This Day, June 12, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

JUNE 12 In Jewish History

1240: Nicholas Donin, a renegade Jew under the patronage of Louis IX, convinced Pope Gregory IX to confiscate the Talmud on the grounds that it was anti-Christian. A debate ensued with Rabbi Yechiel ben Yosef of Paris and three other Rabbis speaking in defense of the Talmud. Yechiel ben Yosef of Paris was a major Talmudic scholar and Tosafist from northern France, father-in-law of Isaac ben Joseph of Corbeil. He was a disciple of Rabbi Judah Messer Leon, and succeeded him in 1225 as head of the Yeshiva of Paris, which then boasted some 300 students; his best known student was Meir of Rothenburg. But even a scholar like Rabbi Yechiel could prevail since he was not allowed to counterattack or take the offensive in his argument making the outcome a foregone conclusion. Ultimately 24 carriages loaded with Jewish books including all of the available copies of the Talmud were burned. Rabbi Yechiel eventually left France and in 1260 the rabbi arrived in Eretz Yisroel (Land of Israel) along with his son and a large group of followers, settling in Acre. There he established the Talmudic academy Midrash haGadol d'Paris. He is believed to have died there between 1265 and 1268, and is buried near Haifa, at Mount Carmel.

1665: The English rename New Amsterdam, New York. England had gained control of the colony as a result of winning the war with the Dutch. Ironically, Peter Stuyvesant the Dutch governor who had tried to keep the Jews out in 1654 had to leave the colony while the Jewish settlers got to stay.

1720: Birthdate of Isaac Pinto, translator of the first Jewish prayer book published in America. A member of Congregation Shearith Israel in the city of New York, he is remembered chiefly for having prepared what is probably the earliest Jewish prayer-book published in America, and certainly the first work of its kind printed in New York City. The work appeared in 1766, and the title-page reads as follows: "Prayers for Sabbath, Rosh-Hashanah and Kippur, or the Sabbath, the beginning of the year, and the Day of Atonement, with the Amidah and Musaf of the Moadim or Solemn Seasons, according to the Order of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews. Translated by Isaac Pinto and for him printed by John Holt in New York." Pinto was the friend and correspondent of Ezra Stiles, president of Yale College, who as late as 1790 mentions him in his diary as "a learned Jew at New York." From Stiles' account it appears that Pinto was a good Hebrew scholar, studying Ibn Ezra in the original.

1773: Birthdate of Amschel Mayer Rothschild “the second child and eldest son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, the founder of the dynasty, and Gutlé Rothschild née Schnapper.

1776: The Virginia Convention of Delegates unanimously adopted The Virginia Declaration of Rights which includes Article 16 that states, “That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator and the manner of discharging it, can be directed by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience;” The declaration was drafted by founding father George Mason.

1782(30^th of Sivan, 5542): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz

1796: Birthdate of George Bush “an American biblical scholar, pastor, abolitionist and Christian Restorationist academic” who was an early American supporter of the creation of a Jewish state of Israel. “In 1844 Bush published a book entitled ‘The Valley of Vision; or, The Dry Bones of Israel Revived.’ In it he denounced “the thralldom and oppression which has so long ground them (the Jews) to the dust,” and called for ‘elevating’ the Jews ‘to a rank of honorable repute among the nations of the earth’ by re-creating the Jewish State in the land of Israel. This, according to Bush, would benefit not only the Jews, but all of mankind, forming a ‘link of communication’ between humanity and God. ‘It will blaze in notoriety...It will flash a splendid demonstration upon all kindreds and tongues of the truth.’”

1830:  The French begin their colonization of Algeria when they land 34,000 troops at point just to the west of the capital city, Algiers.  Initially the French administration conferred citizenship only on Frenchmen living in the colony.  The Jews, who had been living there for centuries, were, like the Arabs, treated as indigenous people and allowed to maintain their communal and judicial systems.

1856: An article entitled “Slidell, Blemont and Buchanan” described the role of “Auguste Belmont, the Austrian Jew” who was John Slidell’s nephew by marriage in a conspiracy to nominate James Buchanan as President of the United States.  Belmont was described as an “agent of the Rothschilds.”

1859:  The Comstock Lode was discovered near Virginia City, Nevada.  As with other such strikes, Jews were among those who arrived seeking to make their fortune.  Among them were David H. Cohen and Marcus Goldbaum whose names appear in connection with numerous other strikes.  One Jew who made did make his fortune from the Comstock Lode was Adolph Sutro. Sutro was not the run of the mill prospector.  Rather he was “a self taught financier and mining engineer” who developed a new ore extraction process and built the Sutro Tunnel that was designed to provide ventilation for the miners, “ease the hauling of ore and drain water from the mines.”  He sold Nevada interests for five million dollars and moved back to the more civilized environs of San Francisco.

1861: During the Civil War the Union began placing restrictions on trade with the Confederacy for those living in Paducah, KY. This was one of many attempts by the Union Army to deny the Rebels of many of the goods they could not produce for themselves.  General Grant’s unfortunate order a year later was actually part of this larger attempt to cripple the Confederate Army by crippling the Southern economy.  This is not meant to excuse Grant’s action but to put it into a larger context.

1862(14th of Sivan, 5622): Jacob Goodman, who had enlisted with Company D at Keokuk, Iowa, which became part of the 15^th regiment died today.  He had distinguished himself at the Battle of Corinth (Miss.) where he was fatally wounded.

1867: Following its defeat by Prussia, Austria reorganized itself into the Austro-Hungarian Empire and granted legal equality to Jews living with the new constituent states.

1870: The annual examination of students of the Hebrew Free Schools of New York took place today at Steinway Hall. Several hundred students from the schools which were established five years ago by the Hebrew Free School Association took part in this rigorous, yet fun-filled annual event.  The students were quizzed by teachers from a cross section of the faculties.  They displayed “considerable proficiency” in “their knowledge of the Hebrew language and of the primary branches of English education.  Follow the exams, Alderman Henry Woltman addressed the attendees.  At the end, the principal, Mr. J.C. Noot distributed prizes to some fifty of the more “meritorious pupils.

1873: According to a report published today the Hebrew Orphan and Benevolent Society has received contributions totaling $65,075.21 for the year 1872-1873.

1874:  According to a report published today the Hebrew and Benevolent Society received contributions totaling $70,688.26 for the 1873-1874 reporting year.

1876: George Richardson was fined ten dollars at the Tombs Police Court for having struck Louis Raminsky with enough force to cut the bearded Jew’s lip. Richardson struck Raminsky because he mistook him for a man named Rubinstein whom he identified as a “murder”.

1877: According to reports published today in the New York Times Jews living in Bucharest are petitioning Secretary Evarts for protection. "They are Russian and Austrians Hebrews, and comprise the very worst types of the race, refusing either to work or to pay taxes

1877(1st of Tammuz, 5637): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz

1878: A Coroner’s Inquest was held at the home of the late Lucien Levy to determine the cause of the death of the Jewish businessman who had died yesterday.  Among those giving testimony were his widow and his brother Henry.  After hearing all of the evidence, the coroner determined that the death was indeed a suicide and that no autopsy would be necessary.

1880(3^rd of Tammuz, 5640): A Jewish child named Kate Ungerleider died at police headquarters in New York of whooping cough.  Her father who was a member of the Simon Benevolent Society had abandoned Kate and her 3 siblings after their mother had eloped with one of his friends.

1881: It was reported today that no matter of foreign policy has attracted as much attention in England was “the horrible persecution of the Jews in Russia.”  While several Jews are trying to get the government to aid their co-religionist, Baron Henry de Worms, the MP from Greenwich, who is not Jewish is leading the way in this manner.  When Parliament is sitting, “not a night passes without” without putting one or more questions on this matter to the responsible government minister.

1882: “Jews Going of Russia” published today described the mass exodus of Jews seeking to escape the oppression of the Russian Empire and the measures being taken to deal with this in the West.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E06E1DF1E3EE433A25751C1A9609C94639FD7CF

1882: Joseph Wolf and Meyer Morris, two Jewish refugees from Russia who had arrived in New York two weeks ago, were under arrest today on charges that they had attacked a member of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society when he did not comply with their latest demands.

1884(19^th of Sivan, 5644): Eighty year old Rosa Gavay, passed away today at the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews today she had an accident on the elevator and fell to her death.

1884: At a time when many Jews were turning their backs on Hebrews, Protestants provided another example of their interest in the language when Reverend John M. Lansing was named to fill the newly created Gardner Sage Professorship of Hebrew at the Reformed Church in America’s seminary at New Brunswick, NJ.

1886: It was reported today that Rabbi James K. Gutheim passed away in New Orleans.  At the time of his death he was the leader of Temple Sinai.  From 1868 until 1872 he had been the “English reader” at Temple Emanu-El in New York. [Note – this was at a time when services were conducted in German]  He was praised for his working to raise the level of education and health among all the people of the city regardless of their religious beliefs.

1887: It was reported today that “the officers and managers of the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children” are collecting funds so that, for the 9^th year in a row, they can provide outings for poor and sick Jewish mothers and their children.  Last year there were seven such outings which provided service to over ten thousand woman, children and infants.  [These excursions were part of an effort in urban America to get youngsters out of the tenement districts for even a little while during the summer in the belief that fresh air would help their health.]

1897: Birthdate of Anthony Eden. Eden was the Foreign Minister under Winston Churchill and his loyal number two. Eden was an ardent anti-Nazi but many claim that he was the English leader who prevented action being taken to save the Jews of Europe during World War II. Eden became Prime Minister in the 1950’s and was the British Prime Minister at the time of the Suez Crisis in 1956. Eden agreed to the ill-fated plan that included a joint Anglo-French seizure of the Suez Canal. Despite the success of the Israelis against the Egyptians, the whole project falls apart in the face of joint U.S.-Soviet support for Egypt. In the end, the British withdrew and Eden was forced from office.

1899: Birthdate of Fritz Albert Lipmann American biochemist and a co-discoverer in 1945 of coenzyme A. For this, together with other research on coenzyme A, he was awarded half the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1953.

1899: Birthdate of Usher Fellig who changed his name to Arthur Fellig after coming to the United States from Austria to fend off anti-Semitism.  He is best known as Wegee the American photographer and photojournalist.

1903: Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity for Women (Alpha Chapter) was founded at the University School of Music in Ann Arbor, Michigan by seven women.  Beverly Sills is one its many Laureates.

1912: A kosher kitchen was installed at Ellis Island for use by immigrants.

1916: Birthdate of Irwin Allen. Allen gained fame as a producer of disaster movied. Allen helped bring to the screen two of the most famous disaster films ever made – The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno. His name is now synonymous with the genre – a name that can also be spotted amongst the tombstones of late and great Jewish performers in LA’s Mount Sinai cemetery.

1918: Birthdate of Samuel Z. Arkoff. Born in Iowa, Arkoff was an entertainment attorney when he went to work for American International Pictures or AIP. As a producer at AIP he perfected a formula for low budget films in a variety of genres including gangster, horror and "blaxploitation." His studios produced everything from "The Amityville Horror" to the series of beach party movies starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. He provided the training ground for a many famous directors including Brian De Palma, Martin Scorsese, and Fancis Ford Coppola, as well as such performers as Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, and Melanie Griffin. He died in 2001 and is buried in Mt. Sinai Cemetery in California.

1920: Birthdate of Dave Berg. Berg gained famed as a cartoonist for "Mad Magazine". He passed away in 2002.

1921(6^th of Sivan, 5681): Shavuot

1923: Harry Houdini (Eric Weiss) freed himself from a straitjacket while suspended
upside down, 40 feet (12 m) above the ground in New York City

1929: Birthdate of Anne Frank. She was murdered in the Holocaust in 1945.

1929: Birthdate of Frank Lawrence "Lefty" Rosenthal, sports handicapper and a former Las Vegas casino executive who also hosted a television talk show in Las Vegas during the late 1970s. He passed away on October 13, 2008.

1932: Birthdate of novelist Rona Jaffe.

1939: Leonard Kaplan graduates from West Point. Leonard Kaplan served as a captain, a major, and upon leaving active duty in 1947, only eight years from graduation, he was a lieutenant colonel. While in the Army Reserves, he ultimately reached the rank of colonel. His service record included the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star with one oak leaf cluster, and a Purple Heart. During World War II he served as a battalion commander of one of the first amphibious units, serving in the South Pacific for33 months.

1939:  Shooting begins on Paramount Pictures' “Dr. Cyclops, “the first horror film photographed in three-strip Technicolor.  Paramount was dominated by two Jews: Adolph Zukor, the Chairman of the Board, and Barney Balaban, its President

1940: Margaret and Hans Reys arrive at Etampes having pedaled 18 kilometers from Paris.  They find suitable lodging and spend the night

1941(17th of Sivan, 5701): Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss who worked for Murder Incorporated was executed at Sing Sing.

1941(17th of Sivan, 5701): Martin "Bugsy" Goldstein who worked for Murder Incorporated was executed at Sing Sing.

1942: Anne Frank received a diary on her thirteenth birthday.

1942: In Khmelnik, the Ukraine; babies, children and old people were ordered to assemble. The children were taken away, never to be seen again.

1943: The Jewish community at Berezhany, Ukraine, is wiped out. On Shabbat, in the morning, the Nazis led 1,180 Jews of Berezhany to face death at the city's old Jewish graveyard, where the Nazis shot into a mass grave.

1943 (9th of Sivan, 5703): In the Lódz (Poland) Ghetto, the chiefs of Jewish police are forced to witness Nazi executions of recaptured ghetto escapees: 23-year-old Hersch Fejgelis, 29-year-old Mordecai Standarowicz, and 31-year-old Abram Tandowski.

1943: Birthdate of sportscaster Marv Albert.

1944: In the weekly internal report of the War Refugee Board, it states that Ambassador MacVeagh in Cairo reports there are still 5,000 Jews hiding in Greece. "Those who have been able to join the Partisans reportedly run less risk of being exterminated by the Germans, who have thus far avoided the systematic pursuit of guerilla warriors."

1945(1^st of Tammuz, 5705): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz

1950: Eddie Cantor, his wife Ida and Mr. and Mrs. Yolanda Markson of Los Angeles arrived in Israel this morning on what was Mr. Cantor’s first visit to Israel. Among those greeting him at the airport was United States Ambassador to Israel, James G. McDonald. Cantor has raised over ten million dollars to support the Jewish state.  He said that as a good American it was his duty to support the young democracy and that doing so was in the same spirit being shown by the United States in funding the Marshall Plan which was designed to support the democracies of western Europe.

1951(8th of Sivan, 5711): An unnamed Israeli soldier was killed when he sought to stop Jordanian troops from crossing the border into Israel.

1952(19th of Sivan, 5712):Rabbi Henry Cohen, “served Congregation B'nai Israel in Galveston, Texas from 1888 to 1952” passed away. Born in 1863, Cohen played an integral role in the Galveston Movement. The Galveston Movement operated between 1907 and 1914 to divert Jews fleeing Russia and eastern Europe away from crowded East Coast cities. Ten thousand Jewish immigrants passed through Galveston, Texas during this era, approximately one-third the number who migrated to Palestine during the same period.”

1955: Outfielder Al Silvera made his major league debut with the Cincinnati Reds.

1955: Comedian Buddy Hackett married Sherry Cohen.

1961: Walworth Barbour presents his credentials as the United States Ambassador to Israel.

1962: David Ben-Gurion sends a letter to Eliezer Steinman, in which he writes, “Today, more than ever, the "religious" tend to relegate Judaism to observing dietary laws and preserving the Sabbath. This is considered religious reform. I prefer the Fifteenth Psalm, lovely are the psalms of Israel. The Shulchan Aruch is a product of our nation's life in the Exile. It was produced in the Exile, in conditions of Exile. A nation in the process of fulfilling its every task, physically and spiritually . . . must compose a "New Shulchan"--and our nation's intellectuals are required, in my opinion, to fulfill their responsibility in this.”

1963: Cleopatra, co-starring Elizabeth Taylor opened.  During the filming of the this epic flic, Taylor, who had converted to Judaism and was married to Jewish crooner Eddie Fisher, began a torrid and public affair with her co-star Richard Burton.  Burton and Taylor both left their respective spouses, married, divorced and remarried.

1967: First Israeli ship sailed through Gulf of Eilat after the Six Days War. It was the closure of the Gulf of Eilat and the blockade of the port of Eilat by the Egyptians in May that led to the June War.

1967: The INS Dolphin arrived at Eilat

1970(8^th of Sivan, 5730): Israeli political leader Yisrael Barzilai passed away.  Born in Poland in 1913, he made Aliyah in 1934.  A member of the Knesset, he served in several ministerial positions included Minister of Postal Services and Minister of health.  Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon was named in his honor.

1972(30th of Sivan, 5732): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz

1972(30th of Sivan, 5732): Saul David Alinsky radical, writer and social activist, passed away. Born in 1909, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Alinsky had a passion for justice that originated from his experience growing up in Chicago's Jewish ghetto where he witnessed suffering during the Depression.

1983(1^st of Tammuz, 5743): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz

1983(1^st of Tammuz, 5743): Academy award winning actress Norma Shearer who converted to Judaism when she married Irving Thalberg, passed away today.

1986: In an article entitled “The Jewish Freud,” Michael Ignatieff begins his review of “Freud’s Discovery of Psychoanalysis: The Politics of Hysteri” by William J. McGrath and “Freud and His Father” by Marianne Krull with the following story. “When Sigmund Freud was twelve and out walking with his father Jacob in the streets of Vienna, his father wanted to show his son how much better things had become for Jews since the days when he was a poor peddler wearing a beaver hat and a kaftan in the shtetls of Galicia. So he told his son about the time in Tysmenitz when a gentile had crossed his path on the pavement and had knocked his hat into the gutter jeering after him, 'Jew, get off the pavement.’”

1990: Moshe Arens completed his term as Foreign Minister.

1994(3rd of Tamuz, 5754): Ronald Goldman is murdered along with Nicole Brown Simpson.  OJ Simpson was found not guilty in the criminal case.  The civil trial turned out with just the opposite verdict.

1994(3rd of Tamuz, 5754): On the secular calendar, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known to many simply as The Rebbe, passed way. [Editor’s Note -There is no way that any brief entry could do justice to this man’s life.  You are urged to seek out the many books and web entries about him.]

1997(7^th of Sivan, 5757): Second Day of Shavuot

1998: In an article describing the history of Savannah, Georgia, reporter R.W. Apple, Jr. reminded his readers of the early Jewish connection to this colonial seaport. “Only five years after General Oglethorpe's arrival in 1733 to found the last of the original 13 colonies, a group of Jews landed here, and descendants of some of them, including Sheftalls and Minises, remain prominent in Savannah's economic and cultural life. Temple Mickve Israel, built in 1876, is the only Gothic Revival synagogue in the United States; its interior has cast-iron cluster pillars, a fine Spanish chandelier and good stained glass. The temple owns the oldest Torah in America and a valuable collection of books and documents, including letters from Washington, Jefferson and Madison. Some of Savannah's prettiest squares and best antiques dealers are clustered in the same neighborhood as the temple. Prices are high, but so is quality.”

2001: In an article entitled ‘Anatomy of a Bagel” C. Claiborne asks “How many calories are in a plain, sesame or poppy seed bagel from a New York coffee shop? What are the ingredients and nutritional value?” and then provides the following answer: “Let us assume that you get the biggest plain, enriched bagel analyzed by the United States Department of Agriculture, 4 1/2 inches in diameter, weighing 110 grams, about 3.8 ounces. The ingredients -- flour, water, salt, yeast and malt, but no sugar, if it is a classic bagel -- are boiled and then baked. They add up to 302.5 calories, the U.S.D.A. says. On a standard nutrition facts label, the bagel would boast 1.76 grams of fat, no cholesterol, 587.4 milligrams of sodium, 111.1 milligrams of potassium, 58.74 grams of carbohydrate and 11.55 grams of protein. Vitamins and minerals include a significant amount of folate, 96.8 micrograms, from the enriched flour, but most are present in trace amounts. A bagel preserved with calcium propionate has more calcium than one without it: 81.4 milligrams, compared with 19.8 milligrams. Oddly, the U.S.D.A. does not differentiate among plain, onion, poppy seed and sesame bagels. Poppy seed, which the department considers a spice, not a food, would probably not add enough calories to make a weight watcher feel guilty. There are only about 15 calories in a teaspoonful, fewer than a spoon of sugar. Sesame seeds have perhaps 26 calories in a teaspoonful, figured at a sixth of an ounce, by volume.”

2005(5th of Sivan, 5765): Erev Shavuot

2005: Several families gather in the beit midrash at Milken Community High School in Los Angeles, where the they fulfill a commandment derived from Deuteronomy 31:19 by each writing a letter in Torah scroll that will lead to its completion.

2005:  The Cedar Rapids Gazette reported that Marv Levy, former coach of the Buffalo Bills and Coe College graduate was the speaker Coe’s Alumni weekend.  A 1950 graduate, Levy had excelled as a college athlete and student having earned a Phi Beta Kappa Key.  His topic for the alumnae address was “So You Want to Write a Book.”

2005:  The Chicago Tribune featured reviews of two books that examined the role of Jews in the military.  “GI Jews: How World War II Changed a Generation” by Deborah Dash Moore examined the impact of military service on American Jews and the gentiles with whom they came in contact during the Second World War. “Company C; An American’s Life as a Citizen-Soldier in Israel” by Haim Watzman examines the impact of military service on Jews, the Jewish character and Israeli society based on his twenty years of service as an active duty soldier and reservist. The reviewer does an artful job of showing how these two books deal with similar issues from differing points on the experiential compass.

2005: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Steinberg at The New Yorker” by Joel Smith and “Chaplin and Agee: The Untold Story of the Tramp, the Writer, and the Lost Screenplay” by John Wranovics

2007:  In Los Angeles, The Skirball Cultural Center presents a double feature with the showing of two films, Sisai and Melting Siberia. “In Sisai, the title character, an Ethiopian Jew living in Israel, learns the whereabouts of his biological father in Ethiopia. Together with his adoptive father and his brother, filmmaker David Gavro, Sisai embarks on an unforgettable journey that illuminates his immigrant identity. The film was the First-prize documentary winner at the Jerusalem International Film Festival.” The dialogue is In Hebrew and Amharic with English subtitles. “Melting Siberia tells the story of Marina Haar, who is content in Israel not knowing the identity of her Russian father. But when her grown son, Ido Haar, the film's director, asks to locate his grandfather, a single phone call melts away the distance between Israel and Siberia.” The dialogue is in Hebrew and Russian with English subtitles.

2007: The Jerusalem Post reported that “Eighty three percent of Jewish Israelis are satisfied or extremely satisfied with their lives, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics annual Social Survey 2006. Assessing such daily concerns as business, finance and health, the survey questioned 7,300 people aged 20 and up over the course of the last six months. Eighty four percent of the Jewish population reported being satisfied or extremely satisfied with their work situation, while 71% of the Arab community said they felt the same way. Among the haredi population, 97% said they were satisfied or extremely satisfied with their lives; among the modern Orthodox community 86% reported being happy with life, with the traditional and secular segments of the population being 82% and 85%, happy respectively. Furthermore, more than half the population told researchers that they believed within the next few years, life in Israel would greatly improve for them.

2007: The Washington Post reported about the programming on Shalom TV, a Jewish oriented cable television channel that has expanded in to the Washington-Baltimore region. The network offerings include a kosher cook-off program, hip-hop entertainer Russell Simmons discussing anti-Semitism, Hebrew lessons Talmud study and the “Jewish Mr. Rogers.”  Television targeting Jewish audiences certainly has come a long way since “Lamp unto my Feet.”

2007: News broke that two Bear Stearns hedge funds speculating in mortgage-backed securities were melting down. (This “was the precursor to the panics and collapses” that have led to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression which, when combined with activities of Bernard Madoff, have gutted or threatened the well-being of so many Jewish communal organizations)

2007(26^th of Sivan, 5767): Ninety-eight year old Baron Guy de Rothschild passed away today in Paris. (As reported by Paul Lewis)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/business/worldbusiness/14rothschild.html?_r=1

2008: Hazak Week of Study begins. Hazak is the United Synagogue's organization for Jews 55 and over.

2008: The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) will honor Mildred and George Weissman at its Israel Benefit Luncheon today.  Shari Eshet, director of NCJW's Israel Office, will keynote the luncheon which is being held at the Jewish Museum in New York City

2009: Mark Kurlansky, the author of “A Chosen Few,” discusses and signs his new book, “The Food of a Younger Land: A Portrait of American Food, Before the National Highway System, Before Chain Restaurants, and Before Frozen Food, When the Nation's Food Was Seasonal” at Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C.

 2009: At Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Tessa Cohen, daughter of Terri and Brian Cohen, helps in leading Friday Night Shabbat Services as she begins the weekend that marks her Bat Mitzvah.

2009: The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. reopened to large crowds after having been closed on Thursday to honor the memory of Stepehn T. Johns, the guard murdered by a anti-Semitic white supremacist who had tried to shoot his way into the shrine on Wednesday.

2009: Opening of the Derfner Judaica Museum at Hebrew Home at Riverdale in the Bronx.

2010(30th of Sivan, 5770): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz

 2010: Golem with Girls In Trouble are scheduled to perform at the Washington Jewish Music Festival.

2010: The sitting of shivah by the family of Steve Averbach, who was injured thwarting an Arab terrorist attack, is scheduled to end this evening.

2011: The award winning duet "Dinner" by Israeli based Maya Stern and Tomer Sharabi is scheduled to be performed by Tomer Sharabi and Tal Kol on the fifth and final night of Contemporary Israel Dance Week.

 2011: The Wisconsin Institute for Torah Study is scheduled to celebrate its 31st Anniversary and the Graduation of the WITS Class of 2011!

2011: Palestine Solidarity Group Chairman, Per Gahrton who was reportedly responsible for the segregation of the Israeli team at Malamo in 2009, is scheduled to deliver an address at the stadium where Israel will play Sweden in major international handball completion an hour after the speech.

 2011: “I Married Wyatt Earp,” a musical based on the life Josephine Marcus is scheduled to have its final performance in New York.  Marcus was the eccentric Jewish daughter of a successful San Francisco family who ran away from home and ended up performing in Tombstone, Arizona where she met and wed the famous lawman.  It is because of Marcus that Earp is buried in a Jewish cemetery leading many to mistakenly assume that marshall who gained lasting fame at the OK Corral was Jewish.

 2011: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding From You” by Eli Pariser, “A Most Dangerous Book: Tacitus’s “Germania” From the Roman Empire to the Third Reich” by Christopher B. Krebs and “In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin” by  Erik Larson that is a biography of William E. Dodd, FDR’s first Ambassador to Hitler’s Germany.

 2011: The Goodlove Family Reunion is scheduled to take place in Central City, Iowa.

2011:  In a modern day story of David beating Goliath, Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat to win the NBA Championship.

 2011: It was announced that Leonid Borisovich Nevzlin had purchased a 20% stake in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, for NIS 140m. Nevzlin's acquisition leaves the Schocken family with a 60 percent stake in the company 

2011(10^th of Sivan, 5771): Sixty-one year old Laura Ziskin, the American film producer who helped gives Pretty Woman and Spider Man, passed away. (As reported by Aljean Harmetz)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/movies/laura-ziskin-behind-spider-man-films-dies-at-61.html

2011(10^th of Sivan, 5771): Eighty-one year old Alan L. Haberman, the man who played a key role in popularizing the now ubiquitous bar code passed away.  (As reported by Margalit Fox)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/business/16haberman.html

2012: “Off-White Lies” (Orhim le-Rega) is scheduled to be shown tonight at the JCC in Manhattan

2012: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to sponsor “A Centennial Celebration of the First Jewish Aviator” honoring Arthur “Al” Walsh.

Copyright; June, 2012; Mitchell A. Levin  melech3@mchsi.com