This Day, March 2, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

March 2 In History

986: Louis V becomes King of the Franks. Louis was the last of the Carolingian, a dynasty under whom the Jews had done rather well, all things considered.  Charlemagne was the most famous of the Carolingian rulers and he supported his Jewish subjects despite opposition from church leaders. Louis le Débonnaire who reigned from 814 to 833 was another of the Carolingians who gave special protection to his Jewish subjects. During the reign of Carolingians the Jews were active in commerce, medicine and agriculture, especially in the field of viticulture a fact of which we are reminded when we study about Rashi.  The change in dynasties would not have an immediate effect on the Jews living in France.  Life for them would not really change until the first crusade in 1096.

1127: Charles, the Good, Count of Flanders was murdered while praying in the church of St. Donat at Bruges. This came two years after Charles had expelled the Jews from Ghent because he blamed them for the famine that consumed his realm in 1125.

1349: In Erfurt, the capital of the German state of Thuringia, 1,000 Jews were killed in a single day of violence in a pogrom brought on by hysteria surrounding The Black Death which struck Europe in 1340.  During this outbreak of what was probably bubonic plagues millions died in Europe removing approximately one third of the continent’s population. “Modern research has revealed that the plague was probably carried by boat from an Asian source, but at the time the affected communities had no idea why and how such a terrible affliction had come upon them so suddenly. In seeking an explanation, they needed a scapegoat and lighted upon the Jews living in their midst. In many villages, towns and cities, Jews were accused of causing the sickness by poisoning drinking water in wells and fountains.”  [Editor’s note: for those tracking sweeping patterns of history, note that blaming Jews is not different or rational today than it was in what was supposedly the unenlightened Dark Ages.

1382: The Mailotin Riots began in Paris. These riots were similar to the tax riots held two years previously. Both times the Jews were considered accomplices in over-oppressive taxes. Sixteen Jews fell victim to this outbreak violence.
 

1798(14^th of Adar, 5558): Purim
 

1836: Texans signed the Texas Declaration of Independence at Washington-on-the-Brazos, effectively creating the Republic of Texas. Adolphus Sterne was one of the many Jews who supported the cause of Texas Independence both on and off of the battlefield.  Sterne was “an East Texas merchant who became a principal source of financial backing for the Texas Revolution. Born in the Rhineland in 1801, he arrived in Texas in time to fight in the ill-fated 1826-27 Fredonia Rebellion at Nacogdoches. He was sentenced to be shot but was released on the promise never to bear arms against the government again. He kept to the vow in the 1836 struggle for independence but supplied funds, coordinated with his old friend Sam Houston, who he had known in Tennessee before coming to Texas.”

1848: Ibrahim Pasha who issued a decree “forbidding the Jews to pave the passage in front of the Wall. It also cautioned them against “raising their voices and displaying their books there.” They were however allowed “to pay visits to it as of old” began his reign over Egypt without the approval of the Porte.

1855: Alexander II becomes Czar of Russia. Alexander gets high marks from many historians for two reasons.  First, he is the Czar who freed the serfs.  Second he was a lot better than his two successors, Alexander III and Nicholas II.  Alexander earned the goodwill of the Jewish people because “he called a half to the cantonist system that separated Jewish youths from their families, a staple of the previous Czars anti-Semitic program.”  From then on, “only Jews of draft age would serve, and under the same rules as well as other Russians.”  Under his reign, universities liberalized their admission policies for Jews and Jews were allowed to enter the legal profession.  Jewish businessman and craftsmen were allowed to work outside of the Pale and enter into the commercial life of many major urban areas.  The Czar was no liberal.  His changes in policies were caused, in part, by a desire to attract investment from Jewish European financiers.  The Czar’s reforms were proving to be too little too late.  When the Czar saw Jewish names among opponents, his anti-Semitism rose to the surface as can be seen by the closing of Yeshivot and his opposition to legal equality for Jews when the issue came up at the 1878 Congress of Berlin.

1859: Birthdate of Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich whom we know as Sholom Aleichem, the most famous Jewish author of his times. As with many Russians of his periods, Sholom Aleichim has two birthdates on the secular calendar – one on the Julian calendar and one on the Gregorian calendar.

 

1868: An article published entitled “The Alleged Illegal Action of the American Consul at Jerusalem” described a dispute that took place recently in Jerusalem involving a Prussian Rabbi, named Markus, a Prussian Jewess named Steinberg, her sister who had converted to Christianity and Victor Beaubouchier, the American Counsel in Jerusalem

1870: In New York, Judge Brady began hearing a suit brought by Benjamin Abrahams, the executor for the estate of his late brother Dr. Simeon Abrahams.  The total value of the bequest exceeds the value of the estate and the executor is seeking to obtain a decree that will establish “which if any legacies have preference” or, if there be no such preference, what pro rata share each of the legacies should receive. The late Dr. Abrahams was a prominent member of the Jewish community and he left several large bequests to Jewish charities including the Hebrew Benevolent Society, Mt. Sinai Hospital as well as numerous bequests to secular charities most of which provide aid to orphans, juveniles and those in need of medical aide.

1871: The Purim Association hosted its second reception of this social season at Delmonico’s under the management of Emanuel B. Hart, Samuel A. Lewis and Gustave D. Cardozo.

1874: Today marked the second and final day of the Purim reception at the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews in Manhattan.
 

1874(13^th of Adar): Fast of Esther

1877: The Hayes-Tilden election is finally settled by the specially created electoral commission that resolved the disputed election returns of four states in favor Hayes making him the 19^th President of the United States. Hayes appointed the first Jew to effectively serve as a U.S. Ambassador - Benjamin Peixotto – and assured a government employee that she would not lose her job if she did not work on Saturday.

1879: At the Clinton Street Synagogue in New York City, Rabbi H.P. Mendes of the Nineteenth Street Synagogue delivered a lecture on “A Dark Chapter of Spanish-Jewish History” one the opening of the tenth season of lectures sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Union.

1882: The twentieth annual Hebrew charity dress ball sponsored by the Purim Association will begin at the in the Academy of Music at nine o’clock with the grand march starting at ten.

1876: Birthdate of Pope Pius XII, the Holocaust Pope.

1877: Rutherford B. Hayes declared winner of the 1876 Presidential Election.  Samuel Tilden won the popular vote, but Hayes won a majority of the disputed in the Electoral College giving him and the Republicans the White House by one vote.  As President, Hayes worked to protect the well-being of Jewish communities in Europe.  In 1879, his Secretary of State, William Evarts said that “this government has ever felt a deep interest in the welfare of the Hebrew race in foreign countries.”  Hayes backed up these noble sentiments in negotiations with the government of Romania where he worked to try and improve the condition of Jews living under that anti-Semitic regime.

1884: Birthdate of Albert Samuel, the native of Vesoul who was the father of Raymond Samuel better known as French Resistance leader Raymond Aubrac.

1888: The Convention of Constantinople is signed, guaranteeing free maritime passage through the Suez Canal during war and peace.  The one major exception to this would be the state of Israel.  For years, the government of Egypt denied ships flying the flag of Israel from using the canal.  The Egyptians also denied access to ships that had visited Israeli ports from using the canal. 

1880: It was reported today that Mrs. W. T. Brothington of Newark, NJ has finally received the $10,000 from the estate of deceased English family. 

1891: At today’s meeting of the Louisville (KY) Ministerial Association a debate was held over the question of admitting priests, rabbis and Unitarian Ministers.

1892: A theatrical review published today described Carl Weiser’s portrayal of Shylock, “the vengeful Jew” as being “picturesque, if not strikingly dignified.”  “The Merchant of Venice” reportedly first performed in America in the 16^th century making it possibly the first Shakespearean drama performed in what would become the United States.

1892: It was reported today that the sixty Russian Jewish immigrants who are in quarantine on North Brother Island due to the outbreak of typhus are housed in their own heated pavilion where they have their own cooks who prepare their food according to Orthodox Jewish law.

1892: Forty two Russian Jewish immigrants who may be infected with typhus and are under the care of the United Hebrew Charities will be taken to North Brother Island today if the storm sweeping the area abates.

1893(14^th of Adar, 5653): Purim

1893: A fire broke out in a building in Fall River, MA, that was used as meeting place by the Hebrew Literary Club. (Who would have thought that Fall River would have been home to such an organization in the 19^th century)

1893: Birthdate of Eliyahu Golomb the native of Russia who made Aliyah in 1909 and organized the Haganah during the Mandate.

1894: Birthdate of Hélène Falk, the native of Crest who was the mother of of Raymond Samuel better known as French Resistance leader Raymond Aubrac.

1899: The annual Purim reception at the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews will be held today starting at 11 a.m. and lasting until 5 p.m.

1900:  Birthdate of German-born American composer Kurt Weill.

1901(11^th of Adar, 5661): Sixty-six year old Joseph Blumenthal passed away in New York City.  Born in Munich in 1834, he came to the United States in 1839, settled in California with his family before moving to New York.  He was part of the Committee of Seventy that helped to overthrow the infamous Tweed Ring and spend the last 15 years of his life working to create and build the Jewish Theological Seminary.

1902: Birthdate of baseball catcher Moe Berg.  In a day when most baseball players were barely literate Berg stood out as a Princeton graduate who was multi-lingual. His major league career lasted from 1923 to 1939. He was a journey-man catcher, described as “good field, no hit.” The stories about his eccentricities are too numerous for this brief entry.  Suffice it to say, he makes the television character “Monk” look normal.  His real claim to fame was his espionage work.  During barnstorming trips to Japan in the 1930’s, the Japanese speaking Berg would leave the group to do his own “explorations.”  Among other things, he took a series of pictures in Tokyo which later were used to help plan the famous Doolittle Raid during World War II. 

1903:  Herzl receives Leopold Greenberg's report. Greenberg was the owner of a successful advertising agency, publisher of the Jewish Yearbook and an ardent Zionist.

1905: Birthdate of composer Marc Blitzstein

1909(9^th of Adar, 5669): Baron Horace Günzburg, the son Joseph Günzburg, wealthy merchant and army contractor, and  the father of David Günzburg who was a major philanthropist and leader of the Jewish community passed away.

1909: Birthdate of composer Hanoch Jacoby

1911: Sophie Tucker recorded “Some of these Days” on a four inch cylinder.  “Some of these Days” was written by African American composer Shelton Brooks in 1910.  “Some of these Days” was Tucker’s signature song and the title of her autobiography.

1913: The New York Times reported that Dr. Joseph H. Hertz, Rabbi of the Congregation Orach Chayim of New York was recently appointed replace the late Dr. Hermann Adler, who was serving as Chief Rabbi of the British Empire when he passed away in July of 1911.
 

1914:  Birthdate of Martin Ritt director of The Long Hot Summer.

1915  Vladmir Jabotinsky formed a Jewish military force to fight in Palestine against the Turks in World War I.

1917: Birthdate of American fiction writer David Loeb Goodis

1926:  Birthdate of American economist Murray Rothbard.

1931: Birthdate of Lionel I. Pincus “an American finance executive, venture capitalist, and entrepreneur” who “ran the private equity firm Warburg Pincus from 1966 to 2002.”
 

1932: The New York Times reported on speech by Senator Dill of Washington praising the appointment of Benjamin Cardozo to the U.S. Supreme Court.

 

1935: Birthdate of Canadian native, actor Al Waxman.

1935 (27th of Adar I, 5695): Samuel Sachs, an American investment banker passed away. He was born in Maryland in 1851 to Jewish immigrants from Bavaria, Germany. Sachs along with his longtime friend Philip Lehman of Lehman Brothers pioneered the issuing of stock as a way for new companies to raise funds. He married Louisa Goldman, the youngest daughter of close friends and fellow Bavarian immigrants, who had already seen their older child wed as well. Sachs then joined his father-in-law Marcus Goldman's firm which prompted the name change to Goldman Sachs in 1904. Together they underwrote securities offerings for such large firms as Sears, Roebuck and Company. During this time Goldman Sachs also diversified to become involved in other major securities markets, like the over-the-counter, bond, and convertibles markets which are still a big part of the company's revenue today. Sachs retired in 1928 and died in 1935.

1938 The Palestine Post (the progenitor of today’s Jerusalem Post) published the farewell message of the retiring High Commissioner, Sir Arthur Wauchope, addressed to the people of Palestine. In a separate letter to the Post, Sir Arthur wrote that “though rather busy during most of my leave in England, I always found time to read The Palestine Post... I hope to read your paper in future years.”

1938: The Palestine Post reported that Sir John Woodhead, Sir Allison Russel and Mr. A.P. Waterfield were appointed by the British Government to serve as members of the Technical Commission which will proceed to Palestine to investigate conditions for the country’s eventual partition.  
 

1938 The Palestine Post reported that An Emek settler, Abraham Goldschlager, 38, was murdered by Arab terrorists near Mishmar Ha¹emek. Tirat Zvi came under heavy Arab fire.

1939: Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli is elected Pope and takes the name Pius XII. As Secretary of State for the Vatican he had negotiated a concordat with Hitler.  As Pope, he would remain silent about the Nazis and the Holocaust even when a Roman Catholic nun who converted to Judaism years ago was taken to the death camp because, under Hitler’s Race Laws, she was really a Jew.  Based on this alone, one wonders what this Pope thought about the meaning of baptism.

1940: “The police imposed curfew regulations at Tel Aviv tonight after breaking up widespread demonstrations protesting against British restrictions on the sale of Arab lands to Jews.

1942:As Purim began, Jews from Minsk refused to cooperate in latest deportation. Germans and Ukrainians retaliated by searching houses, dragging children to sand pits and throwing them in alive, throwing candies in after them as they died. By the end of Purim 5,000 Jews were murdered in Minsk. Jews all over Europe were tortured, murdered or deported that day included those from Krosniewice, Baranowicze, Lvov and Zdunska Wola

1942: At Janowska, eight laborers were ordered to stand in a barrel of water by Gestapo chief Dibauer, because "they didn't look too clean." They all froze to death by the next day as the ice hardened around their feet.

1943: Over 2,500 Jews in Salonica are crammed into 593 rooms in the Baron de Hirsh Ghetto. The ghetto was surrounded with high wooden fences, topped with barbed wire. Signs in German, Greek and Ladino warned Jews not to leave, under penalty of death.

1943: The daily transports to Treblinka continued. Included are New York Born Yetta Flater and London born Helene Rosenberg. Three hundred of the deportees that day were over 70 years old.

1943: In explaining the Nazi commitment to the Final Solution, Goebbels writes in his diary, “We are so entangled in the Jewish question that henceforth it is impossible to retreat.”

1945: Haaretz published the following description of kidnapping Yaakov Tavin during the “Hunting Season.” “Passersby in Dizengoff and Yirmiyahu streets were greatly struck…by the kidnapping of a young man in the street. The kidnapping occurred at 11 a.m, and was witnessed by a large number of people. A large taxi halted at the corner of Dizengoff and Yirmiyahu streets, and several men emerged, one of them dressed in police uniform. They approached the young man, who was standing on the pavement holding a package. Shouting 'Thief!', they attacked him and began to hit him. The crowd thought that he was in fact a thief, and several of them joined the attackers and helped them to push the young man into the taxi. He struggled with them and shouted in Yiddish and in Hebrew: 'Jews, help me! Why do you let them hit a Jew?' He was thrown into the car, which swiftly drove away

 

1947: In Tel Aviv a radio announcement by the Irgun was heard in which the Jewish organization took responsibility for yesterday’s attack on a British officers’ club in Jersualem yesterday.  The Irgun said the attack was in retaliation for British attacks in Haifa on Friday, February 28.

1947: In response to the latest wave of violence, the British imposed martial law throughout Palestine.  At 4 A.M. British troops occupied Petah Tikav Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv as well as other coastal communities while the government in Jerusalem imposed additional restrictions on Mea Sharim.

1947(10th of Adar, 5707): Four year od Ketti Shalom died tonight after having been shot by British forces as she stood on the balcony of her home in Jersuaem, which is under martia law.  Her mother was wounded but survived the shooting.

1950(13th of Adar, 5710): Ta'anit Esther

1950: A bill was introduced in the Iraqi parliament allowing the Jews of Iraq to immigrate to Israel.  Introduction of the bill required a large cash payment by the Israeli representatives.  The “Jews could leave provided they left behind all gold, jewelry and valuables and provided that they also gave up their Iraqi citizenship.”

1950: In Iraq, Parliament passed the Revocation of Citizenship which had been introduced earlier on that same day by Saleh Jabr, the Minister of the Interior. 

1950: A horse named Tel Aviv is entered in the second race at Hialeah Park in Miami.

1952: Birthdate of comedian and early star of SNL Laraine Newman.

1952: It was reported today that 74 year old Dr. Alexander Marx, director of libraries and Jacob H. Schiff Professor of History at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America will be taking his first trip to Israel this month.

1953:  Birthdate of Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold.

1953: The Jerusalem Post reported from Washington that the Eisenhower administration decided to pay more attention to Arab countries and less to Israel. The first concrete step in this direction was granting Egypt an $11m. credit so it could purchase American arms.

1953 The Jerusalem Post reported that twenty Jewish families from Poland arrived in Austria on their way to Israel. They reported that the Polish Jews were in a state of panic and more families were expected to follow.

1956: Morocco gains its independence from France; date celebrated as Independence Day in Morocco. Jews are known to have settled in what is no Morocco during Roman times.  In 1948, the ancient Jewish community had over a quarter of a million members.  Following violent attacks, large numbers of Jews began leaving for Israel.  At the time of independence, Jews served in the parliament and held at least one ministerial post.  The new government banned immigration to Israel.  The ban was lifted in 1963 and Jews began moving en masse to Israel.  The ancient community has now dwindled to a couple of thousand members.

1958: In “Israel’s Anniversary Year” Mary Qualley King described plans being made by Israelis to celebrate the country’s tenth anniversary.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F70C13F9385D1A7B93C0A91788D85F4C8585F9

1970: “The white minority Rhodesian Front government, led by Ian Smith, severed ties with the British crown; Smith declared Rhodesia an independent republic.” The majority black population resisted the Smith government. A civil war broke between the Smith government and the black population which was represented by ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union) and ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People’s Union).  Because of the civil war, most of the Jewish population (approximately 7,000 in number as of 1961) left the country.  Eventually the minority white government was defeated and the Republic of Zimbabwe was formed.

 http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/zimbabwe.html

1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that Egypt was counting on US President Jimmy Carter to put forward an American peace package to put pressure on Israel and to break the apparent deadlock over the Israeli-Egyptian “declaration of principles.” In Israel government sources declared that the positions of the two sides remained far apart on major issues, especially on the problem of the future of the “administered areas.”

1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that Venezuela had announced that there were no obstacles in selling oil to Israel and welcomed cooperation on other aspects of energy.

1980(14^th of Adar, 5740): Purim

1980: Yigal Allon’s funeral took place today at Kibbutz Ginosar on the shore of Lake Kinneret which had been his home for almost fifty years.
 

1981: Rockets from Lebanese territory struck several homes in the Galilee town of Qiryat Shemona today, wounding three people.

1983: Shulamit Ran's Verticals “was premiered by pianist Alan Feinberg at New York's Merkin Concert Hall. The New York Times described the work by the Tel Aviv native as “rhapsodic and intriguing.”

 

1986(21st of Adar I, 5746): Marcel Liebman, Belgian historian and Holocaust survivor, passed away at the age of 56. 

1987: Law-enforcement officials said today that federal prosecutors are on the verge of seeking the indictment of Aviem Sella, a prominent Israeli Air Force officer who the Justice Department alleges played a key role in directing the espionage activities of Jonathan Jay Pollard,
 

1988: Dr. Inamullah Khan, secretary general of the Pakistan-based World Moslem Congress has been named as the winner of the $369,000 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion even though there are reports that the prize winner has been associated with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel causes.

 

1991(16th of Adar, 5751):  French musician Serge Gainsbourg passed away at the age of 62. Born Lucien Ginzburg, Gainsbourg survived the Nazi occupation of France to become a leading poet, songwriter, singer and director.
 

1992(27th of Adar I, 5752): The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, suffered a disabling stroke while praying at the gravesite of the previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of Lubavitch.

1993(9th of Adar, 5753): Yehoshua Weissbrod was stoned and then shot dead by Palesinian terrorists in the town of Rafa.

1997: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Rubber Bullets: Power and Conscience in Modern Israel
by Yaron Ezrahi, the children’s book, When Chickens Grow Teeth: A Story From the French of Guy de Maupassant retold and illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin and  Too Much Is Never Enough by Russian born architect Morris Lapidus, the man who “created Miami Beach in the 1950’s

1998: After almost three months of negotiations, Ronald Perelman and Al Dunlap reach an agreement involving the sale of Sunbeam and Coleman.

1999(14^th of Adar, 5759): Purim

2001: “Eleanor Antin: Real Time Streaming” opened at the Cornerhouse in Manchester, U

2001: The Times of London reviewed The Jewish State: The struggle for Israel's Soul by Yoram Hazony

2002: Eleven Israelis were killed in a Palestinian suicide bombing in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox neighborhood.

2003: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of interest to Jewish readers including 'The Pieces From Berlin': Swindling Holocaust Victims by JohnSutherland and Irving Howe: A Life of Passionate Dissent by Gerald Sorin.

 2005: Start of the 12th Daf Yomi Cycle.  Daf Yomi is translated as "Daily Page."  Daf refers to the double-sided page of the Talmud.  Daf is also the word for Plank.  Tjere are those who say that the double meaning of the term Daf comes from a story about Rabbi Akiva who was saved by from drowning when he grabbed hold of a plank of a daf.  By holding on a daf - a page of the Talmud, the Jew stays a float in the worldly sea.  The program called Daf Yomi is "a systematic approach to the daily study of the Talmud formulated by Reb Meir Shapira of Lublin in 1923.   The program enables Jews throughout the world to study the same daf or double-sided page of the Talmud simultaneously.  Using this method, one can study the Talmud in a little over seven years.  This system has become popular and there is plethora of sites that provide both text and audio explanations.  There are also weekly summaries.  The success of Daf Yomi has led to the creation of other cyclical study programs.  These programs can be found on the web.  Also, many congregations - Orthodox, Conservative and Reform - now have spontaneously formed lay study groups that cover this material.  It is one more example of the burgeoning interest in Adult Jewish Education.

2006:  The Jerusalem Post reported on deteriorating condition for Jewish communities in parts of the former Soviet Union.  In Uzbekistan authorities are probing the murder of one of Tashkent's rabbis.  And despite pleas from the Jewish community and international organizations, the Tajikistan government has started to destroy the country's only synagogue.

2006(2nd of Adar, 5766): Marty Stein, who helped start Stein drugstores and Stein Optical, has died of cancer. He was 68. Mr. Stein was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 1994. He passed away in Milwaukee. A former pharmacist, Mr. Stein co-founded the first Stein drugstore in Menomonee Falls in 1961. He later expanded the chain into 19 stores, which he sold to the Walgreen Co. in 1979.  He then started Stein Health Services Inc., which ran three companies in home health care, eye care and related fields. The Eye Care One division ran Wisconsin stores as Stein Optical and Chicago stores as EyeQ. Those were sold in the late 1990s.Mr. Stein also was involved in efforts to help Israel and Jewish immigrants, including serving as national chairman of a worldwide effort to airlift thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. By 1988, he had met President Ronald Reagan, the pope and Israeli leaders. Despite his international focus, Mr. Stein remained committed to helping those in his local communities.” There are two Americas in America," he once said. "There's the one where I live and there's the other one in places such as the inner city. I want to help other people who live in the other America to know the America I know. "Mr. Stein was active in groups such as the Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee. Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson called the news of Mr. Stein's death "devastating."

2006: This evening poet Rachel Tzvia Back gave a lecture entitled "Placing the Voice: The Personal and Political, Israel 2006" at Williams College. Though born in Buffalo, NY, she "is the seventh generation of her family in Palestine," according to this bio at The Drunken Boat. Her grandfather left there in the 1920s, seeking his fortune in America; in the 1980s she returned to Israel, completing the cycle, and lives there still.

2007: Ethiopian born singer Aiiala Ingdsht releases her first album in Tel Aviv.

2007(12th of Adar, 5767): Former American Jewish Congress leader William Maslow died in his Manhattan home at the age of 99. Born in Kiev in 1907, Maslow moved to the United States with his family in 1911. He served as general counsel to the American Jewish Congress from 1945 to 1960, and as executive director from 1960 to 1972, guiding the organization’s fight against discrimination to the court system. Under Maslow’s direction, the American Jewish Congress fought housing restrictions on Jews in many communities, as well as discriminatory hiring and admissions policies at U.S. companies and universities. He filed the group’s amicus brief in Brown v. Board of Education and helping organize the 1963 March on Washington that featured the “I Have a Dream Speech.” He also founded the Commission on Law and Social Action, modeled after the ACLU and NAACP. A nephew of Paula Ben-Gurion, wife of Israel’s first Prime Minister, Maslow was a dedicated Zionist and helped lead Israel’s fight against the Arab economic boycott in the 1970s

 

2008: The Washington Post featured a review of Richard M. Cohen's Strong at the Broken Places.

2008: The Sunday New York Times features a review of Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East by Robin Wright and The Bush Tragedy by Jacob Wiesberg.

2008: In New York City, the 92^nd Street Y  presents what might be called“Jewish night the press” in a program styled “In the News With Jeff Greenfield—On the Election with Jonathan Alter, Joe Klein and Rich Lowry.” 

2008: During Operation Hot Winter the “IDF decided to change its strategy today and sent a whole regiment (about 2000 men) into the Northern Strip to occupy Jabalya and Sajiyah but met stiff resistance from the Palestinians. In the bloodiest day for Gaza since 2002, close to 70 civilians were killed. Military deaths totaled 4 Palestinian fighters and 2 Israeli soldiers.”

2009: Sports Illustrated reports that Andy Roddic will “not be showing up at the Dubai Open” this week.  “He’s ticked that Israel’s Shahar Peer was denied entry to the United Arab Emirates to ply in the women’s tournament.”

2009: At the 92^nd Street Y, playwright, author and actress Anna Deavere delivers the Annual State of Anti-Semitism lecture entitled “Hatred Knows No Boundaries, a unique address on the issues of hatred, racial conflict and genocide

2009: Israel's UN envoy filed a letter of complaint about the continued rocket attacks from Gaza to the Secretary-General and the president of the Security Council, whose rotating chair is currently held by Libya. Ambassador Gabriela Shalev warned that the Hamas attacks would hinder efforts to reach a "stable and durable cease-fire" - a deliberate echo of language adopted by the Security Council in its January resolution calling for an end to Israel's Operation Cast Lead offensive in Gaza.

2009: In an article entitled “The Good, the Bad, the Bible,” Lisa Miller examines The Good Book by David Plotz, “a naïf wandering in a strange land full of eccentric people and incomprehensible rules.” 

2010: Today is the day the New Israeli Foundation for Cinema &; V has set as the dealine for submitting scripts based on the stories of Sholom Aleichem that could be used for television productions.  The selected scripts will be eligible for special funding supplied by the foundation.

2010: At noon today a demonstration that will include members of the Union of Israel Journalists who are demanding the safeguarding of public broadcasting in Israel is scheduled to take place at Beit Sokolov in Tel Aviv.

2010: The Tulane University Jewish Studies Program under the direction of Dr. Brian Horowitz is scheduled to present to present a program entitled “Obama and Israel,” featuring Mitchell Bard of the American Israeli Cooperative Enterprise

2010: Late today reports started to emerge that, contrary to initial reports, the Masorti synagogue in Concepcion was destroyed in the earthquake that had rocked Chile this past weekend.

2010: Amos Oz said today that the Khoury family of East Jerusalem had funded the translation of A Tale of Love and Darkness, his best-selling autobiography to promote coexistence. The translation which was done by Israeli Arab Jamal Gnaim, was done in memory of Khoury’s  son George who was a promising Hebrew University law student when he was killed in a 2004 shooting attack while jogging on the university's Mt. Scopus campus.

2011: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to present a program entitled “Jewish Confederates” at Adas Israel Congregation. JHSGW Board Member Les Bergen’s presentation will include information about “a female spy living just doors from the White House and her sister, who ran a military hospital in Richmond and became known as the ‘Confederate Clara Barton.’”
 

2011: Pope Benedict XVI reiterated that the Jewish people are not responsible for Jesus' death in a new book released today.  The book, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week - From the Entrance Into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, is a sequel to a previous book on Jesus' life, the Pope describes "the final week of Jesus' earthly life."

2011: There were signs today of a new effort to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process after months of stagnation, but chances of a resumption of talks looked slim and Israel appeared to be stepping back from the stated goal of reaching a framework agreement resolving the core issues of the conflict by September.

2011:Eighty-seven year old Walter Zacharius, a publisher and iconoclast who released an unauthorized version of the erotic classic "Candy" and had the savvy and sales talk to help romance novels make the transition from drugstores to superstores to the Internet passed away today (As reported by Hillel Italie)

http://www.jta.org/news/article-print/2011/03/14/3086393/the-eulogizer-innovative-publisher-bataan-death-march-survivor?TB_iframe=true&width=750&height=500

2012: Final day to make reservations for the 2012 Humanitarian Awards Dinner sponsored by the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.

2012: Joseph Cedar’s “Footnote,” a tragicomic tale of rival father-and-son Jewish scholars in the Talmud department of Hebrew University in Jerusalem is scheduled to open in New York today.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/movies/footnote-israeli-film-by-joseph-cedar.html?pagewanted=all

2012: Emanuel Berman, author of “City within a City” is scheduled to participate in a lecture and book signing sponsored by   the YIVO Institute of Research.

2012: In his first public comments on a North American visit that will include talks with U.S. President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today Israel reserved the right to defend itself against Iran. .

2012: Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said today that Israel is ready to help treat Syrians wounded in the uprising against President Bashar Assad.

 

2013(20^th of Adar, 5773): In Cedar Rapids, the traditional minyan at Temple Judah gathers for Shabbat Parah which, the weekly portion includes the story of the Golden Calf, might be called “The Tale of Two Bovines.

2013: The Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival is scheduled the Minnesota Premiere of “Life In Stills.”

2013: The Israel String Quartet – Yigal Tuneh and Avital Steiner (violins), Robert Moses (viola), and Tzvi Moskovsky (cello) – is sechduedl to perform to pieces by Beethoven at the Eden-Tamir Music Center