March 31
627: The
Battle of the Trench which was part of the conflict between the Muslims led by
Muhammed and the Quraysh, a “pagan Arab Tribe began today. In attempt to thwart the attack on Medina,
the Muslims, built a trench around the city with assistance from “the Jewish
tribe of Banu Qurayza” which supplied manpower and tools. In the end, this did
not help the Qurayza since they were eventually given the option of accepting
Islam or dying.
1084: Henry
IV, who had been embroiled in a conflict with the Papacy, was crowned Emperor
by Clement III, called by some an anti-Pope. Within six years after this second
coronation, Henry granted the Jewish community of Worms, the privileges of free
commerce and exemption from taxation” and “designating the Jews as ‘subjects of
his treasury,’” placing “them under his
immediate protection, so that neither royal nor episcopal functionaries could
exercise any jurisdiction over them” including the power of taxation.
1146: Bernard
of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the
necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII was present and joined the Crusade.
Unlike the First Crusade, the Second Crusade was led by two monarchs - Louis
VII of France and Conrad III of Germany. The “German connection” led to more
suffering for the Jews of the Rhineland. Thanks to the incitement by one monk,
the town of Wurburg was demolished during the massacres of Jews living along
the Rhine River. As had happened during the First Crusade, the Christian
warriors decided to slaughter the Infidels in their midst as they moved to free
the Holy Land from the Infidels. The growing class of Christian merchants
benefited from the violence since the destruction of the Jewish community
destroyed their Jewish competitors. All Christians did not engage in this
anti-Semitic behavior. Bernard himself tried to protect the Jewish population.
His message of Crusade was heard. His message concerning the Jews was not.
1283: Massacre
of the Jews of Mayence in Germany.
1305: One of
two dates given for the death of Joan I of Navarre, also known as Joan the
Lame, who “is historically noted for her positive relationship with the Jewish
community, particularly during her regency period where she employed Jewish
doctors and granted them a degree of protection and tolerance, which was
uncommon for the time in Europe; she is often cited as an example of a
ruler who showed relative openness towards Jewish people.”
1310: At the
auto da fé held at Paris today, a converted Jew who had returned to Judaism
also died at the stake.
1324: In his
53rd year, Henry II, “the last ruling and first titular King of
Jerusalem” (part of the Christian fiction of control dating from the Crusades)
passed away today.
1381: During a
popular uprising in France known as The Revolt of the Maillotins, Jews in
France were murdered, and their property plundered for next three or four days.
The regent exercising royal power for the youthful Charles VI was unable to
save the Jews or gain them indemnification for their loss.
1387:
Sigismund of Luxemburg, who “drained the Jews of their wealth whenever he
could, he protected them from some of the worst excesses,” was crowned King of
Hungary and Croatia today.
1492: Isabella
I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon issued the Alhambra Decree or Edict of
Expulsion, ordering her 150,000 Jewish subjects to convert to Christianity or
face expulsion. Jews, unlike conversos and Marranos, were not subject to the
Inquisition. So, the Church leveled a ritual murder accusation against them in
Granada and was thus able to call for the expulsion of both Jews as well as
Marranos from Spain. The Marranos themselves were accused of complicity in the
case so both groups were ordered to leave within four months. Torquemada, the
director of the Inquisition (and incidentally of Jewish descent), defended this
against Don Isaac Abarbanel. The edict was passed, and over fifteen thousand
Jews had to flee - some to the Province of Aragon and others, like Abarbanel,
to Naples. Still others found temporary sanctuary in Portugal.
1499: In
Milan, Bernardino de' Medici and Clelia Serbelloni gave birth to Giovanni
Angelo Medici, who as Pope Pius IV issued a bull that improved the conditions
of the Jews passed because it allowed them to stop wearing their yellow cap,
buy land up to the value of 1,500 ducats and to trade in things other than old
clothes. While they could speak with Christians, they could not have Christian
servants. He also allowed the Jews to publish the Talmud as long as they did
not use that word in the publication.
1547: Francis
I, for whom Agostino Giustiniani, the first person to occupy a chair of Hebrew
and Arabic at the University of Paris, became a pensioner passed away today.
1547: Henry II
succeeded his father as King of France on his 28th birthday. Obadiah
ben Jacob Sforno, the Italian Rabbi dedicated his commentaries on “The Song of
Songs” and “Ecclesiastes” to the French monarch.
1596:
Birthdate of Rene Descartes, the French mathematician and philosopher who was
one of the two main sources from which Spinoza derived his view of the world.
1621:
Forty-two-year-old Phillip III, who supported the policy of making his realm
Jew free and gave a free hand to the murderous Inquisition began passed away
today.
1621: Philip
IV, who would support the return of the Jews as proposed by his minster Count
de Olivares and then would “show himself a servant of the Church” by promising
to drive the returning Jews out of Madrid, began his reign today
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12096-philip-iv
1647: Ralph Cudworth who had been Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge since 1645
and who “maintained an extensive correspondence” with Isaac Abenda the hakam of
the Spanish Portuguese Synagogue in London preached a sermon in the House of
Commons that advocated “principles of religious toleration and charity.”
1648: In an
attempt to explain the drop off in the production of vanilla, Commander Beekman
of Essequibo and Pomeroon wrote the following letter to his superiors in
Amsterdam today
“The Jew
Salomon de la Roche having died some 8 to 9 months ago, the trade in vanilla
has come to an end, since no one here knows how to prepare it, so as to develop
proper aroma and keep it from spoiling. I have not heard of any this whole
year. Little is found here. Most of it is found in Pomeroon, whither this Jew
frequently traveled, and he sometimes used to make me a present of a little. In
navigating along the river, I have sometimes seen some on the trees and picked
with my own hands, and it was prepared by the Jew....I shall do my best to
obtain for the company as much as shall be feasible, but I am afraid it will
spoil, since I do not know how to prepare it.” [The letter is illustrative of
the vital role Jews played in the production of vanilla.]
1661: Spanish-born
and Hamburg educated publisher Joseph b Abraham Athias who settled in Amsterdam
where he became a printer producing such volumes as “Tikkun Sefer Torah” (Order
of the Book of the Law” “was taken into the Printers’ Guild today.
1688: The
German Jews received permission to participate in the tobacco industry “but
only on condition that they would build houses in Christianshavn, a suburb of
Copenhagen on the island of Amager.
1690(21st
of Nisan, 5450): Mordecai Abendana passed away today in New York City.
1722: Fifty
–two-year-old Campegius Vitringa, the Elder, “a Dutch Christian Hebraist” whose
works included a dissertation on the Synagogue and a “Commentary on Isaiah”
passed away today at Franeker.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14719-vitringa-campegius-the-elder
1745: Leah and
Joseph Tobias gave birth to Joseph Tobias, Jr., the husband of Judith Tobias
and father of Joseph, Leah and Isaac Tobias.
1745: The Jews
of Prague were exiled today.
1764(27th
of Adar II, 5524): Parashat Tazria; Shabbat HaChodesh
1764: On the
same day that the Jews observed one of their special of their special Sabbaths,
The Providence Gazette and Country Journal reported today that upwards of a
thousand people have recored from Small-Pox due to the “practice of
inoculation” which has led “many who opposed the practice to now embrace
it.” (Editor’s note - Sounds eerily
similar to the response to the Pandemic of 2020)
1766(21st
of Nisan, 5526): Seventh Day of Pesach
1768: New York
City native Sara Rodriguez Rivera and Portugal native Aaron Edward Lopez gave
birth to Joshua Lopez whose first wife was Newport, R.I. native Rebecca Hays
Touro and whose third wife was Mary Ann Gomez, the mother of Aaron Edwin Lopez.
1771(16h of
Nisan, 5531): Second Day of Pesach
1774(19th
of Nisan, 5534): Fifth Day of Pesach
1774: As the
Jews on both sides of the Atlantic ate the Matzot, the Boston Port Act which
closed the port of Boston and which was one of the steps on the road to the
American Revolution became law today.
1779(14th
of Nisan, 5539) As the American Revolution dragged on for its fourth year, Jews
observed the Fast of the First Born and prepared to sit down to a Seder this
evening.
1781: Today
“the Hungarian government issued a decree known as the Systematica gentis
Judaicae regulatio, which wiped out at one stroke the decrees that had
oppressed the Jews for centuries. The royal free towns, except the
mining-towns, were opened to the Jews, who were allowed to settle at leisure
throughout the country. The regulatio decreed that the legal documents of the
Jews should no longer be composed in Hebrew, or in Yiddish, but in Latin,
German, and Hungarian, the languages used in the country at the time, and which
the young Jews were required to learn within two years.”
1783: Emperor
Joseph II issued a proclamation allowing the Jews to live in so-called
"Royal Cities" including Pest, which would later be the “Pest” in
Budapest. By 1787 81,000 Jews would be living in Hungary. The Hungarian Jewish
community would grow large and prosper but would all but perish in the
Holocaust. Tragically, it was the Holocaust that produced Hungary’s most famous
post-War Jew, Elie Weisel.
1789: In New
York, Zipporah Levy and Benjamin Mendes Seixas gave birth to Esther B. Seixas,
the wife of Naphtali Phillips whom she married in 1823 and the mother of
Reuben, Rachel, Sarah and Zipporah Phillips.
1790(16th
of Nisan, 5550): Second Day of Pesach
1792: In
London, Hannah Montefiore and Moses Ancona gave birth to their daughter Esther
Ancona.
1796:
Birthdate of Hermann Hupfeld, the German Biblical commentator who specialized
on ‘the Old Testament” and whose writings “included a treatise on the early
history of Hebrew grammar among the Jews” published in 1846.
1797: Solomon
da Silva Solis and Benvenida de Isaac
Henrqiues Valtine , the daughter of Isaac Henriques Henriques Valentine and
Simha Mandil and Solomon da Solis gave birth to Samuel Solis.
1799(24th of
Adar II, 5559): Lorenzo Bertran was subjected to an auto-da-fe ("act of
faith," in reality the public ceremony when the sentence of the
Inquisition was read and carried out) in Seville. Supposedly he was the last
person to be punished for attempting to lead others to Judaism in Spain. It was
not the end of the auto-da-fe; a ceremony that was reported to have taken place
in Mexico in isolated instance in the early 19th century.
1805: Founding
of the Syrian Society which morphed in the Palestine Association whose members
sought “to promote the study of the geography, natural history, antiquities and
anthropology of Palestine and the surrounding areas, "with a view to the
illustration of the Holy Writings.”
1808: In
Westphalia, which was ruled by Jerome Bonaparte a Jewish consistory “was
introduced by decree.”
1808: Jacob
Lazarus and Elizabeth Lazarus were married at the Great Synagogue.
1808: The
French created Kingdom of Westphalia ordered Jews to adopt family names
1809(14th
of Nisan, 5569): Erev Pesach
1810(25th
of Adar II, 5570): Shabbat HaChodesh
1810:
Birthdate of Hayyim Selig Slonimski a native of Byelostok, who was “a Hebrew
publisher, astronomer, inventor” and a pioneer in providing Jews of eastern
Europe with a scientific education.
1811: In
Columbia, SC, Rebecca Phillips and Isaiah Moses who had been married since 1807
gave birth to Jacob I. Moses, who married Sarah Ottolengui after the death of
his first wife, Rinah J. Ottolenguie.
1812(5572):
Fourth Day of Pesach
1814:
Birthdate of Amsterdam native Meyer Hartog Silver, the husband of Rachel Silver
and father of Phoebe Silver who was the father of Clara Silver, the issue of
his second marriage to Rachel David Blok.
1817(14th of
Nisan, 5577): Ta'anit Bechorot
1821:
Abolition of the Portuguese Inquisition. The Inquisition was established in
1531 meaning it lasted for 290 years.
1824: By the
end of this month, Alliance Assurance had been formed by Sir Moses Montefiore
and Nathan Mayer Rotchschild with a capitalization of five million English
pounds.
1825(12th of
Nisan, 5585): Ta'anit Bechorot observed for the first time during the
Presidency of John Quincy Adams.
1831: In
Krautheim, Germany, Henriette and Isack Rothschild gave birth to Frank
Rothschild, the husband of Amanda Anna Rothschild.
1828(16th
of Nisan, 5588): Second Day of Pesach
1833(1st
of Nisan, 5595): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
1833: In New
York City, Juliet and Gustavus I. Pesoa gave birth to Isaac Gomez Pesoa, the
husband of Elizabeth Pesoa and the father of Florence Gomez Pesoa.
1838: Two days
after she had passed away, 16-year-old Betsy Jacob, the daughter of Jacob and
Sarah Kate (Sinons) Jacob was buried today at the “Falmouth Jewish Cemetery.”
1839:
Louis-Mathieu Molé, “Napoleon's advisor on Jewish affairs and was heavily
involved with Napoleon's gathering of a Jewish Grand Sanhedrin in 1807,”
completed his service as the 16th Prime Minister of France.
1842(20th
of Nisan, 5602): Sixth Day of Pesach celebrated on the same day The Middleton
Junction and Oldham Branch Railway line was opened up to Werneth in North West
England.
1843:
Birthdate of anti-Semitic political leader Bernhard Forster, the brother-in-law
of Friedrich Nietzsche.
1850(18th
of Nisan, 5610): Fouth Day of Pesach
1850: In
Russia, Feiwel Mendelson and his wife gave birth to Samuel Mendelsohn
Maimonides the Miamondes College trained rabbi and University of Noth Carolina
Law School graduate who began serving Temple Israel at Wilmington, NC in 1876
after having led Congregation Beth-El in Norfolk, VA for three years.
1851:
Birthdate of Sir Francis Henry Dillon Bell, the first native of New Zealand and
the first Jew to serve as Prime Minister of the land of the Kiwis.
1851: In
Nashville, TN, Sigmund Griff and his wife gave birth to Cordelia Griff
Grabfelder, the wife of Samuel Grabfelder, who was buried at the Salem Fields
Cemetery when she passed away in 1948 at the age of 96.
1853: In
Hungary Michael Heilprin and his wife gave birth to Angelo Heilprin “an
American geologist, paleontologist, naturalist, and explorer.”
1854:
Birthdate of Hungarian born British inventor David Gestetner, the father of
Sigmund Gestetner whose inventions included the Gestetner Cyclograph.
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/david-gestetner/
1855:
Birthdate of Alsace native Jacques Love, the son of Gabriel Loeb and wife of
Selena Wiel who settled in Montgomery, AL where he was a member of the of the
B’nai B’rith and the “wholesale grocery firm of Winter, Leb and Company
1856: 40
Harmonia, a large main-belt asteroid was discovered today by German-French
astronomer Hermann Goldschmidt
1856: The Jews
of Belarus or White Russia were denied the right to wear any distinctive
garments that would mark them as different from the rest of the citizenry. At
the time White Russia was part of the Czar's Russia with Poland and Lithuania
to the west, Ukraine to the South, and Russia to the east. Minsk, home to a
large Jewish population is today the capital of an independent Belarus.
1857: In San
Francisco, Jesse (Isaias) Seligman and Henriette Seligman gave birth to Henry
Max Seligman the husband of Adeliade (Addie) Seligman.
1858: One day after
she had passed away, Louisa Collins, aged 2 years and 9 months and the daughter
of John and Adelaide Collins was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish
Cemetery.”
1860(8th
of Nisan, 5620): Parashat Tzav; Shabbat Hagdol is observed for the last time
during the Presidency of James Buchanan.
1861(20th
of Nisan, 5621) Sixth Day of Pesach observed for the first time during the
Presidency of Abraham Lincoln.
1861:
Birthdate of German native and New Orleans residen, Sigmund Odenheimer, the President of Lane
Cottons Mills “and a major benefactor of Audubon Park in New Orleans who was
the husband of Pauline Freyhan Odenheimer with whom he had three children –
Marion, Alice and Julius.
1863(11th
of Nisan, 5623): Abraham Abraham, a native of Bath and an “optician and
scientific instrument maker” who was the son of optician Jacob Abraham, and who
served as President of the Liverpool Jewry’s Philanthropic Institute and Warden
of “the Old Hebrew Congregation” passed away today.
1863: “The
Will of Commodore Levy--The Bequest of the Monticello Estate to the People of
the United States Void” published today described the litigation surrounding
attempts to “break” the late Jewish naval hero’s will. “This was an action to
obtain a construction of the will of Commodore Levy, in respect to the bequest
of the People of the United States of a farm owned by him, and 200 acres
adjoining it, at Monticello, Virginia, and also in respect to a bequest of
$1,000 to the Jews' Hospital in this City. The Court now rendered the following
judgment, declaring the devise and bequest of the Monticello estate, and the
200 acres adjoining, to the people of the United States void, and that said
portions of the estate descended to and vested in the heirs at law and next of
kin of the testator; also that the Jews' Hospital of New-York are entitled to
have their bequest." Such was the endorsement upon the papers.”
1865: During
the American Civil War, Philadelphian Morris Schlesinger, the First Sergeant of
the Twelfth Regiment, USA was mortally wounded at the Gravelly Run, Virginia
today.
1865(4th of
Nisan): Rabbi Jacob Zevi ben Gamaliel Konigsberg author of Ha-Ketav
ve-ha-Kabbalah passed away
1865: The new
Synagogue of the Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, (Gate of Heaven), in
Rivington-street, between Ludlow and Orchard, was formally consecrated this
afternoon. The building, which was erected in 1835, was occupied by a
Presbyterian congregation until last November, when it was sold to its present
occupants.
1866(15th
of Nisan, 5626): Second Day of Pesach and Shabbath
1867: “The
Insurance Companies and ‘Jew Risks’” published today reported on a meeting
where members of the community including the mayor or Richmond expressed their
anger over the decision of insurance companies to no longer accept ‘Jew Risks.’
The mayor, who had been in the insurance business for years, told the crowd
that he had numerous dealings with Jews over the years and found them to be
honest. No reason was given for the decision of the insurance companies.
1868:
Birthdate of Lithuania native and future Chattanooga, TN resident Robert Hyman
Siskin, the husband of Annie Siskin an the father of Sarah, Aaron and Garrison
Siskin.
1868: Today,
Barrister Sir Julian Goldsmid, the Vice Chancellor of London University and MP
married Virginia Philipson with whom he had five children – Violet, Edith,
Margherita, Beatrice and Maud.
1869(19th
of Nisan, 5629): Fifth Day of Pesach
1869(19th
of Nisan, 5629): Twenty-three-year-old Georgina Hirschberg, the daughter of Henry
M. and Frances Francks Hirschberg and the sister of Isabella and Judge Michael
Hirschberg passed away today after which she was buried in the Temple Beth
Jacob Cemetery in Newburgh, NJ.
1869: “Blue
pass to the floor of the Senate for the impeachment of the President printed by
Adolph Simeon Solomons, one of the founders of the American Red Cross” bearing
today’s date.
https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3fq89
1871:
Birthdate of Arthur Giffith the founder of Fein who supported the Limerick
boycott saying that “if Jews—as Jews—were boycotted, it would be outrageously
unjust, but the Jew in Limerick has not been boycotted because he is a Jew, but
because he is a usurer” – a statement that had no proof in fact and which
really was a repetition of the age-old Shylock money-lender motif.
1871:
A poem in Hebrew about the Western Wall by Henry Vidaver, who served as a rabbi
at Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia, United Hebrew Congregation in St. Louis,
B’nai Jeshrun in New York and Sherith Israel in San Francisco, appeared in the
newspaper Havatzelet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Vidaver_poem_1871.jpg
1872: In the
Netherlands, Bonn and Albertje Osterman gave birth to future Illinois resident
Albert Osterman.
1875: Henry
Moss married Matilda Leopold today.
1876: In
Safed, Palestine, Hershel and Leach Benderly gave birth to American University
of Beirut graduate Samson who came to the United States where he trained as a
doctor before abandoning medicine for Jewish education with the founding of the
Bureau of Education in New York where he lived with his wife, the former Hemdah
C. Miller.
https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/the-benderly-boys-and-american-jewish-education
1876:
Birthdate of William Henry Dieterich, the anti-Semitic and “somewhat
pro-German” Senator from Illinois who lost his bid for re-election in 1938
thanks in part to the efforts of Henry Horner, the states Jewish governor.
1878: It was
reported today that “foreign Jews trading in Russia” are now have the same
legal standing as native Russian merchants.
1878: “The
Order of B’Nai Brit” published today traces the history of the history of the
Jewish fraternal organization which was founded 35 years ago in New York City.
1878: It was
reported today that “foreign Jews trading in Russia” are now have the same
legal standing as native Russian merchants.
1878:
Birthdate of University of Chicago undergraduate and Harvard trained attorney
Benjamin Samuels, who rose to the Presidency of the Yellow Cab Company in his
native Chicago while serving as the President of B’nai B’rith and founding “Leo
N. Levi Memorial Hospital in Hot Springs, AR where the treatment of arthritis
was of primary concern and raising his son Robert with his wife Martha.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1961/05/31/101465856.pdf
1879: In South
Carolina, Alfred Abraham Strauss, the Mannheim, Germany born son of Sara and
Aaron Strauss and his wife Amelia Strauss gave birth to Fanny Strauss who
became Fanny Pearlstine when she married Thomas Louis Pearlstine.
1880(19th
of Nisan, 5640): Fifth Day of Pesach
1880(19th
of Nisan, 5640): Forty-four-year-old Polish violinist and composer Henryk
Wieniawski the son of Tadeusz Wieniawski, who converted to Catholicism before
he earned his medical degree and Regina Wolf, “the daughter of a noted Jewish
physician from Warsaw” passed away today.
1880:
Alexander II of Russia was assassinated, and with him his half-hearted
liberalism. He was succeeded by Alexander III who, devoted to medievalism,
urged the return to Russian civilization. The most influential person during
his reign was Pobestonostov, his financier and procurator of the Holy Synod,
who earned the title "the Second Torquemada."
1881(1st
of Nisan, 5641): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
1881: In
London, Morris and Anna (Mishkowsky) Goldforb gave birth to C.C.N.Y (B.S.) and
Columbia University (Ph.D.) trained biologist Dr. Abraham Goldforb, the CCNY
Professor specializing in physiology and experimental embryologist who was the
husband of Dr. Frances Shostac and father of Mrs. Miriam Dinerman.
1882: One of
two birthdates (the other being March 21) of Friederike Massaryk, the native of
Austria, who converted to Protestantism in 1903 and gained game as actress and
soprano Fritzi Massary.
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/massary-fritzi
1883: In
Russia, “Joseph and Etta (Belitsky) Elvove gave birth to U of Kentucky
undergrad and George Washington University trained pharmacist Elias Elvove, the
husband of Elka Milatiner and member of Adas Israel in Washington who pursued a
career with the “U.S. Hygienic Laboratory.” (Another source show his birthdate
as March 22. )
1883: In
Baltimore, MD, Gerson Podrabinek Robison,
the “son of Leyba Podrabinek and Kreyne Podrabinek” and his wife Seine Robison gave
birth to Florence Brodiethe wife of Israel Benjamin Brodie who passed asway at
the age 78 in 1961
1885(15TH
of Nisan, 5645): Pesach
1885: The New York Times reported that “the
Jewish festival of Pesach, or Passover, instituted to commemorate the exodus of
the children of Israel from Egypt, commenced last evening and its celebration
will be continued among the orthodox Hebrews throughout the world for the next
eight days. This festival is also known as Hag Ha’Matzos, or the fest of the
unleavened bread.”
1889: The
Eiffel Tower is inaugurated. One of Chagall’s most famous paintings was “Eiffel
Tower, Serenade.”
1888(19th
of Nisan, 5648): Pesach Shel Shabbat
1889:
Birthdate of St. Louis native and WW I veteran Irwin Sale the Washington
University trained lawyer who on to serve as an Assistant United States
Atorney.
1889: In New
York City, Fannie Weiss and David Lowy gave birth to Columbia educated chemist
Alexander Lowy, the husband of Dora Landberg and Professor of Organic Chemistry
at the University of Pittsburgh and a member of Temple Rodef Shalom in
Pittsburgh.
1890: In Hessen,
Germany, Abraham Höflich the “son of Nathan Hoeflich and Giedel Hoeflich” and his
wife Bertha Beilchen Höflich gave birth to Hanna Falkenstein, the wife of Viktor
Falkenstein and mother of Fritz and Margarete Falkinstein, who died at
Auschwitz in 1944 at the age of 54.
1890: The New York Times reported that “the
diary of Sir Moses Montefiore and Lady Montefiore which the Belforde Clark
Company published in two octave volumes covers the period from 1812 to 1883.
The papers of Sir Moses were left to his Secretary, Dr. Lowe, for arrangement
and publication, but Dr. Lowe died upon completing the work and son of Sir
Moses, now a resident of this country, then carried it forward.”
1891: In
Vilnius, Jacob B. Girsh Chipkin and Hadassah Batia Mayper gave birth to
Israel Solomon Chipkin, the holder of degrees from CCNY, Columbia and JTS who
served on the faculty of JTS and was an officer of the National Council for
Jewish Education.
1891: In
Bilgoraj, Pinchas Mendl Zinger, a rabbi and author of rabbinic commentaries,
and Basheva Zylberman gave birth to Hinde Ester Singer Kreytman, the sister of
Joshua and Isaac Bashevis Singer who gained fame as Yiddish author Esther
Kreitman.
1892(1st
of Nisan, 5652); Rosh Chodesh Nisan
1892: NYU grad
and Columbia Law School trained attorney Fredric Ullman, the German born sone
of David and Charlotte (Loeb) Ullman and the president of Temple Beth Zion and
the Jewish Hospital, both of Buffalo, NY married the former Beatrice Hirsh
today.
1892: It was
reported today that 69 nine-year-old Mark Samuel, a former resident of Toronto,
has passed away in London. He had found M & L Samuel in 1855 and helped
found the Toronto branch of the Anglo-Jewish Association. He was a supporter of efforts to settle
Russian Jews in the Northwest Territories.
1892: The SS Massilia, the steamship which had
previously brought several Jews from Russia who were infected with typhus is
scheduled to arrive in New York today.
Health authorities will be paying close attention to the passengers
since they are similar to the ones brought here before.
1893(14th of
Nisan, 5653): Ta'anit Bechorot
1893(14th of
Nisan, 5653): Alexander Levi one of the earliest settlers and earliest Jewish
settlers of Dubuque, Iowa, passed away today.
1893: A group
of Boston Jews belonging to Adath Israel petitioned Judge Ely for the return of
wine and brandy which the Judge had previously ruled had been wrongfully seized
by the police. Passover begins tonight and the Jews need the wine for the
Seder. While the Judge said he would do all that he could to help with the
return, “he could find no authority to order the wines returned before May.”
1893: The New York Times reported that “the
celebration of the feast of Pesach, or the Passover, will be begun by Jewish
people throughout the world at sunset this evening and will be continued for
eight days by the Orthodox Jews. Those who have accepted the reform ritual,
among them a large number of the Jews in America, continue the celebration only
seven days, the first and last days of that period being alone regarded as of
special significance and celebrated as holy days.”
1894:
Birthdate of Anatol Josephewitz, a
Jewish Siberian immigrant to the United States from Omsk, Russia, who gained
fame as Anatol Marco Josephs, the man who invented and patented the first
automated photo booth in 1925, which was named the "Photomaton".
1894: It was
reported today that Russia is changing its rules about naturalizations and that
“foreign Jews will be excluded” from applying for citizenship in the Czarist
Empire.
1894: “For the
Jews in Palestine” published today described the appeal made by Abraham
Neurmak, the rabbi at New York’s Orach Chaim to provide aid for those living in
Eretz Israel. “The North American Relief
Society” under the presidency of Myer Isaacs has already responded with a
donation of one hundred dollars.
1894: As of
today, there are about 4,000 Polish Jews living in Zarephath, Hebron, Tiberias
and Jerusalem. They came to Palestine to seek refuge from Russian persecution.
1895: “A
Charity For Children” published today described “the good work of the Hebrew
Sheltering Guardian Society.”
1895: “Cider
in Etymology” published today traces the origins of the English word “cider”
which according to Sir George Birdwood has its origins in the Hebrew word
“Shekar.”
1895: Four
days after he had passed a way, Roman native Giuseppe di Rubino Moro, the
husband of the former Rachel Montefiore and father of Arthur and Sarah Moro was
buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1896: In New
York, the Herald Square Theatre is scheduled to host a special performance of “The Heart of
Maryland” that is a fundraiser for the Hebrew Infants’ Asylum.
1896: “More
than 1,000 pushcart vendors” attending a meeting tonight at the Hebrew
Institute which was held under the auspices of the City Vigilance League and
presided over by New York May Strong.
1896: In New
York, Palmer’s Theatre was the site of fundraiser for the benefit of the A.C.
Sisterhood, a Jewish organization headed by Rebecca Kohut, the wife of the late
Dr. Alexander Kohut that “supports a kindergarten, day nursery, relief bureau
and employment bureau.”
1897: The
improbably named “Jack the Jew” that went off at odds of 9 to 10 won the first
race on a sloppy track in New Orleans.
1897: Funeral
services for the late Louis Israel, the owner of one of the largest livery
stables in Brooklyn, will take place at Temple Beth Elohim today.
1897:
Massachusetts Congressman introduced the following resolution in the House of
Representatives:
“Resolved,
That the Secretary of State be requested to demand from the Russian Government
that the same rights be given to Hebrew –American citizens in the matter of
passports as now are accorded to all other classes of American citizens and
also to inform the House of Representatives whether any American citizens have
been ordered to be expelled from Russian or forbidden the exercise of ordinary
privileges enjoyed by the inhabitants because of their religion.” (Editor’s Note – This champion of Jewish rights
is John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald who provided the name for his famous
grandson, John Fitzgerald Kennedy)
1898: Dr.
Kaufmann Kohler, the rabbi at Temple Beth-El will officiate at the funeral of
the late Rabbi Emanuel Schwab. Cantor Hass of Adas Israel will preside over the
internment in the Machpel Plot at Cypress Hills Cemetery
1899: Rumania
barred Jews from professional and agricultural schools/
1899:
Birthdate of Alexander Solomon, the native of Toronto and member of the Jewish
Legion who served in Palestine before returning to Canada where he practiced
law for 27 years.
1900(1st
of Nisan, 5660: Parashat Tazria; Rosh Chodesh Nisan; Shabbat HaChodesh
1900: Birthdate
of Berlin native and Hamburg University educated physicist Immanuel Estermann,
the long-time professor at Carnegie Tech and member of the Manhattan Project
team and husband of the former Rose Chwolles with whom he raised two professors
– Hannah and Eva –
https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/estermann-immanuel
1900: Today,
at Temple Emanu-El Rabbi Joseph Silverman delivered a sermon which was a eulogy
for the late Dr. M. Wise “using as a text Second Samuel, Chapter III, Verse 38:
‘Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen in Israel?’”
1901(11th of
Nisan, 5661): On Jewish calendar Yahrzeit of Rabbi Isaiah Horowtiz
1902: Today at
a meeting of the Board of Health, “members of the board brought the fact that
the produce dealers on the east side” home to large immigrant Jewish population
“are violating many laws of health and the chief offenders are those who sell
polluted milk.”
1903: The
Times of London correspondent in St. Petersburg reported that there are
factories in South Russia, “especially in Kertch and Odessa” that are “chiefly
in the hands of Greeks and Jews” which “employ men of great archaeological
learning” to produced fake antiques that are so well-made that they “deceive
experts.” (Editor’s note: Is the report
correct or is it one more anti-Semitic canard from the land of pogroms and
blood libels?)
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1903/03/31/101985788.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1903:
Birthdate of Warsaw native Aaron B. Tart, the
attorney and director and executive vice
president of the Organization for Rehabilitation Through Training (ORT)
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/10/23/121435284.html?pageNumber=29
1904(15th
of Nisan, 5664): First Day of Passover
1904(15th
of Nisan, 5664): Sophia Karp, born Sara Segal in Romania, who became a leading
performer in the New York Yiddish Theatre working with such giants as Abraham
Goldfaden, Israel Grodner and Sokher Goldstein passed away today at the age of
42 or 43
1904: The New York Times reported that “at
sunset last evening the Jewish people throughout the world began the
celebration of the festival of "Pesach," or the Passover. This
festival was instituted to celebrate the deliverance of the children of Israel
from their long bondage in the land of Egypt, and, lasting for eight days, is a
season of peculiar observances.”
1905: Dorothy
Levitt, the first English woman ever to compete in a motor race drove from the Adelphi
Hotel in Liverpool to Coventry and then on to the De-Dion showroom in Great
Marlborough Street in London, retracing the 205-mile trip she had made the day
before.
1906(5th
of Nisan 5666): Parashat Vayikra
1906: Jaakoff
Prelooker, the Pinsk born son of Moshe Chaim Prelookeer who settled in Great
Britain before WW and his wife Ethel Eliza Prelooker gave birth to Miriam
Prelooker, the sister of Eleanor Franks.
1906(5th
of Nisan, 5666): Eighty-year-old Jonas Lion, the son of Schamsche Lion and
Mindel Mina Lion (Stein), the husband of Rosele Lion and father of Karoline
Lion (Lion); Sophie Rosie Lion, I; Babette Lion; Leopold Lion II; Abraham Lion;
Mina Forsch (Lion); Marie Lion and Helene Weil” passed away today in Ettenheim,
Germany
1907(16th
of Nisan, 5669): Second Day of Pesach; First Day of the Omer
1907: It was
reported today that Secretary of State Root does not see how he could intervene
on behalf of the Jews of Romania since “the uprising of the peasantry” which
has brought so much to the Jews “appears to be political” instead of religious.
1908: It was
reported today that “Jacob Saperstein, the editor of The Jewish Morning
Journal, who a has vigorously denounced Saturday’s Anarchist outbreak in Union
Square” has received at least three letters all in Yiddish one of which demanded
money and the other two threatening his life but none of which he said worried
him or would influence his actions.
1908: Today’s
Extraordinary Sale at Abraham and Straus included $5.00 suitcases being sold
for $3.97 and $16 Princess Bureaus being sold for $10.00.
1909: “The Man
of Few Books” published today which questioned the views of Harvard President,
Dr. Charles W. Eliot “who opposed efforts to limit the admission of Jews and
Catholics to Harvard,” on what books should be read to provide “a liberal
education” noted that “Assuredly Moses and the authors of the Bible were
“fraught with a universal insight into things.”
1910: Sidney
Sonnino, whose father Issacco Saul Sonniono was an Italian Jew who converted to
Anglicanism, completed his service as Prime Minster of Italy.
1910: NYU
trained Isaac Alpern, the Perth Amboy, NJ businessmen and the Palestine born
son of Sarah Chafetz and Abraham Alpern who successfully worked in real estate,
insurance and banking and was instrumental in the construction of new building
for the Young Men’s Hebrew Association married Lena Pauline Coble today.
1910: Luigi
Luzzatti began serving as Italy’s 31st Prime Minister making him the
second Jewish person to hold the position; the first being Alessandro Fortis.
1911: Rabbi
Stephen S. Wise delivered an address tonight in Boston on “The Moral and
Economic Effects of Race Discrimination” in which he said that “America’s
countenancing Russia’s refusal to recognize passports issued by” the United
States “to former Russian Jews is to accept such discrimination as valid.”
1911(2nd
of Nisan, 5671): Eighty-year-old Augusta Lasker, the German born wife of Samuel
Lasker with whom she had five children – Henry, Sallie, Harry, Bettie and
Esther – passed away today in Little Rock, AR after which she was buried in the
Oakland and Fraternal Historic Cemetery Park.
1912: It was
reported that “Interesting archaeological discoveries, showing the observance
as far back as 430 B.C. of the Jewish Passover, the festival commemorative of
the exodus from Egypt, which Jews throughout the world will celebrate for a
week beginning the evening of April 1, are described in the current issue of
The American Hebrew.”
1912: It was
reported that Leopold Plaut, President of the United Hebrew Charities has
issued a circular asking that the families of deceased Jews donate the money
normally spent for flowers at a funeral to his organization. The organization
will send acknowledgements to the donor and the family of the deceased,
acknowledging the gift without mentioning the amount.
1913: “The
Tik-Tok Man of Oz, a play with music by Louis F. Gottschalk “opened at the
Majestic Theatre in Los Angeles” today.
1914: Reverend
Aaron E. Bullard, President of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, in
Ocean Grove said that he meant no disrespect to Jews when he took issue with
the fact that under a Borough Government in Ocean Grove that a Jews could be
elected to the management of a “Christian resort” saying that complaints on
this point by the Young Men;s Hebrew Association of Asbury Park were unfounded
since he has “eaten at their table” and has the “highest respect” for a number
of Jews.
1915(16th
of Nisan, 5675): Second Day of Pesach
1915: Lord
Oxford and Asquith wrote in his diary “I think I have already referred to
Herbert Samuel’s dithyrambic memorandum, urging that in the carving up of the
Turk’s Asiatic dominion we should take Palestine, into which the scattered Jews
would in time swarm back from all the quarters of the globe and in due course
obtain Home Rule.” “Curiously the only other partisan of this proposal is Lloyd
George, who, I need not say does not care a damn for the Jews or their past or
their future, but thinks it will be an outrage to let the Holy Places pass into
the possession or under the protectorate of agnostic, atheistic France” (As
reported by JTA)
1915(16th of Nisan, 5675):
Seventy-four-year-old Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild, Baron de
Rothschild, the eldest son of Baron Lionel de Rothschild and the grandson of
Nathan Mayer Rothschild, the founder of the English branch of the famous
banking family passed away today.
1915: In Egypt, Colonel John Henry Patterson
swore in the new volunteers for the Zion Mule Corps and invited them to ‘Pray
with me that I should not only, as Moses, behold Canaan from afar, but be
divinely permitted to lead you into the Promised Land’
1916(26th
of Adar II, 5676): Fifty-year-old Maurice Rothschild, a member of the New York
Exchange passed away today.
1916: The
Jewish War Sufferer’s Bazar which is being held in the Grand Central Palace
closed at six o’clock this evening because of Shabbat and will reopen tomorrow
evening at six o’clock when a record breaking crowd is expected to attend the
fair.
1917: “The
latest official cablegram” received tonight at the United States State
department “regard the torpedoing of the British steam Crispin stated that out
of the sixty-nine Americans on board two appear to have been killed by an
explosion and eighteen…more are still missing. (This is the latest report of
the what those who wanted the United States to enter the war on the side of the
Allies called “unrestricted submarine warfare” which would in fact lead to the
U.S. going to war in April with all that that would mean for Americans in
general and American Jews in particular.)
1918(18th
of Nisan, 5678): Fourth Day of Pesach
1918: “Jews in
Newark, NJ,” are scheduled to hold a parade “this afternoon to celebrate the
arrival in Palestine of the Jewish Administrative Commission”
1918: The members
of Young Judea, “who have organized to help in the collecting the fund of one
million dollars for the restoration of the Jewish homeland in Palestine” are
scheduled to meet in cities across the United States “where plan for the
restoration of a Jewish republic in Palestine will be discussed.”
1918: Members
of the British Expeditionary Force were forced to cross back to the west bank
of the Jordan River after having been defeated by Ottomans during the first
Battle of Amman, the first leg of a British offensive following the capture of
Jerusalem which was designed to eventually end with the capture of Damascus
thus ensuring Britain’s post-war control of the region.
1918: Today,
Dr. H.G. Enelow reviewed Jewish Theology Systematically and Historically
Considered by Dr. Kaufman Kohler, the distinguished New York Rabbi and
President of the Hebrew Union College.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C03E7DA1E3FE433A25752C3A9659C946996D6CF
1919: The
Alumni Association the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary is scheduled
to meet in New York today and “discuss the future of Judaism in America and
special religious work in Palestine.”
1919: It was
reported today that “Dr. David Levine has been chosen” to serve as the rabbi
for “newly-formed Progressive Synagogue of Brooklyn”
1919: It was
reported today that “Edmond A Guggenheim…has been appointed a special deputy
police commissioner” who “will have charge of police affairs in the Bronx.
1920:
According to the Treaty of Versailles as of today the Reichswehr (German Army)
was to have army no more than 100,000 men in a maximum of seven
infantry and three cavalry divisions which the Allies thoughts would make it
impossible for the Germans ever to threaten the peace of Europe with an
offensive action.
1920: In the
aftermath of the Arab riots, some contended that today, Colonel Bertie Harry
Waters-Taylor, Allenby’s Chief of staff had told Haj Amin al-Husseini that if
he rioted during Holy Week, it would serve as proof that Arabs would never
allow a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
1921: Albert
Einstein lectured in New York on his new theory of relativity.
1922: In
Detroit, Michigan, “Sarah (née Applebaum) and David T. "D.T."
Nederlander” gave birth to James M. Nederlander, the brother of Harry, Robert,
Fred, Joseph; and Frances Nederlander who founded Nederlander Organization “one
of the largest operators of legitimate theatres and music venues in the United
States.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/theater/james-nederlander-theater-magnate-dies-at-94.html?_r=1
1922: In
Berlin, American-born German movie producer Seymour Nebenzal and his wife
Lisbeth Mary Else Nebenzal gave birth to producer and novelist Harold Nebenzal
who “was in charge of foreign film production for many years for MGM and also
worked on many of the films of Billy Wilder.
1922:
Birthdate of Lionel Davidson, the Hull, Yorkshire born son of the Davidovitz
family who gained fame as the “noted British thriller writer whose novels
brought to life far-flung setting like Prague, Tibet, Israel and Siberia.” (As
reported Margalit Fox)
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/arts/01davidson.html?searchResultPosition=4
1922: “Herman
and Mollie (Schesten) Shay, poor Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe” gave
birth to “Art Shay, a photographer who chronicled the famous and powerful,
including nine presidents, as well as the everyday life of mid-20th-century
Americans…” (As reported by James Estrin)
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2018/4/30/18388126/art-shay-legendary-photographer-dies-at-96
1922: In the
Bronx, Columbia trained lawyer Herman Shulman, and his wife Rebecca gave birth
to Paul Nachman Shulman, the United States Naval Academy graduate who played an
active role in Isreal’s nascent naval force in 1948.
1923(14th of
Nisan, 5683): Shabbat HaGadol and Erev Pesach
1923: The
Hamburgers sold the A. Hamburger and Sons department store which had been
founded by Bavarian native Asher Hamburger to the May family of St. Louis for
$8.5 million today’
1923:
“Paganini” a silent bio-pic directed by Heinz Goldberg and featuring child
actor Martin Herzberg was released today in Germany.
1923:
Birthdate of Shoshana Damari
http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/damari-shoshana
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaL7mllWVG4
1924: It was
reported today that in an address on “My Thirty Years’ Battle in The Ministry”
Dr. Stephen S. Wise “derided the counsel of those who urge silence when ‘Jews
are assailed and libeled.’”
1924: It was
reported today that Adolph S. Ochs, the son-in-law of the late Dr. Isaac M.
Wise and Mrs. Albert M. May, the reform rabbi’s daughter were among the
speakers at ceremony at Temple Rodeph Sholom where “a memorial portrait of the
founder of Hebrew Union College and the Central Conference of Rabbis “was
unveiled.
1924: The SS
President Arthur, which is owned by The American Palestine Line, “a steamship
company formed in 1924 for the purpose of providing direct passenger service
from New York to Palestine and which was reportedly the first steamship company
owned and operated by Jews” arrived in Haifa today after which the flag draped
coffin carrying Herman Hirsch who had died on March 24 was placed on deck and services were conducted in English and Hebrew by Rabbi Ashinsky before t he body was taken ashore for interment.
1925: In
Washington, Myer Solomon Cohn, the Russian born son of Leo and Sarah Cohn, and
his wife Bertha “Birdie” Cohn gave birth to Leonard Earl Cohn
1926(16th
of Nisan, 5686): Second Day of Pesach
1926(16th
of Nisan, 5686): Actor Jacob Adler, the husband of Sarah Adler who had suffered a stroke in 1920 and had been
in declining health ever since, suddenly collapsed today.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0012169/
1926: Despite
Arab threats of a general strike, the French High Commissioner visited
Jerusalem today where all of the stories owned by “Arabs and Christians” were
closed “in sympathy with the Syrian rebels” and the Jewish shops were closed
because of Passover.
1927: University of Georgia
graduate and Columbia trained attorney Leonard Haas, the Atlanta born son of Fannie
Rich and Aaron Haas and one of the attorneys who defended Leo Frank married
Beatrice Hass today with whom he would raise two sons – John and Leona.
1927: While
delivering an address today on “The Jew in Industry and Finance” President
Frederick B. Robinson of City College said that “the alleged Jewish conspiracy
in international industry and finance is a figment of ill-informed persons.”
1928: Real
birthdate of Jacob Lateiner, Cuban born American pianist. His father would not
get around to registering his birth until May of 1928 which has led to
confusion about when he was really born.
1928: Today
Jewish and Gentile businessmen in Jerusalem and Haifa told a reporter today
“that while the Government remained in the hands of the British they did not
fear trouble with the Arabs or Bedouins who were more afraid of Lord Plumber
than they had been of Hebert Samuel,” his civilian and Jewish predecessor as
British High Commissioner.
1929:
Birthdate of Ilya Piastetski-Shapiro, famed math theorist who clashed with
Soviet authorities. He passed away at the age of 79 on February 21, 2009 in Tel
Aviv.
1930: “Ninety
Jews were expelled from Moscow today and exiled to Siberia and Central Asia on
a charge of belonging to the illegal organizations Hashomer Hazair and Zionist
Socialist.
1930: Rabbi
Irving Frederick Reicher who “has accepted a unanimous call from Temple
Emanu-El of San Francisco to succeed Rabbi Louis Newman” is scheduled to submit
his resignation at this evening’s meeting of Tremont Temple in the Bronx.
1930:
Birthdate of New Orleans born organic chemist Boris Weinstein, the holder of a
Ph. D from Ohio State and the husband Barbara Weinstein with whom he had two
sons, who passed away in 1983 while serving as a member of the faculty of the
University of Washington.
1931: It was
reported today that “during the observance of Passover which begins at sundown
on April 1, “appeals for funds for the Jewish Agency’s work in Palestine
will be made
in scores of synagogues and temples throughout” New York City.
1932: At Tel
Aviv, on the final day of the first Jewish Olympics, Americans captured the
lion’s share of the victories Sybil Koff of New York “won the women’s triathlon
and the high jumps. Gus Hemann … won the men’s 100 meter dash…Leslie Flaksman
won the 500 meter race…and Harry Schneider won the javelin, shooting,
discus-throwing and men’s triathlon contests.” Victories by European teams
included an Austrian first place finish in the 400 – meter race and first place
finish by a team from the Middlesex Regiment in the relay race that earned it
the High Commissioner’s Cup.
1933: One day before the first nationwide "Boycott
Day", the board of Tietz AG resigned in unison. Over the next few weeks,
Leonhard Tietz was forced to sell the company far below its value. The
department stores of Leonhard Tietz AG were "Aryanized" and
"taken over" by Westdeutsche Kaufhof AG. In the runup to the
anti-Jewish boycotts, the Tietz family fled to Amsterdam with their children
and mother-in-law Flora Tietz.
1933: Adolf
Bertraim, archbishop of Breslau rejected the request of Oskar Wasserman for aid
in protesting against the boycott of Jewish business organized by the Nazis,
but this was refused as he regarded it as purely an economic matter”
1934(15th of Nisan, 5694): Pesach
1934: Greensboro, NC was accorded the
distinction today of being the first community in the United States to respond
to the $3,000,000 United Joint Appeal of the Joint Distribution Committee and
the American Palestine Campaign of the Jewish Agency because “its 400 Jewish
resident have subscribed $5,000 to the fund being raised for the relief of Jews
in Germany and other lands and for their settlement in Palestine.”
1934 The plight of German Jewry, seen in the
perspective of Hitlerism's first full year, was the topic of the Passover
discourse today in many temples and synagogues throughout the city” while warnings that evidences of anti-Semitism were
increasing in other parts of Europe and in the United States were recurrent in
many of the addresses
1935: German mathematician
Felix Hausdorff who would later commit suicide when ordered to report to a
concentration camp, was granted emeritus status today.
1935: Hebrew
novelist Samuel I. Agnon was awarded the Bialik Prize in Hebrew Literature. The
Bialik Prize was established in memory of the dean of Hebrew literature, Chaim
Nachman Bialik and is considered the equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. S.I.
Agnon is considered by some to be a worthy candidate for the Nobel Prize.
1935: The
Italian liner Roma arrived in Haifa carrying 1,650 passengers, which is
believed to the largest number of people ever brought to Palestine on one ship.
Most of the passengers are believed to be headed for Tel Aviv, site of the
upcoming Maccabiad.
1935: In the
Bronx, “Joseph Perelman, a textile official and Dorothy Shapiro Perelman, a
public schoolteacher” gave birth to Judith Louise Perelman who gained fame as
novelist Judith Rossner, the author of Looking for Mr. Goodbar.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/aug/13/guardianobituaries.books
1935: The
Palestine police (an instrument of the British mandatory government) “issued an
order today prohibiting a parade of athletes participating in the Maccabiah,
the world Jewish athletic games.” The parade was scheduled to be held in Tel
Aviv on April 1. The police reportedly were responding to threats of violent
outbursts by the Arab populace.
1936:
Birthdate of poet, playwright and novelist Marge Piercy who grew up in the
racially divided city of Detroit, where her Jewishness made her the target of
bullies. One grandparent was Yiddish-speaking and Orthodox; another was a union
organizer murdered for his activism. These influences, together with grief over
relatives murdered in the Holocaust, aroused Piercy's political activism. They
also strengthened her commitment to remaining involved with issues and matters
of Jewish importance.
1936: In New
York, The Friends of the New Germany, whose members are “supporters in the
United States of Nazi philosophy, announced the organization would now be known
as the German-American League or “Amerikadeutscher Bund” which is dedicated to
combating “the Moscow-direct madness of the Red world mean and its Jewish
bacillus carriers.”
1936: Mrs.
Judah Dresner presided over the closing session of the 14th
convention of the New York State Conference of the National Council of Jewish
Women at the Jamaica Jewish Center in Queens where Mrs. Maxwell Ehrlich of
Staten Island was elected president.
1937: “The
anti-Jewish demonstrations begun before Easter continued” in the Free City of
Danzig where “Jewish shops were picketed today.
1937: The Palestine Post reported from Glasgow
that the International Labor Party conference deplored the bloodshed in
Palestine by terrorists and called upon Jews to resist all attempts by Arab
reactionary elements, sometimes supported by the British authorities. The first
regulation made by the High Commissioner under the New Palestine Orders allowed
the authorities to seize and retain accommodation and food, as they thought fit
for the execution of their duty.
1938: As of
today, “an eight-month limit of 8,000 Jewish immigrants being allowed to enter
Palestine will have expired.
1938:
According to reports published in the New
York Times, Dr. Sigmund Freud cannot leave Vienna and move to The Hague
because “the authorities have refused to give him a passport.” In other words,
the Nazi Austrian government has made the prominent Jewish psychiatrist a
prisoner.
1938:
Birthdate of Brooklyn native Arthur B. Rubenstein, the composer of countless
scores to television and movies including “Whose Life Is It Anyway” and “Lost
in America.”
1939: The
Campbell Playhouse broadcast a non-musical version “Showboat” based on the
novel by Edna Ferber on CBS Radio.
1939: In
Wakefield, Mass., truck driver turned attorney Julius Horovtiz and Hazel Rose
(Solberg) Horovitz who did double duty as a trained nurse and homemaker gave
birth to Israel Arthur Horovitz, the husband of Gillian Horovitz and “an
influential and oft-produced playwright” passed away today. (As reported by
Neil Genlinger)
1939: The
cinema version of “The Hounds of the Baskerville” with music by David Raskin
was released today in the United States.
1940: Nuri
Said was replaced as Prime Minister of Iraq by Rsahid Ali who a year later
would lead an anti-British pro-Nazi coup that would lead to the Farhud, a
pogrom that was the beginning of the end for the ancient Jewish community of
Iraq.
1940:
Birthdate of Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank.
1940: Benjamin
V. Cohen met with Franklin Roosevelt in the White house from 5:10 pm to 6:45
pm.
1941: After
7,500 Jews arrived from Vienna, a decree was issued to establish a ghetto at
Kielce
1941: The
United Yeshivos Foundation, the cordinatubg agency of forty Jewish educational
institutions is scheduled to honor Julius Dukas, a director of the foundation
and the president of the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School with a dinner tonight at the
Hotel Astor in celebration of his 80th birthday.
1941: With
encouragement from the Axis powers (Italy and Germany) Rashid Ali al-Gaylani
led an anti-British revolt in Iraq much to the detriment of the Jewish
population.
1942(12th of
Nisan, 5702): Eighty-three-year-old Washingtonian, Aline Esther Solomons, the
daughter of Rachel Phillips and Adolphus Solomons passed away today.
1942: The
Gestapo “disbanded” the Neu-Isenburg orphanage and deported the girls living
there to Theresienstadt.
1942: 1939
Naval Academy graduate Nathan “Fred” Asher married Selma Straus with whom he
had three children – “Dennis, Karen and Jeffrey.”
1942: In the
western Ukraine, the Gestapo organized the first deportation of 5,000 Jews from
Stanislawow ghetto to Belzac death camp. It was one of the biggest transports
to Belzec in the first phase of the camp.
1942:
Birthdate of radio personality Michael Savage
1942: Six
thousand Jews from Eastern Galicia were deported to Belzec and gassed to death.
1943: This was
the deadline the Germans gave Spain to repatriate any Spanish nationals of the
Jewish "race."
1943: Broadway
premier of the Rodgers and Hammerstein’s hit musical “Oklahoma.” Yes, it took a
team of Jews to create this most famous of all American musical comedies. This
is yet another example of how it was Jews who helped to create what some call "the
American myth." It was this ability and not some Jewish plot that
explains, in part, the success of Jews in various parts of the American
entertainment industry.
1943:
Crematorium II at Auschwitz begins operation.
1944(7th
of Nisan, 5704): Sixty-seven-year-old Lothar Stark the German born movie
producer who took refuge in Copenhagen in 1933 when his Jewish heritage was
discovered died in Sweden today after having been rescued along with most of
the Danish Jewish population in 1943.
1944: It was
announced that every Jew in Hungary would be required to wear a yellow badge as
of April 5th
1945: Mother
Maria of Paris, a Russian nun who had saved many French Jews by hiding them,
was killed by the Nazis.
1945: “The
Glass Menageries” for which Alexander Yokel served as “general manger” and with scenic and lighting design by Jo
Mielziner, whose “paternal grandfather was a rabbi” opened on Broadway at “The
Glass Menagerie.”
1945: The
deportation of Jews from Slovakia comes to an end. In all, German and Slovak
authorities deported about 70,000 Jews from Slovakia; about 65,000 of them were
murdered or died in concentration camps. The overall figures are inexact,
partly because many Jews did not identify themselves, but one 2006 estimate is
that approximately 105,000 Slovak Jews, or 77% of their prewar population, died
during the war.
1946: “Walk
Hard, “ produced and staged by Gustav Blum was performed on Broadway for the
last time at the Chanin Auditorium.
1946:
Birthdate of Gabe Kaplan in Brooklyn, New York. The comedian and actor gained
famed as the teacher in “Welcome Back Kotter,” a television show that launched
the career of John Travolta.
1946:
Hungarian born American layer and Nazi war crime prosecutor Benjamin B. Ferencz
married his wife Gertrude today in New Yor.
1946(28th of
Adar): Yiddish author and translator Leon Kobrin passed away
http://books.google.com/books/about/Fun_Deitmerish_Tzu_Yiddish_In_Amerike.html?id=Z8bNPgAACAAJ
1947:
Birthdate Israeli archaeologist Ronny Reich who shifted his focus from the Iron
Age to the Early Roman period in the late 1970’s/
http://archlgy.haifa.ac.il/staff/reich.htm
1947(10th
of Nisan, 5707): Sixty-year-old Hot Springs, AR native and NYU trained attorney
Grover M. Moscowitz who had been appointed the United States District Court by
President Coolidge in 1925 passed away today New York.
https://www.fjc.gov/node/1385426
1948: In
Brooklyn, New York Philip Perlman “a Polish immigrant who was a manager at a
doll parts factory and Adele Perlman, “a bookkeeper” gave birth to Comedic
Actress Rhea Jo Perlam who gained fame for her roles in the television comedies
“Taxi” and “Cheers” where she worked with her sister, producer and scriptwriter
Heide Perlman.
1948: as part
of Operation Balak, “the airlift to Israel of fighter planes and military
supplies” a Skymaster “flew directly from Prague to an airstrip near Be’er
Tuivah, landing there today” with equipment immediately used in Operation
Nahshon.
1948(20th
of Adar II, 5708): Sixty-two year old journalist, rebel and communist Egon
Erwin Kisch died today two years after returning to his native Czechoslovakia.
http://spartacus-educational.com/Egon_Erwin_Kisch.htm
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kisch-egon-erwin-10755
1948: Today,
the New York Times received memoranda,” including a letter from Shmuel M.
Katzneslon that “set for the bitter position of the Jewish political detainees”
being held at a the special British camp in Gilgal, Kenya
1949: The
Dominion of Newfoundland joins the Canadian Confederation and becomes the 10th
Province of Canada. There were somewhere between 215 and 360 Jews living in
Newfoundland at this time. “The real history of the Newfoundland Jewish
community began with the arrival in St. John's of Israel Perlin from the United
States. He was instrumental in founding the first synagogue in Newfoundland,
the Hebrew Congregation of Newfoundland, in 1909. The census of 1935 reported
215 Jews living in Newfoundland. The census of 1971 showed that that number had
grown to 360.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel
had become the ninth nation to ratify the agreement to eliminate trade barriers
on the import of educational, scientific or cultural materials, sponsored by
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Forty tons
of Jerusalem stone, hewn from the Castel quarry, went into the building of the
UN headquarters in New York as Israel's contribution to the project. The stone
was sufficient for 300 sq.m. of flooring. Israel purchased 40,000 tons of wheat
from South Africa.
1950: “Dearie,”
a popular song with music written by David Mann (David Freeman) and lyrics by Bob
Hilliard (Hilliard Goldsmith) “first reach the Billboard chart today.”
1953: The
number of Israeli unemployed as of this date was 16,350.
1953: New York
premiere of “Fear and Desire” “directed, produced and edited by Stanley
Kubrick” with a script by Howard Sackler.
1953(15th of
Nisan, 5713): First Day of Pesach
1953:
Birthdate of New York native and author Harold Augenbraum, “the former
Executive Director of the National Book Foundation, and former member of the
Board of Trustees of the Asian American Writers Workshop, and former vice chair
of the New York Council for the Humanities.”
1953:
Birthdate of Ehud Banai, an Israeli singer and songwriter.
1954: As
tensions grew between Jordan and Israel due to the attacks by terrorists based
in Jordan, the British cabinet discussed military options for responding to a
possible strike by Israel into Jordan.
1955(8th
of Nisan, 5715): Seventy-four-year-old Columbia trained ophthalmologist Dr.
Kaufman Schlivek, the husband of Elsie Schlivek, with whom he had two children
– Isabelle and Louis – passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1955/04/01/85690056.html?pageNumber=27
1956: In
Boston, Albert Sinofsky and his wife gave birth to Bruce Jeffrey Sinofsky who
grew up in Newton, Mass and pursued a career as documentary film maker.
1956: In
Boston, Albert Sinofsky and his wife gave birth to documentary filmmaker Bruce
Jeffrey Sinofsky.
1957: In
Trenton, NJ, at Har Sinai Temple Rabb Joshua Haberman officiated at the wedding
Elanor Mae Cohen, the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Herman Cohen and Byron E. Fox,
the University of Virginia trained attorney practicing in Arlington, VA.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1957/04/01/90787884.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1958: The US
Navy formed an atomic submarine division. Admiral Hyman Rickover is considered
the “father of the atomic Navy.” Thanks to his efforts, America developed a
fleet of nuclear submarines that provided the United States with its strongest
strategic edge during the Cold War with the Soviet Union.
1958: At the
opening of the Stuttgart port today , the city of Stuttgart named a bridge
after Otto Hirsch the German Jewish jurist who was murdered at Mauthausen in
1941.
1959: In one
of those uniquely American cross-cultural experience Don Devlin (Bronx born Jew
Donald R. Siegel) “appeared as an Indian, Dixon White Eagle” in an episode of
“Sugarfoot.”
1960: “The Best
Man,” with scenic and lighting design by Jo Mielziner and for which Morton
Gottlieb served as company manager opened on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre.
1960: “Please
Don’t Eat the Daisies” a movie version of a book by the same name produced by
Joe Pasternak was released today in the United States.
1961(14th
of Nisan, 5721): Ta’anit Bechorot; Erev Pesach and erev Shabbat
1961(14th
of Nisan, 5721): Ninety-five-year-old Sidonia Lichter, the Hungary born daughter
of Eduard - Ede Zeisler and Josefine Zeisler passed away today in Chicago.
1961: “Just
two months after Arthur Goldberg’s appointment as Secretary of Labor” Arthur
and Dorothy Goldberg hosted a Seder to which the President, Speaker of the
House, Chief Justice, the President of the AFL-CIO and both senators from the
state of Illinois were invited.
1962:
Birthdate of British “writer, reporter and political analyst Tim Judah, a Jew
of Baghdadi descent whose “ancestors include Solomon Ma’tuk” whose wife is
British author Rosie Whitehouse and one of whose sons journalist Ben Judah
1963(4th
of Nisan, 5723): Eighty-seven-year-old Samuel Paley, the native of Kiev who
came to the United States in 1888, founded the United Cigar Company in 1896 and
financed the purchase of what today is CBS by his son William, passed away
today in Miami Beach.
1963(4th
of Nisan, 5723): Sixty-eight-year-old New York song writer Harry Askt who began
his career playing piano for such vaudeville performers as Al Jolson and who
began his partnership with Irving Berlin while they were serving at Camp Upton
during WW I passed away today in California.
https://www.songhall.org/profile/Harry_Akst
1963: Today,
in accordance with company policy, Paul M. Hahn retired as the President and
CEO of the American Tobacco, a post he had held since 1950.
1964(18th
of Nisan, 5724): Fourth Day of Pesach
1966(31st
of Nisan, 5726): Seventy-five-year-old Lomza, Poland native and Harvard Medical
School educated cardiologist Samuel A. Levine who “gave advice in the case of
Franklin D. Roosevelt's paralytic illness and was the first to diagnose it as
polio” and who was the namesake of “the Levine scale, Levine's sign and
Lown–Ganong–Levine syndrome” passed away today in Newton, MA
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1966/4/1/dr-samuel-a-levine-dead-at/
1966: It was
reported that Harold L. Rosnebaum, the grandson of Rabbi Moses A. Poleyeff, a
professor of Talmud at Yehisva’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary will
be married this summer to Naomi AvRutick, the daughter of Rabbi Abraham N.
AvRutick, a past president of the Rabbinical Council of America.
1967: Nelson
Glueck, the President of the Hebrew Union is scheduled to lecture on “What The
Bible Means to Me” this evening at the 125th Anniversary Services at
Rodeph Sholom.
1968(2nd
of Nisan, 5728): Forty-five-year-old Mt. Vernon, NY native and Harvard trained
city planner Stanley Tankel who crossed swords with Robert Moses passed away.
http://www.nypap.org/preservation-history/stanley-tankel/
1969(12th
of Nisan, 5729): Eighty-eight-year-old Dr. William Seigman Ehrich, the
Georgetown, SC son of Louis and Cornelia Ehrich, “who for most of his career
was a surgeon at Evansville State Hospital” passed away today after which he
was buried at the Beth Elhoim Cemetery in his native Georgetown.
1970(23rd of
Adar II, 5730): Sixty-nine-year-old Russian born author and journalist Herman
Ehrenreich who in 1910 came to the United States where he attended NYU and
became the drama critic of The Forward while writing such Yiddish books
as Lands and People and A World Without Jews passed away today.
1971(5th
of Nisan, 5731): Sixty-eight-year-old Davenport, IA native and University of
Wisconsin graduate Herbert Hirsh, the Harvard trained attorney who practiced in
Chicago, passed away today.
1971: In Perth
Scotland, the former Carol Diane Lawson and James Charles Stewart
"Jim" McGregor to Ewan Gordon McGregor who has chosen to his
directorial debut be creating a cinematic version Phillip Roth’s
Pulitzer-winning novel American Pastoral
https://www.timesofisrael.com/ewan-mcgregors-biggest-challenge-philip-roth/
1972(16th
of Nisa, 5732): Second Day of Pesach; First Day of the Omer
1975(19th
of Nisan, 5735): Fifth Day of Pesach
1975: Boris
Tsitlionok and Mark Nashpits were the defendants in the Soviet anti-Zionist
trials that began today.
1976: U.S.
premiere of “W.C. Fields and Me” directed by Arthur Hiller, produced by Jay
Weston, written by Bob Merrill, featuring Allan Arbus and Milton Kamen.
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that West
Germany protested to Israel that it had not been told for more than a year of
the arrest of two young West Germans, Brigitte Schultz and Thomas Reuter, who
planned, on January 18, 1976, to shoot down an El Al plane in Nairobi. Five terrorists
were arrested by Kenya: two Germans and three Arabs. Israel announced that they
would soon be tried in camera, by a military court.
1978: In New
York City, Joseph Cross and his wife gave birth to actor turned businessman
Harley who went from making such cult films “The Believers” to co-founding Hint
Mint, a breath mint candy company.
1979: In
Jerusalem, Israel, Gali Atari &; Milk and Honey won the twenty-fourth
Eurovision Song Contest for Israel singing "Hallelujah.
1979(3rd
of Nisan, 5739): Parashat Vayikra
1979(3rd
of Nisan, 5739) Russian native Benjamin Bauer, the “American acoustic engineer
and holder of over 100 patents” who was Vice-President and General Manager of
the CBS Technology Center passed away today in Stamford, CT.
https://www.nae.edu/215665/BENJAMIN-BAUMZWEIGER-BAUER-19131979
1980(14th
of Nisan, 5740): Ta’anit Bechorot; Erev Pesach celebrated for the last time
during the Presidency of Jimmy Carter.
1981: The
annual International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee began today in London.
1981: “The
Yellow Star - The Persecution of the Jews in Europe 1933-45” lost out for an
Oscar tonight as Best Documentary Feature.
1982: Howard
Droker interviewed Leo Azose who recounted “his family's life in Marmara,
Turkey, and especially his father's career as a rabbi in Marmara and Seattle,
Washington.”
https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/ohc/id/309/
1983: NBC
broadcast the final episode of the first season the hit sitcom “Cheers”
co-starring Rhea Perlman as an Italian waitress supporting a multiplicity of
offspring as a single mom.
1984(27th
of Adar II, 5744): Parashat Tazria; Shabbat HaChodesh
1984: Arthur
Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” starring Dustin Hoffman as “Willy Loman” has
sold “3,306 tickets for $107,000” gross today.
1985: After
122 performances the curtain came down the Off-Broadway production of
“Diamonds” a musical revue directed by Harold Prince with lyrics and/or music
by Howard Ashman, Cy Coleman and Comden and Green.
1987(1st
of Nisan, 5747): Rosh Chodesh Nisan
1989(24th
of Adar II, 5749): Eighty-four-year Frederick Henry Russell who “was a special
assistant for Israeli-Arab relations under Secretary of State John Foster
Dulles” and who “in 1953-54, served as charge d'affaires in the United States
Embassy in Tel Aviv” passed away today.
1989: Six
months after premiering in ItalyHeathers” a comedy starring Winona Ryder
(Winona Laura Horowwitz) who also served as narrator was released in the United
States today.
1990(5th
of Nisan, 5750): Parashat Vayikra
1990(5th
of Nisan, 5750): Seventy-one-year-old Manhattan born, NYU Law School graduate
and WW II U.S. Army veteran Martin W. Juster, the real estate develop and
founder of Juster Development and Construction Company in Yonkers, NY who was
the husband “the former Doris Levy” with who he had three children – Howard,
Gary and Ann -suffered a fatal heart attack “at the United Hospital in
Harrison, NY.
1991(16th
of Nisan, 6751): Second Day of Pesach and First Day of the Omer
1991: The 1960
television version of “Peter Pan,” with music by Mark Charlap and Jule Styne
and lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, Betty Comden and Adolph Green which had become a
classic was re-broadcast today.
1993: “Family
Prayers” a dramatic film starring Paul Reiser and featuring Tzvi Ratner-Stauber
and Allen Garfield was released in the United States today.
1993: The
“first season” of “Homicide: Life on the Streets” a television adaptation of Homicide:
A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon whose creators included Barry
Levinson came to an end.
1993: With
Israel reeling from its worst wave of Arab violence in years, including the
shooting deaths of two policemen this morning, the Government indefinitely
closed the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip today.
1994: Yosef
Zandani, age 28, of Bnei Ayish, was found killed in his apartment near Gedera.
Near the body was a leaflet of the DFLP "Red Star", explaining that
the murder was carried out in revenge for the shooting of one of its members by
an Israeli citizen. The Israeli acted in self-defense
1995: Al
HaMishmar, a “paper owned by and affiliated with Hashomer Hatzair as well as
the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party of Palestine and Mapam” which was first
published in 1943 ceased publication today.
1996: “Who
Owns The Dreyfus Affair?” published today provides an advance look at the opera
based on the life of the famous French Captain.
1997: The
Union of Orthodox Rabbis issued “A Historic Declaration which stated Reform and
Conservative are not Judaism at all. Their adherents are Jews, according to the
Jewish Law, but their religion is not Judaism...we appeal to our fellow Jew,
members of the Reform and Conservative movements: Having been falsely led by
heretical leaders that Reform and Conservative are legitimate branches and
denominations of Judaism, we urge you to be guided by this declaration, and
withdraw from your affiliation with Reform and Conservative temples and their
clergy. Do not hesitate to attend an Orthodox synagogue due to your inadequate
observance of Judaism. On the contrary, it is because of that inadequacy that
you need to attend an Orthodox synagogue where you will be warmly welcomed
1998(4th of
Nisan, 5758): Former New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug passed away at the age
of 77 (As reported by Laura Mansnerus)
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0724.html
1999(14th
of Nisan, 5759): Ta-anit Bchorot; Erev Pesach; Deb Levin hosts her first Seder
in what will become a tradition that will eventually be highlighted in the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
1999(14th
of Nisan, 5759): Eighty-three-year-old Portland born Jewish actor, singer,
director and producer and graduate of the University of Washington David Brooks
whose break-through performance was as “Tommy Albright” in Brigadoon, passed away today.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1470466/
1999: Did you
ever wonder how Jews celebrate Pesach, the holiday of “Spring,” in the Southern
Hemisphere where it is really Autumn? In “An Argentine Passover, Then and Now,”
Joan Nathan gives us some sense of the celebration.
2000:
“Whatever It Takes,” a comedy co-starring Marla Sokoloff and James Franco and
produced by Paul Schiff was released today.
2000: “High
Fidelity” a movie version of the novel directed Stephen Fears and co-starring
Jack Black, Lisa Bonet and Sara Gilbert was released today in the United
States.
2000: “Rules
of Engagement” a combination war and legal movie directed by William Friedkin,
produced by Scott Rudin and featuring Mark Feuerstein was released in the
United States today.
2001: Uzi
Landau replaced Binyamin Ben-Eliezer as Energy and Water Resources Minister of
Israel
2002: The New York Times featured reviews of
books by Jewish authors and/or of interest to Jewish readers including the
recently released paperback editions of "Constantine’s Sword: The Church
and the Jews: A History" by James Carroll and "Walking the Bible: A
Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses" by Bruce Feller.
2002(18th
of Nisan, 5762): 4th day of Pesach and 3rd day of the
Omer.
2002(18th of Nisan, 5762): Fourteen “people were killed and over 40
injured in a suicide bombing in Haifa, in the Matza restaurant of the gas
station near the Grand Canyon shopping mall. Hamas claimed responsibility for
the attack. The victims: Suheil Adawi, 32, of Turan; Dov Chernevroda, 67, of
Haifa; Shimon Koren, 55; his sons Ran, 18, and Gal, 15, of Haifa; Moshe Levin,
52, of Haifa; Danielle Manchell, 22, of Haifa; Orly Ofir, 16, of Haifa; Aviel
Ron, 54; his son Ofer, 18, and daughter Anat, 21, of Haifa; Ya'akov Shani, 53,
of Haifa; Adi Shiran, 17, of Haifa; Daniel Carlos Wegman, 50, of Haifa. Carlos
Yerushalmi, 52, of Karkur, died the next day of wounds sustained in the
attack.” (Jewish Virtual Library)
2002(18th
of Nisan, 5767): Hamas took credit for today’s attack at the Erfat Medical
center where four people were injured.
2003: Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman gave birth to their youngest child,
Abraham “Abie” Wolf Waldman
2003(27th of
Adar II 5763):Eighty-five-year-old Sidney Greenberg, one of the Conservative
movement’s leading rabbis, passed away.
http://forward.com/articles/8526/rabbi-sidney-greenberg--wrote-on-prayers-holi/
2003: National
Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice addressed the American-Israel Public
Affairs Committee’s Policy Conference.
2004: An
updated version of “Baby” the David Shire musical opened at “the Paper Mill
Playhouse, Millburn, New Jersey today.
2005: While
Lewis Wolff may be the head of the group buying the Oakland Athletics, reports
published today claim that John J. Fisher son of GAP founder Donald Fisher, is
he one putting up most of the money for the purchase.
2005: As of today,
Hans “Berliner still had by far the highest International Correspondence Chess
Federation (ICCF) rating of any player in the United States, at 2726, 84 points
above the second-highest rated player.”
2005: ABC News
reported that Ted Koppel will leave that organization when his contract expires
in December of 2005. Mr. Koppel has been with the network for 42 years and has
hosted the popular late night news program “Nightline” for the past twenty-five
years. Nightline provided a hard-news late night alternative to the talk shows
hosted by the two other networks. Nightline’s audience would always grow during
periods of crisis such as the seizure of the American embassy in Teheran and
the prolonged hostage seizure that followed.
2005: At the
Jewish Museum in New York, a distinguished panel of speakers, including
exhibition co-curators Emily Bilski and Emily Braun, as well as Whitney Museum
curator Elizabeth Sussman and Union College professor Brenda Wineapple,
consider the contributions of women such as Gertrude Stein, Margherita
Sarfatti, and Florine Stettheimer to literature and the visual arts from the
late 18th century through the 1930s.
2007: Shabbat
Ha Gadol.
2007: In Cedar
Rapids, the show “Remnants of Memories” Interpretations of the collage by
artists Tom Lee and Elizabeth Levi sponsored by Ginsberg’s Jewelry comes to a
close.
2008: Hillel
received a $10.7 million grant from the Jim Joseph Foundation which the college-oriented
organization says is the largest in its history.
2008: In New
York, The Center for Jewish History presents a lecture by Dr. Atina Grossman
entitled “Close Encounters: Jews and Germans in Occupied Germany during which
she will discuss the story of the "close encounters" in Allied
occupied Germany between Jewish survivors of the Nazi Final Solution who found
themselves on "cursed German soil" after the German surrender, and
the defeated Germans with whom they continually interacted.
2008: End of
Women’s History Month.
2008: In
Vancouver, B.C., the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival presents a screening of
“Samuel Bak: Painter of Questions.”
2008: “New
Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation:
Amsterdam, July 27, 1656” was among the nominees for the 23rd annual Lucille
Lortel Awards, celebrating excellence in Off-Broadway theatre,
2008(24th of Adar II, 5678): Ninety-six year old movie director
Jules Dassin the son of Russian immigrants who began his career as a Yiddish
actor and was a victim of the infamous Hollywood Blacklist, passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/movies/01dassin.html?_r=0
http://www.legacy.com/ns/obituary.aspx?n=jules-dassin&pid=106710732
2008(24th of
Adar II, 5768): Rabbi Herbert A. Friedman, a dominant figure in American Jewish
philanthropy during Israel’s formative years, passed away at his New York home
at the age of 89. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/nyregion/04friedman.html?_r=0
2009(6th of
Nisan, 5769): Ruth Fredman Cernea, 74, a cultural anthropologist who wrote on
topics that included the Jews of Myanmar and the annual mock debate at the
University of Chicago on the respective merits of Jewish holiday foods such as
latkes and hamantaschen, died today of pancreatic cancer.
2009: Danny
Ayalon began serving as Deputy Foreign Minister.
2009: Moshe
Kahlon replaced Ariel Atias as Communications Minister.
2009: Gideon
Sa'ar was appointed Minister of Education
2009: Yeshiva
University hosts the second day the Israel and India International Conference
which features the theme "A Relationship Comes of Age." Presenters
include Nathan Katz (Florida International University), Amit Kapoor (Management
Development Institute, India), Efraim Inbar (Bar-Ilan University), Shlomo
Mor-Yosef (Hadassah Medical Organization), Maina Chawla Sing (University of
Delhi), P R Kumaraswamy (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi), Gadi Ariav
(Tel Aviv University).
2009:
Gottschalks, a chain of department stores that was founded by German Jewish
immigrant Emil Gottschalk in 1904, “announced it would liquidate its remaining
stores.”
2009: Silvan
Shalom replaced Yaakov Edri as Minister for the Development of the Negev and
the Galilee
2009: Ayoob
Karab began serving as Deputy Minister for the Development of the Negev and the
Galilee.
2009: Ariel
Atias replaced Ze'ev Boim as Minister of Housing and Construction
2009: Ya'akov
Margi replaced Yitzhak Cohen as Minister of Religious Services
2009: Eli
Yishai replaced Meeir Sheetrit as Minister of Internal Affairs
2009: Uzi
Landau replaced Binyamin Ben-Eliezer as Minister of Energy and Water Resources.
2009: Daniel
Hershkowitz replaced Raleb Majadele as Minister of Science and Technology.
2010(16th of
Nisan, 5770): First Day of the Omer; Second Day of Pesach
2010:
“Rethinking the Holocaust
and Genocide with
Michael Thaler”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPMJyjbz_nE
2010: An
exhibition presented by the American Jewish Historical Society entitled “Pages
from a Performing Life: The Scrapbooks of Molly Picon” featuring the 22
scrapbooks keep by Molly Picon and her husband Jacob Kalish chronicling their
extraordinary 50-year career, is scheduled to come to an end.
2010(16th
of Nisan, 5770): “Internationally known Columbia archaeologist Samuel Paley,
the “head of the Judaic Studies at the University of Buffalo” who has
“excavated sites in Cyrus, Israel and Turkey” lost his battle with brain cancer
and passed away today.
2010(16th of
Nisan, 5770): Steven Zilberman died while serving his country. “Miroslav
Zilberman, a Navy pilot known to his friends as Steven, moved with his parents
from Ukraine to Columbus, Ohio, in the early 1990s. His parents, Anna and
Boris, did not want their son to be forced into military service in their
native land. AP reports describe Zilberman as grandson of Gregory Sokolov, a
major in the Soviet Army in World War II. Zilberman decided to follow in his
grandfather’s footsteps and joined the Navy after graduating from Bexley High
School in 1997. He went on to graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in
Troy, N.Y., where he majored in computer science. Zilberman’s plane, an E-2C
Hawkeye, was returning to the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower following a mission
supporting operations in Afghanistan when the plane experienced a malfunction.
Zilberman ordered his crew mates to eject before going down with the plane into
the North Arabian Sea.”
2011(25th of
Adar II, 5771): Eighty-three-year-old Henry Taub, found of ADP, passed away.
(As reported by Duff Wilson)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/business/05taub.html
2011: Yosef
Begun a former Soviet Prisoner of Conscience is scheduled to speak at noon
today in Washington, DC.
2011:
Performance of “Steve Reich’s masterpiece Tehillim” today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjnVN6-Wx08
2011: The 14th
annual Main Jewish Festival opens in Portland, Maine
2011: “The
Army of Crime” and “Hidden Children” are two of the films scheduled to be shown
at the Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2011: “The
Human Resources Manager” is one of the films scheduled to be shown at the
Hartford Jewish Film Festival
2011: In
Jerusalem, the Old City Flavors Festival comes do an end.
2011: David “Deutsch’s second book, The
Beginning of Infinity: Explanations that Transform the World, was
published” today further enhancing the reputation of the Haifa born British
physicist who atteneded both Cambridge and Oxford.
2011: “How Israel Won the Six-Day War” published today described Operation
Yated and the role an Egyptian agent “turned” played in the miracle of June,
1967.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/how-israel-won-the-six-day-war-1.353213?localLinksEnabled=false
http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/how-israel-won-the-six-day-war-1.353213?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.225%2C2.239%2C
2012(8th
of Nisan, 5772: Parashat Tzav and
Shabbat Hagadol - 81st anniversary of the Bar Mitzvah of Joseph B. Levin, of
blessed memory who was Bar Mitzvahed on Shabbat Hagadol
2012: This
evening Emily Bount married Michael Signer, the son of Robert and Marjorie
Singer, who as Mayor of Charlottesville worked on plans to remove Confederate
statues from his cities which led to violent protests from white supremacists
and Nazi.
2012:
“Footnote” and “Salmon Fishing in Yemen” are scheduled to be shown at the
Hartford Jewish Film Festival.
2013: Jeremy
Piven stars in “Mr. Selfridge” a Masterpiece Classics min-series that is
scheduled to aire for the first time tonight on PBS.
2013: The
Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue, also known as the Jobar Synagogue was erroneously
reported to have been destroyed by Syrian forces operating in Damascus today
when in fact it was only seriously damaged by mortar fire from either
government or rebel forces.
2013: The New York Times featured reviews of
books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including
The Retrospective by A.B. Yehosuha and Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life
by Jonathan Sperber
2013:
President Shimon Peres today congratulated Yitzhak Tshuva, the controlling
shareholder of the Tamar natural gas field which was first put into use
Saturday, for pumping the gas into Israel four years after the deposit was
first discovered — adding, however, that the pumping should not have begun on
the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest.
2013: Pope
Francis and Rome’s Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni exchanged greetings to mark
Passover and Easter.
2014:
In Little Rock, Lubavitch of Arkansas under the leadership of Rabbi Pinchas
Ciment is scheduled to host an evening with “author, comedian, journalist and
musician David Nesenoff.”
http://www.arjewishcenter.com/
2014: Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was
convicted today of receiving bribes to facilitate the construction of the
Holyland housing project in Jerusalem a decade ago. http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=16543
2014: In their
never-ending quest to get something for nothing “The Palestinians today gave US
Secretary of State John Kerry 24 hours to resolve a dispute with Israel over
prisoners after which they will resume moves to seek international recognition.
2015: The Jewish
Community Center of Northern Virginia is scheduled to lead Passover shopping
expedition to Moti’s Market in Rockville, MD.
2015: In
Philadelphia, The National Museum of Jewish History is scheduled to host the
VIP Opening Reception for “Richard Avedon: Family Affairs” which “features more
than 70 portraits by the famed photographer.
2015: The first part
of “The Dovekeepers” a dramatization of events at Masada is scheduled to be
shown on CBS.
http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=ba13d322ff1efbe114aeb6779&id=798bfe26de&e=632ced0f1f
2016: “Kosher Kilts
and Plaid Skullcaps: Scotland’s Jews Get a Tartan”
2016:
Steven Gimbel, the professor of philosophy at Gettysburg College and author of
Einstein: The Man is scheduled to lecture at Johns Hopkins University’s
Baltimore campus.
2016(21st
of Adar II, 5776): Eighty-six-year-old Hungarian Holocaust survivor, author and
Nobel Laureate Imre Kertesz passed away today.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/01/world/europe/imre-kertesz-dies.html?_r=0
2016:
Northern Virginia Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to host a screening of
“Raise the Roof" – a documentary about the building of a replica of the “mural
covered wooden synagogues of the 18th century” that were destroyed
by the Nazis.
2017:
Bidding for the mineral rights on five blocks in the Mediterranean ‘including
areas that lie in waters disputed by Israel” is scheduled to come to an end
today in Beirut.
2017:
ABC broadcast the final episode of “Last Man Standing” a sit-come co-starring
Molly Ephriam as the ditzy daughter Amanda “Mandy” Baxter.
2017: “Norman Lear,”
a film about “the life, trailblazing shows, and political activism of famous TV
writer/producer Norman Lear: is scheduled to be shown this afternoon at the
Seattle Jewish Film Festival.
2017: Release of “The
Zookeeper’s Wife.”
http://www.focusfeatures.com/thezookeeperswife
2018: France
J. Pruitt is scheduled to talk about her book Faith and Courage in a Time of
Trouble “a memoir of a Belgian-Jewish girl and her family who were saved during
the Nazi occupation of France through the compassion and heroism of French
peasants from the southern part of the country” this afternoon at the US
Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.
2018(15th of Nisan, 5778):
Pesach
15th of Nisan, 5650 (1890): An untold number of
poor New Yorkers enjoyed eating meat at their Seder tonight thanks to the
generosity of Mrs. Paulina Rosendorff who had provided the funding that enabled
butchers to distribute their product free of charge.
15th
of Nisan, 5675(1915):
The 300 Jewish soldiers and sailors who attended last night’s Seder sponsored
by the Army and Navy Y.M.H.A. which also provided a night’s lodging at the
Hotel Roland are scheduled to worship at Temple Beth Israel at Lexington and 72nd
Street today while the Secretary of War, the Governor of New York and the Mayor
of New York City have been invited to attend tonight’s Seder sponsored by the
Army and Navy Young Men’s Hebrew Association for the benefit of 300 of the
8,000 Jews serving in the military which is being held at Vienna Hall on
Lexington and 58th Street.
15th
of Nisan, 5677 (1917): One day after U.S. declared War on Germany, Jews gather in
the synagogue to observe Pesach and Shabbat
15th of
Nisan, 5705(1945):
At least 58 Jews were murdered in a forest near the Austrian village of Deutsch
Shuetzen, in what would come to be called the Deutsch Shuetzen Massacre while
in the evening, members of the Jewish Infantry Brigade of the British 8th
Army serving in Italy took part in a Seder at Faenza.
15th of
Nisan, 5725(1965):
While Jews in the Soviet struggled to deal with a shortage of Matzah created by
the government refusal to let state bakeries prepare adequate supplies of
unleavened bread Rabbis in America were encouraged to deliver sermons that
related the themes of Pesach with fight for Civil Rights complete with
references to the recent voting rights march in Selma.
15th of
Nisan, 5728(1968):
For the first time, Pesach is observed in a unified Jerusalem
2019: The New
York Times features books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest Jewish
readers including A Weekend in New York by Benjamin Markovits, America’s
Jewish Women: A History From Colonial Times to Today by Pamela S. Nadell, The
Age of Disenchantments: The Epic Story of Spain’s Most Notorious Literary
Family and the Long Shadow of the Spanish Civil War by Aaron Shulman, Foursome:
Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O’Keefe, Paul Strand and Rebecca Salsbury by
Carolyn Burke and the recently released paperback edition of Tailspin: The
People and Forces Behind America’s Fifty-Year Fall and Those Fighting to
Reverse It by Steven Brill.
2019: In Ames,
IA, the Iowa Jewish Historical Society, the Ames Jewish Congregation, Hillel at
ISU, Chabad at Ames and the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines are
schedule to present “Second Chance” during which Celina Karp Biniaz, “one of
the last survivors from Schindler’s List,” and the “only Schindler Juden to
graduate from high school and college Iowa” “tells her personal story.”
2019: In
Atlanta, at the Breman Museum, Daniel Horowitz Garcia is scheduled to lecture
at today’s meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society.
2019: The
American Jewish Historical Society is scheduled to present a panel discussion
on “Immigration Matters: Jews, Other Immigrants and America.”
2019: Today is
the deadline for submitting SEFER Center awards grants for Research on Russian
Jewry. 2020:The Streicker Center is scheduled to host an on-line presentation
by Rabbi Sara Sapadin on “Passover in the Age of Coronavirus - How the Haggadah
Speaks to Us Now.”
2020: The
London School of Jewish Studies is scheduled to “The Pesach Exodus: Ultimate
War of Good versus Evil,” an on-line presentation by Rabbi Dr. Raphael Zarum.
2020”
Hillel@Home is scheduled to a “”Jewish Ethics in Entertainment,” a seminar on
breaking into Hollywood and how Jewish ethics inform the entertainment
profession, with screenwriter and producer Dara Resnik.”
2020: The
Vilna Shul, Boston’s Center for Jewish Culture is scheduled to host “How to
Find Your Ancestor Without Leaving Your Computer.”
2020: Adas
Israel and the Capital Jewish Museum is scheduled to host a live-stream with
Esther Safran Foer “as she discusses her debut memoir, I Want You to Know We’re Still Here,
the story of Esther’s journey to piece together a mystery from her family’s
past and of four generations living in the shadow of the Holocaust.”
2020(6th
of Nisan, 5780): On the Hebrew calendar Yahrzeit of Talmudist Rabbi Samuel
Judah Katzenellenbogen.
2021(17th
of Nisan, 5781): Third Day of Pesach; Second Day of the Omer
2021: Jewish
Family and Children’s Services is scheduled to present a seder with JFCS Jewish
Chaplaincy Services director Bruce Feldstein and JFCS Spiritual Care Services
director Rabbi Daniel Isaacson.
2021: URJ
Jacobs Camp Director Anna Herman and New Orleans JCC Director of Youth and
Family Engagement Gary Brandt are scheduled speak at the Leventhal Center for Interfaith Families
so that attendees can learn more about the magic of Jewish summer camp for all
families and hear from interfaith camp families,
2021: Keshet
is scheduled to present online, “Let My People Grow: An LGBTQ+ & Ally Teen
Passover G
2021: This evening “AGJC leadership has been invited to Al
Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi where Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie
and members of the board, along with military chaplains and the Jewish Welfare
Board, are scheduled to host a Passover celebration with holiday food and
conversation for U.S. troops stationed at the base which can be seen by webcast
at other U.S. bases in the region
2021: USF’s
Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice is scheduled to present an
interfaith solidarity seder focusing on the need for climate justice.
2021: Based on
reports published yesterday, today and for the foreseeable future, Israelis
must be on alert to prevent the entry of the pathogen's far more dangerous
Brazilian strain, despite the country's continued drop in coronavirus infection
rates.
2021: Rabbi
David Zaslow, author of Jesus: First-Century Rabbi, is scheduled to talk
“about the sociology, history and psychology of hating Jews, including Good
Friday narratives that are read and acted out in many churches.”
https://rabbidavidzaslow.com/bio/
2022: In
Atlanta, after two years as a virtual event, the American Jewish Committee’s
Unity Seder returned to The Temple’s spacious Schwartz-Goldstein Hall today.
2022: The Sir
Martin Gilbert Learning Center is scheduled to present a lecture by Dr. Sabina
Tanovic on “Designing Memory: The Architecture of Commemoration in Europe, 1914
to the Present.”
2022: Professor
Dina Porat, Yad Vashem’s Chief Historian, filmmakers Doron and Yoav Paz and
star Michael Aloni are scheduled to explore the story of "The
Avengers," some 50 young men and women who planned to poison six million
Germans to avenge the Holocaust at the Streicker Center.
2023: Lockdown
university is scheduled to host a webinar featuring Rabbi Shippel lecturing on
“Your Seder: A Night Uniting Generations.”
2023: At
Congregation B’nai Torah of Sudbury, Rabbi Ediuson is scheduled to host the congregation for a
“Charoset Chop” in the CBT kitchen followed by a Shabbat evening pre-Passover
service.
2023: S.F.
Hillel is scheduled to present a networking event for Jewish graduate students
and postdocs at universities across San Francisco.
2024: LBI is
scheduled to host “Moses Mendelssohn Returns to Jerusalem” a symposium that “marks
the first Hebrew translation of Moses Mendelssohn's Jerusalem in seventy-five
years.”
2024: The
American Sephardi Federation and Jewish Lives at Yale University Press are
scheduled to present: “Why Spinoza Matters Now: Truth and Freedom in America
Today.”
2024: The
Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County, NJ is scheduled to host To Israel
With Love presented by Naomi Miller.
2024: In San
Francisco, the Jewish Community is scheduled to host a lecture by Katrin
Kogman-Appel on “The Kennicott Bible is one of the most celebrated illuminated
Hebrew Bibles that survives today, delighting readers since its completion in
1476.”
2024:
In-person and on-line the Weitzman Museum is scheduled to carry the”
Hamantaschen Monologues,” “a live storytelling event exploring personal
connections to Judaism, sex, bodies, and sexuality.”
2024: Lockdown
University is scheduled to host a lecture by Trudy Gold on “The Holocaust on
Film, Part 2.”
2024: After
pausing for Shabbat, The annual Red Sarachek tournament the country's most
prestigious tournament for Jewish high school basketball teams. Is scheduled to
continue today at Yeshiva University.
2024: The San
Francisco Yiddish Combo and Jewish blues musician Saul Kaye are scheduled to perform
at the East Bay Jewish Music Festival.
2024: As March
31st begins in Israel, the Hamas held
hostages begin day 177 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.)
2025: YIVO and
the American Society for Jewish Music are scheduled to present a production “The
Dybbuk” an operatic event “directed by Stephen Brown-Fried, conducted by Robert
Kahn and performed by students from Mannes and the College of Performing Arts.
2025: Today is
the deadline for critical comments on the $1.3 billion stadium project designed to provide a home for the Tampa Bay
Rays whose principle owner is Stu Sternberg the Jewish born “the son of Beverly
(née Tartell) and Samuel Sternberg who owned a pillow shop on Flatbush Avenue.”
2025: The Unpacking the Book
series in partnership with Jewish Book Council, the Jewish Museum, and GOLDA,
your Jewish Lifestyle Guide are scheduled to host Dan Slater, author of The Incorruptible
and Tom Mirvis, author of We Would Never.
2025: “In
another lecture in the online lecture series "A Bird Between
Continents", Dr. Liat Arlette Sides is scheduled to talk about Jacqueline
Kahanoff's fascinating worldview and her place in Israel in 2025.”
2025: CJMA is
scheduled to host “Ethiopian Jews: A Lost Kingdom and A Living Legacy” at
Xavier University in New Orleans during which “filmmaker Esti Almo Wexler will
share her personal journey from Ethiopia to Israel, offering her unique
perspective on the culture, traditions, and resilience of Beta Israel and historian
Elad Wexler will uncover the fascinating history of the Kingdom of the
Gidonites, an Ethiopian Jewish self-governed kingdom that thrived until 1626
CE. “
2025: As March
31st begins in Israel, an unprecedented wave of ant-Semitism sweeps across the
globe, the reality is that the remaining Hamas held hostages begin day 542 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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