This Day, March 25, In Jewish History by Mitchell A and Deb Levin Z"L
March 25
972: Sviatoslav I who had
conquered the Khazarian kingdom in 969 after which the Khazar Jewish population may have
assimilated or migrated in part passed away today.
1271: King Jaime (Kings
James I of Aragon) freed all the Jews in Murv…
972: Sviatoslav I who had
conquered the Khazarian kingdom in 969 after which the Khazar Jewish population may have
assimilated or migrated in part passed away today.
1271: King Jaime (Kings
James I of Aragon) freed all the Jews in Murviedro, a city in Valencia of debts
from Christians. It should be noted this came after the Christians burned down
a synagogue, and then were forced to rebuild it themselves.
1303(7th of Nisan):
Massacre of the Jews of Weissensse, Germany
1488: Obadiah ben
Abraham of Bertinoro “a 15th-century Italian rabbi best known for his popular
commentary on the Mishnah, commonly known as "The Bartenura" arrived
in Jerusalem where he rejuvenated the moribund Jewish community.
1510: Birthdate of
Normandy native Guillaume Postel the linguist, diplomat and Cabbalist who
“became the first scholar to recognize the inscriptions on Judean coins from
the period of the Great Jewish Revolt as Hebrew written in the ancient
"Samaritan" character” and who collected Latin translations of the
Zohar, the Sefer Yetzirah, and the Sefer ha-Bahir, the fundamental works of
Jewish Kabbalah” as well as other Cabbalistic texts, such as his own commentary
on the Cabbalistic significance of the Menorah, which he published in 1548 in
Latin and subsequently in Hebrew.”
1525: Three years after
the fall of Rhodes, the janissaries revolted against Suleymann, ransacking the
palace of Ibrahim Pasha and looting the Jewish Quarter of Constantinople.
1541: Birthdate of
Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany whose son would turn Tuscany into
a haven for Sephardic Jews fleeing the Inquisition.
1584: “Queen Elizabeth
I granted Sir Walter Raleigh a charter for the colonization of an area in North
America” that would lead him to recruit Joachim Gans to join the expedition
which make Gans “the first recorded Jew in Colonial America.”
1597(6th of
Nisan, 5357): Rabbi Samuel Judah Katzenellenbogen, known as “Samuel Judah of
Padua, the son of Rabbi Meir ben Isaac Katzenellenbogen and the father of Saul
Wahl passed away today.
1601(21st of
Adar II, 5361): Doña Mariana was tried and put to death at an auto-da-fé held
in Mexico City today. She was one of the two surviving daughters of Doña
Francisca, who had been put to death earlier. The entire family had been found
guilty of the same crime – relapsing from Catholicism to Judaism. Only the
youngest daughter would escape death.
1601: More than 100
people appeared in the sanbenito at the auto de fe in Mexico today.
1735: For the year
beginning today, Jews accounted for 13 of the entries in the journal recording
maritime trade for the port of New York.
1737: In New York City,
Hanna Mears and Abraham Isaacks gave birth to Moses Isaacks, the husband of
Rachel Mears with whom he had fourteen children.
1748: “For the quarter
beginning today there were seven Jewish entries”. “Jacob Rivera had three
entries and Mordecai Gomez, Jacob Franks, Samuel Naphtali and Abraham Hart had
one each.”
1758(15th of
Adar II, 5518): Parashat Tzav; Shushan Purim
1762: In Philadelphia,
PA, Prague native Mathias Bush and Tabitha Bush gave birth to David F. Bush.
1766(15th of
Nisan 5526): Pesach
1769(16th of
Adar II, 5529): Parashat Tzav
1769: Birthdate of
Wurttemberg native Levi Abrahams, the husband of Roseanna Linderman and father
of Hester and Maria Abrahams, both of whom were born in Philadelphia.
1790: In North
Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Madel-Mathilda Cohen, the “daughter of Isaac Jacob
Gans and Pesse Pauline Leah Gans” and her husband Abraham Herz Cohen gave birth
to Philip Abraham Feibusch-Cohen
1795: Birthdate of Zvi
Hirsch Kalischer, a German born Orthodox Rabbi who supported the Zionist ideal
before it officially became a movement.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/zevi-hirsch-kalischer
1796(15th of
Adar II, 5556): Shushan Purim
1798: In Baltimore, MD,
Philadelphia native Frances Gratz and Reuben Etting gave birth to Benjamin
Etting, the husband of Harriet Marx whom he married in 1830 at Richmond, VA and
with whom he had six children.
1801: In Padua, Baruch
Hayyim Almanzi, a wealthy merchant and his wife gave birth to Joseph Almanzi
“an Italian Jewish bibliophile and poet.”
1807(15th of Adar II,
5567): Shushan Purim on the same day that in the United Kingdom, the Slave
Trade Act received Royal Assent.
1809: In Groningen,
Holland, Elizabeth Speyer and Benjamin Moses Van Praagh gave birth to Morris,
Van Praagh, the husband Sarah Boam the father of Rebecca and Lawrence Van
Praagh and the President of The Hambro Synagogue.
1810(19th of
Adar II, 5570): Jochem (Jochanan) David de Mets-Maarsen who had been born in
Amsterdam in 1728 and married Marianne Abraham passed away today in the
Netherlands.
1813: Birthdate of Leopold von Kaulla the “attorney at the
supreme court of Bavaria” and “director of the Hofbank at Stuttgart” who “reorganized
some of the institutions founded by his family, transferring them to Stuttgart,
where they were incorporated under the name of "Kaulla'sche
Familien-Stiftung" by King William I. of Württemberg on March 18, 1856.”
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9248-kaulla
1817: Tsar Alexander I
recommended formation of Society of Israeli Christians, whose primary function
was to convert Jews to Christianity. It failed.
1822: In Stockholm,
Beata Levin and Salomon Josephson gave birth August Abraham Josephson, the
husband of Augusta Hortensia Jacobbson with whom he had three children and who
may be have been a relative of the painter Ernst Josephson.
1828: Shaare Chesed,
which was re-named Touro Synagogue, the first congregation formed in New
Orleans was incorporated today.
1829: In York Place
Queens Elm, Sophia and Nathaniel Levy gave birth to Maria Levy.
1830(1st of
Nisan, 5590): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
1830(1st of
Nisan, 5590): On the Jewish Calendar, Yahrzeit of Rabbi Saul Shiskes of Vilna
1831: “The Colonial Act
of William IV which passed the Legislature “today” removed any restraint or
disabilities under which persons professing the Hebrew religion” in Barbados
“then labored and subjected them like other persons to fines and penalties for
the non-performance of duties.
1835: In London, Esther
and John Nathan gave birth to Samuel Nathan
1835: Birthdate of
Amsterdam native Phoebe Neuburger, the wife of Levy Duis.
1838: In Albany
founding of Congregation Beth-El which in 1885 joined with Anshe Emeth to form
Congregation Beth Emth whose members included Julius Laventall, Henry W. Lipman
and Isaac Brilleman.
1838: In Jamaica,
Hannah and Isaac Kursheedt gave birth to Edwin Israel Kursheedt
1839: Birthdate of
Solomon Hirsch, “one of the early leaders of Portland, Oregon’s Jewish
Community who “with Jacob Mayer and Louis Fleischner, Hirsch was one of the
founders of Fleischner, Mayer and Co., the largest wholesale dry goods company
on the West Coast” and the “Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to
the Ottoman Empire from 1889–1892”
1840: During the
Damascus Affair, Adophe Cremieux, vice president of the Central Consistorie of
French Israelites, hears the appeals Jews from the Syrian community seeking
relief for the Jews who have wrongly been imprisoned. A future member of the
Chamber of Deputies, this Sephardic lawyer, takes up the cause of his
co-religionists enlisting the support of no less than Adolphe Thiers, the
French Prime Minister.
1841: Louis Lowe who
had been praised by the Board of Jewish Deputies “for his efficient assistance
to Sir Moses Montefiore “was presented to Her Majesty, Queen Victoria” today.
1842(14th of
Nisan, 5602): Ta’anit Bechorot; Erev Pesach
1843(23rd of
Adar II, 5603): Parashat Shimini; Shabbat Parah observed as the Great Comet
begins to move away from the earth.
1844: In Mannheim,
Grandy Duchy of Baden, Jacob Abraham Cohen and his second wife Friederike
Ettlinger gave birth to Ferdinand Cohen-Blind, the brother of Mathilde Blind
who committed suicide after his failed attempt to assassinate Otto Von Bismark.
https://academicinfluence.com/people/ferdinand-cohenblind
1845(16th of
Adar II, 5606): Fifty-seven-year-old Isaac Russell, the son of Philip and
Esther Russell and the husband of Perla Sheftall Russell passed away today
after which he was interred in the Mordecai Sheftall Museum in Savannah, GA.
1846: Sir Walter
Charles James, 1st Baron Northbourne and “Sarah Caroline, the daughter of
Cuthbert Ellison” gave birth to Walter James, 2nd Baron Northbourne the Liberal
political leader who in 1906 called on the British government to make public
“any consular or other reports concerning the anti-Jewish outrages in Russia”
because “he thought the publication of any such reports might indirectly have
some effect in inducing the Russian Government to do its best to remedy
conditions that outraged the civilization of the twentieth century.” (Editor’s
note - I have not been able to find a reason why this member of the British
aristocracy spoke out on behalf of the Jews during the Pogroms in Russia.)
1848: In Germany Marx
Mordechai Pfaelzer and Karoline/Gitel Pfaelzer gave birth to Morris Moses
Pfaelzer, the Philadelphia jeweler who married Sophie Pfaelzer with whom he had
two children – Frank Pfaelzer and Henrietta Stern
1852: In Russia, Elias
Rogoff and his wife gave birth to Odessa and Konigsberg trained cantor Moses
Rogoff the cantor at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Detorit.
1860: Austrian banker
Jonas Freiherr von Königswarter was knighted today.
1861(14th of
Nisan, 5621): As the storm clouds of secession roll across America, Jews on
both sides of the Mason-Dixon line sit down to the Seder tonight on the first
night of Pesach.
1861:
Thirty-one-year-old Henry Straus, a native of Alsace living in Jackson, MS
enlisted in the Confederate Army today.
1863: Barcuh Castello
married Sophia Woolf today.
1863: In Louisville,
KY, “Moritz (Morris) Flexner, an immigrant from Neumark, Bohemia, via several
years in Strasbourg, France; and his wife Esther from Roden, Germany” gave
birth to Simon Flexner a fighter against all diseases. He probed and pushed to
find the causes and cures for human ailments. As a result of his work, he
became the director of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. His
brother Bernard became a famous lawyer and an ardent Zionist. Another brother,
Abraham, was the first director at the Institute for the Advanced Study at
Princeton. Simon went to the University of Louisville to study medicine and
received his M.D. in 1889. Finding that the laboratories at the school had very
few supplies, he acquired a microscope and taught himself how to use it. He
then went to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore to study pathology. He soon
began to publish papers on pathology and in 1892. He became an associate in
pathology in the newly opened Johns Hopkins Medical School. He became involved
with many epidemics, including one of cerebrospinal meningitis in western
Maryland in 1893. In 1899, he was in Manila where he found the strain of
dysentery bacillus that became known as the Flexner type. In 1901, the
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research was created and he was chosen to be
one of seven members on the board of scientific directors. He was asked to
organize and direct the laboratories on medical research. This concept of
research was new to America and it was financially secure through the
Rockefellers' endorsements. In 1905, New York City was hit with a severe
epidemic of cerebrospinal meningitis, which Flexner had encountered 12 years
before. He experimented with monkeys until he found a serum to conquer the
disease. In 1907, he found himself trying to fight an epidemic of poliomyelitis
which had spread through the eastern states. He was able to isolate the
infectious agent but he couldn't find a cure, since the disease was caused by a
filterable virus rather than a bacterial organism. His discovery laid the basis
for others to find polio vaccines some 40 Years later. Simon was the only
editor of the Journal of Experimental Medicine for 19 years. During this time
he wrote many articles on public health, research and education. In World War
I, he was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the Army Medical Corps and went
to Europe to inspect and establish the medical facilities of the expeditionary
forces. After the war, his role in the Rockefeller Institute became greater,
and now included involvement in the animal pathology department at Princeton.
Flexner was active in many organizations and became an officer of quite a few.
He retired from the Rockefeller Institute in 1935 and a year after was
appointed an Eastman Professor at Oxford University. He died in 1946, leaving
behind a legacy in the field of pathology.
1864: The Jewish Chronicle published the following
description of the death of famed musician Isaac Nathan who had died in January
of that year. Mr. Nathan was a passenger by No. 2 tramway car […] [he] alighted
from the car at the southern end, but before he got clear of the rails the car
moved onwards […] he was thus whirled round by the sudden motion of the
carriage and his body was brought under the front wheel. “The horse-drawn tram
was the first in Sydney: Nathan was Australia's (indeed the southern hemisphere's)
first tram fatality.”
1865: Captain Leopold
Meyer of Philadelphia completed his three year enlistment as a member of
Company C of the 113th Regiment – Twelfth Cavalry.
1866: Two days after
she had passed away, the former Rebecca Arrobas, the wife of David Hyams and
the mother of Rachel and Abrahm Hyams was buried today at the West Ham Jewish
Cemetery.
1867: In Saxe-Weimar,
Germany, Nathan Riesman and Sophie Eisman gave birth University of Michigan and
University of Pennsylvania educated doctor David Riesman, the professor of
Clinical Medicine at the Philadelphia Polyclinic and College for Graduates in
Medicine and visiting physician at the Philadelphia General Hospital and Jewish
Hospital who edited the American Text-Book of Pathology and was the father of
sociologist David Riesman, the author of the best-selling The Lonely Crowd.
1869(13th of Nisan,
5629):Ta'anit Bechorot
1869: “The Jewish
Passover” published today reported that “tomorrow evening at sundown the feast
of the Passover will be commenced by Israelites everywhere, in commemoration of
their ancestors having remained intact on the night when all of their oppressors,
the Egyptians, were smitten by the angel of death.
1869: The New York Times reports that “To-morrow
evening at sundown, the feast of the Passover will be commenced by Israelites
everywhere, in commemoration of their ancestors having remained intact, on the
night when all the first-born in the families of their oppressors. the Egyptians,
were smitten by the angel of death. The feat will continue eight days, during
which but unleavened bread will be eaten…On the first and second evenings
various commemorative rites will be indulged in in every household including
the recital of Scriptural and legendary narratives, and familiar conversations
on the subject of the deliverance. Appropriate psalms will also be chanted.”
1870: It was reported
today that the ladies of the B’nai Jeshrun Benevolent Society in New York have
established an Industrial Home for impoverished Jewish Women.
1870: In Bohemia,
Joachim and Barbara (Eisenschimmel) Sabath, gave birth to Judge Joseph Sabath,
who in 1885 came to the United States where he studied law in Chicago with his
brother Congressman Adolph J. Sabath and lived with his wife Regina
Mayer.Sabath.
1871: In the Suwałki
Governorate of Congress Poland, a part of the Russian Empire Duvvid Schubart
and Katrina Helwitzin gave birth to Levi Schubart who gained fame as Lee Shubert, the “American theatre
owner/operator and producer and the eldest of seven siblings of the theatrical
Shubert family.”
http://www.shubertfoundation.org/about/brothers.asp
1872(15th of Adar II,
5632): Shushan Purim
1872: Today, “the Royal
Navy launched its first armour-cased iron vessel, the ironclad H.M.S. Thunder”
which had “been built by Samuda Brothers, Jewish marine engineers and ship
builders.” MG 108
1873: Birthdate of
agronomist Selig Suskin, a native of the Crimea who was one of the founders of
Be’er Tuvia, and a delegate to the Sixth Zionist Congress.
1874(7th of
Nisan, 5634): Leading Hungarian tobacco merchant Simon Wolf Schossberger De
Torna, “who in 1862 became the first Hungarian Jews elevated to the nobility by
Emperor Francis Joseph I” and whose son “Sigmund von Schossberger was the first
Jew to be created a Baron in Hungary” passed away today.
1874: Birthdate of
Russian born American chazzan Zevulun "Zavel" Kwartin
1875: La Périchole,
“an opéra bouffe in three acts by Jacques Offenbach” was part of a triple bill
that opened today at the Royalty Theatre in London.
1875: In
Aldershot, Portsmouth native Julia Phillips and Russian born Mayer Woolfson
gave birth toe Lionel Woolfson.
1877: In Alpena,
Michigan, the Hebrew Benevolent Society met today and decided that their
meeting room would “be used for holding ‘prayer meeting on the following Holy
Days despite the fact that a dispute had broken out over a “divergence” between
Orthodox and Reform beliefs.
1877: Birthdate of
Milton Moses Portis, the native of Riceville, Canada who came to the U.S. in
1880 where he earned a B.S. from the University of Chicago and an M.D. from
Rush Medical College.
https://ihm.nlm.nih.gov/luna/servlet/detail/NLMNLM~1~1~101439778~192222:-Milton-M--Portis-
1878: Birthdate of
Samuel Goldstein, the native of Odessa who gained fame as Sidney M. Goldin “an
American Jewish silent film director as well as a prominent writer, actor and
producer for Yiddish theater during the early 20th century” who worked with such
luminaries as “Molly Picon, Maurice Schwartz and Ludwig Satz.”
1878: Rabbi Abram
Isaacs is scheduled to deliver a lecture tonight on “A Hero of the Synagogue”
at the 34th Street Synagogue in New York City.
1879(1st of Nisan,
5639): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
1880: In an article
explaining the origins of Easter Eggs, the New York Times reports that “the old
Jews introduced eggs at the feast of Passover…”
1880(13th of
Nisan, 5640): Fifty-nine-year-old Ludmilla Assing German-born Italian author,
the daughter of Dr. David Assing and Rose Marria Assing passed away today in
Florence.
1880: Miss Emita Wolf
and Mr. Lewis May were married this evening at the home of Mr. Charles Wolf,
the prominent New York banker who is the brother of the bride. The groom is
President of Temple Emanu-El and “the head of a large banking house at No. 33 Broad
Street in New York City.
1881: Among the winners
of the Grave Prize Essays at Williams College was Austin B. Bassett of Albany,
NY who wrote on “Ancient and Modern Jew.”
1881: Rabbi Nahum
Levison of Safed and his wife gave birth to Sir Leon Levison, a convert who
became the “first president of the International Hebrew Christian Alliance,”
founded “the Russian Jews Relief Fund” and the “Palestine Jews Relief Fund” and
married Kate Barnes, the daughter of John Barnes, with whom he had four
children and made his home in Edinburgh.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1936/11/26/85439276.pdf
1882: A fire broke out
at nine o’clock tonight at a tenement house located at 159 Attorney Street in
New York destroying a supply of Matzah which a baker named Louis Schoenthal had
stored on the building’s first floor. Schoenthal claims that the Matzah which
he had prepared for the upcoming holiday of Passover was worth $6,000.
Fortunately, he has insurance which should cover the loss.
1883(16th of Adar II,
5643): Shushan Purim observed since the 15th of Adar fell on Shabbat.
1883(16th of
Adar II, 5643): Pressburg, Hungary born Austrian rabbi, Simon Schreiber, “the
foremost leader of the Orthodox Jews in Galicia in religious as well as worldly
matters” who was elected to the Austrian Parliament in 1879 passed away today
at Cracow.
1883(16th of Adar II):
Rabbi Simeon Sofer of Galicia, founder of Mahazikei ha-Dat passed away
1884: In New York City,
Moses and Amelia Ottinger gave birth to Lawrence Ottinger, the founder of the
United States Plywood Corporation, the brother of realtor Leon Ottinger, State
Supreme Court Justice Nathan Ottinger and New York State Attorney General
Albert Ottinger, and husband of “former Louise Lowenstein” with whom he had two
children, Richard and Patricia Ottinger.
1886: University of
California trained engineer and George Washington University trained attorney
Morris Bien, the New York City born son of Theresa Leipold and Joseph Bien and
future resident of Takoma Park, married Lilla Virginia Hart today.
1887: In Lithuania,
Rosa Feinberg gave birth University of Pennsylvania graduate and Yeshiva
Mishkan Yistrole trained Rabbi Louis Finberg, the spiritual leader of the
“Adath Israel Congregation” and husband of Rosa Rauneker Feinberg with whom he
raised two daughters and one son, Mordecai Feinberg.
1888: In New York, Mrs.
Mary Isaacs, the mother of six, was the first of over eight hundred poor Jews
who received meat orders courtesy of funds raised by Mrs. M. Rosendorff. This
was part of an annual project to provide food for the city’s poor Jews so that
they can celebrate Passover.
1888: In Russia, Sam
and Bella Hamburg gav birth to St. Louis businessman Sam Hamburg, Jr., the husband
of Dora Hamburg and President of the Hamburg Realty and Investment Company who
was a director of the Federation Jewish Charities of St. Louis, president of
the Orthodox Old Folks Home in St. Louis and a member of B’nai Amoona
Congregation.
1888: Birthdate of New
York City native and WW I Jacob Julian Aper, the Columbia trained dentist.
1889: Birthdate of Bazar, Russia native Philip Kravitz, Dayton,
OH, businessman who was president of Beth Abraham Synagogue who passed away in April
of 1966
https://www.bethabrahamdayton.org/welcome/bas-story/
1890: Zadoc Kahn was
inducted as Chief Rabbi of France, a position to which he had been elected in
1899 following the death of Chief Rabbi Isidor. Kahn “then entered upon a
period of many-sided philanthropic activity. He organized the relief movement
in behalf of the Jews expelled from Russia, and gave much of his time to the
work of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, which elected him honorary
president in recognition of his services. He aided in establishing many private
charitable institutions, including the Refuge du Plessis-Piquet, near Paris, an
agricultural school for abandoned children, and the Maison de Retraite at
Neuilly-sur-Seine, for young girls. He was appointed Chevalier of the Legion of
Honor in 1879 and Officer in 1901. He was also Officer of Public Instruction.
He was one of the founders, the first vice-president, and, soon after,
president, of the Société des Études Juives (1879). He was considered a
brilliant orator, and one of his most noteworthy addresses was delivered on the
centenary of the French Revolution — "La Révolution Française et le
Judaïsme".
1891: T. H. French and
Frank Daniels have purchased tickets so that all of the children attending the
Industrial School supported by the United Hebrew Charities can attend this
afternoon’s performance of “Little Puck” at the Grand Opera House. (Frank Daniels
was a stage actor who would pursue a film career in the early days of
cinema. He was not Jewish – just
generous)
1891: In the Court of
Common Pleas, Joseph Abrahamson, a wealthy young Jew, changed his his name to
Joseph Abraham Edison.
1892: Two days after
she had passed away, the former Cecilia Samuels, the wife of Phillip Joseph
Salomons with whom she had had five children before marrying Sir David
Salomons, MP was buried today at the Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.
1893: “Russian Hatred
of Jews” published today described yet another manifestation of anti-Semitism
in the Czar’s Empire where “grain speculators and merchants” are forming “a new
produce exchange from which Jews will be excluded.”
1894: In New York City,
Frederick Fred Margareten, the Hungarian born Son of Rabbi Yoel/Joel Margareten
and Julia Yetta Margareten and his wife Regina Margareten gave birth to Julia
Ellenbogen, the wife of Louis Ellenbogen and the Mother of Esther Helen Gelber;
Joseph Ellenbogen and Regina Selma Mitouer
1894: As the United
States copes with an economic depression, the Finance Committee of the 6-15-99
Club, a businessmen’s funded relief organization allocated $1,600 to various
charities including $100 to the United Hebrew Charities.
1894: In San Francisco,
Isadore and Jennie Baruh Zellerbach gave birth Harold Lionel Zellerbach, the
graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, who was a senior executive with the
Crown Zellerbach Corporation, patron of the arts and husband of “the former
Doris Joseph a daughter, Mrs. Stephen N. Loew Jr.” with whom he had two sons,
Stephen and William.
1895: In Lithuania,
Bessie and Rabbi Ber Boruchoff gave
birth Boston University trained attorney Raphael Phillip Boruchoff, the husband
of Celia H. Boruchoff who 1905 came to Malden, MA where he was a member of the City
Council and President of the YMHA.
1895: In Austria,
Israel and Chaie Sarah Ashkenas gave birth to future Cleveland resident Bertha
(Ashkenas) Feierman the husband of Samuel Feierman with whom she had two
daughers, Frances and Lois.
1896(14th of
Adar, II, 5746): Purim
1896: Reverend Henry Yates Saterlee, who in 1903 delivered a
sermon in which he said, “The Jews are preserving the home and family
better than we Christians are doing” and that while “I do not know how to
account for this, but I do know it to be fact” was consecrated today as the
First Episcopal Bishop of Washington.
1896: The Monte Relief
Society which was started by former opera star Sofia Nueberger who is now known
as Sofia Monte Loebinger and 16 women in 1893 now has 350 members. Mrs.
Monte-Loebinger continues to serve as President. Other officers including Louise Simon – Vice
President; Mollie Teschner Recording Secretary; Emma Marx – Financial
Secretary; Carrie Heyman – Treasurer.
1898: “Vaudeville for
Poor Children” published today described a vaudeville show performed by members
of the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society for the
benefit youngsters under the care of the society and the Montefiore Home.
1899(14th of
Nisan, 5659): Parashat Tzav; Erev Peach
1899 (14th of Nisan,
5659): This evening, as Jews begin the observance of Pesach, services are held
at New York’s Temple Emanu-El conducted by Rabbi Joseph Silverman and Dr.
Gustav Gottheil with Mr. Sparger serving as Cantor.
1899: “The Hebrew
Passover At Hand” published today described the observance of the holiday that
“s the anniversary of the going of the Children of Israel out of Egypt and
their freedom from bondage under Pharaoh.” “During the feast no leaven is
eaten” but “with the more radical Jews the feast is not now closely observed,
and the unleavened bread is not eaten, but a quantity is kept at the table…”
1900: Today Rabbi Henry
S. Morais of Newport offered the opening prayer at the “seventh biennial
convention of the Jewish Theological Seminary Association” which “was held at
the Baron de Hirsch School under the leadership of its President, former Assemblyman
Joseph Blumentha.
1901: Birthdate of
British anthropologist Camillia Wedgwood, the daughter of Josiah Wegwood, the
British leader who spoke out against appeasement and supported the settlement
of Jews in Palestine in opposition to the White Paper. “From 1937 she was secretary of the German
Emergency Fellowship Committee, which included Max Lemberg and Sydney Morris.
She pleaded the cause of Jewish and non-Aryan Christian victims of Nazi
persecution before (Sir) John McEwen, minister for the interior. In close
contact with her father, she raised money for refugee passages to Australia,
but confided to her sister Helen that she felt like 'a mouse nibbling at a
mountain'. She publicly protested against the treatment of the internees in the
Dunera and the refugees in the Strouma which sank in the Black Sea.” (As
reported by David Wetherell)
1902: Herzl is informed
that the Sultan studied his plan. Herzl is asked what plans he has for the
regulation of the Turkish debts under more favorable conditions than those
submitted by the French.
1903: Among the
earliest arrivals this afternoon at the Speedway “was Nathan Straus behind his
favorite trotting Cobwebs who was in fine form and at his top speed” which made
“it somewhat difficult to find a driver who was willing to risk defeat by starting
with him.”
1903: Herzl met Lord
Cromer and Boutros Ghali in Cairo.
1903: In London, “Rosa
Enoyce and George Barnes” gave birth to Gertrude Maud Barnes, the actress known
as “Binnie Barnes.)
https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/30/arts/binnie-barnes-95-actress-known-for-her-feisty-roles.html
1903: The Zionist
Commission led by Leopold Kessler and including Selig Soskin, Dr. Hillel Yaffe,
and Colonel Albert Goldsmid returned to Suez.
1903: The Jewish
quarter of Port Said, Egypt was invaded and looted by Arabs in consequence of
an earlier ritual murder charge that took place on September 17, 1902.
1904: Anatole Leroy
Beaulieu visited Hebrew Union College.
1905: University of
Pittsburgh trained medical doctor Luba Robin Goldsmith, the Ukrainian born
daughter of Beatrice Malamud and Nathaniel Goldsmith married Dr. Milton
Goldsmith today.
1905: The New York Times reviews “Volume 9,” the
newest volume of The Jewish Encyclopedia to be published. Eventually there will
be a total of 12 volumes. “Volume Nine” opens “with a record of the Marawezyk
family of Polish scholars that flourished during the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, and closes with the Philippson family, a family of German authors
and scientists, who rose to fame in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.”
1906: In Pleschen,
Ruschka and Alfred Pinczower gave birth Dr. Kurt Pine, the refugee from
Hitler’s German who earned an M.A. and Ph.D from Yale while developing into a
noted social worker and raising a family with his wife Bessie Miriam Pine.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1962/05/21/94102891.pdf
1907: The East Side
Business Men’s Protective Business Association continued their annual
distribution Matzoth and Matzah flour to the poor Jews
1908: It was reported
today that Ethel Levy will begin to appear at Keith Proctor’s vaudeville next
month.
1909: “The Majesty of
Birth, “a comedy…under the direction of Cohan and Harris” which “deals with the
intermarriage of Jews and Gentiles” opened today in Trenton, NJ. (Harris was
Jewish, Cohan was not)
1909: In Denver, CO,
Dora Lazarus and Same Levinson gave birth to Jerry Levinson who gained fame as
American songwriter Jerry Levingston, the husband of Ruth Schwarz and the father
of Gary Livingston who helped to write "It's the Talk of the Town",
"Under a Blanket of Blue", "Blue and Sentimental",
"Close to You", "Mairzy Doats", "Wake the Town and
Tell the People", "The Twelfth of Never", and "Young
Emotions".
1910(14th of
Adar II, 5670): Purim
1910: Birthdate of
Benzion Mileikowsky, the native of Warsaw who gained fame as Benzion Netanyahu,
a leading Jewish historian whose son Benjamin became Prime Minister of Israel.
(As reported by Douglas Martin)
1910: Birthdate of “the
deaf Jewish artist, David Ludwig Bloch who was one of the 10,911 Jewish men interned
at the Dachau Concentration Camp after "Kristallnacht", or the Night
of Broken Glass, in November, 1938” and who after his release was able to
emigrate to China.
https://www.lbi.org/exhibitions/art-exile/david-ludwig-bloch
1911: Birthdate of Jack
Ruby, the man who killed Lee Harvey Oswald.
1911: The discovery of
the mutilated body of Andrei Yishinsky, near Kiev, Russia, led to the infamous
trial of Mendel Beilis on ritual-murder charges
1911(25th of
Adar, 5671): In New York City, 146 garment workers died in the Triangle
Shirtwaist Company Fire in a time when there were no effective pesky
regulations regarding the health, welfare and safety of workers. Many of the victims were young immigrant
Jewish girls working in the sweatshop environment of the garment industry. The
first helped spur the formation of the International Ladies Garment Workers
Union. Approximately 500 workers were sewing shirtwaists in the Triangle
Shirtwaist Company's sweatshop near Washington Square in Manhattan when a fire
broke out. The building lacked adequate fire escapes, firefighting equipment
was unable to reach the top floors, and — most tragically — exit doors had been
locked to prevent unauthorized breaks. Some women, unable to reach an exit,
jumped from ninth- and tenth-floor windows in a vain effort to save themselves.
The fire did its work within twenty minutes. In the end, 146 died and many more
were injured. Most of the dead were recent immigrant Jewish and Italian women
between the ages of sixteen and twenty-three. Just two years before, the Jewish
owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company had been among the targets of the
strike known as the uprising of the 20,000, which had sought union recognition
through the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU). Though the
strike had forced some firms to settle with their workers, Triangle had fired
union members there and remained an anti-union shop. In the wake of the fire,
the Jewish community and leading women in the labor movement sprang into
action. The Women's Trade Union League (WTUL), a cross-class coalition that
worked as an ally of the ILGWU, organized a public meeting at the Metropolitan
Opera House on April 2. There, Rose Schneiderman, the leader of the 1909
strike, called upon all working people to take action. Three days later,
500,000 people turned out for the funerals of seven unidentified victims of the
fire. Under pressure from the ILGWU, the WTUL, and others, New York State
established a Committee on Safety in the wake of the fire. In addition, the
state legislature set up a Factory Investigating Committee, which drafted new
legislation designed to protect workers. Their recommendations included
automatic sprinkler systems and occupancy limits tied to the dimensions of exit
staircases. Thirty-six labor and safety laws were passed in the three years
after the fire, thanks to the agitation of working people.
Even as these
regulations went into effect, the site of the Triangle fire remained a rallying
point for labor organizing. Some survivors, galvanized by their experience,
went on to lifetimes of labor activism. Frances Perkins, who witnessed the
fire, later became Secretary of Labor under Franklin Roosevelt. She said that
the Triangle Fire was what motivated her to devote her career to helping
workers. The last survivor of the fire, Rose Rosenfeld Freedman, died in 2001
at age 107.
1911: Louis Waldman was
a shocked member of the crowd on the street that witnessed the catastrophic
Triangle Waist Company fire of 1911, an event which clearly always remained
with him and served as one of the landmarks of his life. Waldman described the
grim scene in his 1944 memoirs:
"One Saturday
afternoon in March of that year — March 25, to be precise — I was sitting at
one of the reading tables in the old Astor Library... It was a raw, unpleasant
day and the comfortable reading room seemed a delightful place to spend the remaining
few hours until the library closed. I was deeply engrossed in my book when I
became aware of fire engines racing past the building. By this time I was
sufficiently Americanized to be fascinated by the sound of fire engines. Along
with several others in the library, I ran out to see what was happening, and
followed crowds of people to the scene of the fire.
"A few blocks
away, the Asch Building at the corner of Washington Place and Greene Street was
ablaze. When we arrived at the scene, the police had thrown up a cordon around
the area and the firemen were helplessly fighting the blaze. The eighth, ninth,
and tenth stories of the building were now an enormous roaring cornice of
flames."Word had spread through the East Side, by some magic of terror,
that the plant of the Triangle Waist Company was on fire and that several
hundred workers were trapped. Horrified and helpless, the crowds — I among them
— looked up at the burning building, saw girl after girl appear at the reddened
windows, pause for a terrified moment, and then leap to the pavement below, to
land as mangled, bloody pulp. This went on for what seemed a ghastly eternity.
Occasionally a girl who had hesitated too long was licked by pursuing flames
and, screaming with clothing and hair ablaze, plunged like a living torch to
the street. Life nets held by the firemen were torn by the impact of the falling
bodies.
"The emotions of
the crowd were indescribable. Women were hysterical, scores fainted; men wept
as, in paroxysms of frenzy, they hurled themselves against the police
lines."
1911(25th of
Adar, 5671): Seventeen-year-old Tillie Kuperschmidt died in the Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory Fire. Along with many others, her tombstone is still
standing at the Hebrew Free Burial Association's Mount Richmond Cemetery.
1912: Birthdate of
Louis Pollock, the husband of Marian Pollock, who passed away at the age of 90,
just a month after his wife had passed away.
1912:
Thirty-one-year-old Benjamin Berenson, the Russian born son of Charles and
Dorothy Berenson Shapiro who in 1899 arrived in New York City where he went
from being a carpenter, to being a general contractor to being a bank vice
president while joining serving as board member for the Shield of Abraham, the
Beth Abraham Home for Incurables and the Montefiore Hospital married Frances
Shapiro today. Shapiro who in 1899 arrived in New York City where he went from
being a carpenter, to being a general contractor to being a bank vice president
while joining serving as board member for the Shield of Abraham, the Beth
Abraham Home for Incurables and the Montefiore Hospital
1913: It was reported
today, that starting on March 27, Young Israel will begin hosting “a series of
lectures illustrated by stereopticon views, showing the condition of Jews in
various countries in the world.”
1914:
Sixty-seven-year-old Theodore Samson Samuel, the London born son of Isaac
Samuel and Fanny Heilbronner was buried today at the “Pere Lachaise Cemetery”
in Paris.
1915: Professor H.L.
Sabsovich, the General Agent of the Baron De Hirsch Fund and the First Mayor of
the Jewish Colony at Woodbine, is scheduled to be buried today at Woodbine, NJ.
1915: In Camden, NJ,
Rabbis Brenner and Friedman of Philadelphia, PA officiated at the dedication of
a new synagogue at 419 Arch Street. The
officers of this reform congregation included Barnard Levin, President; Jacob
Tarter, Vice President; Louis Levin, Secretary and Max Greenberg, Treasurer.
1915: As The Great War
rages across Europe, Albert Einstein wrote from Berlin to the French writer and
pacifist, Romain Rolland “When posterity recounts the achievements of Europe,
shall we let men say that three centuries of painstaking cultural effort
carried us no farther than from religious fanaticism to the insanity of
nationalism? In both camps today even scholars behave as though eight months
ago they suddenly lost their heads.”
1915: As the Gallipoli
Campaign gave rise to all kinds of flights of political fancy, “The British
Colonial Secretary, Lewis Harcourt, sent the members of the War Council a
memorandum headed ‘The Spoils’ in which he suggested that, on the defeat of
Turkey, Britain…should offer the Holy Places (in Palestine) as mandate to the
United States” (How different History might have been had the United States
been an active participant in the settling of the Jewish homeland immediately
after WW I.)
1915: The largest
segment of the civilian population of Prezemysl which has just been occupied by
the Russians was composed of a few thousand Jews who had remained after the
general evacuation of the town last October.
1915: It was reported
today that Europeans, Ottomans and the Jews are fleeing the Turkish capital
because of fear of the Russians
1915: After two and
half years, “Mortche” Goldberg is scheduled to be arraigned today in General
Sessions where he will face an indictment charging that he, along with his wife
Rosie Goldberg, Louis Barusch and Gussie Cohen were the officials of the Vice
Trust which maintained forty “resorts” in New York City which divided nearly
$1,250,000 a year in profits and $400,000 yearly for protection to the police.
1915: “Judge Leonard S.
Roan of the Court of Appeals of Georgia who sentenced Leo Frank to death in
1913 is scheduled to be buried at the Fairburn Cemetery in Fairburn, GA.
1916: A bazaar
organized by the People’s Relief Committee to raised fund for Jews suffering in
the war zones is scheduled to begin today at the Grand Central Palace where
attendees will have a chance to purchase items valued at more than $100,000.
1916: A preliminary
conference where plans for the proposed Jewish Congress will be discussed is
scheduled to begin today in Philadelphia.
1917: “Editors and
publishers of Jewish daily newspapers” published in New York City “met at the
Summer home of Samuel Untermyer at Greystone, on the Hudson, this afternoon
“and organized the Jewish League of American Patriots.
1917: In Philadelphia
at the 29th annual meeting of the Jewish Publication Society,
President Simon Miller, officially announced the “publication of a new Jewish
Bible” which will appear in two editions – “a popular edition designed for
congregations and Sabbath schools and an India paper edition, interleaved with
blank pages for the use of scholars and students.”
1917: Today, the formal
pledge of loyalty adopted by the Mayor’s Committee was sent to the membership
of The Independent Order of Israel so it can be recited at “a patriotic mass
meeting which will be held at the Floral Garden so “that the Jews of Greater
New York may give joint public expression of their loyalty and devotion to the
flag.”
1917: The Central
Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering Through the War of which Harry
Fischel is the Treasurer received contributions from committees in Cincinnati
($400), Meridian, Mississippi (391), Salt Lake City ($101) and San Francisco
($1,500).
1917: A review of The
Chosen People by Sidney L. Nyburg was published today.
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t0tq5rk8z;view=1up;seq=7
1917: Today “a
cpmferemce was held in the rooms of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association” “for
the purpose of securing for Richmond proper representation in the congress to
be held in Washing which will consider how the religions and political rights
of the Jews in the warring nations of Europe can be best procured” which marked
the first that delegates “from all three congregations” in Richmond, VA,
participated in the same meeting.
1918: Lucien Millevoye
the French right-wing anti-Semitic politician who delivered numerous public
attacks on Dreyfus during the 1890’s passed away today in Paris.
1918: It was reported
today “that the unleavened bread obtained for the Jewish soldiers here during
the Passover season cannot be used because” it was “handled by those of another
faith” so “it will be made into pudding” while the Quartermaster Department
will be the expense of obtaining a new supply.
1918: In Winston-Salem,
NC, Isidore Cohen and Nellie Rosenthal Cohen gave birth to Howard Cosell, a
Brooklyn trained lawyer who gained fame as a sportscaster and was part of the
trio of on-air talent that made Monday Night Football a national event. As to
being Jewish, Cosell once said he remembered "going to school in the
morning, a Jewish boy. I remember having to climb a back fence and run because
the kids from St. Theresa's parish were after me. My drive, in a sense, relates
to being Jewish and living in an age of Hitler. I think these things create
insecurities in you that live forever, and your desire to offset them is a
drive to accumulate economic security."
1919: The Committee of
Jewish Delegations is formed during the Peace Conference at Versailles
1919: Grigori
Yakovlevich Sokolnikov completed his second term as a full member of the
Politburo
1920(6th of
Nisan, 5680): Seventy-year-old Mathilda Ochs, the Mount Washington, KY born
daughter of Agatha Schwab and Maier Ochs and the wife of Louis Tachu whom she
married I Louisville, KY in 1871 passed away today.
1920: It was reported
today that the State Department has authorized the Joint Distribution Committee
for Jewish Relief in New York City to serve as a recipient for private funds
for transmission to Jews in Poland which can be transmitted at no cost to the
sender.
1921(15th of
Adar II, 5681): Shushan Purim
1921: Arab
demonstrations begin in Haifa protesting Jewish immigration. Following police
action designed to break up the gatherings, anti-Jewish riots broke out “during
which ten Jews and five policemen were injured” by the rioters.
1921: It was reported
today that “Eugene Meyer, Jr. of New York” has been “elected Managing Director
of the War Finance Corporation” which “will be an important factor in promoting
foreign trade” during the administration of President Warren Harding.
1922(25th of
Adar, 5682): Parashat Vayakhel-Pekdui
1922: Rabbi Maurice H.
Harris is scheduled to give a sermon “Life” at services this morning at Temple
Emanu-El.
1922: At Temple Israel
in Manhattan, Rabbi Newman is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “The Spiritual
Revival.”
1922: Dr. Krass is
scheduled to lead Saturday morning services at Central Synagogue in Manhattan.
1923: Sir Herbert Samuel, High Commissioner of Palestine
denied the demands of the Arab Executive
Sir
Herbert Samuel, High Commissioner of Palestine, “that those arrested in the demonstration of March 14th to
celebrate the success of the Arab boycott of the Legislative Council elections
be released and that the Jerusalem chief of police be placed on trial for
causing their arrest.” (As reported by JTA)
1923: Birthdate of
Murray Klein, the driving force behind making Zabar’s Delicatessen into a New
York institution.
1924: “In
Thomashefsky's National Theatre there was staged with Lebedeff in the title
role, "Mendel in Japan, an operetta by Rakow and Rosenberg, lyrics by
Gilrod, music by Peretz Sandler."
1925: Bantamweight
Herman “Kid” Silvers” (Herman Silverberg) fought his 8th bout which
resulted in his second professional loss.
1925: On a visit to
Palestine, Lord Balfour of Balfour Declaration Fame, who is still a supporter
of the Zionist cause, drives from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem stopping to visit with
Jewish settlers and Arab Sheiks, “who told him they lived quite happily in proximity
with their Jewish neighbors.”
1925: Dr. David de Sola
Pool, rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue addressed a dinner of the
Jewish Education Association at the Hotel Astor in New York City. He strongly
supported the need “for Jewish religious education entirely free from the public
schools. He voiced his support for the public schools remaining non-sectarian
while calling for an improvement in the quality of Jewish education which will
ensure the teaching of Jewish values, culture and character.
1925: In a speech
delivered at the City College of New York, Rabbi Stephen Wise called on Jews
all over the world to contribute to the support of the newly created Hebrew
University which will officially be inaugurated on April 1.
1926: It was reported
today that “a committee of presidents of the Jewish women’s organizations” in
New York City are scheduled to “meet at Temple Emanu-El to discuss plans to
raise the $500,000 quota of the women’s division the United Jewish Campaign
1927: Rabbi Jonah B.
Wise, the son of the late Rabbi Isaac M Wise and Dr. Nathan Krass, the rabbi at
Temple Emanu-El delivered ‘the principle addresses” at services tonight marking
the observance of the 80th anniversary of the found of The Central
Synagogue at Lexington and 55th Street.1929: Montefiore Hospital for
Chronic Diseases decided today to seek a fund of $1,200,000 to provide more
modern facilities for wheelchair custodial cases. S.R. Guggenheim donates
$50,000 and intends to given a similar sum when an additional $1,150,000 has
been raised from other sources.
1928: In Sheboygan, WI
Rabbi Rub is scheduled to officiate at the funeral and burial of
forty-four-year-old grocery store owner John Peykel who came to Sheboygan, WI
thirty years ago and who was a member of Ahavas Sholum congregation and of
Davis Lodge, B’nai B’rith
1929: Der rote Kreis
(The Crimson Circle) a British-German crime film directed by Frederic Zelnik
and starring Otto Walberg was released in Berlin today.
1929(13th of
Adar II, 5689): Fast of Esther
1930: George J.
Feldman, of Boston, for a number of years the secretary to Senator David I.
Walsh, of Massachusetts, has resigned to accept appointment as special attorney
of the Federal Trade Commission, with the New York office of the Commission.
(As reported by JTA)
1931:
“The gist of a proclamation issued tonight by the Palestine Arab Executive” was
“that the Arabs definitely do not intend negotiating with Dr. Chaim Weizmann or in initiating peace talks.
1932: “British policies in Palestine” were “assailed in a
statement issued” today “by the executive committee of the World Union of
Zionist-Revisionist” by Joseph Samler, a member of the organization.
1933: “Along with
Julius Brodnitz, Heinrich Stahl, Kurt Blumenfeld and Martin Rosenblüth, Max
Naumann was one of the Jewish activists who were summoned to a meeting with
Hermann Göring” today where the Number 2 Nazi tried to enlist their help in
preventing a rally against Nazi antisemitism which was planned in New York City
for 27 March.”
1933: “Daring
Daughters,” based on a story by Sam Mintz was released today in the United
States.
1934(9th of
Nisan, 5694): Sixty-six-year-old George Joseph Stern, the son of Pinkus and Ida
Stern and the wife Husband of Bertha Elisabeth Stern passed away today.
1934: Birthdate of
feminist writer and activist Gloria Steinem creator of Ms Magazine. Born into a
dysfunctional family in Toledo, Ohio, she loved to watch Shirley Temple movies,
hoping to be rescued miraculously from poverty, just like the little girl on
the screen. Her first book, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983)
wasn't published until she was almost fifty. Steinem said, "A woman
without a man is like a fish without a bicycle."
1934: Birthdate of
Rabbi Berel Wein There is no way to do justice to this eminent, literate,
Jewish scholar. For those interested in finding out more about him, you might
begin at
1935: Reynaldo Hahn's three
act French opera “Le marchand de Venise” based on “The Merchant of Venice” was
first performed at the Paris Opéra,
1935(20th of Adar II,
5695): Poet and translator Alice Julia
Lucas - the sister of C.G. Montefiore, the wife of barrister Henry Lucas and
the sister-in-law of Sir Arthur Lewis – who was the founder and President of the
Jewish Study Society whose works included Translations from the German Poets of
the 18th and 19th Centuries, published in 1876 and
Talmudic Legends, Hymns and Paraphrases published in 1908, passed away today.
1936: Funeral services
for Mrs. Alice Davis Menken, “whose efforts did much to establish a more humane
trend in the field of penology” and the widow of New York attorney Mortimer M.
Menken are scheduled to be held at the Riverside Memorial chapel followed by
“burial in the Spanish and Portuguese Cemetery at Ridgewood, Queens.”
1936: “Jews from almost
forty countries found homes in Palestine during 1935, according to a report
made public” today “by the United Palestine Appeals which seeks $3,500,000 for
settlement work this year.”
1936: “An explanation
of the Slaughter Reform Bill and a defense of the attitude of the Polish
Government…were included in a letter to Dr. Cyrus Adler, president of the
American Jewish Committee made public today by the Polish Embassy” in
Washington, D.C. (Editor’s note – Jews in Poland saw this bill as an attack on
Kosher slaughtering and another manifestation of the anti-Semitism gripping
parts of that country.)
1936: In the U.S.
premiere of “Ever of “Everybody’s Woman,” the only Italian film directed by Max
Ophuls.
1937: Mr. and Mrs.
Hyman Werner of 20 East Seventy-sixth Street announced the engagement of their
daughter, Miss Jean Werner, to Leonard L. Katz, son of Mr. and Mrs. Gustav W.
Katz of Baltimore.
1937: The Palestine Post reported that Petah
Tikva had become Palestine’s second purely Jewish town and had been granted
municipal status. The newly formed municipal council was to consist of 15
councilors, of whom one was to be mayor and another deputy mayor.
1937: The Palestine Post reported that Mr.
Ormsby-Gore, the Colonial Secretary, told the House of Commons that many
arrests had been made in Northern Palestine, but the security situation in the
South was better. Meanwhile Rehovot police fought a short battle with Negev
Bedouin, searched their encampments and made some arrests.
1937: “The Seventh
Heaven” starring Simone Simon, whose father would die in a concentration camp
and featuring Gregory Ratoff and J. Edward Romberg was released today in the
United States.
1938: Birthdate of
Decatur, AL, native and Auburn University graduate Alan Goodman Koch, the right-handed
pitcher with the Washington Senators and Detroit Tigers who perused a legal
career after the Major Leagues.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kochal01.shtml
1938: In Poland, after
several attempts, the Seym outlawed the ritual slaughter of meat. The bill was
never enforced because the Seym dissolved in September during the Czech crisis.
1939(5th of
Nisan, 5699): Parsahat Vayikra
1939: Rabbi Samuel H.
Goldenson is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “Self-Preservation and the Moral”
at Temple Emanu-El.
1939: Rabbi Jonah B.
Wise is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “The Life of Isaac M. Wise” at the
Central Synagogue.
1939: Rabbi Hyman Judah
Schachtel is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “Judaism and Democracy” at the
West End Synagogue.
1939: “Blackwell’s
Island” a crime thriller starring John Garfield was released by Warner Brothers
today
1939: Birthdate of
Carolyn Goldmark Goodman the Bryn Mawr College graduate who married Oscar
Goodman whom she followed as Mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada.
1940: Birthdate of
Susan Fromberg who became famous as Susan Fromberg Schaeffer, a novelist with a
gift for evoking complex characters in the grip of extreme psychological stress
and physical suffering, notably in “The Madness of a Seduced Woman” and the
Vietnam War novel “Buffalo Afternoon.” (As reported by William Grimes)1940:
Birthdate of “Larry Rosen, the music producer and digital-audio entrepreneur
who was best known as a founder of the pop-jazz record label GRP…”
1941: Today’s agreement
by Prince Paul of Yugoslavia to join forces with Germany led to a coup
thwarting the alliance which triggered an invasion of Yugoslavia. (from “The
History of the Jewish People”)
1941(27th of Adar,
5701): Dr. Froim Ephym Syrkin, the brother of the Zionist leader Nachum Syrkin
(of blessed memory) passed away today at the age of 52. For the last five
years, Dr. Syrkin has been serving as the superintendent of Beth Moses Hospital
in Brooklyn. Born in Russia in 1889, Dr. Syrkin served with the Russian Army
Medical Corps during World War I before starting a medical practice in post-war
Warsaw where he also served as regional director for the American Joint
Distribution Committee. Syrkin came to the United States in 1920 and worked at
the Beth Abraham Home and Hospital for Incurables in the Bronx and the
Bronxwood Sanitarium before going to work for Beth Moses in 1936. Syrkin was a
bachelor who was survived by his mother and three sisters, two of whom are
doctors.
1942: The government of
the Slovak Republic began to deport its Jewish citizens today. The Slovak
Republic was one of the countries to agree to deport its Jews as part of the
Nazi Final Solution. Originally, the Slovak government tried to make a deal
with Germany in October 1941 to deport its Jews as a substitute for providing
Slovak workers to help the war effort. After the Wannsee Conference, the
Germans agreed to the Slovak proposal, and a deal was reached where the Slovak
Republic would pay for each Jew deported, and, in return, Germany promised that
the Jews would never return to the republic. The initial terms were for
"20,000 young, strong Jews", but the Slovak government quickly agreed
to a German proposal to deport the entire population for "evacuation to
territories in the east". The willing deportation was only the latest in a
series of anti-Semitic actions taken by the government. Soon after gaining its
“independence,” the Slovak Republic began a series of measures aimed against
the Jews in the country. The Hlinka's Guard began to attack Jews, and the
"Jewish Code" was passed in September 1941. Resembling the Nuremberg
Laws, the Code required that Jews wear a yellow armband, banned intermarriage
and denied Jews the opportunity to hold a variety of jobs.
1942: Seven hundred
Jews from Polish Lvov-district reached Belzec Concentration camp
1942: The second wave
of deportations of the Jews of Laupheim took placed today when “a large number
of them were transported to Poland.”
1942: Lazar Kaganovich
completed his second term as People’s Commissar for Transport.
1943: Birthdate of
William H. Ginsburg, the Philadelphia-born California lawyer best known for
representing Monica Lewinsky.
1943: A second group of
Macedonian Jews who had been imprisoned in tobacco warehouses in Skopje was
shipped to the Treblinka Death Camp.
1943: In a surprise
move, 97% of all Dutch physicians went on strike against Nazi registration
1943: One thousand Jews
are deported from Marseilles, France, to the Sobibór death camp.
1943(18th of Adar II,
5703): The Jewish community from Zólkiew, Poland, was marched to the Borek
Forest and executed. [Ed. Note – Who says Kaddish for these people?]
1943: An anonymous
letter written by a non-Jewish German citizen, critical of Nazi
ghetto-liquidation techniques, was forwarded to Hitler's Chancellery. There is
no record of the author’s name or his/or her fate.
1944: In the Ukraine,
the Ghetto at Bar was liberated.
1944: The Germans plan
to start deporting the Jews of Volvos today were thwarted thanks to a warning
received by the town’s Archbishop, Joachim Alexopoulos who work with the chief
rabbi, Moshe Pessah “to find sanctuary for the city’s Jews in the mountainous
villages of Pelion.” (As reported by Amanda Borschel-Dan)
1944: After weeks of
political wrangling and German invasion, official word came that Hungary was
ready to deal with its Jewish "problem".
1944: In response to
last night’s attacks by members of the Stern Gang, the government imposed a
curfew on the Jewish sections of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Hadar Hacarmel in
Haifa.
1945: After 87
performances, the two-act musical composed by Arthur Gershwin “A Lad y Says
Yes” closed at the Broadhurst Theatre.
1945: Leopold Prince
served as conductor of the City Amateur Symphony during the concert this
afternoon at the Museum of Natural History in New York.
1946: The
Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry heard testimony from twelve witnesses today
in Jerusalem. Among those testifying were Golda Meyerson representing the
General Federation of Jewish Labor in Palestine, Sami Taha representing the
Arab Worker’s Society who “called Zionism a trick of British Imperialism” and
E.A. Ghory who “said that Palestine Arabs were supported against Zionism by the
entire Moslem world.”
1946: “A shipload of
illegal immigrant arrived” off the coast of Tel Aviv tonight. Several of the
immigrants evaded capture by the British and reportedly “found shelter” in the
homes of Jews living in Tel Aviv.
1946: In the first
outbreak of its kind since the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry arrived in
Palestine, unidentified attackers stuck the Saronoa police camp.
1947: Meir Feinstein, a
British army veteran, Daniel Azulai, Massoud Bouton and Moshe Horowitz appeared
before a three-man military tribunal to answer charges that they were
responsible for the bombing of a Jerusalem railway station last October
resulting in the death of a British constable. The quartet will face the death
penalty if they are found guilty.
1947: A bank in Tel
Aviv was robbed today in broad daylight by a gang believed to belong to the
Irgun.
1947: In what appears
to be another example of an on-going conflict among Arabs over the sale of land
to Jews, gunmen attacked the home of Fakhri Eddine, a prominent Arab living in
Beisan, seriously wounding five men and a girl.
1948: Birthdate of
Eliezer Kalina who lost his leg during the Yom Kippur War and went on to be a
Gold Medal Winning Paralympic Champion.
1948(14th of Adar II, 5708): Purim
1948(14th of Adar II, 5708): Sixty-four year old
German native Richard B. Feibelmann the holder of a
Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Munich who went from teaching
to research chemist to chemical company manager before, in 1935, coming to the
United States where “he developed starch solubilization processes for use in
the textile and paper finishing industries” while raising his daughter with his
wife Carla passed away today.
1948: “Two mines
exploded under an unescorted Jewish convoy north of Gaza,” killing one
unidentified Jew.
1948: As fighting
continued today “along the Jaffa-Tel Aviv border” ten Jews were wounded when
“four mortar shells fired by Arabs fell in southern Tel Aviv and “squads of the
Haganah resumed shellfire at dawn” aimed “at Arab positions.”
1949: The Scientific
and Cultural Conference for World Peace arranged by a CPUSA front organization
and sponsored by Herbert Aptheker opened today in New York City.
1950(7th of
Nisan, 5710): Parashat Vayikra
1950(7th of
Nisan, 5710): Fifty-six-year-old Sorrey, Russia born rabbi and lawyer Jacob
Katz who served as chaplain at Sing Sing Prison and the spiritual leader the
Pelham Parkway Jewish Center passed away today.
1950: Young Judeans
from East Chicago attended an Oneg Shabbat at the B’nai B’rith Club Rooms in
Gary, Indiana where the community has just announced to settle ten “displaced
families.”
1950: The United
States, Great Britain and France issue a joint declaration promising to “take
action against any aggression “designed to alter the frontiers in the Middle
East.
1951: “Rawhide” a
western featuring George Tobias and with a music by Sol Kaplan and Lionel
Newman was released today in the United States.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported from The Hague
that the Israeli delegation to the reparations talks feared that there was
little hope of attaining early substantial grants and had asked for a detailed
clarification of the opening statements made by the West German delegation. The
atmosphere at the talks continued to be formal. In Israel the police and
Histadrut pickets stood by while Herut was making final preparations for a huge
mass demonstration against German reparations.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that three
Arab infiltrators were killed in the Sharon; a fourth escaped
1952(28th of Adar, 5712): Seventy-four-year-old University
of Pittsburgh trained attorney Charles Harry Sachs, the father of three
children and an executive with the Washington Trust Company who was the
Lithuanian born son of Libbie and Hyman David Sachs passed away today in
Pittsburgh.
1953: Four days after
she had passed away in Miami Beach, funeral services are scheduled to be held
in Brooklyn for Lena Shapiro, the wife of Karl Shapiro, Director of the Infants
Home of Brooklyn and mother of Solomon A. Shapiro and Yetta Sultan, a member of
the Sea Group of Hadassah.
1953: Dedication of a
new road leading to Sodom, Israel.
1953: Pearl Edelman
LaPorte, the wife of Jacob LaPorte whom she had married in 1904 in Chicago
passed away today after which she was buried at Waldheim Cemetery in Forest
Park, Illinois.
1955: “Interrupted
Melody,” a musical biopic directed by Curtis Bernhardt, with a screenplay by
Sonya Levien and filmed by cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg was released in
the United States toda.
1955: “Strategic Air
Command” a Cold War paean to SAC produced by Samuel J. Briskin was released
today in the United States.
1955: “The Big Combo” a
film noire directed by Joseph H. Lewis, with a screenplay by Philip Yordan and
featuring Michael Mark had a special screening in New York City today.
1956(13th of
Nisan, 5716): Seventy-four-year-old of Vilna native Arthur Lyon Malkenson, who
in 1896 came to the United States in 1896 where he graduated from CCNY and
earned a laws degree from NYU after which he pursued a care in journalism which
led to him serving as “president and publisher of “The Jewish Morning Journal”
while raising a family of five children with his wife “Freda Friedkin Malenson”
passed away today.
1957(22nd of Adar II,
5717): Max Ophuls passed away. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0649097/bio
1958: In Los Angeles,
CA, Barbara and Anthony H. Pascall gave birth to American movie executive Amy
Pascal.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/can-amy-pascals-career-survive-sony-cyberattack/\
1959: “Tributes were
paid” today “to Rabbi A. Alan Steinbach, the spiritual leader of Temple Ahavath
Sholem in Brookly and “the retiring president of the New York Board of Rabbis’
at the board’s headquarters.
1960: The head of the
Jewish Labor Committee called on the State Department and other Federal
agencies today to cease what he termed discrimination against potential
employees of the Jewish faith.
1961: After 702 performances
the original production of “Gypsy” the award winning musical produced b David
Merick and starring David Winters (AKA David Weiser the London born son of Jewish parents Sadie and Samuel Weizer) as Yonkers
closed today on Broadway.
1961: Seventy-five-year-old
Dr. Abraham Josevich “a Russian-born medical doctor, community organizer and
Zionist who helped protect some tens of thousands of Jews seeking safe-haven in
East Asia from Nazi atrocities during World War II” and who “as a consequence
of his contacts with Japanese authorities during World War II and the Second
Sino-Japanese War was kidnapped, arrested and imprisoned by Soviet authorities
immediately after the war, and was interned in a Soviet Gulag penal labor camp
from 1945 to 1956” emigrated to Israel today.
1963: The Supreme Court
of Nevada rendered a decision in the matters related to the divorce of Harles
Hyman and Jane Lazarus.
https://casetext.com/case/hyman-v-lazarus
1963: At a surprise
meeting with David Ben Gurion, Meir Amit was ordered to take over Mossad
following the resignation of Isser Harel ("Little Isser"). Amit was
forced to double as the director of military intelligence and head of Mossad.
(As reported by the Telegraph of London)
1965: Birthdate of
actress Sarah Jessica Parker.
1965: The opera “Lizzie
Borden,” with mezzo-soprano Brenda Lewis singing the lead premiered today in
New York City.
1965: The Bundestag
voted to extend the statutory deadline on war crimes prosecutions.
1968(25th of
Adar, 5728): Sixty-seven-year-old Chicago native and University of Chicago
graduate Alex L. Hillmen “publisher, investment executive, art collector” and
husband the former Rita Kanarek and father of Kent Hillman who “in 1953
established a fund at the Museum of Modern Art that enabled the museum to
purchase a cubist Picasso, four works by Franz Kupka, large canvas by Francis
Picabia and a painting by the Italian futurist Balla” passed away today.
1971(28th of
Adar, 5731): Eighty-five-year-old Dr. Abraham Josevich “a Russian-born medical
doctor, community organizer and Zionist who helped protect some tens of
thousands of Jews seeking safe-haven in East Asia from Nazi atrocities during
World War II” and who “as a consequence of his contacts with Japanese
authorities during World War II and the Second Sino-Japanese War was kidnapped,
arrested and imprisoned by Soviet authorities immediately after the war, and
was interned in a Soviet Gulag penal labor camp from 1945 to 1956” but thanks
to “Israeli authorities he was able to to Israel, where he was able to resume
his medical practice” passed away today in Tel Aviv.
1974(2nd of
Nisan, 5734): Seventy-five-year-old Dr. Arthur Frederick Abt passed away.
1974: Barbra Streisand
recorded the album "Butterfly."
1975: King Faisal of
Saudi Arabia was shot at point-blank range and killed by his half-brother's
son, Faisal bin Musa'id, who had just come back from the United States. It is a
commonly held, but so far unsubstantiated popular belief in Saudi Arabia and
the Arab and Muslim world that Faisal's oil boycott was the real cause of his
assassination, via a Western conspiracy. [For once Israel and the Jews were not
blamed for something gone wrong in the Middle East. The event is a yet another
reminder that Israeli is not the cause of murder and mayhem in that part of the
world as the anti-Semites would have us believe.]
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that port
workers returned slowly to work under Labor Court orders. But the workers of
the Land Registry went on a wildcat strike unauthorized by the Histadrut.
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that a
terrorist cell of 16 members, preparing a car bomb, was caught at Jenin. A
number of dentists were put on trial for income tax evasion.
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported Israeli
scientists concluded that some of the trees of the Gethsemane area in Jerusalem
were at least 1,600 years old.
1978: During Operation
Litani, the PLO ordered a ceasefire in its fight with the IDF.
1979: Six-year-old Etan
Patz, a Jewish child living in Manhattan, disappeared as he walked to the bus
stop for the first time by himself.
1981(19th of Adar II,
5741): Seventy-two year old Uriel Shelach, the Israeli poet who wrote under the
pen name of Yonatan Ratosh passed away today.
http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/modern_judaism/v019/19.2rabin.html
1981(19th of Adar II,
5741): Ninety-year-old chess champion Edward Lasker passed away today. (As
reported by Thomas W. Ennis)
1982:
Eighty-three-year-old Goodman Ace (born Goodman Aiskowitz) known as “Goody” the
husband of Jane Ace and the creator of “Easy Aces” passed away today.
1982: Rabbi Ronald
Sobel officiated at the wedding of Joan Treble Sutton, a columnist for the
Toronto Sun and Oscar S. Straus, a former career Foreign Service officer and
the grandson of Oscar Straus who served under President Teddy Roosevelt, in his
study at Temple Emanu-El.
1982: CBS broadcast the
first episode of “Cagney and Lacey” a ground-breaking cop-buddy television
series produced by Barney Rosenzweig and co-starring Al Waxman “as Cagney and
Lacey's good-natured and sometimes blustery supervisor, Lt. Bert Samuels.”
1983: “Bad Boys,” a coming-of-age
movie directed by Rick Rosenthal was released in the United States today.
1984: “Glengarry Glenn
Ross,” a Pulitzer Prize winning play written by David Mamet, opened today on
Broadway.
1984(21st of
Adar II, 5744): Fifty-year old American psychiatrist Edward Joel Sachar, the
son of historian Abram L. Sachar and Thelma Sachar, and the brother of
historian Howard Sachar and gastroenterologist David B. Sachar passed away today.
(As reported by Walter H. Waggoner)
https://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/28/obituaries/dr-ej-sachar-psychiatrist-and-hormone-expert-dead.html
1986: 'The Arthur Frank
Collection of Scientific Instruments' which had been created by his father
Charles Frank, a Lithuanian born resident of Glasgow who was an optical and
scientific instrument maker, was sold today at Sotheby's Auction House
1986: The ILGU will
host a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory.
1986: The U.S. Supreme
Court rules in Goldman v. Weinberg a “case in which a Jewish Air Force officer
was denied the right to wear a yarmulke when in uniform on the grounds that the
Free Exercise Clause applies less strictly to the military than to ordinary
citizens.”
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/475/503
http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/Military_Law_Review/pdf-files/275075~1.pdf
1988: “A New Life” a
comedy produced by Martin Bregman and co-starring Hal Linden was released in
the United States today.
1988: “The Fox and the
Hound” an animated film version of the novel by the same name featuring the
voice of Jack Albertson, Paul Winchell and Corey Feldman was re-released in the
United States today.
1989: At Park Avenue
Synagogue, Rabbi Benjamin Wykansky, a grandfather of the bridegroom, and Rabbi
Raphael Adler, the bridegroom's brother, officiated at the wedding of Boston
University graduate Michele Horowitz, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wallace
Horowitz of Forest Hills, Queens and Baruch College graduate Seth Adler.
1991: At a meeting with
prominent Jews President Lech Walesa of Poland repeatedly made explicit
statements denouncing anti-Semitism and vowed to fight bigotry in his country
1992(20th of
Adar II, 5752): Seventy-nine year old Max I. Dimont, the native of Helsinki who
enjoyed a 35 year career in public relations with Edison Brothers and is best
remembered for writing several books on the history of the Jews the best known
of which was Jews, God and History, passed away today.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=36887302
http://thehobophilosopher.blogspot.com/2010/08/jews-god-and-history-by-max-i.html
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/jews-god-and-history-by-max-i-dimont/
1994: In Albuquerque,
NM, Sam and Jackie Bregman, both of whom are lawyers gave to Houston Astros
infielder Alex Bregman who was part of long line of Baseball Buffs including
his grandfather Stan Bregman, the general manager of the Washington Senators and
his uncle Ben Bregamn.
1994: “D2: The Mighty
Ducks” the second in this hockey comedic trilogy directed by Brandeis graduate
Sam Weisman was released in the United States today
1995(23rd of
Adar II, 5755): Parashat Shimini; Parashat Parah
1995(23rd of
Adar II, 5755): Eighty-six-year-old Swarthmore College grad and Oxford attendee
Elizabeth Flexner, the Georgetown, KY born daughter of playwright of Anne
Crawford Flexner and reformer Abraham Flexner, known for her championing the
field of women’s rights and studies passed away today.
1997: It was reported
today that “a furor is erupting over the use of pigskin in the treatment of
Orthodox Jewish children with serious burns in New York’s pre- eminent
pediatric burn center,” the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center’s burn
center.
1998(27th of
Adar, 5758): Fifty-one-year-old Congressman Steve Schiff passed away.
http://www.anomalies.net/archive/cni-news/CNI.0999.html
1998: U.S. premiere of
“A Price Above Rubies,” directed and written by Boaz Yakin
1999: Raik Haj Yahia,
Amir Peretz and Adisu Massala broke away from the Labor Party to form One
Nation.
2000(18th of
Adar II, 5760): Parashat Tzav; Shabbat Parah
2000: As he prepared to
meet with Pope John Paul II in Jerusalem tomorrow, Sheik Ikrima Sabri, the
Chief Islamic cleric in Jerusalem “said today that he believed that the number
of 6 million Holocaust victims is exaggerated” and that Israel “considers its
pain more important than anyone else’s.”
2001(1st of
Nisan, 5761): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
2001(1st of
Nisan, 5761): Ninety-one year old “Canadian businessman and philanthropist”
Jack Diamond passed away today.
http://www.orderofbc.gov.bc.ca/members/1991-jack-diamond/
2001: “Into the Arms of
Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport” won the Oscar tonight for the “Best
Documentary Feature.”
2001: The New York Times featured reviews of
books by Jewish authors and/or special interest to Jewish readers including
Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century by Laura Shapiro
and Faithless: Tales of Transgression by Joyce Carol Oates.
2001: Dick Schapp is
honored by The National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.
2003(21st of Adar II,
5763): Eighty-nine-year-old Eddie Jaffe, a legendary New York press agent,
passed away today. (As reported by Ralph Blumenthal)
2004: The Times of London reports that the
chairman of Signature Restaurants, which owns celebrity eateries in London such
as The Ivy and Belgo, is backing plans by the Giraffe’s owners, Jewish businesspeople
Russel and Juliette Joffe, to double the size of the business to 16 sites over
the next two to three years.
2004: NBC broadcast the
last episode of “Good Morning, Miami” a sitcom created by David Kohan and Max
Mutchnick and starring Mark Feuerstein.
2005(14th of
Adar II, 5765): Purim
2006(25th of
Adar, 5766): Parashat Vaykhel-Pekudi; Shabbat Hachodesh.
2006: Rabbi Harold S.
White officiated at the marriage of Sarah Elizabeth Ackerstin, “an assistant
attorney general in the attorney general’s office for the District of Columiba”
and Israel Shai Klein, the communications director, based in Washington, for
Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York.”
2006: According to his
report published today, Steve Erlanger believes that “nearly three months after
Mr. Sharon's major stroke on Jan. 4, his spirit hangs over this Israeli
election, as the country prepares to give its verdict on March 28 on Kadima, the
centrist party he created.”
2007: “International
Jewish Artists of the Year Awards” begins at Christies Auctions House, in
London, England (UK).
2007: Funeral services
are scheduled to be held this morning in Chevy Chase, MD for 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,” who had passed away 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: The YIVO
Institute for Jewish Research is holding an academic symposium in commemoration
of the fortieth anniversary of the death of Uriel Weinreich, an exploration of
the legacy of this premier scholar of Yiddish linguistics in America.
2007: The curtain came
down today on a production of “The Farnsworth Invention” a play by Aaron Sorkin
that examines how David Sarnoff’s relationship to the “invention of television
signal at the La Jolla Playhouse.
2008: The 92nd Street Y
presents “The Secret U.S.-German Collaboration to End World War II” a lecture
by Maria (Maki) Haberfeld and Sigrid MacRae who offer startling facts about the
war with Hitler’s Germany and the way we might want to think about the resurgent
anti-Semitism in Germany today. What were Roosevelt’s real responses to Hitler?
How did the United States end up inadvertently strengthening the resistance of
the Germans and the Swiss to a Holocaust?
2008: Israeli artist
Sigalit Landau opens a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
The MOMA exhibition, which was conceived in the wake of a recent show she did
at the KW Gallery in Berlin, includes works from the "Dead Sea" series,
and a selection of old and new video works.
2008: Israel's UN
ambassador, Dan Gillerman, slammed the "trend" of equating the
"lawful actions" of a state defending its citizens with the
"violence of terrorists," in a bitter exchange at the Security
Council's monthly session on the Middle East.
2008(18th of Adar II,
5768): Eighty-three-year-old Abby Mann, the American film writer and producer
who wrote the screenplay for “Judgment at Nuremberg”, passed away, one day
after Richard Widmark who starred in this epic died. (As reported by Douglas
Martin)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/movies/28mann2.html
2009: At New Jersey’s
Atlantic Cape Community College Janna Gur Israeli culinary delivers the second
of four lectures on the cuisine of Israel and Tel Aviv in particular entitled
“Celebrating the Food of Tel Aviv.”
2009: The government of
Israel hosts a public celebration marking the signing of the Israeli-Egyptian
peace treaty 30 years ago.
2009: The Palestinian
youths from a tough West Bank refugee camp stood facing the elderly Holocaust
survivors today, appearing somewhat defiant in a teenage sort of way. Then they
began to sing. The choir burst into songs for peace, bringing surprised smiles
from the audience. But the event had another twist: Most of the Holocaust
survivors did not know the youths were Palestinians from the West Bank, a rare
sight in Israel these days. And the youths had no idea they were performing for
people who lived through Nazi genocide - or even what the Holocaust was.
"I feel sympathy for them," said Ali Zeid, an 18-year-old keyboard
player, who added that he was shocked by what he learned about the Holocaust,
in which the Nazis killed 6 million Jews in their campaign to wipe out European
Jewry. "Only people who have been through suffering understand each
other," said Zeid, who said his grandparents were Palestinian refugees
forced to flee the northern city of Haifa during the war that followed Israel's
creation in 1948. The 13 musicians, aged 11 to 18, belong to Strings of
Freedom, a modest orchestra from the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West
Bank, the scene of a deadly 2002 battle between Palestinian militants and
Israeli soldiers. The event, held at the Holocaust Survivors Center in this
tree-lined central Israeli town, was part of Good Deeds Day, an annual event
run by an organization connected to billionaire Shari Arison, Israel's richest
woman. The two-hour meeting starkly highlighted how distant Palestinians and
Israelis have become after more than eight years of bloody Palestinian militant
attacks and deadly Israeli military reprisals. Most of the Palestinian youths
had not seen an Israeli civilian before - only gun-toting soldiers in military
uniforms manning checkpoints, conducting arrest raids of wanted Palestinians or
during army operations."They don't look like us," said Ahed Salameh,
12, who wore a black head scarf woven with silver. Most of the elderly Israelis
wore pants and T-shirts, with women sporting a smear of lipstick. "Old
people look different where we come from," Salameh said. She said she was
shocked to hear about the Nazi genocide against Jews. Ignorance and even denial
of the Holocaust is widespread in Palestinian society. Amnon Beeri of the
Abraham Fund, which supports coexistence between Jews and Arabs, said most of
the region's residents have no real idea about the other. The youths said their
feisty conductor, Wafa Younis, 50, tried to explain to them who the elderly
people were, but chaos on the bus prevented them from listening. The elderly
audience said they assumed Arab children were from a nearby village - not from
the refugee camp where 23 Israeli soldiers were killed, alongside 53
Palestinian militants and civilians, in several days of battle in April 2002.
Some 30 elderly survivors gathered in the center's hall as teenage boys and
girls filed in 30 minutes late - delayed at an Israeli military checkpoint
outside their town, they later explained. Some of the young women wore Muslim
head scarves - but also sunglasses and school ties. As a host announced in
Hebrew that the youths were from the Jenin refugee camp, there were gasps and
muttering from the crowd. "Jenin?" one woman asked in jaw-dropped
surprise. Younis, from the Arab village of Ara in Israel, then explained in
fluent Hebrew that the youths would sing for peace, prompting the audience to
burst into applause. "Inshallah," said Sarah Glickman, 68, using the
Arabic term for God willing. The encounter began with an Arabic song, "We
sing for peace," and was followed by two musical pieces with violins and
Arabic drums, as well as an impromptu song in Hebrew by two in the audience.
Glickman, whose family moved to the newly created Jewish state in 1949 after
fleeing to Siberia to escape the Nazis, said she had no illusions the encounter
would make the children understand the Holocaust. But she said it might make a
small difference. "They think we are strangers, because we came from
abroad," Glickman said. "I agree: It's their land, also. But there
was no other option for us after the Holocaust." Later, she tapped her
feet in tune as the teenagers played a catchy Mideast drum beat. After the
event, some of the elderly Israelis chatted with students and took pictures
together. The encounter was not absent of politics. Younis dedicated a song to
an Israeli soldier held captive by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip -
and also criticized Israel's occupation of the West Bank. But she said the main
mission of the orchestra, formed seven years ago to help Palestinian children
overcome war trauma, was to bring people together. "I'm here to raise
spirits," Younis said. "These are poor, old people."
2010: The Annual
Downtown Seder is scheduled to be celebrated tonight at the City Winery in New
York. The City Winery is “the brainchild” of Michael Dorf, a well-known Jewish
entrepreneur. “The Seder brings together an eclectic mix of artists, political figures,
thinkers, and comedians to offer a one-of-a-kind interpretation of the ancient
Passover Story.” It is celebrated 4 days before Passover starts, so that
attendees can bring many of these important messages to their own Seder. The
Seder meal is described as “vegetarian” with the “exception for chicken Matzah
ball soup.
2010: Moshe Peretz won the prize פרס אקו"ם for "Best achievement
in music".
2010: The Jerusalem
Municipality finance committee approved a plan for the construction of a new
cinema complex in the Haleom parking lot opposite the Supreme Court, on
condition that it closes during Shabbat, Israel Radio reported today.
2010: “Monkey Business
in a World of Evil” published today described the Curious George exhibition at
the Jewish Museum.
http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/Military_Law_Review/pdf-files/275075~1.pdf
2011(19th of
Adar II, 5771): Ninety-six-year-old “Irving J. Shulman, who founded the Daffy’s
clothing store chain and brought discount fashion to Fifth Avenue through
quirky marketing and a promise of “clothing bargains for millionaires,” passed
away today. (As reported by Christine Hauser)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/business/30shulman.html?_r=0
2011(19th of
Adar II, 5771): Eighty-one-year-old Thomas Eisner the “groundbreaking authority
on insects whose research revealed the complex chemistry that they use to repel
predators, attract mates and protect their young” passed away today. (As
reported by Kenneth Chang)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/science/earth/31eisner.html
2011: “Last Folio”
which has only been exhibited in Cambridge, England is scheduled for display at
the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York in 2011, starting today” a date which
“marks the 68th anniversary of the first ever transport to Auschwitz — of young
Jewish Slovak girls. As the first inmates there, they were responsible for
establishing the routines that would keep them alive, and many became the
dreaded and despised kapos, or prisoner-guards.”
2011: In Albany, NY,
The Reform Congregations of the Capital District are scheduled to begin the
celebration of Founder Day’s.
2011: A Netanya
Conservative and Reform house of worship became the target of stone-throwing
attacks during Shabbat evening prayers.
2011(19th of Adar II,
5771): Ninety-one-year-old Dr. Thomas Eisner, “who cracked the chemistry of
bugs” passed away today. (As reported by Kenneth Change)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/science/earth/31eisner.html
2011: The Jerusalem
Marathon ended in some confusion as the three leading runners apparently took a
wrong turn and arrived at the wrong finish line.
2011: U.S. release date
for “Peep World,” a comedy narrated by Lewis Black and co-starring Ron Rifkin,
Ben Schwarts and Sarah Silverman among others.
2011: New York City
Marks the 100th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42273592/ns/business-us_business/#.VvSgeo-cF9B
2012: “White Balance is
scheduled to be shown tonight at the 16th Annual Hartford Jewish Film Festival.
2012: As part of a
month-long national conversation about Spinoza's impact and legacy, Theatre J
in Washington, DC is scheduled to sponsor “Spinoza: A University Debate.”
2012: “The Radical
Camera: New York’s Photo League, 1936–1951” which has been on display at The
Jewish Museum New York is scheduled to close today.
http://www.forward.com/articles/144903/#ixzz1cnoqvT00
2013: The Wiener Library is scheduled to host Compliant or
Confrontational?: The Protestant Church and the Holocaust,” a program that “will examine the role of the
Protestant Church during the Second World War and the impact and legacy of the
Holocaust upon the Protestant Church in post-war Germany.
2013(14th of Nisan, 5773): Fast of the First
Born; Erev Pesach
2013(14th of Nisan): On the Jewish calendar
today marks the seventieth anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Erev of Pesach 5703 (April 19, 1943), the
German forces began their final drive to liquidate the Warsaw Ghetto. When the
SS entered the ghetto they were met with armed resistance. Much to everybody’s surprises a handful of
fighters armed with a few pistols, rifles and Molotov Cocktails inflicted
casualties on the tank led German troops. At the end of the day, the Jewish
“fighters felt that the day was theirs. They had taken on heavily armed and
trained units and inflicted losses. They
could not win or even hold out, but they would die avenging the silenced
dead.” It would take the Germans more
than a month to subdue the Jewish fighters.
When you consider that the French surrendered to the Germans after only
six weeks of fighting, the valor of the Jewish men and women is even more
impressive. There are several sites that
are calling attention to this anniversary including http://rhapsodyinbooks.wordpress.com/2009/04/19/april-19-1943-anniversary-of-the-warsaw-ghetto-uprising/ and http://www.juf.org/news/thinking_torah.aspx?id=419902
For those of you who would like to add a reading to your
Seder to mark the moment you might want to consider the one below. It is an eyewitness description of what the
fighters saw as they set up a new position in a rabbi’s apartment at 4 Kuzia
Street on the night of the first Seder.
The apartment was
in a state of chaos [a youth observed]. Bed linens were spread all around, chairs
were turned upside down, various household items were
strewn on the floor, and all the window panes were smashed into little bits.
During the daytime, while the members of the family had sought shelter in the bunker,
the house had become a mess; only the table in the middle of the room stood: festive, as if
a thing apart from the other furniture. The
redness of the wine in the glasses which were on the table was a reminder of the
blood of the Jews who had perished on the eve of the holiday. The
Hagada was recited while in the background incessant bursts of
bombing and shooting, one after the other, pounded
throughout the night. The scarlet reflection from the burning houses nearby illuminated the faces of
those around the table in the darkened room. When the rabbi reached the
passage, "Shofoch Chamatcha" ["Pour out Your wrath on the nations who have
not wished to know You"], he and his family broke down and cried bitterly. I had
the feeling that it was the weeping of people condemned to death, people who, outwardly, had
re- signed themselves to the idea of
their deaths, yet were terrified when the moment
neared. The rabbi lamented those who had not lived to
celebrate this Seder. From The Holocaust by Nora
Levin
2013: This evening, President Barak Obama is scheduled to
host his annual White House Seder.
http://forward.com/articles/173508/how-is-the-white-house-seder-different-from-all-ot/?p=all
2013: Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu announced today that he would resume the routine transfer of tax
revenues collected for the Palestinian Authority, ending a freeze that began in
December 2012 following the Palestinian bid for upgraded status at the UN in
late November.
2013: Two leaders that have been in the limelight
this month sent their thoughts to world Jewry today, as both Pope Francis and
US President Barack Obama wished their respective communities a happy Passover.
2013(14th of Nisan,
5773): Eighty-five-year-old two-time Pulitzer prize winning New York Times
columnist Anthony Lewis of whom “Nicholas B. Lemann, the dean of Columbia
University School of Journalism, said: "At a liberal moment in American
history, he was one of the defining liberal voices” passed away today.
2014: “Two Sided Story” is
scheduled to be shown at the Northern Virginia Jewish Film Festival.
2014: “The Rolling Stones
confirmed today that they will perform in Tel Aviv on June 4 as part of their
“14 On Fire” world tour.”
2014(23rd of Adar II,
5774): Eighty-eight-year-old sculptor Mon Levinson passed away today.
2014(23rd of Adar II,
5774): Seventy-year-old journalist Robert Slater passed away today.
2014: “A strike by Israeli diplomats over salaries
has foiled preparations in Nepal for what coordinators say is the world’s
biggest celebration of the Jewish Passover holiday, organizers announced
today.”
2014: “The Beginning” and “Among
Believers” the opening episodes of “The Story of the Jews” with Simon Schama
are scheduled to be shown this evening.
http://www.iptv.org/series.cfm/23708/story_jews_with_simon/ep:101
http://www.iptv.org/series.cfm/23708/story_jews_with_simon/ep:101
2015: Sol Levinson & Bros. Funeral Home and Jewish
Community Services are scheduled to present “The Empty Place at the Table:
Coping with Loss During the Holidays.”
2015: Publication of “From A Woman’s Thoughts to Welcoming
the Ladies”
2015: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington
is scheduled to host a “Workshop: Help Make a Museum” as part of the planning
process to create “a new regional Jewish museum.”
2015: Auschwitz Museum spokesman Pawel Sawicki told the AP
today “that historians have no doubt that” a list “of 15 Polish and Jewish
inmates of the Nazi death camp” that had been “found last inside a 1923 Polish
book on the history of warfare” was authentic. (As reported by Monika
Scislowska)
2015: National Museum of American Jewish History is
scheduled to host the “3rd Annual Freedom Seder Revisited.”
2015: The Hadassah Book Club is scheduled to meet in Cedar
Rapids, Iowa
2015: Thomas Barton is scheduled to deliver a lecture on
“The Battle Over Jews in Medieval Spain” in Coronado, CA.
2016(15th of Adar II, 5776): Shushan Purim
2016(15th of Adar II, 5776): On the day after
his 47th birthday Brigadier General Muni Amar “died in a plane
crash” this afternoon.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4783182,00.html
2016: As the Jews in the America South reaches Savannah,
GA, “local expert Harriet Meyerhoff is scheduled to lead a tour that will
include to Mickve Israel, one of the nation’s oldest congregations and its
museum.
2016: One-hundred fifth anniversary of the Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory Fire.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/introduction/triangle-intro/
http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/triangle-shirtwaist-fire
2017: The Seattle Jewish Film
Festival is scheduled to begin today.
2017: “Memory Unearthed: The Lodz
Ghetto Photographs of Henryk Ross,” which was organized by the Art Gallery of
Ontario, is scheduled opened today.
http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/memory-unearthed
2017(27th of Adar, 5777):
TRIPLE HEADER SABBATH
Shabbat HaChodesh; Complete reading the Book
of Exodus; Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
2018: The Yeshiva University Museum is
scheduled to present “Pomegranates and Palm Trees For Passover.”
2018: The American Society for Jewish
Music, The American Jewish Historical Society and the American Sephardi
Federation are scheduled to host “Songs of Devotion and Desire” which examines
“the music heritage of Jewish Spain.”
2018: JNOLA and Jewish Community Day
School are scheduled to host their 3rd annual Chocolate Seder
2018(9th
of Nisan, 5778): One day after his 90th birthday, Bronx native and Iowa Hawkeye alum Melvin “Mel” Rosen who
went from being a successful collegiate middle-distance runner to being the
highly successful track coach at Auburn University while raising two daughters
– Laurie and Karen – with his wife, “the former Joan Kinstler, passed away
today.
http://www.usatf.org/halloffame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=140
2018: The funeral for Belle Lipsky is
scheduled take place today followed by internment at Eben Israel Cemetery in
Cedar Rapids, IA.
2018: The World Premiere of “Hero
Among Us, that tells the story concentration camp liberator John Gaultier is
scheduled to take place in his hometown of Vinton, IA this afternoon.
2018: The 18th Annual New
Jersey Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to come to an end today.
2018: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors
and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including That’s What She Said: What Men Need to
Know (and Women Need to Tell Them) About Working Together by Joanne Lipman and
American Innovations by Rivka Galchen.
2019: The Center for Jewish History,
the American Jewish Historical Society and MALA are scheduled to host a
screening of “RBG,” the documentary about Justice Ginsburg followed by a
discussion with RBG director Julie Cohen and associate producer Nadine Natour.
2019: In “Museums Cut Ties With
Sacklers as Outrage Over Opiod Crisis Grows” published today, Alex Marshall
described how the world of art and culture are being impacted by the behavior
of this pharmaceutical family.
2019(18th of Adar II,
5779): Eighty-five-year-old University of Chicago and Columbia trained
anthropologist Dr. Sydel Silverman, the Chicago born daughter of Elizabeth
Bassman and Rabbi Joseph Finer whose works included The Beast on the Table
passed away today.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/05/obituaries/sydel-silverman-dead.html
2019:
In London, JW3 is scheduled to host a screening of “Driver,” a tale of
an ultra-Orthodox father raising his daughter as single parent after his wife
leaves him.
2019: The annual AIPAC Conference is
scheduled to continue meeting for a second day in Washington, D.C.
2020: Today is the deadline the
Supreme Court in Israel has set for Yuli Edelstein to convene the Knesset so
that a new speaker can be elected.
2020: The Streicker Center is
scheduled to host an online session with Leah Koenig as she talks about “The
History of Jewish Cookbooks in America.”
2020: Boston Jewish Film is scheduled
to present an online screening of “To Be of Service.”
2020: “Israel’s Chief Rabbi David
Lau, in a public letter, called on Jews to refrain from eating or speaking
unnecessarily today in light of the coronavirus pandemic” since “abstinence
from food and speech is a Jewish spiritual practice designed to encourage
self-reflection on the personal and communal level.”
2020: Observance of National Medal of
Honor Day as designed by the United States Congress in 1990 which provides us
with a chance to remember all America’s heroes including Abraham Cohn, Leopold
Karpeles, Benjamin Levy and David Urbansky, veterans of the Civil War who were
among the first Jews to have been awarded the Congressional Medal of honor.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-medal-of-honor-recipients
https://nmajmh.org/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions/hall-of-heroes/
https://www.aish.com/j/f/We_Jews_Medal_of_Honor_Winners.html
https://www.geni.com/projects/Medal-of-Honor-Recipients-Jewish/4987
2021: The Contemporary
Jewish Museum is scheduled to present online Kristin Eriko Posner, founder of
Nourish, a lifestyle company, and social worker Faye Chao Sofaer sharing
recipes for Jewish Asian Passover recipes, stories and traditions.
2021: Temple Israel of
Boston is scheduled to present online “Passover Cooking Across the Diaspora
with culinary historian Sara Gardner.
2021: As part of the
Marshall Weinberg Sprig 2021 Classical Music Season, the 92nd Street
Y is scheduled to host on cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Inon Barnatan.
2021: The Jewish Studio
Project is to present “Have You Made Art About It Yet? Passover Edition”
a virtual class for
making art that explores moving from narrow places to expansive joy.
2021: The Boston
Synagogue is scheduled to present online a “Passover Party with Ezekiel’s
Wheels Klezmer Band.”
2021: Based on reports
published yesterday that the Chinese government plans to invite Israelis and
Palestinians to hold talks in China, as of today there is a new player in the
long-running, inconclusive game of Middle East Peace Talk
2021: Based on reports
published yesterday, Prime Minister Netanyahu will not be able to form a
government with Gideon Saar because the leader of New Hope has rejected
proposals that he hold coalition talks with Bibi.
2022: The Americans and
the Holocaust traveling exhibition is scheduled to open at Marshalltown Public
Library (Marshalltown, IA),
University Libraries,
Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA) and Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library
(Bismarck, ND).
2022: It was reported
today that Israel will host a historic summit this weekend with the top
diplomats from the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and
Bahrain, a sign of how quickly the realignment of Middle Eastern powers is
accelerating as Israelis and some Arab governments find common cause not only
over Iran but in navigating the new global realities created by the Ukraine
war.
2022: ♪ Live broadcast
on Kan Kol Hamusika of the Young Artists in Concert" featuring "The
Joshua Tuttenauer Choir”
2023: “Shtisel “which
tells the story of a Haredi family living in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of
Jerusalem, is planned to be removed by Netflix today.
2023: Amid protests by
Jewish groups, Prime Minister Netanyahu is scheduled to continue his visit the
United Kingdom.
2023: Israel braces for
another round Saturday night demonstrations by those opposed to the package of
“judicial reform” legislation.
2023(3rd of
Nisan, 5783): Parashat Vayikra
2024:
The Streicker Center is scheduled to host the second class “Femme Fatale for
Fierce Woman Warrior” taught by feminist Torah scholar and soon-to-be rabbi,
Sivan Rotholz is the Education Director for Achayot.
2024:
The Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum is scheduled to host a “Purim
Family Day” during visitors will “join Washington Revels and the Seth Kibel
Trio for an afternoon of Klezmer music, a Purim spiel (Purim comedy), and
costumes.”
2024:
The Museum at Eldridge Street is scheduled to host “Paul Shapiro’s Purim
Shpil!”
2024:
YIVO is scheduled to host a lecture by historians Benny Morris and Jeffrey Herf
on “Colonialism, Racism and the Arab Israeli War of 1948.”
2024:
JTA is scheduled to host the first session of “How to research and construct
your Jewish family tee with Jennnifer Mendelsohn “a sought-after genealogist
who specializes in helping Eastern European Jewish families shattered by the
Holocaust reclaim their history.”
2024: As March
25th begins in Israel, the Hamas held hostages begin
day 171 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.)
