This Day, December 19, In Jewish History by Mitchell A and Deb Levin Z"L
December
19
324: Licinius abdicates his position as Emperor leaving Constatine I,
“the first Christian Emperor” in control of the Roman Empire much to the
detriment of the Jewish people.
1154:
Coronation of Henry II, King of England. With the restora…
324: Licinius abdicates his position as Emperor leaving Constatine I,
“the first Christian Emperor” in control of the Roman Empire much to the
detriment of the Jewish people.
1154:
Coronation of Henry II, King of England. With the restoration of order under Henry II, conditions of
the Jews improved markedly. Within five years of his accession Jews are found
at London, Oxford, Cambridge, Norwich, Thetford, Bungay, Canterbury,
Winchester, Newport, Stafford, Windsor, and Reading. Yet they were not
permitted to bury their dead elsewhere than in London, a restriction which was
not removed till 1177. Their spread throughout the country enabled the king to
draw upon them as occasion demanded; he repaid them by demand notes on the sheriffs
of the counties, who accounted for payments thus made in the half-yearly
accounts on the pipe rolls (see Aaron of Lincoln). Richard "Strongbow" de Clare's
conquest of Ireland in 1170 was financed by Josce, a Jew of Gloucester; and the
king accordingly fined Josce for having lent money to those under his
displeasure. As a rule, however, Henry II does not appear to have limited in
any way the financial activity of Jews. The favourable position of the English
Jews was shown, among other things, by the visit of Abraham ibn Ezra in 1158,
by that of Isaac of Chernigov in 1181, and by the resort to England of the Jews
who were exiled from France by Philip Augustus in 1182, among them probably
being Judah Sir Leon of Paris. When he asked the rest of the country to pay a
tithe for the crusade against Saladin in 1186, he demanded a quarter of the
Jewish chattels. The tithe was reckoned at £70,000, the quarter at £60,000. In
other words, the value of the personal property of the Jews was regarded as
one-fourth that of the whole country. It is improbable, however, that the whole
amount was paid at once, as for many years after the imposition of the tallage
arrears were demanded from the recalcitrant Jews. The king had probably been
led to make this large demand upon English Jewry by the surprising windfall
which came to his treasury at the death of Aaron of Lincoln. All property
obtained by usury, whether by Jew or by Christian, fell into the king's hands
on the death of the usurer; Aaron of Lincoln's estate included £15,000 of debts
owed to him. Besides this, a large treasure came into the king's hands, which,
however, was lost on being sent over to Normandy. A special branch of the
treasury, constituted in order to deal with this large account, was known as "Aaron's
Exchequer". In this era, Jews lived on good terms with their non-Jewish
neighbours, including the clergy; they entered churches freely, and took refuge
in the abbeys in times of commotion. Some Jews lived in opulent houses and
helped to build a large number of the abbeys and monasteries of the country.
However, by the end of Henry's reign they had incurred the ill will of the
upper classes. The anti-Jewish sentiment fostered by the crusades, during the
latter part of the reign of Henry, spread the anti-Jewish sentiment throughout
the nation.
1187:
Clement III who was no friend of the Jews was elected Pope today. In the aftermath of the First Crusaders
violent march through the Rhine, Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor sought to
allow Jews who had been forced to convert to return to Judaism. Pope Clement III opposed Henry on this
insisting that the Jews, no matter how they had come to the Church, could not
leave it. To his credit, Henry ignored
the Pope. He went so far as to find
those who had killed his Jewish subjects and bring them to justice. From the Jewish point of view, Henry was the
exception to the norm among European Princes and Prelates. We should remember him for this and not for
shivering in the winter as he did penance before an arrogant prince of the
Church.
1370: Pope
Urban V passed away. Urban issued a bull
entitled “Sicuti judaeis non debet” that forbade the molestation of Jews
and condemned the forced baptism of Jews.
1483: The first edition of Talmud Babli Berakot was published in Soncino,
Italy by Joshua Solomon Soncino. This is
the tractate of the Babylonia Talmud that discusses the laws of Kriat Shema,
Prayers and Blessing.
1483: The first edition of Talmud Betzah was published in Soncino, Italy by
Joshua Solomon Soncino. Betzah is the tractate that deals rules concerning
Festivals.
1488: The
first edition of the Sefer Mitzvoth Gadol was published in Soncino,
Italy. The Sefer Mitzvoth Gadol (The
Great Book of the Commandments) was written by Rabbi Moses ben Jacob of
Coucy'. Rabbi ben Jacob lived in the first half of the 13th century in Coucy,
France. This work--usually designated by its acronym, the Semag—classifies
Jewish law according to the traditional enumeration of 613 commandments. The
work is divided into two sections. The first deals with the 365 negative
precepts of the Torah, and the second with the 248 positive precepts.
References to the Semag are by Section. The publishing of this and other
such texts helped to enhance the culture of education that has been the
hallmark of Judaism since its earliest days.
Guttenberg and his printing press were definitely “friends” of the Jews.
1498:
Birthdate of Andreas Osiander, the Lutheran theologian and “one of the few
Protestant Reformers who was sympathetic to Jewish communities.”
1521: John
III was crowned King of Portugal in the Church of São Domingos in Lisbon,
beginning a thirty-six-year reign that included negotiations with David Reubeni
over the providing a fleet to help in his competition with the Ottomans in 1525
and the introduction of the Inquisition to his realm in 1536.
1523: Giles
of Viterbo, who provided a safe haven for Elias Levita with whom he studied
Hebrew and who studied Zohar with Baruch de Benevento was installed as Bishop
of Veterbo e Tuscania.
1757:
Phillip Cuyler wrote to Jewish “insurance broker” David Franks about the “large
sum of uninsured goods that he has on board the ship Charming Rachell.”
1762:
Birthdate of Ephraim Zalman Margolis the Galician born rabbi who was the
brother of Hayyim Mordecai Margolioth and whose works including commentaries on
parts of the Shulchan Arukh.
1764(25th
of Kislev, 5525): First Day of Chanukah
1764: As
Jews prepare to kindle the second light of Chanukah, those in the 13 Colonies
are dealing with the impact of Sugar Act enacted early in the year which was
one of the pieces of legislation that led to the American Revolution
1767(28th
of Kislev, 5528): Parashat Miketz; Fourth day of Chanukah
1767:
Today, Benjamin Franklin wrote from London to his son William Franklin, the
colonial governor of New Jersey that “We have had an ugly affair at the Royal Society lately. One
Dacosta, a Jew, who, as our clerk, was entrusted with collecting our monies,
has been so unfaithful as to embezzle near £1300 in four years. (The reference
is to “Emanuel Mendes da Costa, who had been appointed clerk and assistant
secretary of the Royal Society in 1763)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/579811.pdf?seq=1
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-14-02-0205
1775(26th
of Kislev, 5536): Second Day of Chanukah
1775: As
Jews prepared to kindle the third light of Chanukah, patriot forces overwhelmed
the British forces on Sullivan Island leading to the building of fortifications
designed to protect the port of Charleston
1777: Gen.
George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pa., to
camp for the winter. Hanukkah at Valley Forge is a children’s book by
Stephen Krensky about an event that took place during that fateful winter. “On a cold December night
during the height of the Revolutionary War, General George Washington surveys
his weary troops at Valley Forge. He spies a soldier lighting a candle.
Curious, he asks the soldier what he is doing. The soldier explains that he is
celebrating the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. He goes on to relate a miraculous
story—how long ago a ragtag army of Jewish soldiers defeated a much larger
force of powerful Greeks, a tale that provides just the kind of inspiration
General Washington needs. Stephen Krensky's fictionalized version of a poignant
historical anecdote is brought vividly to life in Greg Harlin's brilliant
watercolor illustrations.” The thirty two page book is designed for children
from 4 to 7. While we may not know the names of all the Jews who spent the
winter freezing in the Pennsylvania cold, we do know that Abraham Levy and
Phillip Russell were among those who stuck it out. When the army marched out in
the spring, some of the soldiers carried rifles supplied by Joseph Simon who
crafted them at this forge in Lancaster, PA.
1778(30th
of Kislev, 5539): Parashat Miketz; Rosh Chodesh Tevet; 6th Day of
Chanukah
1778: Jews
prepared to the light the seventh Chanukah light on the first anniversary of
Washington asked his forces into winter camp at the fabled Valley Forge while
on this day the Virginia legislature was enacting legislation “to encourage
officers and men to remain in the Continental Army.”
1781: Joseph II abolished Leibzoll
(body tax) along with the "special law taxes, the passport duty, the night
duty and all similar oppressive imposts which had stamped the Jews as
outcasts."
1783(24th of Kislev, 5544):
Kindle the first Chanukah Candle
1786: Marks and Rachel Lazarus gave
birth to Michael Lazarus, a leader of the Reform movement in Charleston, SC and
who “opened steam navigation between Charleston and Augusta.”
1787: In Germany, Kehla and Feis Moses
Fraenkel gave birth to Meyer Fraenkel
1788: In Charleston, SC, Sara and
Moses Clava Levy gave birth to Jacob Clavious Levy, the husband of Fanny Yates
with whom he had eight children.
1788: In Pennsylvania, Michael Marks
and Jochabed Isaacks gave birth to Sarah Marks the future wife of Samuel Lyons
1791(23rd of Kislev, 5552):
According to “Cemetery Scribes” David Tevele Schiff, the chief rabbi and the
rabbi of the Great Synagogue who “was a disciple of Rabbi Jacob Joshua Falk”
and contemporary of “Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, Prague’s Chief Rabbi, Passed away
today.
1794(27th of Kislev, 5555):
Third Day of Chanukah
1797(30th of Kislev, 5558):
Sixth Day of Chanukah, Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1797(30th of Kislev, 5558):
David Lopez the son Diego Jose Lopez who had come to the United States from
Portugal passed away today in Boston.
1799: In Bonfeld, Germany, Blumel
Joseph and Joseph Ruben Gummersheimer gave birth to their son Hennoch
Strausburger.
1799: Today, Cornelia Cohen “was
married to Thomas McIntyre in a Charleston, SC, church.”
1800(3rd of Tevet, 5561):
Eighth Day of Chanukah is observed for the first time in the 19th
century and for the last time during the Presidency of John Adams.
1800(3rd of Tevet 5561):
Moses De La Motta, the son of Sarah and Isaac De La Motta passed away in
Charleston, SC.
1803: Birthdate of Hartvig Abraham Von
Essen, the husband of Brigitte Simon and the father of Ferdinand and Ida Von
Essen
1807: Abraham Franklin married Miriam
Aaron today.
1808(30th of Kislev, 5569):
Sixth day of Chanukah and Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1813: Barnet Franks married Jane
Jacobs at the Great Synagogue today.
1816(29th of Kislev, 5577):
Fifth Day of Chanukah
1816(29th of Kislev, 5577):
Sarah Sazrzedas, the daughter of Sarah and Isaac da Costa, who had one child by
each of her two husbands, Col. David Maysor and David Sarzedas, passed away
today.
1821(25th of Kislev, 5582):
Chanukah
1821: Birthdate of Dutch bibliographer
Meyer Roest whose best known work is the two volume Catalog der Hebraica und Judaica aus der L. Rosenthal'schen
Bibliothek
1823: In Newington, Martha and Woolf
Levy gave birth to David Lewis Levy, the husband of Bertha Levy.
1827(1st of Tevet, 5588)
Sixth Day of Chanukah; Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1828: “Clari”
an opera semiseria in three acts by Fromental Halévy “was first produced at the
Théâtre-Italien in Paris” today.
1831: The Privy Council in England
granted the Jewish community official recognition and equality on the island.
Jews were then permitted to vote in the elections and, by 1849, eight of the 47
members of House of Assembly were Jewish, including the Speaker of the House.
Jews became so prominent in society that in 1849, the House of Assembly did not
gather on Yom Kippur.
1832(27th of Kislev, 5593):
Third Day of Chanukah
1838(2nd of Tevet, 5599):
Eighth Day of Chanuakha
1840: Birthdate of German native
Carolina Berg, the wife of Abraham Michael.
1841: Birthdate of Russian-born
Austrian “rabbinical scholar” Abraham Epstein author of the Ḳadmut ha-Tanḥuma,
who passed away in 1918.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/epstein-abraham
1843(26th of Kislev, 5604):
Second Day of Chanukah observed on one of the dates that A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens was published in London.
1844 (9th of Tevet, 5605): The Czar
abolished all Kahals in the Russian Empire.
1844(9th of Tevet, 5605):
Charleston, SC hardware merchant Abraham Alexander, Jr., the London born son of
Abraham Alexander, Sr and the husband of Hannah Arons whom he married in 1801
passed away today in Charleston.
1849: William Wolf Collins, the son of
Lewis Collins and Julia Isaacs, was buried at “Balls Pond Road Jewish
Cemetery.”
1846(30th of Kislev, 5607)
Parashat Miketz; Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth of Chanukah
1846(30th of Kislev, 5607):
Eighty-one-year-old Rebecca Judah, the daughter of Samuel Judah passed away
today in New York.
1852: Birthdate of Russian native Albert A.
Michelson who taught at the U.S. Naval Academy and calculated the Speed of
Light for which he won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1907.
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1907/michelson/biographical/
1854(28th
of Kislev, 5615): Fourth Day of Chanukah
1854:
Birthdate of Joshua Moses Levy, the “elder of the Spanish and Portuguese
Synagogue” in London and member of the Board of Deputies who served on the
Licensing Committee of the Board of Shechita and the “Committee of the Bread,
Meat and Coal Society.”
1855(10th
of Tevet, 5616): Aasara B’Tevet
1855: in
the Czech Republic, Helene and Daniel Low gave birth to David Low.
1856: In
Vienna, Simon Spitzer, the son of Moses Spitzer and his wife Marie Spitzer gave
birth to Malvine Nawaski.
1856: The
Huntington Trial a case being heard before Judge Capron was in recess today
“because one of the jurors was a Jew and had conscientious scruples about
working on his Sabbath…”
1857(1st
of Tevet, 5618): Parashat Miketz: Eighth Day of Chanukah
1857: In
the future Czech Republic, Helen and Daniel Low gave birth to Karl Low, the
husband of Rosa Low.
1857: Under
a modification of the 1855 Naval Reform designed to remove superfluous
officers, Uriah Phillips Levy began the first of three days before a Board of
Inquiry that had been convened to see if he should be reinstated. Fifty -three-character
witnesses, including former Secretary of the Navy and historian George
Bancroft, governors, senators, congressmen, bank presidents, merchants,
doctors, and editors had already testified on his behalf before Phillips began
to testify. The most shocking statement had come from Bancroft who confirmed
Levy had been purged "because he was of the Jewish persuasion." The most moving part of the testimony came
with the statement of Phillips, "My parents were Israelites, and I was
nurtured in the faith of my ancestors." "I am an American, a sailor,
and a Jew," At the end, there was a moment's silence before the explosion
of cheers, the hats flung in the air, the wild applause.
1858: In
Camden, New Jersey, Maurice Traubel and Katherine Grunder gave birth to
essayist, poet and follower of Henry George, Horace Traubel who was the editor
of The Conservator from 1890 until
his death in 1919.
http://www.whitmanarchive.org/criticism/disciples/traubel/
1859: Nine-year-old
Israel Dov Frumkin emigrated from Russia to Jerusalem with his father,
Alexander Sender Frumkin, mother and brother
1862(27th
of Kislev, 5623): Third Day of Chanukah
1862: In
Lemberg, Augusta Kanner and Leo Rosenthal gave birth to University of Vienna
educated pianist Moriz Rosenthal the husband of Hedwig Kanner who gave his
first concert at age 11 and made his first of seven tours of the United States
in 1888.
1862(27th
of Kislev, 5623: Thirty-nine-year-old Abraham Solomon, the son Catherine and
hat manufacturer Meyer Solomon and the brother of painter Simeon Solomon passed
away today on the same day that his artistic talents were recognized by
election as “an Associate of the Royal Academy.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Solomon#/media/File:Solomon_Abraham_The_Acolyte.jpg
1865(1st
of Tevet, 5626): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Seventh Day of Chanukah observed for the
first time in a re-united United States of America.
1866: Rabbi Moshe Paneth, the son of R' Menahem
Mendel Paneth, (Maglei Tzedek) and Raisel Paneth and his wife Malka Paneth gave
birth to Chava Friedlander
1867: In Prague, Joseph
and Julie Wolf gave birth to Siegfried Reginald Wolf.
1867: Moses and Rose
Harsch Fraley gave birth to St. Louis resident Sadie Fraley Stix, the wife of
Charles A. Stix.
1868: In Vienna, the
Rudolphinum founded in honor of Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria and funded by
A.M. Pollak was dedicated today.
1870(25th
of Kislev, 5631): First Day of Chanukah
1871: In
Canonbury, London, Rose Jessel and Bernard Spiers gave birth to Theresa Lizzie
Spiers, the wife of Solomon Conquy and the mother of Theresa Orovida Conquy.
1876:
Twenty-year old Rosa Stix, the Cincinnati born daughter of Yetta Hackes and
Louis Stix married Carl Iglauer today in New York after which they lived in
Cincinnati where they had two children, Zillah and Florence.
1876: It
was reported today that William J. Ree, “one of the most daring and expert
swindlers and forgers” ever to operate in New York City, is among the many
convicts paroled by Governor Tilden without informing the District Attorney or
the criminals’ victims. Ree is reportedly from Denmark and a member of a
wealthy Jewish who has two brothers who are successful merchants in London. He
married the wealthy widow of the late Commodore Uriah P. Levy and proceeded to
run through her fortune of $400,000. He also was the heir to a fortune left to
him by one of his wife’s aunts – a fortune that he dissipated with equal speed
which led him to turn to active swindling.
1876: A
fair to raise funds for Hebrew Charities is to be held this evening at the
Masonic Hall in NYC.
1878: It
was reported today that most of the Jews of Cincinnati, Ohio, approved decision
of the Hebrew Benevolent Societies decision to refuse the contributions offered
by Mrs. A.T. Stewart. They feel that the
involvement of Judge Hilton makes it impossible for Jews to accept the
money. Several Jews have offered to make
up any short-fall. A minority, including Louis Kramer and Henry Mack Southern,
have expressed the opinion that charities have no right to reject contributions
regardless of the source. Jews have
refused to do business with Hilton and his company since he banned Jews from
being guests at his fashionable New York hotel.
1879: In
Laupheim, Pauline Heilbronner married Leopold Hirschfeld and became Pauline
Heilbronner Hirschfeld, the mother of Laura and Bella Hirschfeld.
1880: It
was reported today that Mt. Sinai Hospital, which was opened in 1852, was the third
private hospital opened that provided for New York City’s destitute. St Vincent’s which was opened by the Roman
Catholics in 1859 and St. Luke’s which opened in 1850 are the only two such
institutions that are older than the facility funded by the Jewish community
that is opened to all regardless race or creed.
1880: In
New York, Reverends John Cotton Smith, R. Heber Newton and L.D. Devan expressed
their concern from their respective pulpits about the wave of “anti-Jewish
agitation” currently sweeping Germany. (Compare this to the relative silence
that one “heard” during the 1930’s)
1880: In
Belz, Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach and Basha Ruchama Twersky gave birth to
Aharon Rokeach the fourth Rebbe of the Belz Hasidic dynasty who led the
movement from 1926 until his death in 1957.
1880: Leana Catosk Pearlstone, the Mississippi born
daughter of Mina and Louis Hart and her husband Barney Pearlstone gave birth to
Ann H, Pearlstone
1880:
“First Chandlery Factory In America” published today credited Jews who had come
to Newport from Portugal between 1745 and 1750 with introducing this
“lucrative…business” in which they had an advantage because they knew “the art
of preparing the sperm for candles.” “Of the 16 people” originally “engaged in
this business” three were Jews named Riveria, Lopez and Siexas.
1881(27th
of Kislev, 5642): Third Day of Chanukah
1881: It
was reported today that police in New York, Brooklyn Staten Island and Jersey
City are all looking for thirty-eight-year-old Louis Hammel, the Jewish foreman
of J. Beck & Sons who has been reported missing by his relatives.
1881:
Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen, who would take an active role in determining
and trying to ameliorate the conditions of the Russian Jews after the passage
of the May Laws, began serving as Secretary of State under President Chester A.
Arthur.
1881: In New York,
Julius and Sarah (Adler) Goldman gave birth to Hetty Godman, “a member of the
Goldman-Sachs banking family” who made her mark in the world of academia which
was unusual for a woman in her era.
http://www.brynmawr.edu/library/exhibits/BreakingGround/goldman.html
1881: In
New York, Sarah and Julius Goldman gave birth to Hetty Goldman “a well know
archaeologist who unearthed many new excavations that gave historians a better
insight of the past in Greece” and who “was very active in sponsoring Jewish
refugees fleeing Nazi Germany.” (As reported by Seymour Brody)
1882: In
New York Superior Court, Judge Arnoux heard the argument of Abraham Meyer who
is seeking an injunction that will restrain police from enforcing that part of
the Penal Code that would force him to close on Sunday. Meyer is Jewish and claims that under the law
he can “sell goods on Sunday because he observes Saturday as his ‘holy time.’”
1882:
Elizabeth Henriques, the daughter of Solomon Jacob Waley and Rachel Hort and
the husband of Jacob Quixano, the native of Jamaica, was buried today at the
Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B0DE5DF153DE533A2575BC1A9649D94639FD7CF
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Heber_Newton
1882:
Birthdate of Bronislaw Huberman, the Polish born violinist who founded the
Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra in 1936.
After the creation of the state of Israel, a year after Huberman’s
death, the orchestra would change its name to the Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra.
1883: D.
Wiley Travis, the attorney for Theodore Hoffman who was sentenced to death for
murdering Jewish peddler Zife Marks, “will take the case to the Court of
Appeals.”
1883: Madame Fanny Janauschek will appear in “Zillah, The Hebrew
Mother” today at the Third Avenue Theatre.
1885:
Birthdate of Vilna native and Cooper Union trained engineer Joseph Halpern, the
“director of the Bureau of Port Planning and Development and the Department of
Marine and Aviation, the husband of Ida Halpern with whom he had three children
--- Dr. Seymour, Adeline and Beatrice.
1885:
Birthdate of Philadelphia native and Wharton graduate David Leo Silverman
1885: At
least a thousand people attended tonight’s session of the fair being held to
raise funds for the kindergarten and industrial schools of the Hebrew Free
School Association.
1886: First
meeting of the “Emin Pasha Relief Committee.” Mehmed Emin Pasha was the name of
a German Jew Eduard Schnitzer had taken when he had converted to Islam to
further his career in the world of the Ottomans.
1886: Five
hundred prominent Jews met at Temple Israel in Brooklyn, NY, this afternoon and
formed the Young Men’s Hebrew Association.
1886: It
was reported today that the Hebrew Fee School Association is now supporting a
“Ladies Hebrew Seminary” in addition to its industrial branches for manual
training and kindergartens.
1886: An
auction will be held today, the day after the close of the charity fair held to
raise funds for the Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids, which is expected to
raise an additional $15,000. The fair raised $168,000 for the Home.
1887: It
was reported today that the Ladies’ Deborah Nursery, founded by Mrs. Deborah
Alexander, is currently providing care “for 150 young boys and babies.”
1888: It
was reported today that Benjamin F. Peixotto and James W. Moses were
blackballed from the Republican Club on 5th Avenue because they “had
enough Jews in the club at present.” Peixotto is a member of a distinguished
Sephardic family that has served the United States for three generations. But
Moses, a prominent member of the Cotton Exchange, is a Yankee from Maine without
a drop of Jewish “blood in his veins.”
1888: “The Republican
Club” published today described plans for this new organization which plans on
blackballing Jews, a fact that the author is able to easily rationalize, but
also is willing to accept contributions of Jewish money.
1888: It
was reported today that the following have made donations to the Montefiore
Home for Chronic Invalids: Lazarus Straus, $2,500; Louis Stern, $500, W.J.
Cholle, $200; Henry Newman, $100 and M.W. Mendel and Jacob H. Schiff, $1,000
each.
1888: Birthdate of Fritz Reiner, Hungarian born
American symphony conductor who passed away in 1963.
1889(26th
of Kislev, 5650): Second Day of Chanukah
1889: Birthdate of old Ukraine born labor
union leader Max Guzman, the husband of Ida Guzman with whom head two daughters
– Sandra and Freda – who in 1907 came to the United States where he took place
in the strike known as the “Uprising of the 20,000” and was an official of the
ILGWU for 45 years,
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1963/09/22/90897315.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1889: Louis
and Clara Asia Parnes gave birth to Maxwell Parnes, the husband of Sarah
Blumberg Parnes
1890: It
was reported today that a St. Petersburg newspaper has responded to “English
remonstrances against the treatment of the Russian Jews” by charging the
English with having exterminated the natives of Australia and poisoned the
Chinese with opium among other crimes.
1891(18th
of Kislev, 5652): Parashat Vayishlach
1891(18th
of Kislev, 5652): Sixty-eight-year-old Bavarian native Isaac Kohn, the son of
Abraham and Bella Kuhn and the husband of Henrietta Kohn passed away today in Philadelphia.
1891: “The
coroner is making a searching inquiry” into events surrounding the death of
Maxwell Castine, a Russian Jew whose body was discovered yesterday with his
throat cut from ear to ear in a “flouring mill at Petersburg
1891:
Ninety Russian Jews who have been brought to the United States by Baron Hirsch
are staying at the synagogue in Fall River, MA until they begin working in the
local mills.
1892(30th
of Kislev, 5653): Rosh Chodesh Kislev; Sixth Day of Chanukah
1892: The
State Board of Arbitration met in Camden, NJ tonight and decided to go to
Woodbine and “get the facts regarding the cloakmaker’s strike” taking place at
the Jewish colony.
1892: “Fifty Years A
Temple” published today the jubilee celebration that has been taking place at
Rodeph Sholom which were attended by a host of dignitaries including Judges
Goldfolgle, Newberger and Lachman as well as Otto J. Wise, Charles S. Cohn, A.H.
Berrick and Abram Stern.
1893(10th
of Tevet, 5654): Asara B’Tevet
1893: Henry
Solomon, Lazarus Diamond, Max Rosenthal and Leah Blumental are among the saloonkeepers
who were being held on charges violating the excise law which forbids the sale
of alcohol on Sundays.
1894: Judge
Henry Mayer Goldfogle expressed his sympathy with the striking cloakmakers who
are faced with eviction and “asked the landlord to give their tenants an
extension of time” – a request with which they complied so “no evictions were
ordered.”
1894: In
the United States, Baer and Fanni Adler gave birth to Leo Adler, the husband of
Bella Adler and the father of Greta, Milton and Gunther Adler. (Not to be
confused with the Oregon newspaper man with the same name born in 1895)
1894: The
trial of Alfred Dreyfus began today at the Cheche-Midi Prison.
1894:
Birthdate of Paul Dessau the native of Hamburg and grandson of Cantor Moses
Berend Dessau, the composer and conductor whose works ranged from scores to
Walt Disney moves to “the oratorio Hagadah
shel Pessach after a libretto by Max Brod.”
1894: As of today, the
officers of the Jewish Historical Society are President--Oscar S. Straus; Vice
Presidents – Dr. Charles Gross, Simon W. Rosendale, Paul Leicester Ford;
Corresponding Secretary – Dr. Cyrus Adler; Recording Secretary – Dr. Herbert Friedenwald;
Treasurer – Professor R.J.H. Gottheil.
1895: “Dr.
Hermann Kahn will sell copies of Maritz Oppenheim’s paints of scenes from the
life of the Israelites at tonight’s session of the charity fair which is a
fundraiser for the Educational Alliance and The Hebrew Technical Institute.
1895: Four
days after she had passed away, 72-year-old Katherine Schiff, the daughter of
Moses Mosely and Rosetta Samuel and the wife of Saling Schiff with whom she had
had nine children, was buried today at the West Ham Jewish Cemeery on
Buckingham Road.
1895: “The Anti-Semites
in Vienna” described the unpopularity of the Imperial Government’s decision to
reject the election of a Jew baiter, Dr. Luger, to be Burgomaster of Vienna.”
1896:
“Santa Maria,” an operetta by Oscar Hammerstein I closed at the Olympia Theatre
after three months of performances.
1896:
Birthdate of Rabbi Michael Curtis who came to England before WW II at which
time he “taught at the West London Synagogue” before becoming the “Assistant
Minister at West London Synagogue in 1948.
1896: The
University of Wisconsin football team led by first year head coach Philip King,
a Jewish native of Washington, DC lost their last game of the season to
Carlisle and who
1897(24th
of Kislev, 5658): First Chanukah candle kindled for the first time during the
Presidency of William McKinley.
1897:
Birthdate Julius L. Siegel who in 1910 came to the United States where he was
ordained by REITS, earned advanced degrees at Yale and the University of
Chicago and was serving as the Rabbi at Temple Beth Israel in Gary, IN at the
time of his death.
1898: The
American Jewish Historical Society which had been “organized at New York on
June 7, 1892” was incorporated today in the District Columbia with members that
included Dr. Cyrus Adler, Simon W. Rosendale, Mendes Cohen, Charles Gross and
Professor Richard Gottheil.
1898: Louis
Samuel Montagu, the second Baron of Swaythling and his wife gave birth to
Stuart Albert Samuel Montague, third Baron Swaythling who served with the
Guards during World War I and who was the person “responsible for making rear
lights compulsory on motorcycles.”
1898(6th
of Tevet, 5659): Rabbi Yechezkel Shraga
Halberstam, “who was famous for his disagreements with his father Rabbi Chaim
Halbertam of Sanz on matters of halakha” who served as a rabbi in several towns
including Shinova, passed away today.
1898: After
the death of Rabbi Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam, today, his second son, Rabbi
Moishe Halberstram succeeded his father as Rabbi of Shinova.
1898: After
having been “organized at New York in 1892,” today The American Jewish
Historical Society, whose members included Dr. Cyrus Adler, Simon W. Rosendale,
Mendes Cohen, Charles Gross, Simon Wolf, Professor Richard Gottheil, Dr.
Herbert Friedenwald and Professor J. H. Hollander, was “incorporated in the
District of Columbia.
1898:
Today, “an indenture was recorded by the Register of Deeds for Camden County,
New Jersey for a property consisting of three lots at the southeast corner of
South 8th Street and Sycamore Street to Congregation Sons of Israel, who were
acquiring the property from George W. Jessup.”
1899: Eighteen-year-old
Adele Bauer, the daughter of “banker Moritz Bauer and Jeannette (Honig) Bauer
married “industrialist Ferdinand Bloch, who was 17 years her senior” to become
Adele Bloch-Bauer.
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/bloch-bauer-adele
1900(27th of Kislev, 5661): Third
Day of Chanukah
1900: Today
Sir William Lyne, who when he came out in favor the Federation of the
Australian states was accused if consorting “with the Sydney Jews and
pub-keepers” was appointed “the Commonwealth’s first Prime Minister by the
Governor-General of Australia.
1901: In
Pottsville, PA, Annie and Maurice Mordechai Mohr gave birth to Jennie Mohr.
1901: In
Berlin, Else Preuss, the daughter of Carl and Antonie Lieberman and Dr. of
Jurisprudence Hugo Preuss gave birth to Hans Helmuth Preuss
1902: ‘Lively Zionist
Meeting” published today described a speech given by Jacob De Haas Secretary of
the Federation of American Zionists which was supposed to be part of a debate
between him and Rabbi Silverman, who was an opponent of Zionist. The debate did not take place because
Silverman failed to show up.
1902: Birthdate of British violinist and
orchestra leader, Leonard Hirsch. He was a conductor of the Royal Air
Force Symphony Orchestra.
1903: Chaim Zelig Louban, a 27-year-old student, attempts to
assassinate Max Nordau at a Chanukah ball of the Paris Zionist society. He
approaches Nordau, cries "Death to Nordau, the East African" and
fires two shots. Nordau writes to Herzl: "Yesterday evening I got an
installment on the debt of gratitude which the Jewish people owe me for my
selfless labors on its behalf. I say this without bitterness, only in sorrow.
How unhappy is our people, to be able to produce such deeds." This
incident goes to show the depth of feeling surrounding the “Uganda Plan.”
1903: “Camden Hebrews to Have Synagogue”
published today described the purchase of the church building at the southeast
corner of Eighth and Sycamore streets for $2,300 by the city’s Jews which will
hereafter be used as a synagogue.
1903: Herzl
publishes an account of the Kharkov conference in "Die Welt",
together with a declaration calling upon those who had voted for the ultimatum
to surrender their mandates. In a subsequent issue a digest of the minutes of
the Conference appears.
1903: The Williamsburg
Bridge was opened in New York City. This was America's first major suspension
bridge using steel towers instead of the customary masonry towers. It was built
to alleviate traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge and to provide a link between
Manhattan and the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn and was the second of three
steel-frame suspension bridges to span the East River. Designed by Leffert L.
Buck and Henry Hornbostel, it had taken over seven years to complete. The 1,600
foot Williamsburg Bridge was the world's longest suspension bridge until the
1920s. It had cost $24,100,000 for the land and construction. For Jews it
meant a connection between the Lower East Side and what would become the
thriving Jewish neighborhoods of 20th century Brooklyn.
1904: It was reported
today that Carl Schurz had delivered an address at the 12th annual
meeting of the Educational Alliance “in which he had advised Jews to be less
clannish” because this would remove one of the pretexts for anti-Semitic
feelings.
1905: Frank F. Harding
the principal of Public School 44 which is located in a neighborhood “almost
entirely by Jews” discussed Christ during a Christmas entertainment in a manner
that one student found objectionable, and others saw as an attempt “to
proselytize the children his charge.”
1905: In Manhattan,
Mamie Friedman and Saul Kahn gave birth to Irving Kahn who would still be
working as professional investor a hundred years later.
1905: It was reported
today that “contributions to the fund for the relief of suffers by Russian
massacres” including $329 from Congregation Shaari Zedek and its Sisterhood,
$2,322 from the “Orthodox Jews of St. Paul, MN” and $157 from Athens, GA, the
home of the University of Georgia.
1905: “Jewish World
Congress” published today described the decision by “the central organization
of the Zionists to hold a special congress” to deal with the violence being
aimed at the Jews of Russia.
1906(2nd of
Tevet, 5666: Eighth Day of Chanukah
1906: Birthdate of
David I. Arkin the American “teacher, painter, writer and lyrcist” who was the
father of actor Alin Arkin.
1907: It was reported
today that Jews have been ordered to depart from Validvostok within the next
four days.
1908(25th of
Kislev, 5669): Chanukah celebrated for the last time during the Presidency of
Teddy Roosevelt.
1909: “The presence of
about 25 policeman policemen at the dedication exercises of the new building of
the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum did mee with the approval of Mayor-elect
Gaynor who headed the list of the invited guests and who questioned Simon F.
Rothschld , the president of asylum about the reason for their presence.
1909:
Twenty-five-year-old NYU trained attorney and Zionist leader Morris Rothenberg,
the Russian born son of Anna and Joel Rothenberg married Annie Shomer today.
1910(18th of
Kislev, 5671): Sixty-year-old Abraham Adolph Moses Lissaueer, the son of Moses
Heinemann Heymann Lissauer and Betty Bertha Lissauer and the husband of
Friedchen / Frieda Lissauer passed away today in Hamburg, Germany.
1910: Birthdate of
David Raziel, one of the founders of "The National Military Organization
in the Land of Israel" better known at the Irgun.
http://myrightword.blogspot.com/2009/05/68th-memorial-anniversary-for-david.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Raziel.html
1911(28th of
Kislev, 5762): Fourth Day of Chanukah
1911: “Dr. M.S. Levy of
San Francisco who is in London on a world tour is the most recent sufferer
in an encounter with the Russian barriers against the admission of Jews having
found out that he could not get his passport indorsed in order that he may
travel in Russia in the same way as any American not of the Jewish faith.”
1911: In an interview
tonight with the New York Times correspondent in St. Petersburg, the Russian
Minister of Foreign Affairs said, “the passport question, as it affects foreign
Jews in general and American Jews in particular, forms a part of a very involved
Jewish question” and “its solution cannot take place by the simple decision of
a Minister of State but only by means of legislation by the Duma.”
1912: Birthdate of
“Judah Cahn, the founding rabbi of the Metropolitan Synagogue of New York and
past president of the New York Board of Rabbis…” (As reported by David Bird)
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/26/obituaries/judah-cahn-founding-rabbiof-metropolitan-synagogue.html
1913: In Memphis, TN,
Josef and Tillie Klausner gave birth to Sylvia Klausner who became Sylvia
Mandell when she married Carl Mandell.
1913: One of the last
advertisements for “Shon the Piper” an historical drama starring Robert Z.
Leonard which now considered a “lost movie” appeared today “announcing a
showing at the Airdome in Durham, North Carolina.
1914(2nd of
Tevet, 5675): Eighth Day of Chanukah
1914: In Charleston,
SC, Dr. Leon Banov and Minnie Banov gave birth to Leon Banov, Jr. the Medical
College of South Carolina trained proctologist, husband of Rita Landesman Banov
and father of Jane and Alan Banov.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/charleston/obituary.aspx?n=leon-banov&pid=86978509&fhid=6051
1914(2nd of
Tevet, 5675): During WW I, Captain Cecil David Woodburn Bamberger, who “had
attended University College School was killed while serving with the Royal
Engineers.
1914: A letter received
today in New York from a journalist in Jerusalem described “conditions in
Palestine since the Turkish declaration of war: that “shows how serious the
hardships brought upon the population are likely to be.
1915: Joseph
Trumpeldor, who took command of the Zion Mule Corps after Lt. Col. Patterson
became so sick he had to return to England, “was wounded in the left shoulder
by a rifle bullet today but refused to be evacuated” and chose to say with
Jewish unit which by now had dwindled to five British officers, two Jewish
officers and 126 enlisted men.”
1915: Today, “the
Zionist Council of Greater New York “is scheduled to “celebrate it tenth
anniversary at the Central Opera House” with events including a “musical
concert” the issuance of “The Decennial” a souvenir period “containing articles
by Louis D. Brandeis, Dr. Schmarya Levin and Dr. Stephen S. Wise.”
1915: Among those who
were reported today to have made contributions to the Central Relief Committee
for the Relief of Jews suffering through the war are Sioux City Religious
Association, $218; Jewish National Organization of Minneapolis, $387; Jewish Committee
of Knoxville, TN, $400 and the Hadassah Aid Society of Wilkes-Barre, PA
Religious Committee, $180.
1916(24th of
Kislev, 5677): In the evening, kindle the first light of Chanukah
1916: Today in New York
City, Cooper Union trained engineer William Goldsmith the son of Charlotte
Hoffenreich and Charles Goldsmith who had received a prized for his engineering
work for the U.S. government in the Philippines and was a member of Temple
Emanuel in Yonkers married Edith Herman, the mother of his daughter Shirley.
1916: The New York
Times reported, “The celebration of the Jewish festival of Chanukah, or Feast
of Dedication known also as the Feast of Lights, will begin this evening and
will continue for eight days.
1917: Seventy-one-year-old
Ernst Herter the German sculptor who” was present in New York when his Heinrich
Heine memorial sculpture, known as the Lorelei Fountain, was unveiled in the
Bronx, New York” after “Heine's city of birth, Düsseldorf “squelched” the
project” due to anti-Semitic sentiment that pervaded the German Reich at that
time passed away today.
1917: In Youngstown,
OH, Jacob and Sarah Grobstein gave birth to Sarah Grobstein who became Sarah
Goldmaker when she married Harry Goldemaker.
1917: In the early
morning hours, as the Imperial forces prepared for the attack on Jaffa, “the
161st (Essex) Brigade from the 54th (East Anglian) Division and the Auckland
and Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiments, from the New Zealand Mounted Rifles
Brigade, moved into the front line replacing the 52nd (Lowland) Division.”
1917: The Organization
for the Defense of Eastern Jewry was established today in London.
1917: In Youngstown,
OH, Jacob Grobstein, the son of Harry Yormark Grobstein and his wife Sarah
Grobsteigave birth to Selma Goldmaker, the wife of Harry Goldmaker.
1917(4th of Tevet, 5678): Seventy-four-year-old
“communal worker” Michael B. Jonas passed away today in St. Louis.
1917: “Among the
additional contributions to the $10,000,000 fund raised by the American Jewish
Relief Committee published today were $5,000 from M.M. Travis of Tulsa, OK,
$1,2500 from the Jewish Relief Committee of Spokane, WA, $1,100 from Jewish
Relief Committee of Grand Forks, N.D. and $1,000 from the Jewish Relief
Committee of Nashville, TN.
1918: “On the
initiative of Chaim Weiszburg, a leader of the Zionist movement, Uj Kelet, a
Zionist Jewish newspaper in the Hungarian language whose writers included
Rudolf Kastner, was launched as a weekly today.
1918: “The Private From
the Bronx” published today praised the bravery of Abraham Krotoshinsky who
earned the Distinguished Service Cross for the heroism displayed while helping
to rescue the “Lost Battalion” during the fighting in the Argonne Forest.
1919(27th of
Kislev, 5680): Third Chanukah
1919: The Rusland
docked in Jaffa, with returning Zionists trapped in Europe by WW I on board.
1919: “The Little Café”
a comedy from the days of silent pictures based on the “1911 play ‘The Little
Café’ by Tristan Bernard, directed by Raymond Bernard and starring Armand
Bernard was released today in France.
1919: Birthdate of
Sally Ann Lowengart, the native of Portland, Oregon who gained fame as civil
rights activist Sally Lilienthal, founder of the Ploughshares Fund.
1919: Victor Berger was
elected for a second time to serve in the House of Representatives for a
district in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The
House had denied Berger the right to serve after having been elected in 1918
because he was a convicted felon and opponent of the Great War.
1919: In New York,
David Freedman an immigrant from Romania and his wife gave birth to “American
novelist and mathematician” Benedict Freedman.
1919: Today, William
Shemin was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross “for battlefield valor during
the Aisne-Marne Offensive” during WW I.
1919:
Zionist office opened in Constantinople for Jews wanting to move to Palestine.
1919: The SS Ruslam reached Jaffa with 671
people aboard. The ship was loaded with doctors, artists, and academics and had
been called Israel’s Mayflower. Its arrival marked the period of what is known
as the "Third Aliyah," which lasted four years. Approximately 50% of
the 35,000 immigrants were from Russia and 35% from Poland. The "Third
Aliyah" was idealistic and marked the time when the first Kibbutzim and
Moshavim were established.
1920: Rabbi
Max D. Klein of Adath Jeshuron Congregation in Philadelphia will address those
attending today’s celebration of the organization of Congregation Beth-El in
Camden, NJ.
1920: In New York City, Benjamin and Frances Lear
Susskind gave birth to David Susskind who was known primarily as movie, stage
and television producer. But during the
late 1950’s he hosted one of the original late-night talk shows. It was a high-brow event with no singers, no
book pluggers and no comedy monologues.
The set would become wreathed in a haze of cigarette smoke as the guests
discussed weighty and artsy issues of the day.
Susskind passed away in 1987.
1920: Twenty-four-year-old
Dr. Daniel Harold Leventhal, the Chicago born son of Harry of Harry and Dorothy
Leventhal who served as “an orthopedic surgeon with the 26th
Division of the AEF” married Getrude M Coski today in Chicago.
1921: In
response to an appeal made by Judge Otto A Rosalsky, several hundred Jewish
businessmen who were attending a dinner of the Palestine Corporation at the
Hotel Astor contributed $330,000 “to carry on the company’s undertakings.”
1922: “The
offices of liberal newspapers which protested against the anti-Jewish riots in
Jassy “are being guard guarded by police and the street patrols have been
reinforced.
1922:
Announcement was made that the Palestine Government has arranged for a loan of £2,500,000
which is being floated in London.
1923: “An
appeal to all organizations of labor, including the United Hebrew Trades of the
State of New York and the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union, to help
the German trade union movement maintain itself as the "defender of
democracy against the terrific onslaughts of Bolshevik propaganda" was
made today by President Samuel Gompers and the Executive Council of the
American Federation of Labor.
1924: “I’ll
See You in My Dreams” with lyrics by Gus Kan was published today Leo Feist, Inc.
which was the creation of Leopold Feist.
1924: Governor
General Primo de Rivera of Spain offered all Sephardim the possibility of
reacquiring Spanish nationality provided they acquired this nationality before
1925(2nd
of Tevet, 5686): Parashat Miketz; 8th day of Chanukah
1925(2nd
of Tevet, 5686): Fifty-four-year-old James Henry Oxberry, the English born son
of Hannah and Thomas Oxbdrry and husband of the former Annabella Goldenberg who
“managed the Hongkong Hotel and owned the Palace Hotel passed away today in
China.
https://jhshk.org/community/the-jewish-cemetery/burial-list/oxberry-james-henry/
1925: In New York City
Rosa Dancis and songwriter Al Sherman gave birth to Robert B. Sherman one half
of the Sherman Brothers, “American songwriting duo” whose most famous
contribution included “Mary Poppins” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”
1926:
Birthdate of Mina Arison Sapir, the native of Belz Bessarabia, Romania who is
the wife Yekutiel Sapir and the mother of Micky and Shari Arison. Her daughter
is reported to be one of the richest women in the world.
1926: At
the Broadway Central Hotel in New York, Rabbi Jacob Katz officiated at the
wedding of Clara I Steinhauser and Abraham Halter who “will spend their wedding
trip in Bermuda.”
1926: At
the Royal, Dr. Edward Lissman officiated att he wedding of Ann Bernstein and
Sydney Singerman who will live in NYC after their wedding trip in Atlantic
City.
1926: At
the Royal Palms, Rabbi Morris Steinberg officiated at the marriage of Gertrude
Marx to Joseph Miller who will reside in Flatbush when they return from their
honeymoon in Florida.
1926: In the Bronx, Mary and Solomon Stempel gave birth to Herbert Milton "Herb" Stempel the
disgruntled gameshow contestant turned whistleblower whose testimony touched
off the “Quiz Show Scandal” that destroyed that genre.
http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/herbert-stempel
1926: Tonight,
at the Plaza, Dr. Julius Price officiated at the wedding of Josephine Leitner
and Leonard Becker who will reside in NYC after their wedding trip to the West
Indies.
1927(25th
of Kislev, 5688) Chanukah
1927:
Birthdate of Norman Lamm, the modern Orthodox rabbi best known for his services
the Chancellor of Yeshiva University.
1927:
“Showboat” a Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II musical based on Edna
Ferber’s novel of the same name finished its “pre-Broadway tour.”
1928(6th
of Tevet, 5689): Rabbi Aryeh Levin Schochet passed away today in Brooklyn after
which he “was buried in Old Montefiore Cemetery in Springfield Gardens,
Queens.”
1928:
Birthdate of Morris Isaac Charlap, the native of Philadelphia who gained fame
as composer Mark “Moose” Charlap whose most famous effort was “Peter Pan.”
1929: In
the Bronx, Samuel Harry Bell, a dentist who had changed his name from Bolotsky
and the former Edith Yudell, a singer in the Metropolitan Opera Chorus gave
birth to “Dr. Bertrand M. Bell, who was instrumental in reducing the grueling
shifts worked by interns and residents being trained in American hospitals.”
(As reported by Sam Roberts)
1930: David
Hoffer, the secretary of the grocer’s organization testified today that
“because Larry Fay, as head of the New York Milk Chain Association, Inc., would
not even discuss his increase in the price of loose milk with representatives
of the Jewish Grocers’ Association in 1929, the 3,300 members of the latter
organization were ordered not to handle anything but bottled milk.”
1930: In an
address tonight at Temple Israel author Charles E. Russell criticized “Jews for
lack of sufficient interest in public life” and “urged that Jews should
participate in politics in larger numbers” while predicting that “our public
affairs will improve considerably when Jews exercise the influence that their
representation in the population warrants.”
1931: “Lost
Original of Maimonides’ Third Part of “guide to Perplexed” Written in Arabic
Recovered and Presented” published today tells how “the lost original of
Maimonides’ third part of the “Guide to the Perplexed”, written in Arabic, has
been recovered and presented to the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary
of America, by Mrs. Nathan Miller, together with two other valuable manuscripts
of unrecorded religious poems written in Spain in the sixteenth century.”
1932: The
NBC Blue Network broadcast the fourth episode of Flywheel, Shyster, and
Flywheel is a situation comedy radio show starring two of the Marx Brothers,
Groucho and Chico.
1932:
Having written “his Ph.D. thesis on the epistemology and metaphysics of the
German philosopher Hermann Cohen” and having “passed his oral doctor’s
examination” in 1930, Joseph B. Solveitchik
“graduated with a doctorate” today from Friedrich Wilhelm University.
1933: “The
Love Hotel” a comedy filmed by cinematographer Otto Heller was released today
in Germany.
1934: The projected Jewish republic in Biro-Bidjan, Russia,
constitutes no menace to the Zionist movement, E.Z. Goldberg, associate editor
of The Day, who recently returned from the Soviet, declared today. He
was interviewed at 285 Madison Avenue, the office of the American Committee for
the Settlement of Jews in the U.S.S.R., of which he is a member. Mr. Goldberg
said that the Soviet territory of Biro-Bidjan was an improvement over Palestine
as a home for the Jews because it was three times larger than Palestine, “had
no Arab problem” and benefited from support from the government. At the same time he said that Biro-Bidjan
would not be a homeland for all Jews since there would no place for Orthodox
Jews “who are capitalistically minded” and can go to Tel Aviv to make money.
1934:
Thomas Lovejoy, Vice Chancellor of Bristol, wrote to Churchill that he would
not be able to help him in his quest to find any more places for German-Jewish
medical students because “there had been a heavy rush on entry to the Faculty
of Medicine that year and we have had to refuse applications for entry from all
foreign counties and even from some of the Dominions.” If the German-Jewish students could gain
admission to the college than they could get out of Germany and gain entrance
into the safe haven of Great Britain.a
1935:
Birthdate of Sidney Alvin Field, the Hollywood native who gained fame as Syd
Field, author of Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting
1936:
“Tribulations of the Persecuted Jews” published today provides a detailed
review of Some of My Best Friends Are Jews by Robert Gessner.
http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/1930s_antisemitism_pdf
1936: In
Jerusalem, Yaakov Yehoshua, a member of long standing “Jerusalem family of
Sephardi origin and a scholar and author specializing in the history of
Jerusalem and Malka Rosilio, who
immigrated from Morocco in 1932 gave birth to Abvraham B. Yehoshua known to the
world as the renowned author A.B. Yehoshua.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/books/review/a-b-yehoshua-by-the-book.html?_r=0
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/yehoshua.html
1936(5th
of Tevet, 5697): Parashat Vayigash
1936: At a
tea given in the Park Avenue home of Mrs. Clarence Y. Palitz “by members of the
Women’s American ORT” Lord Marley, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords,
who was introduced by Mrs. Emily M. Rosenstein,said “the economic plight of
Jews in Poland is growing progressively worse as the immigration of German Jews
seeking escape from the Hitler regime continues”
1937: The Palestine Post reported that out of
the three Arab constables ambushed by an Arab terrorist gang, two were
"tried" and killed on the spot, while the third was released after he
promised to report on the "trial" and undertook to leave the police
force within the next three days. All three constables were robbed of all their
belongings. A punitive fine of £500 was imposed on the Jureina quarter of
Haifa, where Sheikh Khatib was murdered. Jewish and German Protestant residents
were exempted.
1938:
Tonight, in an address at “a banquet of the Cleveland Zionist Society”
Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes “admonished wealth Jews to exercise
extreme caution in the acquisition of their wealth and great scrupulousness in
their social behavior” while also saying that “he felt that any American” like
Henry Ford and Charles A. Lindbergh ‘who accepted a decoration from a dictator
automatically foreswears his American birthright.”
1938: In
France, Darius Paul Dassault (Darius Paul Bloch) was promoted from the rank of
Corps General (général de corps d’armée) to the rank of Corps General (général
de corps d’armée)
1939(7th of
Tevet, 5700): Fifty-one American runner Alvah Meyer who “1914 he set a world
record at 60 yards, and in 1915 he set a world record at 330 yards” and was “a
Jewish member of the Irish American Athletic Club” passed away today.
1939:
“Remember?” a comedy produced by Milton Bren and edited by Harold F. Kress was
released today in the United States.
1939: The Nazi government officially gave Heydrich the responsibility for
centralizing the implementation of his deportation plans. This was one of the basic steps in creating
the organization that would lead to the slaughter of European Jewry. German efficiency and detailed planning was
one of the hallmarks of the Final Solution.
1939: Three months after the German invasion of Poland, Chaim Weizmann
meets with Winston Churchill who is now a member of the British Cabinet. Weizmann thanks Churchill for his consistent
support of the Zionist cause. Churchill
reiterates his support by agreeing that after the war he will support the
Zionist “wish to have a State of some three or four million Jews in
Palestine.”
1940: Zygmund William “Bill” Birnbaum married Hilde Merzbach. The
two had met in Seattle while both of them were involved in assisting Jewish
refugees arriving from Europe.
1940: Birthdate of Phil Ochs, singer, songwriter and social activist.
1941(29th of Kislev, 5702): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1941(29th of Kislev, 5702): Sixty-two-year-old New York born
NYU Law School graduate Myron Ernst, the husband of Florence Ernst a former
District Court Judge in Jersey City and “a prominent member of the Bob Davis
Democratic organization” suffered a fatal heart attack tonight.
1941: Adolf Hitler becomes Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the German Army.
It is realties like this that put the lie to those who apologist who tried to
separate the Whermacht from the Nazi death machine.
1942: After three weeks trapped in a synagogue by hostile Ukrainian
troops, 42 Jewish men are marched to the Rakow Forest and ordered to dig
ditches. They resist and are then shot. A few manage to escape. Later in the
day, 560 more Jews are led from the synagogue to the forest and murdered.
1942: In Norway, new tenants moved into the home of the Isak Plesansky
family who had already been shipped to Auschwitz. Within three weeks the clothing of the
Plesanksy family would be in the hands of the superintendent of the Berg
Concentration Camp. Needless to say, the
heirs of the Plesansky family were never compensated for the loss after the
war.
1942 The trial of forty-year-old Mildred Fish-Harnack, the
Milwaukee born daughter of William Cooke Fish and her husband “German
Rockefeller scholar Arid Harnack” who were part of the “Red Orchestra” came to
an end today after which she was sentenced to six years in prison and her husband
“and eight others were given the death sentence.
1943(22nd of Kislev, 5704): Seventy-one-year-old Russian born
actor Sol Horowitz and husband of Jennie Grovitz whose movie roles are
overshadowed by the fact that the he was the father of Moe, Curly and Shemp
Howard, The Three Stooges, passed away today in Losing Angles.
1944: During the Battle of the Bulge Sgt. Roddie Edmonds whose unit had
been outgunned and surrounded by the Nazis surrendered but showed how
courageous he was a month later when he defied his captors by refusing to give
up his Jewish comrades telling the commandant “We are all Jews.”
1944(3rd of Tevet, 5705): Fifty-nine-year-old Harry A. Braelow, the “president of the Newark, NJ,
Newsdealer Supply company and President of the Dade County Newsdealers Supply
Company” passed away today in Miami Beach “where he had been a winter resident
for the last fifteen years.”.
1944(3rd of Tevet, 5705): Eighty-three-year-old Josephine
Sarah Marcus Earp passed away today.
http://home.earthlink.net/~knuthco1/recent/LadySadie.htm
http://books.usatoday.com/book/swing-into-%E2%80%98ok-corral-for-the-story-of-mrs-wyatt-earp/r850848
1944: In New York City, Bernice (née Herstein) and Seymour Durst gave
birth to real estate developer Douglas Durst, the President of the Durst
Organization.
1944: Birthdate of Philadelphian Mitchell Feigenbaum, a mathematical
physicist whose pioneering studies in chaos theory led to the discovery of the
Feigenbaum constant. (Makes you wonder how many more Jewish boys named Mitchell
were born in Philadelphia in December 1944.)
1945: The U.S. House of Representatives adopted a resolution on Palestine
which had been approved by the U.S. Senate.
1945: In New York, Daniel Wildenstein and his wife, who had been forced
to flee France after the Nazi occupation gave birth to “art deal and racehorse”
aficionado Guy Wildenstein
1945: In Brooklyn, Sam Turetzky, a plumber and Rose (Pearl) Turetzky, “a
bookkeeper for the maker of Fox’s U-Bet chocolate syrup” gave birth to L.I.U.
graduate Herbert Stephen Turetzky “a passionate basketball fan who was the
official scorer for nearly every home game played by the nomadic Brooklyn Nets
franchise from its inception in 1967 until his retirement…” (As reported by
Richard Sandomir)
1945: U.S. premiere of “Leave Her to Heaven” directed by John M. Stahl,
with a screenplay by Jo Swerling and music by Alfred Newman.
1946: “The Return of Monte Cristo” the third in a series of films about
the swashbuckler directed by Henry Levin was released in the United States
today.
1946: Johan
J. Smertenko, vice president of American League for a Free Palestine, is barred
from England where he had planned to start British branch of organization. He
says terrorism is justified.
1946: William
B. Ziff declares that negotiation by Jewish Agency would be opposed by
Palestinian underground groups. Revisionists say that Ziff had been expelled
for breaches of party discipline.
1947: In an attempt to deal with the looming threat to its water supply,
Jerusalem householders respond to a request by communal leaders to open and
clean their cisterns “in preparation for water storage.”
1947: In New York City, premiere of “The Bishop’s Wife” a romantic comedy
directed by Henry Koster, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, with a script co-authored
by Bill Wilder.
1947(6th of Tevet, 5708): In as yet unexplained circumstance,
sixty-year old retired gynecologist Dr. Max Levy died today after having “fell
nine stories from his apartment on Park Avenue.”
1948: Birthdate of Aden native Margalit "Margol" Tzan'ani, the
Israeli singer and wife of Mordi Lavi with whom she had one son, Asaf who began
her musical career as a 19-year-old in the Israeli production “Hair.”
1948: During “Operation Velvetta” 12 more Spitfires were flown to Israel
as part of the effort to create a modern air force in the heat of battle.
1949(28th of Chanukah, 5710): Fourth Day of Chanukah
1949: It
was reported today that at a dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria “Samuel J. Borowsky,
president of the Histadruth announced that Hebrew was now being taught in the
public schools of Boston, Newark and St. Louis.
1949: The United States High Commissioner’s office announced that “five
high ranking Nazi officials” including George von Schnitzer, a director of I.G.
Farben, “are among the sixty German war criminals who will be freed on parole
this week.”
1950: As the Allies tried to integrate Germany back into the family
nations and deal with the realities of the Cold War Foreign Ministers France,
the UK and US declared at the end of their lengthy meetings today “that among
other measures to strengthen West Germany's position in the Cold War that the
western allies would ‘end by legislation the state of war with Germany.’”
1951(20th of Kislev, 5712): Sixty-eight-year-old “Italian
historian, a rabbi, and a scholar of the Hebrew Bible and Ugaritic literature” Umberto
Cassuto, aka Moshe David Cassuto, the Italian born son of Ernesta and Gustavo
Galleti who became a professor at Hebrew University after Italian anti-Semitism
forced him to leave the country and whose career is to rich and varied to be
described in this simple entry passed away today in Jerusalem after which he was
burred at the Sanhedria Cemetery.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/cassuto-umberto
1951: Birthdate of Nikolay Mikhailovich Volkov, the Russian civil
engineer who “is the former governor of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast.”
1952: David
Ben-Gurion’s government resigned due to a dispute with the religious parties
over religious education.
1952: In
the UK and USA, release date for “Hans Christian Andersen” produced by Samuel
Goldwyn, directed by Charles Vidor, with a screenplay by Moss Hart and Ben
Hecht and starring Danny Kaye. (So many Jews to immortalize a Dane – only in
America)
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that the
resolution of the UN General Assembly's Political Committee urging direct
Arab-Israeli peace negotiations was hindered by a sudden Philippine and
Catholic Bloc countries' amendment demanding the implementation of all old UN
resolutions, including the internationalization of Jerusalem. Israel complained
to the US and Britain that they continue to arm the Arab states, despite their
promise that there should be no arms race in the region.
1953: Two Unit 101
Squads led by Meir Harzion completed a nighttime attack during which they
ambushed a car carrying Mansour Awad, “a Lebanese born doctor serving in the
Arab Legion” who died during the attack.
1954(24th of
Kislev,5715): Kindle the first Chanukah candle
1954(24th of
Kislev, 5715): Seventy-year old Lawrence Ottinger, the New York Born son of
Moses and Amelia Ottinger and the husband of “the former Louise Lowenstein”
with whom he had two children – Richard and Patricia – who during WW I was the
“supervisor of inspect and production of all aircraft plywood in the United
States” and who was the “founder and chairman of the board of the United States
Plywood Corporation: passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1954/12/20/84447747.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1957: Aharon Remez, the
second commander of the Israeli Air Force, resigned his seat in the
Knesset. He had been elected in 1955 as
a member of Mapai and was followed in office by Amos Degani.
1957: “The Pride and
The Passion” a big screen epic sent during the Napoleonic wars in Spain
directed and produced by Stanley Kramer, co-starring Theodore Bikel as “General
Jouvet” and with an opening title sequence designed by Saul Bass was released
today in Sweden.
1958: “The Geisha Boy,”
starring Jerry Lewish and Suzanne Pleshette was released today in the United
States
1961: U.S. premiere of
“Judgment at Nuremberg” directed and produced by Stanley Kramer, with a script
by Abby Mann and music by Ernest Gold, the native of Austria who moved to the
U.S. after the Anschluss because his paternal grandfather was Jewish.
1961: Six days after
its London premier, “The Young Ones” with music by Stanley Black and
choreographed by Harold Ross was released across the United Kingdom.
1962: “Taras Bulba,”
produced by Harold Hecht and co-starring Tony Curtis was released today in
Chicago.
1963: “Nobody Loves an
Albatross” produced by Philip Rose, directed by Gene Saks and featuring Marian
Winters as “Marge Weber” opened at the Lyceum Theatre on Broadway.
1964: There was a fire
at The Nieman Marcus building today destroying $5–10 million in merchandise,
art objects and antique furniture, but “remarkably, the building itself was not
destroyed, and it reopened just 27 days later.
1964: Twenty-one-year-old
“film director, screenwriter and cinematographer” Peter Hyams, the grandson of
impresario Sol Hurok and the stepson of “blacklisted conductor Arthur Lief”
married George-Ann Spota whose children included director John Hyams.
1965(25th of
Kislev, 5726): Chanukah
1965: Two days after he
had passed away, funeral services were held at the Riverside Chapel for 73-year-old
“Acting Postmaster of the Bronx, Louis Cohen, the husband of Belle Lazarus with
whom he had had two sons – Robert and Joseph.
1966: One day after he
had passed away, funeral services were scheduled to be held Albert Salomon, the
refugee from Nazi Germany who became a Professor of Sociology at the New School
for Social Research.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/12/19/90243199.pdf
https://archive.org/details/albertsalomon
1967: Gertrude D.T.
Schimmel was “promoted to Lieutenant” and “was assigned as Commanding Officer
of the ‘Know Your Police Department’ program which was an information and
community relations program for children.
1968(28th of
Kislev, 5729): Fourth Day of Chanukah
1968: American Socialist Party leader and social critic
Norman Thomas passed away. While he may have been a visionary liberal on many
issues including the need to end racial segregation, his record regarding the
Jews is more of a mixed bag. During the
1930’s, Thomas actively opposed the United States entering World War II, a view
that he changed after Pearl Harbor. Thomas campaigned…in favor of opening the
United States to Jewish victims of Nazi persecution in the 1930s. Thomas was
also very critical of Zionism and of Israel's policies towards the Arabs in the
postwar years (especially after the Suez Crisis) and often collaborated with
the American Council for Judaism.
1968: MK Avraham Hirschson and his wife gave birth to their
first son, Ofer.
1968: In Italy, premiere of “A Place for Lovers” produced
by Arthur Cohn with music by Lee Konitz.
1969: After having first been released in France, “A Place
for Lovers” produced by Arthur Cohn with music by Lee Konitz was released in
Italy today by MGM.
1969(10th of Tevet, 5730): Asara B’Tevet
1969(10th of Tevet, 5730): Fifty-seven-year-old
actress Sara Berner whose birth name was Lillian Herdan passed away today.
http://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2012/05/fall-of-sara-berner.html
1969: During the War of
Attrition, Israeli aircraft bombed “a group of Egyptian military bases about 30
kilometers from the Suez Canal.
1969: Two pharmacists were killed in a bloody
robbery. In 1974, Pierre Goldman, the illegitimate son of Jewish WW II Resistance Leader Alter Mojze Goldman, was
given a life-sentence by the Paris cour d'assises, after being convicted of
this crime. He denied having committed this robbery, although he admitted to
three earlier robberies. He was finally acquitted of the murders that took
place during the robbery but condemned to twelve years in prison for the other
three robberies.
1971(1st of
Tevet, 5732): Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1971(1st of
Tevet, 5732): James G. Heller an American composer and rabbi passed away in
Cincinnati, Ohio. “James Gutheim Heller was born in New Orleans on January 4,
1892, to the famous Reform rabbi Maximilian H. Heller. He received an
undergraduate degree from Tulane University, a graduate degree from the
University Of Cincinnati College Conservatory Of Music, and was ordained a
rabbi at Hebrew Union College. Heller was rabbi of Congregation Bene Yeshurun
(Isaac M. Wise Temple) in Cincinnati from 1920-1952 and was involved with
several organizations including the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the
Labor Zionist Organization of America, and the State of Israel Bonds
Organization. He was an active Zionist, and introduced Youth Temple, which was
designed to bring young individuals together for religious education. Heller
was also a composer and musician who wrote program notes for the Cincinnati
Symphony.”
1971: Stanley Kubrick's X-rated "A Clockwork
Orange" premiered in New York City.
1972:
“Across 110th Street” a crime film co-starring Yaphet Kotto was released in the
United States today.
1973(24th
of Kislev, 5734): In the evening Kindle the first Chanukah light.
1973(24th
of Kislev, 5734): Seventy-one-year-old Russian born, Cincinnati, OH raised
Philip “Cincy” Sachs, the basketball coach for Lawrence Institute of
Technology, the Detroit Gems and the Detroit Falcons passed away today.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/sachsph99c.html
1973: “The
Day of the Dolphin” a sci-fi thriller directed by Mike Nichols and produced by
Joseph E. Levine was released in the United States today.
1975:
Berlin born, American art dealer Frank Richard Perls who moved to the United
States in 1937 underwent open-heart surgery today.
1976(27th
of Kislev, 5737): Third Day of Chanukah
1977: The Jerusalem Post published details of
Menachem Begin's peace plan which outlined a mutual Arab-Jewish right of
settlement in Judea and Samaria and a united Jerusalem. Palestinian Arabs were
to enjoy "self-rule," their own administration and freedom to vote in
Jordan. Israel was to retain full responsibility for internal and external
security of the West Bank and Gaza, and recognized Egyptian sovereignty over
all of Sinai. Israel was willing to consider, but not to initiate, a military
defense pact with the US.
1978(19th
of Kislev, 5739): Eighty-nine-year-old movie actress Ethel “Queenie” Rosson
Daly, the daughter of Arthur and Helene Rosson and wife of Joseph James Daly,
who came from a family that was deeply involved in the film industry including
award winning cinematographer Harold Rosson.
1979:
“Being There” the film version of the novel of the same name by Holocaust
survivor Jerzy Kosiński starring Peter Sellers, featuring Melvyn Douglas and
Elya Baskin and with music by Johnny Mandel was released in the United States
today.
1979: Newly
minted Warrant Officer “Amy Sheridan earned her wings as an aviator for the US
Army, making her the first American Jewish woman to gain aviator status in any
branch of the Armed Services” (As reported by Jewish Woman’s Archives)
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL344F821CCF7DE964
1979:
Results of a comparison test of White Pekin Ducks published today it was
reported that the Kosher Empire Duckling (frozen) had an “extremely mushy
exterior, with skin broken in several areas.
It was poorly cleared with many pin feathers remaining. The meat was very mush and flavorless. At
$2.25 a pound it was by far the most expensive of the ducks in the test group.
[Editor’s Note – as a consumer of Empire poultry, I can honestly say that this
comes as a complete surprise. In my
experience, their products have always been first rate.
1980: In
San Francisco, caterer Cindi (née Sussman) Sokoloff and podiatrist Howard
Sokoloff gave birth to actress Marla Sokoloff.
1980: A
month after premiering in New York City, “Raging Bull” produced by Irwin
Winkler and Robert Chartoff was released throughout the United States today.
1980:
“Seems Like Old Times” a Neil Simon comedy starring Goldie Hawn and Charles
Grodin and with music by Marvin Hamlisch was released in the United States
today/
1981: Odessa refuseniks Yakov Mesh and Valery Pevzner, whose
homes were recently searched by militia and books on Israel, Jewish culture and
history as well as Hebrew textbooks were confiscated, were summoned to the
local offices of the KGB, and told they will be put on trial.
1981: The
Goldstein brothers, both of whom were refuseniks were kept from going to Moscow
and were forcibly returned to Tbilisi.
1981(23rd
of Kislev, 5742): MK Shabtai Daniel, born Shabtai Don-Yichye in 1909, passed
away today.
1982: At
Congregation Schomre Israel in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Rabbi Morris Bekritsky
officiated at the marriage of Grett Evonne Singer and David Rapport Lachterman.
1982:
Edward Rothstein reviewed the Carnegie debut of Israeli cellist Ofra Harnoy and
the 92nd Street Y debut of pianist Sofia Cosma.
1983:
“Rueben, Reuben,” with a screenplay by Julius J. Epstein was released today in
the United States.
1984(25th
of Kislev, 5745): First Day of Chanukah
1984: “The
River” directed by Mark Rydell was released in the United States today.
1985: After
opening in Australia in May, “Goodbye, New York” a comedy produced, directed,
written by and starring Amos Kollek, the son of Teddy Kollek, was released
today in the United States.
1986: U.S.
premiere of “Little Shop of Horrors” directed by Frank Oz, produced by David
Geffen, with a script by Howard Ashman and co-starring Rick Moranis and Ellen
Green.
1987: As
Congress tries to finish its business before adjourning for the holidays, the
House holds a rare Saturday session which has made many members re-consider
their travel plans including House Speaker Jim Wright of Texas who wonders if
he will be able to make his scheduled Sunday evening flight for Tel Aviv.
1989: In
Moscow, the Congress of Jewish Organizations and Communities in the U.S.S.R.
continued for a second day.
1990(2nd
of Tevet, 5751) Eighth Day of Chanukah
1990:
Israeli soldiers shot and wounded 18 Palestinians today during a strike to
protest Israeli plans to expel four Arabs, residents said.
1991:
Professor Avishair Margalist of the Hebrew University publishes a plan in the New York Review of Books suggesting a
form of joint sovereignty whereby Jerusalem would be the capital of both Israel
and a future Palestinian State.
1991:” Wagner, Israel -- and Herzl” published today
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/19/opinion/editorial-notebook-wagner-israel-and-herzl.html
1991:
Premier of “The Ghost of Versailles,” conducted by James Levine.
1992(24th
of Kislev, 5753): Kindle the first candle of Chanukah in the evening.
1992(24th
of Kislev, 5753): A Hamas terrorist kidnapped and murdered a policeman in
Jerusalem.
1992(24th
of Kislev, 5753): Eighty-five-year-old legal philosopher and Oxford professor
H.L.A. Hart passed away
https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/84p295.pdf
http://www2.law.ox.ac.uk/jurisprudence/hart.htm
1993: At
the James Doolittle Theatre, the curtain came down on a revival production of
“Conversation with My Father” by Herb Gardner featuring Judd Hirsch as “Eddie”
which was a play that “presents the saga of a first generation of American Jews
who came of age in the Depression and were assimilated at a high price during
and after World War II”
1995(26th
of Kislev, 5756): Second Day of Chanukah
1995: Roval Elimelech who lives in Kfar Saba, a suburban town
north of Tel Aviv, found out that a new border had sprung up overnight not far
from her doorstep. About a mile away, Palestinian policemen had moved into
Qalqilya, a town on the West Bank's border with Israel, taking it over from
Israeli soldiers who had withdrawn on Saturday night in keeping with an
agreement signed in September on expanding Palestinian self-rule. At a new
crossing point into Qalqilya this morning, a red sign informed Israeli motorists
that they were entering a zone under the control of the Palestinian Authority.
The sign warned that they could be stopped by Palestinian policemen and asked
to produce drivers' licenses and other identification, Qalqilya is the closest
town to Israel's main population centers that has changed hands so far. Less
than 10 miles separates it from the metropolitan sprawl around Tel Aviv. Under
the September agreement, Israel was to complete a pullout from six major West
Bank towns and hundreds of neighboring villages by the end of this month.
Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus and Qalqilya have already been turned over to
Palestinian control. Bethlehem and Ramallah are next. Kfar Sava, a rapidly
growing community of 75,000, has a history of neighborly relations with
Qalqilya that were disrupted during the seven-year Palestinian uprising that
broke out in 1987. Thousands of Israelis used to visit Qalqilya regularly for
bargains in its market and shops, but most stayed away during the years of
violent unrest. Today, community leaders and ordinary citizens in both towns
said they hoped that they could restore old ties on a new footing. The Mayors
of both towns have already met to discuss cooperation in sewage projects and
waste disposal, and Kfar Sava's Deputy Mayor was a guest of honor at a festive
reception today in Qalqilya.
1996(9th of
Tevet, 5757: Sefton D. Temkin, an author and
scholar of American Jewish history, passed away in his native Liverpool,
England. He was 79 and a resident of Albany. Dr. Temkin, who was associate
professor emeritus of Judaic studies at the university, was chairman of the
department of Judaic studies in the 1970's and had continued his research at
Albany since retiring a few years ago. Dr. Temkin was an expert on the life and
work of Isaac Mayer Wise, who founded Reform Judaism in the United States in
the nineteenth century and oversaw its spread across the country as the founder
and longtime leader of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the
Central Conference of American Rabbis.
1997(20th of Kislev, 5758): Physicist David Norman Schramm passed away at
the age of 52. He had a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother.
1997: Release date for “Titanic” co-produced by Jon Landau
1997: Janet Rosenberg Jagan completed her term as Prime Minister of
Guyana.
1997: Janet Rosenberg Jagan began serving as President of Guyana.
1998(30th of Kislev, 5759): Parshat Miketz; Rosh Chodesh
Tevet; Sixth Day of Chanukah
1998: The debate over impeachment of President Clinton, which was tied to
his relationship with Monica Lewinsky dominated the news coverage.
1999(10th of Tevet, 5760): Last fast of the 20th
century
1999(10th of Tevet, 5760): Seventy-three-year-old British
physicist whose honors included the Faraday Medal and the Guthrie Medal passed
away today.
http://www.sissa.it/ap/activity/sciama.php
1999: The New York Times book
section includes a review of Mailer: A Biography by Mary V.
Dearborn which tells “How a nice
Jewish boy from Brooklyn grew up to be you-know-who.”
1999: “Outside Party Lines” published today
provides a complete review of Carlo Rosselli: Socialist Heretic and
Antifascist Exile by Stanislao G. Pugliese
2000: In “Theories on a Theory” published
today, Peter Hirschman wrote from Haifa that “the overview of the development
and practical outcome of the quantum proves beyond doubt that Max Planck
jump-started the 20th century” and that “he deserves the status of a progenitor
no less than Einstein and company since it was he who broke the mold of
conventional thought that was holding everything back.”
2001: Despite the fact that the Israeli
government had said last week that Yassir Arafat was “irrelevant” a week ago,
today “senior Israeli and Palestinian military officers met to discuss possible
new security arrangements” in the wake of “suicide bombings and other
anti-Israeli attacks>
2002: A revival of “Dinner at Eight,” a play
by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber opened at the Lincoln Center Theatre.
2003(24th of Kislev, 5764): In the
evening, kindle the first light of Chanukah
2003: In the wake of Prime Minister Sharon’s
threat of unilateral action on borders if the peace talks did not bear fruit,
“Palestinians “said they would opposed any attempt at a unilateral move to
establish borders.
2004: The
New York Times features a review of the paperback edition of American
Music by Annie Leibovitz
2004(7th of Tevet, 5765): Herbert Brown passed away. He discovered
organoboranes and received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1979. Brown was
born Herbert Brovarnik in London to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. He moved to
the United States at a young age and was educated at the University of Chicago,
earning a B.S. and Ph.D. in 1936 and 1938, respectively. He became professor at
Purdue University in 1947, a position he had held emeritus until his death.
2005: Having pulled
out of Gaza, the Israeli government announced further measures to improve
relations with the Palestinians.
2006(28th of Kislev,
5767): The joy of Chanukah was marred as three yeshiva students belonging to
the Lubavitch Hasidic sect were killed in a car accident on their way to light
Hanukkah candles and distribute doughnuts for the holiday at Israel Defense Forces
bases in the south of the country. Five other Lubavitchers traveling in the
same vehicle were injured in the accident.
2007: Yonatan Dagan
performs in his capacity as lead DJ of the J.Viewz projected, an ensemble that
defies any clear musical classification at Jerusalem’s Yellow Submarine a venue
for some of the most eclectic and innovative music styles available.
2007(10th
of Tevet, 5768): Fast of the Tenth of Tevet
2007(10th
of Tevet, 5768): Yarhtzeit of Judy Rosenstein (nee Levin)
2008: Temple Beth Rishon, in North West
Bergen County, NJ, presents the Marvin
Gastman Memorial Concert featuring
"The Chanukah Story" sung by The Western Wind as part of its pre-Chanukah festivities.
2008: “Max Manus” a biopic about this little-known Norwegian born who
risked all in a clandestine war against the Nazis was released today in Norway.
2008: Allen Weinstein resigned as Archivist of the United States – a
position he had held since 2005.
2008: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the defense minister
met at IDF headquarters in central Tel Aviv to approve Operation Cast Lead
2008: Haaretz reported
that a rare half shekel coin, first minted in 66 or 67 C.E., was discovered by 14-year-old
Omri Ya'ari as volunteers sifted through mounds of dirt from the Temple Mount
in Jerusalem. The coin is the first one found to originate from the Temple
Mount.For the fourth year, archaeologists and
2008: After serving since 2005, Allen Weinstein resigned today as
Archivist of the United States after which he resumed his duties as a history
professor at the University of Maryland in College Park.
2008(22nd of Kislev, 5769): Seventy-eight-year-old Carol
Chomsky the noted linguist who was the wife of Noam Chomsky passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/us/21chomsky-carol.html?_r=0
2009: Final
performance of at Theater 3 of “Biography,” a play written by S.N. Behrman aka
Samuel Nathaniel Behrman a native of Worcester, Massachusetts, who was the
third child of Joseph and Zelda Behrman, Jewish immigrants living on
Worcester's East Side.
2009: (2 Tevet,
5770): Eighth Day of Chanukah
2009: Final night of
the 5th Annual Sephardic Music Festival in New York.
2010: Shaloah
Sunsets, a fund raiser for the Jewish Congregaton of Maui is scheduled to host
a fund-raising event – Shaloah Sunsets- at the Four Seasons Resorts Waliea.
2010: The 92nd
St Y is scheduled to present “Jews and Money: The Story of a Stereotype”
featuring Abe Foxman and Allan Chernoff.
2010: The New York Times features reviews of
books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including
the recently released paperback editions of Digital Barabarism: A Writer’s
Manifesto by Mark Helprin and Arthur Miller: 1915-1962 by
Christopher Bigsby.
2010: The body of Kristine Luken, a US citizen
living in England who was visiting Israel, was found south of Mata,
approximately 400 meters from the road between was discovered around 6:30 a.m.
today. She was one of two women who were
stabbed while were hiking in the wooded hills west of Jerusalem on Saturday.
2010: A crowd of approximately 200 people
demonstrated outside the Silver Spring apartment of 34-year-old Aharon Friedman
demanding that he give his wife Tamar Epstein a “get.” The two have already
received a civil divorce. Friedman’s
refusal to grant the “get” is reportedly tied to his dissatisfaction with the
visitation rights granted by the courts.
2011: The third annual Latke Festival is scheduled to take place
this evening, with attendees sampling the potato-pancake offerings of local
restaurants like Kutsher’s Tribeca and Veselka and judges choosing the winning
recipe.
2011: “Jewish Soldiers in Blue and Gray” is
scheduled to be shown at the JCC of Dutchess County/Upstate Film Festival in
Rhinebeck, NY.
2011: Israel has offered to export natural gas
to India, according to a report in today’s edition of the Indian daily Economic
Times.
2012: The Museum of Jewish Heritage is
scheduled to present an evening with Rabbi Joshua Eli Plaut, author of A
Kosher Christmas: ‘Tis the Season to Be Jewish
2012: “No Man’s Land” is scheduled to be shown
at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
2012: The US prevented a UN Security Council
condemnation of Israel today over a spate of settlement construction decisions,
leading the other 14 countries on the 15-member council to issue separate
condemnations of their own instead.
2012: Comedic actor Alan Alda is scheduled to
discuss math and science with Steven Strogatz, author of The Joy of X: A
Guided Tour of Math from One to Infinity at the 92nd Street Y.
2012: Those who “sleep with rockets and amass large stockpiles of
weapons” in southern Lebanon are “in a very unsafe place,” OC Air Force
Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel said today
2012(6th of Tevet, 5773): Leading
figures from across the political spectrum closed ranks today in paying tribute
to Israel’s 15th chief of staff, Lt.-Gen. (res.) Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, who died
at age 68 at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem after
a prolonged battle with leukemia.
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=296559 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/world/middleeast/amnon-lipkin-shahak-israeli-peace-negotiator-dies-at-68.html?hpw&_r=0
2013: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is
scheduled to meet with President Shimon Peres before going to the Yad Vashem
where he will lay a wreath after which he will attend a luncheon hosted by
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman (As reported by Raphael Ahren)
2013: In the central region, KKL-JNF foresters are scheduled to
distribute Christmas trees in the
Cypress grove adjacent to the KKL-JNF offices
in Givat Yishayahu
2013: The Tel Aviv District Court sentenced former Bank Hapoalim
chairman Dan Dankner to one year in prison, after having convicted him of
fraud, breach of trust, violation of proper management of Bank Hapoalim and
illegal receipt of funds and loans, as part of a plea bargain agreement
2013: Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man
who opened fire on them during operations in the West Bank city of Qalqilya
early this morning, the second such incident in several hours.(As reported by
Lazar Berman)
2013: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the world to
deny Iran the ability to produce nuclear weapons today, while meeting with
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang.”
2013; “The Draughtsman's Contract” is scheduled
to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Festival.
2013: At the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, the
curtain came down revival of Harold Pinters “Betryal” co-starring Rachel Weisz
whose parents had been forced to flee Austria after the Nazis came to power.
2013(16th of Tevet 5774): Seventy-seven-year-old
publisher Al Goldstein passed away today. (As reported by Andy Newman)
2014: In New Orleans Touro Synagogue is scheduled to
sponsor its annual College Students Homecoming Lunch.
2014: It was announced that Gina Gershon would guest star
in Glee's sixth and final season as Pam, the mother of Blaine Anderson.”
2014: “The Big Trip” and “Samson and Delilah” are scheduled
to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
2014: In Little Rock, AR, Chabad Lubavitch led by Rabbi
Pinchas Ciment is scheduled to host a Menorah Lighting ceremony complete with
Latkes, Doughnuts and that warm holiday feeling that the Ciments have been
bringing to the land of the Razorbacks for more than 2 decades.
2014: For the third time since the end of Operation
Protective Edge “Palestinians in Gaza fired a Kassam rocket at an Israeli
community in the Eshkol region near the Gaza Strip this morning.”
2014: “The Israel Air Force tonight struck Hamas targets in
the southern Gaza Strip for the first time since the summer’s war.”
2014: Two weeks after having signed a two-year,
non-guaranteed contract with the New Orleans Pelicans Gal Mekel was waived by
the Pelicans today after appearing in just four games.
2015(7th of Tevet, 5776): Parashat Vayiggash
2015(7th of Tevet, 5776): Eighty-seven-year-old
“Lord Greville Janner of Braunstone, the British Labour Member of Parliament
and peer in the House of Lords” passed away today.
2015: Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is scheduled to perform in
Tel Aviv’s Menora Mitvachim marking his first professional appearance in
Israel.
2016: Israeli violinist Itamar Zorman and Israeli pianist
Roman Rabinvoich are scheduled to perform with the Jupiter Chamber players at
the Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church.
2016: Today’s issue of TIME has a cover picture of Person
of the Year taken by Israeli photographer Nadav Kander.
http://time.com/magazine/us/4594940/december-19th-2016-vol-188-no-25-26-u-s/
2016: Today “on the Facebook invitation for a Hanukkah
event at the University of Warsaw, Konrad Smuniewski inveighed against “Jew
communists” and called Judaism a “criminal ideology” of “racism, xenophobia and
hatred.”
2016(19th of Kislev): The "New Year"
of Chassidism
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/335659/jewish/19-Kislev-The-New-Year-of-Chassidism.htm
http://www.jewishcontent.org/cgi-bin/calendar?holiday=chanuka34
2016: “The unemployment rate among Americans with college
degrees was just 2.3 percent in November, a number that suggests employers are
now competing for well-educated workers. Janet L. Yellen, the Federal Reserve
chairwoman, went to the University of Baltimore today to congratulate graduates
on joining that fortunate group.”
2017(1st of Tevet, 5778): Seventh Day of
Chanukah; Rosh Chodesh Tevet
2017(1st of Tevet, 5778): Eighty-seven-year-old
Clifford Irving who was best known for his creation of a pony auto-biography of
Howard Hughes passed away today.
2017: The Maccabeats are scheduled to appear at a concert
sponsored by Chabad of Larchmont and Mamaroneck at the Hampshire Country Club.
2017: The Washington Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to
host a screening of “Bang: The Bert Berns Story.”
2018: A Jewish marriage contract, or ketubah, from 1884
made for a couple married in Kingston, Jamaica is scheduled to be auctioned as
part of a sale of “Important Judaica” conducted by Sotheby’s which expects the
item to sell for $8,000 to $12,000.
2018: In one of those oddments of New York urban life,
former major league all-star major league centerfield Lenny Dykstra, a
Christian who has no intention of converting, is scheduled to attend the Torah
study group conducted by Chabad Rabbi Shmuel Metzger “in the basement of the
Ambassador Wines shop.”
2018: In Cedar Rapids, IA, the Hadassah Book Club is
scheduled to The Marriage of Opposites, the best-selling novel by Alice
Hoffman. 2019
2018: Today, “the first synagogue built in Washington, DC”
is scheduled to “roll down 3rd Street to it new and permanent home
at 3rd and F Streets, NW.”
2018: The American Jewish Historical Society and YIVO are
scheduled to present “Queer Expectations: A Genealogy of Jewish Women’s
History.”
2019: The New York Klezmer Series is schedule to present “A
10th Anniversary Celebration of Brazil’s Kleztival, a Yiddish
Cultural Festival in Sao Paolo, Brazil.”
2019: In San Francisco, the Contemporary Jewish Museum is
scheduled to host “Experiments in Sonic Potential” with jazz musicians Lisa
Mezzacappa and Kara Davis performing in conjunction with the Annabeth Rosen
exhibit.
2019: In Davie, FL, the David Posnack Jewish Community
Center is scheduled to host “Hate and Its Impact: Sowing the Seeds of Global
Antisemitism.”
2019: The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center is scheduled to
a live concert with “David Broza and Friends”
2019: It was reported today that “The heir to the British
throne, Prince Charles, will visit Israel in January to mark the 75th
anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.
2019: It was reported today that “Israeli officials are
preparing” for an outbreak of violence if Qatar goes through with its threat
“to cut funds to Qatar.” (As reported by Alex Fishman)
2020: The Boston Synagogue is scheduled to present online a
“Post Hannukah Concert” that will include Jewish, Yiddish and Klezmer sounds.
2020: In Palm Beach Gardens, Temple Judea is scheduled to
host online “Torah Study” with Rabbi Feivel Strauss
2020(4th of Tevet, 5781): Parashat Miketz;
2021: The Contemporary Jewish Museum is schedule to
livestream “Sunday Stories: Christmas at the Catskills,” a virtual “talk about
the mount restorts that were havens for 1950s-60s American Jews during the
Christmas season, when staying in cities meant languishing in a feeling of
exclusion.”
2021: The Boston Synagogue is scheduled to present online a
“Klezmer Jam.”
2021: The Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County is
scheduled to host a talk by Marty Schneit on “The Borscht Belt,” a unique
cultural “moment” in American-Jewish History.
2021: The Jewish Community Library is schedule to present
online “Kol Isha: Women Cantors” during which “Musicologist-Yiddishist Henry
Sapoznik will talk about the pioneering women who, despite being denied
ordination and synagogue pulpits, utilized radio, vaudeville, concerts and
commercial recordings from 1920 to 1975 to prove their worth as prayer leaders.”
2021: The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled to
present “Canadian author Gila Green, an Israel-based writer, editor and EFL
teacher” “in a hands-on workshop where” she “will talk about how we can use
objects from the past in memoir.”
2021: This afternoon, Abbie Straus, the wife of Rabbi
Feivel Strauss and the daughter of Dr. Bob and Laurie Silber, is scheduled to
Join Temple Judah officially as their cantor in a virtual ceremony featuring
cantors Azi Schwartz, Joanna Dulkin and David Propis.
2021: The New York Times features reviews of books by
Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Master
of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy by Martin
Indyk and the recently released paperback edition of The blessing and the
Curse: The Jewish People and Their Books in the Twentieth Century by Adam
Kirsch.
2022(25th of Kislev, 5782): First Day of
Chanukah
2022: In New Orleans the Jewish Community Century is
scheduled to host is Chanukah Celebration complete with “delicious southern
fried food and a concert by the famous Six13.
2022: “The 15th Annual Chanukah on Ice at Wollman Rink in
Central Park is scheduled to take place from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on the
second night of Hanukkah.
2022: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present
John Lahr and MacArthur Prize-winning playwright Sarah Ruhl for a conversation
about Arthur Miller: American Witness, a new biography in the Jewish Lives
series.
2022: JNF-USA is scheduled to host a “Virtual Chanukah
Candle Lighting,” “featuring a musical performance by the Special in Uniform
Band.
2022: “The legislative push” to pass a “bill meant to augment the Police Ordinance to expand
ministerial authority over police leadership and policy, sought by Otzma
Yehudit leader Itamar ben Gvir” and a
second bill which will change a Basic Law to enable a person serving a
suspended sentence to become a minister without a determination of whether his
crime carried moral turpitude, allowing convicted Shas leader Aryeh Deri to
join the cabinet” “is planned to
restart with renewed energy on Monday morning, is planned to restart with
renewed energy this morning.” (As reported by Carrie Keller-Lynn)
2023: The Museum at Eldridge is scheduled to host a
discussion of “Golda” with Eric Goldman, an adjunct professor of cinema at
Yeshiva University moderated by Lucy Shahar.
2023: The Illinois Holocaust Museum is scheduled to host
“Here and Now: Antisemitism Today” “with renowned scholar Mark Weitzman, COO of
The World Jewish Restitution Organization and senior U.S. delegate to the
International Holocaust Remembrance Authority (IHRA), as he explores the roots
of antisemitism to its current manifestations.”
2023: Yiddish New York is scheduled to host a program “honoring
the late great klezmer pianist Pete Sokolow.
2023: As December 19
begins in Israel, the Hamas held hostages begin day 74
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)
