This Day, March 21, In Jewish History by Mitchell A and Deb Levi Z"L
March 21
456 BCE: The
convocation summoned by Ezra on intermarriage came to an end
629: Byzantine
Emperor Heraclius marched into Jerusalem at the head of his army with the
support of Jewish inhabitants. The Jews who had previously fought with …
March 21
456 BCE: The
convocation summoned by Ezra on intermarriage came to an end
629: Byzantine
Emperor Heraclius marched into Jerusalem at the head of his army with the
support of Jewish inhabitants. The Jews who had previously fought with the Persians
against Byzantine rule decided to support him in return for a promise of
amnesty. Upon his entry into Jerusalem the local priests convinced him that
killing Jews was a positive commandment and that his promise was therefore
invalid. Hundreds of Jews were massacred, and thousands of others fled to
Egypt. Thus, much of the rich Jewish life in the Galilee and Judea came to an
end.
1349(1st
of Nisan): Three thousand Jews were killed in Black Death riots in Efurt
Germany.
This was one
of only a series of wholesale murders of Jews that took place in Germany in
1349. The Jews provided a convenient scapegoat for the Black Death. In some
places they were accused of poisoning the wells which supposedly caused the
plague. Since The Black Death provided an interesting excuse of murdering Jews,
the following few summary will prove useful when we get to it our study of
Jewish History during the Middle Ages. "A Genoese trading post in the
Crimea was besieged by an army of Kipchaks from Hungary and Mongols from the
East. The latter brought with them a new form of plague. Infected dead bodies
were catapulted into the Genoese town. One Genoese ship managed to escape and
brought the disease to Messina, in Sicily. From this time forth the disease
became an epidemic. It moved over the next few years to northern Italy, North
Africa, France, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Germany, the Low
Countries, England, Scandinavia and the Baltic. There were lesser outbreaks in
many cities for the next twenty years. An estimated 25 million died in Europe
and economic depression followed."
or there is this version
1349: After a
mob marched into the Jewish quarter in Erfurt, Germany, carrying a flag with a
cross the Jews tried to defend themselves without success resulting in the
murder of one hundred Jews including Talmudic sage Alexander Suslin HaKohen and
the burning of most of the ghetto.
1475: Simon of
Trent disappeared from Trento, Italy. The disappearance led to a blood libel
that led to 8 Jews being hung by local authorities for their part in a plot use
the blood of this Christian child in the making of Matzah.
1497: On the
evening of the Seder, all Jewish children in Portugal between the ages of four
and fourteen were actually baptized.
1542: Paul III
issued “Cupientes Judaeos” the Papal Bull dealing with the treatment of Jews
who converted to Christianity including the strictures that the assets of
converted Jews could no longer be confiscated, converted Jews could no longer
live with Jews, and that converted Jews must be treated the same as other free
citizens.
1548: The
Vatican found a house used to convert Jews to Catholicism which the Jews were
compelled to support with their taxes.
1672:
Birthdate of Lutheran theologian Johann Georg Abicht, best known for his works
“about oriental languages and Hebrew archaeology.”
1648(8th of
Nisan, 5408) OS: Seventy-six year old, the Venice born rabbi Leon Modena or
Yehudah Aryeh Mi-modena who was a scholar and a gambler passed away today.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/modena-leon
1694: “According to the reported of Jesuit John Edler Simon Abeles was killed today by his father Lazarus Abeles, because he persisted in his desire to embrace the Christian religion. The father, who was thrown into prison, strangled himself with his tefillin. Söbl, or Levy Kurtzhandl, was imprisoned as an alleged accomplice, and put to death with horrible tortures. The body of Simon was buried in the Teyn Church of Prague with great pomp and with the honors due a martyr. The report of the Jesuit is naturally one-sided, full of miracles and many improbabilities. An impartial investigation of the sources is still lacking.
1697(9th
of Nisan, 5457): Amsterdam Rabbi Abraham Cohen Pimentel passed away. A student
of Saul Levi Morteira, he served as hakham of the synagogue in Hamburg and was
initially a signator to a letter of approbation for Sabbatai Zevi. He was the
author of the “Minchat Kohen,” published in 1668.
1758: The
councilor of the Holy Office, Lorenzo Ganganelli , the future Pope Clement XIV,
who had been charged with investigating the blood libel against the Jews of
Yanopol, Poland, presented "Non solis accusatoribus credendum," to
the congregation of the Inquisition
which showed that not only were these charges groundless but
demonstrated that “all the principal cases of blood accusation since the 13th
century were groundless.
1759: A letter
was received in New York at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue from Newport,
Rhode Island. It was a request from the congregation at Newport asking for
funds to help build a synagogue. New York sent financial assistance, and on May
28 the congregation at Newport sent a letter of thanks, signed by 10 of its
members, back to New York.
1761: in
Gemmingen, Germany, Bessie Seligmann and Manasse Maier Lindauer gave birth to
David Hirsch Lindauer, the husband of Frommet Weil and the father of Jakob,
Bessie and Mayer Hirsch Lindauer.
1767(20th
of Adar II, 5527) Parshat Shimini; Shabbat Parah
1767: In
London, Aaron Gomes Da Costa, the Portuguese born son of Abigail and Abraham
Gomes Da Costa and his wife Miriam De Solomon Gomes Da Costa gave birth to
Salomon Gomes Da Costa.
1697
1770: In New
York City, Abigail and Michael Solomon Hays gave birth to Solomon Hays.
1771(5th
of Nissan, 5531): Aaron Hendricks, the London born son of Chaim Hendricks
passed away today in New York City. (He is not to be confused with the son
Uriah Hendricks who was born a year later in New York City.
1772(16th
of Adar II, 5532): Parashat Tzav
1772: John
Johnson, a doctor from Frederick, Maryland, wrote a letter advising Martha
Washington “on treatments for the “apparent epilepsy” of her daughter Martha
“Pasty” Parke Custis who was treated by Dr. John de Sequeyra, the London born,
University of Leiden trained physician
1776: The
President of Congress, John Hancock, arranged to send George Washington
$250,000 cash to be used to maintain the siege of Boston. Hancock wrote in the
letter that accompanied the funds sent that he had selected three
"gentlemen of character whom I am confident will meet your notice."
One of these men was the Jewish patriot, Moses Franks of Philadelphia.
1791(15th
of Adar II, 5551): Shushan Purim
1791: In
Inowraclaw, Prussia, Rabbi Levin Isaac Auerbach and his wife gave birth to
Isaac Levin Auerbach a supporter of making reforms in Judaism who served as the
“preacher at the Jacobsen Temple where sermons were delivered in German,
teaching at the Jewish girl’s school in Berlin and finally officiating at the
temple in Leipzig for more than 25 years.”
1799(14th of
Adar II, 5559): As the British, French and Turks fight it out for control of
Egypt and Eretz Israel and Syria, the Jews celebrate Purim
1803: Jacob
Hays who “was born in May, 1772 in a Jewish home in Bedford, NY and whose
father was a soldier in Washington’s Army” and began his career as law
enforcement as a New York Marshall in 1798 was appointed today as a “Captain of
the Third Watch District” in New York’s “fledgling police force.”
1804: In
Germany, Adelheid and Jakob Nathan Michelbacher gave birth to Abraham
Michelbacher, the husband of sophie Michlbacher and the father of Gabriel
Michelbacher.
1807(11th of
Adar II, 5567): Shabbat Zachor
1806: “At
Grinstead Green, Jewish boxer Daniel Mendoza who based on his previous
reputation, Mendoza was a 3–1 favourite in the betting, returned to the ring today
and defeated the taller Harry Lee in 53 rounds.
1807(11th of
Adar II, 5567): Chaim Joseph David ben Isaac Zerachia Azulai passed away. Born
in 1724, he was “known as the Chida (by the acronym of his name, חיד"א)
and was a rabbinical scholar and a noted bibliophile, who pioneered the history
of Jewish religious writings.”
1809: Ralph
Harris married Rachel Shannon at the Great Synagogue today.
1810(15th
of Adar II, 5570): Shushan Purim
1811:
Birthdate of East Prussian novelist Fanny Lewald who converted to Christianity
at the age of 17.
1821: In
Leigh, Essex, Catherine Phillips and Laurence Lazarus gave birth to Maurice
Lazarus.
1822: In
Venjle, Joseph Joel Ballin and Hanne Behrend, born Peiser gave birth to Danish
engraver Joel Ballin.
1825:
Birthdate of Bavarian native Max Friedman who “in the spring of 1848 at the age
of 23” came to the United States, became a businessman in Philadelphia, married
“Adeline J. Comelien, the daughter of Rowland And Ameilia (nee Judah) Cromelian
in 1849 and at the outset of the Civil War organized the th65th
Regiment as a cavalry unit which fought at Bull Run and which he served as a
Major and then a Colonel.
1825: Maurice
Solomon, the London born son of Moshe Eliezer Lieberman Solomon and Betsy
(Elizabeth) Solomon and his wife Louisa Solomon gave birth to future Australian
Solmon Maurice Solomon, the husband of Maria Solomon.
1827:
Birthdate of Anglo-Jewish communal worker Manuel Castello.
1831(19th of
Adar II): Chaim ben Naphtali Coslin, author of Maslul, passed away
1833(1st
of Nisan, 5993): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
1833: Attorney
and Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court Franklin J. Moses, born
Israel Frank Moses to Esther and Major Myer Moses and his wife Jane Dorcas Moses
gave birth to Rosalie Esther Ann Span the wife o Samuel Robert Spann and the mother
of Henry Spann; Franklin Spann; Robert Spann; Jane Spann; Rebecca Spann; and
Robert Spann.
1833: As the
Jews observed the New Moon, current President Andrew Jackson wrote to future
President James Buchanan
1836: Birthdate
of West Prussia native and University of Berlin trained surgeon Julius Wolff
who received the Iron Cross for non-combatants after having served in three
wars from 1864 through 1870 and who “In 1890 he became chief surgeon of the
newly founded orthopedic dispensary at the” University of Berlin.
1837(14th
of Adar II, 5597): Purim
1837(14th
of Adar II, 5597): Nine-year-old Joseph Löb Landauer, the Bavarian born son of
Seligman Ben Schemmel Landauer and Zirle (Cilli) Landauer passed away today at Baden-Württemberg,
Germany
1837:
Birthdate of Gustave-Hippolyte Worms, the Parisian born actor who made his
debut as Achille in “Duc Job” in 1850. He retired from the stage in 1901.
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/15018-worms-gustave-hippolyte
1838: In
London, Grace and Judah Aloof gave birth to Abraham Judah Aloof, the husband of
London native Meshoda Sequerra whom he married in 1860 and the father of Grace
and Semeta Aloof.
1841: Aaron
Lazarus married Maria Myers today at the Great Synagogue.
1841: John
Fileman married Mary Levy today at the New Synagogue.
1844: The
Bahá'í calendar begins. This is the first day of the first year of the Bahá'í
calendar. “The Bahá'í Faith has its administrative centre in Haifa on land it
has owned since Bahá'u'lláh's imprisonment in Acre in the early 1870s by the
Ottoman Empire. Pilgrims from all over the world visit for short periods of
time. Apart from the circa six hundred volunteer staff, Bahá'ís do not live or
preach in Israel”
1844:
Birthdate of Lithuania native and future New Yorker Gittel “Catherine” Helvich
Shubert the wife of David Hersh Shubert whom she married in 1862 and the mother
of Yankiel, Khanaa, Le, Fannie ,Sarah, Samuel, Jacob and Dora Shubert.
1847: “The
Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel,” the largest congregation in Philadelphia,
was organized” today. “Its first rabbi was B. H. Gotthelf, who held services in
a hall at No. 528 N. Second Street.”
1848: The
ghetto pillars of Ferrara were destroyed by the professors and students of the
Athenaeum.
1850:
Birthdate of Gittel “Catherine” Helvich Shubert, the German born American wife
of David Shubert with whom she had six children, including the famous Shubert
brothers of theatrical fame.
1854(21st
of Adar, 5614): Eighty-one-year-old Abigail Seixas, the Newport, RI of
Joachabed Levy and Moses Mendes Seixas passed away today in New York City.
1856(14th
of Adar II, 5616): Purim
1858: In
Lancaster, PA. Augusta Bernheim and Hermance Hirsch gave birth to
Jefferson
Medical College trained physician and physiotherapist Abraham Bernheim Hirsh,
the husband of Olga Tacheau and Captain in the Medical during WW I who became
the “chief of physiotherapy and occupational therapy at the U.S. Veteran’s
Bureau in New York and who was a member of the Physicians Association for the
Medical Department of Hebrew University.
1861: A Jew by
the name of Guranda who was the Editor of the Ost Deutsche Post, was
among those whom the city of Vienna has chosen to serve in the Provincial Diet.
1864(13th of
Adar II, 5624): Fast of Esther
1864: In
Baltimore, MD, George Hexter and Amanda Kann gave birth to Victor Henry Hexter,
the graduate of University of Virginia and husband of Minnie May Wertheimer who
began practicing law in Dallas in 1887 and has served on the Dallas Board of
Education for six years.
1867(14th
of Adar II, 5627): Purim
1867: Five
days after she had passed away, Jeanette Salomons, the daughter of Solomon
Cohen and Hannah Samuel and the wife of David Salomons was buried today at the
West Ham Jewish Cemetery.”
1869:
Birthdate of Florenz Ziegfeld. Ziegfeld was born in Chicago. His father was a
successful doctor and patron of the arts. He encouraged Ziegfeld's flair for
showmanship. Eventually, young Florenz moved to New York where he gained fame
for lavish productions "celebrating" the physical aspects of the
American female. The Ziegfeld Follies launched the careers of many showgirls
and comedians including Will Rogers and Eddie Cantor. Ziegeld was one of the
first in a long line of Jews who were connected with the musical theatre.
Ziegfeld married the famed Billie Burke and later moved to Hollywood. He passed
away in 1932.
1869: In
Rhaunen, Prussia, Rabbi Joseph Kahn and his wife Rosalie gave birth to Albert
Kahn, one of the foremost industrial architects of his times who created
several of the signature buildings in Detroit, Michigan, including the General
Motors Building, the Detroit News Building, the Willow Run Bomber building, the
foremost production site of B-24 bombers during WW II and Temple Emanuel.
1869: Today
San Francisco attorney and Democratic politician Joseph Naphthaly, the Prussian
born son of Samuel and Julia Naphthaly married Sarah Schmitt, the daughter of
“Blaize L. and Pauline Schmitt with whom he had two children – Samuel and Leon.
1870(18th of
Adar II, 5630: Chanokh Heynekh HaKohen Levin of Aleksander passed away. Born in
1798, “he served as the rebbe of a community of thousands of Hasidim during the
"interregnum" between the Chidushei HaRim of Ger and the Sfas Emes.
Heynekh was one of the leading students of the Rebbe Reb Simcha Bunim of
Pshischa. After the latter's death he became one of the most prominent
followers of Rebbe Menachem Mendel of Kotzk and the senior disciple of
Chidushei hoRim. Following the death of the Chidushei hoRim in 1866, the bulk
of his numerous chasidim chose Rabbi Chanokh Heynekh as the next rebbe. Chanokh
Heynekh served as the Rabbi in the Jewish communities of Aleksander from 1837
(or earlier) till 1853, Nowy Dwór from 1853 to 1859 and Przasnysz from 1859 to
1864 (or 1866). After his tenure In Przasnysz he retired from the rabbinate and
settled in Aleksander, where he lived during his period of leadership as rebbe.
His teachings are collected in Chashovoh leToivo (first published in 1929[, and
are quoted widely. While few may know his name today, his successor was the
renowned Yehudah Aryeh Leib which means he must have been quite a personage in
his own right.
1871:
Twenty-six-year-old Max Landsberg, the Berlin born son of a rabbi and graduate
of the Breslau Jewish Theologicial Seminary began serving as the Rabbi at
B’rith Kodesh Temple in Rochester, NY – a position he held for forty-four
years.
1871: Otto von
Bismarck is appointed Chancellor of the German Empire. In the 1840’s, when
Bismarck began his political career, he held the views of a reactionary Junker
“who could not accept Jews serving in the name of his ‘holy majesty’” and who
opposed legislation offering Jews full emancipation. By 1869, Bismarck was the
leader of a government that passed an emancipation law stating, “All still
existing limitations of the…civil rights which are rooted in differences of
relgious faith are hereby annulled.” Bismarck explained the change in views by
stating, “Man grows with his goals.” In Bismarck’s case the goal was elimination
of Austria as Prussia’s rival for leadership of a modern unified Germany.
Bismarck turned to his personal banker, a Jews named Gerson Bleichroeder, to
supply the financing for the war which drove Austria from the German equation
and allowed him to modernize the German Army. Bismarck realized that Jewish
support was necessary for his nationalistic goals. But in working with Jews, he
came to see them as human beings, and as human begins capable of making a major
contribution to the new Germany. All of these elements helped to make the new
chancellor a more enlightened leader when it came to matters concerning the
Jews. Evidence of this new enlightenment would be seen in 1878 when he took the
side of the Jews at the Congress of Berlin when dealing with Czar Alexander II
over the question of the horrible treatment of the Jews of Romania.
1872: It was
reported today that the Jews of Cahul in Romania have endured three days of
attacks by the local citizens. There are 1,000 Jews living in this town of
7,000. Two of the synagogues have been desecrated and property losses are
valued are 49,000 ducats
1872(11th of
Adar II, 5632): Fast of Esther observed because the 13th of Adar II falls on
Shabbat
1872(11th of
Adar II, 5632): Russian Talmudist Samuel ben Joseph Strashun, also known as
Rashash (רש"ש) passed away today in Vilna. As we shall see, he embodied
the concept of not making a profit from the crown of the Torah. Born in 1794,
he was educated by his father, married at an early age, and settled with his
wife's parents in the village of Streszyn, commonly called Strashun (near
Wilna), where he assumed his last name. The distillery owned by his
father-in-law was wrecked by the invading French army in 1812, and the family
removed to Wilna, where Samuel established another distillery and became one of
the most prominent members of the community. His wife conducted the business,
as was usual in Wilna, and he devoted the greater part of his time to studying
the Talmud and to teaching, gratuitously, the disciples who gathered about him.
The Talmud lectures which for many years he delivered daily at the synagogue on
Poplaves street were well attended, and from the discussions held there
resulted his annotations, which are now incorporated in every recent edition of
the Babylonian Talmud (Hagahot v'Chiddushei HaRashash). His fame as a
rabbinical scholar spread throughout Russia, and he conducted a correspondence
with several well-known rabbis. Strashun was offered the rabbinate of Suwałki,
but he refused it, preferring to retain his independence. His piety did not
prevent him from sympathizing with the progressive element in Russian Jewry,
and he was one of the few Orthodox leaders who accepted in good faith the
decree of the government that only graduates of the rabbinical schools of Wilna
and Jitomir should be elected as rabbis. He wrote good modern Hebrew, spoke the
Polish language fluently, was conspicuously kind and benevolent, and was highly
esteemed even among the Christian inhabitants of Wilna. Besides the
above-mentioned annotations, he wrote others to the Midrash Rabbot, which first
appeared in the Wilna editions of 1843-45 and 1855. Some of his novellæ,
emendations, etc., were incorporated in the works of other authorities.
1873: In
Hessen, Germany, Simon and Lina Plaut gave birth to Isaac Plaut, the “husband
of Sophie Plaut” with whom he had eight children.
1875: The
Anshe Bikur Cholim Society hosted a Purim Ball tonight at Irving Hall in New
York City.
1875’ Three
days after he had passed away, 67 year old Morris Jewell, the husband of Sophia
Jewell and the father of Julian, Nathaniel and Caroline Jewell was buried today
at the “Brompton (Fulham Road Jewish
Cemetery.”
1875: Over 200
contributors signed the “Silver Book of Life” at this evening’s Purim reception
at the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews in New York City.
1875: Rachel
and Moses Isaac Binion gave birth to Martha Esther Binion who became Martha
Esther Cahn when she married Edward Cahn.
1876: In New
York, Julia Links and “Rabbi
Adolphus Huebsch, who had immigrated to the United States from Hungary in 1866”
gave birth to printer turned publisher Benjamin W. Huebsch, the husband of “Alfhild
Lamm” whom he married in 1920 and who was “the first publisher in the United States of:
D. H. Lawrence's book Sons and Lovers (1913), James Joyce's Dubliners (1916 and
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio who
merged his publication company with Viking Press where he continued to pursue
his literary career while becoming active in the progressive political
movements.
1877(7th
of Nisan, 5637): Fifty-eight-year-old Moritz Kohner who in 1869 founded the Deutsch-Israelitische Gemeindebund
passed away today in Leipzig.
1877: James
Sanua founded the satirical magazine Abu Naddara Zarqa, which had an
immediate appeal to both those who could read and those who had it read to
them.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13186-sanua-james
1879: A Jewish
peddler from New York was beaten and robbed by 3 men while walking along the
railroad tracks between Norton and Stamford, Conn.
1880(9th of
Nisan, 5640): Just six days short of his 60th birthday, Indian
businessman Elias David Sasson passed away in Ceylon.
1880:
Birthdate of Hungary native Julius Hochfelder who in 1888 came to the United
States where he was considered to be “a large, sturdy man, considered a genius,
he was a highly educated (LL.B., Ph.D.) patent lawyer, author, organizer of the
Seaman’s Evening College, director of the Homework Protective League and, in
World War I, member of the Jewish Welfare Board” who was the husband of his law
partner Anna Weiner Hochfelder, “the president American Alliance of Civil
Service Women from 1912 to 1938 and legal advisor to the New York Federation of
Women’s Clubs from 1922 to 1938” and the father of Julian and Richad
Hochfelder.
1882:
Birthdate of Friederike Massarik, the native of Vienna who gained fame opera
singer Fritzi Massary.
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/massary-fritzi
1882:
Birthdate of Max Aronson, the Little Rock AR native who gained fame as Gilbert
M. Anderson an early silent screen actor, appearing as Bronco Billy in that
famed 1903 hit, “The Great Train Robbery. “Anderson also was a promoter of the
new industry and was one of the first to move his operation to California where
he made at least one film featuring the famous Ben Turpin.
1883(12th of
Adar II, 5643): Sir George Jessel, the son of a Jewish coral merchant who
became on the U.K.’s most influential jurists passed away.
1884: In
Budapest, Morris and Fanny (Reiner) Buchler, gave birth University of Bern
Ph.D. rabbi Samuel Buchler, the husband of Ida Frost and chaplain at Sing Sing
Priso who served as deputy attorney general for the State of New York who was
disbarred after having been charged with grand larceny for taking money from
clients and then not performing the promised services,
1886(14th
of Adar II, 5646): Purim
1887: At what
was then Allenstein, Prussia. Emma Esther Jaruslawsky and David Mendelsohn gave
birth to Erich Mendelsohn, the husband of Luise Mendelsohn whom he married in
1915 and the father of Esther Mendelsohn who was “a German- Jewish architect,
known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for
developing a dynamic functionalism in his projects for department stores and
cinemas” who was a friend of Chaim Weizmann and who “now-famous buildings:
Weizmann House and three laboratories at the Weizmann Institute of Science,
Anglo-Palestine Bank in Jerusalem, Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus, Rambam
Hospital in Haifa and others.”
1888(9th
of Nisan, 5648): Zebi Hirsch Ornstein the son of Mordecai Zeeb Ornstein, and
grandson of Jacob Meshullam Ornstein, who served as the rabbi at Rzeszow and
Lemberg, passed away today.
1889: Birthdate
of Minsk native Aaron Mazia, the husband of Bertha Kurtz Mazia.
1890: A law
was issued today which defines Austrian Jewish communities and “regulated the
conditions of Jewish congregations.”
1890: In
Sokolow, Austria, Henry Pomeranz and Anna Kivowitz gave birth to Max Pomeranz
the Brooklyn dentist who came to the United States in 1900 and is the
grandfather of singer/songwriter David Pomeranz.
1890: Based on
information that first appeared in the London
Daily News “Sobriety Among Jews” which was published today espouses the
theory that the Jews have survived despite having been oppressed “by cruel
laws” and forced to live “in abodes where others must have died” because “they
lead, as a rule, simple lives and are mindful of the expressive maxim in
Proverbs, ‘wine is a mocker.’” In other words, while Jews do not refrain from
drinking, they drink in moderation and condemn intemperance.
1891: “The
members of the Baron de Hirsch Club opened their clubhouse at 208 East
Broadway” in New York City today.
1893: Hermann
Ahlwardt delivered “a rabidly anti-Semitic speech” in the Reichstag in which
“he declared that he had eleven documents which showed that while Prince
Bismarck was Chancellor, fraudulent contracts had been made repeatedly with
Jewish financers…”
1893: “For
Jewish Working Girls” published today provided the efforts of the Jewish
Working Girls’ Vacation Society to provide a summertime respite by renting a
house in the country where they can spend a few restful days at no charge. The environment will be moral and all dietary
laws will be observed. The society led by Mrs. A.L. Freudenthal rented a house
in Westchester County last year and provided two-week vacations for 125 young
women.
1894: It was
reported today that the Don Quixote Club will host a fundraiser for the United
Hebrew Charities at the Manhattan Athletic Club.
1884: In
Lithuania, Isiah and Esther Fruma (Shapiro) Rabinowitz
1894: It was
reported today that the industrial school in New York is only one of the
institutions supported by the Bikur Cholim which is currently under the
leadership of Mrs. Emma L. Toplitz.
1895:
Birthdate of Jack Arons, the native of Balia, Roumania who was a “member of the
first group of” members of the Jewish Legon” from Toronto who “served as an
instructor in the 40th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers” who, after
WW I, “returned to Toronto and enter the catering business.” (As reported by
Leon Cheifitz who as an 18-year-old living in Montreal, joined the Legion.)
1895: “Contest
of the Grunhut Will” published today described the attempts by Louis Grunhut
and Mrs. Mary Ballowa, the son and daughter of the late Dr. Bernhard Grunhut,
who are trying to break the will of the descendant. They are contending that the Doctor had not
married Eva L. Jacobs who claims to be his widow and that the couple had not
had a baby which died after only 15 deaths. As matters stand now she will
inherit his entire estate less $50,000 that has been left to Mount Sinai
Hospital and the Hebrew Benevolent Society.
1896: For the
first time Shaaray Tefila will use the Union Prayer Book which was recently
adopted by the Union of American Congregations.
1896: The
celebration Shaaray Tefila’s Jubilee will continue this morning with an address
delivered after Shabbat morning services by “Henry Morrison, a veteran lawyer
who as a youth delivered an address at the dedication of the first synagogue.
1896:
“Inquisition and the Jews” published today summarized the views expressed by
Dr. M. H. Harris. In speaking of the long-term consequences suffered by the
perpetrators of the Inquisition, he concluded that “Spain brought upon itself
its own punishment. In driving out the
Moors and Jews it drove out its best citizens. ..Spain is the most
insignificant of nations. It is no
longer a first-rate power. In driving
out the Moors and Jews it wrote its own epitaph.”
1897: A Purim
Reception today marked “the formal opening of the new building and the improved
hospital wards of the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews at West 106th
Street.
1897: Cantor
David Cahn will officiate at today’s funeral for Rabbi Ignatz Grossman which
will be held at Rodef Sholom. Rabbis
Kaufman Kohler and Joseph Silverman will deliver eulogies.
1897: The
Superintendent of the Montefiore Home For Chronic Invalids hosted its annual
Purim Masquerade Ball tonight.
1898: In
Mulhouse, Alsace, France, Constance Kenendel Lang and Baruch Kahn gave birth to
Samuel Kahn
1898:
Birthdate of Russian native and University of Pennsylvania educated
psychologist Dr. Morris Simon Viteles, the “founder of the first vocational
guidance center,” the author of Industrial Psychology and the Dean of the
University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.
https://www.sas.upenn.edu/psych/history/vitelestext.htm
1898(27th
of Adar, 5658: Sixty-two-year-old Babbette Frankfurt, the wife of Moses
Frankfurt passed away today following which she was buried in the Hebrew
Cemetery in Norfolk, Va.
1898: In
Albany, Governor Black signed into law a bill introduced by Senator Cantor
incorporating the Hebrew Charities Building in New York City.
1898: When the
Austrian Reichsrath reconvenes today legislation will be introduced to exclude
“from the privilege of suffrage all Jews and those remotely connected with that
race either by marriage or remote ancestry.
1899: Samuel
Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor delivered an address on
“The Working Day” tonight at the People’s Home in New York City.
1899: The
first plenary session of the Supreme Court of Appeals, with all three Chambers
sitting jointly and Charles Mazeau presiding.
1900:
Birthdate of Hamburg born pathologist Paul Kimmelstiel who along with Clifford
Wilson, is considered to be the first to describe diabetic nephropathy passed
away today while serving on the faculty of the University of Oklahoma.
https://www.renalpathsoc.org/resources/Documents/InMemoriam_2008_PaulKimmelstiel.pdf
1901: During
the Boxer Rebellion, as a force of British marines at Tien-Tsin it was reported
today that the only Russian civilians still in the city are members of the
Consulate staff and two Jewish store owners “who left Russia in to save their
lives” and who are now being called upon “to move to the Russian concession.”
1902:
Birthdate of Hamburg native and actor Carl Jaffe who used the stage name Frank
Alwar while performing in his native Germany which he left in 1936 with the
rise of the Nazis and settled in London where he pursued a long running career
in films and television.
1902(12th of
Adar II): Sixty-three year old Abraham Shalom Friedberg (Har Shalom) who went
from watchmaker’s apprentice to tutor, author and editor whose works included
Emek ha-Zasim , a Hebrew language “adaptation of Grace Aguilar's Vale of Cedars"
passed away today in Warsaw.
1902:
Four days after she had passed away, Henriette De Jongh, the wife of Nathan
Jacob De Jongh and the mother of James and Benjamin De Johngh was buried today
at the Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery
1902:
Birthdate of Holocaust survivor Jermie Adler. A poor Jew born in the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, he and his wife moved to Liege, Belgium during the
1930’s where he ran a tailor shop that provided a living for him, his wife and
their three children. The family hid successful for four years during the
brutal German occupation. Tragically, while Adler was sick in the hospital, the
Gestapo came and arrested his family including his nephew. They all perished
except for one daughter, who, along with Adler survived the war.
1903:
Birthdate of journalist and movie producer Mark Hellinger.
http://alankrode.com/public/vigorish/Mark%20Hellinger.pdf
1904: The
second and concluding session of the American Jewish Historical Society is
scheduled to take place this afternoon at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue
where attendees had already heard papers on “The History of the Jews of Mobile”
Rabbi Alfred G. Moses of Mobile, “Edward Woolf, Musisan and Author” by I.S.
Isaacs of New York and “Isaac de Pinto” by Leon Huhner of New York..
1905(14th
of Adar II, 5665): Purim (see item below for a moment or irony)
1905: Albert
Einstein publishes his theory on special relativity.
1906: This
morning, the funeral for Isaac Gellis is scheduled to take place at
Congregation Kahal Adath Jeshurun the synagogue which he served as President.
1906:
Birthdate of Benjamin Samberg, the New York native who gained fame as
singer-songwriter Benny Bell.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/165717
1906: Abraham
Frankel, a cousin of Israel Levin who had come to St. Thomas in 1897, became
part of the Sephardic merchant community today when he married Rebecca Sasso,
the daughter of Abraham Sasso, who soon after they were married moved on to
Colon, Panama.
1907: Lina
Abarbanell co-starred in “The White Chrysanthemum” which had its American
opening tonight in Atlantic City, NJ.
1907: Before
“donning their uniforms” those in the army reserves who had been called up for
duty “plundered several Jewish shops” in Berlad, Moldavia.
1907: “Large
numbers of Jews from Jassy and other Moldavian towns which have been terrorized
by the excesses of the peasantry have arrived “in Bucharest” seeking refuge and
assistance.”
1908(28th
of Adar II, 5668): Parashat Tzav; Shabbat Parah observed for the last time
during the presidency of Teddy Roosevelt.
1908(28th
of Adar II, 5668): Seventy-six-year-old French financier and member of the
French parliament Eugene Pereire, the husband of Juliette Fould and the father
of Alice and Marie Pereire passed away today in Franch.
1909: In
Austria, David (Aubie) Kinsbruner and Nettie Kinsbruner gave birth to Max
Kinsbrunner who as Mac Kinsbrunner, the New York City High School graduate who
began his college basketball career at Syracuse before transferring to St.
Johns where he “was a member of the famed ‘Wonder Five basketball team that won
68 of 72 games from 1929 through 1931.
1910(10th
of Adar II, 5670): Seventy-one-year-old retired dry goods merchant and
philanthropist Abraham Lippmann, the long-time president of Temple Rodeph
Shalom and the Pittsburgh United Hebrew Relief Society passed away at 4 o’clock
this morning in Pittsburgh.”
1911: It was
reported today that V.N. Kokovsoff, the newly appointed Russian Premier
maintains “an enlightened and moderate attitude” on “the Jewish question.”
1912: It was
reported today that “the campaign which the Young Women’s Hebrew Assoication
will undertake from April 11 to April 25 to raise the $200,000 still needed for
the erection of a new dormitory and head headquarters building has attracted a
great deal of attention.”
1913:
Birthdate of Max E. Youngstein the New York born lawyer turned movie producer
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/11/business/max-youngstein-84-helped-run-united-artists.html
1913(12th
of Adar II, 5673: Fifty-six-year-old philanthropist Louis Feist passed away
today in Frankfort, Germany.
1913(12th
of Adar II, 5673): Chicago merchant Victor Strelitz, a member of Chicago’s
Sinai Congregation passed away today.
1913(12th
of Adar II, 5673): Eighty-year-old journalist Charles A.D. Meyerhoff passed
away today in New York City.
1913(12th
of Adar II, 5673): Samuel A. Lass who “became rabbi of the Ohel Congregation
twenty-six years ago and three years later accepted the pulpit of the Keneseth
Israel Congregation passed away today in Minneapolis, MN.
1914(23rd
of Adar, 5674): Parashat Vayakhel-Pekudey: Shabbat Parah
1914(23rd
of Adar, 5674): Fifty-seven-year-old Isidor Langsdorf, of Antonio
Roig and
Lansdorf, the manufacturer of the Roig cigars and leading member of Rodeph
Shalom passed away today in his hometown of Philadelphia, PA.
1914: London
native Redcliffe Nathan Salaman, the son of Myer and Sarah Salaman and Nina
Ruth Salaman gave birth to Esther Salaman who became Esther Sarah Hamburger
when she married Paul Hamburger
1915: “The
American Jewish Relief Committee for Sufferers from the War, the Central
Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering Through the War and the Provisional
Committee for General Zionist Affairs issued a joint appeal today to Jews in
American to make special contributions for relief of Jewish war sufferers.”
1915: “Plans
to raise $100,000 with which to build a home for Jewish orphans in the Bronx
were discussed today by the Federation of Bessarabian Organization today” at
the meeting in Public School 62.”
1915: “A
protest against the violation by Rumania of the political and civil rights
provided for the Jews of Rumania by the Treaty of Berlin in 1877 after the
close of the Russo-Turkish War was made by the Federation of Rumanian Jews of
America tonight at its dinner at Trotzky’s Kosher Restaurant in the Broadway
Central Hotel at Bond Street and Broadway.”
1915: “Supreme
Court Justice Samuel Greenbaum, President of the Education Alliance delivered
an address tonight at celebration marking the 25th anniversary of
the found of the alliance in which he “reviewed the history of the organization
and outlined its purposes.”
1915: State
Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo and several former directors of the
Educational Alliance and members of the Women’s Auxiliary were among those who
attended a reception given in honor of Mayor John P. Mitchell by the Education
Alliance.,
1916:
Birthdate of Novelist Harold Robbins. There seems to be some dispute about this
since May 5, 1916, is also given as his birthdate. An orphan, Robbins was also
known as Francis Kane and Harold Rubin. Some of his more famous works included
The Carpetbaggers and The Betsy. While not critically acclaimed, Robbins was a
hit with the public. According to one source, his books have sold more than
fifty million copies and some of them have been turned into popular Hollywood
films. Robbins died in 1997.
1917: The
President of the American Jewish Committee sent a cablegram to Professor Paul
Miliukov the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Provisional Government
established by the Revolution in which he said, “Every Jew hails free Russia’s
advent with prayer thanksgiving, and pledges for co-operation.”
1917: Henry
Morgenthau, of the American Jewish Relief Committee, announced” today “that
$10,000 must be raised in the United States by June 1” if the millions of “Jews
in the eastern war zone were to be saved from starvation.”
1917: In
Jerusalem, “noted archeologist Eleazar Sukenik and educationalist and women's
rights activist Hasya Sukenik-Feinsod” gave birth to Yigal Sukenik who as
Yigael Yadin gained fame fighting in the War for Independence, serving as the
second Chief of Staff for the IDF and becoming a first-rate archeologist. If
you did not know he was a real person, you would swear that some novelist had
invented this fascinating person.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/yigael-yadin
1918: After
calling on Jews to support “the Catholic war drive” Jacob H. Schiff led by
example when he made a one-thousand-dollar contribution to the charitable
activity.
1918: Today,
on Delancey Street, Rabbi M.Z. Margolies blessed “the members of the second
contingent of the Jewish Battalion before its departure for Canada.”
1919: The
National Jewish Council in Constantinople asked the British High Commander for
the discharge of all Jewish soldiers from the Ottoman army. They stated that
the Jewish soldiers endured terrible suffering, as they were used to build
roads across Anatolia. Thousands died due to lack of food, illness,
insufficient equipment and cruel treatment.
1919: In
Budapest, Zsigmond Kunfi, minister of education in the newly formed Hungarian
Social Democratic government met with Bela Kun chairman of Hungary’s Communist
party at the Marko Street Jail. Kunfi was seeking Kun’s support in the
formation of coalition government. The irony is that Kun and Kunfi whose name
was Kohn, were both Jewish.
1920: In a
move that would end up keeping Jews from getting to the United States during
the Holocaust, President Harding pushed Congress to limit immigration.
1920: In
Vienna, the police and municipal guards dispersed a parade of several hundred
young men that had been formed in front of city hall despite a ban on
anti-Jewish mass meetings.
1920(2nd of
Nisan, 5680): Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe passed
away. There is no way that this simple blog can do justice to this leader of Chabad,
and we urge to check elsewhere for more about his life and contributions to the
Jewish people.
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/110470/jewish/A-Brief-Biography.htm
1921: In
Dublin, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, who was serving as Chief Rabbi of Ireland and
his wife gave birth to Yaakov Herzog who made Aliyah when his father became the
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi and who, after being ordained earned a law degree and
became a member of the Israeli diplomatic corps.
http://www.magalbooks.com/herzog.html
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/this-is-how-we-ruined-toynbee-s-theory-1.210993
1921: Karl and
Helene Neubauer gave birth to Kurt Neubauer who was murdered at Treblinka in
late 1942.
1921: Dr.
Enlow is scheduled to preach at services at Temple Emanu-El that start at 11
A.M.
1922: Winston
Churchill cautions Zionist Pinhas Ruttenberg against ordering machinery for the
newly approved power project for Palestine from Germany when unemployment is
still a major problem in Britain. Ruttenberg took the hint and re-channeled his
purchases of heavy equipment accordingly.
1923: Captain
Henry C. Hathaway, Director of Student Welfare at NYU denied today the
“existence of an anti-Jewish movement at New York University” after signs
appeared early in the week saying “Strictly Koshers are not wanted here.”
1924:
Birthdate of Dov Shilansky an Israeli politician and who served as Speaker of
the Knesset from 1988 to 1992.
1924(15th of
Adar II, 5684): Shushan Purim
1924(15th
of Adar II, 5684): Less than a month before his 40th birthday,
Lithuanian born, University of London trained “Hebraist and Arabist” passed
away today in Philadelphia where he was a Professor at Dropsie College and an
editor for the Jewish Publication Society.
https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/halper-benzion
1924(15th of
Adar II, 5684): Eighty-three-year-old Samuel Ullman the native of German who
settled in Birmingham, Alabama where he became a successful businessman, poet
and humanitarian passed away today.
https://www.uab.edu/ullmanmuseum/
1925: Viking
Press was founded by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim. “The firm's
name and logo—a Viking ship drawn by Rockwell Kent—were meant to evoke the
ideas of exploration and enterprise implied by the word ‘Viking’".
1925: In the
Poconos Mountain town of Stroudsburg, PA, Benjamin Wilkins, a Russian immigrant
tailor and the former Rose Katz gave birth to hotel-man Morris Benjamin Wilkins
who “installed the Poconos’ first heart-shaped bathtub.”
1926: In New
York, William Fox announced today that realtor Benjamin Winter had contributed
$50,000 to the United Jewish campaign which is working to five fifteen million
dollars to help Jews living abroad.
1926: In
Brooklyn Bernard Gantmacher and the former Rebecca Rose gave birth to Elliot
Bernard Gantmacher who as Elliot Gant, along with his brother Elliot, gave us
that epitome of collegiate fashion – the” button-down” shirt and created their
brand – the famous Gant shirt. (As reported by Sam Roberts)
1926(6th
of Nisan, 5686): Seventy-seven-year-old 18Dr. Philip Klein who served for
thirty-five years as the rabbi “of the First Hungarian Congregation Ohab Zedek
passed away today.
https://www.jta.org/1926/03/23/archive/dr-philip-klein-aged-new-york-rabbi-dies
1927(17th
of Adar II, 5687): Seventy-year-old Anglo-American archaeologist Sir Charles
Walston, the son of Henry and Sophie Waldstein who changed his name to Walston
married Florence Einstein Walson with whom he had one side – Henry David
Leonard George Walston -- and whose works included The Jewish Question and
the Mission of the Jews passed away today
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Appletons%27_Cyclop%C3%A6dia_of_American_Biography/Waldstein,_Charles
https://www.nature.com/articles/119534a0
https://www.jta.org/1927/03/25/archive/sir-charles-walston-noted-anglo-jewish-scholar-dies-at-71
1927: As the
Ford-Sapiro Libel case continues to be heard in Detroit, letters are arriving
from all over the country including one sent by an unnamed correspondent to
Senator Reed, Mr. Ford’s attorney in which he stated, “every Jew is sworn to
knock out three teeth of a Christian when kissing him.””
1928: It was announced
tonight “at a dinner of the Business Men's Council of the Federation at the
Roosevelt” that “The Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic
Societies will seek to raise this year more than $500,000 in excess of its 1927
total.”
1928: “Moe
than two thousand persons attended a memorial performance this afternoon at the
Public Theatre…to raise funds for a monument to placed over the grave of the
Jewish actor Jacob Adler.”
1929:
Birthdate of Jules Bergman, ABC television’s news space and science reporter.
When the world of space flight was considered the province of the geeks,
Bergman took on the beat and made it intelligible to the average American.
1929: A West
End production of the Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar musical “The Five O’clock Girl
opened at the London Hippodrome.
1930: In
Canada, “Premiere L. A. Taschereau and Athanase David, provincial secretary,
representing the Province and representatives of the Catholic clergy today
agreed to the formation of a Jewish school commission with control over Jewish
children within the limits of the island of Montreal.”
1931(3rd
of Nisan, 5691): Parashat Vayikra
1931: A group
of leading American Jews are scheduled to assemble this evening un the
leadership of Felix M. Warburg at the Hotel Pennsylvania “for a national
conference of the joint distribution committee formed in 1914 to attain
economic freedom for Jews in Eastern Europe.”
1931: Final
Broadway performance of “Green Grow the Lilacs,” directed by Herbert J.
Biberman, the play that was the inspiration for the Rogers and Hammerstein
musical “Oklahoma.”
1932(13th
of Adar II, 5692): Ta’anit Esther; erev Purim
1932:
Birthdate of Walter Gilbert winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1980.
1932: “Dumb
Dicks,” a comedy starring Benny Rubin was released today in the United States.
1932:
Birthdate of violinist and conductor Joseph Silverstein the Detroit native who
has enjoyed a distinguished career that has included both the concert hall and
the world of academia.
1932(13th
of Adar II, 5692): Rabbi Hyman Joseph Finesinger of Shaarei Zion Congregation
passed away today.
1932: The
American athletes who will compete in the upcoming Jewish Olympics are
re-united in Trieste where they begin the last leg of their trip to Tel Aviv.
1933: The
German government opens its first concentration camp at Dachau.
1933: The New York Times reported on the
increased number of German immigrants arriving in Palestine. “Oscar Kahn, who
was a (German) State Secretary in 1918 and who had been threatened by the
Nazis” was among the many German families who reached Eretz Israel this week.
1934(5th of
Nisan, 5694): Just two days before his 56th birthday Austrian
composer passed away in Berlin after having suffered a stroke in December of
1933.
http://orelfoundation.org/index.php/composers/article/franz_schreker/
1935: “The Man
Who Knew Too Much” produced by Michael Balcon and co-starring Peter Lorre was
released in the United States three months after being released in England.
1936:
According to reports published today, “both the police and the Storm Troopers
are under instructions to see it that every registered voter goes to the polls”
in the upcoming elections “except for the Jews.”
1936: In
Marlborough, CT, Sam Boardman and his wife gave birth lightweight boxer Larry
Boardman.
1936: Arthur
Grenfell Wauchope, the High Commissioner of Palestine is reported today to be
persisting in pressing forward with establishment of a legislative council even
though the Jews are adamant in their refusal to participate because it would
them a permanent minority subject to Arab and British control
1937: As the
wave of terror continues, Dov Zemel, the chauffeur of the Meshek Haotzar, is in
critical condition in Tel Aviv hospital after having been shot by an assailant
firing from an Arab owned orange grove.
1937: As of today,
no arrests have been in Jersey City “where two large signs derisive of Jews
were painted across the façade of Ahavas Achim” an orthodox synagogue on Myrtle
Avenue.
1937(9th of
Nisan, 5679) Sixty-four-year-old British born historian and Zionist leader
Jacob De Haas the secretary of the First Zionist Congress, a close confidant of
Theodore Herzel and after moving to the United States in 1902, the first
secretary of the Federation of American Zionists from which position he
recruited Louis Brandeis to the Zionist cause passed away today at Mt. Sinai
Hospital in New York.
http://www.amazon.com/History-Of-Palestine-Thousand-Years/dp/1406709301
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/03/22/94345411.pdf
1937: The Palestine Post reported that
"unfettered discretion" had been conferred upon the High Commissioner
to make the Defense Regulations under a new Palestine (Defense)
Order-in-Council effective. The proclamation, published in Gazette
Extraordinary, had also empowered the High Commissioner to delegate his powers
to the General Officer, Commander of all Forces in Palestine. It was reported
from London that the Palestine (Peel) Commission was drafting its final report.
1937: Rabbi
Samuel H. Goldenson is scheduled to speak on “Jews Under Protest and Jews by
Faith” at Temple Emanu-El’
1937: At this
morning’s Jewish Youth Service, Rabbi I.B. Hoffman of B’nai Jershurun is
scheduled to speak on “Jewish Youth – Awake and Live.”
1937: At the
Free Synagogue, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise is scheduled to speak on “Gains or Losses
in Religion: Have We Lost or Found Faith?”
1937: Rabbi
Morris Lichtenstein is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “Healing Through
Religion” at the Jewish Science Society.
1938: “The
proposal that Jews in America adopt a ten-year plan of giving, in order to
safeguard Palestine against partition, was made today by Rabbi Solomon Goldman
of Chicago at the tenth annual luncheon of the Brooklyn Chapter of Hadassah,
held in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.”
1939(1st of
Nisan, 5699): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
1939:
Birthdate of Joseph Raz the Israeli philosopher whose works include The
Concept of a Legal System and The Morality of Freedom.
1939: A
24-hour strike protesting Great Britain’s latest plan to deal with the
situation in Palestine was scheduled to come to and at 5 A.M. today. According
to The National Council Of Palestine Jews, the plan would lead to the
“liquidation of the Newish national home” and strangle Jewish settlement in
Palestine
1940: “To
Honor Julius Dukas” published today described plans of the United Yehsivos
Foundation to honor “Julius Dukas, the president of the Rabbi Jacob Joseph
School at a dinner celebrating his 80th birthday to be held at the
Hotel Astor.
1940: Paul
Reynaud becomes Prime Minister of France. Reynaud would be the Prime Minister
when the Germans would end the Phony War and come crashing through the Ardennes
in May of 1940. Within six weeks, France would suffer a crushing military
defeat. Reynaud was one of the leaders who wanted to continue the fight against
the Nazis from France’s overseas colonies. He was overruled. To his credit,
Reynaud refused to sign an Armistice with the Germans, a role that fell to the
willing hands of Marshall Petain. Petain’s shameful behavior led to the active
betrayal of the Jews of France by their non-Jewish countrymen.
1941:
Birthdate of Newark NJ native, and Brandeis and JTS alum Arhtur Green, the founder
of Hebrew College in Boston.
1941: “Sea
Wolf” co-produced by Jack L. Warner co-starring Edward G. Robinson and John
Garfield (Jacob Julius Garfinkle) and featuring Howard Da Silva as he leading
mutineer was released in the United States today.
1942(3rd
of Nisan, 5702): Parashat Vayikra
1942(3rd
of Nisan, 5702): Sixty-nine-year-old Galician born, Berlin trained rabbi Jacob
Lauterbach who in 1903 came to the United States where he became a professor at
Hebrew Union College and a prolific contributor to the Jewish Encyclopedia
passed away today.
http://collections.americanjewisharchives.org/ms/ms0186/ms0186.html
1942: Bernhard
Lichtenberg “the single most well-known Catholic cleric who openly disagreed
not only with the persecution of baptized Jews, but of Jews in general” today
“was found guilty of a treacherous attack on state and party and sentenced to a
two-year imprisonment.”
1943(14th of
Adar II, 5703): Purim
1943: At
Radom, Poland, Jewish physicians were removed from the ghetto and executed at
nearby Szydlowiec.
1943: Eight
members of the Jewish intelligentsia were taken from Piotrków, Poland, to a
Jewish cemetery and shot, along with the cemetery's caretaker and his wife. The
Germans engineer these killings to total ten, in a macabre reference to the
biblical story of the hanged ten sons of the Jew-hating Haman--a crucial
character in the Purim story.
1943: During
the Jewish festival of Purim, 2300 Jews from Skopje, Yugoslavia, were deported
to Auschwitz.
1943: An
attempt to assassinate Hitler when visited a display of captured Soviet weapons
at a military museum in Berlin failed because Hitler’s schedule was changed,
and Colonel Gersdorff did not have time to detonate the bomb.
1944: Eichmann
went to Hungary to oversee German interests in a country that was still
hesitant about deporting its Jews. The Hungarians would soon capitulate to
German demands. The Hungarian Arrow Cross would be an enthusiastic participant
in the Nazis roundups.
1945: At the
end of the “Flossenberg March,” the remaining survivors of the march were
crammed into cattle cars over a three-day period and awaited further transport.
Many died of thirst. They were sent to Belsen. Only 200 of the original 1000
women survived the entire trip.
1945: Red Army
troops entered the Pruszcz, Poland, camp near Stutthof. Only about 200 women
prisoners, out of an original 1100, remained alive.
1945: Dozens
of small concentration camps in Germany were liberated by the Red Army.
1946: “The Kid
From Brooklyn” a musical comedy produced by Samuel Goldwyn and starring Danny
Kaye was released in the United States today.
1946: It was
reported today that “Dr. Stephen S. Wise, President of the American Jewish
Congress and Walter White, Secretary of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People” had “sent a joint appeal to /Governor Thomas E.
Dewey urging him to publicly endorse the Falk-Andrews Bill which would outlaw
restrictive covenants on real estate.”
1947:
According to reports published in Tel Aviv today, a combination of loans and
the Jewish Agency has been able to obtain a direct allocation of $500,000 have
made it possible to reopen five diamond plants. The plants had been closed for
the past ten weeks. Seven more plants are scheduled to reopen next week. The
money will be used primarily to purchase rough-cut diamonds which the
Palestinians can cut, polish and sell or be used to create jewelry. About five
hundred polishers will be employed in these efforts.
1947(29th of
Adar, 5707): Philip Lehman an American investment banker passed away. Born in
New York City to Emanuel and Pauline (nee Sondheim), his father, was a
co-founder of investment bank, Lehman Brothers. Philip became a partner in the
family-owned firm in 1887 and was the firm's managing partner from 1901 to
1925. He was also the first chairman of the board of the Lehman Corporation.
[1] Lehman was notable as one of the first financiers to recognize the
potential of issuing stock as a way for new companies to raise capital. Lehman
began collecting major artworks in 1911, the bulk of which he willed to his son
Robert. His collection today forms part of the exhibition in the Robert Lehman
Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9406E1DB173CE13BBC4A51DFB566838C659EDE
1947(29th
of Adar, 5707): Fifty-one-year-old Solomon “Sol” Tarlow, the Russian born son
of Wolf and Odessa Tarlowski who emigrated to the United States in 1914 under
the sponsorship of his brother-in-law Sam Stolaroff the owner of the dry goods
store in Roswell, NM where Sol was employed as a tailor while raising three
children with his wife Audra, passed away today after which he was buried at
South Park Cemetery in Roswell.
1947: In
Parliament, Churchill mocks the Labor government’s willing to “scuttle
everywhere” surrendering Egypt, India and Burma but continuing to waste
treasure on a barren Palestine policy.
1948: “Peace
in Europe depends largely on the solution there of the displaced persons
problem, Lieut. Col. Dayton H. Frost, former deputy director of the Civil
Affairs Division of the United States Army in Germany, told 1,500 delegates at
the sixty-third annual meeting of the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid
Society today in the Astor Hotel.”
1948: Two days
after Ambassador Warren Austin to the UN Security Council said that the U.S. no
longer viewed the partition as viable, an exasperated and angry President Harry
Truman wrote "The striped pants conspirators in the State Department had completely
balled up the Palestine situation."
President Truman overruled the Arabists, oil industry and self-described
foreign policy pragmatist and continued his support of the creation of a Jewish
state.
1949: “The
Undercover Man,” a film noir directed by Joseph H. Lewis and produced by Robert
Rossen was released today in the United States.
1950: In New
York City, Jackson T. Holtz of Boston, national commander of the Jewish War
Veterans (JWV) presented a 32-passenger bus to Adolf Robison, board chairman of
Material for Israel, Inc. The bus will be used to take disabled veterans from
“Tel Hashomir Hospital in Israel to” their worksites in Tel Aviv which is seven
miles away.
1951(13th
of Adar Ii, 5711): Fast of Esther; erev Purim
1951: During
the Cold War Red Scare, actor Larry Parks testified before the strangely named
House on Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) saying "I don't think
this is American justice to make me...crawl through the mud...this is what I
beg you not to do." "Despite his confessions and informing, Parks was
blacklisted."
1952: Jewish
born DJ and producer Alan Freed presented the Moondog Coronation Ball, the
first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, Ohio
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that Egypt had
joined the Islamic Union.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that
preliminary secret reparations talks between the Israeli-Jewish and German
delegations had begun at The Hague.
1952: The
Jerusalem Post was happy to announce, that together with all other Israeli
newspapers, it would no longer appear as a two-page issue but would be able to
return to four pages daily and eight pages on Friday.
1953: Edward
H. Weiss, president of Weiss and Geller spoke at Emory University’s advertising
clinic in Atlanta, GA.
1954(16th
of Adar II, 5714): Purim Meshulash
1954(16th
of Adar II, 5714): Lithuanian born Columbia educated author and journalist Dr.
Mordecai Katz who “was for many years a member of the editorial staff of the
Jewish Daily News and when this newspaper closed, became the editor of the
Jewish Courier, a daily newspaper in Chicago, which ceased publication several
years ago and who later joined the Jewish Morning Journal in New York” passed
away suddenly today while attending a birthday party.
https://www.jta.org/archive/dr-mordecai-katz-jewish-author-and-editor-dies-in-miami
1956(9th
of Nisan, 5716): Ninety-year-old Edwin Thanhouser, the Baltimore born son of
Samuel and Julia Thanhouser and actor who went on to start the Thanhouser Film
Coporation in New Rochelle, NY while raise his son Lloyd with his wife the
former Gertrude Homan passed away today after which he was buried at the
Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, NY.
1957: Before
filming of “A Fairwell to Arms” began John Huston (who was not Jewish) quit the
project in a dispute with producer David O. Selznick who replaced him as
director with Charles Vidor.
1958: Seventy-four-year-old
Hans Ehrenberg, who converted to Christianity in 1911 and founded the
Confessing Church passed away. He was
forced to flee to England by the Nazis because under their laws he was Jewish.
” Hans Ehrenberg was one of the few German Protestant theologians, even within
the Confessing Church, to publicly express his vehement opposition to the
anti-Semitism of the Nazis and publicly declare his support of the Jewish
people. He strongly urged the Protestant church to take the same stand. He
criticized Christian anti-Semitism and emphasized the similarities between
Judaism and Christianity.”
1960: David
Susskind was the Executive Producer for tonight’s broadcast of “The Master
Builder,” this week’s “Play of the Week.”
1961: "A
law was passed that sequestered for the Government 'all goods and property in
Libya, belonging to organizations or persons resident in Israel or connected to
them by professional affiliation”
1961:
Sixty-year-old featherweight 5’ 7” David Frush Jr., a native of London who
fought his first fight in 1917 passed away today in Cleveland, Ohio.
http://boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Human:52558
1961: Art
Modell “bought the old Cleveland Browns” which became the Baltimore Ravens.
1962: U.S.
premiere of “Sweet Bird of Youth” produced by Pandro Berman, directed by
Richard Brooks who also wrote the screenplay, starring Paul Newman.
1963: “The
Balcony,” a film version of the Broadway play starring Shelly Winters, Peter
Falk, Leonard Nimoy, and Lee Grant was released in the United States today.
1964: Mayor
Wagner was among those who spoke at the celebration marking the 30th
anniversary of Aufbau which was held
at the Hunter College Assembly Hall and to which “President Lyndon Johnson sent
greetings.”
1964: In
Philadelphia, the pre-Broadway run of “Anyone Can Whistle,” a musical with a
book by Arthur Laurents and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim came to an
end.
1964:
Birthdate of Bruce M. Mesner, the New York City native who anchored the defense
for the University of Maryland Terrapins before spending one season playing
pro-ball with Marv Levy’s Buffalo Bills.
1965: Martin Luther
King Jr leads 3,200 people on the start of the third and finally successful
civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Among those in the front
rank is Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel who prays with his feet as he joined King and
other civil rights leader on the march which is part of the campaign to pass
the Voting Rights Act.1966(29th
of Adar, 5726): Sixty-nine-year-old professional boxer Danny Frust, he husband
of Binnie (Cohen) Frust passed away today.
1967: “A sharp exchange
involving charges of anti-Semitism against a Soviet representative took place
today” at Geneva” between Morris B. Abram, chief United States delegate to the
United Nations Human Rights Commission and Yakub A. Osrovski, head of the
Soviet delegation, during debate on the question of the establishment of an
office of High Commissioner for Human Rights.” (JTA)
1967:
“Thoroughly Modern Millie” produced by Ross Hunter with music by Elmer
Bernstein was released today in the United States.
1967: “The
Honey Pot, a crime comedy-drama film written for the screen and directed by
Joseph L. Mankiewicz” was released in the United Kingdom today.
1968: Israeli
forces crossed the Jordan River to attack PLO bases. The organizational names
may change but the war against the terrorists has been going on for decades.
1968:
Seventy-one-year-old German born Gerhart Eisler whose father was Jewish and
mother was Lutheran and was a Communist Party operative who worked in several
countries passed away today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhart_Eisler
http://spartacus-educational.com/Gerhart_Eisler.htm
1969: Funeral
services for Mrs. Zena Maisel Pollack, a graduate of the University of Nebraska
and the administrative director of the Jewish Guild for the Blind are scheduled
to be held this morning in Manhattan.
1969:
In Cincinnati, OH, Pauline and Alexander Pappehnheimer gave birth to Cornell
University trained Mechanical Engineer Ralph Pappenheimer, the husband of
Claire and Louise Rauh Pappenheimer and the father tennis player Ralph
Pappenheimer
1969(2nd
of Nisan, 5729): Seventy-three-year-old Joseph Varbalow, the Russian born son
of Hyman and Sadie Stillman Varbalow and University of Pennsylvania trained
attorney who went on to serve as District Court Judge in Camden, NJ where he
raised a family with his wife Dorothy passed away today after which he was
buried at the Crescent Memorial Park in Pennsauken, NJ.
1969: On the
Upper West Side Lucianne Cummings, the Episcopalian literary agent whose
involvement with Monica Lewinsky helped launch her son’s career and Sydney
Goldberg gave birth to right-wing pundit Jonah Goldberg who was raised in the
faith of his father.
1970(13th
of Adar II, 5730): Start reading Vayikra on Shabbat Zachor which will be
followed by the reading of the Megillah in the evening.
1970: Eighty-nine-year-old
Somerset native George Eric Rowe Gedye who had served as a foreign
correspondent for a dozen years in the 1920’s and 1930” and was the author the
1939 tome Betrayal in Central Europe which was highly critical of Prime
Minister Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement and who provided an eyewitness of
the “brutalities and persecutions” of Jews in Austria
1971(24th
of Adar, 5731): Eighty-year-old Peretz Bernstein, “of the signatories of the
Israeli declaration of independence” and MK passed away today.
1971: “making
it” produced by Albert S. Ruddy, written by Peter Bart, starring Kristoffer
Tabori and Bob Balaban and with music by Charles Fox was released today in the
United States.
1972: Attorney
General Louis J. Lefkowitz and Senate Minority Leader Joseph Zaretsky, both of
whom were Jewish “attended the funeral today of former State Senator William F.
Condon, during which concelebrated mass of requiem was sung at the Roman
Catholic Church of Christ the King.”
1973: U.S.
premiere of “Godspell” with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz starring
Victor Garber.
1974: “Naum
Olshansky renounced Soviet citizenship and turns in his medals to the Presidium
of the Supreme Soviet.”
1974: “Jewish
activist Valery Kukui who in June of 1971 had been sentenced “three years in a
labor camp was released today which will enable him to leave for Israel in
April.
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that the 293
members of the Palestine Council ended their 13th session in Cairo with an
endorsement which called for the eventual dismantling of the State of Israel.
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin had told the nation that there were major differences
with Washington on two key issues: Israel¹s final borders and the Palestine
question.
1978:
Operation Litani, which was designed to dislodge the PLO from its bases in
southern Lebanon came to a successful conclusion.
1979(22nd
of Adar, 5739): Sixty-one-year-old Wharton School of Business graduate and WW
II veteran Merrill Lloyd Hassenfeld, the Providence, RI, born son of Henry
Hassenfeld, a pencil and toy manufacturer, and Marion Frank and CEO of Hasbro,
Inc. the toy manufacturing company resonsponsible for selling boys “dolls” by
creating the G.I. Joe “action figure” while raising his family with his wife
Sylvia Kay Hassenfeld, passed away today.
1980:
“Forbidden Zone,” a musical comedy directed and produced by Richard Elfman who
also wrote the story was released in the United States today.
1981(15th of
Adar II, 5741): On Shabbat, Soviet film director Mark Semyonovich Donskoy
passed away.
1981: Jewish
journalist Jessica Savitch married Donald Payne.
1982:
“Forbidden Zone is an American musical fantasy comedy film directed and
produced by Richard Elfman” was released today in the United States.
1983: After
almost nine years, NBC broadcast the final episode of the popular series
“Little House on the Prairie” starring Michael Landon, who along with Leo Penn
directed serval episodes, Melissa Gilbert and Jonathan Gilbert.
1984: In New
York City, author Marion Hess Pomeranc and stockbroker Abe Pomerance gave birth
to “child actor” and chess champion Max Pomerance.
1987(20th
of Adar, 5747): Parashat Ki Tisa; Shabbat Parah
1987(20th
of Adar, 5747): Sixty-four-year-old Viennese native Jacob Tabues, the husband
of Susan Tabues and instructor on Jewish studies at “Harvard, Columbia and
Princeton” passed away today in Berlin.
1989(14th
of Adar II, 5749): First Purim during the Presidency of George Bush.
1994(9th of
Nisan, 5754): Estelle Sommers passed away. Sommers got her start in the dance
world when she transformed her husband's Cincinnati piece-goods retail store
into a dancewear specialty shop. Passionate about dance since taking ballet and
tap lessons in childhood, Sommers remained committed to the dance world both
professionally and personally until her death. After a divorce and a move to
New York, Sommers married "Mr. Capezio," Ben Sommers, and her career
was thereafter linked to his. As owner-manager of Capezio Fashion Shop,
designer-owner of Estar, Ltd., and as vice president and head administrator for
six Capezio Dance-Theatre Shops nationwide, she achieved success in various
branches of retail dancewear. Along the way, she introduced Antron-Lycra/Spandex,
then a new fabric, into Capezio's dancewear, revolutionizing the industry. Due
to the nature of her business, Sommers could not support or publicly promote
any one dance company over others, but she was deeply involved in general dance
causes. She served on the boards of the Joffrey School of Ballet, the
International Dance Alliance, the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries, and the
Center for Dance Medicine. She was also committed to projects in Israel,
serving on the boards of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and the Israeli
Dance Institute. Her greatest impact may have been made as the U.S. Chairwoman
of the International Committee for the Dance Library of Israel. In this
position, which she held from 1979 until 1994, Sommers helped to establish the
Tel Aviv library as the second most important dance collection worldwide.
1995(19th
of Adar II, 5755): Eighty-six-year-old “biochemist and immunologist” Alwin Max
Pappenheimer, Jr. passed away today.
1996(1st
of Nisan, 5756): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
1996(1st
of Nisan, 5756): Ninety-year-old Dorothy Regina Fantasia, the Chicago born
daughter of Henry and Anna Gattman and wife of Peter Albert Fantasia passed
away today in Orange, CA.
1997: After
premiering in Canada six months ago, “Crash” a film based on a novel of the
same name directed, produced and written by David Cronenberg was released in
the United States today.
1997(12th
of Adar II, 5757): On the eve of Purim, a Palestinian suicide bomber murdered
Michael Avrahimi, 32; Yael Gilad, 32 and Anat Winter-Rosen, 37 when he set off
a bomb at a Tel Aviv coffee shop.
1998(23rd
of Adar, 5758): Parashat Vayakhel-Pekudi; Shabbat Parah
1998: It was
reported today that Rashid Baz, a 31-year-old Lebanese immigrant who was
sentenced to 141 years in prison for the murdering 16 year old Aaron Halberstam
and gravely wounding 22 year old Nachum Soskin, has refused to answer most
questions after having been called to testify in the civil suit brought by the
parents of the victims against ‘the seven Tennessee companies that made the
parts of the principal gun that was used in the attack.”
1999: The New York Times featured reviews of
books by Jewish authors and/or special interest to Jewish readers including
“Years of Renewal” by Henry Kissinger, “The Jewish Lover” by Edward Topol and
“Insisting on the Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land” by Victor K. McElheny.
2000(14th
of Adar II, 5760): Purim
2000: “Pope
John Paul II arrived in Israel, for a historic five-day visit, during which he
visited the holy sites of the three major religions and met with Israel’s
political leaders and Chief Rabbis.” (As reported by Mitchell Bard)
2001: “Yitzhak
Mordechai, a former defense minister and transportation minister, was convicted
today of committing ''indecent acts'' against two women subordinates.”
2001: “Palestinian Authority
Force 17 terrorists fired two mortar shells at the town of Morag in the Gaza
Strip and three mortar shells at Netzarim.”
2002: In
Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three other suspects are charged with
murder for their part in the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal
reporter Daniel Pearl.
2002(8th
of Nisan, 5762): Yitzhak Cohen, 48, of Modi'in, Tsipi Shemesh, 29 (who was 5
months pregnant with twins) and Gadi Shemesh, 34 were murdered and 47 people
were injured when a Palestinian suicide bomber detonated a bomb outside a
clothing store and toy shop on King George Street in Jerusalem
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/mar/21/israel2
2003: U.S.
premiere of “Dreamcatcher” directed and co-produced by Lawrence Kasdan with a
screenplay by William Goldman and Lawrence Kasdan.
2003: Six months after its premiere at the Toronto
International Film Festival, “Evelyn” co-starring Julianna Margulies was
released today in the United Kingdom.
2004: The New York Times featured reviews of
books by Jewish authors and/or of interest to Jewish readers including “Codex”
by Lev Grossman and the recently released paperback edition of “The Crisis of
Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror” by Bernard Lewis.
2005: “Israel
today confirmed plans to build 3,500 new housing units in the largest Jewish
settlement in the West Bank, Maale Adumim” which “already resembles a
well-ordered suburb in the hills a few miles east of Jerusalem.”
2005: Publication
of Buried by the Times by Laurel Leff which “ a critical account of The
New York Times's coverage of Nazi atrocities against Jews that culminated in
the Holocaust,” which “argues that the news was often buried in the back pages
in part due to the view about Judaism of the paper's Jewish publisher, Arthur
Hays Sulzberger” and which “gives a critical look at the work of Times
correspondents in Europe.”
2006: The
deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu probably entered Israel from Egypt, sources at
the Agriculture Ministry said yesterday. This conclusion - which ministry
officials are currently willing to offer only off the record - is based on the
fact that the virus was first discovered in southern communities (Holit and
Amioz) located near the Egyptian border. According to the officials, the
disease apparently came from Sinai via people who visited Egypt and carried the
virus back with them on their shoes, clothing or personal effects.
2007(2nd
of Nisan, 5676): Eighty-one-year-old “L. Leonard Ruben, one of Montgomery
County's best-known judges and the husband of former Maryland state senator Ida
G. Ruben,” died passed away today after he collapsed outside the district
courthouse in downtown Silver Spring.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/21/AR2007032102169.html
2007:
“Hungarian Folk,” an exploration of the Jewish-Hungarian musical traditions
featuring Magyar Khasene with Jacob Shulman-Ment and Joshua Cohen reading from
his novel A Cadenza for the Schneiderman Violin Concerto, takes place at the
Eldridge Street Synagogue.
2007: At the
Shankar School of Engineering and Design in Ramat Gat, an exhibition styled
“There’s No button without a Buttonhole” came to a close.
2007:
Raleb Majadele replaced Yuli Tamir as
Minister for Science and Technology
2008: Purim,
5768
2008: In New
York, the 92nd Street Y presents an evening with David Grossman one of Israel’s
best-known authors.
2008: Three
Kassam rockets fired from Gaza landed in open areas in the Sdot Negev region as
Purim festivities were underway in the area.
2008: “The
Band’s Visit,” the Israeli film about an Egyptian band stranded in a village in
the Israeli film opens in a most unusual venue, the Fleur Cinema & Café
in Des Moines, Iowa.
2009: Shabbath
Hahodesh - The Sabbath of the Month; Completion of Shemot, the Book of Exodus.
2009: The 92nd
Street Y presents Erev Shira, tuneful evening where members of the audience
sing along to their favorite Israeli hits and classics of the past 60+ years,
accompanied by a singer and live band! Erev Shira is part of the Merchav Ivri
Hebrew programming initiative.
2009: Police
foiled a terror attack at a Haifa mall tonight.
2009: Idina
Mentzel “was an Honorary Chair of the Imperial Court of New York's Annual
Charity Coronation Ball, Night of A Thousand Gowns
2009: An air
disaster was narrowly averted this afternoon when an Iberia passenger plane
came dangerously close to a Cargo Air Lines jet as the two aircraft were
preparing to land at Ben-Gurion International Airport.
2010: The New York Times featured reviews of
books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including
“Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History”
by David Aaronovitch, “Backing Into Forward: A Memoir” by Jules Feiffer, and
“Blooms of Darkness” by Aharon Appelfeld
2010: Keshet
is scheduled to host its 22nd Annual Rainbow Banquet.
2011: Gina
Waldman is scheduled to speak at Congregation Edmond J. Safra where she will
discuss “how her experience of anti-Semitism growing up in Libya, and her
family’s expulsion from their ancestral home there, led her to become a human
rights activist.”
2011(15th of
Adar II, 5771): Shushan Purim
2011(15th of
Adar II, 5771): Seventy-six year old movie executive Joe Wizan passed away.(As
reported by Dennis McLellan)
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/25/local/la-me-joe-wizan-20110325
2011: The
field hospital Israel is establishing in Japan is the first to be set up by any
nation offering outside assistance, Israel’s Ambassador to Japan Nissim Ben
Shitrit said today, and the Japanese are extremely appreciative.
2011: An
Israel Air Force fighter jet struck a Gaza tunnel running along the border with
Israel, as well as Hamas militants in the northern Gaza strip today, an IDF
statement confirmed.
2012: The Sy
Kushner Klezmer Ensemble is scheduled to perform as part of the East Village
Klezmer Series
2012: Yael
Shahar - Director at Israel’s Institute for Counter-Terrorism is scheduled to
present "Cyber-Terrorism: Threats and Counters" sponsored by The
Israel Project.
2012:
“Obsession” is scheduled to be shown tonight at the 16th Annual New York
Sephardic Jewish Film Festival.
2012: After
signing a one-year contract with the Minnesota Vikings, Geoff Schwartz played
right guard for 13 games.
2012: Yeshiva
University Museum is scheduled to present 5th Annual Writers on View featuring
artist Sebastian Mendes and writers and poets Terese Svoboda, Willie Perdomo,
Ken Chen, Janet Kaplan, Aldina Vazão Kennedy, Matthew Thorburn, Rachel Zucker,
Tracy K. Smith and Sima Rabinowitz
2013: Dr.
Elliot Lefkovitz, Loyola University and Spertus Institute faculty member is
scheduled to review and discuss Bernard Wasserstein’s On the Eve: The Jews of Europe Before the Second World
War, a 2012 National Jewish Book Award finalist.
2013: YIVO
Institute for Jewish Research is scheduled to present a lecture by Professor
Melissa Klapper author of Ballots, Babies, and Banners of Peace: American
Jewish Women's Activism, 1890-1940
2013: Art
Garfunkel and Paul Simon’s “The Sounds of Silence” was named as one 25
recordings selected for preservation by the Library of Congress.
2013(10th
of Nisan, 5773): Ninety-five year old Rabbi Hershel Schacter, who was serving
with the U.S. Army’s VIII Corps when it liberated Buchenwald making him the first
U.S. Army chaplain to enter the camp where he would later conduct services
passed away today. Among those whom he
personally rescued was 7-year-old Yisrael Meir Lau, the future chief rabbi of
Israel.2013: The Kubbeh Project hosted by Zucker Bakery on East 9th
Street is scheduled to come to an end.
2013: President Obama
visited the Israel Museum seeing the Dead Scrolls at first hand and delivered
an address to young Israelis in Jerusalem.
2013: The Memphis
State University “Tigers defeated Saint Mary's 54–52, giving Mark Pastner his
first NCAA tournament victory as a head coach.”
2013: “During US
President Barack Obama's official visit to Israel, Palestinians in Beit Hanoun
fired four rockets at the Israeli city of Sderot, triggering alarms in local
communities and forcing residents on their way to work or school to run to bomb
shelters
2013: Four rockets
were fired at Israel out of Gaza this morning, as red alert sirens rang out in
south, breaking a tense several month calm in the area.
2013: “Dominican
Ambassador Aníbal de Castro will joinedLatino and Jewish communal leaders in
Washington DC today for a special screening of the film Sosúa: Make a Better
World as part of an effort by the American Jewish Committee to promote
inter-communal dialogue.”
2014: “The Real
Inglorious Bastards” is scheduled to be shown this afternoon at the Houston
Jewish Film Festival.
2014 In Jerusalem,
traffic is scheduled to come “to a standstill from 5:30 am through 1:30 pm as
runners race through the streets in a marathon with “a finish line on Haim
Hazaz Boulevard alongside Sacher Park.” (As reported by Jessica Steinberg and
Rebecca McKinsey)
2014: Coe College is
scheduled to host a lecture by Dr. Waitman Beorn, the Louis and Frances Blumkin
Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at University of Nebraska – Omaha
entitled “Marching into Darkness: The Wehrmacht and the Holocaust in Belarus.”
2014: The Tulane
Jewish Studies Department under the Chair of Dr. Brian Horowitz is scheduled to
host the annual Strug Lecture delivered this year by Dr. Robert Abzug on
"'Not in Our Town': Christians, Jews, and Skinheads in Billings, Montana, 1993-94."
http://tulane.edu/liberal-arts/jewish-studies/
2014:
“The Israeli military announced today that it had uncovered a tunnel from Gaza
into Israel meant for carrying out a terror attack, and rejected a Hamas claim
that the find was an old tunnel.”
2014:
“Kenyan Ronald Kimeli Kurgat became the fastest ever person to run the
Jerusalem Marathon.”
2015:
“Arlo and Julie” is scheduled to be shown this evening at the Northern Virginia
Jewish Film Festival.
2015:
Captain Jerry Yellin, who “flew the final combat mission of WW II” visited Iowa
Jima today at which time he paid homage to his wingman a nineteen-year-old
Jewish pilot 2nd Lt. Philip Schlamberger who was the last airman
killed in combat during WW II.
2015(29th
of Adar, 5775): Ninety-two-year-old Miriam Bienstock of Atlantic Records fame
passed away today.
2015:
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is scheduled to host Angela
Schluter speaking about “The Nazi Officer's Wife: How one Jewish Woman Survived
the Holocaust”
2015:
The 5th J Street National Conference is scheduled to begin today.
http://conference.jstreet.org/2016:
Donald Trump is scheduled to address the AIPAC conference this evening because
“It is of paramount importance that our community develops a constructive
relationship with whomever wins their respective party nomination and thus
could be elected president,” according to an AIPAC official.
2016(11th of Adar II, 5776):
Seventy-nine-year-old Hungarian native Andy Grove who survived the Nazis and
the Communists to become the CEO of Intel passed away today.
https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/21/11280004/andy-grove-intel-ceo-dies
2016(11th of Adar II, 5776): Seventy-seven-year-old
entertainment lawyer and television host Leon H. Charney passed away today.
2016: The 92nd Street Y is scheduled
to host “Bridge to Beethoven III” with violinist Jennifer Kohn and pianist Shai
Wosner.
2016: As part of the Jews in the American South
tour Rhetta Mendelsohn will lead a “Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, the country’s
fourth oldest congregation (founded 1749) and the birthplace of Reform Judaism
in the United States, at its 1840 Greek revival temple” followed by a meeting
with “Dr. Dale Rosengarten, curator of the Jewish Heritage Collection at the
College of Charleston to learn more of the story of 300 years of Charleston
Jewish life and a visit to the Coming Street Cemetery, resting place of the largest
and wealthiest Jewish community in colonial America.” (Editor’s note: Hopefully including these
items will help people see the broad sweep of the American Jewish experience
and not think of it as something confined to New York and its environs.”
2017: The YIVO Institute is scheduled to
sponsor a lecture by Jack Jacobs on the “Political Thinkers Of East European
Jewry” where he “will focus on the ideas of Dubnow, Zhitlowsky, Pinsker,
Ahad Ha’am, Syrkin, Borochov, Scherer, and Jabotinsky.”
2017: “As part of the the Home Front Command
exercise, the incoming missile alert system in southern Israel was tested this
morning” (As reported Judah Ari Gross)
2017(23rd of Adar, 5777): Seventy-seven-year-old
Chicago Bulls’ general manager passed away today. (As reported by Richard
Goldstein)
2018: Due to the fourth major snow storm to hit
the northeast in the last several weeks, the Streicker Center canceled all
events and classes today including “Being Jewish in America in the Age of
Trump.”
2018: The Center for Jewish History is
scheduled to present Professor Eric H. Cline, author of Biblical Archaeology: A
Very Short Introduction and Kristin Romey, the archaeology editor of National
Geographic Magazine discussing “Mysteries of the Bible: Biblical Archaeology.”
2018: The 6th Global Forum for
Combating Antisemitism is scheduled to come to an end today in Jerusalem.
2018: Despite “a Federal Government shutdown
due to a snow emergency,” Morris “Moe” Berg and Eugene Polinsky were among the
13,000 men and woman of the OSS who “finally received the Congressional Gold
Medal today during a ceremony at the U.S. Capital building.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34O_OzoTcFY
2018: The Marlene Meyerson JCC in Manhattan
host a live recording of “Unorthodox, Tablet’s flagship podcast featuring guest
appearances by Bart Campolo and former Senator Joe Lieberman.
2018: In Cedar Rapids, IA the Hadassah Book
Club is scheduled to discuss The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain.
2019: Forbidden Music, “an exploration of
forgotten masterworks written by composers living under the shadow of
oppressive regimes and perished in the Holocaust” is scheduled to open tonight
in the San Francisco Bay area.
2019: “For the second time in its 165-year
history, Levi’s, “the maker of denim and Cockers which traces its roots to the California
Gold Rush,” is scheduled to start trading on the public markets today. (As
reported by Sapna Maheshwari)
2019: The Federation-Goldring-Woldenberg Major
Donor Dinner is scheduled to take place this evening in New Orleans
2019: The Boca Raton Jewish Film Festival is
scheduled to host screenings of “The Interpreter,” “The Jewish Underground” and
“A Rose in Winter.”
2019: In Little Rock, AR, Chabad, under the
leadership of Rabbi Pinchas Ciment, Shaliach par excellence, is scheduled to
host a “Royal Purim Feast and Masquerade Party complete with a multimedial
megilla reading.
2019(14th of Adar II, 5779): Purim;
read the megillah.
2020: In Los Gatos, Ca, “The Duomo and the
Great Synagogue,” “a talk about two great structures in Florence, Italy, by
Magnes curator Francesco Spagnolo and author Ross King, an expert on
Brunelleschi’s Duomo (dome)” scheduled for today has been cancelled due to the
Pandemic.
2020: In New Orleans, the Limmudfest Meeting
scheduled for today was cancelled due to the Pandemic.
2020: Chabad of Novato’s Rabbi Landa, Cantor
Ari and guitarist Jonathan Kersonky are scheduled to host a “virtual community
Havdalah.
2020(25th of Adar II, 5779): In
response to the Pandemic, Agudas Achim Congregation in Coralville, IA is
scheduled to conduct its first live streaming service on Zoom starting at 9:30.
2020(25th of Adar, 5780): Parashat
Vayakhel- Pekuday; Shabbat HaChodesh
2021: The New York Times features
reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers
including The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson, Last Call by Elon
Green and the recently released paperback edition of Bubblegum by Adam
Levin.
2021:
Sommelier David Glancy is scheduled to host an S.F. Wine School tasting during
which he will talk about the evolution and diversity of Israeli wines,
especially kosher and for Passover.
2021: The American Sephardi Federation is
scheduled to present the 8th episode of Sephardic Culinary History
with Chef Helene Jawhara Piner, Ph. D which this time will be featuring “a
Mexican Crypto-Jewish Passover Dish.”
2021: Jewish Gateways is scheduled to present
chef Andrea Quinn demonstrating how to make haroset with dried apricots and
pistachios and flourless almond cookies filled with chocolate ganache.
2021: The “B’nai Jershurun Sisterhood is
scheduled to Host “Art Through the Lens of Marjorie Falk.”
2021: Temple Tiferet Shalom of the North Shore
is scheduled to present “filmmaker, playwright, klezmer musician and cultural
interpreter Ruti Lachs who will present a celebration of an Irish Jewish
community via Zoom.”
2021: Jews and Cabo Verdeans around the world
are scheduled join together online for an international event whose theme is “A
Celebration of Resilience” which will the “15th Cape Verdean-Jewish
Passover Seder.”
2021: Michelle Greenebaum of Together in the
Kitchen is scheduled to teach kids online how to mix, roll and bake matzah,
with parental supervision.
2021: Filmmaker, playwright, klezmer musician and cultural interpreter Ruti
Lachs will present a celebration of an Irish Jewish community via Zoom.
2022: JWI is
scheduled to celebrate 10 extraordinary Jewish women who are changing their
industries, communities, and the world” at gala luncheon and awards
ceremony.
2022: “After
Criticism, Film Museum Will Highlight Hollywood’s Jewish History” published
today examines the how a museum devoted to the history of movie making could
leave out the Jewish immigrants — white men all — who were central to founding
the Hollywood studio system” with “barely a mention of Harry and Jack Warner,
Adolph Zukor, Samuel Goldwyn or Louis B. Mayer, to list just a few of the
best-known names from Hollywood’s history.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/21/movies/academy-museum-jewish-founders.html?searchResultPosition=6
2023: Lockdown
University is scheduled to host a lecture by Jeremy Rosen on “The Rise of
Reform Judaism in Nineteenth Century Germany: Did it Succeed in its Aims?”
2023: Kornit
Fashion Week 2023 is scheduled to continue for a third in Tel Aviv.
2023: The Sir
Martin Gilbert Center is scheduled to host a lecture by Dr. David Kenyon on
“Bletchley Park and D-Day.”
2023: The Streicker
Center is scheduled to host a conversation with Academy Award winner Elinor
Burkett and Andrew Meier author of Jewish Dynasties: The Morgenthaus Power,
Privilege and the Rise of a New York Dynasty.
2023: All decent
human beings mourn the passing of 32-year-old Or Eshkar, who died yesterday, 11
days after he was shot by a gunman who opened fire outside a cafe on the corner
of Dizengoff and Ben Gurion streets.
2023: In Cedar
Rapids, the group discussing Everybody Loves Dead Jews is scheduled to discuss
the three chapters dealing with dead American Jews is scheduled to have its
last session which will include the requisite siyyum.
2024: Today, Facebook
author Doron Hamburger is scheduled to arrive at Agnon House for a face-to-face
meeting, where attendees “will get to know a writer whose confessional work, in
the tradition of such contemporary writers such as Karl Ove Knausgaard are carved
into a powerful new genre - instant writing on the web.”
2024: In Berkley,
CA, Urban Adamah is scheduled a screening of “Ziyara,” a “ocumentary following
director Simone Bitton’s pilgrimage to Morocco to connect with her Jewish
roots, in which she meets the Muslim guardians of the country’s Jewish
cemeteries” followed by Q&A and discussion.
2024: As part of
a series presented online, Congregation Sherith Israel is scheduled to “In
Focus: Israel and Gaza” during which “Consul General of Israel Marco Sermoneta
discusses the Israel-Hamas war.”
2024: JWA Book
Talks are scheduled to continue today with editors Tahneer Oksman and Nancy K.
Miller whose Feminists Reclaim Mentorship: An Anthology “illuminates the
obstacles and urgency to form intergenerational feminist connections.”
2024: YIVO is
scheduled to host “Is Anything Okay? – The History Jews and Comedy in America.”
2024: At Temple
Judea, Rabbi Feivel Strauss and Stuart Lockman are scheduled to “share their
experiences from their solidarity missions to Israel.”
2024: Lockdown
University is schedule to host a lecture by Dr. Giora Goldman on "You
Don't Mess with the Zohan": Israel's Evolving Relationship with the US
Jewish Community.
2024: At the Sazerac
House in New Orleans, Stephen Sontheimer and Bill Henry are scheduled to be
honored at the annual Jewish Family Fundraiser.
2024: The
Synagogue Seniors are schedule to meet this morning at Agudas Achim in Coralville,
IA.
2024(11th
of Adar II, 5784) Fast of Easter which is usually observed on the 13th
of Adar is scheduled to be observed today because with one exception Jews do
not fast on Shabbat and will include morning and afternoon services and the giving
of the machatzis hashekel – the half shekel coins. For more see https://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/
2024: As March
21st begins in Israel, the Hamas held hostages begin
day 167 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.)
