September 1
September is an auspicious month in terms of Jewish
History. Like most things in the world of Jews, it is a
mixed bag-- a combination of the bitter and the sweet.
Today we mark the anniversary of the start of
World War II. By the end of the war, the world of European Jewry would
lie in ruins. After two thousand years of growth and contribution, that
civilization would cease to exist as we had known it.
September also marks the anniversary
of the beginning of the Jewish community in the United States. From
twenty-three stormed tossed refugees has come one of the most dynamic
civilizations in Jewish history.
1312 BCE
(10th of Tishrei): According to the Bible, the day on which Moses
came down from Mt. Sinai with the second set of Tablets on which the Ten
Commandments were inscribed.
http://www.aish.com/dijh/Tishrei_10.html
992: In
Limoges, France, A Jewish apostate named Sechog ben Ester planted a wax figure
in the ark of the local synagogue and then accused the local Jews of using it
to curse the local Lord by devil magic. Although they succeeded in deflecting
the accusation, the idea that Jews were devil worshippers was gaining more
acceptance in the Christian world. A brief account...
1181:
Lucius III, who issued Ad Abolendam – a Papal Bull condemning heresy which
created the Inquisition – was elected Pope today/
1199(8th
of Tishri): Maimonides wrote to Samuel Ibn-Tibbon, who as translating the
"Guide to the Perplexed from Arabic into Hebrew. The letter included advice on how to do this
as well as plea that Ibn-Tibbon not undertake his planned trip from France to
Egypt to visit him. The distance was too
great and he would be too busy since to see him for more than an hour since
each day except Shabbat he must travel from Fostat to Cairo where he spends
half a day ministering to the Sultan and his court. Then he travels back to Fostat where he is
besieged by Jews, Moslems, et al all seeking his medical skill and advice.
1239:
During the Baron’s Crusade, whose leaders included Simon de Montfort, the Earl
of Leicester who expelled the Jews from his domain and cancelled all debts owed
to the Jews of England, Theobold, the King of Navarre reach Acre
1267: Ramban (Moses
Nachmanides or Moses ben Nachman) arrived in Jerusalem. Born in 1194,
Nachmanides was a famed commentator on the Torah and Talmud and a major
communal leader in Spain. He also was
the court physician to King James of Aragon (a part of Spain). King James forced him to defend Judaism in a
public debate with Pablo Christiani, a Jew who had converted to
Catholicism. To make a long story short,
Nachmanides vigorous defense angered the Dominican friars and Nahcmanides was
forced to flee. He gave life to a Jewish
community in Jerusalem that had fallen on such hard times that it had trouble
gathering a minyan. Among other things
he built a synagogue in Jerusalem that was the sole such building for several
centuries to come. Nachmanides moved to
Acre in 1268 where he led that community until 1270.
1271: Gregory X, the pontiff who
will issue “Sicut Judaeis” in 1272 which absolved the Jews of “using Christian
blood for ritual purposes” began his papacy.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/Papal_Protection_of_the_Jews.html
1566: Birthdate of Edward Alleyn “a major figure of
the Elizabethan theatre” known for his portrayal of Barabbas in “The Jew of
Malta.”
1577: Pope Gregory XIII,
reconfirming the Bull off Pope Nicholas
1584: Gregory XIII issued Sancta
Mater Ecclesia, a Papal Bull concerning the obligatory preaching of Christian
sermons to Jews. The Bull required that
100 men and 50 women be sent every Saturday to listen to conversion sermons
delivered in a church near the ghetto.
1592: Archbishop Salikowski ordered the Jews to
build a church in Lvov Poland marking a period of increasing persecution.
1614: Vincent Fettmich expelled the Jews from Frankfurt-on-Main,
Germany.
1749: The delegates of the Hungarian Jews,
except those from Szatmar County, assembled at Pressburg and met a royal
commission, which informed them that they would be expelled from the country if
they did not pay this tax. The frightened Jews at once agreed to do so; and the
commission then demanded a yearly tax of 50,000 gulden. This sum being excessive,
the delegates protested; and although the queen had fixed 30,000 gulden as the
minimum tax, they were finally able to compromise on the payment of 20,000
gulden a year for a period of eight years. The delegates were to apportion this
amount among the districts; the districts, their respective sums among the
communities; and the communities, theirs among the individual members. The
queen confirmed this agreement of the commission, except the eight-year clause,
changing the period to three years, which she subsequently made five.
1715: King Louis XIV of France dies after a
reign of 72 years. The Sun King’s record
in dealing with the Jewish people was never good, but it got really awful just
before his death. Seized with the
deathbed religious fervor the debauched, he came fully to accept the position
of the Church and the Jesuits when he banned all Jews from Marseilles Toulon
and the rest of Provence in 1710. “The Jews were ordered, in his words, ‘to
leave the kingdom without any belongs’ and local officials were told to take
any and all means to expel the Jews ‘because that is our wish.’”
1749: “The delegates of the Hungarian Jews,
except those from Szatmár County, assembled at Pressburg and met a royal
commission, which informed them that they would be expelled from the country if
they did not pay the ‘toleration-tax’ that had been imposed on them during the
reign of Queen Maria Theresa the daughter of Charles III The commission wanted 50,000 gulden; the queen
wanted 30,000 gulden and the Jews ended up paying 20,000 gulden a year for an
agreement that allowed them to stay in their homes for five years (Ant-Semitism
is a money maker)
1752: The Liberty
Bell arrived in Philadelphia. The Bell is inscribed with words from the 25th
chapter of Leviticus, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto
all the inhabitants thereof. It is
but one of many examples of how Jewish culture and values had an impact on
Western civilization in general and, in this case, early American culture
specifically.
1761: Birthdate of German theologian Heinrcih Paulus, author of the
“The Jewish National Separation: Its Origin, Consequences and the Means of its
Correction” a pamphlet in which he “argued that "Jews were a nation apart,
and would remain so as long as they were committed to their religion, whose
basic intent and purpose were to preserve them in that condition. In a country
that was not their own, therefore, Jews could not claim more than the bare
protection of their lives and possessions. They might certainly not claim
political equality."
1763: Catherine II of Russia endorses Ivan Betskoy’s plans for a
Foundling Home in Moscow. Betskoy was an educational reformer and accepting his
plan was in keeping with Catherine’s self-image of being “a child of the
Enlightenment.” This happened a year after Catherine came to the throne in a
period when her hold on the office was still shaky due to the way she had
gained her crown. At this time,
Catherine was also gingerly working her way around the anti-Jewish laws of her
late mother-in-law “quietly” allowing “useful” Jews such as doctors,
contractors and businessman to work in St. Petersburg. Catherine’s accepting
view of her Jewish subjects would change during the last years of her reign,
when the limitations she place on them began the creation of what would become
the Pale of Settlement.
1795: Birthdate of James Gordon Bennett, Sr., the found of the New
York Herald. When he died in 1872, he would be memorialized as “an honest
supporter and true friend” of the Jewish people whose newspaper “always gave
firm and true support to” the Jewish people.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=940CE0DE1439EF34BC4153DFB0668389669FDE
1800: Lyon Nathan married Hannah Benjamin at the Great Synagogue today.
1805: In Georgetown, SC, Sarah Judah and Lizer Joseph gave birth to
Jacob Judah Joseph, the husband of Sarah Emanuel and the father of Lizar,
Molcie, Josephine and Joseph ben Joseph.
1805: During the dispute sparked by the publication of
‘Emeḳ ha-Shaweh (Vale of the Plain), Rabbi Moses Münz summoned two rabbis to
come to Óbuda to form with him a tribunal before which would hear the case
against the author, Rabbi Aron Chorin.
1810: In Jebenhausen, Germany, “Rehle (Sarah) Jonathan and Moses Faist
Rosenheim gave birth to Perez Rosenheim.
1819(11th of Elul, 5579): Seventy-six year old Abigail
Seixas, the daughter of Isaac Menes Siexas and Rachel Franks Levy passed away
today in Richmond, VA.
1820: Former President Thomas Jefferson wrote to Dr. Jacob De La Motta
of Savannah, GA. Jefferson repeated his
belief in religious freedom and his happiness at “restoration of the Jews”
especially as regards “their social rights.”
He looks forward to the day when they will take “their seats on the
benches of science” as preparation to “their doing the same at the board of
government.” (As reported by the Jewish
Virtual Library)
1822: Brazil declared its independence from
Portugal. Soon after this declaration of independence many Spanish Jews from
Morocco migrated to the area. By 1879 Sephardim had settled all the way down to
the Amazon rain forest area.
1824(8th of Elul, 5584): Thirty-nine
year old Moses Mordecai, the New York City born son of Judith Myers and Jacob Mordecai, the husband of Margaret
Lane and the father of Henry, Ellen and Jacob Mordecai, passed away today in Sweet Springs, VA.
1824(8th of Elul, 5584): Thirty-nine year old Moses
Mordecai, the New York City born son of Judith Myers
1827: Löbl Strakosch and Julia Schwarz gave
birth to their sixth child Samuel.
1830: Barnet Emanuel married Amelia Isaacs at
the Great Synagogue today.
1835: Birthdate of Yosef Chaim, the Baghdad
native who is also known as Ben Ish Chai which is the name of his seminal work
on halachah. Ben Ish Chai is Hebrew for
“son of man who lives,” a term that harkens back to Ezekiel and the Valley of
the Dry Bones (Son of Man, can these bones live?).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosef_Hayyim
1836 Reconstruction
begins on the “Synagogue of Rabbi Judah Hasid” in Jerusalem.
1837: In Willoughby,
OH, Dr. Daniel Moses Levy Maduro Peixotto, the Amsterdam born of Chazan Moses
Levi Maduro Levy Maduro Peixotto and Judith van Samuel Pexitto, and his wife
Rachel Lopes Mendex Peixotto gave birth Raphael Mozes Levy Maduro Peixotto
1841: John Jacobs
married Frances Samson in Liverpool, UK.
1841: Based on the
advice given to him by the Duke of Sussex that travel would improve his work,
Solomon Alexander Hart left England on his way to Italy “where he made many
architectural and other drawings, originally intended for publication as a
series of engravings but which were ultimately used as studies for his pictures
of Italian history and scenery.”
1844: Birthdate of
“Dutch philologist Herman Josef Polak” the native of Leyden who “in 1894 was
appointed professor of Greek at Gröningen University.”
1848: In Suvalki,
Poland, Abraham Feinberg and his wife gave birth to Moses Feinberg who came to
the United States in 1868 where he served as a cantor for Congregations New
Beth Israel, Poale Zedek and Adath Yeshurun.
1853: The New York
Times reported that civil unrest continues to rock Venezuela. “At Barcelona, the government of General
Monagas has published a ‘warning”” aimed at foreigners in general and Jews in
particular accusing them of being the instigators of the unrest. After a delegation of Jews and other
foreigners sought help from the Dutch Consul at Caracas, a Dutch man-of-war
sailed to Barcelona where it could offer protection to those who have been
threatened.
1854: Thirty year old
James (Jacob) Seligman and Rosa Seligman gave birth to Samuel Jefferson
Seligman.
1855: Mademoiselle Rachel, the great
French Tragedienne, is scheduled to make her New York debut today. Mademoiselle
Rachel is Elizabeth Rachel Felix, the daughter of a German-Swiss Jew named Felix
and his wife Esther Haya.
1857: Banker Henri
Louis Bischoffsheim and his wife gave birth to Ellen Odette Cuffe, Countess of
Desart, née Bischoffsheim, the wife of William Cuffe, the 4th Earl
of Desart “who has been called ‘the most important Jewish woman in Irish
history.’”
1857: The New York Times reported that a decision has
been made to carry the question of admitting Jews to Parliament has been
carried over to the next session much to the relief of Lord Russell.
1857: In
Philadelphia, PA the Judith Simha Solis and Myer David Cohen gave birth Dr.
Solomon Solis Cohen, an 1883 Jefferson Medical School graduate who taught at
Dartmouth College.
1858: The New York
Times published a report today that Pierre Soule has arrived in
Washington. Mr. Soule was described as
“a man of power” who “possesses undoubted influence over public affairs.” The
article also reported that if Soule decided to run for the Senate he could
defeat John Slidell. Furthermore, the article reported that like Judah P.
Benjamin, the Senator from Louisiana, “Mr. Soule is a Jew, and the Hebrew
element is a rising one in the aggregate intellect of the country.” [Editor’s note – If Soule were in fact
Jewish, the author is saying that Louisiana would be the first state in the
Union to be represented in the U.S. by two Jews.]
1861: Thomas Jordan
General Beauregard’s Assistant Adjutant-General sent a letter on behalf of the
Confederate Commander to Rabbi M.I. Mechelbacker of Richmond denying his
request to grant furloughs to Jewish Soldiers starting on September 2nd
and lasting through September 15th so that might attend services for
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The
Confederate generals are sure that Jews in and out of the army will understand
given the military situation which finds Southern forces “bivouacked in full
view of the capitol of the late United States.”
Jordan assured the Rabbi that the God who “released your people from
Egypt bondage” will understand. (Like
many Southerners, Jordan did not see the irony of the side that was fighting to
preserve slavery invoking the liberation from Egyptian bondage.)
1861: Philadelphian
Emil Meyer began serving as a Second Lieutenant in Company G of the 174th
Regiment.
1861: Herman Bendel,
the Albany, NY, born son of Elias Bendell and Hannah Stern, “was commissioned
as assistant surgeon to the 6th New York Keavy Artillery Regiment”
after which “he returned to Albany Medical College to graduate with his class.”
1861 Paul Weinberger
“transferred to the 29th Regiment of the New York Volunteers” today.
1862: Jacob Rosentell
who would rise to the rank of Sergeant and was wounded in the Battle of
Wilderness, began serving in company F of the 139th Regiment.
1863: “Abraham Dusch”
who had been serving with Company C of the 27th Regiment transferred
today to the “Veteran Reserve Corps.”
1863: Today, Daniel
Edward Bandmann, the German born son of Solomon and Rebecca Bandmann “appeared at Niblo's in the first performance in
New York of John Guido Methua's adaptation from the German of Emil Brachvogel,
entitled Narcisse: or, The Last of the Pompadours” after which he “began a five-year
tour of North America principally in the roles of Hamlet, Shylock, Othello,
logo, Gloucester, Macbeth, Benedict and Narcisse.”
1864: Private Henry
Arnold, who would rise to the rank of Corporal before his discharge, began
serving in Battery of I of the 204th Regiment of the Fifth
Artillery.
1867(1st of Elul,
5627): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1868: In Egeln,
German, Selig Bumenthal, the son Salomon and Lea Blumenthal and his wife
Juliane Blumenthal gave birth to Max Meyer Blumenthal, M.D.
1868: Twenty-seven
year old Isaias Wolf Hellman co-founded Hellman, Temple and Co., the second
official bank in the city of Los Angeles which would be followed by Hellman
co-founding Farmers and Merchants Bank of Los Angeles in 1871 which proved to
be the city “first successful bank.”
1869: In Brooklyn,
Jacob Baiz, the Venezuelan born son of Abraham and Sarah Miriam Baiz, and his
wife Emily Mendes Baiz gave birth to Anita Baiz
1873: A Jewish
peddler named Samuel Bendtersar was arrested this morning in Flushing on
charges of having assaulted Johanna Fatsner.
1874: Birthdate of Ismar
Elbogen the German born rabbi and historian whose work included Jewish Liturgy:
A Comprehensive History published in 1913 and translated into English by
Raymond P. Scheindlin in 1993
http://digifindingaids.cjh.org/?pID=476343
http://collections.americanjewisharchives.org/ms/ms0110/ms0110.html
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/489494
https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Liturgy-A-Comprehensive-History/dp/0827604459
1876: Sir Julius Vogel completed his
services as Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Vogel was the first Jew to hold this position.
1876: Hyman B.
Isaacson and his wife, daughter of Russian cigar maker Reuben Pupkin, gave
birth to their only son Nachum Isaacson who started a boy’s clothing
manufacturing company in New York where he worked until he passed away at the
age of 38.
1877: “Notes from the
Capital” published today described the recent dedication of Washington Hebrew
Congregation during which Rabbi Szold of Baltimore delivered the sermon. President Rutherford B. Hayes, who had
promised to attend, “sent a message expressing his regret at being unable to
fulfill his promise.”
1877: In Boston,
Massachusetts, Fishel Currick and his wife gave birth to Max C. Currick the
graduate of University of Cincinnati a Hebrew Union College who served as a
rabbi at Fort Smith in western Arkansas before assuming the leadership of Anshe
Chesed at Erie, PA in 1901.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0005_0_04766.html
1878: It was reported
today that 200 delegates attended the opening session of the Pan-Jewish
Conference in Paris. Adolph Cremieux
presided over the meeting at which it was reported that the organization had
24,000 members and had collected 111,000 francs in the past year. The delegates sought ways to improve the
moral, intellectual and political conditions of the Jews living in various
parts of the world.
1878: It was reported
today that there were those in England who claimed Disraeli would play the
ultimate joke when he died by renouncing his youthful conversion to
Christianity and being buried next to his Jewish father. Others claimed that Disraeli would do no such
thing, choosing to be buried next to his wife.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C05E1DE153EE73BBC4953DFBF668383669FDE
1878: It was reported
today that among the donations made to help those suffering from the Yellow
Fever Epidemic in the Deep South was $100 from the Hebrews of the St. Joseph
Mission earmarked for the Howard Association in Memphis, Tenn.
1879: “Henry
O’Brien’s Experiment” published today described the 12 year old Irish boy’s
attempt to find out how a Jew, in this case Harris Goldstein, would react when
tricked into eating pork. (It must have been a slow news day in New York)
1881: “Ephraim and
Clara (Lerner) Tepper gave birth to Georgetown University trained attorney and
husband of Mary Collegeman Joseph L.
Tepper, the Washington D.C businessman who was Presient of the Guaranty
Mortgage Company, Prescient of the Jewish Federation Societies of the District
of Columbia and member of the executive committee of the American Jewish
Congress.
1882: In Fifth
District Civil Court in New York City, Civil Justice Alfred Steckler heard
Freund versus Selig in which the plaintiff sought to force the defendant Louis
Selig to repay what he claimed was a ten dollar loan. Selig, a well-known Jewish police officer
claimed that the ten dollars in questions was not a loan but a gift made on his
behalf as a political contribution.
1882: It was reported
today that large numbers of unemployed Jewish refugees “continue to besiege”
the Hebrew Aid Society on State Street in search of financial assistance.
1882: Theobold
Michael, President of the Synagogue and Talmud Torah at 622 Fifth Street,
appeared at the Essex Market Police Court where he filed a complaint against
Charles A. Leopold claiming that the defendant “annoyed the congregation”
during services “by swearing at them, using insulting language” and throwing
mud into the synagogue. Leopold denied
the allegations and claimed that the Jewish prayers disturbed his invalid
wife. The Judge let Leopold go after
telling him that he not “disturb the congregation.”
1883: The military
fired on a mob of two thousand peasants today who “had invaded” the town of
“Krapina…for the purposed of attacking the Jews.
1883: It was reported
today that Herr von Tisza, the President of the Hungarian Council has
instituted news measures to protect Jews from any more attacks. From now on, any rioter who attacks a Jew and
is condemned to death under a decree of martial law will be put to death within
three hours after being sentencing.
1884: In Paterson,
NJ, founding of B’nai Israel which holds services daily, owns a cemetery in
Bergen, NJ and whose members include “Louis Urdond, Harris Jacob, Harris Rome,
Nathan Elkind, David Etkin, Bernot Grazinsky and Lipman Simon.”
1884: Birthdate of
May H. Friedman Fleisher the wife of Philadelphian Willis Fleisher.
1884: Birthdate of Friedrich
Wilhelm von Prittwitz und Gaffron the German Ambassador to the United States
under the Weimar Republic who resigned in protest the day after Hitler came to
power and who warned German Jewish playwright Lion Feuchtwagner not to return
to Germany.
1884: Birthdate of
Charles Ezekiel Polowetski, the Russian born American painter.
http://www.askart.com/artist/Charles_Ezekiel_Polowetski/117580/Charles_Ezekiel_Polowetski.aspx
1884: It was reported
today that fifty-five year old Daniel Weinberger whose body was discovered
yesterday in his room on South Halstead Street left a note for his landlord
Winter Meyer asking that his remains “be taken in a Jewish hearse to a Jewish
burying ground” where he would be buried by a Jewish burial society.
1885: Anthony M. Keiley, former mayor of
Richmond who had been designated as the U.S. Minister to Austria-Hungary and
who had a Jewish wife wrote to Secretary of State Thomas Francis Bayard,
President Cleveland’s Secretary of State that “no American citizen…who commits
the crime, “in Austria’s eyes of marrying a Hebrew wife, shall be received in
diplomatic circles in Vienna, or permitted to represent the interests of the
United Sates at the Austrian court” which means that “Austria claims the right
to prescribe a religious test for office in the United States and to determine
what creed shall constitute the disqualifications.”
1885: “A Fight In A Synagogue” published today
described a dispute between Sol Goldstone and Abraham Jacobs that turned
violent during the annual meeting of a Jewish congregation in Montreal, Canada.
1886: Coroner Levy, the President of the Jewish
Immigrants’ Protective Association sought an interview with Immigration
Superintendent Jackson to protest the treatment of Mr. and Mrs. Manheim and
their 5 year old child who were being denied entrance to the United States.
1887: The San Diego Union noted that
congregants at Beth Israel were talking of building a synagogue estimated to
cost $20,000.
1888(25th of Elul, 5648): Parashat
Nitzavim-Vayeilch; Leil Selichot
1888: Sixty immigrants, most of whom were
Russian Jews, were detained at Castle Garden before being sent to Blackwell’s
Island. They were treated in this manner
because they had been identified as “paupers.”
1889: The formal dedication of the new
Sephardic synagogue to be used by the Moses Montefiore Congregation was
scheduled to take place today.
1889: It was reported today that the only hotel
in Tétouan, Morocco is “kept by a native Jew” which is unusual in area
dominated by Berbers and Arabs.
1889: “The History of the Jews” published today
provided a review of History of the People of Israel from the Reign of David up
to the Capture of Samaria by Ernest Renan.
1890: In the Essex Market Police Court Justice
Hogan Jacob Rohnewitch accuses Israel Simovitch of stealing $90 worth of
jewelry from him on August 8. Simovitch denied the charge and claimed that the
charges were trumped up so that he would pay out the $40 he had saved to “bring
his wife from Russia.”
1890: The Central Labor Federation had its own
Labor Day Parade today in New York which included large number of “Hebrew”
workers including members of “the shirt and cloak makers who have recently made
themselves to the public by their strikes.
1890: During todays Labor Day Parade, the
“United Cloak and Suit Makers” stopped at cottage serving an informal reviewing
stand where Coroner Ferdinand Levy presented them with a silk flag.”
1890: In Scranton, “the extensive alterations”
at the synagogue are scheduled to be completed today which means the congregation
will can stop holding services in the local Y.M.H.A.
1891: In Borispol Golda and Joseph Ya’acvo gave
birth to Joseph Zaritsky, Israeli painter who was one of the founders of
“Ofakim Hadshim” (New Horizons) art movement
1891: It was reported today that “the Argentine
Republic frowns upon the wholesale immigration of the” Jews expelled from
Russia.
1892: Leo M. Franklin began serving as the
Rabbi for Temple Israel in Omaha, Nebraska.
1892: In Elizabeth, NJ, the city Board of
Health plans on asking the City Council “for an appropriation of at least
$20,000 to help deal with the sanitation problems including the installation of
sewers in the First Ward which is inhabited primarily by Russian and Polish
Jews
1893: “The Reverend Dr. Christian Adolf
Stoecker, ex-Chaplain of the Court of Berlin…who is one of the founders of
Christian Socialism and a vigorous anti-Semite” arrived in New York aboard the
SS Augusta Victoria.
1893: Max Feldman of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum
was among the ten boys listed today as winners of the scholarships “offered by
Joseph Pulitzer to boys desirous of preparing for an taking a college course.”
1894(30th of Av, 5654): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1894: In Duluth, MN 43 Jewesses formed Council
No. 10 of the National Council of Jewish Women
1894: Eight hundred “finishers of clothing” who
are Jewish are going on strike today to demand a increase in wages.
1894: Harry White and Meyer Schoenfeld will
address a mass meeting of cloakmakers at New Irving Hall where they will
discuss the “advisability of going out on strike.”
1895: As New York Police enforce the Sunday
Saloon Closing laws an unidentified Russian Jewish who operates a saloon on
Clinton Street told authorities that one of his neighbors was “selling openly”
and offered to take the police to correct address.
1896: In “Kuznica, Russia, Wolf and Odessa
Tarlowski” gave birth Salomon Tarlowski who “emigrated to the United States in
1914 where as Solomon “Sol” Tarlow he worked as a tailor in the dry goods store
of his brother-in-law Sam Stolaroff in Roswell, NM where he and his wife Audra
had three children – “Mildred, Edith and Sherrill.”
1896 (August 20 OS): Birthdate of Odessa native
and acclaimed pianist Simon Barere who settled in the United States in 1935.
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Barere-Simon.htm
1896: The attorney for the jewelry firm of
Julius M. Lyon went to police headquarters tonight to meet with Julius Stein to
find out when Stein stole the thousands of diamonds from Lyon and the value of
the stolen jewels. The self-confessed
thief refused to make any comment.
1897: In Omaha, Nebraska, founding of Bait
Hamidrash Hagadol (formerly B’nai Israel).
1897: It was reported today that at the concluding session of the Zionist
Congress delegates heard reports “that the colonies in Palestine were
flourishing,” appointed a commission to report on the feasibility of creating a
university at Jerusalem and voted to hold the 1898 meeting in Jerusalem.
1898: On the Lower East Side, “an immigrant
tailor” and his wife “who operated a candy store gave birth to Pulitzer Prize
winning columnist Meyer “Mike” Berger.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1959/02/09/80760429.pdf
1898: At Fremantle, Western Australia, Russian
born “Esor Masel, a jeweler, and his wife Leah, née Cohen” gave birth to
“solicitor and Jewish community leader” Alec Masel, the brother of Philip
Masel, the husband of Marie Schwartz and :a founding member and president of
the Zionist Federation of Australia.
1898: The first meeting of the International
Congress of History began today in The Hague.
1898: As part of the on-going cover-up to
protect the French General Staff and keep Captain Dreyfus in prison Major
Ferdinand Esterhazy who had already been put on pension shaved off his mustache
and fled to England where he lived for another 25 years contenting himself with
writing anti-Semitic articles.
1899: All the newspaper comment published today
in London, Berlin, Vienna and other cities “regards” the reversal of Dreyfus
conviction as “inevitable.”
1899: Bennett Cassal, the husband of the former
Dinah Nathan and the father of Solomon Cassell was buried today in the “Plashet
Jewish Cemetery” in London.
1899: “Cardinal Richard, Archbishop of Paris
paid a visit to Premier Waldeck-Rousseau on behalf of Jules Guerin, the
anti-Semite agitator and his companions now besieged in the headquarters of the
Anti-Semite League on the Rue de Chabrol.”
1899: Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch of Sinai
Congregation, who returned to Chicago today from Europe, said “Capt. Dreyfus
will again be convicted of treason” because “the French people are bound to
have Dreyfus found guilty” and “the whole of Paris echoes and re-echoes… with
the ravings of the anti-Semitic forces…”
1899: The Biblical World published “The Return
of the Jews from Exile” by William Rainey Harper”
1899: “Emanuel Hospital Plans” published today
described plans for the new facility “which will be used principally as a
lying-in asylum” and will receive support from the United Hebrew Charities
Society.
1899: Israel Zangwill addressed fears that the
dramatization of his novel The Children of the Ghetto “will present the Jews
from a standpoint undesirable to them” by saying that “it will found that Jew
has actually received his first and truthful and considerate attention when my
play is produced.”
1900: Mose Levi the Hahambashi of Turkey
presented an address to Sultan Abdul Hamid on the occasion of his 25th
anniversary of his accession to the throne. The term Hahambashi means Head of
Rabbis and is the appellation for the Grand Rabbi of Turkey. The Hebrew term for "wise man" Chacham
has been adopted in Turkish to mean "Rabbi." This is to avoid the use
of the word "Rabbi" since in Arabic the word "Rab" is one
of the names of God and may not be applied to a human.
1901: In Vienna, Dr. Armand Ahron Noach
Kaminka, the son of Wolf and Sura Beile Kaminka and his wife Klara Kaminka gave
birth to Ephraim Felix David Kaminka
1902: In Luka (Czech Republic, Hermann and
Bertha Ullman gave birth to Dr. Fritz Yitzchack Ullman, the husband of
“Charlotte (Lotte) Einhorn.”
1902: New Orleans native Percy Abraham Lemann
began his studies at Virginia Military Instutue.
1902: Birthdate of Brooklyn native and Cornell
University alum Alexander Kevitz who also earned degrees in pharmacy and law
while becoming a world chess champion.
1903(9th of Elul, 5663): Thirty
eight year old author and Jewish activists Bernard Lazare (Lazare Marcus
Manasse Bernard) who was an early vocal supporter of Dreyfus and who attended
the First Zionist Congress passed away today.
1903: It was reported today, that “a movement
is afoot to establish a Jewish hospital in Fall River, Massachusetts.
1904: In England, “Samuel and Bronwyn (Pachman)
Gerstenfeld” gave birth Dr. Norman Gerstenfeld the long time rabbi of
Washington Hebrew Congregation, the oldest Jewish congregation in the District
of Columbia.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1968/01/28/89318887.pdf
1905: Alberta became the eighth province of
Canada. Two brothers, Jacob and William Diamond were among the first Jewish
people to settle in Alberta, in 1888 and 1892, respectively. They made the long
journey from their home in Lithuania. The Diamond brothers went on to be
successful merchants in Alberta, and, perhaps, more notable, they organized for
a High Holy Day service attended by other Jewish Albertans who had arrived.
Unlike the Diamond brothers, early Jewish immigrants came to Alberta to
establish farm colonies, settling in central and southern Alberta, near places
such as Pine Lake, Trochu, Medicine Hat and Lethbridge. This first attempt at
farming was not overly successful. Many of those who came were city-dwellers
who had grown up in the cities of Europe. A Jewish relief agency in London
England raised $400 to distribute the destitute Jewish pioneers. Because of the
difficult conditions in Alberta and the Jewish people’s inexperience in
farming, many of the immigrants left Alberta soon after, some going to the
United States. By 1906, the community had largely reestablished itself in
Calgary.
1905: In London, Shmuel and Braina Gerstenfeld
gave birth to Hebrew Union College graduate Norman Gerstenfeld, the long-time
rabbi at Washington Hebrew Congregation and husband of Louise Gerstenfeld.
1905: Weber and Fields opened their own musical
hall on Broadway.
1905: Saskatchewan became the ninth province of
Canada. Six Jewish farming communities were formed in Saskatchewan between 1886
and 1906. The first of these colonies was a novelty and evoked considerable
curiosity in the district. Locals dubbed the colony "The New
Jerusalem." Due to inadequate winter shelter against sub-zero
temperatures, wind, driving snow, drought, etc., this settlement lasted only
six years. Another colony, Hirsch, Saskatchewan was founded in 1892. Landau enlisted
the assistance of the French financier-philanthropist Baron Maurice de Hirsch.
Hirsch regarded the creation of a Jewish state as a fantasy; however, he took a
great interest in Jewish agricultural colonization. Baron de Hirsch established
the Jewish Colonization Association to facilitate mass emigration of Jews from
Russia and the establishment of agricultural colonies in North and South
America. Hirsch was the only Jewish farm colony in Canada that was directly
organized and funded by the Jewish Colonization Association. Hirsch favored
colonization of Argentina rather than Canada. Edenbridge was founded in 1906.
It no longer exists, but some of the members of the founding families live in
the area. The Beth Israel Synagogue, built by the settlers in 1908, still
stands today. It is a wooden structure similar to many Russian churches of that
period. The synagogue served as a place of worship until 1964. Today it is a
Saskatchewan historic site. The Saskatchewan Wildlife Association maintains the
synagogue building, the adjacent cemetery, and the 40 - 100 acres of wooded
lands.
The settlers of Edenbridge were Lithuanian
Jewish refugees who had temporarily settled in South Africa. They were lured to
Canada by a federal government promise of 160 acres of farmland for only $10.
Charles Vickar, whose father settled Edenbridge in 1906, stated that owning
land was everything to the Lithuanian Jews. When the refugees were assured that
they could freely practice their religion they jumped at the opportunity. They
had no knowledge of farming. They did not know how to use a plough or an axe.
They were Talmudic students and petty tradesman.
These Lithuanian Jews took the Canadian
Railroad as far west as it went at the time. When they arrived at the end of
the line, the Jewish pioneers opted to go north where they heard there was more
wood and water. The farther north you go in Saskatchewan the more woods there
are. Instead of joining some of the established farming communities in the
level open country, they picked a spot by the Carrot River. The name,
Edenbridge, means Jew's bridge. The settlers devised the town name in 1907,
when a bridge was constructed over the Carrot River.
The Jewish farm population in Canada reached a
peak of 2,568 by 1921. Sixty-nine percent of Jewish farmers lived in Western
Canada with the majority residing in Saskatchewan. By 1939, it was estimated
that one out of every 16 Jews who were working on the Canadian prairies made
his livelihood on the farm. Most of the Jewish farming colonies lasted to the
mid-point of this century. Jewish farm colonies disappeared as a result of the
great drought and depression.
1906:
In France, a new law requiring a day of rest “in every seven” for which the
government has designated Sunday goes into effect today, creating problems for
“Jewish merchants and workers” who want to substitute Saturday for Sunday.
1908:
First Conference for the Yiddish Language which had been convened by Nathan
Birnbaum continued for a third day in Czernowitz
1909:
Classical school and for Iowa State University professor Berthold Louis Ullman
married Mary Louis Bates who were the parents of noted geographer Edward Ullman
1909:
In Vienna, “Egon and Edith Lucy Amalia Hedwig (Weissel) von Grunebaum” gave
birth to European trained Orientalist and Arabist Gustave Edmund von Grunebaum
and husband of Giselle Steuerman who after the Anschluss in 1938 came to the
United States which he made his personal and professional home until his death
in 1972.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1558945.Gustave_Edmund_von_Grunebaum
https://www.nytimes.com/1972/03/01/archives/gustave-e-von-grunebaum-medieval-scholar-is-dead.html
1911: The headquarters of the Zionist Movement
was transferred from Cologne to Berlin
1911: At Bucharest, the Premier of Romania
receive “a deputation who requested relief from political disfranchisement of
several hundreds of Jews in Dobrudscha.”
1911: Herr Wolfsthal was appointed
Attorney-General at Frankenthal, making him the first Jew to hold such a
position in Bavaria.
1911: As part of the celebration of its 500th
Anniversary, the University of St. Andrews conferred an honorary degree on Dr.
Georg Brandes, the Danish born Jew who served as Professor of Literature at the
University of Copenhagen and Professor Raphael Meldola, the British chemist and
entomologist.
1912: In Everett, MA, founding of Tifereth
Israel synagogue.
1912: Two days after he had passed away, 59
year old Mendel S Salsburg, the German born son Arthur and Sarah Salsburg and
the husband of Rachel Naomi Salsburg was buried today in Wilkes-Barre, PA.
1912: In New York, at Greenpoint, founding of
the Hebrew Educational Alliance.
1912: In Hancock, Michigan, founding the
Congregation of Israel Synagogue.
1913: Max Drob who had resigned “from the
pulpit of Congregation of Adath Yeshuron in Syracuse” is scheduled to begin
serving today as the Rabbi at Temple Bethel in Buffalo, NY which “is the
largest orthodox congregation outside of New York City.”
1914: Birthdate of Ralph Goldman, the native of
Lehovitz who was a WW II veteran, close confidant of David Ben-Gurion and a
“leader of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.”
1914: Birthdate of Ben L. Salomon, the
Wisconsin born graduate of the USC Dental School who was one of only three
dental officers to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor – in his case for a
display of uncommon valor during the Battle of Saipan.
1915: Birthdate of Sholom (Seymour) Jacob
Pomrenze, the World War II veteran who “was the first director of the Offenbach
Archival Depot” making him one of those who really were Monuments Men.
http://findingaids.cjh.org/?pID=1463157
1915: It was reported that arrangements have
been made “to issue each synagogue in the United States subscription blanks for
the relief of Jews” in war-torn Europe and Palestine which “are numbered” as
part of an attempt “to obtain an approximate census of the Jews in the” United
States.
1915: It was reported today that the Hebrew
Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society of America has made arrangements with
similar national organizations in Russia, Austria, Germany, England and France
so that communication may be re-established between relatives” who have been
separated because of the World War.
1915: Birthdate of New York native Bernard
“Bernie” Opper who took the unusual step for his time of going south and
playing basked at the University of Kentucky where he as an All-American Guard
and the mowed on to the pros where he played for three teams including the
Philadelphia Sphas, the ABL team with Jewish roots.
1915: In New York, a new law went into effect
requiring that meat sold as kosher must “bear the imprint of the supervising
rabbi at the slaughter house.”
1916: Today “The Jewish Chronicle welcomed the
entry of Rumania into the war on the ground that it ‘completes the circle of
Jewish questions which have troubled the world and which must now come up for
settlement” including those of Russia, Palestine and Rumania.
1917(14th of Elul, 5677):Parashat Ki Teitzei
1917: Birthdate of “Salomon Sebag.”
1917: Henry H. Rosenfelt, the assistant to the
executive director of the American Jewish Relief Committee announced today a
campaign to raise $1,000,000 toward the $10,000,000 Jewish War Relief Fund will
be conducted during the upcoming Jewish holidays starting with Rosh Hashanah on
September 17 and ending with Yom Kippur on September 26.
1917: “After making more than a thousand
pictures, the Lubin Film Company, founded by optometrist Siegmund Lubin “went
out of business” today because it had lost its European market due to the
outbreak of WW I, forcing the founder to return to his earlier career.
1917: In Paris, “the Minister of Foreign
Affairs bestowed the decoration of the Legion of Honor upon Mrs. Henry
Morgenthau, the wife of the former American Ambassador to Turkey, in
recognition of the work she did at the French Hospital in the early part of the
War.
1918: The Supplement, a monthly publication,
tied to “the interests of the Eight Avenue Temple” was established today in
Brooklyn.
1918: During the Battle of Mont-Saint Quentin,
Australian troops under the command of Sir John Monash “broke into Péronne and
took most of the town.”
1918: “Ferdinand Lassalle” a film based on the
life of the 19th century German Jew directed and produced by Rudolf
Meinert was released today in Germany.
1918: In Columbus, OH, the Temple News, the
Temple Israel fortnightly, was established.
1918: It was reported today that “the British
Foreign Office has decided that the Ottoman subjects of Jewish Nationality
residing in the British Empire shall be exempt from the restrictions applicable
to enemy and that the Greek government has adopted a similar policy regarding
the Jews of Salonika
1919: Rabbi Abraham I. Kook arrived in
Palestine today to assume his role as Chief Rabbi.
1919: Charles J. Freund completed his service
as the Rabbi for Temple Emanuel in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
1919: Max I. Merritt, who has been the rabbi
“of the Washington Avenue Temple in Evansville, Indiana for the last fifteen
years” is scheduled to begin serving B’nai Abraham Zion, a Chicago congregation
with 1,600 members today.
1920: In Germany, premiere of “Sumurun” (One
Arabian Night) a silent film directed by Ernst Lubtsch who also played “Yeggar,
the Hunchback Beggar.”
1921: With
delegates and visitors from every part of the world in attendance, the
International Zionist Congress opened its sessions in the ancient drill hall at
Carlsbad, Czechoslovakia.
1923(20th of Elul, 5683): Parashat
Ki Tavo and Leil Selichot
1923: The Great Earthquake struck Honshu the
main island of Japan. Forty Jewish families living at Yokohama cabled the
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society pleading for aid.
“Help us or we perish.” Two thousand dollars was sent by the Joint
Distribution Committee. (As reported by JTA)
1924: “Sinners in Silk” a silent film with a
script by Benjamin Glazer was released in the United States today.
1925: In New York City, “Felicia (Fox) and
Emanuel B. Glauber” gave birth to Bronx High School of Science grad and Harvard
trained Nobel Prize winning physicist Roy Jay Glauber, “one of the youngest
scientist to work on the Manhattan Project..
1926: In Atlanta, GA, “Fannie (Segal)
Goldstein, a gifted pianist” and Irving Goldstein gave birth Stanley Goldstein
who, before enrolling at the University of California, Berkley, changed his
name to David Cavell, the name he would during a career that led to a
professorship at Harvard.
1926: In the Bronx, “Harold Colan, an insurance
salesman, and Winifred Levy Colan, an antique dealer” gave birth to Eugene
Jules Colan “a towering figure among comic-book artists, whose depictions of
some of the best-known characters in the genre were lauded for their realism,
expressiveness and painterly qualities.”
According to Margalit Fox, the family’s name had been Cohen before
changing it to Colan.
1927: The
Weizmann Administration, the Palestine Government and the British Government as
the mandatory power were severely criticized on the second day of the Fifteenth
Zionist Congress which is in session here. Criticism came from several sources
including Isaac Greenbaum, a member of the Polish Parliament and Dr. Stephen S.
Wise, leader of the American Zionists.
1928: In Brooklyn Michael and Eiga Charmatz
gave birth to Rita Charmatz, the wife of David Sternheimer Davidson, the Yale
law school graduate who as Rita Charmatz Davidson “the first woman to serve on
the Maryland Court of Appeals
https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/educ/exhibits/womenshall/html/davidson.html
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/Davidson-Rita-Charmatz
1929: Amir el-Hussein, Grand Mufti and
President of the Supreme Moslem Council warned of “a grave national revolt” by
60 million Muslims if Great Britain persists in enforcing the Balfour
Declaration.
1929: A crowd numbering more than 15,000
attending a meeting at London’s Albert Hall protested against Arab violence and
urged the British government to restore order, punish the guilty while making
reparations for the loss of Jewish life and property.
1929:
The British High Commissioner said that he would enforce the Jewish
right of access to the Western Wall despite violent Arab opposition.
1930: In the Bronx, Arthur and “Rose Goldstein)
Greenstein gave birth to historian Fred Irwin Greenstein whose works included The
Hidden-Hand Presidency and The Presidential Difference: Leadership Style.
1930: Birthdate of Hadera native Ora Namir, an
officer with the IDF in the War for Independence, an MK and Ambassador to China
who was married to Tel Aviv Mayor Mordechai Namir.
1931: In Voivodeship, Poland, Dr. Israel
Abraham Rabin and Dr. Else Rabin gave birth to Professor Michael Oser Rabin, “Israeli
computer scientist and a recipient of the Turing Award.”
1931: Birthdate of Frank Magid. Frank Newton Magid was born in Chicago and served in the Army
during the Korean War. He graduated from the University of Iowa and received a
master's degree there in 1956 in the fields of social psychology and
statistics. After teaching at Iowa's Coe College and the University of Iowa,
Mr. Magid launched his company in 1956. His first client was a bank; his fourth
was WMT-TV, now KGAN-TV, in Cedar Rapids. By creating careful surveys and
polling random samples of a population, Mr. Magid and his employees were able
to provide highly accurate data that gave television its first serious consumer
research. The work paid off for the Iowa station, and the station's manager
recommended Mr. Magid for a job at Time-Life's newly acquired KOGO-TV in San
Diego. That, too, was successful, and it led to a contract for all the Time-Life
stations. "And that really was our launching pad because they were very
kind to us and began to do some considerable amount of advertising to the
trades, talking about how they were listening to the public through this rather
new, and at that time quite unique, kind of research,'' Mr. Magid told
Electronic Media. His firm, from which he retired in 2002, also advised AM
radio stations to get into the FM field, and urged broadcasters to invest in
cable TV. He helped identify viability of direct broadcast satellite television
and did the first research that determined the viability of digital video
recorders. Now based in Minneapolis, the privately-held company has about 200
employees and advises all kinds of media, including The Washington Post, through
its MORI Research division.
1931: As the fight for control of Cutters Union
4 of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America came to a head, Sydney Hillman
addressed a meeting of 1,000 workers at Webster Hall where he denounced the
ousted officers Philip Orlofsky and Isidor Machlin
1931: In Los Angeles, 125 members of Tifereth
Israel attended groundbreaking ceremonies for the new Temple being built on
Santa Barbara Avenue.
1931: Birthdate of Michael Oser Rabin “an
Israeli computer scientist and a recipient of the Turning Award.”
1933: Birthdate of Professor Leonard Cole, the
native of Paterson, NJ, an expert on terrorism who “was national chairman of
the Jewish Council for Public Affairs” and the author of Terror: How Israel
Has Cope and What America Can Learn.
http://www.leonardcole.com/bio.htm
1933: The Reichsvertretung
der deutschen Juden, the central representative body of German Jews
emphasizing education, is established; it is led by Otto Hirsch and Rabbi Leo
Baeck. It is the only organization officially allowed to represent German Jews.
1934: “Gift of Gab” a
comedy directed by Karl Freund, produced by Carl Laemmle, Jr., and with a
script co-authored by Philip G. Epstein.
1934: In
Denmark, a collaborationist SS organization, National Socialistike Ungdom
(National Socialist Youth), is established.
1935(3rd of Elul,
5695): Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook passed away today at the age of 69.
His distinguished career was capped off by his appointment as Chief Rabbi of
Palestine in 1919.
1935: The problem of who is to be
president of the World Zionist Organization was dramatically settled in
Lucerne, Switzerland, early today when Dr. Chaim Weizmann, noted scientist and
internationally famous Zionist leader, announced his readiness to assume the
full leadership of the Zionist movement.
1935: “A world
conference of Jewish doctors opened in Lucerne tonight to discuss Jewish health
problems and to consider the advisability of convoking a world Jewish medical conference
in Tel Aviv.”
1935: Currently
Jerusalem, Jaffa and Tel Aviv have ordinances in effect similar to those in
several European cities that limit and/or ban the honking of horns in the late
night hours. Police in Palestine have
adopted the slogan of “Don’t use your horn.
Use your brains.”
1936: It was reported
today that in discussing the challenges facing the three major religious groups
in the United States, Rabbi L.L. Mann of Sinai Temple in Chicago said that
religions faced a common foe, the recrudescence of paganism, irreligion and
totalitarianism” and that “religions
must united against poverty, human exploitation, unemployment, crime,
corruption and war.”
1936: It was reported
today the actions committee of World Zionist Organization which has been
meeting in Zurich “endorsed a world emergency campaign for $1,500,000 to aid
the Jews in Palestine” who have been
suffering during the violence of the Arab Revolt.
1936: “Tudor Rose” a
dramatization of English period with music by Louis Levy and filmed by
cinematographer Mutz Greenbaum was released today in the U.K.
1936: Polish born
Republican political leader Nathan Pearlman completed his term in office as a
New York City Magistrate today.
1936(14th of Elul, 5696): Dr. Isaac
Max Rubinow passed away. Rubinow really
had two careers. He was a medical
doctor, who among other things played a key role in developing health services
in Palestine immediately after World War I. He went back to school and earned a
Ph.D. in Economics which provided him with a platform to deal with the issues
of health care and its finances. He was
a co-founder and the first president of the organization now known as Casualty
Actuarial Society. In 1934, he published the Quest for Security which
pre-dated and greatly influence the creation of the New Deal social net
including Social Security.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=940CE1D6173DE33BBC4B53DFBF66838D629EDE
1937: Birthdate of Allen Weinstein,
the son of Jewish delicatessen owners in New York who became a leading
academic, author and archivists.
1937: “A special tax on eligible males
who fail to serve in the military forces” which “will fall heaviest on the Jews
who are by law disqualified from service” is scheduled to go into effect today
in Germany.
1937: Four Arab
villagers were shot and killed by unknown persons, apparently Jews, near
Hadera. The authorities suspected that Jewish extremists were involved and
carried out many arrests. The National Committee for Palestine Jewry (Val'ad
Leumi) issued an appeal for national discipline.
1938: In New Orleans,
the Fountain Lounge opened at the Roosevelt Hotel which is now controlled by
Seymour Weiss
1938: On the Island of Rhodes, newspapers
carried the announcement of anti-Jewish laws.
Ritual slaughter was banned and all Jews who had come to Rhodes after 1919
were told they had to leave.
1938: A concentration camp is established at Neuengamme, Germany.
1938 Premier of “You Can't Take It With You,”
the screen adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by
George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, two of the Jewish giants of Broadway with a
screenplay by Robert Riskin and music by Dimitri Tiomkin.
1938: In Williamsburg, Brooklyn Claire (née
Ringel) and Harry Dershowitz the co-owner of Merit Sales Company and “a founder
of the Young Israel Synagogue” gave birth to Harvard Law Professor and
outspoken commentator on Jewish affairs Alan Dershowitz.
http://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/10210/Dershowitz
1938: Mussolini canceled civil rights of
Italian Jews and expelled all foreign-born Jews.
1939: Leading Jewish-German jurist Gerhard Leibholz, stripped of
his position at the University of Göttingen in 1936, escapes to Switzerland with
his wife and two daughters
1939: This date marked the beginning of World
War II with the German attack on Poland. German forces overrun western Poland,
instigating World War II. Three thousand Jewish civilians die in the bombing of
Warsaw. German troops enter Danzig, trapping more than 5000 Jews. Throughout
Germany and Austria, Jews may not be outside after
1939: “Heinrich Himmler issues a decree forbidding
Jews from going outside after 8PM.”
1939: With the outbreak of World War II and the
closure of German borders the “Leica Freedom Train” came to an end.
http://archive.adl.org/PresRele/HolNa_52/4975_52.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKxGbNXt_Is
1939: Mrs. Max Lowenstein, the widow of
Nuremberg chazzan Max Lowenstein and the adopted mother of Heinz Bernard
planned to leave Germany today to join her son whom she had sent on ahead to
England which was to be “a way-station” on their trip to the United
States. Her plans were thwarted by
today’s invasion of Poland.
1939: As of this date, there were “185,000 Jews
in ‘integral’ German, together with 70,000 in Austria and 190,000 in
Czechoslovakia.”
1939: Arnold Bernstein who had served in the
German Army in World War and who had survived German prisons arrived in New
York having been stripped of his shipping company and all other possessions by
the Nazis who knew that anti-Semitism was a good business.
1939: From September 1 to
1939: “Hitler Appoints Karl Brandt &
Philipp Bouhler to Lead Nazi T-4 Euthanasia Program.”
1939: With the outbreak of WW II today, the
headquarters of the WJC was moved from Paris to Geneva where it was thought
that Switzerland’s neutrality would “facilities communications with Jewish
communities throughout Europe.
1939: General George C. Marshall is named Chief
of Staff of the United States Army.
Marshall is the unsung hero of World War II. He was a critical force in convincing a
reluctant Congress to accept peace time conscription in 1940 so that America
was not completely unprepared for war when it came to America at Pearl Harbor. He was the architect who managed a war that
raged across the entire globe in day before the e-mail, the internet and
computers. He won the Nobel Prize for
Peace for the Marshall Plan. It is most
unusual for a top military leader to have this award. The only chink in Marshall’s armor was his
opposition to the creation of the state of Israel. He feared that American support of the Jewish
state would destroy American stature among the Arabs and open the way to Soviet
domination of the Middle East. He also
did not believe that the Israelis could defeat the Arabs and feared the
slaughter that would follow. There is no
record of how his views may have changed once the Israelis proved they could
survive without the need of American military support.
1939: Today, “while at Oxford University Chaim
Michael Dov Weissmandl who would be “the first to demand that the Allies bomb
Auschwitz” volunteered to return to Slovakia as an agent of World Agudath
Israel.
1939: Premiere of “The Adventures of Sherlock
Holmes” with a script by Edwin H. Blum
1939: After spirited but hopeless fight by the
Polish Army, the Werhmacht occupied the city of Chonjnice today after which
“German militiamen began attacking Jewish and Polish neighborns.
1939: Because of the outbreak of WW II, the
last of the eight “Winton Trains” did not leave because “all borders controlled
by Germany were closed” and the 250 children on board “were never seen again”
leading to the assumption that all “perished in concentration camps.”
1939: “The Women” a comedy directed by George
Cukor, starring Norma Sheater and filmed by cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg
was released in the United States by MGM.
1940: The
National Encampment of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States is
scheduled to come to an end today in Boston.
1940(28th of Av, 5700): Seventy-three year old
Lillian D. Wald the Cincinnati born graduate of New York Hospital’s School of
Nursing whose contributions to society included the founding of the Henry
Street Settlement House and play a role in the founding of the N.A.A.C.P.
passed away today.
http://jwa.org/womenofvalor/wald
1940: Polish underground officer Witold Pilecki penetrates the
main camp at Auschwitz with the intention of organizing secret resistance
groups inside the camp.
1940: Soviet authorities order Japanese Consul Sempo Sugihara to
leave Kovno, Lithuania, where he has issued 3500 exit visas to Jews
1940: “The official newspaper of the diocese of
Freiburg, where Conrad Gröber was archbishop, described the victories of German
soldiers as proof that God guides history.”
1941: Birthdate of Tzvi Gal-Chen a sabra who
would gain fame for his work in retrieval of wind and thermodynamic variables
from a single Doppler radar.
1941: In
Hungary, Einsatzkommandos, with the help of
some Hungarian militia, murdered 11,000 Jews. In August, Hungary had pushed
17,000 stateless Jews across the border to Kamenets-Podolski in the Ukraine.
The German army protested that the large number of refugees interfered with the
war effort and Hungary took a few thousand back as slave laborers, leaving the
rest in the hands of the Germans. There were no survivors.
1941: Wearing the yellow star became obligatory
for all Jews in the Reich.
1941: The Ukrainian
newspaper Volhyn carried the following - "The element that settled
our cities (Jews). . . must disappear completely from our cities. The Jewish
problem is already in the process of being solved.”
1941: “Lady Be Good”
a musical produced by Arthur Freed with a score by Jerome Kern, Oscar
Hammerstein and George and Ira Gershwin and co-starring Phil Silvers was
released today in the United States by MGM>
1941: Birthdate of
Tzvi Gal-Chen father of author Rikva Galchen. Tzvi grew up as an Israeli Sabra
on a collective farm. He served in the Israeli Army. He earned a B. Sc. and M.
Sc. in 1967 and 1970, both from Tel Aviv University, with specialization in
applied math and physics which he used in his studies of wind and thermodynamic
variables.
1942: As Daniel
Schwarzwald jumped from the window in the Lvov Ghetto he was shot by the
Germans.
1942: Moshe Skoczylas and Michael Majtek formed Jewish partisan
units at Dzialoszyce, Poland.
1942: Fourteen thousand Jews are
taken to gravel pits at Piatydni, Ukraine, and machine-gunned.
1942: German troops reach the Caucasus and begin exterminations of
indigenous Jews.
1942: SS chief Heinrich Himmler suggests that camp inmates be put
to work in on-site arms factories. Armaments chief Albert Speer objects,
offering a compromise accepted by Hitler: Himmler's inmates will be made
available to Speer for labor in conventional arms factories.
1942: New York Congressman Emanuel Celler submits legislation to
allow French Jews about to be deported to their deaths in Eastern Europe to
immigrate to the United States. The bill is killed by the House Committee on
Immigration.
1942: As Jews are being deported from France to their deaths in
the Third Reich, the Vichy Ministry of Information urges the press to remember
"the true teaching of Saint Thomas and the Popes...the general and
traditional teaching of the Catholic Church about the Jewish problem."
1942(19th of Elul,
5702): An SS guard on a deportation train headed for the Belzec
death camp shoots and kills Jadzia Beer, a Polish girl from Jaworów, after her
skirt becomes caught in a railcar window and she dangles helplessly from the
window.
1942: Thousands of Jews from Stry, Ukraine, are murdered at the
Belzec death camp.
1942: A German shepherd that licks the face of a Jewish baby at
the Treblinka extermination camp is savagely beaten by its SS master before the
guard tramples the baby to death
1942: Security forces raid five hospitals in the Lódz (Poland)
Ghetto, evacuating and slaughtering patients. Babies are thrown out of an
upper-story windows, some bayoneted before they hit the ground.
1942: In the town Wlodzimierz Wolynski, the Germans
asked the Jewish Council to gather 7,000 Jews for transport. Jocob Kogen a
member of the council committed suicide because he did not want to bear the
responsibility of sending people to their death. Wlodzimierz Wolynski was in
eastern Poland at the start of World War II.
This was the part of Poland that Hitler had ceded to Stalin as part of
the price for their infamous Non-Aggression Pact. In 1941, the Germans seized the town as they
moved forward with the plan to conquer the Soviet Union. Some Poles rationalized the slaughter of the
Jews by claiming that they had collaborated with the Soviets during their
occupation of the town. These same sources also said the Jews had earned their
death because they had lived so much better than the Poles before the war. To understand the success of the Holocaust,
one must understand the pervasiveness of anti-Semitism in European society.
1943(1st
of Elul, 5703): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1943(1st
of Elul, 5703): Eighty-eight year old retired banker Edward S. Rothschild
passed away tonight at the City Hospital “an hour after” being struck “by
taxicab at Fifth Avenue and 47th Street.”
1943(1st
of Elul, 5703): Sixty-nine year old Albert Klein the founder and President of
the American Food Company until his retirement twelve years ago passed away
today in Newark, NJ. A native of
Czechoslovakia, he moved to Newark at the age of 17. He is survived by his widow Kamilla Cohn
Klein.
1943: The Belgian
news agency reported “that armed Belgian patriots had intercept a train on
which 1,500 Jews were being taken from Malines, Belgium to Poland.” The
Belgians “fought a gun battle with the German guards and released part of the
captives from the cattle cars in which they were being transported.” (For more on this see The Twentieth Train by Marion
Schreiber)
1943: Germans send a Polish labor battalion into the ruins of the
Warsaw Ghetto to flatten any walls and other structures still standing
following the German assault of the previous spring. Most survivors of the April-May
"liquidation" die during this demolition.
1943: The American Council for Judaism declares that Jewishness
exists in a religious sense only, and that attempts to establish a Jewish
homeland would be disloyal to the homeland nations of individual Jews.
1943: “Palestine Goal Passed” published today
described a fundraising luncheon where the attendees heard from Dr. Israel
Goldstein, president of the JNF and Bernard A. Rosenblatt, president of the
Palestine Foundation Fund.
1943: Jews at the Sobibór death camp attack SS guards with stones and
bottles. All attackers are killed.
1943: Jewish women and children, as well as the elderly and the
sick, left on the island of Rab after deportation from Dalmatia, Serbia, are
transferred to a concentration camp at Zemun, Yugoslavia, and killed. Others
remain on the island and are protected by partisans.
1943: Hundreds of Jews escape from Vilna, Lithuania, and head east
toward the Soviet front line.
1943: Vilna-based partisan Vitka Kempner blows up an electrical transformer
located in the city. A day later, she enters the labor camp at Keilis, near
Vilna, and smuggles several dozen prisoners to safety. Still later, she travels
with five other partisans to Olkiniki, Poland, where she helps torch a
turpentine factory.
1943: In Paris, three Jewish partisans ambush and assassinate Karl
Ritter, aide to Nazi slave-labor Chief Fritz Sauckel.
1943: After refusing for months, the Hungarian government accedes
to German demands for Jews to be used as slave labor at copper mines at Bor,
Yugoslavia.
1943: There was an uprising in Vilna,
Lithuania. After the disaster of July and the death of Yitzhak Wittenberg, many
of those in the underground decided to flee the city. The German entry into the
ghetto was a surprise and there was no time to organize. Forty fighters led by
Yechiel Scheinbaum fought until they were all killed. Approximately 200 more
left the ghetto and joined the partisans. A second Aktion on September 23
marked the end of the ghetto
1943: The Army Show, a musical comedy review featuring
Frank Shuster and Johnny Wayne was performed for a final time before a civilian
audience in Halifax, Canada.
1944: In Los Angeles, Felix Slatkin, “the
violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet” and cellist
Eleanor Aller gave birth to orchestra conductor Leonard Slatkin whose brother
Frederick is a cellist.
http://www.leonardslatkin.com/
1944(13th of Elul, 5704): Barbara (née
Drapczyńska) Baczyński, the pregnant wife of poet Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński who
was killed by a German sniper on August 4, 1944, the fourth day of the Warsaw
Uprising, passed away today after having been “mortally wounded when a shard of
glass pierced her skull.”
http://cosmopolitanreview.com/krzysztof-kamil-baczynski/
1944: Five thousand women and 500 men are evacuated from Auschwitz
north to Stutthof, Germany. Three thousand interned women are evacuated from
Auschwitz northwest to Neuengamme, Germany.
1944: Following American bomber hits on factories at Auschwitz,
the SS gives wounded inmates excellent medical attention as well as flowers and
chocolate--a propaganda ploy for the benefit of German media. Once recovered,
the inmates are exterminated. 44: The
Gestapo and SS men in Przemysl, Poland, execute eight members of a non-Jewish
Polish family and a little Jewish girl after discovering the group playing
together in a courtyard.
1944: Despite the objections of Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden,
Prime Winston Churchill finally ordered the creation of a Jewish Brigade of
Palestinian Jews in the British Army. Churchill had long supported the creation
of such a unit.
1944: Birthdate of Margaret H. Marshall the 24th
Chief Just of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the wife Jewish
columnist Anthony Lewis.
1944: Aufbau,
“a journal targeted at German-speaking Jews” begun by members of the
German-Jewish Club of New York began printing lists of Jewish Holocuast
survivors as well as lists of the victims.
1944: “In a note written in Yiddish” today, “Hirsch
Brik wrote from Kovno, Lithuania, to friends in Palestine:
I’m alive and I’m free. After three torturous
years, I am back to being a man like all other men. The German bastards have
murdered my entire family. … There isn’t a long enough paper to list all the
names of our common friends who have been savagely murdered.”
1945: As his ship sailed west across the
Pacific Lt. Col. Louis Geffen, a judge advocate in the US Army who was trying
to organize Rosh Hashanah found ”his Baal Koreh. This gentleman had no Torah to
read from but he would use the Humash - Hebrew five books of Moses.”
1945: Ichud
(Unity), a Jewish political organization, is established by the leadership of
the Landsberg displaced-persons (DP) camp. It initially acts as an intermediary
between DPs and the United States Army in negotiations for DP immigration to
Palestine.
1945(23rd of Elul,
5705): Yaakov Waldman, a survivor of a 1942 death march, is
murdered by Poles in Turek
1946: Birthdate of Shalom Hanoch, the native of
Kibbutz Mishmarot and rock star who founded two bands – The Churchills and
Tamouz
1946: Birthdate of Adrienne Cooper, the singer
who played a major role in reviving Yiddish culture and music with a special
emphasis on Klezmer.
http://www.adriennecooper.com/Adrienne_Cooper/Adrienne_Cooper_Home.html
1946: “A tentative agreement was reached between
the Rabbinical Association of the American Zone in Germany and the JDC
religious department creating a pool of religious supplies and agreeing in
principle to cooperate in their distribution.”
1947: Date on which UNSCOP is scheduled to
provide its findings to the U.N. General Assembly.
1947: After premiering in Chicago a month ago
in August, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” a movie based on the short story
character of the same name produced by Samuel Goldwyn, starring Danny Kaye and
featuring songs by Sylvia Fine and a score by David Raskin, was released in the
United States today.
1947: “The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer” a
comedy directed by Irving Reis, produced by Dore Schary and a script by Sidney
Sheldon premiered today in New York City.
1948(27th of Av, 5708): Sixty-one
year old Leon Friedman who served as Louisiana State Representative from
Natchitoches Parish from 1932 to 1940 following in the footsteps of an older
brother J. Isaac Friedman who had served
in both house of the state legislature.
1948: “Sorry, Wrong Number,” a “film noir”
direct and produced by Anatole Litvak with music by Franz Waxman was released
in the United States today.
1948: “Long is the Road” “the first German-made
film to accurately portray the Holocaust” was released today.
1949: Birthdate of Leslie Feinberg, author of Stone
Butch Blues.
http://forward.com/news/breaking-news/209405/transgender-activist-leslie-feinberg-dies-at-65/
1949(7th of Elul, 5709): Sixty-five
year old Florina Lasker, the Galveston born daughter of Morris and Nettie Davis
and graduate of the University of Texas and New York School of Social Work who
was an active leader of the ACLU and “secretary of the New York Labor Standards
Committee” passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1949/09/02/85653995.html?pageNumber=17
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/lasker
1950: Today, Israel charged Jordan with “’full
and absolute responsibility for continual acts of aggression’. A government spokesman said Jordon condoned
murder and sabotage by allowing infiltrators and criminals to cross the border
into Israel and by taking no action to discourage or punish these criminals.
1951: Birthdate of singer-songwriter Steven D.
Grossman.
1951: The Yugoslav representative in the U.N.
Security Council voted in favor of a resolution guaranteeing all nations the
right to use the Suez Canal. The
resolution was considered a victory since it was designed to overcome the Arab
closure of the international waterway to ships that had docked in Israel or
that sailed under an Israeli flag. The
issue of canal usage would be part of the reasons for going to war in 1956.
1951: The
Union of American Hebrew Congregations, parent body of Reform Judaism in the
United States and Canada, moved into its new $1,000,000 headquarters at Fifth
Avenue and Sixty-Fifth Street
1952: The Israeli
government announced that extra rations for meat and poultry would be available
for the High Holy Days. Those people who
only know of then comparatively affluent society of present day Israel should
remember that life during the early years of the Jewish state were quite
grim. Between the austerity of the land,
the in-gathering of the exiles and the attacks from surrounding Arab states,
life in Israel was more akin to living on the American frontier than a modern
Western state.
1952: During the
fiscal year which begins today MGM is scheduled to make 38 pictures as opposed
to the 40 made during the previous fiscal year according to a previous
announcement by Nicholas M. Schnenck, the President of Loew’s and Dore Schary
who is in charge of production
1952: Zev Zahavy was
appointed to serve as rabbi of East Park Synagogue.
1953: "Human
Ornithosis in Israel" by Dr. Aaron Valero appeared in today’s issue of,
Harefuah, a medical journal published by the Israel Medical Association. Dr.
Aaron Valero was a an Israeli physician born in 1913 “who helped establish
hospitals and medical schools, authored medical publications and contributed
greatly to the advancement of medical education in Israel in the latter half of
the 20th century.” He passed away in 2000.
1954: “Romeo and
Juliet” a movie version of Shakespeare’s drama starring Laurence Harvey as
“Romeo” was released in the U.K. today.
1954: In Perth Amboy,
NJ, Robert N. Wilentz and Jacqueline Malino Wilentz gave birth to award winning
author, journalist and professor of English Amy Wilentz who is married to
Nicholas Goldberg of the Los Angeles Times.
1955: On his
seventieth birthday Friedrich Wilhelm von Prittwitz und Gaffron the German
Ambassador to the United States under the Weimar Republic who resigned in
protest the day after Hitler came to power and who warned his dinner companion
German Jewish playwright Lion Feuchtwagner not to return to Germany passed away
after having served as a member of the Parliament of Bavario “from 1946 to
1954.”
1955: Birthdate of
Efraim Gur, the native of Georgia SSR who made Aliyah in 1972 and eventually
became an MIK and cabinet minister
1955(14th of Elul,
5715): Actor Philip Loeb passed away. Loeb played the role of Jake in the early
television sitcom “The Goldbergs.” The
show starred actress Molly Goldberg and revolved around the life of an
obviously Jewish family living in Brooklyn.
Loeb was 61 at the time of his death.
1957: “Slaughter on
10th Avenue” a crime-buster biopic featuring Walter Matthau and Sam
Levene was released in the United States today by Universal-International.
1961: Publication of
“Tonybee’s Epistle to the Jews.”
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/toynbees-epistle-to-the-jews/
1962: Jack Benny’s latest contract with
CBS takes effect. Benny is 68 and the contract is for two years which means the
famed tightwad will
have a source of income until he is 70.
1963: Publication of
Arthur Hertzberg’s review Jews, God and History by Max Dimont.
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/jews-god-and-history-by-max-i-dimont/
1964: Rabbi Martin Riesenburger
delivered the sermon and Canotrs Werner Sander, Estrongo Nachama and Leo Roth
provided the music during today celebration of the 30h anniversary of the Rykestrasse
Synagogue in Berlin.
1965: Outfielder
Richie Scheinblum made his major league début with the Cleveland Indians.
1967: British poet
and author Siegfried Sassoon passed away.
His father was Alfred Sassoon, a member of the wealth and distinguished
Indian –Jewish Sassoon family. His
mother was an Anglo Catholic. The family
disinherited the elder Sassoon when he married her and Sassoon was not raised
as a Jew.
1967: Sixty year old
Ilse Koch, the wife of the commandant of Buchenwald and Majdenek, hung herself
at Aichach, Germany where she was serving a life sentence for a string of
crimes that led her to be dubbed “the concentration camp murderess.
1968: In “Henry James
and the Jews: A Critical Study” published today Leo B. Levy examines the great
author’s depictions and views of the “chosen people.”
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/henry-james-and-the-jewsa-critical-study/
1969: Pitcher Lloyd
Allen made his major league début with the California Angels.
1969: Twenty-seven
year old Muammar Qaddafi staged a successful coup and replaced King Idris as
head of Libya. By the time that Qaddafi came to power the Libyan Jewish
community which was 2,500 years old had been reduced to a couple of hundred
souls. He exacerbated their plight, as well as that of the Jewish exiles, by
confiscating all property owned by Jews and by canceling all debts owed to
those Libyan Jews whose property had already been seized or destroyed. He also
attempted to make himself a leader in the fight to destroy Israel by giving
untold millions to the PLO.
1970: Shimon Peres
begins serving as Communications Minister of Israel.
1970: Yosef Burg
replaced Golda Meir Minister of the Interior
1970: Palestinian terrorists attack King Hussein of Jordan’s motorcade
in a failed attempt to assassinate him and bring an end to the Hashemite
Kingdom. Hussein was a complex figure
whose whole kingship was influenced by the assassination of his grandfather by
fanatics who thought he was going to make peace with Israel. In the end, Hussein’s vision overcame his
fears and he signed a peace treaty with Israel.
1971(11th of Elul, 5731): Mordechai Ofer passed away at the age of 47. An Israeli politician, he served as a member
of the Knesset for the Alignment and Labor Party from 1965 until his death.
Born in Kraków in Poland in 1924, Ofer made aliyah to Mandate Palestine the
following year. He joined the Mandate-era Jewish Police force, and served in
the IDF during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. After being demobilized in 1950 with
the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, he began working for Egged. He became a member
of the co-operative's board, and from 1961 until his death, served as director
of its Finances department. In 1965 he was elected to the Knesset on the
Alignment list. He was re-elected in 1969, but died in office while still in
office.
1971: Moshe Shahal took his seat in the Knesset
as a replacement for the deceased Mordechai Ofer.
1972: Mathematician and WW II Code Breaker
Peter Hilton was “appointed Louis D. Beaumont University Professor at Case
Western Reserve University.
1973: Professor Peter Hilton actually began
teaching at Case Western University.
1974: Eighty “leading Soviet Jewish activists
from Moscow, Kiev, Leningrad and other cities issued statement advising caution
in negotiations on the Jackson-Vanik Amendment.”
1974: “Yuri Vudka, of
Ryazan, wass released from labor camp after serving seven year sentence for
“anti-Soviet activities”.
1976(6th of Elul, 5736): MK Zvi
Guershoni who had made Aliyah in 1936 passed away today.
1976: As part of a mass demonstration,
Uri Geller’s photograph appeared on the cover of the magazine ESP with the
caption "On Sept. 1, 1976 at 11pm E.D.T. THIS COVER CAN BEND YOUR
KEYS."
1977: The Prime
Minister Menachem Begin won a flat “No” on the subject of the recognition of
what he described as ‘the murder organization called the PLO.’ The Knesset vote
was 92 to four.
1977: Birthdate of
actress Shoshana Elise Bean.
1978: In Los Angeles,
mystery novelists Faye Kellerman and Jonathan Kellerman gave birth to American
author Jesse Oren Kellerman.
1979(9th
of Elul, 5739): Sixty-seven year old All American football player and movie
producer Aaron Rosenberg passed away today
http://www.footballfoundation.org/Programs/CollegeFootballHallofFame/SearchDetail.aspx?id=30122
1981: Seventy-six
year old Albert Speer, Hitler’s architect, confidant and convicted war criminal
who beat the hangman’s rope died a free man to today in London.
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/02/obituaries/albert-speer-dies-at-76-close-associate-of-hitler.html
1982: Washington announces the “Reagan Plan” that
included the principle of self-government for the Palestinians of Gaza and the
West Banks in association with Jordan.
The Americans saw it as the next step after the Camp David Accords. The Begin government would reject the plan
because it was not prepared to give up control of what it called Judaea and
Samaria.
1983(23rd
of Elul, 5743): Eighty-two year old songwriter and composer Arthur Herzog, Jr,
the “father of novelist Arthur Herzog and grandfather of Amy Herzog” passed
away today in Detroit, Michigan.
1987: Today representatives of the Holy See's
Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and of the International
Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations “were received at Castel
Gandolfo by His Holiness Pope John Paul II, who affirmed the importance of the
proposed document for the Church and for the world. His Holiness spoke of his
personal experience in his native country and his memories of living close to a
Jewish community now destroyed. He recalled a recent address to the Jewish
community in Warsaw, in which he spoke of the Jewish people as a force of
conscience in the world today and of the Jewish memory of the Shoah as "a warning,
a witness, and a silent cry" to all humanity.”
1983: Henry
"Scoop" Jackson Democratic Senator from Washington passed away at the
age of 71. Jackson was an outspoken supporter of Israel and the Jews in the
Soviet Union. In 1974, Jackson
co-sponsored the Jackson-Vanik amendment with Charles Vanik, which denied
normal trade relations to certain countries with non-market economies that
restricted the freedom of emigration. The amendment was intended to allow
refugees, particularly religious minorities, specifically Jews, to escape from
the Soviet Bloc. Jackson and his assistant, Richard Perle also lobbied
personally for some people, who were affected by this law — among them Natan
Sharansky.
1983(23rd
of Elul, 5743): Twenty three year old Alice Ephriamson-Abt the daughter of Hans
Ephriamson-Abt was among the 269 passengers aboard KAL 007 who were killed when
the plane which was bound for Seoul was shot down by Soviets who claimed “the
flight was a spy plane.” Her death would lead her father to become “an internationally
known advocate for families of air-crash victims.”
1989: In Warsaw,
Leonard Bernstein conducted concert commemorating outbreak of World War II.
1990: In “Roots of
Muslim Rage” published today Bernard Lewis explains “why so many Muslim deeply
resent the West and why their bitterness will not be easily mollified.”
1990: After 622
performances at the Plymouth Theatre the curtain comes down on Wendy
Wasserstein’s Pulitzer Prizing winning drama “The Heidi Chronicles
1990(11th
of Elul, 5750): Parashat Ki Teitzei
1990: Eighty year old
Syracuse native Alexander “Mine Boy” Levinsky, the nine year NFL veteran passed
away today.
http://mapleleafslegends.blogspot.com/2010/06/alex-levinsky.html
1991: Uzbekistan declares independence from the Soviet
Union. Depending upon which version of
history you believe Jews have been living in what is now Uzbekistan since the
period following the destruction of the first Temple or the period of Persian
domination of Judea. At the time of the
declaration there were approximately 15,000 Jews living in the country centered
in four major population centers.
1991: Rabbi Sir
Jonathan Henry Sacks was appointed Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and
Commonwealth.
1991(22nd of Elul,
5751): Eighty year old Canadian political leader Allan Grossman, the son of
Russian immigrants and the father of Canadian political leader Larry
Grossman passed away today.
1991: Publication of Politics,
Religion and Love: The Story of H.H. Asquith, Venetia Stanley and Edwin
Montagu, Based on the Life and Letters of Edwin Samuel Montagu by Naomi
Levine.
http://www.amazon.com/Politics-Religion-Love-Asquith-Venetia/dp/0814750575
1992(3rd of Elul,
5752): Nine-four year old Morris Carnovsky the native of St. Louis whose 60
year acting career was inspired childhood visits to the Yiddish theatre passed
away today. (As reported by James Barron)
1994: “Il Postino:
The Postman” directed by Michael Radford premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
1994: Stanley
"Stan" Fischer began serving as First Deputy Managing Director of the
International Monetary Fund
1995: Graham B.
Spanier who would become a major player in the Jerry Sandusky- Penn St. child
abuse scandal assumed his duties as President of Penn State University.
1998: The curtain
came down for the last time on the Open Air Theatre, Inner Circle, Regent's
Park, London, production of the Jule Styne musical “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”
which had opened in July.
1999: The Jew in
the Lotus an account of the historic dialogue between rabbis and the XIV
Dalai Lama by Rodger Kamenetz which
inspired a PBS documentary of the same name produced and directed by Laurel
Chiten, was on Independent Lens today.
2000(1st
of Elul, 5760): Rosh Chodesh Elul
2000: “Clinton
campaign officials said today that Senate candidate Hillary Clinton’s
intervention “to save Jonathan Pollard…from transfer to a more dangerous unit
of the federal prison where he is serving a life sentence” “was not necessarily
a precursor to” an attempt to gain the clemency for the convicted spy.
2001: “With an
Israeli-Palestinian truce holding on Jerusalem's southern fringe today, diplomatic
efforts were made to see if calm could be extended elsewhere to finally bring
the conflict of the last year under control.” (As reported by Clyde Haberman)
2002: The New York Times
included reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish
interest including The Book of
Illusions by Paul
Auster.
2003(4th of Elul, 5763): David Adelman, who is
memorialized at B’Nai Israel in Spartanburg, SC, passed away today.
2003: Publication of Who Killed Daniel Pearl? by
Bernhard-Henri Levy.
2004: “Palestinians
celebrate deadly Israeli bus bombings” published today described how “thousands
of joyful Hamas supporters took to Gaza's street , throwing sweets in the air
and singing songs to celebrate a twin suicide bombing that killed 16 people on
Israeli buses.”
2004: “Promised Land”
by Amos Gitai premiered at the 61st
Venice International Film Festival which opened today.
2005: In Israel
approximately 1,700,000 pupils begin the new school year.
2005: At the Vienna
International Film Festival, premiere of “Good Night, and Good Luck,” one of
the most significant films of the decade produced by Grant Heslov.
2005: As of today,
the IDF “had withdrawn 95% of its equipment” from Gaza.
2005: In Hong Kong,
Nancy Ann Kissel was found guilty of murdering her husband Robert Kissel, a
senior banker with Merrill Lynch. First she gave him a milkshake laced with
sleeping medications and crushed his skull.
Then she wrapped his body in a carpet and stuffed into a moving box. The jury did not believe that Mrs. Kissel had
acted in self-defense. The scandalous
murder trial sent shock waves through the financial communities in Hong Kong
and New York as well as the Jewish community in Hong Kong. It included everything from Mrs. Kissel’s
extramarital affair to a multi-million dollar New York real estate fraud
involving the descendant’s brother Andrews Kissel. Who says Jews are only good for stories about
Talmud and Accounting?
2006: In a strange
twist of fate, two Moslem countries are making plans to send troops to serve as
part of the UN peacekeeping force designed to maintain peace along Israel’s
border with Lebanon. Turkey's government submitted a resolution to parliament
to send peacekeepers to Lebanon despite public opposition to the deployment.
Israel has dropped its objections to Indonesia joining the UN peacekeeping
force in south Lebanon, and discussions are underway as to when Jakarta would
send a planned contingent of 1,000 troops
2006: An Orthodox Jewish man
was removed from an Air Canada Jazz flight in Montreal for praying.
2007: In Jerusalem, Larry
Fogel and Moni Arnon perform "Simon and Garfunkel" music. The duo
provides an authentic rendition of the famed Americans’ acousitc harmonies in
their performance at the Bible Lands Museum tent.
2007: Craig Breslow
“was promoted to the Boston Red Sox” from the minors.
2007(18th
of Elul, 5767): Parashat Ki Tavo
2007(18th
of Elul, 5767): Eighty-three year old Sir Abraham Goldberg, the son of Jewish
immigrants who rose to be “one of the most outstanding physician scientists of
his generation” passed away today.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12772438.Sir_Abraham_Goldberg/
2007: In Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, on Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, the traditional Shabbat morning
service at Temple Judah (a reform congregation with just over 100 families as
members) attracted sixteen congregants confounding critics who are always
predicting the demise of the American Jewish Community while The Cedar Rapids Gazette featured an
article entitled “Kosher gardening shows Jewish law in practice.”
2007: (Elul 18)
Birthdates of the Baal Shem Tov and Rabbi Schneur Zalman Liadi, founder of
Chabad-Lubavitch.
2007: A Des Moines
rabbi who was named Friday in online media reports as planning to marry two gay
men said he didn't know of the plan. Rabbi David Kaufman of Temple B'nai
Jeshurun in Des Moines said today that he couldn't have married Sean Fritz and
Tim McQuillan because neither man was Jewish. The pair were married Friday
before a ban on same-sex unions was reinstated. Kaufman said he would have
referred the couple to Unitarian Minister Mark Stringer, who performed the
ceremony. Following is Kaufman's statement on the events: “Someone who knew
that I would be willing to perform same sex ceremonies evidently decided that I
was going to do one for two gay friends of hers and let the press know about
it. Neither of the men was Jewish. I didn't know anything about the plan, much
less participated in it, and couldn't do a wedding this morning (Friday)
anyway, since I was otherwise committed. I wouldn't have done this particular
ceremony because neither was Jewish in the first place. Instead I would have
referred them to Rev. Mark Stringer of the Unitarian Church, who I know is a
strong proponent of civil marriage and same sex ceremonies and who eventually
did the marriage anyway. I commend him for so doing. In the meantime, it was
posted for a while on the DM Register website that I was doing the ceremony and
the news media, including national news media with multiple TV cameras, showed
up at the Temple. The phone was ringing off the hook for about two hours.
Meanwhile, I wasn't even in the building and had another life cycle event to
perform at the time that the media was gathered. For those interested, I both
support Civil Marriage and I would do a same sex commitment ceremony, but my
requirements for so doing would be exactly the same as for a non-homosexual
couple. Someone has to be Jewish and the couple must either be prepared to
raise their children as Jews or have discussed it or not decided. I do not act
as "Justice of the Peace" in a secular capacity. When I do weddings
of any kind, I represent the Reform Jewish tradition in general and my beliefs
as a Reform Jewish Rabbi in particular. I am there as a Rabbi, not as Justice
of the Peace. Meanwhile, let me offer a hearty Mazal Tov to Sean and Tim."
2008: A busy day in
Israel on a variety of fronts as 1.4 millions pupils ended their summer
vacation and began the 2008/09 school year
2008: Mike Slive, the
commissioner of the Southeastern Conference is scheduled to begin serving as
Chair of the Division 1 Men’s Basketball Committee for the 2008-2009 academic
year today.
2008: Athletic mogul
Arkadi Gaybamak sacked the entire Betar management team
2008: The WUJS Arad program
relocates from the southern desert town to the Central region. The program
moves to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for the fall session, which is expected to draw
50 participants from overseas. The five-month program will be extended by a
month for that term.
2008(1st of Elul,
5768): Rosh Chodesh Elul Rosh; Begin blowing the Shofar at Shacharit
2008: Deadline for
submitting entries to the D.C. Jewish Community
Center's third annual writing contest entries for which must come from
residents of the Washington Metro area and must consist short essays or stories that illuminate how
humor has been helpful in difficult times -- is looking for entries.
2008 (1 Elul,
5768): Eighty-five year old comedy
writer Sheldon Keller passed away today. (As reported by Margalit Fox)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/arts/television/04keller.html?_r=1
2008 (1 Elul,
5768): Forty-six year old Oded Schramm,
who melded ideas from two branches of mathematics into an equation that applies
to a multitude of physics problems from the percolation of water through rocks
to the tangling of polymers, died in a fall at Guye Peak near Snoqualmie Pass
in Washington State. (As reported by Kenneth Chang)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/science/11schramm.html?_r=0
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/schramm/
2008: The fifth AICE Israeli Film
Festival opened on today at the Palace Como, South Yarra
2009: During a
breakfast reception at the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia,
Governor Tim Kaine provides a briefing on his recent trip to Israel
highlighting visits with top elected officials and business leaders. The
Virginia Israel Advisory Board hosted Governor Kaine's Israel mission with
support from the JCRC.
2009: In Israel, the
start of the 2009-2010 school year
2009: At Tel Aviv’s
Hayarkon Park, Madonna appears at the first of two concerts that are the last
stop on her “Sticky and Sweet” tour. She first appeared at Hayarkon
Park 16 years ago as part of her Girlie Tour, and also visited Israel in 2006
during the Jewish High Holidays along with 2,000 other students of Kabbalah.
2009: Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky told Jewish
students at the Lipman Jewish Day School in Moscow today how much has changed
in their country since he fought for the rights of Jews in the Soviet Union and
spent nine years as a political prisoner.
2009, A special "Winton train" set off from the
Prague Main railway station. The train, consisting of an original locomotive
and carriages used in the 1930s, headed to London via the original
Kindertransport route. On board the train were several surviving "Winton
children" and their descendants, who were to be welcomed by Nicholas
Winton in London. Sir Nicholas George Winton organized the rescue of 669 mostly
Jewish children from German-occupied Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second
World War in an operation later known as the Czech Kindertransport. Winton
found homes for them and arranged for their safe passage to Britain
2009: An investor group including Andreessen Horowitz (Ben
Horowitz) announced it had acquired a majority stake in Skype for $2.75 billion
2009: After having been “convicted of embezzling millions
of shekels from the National Workers Labor Federation while he was its
chairman” Avraham Hirchson “began serving his five years and give months”
prison sentence.
2010: Meiron Reuven is scheduled to begin serving as Israel’s
new ambassador to the UN.
2010: President Barack Obama is scheduled to host a dinner
attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas and former British Prime Minister Tony Balir this evening prior to the
start of peace talks which are scheduled to begin tomorrow.
2010(22nd of Elul): 25th Yahrzeit of
Joseph B. Levin, of blessed memory; Husband of Deborah, father of Judy Rosenstein
of blessed memory, David Levin and Mitchell Levin. You wouldn’t be reading this if it hadn’t
been for him and that statement is true in more ways than one!
2010: Today Defense Minister Ehud Barak spoke about
yesterday’s fatal terror attack in Kiryat Arba, promising that "the IDF
will do everything possible to quickly bring the perpetrators to justice, to
prevent the possibility of a wave of terror attacks from developing, to prevent
other terror missions from disrupting the fabric of relationships and relative
quiet which has been created in the area in recent years and even the intent to
harm the coming peace talks."
At a meeting with
IDF OC Central Command, Barak called upon the settlements, the heads of
settlements, and the heads of Beit Hagai, to demonstrate discretion,
responsibility and steadfastness. "We are in long struggle over our right
to leading secure and peaceful lives and reaching a peace agreement with our
neighbors."
2010: Kol Shira performed at a Taste of the Market- Iowa
City's Farmers Market
2010: President Obama today began the arduous process of
coaxing and pressing the main Middle East participants to define and embrace a
comprehensive peace settlement, declaring that “the status quo is
unsustainable.”
2010: Archaeologists in Jordan have unearthed a
3,000-year-old Iron Age temple with a trove of figurines of ancient deities and
circular clay vessels used for religious rituals, officials said today. The
head of the Jordanian Antiquities Department, Ziad al-Saad, said the sanctuary
dates to the eighth century B.C. and was discovered at Khirbat 'Ataroz near the
town of Mabada, some 20 miles (32 kilometers) southwest of the capital Amman.
The Moabites, whose kingdom ran along present-day Jordan's mountainous eastern
shore of the Dead Sea, were closely related to the Israelites, although the two
were in frequent conflict. The Babylonians eventually conquered the Moabites in
582 B.C.
2011: Shlomo Benizri began serving his prison term after
having been “convicted of accepting bribes, breach of faith, obstructing
justice, and conspiracy to commit a crime for accepting favors worth millions
of shekels from his friend, contractor Moshe Sela, in exchange for inside
information regarding foreign workers scheduled to arrive in Israel.”
2011: The Ohr Chadash Academy, a new Modern Orthodox day
school is scheduled to open at Park Heights Jewish Community Center in
Baltimore, Maryland.
2011; The family of Nahum Itzkovich, Jerusalem district
psychologist of the Israel Employment Service and husband of The Jerusalem
Post’s veteran health and science reporter Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, sits shivah
for the last time today.
2011: The school year is scheduled to begin today in
Israel.
2011: Between the Lines a novel written by Marv Levy
is scheduled to be published today by Ascend Books.
2011: The 7th Annual Jerusalem Beer Festival is
scheduled to come to an end tonight.
2011: The Tel Aviv District Court ruled today to release
singer and Kohav Nolad (A Star is Born) judge Margalit Tsanani to house
arrest.Tsanani is being charged with extorting a previous agent.The decision
came after the prosecution had asked the court to remand her in custody for the
duration of the trial because they alleged she posed a threat to the public
because of her connections with underworld figures.
2011: Vandals destroyed a monument to victims of a
World War Two pogrom against Jews in Poland, covering it with racist
inscriptions and swastikas in green paint, police said today. It was the latest
in a recent series of racist and xenophobic acts of vandalism targeting the
small Jewish and Muslim communities in eastern Poland as well as the tiny
Lithuanian minority.
2011: Approximately 300 Israelis of Ethiopian
descent, including students and their parents, demonstrated this morning
outside the Nir Etzion School in Petah Tikva. They were upset that despite city
provisions, the school, which they considered an "Ethiopian ghetto"
because the student population was made up of nearly only Ethiopian children,
was not closed and the children not integrated throughout other schools in the
area.
2011: “Radio pulled its coverage
of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London this
evening as a small number of anti-Israel protestors disrupted the concert by
shouting anti-Israel slogans at the orchestra, which was performing as part of
the prestigious annual BBC Proms classic music festival.”
2011: The New York Mets baseball
team announced that it broken off negotiations to sell a minority interest to
hedge fund manager David Einhorn. The
Mets are owned and /or run by Fred Wilpon, Sault Katz and Jeff Wilpon.
2011(2nd of Elul,
5771): Ninety-two year old jurist and legal scholar Sidney H. Asch, passed away
today. (As reported by Paul Vitello)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/10/nyregion/sidney-h-asch-judge-and-author-dies-at-92.html
2012: “Frances Ha,” a “comedy
–drama” directed, produced and written by Noah Baumbach “premiered at the
Telluride Film Festival”
2012: The 15th annual
Jerusalem International Chamber Music is scheduled to open today.
2012: Temple Judah is scheduled
to host the Labor Day Shabbat traditional/egalitarian minyan.
2012(14th of Elul, 5772): Ninety-one year old
lyricist Hal David passed away today in Los Angeles (As reported by Rob
Hoerburger)
2012: Eighty-six year old Sy J. Schulman who helped create
Riverbank State Park passed away today at White Plains, NY. (As reported by
Leslie Kaufman)
2012:
“An Israeli military strike has been granted increased legitimacy due to the
events of the past week, former minister Tzachi Hanegbi said today at a
cultural event in Kiryat Motzkin. (As reported by JPost staff)
2012:
IAF aircraft struck two centers of terrorist activity in the Gaza Strip
overnight in response to rockets fired from the coastal territory into southern
Israel, according to the IDF Spokesman's Office.
2012: Three
people were injured during a rock-throwing fracas in Jerusalem this afternoon.
“The incident began when a group of haredim started throwing stones at the Arab
neighborhood of Shuafat in the capital’s northeast. Police arrested three
haredim, two minors and an adult, for throwing rocks.” (As reported by Melanie
Lidman
2013:
Jeremy Jones is scheduled to moderate “Appeasing Hitler – Nazi Supporters Down
Under as part of Sydney Jewish Writer’s Festive being held at the Eric Caspary
Learning Centre, Shalom College, University of New South Wales
2013:
András Schiff and the Erlenbusch Quartet are scheduled to perform Brahms’ Piano
Quintet in F minor, op. 34 at The Jerusalem International Chamber Music
Festival
2013:
Ephraim Mirvis took office as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of
the Commonwealth replacing the retiring Lord Sacks.
2013:
The New York Times book section included two features: “Jonathan Lethem: By the
Book” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/books/review/jonathan-lethem-by-the-book.html?ref=review and“Articles of Faith” by Dara Horn that explores
her belief that “a number of contemporary Jewish writers are engaging with
religious belief in their works”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/books/review/articles-of-faith.html?ref=review&pagewanted=all&_r=0
2013: “Security forces led by the
Shin Bet announced t0day that they had foiled a bomb attack plotted by Hamas in
the West Bank and east Jerusalem, timed for the High Holy Days.” As reported by
Yaakov Lappin and Yonah Jeremy Bob)
2013(26th of Elul,
5773): Seventy-four year magazine editor Judith Daniels passed away today. (As
reported by Margalit Fox)
2014: According to Forbes, “Sheldon Adelson has returned to
the top 10 richest in the world for the first time since 2007 after making an
average of $32 million a day over the last year, third-most of anyone on the
planet’ meaning the eighty-one year old Chairman and CEO of Las Vegas sands is
worth approximately $33.2 billion.
2014: Four days after she had passed away, graveside
services are scheduled to held at Sharon Memorial Park this afternoon for
Shirley (Berlin) Kahn, the widow of Arnold L. Kahn with whom she had three
children – Jeffrey, Jill and Jonathan.
2014: “After a summer dominated by Code Red sirens and few
days of real vacation, 2,105,394 students are scheduled to return to school in
some 2,100 new classrooms and 495 preschools that were built to meet demand in
the new school year.” (As reported by Shahar Hay)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4566135,00.html
2014: Peter Schaefer, “a German academic who had previously
led Princeton University‘s Judaic studies program,” is scheduled to replace W.
Michael Blumenthal as Director of the Jewish Museum Berlin. (As reported by
JTA)
2014: “A three-year-old toddler was lightly wounded tonight
by Arab terrorists that hurled rocks through the window of the bus she was
riding in, as it passed through Uzi Narkis Street in the northern Jerusalem
neighborhood of Shuafat.” (As reported by Ido Ben-Porat, Ari Yashar)
2014: “Justice Minister Tzipi Livni today condemned a
government decision to appropriate about 1,000 acres of land near the West Bank
settlement of Gva’ot, in the Etzion Bloc, asserting that the move would prove
detrimental to Israel’s security and damage the country’s reputation with the
international community.” (Times of Israel)
2014: Peter Hancock took over as CEO of AIG replacing
Robert “Bob” Benmosche, the Brooklyn born descendant of Lithuanian Jews who
relinquished his position to due lung cancer.
2015: In Falls Church, VA, Temple Rodef Shalom’s Treasure
Gift Shop is scheduled to be open for a special pre-Rosh Hashanah evening of
sales complete with a 10% discount.
2015: “Proceedings to determine the punishment for “Frazier
Glenn Miller Jr., 74, a former Ku Klux Klan leader with a history of racist and
anti-Semitic actions” who “was convicted of capital murder yesterday in the
shooting deaths of three people a year ago at a Jewish community center and an
assisted living facility in suburban Kansas City.”]
2016(28th of Av, 5776): Yarhrzeit for Larry
Rosenstein, of blessed memory, husband of Judy Levin Rosenstein, of blessed
memory. Gone too soon but always remembered!
2016(28th of Av, 5776): Eighty-nine year old
Fred Hellerman, the last surviving member of the Weavers, a driving force
behind the folk music and social justice movements passed away today. (As
reported by William Grimes)
2016: “Is That You? The Road Not Taken” a film that tells
the story of a 60 year old Israel projectionist is scheduled to be shown for
the last time at Cinema Village.
2016: The screening sponsored by UKJF of “Mr. Gaga” is
scheduled to be shown for the last time.
2017: 78th Anniversary of the start of World War II
2017: “1917: How One Year Changed The World” is
scheduled to open in New York at the American Jewish Historical Society.
2017: “Lady Bird” produced by Scott Rudin and featuring
Beanie Feldstein “premiered at the Telluride Film Festival” today.
2017: The Jeff Portman era really comes to an end as Rabbi
Esther Hugenholtz is scheduled to lead services this evening for the first time
at Congregation Agudas Achim.
2017: As Jews across Texas and the United States prepare
for Shabbat, they are coming to grips with Taryn Baranowski,’s estimate that at
least “Seventy-one percent of the city’s Jewish population of 63,700 lives in
areas that have experienced high flooding.
2017: The Diver Festival continues for a second day in Tel
Aviv with performances of modern dance
2017: In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, Greene Family and
Young Judea camps continue to offer shelter to families who have lost
everything.
2017: The new school year began in Israel this morning “with
a total of 2,272,000 students filling the classrooms throughout the country.”
2017: Today, in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey “Michael
Dell, the founder of Dell Technologies announced a thirty-six million dollar
donation today to the Rebuild Texas Fund “established by the Michael and Susan
Dell Foundation
2017: As the Texas Gulf Coast grapples with the aftermath
of Hurricane Harvey the Jewish-Herald
Voice, “Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast's Jewish Community Newspaper Since
1908” is prepared to “offer a free e-edition.” http://jhvonline.com/
2018(21st of Elul, 5778): Parashat Ki Tavo;
2018: In Cedar Rapids, the Bat Mitzvah of Hannah
Homrighausen-Hoer is scheduled to take place at Temple Judah.
2018: The Jerusalem Centre for the Performing Arts is
scheduled to host a screening of Jacob Gladwasser’s “Laces.”
2019: Etgar Keret’s Fly Already which is scheduled
to come out in English in September.
2019: The New York
Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special
interest to Jewish readers including And How Are You Dr. Sacks? by
Lawrence Weschler.
2019: In London, JW3 is scheduled to host a screening of
“Blinded by the Light.”
2019: Eightieth Anniversary of the start of World War II
2019(1st of Elul, 5779): Parashat
Re’eh; Rosh Chodesh Elul;
2020: 18Doors Boston is scheduled to present
online a discussion of “Multi-Generational Interfaith Families and the High
Holidays.
2020:
The Virtual Sephardic Film Festival is scheduled to host a screening of
“The Women’s Balcony.”
2020: Temple Emanu El is scheduled to host
“Talk Trope Tuesdays” with Cantor Dave Malecki during which particpants can
review the special High Holiday melodies.
2020: The Mandel JCC and the Boulder JCC are
scheduled to host “an online Rosh Hashanah cooking demonstration with
celebrated Jewish cookbook author Leah Koenig.”
2020: The Greater New Orleans Chapter of
Hadassah and Sisterhood of Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation is scheduled
to hold a panel discussion on “Me Too Affects You Too!”
2020: Congregation Or Atid is scheduled to
host online Modeh Ani with Rabbi Louis Polisson as he sings “classic Jewish and
American songs while telling “some classic Jewish Children’s stories.”
2020: Today marks the return of This Day….In Jewish History which
was last update on August 10 and was forced to halt publication for the first
time in its history due to 120 mile winds that tore through Cedar Rapids,
uprooting trees, destroying the electrical city and closing down the internet.
(Editor’s note – this house took a direct hit leaving it with gaping hole in
the roof among other damages. I am able to do this posting thanks to the kindness of a local electrician. Mediacom, the internet provider has done less than nothing except to tell me that if I want service restored before the end of September, I needed to do what I could on my own.)