April 18
383: The Roman Emperors ended the exemption
Jewish religious leaders enjoyed from compulsory public service. "The order which Jewish men flatter
themselves with and which gives them immunity from the compulsory public
services of decurions shall be rescinded. Not even the clergy are free to deal
with divine service until they have dealt with municipal service.”
1025: The
Coronation of Bolesław Chrobry at Gniezno as King of Poland marks the beginning
of Poland as an independent country. Boleslaw’s first contact with Jews may
have come when he conquered the town of Przemysl in 1018. According to some
records, the town was already home to a group of Jewish traders. Jews
were welcome to settle in Poland at this because the rulers so them as an
economic and cultural asset. Jews would find Poland a welcome refuge from
the depredations that began with the Crusades 70 years after coronation of
Poland’s first independent monarch.
1165 (4 Iyar,
4925): Maimon ben Maimon and his family leave Fez for Eretz Israel.
1279: Pedro
III ordered his bailiffs to take control of the property of Jahuda Cavalleria
until "proper heirs can be determined." Though in this case Jahuda's
family ended up getting his estate, the Jews essentially owned nothing, and
were essentially considered, "simply holding property for the Crown."
1389: A
priest of Prague, hit with a few grains of sand by small Jewish boys playing in
the street, insists that the Jewish community purposely plotted against him.
Thousands were slaughtered, the synagogue and the cemetery were destroyed, and
homes were pillaged. King Wenceslaus insisted that the responsibility rested
with the Jews for venturing outside during Holy Week.
1521: At the Diet of Worms, German
reformer Martin Luther proclaimed that a biblical foundation supported the
theological position of his "Ninety-Five Theses." Luther ended his
defense with the famous words: 'Here I stand! I can do nothing else! God help
me! Amen.' Luther had a profound effect on Western history in general and
Jewish history in particular. His inability to convert the Jews led him
down the path of virulent anti-Semitism. At the same, his split with the
Catholic Church led to centuries of religious warfare and conflict that found
the Jews caught in the middle. Luther is not considered infallible by the
church that bears his name. His attitude toward the Jews is not official
doctrine of the Lutheran Church. In Germany, the Lutheran Church proved
to be an early opponent of Hitler.
1577(1st of
Iyar): Rabbi Nathan Shapiro of Horadno, author of Mevo Shearim passed away.
1587: Boston
born English Protestant clergyman and historian John Foxe whose famous literary
work, Book of Martyrs “included stories of Jews” and whose writings on Jews
show how a powerful writer conceived of the place of Jews in a newly self-conscious,
Protestant English national identity amidst conflicting currents of theology,
race, and politics” passed away today.
1590:
Birthdate of Sultan Ahmed I of the Ottoman Empire. During his reign Solomon
Eskenaz,i Avraham Levi Migas, and Naftali Ben Mansur all served as physicians
at the palace. When Solomon Eskenazi passed away, his wife, Buha Eskenazi
replaced. When Ahmed contracted smallpox, a disease that was often fatal
at this time, his regular physicians could not help. So he summoned Buha
Eskenzai and she was able to save him. The Sultan passed away in 1617.
1599:
Phillip III who supported the policy of making his realm Jew free and who gamed
a free hand to the murderous Inquisition married his cousin, Margaret of
Austria, today.
1705,
Luis Moses Gomez, who had been in New York City since at least 1703, was
officially declared a denizen
1735(26th of
Nisan): Rabbi Ephraim Navon of Constantinople, author of “Mahaneh Ephriam”
passed away today
1753(14th
of Nisan, 5513): Jews in England observe the Ta’anit Bechorot; and sit down to
their Seder under the reign of Philo-Semitic King George II.
1756(18th
of Nisan, 5516): Fourth Day of Pesach
1756: In
Philadelphia Mathias Bush and his first wife Tabitha Mears gave birth to Nathan
Bush
1761(14th
of Nisan, 5721): Parashat Achrei-Mot; erev Pesach
1764(16th
of Nisan, 5524): Second Day of Pesach; 1st day of the Omer is
counted as Boston endures a smallpox epidemic.
1767(19th
of Nisan, 5527): Fifth Day of Pesach and Shabbat observed as Charles Mason and
Jeremiah Dixon are on the verge of the survey of the border between
Pennsylvania and Maryland that became known as the Mason and Dixon Line.
1772(15th
of Nisan, 5532): Pesach
1772: In
London Abigail Delvalle and “her husband, stockbroker Abraham Israel Ricardo” a
“Sephardic Jew of Portuguese origins who had moved to England from the Dutch
Republic gave birth to English economist David
Ricardo, the successful speculator who along with Malthus and Adam Smith,
Ricardo was one of the Big Three of Classical Economists and who was disowned
by his family for eloping with “a Quaker, Priscilla Anne Wilkinson and
converting to Christianity.
https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Ricardo.html
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/david-ricardo.asp
1773:
In Tunis, Shalom Belais and his wife gave birth to Rabbi Abraham Belais.
1775(18th
of Nisan, 5535): Fourth Day of Pesach
1775:
Tonight, as Jews recited the blessing for the fourth day of the Omer “British
troops were marching from Boston, headed toward Concord where they were to
confiscate the weapons and leaders of the rebel movement.
1778(21st
of Nisan, 5538): Seventh Day of Pesach and Shabbat
1778: In
Darmstadt, Germany, Guetel and Huna Mormelstein gave birth Micahel MOrmelstein,
the hus band of Adelheit Fuchs and the father of Babe, Henry and Manuel
Marblestone.
1783(16th
of Nisan, 5543): Second Day of Pesach and first day of the Omer observed on the
same day that General George “Washington issued General Orders to the
Continental Army announcing the "Cessation of Hostilities between the
United States of America and the King of Great Britain."
1786: Abraham
Florentine, the New Yorker who had moved to Nova Scotia and later returned to
New York submitted his second application for indemnification for the house in
New York and the horses, dry goods and household goods taken from him by
“Rebels” during the war.
1787: In
response to a request from Lyon Prager, Israel Levin Salomons today asked the
East India Company to adopt “certain regulations” “to give effect to Lyon
Prager’s appointment as the Company’s Inspector and Purchaser of Drugs in
Bengal.”
1789(22nd
of Nisan, 5549): Eighth Day of Pesach and Shabbat are observed 12 days before
the inauguration of George Washington.
1791(14th
of Nisan, 5551): Ta’anit Bechorot; erev Pesach
1791: As Jews
sit down to their Seders to celebrate their liberation from bondage, France
continues to be rocked by the Revolution which was the Gallic attempt to free
themselves from Royal Bondage that began two years ago as can be seen by
today’s move by the National Guard to keep the royal family from leaving Paris
to celebrate Easter, probably because they feared the King would try and leave
the country and organize a counter-revolutionary force.
1793: In
Savannah, GA, Sarah Sheftall and Abraham De Lyon, who had been married in their
home town in 1785 gave birth to Abraham De Lyon, Jr, the husband of Esther
Nunes Ribeiro.
1797: Eighth
Day of Pesach: Yizkor is recited for the first time during the Presidency of
John Adams
1801(5th
of Iyar 5561): Parashat Tazria-Metzora is read for the first time during the
Presidency of Thomas Jefferson.
1802(16th
of Nisan, 5562): Second Day of Pesach; first day of the Omer observed on the
same that President Thomas Jefferson wrote to Robert Livingston, the U.S.
Ambassador to France about the new cipher that Dupont de Nemours was bringing
him that they would be using in their communications going forward and
expressing his concerns on the impact of Spain returning the land that would
later become the Louisiana Purchase to France.
1805(19th
of Nisan, 5565): Fifth Day of Pesach
1805: As Jews
munch on their Matzah, Lewis and Clark met with the family Toussaint
Charbonneau, the French Canadian trapper and trader who was reported to the
husband of Sacagawea, the guide who was the eyes of the Corps of Discovery.
1806(30th
of Nisan, 5566): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1806(30th
of Nisan 5566): Seventy-year old Doctor Jonas Mischel Jeitteles who was born in
Prague and who was buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague after he passed
away today. “He studied medicine in Leipzig and Halle. He became the public
health officer of the Jewish community. He was nominated chief supervisor of
the guild of Jewish healers in Prague. In 1784 he obtained from the emperor
Joseph in Vienna permission that not only he himself but also other Jewish
doctors could pursue unrestricted medical practice. He suffered from periodic
depressive disorders with several exogenously provoked attacks.”
1810(14th
of Nisan, 5570): Ta’anit Bechorot; Erev Pesach
1810: In Kingston,
Jamaica, Abraham Quixano Henriques, Esq, the Kingston born son of Moses Israel
Henriques and Abigail Henriques and Leah Rachel Henriques gave birth to future
London resident Sarah Josephs, the wife of Walter Josephs.
1810: Leah
Rachel De Leon, a native of the West Indies and Abraham Quixano Henriques gave
birth to Sarah Henriques.
1812(6th
of Iyar, 5572): Parashat Tazria-Metzora chanted as French troops under Napoleon
prepare to invade Russia.
1813(18th
of Nisan, 5573): Fourth Day of Pesach
1816(20th
of Nisan, 5576): Sixth Day of Pesach
1816: In
Prussia, birthdate of English “Produce Merchant” Alfred Benjamin Baumann, the
husband of Priscilla Phineas Isaacs and the father of Rebecca, Benjamin, John,
James and Adela Bauman.
1818(12th
of Nisan, 5576): Parashat Achrei Mot; Shabbat Hagadol
1818:
Birthdate of Salvatore de Benedetti, the native of Piedmont whose works
included Vita e Morte di Mose,
published in 1879 in which “he gathered and translated the legends concerning
the great Jewish leader.
1825(30th
of Nisan, 5585): Rosh Chodesh Iyar observed on the same day that General
Lafayette met with African American veterans of the War of 1812 in New Orleans.
1831:
The University of Alabama is founded. The Psi chapter of ZBT founded in 1916
was the first Jewish organization on campus. A Hillel chapter was founded
in 1934. According to recent figures the schools graduate and undergraduate
population of 28,000 students includes 450 undergraduates and 75 grad students.
1833:
In Vienna, Moritz Moses Jacob von Goldschmidt and Nanette von Goldschmidt gave
birth to Julius von Goldschmidt.
1835(19th
of Nisan, 5595): Shabbat shel Pesach observed on the same day that “Lord
Melbourne succeeded Sir Robert Peel as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.”
1840(15th
of Nisan, 5600): First Day of Pesach and Shabbat observed for the last time
during the Presidency of Martin Van Buren.
1843(18th
of Nisan, 5603): Third Day of Pesach observed for the first time while William
Wordsworth was serving Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
1845(11th
of Nisan, 5605): Seventy-eight-year-old merchant Simon Von Lämel, the native of
Bohemia who was elevated to the hereditary nobility in recognition for his aid
in provisioning the Austrian Emperor’s Army and lending him large sums of
money, passed away today in Vienna, a city in which he and his family were
among the legally limited number of Jewish residents.
1846(22nd
of Nisan, 5606): Eighth Day of Pesach and Shabbat observed for the first time
since the dissolution of the Republic of Texas.
1848(15th
of Nisan, 5608): As Jews observe the first day of Pesach, U.S. Forces under
General Winfield Scott defeat the forces of Santa Anna at the Battle of Cerro
Gordo during the Mexican-American War.
1851(16th
of Nisan, 5611): Second Day of Pesach; Omer is counted for the first time
during the President of Millard Fillmore the last member of the Whig Party to
serve in the White House.
1857(24th
of Nisan, 5617): Parashat Shmini
1857(24th
of Nisan, 5617): In Austria, Baruch Reichler and his wife gave birth to Moses
Reichler, the rabbi of Congregation House of Jacob in Utica, NY.
1857:
Birthdate of famed defense attorney Clarence Darrow one of whose most famous
cases involved the Jewish thrill killers Leopold and Loeb. Anybody who
has seen “Inherit the Wind” has a pretty good understanding of Darrow’s view of
religion and the Bible. However, Darrow represented the ACLU and those it
supported at a time when the cause of civil liberties was quite
unpopular. This work with the ACLU gave him a shared interest with many
Jewish leaders of his day. He was a foe of anti-Semitism as could be seen by
his signing of “The Perils of Racial Prejudice” which denounced “The
International Jew” which was funded by Henry Ford.
1857: In
London Adelaide and Ellis Abraham Franklin gave birth to Arthur Ellis Franklin, a senior partner at Keyser & Co,
a merchant bank, the son of banker Ellis Abraham Franklin and Adelaide Franklin
and the husband of Caroline Franklin with whom he had six children.
1857: In
Jackson, CA, “a meeting was held” today at which “it was decided to build a
synagogue” which was the first such structure “erected in the mining
districts.”
1860: Louisa
de Samuel married Baron George de worms, the son of Baron Solomon Benedict de
Worms and Henritta Samuel after which she was known as Louisa de Worms
1860:
Birthdate of Fernand-Gustave Gaston Labori, the native Rheims, France who
courageously defended Emile Zola in 1898 and Alfred Dreyfus at the court
martial in Rennes during which he effectively proved his client’s innocence and
for which he was wounded by an assassin’s bullet.
1861: This
evening the 26th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers whose members
included Dr. Jacob Da Silva Solis Cohen “started from Philadelphia under orders
requiring it to be taken through Baltimore ‘at or before daylight.’”
1862(18th
of Nisan, 5622): Fourth Day of Pesach observed as U.S Naval forces under
Admiral David Farragut began their bombardment of Forts Jackson and St. Philip,
the Confederate installations that were key to holding to New Orleans.
1863(19th
of Nisan, 5623): Parshat Shmini read on the second day of the 16 day raid by
Colonel Ben Grierson and 1700 Union Cavalrymen who “roamed through a 600 mile
swath of the Confederacy.”
1863: War
knows no day of rest as can be seen by the Battle of Fayetteville which was
fought during the Civil War in the town that became the home of the University
of Arkansas and is today the home Chabad of Northwest Arkansas.
1865: In Cedar
Falls, IA, “William P. and Mary (Taylor) Taubman, gave birth to Iowa State
Normal School (University of Northern Iowa) graduate Tom Taubman the husband of
Minnie Samuels who was a newspaper editor, Democratic politician and U.S.
Marshall in the state of South Dakota.
1865(22nd
of Nisan, 5625): As Jews observed the eighth and final day of Pesach General
Sherman and General Johnston met to finalize the terms of the surrender of the
largest remaining Confederate force remaining in the field following the
surrender of Lee at Appomattox.
1866: Today,
in Manhattan, Rabbi Adler laid the cornerstone for a new synagogue that will be
the home of Adas Jeshurun. The building is located on 39th
Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. A tin box was
placed in the cornerstone. Among the items in the box were the Charter of
the Congregation, a copy of the U.S. Constitution, a list of the congregational
officers, copies of several papers including the New York World and the New
York Times and photo of Moses Montefiore.
1869(7th
of Iyar, 5629): Adam Spielmann, the son of Michele and Lewin (Judah) Spielmann
and husband of Marian Spielmann whose
children included Sir Isidore Spielmann passed away today in London.
1873(21st
of Nisan, 5633): Seventh Day of Pesach
1873(21st of
Nisan, 5633): The New York Times reported that “the closing holiday of
the feast of the Passover commenced yesterday evening. Today and Saturday
will be kept as strict holidays and at sundown tomorrow the festival will
terminate.” [Editor’s Note: Based on the Times story, the Orthodox
observance was considered normative since it is describing the 7th
and 8th days of the festival.]
1874:
Birthdate of Abraham Pflaum, the Chicago born lawyer and an officer with the
United Hebrew Charities and the Jewish Aid Society whose wife was the Recording
Secretary of the Chicago Woman’s Aid which met at Sinai Temple in Chicago and
had been organized in 1882.
1875: The New York Times reported that
“To-morrow evening the Israelites throughout the world will commence the
celebration of the important festival of "Pesach," or Passover, also
known as “Hag Hamatzos," or the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The festival
was instituted by divine command to commemorate the miraculous deliverance of
the Children of Israel from the captivity which, for hundreds of years, they
had endured in the land of Egypt.”
1875: In
Syracuse, Solomon Silverstein and Esther Shevelson gave birth to Dr. Albert
Silverstein who graduated from Yale and Gross Medical College of Denver where
practice medicine and taught with the exception of a one year stint with
Medical Department of the United States Army which he served in the Philippines
during the Spanish American War and the insurrection that followed.
1875: “The
Feast of Passover: Interesting Religious Ceremonies” published today described
the celebration of Pesach including the fact that during the Seder “any Jewish
servants in the employ of” a Jewish family “have on these occasions the
privilege of sitting at the table on a footing of perfect equality with their
employers.”
1875: In
Eichstein Leopold and Babette Bloch gave birth to Julie Bloch who became Julie
Moses after she married Moses Moses, the son of Abraham and Rosa Moses.
1876: In New
York City, “Sigmund and Linda Mainster Galston” gave birth to NYU trained
lawyer and federal judge Clarence G. Galston who raised two children with his
“the former Estelle Elkus.”
1877:
Birthdate of Galicia native and glass bottle manufacturer Samuel Mallinger who
in 1894 came to the United States where he settled in Pittsburgh and in
addition to becoming a successful businessman was a member of the
Austro-Hungarian Congregation, “a staunch supporter of Jewish education” while
raising four children – Emanuel, Ruth, Fannie and Benjamin – with his wife Anna
Klee.
1878:
Birthdate of Kovno native Hyman Aaron who in 1900 came to the United States he
formed “his own construction firm in Brooklyn while serving on the board of
directors of Beth El Hospital and the Stone Avenue Talmud Torah and raising two
sons Bernard and Dr. Jules Aaron and one daughter with hiswife Mollie Spillie.
1878(15th
of Nisan, 5638): Pesach
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1950/06/06/89408960.html?pageNumber=29
1879:
Birthdate of Kharkov, Russian born pianist Mark Gunzburg, the holder of a
doctorate from the University of Leipzig who in 1922 came to the United States
where he served on the faculty of the Detroit Institute of Musical Art.
1880: Two days
after he had passed away, Isaiah Joshua Simmons, the husband of Caroline
Benjamin with whom he had had twelve children was buried today at the “West Ham
Jewish Cemetery.”
1880: It was
reported today that the Governor of Morocco has ordered the destruction all
houses belong to Jews facing Mosques.
1880: An
article published today about the nature of Armenians includes the following
quip attributed to Lord Rothschild. “Shut up all the Jews and all the
Armenians of the world together in one exchange and within half an hour the
total wealth of the former will have passed into the hands of the latter.”
1881(19th
of Nisan, 5641): Fifth Day of Pesach
1881: In Indianapolis, Indiana, an unnamed Jewish citizen sent a
basket of flowers to the Second Presbyterian Church with a note saying, “that
it was ‘a token of respect for the liberal sentiments that Reverend William A.
Bartlett had expressed in a talk on “the Jewish question.”
1881(19th of Nisan, 5641): Sixty-one-year-old Hungarian
born American physician and chemist Joseph Jacob Goldmark who was “credited
with the discovery of red phosphorous” passed away today in Brooklyn.
1881: In
Bialystok, “Morris and Julia (Getz) Weber gave birth Pratt Institute and Julien
Academy trained painter, the husband of Frances Abrams, whose works were
described as "fauvist and then cubist inspired." From 1917 on
he began introducing Jewish subjects into his work. Starting in the
1920's his work became increasingly abstract and he included contemporary
social themes as subjects for his painting. Weber's can be
found in leading galleries throughout the United States including the Whitney
Museum and the Jewish Museum in New York City. He passed away in 1961.
1882:
Birthdate of Junction City, KS native and Art Institute of Chicago and Academy
of Fine Arts trained oil and watercolor painter and sculptor C. Bertram Hartman
who was the husband of Augusta “Gusta” Hartman and whose works were hung in
such galleries as the Hubbell Trading Post and the Brooklyn Museum.
https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_S_NPG.91.203
https://grahamshay.com/artist/bertram-hartman
1884: Theodore
Hoffman was hung in New York today after having been convicted of murdering
Zife Marks, a Jewish peddler whom he had robbed on the road near Port Chester.
1885: In
Evanston, IL, Nellie and Walter Wheaton Augur gave birth to Barnard and
University of Chicago educated “school headmistress” Margaret Avery Augur.
1886: In New
York City, over 500 women came to Mrs. Rosendorff’s home on Eldridge Street to
receive aid for the upcoming holiday of Passover. Each of the women, many
of whom were accompanied by children of all ages, was given a yellow ticket
which they could exchange for supplies at local meat market. Mrs. Rosendorf is
active in many causes designed to assist the less fortunate including
membership in the Downtown Hebrew Ladies’ Benevolent Society and the Passover
Relief Society while serving as the Directress of the Home for Aged and Infirm
Hebrews.
1886: It was
reported today that Lawrence Oliphant has discovered two ruined synagogues on
the northeast shores of the Sea of Galilee.
1887: In New
York City, Joseph and Babette Seligman gave birth to Joseph Lionel Seligman.
1887:
Birthdate of Russian native Joseph Breslaw who came to the United States in
1907 who was simultaneously vice president of the ILGU, manager of Local 35 of
the Cloak and Pressers Union and chairman of the Trade Union Division of
the National Committee for Labor Israel and was the husband of Rosa Breslaw with
whom he raised three sons – Alfred, Bernard and Leon
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1957/07/04/96954605.html?pageNumber=19
1887(24th
of Nisan, 5647): Hungarian teacher and author Ignaz Reich who taught for forty
years at the Jewish communal school for the blind and “ was the first Jew to
translate the Bible into Hungarian passed away at Budapest.
1889:
Birthdate of Budapest native George Vajan who “founded a bookstore and
publishing in his home town in 1920” before coming to the United States in 1939
where he founded Transatlantic Arts.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1968/05/23/76947985.pdf
1890: After 35 years of New York State officials
overseeing the arrival of more than 8 million immigrants (many of whom were
Jews from Eastern Europe) at Castle Garden the United States Government
“assumed control of immigration” today “and Congress appropriated $75,000” to
build the first facility at Ellis Island which would the entry point for untold
numbers of Jewish immigrants.
1891: In
Manhattan, Daniel Henry Cardozo, Sr., the New York born son of Abraham Hart
Cardozo and Sarah Naar Cardozo and his wife Clara Cardozo gave birth to
Clifford Danforth Cardozo.
1892(21st of
Nisan, 5652): Seventh day of Pesach
1892(21st of
Nisan, 5652): Seventy year old Isaac Hirsch passed away while visiting his
daughter Mrs. Selig Meinhold in New York City. A native of Germany, he
had lived in Kingston, NY for the last 43 years where he was a successful paper
dealer. Hirsch had served in the same army company as famed reformer and
political leader Carl Schurz.
1892: The
newly dedicated home of Temple Israel in Brooklyn was built in the style of
“the famous Church of St. Sophia in Constantinople.” The ground on which the
building sits cost $20,000 and the building itself cost $75,000. A.H. Geismar
is the rabbi of what is considered to be Brooklyn’s leading reform
congregation.
1892: The body
of Jacob Marks, a peddler who had last been seen a month ago with Isaac
Rosenswig and Harris Blank was found “beneath a pile of rubbish in a deserted
barn with two bullets in the head” on Dutch Mountain
1893 (2nd of
Iyar, 5653): Abraham Pereira Mendes, a prominent English Rabbi, author and the
father of two other Rabbis, Frederick de Sola Mendes and Henry Pereira Mendes,
passed away.
1893:
Birthdate of Jessaja Granach, the native of Galicia who became the popular
German film actor Alexander Granach during the 1920’s and early 1930’s.
Forced to flee with the rise of Hitler he spent the last years of his career
playing “German bad guys” in several Hollywood films.
1893:
“Converts For Revenue Only” published today described the aggressive efforts by
Protestants to gain Jewish converts and the indignant response of the Jewish
community which object to the methods as much as it does the effort itself. For
example, Christian churches bribe “Jewish children to go to their ‘conversion’
schools by gifts of cake and candy…as well as with bribes of shoes and
clothing” while workingmen are offered jobs in turn for conversion.
1893(2nd
of Iyar): Author Moses Eisman passed away today.
1894(12th
of Nisan, 5654): Lewis Cohen the son of Sierlah and Barnett Cohen, the grandson
of Judah Cohen and he husband of Sarah Cohen passed away today.
1894:
Birthdate of Anna Maia Bernfield who was deported to Wien/Izbica nine days before
her 48th birthday.
1895: Dr.
Maurice H. Harris delivered a lectured-on Shylock at a meeting of the Young
Men’s Hebrew Association which was followed by a series of recitations and the
performance of musical selections.
1895: As the
price of beef continues to rise, it was reported that kosher butchers are
charging fourteen cents a pound for chuck steak, a popular cut of meat that had
had been selling for five or six cents a pound. This has forced many of
those living on the lower east side to turn to fish and eggs which are more
plentiful and less expensive.
1895:
Birthdate of Latvia native Yiddishist Zalman (Salman) Yefroiken who in 1921
came to the United States where he eventually became the education director of
the “Workmen’s Circle High School,” editor of “Culture and Education and the
author of Jews Do Not Surrender while raising two children with his wife ‘the
former Amy Goldberg.”
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/10/02/82905985.pdf
1896: The late
Leonard Friedman made the following bequests: $2,500 each to the Home for Aged
and Infirm Hebrews, the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum and Mt. Sinai
Hospital; $1,500 to the Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids; $1,000 each to
the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Orphan Asylum and Sanitarium for Hebrew
Children.
1897: Israel
Zangwill, author of Children of the Ghetto will deliver a lecture today
in Jerusalem
1897(16th of
Nisan, 5657): Second day of Pesach and first day of the Omer
1897: Three
days after he had passed away, Nathan Jacob De Jongh, the husband of Henriette
De Jongh and the father of James and Benjamin De Jongh was buried today at the
“Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1897(16th
of Nisan, 5657): Rabbi Rudolph Grossman will officiate at the funeral of August
Seligman who died of pneumonia. Interment will be in Cypress Hills
Cemetery
1897: “Making
Passover Bread” published today reports that three companies in New York
“practically monopolize” the manufacture and sale of Matzoth in the United
States. While Matzah is baked in other cities, many Jews rely on the
trustworthiness of the New York firms to manufacture a ritually acceptable
product. The demand has gotten to be so great that the firms start baking
right after New Year’s in January and do not start until the start of Pesach.
1898:
Approximately 5,000 people attended the opening night of a fair at the Grand
Central Palace which is being held “for the benefit of the building fund of
Congregation Adath Israel of West Harlem.”
1900(19th
of Nisan, 5660): Fifth Day of Pesach
1900: In his
quest for governmental support for the creation of Jewish home, Herzl met with
Grossherzog Friedrich of Baden receives Herzl. The Germans are reluctant to get
involved but there is hope that the Austrians will help him get an audience
with the Sultan.
1900: The
first public meeting of the Sabbath Observance Association of New York was held
this evening at Shearith Israel in New York. The newly formed group already has
at 300 members. It was formed to combat what its leaders view as a
growing disregard for the observance of the Sabbath. According to two of
the speakers, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise and Dr. Mark Blumenthal, the observance of
the Sabbath “has preserved Judaism though all the centuries of persecution” and
has made “the Jewish home and the Jewish woman an emblem of sanctity and purity
which has been held up to the admiration of people of every religion.”
1901:
Birthdate of lyricist Al Lewis whose most famous work was “Blueberry
Hill.” Written in 1940, it gained everlasting fame when it was recorded
by Fats Domino in 1956.
1902(11th of
Nissan, 5662): Birthdate of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as “the
Rebbe” who was the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe. [Editor’s Note: There is no way
that any entry here could even begin to do justice to his gifts and accomplishments,
but readers are encouraged to the innumerable sources available to examine the
life of this indomitable figures as well as to read his writings. His
most famous and long-lasting impact may be his outreach program. Anybody
who has spent time with one of his “Lamplighters” such as Rabbi Pinchas Ciment
will understand the meaning of this statement.]
https://www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/244372/jewish/The-Rebbe-A-Brief-Biography.htm
https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691154428/the-rebbe
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/rabbi-menachem-mendel-schneerson-jewish-virtual-library
1902(11th of Nisan, 5562: Seventy-two-year-old German
businessman and politician Marcus Wolf Hinrichsen passed away today in Hamburg.
1903: Apparently “the bread of affliction” has taken on a new cache since
The New York Times reports that “Matzo, or Passover bread” can be found
in small piles in the city’s “bon-bon shops.”
1904: Cyrus Adler of the Jewish Historical Society and English born
Columbia trained attorney and educator Henry M. Leipziger were among those
sitting at the guest’s table at a banquet where Japanese Consul General Uchida
told the attendees the reason why Japan is now fighting Russia.
1905: Today is the last day on which the First American Romanian
Congregation is scheduled to distribute Matzoth to the poor Jews living on the
Lower East Side.
1906: In St. Paul, MN, “Jacob and Mollie (Balkind) Ginsberg gave birth to
University of Minnesota trained physician and WW II Stewart Theodore Ginsberg,
the “Clinical professor of psychiatry at Emory University and husband of Ada
Leach Leach with whom he raised three children – Barbara, Janet and Mark.
1906: On the
day after the end of Pesach, “San Francisco and the entire Bay Area was struck
by an epic earthquake, followed by a fire which lasted almost three days and
utterly destroyed most of the city. Consumed in the flames were more than 3500
souls and hundreds of millions of dollars in buildings and other property. The
Jewish community lost Emanu-El's great Sutter Street synagogue building, which
burned to the ground. In addition, much of Adolph Sutro's collection of
Hebraica and documents of the Spanish era in California were destroyed. Among
the Jewish institutions that responded to the city-wide emergency was Mount
Zion Hospital, which was safely located beyond the perimeter of the fire in the
Western Addition. Jewish doctors and nurses worked tirelessly in the days after
the conflagration to help injured citizens. In Golden Gate Park, where tens of
thousands of homeless citizens were temporarily housed in tents for months
following the conflagration, a Jewish couple named Victor and Anna Rosenbaum won
a city-wide award for having the tidiest domicile. Jewish merchants played a
leading role in getting San Francisco back on its feet, setting up a new
commercial district along Van Ness Avenue and making Fillmore Street a
substitute for Market Street for several years while the Downtown District was
rebuilt. The Chicago architect Daniel Burnham had proposed a progressive new
street design for San Francisco, modeled after those of Paris and Washington
D.C. But Jewish and other merchants were anxious to get back in business and
the Burnham Plan was dropped. San Francisco's rabbis were tireless in their
relief efforts, and the Jewish community pledged large sums to the city's
reconstruction, figuring prominently in its fulfillment. The reconstruction of
the San Francisco was also symbolized by the erection in 1912-1915 of a
magnificent new Beaux Art neo-Renaissance City Hall, designed by Arthur Brown,
who would later design the new Congregation Emanu-El in 1925. The legendary,
long-serving Mayor "Sunny Jim" Rolph would attend and speak at the
dedications of both buildings.
1907: In San
Francisco Jewish businessmen were among those celebrating this morning when the
Ferry Building clock which had stopped at 5:12 a.m. a year earlier was started
up again.
1907: Birthdate
of Lublin native and painter Josef Presser who at the age of 12 came to the
United States where he “studied at he Boston School of the Museum of Fine Ats, painted
murals during the Depression for the WPA, married fellow artist Agnes Hart with
whom he shared a studio at Woodstock, NY and passed away in Paris in 1967.
https://www.artnet.com/artists/josef-presser/
1908(17th
of Nisan, 5668): Third Day of Pesach and Pesach Shabbat Chol HaMoed
1908:”From
interviews given today to a correspondent for the New York Times by Lords
Rothschild and Swaythling on the controversy between the strictly orthodox Jews
and the more liberal adherents of the Jewish faith in England as to the divine
origin of the Decalogue and the Pentateuch…it seems plain enough that the
participants in the quarrel are rallying these two pillars of faith and
financial giants as their leaders” with Swaythling (Samuel Montagu)
“representing the ultra-orthodox section…”
1909(27th
of Nisan, 5669): Mrs. Rosie Aronwold, the 107 year old resident of the Home of
the Daughters of Jacob on East Broadway who claimed to have met Napoleon when
she was seven years old after the signing of the Treaty of Tilsit passed away
today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1909/04/21/101817247.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1909: Tonight,
at the Pilgrim Church on Madison Avenue, Reverend Frederick Lynch preached a
sermon on “Christians and Jews in New York City: A Warning” in which, among
other things he “condemned bills, which he said, the Jews were introducing at
Albany to conduct secular business on Sunday, as selfish and as tending to
break down the great American institution of Sunday for the benefit of a few.”
i.e. the Jew.
1910: For a
second day, the United Hebrew Community was giving out supplies to the poor
people of the lower east side for the upcoming Passover Holiday.
1911:
Birthdate of Maurice Goldhaber, the native of Vienna ,a physicist who delved
into the intricacies of atoms and headed the Brookhaven National Laboratory on
Long Island for more than a decade and was the father of physicist Alfred
Scharff Goldhaber and the grandfather of physicist David Goldhaber-Gordon.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/25/local/la-me-maurice-goldhaber-20110525
1912:
Three days after the sinking of the Titanic, The RMS Carpathia, carrying
hundreds of the Titanic survivors including journalist Edith Rosenbaum and
Elizabeth and Martin Rothschild, the aunt and uncle of Dorothy Parker, arrived
in New York.
1913: “Jacob
Furth, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Seattle National Bank” was
found guilty today of aiding and abetting in a conspiracy to accept deposits
from a banker whose bank he knew to be insolvent.
1913(11th of
Nisan, 5673): Julius Neumark, the President of the Jewish Community in Kortshin,
a town in central Poland passed away today.
1913(11th
of Nisan, 5673): Fifty-eight-year-old merchant Sigmund L. Bendit, the Bavaria
born son of “Lippmann and Jeannette Bendit passed away today in New York City.
1913: In
Richmond, VA, the Southern Educational Convention which Rabbi Max Raisin of
Meridian, Mississippi was attending as a delegate came to an end today.
1914(22nd
of Nisan, 5674): Eighth Day of Pesach; Shabbat; Yizkor
1914: German
Jew-Baiter Dead” published described the recent death of “Hermann Ahlwardt,
once celebrated as a German Jew-Baiter” who had one time had participated in a
nationwide lecture tour in the United States
1915: “Over
200 delegates representing 177 Jewish labor organization with a membership of
over 300,000 attended” tonight’s first ever convention of the National Women’s
Committee for Jewish Rights in Belligerent Counties which has been formed “to
agitate for equal Rights for Jews, especially those living in Russia.”
1915: It was
reported today that Funk & Wagnalls have published “John Foster Fraser’s
new work, The Conquering Jew which contains the results the author’s
studies of the Jew, his adaptability and vitality” and well as the views on the
future of the Jews.
1915:
“To-night’s the Night, a musical comedy composed by Paul Rubens” with two songs
composed by Jerome Kern opened at the Gaiety Theatre in London for the first of
460 performances.
1915: In New
York, Joseph Davidman and Jeanette Spivack who had married in 1909, gave birth
to “child prodigy” poet and author Joy Davidman
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/davidman/bio.htm
1916(15th
of Nisan, 5676): Pesach
1916:
According to previously published reports Jews in Russia will not have to worry
about violent attacks based on “blood accusation of ritual murder’ because
“this year there will be neither Seder nor pogrom” in Russia because the homes
of Jews “are wrecked and deserted and their inhabitants have been scattered an
driven far away before the successive tidal waves of war.”
1916: Because
today is Passover, “collection of bundles and bags for the United Hebrew
Charities Bundle Day” will not take place today.”
1916: In New
York, approximately 175 Jewish soldiers and sailors from Forts Totten,
Wadsworth, Slocum, Hancock Terry and Wright and battleships Delaware, Wyoming,
Missouri and Maine who are here by special permission of the Secretaries of War
and Navy” are scheduled to attend services at several synagogues today
following which they will attend a second Seder this evening.
1916:
According to a report published today, S.S. Rosenstamm, the Chairman of the
Y.M.H.A. there are 6,000 Jews serving in the army and navy for whom “Seders
have been arranged all over the United States.
1916:
According to a letter written by John Reed, he said that reports that he had
accused “all Jews of being traitors to Russia” were wrong since “as a matter of
fact, they are astonishingly loyal.”
1916: It was
reported today that “the Israelite Alliance of Vienna will undertake the
collection and forward of letters” from Jews living in Galicia trying to
contact people in the United States “at its own expense.”
1917: It was
reported today that the “chief business discussed at the first congress of the
Jewish Social Democrat was the disabilities suffered by the Jews of Finland.”
1918: During
WW I with Jewish soldiers on both sides of the line the Germans tried to seize
the heights at Kemmelberg as part of the Great Spring offensive designed to end
the war before the Americans could make up for the loss of Russia.
1919(18th
of Nisan, 5679): Fourth Day of Pesach
1919: In
London, Lithuanian refugee Rachel Litvin and her husband gave birth to Natasha
Litvin who gained famed as pianist and author Natasha Spender the wife of Sir
Stephen Spender.
1920: The
Twelfth Conference of the Bund, the Jewish labor organization, continued to
meet in Gomel.
1921(10th of
Nisan, 5681): Sixty-four-year-old French author and politician Joseph Reinach
passed away. Born in Paris in 1856, he had two famous siblings - Salomon and
Theodore – who would become well-known in the field of archaeology. After
studying at the Lycée Condorcet he was called to the bar in 1887. He attracted
the attention of Léon Gambetta by writing articles on Balkan politics for the
Revue bleue, and joined the staff of the Republique française. In Gambetta's
grand ministère, Reinach was his secretary, and drew up the case for a partial revision
of the US Constitution and for the electoral method known as the Scrutin de
Liste. In the République française he waged a steady war against General
Boulanger which resulted in three duels, one with Edmond Magnier and two with
Paul Déroulède. Between 1889 and 1898 he sat for the Chamber of Deputies for
Digne. As a member of the army commission, reporter of the budgets of the
ministries of the interior and of agriculture he brought forward bills for the
better treatment of the insane, for the establishment of a colonial ministry,
for the taxation of alcohol, and for the reparation of judicial errors. He
advocated complete freedom of the theatre and the press, the abolition of
public executions, and denounced political corruption of all kinds. However, he
was indirectly implicated in the Panama scandals through his father-in-law,
Baron de Reinach; as soon as he learned that he was benefiting by fraud, he
made appropriate restitution. Reinach is best known as the champion of Alfred
Dreyfus. At the time of the original trial he attempted to secure a public
hearing of the case, and in 1897 he allied himself with Scheurer-Kestner to
demand its revision. He denounced in the Siècle the Henry forgery, and
Esterhazy's complicity. His articles in the Siècle aroused the fury of the
anti-Dreyfus party, especially as Reinach was himself a Jew and accused by some
of taking up Dreyfus's defence on racial grounds. He lost his seat in the
Chamber of Deputies, and, having refused to fight Henri Rochefort, eventually
brought an action for libel against him. Finally, when the "Dreyfus
affair" was resolved and Dreyfus was pardoned, he wrote a history of the
case, completed in 1905. In 1906 Reinach was re-elected for Digne. In that year
he became a member of the commission of the national archives, and the
following year a member of the council on prisons. Reinach was a prolific
writer on political subjects. On Gambetta he published three volumes in 1884,
and he also edited his speeches. For the criticisms of the anti-Dreyfusard press
see Henri Dutrait-Croyon, Joseph Reinach, historien (Paris, 1905), a violent
criticism in detail of Reinach's history of the "affaire."
1921: In New
York, Russian-Jewish immigrants Jacob and Fanny Cahn gave birth to Miles Cahn
who, with his wife Liilian” founded the Coach Leatherware Company in 1961.
1922: In New
York, a petition of bankruptcy was filed against jeweler Abraham Silver.
1922(20th
of Nisan, 5682): Fourth Day of Pesach
1923: In
Savannah, GA, Elinor Grunsfeld and Sam G. Adler, the son of Leopold Adler, the
founder of Adler’s Department store gave birth to Georgia Bulldog and WW II
Naval Air Corps veteran Lee Adler who was an award winning champion of historic
preservation and an advocate for “providing safe affordable housing for
low-income” occupants.
1924(14th
of Nisan, 5684): Ta’anit Bechorot; Erev Pesach
1924: “A
number of Jewish students at Harvard” are scheduled to participate in a Seder
this evening at the home of Professor Harry K. Messenger, the Latin and Greek
scholar who along with his wife converted to Judaism.
1925(24th
of Nisan, 5685): Parashat Shmini
1925: “The
plight of 15,000 men, women and children, holders of American visas, who sold
their homes and properties abroad to come here and then were left stranded in
European ports because of the inelasticity of United States immigration laws,
was related tonight by Louis Marshall in an address over the radio from Station
WEAF.
1926: “In
Komorow, near Lublin, Poland, Hersz Trost, “a butcher” and his wife Chaja gave
birth to Frima Trost who gained fame as Holocaust survivor and the driving
force behind Café Edison Frances Edelstein. (As reported by Richard Sandomir)
1926: David A.
Brown, the National Chairman of the United Jewish Campaign said today that the
organization would exceed its goal after “the Association of Reform Rabbis”
unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the campaign.
1926: “The
completion of the first stage in the development of Palestine as the Jewish
homeland was announced” today “by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, the Chairman of the
United Palestine Appeal following the receipt of a cablegram from Dr. Chaim
Weizmann” which said that “immigration figures just compiled show that 100,000
new Jewish settlers entered Palestine from 1919 to 1925.”
1926: Release
date of “Madame Mystery” co-starring Theda Bara (born Theodosia Burr Goodman)
1927(16th
of Nisan, 5687): Second Day of Pesach; first day of the Omer
1927: United
States Senator James A. Reed of Missouri who was “stricken last by a
gastrointestinal attack, was too ill to proceed this morning as chief counsel
for Henry Ford in Aaron Sapiro's suit for $1,000,000 libel damages.”
1927: Zionist hopes in
Palestine can never solve the "Jewish problem in Eastern Europe which is
threatening half the Jewish population of the world with extinction,"
according to the debating team of the University Zionist Federation of the
British Empire which debated tonight with the Avukah American Student Zionist
Federation team in McMillin Theatre, Columbia University.
1928: Judge
Otto A. Rosalsky, Chairman of the United Palestine Appeal for Greater New York
announced today that “New York has contributed more than one million dollars to
the campaign of the United Palestine Appeal.”
1929: Clarence
Galston, the son of Sigmund and Linda Galston “was nominated by President
Herbert Hoover today, to the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of New York, to a new seat authorized by 45 Stat. 1409.”
1930(20th
of Nisan, 5690): Sixth Day of Pesach
1930: Macy’s
advertises new shoes “new $6.94 shoes” which “break a tradition in combining
both style and quality at this price.”
1930: In
Harrisburg, PA, at a meeting “sponsored by the Ohev Shalom brotherhood as a
part of the good-will program of the organization” Reverend Everett R. Clinchy,
a secretary of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in American said
that “we Christians must be more careful in the past of telling the story of
the cross” since “generalization about the guilt of the Jews is sociologically
disastrous.”
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/04/19/96100551.html?pageNumber=2
1931(1st
of Iyar, 5691): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1931: “City
Streets” a mystery film starring Sylvia Sidney and Paul Lukas was released
today in the United Sates.
1932: It was
reported today that seventy-eight-year old Sir Patrick Geddes who had been
chosen by Zionist leaders to design the Hebrew University building in Jerusalem
of which he said “the equivalent of rebuilding the temple consists in the marvelous progress of the Hebrew
University had passed away at Montpellier, France “where he was director of the
Scots College.”
1932: “Samuel
Wulfin, a twenty-year-old law student at the University of Vilna was sentenced
today to two years in prison for participating in street riots that resulted in
the death of a student named Waclawski during anti-Semitic disturbances at
Vilna last November.”
1933(22nd
of Nisan, 5693): Eighth Day of Pesach
1933(22nd
of Nisan, 5693): Fifteen days after celebrating his 63rd birthday,
Eli F. Guggenheim, the Greenfield, OH born so of Adeline and Albert Guggenheim,
the husband of Mattie Guggenheim and Eva Guggenheim and the father of Jack, Richard
and James Guggenheim passed away today in Cincinnati, OH.
1933: In
Berlin, “the special court imposed a nine months’ term upon Herman Beer, a
Polish Jew,” because he told “friends that the bodies of three mutilated Jews
had been found in the streets of Berlin and that twenty-eight Jews were dragged
out of a synagogue and beaten until blood flowed” “without taking into
consideration whether Beer’s information was accurate or not.”
1933: The
Jerusalem YMCA, directly opposite the King David Hotel, was opened by Field
Marshall Lord Allenby.
1934: A tea
and musicale sponsored by The Palestine Lighthouse under the leadership of the
president Mrs. Samuel D. Friedman is scheduled to take place “this after
afternoon at the Waldorf Astoria to celebrate the completion of the New Shelter
for Blind Children in Palestine.”
1934: During
today’s debate in the French Parliament over offering Albert Einstein a
professorship at the Sorbonne both Premier Daladier and right wing leader Louis
Marin spoke in favor of the action and praised the famed scientist who could
not return to Germany
1934: Reverend
Dietrich Bonhoeffer appeared to recognize the threat posed by the Nazis when he
wrote to a friend today that National Socialism has “brought an end to the
church in Germany.’
1935(15th
of Nisan, 5695): Pesach
1935: Birthdate of Paul A Rothschild record producer who helped to build the
Elektra record label.
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/03/obituaries/paul-rothchild-record-producer-59.html
1936: After
233 performances, the curtain came down on “Jumbo,” a musical produced by Billy
Rose with music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz with a book
co-authored by Ben Hecht at the Hippodrome Theatre.
1936: “Bury the
Dead” an anti-war play written by Irwin Shaw and produced by Alexander Yokel
opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City.
1936: The
Chief Rabbi of Vienna, Dr. Feuchtwag” issued “a strongly worded answer” in
response to recent anti-Semitic attacks.
1936: In what
may have been part of the attempt to improve Germany’s image prior to this
summer’s Olympic games, “The German Calisthenics Association appears to have
reversed the ruling of the Reich Sport League no Jew may belong to a German
sport organization” but at the same time it empowered the directors of all
local sport groups to expel any one for any reason.”
1937: Thomas
Mann and his daughter Erika are scheduled to address the Free Synagogue in
Carnegie Hall today.
1937: Rabbi
Louis I. Newman is scheduled to deliver the sermon this morning at Temple
Rodeph Sholom.
1937: Rabbi
Lichtenstein is scheduled to deliver the sermon this morning at the Jewish
Science Society.
1937:
Birthdate of Ed Parish (E.P.) Sanders the New Testament Scholar whose works
include Paul and Palestinian Judaism in which he “argued that the
traditional Christian interpretation that Paul was condemning Rabbinic legalism
was a misunderstanding of both Judaism and Paul's thought,” Jesus and
Judaism in which “he argued that Jesus began as a follower of John the
Baptist and was a prophet of the restoration of Israel” and Judaism”
Practice and Belief.
https://www.ibr-bbr.org/files/bbr/BBR_1996_13_Neusner_JudaismBySanders.pdf
1937: “Top of
the Town” a comedy directed by Sam White and featuring Gregory Ratoff and
Mischa Auer was released in the United States today.
1938(17th
of Nisan, 5698): Third Day of Pesach
1938: Plans
for an upcoming “exhibition and sale of paintings at the Studio Gallery for
“the benefit of the Joint Distribution Committee” were reported today.
1938: Today, Hadassah reported contributions
totaling $60000 and pledges amounting to an additional $20000 had been made
to the Youth Aliyah Fund
1938: The
Palestine Post
reported that 16 Arab terrorists, including their leader, Aref Abdul Razzak,
had been killed in a battle and scores were wounded. The fighting between the
British soldiers and Arab terrorists lasted more than six hours in the
notorious "Triangle of Terror" - the hilly region between Nablus,
Tulkarm and Jenin. Four Arab prisoners were taken. Only one British soldier was
slightly wounded.
1938: The
Palestine Post
reported that four young Jews, Joseph Rotblatt, 19, Abraham Danielli, 23, David
Ben Gaon, 25, and Ze'ev Anav, 24, died in an Arab terrorists ambush attack,
while returning in a taxi from Hanita to Nahariya.
1938: The
Palestine Post
reported that a bomb was thrown into an Arab cafe in Haifa, one person had been
killed and eight wounded.
1938: The
Palestine Post
reported that Eliahu Dawer, 58, was hurt by a bomb thrown at him while leaving
the synagogue in Rehov Mea She'arim in Jerusalem.
1938: The Palestine
Post
reported that the new high commissioner, Sir Harold MacMichael, paid his first
official visit to Tel Aviv.
1938: The
Palestine Post
reported that the public and the press were highly enthusiastic about the visit
and the series of festive concerts conducted by Arthuro Toscanini.
1938:
Superman, the creation of two Jews from Cleveland – Jerry Siegel and Joe
Shuster – appeared for the first time in Action Comics No. 1
1939: Anti-Jewish
legislation in Slovakia defines Jews by religion.
1939(29th of Nisan, 5699): Just four weeks before
her 65th birthday, American Yiddish theatre star Bertha Kalich
passed away today.
http://jwa.org/thisweek/may/17/1874/bertha-kalich
1939(29th of Nisan, 5699): Seventy-seven-year-old
Sir Matthew Nathan a British soldier and diplomat who “served as the Governor
of Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Hong Kong, Natal and Queensland” passed away in
Somerset, UK.
http://www.easter1916.ie/index.php/people/a-z/sir-matthew-nathan/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sir-Matthew-Nathan/228561157166481?sk=wall&rf=113712101972648
1940:
In Kingstree, SC, Fannie (Alpert) and Isadore E. Goldstein, who
owned a clothing store gave birth to University of Texas at Dallas trained M.D.
and molecular geneticist Joseph Leonard Goldstein, the Prize Winner who worked as a biomedical
researcher at the National Heart Institute and Washington University before
returning to the Southwestern Medical School of the University of Texas at
Dallas as professor. Goldstein and colleague Michael S. Brown researched
cholesterol metabolism and discovered that human cells have low-density
lipoprotein (LDL) receptors that extract cholesterol from the bloodstream. The
lack of sufficient LDL receptors is a major cause of cholesterol-related
diseases. In 1985, Goldstein and Brown, both of whom are Jewish, were jointly
awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1985/summary/
http://www4.utsouthwestern.edu/moleculargenetics/pages/brown/biogold.html
1940:
President Roosevelt met with David Lasser, the science fiction writer turned
labor activist who was serving as the President of the Worker’s Alliance of
America today in the White House.
1941: During World War II, the first British troops from India arrived
at Basra. They were part of the military force that would remove the
recently installed pro-Nazi government in Iraq. The rise of the pro-Nazi
Arab government and the subsequent military action taken by the British would
literally have deadly consequences for the ancient Iraqi Jewish
community
1941(21st of Nisan, 5701): Seventh Day of Pesach
1941(21st
of Nisan, 5701): Sixty-seven-year-old Hungarian native Charles Gelman who
in 1892 came to the United States where he settled in Glens Falls, NY where
owned and operated “the dry goods firm of Merkel and Gelman” while raising his
two daughters Elsa and Babette passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1941/04/20/85306832.pdf
1942(1st
of Iyar, 5702): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1942: Birthdate
of Brooklyn native and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Seymour Steinbigle
who gained fame as Seymour Stein, the music executive who rose from being a clerk
at Billboard maagainze where he “helped develop the Billboard Hot 100, launched
in August 1958” to being a co-founder of “Sire Records and a vice president of
Warner Brothers Records.
1942(1st of Iyar, 5702): In the Warsaw Ghetto, 52 people on a wanted list were
dragged from their beds and killed. This will become known as "The Night
of Blood."
1942: One
thousand Jews who left the Theresienstadt Ghetto in Czechoslovakia, by train
for a ghetto at Rejowiec, Poland, were diverted to the death camp at Sobibór
1942(1st of Iyar, 5702): The death camp at Sobibor went into operation. To
mark the opening 2,500 Jews from Zamosc were transported there and sent to
their deaths. Only one was chosen to work and live.
1942(1st of Iyar, 5702): Eighty-three-year-old Moses Montefiore Kursheedt, the
husband of Jennie Kurdsheet and the son of Asher and Abigail Kursheedt passed
away today.
1942: Pierre
Laval became Prime Minister of the French government of Vichy. The Vichy
Government was really little more than a German puppet state. Laval like
many associated with Vichy was an anti-Semite who was only too willing to turn
French Jews over to the Nazis even before they asked for them. Laval was
executed at the end of the war.
1943: “Out of
Gas” published today described the challenges in the filming of “Somewhere in
Sahara” the war movie directed by Zoltan Korda.
1943(13th
of Nisan, 5703): Sixty-four year old Johns Hopkins and Columbia trained
attorney Joseph N. Ulman the jurist and Jewish communal leader who raised “two
children – Joseph, Jr. and Eleanor –“and his wife “the former Ella
Guggenheimer” passed away today.
http://www.mdhs.org/findingaid/ulman-joseph-nathan-collection-1887-1960s-ms-1914
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1943/04/19/88525222.pdf
1943: At the
Savoy-Plaza, Rabbi Milton Steinberg of the Park Avenue Synagogue officiated at
the marriage of Barbara Lippman and Martin Steiner, the brother of Philip
Steiner.
1943: Word
leaked into the Warsaw Ghetto of German plans for the ghetto's
destruction. This information enabled the ZOB leadership to marshal their
pathetic defense force to meet the oncoming might of the Nazi military machine.
1944: Leonard Bernstein and Jerome
Robbins' ballet "Fancy Free" premiered in New York City
1944:
Congressman Arthur Klein entered into the Congressional Record a report by
Laura L. Margolies, a representative of the American Jewish Joint Distribution
Committee in Shanghai on the conditions of “Refugees in the Far East.”
http://archives.jdc.org/assets/documents/shanghai_refugees-in-the-far-east.pdf
1945:
General Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces
telephoned Winston Churchill to describe the horrific sights that greeted his
troops when they entered a concentration camp at Ohrdruf near Gotha.
1945: A list of 801 Jews, that came to be known as “Schindler’s List” was
typed today. The people whose names were listed on the 13 page document were
spared from a trip to the gas chamber. In 2009, employees at the New
South Wales State Library found the list in boxes containing German news
clippings and manuscripts by the Australian author Thomas Keneally, who wrote
the bestselling novel “Schindler's Ark,” which was the basis of the famous film
about Oskar Schindler and his efforts to save Jews during the Holocaust.
1945: Birthdate of Joseph Bernstein, the native of Moscow who became a
leading Israeli mathematician.
1945:
Robert Limpert, the leader of the
anti-Nazi underground in Ansbach, was hung by the Germans for his
attempts to get the garrison to surrender to the advancing Allied armies.
1945:
Following their liberation inmates Langenstein-Zwieberge, a sub-camp of the
Buchenwald Concentration Camp were taken by ambulance to Halberstadt where
barracks had been turned into a hospital.
1945: As World
War II comes to an end, and concentration camps were being liberated “an
opinion survey” taken today “suggested that 81 percent of the British
population would answer ‘yes’ to the question ‘Do you think the atrocity
stories are true,’ whereas in December, 1944 the proportion had been only 37
percent.”
1946(17th
of Nisan, 5706): Third day of Pesach
1946(17th
of Nisan, 5706): Northeastern
University Law School trained attorney Harry N. Guterman, the United States
Commissioner and Assistant Attorney General who divided his paychecks “equally
among Catholic, Protestant and Jewish Charities” who was “a director of the
Hebrew Immigration Aid Society” while raising a daughter, Paula, with his wife
Henrietta Cooper Guterman passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1946/04/20/84636688.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1946: The
Broadway production of “Call Me Mister” a revue with music by Harold Rome
opened at the National Theatre.
1946:
The League of Nations dissolved itself. Its services, mandates, and
property were transferred to the newly founded United Nations. Among the
mandates transferred was the British Mandate of Palestine. Dealing with
the issues of Palestine would become one of the first major tests for the newly
formed UN. Within two years, the Mandatory Government of Palestine
created by the defunct League of Nations would give way to the State of Israel
and Arab zone governed by a variety of nations and groups including Egypt,
Jordan and the PA.
1947 (5th
of Iyar, 5707): Natan Alterman, Israeli poet, playwright, and future winner of
the Biliak and Israel prizes wrote,
“Yes, the
death cell soared that night.
At its
sight
The
heads of a conquering nation
Caught by the
light, like a mouse were drawn back into their holes
Like a thief
caught in the act.”
1947:
Birthdate of Karen Lehmann, who as Kathy Acker gained fame as author of “Blood
and Guts In High School before she passed away in 1997
1947 (5th
of Iyar, 5707): Boxer Benny Leonard passed away at the age of 51. Born in
1896, Leonard was the lightweight boxing champion from 1917 to 1925. This
was the heyday of Jewish pugilism with as many as seven Jews holding the
championship of different weight categories. Leonard lost his fortune in
the Stock Market Crash.
1948:
“Representatives of Jewish organizations from twenty countries joined the
Central Committee of Polish Jews today in honoring the memory of 500,000 Jews
who perished in the Warsaw Ghetto” by opening “a museum recalling the Jews who
fought in the final ghetto battle of April, 1943.”
1948:
Following a failed attempt by the Arab Liberation Army to isolate the Jewish
community in the lower quarter of the town of Tiberius, the Haganah went on the
offensive and secured the town for the as yet un-born Jewish state. Most
of the local Arab population left with the assistance of British troops and
crossed into Transjordan. The events in Tiberius are part of a tragedy
that has been repeated over the decades in Eretz Israel. Prior to the
appearance of the Arab Liberation Army, the local Jewish and Arab populations
had worked out a pattern of peaceful co-existence. Today, commentators
would say that outside militants sabotaged local efforts to maintain communal
harmony
1948:
Operation Harel continued for a third day.
1949(19th of
Nisan, 5709): Leonard Bloomfield passed away. Born in 1887, Bloomfield
was a graduate of Harvard and the University of Wisconsin. He began
his career as Professor of German. But he gained his greatest
fame as a linguist, a field populated by a disproportionate number of
Jews. His most famous work was “Introduction to Language” which was
re-titled “Language” in subsequent editions. For many decades, most
linguists considered themselves disciples of Bloomfield even if they had not
studied with him.
1949(19th of
Nisan): Mizrachi leader Rabbi Meir Bar-Ilan passed away today
1953:
Birthdate of Actor Rick Moranis, star of Honey
I Shrunk the Kids.
1953: After 540 performances, the curtain came down on a revival of the
Rogers and Hart hit musical "Pal Joey.”
1953: A revival of “Room Service,” produced by
Bernard Hart closed today on Broadway at the Playhouse Theatre.
1954: Colonel
Gamal Abdal Nasser seized power and became head of the government of
Egypt. Nasser had masterminded the coup that overthrown King
Farouk. Up until now Nasser had been content to play the role of the
“power behind the throne” in the new government created by the military.
At this point in time, he was ready to complete his plans and make himself
supreme ruler of Egypt. He would never succeed in his ultimate goals of
destroying Israel which would be his steppingstone to creating a Pan Arab “nation”
that would stretch eastward from Morocco.
1954: “THE
DRAMA OF THE HYDROGEN BOMB -- AND DR. OPPENHEIMER'S KEY ROLE; Security Case
Focuses Attention on Disputes That Preceded First Successful Test of H-Bomb at
Pacific Proving Ground” published today.
1954(15th of
Nisan, 5714): The Levin family observed its first Pesach as residents of
Washington, DC
1955: Birthdate of banker Amschel Rothschild.
1955(26th
of Nisan, 5715): Seventy-year-old Lithuanian born, and University of
Pennsylvania Medical School and University of Vienna trained cardiologist Dr.
Aaron S. Cantor the husband of Elma Cantor with whom he had two children and “a
founder of the Northeastern Hospital in Philadelphia where he served as chief
in medicine” who “also was prominent in Jewish organizations.
1955(26th of
Nisan, 5715): Albert Einstein passed away. Born in Ulm, Germany in 1879,
Einstein received the Nobel Prize in 1921 but not for relativity rather for his
1905 work on the photoelectric effect. In 1920 Einstein's lectures in
Berlin were disrupted by demonstrations which, although officially denied, were
almost certainly anti-Jewish. During 1921 Einstein made his first visit to the
United States. His main reason was to raise funds for the planned Hebrew
University of Jerusalem. However he received the Barnard Medal during his visit
and lectured several times on relativity. During 1923 he visited Palestine
for the first time. Einstein had planned to come to Princeton in 1932 as
visiting lecturer. With the rise of Hitler, this became a permanent
position. Einstein sent his famous letter to Roosevelt in 1939 warning of
the impact of the German's developing the Atomic Bomb. The result was the
Manhattan Project. Einstein became a U.S. citizen in 1940. In 1952,
Einstein was offered the Presidency of the state of Israel, an offer he
declined, in part due to his failing health. Einstein left his scientific
papers to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, a university which he had raised
funds for on his first visit to the USA, served as a governor of the university
from 1925 to 1928. The week before he died, Einstein wrote to Bertrand
Russell joining him in call for all nations to give up nuclear weapons.
Einstein saw himself as an advocate for international peace and understanding,
notwithstanding his support for building the bomb during World War II.
1956: “The
Swan,” a re-make of the 1925 silent film directed by Charles Vidor and produced
by Dore Schary was released in the United States today.
1956(7th
of Iyar 5716): Seventy-two-year-old Isaac Evans, the president of the Master
Mechanics Company, cofounder of the Acorn Refining Company and Union Products Company
who was “a founder of the Cleveland Zionist society and vice president of the
Leo Levi Memorial Hospital in Hot Springs, AR passed away today.
1956:
Birthdate of New York native and Yale and Harvard alum Jonthan Kaufman the
Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author of the must-read The Last Kings of
Shanghai.
https://www.harvard.com/book/9780735224438_the_last_kings_of_shanghai/
1957(17th
of Nisan, 5717): Third Day of Pesach
1958(28th
of Nisan, 5718): Eighty-four-year old builder Joseph Gilbert, “who erected more
than 18 skyscrapers in Manhattan before 1925 and who raised two children –
Victor and Helen – with his wife Beatrice passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1958/04/19/81989007.pdf
1960(21st
of Nisan, 5720): Seventh Day of Pesach
1961: In Paris,
pharmacist Marguerite Lecesne and Auschwitz survivor and member of the French resistance
Joseph Bornstein “whose father and younger brother were sent to the German gas
chambers” gave birth to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.
1961: In New
York Norman Podhoretz and Midge Decter gave birth to University of Chicago
graduate and editor of Commentary John Mordecai Podhoretz the speech writer for
Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush
1963(24th of
Nisan, 5723): Columbia University graduate Meyer Jacobstein who taught
economics at the University of North Dakota and the University of Rochester
before serving as member of the House of Representatives for three terms passed
away today.
http://www.irwincollier.com/columbia-economics-phd-alumnus-meyer-jacobstein-1907/
https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/15741
1964: Sandy Koufax became the first
pitcher to strike out the side on 9 pitches
1964(6th of
Iyar, 5724): Seventy-year-old playwright and author Ben Hecht passed
away. Born in 1893 in New York to Russian Jewish parents, Hecht moved to
Wisconsin where he went to high school. Hecht then moved to Chicago where
he worked for several newspapers. His experiences provided the source
material for his most famous work, The Front Page which has been
made into a movie on three different occasions. Hecht's criticism of
British policies in Palestine and support of the Jewish resistance movement
caused that his credits were removed from all films shown in England for some
years. In his honor an illegal immigrant ship was named "Ben Hecht".
A passionate believer in an independent Jewish state, Hecht advocated swift
action to attain this.
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007040
http://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/The_Times_(20/Apr/1964)_-_Obituary:_Mr_Ben_Hecht
1965(16th of
Nisan, 5725): Second Day of Pesach; 1st day of Omer
1965: “The
Bund and World Jewish Life Twenty Years After the Nazi Holocaust” is the theme
of the Fourth World Conference of the Jewish Bund which opened today in New
York with delegates coming from 12 countries.
1966(28th
of Nisan, 5726): Yom HaShoah
1966(28th
of Nisan, 5726): Seventy-three-year-old Yiddish author and editor Leon Goldin
passed away today.
http://yleksikon.blogspot.com/2015/05/osher-arye-goldin-leon-goldin.html
1966(28th
of Nisan, 5726): Today fifty-six-year-old Winnipeg, Manitoba and University of
Manitoba graduate William Chodorcoff who raise from being an actuary to serving
as the executive vice President of the Prudential Insurance Company “collapse
and died of a heart attack in New Orleans after he had finished addressing delete
to Prudential’s Canadian National Business Conferences at the Jung Hotel in New
Orleans.
1966: A fire
was discovered at the Jewish Theological Seminary Library when smoke was seen
pouring from one of the small upper windows of the JTS library tower at
Broadway and 122nd Street in New York City.
1967: “A
Budapest court imposed death sentences on Vilmost Kroeszi, Lajos Nemeth and
Alajos Sander “convicted of murdering 250 Jews during World War II.
1967: “The
Tiger Makes Out,” based on the book by Murray Schisgal who also wrote the
screenplay, starring Eli Wallach and featuring “Dustin Hoffman in his film
debut” was released today in the United States.
1968(20th
of Nisan, 5728): Sixth Day of Pesach observed for the last time during the
Presidency of Lyndon Johnson
1970: “Spirit
in the Sky” written and originally recorded by Norman Greenbaum “reached number
three in the U.S. Billboard chart.
1972:
Birthdate of film director Eli Roth.
1973(16th
of Nisan, 5733): Second Day of Pesach
1973: In a
phone call today “with Spiro Agnew said Jews were holding American foreign
policy ‘hostage to Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union’” adding that “Some
of the Jews picket can raise hell, but the American people are not going to let
them destroy our foreign policy – never!”
1974(26th
of Nisan, 5734): Yom HaShoah observed.
1975: “Basic Dresses In Sexy
Prints And Washable” published today descried Diane Von Furstenberg latest
triumph in the field of fashion.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20817FC385E157493CAA8178FD85F418785F9
1978(11th of
Nisan, 5738): On the Hebrew calendar, birthday of the Rebbe.
1978(11th of
Nisan, 5738): Education
and Sharing Day was inaugurated today by President Jimmy Carter to honor the
efforts of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson’s “efforts for education and
sharing for Jews and non-Jews.
1978: NBC
broadcast “The Final Solution,” the third episode in the mini-series
“Holocaust.”
1978: The
Jerusalem Post reported that in accordance with the Cabinet's decision, the
foreign minister, Moshe Dayan, ordered Israeli envoys to explain that Israel
regards the UN Security Council's Resolution 242 as a basis of negotiations
with all Arab States, including Jordan.
1978: The
Jerusalem Post reported that four soldiers were wounded when an Arab
assailant threw a Molotov cocktail into a bus on the northern outskirts of
Jerusalem.
1978: The
Jerusalem Post reported that “Holocaust,” NBC's new nine-and-half-hour TV
drama series was reported to have captured the imagination of the American
public.
1978:
Birthdate of Amanda Sthers the director of “Holy Lands,” a film set primarily
in Israel that tells the tale of (ready for this) a dysfunctional Jewish
family,
1981(14th
of Nisan, 5741): Shabbat Hagadol; in the evening Jews sit down to the first
Seder during the Presidency of Ronald Reagan.
1982: “Two
Decades of a Russian Giant” featured reviews of “Tolstoi in the Sixties” by
Boris Eikenbaum and “Tolstoi in the Seventies” by Boris Eikenbaum.
1983(5th of
Iyar, 5743): Yom HaAtzma'ut
1983: The
Nożyk Synagogue which the Nazis had partially destroyed during WW II was
officially reopened today in Warsaw.
1983: Hundreds
of Polish policemen, gathering around the spot from which 400,000 Jews were
sent to Nazi death camps in World War II, today blocked an unofficial march
called to mark the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising. But more than 1,000 people
gathered anyway at a nearby monument.
1984(16th
of Nisan, 5744): Second day of Pesach; 1st day of the Omer’
1984(16th
of Nisan, 5744): Seventy-eight-year-old French Torskyite Pierre Frank passed
away.
http://www.marxists.org/archive/mandel/1984/04/frank.htm
1985(27th
of Nisan, 5745): Yom HaShoah
1987: Annette
Greenfield Strauss won a run-off to become the first elected woman mayor of
Dallas, Texas.
https://jwa.org/thisweek/apr/18/1987/annette-greenfield-strauss
1987(19th
of Nisan, 5747): Fifth Day of Pesach and Shabbat
1987(19th
of Nisan, 5747): Ninety-six-year-old Austrian born California jurist and prison
reform advocate Isaac Pacht passed away today.
http://articles.latimes.com/1987-04-21/news/mn-25_1_prison-reform
1987: Eighteen
members of the pro-Iranian Shiite Moslem Party of God militia were killed early
today when they tried to overrun a position jointly manned by Israel and its
ally, the South Lebanon Army, north of Israel's border with Lebanon. Four
Israelis were wounded in the incident.
1988: Barbra Streisand recorded
"Warm All Over”
1988:
The trial of Ivan Demjanjuk which had begun in the Jerusalem District Court on
November 26, 1986, before a special tribunal comprising Israeli Supreme Court
Judge Dov Levin and Jerusalem District Court Judges Zvi Tal and Dalia Dorner
came to an end.
1989(13th
of Nisan, 5749): Sixty-three-year-old Brooklyn Melvin Annenberg, a loan officer
with Merchants Bank in Syracuse passed away today.
1990: Following today’s Niebuhr Lecture at Elmhurst College,
Franklin Littell wrote that
“Niebuhr's
style as a churchman was vigorous: esteemed for his intellectual leadership, he
also worked with labor leaders and liberal and Socialist politicians on many
battlelines. He was the leading — and at some points the sole — American
theologian to understand the crisis posed by Nazism and to intervene on behalf
of the survival of the Jewish people. His sources in Germany — including strong
contact with Dietnch Bonhoeffer, and in Europe — including close relations with
Visser't Hooft, as well as his excellent network (in good part through his
wife, Ursula) with British political and church leaders kept him well informed
and deeply concerned. He interpreted the issues in the German Church Struggle
(Kirchenkampf) and the Shoah as no other American of his generation, and did so
along theological lines that are exciting participants in seminars and
conferences fifty years later. He championed the creation of a Jewish state in
1943, publicly criticized the targeting of Jews for Christian conversion in 1958
and maintained lifelong friendships with Jewish peers such as Abraham Joshua
Heschel.”
1991:
The orbiter of STS-37 whose crew had included Jerome Apt, the Harvard and MIT
trained physicist and professor at Carnegie Mellon University landed at the
Kennedy Space Center today.
1992(15th
of Nisan, 5752): Pesach is observed for the last time during the Presidency of
George Bush.
1993: Thousands of Holocaust survivors and their families, many
of them sobbing audibly, observed the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto
uprising with a memorial service at Madison Square Garden that also honored the
memory of the six million Jews who perished in the Nazi concentration camps.
1994:
Roseanne Barr filed for divorce today in Superior Court of Los Angeles County.
1996:
During “Operations Grapes of Wrath” Israeli artillery mistakenly shells a UN
position killing 102 Lebanese civilians. The Israelis expressed regret
for the loss of life which occurred during an operation intended to destroy
Hezbollah bases from which rocket attacks had been launched against Israeli
towns in the northern part of the country.
1996(29th
of Nissan, 5756): Ninety-two-year-old Boleslavs Maikovskis, who took part in
the mass execution of 200 Latvian villagers during WW II died today.
1998(22nd
of Nisan, 5758): Eighth Day of Pesach; Shabbat
1998:
U.S. premiere of “Since You’ve Been Gone,” a made-for-TV movie directed by
David Schwimmer and co-starring Schwimmer, Jon Stewart and Joey Slotnick.
1999;
The New York Times featured reviews
of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers
including “The Mercy: Poems” by
Philip Levine.
1999:
An exhibit styled “Sigmund Freud:
Conflict and Culture” opens at the Jewish Museum in New York City.
1999: The statue of Saint George fighting a serpent
was re-erected in St. Stephen's Park. Many gathered under a sea of umbrellas
for the unveiling, on the rainy Sunday morning. Speakers included Holocaust
survivor and poet, Gyorgy Somlyo who was saved by Raoul Wallenberg.
2000:
A long-awaited study of assets seized from Jews in wartime France begun three
years ago by the Matteoli Commission “said today that the Nazis and French
collaborators stole far more than previously assumed” but “that efforts to
return the property or to reimburse Jews after the war were extensive.” (As
reported by Suzanne Daley)
2001:
On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, President Bush and his wife Laura
toured the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
2001:
At Colgate University Barry Strauss,
director of peace studies and a professor of history at Cornell University
delivered a talk titled "My Grandfather's First World War, and my search
to rediscover it," which focuses on the Jewish experiences in the United
States army and raise such issues as memory, identity and military service.
2002: Judy Chicago's monumental sculpture "The
Dinner Party" was acquired by the Brooklyn Museum.
https://jwa.org/thisweek/apr/18/2002/judy-chicago
2003(16th
of Nisan, 5673): Second Day of Pesach – 1st day of the Omer
2003(16th
of Nisan, 5673): Sixty-one-year-old French television executive Jean Drucker
passed away at Mollégès, France
2003:
A display of Marshmallow Peeps at McCaffrey’s Supermarket in Southampton, PA,
help to mark the 50th anniversary of this all-American confectionary
concoction. Peeps, which originally were in the form of Easter chicks, are a
product of Just Born, a candy company started by Russian Jewish immigrant Sam
Born who was followed in the business by his son Bob Born and grandson Ross
Born.
2004:
The New York Times reviewed books by Jewish authors and/or of interest
to Jewish readers including 'Stalin' by Simon Sebag Montefiore.
https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/18/books/the-fourth-greatest.html
2004:
An exhibition entitled “Gate of Death” opens at the Jewish Museum in New York
City.
2005:
Today, David Littman helped to organize “a major Parallel NGO Day Conference.”
2006:
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with his Cabinet to decide on the response to
the previous day suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. The Israeli government
response would have to be measured against the fact that the PA government is
now controlled by Hamas, an organization that has publicly approved the attack.
2006:
Six of the nine victims of the Tel Aviv terrorist bomb were laid to rest
including:
David Shaulov, 29, of Holon,. Philip Balasan, 45,.
Benjamin Haputa, 47, of Lod, Victor Erez, a 60-year-old taxi driver from Tel
Aviv, Lily Yunes, 42, of Oranit, and 31-year-old Ariel Darhi. The two Romanian
victims of the bombing, Rosalia Basanya, 48, and Boda Proshka, 50, will be laid
to rest in their native country. Their bodies will be returned to Romania after
the Passover holiday. There are as yet no details on funeral arrangements for
the ninth victim of the attack, named by Israel Radio as French tourist
Marcelle Cohen, 75.
2007:
Haaretz reported today that Members of the Reform
movement accused the former Sephardic chief rabbi of slander for allegedly
stating that the Holocaust happened because of the activity of Reform Jews in
Germany.
2007: In
Chicago, WBEZ broadcast a program “billed as a vision of peace” but in which
the participants engaged “in one-sided propaganda against Israel.”
2008(13th
of Nisan, 5768): Ninety-one-year-old William Frankel, the barrister and general
secretary of the Mizrachi organization who served as the editor of the “Jewish
Chronicle and was the author of several books including Friday Night’
and Israel Observed passed way today.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/20/AR2008042002077.html
2008:
“Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” a romantic comedy directed by Nicholas Stoller,
co-produced by Judd Apatow and written by Jason Segal who also starred in the
film and featuring Mila Kunis was released today in the United States.
2008: Ben
Stein’s pseudo-documentary “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” attacking
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution arrives in movie theatres throughout the United
States. The film is being marketed by Motive Entertainment, the same
company that promoted Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ.”
2008:
During his first papal trip to the United States, Pope Benedict XVI visited a
synagogue led by a rabbi who survived the Holocaust. Benedict made a brief stop
at Manhattan's Park East Synagogue, whose leader, Rabbi Arthur Schneier, lived
under Nazi occupation in Budapest and immigrated to the US in 1947. The
pontiff, 80, is a native of Germany whose father was anti-Nazi. Benedict was
enrolled in the Hitler Youth as a teenager against his will and then was
drafted into the German army in the last months of the war. He wrote in his
memoirs that he deserted in the war's last days. It will be the pope's second
visit to a synagogue as pontiff. On his first papal trip abroad in 2005,
Benedict visited a synagogue in Cologne, Germany, that had been rebuilt after
it was destroyed by the Nazis.
2009;
In Maryland as part of the Columbia Jewish Congregation’s (CJC) - Seventeenth
Season of Movies a screening of “Jellyfish” a Hebrew language film with English
subtitles which was a prize winner at the Cannes Film Festival
2009:
A revival production of “Ragtime,” a musical based on the novel by E.L.
Doctorow “opened at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in
Washington, D.C.
2009:
The Metro Library Network Author Series presents “a conversation” with famed
mystery writer, Sarah Paretsky, a native of Ames, Iowa who has talked about
what it was liked to grow up Jewish in Kansas, at the Theatre Cedar Rapids in
Lindale Shopping Center.
2009(24th
of Nisan, 5769):
Louis Lowenstein, an influential business law
professor and former corporate executive who for nearly three decades dissected
the excesses of Wall Street and warned of the dangers of short-term investing,
died at his home today at the age of 83. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/business/26lowenstein.html
2010:
A Broadway revival of Jerry Herman’s “La Cage aux Folles” officially opened at
the Longacre Theatre
2010:
“Alon Nechustan” (A Way In) a modern dance show, whose text and concept were
inspired by the Kabbalistic story of the Orchard featuring members of the
Avodah dance company, is scheduled to be performed at The LABA Festival 2010 at
the 14th Street.
2010:
The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including Crossing Mandelbaum Gate:
Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, 1956-1978 by Kai Bird
2010(4th
of Iyar): M. Edgar Rosenblum, an arts executive who helped steer the Long Wharf
Theater in New Haven to prominence in the American theater landscape,
developing work that traveled to Broadway and elsewhere and that won Pulitzer
Prizes and Tony Awards along the way, passed away today at the age of 78. (As
reported by Bruce Weber)
2011:
A Kassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip fell in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional
Council this afternoon. Warning sirens sounded prior to the rocket being
landing. No injuries or damage were reported.
2011(14th
of Nisan, 5771): Fast of the First Born; Erev Pesach; in the evening, the first
Seder Zissen Pesach - זיססען פסח Chag Samayach -
חג שמח
2011: The Immigrant Absorption Ministry will
try to set a Guinness World Record tonight by organizing – together with
charity Aviv Hatorah – the world’s largest Pesach Seder for some 1,300 recently
arrived Ethiopian immigrants living in Tel Aviv.
2011: Noble
Energy has awarded the Expro company a $27 million contract to conduct
well-testing and provide sub-sea services and equipment aboard the Transocean
Sedco Express oil rig for the Tamar natural gas field – and for a deepwater
exploration program for the Pride North America – Expro announced today.
2012: “Charles
Rosen, the pianist, polymath and author whose National Book Award-winning
volume The Classical Style illuminated the enduring language of Haydn, Mozart
and Beethoven” gave his last lecture today in the series Music in 21st-Century
Society, at the Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation of
the CUNY Graduate Center.
2012: Dr.
Daniel Rynhold is scheduled to begin teaching Judaism and the American Legal
Tradition at the Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning
2012:
“Standing Silent” is scheduled to be shown at the Westchester Jewish Film
Festival
2012: Miriam
Kelemen Solis, who grew up in Budapest, Hungary during the 1930s, is scheduled
to speak at tonight’s Yom HaShoah Service at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids,
Iowa.
2012(26th
of Nisan, 5772): Hila Bezaleli, a “20-year-old soldier from the Jerusalem
suburb of Mevaseret Zion was killed this afternoon when a light rigging system
collapsed onto soldiers rehearsing for the Independence Day celebration at
Mount Herzl.
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=266815
2013: Voca
People, the Israel based company, is scheduled to perform at Strathmore Music
Hall in Rockville, MD.
2013: Rabbi
Hayyim Kassorla is scheduled to officiate at the funeral of Jake Alhadeff at
Greenwood Cemetery in Atlanta, GA.
2013: Daniel
C. Kurtzer, the career diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to both Egypt and
Israel is scheduled to speak at the Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation.
2013: Adam
Burstain, one of the finest young members of the Cedar Rapids Jewish community
is scheduled to appear in the opening night performance of “Urinetown”
2013: The IPO
is scheduled to begin its “Patron Trip To Poland,” “an extraordinary musical
and historical experience commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising.
2013: 75th
anniversary of the first appearance of Superman, the man of steel created by
two Jews from Cleveland.
2013: Paula “Abdul
appeared on the Top 5 results show of season 12 of American Idol to compliment
contestant Candice Glover on her performance of Straight Up.”
2013: “U.S.
Arms Deal With Israel and 2 Arab Nations Is Near” published today described “a
$10 billion arms deal with Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.”
2013(8th
of Iyar, 5773): Ninety-six-year-old “Orville Slutzky, who with his brother
founded the Hunter Mountain ski resort in upstate New York, known in the 1960s
for its celebrity clientele and in the 1970s and ’80s for its unmatched number
of snow-making cannons” passed away today. (As reported by Paul Vitello)
2014:
Penultimate day for The International Photography Festival at the Carmel Winery
in Rishon Lezion
2014: Etan
Morel is scheduled to conduct “Jerusalem of Gold” a walking tour of Israel’s
capital inspired by the song of the same name.
2015(29th
of Nisan,5775) : Parashat Shemini and Chapter I of Pirke Avot
2015: Lewis
Black is scheduled to perform at the Peace Center Concert Hall in Greenville,
SC.
2015: Poet and
activist Elly Gross is scheduled to share her experiences during the Shoan at
the US Holocaust Memorial Museum
2015: Lou Reed
is scheduled to be inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame today.
http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-lou-reed-20131028-story.html#page=1
2015: “Clouds
of Sils Maria” and “While We’re Young” are scheduled to be shown at the
Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2015: A body
matching the description of Max Maisel, the son of Mobile, AL born ESPN
sportscaster Ivan Maisel was found today in Lake Ontario.
2016(10th of
Nisan, 5776): Ninety-two-year-old Rabbi Ben-Zion Gold, the native of Radom,
Poland “who came to America in 1947 and settled in Cambridge, MA, where he
became Director of the Hillel at Harvard.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?n=ben-zion-gold&pid=179663411&fhid=8784
2016: The Jewish
Music Forum of ASJM, American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi
Federation, Center for Traditional Music and Dance are scheduled to present
“New sounds of Old Judeo-Spanish Songs,” a talk by Edwin Seroussi, “about some
of the oldest recordings of Sephardic music (c.1906-1913), which have recently
resurfaced in London. Recorded in a variety of locations, they feature the
voices of legendary performers of the Judeo-Spanish song in the early 20th
century.”
2016: Members
of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center are scheduled to enjoy a
week’s worth of free viewing of “Lincoln’s Undying Words” starting today.
2016:
2016: At Cornell College, in Mt. Vernon, IA, The Thaler Holocaust Memorial Fund
under the leadership of Dr. Robert Silber and the Inter-Religious Council of
Linn County are scheduled to host a presentation be Magda Brown, who was 17
years old in 1944 when she and her family were deported on one of the final
transports to Auschwitz-Birkenau. In March 1945, Ms. Brown was sent on a 3-day
death march from Birkenau Concentration Camp. Magda and several other prisoners
in her group escaped and hid in a barn. A few days later they were discovered
and liberated by two American Armed Forces. Only Magda and her brother survived
from her immediate family and only six cousins survived from her extended
family of 70.
2016: “The
Kind Words” and “The Grüninger File” are scheduled to be shown for the last
time at the Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2016: This
evening, “at least 21 people were injured in bus bombing in Jerusalem” which
was “the first such attack in years.
2016: The IDF
revealed today it had “discovered a ‘terror tunnel’ inside Israeli territory”
that had been dug by Hamas in Gaza.
2017(22nd of Nisan, 5777): /Eighth Day of Pesach; Yizkor -
2017: In Jerusalem, the Abraham Hostel is scheduled to
host Mimouna, “the
traditional North African celebration that marks the end of Passover typically
marked with music and tasty, not-kosher-for-Passover treats.
2017: After
two weeks, The Art of Banksy Exhibition in Herzliya is scheduled to come to an
end.
2018: “J.K.
Rowling, the non-Jewish author of the Harry Potter series, decided to weigh in today,
defining anti-Semitism for her 14.4 million Twitter followers.
2018: Ninety year old Howard Morley, the St Louis born
son of historian and professor Abram L. Sachar and Thelma Horwitz, who followed
in his father’s footsteps by becoming an author and History Professor at George
Washington University while raising “three children – Sharon, Michele and
Daniel – with his wife Eliana Steimatzky passed away today.
https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Eminent-historian-Howard-Sachar-passes-away-at-home-at-age-90-552524
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/author/howard-sachar/
2018:
“Itzhak” a biopic about the world famous violinist is scheduled to open in
Tunkhannock, PA.
2018:
The Jewish Center and Park Avenue Synagogue are scheduled to co-sponsor a
celebration of Israel’s birthday featuring Cantor Chaim Dovid Berson, The
Jewish Center; Cantor Azi Schwartz, Park Avenue Synagogue and Cantor Mo
Glazman, Temple Emanu-El
2018:
The Temple-Tifereth Israel is scheduled to celebrate Israel’s 70 anniversary
with a party at the Ritz Carlton in Cleveland.
2018:
Holocaust survivor Michael Bornstein who was only four years old when liberated
and his daughter Debbie Bornstein Holinstat are scheduled to speak at Kirkwood
Community College in Cedar Rapids and at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon as part
of the Yom HoShoah memorial which is being sponsored by The Thaler Holocaust
Education Programming Committee chaired Dr. Robert Silber
2018(3rd
of Iyar, 5778): Yom Hazikaron – Israel Remembrance Day (which like all Jewish
Holidays begins on the evening before the date on the secular calendar)
2019:
In London, JW3 is scheduled to host the last two screenings of “Holy Lands”
2019:
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is scheduled to host a presentation
by Margit Meissner as part of the First Person Holocaust Series.
2019:
As Prime Minister Netanyahu begins the work of forming a new government, Jews
in general and Israelis in particular are faced with the growing measles
epidemic.
2020(24th
of Nisan, 5780): Parashat Shemini: in the afternoon study Pirke Avot Chapter
One’
2020(24th
of Nisan, 5780: On the Jewish calendar yahrzeit of Rabbi David Ha-Kohen of
Jerusalem and Yiddish poet Moses David Gisser
2020:
The political deadlock which had drawn thousands of protestors to Habima Square
on April 16, is scheduled to continue without resolution.
2020:
As Israelis mourn the rising number of coronavirus fatalities, they take
special notice 88 year old Arie Even, the Holocaust survivor who became
Israel’s first coronavirus fatality.
https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/S19HeTU00I
2021:
The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including Rock Me On The Water:1974 — The
Year Los Angeles Transformed Movies, Music, Television, and Politics by
Ronald Brownstein and the recently published paperback edition of Warhol
by Blake Gopnik.
2021:
The ASF Institute if Jewish Experience is scheduled to present “Western
Sephardi Synagogue Tours” that will include lectures about the Jewish
experience in the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, and St. Thomas.
2021:
The Contemporary Jewish Museum is scheduled to present “Chutz-Pow! Superheroes
of the Holocaust” during which lead artist Marcel Walker will talk about the creation of American comic book
heroes by first-generation U.S. Jews whose parents had fled antisemitism
2022(17th
of Nisan, 5782) : Third Day of Pesach
2022:
Pianist Yefim Bronfman who has performed with Isaac Stern, Leonard Bernstein
and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is scheduled to perform at Carnegie Hall.
2022:
The Goldring Center for Jewish-Multicultural Affairs, Jewish Pride NOLA (JP
NOLA) and Congregation Temple Sinai are scheduled to host a Pride Passover
Seder for the LGBTQ community and the allies who love and support them.
2022:
Leket Israel’s Passover Family Open Picking Days is scheduled to continue
today.
2023:
As part of the “Women and Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto series, the Jewish
Women’s Archive and the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews are
scheduled to host a lecture by Katarzyna Person on “Warsaw Ghetto Through
Women’s Eyes.”
2023:
The Meitar Ensemble is scheduled to perform a Holocaust memorial concert as
part of the Festival of Contemporary Music from Israel hosted by the Provost’s
Global Forum at the University of Iowa.
2023:
As part of a three concert series designed to celebrate the 75th
anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, the Jerusalem Symphony
Orchestra is scheduled to perform the world premiere of The Twelve Tribes,
symphony composed by Benjamin Yusupov.
2023:
In Atlanta, the Breman Museum is scheduled to present poets Ilya Kaminsky and
Katie Farris in Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) program.
2023(27th
of Nisan, 5783): Yom HaShoah
2024:
Temple Judea is scheduled to host “Music Sharing” with former Cedar Rapids
resident “Cantor Abbie.”
2024:
The Cleveland Jewish News is scheduled to present “Sports Talk Live” from the
Mandel JCC Stonehill Auditorium.
2024:
All Jewish Theatre (AJT) is scheduled to host a workshop on “how to write a
short play.”
2024:
Qesher is scheduled to present “Jewish Tunisia: At a Crossroads of
Civilizations.”
2024:
The Elie Wiesel Foundation, chaired by the writer’s son Elisha, has joined the
Uyghur Human Rights Project and the World Uyghur Congress a two-day New York
conference entitled “Disrupting Uyghur Genocide” is scheduled to come to an end
today.
2024:
The Plaza Jewish Community Chapel and the Museum at Eldridge Street are
scheduled to host a “virtual discussion about the emotional yet necessary task
of getting your home in order, parting with things that don't serve you, and
securing your estate for the future.”
2024:
As April 18th begins in Israel, the Hamas held
hostages begin day 195 in captivity.
(Editor’s note: this situation is too fluid for this blog to cover so we
are just providing a snapshot as of the posting at midnight Israeli time.)
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