This Day, May 27, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

May 27 In Jewish History

1096 (3^rd of Sivan): Count Emicho and the Crusaders entered Mayence, Germany. The Jews took refuge in the Episcopal Palace and committed mass suicide rather than convert. One Jew by the name of Isaac, his two daughters and a friend called Uriah allowed themselves to be baptized. Within a few weeks Isaac, who was remorseful of his act killed his daughters burned his own house. He and Uriah went to the local synagogue locked themselves in and burned it down. A large part of the city was destroyed.

1679: The Pope suspended the Portuguese Inquisition due to its severe treatment of Marranos.

1328: Philip VI is crowned King of France. Phillip’s attempts to take back territory that England held in France in 1337 is marked as the start of the Hundred Years War. This period would mark the further impoverishment of the kingdom’s Jews who had only been recently re-admitted to the realm.  The Black Plague would also arrive in Europe in the middle of the 14^th century, so it is difficult to say how much of the suffering of the Jews of Europe was the result of the ravages of the war and how much was the result of the plague and the anti-Semitic behavior that rose with it. 

1529: Thirty Jews of Posing, Hungary, charged with blood-ritual, were burned at the stake.

1647: Peter Stuyvesant was inaugurated as Director-General of New Netherland. It was while serving in this position, that Stuyvesant would greet the first group of Jews to settle in what would become New York City.  After failing to force them out, he did what he could to treat them like second class citizens.  While Stuyvesant had a somewhat distinguished career as soldier and political leader, the irony is that the group that has the strongest memory of him is the one whom he sought to harm – the Jewish people. 

1703:  Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg. Given Peter’s stated views in 1698 that no Jew should live in Russia, one would assume that no Jews would live in his new capital.  It is possible that two Jews named Meyer and Lups who “assisted the Tsar in his financial operations” may have at least visited Peter’s new city.  By 1714, at least one Jew was known to be living in St. Petersburg.  Jan da Costa “a versatile linguist descended from Portuguese Marranos” who had previously lived in Hamburg, arrived in St. Petersburg where he was appointed court Jester by Peter in 1714.  Of course, by then Peter’s realm was no longer free Jews since his annexation of the Baltic territories and conquests in the Ukraine had had the unintended consequence of bring him untold number of Jewish subjects.

1724: Beginning of the papacy of Benedict XIII, the pope who issued Emanavit nuper, a Papal Bull, dealing with “the necessary conditions for imposing Baptism on a Jew.”

1759: Birthdate of Isaac Franks, the New York native who fought with the Continental Army from the 1776 until he was forced to resign due to ill health in 1782.

1808: The first Jewish day school in America opened.

1823: Birthdate of David Rosin, the German born theologian and teacher who became a professor at the Rabbinical Seminary in Breslau. He was a contemporary and friend of Rabbi Michael Sachs.

1842: The Voice of Jacob in Sidney, Australia reported on the conflagration at Smyrna: There was an additional series of offerings to the fund in aid of the sufferers on the Day of Atonement in the Great Synagogue..."

1849: Birthdate of Adolph Lewisohn, a German-Jewish immigrant born in Hamburg who became a New York City investment banker, mining magnate, and philanthropist.

1852: Lionel de Rothschild issued an address to the “independent electors of London” in which he thanked them for their support and for twice electing him to the House of Commons, even though he has been denied the right to assume his position.  He went to thank them for supporting the effort to make it possible him to serve in Parliament and asking for their support in his third bid to be elcted to the House of Commons.

1853: The author of an article entitled “The Word ‘Selah’” which was published today sought to provide a meaning for the Hebrew word “Selah”  which is used in its untranslated form throughout the Bible especially  in the Book of Psalms.  In searching for the meaning, he states that “the Targums and most of the Jewish commentators give the word, meaning eternally forever. Rabbi Kinchi regards it as a sign to elevate the voice.”  He concludes by saying that “selah” may be an abridged version of Higgaion Selah.  [Editor’s Note – what makes this amazing is that this learned article with all of these Jewish references appeared in the New York Times.]

1855: Reverend Joseph P. Thompson who has just returned from the Holy Land is scheduled to give a talk this afternoon based on his visit to Jerusalem.

1864: The 79^th Indiana under the command of Colonel Frederick Knefler took part in the Battle of Pickett’s Mill, one of the Union victories that marked General Sherman’s campaign that led to the capture of Atlanta, GA.  The campaign was a daring military action that was a key to Union victory over the Confederacy.  Knefler, who would rise to the rank of General before the end of the war, was one of the highest ranking Jews to serve in the Union Army.

1866: The New York Times reported that one of the ancient aqueducts which supplies Jerusalem with water is formed of blocks of stone so keyed together as to form a perfect syphon.

1870: It was reported today that Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum has been designated by a recent act of the state legislature as one of the recipients of a pro rata share of $150,000

1877: The New York Times featured a review of "The Life, Work and Opinions of Henrich Heine" a two volume work written by William Stigand.

1878: It was reported today that John Bright, who ranks with Disraeli and Gladstone as a leading English statesman is reported to have Jewish ancestry. According to several publications including The Examiner, one of Bright’s Quaker forbearers married “a very pretty Jewess named Martha Jacobs…Mr. Bright’s brother, what has a seat in the House of Commons is called ‘Jacob’ after the ‘pretty Jewess.’” This report should not be construed as being informational or complimentary since it also includes the information that Jacob Bright “has a nose duly fitted to the Anglo-Jewish role.”  (The hooked nose Jew was a classic staple of 19^th century anti-Semitism.

1879: In New York, Judge Gildersleeve has ordered the sons of Fanny Solomon to pay $4.50 per week for her support. “Mrs. Fanny Solomon an aged and infirm Hebrew lady” had “instituted proceedings to compel her sons Leopold, Felix and Alfred to support her.”  The Solomon brothers own a factory that manufactures paper-boxes.  Mrs. Solomon contended that she destitute and that her sons had refused to provide with “the necessities of life” even though they were wealthy enough to have done so.  The sons claimed that she was not destitute since she had savings of her own.  They also said that she had refused their offers to come and live with them. Based on the decision, the Judge was not impressed by the brothers’ claims.

1880: Moses Bruhl set sail from New York aboard the steamship Gallia bound for Liverpool. Bruhl was a New York businessman and philanthropist who created The Betty Bruhl Prizes, awards for outstanding students at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum named in honor of his late wife.

1883:  Alexander III crowned Czar of Russia.  Alexander pursued some of the most anti-Semitic policies of all the Romanovs, which is saying something given their miserable track record.

1884: Birthdate of novelist Max Brod who is best known for his friendship with Franz Kafka.

1899: David Wolffsohn reports that the minimum funding for the Jewish Colonial Bank has been finally assured.

1911: Birthdate of Hubert Humphrey, reform mayor of Minneapolis, U.S. Senator from Minn. and Vice President of the United States.  Humphrey was a courageous supporter of civil rights including banning religious discrimination.  Humphrey supported the state of Israel in the difficult days of the 1950’s.  A visitor to his Washington, D.C. office would find a JNF Tree Certificate displayed proudly on the wall for all to see.

1911:  Birthdate of Teddy Kollek, mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 till 1993. Born Theodor Kollek to a Jewish family in Nagyvaszony near Budapest, Austria-Hungary, and named after Theodor Herzl, Kollek shared his father Alfred's enthusiasm for Zionist ideas. He grew up in Vienna. In 1935, three years before the Nazis seized power in Austria, the Kollek family immigrated to Palestine -- this was still the time of the British Mandate. Kollek was eager to help build a new society and, in 1937, was one of the co-founders of Kibbutz Ein Gev near Lake Galilee. In the same year he married Tamar Schwarz, who gave birth to two children, Amos (born 1947) and Osnat. During the Second World War, Kollek tried to represent Jewish interests in Europe on behalf of the Haganah At the outbreak of the war he succeeded in persuading Adolf Eichmann to release 3,000 young Jewish concentration camp inmates and transfer them to England. Kollek became a close ally of David Ben-Gurion; working for the latter's government from 1952 till 1965. n 1965 Teddy Kollek succeeded Mordechai Ish Shalom as Mayor of Jerusalem. He served six terms of office -- a total of 28 years, being re-elected in 1969, 1973, 1978, 1983, and 1989. It has generally been agreed that during his tenure Jerusalem was turned into a modern city, especially after its reunification in 1967. In 1993 Kollek, aged 82, again ran for Mayor but was defeated by Likud candidate Ehud Olmert who went on to become Prime Minister in 2006

1915:  Birthdate of Herman Wouk.  The famed novelist won a Pulitzer Prize for the Caine Mutiny.  He has written several books using Jewish themes.  His latest work entitled The Language God Talks was released just before his 90^th birthday.


1915: Birthdate of Arieh Handler who was one of the founders of the Religious Zionist movement in the United Kingdom

1923: Birthdate of Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.  Is Henry Kissinger really Jewish?  Some contend that since he does not practice Judaism and since he got married on Shabbat, he is not really Jewish.  The fact of the matter is that his family left Germany because they were Jews.  When some of his colleagues at Harvard converted to further his career, Kissinger did not follow suit.  And his son did have a Bar Mitzvah.  Regardless of how you feel about his politics, nobody has the right to judge his pedigree.

1923: Birthdate of Sumner Redstone, Chairman and CEO of Viacom, Inc.

1924: Jules Stein founds Music Corporation of America in Chicago, Illinois.  MCA began as a booking agency for bands.  Over time it grew and eventually morphed in Universal Studios in 1996.

1927: National Jewish Book Week, which had the unanimous endorsement of the Chicago Rabbinical Association, is scheduled to come a close.

1928: In retaliation, for a vote of no confidence by Hadassah in its President, the Zionist National Executive Committee, threatened to discipline the women's organization

1930: Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Otto Meyerhoff is one of the department chairmen at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Medicine, a facility modeled after the Rockefeller Institute, which is opening today in Heidelberg, Germany.

1933(2nd of Sivan, 5693): Karl Lehburger, a Jewish businessman, was murdered in Dachau.

1933(2nd of Sivan, 5693): James Loeb, a Jewish-German-American banker and philanthropist, passed away.  Born in New York in 1867, he “was the second born son of Solomon Loeb and Betty Loeb.James Loeb joined his father at Kuhn, Loeb & Co. in 1888 and was made partner in 1894, but he retired from the bank in 1901 due to severe illnesses. In memory of his former lecturer and friend Charles Eliot Norton, in 1907 Loeb created The Charles Eliot Norton Memorial Lectureship. In 1911 he founded and endowed the Loeb Classical Library, and founded the Institute of Musical Art, which later became part of the Juilliard School of Music.”

1935: New York City women led by activist Clara Shavelson, picketed Manhattan butcher shops to demand a reduction in the price of meat. “New York City women, organized as the City Action Committee Against the High Cost of Living, picketed butcher shops to demand a reduction in the price of meat. Convinced that wholesalers were withholding meat from the market in order to drive up prices, these wives and mothers determined not to buy meat until the price fell by ten cents per pound. Although it echoed the kosher meat boycotts from the early years of the twentieth century, this boycott, led by veteran organizer Clara Shavelson, crossed religious and racial lines. It was the result of rare cooperation between the Communist-led United Council of Working-Class Women (UCWW) and non-Communist women's groups including neighborhood mother's clubs, church groups, and black women's groups. At a spring meeting convened by the UCWW, delegates from all of these groups had created a national network to address the high cost of living. Their first action was the New York City meat boycott. Begun in Brighton Beach and Coney Island, the picket lines had reached Manhattan by May 27. Five days into the boycott, the Retail Kosher Meat Trade Code Authority estimated that two-thirds of New York's kosher meat shops were closed or doing no business as a result of the women's action. Though kosher butchers were the main target of the strike, women also picketed non-kosher butchers in Harlem.  By mid-June, the strike had succeeded, as over a thousand shops reduced meat prices. But success in New York was not the end of the story. By the end of the summer, women had boycotted meat in Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Denver, Miami, and elsewhere. Outside of New York, where it had been limited to Jews and African-Americans, the strike also was taken up by more diverse groups of women. Significantly, the strike also led to new tactics. For the first time, housewives' groups traveled to Washington, D.C., to lobby federal officials.”

1935: In a land mark case, The Supreme Court of the United States declares the National Industrial Recovery Act to be unconstitutional in the case A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, (295 U.S. 495). The challenge to the National Industrial Recovery Act came from the most unlikely source, a Jewish chicken producer. Joseph Schechter operated Schechter Poultry Company, and Martin, Alex and Alan Schechter operated A.L.A. Schechter Company, both of which were slaughterhouses selling chickens to kosher markets in New York City.  Brandies and Cardozo, the two Jewish justices joined the majority in this opinion proving that for these men of principle the law trumped political beliefs.

1936(6th of Sivan, 5696): First Day of Shavuot

1936(6th of Sivan, 5696):  On Shavuot, the British would not allow Jews to hold services at the Western Wall because of the on-going attacks by Arabs.

1938:The Palestine Post reported that a British constable was murdered near Ramat Hakovesh (formerly Juara) in the vicinity of the spot where two American pioneers, Ephraim Tiktin, 24, formerly of Detroit, Michigan, and Eliezer Korngold, formerly of Toronto (Ontario) were murdered on April 8, 1938. Supernumerary policemen successfully defended the Arab attack on Tel Adashim and wounded several attackers. Ze'ev Alianevsky, the driver of a Hamekasher bus in Jerusalem who was stoned and injured by Arabs in Romema, defended himself with his licensed revolver, hit and wounded an Arab woman. He was taken out of Hadassah hospital to the Central Jerusalem Prison for investigation.

1942: Three Jewish families living in the remote Ukrainian village of Chaplinka are killed.

1942: General Reinhard Heydrich was fatally shot in Prague by two Czech patriots. The man responsible for the formal initiation of Hitler's Final Solution, a man synonymous with terror, would die within the next eight days. The Holocaust still had three more years of death ahead of it. SS General Globocnik begins preparation for ‘Operation Rienhard', in honor of the slain general. Operation Reienhard was the deportation of Jews to meet immediate death at Treblinka, Belzec and Sobibor. Goebbels wanted to make the Jews pay for Heydrich's death. According to at least one account, the attack on Heydrich was orchestrated by the British and had nothing to do with his role in the Final Solution

1943: The Jews of Sokal, Ukraine, are deported to the Belzec death camp.

1943:  Three thousand Jews are killed at Tolstoye, Ukraine.

1943:  Birthdate of actor Bruce Weitz who played Sgt. Mick Belker on the NBC television police drama Hillstreet Blues.

1944: Two Jews escaped from Birkenau. Arnost Rosin of Czechoslovakia and Czeslaw Mordowicz of Poland had witnessed the first ten days of the Hungarian arrivals. They were able to tell the West the truth about the tragedies they survived through.

1947: Ben Gurion drew up his first summary of the Yishuv’s military position. He wrote in his diary, “There is not sufficient training even in the brigade (Palmach).  There is a shortage of commanders, and those we have are not adequate [in standard].  There is no attempt at action, the planning defective; the structure of the budget is not directed at the target.  The most serious fault is that the experience and human military material [those demobilized from the British army] have not been utilized.  The equipment has not been adapted. For many years, a central idea has been missing: What is the duty [of the Haganah organization]?

1948: The Israel Defense Army (Zahal) was established. Prior to the creation of the state there had been several armed groups including Haganah, Palmach, Irgun and the Stern Gang.  Ben Gurion understood that there could only be one army and that that army had to be under the control of the national government. He acted decisively and overcame considerable opposition to achieve this goal.

1948: In Jerusalem, troops of the Arab Legion “raised their flag on the roof of the Huvra Synagogue, the main synagogue of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City and then set it on fire.  The Hebrew word Huvra means ruin and the synagogue was so named because the Moslems had destroyed it twice since it was first built in 1705.  The dome of Huvra had been a major landmark for almost one hundred years.  The Huvra was in the same category for Jews as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was for Christians.  Of course the Church remained unharmed and nobody in the international community then or since expressed any dismay over the destruction of a Jewish house of worship that was also a civic treasure.  

1948: Vitka Kempner and Abba Kovner gave birth to their first son Michael.  At the time of the boy’s birth, his father was fighting with the IDF during the War of Independence. Kempner had proven her martial mettle as a resistance fighter serving alongside her famous husband during WW II.

1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that Jordanian marauders carried out three simultaneous attacks on three new immigrant villages of Beit Naballa, Beit Arif and Beit Arif Bet, all of them near Beit Shemen. At Beit Naballa they threw a grenade into the house of David Namdar, killed his wife, Tamar, 30, and wounded two of his seven children. They also looted whatever was possible. At Beit Arif they detonated three kg. of TNT under the house which was completely destroyed, and at Beit Arif Bet they did the same to three houses. Seven people were injured in both explosions.

1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that the General Zionists had resigned from the Cabinet coalition. They resigned because the Labor majority turned down their request for the exclusive use of a National Flag and anthem in schools, to the exclusion of red flags, traditional to the Labor movement.

1964: Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru dies in office.  Nehru opposed the creation of the state of Israel.  Given India’s large Moslem population and the conflict with Pakistan at the time of India’s re-birth, this is not surprising.  What was disappointing was the lengths that Nehru went to isolate the Jewish state after its creation.  In recent years, India has turned its back on Nehru’s view of Israel.

1967: “The Israeli Cabinet met to decide whether or not to take military action against Egypt” based on the continued blockade of the Straits of Tiran. The Cabinet appeared to be evenly divided between those who were ready to take action and those who were willing to wait and see if the international community would end the crisis.  During the Cabinet session, Abba Eban arrived from Washington and his meetings with President Johnson. Eban reported that Johnson was working to assemble an international flotilla of warships that would open the Straits.  The Cabinet decided to hold off on military action in an effort to give Johnson a chance to bring his plan to fruition.  A significant segment of the Israeli populace did not understand the reason for waiting. The country had been on alert for some time and the strain was taking its toll.  The fear was that waiting would only strengthen the Arabs militarily and led to defeat for the Jewish state.  Furthermore, they mistrusted the United States because of its support of Nasser in 1956 and 1957.  The Cabinet’s decision to wait was based, in part, on a political calculation.  If they waited and Johnson succeeded, then the crisis would be ended without war.  If they waited and Johnson failed, then the Israelis would have the support of the United States in the upcoming conflict.  If they did not give a Johnson to avert a war, the Israelis would end up fighting the Arabs without any international support.  Based on the experience of 1956, they knew that in the long run, this was not where they wanted to be. 

1969: Terrorist fired a bazooka this morning at an Israeli patrol in the Beisan Valley near Kfar Ruppin,

1973: The IDF announced a state of emergency and reserve troops were called up in response to a movement of Egyptian troops. The state of emergency was cancelled when it became clear that this was only an exercise

1981: The premiere performance of “Halil” took place today at the Sultan’s Pool in Jerusalem with Jean-Pierre Rampal as the soloist and Leonard Bernstein conducting the Israel Philharmonic. “Halil is a work for flute and chamber orchestra composed by Leonard Bernstein composed in 1981. The work is sixteen minutes in length. Bernstein composed Halil in honor of a young Israeli flutist Yadin Tanenbaum who was killed at the Suez Canal in during the 1973 Yom Kippur war.”

1984: Seth Mydans reviewed “The Revolt of Job,” a film that tells the story of “one Jewish couple's attempt to defeat their family's extinction in the Holocaust by adopting a non-Jewish boy, a child who would survive to carry on their line.”

1985(7th of Sivan, 5745): Second Day of Shavuot

1987(28th of Iyar, 5747): Yom Yerushalayim

1987: Daniel Barenboim is scheduled to serve as conductor for the IPO at a concert which is part of its 50^th anniversary celebration.

1993(7th of Sivan, 5753): Second Day of Shavuot

2000: At Brown University noted scholar and feminist Alice Shalvi speaks on the effects of feminism on Judaic life in Israel and the world beyond as part of the Stephen A. Ogden Jr. Memorial Lectureship.

2001: The New York Times featured books by Jewish writers and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Dying Animal by Philip Roth.

2003: The parents of Chandra Levy hold a private graveside for their daughter.

2004(7th of Sivan, 5764): Second Day of Shavuot

2005:  The Washington Post reported that meetings had been held over the weekend at Yifat, Israel in which Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres announced that he would seek the top spot in Israel’s government.  Despite the fact that he is now 81 and that he has failed to accomplish the goal in four previous attempts, Peres thinks that now is the time for him to finally reach his goal.

2005:  The Washington Post reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared from Jerusalem, “that her meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders convinced her that both sides share a commitment to ensuring Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza takes place smoothly and peacefully.”  At the end of the same article the Post reported that “Coinciding with Rice’s visit, Palestinians…attacked Israelis…in the southern Gaza Strip killing one Israeli and wounding two others…The attack was the second major assault on Israeli targets in recent days.”  Islamic Jihad and a group affiliated with Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement took credit for the attack.  As head of the PLA, Abbas is one of those Palestinian leaders whom Secretary Rice said was committed to a smooth and peaceful Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

2005(18th of Iyar, 5765):  Morris Cohen, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who helped to transform the field of metallurgy into the modern discipline of materials science and engineering, passed away at his home in Swampscott, Mass. He was 93.

2005(18th of Iyar, 5765):  Celebration of Lag B’Omer, Thirty-Third Day of the Omer. 

2005(18th of Iyyar, 5765):  Observance of the Yahrzeit Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. Born in 100 C.E., Shimon studied with the great Rabbi Akiva and was one of only two scholars ordained by Akiva. Shimon is quoted in the Palestinian Talmud as saying “To honor one’s parents is more important than honoring God.”  This belief did keep him from openly disagreeing with his considering the Rebellion against Rome.  Shimon was an outspoken supporter of Akivah and Bar Kochba while his father believed in appeasing the Romans.  According to legend, Shimon hid from the Romans with his son in a cave for thirteen years livings on dates and carob. Shimon was a great scholar who is quoted in the Talmud frequently both on matters of Halakah and ethics.  Judah the Prince, the compiler of the Mishnah was one of his students.  His greatest claim to fame among some is based on the mythical belief that he wrote the Zohar (The Book of Splendor).  Although he was a mystic, there is no proof that he was the author of the text.  Regardless, starting in the 16^th the Chasidim who are his followers gather at his grave in Meron which is located near Safed on the 33^rd day of the Omer and commemorate his passing by lighting bonfires and dancing by torchlight as they express their joy in his teachings.

2007: Tony Eprile, novelist and faculty member at the University of Iowa’s Writer's Workshop, discusses his prize winning novel, The Persistence of Memory that describes apartheid in South Africa through the eyes of a shy, overweight Jewish boy from Johannesburg's wealthy northern suburbs. He also discusses his just completed trip to Syria with other writers.     

2007: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including A Tranquil Star: Unpublished Stories by Primo Levi, translated by Ann Goldstein and Alessandra Bastagli, City of Oranges: An Intimate History of Arabs and Jews in Jaffa, by Adam LeBor, My Holocaust by Tova Reich and The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Freres & Co. by William D. Cohan. 

2007 (10 Sivan 5767): Oshri Oz a 35-year-old, resident of Hod Hasharon, was killed when a Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit the car in which he was driving in the western Negev town of Sderot.

2008: In Chicago, as a prelude to the CSO's production of Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater, Spertus is proud to host Chicago music critic Andrew Patner in a discussion with Michael Tilson Thomas, who will vividly illustrate through projected images his grandparent's fascinating history, their starring roles in the American Yiddish Theater, and its enormous contribution to the American cultural life. Michael Tilson Thomas became the eleventh Music Director of the acclaimed San Francisco Symphony in September 1995. He is also Artistic Director of the New World Symphony and Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky immigrated to the U.S. in the 1880s. While still in their teens, they played major roles in the development of American Yiddish Theater. For many Jewish immigrants, Yiddish Theater replaced traditional touchstones of Eastern European life and provided a forum for new ideas shaping their new American lives. In July 1998, Michael Tilson Thomas founded The Thomashefsky Project to rescue their story and share Yiddish Theater’s contribution to American cultural life.

2009: Center for Jewish History and Untitled Theater Company #61 present: Golem Stories, A staged reading retelling the legend of a clay man in 16th century Prague created by Rabbi Loew to defend the Jews.

2009 (4 Sivan): On the Jewish calendar, 2^nd Yahrzeit for Shir-El Friedman the thirty five year old woman who was killed by a Hamas rocket fired into Sderot.

2009: William Lanouette, the author of Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb (written with Bela Silard) and Martin J. Sherwin, the author (with Kai Bird) of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer take part in a discussion entitled, Building the Bomb, Fearing Its Use: Nuclear Scientists, Social Responsibility and Arms Control, 1946-1996, at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

2009: As part of the Tel Aviv Centennial Celebration a statue of Meir Dizengoff, the first mayor of Tel Aviv, riding his horse will be placed in front of his home at 16 Rothschild Boulevard. The address has become one of the most important landmarks in Israeli history: in his will, Dizengoff designated his house to be the home of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (the museum later moved to its current address on Shaul Hamelech Boulevard). On May 14^th 1948, it was the site in which David Ben Gurion and the Provisional National Council declared Israel's independence.

2009: Thousands of Israelis from far and wide flocked to Rothschild Boulevard in central Tel Aviv on Wednesday night, as the city held its annual "White Night" event, with parties, music and street theater lasting until the wee hours. Continuing the celebrations for Tel Aviv's 100th birthday, actors clad in white period costumes strolled the boulevard, chatting to members of the crowd and serenading passers-by. A massive screen erected in the center of Rothschild displayed portraits sent in by Tel Aviv residents to make up a composite photograph of the original families who settled the city in 1909. The entertainment runs through the night at venues around the city, including a concert by soft rocker Yehudit Ravitz on North Tzuk Beach at 1:00 A.M. Other highlights on offer included a "white" walking tour at midnight from Rothschild Boulevard to Shenkin Street, a musical walk for song lovers and music festival at Jaffa port, featuring Jewish and Arab musicians performing classical Arab music, western classical music, Flamenco, jazz, and rock.

2010: Professor Menahem Milson a professor of Arabic Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a co-founder of The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled “Arabic and Islamic Anti-Semitism Today” at the Historic 6^th & I Synagogue in Washington, D.C.

2010: The first-ever Jewish America Heritage Month celebration was held today at the White House. It underscored the Obama administration's determination not to be locked into Washington's conventional notions of Jewish leadership. President Obama did not exactly snub the usual suspects who have peopled similar events for decades. There was Lee Rosenberg, the president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and there was Alan Solow, the chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Both also happen to have been major fund-raisers for Obama's campaign, as were several others among the 250 or so in attendance. But the image that the White House sought to convey was one of Jewish America not necessarily bound to the alphabet soup of the Jewish organizational world and of pro-Israelism. Instead, Obama presented an array of Jewish heroes and celebrities who pronouncedly defied Jewish stereotypes. In addition to the major givers, the entrepreneurs and the communal leaders, there were also sports heroes -- including Sandy Koufax -- veterans, non-profit innovators, journalists, actors and organizers. The reception was in the works for months, and planning predated the tensions between Israel and the United States precipitated in early March when Israel announced a major housing start in eastern Jerusalem during an official visit there by Vice President Joe Biden, who also was at Thursday's reception. Still, the White House's message was timely: Obama would not be second-guessed by his pro-Israel critics on his friendship to the Jewish community and to Israel. The reception included a traditional reference to the "unbreakable" Israel-U.S. alliance dating back to within minutes of Israel's establishment. Obama also made it clear, however, that he sees the alliance as part of a America's strategy of outreach to the world."My administration is renewing American leadership around the world -- strengthening old alliances and forging new ones, defending universal values while ensuring that we uphold our values here at home," he said. "In fact, it's our common values that leads us to stand with allies and friends, including the State of Israel."The dual message -- closeness to Israel coupled with global outreach -- has characterized the recent "charm offensive" launched by the White House in the wake of the recent tensions with Israel. Obama is hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next Tuesday, and the signs are that it will be a higher-profile reception than the thief-in-the-night encounter the two had when tensions were at their highest in March.

2011: The National Museum of American Jewish Military History, the Jewish War Veterans, and the Sixth & I Synagogue are scheduled to host the first annual national service honoring the Jewish fallen heroes of Iraq and Afghanistan. The service, which is scheduled to be conducted by Cantor Larry Paul and musician Robyn Helzner, will open with remarks by NMAJH President David Magidson and will feature the reading of the names of the more than 40 Fallen Heroes in solemn remembrance and prayer.

2011: In Cincinnati, Ohio, Rockdale Temple is scheduled honor Jewish American Heritage Month with a Rock Shabbat service highlighting American-composed liturgical music.

2011: The annual conference of the Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations (CSJO) is scheduled to open at Humber College in Toronto, Canada.

2011: Limmud Colorado’s Fourth Annual Conference is scheduled to begin at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, CO.

2011: Group of Eight leaders had to soften a statement urging Israel and the Palestinians to return to negotiations because Canada objected to a specific mention of 1967 borders, diplomats said today.
Canada's right-leaning Conservative government has adopted a staunchly pro-Israel position in international negotiations since coming to power in 2006, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper saying Canada will back Israel whatever the cost. Diplomats involved in Middle East discussions at the G8 summit said Ottawa had insisted that no mention of Israel's pre-1967 borders be made in the leaders' final communique, even though most of the other leaders wanted a mention. "The Canadians were really very adamant, even though Obama expressly referred to 1967 borders in his speech last week," one European diplomat said. A spokesman for Harper would not comment on the line Canada had taken, saying only that the final communique would make positions clear. In the final communique, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, the leaders call for the immediate resumption of peace talks but do not mention 1967, the year Israel seized the West Bank and Gaza from Jordan and Egypt during the Six-Day War. "Negotiations are the only way toward a comprehensive and lasting resolution to the conflict," the communique said. "The framework for these negotiations is well known. We urge both parties to return to substantive talks with a view to concluding a framework agreement on all final status issues. "To that effect, we express our strong support for the vision of Israeli-Palestinian peace outlined by President Obama on May 19, 2011." In his speech last week, Obama said pre-1967 borders should be a basis of talks to achieve a negotiated settlement, although he also acknowledged any agreement would ultimately involve land swaps on either side of the border. That position was rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Israel would be indefensible if it returned entirely to the borders that existed before 1967. Canada's strong backing for Israel was cited by diplomats last year as one reason why Ottawa failed to win a rotating two-year seat on the United Nations Security Council. Harper has made is position on Israel very clear, saying last year: "When Israel, the only country in the world whose very existence is under attack, is consistently and conspicuously singled out for condemnation, I believe we are morally obligated to take a stand."

2011: US President Barack Obama today travelled to Poland where he honored the memories of those killed in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising during the Holocaust. He was heard telling a Holocaust survivor that the US would be there for Israel. During a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw Obama told one elderly man that the memorial was a "reminder of the nightmare" of the Holocaust in which millions of Jews were killed, The Associated Press reported.

2011: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of two Jewish women serving on the High Court, says she received nearly $1.2 million to write a memoir of her rise from a South Bronx housing project to the nation’s highest court. Sotomayor reported the payment for the as-yet untitled book from Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group in an annual report of personal finances, released Friday for the justice and her eight colleagues. Knopf revealed last July that Sotomayor had agreed to write the memoir, but the size of the advance had not been public. The book will come out simultaneously in English and in Spanish, but no release date has been set. Sotomayor is the court’s first Hispanic justice. Her parents moved from Puerto Rico to New York after World War II.

2012(6^th of Sivan, 5772): First Day of Shavuot

2012: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including the recently released paperback editions of The Arrogant Years: One Girl’s Search for Her Lost Youth, From Cairo to Brooklyn by Lucette Lagnado and Say Her Name by Francisco Goldman.

2012: The Paul Feig Tikkun Leil Shavuot at The JCC in Manhattan which began last night is scheduled to end at 5 am.

2012: The Cedar Lake Ballet’s two week engagement at the Venue which has included the New York premiere of “Violet Kid,” by Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter is scheduled to come to a close.

Copyright; May, 2012; Mitchell A. Levin