This Day, October 12, In Jewish History by Mitchell A and Deb Levin Z"L
OCTOBER 12
539 BCE: The Persian armies of Cyrus the Great captured
Babylon. Within the year, Cyrus would make it possible
for the Jews to return to their homeland.
1129: The tombstone of Elijah ben Simon dated October 12, 1129 is among
the olde…
OCTOBER 12
539
1129: The tombstone of Elijah ben Simon dated October 12, 1129 is among
the oldest evidence of the Jewish settlement in Nuremberg goes back to the 12th
century.
1285: The Jews of Munich (Germany) were caught in a claim of blood libel
which resulted in the death of most the Jewish community. When 180 Jewish survivors refused baptism, they were
burned alive in their synagogue.
1366: In Sicily, Jews were forbidden to decorate
the outside of their houses of worship.
1491: During the Blood
Libel tied to the Holy Child of La Guardia, inquisitors arranged for a meeting
between Yucef Franco and Benitor Garcia, the two Jews accused in this event.
1492: After sailing
across the Atlantic Ocean, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sights a
Bahamian island, which led him to believe he had reached East Asia. His
expedition, including Hebrew speaker Luis de Torres (the translator) went
ashore the same day and claimed the land for Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain,
who sponsored his attempt to find a western ocean route to China, India, and
the fabled gold and Spice Islands of Asia. Louis de Torres, a Marrano, was the first member of Columbus’
expedition to set foot in the Western Hemisphere. He discovered and introduced
tobacco into Europe. According to one legend he saw a bird he thought to be a
peacock and called it a "tuki" (Hebrew for peacock - I Kings X22).
Today that bird is known as a turkey. (There are those who say that the story
of the Turkey is pure fiction. All that
I can say is “Of this I do not know.”)
1504: Thirty-one year
old John Corvinus, the pretender to the Hungarian throne who expelled the Jews
from Tata where they had lived since the second of the 11th century,
passed away today.
1576: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor passed
away. Maximilian reversed the decree that had banished the Jews from Prague.
Furthermore, he allowed them to return to other towns in Bohemia and to settle
in Austria. The life of the Jews in
these domains was far from tranquil thanks to pressure from the Catholic
Church. But under Maximilian II it was
better than it had been under his predecessor Ferdinand.
1589(2nd of
Cheshvan, 5350): Rabbi Samuel ben Moses Medina (RaShDaM) passed away in
Salonica. Born in 1505, his disciples
included Abraham de Boton and Joseph ibn Ezra and his grandson was Samuel Hayyun, author of “Bene Shemuel “
1711: Charles VI who
sought to limit the number of Jews living in Austria and Hungary began his
reign as Holy Roman Emperor. Among his subjects was Ḥayyim Judah Löb Ettinger,
the Austian Rabbi who was the son of Eliezer ha-Levi Lichtenstein Ettinger and
the brother-in-law of Chaim Cohen Rapport, who served as a rabbi in Lemberg.
1759(21st of
Tishrei, 5520): Hoshanah Rabah observed for the first time since the British
victory at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham which would lead to Jews being
able to settle in Canada.
1767: In Richmond, VA,
Abigail Seixas and Hillel Judah gave birth to Gershom Seixas Judah.
1769: In Savannah, GA,
Frances Hart and Mordecai Sheftall gave birth to Moses Sheftall.
1770(23rd of
Tishrei, 5531): Simchat Torah
1772(15th of
Tishrei, 5533): First Day of Sukkoth
1773: Birthdate of
Wallerstein, Bavaria native Sarah Weil, the husband of Isaac Ottenheimer with
whom she had nine children.
1778(21st of
Tishrei, 5539): Hoshana Raba
1778: In Denmark,
Philip Hartvig Rée and Hanna Hartvig von Essen gave birth to Hartvig Philip
Ree.
1781: Birthdate of
Ludvig Mariboe, one of a small number of Jewish converts to Christianity who
had settled in Norway in the first decade of the 19th century when
Jews were not accepted as citizens.
1783(16th of
Tishrei, 5544): Second Day of Sukkoth
1783: Rachel Pinto, a
Loyalist who had taken the oath allegiance sought “to attempt to obtain
indemnification from the British government” for having billeted the King’s
troops in her home.
1784(27th of
Tishrei, 5545): Gershom Siexas, the Newport, RI born son of Joachbed Levy and
Moses Mendes Seixas passed away today after less than two weeks of life.
1789(22nd of
Tishrei, 5550): Shemini Atzeret is observed for the first time during the
Presidency of George Washington.
1791(14th of
Tishrei, 5552): Erev Sukkoth
1793: The cornerstone of Old East the oldest state
university building in the United States is laid on the campus of the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
This is an important date in Jewish history because my sister, Judy
Sharon (Levin) Rosenstein, of blessed memory was a Tar Heel Grad. She met her husband, Larry Rosenstein of
blessed memory, at Chapel Hill. All three
of their sons are also Carolina grads. Of such moments are real Jewish history
made.
1795: In Charleston,
SC, Rebecca Moses and Solomon Harby gave birth to “Samuel Dacosta Harby.”
1795(29th of
Tishrei, 5556): Thirty-one year old Sarah Judah, the daughter of Samuel Judah
and the wife of Samuel Meyers whom she had married in 1794 passed away today.
1796(10th of
Tishrei, 5557): Yom Kippur is observed for the last time during the Presidency
of George Washington.
1796: Birthdate of
“educator, poet and mathematician” Jacob Eichenbaum, the native of Galicia who
was “one of the pioneers of modern education among the Russian Jews.”
1796: Birthdate of
Savannah, GA, native Moses Sheftall , the son of Mordecai Sheftall, who
practiced medicine in his hometown, while also serving variously as a state
legislator and “judge of the county court.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13530-sheftall-sheftail
1796: Israel Baer
Kursheedt observed Yom Kippur as the only Jew aboard an American sloop sailing
to the United States from Hamburg.
1797(22nd of
Tishrei, 5558): Shemini Atzeret
1797: In Charleston,
SC, Solomon and Rebecca Moses Harby gave birth to George Washington Harby, “a
writer and teacher like his older brother Isaac,” the founder of “a boy’s
school in New Orleans” and the husband of Mary Olivia Lucas and then the
husband of New Orleanian Marie Ulaine
Pouillott.
1800(23rd of
Tishrei, 5561): Jews celebrate Simchat Torah for the first time in the 19th
century and for the last time during the Presidency of John Adams.
1802: Simon Magruder
Levy graduated from West Point today, making the second person and the first
Jew to graduated from U.S. Military Academy.
1805(19th of
Tishrei, 5566): Shabbat Shel Sukkoth
1807(10th of
Tishrei, 5568): Yom Kippur
1808(21st of
Tishrei, 5569): Hoshana Raba observed for the last time during the Presidency of
Thomas Jefferson.
1810: Today’s marriage
of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Bavaria marked the start of the
first Oktoberfest.
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/244365/oktoberfest-was-invented-by-jews
1814: Peter Simeon
married Sarah Rees at the Great Synagogue today.
1816(20th of
Tishrei, 5577): Shabbat Shel Sukkoth
1819(23rd of
Tishrei, 5580): Simchat Torah
1820: Birthdate of
Odessa native and German poet and essayist Wilhelm Wolfsohn, German poet and
essayist who declined professorship in Russia because he would have had to convert
and settled in Dresden “where he continued his literary activity.
1822: Birthdate of
Seligman Solomon, the German born American businessman and philanthropist best
known for his support of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum in New York City
1824(20th of
Tishrei, 5585): Sixth Day of Sukkoth observed for the last time during the
Presidency of James Monroe.
1826: In Kingston,
Jamaica, Rebecca Cohen and David Alexander gave birth to Frederick Alexander.
1827(2st of Tishrei,
5588): Hoshana Raba
1829(15th of
Tishrei, 5590): First Day of Sukkoth
1830: Birthdate of
Antony Mayer de Worms, a London born descendant of Amschel Moses Rothschild and
Schoenche Lechnich
1831: Joel Coleman Joel
married Sophia Samuel at the Great Synagouge today.
1834(9th of
Tishrei, 5595): Erev Yom Kippur; Kol Nidre
1837(13th of
Tishrei, 5598): Seventy-five year old Talmudist, interpreter of Halacha and
moel Rabbi Akiva Eger passed away today in Poznan
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112047/jewish/Rabbi-Akiba-Eger.htm
1838(23rd of
Tishrei, 5599): Simchat Torah
1842: In Reckendorf,
Bavaria, Nathan and Rosa Walter gave birth to Moritz Walter the husband of
Sophie Walter.
1842: Birthdate of
London native Rose Nelson, the wife of Louis Allen and the mother of Nancy,
Samuel, Sylvia, Rachel, Leah, John and Nathaniel Allen.
1843: Abdallah Ben
Cassan married Mary Ann Talbot in London today.
1845: Abraham Einstein
and Helene Moos gave birth to Heinrich Einstein one of the six siblings of
Albert Einstein.
1845: In Galena, IL,
Alexander Lewis, the Charleston born son of David and Rachel Benjamin Lewis and
his wife Rebecca Lewis gave birth to Catherine Jacobs, the mother of Henry
Jacobs.
1846(22nd of
Tishrei, 5607) Shmini Atzeret observed for the first time since the start of
the Mexican-American War.
1846: Birthdate of
Bohemia native and American photo-chemist Louis Edward Levy, “a pioneer in the
engraving industry” and “inventor of a process of photo-chemical engraving
which has enabled newspapers to print half-tone pictures directly from the
stereotype plate who “was a founder and president of the Association for Relief
and Protection of Jewish Immigrants” and the author of the pamphlet “The
Russian Jewish Refugees in America”
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9897-levy-louis-edward
1848(15th of
Tishrei, 5609): First Day of Sukkoth observed for the last time during the
Presidency of James K. Polk.
1852: In Minsk, Joseph
Dubov and his wife gave birth to Marcus H. Dubov who served congregations in
Grodno, Russia; Graudenz, Prussia; Sioux City, Iowa; and Canton, Ohio before
becoming Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Moshe in Evansville, Indiana
1853(10th of Tishrei,
5614): Yom Kippur
1853: Rabbi Raphall led
services today at the Greene Street Synagogue in New York.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C02E6DE1131E13BBC4B52DFB6678388649FDE
1854(20th of
Tishrei, 5615): Sixth Day of Sukkoth
1854: Birthdate of Ida
Kuhn, the daughter of Clara Regina Kuhn who became Ida Cohen after marrying
Eduard Cohen
1856: In Poznan, Simon
Baruch Schefftel, the Breslau born son of Alexander Baruch Schefftel and
Roeschen Scheffte and his wife Henriette (Gitel) Schefftel gave birth to Renate
Schefttel.
1859(14th of
Tishrei, 5620): Erev Sukkoth observed on the same day that San Francisco
businessman Joshua Norton, “the self-proclaimed Emperor Norton “issued edicts
abolishing the U.S. Congress.
1859: In Hannover,
Germany, Anna and Louis Oppenheimer gave birth to Dr. of Jurisprudence Ernst
Oppenheimer, the husband of Clara Amalie Oppenheimr.
1863: In Pennsylvania,
Rudoph H. Kauffman, the Creswell, PA born son Anna and Isaac Kaufman and his
second wife Anna Kaufman gave birth to Abraham Kauffman
1863(29th of
Tishrei, 5624): Lydia Bauman, the infant daughter of Sarah and David Bauman
passed away today after which she was buried in the Balls Pond Road Jewish
Cemetery.
1864: The General News
column reported today, Wednesday, that Monday’s livestock market was fairly
active despite “the absence of the Hebrews, who” were “observing the Day of the
Atonement, one of their principal fasts.” Tuesday’s market was more active than
usual, in part, because “on account of the numbers of Jews present.”
1864: In Iowa, “a dozen
raiders disguised as Union soldiers terrorized Davis County, where they looted
residences and kidnapped and murdered three Iowans near Bloomfield.”
1865: In a column
styled “Our London Correspondence,” The New York Times reported that, “If you
want a present proof that Mammon rules here, take the fact that yesterday Mr.
PHILLIPS, a gentleman of the Hebrew persuasion, was elected Lord Mayor of
London. Not that a Jew has not teeth, hands, organs, dimensions, and all that,
as well as any other man; but, in the face of English prejudice, money and
money alone could make a man who is a Jew by birth and religion, member of
Parliament or Lord Mayor.” “Mr. Phillips” referred to Benjamin Samuel Phillips,
a prominent British citizen and leader of the Anglo-Jewish community who had
been elected Lord Mayor in September of 1865.
He served with such distinction that Queen Victoria knighted him for his
service. Phillips was the second the Jew to hold the post; the first being
David Salomons. His son, Sir George,
would also serve as Lord Mayor. The level of anti-Semitism displayed in this
item stands in stark contrast with the detailed and sympathetic description of
Jewish holidays that this paper was publishing in the 19th century.
1865(22nd of Tishrei,
5626): Shmini Atzeret
1865: Sarah Naar
Cardozo, the New York born daughter of Dr. Daniel Moses Levy Maduro Peixotto
and Rachel Lopes Mendes Peixotto and her husband Abraham Hart Cardozo gave
birth to William Benjamin Cardozo.
1866: Birthdate of
Morris Aaron who would be buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Natchitoches, LA
when he passed away in 1943.
1872(10th of
Tishrei, 5633): Yom Kippur
1873(21st of
Tishrei, 5634): Hoshanah Rabah observed for the first time during an economic
downturn known as the Panic of 1873.
1873: Mary Plonsky Falk
and William Louis Bendel gave birth to Rose Benel who became Rose Bendel Kahh
when she married Sigmund Kahn in 1893.
1873: In Paris, Gustave
Ollendorff, the son of Prof. Hermann G. Ollendorff and Dorothea Ollendorff who
was the president of the Union Fracasie de la Jeunesse and his wife Marie
Virginie Virginie Joséphine Ollendorff gave birth to Jeanne Berthe Maria Bloch,
the wife of Maruice-Meyer Bloch.
1873: “Curiosities of
Superstition” published today traces the history of “host desecration”
including a description of the 38 Jews who were burned to death in 1510
“because they had tortured the consecrated host until bled.”
1875: In Latvia, Mendel
Morein and Beilo Rochel Mendelson gave birth to Yaakov Ben Zion Morein who
gained famed as Rabbi Yaakov Ben Zion HaCohen Mendelsohn who served a
congregation in Glasgow, Scotland before settling in the United States where he
founded “his own shul, Congregation Beis Hamedrash Hagadol.”
1876: Two days after he
had passed away, Augustus Davis, the son of Henry Davis and the former Ellen
Lewis and the husband of “Ann (Annie) Davis” with whom he had two children was
buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1877: An application
was made to Judge Barrett on behalf of the two children of the late Abraham
Weisberg to order the Public Administrator to turn the two hundred dollars that
constituted his estates to Rabbi Ash of the Ludlow-Street Synagogue so that he
could send the money to the children living in Poland. Weisberg was a Jewish peddler who had been
murdered two years ago in New York’s Westchester Country. The judge denied the application saying a
guardian for the minor children would have to be appointed before going forward
with the dispersal of funds.
1878(15th of
Tishrei, 5639):First Day of Sukkoth
1878(15th of
Tishrei, 5639): S. S. Man.Maximilien, Baron von Königswarter, the Dutch born
French banker who supported Napoleon III passed away today.
1878: The strict
anti-Socialist legislation passed today outlawed, for all practical purposes,
the German Socialist Democratic Party whose leaders included Eduard Bernstein
1879: “Fish in Morocco”
published today which was devoted to describing the rich variety of shell-fish
used by cooks in Morocco pointed out that these are “utterly tabooed” when it
comes to the local Jewish population.
1880: Today, in
Cincinnati, OH, William Ornstein, the German born son of Helene Levy and Hart
Ornstein and President of Ornstein and Rice
who was also a member of B’nai Yeshurun Temple married Caroline Winkler.
1881: At Beth Elohim,
Rabbi David Levy officiated at the marriage of Herman Leidloff, of Berlin and
Selna Davega of Charleston, SC.
1882: It was reported
today that the Prime Minister told members of the Hungarian Chamber of
Deputies, that the recent anti-Jewish riots in Pressburg “might …degenerate
into” an event “of a socialistic character.” He declared that he would not
tolerate “such excesses.”
1884(23rd of
Tishrei, 5645): Simchat Torah
1884: In San Francisco,
Minnie Thalhimer, the New York City born daughter f Rabbi Dr. Aaron Albert
Siegfried Bettelheim and Anna Henrietta (Yetta) Bettelheim and her husband
Jacob E. Thalhimer gave birth to William M. Thalhimer, M.D.
1884: As the effects of
the sever economic recession, which has necessitated the closing of many major
employers, including the Falls Cotton Mills, grip New England, it is reported
that the Polish Jews living in Baltic, a city 8 miles north of Norwich, Conn,
are reduced to begging from door to door.
1884: Roderick Waters,
who is Christian and Michael Hauman, who is Jewish nearly came to blows today
as they vied for the affections of a Jewish widow living in St. Mark’s Place.
1884: “News of the
World” published today described the change in fortunes for Mahmoud Pasha, aka
Jacob Freund The Sultan has brought him
back from the Island of Rhodes where he had been living in exile since 1876 and
restored him to his former position of prominence. Mahmoud Pasha was a Polish born Jew named
Jacob Freund who had fled Hungary after the revolution there failed and, after
converting, became “the ablest of Turkish Generals.
1885: David J. Seligman
and Adelaide (Addie) Seligman gave birth to Gladys Seligman who, after she
married Henri Wertheim became Gladys Wertheim.
1885: “The Only One In
America” published today described the opening of the first and only
“Hebrew-Christian Church” in the United States.
Located in New York, it is the only congregation that has been
established by Jewish converts to Christianity. (Editor’s note – Jews for Jesus
type movements are obviously note a creation of the late 20th
century.)
1886: In Pittsburgh,
PA, “Maria and Salomon Stossel” gave birth to Jeno Stossel who gained fame as
Jacob Stacel, “one of four Jews named to sit as judges of the Cleveland
Municipal Court…by Governor Cooper in December of 1930” who was the husband of
Minnie W. Stacel.
1886: “The Anchroia’s
Long Trip” described the perilous ocean crossing of a steamer that that had its
propeller shaft brake causing havoc among the crew and passengers. Fortunately,
only two passengers died in the chaos, one of whom was an unnamed Polish Jew
who was buried at sea.
1887: In Munich,
“Isidor Landauer and Josephine Pepi Guggenhimer” gave birth to “Dr. Karl Elias
Landuer, a colleague of Sigmund Freud, who after seeking refuge from the Nazis
in Sweden and the Netherlands ended up being murdered at Bergen-Belsen just
months before the end of WW II.
1888: Birthdate of
Moscow native and Harvard undergraduate Mark Edward Evarts who in 1889 came to
the United States where he attended George Washington University, practiced law
and work in the U.S. Patent Office
1888(7th of
Cheshvan, 5649): Just two months before his 76th birthday, Joseph
Moses Levy, the English newspaper editor and publisher whose properties
included The Daily Telegraph passed
away.
1888: “The Fifteenth
Season” published today described the first event of 1888-1889 season sponsored
by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association.
Among those who addressed those attending the gala at Chickering Hall
was Chauncey M. Depew. (Depew was not Jewish. He was an attorney who became
President of the New York Central Railroad and U.S. Senator from New York. His
willingness to speak at the YMHA gathering gives an indication of the
importance of the organization.) The
speeches were followed by an evening of choral music with violin accompaniment.
1889(17th of
Tishrei, 5650): Shabbat shel Sukkoth
1889: Max Maretzek, the
Moravian born American opera conductor and composer, celebrated his Golden
Jubilee
1889: Birthdate of
Providence, RI native and Boston University trained attorney William W. Bearman
who served as “assistant city attorney” in Los Angeles.
1890: “Russia’s Milling
Industry” published today attributed the decline in the country’s grain milling
industry and the decline in the price of corn to “the persecution of the Jews.”
1891(10th of Tishrei,
5652): Yom Kippur
1891: Birthdate of
Boston native Jennie Loitman the Boston University trained lawyer and jurist
who when she married attorney Samuel Barron, Jr. became Jennie Loitman Barron,
the name under which she broke legal ground in numerous arenas including being
the first woman to serve as a Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/03/30/90081345.pdf
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/barron-jennie-loitman
1891: Several “temporary places of worships have
been established” in New York city “public halls” to accommodate the large
number of people attending services, especially on the Lower East Side.
1891: In Columbus, GA, more
than fifty Jewish owned stores closed because of the Day of Atonement.
1891: In Brooklyn,
Sophie and Pincus Weinberg gave birth to Sidney James Weinberg
1891: An Indictment of
Russia” published today described the view of the Jews that Nicholas I who reigned
from 1825 to 1855 was “a Second Haman” whose 30 year reign “was filled with
special hardship for” them. Much to their surprise, the reign of Alexander III
has proved to be even worse.
1891: Birthdate of Edith Stein the convert to
Catholicism who became a nun taking the
name "Teresia Benedicta ac Cruce."
Sister Teresia left Germany for Holland after the Nazis came to
power. In 1942, the Nazis ordered the
arrest of Catholics of Jewish origin living in Holland. This included
clergy like Sister Teresia. Sister
Teresia was once again Edith Stein. She
died in Auschwitz in August of 1942. If
people who converted to Catholicism are really Catholics it is hard to
understand how the Pope gave up these members of his flock. Eventually, Edith
Stein would be made Saint. Cynics would
say that in one respect the Church has remained consistent. It loves Jews, as long as they are dead. The
fate of Edith Stein gave those studying in Cedar Rapids something to discuss
when they studied the Papal response to Hitler and the Holocaust.
1891: Today, Jews in
Missouri are upset by the recent attack John T. Blake the manager for William
Warner, the Republican candidate for governor has made on Mr. Isaac Isaacs,
Secretary of the Republican clubs that included a “roast of the Jews.”
1892(21st of
Tishrei, 5653): Hoshana Rabah
1892: In New York, a
conference of Orthodox rabbis which has dealt with changes espoused by the
Reform including doing away requiring circumcision as part of the conversion
ceremony, is scheduled to come to an end
1892: Carlos
Pellegrini, who has a German-Jewish brother-in-law, completed his term of
office as President of Argentina during which he expressed his support for
Baron Hirsch’s plan to settle a half a million Russian Jews in the Argentine Republic.
1892: A part of the 400th
anniversary of Columbus’ voyage, a celebration which Jewish communities
participated, “school children recite the original ‘Pledge of Allegiance” which
did not contain the phrase “under God” – a phrase that was added in the 1950’s
as a measure designed to “defeat” the Soviets during the Cold War.
1892: In Kiev, Bessie
Mozzor and Benjamin Gerson gave birth to Tufts and U of Chicago trained social
worker Samuel Gerson finally settled in Omaha, Nebraska were he was Superintendent
of the Jewish Welfare Administration and the executive director of the Omaha
Y.M. and Y.W.H.A.
1893: Julius Bien, the
President of B’Nai B’rith is scheduled to address the opening session of a
three day affair marking the Golden Anniversary of the Jewish fraternal
organization.
1893: In Austria, Lena
and Hyman Rome gave birth to New Yorker Sigmund Jacob Rome the husband of Bluma
Fine whom he married in 1919.
1893: Birthdate of
Telsea, Russia native Herman Ilson who in 1907 came to Brooklyn after which he
served in WW I, became “a retail clothing merchant and a trustee of the Hebrew
Orphan Asylum while raising a daughter with his wife Minnie.
1894: Alfred Gobert,
“the handwriting expert from the Bank of France,” was summoned to the rue
Saint-Dominique where he spent the day examining the treasonous documents
supposedly written by Captain Dreyfus.(For more see The Dreyfus Affair by Piers
Paul Read)
1894: Two days after
she had passed away. Fanny Goldberg, the “wife of Abraham Goldberg” was buried
at the “West Ham Jewish Cemetery on Buckingham Road.”
1894: This evening,
General de Boisdeffre told Commandant du Paty de Calm that “he had been chosen
to arrest Dreyfus.” Du Paty tried to
avoid the task, but the general insisted.
1895: Birthdate Pilsa,
Russia native, Philip Lehrman who in 1905 came to the United States where he
graduated from Fordham University Medical School, after which her married Wanda Scheps with
whom he raised two children – Howard and Marilyn.
1895(24th of
Tishrei, 5656): Parashat Beretshit
1895(24th of
Tishrei, 5656): Seventy-eight year old German politician and jurist Isaac
Wolffson, the son of “businessman Meyer Wolffson” and the father Albert
Wolffson who served in the Hamburg Parliament for thirty years, passed away
today.
1895 The Louisiana
Section of the National Council of Jewish Women, which has sent money to the
St. Louis Shoe Fund and the Chicago Jewish Training School was formed today.
1896: Birthdate of
Lodz, Poland native Victor Jeremy Jerome the American Communist who was
convicted under the Smith Act and whose interests were varied enough that he
edited the works of Lenin and started writing a novel based on the life of
Jewish philosopher and outcast Baruch Spinoza.
https://spartacus-educational.com/Victor_Jerome.htm
1896: Medical College
of Ohio trained physician Henry Wald Bettman, the Cincinnati, OH born son of
Matilda Wald and Bernard Bettmann married Rose Grace Kauffman after which he
pursued a career as a pathologist and gastro-endourologist that included served
as chief of medical service at the Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati and serving as
a professor of medicine at Cincinnati Medical College.
1897(16th of
Tishrei, 5658): Second Day of Sukkot
1897: Birthdate of
Aleppo, Syria native Joseph Ashear, the founder, in the United States, of
Ashear Brothers, a firm manufacturing and importing handkerchiefs who was the
founder and first President of the Magen David Community Center in Brooklyn,
the division chairman of the UJA for seven years and the recipient of numerous
leadership award including the UJA’s Masada Medal.
1897: In Kansas City,
clothing store owner Jacob Epstein and his wife gave birth to Jane Epstein, the
future wife Goodman Ace who became half of the comedy team known as “Easy
Aces.”
1897: Expenses
estimates submitted at today’s meeting of the Board of Estimate and
Apportionment included: Aguilar Free Library $41, 500; Maimonides Free Library
$5,000; Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum $324,992; Hebrew Sheltering
Guardian Society $89,000; Sanitarium for Hebrew Children $5,500; Mt. Sinai
Hospital $26,000
1899: One day after he
had passed away, “Solomon Shock” was buried at the “Plashet Jewish Cemetery in
London.”
1899: In Louisville,
KY, Max Lee Bear, the Greenville, AL born son of Henrietta and Louis Bear and
Pensacola, FL wholesale grocer who was President of Congregation Beth EL married
Bella Rosenau today after which they three daughters – Leonia, Elise and
Maxine.
1899: In Ardmore, OK,
Julius and Rebecca (Meyer) Kan gave birth to O.U. and NYU educated WW I veteran
Simon Stiefel Kahn an engineer for Ford Motor Company and holder of numerous
patents who was the husband of Frances Solomon with whom he had two daughters.
1900(19th of
Tishrei, 5661): Fifth Day of Sukkoth and on the Jewish calendar yahrzeit of
Solomon Judah Leib, the historian and poet who passed away in 1867.
1900: Birthdate of New
York native Solomon Joffee, the husband of Mary Chafetz with whom he had one
child.
1901(29th of
Tishrei, 5662): Parashat Bereshit
1902: The Zola Literary
and Benevolent Association held a memorial meeting tonight at Saltzman’s Hall
where the chairman said that “we are gathered to hear the deeds of” Zola “the
champion of the Jews” and whom Jacob Sebolsky said, “No Hebrew, no matter where
he can be found can ever resist to offer his services or money in extolling the
name of Zola.”
1903(21st of
Tishrei, 5664): Hoshana Rabah
1903: Birthdate of
Walter Jurmann the “Austrian born composer” who moved to France after the Nazis
came to power and then to the United States where Louis B. Mayer employed him
at MGM.
1904: The Board of
Directors of the Hebrew Infant Asylum announced that it has completed the
purchase of a plot of about eighty lots at King’s Bridge Road, Aqueduct Avenue
and Tee Taw Avenue” on which it intends
to erect three buildings at a cost of $125,00 which will accommodate from
between 400 and 500 infants.
1904: Rabbi Moses H.
Goldberg, the Bialystok born son of Elka Kriviansky and Zeb Hirsh Goldberg who
began serving as the spiritual leader of Congregation Anshe Sfard in New
Orleans in 1905 married Miriam Rubin today.
1904: Birthdate of
Samuel Zimelman, who served as the “cantor of Hochshule Synagogue in his native
Łomazy, Poland who in 1946 came to the United States where he served as the
chazzan at Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh in Portland Maine and who is the father
of Cantor Solomon “Sol” Zim.
1905: “Czar Aids Jewish
Students” published today reported that the “Emperor Nicholas has decided to
turn over to the National Assembly the final settlement of the question of the
admission without restriction of Jews to the universities and other general
legislation relative to the status of the Jews.”
1906(23rd of
Tishrei, 5667): Simchat Torah
1906: In Australia, Sir
Isaac Alfred Isaacs began serving as Puisne Justice of the High Court of
Australia.
1907: Birthdate of
Chicago native Phil “Mickey” Weinbtraub the outfielder and first baseman who
began his career with Loyola Univesity, went on to a record shattering season
with the minor league Nashville Vols before playing in the majors with the
Giants, Cards, Reds and Phillies.
1907: The Tennessee
Volunteers coached by Izzy Levene defeated the football team from the
University of Georgia for the second straight victory of the season.
1908(17th of
Tishrei, 5669): Chol Hamoded Sukkoth
1908(17th of
Tishrei, 5669): Fifty-seven year old Isaac Asher Isaacs, the “son of Asher and
Esther Isaacs” and husband of “Hannah (Annie) Zyberlast Isaacs with whom he had
six children and who had been presented with a “Testimonial from the Manchester
Congregation of British Jews” in February of 1908 “in recognition of her
service as secretary for twenty seven years” passed away today.
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/7ee4f634-b9e4-48fc-86ca-c19433b7543e
1909: The Bible Class
which had studied the Book of Genesis at Temple Beth Ahabah is scheduled to
meet this afternoon to study the Book of Exodus
1909: Mrs. Sam Cohen,
the President Ladies’ Hebrew Benevolent Association (LHBA) is scheduled to
chair a fund raising meeting today.
1910(9th of
Tishrei, 5671): Erev Yom Kippur
1910: Birthdate of
Canadian screenwriter Ben Barzman who fell afoul of HUAC and ended up on one of
its infamous blacklists.
1911: Multiple
telegrams were received in London from Malta, Gabes and Djerba, appealing for
help for the many thousands of Jewish refugees who had come from Tripoli.
1912: Birthdate of
Elizabeth H. Friedman, the wife of Sylvan N. Friedman, the Jewish political
leader who served in both houses of the Louisiana state legislature.
1912: While playing Center
for Georgia Tech led the Yellow Jackets to a 20-3 upset victory over Alabama
despite the fact that he broke three fingers in the game which proved to be an
inspiration to his underdog teammates.
1912: Harry Fleishman
Affelder, the Pittsburgh, PA, born son of Jacob Isadore Affelder and Catherine
"Kate" Affelder, married Catherine “Kate” Affelder with whom he had
two children – Ruth and Lewis.
1913(12th of
Tishrei, 5674): Mrs. Beile Weinberg passed away today.
1913: Birthdate of
Landstuhl, Germany native Annelise Abraham.
1914(22nd of
Tishrei, 5675): Shemini Atzeret
1914: “Turkey Gathers
Troops” published today reported that the Turks “are showing much energy” in
several of its Middle Eastern territories including “Palestine where they are
concentrating troops at a number of points and fortifying important places on
the coast and on routes to the interior.”
1914: Sir Mathew
Nathan, “the second of businessman of Jonah and Miriam Jacob Nathan and the
brother of Colonel Sir Frederick Nathan and Sir Nathanial Nathan, began serving
as the Under-Secretary for Ireland.
1914: “The Committee on
Foreign Relations this morning ordered a favorable report to the Senate of the
peace treaty with Russia” even though “the committee has received no word from
the Department of State indicating that any progress has been made toward
negotiating a new treaty of commerce with Russia to take the place of the
treaty of 1832 abrogated by the United States because of Russia’s treatment of
American Jews.”
1914: Birthdate of
Mauricio Leib Lasansky, “an Argentine-born master printmaker who was equally
well known for a series of drawings depicting the horrors of Nazism…” (As
reported by Margalit Fox)
1915: Assistant
Under-Secretary of State Bertam Cubitt wrote to General Sir John Maxwell “that
to grant the ZMC (Zion Mule Corps) pensions that would be granted to enlisted
British soldiers would be unduly liberal” as they were only “temporary
employees” – a status he ascribed to men who wore the uniform of His Majesty’s
forces and many of whom “permanently gave their lives” under fire at Gallipoli.
1915: Edith Louisa
Caviell, the British nurse who in addition to providing medical aid to
battlefield casualties regardless of their nationality, was executed today by
the Germans today for helping Allied soldiers escape after a court martial in
which she had been represented by Sadi Kirschen whose Jewish family would be
forced to flee Belgium 25 years later when the Nazis came to power.
1915: “More Rioting In Russia” published today
described fighting in the streets of Moscow which has included civilians
building barricades in the city and which the “aristocracy and merchants
“attribute to the disloyalty of the Jews and the granting to them of the rights
of suffrage” – a condition that they will cure by returning to “the customs of
the ancient Muscovite Empire” making it “once more a land of orthodox Slavs.
1915: Birthdate of New
York native Leonard “Len” Maidman the NYU all-star basketball player, 1940
graduate of NYU Med School “who served as a Captain in the Medical Corps”
during WW II after which he practiced medicine in Connecticut for forty years.
1915: Alexei Khvostoff,
the new Russian Minister of the Interior was reported to believe that “the step
already taken to extend the rights of the Jews must be followed up” and that
“the only restriction that should be maintained with regard to the Jews after
the war is the prohibition of the purchase of real estate.”
1915: As of today, according to Professor R.J. H.
Gottheil, the Temporary Chairman of the University Zionist Society, Eugene
Meyer, Jr. is the society’s new president and E.L. Thurman is the society’s new
Secretary.
1916(15th of
Tishrei, 5677): Sukkoth
1916: During the
Punitive Expedition into Mexico led by General Pershing “Rabbis sent to the
Mexican border for the holidays by the Army and Navy Committee and by the
Central Conference of American Rabbis” are scheduled to Sukkoth services in
Texas “at McAllen, El Paso, San Antonio, Brownsville, Laredo and Eagle Pass”
while “elsewhere along the…border Succoth will be observed out of doors or in
tenets which will prove peculiarly appropriate in view of the fact that Succoth
celebrations are held whenever possible in out-of-door booths in token of the
harvest origin of the holiday.”
1916: Dr. J.L. Magnes,
a Brooklyn born member of the American Jewish Relief Committee arrived in
Warsaw where he will be distributing “funds collected in the United States” to
“the poor Jews in Poland.”
1916: During tonight’s
Columbus Day celebration at Carnegie Hall sponsored by the New York Chapter of
the Knights of Columbus former Assemblyman Aaron J. Levy delivered a speech in
which he said “When I was invited to take part in these exercise, I had some
doubt of my right to be here but when I recalled that five members of
Columbus’s crew were Jews and that another Jew prominent at the” Spanish Court
“financed that famous expedition of discovery by contributing $250,000” leading
me to “believe that I have the best right to be here.”
1917: “For the Tsar and
Holy Russia,” “a new reactionary organization” conducted a “vigorous
anti-Jewish campaign” and distributed millions of copies of circulars urging
anti-Jewish uprisings.”
1917: In Tsaritsin,
“Bankers and Trust Companies establish a company to sell insurance again casualties
and losses resulting from pogroms.”
1917: In Lubashevka,
“peasant women attack Jewish shops demanding food at lower prices” followed by
looting of the shops with the goods being taken by force.
1917: Three hundred
more Jewish refugees are expected to arrive shortly in New York from Palestine
which can be added to the total of 91 saved souls who arrived yesterday after
having been driven from their homes in Jaffa and Jerusalem.
1918: Thirty-one year
old Boston University and University of Pennsylvania educated Bernhard
Ostrolenk, the Warsaw born son of Abraham A. and Roaslia (Cherniakow) Ostrolenk
and director of the National Farm School in Pennsylvania married Esther A.
Weinstein.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ostrolenk-bernhard
1918: Dr. Madisen
Clinton Peters, the former pastor of the Bloomingdale Church and author whose
works included Justice to the Jew, The Jews as Patriot, The
Wit Wisdom of the Talmud, The Jews in America and the Jews Who
Stood by Washington, passed away after losing his week-long fight with
Spanish Influenza.
1918: Upon hearing that
the German government had accepted President Wilson’s condition for
negotiation, “the German born Zionist Arthur Ruppin noted in his diary how he
‘went for a long walk and continuously repeated to myself the one word: Peace!
How much it means.’” Ruppin’s joy was premature, and it would be another month
before Peace would become a reality.
1919: The New York Times includes a review of Past
and Present: A Collection of Essays by Dr. Israel Friedlander, a noted
member of the faculty of the Jewish Theological Seminary and an author of
several volumes on Jewish history.
1919: “Poet, essayist,
thinker, satirist” and “collateral descent of Benedict (Baruch) Spinoza,
Benjamin de Casseres, the Philadelphia born son of Charlotte Davis and David de
Casseres married Bio Terrill after which he pursued a varied career that
included serving on the staff of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation and
contriubintg articles to the NY Times, Herald Tribune and the Jewish Exponent.
1920: The Kane Street
Temple, one of the oldest congregations in Brooklyn is scheduled to host the
opening night of its Bazar and Fair at the 23rd Regiment Armory.
1921(10th of
Tishrei, 5682): Yom Kippur
1921: In New York City,
attorney Allen Blaustein and his wife the former Rose Brickman gave birth to
law professor and “constitution drafter Albert P. Blaustein.
1921: According to New
York City political leaders, yesterday's drop in voter registration, as
compared with both the first day's registration and that of last year was
mainly due to the fact that the Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur began yesterday
evening. “In many instances Jewish
registration inspectors left their booths at sundown” which delayed
registration for those waiting in line.
“The Jewish holiday kept the registration down on the East side of
Harlem” and other East side locations because Jews did not come out to register
on the eve of Yom Kippur. The importance
of observing Yom Kippur was a universal factor among Jews regardless of
affiliation as can be sen by the fact that Jacob Schiff, who was serving as
Chairman of one of the registration boards and a co-religionist serving on the
board “quit work at sunset.” When Schiff
was challenged by waiting voters he replied, “We are sorry, but you observe
your holidays and we must observe ours.”
The Board of Elections admitted that it had not even considered the
disruption that would take place when voter registration coincided with the
most important holiday on the Jewish calendar.
1922(20th of
Tishrei, 5683): As Europe endures Fascist violence in Italy and Greeks and
Armenians flee from the Turks taking control of Thrace, Jews observe Sixth Day
of Sukkoth
1922: Indianapolis, IN,
banker Sol S. Kiser, the Ft. Recovery, OH, born son of Fannie Steinfeld and
Gottlieb Kiser married Kate Weis today in Cleveland after the death of his
first wife Dina Salzenstein in 1917.
1923: In Brooklyn,
David Slutsky, a cab driver and Mae Rodin Slutsky, a manicurist gave birth to
Jean Evelyn Slutksy who gained fame as Jean Nidetch, founder of Weight
Watchers. “The story of the establishment of Weight Watchers International
begins with the personal story of a New York housewife who wanted to succeed at
losing weight. In 1963, Mrs. Jean Nidetch , a Jewish woman in her forties, who
had experienced many failed attempts at losing weight and gaining weight,
decided to lose weight forever.” So
begins the saga as described by the Weight Watchers Program. There are those who say the program is very
Jewish. Like Moses, Ms. Nidetch started
with a list of foods you could not eat.
1923: “Solomon Golub
gave a recital of his own compositions” this “evening at Town Hall” where the
Yiddish songs that he sang “had its own complete story…reflecting various
aspects of Jewish life.”
1924: Birthdate of
Erich Gruenberg, the Austrian born violinist who studied at the Jerusalem
Conservatory and “led the Palestine Broadcasting Corporation Orchestra from
1938 to 1945.
1925: Birthdate of
Julius Bronstein, a 34 for year veteran of the Chicago Police Department
1925: In what will be
one of the few glory moments in the history of the Washington Senators, the
Nats with Buddy Myer at 2nd base take a three games to lead over the
Pirates in the World Series.
1925: Birthdate of Alan
Howard Abelson, the New York native who became an editor of Barron’s magazine
where he wrote “a pugnacious, sagacious stock market column that denounced Wall
Street hucksterism and routinely rocked share prices (As reported by Douglas
Martin)
1925(24th of
Tishrei, 5685): Thirty-two year old
Polish born circus performer Siegmund Breitbart known as the “Strongest Man in
the World” passed away today in Berlin after having injured himself during a
performance.
1926: In the Bronx,
William Schlesinger, “a pants salesman” and his wife Lillian who was “a
milliner gave birth to “printer, historian, composer and printer Carl Tobias
Schlesinger.
1926: Birthdate of
Polish native Chajm Marcczak, the Holocaust survivor who spent part of the war
in Liege.
1926: Birthdate of Dr.
Ruth L. Kirschstein, a National Institutes of Health pathologist who helped
develop and refine tests to ensure the safety of vaccines for polio and
measles, organized the NIH response to the AIDS epidemic, and became the first
woman appointed director of an NIH institute.”
1927(16th of
Tishrei, 5688): Second Day of Sukkoth
1927: Anna Boudin, Mrs.
Jacob Panken and Florence Dolowitz organized the first meeting of the Women's
American ORT (WAO). Originally founded in Tsarist Russia in the 1880s, ORT (the
Russian acronym stands for Organization for the Distribution of Artisanal and
Agricultural Skills) was organized to provide vocational training to help
impoverished Russian Jews become more economically self-sufficient. The
American arm of ORT, founded in 1922, was only open to men. Dolowitz and
Boudin, who were married to ORT officers, founded WAO to assist in funding ORT
programs intended to help Eastern European Jews devastated by World War I.
Starting with fundraising concerts and bazaars, WAO grew in response to the
rise of Nazism and the plight of Jewish refugees. Women's American ORT became
an independent organization in 1940, helping to fund International ORT's
growing number of vocational high schools in Europe, India, Israel, and North
Africa. Today WAO focuses primarily on fundraising for ORT schools and programs
around the world, including schools in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
These programs assist disadvantaged individuals and communities to be self-
sufficient by providing education and training in employment skills. The
organization also maintains a public policy platform advocating for quality
public education, increased literacy and women's rights, the separation of
church and state, the elimination of anti-Semitism, and the fostering of Jewish
communities worldwide. (As reported by the Jewish Women’s Archives)
1927: It was reported
today that Justice Jacob Panken has rejected the endorsement of the Communist
Party because, the Communists “believe in dictatorship and ridicule and
denounce the principles and practices of social democracy, while the Socialist
Party believed that whatever “changes are to be made in the United States must
the result of education and the intelligent use of the ballot”
1928: On the 33rd
anniversary of his death, a bust of Jurist Isaac Wolffson was placed “in the
vestibule of the Court of Appeals Building” in Hamburg.
1929: The British High
Commissioner sends a telegram to the government in London warning that the
Arabs of Palestine had recently obtained a considerable number of arms from
Transjordan and the Hedjaz which they intended to use in attacks on the Jewish
population.
1930(20th of
Tishrei, 5691): Sixth Day of Sukkoth
1930: Birthdate of New
Rochelle native Jack Gottlieb, a noted composer who “served as President of the
ASJM for a number of years.”
http://www.jewish-theatre.com/visitor/article_display.aspx?articleID=3548
1931: “Count Helldorf,
charged with having been the leader of anti-Semitic rioting in the
Kurfersten-Damn on September 12 which was allegedly staged by National
Socialists, and he co-defendant Ernst, obtained a change of venue today and
were remanded for trial sine die.”
1931: It was reported
today that “resolutions protesting further restriction of immigration and
against discrimination in colleges and other educational institutions, were
adopted at a meeting of representatives from several hundred Jewish
organizations in the Hotel Pennsylvania where delegates were chosen for the
ninth annual session of the American Jewish Congress.
1932: “The Flag
Lieutenant,” a British made WW I movie featuring Abraham Sofaer as “Meheti
Salos” was released in the United Kingdom today by Woolf and Freedman.
1933(22nd of Tishrei,
5694): Shmini Atzeret
1933: In Los Angeles,
garment workers, most of whom were “Mexicans” began a strike organized by Rose
Posetta (Rakhel Peisoty) of the ILGWU who believed that “Mexican garment
workers” could be the backbone of a West Coast organizing movement.
1933: William E. Dodd,
FDR’s newly appointed Ambassador to Germany, defied the conventional wisdom and
gave a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce in Berlin in which he was
highly critical of the Nazi regime.
Among the high-ranking Nazis in attendance were Goebbels and Alfred
Rosenberg.
1934: In Newark, NJ,
“Carolyn (Kaltenbacher) and Jerome Meier, a wholesale wine and liquor salesman
gave birth to “the oldest of their three sons” Cornell University trained
architect Richard Meier, the winner of 1984 Prtizker Architecture Prize.
1934: In Salem,
Massachusetts, Jacob Joseph Kekst, a Hebrew school teach from Lithuania and his
Palestinian born wife Hannah gave birth to Gershon Kekst, the founder Kekst and
Company.
http://www.jtsa.edu/the-gershon-kekst-graduate-school
1934: U.S. premiere of
“The Gay Divorcee,” a musical directed by Mark Sandrich with a score by Max
Steiner and filmed by cinematographer David Abel.
1935(15th of
Tishrei, 5695): Sukkoth
1935: “Jubilee,” “a
musical comedy with a book by Moss Hart premiered on Broadway tonight at the
Imperial Theatre
1935: Birthdate of
“historian and biographer” John Cooper, , whose works included A Social
History of Jewish Food and The
Life Cycle of the Baghdadi Jews of India that he wrote with his wife,
psychoanalyst Judy Cooper.
1936: Thanks to the
efforts of the “Arab Kings of Iraq, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia and the Emir of
Transjordan, the general strike being conducted by the Arabs in Palestine which
has been marked by death violence has been called off without resolving their
attempts to put an end to Jewish immigration and land purchases.
1936: It was reported
today that during the first six months of this year, the American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee had provided assistance to “2,047 Jews long resident in
Germany but natives of other lands” including 700 from Poland who were forced
to “return home” by the Nazi regime as well as assistance to “1,993 people to
leave small towns and villages for larger German cities because residence in
the smaller communities was no longer possible for them.”
1936: It was reported
today that philosopher and historian Dr. William Durant said “I trust that
before my days are end, I shall the Germany of Lessing, Kant, Goethe and
Schiller restored to the moral fellowship of the nations; and the Jewish people
living once more in peace and honor with Germans in Germany and with Arabs in
Palestine.”
1937(7th of
Cheshvan, 5698): Fifty-four year dentist Charles D. Jaffee the Russian born son
of Helen New Newmark and Salomon Jaffee and the husband of Katherine Weisbord who
in 1905 came to the United States where he manufactured clothing, and was a
member of Temple Emanuel and Union Temple in Brooklyn passed away today in New
York.
1937(7th of
Cheshvan, 5698): Seventy-eight-year-old Geroge da Madouro Peixotto, the
Cleveland born son of Hannah and Benjamin Franklin Peixotto passed away today
in White Plains, NY.
1938(17th of
Tishrei, 5699): Third Day of Sukkoth
1938: “Secretary of
State Cordell Hull said today that the United States Government was giving
careful attention to all phases of the Palestine question and that he might be
in a position to make a statement in the near future.”
1938: “Ten
Representatives in Congress from Illinois joined today to protest against a
plan, now reported being considered by the British Government to abandon the
policy of establishing a Jewish national home in Palestine.”
1939: The first Jewish
deportees left Vienna and Bohemia.
1939: Hans
Frank is appointed governor-general of Occupied Poland.
1940(10th of Tishrei,
5701): Yom Kippur; it is also Shabbat.
http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/october/05.asp
1940: Governor Lehman
of New York missed the celebration of Columbus Day “for the first time in ten
or twelve years because” today was “the holiest of the Jewish religion and he
was attending to religious duties and abstaining from public appearances.
1940: All soldiers who
had received a furlough starting yesterday at noon so they could observe Yom
Kippur were required to return by the sounding of taps this evening.
1940: For the first
time in 940 years, non-Christian religious services were held in Iceland.
Approximately twenty five Jewish soldiers from England, Scotland and Canada
gathered with eight Jewish refugees and Hendrik Ottósson, who had married a
Jewish woman to observe Yom Kippur. Ottósson, served as their Shammash. The
Icelandic authorities offered a chapel in Reykjavík's old cemetery. Ottósson
found the suggestion insulting and rented a hall of the Good Templars' Lodge.
They borrowed the only Torah scroll available in town.
1940: On
this Jewish Day of Atonement, German loudspeakers in Warsaw, Poland, announce
that all Jews in the city must move to the Jewish ghetto by the end of the
month.
1940 (10th of Tishrei,
5701): In one of those calendar quirks, Yom Kippur, Shabbat and Columbus Day
all fell on the same day. As the Nazis
swept across Europe, sermons provided different ways to respond to the
challenge and observe the Day of Atonement. Rabbi Stephen Wise told congregants
at the Free Synagogue that it was not enough for England to resist Hitler. The resistance to Hitler must take the form
of renewed and deepened loyal to morality which “in its origins is
Judeo-Christian.” Rabbi Jonah Wise asked those at Central Synagogue “how much
liberty can we lose and still retain from freedom” while Rabbi David de Sola
Pool told those at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue “Our effective answer
to the tyrannies of other lands is to build here a better society of free,
unexploited happy men and women. It is within our power to reconstruct society
and build it in the light of divine wisdom.”
1940(10th of Tishrei,
5701): The Nazis executed 3,400 Jews in Galicia.
1940: It was reported
today that due to the start of Yom Kippur yesterday evening, “slaughters had
reduced the kill of those classes generally dressed kosher.”
1941: In
Stanislawow, Eastern Galicia, all of the Jews living in the district, were
driven out of their homes into the center of the town where massive graves had
been dug. SS troops and Ukrainian militia commence machine gunning of the
gathered populace. Estimates of the number of Jews murdered range from a low of
6,000 to a high of 12,000. For the Jews, it was Hoshanah Rabbah, (the Great
Prayer day.) The Ukrainian and German killers throw a "Bloody Sunday"
victory celebration.
1940 Sixty-four year
old William Henry Dieterich, the anti-Semitic and somewhat pro-German” Senator
from Illinois who was opposed by his fellow Democrat Henry Horner, “the first
Jewish governor of Illinois” passed away today.
1941: At Stanislawow,
the Germans and “Local Ukrainian nationalist” murdered another 10,000
“intellectuals, professionals” and Jews two months before the Ghetto was
established there.
1941: At
Sabac, Yugoslavia, hundreds of Gypsies are murdered. Jews were the primary
victims of genocide, but not the only victims.
1941: The head of the
University of Louisville expresses his gratitude for a bequest by the late
Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandies to the school’s Law Library. About two decades ago, Justice. Brandies
selected the Law School of the University of Louisville as beneficiary of
specific current gifts from him because, in his judgment, this university is
much less liable to political influence than institutions under complete public
control.
1941(21st of
Tishrei, 5702): Hoshanah Rabah
1942(1st of
Cheshvan, 5703): Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan
1942: At the very
moment when the Nazis and their allies are wiping out Yiddish culture, Oy Is
Dus a Leben, “a musical cavalcade in two acts, opened at the Moll Picon
Theatre.
1942(1st of
Cheshvan, 5703): Sixty-year old Berthold Ullman, the Czech born son of Bertha
and Hermann Ullman was murdered today at Auschwitz.
1942 : In Shavei Tzion,
“Ruth and Reuben Lewinbuk (or Levenbuch)” gave birth to “Daliah Lewinbuk (or
Levenbuch” who gained fames as “actress, singer and model” Daliah Levy, a
protégé of Kirk Douglas and the wife of Charles Gans with whom she had four
children – Kathy, Rouben, Alexander and Stephen.
1942: Birthdate of
Illinois native Lewis Michael Eisenberg, the holder of an MBA from Cornell the
co-founder of the “equity firm Granite Capital International Group and U.S.
Ambassador to Italy.
1943: A delegation of
the American Zionist Emergency Council “led by Dr. Israel Goldstein, president
of the ZOA” today called on the British Ambassador “to protest against the
action of the Palestine Government in converting the recent trial” of “two
members of the Jewish community into an international affair designed to serve
as a medium to discredit the Jewish Agency for Palestine.”
1943: Today marks the
first full day of a drive announced last night by Youth Aliyah in Brooklyn to
raise one hundred thousand dollars which will be used to rescue Jewish youth in
“Nazi-dominated countries” and settle them in Palestine.
1944: Gerda Baier was
deported to Auschwitz where she was subsequently murdered.
1944(25th of
Tishrei, 5705): The wife and young daughter of chess champion Salo Landau were
gassed today at Auschwitz.
1945: Forty women
rescued from Nazi concentration camps were the first to be sheltered in the new
sixty-bed wing opened” today “at the Women’s League for Palestine home at
Haifa. In New York, “Mrs. David L.
Isaacs, who head the Palestine committee of the league” described “the welcome
given the group rescued from Bergen-Belsen, Buchwald and Auschwitz.”
1945: British
authorities continued their search of a secret radio that was “attempting to
rally Jewish resistance forces.” Shortly
before a secret radio station “that was attempting to rally Jewish resistance
forces…broadcast the announcement ‘Listen to the voice of Israel! This is not a terrorist station. This is the station of Hebrew resistance.
Never again will Jews be deported from their homeland. Our patience is over. No power in the world shall break our
determination.”
1946: “Nobody Lives
Forever” starring John Garfield (Jacob Julius Garfinkle) was released in the
United States today.
1947: In Chicago Mike
Wallace and Norma Kaphan gave birth FOX newsman Christopher “Christ” Wallace
whose career choice begs the question of nature versus nurture since his father
was the CBS news personality and his step-father was Bill Leonard, President of
CBS News.
1947: Ninety-four year
old General Sir Ian Hamilton the commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary
Forced during the Gallipoli Campaign which meant he commanded the first Jewish
fighting unit since the days of Bar Kochba and who “carried out a spot
inspection” of the newly formed Zion Mule Corps “and was delighted with the
workman-like appearance of the Corps after so little training” passed away
today.
1948(9th of
Tishrei, 5709): Erev Yom Kippur; in the evening Kol Nidre is chanted for the
first time in almost two thousand years in an independent Jewish state.
1948(9th of
Tishrei, 5709): Eighty year old Alfred Kerr passed away today.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0012_0_11056.html
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10006082
1948: Egypt, Syria and
Lebanon recognize the All Palestine Government.
Jordan’s King Abdullah had already refused to grant this entity any
power in territory seized by his Arab Legion.
In other words, there was to be no Palestinian control over what is now
called the West Bank and the Old City section of Jerusalem.
1949(19th of
Tishrei, 5710): Fifth Day of Sukkoth
1949: “Christopher
Columbus” a biopic featuring Abraham Sofaer was released in the United Kingdom
today.
1949: “Love Happy,” a
Marx Brothers comedy that included a walk-on appearance by Marilyn Monroe was
released today in San Francisco.
1949: Casper Platt who
had been “nominated by President Harry S. Truman to a seat on the United States
District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois” “was confirmed by the
United States” today.
1950: CBS broadcast the
first episode of “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show” which was a
continuation of their vaudeville act that had been a hit on radio as well.
1951(12th of
Tishrei, 5712): Sixty-five year old English born Australian war hero and
diplomat Leonard Keysor who won the Victoria Cross lost his battle with cancer
today.
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/keysor-leonard-maurice-6946
1952(23rd of
Tishrei, 5713): Simchat Torah is celebrated for the last time during the
Presidency of Harry S. Truman, “the godfather of Israeli independence”
1953: The “Caine Mutiny Court Martial” opened at
the Plymouth Theatre in New York. This
Broadway dramatic hit was based on the novel The Caine Mutiny by Herman
Wouk. Wouk has had a successful writing
career dealing with both non-Jewish and Jewish themes. More to the point, he has been successful
without compromising his very strong belief in traditional Judaism and the
state of Israel.
1953(3rd of
Cheshvan, 5714): “Suzanne Kinyas, and her two children (3 year old girl and a 1
and a half year old boy) were killed
today when a Palestinian Fedayeen squad infiltrated into Israel from Jordan”
and “threw a grenade into a civilian house” at Yehud, a village eight mile east
of Tel Aviv. (Fedayeen was the 1950’s
term for the Arab terrorists. Over the
decades, they change their names but not their murderous aims.)
1954(15th of
Tishrei, 5715): Sukkoth
1954: In Philadelphia,
PA, Congressman Joshua Eilberg and his wife Gladys gave birth to Amy Eilberg,
the first female rabbi ordained by the Conservative movement.
1955(26th of Tishrei,
5716): Eighty-two year old Arthur Hammerstein, the son of Oscar Hammerstein I
and uncle of Oscar Hammerstein II, who “was an opera producer and one of the
writers of the song "Because of You," a major hit (#1 for 10 weeks)
for Tony Bennett in 1951 passed away today. Hammerstein wrote the song in 1940.
It was used in the film I Was an American Spy (1951). He was the producer of
the musical comedies The Firefly (1912), and Rose Marie (1924), which he did
along with his nephew. He also was the producer of the film The Lottery Bride
(1930), and made an appearance as himself in an episode of the film series
Popular Science in 1949. Arthur Hammerstein was born and educated in New York
City. Arthur's daughter, Elaine Hammerstein was a well-known stage and film
actress.”
1956: In response to a
request from a very worried Jordanian King, the British government informed
Israel that, in accordance with the treaties with Jordan and Iraq, Britain
would go to the aid of both these countries if they were attacked by
Israel. The irony was that Israel was
negotiating with France and Britain over plans to attack Egypt and seize the
Suez Canal.
1957(17th of
Tishrei, 5718): Shabbat Shel Sukkoth
1957: Publication of
Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged which, in 2007, will be described as one of
the most influential business books ever written.
1957: In Philadelphia,
attorney and Maryland state legislator Joe Chasnoff and his wife, “psychologist
Selina Sue Prosen” gave birth to “Oscar winning documentarian Debra Hill
Chasnoff” whose death was announced to the public by “her wife, Nancy Otto.”
(As reported by Sam Roberts)
1958: Fifty sticks of
dynamite exploded in the entryway of Atlanta's Hebrew Benevolent Society -- the
oldest and largest Reform congregation, commonly known as the Temple. Five men,
all associated with white separatist groups like the National States' Rights
Party, were tried and acquitted. No one was ever convicted for the crime. The bombing
came as Rabbi Jacob Rothschild was becoming increasingly active in the Civil
Rights movement.
1959(10th of
Tishrei, 5720): Yom Kippur
1959: The Play of the
Week televised David Susskind’s production of Media as its first broadcast.
1960(21st of
Tishrei, 5721): Hashanah Rabah
1960: In Washington,
DC, attorney and WW II veteran Ira Ressler and Dorothy Ressler gave birth
Georgetown and Columbia educated businessman Antony P. Ressler, the husband of
Jami Gertz whom he married in 1989 and the co-founder of equity firms Apollo
Global Management and Ares Management who also owns stock in the Atlanta Haws
and the Milwaukee Brewers.
1960; U.S. premiere of
“Inherit the Wind,” the cinematic adaptation of the play co-authored by Jerome
Lawrence, directed and produced by Stanley Kramer.
1961: “Let It Ride” a
musical with lyrics and music by co-authored by Jay Livingston and starring Sam
Leven opened tonight at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in New York.
1961: Today the West
End production of “Do, Re Mi” featuring
the music of Jule Styne and the lyrics of Betty Comden and Adolph Green opened
at the Prince of Wales Theatre where it “ran for 169 performances.
1962(14th of
Tishrei, 5723): Erev Sukkoth
1962: As Jews prepare
to observe Sukkoth, “Rabbi Mordecai Kirshblum, president of the Religious
Zionists of America said that the festival ‘symbolizes man’s dedication to the
noble principles of freedom, learning and religious truth.’”
1963: Archaeological
digs began at Masada, Israel. Masada was
the site of the famous “last stand” during the “War Against Rome” that ended
with the destruction of the Second Temple.
The archaeological dig was important because it gave credence to Jewish
history. Of course the debate continues
to this day as to who was right – the Jews of Masada or the Jews of Yavnah.
1963: “A virulent
anti-Semitic book, Judaism Without Embellishment, by Trofim Kichko was
published in the USSR today.”
1966: Today, The Sydney
Morning Herald reported that seventy-eight year old cellist and composer Gadal
Saleski had passed away way four days ago in Los Angeles.
1966(28th of
Tishrei, 5727): Seventy three year old Russian born composer and convert to
Catholicism Arthur-Vincent Lourie who
fled his homeland after the Communist came to power and fled Europe after the
Nazis came to power passed away today in Princeton, NJ.
1967: In discussing his latest archeological finds,
Dr. Yigael Yadin, Israel's leading archeologist contends that King Solomon may
have indulged a passion for building during his long reign from 960 to 922
B.C., but he did not build the stables at Megiddo
1968(20th of
Tishrei, 5729): Shabbat Shel Sukkoth observed for the last time during the
Presidency of Lyndon Johnson who had helped to rescue Jews clandestinely and
stood by Israel during the war in 1967.
1969(30th of
Tishrei, 5730): Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan
1969: The Citizens
Union announced today “that it preferred Abe Stark's Liberal party rival in
this fall's election for Borough President of Brooklyn, suggesting that Mr.
Stark at 74 was hampered by age.”
1969(30th of
Tishrei 5730): Seventy-two year old Dr. Max Schur, the friend and confidant of
Sigmund Freud passed away
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3969756-freud
1971(23rd of
Tishrei, 5732): Simchat Torah
1972: “Lady Sings the
Blues” a biopic featuring Sid Melton as “Jerry” was released in the United
States today.
1972: “The King of
Marvin Gardens” a drama directed by Bob Rafelson, the co-producer and co-author
of the script and starring Ellen Burstyn was released in the United States
today.
1973: Moshe Koren
safely ejected from his F-4E Phantom Jet after it fell victim to Lebanese
anti-aircraft fire and was recovered by IDF forces.
1973: Ran Goren and
Micha Oren were safely recovered by IDF forces after their F-4E Phantom Jet was
shot down by an Egyptian MiG-21.
1973: A week after the
Yom Kippur War began; Avraham Lanir scored his third and last aerial kill,
downing a Syrian MiG-17 in the vicinity of Kuneitra while flying Mirage 5
1973: As many as 15,000
Iraqi troops had reached the Syrian front and were prepared to attack Israeli
forces. The Israelis lucked out and spotted a lead contingent of fifty Iraqi
tanks. When the Iraqis reached to within three yards of the outnumbered
Israelis, the IDF tanks opened fire destroying 17 tanks and halting the assault
The Soviets completed a twenty-four hour air lift during which eighty large
Soviet transport planes landed in Syria filled with a wide variety of arms that
more than compensated for the Syrian losses during the first week of fighting.
On the southern front, Egyptian tanks and troops continued to pour across the
Suez Canal posing a new threat to the Israelis.
1973: In the midst of the perilous first week of
the Yom Kippur War a dispute broke out between the Sephardic Chief Rabbi and
his Ashkenazi counterpart.
1974: Ten
people participated in the second of two demonstrations that took place in
Moscow today during which demands were made for the granting of exit visas.
1975:
Birthdate of Aharon Mordechai Rokeach the only child
and heir of the current Rebbe of Belz, Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach. Born in
Jerusalem, Israel, he was named after his father's uncle, Rabbi Aharon Rokeach,
the fourth Belzer Rebbe, and his father's father, Rabbi Mordechai of Bilgorai.
1976: Yorkshire
Television broadcast the third episode of “Dickens of London” with music by
Monty Norman
1977(30th of Tishrei, 5738): Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan
1977(30th of Tishrei, 5738): Seventy-seven year old
CCNY and NYU Law School graduate Lewis E. Zorn, the former “president of the
Brucks Division of the American Hospital Supply Company” and “a founder of the
American Friends of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem” who was the husband of
Lillian Zorn with whom he had one son, Richard, passed away today in Mount
Vernon, NY.
1978: Representatives
of Israel and Egypt opened peace talks in Washington, D.C.
1978: First baseman and
designated hitter Ron Blomberg who began his career with the Yankees played his
last major league game with the Chicago White Sox.
1980(2nd of
Cheshvan, 5741): Sixty-seven year old New York native and George Washington
University trained attorney Arthur Weissman, “a prominent authority on medical
economics where served as a senior executive of the Kaiser-Permanente Medical
Program” who two sons, Ronald and David, with his wife Louise, passed away
today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/10/14/111300139.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1981: Yuli Edelstein,
Victor Fulmacht, Alexander Kholmianskii, Vladimir Kuravsky, Vladimir Magarik
and Boris Teplitsky were among the
“more than a hundred Moscow Hebrew teachers and their students who wrote a
letter of protest to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the systematic and
continuous KGB persecution of refuseniks engaged in studying and teaching the
Hebrew language.”
1982(25th of
Tishrei, 5743): Eighty-two year old publisher Robert Paul Michel Calmann-Levy
the son of Gaston Michel Calmann-Lévy and Hélène Koenigswarter passed away today.
1984: It was reported
today that memoirs of Jaroslav Seifert, the newly named Nobel Prize winner in
Literature, contain a “selection, titled 'Russian Bliny,' is about Roman
Jakobson, a Russian born Jewish scholar who emigrated to Czechoslovakia after
World War I and came to the United States during World War II.”
1984: “Garbo Talks” a
comedy directed by Sidney Lumet, produced by Elliot Kastner, with music by Cy
Coleman and cos-starring Ron Silver, Steven Hill, Howard Da Silva and Harvey
Fierstein was released in the United States by MGM/UA.
1984: A month after
having been released in the United States “Blood Simple” a crime file “written,
edited, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen which was the directorial
debut of the Coens and the first major film of cinematographer Barry
Sonnenfeld” was screened today at the Toronto International Film Festival.
1985(27th of
Tishrei, 5746): In Cincinnati, Ohio, ninety year old Betty Fabe, the daughter
of Max and Sara Hexter and the wife of Isadore Fabe passed away today.
1986: “3 Named
Co-Winners of Jabotinsky Awards” published today reported that “a former
President of Costa Rica, a former prime minister of Sweden and Soviet have
named as the recipients of the Jabotinsky Prize Defend of Jerusalem Award.”
1987(20th of Tishrei,
5748): Sixth Day of Sukkoth
1987: The New Jewish
Agenda (NJA) “organized a Jewish contingent and Havdallah service at today’s
March on Washington for gay rights.”
1987(20th of Tishrei,
5748): Oliver Louis Zangwill an influential British neuropsychologist passed
away today. Born in 1913, he was Professor of Experimental Psychology,
University of Cambridge, 1952-81, then Professor Emeritus. He was the son of
Israel Zangwill and the grandson of William Edward Ayrton. He was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society in 1977
1988: Israel
and China signed a trade agreement and made plans for establishing diplomatic
relations.
1989: “Last Exit to
Brooklyn’ the movie version of the novel by the same name starring Stephan Lang
and Jerry Orbach and with music by Mark Knoplfer was released in West Germany
today.
1989:
A Syrian Air Force major flying a Soviet-made fighter-bomber landed in Israel
today, stunning Israeli officials who said the pilot had asked for political
asylum.
1990(23rd
of Tishrei, 5751): Simchat Torah
1990:
“Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael” a comedy co-starring Winona Ryder, directed by
Jim Abrahams and featuring Valerie Landsburg, Dinah Manoff and Stephen
Tobolowsky was released in the United States today
1992(15th
of Tishrei, 5753): First Day of Sukkoth observed for the last time during the
Presidency of George Bush.
1994:
In a letter written to Sir Martin Gilbert today, “Jack (Izrael) Unikoski” who
had been one of only a thousand teenage boys liberated by the Americans at
Buchenwald on April 11, said that on VE Day he felt “joy that Germany had lost
the war” but he also realized that for him “the liberation had come too late
and he too had lost the war, having lost his whole family” including his
parents, sister and brothers including his “older brother Isser who had died of
hunger in the Lodz Ghetto at the age of 19.”
1995(18th
of Tishrei, 5756): Fourth Day of Sukkoth
1995(18th
of Tishrei, 5756): Ninety-two year old, Nathan S. Fishbeing, the son of Louis
and Sarah Miller Fishbeing and the husband of Evelyn L. Goldberg Fishbein
passed away today after which he was buried at the Lincoln Park Cemetery in
Warwick, RI.
1997: In “Neighborhood
Report: Corona –New Worshipers Are
Bane, Not Balm, for Old Synagogue,” Charlie Leduff describes the challenges
faced at Tifereth Israel as an influx of
Bukharan Jews face the aging members of the nine decades old
synagogue.
1997: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors
and/or about topics of special interest to Jews including The Myth of Rescue: Why the Democracies Could Not Have Saved
More Jews From the Nazisy by William D. Rubinstein, Shtetl: The Life and Death of a Small Town
and the World of Polish Jews
by Eva Hoffman and God & The American Writer by Alfred Kazin.
1998(22nd of
Tishrei, 5759): Shmini Atzeret
2000: Ben Weider
successful body builder, businessman and a student of history who worked to
prove that Napoleon had been poisoned received the French Legion of Honor.
2000(13th of
Tishrei, 5761): Vadim Nurhitz and Yossi Avrahami, two Israeli reservists who
entered Ramallah by mistake were arrested by the PA. While in the custody of
the PA, a mob savagely murdered them and then mutilated their bodies.
http://www.think-israel.org/freerepublic.octoberramallahlynch.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Ramallah_lynching
2000: During the
Infitada, “vandals…desecrated the building” housing the mosaic that had been
part of the Shalom Al Yisrael Synagogue, Jewish house of worship that dates
back “to the late 6th or early 7th century and was
discovered in 1936 “by Dr. Baramki of the Antiquities Authority under the
British Mandate.”
2001(25th of
Tishrei, 5762): Ninety-three year old Philadelphia born playwright Ruth Goetz
who collaborated with her husband Augustus Goetz on many of her efforts and was
introduced to the theartre by her father, “theatrical producer Philip Goodman”
passed away today.
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/16/arts/ruth-goetz-93-who-co-wrote-the-heiress.html
2002: In Massachusetts,
Boston College, a Catholic institution of higher learning, installed “a copy of
the Torah in the worship center, where it is expected to be used” for future
Friday and Saturday services.
2003: The New York Times
featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of special
interest to Jews including Madam Secretary by Madeleine
Albright with Bill Woodward and Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11 by Gerald Posner.
2004: “Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon, described by aides as more angry than embarrassed over
Parliament's symbolic repudiation of his term-opening speech, moved” today “to
renew discussions with opposition parties to reshape his minority government.”
2004: Mayor Michael R.
Bloomberg of New York City, upholding an October tradition of civic boosterism,
announced his friendly wager with Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston” today “over
the outcome of the American League Championship Series” which was a wager
pitting pastrami against Boston Cream Pie.
2005: New York Times reporter Judith Miller
testified one last time before the federal grand jury before being “relieved of
contempt charges” in matters related to the Scooter Libby leak case.
2005: Air Force veteran
and businessman, Al Hoffman, Jr. the son of a Jewish father and
“Scottish-American mother” began serving as U.S. Ambassador to Portugal.
2005(9th of Tishrei,
5766): Erev Yom Kippur: In the evening, Jews all over the world gather to hear
Kol Nidre marking the start of Yom Kippur
2006(20th of Tishrei,
5767): Sixth Day of Sukkoth
2006(20th of
Tishrei, 5767): Sixty-one year old Don Novick, loving husband of Denise Novick
and father of Rochelle and Cassie Novick passed away. The son of Russian
immigrant Jews, he was raised as an Orthodox Jew in Cheyenne, Wyoming. A member of Temple Judah, he was a pillar of
the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Jewish community who gave freely of his time and
culinary skills to so many worthwhile events.
Among his many virtues, was the ability to cook anything you wanted to
perfection, including the best falafel west of Tel Aviv. A quite man, he touched many lives and will
never be forgotten.
2006(20th of
Tishrei, 5767): Eighty-six year old Gillo Pontecorvo an Italian movie director
best known for making the award winning “Battle of Algiers” whose siblings
included Bruno Pontecorvo, an
internationally acclaimed physicist, Guido Pontecorvo, a geneticist and Polì
[Paul] Pontecorvo, an engineer who worked on radar after WWII passed away
today.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/oct/14/guardianobituaries.obituaries
2006: In New York, the
Albany County District Attorney acknowledged that he was investigating the
hiring of a chauffeur by the Comptroller of New York, Alan Hevesi.
2006: Judy Gold’s “her
one-woman show ’25 Questions for a Jewish Mother…based on a series of
interviews with more than Jewish mothers in the United States” “reopened today
at St. Luke’s Theatre.
2007(30th of Tishrei,
5768): Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan
2007:
The film “Jewish Life in Cracow” is screened at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City
2007: Yaakov Katz the military correspondent
and defense analyst for The Jerusalem Post, the Middle East's leading
English daily speaks at the Hillel
House at the University of Iowa
2007: Some of the world's best klezmer musicians gathered in a
New York neighborhood that was once home to poor immigrant Jews for a 10-day
festival of the music rooted in their Eastern European cultures.
2008: The
New York Times featured
reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of special interest to
Jews including My Father’s Paradise: A Son’s Search for His Jewish Past in
Kurdish Iraq by Ariel Sabar and The Partnership: The Making of Goldman
Sachs by Charles D. Ellis.
2008: The Washington Post
featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of special
interest to Jews including Hitler’s Empire: How the Nazis
Ruled Europe by Mark
Mazower and two paperback offering: A Little History of the World by
E.H. Gombrich; Translated from the German by Caroline Mustill and Just Say
Nu Yiddish for Every Occasion (When English Just Won't Do) by
Michael Wex.
2008: In Atlanta, members of The Temple
gathered to observe the 50th anniversary of the blast that shook the
congregation, recalling its terrifying aftermath and the way it changed their
congregation's mission to promote racial equality.
2008: A critically acclaimed fully staged
off-Broadway production of Joseph Stein’s “Enter Laughing: The Musical” came to
a close at The York Theatre. “It was nominated for a 2009 Lucille Lortel
Award for outstanding revival.”
2008: The curtain came down the Classic Stage
Company’s revival of “The Tempest” starring Mandy Pantinkin as “Prospero.”
2009: Time magazine published an article entitled “How Moses
Shaped America” by Bruce Feiler.
http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1927303,00.html
2009: Israel and the U.S. are scheduled to begin
their biggest joint air-defense exercise today. Code named "Juniper Cobra," the maneuvers will
be overseen by Adm. Mark Fitzgerald, chief of the U.S. Navy's Sixth Fleet and
are designed to test the missile interceptors that would serve as a strategic
bulwark in any future showdown with Iran.
2009: As part of The New School's
"Jewish Text" seminar series David Stromberg will be reading from and
discussing his newest book, Baddies.
2009(24th
of Tishrei, 5770): Ninety-six year old Mildred Cohn who overcame gender and
religious discrimination to make major advances in biochemistry and who
received the nation's most prestigious award in science passed away today. (As
reported by Matt Schudel)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/22/AR2009102204570.html
2010: Joshua Sobol is
scheduled talk about his novel Cut Throat Dog at program sponsored by
Wesleyan University Jewish and Israel Studies program
in Middleton.
2010: YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is scheduled to present
“Protocols of Justice: Inside the Rabbinical Court of Metz, France
(1771-1789).”
2010: After six years of construction, the American Consulate in
Jerusalem is scheduled to open its new facility for consular services on Rehov
David Flusser in the southern Arnona neighborhood today.
2010: British Jewish author Howard Jacobson was the surprise
winner of the Man Booker Prize today for The Finkler Question, the first
comedy to scoop one of the English-speaking world's most coveted literary
awards.
2010(4th
of Cheshvan, 5771):
Ninety-five year old best-selling author Belva Plain,
the graduate of Barnard College and wife of Dr. Irving Plain passed away today
(As reported Elsa Dixler)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/18/books/18plain.html
2010: The Guardian
published Shabtai Rosenne: Eminent International lawyer, teacher and Israeli
diplomat” by Malcom Shaw.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/12/shabtai-rosenne-obituary/print
2011(14th
of Tishrei, 5772): Erev Sukkoth
2011:
Today, Theo Epstein agreed to a five-year contract worth $18.5 million with the
Chicago Cubs.
2011: Israeli cellist Inbal Segev is scheduled to perform at the Bulgarian
Concert Evening in Carnegie Hall.
2011: David
Frum, who had been “a commentator for American Public Media’s ‘Marketplace’
since 2007” made his final appearance today.
2011:
Galid Shalit's parents, Noam and Aviva, arrived this
evening in their home in Mitzpe Hila in northern Israel, after leaving the
protest site they had been encamped at in Jerusalem.
2012:
NFTY/HUC/AJA Teen Study Weekend is scheduled to begin in Cincinnati, Ohio.
2012: The US State Department confirmed today that it had
attempted to renew peace talks between Jerusalem and Damascus in 2010, before
the outbreak of violence in Syria. (As reported by Yoel Goldman and Ron
Friedman)
2012: Palestinian terrorists from the Gaza Strip fired a Grad
rocket towards Netivot today, causing one civilian to suffer shock symptoms,
according to the Negev Police.
2013:
In Jerusalem, the Ensemble Millennium is scheduled to perform “Night Music,” a
concert that will include works by Mozart, Schubert, Liszt and Schoenberg.
2013:
Today, actor Ben Feldman married Michelle Mulitz in Gaithersburg, MD.
2013:
The Hyman S & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival is scheduled to
present “American Savage: Insights, Slights and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love and
Politics” featuring Dan Savage.
2013:
Iran said it arrested three Israelis suspected of spying and attempting to
recruit Iranian citizens to gather intelligence for Israel, Iranian news agency
Mehr reported today.
2013:
"The State should act forcefully to send a message to these people,"
said Monique Ofer, wife of retired IDF Colonel Seraya Ofer, 61, who was
murdered in a terror attack outside his home in the northern Jordan Valley
early yesterday.
2014:
The New York Times featured reviews
of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers
including The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and
Launched a Revolution by Jonathan Eig
2014:
“Race: Are We So Different?” is scheduled to open at the Illinois Holocaust
Museum & Education Center.
2014:
The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to host a new
walking tour “Downtown Synagogues and D.C.’s Urban Evolution.”
2014:
The Jewish Museum of London is scheduled to host “Zangwill’s Ghetto: An East
End Story” which is a walking tour of the author’s childhood neighborhood held
to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Zangwill’s birth.
2014:
“The commander of the Jewish Legion, Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson,
who died in 1947, was exhumed and his ashes brought to Israel, in a fulfillment
of the Christian Zionist’s final wish to be buried in the Holy Land, the Prime
Minister’s Office announced today.” (As reported by Marissa Newman)
2014:
Onno Hoes completed his service as Chairman of the Dutch Center for Information
Documentation Israel.
2014:
“Israel was set today to tighten border controls on travelers from Western
African countries, as part of larger efforts to prevent the Ebola virus from
spreading into Israel.” (As reported by Marissa Newman)
2014:
“Thousands of Israelis and Jews from around the world gathered in the Western
Wall (Kotel) plaza this morning, for the traditional Birkat Hacohanim (Priestly
Blessing) ceremony held on Sukkot (the Feast of the Tabernacles).
2014:
In honor of Sukkoth, the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust
Education is scheduled to host “Pita in the Hut.”
2015:
The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled to present the 2nd Annual Concert
for Daniel Pearl: "Building Bridges: From Bene Beraq to Baghdad."
2015:
In Leeds, Dr. Lorna Waddington is scheduled to lecture on “The History of the
Myth of International Jewish Conspiracy.”
2016:
Today, Michael Dell’s “Dell Inc. announced its intent to acquire the enterprise
software and storage company EMC Corporation” – an acquisition thought to be
worth a record setting 67 billion dollars.
2015:
Professor David Shneer’s “The Romance and Tragedy of Yiddish Culture” is
scheduled to begin today.
2016: In Memphis, TN, a part of the afternoon Yom Kippur observance,
Temple Israel’s own Daniel Kiel, a law professor, is scheduled to moderate a
discussion on “Building A More Just Memphis.”
2016(10th of Tishrei, 5777): The somberness of Yom Kippur took
an even darker turn with the passing of 91 year old Civil Rights champion Jack
Green who among other things was the head of the NAACP Legal Defense fund for
almost a quarter of a century.
2016(10th of Tishrei, 5777): Yom Kippur
“G'mar Hatima
Tova”
2016: “Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump claimed today
that the Islamic State group would ‘take over’ the US if Hillary Clinton is
elected president
2017(22nd of Tishrei, 5778): Shemini Atzeret &
Yizkor; In the evening Simchat Torah celebration begins
2017:
“Hamas has signed a reconciliation agreement with the Fatah party of
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in order that all Palestinian
forces can “work together against the Zionist enterprise,” Saleh al-Arouri, the
Hamas deputy political leader, said in Cairo today.
2017:
In the evening, the University of Iowa Hillel is scheduled to host Simchat
Torah services followed by a festive dinner
2017:
The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host a buffet meal before
holding Simchat Torah Services
2018:
In Jerusalem, as part of the Young Artists of the Future Generation Concert
series, the Eden-Tamir Music Center is scheduled to host a Piano Recital by
Alon Petrrilin.
2018:
In a testament to the vitality of “small town Judaism” in Cedar Rapids Joseph
Heeren, the son Amy and Michael Heeren, pillars of the Jewish community, is
scheduled to begin celebrating his Bar Mitzvah weekend this evening.
2019(13th
of Tishrei, 5780): Parahsat Ha’azinu;
2019:
In Cotati, CA, Congregation Ner Shalom is scheduled to host the Cotati Cabaret
featuring “the multi-media show called ‘Daniel Cainer’s Weird and Wonderful
Jewish Midlife Crisis.’”
2019:
It was reported today that in the wake of this week’s Yom Kippur synagogue
shooting, that the President of Germany had said this was a time of “shame and
disgrace” and Chancellor Merkle said that “antisemitism has no place in our
country” and “that the state needed to use all available means to take action
against hatred.
2019:
Israelis and her supporters digest the view that “the abrupt withdrawal of U.S.
troops from northeastern Syria and subsequent Turkish attacks on Kurdish
fighters have badly rattled Israel’s national security experts, who decried
President Trump’s action as a betrayal of loyal allies and evidence that
Israel’s most vital supporter is a fickle friend at best.”
2020”
The Jewish National Fund is scheduled to present online “Green Technology and
Israel’s Sustainable Future.”
2020:
Online Dr. Kamilė Rupeikaitė and Dr. Raquel Ukeles are scheduled to host
“Jewish Museums in A Changing Reality: The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum.”
2020:
In New Orleans, the Jewish Community is scheduled to host a screening of “Love
In Suspenders.”
2020:
The Streicker Center is scheduled to host Jonathan Medved as he talks about
“The Future of the Startup Nation.”
2020:
Bay Area native Jason Harris, host of the podcast “Jew Oughta Know,” is
scheduled to talk about the mystery of Columbus’ origins and why Jews are so
interested in this question.
2020:
“Prominent Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky has ordered ultra-Orthodox schools and
yeshivas to open” today, “despite the coronavirus lockdown prohibiting them
from opening, according to the Ynet news site.”
2021:
The London School of Jewish Studies is scheduled to present the first session
of Desperately Seeking Psalms with Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum.
2021:
The Jewish Film Festival at the Jacob Burns Film Center is scheduled the final
screening of “Golda” and “Shiva Baby.”
2021: The
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is scheduled to co-host “A Voice of
Conscience: Honoring the Life and Legacy of Elie Wiesel.”
2021:
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid is scheduled to begin his meetings in Washington
with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
2021:
Mitchell Levin had knee replacement surgery today which led to the temporary
suspension of the updates for This Day…In Jewish History.
2022: The
Haifa Film Festival is scheduled to host screenings of “Empty Handed” and
“Axiom.”
2022: The
Streicker Center is scheduled to host a conversation with Gloria Steinman and
Letty Cottin Pogrebin, author of Shanda: A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy.
2022:
Judaism Unbound, a group that aims to engage “disaffected but hopeful” American
Jews, is scheduled to a recitation of the entire Torah — all 52 portions that
are read in synagogues throughout the year — during an online event that starts
at 5:30 a.m. this morning; the group estimates that the reading will take more
than 15 hours
2022(17th of Tishrei, 5783): Third Day
of Sukkoth
2023: The Chelsea Film which “will showcase four
titles directed by Israeli filmmakers” is scheduled to begin today at the Regal
Theatres Union Square.
2023: Yeshiva University Museum is scheduled to
host YUM’s Director Gabriel Goldstein for a guided tour of The Golden Path:
Maimonides Across Eight Centuries, illuminating the life and impact of the
multifaceted luminary and great Jewish sage across continents and cultures
through rare manuscripts and books.
2023: JDC is scheduled a program that includes
“live updates from Israelis on the ground and to learn more about efforts to aid
the country’s must vulnerable on the frontlines of the conflict.”
2023: SAPIR is scheduled to host conversation between Editor-in-Chief Bret
Stephens and Reuel Marc Gerecht, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies, on the threat of Iran to Israel and the region.
2023: The Streikcer Center is scheduled to host a presentation by Bret Baier author of To Rescue the Constitution.
2023: As October 12 begins in Israel, a unity government has been formed, the IDF is confronting renewed threats on the border with Lebanon “where the Israeli Army has been engaged in four consecutive days of clashes with” terrorists, rockets continue to be fired into towns and cities and the United States has to deal with the reality that at least 22 of its citizens have been murdered and another 17 are missing, some of whom are presumed to being held as hostages and threatened with death by Hamas.
(Editor’s note: this situation is too fluid
for this blog to cover so we are just providing a snapshot as of the posting at
midnight Israeli time)
