shiloh, of Tel Aviv University's Sackler Medical School, the
first Israeli to receive the prestigious Clowes Award presented by the American
Association for Cancer Research is scheduled to be honored at the AACR Annual
Meeting that opens today in Orlando, Florida. The prize includes a $10,000
grant, a commemorative plaque, and funding to attend this prestigious event.
2011:
Former Israel Olympian, Shaul Landry, a surviving member of the 1972 Munich
delegation, is scheduled to celebrate his 75th birthday today by walking his
age in kilometers. http://www.jpost.com/Sports/Article.aspx?id=212351
2011(27th
of Adar II, 5771): Ninety-two year old Morris Parloff, a member of the
"Ritchie Boys," a German-speaking unit of the U.S. Army that did
intelligence work and psychological warfare in World War II, and who later
became a psychotherapist, researcher and an administrator at the National
Institute of Mental Health, passed away today. Parloff was among the surviving
members of the Ritchie Boys featured in a 2004 documentary.
http://ritchieboys.com/EN/boys_parloff.html
2011(27th
of Adar II, 5771): In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the Traditional Saturday Morning
Minyan celebrated Shabbat Ha-Chodesh.
2011(27th
of Adar): Yahrzeit of Zedekiah “the last king of the royal house of David to
reign in the Holy Land. He ascended the throne in 434 BCE, after King
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia (to whom the kingdom of Judah was then subject)
exiled King Jeconiah (Zedekiah's nephew) to Babylonia. In 425 BCE Zedekiah
rebelled against Babylonian rule, and Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem
(in Tevet 10 of that year); in the summer of 423 BCE the walls of Jerusalem
were penetrated, the city conquered, the (first) Holy Temple destroyed, and the
people of Judah exiled to Babylonia. Zedekiah tried escaping through a tunnel
leading out of the city, but was captured; his sons were killed before his
eyes, and then he was blinded. Zedekiah languished in the royal dungeon in
Babylonia until Nebuchadnezzar's death in 397 BCE; Evil Meroduch -- Nebuchadnezzar's
son and successor -- freed him (and his nephew Jeconiah)” today. Ironically,
Zedikiah died on the same day on which he was freed.
2011:
“The Matchmaker” is scheduled to be shown at the West Chester Jewish Film
Festival.
2011:
Early this morning, in the southern town of Khan Yunis, IAF aircraft bombed a
car carrying four senior Hamas operatives who, according to Israel, were on
their way to Sinai with plans to kidnap or attack Israelis vacationing on the
peninsula.
2011: The Israeli Counter-Terror Bureau
urged Israelis today to leave the Sinai Peninsula immediately, after revealing
that Israeli intelligence agencies had obtained concrete information of plans
by terrorists to kidnap or attack Israeli nationals vacationing there over the
upcoming Pesach holiday.
2011: Naama Shafir, a Sabbath-observing
Israeli, scored a career-high 40 points to power the University of Toledo
women's basketball team to the school's first national postseason championship
in any sport. (As reported by JTA)
2012(11th of Nisan, 5772):
Ninety-seven year old “Mauricio Lasansky, an Argentine-born master printmaker
who was equally well known for a series of drawings depicting the horrors of
Nazism” passed away today at his home in Iowa City, Iowa. (As reported by
Margalit Fox)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/arts/design/mauricio-lasansky-master-printmaker-dies-at-97.html
2012(11th of Nisan, 5772):
Ninety-year old Borscht Belt tumbler Lou Goldstein passed away today. (As
reported by Joseph Berger)
2012: Hillel C. Neuer and Bari Weiss are
scheduled to discuss “From Eleanor Roosevelt to Qaddafi: An Insider's Account
of Human Rights at the UN” at the 92nd Street Y.
2012: “Kosher deli in England a Titanic
survivor’s legacy” published today tells the story of restaurant started almost
a century ago by a Jewish survivor of the aquatic disaster.
http://azjewishpost.com/2012/kosher-deli-in-england-a-titanic-survivors-legacy/
2013(22nd of Nisan, 5773):
Final Day of Pesach
2013: Elem, a non-profit organization
for runaway homeless and neglected Israeli and Arab youth in distress is
scheduled to host an evening of dinner and drinks to support Israeli Jewish and
Arab Youth at Risk prepared by some of New York’s finest chefs.
2013: Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon
toured the Golan Heights this afternoon, and vowed that Israel would prevent
the proliferation of weapons "that could threaten us in the future"
to radical elements in Syria
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Yaalon-Well-prevent-arms-from-reaching-terrorists-308420
2013: Israel launched its first
airstrike on the Gaza Strip today since the Egyptian-mediated truce ended
November’s eight-day bout of fighting.
2013: Following the shots fired from Syrian
territory into the Golan Heights today, IDF tanks returned fire at a Syrian
military target across the border, successful destroying whatever had been
doing the shooting.
2013: As of today, Supercentenarian
Evelyn Kozak became “the seventh oldest person living in the world” an honor
she held until her death in June of 2013.
https://www.vosizneias.com/133083/2013/06/12/brooklyn-ny-worlds-oldest-jew-dies-at-113/
2014: The Jewish Theological Seminary is
scheduled to present “Mah Nishtanah: Posing New Questions, Telling New Stories
– An evening of inspiring Passover learning.”
2014: The Oregon Jewish Museum is
scheduled to host “Chai Fantasy” – a panel discussion about fantasy literature
and Judaism.
2014(2nd of Nisan, 5774)
Ninety-four year old David Werdyger, the Chasidic Chazan and Holocaust survivor
passed away today.
2014(2nd of Nisan, 5774):
Seventy eight year old pianist and critic Harris Goldsmith passed away today.
(As reported by Vivien Schweitzer)
2014(2nd of Nisan, 5774):
Seventy-eight year old Sandy “Grossman, who won eight Emmys, directed
broadcasts of 10 Super Bowls, 18 N.B.A. finals, 5 Stanley Cup finals and
Olympic hockey” passed away today.
2014: Pierre Moscovici completed his
service as Minister of Finance for France.
2015: In “Off the shelf | New books
about the Bible worth reading more than once” published today provided a review
of Robert Alter’s Song As Death is Love: The Song of Songs, Ruth, Esther,
Jonah and Daniel, Michael Fishbane’s newly released The JPS Bible
Commentary: Song of Songs and Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg’s new book, Bewilderments:
Reflect-ions on the Book of Numbers.
2015: Alex Schiffman Shilo is scheduled
to speak today the “First Person 2015 Series” sponsored by the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum.
2015: WQXR is scheduled to broadcast “A
Musical Fest for Passover with Itzhak Perlman.
http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/277596-musical-feast-passover-itzhak-perlman/
2015: “At a White House news conference
today, President Barack Obama said that the United States and the five other
world powers negotiating in Switzerland had reached a “historic understanding
with Iran” on a deal that, if fully implemented, would prevent Iran from
acquiring nuclear weapons.” (As reported by JTA)
2016(23rd of Adar II, 5776):
Shabbat Parah; for more see http://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/
2016: At Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids,
Iowa, celebration of the B'nei Mitzvah of Kate Hinz and Ben Binder is scheduled
to take place this morning.
2016: “Firebirds” is scheduled to be
shown at the Israeli Film Festival in Philadelphia, PA.
2016:
The new Nadav Remez Quintet is scheduled to perform for the first time at
Rockwood Music Hall
2017:
“On the Map” a film about “the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team's historic win”
is scheduled to be shown on the final day of the Seattle Jewish Film Festival.
2017:
“A new Israeli system designed to intercept medium-range missiles became
operational today after it was unveiled at a ceremony attended by Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US defense officials.” (As reported by Tama
Pileggi and Stuart Winer)
2017:
The New York Times features reviews
of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers
including Casey Stengel: Baseball’s Greatest Character by Marty Appel
and Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich by Norman Ohler
2017:
As part of Spring Break, the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center is
scheduled to let “kids and students” enter without an admission charge.
2018(17th
of Nisan, 5778): Third Day of Pesach, first day of Chol Hamoed; second day of
the Omer
2018:
In Jerusalem, the Tower of David is scheduled to host a performance of “The
Riddle of the Queen of Sheba.”
2018:
“The Unorthodox Matchmaker” published today described the role of Yocheved
Lerner-Miller in the love life of the Observant.
2018:
Gary David Cohn completed his service as Donald Trump’s Direction of the
National Economic Council.
2018:
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in an interview published today,
recognized Israel’s right to exist and extolled the prospect of future
diplomatic relations between his kingdom and the Jewish state.
2018:
In Jerusalem, the Begin Center is scheduled to host “Map and Matza”
2018(17th
Nisan, 5778): Seventy-three year old reporter Connie Lawn passed away today.
(As reported by Daniel E. Slotnik)
2019:
The voters of Chicago are scheduled to go to the polls where they will decide
which of two African American women will replace Rham Emanuel as the city’s
chief executive.
2019:
In London, JW3 is scheduled to host a screening of “Humor Me.”
2019:
Today, Massachusetts gaming regulators released an investigative report
concluding that executives of Wynn Resorts Ltd concealed sexual misconduct
allegations against the casino operator's billionaire founder, Steve Wynn”
whose father had changed the family name “from Weinberg to Wynn to avoid
anti-Jewish bias.”
2019:
With The Kinneret having risen have risen 15.5 since Friday including an 11
centimeter in a single day, today’s forecast calls for local rainfall in
northern Israel.
2019:
A week before its national elections, Israelis consider the impact of
yesterday’s reported by researchers Noam Rotem and Yuval Adam that there is “a
network of hundreds of fake Twitter accounts that promoted Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and attacked his political rivals…”
2020:
The Streicker Center is scheduled to host, on-line, “The History of Jewish
Music from Barchu to Broadway” with Cantor Mo Glazman.
2020:
Fiddler Cookie Segelstein and button accordion player Josh Horowitz of Veretski
Pass are scheduled to play klezmer on Zoom in a Fiddle Online “Covid Concert.”
2020:
This evening,In a Zoom class from HaMqom Educator Tamar Zaken is scheduled to
talk “about the Sephardic end-of-Passover tradition of Mimouna, and how Jews
and Muslims lived side-by-side in Morocco.”
2020:
Boston Jewish Films is scheduled to present an online screening of “The Witch
Hunters.”
2021(20th
of Nisan,5781): Sixth Day of Pesach
2021:
The Village for Families With Young Children at Temple of Boston is scheduled
to present online the Home Edition of “Tot Rock Shabbat.”
2021
In a virtual session examining UC Berkeley’s Magnes Collection, curators
Francesco Spagnolo and Shir Kochavi are scheduled to talk about an exhibit that
had 100 never-before-displayed artifacts from the Jewish community in Kerala,
South India.
2021:
The Jewish Arts Collaborative is scheduled to present online a conversation
with Argentinian born artist Silvina Mizrahi as she talks “about how her
upbringing has influenced her artwork.”
2021:
As Israelis prepare for Shabbat and the final days of Pesach observance, they
can add a fifth question to the proverbial four questions – based on this
week’s comments from the Prime Minister, will Bibi with Ra’am to form a new
government.
2022(1st
of Nisan, 5782): Shabbat HaChodesh and a whole lot more; see https://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/
2022:
in Toronto, Beth Sholom is scheduled to host Canadian-Israeli award-winning
author and journalist Matti Friedman as he discusses Israel and the Media.
2022:
The Eden-Tamir Music Center is schedule to host “Flute Sounds in Ein Kerem with
Noam Bachman and Friends performing trios for flute, cello and piano.
2022:
In Wayland, MA, The W Gallery is scheduled to host a performance of “Schulhoff,
“the newest work in Rachel Linsky’s ongoing project series, “Zachor,” which
seeks to preserve the memories of World War II Holocaust survivors and victims
through dance which in this case is Jewish composer Erwin Schulhoff.
2022:
In Columbus, OH, Congregation Tifereth Israel is scheduled to continue its
Scholar-In-Residence Weekend with a D’var Torah by Dora Horn on “Being a Jewish
Writer” followed after services with a lecture by Dora Horn on “Eternal Life
History and Purposed in a World that Outlasts Us” and a final lecture by Dora
Horn before Havdalah on Antisemitism and Jewish Memory: A Follow-Up Conversation.”
2023
Today the cabinet is set to discuss the creation of a national guard force,
which will comprise 2,000 servicemembers who will answer directly to National
Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and will be tasked with tackling “nationalist
crime” and terrorism, and “restoring governance where needed” but which a
chorus of ex-top cops who have warned against for a number of reasons including
the potential for interference with the work of the police force in maintaining
law and order.
2023:
The National Library of Israel is scheduled to present a lecture by Prof.
Shalom Sabar, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem on “The Sarajevo Haggadah: A
Masterpiece of Jewish Art and Its Incredible Journey From Catalonia to Bosnia.”
2023:
The Jewish Federations of North America are scheduled to co-sponsor “Leadership
Training for Jewish Young Adults.”
2023:
The American Sephardi Federation, in partnership with Center for Jewish
History, Kulanu, Project Shema, Kahzbar, Be’chol Lashon and Jewish Multiracial
Network are scheduled to present “The Hidden Jews of Ethiopia” based a new book
by Dr. Marla Brettschneider
2023:
In Chicago, the New Beginnings Church is scheduled to host “Passover –
A
Musical Celebration of Freedom” with “outstanding musicians, professional
soloists, and music as diverse as cantorial, spiritual, show tunes, and
hip-hop.”
2023:
In Columbus, OH, “all Tifereth Israel families who can come are scheduled to
enjoy a baseball game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Ottawa Senators.
2023:
The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including Confidence by Raphael
Frumkin and The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet’s Journeys Through American
Slavery and Independence by David Waldstreicher.
2023:
The Mexican Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to begin at the TriBeCa
Synagogue.
2023:
“I’ll Have What She’s Having: The Jewish Deli” which has been on view since
November at the New York Historical Society is scheduled to come to a close
today.
https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/ill-have-what-shes-having-a-celebration-of-new-york-jewish-delis/
