This Day, April 22, In Jewish History by Mitchell A and Deb Levin Z"L
April 22
404:
Emperors Arcadius and Honorius limit the opportunities of Jews to serve the
Empire when they issue the following:
“We decree that the Jews and Samaritans who flatter themselves with
the privilege of being in the secret service will…
April 22
404:
Emperors Arcadius and Honorius limit the opportunities of Jews to serve the
Empire when they issue the following:
"We decree that the Jews and Samaritans who flatter themselves with
the privilege of being in the secret service will be deprived of all employment
with imperial service."
1073:
Pope Gregory VII begins his twelve year reign.
While history may remember him for his role as a reformer and for his
“battles” with the Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, others may also remember
him as “The Jewish Pope” since he was reportedly “descended from an Italian Jew
named Baruch” who started a bank in Rome and converted to Christianity in 1030
1213:
Pope Innocent III issued the papal bull Quia maior, calling all of Christendom
to join what became the Fifth Crusade. The Crusades were a period of
intermittent disaster for the Jews of Europe and Palestine.
1391:
King Wenceslaus issued an edict affording protection to the Jews of Worms.
1451:
Birthdate of Isabella I of Castile, the queen who played a key role in the
destruction of a seven century old civilization when she cruelly expelled the
Jews from Spain
1488(11th
of Iyar, 5248): Almost a year after publishing Perush Rashi al ha-Torah
(Rashi’s commentary on the Torah, Joshua Soncino finished printing “a complete
Biblia Hebraica” (Hebrew Bible.
1490(1st
of Iyar): Leo, Jewish court physician to Grand Duke Ivan II, was executed
today.
1500:
Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, accompanied by Gaspar da Gama, a
Polish born Jew whose slave name had been Yusuf ‘Adil before being forcibly
converted to Christianity, sighted the mainland of Brazil for the first time
today.
1509:
Henry VIII ascended the English throne following the death of his father, Henry
VII. While Jews were officially banned
from living in England, evidence exists that a small congregation of Marranos
had settled in London by 1540. Henry’s
contact with Jews and Judaism was indirect but somewhat pivotal in the events
surrounding his various wives. Henry’s
older brother had married Catherine of Aragon in a state marriage designed to
guarantee peaceful relations between England and Spain. When Henry’s older brother died, the English
sought to keep the amicable relations alive by arranging a marriage between
Henry and Catherine. The English got the
Pope to approve of the marriage by invoking the Biblical law concerning the
Levirate Marriage. Years later, Henry
sought to have the marriage annulled so that he could marry Anne Boleyn. He claimed that the marriage was a nullity
because he had coveted his late brother’s wife and their marriage was a product
of sin. Henry sought support from those
most learned in these matters, a group of Italian rabbis. Regardless of the Halacha involved, the
Italian rabbis were loath to anger the Pope who was their “neighbor” in a clash
with a monarch living in a distant land in which Jews were forbidden to live.
1585(23rd
of Nisan or 3rd of Iyar 5345): Rabbi Moses (Trani) of Safed, author
of “Kiryat Sefer” passed away today.
1593: The first group of Marranos led by Jacob
Tirado arrived in Amsterdam, Holland. This group was the first Jews to settle
in Amsterdam after the Spanish Expulsion. Moses Uri Halevi soon joined them and
helped arrange for prayer services.
1610:
Birthdate Alexander VIII. During his
papacy, Alexander was confronted with an unusual request. Instead of demanding that Jews be banished
from their town, the priors of Perugia appealed to Alexander to overrule Pope
Innocent X and allow Jews to return to their city. The absence of Jews from the
city’s fairs was a having a negative impact on the area’s economy.
1619:
Oliver St. John who as Chief Justice of Common Pleas was part of the St. John
Mission “was instructed to study the Jewish Question and in all probability
entered to negotiations with the leading Jews of Amsterdam” was admitted at
Lincoln’s Inn today.
1625:
Urban VIII issued “Sedes apostolica,” a papal bull concerning “heretical
Portuguese Jews.”
1724: Birthdate of German philosopher Immanuel
Kant. Kant may have been one of the giants of the
Enlightenment, but from a Jewish point of view, he was an intellectual pygmy.
As Michael Mack of Hebrew University wrote, “Kant consistently equated Jewish identity with a host of undesirable
traits, including superstition, dishonesty, worldliness and even cowardliness.
‘Every coward is a liar; Jews for
example, not only in business, but also in common life,’ Kant noted in a
lecture on practical philosophy… All the positive traits of Kantian philosophy
(freedom, autonomy, reason) are formed by being contrasted with a negative
image of unenlightened humanity, usually taking the form of an anti-Semitic or
some other racist caricature. For Kant, motives could
only be good if they were not aimed at any material benefit. He saw Judaism as
an inherently materialist religion, based upon a quid pro quo between God and
His chosen people .In order to fully define the formal structures
of his philosophy (autonomy, reason, morality and freedom), Kant almost unconsciously fantasized about the Jews as it’s
opposite. He posited Judaism as an
abstract principle that does nothing else but, paradoxically, desire the
consumption of material goods."
1756(22nd of Nisan, 5516)
Eighth Day of Pesach and Yizkor
1758(14th of Nisan, 5518):
Parashat Achrei-Mot; erev Pesach
1762: In Prague, Jonas Jeiteles and his
wife gave birth to Talmudist Baruch Ben Jacob Benedict Jeitles, the father of
Ignaz Jeiteles.
1769(15th of Nisan, 5529):
First Day of Pesach
1770(17th
of Nisan): Israel Ben Moses Zamsoc of Brody, author of “Nezah Yisrael” passed
away today.
1772(19th
of Nisan, 5532): Fifth Day of Pesach
1775(22nd
of Nisan, 5535): Eighth Day of Pesach and Shabbat; Yizkor is recited as more
American minuteman arrive in Boston to seal the city in what became the siege
of Boston.
1777(15th of Nisan, 5537): Celebration
begins of the first Pesach in the recently declared independent United States
of America.
1783(20th of Nisan, 5543):
Sixth Day of Pesach
1783: The Jews sent a petition to
Emperor Joseph II which “expressed their gratitude…for his favors and reminding
him of his principle that religion should not be interfered with, asked
permission to wear beards.
1785: One day after he had passed away,
Zvi ben Naphtali was buried today at the “Alderney Road (Globe Rd.) Jewish
Cemetery.
1786(24th of Nisan, 5546):
Parashat Achrei Mot
1786: In New York, Reyna Ley and Isaac
Moses gave birth to Lavinia Moses.
1787: Birthdate of German native Michael
Seligman Dettelbacher, the son of Mendel Dettelbacher, the husband of Hindle
Rothschild and the father of Marx Hirsch Dettelbacher.
1792: In Philadelphia, PA, Rachel
Phillips a descendant from the Nunez family that arrived in Charleston in 1733
and Michael Levy gave birth to Uriah Phillips Levy, the husband of Jamaica
native Virginia Lopes and the first
Jewish Commodore in the US. Navy who was instrumental in ending whipping of
sailors in the U.S. Navy and who was the “savior of Monticello” the estate of
founding father Thomas Jefferson.
https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/uriah-phillips-levy
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/uriah-phillips-levy
1794(22nd of Pesach, 5554):
Eighth Day of Pesach; Yizkor
1794: In Vilnius, a city with a large
Jewish population that is home to the Vilna Gaon, Polish and Lithuanian forces
rose up against the Russians in what became known as “The Vilnius Uprising of
1794)
1799(17th of Nisan, 5559):
Third Day of Pesach; Chol Hamoed Pesach begins for the last time in the 18th
century.
1796: In Charleston, SC, Kingston,
Jamaica native Hannah de Pass, the daughter of Ralph de Pass married Benjamin,
Milhado today.
1801: Eleanor Moses Hart and Solomon
Cohen where married in Charleston in 1797 gave birth to Isaac S Cohen, the
husband of Virginia Jane Davis whom he married a Petersburg, VA in 1840 and
with whom he had eleven children all of whom were born in South Carolina.
1813(22nd of Pesach, 5573)
Eighth Day of Pesach; Yizkor
1813: As Jews munched matzah, during the
War of 1812, the American naval squadron that was to take part on the attack on
York, Ontario was preparing to leave Sackets Harbor.
1818(16th of Nisan, 5578):
Second Day of Pesach; 1st day of Omer
1818: In Livermore, Martha Benjamin and
Israel Washburn burn gave birth to Cadwallader Colden Washburn, the Wisconsin
political leader and businessman who founded what became General Mills, one of
the companies operating in Judea-Samaria and the brother of Elihu B. Wasburne,
the Illinois Congressman who defended U.S. Grant against charges of
anti-Semitism.
1821(20th of Nisan, 5581):
Sixth Day of Pesach
1822(1st of Iyar, 5582): Rosh Chodesh
Iyar
1822: Shmuel ben Azreal married Fegele
bat Yehuda at the Great Synagogue today.
1826(15th of Nisan, 5586):
First Day of Pesach
1833: One day after she had passed away,
Sarah (Abrahams) Leigh, the husband of Joseph Leigh was buried today in the
“Brady Street Jewish Cemetery.”
1834: Dr. Albert Moses Levy and his wife moved
back to Virginia after he had completed his medical training at the University
of Pennsylvania. After his wife’s death. Levy would make his way to Texas where
he participated in the rebellion against Mexico and become a leading member of
the new republic
1837: On Staten Island, Henry Benjamin Nones,
the Philadelphia born son of Miriam and Abraham Nones, and his wife Anna M. Nones gave birth to
Samuel Smith Nones
1839(8th of Iyar, 5599): Hannah
Montefiore Anconca, the mother of Moses Montefiore Aconca and the wife of Judah
Moses Ancona whom she had married in 1887 passed away today after she was
buried in the Exeter Jewish Cemetery.
1840(19th of Nisan, 5600) Fifth Day
of Pesach
1841: Birthdate of Versailles native and French
jurist Edgar Demange, who served as co-counsel during the two trials of Alfred
Dreyfus.
1842: Birthdate of Alexander Kohut the
Hungarian born American rabbi and orientalist.
1843(22nd of Nisan, 5603): Eighth
Day of Pesach and Yizkor
1845(15th of Nisan, 5606): Pesach
1845(15th of Nisan, 5606): Nine-year
old Ezra Bierman, the son of David and Catherine Pick Bierman passed away
today.
1845: Birthdate of Rabbi Jakob Guttmann the
native of Beuthen who became the Chief Rabbi at Hildesheim who was the father
of Rabbi Julius Guttmann.
1847: “Charles Vi,” a grand opera with music
composed by Fromental Halevy was performed in New Orleans for the first time.
1848(19t of Nisan, 5608) Shabbat Shel Pesach
1850: Birthdate of anatomist and
embryologist Gustav Born who was the father of Max Born.
1851(20th of Nisan, 5611):
Sixth day of Pesach
1851: Birthdate of Gustav Jacob Born
“the German histologist and author whose first wife was Gretchen Kauffman, with
whom he had one son – Nobel Prize winning physicist Max Born.
1853:
In the House of Commons, following a third reading, the bill removing Jewish
disabilities was carried by a majority of 58.
1854:
In Maitland, Australia, Julia Solomon and Lewis W. Levy gave birth so Samuel
Eleazer Lewis who was also known as Eliot S Levy.
1856:
In New York, Jacob Levy Seixas, the New York born son of Judith and Moses
Benjamin Seixas and his wife Hortensia Seixaz gave birth to Katherine Seixas
1860:
Dr. George B. Cheever delivered an anti-slavery speech tonight at The Church of
the Puritans in which he compared slaveholders to the anti-Semitic King John of
England who “who, to extort money from a Jew, pulled a tooth every day from out
the Hebrew's head until he complied with his demands.”
1861:
Philadelphian Abraham who would rise to the rank of Corporal began serving in
Company H of the 35th Regiment.
1862(22nd
of Nisan, 5622): Eighth Day of Pesach observed as General McClellan’s Army of
the Potomac slowly makes its way up the peninsula in what would be an aborted
attempt to take Richmond while Union Forces future Admiral David Farragut
prepare to successfully take the forts that will lead to the surrender of New
Orleans.
1863(3rd
of Iyar, 5623): Fifty-seven year old Gabriel Riesser the first Jewish judge in
Germany and an advocate of the emancipation of the Jews in Germany passed away
today.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/gabriel-riesser
http://jhom.com/personalities/riesser/index.htm
1863(3rd
of Iyyar, 5623: Soro Chano Szatan, the mother of Chanokh Heynekh Lewin (Rebbe
Reb Heynekh of Aleksander) passed away.
Born in 1779, her husband was Pinchas Lewin who passed away in 1837.
1864(16th of Nisan, 5624):
Second day of Pesach; 1st day of the Omer
1864: Captain Ezekiel Levy, his brother
Isaac J. Levy and other Jews serving with the 46th Virginia Infantry
observed Pesach at their camp in Adams Run, South Carolina, outside of
Charleston. On the first day of the holiday they feasted on a “fine vegetable
soup” which contained “new onions, parsley, carrots turnips and a young
cauliflower … a pound and a half of fresh [kosher] beef, the latter article
sells for four dollars per pound in Charleston.”
1865: In Philadelphia, 16 German boys
reportedly beat a Jewish named Bernadotte Glischman. Following the beating, the boys took
Glischman to his room where they stuck him with pins. Glischman said the boys did this to him
because he was Jewish and they said that the Jews had killed Christ.
1867: Eve Lipman was buried today at the
“Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1868: Birthdate of Friedrich Münzer the
“German classical scholar” known “for his demonstrations of how family
relationships in ancient Rome connected to political struggles.”
1868: Birthdate of Miles Poindexter, the
Senator from Tennessee who was one of only three Republicans to vote for the
confirmation of Louis Brandeis as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme
Coutr.
1868: Woolf Elias of Camden, SC, married
Emily Weinberg of Charleston, SC.
1869: Birthdate of Brest
-Litovsk native Rabbi Julius T. Loeb who
retired from the rabbinate in 1939 after 40 years after which he “had been
appointed executive secretary of a new council to co-ordinate financial
activities of Jewish institutions” in the District of Columbia.
1869: Josef Kahn, the Czech born son
Jacob Kohn and Franziska Kahn and his wife Julie Kahn gave birth to Mathilde
Kahn, who became Mathilda Fanta which he married Doctor of Jursiprudence Emil
Fanta
1870: Birthdate of Vladimir Lenin, who
led the Bolshevik Revolution. Contrary
to popular misconception, Lenin was not Jewish. Also, Lenin and the Communists
did bring down the Czar. They overthrew
the Kerensky government, the democratic socialists, who had actually ended the
three hundred years of Romanov rule. Many people who were born Jews were
followers of Lenin. The most famous was
Trotsky. But Lenin’s impact on the
Jewish people far transcended the presence of these individuals. History would
prove that Communist Russia was no more hospitable for those who wanted to
practice their Judaism than Czarist Russia had been.
1871(1st of Iyar, 5631): Rosh Chodesh
Iyar
1871: Bavaria grants equal rights to its Jewish citizens
completing the process of emancipation in the German Empire.
1872: Jews of Bavaria were granted equality
1872(14th
of Nisan, 5632): Ta'anit Bechorot; Erev Pesach
1872(14th
of Nisan, 5632): An article entitled “The Feast of Passover: Celebration of
Israel’s Delivery From Bondage – Jewish Traditions and Observances” states that
“At sundown today the people of Israel, wheresoever dispersed over the fact of
the earth will begin the celebration of the feast of Pesach or the Passover,
one of the most important festivals in the Jewish Calendar.”
1875(17th
of Nisan, 5635): Third Day of Pesach
1876
In Vienna, “Maria (née Hock), the daughter of a scientist, and Ignác Bárány” a
banker who was the son of an Hungarian Jew gave birth to Robert Bárány, who won
the Noble Prize for Medicine in 1914.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/barany.html
1880:
In Leadville, CO, the Bush-Trimble Building collapsed. The building Kaskel & Co, clothing
business co-owned by Caesar J. Kaskel and Jacob Michaelis of New York City and
managed by Julius W. Kaskel one of the first Jews to settle in Leadville.
1881:
It was reported today that an anonymous Jewish donor had sent a basket of
flowers to Reverend William A. Barltett of Indianapolis’ Second Presbyterian
Church as a token of appreciation for the speech he gave on “the Jewish
question.”
1881:
Birthdate of Alexander Kerensky, the most prominent leader of the Provisional
Government that replaced the government of the Czars. Kerensky was not Jewish but the failure of
the democratic forces that he led certainly had a major impact on the Jews of
what would become the Soviet Union. This
short guide does not provide the space for further comment on this major
episode in Jewish History.
1881:
Visitors at the Hebrew Cemetery at Cypress Hills on Long Island heard shots
emanating from the house of the groundskeeper, Max Blecker. Further investigation led to the discovery of
Blocker’s body which had a large wound on the right side of his head and a
revolver grasped tightly in his hand.
Reportedly, he had been in ill health and he “told his friends that he
would be better off dead.”
1881:
It was reported today that Tunisia with a population of about 2 million is of
little financial value to the French who seem determined to annex the
territory. The little commercial
activity that does exist is primarily in the hands of the 25,000 Jews who make
up about a fifth of the population of Tunis.
1882:
Birthdate of Jaques Hanak who was deported from Prague to the death camps where
he was murdered at the age of 60.
1882:
It was reported today, that in Berlin, a committee composed of leading citizens
belonging to all religious denominations has raised 100,000 marks to provided
assistance for Jews seeking to leave Russia.
1882:
It was reported today that reports have reached Vienna confirming the attacks
on Jews in towns near Odessa. In Balta,
the riots lasted for two days leaving at least 2,000 Jewish families in
ruin. “The riots almost assumed the
character of a struggle for the annihilation of the Jews…”
1883(15th
of Nisan, 5643): On the first day of Pesach an article entitled “The Feast of
the Passover” reported that “the morning services at” the Jewish “places of
worship…will be peculiarly interesting.”
1884: In Nashville, TN, John Schoffner made a
full confession to police concerning the murder of Meyer Friedman, a Jew living
in Nashville. According to Schoffner,
Meyer Morris organized the killing and that Mrs. Friedman wanted her husband
dead because “she did not love him” and he “treated her badly.”
1884: Birthdate of
Austrian-born psychoanalyst, Otto Rank. He wrote the first psychoanalytic book by a
disciple of Freud. Rank moved to the
United States in the 1930’s. He died at
the age of 55, one month after Freud passed away.
1884: New York
dentist and founding member of B’nai Israel Dr. Lyon Berhard was laid to rest
at Cypress Hill this morning.
1885: Birthdate of
“Lumzer, Russia native and Holyoke, MA businessman Charles Belsky, a partner in
the wholesale junk company of Belsky and Goldberg and the husband of Esther
Cohen with whom he had three children.
1885: Ninety-six year old Reverend Leonard
Withington, the oldest Congregational Clergyman in the United States passed
away today. Withington was a scholar
well versed in Hebrew who had written a book entitled “Solomon Songs.” He was a prime example of the reality that in
19th century America some of the people who were the most
knowledgeable about Hebrew as a language were Protestant ministers.
1886: Jess Seligman presided over tonight’s
celebration of the second anniversary of the Hebrew Technical Institute which
was held at Temple Emanu-El in New York City.
Among the dignitaries attending the event was Carl Schurz, the famous
German-American journalist and social reformer who gave the evening’s main
address. (The school would remain open until 1939)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B03EEDC1638E533A25750C2A9629C94679FD7CF
1887: It was reported today that two Englishman
carrying an American flag recently imprisoned a Jewish merchant from Alcazar
Morocco on charges of not paying a debt.
The prisoner was paraded through various towns in chains as hje was
taken to Tangier. The event, which took
place during Passover, has been condemned by the leading Jews of Tangier who
have sought the aid of the local British, French and Portuguese Consuls
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C02E6D71630E633A25751C2A9629C94669FD7CF
1888: In Chicago, Iowa native Fannie Jacobson and
realtor Morris Jacobson gave birth to Dr. Edmund Jacobson, a specialist in
tension control, died last Friday at Northwestern University Hospital in
Chicago
1889: In Terre Haute, Indiana, “Max and Theresa
(Ravitch) Blumberg gave birth to DePauw University graduate and University of
Chicago trained attorney gave birth to Benjamin Blumberg the husband of Fannie
Louise Burgheimer who served as an officer realty and investment companies
while being a member of Temple Israel and the Temple Israel Men’s Cub.
1889: The Literary Notes column reported that “The
Jew in English Fiction” by Rabbi David Philipson will soon be issued by Robert
Clarke & Co of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Among the characters discussed are Marlowe’s Jew of Malta, Shakespeare’s
Shylock, Cumberland’s Jew, Scott’s Jew in “Ivanhoe”, Dickens’ Jew in “Oliver
Twist’ and “Our Mutual Friend”, Disraeli’s in “Coningsby” and “Tancred and
George Eliot’s “Daniel Deronda”. (At the
time, Philipson was a young Reform rabbi from Wabash, Indiana)
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A02E4D7163BE033A25751C2A9629C94689FD7CF
1889: At high noon, thousands rush to claim land in
the Land Run of 1889. Within hours the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie are
formed with populations of at least 10,000. ‘Jewish settlers began coming to
Oklahoma and Indian Territory as early as 1875. The Jewish population grew as
Oklahoma blossomed into a boom area, after the famous Land Run of 1889 and
statehood in 1907. The early settlers came as peddlers and salesmen and later
became shopkeepers and retail merchants. According to the American Jewish Year
Book, there were 1,000 Jews in Oklahoma Territory in 1901.” (Courtesy of the
Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City)
1890: In the UK, Sir Marcus Samuel, the future
Sheriff of the City of London and Lord Mayor of London and the former Fanny
Elizabeth Benjamin gave birth to their fourth child and second daughter Ida
Marie.
1891(14th of Nisan, 5651): “The Festival of Pesach:
It will begin at Sunset To-Night and Last For A Week” published today reported
that “all the reform temples and orthodox synagogues will be open for services
this evening…and appropriate sermons will be delivered by the spiritual heads
of the communities.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/obituaries/24lerman.html?_r=0
1891: Birthdate of Nettie Yaniger who became Nettie
Panitz when she married Ezekiel Panitz and who was the David H. Panitz who
served as the rabbi at Adas Israel in Washington, D.C. during the late 1950’s.
1892: In Brooklyn, Adolph and Deborah (Spaine)
Dannenberg gave birth to Oscar Asahel Halevy Dannenberg, the Yale alum and
lawyer who served as a Sheriff in Bridgeport, CT.
1893(6th of Iyar, 5653): Chaim Aronson passed away
at the age of 77. Born in Lithuania in 1825 when it was part of Russia,
Aaronson was a gifted linguist (Hebrew, German, and Russian) with a penchant
for invention who went from being a clockmaker to developing a variety of
machines including one for making cigarettes and one that was a prototype for a
movie camera. Aronson was a better
scholar and engineer than he was a businessman since none of his work brought
him commercial success. His most long
lasting contribution was a literary work entitled A Jewish Life under the
Tsars: The Autobiography of Chaim Aronson, 1825-1888 that provides a
picture of life in the final century of Czarist Russia.
1893: Rabbi Raphael Benjamin delivered a sermon this
morning on the subject of the recent blackballing of Theodore Seligman by the
Union League.
1893: “Max Judd Objected To” published today
described the reasons that the government of Austria provided for refusing to
recognize the appointment of Max Judd as Consul General for the United States
at Vienna. The Austrians claim that the
refusal is based on that fact the Judd had been born in Austria and “is engaged
in the emigration business.” The Austrians claim that the objection has nothing
to do with Judd’s religion which is just as well because the U.S. government
has said that Mr. Judd’s replacement will not be of Austrian descent, but he
will be Jewish.
1894(16th of Nisan, 5654): Second Day of
Pesach; 1st day of the Omer
1894: Hyman Blumenthal was arrested on charges that
he had deliberately tried to burn down the tenement at 28 East Broadway.
1894: Birthdate of Max Weinreich, the Russian born
American linguist and a founder of the Yiddish Institue (YIVO) and author who
was “the father of the linguist Uriel Weinreich, who edited the Modern
Yiddish-English English-Yiddish Dictionary.”
1894: Rabbi Joseph Silverman delivered a lecture at
Temple Emanu-El in New York entitled “The Jewish Passover and Its Modern
Message to Jews and Christians” in which he described that observing Passover
was “the celebration of the anniversary of the Jewish Independence Day.”
1894: “The Babylonian Element” published today
included Professor Archibald Sayce’s comparison of the narratives found on
Babylonian Tablets and those found in Genesis which “assume an entirely
different complexion in the hands of the Biblical writers” who strip them of
their polytheism, accommodate them to the Hebrew point of view and “make them
the vehicle of profound religious truths.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F20710F63C5A1A738DDDAB0A94DC405B8485F0D3
1895: It was reported today that the Hebrew Orphan
Asylum is providing housing for 700 children at its building at 137th
Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Trustees
Theodore Seligman, Edward Lauterbach and Emanuel Leyman are considering a
proposal to raise $250,000 to expand the facility in order to meet increased
demand for its services.
1895: “Object To The McCall Bill” published today
described the “vigorous protest” of “the American Anti-Semite Association” to
the passage of the McCall Educational Test bill and “recommends the passage of
the Stone Consular Certificate bill” that “considers as desirable immigrants
only those who for five years previous have been actively engaged in
agricultural pursuits with their own manual labor.”
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FA0F17FE385515738DDDAB0A94DC405B8685F0D3
1896 (9th of Iyar, 5656): Gustave May passed away
today in New York City. Born in Paris in
1845, he served as Quartermaster General with the forces fighting to protect
the Commune at the end of the Fanco-Prussian War. When the Commune forces were defeated he fled
to America with his brother where they started May Brothers, a firm of
commission merchants that “was the first to import cigarette papers into the
United States. Although born Jewish May saw himself as a “Freethinker” and was
active in the French Exile community.
His brother Elie had served as a General in the forces of the Commune.
1896: Cassie Ritter Weil and Adolphus Weil gave
birth to Adolphus Leo Weil, Jr who lived at Pennsylvania at the time of his
death.
1896: Herzl began a two day journey to Karlsruhe
where he was received in audience by Grossherzog (Grand Duke) Friedrich of
Baden. Herzl was heartened by the
meeting saying ("Jedenfalls nahm der Grossherzog meine Staatbildung von
Anfang an vollkommen ernst." - "In any case, the Grand Duke took my
proposed formation of a state quite seriously from the beginning.")
1896: Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, cut short his
state visit to Russia and left St. Petersburg for Paris so he could attend the
funeral of his friend Baron Hirsch.
1896: “Strong Tribute To His Memory” published today
provided reminiscences by Oscar S. Straus about the late Baron de Hirsh saying
that “it was my good fortune to enjoy the personal acquaintance of Baron de
Hirsch” whom he said gave away $25,000,000 to provide relief for Russian Jews
which the Baron considered to be the most oppressed people in the world.
1897(20th
of Nisan, 5657): Sixth Day of Pesach
1897(20th of Nisan,
5657): Sixty-seven year old Simon Alexander passed away today having lost his 9
month long battle with asthma and heart sickness. He was an editorial writer for The Hebrew Journal and member of Temple
Emanu-El
1897: In New York City, the world's
largest Jewish daily newspaper, "The Forward," was first published.
Abraham Cahan, 43, one of its founders, became editor of the paper in 1903,
remaining until his death in 1951. The Forward began as a Yiddish paper.
By the 1930's it was one of the nation's leading dailies with a readership of
275,000 supplemented by a radio audience listening to WVED. One of its
most famous features was the Bintel Briefs, a Yiddish Dear Abby. The
paper shifted its formant and became English weekly in the 1980's. Later
it added a Russian language edition for the new wave of Jewish
immigrants. For more information see http://www.forward.com/.
1898(30th
of Nisan, 5658): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1898(30th
of Nisan, 5658): Simon Kayserling passed away. Kayserling was a German born
teacher and author. He was the brother
of Meyer Kayserling. Both brothers were
historians. But Meyer also pursued
career in the Rabbinate while Simon followed a more secular career serving on
the faculty of the Jewish Free School while writing or translating books about
the history of Poland and the history of the Jews living in Spain and Portugal.
1898:
N.S. Roenau of the United Hebrew Charities was one of the speakers who
addressed a group Yale University students studying Sociology under the
direction of Professor William T. Blackman who visited New York City today.
1899:
The sixth annual reunion banquet of the Hebrew Technical Institute Alumni
Association was held this evening at the Broadway Central Hotel.
1899:
Minnie Jacobs and her lawyer Joseph Moss appeared before William J. Youngs,
Secretary to the Governor of New York to plead for a pardon for her father,
Saul Jacobs.
1900(23rd
of Nisan): Author Louis Bein passed away.
1900:
District Grand Lodge No. 7 of B’nai Birth which includes the states of Alabama,
Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas with over 1,700
members opened its 27 convention today in New Orleans.
1900:
“Mysterious Murder Leads to Jew Baiting in Prussia” published today described
how “the anti-Semites have succeeded in provoking an outbreak of Jew-baiting by
exploiting the mysterious murder of Ernst Winter at Konitz as a so-called ritual
crime” because as one Berlin newspaper said “the crime is the work Jews who
require Christian blood.”
1900:
Twenty four year old Jacob Mack married 22 year old Bertha “Birdie” Ronsheim, a
native of Cincinnati, Ohio.
1900:
“In Memory of Dr. Wise” published today described plans for a public service
that will be held in memory of Dr. I. M. Wise on April 29 under the directions
of New York Board of Jewish Ministers.
1901:
“Assemblyman Charles Adler of New York City called on Governor Odell today and
appealed to him to have the law closing the butcher shops on Sundays so amended
as to permit Jewish butchers who close on the Sabbath to open for a few hours
on Sundays.
1901:
Twenty-five year old Cornell trained physician Jacob Gutman, the Riga born son
of Abraham and Sarah (Gator) Gutman and member of Temple Israel married Rebecca
Dogin today in New York City.
1902(15th
of Nisan, 5662): On the first day of Passover The New York Times took
exception to a letter that Mayor Seth Low had sent to Police Commissioner John
N. Partridge advising him not to enforce “blue laws” on Sunday April 20 because
Jews needed to shop and conduct such activities as killing chickens as they
prepared for their holiday which would begin on Monday evening, April 21. The Times said that the Mayor’s ruling “was
uncalled for” and “was wrong in principle and conclusion. [Editor’s Note: Those
of us living in the 21st century with its 24/7 schedule probably
have difficulty that power of Sunday closing laws; laws that were enforced well
into the closing decades of the 20th century.”
1902:
Birthdate of Madeline Samuel, the daughter of Julius Juda Dukas and the wife of
Jacob A. Samuel.
1903: Herzl meets Lord Rothschild who
tells him that Edmond de Rothschild is delighted with his plan.
1903:
Birthdate of Marcus Polak, the native of Goor who would be murdered at Bergen
Belsen.
1904:
Birthdate of Robert J. Oppenheimer. Born in New York, Oppenheimer
was the son of a prosperous German-Jewish textile importer and an artistic
Baltimore Jewess who died when Oppenheimer was a child. A renowned
physicist, Oppenheimer bordered on the brilliant and enjoyed a wide range
of intellectual pursuits. His claim to fame is the Manhattan
Project. He was the scientific overlord of the American race
to develop and build the Atomic Bomb. After the war, Oppenheimer had
reservations about additional military uses of science. He opposed
the building of the Hydrogen Bomb, a project that was brought to a
successful conclusion by yet another Jewish scientist, Edward Teller.
Oppenheimer fell victim to the post-War Red Scare and lost his security
clearance. Oppenheimer's security clearance was regained during the
Kennedy years and his reputation was publicly rehabilitated.
He passed in 1967 at the age of 62. As to the Jewish influence
in his life, consider the following. Prior to the 1930's, Oppenheimer had led
the cloistered life of the privileged and the scientist in his ivory
tower. During the 1930's Oppenheimer became involved in liberal and
social justice causes. According to him, the change came about, in
part became, "I had had a continuing smoldering fury about the treatment
of Jews in Germany, I had relatives there, and was later to help in extricating
them and bringing them to this country...I began to participate more fully in
the life of the community."
1905(17th
of Nisan, 5665): Third Day of Pesach and Shabbat
1905:
“The Doukala, Chiadma and M’touga tribes are in full revolt near Mogador,” also
known as Suira which “is a seaport on the west coast of Morocco” that “has a
population of 19,000, 8,000 of whom are Jews.”
1906:
In Montreal, Shlomo Chaim Caplan and Chaya Bluma Routtenberg gave birth to
Jonah Ephraim Caplan the Yeshiva University graduate who had come to the United
States in 1924 served as the rabbi at several congregations including one
Astoria, NY and was “active in the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations.
1907:
Abram Biju did not marry Angelita Wertheim today as planned because the groom’s
father Isaac Bijur had passed away on the previous Saturday.
1907:
A bill introduced tonight in the New York State Legislature designed to
regulate pushcart peddlers in New York City that allow for “special temporary
licenses to be issued for Jewish and Italian holidays” for a fee less than the
standard charge of $10.
1907:
It was reported today that Ida Highwood, driven by Nathan Strauss “was almost
invincible” when she faced competitors as the Speedway. (Editor’s note – Ida
Highwood was a trotter.
1908:
Birthdate of Leonard Schapiro, the native of Glasgow, Scotland “who spend in
his childhood in Riga and St. Petersburg but returned to Britain with his
parents in 1920 where he carved out a career in economics and political studies
that led to his being named Professor of Political Science at the London School
of Economics.
1908:
Birthdate of New York native and award winning authority on providing health
care of the aged and chronically ill,
William Adelman the long-time executive director of Beth Abraham
Hospital in the Bronx and husband of the former Doris Mensch with whom he had
three sons – Richard, Mark and Robert.
1909(1st
of Iyar, 5669): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1909:
Twenty eight year old Benjamin Winter, Sr., the Lodz born son of Michael and
Beatrice Oshner Winter, who in 1901 came to the United States where he went
from painting apartment buildings to becoming a real estate mogul who lost
forty million dollars while going bankrupt during the Depression and then
making it all back and more just before his death, today married Dora Nissel
with whom he had
four
children – Marvin, Beatrice, Ethel and Natalie..
1909: In Turin, Italy, Adamo Levi, an engineer, and Adele
Montalcini, a painter, both Italian Jews who traced their roots to the Roman
Empire gave birth to Rita Levi-Montalcini, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in
physiology or medicine. (As reported by Benedict Carey)
1910:
Today Rabbi Haim (Henry) Pereira Méndez, President of the Union of Orthodox
Congregations wrote a letter to New York Mayor William Gaynor on behalf of the
Orthodox congregations in the United States and Canada thanking him for his
letter rejecting the request of Rev. Thomas M Chalmers for a license to “preach
for the conversion Jews” on street corners in some of the city’s most heavily
“Jewish” communities. Mendez expressed
his appreciation for the tone of the letter which was sympathetic to the Jewish
people and said that he would work with the Christian ministers to lift the
level of modern society to a level closer to that expressed by Judaism and
Christianity.
1910:
Rabbi Hyman Gerson Enelow completed his service as The Temple “Louisville, Kentucky Jewish weekly that firs appeared
in July of 1909.
1911(24th
of Nisan, 5671): Parashat Shimini
1911:
The Jewish World to-day published an interview with Herman Bernstein,
the author and translator, who passed through London on his way to Russia
during which he said “that since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem the
Jes have not had a better home than they have in the United and that Jewish
immigrants become Americanized more rapidly than the immigrants of other creeds
and languages” but “there seems to be a policy for the restriction of
immigration which sometimes goes byon the law and which turns the misery of the
immigrant into tragedy.”
1912:
The Wage Earner's League for Woman Suffrage held a major rally at New York's
Cooper Union. Clara Lemlich, Rose Schneiderman, and three others founded the
League which sought to encourage working women to join the political process as
well as to agitate for the right to vote. Lemlich, a shirtwaist maker, became
the League's vice president. Drawing on their background in the Socialist
movement, the founders of the Wage Earners' League emphasized the special
concerns of working women. They argued in speeches and pamphlets that women
needed the vote in order to secure basic human rights like safe working
conditions. In doing so, League leaders came into conflict with both Socialist
men and middle-class women. The men who counted on female allies in Socialist
causes bluntly suggested that suffrage activists return to their kitchens.
Middle-class women showed their class bias in suggesting that their wealth and
education made them more capable activists than these working women. Wary of
having their specific concerns sidestepped, League members agreed that any
woman could join their group, but that only workers could vote, ensuring that
working women would remain in control of the League's agenda and tactics.
Today’s rally at Cooper Union brought together thousands of cheering women to
listen to arguments for women's suffrage. The location was symbolic; Cooper
Union was the site of the rally that had kicked off the "Uprising of the
20,000," one of the first and most influential strikes of industrial
garment workers, just three years before. Despite a large and enthusiastic
turnout at the rally, the League dissolved soon afterward. Lacking a full-time
organizer and a steady source of funding, the League ceased to be active.
Schneiderman went on a speaking tour for another suffrage organization; her
colleagues likewise turned their energies to other groups. Ultimately, the
fight for suffrage would depend on alliances across class and gender lines.
1912:
In London, those attending a “meeting of the East End Jewish shopkeepers”
passed a “resolution petitioning the local Borough Council to grant Jewish East
End traders an exemption under the Shops Act.”
1912:
The Eastern Council of Reform Rabbis, whose purpose was “to offer a
reaffirmation of the member’s faith in the permanent character and value to
Israel and to the world of Liberal or Reform Judaism” was organized today.
1913(15th
of Nisan, 5673): Pesach
1913(15th
of Nisan, 5673): Seventy-four year old “manufacturer” Gabriel Hirsch passed
away today in Philadelphia.
1913:
Rabbi Tobias Schanfarber is scheduled to lead Passover services this morning at
K.A.M. Temple in Chicago, Illinois
1913:
Founding of Beth Aaron Synagogue in Minneapolis, MN.
1913:
Jacob Adler and Sara Adler are scheduled to begin a weeklong run at the
Haymarket Theatre where he will perform “Style” by Abraham Shomer.
1914:
In the Netherlands, Professor Arnold Hendrik and Lucretia de Hartog gave birth
to author Jan de Hartog who wrote “Skipper Next to God” in which Wolfe
Barzell’s performance provided the inspiration for his nephew Emanuel “Manny”
Azenberg to become interested in theatre; an interest that would lead to a
thirty-three relationship with playwright Neil Simon.
1915:” An application for a commutation of Leo Frank's death
sentence was submitted to a three-person Prison Commission in Georgia.”
1915:
During WW I, at Ypres, the Germans used gas for the first time on the
battlefield.
1915(8th
of Iyar, 5675): David S. Lehman, the native of Portsmouth, Ohio, the husband of
the former Alma Schlesinger, the son-in-law or Rabbi Max Schlesinger of Albany,
NY and the Vice President of the National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives died
in Denver today “form intestinal trouble after several months’ of illness.
1915:
“Seventy Jews” who are seeking to emigrate to America or Australia arrived in
Alexandria today from Jerusalem and described the “terrible economic situation”
with flour costing fifteen dollars a sack, potatoes being sold for “six times
the ordinary cost” and the appearance of huge swarms of locusts.
1916(19th
of Nisan, 5676): Fifth day of Pesach; Shabbat
1916:
It was reported today that Dr. Straus a native of Germany now living in New
York provided the $25,000 to start the Alpha and Omega Publishing Company which
will published The American Jewish Chronicle, a weekly publication that will
serve as an advocate for the rights of European Jews after the World War comes
to an end.
1916: Birthdate of Yehudi Menuhin famed violin
virtuoso and conductor. He passed away in March, 1999 at the age of 83.
1917(30th
of Nisan, 5677) Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1917:
Rabbi Samuel Schulman is scheduled deliver a talk on “The War and Religion” at
Temple Beth-El.
1917:
At Carnegie Hall, the Free Synagogue is scheduled to host “Tenth Anniversary
Exercise” that will include a sermon by Rabbi Wise on “Is the Free Synagogue
Worthwhile?”
1917:
Dr. Silverman is scheduled to deliver a talk on “What the Jews Have Done for
the World” at Temple Emanu-El.
1917:
“Students from Adelphi College, College of the City of New York, Columbia
Univesity, Hunter College and New York University” attended “the second annual
dinner of the Menorah Society in Greater New York” which was held this evening
at the Hotel Netherland in New York City
1917:
In Cardiff, Wales, “solicitor and cinema owner” Rudolf Abse gave birth to Leo
Abse, the husband of Marjorie Davis with whom he had two children – Tobias and
Bathsheba – who was a lawyer and a 30 Welsh Labour Member of Parliament who
promoted laws to liberalize divorce and decriminalize homosexual behavior.
1917:
Professor Philip Boas of Whitman University delivered a speech entitled “Youth
and Judaism” at the Spring Assembly of the Eastern Council of Reform Rabbis at
Temple Emanu-El this evening in which he “said that he did not believe that
Jewish youths were deserting the synagogue.”
“He asserted there signs of greater consciousness of Judaism among the
young than there were ten years ago, but the youth wanted to see resulted and
wanted to see how religion was benefiting the world.”
1917:
“The American Jewish Historical Society began its 25th convention
today at the Hotel Ansonia.
1917:
Max J. Kohler, the son of the President the Hebrew Union College, presented a paper
on “Jewish Rights at the Congress of Vienna” today.
1917:
Dr. Cyrus Adler, Oscar S. Straus, Dr. Jacob H. Hollander and Daniel P. Hayes
spoke at this evening’s reception hosted by the Judean Society under the
leadership of its President, Dr. Henry M. Leipziger for members of the American
Jewish Historical Society.
1917:
Jacob H. Schiff, a long-time opponent of creating a “Jewish nation in
Palestine” delivered a speech at a meeting of the League of the Jewish Youth of
America at the Century Theatre in which expressed his support for the creation
of a “center for Jewish culture” in Palestine because he believed “in the
Jewish people, in the mission of the Jewish people” and in the need for a place
where “Jewish culture might be further and developed, unhampered by the
materialism of the world.”
1918:
Austrian native Nettie Kinsbruner, the daughter of Shmuel Meyer Stettner and
Rachel Stettner and her husband David (Aubie) Kinsbruner gave birth to
Beatrice, the sister of American college basketball star Mac Kinsbrunner.
1918:
Birthdate of Solomon Aaron Berson, the New York born physician who worked with
Rosalyn Yallow on “major advances in clinical biochemistry.”
1919(22nd
of Nisan, 5679): Eighth Day of Pesach
1919:
In one of those great calendar coincidences, today in New York, Frederick and
Margareten, part of the matzah empire, gave birth to Muriel V. Margareten who became Muriel V. Nusbaum which she
married Goodwin Nusbaum
1919:
I. Edwin Goldwasser, the executive director of the Federation for the support of
Jewish Philanthropic Societies is scheduled to lecture on “Co-ordination in
Jewish Philanthropy” at this evening’s meeting of the Council of Jewish Women
at the Sinai Center in Chicago.
1919:
Jacob H. Schiff, Abram I.Elkus and Dr. Stephen S. are scheduled to speak at the
reception for the Earl of Reading sponsored by the Judaeans which will be
presided over by President Samson Lachman
1920:
During the San Remo Conference, Chaim Weizmann has a private meeting with Lloyd
George and Lord Balfour during which he presses the British leaders “for a
civil administration in Palestine, run by the British under a League of Nations
mandate. This stood in stark contrast
with the French leaders who did not want the Balfour Declaration to be part of
the peace treaty with the Ottomans.
1920:
In Washington, the Tacoma News Tribune reported that Leach Cross (born Louis
Charles Wallach” whose boxing nickname was “The Fighting Dentist” “had signed
with Universal Pictures in Los Angeles to appear in an 18-episode serial entitle
“The Vanishing Dagger.”
1921(14th
of Nisan, 5681):Ta’anit Bechorot; Erev Pesach
1921:
Today, an Englishman who “believed in the Jewish origin of the British Royal
Family” considered Saeki Yoshiro’s theory of the Jewish origins of the Japanese
people, Israel’s Messenger carried a
letter from former lady-in-waiting Elizabeth A. Gordon.
1921:
In Manhattan, Minna (Harlib) Koenig and Judge Morris Koenig gave birth to
Dartmouth undergraduate and Columbia Law School trained attorney Julian Norman
Koenig the WW II Army veteran and creative advertising man credit with coming
up with the campaign for the Volkswagen Beetle and Earth Day, which was first
celebrated for the first time on his 49th birthday. (As reported by
William Yardley)
1922:
Birthdate of American microbiologist Wolf Vladimir Vishniac, the Berlin born
son of photographer Roman Vishniac, husband of Helen Vishniacand the father of
astronomer Ethan Vishniac.
1922:
The national board of Hadassah voted "no confidence" in the
leadership of ZOA President Louis Lipsky.
1923:
In Manhattan, novelist Paul Hervey Fox and “the former Elsie de Sola” gave
birth to novelist Paula Fox.
1924:
“Arguing that this Government and others had made costly mistakes in dealing
with Oriental peoples because they did not know enough about them, and
intimating his belief that the United States was on the verge of committing
another similar blunder with relation to the Japanese for the same reason, Dr.
Cyrus Adler, President of Dropsie College, appealed today for a change in the
viewpoint with which the Western nations looked at those in the East,”
1925:
In Sosnowiec, Poland, Herschel Krysztal, an accountant and the former Dora
Grossman gave birth to Henyek Krysztal who gained famed as psychiatrist Dr.
Henry Krystal. (As reported by Sam Roberts)
1926: In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, “Russian Jewish
immigrants Esther (née Ottenstein), who was a childhood friend of Israeli Prime
Minister Golda Meir, and Meyer Lubotsky, a retail tire business owner gave
birth to Charlotte Rae Lubotsky who gained fame as Emmy nominated actress
Charlotte Rae and the mother of Larry Straus who co-authored her autobiography The
Facts of My Life.
1927(20th
of Nisan, 5687):Sixth Day of Pesach
1928: In Dallas Texas, David Sperling, “a tailor
who had changed his surname from Spurling to Spelling” and his wife Pearl Wald,
both of whom were Russian Jewish immigrants gave birth to SMU graduate “Aaron
Spelling, the TV executive producer who gave us “Charlie's Angels.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/24/arts/television/24spelling.html
1928:
In the Hell’s Kitchen section of New York
Polish Jewish immigrants Anna and Isaac “Ira” Nussbaum” gave birth to
Estelle Nussbaum who gained fame as Estelle Harris the actress best known for
her role “as Estelle Costanza the mother Seinfeld sidekick George Costanza” who
raised three children – Eric, Glen and Taryn – with her husband Sy Harris.
1928:
Banker Jacques Stern who had run “on the Left Republic List” began serving as a
deputy for the Dinge “district of Bassess-Alpes” today.
1928:
Following Hadassah President Irma Levy Lindheim’s recent declaration that the
administration of the ZOA was "not an effective instrument for the
achievement of world Zionist aims for the up-building of Palestine" today
the National Board of Hadassah registered a vote of no confidence in the
leadership of ZOA President Louis Lipsky.
1929(12th
of Nisan, 5689): Sixty-nine-year-old Cleveland clothing manufacturer John
Ainsfeld, the Vienna born son of Israel and Amelia (Geldwerth) Ainsfeld who
married Edith Karolyn after his first wife, Daniela Guttenberg had passed away
and who was President of Mt. Sinai Hospital and the Jewish Infant Orphan’s Home
as well as a member of the Hebrew Free Loan Association and the treasurer of
the of Federation for Jewish Charities, passed away.
https://case.edu/ech/articles/a/anisfield-john
1930:
Release date for the all-star revue “Paramount on Parade” written by Joseph
Mankiewicz and co-produced by Jesse Lasky, Adolph Zucker, Albert S. Kaufman and
B.P. Schulberg.
1930:
In Manhattan, The Warner Bros. Hollywood Theatre which was later re-named The
Mark Hellinger Theatre, opened today.
1931:
A charity dinner is scheduled to be held at the Hotel Biltmore today “under the
auspices of the New York Campaign for the Relief of Jews in Eastern Europe”
which is trying to raise one million dollars.
1931:
JBI International was founded as the Jewish Braille Institute of America
1932(16th
of Nisan, 5692): Second Day of Pesach; first day of the Omer is observed for
the last time during the Presidency of Herbert Hoover, who without fanfare or
controversy, appointed the second Jewish Supreme Court Associate Justice.
1933(26th
of Nisan, 5693): Parashat Shmini
1933(26th
of Nisan, 5693): A Jewish merchant,
Salomon Rosenstrauch was shot dead in Wiesbaden, Germany.
1933:
In Nazi Germany, the government adopted measures excluding Jewish students from
school.
1933:
“A conference of executive directors of Y.M.H.A.’s, Y.W H.A’s and Jewish
Community Centers” is scheduled to begin this evening at the 92nd
Street Y.
1933(26th
of Nisan, 5693): Fifty-nine year old Sándor Ferenczi, the “son of Baruch -
Bernát Ferenczi and Róza Frenkel” and “husband of Gizella Palos – Propper”
passed away today.
1934:
Cleveland E. Dodge, President of the of the Greater New York Y.M.C.A. and Judge
Irving Lehman, President of the Jewish Welfare Board are scheduled to two of
the speakers at the is evening’s dinner at the Hotel Commodore at the
anniversary dinner of the Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association of
the Bronx.
1935:
In Los Angeles, the premier of “Bride of Frankenstein,” the sci-fi thriller”
produced by Carl Laemmle, Jr and filmed by cinematographer Franz Waxman.
1936(30th
of Nisan, 5696): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1936:
“As the racial rioting stormed in its third week, a communique issued by the
(British) police declared that masses of Arabs were still attacking Jewish
settlements” including at “Hatikvah Settlemet” and “Shechunath Areyh, midway
between Tel Aviv and Petach Tikvah” were “Jews successfully defended the
settlement until police arrived and beat off the invaders.”
1936:
“At Jenin, on the main highway to Jerusalem, a large crowd of Arab villagers
help up and stone Jewish buses, wounding two passengers.”
1936:
Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, national chairman of the United Palestine Appeal
announced today that the Palestine Foundation Fund and the Jewish National Fund
had sent $100,000 to Palestine” from funds that were being collecting in the
United States for the settlement of Jews from German, Poland and countries in
Palestine.
1936:
“At 5 o’clock this morning a Jewish-owned cardboard factory near Tel Aviv was
burned by Arabs.”
1936:
“A Jewish merchant in the old city of Jerusalem who tried to open his shop was
beaten by young Arab agitators and forced to close.”
1937(11th
of Iyar, 5697): Ninety-four year old Albany, NY native Simon Wolfe Rosendale
the New York State Attorney General who was the first Jew elected to a
state-wide office in “the Empire State” and who was active in Jewish communal
affairs even though he was an anti-Zionist passed away today.
http://enacademic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/10075964
1937(11th
of Iyar, 5697): Sixty-seven year old Mrs. Marcus M. Marks (Esther Friedman),
the “widow of the Borough President of Manhattan” who was also called by some
“the father of day-light saving plans” passed away today.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9502E7D6133AE23ABC4B51DFB266838C629EDE
1938(21st
of Nisan, 5698): Seventh Day of Pesach.
1938:
“Nazis prohibit Aryan 'front-ownership' of Jewish businesses.”
1938:
It was reported today that a “lawyer’s group” to raise funds for the American
Ort Foundation “was formed at meeting in the office former Judge Grossman” and
a “dentists group” was formed at offices on offices at 212 Fifth Avenue where
“Dr. John L. Kaufman was elected chairman.”
1939:
Birthdate of Uri Orr, the native of Kfar Haim who rose to the rank of general
in the IDF before pursuing a political career that included serving as an MK
and Deputy Minister of Defense.
1939:
“Dark Victory,” a melodrama produced by David Lewis, with music by Max Steiner
was released today in the United States.
1939:
“The Greek cattleboat Assimi which attempted to land 263 illegal Jewish
immigrants” in Palestine “twelve days ago was ordered to leave Haifa
tonight.” When the police announced
the decision, “the passengers tore off their clothing and screamed that they
would rather be killed than be sent back to sea. Some prayed and recited
psalms. When the Jewish residents of Haifa heard the screams and prayers aboard
the Assimi” they spontaneously proclaimed a strike that took hold throughout
the city. Protesters carried signs
reading ‘Open the gates to the Jewish illegals’ and ‘Down with the barbaric
attitude toward illegals. The captain had been fined and imprisoned for his
role in bringing the Jews to Palestine. To add insult to injury the captain had
been fined and imprisoned for his role in bringing the Jews to Palestine.
1940(14th
of Nisan, 5700): The Sommer family sits down to their first Seder in
Liechtenstein. How this family of German
Jewish refugees from Munich came to be there was chronicled by Susi
Pugatsch-Sommer in an article entitled “A Pesach Miracle in Nazi Germany.”
My
family - my parents Binyamin and Friedl Sommer, myself (13) my sister Ella
(10), my brother Alfred (7), and my grandmother, Rachel - lived in temporary
quarters in Munich, after our home had been confiscated by the Nazi daily
newspaper, Völkischer Beobachter in 1939. My father had been arrested and
incarcerated in the Dachau Camp in 1938 for a short time. Once he was released,
he realized that he and the family had to leave Germany as quickly as possible,
but he could not find a way to get out. In November 1939, my father left home
for a few days, and hid the forest near Munich, since he was informed that the
Nazis would arrest all male Jews again and send them to a concentration camp.
By chance, he met a man in the forest who identified himself only as an
engineer. This man told him that he could arrange an entry permit into neutral
Liechtenstein only if he had enough money to open a building materials factory
and pay salaries to 100 workers, since unemployment was high in Liechtenstein.
My father agreed immediately, since he had no other option to save our lives.
Miraculously, we received visas for Liechtenstein in the beginning of April
1940, in the middle of World War II, our passes to relative safety. We had 14
days to leave Germany, and each person was allowed to take one suitcase and 10
reichmarks. We boarded the train in Munich three days before Pessah. We were
frisked at the German border and after the Nazis didn't find anything
forbidden, were allowed to cross the border to Liechtenstein on foot. We were
completely exhausted when we arrived in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, and went to sleep
in a simple hotel. We did not know if there were any Jewish families in
Liechtenstein, and we had no idea how we would keep Pessah properly and buy
matzot. Then our next miracle happened. The following morning, as we wandered
around town, a young girl stopped us and asked if we were Jewish and if she
could help us. Immediately, she introduced us to her parents and some other
Jewish families. The Schönwalder family invited us into their home, to their
Seder and we continued to have all our meals and prayers there during the week
of Pessah. We continued to reside in Liechtenstein for 10 years. At this time,
only 40 to 50 Jews lived there. I met with the Schönwalders' daughter, Edith,
almost every day, and she is still a very good friend of mine. Today, we both
live in Israel. I'll never forget the miracle that happened to us - my father's
chance meeting with the engineer, an emigration visa in the midst of the war,
and the wonderful families who helped us celebrate Pessah as religious Jews.
1940: SS official Odilo
Globocnik announced a plan to increase the use of Jewish forced labor and to
establish separate work camps for Jewish men and women.
1940:
Detroit Tigers Pitcher Dick Conger appeared in his first major league baseball
game.
1940:
Ten members of the staff of Ben Shemen Youth village, including the director
are sentenced to serve prison terms of up to seven years. The British had
raided Ben Shemen in January and found weapons belonging to the Haganah. The
prison sentences were for their role in hiding the weapons.
1941:
Birthdate of Israeli Amir Pnueli an Israeli scientist who developed a “critical
technique for verifying the reliability of computers.”
1941:
“The Lady from Louisiana,” produced and directed by Bernard Vorhaus son of an American “lawyer of Jewish-Austrian
extraction” was released today in the United States.
1942:
U.S. premiere of “Saboteur,” a WW II spy thriller with a screenplay co-authored
by Peter Viertel and Dorothy Parker.
1943(17th
of Nisan, 5703) Third Day of Pesach
1943:
“We Will Never Die” was performed in Philadelphia's Convention Hall, with guest
stars Claude Rains and Edward G. Arnold in the lead roles. More than 15,000
people attended--it was the largest Jewish public event in the city in many
years — and it received extensive coverage in the local press.
(As
reported by Jewish Virtual Library)
1943: The Nazis deported the
Jews of Amersfoort, Holland.
1943:
Day four of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.
1943: In New York City, Daniel Gluck, the inventor,
along with his brother-in-law Sundel Doniger, of the X-Acto Knife and his wife
gave birth to Louise Elisabeth Gluck the American Pulitzer Prize winning poet
who “was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of
Congress in 2003, after serving as a Special Bicentennial Consultant three
years prior in 2000.”
1944:
It was reported today that Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau, Jr. has
announced that “principles on which a program for world currency stabilization
can be based have been agreed on by most of the experts of some thirty Allied
and associated nations” marking a major step forward in creating a stable
economic for a post-war world which will be critical to “winning the peace.”
1945: The Big Red One,
whose members included Samuel Fuller, “finished clearing the Harz Mountains”
before turning south to join up with the U.S. Third Army.
1945: Sidney Bernstein, a cinema entrepreneur, had been an advisor
to the Ministry of Information since 1940 who producing “German Concentration
Camps Factual Survey,” “the official British documentary film on the Nazi
Concentration Camps”
“visited the Bergen Belsen concentration camp today a week after it was
liberated by British forces.”
1945: Six hundred of the remaining inmates at
Jasenovac Concentration Camp rose up against their Croatian killers.
The Croatians killed over five hundred of them. This camp was
located in a breakaway republic from Yugoslavia called Coratia. The
Croatians ran the camp for their Axis allies and were responsible for the
deaths of tens of thousands of Jews. For those of you who remember
the fighting in the 1990's in Yugoslavia, you will now understand that genocide
is no stranger to the Balkans. Only a thousand Jews and Serbs remained.
Tens of thousands of them were killed over the past five years. Six hundred
rose in revolt. The Germans killed 520 of them.
1945: The Soviet Army liberated the Concentration
Camp at Sachsenhausen in Germany. The camp was about 35 kilometers from
Berlin and was established in 1938. Approximately thirty to thirty-five
thousands people including Jews perished in the camp.
1945:
Birthdate of Donald E. Graham, the grandson of Eugene Meyer and the son of
Katherine Graham
1946(21st
of Nisan, 5706) Seventh Day of Pesach
1946:
Opening of Kibbutz Beitar in Bruna.
1946:
Associate Justice Felix Frankfurter joined the Chief Justice and another
Associate Justice in dissenting in Girouard v. United States – a case involving
a the application of a pacifist for naturalization.
1946: Composer Ezra Laderman was discharged from
the U.S. Army today. He then studied composition under Stefan Wolpe of New York
and Miriam Gideon of Brooklyn College where he earned his B.A.in 1950. He then
went on to study under Otto Luening of Columbia University where he earned his
M.A. in 1952.
1947: Another 769 illegal Jewish immigrants arriving on board the
Galata in Eretz Israel were trans-shipped to Cyprus.
1948(13th of Nisan, 5708): Sixty-six year old San Luis
Obispo, CA native and Harvard Ph.D. Barry Cerf, the husband of Emily Cerf with
whom he raised three children including “Edward Owen Cerf, an editor of Time
magazine” and who has been a Professor of Literature at Reed College since 1921
where he wrote “his best known work, Anatole France,” passed away today
in Portland.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1948/04/24/84536103.html?pageNumber=15
1948: Operation Misparayim (scissors) was launched by the Haganah
as part of the Yishuv’s attempt to assume control of Haifa after British
withdrawal and attacks had been made by Arab forces to control this port
city. By the end of the day, Haifa was
in the hand of the mainline Zionist forces.
1949: Writing in Haaretz, Arye Gelblum described immigrants
from North Africa as dirty, disease ridden and prone to drunkenness and
prostitution.
1949: It was reported that Berta Gersten will be starring in the
title role of “The Silent Woman,” a dramatization of Louis Frieman’s new Jewish
radio play of the same which will open on April 25 at the Parkway Theatre in
Brooklyn.
1949: The NBC Television Network broadcast the final episode of
the panel show “Stop Me If You’ve Hear this One” on which Morey Amsterdam, Lew
Lehr and Benny Rubin appeared as regular panelists.
1949: Hebrew University reopened in temporary quarters in west
Jerusalem
1950: Tonight, after the end of Shabbat, Israel began the
celebration of her second year of independence.
In his address to the nation, President Weizmann called upon Israelis
“to celebrate in joy and happiness the great salvation wrought to our people
after centuries of exile and affliction.”
In Jerusalem, Joseph Sprinzak, Speaker of the Knesset, lit a torch on
Mt. Herzl which lit from fire provided by veterans of the Masada Battalion
which had defended Jerusalem from attacks by Egyptians and Arab Irregulars
during the dark days of the siege of the City of David. Similar festivities
took place throughout the country including open air performances, torch light
parades and the sounding of sirens by ships of many nations docked in Israel’s
major ports.
1950: In Germany, Holocaust survivors Joseph and Elizabeth Wilf
gave birth to real estate developer Zygmunt “Zygi” Wilf who bought the
Minnesota Vikings football team in 2005
1951: Philadelphia Athletics first baseman Lou Limmer played in
his first major league baseball game.
1952(27th of Nisan, 5712): Yom HaShoah
1952(27th of Nisan, 5712): Forty-nine year old Jakob
Rosenfeld the Lemberg born Jewish doctor who survived Dachau and Buchenwald and
gained fame as General Luo, the Minister of Health under Chairman Mao, passed
away today. (Editor’s note – an exciting life like is certainly worthy of a
biography and a NETFLIX series)
https://ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=302
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3330950,00.html
1951(16th of Nisan, 5711): Second Day of Pesach
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that the
"past seven days was the bloodiest week along Israeli borders for a long
time." Two Israelis were murdered at Mevuot Betar, the marauders were
active in the South, in Galilee and Jerusalem. There was a general outcry when
General Bennet L. de Ridder, the U.N. Chairman of the Israel-Jordan Mixed
Armistice Commission refused to comply with the Israeli request to call an
emergency meeting of the Commission to discuss the latest developments and, in
particular, the murder of Zvi Genauer and his niece, Dvora, in Jerusalem. This
incomprehensible U.N. decision was taken despite the fact that the tracks of
the three marauders, responsible for this murder, were discovered by an U.N.
observer and an Israeli officer who noted that they led to the Jordanian-occupied
village of Beit Iksa. The General claimed that it was not the duty of his
Commission to deal with incidents "of this type."
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel's
three-years-long land survey, conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, had
almost been completed.
1953:
Herman Pekarsky, the director of the Jewish Community Council of Essex County,
NJ, was among the speakers at the 25th birthday celebration held at
the Park Sheraton, honoring The Welcome Wagon organization.
1953:
Birthdate of Steve Bond, the native of Haifa who gained fame while appearing in
the soap opera General Hospital.
1953:
“It Happens Every Thursday” a comedy directed by Joseph Pevney, produced by
Leonard Goldstein and with music by Herman Stein was released today in the
United States.
1954(19th
of Nisan, 5714): Fifth Day of Pesach
1954(19th
of Nisan, 5714: Sixty-nine year old Congressman, NY State Supreme Court Justice
and accused Soviet Spy, Samuel Dickstein, the Vilna born son “Rabbi Israel
Dickstein and Slata B. Gordon” passed away today.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/samuel-dickstein
http://collections.americanjewisharchives.org/ms/ms0008/ms0008.html
https://spartacus-educational.com/Samuel_Dickstein.htm
1954:
Leo Lerman, the Jewish editor and writer for such glossy fashion magazines as Vogue, Mademoiselle and Vanity Fair
met famed American author William Faulkner for the first time.
1954: The so-called
Army-McCarthy Hearings began. These hearings, which helped bring an end to
McCarthy’s abuse of power was triggered by two of his Jewish supporters. One was the powerful Roy Cohn, the McCarthy
Committee’s chief counsel. The other was
Cohn’s close friend, G. David Schine.
1955(30th of Nisan, 5715): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1955(30th of Nisan, 5715): Sixty-five year old Columbia
alum and Rochester School of Optometry Dr. Joseph Irving Pascal, the son of
Lithuanian rabbi Chaim Hochstein and Celia Rubinson passed away today.
https://www.ajo.com/article/0002-9394(55)92142-5/pdf
1955: ABC broadcast the final episode of “Where’s Raymond,” the
sit-com produced by Stanley Shapiro.
1956: While speaking at a ground-breaking ceremony for the Birchwood
Jewish Ceremony, State Controller Arthur Levitt today urged monetary and moral
support for Israel in her ‘trying times.’”
1956: “Israeli Premier David BenGurion said today the cease-fire
with Egypt negotiated by Dag Hammarskjold "does not reduce in the
slightest" the danger of war.”
1957(21st of Nisan, 5717): Seventh Day of Pesach
1957: Today, “in his sermon at Congregation Zichron Ephraim, Rabbi
Zev Zahavy said that individuals and nations were in need of redemptions.”
1957: On Long Island, Rabbi Samuel M. Silver who is the director
of public information for Union of American Hebrew Congregations “voiced
criticism of the State Department” saying that its “agreement to bar Jewish
service men from Saudi Arabia was a concession to bigotry.
1958: “Jordanian soldiers shot and kill two fishermen near Aqaba.”
1959(14th of Nisan, 5719): Fast of the First Born; erev
Pesach
1960: In Quebec, Dr. Harry J. Stern led the services dedicating
the new home of Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, the oldest Reform or Liberal congregation
in Canada.
1961: Lucille Ball collapsed while performing in “Wildcast” the
musical with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh and music by Cy Coleman.
1963(28th of Nisan, 5723): Yom HaShoah
1965(20th of Nisan, 5725): Sixth Day of Pesach
1965(20th of Nisan, 5725): Silesia native and Breslau
Theological Seminary trained rabbi, Dr. Arthur Loewenstamm, who served a as
rabbi in Pless from 1917 until 1939 when he came to London as a refugee
and “worked as the Director of Jewish Studies based at West London Synagogue
passed away today.
1967(12th of Nisan, 5727): Shabbat HaGadol
1967(12th of Nisan,
5727): Eighty-four-year-old Ukraine born agricultural economist and
statistician Dr. Naum Jasny, “a specialist in the study of the Soviet economy”
passed away today.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jasny-naum
1969: As of today, Samuel Dalsimer begins serving as national
chairman of the ADL.
1970(16th of Nisan, 5730): Second Day of Pesach
1970: Arthur Krock “was presented with the Presidential Medal of
Freedom by President Richard Nixon.”
1971(27th of Nisan, 5731): Yom HaShoah
1971(27th of Nisan, 5731): Seventy-two year old Joseph
Ginsburg the father of French entertainer Serge Gainsbourg passed away today.
1973:
Birthdate of Ofer Talker, the native of Ashdod who
gained fame playing football for several teams the last of which was Hapoel
Kfar Saba from which he retired in 2009.
1973: Birthdate of Delmar, NY native Anita Lynn Kaplan, the 6’5”
center on the Stanford University Basketball team who played professionally for
the San Jose Laser and Chicago Condors and was released by the WNBA Cleveland
Rockers before league play began.
1974: Birthdate of Israeli Arab MK Mansour Abbas, the leader of
Ra’am, or United Arab List.
1974: Israeli political leader Amir Peretz was severely injured in
accident at the Mitla Pass.
1975: Barbara Walters signed a five-year $5 million
contract with the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), becoming the highest
paid television newsperson.
1975:
Eighty-two year old Sir Godfrey Rolles Driver the Old Testament scholar who was
a Professor of Semitic Philology at Oxford whose expertise included a knowledge
of the Semitic languages of the Biblical period passed away today.
http://www.theologicalstudies.org.uk/article_driver_bruce.html
1976(22nd
of Nisan, 5736): Eighth Day of Pesach observed for the last time during the
Presidency of Gerald Ford.
1977:
Shimon Peres became premier of Israel.
1977:
“The Late Show,” a mystery co-starring Bill Macy was released today in the
United States.
1978: In Paris, France, Izhar Cohen & Alphabeta
won the twenty-third Eurovision Song Contest for Israel by singing
"A-ba-ni-bi".
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that an
agreement was reached to end the 18-days-long El Al lockout which had already
cost the national airline more than IL100m, and the tourist industry hundreds
of millions more.
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel
won the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time with an entry called
"A-Ba-Ni-Bi". Israel scored 157 points, Belgium 121 and France 119.
1978:
After six seasons, CBS broadcast the final episode of “Maude” a sitcom created
by Norman Lear and starring Beatrice Arthur in the title role.
1979:
The President’s Commission on the Holocaust has set today as the first day of
the week entitled “Days of Remembrance” for honoring the victims of Nazism.
1979(25th
of Nisan, 5739): Seventy-seven year old Kiev born and Birkbeck College trained
solicitor Sir Leon Bagrit who led “Elliot-Automation Ltd” one of the world
largest computer manufacturers pass away today.
1979(25th
of Nisan, 5739): Shamir Kuntar was part of a cell that raided the northern
Israeli town of Nahariya, fatally shooting a civilian, Danny Haran, while his
daughter Einat, 4, watched, then smashing the girl’s head, killing her as well.
Mr. Haran’s wife, Smadar, hid with their 2-year-old daughter, accidentally
suffocating her in an effort to stop her from crying out.
1981(18th
of Nisan, 5741): Fourth Day of Pesach
1981:
Birthdate of Parisian native and baritone opera singer David Serero who was
responsible for creating a version “Cyrano De Bergerac,” that features
“Sephardi and jazz standards.”
1982(29th
of Nisan, 5742): Eighty-two year old Irish film director and actor Harold
Goldblatt passed away today.
1982(29th
of Nisan, 5742): Seventy-nine-year-old Gertrude Nadler Perlman, the daughter of
Abraham and Shaindel Buchalter Nadler and wife of Harry Perlman who she married
in 1929 passed away today after which she was buried at the Baron de Hirsch
Cemetery in Montreal.
1982:
“Six refuseniks in Odessa joined the hunger strike begun by Kiev refuseniks on
March 15th.”
1984:
In Israel Al HaMishmar published the first report of allegations that the
hijackers of Bus 300 had been shot after being captured.
1985:
According to Israeli businessman Yaacov Nimrodi, today was the day when a
chartered merchant ship, the Westline, was scheduled to leave Eilat filled with
weaponry for Iran as part of a deal that Americans would come to know as
Iran-Contra.
1985:
The United States Trade Representative and the Israeli Minister of Industry and
Trade signed a Free Trade Agreement today that “eliminated all duties and
virtually all other restrictions on trade in goods between” their two
respective countries.
1988:
U. S. premiere of “White Mischief” directed by Michael Radford who co-authored
the screenplay.
1988:
“Permanent Record,” the highly praised drama directed by Marisa Silver was
released today in the United States.
1988:
“Two Moon Junctions,” directed by Zalman King who co-authored the screenplay
was released today in the United States.
1989(17th
of Nisan, 5749): Third Day of Pesach
1989(17th
of Nisan, 5749): Eighty-four year old Emilio Gino Segrè the Italian refugee who
was part of the Manhattan Project and who was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Physics in 1989 passed away today.
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1959/segre-bio.html
1990:
At the Royale Theatre, after 476 performances the curtain came down on the
original Broadway of “Lend Me a Tenor" produced by Jerry Zaks and
featuring Tova Feldshuh and Victor Garber
1991(8th
of Iyar, 5751): Eighty-one year old Judah Bergman, the London born boxer known
was Jack Kid Berg “who became the World Light Welterweight Champion in 1930”
passed away today in his hometown.
1991: Shalom America (Jewish cable network) was
launched in Brooklyn & Queens.
1993:
The Holocaust Memorial Museum was dedicated in Washington,
D.C. There is no way to do this justice. For more information
see http://www.ushmm.org/.
1993(1st
of Iyar 5753): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1993(1st
of Iyar, 5753): Miles Lerhman served as chairman of the Holocaust Memorial
Museum from its opening today until 2000, eight years before his death in 2008
at the age of 88.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/obituaries/24lerman.html?_r=0
1994:
“Chasers” a comedy featuring Betty Schram as “Flo” was released in the United
States today.
1994:
“The Inkwell,” a romantic comedy produced by Irving Azoff was released today in
the United States
1994(11th
of Iyar, 5754): Dr. Lewis Barth, Professor of Midrash and Related Literature at
HUC-JIR in Los Angeles delivered the 1994 Rabbi Max Nussbaum Memorial Lecture.
http://bcf.usc.edu/~lbarth/nussbaum/nussbaum.html
1994: Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United
States passed away. Nixon's relations with Jews and the Jewish community
ranged from uneven to stormy. In his first campaign for the U.S. Senate,
Nixon supporters smeared his opponent with the tar brush of
anti-Semitism. Nixon did have Jews working on White House Staff.
He was frustrated by is inability to
gain support among Jewish voters and some of his comments on the White House
tapes about Jews are, to be charitable, less than complimentary. At the
same time, in 1973, he came through for Israel. Thanks to Nixon, the
Americans conducted a mammoth airlift of supplies that enabled the IDF to turn
the tide after the Arab sneak attack and gain a military victory in the Yom
Kippur War.
1995: Yagil Amir, who had sworn to kill Prime
Minister Rabin, unsuccessfully tried to enter a hall in Jerusalem where Rabin
was present as the guest of honor.
1995(22nd
of Nisan, 5755): 8th Day of Pesach
1995(22nd
of Nisan, 5755): Ninety-two year old Sir Horace Kadoorie, scion of the Kdoorie
family that migrated from Baghdad to Mumbai to Hong Kong passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/26/obituaries/horace-kadoorie-philanthropist-92.html
1997(15th of Nisan, 5757): Pesach
1997: ‘Déjà Vu,” an “American dramatic romance film
directed by Henry Jaglom” was released in the United States today.
1998: Five days after premiering in the United
States, “Paulie” a fantasy film co-starring Hallie Eisenberg was released in
Germany today.
1999(6th of Iyar, 5759): Seventy-one year
old Matthew A. Margolis the Akron, OH born son of Elias H. Margolis and Dora
Margolis passed away today in his home town.
1999: In Manhattan, jurors awarded a patient of Dr.
Pamela Lipkin, an East Side plastic surgeon $600,000 in damages.
2000(17th of Nisan, 5760): Third day of
Pesach
2000(17th of Nisan, 5760): Seventy-nine
year old theatrical producer Alexander H. Cohen passed away today. (As reported
by Alex Witchel)
http://archives.nypl.org/the/21770
2001: The New York Times featured reviews of
books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Country
Matters: The Pleasures and Tribulations of Moving From a Big City to an Old
Country Farmhouse by Michael Korda, Teacha!: Stories From a Yeshiva
by Gerry Albarelli and Resisting Hitler: Mildred Harnack and the Red
Orchestra by
Shareen Blair Brysac.
2001(29th of Nisan, 5761): Dr. Mario Goldin, 53, of Kfar Sava, was
killed when a terrorist detonated a powerful bomb he was carrying near a group
of people waiting at a bus stop on the corner of Weizman and Tchernichovsky
streets. About 60 people were injured in the blast. Hamas claimed
responsibility.
2001: The National Football League Draft ended today
with Iowa State University Quarterback Sage Rosenthal becoming a Washington
Redskin.
2002: During Operation “Defensive Shield,” IDF ended
the curfew at Nablus which had begun on April 4.
2002 “Mideast Turmoil: American Jews; Unusually
Unified in Solidarity With Israel, but Also Unusually Unnerved” published today
describes the feelings an action of the Jewish community in the wake of attacks
on Israel and anti-Semitism in the United States.
2002(10th of Iyar, 5762): Ninety-three year old
Victor Frederick Weisskopf’ an Austrian-born Jewish American theoretical
physicist, passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/25/obituaries/25WEIS.html
2002(10th
of Iyar, 5762): Twenty-two year old Sgt. Mag. Nir Kirchmann of Hadera was
killed when the IDF entered a village north of Nablus to arrest Hamas
terrorists.
2003:
Charles “Krauthammer predicted that the President would have a
"credibility problem" if weapons of mass destruction were not found
in Iraq within the next five months.”
2004:
In North Korea, a freight train exploded killing technicians from Syria who had
come the country to take possession of fissionable material which they were to
take home as part of nuclear program that could lead to the creation of
warheads for the Assad regime
2004:
The Roundabout Theatre Company’s Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim’s
“Assassins” opened today
2005:
After premiering in Israel yesterday, “A Lot Like Love” co-starring Amanda Peet
was released in the United States today. today
2005:
“The Interpreter” a complex mystery set at the UN directed by Sydney Pollack
who also made a cameo appearance was released in the United State today.
2005:
Jews of Omaha, Nebraska celebrated Israel’s 59th year of Independence as the
Jewish Community Center hosts the Jewish Arts Festival and Yom Ha’Atzmaut
activities designed for the whole family. This year’s Yom Ha’Atzmaut
celebration is a unique and exciting compilation of an Arts Festival with more
than 25 vendors, plus the usual exciting assortment of carnival games,
first-class entertainment, and delicious foods from a variety of Omaha
restaurants.
2006:
On Shabbat, thousands of police were positioned around the Church of the Holy
Sepulcher in east Jerusalem on Holy Saturday, hoping to prevent confrontations
between various groups of worshippers making their way to the church on
Saturday afternoon.
2007:
At the Yeshiva University Museum the exhibition entitled “Reuben Kadish’s Holocaust Sculpture” comes to an
end.
2007:
Yom Hazikaron begins tonight in Israel with a special memorial ceremony at Mt.
Herzl in Jerusalem.
2007:
The Sunday New York Times Book
Section featured reviews of The Grand Surprise: The Journals of Leo Lerman, edited by Stephen Pascal, Positively American: Winning Back the
Middle-Class Majority One Family at a Time by Chuck Schumer (the Jewish Senator from New York) with
Daniel Squadron, Black and White a novel by Jewish author Dani Shapiro and The Lady Upstairs: Dorothy Schiff and
The New York Post by Marilyn Nissenson. Schiff was the granddaughter
of the German Jewish banking magnate Jacob H. Schiff.
2007: The
Sunday Washington Post Book Section featured a review of The Worlds of
Lincoln Kirstein by Martin Duberman. This “rich and revelatory biography of
one of the crucial cultural figures of the twentieth century” provides another
example of an American Jew who has had a major impact on our culture.
2008: Earth Day; Third Day of Pesach – suggested
date for Street Seders designed to address the Global Climate Crisis.
2008: The Jerusalem Cinematheque presents “Refusenik” \ רפיוזניק”. “Refusenik” is the first retrospective documentary to
chronicle the thirty-year movement to free Soviet Jewry between the early 60s
and the fall of the Iron Curtain.
2009: At Yale Hagai El-Ad,
Israeli civil rights activist, founding director of Jerusalem Open House and
director of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, delivers a talk
entitled “Civil Rights in Israel.”
2009: The Tribeca Film Festival opens with the world premiere of
Woody Allen’s “Whatever Works.”
2009:
Holocaust Survivor Irene Furst speaks at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa
and Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
2009:
In Cedar Falls, Iowa, Holocaust scholar Michael Berenbaum presents “The
Holocaust and Contemporary Ethics: Legal, Religious, Political and Medical
Ethical Implications of the Holocaust,” the inaugural address for the Norman
Cohn Family Holocaust Remembrance and Education Lecture Series at the
University of Northern Iowa.
2009:
“Author Jared Diamond Sued for Libel” published today described the litigation
face by the Pulitzer-Prize winning author.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20090422/us-jared-diamond-lawsuit/
2009:
Rome’s city hall was the site for the Nobel Laureate Rita Levi-Montalcini’s 100th
birthday party.
2009:
Five hundred Jews who were making their monthly visit to Joseph’s Tomb in
Nablus arrived at the shrine this evening and found that it had been subjected
to anti-Semitic vandalism including being painted with swastikas.
2010:
Professor Jason Rosenblatt, author of Renaissance England's Chief Rabbi:
John Selden is scheduled to speak at the Washington DCJCC as part of the
Distinguished
Scholar Series
2010:
The Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia is scheduled to host the
reception marking the opening of the Annual NoVa International Jewish Film
Festival.
2011:
On the 41st annual Earth Day and the first anniversary of the BP oil spill
Reform congregations and their rabbis are scheduled to implement
“tried-and-true Earth Day ideas, innovative programs in education and advocacy,
and ways to continue our service and commitment to the Gulf Coast” some of
which had been presented in a workshop that featured Margo Wolfson of Temple
Shalom, Aberdeen, NJ (a GreenFaith Pilot Program congregation), Stephen Fox of
Temple Isaiah, Los Angeles, CA, Rabbi Andy Koren, Temple Emanuel, Greensboro
and Rabbi Daniel Swartz, Temple Hesed, Scranton, PA.”
2011:
The Maccabee Queen is scheduled to be performed 12 noon at Beit Avi Chai in
Jerusalem. “Written and directed by Lauri Donahue, the play chronicles the rule
of the last queen of Judea.”
2011:
The Beit Yisrael synagogue in Netanya has been pelted with rocks, allegedly by
ultra-Orthodox youths waging a battle to scare the congregants into leaving.
2012:
Amy Irving, star of “Crossing Delancey” is scheduled to take part in a Q&A
following a showing of this Jewish romantic comedy featuring “Sam, the
pickleman” at the Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2012:
The Iowa Jewish Historical Society and the Jewish Federation of Greater Des
Moines are scheduled to host a special event to recognize and honor Iowa’s
Jewish men and women who serve and have served in all branches of the United
States military, during times of both war and peace.
2012:
Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the
Northern Virginia’s 2012 Holocaust Observance at Gesher Jewish Day School
2012(30th
of Nisan, 5772): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
2013: Fifty-three years after its founding the
Canadian Jewish News “issued termination notices to its 50 staff and announced
that it will cease printing with its June 20 edition due to financial
constraints.”
2013: The American Jewish Historical Society
and Yeshiva University Museum are scheduled to present a performance by The
Momenta Quartet featuring the music of Stefan Wolpe, Aaron Copland and Darius
Milhaud.
2013: “Portrait of Wally” and “A Bottle in the
Gaza Sea” are scheduled to be shown at the Northern Virginia Jewish Film
Festival.
2013:” Dressing America: Tales from the Garment
Center” is scheduled to be shown at the Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2013: Daniel Mendelsohn, author of the international
bestseller The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million, is scheduled to
join award- winning journalist Leslie Maitland, author of Crossing the
Borders of Time: A True Love Story of War, Exile and Love Reclaimed in a
discussion of their true stories of lives and loves lost in the Holocaust at
the Washington DCJCC.
2013:
Twentieth anniversary of the dedication of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
2013:
The Histadrut labor federation today threatened to shut down Ben-Gurion
International Airport as a show of solidarity with Israeli airline employees,
who are striking against Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz's Open Skies
agreement with the European Union that was approved by the cabinet yesterday
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=8769
2013: Jordan has allowed Israel to fly military
drones over the country en route to Syria in order to monitor the situation
there and, should the need arise, target chemical weapons caches in the civil
war-torn country, the French daily Le Figaro reported today.
2014:
In New York, Temple Shaaray Tefila is scheduled to host the Yom HaShoah
Screening of “No Place On Earth.”
2014(22nd
of Nisan, 5774): 8th day of Pesach – Yizkor
2014:
In Serbia, Holocaust Remembrance Day
2014(22nd
of Nisan): Circumcision of Isaac (Rosh Ha-Shannah 10b)
2015:
Shoah survivor Marcel Drimer is scheduled to speak at the U.S. Holocaust
Memorial Museum.
2015:
Yeshiva University Museum is scheduled to host a tour “Modeling the Synagogue –
From Dura to Touro.” http://www.yumuseum.org/programs/2015/04/22/curators-tour-modeling-the-synagogue-from-dura-to-touro-4
2015:
“Belle and Sebastian” and “Famous Nathan” are scheduled to be shown at the
Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2015(3rd
of Iyar, 5775): Seventy-eight year old
performer Lois Lilienstein passed away today. (As reported by Bruce Weber)
2015:
Rabbi Lance J. Sussman is scheduled to teach the second session “Jews, Judaism
and American Law” in Philadelphia, PA.
2015:
Today, another official memorial ceremony is scheduled to be held at the Mount
Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem and will be attended by IDF Chief of Staff
Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, as well as senior Israel Defense Forces officers and
politicians followed by a separate commemoration for Israel’s terror victims
will take place at Mount Herzl.(As reported by Times of Israel)
2015:
Memorial Day is scheduled to end at sundown today with the start of
Independence Day, traditionally ushered in with fireworks and street
celebrations nationwide. (As reported by Times of Israel)
2016(14th
of Nisan, 5776): Ta’anit Berchorot; Erev Pesach and Erev Shabbat
2016(14th
of Nisan): Yahrzeit for the thirty people murdered by terrorists at a Seder at
the Park Hotel in Netanya in 2002 and this does not include the 140 who were
wounded.
2016(14th
of Nisan, 5776): 99th anniversary of the United States entry into
World War I. As Jews were fasting for
the first born, searching for chametz and getting ready for their first Seder,
Congress was declaring war on Germany.
This would usher in a three year period of dynamic change and growth for
the American Jewish community.
2017(26th
of Nisan, 5777): Parashat Shemini; Start of Pirke Avot Cycle – Read Chapter
One;
2017(26th
of Nisan, 5777): Eighty-seven year old Professor of Philosophy Hubert Lederer
Dreyfus passed away today in Berkeley.
https://philosophy.berkeley.edu/people/detail/12
https://philosophy.fas.harvard.edu/news/memoriam-hubert-l-dreyfus-1929-2017
2017:
The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to provide a full day of
events including lunch following Shachrit and Mussaf capped off by a Seduah an
before the end of Shabbat
2017: The Jerusalem Opera Festival is scheduled to
continue its opening week events with another concert dedicated to Enrico Caruso.
2018:
The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled to present the final performance
of “Cyrano De Bergerac” starring David Serero in the title role.
2018:
“The entire Twin Cities Jewish Community” is scheduled to celebrate “Israel@70”
at the Minneapolis Event Center this evening in an event featuring the singing
of Abbie Strauss.
2018:
The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to host a presentation by “Jeffrey
Shandler, Rutgers University Professor of Jewish Studies, which will examine
the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive as a major project of public
memory situated in a series of contexts: Jewish ethnographies, public memory
projects at the turn of the millennium, and the different media used to
document the Holocaust.”
2018:
In Coralville, IA, Agudas Achim is scheduled to host the “8th Annual
Concert of Commemoration.”
2018:
The New York Times published reviews
of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers
including The Bible of Dirty Jokes by Eileen Pollack and Who We Are
and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past by
David Reich
2019:
The Center for Jewish History, ALL*ARTS, YIVO and Burke Cohen Entertainment are
scheduled to present “award winning actors Ed Asner and Tovah Feldshuh star in
a concert reading of The Soap Myth, a powerful play about survival, memory, and
truth” which is set more than fifty years after WWII, when a young Jewish
reporter grapples with different versions of the same story - did the Nazis
make soap from the corpses of murdered Jews?”
2019:
The Temple Emanu-El Streicker is scheduled to present “Modern Matters --
Ancient Jewish Wisdom with Rabbi David Wolpe
2019:
Earth Day 2019
http://www.arcworld.org/faiths.asp?pageID=81
https://www.jewishboston.com/whats-jewish-about-earth-day/
2019(17th
of Nissan, 5779): Third Day of Pesach; Second Day of the Omer;
2020:
In Coralville, IA it will take more than a pandemic stop the quest for learning
since the Agudas Achim Wednesday Book Group is scheduled to meet via Zoom this
afternoon.
2020:
One day after Yom HaShoah the celebration of Earth Day is scheduled to take
place which was first celebrated on the 49th birthday of Julian
Koenig, the creator of the original advertising event for this event.
2020:
The Streicker Center is scheduled to host Dr. Michael Berenbaum as he leads a
virtual presentation on “Not Your Father’s Anti-Semitism.”
2020:
Live via Zoom, the Center for Jewish History and Fordham University’s Center
for Jewish Studies are scheduled to host “Epidemics, Disease and Plagues in
Jewish History and Memory.”
2020:
As Israel’s death toll from Covid-19 moves past 180, it was reported that Ran
Saar, the CEO of Maccabi Helathcare Services, an HMO, has said that “the
economic crisis stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic will more people than the
virus itself.
2020:
As Israelis contend with the Pandemic and unprecedented period of political
deadlock they will be considering whether to follow the words of Yair Lapid who
“slammed” Benny Gantz “for going back on all of his election promises and
allying himself with Prime Minister Netanyahu or to accept the explanation of
Gantz that he made the deal because “he felt compelled to bring out Israel of
the political deadlock of the past year in order to tackle the immense
challenges ahead” specifically those presented by the coronavirus
epidemic.
2021:
Graduate Theological Union is scheduled to present a conversation with U. of
Chicago professor Michael Fishbane, a scholar of modern Jewish thought, Jewish
mysticism, Biblical studies and other areas.
2021:
The Jewish Community Library is scheduled to present educator Ilan Vitemberg
talking about Yehuda Amichai’s poetry in general, and specifically how it
influenced a generation of songwriters who turned it into popular Israeli
songs.
2021:
Chabad of North Peninsula. Is scheduled to present “Escape from Cairo,” during
Cairo-born Hussein Aboubakr Mansour will about how the Egyptian government
persecuted, harassed and jailed him for his studies of Israel and how he got
asylum.
2021:
JCC East Bay and Reboot are scheduled to present a program that reflects on how
climate change is causing grief, over issues such as “new normal” wildfires and
the loss of biodiversity that will include a meditation led by Rabbi Dorothy
Richman and an art project.
2021:
The Temple Emanu-El Streicker is scheduled to host Jerald Walker talking about
his latest book How to Make A Slave and Other Essays.
2021:
In preparation for Lag B’Omer, today, the Jewish Studio Project in Berkeley is
scheduled to lead a class for making art that explores uncertainty and the
countdown between Passover and Shavuot.
2021:
The JCC Contra Costa is scheduled to present “Music As Midrash: Behind the
Music of Prayer”
During
which Rabbi Josh Warshawsky will provide a lesson about the text and stories of
the traditional Jewish songs we sing, with a song session.
2021:
Based on reports published yesterday, Israelis are confronting a new trend that
“seems to be gaining momentum among Arab youths in Jerusalem, who videotape
themselves harassing ultra-Orthodox Jews in the capital as a
"challenge", which they then upload to the social media platform
TikTok.” (As reported by Nir Cohen,Alexandra Lukash)
2021:
Despite the fact that “Spring has Sprung,” in Columbus, OH, Congregation
Tifterth Israel will not be holding its outdoor minyan today “due to cold
temperatures.”
2022(21st
of Nisan, 5782): Seventh Day of Pesach and Earth Day 2022
https://www.jewishboston.com/whats-jewish-about-earth-day/
2022: The International Conferences on
Metallurgy, Technology and Materials is scheduled to begin today in Tel Aviv.
2022:
As they await to if “Palestinian protesters” who have been egged on by
terrorist leaders in Gaza will throw stones while at the Al Aqsa Mosque as they
did last Friday, Israeli security forces remain on high alert.
2023:
The exhibition “Two Grains of Wheat” that includes the work of Hinda Weiss is
scheduled to open at 601 Artspace.
2023:
In Coralville, IA, Agudas Achim is scheduled to host the religious school's
special, musical, intergenerational service.
2023:
The exhibition “This Place We Once Remembered” that includes the work of Dana Levy
is scheduled to open today.
2023:
Israel braces for the possibility of another round of Saturday night protest by
those opposed to the proposed reform judicial legislation.
2023(1st
of Iyar, 5783): Rosh Chodesh Iyar; for more see https://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/
