This Day, December 11, In Jewish History by Mitchell A and Deb Levin Z"L
DECEMBER 11
321: A letter from Emperor Constantine
the Great regarding special taxes of this date provides the first evidence of
Jews along the Rhine.
361: Emperor Julian, referred to as Julian the Apostate, entered
Constantinople as the sole ruler …
DECEMBER 11
321: A letter from Emperor Constantine
the Great regarding special taxes of this date provides the first evidence of
Jews along the Rhine.
361: Emperor Julian, referred to as Julian the Apostate, entered
Constantinople as the sole ruler of the Empire. The appellation was affixed to
him because unlike his predecessors he did not embrace Christianity and was
willing to see a return to previous pagan practices. His “toleration” of other religions would be
seen in 363, when, on his way to find the Persians, he announced that the Jews
would be allowed to re-build their Temple.
The plan was thwarted by an earthquake in the Galilee and by his untimely
death at the hands of an assassin.
1230: One two dates given for Ferdinand III, whose "reign may
be regarded as marking a turning-point in the destinies of the Jews” beginning
his de facto reign of King Leon and Galicia.
1474:
The Reign of Henry IV as King of Castile, during which “the condition of the
Spanish Jews was one of comparative peace and comfort, came to an end today
when he passed away at the age of 49.
1475: Birthdate of Pope Leo X.
To the Christian world, Leo was one of the Popes criticized by Luther
for selling indulgencies and perpetuating other non-spiritual practices. To others he was a patron of the arts and one
of the Renaissance Popes. In fact, Leo
“fostered tolerance of Jewish learning as another aspect of the Renaissance
cultural scene.” During a dispute over
the Talmud, Leo refused to have the Talmud burned. Instead, he had a Christian printer published
the text in its entirety without censorship.
“Leo confirmed privileges accorded Jews in French papal territory
despite protests from the local bishops.” He ended the wearing of Jew Badge in
French papal territories and did not enforce the requirement in Italy.
1655: The Whitehall
Conference which had been called by Cromwell to consider allowing the Jews to
return to England continued the deliberations which had begun on December 4.
1747: After having passed his examination for lieutenant eight
days ago, Alexander Schomberg , the son of the Anglo/Jewish physician Meyer Low
Schomberg, who had become an Anglican so he could pursue a career in the Royal
Navy, “entered the sloop Hornet” today before moving to the sloop Speedwell in
1750.
1751: Birthdate of Christian Wilhelm von Dohm a friend of Moses
Mendelssohn, “a staunch advocate for Jewish emancipation, who published On
the Civil Improvement of the Jewish.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5256-dohm-christian-wilhelm-von
1758: Birthdate of German composer and music teacher Carl
Friedrich Zelter whose students included Felix Mendelssohn, Fanny Mendelssohn
and Gioaccomo Mayerber, an unlikely trio given their ethnic background and the
conditions in Germany at that time.
1761(15th of Kislev, 5522): Moses L.I. zur Kahn, the
son of Rabbi Lob Issak zur Kahn and the husband of Sara Wertheimer, who was the
daughter of Samson Wertheimer and Frumet Brülle passed away today.
1762(25th of Kislev, 5523): Chanukah
1770(24th of Kislev, 5531): Kindle the first Chanukah
Candle
1772: Birthdate of Buchau, Germany, native Rosechen Obermayer, the
wife of Jacob H. Wallersteiner and the mother of Samuel and Henriette
Wallersteiner.
1773(26th of Kislev, 5534): Parashat Vayeshev; Second
Day of Chanukah
1778: Birthdate of Schopfloch, Germany, native Roesle Salomon
Joseph, the wife of Leopold Einstein with whom she had had eleven children.
1779(2nd of Tevet, 5540): Parshat Miketz; Eighth Day of
Chanukah meaning the holiday has been observed for three straight years as
Americans fight the British.
1784(28th of Kislev, 5545): Parashat Miketz; Fourth Day
of Chanukah observed on the same day that future U.S. President James Madison
wrote to Richard Henry Lee
1789: The University of North Carolina is chartered by the North
Carolina General Assembly. The first Jewish student group, the Hebrew Culture
Society, appeared on campus in 1912. Despite objections, the secretary of the
YMCA, Frank Porter Graham, gave them meeting space in his building. In 1936,
Jewish community leaders and students organized the Hillel Foundation, one of
eleven across the nation.
Jewish students began their own fraternities because the existing organizations
excluded them. The first Jewish fraternity at Carolina was Tau Epsilon Phi,
organized in 1924. By 1926, it had twenty-one members. Notable among them was
Harry Schwartz, who starred on the football team, and Emanuel J. Evans, who
competed on the track, basketball, and debate teams. Zeta Beta Tau appeared on
campus in 1928. In 1951, Evans was elected mayor of nearby Durham, the first
Jew to hold that office in North Carolina. Carolina
students in 1958 elected their first Jewish student body president, Eli Evans
of Durham, whose father had attended the university during the 1920s. Evans
published a memoir, The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South,
in 1973. According to recent figures 1,000 of Carolina’s 16,000 undergrads are
Jewish and 200 of the 10,000 graduate students are Jewish. The school offers approximately 30 Jewish
studies courses including a minor in Jewish studies. From a personal point of view, the school’s
greatest claim to fame is that Larry Rosenstein, of blessed memory met Judy
Levin, of blessed memory while they were both attending Carolina. They married and produced three sons all of
whom are proud Tar Heels.
1792(26th of Kislev, 5553): Second Day of Chanukah observed
as Louis XVI stands trial before the National Convention in France.
1795(29th of Kislev, 5556): Fifth Day of Chanukah
observed during the final phase of the French Revolution known as the
Directory.
1800(24th of Kislev, 5561): First Chanukah Candle
kindled for the last time during the Presidency of John Adams.
1803(26th of Kislev, 5564): Second day of Chanukah
1803: According to the JCR-UK Jewish Communities & Records,
birthdate of Nathan Marcus Adler, who served as Chief Rabbi from 1845 to
1890. (The Jewish Encyclopedia shows
January 15, 1803 as the birthdate)
http://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/susser/roth/chseventeen.htm
1807: In Bremerhaven, Marcus and Henritte Hertz Schwabe gave birth
to Johanna Schwabe who married David Mortiz Goldschmidt who gained fame as
Johanna Goldschmidt the leader in the fight for women’s right who was the
mother of Otto Goldschmidt and the mother-in-law of famed singer Jenny Lind.
1809: Birthdate of Theodore Griesinger, a German clergyman, author
and leading anti-Semite.
1813: In the Netherlands coronation of King William I who “began
to regulate the Jewish community's internal affairs, by effectively disbanding
the Netherlands kehilla, instituting compulsory secular education for Jewish
children and waging “a determined battle against Yiddish, which resulted in the
Jews' widespread adoption of Dutch.” The efforts of the government were aided
by those of the Dutch maskilim, who were of course in favor of integration.
(Jewish Virtual Library)
1816:
Indiana became the 19th state to join the Union. “In Indiana, towards the end
of the 1840’s, there were small, organized communities in Fort Wayne, Lafayette
and Evansville. The first congregation
was organized in Indianapolis in 1856.” During the Civil War, over five hundred
Jewish Hoosiers fought for the Union.
1817:
Birthdate of Sheerness, Isle of Sheppey Kent native Frances Russel, the wife of
Nathaniel Samuel Jacobs.
1817:
Sixty-five heads of families joined The New Israelite Temple Society (Neuer
Israelitischer Tempelverein in Hamburg) which was founded today.
1819:
Today, while the great powers were meeting to discuss the status of allied
troops in France and the payment of the France’s indemnity to the allies and
the future of the Jews in Europe, Dr. Bucholz who had been seeking relation for
the Jews of Lubeck and Karl Rothschild from Frankfurt met with Baruch today.
1822(27th
of Kislev, 5583): Third Day of Chanukah
1825(1st
of Tevet, 5586): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Eighth Chanukah Candle kindled for the
first time during the Presidency of John Q. Adams.
1826:
Birthdate of William Henry Waddington, the future Prime Minister of France, who
as Foreign Minister provided Laurence Oliphant with a letter of recommendation,
he could take to the Sultan to further his plan to settle large numbers of Jews
in Palestine.
1828(5th
of Tevet, 5589): Sara Grotthuis, the Berlin born daughter banker Aaron Moses
Meyer and Rosel Mayer who married Baron Ferdinand Dietrich von Grotthuis after
the death of her first husband Liebmann Wulff and became one of the German
capital’s leading patron of the arts passed away today.
1828:
Birthdate of George Lewis Lyon, the native of Portsea, England who served as
the secretary of the Portsmouth Hebrew Benevolent Institution and then moved to
London where he “secretary of the Jews' and General Literary and Scientific
Institution.”
1830(25th
of Kislev, 5591): Chanukah
1833: In
Charleston, SC, Rabbi Cohen officiated at the wedding of Ziporah Cohen and
Joseph Soria of New York City.
1835:
Birthdate of Adolf Stoecker, the Lutheran theologian and Court Chaplain to
Kaiser Wilhelm II who became an outspoken leader of the anti-Semitic movement
in Germany.
1838(24th
of Kislev, 5599): Kindle the first Chanukah Candle
1838: Birthdate of Emil
Rathenau. A German
industrialist, Rathenau was cofounder of the German Edison Company which later
became the electrical and telephone giant
1839:
Alexander Solomon married Alice Barnett at the Great Synagogue today.
1840: In
Charleston, SC, Esther G. Barrett Poznanski and Reform Rabbi Gustavus
Poznanski, Sr. gave birth to Isaac B. Poznanski the violinist and composer and
brother of Joseph, Sarah and Gustavus Poznanski, Jr. who died while serving as
a private on the side of the Confederacy in the Civil War.
1843: In
Furth, Bavaria, Mina Gerstle and Anton Pickert gave birth to Lehman Pickert,
the husband of Bertha Kaufman, who came to the United States in 1858 where he
first settled in Cincinnati before finally settling in Boston in 1875.
1848(16th
of Kislev, 5609): Forty-two year old Mauriz Jacobsson, the “son of Abraham
Jacobsson and Regina von Halle and the husband of Carolina Weslig with whom he
had two children passed away today.
1854: A Jew
named Rosenthal was arrested in Louisville, KY today on charges that he had
obtained goods valued at $60,000 under false pretenses while in Philadelphia,
PA. He left for Philadelphia today in the custody of law officer who had been
dispatched from the City of Brotherly Love.
1855(2nd
of Tevet, 5616): Seventh Day of Chanukah
1856:
Joseph Cohen married Catherine Joseph at the Great Synagogue today.
1857(24th
of Kislev, 5618): Kindle the first Chanukah Candle
1860(17th
of Kislev, 5621): Third Day of Chanukah
1860:
Birthdate of Louis Ostheim, the Philadelphia native and son of Philip Ostheim
who was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy in 1878.
1861:
“Jewish Chaplains” published today reported that Rabbi Arnold Fischel, of New
York, “had an interview today with the President, to urge the appointment
of Jewish Chaplains for every military Department, they being excluded by an
act of Congress from the volunteer regiments, among whom there are thousands of
Israelites. In the meantime, the Doctor will take charge of the spiritual
welfare of the Jewish soldiers on the Potomac. The President assured him that
the subject will receive his earnest attention, and expressed the opinion that
this exclusion was altogether unintentional on the part of Congress.”
1861:
In his own words, Rabbi Arnold Fischel “called this morning at ten o’clock at
the White House where hundreds of people were anxiously waiting for admission,
some of whom told me that they had been for three days awaiting their turn. I
was, nevertheless, at once invited to his room and was received with marked
courtesy. After having read the letter of the Board and delivered to him
several letters of introduction, he questioned me on various matters connected
with this subject and then told me that he fully admitted the justice of my
remarks, that he believed the exclusion of Jewish chaplains to have been
altogether unintentional on the part of Congress, and agreed that something
ought to be done to meet this case. I suggested that he might do for the Jewish
what he had done for the Christian volunteers and take upon himself the
responsibility of appointing Jewish chaplains for the Hospitals. He replied
that he had done that at a time when Congress was not in session deeming the
subject to require immediate attention, but that after the Meeting of Congress
he would not be justified in taking the responsibility upon himself. Finally,
he told me that it was the first time this subject had been brought under his
notice, that it was altogether new to him, that he would take the subject into
serious consideration, that I should call again tomorrow morning and if he has
five minutes to spare he would receive me and let me know his views. I thanked
him for his kind reception, and expressed to him my best wishes for his
welfare. In the course of my remarks, I gave him clearly to understand that I
came to him not as an office seeker but to contend for the principle of
religious liberty, for the constitutional rights of the Jewish Community and
for the welfare of the Jewish volunteers, which he seemed fully to appreciate.”
1861:
Levy Duis married Phoebe Neuberger today in Amsterdam, Holland.
1862:
Union troops including the 59th New York Volunteer Regiment which
had been formed by Lt. Colonel Phillip J. Joachimsen began crossing the
Rappahannock River at the start of the Battle of Fredericksburg, the military
disaster led by General Ambrose Burnside.
1866(3rd
of Tevet, 5627): Hirsch Kolisch, the philanthropist from Nikolsburg who
established a school for deaf-mutes passed away today in Vienna.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/11/16/87476092.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1871(28th
of Kislev, 5632): Fourth Day of Chanukah observed on the same day that the
Royal Geographical Society which was discussing sending Stanley to search for
Dr. Livingston held its third meeting.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1798982#metadata_info_tab_contents
1872:
Philadelphia native Myer Asch who was taken prisoner while fighting with his
cavalry unit “in front of Richmond” and was “brevetted Major of United States
Volunteers” was elected for a third time to serve as Senior Commander of the
George G. Meade Post Number 1 of the Grand Army of the Republic today.
1875:
Birthdate of religious leader Yehuda Leib Maimon who served as an Israeli
cabinet minister.
1875:
Edward Levy, who had assumed by Royal license of Lawson in addition to and
after Levy making him Edward Levy-Lawson, today legally changed the name of his
to Harry Lawson Webster Levy-Lawson
1875:
According to today’s issue of the British Medical Journal, The Jews’ Deaf and
Dumb Home which “was founded in 1863 by Baroness Mayer de Rothschild as a
school where resident Jewish children could learn to speak” has been moved from
its original location in White Chapel to Walmer Road, Notting hill.
1876:
It was reported today Boston police have arrested several notorious female
shoplifters included a Lena Nugent a Jewess known as “Black Lena.” Nugent and one of her accomplices, an English
woman named Tilly Miller are wanted by authorities in Brooklyn, NY on charges
of shoplifting and jail breaking.
1876(25th
of Kislev, 5637): First day of Chanukah
1876:
In Surry, England, Sir Henry Hildyard and his wife Annette gave birth to
decorated war hero and diplomate General Sir Reginald John Thoroton Hildyard
who in 1939 when some British leaders thought they could make a deal with
Hitler and when anti-Semitism was a known factor among certain members of the
British upper crust, told a meeting of the English-Speaking Union in Bermuda
that “ “our hatred of what” Hitler “has done, our hatred of the way he has
treated the Jews, has made” America and Great Britain “very close.’
1876:
The Hebrew Charity Ball is scheduled to take place tonight at the Academy of
Music in New York City. The Executive
Committee responsible for this fundraising activity includes H.S. Allen, Henry
Rice, J.F Bamberger, L.S. Levy, M.H. Moses, S.B. Solomon, C.C. Allen, Joseph
Koch and J.S. Isaacs.
1879:
Twenty-eight year old Mannheim,
Germany native and future Trustee of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum Ernest Thalmann
who in 1867 come to the United States became a member of the New York Stock
Exchange today.
1880:
Birthdate of Berlin born “theater critic, author and co-founder of the
Jüdischer Kulturbund” Julius Bab who fled the Nazis and finally settled in New
York City in 1940.
https://www.lbi.org/digibaeck/results/?qtype=pid&term=431122
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Bab#/media/File:Berlin_GTafel_Bab.jpg
1880:
A fair that will raise funds for the Ladies’ Lying in Relief Society and the
Forty-fourth Street Synagogue is scheduled to open at the Metropolitan Concert
Hall in New York City.
1881:
In Poland, Jacobi Bornstein, the son of Aron and Sara Bornstein, and his wife
Tehelka Bornstein gave birth to Elise Besser
1882:
“Literary Notes” published today contains a brief review of Jews of Barnow
by Karl Emil Franzos. “This collection of Jewish stories” based on life in
Eastern Galicia “is certainly one of the most valuable contributions made
during this century” in helping us to
understand the customs of Polish and Russian Jews.
1882:
It was reported today that several ministers in New York have spoken out on the
subject of the Sunday Closing Laws. Reverend Charles H. Eaton spoke of the need
to remember the spirit of the law and not just the letter of the law. “The Jew
who closed his store on Saturday kept his Sabbath according to his conscience
and it would be wrong to compel him by force to change the Sabbath of his
faith. (Strangely enough, this comes at a time when leaders of the Reform
movement were trying to substitute Sunday services for the traditional Shabbat
Saturday morning service.)
1882:
A fire in Kingston destroys Spanish and Portuguese and Ashkenasic synagogues
along with many other buildings
1882: In
Bresalu, Gretchen Kauffmann and Gustav Jacob Born gave birth to Max Born,
pioneer in the field of quantum mechanics.
The German born physicist won the Nobel Prize in 1954, with Walther
Bothe of Germany, for his statistical formulation of the behavior of subatomic
particles. His studies of the wave function led to the replacement of the
original quantum theory, which regarded electrons as particles, with a
mathematical description He also won the Max Blanc Medal and the Hughes Medal.
He passed away in 1970. Born was a Jew who converted to the Lutheran faith in
1914.
1882: Birthdate of Fiorello H.
La Guardia, Republican Congressman and three term mayor of New York City. The flamboyant reformer had a Jewish mother
and an Italian father. At one point in his career, the Democrats ran a Jewish
candidate against La Guardia. According
to legend which may be fact, La Guardia countered by insisting on debating his
opponent in Yiddish. While the “Little
Flower” was conversant in the tongue of Eastern European Jewry, his opponent
had to beg off since he wasn’t.
1883:
Birthdate of Gustav Althoff, the Prague resident murdered at Terezin in 1944.
1883:
Birthdate of Philadelphia born “yarn manufacturer” Alex Van Straaten, the
“President of Northern Liberties Hospital.”
1884: In
New York, the Sixth Precinct Station House was filled with a variety of
clothing, haberdashery and furnishings that had been taken from the house of
Marx Cohen a Jew is, “an alleged receiver of stolen goods.”
1885:
“Victoria’s Fifty Years of Reign” published today says that if the celebration
of the British Monarch’s time on the throne is to be “a Jubilee” it should
follow the pattern of the Jubilee described in Leviticus. Based on the words of the ancient Israelites
the celebration should be a year-long affair that should actually begin with
the 49th year of her ascension to the throne. (Another example of
the indirect impact that Jewish culture has had on the world)
1886: One
day after she had passed away, “Kendal bat Jacob” was buried at the “Bancroft
Road (Maiden Lane) Jewish Cemetery.
1886:
Birthdate of Nice native Marcel Lattès the French movie composer who was
murdered at Aushwitz.
1887(25th
of Kislev, 5648): Chanukah
1887: In
St. Louis, MO, Caroline and Joseph Lazarus Kranson gave birth to Willie Lewis
Kranson
1887: Judge
M.S. Isaacs presided over the annual meeting of the Hebrew Free School
Association in New York City.
1888: Rabbi
Kaufmann Kohler officiated at the wedding of Miss Fannie Foster, the daughter
of Myer Foster and Jonas F. Emanuel in New York City.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F7091FFB385413738DDDAB0994DA415B8884F0D3
1888: This
evening, Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler officiated at the wedding of Miss Ophelia V.
Herman daughter of Simon Herman and Leon Sonneborn.
1889:
Birthdate of Russian born “clothing merchant” Samuel Kappel who came to the
United States where he co-founded the clothing chain of Howard Stores” and was
active in numerous Jewish Philanthropies while raising a family of four
daughters with his wife Minnie Kappel.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1957/11/12/102282687.pdf
1889: It
was reported today that the actor M.B. Curtis will be appearing a newly written
and as yet unnamed comedy in which he will a Jewish matchmaker who marries one
of his clients when he is unable to find her a match. (Curtis is no stranger to playing Jewish
roles since he began his career playing a Polish immigrant traveling salesman
in “Sam’l of Posen. As reported by Harley Erdman)
1890(29th
of Kislev, 5651): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1890:
According to reports published today a committee has been organized to convey
the views of several prominent Englishmen including Archbishop of Canterbury,
the Duke of Argyle, the Duke of Westminster and Lord Ripon concerning the
treatment of the Jews to the Czar. They declare “that the renewed sufferings of
the Jews in Russia from the operation of the sever and exceptional edicts
against them and the disabilities placed upon them are deeply to be deplored
and that in this last decade of the 19th century religious liberty
is a principle which should be recognized by every Christian community as among
natural rights.”
1890: Among those who arrived at the Barge Office aboard the SS
Noordland today were three Russian Jews, Moses Winterstein, his “18 year
old wife and 22 year old daughter” who were destitute be who claimed that any
of Winterstein’s other three children who were already in this country would
vouch for them.
1890:
“Russian Anti-Jewish Laws” published described new anti-Jewish laws that will
be promulgated in 1891 including the extension of provisions already in place
in Poland that prohibit the selling, leasing or mortgaging to Jews of any real
estate in any part of the empire and that dispossess the Jews of any real
estate they may already hold.
1890: Simon
Ascher who employed Maximillian as “a confidential clerk” said that that
Maximillian Lasker probably committed suicide because of “overwork.”
1890(29th
of Kislev, 5651): Sixty-one year old Henry Nordlinger, the native of Wurtemberg
who came to New York about 40 years ago where founded the importing firm of
Henry Nordlinger & Co. along with his brother J.D. Nordlinger died suddenly
while along Chambers Street. He was a
supporter and/or member of the Harmonie Club, Temple Emanu-El the Hebrew Orphan
Asylum, the Hebrew Technical Institute, the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews,
Mt Sinai Hospital, the Montefiore Home, the United Hebrew Charities and the
Sanitarium for Hebrew Children.
1891: Three
days after he had passed away, 83 year old Samuel Mocatta, the son of Moses
Mocatta and Abigail Lindon and the husband of Miriam Mocatta with whom he had
had six children, was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1892:
Members of the Hebrew Free School Association elect officersed at the annual
meeting this morning after discussing Jacob H. Schiff’s plan for “consolidating
all the branches of the Hebrew educational system in the Educational Alliance.”
1892: Birthdate of Leo
Ornstein. Born in Russia, the son of a
Cantor, this composer’s early works showed the influence of Jewish liturgical
music as well as the influence of Armenian chants.
1892: Reports published today claimed that embezzler Louis Weinschenk,
the prominent member of the Chicago business and Jewish communities has fled to
New Orleans as he tries to make his way to Mexico City where he hopes to avoid
the consequences of his “extravagant living.”
1892: Four hundred people had signed up for the new singing classes at
the Hebrew Institute at Jefferson and Broadway organized by Frank Damrosch.
1892: It was reported today that a meeting of the Conservative members of
the Reichstag turned “itself into a frenzy of Jew-baiting zeal” where “too much
Judaism” was blamed for the lack of success of people living in rural areas.
1892: It was reported that approximately “1,500 people mostly wealth and
all well-educated and refined” will be affected by the new royal decree calling
for the immediate of Jews from Moscow unless they agree to be baptized in the
Orthodox Church.
1892: It was reported today “that the Russians will do their best to
foment the anti-Semitic outcry in Paris”
in retaliation for the refusal of the Rothschilds to take up a new loan desired by” Minster of Finance
Sergei White.
1892: It was reported today that “the anti-Semitic propaganda in Austria
has received fresh energy” as can be seen by “a mass meeting recently held at
the Vienna Town Hall” where Prince Alois Lichtenstein advised a crowd that
included 2,000 working people “to boycott Jewish tradesmen.”
1892: It was reported today that “Sarah Bernhardt me with a cool
reception in Moscow because she is a Jewess” and that season-seat holders
offered their tickets for her series at any price.
1893(2nd Day of Tevet, 5654): Eighth Day of Chanukah
1893: “The Proposed Tax On Bourse Transactions Approved by the Masses”
published today described the willingness of the Reichstag to pass new,
increased taxes on Bourse transactions because most people are not affected by
them and because those who will suffer the greatest loss will be “the Jews who
dominate the Frankfort and Berlin Bourses.”
1893: “Enemies of Judaism” published today provided Rabbi Gustav Gottheil
view that the two greatest threats to the survival of the Jewish people came
from missionaries who “desired to close the doors of the synagogue and make it
a church” and “Jews who have reached a lofty position” and say that “this
religion might have been all right once, but it is not now.”
1894: “The body of Abraham Keyser, a retired grocer, was found in the
Hutchinson River, near Pelham Bay Park in Westchester County” New York today.
1894: Forty-six-year-old Rabbi David Davidson, the German born son of
Fridericke Schunne and Itzig Davidson who began his career in Des Moines, IA at
Congregation B’nai Jeshurun married Meia Weill today at Montgomery, AL a year
before he began serving at Ahavath Chesed Congregation in New York.
1894: In St. Louise David and Aurelia Stix Eiseman gave birth to Richard
Stix Eisman, an “executive with Rice-Stix Dry Goods Company.
1895(24th of Kislev, 5656): Kindle the first Chanukah candle
1895: In “Kremenchuk, Poltava, Russian Empire (now Ukraine)”, Rabbi Abram
and Clara Orenstein gave to long lived avant garde composer and pianist Leo
Ornstein and husband of Pauline Mallet-Prevost.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1387072/Leo-Ornstein.html
1895: The attendance at
the today’s session of the Hebrew Fair “was much larger than on the previous
day” and the receipts collected almost eclipsed the total collected on the
opening night of the event being held at Madison Square Garden.
1898(27th of Kislev, 5659): Third Day of Chanukah
1898: Jefferson Seligman of the banking house of J & W Seligman &
Co. expressed his optimism about the economy when today he told the NYT that
“Investment securities throughout the list have been making higher figures in a
steady and progressive manner and the upward tendency of prices is stronger now
than ever before.”
1898: The former Harriet “Hattie” Freeman and Sime Silverman, “the
founder and publisher of Variety” gave birth to Sidne Silverman who followed in
his father’s journalistic footsteps and whose son Syd the son of his wife Marie
Saxon followed in his.
1898(27th of Kislev, 5659): Seventy-nine-year-old Max
Grünbaum, a German orientalist who specialized in Ladino and Yiddish literature
passed away today in Munich.
1898: During the winter
social season, Baron Hirsch leads hunting parties at his estate in Norfolk.
1899:
The crisis between the Neue Freie Presse and Herzl comes to an
end. Herzl is paid the highest salary at the "Neue Freie Presse" and
is given the exclusive editorship of the entire literary section.
1899: In Denver, the first patient, “a Protestant Swedish woman from
Minnesota,” entered the National Jewish Hospital for Treatment of Consumptives
one day after it had opened.
1899: In Charleston, SC, Etta Goodman married Jacob J. Goldstein of New
York City.
1900: Dr. Adolph M. Radin of the Society for the Aid of Jewish Prisoners
delivered a well-received speech at a mass meeting “at Cooper Union” sponsored
by the City Vigilance League in which he “maintained that the immigrants had
not corrupted New York, but that New York had corrupted the immigrants.”
1901(1st of Tevet, 5662): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of
Chanukah
1901: “Elizabeth Loeb, the daughter of Jacob L. Loeb who had married
Benjamin Vogel Becker on June 20, 1900 gave birth to John Leonard Becker.
1902: Nathan Straus was among those who arrived in New York aboard the
North German liner Kronprinz Wilhelm
1903: It was reported today that Baron Arthur de Rothschild, who had died
while visiting Monte Carlo was a Parisian residing at Cornay-la-Ville,
Department of Seine-et-Oise, France.
1903:
Herzl asks for an interview
with the Austrian Foreign Minister Agenor Goluchowsky. He writes to Wenzel von
Plehve and repeats his request that the Russian ambassador in Constantinople be
directed to give his support to the Zionist demands. He also pursues his
efforts to open a branch of the Jewish Colonial Trust in St. Petersburg.
1904: In Hanover, Germany Rahel
and Philipp Nussbaum gave birth to “surrealist painter” Felix Nussbaum. Unfortunately, being the son of a German
patriot and a veteran of the Kaiser’s WW I Army did not save Felix from death
at Auschwitz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Self_Portrait_with_Jewish_Identity_Card_-Felix_Nussbaum_-_1943.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Felix_Nussbaum,_Stazione_ferroviaria_di_Alassio,_1933.jpeg
1905: Birthdate of award winning Anglo-Jewish author Robert David Quixano
Henriques
1905: Establishment today of Russkoye Znamya, a newspaper “notoriously
known for its anti-Semitic bias which was the organ of the Union of the Russian
People
1905: Workers in Kiev rise in revolt and issue a manifesto that among
other things calls for “national emancipation of …Jews” and “the immediate end
to the Jewish pogroms, which embarrasses our people.”
1905: Today, “at Ellis Island…500 Russian refugees” including “Jews…who
had hidden in the darkest corners of Odessa to escape certain persecution or
probable death” “told the United States immigration officials” “of the horrors
they had seen and declared that the conditions were so terrible that no news
dispatch could have possibly exaggerated the actual situation.”
1905: Representative Sulzer introduced a resolution in Congress today
condemning and deploring “the cruel outrages, the unspeakable brutalities, and
the unwarranted and wholesale assassinations of Russia’ Jewish citizens” and
calling for an immediate end to them.
1905: “The reports of the terrible conditions prevailing in the Czar’s
domain and the frightful massacres of the Jews by the mobs” were all verified
today by the five hundred Russian Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York
yesterday.
1905: It was reported today that in response to a request for “small
change contributions” in one evening the Janitors’ Society, most of whose
members lived on the Lower East Side, raised $150 to provide relief for the
Jews trying to survive during the current wave of massacres in Russia.
1906(24th of Kislev, 5667): In the evening kindle the first
light of Chanukah.
1906: Two hundred and twenty-five retail kosher meat butchers went on
strike because of the increase in the price of beef. There were more meat riots
tonight in the Brownsville district of Brooklyn and several butcher shops were
destroyed. Additional police had to be called out to deal with the mob.
1907: Birthdate of Berlin born lawyer Axel Rosin who came to the United
States when the Nazis rose to power where he married Katharine Scherman, rose
to the presidency of the Book-of-the-Month Club and became head of the Scherman
Foundation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/obituaries/28rosin.html
1908: Birthdate of Ruth Weiss, the native of Vienna who moved to China
where she witnessed World War II, the end of Chiang Kai-Shek, the rise of Mao
Zedong and the Communist takeover.
1908: In New York, Paula (née Schoenberger) Eilers, who was Jewish and
her husband Hio Peter Eilers who was Irish gave birth to actress Sally Eilers.
1909(28th of Kislev, 5670): Parsashat Miketz; Fourth Day of
Chanukah
1909(28th of Kislev, 5670): Ludwig Mond, German-born, British chemist and industrialist
who was the founder of Mond Nickel Company, the husband of Frida Lowenthal and
the father of Robert and Alfred Mond passed away today.
1909: Birthdate of Abraham Marcovich who gained fame as radiologist
Abraham W. March.
1909: At the Reichstag, a debate on the budget gave way to a discussion
of a speech Ambassador Bernstorff had delivered in Philadelphia which was
attacked by Herr Zimmerman, of the Anti-Semites, who expressed displeasure at
disparaging remarks about the Pan-German movement.
1909 Luigi Luzzatti, who would become the second Jew to serve as Prime
Minister in Italy, began his service as Minister of Agriculture, Industry and
Trade.
1910: In “The English Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures” published
today, Cyrus Adler described a meeting at the Jewish Theological Seminary of
America of the Jewish scholars who are engaged in the preparation of a new
English translation of the Hebrew Scriptures.
1912: Birthdate of Brooklyn native and journalist Charles Wachtel Koenig
the “husband of Martha Koenig” and “and the father of Jeary Koenig.
1911: In Manhattan, “Joseph and Anna Seidman Topolsky gave birth to
Seymour Topolsky, the Univesity of Missouri School of Journalism graduate and
WW II U.S. Army officer who gained fame as “Seymour Topping, the chronicler of
the rise of China and the Cold War in Europe and Asia and as the correspondent
who shaped the crowning years of print journalism as an editor of The New York Times, and led the charge
into the internet age in the classrooms of Columbia University.” (As reported
by Robert D. McFadden_
1912(1st of Tevet): Seventh Day of Chanukah; Rosh Chodesh
Tevet observed for the last time during the Presidency of William Howard Taft,
the only person to serve as President of the United States and Chief Justice of
the U.S. Supreme Court.
1912: In San Francisco, founding of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association.
1913: Two days after he passed away Franco-Jewish composer and pianist
Elie-Miriam Delaborde “was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery today.
1913: In Providence, RI, Madeline (Talamo) and David Dworkin gave birth
to Harvard and Oxford trained legal scholar Ronald Dworkin.
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/us/ronald-dworkin-legal-philosopher-dies-at-81.html
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/law-obituaries/9873847/Professor-Ronald-Dworkin.html
1913: Harry Green, the organizer of the Jewish-American Rumanian Jewish”
who is promoting a protest against the Rumanian Government’s policy is
scheduled to sail today for Southampton so that he can attend a meeting of
like-minded people before going on to Paris and then to Berlin where he will
attend an International Conference on the subject.
1914:
Hahambashi Nahum calls upon the Ottoman government in Palestine to protect the
Jews in the face of an anti-foreign movement.
1915(4th
of Tevet, 5676): Parashat Vayigash
1915(4th
of Tevet, 5676): German born and German
trained Rabbi Meyer Elkin who served congregations included those in Liverpool,
UK, Philadelphia and the UK before serving Congregation Beth Israel in
Hartford, CT and about whom there is some debate as to old he really was,
passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/12/13/106788842.pdf
1915: After
having been notified today by “Russian military authorities that he must
present himself at once for” military training, pianist Aaron Kaufman and 10
other men left for America via Siberia after having gone home and discussed the
matter with his wife Etta who urged him to flee, packed his bags and slipped
their live savings into his pocket while he was kissing his son Joseph
good-bye.
1915: It
was reported today that violinist Mischa Elman played a concert “for the
benefit of the Jewish sufferers from the war” which raised “a considerable sum”
thanks to “the sale of lowers, programs and souvenirs.”
1916: The
St. Louis branch of “the Women’s Proclamation Committee, the national women’s
organization for Jewish war relief of which Mrs. Samuel Elkeles is President”
held a bazaar today which enabled them to send the national committee “a draft
for $1,000.”
1916: While
the Senate was debating an immigration bill “which specifically barred Japanese
immigration” Senator Gallinger asked whether this could lead to Jews being
barred from immigrating to the United States, Senator Reed said, “The Jews by
race and by blood have been civilized for thousands of years. They spring from the race that gave us our
religion and the fundamentals of our laws….It is plain that we should make an
effort to protect our citizenship of undesirables and keep out all not capable
of thorough amalgamation.” (Editor’s
Note – In fact future immigration bills would effectively bar most Jews from
coming to the United States.)
1917(26th
of Kislev): Second Day of Chanukah
1917: Mrs.
Hannah Solomon and Mrs. Israel Cowan are scheduled to speak today at “the third
regular meeting of the K.A.M. Auxiliary” which meets in “the vestry rooms of
the Temple.”
1917:
British troops under General Allenby make their way into Jerusalem, defeating
the Ottoman Turks and liberating Judea. The whole city turned out to greet the
General, as did the Chief Sephardic and Ashkenazi Rabbis. The Jaffa Gate was
opened after years of disuse to enable Allenby to enter on foot and also to
enable him to enter into the city without making use of the gap in wall created
for Kaiser William in 1898.
1917: Henry
Morgenthau wrote today, “The fall of Jerusalem…is surely an event of the
greatest significance to us all” and that “for the whole civilized world the 10th
of December, 1917, will be remembered as a day of profound historical interest,
and, I hope also of large meaning for the future.”
1917: Corporal Louis Isaac Salek, a Gallipoli veteran from New
Zealand, flew the first Jewish flag ever to fly over Jerusalem since the city’s
fall to the Romans 2000+ years ago.” The flag was made by an Egyptian-Jewish
department store owner named Moreno Cicurel with the assistance of a tailor
from Alexandria named Eliezer Slutzkin. Unlike Israel’s present flag, Salek’s
version was blue and white, the top half blue, the bottom half white with a
Magen David in the center, but within the triangles there were rounded edges.
Salek planted Moreno’s flag “atop the Tower of David - the Citadel - where it
flew for 20 minutes before being removed by the British who had just conquered
Palestine from the Turks.”
1917: On the second day of Chanukah, the Atlanta Constitution headline read,
"Jerusalem Falls into the Hands of British Troops; Jerusalem Is Freed from
Turk after Virtually we Centuries - British Capture the Holy City.
1917: “Although the campaign for the five million fund
for Jew war relief and welfare work in the army and navy brought in $266,700”
today “with a total of $2,866,000” having been raised today, the leadership was
not satisfied because even with the promise of anonymous donation of one
million dollars the drive will have to take in over $400,000 a day and
currently the average daily collection has been a little under $300,000.
1917: The Times of London “says it understands” that “no
attempt will be made to define the future position of Jerusalem until a general
peace comes” and that the in the meantime the city wll be treated as in British
military occupation and will be under martial law.”
1917: “A committee of the American Union of Rumanian
Jews” including Dr. P.A. Siegelstein, the President, Leo Wolfson, Counselor
Abraham L. Kalman, Executive Secretary Edward Herbert, Philadelphians Dr. M.Y.
Belder and A.B. Goldenberg and Washingtonian Reuben Fink met with President
Wilson today “and asked him to use his good offices with the present Rumanian
Government to obtain civil rights for the Rumanian Jews.”
1917: “A Hanukah musicale and dance” is scheduled to “be
given in Earl Hall” today “by the Council of Jewish Societies of Columbia”
University in New York City.
1917: On the same day that it reported on the fall of
Jerusalem to the British, the Atlanta
Constitution carried a story entitled "Jerusalem's Fall Brings
Happiness to Atlanta Father" which told of how Abraham Amato now believes
that "he will be able to bring his wife and children" who are living
to Jerusalem to the United States. Amatao was a Sephardic Jew born on the
isle of Rhodes, who had lived in Jerusalem before coming to Atlanta.
1918: “Felix M. Warburg, the Chairman of the Campaign
Committee for the Jewish Relief drive” which has a goal of raising five million
dollars “announced tonight that that the close of the day, $2,203,300 had been
raised.”
1919: In Philadelphia, PA, “Louis and Rose (Pogost)
Masteroff” gave birth to Joseph “Joe” Masteroff, the Tony Award winning
playwright who gave the world “Cabaret.” (As reported by Robert D. McFadden)
1919: “Andrew Bonar Law, the spokesman for the
Government, announced in the House of Commons today that dispatches had been
received corroborating a report that Cossacks and a volunteer corps had carried
out a pogrom in which several hundred Jews were killed in the suburb of Podol
when the Bolsheviki evacuated Kiev” in October.
1919: Miss Gladys L. Baruch, the daughter of Mrs. Joseph
Baruch and a cousin of financier Bernad M. Barcuch married Harold Marian
Iseman, who fought overseas with the Rainbow Division during the World War,
this evening at the Hotel St. Regis.
1920(30th of Kislev, 5681): Parashat Miketz;
Rosh Chodesh Miketz; Sixth Day of Chanukah
1920: Birthdate of Austrian born American violinist Eric
Rosenblith.
1920: Birthdate of Frank Blaichman (Ephraim Blaichman),
the native Kamionka, Poland who fought to save Jews during WW II and was the
leader of at least one group of partisans.
http://www.amazon.com/Rather-Die-Fighting-Frank-Blaichman/dp/B003D7JTCM
http://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/2011/FrankBlaichman_studyguide.pdf
1921: The
Executive Committee of the American Jewish Committee met today.
1921: In
Manhattan,
Joseph and Anna Seidman Topolsky, Jewish immigrants from Russia gave birth to
Seymour Topolsky who gained fame as “Seymour Topping, who chronicled the rise
of China and the Cold War in Europe and Asia as a correspondent, shaped the
crowning years of print journalism as an editor of The New York Times, and led
the charge into the internet age in the classrooms of Columbia University” (As
reported by Robert D. McFadden)
1922: In
Kamionka, Poland, grain merchant Chaim Israel Blajchman and Ita Lewin gave
birth to Franek Blajchman, known as Frank Blaichman who became a teenage leader
of a band of anti-Nazi fighters during WW II.
1922: This
evening a dinner in honor of the national president and officers of the Council
of Jewish Women is scheduled to held at the Standard Club as part of National
Council Day when President Rose Brenner of Brooklyn addressed an afternoon
meeting at the Sinai Social Center.
1922:
“Professor Owen R. Lovejoy of New York” is scheduled to speak on “The Child and
Progress: A Study in Modern Civilization” this evening at Temple Sinai in
Chicago.
1922: In
the Bronx, Isaac and Manya Ridnyik Goodside gave birth to Grace Goodside who
gained fame as Grace Paley, author,
feminist and "somewhat combative pacifist and cooperative anarchist,” She
has written three highly acclaimed collections of short fiction including Later the Same Day (1985) and Enormous changes at the Last Minute
(1974), as well as three poetry collections. She contributes fiction to many
prominent periodicals. She has taught at City College of New York as writer-in
residence, as well as at Sarah Lawrence College. Raised in a socialist family
by parents who had been arrested by the Russian czarist regime, Paley's
progressive stances and concern for the underdog often emerge in her writing.
Her political activism as an adult began with her work with the
1923: “In
the town of Satorauljaujhely, in present day Hungary,” Benjamin and Rose
Lenovitz gave birth to Lillian Lenovitz who gained fame as Lillian Cahn, who
along with her husband Miles “founded the Coach Leatherware Company.” (As
reported by Paul Vitello)
1923:
Birthdate of pianist Menahem Pressler. A native of German, he immigrated to
Palestine in 1939 before finally settling in the United States where, among
other accomplishments, he help to found the Beaux Arts Trio.
1924:
“Fresh outbreaks of anti-Semitic demonstrations by students have caused
authorities to order the closing of the University of Jassy” but authorities in
Bucharest checked similar demonstrations today in Bucharest.
1925:
Birthdate of Bronx County, NY native and WW II Army Air Corps veteran Alvin A.
Achenbaum the the holder of an MBA from Columbia who held senior positions with
four major advertising agencies while founding the Achenbaum Institute of
Marketing.
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=177480876
1925(24th
of Kislev, 5689): In the evening, kindle the first Chanukah light.
1925: In
Boston, Samuel and Miriam (Landau) Feurstein gave birth to Yehsiva University
graduate Aaron Mordechai Feurstein, the third-generation owner of Malden Mills,
“who became a national hero in 1995 when he refused to lay off workers at his
textile plant after a catastrophic fire, then spent hundreds of millions of
dollars to rebuild it.” As reported by Clay Risen.
1925:
Today, on Socialist politician Bemjamin Gitlow's
first wedding anniversary, he was visited by his wife, who showed him a letter
from an ACLU attorney stating that he would be free to leave Sing Sing on
parole if he agreed to the conditions of his release
1925: Galician
born “American Assyriolpgist” Ephraim Avigodor Speiser, the holder of PhD from
Dropsie College and husband of “Sue Gimbel Dannenbaum” the granddaughter of
Charles Gimbel, one of the founders of Gimbel’s Department Story who taught
Semitics at Penn, served with the OSS in WW II and led the excavation of Tepe
Gawra, an ancient settlement near Ninveh, became a naturalized citizen today.
1925: Birthdate of Paul Greengard, the American neurologist who
was awarded a share of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (with
Arvid Carlsson of Sweden and Austrian-American Eric R. Kandel) for their
discoveries concerning how drugs affect the brain and recognizing drug
addiction as a brain disease. Greengard traced the biochemical reactions that
occur in nerve cells in response to neurotransmitters such as dopamine. Abused
stimulants, such as methamphetamine, alter nerve cells' exposure or reactions
to neurotransmitters, which produce feelings of pleasure and leads to
addiction. Greengard's continuing research on how cocaine and amphetamine
change neurotransmitter function may make possible medications to prevent or
treat the addictive effect.
1926(6th of Tevet, 5687): Parashat Vayigash
1927: “Thirty More Are Hurt in Rumanian Riot” published today
described how “several hundred students held anti-Semitic demonstrations in
Jassy yesterday and how thirty members of a congregation were beaten and
severely injured” while attending Shabbat morning services.
1928: Joseph C. Hyman, the secretary of the Joint Distribution
Committee who has just returned to New York this week from a trip to Berlin and
Moscow said today “help must be obtained in America if the relief societies for
Jews in Russian cities and towns are to remain active.”
1928: One thousand men and women who had paid “$100 a couple for
their seats” for a dinner at the Hotel Astor tonight heard Mayor Jimmy Walker
“praise the public spirited work of the Jews in New York” who have supported
“the Bronx Home of the Daughters of Jacob” which provides care for the
destitute aged.”
1929(9th of Kislev,
5690): William
Rosenzweig Arnold, Hancock Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages,
died suddenly today as a result of heart failure,
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1929/12/12/w-r-arnold-dies-of-heart/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20026289
1929: In the Bronx, Irving Sperling, a Broadway ticket broker and
Peggy Sperling, a milliner, gave birth to Donald Seymour Engel “a lawyer who
helped pop stars like Olivia Newton-John, Donna Summer and the Dixie Chicks
wrest greater control of their careers from their record companies.” (As
reported by Bruce Weber)
1930: Today, the Bank of the United States under the leadership of
Bernard Marcus, who eventually went to prison for financial crimes, closed
1930: Two Englishman named Kirby and Macartney who have been
operating in the Akaba region of the Red Sea coast, must be feeling quite a bit
wealthier today after having been granted the concession “to exploit the
valuable mineral deposits regarded as equal in importance to those in the Dead
Sea Area.”
1931(1st of Tevet, 5892): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Seventh
Day of Chanukah
1931 In Camden, NJ, Rabbi Grayzel was the guest services at Friday
night services during which Congregation Bethel continued the celebration of
its “tenth anniversary.”
1931: In Providence, Rhode Island Madeline (Talamo) and David
Dworkin gave birth to legal scholar and philosopher Ronald Dworkin.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/law-obituaries/9873847/Professor-Ronald-Dworkin.html
1932: “The support of more than 100 Jewish organizations
representing social, religious, educational and welfare interests with a
combined membership of more than 100,000 in New York City was pledged today to
the Zionist movement, with which the groups had not previously been
affiliated.”
1933: Following the death of the incumbent mayor, the city council
named Sam Frank as Mayor of Reno, Nevada, a position held for two years while
also serving as the manager of the Reno Municipal Airport. Frank was the first
Jew to serve as Mayor.
1933: In Providence, Rhode Island, Madeline and David Dworkin gave
birth to Ronald Dworkin, the legal scholar and philosopher of Jurisprudence.
1933: “Counsellor-At-Law” a film about poor Jew from the East Side
who became a successful lawyer directed by William Wyler, produced by Carl
Laemmle, Jr. and with a screenplay by Elmer Rice was released today in the
United States.
1933: Birthdate of Louis Lentin, the Irish “theatre, film and
television director’ who was the husband of Ronit Lentin, a Sabra who moved to
Ireland in 1969.
1934: It was reported today that “that the American Jewish
Congress” has “requested the AAU to set up a board of review to keep close
check on the extent to which Germany is adhering to her promises of fair
treatment to Jewish athletes in connection with the 1936 Olympic Games in
Berlin.”
1935: One day after she had passed away, funeral services
were held today for sixty-seven year old Bella (Epstein) Unterberg, the wife of
philanthropist Israel Unterberg who founded the Young Women’s Hebrew
Association in her home in September of 1902.
https://jwa.org/media/ywha-bella-unterberg-still-image
1935: Today the Bronx Heights Development Corporation sold a
property on the corner of Lydig and Cruger Avenues in the Bronx to the
Associated Real Estate Corporation by President Richard M. Lederer.
1936(27th of Kislev, 5697): Third Day of Chanukah
1936: “Pagliacci” a film adaptation of the opera produced by Max
Schach, starring Richard Tauber with music by Hanns Eisler was released today
in the United Kingdom
1936: “The annual ‘Who’s Who” issue of The American Hebrew published today listed 299 Jews and six
non-Jews who had distinguished themselves for their efforts toward better
understanding between Christians and Jews for citation including Supreme Court
Justice William T. Collins, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis,
Albert Einstein, civic leader Harry F. Guggenheim, producer Max Gordon,
Governor Herbert H. Lehman, actor Paul Muni, actress Alla Nazimova, clubwoman
Mrs. William Dick Sporborg, philanthropist Felix M. Warburg and author Edna
Ferber.
1936: It was reported today that London resident Colman Smith
donate five thousand pounds to the London Jewish Hospita.
1936: In a statement issued today, “the New York Board of Jewish
Ministers…urged the support of the people of all faiths in a campaign now being
carried on to aid oppressed Christian exiles from Germany.”
1937:
At Yeshiva College, Governor Frank Murphy of Michigan
speaks at the opening session of a two-day national conference of Jewish
organizations which is attended by more than 600 delegates. Dr. Bernard Revel, President of Yeshiva
College also addresses the delegates.
1938: In West Vancouver, British Columbia Ethel (nee Frankel) and
Sol Horowitz gave birth to Michael Horowitz who has the dubious distinction of
being “a former lose associate of Timothy Leary” and is the father of Winona
Ryder and Uri Horowitz.
1939: All Jews living within General Government of Germany were held
liable for two years of forced labor.
1940: R.A. Butler, Under-Secretary for
Foreign Affairs told questioner in the House of Commons today that the sinking
of the Jewish refugee liner Patria” resulted in 55 known deaths with 190
persons missing” out of a total of 1,711 refugees who were aboard the ship that
exploded and sank in Haifa on November 25.
1941: Germany and Italy declared war on
the United States. This has to rate as
one of the topic strategic blunders in history.
Under the terms of the Axis treaty, the Germans did not have to declare
war on the United States. But Hitler was
so “angry” with the United States and so convinced of his own invincibility
that he blundered into war with America. If it had not been for Hitler’s hubris,
the United States would have found itself fighting only Japan.
1941: A Jewish ghetto is established at Lutsk, Ukraine.
1941: Over the next two days, more than 14,000 Jews are
murdered by Einsatzkommandos in Simferopol, Ukraine.
1942(3rd
of Tevet, 5703): Eight Day of Chanukah (Yes, the dates for Chanukah can float
depend on whether or not Kislev has 29 or 30 days)
1942(3rd
of Tevet, 5703): Seventy-five year old Samuel Mark Newmark, the son of Augusta
and Joseph Phillip Newmark and the husband of Carolyn C. Newmark with whom he
had two children and who held a patent for “Newmark’s Pure,” a “coffee,
cinnamon, tea and lemon extract used for food-flavoring purposes” passed away
today.
1942: In
Paris, Etienne began a multi-day auction of “the George Via Impressionists”
which was attended by Nazi occupation officials who were in the business of
confiscating art, much of it owned by Jews, for collections in the Reich.
1942: Jewish inmates of a labor camp at Lutsk, Ukraine, are
informed by a Christian woman that the camp is about to be liquidated. The Jews
quickly planned a revolt.
1943(14th
of Kislev, 5704): Thirty-nine year old Ricardo Reuven Pacifici, the Italian
Rabbi who refused to desert the Jews of Genoa was murdered at Auschwitz today
after betrayal led to his capture by the Nazis.
1944(25th of Kislev, 5705): Chanukah
1944: As Jews kindle the candle for the second night of Chanukah, the
1,361 Jews aboard the Kasztner transport found refuge in Caux,
Switzerland. For more see Gaylen Ross’ www.killingkasztner.com
1944: Yehuda Amital, the Romanian born rabbi, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat
Har Etzion and Minister without Portfolio, arrived in Palestine after having
survived a Nazi concentration camp.
1944: The surviving 2,000 Jews of Monowitz, also known as Auschwitz
1945: The Palestinian Arab Council (Higher Committee) announces
opposition to the Anglo-American inquiry into Palestine. Arab League has
offered cooperation.
1945: “The Nazi Plan” a “documentary film, compiled from extensive
footage of captured Nazi propaganda and newsreel image and sound recordings,
was produced and presented as evidence at the Nuremberg Trials for Hermann
Göring and twenty other Nazi leaders” written by Budd and Stuart Schulberg was
released today,
1946:
Dr. Emanuel Neumann, vice
president of Zionist Organization of America says Jews of Palestine will have
to rely on U.S. and armed strength since they cannot rely on the British.
1947: “Ten Jews were killed when their convoy, carrying food and water to
the Etzion Bloc settlements, was ambushed just south of Bethlehem.”
1947:
The British government
announces its intention to terminate its responsibility under mandate on May
15, 1948.
1947: Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech-Jones of Britain appeals to UN to
speed up its partition plans.
1947: In a six hour battle, Haganah troops fought off a major Arab attack
on the Old City of Jerusalem, home to 2,500 Jews.
1948: The UN General Assembly established the Palestine Conciliation
Commission with primary responsibility for preparing for the international
governance of Jerusalem. Of all the lame
committees, panels and commissions created by the UN this had to be one of the
lamest.
1948:
King Farouk of Egypt and
Syrian foreign minister disclose that they had warned King Abdullah of
Transjordan not to annex Palestine.
1948: Elias Sasson, an Israeli representative at the ceasefire
negotiations, “met Abdullah el-Tell and Shawkat al-Sati “King Abdullah's
confidant and personal physician.”
1949(20th of Kislev, 5710): J. Isaac Friedman, a native of
Natchez, Louisiana, the son of Samuel and Caroline S. Friedman and the brother
of Leon Friedman with whom he served the Louisiana State Legislature passed
away today.
1950(2nd of Tevet, 5711): Eighth Day of Chanukah
1950(2nd of Tevet, 5711): Seventy-two year old Louisville, KY
native Herbert Marcus, Sr., the husband of Minnie Marcus and father of Harold Stanley,
who with his brother A.L. Neiman found Niemen-Marcus Department Store in 1907
passed away today in Dallas.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1950/12/14/317445162.pdf
1951(12th of Kislev, 5712): Sixty-eight year old University of
Pennsylvania graduate Morton F. Leopold, the Duluth, MN born son of Henry F. and Caroline NIrdlinger Leopold
and author of “Lining Up Our Silent
Salesman” passed away today after which he was buried in Arlington National
Cemetery.
1952: The
Jerusalem Post reported after the festive Knesset inauguration ceremony,
President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi was made a Freeman of Jerusalem. The new president
signed pardons for 25 prisoners, all of whom had nearly completed their
sentences.
1952: It was
reported today that “Berta Gersten, who has just returned from a tour of
Britain and France” is scheduled to appear as guest star starting tomorrow at
the Avalon Theatre in the Bronx.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that 184 new
students had been admitted to the new Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical
School. The majority were Israelis who had previously studied medicine abroad
and graduates of Israeli secondary schools.
1952: The
Jerusalem Post reported that the Post’s Toy Fund started the distribution
of Hanukkah toys and sweets at over 100 ma’abarot and new-immigrant centers
throughout the country.
1954(16th
of Kislev, 5715): Parashat Vayishlach
1955:
Operation Olive Leaves which was designed to put an end to Syrian shelling
attacks on Israelis in around the Sea of Galilee began this evening with an
artillery barrage “elements of the 890th Paratroop Battalion, augmented by
units of Aharon Davidi's 771 Reserve Paratroop Battalion as well as units from
the Nahal and Givati Brigades commenced” “a complex two-pronged attack” “on
Syrian emplacements along Kinneret’s northeastern shoreline.”
1955(26th
of Kislev, 5716): Second Day of Chanukah.
1955: In
the Terrace Room of the Plaza Hotel, Dr. Theodore Ross officiated at the
wedding of NYU graduate Elayne Janet Shapiro and Queens College graduate and
U.S. Army veteran Maurice Sommer.
1955(26th
of Kislev, 5716): Seventy-four-year-old Barnard graduate and co-founder of the
Saturday Review of Literature Amy Loveman, the New York born daughter of Adolph
P. and Adassa (Heilprin) Loveman and the granddaughter of Michael Halperin a
noted encyclopedist, linguist, regular contributor to The Nation, outspoken foe
of slavery, and supporter of Jewish immigrants to the United States” passed
away today
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/loveman-amy
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/amy-loveman
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/loveman-amy
1957: “Wild
is the Wind” directed by George Cukor, produced by Hall B. Wallis, written by
Arnold Schulman and with a score by Dimitri Tiomkin was released today in the
United States.
1957:
Birthdate of Orly Silbersatz Bania, the Israeli singer and actress who has won
two Ophir Awards.
1957:
“Peyton Place,” a movie version of the novel directed by Mark Robson, produced
by Jerry Wald and with music by Franz Waxman premiered in Camden, two days
before being shown in the rest of the United States.
1958(29th
of Kislev, 5719): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1958(29th
of Kislev, 5719): Eight-six year old London born Sephardic Jew and author
Samuel Levy Bensusan, the husband of Marian Lallah Prichard who served as Press
Chief of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and “is best known for the
24 books and 6 plays that he wrote about the Rural marshland area of Eastern
Essex surrounding Mote Cottage” passed away today in “a nursing home at St
Leonard's on Sea in Sussex.”
1958:
“J.B.” a three-act play based on the Book of Job with sets designed by Boris
Aronson and which won the 1959 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1959 Tony
Awards for Best Play and Best Direction premiered today at the ANTA Playhouse
in New York City.
1960(22nd
of Kislev, 5721): Eighty-five year old “Mrs. Estelle May Affelder,” the widow
of Louis
J. Affelder, the U. Pittsburgh educated civil engineer, “assistant division
manager of the American Bridge Co and civic leader” who was “a member of the
National Federation of Settlements” and the mother of two daughters and one son
– Paul B. Affelder, the music critic of the Brooklyn Eagle – passed away today
in Rye, NY.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1960/12/13/99901883.pdf
1961: Melvin Calvin, the son of Jewish immigrants
was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for studies related to the process of
photosynthesis.
1961: Adolf
Eichmann was found guilty.
1963(25th
of Kislev, 5724): Chanukah observed during the national mourning for John F.
Kennedy.
1964: In
Jerusalem, Leonard and Ricki Waldman gave birth to author Ayelet Waldman, the
wife of Michael Chabon.
1966(28th
of Kislev, 5727): Fourth Day of Chanukah
1966(28th
of Kislev, 5727): Eighty-five year old Columbia trained psychologist Augusta
Fox Bronner, the Louisville, KY born daughter of Gustave Bronner and early
expert on juvenile delinquency passed away today.
https://feministvoices.com/profiles/augusta-fox-bronner
1966: In
New York Mrs. Mildred Altman and Edwin J. Altman announced the engagement of
their daughter Virginia Ann Altman to Roger S. Aaron, the son of Mr. and Mrs.
Hyman L. Aaron of Shaker Heights, OH.
1967(13th
of Kislev, 5728): Eighty-four-year-old Sir Adolphe Abrahams, the brother of
Harold Abrahams (of Chariots of Fire fame) and husband of Adrienne Walsh who
was the medical adviser to the International Athletic Board and the British
Olympic team as well as president of the British Association of Sports and
Medicine passed away today.
1968: A French adaptation of Man of “La Mancha” with a book by
Dale Wasserman and music by Mitch Leigh premiered at the Théâtre des
Champs-Élysées today.
1968(20th
of Kislev, 5729): Seventy-seven-year-old Columbia University graduate and NYT
publisher Arthurs Hays Sulzberger, the New York born son of Rachel Peixotto
Hays and Cyrus Leopold Sulzberger and the husband of Iphigene Bertha Ochs with
whom he had four children – Marian, Ruth, Judith and Arthur – passed away
today.
https://archives.nypl.org/mss/17782
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arthur-Hays-Sulzberger
1970:
Premiere of “The Aristocats” a Disney animated film with music by Richard and
Robert Sherman.
1970: Birthdate of actress Jennifer Conelly. She won a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar for
Best Supporting Actress in the film A
Beautiful Mind.
1971: Birthdate of New York native Robert D. Siegel, the screenwriter
and director whose film “The Wrestler” won the Golden Lion award at the 2008
Venice Film Festival.
1971: The Libertarian Party of the United States
was formed. According to The
Libertarian Party News, Irv Rubin, leader of the Jewish Defense League,
signed up with the party in 2000.
1972: In New York, premiere of Man of La Mancha a film adaptation of the
Broadway musical Man of La Mancha by Dale Wasserman, with music by Mitch Leigh,
directed by Arthur Hiller and co-produced by Hiller and Saul Chaplin.
1973: After premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, “The Hourglass
Sanatorium” the movie version of the novel by Bruno Schultz was released today
in Poland.
1974(27th of Kislev, 5735): Third Day of Chanukah
1974: The funeral is scheduled to be held today for 74-year-old Columbia
trained urologist and surgeon Dr. Gordon D. Oppenheimer, the co-author of a
1932 article that “contained the first description of ileitis” who raised to
children, Ann and Gordon, with his wife “the former Frances Reese.”
1974(27th of Kislev, 5735): In Tel Aviv, one person was
murdered and 66 others were injured when a terrorist set off a bomb in movie
theatre.
1976(19th of Kislev, 5737): Sixty-seven year old Major-General
Sir Henry Joseph "Harry" d'Avigdor-Goldsmid, 2nd Baronet the
decorated war hero who severed as an MP alongside his younger brother James
passed away today.
http://www.jta.org/1976/12/14/archive/henry-davigdor-goldsmid-dead-at-67
1977(1st of 5738): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Seventh Day of Chanukah
1977(1st of 5738): Eighty-two year old
Harvard Law School graduate and WW I Army veteran Abraham E. Pinanski, the
Boston born son of Nathan and Ida Ginsberg Pianski “a member of the
Massachusetts Superior Court since 1930,” the “President of the Hebrew Free
Loan Society of Boston” since 1936 and “President of the Jewish Child Welfare
Association” who was the husband of “Viola R. Pinanski” with whom he had four
daughters passed away today.
1977: The
Jerusalem Post reported that President Ephraim Katzir proclaimed the opening of
the 30th anniversary of Israel's independence.
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat said that the preliminary talks between Egypt
and Israel should be expanded to foreign ministers’ level. Sadat warned the PLO
that their recent, hard-line Tripoli conference canceled the resolution of the
1974 Rabat talks which called for peace negotiations. This, in Sadat's opinion,
could affect PLO status as the sole representative of the Palestinian people.
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that
President Jimmy Carter said he would be willing to come to the Middle East to
support the current peace initiatives. Cairo sources revealed that King Hessian
of Morocco had played an active role in promoting Sadat’s historic visit to
Israel.
1978: NBC
broadcast the miniseries “A Woman Called Moses” produced by Henry Jaffe and
Michael Jaffe today.
1979: “Funeral services were held today for Joseph Wohl, founder
and president of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America’s Universal
Brotherhood Movement” who “for 27 years had been a member of the Seminary’s
Board of Directors and in that capacity had chaired major committees in the
areas of finance, development, real estate and building.”
1979(21st
of Kislev, 5740): Sixty-one-year-old historian and rabbi Bertram Korn who led
Congregation Keneseth Israel in Philadelphia for thirty years while rising to
the rank of Rear Admiral while serving as a chaplain in the United States Navy
passed away today In Israel.
http://collections.americanjewisharchives.org/ms/ms0099/ms0099.html
1980: “One
hundred and fifty Jewish activists demonstrated at the Supreme Soviet offices
in Moscow, demanding action on their applications for emigration.”
1980: “A
gala invitational preview dinner for the 400 sponsors and friends of the exhibition
“The Jewish Community in Early American: 1654-1830” including former President
and Mrs. Gerald Ford, is scheduled to be given opening night at the Corcoran
Art Gallery by John Langeloth Loeb Jr., an investment banker, a financial
supporter of Ronald Reagan since 1976 and a member of his foreign affairs task
force who is related to most of the families honored in the exhibition,
suggested the show and helped finance it.
1980: An
exhibition “The Jewish Community in Early American: 1654-1830” us scheduled to
open today at the Daughters of American Museum in the Memorial Continental Hall
in Washington, DC.
1980(4th
of Tevet, 5741): Eighty-four-year-old Belarus native Rabbi Gershon Hadas who
was one of the organizers of the Rabbinical Association in Kansas City in 1939
and the husband of Anne Isenberg with whom he had two children, passed away
today after which he was buried in the Mount Carmel Cemetery in Raytown, MO.
1981:
Release date of “Buddy Buddy” a film “loaded with Jews” including director Bill
Wilder, co-star Walter Matthau and writer I.A.L. Diamond. The film was based on
a screenplay by French writer Francis Verber whose father was Jewish.
1981: U.S.
premiere of “Pennies From Heaven” directed by Herbert Ross with music by Marvin
Hamlisch.
1982(25th
of Kislev, 5743): Chanukah
1982: CBS broadcast the
last episode of “Gilligan’s Planet,” a cartoon show created by Sherwood
Schwartz
1984:
“Airlift to Israel Is Reported Taking Thousands of Jews from Ethiopia”
published today described the resettlement of Ethiopia Jews in Israel saving
them from famine, war and prejudice.
1984(17th
of Kislev, 5745): Eighty-four year old David Glick, the husband of Rose Shanis Glick and the father of Stephen
Jack Glick passed away today after which he was buried in Woodlawn, MD.
1984: The
funeral of Luther Adler, a stage and screen actor who starred in ''Fiddler on
the Roof'' on Broadway, was scheduled to take place this afternoon at the
Riverside Chapel in New York City
1984:
German-born American literary scholar, poet, and writer of children’s stories,
Oskar Seidlin, passed away
1986: The Jewish National Funds Annual Tree of Life Awards
are held at Sheraton
Premiere Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
1987:
“Throw Momma from the Train, a comedy co-starring Billy Crystal, written by Stu
Silver, with music by David Newman and photographed by cinematographer Barry
Sonnenfeld was released today in the United States.
1988 On the Red Sea, Israel’s Answer to Key
West,” published today reports that Eilat is to Israel what Key West is to the
United States - a hot, lazy, bohemian and (to be honest) tawdry little resort
town at the nation's southern tip, physically and emotionally far removed from
the commotion to the north. Eilat has no Arab community and no significant
religious population, facts the city's boosters like to point out. ''This is a
resort area; the religious, they like to stay in the center of the country,'
Mayor Avi Hochman says. That removes any possibility for the two greatest
sources of tension here - Arab versus Jew, religious versus secular. ''We're
tolerant here,' said Rina Maor, head of the state tourism office. ''If people
want to go to the synagogue, it's O.K., if people want to go topless it's
O.K.'' Most female visitors seem to choose the latter option.” (As reported by
Joel Brinkley)
1988:
The New York Times featured reviews of the following books written by
Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers which were recently
released in paperback edition including Hitchcock and Selznick: The Rich and
Strange Collaboration of Alfred Hitchcock and David O. Selznick in Hollywood
by Leonard J. Leff and Café Nevo by Barbara Rogan which is set in a Tel
Aviv bistro during the war in Lebanon.
1990:
Dr. John Strugnell, a Harvard divinity professor whose verbal attacks on Jews,
Judaism and Israel included statements describing Judaism as “racist,” and “not
a higher religion” and saying that that the state of Israel “is founded on a
lie” led to his dismissal as chief editor of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the
celebrated documents illuminating the evolution of Judaism and the origin of
Christianity, scholars and others close to the controversy said today.
1991:
“Hook” film tied to the tale of Peter Pan directed by Steven Spielberg and
starring Dustin Hoffman in the title role was released in the United States
today.
1991(4th
of Tevet, 5752): Robert Q. Lewis passed away at the age of 71. Born Robert Goldberg, this son of Jewish
immigrants gained fame on radio and television primarily as a game show host.
His dark black glasses and gravelly voice provided him with two distinctive
trademarks.
1991(4th
of Tevet, 5752): Seventy-one-year-old movie and television producer Mathew
Rapf, the Dartmouth College graduate and Navy veteran who worked on such
television hits as “Kojak” and “Ben Casey” passed away today.
https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/18/obituaries/matthew-rapf-producer-71.html
1992:
U.S. premiere of “A Few Good Men” the film based on Aaron Sorkin’s play of the
same name directed by Rob Reiner with music by Marc Shaiman.
1992:
U.S. premiere of “Forever Young” written by J.J. Abrams with music by Jerry
Goldsmith.
1992:
The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany issued a statement
detailing the criteria for eligibility of Jewish victims of Nazi persecution
for German Government compensation under an agreement concluded in November.
(As reported by David Binder)
1994(8th
of Tevet, 5755): Eighty-six-year-old Brooklyn born and Hunter College alum
Lillian Poses, one of “the first women to graduate from NYU Law school and the
wife of Jack I Poses passed away today.
1995:
In “Thousands Pay Tribute to Rabin And Listen to Appeals for Unity” published
today Carey Goldberg described the rally at Madison Square Garden that featured
speakers from the U.S. and Israel including Yitzchak Rabin’s widow, Leah.
1996(1st of Tevet, 5757): Rosh Chodesh Tevet;
Seventh Chanukah
1996(1st of Tevet, 5757): Ninety-year-old
Seattle born and John Hopkins undergrad Louis L. Jaffe, the Harvard trained
lawyer who clerked for Justice Brandeis and taught for years at his alma mater
passed away today.
https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/15/us/louis-l-jaffe-90-noted-legal-scholar.html
1996: Presentation of the 14th Annual Harold U. Ribalow
Prize
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBygO5LCf14
1997: Neil Simon’s
"Sunshine Boys" opens at Lyceum Theater in New York City.
1998:
After having premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival “A Simple
Plan,” the movie version of the novel of the same name directed by Sam Raimi
and music by Danny Elfman was released today.
1998: “The Parent Trap” an inane comedy directed by Nancy Meyers
who also co-authored the script was released in the United Kingdom.
1998: “Jack Frost” a comedy produced by Irving Azoff and Mark
Canton, with music by Trevor Rabin and featuring Eli Marienthal as “Spencer”
was released in the United States today.
1999(2nd of Tevet, 5760): Eighth Day of Chanukah
marking the last time the holiday is celebrated in the 20th century.
2000(14th of Kislev, 5761): Seventy-year-old Don Devlin
(born Donald R. Siegel) who made the transition from actor to writer/producer
whose most famous effort was the screenwriter “Harry and Walter Go to New York”
starring two Jewish actors – James Caan and Elliot Gould.
2001: The DVD of “The Mists of Avalon,” a mini-series co-starring Juliana
Margulies was released today.
2000(14th of Kislev, 5761): Eighyt-seven-year-old N.
Richard Nash (born Nathan Richard Nusbaum) the author, playwright and
screenwriter whose work included “The Rainmaker” passed away today.
http://articles.latimes.com/2000/dec/23/local/me-4001
2002: Barry Strauss
published “What, You Consider Ant-Semitism? How Very One-Sided” which provides
an interesting view of Jewish treatment on college campuses.
2002: In Bucharest, an International
Symposium entitled "Jewish identity and anti-Semitism in Central and South
Eastern Europe sponsored by the Federation of Romanian Jewish
Communities, the "Goldstein-Goren" Hebrew Studies Center, Bucharest
University and Bucharest History Museum came to an end.
2003(16th
of Kislev, 5764): “Three people died and up to 18 were injured today in an
explosion at a money-changer's shop in a crowded Tel Aviv business district”
which police attribute to local criminals and not terrorists.
2004(28th
of Kislev, 5765): Parshat Miketz; Fourth Day of Chanukah
2004: The
Sixth Annual Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival features a screening of the film שיחה
מקומית/ Local Call/ Quittez Pas!
2005: In a reversal of what happened during the Hitler people
period, German church leaders spoke out in defense of the Jewish state
2005: In the tops-turvy world of Israeli politics, Shaul Mofaz
ended his attempt to lead Likud, left the party and joined Kadima, the new
political party started by Ariel Sharon.
2006: End of a two-day conference sponsored by the government of
Iran designed to support the Iranian contention that the systematic killing of
some 6 million Jews a "myth" and "exaggerated."
2006: Despite David Stern’s support for a new basketball, the NBA
announced today that it would in fact switch back to the leather ball starting
on January 1, 2007
2007: Six days of performances including productions of “The
Jester” and “The Mutual Note” come to an end at The Orna Porat Theater in Tel
Aviv.
2007: Haaretz reported on a study that finds
Maine has the highest intermarriage rate in the United States.
2007(2nd
of Tevet, 5768): 7th Day of Chanukah
2007(2nd
of Tevet, 5768): Eighty-four-year-old theatrical agent and producer Freddie
Fields passed away today. (As reported by Margalit Fox)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/arts/13fields.html
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-12-12-freddie-fields-obit_N.htm
2007: After
a little more than a month, Robert Rubin stepped down as acting Chairman of
Citigroup.
2007: David
“D'Or released Live Concert, an album for which he composed most of the songs
including "Kiss from a Rose" (in English), "Sri Lanka"
(instrumental), and an Arabic song
2007: The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution
proposed by Israel. The UN passage of an Israeli resolution on agriculture is
the first time a nonpolitical Israeli resolution has been adopted by the
international body and signifies a breakthrough in Israeli-UN history.
2008: In one of those anomalies that is unique to the American
cultural scene, Jewish composer Marvin Hamlisch conducts the National Symphony
Orchestra’s Pops Happy Holidays concert in Washington, D.C.
2008:
Allen Weinstein, archivist of the United States,
chats with journalist Daniel Schorr,
whose career has spanned decades at both CBS News and National Public Radio,
about his recent collection of essays, Come to Think of It: Notes on the Turn of the Millennium, as
part of the "American Conversation" series at the National Archives.
Schorr holds the unique distinction of being the only American reporter to have
been kicked out of the Soviet Union and been on Richard Nixon’s enemies list.
2008: Bernard Madoff, who founded Bernard L. Madoff Investment
Securities, was arrested by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on alleged
fraud,.
2008 (14th Kislev, 5769): Robert Chandler, a Creator of the ’60 Minutes’ Format, passed away at the
age of 80.
2008(14th of Kislev, 5769): Forty-eight-year-old “voice
actress” Maddie Blaustein passed away unexpectedly from “acute stomach
failure.”
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSmcid=47541371&GRid=85663250&
2008: In
response to the humanitarian crisis in Postville, Iowa the Jewish Federation of Greater Des
Moines establishes Postville Relief Fund to which concerned Jews and
non-Jews can send contributions at Postville Relief Fund, Jewish Federation of
Greater Des Moines, 910 Polk Boulevard, Des Moines, IA 50312.
2008: Today, Australian cricketer Michael Klinger, known as “the Jewish
Bradman” “posted his highest individual
score in one day cricket, with an unbeaten 133 off just 128 balls” which
“guided South Australia to victory in their high-scoring match against the
Tasmania Tigers at the Adelaide Oval.”
2009(24th of Kislev, 5770): Kindle the first light of Chanukah
in the evening
2009(24th of Kislev, 5770): Eighty-four year old New York City
native Katharine Scherman Rosin, the daughter of Harry and Bernadine Scherman
and husband of Alxel Rosin the Swarthmore trained author and editor at “Book of
the Month Club” passed away today.
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=137434177
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=katharine-rosin&pid=137434177
2009: As Jews light the first candle for Chanukah, Temple Judah in Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, hosts its annual Chanukah Pot Luck Dinner and Latke extravaganza.
2009: The 20th Washington Jewish Film Festival features a
screening of “The Imported Bridegroom” and “Black Over White.”
2009:
President Barak Obama and
first lady Michelle Obama extended warm wishes Friday to Jews around the world
who are observing Hanukkah.
2010: Daniel Burman is scheduled to receive the WJFF Visionary Award at the 21st
Washington Jewish Film Festival.
2010: “Expectations,” a piece of video art by Shahar Marcus is scheduled
to be shown at The Invisible Dog in Brooklyn.
2010: In Columbus, Ohio, Congregation Tifereth Israel is scheduled to
host Minyan Chadash,
an alternative service
featuring lots of singing, congregant participation, interactive learning, and
a sense of Shabbat ruach!
2010(4th of Tevet, 5771): Mark Madoff, the older of Bernard L. Madoff’s two sons, was found dead in
his Manhattan apartment today, the second anniversary of the day his father was
arrested for running a gigantic Ponzi scheme that shattered thousands of lives
around the world. “Mark Madoff took his
own life today,” Martin Flumenbaum Mark Madoff’s lawyer, said in a statement
today. “This is a terrible and unnecessary tragedy.” One city official said that the first
notification, via 911, was at 7:27.18, this morning, and the call was for a,
“possible suicide.” The call came from a fourth-floor, private house at 158
Mercer Street – a 13-story building.
2010(4th of Tevet, 5771): A 30-year-old Israeli man was pronounced dead today after being
hospitalized with swine flu.
2010: Rabbi Chaim Brovender will discuss: "Why Couldn't Yosef 'Hold
Back' (Hitapek)?" and talk about his activities at ATID and WebYeshiva at
a shiur and reunion in Silver Spring, MD.
2010: Diane Kaplan showcases material
from her latest album, Like an Olive Tree, at the Jacob’s Ladder Festival at
its Nof Ginosar venue by the Kinerret.
2011: Temple Judah is scheduled to host
it annual Chanukah Potluck Dinner where they will enjoy Latkes prepared under
the supervision Linn County Latke Maven Brian Cohen
2011: The Los Angeles Times features reviews of books by Jewish
authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Jerusalem: A
Biography” by Simon Sebag Montefiore.
2011: Closing night of the 22nd Washington Jewish Film
Festival.
2011: One person
was injured in southern Lebanon today when a rocket apparently fired towards
Israel hit a Lebanese border village, security sources in Lebanon said.
2011:
Iran's ruling clerics could use nuclear weapons to
strengthen their grip on power and the world must urgently impose crippling
sanctions to prevent them from building such arms, Israel's defense minister
said today.
2012: “Oded the Wanderer” is scheduled to be shown at the
Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival
2012: Vanessa Paloma and the Lev-Yulzari Duo are scheduled to
perform at Congregation Shearith Israel as part of the Sephardic Music
Festival.
2012: Kevin Youkilis signed a one-year contract with the New York
Yankees for $12 million to play third base.
2012: “Punk Jews,” the “documentary film that follows an
underground Jewish community expressing their identity in unconventional ways
that challenge stereotypes and break down barriers” is scheduled to have its world
premiere at the JCC of Manhattan
2012(27th of Kislev): Yahrzeit of Harvey David Luber
who will be remembered as long as people laugh and take pictures.
2012:
The IDF has acquired tens of thousands of doses of a
drug used to combat nerve agent chemical poisoning and will distribute them to
all combat medics in the coming months, according to a report in the new issue
of the army’s Bamahane weekly magazine.
2012: Israeli students from all sectors of society registered
dramatic increases in test scores in all subjects, the Education Ministry
announced today.
2013:
The Union for Reform Judaism Biennial is scheduled to open in San Diego, CA
2013:
“The Best Offer” is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film
Festival.
2013:
Les “Wexner was awarded the Women's Wear Daily Beauty Inc. Visionary award”
2013(8th
of Tevet, 5774): Eighty-four-year-old Barbara (Weidman) Branden, the novelist,
author of The Passion of Ayn Rand and wife of Nathaniel Branden, the
lover of Ayn Rand, with whom she wrote Who is Ayn Rand? passed away
today.
http://www.barbarabranden.com/interview3.html
2013:
The Lawrence Family JCC is scheduled to the opening reception for “smART: The
Art of Jewish Educators.”
2013:
“Heavy amounts of rain drenched the Galilee, the Sharon region and the Gush
Dan…cause Lake Kinneret’s water level to rise by centimiere this morning (As
reported by Sharon Udasin, LIdar Grave-Lazar and Ben Hartman)
2013:
Ian Paul Livingston, Baron Livingston of Parkhead began serving as Minister of
State for
Trade
and Investment
2013:
According to the Wall Street Journal and Israel’s Channel 2 “former Bank of
Israel governor Stanley Fischer is the top choice to become vice chairman of
the US Federal Reserve Bank” which would mean that the two top slots at the Fed
would be held by Jews.
2014:
Scholar Eddy Portnoy is scheduled to team up with puppet theater company Great
Small Works to present a reinterpretation of the scripts of Zuni Maud and Yosl
Cutler, who in the 1920s formed Modicut, a bitingly satirical Yiddish puppet
theater troupe as part of YIVO’s Artists and Scholars Series.
2014:
LBI is scheduled to present “From the Shtetl to the Lecture Hall: Jewish Women
and Cultural Exchange.”
2014:
“France’s upper house of parliament today urged the government to recognize
Palestine as a state, following a similar and highly symbolic vote in the lower
house.
2014:
“The Palestinian Authority will freeze security cooperation with Israel in the
wake of the death of a senior Palestinian official after a clash with Israeli
troops, a top aide to PA President Mahmoud Abbas said today.”
2015(29th
of Kislev, 5776): Fifth Day of Chanukah
2015:
In Coralville, IA, Alex Cicelsky: "The Pied Piper of Sustainable Living in
Israel" Founder Center for Creative Ecology at Kibbutz Lotan is scheduled
to talk about Jews and Arabs collaborating together during an Oneg Program at
Congregation Agudas Achim.
2015:
The second season of “Transparent” starring Jeffrey Tambor premiered today.
2015:
Harry Pregerson assumed the status of Senior Judge of the United States Court
of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today.
2015:
“When President Reuven Rivlin met” today “with leaders of America’s three main
Jewish denominations at an event hosted by UJA-Federation of New York” “both
Rabbi Rick Jacobs of the Union of Reform Judaism and Rabbi Steven Wernick of
the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism called on Israel to grant equal
rights to non-Orthodox Jews on matters concerning marriage, divorce, conversion
and worship at the Western Wall.” (As reported by Uriel Heilman)
2016:
The New York Times featured reviews
of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers
including The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter by
David Sax, The Resistible Rise of Benjamin Netanyahu by Neill Lochery, A
Path to Peace: A Brief History of Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations and a Way
Forward in the Middle East by George J. Mitchell and Alon Sachar, Looking
For “The Stranger”: Albert Camus and the Life of a Literary Classic by
Alice Kaplan and Judas by Amos Oz
2016:
The Symphony Chorus of New Orleans is scheduled to host a performance of
Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus at Temple Sinai with Cantor Joel Colman, Betsy
Ushkrat, Monika Cosson and Jonathan Yarrington appearing as the featured
soloists for the work.
2016:
At Iowa City, former Congressman and U. I. Law Professor Jim Leach who in the
1990’s “held four years of unprecedented hearings on Holocaust theft issues
after new evidence identified Swiss banks as intermediaries for Germany during
World War II, and how they benefited from Nazi policies” is scheduled to
lecture on "Where Greed Reigned: An Inquiry Into a Shadowy Corner of the
Holocaust."
2016:
“Anigina Pectoris” a satire “about an Israeli Defense Minister who finds
himself in need of a heart transplant” is scheduled to be performed at Symphony
Space.
2016:
B’nai Emunah Congregation, Tulsa’s Conservative Jewish synagogue, yearlong
celebration of its centennial is scheduled to come to an end today.
2016(11th
of Kislev, 5777): Eighty-two-year-old record executive Bob Krasnow passed away
today. (As reported by Ben Sisario)
2016:
The American Jewish Historical Society is scheduled to present the Annual
Chanukah concert featuring Yiddish folk and theatre songs, a Chanukah sing-along
and “a special story read by Emmy-Award winning actress Ellen Gould.”
2016:
Ninety-six-year-old Marion Pritchard, a Dutch national who risked her life to
save Jews during the Holocaust passed away today.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/23/world/europe/marion-pritchard-rescuer-of-jews.html
http://www.raoulwallenberg.net/saviors/others/marion-pritchard-dutch-savior/
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/marion-pritchard
2016:
At the 56th annual meeting of the Jewish Historical Society of
Greater Washington, “celebrity chef Pati Jinich of Pati's Mexican Table (WETA)
is scheduled to speak about her Jewish-Mexican roots and her new book, Mexican
Today: New and Rediscovered Recipes for Contemporary Kitchens.
2017:
“The submission period for the 2019 Natan Book Award” “which is run in
partnership with the Jewish Book Council” is scheduled to open today.
2017: Twenty-seven-year-old Akayed Ullah, a
resident of Brooklyn “of Bangladeshi origin” detonated a bomb “in a tunnel
connecting the Times Square subway station with the Midtown Manhattan transit
hub during this morning’s rush hour” acted because he was upset by actions
taken by the IDF in Gaza - action taken in response to terrorists’ attacks from
the Hamas controlled enclave.
2017(23rd
of Kislev, 5778): Eighty-four-year-old Vera Katz who went from fleeing Hitler’s
Germany to serving three terms as Mayor of Portland, Oregon, passed away today.
2017:
Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to
contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such as Franz Kafka whose
works included The Metamorphosis and The Trial continues today.
2018(3rd
of Tevet, 5779): Ninety-two year old Alter Weiner a Nazi concentration camp
survivor died today in Hillsboro, OR after being “struck and killed by a car
while crossing a street near his home.” (As reported by Cnaan Liphshiz)
2018:
In Ann Arbor, The Jean and Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the
University of Michigan is scheduled to host “Ant-Jewish Pogroms in Lithuania
under the Tsars.”
2018:
The Jstyle Winter Premiere Party is scheduled to take place in Shaker Heights,
OH.
https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07efs5jdhw82e4da98&oseq=&c=&ch=
2019:
“The Knesset is expected to dissolve tonight, confirming the failure of both
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz to form
a governing coalition following the inconclusive September election.” (As
reported by TOI)
2019:
The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to host Maggie Schreiner is the
Manager of Archives and Special Collections at the Brooklyn Historical Society
who will lecture on “Personal Archiving – Preserving You Digital Memoires.
2019:
The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled to co-sponsor “An Evening of
Music and Song From Al-Andalus and North Africa.”
2019:
In Deerfield and Chicago, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is
scheduled to host “What Were Watching? Americans’ Responses to Nazism through
Cinema, Radio and Media.”
2019:
In San Francisco, the Commonwealth Club is scheduled to host Arye Carmon,
founder of the Israel Democracy Institute who talks about Israel’s struggles
and his new book Building Democracy on Sand: Israel without a Constitution.
2020(25th
of Kislev, 7801) First Day of Chanukah
2020:
Congregation B’nai Torah is scheduled to present online a Shabbat Hanukkah
Family Service.
2020:
SFJazz’s “Fridays at Five” series is scheduled to present a concert recorded in
2015, with the band playing music from their album “Happy Joyous Hanukkah
2020:
In Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Temple Judea is scheduled to host virtual Shabbat
services with Rabbi Feivel Strauss and Cantorial Soloist Abbie Strauss.
2020:
The Ciesla Foundation, dedicated to making films about under-known Jewish
heroes, released the website—benhechtfilm.org—for its new documentary on a
Jewish hero, Ben Hecht today.
2020:
The National Museum of American Jewish, for which Mitchell Levin is an official
content provider, is scheduled to close its Museum Store which has been open
since November 27.
2020:
Kan Kol Hamusika is scheduled to broadcast “Winter Journey” featuring
Schubert’s’ great song cycle sung in Hebrew and translated by Ido Ariel.
2021:
In Cambridge, MA Rabbi Aliza Berger and Rabbi Jen Gubitz are scheduled to lead
an afternoon of Shabbat singing followed by Havdalah.
2021:
The Boston Synagogue is scheduled to present online Levyosn’s Lullaby, “a new
project bringing together three rising stars of the Boston-area Jewish music
scene: Yiddish singer/songwriter Adah Hetko, violist/violinist/vocalist and
world music aficionado Lysander Jaffe and fiery klezmer accordionist and
vocalist Kaia Berman Peters.”
2021:
The Eden Tamir Center is scheduled to host “The Best of Chamber of Music”
featuring violinist Luke Hsu, cellist Rainer Crosett and pianist Yehuda Inbar.
2021:
Congregation Beth Am is scheduled to host a virtual screening of “Shared
Legacies” followed by a discussion of the “2020 film on the African American
and Jewish civil rights alliance of the 1960s, and how that relationship has
frayed in recent years.”
2021(7th
of Tevet, 5782) Parasha Vayigash;
2022:
In Coralville, Iowa, Congregation Agudas Achim is scheduled to host a “Fundraiser Hanukkah Crafts Bazar.”
2022:
The Museum at Eldridge Street is scheduled to host a talk from ] curator
Kenneth Helphand about the exhibition
“Upon Thy Gates: The Winik Mezuzah Collection.”
2022:
Yeshiva University Museum is scheduled to present Artist Deborah Ugoretz as she
leads a papercut class focusing on designs for the seven-branched Biblical
menorah and the eight-branched Hanukkah lamp, or hanukkiah.
2022:
The Iowa Jewish Historical Society is scheduled to host a virtual program on “Jewish Centerville at the Turn of the Century”
presented by Rabbi Mark Sameth
2022:
The New York Jewish Book Festival is scheduled to take place today at the
Museum of Jewish Heritage.
2022:
The National Library of Israel in cooperation with the Cambridge University
Library is scheduled to host the first in a new series of lectures around The
Newton Watermark Project, which aims to gain a better understanding of the
organization and chronology of Isaac Newton's (1642-1727) manuscripts dispersed
across the globe.
2023(28th
of Kislev, 57884): Fourth Day of Chanukah
2023:
The Museum at Eldridge Street is scheduled to host building a tour that will
include visiting the exhibit “Lighting the World: Menorahs Around the Globe.”
2023:
YIVO is scheduled to present “a performance of the music of Shir Hashirim (The
Song of Songs), a 1911 operetta by Joseph Rumshinsky and Anshel Shor.”
2023:
My Jewish Learning is scheduled to host the third lecture by Rudy Namdar on
“The Daring Art of Talmudic Storytelling.”
2023:
The JDC Archives is scheduled to host a virtual book talk by Raúl Peñaranda and
Robert Brockmann who will introduce their recently published book, Escape to
the Andes: The Story of Mauricio Hochschild, the “Schindler of Bolivia”.
2023:
As December 11 begins in Israel, the Houthi’s blockade in the Red Sea appears
to be more of a reality following yesterday’s report from the French military “that
a French destroyer intercepted two UAVs that were launched at it in the Red
Sea, off the coast of Yemen,” conditions on the northern border continue to deteriorate
based on the IAF’s attacks on targets including “rocket launch sites used by
Hezbollah to fire projectiles at northern Israel earlier, as well as manned
military compounds and other infrastructure belonging to the terror group” and the Hamas held hostages begin day 66 in captivity. (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)
